Hong Kong: Chris Sun to visit Beijing Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun will depart for Beijing tomorrow afternoon for a visit until May 10. Mr Sun will be joined by representatives of the Social Welfare and Labour departments. During his trip to the capital, Mr Sun will call on the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Human Resources & Social Security, the Ministry of Commerce as well as the State Council Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office. He will also meet the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the China Enterprise Confederation and the China Disabled Persons Federation. Additionally, Mr Sun and the delegation will visit elderly and child care facilities, meet university students and keep abreast of how Beijing's local recruitment platform works. Mr Sun will return to Hong Kong on the evening of May 10. During his absence, Under Secretary for Labour & Welfare Ho Kai-ming will be Acting Secretary. This story has been published on: 2023-05-06. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Chinese vice-president to attend coronation of King Charles III 08:40, May 06, 2023 By XING YI in London and ZHONG NAN in Beijing ( China Daily At the invitation of King Charles III of the United Kingdom, Chinese President Xi Jinping's special representative Han Zheng arrived in London on Thursday for the king's coronation ceremony, which is to be held on Saturday. Han, who is China's vice-president, attended a welcome dinner hosted by Chinese and British businesspeople on Thursday and delivered a speech, acknowledging the active role that business circles have played in promoting China-UK exchanges, and encouraging them to contribute more to bilateral cooperation and the global prosperity. Stressing China's unswerving commitment to high-level opening-up and globalization, Han said that China has a high degree of continuity and stability in its domestic and foreign policies. "No matter how the world changes, China will bring more opportunities to the world through our own development and bring more certainty and positivity," he said. Han said that China always sees Britain as a "strategic partner", views its international role and influence in a positive way, and said he hopes the UK's China policy will also be conducted positively. China is ready to provide national treatment for British companies and steadily expand the high-level two-way opening-up of the capital market, Han said, adding that he hoped the UK will provide Chinese companies with an open, fair and nondiscriminatory business environment. In the past two years, annual trade between China and the UK has exceeded $100 billion and the UK has become one of the top destinations for Chinese companies to invest and students to study abroad. In the first quarter of this year, bilateral trade amounted to $23.25 billion, while China saw foreign direct investment from the UK jump 680.3 percent year-on-year, according to data from China's General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Commerce. The latest data from the UK-based Higher Education Statistics Agency showed that more than 150,000 Chinese students were studying in the UK in the 2021-22 academic year, which was the top among students coming from other countries. Han also noted that China is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with the UK in other areas, such as safeguarding world peace, fighting climate change and protecting biodiversity. John Edwards, the UK's trade commissioner for China, said that green growth is the area where there are the greatest opportunities for UK-China partnerships in business. Edwards said that British companies have been a key element in the design of China's carbon markets, driving down the global cost of offshore wind energy and helping some of China's clean mobility companies set up manufacturing bases in the UK. Sherard Cowper-Coles, chair of the China-Britain Business Council, said that economic, trade and investment ties are the foundations of UK-China relations. "Despite those voices calling for decoupling, for both China and Britain, these ties bring opportunities to our companies, and prosperity and jobs to our peoples," he said. John Mclean, senior advisor to the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK, said that Han's visit sends a very strong signal that both countries wish to energize their collaboration. "The people-to-people exchanges over the COVID period between China and the UK have been minimal. However, the coronation has created a new bilateral impetus which will create confidence and, in turn, increase trade," said Mclean. RX, the London-headquartered trade fair and event organizer, is set to hold 75 business exhibitions across China this year to meet demand from local companies seeking to boost exports and better compete with global rivals. Hugh Jones, CEO of RX, said that supported by China's optimized pandemic control measures, the latest opening-up policies and the accelerated pace of industrial upgrading, the company predicts that its sales revenue in 2023 will soar 190 percent on a yearly basis. Given China's growing middle-income group, increasing disposable incomes and demand for more sophisticated daily necessities, businesses from sectors such as packaging, healthcare and smart manufacturing will see surging demand to participate in various trade shows to win more clients, he said. Stephen Perry, chairman of the 48 Group Club, said that Han's attendance at the coronation showed China's great respect for the British monarchy and the British people. "Charles III has extended the hand of friendship grasped by China. These vital national gestures of respect bridge thousands of miles and hundreds of years. They make for a peaceful world where difference is appreciated," Perry said. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Ahead of his expected launch of a 2024 White House campaign later this month, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is making return visits the next couple of days to the two states that kick off the GOP presidential nominating calendar. Scott, a rising star in the GOP and the only Black Republican in the Senate, spends Saturday in Iowa, the state whose caucuses lead off the GOP schedule. Hell headline a town hall Waukee, in suburban Des Moines. On Monday and Tuesday, the senator will be in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and second overall contest in the Republican calendar. Hell headline a town hall at Saint Anselm Colleges New Hampshire Institute of Politics - a must stop for over two decades for White House hopefuls of both major political parties. He'll also hold meetings in both states with Republican leaders and activists. A source close to senator highlighted that theres been plenty of interest ahead of the town halls in Iowa and New Hampshire. WHO'S IN AND WHO'S ON THE SIDELINES YOUR GUIDE TO THE 2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE The stops in Iowa and New Hampshire come ahead of whats being billed as a "major" 2024 announcement that the senator will make May 22 at Charleston Southern University. The North Charleston, South Carolina school is Scotts alma mater, and the announcement is expected to be the senators formal declaration of candidacy and launch of his White House campaign. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP 2024 WATCH: SEN. TIM SCOTT TEASES MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ON MAY 22 Saying "it's time to take the final step," teased the announcement at a campaign event last weekend. "Tell your friends. Be in attendance We will have a major announcement, and youre going to want to be there." Scott kicked off a "Faith in America" listening tour in February. That tour has already taken the senator twice the past couple of months to Iowa and once to New Hampshire. And Scott has also held campaign style events in his home state of South Carolina, which holds the third contest in the GOP primary and caucus lineup. Story continues Last month, Scott launched a presidential exploratory committee. Saying that he will "never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional," Scott announced his exploratory committee in a video that was first reported by Fox News. Scott has been offering voters what he calls an "optimistic, positive message anchored in conservativism" as he spotlights this modest upbringing, noting that he "was raised by a single mother in poverty." SCOTT, PENCE, SPOTLIGHT THEIR DIFFERENCES WITH TRUMP AS THEY MOVE CLOSER TO LAUNCHING 2024 BIDS The senator has showcased that "individual responsibility leads to the American dream. Ive been on both sides of the tracks and I am so thankful that my story which is a rare story around the world isnt so rare in America. Made in America is a story of those who start in one place and end up in a much better place." Asked by Fox News last month during a stop in Iowa about the reception he was receiving from voters, Scott said "so far, so good. I am excited about where we. I am excited about the response to the message." Scott, who cruised to re-election last November to what he has said will be his final six-year term in the Senate, is expected to court evangelical Christian voters, who play an outsized role in GOP politics in Iowa and his home state. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina addresses the audience at a gathering of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, on April 22, 2023 in Clive, Iowa Hell join a GOP White House field that includes former President Donald Trump, who announced his third straight presidential run in November and remains the clear front-runner in the Republican nomination race. Scott will also face serious competition from Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations and former two-term South Carolina governor who launched a 2024 presidential campaign two months ago. Haley, whos spending plenty of time on the campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire, and Scott share many of the same allies and donors. Former two-term Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson formally launched a Republican presidential campaign late last month. Among the other candidates in the race are multi-millionaire entrepreneur, best-selling author and conservative commentator Vivek Ramaswamy, who announced his bid in February, Michigan businessman and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson, who launched his campaign in March, and conservative radio talk show host and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder, who declared his candidacy last month. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remains on the 2024 sidelines but is expected to launch a presidential campaign in the coming weeks. And former Vice President Mike Pence, whos made numerous trips the past two years to the early voting states as he moves towards launching a presidential campaign, said recently that hell have a 2024 decision in weeks. Former two-term New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has said hell decide in the next two weeks whether hell launch a second Republican White House run. And GOP Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire is also seriously mulling a presidential run. Scotts known as ferocious fundraiser and had roughly $22 million in his campaign coffers at the end of March, which could be transferred to a presidential campaign. The fundraising war chest could give Scott a head start over some of his rivals. David Safavian Working together, Governor Stitt and the legislature have taken steps to improve Oklahomas criminal justice system. A shining example is the management of the Department of Corrections, which now has bragging rights to the lowest recidivism rate in of any state in the nation. This isnt trivial, since every case of reoffending means another crime and another victim. But their work is not done. With the 2023 legislative session winding down, the clock is ticking for policy makers to modernize how felonies are classified and how offenders are sentenced. The goal is to make Oklahomas sentencing laws more consistent, and bring sentences in line with other conservative states. House Bill 1792 (HB 1792) was introduced by Rep. Mike Osburn (R) and Sen. Dave Rader (R) would do just that. The legislation would set sentence ranges so that justice is dispensed consistently across Oklahoma. After passing through both chambers, a conference committee must finish their work and move this important legislation to Governor Stitt for his signature. Unlike most other states that have established classes of crimes in which similar charges result in similar prison sentences, Oklahoma relies on a patchwork of laws with extremely broad sentencing ranges for each of its 1,100 felony crimes. The result is that people charged with the same crime in different counties can face radically different sentences. The arbitrary nature of the states felony classification system undermines public confidence in blind justice and the consistent application of the law. Oklahomas prison sentences tend to be far harsher than other red states. Compared to other jurisdictions, people sentenced to prison in Oklahoma spend approximately twice as long behind bars for nonviolent convictions such as drug offenses or low-level property crimes. That is why Oklahoma continues to have the fourth highest imprisonment rate in the country despite making other much-needed changes to the criminal justice system in recent years. Story continues Make no mistake: these long sentences for non-violent crimes deprive other, more effective public safety programs of critical funding. If Oklahoma can better impose more proportional prison sentences, we can gradually reduce the number of people in prison who are no longer public safety threats. This would allow the state to fund more police officers and sheriffs, retain the ones who are making a difference, and fund mental health and addiction programs. These are the things that will reduce crime in Oklahoma. Legislators are pursuing consistency and proportionality in sentencing a bill pending in the legislature (HB 1792). Passing this legislation isnt just good policy. Its good politics. Polling shows that 8 in 10 likely voters in Oklahoma support creating a new felony classification system with consistent sentencing ranges based on the seriousness of the crime and shorter prison sentences for some offenses. This includes 74% of Republican voters and 68% of self-identified very conservative voters who want a smarter and smaller criminal justice system. If done correctly, HB 1792 will bolster public safety, increase trust in the criminal justice system, reduce the tax burden on Oklahomans, and further lower the incarceration rate. If done incorrectly, the bill could increase the prison population at great cost to taxpayers, while failing to make communities in Oklahoma any safer. The choice is clear. And its time for policymakers to act. David Safavian is the general counsel of Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) which works on policies that improve public safety, ensure accountability, and foster human dignity. Follow him on Twitter @DSafavianEsq This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Its time to modernize Oklahomas felony system KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Bubba Wallace was surprised in the very best of ways when he learned this week that Legacy Motor Club, the team owned in part by longtime Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson, would be joining the Toyota stable next season. Not quite as good as the feeling he walked out of Kansas Speedway last season. Pretty good, though. That was crazy, said Wallace, who drives a Toyota for 23XI Racing, when asked about the biggest news to hit the NASCAR Cup Series in a while. They're excited because of numbers, right? We have more numbers, more cars to play, especially on the speedways. We're still the minority but it helps for sure. Not that Toyota needs much help, especially at Kansas Speedway, where the 23XI cars head into Sunday's race having swept both at the mile-and-a-half track last season. Kurt Busch won the spring race in the No. 45 car on a banner day for the young team, then Wallace jumped out of his No. 23 to take the same car to victory lane in the fall race. Throw in the fact that Martin Truex Jr. drove a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing to victory in Monday's rain-delayed race at Dover and the manufacturer, long at a numbers disadvantage to Chevy and Ford, has a groundswell of momentum behind it. I've seen some of that talk that Toyota is the top of the topics, Wallace said, so that's good. The decision by Legacy, which represents the pieces of Petty Enterprises bought out by Johnson and Maury Gallagher, means Erik Jones will be returning to Toyota along with Noah Gragson next season. That means it will have eight full-time cars in field, rather than the six split between Gibbs and 23XI. And that in turn should make all of them more competitive. We're really excited about that, said Tyler Reddick, who moved from Chevy to Toyota himself this season when he joined 23XI from Richard Childress Racing. The more we have out there on the track helps, especially at the superspeedways, but also having a bigger pool of crew chiefs and minds helps. Story continues In the meantime, Wallace and Reddick will have each other and the four Gibbs cars at Kansas Speedway. And that's been enough lately. Toyota has won five of the last seven races, including two trips by Denny Hamlin to victory lane. Obviously it feels really good to get back here to Kansas, and get back to what we did in the fall, said Wallace, who held off his team owner Hamlin for his second career win, and first in a race that wasn't shortened by rain. I thought that was a really special weekend for us, Wallace said. Now, the 23XI team has a chance for another special weekend. With Reddick in the seat of the No. 45 car, it could become the first to win three consecutive races at the same track with a different driver for each of them. That would be really cool, Reddick admitted. But I mean, all that aside, it's about coming here and putting together a weekend and executing. Both teams, the whole organization, is really, really excited, and really wanting to see what we've got a couple of months removed from the last time we were here. Everyone is coming in with a lot of confidence. THROWING IT BACK Next week is Throwback Weekend at Darlington, where teams bring back modern versions of old paint schemes. But asked what else he would bring back from the 1990s, Kyle Busch had a couple of ready answers: Dale Earnhardt, who died in a 2001 crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the No Bull Five, which gave drivers an opportunity to race for an extra $1 million. Miss Dale, of course, Busch said. KESELOWSKI CRUISING Brad Keselowski is coming off an eighth-place finish at Dover, giving him consecutive top-10 runs for the first time since moving to RFK Racing. Keselowski won twice at Kansas Speedway while driving for Roger Penske. SPLITTER SITUATION NASCAR put on display the splitter that led to a $75,000 fine and penalty of 60 points for the No. 3 team after its race at Martinsville Speedway. Two nuts and a center coupling on the splitter are supposed to be three different pieces, but they were bonded together, making it possible for Richard Childress Racing to adjust the splitter before or during the race. The team appealed the penalty, which dropped Austin Dillon to 31st in the points race. It was denied earlier this week. ODDS AND ENDS Kyle Larson is the 4-1 favorite to win Sunday, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. He won the playoff race from the pole in 2021 and finished second in the spring race a year ago. ... The past seven winners on mile-and-a-half tracks have come from the top six starting positions. ... Reddick started on the front row for Richard Childress Racing for both Kansas races last year. He was 30th in the spring race after misfortune with a vinyl wrap on the wall and 35th in the fall after a tire went down. ___ AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Theres so much to love on screen in Netflixs Bridgerton universethe costumes, the music, the notoriously ardent romantic tensionbut for travelers and Anglophiles, a top draw is the sumptuous imagery of English scenery. A hands down favorite filming location for actress Arsema Thomas, who plays the young Lady Danbury in the prequel spin-off Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, out this week, was the city of Bath. The entire city is absolutely beautiful. It feels like youre walking through a ready-made historic set because of how well they maintain everything, Thomas says. Her preferred place to steal away was the citys pea-green, two-millennia-old waters. The Roman Baths is this quiet, serene place, which feels quite magical, says Thomas. Though the actress was born in the U.S. and got a Masters at Yale, she grew up across several African countries and later studied acting in Paris and London. Ahead of the release of Queen Charlotte, Thomas chatted with us about her deeply well-traveled life, including the spots shed like to return to, the movies she chooses in flight, and the psychological games she plays at the airport gate. A place shes lived that she thinks more people should visit: Benin is definitely on that list. I lived in Cotonou, the little capital right by the coastline. Benin is known for its musicit's the home of Angelique Kidjo, one of the greatest African musicians currently performingand that gives you the vibe of the entire country. It has a really interesting history when it comes to voodoo, and the food is amazing. I love fish, and almost every restaurant you go to, whatever fish you order, they go into the ocean and get it for you. It really goes on island time, too, even though it's not an island; it's just a coastal city. But because it's so hot, there's this kind of laissez-faire attitude, this relaxed sense of time. It makes for a beautiful city for a vacation. Whats in her carry-on: Usually in my carry-on are an assortment of snacks that I have compiled walking through the airport. Usually something sweetI love Haribo goldbears. They're my absolute favorite. Welch's fruit snacks, but you can only get them in America, and then something salty, usually a lentil chip situation. And theres always three books that I probably don't even crack open over the course of the flight. Her 1-2-3 flight routine: If I find myself in the air during the day, it usually means that I've stayed up all night so that I could sleep through that flight, which isnow, thinking about itnot really a good idea. I have a playlist on Spotify so that I can go to sleep, and it just keeps me in a really meditative, zen place. It's mostly Otis Redding. I usually download a couple of podcasts that sound like friends chatting. Then I love watching the [in-flight] movies. I cycle through all three [stages] again and again. The place shed like to spend more time in: I lived in southern India doing an Ayurvedic apprenticeship, and that's definitely one of the places that I would love to explore [again]. Its so much of India in one place, I think. Southern Indian cuisine is so different than northern, which is a lot of what I get when I'm in London. It's the birthplace of Ayurvedic medicine, a holistic, eastern outlook on medicine and healing. I was there because my dad had ALS, so we took him to a wellness center to experiment, and I found it so interesting. It also has a ton of stunning temples that are architectural feats. It's a beautiful place. I did not get enough time there. How she manages the lines at the airport gate: I don't like it when people start lining up to the gate early, because it always makes me feel like I should also line up. Then, because Ive waited so long, I know that I'll end up at the back of that line. I always want to make it seem as though I'm the smartest person in the room, like I know something that they don't know, so I sit in defiance until the very last second. It always means that my carry-on is going to be checked. It's like psychological warfare. The two cities she could visit a million times and never tire of them: Nairobi and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Both have such amazing food and different pockets of life, making them these never-ending fields of discovery. Nairobi has such amazing markets and nightlife, amazing music. I'm clearly a big fan of music! I think that's the number one thing that I enjoy when I travel somewhereif I can dance and enjoy the country through my ears. Kenya has some of the greatest music coming out of eastern Africa, I think, and Nairobi is the beating heart of it. The two most amazing hotels shes ever experienced: One is the Governor's Camp Lodge, this amazing tented camp in the Masai Mara in northern Kenya. It's stunning because usually, when you go on a safari, you are in a secluded area, and this allows you to be fully immersed with nature. You have zebras coming up to your room! It has a really great way of encompassing architecture with the natural surroundings so that it doesn't disturb. It's one of my favorite places. I love game drives and seeing animals; I think it's such a blessing. And then, I never got to stay here, but I got to tour it: Ian Fleming, the author of James Bond, had this estate in Jamaica, and it's where Dr. No was filmed. It's the most beautiful property I've ever seen. You can stay in it, but it costs an arm and a leg. I am a massive fan of James BondI grew up watching all of those filmsso there was a nostalgia to it. The hotel amenity she adores: I love when a room comes with slippers. I'm going to take them every time. And I love a free breakfast with so many options. It's just the perfect way to start your day, and always makes me feel like a queen. Where shed like to go next: I would love to travel throughout Brazil. My father used to live there and he would always rub it in my face, how amazing it was. Since he's Nigerian, he told me about the Nigerian population taken there during the slave trade, and what that has manifested into now. Its very different from any of the diasporic communities that I've been to, so that's one of the main things that draws me there. I've also been in love with Brazilian music, Brazilian coffee. I love Carnival and the beaches and the movies that come out of thereCity of God was one of my favoritesso I would love, love, love to be able to go to Brazil. Originally Appeared on Conde Nast Traveler Troopers late Friday released the name of the Rochester woman killed in a head-on collision between her GMC Sonoma and a Honda Accord driven by a Yelm woman on Old Pacific Highway east of Lacey Friday morning. The woman who died was Rebecca J. Andrade McClain, 66. According to a news release from Washington State Patrol, the crash occurred at 9:18 a.m. McClain was driving east in her 1991 GMC Sonoma as she approached Rockcress Drive. The Yelm driver was traveling west in a 2011 Honda Accord. McClains Sonoma approached a curve in the road, crossed the center line, struck the Yelm drivers vehicle head-on and came to rest in the middle of the two lanes, blocking the road. The Honda stopped in a driveway on the right shoulder of the road. McClain was pronounced dead at the scene. The other woman, who wasnt wearing a seatbelt, was transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia with injuries. The exact cause of the collision is under investigation. WSP trooper Robert Reyer said the road was closed for about 2-1/2 hours. trump-may-2023-RS-1800 - Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Donald Trump for months has been telling people close to him that he plans to bring back his infamous Muslim ban if hes reelected in 2024, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Gotta bring it back, Trump has said of the policy, according to the two sources, who added he regularly calls the idea beautiful. More from Rolling Stone Banning Muslims from entering the United States is a longstanding obsession of Trumps. In December 2015, during the GOP presidential primary, he called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. He took a step toward that vision just a few days after taking office, when he signed an executive order banning the entry of citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq for 90 days. The ban caused chaos and confusion at U.S. airports and ports of entry, and led to a diplomatic fallout with Iraq, where the U.S. still had thousands of troops deployed. Federal courts blocked the initial order, but in 2018 the Supreme Court narrowly approved a subsequent revision of the ban which included the addition of largely non-Muslim countries such as North Korea and Venezuela to the list of countries subject to tighter restrictions. President Joe Biden reversed the executive order in one of his first executive orders after taking office. But the former president appears to be unsatisfied with merely reinstating the ban as it existed during his presidency. More recently, Trump has privately discussed adding more countries, including Afghanistan, to the list of majority-Muslim countries whose citizens hes seeking to ban from the United States. The hints of Trumps interest in a reinvigorated travel ban are noticeable in his recent speeches, although they havent received much public scrutiny. Story continues I will restore my travel ban to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country, Trump said in a late-April appearance in New Hampshire. We were very tough on that. We dont want our buildings blown up. We dont want to have problems. My wonderful travel ban, it was so wonderful, he lamented during a March appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference as he promised mass deportations if reelected. The ban was not wonderful. Its honestly kind of pathetic that this is his idea of the sort of success he wants to replicate. There are literally no grounds on which any of the three versions of the travel ban were successes by anyones definition they were incoherent policy messes that also ruined countless families lives, argues Dara Lind, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. The legal immigration system is still struggling to get back on its feet after 2017-2020 (partly because of Covid but also because its really hard to keep a functioning policy system when policy keeps changing on a dime). This sure wouldnt help. And if the theory here is that hes going to be able to get the courts in 2025 to sign on to something the courts in 2017 wouldnt well, I sure hope hes wrong. Trump has also touted other hardline anti-immigration policies while campaigning. On Wednesday, he appeared in a video message to supporters to blast the expiration of Title 42, a Covid-era emergency provision which allowed the U.S. to expel migrants found crossing the border. When I take the oath of office we will immediately begin the process of fully securing the border and removing the illegal aliens Joe Biden has unlawfully allowed to break into our country, Trump said. A key figure in the implementation of the first Muslim ban is on record calling for yet another one. Stephen Miller, a former top Trump White House policy aide who helped write the executive order and remains influential in Trumpworld, has also been pressing for a renewed ban. Bring back the travel ban. Now, Miller wrote on Twitter in August, replying to a Reuters tweet about how Irans hardline newspapers praise Salman Rushdies attacker. Miller and other MAGA conservatives have focused on Afghanistan, expressing outrage when the United States took in refugees as the country fell to the Taliban in 2021. It is becoming increasingly clear that Biden & his radical deputies will use their catastrophic debacle in Afghanistan as a pretext for doing to America what Angela Merkel did to Germany & Europe, Miller moaned as the Biden administration took in Afghans, including people whod worked alongside the American-led coalition throughout 20 years of war. The pitch for an even more expansive travel ban is just one part of Trumps vision of a second term as a vengeance tour against his enemies and the favored targets of the right. Over the past few months, Trump has proposed bringing back firing squads and mass executions, fantasizing about journalists being raped in prison, and bombing Mexico. I am your retribution, the former president said during his appearance at CPAC. Best of Rolling Stone Click here to read the full article. Donald Trump has claimed the British people are greatly insulted by Joe Bidens non-attendance at King Charles IIIs coronation in London on Saturday. Joe Biden should have been at the Coronation of King Charles III. Is that really so much to ask? Mr Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. The people of the UK are greatly insulted. No wonder we are losing support all over the world, he added. Mr Biden announced last month he would skip the coronation, in line with a long-standing tradition of US presidents. First Lady Jill Biden attended the service at Westminster Abbey accompanied by her granddaughter Finnegan. Ms Biden wore a blue Ralph Lauren dress, with a blue bow and a pair of matching gloves. NEW YORK (AP) A video recording of former President Donald Trump being questioned about the rape allegations against him was made public for the first time Friday, providing a glimpse of the Republican's emphatic, often colorful denials. Jurors got to see the video of Trump's October 2022 deposition over the past few days at the trial over a lawsuit filed against him by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. Written transcripts of Trump's testimony had also previously been made public, but not the recording itself. The video was made available Friday to news organizations covering the proceedings. The video shows Trump answering questions in his trademark navy suit and a bright blue tie. He called Carroll's claim that he raped her in a luxury Manhattan department store "a false, disgusting lie. Its a disgrace. Frankly its a disgrace that something like this can be brought, Trump said. Trump reiterated his assertion that Carroll is not my type, but also mistook her for his second wife, Marla Maples, when shown a photo of him meeting Carroll and her then-husband at an event in the 1980s. Trump was also asked about the infamous Access Hollywood video in which Trump bragged about grabbing womens genitals. He said, as he has previously, that he was was engaging in locker room talk. Trump justified his comments about famous people being able to have their way with women, saying: Historically thats true with stars. All planned testimony in the trial concluded Thursday, clearing the way for closing arguments by the lawyers to happen Monday barring a last-minute decision by Trump to testify. Tumwater Mayor Debbie Sullivan announced Friday that Lisa Parks has been chosen to serve as the new Tumwater City Administrator. Parks currently serves as the executive services director for the Port of Olympia. She has a bachelors degree in urban and regional planning from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, and she has more than 30 years of experience working with local governments. She was one of five finalists for the job who met with the public in mid-April. She will replace John Doan, who is retiring as City Administrator after 13 years. The City Council will vote on an employment contract at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 9, a news release from the city said. Her initial employment contract is for three years, with a starting salary of $169,788 and a benefits package. We have many important initiatives underway in Tumwater, and with Lisas expertise and qualifications, we will seamlessly continue to make progress towards meeting our strategic goals, Sullivan said in the news release. We are very excited about this decision and believe Lisa is the right person for this job. ... I am honored to be chosen by the Mayor and City Council for this important role, and I am excited to begin working with City staff and an engaged community, Parks was quoted as saying in the news release. I look forward to building on Tumwaters strong foundation of success working with residents, businesses, and regional partners. Parks will take on her new role on June 16. The City Council and I want to thank John Doan and the Management Team for their leadership and service during the selection process and transition period, Sullivan said in the news release. TOMS RIVER - Two teenage girls went out for dinner and ice cream one night in 2021 when a chance encounter on the way home sealed for them a horrible fate. In a head-on crash on the way home, Gianna Palmieri, 15, suffered fatal injuries and her friend, Kaitlyn Edwards, then 17, was hurt so seriously she will never be able to have children. Now, the 29-year-old Stafford man whose actions caused the crash involving the two Pinelands Regional High School students will be in state prison at least until he is in his 40s. Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan sentenced the man, Michael Pillarella, to a total of 21 years in prison for causing death and serious injury to the two teens by crashing head-on into their car on Jan. 30, 2021, while he was driving at double the speed limit and under the influence of alcohol, methadone, fentanyl and alprazolam. Michael Pillarella becomes emotional during his sentemcing for vehicular homicide in a head-on collision in Little Egg Harbor that claimed the life of Gianna Palmieri and badly injured Kaitlyn Edwards. The sentencing was before Superior Court Guy P. Ryan at the Ocean County Courthouse in Toms River Friday, May 5, 2023. Ryan sentenced Pillarella to 17 years in prison for the manslaughter of Palmieri and an additional four years to be served, after he completes the first sentence, for aggravated assault on Edwards. Pillarella must serve 85 percent of the 17-year prison term, or 14 years, five months and 14 days, before he can be considered for parole on that sentence, under the state's No Early Release Act, the judge said. At the behest of prosecutors, Ryan agreed to sentence Pillarella as a persistent offender to an extended term for the manslaughter conviction because of his prior convictions for thefts and drug offenses, otherwise the maximum sentence for that offense would have been 10 years in prison. The judge noted the accident occurred when the two two teenagers were on their way home after having dinner and stopping for ice cream. Despite a number of people pleading with Pillarella not to drive because of his impaired condition, he got behind the wheel of his car anyway, the judge said. "That car was a missile that was going to hit somebody,'' Ryan said. "Sadly, Kaitlyn and Gianna were the ones who were struck.'' Story continues Pillarella was driving in the wrong lane of traffic on Radio Road in Little Egg Harbor, at 80 mph in a 45 mph zone, when he struck the Toyota that Edwards was driving, in which Palmieri was a passenger, the judge noted. Both teenagers, severely injured, were airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. Barbara Palmieri, the victim's mother, was flanked by the victim's father, Jimmy Palmieri, and brother, Gerard, as she read a statement about the impact of her daughter's death. Gianna Palmieri parents Jimmy and Barbara Palmieri address the court during the senetncing for Michael Pillarella who was convicted of vehicular homicide in a head-on collision in Little Egg Harbor that claimed the life of their daughter and badly injured Kaitlyn Edwards. The sentencing was before Superior Court Guy P. Ryan at the Ocean County Courthouse in Toms River Friday, May 5, 2023. "She was bright, she was intelligent, she was kind, caring, compassionate, sympathetic and empathetic,'' Barbara Palmieri said of her daughter. "She brought us love and joy everyday, and we are heartbroken without her.'' She said Pillarella has shown no regard for the law. "For two years, he has sat here smug and unapologetic,'' Barbara Palmieri said of the defendant. She asked Ryan to sentence Pillarella to the maximum term allowed by law. Edwards' mother, Barbara Albright, recounted how she and her husband drove up on the horrific crash scene that night, seeing a car so mangled, they couldn't tell if it was their daughter's. "It is the worst possible experience that any parent should have to go through,'' Albright said. "You, sir, you took the life of someone that night and you also took the right of someone to give life, and I hope that stays with you for the rest of your life,'' Albright said to the defendant. "Yes, you do deserve everything. possible under the law because of what you've done to our family as well as to the Palmieris,'' she said. Edwards told the judge she feels pain and survivor's guilt everyday, wondering why she survived the crash and her friend didn't. Kaitlyn Edwards addresses the court during the senetncing for Michael Pillarella who was convicted of vehicular homicide in a head-on collision in Little Egg Harbor that claimed the life of Gianna Palmieri and badly injured Edwards. The sentencing was before Superior Court Guy P. Ryan at the Ocean County Courthouse in Toms River Friday, May 5, 2023. She said her "mental health has plummeted'' as a result. Not only did she lose a friend, but she lost her ability to have children because of intestinal injuries so severe, they will likely never be repaired, Edwards said. "You took away the chance of me having kids because of the intestinal injuries I had as a result of the accident,'' Edwards said to Pillarella. "It is two girls whose lives were ruined,'' she said. "There will never be a sentence remotely long enough or fair.'' Heather Duyn, a family friend of the Palmieris whose daughter has been friends with Gianna since age 4, told the judge that she, her daughter and her daughter's friends prayed for a miracle for 10 days. "It was never granted,'' she said. Gianna succumbed to her injuries on Feb. 9, 2021. Duyn said her daughter "collapsed on the floor, screaming,'' when she told her the news. Defense attorney Ernest Ryberg of the Public Defender's Office said everyone agrees the crash is a tragedy that should never have happened. "If he had the chance to sign for a life sentence to undo what happened, he would,'' Ryberg said of Pillarella. Pillarella blamed drug addiction. Michael Pillarella becomes emotional during his sentemcing for vehicular homicide in a head-on collision in Little Egg Harbor that claimed the life of Gianna Palmieri and badly injured Kaitlyn Edwards. The sentencing was before Superior Court Guy P. Ryan at the Ocean County Courthouse in Toms River Friday, May 5, 2023. "When I use, all I care about is myself,'' he told the judge. His decision to drive that night was "really a hallmark of my selfishness,'' Pillarella said. He asked the judge to send him to a prison where he can get help for his addiction. "I want to serve time for both these young women,'' Pillarella told the judge. "I feel I deserve it.'' He also said he was sorry and "deeply ashamed for what I did.'' Robert Cassidy, assistant Ocean County prosecutor, told the judge Pillarella is minimizing his responsibility. Pillarella decided to mix methadone, alprazolam, fentanyl and alcohol and drive, Cassidy said. He was ordering double shots of vodka, along with beer, at a bar before getting behind the wheel of his car, the assistant prosecutor said. Pillarella was seen on video unable to walk and being escorted out of the bar while people were pleading with him not to drive, Cassidy said. A drug expert testified at trial that Pillarella, under the circumstances, was "a ticking time bomb,'' Cassidy said. Pillarella stood trial before Ryan earlier this year. A jury acquitted him of aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide, but found him guilty of a lesser charge of reckless manslaughter in Palmieri's death, as well as aggravated assault on Edwards. Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Stafford man sentenced to 21 years in fatal crash with teenaged girls On Fri., May 5, Glynn County Police Department detectives, along with GCPD SWAT, executed a search and arrest warrant near 2200 Formosa Circle in Brunswick. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< The warrants stemmed from an armed robbery investigation that occurred on Feb. 6. Derrick Cobb, 18, thee subject listed in the arrest warrant, was located inside of the residence and taken into custody without incident. During the execution of the search warrant, Torray Lamont Fields, 33, was also arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Detectives seized 5 ounces of marijuana as well as other items used for evidence. Cobb and Fields were both transported to the GCPD headquarters and further interviewed. Read: More alleged abuse reported at Glynn County home where Trent Lehrkamp was assaulted Cobb was charged with one count of armed robbery. Fields was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and both suspects were released to the Glynn County Detention Center. Additional charges for Cobb are pending. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone having information regarding this investigation is asked to call Det. Bergiadis of the GCPD criminal investigations division at 912-554-7802 or silent witness at 912-264-1333. Sample HTML block The President of Ukraine met with a delegation of American congressmen Last year, she criticized the Ukrainian government and hinted at the "ties" of Zelenskyy chief-of-staff, Andriy Yermak, to Russia. Spartz sent an official letter to the U.S. President Joe Biden and asked him to probe possible ties Yermak and Moscow. Spartz called it Zelenskyy's "internal problem" and made a number of serious accusations against the head of the presidential administration. Read also: U.S. Congresswoman embroiled in spat with Zelenskyy refused to meet with Yermak, reports CNN However, Zelenskyys office denied that it had received any official evidence of Spartz accusations, and called on the GOP congresswoman to publish such evidence publicly. She did not. Spartz also demanded oversight of arms supplies to Ukraine so that they would not "look for them in Syria or Mexico, and called on the UN to suspend agreements on grain exports from Ukraine. Read also: US Congress to hold Ukraine aid oversight public hearing According to the Office of the President, the delegation also included Joe Wilson, chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Congressman Stephen Cohen, and Michael Carpenter, U.S. Permanent Representative to the OSCE. Zelenskyy called the visit to Ukraine a "powerful signal of support" from Washington, "which is especially important at a time when the aggressor state has resumed massive missile terror against Ukrainian cities. Read also: Zelenskyy explains why Ukraine will not give up defense of Bakhmut "We are grateful for your help, leadership not only on the battlefield, but also for your financial support," he said. The President told the American delegation about the situation on the frontline and the priority needs of the Armed Forces. They discussed in detail the key areas of further U.S. defense assistance. The parties also talked over the extension of the grain corridor, the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, and other "important topics. Story continues Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov also met with the delegation, speaking about "efforts" to ensure transparency and accountability, which are being taken care of by the Office for Support of Changes and the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense. Oleksii Reznikov/Twitter Read also: We will take Crimea without a fight, says Defense Minister Reznikov 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) -UBS Group AG's Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti has shortlisted the Credit Suisse Group AG's executives most likely to become part of the management team, the Financial times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the plans. Dixit Joshi, chief financial officer, Francesca McDonagh, chief operating officer, and Andre Helfenstein, head of the Swiss business, are most likely to remain a part of the Swiss bank's executive team, the report said. Credit Suisse declined to comment on the report. UBS did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for a comment. UBS in March agreed to take over its rival for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.37 billion), assuming up to 5 billion in losses as part of a deal hastily arranged by Swiss authorities Earlier this week, Ermotti said UBS was working on closing its merger with Credit Suisse by the end of May or early June. The bank is also reviewing options for Credit Suisse's Swiss unit, including keeping the unit's investment banking operations while selling the rest, potentially in an initial public offering, Reuters reported earlier this week. ($1 = 0.8910 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Rahat Sandhu in Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis) Nadine Yehya remembers her son, Karim Abou Najm, as a generous soul who was there for many fellow students at University of California, Davis, in their time of need. I dont want you to remember Karim as the Davis victim, she told an audience Friday afternoon at a campus memorial service. Remember Karim as the bright, brilliant generous soul that he is and will always be. Several hundred people gathered for a celebration of life at the UC Davis International Center to remember Abou Najm and honor his legacy of mentorship and academic achievement. He was 20 years old when he was attacked while riding his bicycle home through Sycamore Park. Police said he was repeatedly stabbed and had died at the scene. Abou Najm was among the three victims in Davis who were brutally stabbed by an assailant over a span of five days. David Henry Breaux, 50, a local fixture known as the Compassion Guy, was the first victim and was killed in a similar attack. A third victim, Kimberlee Guillory, was inside her tent at a homeless encampment when an assailant stabbed her repeatedly. She survived. A week after the first stabbing, the Davis Police Department announced the arrest of 21-year-old Carlos Reales Dominguez, who had been a UC Davis student until April 25 when he was separated for academic reasons. Breauxs attack happened two days later. Hours before Fridays memorial, Reales Dominguez was formally charged with two counts of murder and one of attempted murder in connection with the stabbings. Authorities have not said what they believe was the motive behind the attacks, and theyre trying to determine whether Reales Dominguez was suffering from mental illness. Abou Najms mother said her son would often ask her why so many students struggled with psychological and mental illness? He also couldnt understand why those students came to him for advice and comfort. Its because her son was a great listener, and he knew what to say to make them feel better. Story continues Mental health is a national crisis, and we cannot turn our backs, Yehya told the mourners. I need to know what turns people into monsters. One day, they are just normal. And the other, they are source of grave danger. We need better research and interventions to prevent such horrific attacks, irrespective of the weapon used. The mother urged everyone to speak up when they notice someone else is struggling with mental health problems; direct them to helpful resources. She warned that ignoring the problem wont work. Nadine Yehya speaks while alongside Majdi Abou Najm during the Celebration of Life for their son, Karim Abou Najm, on Friday, May 5, 2023, at the UC Davis International Center on campus. Karim, a UC Davis senior, was fatally stabbed in Sycamore Park in Central Davis on April 29. Our pain is immense Abou Najm was born in Lebanon. He attended International College in Beirut before moving to the United States in 2018. He graduated from Davis High School in 2020 and was just six weeks from his UCD graduating with a bachelors degree in computer science. He worked on campus at Lee M. Millers Speech Neuroengineering and Cybernetics Laboratory. Miller said he served as Abou Najms mentor, research colleague and business partner. Miller said one of the lessons he learned from him was that impatience is a virtue when youre pursuing something important. Every goal he cared about, he wanted it to happen now. Karim moved fast. So fast, the rest of us could barely keep up with him, Miller said the memorial service. It seemed that he defied time itself, accomplishing more in a day than many of us do in a week. He already had two jobs lined up to start his career after college, including a startup company where he would work on developing technology for speech recognition for augmented reality glasses to display subtitles for those who are deaf or hearing impaired. His father, Majdi Abou Najm, an associate professor of soil biophysics at UC Davis, told the audience Friday that his family would forever be grateful to the extended Davis community for sharing their support int the days after his sons slaying. Our pain is immense, but today is not the time to share it, the father said. Today, we celebrate the life of an exceptional human being, Karim. A brilliant mind and a kind soul. UC Davis students, staff and community members visit a table to write messages for the family before a Celebration of Life for Karim Abou Najm on Friday, May 5, 2023, at the UC Davis International Center on campus. Najm, a UC Davis senior and son of a professor, was fatally stabbed in Sycamore Park in Davis. Memorial scholarship established In an interview with The Sacramento Bee two days after his death, the grieving father spoke about his sons mentorship to fellow students and the hopes he had for his future. He had lots of dreams, he said. He had a startup idea in mind. He wanted to connect scientists, students and academics to businesses and industry, and create some sort of a platform that connects us with each other. Several hours before he was attacked in the park, Abou Najm had been in a celebratory mood. His father said his son had been on campus earlier that Saturday presenting his research project on speech recognition technology. The young man even shared his joy on his LinkedIn page. Though it is just one of the research projects Ive worked on as a student here, and wont be my last publication with Lee M. Miller, it is the one closest to my heart, the young Abou Najm wrote in the LinkedIn post. My experiences working on devices that uplift the human experience and connect people through technology plays a major part in my passion for XRAI Glass, and my love of software. His father said Karim had been with friends before he decided to head home that night through a park trail he and his son used all the time. Its a park that many people go to and its supposed to be a safe place, he said on Monday. I think the entire community is shaken and I think we need to stand up together as a community, work together to make Davis a safer place for all of us. UC Davis has established a memorial fund in his honor, titled the Karim Majdi Abou Najm Memorial Undergraduate Student Research Award, which is intended to provide stipends to undergraduate students involved in research. Davis as a city or as a university, the entire community, lost a beautiful individual, his father told The Bee. Karim will be missed as a friend, as a mentor, as a positive element in this place. And I hope, with his departure, his memory will stay and will inspire others to follow his path. Andrii Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, has reported that 45 Ukrainian defenders have been brought back from Russian captivity. Source: Yermak on Telegram Quote: "They are 42 men and three women who defended Azovstal [the steelworks in Mariupol ed.]. All of them are fighters from a regiment of the National Guard that was founded nine years ago on the Azov Sea coast. 35 privates and sergeants, 10 officers. Among them are soldiers who got married during the defence of Mariupol, at Azovstal. There is also one soldier who was held captive by the Russians for two and a half years before the full-scale invasion, having been captured during the Shyrokyne operation. Later, he was released from captivity and immediately went back to the unit. He was captured again at Azovstal and is coming home today." Details: Russia, meanwhile, said it had brought back three pilots "following difficult negotiations". Update: Yermak was alluding to the Azov Regiment when he said that the freed prisoners were "fighters from a regiment of the National Guard that was founded nine years ago on the Azov Sea coast". Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets later added that "this unit celebrated its nine-year anniversary on 5 May". It was on 5 May 2014 that the Azov Regiment (then the Azov Battalion) was established in Berdiansk, being formally incorporated into the National Guard of Ukraine in November 2014. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Ukrainian officials announced Saturday that the nation's military took down a Russian hypersonic missile using American Patriot defense technology. The Kinzhal-type missile, reportedly fired over Kyiv, is the first one of its kind to be intercepted by Ukrainian defenses. "Yes, we shot down the unique Kinzhal," wrote Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk. RUSSIA BLAMES US FOR ALLEGED PUTIN DRONE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, WHITE HOUSE CALLS CLAIM LUDICROUS FILE - Patriot missile launchers acquired from the U.S. last year are seen deployed in Warsaw, Poland, on Feb. 6, 2023. He added, "It happened during the night time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region." The Kh-47 missile was reportedly fired by a Russian MiG-31K aircraft. It has a range of 1,250 miles and can fly at 10 times the speed of sound. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP NEWSPAPER USES VIDEO GAME TO SMUGGLE UKRAINE WAR TRUTHS TO RUSSIAN CITIZENS The Ukrainian military claims the ballistic projectile was intercepted by a Patriot missile. FILE - Members of US 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command stands next to a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery during the NATO multinational ground based air defence units exercise "Tobruq Legacy 2017" at the Siauliai airbase some 230 km. (144 miles) east of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 20, 2017. "They were saying that the Patriot is an outdated American weapon, and Russian weapons are the best in the world," said Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat. He continued, "Well, there is confirmation that it effectively works against even a super hypersonic missile." Ihnat said. The United States, Germany and the Netherlands have all contributed Patriot defense systems to the Ukrainian war effort. Ukraine received their first Patriot system last month. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukraine's air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow's most modern missiles. Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems. Yes, we shot down the unique Kinzhal, Oleshchuk wrote. It happened during the night-time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region. Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from Russian territory and was shot down with a Patriot missile. The Kinzhal is one of the latest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. A combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets, like underground bunkers or mountain tunnels. The Ukrainian military has previously admitted lacking assets to intercept the Kinzhals. They were saying that the Patriot is an outdated American weapon, and Russian weapons are the best in the world," Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Ukraine's Channel 24 television. "Well, there is confirmation that it effectively works against even a super-hypersonic missile. Ihnat said. He said successfully intercepting the Kinzhal was a slap in the face for Russia. Ukraine took its first delivery of the Patriot missiles in late April. It has not specified how many of the systems it has or where they have been deployed, but they are known to have been provided by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. Story continues Germany and the U.S. have acknowledged each sending at least one battery and the Netherlands has said it has provided two launchers, although it is not clear how many are currently in operation. Ukrainian troops have received the extensive training needed to be able to effectively locate a target with the systems, lock on with radar, and fire. Each battery requires up to 90 personnel to operate and maintain. Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the U.S. in August 2021, months before Russias full-scale invasion but seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula. He has described possessing the system as a dream but said he was told in the U.S. at the time that it was impossible. The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, according to analysts. At such a cost, it was widely thought that Ukraine would only use the Patriots against Russian aircraft or hypersonic missiles. In a Telegram post on Saturday, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraines Armed Forces, said he had thanked U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for the ongoing American aid to Ukraine. Zaluzhnyi said he also briefed Milley about the situation at the front and preparations for Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia. Ukraine has not said when it might launch the counteroffensive, but it is widely anticipated this spring. In an interview this week with Foreign Affairs magazine, Milley said he would not speculate on if or when it might come, but that with NATO assistance to help train and equip nine brigades' worth of combined arms, armor and mechanized infantry, the Ukrainians right now have the capability to attack. He also said that their capability to defend was significantly enhanced from what they were just a year ago. I dont want to suggest that they may or may not conduct an offensive operation in the coming weeks, he said. Thatll be up to them. Theyve got a significant amount of planning and coordination and all of that to do, if they were to do an offensive operation. But theyre prepared to do offense or defense. In other developments, officials in both Russia and Ukraine said they had carried out another of their regular exchanges of prisoners of war. The Russian Defense Ministry said it brought three military pilots back to Russia, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said 45 fighters who defended the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol had been returned to Ukraine. Also on Saturday, Ukraines Special Operations Forces accused Russia of using phosphorus munitions in its attempt to wrest control of the eastern city of Bakhmut from Ukrainian forces. Russian troops have been trying to take the city for more than nine months, but Ukrainian forces are still clinging to positions on the western outskirts. On Saturday, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper quoted military officials as saying that the enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut in an attempt to wipe the city off the face of the earth. A photo accompanying the newspaper report showed an urban area lit up with fire in multiple places. The allegations could not be independently verified. Russian forces have not commented on the claim but have rejected previous accusations from Ukraine that they had used phosphorus. International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus or other incendiary weapons munitions designed to set fire to objects or cause burn injuries in areas where there could be concentrations of civilians. White phosphorous can also be used for illumination or to create smoke screens. ___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine KYIV, Ukraine Ukraines air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot air defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscows most modern missiles. Mykola Oleshchuk, the head of Ukraines air command, said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used Patriot defense systems. Yes, we shot down the unique Kinzhal, Oleshchuk wrote. It happened during the night time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region. Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from the Russian territory and was shot down with a Patriot missile. The Kinzhal is one of the latest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 1,250 miles and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. A combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets, like underground bunkers or mountain tunnels. The Ukrainian military has previously admitted lacking assets to intercept the Kinzhals. They were saying that the Patriot is an outdated American weapon, and Russian weapons are the best in the world, air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Ukraines Channel 24 television. Well, there is confirmation that it effectively works against even a super hypersonic missile. Ihnat said. He said successfully intercepting the Kinzhal is a slap in the face for Russia. Marine vet killed in Ukraine, reportedly while evacuating civilians Ukraine took its first delivery of Patriot missiles in late April. It has not specified how many of the systems it has or where they have been deployed, but they are known to have been provided by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. Story continues Germany and the U.S. have acknowledged each sending at least one system and the Netherlands has said it has provided two though it is not clear how many are currently in operation. Ukrainian troops have received the extensive training needed to be able to effectively locate a target with the systems, lock on with radar and fire. Each battery requires up to 90 personnel to operate and maintain. U.S. soldiers with the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command stand next to a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery during the NATO exercise Tobruq Legacy 2017 at Siauliai airbase in Lithuania on July 20, 2017. (Mindaugas Kulbis/AP) Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the U.S. in August 2021, months before Russias full-scale invasion but seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula. He has described possessing the system as a dream but said he was told in the U.S. at the time that it was impossible. The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, according to analysts. At such a cost, it was widely thought that Ukraine would only use the Patriots against Russian aircraft or hypersonic missiles. In a Telegram post on Saturday, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraines armed forces, said he had thanked U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for the ongoing American aid to Ukraine. Zaluzhnyi said he also briefed Milley about the situation at the front and preparations for Ukraines counteroffensive against Russia. Ukraine has not said when it might launch the counteroffensive, but it is widely anticipated this spring. In an interview this week with Foreign Affairs magazine, Milley said he would not speculate on if or when it might come, but that with NATO assistance to help train and equip nine brigades worth of combined arms, armor and mechanized infantry, the Ukrainians right now have the capability to attack. He also said that their capability to defend was significantly enhanced from what they were just a year ago. I dont want to suggest that they may or may not conduct an offensive operation in the coming weeks, he said. Thatll be up to them. Theyve got a significant amount of planning and coordination and all of that to do, if they were to do an offensive operation. But theyre prepared to do offense or defense. In other developments, officials in both Russia and Ukraine said they had carried out another of their regular exchanges of prisoners of war. The Russian defense ministry said it brought three military pilots back to Russia, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said 45 fighters who defended the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol had been returned to Ukraine. Also on Saturday, Ukraines Special Operations Forces accused Russia of using phosphorous munitions in its attempt to wrest control of the eastern city of Bakhmut from Ukrainian forces. Ukrainians donate blood in Kyiv May 6. (Bernat Armangue/AP) Russian troops have been trying to take the city for more than nine months, but Ukrainian forces are still clinging to positions on the western edge of the city. On Saturday, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper quoted military officials as saying that the enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut in an attempt to wipe the city off the face of the earth. A photo accompanying the newspaper report showed an urban area lit up with fire in multiple places. The allegations could not be independently verified. Russian forces have not commented on the claim but have rejected previous accusations from Ukraine that they had used phosphorus. International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus or other incendiary weapons munitions designed to set fire to objects or cause burn injuries in areas where there could be concentrations of civilians. White phosphorous can also be used for illumination or to create smoke screens. (Bloomberg) -- Ukraines air force commander said the militarys air defense intercepted a hypersonic Kh-47 Kinzhal missile, one of Russias most modern weapons, fired during a night attack on May 4, with the aid of a US Patriot defense system. Most Read from Bloomberg A prominent pro-war Russian writer was injured, and his driver killed, when their SUV was destroyed by a car bomb hundreds of miles east of Moscow, not long after leaving the occupied territories of Ukraine. Two ballistic missiles launched by Ukraine were shot down, the Kremlin-installed governor of occupied Crimea said. Kyiv said 45 service members, including three women, captured in Mariupol last spring were returned in a prisoner exchange with Russia. Key Developments Binance Faces US Probe of Possible Russian Sanctions Violations Russian Pro-War Novelist Zakhar Prilepin Injured in Car Bombing Ukraine Says It Shot Down Russian Kinzhal Missile for First Time Russias Next Standoff With the West Is In the Oil-Rich Arctic (All times CET) Russian Su-35 Buzzed Patrol Plane, Romania Says (9:30 p.m.) A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet repeatedly conducted dangerous maneuvers around a Polish Border Guard plane over the Black Sea in international waters, causing turbulence that led to major difficulties in controlling the unarmed aircraft, according to Romanias defense ministry. The May 5 incident is further evidence of the provocative approach of the Russian Federation in the Black Sea, the ministry said in a statement. It called the Russian planes actions totally unacceptable. The Polish two-engine turboprop was on a patrol for Frontex, the European Unions border and coast guard agency, in cooperation with Romanian police. The crew landed it safely at a Romanian air base. No injuries were reported. Story continues Wagner Chief Seeks Exit From Bakhmut in Days (7:25 p.m.) Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin asked Russias Defense Ministry to order a handover of the mercenary groups positions in the long-embattled Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to Akhmat special forces by midnight May 10. In a letter dated Saturday to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Prigozhin blames a persistent munitions shortage for weakening Wagners fighting strength and says Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is ready to send in his fighters as replacements. Prigozhins press office posted an image of the letter on its Telegram channel. Prigozhin stood in a field of corpses in a video released this week, accusing Shoigu and Russian army chief Valery Gerasimov of failing to supply his troops in Ukraine with enough ammunition. Russia Says Two Ballistic Missiles Shot Down Over Crimea (4:46 p.m.) Russian air defenses shot down two ballistic missiles over occupied Crimea on Saturday, Tass reported, citing a Telegram post from Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to Sergey Aksyonov, the peninsulas Kremlin-installed governor. There was no detail on where the missiles were intercepted. The missiles were fired from Ukraines Grom-2 operational tactical missile system (OTRK), the officials said, adding that there had been no damage or injuries. Ukraine hasnt commented and the claim cant be independently verified. The Grom-2 is a short-range surface-to-surface missile system developed by Ukraine over the past decade. Ukraine Says 45 Soldiers Returned in Prisoner Swap (2:30 p.m.) Some 45 Ukrainian soldiers were returned in the latest prisoner exchange with Russia. The service members were part of the defense of Mariupol last spring, said Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukraines president. Yermak didnt elaborate on how many Russian POWs were exchanged. Three Russian pilots were returned from captivity in Ukraine, TASS reported, citing Russias defense ministry. It didnt say if the aviators were the only service members involved in the swap. Russian Pro-War Novelist Prilepin Injured in Car Bombing (11:34 a.m.) Russia novelist and journalist Zakhar Prilepin was injured and his driver killed when an explosive device detonated under their car in the Nizhny Novgorod region of central Russia, the TASS news agency reported citing emergency services. Prilepin, 47, is known to be a vocal support of Russias invasion of Ukraine. Hes been hospitalized; the extent of his injuries isnt yet known. The incident follows the bombing deaths of pro-war blogger Maxim Fomin, or Vladlen Tatarsky in a Saint Petersburg cafe in April, and Darya Dugina, daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, in August. Dugina was also killed by a car bomb. Ukraine Says It Intercepted Eight Loitering Drones (10:45 a.m.) Ukraine faced another Russian drone attack on Saturday, with all eight Iranian-made Shahed 136/131 UAVs launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov shot down, the militarys air defense said on Telegram. Russia Inflicts New Damage on Ukraines Power Grid (10:27 a.m.) Russia continues to target Ukraines energy infrastructure. Air strikes overnight battered a distribution network in the Sumy region of Ukraines northeast, where more than 1,500 consumers are facing a blackout, according to the government. Consumers in five regions either bordering Russia or close to current battlefield operations are experiencing blackouts, Ukraines energy ministry said. Those regions include Dnipropetrovsk region, where about 4,500 consumers have been cut off from power by shelling. Ukraine Shot Down a Russian Kinzhal Missile in Historic First (9:26 a.m.) Ukraines air defense shot down a Russian hypersonic Kh-47 Kinzhal missile on May 4 that had been fired by a MiG-31K fighter jet in Russian territory, Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram. It was the first official comment from Ukraine on the incident, discussion of which circulated widely on social media on Friday along with photos said to be of the missiles remains. Yes, we shot down the unique Dagger, Oleshchuk said. On April 26 Oleshchuk said Patriot air defense systems donated by the US and Western allies have been deployed in Ukraine with the goal of neutralizing Russian ballistic missile attacks. Leaked Documents Show Deep Rift Between Wagner, Russian Military: WaPost (8 a.m.) US intelligence files that were part of the trove allegedly leaked by a US National Guard airman show the deep tensions between Yevgeniy Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, and Russian military leadership, the Washington Post reported. As tensions festered, military leadership struggled to respond to Prigozhin, and defense ministry officials considered a public campaign to discredit Prigozhin through a proxy, the newspaper said. They were ultimately unsure how the MoD could successfully fight an information war with Prigozhin if the Russian government did not forbid Prigozhin from making public releases, the Post reported. Five Injured in Guided Bomb Attack in Sumy Region (7:30 a.m.) At least five people were injured when two guided bombs launched from a Russian Su-35 jet struck Hlukhiv in the Sumy region of Ukraines northeast late on Friday, the northern operational command reported. Dozens of homes and a school were among the buildings damaged. Separately, three people people were killed by Russian attacks on Avdiivka and two in other cities in the Donetsk region over the past day, according to governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. Russia Could Face Protests on Victory Day, UK Says (7 a.m.) The potential for protests and discontent over the war in Ukraine are likely to have influenced the calculus of Russian leadership in scrapping May 9 Victory Day parades in some regions and scaling back celebrations in others, including the capital, the UK defense ministry said. Moscows Victory Day celebration is likely to go ahead but on a smaller scale. Russian President Vladimir Putins reception following the parade (last held in 2019) will not go ahead, the ministry said in a Twitter thread. Binance Faces Probe of Possible Sanctions Violations (4 a.m.) The Justice Department is investigating whether Binance Holdings Ltd. was used illegally to let Russians skirt US sanctions and move money through the worlds biggest cryptocurrency exchange, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry by the Justice Departments national security division is looking at whether Binance or company officials ran afoul of sanctions related to Russias invasion of Ukraine, according to five people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing a confidential investigation. Zelenskiy Meets BlackRock Executives in Kyiv (9:29 p.m.) Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met in Kyiv with executives of BlackRock Inc. including Philipp Hildebrand, vice chairman and member of the asset management firms global executive committee. BlackRock Financial Market Advisory will provide services for the fund, according to an emailed statement from Zelenskiys office. The fund will seek private and public capital for projects in Ukraine after active hostilities end. We can offer interesting projects for investments in energy, agriculture, logistics, infrastructure, IT and many other sectors, Zelenskiy said. We want global partners, who can provide us with large investments to come. Read more: NATO Drills Sharpen Submarine-Hunt Skills in Russias Backyard Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Ukraine released an upbeat video to congratulate Britains King Charles III and Queen Camilla during their historic coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, where world leaders gathered to witness the once-in-a-generation royal event. The video released by Ukraines defence ministry was edited to the tune of London Calling by The Clash, and showed British weaponry deployed to the Ukrainian frontline and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky meeting King Charles and British prime minister Rishi Sunak, Labour leader Keir Starmer and former prime minister Boris Johnson. "On the eve of the historic coronation, wed like to thank our British friends for your friendship. We are grateful for your unwavering support and partnership, especially in the past year!" the defence ministry said on Twitter. First lady of Ukraine Olena Zelensky and prime minister Denys Shmyhal are already in London this week to celebrate the coronation of King Charles. Charles, who became King after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in September last year, has now taken the coronation oath, becoming the first monarch to pray aloud in front of a coronation congregation. The King asked that his reign be a blessing to people of every faith and conviction in his prayer. The King and the Queen were crowned in front of a 2,200-strong congregation including world leaders and dignitaries, with US first lady Jill Biden, Chinese vice president Han Zheng, Canadas Justin Trudeau, French president Emmanuel Macron and many others among them. On the eve of the historic coronation, we'd like to thank our British friends for your friendship. We are grateful for your unwavering support and partnership, especially in the past year! pic.twitter.com/bJgg4Qfsr5 Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 5, 2023 Chinas president Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to King Charles and Queen Camilla to mark their coronation, according to Chinese state media. Story continues Mr Xi told Charles that China is willing to expand cooperation and cultural exchanges with the UK and that the two countries should "jointly promote peace and cooperation". His comments reflect Mr Xis efforts in recent months to present himself as a potential peace-broker in the ongoing Ukraine conflict. Mr Xi claims China to be neutral in regards to the war, despite enjoying a much closer working relationship with Russias Vladimir Putin. US president Joe Biden, who did not attend the coronation, congratulated Charles through a tweet, calling it a historic occasion. Congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation. The enduring friendship between the US and the UK is a source of strength for both our peoples. I am proud the first lady is representing the United States for this historic occasion, he said. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, who is in Britain to attend the coronation, shared a number of pictures from London including a post on Friday night showing preparations in full swing in London this evening at Buckingham Palace. Coronation preparations in full swing in London this evening at Buckingham Palace. pic.twitter.com/9Ma9QIxZO1 Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 5, 2023 European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who was received by the King at Windsor Castle, said it was a heart-warming occasion. It is an honour to be in London to meet King Charles III on the eve of his Coronation. Heart-warming to see so many nations gathering together in celebration today! she said. The EU counts on the unwavering friendship with the United Kingdom and its new King. On Saturday, King Charles became the 40th sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, the nations coronation church since 1066. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edwards Crown on his head, a historic moment watched around the globe. Ukrainian military The provision of multi-role fighters F-16 would not significantly affect the offensive operation which is being planned. However, the logic of our partners is clear: let's talk about todays priorities. What are those priorities? The first is strengthening the air defense system. Aviation is also a component of the air defense system, of course. But, let's think logically: adding new aircraft will not close the gaps in the air defense system fast enough. Therefore, we do what we can to find the opportunities that exist right now. What is an air defense system? It is the complex of defensive weaponry that fills different roles to protect from air threats, including long-range and modern systems such as Patriot or SAMP/T, aviation (even old MiG-29s), and large-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns for use against unmanned aerial vehicles such as Shahed-136. What new tools are needed to fill existing gaps? The immediate task is to deploy the long-range modern systems such as Patriot and SAMP/T and immediately have them active on combat duty. As far as I understand from their tactical and technical characteristics, their developers claim they can intercept ballistic missiles. They would therefore be needed to intercept ballistic missiles like the Iskander. Unfortunately, we do not presently have tools that can work on them. These systems can shoot down supersonic cruise missiles, such as the X-22 - they fly very fast, and our systems do not detect them in time. Western air defense systems can operate against modern Russian aircraft such as the Su-34 and Su-35. The Russians have largely held off on deploying them for fear of losses, but that has changed recently: with their help, they hit Ukrainian objects - both military and civilian infrastructure. So we need countermeasures against them asap. Regarding missiles, we need the higher-tech SAMP/T and Patriots, which can strike at a long distance and intercept ballistic missiles. But, we also need to look for as many S-300 missiles as possible as soon as possible, which are the backbone of the Ukrainian air defense system. Story continues So these are the two most urgent issues regarding protecting Ukraines skies. They provide defense for not only large cities, but also cover offensive operations. If you have gaps in the air defense system, your supply lines to the troops are vulnerable. Aviation is a question for tomorrow. But, to solve it tomorrow, we must talk about it today. It's a very long story. So long that even experts are arguing among themselves. But the Americans claim that high-quality pilot training for the F-16 will take 18 months. Let it be less than a year. They cannot be placed on our existing airfield runways for technical reasons and because of the high risk of injury. Therefore, to protect these planes from missile fire and possible sabotage, it is necessary to prepare the infrastructure for them. We must build or upgrade specific runways, hangars s, and airfields. How long will it take? I dont know. I'm sure this issue is under consideration, but in any case, I don't think there is a clear time frame that we will do it in three to five months. This is a crucial, complex issue. And no one is working towards a direct solution, because there is no political solution. This question doesnt affect today's problems, today's offensive, or today's defense of the sky. It's a matter of perspective. On the other hand, there are indeed some political concerns. For example, suppose you allocate such a costly, complex, precious thing as airplanes to Ukraine. In that case, you should be completely positive that it will be accepted by the country's population that provides these airplanes. Because they can ask a natural question: "We have a lot of problems, but you are throwing billions of dollars to transfer jets to Ukrainians." They should be absolutely sure that the Ukrainian military will quickly master these platforms and will have the necessary infrastructure to support them. But there is another political issue. Some countries are delaying aid deliveries due to fears of so-called escalation. These questions are unrelated. If the offensive actions of the Armed Forces are effective, then this, from a psychological point of view, will facilitate the process of providing Ukraine with aviation. However, today, from the point of view of almost all countries, this issue is not a priority. And they do not consider it necessary to be distracted by it when there are more urgent needs. So it's a parallel track to what is immediately happening, but it will take some time. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's visit to Kyiv would have been more powerful if it had taken place earlier. The person who heads what claims to be the most critical player in the European security system only found the time to visit Kyiv when the war had already been going on for more than a year. As for me, this is at least surprising. I speak frankly and as delicately as possible. I think it was necessary not only to provide Ukraine with certain political and information support, but also to discuss directly with the Ukrainian leadership the issues that may be raised at the next NATO summit. It is not a secret for anyone (from the president to the minister of foreign affairs) that Ukraine expects NATO to invite Ukraine to its Alliance officially. Everyone is waiting for it. However, if we analyze the speeches of specific politicians, especially the heads of NATO states, NATO is not yet ready to take any drastic steps. I understand they were simply looking for a formula that would satisfy everyone - both Ukraine in its expectations and NATO, which today doesnt want and cant take drastic steps. Stoltenberg is conservative with language; he is constantly looking for a new delicate formula that means some half-step forward but doesnt contain any significant substantive content. So I don't think there will be any breakthrough solutions. I think there will be some formula that will allow Ukraine to get a little closer to NATO. Will there be an invitation? Maybe. But in what form will it be done? This is theoretically possible because it will be a political step that sends an important signal to Ukraine and its people, as well as a signal to Russia. Perhaps it will psychologically impact those countries that still dont see Ukraine in NATO. On the other hand, it is possible to say with a hundred percent guarantee that no specific dates will be discussed. They will invent a new formula: "We opened not only the doors, but also the windows." Of course, I'm joking, but they will invent something like this as political messaging. Now they are working hard on how to neither offend nor scare anyone. So there will be some further cooperation of Ukraine with NATO, but no significant changes. In fact, not only for me but for many politicians, regardless of their position about Ukraine, Russia, or NATO, the position of NATO during this war was not a disappointment, but rather a surprise. As an institution in Europe, NATO has not played much of a role in the war. Yes, our Western partners provide us with aid, but it is not about the aid of NATO as a whole but from its member countries and not necessarily connected to anything to do with NATO itself. The Rammstein format turned out to be a substitute for NATO in a way. Rammstein was probably created because NATO did not want to take direct responsibility. So it was created outside of NATO from the very beginning. What is happening now is an excellent chance for renewal. I think this war is precisely the push for NATO that it must change. But, apparently, NATO still doesn't quite understand how to change. And precisely the problems that arose in Finland and still exist in Sweden regarding inclusion in NATO are a confirmation that NATO is weak as a tool for persuading even its own members. This is about, more than anything else, Hungary and Turkey. If a NATO country is interested, especially now, in a significant effective expansion and is met with resistance from even a single participant, it creates a crisis in NATO. This crisis, unfortunately, is still ongoing. It may be resolved with new leadership. Stoltenberg is, after all, leaving his post. But so far, it is surprisingly difficult to talk about the important, key, systemic role of NATO in the collective security system. 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 In response to the restrictions introduced by Moldova against Ukrainian agricultural exports, the government is preparing a resolution banning Moldovan imports. Source: Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Trade Representative of Ukraine told this to a correspondent of European Pravda. Quote: "We have informed Chisinau that any restriction on the part of Moldova will be considered an extremely unfriendly step and will entail an immediate ban on all imports from Moldova," the official said. Details: According to him, the introduction of such a ban has already been agreed, and preparations are underway. Reminder: On Saturday, 6 May, the Moldovan Ministry of Agriculture announced plans to join the EU decision to introduce a temporary ban on importing wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine while allowing their transit. According to reports, Minister of Agriculture of Moldova Volodymyr Bolia personally informed his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Solskyi about this decision. According to him, there is a significant amount of grain in Moldovan warehouses, and this causes farmers to fear that they will not have enough space for the new harvest. According to the State Statistics Service, in 2022, the value of imports from Moldova to Ukraine amounted to $151 million. In particular, Ukraine imported from Moldova fuel ($28 million), wine ($16 million), tannin extracts ($15 million), vegetables and processed vegetables ($16 million), nuts ($15 million), as well as ferrous metals ($10 million). On 2 May, the European Commission banned importing a number of goods from Ukraine to five EU countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, while preserving their right to transit. The ban will be in effect until 5 June, but an extension is possible. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! The UN has said the situation around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear station has become potentially dangerous as Moscow-installed officials began evacuating people from nearby areas. The head of the UNs nuclear power watchdog called for measures to ensure the safe operation of Europes largest nuclear plant as evacuations were underway in the nearby town of Enerhodar. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on the agencys website: The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous. "I'm extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant. We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment." Grossi said that while the operating staff of the plant remains at the site, the conditions for the personnel and their families are "increasingly tense". While the reports could not be independently verified, the Russian-installed governor of the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday that he had ordered the evacuation of villages close to the front line as shelling had intensified in the area in recent days. Key Points UN nuclear watchdog warns of new dangers around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Kyiv claims to have downed powerful hypersonic missile for first time Ukraine says Wagner group preparing for final Bakhmut push Russian mercenary chief Prigozhin says his forces will leave Bakhmut next week Moscows Victory Day celebration to be muted, British intelligence says Kherson prepares for curfew after Russian bomb attacks Gas pipeline, power lines damaged in Ukraine attacks on Russia's Belgorod - governor 07:55 , Tara Cobham Overnight Ukrainian shelling of the Belgorod region on Russia's border with Ukraine damaged a gas pipeline and power lines as well as a house in the village of Spodaryushino, the region's governor said on Sunday. Story continues "Most importantly, there were no casualties," Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The report could not be independently verified. The Belgorod region is one of several in southern Russia where targets such as fuel and ammunition stores have been rocked by explosions since the start of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, but it has said recently that destroying infrastructure is preparation for its planned ground assault. UN nuclear watchdog warns of new dangers around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant 06:00 , Adam Withnall The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has warned that the situation around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear station had become increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous, calling for measures to ensure its safe operation. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, issued the warning in view of what he said were evacuations under way in the nearby town of Enerhodar, ordered by the local Russian-installed governor. The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous, Grossi said on the agencys website. Im extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant. We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment. Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant days after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of his neighbour in February 2022. Exchanges of fire have frequently occurred near the facility, with each side blaming the other. Grossi visited the Zaporizhzhia station, Europes largest nuclear power installation, in March, as part of efforts to speak to both sides to secure an agreement on safeguards to ensure the plants safe operation. He has repeatedly warned of the dangers of military operations around the plant. Russia last September proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, including Zaporizhzhia region. The plant is located in the part of that region under Russian control, with many of the staff operating it living in Enerhodar on the south bank of the Dnipro River. Yevgeny Balitsky, Russian-installed governor of the Russia-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia region, said on Friday he had ordered the evacuation of villages close to the frontline with Ukrainian forces there. He said Ukrainian shelling had intensified in the area in recent days. A widely expected Ukrainian spring counteroffensive against Russian forces is viewed as likely to take in the Zaporizhzhia region, around 80 per cent of which is held by Moscow. Ukraine bombards Crimea targets' ahead of counteroffensive 04:50 , Adam Withnall Ukraine launched more than 10 drones overnight on the Crimean Peninsula, including three on the port of Sevastopol, a Russian-installed official said early on Sunday, adding that air defence systems repelled all the attacks on Sevastopol. No objects (in Sevastopol) were damaged, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said on the Telegram messaging app. There were no immediate details of any damage from the strikes elsewhere on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Baza, a Telegram channel with links to Russias law enforcement agencies, reported earlier on Sunday that according to the channels preliminary information, there were no casualties in what it said was a series of attacks on Crimea. According to Ukrainian monitoring of Telegram channels, explosions took place in Sevastopol and Saki - where Russia has an air base - as well as a few other places. Strikes on Russian-held targets have intensified in the past two weeks, especially in Crimea. Ukraine, without confirming any role in those attacks, says destroying infrastructure is preparation for its long-awaited counterattack. The happy coincidence nod to Ukraine at Kings coronation 03:00 , Martha Mchardy The carpets at Westminster Abbey, upon which King Charles and Queen Camilla were crowned on Saturday 6 May, resembled the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine. After months of preparations and anticipation, the United Kingdom has crowned its new king and queen. Photos and videos showed that the carpets inside the royal church were blue and yellow, resembling the colours of the Ukrainian flag. Maanya Sachdeva reports: The happy coincidence nod to Ukraine at Kings coronation Firefighter tells of humbling experience delivering equipment for Ukraine 02:00 , Martha Mchardy A firefighter who was part of a convoy of fire engines and lorries delivering life-saving equipment for Ukraine has described the experience as very humbling after reaching Poland. The timing of the shipment is meant to honour the Eurovision link between Ukraine and the UK, with the vehicles leaving Liverpool on Tuesday, the city which will host the competition later this month. Darren Cleaves, station manager for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, was in Poland to help deliver fire engines as well as life-saving equipment for Ukrainian firefighters. Sarah Ping reports: Firefighter tells of humbling experience delivering equipment for Ukraine What is Wagners role in Ukraine? 01:00 , Martha Mchardy Wagner has taken an increasingly visible role in the war in Ukraine as regular Russian troops have suffered heavy attrition and lost control over territory in humiliating setbacks. Prigozhin claimed full credit in January for capturing the Donetsk region salt-mining town of Soledar and accused the Russian Defense Ministry of trying to steal Wagners glory. He has repeatedly complained that the Russian military failed to supply Wagner with sufficient ammunition to capture Bakhmut, the reason he cited Friday for his withdrawal threat. Wagner group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Prigozhin has toured Russian prisons to recruit fighters, promising inmates pardons if they survived a half-year tour of front-line duty with Wagner. The U.S. estimates Wagner has about 50,000 personnel fighting in Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 of the convicts the company enlisted. A U.S. official says nearly half of the 20,000 Russian forces killed in Ukraine since December have been Wagners troops in Bakhmut. The U.S. assesses that Wagner is spending about $100 million a month in the fight and has taken delivery of weapons from North Korea, including rockets and missiles. Ukraine claims to have shot down Russian hypersonic missile in slap in face for Putin Sunday 7 May 2023 00:00 , Martha Mchardy Ukraines air force has claimed to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly-acquired American Patriot defence systems the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscows most modern missiles. Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defence systems. It comes as Kyiv accused Moscow of using phosphorus munitions in the eastern city of Bakhmut. Drone footage released by the Ukrainian military shows parts of the city the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the war ablaze as what is alleged to be white phosphorus rains down. David Rising reports: Ukraine says it has shot down Russian hypersonic missile in slap in face for Putin Russia's Prigozhin says no further offensive in Bakhmut possible without ammunition Saturday 6 May 2023 23:38 , Martha Mchardy The head of Russias mercenary Wagner Group said on Saturday that he had still not received additional ammunition from Moscow ahead of the expected withdrawal of his forces from Bakhmut because of heavy losses and inadequate supplies. As of today, no one has come to replenish ammunition, to provide it in the necessary volume, Prigozhin said in an audio message posted on the Telegram channel of his press service. There can be no offensive without a counter-battery fight, without defeating the enemys means. Wagner forces, he said, had no ammunition and could not pursue any further offensives near the city, under Russian siege for some 10 months. Because I will lead more men to certain death. On the 10th (of May), we will start withdrawing units, he said. He added that his forces have taken 95% of Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that had a population of more than 70,000 before the war. Prigozhin has, however, prematurely claimed successes before. Reuters was not able to independently verify the claim. The remaining 5% plays no role in the so-called development of success and the Red Armys march to the West, he said. Ukraine leads world reaction to King Charles IIIs coronation Saturday 6 May 2023 23:00 , Martha Mchardy Ukraine released an upbeat video to congratulate Britains King Charles III and Queen Camilla during their historic coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, where world leaders gathered to witness the once-in-a-generation royal event. The video released by Ukraines defence ministry was edited to the tune of London Calling by The Clash, and showed British weaponry deployed to the Ukrainian frontline and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky meeting King Charles and British prime minister Rishi Sunak, Labour leader Keir Starmer and former prime minister Boris Johnson. On the eve of the historic coronation, wed like to thank our British friends for your friendship. We are grateful for your unwavering support and partnership, especially in the past year! the defence ministry said on Twitter. Shweta Sharma reports: Ukraine leads world reaction to King Charless coronation Pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin wounded by car bomb Saturday 6 May 2023 22:00 , Martha Mchardy A prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, has been wounded in a car bombing that killed his driver an attack that Russia immediately blamed on Ukraine and the West. The state Investigative Committee said the writers Audi Q7 was blown up in a village in the Nizny Novgorod region, about 250 miles (400km) east of Moscow, which it was treating as an act of terrorism. It said Prilepin had been taken to hospital. The committee released a photograph showing the white vehicle lying overturned on a track next to a wood, with a deep crater beside it and fragments of metal strewn nearby. Mark Trevelyan reports: Pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin wounded by car bomb Watch: CCTV captures moment Ukraine ammunition depot explodes Saturday 6 May 2023 21:30 , Martha Mchardy What are white phosphorus bombs? Saturday 6 May 2023 21:00 , Martha Mchardy Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut with phosphorus munitions. Drone footage released by the UKrainian military, shows parts of the city the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the war ablaze as what is alleged to be white phosphorus rains down. While white phosphorus weapons are not banned in their entirety, but their use in civilian areas is considered a war crime. Writing on Twitter, Ukraines defence ministry said the phosphorus attack targeted unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition although it is unclear exactly when the alleged attack took place. Joe Sommerlad reports: All we know about deadly white phosphorus bombs Russia accused of using in Ukraine Watch: Ukraine accuses Russia of using phosphorus munitions in Bakhmut Saturday 6 May 2023 20:45 , Martha Mchardy Air raid alerts issued for most of eastern Ukraine Saturday 6 May 2023 20:38 , Martha Mchardy Ukrainian officials issued air raid alerts on Saturday evening for areas covering roughly two-thirds of the country. The alerts extended from the capital Kyiv and regions to the west of it through all regions in the east as well as south to Kherson region and Russian-annexed Crimea. Ukraine raises hundreds of millions of dollars for counteroffensive Saturday 6 May 2023 20:36 , Martha Mchardy Hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised by Ukraine for a spring counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory. Ukraine has reportedly raised $325 million dollars to spend on drones for the counteroffensive through crowdfunding from 110 countries. The project aims to launch 60 companies to produce attack drones, according to reports. Preparation for the counteroffensive has also involved training 10,000 drone pilots. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraines deputy prime minister and minister for innovation, said: We have recently completed the first part of the UAV pilot training project; 10,000 pilots have been trained during this time.That is, the Drone Army is about the comprehensive development of the UAV sector, both from the point of view of production and from the point of view of their use. Wagner chief claims of limited munitions after Bakhmut withdrawal could be legitimate, according to leaked documents Saturday 6 May 2023 20:30 , Martha Mchardy The head of the Russian private military company Wagners claim that limited munitions which lead to his withdrawal from Bakhmut could be legitimate, according to leaked documents. Prigozhin said on Friday that his troops will leave the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, citing a lack of ammunition supplies that he blamed on Russias military command. The documents, leaked on Discord said military officials could not decisively say whether Wagner was receiving munitions because they were not directly distributed by the Russian defence ministry, according to The Washington Post. The documents also noted that Prigozhins claims could be legitimate. Deputy Minister of Defence Gerasimov reportedly ordered to stop munitions supplies and also planned military transport flights, which were set to transport munitions to Wagners headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, the documents state. However, as Prigozhin public statements escalated the Defence Ministry proposed doubling the munitions supply to Wagner, and in February the ministry said Prigozhin claims about munitions were untrue. The Wagner chief responded to this by posting pictures of the dead soldiers and a request for munitions directly to Gerasimov. The documents reportedly indicate that Prigozhin was called to a meeting with president Putin as a result of this. The meeting almost certainly concerned, at least in part, Prigozhins public accusations and resulting tension with Shoygu, one document said. Russian forces claim to have destroyed two British-made howitzers in Donetsk Saturday 6 May 2023 20:26 , Martha Mchardy Russian forces have claimed to have destroyed two British-made howitzers used by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk. Russian military spokesman Alexander Gordeyev said a Lancet loitering munition destroyed an enemys UK-made L119 howitzer in the area of Shevchenko. The Lancet loitering munition has a range of us to 25 miles and is one of Russias most sophisticated weapons. Leaked files show tension between Russian military and Wagner chief Saturday 6 May 2023 20:00 , Martha Mchardy Leaked files show tensions between the Russian military and the head of the private Russian military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The documents, allegedly leaked on Discord, indicate that the Russian military leadership struggled to respond to Prigozhins public statements, The Washington Post reports. One document stated: The officials initially noted that, if the MoD was going to try to counter Prigozhins public statements, they should find allies of equal status to fight Prigozhin rather than doing so itself. However, they were ultimately unsure how the MoD could successfully fight an information war with Prigozhin if the Russian government did not forbid Prigozhin from making public releases, according to The Washington Post. Prigozhin personally appealed to president Putin to intervene. Russian foreign ministry says Ukraine and West responsible for attack on writer Saturday 6 May 2023 19:56 , Martha Mchardy Russias Foreign Ministry on Saturday said Ukraine and Western countries backing it were responsible for a car bombing that injured a Russian writer and killed his driver. A ministry statement, quoted by Russian news agencies, said: Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with Ukrainian authorities, but also their Western patrons, the United States in the first instance.... The statement said Washingtons failure to denounce this and other attacks was self-revealing for the U.S. administration. Ukraines security service will not confirm or deny involvement in Russia attack Saturday 6 May 2023 19:56 , Martha Mchardy Ukraines SBU security service told the state Ukrinform news agency on Saturday it could not confirm or deny involvement in a car bombing that injured a Russian writer or other attacks. Officially, we cannot confirm or deny the SBUs involvement in this or other explosions which occur with the occupiers or their henchmen, Ukrinform quoted the agency as saying. Russia says bomber who injured novelist acted for Ukraine Saturday 6 May 2023 19:55 , Martha Mchardy Russias top investigative agency on Saturday said the suspect in a car bombing that injured a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist and killed his driver has admitted acting at the behest of Ukraines special services. The blast that hit the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of Russias war in Ukraine, was the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the conflict. Russias Investigative Committee said the suspect was a Ukrainian native and had admitted under questioning that he was working under orders from Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry in turn blamed not only Ukraine but the United States as well.Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with the Ukrainian authorities, but with their Western patrons, in the first place, the United States, who since the coup detat of February 2014 have painstakingly nurtured the anti-Russian neo-Nazi project in Ukraine, the ministry said, referring to the 2014 uprising in Kyiv that forced the Russia-friendly president to flee. In August 2022, a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as Putins brain. The authorities alleged that Ukraine was behind the blast. Last month, an explosion in a cafe in St. Petersburg killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. Officials once again blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies. Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Prilepin was travelling back to Moscow on Saturday from Ukraines partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and stopped in the Nizhny Novogorod region for a meal. Who is writer Zakhar Prilepin - target of car bomb in Russia? Saturday 6 May 2023 19:30 , Martha Mchardy Zakhar Prilepin, 47, is the author of six novels, often focusing on dark themes. His debut novel The Pathologies told the story of young soldiers in the Chechen wars. He has also written numerous poems, essays and articles, and is the recipient of various state awards including a 2021 arts prize from the defence ministry. He is an outspoken pro-war figure on social media, with around 300,000 subscribers each to his Telegram and YouTube channels. Russia Novelist Zakhar Prilepin (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) For years, he has organised Russian proxy fighters in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, boasting in a 2019 YouTube interview that his unit killed people in big numbers. The extent of his direct combat involvement is not clear. Mr Prilepin has been politically active as the co-chair of the A Just Russia - For Truth party. Last year he took a prominent role in creating GRAD, a parliamentary group that seeks to identify cultural figures with anti-Russian views and persuade the state and business to stop funding them. GRADs initials stand for Group to investigate anti-Russian activity in the cultural sphere. Grad is also the Russian word for hail, and the name of a missile system. Since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, he has been sanctioned by Switzerland, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the European Union Watch: Moment malfunctioning Ukrainian drone shot down over Kyiv Saturday 6 May 2023 19:00 , Martha Mchardy Six Ukrainian explosives experts killed in shelling Saturday 6 May 2023 18:47 , Martha Mchardy Russian shelling killed six Ukrainian explosives experts engaged in demining operations in the southern Kherson region, the Ukrainian emergency services said on Saturday. The emergency services, in a report on Telegram, said two other members of the demining team were injured, along with a female nurse, and were being treated in hospital. In pictures: Zelensky attends Infantry Day ceremony in Kyiv Saturday 6 May 2023 18:30 , Martha Mchardy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky taking part in a ceremony marking the Infantry Day in Kyiv (Ukrainian Presidential Press Ser) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarding a serviceman during a ceremony marking the Infantry Day in Kyiv (Ukrainian Presidential Press Ser) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a ceremony marking the Infantry Day in Kyiv (Ukrainian Presidential Press Ser) Pictures show damage after car bomb wounds Russian pro-war writer and kills driver Saturday 6 May 2023 18:01 , Martha Mchardy A view shows a damaged white Audi Q7 car lying overturned on a track next to a wood, after Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin was allegedly wounded in a bomb attack in a village in the Nizhny Novgorod region (REUTERS) (REUTERS) (REUTERS) (REUTERS) Wagner paramilitary leader says he will hand over Bakhmut positions to Chechen leaders forces after withdrawal Saturday 6 May 2023 18:00 , Martha Mchardy Head of the private Russian military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has claimed that he will hand over Bakhmut positions to the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrovs forces on May 10. In a statement posted on the Telegram app on Saturday, Prigozhin said: I thank Ramzan Akhmatovich for agreeing to take our positions in Bakhmut and having, most likely, the opportunity to obtain everything necessary and all the needed resources. Yevgeny Prigozhin (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) I am already contacting his representatives in order to start transferring positions immediately, so that on May 10, at 00.00, exactly at the moment when, according to our calculations, we will completely exhaust our combat potential, our comrades will take our places and continue the assault of Bakhmut. It comes after Prigozhin said on Friday that his troops will leave the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, citing a lack of ammunition supplies that he blamed on Russias military command. 45 prisoners of war returned to Ukraine - presidential office Saturday 6 May 2023 17:24 , Martha Mchardy Forty-five prisoners of war have returned to Ukraine, the head of Ukraines presidential office, Andriy Yermak said on Saturday. In a message posted on the Telegram app, Mr Yermak said: Great news today. We are returning home 45 our people. 42 men and 3 women defenders of Azovstal. Mr Yermaks message confirmed 35 privates and sergeants, plus 10 officers had been released, including those who defended the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. The message did not include details about how Ukraine secured the prisoners release. Suspect arrested after car bomb wounds Russian pro-war writer and kills driver Saturday 6 May 2023 16:52 , Martha Mchardy A suspect has been arrested after a car bomb wounded a prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin and killed his driver on Saturday, the Russian interior ministry has said. The state Investigative Committee said the writers Audi Q7 was blown up in a village in the Nizny Novgorod region, about 400 km (250 miles) east of Moscow, which it was treating as an act of terrorism. It said Prilepin had been taken to hospital. Russia has blamed the attack on Ukraine and the West. State news agency TASS quoted security sources as saying the suspect was a native of Ukraine with a past conviction for robbery with violence. Interfax news agency quoted a source in the emergency services as saying Prilepins condition was serious and doctors would operate on him. Mr Prilepin is the third prominent pro-war figure to be targeted by a bomb since Moscows full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the deaths of journalist Darya Dugina and war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in the two previous attacks, and Kyiv has denied involvement. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak posted a cryptic comment on Twitter about Saturdays incident, appearing to suggest it was the result of Russian infighting. Ukraine hails return of 45 Azov fighters as Russia says 3 pilots released Saturday 6 May 2023 16:11 , Martha Mchardy Ukraine hailed the return of 45 Azov battalion fighters captured during the battle for Mariupol while Russia said three of its pilots had been released by Kyiv, but neither side gave a full account of the apparent prisoner swap. The freed Ukrainian prisoners included 42 men and three women from the Azov battalion, said Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiys office. Azov battalion fighters, who did much of the fighting in the failed defence of the port city of Mariupol, have been lionized as heroes by many Ukrainians but are widely vilified in Russia. Excellent news on this sunny day. We are returning home 45 of our people. Thirty-five privates and sergeants, 10 officers, Yermak said on the telegram app in a post that did not mention the release of Russian prisoners. The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that three pilots had been returned and were being provided with medical and psychological assistance. As a result of a difficult negotiation process, three Russian pilots of the Russian Aerospace Forces, who had been in mortal danger while in captivity, were returned from Kyiv-controlled territory, said the statement, which did not mention the 45 Ukrainian prisoners. There were no reports on Russian state media of additional Russian prisoner releases. Ukraines military intelligence agency, which coordinates prisoner exchanges with Russia, did not immediately respond to a request for more details. Moscow and Kyiv have agreed on a number of prisoner exchanges since Russias full-scale invasion in February last year. Russia says it launched its special military operation to counter a threat from Kyivs relations with the West, while Ukraine and its Western partners say it was an unprovoked land grab. Saturday 6 May 2023 15:00 , Katy Clifton Russia is still not satisfied with how the issue of Russian agricultural exports as part of the Black Sea grain deal is being resolved, TASS news agency quoted deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin as saying after the latest talks with a top UN official. We are still not satisfied with the progress. This is very important for us, Mr Vershinin said. He was speaking after talks in Moscow with the United Nations top trade official Rebeca Grynspan, TASS said. Earlier today, Kremlin said that president Vladimir Putin had not yet responded to proposals from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on how to extend and improve the deal, which allows the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain. Afternoon recap Saturday 6 May 2023 14:15 , Matt Mathers Wagner Group Russias main mercenary group announced plans on Friday to withdraw from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but Ukraine said the fighters were reinforcing positions to try to seize it before Russia marks World War Two Victory Day next week. Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin published an expletive-ridden video on Friday personally blaming top defence chiefs for losses suffered by his fighters. Prigozhins extraordinary announcement looks like an exercise in blame avoidance and disinformation, Russia specialists and military analysts say. Russia says it struck 170 targets in last 24 hours in 150 locations Saturday 6 May 2023 13:57 , Chris Stevenson Russias defence ministry spokesperson said its forces have launched artillery strikes at 170 enemy targets in the past 24 hours across 150 locations, reported Sputnik News. In the Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on more than 170 targets within one day, including with the use of over 150 artillery units in areas where enemy manpower and firepower were concentrated, the spokesperson said. It said that 20 artillery positions and more than 10 mortar crews were discovered and neutralised. The strikes also destroyed High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS)-type rockets, Russia claimed Zelensky to address Switzerlands parliament Saturday 6 May 2023 13:30 , Shweta Sharma Switzerlands parliament has approved a request from Ukrainian authorities for president Volodymyr Zelensky to address it. The invitation, confirmed in a statement late on Friday, comes amid pressure on Switzerlands government to break with a centuries-old tradition of neutrality and end a ban of exports of Swiss weapons to conflict zones such as Ukraine. So far, the government has refused to change this policy. The subject of Mr Zelenskys address, which will the first by video by a foreign leader to the legislature, is unknown. It is scheduled for the summer session beginning on 30 May. During that session, lawmakers are also set to weigh a motion to provide 5bn Swiss Francs ($5.6bn) of support to Ukraine over 5-10 years. Russian nationalist writer injured on car bombing blamed on Ukraine Saturday 6 May 2023 13:00 , Shweta Sharma One person died and a prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was injured in a car bombing on Saturday in east Moscow. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the bombing in Nizny Novgorod region, about 400km (250 miles) east of Moscow. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram: The fact has come true: Washington and Nato fed another international terrorist cell - the Kyiv regime. The interior ministry said that one person had been killed in the blast and the writer was wounded but conscious after the explosion, according to Tass. Russia accused of using phosphorus munitions Saturday 6 May 2023 12:31 , Chris Stevenson Ukraine has accused Russia of using phosphorous munitions in its attempt to win control of the eastern city of Bakhmut. Russian troops have been trying to take the city for more than nine months, but Ukrainian forces are clinging to positions on the western edge of the city. On Saturday, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper quoted military officials as saying that "the enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut in an attempt to wipe the city off the face of the Earth". Russian forces have not commented on the claim but have rejected previous accusations by Ukraine that they used phosphorus. International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus or other incendiary weapons in areas where there could be concentrations of civilians. ICYM: Moscows Victory Day celebration to be muted after Kremlin strike, British intelligence says Saturday 6 May 2023 12:00 , Shweta Sharma Russia will skip Vladimir Putins Victory Day reception following the annual parade, with celebrations of 9 May to be marked on a smaller scale, Britains defence ministry said in its daily intelligence update. Russia has cancelled Victory Day parades in six Russian regions, including occupied Crimea and 21 cities, citing security concerns. Moscows Victory Day celebration is likely to go ahead but on a smaller scale. Russian president Vladimir Putins reception following the parade (last held in 2019) will not go ahead, it said. The defence ministry said that the drone strike on the Kremlin ahead of Victory Day shows Russias increasing vulnerability to such attacks and has almost certainly raised the threat perception of the Russian leadership over the Victory Day events. It has also cancelled the traditional March of the Immortal Regiment, where family members display photographs of deceased veterans of the Second World War, associated with Victory Day. The potential for protests and discontent over the Ukraine war are also likely to have influenced the calculus of the Russian leadership, the MoD concluded. Funeral held in Ukraine for American man killed in action Saturday 6 May 2023 11:45 , Chris Stevenson Soldiers from the International Legion of Ukraine said farewell Friday to an American military veteran they served with, who was killed a month ago in the fierce struggle to prevent the eastern city of Bakhmut from falling into Russian hands. In a funeral service at Kyivs St. Michaels Cathedral, Ukrainian regular army troops bore the Ukrainian-flag-draped coffin of Chris Campbell while about three dozen members of the International Legion looked on. After folding the flag, they presented it to Ivanna Sanina, Campbells Ukrainian wife. Funeral held in Ukraine for American man killed in action ICYM: Wagner chief films dozens of his soldiers died in a day: Where the f**k is ammunition' Saturday 6 May 2023 11:30 , Shweta Sharma Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin shared a video purporting to show dozens of his soldiers being killed in the past 24 hours as he abused the Russian defence leadership for not providing the private military group with ammunition. The two-minute-long video shared on the press service channel of Prigozhin in the early hours of yesterday showed him standing next to three or four rows of dead mercenary forces as he abused defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov. Several social media accounts shared the video in which Mr Prigozhin is heard shouting: Shoigu, Gerasimov, where the f**k is ammunition. He is seen flashing a light on the deceased mercenary fighters who he claimed died in just a 24-hour span yesterday, blaming their deaths on Moscow for not giving ample ammunition. Russia dropping phosphorus bombs on Bakhmut, Ukraine says Saturday 6 May 2023 11:24 , Shweta Sharma Ukraine has accused Russia of using phosphorus bombs in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The Ukrainian defence ministry released drone footage purportedly showing huge parts of a city on fire. It said the blazes were caused by white phosphorus rain dropping down on the city, a weapon that leads to fast-spreading fires. The use of white phosphorus is not in itself banned but dropping it in civilian areas amounts to a war crime. In a tweet, the defence ministry said Russias phosphorus attack targeted unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition. Not enough shells, but more than enough phosphorus. Ruscists are shelling unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition. They will burn in Hell. @SOF_UKR pic.twitter.com/7oqNTumJ34 Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 5, 2023 Kyiv says it has downed hypersonic missile Saturday 6 May 2023 11:00 , Chris Stevenson Ukraine's air force has claimed to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using Patriot defence systems recently acquired from Western allies. It is the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow's most modern missiles. Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile was intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It is also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defence systems. "Yes, we shot down the 'unique' Kinzhal," Mr Oleshchuk wrote. "It happened during the night-time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region." He said the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from Russian territory and was shot down with a Patriot missile. The Kinzhal is one of the latest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 1,250 miles and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. A combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets like underground bunkers or mountain tunnels. The Ukrainian military has previously admitted lacking assets to intercept the Kinzhals. Kherson in photos as weekend curfew begins Saturday 6 May 2023 10:30 , Shweta Sharma Some residents left the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in cars and buses on Friday, and others stocked up on groceries, before the start of an unusually long weekend curfew. The announcement of the curfew, to last from Friday evening to Monday morning, has prompted speculation in Kherson that the city is about to be used as a launch point for Ukraines long-awaited counterattack. A member of the Ukrainian National Guard's mobile air defence unit waves to locals as he patrols an area (REUTERS) Local residents are seen a during an evacuation effort at a bus station in the outskirts of Kherson (REUTERS) People are seen at a gas station damaged by a Russian military strike (REUTERS) Local residents are seen a during an evacuation effort at a bus station in the outskirts of Kherson (REUTERS) Russian attacks kill 5 civilians in Donetsk Oblast over past 24 hours Saturday 6 May 2023 10:00 , Shweta Sharma At least five people have lost their lives and three were injured in attacks by the Russian army in Donetsk Oblast over the past 24 hours, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. Five people were also injured in Sumy Oblast, where two guided bombs launched from theaRussian Su-35 jet struck the Hlukhiv community, Ukraines Northern Operational Command reported. A photograph shows a damaged residenial buildin and crater, after missile strikes in Chasiv Yar near the frontline city of Bakhmut, Donetsk region (AFP via Getty Images) Curfew kicks off in Kherson as Kyiv prepares for counter-offensive Saturday 6 May 2023 09:30 , Shweta Sharma A weekend curfew beginning from Friday evening to Monday morning has prompted speculation in Kherson city that it could be used as a launch point for counter-attack. Residents of the southern Ukrainian city left in cars and buses before the curfew began and others stocked up groceries. Senol Gezer, a 56-year-old man originally from Turkey, said he and his wife were going to a hotel in nearby Odesa. We are not afraid. We do not want to sit at home. We have time to leave, he told Reuters. The authorities say they will clean up the collaborators (accused of cooperating with the Russians). But that is what the authorities are saying. I think something big is about to start soon. These are preparations for that, most likely. People will not be allowed to enter or exit the city during the curfew and residents have been asked to not go outside their homes. Poland summons Russian ambassador over assassination comment Saturday 6 May 2023 09:00 , Shweta Sharma The Polish foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in protest on Friday after a former Russian official suggested that it would be acceptable to assassinate Polands ambassador to Russia. Pavel Astakhov, Russias childrens ombudsman from 2009 to 2016, spoke on a television programme hosted by Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. He was being interviewed after Polish authorities took over a school building in Warsaw on Saturday that was serving the children of Russian diplomats and the military. Mr Astakhov argued that murdering an ambassador in retaliation for unfriendly actions ... is within the framework of international law, adding: I was taught this well at the KGB school at the counterintelligence faculty. Polands foreign ministry said in a statement that it had summoned Mr Andreev and handed him a protest note about Mr Astakhovs statement calling for the murder of the ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Moscow. The Polish side protested firmly against this situation and urged that criminal proceedings be instituted immediately and the perpetrator be punished without delay, spokesman Lukasz Jasina said. Firefighter who delivered life-saving equipment for Ukraine recalls humbling experience Saturday 6 May 2023 08:30 , Shweta Sharma A firefighter who was part of a convoy of fire engines and lorries delivering life-saving equipment for Ukraine has described the experience as very humbling after reaching Poland. Darren Cleaves, station manager for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, was in Poland to help deliver fire engines as well as life-saving equipment for Ukrainian firefighters. Its been a very humbling experience because knowing that the small difference we can make to help (firefighters in Ukraine) is really rewarding for us, the 48-year-old from Monmonth told the PA News agency. It has been quite challenging - the logistics behind it in terms of keeping our team of over 80 people fed, watered, truck refuelled, and dealing with maintenance issues, but weve managed to overcome all of those. Mr Cleaves is part of the biggest party of the convoy with 24 drivers from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. On behalf of the convoy, everyone is very humbled and overwhelmed by the whole experience and Im proud to be part of this small aid effort in helping Ukrainian firefighters. Moscows Victory Day celebration to be muted after Kremlin strike, British intelligence says Saturday 6 May 2023 08:28 , Shweta Sharma Russia will skip Vladimir Putins Victory Day reception following the annual parade, with celebrations of 9 May to be marked on a smaller scale, Britains defence ministry said in its daily intelligence update. Russia has cancelled Victory Day parades in six Russian regions, including occupied Crimea and 21 cities, citing security concerns. Moscows Victory Day celebration is likely to go ahead but on a smaller scale. Russian president Vladimir Putins reception following the parade (last held in 2019) will not go ahead, it said. The defence ministry said that the drone strike on the Kremlin ahead of Victory Day shows Russias increasing vulnerability to such attacks and has almost certainly raised the threat perception of the Russian leadership over the Victory Day events. It has also cancelled the traditional March of the Immortal Regiment, where family members display photographs of deceased veterans of the Second World War, associated with Victory Day. The potential for protests and discontent over the Ukraine war are also likely to have influenced the calculus of the Russian leadership, the MoD concluded. Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 6 May 2023. Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/7fNDKdzCOF #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/lsD4aRxEH2 Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) May 6, 2023 Dont expect an end to sabotage and retribution during the war in Ukraine Saturday 6 May 2023 08:00 , Shweta Sharma Ukraines attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin in the early hours of Wednesday was followed by a barrage of Russian strikes on Thursday. Some of the missiles that landed in Odessa were inscribed For the Kremlin and For Moscow. What unfolded was in line with the two opposing narratives from Moscow and Kyiv that Ukraine tried to kill the Russian president in the Kremlin using drones; or that it was a false flag operation by the Russians to justify another round of assaults on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Russia has accused the US of being the real architect of the Moscow raid. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said: We are well aware that decisions on such actions, on such terrorist attacks, are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington, and Kyiv is doing what it is told to do. It is very important that in Washington they understand that we know this, and understand how dangerous such direct participation in the conflict is. The Independents Kim Sengupta writes. Dont expect an end to sabotage and retribution during the Ukraine war | Kim Sengupta China ready for political resolution of the Ukrainian crisis jointly with Russia Saturday 6 May 2023 07:30 , Shweta Sharma China is ready to assist and promote peace talks in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang said following bilateral talks with his Russian counterpart in India. The two met on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Indias coastal city of Goa. China will persistently assist and promote peace talks. We are ready to make a practical contribution into the political resolution of the Ukrainian crisis through contacts and coordination with Russia, a statement by the Chinese defence ministry quoting Mr Gang said. China and Russia have been maintaining active contacts at all levels, promoting cooperation in all directions, he added. The two sides hailed their growing closer relationship and Beijing said it is ready to intensify strategic contacts with Russia, to strengthen and deepen cooperation in all areas. Zelensky says world has historic responsibility to prosecute Putin for war crimes Saturday 6 May 2023 07:00 , Shweta Sharma Vladimir Putin has to face justice for war crimes in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has declared during a visit to The Hague the home of the International Criminal Court (ICC). We all want to see a different Vladimir here in The Hague, the one who deserves to be sanctioned for his criminal actions here, in the capital of international law, the Ukrainian president said, referring to the Russian leader. The aggressor must feel the full power of justice. This is our historical responsibility. Mr Zelensky added that he was sure we will see that happen when we win... and we will win. In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin over the suspected deportation of children from Ukraine, which is a war crime. Russia, not a member of the ICC, has called the charges meaningless but the warrant does make Mr Putins foreign trips more difficult with nations signed up to the court obliged to obey. Zelensky says it is a historic responsibility to prosecute Putin for war crimes Ukraine says Wagner group reinforcing to seize Bakhmut before Victory Day after withdrawal claims Saturday 6 May 2023 06:30 , Shweta Sharma Ukraine has suggested that Wagner Groups warning to withdraw troops from the eastern city of Bakhmut over a lack of military support from Moscow could be a smokescreen for redeployment. Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said that Russia is trying with all its might to capture Bakhmut by 9 May when it will hold a Victory Day parade in the Red Square of Moscow. She said Russias Wagner Group mercenaries are being reinforced and replaced with paratrooper assault units. She claimed that Wagner ammunition storage facilities were destroyed in Ukrainian artillery fire. Russias deportation of Ukrainian children may amount to crime against humanity: OSCE Saturday 6 May 2023 06:00 , Shweta Sharma The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) says that the mass deportation of Ukrainian children in Russian-occupied territory would amount to a crime against humanity. The Mission concluded that numerous and overlapping violations of the rights of the children deported to the Russian Federation have taken place. the report said. Not only has the Russian Federation manifestly violated the best interests of these children repeatedly, it has also denied their right to identity, their right to family, their right to unite with their family, it added. More than 19,000 children have been taken to Russia, according to Ukrainian national database, as thousands remain unaccounted for. So far 364 Ukrainian children were able to return to their homes after being forcibly relocated by Russia, it said. The 90-page report also said Moscow violated their rights to education, access to information, right to rest, leisure, play, recreation and participation in cultural life and arts as well as right to thought, conscience, and religion, right to health, and the right to liberty and security. Lavrov says Russia will respond to drone attack with concrete actions' Saturday 6 May 2023 05:30 , Shweta Sharma Addressing a group of reporters in India, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said they will respond to the alleged Ukrainian drone strike on the Kremlin with concrete actions. It was clearly a hostile act, it is clear that the Kyiv terrorists could not have committed it without the knowledge of their masters, Mr Lavrov told a press conference in India. We will not respond by talking about casus belli or not, we will respond with concrete actions, he said. Mr Lavrov arrived in the coastal state of Goa on Thursday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Summit which was chaired by India. According to Tass, he said SCO colleagues condemned the attack and said it is now impossible to resolve the Ukrainian issue by freezing the line of engagement in Donbas. Engineers reduce risk of dam bursting near Russian-held Ukraine nuclear plant Saturday 6 May 2023 05:00 , Shweta Sharma Engineers have reduced the risk of a dam bursting and damaging the large Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine, a senior Russian official was quoted as saying by Tass news agency on Friday. Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the general director of the energy engineering firm Rosenergoatom, said specialists had begun discharging water from the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine. As we anticipated, a technical solution to the problem has been found, Mr Karchaa told Tass, quoting regional officials in Kherson region, where the dam is located. A gate of the Kakhovka hydropower plant has been opened and repair works have begun at the Kakhovka canal. Pumps and pipes are being repaired. Water is being discharged. The risks of flooding have reduced considerably. The risk would be eliminated once water levels returned to normal, Mr Karchaa said. He had earlier told Tass that a possible breach of the dam owing to high water levels could flood the cable line for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant further east and cause nuclear safety risks. Nearby towns could also be affected. Ukraines prosecutor general records 84,500 Russian war crimes Saturday 6 May 2023 04:30 , Shweta Sharma Ukraines Prosecutor Generals Office said it has recorded over 84,500 Russian war crimes in Ukraine since the war began. Russian forces have committed 84,764 war crimes and crimes of aggression in Ukraine since launching the invasion of the country, it added. It said it has already analyzed more than 7,000 photo and video files and identified around 150 individuals involved in these crimes. Ukrainian PM thank King Charles for unwavering support on eve of coronation Saturday 6 May 2023 03:54 , Shweta Sharma Ukraines first lady Olena Zelenska and prime minister Denys Shmyhal who arrived in England for the coronation thanked the King for his solidarity with the country. The pair was hosted by King Charles and other royals along with other heads of state from around the world at a Buckingham Palace reception on the eve of the coronation. King Charles offered Ukraine his "unwavering support" when he met Ukrainian leaders. Mr Shmyhal said on Twitter: "It is a special honour to attend the reception of His Majesty King Charles III ahead of coronation. "We received assurances from His Majesty that (Ukrainian) people will have unwavering support until the final victory. Grateful for the solidarity." In March, King Charles visited Berlin where he met with Ukrainians who had been forced to flee the country. He told them "Im praying for you" after condemning the "unimaginable suffering" caused by Russian president Vladimir Putins invasion of their homeland. (Getty Images) Russia's Wagner boss threatens Bakhmut pullout in Ukraine Saturday 6 May 2023 03:30 , Eleanor Noyce In case you missed it... The owner of Russias Wagner Group military contractor threatened Friday to pull his troops out of the protracted battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut next week, accusing Russias military command of starving his forces of ammunition and causing them heavy losses. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a notorious millionaire with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Wagner had planned to capture Bakhmut by May 9. That day is a major Russian holiday marking the defeat of the Nazi Germany in World War II. But, Prigozhin said, his force hasnt received enough artillery ammunition supplies from the Russian military since Monday. Known for his bluster, Prigozhin has previously made unverifiable claims and made threats he hasnt carried out. Wagner ran out of resources to advance in early April, but were advancing despite the fact that the enemys resources outnumber ours fivefold, Prigozhins statement said. Because of the lack of ammunition, our losses are growing exponentially every day. The Wagner Group has spearheaded the struggle for control of Bakhmut, which is the longest and likely bloodiest battle of the war. The more than eight months of fighting there is believed to have cost thousands of lives, though neither side is saying how many. David Rising reports: Russia's Wagner boss threatens Bakhmut pullout in Ukraine Ukrainian MP punches Russian delegate in Turkey after scuffle over flag Saturday 6 May 2023 02:30 , Eleanor Noyce In case you missed it... A Ukrainian leader assaulted a Russian delegate who ripped Ukraines national flag out of his hands during a summit in Ankara on Thursday, according to reports. Ukrainian leader Oleksandr Marikovski was seen unfurling the national flag of his country as Russian delegate Olga Timofeeva was being interviewed. On seeing this, the Russian team member Valery Stavitsky was seen approaching Mr Marikovski and ripping the flag out of his hands. The two delegates had gathered at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. As the Russian delegate walked away, the Ukrainian MP charged at him and landed a couple of blows as other people present at the venue tried to intervene. Read more: Ukrainian MP hits Russian delegate who pulled down Ukraine flag in Ankara Why did Russia invade Ukraine? Saturday 6 May 2023 01:30 , Eleanor Noyce Russias special military operation in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians. Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russias neighbour needed to be demilitarised and de-Nazified, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putins warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid. Battle tanks from the US, Britain and Germany are now being supplied for the first time and Mr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels in early February 2023 to request fighter jets be sent as well in order to counter the Russian aerial threat, a step the allies appear to have reservations about making, although Joe Biden has since visited Kyiv in a gesture of solidarity. Read more: Heres why Putin really invaded Ukraine Ukraine war a warning shot for possible future energy shortages Saturday 6 May 2023 00:30 , Eleanor Noyce The war in Ukraine is a warning shot for the possibility of a future with energy shortages, the new chair of the Commons Energy Security and Net Zero Committee has said. SNP MP Angus MacNeil has been elected as chairman of the cross-party committee of MPs tasked with scrutinising the work of the new Government department of the same name. Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr MacNeil was critical of what he described as a lack of investment in energy security during the austerity agenda, followed by a lack of focus during the years of Brexit wrangling, and highlighted the importance of renewable energy for future supplies. Ben Hatton reports: Ukraine war a warning shot for possible future energy shortages ICYMI: Funeral held in Ukraine for American man killed in action Friday 5 May 2023 23:30 , Eleanor Noyce Soldiers from the International Legion of Ukraine said farewell Friday to an American military veteran they served with, who was killed a month ago in the fierce struggle to prevent the eastern city of Bakhmut from falling into Russian hands. In a funeral service at Kyivs St. Michaels Cathedral, Ukrainian regular army troops bore the Ukrainian-flag-draped coffin of Chris Campbell while about three dozen members of the International Legion looked on. After folding the flag, they presented it to Ivanna Sanina, Campbells Ukrainian wife. The Florida native is one of least nine Americans now known to have been killed in fighting in Ukraine, including another last month in Bakhmut. Two Canadian volunteers were also killed there April 26 after Russian artillery hit their position. The struggle for Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometres (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, has been one of the bloodiest of the war. It has now been going on for more than eight months. Nicolae Dumitrache reports: Funeral held in Ukraine for American man killed in action Zelensky says world has historic responsibility to prosecute Putin for war crimes Friday 5 May 2023 22:30 , Eleanor Noyce Vladimir Putin has to face justice for war crimes in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has declared during a visit to The Hague the home of the International Criminal Court (ICC). We all want to see a different Vladimir here in The Hague, the one who deserves to be sanctioned for his criminal actions here, in the capital of international law, the Ukrainian president said, referring to the Russian leader. The aggressor must feel the full power of justice. This is our historical responsibility. Mr Zelensky added that he was sure we will see that happen when we win... and we will win. In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin over the suspected deportation of children from Ukraine, which is a war crime. Russia, not a member of the ICC, has called the charges meaningless but the warrant does make Mr Putins foreign trips more difficult with nations signed up to the court obliged to obey. My colleague Chris Stevenson reports: Zelensky says it is a historic responsibility to prosecute Putin for war crimes King Charles hosts overseas Heads of States - including Ukraine - at Buckingham Palace on coronation eve Friday 5 May 2023 21:59 , Eleanor Noyce The King has hosted heads of state from around the world at a Buckingham Palace reception on the eve of the coronation. The Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence also greeted their overseas guests at the event. Completing the royal contingent were the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent. The event was the last of several engagements by the royals on Friday. Among the guests was First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, who was seen speaking animatedly with Kate. Meanwhile, Charles was photographed sharing warm words with the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, and greeting Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, with a handshake and a kiss on the cheek. Other dignitaries at the event included King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, the President of Israel Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. US to send $500 million worth of weapons to Taiwan using same emergency authority as for Ukraine, source says Friday 5 May 2023 21:30 , Eleanor Noyce U.S. President Joe Bidens administration plans to send $500 million worth of weapons aid to Taiwan using the same emergency authority that has been used more than 35 times for Ukraine, a source familiar with the plan said on Friday. As a part of the 2023 budget, Congress authorised up to $1 billion worth of weapons aid for Taiwan using Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), a type of authority that expedites security assistance and has helped to send arms to Ukraine. This drawdown, which authorises the president to transfer articles and services from U.S. stockpiles without congressional approval during an emergency, would be the first from that $1 billion authorisation. China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory and has increased military pressure on the island over the past three years. It has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Black Sea grain deal: No new ships authorised on Friday Friday 5 May 2023 21:00 , Eleanor Noyce Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations on Friday failed to authorise any new ships under a deal allowing safe Black Sea exports of Ukraine grain, which Moscow has threatened to quit on May 18 over obstacles to its own grain and fertiliser exports. Daily inspections of previously authorised ships continue, deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters. Officials from the four parties make up a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul, which implements the Black Sea deal agreed in July. In an excerpt of a letter seen by Reuters, Russia told its JCC counterparts last month it will not approve any new vessels to take part unless their operators guarantee the transits will be done by May 18 - the expected date of ... closure. Ukraine has been putting forward daily a list of ships to be authorized. Once approved those ships are then inspected by the JCC officials near Turkey before travelling to a Ukrainian Black Sea port via a maritime humanitarian corridor to collect their cargo and return to Turkish waters for a final inspection. According to JCC data, there is currently one ship authorised for inbound inspection and 25 ships awaiting an outbound inspection - all in Turkish waters; there are 13 ships in Ukrainian ports and there are 5 ships in transit toward Ukraine and 2 vessels in transit heading back to Turkey. There are eight vessels seeking authorization from the JCC, according to the Ukrainian sea ports website. The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea grain export deal to help tackle a global food crisis that has been worsened by Moscows war in Ukraine. At the same time, Russia accepted a three-year deal in which the U.N. agreed to help try and remove any obstacles to its grain and fertiliser exports. While those Russian exports are not subject to Western sanctions imposed following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance are a barrier to shipments. Firefighter tells of humbling experience delivering equipment for Ukraine Friday 5 May 2023 20:28 , Eleanor Noyce A firefighter who was part of a convoy of fire engines and lorries delivering life-saving equipment for Ukraine has described the experience as very humbling after reaching Poland. The timing of the shipment is meant to honour the Eurovision link between Ukraine and the UK, with the vehicles leaving Liverpool on Tuesday, the city which will host the competition later this month. Darren Cleaves, station manager for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, was in Poland to help deliver fire engines as well as life-saving equipment for Ukrainian firefighters. Its been a very humbling experience because knowing that the small difference we can make to help (firefighters in Ukraine) is really rewarding for us, the 48-year-old from Monmonth told the PA News agency. It has been quite challenging - the logistics behind it in terms of keeping our team of over 80 people fed, watered, truck refuelled, and dealing with maintenance issues, but weve managed to overcome all of those. Read more: Firefighter tells of humbling experience delivering equipment for Ukraine Poland summons Russian ambassador over assassination comment Friday 5 May 2023 20:00 , Eleanor Noyce The Polish Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in protest Friday after a former Russian official suggested that it would be acceptable to assassinate Polands ambassador to Russia. Pavel Astakhov, Russias childrens ombudsman from 2009 to 2016, spoke on a television program hosted by Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. He was being interviewed after Polish authorities took over a school building in Warsaw on Saturday that was serving the children of Russian diplomats and the military. Astakhov argued that murdering an ambassador in retaliation for unfriendly actions ... is within the framework of international law, adding: I was taught this well at the KGB school at the counterintelligence faculty. That school takeover was the latest of several incidents which have added to tensions between Russia and Poland, an ally of Kyiv which has been supplying Ukraines military with weapons. In the interview with Solovyov, Astakhov referred to Polands seizure of other properties, its freezing of Russian bank accounts, and an incident last year in which an activist in Warsaw doused the Russian ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreev, with a red liquid. Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau at the time strongly condemned that incident, calling it highly deplorable. Vanessa Gera reports: Poland summons Russian ambassador over assassination comment Wagner withdrawal from Bakhmut hysterical, says Yuriy Sak Friday 5 May 2023 19:35 , Eleanor Noyce Our Chief International Correspondent, Bel Trew, has heard from Yuriy Sak an advisor to Ukraines defence minister. He called Mr Prigozhins statement about the Wagner withdrawal from Bakhmut hysterical. In one way it didnt come as a surprise. [Prigozhin] has been complaining about the lack of ammunition for quite some time now, the official said. What is quite extraordinary and is quite unprecedented is the format with which he made this most recent statement it is hysterical. I am not sure what he is playing at. Maybe it has become clear that they will not be able to take Bakhmut and that is why he is already trying to explain it: if they fail they will have failed because of a lack of ammunition. He added: But despite the statement, Wagner continues to pound Bakhmut today and has apparently sent some reinforcements there. For the time being it remains but a statement. What it really means we will have to see. Dont expect an end to sabotage and retribution during the war in Ukraine, writes Kim Sengupta Friday 5 May 2023 19:30 , Eleanor Noyce Ukraines attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin in the early hours of Wednesday was followed by a barrage of Russian strikes on Thursday. Some of the missiles that landed in Odessa were inscribed For the Kremlin and For Moscow. What unfolded was in line with the two opposing narratives from Moscow and Kyiv that Ukraine tried to kill the Russian president in the Kremlin using drones; or that it was a false flag operation by the Russians to justify another round of assaults on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Russia has accused the US of being the real architect of the Moscow raid. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said: We are well aware that decisions on such actions, on such terrorist attacks, are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington, and Kyiv is doing what it is told to do. It is very important that in Washington they understand that we know this, and understand how dangerous such direct participation in the conflict is. Alongside the fighting on the frontlines there have been clandestine campaigns against both infrastructure and people, writes Kim Sengupta: Dont expect an end to sabotage and retribution during the Ukraine war | Kim Sengupta No new ships authorised on Friday for Ukraine grain Black Sea exports - UN Friday 5 May 2023 19:00 , Eleanor Noyce Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations failed to reach an agreement on Friday to authorise any new vessels to carry out Black Sea grain exports, deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said. Haq said daily inspections of previously authorised ships continued. Why is Russia's Wagner threatening to withdraw from Bakhmut? Friday 5 May 2023 18:30 , Eleanor Noyce A threat by the leader of private Russian military company Wagner on Friday to withdraw his fighters from the battle to seize a city in eastern Ukraine is another episode in his dispute with Russias regular military over credit and tactics in the war. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has led the push to jump-start Russias stalemated offensive in eastern Ukraines Donetsk province. He threatened to pull out his soldiers from the city of Bakhmut next week, citing high casualties and ammunition shortages. Russias nine-month campaign to take Bakhmut has made the city the focus of the wars longest battle. Ferocious house-to house fighting there has produced some of the bloodiest encounters since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Here is a look at Wagners history and its role in the fighting: Why is Russia's Wagner threatening to withdraw from Bakhmut? In pictures: Kherson locals evacuate as Ukraine prepares for counter-offensive Friday 5 May 2023 18:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Local residents are seen a during an evacuation effort at a bus station in the outskirts of Kherson ahead of a weekend curfew as Kyiv prepares for a counter-offensive against Russian forces. (REUTERS) (REUTERS) (REUTERS) Russian theatre director accused of 'justifying terrorism' remanded in custody Friday 5 May 2023 17:50 , Eleanor Noyce A prominent Russian theatre director was remanded in custody for two months on Friday after being accused of justifying terrorism with an award-winning play about Russian women who married Islamic State fighters, the state news agency TASS reported. Investigators opened a case this week against Yevgenia (Zhenya) Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, alleging that Petriychuks Finist, the Brave Falcon, which premiered in 2020 under Berkovichs direction, had broken the law. Since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine last year, Moscow has intensified a clampdown on freedom of expression, and encouraged citizens to report anyone they suspect of demonstrating disloyalty. Finist, the Brave Falcon won two Golden Mask national theatre awards last year, and Berkovich also received a nomination for best director. The detention of the two women has drawn condemnation from several prominent Russian artists and cultural figures. Journalist Ksenia Sobchak said the case against them showed rampant ignorance, and that the play in fact had an anti-terrorist message. The heroines leave their families, their universities, their jobs and go into hell to their new lovers, who promise them love and a happy life, she wrote on her Telegram channel. There they first become semi-slaves in the militant units and then return to their homeland as prisoners. Its clear that the production has an anti-terrorist message. Funeral held in Ukraine for American man killed in action Friday 5 May 2023 17:20 , Eleanor Noyce Soldiers from the International Legion of Ukraine said farewell Friday to an American military veteran they served with, who was killed a month ago in the fierce struggle to prevent the eastern city of Bakhmut from falling into Russian hands. In a funeral service at Kyivs St. Michaels Cathedral, Ukrainian regular army troops bore the Ukrainian-flag-draped coffin of Chris Campbell while about three dozen members of the International Legion looked on. After folding the flag, they presented it to Ivanna Sanina, Campbells Ukrainian wife. The Florida native is one of least nine Americans now known to have been killed in fighting in Ukraine, including another last month in Bakhmut. Two Canadian volunteers were also killed there on April 26 after Russian artillery hit their position. The struggle for Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometres (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, has been one of the bloodiest of the war. It has now been going on for more than eight months. Nicolae Dumitrache reports: Funeral held in Ukraine for American man killed in action MiG-31BM supersonic interceptor equipped with a Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic cruise missile underneath it. Russian Ministry of Defense/YouTube Ukraine reportedly shot down a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile for the first time. Photos appear to show the wreckage of the weapon after it fell into a stadium in Kyiv. Russia unleashed a fresh wave of attacks on the Ukrainian capital on Thursday evening. Ukraine said they have shot down a Russian hypersonic missile for the first time using the US-donated Patriot air-defense system. The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, said on Telegram Saturday: "Yes, we have intercepted the 'unmatched' Kinzhal.'" He also added the word "Patriot," alluding to the American-made weapon which arrived in Ukraine in April, and an emoji of the Ukrainian flag. Images appearing to show the wreckage of a downed missile were obtained by the Ukrainian outlet Defense Express. The missile fragments fell in an empty stadium in Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, around the time a loud explosion was reported to have been heard in the capital. One of the photos shows a nose cone that strongly resembles the one used in the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missile, the outlet noted. The shell has a hole in it, likely from when it was struck by a Ukrainian weapon. Oleshchuk said the missile had been launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from Russian territory. A shot of a Patriot missile battery firing an interceptor in a US Army test. The Patriot missile defense system is a ground-based interceptor able to eliminate airborne threats. US Army photo The Kremlin has long touted its hypersonic weapons as being impossible to defend against, but defense experts have questioned whether they are as impressive as is claimed. If Ukraine did successfully intercept a Kinzhal missile, this would mark the first known attempt to take out such a weapon. The loud bang was heard over Kyiv around the time Russia was bombarding the Ukrainian capital in a fresh wave of attacks. All of the Russian weapons "were destroyed in Kyiv airspace by our air defense forces," Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, wrote on Telegram. He noted that Moscow had attacked the city with "Shahed-type barrage munitions and missiles, presumably ballistic." Story continues CNN reported that Ukrainian Air Force Command spokesman Yurii Ihnat told a TV channel on Saturday: "Yes, we do have weapons against ballistics. No-one knew whether the Patriot could operate against ballistic missiles. Well yes, it can." "It's good that we have such weapon. Unfortunately there's not much of it," he said. The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missile was introduced in 2017 as one of Russia's "super weapons." While the Kinzhal can travel at hypersonic speeds, a "hypersonic weapon" would also have to be capable of traveling at speeds in excess of Mach 5 or about 3,836 mph during terminal maneuvers, which this weapon is not capable of doing, Insider reported. Read the original article on Business Insider Security Service of Ukraine Read also: SBU submits indictments to court against 55 Russian MPs for voting to recognize sham republics These officials supported the ratification of the so-called "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between Russia and Donetsk/Luhansk puppet authorities, unanimously endorsed the use of Russian armed forces outside the country, and facilitated the occupation of Ukrainian territories, Ukrainian authorities said. Read also: Ukraine calls for sanctions on Romanian senator who says part of Ukraine should be annexed "In October last year, they ratified 'agreements on accession' to the Russian Federation of the temporarily occupied districts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya oblasts," the SBU noted. The Russian senators are standing the accusations under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 3, Article 110 (encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine); Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 437 (planning, preparation, initiation and conduct of aggressive war). The SBU added that these charges can carry penalties of life imprisonment with confiscation of property. Read also: Two Russian State Duma members die in one day In Russia, senators are members of the Federation Council, or Senate, which is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (parliament). Each of the 89 federal subjects of Russia (including two annexed in 2014 and four more in 2022, that are not recognized by the international community) consisting of 24 republics, 48 oblasts, nine krais, three federal cities, four autonomous okrugs, and one autonomous oblast sends two senators to the Council, for a total membership of 178 senators. 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 Patriot Missile shot down Kinzhal The Ukrainian Air Force has confirmed that a MIM-104 Patriot missile system intercepted a Kh-47 Kinzhal air-launched 'hypersonic' ballistic missile over Kyiv in what could be a high-profile victory for the U.S. missile system just weeks after entering Ukrainian service. Ukraine initially denied the interception despite a swath of open-source intelligence suggesting a Patriot got the kill. Photos from the downed missiles crash site appear to show damage from an interceptor. https://twitter.com/KpsZSU/status/1654803125667090437 https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1654742797725868036 https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1654432674633613312 Being air-launched from Russian MiG-31K interceptors, the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is an adaptation of the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile. While its higher potential speed and irregular flight profile could make it more challenging for a Patriot to intercept it, it is likely still within its capability. A MiG-31 packing a Kinzhal missile. Now, according to Ukraine, that has been proven to be the case. We also don't know what interceptor specifically was used, if indeed this intercept happened as stated, but there have been indications that Ukraine is using older generation missiles that remain highly capable, but are not as potent as the most recent PAC-3 offerings. Before the Patriots entered combat in recent weeks, Kyivs air defenses had very little ability to counter the Kinzhal and its ground-launched Iskander-M cousin or S-300 SAMs used against ground targets. This is precisely why Ukraine sought Patriots to fill this gap in its defense network. The fact that Ukraine's Soviet-era SAMs may be running very low makes the Patriot's arrival even more important for countering many types of threats beyond ballistic missiles, including those posed by cruise missiles, drones, and fixed-wing aircraft. Story continues Before we dive into the latest news from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can get caught up on our previous rolling coverage here. The Latest Saturdays intelligence update from the British Ministry of Defense noted the cancellation of six Russian regions May 9 Victory Day parades and celebrations over security concerns related to the war in Ukraine. The update assessed this weeks drone attack on the Kremlin in Moscow as having almost certainly raised the threat perception of the Russian leadership over the Victory Day events. Potential protests and unrest over the war also likely influenced decisions to cancel. Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 6 May 2023. Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/7fNDKdzCOF #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/lsD4aRxEH2 Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) May 6, 2023 Recent partisan actions in Russia suggest concerns about internal security likely have merit. Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin, a prominent pro-war voice who fought with separatist forces in the Donbas before the full-scale invasion, was seriously wounded and his driver killed after an explosion in Nizhny Novogrod Oblast east of Moscow. Video from the scene shows a vehicle flipped with serious damage and a sizable crater. Some Zakhar Prilepin's car blew up in Russia, the clown lost his leg. Didn't read Russian accounts, but I'm almost sure they'll call him a writer and whine about Ukrainians. He fought against Ukrainians, but I doubt he was valuable for such an operation (video: his car) https://t.co/iIhVKJ8oQu pic.twitter.com/lshoDBO2LB English Luhansk (@loogunda) May 6, 2023 In the town of Yeysk across the Sea of Azov from occupied Mariupol, a video shows the driver of a car blow himself up as what appear to be Russian security forces attempt to storm his vehicle on the street. Yeysk hosts a nearby Russian Naval Aviation air base that has supported the war effort in Ukraine. A local resident blew himself up in a car while Russian security forces were trying to detain him in the city of Yeysk, Krasnodar. pic.twitter.com/hHUeCJs2uT Clash Report (@clashreport) May 6, 2023 In its most recent control of terrain assessment, the Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) noted Russian gains in and around the besieged city of Bakhmut. Russian forces made additional gains within #Bakhmut as of May 5. Geolocated footage published on May 5 shows that Russian forces have advanced in northwestern Bakhmut towards #Khromove (directly west of Bakhmut). https://t.co/aTJxORRoYd https://t.co/xakXiwZmJP pic.twitter.com/f8DSRpCyNK ISW (@TheStudyofWar) May 6, 2023 At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense appears to have deprioritized the Bakhmut frontline, instead shifting to the defensive as the Ukrainian counteroffensive looms. NEW: The Russian Ministry of Defense appears to have deprioritized the #Bakhmut offensive in favor of preparing to defend against an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, putting #WagnerGroup & its financier #Prigozhin in a potentially difficult position https://t.co/aTJxORRoYd pic.twitter.com/RExId2EiUs ISW (@TheStudyofWar) May 5, 2023 This appears to correspond with the latest episode between Wagner Group PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense. Prigozhin claimed this week Wagner would pull out of Bakhmut on May 10 if its forces don't receive larger batches of ammunition, with the latest reports suggesting Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrovs troops will take Wagners place in the city. https://twitter.com/MikaelValterss1/status/1654766749743448064 https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1654806026087182339?s=20 https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1654903986808315904 Bakhmut is still smoldering after Russian forces blanketed the ruined town in glowing incendiary munitions. You can read our full report on this event here. Fighting in Bakhmut proper remains intense, and footage from late April shows Ukrainian tanks shelling the Industrial College at point-blank range in fighting with Wagner mercenaries. https://twitter.com/Danspiun/status/1654826817130250246 https://twitter.com/Danspiun/status/1654830272884383747 https://twitter.com/Danspiun/status/1654835244791627776 A large explosion rocked the city Saturday, reportedly when Ukrainian forces detonated a mined apartment block in an effort to stifle Russian advances. Video published by a Wagner channel showing a building in Bakhmut reportedly destroyed by Ukrainian forces. https://t.co/8wjIxJbjmC pic.twitter.com/7LDNivh4v1 Rob Lee (@RALee85) May 6, 2023 As the long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive looms, occupied Crimea is increasingly on edge as strikes against Russian infrastructure grow more frequent. Explosions rocked the city of Dzhankoi close to the former border between the occupied peninsula and southern Ukraine. Home to a major railyard and air base, both previously targeted in Ukrainian strikes, Saturdays explosions may have led to a sudden exodus from the peninsula back to Russia. https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1654829392177123336 https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1654758455524065281 https://twitter.com/KyleJGlen/status/1654755283107717121 Saturdays Dzhankoi attack may be a continuation of Ukrainian efforts to prepare the battlespace for its counteroffensive, most recently evidenced by a series of strikes on Russian fuel depots. The Ukrainian counteroffensive could possibly threaten the Russian-held road and rail junctions in Melitopol, cutting its link to Rostov Oblast via Berdyansk and Mariupol. Such a push would inevitably drive the masses toward the Crimean Bridge across the Kerch Strait. All of Russias overland supply to the peninsula would be limited to how much two rail lines, four highway lanes, and ferries can handle. That limited lifeline also has to be protected from another attack. Ferry traffic and other vessels can also help out, as they have after the bridge was stuck months ago, but logistics would be drastically constrained, regardless. All the while signs further point to Ukrainian battle groups assembling, as video shows a column of M2 Bradleys and an M113 combat ambulance variant on a Ukrainian highway. Satellite imagery shows more of the extensive fortifications Russian forces have built along avenues of advance from the frontline into occupied areas of Ukraine, with visible Dragons Teeth tank obstacles, trench lines, and dug-in firing positions near Svatove and Soledar. https://twitter.com/bradyafr/status/1654640871974002688 https://twitter.com/bradyafr/status/1654859814328217600 Those trench lines could soon see the kind of vicious, close-in combat like that seen in the video below. Drone footage captures a Ukrainian soldier, callsign Chinaz, killing six Russians in a trench single-handedly. "" 6 . . , . , , - "" 6:0! https://t.co/GLExONwd4u pic.twitter.com/4lLbguCT5W () (@Shtirlitz53) May 6, 2023 Ukrainian first-person view (FPV) kamikaze drones remain a constant threat to Russian forces, as videos show hits on both a Russian tank and a 2S4 Tyulpan 240mm self-propelled heavy mortar. https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1654882206072881154 https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1654885341797466113 The danger from the unexploded ordinance and mines left behind at former frontline areas persists across a swath of Ukrainian territory, and a Swiss company will supply Ukraine with 20 remote-controlled demining machines to assist in demining efforts. However, ongoing efforts remain high-risk, as a Russian artillery strike reportedly targeted an unarmed demining unit on the right bank of the Dnieper in liberated Kherson Oblast, killing six Ukraine Emergency Service officers. https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1654855511332773888 https://twitter.com/AlexPanchenko2/status/1654892221588463617 Footage shows a Ukrainian FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank gunner with the 59th Motorized Brigade getting a long-range kill on a Russian tank in Donetsk Oblast. Donetsk Oblast, a Ukrainian Javelin ATGM team from the 59th Motorized Brigade targets a Russian tank, destroying it. pic.twitter.com/3nYwFkac0u OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) May 6, 2023 Lastly, in the ongoing saga of wildlife finding its way into Ukrainian trenches, some troops found what looks like a blind mole rat. The buck-toothed subterranean creature was less than thrilled to find soldiers having intruded on its underground home. At this rate, the Ukrainians are a few species away from an entirely four-legged combat squad. Mole rat in the trenches pic.twitter.com/qEUHXIKYVK GWAR69 (@GwarWorin) May 3, 2023 That's it for now. We'll update this story when we have more news to report about Ukraine. Contact the author: stetson.payne@thewarzone.com Incendiary attack Ukraine It appears that the Russians have launched a large incendiary weapons attack on the heavily embattled city in Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast. Video shot from a drone has emerged showing the tell-tale droplets of brightly glowing incendiary munitions purportedly burning all over a portion of Bakhmut. https://twitter.com/SOF_UKR/status/1654567844053483522?s=20 https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1654560109723537408?s=20 The video has been geolocated to Bakhmut by our friend Evergreen Intel. This area has several schools of different grade levels, a medical college (near upper right of video) as well as multi-story apartment buildings in Bakhmut https://t.co/CO0TT6xubr pic.twitter.com/3EkjkuuNop Evergreen Intel (@vcdgf555) May 5, 2023 Russian troops have previously used Grad incendiary rockets there in December and October. https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1603896021813235719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1603896021813235719%7Ctwgr%5E047edd2dc8c9d223b008d79e8b40c49208c799ee%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fukraine-situation-report-assessing-the-possibility-of-a-new-russian-offensive-on-kyiv https://twitter.com/LogKa11/status/1581038130089848833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1581038130089848833%7Ctwgr%5E796fff5a5196b38cab6786055e97b94ba7617e32%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fukraine-situation-report-noose-tightens-around-russian-occupied-kherson The Russians may have also used these incendiary munitions against the defenders of the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol in May 2022 and in various other locations across the Ukrainian battlefield. The Russians apparently used incendiary munitions against the defenders of Azovstal a year ago in Mariupol. (Twitter screencap) Story continues By covering a wide area with very hot burning droplets, incendiaries lay waste to some structures, certain kinds of materiel, foliage, vehicles, and especially flesh. Block-by-block fighting among the ruins of a once-thriving coal-mining city has proved extremely costly to both sides. Russia increasing the use of these horrific area weapons in Bakhmut would not come as a major surprise as their advance has stalled and a major Ukrainian counteroffensive looms. We will keep an eye on this developing situation and update our story with any new information that comes in. Before we head into the latest updates from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can catch up on our previous rolling coverage here. The Latest Ukraines Air Force spokesman pushed back Friday on assertions that a newly provided Patriot air defense missile downed a Russian Kinzhal ballistic missile over Kyiv yesterday. The assertion, by a Ukrainian defense news publication and open source intelligence trackers, would represent a major milestone for Ukraine, which has long been seeking more sophisticated air defense systems like the Patriot to defeat swift-moving ballistic missiles it previously could not. "I have already denied it a thousand times, you should have seen it yesterday, Col. Yuri Ignat told the Ukrainian Suspline media outlet. There was a possibility of use, but no ballistic missiles were recorded. What some heads of military administrations are saying, they have already received for it. The Air Force denied information about the likely downing of "Kinzhal" over Kiev on the night of May 4 I have already refuted a thousand times, you must have seen it yesterday. There was a possibility of use, but ballistic missiles were not recorded, said Yuri Ignat. pic.twitter.com/p02FfUAenP Denys Davydov (Pilot Blog) (@DenysDavydovUA) May 5, 2023 Ignat was reacting to an analysis by the Ukrainian Defense Express media outlet which wrote that images emerging on social media pointed to the downing of a Kh-47 Kinzhal ballistic missile. Its the kind of missile - along with the Kh-22 supersonic cruise missiles and the S-300 air defense missile being used as a surface-to-surface strike weapon - that Ignat has previously said Ukraine cannot defend against without Patriots because of its speed. You can read more about that in our coverage here. Defense Express showed a picture of the wreckage of the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missile, which Russia used to try and hit Kyiv on the night of May 4. If confirmed, it will be the first successful interception of this hypersonic missile. https://t.co/AP8bZA21wI pic.twitter.com/dEC3eDJxga NOELREPORTS (@NOELreports) May 5, 2023 The Kinzhal (Russian for dagger) is an Iskander short-range ballistic missile that is specially adapted for air-launch. They are fired by MiG-31 Foxhound heavy interceptors modified to carry a single such missile. Given the range and speed of these weapons, a nationwide alert goes off each time a Foxhound is spotted taking off in neighboring territory, Ignat told reporters in March. In its analysis, Defense Express pointed out that one of the photos that emerged on social media shows the nose fairing, which is as similar as possible to the one used in the Kh-47 Dagger missile with a complex shape of sharp diameter transitions. The Ukraine Weapons Tracker OSINT group reached the same conclusion as Defense Express about the debris indicating the wreckage of a ballistic missile, most likely a Kinzhal. The debris matches the unitary warhead assembly used in Kh-47M2 & Iskander-series missiles, they tweeted Friday. #Ukraine: Today, reports suggested that a Russian Kh-47M2 Khinzal air-launched ballistic missile was shot down by air defences over #Kyiv at 02:40 on May 4th- for the very first time. The debris matches the unitary warhead assembly used in Kh-47M2 & Iskander-series missiles. pic.twitter.com/RjAcBQYEUN Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 5, 2023 The assessments made by Defense Express and Ukraine Weapons Tracker came a day after Ukrainian officials stated that missiles were part of the latest barrage against Kyiv on Thursday. It was a frantic day that also involved the downing by Ukraine of one of its own TB-2 drones. You can read more about that here. #Ukraine: A Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 UCAV was shot down by a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile over Kyiv in an example of friendly fire. pic.twitter.com/r9m11PfXND Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 4, 2023 "The Russians attacked Kyiv with the use of Shahed-type barrage ammunition and missiles, probably of the ballistic type," Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, also known by its Ukrainian acronym, KMVA, wrote on the organization's Telegram channel Thursday. "(The final type of missiles used will be determined only after the examination of the remains). According to preliminary information, in the airspace of Kyiv by our air defense forces, all enemy missiles and UAVs were destroyed!" Air defence forces shot down all Russian drones and missiles that attacked Kyiv on the night of 3-4 May. Source: Serhii Popko, Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, on Telegram#UkraineWar pic.twitter.com/7WDaBA3rbw NewsUkrainian24 (@NewsUkrainian24) May 4, 2023 The Ukrainian Air Force was apparently displeased by both the analysis of the Kinzhal and the statements made by the KMVA about a ballistic missile perhaps being in the mix of weapons that struck Kyiv on Thursday. "There will be no comments or power-ups of Air Force speakers today!" it said on its Telegram channel Friday. "For additional up-to-date, operational and reliable information that the enemy will use in the war against Ukraine, please refer to the following information resources." The Air Force then listed the URL for Defense Express as well as the KVMA Telegram channel link. "We apologize for the inconvenience!" As we wrote about back in December, the Patriots are likely a prime target for Russia, something Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov threatened at the time. Given the somewhat static nature of these batteries, at least one of which is most likely defending Kyiv, they would be a prime high-value target for Kinzhal missiles. Kremlin spox Peskov says that, if US provides #Patriot air defense system to #Ukraine, #Russia's military would target it. So? Russian military has been targeting US-provided HIMARS vehicles for 5 months with little to show for it. pic.twitter.com/AKUx0jrL0h Steven Pifer (@steven_pifer) December 14, 2022 Yesterday we told you about a spate of suspected drone attacks on Russian oil depots inside its own borders and the Crimean peninsula it has occupied since 2014. That run apparently continued today. Russian media reported another Ukrainian drone attack on the Ilsky Refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Oblast, across the Kerch Strait from Crimea, according to Russian media. "Fire at the Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar Territory on video," the Russian MASH news outlet reported on its Telegram channel Friday. "This is the second attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on oil storage facilities in two days." "Previously, the UAV flew into one of the installations, a fire started. No casualties were reported." MASH claimed the refinery was attacked by "a group of saboteurs. According to our information, they were detained. They tried to escape from the place of emergency through the pipeline. Refinery employees say that saboteurs blew up the fifth installation with the help of IEDs. The casualties are still unknown." The War Zone could not independently verify that information. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NbHs9m51KY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3NqE7sxQsE Another tranche of Ukrainian troops is being trained on Western armor, in this case 80 Leopard 1 tanks donated by Denmark and Germany. Those tanks are scheduled to be operational in Ukraine by next month, the U.S.-funded Radio Svaboda news outlet reported on its Telegram channel Friday. Ukrainian military personnel are training on Leopard 1 tanks. 80 Leopard 1 from Denmark and Germany are expected to be ready for operation in Ukraine on June 1.https://t.co/e53guKatBr pic.twitter.com/uuIJ5dlMDu Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) May 5, 2023 Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu flew to Ukraine Friday to conduct a readiness inspection, according to the Russian Defense Ministry Telegram channel. "The Deputy Minister of Defence Colonel General A. Kuzmenkov who is responsible for the material and technical support of the Russian Armed Forces, presented General of the Army Sergei Shoigu with new batches of modern tanks, armored fighting vehicles, special equipment and motor vehicles supplied by enterprises of the military-industrial complex to supply the groups of Russian troops," according to the MoD. Shoigu "also inspected storage and repair bases for weapons and military equipment withdrawn from combat areas." And, as we wrote earlier today, in an apparent response to the outburst by Prigozhin, Shoigu also instructed Colonel General A. Kuzmenkov to keep under special control the issues of continuous and rhythmic supply of the groups of troops in the areas of the special military operation with all the necessary weapons and military equipment." Geolocation thread: Russias minister of defense Sergei Shoigu flew via helicopter to the Southern Military District to inspect readiness of military equipment and weapons. See in this thread where this took place. First, here is the video:@GeoConfirmed pic.twitter.com/6FWjS6zIh2 redintelpanda (@RedIntelPanda) May 5, 2023 As part of its ongoing Drone Army initiative, Ukraine has trained 10,000 drone operators, Mykhailo Federov, Minister of Digital Transformation, reported, according to the Kyiv Post. You can read more about Ukrainian drone operations in our story here. Ukraine trained 10,000 drone operators as part of the Drone Army project, the Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo #Fedorov reported. The Minister added that it is planned to launch 60 strike companies of #drones. pic.twitter.com/8SS3zXdImu KyivPost (@KyivPost) May 5, 2023 Speaking of drones, watch this Ukrainian First Person Video (FPV) drone take out a Russian individual racing down the road on a quad bike. The FPVs are single-use fast quadcopters controlled through VR-goggles that can strike highly dynamic targets. Race for Survival: Ukrainian kamikaze drone vs Russians on a most likely looted quad bike. https://t.co/3fKJswWtd5 pic.twitter.com/RweREYL0zz Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) May 5, 2023 Those drones are becoming more and more popular with Ukrainian troops, as you can see from this image below. Ukrainian forces continue to push forward the use of FPV loitering munitions, as seen by the small collection shown here. pic.twitter.com/VK2g4TbT6X OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) May 3, 2023 That's it for now. We'll update this story when we have more news to report about Ukraine. Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com Ukrainian servicemen fly a drone on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine on December 30, 2022. Sameer Al-Doumy/Getty Images Ukraine said it had trained 10,000 drone pilots. Ukraine's deputy prime minister said the "Army of Drones" initiative had raised $325 million. Ukraine is expected to launch its anticipated counteroffensive to retake land occupied by Russia. Ukraine said it had trained 10,000 drone pilots and raised hundreds of millions of dollars for drones ahead of the long-anticipated spring counteroffensive to retake territory occupied by Russia. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's deputy prime minister and minister for innovation, said on Thursday that the pilots had been trained as part of the Army of Drones project, which is part of the fundraising platform Unite d24. "We have recently completed the first part of the UAV pilot training project; 10,000 pilots have been trained during this time," Fedorov said. "That is, the Drone Army is about the comprehensive development of the UAV sector, both from the point of view of production and from the point of view of their use." He said that the crowdfunding initiative had raised $325 million, with donations coming in from 110 countries around the world. The project plans to launch 60 companies to produce attack drones, he added. Drones have played a key role in the conflict, with both sides using them for reconnaissance and to drop bombs or grenades. Both sides have also used longer-range drones to strike targets deeper into each other's territories. Russia this week accused Ukraine of being behind an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin, which Ukraine has denied. Some experts have accused Russia of staging a false-flag attack. Ukrainian officials have previously noted that drones will be critical in the efforts to take back territory occupied by Russia. "We will win faster and with fewer losses if we have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of reconnaissance and combat drones," Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, previously told Newsweek. "We need combat aviation which has been discussed a lot recently. And also, as I say often this war is a war of drones, they are the super weapon here." Read the original article on Business Insider Ukraine used a U.S.-made air-defense system to intercept a Russian ballistic missile, the first known time that it has been able to block one of Russias modern missiles. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian forces were able to take down a Kinzhal, or Kh-47, missile that a MiG-31K aircraft launched from Russia toward the Kyiv region. He said it happened during an attack that Moscow launched on Thursday night. The missile was shot down using the American Patriot defense systems, the first time Ukraine was known to have used the systems. The Kinzhal missile is one of the most advanced Russian weapons and has a range of 2,000 kilometers, according to the Russian military. It is difficult to intercept because it travels at 10 times the speed of sound. It uses hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead to destroy heavily fortified targets including underground bunkers and mountain tunnels. Ukraine first received the Patriot missiles last month after having noted its inability to intercept the Kinzhal missile with its available assets. Germany and the Netherlands have also provided this air defense system to Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers have also been trained on how to use the systems to lock onto a target on radar and fire at it. As many as 90 personnel are needed to operate and maintain each battery. Oleshchuk said his daughter reassures neighbors of theirs that when they hear large explosions, they indicate that Ukrainian air defenses are working. He called on civilians to comfort their neighbors during difficult times. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov originally asked for the Patriot systems in August 2021, months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion the following February. The successful intercept comes as Ukraine has signaled it is close to launching a counteroffensive to retake territory that Russia has captured during the war. The Associated Press contributed to this report. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has said that the Ukrainian military shot down the Russian Kinzhal missile. Source: Oleshchuk on Telegram Quote from Oleshchuk: "I congratulate the Ukrainian people on a historic event! Yes, we downed the unique Kinzhal missile! Patriot [air-defence system - ed]. It happened during the night attack on 3-4 May in the skies over Kyiv Oblast. The Kh-47 missile was launched by the MiG-31K from the territory of Russia." Details: Oleshchuk asks in advance "not to make public information that could be used by the enemy". Background: The Defense Express media outlet, after analysing photos of the missile wreckage, suggested that a hypersonic Kh-47 Kinzhal missile had been successfully shot down over Kyiv for the first time in the early hours of 4 May. Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said that Ukraine's air defence did not shoot down a Russian ballistic missile in the skies over Kyiv on 4 May. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has had a conversation with General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Source: Zaluzhnyi on Telegram Quote from Zaluzhnyi: "During the phone conversation, I informed [General Milley ed.] about the situation on the contact line and preparations for the future steps of our army to liberate Ukrainian territory." Details: Zaluzhnyi has expressed gratitude to the Americans for another military aid package announced the day before. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Hanna Maliar, Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine, has urged her fellow Ukrainians not to look for any subterfuge or deep meanings in the statements made by Russian leaders. Source: Maliar on Telegram Quote: "How to evaluate Russian leaders' videos and written statements about their plans? Dont. There is no need to look for any deep meanings or subterfuge in them. The enemy has not changed their plans for Ukraine. Their goal is to conquer all of Ukraine. They failed in their blitzkrieg last year, so they are moving in stages now. Or rather trying to move, because our defenders are not allowing them to do so." Details: Maliar stressed that regardless of what the enemy says, writes, or shows, "we should always be ready for the most insidious scenarios, because that is exactly what they have been demonstrating since the beginning of the war." Background: On 5 May, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin stated in a letter to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defence that he would be withdrawing the Wagner mercenaries from Bakhmut on 10 May. He claimed that the reason for the move was that the Ministry of Defence did not give his fighters enough ammunition, and he did not want his people to be "doomed to a senseless death" because of this. The Armed Forces of Ukraine were sceptical about the statement. Later, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov offered his help with the occupation of Bakhmut. On 6 May, Prigozhin announced that he would supposedly hand over his fighters positions in Bakhmut to Kadyrov's troops. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Ukraine's Security Service has said that Russian occupiers and their collaborators will face a just retribution for the war crimes they have been committing against Ukraine. Source: press service for the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) in a comment for Ukrainska Pravda Details: The Security Service of Ukraine made the following statement in response to Ukrainska Pravdas request for a comment on the explosion of the car belonging to Zakhar Prilepin, an active supporter of Russias war against Ukraine. Quote from the SSU: "We cannot officially confirm or deny the SSUs involvement in this or any other explosion that beset the occupiers and their collaborators. However, as SSU head Vasyl Maliuk said on numerous occasions, explosions are now besetting and will beset the Russians who bring war, death, and violence to our land. Death is the only prospect we can offer the occupiers. But we will only be able to discuss who is behind this or that incident after our victory. Which will definitely come soon." Background: An Audi car carrying Zakhar Prilepin, a Ukrainophobic writer and member of the political party A Just Russia For Truth, was blown up in Russias Nizhny Novgorod Oblast on Saturday, 6 May. Russias Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested a man who may have been involved in blowing up Prilepins car. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has announced that Oleksandr Permiakov, a native of Ukraine detained on suspicion of attempting to assassinate Prilepin, admitted his guilt. Prilepin underwent a surgery in Nizhny Novgorod. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Russias Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced the arrest of a man who may have been involved in blowing up the car of Ukrainophobic propagandist Zakhar Prilepin. Source: TASS news agency, citing the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs; Telegram channel 112 Details: The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs said the man held on suspicion of being involved in blowing up Prilepins car has a previous conviction. The search for possible accomplices in the car bombing continues. TASS reported that the Russian security forces are looking in the Moscow area for those involved in the assassination attempt on Prilepin. Their home addresses have been established. An apartment where the improvised explosive device used to blow up the car could have been assembled has apparently been found in the Moscow suburbs. According to Telegram channel 112, the detained man is originally from Ukraine and recently received Russian citizenship. The 30-year-old resident of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast was seen by locals from the village of Pionerske over the last two days, just walking in the forest. Prilepin's press service reported that his associate Oleksandr "Zloy" (Angry) Shubin, a member of the Oplot battalion of the Russian Guard, was killed in the explosion. Update: Later, the TASS news outlet, citing law enforcement agencies, reported that the thirty-year-old man detained on suspicion of involvement in blowing up Prilepin's car was a native of Ukraine and has a previous conviction for robbery in collusion with a group of people. Background: On Saturday, an Audi car carrying Zakhar Prilepin, a Ukrainophobic writer and member of the political party A Just Russia For Truth, was blown up in Russias Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! In Starobilsk, Luhansk Oblast, the Russians are evicting Ukrainians from their homes and sending them to filtration camps for refusing to accept Russian passports. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Quote: "Ukrainian citizens who have refused to obtain Russian passports are being forcibly evicted from their own homes by the occupiers in the city of Starobilsk [Luhansk Oblast ed.]." Details: The General Staff notes that the Russians usually come to peoples homes no more than twice. The third time they come, the people and their belongings are forcibly thrown into the street. The occupiers are not even deterred by the fact that minors may be living in the house. "After being evicted, such citizens are taken to filtration centres and their homes are given to servicemen of the Russian occupation army for accommodation," the General Staff said in a statement. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! A new survey found high school students in Clark County buckled up at a higher percentage than both the county and statewide averages. >> TRENDING: Woman hospitalized while helping kid avoid getting hit by car in Dayton The survey results came from a seatbelt challenge conducted among schools between April 11 to April 14 and April 17 to April 21, a spokesperson for the Clark County Combined Health District said. Participating schools saw their student drivers and passengers buckle up at a higher rate than both the state of Ohio and Clark County rates of 84.1 and 77.8 percent, respectively. Three Clark County schoolsSoutheastern, Shawnee, and Northeasternregistered 100 percent seat belt usage among their students, the spokesperson informed. The countywide high school seat belt challenge was a collaboration between the Clark County Combined Health District (CCCHD), local law enforcement, and AAA to encourage teen drivers to prioritize their safety inside the car while travelling. The survey was conducted when classes dismissed at the end of a schools challenge day, students, law enforcement, and CCCHD staged checkpoints to evaluate how many drivers were wearing their seatbelts. The area where these checkpoints occurred and how many roadways it covered were not provided. The high rates of participation among Clark County high school students shows they understand the potential life-saving impact that buckling up can have, the spokesperson said. Most teenagers involved in fatal crashes are unbuckled. In 2020, 52% of teen drivers who died were unbuckled, the spokesperson continued. When the teen driver involved in the fatal crash was unbuckled, nine out of 10 of the passengers who died were also unbuckled. Due to these statistics, officials, both law enforcement and transportation agencies, emphasize the importance of buckling up and driving without distractions. A survey about whether these students continued to buckle up after the challenge ended was not conducted. This article was originally published in CalMatters. When Deysi Mojica received her acceptance to UC Riverside, she was excited. Not only had she overcome her high schools lack of resources to help undocumented students like herself apply to college, but the university was offering a financial aid package that would make her college dream possible. Even though I am undocumented, said Mojica, now a first-year student, the amount of money that they gave me was basically covering all my expenses. But an unexpected $13,000 charge from the university just before she was due to start classes quickly changed her excitement into confusion, leaving her wondering where the money she was awarded had gone. It was only after repeated calls to the financial aid office, Mojica said, that a helpful student assistant who was also undocumented gave her the information that saved her from dropping out: Her aid package was held up because a signature was missing from one of her application forms. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Like Mojica, many undocumented students lack accurate information about applying for financial aid or find the process intimidating. California has since 2011 allowed undocumented students to receive financial aid from the state and its public universities if they meet certain eligibility requirements. But students, advocates, and even the California Student Aid Commission itself say the aid application developed under a state law known as the California Dream Act is unnecessarily complex, not enough college staff are trained to advise students about it, and campus departments dont collaborate well when processing applications. As a result, they say, many undocumented students are missing out on aid for which they qualify. Only 14% of undocumented students in California receive any form of financial aid to pursue higher education, according to a recent California Student Aid Commission report. Of the nearly 45,000 undocumented students who applied for financial aid for this past academic year, fewer than 30% ultimately enrolled in school and received aid. Story continues What we know is weve got a lot of students that are willing and going through the process, but theyre not getting the financial aid support, said Marlene Garcia, executive director of the student aid commission. I think thats a starting point to analyze that there is a problem here. One of the problems Garcia cited: Verifying eligibility for the aid can be cumbersome and fear-inducing to undocumented students concerned about the risks of sharing their personal information. California exempts undocumented students from paying nonresident tuition if they spent three years at, and received a degree, diploma or certificate from a California high school or community college. When those students want to apply for financial aid, they must also submit a document also known as an AB540 affidavit to the campus they plan to attend verifying they qualify for the exemption and promising to legalize their immigration status as soon as possible. The student aid commission then randomly selects 20% of students for verification that the information they reported in their applications is accurate. But individual campuses do the actual verifying, and there is no statewide standard. California State University Chico and American River College, for example, accept a simple statement from students that they are eligible and only require extra documents if there is conflicting information in their applications, according to the student aid commission. But other campuses require much more information, such as W-2 forms, IRS tax transcripts, and/or household size information. Thats when some students fall through the cracks, said Sergio Belloso, a counselor at Santa Monica Colleges Dream Resource Center, which provides legal, mental health and financial aid counseling services for the colleges undocumented students. Sometimes students just stop that process, because theyre like, I dont want to give them my information, Belloso said. The affidavit and financial aid application also must be sent to different departments on campus, often causing delays and confusion for students. Related Los Angeles Schools Have a College Enrollment Problem But There Are Solutions At Santa Monica College, the Dream Resource Center serves on average 200 undocumented students per semester, Belloso said. Although tuition at California community colleges is just $46 per credit hour, or free on some campuses, many students, regardless of immigration status, use financial aid to cover additional expenses such as textbooks, transportation, and living costs. Belloso said he and other center staff spend a large portion of their time and resources on helping students get financial aid, including those who dont qualify for aid and in-state tuition. If other campus staff members were better trained to understand financial aid for undocumented students, the center would have more time to explore other aspects of its mission, such as providing legal help, he said. Cristina Sanchez, who provides drop-in counseling to undocumented students at Solano College, said she started her job right after graduating from college with little more than an Excel spreadsheet with student contact information. As the sole, part-time staff member tasked with supporting about 200 undocumented students, Sanchez is also concerned the students she serves may not be getting the financial aid information they need. I was not given any training or anything like that, it was kind of like, Here you go, Sanchez said. So its been a lot of teaching myself or going out of my way to learn more, because Im not undocumented. Sanchez said a lot of times she is sending students to other counselors and financial aid officers, creating a game of hot potato and potential communication breakdowns between campus departments. Strengthening campus centers for undocumented students could help such students persist and navigate financial aid difficulties, students and counselors said. Even though the staff at UC Riversides Undocumented Student Programs couldnt fix Mojicas financial aid problem, she said, they welcomed her to campus, apologized for the difficulties she was having and even helped her find a work-study job doing social media for an undocumented student organization. Mojica said the support helped her feel like she belonged on campus. They were super welcoming. They spoke to my mom, started telling me about our (food) pantry and about the groceries. Although I didnt ask, they were already giving me so much information, said Mojica. It had a big impact on me. The center, which supports more than 600 students, one of the largest undocumented student populations among UC campuses, plans to hire a dedicated counselor to assist undocumented students with their financial aid applications. Meanwhile, the student aid commission is working to tackle some of the issues in the Dream Act application process. It has recommended reducing the percentage of applications requiring verification and allowing Dream Act applicants to receive text message updates on the status of their aid. The commission is also sponsoring Assembly Bill 1540, introduced by Los Angeles Democratic Assemblymember Mike Fong, which would allow undocumented students to fill out a single application for both their financial aid and residency. Its currently under consideration in the appropriations committee. We think that it should be intuitive. Students shouldnt have to go through a maze to figure out how to get financial aid, said Garcia. The financial aid system should meet students where theyre at more effectively. Although both Sanchez and Belloso are excited to see a more streamlined application for students, Belloso feels there is still more that can be done to help undocumented students pursue higher education. He hopes campuses and the aid commission will collect and share campus-level data on how many undocumented students are applying for and receiving aid, so counselors like him can better support them. More financial aid training for other campus staff would also help, he said. Colleges may say The Dream program is there, undocumented students can get help, but it doesnt mean that were actually helping all the students, he said. Gonzalez is a fellow with the CalMatters College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. This story and other higher education coverage are supported by the College Futures Foundation. This story was originally published by CalMatters. Afrika Gupton-Jones, with her son, AJ, outside of their Columbus, Ohio home on April 3, 2023. (Maddie McGarvey/The New York Times) When Afrika Gupton-Jones was on bed rest in the hospital after developing high blood pressure at 28 weeks of pregnancy, her husband was with her day and night. Yet the nurses often assumed that he was her brother and that she was a single mother. When the doctors and nurses gave her medications or took her blood, she said, they gave her minimal explanation. Its like they didnt trust me with my own bodily decisions, she said. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times In the United States, people who have more money generally receive better health care: More expensive insurance plans usually cover more doctors, and well-off patients can afford the increasingly high out-of-pocket costs that come with medical care. But despite being upper-middle-class and privately insured, Gupton-Jones and her husband felt they were treated insensitively. Her career in marketing didnt make a difference in how doctors and nurses saw them, she said, nor did his doctoral degree. Earning more and being well educated generally doesnt protect Black mothers during childbirth the same way it protects white mothers. A new study of a decade of births in California, published this year, found that the richest Black mothers and their babies were twice as likely to die from childbirth as the richest white mothers and their babies. Missing from mortality statistics are the many stories of mistreatment and negative experiences. In interviews with Black women who responded to a request from The New York Times to share their birth stories, they described having their pain dismissed, concerns ignored and plans disregarded while giving birth. They recalled walking a fine line between speaking up for themselves but feeling nervous to push too hard. Numerous studies suggest that racism and how it affects Black womens health throughout their lives is a primary driver. It starts long before women become pregnant, researchers say. It happens across health care settings, with research showing that even if medical staff is empathetic overall, just one such interaction can have a big effect. It continues through childbirth, when discrimination, unconscious or not, affects Black mothers hospital care. Story continues These long-term issues of disparities in maternal outcomes cant be boiled down to class, said Tyan Parker Dominguez, who studies race and birth outcomes at the University of Southern California School of Social Work. Racism doesnt operate along economic lines, because even when you control for that, its still a factor. Gupton-Jones son Sidney, now 8, was born at 30 weeks and stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit for six weeks. It was filled with families of color, she said, while the health care professionals at the suburban Ohio hospital were white. They took good care of Sidney, she said, but she and her husband felt they were treated dismissively. Although she was comfortable advocating for herself in her career, she said, she and her husband said nothing at the hospital because they didnt want to create conflict with the people taking care of Sidney. You had to have a blind trust in the overnight shift that they were taking care of your child appropriately, she said, so you didnt want to rock the boat. Racism Doesnt Operate Along Economic Lines Studies show that high levels of income and education generally lead to better birth outcomes, like lower rates of cesarean sections, preterm births and infant mortality except when the mother is Black. One reason is that many Black women with more resources probably ascended into their class recently, said Parker Dominguez. Her research has found that the resources that women had growing up have a greater effect on their reproductive health than the socioeconomic status theyve achieved as adults. Theyre likely to have lived in disadvantage, which doesnt get undone just because you reach 30 years old and youre reaching $100,000 in income, she said. There is also evidence, in her work and that of others, that experiencing racism has long-term effects on health. It can increase incidences of other medical conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes and affect birth outcomes. These effects can be passed down through generations. Its been maybe a generation or two since weve had opportunities for African Americans to move en masse into the middle class, Parker Dominguez said. Studies find that Black women who plan to deliver without an epidural are more likely to be pressured into using one. C-section rates are lower for white women with advanced degrees, but not for highly educated Black or Hispanic women. When Black women have C-sections, they are twice as likely as white women to receive general anesthesia, which makes them unconscious for their childs birth. New mothers who are Black are significantly more likely to be tested for drugs than white mothers, even though white mothers are more likely to test positive, a new study conducted in Pennsylvania found. Black women are more likely to be reported to child welfare services after giving birth. In qualitative studies, they have described health care workers who have assumed they are single or have multiple children or low incomes, whether or not those things are true. Regardless of socioeconomic status, when a Black mother or birthing person presents to a health care system, they are starting out being up against racial stereotypes, said Jaime Slaughter-Acey, a public health researcher at the University of Minnesota who studies racism in health care. In Pain, but Afraid to Speak Up Lia Gardley, 32, had hoped to deliver her son, Jaxson, without an epidural. A construction manager, she thought that if she could make it past 7 centimeters dilation, the point at which she had learned the pain peaks, she could make it all the way. Her repeated requests to the nurse to check how far she was dilated, though, were denied. She kept saying, No, if youre having so much trouble, you should just get the epidural, Gardley said. Exhausted and unsure how much labor she had left, she agreed to the epidural. Shortly after, a nurse checked her dilation, only to find shed already made it past 7 centimeters. It still bothers me when I think about it, because I had such intention and determination, and all I had needed them to do was give me all the information so I could make my informed decision, Gardley said. Others described being subject to stereotypes. One woman said a pediatrician assumed her baby was on Medicaid. Another described a nurse referring to her domestic partner, now husband, as a baby daddy. A third was accused of inappropriately seeking opioids when she repeatedly returned to the hospital after delivery because she was experiencing intense headaches and dangerously high blood pressure. The nurse said, What is it you want? This is your third time here; what do you want, Dilaudid? a mother and physician in Maryland said. I just said, No, thank you. I guess its time for me to go, and I didnt go back, because clearly the nurse thought I was drug-seeking. And that didnt feel good at all. The physician, who did not want to use her name because of her professional connections in health care, said she and her husband decided not to have another child, in large part because of her experience after the delivery. I think that historically, Black peoples pain has been dismissed and undertreated, she said. There are all these myths. I dont know that theres anything sinister; just like with many things with racism and disparities in health care, a lot of it is unconscious and your own assumptions clouding your judgment. Many Black mothers described walking a tightrope: wanting to make providers aware of their knowledge or even their expertise as health care workers themselves but also avoid being labeled difficult. Sade Meeks worked in a neonatal intensive care unit while she was pregnant with her daughter Leilani in November 2020, two months before her due date. Meeks had a difficult, emergency C-section; she recalled fading in and out of consciousness while she was wheeled into the operating room. She was surprised and concerned when the hospital said she was ready for discharge just three days later. I could barely stand, she said. I was in so much pain, but I didnt want to make a scene. If I started yelling or making demands, I know Id be labeled the angry Black woman. They said things to me like, Youre a woman. Youre strong. Other women have been through worse. In her NICU work, Meeks had seen how the hospital was more likely to involve child welfare services with Black families, a trend that holds true nationwide. She feared that pushing back too hard could have that consequence, so she reluctantly went home. But the next day, still in terrible pain, Meeks went to another hospitals emergency room and was diagnosed with a serious infection. She was admitted and spent weeks there recovering while her daughter was across town in another hospitals NICU. She tried shipping breast milk to Leilani, but the logistics proved impossible. It was traumatic, and I felt like Id failed not only myself but my child, Meeks said. I wish Id been more assertive with my concerns, but they kept brushing them off. We Cant Change What We Dont Name Dr. Donna Adams-Pickett, a practicing obstetrician in Georgia, said she treats all her Black patients pregnancies as high-risk ones because of the well-documented poor outcomes. There are often excuses for our complaints and our concerns, which are consistently minimized, she said. I find myself often having to serve more as an advocate than as a physician. Even her presence as a Black physician may help protect her patients: Studies find that Black newborns delivered by Black doctors have much better outcomes. But she also finds that bias extends to her as a Black female obstetrician. Adams-Pickett, who has practiced for decades and delivers hundreds of babies annually, described instances in which white doctors involved in deliveries dismissed her expertise. Once, she said, another doctor questioned her order for an emergency C-section, and she had to point to the fetal tracing monitor and show him the blood between the patients legs to convince him. It bothered me that I had to go through all these steps and lose valuable time to prove to him that my patient needed emergent surgery, she said. The women in these stories survived, and so did their babies, so for most of them, their negative experiences were not categorized as poor outcomes. Yet to combat racism in hospital care, said Dr. Karen Scott, an obstetrician, it has to be tracked. At her organization, Birthing Cultural Rigor, she developed a survey to measure racism during childbirth. It asks patients about mistreatment, concerns like whether mothers felt they had open communication with and empathy from health care providers, and how their partners or others were treated at the hospital. It surfaces issues, like Black husbands who are policed in hospital hallways, that would not otherwise be noted. When we just look at outcomes, we minimize what hurts Black birthing people, she said. We cant change what we dont name, what we dont measure and monitor. c.2023 The New York Times Company First Lady Jill Biden has opened up about her visit to the United Kingdom to represent the United States at the coronation of Britains King Charles III. Dr Biden, who attended the lavish ceremony along with granddaughter Finnegan Biden, spoke of her delight after witnessing the historical event, which took place at Westminster Abbey in London. The first lady said it was an honour to attend the royal ceremony. You cant imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on the head of the king and then on the head of the queen, the first lady told The Associated Press during a phone interview on Saturday. Its really surreal to see and experience that moment. It was so meaningful to me that I could bring Finnegan here, that we could travel together and experience this together and its meant a lot to both of us, she added. President Joe Biden asked his wife to represent the US in his stead, marking the first time that a US first lady was present for a British coronation, according to the White House. Dr Biden and her granddaughter donned stylish pastel blue and yellow gowns, respectively, and seemed in high spirits at the once-in-a-generation event. They sat next to Ukraines First Lady Olena Zelenska. Addressing Kyivs ongoing conflict with Moscow, Dr Biden said Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welbys message of hope and joy had touched her. And I thought that was such a strong message because I think that is true, she said. And its true for all people everywhere, but I think it was important at this moment that the clergy brought that into this moment in history. First Lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden arriving ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, central London (PA) The first lady said that following the celebration, she and her granddaughter decided to honour British customs and had tea time together. I felt as I sat there, I felt this sense of decorum and civility that binds together people of all nations, she said. US First Lady Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan arrive at Westminster Abbey (WPA ROTA) Dr Biden also recounted her chat with Kate Middleton, noting the Princess of Wales had not ruled out the possibility of feeding her children candy to keep them quiet during the coronation. Last year, the princess youngest son Louis stole the show during the Queens Jubilee Platinum celebrations as he made silly faces and at times appeared deep in conversation with his grandmother. [The Princess of Wales] said she didnt know if her son could sit still for two hours and we just had a good laugh over it, Dr Biden said about the coronation. Its just something, I think, thats common to a lot of us. King Charles III became the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned in a ceremony that involved holy anointing oil and a glove and coronation sword. Charles wife, Camilla, was also crowned queen during Britains first coronation in 70 years, following Queen Elizabeth IIs death last September. Now that the weather across the country is becoming more cooperative after an epic winter of relentless snowstorms, flooding and severe weather, many Americans are ready to hit the road and travel to one of the beautiful national parks. The National Park Service manages 424 individual units in all 50 states and territories and includes 63 national parks. HOW THE NATIONAL PARKS PRESERVE THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF THE US With so many options, you're bound to find something that will pique your interest. Beware that some national parks are much more popular than others, and you'll need to make a reservation if you want to visit. Local Adventurer compiled a list of national parks that require reservations in 2023. Check out the list below and see if your favorite is among those that will need a reservation this year. Even if you dont see yours on the list, you can always check out the National Park Service website for the most up-to-date information on reservation requirements. FILE - Cadillac Mountain located on Mount Desert Island, in Acadia National Park, Maine. Acadia National Park in Maine protects the natural beauty of the highest rocky headlands along the Atlantic coastline of the U.S., according to the NPS. The park includes an abundance of habitats and a rich cultural heritage. According to the NPS, Acadia National Park receives 4 million visitors annually and is one of the top 10 most-visited national parks in the U.S. FILE - Skyline Arch at Arches National Park on January 13, 2021 in Moab, Utah. Arches National Park in Utah has more than 2,000 natural stone arches, hundreds of pinnacles, massive rick fins and giant balanced rocks, according to the NPS. And that's just from the roads. According to the NPS, visitors can see even more if they decide to take a hike through the park. Glacier National Park in Montana features melting glaciers, alpine meadows, carved valleys and spectacular lakes, according to the NPS. More than 700 miles of trails are perfect for anyone seeking to explore the wilderness. SEE THE REMAINS OF A HISTORIC HOSPITAL, CEMETERY THAT WERE FOUND UNDERWATER OFF THE FLORIDA COAST Story continues FILE - Haleakala National Park. Haleakala National Park in Hawaii has plenty of opportunities for adventure, fun, sightseeing and solitude, according to the NPS. There are lush rainforests, a rocky coastline and majestic overlooks that can't be missed. The NPS added that the national park is also home to many endangered species, some of which don't exist anywhere else. FILE - Charlie Strickfaden walks through Muir Woods National Monument in Mill Valley, Calif. Monday, Jan. 10, 2022. At Muir Woods National Monument in California, you can walk among stunning old redwoods. Muir has been federally protected since 1908. THESE ARE THE DAYS NATIONAL PARKS WILL HAVE FREE ADMISSION IN 2023 Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado has 415 square miles of adventure that host a range of mountain environments, according to the NPS. Check out the meadows in the Montane ecosystem or the alpine lakes and towering mountain peaks. If you're a fan of hiking, you don't want to miss this park. There are 300 miles of hiking trails that showcase incredible wildlife. FILE - A view out over the piedmont from Skyline Drive on a Fall day in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia November 5, 2016. Shenandoah National Park in Virginia is only about 75 miles outside of Washington, D.C., and is bustling with waterfalls, spectacular vistas and fields of wildflowers among the park's 200,000 acres of federally protected land. THE TOP 10 MOST VISITED US NATIONAL PARKS AND MEMORIALS Yosemite National Park in California was first protected in 1864 and is best known for its stunning waterfalls, but according to the NPS, within the park's nearly 1,200 square miles of beauty, visitors can find valleys, meadows, massive ancient sequoias and a vast wilderness area. Over the winter, Yosemite National Park was closed to tourists after relentless winter storms dumped more than 15 feet of snow within the park's boundaries. A section of the park was also briefly closed in late April because of concerns over flooding due to snowmelt. THE MOST POPULAR NATIONAL PARK SITES VISITED DURING THE SPRING Zion National Park in Utah was the state's first national park. Visitors can check out the beautiful, massive sandstone cliffs or explore the wilderness within a narrow slot canyon. According to the NPS, visitors can also see the park's vast array of plants and animals while they take in the rich history and create memories that will last a lifetime. King Charles III wasn't the only person crowned on Saturday his wife Camilla was too. She was once vilified by the public, with many believing she was to blame for the breakup of Charles and Princess Diana's marriage. But Charles and Camilla's love prevailed, and now he is making her queen. After Queen Elizabeth III died in 2022, Camilla initially took on the title of queen consort, as the queen wished. Unlike a queen regnant, a queen consort does not have any real authority and the title is usually given to the spouse of a monarch. But while Charles said he and Camilla were "deeply conscious of the honor represented by my mother's wish," when his coronation invitations went out, Camilla's title was changed to "queen." On Friday night, the palace referred to Camilla as the queen for the first time, and Britain's PA news wire said the change had taken effect as of the beginning of coronation day, even before Camilla was formally crowned. Camilla is a non-birth member of the royal family, so she will not hold authority, but she was crowned queen alongside her husband, the king. Camilla, Queen Consort travelling in the Diamond Jubilee Coach built in 2012 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. / Credit: / Getty Images The pair first met when they were young and have walked a long, winding road to get to a point where Charles, 74, could call her his wife and now, queen. "The phrase 'fairytale' has been turned around a lot at this," CBS News contributor Tina Brown said during coverage of the coronation Saturday. "Here is a king about to crown as his queen, the woman who has been in his life since he was a teenager." "It's a grand formal occasion, a great state occasion with lots of splendor, but a very personal story between the two of them that we are going to witness today," Brown said. "We're going to witness the final crowning of a relationship that has been the story of this moniker for 65 to 70 years, that is kind of fun to watch." The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby places the Queen Mary's Crown onto the head of Camilla during the coronation ceremony inside Westminster Abbey in London, on May 6, 2023. / Credit: RICHARD POHLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Charles and Camilla, who grew up in an aristocratic family, were first romantically linked during the 1970s but ended up marrying other people. Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 and Charles married Diana Spencer in 1981. Still, the pair remained close Charles is even godfather to Camilla's son, Tom. Story continues Now, he's stepfather to Tom and to Camilla's daughter, Laura. After Charles and Diana divorced in 1992, and following Diana's death in a car crash in 1997, Charles and Camilla eventually made their relationship public. Another first for royals: The couple married in 2005, the first non-religious, civil ceremony ever for a British royal in England. But even though she officially joined the royal family, Camilla was not as welcomed by the public. A YouGov poll in 2005 found that just 7% of the public thought she should be queen one day. Before Diana and Charles divorced, the princess gave an extremely candid interview to Martin Bashir, during which she spoke about Camilla's presence in their lives. "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," Diana said. She also admitted to her own affair with an Army veteran James Hewitt. After the dissolution of Charles and Diana's marriage, Camilla was regarded as the most hated woman in Britain, facing hostility from ruthless paparazzi. While the public's perception has changed during her nearly 20-year marriage to Charles, some are still critical including Prince Harry, who wrote in his book "Spare" that Camilla tried to rehabilitate her reputation at his expense. Harry said he and his brother, Prince William, asked their dad not to marry Camilla, saying it would "cause more harm than good, and if he was now with his person, that surely that's enough," the prince told Anderson Cooper during an interview for CBS News' "60 Minutes." The prince said Camilla's need to fix her image made her dangerous because of how close she became with the British press. Harry accused Camilla and even his father of using him and his brother for tabloid coverage, saying Camilla "sacrificed me on her personal P.R. altar." Journalist Petronella Wyatt, a friend of Camilla's, told CBS News Camilla might have been hurt by Harry's words, because "she was very, very nice to Harry." "I think that Camilla will do the job [of queen] brilliantly," Wyatt said. "She's always in a good mood. She's not stroppy and difficult. I think she'll shine quietly, while letting Charles be the star." During the coronation, Camilla wore the Queen Mary crown, with diamonds from Queen Elizabeth II's collection added to it for the ceremony. Russia launches airstrikes ahead of Ukraine's planned spring counteroffensive North Carolina governor says 12-week abortion ban effectively bans many abortions altogether Rep. Patrick McHenry says there are no "red lines" in debt ceiling negotiations Coronation of King Charles III, May 6, 2023; Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, June 3, 1953 Coronation of King Charles III, May 6, 2023; Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, June 3, 1953 Credit - Jonathan BradyPool Photo/AP; Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images The last time Britain held a coronation, on a similarly rainy spring day in 1953, then Prince Charles was just four years old. Photos from that day show the young heir standing in between his grandmother, the Queen Mother, and his aunt, Princess Margaret, with a bored expression on his facenot unlike another young royal. Seventy years later, at King Charles IIIs coronation, there are plenty of echoes with the past. Much like his mother Queen Elizabeth IIs coronation, Charles ceremony brimmed with ritual and symbolism rooted in centuries-old tradition. Both coronations were deeply religious affairs and featured much of the pomp and pageantry that one would expect from a major royal event. Quite aside from the terrible weather, both ceremonies took place against difficult economic backdrops: At the time of Queen Elizabeth IIs coronation, post-war rationing was still in place. Today, Britain remains in the grips of the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. Victoria JonesPool/AP Read More: Charles Has Been Crowned King. Here Are the Latest Updates But there were also a number of key differences. Compared to Elizabeths, Charles coronation was a more scaled-back affair, with fewer people in attendance and a shorter service and procession than his mothers. Whereas the Queen was crowned alone in 1953 (her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh, was not, as is custom for the consorts of female sovereigns), Charles was crowned alongside his wife, the now Queen Camilla. In Charless coronation, there was a greater effort to make the service more inclusive and reflective of Britains diversity, most notably through the inclusion of a diverse array of faith leaders. In Charless coronation oath, he said: Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and belief, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness and be led into the paths of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Story continues One of the starkest differences between Charles and Elizabeths coronations was their oaths. When Elizabeth became queen, Britain was still very much an empireand, as such, she pledged to govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon, and of your Possessions and other Territories. Charles, meanwhile, now rules over a considerably smaller realm. In his oath, he pledged only to govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, your other Realms and the Territories. More from TIME But perhaps the most obvious difference between 1953 and the present day is how the monarchy is viewed. In todays Britain, the monarchy enjoys the support of just 58% of the population. Charles coronation was subject to high-profile, if limited, anti-monarchy demonstrations. Some protesters were even arrested. Queen Elizabeth II with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret Rose and members of the immediate and extended Royal Family, as well as foreign dignitaries, after her Coronation ceremony. Central Press/Getty Images King Charles III and Queen Camilla are pictured with members of the working royal family: (L-R) Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Anne, Princess Royal, King Charles III, Queen Camilla, The Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy and Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh. Hugo BurnandBuckingham Palace/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II and her pageant pass on the way to her coronation ceremony on June 2, 1953. Central Press/Getty Images King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort travel in the Diamond Jubilee Coach, built in 2012, as they approach Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6, 2023. Carl CourtGetty Images Spectators, some sheltering beneath umbrellas, watching the Coronation procession of Elizabeth II. Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Crowds watch as the procession makes its way along the Mall during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Bruce AdamsWPA Pool/Getty Images The Queen and her retinue, who are carrying her train, at her coronation. Hulton Archive/Getty Images King Charles III takes part in his and Queen Camilla's coronation ceremony with pages Prince George, Lord Oliver Cholmondley, Nicholas Barclay, and Ralph Tollemache. Jonathan BradyWPA Pool/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II during her coronation ceremony. Fox Photos/Getty Images King Charles III during his coronation ceremony. Jonathan BradyWPA Pool/Getty Images A TV hook-up in Marpole Community Centre, Vancouver allows over 1200 people to see the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as televised from London. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images People watch a television screening of the coronation of King Charles III during the Coronation party at Lincoln Center in New York City. Jeenah MoonGetty Images The Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis/Getty Images Hollywood star Richard Dreyfuss, an Academy Awardwinning actor best known for his role in the Jaws, said in an interview that the new diversity rules imposed by the Oscars for films to be eligible for the Best Picture award make me vomit. They make me vomit, Dreyfuss told Margaret Hoover on Firing Line which aired Friday night on PBS. This is an art form. No one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is. New policies enacted by the Oscars in 2024 will see film award eligibility dependent upon meeting two of four stipulated diversity benchmarks. One, for instance, mandates a third of a movie cast must be comprised of an underrepresented group. Its finding the right balance. So, we want rules that make sense, that keep people kind of on your toes about it, but not telling people what to make, the film producer and Academy President Janet Yang told Sky News in March. Still, Yang maintained that the proposed equity measures would not disqualify any previous nomination which dates as far back as 1929. We did find that, given these new guidelines all the past nominations would still qualify. During the conversation, Dreyfuss praised Laurence Oliviers performance of Othello performed in blackface in 1965. Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man? Dreyfuss asked rhetorically. Are we crazy? Do we not know that art is art? Hoover pushed Dreyfuss, challenging him to clarify whether people of another race should be allowed to represent groups they do not belong to. Do you think theres a difference between the question ofwho is allowed to represent other groupsand the case of blackface explicitly in this country given the history of slavery and the sensitivities around Black racism? the journalist followed up. There shouldnt be, Dreyfus responded. Because its patronizing. The actor also discussed his decades-long commitment to improving civics education. In 2006, the star created the Dreyfuss Civics Initiative aimed at revitalizing national awareness of government and politics. Story continues I think were in the endgame right now, he told PBS. We could let slip the greatest idea for governance ever devised, and we wont even know that it happened. I still cant really wrap my head around the fact that people confuse being exposed to an opposing view on any subject with being a traitor or with being a subversive. His comments come on the heels of scores for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a standardized test referred to as the Nations Report Card released on Wednesday, showing a worrying drop in civics knowledge for the average eighth-grader to the lowest point since they were first administered in 1998. "I think we're in the endgame right now." Actor @RichardDreyfuss discusses restoring civics education and his fears for the nation's future. Plus, he reacts to Hollywood's new inclusion standards: "They make me vomit." TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET@PBS listings: https://t.co/yjV9uYyL5J pic.twitter.com/njuxohjD5d Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) May 5, 2023 Senior administrators in the White House have sought to cast Republican state governments and the pandemic as culprits for the drop in test scores. The latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress further affirms the profound impact the pandemic had on student learning in subjects beyond math and reading, Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona noted in an official statement. More from National Review Yevgeny Prigozhin, the financier of the Wagner Private Military Company, has said that he would hand over his mercenaries' positions in the city of Bakhmut to Kadyrovites, the troops of Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic, subordinated to Russias Armed Forces. [Chechen Republic is a Federal Subject of Russia; Ukraine recognised it as a territory temporarily occupied by Russia ed.] Source: Prigozhins press service Quote: "I am grateful to Ramzan Akhmatovich [Kadyrov] for agreeing to take up our position in Bakhmut, most likely, having the ability to obtain everything he needed and all the necessary resources. I am already in touch with his representatives to start the transfer of positions immediately so that on 10 May, at 00:00, precisely at the moment when we estimate that our combat potential will be completely exhausted, our comrades-in-arms will take our places and continue the assault on the city of Bakhmut." Details: Prigozhin claims that only "a little more than two square kilometres" of Bakhmut are allegedly under the control of Ukrainian forces. Background: On 3 May, Yevgeny Prigozhin wrote a letter to the Russian Defence Ministry, stating that he would withdraw the Wagner PMC mercenaries from Bakhmut after 10 May. He claims that this step is necessary because the Russian Ministry of Defence does not provide his mercenaries with enough ammunition, and he does not want his men to be "doomed to senseless death" because of this. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are sceptical about the claim made by Yevgeny Prigozhin that his mercenaries will supposedly start leaving Bakhmut on 10 May. Later, Kadyrov offered his assistance in the occupation of Bakhmut. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett said the United States and China can compete and prosper simultaneously amid rising tensions recently between the two countries. Buffett said at his companys annual meeting on Saturday that the two countries need to understand that they cannot push each other too hard, as either country is capable of destroying the other. Both places are going to be competitive, and both can prosper, he said. Thats the vision that is out there that China will have a more wonderful country. The United States will have a more wonderful country. Buffett said a situation where both countries can succeed will be imperative for the next century, and leaders of the two nations should avoid inflammatory actions that would raise tensions. His comments come as the U.S. and China have had heightened tensions over the past few years and especially in recent months. China has increasingly stepped up military drills near Taiwan recently, at times in response to U.S. contact with the self-governing democratic island. A series of drills happened for days around the island in August after Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who was serving as House Speaker at the time, visited. U.S. intelligence has also indicated that China has been providing at least nonlethal aid to Russia to help with its invasion of Ukraine, despite Chinas officially stated policy of neutrality in the conflict. Officials also believe China has considered sending lethal aid to support Russian troops, which Beijing has denied and the U.S. has strongly warned the Chinese government against. Tensions also rose after a surveillance balloon that officials identified as owned by China traveled across the continental U.S. in February. China has said the balloon was only to track weather and was blown off course by wind. The U.S. military shot the balloon down after a few days, but the balloon was reportedly able to gather some intelligence about sensitive military sites. Story continues Buffett said the U.S. used to be in a similarly tense situation with the Soviet Union during the Cold War with a policy of mutually assured destruction, a recognition that nuclear war would destroy both sides in a conflict, preventing a war from breaking out. But he said the principle also came with a very, very, very close call in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Now youre playing with a game that you cant really make a huge mistake in, he said, referring to the current situation between the U.S. and China. The better thats understood in both countries, the more the leaders feel that their citizenry does understand that, the better off well be. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The U.S. Coast Guard released video Saturday of one of its helicopter crews hoisting survivors of a plane crash by the Tar River near Greenville. The Coast Guard Sector North Carolina command center received a call from Pitt County emergency officials Friday requesting assistance at the scene of a crash near Pitt-Greenville Airport, according to a Coast Guard news release. The command center sent an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City. On-board video captures the crew safely hoisting the two adult survivors into the helicopter. Each survivor was lifted in a rescue basket. The video lasts for just over a minute. Both survivors are conscious as theyre hoisted, according to the video. One stands up and walks in the helicopter after getting out of the basket, the video shows. The crew took the survivors to ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville. The Coast Guard didnt release their names or conditions. The cause of the crash was unknown Saturday. A handful of red dresses hung from the trees around Fresno States Peace Garden on Friday, swaying in the gentle Friday night breeze as silent symbols of the disproportionate violence suffered by Indigenous people. Many of the dresses carried somber messages. More than half of Indigenous women have been physically abused by their intimate partners, one read. Inside the Fresno State Peace Garden, more than 100 people many of them also wearing red gathered in recognition of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day. The color and garment thats come to signal solidarity among the many tribes affected by this pattern of violence against women in particular. Since 2021, May 5 has been nationally recognized as a day of awareness for the disproportionate rate of crimes committed against Native American women and girls. A 2016 National Institute of Justice report found that more than half of American Indian and Alaska Native women experience sexual violence in their lifetime and more than four in five experience violence in general. The vast majority or 96% of sexual violence these women experience is at the hands of non-Native people. Fresno County is no stranger to this issue, where the 2021 death of a Native American woman from Auberry, who had gone missing days before her body was found, remains unsolved. Members of indigenous tribes in the Fresno area and across California who gathered Friday mourned the loss of their own relatives over generations. We need our neighbors and our friends to care that this has happened, said Leece Lee-Oliver, director of American Indian Studies at Fresno State, in an interview with The Bee. We need it to be intolerable to others, not just us. During her remarks to the crowd Friday, she called on everyone in attendance to be part of a new coalition in the Central Valley to face down an issue as old as colonialism. We need it here, she said. How are we where we are in the Central Valley, and nobodys paying attention? Story continues Jingle dancer Jaedyn Le Grant from the Chukchansi tribe dances in front of local families and relatives gathered at Fresno States Peace Garden to mark Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Day, Friday, May 5, 2023 in Fresno. Its hardly ever publicized Members of the Fresno American Indian Health Project, an organization that works with Native families that are victims of this type of violence, also helped organize Fridays gathering. Ruben Garcia, director of Native Wellness at the organization, told The Bee in an interview that the issue calls for greater support from Fresno leaders. He pointed to the creation of a Feather Alert system much like Amber Alerts that notify the public of a missing or abducted child in California that allows law enforcement to quickly alert people en masse of missing indigenous persons. Because one thing that we know is when things happen, whether its on a rancheria or reservation, that it doesnt always make it into the mainstream media, he said, and its hardly ever publicized. Improving response time from law enforcement is essential, he added. Itd be essential to either finding a person, he said, or stopping the crime from actually happening. Historically, a small percentage of these cases are investigated, let alone solved, researchers have said. A 2018 study from the Urban Indian Health Institute found that while the National Crime Information Center indicated 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women in girls in 2016, the U.S. Department of Justices federal missing persons database only logged 116. A drum circle plays and sings with a red dress hanging from a tree in the background as local families and relatives gathered at Fresno States Peace Garden to mark Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Day, Friday, May 5, 2023 in Fresno. Fresno Countys ongoing case A Fresno County case that remains unsolved to this day is that of Bessie Walker. The 27-year-old woman, who lived in Auberry and was of the Mono indigenous people, was reported missing on Aug. 8, 2021. Just under two weeks later, on Aug. 21, she was found dead by a search party of her family and friends. An autopsy reported her cause of death undetermined. The Fresno County Sheriffs Office called the death suspicious in an April 2022 news release announcing a $10,000 cash reward for anyone who came forward with information. Over a year has passed since that announcement but still there are no new developments in the case, Sheriffs Office spokesperson Tony Botti told the Ed Lab in an email Friday. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Oscar Iniguez at 559-600-8201. It's apparent in Washington this week that time is running out for Democrats and Republicans to find a compromise on raising the debt ceiling. Left unresolved, the debt issue could have serious consequences for Americans as soon as June 1. An influx of migrants are soon expected to arrive at the U.S. southwest border with the end of a COVID-19 pandemic-era policy that tightened border control. To prepare, the Biden administration will send active-duty troops to the border to support Customs and Border Protection. Meanwhile, in D.C. and New York federal courts, consequential trials linked to former President Donald Trump winded down this week. Four members of the Proud Boys were found guilty of seditious conspiracy Thursday by a D.C. jury in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack, while a fifth member was acquitted of the charge. The Proud Boys argued during their trial that the former president was responsible for the Capitol riot, not them. That same day in Manhattan federal court, writer E. Jean Carroll rested her rape and defamation case against Trump. And Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas faced renewed criticism this week for receiving money and gifts from outside interests, possibly in violation of the high court's ethics standards. Here's what happened this week in politics. What happened this week in politics? Story continues 1,500 troops head to southwest border ahead of Title 42 lapse Some 1,500 active-duty troops are headed to the southwest border where a wave of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. is expected with the end of a pandemic policy that tightened border control. The policy, Title 42, allowed Customs and Border Protection to turn migrants away in an effort to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in holding facilities. It's set to end on May 11, when the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency is terminated. Cities are already facing hardships supporting the number of migrants who have been allowed into the country. Chicago has shouldered more than 8,000 migrants since August sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. On Sunday, she urged Abbott to stop busing migrants to the city, calling the move inhumane and dangerous. 4 Proud Boys guilty of seditious conspiracy, one acquitted Four Proud Boys, including longtime leader Enrique Tarrio, were found guilty Thursday of entering a seditious conspiracy against the U.S. government that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. A fifth Proud Boy was acquitted of the charge, but all the defendants face several other felony charges. Their convictions on the rare, Civil War-era crime marks a major victory for the Justice Department, bolstering its account that the Capitol attack endangered American law and order. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that the verdicts were an example of the governments steadfast commitment to defend the American people and American democracy." More alleged ethics violations against Clarence Thomas Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is back in the limelight over alleged ethics violations after reports that conservative activists and donors paid his wife, Ginni, for consulting work and for his grandnephew's schooling. ProPublica reported Thursday that Republican megadonor Harlan Crow paid private boarding school tuition for Thomas' grandnephew, over whom he had legal custody at the time. Tuition at the Georgia boarding school ran more than $6,000 a month, according to ProPublica, and Thomas did not note the payments on his annual financial disclosures. Later Thursday, the Washington Post reported that Leonard Leo the former vice president of the Federalist Society who helped President Donald Trumps administration vet nominees for the Supreme Court arranged for Ginni Thomas to receive tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work. "No mention of Ginni, of course," The Post quoted as part of Leo's instructions for the arrangement. The revelations are the latest in a series of reports in recent weeks about money and gifts Thomas and his family have received from outside interests. E. Jean Carroll rests rape case against Donald Trump Writer E. Jean Carroll's attorneys rested their high-profile rape and defamation case against former President Donald Trump on Thursday. Her last witnesses last witnesses included experts who testified to legal damages and a friend who said Carroll told her about the assault shortly after the alleged incident in 1996. Though the former president denounced the lawsuit as bogus and claimed he would attend the proceedings, his attorneys announced just hours later that they would also rest their case without calling any witnesses. Final arguments in the case are scheduled for Monday. Clock ticking on debt ceiling compromise As a possible default on America's debt looms, Democrats and Republicans still can't agree on how to raise the debt ceiling. The White House criticized Republicans' legislation to raise the debt ceiling this week for not explicitly protecting veterans' care from spending cuts. The bill would eliminate 81,000 Veterans Affairs jobs, produce 30 million fewer Veterans Affairs outpatient visits and increase the disability backlog of veterans by 134,000, the White House said in a memo. McCarthy's office rejected the White House's claims, saying House Republicans "will not cut veterans benefits" and will "responsibly prioritize" spending in the upcoming appropriations process. Meanwhile, top House Democrats are taking matters into their own hands with a secret plan to "stop right-wing extremists from triggering a dangerous default on America's debt." The "right-wing extremists" he's referring to are Republicans who refuse to raise the debt limit, though the House GOP may disagree with his assessment because they passed a bill last week to do just that. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that the U.S. could run out of money to pay its bills as soon as June 1, which could lead to unprecedented consequences for Americans like a stock market crash, a recession and a rise in unemployment, experts have told USA TODAY. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This week in politics: Major trials wrap up, clock ticks on debt limit MARQUETTE, Mich. It turns out you can even check the weather to get your daily dose of omega supplements Welcome to our weekly feature, "Weekend Weather Wows," where we'll go back and find the most exciting tidbits of weather you might have missed over the past week, so you'll be ready to impress at the water cooler (or virtual water cooler) come Monday. This week, the Omega block stole the headlines for creating some shall-we-say "unusual" weather for being halfway through spring. Marquette is well familiar with "March Madness," but this week, it's more like "May Madness" as the town and much of Michigan's Upper Peninsula were hit with what might be termed an unfair amount of snow for being 7 weeks from summer. You could say Mother Nature gave them quite the come'UP'pance. Heavy snow blankets Marquette, Michigan on May 1, 2023. The National Weather Service office in Marquette recorded 26.2 inches of snow from May 1-3 -- their all-time monthly snow record for May. Nearby Herman, Michigan, did Marquette even better, recording 27 inches in one day on Tuesday, and 48 inches yes, that's 4 FEET! from May 1-3. Tuesday's 27 inches was not only the snowiest May day in town; it's not only the snowiest May day in all of Michigan, but according to Alaska climatologist Brian Brettschneider, Herman's 27-inch snow day ranks as the snowiest May date for anywhere east of the Mississippi River. Take that, Detroit. HISTORIC SNOWS IN MICHIGAN, WEST VIRGINIA BREAK STATEWIDE RECORDS For Marquette, it brings their seasonal snowfall to 265.1 inches which sounds like it too should be a record until you realize this is northern Michigan and essentially a stone's throw from being in Canada. They've had a winter with 319.8 inches of snow just 22 years ago (or what Utah ski resorts this year call "brunch".) Farther east, Snowshoe, West Virginia, managed to get 16 inches of snow out of the storm as it swept through the Appalachians. It too would have set a state record for May snowfall except nearby Canaan Mountain reached 16.2 inches to set the record. Story continues The storm that moved up into New England on Monday not only brought heavy rains and flash flooding, but some record low atmospheric pressure readings for May. Boston (983.6 mb), Hartford (981.5 mb), New York City (982.1 mb), Providence (983.6 mb) as well as Toronto (986.5), Ottawa (981.0 mb) and Montreal (981.2) all set record low pressure readings for May. Thunderstorms brought a rare sight to Virginia Beach Sunday: a strong tornado. A tornado later determined to be an EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale tore across about 4.5 miles of the city with winds estimated at around 145 mph. It's the first tornado in the city to reach an EF-3 status in Virginia Beach and the first anywhere in the state that strong since April 2019. It was the first tornado reported in Virginia Beach since an EF-2 touched down in March 2017, but the 15th tornado to strike the city since 1950. Meanwhile, not one but two weak tornadoes touched down in the Los Angeles area on Thursday. The pair of EF-0 tornadoes were the first May tornadoes in Los Angeles County since 1984. The pressure was considerably higher, then it wasnt, then it was again around Seattle's Sea-Tac Airport early Tuesday morning as a freak event brought sudden wind gusts to 40-63 mph to a localized region in the dead of night. Not only did wind gusts go from single digits to raging levels in minutes, but the wind direction also underwent radical shifts, from south to north back to southback to north again all within two hours. Sea-Tac's 43 mph gust was the strongest May gust in 10 years, while a 63-mph gust recorded in nearby Normandy Park by Michael Snyder, another local meteorologist, was the strongest gust he's ever seen at his house, despite measuring years of wind storms. Meanwhile, the atmospheric pressure dropped 13.2 millibars in 49 minutes, only to jump back up 9 millibars in just two minutes! University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences Professor Cliff Mass analyzed the data suggesting it was a gravity wave that produced the quirky weather. He said Seattle was lucky the event occurred in the middle of the night when air traffic is minimal as such radically shifting winds and speeds could have wreaked havoc on approaching and departing flights. Later that week, a bit more traditional sky chaos as seen from some of my photographer friends in the city: Lightning sensors monitoring Alaska's skies detected a thunderstorm on May 3, when a whopping 7 strikes of lightning were detected along the Dalton Highway near Finger Mountain, according to the National Weather Service in Fairbanks. It brings Alaska's total lightning count in its interior for this spring to 7. Alaska doesn't get a lot of stark temperature changes needed for thunderstorm development, as opposed to Florida. Remember last week Florida recorded over 10,000 lightning strikes just within a 12 mile radius of Cape Canaveral in an eight-hour period! Tamila Tasheva, the Presidents Permanent Representative in the Autonomic Republic of Crimea, has reported that several Western politicians are cautioning Ukraine against its plans to liberate Crimea, saying that this could lead to a "nuclear war". Source: Tasheva in an interview with PAP Details: Tasheva says that some "politicians, not countries", fearing Russian retaliation, are calling on the Ukrainian side to abandon plans to regain the peninsula. Quote from Tasheva: "They argue that Crimea can indeed be retaken, but the potential consequences will be enormous, both for the inhabitants of the peninsula and for Ukraine as a whole. They believe that we should completely abandon attempts to reclaim it. I do not think Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons, because Putin understands that this is the point of no return for him and [would entail] the destruction of the entire system he has been criminally building in the occupied territories. We liberated Kherson six months ago and nothing happened, even though according to Moscow it was a so-called violation of Russia's territorial integrity. According to Putin's nuclear doctrine, they should have used tactical nuclear weapons immediately." More details: The permanent representative does not wish to reveal the names of the politicians she is referring to. According to Tasheva, there is no exact date when the Armed Forces of Ukraine will liberate the peninsula, but she says that it will "probably happen soon". Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Harry and William sat near to each other during the coronation service. (Getty) Prince Harry and Prince William sat two rows apart at their father's coronation in Westminster Abbey today as the estranged brothers were brought together for the first time since the Queen's funeral. It was their first meeting since the Duke of Sussex published his controversial memoir Spare, in which he made a number of explosive claims about the Royal Family, including that William attacked him during a row about Meghan Markle. The book deepened Harry's existing rift with his family, with the Sussexes having already sent shockwaves through Buckingham Palace with their bombshell 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. As he has stepped down as a working member of the Royal Family to start a new life with his family in the US, Harry did not take part in the King's procession or ceremony in Westminster Abbey. He was pictured smiling at audience members as he walked into the abbey alone without Meghan, but didn't speak to William. Yahoo understands Harry's visit was a fleeting one and, as William joined King Charles on the balcony, his brother was already heading home to the US. Prince Harry leaves Westminster Abbey with his cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank. (Pool via AP) Harry leaves Westminster Abbey after the coronation. (Getty) During a promotional round of interviews for his book, Harry spoke at length about his strained fraternal ties, most notably in an interview with Tom Bradby on ITV News. Yahoo News UK has broken down the key moments of the interview to remind us of the background to their rift. Asked about the alleged physical confrontation, Harry told ITV News' Tom Bradby: "What was different here was this level of frustration and... I saw this red mist in him." In his book, he wrote: "He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog's bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out." Harry claimed William and Kate told him to wear the Nazi costume to a party in 2005 which made the front page of the Sun. Harry claimed the now-Prince and Princess of Wales "howled with laughter" when they saw him in the outfit. Harry revealed that his mother's funeral plans initially meant only William would walk in the procession behind Diana's coffin because, at 15, perhaps he seemed old enough to handle it. However, Harry said "there was absolutely no way" he could let his brother do that by himself, and agreed to take part, something he said William would have done for him too. Harry said William didn't like it when Diana dressed them in the same clothes when they were children, though he "found it quite funny". Harry said he and William "felt guilt" when meeting with members of the public after their mother's death, and they didn't understand why when shaking hands, "wet hands that we were shaking, we couldnt understand why their hands were wet. But it was all the tears that they were wiping away. So that was very strange for us, as, you know, youngsters". Story continues Read more: Met Police criticised for handing out coronation wristbands as protesters arrested Princess Diana with William and Harry outside Wetherby School, on Harry's first day. (Getty Images) Harry admitted he and his brother "shared a joke" as they walked behind their grandmother's coffin during her funeral procession earlier this year, saying: "Well, at least we know the way." Harry described William as his "archnemesis" in Spare, adding that the press "always pitched us against each other. They pitched Kate and Meghan against each other." Harry spoke about how much he loves his brother and father and wasn't trying to "harm" or hurt them by writing his memoir. But he wants his family and their staff members to admit they have been complicit in the negative press coverage of the Sussexes. Harry insisted he wants to reconcile with his family and get his "brother back", but no longer recognises them, adding: "As much as they probably don't recognise me." Harry wrote that William's marriage to Kate felt like "yet another farewell", adding: "The brother I'd escorted into Westminster Abbey that morning was gone forever." Harry claimed his brother wasn't interested in spending time with him when he started at Eton College. The duke said in his interview with ITV that he was "hurt at the time", but now he has his own children, he realises siblings "need their space". Harry claimed he and William never wanted Charles to marry Camilla and asked him not to, but appreciated they "were and remain very happy together". Read more: Coronation flypast: What is the route? William and Harry walk behind Queen Elizabeth's coffin before the committal service in Windsor. (Getty Images) Harry said William "aired concerns" about Harry's plans to marry Meghan but never tried to "dissuade him" from doing it. He questioned whether William's concerns about Meghan were based on that "maybe [William] predicted very early on what the press' reaction was going to be". In one of his more controversial claims, Harry says William and Kate never get on with Meghan from the start. He says he thought having a wife or long-time partner would bring him closer to William and Kate. Instead, he claims that there was "stereotyping" that caused a "bit of a barrier to them really sort of, you know, introducing or welcoming her in". Asked by Bradby to explain, Harry says: "Well, American actress, divorced, biracial, theres theres all different parts to that." Harry talked about a level of competition with his brother. Discussing an argument about whether he should keep his beard for his wedding to Meghan, he says William found it hard that Harry could get to keep his beard while William had been previously told he had to shave his own one off. Harry claimed an unsuccessful attempt at reconciliation took place after his 2018 wedding, which ended in an awkward hug and Kate "gripping the chair" until her hands went white. Harry says he "had put a lot of hope in the idea that it would be William and Kate, and me and whoever. I thought the four of us would bring me and William closer together". Harry explained that being "the third wheel to them [Kate and William], which was fun at times" but was "also I guess slightly awkward". Read more: Penny Mordaunt 'did press-ups' so she could carry massive sword at Kings coronation William, Kate and Harry during celebrations on the Mall for the late Queen's 90th birthday. Harry said he often felt like a "third wheel". (Getty Images) Harry described an apparent exchange at Prince Philip's funeral in which William insisted that he just wanted his brother to be happy, and swore "on mummy's life", which Harry says was a "secret code" that was rarely used - adding that he "didn't believe him" anyway. Harry appears to claim that aides working for his father and stepmother used the press to brief against his brother. He says William and Kate went through the same things Meghan and I went through from Charles and Camillas office. He says William and Kate suffered from the moment they were married. He goes on to say that he didnt think the same would happen to him and Meghan, before adding: How wrong I was." Harry explains that he and William have been set "on different paths", since their mother's death and that they are "two individuals who experienced a very similar traumatic experience but dealt with it in two very different ways". He says he and William have discussed for "many years" who is "policing" the British press, but Charles called it a "suicide mission" trying to change things. Buckingham Palace has not commented on any of the claims made in Harry's book (NEXSTAR) When we die, one of few things may occur: well be cremated, placed in a casket and buried, or donated for research. There are other options like being shot into space or put in a casket and pushed into the ocean but some states are hoping to legalize another option: human composting. It was the state of Washington that first legalized human composting otherwise referred to as natural organic reduction in 2019. Since then, nearly half a dozen states have passed legislation to allow human remains to be broken down by tiny microbes and composted into soil. Other states are hoping to do the same. It may be coming at the right time, too according to a recent survey by the National Funeral Directors Association, 60% of respondents, comprising of consumers 40 years old and older, said they would be interested in exploring green funeral and natural burial options, data shared with Nexstar shows. What is natural organic reduction? While the means of human composting can vary by company, the goal is to mimic the natural process of decomposition and creating soil. More than 200 people died in national parks last year: These were the deadliest At Earth, which offers natural organic reduction services in Washington and Oregon, for example, the body is placed in a biodegradable shroud after being gently washed, then put in a vessel with a layer of mulch and woodchips. Wildflowers are also added, Earth explains. The body and materials remain in the vessel for 45 days until a roughly cubic-yard of soil is created. Families decide how much soil they would like to keep while the rest is sent to Earths conservation site used for land restoration projects. You can be buried at sea if you want. Heres what it takes Similarly, Seattle-based Recompose lays bodies in a vessel with wood chips, alfalfa and straw. The vessel is then closed to allow soil to form over five to seven weeks. The soil then cures for three to five weeks outside the vessel, again creating about a cubic yards worth. According to Recompose, the soil can then be donated to a land trust. Story continues Who has legalized human composting? As previously mentioned, six states have legalized human composting. Washington was the first to legalize natural organic reduction. Colorado and Oregon legalized the green burial method in 2021. Vermont and California followed suit in 2022, and earlier this year, New York became the sixth state to allow the process. Which states have tried to legalize it this year? Lawmakers in Nevada introduced a bill in March that would legalize natural organic reduction, Nexstars KLAS reports. In mid-April, the bill was read in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Health and Human Services after passing the State Assembly, 38-4. A committee hearing on the legislation is scheduled for May 9. A similar bill was introduced in Rhode Island, according to Nexstars WPRI. That bill was introduced in early March and referred to committee. The Illinois House passed a bill to legalize natural organic reduction in March. In April it was referred to assignments by the Senate. The bill faces opposition from the Catholic Church and some in the burial industry, Nexstars WTVO reports. Lawmakers in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia have also considered legalizing natural organic reduction this year. Facebook agrees to pay $725M settlement: Whats the deadline to file a claim? According to the National Funeral Directors Association survey, 5.5% of respondents said they would prefer natural organic reduction when asked how they might be laid to rest. The organization notes, though, that the option remains fairly new and some may be unaware of the process. The Associated Press contributed to this report. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. It was the moment royal watchers had been waiting for. Following their coronation ceremony, King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, wearing their crowns, to wave at the crowds. Prince Harry, the son of Charles and Princess Diana, did not join him. Where was he? A source familiar with the coronation planning told NBC News that Harry was not invited to join the royal family on the balcony following the coronation. Buckingham Palace declined to comment. As seen in photographs, Harry left Westminster Abbey in an SUV while members of the royal family processed to Buckingham Palace in a gold carriage. Just as Harry arrived solo, he left solo. Their Majesties King Charles III And Queen Camilla - Coronation Day (Karwai Tang / WireImage) It appeared that only working royals were part of the traditional balcony moment. The newly minted king and queen were joined by William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Charles and Camillas eight pages of honor also stood on the balcony, including George, three of Camillas grandchildren Gus Lopes, Louis Lopes and Freddy Parker Bowles and her great-nephew Arthur Elliot. Along with Harry and Prince Andrew, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were not seen on the balcony, but did attend the coronation ceremony. Neither Harry nor Andrew are working members of the royal family. Balcony of Buckingham Palace (Petr David Josek / AP) The prince was all smiles both while getting into the vehicle on the rainy Saturday in London, as well as while sitting in the third row of his father's coronation ceremony. The coronation marked the first time Harry was publicly with the royal family since publishing his tell-all memoir Spare, which had bombshell revelations about his upbringing and details about his fallout with his brother. Harry alleged his older brother Prince William physically attacked him during a fight about Meghan. Since calling out the royal family both in Spare and in the press, Harry and Meghans presence at the coronation was in question. In January, he told British network ITV that the ball was in their court. Story continues Theres a lot that can happen between now and then, he said at the time. But, you know, the door is always open. In addition to his father's coronation, May 6 also marks Prince Archie's 4th birthday. Harry's son is currently in California, with 1-year-old sister Princess Lilibet and his mom, the former Meghan Markle, who did not attend the coronation. The planned absence of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was announced April 12. This article was originally published on TODAY.com More than 600,000 veterans in a handful of high-profile congressional battleground districts could be hurt by potential cuts to government programs if the House debt limit bill becomes law, according to the White House. If House Republicans have buyers remorse about the agonizing cuts they just endorsed for those that sacrificed for our freedom and security, the good news is theres an obvious solution: stop holding our economy hostage and cleanly vote against causing a recession, said Andrew Bates, a White House deputy press secretary, in a memo obtained by HuffPost on Saturday. In the memo, the White House said that a total of 618,960 veterans live in 18 GOP-controlled House districts, or an average of about 34,387 each. While the memo does not explicitly note this, President Joe Biden won all 18 districts in the 2020 election. These districts are seen as the front line in efforts to decide who will control the chamber after 2024. The memo shows the White Houses determination to push the issue of cuts to veterans benefits as it works to hang House Speaker Kevin McCarthys debt reduction plan around the necks of the GOP, even as Republicans attempt to argue the attacks are unfair. The districts include those represented by Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, George Santos of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and David Schweikert of Arizona. Of the 18 districts, 11 are in either New York or California, reinforcing the central role that the two blue states will play in the battle for control of the House. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the U.S. faces the prospect of being unable to pay its bills as early June. Republicans have said they want spending cuts and as the price to increase the debt ceiling, passing a $4.8 trillion spending reduction and debt hike bill in April on a mostly party-line vote. But the vast majority of those cuts would come from the annual funding that Congress gives to the Pentagon, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and other government agencies. Story continues Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has said lawmakers can provide for defense, veterans and border security while cutting overall annual spending. Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has said lawmakers can provide for defense, veterans and border security while cutting overall annual spending. The bill doesnt specify which departments would take cuts, nor does it include language protecting any agency, including the Defense Department or the Veterans Affairs Department. Because about half of that annual pool of money usually goes to defense, the White House calculates that everything else, including veterans programs, would suffer a 22% cut next year if defense were protected from any reductions. The Default on America Act would force extremely painful consequences on the Americans who have risked everything to keep us safe and protect our freedoms, Bates wrote, jokingly summing up the GOP message thusly: I will singlehandedly kill millions of jobs and send retirement accounts into a tailspin unless you let me gut the VA. Republicans have decried the estimates as fearmongering. Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee that doles out annual spending, said in April, We will provide for our national defense, take care of veterans, and secure our border all while reducing overall spending. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), the chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said Democrats are engaging in dangerous rhetoric. Simply put, they are playing politics with our veterans, Bost said. Veterans are not political pawns to advance a political agenda. Simply put, they are playing politics with our veterans. Veterans are not political pawns to advance a political agenda.Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee The heat over the potential cuts illustrates the political potency of the veterans issue. With only a five-seat Republican margin, Democrats are looking to retake control of the House after performing much better than expected in 2022. The memo comes ahead of a high-profile meeting slated for Tuesday between Biden and the party leaders in each chamber of Congress. With the number of days that lawmakers will be in Washington before June dwindling, each side is hoping the other blinks, with some reason for optimism. Axios reported Saturday that moderate House Republicans are fretting about being able to push through a compromise bill once the initial bargaining stage is over. And NBC News reported Friday that the White House is mulling offering a short-term debt limit extension to ease the time pressure and minimize the economic danger of default jitters in financial markets. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has ordered the U.S and Wisconsin state flags to be flown at half-staff Saturday as a "mark of respect" for Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Roy Coulson Harms, who died in World War II and whose remains were identified decades later, according to the governor's office. Harms, a Grafton native, was a B-24 bomber pilot in World War II. He was killed by enemy anti-aircraft fire Aug. 1, 1943 near Ploesti, Romania while his unit was on a mission to destroy oil refineries supplying the Axis powers. His remains were not identified after his death, and initially he was buried in Ploesti. Later, he was reinterred at Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium. Decades later in 2017, Harms' remains were exhumed, then finally positively identified as his by the POW / MIA Accounting Agency. Harms was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and Purple Heart. He will be buried with full military honors Saturday in Grafton. We are glad to be able to welcome First Lieutenant Roy Coulson Harms home and that he can finally be laid to rest in his home state, said Evers in a news release. First Lieutenant Harms gave his life fighting for the values and freedoms we hold dear, and the state will forever remember his courageous service and sacrifice. When are flags at half-staff in Wisconsin? Under the U.S Flag Code, the U.S. and respective state flag fly at half-staff when the country or state is in mourning. The president may issue a national decree, or the state governor through an executive order, to have the flags lowered at half-staff. The decree is usually to mark the death of a government official, military member or first responder; in honor of Memorial Day or other national days of remembrance; or following a national tragedy. In Wisconsin, all state-owned and operated facilities must display their flags at half-staff. Municipal and county governments, public and private schools, private businesses, and individuals should also lower their flags to half-staff under the governor's executive order. Story continues What time are flags displayed at half-staff? Executive orders will call for the flags to be lowered immediately or at sunrise on the day of remembrance until sunset, or for the entire period of mourning. Holidays where the flag is at half-staff around the country May 15, Peace Officers Memorial Day (half-staff all day) Memorial Day, last Monday of May (half-staff from sunrise until noon only) Sept. 11, Patriot Day (half-staff all day) First Sunday in October, Fallen Firefighters (half-staff all day) Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (half-staff all day) What is the difference between half-staff and half-mast? Half-mast refers to flags lowered on a ship while half-staff refers to a pole in the ground, according to the Naval History and Heritage Commands blog. Half-staff is the preferred form of reference in presidential decrees while half-mast is used outside of the U.S. This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Flags in Wisconsin flying half-staff in honor of Army Air Forces First Lieutenant Roy Coulson Harms Meghan Markle didn't attend King Charles's coronation. (Getty Images) King Charles III's coronation featured over 2,000 guests, but there was one key family member missing: his daughter-in-law Meghan Markle. While Prince Harry attended his fathers coronation, it was announced in April that the Duchess of Sussex would remain behind in California with their children, Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, one. Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on May 6. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, a statement from Buckingham Palace read in April. Read more: How fans and critics have reacted to Harry attending Charles's coronation without Meghan As the coronation fell on Archies fourth birthday, it is believed that this was a driving factor behind Meghans decision to stay in California. Responses to Meghan's coronation absence Following the announcement that Meghan would stay in California, former editor of The Sun newspaper, Kelvin Mackenzie, told GB News that he thought it was a "wise decision". "There's a real sense of angst against both of them and they've solved it. [Harry] has to turn up, he has to turn up to his dad's coronation," he said. Prince William, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and King Charles, on Commonwealth Day 2019. (Getty Images) Both Harry and Meghan were invited to the coronation, their representative confirmed in early March. "Meghan wants to be there to support her father-in-law, but at the same time, the scrutiny she receives outweighs the support," a friend of Meghans anonymously told People magazine. "There's always going to be that other side challenging their reasoning, and who wants to put themselves in that position? At this point, it's become so personal. Maybe what they wanted wasn't achieved, but at the end of the day, he's going there to support his dad." Read more: Take our Harry and Meghan relationship quiz It comes after Meghan and Harry made some explosive claims about the royal family, both in their Netflix special, Harry & Meghan, and Harrys memoir Spare, published in January this year. Story continues The coronation falls on Prince Archie's birthday, May 6. (Getty Images) In Harrys memoir, he wrote of Queen Camilla: "I didn't relish losing a second parent, and I had complex feelings about gaining a stepparent, who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar." Harry also claimed that Camilla had leaked stories about himself and his brother, Prince William, to the press. Read more: King's coronation: Why is the sovereign's ring called 'the wedding ring of England'? In an interview with the Sunday Times in April, Camillas friend Lady Lansdowne said: "Of course [what Harry wrote] bothers her, of course it hurts. But she doesnt let it get to her. Her philosophy is always, 'Dont make a thing of it and it will settle down least said, soonest mended." Watch: Future of the Monarchy: Why Charles is underestimating the danger posed by his own family dramas? Their Majesties King Charles III And Queen Camilla - Coronation Day Camilla, Queen Consort looks on as Penny Mordaunt leads King Charles III wearing the St Edward's Crown during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023. Credit - Yui MokWPA Pool/Getty Images In a sea of royals and celebrities, an unlikely star emerged at King Charles IIIs coronation on Saturday. British Conservative politician and Leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, dazzled viewers as she performed her ceremonial role. As part of her additional position as lord president of the privy council, a team of advisors to the monarch, Mordaunt was required to carry an 8 lbs. 17th-Century Sword of State into Westminster Abbey during the Kings Procession. Now, the 49-year-old politician is being lauded for her stylish appearance and for graceful conduct while holding the 4 ft. sword throughout the ceremony. Mordaunt wore a sleek teal midi dress that she commissioned for the occasion, as well as a matching cape and Jane Taylor hat with gold fern embroidery. The fern design was a nod to the Privy Council uniform motif. Camilla, Queen Consort looks on as Penny Mordaunt leads King Charles III wearing the St Edward's Crown during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023. Yui MokWPA Pool/Getty Images Lord President of the Council, Penny Mordaunt, presents the Sword of State to King Charles III during his coronation ceremony. Victoria JonesWPA Pool/Getty Images [I] will be carrying the Sword of State, which is the heaviest sword, so Ive been doing some press-ups to train for that, she told The Times Red Box podcast of her role before the historic day. Mordaunt was required to keep the swordwhich represents the kings authorityat a right angle to her body. We practiced with some replicas that were weighted, and its a huge honor to do it, she added, noting that her navy background came in handy when preparing. Read More: Charles Has Been Crowned King. Here Are the Latest Updates The quirky tradition saw a hundred newly-minted 50 pence coins bearing the Kings image, exchanged for the sword. Ms. Mordaunt redeemed the sword for the bag of coins at the Abbeys altar. She also made history as the first woman to perform this royal duty. As such, Mordaunt told Politico that she felt it wasnt right to wear the traditional black-and-gold court dress of the privy council, as the Marquess of Salisbury during Queen Elizabeths coronation in 1953. Story continues Penny Mordaunt holds the Swords of State at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. PA Wire/AP Mordaunt first took on royal responsibilities just four days after she was appointed as leader of the House of Commons on Sept. 6, by former Prime Minister Liz Truss. She presided over the accession council after the Queen died in September and Charles ascended the throne. The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North is also known for her unsuccessful bid to become leader of the Conservative party. She ran against current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 2022, and finished in third place before backing Truss and earning a place in her short-lived government. Previously, Mordaunt has served as Minister of State at the Department for International Trade from from 2021 to 2022. She racked up a previous first when she became the first woman to serve as Secretary of State for Defence in 2019. She is also a former Governor at the World Bank. The announced withdrawal of Wagner Group fighters from the town of Bakhmut is another setback for Russia at a crucial moment in its war in Ukraine, exposing an enormous rift between the figures leading the effort just as Kyiv prepares to launch a counteroffensive. Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said Friday on Telegram that his mercenary company would leave the city in the Eastern Donetsk region May 10 after he accused Russias Defense Ministry of depriving his fighters of ammunition and generally failing in the war effort. In a separate video released Thursday night, Prigozhin filmed dead Wagner fighters and cursed at Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who is overseeing the Ukraine war for Moscow. You think that you are the masters of life and you think that you have a right to master their lives, too, Prigozhin said, pointing to the dead soldiers behind him. If you give us the normal ammunition, there will be five times less bodies here. The accusations underscore a growing internal divide between Moscow and a key ally in the Ukraine war. Prigozhin has also warned that should he pull out, the frontline in Bakhmut would collapse. Matthew Hoh, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy who served with the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Russian forces can backfill any holes left by Wagner Group forces. But he said Prigozhin is basically yelling mutiny ahead of Victory Day, a major holiday honoring Moscows triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to speak in Moscow during celebrations next week. This is not anything that Putin or his people want to have to deal with, Hoh said. The perception is that things are out of control. The chaos Prigozhins video unleashed among the Russian military also tells a troubling narrative of the war ahead of Ukraines counteroffensive, said Anna Arutunyan, a fellow at the Wilson Center. Story continues It was a very emotional rant, a very emotional message he hasnt screamed at them so directly in the past, she said. Prigozhin is fed up. Hes fed up, and I think hes reflecting a sense of others who are fed up with this. Bodies are piling up. Theres not enough ammunition to go around as Russia prepares for a counteroffensive from Ukraine, she added. Theres a deep sense of how this [counteroffensive] is going to pan out. Arutunyan, who has written a new book about Russias hybrid war in Ukraine, said Prigozhin is likely engaging in emotional blackmail to win concessions from Moscow. She added that the mercenary leader may reverse course if he gets what he wants. What weve seen in the past is that he will make these public attacks and then he will back down and say, Yes, theyre giving us more ammunition, she said. So, its a matter of how the Kremlin chooses to finesse this and the signals that it wants to send. The Kremlin has so far not publicly commented on Prigozhins accusations and planned retreat. But Russian state-run media outlet TASS ran a brief articleFriday quoting a Defense Ministry spokesperson, who said the assault on Bakhmut was pressing ahead. Wagner Group, known for its meddling in conflicts in Africa and Syria, has played a crucial role in the Ukraine war since deploying fighters to the country in March of last year. Mercenary fighters helped take the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in the Eastern Luhansk region last spring. And Russian forces, led by Wagner Group, began a major assault on Bakhmut in October. The town in the Donetsk region is a strategic point for Russian forces to push further west and seize the Eastern Donbas, the core of Moscows offensive launched over the winter. Wagner Group achieved a minor victory in January when it took the nearby town of Soledar, allowing forces to descend upon Bakhmut from another direction. But they have since only made incremental gains at a huge cost to ammunition and soldiers, including thousands of troops recruited from prisons. The White House estimates that Russia has lost nearly 20,000 soldiers since December, with nearly half of those killed from Wagner Group. But Wagner Group has also heavily damaged elite Ukrainian units while Russian forces have committed limited armed forces personnel, said Hoh, the Center for International Policy expert. Wagner has been very helpful to the Russian army because by using the prisoners, the Wagner mercenary forces fight rather than your regular army forces, he said. Prigozhin has been complaining for months about a perceived lack of ammunition. Earlier this year, he sent a representative to Russias military headquarters in Ukraine to ask for more supplies and was apparently denied. Russia has faced an ammunition shortage for more months, but still has significantly more resources and firepower than Ukraine, which is facing its own supply issues. Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, also said Wagner Group has had a significant artillery advantage in Bakhmut and received preferential support from Russian military leaders. This is likely a reflection of the MoD rationing ammunition before Ukraines counteroffensive, he tweeted, remarking on Prigozhins Thursday video. The MoD has to defend the whole front but Prigozhin only cares about taking Bakhmut. Russian military bloggers also said the problem of ammunition shortages and heavy losses are not limited to Wagner Group. Blogger Igor Girkin wrote on Telegram that our entire Active Army is acutely short of ammunition, asking who would be left if everyone facing the problem left the front. Prigozhin on Friday said he is withdrawing his fighters to the rear to lick our wounds but would still eventually deliver victory for the Russian people. Ukrainian officials have yet to publicly comment on the rant from Prigozhin, who is prone to outbursts on social media and has long courted media attention. Lera Burlakova, a fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis, said Prigozhins announced withdrawal could be a ploy designed to trick Ukrainians. Its very common for Prigozhin to make some kind of hysterical statement, she said. I really dont believe any military figure in Russia is powerful enough to just make his own decisions without some very serious consequences. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Former President Donald Trump is publicly and privately suggesting he will skip the first Republican presidential primary debates scheduled for this summer, an idea that is divisive among current and former advisers. Trump has openly mused he should not have to stand on a stage with other candidates he is leading by 20 percentage points or more in several national polls while simultaneously taking heat from moderators. When youre leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile Networks with angry, TRUMP & MAGA hating anchors asking the questions, why subject yourself to being libeled and abused? Trump wrote on Truth Social. But the strategy is not without risks. The first debate will take place in August and could provide a springboard for an alternative candidate who seizes the spotlight and marks a compelling case for the party to move on from Trump. He thinks he has this insurmountable lead, and its to everyone elses benefit, but not his, to show up at these debates, said David Urban, who advised Trumps 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. I think the folks around him would try to disabuse him of that notion, because if hes not there on that stage, the other people on that stage will do nothing but whack on the person thats not there, Urban added. And theyll get to attack him and say things, and he wont be able to respond. Trump last week publicly floated the idea of skipping at least one of the first two scheduled GOP primary debates. The first GOP primary debate is set for August in Milwaukee. The date of the second has not yet been announced, but it will be hosted at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The former president sees several reasons not to engage. Perhaps the biggest is his substantial lead in the polls. A Fox News poll released last month showed Trump leading his next closest potential competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), by 32 percentage points. A Reuters poll released last month showed Trump ahead by 26 percentage points, and an NBC News poll had Trump leading by 15 percentage points. Story continues I dont think hes showing up, said one former Trump campaign adviser. It only helps these people. Theres no reason for him to go. Hes not going to go up, he can only go down. Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina Statehouse on Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia. AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File The adviser pointed to Trumps past debate performances as further evidence Trump has little to gain from attending the primary debates. The former president had rocky performances in his debates with Hillary Clinton during the 2016 general election. In his first debate with Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, he frequently interrupted his rival and made the wrong kind of headlines by telling the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by. He later tested positive for COVID-19. There are also personal grievances contributing to Trumps stance. The first debate will be hosted by Fox News, a network Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with since leaving office. Trump has appeared with the networks opinion hosts like Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, but his campaign still holds a grudge against Fox for calling Arizona for President Biden on Election Night in 2020, and Trump skipped the networks debate in 2016 amid a feud with then-anchor Megyn Kelly. In suggesting he may skip the second debate, the former president has also pointed to the Reagan Librarys relationship with Fred Ryan, who is the publisher of The Washington Post and who leads the librarys board of directors. GOP strategists and even some Trump associates, however, are mindful that skipping one or both debates could ultimately hurt the former president and give his opponents an opening. I dont think Trump has much to gain from a debate in August, assuming hes still the prohibitive front-runner, said Alex Conant, who worked on Sen. Marco Rubios (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential campaign. But skipping the debate will give a lot of oxygen to his challengers. A debate stage without Trump would present a major opportunity for other candidates to distinguish themselves as alternatives to the former president. Perhaps no individual would have more riding on that opportunity than DeSantis, who is consistently polling second behind Trump but has seen the former presidents lead expand in recent weeks. DeSantis and other potential candidates, such as former Vice President Mike Pence, could use a debate without Trump to draw a contrast with the former president without having to parry away any barbs from Trump in real time. Trumps legal baggage and Republican defeats in 2018, 2020 and 2022 with Trump leading the party would also be fair game, and the former president would not be there to defend himself. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who is expected to announce this month whether he will join the GOP primary field, this week previewed how Trumps opponents might look to capitalize on his absence at a debate. Im sorry to see that Donald Trump feels like if he gets on the stage, hes at risk of losing his lead, Christie told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. If, in fact, his ideas are so great, if his leadership is so outstanding, then his lead will only increase if he gets on the stage, not decrease. But obviously, hes afraid. One former Trump adviser said they believed Trump would ultimately see the merits of taking part in the debates. But should he opt out, it would align with how he has run the primary campaign so far, largely brushing aside any would-be challengers. Trump joined the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in person earlier this year, but he only appeared virtually at an Iowa event hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition that drew several other 2024 contenders. In 2016, Trump skipped a primary debate hosted by Fox News over his feud with Kelly following an earlier debate when she pressed Trump on his derogatory comments about women. In March 2016, Trump threatened to skip a CNN town hall interview, citing his perception that the network had treated him unfairly. Trump, who went on to become the Republican nominee in 2016, is expecting that once again he wont pay the price with voters for his approach. His premise that people who are front-runners generally avoid debates is correct. Trump knows that doing so deprives his opponents an opportunity to take him on directly and burst his balloon, said Doug Heye, a former spokesperson for the Republican National Committee. That he was not penalized for skipping a debate in 2015 no doubt solidifies in his mind that he will not pay a price. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink listens as she leads a discussion with Utahs trade delegation. State Senate President Stuart Adams, left, headed the team here at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Editors note: Deseret News Executive Editor Doug Wilks, reporter Katie McKellar and photojournalist Scott Winterton are traveling with Utahs trade and humanitarian delegation to Ukraine. This is the third in a series of reports. U.S. EMBASSY, Kyiv, Ukraine Hedgehogs, those heavy metal tripod-like spikes so familiar during World War II, line key streets and entrances to government buildings throughout Kyiv, placed near sandbag bunkers in this Eastern European capital now at war with Russia. Despite advances in technology, including drone weaponry and sophisticated air defense systems, there is still a place for heavy impediments to troop advancement, such as those that occurred just on the outskirts of this city in the devastating attacks on Irpin and Bucha nearly 15 months ago when Russia crossed the border into Ukraine. A delegation from Utah headed by State Senate President Stuart Adams the first wartime delegation to Kyiv of any of the 50 states met with U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink prior to dozens of meetings with ministries focused on defense, trade, the economy, technology, energy and agriculture. Related Ambassador Brink had no trouble characterizing the now nearly 15-month war: This is about good and evil and this is evil, she said. The Utah delegation is here to explore partnerships that will help build the economy, continue the extensive humanitarian effort provided by Utahns, and seek innovative ways to support Ukraine, both now and when we win the war, as Ukraine officials repeatedly said. The week would feature some of the heaviest air activity in months near the capital city, requiring repeated trips to safe spaces underground. But warnings from embassy officials throughout the week about heightened hostilities made the Utah team well prepared as it met with both government officials and those in the private sector. It is likely the first of several trade missions to Ukraine with invitations for Ukrainian leaders to come to Utah to further explore business partnerships. Story continues Brink is nearly one year into her posting as ambassador to Ukraine, named by President Joe Biden and sworn into office May 18, 2022, following a nearly three-year appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic. Her career includes extensive experience in prolonged conflict. Following the meeting with the Utah delegation, she sat down with Deseret News Executive Editor Doug Wilks for this exclusive interview inside the heavily secured embassy in Kyiv. The conversation has been lightly edited for content and length. Deseret News Executive Editor Doug Wilks poses a question to U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink during a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Deseret News: Thank you ambassador for the delegation meeting and your time this evening. As we get underway can you discuss the current state of affairs in Ukraine? Ambassador Brink: Well, first of all, thank you for being here. And thank you for making this trip. And with the delegation of business, NGO (nongovernmental organizations) and state representatives, we are really happy to welcome you here, because one of our top goals is to try to encourage direct foreign investment, even right now, now is the time to look at Ukraine, and to help Ukraine in its moment of need, but also in its recovery. So just to your question of what is the situation right now, its been a year-plus in this war and Russias full-scale invasion. And the Ukrainians have done remarkably well, in terms of battlefield success. They have successfully resisted Russias effort to and Putins effort to take the capital. They have also successfully regained about half the territory that Russia originally took after the full scale invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022. Theyre now preparing for another counter offensive, and to try to take back more and liberate more territory. But whatever happens on the battlefield, our positioning with regard to Ukraine is to support their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, their ability to choose their own future. And thats why were here. And my embassy team and I are working every single day, to help them on the battlefield, but also help them, importantly, on the economic front, and to help them keep their economy alive, as well as to help about 6 million displaced people that are in in Ukraine on the humanitarian front as well. Related DN: In our previous meeting you discussed five objectives or goals. Can you review for us what those are specifically? AB: Yes of course. From the day of my arrival, which is now almost a year ago, and at the end of May last year, I articulated five goals, and weve been working relentlessly on those ever since. The first is to help Ukraine prevail on the battlefield. And I mentioned, there has been success in that because of the bravery of the heroes of Ukraine who are fighting on the frontlines, but also because of the assistance that we and international partners have been able to give them to help them in that fight. The second objective has been to help Ukraine make the reforms to realize their European aspirations, essentially to integrate into your Atlantic institutions, including the European Union. That is something that they continue to do and that we continue to support. It helps to create the country that Ukrainians want, and they will also become a stronger partner for us in many ways. The third one is to help to ensure justice and accountability for war crimes and atrocities. The prosecutor general has announced that there are about 80,000 war crimes and atrocities that are being investigated at the moment. And what we and other partners have done is try to find ways that we can help both bear witness and save testimony and evidence of those atrocities. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink sits down to talk with the Deseret News and give some of her feelings about the war with Russia going on in the country following a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News DW: Are you chronicling those stories? AB: We support NGOs that are doing that. Theres a wide effort, a global effort among many partners. But yes, we are supporting that as well as supporting efforts to ensure justice ultimately. The fourth goal is to ensure oversight and accountability for a massive amount of U.S. taxpayer assistance. This is something that is a solemn responsibility for me and our embassy team. And so we are very focused on ensuring that the security assistance, the economic assistance and the humanitarian assistance are all appropriately accounted for. And the last goal is to rebuild our embassy. We are still limited and our numbers were relatively small compared to the size of the embassy before it closed briefly for three months, last February, and we are bringing back our people. And we are also rebuilding our mission to be able to make it a first-class mission to help to train, (to be) a training ground and a place to help prepare the diplomats of the future. DN: Can you clearly articulate Americas foreign policy as it relates to Ukraine? AB: Yes. Fundamentally, we are here to try to stop (Vladimir) Putin from changing borders by force in Europe. We believe that to do so opens up a Pandoras box of instability all over the world. And as the president has made very clear, our support is to help Ukraine prevail on the battlefield, to assure its sovereignty, and to make sure it can choose its own future. And this is primarily fundamentally why we are here. DN: So we understand why it is so fundamentally important for Ukrainians. What is the case for America? Why are we here and why now? AB: So the importance for America is that ... obviously its very important, existential for Ukraine to win this fight against Russias full-scale invasion. But if we were to allow borders to be changed by force, it potentially affects the whole security architecture of Europe, and sends a signal to other countries around the world that any state can change the borders, invade, take action against another state. That fundamentally makes the world more unstable. And for this reason, its very important that we ensure that this is a strategic defeat for Putin, as President Biden has said, DN: Youve been here for a year, appointed in May of last year. You also have great experience in Eastern Europe and other points, looking at protracted conflicts. So do you see differences with whats going on here in Ukraine, between Ukraine and Russia, with what youve seen previously? DW: I think its a continuation of Putins policy throughout the region. And I think the way Russia is waging this war, its obviously a land war here in Ukraine. But there are other aspects of this war and that includes a disinformation war thats happening in Europe and around the world that Russia is behind. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink puts her hand on her chest as she talks about the atrocities from the war with Russia to the Deseret News following a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Its also a war to try to starve or further exacerbate food-scarce countries by stopping Ukrainian grain, which feeds the world, from getting out of ports. Its also an energy war to both cut off or make harder energy supplies to Europe. But also, the whole winter, we spent with 26 massive attacks on Ukraines energy grid, in an effort to try to take out the power, the heat and the light to millions of people. So its a war that has many different fronts and encompasses many more people, even outside of Ukraine. DW: So what is the end game? How will this be resolved? AB: I think Ukraine has to prevail, and we have to help it prevail, we and international partners. We have said all along, that this war will end when Russia leaves Ukraine. And the president has also made clear that President Zelenskyy will decide when that time comes. DW: What can you say about the resiliency of the Ukrainians? Since weve been here, the resolve seems pretty phenomenal. So as youve lived here for this period of time, how would you characterize that resiliency? AB: I think Ukrainians will fight until they prevail in this war. I do not think that Ukraine will give up or Ukrainians will give up. DW: Is there anything that surprised you since your posting here for the past year? AB: I dont think it surprised me, because I had heard that Ukraine was incredibly resilient, and was going to fight to the very end. And that is exactly what Ive seen. Not a surprise, but it validated what I had heard. And I see this and Im sure you will see this too while youre here. DW: So if youre sitting around a dinner table and your friends, your associates ask you what can I do to help, what do you say to them? AB: I would say on the American side, continuing to support Ukraine by supporting our governments efforts in terms of helping Ukraine prevail in this existential fight for them but also strategically important fight for the United States and for Europe and for democracies around the world. There are also plenty of ways that people want to individually support plenty of organizations that they can donate to or contribute to in some fashion. So there are many ways but I would say fundamentally, the support to U.S. government efforts and individual support is very helpful. We appreciate it. DW: Can I ask a question about the loss of children, children from Ukraine being taken to Russia? Is there any U.S. effort to return those children? What is the embassys involvement as it relates to returning the children that have been taken? AB: Yes, thank you. This is one of the very disturbing parts of the war and the way that Russia is waging the war. Its not just a conventional war military against military. In multiple ways Russia is waging this war in a manner which we do not want to see repeated anywhere in the world. So by sending over 1,200 missiles and drones to the energy grid over the winter, Russia was actually trying to harm and even kill men, women and children sleeping in their beds at night, which is not an acceptable form of war in any fashion by conducting mass executions, which have happened, and we have evidence to see this in Bucha. ... We dont have access to Mariupol and other places, but by witness testimony, and as the secretary of state and Vice President (Kamala) Harris have announced these are crimes against humanity, war crimes and atrocities that are crimes against humanity. That is a very significant designation. With regard to these so-called filtration camps, which are reminiscent of World War II, where people including children are taken and filtered and sent to Russia, and children taken away from their parents. This is an absolutely horrific aspect of any kind of conflict that should not be made normal or accepted. Theres sexual violence on a level that we havent seen in any recent history. So with regard to all of these areas, we are doing everything we can as a government to work with international and other NGOs to be supportive in this effort to either identify people and bring them back. And so we will continue to do as the U.S. government anything possible that we can, in all of these areas, DW: I heard from one person who said that they feel like America is doing enough so that Ukraine doesnt lose the war, but not enough to allow Ukraine to win the war. What would you say to that kind of comment? U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink places her hands down on the table as she speaks at a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv. Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. She also sat down independently for a visit with the Deseret News. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News AB: I mean, I would say that we are working. And all of us, myself included, my team, across the interagency in Washington, are working absolutely night and day, in close, close partnership with the Ukrainians to try to help them prevail, to try to help them win. That is a win for us. And we want to do everything possible. And we are and we will. So I wouldnt characterize it in that way. And I think the amount of security assistance that we have been able to give and the speed at which weve been able to give it as well as our convening power to galvanize others, including Secretary (of State Lloyd) Austin, having led the Ramstein Group as its called with 53 other countries to try to get as much to Ukraine as possible, as fast as possible, I think counters that statement. DW: Can Ukrainians and Russians still love each other? AB: I mean, I think if theres respect for the fact that Ukraine is its own nation, with its own culture, and its history, and its own territory, yes, I think the answer is yes. I think if its the vision of Putin, which does not recognize any of that, I dont know if the answer can be yes. DW: Typically, I ask what keeps you awake at night, but I want to end on a different note. What gives you cause for optimism? AB: Oh, the Ukrainians 100%. I think Ukrainians are some of the most determined creative, resolute people I have ever met. And you see this on the battlefield, and you see it in every way. And in your meetings, over the next day or so, you will see it as well. I think that once Ukraine comes out of this war, with our support, it will be a leader in Europe. Its future is quite amazing. When you meet some of these government and other leaders you are going to it doesnt take a big stretch of the imagination to see how, you know, Ukraine goes from a country wanting entry into Europe to actually being one of the countries leading Europe, in terms of IT, digital transformation of the economy, in terms of productivity, in terms of production of different types of things, even perhaps weapons and other things. I mean, it is a country of potential, and anyone coming here, I think you can see it and you can feel it. And thats why theyve done so well. And thats why theyre going to prevail. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink poses for a photo after a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. She also sat down independently for a visit with the Deseret News. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Senate President Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, speaks with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink during a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink laughs after a comment as she attends a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. She also sat down independently to visit with the Deseret News. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, speaks to U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink during a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Owen Fuller, of softward firm Marq, asks U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink a question during a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink and other members of her staff listen as they attend a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. She also sat down independently to visit with the Deseret News. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Members of the Utah trade mission group and members of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brinks staff meet at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Svitlana Miller of To Ukraine with Love, speaks to U.S. Ambassador Bridget A. Brink during a meeting with members of the Utah trade delegation at the embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News A Massachusetts family is taking legal action after their 9-year-old Black boy was handcuffed in his classroom at a Walpole public school in January. According to his familys lawyer, the third-grader is a special needs student who suffered a mental health crisis while in the classroom on January 12. But instead of referring to the boys IEP plan to help regulate his behavior, the elementary school resource officer called the Walpole Police for backup. When two police officers arrived at the school, they allegedly handcuffed the boys arms and legs and transported him to an adult psychiatric hospital for evaluation where he was held in protective custody. The familys attorney said the boy was unable to communicate with his mother until he was discharged. The actions taken by Walpole Public Schools and the Walpole Police Department against this 9-year-old boy were egregious, age-inappropriate, and directly contradicted the schools own guidance for regulating his behavior, said Erika Richmond, the familys attorney. Because of this bias, a situation that could easily have been de-escalated instead led to a young Black boy being handcuffed and held in adult custody. The family is demanding wide-ranging reform and accountability by Walpole Public Schools and the Walpole Police Department, Richmond says. Boston 25 has reached out to both the school and police department for a statement regarding the incident, but has not heard back at this time. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Helen Hewlett tried to hire a hitman to murder a colleague she had an affair with. (Norfolk Constabulary) A woman who tried to hire a hitman to murder a colleague she had an affair with has been jailed for seven and a half years. Helen Hewlett, 44, admitted paying more than 20,000 in bitcoin into an account on the Dark Web called Online Killers Market after a breakdown in their relationship, the court heard. The married mum-of-five had denied soliciting murder or stalking the victim between January 2021 and August 2022, but a jury found her unanimously guilty of the crimes in February. Hewlett, of Hawthorns in Kings Lynn, was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court on Friday, with the judge describing her as a "dangerous offender" and posing a "significant risk to the public". Video grab showing the moment Helen Hewlett was arrested. (SWNS) During the trial, the court heard Hewlett admitted to police during an interview that she went on the dark web to seek revenge but denied she intended to kill her ex-colleague. The court heard how she had placed bitcoin worth 20,547 into a so-called escrow intermediate account linked to the website before posting the order. The deposits reflected the payment requested by 'horses5' quoted on the Online Killers Market. The funds were then tracked through various unidentified accounts to have ended up connected to an individual in Romania. Evidence gathered by investigators found the deposits from a UK bank account were in the name of Hewlett and she had agreed they belonged to her in a police interview, and they corresponded with payments made into her cryptocurrency account. In the police interview, Hewlett insisted she had not intended for the killing to go ahead. She stated that she still controlled the funds in the escrow account and believed no one else had access, adding: "You have to give your OK for someone to be done." Helen Hewlett was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court. (Getty) Hewlett was arrested at her home on 12 August 2022 and her mobile phone was recovered from a bedside cabinet. The app used to access the Dark Web was downloaded on the phone and Hewlett also had three hitman sites bookmarked, police said. Story continues The day after her arrest, police went to the victims home and he described a long campaign of harassment by her where he had to block various email addresses so she could not contact him. The victim said in his statements, read out in court by officers at the trial, that he had been left feeling scared, afraid of everyone and very wary of strangers. Hewlett has been sentenced to a total of 12.5 years for soliciting murder and three months for stalking, to be served concurrently. This will consist of seven and a half years to be served in prison and five years on extended license period to determine the risk to the public by a parole panel. She must serve a minimum of two thirds of the custodial sentence. Hewlett was also issued with a permanent restraining order to prevent any contact with the victim or his family. A woman has died days after a crash in Watauga County, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. Troopers said Dena Lawrence Comer, 52, was driving north on U.S. Highway 421 near Ward Greene Road in a 2011 Buick Enclave on Monday when she drove off the right side of the road, struck a boulder, overturned, and came to rest on the passenger side in a creek. ALSO READ: NCSHP: Gaston County officer hurt after crash Comer was sent to the hospital and later died on Thursday. Troopers said an investigation revealed Comer was restrained by a seatbelt and impairment was a contributing circumstance in the crash. (WATCH BELOW: MEDIC: One hurt in north Charlotte crash) A California woman who was formerly homeless is now a millionaire after winning $5m from a lottery scratch-off ticket. Lucia Forseth says she was homeless six years ago and is now set to get married this year as well as earn a degree. She bought the ticket t a Walmart Supercenter in Pittsburg, California, and scratched it off while getting her cars oil changed. I closed my eyes and picked that one, and it won, she told lottery officials. I first thought Id won a free ticket, but I checked, and it said I won $5 million. And she told the California Lottery that she will use the money to buy a house and invest the rest of her winnings. This year I am getting married, getting my associate degree, and won $5 million, she said. You never think you have a chance to win it. It is just random. Being homeless just six years ago, I never thought it would happen to someone like me. A spokesperson for California Lottery said Forseths success story shows off the positive impact our games have on winners and schools alike. The organisation says that nearly $2bn of funding was given from the California Lottery to the states public education systems for the 2021-2022 financial year. Members of the Educational Association of Worcester rally on the steps of City Hall Friday night. WORCESTER Members of the Educational Association of Worcester gathered on the steps of City Hall Friday evening to announce that a majority of members had taken a vote of no confidence in the school committee, Superintendent Rachel Monarrez, the City Council and City Manager Eric D. Batista. The vote came during an emergency meeting Friday in which 97% of attendees took the no-confidence vote. The vote came after the school committee announced it filed a petition to seek mediation from the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations to help with contract negotiations. "Today it was disappointing and disheartening to learn that the school committee chose to seek state mediation to settle the contract with Worcester educators," Educational Association of Worcester President Melissa Verdier said. "This stall tactic ... is time-consuming and costly. It prevents the two sides from bargaining directly and face-to-face." Verdier said the union had no idea the announcement was coming or that a petition had been filed. She said she learned about it from social media. "It was a punch in the gut," Verdier said. "I made a simple ask, and instead of coming back with an answer, they filed mediation." Melinda Martin, a paraeducator at Norrback Avenue School and union board member, said it was a "dirty move" by the committee. "I feel like they're scared of our togetherness," Martin said. "We're finally unified, and they're scared that we're unified." School officials said the district's latest offer Tuesday included an average teacher salary increase of 18.3% over a four-year period. But Verdier said she believes that number is being "inflated," because "they're counting in the annual raises people get by increasing their steps, and they're looking at longevity and counting that too." In a press release published Friday, the district said it had offered significant wage increases and longevity benefits for teachers in the form of an additional $40.5 million over four years, with wage increases between 15% and 19.4% for all teachers. Story continues The release said the proposal included 15% across-the-board increases, beginning with a 4% retroactive pay raise for the 2022-23 school year. Union members would then receive a 4% raise next year, a 3% the following year and a 4% raise in the final year of the deal. The union turned down the offer. Verdier said that, during the bargaining session, the union told the school committee it would not counter any offers until someone from the committee asked Batista for increased funding for the school budget. More: Worcester eyes 'strategic ways' in fiscal 2024 with lean budget Verdier said the city is underfunding the schools by only contributing the bare minimum required. Further bargaining sessions axed But, she said, instead of seeking additional city funding, the school committee canceled all further bargaining sessions with the union. "We strongly reject the declaration of impasse and are ready to bargain," Verdier said. "The decision to cancel all upcoming sessions illustrates the bad-faith approach the district has taken to these negotiations." Although he doesn't think additional money is available, City Council member Khrystian King filed a motion at the council's meeting Tuesday to request that city administration look into "our finances and determine if there's anything additional that we can do to send over to the school side." When asked for comment on the vote, school district spokesperson Dan OBrien referred back to a press release issued Friday morning announcing the committees decision to seek mediation. Batista was not immediately available for comment. For Kirsten Frazier, a multilingual teacher at Sullivan Middle School who also serves as building representative for the union, the district's announcement Friday morning was disruptive to her day. As the building representative, she is a main point of communication for other educators and when news of the petition broke, she began getting slammed with texts, calls and emails from people wanting more information while she was in the middle of teaching students. "There were a lot of people that were very concerned because they were finding about things in a way that was basically unprofessional," Frazier said. 'Feeling horrible' Alex Rivera, a paraeducator at Burncoat Middle School, who has been a supporter of the Educational Association of Worcester in past years but only became a member a month ago, said he has been "feeling horrible. "We're not getting any progress," he said. "We're going 10 feet to meet the district, they moved 2 feet." Rivera said that paraeducators need a raise, not only because of their workload, which he and Frazier said can be comparable to a classroom teacher's at times, but also compensation for being multilingual. The school district's news release said its proposal would have established "new stipends for paraeducators for high-needs, specialized work during school hours." But Rivera said that negotiations around the stipends for paraeducators were not moving in a direction he would like. The union also opposes requiring educators to contribute part of their salary to the city's Other Post Employment Benefits Trust Fund. In the proposal, the committee requested new employees hired after the contract is ratified to contribute 1% of their earnings to the fund to "address the citys growing cost of supporting retiree health insurance; the proposal would not impact current union members." Verdier said that it is a "misguided approach" to fixing the city's "own budget mismanagement." The contribution will also only "exacerbate" staffing issues, she said. When asked about a potential strike, Verdier said the union was "not taking anything out of our toolbox." The union is going to appeal the petition, she said, because she is confident that the contract can get finished at the table without a meditator. "I want to negotiate at the table," Verdier said. "We are not at an impasse." This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester teachers union takes no confidence vote in city officials Each Ukrainian army brigade has its stabilisation centres, between the front and bigger hospitals Deep inside the wound, the Ukrainian soldier's heart is beating. It is 9:00 pm and he has just been brought into a field hospital from the battle for Bakhmut. A bullet went through the young man's left arm, crossed his chest and lodged itself into his right arm. Some 15 doctors, nurses and assistants work around the soldier and five other wounded fighters brought in to this first aid point of the 93rd mechanised brigade. The facility is located in a village around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Bakhmut -- the epicentre of the fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces. "It's been tough for the past month," said Volodymyr Pikhulevskiy, a 38-year-old surgeon and a member of the 15-strong medical team at the facility. "On some days there are 100 wounded, other days 50 or 60," Pikhulevskiy said. "Everything depends on what is going on in Bakhmut." "It's very difficult for our guys there. I can't imagine how it is there. It is terrifying," he said. The first aid point was initially based in Bakhmut but was forced to leave in December as Russian troops advanced further into the Ukrainian city. They tried to return in January but were forced back because of the intensive shelling. Four doctors from the unit have been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began more than a year ago. - Wounded moved at night - Once he has been treated, the soldier is quickly despatched to a hospital in the nearest city -- like the other fighters who arrived with him. The facility is one of the stabilisation units located between the front line and hospitals in the big cities. Each Ukrainian army brigade has its own centres. "Our aim is to save lives and send the wounded to a hospital," Pikhulevskiy said. Just as the first batch of wounded soldiers of the night left, another arrived at around 10:30 pm -- all of them with shrapnel wounds. The majority were in trenches near Bakhmut. Story continues The soldiers look exhausted. Some were injured in the morning or during the day but are only moved to the first aid facility at night since Russian forces regularly shell the roads during the day. "The wounded are only evacuated when it's dark," said Lyudmyla Symchenko, a 55-year-old anaesthetist. The driver of an armoured car has his hand covered in blood. The ends of his fingers have been blown off. Another soldier in his twenties received a shrapnel wound behind his head, close to his backbone. The doctors say it is too difficult and risky to try and pull the metal out. Two others have shrapnel in their backs. They wince in pain as the doctors remove the metal. - 'State of shock' - Symchenko adopts a stern tone to tell one of the patients to stretch out his arm for an injection. "Many soldiers are traumatised from the shelling and so they do not understand immediately," she explained. "Yesterday, for example, we had trouble taking an axe out of a man's hand. He was in shock and would not let go of the axe. It is a reaction to stress," she said. Lightly wounded at the shoulder by some shrapnel, 25-year-old Denis is waiting to be taken to hospital. He is a member of a paratrooper unit not linked to the 93rd brigade. He was digging a trench south of Bakhmut when he was hit by mortar fire. He said his unit lacked resources and had suffered "many losses". "There were 124 fighters at the start of the war. Now, there are fewer than 80," he said. Just after midnight, calm returns to the medical unit. All the wounded have been taken to hospitals far from the front and there are no more arrivals. The doctors say they have treated 70 soldiers over a 24-hour period. Sitting in silence, the staff stare at their phones. "Our only distraction is the phone. We don't go out. We're here all the time. We sleep here, we eat here, we work here," said Symchenko, her eyes red with exhaustion. "In a month, I've only been out once to the dentist and the hairdresser to cut my hair shorter so it would dry quicker." epe-dt/bur/gil A York County councilman wants some county library books moved out of the kids section because of content about gender identity and sexuality, but that effort has quickly attracted opposition. The Herald reported Tuesday Councilman Tom Audette wants the York County Library to move books on gender identity and sexuality out of the childrens sections and into the adult section. Audette asked the council to address the issue. His request was met Wednesday with a change.org petition to demand the council stop all efforts to remove, relocate, require a special label, or in any way impede access to any book in county libraries due to personal beliefs or opinions. As of Saturday, the petition had more than 400 signatures. Its the parent or guardians responsibility to decide which books their child borrows from the library, the petition says. We do not need Councilman Audette to unilaterally decide what should be in our libraries and where certain books should be located, the petition states. Efforts to obtain comment from Audette since the petition posted have been unsuccessful. The councilman said earlier in the week, when York County Council met, that an astonishing number of people had reached out to him with concerns about the books. Ive got parents that are coming to me with kids and grandchildren that are extremely concerned about bringing their kids into the childrens section of the York County library because of this book content theyre seeing, Audette said during the council meeting. The Herald also asked readers for their opinion about what should happen. That online poll, which is not scientific, in the initial story asked readers if county libraries should leave childrens books on gender identity or sexuality where they are, ban them altogether or move them as Audette proposed. That online question has received more than 740 responses. Of them, 92% of readers say libraries should leave the books where they are. Then, 4% each want the books moved or banned. Story continues Not the first book controversy Audette spoke specifically this week about books he said target children age 2 to 17. But the question he raised about which material should be available to young readers isnt new, particularly to the York County area. Two years ago, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster called for an investigation into school library materials after a parent complained about titles in Fort Mill School District high school libraries. Before McMaster called for obscene school book review, this SC mom made her case The parent who filed the complaint stated at the time the move wasnt about gender issues and that students need education and support on that topic. That complaint involved what the parent called sexually explicit material. After a review, the school district removed Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe from its high school libraries. The American Library Association, a library advocacy group that dates back to 1876, said more than 2,500 books were challenged last year in its State of Americas Libraries report released last month. That was the highest attempted book ban count in more than two decades of tracking. Last years total is up 38% from the year prior. Public libraries had the most challenges, at 48%, followed by school libraries at 41% and schools in general at 10%. Parents, according to the report, initiated 30% of the challenges followed by patrons (28%) and political or religious groups (17%). Gender Queer was the most challenged book in the U.S. last year. Of the top 13 challenged books, all of them have sexually explicit material listed as a reason. Seven of them, including the six most commonly challenged books, also listed LGBTQIA+ or equity, diversity and inclusion content as a cause. There was little sign of what happened in the underground station where the fatal confrontation ended Days after a subway passenger killed a homeless man on the New York City subway, there was little sign of what had happened in the underground station where the fatal confrontation ended. Only a scribble of graffiti in black ink, reading "Rest in power, Jordan Neely" gives any indication of what had transpired on Monday. But above ground, his story is sparking a heated conversation around homelessness and the city's ability to protect its most vulnerable residents. The 30-year-old's personal story suggests a series of failures in the system for dealing with homeless people in New York City, advocates say. They cite a lack of mental health support and housing resources, and a dearth of professionals deployed to provide direct, experienced aid to people in distress. New York state senator Jabari Brisport, a Democrat, believes "there are people all across the income spectrum who are in need of" mental health services. "Those who can afford it get it, but those who cannot afford it end up the victims of violent individuals who decide to respond to an interaction on the subway with a chokehold," he said. Homelessness is one of the city's most intractable issues. Nearly 69,000 people were homeless in New York City as of December 2022, according to the Coalition for the Homeless. That is despite the city's Department of Homeless Services having a budget of $2.2bn (1.74bn) this fiscal year alone. New York City has resources to help people experiencing homelessness, including a housing voucher system, a right-to-shelter law, and multiple non-profits geared at helping people find housing, jobs, and treatment. The city has also launched a pilot mental health response force, B-HEARD, and in March the mayor announced a sweeping mental health agenda. Yet every day, tens of thousands of people struggle to obtain lodging, food, and social services. Many of them, like Mr Neely, end up seeking shelter or aid on the subway as a last-resort refuge that can sometimes lead to uncomfortable encounters with commuters. Story continues On 1 May, Mr Neely was killed on a northbound F train by another passenger, who put him in a chokehold during an altercation. A video taken by bystander and journalist, Juan Alberto Vazquez, begins as the confrontation is already under way. The full sequence of events is unclear and police continue to investigate. Mr Vazquez, told several outlets that, before the incident began, Mr Neely was shouting about being hungry and thirsty. Police sources also told CBS News that Mr Neely was allegedly acting erratically and throwing trash. At some point, a fight began between Mr Neely and another passenger. A video shared by Mr Vazquez shows the passenger, a 24-year-old US Marine Corps veteran called Daniel Penny, putting Mr Neely in a chokehold. The two struggled on the floor and other passengers also attempt to restrain Mr Neely. Mr Neely slowly stops moving, and was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The New York City medical examiner ruled Mr Neely's death a homicide that resulted from "compression of [the] neck". The 24-year-old passenger was questioned by police and has not been charged. In a statement released on Friday, Mr Penny's lawyers expressed his condolences and said that he and other passengers had been acting in self-defence. "Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death," the statement said. The Manhattan district attorney's office has pledged a "rigorous ongoing investigation," a spokesman said in a statement. CBS News reported that prosecutors may convene a grand jury on the matter. A life marked by tragedy Mr Neely was a subway performer who impersonated Michael Jackson. Social media videos circulated after his death show him performing the pop star's signature moves with a beaming smile. But his life was also marked by immense tragedy and encounters with police. Mr Neely's mother, Christie Neely, was murdered by her boyfriend in 2007. Her murderer was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2012, according to the Jersey Journal. Mr Neely began experiencing mental health issues after her death, his aunt, Carolyn Neely, told the New York Post. "He has never been the same," she said. "It had a big impact on him. He developed depression and it grew and became more serious." She told the newspaper that Mr Neely had serious mental health conditions and it is believed he was homeless at the time he died. He had also had dozens of encounters with the police, including 42 arrests on charges such as evading fares, theft, and unprovoked assaults on three women, CNN reported. New York's homeless population often ends up seeking shelter or aid on the subway Advocates for the homeless saw many missed opportunities to get Mr Neely treatment and support. The Coalition for the Homeless condemned New York's leaders for their "complete failure to provide the critical mental health services desperately needed by so many people in our city". Adolfo Abreu, the housing campaigns director at Vocal New York, said that Mr Neely would have faced multiple obstacles to receiving mental healthcare, housing, and food, many of them caused by policies - or lack thereof - to deal with homelessness. "We've advanced policies that are built towards erasing, criminalizing, and institutionalising homelessness, instead of compassion," he said. A lack of affordable housing has charged New York's homeless crisis and shows no signs of abating. The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment rocketed to $3,795 in April, according to Zumper. Mr Neely's story has also revealed a divide between New York's Democratic leaders and voices further to the left, progressives, who call for different approaches to homelessness and public safety. New York City mayor Eric Adams, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, have sought to address rising crime on the subways and a general atmosphere of rider mistrust by drastically increasing the presence of police. They announced a Subway Safety Plan in February 2022 and a surge in police presence. Part of their plan included more mental health professionals and resources to help homeless people sheltering in the subway. But the most visible result of their plans has thus far been an increased number of police in the subway system. 'Cops, cameras, care' Ms Hochul said in February that the strategy of "cops, cameras, and care will crack down on subway crime, help those experiencing homelessness get the support they need to get out of the system, and alleviate concerns of riders to ensure New Yorkers feel safer throughout the subway system". Mr Adams said that it was "cruel and inhumane to allow unhoused people to live on the subway, and unfair to paying passengers and transit workers who deserve a clean, orderly, and safe environment". Progressives and advocates for the homeless, however, believe that linking homelessness to crime only further stigmatises a vulnerable population. They have called for a surge in social workers trained to help the homeless, rather than police, as the solution. Of Mr Neely's death, Mr Brisport, the state senator, said that "we have the money to pay a cop, or cops, to arrest him repeatedly, but not the money that can make sure he eats, shows extremely misplaced priorities". While the debate over the appropriate approach to homelessness in the city continues, on one point most New Yorkers could agree: the system failed Mr Neely. "Jordan deserves justice," his aunt, Carolyn Neely, said in a statement to the BBC. "He was loved." Eric Adams is sending asylum seekers in New York City to upstate New York, drawing criticism from local officials. Adams has been critical of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for sending migrants from Texas to New York City. Now, officials upstate have shared similar critiques of Adams. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is taking a page out of some Republican governors' playbook: He's sending a group of asylum seekers somewhere else for some other municipality to handle. In doing so, Adams appears to be passing asylum seekers off just as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did when he had migrants bused from his state to New York, the Associated Press reported. And just as Adams bristled at Abbott's move, local officials upstate are not happy either. This game of political hot potato involves the lives of about 300 adult men, a tiny fraction of the number of asylum seekers crossing the southern US border. "This new, voluntary program will provide asylum-seekers with temporary housing, access to services, and connections to local communities as they build a stable life in New York state," Adams said in a press release on Friday. Adams plans to transport the migrants to hotels in Orangeburg and Orange Lake in upstate New York. In a previous press release on Monday, Adams described Abbott's strategy which is not that dissimilar to his own as "morally bankrupt." "Despite Abbott's inhumane actions, New York City will continue to do all it can to handle this influx, but this crisis is more than one city can handle," Adams said on Monday. Abbott has long complained that his state is forced to deal with the brunt of the migrant crisis, which is the purview of the federal government, while states far from the southern border cast aspersions. In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson for Abbott said migrants were "processed and released by the federal government, who dumped them in small Texas border towns." Story continues "Mayor Adams, along with Mayor Bowser, Mayor Lightfoot, and Mayor Kenney, were proud to tout their self-declared sanctuary city status until Texas began busing migrants to New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Philadelphia to provide relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities," Andrew Mahaleris said in the statement. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot complained in a letter last week that Chicago didn't have the resources to take them and asked Abbott to stop "this inhumane and dangerous" action. Abbott responded with his own letter, telling Lightfoot to take her complaints to President Joe Biden a sentiment his spokesperson echoed toward Adams. "Instead of spreading falsehoods and complaining about a few thousand migrants being bused into his sanctuary city, Mayor Adams should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the bordersomething the President continues failing to do," Mahaleris told Insider. US Customs and Border Protection reported that in March, the number of "unique individuals" encountered at the border was more than 120,000, up from about 100,000 people in February. In April, US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said CBP apprehended more than 22,000 people in one 72-hour period. The influx comes as the federal government is set to adopt a new regulation on May 11 that will deny asylum to migrants who pass through another country on their way to the United States without seeking protection elsewhere first, or who use illegal paths to enter the United States. Title 42, a policy first enacted in 1944 that allows the removal of migrants who come from a country where a communicable disease is present, is also due to end next week. The policy allowed border officials to expel migrants more than 2.7 million times since former President Donald Trump invoked the policy in March 2020. Migrants have the right to seek asylum in another country if their lives are threatened at home. Many migrants now coming to the United States from South America are fleeing danger in their home countries, including gang violence, gender-based violence, and LGBTQ persecution. The huge numbers of migrants seeking asylum have overwhelmed the southern US border in recent years, sparking a national political debate over immigration. Southern states have long shouldered the burden of that crisis. Now, just as Adams decried Abbott's "inhuman actions" by busing immigrants to his city, local officials in Rockland County and Orange County are making similar objections to Adams' plan. "This is akin to taking a nonswimmer, dropping him in the middle of the ocean, and hoping he does well," Rockland County Executive Ed Day told the AP. "Who are these guys? Were they properly vetted? What are they going to be doing? Are they going to be roaming around the town?" Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus told the AP. In the last year, some 60,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City, the mayor's office said in Friday's press release. Adams has asked the federal government for a "national decompression strategy" to help address the migrant crisis. "With a vacuum of leadership, we are now being forced to undertake our own decompression strategy," Adams said in the press release. Read the original article on Business Insider Anderson Clayton, North Carolina Chair of the Democratic Party, bottom right, in Charlotte, April 17, 2023. (Sean Rayford/The New York Times) North Carolina Democrats werent sure what to expect when Anderson Clayton, 25, won their election for chair, making her the youngest state party leader in the country. At one of her first meetings with state party officials, she said, one looked at her with a worried expression and said, I didnt know if you were going to be a crazy 25-year-old-type person. Her retort: What is a crazy 25-year-old-type person? Clayton didnt get into politics just to explain Gen Z to old people, she said. She is aiming to motivate younger voters, but she also campaigned with broader goals, arguing that Democrats need to invest in rural communities if they hope to erode Republicans grip on state and local power. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times She thinks a key is being candid about her partys flaws and missteps. People with me all the time are like, I wish youd stop saying weve left Democrats behind, she said. Im like, We have. Weve left people behind. In North Carolinas elections last year, Democrats ceded 44 state legislative seats, uncontested, to Republicans. Many encompassed blue-collar, rural towns that had voted reliably Democratic decades ago but by then had no official footprint from the party, much less a candidate to support. Put a map of North Carolina on the wall, throw a dart at said map, and any given county, 50-50 shot theres actually going to be a Democratic presence on the ground, said Jonah Garson, the partys first vice chair. With the partys election losses piling up, Claytons campaign message was a call for a new direction. She said that many Democratic officials viewed rural voters as out of reach. When Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for president in 2016, her senior staff scoffed when Bill Clinton fretted that Democrats were losing touch with rural voters. Why view them as valuable when they had the Obama coalition? But as it turned out, only Barack Obama could summon the Obama coalition. Story continues The Democratic Party has become too much of a metropolitan, cosmopolitan party, said David Axelrod, a former top adviser to Obama. There is a sense in the party that were the party of working people, but if you dont communicate respect and only say, Let me tell you what were doing for you, then youre not very persuasive. And there were a lot of working people who felt betrayed. Dallas Woodhouse, a Republican political strategist and the former executive director of the states GOP, said Clayton could have a marginal effect in rural areas but would struggle to sell her message to people who view the Democratic Party as toxic. She cant overcome the partys branding problem based on their policy preferences, Woodhouse said. While Clayton might agree with part of that diagnosis We dont have a good brand, she said she is eager to try to address Democrats rural struggles. Claytons campaign pitch was personal. She grew up in Roxboro surrounded by the farms, forests and rolling hills blanketing rural Person County. It was counties like Person that had raced to the right in the years prior and whose residents, Clayton said, had been robbed of a seat at the table. Her father, she said, disavowed the Democratic Party after he lost his manufacturing job in the onset of the Great Recession. She also wanted to woo young North Carolinians, devising a plan to engage the states outsize Gen Z population and tapping into the hundreds of thousands of students enrolled in North Carolinas colleges. She wants to show people that the Democratic Party cares about them, she said over coffee recently at a Capitol Hill diner, adding that theres a separation between politics and everyday people right now, and folks are inherently disengaged with it. That disconnect has come at a cost. In 2022, as Democrats performed better than expected in swing states nationwide, Republicans in North Carolina held an open Senate seat and retook control of their states highest court. North Carolina Democrats hope to emulate battleground states like Michigan, where youth turnout in the midterms last year reached nearly 37% and the states leadership, for now, turned blue. In North Carolina, youth turnout was 13 points lower. Almost three months in, Clayton and her three vice chairs are seeking to resurrect a party that has had few bright spots since Obama and Sen. Kay Hagan won the state in 2008. And while the population has grown, especially in urban centers that skew left, demographic changes have not been enough to overcome gerrymandering and put Democrats back in legislative majorities or turn the state blue in presidential and Senate elections. While acknowledging it will be an uphill climb, Claytons party has taken a more aggressive stance. Organizing on the ground year-round, not just in the weeks before an election, is a priority, she said. She often spends several hours a day in her fathers bright red 1997 Ford F-250, and she estimates that she has driven about 7,000 miles visiting her states far-flung counties. (In April, Clayton also went to the White House Easter Egg Roll to highlight the North Carolina farmers who had supplied the eggs.) Back in her home state in the middle of last month, she led a rally of about 150 people in the district of Tricia Cotham, a state representative and a lifelong Democrat who days earlier switched her party to Republican. Afterward, Clayton chatted with attendees as others broke into groups and went to knock on doors in Cothams neighborhood. Her defection gave the GOP the numbers necessary to override any potential veto from Roy Cooper, North Carolinas Democratic governor. But the new party chair, who has also nudged an increase in grassroots donations and donors, saw it as an opportunity to alchemize anger into action. Clayton won her race in February, ousting Bobbie Richardson, the first-term incumbent and the state Democratic Partys first Black chair, in a race widely seen as an upset. Richardson, 73, had the backing of the states Democratic establishment, including Cooper and Josh Stein, the attorney general. Clayton, who considers herself an organizer rather than an activist, has been involved with politics since early in her time at Appalachian State University, when she ran for a seat in the student government and then became student body president. After graduating, she worked on the presidential campaigns of Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren and on the Senate campaign of Amy McGrath in Kentucky. She then returned to Roxboro and became chair of the Person County Democratic Party. She helped flip the Roxboro City Council in 2021 and a state legislative seat in 2022 and then decided to run to lead the state party. (She also works part time as a broadband analyst for the Center on Rural Innovation.) Zeb Smathers, the Democratic mayor of Canton, who endorsed Clayton, said he was impressed by her understanding of small-town voters. She understood, he said, that there are a lot more Cantons than Charlottes. She speaks bluntly with voters she knows are turned off by the Democratic brand. Although she does not blame Democrats exclusively, she did not hold back when discussing the effects of trade deals like NAFTA, signed under a Democratic president four years before she was born, that have hollowed out blue-collar towns and lurched once-reliable voters to the other side of the aisle. What did it do to these communities? she said, faulting both parties. We never invested back in them to make sure they survived. c.2023 The New York Times Company Both chambers of parliament in Switzerland, which is a militarily neutral state, have allowed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to deliver an address expected to be dedicated to the war in Ukraine. Source: Swiss Parliaments press service, as reported by European Pravda Details: The Ukrainian embassy submitted an official request to the Swiss Federal Assembly [the parliament] on 3 May to allow Zelenskyy to address it via video link. The Swiss National Council and the Council of States decided to grant the request during a meeting on 5 May. The video address of the Ukrainian president is expected to take place during the summer session of the Swiss Parliament, and the exact date will be set after consultations with Ukraine. Zelenskyy will become the first president to address the Swiss parliament via video link. Twenty-eight guest speakers have addressed the country's legislature since 1970. Among them were presidents of countries and representatives of international organisations, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the President of the Senate. Background: In March 2022, Ukraine's president delivered a speech via video link to a crowd gathered in Bern on the Day of Solidarity with Ukraine. In particular, he urged Switzerland to take a stronger stance against Russian oligarchs. Earlier this year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a speech to members of the Austrian National Council, the lower chamber of the countrys parliament. He emphasised that it is impossible to hold a morally neutral stance against evil. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! On the Day of Infantry of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented state awards to infantrymen and conferred honorary insignia, including the title of Hero of Ukraine on Serhii Sirchenko and Valerii Hlebov (posthumously). Source: President's website Details: The ceremony took place at the Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv. Zelenskyy noted that it was not easy for the world to get rid of the long-standing illusions about the allegedly invincible Russia, but Ukrainian soldiers, in particular infantrymen, were overcoming this seemingly invincible evil, and with their resilience and courage, they were changing history, uniting the world around Ukraine. "Ukraine is much stronger now than last year or any other year of this war for freedom and independence of our country. Moreover, Ukraine is stronger now than at any other time of confrontation with this empire. Our time is the time for victory!", the President emphasised. He also presented state awards. In particular, the highest title of Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the Golden Star was awarded to Colonel Serhii Sirchenko, the commander of the 56th Separate Mechanised Brigade. The colonel took part in measures to deter armed aggression in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts from 2014 to 2018. On the day of Russia's full-scale invasion on 24 February, he organised effective reconnaissance, which allowed Ukrainian forces to ensure reliable defence in the brigade's area of responsibility. He performed a number of combat missions in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts, in particular in Vuhledar, Bakhmut and Bakhmut district. Zelenskyy also handed over the Golden Star to the daughter of Captain Valerii Hlebov, the commander of a motorised infantry company, who was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine (Golden Star is awarded to a person distinguished with the title of Hero of Ukraine ed.). Valerii Hlebov fought in the combat zone in Donbas from 2015 to 2022. The commander's personal and professional qualities allowed his unit to hold the frontline in the Izium front and conduct offensive operations. Later, his unit successfully organised defence on the Bakhmut front. The captain died at the end of November 2022 in Bakhmut, where he sustained life-threatening injuries during a mortar attack. Story continues The relevant decrees awarding the title of Hero of Ukraine to Sirchenko and Hlebov were published on the president's website. Another 14 servicemen also received awards from the president: the soldiers were awarded the Orders of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, III degree, For Courage, II and III degrees, Danylo Halytsky, and medals For Military Service to Ukraine and Defender of the Fatherland. In addition, three military units of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine received the honorary decoration "For Courage and Bravery": The 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade Edelweiss, the 14th Separate Mechanised Brigade named after Prince Roman the Great and the 56th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of Mariupol. Zelenskyy handed the commanders of the military units a ribbon for their battle flags. In response, the commander of the 10th Brigade presented the president with an arm patch and a plaque of his brigade. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! After considering four scenarios for long-term solid waste disposal, the Amherst County Board of Supervisors on May 2 voted to move forward with plans to open another cell in the countys landfill, shifting away from a previous plan to haul trash elsewhere through trucks. A transfer station on the site of the landfill on Kentmoor Farm Road in Madison Heights so far has been used to only haul waste to the landfill, an arrangement that could continue if the board so chooses. The board also is considering using it as a solid waste convenience center for residents to use like six other similar sites scattered throughout the county, or deactivating it and potentially using it for storage, according to supervisors discussion. According to a financial analysis before the board, transferring waste out of county from the transfer station is less cost efficient than operating Cell 2 at the landfill, which already is permitted through the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. The four presented scenarios included closing the landfill and transferring waste to a site outside the county through county employees; outsourcing the hauling and trucking, or building Cell 2 and keeping the transfer station open for all traffic and hauling to the landfill. The fourth option, the least expensive, is building Cell 2 and turning the transfer station into a convenience center for residential traffic and hauling waste to the landfill. The option to use the transfer station with outsourced trucking is estimated to cost $57.8 million from fiscal year 2028 to 2040 and the same use with county employees is projected at $45.4 million in the same span. The measure that County Administrator Jeremy Bryant said he recommends, building Cell 2 and using the transfer station to haul waste to the landfill, is set to cost $42.2 million and converting it to a solid waste convenience center is estimated at $41.3 million for the 13-year stretch, the analysis shows. Bryant said the analysis assumes a waste intake rate of 124 tons per day, about 38,200 tons per year. The 2022 tonnage was the highest in the landfills history, according to Bryant. We do anticipate with future developments that could increase, Bryant said. Its certainly something to consider. Bryant said the redevelopment efforts at the Central Virginia Training Center property on Madison Heights, a former state-run facility on Colony Road that now is a surplus property, would bring more use to the landfill if many buildings there are torn down as planned. After a lengthy review and debate several years ago, the board voted in early 2020 to borrow $2.6 million to build the transfer station with the intent of closing the landfill and hauling waste elsewhere, but the county changed course in keeping the landfill going longer than expected. Supervisor David Pugh said he supports mothballing, or no longer using, the transfer station and selling equipment and trucks that would have been used for transferring waste. He said the transfer station route for waste disposal is not financially feasible for the county. We really do not need to have the tractor and trailers if we are not hauling waste to another facility. The forecasted construction cost for Cell 2 is $3.2 million, according to the analysis. Public works director Brian Thacker in December asked for funding to hire two landfill operators, which if approved would have recurring costs of about $110,000 per year. Using the transfer station as a solid waste convenience center would use part-time staff that would be save the county about $29,000 per year, according to the discussion. Thacker said the transfer stations current use allows for more flexibility in performing other tasks throughout the county that saves tens of thousands a year if continued. That argument, Supervisor Claudia Tucker said, has her leaning toward Bryants recommended option. I think that moving our trash by tractor-trailer somewhere else right now in this environment probably does not make sense, Tucker said. I like the fact our landfill crew are doing double duty and helping in other departments. Supervisor Drew Wade said he supports anything the county can do to minimize or remove the extra movement in disposing of waste, including a transfer station hauling waste within the landfill site. I am not on board with the transfer station option, Wade said. Chair Tom Martin said the additional work the current public works staff does is much appreciated but he opposes adding two more county positions because it wasnt formally part of recent fiscal year 2024 budget review process, which is scheduled for a board vote May 8. Its not even adopted yet and we are talking about two new positions, Martin said. I cant support that. A convenience center, I could support that if there is enough support to mothball it, I could do it too. Pugh motioned to shutter the transfer station but rescinded after the board decided to discuss the transfer stations ultimate use at an upcoming meeting. Thacker said making the transfer station a solid waste center will make it last longer but the county loses the interchangeability the current arrangement offers, adding: Its a give and a take. We believe that the flexibility of having two full-time employees that can operate heavy equipment makes a difference in terms of the service we can provide both at the landfill, at the convenience center, as well as externally to other projects, Bryant told supervisors. Pugh, who in 2020 voted against closing the landfill, said if the transfer station is not used at all no new employees will be needed. We borrowed $2.6 million of our citizens tax money to do this, Tucker said of the transfer station. I thought it was going to be a bad deal, Pugh said in response. Thacker said deciding on Cell 2 is the main priority because only a few years of airspace capacity is left and the county needs to begin the steps to begin construction with DEQs approval. I dont think theres any doubt we are going to move forward with opening the landfills Cell 2, Martin said. The board later this month is expected to get more information on how the transfer station operates and scenarios for keeping it going, changing its status to a solid waste center or shuttering it. To me its almost semantics on what we call it, Martin said. Virginia University of Lynchburg honored graduates Saturday afternoon in its 133rd commencement ceremony. James Coleman, faculty chair and dean of the Leonard N. Smith School of Religion as well as Lynchburg City School Board chairman, in his opening remarks to start the ceremony, told graduates that the greatest tragedy in life is not to try and fail, but to have gifts and do nothing with them. Class of 2023, today is all about you knowing that you can and will tackle the world with your VUL degree, Coleman said. VUL President Kathy Franklin, in her speech, asked graduates to stand and turn to all of their family members who supported them along the journey and say, thank you, in what she explained is one of the colleges cherished commencement traditions. To the family members or friends around me, thank you. Thank you for trusting your loved ones, our university in their time here. Thank you for all that you have done to ensure their success, Franklin said. To the graduates, Franklin said from this day forward you will remain forever a Dragon and forever a part of the VUL community. Let today serve as a beginning and not an ending, follow your passions, your interest and your foundational values to discover your own unique path to live a life of purpose, Franklin said. Most importantly, embrace the opportunities ahead of you and use the platform youve earned to change the world for the better. VUL honored over 200 graduates Saturday, as students received doctorates, bachelors, masters and associates degrees. Pierre Batteau, who received his doctorate in health care administration, said its a relief and joyful to receive his degree as its been a long journey. Its one of the hardest things in my life to get here today, Batteau said. Batteau said there were family sacrifices, late nights and a number of things that went into his achievement. After receiving his degree, Batteau said he has a duty to make the world a better place and to work with the health care administrators to make health care better for himself, his children and for the future generation. Masse Adjetey-Adjevi, who also received his doctorate in health care administration, said he feels relieved and accomplished to finally receive his degree. It was a bumpy road and I had to make a lot of sacrifices to be where I am today. So it was not easy. It was a very stressful program, but its worth it, Adjetey-Adjevi said. Regina Wright, who received her Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies, said she plans to do outreach and help youth and adults in Virginia do great things, see opportunities and help them to recognize their potential. I think its a relief, but its also encouraging to keep going, Wright said. John M. Borek, Jr. an ordained minister, former president of Liberty University from 1997 to 2004 as well as a current faculty member in the school of business and professional studies at VUL delivered the commencement address. Youre part of a line, a line of graduates from HBCU institutions across this country, Borek said. Theres 107 [HBCU] institutions, and so youre unique. A theme of Boreks address to the group was inspiration. He told graduates to never forget the person who inspired them, and make sure to inspire someone else. Borek talked about Martin Luther King Jr. and encouraged the group to read Booker T. Washingtons autobiography, saying those two men were great inspirations. Borek said you cant listen to Kings speech in Washington D.C. and not be inspired. He emphasized that King was an inspirer and encourager. You can be that and you must become that youve got to inspire somebody and encourage somebody, Borek said. Borek said he was the first person in his family to graduate from high school, as he was raised by his grandmother and great-uncle. He said his grandmother, great-uncle and mother inspired him along his journey to finish school. He also told a story of his grandson, who was struggling in college. Borek had him come visit, and he and his wife encouraged him to keep going which helped him to finish a physician assistant program. He encouraged the graduates to go talk to someone a brother, sister, neighbors child and do the same. Talk to some young kid, encourage them, inspire them, Borek said. Iowa residents with children ages 15 and younger are invited to participate in Pottawattamie Conservations annual Kids Fishing Derby on Saturday, June 3. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at Arrowhead Park, 29357 310th St., Neola. This event is held in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Free Fishing Weekend, where a fishing license is not required for Iowa residents. Children will attempt to catch as many fish as they can from the parks 17-acre lake during the two-hour time frame and compete for prizes in several categories. All participants should bring their own fishing poles and bait, and each child entered in the derby will receive a snack. This event is free with a $3 per vehicle park entry fee or Pottawattamie Conservation Foundation membership. Involving young Iowa residents in popular recreation activities like fishing helps children connect with their environment and learn important outdoor skills, Pottawattamie Conservation executive director Mark Shoemaker said in a press release. By hosting the derby during Iowas free fishing weekend, there are fewer barriers preventing families from coming out and trying their hand at this favorite pastime. For families looking to camp at Arrowhead during Iowas Free Fishing Weekend, tent and RV campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and cabins may be available by booking online at least three days in advance. For more details about this and other Pottawattamie Conservation events, visit pottconservation.com. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 King Mohammed VI, of Morocco, has congratulated this Saturday newly crowned King Charles III of the United Kingdom on his coronation, expressing deep pride in the ties between Morocco and the UK. The king sent a letter of congratulations to King Charles, as well as the newly crowned Queen Camilla, wishing them a most prosperous reign, and the people of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland further progress and prosperity, Moroccos news agency MAP reported. The Moroccan monarch also expressed deep pride in the ties between the two countries, describing them as special relations rooted in fruitful cooperation and active solidarity. He said the ties between the two countries will grow stronger through our shared determination to develop and promote them, and further our peoples interests. King Charles III was crowned this Saturday in a lavish Westminster Abbey ceremony attended by thousands of guests and troops. Throughout the UK, several smaller private screening events were also held to celebrate the occasion. Some elements of the ceremony, such as the military jet fly-past, had to be scaled back or cut due to weather conditions. The ceremony was attended by Moroccos Princess Lalla Meryem, who was also at a VIP reception on Friday in Londons Buckingham Palace. King Charles IIIs reign began on September 8, 2023, following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II. Princess Lalla Meryem represented, Saturday in London, King Mohammed VI at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III, Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Arrived Thursday in London, Princess Lalla Meryem had taken part, Friday at Buckingham Palace, in a reception offered by King Charles III to the high personalities who came to attend the ceremony of his coronation. King Mohammed VI sent a congratulatory message to King Charles III, on the occasion of his coronation as Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and to Her Majesty Queen Camilla on the occasion of her coronation as Queen. In this message, the Sovereign expresses, on his own behalf and on behalf of the Moroccan people, his warmest congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla, wishing them a most prosperous reign, and the people of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland further progress and prosperity. On this occasion, King Mohammed VI reiterates his deep pride in the close bonds of friendship and mutual esteem uniting the two Sovereigns and the two Royal Families, as well as the special relations rooted in fruitful cooperation and active solidarity between the two countries. The Sovereign says he is convinced that these special ties will grow stronger given our shared determination to develop and promote them, and further our peoples interests. Farm Credit Services of America announced a $50,000 gift to the LinCo Legacy Campaign during North Plattes annual giving day event, which concluded at midnight on May 4. This gift helped bring the Lincoln County Agricultural Societys total amount raised to $59,550, which will go toward the LinCo Ag & Education Center, a future indoor arena facility at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds in North Platte, according to a press release. We could not be more grateful to our local Farm Credit Services branch and all of the generous donors who made it possible for us to have a successful North Platte Giving Day event, said Lisa Citta, steering committee member for the campaign. The future LinCo Ag & Education Center will be a game-changer for North Platte and the entire surrounding region. This fundraising total was also made possible by a challenge match worth $4,000 offered by donors Chance Shilling, Lee and Shaylee White of White Ranch, the Lincoln County Sheriffs Posse and Helping U Hear. The two-story LinCo Ag & Education Center has been designed to host large-scale ag, rodeo and private events, educational opportunities, regional attractions and more. LinCos 90,000 square-foot interior will set it apart as the crown jewel of western Nebraska indoor arenas, a press release said. To date, the LinCo Legacy Campaign has raised about $1.6 million toward a $6 million goal. The completed project will feature a dirt floor arena including 1,100 permanent seats, concession area complete with a teaching kitchen, open concourse with capacity to seat 500, open-air lean-to for livestock tie-outs, enclosed livestock washroom, restrooms and shower facility, four rentable classrooms, a conference room and administrative offices. North Plattes skies poured forth like buckets late Thursday night, setting an all-time moisture record for the date and delivering the citys most single-day precipitation in nearly two years. The National Weather Service at Lee Bird Field recorded 1.47 inches of rain, 0.02 inches of which fell the previous night between 1 and 3 a.m. Thursday. The rest fell between 10 p.m. and midnight. The early-morning shower and late-evening downpour broke North Plattes May 4 record of 1.25 inches in 1985, according to city records stored at the High Plains Regional Climate Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It was the citys heaviest rainfall since 1.47 inches also fell on Aug. 20, 2021, and easily topped 2023s previous high of 1.03 inches of moisture from North Plattes all-time single-day snowfall record of 13.9 inches on Jan. 18. The weather service recorded another 0.11 inches of rain at just before 2 a.m. Friday, raising the overnight rainstorms total moisture to 1.55 inches. North Platte has received 3.97 inches of precipitation thus far this year, according to the UNL centers records. Nearly half of that total was recorded in January, when an all-time monthly record of 22.4 inches of snow yielded 1.87 inches of moisture. Before Thursdays rain, Lee Bird had measured just 0.04 inches of moisture for all of April and 0.12 inches from March 16 through Wednesday. That had the effect of worsening official drought conditions in Lincoln County as April closed, according to the monthly U.S. Drought Monitor maps appearing on the website of UNLs National Drought Mitigation Center. All but the countys southeast sliver currently is in extreme drought, the second-worst of five categories of below-normal moisture conditions. Just 2.5% of Lincoln Countys land area is in the middle severe drought category. Thursdays most recent map, showing conditions as of 7 a.m. CT Tuesday, showed 47.2% of Nebraska in either extreme drought or exceptional drought, up from 45.4% April 25. Chances for more rain remain plentiful through next Thursday, the weather service said, with highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s and lows from the mid-40s to mid-50s. North Platte has an 80% chance of showers and thunderstorms Friday night into Saturday. Chances of a repeat performance stand at 20% Saturday, 40% Saturday night and 30% Sunday night. Hundreds of fifth graders went to North Platte Recreation Center for a D.A.R.E. celebration on Friday morning. It is something students look forward to every year. D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It is a 10-week program conducted by North Platte Police Department officers. Officers Jeremiah Johnson and Rory Little taught D.A.R.E. in all of North Platte Public Schools, McDaid Elementary and Maxwell Public Schools. This is Johnsons seventh year and Littles first. I was very impressed and had a great time with it, Little said. Im happy that I stepped into this role. He is also the resource officer at Adams Middle School and the departments public information officer. Johnson is the resource officer at North Platte High School. Only those who completed the requirements of the program could participate in the celebration, where they played games including kickball and volleyball and did activities with North Platte Police and Fire departments and Nebraska State Patrol troopers. All or nearly all the fifth graders qualified, which meant each one participated in the classes, interviewed a family member on things such as citizenship and helping others, and wrote a five-paragraph essay about things they have learned and ways they will resist drugs. I preach participation, said Little, and I had a lot of that throughout the program. Kasante Smith, a 12-year-old fifth grader at Washington Elementary School, wrote the overall winning essay. His parents are Kristina and Sam Smith of North Platte. His prize was a stuffed toy D.A.R.E. lion, something he really liked. He had not had time to think of a name for the animal on Friday morning, but said he planned to select a confident name. Kasante said D.A.R.E. teaches students to be more confident and able to resist negative demands made by others, even those whom they may consider friends. I think the time I started there I was thinking about drugs, theyre bad, and thats all I knew about them, Kasante said. I never even considered how they would affect my life, but now ... its really changed my perspective on them and I dont think I want to try even ... weed or anything. The biggest thing (we teach students) is to think through and consider consequences of choices, both positive and negative, Johnson said. Kasante said Officer Little taught them decision-making steps: define the problem, assess and consider what to do, respond, then evaluate the results. He also said D.A.R.E. helps students decide ahead of time what to do in a given situation. As for results of the program in the lives of young people, You do see it in different ways, Johnson said, such as the way they treat others and their decision making skills. Its impossible to fully know the results of the program, though. You dont see what you prevent, he said. For now, Johnson and Little appear to have made an impression on the students. Little was Kasantes D.A.R.E. teacher. I think Officer Littles a great guy, Kasante said. Hes super awesome. The public is invited to join an Arbor Day celebration in honor of two steadfast community volunteers. Trees will be planted in honor of Jim Parish and Chuck Scripter at the celebration on at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds, 5015 Rodeo Road. Scripter has been involved in North Plate Area Habitat for Humanity since it was formed in 1997 under leadership of the late Keith Blackledge. That was about the time that Scripter, who had worked for 13 years previously in North Platte and fell in love with the city, retired and came back. The local cause was a perfect match for me, he said. The affiliate built its first house in 1998. Scripter had been living in Lexington, where he had been transferred by Northwestern Bell from North Platte. He was instrumental in starting a homeless shelter in Lexington and organizing the Dawson County Habitat for Humanity. He was born and raised in Atkinson. As a young man he served in the U.S. Air Force in Okinawa. It was there that he accepted Christ into his life and made a commitment to serve others. When I was in high school my father was sentenced to the Nebraska penitentiary for taking someones pigs, Scripter said. But the community of Atkinson helped my mother and family survive, so that experience and Christian faith drive me to help others. After he was released from the Service he went to work for Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, working in several cities in Nebraska. He became a manager for the company. That provided further encouragement for him to do volunteer work, as the company encouraged its supervisory staff to volunteer in their communities. While doing Habitat (in North Platte), Jack Nichols and I helped out at the old homeless shelter on Jeffers Street and helped Ron Snell start to build the new homeless shelter at 414 E. Sixth St, Scripter said. He has helped to build many Habitat homes since then. Scripter has also worked as a volunteer for Buffalo Bill Kiwanis, building wheelchair ramps for people who needed them for their homes, and helping to build playgrounds at Cody Park, The Connection homeless shelter and Iron Horse Park. He also spent many hours repairing and painting the former North Platte Kids Academy during the early period of the pandemic. He has volunteered for Youth for Christ with Joe Sukraw, made hospice visits through Great Plains Health, installed bath rails for people, made jail visits and provided spiritual counseling to inmates, delivered blood and helped with disasters across the U.S. for American Red Cross, delivered meals as an RSVP volunteer, and volunteered in other ways. His motto is Kindness is many small gestures that together make all the difference in the world. Thats my calling in life, just to be a servant, said Scripter. James Parish is committed to conservation, tree planting and Boy Scouts. He always had a love of the (Boy Scouts) program since my father and I built a kite from scratch while I was in Cub Scouts. As an adult, Parish was involved off and on in helping with Scouting activities. He became an official volunteer with Troop 293 when his oldest son entered the troop in 1999. Troop 293 is sponsored by the First United Methodist Church in North Platte. It did not take long before he was appointed the troops scoutmaster, a position he held from 2000 to 2017. After he retired as a captain with Nebraska State Patrol in 2013 he was named district executive of the Boy Scouts Buffalo Bill District. The first campout I attended as an adult volunteer ... in 1999 was to plant trees at Fort Robinson, he said. They had suffered a devastating forest fire in 1989 and the Nebraska Environmental Trust had undertaken a goal of reforestation over a period of 25 years. Parish estimates that Troop 293 participated in 20 of the annual planting events, planting more than 10,000 Ponderosa pine trees themselves. There were nearly 1,000 scouts in attendance each year, Parish said, and we were a small part of that effort. Our troop also had an interest in planting trees locally, Parish said. The boys of Troop 293 have assisted the city of North Platte by planting memorial trees on Arbor Day for the past 10 to 15 years. They also plant trees at the Boy Scouts Camp Whispering Cedars at Lake Maloney. I retired from scouting last October and, as such, do not have as much involvement in the day-to-day operations but am sure we will continue to plant and maintain trees at our camp and around North Platte, Parish said. One of the important things we teach young scouts is conservation, and tree planting is a major and very visible part of those efforts, he said. Tschabalala Self, Mr. Neely (2023). Art: Tschabalala Self For some New Yorkers, Jordan Neely was dead even before Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny allegedly choked the life out of him on the floor of a subway train. Modern America, including New York, designates some categories of people as socially dead part of an underclass that is subject to exclusion, indifference, or even outright hatred and violence. To be Black, destitute, homeless, and mentally ill in our city is to be one of those outsiders, existing in a kind of internal exile from societys circle of care and concern. I dont have food, I dont have a drink, Im fed up, Neely screamed in the final minutes of his life, according to Juan Alberto Vazquez, a freelance journalist on the train who recorded the incident. I dont mind going to jail and getting life in prison. Im ready to die. It seemed to be a complaint shouted to the heavens, aimed at nobody in particular. Neely didnt seem like he wanted to hurt anyone, Vazquez later said. But the doomed mans words were sadly accurate about the choices he believed New York offered: prison or death. As the local tragedy quickly became national and even international news, the citys politicians began squabbling. Jordan Neely was murdered, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, calling the killing disgusting. We must not become a city where a mentally ill human being can be choked to death by a vigilante without consequence. Or where the killer is justified & cheered, New York City comptroller Brad Lander chimed in. Mayor Eric Adams, by contrast, complained that Ocasio-Cortez and Lander were jumping to conclusions. We cannot just blatantly say what a passenger should or should not do in a situation like that, and we should allow the investigation to take its course, he said on CNN. The mayors wait-and-see attitude today stands in stark contrast to how he reacted to the killing of Austin Simon inside a Harlem bodega in 2022. In that case a dispute over a bag of chips that escalated and led to the store clerk, Jose Alba, stabbing Simon to death the mayor rushed to the scene days later and held a news conference outside. Earlier that day, he had said, My heart goes out for this hardworking, honest New Yorker that was doing his job in his place of business, where a person came in and went behind the counter and attacked him. Ocasio-Cortez chided Adams for being unable to denounce the use of deadly violence on the subway. I have yet to hear a real explanation from any official hesitating to condemn the killing of Jordan Neely about what makes condemning this violence so complicated, she tweeted. Killing is wrong. Killing the poor is wrong. Killing the mentally ill is wrong. Why is that so hard to say? Above and apart from the back-and-forth, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams issued a statement that came closest to identifying the core issue of Neelys death. Racism that continues to permeate throughout our society allows for a level of dehumanization that denies Black people from being recognized as victims when subjected to acts of violence, she said. Everyone in our city and nation should be reflecting on what this incident represents and says about us. The BroadwayLafayette Street station three days after Jordan Neely was killed. Photo: Steven John Irby When the political dust settles, we should demand a full accounting from all of these officials. Neely, it seems, had encountered many of the clinics, hospitals, and social-service organizations we collectively (and optimistically) call a social safety net, including the Bowery Residents Committee and Bellevue Hospital, according to the New York Post. Employees from the Citywide Mobile Crisis Outreach Team brought him to a hospital or shelter five times in 2020. But the citys web of social organizations is ludicrously underfunded and badly lacking in quantity and coordination, according to City Councilwoman Linda Lee, who chairs the councils Committee on Mental Health, Disability, and Addiction. This is yet another unfortunate incident that were seeing in the community that could have been prevented, she told me, specifically citing a lack of crisis centers where people in mental distress can find help and a place to stay in an emergency. Across New York City, theres a total of only 50 beds. Thats it, 50 beds, she said. When youre looking at a city of 8.8 million people, its not enough services, its not enough beds, its not enough spaces that are being provided for those that have severe mental illness. For Neely, the alternative to social services was the NYPD and a jail cell on Rikers Island. Cops continued to engage over the next year with the homeless Neely, who often mentioned that he was schizophrenic, had ADHD and was sometimes suicidal, the Post reports. He was apparently locked up from November 2021 until February of this year after punching and severely injuring an elderly woman. Nobody seems to be in charge of, like, looking at the arrests, City Councilman Bob Holden complained to the Post. If you keep arresting him, and he keeps getting let go without getting treatment, this is going to continue to happen. Were gonna get more of these. This is no way to treat the Neelys of our city. Demonstrators took to the streets demanding Penny be prosecuted, tagging a station downtown with the words WHO KILLED JORDAN NEELY? a question that seems to implicate not only Penny but also the authorities, all the way up to the mayor, who have allowed various overlapping crises of poverty, homelessness, and mental health to go unaddressed. I want to see this person held accountable for killing a fellow New Yorker, Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy at the Coalition for the Homeless, told NPR. Allowing this to happen only encourages others to do the same. Pennys possible prosecution will turn on a legal standard developed in People v. Goetz, the case involving a man who shot four teenagers on the subway in 1984, claiming he thought he was about to be mugged. Self-defense is allowed, according to the states highest court, if a person has a reasonable fear of imminent serious harm, taking into account all of the circumstances. The challenge for Penny is that New York law also specifies a duty to retreat once an immediate deadly threat has passed: In the words of the penal code, the actor may not use deadly physical force if he or she knows that, with complete personal safety to oneself and others, he or she may avoid the necessity of so doing by retreating. The horrifying video of Neelys death includes an unseen bystander telling Penny to stop, that hes killing the man in his choke hold, and that Neely has defecated on himself, a sign that the life is ebbing out of him. It will be up to District Attorney Alvin Bragg to determine if the facts warrant prosecution. In an odd twist, Penny will be represented by Thomas Kenniff, Braggs Republican opponent in 2021. By all appearances, the stage is set for a case that will divide the city along the line Adams seems to be walking between empathy for the dead man or for his alleged killer, whose vigilantism has been welcomed in certain quarters that believe the subway needs to be cleaned up with a stiffer brush. Readers of a certain age will recall that Bernhard Goetz was acquitted by a jury of assault and attempted murder for firing at teenagers who, however threatening they might have seemed, never touched him. Alba, who stabbed a man to death, has been lionized by conservatives who called him as a witness at a recent hearing designed to attack Bragg. We have elected a mayor who was eager to pronounce Alba honest and hardworking before any investigation and is now unable or unwilling to speak with concern or compassion about Neely. At a minimum, Adams should order a review of all the city agencies that interacted with Neely over the years, from the Health Department to the NYPD and Department of Correction. And then all of these officials should make the citys $107 billion budget conform to the level of need. But none of this will let the rest of us off the hook. In addition to the bystander telling Penny to stop, others watched and even helped him. This is what happens when the sight of the distressed becomes so common that it is both fearsome and exhausting; we look the other way, mutter about crime and quality of life, and ignore the fact that we as a society are taking the cheap, easy way out by condemning some of our neighbors to a kind of walking death and hoping we avoid the consequences. A charity organization in Opelika plans to build tiny homes to support Lee Countys homeless community. And they need your help. The One Voice Coalition will partner with Tiny House Ministries based out of Pensacola, Florida, to build miniature houses. The homeless advocate organization intends to reach out to local nonprofits, churches and organizations to help with the builds. Jean Causey, the organizations president, said these transitional homes will then be set up in R.V. parks around Lee County. On Monday morning, One Voice held a public presentation to unveil its upcoming plans to use the tiny houses as shelters for homeless people. Causey said the project is a wonderful idea and her organization already has a list of people lined up to fill the tiny houses. Causey said she hopes to move forward with the project in the next few months. Weve been meeting and trying to come up with a solution for people that do need shelter, Causey said on Monday. This we feel like is the solution. We feel like this is God leading us into this ministry with Curtis White and the Tiny House Ministries. Curtis White and his wife, Hany, started the non-profit Tiny House Ministries in 2017, just outside of Macon, Missouri. The couple felt called to start a ministry to help homeless people. They built there first tiny home for a homeless woman named Alison in 2019. White said they moved her into the home in early 2020. The Whites have since built 10 tiny houses, mostly in the Midwest. They moved their ministry to Pensacola a year ago. This is real life and making relationships, and this, I think, is the best way to heal, White said regarding his ministry. Im a believer as well. I think the houses are great, but its really about a relationship with the Lord, and we would like for people to open their hearts to that opportunity. We use the ministry and the houses as that open door to the gospel. Causey said her son, Steve, originally reached out to Tiny House Ministries. Despite One Voices current shelters in Opelika and Beulah, she said they dont have enough room for Lee Countys homeless community. They have to put many people up in hotels instead. We dont have places to transition people into once we find out their homeless, Causey said. We have two shelters, but that is not enough to take care of the people that are really homeless. By partnering with Tiny House Ministries, Causey hopes to provide an alternative for Lee Countys homeless who live out of hotels, cars or on the streets. The Whites drove up from Pensacola with a model tiny house to show at the presentation on Monday. The model home they showed One Voice is around 168 sq feet. It features a small living area and kitchenette, a loft large enough for a full-size mattress, bathroom and shower. The plumbing can be hooked up to a septic tank or a city sewer. Think college dorm room, where youve got your needs, Curtis White said. You may live there for four years, but youre probably not going to retire there. Thats kinda the idea. Its a transitional home. According to White, one of the tiny homes can cost around $15,000 for materials. A trailer for it to sit on would cost extra. Curtis said he offers custom services and can design a house to meet an organizations needs. He said he can lead group builds, provide material lists and blueprints. Causey said One Voice Coalition is excited about the prospect of working with Tiny House Ministries. Nolan Torbert, lead pastor of True Deliverance Holiness Church in Auburn, is one of the founding members of One Voice Coalition. He said Tiny House Ministry is very special to him. He comes from a family of 10 that was homeless for six years when he was a kid. I know what it is when you dont have anywhere to go, he said. This will get people out of the streets and out of their cars. I think its really going to meet the needs of a lot of people. Torbert said One Voice Coalition plans to get churches, organizations and nonprofits involved in the tiny house builds once they begin. He and Causey both said they want to build as many of the tiny houses as possible. Were being the hands and feet of Jesus, Torbert said. Lets get together on one accord. Causey added, We dont know how many were going to build yet. Were not going to stop with the first one though. For more on One Voice Coalition, visit www.onevoiceshelter.org. For more on Tiny House Ministries, visit https://www.tinyhouseministries.org A recent Economic Report of the President cites estimates by Goldman Sachs that suggest crypto mining accounts for more than 2% of U.S. power consumption. As well as reducing the emissions from crypto mining, the White House believes this tax could raise $3.5 billion in revenue over the next decade. The White House has proposed a plan to make crypto miners pay a tax equal to 30% of the electricity they use during their mining operations. The White House has proposed a plan to have crypto miners pay extra for the energy they consume during mining operations. Dubbed the Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME) tax, miners will pay a tax equal to 30% of the electricity they use in crypto mining. Under the proposal, any business or company that uses computing resources - whether owned or leased - to mine crypto and other digital assets will be subject to an excise tax equal to 30% of the related electricity costs. The tax is estimated to raise $3.5 billion in revenue over the next decade. Crypto Mining And The Environment Bitcoin has frequently been lambasted for its energy-intensive mining process. Five years ago, Nature Climate Change warned that Bitcoin mining alone could push global warming over the 2C catastrophic threshold in just 14 years if adoption rates matched those of other broadly used technologies. Nowadays, all the blame has shifted to fossil fuels thanks to the global energy crisis spurred by Russias war in Ukraine, while Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining hardly get a passing mention. But how much, really, is Bitcoin and crypto mining contributing to our climate crisis? Its a question worth pondering considering that scientists have warned that we have a mere 10-year window to act to stop this global phenomenon or risk permanent and irreversible damage to our ecosystems. Ever-Rising Mining Rates For some crypto buffs, critics who squawk at the vast amounts of energy supposedly consumed by crypto mining and how it contributes to climate change are little more than churlish, pedantic party poopers. In one camp are the PoW (Proof-of-Work) maximalists who argue that bitcoin is the most secure public chain as measured by hashrate, but denying that bitcoin is an energy hog. In the other camp are crypto apologists (such as CoinShare) who concede that bitcoin and crypto mining are indeed power-hungry processes, but immediately go on the defensive by claiming that most of the energy is derived from renewable sources. Bitcoins carbon footprint is all about how much electricity miners consume when trying to solve those arcane computational problems. The bad news: Bitcoins hash rate has increased exponentially over the past few years. This suggests that Bitcoin and crypto mining do consume huge amounts of power, probably enough to warrant the wrath of environmentalists as we shall see shortly. Total Hash Rate (TH/s) The estimated number of terahashes per second the bitcoin network is performing in the last 24 hours Source: Blockchain.com Securing Crypto Networks Is Costly By necessity, the most secure cryptographic networks such as bitcoin are also the most energy intensive since they rely on heavy resource consumption to defend their networks from malicious attackers. PoW projects, like bitcoin, rely on mining to secure their blockchains and require the hashing power to continue even after every coin has been mined. Less resource-intensive networks do not employ such rigorous processes and are, consequently, almost certainly less secure. Mineable coins belong to the PoW category, of which CoinMarketCap lists several hundreds. These are the main culprits as far as energy guzzling is concerned. Non-mineable coins such as Ripple, EOS, Stellar, Tezos, NEO, and NEM are more energy efficient as they dont require tons of energy to validate transactions and secure the network as their PoW brethren. Another notable exception is ethereum. Last year, Ethereum ditched the 'proof of work' model utilized in the mining process of most cryptocurrencies including bitcoin for a new one called 'proof of stake.' This is how the ethereum team describes the radical makeover: Proof-of-stake (PoS) is the consensus mechanism that Ethereum will use following The Merge. Ethereum is moving off of proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake because it is more secure, less energy-intensive, and better for implementing new scaling solutions. While it has always been the plan to transition to proof-of-stake, it is also more complex than proof-of-work, and refining the mechanism has taken years of research and development. The challenge now is to implement proof-of-stake on Ethereum Mainnet. This process is called "The Merge" Ethereum claims the technological changeover will cut its carbon footprint by 99%. Back to the million-dollar question: how much energy does bitcoin and crypto mining suck off our power grids every year? ADVERTISEMENT A recent Economic Report of the President cites estimates by Goldman Sachs that suggest crypto mining accounts for more than 2% of U.S. power consumption, roughly the same as that used to power all residential lighting in the country or all of the home computers. The White House has rightly contended that the energy consumption tied to digital asset mining is ...very real and imposes very real costs. Crypto-asset activity in the United States results in 25 to 50 Mt CO2/y, equivalent to 0.4% to 0.8% of total U.S. emissions. Apart from the obvious ecological burden, high electricity consumption by mining rigs designed to run non-stop also places considerable stress on the power grid. The global figures are not any better. The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index has placed it at nearly 240 TWh. Thats about 1% of global electricity production, and enough to power Switzerland for one year and five months. The carbon footprint is ginormous, too--80 Mt CO2 per year, comparable to the carbon footprint of Romania. Mind you, thats bitcoin only--not counting power consumption and carbon footprint of altcoins such as bitcoin cash, ethereum, litecoin, and monero among others. Source: Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index The government says DAME tax is just one of several measures it has proposed to ensure ...the responsible development of digital assets, modernize their tax treatment, and mitigate risks to financial stability. Theres already a precedent here. Last year, New York passed a law that imposes a temporary moratorium on new permits for fossil fuel power plants that perform cryptocurrency mining using the proof-of-work model. By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Canada said on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into Imperial Oil Ltd, a unit of U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil, over seepage of oil from its oil sands production site that has endangered fish in the area. Environment and Climate Change Canada Enforcement has opened an investigation into a suspected contravention of subsection 36(3) of the Fisheries Act at Imperial Oil Ltd.s Kearl Oil Sands Site, the government said. That particular subsection of the Fisheries Act prohibits the deposit of a deleterious substance into water frequented by fish, or in any place where the deleterious substance may enter any such water, it added. Imperial Oil could be charged with non-compliance with the Act, Canadas Environment and Climate Change Minister, Steven Guilbeault, said at a news conference on Thursday. The process is underway to hold the company to account, Guilbeault added. The first seepage was detected in May last year. However, neither Imperial Oil nor the Alberta Energy Regulator kept local First Nations or provincial and federal environment officials briefed until February 2023. In March this year, Canada issued a direction to Imperial Oil requiring immediate action to contain the seep and prevent it from entering a fish-bearing waterbody. First Nations in early March demanded accountability for the frequent and unprecedented failures of tailings dams, toxic tailing leaks and spills at the Kearl mine site an oil sands mine in the Athabasca Oil Sands region north of Fort McMurray. According to representatives of First Nations, the unestimated seepage amount continued in March, and the wastewater exceeded federal and provincial guidelines for iron, arsenic, sulfates, and hydrocarbons that could include kerosene, creosote, and diesel. The government needs immediate and urgent action to protect people and the environment. Identify the causes of Imperials tailings breaches and find a resolution immediately. Imperial and the governments must contain Tar Sands toxic leaks, Dene National Chief Gerald Antoine said in the March statement. ADVERTISEMENT By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Pakistani President Arif Alvi (R) meets with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Islamabad, Pakistan, on May 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan and China have vowed to strengthen bilateral relations, jointly accelerate the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and deepen cooperation in the fields including agriculture, connectivity and information technology. At a meeting with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Friday, Pakistani President Arif Alvi said the friendly relations between Pakistan and China are rooted in the profound traditional friendship between the two peoples. The more profoundly the international situation changes, the more close and solid friendship between Pakistan and China should be forged, and the good tradition of frequent exchanges between the two countries should be carried forward, the president said. The Pakistani side sincerely appreciates China for its great support for Pakistan's efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing post-disaster reconstruction, and evacuating overseas Pakistanis from the conflict-hit Sudan, said Alvi. The president said the Pakistani side looks forward to making joint efforts with China to push forward the CPEC construction, as well as deepen cooperation on agriculture, connectivity and information technology. Pakistan firmly pursues the one-China policy and supports China on issues concerning its core interests, such as those concerning China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the president stressed. Pakistan will make every effort to ensure the safety of the Chinese personnel and institutions in Pakistan and is ready to work with China for peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan, he noted. For his part, Qin said that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, noting that consolidating and enhancing the bilateral ironclad friendship has been the priority for the successive governments of the two countries. Stressing that China has always stood firmly with Pakistan, Qin said the Chinese side upholds Pakistan's unity, stability, development and prosperity, and supports Pakistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. China is willing to join hands with Pakistan to implement Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, jointly resist external risks and challenges, and steadily promote the China-Pakistan community with a shared future, Qin said. China stands ready to work with Pakistan to promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), accelerate the CPEC construction, deepen cooperation in fields such as industry, agriculture, information technology, and disaster prevention and mitigation, and help Pakistan restore its economy and improve people's livelihood, the Chinese foreign minister said. Qin said China and Pakistan should strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, adding that China encourages more outstanding Pakistani students to study in China. The Chinese side is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with the Pakistani side on the Afghan issue in order to promote the peace and reconstruction process in Afghanistan and contribute to regional stability and development, he added. Chevrons plans to increase its crude oil exports from Venezuela have hit a snag, with the sanctioned South American country unable to bear the cost of dredging a key oil export inlet. Chevrons Venezuela hopes include ramping up crude oil exports from the sanctioned countrybut in order to do that, Lake Maracaibo needs to be dredged. And Venezuela will not purchase the necessary equipment to do the dredging, according to a letter Venezuela sent to Dutch shipbuilder Royal IHC, citing limited funds. Chevron paid for a measurement of the amount of sediment accumulated at the bottom of the lakebut Chevron could be forced to pay for the dredging as well if it wants to increase its exports. Chevron asked Venezuela to dredge the inlet to prevent ships from running aground as it attempts to fulfill its ambitions of exporting between 400,000 bpd and 500,000 bpd of crude oil out of Venezuela. The U.S.-based companys current Venezuelan exports stood at 300,000 bpd, according to Bloomberg, but this is already a significant increase from Chevrons January export rate of 100,000 bpd. Venezuelas heavy crude oil is prized by Gulf Coast refiners, who, until recently, looked to Russias heavy grades to replace it. Last December, it was reported that several refiners were attempting to get their hands on the rare Venezuelan crude oil. The Biden administration eased sanctions on Venezuela to allow Chevron to resume its work in Venezuela when access to Russian heavy crude was shut off by the new sanctions. In November, the government granted Chevron a six-month license to operate in Venezuela under its joint ventures with PDVSA there. Profits from the sale of Chevrons Venezuelan-derived crude oil will go towards paying down its debt to Chevron and will not bolster state-run PDVSAs profits. By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com ADVERTISEMENT More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Gretnas dining options will soon be expanding. Hawaiian Bros. Island Grill is expected to open its first Omaha metro location southwest of Interstate 80 and Highway 370 in Gretna by the end of the year, according to the Grow Omaha website, which highlights metro area development happenings, in its May 4 weekly market report. Home of the traditional plate lunch which comes with white rice, macaroni salad and your choice of protein, including a variety of chicken options as well as vegetables or pork the restaurant also offers various sides and salads. The Kansas City-based restaurant signed multi-unit franchise agreements with DKPM Investments Corp. and BraveHart Development LLC to open 15 stores in Nebraska and Iowa, according to fastcasual.com. Grow Omaha reports four Omaha locations are in the works. Organizers of a Sunday event at the Miller Park Pavilion in North Omaha are offering free meals to homeless people and those in need from noon to 4 p.m. Jacqueline Robbins of Rib Shack Smoke House, one of the planners, said members of Omahas barbecue family will prepare the food for 4 the Love of BBQ at the park near 28th and Redick Streets. This is a big deal, she said. Barbecue restaurants in Omaha are coming together to serve the community that supports them, and May just happens to be National BBQ Month. Participating barbecue providers include the Rib Shack, Waynes New Skoo BBQ, Pulled BBQ Omaha, Porky Butts, BBQ Brothers Mobile, Big Mamas Kitchen and Catering, Mr. Smoke Signal (Andre Lewis), The Pit BBQ Lounge, Smoking Jays BBQ and BBQ Brothers. The event also will feature William King of 95.7 the Boss as a live host and DJ and host Houston Alexander. There will be face-painting for kids, free eye exams provided by the Omaha Marketing Group and resources from community agencies and organizations such as the Open Door Mission, the North Omaha Community Partnership, the Omaha chapter of the American Red Cross, Omaha Black Firefighters and Omaha Police. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is stepping down at the end of June after 2 tumultuous years leading the nations primary public health agency and much of the Biden administrations effort to combat the covid-19 pandemic. I took on this role, at your request, with the goal of leaving behind the dark days of the pandemic and moving CDC and public health forward into a much better and more trusted place, she wrote in her resignation letter to President Joe Biden, which was released Friday. In a statement from the White House, Biden said Walensky led a complex organization on the frontlines of a once-in-a-generation pandemic with honesty and integrity. Her departure is another mark of the federal governments official winding down of the covid pandemic response. The nations declared public health emergency expires May 11, and on Friday the World Health Organization downgraded the virus from a global emergency to a global health threat. White House officials widely expect covid czar Ashish Jha to leave Washington and return to his job in Rhode Island as dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. Walensky was seen from the start of her tenure as a curious choice to lead the influential agency. An infectious disease specialist who practiced in Boston and taught at Harvard Medical School, she came with little direct experience in public health and none leading a large and labyrinthine organization. She took over the CDC, which is headquartered in Atlanta, at one of the most difficult times in the agencys history. Once among the most trusted agencies in the federal government, the CDC fell on particularly hard times during the Trump administration, when officials intervened in the agencys pandemic response and prompted accusations that the CDC was putting politics ahead of public health. The perception inside the agency that its science-based recommendations were being ignored or altered contributed to a staff exodus, particularly from the agencys senior tier. The departures further undercut Walenskys ability to turn around the agencys reputation, as well as to reassure a skeptical public that its recommendations were based on what was best for public health, not politics. Biden has not yet announced a replacement for Walensky. The head of the CDC is one of the few top jobs in the Department of Health and Human Services that does not require Senate confirmation. That is scheduled to change, but not until 2025. So, Bidens next choice could take the helm immediately. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFFan independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF. USE OUR CONTENT This story can be republished for free (details). Nebraska Wildlife Rehab plans to release more than 400 bats at Joslyn Castle Monday night, its first in-person event since the pandemic began. This will be the 14th year the public is invited to attend our spring bat release and the first year the release will be at Joslyn Castle, executive director Laura Stastny said. Were super excited we can partner with Joslyn Castle for the public event. The first 10 years of releases were done at Joslyn Art Museum, but that is closed due to renovations. Nebraska Wildlife Rehab will have information tables and family-friendly bat activities starting at 6 p.m. Wildlife rehabilitators also will have bats on-hand so that people can get an up-close look at them prior to the release. A short presentation on the bats will take place at 7:45 p.m. with the release taking place about 7:55 and lasting about 30 minutes. These are all bats that came to us over the winter months when they couldnt be released, Stastny said. They cant be released during the winter due to cold weather and the lack of insects. The public is invited to bring own picnic suppers to enjoy on the lawn prior to the release. Food also will be for sale. Lawn chairs and blankets are permitted, but Nebraska Wildlife Rehab asks that no tents or stakes be used and that people do not bring pets to the event. Portable restrooms will be available until the conclusion of the bat release. The event is free and open to public. NWR believes that this event is the only one of its kind in the U.S., when the public is invited to watch a large number of bats released back into the wild, Stastny said. We are proud to share this unique opportunity with our community and to serve as ambassadors for these unique and beneficial animals. Limited parking will be available in the lot at Joslyn. Before the official business of Saturdays annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting, the weekend kicked off with a shopping extravaganza at the CHI Health Center on Friday. While many said seeing Warren Buffett in person is their favorite part of the weekend, many shareholders were also enthusiastic about getting to shop for products from Berkshire Hathaways multitude of brands at a discount. Shoppers browsed deals on home goods, apparel and more from vendors including Nebraska Furniture Mart, Oriental Trading, Borsheims, Sees Candies, Justin Boots, Brooks and Fruit of the Loom. Many also stopped to grab a Dilly Bar at the Dairy Queen stand or pose in front of several Buffett-themed photo ops. Many shareholders traveled from across the country and even internationally to attend, but locals also attended. Harvey and Judy Ferris of Missouri Valley, Iowa, said they enjoyed getting to browse products from different Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries at the vendor event. Its amazing how much stuff they own, Harvey said. Jeff and Randalyn Merriam of Minneapolis said theyve been attending Berkshire Hathaway weekend since 2012. They said theyre most excited to see Buffett and his business partner Charlie Munger in person at Saturdays meeting, but the shopping was also a plus, as they picked up some new pairs of shoes from the Brooks stand. Its energizing to see them in person, Jeff said. And seeing what they have to say about where the companys at. Jay Suh and Ji-In Jung, college students from Palo Alto, California and Milwaukee, said they were pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere of Fridays event and the plethora of vendors. It kind of feels like Disney World, Suh said. Some attendees joked that they could tell who were Class A shareholders and who were Class B shareholders. The current price of a Class A share of the company is around $491,000 while a Class B share costs a relatively affordable $324. Linus Tan of Orange County, California, said his family has invested in Berkshire Hathaway since the 1990s and he appreciates Buffett and Mungers philosophy when it comes to investing. Because the companys stock price has risen steadily over the years, Tan said hes heard enthusiasts compare buying shares in Berkshire Hathaway to a savings account. In the long haul, theyre just growing their wealth with Warren Buffett, he said. Many first-time attendees from out of town said theyve been pleasantly surprised with what Omaha has to offer. Tan said hes staying in a hotel in Aksarben and has enjoyed being somewhere that isnt as high traffic as in Southern California. Its just a very cool place to be, he said. Photos: 30 images of Warren Buffett through the years Buffett family at home in 1956 Buffett, 1966 Warren Buffett in 1966 043023-owh-liv-reminisce-p4 Buffett in the 1970s Buffett, Blumkin, 1983 Buffett, 1982 Fortune magazine cover Buffett, Munger, 1989 Buffett grabs a Coke Buffett playing bridge, 1990 Warren Buffett and his mother Buffett at Omaha Royals game, 2003 Buffett, 1992 Buffett on TV show Buffett at office, 1993 Buffett throwing out first pitch, 1995 Buffett driving, 1996 Buffett at '98 Texas game Buffett and Gates, 1995 Buffett and Gates, 2004 Winning hand Buffett at Berkshire meeting, 2011 Buffett at his high school alma mater Advantage, Buffett Buffett playing cards, 2016 Buffett at 2017 meeting Buffett at UNO, 2013 Seven of Nebraskas regional airports will see rebuilt runways, taxiways or hangars with the help of $17.4 million in Federal Aviation Administration grants, the Nebraska Department of Transportation said this week in a press release. The grants to airports in Ainsworth, Burwell, Norfolk, North Platte, Scottsbluff, Sidney and Wayne are part of the FAAs second round of Airport Improvement Program grants. Under the program, the FAA typically pays 90% and the local airport 10% of improvement projects. Scottsbluffs Western Nebraska Regional Airport received the largest single grant: $12.1 million to mill and resurface Runway 12/30, the 8,200-foot runway used for instrument landings, Airport Manager Raul Aguallo told the Scottsbluff Star-Herald. Aguallo said the work will begin in July and continue for four months. He said the airfield will be closed from Aug. 21-30, temporarily halting the airports daily SkyWest Airlines round-trip flights to Denver. The next-largest grant, for $2.9 million, was awarded to the North Platte Regional Airport for reconstruction of a taxiway. Karl Stefan Memorial Field will receive $600,000 to install runway lighting, airfield guidance signs and a runway vertical/visual guidance system. At the four other airports, grants will go toward the construction of new hangars: Ainsworth Regional $553,980 Burwell Cram Field $235,540 Sidney Municipal/Lloyd W. Carr Field $451,562 Wayne Municipal/Stan Morris Field $450,000 NDOT assisted the airport authorities in applying for the grants and will help administer the funds as the projects progress, said Ann Richart, director of the departments Aeronautics Division. Were happy to be able to partner with the FAA Central Region in Kansas City to get this essential grant funding to our airports, Richart said in the press release. In recent months, several airports have also received funding under a separate program that is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress in 2021. The law created three new aviation-support programs. In January, Omahas Eppley Airfield received a $21 million grant for the next phase of construction on the airports terminal entrance drive. Lincoln Airport received $415,000 for improvements to the terminal and its security screening area. Airports in Kearney, Grand Island and North Platte also recently received grants of about $1 million each for various improvements. This report includes information from the Scottsbluff Star-Herald. Close Deb Haman, who works for the Omaha Airport Authority, dusts the airport's "Welcome to Omaha" sign after the morning rush at Eppley Airfield. Departure screen during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Arrival and departure screens during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Travelers check in for their flights during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Passengers head inside Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. A security checkpoint during the midmorning rush at Eppley Airfield in January 2018. Construction of the airports new rental car and parking garage area at Eppley Airfield on January 23, 2018. Construction of the airport's new rental car and parking garage area at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. Rendering of the parking structure that is being added to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Neb. The mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. An escalation of travelers during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Arriving travelers await their luggage at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Busy days at Eppley Airfield in Omaha Deb Haman, who works for the Omaha Airport Authority, dusts the airport's "Welcome to Omaha" sign after the morning rush at Eppley Airfield. Departure screen during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Arrival and departure screens during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Travelers check in for their flights during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Passengers head inside Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. A security checkpoint during the midmorning rush at Eppley Airfield in January 2018. Construction of the airports new rental car and parking garage area at Eppley Airfield on January 23, 2018. Construction of the airport's new rental car and parking garage area at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. Rendering of the parking structure that is being added to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Neb. The mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. An escalation of travelers during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Arriving travelers await their luggage at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Chinese FM urges strategic independence, security cooperation at SCO meeting Xinhua) 08:43, May 06, 2023 Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers' meeting in Goa, India, May 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Javed Dar) The more chaotic and intertwined the international situation is, the more firmly the SCO, as a key constructive force in global and regional affairs, should display the Shanghai Spirit, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said. He put forward a five-point proposal to build a closer SCO community with a shared future. GOA, India, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Friday called on member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to uphold strategic independence and deepen security cooperation. When delivering a speech at the SCO foreign ministers' meeting, Qin pointed out that the world is faced with multiple crises and challenges featuring a resurgence of the Cold War mentality, headwinds of unilateral protectionism, as well as rising hegemonism and power politics. The more chaotic and intertwined the international situation is, the more firmly the SCO, as a key constructive force in global and regional affairs, should display the Shanghai Spirit, said the Chinese foreign minister. He put forward a five-point proposal to build a closer SCO community with a shared future. First, upholding strategic independence, and enhancing solidarity and mutual trust. The SCO members should support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests, and oppose external forces interfering in regional issues or inciting color revolutions, he said. Second, deepening security cooperation and maintaining regional peace. The SCO members should continue to jointly crack down on the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, drug trafficking and transnational organized crimes, support Afghanistan in establishing a broadly-based and inclusive political structure and combat any form of terrorism, Qin said. Third, advocating openness and inclusiveness, and promoting interconnected development. The SCO members should resolutely oppose any act violating international economic order and market rules, so as to ensure smooth and stable industrial and supply chains, he said. Fourth, upholding fairness and justice, and improving global governance. China is ready to coordinate and cooperate with other SCO members and jointly support the SCO's participation in implementing the major initiatives including that of building a community with a shared future for mankind, as well as the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, in order to establish a more just and rational international order, Qin said. Fifth, developing a vision for long-term development and building mechanisms. The SCO should complete the process for the memberships of Iran and Belarus in an orderly manner, and enhance the organization's cohesion and capacity for action, he added. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang (R4) attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers' meeting in Goa, India, May 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Javed Dar) Qin said China is willing to expand cooperation with other SCO member states, jointly move forward on the path of national development and revitalization, and work together toward building a community with a shared future for mankind. Participants at the meeting spoke highly of the contributions to regional security and development made by the SCO as a major regional cooperation platform. The SCO members said they support Afghanistan in achieving national stability and reconstruction, back the SCO to strengthen cooperation with the United Nations and BRICS countries, defend the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and uphold multilateralism. They agreed to further strengthen security cooperation and jointly combat terrorism, separatism, drug production and trafficking, and cyber crimes. They also pledged to enhance cooperation in such areas as transport, energy, finance, investment, free trade, digital economy and environmental protection so as to achieve common development. In addition, they agreed to accelerate the building of the SCO secretariat and the regional anti-terrorism institutions, and advance the SCO membership expansion process in an orderly manner in order to promote the international influence of the SCO. The ministerial meeting made full preparations for the SCO summit to be held in New Delhi this summer. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) TEHRAN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Isa Zarepour said Iran will help Syria build communications satellites, official news agency IRNA reported on Friday. The minister made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting during his two-day visit to the Syrian capital Damascus. Zarepour said that during the visit, he signed a memorandum of understanding with the Syrian side and attended a meeting with Syrian Minister of Communications and Technology Iyad Mohammad al-Khatib and his deputies. Several agreements were reached on boosting the export of Iranian communications products to Syria, he said, adding that the two sides held discussions about private Iranian companies' participation in developing necessary Syrian infrastructure, among other bilateral issues. Zarepour said Iran is among the world's 10 countries capable of building and launching satellites into low Earth orbits. Zarepour was a member of the high-level delegation accompanying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on his two-day visit to Syria. Raisi visited Syria from Wednesday to Thursday for extensive political and economic talks with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. The customers, who had purchased properties from Adron Homes, complained that the company failed to deliver on its numerous promises, including the allocation of lands even after payments had been made. Some customers also accused Adron Homes of using deceptive marketing tactics to lure customers into purchasing properties, such as promising unrealistic returns on investment. However, some Twitter users spoke positively about Adron, and one marketer from the company explained that they have a policy of only allocating lands to those who are ready to build. Meanwhile, Zuma Rock Products Limiteds Managing Director, Engr. Bob Ufomadu, has also accused Adron of harassment and intimidation over a landed property in Shimawa, Ogun state. Adron Homes, in conjunction with some security officers, has allegedly made several attempts to kidnap Ufomadu and forcefully take over his property. The crisis began when Adron offered to relocate Ufomadus farms to Agerige village in Shimawa, claiming that his 12 acres of land were surrounded by land already purchased by the Homes. Ufomadu, however, refused the proposal, stating that he had spent over N300m developing the land and that Adrons blocking of the access road had made it difficult to harvest crops. The Homes has also been accused of encroaching on another landowners property. Ufomadu claims that Adron Homes, in conjunction with the Nigerian Police, has been using threats and intimidation to force him to surrender his property. The Edo Government has warned traders in the spare parts market in Uwelu, Egor Local Government Area of state, to desist from blocking the Benin Water Storm Project channel to avoid gully erosion. The Deputy Governor of the state, Mr Philip Shaibu gave the warning on Monday in Benin while inspecting the level of work at the market. Shuaibu said that blocking the water channel would expose properties in the area to danger, noting that government had invested much in the project. He urged the people to help in maintaining government projects sited in their areas, pointing out that this would facilitate execution of more new projects by government. Shaibu further directed that all the damaged vehicles parked along the market road should be evacuated within 24 hours. The deputy governor said that failure to comply with governments directive would result in the market being shot down. He, however, commended the Chairman of the local government area, Mrs Eghe Ogbemudia, for constructing a new motor park in the area. Ogbemudia later thanked the deputy governor for educating the traders on the need to cultivate the habit of maintaining government properties. The President directed yesterday that a three-man committee be set up to produce a white paper on the recommendations of a committee on police reforms. Establishment of local government and state police, dismissal of 37 police officers and better funding for the police formed the planks of the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Presidential Special Panel on the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Reforms. Also proposed by the committee are strengthening of the Police Rapid Response Complaints Unit and other internal complaints mechanisms to make them more responsive. The recommendations were contained in the report submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja. Buhari directed the Inspector-General of Police and the Solicitor-General of the Federation/Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, to liaise with the Commission to work out the modalities for the implementation of the report within three months. Also recommended by the committee chaired by the NHRC Executive Secretary Anthony Ojukwu are: significant improvement in the funding, kitting and facilities of the police; strengthening the Information and Communication Technology of the police; institutionalising a Special Investigation Panel (SIP) to annually hear and determine complaints on alleged human rights violations against the police; and renaming SARS as Anti-Robbery Section (ARS). The panel noted that ARS was SARSs original name, arguing that the reversal would make the section operate under the intelligence arm of the police from the divisional, area command, state command and zonal command to the Force Headquarters. Besides, the old name will remove the stigma associated with SARS, said the committee, adding that the section must limit itself to tackling armed robbery, leaving other intelligence and operational units to perform their tasks. Presenting the report, Ojukwu said that the panel received 113 complaints on alleged human rights violations and got 22 memoranda on suggestions on how to reform and restructure SARS and the police in general. Read also: Buhari calls for implementation of SARS reform He said: The panel was accordingly constituted and comprises representatives of the following institutions, including members of the civil society, namely: Anthony Okechukwu Ojukwu (Executive Secretary of the NHRC); Tijani Mohammed (Police Service Commission); David I. Shagba (Public Complaints Commission); Hashimu Argungu (Deputy Inspector-General) and Prof Etanibi Alemika (University of Jos). Others are: Chino Obiagwu, SAN (Chairman, Human Rights Agenda Network); Ms Iyabode Ogunseye (Nigerian Bar Association) and Abdulrahman Ayinde Yakubu (NHRC), the panels secretary. Ojukwu went on: The panel sat in the six geo-political zones of the country to afford complainants and the police the opportunity to present and defend the allegations. At the end of its public hearing and having listened to complaints as well as defendants and their counsel, the panel recommended 37 police ofucers for dismissal from the force. Twenty-four were recommended for prosecution. The panel also directed the Inspector-General to unravel the identity of 22 ofucers involved in the violation of the human rights of innocent citizens. The police was directed to pay compensation of various sums in 45 complaints and tender public apologies in uve complaints and directed to obey court orders in uve matters. The police was directed to immediately arrest and prosecute two retired senior police ofucers found to have violated the rights of citizens (one for extra-judicial killing and the other for illegal takeover of property of a suspect). The panel also recovered two vehicles illegally auctioned by SARS ofucers and returned them to their owners. Replying, the President recalled that the panel was constituted as a result of public outcry and various media reports on allegations of human rights violations perpetrated by officers and men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). He spoke of his administrations effort at repositioning the police, saying major steps had been taken. Such steps include increasing the workforce as well as improving the welfare of officers, because they put their lives on the front line on a daily basis so that the rest of us may freely go about our business in safety. However, in carrying out their statutory responsibilities, the police must at all times, act within the ambit of the law and must not violate the fundamental human rights of Nigerians whom they have sworn to protect, Buhari said, adding:Where the rights of Nigerians are violated by police officers while discharging their functions, the government has a responsibility to address the instances of violation in line with its human rights obligations and ensure that such police officers are held accountable for their actions. It is in recognition of our obligations under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and International Human Rights Laws that this administration decided to set up this presidential panel and directed the NHRC to constitute its membership in order to investigate the various public outcries and media reports alleging human rights violations against citizens by officers of SARS. The panel was empowered to make appropriate recommendations not just for holding police officers found wanting accountable, but also, on ways SARS and by extension, the Nigeria Police could be generally reformed. The decision directing the NHRC to constitute the membership of the panel and to take the lead in investigating the said allegations of human rights violation was borne out of the mandate of the NHRC which include the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights in Nigeria as enshrined under sections 5 and 6 of the NHRC Act, 1995 (as amended). It is also in recognition of the fact that the decisions, determinations and recommendations of the Commission are binding and enforceable as provided under section 22 of the NHRC Act, 1995 (as amended). I want to assure you and all Nigerians that this administration will continue to fulfill its obligations of promoting and protecting human rights of Nigerians, and will give the NHRC all the support required to ensure full implementation of the recommendations contained in its report. In addition, we will strengthen the operations of the commission to enhance its effectiveness and capability to resolve cases of human rights violations. He spoke of the reconstitution of the commissions Governing Council, saying the names of the members will be submitted to the National Assembly for confirmation before the inauguration of the Council in line with NHRC Act, 1995 (as amended). Buhari directed that since the recommendations of the commission that constituted the panel are enforceable as decisions of the court, that the Inspector-General and the Solicitor-General of the Federation/Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, meet with the Commission to work out the modalities for the implementation of the report within three months from today. Advertisement BY SULE TAHIR, DUTSE Jigawa state pilgrim welfare board has remmited N4 billion to the National Hajj Commission, ( NAHCO) as 100 percent payment of Hajji fares for the state intending pilgrims. The executive secretary of the state pilgrim welfare board Alhaji Ahmad Labbo revealed this while speaking to newsmen in his office He said a total of 1,625 Hajj seats was allocated to the state and it was sold to intending pilgrims from across 27 local government area of the state. Labbo added that, as part of the preparation to ensure hitch- free Hajji exercise a total of 135 instructors were sent to 27 local government to train the pilgrims on how to perform Hajji and other rules and regulations governing the ritual exercise. The ES however revealed that, the board had secured a befitting accomodations more closer to the holy mosque ( Kaabah) in the holy Land for the state pilgrims to perform their Hajj exercise at esse. As usual, we have formed the health workers team who have already began screaning, and conducting various test and administrating vaccinations to the pilgrims Azman Airline was designed for airlifting of our pilgrims this year and we have already secured Visas for 500 of our intending pilgrims, and we are in the final stage in processing the remaining ones, said the Executive Secretary We are colling on the state intending pilgrims to continue to cooperate with the boards officials for their welfare and successful Hajji exercise Labbo concluded. Related Advertisement Advertisement BY SULE TAHIR, Dutse The former chairman of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Jigawa State, Habibu Sara, has been arrested by the police, later on taken to.magistrate Court 2 and detained on the order of a Magistrate Awwal Balago for an alleged defaming the character of the state governor, Muhammad Badaru, in a radio programme. Mr Sara was arrested by the police and charged to court and remanded in prison on Thursday after the radio programme aired on freedom radio Dutse on the 26 April this year in both Jigawa and neighbouring Kano state. Mr Sara claimed that the governor convened a meeting in Saudi Arabia with some of the politicians in the state allegedly planning to scuttle the incoming administration of the governor-elect, Umar Namadi. The governor has already bought vehicles to be distributed to the (yet-to-be) commissioners for the incoming administration which he does not suppose to do because its not his responsibility to purchase vehicles for the new administration. For the past eight years, he (Governor Badaru) has bought 200 vehicles whose transactions and distribution were shrouded in secrecy which we are demanding an explanation, Mr Sara claimed in the radio programmes. But the governors aide on media content development, Habibu Muhammad, in a letter of complaint, asked the police to arrest Mr Sara and one other person, Karami Jahun, whom he accused of peddling false information against his principal, the outgoing governor. The above allegations are false and are intended to defame the character of the governor of Jigawa and his servants including myself (Mr Muhammad) and to incite public disturbance and disharmony in the governance of the state and between Jigawa state and the incoming governor. Its against this background that I write this complaint to urge you to investigate the matter and bring the culprit to book if found wanting in violation of the law, Mr Muhammed wrote to the police. On Thursday, a magistrate, Auwal Balago, charged Meers Sara and Jahun with a three-count charge of defamation of character, an attempt to incite public disturbance and disorder. The duo pleaded not guilty. The magistrate, Mr Balago ordered the detention of the accused persons in a correctional facility till 8, May for the hearing of the case. Related Advertisement Advertisement Sequel to series of warnings that have been issued out that buying land from local chiefs was a risky venture and failure of some residents to yielded to the advise, Federal Capital Territory Administration has again stormed Okanje District to demolished illegal structures in the area. The operation, coming after several warnings and notices from the Department of Development Control, was empowered by a combined team of both the military and paramilitary forces, it lasted several hours. It was gathered that the Director, Department of Development Control, Muktar Galadima has had meetings with both Community leaders and the land grabbers, with the aim of ensuring that affected people vacate the illegally acquired lands. It was further learnt that all the available fallow land meant for purposed development in line with the Abuja Master plan, had been illegally taken over by people with the help of some indigenous people. Okanje District is one of the fastly developing areas within the Federal Capital City and surrounded by Kabusa Community and other well designed mass housing estates. One of the affected illegal occupants of the land, who simply identified herself as Mrs. Osage bemoaned the reality of the demolition threat. The distraught woman who was picking her personal belongings from the debris of her demolished build, with tears, disclosed that the indigenous people deceived them into acquiring the land. She also said, that after the place was marked for demolition, they were deceived again to contribute money to stop the planned exercise. She noted, what happened is that on the 12 of April, this year, some people came here and started marking some buildings and we tried to find out why they were marking for demolition and putting notices, but they didnt answer us and until they finished they left. Since that time we didnt hear from them again, in our mind we thought when such notification is given it will take between 2-3 months before they will come back and give final notification but that wasnt the case, we were surprised to see them this morning removing structures, most of the owners of the houses have gone to work, they will come back from work and meet no house to enter, she added Related Advertisement Advertisement The federal government has commissioned the first ever gemstone market in Nigeria. The international gemstone market built courtesy of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, MMSD, under the Economic Sustainability Plan of the federal government is located at Ojoo in Akinyele local government area of Oyo State. A statement made available AljazirahNigeria quoted the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, as saying that the project was in line with the President Buharis resolve to anchor the economic diversification agenda of his government on the two key sectors of mining and agriculture. According to him, the ministry designed six strategic artisanal and small scale mining cluster projects one each in the six geopolitical zones of the country. He said the choice of Ibadan as one of the locations for the International gemstone market was based on the rich deposits of gemstone in the southwest zone. He revealed that the ministry had already trained over 50 people who would add value to the mineral upon extraction as against the hitherto practice of exporting the ore in its crude form. The gemstones will not just sold out in the raw form, but with valued added by turning it to jewelries locally, he said. Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde who was represented by the commissioner for energy and mineral resources, Mr Seun Ashamu, lauded the federal government for the initiative. We encourage business to be run openly and transparently with the protection of governments at various levels in the interest of Nigeria. The governor called on residents of the state and stakeholders in the gemstone market to follow laid down rules. The Acting president of Miners Association of Nigeria, MAN, Musa Mohamed, who spoke through the secretary, Dele Ayoleke, commended federal governments efforts in the mining sector, appealing for facilitation of equipment leasing for members at various operation clusters. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Oluwatoyin Akinlade, had earlier explained that the project was part of governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic to boost the value chain of the minerals sector and to cushion the effect of the pandemic on artisanal and small-scale miners in the country. Related Advertisement The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Rural Electrification Agency, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad is enmeshed in a contract fraud as he awarded his own company a N200 million job. Recently Ahmad made headlines for operating 37 bank accounts, with all linked to his Bank Verification Number, 2226642****. The 39-year-olds name in one of the bank accounts is that of his wife, Bilikisu Ahmad Salihijo with duplicity and variations in the accounts opened in his name, SaharaReporters learnt. On the back of the revelation, a civil society organisation known as Fight Against Corruption Network, FACN, called on the anti-graft agencies to investigate and prosecute the REA boss through a statement issued by its Executive Director, Ayoola Bakare. The call is premised on the necessity to protect the integrity of the nations financial system, particularly at these critical hours when banks are facing the ill consequences of the new naira notes and swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Ahmad has two in Standard Chartered Bank with the account name, Needle Technology, and five in GTBank in the same name, while in his personal name, with variations in the order of the three names, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, he has six with GTBANK, four with First Bank, one with UBA, three with Fidelity, one in Stanbic IBTC with the account name, Salihijo Ahmad Foundation. Others in his name are one in Jaiz Bank, two at Access Bank, four at First Bank and two at Eco Bank. Some of the accounts have just two names of the operator. Also found linked to the REA MDs BVN are two GTBANK accounts of a non-governmental organisation, Flexisaf Foundation, two in Jaiz Bank with name, Flexisaf Edusoft Ltd, another, Velocity Group Ltd in Keystone Bank, one En Consulting and Projects Ltd in First Bank. The others are two under the name of his wife, Bilikisu Ahmad Salihijo domiciled in Zenith Bank and Jaiz Bank with all the aforementioned accounts criminally opened with different dates of birth of the operator: October 20, 1983, July 27, 2009, January 1, 1989, May 3, 2012, January 29, 2015, August 24, 1985, March 30, 2004 among others, Bakare wrote. A document obtained by SaharaReporters revealed that a company Ahmad has an interest in as a Director En Consulting & Projects Limited, successfully bid for a contract worth millions of naira. The company had its bid for the consultancy service job REA accepted. REA recently advertised a tender for some of World Banks projects under one of its units, Nigeria Electrification Project, with En Consulting & Projects making a successful bid for N200 million job. In an invitation letter dated April 5, 2022, from REA to En Consulting & Projects and two others; JV of Boston Consulting Group and Banwo & Ighodalofor, which was sighted by our correspondent, there was a meeting to close the deal signed by the Head, Nigeria Electrification Unit, Uche Hannah. Following your submission of technical and financial proposals for the Consultancy Services for Performance Agreement Review of Successor Distribution Companies, you are hereby invited for contract negotiation meeting for the assignment, it read. However, an investigation revealed the process smacked of infractions and conflict of interests due to one of the winning bidders, En Consulting & Projects connection with the REA MD/CEO, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad. An account in the companys name is one of the 37 bank accounts linked to Ahmads Bank Verification Number. Its illegal for a public officer to engage in any private business, more so to be a private companys Director and such an entity in his or her place of work is now awarded contract. It is an infraction, bordering on conflict of interests of the highest order. The preliminary award of the contract by REA unit to En Consulting & Projects means the mandatory submission of an affidavit by a company applying for government contracts relating that none of its Directors is a public officer was never complied with. In fact, it is a self-evident violation of Public Service Code of Conduct, which threw all civilities out of the window if you consider that the unit, Nigeria Electrification Project in charge of the contract is directly under REA MD/CEO. This culture of impunity, nonsense and recklessness are reasons this country remains in the woods and regressing to a lawless dark nation, a source privy with the contract said. Conflict of interest arises when a person has a direct or indirect interest in or relationship with a bidder that is or may be reasonably perceived to be unethical due to that persons influence or ability to affect the procurement process. This is the reason why the public procurement act provides as follows: To be eligible to bid for and execute a public procurement contract, every Bidder must: accompany every bid with an affidavit stating whether or not any officer of the bidding company is a former or present director, shareholder or has any pecuniary interest in the contract awarding institution and that all information presented in its bid are true and correct in particulars. Nigerians on social media have reacted to the jail sentence of former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice in the United Kingdom. Naija News earlier reported that the 60-year-old Nigerian senator, his wife, and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta were found guilty of conspiring to bring a market trader in Lagos to the UK for the purpose of harvesting his kidney for the use of the politicians 25-year-old daughter, Sonia. Ekweremadus wife Beatrice, 56, was handed 4 years, six months jail term, while the doctor involved in the case of organ trafficking got a 10-year jail term with his medical licence suspended. Reacting to the development, some Nigerians commended the British court while others extended prayers to the family in this trying time. How Nigerians Reacted below; Baridueh Badon wrote, Ike Ekweremadus sentence is an example of the judgement 99.9% Nigerian politicians should be facing in a sane society. That 0.01% exception is Peter Obi. Funke Tostevin wrote, Nigerian corrupt politicians! Your judgement day is around the corner. Lady G wrote, One down, many to go. Uncle Charles wrote, I find it troubling that Ike Ekweremadu got only 10years. He should have gotten 20 years. El Elon wrote: If the case of Ike Ekweremadu happened in Nigeria, as an influential Nigerian politician he is, do you think the Nigerian judiciary would have given the victim justice? Obident dentist wrote, I feel for Ike Ekweremadus daughter. No child deserves to inherit the sins of their parents. Vlon wrote; Hopefully, Ike Ekweremadu does not returned to a heros welcome in 10 years. Our people should have better maturity by then. President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed satisfaction with the conduct of this years general elections in Nigeria. The president, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, spoke at the Commonwealth Leaders Summit on Friday in London. The summit was part of the major events leading to the coronation of His Majesty, King Charles III, as King of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Commonwealth. He said the lessons learnt from the elections would make subsequent polls even better. Buhari said: These elections saw a remarkable turnout of voters and proof that Nigerias democracy is maturing. Despite some pockets of violence, we have demonstrated that a government can be elected peacefully and fairly. Lessons have been learnt and moving forward, we hope to perform even better. READ ALSO: 2023 elections prove Nigerias democracy is maturing Buhari Based on this, I am delighted to note that we have taken another step towards deepening our democracy with peaceful, transparent, and credible outcomes. Though we are aware that challenges still exist, we are committed to working towards a greater participation of all Nigerians in the democratic process, including those in the Diaspora. The president, who thanked the Commonwealth for sending a team to witness the conduct of the elections, said the elections were generally free and fair. He added that the mood of the nation after the announcement of the winners showed that democracy in Nigeria is maturing and can only get better. Join the conversation Opinions Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs. As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake. If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause. Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development. Donate Now Relatives mourn during the funeral of two Palestinians who were killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, May 6, 2023. Two Palestinians were killed on Saturday morning by Israeli soldiers during clashes in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua) RAMALLAH, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinians were killed on Saturday morning by Israeli soldiers during clashes in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. The ministry said in a statement that two Palestinian men were brought dead to Thabet Thabet Hospital in the city after they were shot by Israeli soldiers during clashes in the Tulkarm refugee camp. The Israeli authorities didn't immediately comment on the incident. However, Israel Radio reported that an Israeli army force stormed the Tulkarm refugee camp to arrest Palestinians wanted by Israel for involvement in attacks against Israel. For months, the Israeli army has been carrying out daily raids on Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps mainly in the northern West Bank to arrest Palestinian militants wanted by Israeli security forces. Since January, the Israeli army has killed 109 Palestinians during these raids, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. Israel said that 19 Israelis have been killed in attacks carried out by the Palestinians during the same period. Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian man during the funeral of two Palestinians who were killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, May 6, 2023. Two Palestinians were killed on Saturday morning by Israeli soldiers during clashes in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua) Former Kogi East senator and the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dino Melaye, on Friday, unveiled his running mate, Habeebat Deen, for the November 11 governorship election in the state. At the unveiling ceremony held at the Abuja residence of former governor of the state, Ibrahim Idris, Melaye said the choice of Deen was unprecedented by any major political party in the state as she has all it takes to compliment him when he gets into power. He noted that Deen, a former member of the Kogi State House of Assembly, will carry women along in governance and would make a lot of difference in mobilising Kogi Central women for the PDP success in the governorship election. READ ALSO: Youre an expired drug, Melaye replies Wike Speaking at the event which had political bigwigs in the State including the state PDP chairman, Sam Ohuotu, Brigadier General Tunde Ogbeha (rtd), Prince Olusola Akanmode, Tom Adaba, and Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, among others. Ogbeha congratulated Melaye for quickly and seamlessly nominating a deputy governorship candidate. Its a divine choice. He has made a statement beyond Kogi State because it will generate a lot of interest, excitement and goodwill, Ogbeha said. Police operatives in Lagos have arrested a community leader for allegedly assaulting his wife in the state. The Executive Secretary of The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), Mrs. Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, confirmed the development in a statement on Friday in Lagos. She said the suspect inflicted injuries on his wife in the Ajah area of the state on April 9. Vivour-Adeniyi said: Following a report of physical assault by the community leader, who allegedly brutally assaulted his wife on Easter Sunday, leaving her with grievous injuries on her body and swollen eyes, the agency rescued the survivor from the scene and she has been placed in a private shelter. READ ALSO: Police recovers weapons from Alaba Market shanties The perpetrator has been arrested by the Divisional Police Station, Ajah Family Support Unit and he is currently in detention. The DSVA chief said the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had requested the incidents case file. She described domestic violence as a crime against the state. At the Lagos DSVA, we wish to state that all forms of abuse are crimes not only against the survivors but also against the state. We will ensure that all perpetrators, irrespective of their status, are made to face the full wrath of the law, she added. The Lagos State Police Command, on Friday, confirmed that its operatives raided shanties around the popular Alaba International Market in Ojo Local Government Area of the state, where weapons were recovered. The spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, who disclosed this on his Twitter handle on Friday, said the police acted on credible information, recovered the weapons, arrested some suspected criminals and set the shanties on fire. READ ALSO: Police restore normalcy at Alaba market, quell traders, hoodlums clash Hundeyin, who denied online reports that the market was gutted by fire, wrote: This is a false narrative! Acting on credible information, police officers from the Ojo division raided shanties around the market, arrested suspected criminals and recovered some weapons. The shanties were thereafter set on fire. Alaba Intl Market is not on fire. Festus Keyamo said some opposition supporters have been assured that Tinubus inauguration can be legally stopped before May 29 The Minister of state for Labour also claimed there is a report about the invitation of some foreign lawyers to tackle Tinubu Keyamo mocked those who hold the belief that Tinubus inauguration can be stopped, describing them as illiterates FCT, Abuja Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), has mocked antagonists of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, who he said have been assured that Tinubus inauguration can be legally stopped before Monday, May 29. Legit.ng reports that Keyamo said he read a report to the effect that some foreign lawyers have been flown into Nigeria to ensure that the court stops Tinubus swearing-in. Keyamo mocked those who hold the belief that Tinubus inauguration can be halted, describing them as illiterates. Photo credit: Festus Keyamo, ESQ Source: Facebook The Minister wrote on his verified Twitter handle on Friday, May 5: I read somewhere that some supposedly learned fellow is assuring the nattering nitwits that the inauguration of @officialABAT can be legally stopped before May 29th and yet another story that some foreign lawyers have been flown in to achieve that purpose. And I read many excited reactions from these nitwits. Then I shook my head and murmured under my breath, illiteracy is truly a disease and it is sad that some unscrupulous characters are taking advantage of these poor fellows. Antagonists of Tinubus inauguration Proponents of the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have been antagonising Tinubu online. According to them, Tinubu did not win the 2023 presidential election credibly, thus, he does not deserve to be sworn in later this month. Obi and the Labour Party are presently in court to challenge the emergence of Tinubu as the president-elect of Nigeria. Apart from the Labour Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are also in court to reclaim Atiku Abubakars mandate. Military speaks on alleged plans to scuttle Tinubus inauguration Meanwhile, the Military High Command has sent a note of caution to politicians and some prominent Nigerians, who it says, are behind the move to scuttle the May 29 transition, stating that they should bury the plan. The military also disclosed that its officers are ready to forestall any unwanted moves in the country, either before, during or after the inauguration, which is scheduled to hold by the end of the month. Ex-Lagos Deputy Governor makes u-turn on renouncing citizenship over Tinubus victory, gives reason In another report, Nigerias first-ever female deputy governor, Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu, says she will no longer renounce her citizenship as a Nigerian following Tinubus imminent inauguration as President on Monday, May 29. Ojikutu, a deputy governor to ex-Lagos state governor Sir Michael Otedola, made this u-turn weeks after reiterating that she would renounce her citizenship, travel elsewhere and live her life. Source: Legit.ng Spread the love Prince Harry statuss as a royal outcast was ruthlessly emphasized at his fathers coronation Saturday, as he was seated in the third row with the disgraced Prince Andrew and his family in Westminster Abbey, and forced to walk alone down the aisle wearing civilian clothing. When the rest of the royal family, including Queen Camillas grandchildren, appeared for their centerpiece appearance on Buckingham Palaces balcony, Harry was absent. The Sun reported Harry was en route to the airport as his father and brother and royal relations waved to the crowds, keen to get home to California where his son Prince Archie is celebrating his 4th birthday today. The paper said that after the coronation ceremony Harry had gotten into a blacked-out electric BMW and driven the 20 miles to Heathrow, arriving by police convoy around 2.05pm local time. Harry was then escorted into the VIP Windsor Suite at Terminal 5, the paper reported. Earlier, Harry had put on a brave face, grinning broadly and chatting to Jack Brooksbank before the ceremony began at Westminster Abbey. Brooksbank is the husband of Princess Eugenie of York, and had given him an encouraging pat on the back as he made his way into the Abbey about twenty minutes before the event kicked off at 11am local time. READ ALSO: Charles III officially crowned UK King Harry did not make eye contact with his father or brother, Prince William, who, sources have told The Daily Beast, hates his brother after he eviscerated him and Kate Middleton in his memoir, Spare. Harry did not join the Coronation procession. After chatting to Eugenie, Prince Andrews daughter, outside the church, Harry got into a car, but his destination at that momentairport or Buckingham Palacewas unknown. On Saturday morning it was widely reported that Harry had been invited to a family lunch after the Coronation. It must have all added up to the very strangest of days for Harry, who sat and watched as Camilla Parker Bowles, who he described as a wicked stepmother in his book, was crowned queen alongside her husband. Harry said in his book that he begged his father not to marry Camilla. Advertisement News of Harrys humiliating seating position leaked out Saturday morning with a source telling the Sun: There were discussions that the seating could be arranged on line of succession. But that would have put fifth-in-line Harry front and centreand with William and Kate. Instead the decision was to work royals only at the front and work back from there. The hardline on Harry came after an attack, apparently sanctioned by the king, was launched on Harry by the kings reputed best friend Nicholas Soames. Harrys very public humiliation came after he had flown into Britains Heathrow Airport Friday morning on a commercial flightAmerican Airlines flight AA136 from Los Angelesand until the day of the Coronation itself it wasnt clear what role, if any, he would have to playand how he would be seated around, and interact with, his family. His wife Meghan Markle stayed home in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. It is Archies birthday today, and Harry was widely reported to be spending a minimal amount of time at the Coronation before flying home to be with his own family. The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has announced that another batch of Nigerians evacuated from Sudan have arrived at the federal capital territory (FCT). Sharing photos and video of the returnees via its Twitter page, the NiDCOM said the batch which comprises 131 Nigerians, including 124 adults and seven infants arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja at about 1:45 pm. Another batch of Evacuees: 131 Nigerian nationals (evacuees) 124 Adults, 7 Infants that departed Port Sudan International Airport landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at 1:45 pm via Tarco Airline B737-300 Aircraft today Saturday, 6th May 2023, the statement reads. BREAKING NEWS EVACUATION UPDATE: Another batch of Evacuees: 131 Nigerian nationals (Evacuees) 124 Adults, 7 Infants that departed Port Sudan International Airport landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at 1:45 pm via Tarco Airline B737-300 Aircraft today Saturday, pic.twitter.com/N0gz4HZ0sQ Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (@nidcom_gov) May 6, 2023 KanyiDaily recalls that the Federal Government had announced that all stranded Nigerians have been successfully evacuated from crisis-ridden Sudan. Umahi, who will be a first-time senator when the 10th Senate is inaugurated in June, said the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, invited him and pleaded with him to drop his ambition. The governor said he agreed with Tinubus pleas to endorse Akpabio as the next senate president, noting that he was also not considering the post of deputy senate president. Speaking with reporters after a meeting with Akpabio on Friday night, Umahi said My brother came to consult with me. Yesterday, I saw the president-elect on his invitation and he told me that he is already committed, and that please dont run and I accepted and stepped down for my brother, senator Akpabio. He is my consensus candidate. I also step down for him as the deputy senate president. Umahi also said that he is not considering the position of the deputy senate president, noting that he has stepped down from the two positions. He is my consensus candidate. I also stepped down for him as the deputy senate president, so I stepped down for two of them, he said. The senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume also said Akpabio is the preferred choice of the president, but he did not state who he was referring to between President Muhammadu Buhari and the president-elect. As you can see, I am leading the campaign for Akpabio because he is the presidents preferred candidate and we have to put the interest of the country, the party, above any other interest, Ndume said. Responding, Akpabio said: I have always said In Sha Allah , the will of God will be done in Nigeria. With the pulling out of Umah and Ndume from the race, the remaining contenders, apart from Akpabio include Jibrin Barau (Kano), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Osita Izunaso (Imo) and Sani Musa (Niger). The leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is yet to announce their decision on the zoning of the 10th National Assembly leadership. Meanwhile, a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has said the 10th Senate would be in a competent hand under the leadership of Orji Kalu as Senate President. An Oklahoma judge on Monday found Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries helped fuel the states opioid crisis and ordered the consumer products giant to pay $572 million, more than twice the amount another drug manufacturer agreed to pay in a settlement. Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkmans ruling followed the first state opioid case to make it to trial and could help shape negotiations over roughly 1,500 similar lawsuits filed by state, local and tribal governments consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio. The opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma, Balkman said before announcing the judgment. It must be abated immediately. An attorney for the companies said they plan to appeal the ruling to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Before Oklahomas trial began May 28, the state reached settlements with two other defendant groups a $270 million deal with OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and an $85 million settlement with Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Oklahoma argued the companies and their subsidiaries created a public nuisance by launching an aggressive and misleading marketing campaign that overstated how effective the drugs were for treating chronic pain and understated the risk of addiction. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter says opioid overdoses killed 4,653 people in the state from 2007 to 2017. Hunter called Johnson & Johnson a kingpin company that was motivated by greed. He specifically pointed to two former Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries, Noramco and Tasmanian Alkaloids, which produced much of the raw opium used by other manufacturers to produce the drugs. On Monday, Hunter said the Oklahoma case could provide a road map for other states to follow in holding drugmakers responsible for the opioid crisis. Thats the message to other states: We did it in Oklahoma. You can do it elsewhere, Hunter said. Johnson & Johnson will finally be held accountable for thousands of deaths and addictions caused by their activities. Among those seated in the courtroom on Monday were Craig and Gail Box, whose son Austin was a 22-year-old standout linebacker for the Oklahoma Sooners when he died of a prescription drug overdose in 2011. One of the attorneys for the state, Reggie Whitten, said he also lost a son to opioid abuse. I feel like my boy is looking down, Whitten said after the judges ruling, his voice cracking with emotion. Oklahoma pursued the case under the states public nuisance statute and presented the judge with a plan to abate the crisis that would cost between $12.6 billion for 20 years and $17.5 billion over 30 years. Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson have said that estimate is wildly inflated. The judges award would cover the costs of one year of the states abatement plan, funding things like opioid use prevention and addiction treatment. Attorneys for the company have maintained they were part of a lawful and heavily regulated industry subject to strict federal oversight, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, during every step of the supply chain. Lawyers for the company said the judgment was a misapplication of public nuisance law. Sabrina Strong, an attorney for Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries, said the companies have sympathy for those who suffer from substance abuse but called the judges decision flawed. You cant sue your way out of the opioid abuse crisis, Strong said. Litigation is not the answer. Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the cases consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio called the Oklahoma judgment a milestone amid the mounting evidence against the opioid pharmaceutical industry. While public nuisance laws differ in every state, this decision is a critical step forward for the more than 2,000 cities, counties, and towns we represent in the consolidation of federal opioid cases, they said in a statement. Also on Monday, the Kentucky Supreme Court declined to review an earlier ruling , making previously secret testimony from former Purdue Pharma President Rickard Sackler and other documents public. The court record was sealed in 2015 as part of a $24 million settlement between Purdue and Kentucky. The 17 million pages of documents were being shipped Monday from Frankfort to Pike County, where the case originated. The Pike County Circuit Court Clerks office could not immediately say how and when they would be available. A Federal High Court in Jos, the Plateau State capital has threatened to jail the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu and Abba Kyari, the officer in charge of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) for disobeying its orders. Justice Dorcas Agishi gave the order on Wednesday after the two men failed to produce a suspect, Nanpon Sambo, who was alleged to have died in police custody in Abuja. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that police arrested Nanpon Sambo Since the 28th Feb 2019 while on bail before Justice Agishi on a charge of Illegal Possession of firearms. He has neither been charged to court to date for any offence by the police who ignored several court orders to produce him for the continuation of his trial. The Police, through its Counsel, Mr Joshua Ayanna, had claimed that the suspect died in their custody in July. This claim brought about the court to order IGP Adamu and Abba Kyari, to produce Sambo before it on Nov 29 dead or alive. If the defendant has already been buried by the police, the police are hereby ordered to exhume the corpse of the defendant and produce it at the Jos University teaching hospital for positive forensic and DNA identification by a licensed medical practitioner, Justice Agishi said. Although the judge gave them two weeks within which to produce the suspect or face the wrath of the Court, they, however, failed to comply with the order as they were not even in Court on that day, Nov. 19. Upon resumption of hearing of the case, the defense counsel, Mr D.G. Dashe, informed the court that the earlier order of Nov. 29 has not been obeyed or complied with. Justice Agishi, hereby, ordered IGP Mohammed Adamu and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abba Kyari, in charge of Intelligence Response Team (IRT), to appear in person before the court on the next adjourned date, Dec. 9 to show cause why they should not be committed to prison for gross contempt. On January 3, 2020, Irans most powerful military commander, General Qasem Soleimani was confirmed dead. He was killed by a US air strike in Iraq. The 62-year old spearheaded Iranian military operations in the Middle East as head of Irans elite Quds Force. He was killed at Baghdad airport, alongside local Iran-backed militias, early on Friday in a strike ordered by US President Donald Trump. Qassem Suleimani also known as the Shadow Commander was the Iranian operative who had been reshaping the Middle East. He was a small man, with silver hair, a close-cropped beard, and a look of intense self-containment. Suleimani was born in Rabor, an impoverished mountain village in eastern Iran. As a young man, Suleimani gave few signs of greater ambition. According to Ali Alfoneh, an Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, he had only a high-school education, and worked for Kermans municipal water department. But it was a revolutionary time, and the countrys gathering unrest was making itself felt. Away from work, Suleimani spent hours lifting weights in local gyms, which, like many in the Middle East, offered physical training and inspiration for the warrior spirit. During Ramadan, he attended sermons by a travelling preacher named Hojjat Kamyaba protege of Khameneisand it was there that he became inspired by the possibility of Islamic revolution. In 1979, when Suleimani was twenty-two, the Shah fell to a popular uprising led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the name of Islam. Swept up in the fervor, Suleimani joined the Revolutionary Guard, a force established by Irans new clerical leadership to prevent the military from mounting a coup. Though he received little trainingperhaps only a forty-five-day coursehe advanced rapidly. As a young guardsman, Suleimani was dispatched to northwestern Iran, where he helped crush an uprising by ethnic Kurds. Suleimani earned a reputation for bravery and elan, especially as a result of reconnaissance missions he undertook behind Iraqi lines. He returned from several missions bearing a goat, which his soldiers slaughtered and grilled. Even the Iraqis, our enemy, admired him for this, a former Revolutionary Guard officer who defected to the United States said. In 1998, Suleimani took command of the Quds Force, and in that time he had sought to reshape the Middle East in Irans favor, working as a power broker and as a military force: assassinating rivals, arming allies, and, for most of a decade, directing a network of militant groups that killed hundreds of Americans in Iraq. American and Argentine officials believe that the Iranian regime helped Hezbollah orchestrate the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, which killed twenty-nine people, and the attack on the Jewish center in the same city two years later, which killed eighty-five. Suleimani built the Quds Force into an organization with extraordinary reach, with branches focussed on intelligence, finance, politics, sabotage, and special operations. With a base in the former U.S. Embassy compound in Tehran, the force has between ten thousand and twenty thousand members, divided between combatants and those who train and oversee foreign assets. Its members are picked for their skill and their allegiance to the doctrine of the Islamic Revolution (as well as, in some cases, their family connections). According to the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, fighters are recruited throughout the region, trained in Shiraz and Tehran, indoctrinated at the Jerusalem Operation College, in Qom, and then sent on months-long missions to Afghanistan and Iraq to gain experience in field operational work. They usually travel under the guise of Iranian construction workers. After taking command, Suleimani strengthened relationships in Lebanon, with Mughniyeh and with Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollahs chief. By then, the Israeli military had occupied southern Lebanon for sixteen years, and Hezbollah was eager to take control of the country, so Suleimani sent in Quds Force operatives to help. They had a huge presencetraining, advising, planning, Crocker said. In 2000, the Israelis withdrew, exhausted by relentless Hezbollah attacks. It was a signal victory for the Shiites, and, Crocker said, another example of how countries like Syria and Iran can play a long game, knowing that we cant. Since then, the regime has given aid to a variety of militant Islamist groups opposed to Americas allies in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The help has gone not only to Shiites but also to Sunni groups like Hamashelping to form an archipelago of alliances that stretches from Baghdad to Beirut. No one in Tehran started out with a master plan to build the Axis of Resistance, but opportunities presented themselves, a Western diplomat in Baghdad said. In each case, Suleimani was smarter, faster, and better resourced than anyone else in the region. By grasping at opportunities as they came, he built the thing, slowly but surely. The U.S. Department of the Treasury had sanctioned Suleimani for his role in supporting the Assad regime, and for abetting terrorism. And yet he had remained mostly invisible to the outside world, even as he ran agents and directs operations. Suleimani is the single most powerful operative in the Middle East today, John Maguire, a former C.I.A. officer in Iraq, said, and no ones ever heard of him. When Suleimani appeared in publicoften to speak at veterans events or to meet with Khameneihe carried himself inconspicuously and rarely raised his voice, exhibiting a trait that Arabs call khilib, or understated charisma. He is so short, but he has this presence, a former senior Iraqi official said. There will be ten people in a room, and when Suleimani walks in he doesnt come and sit with you. He sits over there on the other side of room, by himself, in a very quiet way. Doesnt speak, doesnt comment, just sits and listens. And so of course everyone is thinking only about him. The early months of 2013, marked a low point for the Iranian intervention in Syria. Assad was steadily losing ground to the rebels, who are dominated by Sunnis, Irans rivals. If Assad fell, the Iranian regime would lose its link to Hezbollah, its forward base against Israel. In a speech, one Iranian cleric said, If we lose Syria, we cannot keep Tehran. Although the Iranians were severely strained by American sanctions, imposed to stop the regime from developing a nuclear weapon, they were unstinting in their efforts to save Assad. Among other things, they extended a seven-billion-dollar loan to shore up the Syrian economy. I dont think the Iranians are calculating this in terms of dollars, a Middle Eastern security official said. They regard the loss of Assad as an existential threat. For Suleimani, saving Assad seemed a matter of pride, especially if it meant distinguishing himself from the Americans. Suleimani told us the Iranians would do whatever was necessary, said a former Iraqi leader. He said, Were not like the Americans. We dont abandon our friends. In 2012, Suleimani asked Kurdish leaders in Iraq to allow him to open a supply route across northern Iraq and into Syria. For years, he had bullied and bribed the Kurds into cooperating with his plans, but this time they rebuffed him. Worse, Assads soldiers wouldnt fightor, when they did, they mostly butchered civilians, driving the populace to the rebels. The Syrian Army is useless! Suleimani told an Iraqi politician. He longed for the Basij, the Iranian militia whose fighters crushed the popular uprisings against the regime in 2009. Give me one brigade of the Basij, and I could conquer the whole country, he said. In August, 2012, anti-Assad rebels captured forty-eight Iranians inside Syria. Iranian leaders protested that they were pilgrims, come to pray at a holy Shiite shrine, but the rebels, as well as Western intelligence agencies, said that they were members of the Quds Force. In any case, they were valuable enough so that Assad agreed to release more than two thousand captured rebels to have them freed. And then Shateri was killed. Finally, Suleimani began flying into Damascus frequently so that he could assume personal control of the Iranian intervention. Hes running the war himself, an American defense official said. In Damascus, he was said to work out of a heavily fortified command post in a nondescript building, where he had installed a multinational array of officers: the heads of the Syrian military, a Hezbollah commander, and a coordinator of Iraqi Shiite militias, which Suleimani mobilized and brought to the fight. If Suleimani couldnt have the Basij, he settled for the next best thing: Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, the Basijs former deputy commander. Hamedani, another comrade from the Iran-Iraq War, was experienced in running the kind of irregular militias that the Iranians were assembling, in order to keep on fighting if Assad fell. Late 2012, Western officials began to notice a sharp increase in Iranian supply flights into the Damascus airport. Instead of a handful a week, planes were coming every day, carrying weapons and ammunitiontons of it, the Middle Eastern security official saidalong with officers from the Quds Force. According to American officials, the officers coordinated attacks, trained militias, and set up an elaborate system to monitor rebel communications. They also forced the various branches of Assads security servicesdesigned to spy on one anotherto work together. The Middle Eastern security official said that the number of Quds Force operatives, along with the Iraqi Shiite militiamen they brought with them, reached into the thousands. Theyre spread out across the entire country, he told me. A turning point came in April 2013, after rebels captured the Syrian town of Qusayr, near the Lebanese border. To retake the town, Suleimani called on Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollahs leader, to send in more than two thousand fighters. It wasnt a difficult sell. Qusayr sits at the entrance to the Bekaa Valley, the main conduit for missiles and other materiel to Hezbollah; if it was closed, Hezbollah would find it difficult to survive. Suleimani and Nasrallah were old friends, having cooperated for years in Lebanon and in the many places around the world where Hezbollah operatives had performed terrorist missions at the Iranians behest. According to Will Fulton, an Iran expert at the American Enterprise Institute, Hezbollah fighters encircled Qusayr, cutting off the roads, then moved in. Dozens of them were killed, as were at least eight Iranian officers. On June 5th 2013, the town fell. The whole operation was orchestrated by Suleimani, Maguire, who is still active in the region, said. It was a great victory for him. Despite all of Suleimanis rough work, his image among Irans faithful is that of an irreproachable war heroa decorated veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, in which he became a division commander while still in his twenties. In public, he is almost theatrically modest. During a recent appearance, he described himself as the smallest soldier, and, according to the Iranian press, rebuffed members of the audience who tried to kiss his hand. His power comes mostly from his close relationship with Khamenei, who provides the guiding vision for Iranian society. The Supreme Leader, who usually reserves his highest praise for fallen soldiers, had referred to Suleimani as a living martyr of the revolution. Suleimani was a hard-line supporter of Irans authoritarian system. In July, 1999, at the height of student protests, he signed, with other Revolutionary Guard commanders, a letter warning the reformist President Mohammad Khatami that if he didnt put down the revolt the military wouldperhaps deposing Khatami in the process. Our patience has run out, the generals wrote. The police crushed the demonstrators, as they did again, a decade later. Irans government is intensely fractious, and there are many figures around Khamenei who help shape foreign policy, including Revolutionary Guard commanders, senior clerics, and Foreign Ministry officials. But Suleimani was given a remarkably free hand in implementing Khameneis vision. He has ties to every corner of the system, Meir Dagan, the former head of Mossad, said. He is what I call politically clever. He has a relationship with everyone. Officials described him as a believer in Islam and in the revolution; while many senior figures in the Revolutionary Guard have grown wealthy through the Guards control over key Iranian industries, Suleimani was endowed with a personal fortune by the Supreme Leader. Hes well taken care of, Maguire said. Over the years, the Quds Force has built an international network of assets, some of them drawn from the Iranian diaspora, who can be called on to support missions. Theyre everywhere, a second Middle Eastern security official said. In 2010, according to Western officials, the Quds Force and Hezbollah launched a new campaign against American and Israeli targetsin apparent retaliation for the covert effort to slow down the Iranian nuclear program, which has included cyber attacks and assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. Since then, Suleimani orchestrated attacks in places as far flung as Thailand, New Delhi, Lagos, and Nairobiat least thirty attempts between 2011 and 2013. The most notorious was a scheme, in 2011, to hire a Mexican drug cartel to blow up the Saudi Ambassador to the United States as he sat down to eat at a restaurant a few miles from the White House. The cartel member approached by Suleimanis agent turned out to be an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. (The Quds Force appears to be more effective close to home, and a number of the remote plans have gone awry.) Still, after the plot collapsed, two former American officials told a congressional committee that Suleimani should be assassinated. Suleimani travels a lot, one said. He is all over the place. Go get him. Either try to capture him or kill him. In Iran, more than two hundred dignitaries signed an outraged letter in his defense; a social-media campaign proclaimed, We are all Qassem Suleimani. Suleimanis greatest achievement may be persuading his proxies in the Iraqi government to allow Iran to use its airspace to fly men and munitions to Damascus. General James Mattis, who until March 2013, was the commander of all American military forces in the Middle East, said that without this aid the Assad regime would have collapsed months ago. The flights were overseen by the Iraqi transportation minister, Hadi al-Amri, who is an old ally of Suleimanisthe former head of the Badr Brigade, and a soldier on the Iranian side in the Iran-Iraq War. In an interview in Baghdad, Amri denied that the Iranians were using Iraqi airspace to send weapons. But he made clear his affection for his former commander. I love Qassem Suleimani! he said, pounding the table. He is my dearest friend. For Suleimani, giving up Assad meant abandoning the project of expansion that has occupied him for twenty-one years. In a speech before the Assembly of Expertsthe clerics who choose the Supreme Leaderhe spoke about Syria in fiercely determined language. We do not pay attention to the propaganda of the enemy, because Syria is the front line of the resistance and this reality is undeniable, he said. We have a duty to defend Muslims because they are under pressure and oppression. Suleimani was fighting the same war, against the same foes, that hed been fighting his entire life; for him, it seemed, the compromises of statecraft could not compare with the paradise of the battlefield. We will support Syria to the end, he said. Most recently, US having declared commander Suleimani and the Quds Force terrorists and held them responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US personnel, eliminated him on the orders of Donald Trump. A statement from the Pentagon said Gen Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans, it added. It was reported that commander Soleimani had approved the attacks on the American embassy in Baghdad in response to U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on 29 December 2019. Soleimani was posthumously promoted to lieutenant general. He was suceeded by Esmail Ghaani as commander of the Quds Force. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said severe revenge awaits the criminals behind the attack. He also announced three days of national mourning. ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang has called on young diplomats of China and Pakistan to jointly carry forward the two countries' friendship and promote world peace, justice and progress. With the presence of Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Qin made the remarks when attending a ceremony here on Friday to unveil a memorial plaque for the Foreign Service Academy of Pakistan, which was rebuilt on the previous compound of the Chinese embassy in Pakistan. The visiting Chinese foreign minister interacted with young diplomats of Pakistan and China and shared his perspective on historic ties between the two countries, urging his young peers to be action-takers as well as advocates of China-Pakistan friendship. Qin said that China advocates that all countries should be independent and follow a development path suited to their national realities, and calls for mutual respect, equality and win-win cooperation among countries. In addition, China advocates that disputes should be resolved through dialogue and consultation without resorting to force or the threat of force, and that countries should join hands to address global challenges, he said. The young diplomats of both countries should act in line with the trend of the times and the aspirations of the people of all countries, and oppose erecting barriers, inciting confrontation and stoking "a new Cold War," he said. Qin noted that the China-Pakistan community with a shared future has profound historical roots, solid public support and strong practical needs. China and Pakistan must redouble their efforts to ensure the success of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in order to bring more benefits to the two peoples, the Chinese foreign minister said. The Foreign Service Academy is the training arm of the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Established in September 1981, the academy has trained hundreds of Pakistani and foreign diplomats, according to the ministry's official website. Scene of the Kaduna gas explosion There was confusion in the Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna State on Saturday following a gas explosion. The gas explosion occurred on business premises located along Kachia Road, Sabon Tasha, in Chikun Local Government Area between 2.30pm and 3.00pm according to eyewitnesses. A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more than five persons were killed in the incident. Red Cross officials used shovels to evacuate body parts of victims, he said. Our correspondent, who was at the scene of the explosion, gathered that Professor Simon Mallam, Chairman of Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, was feared killed in the explosion which shattered the windows of residential homes in the area. It was learnt that the Professor had taken his grandson to a barbers shop close to where a retail gas outlet is located when the incident happened and was feared killed. However, the fate of the Professors grandson was uncertain as of the time of filing this report. Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Government has expressed concern over the unfortunate incident, vowing to investigate the cause of the explosion. The State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, who spoke to reporters at the scene of the incident, said the explosion would be investigated. The Kaduna State Fire Service, the Red Cross Society group, officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps as well as men of the state security outfit code-named Operation Yaki partook in the rescue of victims. Our correspondent observed that the impact of the explosion shattered windows of nearby residential buildings as well as business premises around the area while the loud sound of the explosion was heard several kilometres away. See more photos below: Emeka Ihedioha After being ousted weeks ago by the Supreme Court judgment, Emeka Ihedioha will on Monday approach the apex court that sacked him as governor of Imo state, to seek review of its judgment that brought in Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress, APC. Disclosing this in a press conference yesterday, the executive director of Abuja Discussion Group (ADG), Manzo Abubakar said Ihediohas legal team would be at the Supreme Court to seek a review of the judgment. He faulted the Supreme Court judgment, stressing that Ihediohas decision to return to the court was part of efforts to deepen the countrys democracy and explore democratic means of ensuring justice. His words, according to TheNation: The judgment will go down in infamy and may make Nigeria a laughing stock in the comity of nations, if not reviewed. Section 176 (2b) of the Constitution is clear that to be declared governor, a candidate must have, not only the majority of total votes cast, but also 1/4 of the votes in 2/3 of the local governments. It is axiomatic that nowhere in the petition or evidence did the petitioner (Uzodinma) claim to have met the constitutional requirement of spread to be declared winner. We sympathise with their Lordships as mortals who are not infallible. To err is human. It would be practically impossible for any human to have read briefs and record of proceedings exceeding 5,000 pages in the matter within two hours after hearing, when it also had the pressure of time to deliver judgment in the remaining pending governorship appeals. No doubt, this accounted for the mistakes made by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is supreme and can creatively reinvent its rules to do justice. It is necessary to do so now more than ever to save Nigerias democracy, constitutionalism and retrieve the judicial and justice system from its present opprobrium. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says it has collected N1.123 trillion revenue in the First Quarter (Q1) of 2020. The FIRS made this known in a statement issued by Mr Abdullahi Ismaila, Director, Communications and Liaison Department of the service in Abuja on Thursday. He said the service recorded seven per cent increase in its collection target for the first quarter of 2020 in spite the global economic challenge owing to COVID-19 pandemic. Ismaila stated that there was unprecedented increment in the first quarter 2020 when compared to the same period in the last fiscal year, 2019s first quarter. A comparative analysis of the two periods shows that the FIRS collected N1.123 trillion in the first quarter of 2020, N1.046 trillion for the first quarter in 2019. A massive 568 per cent increase in Capital Gains Tax from N96.408 million in Q1 2019 to N643.935 million in Q1 2020 which gave the Services revenue its biggest lift. No doubt as a direct result of blockage of leaks in that revenue flow by the wide-ranging reforms inaugurated at the FIRS by its newly appointed Executive Chairman, Mr Muhammad Nami, immediately he assumed office in December 2019, he said. He noted that similarly, the service recorded 522 per cent increase in collection from the NITDEF to bag N690.532 million in Q1 2020, compared to N111.037 million in Q1 2019. The director recalled that since he took the mantle of leadership at the FIRS, Nami has instituted a regime of policy reforms anchored on deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to block tax leakages and motivated members of staff by restoring a number of their statutory roles hitherto outsourced to private consultants.Also within the period under review, Gas Income Tax increased by 286 per cent in Q1 2020, which amounted to N11.491 billion compared to N2.9 billion raked in in Q12020.Similarly, Company Income Tax (CIT) collected in Q1 2020 jumped by 135 per cent to N95.733 billion corresponding figure of N40.696 billion recorded in Q1 2019. Stamp Duty collection in Q1 2020 is N4.602 billion, which represents 36 per cent increase to the Q1 2019 figure of N3.386 billion In the education sector, the FIRS recorded 81 per cent increase in its collection of Education Tax, which is N13.102 billion in Q1 2020 compared to N7.229 billion in Q1 2019. Both Nigeria Customs Service and Non-Import VAT also increased by 11 per cent in Q1 2020 N63.296 billion and N261.245 billion, respectively, from the Q1 2019 figures of N57.008 billion and N236.030 billion in that order. He added that moving forward the on-going reforms and deployment of more ICT platforms at the FIRS would take its root in Q2, while the service expected a brighter outlook in revenue collections. Caregiver, Omotayo Personnel of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested one Christian Chikezie for allegedly having sexual intercourse with his neighbours nine-year-old daughter in the Ikorodu area of the state. PUNCH Metro gathered that the victims mother was ill and left her daughter in the care of one Mercy and went to hospital for treatment, but on her return, she saw her daughter coming out of Chikezies room. Upon interrogation, the little girl told her mother that Chikezie had carnal knowledge of her in his room, adding that she reported the case at the Ikorodu Police Station, where policemen were detailed to arrest Chikezie. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, said in a statement on Sunday that the victim had been taken to hospital for examination, adding that the suspect was arrested and taken to the Gender Unit of the command for further investigation. Elkana stated, On March 30, 2020, around 1.50am, a woman (name withheld) reported at the Ikorodu Police Station that on March 29, 2020, around 7.10pm, she left her nine-year-old daughter in the care of one Mercy and went to hospital. On getting back from the hospital, she discovered that the girl was no longer there. On searching for her, she saw her coming out from the room of one Christian Chikezie. On enquiry, her daughter told her that the said Christian Chikeze had sexual intercourse with her. The victim was taken to hospital for treatment and forensic examination. The suspect has been arrested by detectives from the Juvenile Welfare Centre, Ikorodu Police Station, and transferred to the Gender Unit, Command Headquarters, Ikeja, for discreet investigation and prosecution. An investigation is ongoing. In a related development, policemen from the Okokomaiko Police Division have arrested a security guard, Dako Aaron, for having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl on Olanrewaju Street in the Okokomaiko area of the state. Elkana said Aaron allegedly dragged the victim into his security post, where he had carnal knowledge of her on two separate occasions, adding that the suspect was a habitual paedophile. He stated, Operatives from the Okokomaiko Police Station arrested one Dako Aaron, 52, of Olanrewaju Street, Okokomaiko, for having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. The suspect works as a security guard with a private company in Okokomaiko. He was alleged to have dragged the victim to his security post on two different occasions, first on February 2, 2020, and on March 12, 2020. The victim was taken to hospital for medical treatment and forensic examination. The suspect was arrested and transferred to the Gender Unit for discreet investigation and prosecution. From available record, the suspect is a habitual paedophile. He was charged on February 22, 2017, for defiling a minor. The suspect will be charged. The state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, uses this medium to advice parents to beware of paedophiles preying on their children during the lockdown period. Meanwhile, a caregiver, identified simply as Mrs Omotayo, has been arrested by detectives from the Gender Unit of the command for allegedly assaulting a 10-year-old girl, Ajara, in the Igando area of the state. The PPRO said footage of Omotayo assaulting Ajara had surfaced online recently, adding that the detectives, in conjunction with other agencies in the state, arrested Omotayo and rescued Ajara, who had been taken to hospital and kept in a safe home provided by the government. Elkana said, On April 3, 2020, a case of child abuse was reported online by a mandatory reporter through instablog9ja. Detectives from the Gender Unit, Command Headquarters, Ikeja, in collaboration with the DSVRT, Office of the Public Defender and social workers from the state Ministry of Youth and Social Development rescued the victim, Ajara, 10, from No. 10 Omotoso Street, Igando. The abuser, Mrs Omotayo, 45, was also arrested. The victim has been taken to hospital for treatment and kept in a safe home provided by the Lagos State Government. The suspect, who is a caregiver to the victim, was said to have pushed Ajara and she sustained injuries all over her face. The suspect was seen in the viral video hitting the victim on the floor. The suspect will be charged. The command will continue to protect and defend the rights of the vulnerable members of the society, especially children. PONTIAC Police in Pontiac are seeking the suspect who left a 36-year-old woman with multiple gunshot wounds, officials said Saturday. Officers were called to an address in the 400 block of West Cleary Street at 11:23 p.m. Friday after a report that someone had been shot there, the Pontiac Police Department said in a news release. They began to administer first aid to the woman, who was alert and able to tell them that an unidentified male approached her and fired roughly four shots in her direction from a handgun before fleeing in an unknown direction. Pontiac police, with help from the Livingston County Sheriffs Department and the Illinois State Police, set up a perimeter around the area and began to search for the suspect. He was described as wearing blue jeans, a black hooded sweatshirt and a black ski mask. The investigation remains ongoing, and officers still needed to speak to several persons of interest, the department said late Saturday morning. The woman was taken to a medical facility and described as being in stable condition. Police "have reason to believe this was a targeted incident and not a random act," the department said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Pontiac Police Detective Josh Bray at 815-844-5148. Most dangerous states to drive in Most dangerous states to drive in #51. 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The 29-year-old graduate student became ill in September 2021, just a few months after he arrived in the United States to pursue a master's degree in chemistry from ISU. A visit to the university's student health center led to a frightening diagnosis that meant Chilaka would spend the next year and a half undergoing dialysis and other medical treatment. "I hadn't even taken my first exam," he said, "so everything felt kind of downhill from there." Throughout Chilaka's journey, which culminated with kidney transplant surgery in December 2022 and a subsequent recovery period, members of Christ the King Episcopal Church in Normal rallied around the young man who had only recently joined their congregation. He was also supported by various community members and new friends, including a Mahomet woman who had undergone her own kidney transplant a few years earlier. Now, he speaks enthusiastically about the importance of community, of asking for help when facing challenges physical or otherwise. "When you're in any situation," he said during a recent interview, "don't try to navigate it alone." Shocking diagnosis Chilaka, who describes himself as a practicing Anglican Christian, did not wait long after his arrival in Bloomington-Normal to seek out a faith community. He chose Christ the King, 1210 S. Fell Ave., Normal, initially because of its proximity to his apartment. "Usually when you get to a new place you try to find your connections," Chilaka said. "One of my connections in life is a place of worship at a Christian church." He began to attend classes and settle into his new home, but soon found that he was starting to feel sick and exhausted after normal daily tasks, like climbing the stairs to his apartment. He monitored his symptoms for a few days before stopping by the university clinic, where he had his blood drawn. This led to a startling revelation. "The doctor said she was not sure but she thought something was going wrong with my kidneys and that I was having a heart murmur and that I needed to go to the hospital," Chilaka said. "I'm like, 'OK, but I have a class to teach now.'" After being admitted to the hospital, he learned that he had been suffering from glomerulonephritis, a condition that causes the kidneys' filters to become inflamed and damaged. It can occur on its own or as the result of another disease, such as diabetes or lupus, or as a result of an infection like strep throat, according to the Mayo Clinic. Glomerulonephritis affects the kidneys' ability to filter waste and toxins from the blood. In Chilaka's case, it led to the failure of both of his kidneys, requiring him to undergo dialysis treatment. Initially, he said, he entered a state of denial. "I was hoping something would happen, that there would be a change, because I was living a healthy life," he said. As he prepared for his discharge from the hospital, Chilaka was thinking about who he could ask for a ride home and remembered that one of the church parishioners had previously driven him home after a Sunday service. He ended up texting the Rev. John Richmond, the church rector. "I understand the concept of church from growing up is a place of family," Chilaka said. Richmond, 70, said he picked up Chilaka from the hospital without a second thought. "It's a small parish, and I knew (he) hadn't been in church for a couple of Sundays," Richmond said, "and was wondering if something was up." He and others from the parish quickly jumped in to help Chilaka, helping to arrange rides for his dialysis appointments and other needs. "I felt like an old-fashioned telephone operator somebody who's plugging things in, you know, to get people connected," Richmond said. "It was really intense, but it was really remarkable." Richmond also posted in the "We're in this Together, Bloomington-Normal!" Facebook group, asking about other resources or volunteers that could help. Chilaka's first dialysis appointments were scheduled from 6 to 10 a.m., three times a week. Richmond noted in the group that Chilaka was well-acquainted with riding the bus. "But right now he is very weak, especially after being in hospital for a while," he wrote. "We want to get him over whatever hump he needs to get over while he gathers strength." 'Find a community' With continued treatment and help from his support system, Chilaka was able to return to his classes. He moved from hemodialysis, in which a machine filters out wastes, salts and fluid from the blood at a clinic, to peritoneal dialysis, a process by which the patient uses a catheter to fill the abdomen with cleaning fluid, which is filtered by blood vessels in the abdominal walls. Peritoneal dialysis can be done at home. Chilaka needed a kidney transplant and again, a member of the community stepped up. Traci Freitag, part of the Facebook group where Richmond had posted his story, volunteered to be a living donor and started the steps to do so. But, as she put it: "God had a different plan." "Becoming an organ donor, they give you the best physical you could ever have in your whole life," said Freitag, 57, of Hudson, "and through that physical I found out I had colon cancer." Thanks to the extensive testing, Freitag said, doctors found her cancer early enough to provide the necessary treatment. However, the discovery meant that she was no longer eligible to donate her kidney, lest any cancerous cells be transferred by accident. The average wait time for a kidney transplant is three to five years, according to the National Kidney Foundation. After Freitag's experience, Chilaka stopped anticipating the possibility of a transplant and focused his attention on his graduate studies until the morning of Dec. 27, 2022. While he was disconnecting the tubing from his peritoneal dialysis, Chilaka received a call from Loyola University Hospital in Maywood, where doctors had two kidneys ready for transplant. "Somehow it felt strange because, mind you, I was in that reality of no more optimism, just realism," Chilaka said. With two other Christ the King parishioners and a friend who was visiting from Nigeria, Chilaka traveled to Loyola that afternoon. He learned that he would be receiving the new kidneys from a child donor. "I was crying," Chilaka said. "I was like, 'OK, don't think about anything, just say your prayers,' and I said my prayers, and when I woke up, everything was done." Chilaka said he later wrote a letter to the child's parents in case they ever wanted to reach out to him. After the successful surgery, Chilaka received help from another new friend who supervised his recovery an experience she'd already undergone a few years earlier. Chilaka met Linda Miller, 64, when both were attending the National Kidney Conference in Urbana last year. They since became close friends, and she brought him to her Mahomet home so that she could care for him during his recovery. "I think Jonathan has a very strong faith in the Lord and I think that has been what has carried him through," said Miller, who received a kidney donated by her daughter's best friend in October 2018. "I never heard him once say 'poor me' or be angry or attention-seeking. He's just so positive." Chilaka said he still has to travel to Loyola once a month for appointments, but he is already feeling better and happy to attend his labs and classes normally. A lesson he wants others to take away: None of this would have been possible if he had not reached out to those around him. "I've always been an independent person, but it got to the point that I knew I had to ask someone to help me do something," he said. "So speak up to someone, and even when you don't see the future, just keep going. "... It doesn't have to always be a church. Whatever your faith is, just find a community." Chilaka also encourages people to register as organ donors to help save lives like his own. To learn more and sign up for the state's organ and tissue donor registry, visit lifegoeson.com. Photos: Normal West softball on Tuesday at Normal Community PEORIA The 12th annual St. Jude Corvette Drive will depart from Uftring Chevrolet in Washington and travel on Interstates 74 and 57 to Memphis, Tennessee. The group will meet with St. Louis, Louisville and Nashville drivers in Dyersburg, Tennessee, and will resume the journey to St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis on Friday, May 19. Around 40 Corvettes will drive through the area May 18, including Bloomington-Normal around 7:30 a.m., as well as many other towns and villages in McLean County. The first stop will be the Farmland Rest Area near Farmer City around 8:15 a.m. Corvette drivers can participate by raising $1,000 per driver and $500 per passenger. The event has over 20 sponsors from the Washington and Peoria areas. Visit stjudedrives.org and click the "donate" tab to support the effort. Contact Jillian.Plunkett@alsac.stjude.org for more information. Watch now: 19 photos from the 7th Annual St. Jude Game Feed Organizers Mike OGrady and Kevin Callis Honorable Don Knapp, States Attorney Erika Reynolds, Honorable Kevin Fitzgerald, Jon Sandage, Charlie Knapp Craig and Lisa Kassabaum Sit N Bull owners Tim Kemp, Penny Berg Julie Hopper, Whitney and Levi Chesher George Wood, Honorable Scott Drazewski, Tom Krieger Rick Freed, Josie Bensko, Drew Morgan Sean and Katherine Murphy Frank Hoffman Packed house Supporting a good cause Larry and Krystal Martin, Ali and Nate Green Deb Freed, Drew Morgan, Josie Bensko, Liz Freed Lynn and Neil Finlen Greg Hunsaker, Greg and Jennie Eft Checking out auction items Lois Whitwood, Betty Scanlon Casi Johandes, DJ Rapp, Morgan Mallory Jon Sandage, Brian Knutson CHICAGO A young Chicago police officer who had recently earned her masters degree and whose family called happy and intelligent was shot dead early Saturday shortly after leaving the station following her shift on the citys South Side, Chicago police said. Police responded to shot spotter calls about 1:45 a.m. in the 8100 block of South Blackstone Avenue in the Avalon Park neighborhood and found 24-year-old Areanah Preston with gunshot wounds, according to the Cook County medical examiners office and police. One of the first officers to get there rendered aid, but Preston was transported to UChicago Medicine where she died, police said. No one was in custody in the fatal shooting, police said. Preston, who had only been with the police department for three years, had just completed her shift and was assigned to the Calumet District station on the citys Far South Side. She was intelligent, a happy person ... she was all of that and more, Prestons grandfather, whom she knew as Pa Pa and who was getting ready to travel to Chicago, told the Tribune. I cant speak about her without breaking up. Tense exchanges between an officer and 911 dispatchers erupted shortly after shooting.495: emergency, emergency! the officer says. 81st and Blackstone we got a person shot its an off duty po! Get an ambulance here now! After a 10-1, an emergency call to all officers in the area to immediately help out, was given over the radio, the officer was apparently with the fallen officer. Squad, its not looking good get an ambulance here now! the officer said. Preston, who lived in Avalon Park, had earned a masters degree in child and family law from Loyola University Chicago, according to her LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. She graduated in 2019 with a bachelors degree in criminal justice and law enforcement administration from Illinois State University, according to the profiles. In a social media post, one of Prestons friends remembered her as a humble, dedicated, helpful, sophisticated soul. Another remembered her as the life of everything and as sweet as pie. During her undergraduate studies, Prestons academic interests ranged from restorative justice and trauma in incarcerated populations to diversity in law enforcement and police brutality. A former professor of Prestons at ISU, criminal justice scientist Charles Bell, said he met the young woman as a student. She attended a panel that included formerly incarcerated individuals and was in a class Bell teaches on Race, Ethnicity and Criminal Justice. She understands the intimate details about what is happening in the community, some of the challenges that are impacting policing and mass incarceration, he told the Tribune. She was very vocal about that and sharing it with the class and deeply passionate about making a difference. The panel Bell led appeared to be particularly eye-opening for Preston, who was interviewed about it for an article in the ISU student newspaper The Vidette. I was able to learn firsthand the problems that many of our incarcerated population goes through outside of the standard textbook curriculum, Preston was quoted as saying in the paper. If youre interested in making a difference like Areanah was, youre interested in learning where (crime) starts, Bell said. And she was really interested in making a difference in the community, going back to Chicago, boots on the ground, helping people. In 2019, Preston took a class that offered opportunities to engage in dialogue with German students about the criminal justice system in Germany and the United States, according to an ISU news article. The class delved into the availability and accessibility of resources for unresolved trauma in incarcerated women in both countries. After a two-week class trip to Holocaust sites in Germany and Poland that same year, where Preston and her peers studied genocide through a criminology lens, she decided to enter the police academy something shed already been thinking about with the goal of building trust between underrepresented communities and law enforcement. I know a big thing for our trip was finding voices for those who didnt have a voice, Preston was quoted as saying back in 2021. When I got back, I wanted to be an officer. I felt like I could be a person to fight for justice. Bell said it was deeply heartbreaking to hear the news about Prestons death Saturday. She was a very bright student with the whole world ahead of her, he said. And its heartbreaking to see someone whos so passionate and so dedicated, so young, whos interested in reform, interested in creating a better world, lose her life at 24. In a news conference Saturday morning, interim Chicago police Superintendent Eric Carter asked the public to keep the officer and her family in your prayers, as well as the men and women of the Chicago Police Department, who sacrifice everything including their lives. Outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot was also on hand during the news conference. Its unfortunate that were standing here again today to talk about another tragedy that has befallen one of our bravest citizens, Lightfoot said. I had an opportunity to speak with the family of this officer, who as you might imagine is completely shattered. ... No mother wants to wake up to the tragic news that their child is dead. And dead to something as awful and tragic as gunfire. She said she told the interim superintendent to spare no expense in order to find the person or people responsible and bring them to justice. Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson released a statement late Saturday morning, calling the slaying a profound tragedy. Im outraged and devastated by this horrific violence against a public servant, and I will do everything I can to support her family and the Chicago Police Department through this traumatic time, Johnson said in the statement. I pray that her killer is apprehended quickly so that justice may be served. Johnson said the fact a police officer was killed in the middle of the night emphasized the public safety crisis in the city. My top priority is building a better, stronger, safer Chicago where all our residents can live and work free from the threat of violence, Johnson said. Our hearts are broken once again, said Tom Ahern, deputy director of police news affairs tweeted. The Chicago Police Department and the city of Chicago tragically lost one of our own. Our officer was fatally shot while returning home from her tour of duty earlier this morning. The police department suffered a similar tragedy earlier this year when officer Andres Vasquez Lasso was shot and killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic-related call in Gage Park. In that case, Steven Montano, 18, of the 2500 block of South Lawndale, was charged with first-degree murder, weapons charges and interfering with a domestic violence report. Photos: Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2023 Brandon Johnson - 2023 Brandon Johnson - File Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 FARMERSVILLE Illinois State Police have identified five more of the seven people killed in a series of crashes Monday on Interstate 55 in Montgomery County. They include Joseph Bates, 73, of Crystal Lake; Donna Bates, 71, of Crystal Lake; Earl LeGrand, 64, of Florissant, Missouri; Michael Zinchuk, 55, of Champaign; and Amy Zinchuk, 54, of Champaign. Shirley Harper, 88, of Franklin, Wisconsin, was also killed in the crashes, and was identified earlier this week. A total of 72 vehicles were involved in the crashes after high winds and dust led to severely reduced visibility late Friday morning on I-55 between mile markers 72 and 78, near Farmersville. Thirty-seven people were taken to area hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to critical, ISP said. There were seven fatalities in the crash; ISP is still working with the Montgomery County Coroners Office to identify the seventh victim. Photos: Multiple crashes lock traffic on Interstate 55 Covid is no longer a global emergency, according to leaders at the World Health Organization (WHO) a symbolic moment the pandemic is near its end. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the UN health agency, said Friday: 'It's with great hope that I declare COVID over as a global health emergency.' However, he stopped short of declaring the pandemic over, warning that the virus still posed a threat in developing countries that have not had access to vaccines. It comes as the final pandemic restrictions in the US are set to end Thursday months after President Joe Biden declared the pandemic 'over' for America. The pandemic, which triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended the global economy, and killed at least 7million people across the world. Read Full Story .... Dailymail.co.uk >>> : Source: Dailymail.co.uk Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan, wife of Xi, sent a congratulatory message on Saturday to Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla on coronation. In their message, Xi and Peng said that the world is undergoing profound and complex transformations, and the international community is faced with many unprecedented challenges. China and Britain, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, should take a long-term and strategic view to jointly promote the historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation, they said. The Chinese side is ready to work with Britain to enhance friendship of the two peoples, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, so as to bring more benefits to the two countries and the wider world with a stable and mutually beneficial China-Britain relationship. His Majesty King Mohammed VI has once again demonstrated that the Amazigh people are an important component of Moroccan society. For many years, the Amazigh, also known as Berbers, yearned for recognition in Morocco. Each time they would celebrate their new year on 13 January they would take to the street to mark Yennayer. The Amazigh, sometimes called Imazighen, have their calendar derived from the Julian one, used in Europe before the Gregorian one. In North Africa, it was used to regulate the agricultural seasons. More than anything, the celebration represents the bond between the Amazigh, their land, and the earths wealth and generosity. Yennayer is, therefore, a festival of nature, agrarian life, rebirth, and abundance. According to scholars, the term Yennayer is believed to be a combination of the words Yenn (One) and Ayur (month) in Amazigh. Fascinatingly, it is also the name given to the first month of their calendar. The festival took on a formal status in the 60s when the Paris-based Academie Berbere started counting the Amazigh years from 950 BC. But it was never an official holiday in Morocco. Nonetheless, they would proudly wear their traditional costumes and prepare Amazigh dishes as troupes performed, celebrating the dawn of a New Year in their calendar. In recent times, the celebration of Yennayer has taken on an added significance to keep their cultural identity alive. Not too long ago, multitudes of Berbers gathered to celebrate the new year in front of the parliament in Rabat to be able to pass their message. The Amazigh asked that the authorities consider this holiday a day off and a national holiday. In 2021, Moroccan authorities made a commitment that they would soon recognise it as an official one. Exactly ten years before that, their language had been recognised as an official language, alongside Arabic. This was enacted in the 2011 Constitution, thanks to King Mohammed VIs decree that came in the wake of the Arab Spring. It was fitting for the Amazigh, whose name means proud free people. On May 3, 2023, King Mohammed VI took it a step further, issuing a decree to institute the Amazigh New Years Day as an official paid national holiday. In this context, His Majesty the King, may God glorify Him, has given His High Directions to the Head of Government to take the necessary measures to implement this High Royal Decision. This Royal initiative comes to consecrate the High solicitude of which His Majesty the King, may God preserve Him, does not cease to recognise the Amazigh as an essential component of the authentic Moroccan identity, enriched by the plurality of its tributaries, and shared heritage to all Moroccans without exception. It is also part of the constitutional consecration of the Amazigh language as an official language of the country, alongside the Arabic language, reads a statement by the Royal Office. The development means that the Amazigh will freely enjoy Yennayer festivities with their families at the turn of the New Year, knowing their day is an official holiday. The celebrations are primarily based around family gatherings, with most families getting up early in the morning to prepare a range of traditional dishes clad in traditional clothes. Commonly, they prepare Couscous, with some hiding almond pieces with the promise of entrusting whoever finds it with the keys to the familys food storage room. Other dishes common in the celebrations are tagola, a combination of corn, butter, ghee, Argan oil, and honey, and irkmen, a thick soup made from fava beans and wheat. Music, dancing, and parades also take centre stage, with most songs expressing love, prosperity, and fertility. Coincidentally, the years beginning coincides with the flowering of almond trees, making it an excellent occasion to hope for agricultural prosperity. For the rural folk, the day is about resolving misunderstandings and exchanging food with neighbours. The move by His Majesty The King promotes religious and cultural pluralism in the North African country. It is also seen as an essential step for Moroccans to reconcile with their history and cultural identity. The Amazigh people's population across North Africa in countries including Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and parts of Egypt is estimated to be 30 million. Morocco has the highest number of Amazigh natives. Ahead of the Gregorian calendar by 950 years, the Amazigh calendars first day falls on 13 January yearly. Other Amazigh communities in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt start Yennayer celebrations on 12 January. In some instances, the celebrations go on for three days. When the year 2024 kicks off in the Gregorian calendar, the Amazigh will mark the year 2974. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The former Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng has explained why he made certain disclosures in his recent report on illegal mining, popularly known as 'galamsey'. The former Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) in his report cited some persons in government who according to him were frustrating government's efforts to fight galamsey. Throughout our struggle with illegalities in the small-scale mining sector, what baffled me was the total disregard of the Presidents commitment to protecting the environment. I can state without any equivocation that many party officials from the national to the unit committee level had their friends, PAs, agents, relatives, financiers, or relatives engaged in illegal mining. Most of them engaged Chinese working for them. There are appointees in the Jubilee House that are doing or supporting illegal mining or interfering with the fight against the menace, parts of his report read. Some government communicators have however described the former Minister as "bitter" and his report full of hearsays. Meanwhile, some of the persons accused have denied any wrongdoing. The renowned cardiothoracic surgeon has however justified his action. Speaking in a one-on-one interview on UTV, he explained: "The Chief of Staff asked me to write the report and give my recommendation to aid the fight against galamsey and I had to be honest with the President. I can't just write anything; I had to be brutally honest with the President" Listen to him in the video below Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The U.S. Constitution was designed to create a balance of power across three branches of government: the legislative (Congress), the judicial (the court system) and the executive (the president, vice president and cabinet). That division of power was based, in part, on the parliamentary model that existed in the United Kingdom in the 18th century when the Constitution was drafted. The U.K. wasn't a democracy at the time, but in addition to a monarch (king or queen) it had a powerful Parliament (legislative assembly) composed of representatives at least nominally elected by the aristocracy. Advertisement "The U.K. divided power into the one (the monarch), the few (the House of Lords) and the many (the House of Commons)," says Dickson. "The U.S. took that and modified it." " " British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers a statement on Ukraine in the House of Commons, Westminster, in January 2022. The U.K. follows the parliamentary model of government. House of Commons/PA Images via Getty Images Instead of a monarch as the chief executive, the U.S. has a president. And instead of a House of Lords and House of Commons, America has a Senate and House of Representatives. (The U.K. didn't have a Supreme Court until 2009. Until then, judicial power was held by Parliament.) This American style of democracy is called the "presidential model," since the president is the chief executive and is elected separately from members of Congress. As the head of the executive branch, the president also exercises certain powers, like the ability to veto bills passed by Congress, to appoint members to the Supreme Court, and to serve as commander in chief of the military. There are nearly 80 democracies in the world that follow the exact same presidential model as the United States, including Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. An additional 23 countries have both a president and a prime minister, with the president acting as the chief executive. France, Russia and South Africa are examples of these "semi-presidential" democracies. The second major type of modern democracy is the "parliamentary model," in which the people don't vote directly for the chief executive. Instead, they vote for the members of Parliament, and whichever political party wins a majority of seats in Parliament gets to choose the chief executive, who is called the prime minister. The prime minister is usually the head of the political party in power. There are 36 parliamentary republics in the world, plus an additional 36 constitutional monarchies, where there's both a prime minister and a monarch, who acts as a figurehead with no real power. Ireland, Fiji and Bangladesh are examples of countries whose government is based on the parliamentary model. The modern U.K. is a constitutional monarchy. One major difference between presidential and parliamentary democracies is that parliamentary systems have fewer checks on power, since the executive and legislative branches are controlled by the same party. That means that there's generally less gridlock in parliamentary politics, which is great for the party in power, but less so for the minority opposition. "The presidential system is set up to move slowly," says Dickson. "Nobody could just ram things through and overwhelm minority rights." Whether it's a presidential or parliamentary system, what makes a modern democracy a true democracy is faithful adherence to a set of democratic principles: the rule of law (constitutionalism), representation based on free and fair elections, and guaranteed rights including freedom of speech, press and religion. By that measure, some countries are democracies in name, but not in practice. Interestingly, citizens of both the U.S. and the U.K. are among 12 countries where the majority of people are dissatisfied with how democracy is working, according to a 2019 Pew survey. Now That's Cool Thomas Jefferson was a fan of Athenian-style democracy and wanted to organize the U.S. into "wards" of 100 people, where local matters would still be decided by popular vote. "Let the national government be entrusted with the defense of the nation and its foreign and federal relations; the state governments with the civil rights, laws, police and administration of what concerns the state generally; the counties with the local concerns; and each ward directs the interests within itself," wrote Jefferson in 1816. In his book, Gilje found multiple accounts of men aboard a ship nearly killing each other over being called the phrase. Captains whipped and beat men for less, and mutinies were plotted over such seemingly tame words. But as Gilje explains, there was nothing tame in those days about calling someone's mother a "bitch." " " Two sailors check out Ann Miller in a scene from the 1949 film 'On The Town', 1949. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images In "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" published in 1785, the author defines "bitch" as a "she dog or dogress" and also "the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore." A prostitute had sex with men for money, but a "bitch," according to the 18th-century dictionary, was a "woman whose animal sexual instincts compelled her to take on any and every available male." Advertisement To call a woman a "bitch" in the 18th and 19th century was to deem her less than human and literally bestial. And to call a man a "son of a bitch" was an unforgivable offense considering the pedestals upon which young sailors placed their angel mothers. "There's a certain sentimentalism, especially among the younger men," says Nucup. "Some may have had sweethearts or wives on shore, but almost all of them had a mother at home and insulting your mother was a big deal." In fact, "son of a bitch" might have been the most potent "fighting words" in the English language, both on and off the water. To drive his point home, Gilje references the Boston Massacre, the infamous incident in which British soldiers fired on a crowd of rioting civilians in Boston in 1770, killing five American colonists in the lead-up to the Revolutionary War. As the angry Bostonians first clashed with the British soldiers, one boy pointed to a soldier and cried out, "This is the son of a bitch that knocked me down." That would have almost certainly made the soldier's blood boil. But the insults and taunts didn't stop there. According to another account, someone else in the crowd dared the British to shoot using some of the most profane language they could muster: "Damn you, you rascals; fire. You dare not, fire. Fire and be damned." 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: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology An international team of researchers has recovered DNA from the owner of a deer-tooth pendant that was buried inside a remote Siberian cave for tens of thousands of years. In research published in Nature, Elena Essel of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and colleagues detail how they developed a new technique to extract DNA left behind on an artefact. In much the same way police solve crimes using "touch DNA"DNA recovered from skin cells or trace bodily fluids left behind when somebody touches an objectarchaeologists will now be able to recover genetic traces of ancient humans from the artefacts they left behind. These traces will reveal the biological sex and genetic ancestry of the individual who once held or wore a particular artefact, allowing archaeologists to link genetic and cultural evidence as they attempt to unravel the deep past. Prehistoric artefacts and touch DNA When archaeologists find artefacts such as tools and ornaments at a site, it's not easy to work out who used them. Until now, we have had to rely on finding artefacts in "direct association" with buried people. That is, we could only link an individual to an ornament if we found them buried wearing it. Elena Essel working on the pierced deer tooth discovered at Denisova Cave. Credit: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Even then, this funerary association isn't always a guide to what happened in life. The dead are buried with things their community think they should have, which may not have been theirs when they were alive. This new method of ancient DNA extraction provides a more direct way of determining who used specific items in everyday life. The method can only be used for artefacts made from bone or tooth as these materials are porous and can soak up human DNA from repeated contact with bodily fluids (sweat, blood, saliva). Luckily, the bones and teeth of animals (and sometimes humans) were widely used throughout the past to create everyday tools, sacred items, and personal adornment. These osseous artefacts were held in the hand or worn against the body for extended periods, resulting in sweat and other fluids soaking into their surfaces over time. As a result, the artefact records the genetic information of the wearer. Through experimentation with different techniques, Essel and her team found a way to recover that DNA record in a form that is intact enough to be read. Over the millennia, Denisova Cave has been inhabited by Homo sapiens as well as our extinct cousins the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Credit: Richard G. Roberts Is this yours? Using this new method of DNA extraction, the researchers were able to extract a wealth of archaeological information from a single tooth pendant recovered from the famous archaeological site of Denisova Cave in Siberia. The cave, tucked away in the foothills of the Altai mountains, has fascinated researchers for decades as its past inhabitants included not only Homo sapiens but also Neanderthals and another enigmatic extinct human species known as Denisovans. First, they were able to extract the DNA of the animal the tooth belonged to, a wapiti deer (Cervus canadensis). They were then able to extract human DNA from the pores of the tooth and deduce that this DNA had come from a female individual whose ancestry is most similar to ancient people found further east in Siberia and with Native Americans. DNA found in soil, or environmental DNA, can also inform our understanding of who used an archaeological site such as Denisova Cave. They were also able to use the DNA data to estimate the date of the pendant's creation, somewhere between 19,000 and 25,000 years ago. This date fits with previous radiocarbon dating of the layer of the cave floor sediment in which the artefact was found. Without the extraction and analysis of the human DNA held in the tooth, archaeologists would have been able to tell what animal it had come from and how old it was. However, we could never have guessed the owner of this ornament. Now we can identify a specific individual. Using the additional DNA information attached to individual artefacts, archaeologists will be able to create an understanding of past societies with a level of detail never before possible. More information: Elena Essel et al, Ancient human DNA recovered from a Palaeolithic pendant, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06035-2 Journal information: Nature This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. , Cookies . cookies. State police stopped a vehicle on McCrea Street in Fort Edward for a traffic violation. The driver, identified as 39-year-old Kassie M. Judge, was charged with felony DWI because she has a previous conviction within the last 10 years. She was transported to the state police Granville station for processing, where she recorded a 0.21% blood alcohol concentration more than two times the legal limit. QUEENSBURY A group of local students spent spring break in Puerto Rico, but they werent lounging on the beaches. The Adirondack Solar Alliance, 15 students from Queensbury and South Glens Falls, traveled to Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, over April break to help install solar panels on a nursing home to provide affordable and independent energy to the elderly residents. We were able to also install panels on two residential homes as well, because we raised extra money, said Queensbury junior Bryce Jorgensen, whose father helped organize the project, in a news release. In the summer of 2021, the group of students teamed up with Lets Share the Sun, a nonprofit organization that has been bringing solar power to Haiti, Honduras and Puerto Rico since 2010. They settled in on a nursing home that is just being renovated from an old school, but its in a mountainous region where theyre running on diesel generators most of the time and the power is very spotty, Bryces father Dr. Todd Jorgensen said in September. The nursing home Hogar Cabecitas de Oro hosts 16 elderly residents through the Puerto Rico Department of Family system. It provides 24-hour nursing and therapy services. The facility also operates a community volunteer program and has a refuge open to all in times of emergency and natural disaster, according to the Lets Share the Sun website. Nursing homes in the mountain-side town experience frequent power outages. The students raised $40,000 by presenting their plan to local businesses, and used the money to purchase the solar panels, which they helped install with the supervision of professionals on site. The students also paid for their own travel expenses. The group was supposed to install the panels over three days, but they did the work in only five hours. They said it was the fastest its ever been done, Jorgensen said. The students also received a tour of Adjuntas, visited Casa Pueblo, a community-based organization that focuses on sustainable development of the region, and paid a visit to an orphanage. Visiting the nursing home had a great impact on Queensbury junior Alex Coombes. Being able to be down there and seeing the people in the nursing home was when it really hit what we were actually doing for the community, he said. You could see people in need of support systems and see how the reliable energy we were giving them would actually benefit them. The solar array and battery backup will cut costs, eliminate outages and power the refuge during extended outages. They mentioned at the nursing home that they were paying $1,000 a month for electricity, Jorgensen said in a news release. So they are saving a ton of money now that they have solar panels. PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting foreign minister of the Afghan interim government, in Islamabad, Pakistan, May 6, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Chao) ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to help Afghanistan realize self-reliance, peace, stability, development and prosperity at an early date, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Saturday. While meeting with Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting foreign minister of the Afghan interim government in the Pakistani capital, Qin said China and Afghanistan are traditionally friendly neighbors connected by mountains and rivers. The two countries have been supporting, understanding and trusting each other, he said, noting that no matter how the international situation evolves, China will always stand firmly with the Afghan people and support Afghanistan in pursuing a development path that suits its national conditions. The Chinese side will continue to respect Afghanistan's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and deepen cooperation with Afghanistan in various fields, Qin said. Afghanistan should earnestly fulfill its commitment to fighting terrorism, resolutely crack down on terrorist forces, including the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, and ensure the safety of Chinese personnel and institutions in Afghanistan, the Chinese foreign minister said. He noted that China will continue to advance the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan trilateral dialogue and cooperation based on the principles of equal consultation, pragmatic cooperation and friendship, and mutual benefit. For his part, Muttaqi said Afghanistan attaches great importance to developing relations with China and will never allow any force to use its territory for anti-China activities. Afghanistan hopes to strengthen cooperation with China in such fields as economy, trade, people-to-people exchanges and infrastructure within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative to safeguard common interests and benefit the two peoples, Muttaqi said. He said Afghanistan hopes to live in harmony with China, Pakistan and other neighboring countries and is willing to actively promote trilateral cooperation with China and Pakistan to promote regional stability and prosperity. A Stafford Township man was sentenced to 21 years in prison for a motor vehicle crash that killed a Pinelands Regional High School student while he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said Friday. Michael Pillarella, 28, of Manahawkin, was sentenced Friday, having previously been found guilty of manslaughter in the death that occurred in Little Egg Harbor Township on Jan. 30, 2021. Pillarella will be required to serve at least 85% of a 17-year sentence before being eligible for parole. Pillarella was also sentenced to four years for being found guilty of assault by auto stemming from the same crash. The sentences will run consecutively, Billhimer said. Pillarella was found guilty of both charges March 3 after a nearly three-week trial. Stafford Township man convicted in crash that killed Pinelands student A Stafford Township man faces up to 15 years in prison after being found guilty Friday of ca Little Egg Harbor police were called to Radio Road and Baltusrol Court about 9:45 p.m. Jan. 30, 2021. They found a two-vehicle crash involving Pillarellas 2017 Hyundai Elantra and a 2006 Toyota XB carrying two girls, the Prosecutors Office said. Both girls sustained serious injuries and were airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, Monmouth County. The passenger died from her injuries Feb. 9, 2021. Pillarella was airlifted to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus, in Atlantic City. He was initially issued traffic summonses but was later arrested and charged with aggravated assault and assault by auto. After the student died, he was additionally charged with aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide. Blood tests found Pillarella was under the influence of alprazolam, methadone, fentanyl and alcohol when he crashed into the girls car. Investigators also found he was driving upward of 80 mph when he failed to turn at a curve and hit the oncoming car. The Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office said Friday it is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred in Vineland on Friday morning. At 11:18 a.m., a Vineland police officer was dispatched to the 500 block of East Birch Street. The officer encountered an unidentified 28-year-old man who was armed with a large knife, police said. The man was alleged to have charged toward the officer and another person on the scene, resulting in the officer shooting the man two times with his firearm, police said. The person on the scene was wounded by the man with the knife during the altercation shortly before the officer discharged his weapon, police said. The 28-year-old was airlifted to Cooper University Medical Center in Camden, where he is listed in stable condition, police said. The person wounded by the man with the knife was treated at Cooper and released. The 28-year-old was charged with criminal attempted homicide, two counts of aggravated assault and weapons-related offenses. OCEAN CITY Along the beaches and in the downtown, parking meters went into effect for the year as of May 1. But despite a recent change approved by City Council, they will likely be turned back off for the year come Oct. 31 as usual. Council approved an increase to the meter rates, expected to be a boost to city revenue, and included a provision in that ordinance keeping the meters in effect all year long in the Asbury Avenue downtown. That change had been requested by representatives of the Downtown Merchants Association, a move aimed at keeping workers and residents in the retail blocks from hogging the parking spaces in front of stores. The merchants association now has new leadership, and a new message to the city about year-round meters: No, thank you. At a recent meeting of the organization, Caitlyn Quirk was elected president, and those who attended the meeting said there was a consensus to ask the city to rescind year-round meters. Year-round meter plan moves forward for Ocean City downtown OCEAN CITY Its hard to tell people what to do, explained Mayor Jay Gillian on Thursday, b The overwhelming majority was just like, lets put a pause on this. Lets try to self-regulate for a year, Quirk said Friday. The question of who would lead the merchants association was a closer decision. The race between Quirk and former President Danielle Guerriero came down to one vote: 25 to 24. On Friday afternoon, Quirk was walking Asbury Avenue, speaking to merchants who were not at the meeting, making sure there will be a unified voice when she returns to speak with council. She is confident that council members will support a return to the old schedule before the end of October, especially because council members stated the only reason they considered the change was because of the request from merchants. I think there is a big misconception. People assume that the city wanted it, Quirk said. Council President Peter Madden said Friday it seems likely the council will be quick to amend the new ordinance, so that locals and visitors can do their holiday shopping in December without worrying about parking meters. Were going to have to go back and untie what we tied up, he said. In his weekly message to residents on Friday, Mayor Jay Gillian said the administration will recommend that City Council amend the ordinance at the May 11 council meeting. "The original change was made at the request of downtown merchants, who wanted to create turnover to keep spaces open for shoppers," Gillian wrote in the message posted to the city website. "After a recent meeting that included a larger sampling of owners, the Downtown Merchants Association asked us to change it back." Ocean City looks at fee increases to reduce tax impact OCEAN CITY Downtown shoppers may need to bring more quarters when they stop by Asbury Aven At previous public meetings, some merchants said shoppers would be annoyed if they needed to feed the meters in the fall and winter, at a time when the shops need all the customers they can get. Keith Hartzell, a former member of council who has property downtown, said many store owners were unaware of the proposal when it was under consideration. He said landlords and store owners should talk to employees and tenants about keeping the Asbury Avenue parking clear, and should find parking off the main street themselves. An increase to the parking rates for this year does not appear likely to change. The recently approved ordinance increases the rate at meters around town, including in the downtown and close to the beach, and increases the maximum rate for parking at city lots from $20 to $25. The lots are charged on a sliding scale, depending of the time of day and the day of the week. Weekends in July and August usually have the highest rates. The approved ordinance includes different meter rates for different areas of town. In the downtown, meter costs would double, rising to 50 cents an hour on the meter instead of 60 minutes for a quarter. For 10 cents, a driver gets 12 minutes under. The city expects to bring in about $4 million this year from parking fees, including meters. What's Happening in the Region Governments Tighten Shackles on Independent Media in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan Independent media in Central Asia has always faced problems and often, authorities in the region have neutralized or eliminated many outlets. The two relatively bright spots for media freedom in Central Asian states have been Kyrgyzstan, and to a lesser extent Kazakhstan. That is changing. Kyrgyzstans government has been escalating the campaign against Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertys (RFE/RL) Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Azattyk. On April 27, in what Amnesty International called a blow to media freedom and the Committee to Protect Journalists said sent a deeply chilling message, a Kyrgyz court ordered Azattyks license should be revoked. Azattyk is appealing that decision and continues to operate. The court ruling came less than a week before World Press Freedom Day on May 3. In late October 2022, the Culture Ministry blocked Azattyks websites for refusing to remove a video about the September Kyrgyz-Tajik border clashes. Azattyks bank account was then frozen. Kyrgyz authorities have been tightening the noose on independent media since early 2022. Bolot Temirov and his Temirov Live program on YouTube often reported on corrupt officials and their families. The office of Temirov Live was raided in January 2022, and in November, Temirov was convicted of forgery and deported to Russia. Also in January 2022, the prosecutor generals office investigated Kaktus Media for alleged war propaganda after Kaktus reposted a report from Tajikistans independent outlet Asia-Plus about the April 2021 Kyrgyz-Tajik border clashes. In January 2023, the Culture Ministry threatened to block the website of independent site Kloop, if Kloop did not remove an article on a state agency inflating construction costs. As for Kazakhstan, a recent report from the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) said authorities are throttling the websites of RFE/RLs Kazakh service, known locally as Azattyq. The practical implication of throttling is that the targeted websites are blocked. The throttling in Kazakhstan started in September 2022 but was ongoing through presidential and parliamentary elections. OONI concluded this consistent problem over the course of months was the likely result of intentional interference. Why its Important: There are serious social and political problems in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It appears the governments want to be solely in control of the narrative of events inside their countries and are taking measures against independent media. Azattyq and Azattyk are among the leading independent media outlets in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Whatever happens to them will be easier for authorities to do to other independent media outlets in both countries. The Coming Water Crisis in Central Asia Uzbekistans Deputy Minister of Water Management Azimjon Nazarov said at an April 27-28 investment forum in Tashkent that the country will be short some seven billion cubic meters of annual water use by 2030. Nazarov noted that is a 25 percent reduction in the amount of water Uzbekistan currently uses. That was not the only grim forecast at the forum. Michael Wimmer, from the Economic Cooperation Department at Germanys Embassy in Uzbekistan, told the forum that the glaciers in Tajikistan will be completely melted in 30 to 40 years. Those glaciers feed Central Asias two main rivers the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya. Wimmer said sometime around 2050, the water levels would rise in the Amu-Darya that brings water to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and northern Afghanistan, but after peaking, there would be a steady and irreversible reduction. A recent article from Bloomberg dealt with another consequence of water shortages that has already been seen in Central Asia water theft. The article focused on water theft in Monterrey, Mexico. Water shortages in the region led people to start digging illegal wells and diverting water from rivers to their own agricultural lands. Officials were met with hostility when they came to inspect the reasons for the reductions in water flow. It also created an illegal water industry where people stole water from the citys water supply, loading it on tankers and selling water on the black market for many times the price of what it cost from the utility. During the Central Asian drought of 2021, farmers in Kyrgyzstans Chiu province were diverting water from the canal system into their fields and siphoning water from local reservoirs. Provincial authorities had to station guards along canals and at reservoirs to prevent water theft. Why its Important: Water has always been the most important commodity in Central Asia. It was 125 years ago when the regions population was eight million people. Water is even more important now as Central Asias population approaches 80 million. The Latest Majlis Podcast This weeks Majlis podcast looks at resource nationalism in Kyrgyzstans gold mining industry. A recent report from the Oxus Society examines resource nationalism and how officials sometimes portray themselves as protectors of the environment yet disingenuously pledge to use the resources of the country for the good of the people. This weeks guests are the authors of the Oxus Society report: Beril Ocakli, leader of the research project China, the EU and Economic Development in Eastern Europe and Eurasia at the Berlin-based Centre for East European and International Studies; and Vincent Artman, Professor of Geography and Peace and Conflict Studies at Wayne State University and the University of Delaware. What I'm Following Ferghana Valley Border Talks Representatives of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan met in Batken, Kyrgyzstan from April 25-29 to discuss border demarcation efforts along their common frontiers. The area where the three countries meet in the Ferghana Valley has been a flashpoint for problems among the three countries since 1991 independence, usually over problems marking the border. Meetings with representatives of all three countries are rare, so its worth following any progress they make. Fact of the Week The first-ever shipment of liquified petroleum gas from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan to Pakistan arrived on April 28. One Year of Central Asia in Focus This week, were marking the one-year anniversary of the Central Asia in Focus newsletter and I wanted to thank all our readers. Feel free to contact me on Twitter or by responding to this email, especially if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to connect with me about topics concerning Central Asia. Please consider filling out this brief survey so that I can better understand how this newsletter can be useful for you. See you next week for more on whats happening in Central Asia. Until next time, Bruce Praj Industries Founder-Executive Chairman Pramod Chaudhari received the Engineering Council of Indias (ECI) prestigious Eminent Engineers Award at a recent function held in New Delhi. The award was presented to Chaudhari by NITI Aayog member and distinguished scientist VK Saraswat during the National Conference and Foundation Day event of the ECI. The ECI has been giving this award since 2012 to entrepreneurs for their outstanding contribution in the engineering sector. Some of the previous recipients of the Award include NR Narayana Murthy, Mukesh Ambani, Baba Kalyani, Nandan Nilekani and Dr Anil Kakodkar, Prof MM Sharma, and Dr Tessy Thomas. Dr Saraswat praised the contribution of Dr Chaudhari for his ability to link knowledge of science and engineering. Dr Saraswat also underlined the important role played by engineers in the overall development of the Indian economy. Dr Chaudhari said, I thank the jury for recognizing my efforts to bring bio-economy into the mainstream. This award not only appreciates Prajs contribution made to the bio-fuel based economy but will also encourage others working in the bio-fuel sector. I dedicate this Award to my mentors, who have always been a source of inspiration. As part of National Police Week, first responders throughout the Quad-City region will be honored at 5:30 p.m. May 16 in the 7th Annual Blue Mass at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Davenport. Bishop Thomas Zinkula will preside over the Mass. The Mass is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, St. Paul the Apostle Council 15725. The Blue Mass is an open and unique peace rally bringing first responders and the community together seeking peace, unity and God's blessing, Davenport Police Sgt. Eric Gruenhagen said. Perhaps it's a renewal promoting benevolence for our neighbor, friends, family members and community," he said. "The Knights of Columbus sponsor the Blue Mass each year to remind everyone that we are all in this together. First responders want and desire to build relationships with the community," Gruenhagen said. "The Blue Mass emphasizes that relationship and seeks God's blessing, promoting peace for everyone. These public-safety workers dedicate their lives and sacrifice a lot for their communities. They need the support of the communities they serve. Mark Gassen, deputy grand knight of the St. Paul the Apostle Council, said: We would like to have every uniform in the area at Mass. "We dont know what kind of day any of these first responders had. It could be something that we couldnt even imagine. Maybe they want to be home with their families to unwind and get that uniform off for a while, before they go into the unknown the next day when their alarm goes off. Although there may be no better place to unload that burden than the Mass, I want them to know that even if theyre not there, at the Mass, we are there for them in thoughts and prayer for what they do every day," Gassen said. "We want to fill the church with uniforms, but the main point is why we are there. Gassen said he has a distinct memory of when he was at the Davenport Police Station one night when Gruenhagen was a night shift supervisor. As we were sitting in his office, of course the radios were all on with the sounds of the law-enforcement officials out on the streets playing in the background, Gassen said. A situation came over the radio. To me it sounded like a dangerous situation. Of course, Sgt. Gruenhagen was concerned and we listened. Fortunately all was taken care of. As we were discussing the upcoming Blue Mass, the background conversations over the radio were still coming in, he said. Probably commonplace for those on duty that night. But as I left to go home to my home and family, where I feel safe and secure every night, I thought, We as a community really do not have any idea what is going on with our first responders. To us a siren goes off, Gassen said. We may or may not even hear it. But when you stop and think of the process behind that siren. It starts with an incident of some kind. Then a phone call. A dispatcher calls the proper first responder, and they respond instinctively, never actually knowing what is going to happen when they get there. But they do it. They take the chaos and the calm for us and the community they support. All while we may flipping a burger in our backyard with family and friends or sleeping safely in our homes. That is why we have the Blue Mass and we as Knights of Columbus are proud to be a part of this celebration, he added. If you have friends, family, neighbors or know someone in the public safety field, I welcome you to join us, Gruenhagen said. If you aren't Catholic, no worries, all denominations are welcome to participate. A small prayer, or a handshake is all that's required to show support. The Blue Mass is an open invitation to open your heart and an invitation to peace. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Public Law 87-726 designating May 15 as Peace Officers' Memorial Day and the week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week. The law was amended by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Public Law 103-322, signed by President Bill Clinton, directing that the flag of the United States be displayed at half-staff on all government buildings on May 15 each year. United Way Quad Cities is seeking proposals for grants for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which received $137,266 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The grants are federally funded and administered by United Way Quad Cities. They are available to nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and government organizations that provide emergency food, shelter and rental assistance in Scott or Rock Island counties. FEMA is providing allocations of $65,912 for Rock Island County and $71,354 for Scott County. Applications are available at www.unitedwayqc.org/emergency-food-and-shelter and must be submitted by noon on May 19 via email to Karrie Abbott at kabbott@unitedwayqc.org. Decisions for the grant awards are completed by a local decision-making board that includes representatives from these organizations: American Red Cross, CASI, Center for Youth & Family Solutions, Community Health Care, Community Action of Eastern Iowa, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Diocese of Davenport, Salvation Army, Scott County Community Services, and United Way Quad Cities. Local organizations chosen to receive funds are required to: 1. Be a nonprofit organization or unit of government 2. Have an accounting system 3. Practice nondiscrimination 4. Have demonstrated the capability to deliver emergency food and/or shelter programs 5. If they are a nonprofit organization, they must have a volunteer board No hard copies will be accepted. Grant recipients are scheduled to be announced by the end of May. Red Cross efforts continue American Red Cross volunteers will be distributing emergency supplies at two locations this weekend. The supplies are available for all area residents affected by Mississippi River flooding. Items such as mops, gloves, buckets, trash bags and additional supplies will be provided. Saturday, May 6 From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Buffalo City Hall, 329 Dodge St in Buffalo. Sunday, May 7 From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Pleasant Valley Fire Station, 24495 Valley Dr. in Bettendorf. Volunteers are needed to help with feeding and shelter needs of area residents. Contact Connie Dudgeon with the Red Cross at connie.dudgeon@redcross.org or visit redcross.org/volunteer to sign up as a Red Cross volunteer. If you have questions or need other Red Cross assistance, call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767). ANKARA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced on Saturday that Turkiye has decided to relocate its embassy in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, to Port Sudan, in response to an earlier incident where the Turkish ambassador's vehicle was targeted by gunfire. "For the safety of our embassy and our colleagues, we decided to move our embassy to Port Sudan," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the semi-official Anadolu Agency. Turkish Ambassador Ismail Cobanoglu had discussed the issue with both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and informed them about the relocation plans, the Turkish minister added. The decision was made after the official vehicle of the Turkish ambassador was under gunfire hit on Saturday, while no one was wounded in the accident, and the vehicle sustained damage. After the incident, the RSF and the Sudanese army exchanged accusations. The RSF claimed that the area where the attack occurred was under military control and reiterated its commitment to protecting diplomatic missions in the country. Conversely, the army attributed responsibility to the RSF for the assault. The Moline Police Department and FBI arrested a Chicago man Friday in the robbery of Chase Bank. Eric A. Boyd, 55, was arrested at his Chicago residence, a news release from the Moline Police Department said. He is charged with Monday's robbery of the Chase Bank at 501 15th Street. Police earlier this week described the suspect as a male, wearing a rubber mask depicting an old man's face. He entered the bank, displayed a handgun and demanded money from a teller. The robber then fled on foot, heading west on 5th Avenue, and may have gotten into a black SUV near 13th Street. Boyd was located at his residence in Chicago by the FBI's Springfield Division, Quad-Cities Safe Streets Task Force and Moline Police detectives. They served a federal search warrant and federal arrest warrant in Chicago early Friday morning. Boyd is being charged with armed bank robbery and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence by the United States Attorney for the Central District of Illinois. This was just outstanding police work by Detective Mike Griffin, Detective Jeremy McAuliffe, Detective Sean Hoover, Detective Cesar Lopez and Lt. Andrew Raya. While I cannot go into the details of the investigation, I can say it was great work by this skilled investigative team that resulted in a quick arrest of a suspect in this case, Moline Police Chief Darren Gault said in a statement. We would also like to thank our partners with the FBI for their assistance on this case. Moline has had a long partnership with the FBI, and we work very closely with the local agents. The Moline Police Department has federally deputized task force officers working on the FBI Quad Cities Safe Streets Task Force, which makes the partnership very efficient and effective for our community. Boyd made an initial appearance Friday in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. He is being held in the Rock Island County Jail without bond, pending further court proceedings. In addition to the FBI's Springfield office and Quad Cities Safe Streets Task Force, Moline police were assisted by the FBI Chicago Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force, Milan Police Department, Ottawa Police Department and the United States Attorneys Office for the Central District of Illinois. The incident is still under investigation by the Moline Police Department. Davenport Police have identified a man killed in an April shooting while Moline Police are investigating a shooting in which bullets struck a house and car but, evidently, no people. Davenport Aaryis Henderson, 22, sustained wounds during an April 20 shooting in the 3700 block of Bridge Avenue, according to the Davenport Police Department. Officers found him just before midnight when they investigated a report of gunfire in the area and sent him to the hospital. The police department news release did not state when Henderson died, but his obituary, submitted to the newspapers in late April, said he died on April 21 at Genesis Medical Center East, Davenport. That obituary and court records from Rock Island and Scott counties state Henderson lived in Moline. The police department said in the release that the case remained under investigation and that further information was not available Friday. Moline Moline officers responded at 6:24 p.m. on Thursday to the 3100 block of Avenue of the Cities after receiving gunfire complaints, according to a news release. During the ensuing investigation, they found 15 spent shell casings. They also found a residence and a vehicle, the apparent target of the attack, that had been hit by gunfire. No injuries were reported. Initially, investigators did not find a disturbance or any victims, but after interviewing witnesses and reviewing surveillance camera footage, they learned of an apparent argument between several people on the north side of adjacent business parking lots, according to the release. They found the shell casings after searching that area and the damaged house, which appears to have been unintentionally hit. As the investigation continued, officers identified the vehicle and its driver, the release states. That person had left the area before officers arrived. When they examined the vehicle, police found it had been shot several times, and the driver said there had been an argument between four males and an individual in the vehicle. The shooting investigation continued Friday and police asked anyone with information to contact the department at 309-797-0401, the Quad-Cities chapter of Crime Stoppers at 309-762-9500 or via the P3 Tips app. What do an actor putting on a one-man play and a three-man punk rock band have in common? They all have taken up routes delivering letters and packages around the Quad-Cities. Zach Pethoud and The Pivots band members Ryan Levsen, Curtis Rosing and Joe Verstraete will perform this weekend for their fellow postal carriers and the public after their shared background and profession brought them together. Pethoud and The Pivots will take the stage 7 p.m. May 7 at the Nighswander Theater, 2822 Eastern Ave., Davenport. The event is free, with Pethoud performing his one-man show first and The Pivots following. Pethoud said, because of the themes and subject matters discussed in the play, it is not suitable for young viewers. "See what these postal workers do when they're not slinging mail," Pethoud said. Levsen, Rosing and Pethoud grew up in the Quad-Cities and have made homes here, though none of them started out as letter carriers. Levsen worked at a skateboard and BMX shop in Moline; Rosing was an Infantry Team Leader in the U.S. Army; Pethoud had an office job in New York City. Verstraete worked with them until August 2022, then left the job to study court reporting. After being laid off from his job, Pethoud said he and his wife decided to move back to the Quad-Cities, and he took the letter-carrier job. However, he missed the days when he had time to act and figured all he'd have time for with his work schedule was a one-man show. The one he picked is called "Harry Clarke," which follows a shy Midwesterner who adopts the persona of a confident Londoner. "I just started learning it on the route. I made voice memos," Pethoud said. "I recorded each page five times memo one would be page one. I'd read it five times; memo two would be page two, and I would just listen to it over and over and over." After learning all 19 roles he'd need to take on for the play, Pethoud said, he worked with director Larry Ellis in New York City to put the show together. From there, he needed to find a way to put on and promote the show, and that's where the band came in. The Pivots, named for when a letter carrier must take on part of another carrier's route, have been making music together since 2019. Both Levsen and Verstraete have been in other bands, but Rosing took up guitar and bass to join the group. Each brings their own musical tastes to the band, Levsen said, but they generally stick to classic punk with some modern melodies and lyrics meant to amuse more than anything else. The group has produced one album and is working on more songs currently. "We didn't take it too seriously," Levsen said. "We definitely leaned more into funny, conspiracy stuff." The band had to take a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic when their jobs got much busier because of the increase in online shopping, but they came back together after about a year to rehearse and perform again. "Since we're just a small band, this is a unique opportunity for us to play the junior theater," Rosing said. "I want to say that maybe we're the only punk band in history to play the Annie Wittenmyer (Complex). I think that's something priceless in my life that I could get to do. It's a nice space. So I jumped at the opportunity, and I wanted to support my friend too and back his show, and I'm very interested to see the play." Letter carriers Tanner Kossik and Brandon Hoskins are also involved in the show, handling stage managing and video projection, respectively. The show is free, thanks to National Association of Letter Carriers 506, of which Pethoud is a member. The actor asked about funding the event during the last union meeting and received unanimous approval. He's placed fliers around offices and hopes to see a good turnout from both his fellow letter carriers and the public. "Tanner made an interesting suggestion the other day," Pethoud said. "He said, 'If this goes well this weekend, maybe it can become an annual thing, maybe different people do different things, and it might be fun.'" Added Levsen: "A postal variety show." The state of Iowa is facing a pair of lawsuits alleging discrimination and retaliation by top agency leaders. One of the cases alleges discrimination based on disabilities, while the other claims discrimination based on national origin. The most recent of the two cases, filed in federal court, involves Kemal Delilovic of Polk County. He who was hired by the state in 1997 as a refugee specialist and assigned to work in the Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services, which is part of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. In his lawsuit, Delilovic, whose national origin is Bosnian and Herzegovinian, alleges all of the bureaus specialists are either immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants. The specialists are tasked with assisting refugees through interpretation services, case management, education and employment assistance and other forms of support. According to the lawsuit, the state also employed workforce advisors and case managers within Iowa Workforce Development to perform similar or identical tasks for non-refugees in Iowa. The refugee specialists were assigned pay grade 22 by the state, which resulted in lower compensation than the IWD employees who were assigned pay grade 24. In 2014 and 2015, Delilovic asked the bureau to reclassify the specialist position to pay grade 24 to match the IWD staff, and the state refused. Around that time, DHHS Personnel and Business Manager Pauline Rutherford frequently asked Delilovic and other employees to stop speaking Bosnian in the office. The lawsuit alleges Rutherford also told Delilovic that he could simply leave if he did not like being paid less than the IWD employees. The lawsuit claims supervisors suggested the specialists apply for jobs in mail services, threatened retaliation for complaints and told Delilovic and others to be happy they had jobs at all. Delilovic alleges he filed two separate complaints with the Department of Administrative Services alleging pay discrimination on the basis of national origin and that DAS never investigated the matter. In May 2022, after Delilovic filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, the state allegedly announced that the majority of the refugee specialists would be reclassified as workforce advisors and given a 5% increase in pay and upgrade to pay grade 24. However, the lawsuit alleges, the state did not reclassify Delilovic and he remained a refugee specialist at a pay grade 22, as did Anna Udorvich, another specialist who had complained about unequal pay. The bureaus other two refugee specialists were reclassified to paygrade 24. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Iowa Civil Rights Act through discrimination based on national origin. The state has yet to file a response. Education agency accused of retaliation The second discrimination lawsuit involves Amy Williamson of Polk County, who worked at the Iowa Department of Education from 2007 through early 2022, at one point serving as the deputy director of learning and results. At some point, Williamson alleges, a human resources associate began generating reports on which employees used the most sick leave. Williamson, who has multiple chronic health conditions and had recently undergone surgery, was at the top of the list, the lawsuit claims. The departments chief of staff and HR director, Shanlyn Seivert, allegedly began rejecting employee requests for sick leave. The agency began tracking the whereabouts of employees on medical leave and had a supervisor shoot videos and photos of a disabled employee in an effort to catch her abusing policies and terminate her employment, the lawsuit alleges. In response to Williamsons complaints, the department gradually and systematically removed her from decision-making, the lawsuit claims. Multiple staff members approached Amy, many crying or visibly distressed, because they were being bullied, harassed, tracked, surveilled, or otherwise treated unprofessionally and/or illegally, the lawsuit alleges. In November 2021, after an employee filed a grievance alleging Family Medical Leave Act discrimination, Williamson met with then-department director Ann Lebo to express her concerns, according to the lawsuit. She suggested that Lebo report potential civil rights violations and notify Gov. Kim Reynolds. Instead, the lawsuit claims, Lebo retaliated against the worker who had filed the grievance and insulted, demeaned, and attempted to humiliate the supervisor who had ruled in the staff members favor in the grievance decision. In January 2022, Williamson notified Reynolds office of the alleged civil rights violations and acts of retaliation by Lebo and others. Eight days later, according to the lawsuit, Lebo stripped Williamson of nearly all management responsibilities, effective that day. Days later, while Williamson was on medical leave, the department sought applications for Williamsons position effectively discharging her from employment. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for violations of the Iowa Civil Rights Act in the form of discrimination and retaliation. The state has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. Lebo has since resigned from her state position. After leaving the Iowa Department of Education, Williamson applied for and was denied unemployment benefits. She appealed that decision, which led to a hearing before Administrative Law Judge Emily Drenkow Carr. The state declined to participate in the hearing. Noting that Williamsons testimony in the case was unrefuted, Carr found there was no evidence of any deficiency in Williamsons job performance. Williamson, Carr ruled, had believed her reduction in duties to be a punishment for reporting her civil rights concerns to the governors office. Under the circumstances faced by (Williamson), a reasonable person would feel compelled to resign. Given those facts, Carr ruled, Williamsons resignation was for a good-cause reason attributable to the employer, and she was entitled to collect unemployment benefits. Best public high schools in Iowa Best public high schools in Iowa #30. Western Dubuque High School #29. Kee High School #28. Clear Lake High School #27. Harlan High School #26. Van Meter Junior/Senior High School #25. George-Little Rock Senior High School #24. South Central Calhoun High School #23. West Marshall High School #22. Hudson High School #21. Liberty High School #20. Williamsburg Junior/Senior High School #19. Grinnell Community Senior High School #18. George Washington High School #17. MOC-Floyd Valley High School #16. Cedar Falls High School #15. Le Mars High School #14. Johnston Senior High School #13. Decorah High School #12. Linn-Mar High School #11. Bettendorf High School #10. Ankeny High School #9. Waukee Senior High School #8. Iowa City High School #7. Ankeny Centennial High School #6. Gilbert High School #5. John F. Kennedy High School #4. Valley High School #3. Ames High School #2. Pleasant Valley High School #1. West Senior High School Hand-crafted jewelry that honors Lakota culture, plus South Dakota products and a gallery of Black Hills art will be showcased in a new retail venue in downtown Rapid City. Jewelry by DeCory is the newest venture from Doug Napier, who opened his downtown Jewelry Monk studio in 2018 and has been in the jewelry business for 40 years. Jewelry by DeCory is located at 717 Main St. I decided to open a retail store to highlight us and local makers in the area, Napier said. The shop will be part retail store, part art gallery for higher-end paintings and photography by Black Hills area artists. Artists work will rotate in and out of the gallery every three months. The retail store will carry jewelry, pottery and Elements of South Dakota items made in South Dakota. Napier plans to have a soft opening Friday, followed by a grand opening later this month. After tourist season, Napier hopes to host events for locals. We will probably have some open mic nights and hang out and visit with other artists, he said. We want the gallery to be more of an artists hub where people can come and share ideas. A focus on local and educational Napier is from Rapid City and his family is from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. DeCory is his mothers maiden name and Jewelry by DeCory honors Napiers grandfather and uncle, who were tremendous influences on him. The gallery will showcase Lakota culture and the uniqueness of South Dakota, he said. Jewelry by DeCory is a sister business to Napiers Jewelry Monk, which is a training center and studio. The majority of jewelry sold in the area is actually mass produced in manufacturing plants outside the United States. Theres very little jewelry manufactured in the area other than Black Hills Gold. [Jewelry Monk] has focused on bringing back and working with talented artists and giving them a trade they can take with them, Napier said. Our goal is to bring people in and teach them for two or three years, and then you are equippedyou can go anywhere in the world and get a job, or stay and work with us. Its a lot more fun to work with people one-on-one. Ive done less consulting because Im focused on building what weve got, he said. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Napier looked for ways to branch out and decided to pursue his goal of creating his own lines of jewelry, including Lakota Legacy. Every piece of jewelry has a video with it that explains the significance of the symbols, such as buffalo and butterflies, Napier said. This year, Lakota Legacy is introducing a nature series featuring jewelry adorned with acorns, sunflowers, cattails and cactus. We added the stories to it so we could positively promote Lakota culture in the area, Napier said. Theres education at the core of everything, he said. We want things we do to promote the area, the people and the artists. If I can make jewelry to educate people or promote something positive about the area, then Im interested. The jewelry, with its simple, streamlined designs, is primarily made from sterling silver. The pieces are affordably priced to appeal to tourists who want a keepsake of their visit to South Dakota or to locals who are looking for unique items, Napier said. At Jewelry by DeCory, we actually design and produce every single one of our creations locally, and our designs are meant to represent aspects of the beautiful Black Hills area in which we live. We want our customers to be proud of the jewelry they wear and support local craftsmen and women with a living wage at the same time, Napier said on his jewelrybydecory.com website. Napier began making jewelry after high school and discovered his lifelong career. He learned the trade at Coleman Frizzell, a jewelry manufacturing company Napier said moved to Rapid City to produce its line of Black Hills Gold. I just needed a job and I didnt know that I would like it as much as I did and I didnt know I would be good at it, Napier said. Ive been a technical jewelry maker for 40 years. Id go into large factories to help them streamline their production. I have traveled all over the world, focusing on making jewelry in a manufacturing setting, and I am experienced in all facets of jewelry making from bench jeweler and technical model-making, to production troubleshooting and [computer-aided design]. Along my journey, I have learned many tips and tricks and am more than happy to pass along anything I have learned, Napier said on his jewelrymonk.com website. Training future jewelry makers Napier has a passion for teaching, which is a significant part of his Jewelry Monk website and much of the work at his Jewelry Monk studio. He currently teaches aspects of jewelry making on videos for jewelrymonk.com and his Doug Napier Jewelry Monk YouTube channel. His long-term goal is to open a nonprofit trade school, DeCory Jewelry Institute. Napier envisions a two-year trade program that will teach students the skills to produce and sell jewelry, such as computer-aided design, marketing and sales. It will build on the mentorship and training Napier already offers through Jewelry Monk. I get more enjoyment out of teaching somebody to solder for the first time [than consulting for manufacturers]. I want to focus on giving back to the craft, Napier said. I look at jewelry making as were equipping jewelers. Its more of an educational production center. Napier said the school is currently in a formative stage, and he is beginning to spread the word about it so he can raise funds to open DeCory Jewelry Institute. Were looking for people who want to pass on the trade of jewelry making in the local or regional area, Napier said. Whats neat about the school is once its up and running, it can be a self-sustaining nonprofit. We can create things we can sell that will fund the school. Eric Whitcher and Deb Kuehn, both of Rapid City, have been elected to the Black Hills Playhouse Board of Directors. The Black Hills Playhouse Board of Directors volunteers time to set the strategic direction of the organization, to raise funds, to help with physical plant projects, and to work through committees to assist staff. Their time and dedication to forwarding the mission of the Black Hills Playhouse is essential to operations. Whitcher is the public defender for Pennington County and has been practicing criminal defense law for 27 years. He grew up in the Black Hills before attending the University of South Dakota and law school at Nebraska College of Law in Lincoln. He is active in local criminal justice reform efforts and has served on the board of the Homestake Opera House, Habitat for Humanity of the Black Hills, and the South Dakota Bar Commission. Whitcher hopes his legal experience will provide value to the Black Hills Playhouse, and he looks forward to making the world a little better through the performing arts. He lives in Rapid City with his wife, Jess Olson, and four children. Kuehn is a certified family and neonatal practitioner. She is employed at Black Hills Pediatrics in Rapid City and Monument Spearfish Pediatrics Clinic. Kuehn assists with donations to Youth and Family Services, Hope Center, and Church Response in Rapid City. She has been a member of the Rural America Indian Birth to Five Health Policy Board, and she was chair of the Pennington County Child Death Review committee for more than 20 years. Through her new position on the board, Kuehn looks forward to meeting more people from South Dakota and other areas and is excited to spread the word about the Black Hills Playhouse plays and activities. The South Dakota Army National Guard promoted Halsey Hall of Rapid City to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer Five during a ceremony at Crazy Horse Monument on April 29. Chief Warrant Officer Five is the highest rank achievable in the warrant officer corps. Hall enlisted in the South Dakota Army National Guards 842nd Engineer Company in 1988 as a Material Control and Accounting Specialist. He served in various positions during his enlisted career prior to his promotion to Chief Warrant Officer One in 2002. Brig. Gen. Deb Bartunek, South Dakota National Guard Director Joint Staff, was the speaker for the ceremony. Hall first served with Bartunek in the 665th Maintenance Company when the unit was activated to provide security operations at Ellsworth Air Force Base in 2003-2005 and then-Capt. Bartunek was the commander. Hall received his promotion to Warrant Officer One by Bartunek prior to the units activation. Chief Hall has worked so hard for this honor, and I cannot think of anyone more deserving. His efforts and experience have had national and international impacts on the readiness of our forces, and he has always been willing to do anything asked of him. He is a warrior and a true professional, Bartunek said. Hall completed a nation-building exercise in Panama as part of Task Force Rushmore in 1993 and supported Operation Enduring Freedom/Noble Eagle from 2003 to 2005. He has completed tours at National Guard Bureau in Virginia as a Logistics Support Officer and at the National Guard Professional Education Center in Arkansas as the Supply Course Manager. "This promotion to Chief Warrant Officer Five was my most difficult promotion to date. I appreciate that the organization honors my 10 years at the national level and those duty assignments," Hall said. "These have prepared me to work successfully and provide a strategic level of leadership and performance for our state. Also, this promotion represents more than just an acknowledgement of my hard work to get to this level but shows how diversity and inclusion have grown in our organization. It was an honor to be the first Native American promoted to Chief Warrant Officer Five by Brig. Gen. Bartunek, the first female general officer in the South Dakota National Guard." Hall works full time for the South Dakota National Guard as the Force Integration and Readiness Officer and was previously assigned as the Logistics Supply System Analyst. ADEN, Yemen, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Clashes broke out on Saturday between government forces and Houthi militia in Yemen's southwestern governorate of Taiz, resulting in multiple casualties, a government military official said to Xinhua. The conflict, which lasted for several hours, was triggered by an attempted infiltration by Houthi fighters into positions held by Yemeni government forces on the eastern outskirts of Taiz province, stated the local military source, who requested anonymity. The government forces successfully repelled the Houthi assault, resulting in the death of four Houthi fighters and injuries to five others, the official confirmed, adding that two soldiers from the government side lost their lives during the fighting. The Houthi group has yet to respond to the conflict. The recent fighting in Taiz coincides with attempts of regional and global powers to make headway in diplomatic endeavors towards restarting negotiations between the warring factions in Yemen, with the aim of renewing a prior humanitarian truce that was facilitated by the United Nations. Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthi rebel fighters invaded a number of northern provinces and drove the Yemeni government out of the capital city of Sanaa. The years-long military conflict has resulted in a dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, with millions needing assistance and access to basic necessities. While light rain fell from the sky, the beating of drums and traditional singing rose above steady Friday traffic as 100 people walked through Rapid City to bring awareness to the national and local crisis of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. The group consisted primarily of women. Several children sat in strollers or walked along. Some carried signs honoring the murdered or seeking help to find the still missing, others walked with a red handprint painted over their mouths a symbol that's become synonymous with the movement. "MMIW isn't something that just impacts our physical bodies. It is something that impacts our voices," said Amy Sazue, executive director of Remembering the Children at the Memorial Park Bandshell after the walk, which looped from the Memorial Park to Main Street and back by way of 7th Street. Remembering the Children is a project with the goal "to honor the lives, memories, and spirits of the children and relatives" who died at the Indian Boarding School and the Sioux Sanatorium TB Clinic in Rapid City. "I would like to say an encouragement to our community as a whole and especially our men to uplift the voices of women and to uplift the matriarchs and the women in this community who have carried the burdens of our society on our backs for a long time," said Sazue, who was one of several speakers. The march was organized by the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board, the South Dakota Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons and Where All Women Are Honored, a Rapid City nonprofit. Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Coordinator Allison Morrisette said the event would not have been possible without community involvement. Several other groups were represented at the march, including NDN Collective, an indigenous-led nonprofit in Rapid City; Maggie's House in Kyle, which provides help for young people who have aged out of foster care; the Friends of the Children He Sepa chapter, which provides Lakota mentorship to children; and Medicine Wheel Riders, a nonprofit group of Indigenous motorcyclists who support MMIW causes through group rides across the US. According to the National Indigenous Womens Resource Center, May 5 was established as the day of awareness in honor of Hanna Harris, a Native American women who was murdered in Lame Deer, Montana on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in 2013. May 5 was her birthday. In 2017, the Montana Congressional Delegation passed a Senate resolution declaring May 5 the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native American Women and Girls (MMIWG). President Joe Biden issued a proclamation Thursday recognizing the day as Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day. Sen. Dusty Johnson supported a resolution in Congress to designate the day the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Gov. Kristi Noem also issued a statement recognizing May 5 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Day in South Dakota. Regardless of wording, the purpose of May 5 is for the country and the state to turn its attention to the crisis of murdered and missing Indigenous persons. The South Dakota Attorney General's 2021 crime report shows 31.6% of murder victims and 37.1% of kidnapping and abduction victims in South Dakota are American Indian or Alaska Native, despite the groups making up just nine-percent of the state's population a statistic gravely highlighted with the recent murder of Serena Spider, a 26-year-old Native American woman who was shot and killed in Rapid City on Wednesday night. As of Friday afternoon, there were 105 people listed on the South Dakota Missing Person's Clearinghouse. Of those 60% are Native American. The Journal has previously reported on the crisis of missing children in Rapid City specifically. From the beginning of January 2022 to the end January 2023, 672 children were reported missing in the city. Nationally, Native American women are more likely to be murdered or experience sexual assault or other violence than other groups. According to a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) study, 84.3% of Native American women have experienced violence in their lifetime. Just over 56% have experienced sexual violence. Native American women living on reservations are 10 times more likely to be murdered than other women in the U.S., and murder is the third leading cause of death for Native American women, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. According to Morrisette, the march served as a way for victims' families to come together and know they aren't alone. PHOTOS: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Walk A Corvallis High School graduate is partnering with the Veteran's Victory Alliance, in Sula, to run a 22-mile ruck march fundraiser on June 17 to raise awareness about veteran suicide in the Bitterroot Valley, uplift the VVA's accommodations for wounded veterans and improve Montanas suicide statistics. Landen Conner, a 2021 CHS graduate, attends Carroll College and is in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) near Fort Harrison in Helena. Conner said his decision to offer the ruck march began last fall after a soldier at Ft. Harrison committed suicide. It spurred me to research suicide statistics in Montana and ways to prevent it, Conner said. He found that, on average, 22 veterans take their life a day in the U.S. That heartbreaking statistic inspired me to conduct a 22-mile ruck march to show every single veteran in the valley that their sacrifices are appreciated, that they are cared for by the community and that the next generation of military officers wants to honor those who came before, Conner said. I learned that Bitterroot has a higher-than-normal suicide risk level with its high percentage of veterans with few resources to address health concerns. With that information he began looking for groups making an impact in the valley that would benefit from additional resources. I found that the Veteran's Victory Alliance is a nonprofit that specializes in helping veterans and first responders recover from hidden wounds, Conner said. Their mission statement is, to offer veteran and first responder programs a rustic and comfortable Montana ranch facility for programs to conduct activities focused on personal and team wellness. Conner discovered the VVA is raising $38,000 to finish a wheelchair-accessible bathroom and decided to help. The event is called Operation 22 for the miles covered. The term ruck march can mean walking with a backpack, or moving quickly with full military gear. Conner will carry a 35 pound pack. By no means do others have to do the same, he said. There will not be water stations, so people should bring enough fluids to stay hydrated if they care to join me. Starting at 6 a.m. on Saturday, June 17, Conner will conduct a 22-mile ruck march through Hamilton starting at the RAL trail in honor of Robert Leonardi. Starting at 6 a.m. on Saturday, June 17, Conner will conduct a 22-mile ruck march through Hamilton starting at the RAL trail in honor of Robert Leonardi. Participants will go as far east as 1210 Tammany Lane, head west until the intersection of Westside Road and Canyon Creek Road, go as far south as Roaring Lion Road, and end at the Veterans' Monument by Dairy Queen. The original plan was for me to ruck alone, but local military groups and other community members have shown interest in joining me, so all are welcome to participate in some or all of the ruck, Conner said. The VVA is also exploring a virtual ruck option. Ill have details on that later. The VVA will have information updates on its website to keep the public informed. For more information contact Conner at rclanden7@gmail.com, or visit https://veteransvictoryalliance.org/ Conner is a biochemistry major at Carroll College set to graduate in 2025. After graduation and completing his ROTC commitment, he would normally commission as a 2nd Lieutenant but is pursuing medical school. I plan to delay my commission using an educational delay that means I won't commission as a 2nd Lieutenant but instead commission as a Captain upon medical school graduation, Conner said. Fort Peck releases to be cut Releases from Fort Peck Dam will be reduced from 9,000 cubic feet per second to 6,000 cfs on May 22 to allow maintenance work, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced. Releases will be increased back to 9,000 cfs on June 2. If the maintenance work is completed early, releases will return to 9,000 cfs as soon as possible. Maintenance at the Fort Peck powerhouse, on the power tunnel, requires Units 1, 2 and 3 to be unavailable. The lowered releases will not have a significant impact on reservoir elevations at Fort Peck, said John Remus, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. However, downstream users, such as irrigators and water supply intakes, will need to plan for the lower releases during this period. Releases will be gradually increased from 6,000 cfs beginning May 6 reaching 9,000 cfs May 12, prior to the scheduled power tunnel maintenance. Then, decreased May 22 during maintenance. The decreased releases from Fort Peck Dam will not have an effect on system storage or releases from downstream projects, nor will system releases from Gavins Point dam be changed, Remus added. HELENA Montana has become the latest state to regulate the ownership of assets by foreign adversaries. Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill Thursday to prohibit the sale or lease of agricultural land, critical infrastructure and homes near military assets in Montana to the government, businesses and individuals from China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia or Venezuela all countries the U.S. government designates foreign adversaries. The governor has said he will also sign a bill to make Montana the first state to try to block the social media app TikTok from being available in Montana. TikTok, owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny over worries it could hand over user data to the Chinese government. Leaders at the FBI and the CIA along with numerous lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have raised such concerns but have not presented any evidence that it has happened. TikTok has said it will challenge the Montana ban in court. "Montana will not stand idly by as foreign adversaries buy up our farmland, harvest private data, and spy on Americans," Gianforte said in a statement Thursday. The property ownership ban goes into effect on Oct. 1. Nationally, foreign entities and individuals control less than 3% of U.S. farmland, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of that, those with ties to China control less than 1%, or roughly 600 square miles (340 square kilometers). About two dozen states have some level of restriction on land ownership by foreign governments, businesses or individuals. Several states considered legislation this year after a Chinese spy balloon flew over the country in February. In Kentucky Derby culture, the julep cup is just as important as the cocktail itself. These sleek sterling silver cups predate the derby. The cups date back to the 1800s when early Kentucky silversmiths from Lexington and Louisville debuted the design. "It was a popular gift for christenings, weddings or a graduation," Natalia Cardenas, brand ambassador for the derby's official bourbon, Woodford Reserve, says in an email. "Records dating back to the 1800s show that julep cups were being given out as prizes at the county fair." Advertisement Race officials used julep cups as trophies for first-place jockeys in the 1820s. The signature design, known for a wide-footed base and either a beaded rim or bands at the top, is more than just decorative. "It is meant to be held only by touching the top or the bottom, allowing the silver to frost over," Cardenas says. Since its inception, the julep cup has taken many forms. In 2008, Churchill Downs debuted the largest mint julep glass in the world: a 6-foot-tall (1.8-meter) cup with a 206 gallon (779-liter) capacity; that's the equivalent of 5,000 mint juleps. Woodford Reserve and Tiffany & Co. also auctioned off three luxe julep cups in 2011. The cups, which started at $2,000, boasted 24-karat-gold bases that the high-end jeweler used for horse racing trophies in 1876. The Derby typically serves its juleps in glass souvenir cups, though. " " The signature sterling silver mint julep cup is as important to the cocktail as its ingredients. Jon Lovette/Getty Images The device is not new. It is an old trick. It has been oft repeated, and with a similar purpose and effect, Frederick Douglass said in 1894. For truth, it gives us falsehood. For innocence, it gives us guilt. It gives bad names to good things, and good names to bad things. The old trick is being deployed 129 years later by the U.S. political right as it slanders a good thing diversity, equity and inclusion in service of a cynically racist political agenda. The man appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to oversee DEI not only slandered the initiative hes charged with promoting in state government, but pronounced last rites over its carcass, according to The Washington Post. Lets take a moment right now to kill that cow. DEI is dead, Martin D. Brown said at Virginia Military Institute. Were not going to bring that cow up anymore. Its dead. It was mandated by the General Assembly, but this governor has a different philosophy of civil discourse, civility, treating living the golden rule, right? I dont understand how diversity, equity and inclusion are at loggerheads with civility, though it should be clear that the GOP views the acknowledgment of systemic racism as a divisive concept to be censored from public consumption. Brown reveals the GOPs talent for employing Black people to attack antiracism. Another tactic elevates foxes to head the henhouse. Under Youngkin, the result has been the nomination of an environmental plunderer to head Natural Resources; a health commissioner who dismissed the documented role of structural racism in health outcomes; and a DEI chief whod dismantle DEI. Browns remarks led to calls for his dismissal by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the Virginia NAACP and the General Assemblys Black, Latino and Asian American Pacific Islander caucuses. Its a logical response when a gubernatorial appointee thrusts a middle finger at legislative intent. Nakeina Douglas-Glenn, director of the Research Institute for Social Equity (RISE) at VCUs L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, said the institute defines equity in its research as fairness and impartiality, consistent with the definition put forward by the National Academy of Public Administration. It is unclear why anyone would be opposed to that, she added. Faye Belgrave is the associate dean for Equity and Community Partnerships in the College of Humanities and Sciences at VCU. She wrote that colleges definition of equity: Equity is the process of ensuring that procedures and programs are impartial and provide equal possible outcomes for every individual. It ensures everyone has access to the same opportunities and recognizes we dont all start from the same place because some groups have more advantages and others face more barriers. Equity corrects for this imbalance. Why would anyone have a problem with that? I dont know, Belgrave said. Because really, basically, it is about fairness. But make no mistake: Brown did not merely threaten to terminate equity, but the entirety of DEI. And Youngkin has his back in pushing for its destruction. Somewhere, Jim Crow is smiling. Governor Youngkin will continue to advance equal opportunities not equal outcomes for all Virginians, said Macaulay Porter, his press secretary, in a statement. This is too important of an issue to succumb to those seeking to cancel Chief Brown for challenging the groupthink of the progressive lefts pursuit of equity at any cost. This doublespeak sounds like Youngkins stated commitment to teach all history, the good and the bad while stifling classroom instruction by banning inherently divisive concepts. Cancel Brown? The governors vision of Virginia cancels Black, Latino and Asian Virginians, women, LGBTQ people and individuals with disabilities. It refuses to acknowledge that this nations systems, since its inception, have been rigged to benefit people who look like Youngkin. It presents equity fairness as a form of oppression. It promotes the zero-sum idea that DEI disadvantages white people while rewarding unqualified others. But theres been pretty abundant research that has shown diversity brings about better production, better creativity, more innovation, better retention, less absenteeism, Belgrave said. This is just not to do what might be morally right, but really to have a more productive organization. The demonization of DEI mirrors the animus toward CRT (critical race theory), another concept poorly understood or wildly distorted by its detractors. Jonathan Zur, president and CEO of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, said he has not spoken with Youngkin or Brown to know their motivations. In general, however, I have observed that many of the people who have publicly critiqued diversity, equity, and inclusion over the last eighteen months are using the words and concepts incorrectly, which is resulting in increased polarization. What most concerns me in this moment is that those who are already most marginalized in society are the ones who are most harmed by active resistance to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The pandemic made clear that one size fits all interventions do not serve all Virginians well. For our elected leaders to truly represent all of their constituents, they need to consider the demographics of our communities and develop policies that serve our diverse needs. The simple reality is that Virginia will be stronger if all of us are included, valued, and have a fair chance to succeed. For too long, Virginia and America denied too many people a fair chance at success. Today, attempts to remedy this are being called a bad thing. Its an old trick. Dont fall for it. The Northern Virginia developer that built the Byrd Center industrial park by Richmond International Airport and the office buildings at Chesterfield Countys Ruffin Mill Center wants to build a complex with offices, warehouses and town homes on a 234-acre site straddling the town of Ashland-Hanover County line. The site is south of Route 54 and east of Interstate 95 and has been designated for a mixed-use development. WestDulles Properties site plan for what it is calling the Iron Horse Business Park shows a total of six retail or office buildings on Route 54, with 14 warehouse or business office buildings behind them. There would be space for a hotel at the intersection of Route 54 and Mount Hermon Road. The plan also calls for 148 town homes on the Hanover portion of the site. There would be a pond, park and waterfront trail at the southern end of the business park, as well as open space and a walking path and a smaller pond to the west of the warehouses. The site has been designated for a large master planned mixed-use development since 2010 by both the town and the county. The town is reviewing an amendment to its comprehensive plan that would include a review of the impact on traffic, buffers, environmental protection and design of buildings. Hanover is working on the developers request for a rezoning and conditional use permit. The comprehensive plan amendment review and the countys review of the developers rezoning and conditional use permit will address concerns about water quality and runoff from the large paved areas required for the business park. It also will address initial reactions from nearby residents that the warehouses will be too big as well as the impact on Hanover residents priority that the county maintain a rural feel. The impact on county schools also will be part of the rezoning and conditional use permit review. In response to concerns about traffic, town and county officials are considering a ban on truck traffic and lower speed limits on Mount Hermon Road, in addition to improvements to its intersection with Route 54. They also are considering a median on Route 54. WestDulles Properties is a commercial real estate development and investment firm that has been active in Northern Virginia, Richmond and Winchester since 1985. In Henrico County, it developed the 12-building Byrd Center industrial park, with 596,542 square feet of space on 42 acres fronting on South Laburnum Avenue and Charles City Road. It developed the Ruffin Mill Center office park, with four buildings totaling about 136,800 square feet on 10.5 acres along Ruffin Mill Road and Continental Boulevard in Chesterfield. It also is developing the TradePort95 warehousing and distribution center, which will comprise three buildings totaling 1,330,000 square feet, 5 miles south of the Richmond Marine Terminal in Chesterfield. From the Archives: Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Willow Lawn Firemen attend to afternoon Playa del Carmen warehouse blaze Playa del Carmen, Q.R. Solidaridad firemen rushed to the scene of a warehouse fire Friday in the Pedregal area of the city. Workers inside the warehouse called emergency services shortly before noon after seeing smoke. Several area residents also reported the fire to emergency services after seeing the thick plumes of smoke rising from the building. PDC firemen arrived along with police at the Avenida Andres Quintana Roo location. Alejandro Contreras Diaz, Municipal Director of Firefighters, reported that there were no worker injuries during the fire, but that one fireman was treated for smoke inhalation by responding paramedics. He said that they are continuing to work on the exact cause of the blaze, which is believed due to human error. We do not have the official cause yet, however, it is believed due to carelessness or human error, he said. I dont think the fire was intentional. Witnesses have told me that there were people working inside when suddenly, they saw a worker who ran out and then all the others ran out when there was a column of smoke, he said. The warehouse is used to store fiberglass. Firemen had the situation under control by 1:30 p.m. Mexican Caribbean one of three Mexico destinations promoted at Arabian Travel Mart Riviera Maya, Q.R. The Mexican Caribbean was one of the three Mexico destinations promoted at the Arabian Travel Mart. The Mexican Caribbean shared a kiosk with Los Cabos and Baja California during the recent Arabian Travel Mart 2023. Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa reported that the Travel Mart brought together the most select exhibitors and buyers of tourist services to whom the diversity of the destinations was promoted. The three destinations integrated the Mexico brand, adding to the already significant penetration that some of the Quintana Roo brands have in this market as part of the promotion strategy. Due to its location between Jamaica, the Bahamas and the British Isles, Quintana Roo was a highly demanded product. The Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council (CPTQ) held various meetings with airlines such as Emirates, Ethihad, Qatar, Turkish, Swiss Air-Edelweis, as well as with various travel agents. The consortia present at the fair spared no investment to offer their tourism services and products, sheltered by the different tourism ministries and convention and visitor bureaus (CVB). Taking into account that, according to the numbers, the increase in markets from the Middle East to Mexico has represented an important achievement for Quintana Roo, going from 53% in 2019 to 61% in 2022. The presence and participation in Arabian Travel Mart 2023 will contribute to continue increasing the influx of these tourist markets for the benefit of destinations in the Mexican Caribbean, taking advantage of the fact that citizens of these countries do not require a visa to visit Mexico. The CPTQ was invited to another fair in Qatar, where there is already recognition of the Cancun and other Mexico brands and where there is expressed interest to evaluate the possibility of opening a flight. The State Secretary of Tourism and the CPTQ will be developing specific strategies, together with the hotels and interested consortiums, in order to consolidate some of their brands in this important market. KHARTOUM, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The vehicle of Turkish Ambassador Ismail Cobanoglu came under gunfire in Sudan on Saturday. The Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) exchanged accusations over the incident. "Today, the rebel militia fired at the car of the Turkish ambassador and detained him, while at the same time, its fake media machine keeps saying that the armed forces did this, forgetting that the ambassador himself is present and can simply explain what happened," the army said in a statement on Saturday. Meanwhile, the RSF claimed it was the army who opened fire on the car of the Turkish ambassador in the capital Khartoum, calling the act "a cowardly move representing a flagrant violation of all international norms and agreements to protect diplomatic missions." According to its statement, the RSF "has managed to evacuate the ambassador and his delegation to a safe place." Sudan has been witnessing a large-scale evacuation of foreign nationals and diplomats since the eruption of the deadly clashes between the army and the RSF in Khartoum and other areas on April 15. So far, the deadly clashes have left at least 550 people dead and 4,926 others wounded, according to the Sudanese health ministry. Police seize Playacar property in Playa del Carmen drug bust Playa del Carmen, Q.R. A citizen report has lead police to an arrest and seizure of property in the Playacar area of Playa del Carmen. On Thursday afternoon, 22-year-old Daniel N from Quintana Roo, 27-year-old Yitzak N from the United States, 27-year-old Fernando N from Mexico City along with 20-year-old Santiago N, also from Mexico City, were arrested. Solidaridad Police made the arrests from a Playacar complex after a citizen report tipped them off to the possibility of drug sales. Municipal officers were told of an address on Paseo Xaman Avenue where a woman was allegedly being held against her will. As the officers approached, the four men were located outside exchanging what was believed to be narcotics. All four made a run for it, but were caught and drugs located on the men. According to a statement from the SSP of Solidaridad, as police were making their arrests they could smell marijuana coming from a property. When they looked through the window, they saw packages of marijuana and a firearm on a table. The FGE was notified, arriving to secure the home. According to the four males, the woman who was allegedly being held against her will left on her own moments before police arrived. The four men are facing drug and firearm charges. ROCKY MOUNT Following a three-month search, the Franklin County School Board on Friday named Kevin Siers as the school divisions next superintendent. Siers has served as superintendent of Pulaski County Public Schools since 2016 and led Christiansburg High School as principal before that. The school board announced the hiring at a special meeting held Friday. Chairman Jeff Worley spoke briefly about the process of finding a new superintendent before introducing Siers. There were 17 applicants for the position, narrowed down to six, and the board interviewed four finalists, he said. Its been an arduous process but I think one we gladly undertook, Worley said. Our board was very unified about what we wanted to see in our next superintendent and the process we took to get there. Im proud to be here tonight to make our decision Siers contract as the new superintendent begins July 1, just a day after the contract of current Superintendent Bernice Cobbs ends. Cobbs announced last year she would step down. Neither Worley nor Siers on Friday would disclose his salary or other terms of his contract. The Roanoke Times has filed a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request to obtain that public information. The board hired Cobbs, a longtime Franklin County educator, as superintendent in 2020. According to a news release issued by Pulaski County announcing his resignation, during his tenure he oversaw the bond referendum campaign and construction of Pulaski County Middle School, navigated the school division through the COVID-19 pandemic in a way that allowed Pulaski County students to return to five days a week of in person instruction before any other school division in Southwest Virginia, and oversaw the development and implementation of a division-wide model for effective instruction which created higher standards and increased expectations about instructional delivery in all Pulaski County Public Schools classrooms. He informed the countys school board late last month he would be resigning and taking the position in Franklin County. Prior to his time in Pulaski County, Siers served as the principal of Christiansburg High School in 2012 after two years working as the superintendent of Monroe County Schools in West Virginia, where he was credited with drastically cutting the countys dropout rate. Prior to that, he served as principal of Bland High School in Bland County, and was an assistant principal and transportation director at Hickory High School in Hickory, North Carolina. Siers earned his doctorate in education leadership and policy studies from Virginia Tech and a masters of school administration from Appalachian State, according to his LinkedIn profile. His undergraduate degree is from Concord University in West Virginia. Siers also is a military veteran, including active duty tours in Yugoslavia and Iraq, according to his biography on the Pulaski County Public Schools website. At Fridays announcement, Siers praised the beauty of Franklin County as he travels the area in search of a new home for his family. He also expressed his eagerness to get to know the community. I hope to get to know each and every one of you in the next few months, Siers said. Cobbs, present for the announcement Friday, stated she looks forward to passing the baton to him as he takes the position. She said they would be working together over the next few weeks. Ive known Dr. Siers a long time and he will do a good job for this county and this school division, Cobbs said. Following Fridays meeting, Worley said the school board ultimately decided to hire Siers based on his vast experience, especially in rural schools similar to Franklin County and his willingness to be involved in the community. Those are the things people told us they wanted, he said. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. You have permission to edit this collection. Edit Close Pittsburg department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr. hired Wright in 1935 to design a private residence for his family. The house would serve as their weekend home out in the country, roughly 75 miles (121 kilometers) outside of Pittsburgh. Kaufmann and his wife, Liliane, were impressed by Wright's work after visiting their son at Taliesin, an architectural school Wright designed and ran in Wisconsin. "The Kaufmanns were innovative retailers with an eye toward good design. Their son, Edgar Kaufmann Jr., read Frank Lloyd Wright's autobiography and participated in Wright's apprentice program at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin," says Clinton E. Piper in an email. Piper works as a senior administrator of special projects at Fallingwater. Advertisement Since Wright had suffered from a lack of work during the Great Depression, which put a halt to many architectural endeavors, landing such a big commission helped put him back on the map as a top architect. Wright completed construction on the 5,330-square-foot (495-square-meter) main house by 1938 and finished building the 1,700-square-foot (158-square-meter) guest house the following year. The home remained a private residence of the family until 1963, when the son, Edgar Jr., gave the deed to Fallingwater and the surrounding 1,500 acres (607 hectares) to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, dedicating the property as the 'Kaufmann Conservation on Bear Run, a Memorial to Edgar J. and Liliane S. Kaufmann.' Fallingwater first opened its doors in 1964 for public tours. " " An interior view of the concrete, steel, wood and stone living room at Fallingwater, as it appeared in 1937, shortly after it was built. Today, it's the only major Frank Lloyd Wright work with its setting, original furnishings and artwork still intact. Chicago History Museum/Getty Images Since then, many entities have recognized the importance of Fallingwater's artistry. In the late 1970s, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated the museum a National Historic Landmark. And in 2019, UNESCO added Fallingwater (and seven other Frank Lloyd Wright-designed sites) to its list of World Heritage Sites, marking an impressive international recognition of Fallingwater's legacy in the world of architecture. More than 4.5 million people have visited Fallingwater since it opened to the public among them architectural buffs and curious novices alike. "Fallingwater is a humane experience, where Wright's insight, the Kaufmann family's way of life, and the natural setting are spread out for all to experience and question regardless of their background or previous knowledge," says Piper. " " A temple compound at Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi, India was flooded by rising water from River Ganges due to heavy rain in August 2020. Hindustan Times/Hindustan Times via Getty Images If all the glaciers and ice caps on the planet melted, global sea level would rise by about 230 feet (70 meters). That amount of water would flood nearly every coastal city around the world [source: U.S. Geological Survey]. Rising temperatures, melting arctic ice, drought, desertification and other catastrophic effects of climate change are not examples of future troubles they are reality today. Climate change isn't just about the environment; its effects touch every part of our lives, from the stability of our governments and economies to our health and where we live. Where would you go if, say, a flood devastated the city you live in? Millions of people around the world have been forced to answer this question. In 2017, 68.5 million people were displaced more than at any point in human history, according to the Brookings Institute. More than one-third of those were uprooted by sudden weather events, including floods, forest fires and intense storms. A 2018 report from the World Bank, which focused on three regions Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America found that without tangible climate action, more than 143 million people in just these three areas will be forced to move to escape the impacts of climate change by 2050. Advertisement But more than 1 billion people worldwide will live in countries with insufficient infrastructure to withstand climate change by 2050. The Pacific Islands are expected to be affected especially hard. Sea level there is already rising at almost 0.5 inches (12 millimeters) per year. Eight islands have already been submerged and two more are close to vanishing. By the year 2100, experts fear 48 more islands in the Pacific will be completely underwater. So what about the people who live there? What do we call these people who will be displaced? It's actually complicated. It's difficult to determine what category these migrants should fall under because no global definition exists. Why does that matter? Without a standard method of classification, there's no way to track how many people are affected or displaced by an environmental or climate event. So the most commonly used term is "environmental refugee." Experts credit the term and its definition to UN Environment Programme (UNEP) researcher Essam El-Hinnawi, who in 1985 wrote the United Nations report titled "Environmental Refugees." El-Hinnawi defined environmental refugees as: ... those people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of a marked environmental disruption (natural and/or triggered by people) that jeopardized their existence and/or seriously affected the quality of their life. This working definition has been the baseline for current debate. But according to the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, a refugee "is someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion" [source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]. Environmental refugees do not legally fall under this status. " " An Indonesian woman and her children rest at a refugee center for those displaced by recent flash floods on March 21, 2019 in Sentani, Papua province, Indonesia. Ed Wray/Getty Images Strange as it may sound, the recent warming caused by our greenhouse gas emissions may be provoking an increase in both flooding and droughts. While certain areas across the globe now receive enhanced precipitation, soils in some dryer parts of the world stand to lose a great deal of moisture. To learn more, we reached out to Dr. Nathan Steiger. An atmospheric scientist at Columbia University, Steiger studies the effects that variations in climate have had and still have on human civilizations. Advertisement "Historically, societies were impacted most by the same kinds of disruptive climate events that occur today: prolonged and extreme heat and cold, droughts and floods," he says via email. "Often these climate changes in the past simply happened to people due to no fault of their own ... But sometimes these disruptive climate extremes were made worse by human mismanagement of their environments." He points to agriculture-driven soil erosion as an example of the latter. "Areas that lose thick, rich soils are more susceptible to drying out during droughts, thus making the droughts even worse than they would have been." In 2019, Steiger co-authored a comprehensive study which appeared in the journal, Nature. Using ice cores, coral samples, historical records and other lines of evidence, his team reviewed the history of climate shifts large and small over the past two millennia. During that swath of time, there were a number of aberrant periods, including the unusually hot "Medieval Climate Anomaly" which lasted from 800 to 1200 CE. Most of these events were regional in nature. Yet, Steiger and his colleagues found that for 98 percent of the planet, the single hottest period during the last 2,000 years was the late 20th century, when global temperatures were absolutely soaring. So let's do a quick recap. Over 20 centuries of human history, our forebears never had to withstand any climate-related phenomenon that was as universally impactful or frankly, alarming as modern-day climate change. Aren't we lucky? This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Now That's Interesting When the Okjokull glacier withered away, it exposed a long-buried shield volcano. " " This shows the location of the Wow! signal on a star map. There are two possible regions indicated here; the ambiguity is due to the way in which the original 1977 experiment was designed. Benjamin Crowell/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) If you believe that we are not alone in the universe or want to believe then the "Wow!" signal offers thrilling proof that someone, somewhere, is trying to say "hello." Then there's the bad news. In the more than three decades since Jerry Ehman circled the astonishing "6EQUJ5" on his printout, no SETI radio telescope has recorded anything like it since. The Big Ear even scanned the same patch of sky 100 more times, but found nothing [source: Gray and Marvel]. Advertisement Robert Gray, an amateur astronomer and data analyst with a passion for the "Wow!" signal, conducted the most serious attempt to replicate the signal using one of the biggest and baddest radio telescopes on Earth, the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico. In 1995 and 1996, Gray aimed the VLA at Sagittarius, the first time the telescope was used expressly to search for signs of extraterrestrial life. The VLA which combines the power of 27 separate radio antennas is 100 times more sensitive than the Big Ear, which was retired in 1997 [sources: NRAO, Gray and Marvel]. Sadly, Gray found no trace of the "Wow!" signal with the VLA. But that wasn't enough to convince him that the original recording was some kind of glitch. In a 2012 interview published in The Atlantic, Gray argued that our assumptions about extraterrestrial radio transmissions are all wrong. We imagine a constant beacon shining toward Earth from a distant planet. But the energy required to sustain such a broadcast in all directions, at all times, across millions of light years is equal to thousands upon thousands of our biggest power plants. What if the alien civilization isn't a hyper-advanced race with limitless resources, but instead is more like us? The more economical approach would be to broadcast the signal from a type of radio "lighthouse" that transmits its message in only one direction at a time. If that's the case, then our current system of searching for alien life focusing on one patch of sky for 20 minutes before moving on to the next would require tremendous luck to catch the signal as it briefly flashes our way [source: Andersen]. Perhaps Gray was onto something. in 2021, amateur astronomer and founder of The Exoplanets Channel, Alberto Caballero, used that same hypothesis and focused exclusively on the constellation Sagittarius, knowing that the Big Ear telescope's two receivers were pointing in the direction of the constellation on the night of the Wow! signal. Using the European Space Agency's database of stars from the Gaia satellite to look for stars in that specific area, Caballero found one remarkably like our sun and thinks it could be the source of the Wow! signal. The star, which is named as 2MASS 19281982-2640123, is about 1,800 light-years away and has a temperature, diameter and luminosity nearly identical to our sun. Caballero published his findings May 6, 2022, in International Journal of Astrobiology. "2MASS 19281982-2640123 could be, therefore, the only sun-like star found among the thousands of stars located in the Wow! signal region," the study says. Case closed? Not even close. 2MASS 19281982-2640123 is located much too far to send any type of radio or light transmission reply, though the study says it could be a good target for further observations when searching for techno-signatures such as artificial light or satellite transits. So, the Wow! signal mystery continues for now. Advertisement Originally Published: Feb 17, 2015 Seguin, TX (78155) Today Scattered showers and thunderstorms. High around 75F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. Low 66F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Ousmane Sonko: de l'Anti-France au suicide politique assiste" ( Par la Cellule d'Appui a la Veille Strategique de l'APR) Les recentes sorties de M. Ousmane Sonko sont revelatrices de la situation d'un homme politique angoisse, deprime et en pleine perdition. Profil hagard et papelard, M. Ousmane Sonko, a travers ce qui ressemble fort bien a un ultime sursaut de survie politique, a aborder 03 questions centrales dans le Temps politique actuel. Il y a quelques jours, M. Sonko informait, joyeusement et fierement, de l'implantation d'un Supermarche Auchan a Ziguinchor. Cette operation somme toute banale, revet un cachet politique particulier des lors qu'elle est associee au nom de M. Sonko. Ce dernier est entre en politique sous le drapeau de "l'Anti - Systeme " et de la lutte contre la France dont le genou pesant etouffait un peuple vassalise. Mais, depuis quelque temps, le proprietaire du Pastef a, objectivement, ingurgite ses vomissures d'hier. Ses interventions et interviews planifiees, diffusees a grande echelle par les Groupes mediatiques " Mainstream" tels que RfI, France 24, Le Monde et le Figaro, avaient emu plus d'un Senegalais. En deroulant le Tapis Rouge au chef du Yewwi, les Medias Francais relayaient et renseignaient sur une verite: M. Ousmane Sonko est devenu un homme - lige, le chouchou, le prefere, le " choisi" et " elu" des Francais pour la Presidentielle de 2024. Cette posture de Deshonneur, d'avilissement et d'indignite, est ouvertement assumee par M. Sonko qui, embourbe dans d'inextricables difficultes, ne compte plus que sur Paris et " l'establishment" francais pour se sortir d'affaires. C'est cette nouvelle Posture qu'il valide en garantissant, avalisant et validant l'implantation de Auchan a Ziguinchor! Comme pour assumer son statut de d'Artagnan epee de bois au vent, le neo - mousquetaire de la Reine -France, accuse les FDS d'une " tentative d'empoisonnement ". Cette ridicule et grossiere affirmation, a ete battue en breche par tout le monde scientifique de notre pays et par tous les Cabinets specialises dont les noms etaient associes a cette honteuse et inacceptable contre - verite! Cette double situation expose les traits majeurs de la personnalite de M. Ousmane Sonko, un homme sans scrupule qui prend toutes les libertes avec la Verite, manipulateur hors- pair et pret a tout pour acceder au pouvoir! Se prononcant sur l'appel au Dialogue lance par le President de la Republique, M. Ousmane Sonko rappelle ce qu'il n'a jamais cesse d'etre: un nihiliste, un anarcho - populiste qui ne croit guere a l'acces au pouvoir, par des voies democratiques. Placant son ego nombriliste au-dessus de Tout, M. Sonko demontre que le Senegal n'est pas sa priorite et que, seule importe, sa survie politique. Mais, l'adhesion massive de l'ecrasante majorite du peuple Senegalais et des Forces sainement vives de notre pays a cet appel du President Macky Sall, temoigne de la maturite de notre grand peuple. Celui- la meme attache a la paix civile, a la cohesion nationale et aux Valeurs et Principes de la Republique. C'est dire que l'imitateur de Iznogood, accompagne de "Madame Mandat", neo - opposante et poids plume politique..., est en marge de la grande Histoire du Senegal qui continue de s'ecrire, sous Macky Sall, dans toute sa splendeur! La CAVE ( Cellule d'Appui a la Veille Strategique) de l'APR. CAIRO, May 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 38 passengers, including two Egyptians and 36 Sudanese, were wounded on Saturday as a bus overturned on a desert road in Egypt's Beni Suef governorate, south of the capital Cairo. The bus, carrying Sudanese citizens fleeing the war-torn country, overturned on its way to Cairo, according to a statement by Beni Suef governorate. Beni Suef Governor Mohamad Hany Ghoneim visited the hospital and called for all necessary healthcare to treat the wounded, said the statement. Thousands of Sudanese citizens have crossed into neighboring Egypt to flee the ongoing deadly military clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that erupted in mid-April. According to the Egyptian office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as of May 3, Egypt had received about 50,500 evacuees from Sudan, among them 47,000 Sudanese. The office said it is cooperating with the Egyptian Red Crescent to provide assistance to the evacuees. Russie : l'ecrivain Prilepine blesse dans une "explosion", une autre personne tuee L'ecrivain nationaliste russe Zakhar Prilepine, soutien de l'attaque du Kremlin en Ukraine, a ete blesse samedi dans l'"explosion" d'une voiture en Russie et une autre personne a ete tuee, a indique le ministere de l'Interieur, en pleine vague d'attaques touchant le pays. "Selon des informations preliminaire, une personne a ete tuee par l'explosion, et l'ecrivain Zakhar Prilepine, qui se trouvait dans la voiture, a ete blesse", a indique dans un communique le service de presse du ministere de l'Interieur, precisant que l'incident a eu lieu dans la region de Nijni Novgorod. AFP US Supreme Court stays the execution of Richard Glossip | Main | "Evidence Rules for Decarceration" May 6, 2023 Longest sentence yet in Jan 6 case, 14+ years in federal prison, given to man with 38 priors As reported in this Fox News piece, a "Kentucky man with a long criminal record was sentenced Friday to a record-setting 14 years in prison for attacking police officers with pepper spray and a chair as he stormed the U.S. Capitol with his wife." Here is more: Peter Schwartzs prison sentence is the longest so far among hundreds of Capitol riot cases. The judge who sentenced Schwartz also handed down the previous longest sentence 10 years to a retired New York Police Department officer who assaulted a police officer outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 24 years and 6 months for Schwartz, a welder. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Schwartz to 14 years and two months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Mehta said Schwartz was a "soldier against democracy" who participated in "the kind of mayhem, chaos that had never been seen in the country's history." "You are not a political prisoner," the judge told him. "You're not somebody who is standing up against injustice or fighting against an autocratic regime." Schwartz briefly addressed the judge before learning his sentence, saying, "I do sincerely regret the damage that Jan. 6 has caused to so many people and their lives." The judge said he didn't believe Schwartz's statement, noting his lack of remorse. "You took it upon yourself to try and injure multiple police officers that day," Mehta said. Schwartz was armed with a wooden tire knocker when he and his then-wife, Shelly Stallings, joined other rioters in overwhelming a line of police officers on the Capitols Lower West Terrace, where he threw a folding chair at officers. "By throwing that chair, Schwartz directly contributed to the fall of the police line that enabled rioters to flood forward and take over the entire terrace," prosecutor Jocelyn Bond wrote in a court filing. Schwartz, 49, also armed himself with a police-issued "super soaker" canister of pepper spray and sprayed it at retreating officers. to a tunnel entrance, Schwartz coordinated with two other rioters, Markus Maly and Jeffrey Brown, to spray an orange liquid toward officers clashing with the mob. "While the stream of liquid did not directly hit any officer, its effect was to heighten the danger to the officers in that tunnel," Bond wrote.... Stallings pleaded guilty last year to riot-related charges and was sentenced last month to two years of incarceration. Schwartz was tried with co-defendants Maly and Brown. In December, a jury convicted all three of assault charges and other felony offenses. Mehta sentenced Brown last Friday to four years and six months in prison. Maly is scheduled to be sentenced June 9. Schwartzs attorneys requested a prison sentence of four years and six months. They said his actions on Jan. 6 were motivated by a "misunderstanding" about the 2020 presidential election. Then-President Donald Trump and his allies spread baseless conspiracy theories that Democrats stole the election from the Republican incumbent.... Schwartz was on probation when he joined the Jan. 6 riot. His criminal record includes a "jaw-dropping" 38 prior convictions since 1991, "several of which involved assaulting or threatening officers or other authority figures," Bond wrote.... The 10-year prison sentence that Mehta handed down in September to retired NYPD officer Thomas Webster had remained the longest until Friday. Webster had used a metal flagpole to assault an officer and then tackled the same officer as the mob advanced toward the Capitol. May 6, 2023 at 06:20 PM | Permalink Comments with his record and for his crime, he should have received at least 20. So says Judge anon. Posted by: anon | May 6, 2023 7:36:25 PM Given this defendant'[s criminal history, I think he got off lightly. The Court could easily have imposed a 20 year sentence, and it would no be reversed on appeal. I once worked on a sentencing Memorandum for a defendant who had 38 criminal history points, more than double the number of points needed to get him to the top category, VI! Yet there were no violent crimes and no weapons involved in any of his cases. He had 6 misdemeanor shoplifting cases from 6 different WalMart stores, and 5 misdemeanor possessions of marijuana, a few bad checks, and my favorite crimes, DUI on a jet ski on a Kentucky lake and jet skiing after dusk on the lake (Cave Run Lake). Because this defendant had a prior felony drug conviction, he was facing up to 30 years in prison on his current Federal drug case. Going into sentencing, we estimated a sentence of 12 to 14 years, if we were fortunate. The Judge imposed a 9 year sentence, with a recommendation for the BOPs drug treatment program, which could take a year off the sentence upon successful complete. It was a big defense win. We also defeated the Federal DEA agents' attempt at Sentencing Entrapment. The Government's informant had asked the defendant's boss if he could get him a pistol, which he could no do himself because, as he revealed, he was a convicted felon. The next time the defendants met the informant, the boss (who was driving) produced a 9 mm pistol and asked his passenger (our client) to pass the weapon out the window to the informant. We pointed out to the Court that our client was not in the car when the informant had revealed that he was a felon and asked the drug ring leader if he could get him a pistol. Further, simply passing a gun out a window amounts to only "transient possession", so our client did not get a gun enhancement himself either. At that time (2014), the 6th Circuit had not ruled on "transient possession", so I cited cases from the 5 Circuits that had so ruled. Sentencing entrapment can be a serious problem with some Federal agents and their informants. Posted by: Jim Gormley | May 8, 2023 1:20:06 PM Post a comment The platforms, upon their completion, will be operated by Equinor. Seatrium (formerly known as SembMarine) S51 has secured a contract thats worth more than $500 million from Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and bp. The contract, which is secured by Seatriums wholly-owned subsidiary Sembcorp Marine Offshore Platforms (SMOP), is for two offshore wind farm substations. The award follows the successful completion of the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract which was secured by SMOP in 2022. The project will involve the engineering, procurement, construction, offshore hook-up and commissioning of two offshore substation platforms for the Empire Wind 1 and 2 offshore wind farms. The wind farms are located about 20 miles south of Long Island, east of the Rockaways. The platforms, upon their completion, will be operated by Equinor. The project will power over one million homes in New York and is expected to be a major contributor in supporting the USs energy transition goals. Construction works on the 810MW Empire Wind 1 platform and the 1,260MW Empire Wind 2 platform are expected to commence in 4QFY2023 and 2HFY2024 respectively at Seatriums Singapore and Indonesia yards. In addition, the group will be constructing a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) for deployment at the Empire wind farms. The next-generation WTIV is designed to handle wind turbines with larger capacities. We would like to thank Empire Wind for their confidence in awarding us the turnkey construction of the two offshore substation platforms for the Empire Wind 1 and 2 wind farms. Leveraging the combined capabilities and synergies of our group, we are committed to working in close partnership with the Empire Wind team to achieve high standards of safety, quality, sustainability and performance, as well as execution excellence and the timely delivery of both offshore substation platforms, says Samuel Wong, executive vice president and head of SMOP. Story continues We are heartened to be chosen by Empire Wind as a trusted partner for the engineering, procurement, construction, offshore hook-up and commissioning of the Empire Wind 1 and 2 Wind Farm offshore substation platforms, which will contribute towards advancing sustainability and decarbonisation through their US operations. The contract win is an endorsement of Seatriums proven expertise in delivering a diverse suite of turnkey solutions for the offshore renewables and wind energy sector, says Chris Ong, CEO of Seatrium. Shares in Seatrium closed 0.1 cent higher or 0.78% up at 13 cents on May 5. See Also: 600 640 5 LinkedIn 25 Employee-experience manager ranks fifth among LinkedIn's top 25 fastest-growing jobs 2.12%2 2.95% Yen Good Mask182 6% 2.1%23% Google1 3 2%1.2% 13.22% 82% 7.5% 716App 0.53% 1.17%10% 10% LinkedIn700app 9% 9%4 38% 0.22% 32% 17 SIOUX CITY An Omaha woman who set off an explosive device at Sioux City's Scheels store to facilitate a shoplifting plan has been sentenced to 18 years in prison. Claudette Loera, 35, pleaded guilty Thursday in Woodbury County District Court to second-degree criminal mischief as a habitual offender, fourth-degree theft and third-degree arson, which was reduced from first-degree arson as part of a plea agreement. She must serve at least three years before she's eligible for parole. Loera also was ordered to pay $3,975 in restitution jointly with her co-defendant, Jessica Katz. The two went to the store at 4400 Sergeant Road on Oct. 26, when Loera set off the explosion as a distraction while they stole merchandise from the store. Loera took a small device from her sweatshirt pocket, lighted the fuse and tossed it onto a shelf. When the device exploded, the two women left the store with shirts, shoes and other items totaling $562. The explosion caused more than $3,412 in damages, but no injuries. Katz, 41, of Omaha, has pleaded guilty of second-degree criminal mischief as a habitual offender and fourth-degree theft. According to terms of her plea agreement, a 15-year prison sentence on the criminal mischief charge will be dismissed and she will be placed on probation. She will be sentenced to 200 days in jail for theft, and a charge of first-degree arson will be dismissed. She's scheduled to be sentenced June 29. PHOENIX Paramedics summoned to an Arizona retirement community last summer found an 80-year-old woman slumped inside her mobile home, enveloped in the suffocating 99 degree Fahrenheit heat she suffered with for days after her air conditioner broke down. Efforts to revive her failed, and her death was ruled environmental heat exposure aggravated by heart disease and diabetes. In America's hottest big metro, older people like the Sun Lakes mobile home resident accounted for most of the 77 people who died last summer in broiling heat inside their homes, almost all without air conditioning. Now, heat dangers are becoming familiar nationwide as global warming creates new challenges to protect the aged. From the Pacific Northwest to Chicago to North Carolina, health clinics, utilities and local governments are being tested to keep older people safe when temperatures soar. They're adopting rules for disconnecting electricity, mandating when to switch on communal air conditioning and improving communication with at-risk people living alone. Situated in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix and its suburbs are ground zero for heat-associated deaths in the U.S. Such fatalities are so common, Arizona's largest county keeps a weekly online tally during the six-month hot season from May through October. Temperatures this year were already hitting the high 90s the first week of April. "Phoenix really is the model for what we'll be seeing in other places," said researcher Jennifer Ailshire, a native of the desert city now at the University of Southern California's Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, where she studies how environmental factors affect health and aging. "The world is changing rapidly and I fear we are not acting fast enough to teach people how harmful rising temperatures can be." A 2021 study estimated more than a third of U.S. heat deaths each year can be attributed to human-caused global warming. It found more than 1,100 deaths a year from climate change-caused heat in some 200 U.S. cities, many in the East and Midwest, where people often don't have air conditioning or are not acclimated to hot weather. Another study showed that, as climate changes worsens in coming decades, dangerous heat will hit much of the world at least three times as hard. Isolated and vulnerable, the heat victims last year during Maricopa County's deadliest summer on record included a couple in their 80s without known relatives, an 83-year-old woman with dementia living alone after her husband entered hospice care and a 62-year-old Rwandan refugee whose air conditioner broke down. While most of the county's confirmed 378 heat-associated deaths were outdoors, those who died indoors were especially vulnerable because of isolation, mobility issues or medical problems as outside highs hit 115 degrees. Older people of color with a greater tendency for chronic conditions like diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure are especially at risk. In Chicago, three African American women in their 60s and 70s died in spring 2022 when the centrally controlled heating in their housing complex remained on and the air conditioning was off despite unseasonable 90-degree weather in mid-May. An undetermined number of older people died during the summer of 2021 when an unexpected heat wave swept across the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Many U.S. cities, including Phoenix, have plans to protect people during heat waves, opening cooling centers and distributing bottled water. But many older people need personalized attention, said Dr. Aaron Bernstein, who directs the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "If you are elderly and sick, you are unlikely to get into an Uber or bus to get to a cooling center," said Bernstein, who vividly recalls a 1995 heat wave that killed 739 mostly older people in Chicago, his hometown. "So many were socially isolated and at tremendous risk." Sociologist Eric M. Klinenberg wrote about that catastrophe in his book "Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago." "Older people are more prone to live alone," he said, "and they are the most likely to die." That's true of all extreme weather. When Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana in 2005, around half of the 1,000 people killed were 75 or older, most of them drowned when their homes flooded. Chicago encourages residents to check on older relatives and neighbors on hot days and city workers visit people's home. Bernstein's center is working with relief organization Americares to help community health clinics prepare vulnerable patients for heat waves and other extreme weather. A "climate resilience tool kit" includes tips like making sure patients have wall thermometers and know how to check weather forecasts on a smart phone. Patients learn simple ways to beat the heat, like taking a shower or sponge bath to cool off and drinking plenty of water. Alexis Hodges, a family nurse practitioner at the Community Care Clinic of Dare in coastal North Carolina, said rising temperatures can cause renal failure in patients with kidney problems and exacerbate dehydration from medications like diuretics. At the nonprofit Mountain Park Health centers that annually serve 100,000 patients in greater Phoenix, nurse practitioner Anthony Carano wrote letters to utility companies for low-income patients with chronic conditions, asking them not to turn off power despite missed payments. Maricopa County in April used federal funds to allocate another $10 million to its air conditioner replacement and repair program for people who qualify, bringing total funding to $13.65 million. In greater Phoenix and several rural Arizona counties, older low-income people can apply for free repair or replacement of air conditioners through a separate nonprofit program. United States Cities With the Highest Rates of Seniors Living Alone United States Cities With the Highest Rates of Seniors Living Alone Fatal fall injuries for seniors are becoming increasingly common Women account for over two thirds of seniors living alone Midwestern states tend to have the highest shares of seniors living alone Small and midsize metros with the most seniors living alone 15. Birmingham-Hoover, AL 14. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 13. New Orleans-Metairie, LA 12. Memphis, TN-MS-AR 11. Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN 10. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI 9. Rochester, NY 8. St. Louis, MO-IL 7. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI 6. Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT 5. Providence-Warwick, RI-MA 4. Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI 3. Pittsburgh, PA 2. Cleveland-Elyria, OH 1. Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Police say a 21-year-old who was a student at the University of California, Davis, until last week was arrested on accusations of fatally stabbing two people and wounding another in attacks that terrified the quiet college community. Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel says Carlos Dominguez was taken into custody after 15 people called in reports of a person who matched the description of the suspect in a local park. Pytel says that Dominguez had a large knife in his backpack. He was wearing the same clothes described by witnesses who saw the third stabbing. Pytel says police believe Dominguez is responsible for all three stabbings. It wasnt immediately clear if Dominguez had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. GENEVA The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions of people worldwide. The announcement, more than three years after WHO declared the coronavirus an international crisis, offers some relief, if not an ending, to a pandemic that stirred fear and suspicion, hand-wringing and finger-pointing across the globe. The U.N. health agency's officials said that even though the emergency phase is over, the pandemic isn't finished, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. WHO says thousands of people are still dying from the virus every week, and millions of others are suffering from debilitating, long-term effects. "It's with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "That does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat," he said, warning that new variants could emerge. He noted the official COVID-19 death toll is 7 million but the real figure is estimated to be at least 20 million. Tedros said the pandemic was on a downward trend for more than a year, acknowledging that most countries already returned to life as it was before COVID-19. He bemoaned the damage that COVID-19 had done, saying it shattered businesses, exacerbated political divisions, led to the spread of misinformation and plunged millions into poverty. The political fallout in some countries was swift and unforgiving. Some pundits say missteps by President Donald Trump in his administration's response to the pandemic had a role in his losing his reelection bid in 2020. The United States saw the deadliest outbreak anywhere in the world: More than 1 million people died across the country. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, submitted her resignation Friday, saying the waning of the pandemic is a good time to make a transition. She sent a resignation letter to President Joe Biden and announced the decision at a CDC staff meeting. Her last day will be June 30, CDC officials said. An interim director wasnt immediately named. The CDC, with a $12 billion budget and more than 12,000 employees, is an Atlanta-based federal agency charged with protecting Americans from public health threats. Walensky, 54, has been the agency's director for a little over two years. In her letter to Biden, she expressed mixed feelings about the decision and didn't explain exactly why she was stepping down. I have never been prouder of anything I have done in my professional career, she wrote. Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO's emergencies chief, said it was incumbent on heads of states and other leaders to negotiate a wide-ranging pandemic treaty to decide how future health threats should be faced. Ryan said that some of the scenes during COVID-19, when people resorted to "bartering for oxygen canisters," fought to get into emergency rooms and died in parking lots because they couldn't get treated, must never be repeated. When the U.N. health agency first declared the coronavirus to be an international crisis on Jan. 30, 2020, the disease hadn't yet been named COVID-19 and there were no major outbreaks beyond China. More than three years later, the virus has caused an estimated 764 million cases globally and about 5 billion people received at least one dose of vaccine. In the U.S., the public health emergency declaration is set to expire on May 11, when wide-ranging pandemic response measures, including vaccine mandates, will end. Deaths in the U.S. are at their lowest point since the earliest days of the outbreak in early 2020. When Tedros declared COVID-19 to be an emergency in 2020, he said his greatest fear was the virus' potential to spread in countries with weak health systems. Some countries that suffered the worst COVID-19 death tolls were previously judged to be the best-prepared for a pandemic, including the U.S. and Britain. According to WHO data, the number of deaths reported in Africa account for just 3% of the global total. WHO doesn't "declare" pandemics, but first used the term to describe the outbreak in March 2020, when the virus had spread to every continent except Antarctica, long after many other scientists said a pandemic was underway. WHO is the only agency mandated to coordinate the world's response to acute health threats, but the organization faltered repeatedly. It recommended against mask-wearing for the public for months, a mistake many health officials say cost lives. Numerous scientists also slammed WHO's reluctance to acknowledge that COVID-19 was frequently spread in the air and by people without symptoms, criticizing the agency's lack of strong guidance to prevent such exposure. Mark Woolhouse, an infectious-diseases professor at the University of Edinburgh, described COVID-19 as a "once-in-a-lifetime disaster" and said broad immunity against the virus meant we are now in a new phase of the outbreak. He lamented that the global community missed numerous chances to stop the coronavirus earlier, in addition to causing much "self-inflicted harm" by shutting down much of society. "Given the ever-present threat of another pandemic, lessons need to be learned," he said. Average consumer debt jumped 7% in 2022historic growth as pandemic wanes Average consumer debt jumped 7% in 2022historic growth as pandemic wanes Consumer demand for most types of loans increased more than usual in 2022 Average overall debt increases, no matter the credit score Debt trends follow similar pattern across generations Mortgage debt increases alongside higher mortgage rates Student loan debt decreases as borrowers await court ruling Factors attributable to increases in debt Spoilers for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story below. After Bridgerton Season 1 became a monster hit for Netflix in 2020, demand for more of the Bridgerton-verse grew, leading to the shows early renewal through at least four seasons. There are nine Bridgerton books out there, written by romance author Julia Quinn, plus Quinns Bridgerton prequel series, which is four books long. Unlike the Bridgerton TV universe, created by Shonda Rhimes, none of those books have protagonists of color. Advertisement So its of note that the newest Bridgerton TV series is not based on a Quinn book, but rather is something totally new. Queen Charlotte, a prequel spinoff, tells the backstory of young Charlottes (India Amarteifio) acclimation to her arranged marriage with King George (Corey Mylchreest). The story of Queen Charlotte was created entirely by Rhimes. Then, Quinn used Rhimes scripts to write the companion novel of the same name, which will be available on May 9. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is Quinns first attempt at centering a novel on a nonwhite protagonist, and the topic of diversity in historical romance is one that has gotten her in some hot water in the past. (And, as comments on the Goodreads page for the Queen Charlotte book illustrate, Romancelandia has the memory of an elephant.) I talked to Quinn about what this reverse writing process was like, and what she was thinking when she said what she said about romance, Black protagonists, and happy endings back in 2017. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Advertisement Nadira Goffe: How did you come to the decision to tell Queen Charlottes backstory? Had you always wanted to? Or did you decide to do it after the positive response to the first two seasons of the show? Julia Quinn: So this one, I have to give it all to Shonda [Rhimes]. Or actually to [Netflix co-CEO] Ted Sarandos mother-in-law. Im not kidding. After Bridgerton came out, his mother-in-law said, You should do something on Queen Charlotte. Then he started thinking about it and he said something to Shonda. And Shonda, of course, was like, Oh my gosh. Yes. And then I only came in when Shonda called me to tell me that theyd already greenlit the project and they were going to do a television show. Advertisement Advertisement Oh, wow. I mean, Queen Charlottes not in any of the books. Shes a real historical figure, but shes not in the Bridgerton books. And she was hands down my favorite change that they made to the show, half because of the fabulous writing and half because of [actress] Golda Rosheuvel. So I thought it was a great idea. And then my husband, as soon as I told him, said, You have to write the book. And I said, What? I dont know. Its kind of reversed. Its reverse engineering. But then the more I thought about it, the more I thought it seemed like a really cool and interesting project. So at the Bridgerton Season 2 premiere, I mentioned it to Shonda: So, well have the books that made the show, that made the show that made the book. And she told me later that she had been thinking about the same thing. Advertisement Advertisement The synergy between you two! Yes! So I cant take any credit for the idea to do something on Queen Charlotte. Slate receives a commission when you purchase items using the links on this page. Thank you for your support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You said that Queen Charlotte was one of your favorite additions that the Bridgerton television series made to the story. Could you expand on that? Well, I think theres two parts to it. One part is just as a plot element, she serves this great purpose in providing a framework to the show in a way that helps make a romance novel work better for the screen. Because theres certain things that work best in different formats or mediathings that work great in a novel dont necessarily work great in a show, and vice versa. And I think having her there as this kind of figure at the top of the society, kind of forcing everybody into this, OK, we get to open with the [young women] getting presented. Everybodys worried about whos going to be the diamond. It provided this great framework that they can use from season to season. And on paper, its fabulous. And then you bring in Goldas performance, which just transcended everything. Advertisement Advertisement You mentioned before that there are certain things that work for novels that might not work for a television adaptation. In that same vein, what are the differences you noticed between working with Rhimes on the TV series versus writing the books? Are your processes different? Advertisement Well, to be completely frank, I have no direct knowledge of Shondas process, because we didnt work together holed up in a room. What we really did was take turns with what we did best and what our expertise is. So she wrote six scriptstwo of them she wrote with someone else, but for the most part, she wrote six scriptsthen handed them off to me. And then I took those scripts and figured out how to turn them into a novel. And I checked in with her a few times, but for the most part, she just said, You do what you know how to do. Then she said, I dont know how to write a novel. I know how to write a television script. It was a huge compliment, just the level of trust she had. It was really exactly what happened with [the first two seasons of] Bridgerton, when I retained no creative control. Because, I said, Look, Im not going to tell Shonda Rhimes how to make television. She knows what shes doing. And obviously she did! And she basically did the same thing for me, [in giving Queen Charlotte over to be made into a book,] which was an honor, to be honest, to be a recipient of that trust. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So, you had the scripts that Shonda had written, and you already had the first two seasons of Bridgerton to build on. But did you do any more historical research to write Queen Charlotte? Advertisement For the most part, I really took Shondas lead on this one. Especially when she was dealing with issues of raceI mean, for one thing, because [the idea that Charlotte may have been part Black] is historical speculation, not complete historical fact. So I really wanted, in issues like that, to follow her lead and delve into it with the same depth and tone that she did. I wanted to keep it even that way. But a lot of other things, I brought in from my research. Advertisement For example, one thing that is true in history that we didnt do in the show is show the fact that Queen Charlotte actually didnt speak a word of English when she got to England. The show never really touches on the fact that her first language is German. And so, in the book, I had a lot of fun with that, because Ive always loved, for example, big, long German words. In at least three or four places in the book, you have a moment in her head where she is frustrated because if it were in German, she could have figured out a word for something. Advertisement These are small things, but things that I think round out the character more. I looked into the fact that both she and George actually had a lot of brothers and sisters. You see one of her brothers in the show, but thats not really mentioned. And they dont actually show up as characters in the book, but it is mentioned there, and its part of rounding out the character even more. And then also, I did visit the set. Advertisement Did that change the way you were going to write Queen Charlotte? Something that Ive said in dozens of interviews is that Im not a particularly visual writer. Because people always say, Oh, the Bridgertons, is that how they look to you? And I would think, I dont even know how they look to me, to be honest. Ill say this person has green eyes and that person has blue eyes, but Im not one of these writers who really pictures them. So this was great, because this time I really did have pictures as Im writing them. I knew exactly what they looked like. And, more than that, because I had gone out and met [the actors] and then later got early cuts of the show, I even knew how they moved and how their faces made expressions. That was a really different writing process for me and very, very interesting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I do have to ask this, because Ive seen some talk of this online: A paraphrased quote from you is floating around the internet, sourced from people who attended book events in 2017 in which you were a panelist. Allegedly, you said that you dont write Black characters in your historical fiction because you dont want to write about characters who are suffering. Obviously, this is a boiled-down quote thats been passed down telephone-style from multiple different sources, so Id love to hear your side on that. So, in 2017, I spoke awkwardly about race. It has definitely coalesced into something thats not entirely accurate, but I certainly was not articulate in my thoughts. I also think that I was under the apprehension, at the time, that in order to really honor Black historywell, I mean, there are obviously many other marginalized groups, but, to your question, Black historyyou had to be truthful about the various traumas and the history. Because the last thing I ever want to do is whitewash history in a way that removes Black people from spaces where they actually were. And so, I really thought at the time that it would be disrespectful to try to go into history and pretend that these terrible things had not happened. Advertisement Advertisement So, thats really where I was coming from and I dont think I said it very clearly. And I think that since I muddled it, then other people muddled it. And its really, its something thats been very difficult for me, and to see it get muddled more and more, its upsetting. But on the other hand, when you make mistakes and you dont say things clearly, you have to own it and you have to deal. Advertisement I think its great, honestly, the way that Shonda has opened up the Bridgerton world [through casting people of different races and introducing race into the story]. Overall, the thing I feel most is gratitude, because they were able to do something that, honestly, I didnt know how to do. And also, even if I tried, I couldnt have done it as well. I dont have the same life experiences. Thats the thing about television, its such a collaborative process that we can talk all aboutOh, this is so revolutionary. Weve got Rege-Jean Page there and weve got Simone Ashley there. But what youre not seeing is whos in the writers room, whos in the directors chair. Its an incredibly diverse group of people. I mean, the scenes that you see in Season 2, of the Haldi ceremony, that didnt come up in a vacuum. Thats because theres really smart, wonderful women, in the writers room, of Indian descent. And these are things I wouldnt have known how to do. So, I love that theres now a group of people making this more diverse and inclusive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And what Im realizing now, or I have realized, is just how important representation is. And I dont think thats something I understood earlier. I mean, in an academic way, yes. But now, after sort of living through it and hearing from people and hearing what it has meant for them to see somebody like them, I really do understand nowor hope I understand now, I should say, because lets be honest, I will never walk in the shoes of anybody who doesnt look like meis how important it is for people not just to see themselves in the story, but to see themselves in a story with a happy ending. And that I really didnt understand before. Again, because I thought I had to honor history by not Advertisement Advertisement sanitizing the traumas that these people have gone through. Thank you. See, youre saying it better than I! Thats the thing. I think I was being so careful, I was so focused on that that I didnt realize how important it was for everybody to be able to see themselves in a happy ending. How did you and Shonda decide what parts of Bridgerton Season 1 and 2 youd want to amplify or talk about? Or which smaller characters youd want to bring back? Advertisement I really had no part in the plot structure. I got the scripts and worked off that. So the very, very early decisions were all her. One thing I did do, actually, was pull some elements out. So, for example, the novel really only looks at the earlier timeline. I read the scripts many times before I even dug in, and I just realized that I really wanted to make the novel as close to a romance novel experience as you could get. I mean, obviously its not going to be, because we all know what happens to King George. And I just realized, again, this is something that works great on the screen that is much more difficult to do in a book, this flashing back [and moving between] timelines. For the story to work, we didnt actually need that second timeline. And then, because that was gone, we ended up not including the storyline of Lady Danbury and Violets father. Because so much of that storyline, I felt, was linked into watching Violet and Agathas friendship in present times and we didnt do that. It just kind of made sense. And even without that, the books like 100,000 words. And I was just like, We dont have room! Are there any other characters that youd like to write solo books about? I know that there are some prequels and that Violet has a short story. But perhaps a Violet book or Brimsley book? I mean, everybody wants to know what happened to Reynolds ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- At least four people were killed and five others injured on Saturday in two separate road accidents in Pakistan, rescue service reported. Three people were killed and two others injured after a car fell into a deep ditch near Attabad Lake in Hunza Valley in Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, the rescue service said. The rescue workers along with locals reached the site and carried out a rescue operation, it added. Separately, one person was killed and three others injured early morning in a collision between two buses on Sehwan road near Manjhand area in Jamshoro district in the southern Sindh province, the rescue service said. The rescue workers reached the site and shifted the victims to a local hospital, it added. Transform your small business at Building Business Capability 2023 by enhancing your ability to advance people, products, data, and knowledge, build your core leadership skills, create a customer centric organization, and deliver digital transformation. This years theme is Competing on Capability. Understanding what your business is capable of and maximizing that potential is an important skill set. The five-day event will have 12 tracks, 27 tutorials, 108 sessions, more than 86 speakers, and over 1,000 delegates. Click on the red button and to attend Building Business Capability 2023 from May 8-12 in Las Vegas, NV. Register Now Featured Events, Contests and Awards Building Business Capability May 08, 2023, Las Vegas, Nevada Building Business Capability is the only conference that enhances your ability to advance People, Product, Data, and Knowledge, to build your core leadership skills, to create a customer centric organization, and to deliver digital transformation. Houston Small Business Expo May 24, 2023, Houston, Texas Network with over 1,000 business owners and decision makers. You will want to arrive early, bring a co-worker or friend, and at least 50 Business cards. Get ready to grow your Network and Grow your Business! Conversion Conference June 19, 2023, Las Vegas, Nevada The Conversion Conference will leave you knowing how to attract the right audience, align business models with the user experience, optimize the lifetime value of client relationships and introduce you to the right technology to make it all happen. Email Innovations Summit June 20, 2023, Las Vegas, United States Jump ahead of the pack at the most anticipated email marketing conference! By exploring, educating, and discussing the cutting edge of email marketing trends, the Email Innovations Summit is designed to take your email marketing to the next level. More Events More Contests This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends. You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar. The modern business environment is dynamic and ever-changing. To keep up, companies are constantly seeking fresh talent and new perspectives, often via interns. Internships are mutually beneficial arrangements, giving recent graduates and college students real-world experience while businesses gain innovative insights and additional manpower. This article will present a template for an effective intern job description to attract the best candidates. How a Well-crafted Job Description Attracts Quality Candidates A well-crafted job description is the first step in attracting the ideal candidate for your internship program. This is the primary interface between prospective interns and your company. It sets the expectations for the role, outlines the skills required, and provides insight into your company culture. Setting the Stage: Position Overview and Company Introduction Start your job description by offering a brief overview of the intern position. Describe the jobs purpose and how it fits into the companys larger goals. Next, introduce your company, giving potential candidates a glimpse of your organization and its culture. Highlight your mission, services, and unique aspects that set you apart in your industry. Responsibilities and Tasks: What Will They Do? Outline the tasks and responsibilities associated with the position. Be specific about the duties theyll be performing, the teams theyll work closely with, and what a typical day might look like. Use bullet points for clarity and readability. Required Skills and Qualifications: What Should They Bring? Be clear about what youre looking for. Highlight the skills, knowledge, and qualifications necessary for the position. Remember, for an intern job, the focus is more on learning aptitude rather than previous experience. Whats in It for Them: Benefits and Learning Opportunities To attract the best candidates, its crucial to communicate the benefits of the internship. If you offer college credit, make this known. Highlight the learning opportunities, potential for job offers after graduation, and any other perks your company offers. The Application Process: Whats Next? Lastly, include information on how to apply, any necessary documentation (like a resume), and what the selection process entails. In conclusion, an effective intern job description is concise, engaging, and clearly outlines the role, responsibilities, and benefits. Remember, an intern is more than just an entry-level position; its an opportunity for someone to learn, grow, and potentially become a valuable long-term member of your team. Crafting an appealing job description is the first step in attracting these eager learners and future professionals to your company. Customizing Templates to Fit Your Organizations Needs To create a job description that resonates with your target audience, its essential to customize templates and tailor them to your organizations needs. Consider the unique aspects of your company, such as its culture, values, and mission. Incorporate these elements into the job description to create a compelling and engaging narrative that will attract the right candidates. Job Description Template 1: Job Title: Marketing Intern Responsibilities: Assist with the creation and execution of marketing campaigns Conduct market research and analyze data to identify trends and opportunities Create and edit marketing materials, including social media posts, blog articles, and email campaigns Assist with event planning and coordination Monitor and report on marketing campaign performance Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure campaign success Perform other duties as assigned by management Qualifications: Currently enrolled in a Bachelors degree program in Marketing, Communications, or a related field Excellent verbal and written communication skills Strong attention to detail and organizational skills Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities Proficiency in Microsoft Office and social media platforms Benefits: Opportunity to gain practical experience in the field of marketing Positive and supportive work environment Flexible scheduling options How to Apply: Please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your experience and qualifications for the position. Job Description Template 2: Job Title: Human Resources Intern Responsibilities: Assist with recruitment efforts, including posting job openings and screening resumes Coordinate and schedule interviews Assist with new hire onboarding and orientation Maintain employee records and update HR databases Assist with benefits administration and employee engagement initiatives Perform other duties as assigned by management Qualifications: Currently enrolled in a Bachelors degree program in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field Excellent communication and interpersonal skills Strong attention to detail and organizational skills Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities Proficiency in Microsoft Office and HR databases Benefits: Opportunity to gain practical experience in the field of human resources Positive and supportive work environment Flexible scheduling options How to Apply: See Also: Best Wrench Sets to Get the Job Done Please send your resume and a brief cover letter outlining your experience and qualifications for the position. Job Description Template 3: Job Title: Finance Intern Responsibilities: Assist with accounts payable and accounts receivable functions Assist with budgeting and forecasting activities Prepare financial reports and analyses Participate in inventory management and control Assist with tax compliance and reporting Perform other duties as assigned by management Qualifications: Currently enrolled in a Bachelors degree program in Finance, Accounting, or a related field Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills Strong attention to detail and organizational skills Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and accounting software Benefits: Opportunity to gain practical experience in the field of finance Positive and supportive work environment Flexible scheduling options How to Apply: Please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your experience and qualifications for the position. Job Description Template 4: Job Title: IT Intern Responsibilities: Assist with IT support and troubleshooting for hardware and software issues Assist with network administration and security Assist with software development and testing Participate in IT project management and planning Perform other duties as assigned by management Qualifications: Currently enrolled in a Bachelors degree program in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field Strong problem-solving and analytical skills Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities Proficiency in programming languages and operating systems Benefits: Opportunity to gain practical experience in the field of information technology Positive and supportive work environment Flexible scheduling options How to Apply Please send your resume and a brief cover letter outlining your experience and qualifications for the position. Monitoring and Updating Your Job Description As your business evolves, so do the roles and responsibilities within it. Its important to keep your job descriptions updated to reflect these changes. Regularly review and revise your intern job descriptions to ensure they accurately represent the position and your company. This ongoing refinement will help you continue to attract the best, most relevant candidates. Regularly monitor the effectiveness of your job descriptions. Seek feedback from current and past interns about the accuracy of the role outlined. Use this information to update and refine the description, ensuring it remains an effective tool for attracting high-quality candidates. The Role of Supervisors and Mentors in an Internship Program While a great job description can attract top interns, its equally important to have a strong support system in place once they join your team. Supervisors and mentors play a pivotal role in this. They provide guidance, assist with task planning and development, help the intern communicate effectively with various teams, and ensure the intern is gaining the professional skills they need. Supervisor/Mentor Responsibilities: Provide interns with clear instructions and constructive feedback. Offer opportunities for interns to attend meetings and contribute to projects. Encourage interns to ask questions and seek assistance when needed. Regularly check in with interns to discuss their progress and any challenges they may be facing. The Big Picture: Interns as a Part of the Team Interns bring fresh perspectives and new ideas that can invigorate your business. Including them in team meetings and company-wide events can strengthen their connection to your company and improve the overall internship experience. It also allows your existing employees to learn from the interns, creating a reciprocal learning environment. In closing, a well-crafted intern job description is a vital tool in attracting the best candidates for your company. It should clearly outline the position, responsibilities, and benefits, but also provide a glimpse into your company culture and values. Remember, internships offer a unique opportunity to bring new talent into your company and possibly find your next star employee. Craft your intern job description with care, and youll set the stage for a successful internship program. In a world where every company is competing for the brightest minds, the right intern job description can make all the difference. So, take the time to create an attractive, engaging description it could be the key to unlocking your companys next big idea. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Why should my company hire interns? Interns bring fresh perspectives, enthusiasm, and the latest academic knowledge to your company. They can assist with projects, provide additional support, and potentially become future full-time employees. How do I create an effective intern job description? An effective intern job description should clearly outline the position, required qualifications, responsibilities, and benefits. It should be appealing and informative to attract the best candidates. Where can I post my intern job description to attract candidates? Intern job descriptions can be posted on various platforms including your companys website, online job boards, social media platforms, and at colleges and universities career centers. Should internships be paid or unpaid? While some internships are unpaid, its recommended to offer compensation if possible. Paid internships tend to attract more qualified candidates and can improve the overall intern work ethic and commitment. Can I hire interns on a remote basis? Yes, remote internships have become increasingly popular, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote positions can widen your applicant pool as you arent geographically limited. What is the typical length of an internship? Internships can range anywhere from a few weeks to a year, but most commonly last for 3-6 months, often during summer breaks. What kind of tasks should interns be given? Interns should be given tasks that both support your company and provide them with valuable learning opportunities. This could range from assisting with projects, conducting research, or administrative tasks. Do interns require a lot of supervision? While interns might require more initial guidance, the goal should be to help them become increasingly independent as they grow more comfortable and capable in their role. How can I make the internship beneficial for both the intern and my company? To make the experience mutually beneficial, ensure the intern is gaining valuable skills and knowledge while actively contributing to your company. Clear communication, meaningful work, and regular feedback are key. What is the typical work schedule for an intern? Interns typically work during regular business hours, which are from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. However, some flexibility may be available depending on the specific requirements of the internship and the interns academic commitments. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230505/biden-warns-gop-that-defaulting-on-us-debt-will-end-string-of-good-jobs-reports-1110131337.html Biden Warns GOP That Defaulting on US Debt Will End String of Good Jobs Reports Biden Warns GOP That Defaulting on US Debt Will End String of Good Jobs Reports US President Joe Biden says the string of positive job growth will end if the US defaults on its debts. He has called on Republicans in Congress to move forward with raising the debt ceiling without preconditions. 2023-05-05T23:59+0000 2023-05-05T23:59+0000 2023-05-05T23:55+0000 americas joe biden republicans janet yellen kevin mccarthy us debt ceiling crisis chuck schumer /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/04/19/1109815168_0:0:3072:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_eef7c563a82093e68044c6f28d6eae74.jpg US President Joe Biden warned on Friday that a default on US debt would effectively end the string of positive job reports that continued into the month of April.The latest job report released on Friday showed the United States added 253,000 nonfarm jobs in April, easily beating Wall Streets prediction of 180,000. Unemployment also sits at 3.4%, tied for the lowest it has been since 1969, though how unemployment figures are tracked was changed in 1994.Citing a recent Moody's report, Biden warned that if Republicans continue to hold up the debt ceiling limit, it would also put some 780,000 people at risk of losing their jobs in the event of a default.Additionally, the perception of the United States could take a big hit overseas as the nation would be seen as a government that cannot keep its obligations. Biden underscored that [we] are not a deadbeat nation."Last month, the GOP-controlled House passed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling but only with the condition that spending be cut as well. Raising the debt ceiling would not increase spending but would fund spending that has already been approved by Congress.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has stated the Senate will not consider the bill, with Senate Democrats instead opting to hold a series of hearings to warn the public about the true impact of this reckless legislation on everyday Americans.Biden has also threatened to veto the bill if it reaches his desk.Congress lifted the debt ceiling three times under former President Donald Trump without preconditions. The GOP bill would have reduced spending back to 2022 levels.Biden plans to meet with four congressional leaders next week. He last met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in February to discuss the debt ceiling issue. americas Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Ian DeMartino Ian DeMartino News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ian DeMartino wil lthe us default on its debts, debt ceiling, will the debt ceiling be raised again, joe biden, kevin mccarthy https://sputnikglobe.com/20230505/cdc-director-rochelle-walensky-to-step-down-from-agency-1110130304.html CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to Step Down From Agency CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to Step Down From Agency US President Joe Biden in a statement on Friday announced that Rochelle Walensky will depart her role as the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 2023-05-05T22:08+0000 2023-05-05T22:08+0000 2023-05-05T22:04+0000 americas joe biden americans tedros adhanom ghebreyesus centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) coronavirus covid-19 /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/01/12/1081803856_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_a97387f8dd17b14eff83b50f2513c456.jpg "Dr. Walensky leaves CDC a stronger institution, better positioned to confront health threats and protect Americans. We have all benefited from her service and dedication to public health, and I wish her the best in her next chapter," the statement said. The US president thanked Walensky for saving lives and being on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Walensky assumed the role of the head of CDC on January 2021, just as the Biden White House was set to role out the US vaccination program. She will step down at the end of June.Walensky became one of the key figures in the Biden administration responsible for developing a list of measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic, and actively advocated for the vaccination of Americans.In a separate statement issued by the CDC, it was pointed out that Walensky "helped restore morale and a sense of normalcy to an agency that had been enduring significant public adversity related to the COVID-19 pandemic."Earlier on Friday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus officially declared an end to the organizations assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic as a "global health emergency," but emphasized that the novel coronavirus still poses a threat. https://sputnikglobe.com/20220110/this-is-hard-cdc-head-walensky-explains-confusing-guidelines-as-all-free-to-decide-on-their-own-1092141352.html americas Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International us president joe biden, us, rochelle walensky, centers for disease control and prevention, cdc https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/china-ready-to-intensify-cooperation-with-pakistan-on-afghan-issue---foreign-minister-1110137147.html China Ready to Intensify Cooperation With Pakistan on Afghan Issue - Foreign Minister China Ready to Intensify Cooperation With Pakistan on Afghan Issue - Foreign Minister China is ready to strengthen coordination with Pakistan on the Afghan issue and facilitate the process of peaceful restoration in the country, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said. 2023-05-06T07:00+0000 2023-05-06T07:00+0000 2023-05-06T07:00+0000 china qin gang pakistan afghanistan chinese foreign ministry asia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/03/16/1094080672_0:53:2952:1714_1920x0_80_0_0_5ae77d646b88260b067eefd4c6a1b098.jpg "China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan on the Afghan issue, facilitate the process of peaceful reconstruction in Afghanistan, as well as stability and progress in the region," Qin was quoted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry as saying. The Chinese foreign minister also said that the Chinese-Pakistani cooperation was aimed at the global development and security initiatives. The previous meeting of China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue was held in July 2021 in the Chinese city of Chengdu. Qin is paying an official visit to Pakistan from May 5-6 to hold talks with Pakistani President Arif Alvi, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Afghan counterparts, as well as partake in the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Dialogue. An interim Afghan government led by the Taliban* came to power in the fall of 2021 after the withdrawal of US troops from the country and the collapse of the US-backed government. The Taliban takeover has heightened the fears of the Central Asian nations concerning the spread of radical fundamental Islamic ideas, as happened in 1996 when the Taliban first came to power in Afghanistan for five years. The country has since been facing deteriorating economic conditions and food shortages, exacerbated by sanctions and a US freeze on national assets, bringing Afghanistan to the brink of a humanitarian crisis.*Organization is under UN sanctions over terrorist activities https://sputnikglobe.com/20221103/china--pakistan-to-reboot-joint-economic-corridor-project-1103469925.html china pakistan afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International cooperation with pakistan, chinese foreign minister qin gang, afghan issue https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/drone-attack-on-kremlin-shows-ukrainian-nationalists-prefer-terrorist-acts---bastrykin-1110133215.html Drone Attack on Kremlin Shows Ukrainian Nationalists Prefer Terrorist Acts - Bastrykin Drone Attack on Kremlin Shows Ukrainian Nationalists Prefer Terrorist Acts - Bastrykin The attempted attack on the Kremlin confirms that terrorist acts are a typical style of Ukrainian nationalists, the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, told Sputnik. 2023-05-06T02:51+0000 2023-05-06T02:51+0000 2023-05-06T02:47+0000 russia russia anatoly antonov alexander bastrykin dmitry peskov ukraine kremlin white house russian investigative committee us /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/04/1110078510_0:0:540:304_1920x0_80_0_0_5a6ad36ab6efea19cf96b52d887b1c21.png On Wednesday, the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on the fact of terrorism after the drone attack on the Kremlin residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bastrykin further stated that an investigation into the thwarted Tuesday attack against the Kremlin was ongoing as officials sought to examine all factors of the incident."The investigation is establishing all the circumstances of what happened," he told Sputnik.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik on Friday that the Kremlin administration decided not to hold the traditional reception in the Kremlin on the occasion of Victory Day on May 9.The latest comes after Anatoly Antonov, who serves as the Russian ambassador to the US, condemned the US response to the foiled attack, noting that the Biden White House was being "strikingly cynical and absurd."Russia has stated the it will respond to the drone incident on its terms, and that it would be in accordance with the "assessments of the threat Kiev has posed."At the time, Antonov's remarks came in response to comments made by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that it was too early for US officials to determine whether the incident was part of a 'Russian false flag' operation. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230505/lavrov-ukraines-denial-of-kremlin-drone-attack-does-not-deserve-to-be-believed-1110113111.html russia ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International alexander bastrykin, investigative committee of russia, kremlin attack, drone attack, ukrainian nationalists, terrorist acts, failed attack https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/eu-mulls-paying-ukrainian-refugees-to-go-home-despite-cost-implications-1110139317.html EU Mulls 'Paying' Ukrainian Refugees to Go Home Despite 'Cost Implications' EU Mulls 'Paying' Ukrainian Refugees to Go Home Despite 'Cost Implications' The European Union is reportedly mulling paying Ukrainian refugees social welfare to get them to go home once the temporary protection directive expires. 2023-05-06T10:45+0000 2023-05-06T10:45+0000 2023-05-06T11:22+0000 european union (eu) ukraine migrants ukraine crisis /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/06/1110138831_0:159:3078:1890_1920x0_80_0_0_e1354ffe63faa0e0ee5c161fd7f33a90.jpg The European Union (EU) is reportedly considering the option of paying Ukrainian refugees social welfare to encourage them to return to their native country.The reason for this "generosity" is that the bloc is flummoxed as to what to do once its temporary protection directive expires in March 2024. While there is the possibility of a prolongation of the directive, nevertheless, the officials in Brussels are weighing their options, according to a report referencing policy suggestions put forward at the Cabinet committee on Ukraine.Millions of people have abandoned their homeland of Ukraine since the conflict in the country escalated in 2022, with the EU offering them special protection status. This temporary directive invoked by the European Commission in Brussels dates back to the aftermath of the Yugoslav war, and was conceived for use in the event of a "mass influx or imminent mass influx" of people into an EU state. The program that provided the refugees with housing, schooling for children, healthcare access, and work opportunities was extended by 12 months in October 2022.Incentivized ReturnsIn line with the document cited in media reports, EU states accommodating Ukrainians are to consider the option of how to incentivize voluntary returns. This could purportedly be done by provision of support for a specific "time-bound period" for those individuals who agree to return to Ukraine.Thus, in Ireland, for example, where a recent survey showed that 41% of Ukrainian temporary protection beneficiaries want to remain in the country for good, they can rely on a jobseekers allowance if under the age of 66. Older beneficiaries are paid a supplementary welfare allowance, can expect child benefits, etc.EU states are also to consider offering residency to some of the Ukrainians who are currently employed or getting an education.In any case, further extensive debate is expected among EU countries regarding a return program for Ukrainians willing to go along with it. But the report acknowledged that it would have potentially substantial resource and cost implications. Furthermore, migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and African countries have often found themselves sidelined in favor of Ukrainians.The report comes as German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently proposed a stricter EU asylum policy, rooted in more rigid vetting of refugees on the EUs external border, coupled with fast-track pushbacks."We will ensure proper identification, registration and verification of people coming to the EUs external border," Faeser told the Handelsblatt daily.According to Faeser, EU nations made a "significant breakthrough" by agreeing a protocol that will streamline screenings. She added that under negotiation were further procedures that will make it easier to identify those with weak asylum cases before they enter the EU. The issue of Ukrainian refugees is one of the challenges that the European Union created of its own volition. Brussels eagerly rustled up self-harming sanctions packages targeting Moscow over its special military operation in Ukraine. As member states of the bloc pledged weapons deliveries to the Kiev regime, the EU also opened its arms to thousands of people who left Ukraine - some opting for the lot of a refugee living on handouts, others dodging military service. Accordingly, not only were European businesses and consumers hit with sky-high energy costs and other fallout from the sanctions, but EU states had to fork out growing costs for supporting the thousands of arriving Ukrainians.As the months passed, country after country began to rail against the costs incurred. Providing housing for refugees from Ukraine became a daunting challenge for the French authorities. They were even forced to encourage citizens to accept Ukrainian refugees by paying families 150 euros every month for hosting them. The Czech capital Prague, which saw demonstrations against the Russia sanctions, last year began to witness signs of hostility towards Ukraine. Some shops began displaying notices reading: "No entry to Ukrainians" following a string of alleged thefts and anti-social behavior in the city. Graffitied swastikas in apartments and trashed rooms by Ukrainians also didn't sit well with landlords.The bottom line is that the Ukrainian "guests" appear to have outstayed their welcome in countries of the EU. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230414/top-15-countries-hosting-ukrainian-refugees-1109537269.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230505/germany-seeking-to-limit-number-of-refugees-crossing-into-eu-1110123339.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230228/france-spends-twice-as-much-on-ukrainian-refugees-as-on-other-migrants--1107875846.html ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko temporary protection directive, social welfare, paying ukrainias to go home, ukrainian refugees, eu, countries hosting ukrainians https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/gazprom-pumping-395mln-cubic-meters-of-gas-through-sudzha-station-via-ukraine-to-europe-1110138464.html Gazprom Pumping 39.5Mln Cubic Meters of Gas Through Sudzha Station Via Ukraine to Europe Gazprom Pumping 39.5Mln Cubic Meters of Gas Through Sudzha Station Via Ukraine to Europe Russian energy giant Gazprom is supplying 39.5 million cubic meters of gas to the Sudzha entry point on Saturday for further transit to Europe via Ukraine, with the application for the Sokhranovka station rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov said. 2023-05-06T08:12+0000 2023-05-06T08:12+0000 2023-05-06T08:12+0000 energy crisis in europe ukraine russia gazprom gas /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/101979/28/1019792837_0:219:4288:2631_1920x0_80_0_0_5f366b36c9b3ca8b9186d9b6a0b961be.jpg "Gazprom is supplying Russian gas for transit through the Ukrainian territory in the amount confirmed by the Ukrainian side through the Sudzha station 39.5 million cubic meters, as of May 6. The application for the Sokhranovka station was rejected," Kupriyanov told reporters. From May 2022, Russian gas deliveries remained at the level of 40-43 million cubic meters per day, but in early January, the figure started to drop and decreased to 24.4 million cubic meters per day. Starting February 1, the gas delivery volumes began to rise and returned to the levels of late 2022 on February 22 presumably because of a convergence between contract prices of Gazprom and European spot energy markets. Sudzha remains the only station transiting Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine after Kiev refused to continue admitting fuel at Sokhranovka on May 11, 2022. Gazprom later said that it was technically impossible to transfer all volumes of gas via the Sudzha station, however, the company continues to deliver gas to European customers according to contractual obligations and submitted requests. ukraine russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russian energy giant gazprom, sudzha station via ukraine to europe https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/kishinev-notifies-kiev-of-plans-to-limit-imports-of-ukrainian-grain-1110149838.html Kishinev Notifies Kiev of Plans to Limit Imports of Ukrainian Grain Kishinev Notifies Kiev of Plans to Limit Imports of Ukrainian Grain Moldovan Agriculture Minister Vladimir Bolea has notified Kiev of Kishinev's plans to temporarily limit the imports of Ukrainian grain with a view to protecting domestic farmers, the Moldovan Agriculture Ministry said on Saturday. 2023-05-06T17:17+0000 2023-05-06T17:17+0000 2023-05-06T17:17+0000 istanbul grain deal ukraine grain moldova /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/05/19/1095758210_0:14:960:554_1920x0_80_0_0_630f456637dce8a64c242da5c30a91df.jpg "Moldova plans to join the decision of the European Union to impose temporary restrictions on the import of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflowers, with the provision of transit through our country. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vladimir Bolea has informed his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykola Solskyi, of it," the ministry's statement read. The amount of local grain in Moldova's storage facilities is high, which puts pressure on farmers, who are concerned there will be no place for the new harvest, Bolea told Solskyi. On Tuesday, the European Commission decided to limit the imports of agricultural products from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia until June 5, following a pledge of the five countries to lift national restrictions on the imports of grains and crops, which they imposed in April to protect domestic farmers from the uncontrolled influx of cheap Ukrainian grain. Earlier this week, Moldovan farmers appealed to the country's authorities requiring similar measures, with the Moldovan Agriculture Ministry showing readiness to meet their demands. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230430/kishinev-says-eu-should-support-moldovan-farmers-harmed-by-cheap-ukrainian-imports-1109986942.html ukraine moldova Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International ukrainian grain, ukrainian grain import restrictions, ukrainian grain import ban, moldova https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/league-of-arab-states-may-decide-on-syrias-return-to-organization-on-may-7-1110148556.html League of Arab States May Decide on Syria's Return to Organization on May 7 League of Arab States May Decide on Syria's Return to Organization on May 7 The decision on Syria's re-admission to the League of Arab States (LAS) may be made at an extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the organization's member states on May 7. 2023-05-06T15:28+0000 2023-05-06T15:28+0000 2023-05-06T15:28+0000 world league of arab states syria /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/102781/13/1027811313_0:270:5184:3186_1920x0_80_0_0_c55b3cf681bbb97beeb8339b040a6cfa.jpg "The decision [on Syria's readmission to the LAS] may be made. This matter is under consideration. The decision may be made tomorrow all members [of the organization] will be taking part in the ministerial meeting," Rushdie said, when asked if the meeting might decide on the restoration of Syria's membership. On Friday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told CNN that there were enough votes among Arab League members to bring Syria back into the organization. The 22-nation Arab League suspended Syria's membership in 2011 after a war broke out in the country. Several member states then recalled their ambassadors from Syria in protest against Syrian President Bashar Assad's policies, accusing his government of cracking down on demonstrators in the country. Years later, some of the nations have begun taking steps to reengage with Damascus and reopen embassies. syria Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International syria, league of arab states (las) , syria's las membership Washington laughs up its sleeve seeing how Canada treats China 08:50, May 06, 2023 By Global Times editorial ( Global Times From any perspective, the hype by some Canadian politicians and media over the so-called Chinese interference in Canada's internal affairs has been a failure. The Canadian intelligence agency has been fabricating reports to feed these accusations, and the country's politicians and media have been working very hard to spread them. The hype on this topic has lasted several months, but still failed to create the storm they expected in Canada. The key reason for this is that they cannot provide convincing evidence, and the majority of the Canadian public is not as easily fooled as they think. However, amid this continuing manipulation of public opinion, Canadian diplomacy overreacted in a way it should not have, revealing once again its immaturity, lack of independence, and instability. It started with a 2021 report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), recently revealed by some Canadian media. The report claimed falsely that a Chinese consular officer "coerced" a Canadian legislator and his family, in addition to the usual rhetoric about "China's interference in Canada's internal affairs." This made a few vociferous Canadian politicians and media finally see a glimmer of hope of making a greater deal out of it after several months of "persistence." CSIS has repeatedly made groundless accusations on China-related issues and made a fool of itself in the process, undermining its integrity as a result. Moreover, it is evident to all that those who hype "Chinese interference" barely conceal their political intentions. Given all these factors, the Canadian government should be quite clear about what this report is all about, and it is unlikely that anyone with some sense of judgment will believe it. Despite all this, the Canadian foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador based on false allegations and made a fuss about it, and even said that it was considering expelling the Chinese diplomats concerned. This move was widely reported by Western media. In fact, it was done with anti-Chinese politicians and Washington to complete a smear attack on China, artificially creating a diplomatic spat that should not have occurred and having a negative impact. Deliberately demonstrating assertiveness to China in various ways has become a common problem for Western countries, including Canada, in recent years. On the one hand, this is because their perception and mentality toward China has become sick. On the other, it reflects their vulnerability and weakness in the face of radical and irrational political forces at home and Washington's hegemony. When it comes to "foreign intervention," Canada does face a lot of it. But it is barking up the wrong tree: It is Washington that has interfered in Ottawa's internal affairs the most. But these Western countries have neither the courage nor the ability to correct deviations and mistakes in their China policy. They are even more afraid to resist US pressure and often adopt a conniving and pandering attitude. This has led to a collective degradation and misdirection of US and Western diplomacy toward China, of which Canada is a typical example. Choosing "Chinese interference in Canadian internal affairs" as a point of sensationalism is not accidental. This is a field that the US and its Western allies have long sought to exploit in spreading the "China threat" theory. In the eyes of those who are malicious but lack creativity, there are few things that can better hype up China's "threat" to "Western democracy" and more easily stir up people's sense of urgency and vigilance toward China than "interference in internal affairs." However, anyone with a basic understanding of China knows this is pure nonsense. China is a victim of Western interference in its domestic affairs and is the most steadfast defender and practitioner of the principle of non-interference. China has never had any interest in interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. China's historical record in this regard is much cleaner than even Canada's, not to mention the scandalous one of the US. For a relatively long time, China and Canada have maintained good bilateral relations. The two complemented each other in many aspects, and held various close exchanges and interactions, which was the expected norm for the bilateral relationship. Unfortunately, under pressure from the US, Canada has repeatedly made wrong decisions, pushing it further away from becoming a "middle power" known for mediation and reconciliation. When some Canadians point their finger at China over "interference in internal affairs," their powerful neighbor, the US, is gloating and laughing up its sleeve. How Canada truly shows its resistance to foreign interference lies in where it stands in defending its national interests rather than the interests of politicians, and choosing the right path for the country. In this regard, Ottawa needs to show courage and earn respect for itself. A statement from the Chinese Embassy in Canada said, "Should the Canadian side continue to make provocations, China will play along every step of the way until the very end." These are assertive words, indicating the malicious behavior of the Canadian side. It is truly sad that Canada's diplomacy toward China has been hijacked and coerced so easily by a few anti-China politicians who use false reports to manipulate the media. We hope that the history of mutually beneficial and win-win relations between China and Canada in the past few decades will enable Canada to return to a calm and rational attitude toward China as soon as possible. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) (CNN) Drew Barrymore is standing in solidarity with striking members of the Writers Guild of America by stepping down as the host of the MTV Movie & TV Awards that is scheduled to air on Sunday. "I have listened to the writers, and in order to truly respect them, I will pivot from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards live in solidarity with the strike," Barrymore said on Thursday in a statement shared with CNN. "Everything we celebrate and honor about movies and television is born out of their creation. And until a solution is reached, I am choosing to wait but I'll be watching from home and hope you will join me," her statement continued. Barrymore added that she "can't wait to be a part of this next year, when I can truly celebrate everything that MTV has created, which is a show that allows fans to choose who the awards go to and is truly inclusive." Bruce Gillmer, executive producer of the MTV Movie & TV Awards, said on Thursday in a statement to Variety that Barrymore has the "full support" of show producers as she steps down as this year's host, and added that the show is now essentially "going hostless." CNN has reached out to Paramount+ and MTV for comment. A source close to the MTV Movie & TV Awards confirmed to CNN that Barrymore will return to host the 2024 edition of the show. They also confirmed that this year's show will no longer feature a press line or red carpet. The MTV Movie & TV Awards is the latest television event to be affected by the strike. Earlier this week, CNN reported that the late night shows and "Saturday Night Live" are turning to repeats as their writers join the picket lines, according to production sources. A strike began on Tuesday after the WGA and the major Hollywood studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture Television Producers failed to reach an agreement on terms of a new contract Monday night. Members of the guild have been picketing outside of studios on the West and East coasts since Tuesday afternoon, with no end to the strike in sight. The MTV Movie & TV Awards is still currently scheduled to air live on MTV on Sunday at 8pm in the viewer's time zone. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Drew Barrymore steps down from hosting MTV Movie & TV Awards in support of writers strike" https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/over-126000-donbass-residents-recognized-as-victims-since-2014---investigative-committee-1110137676.html Over 126,000 Donbass Residents Recognized as Victims Since 2014 - Investigative Committee Over 126,000 Donbass Residents Recognized as Victims Since 2014 - Investigative Committee Russian investigators have established that over 126,000 residents of the Donbas region became victims of the crimes committed by Kiev since 2014, with the damage to the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics surpassing 228 billion rubles ($2.9 billion), the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, said. 2023-05-06T07:39+0000 2023-05-06T07:39+0000 2023-05-06T07:39+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine alexander bastrykin russia dpr lpr kiev /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/107714/08/1077140885_0:163:3063:1886_1920x0_80_0_0_d008469d14dbf688a05d11b84aa10d02.jpg "More than 9,500 civilians were injured in the armed conflict, and over 5,000 civilians were killed. Over the entire period of the investigation in this criminal case, more than 259,000 people were interrogated, and over 126,000 people were recognized as victims, including about 24,000 minors," Bastrykin said. Bastrykin also said that the investigation analyzed the destruction in the cities of Mariupol, Rubezhnoe, Schastie, Krasnyi Luch, Stakhanov, Kirovsk, Alchevsk, Lisichansk and others, adding that the damage assessment in other cities was underway. Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, after the DPR and LPR appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations. In response to Russia's operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow and have been supplying weapons to Ukraine. On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the DPR and LPR, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, signed agreements on the accession of these territories to Russia, following referendums that showed that an overwhelming majority of the local population supported becoming part of Russia. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230426/watch-russias-t-90m-tanks-in-combat-action-in-donbass-1109844944.html russia kiev Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russian investigators, russian investigative committee, donetsk and lugansk people's republics https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/over-170-enemy-targets-hit-in-krasny-liman-direction---russian-defense-ministry-1110135497.html Over 170 Enemy Targets Hit in Krasny Liman Direction - Russian Defense Ministry Over 170 Enemy Targets Hit in Krasny Liman Direction - Russian Defense Ministry Russian forces have inflicted fire damage on more than 170 enemy targets in the past 24 hours, including over 150 locations with accumulations of manpower and firepower of Ukrainian troops, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson told Sputnik. 2023-05-06T04:31+0000 2023-05-06T04:31+0000 2023-05-06T04:31+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine russia defense ministry ukraine /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/03/03/1107964216_0:153:2953:1814_1920x0_80_0_0_98f911ecc6a22459f0de746cf5e5c61f.jpg "In the Krasny Liman direction, units of the 'Tsentr' Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on more than 170 targets within one day, including with the use of over 150 artillery units in areas where enemy manpower and firepower were concentrated," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that about 20 artillery positions and more than 10 mortar crews of nationalists were discovered and suppressed. In addition, Russian air defense systems destroyed High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS)-type rockets in the areas close to Kreminna and Severodonetsk. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230501/kiev-lost-over-300-soldiers-over-past-24-hours---russian-defense-ministry-1110008594.html russia ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International krasny liman direction, russian defense ministry, ukrainian troop https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/police-unions-in-france-call-for-law-to-combat-rioters-1110133396.html Police Unions in France Call for Law to Combat Rioters Police Unions in France Call for Law to Combat Rioters French police unions have demanded that President Emmanuel Macron pass a law to combat rioters at demonstrations and calling situation "apocalyptic", French daily reports. 2023-05-06T02:52+0000 2023-05-06T02:52+0000 2023-05-06T02:52+0000 world europe france police unions emmanuel macron french constitutional council pension reform protests /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/04/0d/1109460085_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_bd7ea455d454119fdf0042ca85b526d3.jpg In a letter addressed to Macron, the unions said that police live in an "apocalyptic situation" faced with violence from the demonstrators and called for an emergency law against "thugs," French newspaper said on Friday. The unions have a meeting scheduled at the Elysee Palace on May 12 and are expected to be received by Macron's chief of staff, Patrick Strzoda, as well as the French presidents Interior and Security Affairs Adviser Frederic Rose, according to the newspaper.On April 14, the French Constitutional Council approved the key article of the pension reform bill, which would gradually raise the age of retirement in France from 62 to 64 years by 2030. The reform sparked a strong backlash, prompting people to take to the streets across the country. On May 1, major demonstrations were held in France, with people continuing to protest against the controversial pension reform. Police used tear gas against the protesters in Paris, while demonstrators threw fire crackers, paint balls and bottles at law enforcement officers. According to the French Interior Ministry, over 100 French police officers were injured on May 1, while more than 500 demonstrators were detained across the country. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230503/french-constitutional-council-rejects-second-request-for-referendum-on-pension-reform-1110067882.html france Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International france, french protests, french pension reform, french police unions, riots in france https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/prilepin-targeted-by-kiev-because-hes-best-warrior-of-the-information-front-russias-got-1110150913.html Prilepin Targeted by Kiev Because Hes Best Warrior of the Information Front Russia's Got Prilepin Targeted by Kiev Because Hes Best Warrior of the Information Front Russia's Got Russian author and politician Zakhar Prilepin was targeted in an assassination attempt Saturday, with a car bomb killing his driver and injuring Prilepin. A suspect detained in connection with the crime admitted that he acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services. Who is Prilepin? Why did Kiev consider him an important target? 2023-05-06T19:25+0000 2023-05-06T19:25+0000 2023-05-06T19:52+0000 russia ukraine russia donbass assassination car bomb /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/06/1110151329_0:0:3071:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_8902b5ae509ccd63160a939260357100.jpg Zakhar Prilepin is no stranger to Kievs wrath. Traveling to the Donbass in 2014 as a war correspondent, the Russian author became known for his humanitarian activities and support for the Donbass Peoples Militias. Between 2016 and 2018, he served as a deputy commander of a Donbass special forces unit, and as an advisor to late Donetsk Peoples Republic head Alexander Zakharchenko, who was killed in a bomb blast in Donetsk in 2018.Prilepins name and profile can be found on Myrotvorets, a notorious online enemies of Ukraine kill-list database supported and promoted by officials from Ukraines Ministry of Internal Affairs.The database includes Prilepins detailed personal information, including his personal address and exact date of birth. His crimes range from being an accomplice to terrorists, to the illegal crossing of the state border of Ukraine and the smuggling of goods. The site dubs him a Russian mercenary.Ukraines Security Service has an open file on him, charging the writer with participating in the activities of a terrorist organization, and the financing of terrorism, charges which ordinarily carry a hefty prison sentence.But Ukraines special services apparently preferred a more direct approach targeting the author with assassination via a massive car bomb on Saturday in Nizhny Novgorod region. The blast was big enough to rip Prilepins car in half and cause a massive blast crater. Prilepins driver was killed, but the author himself miraculously survived, sustaining a number of injuries.Russian investigators opened a criminal case into the incident, and a suspect detained by police admitted during interrogation that he acted on the Kiev regimes behalf.Dolgareva said Prilepin has spent time recently supporting the Oplot Battalion, a tactical unit of the Russian Ground Forces formally subordinated to the Donetsk Peoples Militia.Zakhars foundation provided the battalion with a great deal of assistance, and Zakhar himself previously served thereHe is a political officer serving on equal footing with everyone else, without any PR. I think RT were the only ones to ever do an interview with him, and literally just a couple weeks before the end of his tour, she said.Prilepin, known in Russia for his best-selling novels, as well as his work as a popularizer of history and hot-button political topics, and most recently as a politician from the A Just Russia Party, is a person doing a lot for Russian culture, Dolgareva said, noting that he is perhaps the most significant modern duty officer for culture in the country today, doing everything that the state should be doing in this area, and doing it on his own.Prilepin has also been a consistent proponent of greater Russian support for the Donbass, the war correspondent noted, pointing to the two books he wrote on the conflict Some Will Not Go to Hell and Militia Romance. These are really the only big works of prose dedicated to the Donbass War. These were his two important works, she stressed.Dolgareva believes the targeting of Prilepin by Ukraines security services isnt solely about trying to kill him, but about trying to liquidate the leaders of public opinion - passionaries working to create the Russian national idea. And yes, Ukraine has now switched to terrorist methods of warfare, acting as a kind of second Daesh,* but which has settled in the heart of Europe, she said.Natalya Makeeva, a journalist, author and poet who is a member of the Russian and Donetsk Peoples Republic Writers Unions, echoes Dolgarevas sentiments on Kievs motivations, but suggests one has to look deeper to uncover the true culprits of attacks on figures like Prilepin.The journalist believes the Ukraine of today should have been internationally recognized as a terrorist organization a long time ago, because the territory can no longer be considered a state in the direct sense of the term due to its tolerance for absolute lawlessness and criminality. This contemporary Ukrainian pseudo-state is being used as a weapon against Russia, according to Makeeva, and the attack on Prilepin was another example of this.Zakhar is without question one of the most prominent representatives of Russian Spring movement that emerged in 2014, the journalist said. Moreover, he has participated in all of these events starting from 2014. This is something I emphasize to those who think the conflict started in 2022. Beginning in 2014, he took part in hostilities, organized the supply of huge amounts of humanitarian aid.Makeeva, who knows Prilepin thanks to ties from the worlds of literature and poetry, said that politically, Zakhar is one of few public figures who have not abandoned their political and ideological convictions, and someone who has proven himself a man of principle.He has proven it throughout his biographyHe is a man of principles, a man of ideas, a man of the Russian World. He once published a book called Platoon: Officers and Militias of Russian Literature, and then he himself became a militiaman of Russian literature," she said.He couldnt not go [to the Donbass, ed.], because hes someone whos ready to stand up for his convictions for him these are not just words. His books are not just some kind of abstract literature, they are his life, Alexei Iovchev, a Russian rock musician and friend of Zakhars, told Sputnik.He talked about the need for military support for the Donbass, but did more than just talk. He put on black boots, tied the laces, packed his backpack and went off, and organized a battalion there, and supplied it. He was, in fact, a fighter of this battalion. His words dont diverge from his deeds. This, I think, is one of the most valuable qualities this person has, Iovchev said.The enemy considers its necessary to remove these people, because in 2004 [the first Maidan in Kiev, ed] we lost the war for peoples minds specifically, and now we are now forced to fight it with steel, because the war for minds was lost and the Americans recoded Ukrainians, turning them into weapons against us. Thats an important message - that losing the war for minds is unacceptable, Iovchev said."It's said that no one is irreplacable but using the example of Zakhar I say - there are such people...I would like to wish Zakhar a sure recovery, and our inevitable common victory!" the rocker summed up.* Daesh (also known as ISIS/ ISIL/ IS) is a terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/suspect-in-prilepin-assassination-attempt-admits-acting-on-ukrainian-special-services-orders-1110149649.html ukraine russia donbass Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ilya Tsukanov zakhar prilepin, car bomb, assassination attempt, characterization https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/report-soros-fortress-investment-group-may-buy-vice-media-in-400-million-deal-1110132492.html Report: Soros, Fortress Investment Group May Buy Vice Media in $400 Million Deal Report: Soros, Fortress Investment Group May Buy Vice Media in $400 Million Deal A fund headed by billionaire George Soros will purchase Vice Media for $400 million dollars along with Fortress Investment Group. 2023-05-06T01:56+0000 2023-05-06T01:56+0000 2023-05-06T01:52+0000 americas george soros soros fund management vox media buzzfeed vice news /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/06/09/1096142807_0:207:2909:1843_1920x0_80_0_0_d36823f99b2a263276f8ad6b1910429e.jpg The Soros Fund Management, the primary asset manager of billionaire George Soros Open Society Foundations, is reportedly planning to partner with the hedge fund Fortress Investment Group to buy Vice Media for an estimated $400 million.The deal is expected to buy out other Vice investors, including private equity firm TPG Group, Sixth Street Partners and media mogul James Murdoch, the youngest son of News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch.Insider sources told US media that the current management team at Vice will likely remain in place, and that buyers plan to find a role for Vice co-founder Shane Smith.The sale, which is part of a planned bankruptcy declaration, could go forward as early as next week, the sources said. Some of Vices debt held by TPG and Sixth Street may drop in value as part of the deal.In 2019, the Soros group and Fortress were part of a consortium that invested $250 million in Vice, a cash infusion intended to help the company after it failed to live up to its $5.7 billion valuation in 2017.It is still possible that another company may emerge to outbid the Soros/Fortress group but any other offers would likely have to absorb significant portions of the debt held by Vice Media.Two months ago, Vice was rumored to be fielding multiple $400 million offers, but Vices lenders shot down the deals because it would have left them with significant debt. Around that time, Greek broadcaster Antenna Group also canceled a multimillion-dollar contract to buy Vice news content, further hurting the media companys sale prospects and severing a funding source that acted as a lifeline for the news department at Vice.Vice is not the only such outlet to face troubles in recent months. In January, Vox Media fired 7% of its staff in a cost-cutting measure and Buzzfeed closed its news division in April.George Soros is an entrepreneur with a personal net worth of $8.2 billion as of March 2021, though he has also donated more than $32 billion to his Open Society Foundations. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230502/us-media-outlet-vice-may-file-for-bankruptcy-in-coming-weeks-1110019558.html americas Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Ian DeMartino Ian DeMartino News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ian DeMartino george soros, vice media, what companies does soros own, fortress investment group, what happened to vice, is vice shutting down https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/russia-reliably-supplies-gas-to-hungary-via-turkish-stream---energy-ministry-1110135211.html Russia Reliably Supplies Gas to Hungary via Turkish Stream - Energy Ministry Russia Reliably Supplies Gas to Hungary via Turkish Stream - Energy Ministry Russia continues to reliably supply gas to Hungary via the Turkish Stream pipeline under a long-term contract, a representative of the Hungarian Ministry of Energy told Sputnik. 2023-05-06T04:29+0000 2023-05-06T04:29+0000 2023-05-06T04:29+0000 economy hungary russia gazprom /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/106502/86/1065028681_0:50:1000:613_1920x0_80_0_0_c3b216aede16ab6b124cc2f8f429c55c.jpg In the context of the energy crisis and sanctions against Russia, the priority is to ensure the security of supplies, the representative said, adding that, under a long-term contract, Russia "reliably supplies gas" to Hungary via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. The representative added that the amount of gas in Hungarian storage facilities is 1.9 billion cubic meters, which is significantly more than at the end of the previous heating season, and will help to properly prepare for next winter. According to the Hungarian energy ministry, gas imports from Azerbaijan and Black Sea shelf production are possible ways for landlocked European countries to diversify supplies in the future. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in April that Russian energy giant Gazprom had extended the agreement on additional gas supplies to Hungary in excess of long-term contract volumes. https://sputnikglobe.com/20220721/italy-poland-hungary-express-concern-over-eu-proposal-to-reduce-gas-demand---reports-1097666478.html hungary russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International supplies gas to hungary, turkish stream https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/russia-should-have-long-ago-canceled-grain-deal-as-its-terms-were-never-met-1110144514.html Russia 'Should Have Long Ago Canceled' Grain Deal as Its Terms 'Were Never Met' Russia 'Should Have Long Ago Canceled' Grain Deal as Its Terms 'Were Never Met' Russia should have long canceled Grain Deal as Its terms were never met, said Mark Sleboda. 2023-05-06T14:36+0000 2023-05-06T14:36+0000 2023-05-06T14:36+0000 grain istanbul grain deal russia ukraine mark sleboda grain exports /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/07/18/1097752019_0:0:3073:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_0c64f97722ccafb4f50921b540380232.jpg If Russia opts out of the Grain Deal, it will be because the agreed goals of this arrangement were never met, Mark Sleboda told Sputnik.Amid ongoing work towards reaching an extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is set to expire on May 18, Sleboda pointed out that it was a "bad deal" for Moscow.Russia, the number one global grain exporter, agreed to sign the deal, along with Ankara, Kiev, and the United Nations, at the height of the Ukraine conflict in July 2022. It provides for exports of Ukrainian grain, food, and fertilizers over the Black Sea from three ports, including Odessa. But, importantly, it also includes a memorandum of understanding between Russia and the UN to unblock Russian grain and fertilizer exports via the Black Sea lanes amid Western sanctions. However, as Moscow has repeatedly pointed out, none of these obligations with respect to it have been met.The US is always quick to point out that they're not targeting Russian grain, Mark Sleboda clarified, adding:Furthermore, the Grain Deal was reached with an understanding that towards achieving the goal of feeding the poor countries of the world, grain from the fifth largest grain producer Ukraine would be safely allowed through the conflict zone But only if sanctions inhibiting Russia from getting its grain to them were removed, Sleboda emphasized.However, the West never complied with this, and there weren't any firm guarantees, he added.Then it emerged that a major part of the Ukrainian grain had gone to rich countries, particularly the EU, rather than the poorest. A huge amount of the grain went to feed Spanish pigs, while the some of the Eastern European states have railed at the influx as hurting their own producers so much so that they have pressured the European Commission to ban Ukrainian grain from their own countries.As for African countries, they are perfectly aware who is inhibiting them getting the grain and the fertilizer they need, the analyst said.It is not Russia. It is the West and their economic war of sanctions on Russia, Sleboda said, pointing out that if Russia does choose to continue this deal, it will certainly not be because they have benefited in any way from the terms that were agreed upon.For more in-depth analysis of current affairs, check out our Sputnik radio show The Final Countdown. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230504/grain-deal-extension-unlikely-unless-russias-terms-are-met-1110076186.html russia ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko grain deal, black sea grain initiative, extension of grain deal, sanctions, russia sanctions, insurance for ships, swift, russia blocked from swift, secondary sanctions https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/soros-da-resigns-more-bank-failures-and-who-declare-covid-pandemic-over-1110131112.html Soros DA Resigns, More Bank Failures, and WHO Declare COVID Pandemic Over Soros DA Resigns, More Bank Failures, and WHO Declare COVID Pandemic Over On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including CDC Director Rochelle Walensky resigning, and Australian PM Anthony... 06.05.2023, Sputnik International 2023-05-06T04:07+0000 2023-05-06T04:07+0000 2023-05-06T09:07+0000 the backstory radio texas cdc british monarchy covid-19 robert f. kennedy jr /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/05/1110130955_0:0:1920:1080_1920x0_80_0_0_d85c09099354cea92cfc48a8713986f9.png Soros DA Resigns, More Bank Failures, and WHO Declare COVID Pandemic Over On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including CDC Director Rochelle Walensky resigning, and Australian PM Anthony Albanese being frustrated with Julian Assange's imprisonment. Ian Shilling - Geopolitical Analyst, Researcher, and Blogger | New Media Support Robert F. Kennedy Jr for President, The King Charles III Coronation, and The WHO Ending the COVID PandemicAlison Hayden - Former Candidate for Congress of California 14th District | The California Dream is Over, Hunter Biden Indictment Rumors, and Tucker Carlson Has Been Taken Off the BoardIn the first hour, Lee spoke with Ian Shilling about the coronation of King Charles III, British colonies wanting to sever ties with the Monarchy, and the resignation of CDC director Rochelle Walensky. Ian talked about how unpopular King Charles III is and how the British media has propped up the new king's favorability in the United Kingdom. Ian commented on the WHO officially declaring the COVID-19 pandemic over and the possibilities of why the CDC director resigned on the same day.In the second hour, Lee spoke with Alison Hayden about the destruction of California, the alleged CCP purchases of California politicians, and election integrity in America. Alison discussed her fight for transparent elections in California and how establishment California politicians have destroyed the state of California. Alison spoke about the Biden crime family and the rumors of a possible Hunter Biden indictment. 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. texas Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Lee Stranahan https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125222_0:0:293:292_100x100_80_0_0_a8bc846f559660e5bf7574f8a9608a1d.png Lee Stranahan https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125222_0:0:293:292_100x100_80_0_0_a8bc846f559660e5bf7574f8a9608a1d.png News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Lee Stranahan https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125222_0:0:293:292_100x100_80_0_0_a8bc846f559660e5bf7574f8a9608a1d.png radio, texas, cdc, british monarchy, covid-19, robert f. kennedy jr, https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/south-korea-us-to-launch-largest-ever-live-fire-exercises-in-may---reports-1110141657.html South Korea, US to Launch Largest-Ever Live-Fire Exercises in May - Reports South Korea, US to Launch Largest-Ever Live-Fire Exercises in May - Reports South Korea and the United States will start joint live-fire exercises that will be the largest in the history of their military cooperation and will be dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the two countries, South Korean news agency reported on Saturday, citing the South Korean Defense Ministry. 2023-05-06T10:46+0000 2023-05-06T10:46+0000 2023-05-06T10:46+0000 military south korean defense ministry south korea seoul f-35a ah-64 apache us /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/0a/05/1101520749_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_e7a6781088cf8420098dc38bc32746fc.jpg The drills will also mark the 75th anniversary of Seoul's military establishment, according to the news outlet. In total, five exercises are scheduled to take place between May 25 and June 15 at Seungjin Fire Training Field in the South Korean inland city of Pocheon located 32 miles northeast of Seoul, the ministry was cited as saying by media. The drills will involve such weapons systems as F-35A stealth fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, K2 tanks and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers, the news agency reported, adding that the last exercise of that kind had taken place in 2017, with 48 South Korean and US units and over 2,000 troops engaged. South Korea and the United States signed a mutual defense treaty that established a basis for their military cooperation in October 1953, three months after the end of the Korean War. Since 1977, over 10 such high-profile military drills have taken place, including both joint and South Korean-only exercises. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230426/washington-briefing-china-on-us-s-korean-plans-to-up-military-drills-in-region---official-1109847896.html south korea seoul Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International south korea and the united states, joint live-fire exercises, south korean defense ministry https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/suspect-in-prilepin-assassination-attempt-admits-acting-on-ukrainian-special-services-orders-1110149649.html Suspect in Prilepin Assassination Attempt Admits Acting on Ukrainian Special Services' Orders Suspect in Prilepin Assassination Attempt Admits Acting on Ukrainian Special Services' Orders Alexander Permyakov, the suspect in the assassination attempt on Russian politician and writer Zakhar Prilepin, admitted during interrogation on Saturday that he had acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services, the Russian Investigative Committee said. 2023-05-06T16:05+0000 2023-05-06T16:05+0000 2023-05-06T18:44+0000 russia russia assassination ukraine car blast author journalist donbass /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/06/1110149490_0:0:3078:1731_1920x0_80_0_0_85b6bcf18d543a2186dd6ff6363f7097.jpg Earlier in the day, Prilepin's car was blown up on the highway in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, as a result of which the driver was killed and the politician was injured, a law enforcement source told Sputnik. Permyakov was detained by the regional police in hot pursuit."The suspect has been detained, during interrogation he is testifying that he was acting on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services," the committee said on Telegram.The suspect admitted having planted an explosive device along the car's path and setting it off remotely, the committee's statement read.The Russian Investigative Committee added it had continued questioning Permyakov. Experts took swabs from his hands and clothes in order to conduct forensic examinations.Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Saturday that the silence of international organizations on the terrorist attack on Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin is unacceptable."The lack of condemnation by Washington of another terrorist attack against a Russian journalist and public figure is self-revealing for the American authorities. The silence of the relevant international organizations is unacceptable," the ministry said. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/car-of-russian-author-zakhar-prilepin-explodes-in-nizhny-novgorod-1110139521.html russia ukraine donbass Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International zakhar prilepin, ukrainian special services, assassination, who is zakhar prilepin, ukrainians assassinate russians Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 5) The Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases are set to convene after the World Health Organization (WHO) said COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency. The two will "discuss and reassess policies and other guidelines affected by the [WHO's] declaration," the DOH said Friday, shortly after the WHO issued its declaration. READ: WHO says COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency The WHO first classified COVID-19 as a public health emergency in January 2020, six weeks before it declared the virus a pandemic. "The DOH welcomes the proclamation of the WHO regarding the lifting of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on COVID-19. This is an acknowledgment of our effective and collaborative COVID-19 response and concerted efforts to fully recover and re-open our economy," the department said. However, the WHO's declaration comes amid a backdrop of rapidly increasing COVID-19 infections in the Philippines. The DOH recently told hospitals to prepare their COVID-19 wards in response to the spike in cases. READ: DOH advises hospitals to prepare COVID-19 wards amid rise in cases OCTA research group told CNN Philippines' The Source on Thursday that the positivity rate in Metro Manila, currently at 20.4%, could reach as high as 25% by next week the same level during the Delta variant surge in 2021. The nationwide positivity rate stands at 17.8%, according to latest OCTA data. As of May 5, there were 9,159 active COVID-19 cases in the country, the DOH said. "The DOH guarantees the Filipino people that all factors in determining our next action in line with the WHO's proclamation will be considered and discussed for the approval of the President," it added. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/theyre-everywhere-hundreds-of-migrants-arrive-on-us-mexico-border-ahead-of-title-42-end-1110132667.html 'They're Everywhere': Hundreds of Migrants Arrive on US-Mexico Border Ahead of Title 42 End 'They're Everywhere': Hundreds of Migrants Arrive on US-Mexico Border Ahead of Title 42 End Hundreds of migrants illegally crossed into the United States in the Texas border city of El Paso, a Sputnik correspondent reported. 2023-05-06T01:35+0000 2023-05-06T01:35+0000 2023-05-06T01:31+0000 americas joe biden texas el paso mexico us-mexico border migrants border crossings border tensions /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/02/1a/1107826104_0:100:3072:1828_1920x0_80_0_0_f1c0a33dcbc2bde0fd90f230fea275f5.jpg On Friday afternoon, hundreds of migrants gathered at different points along the US border wall in El Paso that separates the United States and Mexico. A massive surge of illegal migrants is expected to overwhelm the US southern border after the Trump-era public health emergency order known as Title 42 - which allowed the US government to turn away illegal immigrants at the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19 - is set to expire on May 11. Many of the migrants appeared to have turned themselves in to US authorities and were waiting to be picked up to be processed. Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers, US Army soldiers, and Border Patrol agents were on the scene to apprehend the migrants. A DPS officer told Sputnik there were hundreds of migrants in the area. An all-time record number of migrants have arrived at the US southern border under the Biden administration, hitting two consecutive records in 2021 and 2022, exceeding 2.3 million people. In fiscal year 2023, the US authorities said they have encountered more than 1.2 million migrants. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230504/migrants-overwhelm-us-southern-border-city-days-before-title-42-expulsion-policy-ends-1110104575.html americas texas el paso mexico Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International us, migrants, us-mexico border, title 42, el paso, texas https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/three-captured-russian-pilots-released-from-ukrainian-captivity---defense-ministry-1110144414.html Three Captured Russian Pilots Released From Ukrainian Captivity - Defense Ministry Three Captured Russian Pilots Released From Ukrainian Captivity - Defense Ministry Three Russian military pilots have been released from Ukrainian captivity and have already returned from the Kiev-controlled territory after complex negotiations, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday. 2023-05-06T13:18+0000 2023-05-06T13:18+0000 2023-05-06T13:18+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine russian defense ministry ukraine russia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/105778/04/1057780457_0:100:3284:1947_1920x0_80_0_0_532df8f0e0a2a83b3bebb92e955cb3dd.jpg "On May 6, following complex negotiations, three Russian military service members, pilots of the Russian aerospace forces, have returned from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime. Their lives were under threat in prison," the ministry said, adding that the pilots were being provided with "all the necessary medical and psychological assistance."Earlier, Russian Defense Ministry said that a total of 40 Russian military personnel returned home from the Ukraine-controlled territories as a result of a negotiation process. https://sputnikglobe.com/20220426/uk-calls-for-treating-captive-mercenaries-as-ukrainian-soldiers-1095083576.html ukraine russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International ukrainian captivity, russian pilots https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/uae-granted-dialogue-partner-status-in-sco---state-media-1110148321.html UAE Granted Dialogue Partner Status in SCO - State Media UAE Granted Dialogue Partner Status in SCO - State Media The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has officially received a dialogue partner status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Emirates state news agency WAM reported on Saturday. 2023-05-06T15:18+0000 2023-05-06T15:18+0000 2023-05-06T15:24+0000 economy uae shanghai cooperation organisation (sco) /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/107012/85/1070128548_0:161:3071:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_0bf06e656ac97012f6d02a89db39a8b9.jpg The UAE was granted the status on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers, which took place in India's Goa from May 4-5, the report said. UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, commended a role the organization had played in upholding stability and prosperity in Eurasia and beyond in recent decades, WAM reported. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230504/will-sco-become-new-united-nations-for-non-western-world-1110101791.html uae Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International united arab emirates (uae), shanghai cooperation organisation (sco), https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/us-s-korea-beyond-nuclear-sharing-agreement-may-escalate-tensions-to-brink-of--war-1110136085.html US, S Korea 'Beyond Nuclear Sharing' Agreement May Escalate Tensions to 'Brink of War' US, S Korea 'Beyond Nuclear Sharing' Agreement May Escalate Tensions to 'Brink of War' The Washington Declaration adopted during South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeols recent visit to the United States extends beyond "nuclear-sharing," a US administration official was cited as saying. 2023-05-06T06:48+0000 2023-05-06T06:48+0000 2023-05-06T06:48+0000 us south korea yoon suk yeol joe biden washington nuclear nuclear deterrence north korea asia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/06/1110135909_0:112:3241:1935_1920x0_80_0_0_96eba126e1bb4dd3ec9ed30c4354a764.jpg The so-called Washington Declaration that was adopted during South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeols recent trip to the United States extends beyond "nuclear sharing," a US administration official was cited as telling a media report.The remarks feed into the debate triggered after the South Korean President's state visit to the US, where Yoon Suk-yeol had been met with much pomp to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the two countries' security alliance. Ahead of the visit, there had been speculations as to what manner of upgrade, so to say, might be offered for the reinforced US-ROK alliance, especially under the pretext of North Koreas (DPRK) schedule of missile simulations and test firings.The most important outcome of the visit was the signing by the South Korean President and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, of the Washington Declaration. The deal provides for the establishment of a regular bilateral consultation mechanism called the US-South Korean Nuclear Consultative Group on extended deterrence and strategic planning. The Republic of Korea (ROK) also secured a US promise to promptly deploy "the entire force of the alliance," including nuclear weapons, in the event of a nuclear attack by North Korea. The US also promised to send nuclear missile submarines to the Korean Peninsula. Seoul, meanwhile, reaffirmed its nonproliferation obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).It should be clarified that "nuclear sharing" is a NATO deterrence concept, allowing member countries without nuclear weapons of their own to participate in planning for the use of nuclear weapons by the alliance. South Korea is not a NATO member. However, interpretation of the term had opened up a debate in the wake of Yoon Suk-yeol's Washington foray. ROK's deputy national security adviser, Kim Tae-hyo, had openly enthused:But a Biden administration official was quick to wade in with clarifications. Edgard Kagan, special assistant to the president and senior director for East Asia and Oceania of the National Security Council (NSC), said that the Washington Declaration was not a "nuclear-sharing" arrangement. He said the declaration emphasized America's commitment to consult with South Korea on any possible nuclear weapons employment on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea railed against the Washington Declaration and agreement to bolster the deployment of US strategic assets in the region. The deal served to escalate tension to the "brink of a nuclear war," state media KCNA said on Monday.The visit of the South Korean President to the United States was slammed as a provocation and a display of hostile policy regarding Pyongyang.North Korean President Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who serves as a deputy head of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers Party, also denounced the Washington Declaration as deteriorating global safety.Moscow is also convinced that such further actions of the collective West will result in nothing but tensions escalation by provoking an arms race. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230428/moscow-us-south-korea-joint-nuclear-agreement-destabilizes-situation-in-region-world-1109916658.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230430/pyongyang-deplores-south-korean-presidents-visit-to-us-accuses-sides-of-provoking-war-1109984589.html south korea washington Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko us, south korea, washington declaration, nuclear sharing, beyond nuclear sharing, more fundamental goals, south korean president, yoon suk yeol, visit to the united states, a joint approach to military planning, operating in nuclear contingencies, new exercises and simulations, to improve operational readiness, https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/us-to-reportedly-fast-track-500-mln-arms-for-taiwan-amid-narrative-of-china-threat-1110137406.html US to Reportedly Fast-Track $500 Mln Arms for Taiwan Amid Narrative of China 'Threat' US to Reportedly Fast-Track $500 Mln Arms for Taiwan Amid Narrative of China 'Threat' Washington reportedly intends to speed up another military package for the island, worth $500 million, resorting to the Presidential Drawdown Authority. 2023-05-06T08:42+0000 2023-05-06T08:42+0000 2023-05-06T09:03+0000 us taiwan china michael mccaul house foreign affairs committee military /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/04/1110089705_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_936f0a29f05c94e4eb0a7c0d94d2473f.jpg Washington, which has been pumping Taiwan with modern weapons to repel a Chinese invasion, reportedly intends to speed up the process even more, readying another military package for the island worth $500 million. Moreover, to expedite the delivery, it intends to resort to the Presidential Drawdown Authority, sources were cited as saying.This will ostensibly be the first time that the US wields this emergency authority in relation to military aid for Taiwan. The Biden administration has been enthusiastically relying on this foreign policy tool to send military assistance to the Kiev regime.The Presidential Drawdown Authority allows for quick delivery of "defense articles and services from Department of Defense stocks to foreign countries and international organizations to respond to unforeseen emergencies," as per the US State Department's website. In fact, such shipments can be made within a matter of days, even hours, of approval.The report did not specify what kind of equipment would be in the weapons package.The attempt to evade the usually protracted process of arms contracting and production comes as US lawmakers have been raising a hue and cry over a backlog in already approved armaments meant for Taiwan reportedly worth $19 billion. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have been blamed for the delays.'China Threat' YarnThe US has been vehemently ramping up military aid to Taiwan, justifying the move by spinning the yarn of a China invasion "threat." Taiwan has been governed independently since 1949, when Taipei severed all ties with Beijing following the Chinese Civil War. Beijing views the island as a breakaway province, while Taiwan a territory with its own elected government maintains that it is an autonomous country, but stops short of declaring independence. Chinese officials have repeatedly announced their aspiration to ensure a peaceful reunification of Taiwan with the mainland under the so-called "One Country, Two Systems" model which would allow the island to preserve elements of its existing political, legal, and economic systems while remaining in Chinas jurisdiction. However, Beijing has also warned that any attempts by foreign-backed separatists to declare independence could trigger a military solution to the issue. Accordingly, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has extended numerous warnings to Washington policymakers against militarizing Taiwan and fuelling separatist sentiment on the island. In total disregard of the warnings, the United States recently ramped up its informal diplomatic ties with Taipei in violation of commitments made to China when diplomatic relations were restored in 1979. Recently, Beijing slapped sanctions on US Congressman Michael McCaul, chair of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, for visiting Taiwan, as he led a bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers there, violating the One China principle, thus "sending a wrong signal to Taiwan independence separatist forces." In August 2022, McCarthys predecessor Nancy Pelosi also stirred up a row by traveling to Taipei to meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.As for military aid, Washington has approved more than $20 billion in sales of equipment to Taiwan since 2019, including Harpoon anti-ship missiles and Sidewinder missiles for warplanes, hundreds of Javelin anti-tank weapons, surface-to-air Stinger missiles, howitzers, and other munitions.Late in 2022, US President Joe Biden signed into law a defense bill which included $10 billion in military aid for Taiwan, with the legislation also authorizing building a "regional contingency stockpile" for the island that includes up to $100 million worth of munitions. In March, the US State Department approved a deal worth $619 million to sell hundreds of missiles to Taiwan to arm 66 F-16V fighter jets. The island is slated to receive them by the end of 2026.On March 28, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the Pentagon would use a $1 billion authorization to quickly transfer weapons to Taiwan via the Presidential Drawdown Authority. China-Taiwan tensions have been exacerbated by the US repeatedly sending warships and surveillance planes to the Taiwan Strait. Beijing has slammed such missions as provocations and portrayed Washington as "a security risk creator in the region."China has repeatedly warned Washington policymakers against militarizing Taiwan and fuelling separatist sentiment on the island, which is seen by Beijing as an inalienable part of the People's Republic. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230504/taiwan-mitigating-consequences-of-modern-f-16v-jets-delivery-delay-1110090176.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230413/china-sanctions-us-congressman-for-visiting-taiwan-1109483780.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230412/us-speed-up-of-arms-supplies-to-taiwan-prior-to-islands-2024-elections-sends-ominous-signal-1109390632.html china Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko presidential drawdown authority, us military package, china, taiwan, china threat, china invasion, fast track aid, one country, two systems model, militarizing taiwan, fuelling separatist sentiment, https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/weekly-news-wrap-blinken-facing-criminal-allegations-kremlin-drone-attack-biden-bribery-scandal-1110132113.html Weekly News Wrap; Blinken Facing Criminal Allegations; Kremlin Drone Attack; Biden Bribery Scandal Weekly News Wrap; Blinken Facing Criminal Allegations; Kremlin Drone Attack; Biden Bribery Scandal US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing allegations that he lied to Congress and set up a scheme to interfere in the 2020 presidential elections by... 06.05.2023, Sputnik International 2023-05-06T04:06+0000 2023-05-06T04:06+0000 2023-05-06T09:05+0000 the critical hour radio antony blinken joe biden bribery julian assange kremlin drone attack us navy /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/05/1110131914_0:0:1920:1080_1920x0_80_0_0_a48ac712bdf783ead9943faa6063b77c.png Weekly News Wrap; Blinken Facing Criminal Allegations; Kremlin Drone Attack; Biden Bribery Scandal US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing allegations that he lied to Congress and set up a scheme to interfere in the 2020 presidential elections by cooking up a fake intelligence assessment. Caleb Maupin, journalist, and political analyst, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. Russia blames the US for the drone attack on the Kremlin. Also, the President of Iran visited Syria and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization may become the new United Nations.Professor Danny Shaw, author, activist and professor of Latin American studies, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. Haitian struggles for freedom are misrepresented.Dan Kovalik, writer, author, and lawyer, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. NATO is looking to build bases in Finland. Also, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing allegations that he lied to Congress and set up a scheme to interfere in the 2020 presidential elections by cooking up a fake intelligence assessment.Ajamu Baraka, 2016 US vice presidential candidate for the Green Party, and Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, come together to discuss this week's important news stories. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing allegations that he lied to Congress and set up a scheme to interfere in the 2020 presidential elections by cooking up a fake intelligence assessment. Also, the US goes after African people in the US and Black voters may leave the Democrats high and dry in 2024.Jim Kavanagh, whose work can be found at Jim Kavanagh's Substack, thepolemicist.net, and Counterpunch, and Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, come together to discuss this week's important news stories. The Biden administration takes heat for persecuting Julian Assange on press freedom day. Also, RFK Jr says that he will pardon Julian Asange and the US Navy has deployed a drag queen influencer to recruit new sailors.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. Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Garland Nixon https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125302_0:0:239:239_100x100_80_0_0_d5d43c970b0740f228597fbcdb4ffd66.jpg Garland Nixon https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125302_0:0:239:239_100x100_80_0_0_d5d43c970b0740f228597fbcdb4ffd66.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Garland Nixon https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125302_0:0:239:239_100x100_80_0_0_d5d43c970b0740f228597fbcdb4ffd66.jpg radio, antony blinken, joe biden, bribery, julian assange, kremlin, drone attack, us navy, https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/west-could-use-ukrainian-labs-to-cover-up-bioweapons-development---investigative-committee-1110139161.html West Could Use Ukrainian Labs to Cover Up Bioweapons Development - Investigative Committee West Could Use Ukrainian Labs to Cover Up Bioweapons Development - Investigative Committee The work of Western biolaboratories on the territory of Ukraine might have been necessary to conceal the development of biological weapons, the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, said. 2023-05-06T11:48+0000 2023-05-06T11:48+0000 2023-05-06T11:48+0000 world ukraine alexander bastrykin investigative committee russian security council biological weapon /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/03/0f/1093885395_0:50:960:590_1920x0_80_0_0_c313feb047a7aba0afa439b782099066.jpg Alexander Bastrykin explained that the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons stipulates that states parties undertake to take measures to prohibit such weapons within their territory. However, according to Bastrykin, work in the field of microbiology using bacteria and viruses may have a dual purpose - both the development of medicines and the use of dangerous infections to create components of biological weapons. For monitoring purposes, parties to the convention have to regularly provide information, such as what laboratories are operating on their territories and what facilities are involved in the research. The Russian Security Council on April 12 unanimously approved the report of a parliamentary commission investigating the activities of US biolaboratories in Ukraine, and the document has already been supported by the State Duma. In February 2022, the Russian Defense Ministry discovered the existence of 30 US-funded military biological laboratories in Ukraine. According to Moscow, Washington has spent over $200 million to develop biological weapons at the facilities. Russia also said that the labs uncovered in Ukraine constituted only a small part of a global network of over 300 similar facilities. The Unites States denies the Russian accusations. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230412/us-working-on-universal-genetically-engineered-bioweapon-russian-parliamentary-investigation-1109381193.html ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International investigative committee, bio-development, western biolaboratories https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/what-is-14th-amendment-biden-not-ready-to-invoke--how-is-it-tied-to-us-debt-ceiling-crisis-1110141414.html What is 14th Amendment Biden Not Ready to Invoke & How is It Tied to US Debt Ceiling Crisis What is 14th Amendment Biden Not Ready to Invoke & How is It Tied to US Debt Ceiling Crisis What is 14th Amendment, and why d Debt Ceiling Crisis? 2023-05-06T12:58+0000 2023-05-06T12:58+0000 2023-05-06T12:58+0000 americas us kevin mccarthy us debt ceiling crisis debt ceiling us constitution default /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/0c/0e/1105438904_0:187:2981:1863_1920x0_80_0_0_c5858814484b0c86d39712fb120b7cdb.jpg Amid the ongoing US debt ceiling crisis and fears of a looming default, US President Joe Biden quipped that he had not gotten there yet when asked in a recent media interview if invoking the 14th Amendment was on the table.The Democratic POTUS is on schedule for a sit-down with congressional leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on May 9 at the White House to try to break the impasse on the debt ceiling.What is the 14th Amendment and how is this constitutional clause linked to the US debt ceiling row? Sputnik explains.What is the 14th Amendment?The 14th Amendment is a legal tool guaranteeing citizenship and equality rights. It contains five sections. One of them - Section 4 - is the one linked to the debt ceiling issue.Adopted by the US Senate on June 8, 1866, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified two years later. It was one of three amendments passed after the Civil War (1861 1865). Conferring citizenship to former slaves was its principal purpose. As slavery was abolished and civil and legal rights set in place for black Americans, the amendment in question endowed with citizenship all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," offering them equal protection under the laws."How is the 14th Amendment Linked to the US Debt Ceiling?Payment of any debt owed to the defunct Confederate States of America after the end of the Civil war is what Section Four of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution originally banned. Payment to former enslavers as compensation for the loss of human "property" was also prohibited.But what makes this section relevant in the ongoing debate over the debt ceiling is the following words contained in it:This public debt clause, in the opinion of some legal scholars, overrides the statutory borrowing limit, currently set by Congress at $31.4 trillion. Has the 14th Amendment Ever Been Used in a Debt Ceiling Row?No, if Joe Biden were to cite the 14th Amendment and state that the concept of the debt limit is unconstitutional, thereby ignoring it, this would happen for the first time in the history of the United States.What is the Debt Ceiling?The debt ceiling is the maximum amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments. It was set in place by a law dating back to 1917. When the US federal government spends more and more, far above the amount of revenue it takes in, it resorts to borrowing money. As breaching the debt limit may result in a default for the government, whenever the US has approached the limit, Congress has voted to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.What Have US Presidents Said About Using the 14th Amendment?As some legal pundits speculate whether President Joe Biden could solve the impasse over the debt ceiling by simply "ordering" the government to continue borrowing money by citing the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, there have been varying stances on the issue in the past. For example, ex-POTUS Bill Clinton once said that if faced with the challenge of a looming default, he would raise the debt ceiling using the 14th Amendment "without hesitation, and force the courts to stop me."When Barack Obama, another ex-president, was asked if he would use the 14th Amendment in this connection, he was quoted as saying:What Would Happen If the 14th Amendment Were Invoked?While a default would be dodged and government payments maintained, experts warn that the fallout from a president invoking the 14th Amendment would impact the economy seriously, with borrowing costs most likely soaring, while a legal challenge could also be anticipated.However, scholars cited in media reports claim it would be challenging to do so. A plaintiff would need to prove they had been harmed by the action of invoking the amendment.Meanwhile, as various scenarios are jostled by scholars, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen has warned that the US is set to exhaust the extraordinary measures in place to avert default as soon as by June 1.With the House GOP demanding linking raising the ceiling to spending cuts, and the Democratic president seeking to rule out any such preconditions, the tussle is set to continue. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230505/debt-ceiling-turmoil-white-house-claims-china--russia-would-capitalize-on-us-default--1110110554.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230504/debt-ceiling-battle-and-federal-reserve-interest-hikes-could-wreck-us-economy-1110096898.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230503/us-economy-in-peril-as-yellen-warns-debt-ceiling-inaction-1110039270.html americas Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko 14th amendment, us constitution, debt ceiling, us debt ceiling crisis, default, default on debt obligations, looming default, Bruce Ranger added another score to his lofty win total, taking the $6,000 Fillies and Mares Winners Over Pace at Cumberland on Friday (May 5) with Go Sandy Go. The Maine-native got every call as the pair skipped through opening fractions of :28.3 and :58.2 with little, to no pressure. As the field passed the five-eighths marker, driver Mark Athearn was the first to apply pressure with Rys Red Rocket, while Pembroke Ali (Heath Campbell) sat chilly in the pocket. Lydias Liberty (Kevin Switzer Jr.) found cover second over, and with the third stanza timed in 1:26.3, it was evident that the leader had stepped on the accelerator. With Switzer Jr.s cover stalling he was forced to send Lydias Liberty three deep around the final turn and took aim at Ranger and the even-money favourite, Go Sandy Go. The wire arrived just in time as the pacesetters prevailed by a diminishing half-length in 1:56.3. Trained by Benson Merrill for owners John Kiernan Jr., Thelma Kiernan and Lauren Merrill, the eight-year-old daughter of Roddys Bags Again picked up her second win of the four-week meet. Go Sandy Go paid $4.20 to win. Pembroke Ali hung on for third. Ranger is now just seven wins away from the 10,000 win benchmark, as the Ranger-10k-Watch continues. Not to be outdone, Nick Graffam scored a hat trick on the afternoon card winning the daily double with Woodys Cash Crop (1:57.3, $9.20) and Sixby Hanover (1:57.3, $10.00), both of which came from the familys Norton Farm, trained by his dad Mike Graffam. Nick came back to win the sixth race with Bay Brute (1:57, $4.80), and ironically, is just seven scores shy from notching his 1,000th career victory. Drew Campbell picked up a driving double, which put him in a 12-win tie with Bruce Ranger for bragging rights at the iconic Southern Maine oval. Nick Graffam is now in third place with 11 victories. Trainers Mike Graffam and Benson Merrill each got a pair of wins. Chris Lefebvre leads all conditioners with eight wins. Both of the popular red, gold and black-clad reinsmen (Ranger and Graffam) will be busy on Saturdays (May 6) Derby Day program, which carries 10 races and includes both the co-featured $6,500 winners over pace and $6,500 winners over trot. Post time is 3:15 pm. In the 50 cent Pick 5 beginning with the opener, there is a $794.05 carryover, which carries a low 16% takeout. Kentucky Derby action and the entire card from Churchill Downs is on tap with programs, big screen television viewing and betting all available at the Fairgrounds, provided by First Tracks Cumberland. Live harness racing continues at Cumberland throughout the Spring and early Summer months with regular racing on Friday and Saturday each weekend. First post is slated for 3:15 pm (EDT) during the extended pari-mutuel meeting, which runs through August 5. (Cumberland) Canadian-bred Khaosan Road went to the front from post one at the start of Saturdays $137,775 Dexter Cup and never relinquished the lead on his way to a one-length win over favourite Espresso in 1:57.4 at Freehold Raceway. Candy Bomber finished third. Khaosan Road, driven by Scott Zeron, was making his seasonal debut for trainer Ake Svanstedt after a limited two-year-old campaign. The geldings victory in the Dexter, the years first Grand Circuit event for three-year-old male trotters, was his second in five career starts and increased his earnings to $81,697. Post one makes it easier for everyone on the half-mile track, said assistant trainer Sarah Svanstedt. He was fast and he behaved. I was surprised he was so good-gaited on this small track because hes a big horse. He fought from the start to the finish, so Im very happy and pleased with him. After taking the lead, Khaosan Road set fractions of :29, :59.1 and 1:28.1. He fended off a first-over challenge from Designer Drink and kept pocket-sitting Espresso at bay down the stretch. The trip was good, said Zeron, who also won a division of the Lady Suffolk Stakes on Saturday at Freehold. Once we got through the first turn, it looked like we were going to take command of the race. I just stayed with the first-up horse and when it came time down the lane, I asked him and he responded. He was great. Khaosan Road is owned by Knutsson Trotting Inc. and Little E LLC. The son of International Moni-Jewels In The Sand was bred by Quebec's Kelly Duval Lacaille. He is not eligible to the $1 million Hambletonian Stakes at The Meadowlands in August. He had some soreness issues last year, so he had fewer starts, said Svanstedt. But hes trained back great. I think hes grown into his big body and is ready for 2023. Sadie Hanover won the fastest of the days two divisions of the Lady Suffolk Stakes for three-year-old female trotters, breezing from gate-to-wire to defeat On The House by 10-1/4 lengths in 1:56.3. Rhiannon Hanover finished third. Sadie Hanover for trainer Linda Toscano and owners The Bays Stable, Blue Ridge Stable, Carmen Iannacone and Gary Cocco. The daughter of Chapter Seven-Southwind Percy, who was making her seasonal debut, was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms. She has won two of six lifetime races and earned $31,762 after adding her share of the divisions $28,725 purse. Sent off as the 8-5 co-favourite, the Hambletonian Oaks-eligible Sadie Hanover paid $5.40 to win. The remaining co-favourite, Canterbury Hanover, was among three fillies to go off stride in the race. The first division of the Lady Suffolk went to Italian-bred Emira Mil IT, who rallied in the stretch after dropping back from second in the last turn to win by three-quarters of a length over Ruth Honig in 1:57.3. Pembroke Moni was third in the $27,725 event. Trainer Ake Svanstedt drove Emira Mil, a Hambletonian Oaks-eligible filly making her seasonal debut, for owner Pimpicks Inc. The daughter of Face Time Bourbon-Sunshine Bi was bred by Pimpicks SRL. She has won two of eight career starts and earned $48,397. Emira Mil paid $4.60 to win as the 6-5 favourite. Calabrese, Verruso win in American Harness Drivers Club Both John Calabrese and Anthony Verruso planted themselves on the point and claimed victory in their respective $9,000 divisions of the American Harness Drivers Club (AHDC) Trot at Freehold Raceway on Saturday. In the first division, Calabrese settled in second with Blogmaster to a :29 first quarter before circling his charge to the fore before the :59.4 half. Call Me Thefireman (driven by Anthony Verruso) yielded for the pocket while Vendor Bill (Maria De Bruijn) blitzed first over and pressed the tempo-setter through to three-quarters in 1:29.2. Blogmasters inside advantage stretched his lead a tad upon spinning for home and he needed every inch of that cushion to keep Vendor Bill at bay and win by a nose in 1:59.3. King Cast (Yogi Sheridan) followed cover to finish third and Call Me Thefireman took fourth. Bill MacKenzie trains Blogmaster, a five-year-old gelding by Glidemaster, and co-owns with Donald Witkowski and Vincent Ali Jr. He paid $3.20 to win. Anthony Verruso fired Winneress from the pylons in the second division and never looked back. Verruso soared through a clip of :29.1, :59 and 1:29.1 while enduring first-over pressure from Brownie (Jacob Stillwell), who eventually caved from the fatigue of a wide trip and broke stride to the final turn. Parody (Joe Lee), the 2-1 favourite, charged off his pylon trip to take late aim for the lead but settled for second, beaten a half length, with Shoemaker Hanover (John Calabrese) storming wide for third and pocket-sitter Trump This (Kubi Erzene) settling for fourth. Symon Spicer trains Winneress, a nine-year-old gelding by Credit Winner, for owner Anthony Verruso. The gelding paid $12 to win. AHDC action continues at Freehold Raceway on Friday, May 12 with a division for the AHDC Pace. First-race post time at Freehold is 12:30 p.m. (EDT). (USTA) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 6) President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with King Charles III on Friday evening (UK time) during a reception for world leaders at Buckingham Palace ahead of the British monarchs coronation. Photos released by the British Embassy in Manila showed Marcos and his wife, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, speaking to Charles who will officially be crowned eight months after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. In a statement, Marcos said he is deeply honored to attend the pre-coronation reception. We underscore the thriving relationship between the Philippines and the United Kingdom, which has been promising in increasing trade, investment, and cultural exchanges for the Filipino people, he said. Also present at the royal event were other heads of state from across the globe. Prior to the occasion, Marcos and members of his delegation were welcomed by a representative of the King, as well as by Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom Teodoro Locsin Jr., upon their arrival at the London Gatwick Airport also on Friday. The president said his group toured the airport to learn from best practices that can help improve the Philippines tourism sector. We made the most of our time at Gatwick Airport, meeting with its executives and taking a comprehensive tour, Marcos said. We gathered valuable insights to improve Philippine airports and boost tourism at home, he added. King Charles, 74, and Queen Consort Camilla, 75, will be crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, where thousands are expected to gather to witness the first such event in Britain in seven decades. The coronation service is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, UK time, which is seven hours behind Manila time. Buckingham Palace also earlier confirmed that representatives from over 200 countries were invited to the coronation service. Six-year-old Eyes Dont Lie and owner/trainer/driver Winter Asher-Stalbaum took the Northville Downs co-featured $10,800 Mares Open Pace while seven-year-old Travlin Swan and trainer/driver Art McIlmurray captured the $10,800 Open Trot on Friday night (May 5). The featured Mares Open had Eyes Dont Lie being hustled away from her rail position by Asher-Stalbaum to seat all challengers and never look back. The daughter of Roll With Joe and Michelles Ideal set fractions of :27.3, :57.1 and 1:25.4 before stopping the timer in 1:55 winning by a one-length margin over Rockinattheryman (Marc St. Louis Jr.) and Cousin Margie (Lindsay Moen). The win marked Eyes Dont Lies 16th career victory and pushed her earnings to $113,467. In the featured trot, McIlmurray drove the son of Swan For All, Travlin Swan, away for the lead. The pair tripped the beams to fractions of :28.1, :57.4, 1:27.1 and a final clocking of 1:57.2 when they held off a late charge by I Get It (Bob Rowland) at the finish by a nose with Thats A Bad Boy (Jason Merriman) finishing third. The victory for Travlin Swan (pictured above) was career win number 18 and his purse earnings ticked up to $133,603. Travlin Swan is owned by Staci Malady and was bred in Michigan by Gus Korbakis. Racing at Northville Downs resumes on Saturday, May 6 at 7 p.m. (With files from Northville Downs) Longtime harness racing industry participant Hattie Till (nee Weir) of Uxbridge, Ont. passed away on April 23, 2023 at the age of 84. Hattie was the loving and sincere wife of Edward Till for 65 years, the charismatic, hardworking mother of Kathy Clark, Debbie Dillon, Cheryl Johnson, Rose McNeil, Valerie Till and Joy Till, and proud grandmother to Steven, Jason, Ryan, Ashley, Colton, Amanda, and Hailey. Her endless love will also be missed by her five great-grandchildren, brother, sisters and extended family and friends. Hattie's immeasurable strength and courage was an inspiration to many. A Celebration of Life will be announced at a later date. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Hattie Till. This is a piece in a six-part series on the major rivers, their respective drainages found in Nebraska, and their geography and history. Nebraska has abundant water with many streams, rivers, and groundwater. At times these rivers flood, creating unbelievable devastation. This finite resource of clean water irrigates over nine million acres of crops across the state, provides for our daily needs, riparian habitat for wildlife and fauna, a multitude of recreational opportunities, and aesthetics for the soul. Safe and respectful use of this essential resource is incumbent on all of us. The Elkhorn River drainage system is in northeast Nebraska. The headwaters of the Elkhorn are in the eastern Sandhills near Bassett, Neb. The Missouri River forms the states eastern boundary with South Dakota, Iowa, and Missouri. The Missouri River boundary starts approximately 13 miles northeast of Spencer, ending seven miles southeast of Rulo. Numerous small creeks from the Missouri River Tributaries Basin drain into the Missouri River. Many creeks feed the Elkhorn, including Maple Creek and Logan Creek Dredge. The river flows for approximately 290 miles and joins the Platte River west of Gretna, Neb. The river has an average discharge of 1,523 cubic feet per second at the confluence with the Platte River. The Elkhorn River is one of the larger tributaries to the Platte River and serves as a recreational site for boating and fishing. The flour mill located in Neligh was constructed in 1873 and used water from the Elkhorn River for power. The mill operated for over seventy-five years using locally grown grain ground into flour and, during World War I, also produced corn meal. The flour was sold to the government and for overseas export. A flood in 1920 broke the diversion dam for the mill, forcing the mill to convert to electrical power. The mill closed in 1969 and is a Nebraska State Historical site, a symbol of agricultural history for the state, and on the National Register of Historic Places. Primary crops grown in these drainages include corn, soybeans, alfalfa, forages, and small grains. Rivers in Nebraska have flooded over the years, and none more damaging than the historic flood in the spring of 2019. The Missouri, Platte, Elkhorn, Niobrara, and Loup Rivers were all part of that flood. Major floods of record on the Missouri River occurred in 1881, 1943, 1967, 1978, and 1993. Six dams have been constructed on the Missouri River by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to help mitigate flooding along the river. The Missouri River also served as the main path of travel east of the continental divide for the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition of 1804-1806. Nebraska has an island on the Missouri side of the river. McKissick Island is part of Nebraska, but a flood cut the land off from Nebraska, putting it on the Missouri side of the river. The state of Missouri claimed 5,000 acres. But a survey in 1999 firmly placed the land in question in Nebraska, and President Clinton signed the Missouri-Nebraska Boundary Compact into law. The island is three miles northeast of Peru, Neb. Four Natural Resource Districts combine to cover most of these drainages. They are the Papio-Missouri, Lewis & Clark, Lower Elkhorn, and Upper Elkhorn NRDs. The total area is 10,214 square miles. The Lower Niobrara, Lower Platte South, and Nemaha NRDs cover the Missouri River Tributaries Basin. The respective NRDs manage the groundwater in their district. To view these river drainages and others across the United States, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has a great website called Streamer (txpub.usgs.gov/DSS/streamer/web/). At the website, click Go to Map. From the new page, zoom in on the state. In the upper right corner of the page, click Trace Upstream. Zoom in and find the point you want to trace the river/stream upstream. To see the Elkhorn River Drainage, click on the river at the confluence with the Platte River between Lincoln and Omaha. If you know the river/stream headwaters/source, you can also use the Trace Downstream feature. The Missouri-Nebraska Boundary Compact can be viewed online at apps.csg.org/ncic/PDF/Missouri-Nebraska%20Boundary%20Compact.pdf. When you share with people outside of Nebraska that you live in the Panhandle they often will say, Oh, I have a friend in Omaha/Lincoln. Their name is so-and-so. Do you know them? Little do they know that Nebraska is a vast state and everyone dont know each other. Though, if theres definitely a couple you should know from that end of Nebraska it would be Omaha authors Tim and Lisa Trudell. Nebraska-philes might be the best made up word to describe the Trudells. Theyve crafted a career out of being the true experts on their hometown, as well as the entire state. Their books, 100 Things to Do in Omaha Before You Die, Unique Eateries of Omaha, Lost Treasures of Omaha and 100 Things to Do in Nebraska Before You Die are must haves to add to your car if youre driving across the state or spending a vacation in the Omaha area. Tim is a true small-town Nebraska native, born in Kennard, lived in Oakland and graduated from Fremont High. Lisa is an honorary native, having lived in Omaha since 1987. Tims the primary writer and Lisa is the key behind-the-scenes marketing and promotions expert. The couple met when they were working in hospitality for Radisson Hotels and discovered they both enjoyed traveling and taking advantage of the employee discounts. After the recession of 2008, they had to make some career shifts and Lisa stayed in the travel space, working as a travel agent for American Express. They shared their adventures on social media with their friends and family who eventually encouraged them to start writing a blog. That blog turned into The Walking Tourists and, in 2013, they were contacted by one of their followers, Reedsy Press out of St. Louis. They initially focused on their expertise in their own backyard of Omaha, then leveraged that success into a book about the entire state. Their book 100 Things to Do in Nebraska Before You Die was initially published in early 2020, right before the world shut down to travel, and a statewide book tour was shelved. Somehow, even with the pandemic, the book was a success as people kept their travels closer to home. This year, theyre trying again with the book tour to launch the second edition of their book. There are 33 new entries in the book with some of the old locations moved to lists of fun facts, did you know lists and great coffee houses or restaurants. When asked what his favorite Nebraska place or thing was, Tim said, Its tough to narrow it down to just one. The Bob Kerrey pedestrian bridge is an Omaha favorite. Im looking forward to seeing Toadstool Park and think that might become a western Nebraska favorite. But, I think my favorite event is the sandhill crane migration in the spring. We have a favorite viewing area just outside Kearney. The criteria for getting into the book is not mathematical but personal. Tim said, This is not a top 100 list, this is a book detailing 100 experiences. He shared their two questions: Would we want to stop and check this out and would we want to tell someone about it? They try to balance out the state so there are destinations close to home for most Nebraskans. The Old West Balloon Fest is among the events in the second edition. The first edition included the Historic Midwest Theater and Legacy of the Plains Museum. Admission is free of charge. Books will be on sale at the event and concessions will be on sale. Theyre currently traveling the state promoting the second edition of 100 Things to Do in Nebraska Before You Die and will be guests as part of the areas observation of National Travel and Tourism Week Sunday, May 7. Theyll be presenting and signing their books starting at 6 p.m. at the Midwest Theater. Why is there not a movie about the mighty men of David? Talk about some gladiators and warriors. The stories surrounding King David and these men could make an incredible film. I envision something between, 300, Gladiator, Passion Of The Christ, and Hostiles. This morning I read the following. 2 Samuel 23: Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; Thus says the man raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel: 2 The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God. 4 And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, Like the tender grass springing out of the earth, By clear shining after rain. 5 Although my house is not so with God, Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire; Will He not make it increase? 6 But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away, Because they cannot be taken with hands. 7 But the man who touches them Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place. Davids Mighty Men 8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time. 9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. 10 He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder. 11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory. 13 Then three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 And David said with longing, Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! 16 So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. 17 And he said, Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men. 18 Now Abishai the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of another three. He lifted his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among these three. 19 Was he not the most honored of three? Therefore he became their captain. However, he did not attain to the first three. 20 Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. 21 And he killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand; so he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptians hand, and killed him with his own spear. 22 These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and won a name among three mighty men. 23 He was more honored than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him over his guard. 24 Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27 Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah (the Netophathite), Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai from the brooks of Gaash, 31 Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite (of the sons of Jashen), Jonathan, 33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite (armorbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah), 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 and Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all. Gov. Jay Inslee was in Pasco on Wednesday to celebrate the opening of the states newest regional law enforcement training academy. The Pasco facility is one of four new training centers slated to open within the next one to two years, including a Southwest Washington regional center in Clark County. It has been a difficult time for multiple communities in our nation, including those in law enforcement, and I want the people in law enforcement to know through those difficult days we have made some changes that I think will improve our state, Inslee said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. State lawmakers were in full support of the new training facilities, allocating funds in both the 2023-25 biennium operating and capital budgets passed in the final days of the Legislatures recent session. Vancouver Police Chief Jeff Mori and Battle Ground Police Chief Mike Fort were in Pasco for the grand opening. Having a regional law enforcement training facility is very important to our local criminal justice ecosystem. I applaud Gov. Inslee for his courageous leadership and making these projects a priority, Mori said Thursday. The two were also on hand in July 2022 for the governors press conference at the existing training academy in Burien to announce the proposed regional expansion. We knew that Pasco was first. They had already started this process, Fort said. We are positioned to be, hopefully, operational by about summertime or maybe late spring of next year in Southwest Washington. Mori and Fort, as well as Clark County Sheriff John Horch, have been working closely with lawmakers to get the Southwest Washington regional training center moving forward. Weve been doing quite a lot of outreach with our legislative bodies. In fact, all of the municipal agencies in Clark, Skamania, Cowlitz and parts of Lewis counties are all supportive of this regional academy, Fort said Thursday. Fort said every law enforcement agency has a stockpile of needs for getting recruits into the training academy sooner than is currently available, including a commuter-type of academy rather than a go-away-for-five-months academy. Southwest Washington public safety agencies will no longer have to require entry-level applicants to travel and live in Burien for nearly five months, which places an unequitable burden on many people. Having more local academies removes barriers for people who cannot leave family members for several months, including single parents or individuals who may be needed for daily availability to family members, Mori said. With long wait times before recruits can attend the required 720-hour basic law enforcement academy in Burien, Horch said his office has at times resorted to warehousing candidates. Rather than risking losing out on a good candidate, Horch the sheriffs office has hired recruits and has them working in other roles until a training slot opens in six to nine months. A regional training center in Clark County will solve that problem, he said. We try to train them as best we can, but we dont have the staff to train them or the facilities to train them. Thats why we need the academy, Horch said. We lose people that way. In addition to making the training process easier, Fort said having a training academy in Clark County lets local residents pursue a law enforcement career. Thats an extra benefit to the community and police department, he said. Having a regional academy (means) we can draw from our area candidates that can go to these academies and then remain in our area and serve our local police departments, Fort said. Mori agreed thats a benefit to the local communities. The ability to recruit and train police officer candidates from the local area gives public safety agencies the ability to diversify their staffing to more closely reflect the communities they serve, Mori said. Opening date unclear When the Clark County academy will open is still to be determined. Megan Saunders, communications manager for the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, said it is too soon to name a date or location. As far as site locations, the procedure for the state to purchase or lease a location has many steps; one of them being working with the Department of Enterprise Services, Real Estate Services team on a market search to identify a site location, Saunders said. Our hopes are that we can identify a location very soon, start on contracts and hiring. Once these steps are complete, we will know more about when we can start training in Clark County. Saunders said funds allocated in the 2023-25 biennium budget will allow for two basic training classes per year. Well have a temporary facility to start with, Horch said. But the long-range goal is to build one here along the Interstate 5 corridor to serve all of Southwest Washington. Horch said the temporary facility will offer the full required training but wont be in a dedicated building. Instead, it will be housed in an existing facility, such as at Clark College or another location. Were trying to partner with several different entities about finding the right space, Horch said. Were not going to be in a strip mall or anything like that. Theres a photo in my camera roll of a gold-colored table crowded with colorful plates some kind of bubbly pink spritz, toast smothered in ricotta and soft scrambled eggs, ripe melon segments under ribbons of prosciutto and two chubby little toddler hands sneaking in to grab a strand of breakfast carbonara. The setting was late 2019 at Ava Genes, a Roman-inspired restaurant in Southeast Portland that had recently added brunch. In hindsight, it was taken with this newspaper and Instagram in mind: Shot from overhead, the morning light slanting in from the window, those two little hands a sign that this was one restaurant critic dad who wasnt afraid to have it all! Of course, the reality was less idyllic. There was the struggle to get out the door. The fear that my 2-year-old would deposit one of the restaurants nice ceramic plates directly onto the floor. The anxiety and embarrassment of trying to snap a photo (for work!) before my 9-month-old could smash her hand into the nut butter parfait. If catering companies were the pandemics proverbial canary in the coal mine, breakfast spots werent far behind, with beloved neighborhood spots including Arleta Library Cafe, Bijou, Helsers, Sanborns and Trinket closing in 2020. Eggs, we quickly learned, dont travel well in takeout boxes. But looking back at that photo, Im mostly reminded that weekend brunch is a young persons game. Even if COVID had never cratered Portlands breakfast landscape, play dates and swim lessons and birthday parties would have made a leisurely Sunday morning meal an unaffordable luxury, at least in terms of time. Six years ago, we offered advice on how to never wait in line for brunch in Portland again, including a guide to underrated breakfast spots and a list of restaurants that offered reservations for weekend brunch. Many of those didnt last through the pandemic. But several exciting new restaurants are offering a fresh way for diners to enjoy creatively cooked eggs and boozy morning cocktails without the weekend hassle by opening on Friday. Next week, we will present the results of a months-long tour of Portland breakfast menus that debuted after the pandemic. Before that arrives, heres a standout new spot where the weekend starts a day early. The Woodsman Tavern Six years ago, I celebrated my first Fathers Day at this Southeast Portland restaurant, which was opened by Stumptown Coffee founder Duane Sorenson and originally known for its dark wood interior, extensive bourbon collection and raw seafood glistening on ice up front. In 2021, The Woodsman was bought and reopened by Submarine Hospitality, the group behind Ava Genes and Tusk, which was itself recently purchased by Sortis Holdings, the same investment firm that spent the past few years gobbling up hip local brands including the Ace Hotel, Bamboo Sushi, cafe chain Barista, barbershop Rudys pizzeria and Sizzle Pie. (Got that?) Before revisiting last month, I wasnt sure what I would find. Consistency was an issue during The Woodsmans first run, and I know neighbors who wont visit even now, despite the ownership change(s). But I always enjoyed the vibe, with its roomy booths and many landscape paintings of Mount Hood (it was also a low-key fun place to watch sports, though the bar TVs were removed when the room turned into a Tasty N Daughters in 2019). Lets get this out of the way: The brunch I enjoyed at The Woodsman Tavern last month, when a friend and I were the only non-employees in the dining room for most of our meal, would have ranked among Portlands best, even before the pandemic. Heres what to expect: Mimosas, Bloody Marys and drip coffee from Puff, Sorensons new project. Oysters on the half shell, shrimp cocktails and the return of the Woodsman seafood tower. Bruleed grapefruit halves and Berliner-style brioche doughnuts topped with Trix cereal. Soft eggs on toast, OG and new school breakfast sandwiches, and an outstanding Dungeness crab eggs Benedict. Its not cheap a super crunchy Scotch egg (better than Helsers, RIP) is $8 and the Benedict costs $26, well worth it considering theres a nicely poached egg and a mid-sized crab cake tucked under the blanket of good, mustard-y Hollandaise. But go on a Friday or, with reservations, a Saturday or Sunday and you can settle into the booth of your choice for a relaxing brunch of the highest caliber. Brunch served 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday to Sunday at 4537 S.E. Division St., 503-342-1122, thewoodsmantavern.com Lazy Susan When this family-friendly charcoal grill took over The Country Cat, it was hard to get a read on the menu, with its dainty jerk quail, elaborate crudite platters, izakaya-style mackerel and classic pies. It seemed like there might be too many cooks in the kitchen, even if all those cooks were talented in their own right. But recent reports have indicated that Lazy Susan has settled into a nice groove, a position backed up by a recent Friday brunch. The Montavilla neighborhood restaurant, which can fill up on weekends but isnt particularly crowded on Fridays, swims in the same New American waters as The Woodsman Tavern, only with a noticeable Jewish deli current, including a smoked whitefish spread and a bialy plate with pickles and luscious house-cured lox. (Those, plus latke-replacing hash browns, cinnamon buns and house-made potato doughnuts are also available as a pre-packaged brunch box to-go). The best part about a meal here might be how tactile everything is. Mimosas come as singles or kits with a bottle of cava and a choice of orange or grapefruit juice. The bialy spread requires assembly at the table. The Dutch baby a little flat compared to the gold standard at The Original Pancake House, but still tasty includes a maple-sage sausage, apple slices and an impressively deep-fried egg for making DIY pigs in a blanket. Keep an eye on the sides you could form the base of a decent meal from the thick-cut peppered bacon (flashback to The Country Cat, anyone?), those hash brown patties, a bialy with cream cheese and a little (infant?) Dutch baby with lemon and sugar. Brunch served 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday-Sunday at 7937 S.E. Stark St., 971-420-8913, lazysusanpdx.com Toki Found in the former Tasty N Alder space downtown, this modern Korean restaurant a sister to Han Oak, The Oregonians 2017 Restaurant of the Year offers at least two paths when it comes to brunch. On one side, the many dishes inspired by viral TikTok trends: the Taco Bell-style brunch wrap supreme, the impressive tornado egg shrouding the kimchi fried omurice, the steamed and bao-wrapped burger and its bacon, egg and cheese-filled breakfast cousin. Its easy to imagine a plastic-wrapped pojangmacha in Seoul or a colorful cart in Southeast Portland specializing in almost all of these dishes. Ive enjoyed that brunch wrap, the bao burger, the steak and egg bibimbap, and the sweet lacquered Korean-fried chicken sandwich in the past, but none seemed right for a recent Friday brunch, when Toki was nearly but not quite full. Instead, my go-to move here is the composed breakfast, a more traditional tray of purple rice, kimchi, mid-rare trout and a slice of rolled omelet. You can add a side of doenjang soup, the Korean cousin to miso, for one of the Portlands most nourishing brunches, any day of the week. Brunch served from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at 580 S.W. 12th Ave., 503-312-3037, tokipdx.com Last year, Debbie Hassler said she doubted the running list of six missing or murdered Cowlitz tribal members was complete, and she was right. A couple months ago, the Cowlitz Tribes Pathways to Healing program added the seventh name. But the victim services and advocacy program has also removed names three times, when those missing for years or for a short time were found, said Hassler, Cowlitz Tribal Health and Human Services deputy director. I do think the number is much higher, but weve also been fortunate to take people off the list, she said. Friday was Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Awareness Day, and the Pathways program held activities throughout the week to honor the seven tribal members, as well as anyone else affected. Pathways set up displays in its office lobbies in Longview, Vancouver, Toledo, DuPont and Tukwila acknowledging the missing or murdered Cowlitz members. The program invited people to create yard signs; hung red dresses to represent Indigenous people victimized by violence; and gave away keychains and stickers with MMIP and anti-human trafficking messages. On Friday, Pathways held a virtual screening of Al Jazeera Englishs documentary The Search: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, followed by a panel discussion. The 2019 documentary explored four cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls, including two from Washington state. The case studies highlighted commonalities, such as a lack of comprehensive missing persons data, slow or inadequate law enforcement response and little communication from investigating agencies. Indigenous women and girls go missing or are murdered at disproportionately high rates in the United States, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute. In Washington, Indigenous women go missing at a rate four times that of white women, according to 2018 data. As of May 1, there were at least 142 unsolved cases with Native American victims in Washington, according to the Washington State Patrol. This includes Cowlitz tribal member Misty Copsey, who went missing in Pierce County, and Kelly Sims, who was last seen in Kelso. There are many contributing factors to the disproportionally high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous people such as racism and poverty but the underlying reason is colonization, said Lynsey Dearth, mental health clinical supervisor at the tribes Tukwila location, during the panel discussion. The attempt to erase the first peoples was the agenda and thats permeated throughout time, said Dearth, a Northern Cheyenne, Crow and Turtle Mountain Chippewa descendent. Although the movement initially focused on the high rates of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls, people of all genders are affected, panel members said. The attention to missing and murdered Native Americans has only recently risen to a similar level other people receive, Dearth said. The unfortunate reality is, its taking the story of MMIP to have our voice heard, to be seen in that way, she said. Where to get help Cowlitz Tribe Pathways to Healing Longview office 360-575-6239, pathwaystohealing@cowlitz.org National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888 or text "help" to 233733 National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 State, local responses As mentioned in the documentary, federal and state governments have begun taking steps to address the MMIP crisis. Last year, Washington lawmakers established an alert system for missing Indigenous people. The law requires Washington State Patrol to treat missing Indigenous people with the same alerts as missing children and medically vulnerable adults. In April, the Legislature passed a bill to create a cold case unit to investigate missing and murdered Indigenous people cases in the state. Indigenous victims make up 5% of unresolved cases in the state but less than 2% of the states population, according to the Attorney Generals Office. Due to reporting practices, racial misclassification, data collection and other issues, the actual disparity is likely higher, the office stated. I think thats the most harmful thing we can do because were not providing culturally responsive, appropriate resource to families, Hassler said of racial misclassification. Although awareness has grown, particularly in the last five years, MMIP is not new, Hassler said. Our history is sadly rooted in violence and victimization of Indian people, she said. Hassler emphasized the need for continued work beyond the official awareness day. Its about seeking out information, learning and bringing that into your circle, your communities and to every person so we can stop rape culture language, stand up for equity, she said. Thats the stuff thats real meaningful every day a week, not just one day. Pathways, under new manager Amanda Workman, will continue providing information and support for families of missing and murdered Cowlitz members throughout the year, Hassler said. That includes offering resources for families and survivors, adding names to the list to be honored, sharing missing persons posters, and other efforts to help with healing, Hassler said. The programs coordinated community response team created in 2018 to talk about human trafficking, antiviolence and raise awareness around MMIP is wrapping up projects with ilani Casino Resort and Hotel, Hassler said. The team coordinated with ilani executives to place anti-human trafficking signs around the property and on the back of every room key, Hassler said. The prevention efforts help tribal members and anyone who comes to the Cowlitz reservation, she said. The panel also discussed the need for people to take care of their own mental health while addressing MMIP overall or when affected by a case. People feeling overwhelmed should recognize and honor those feelings, then come back and to take care of spiritual, mental, physical and emotional needs in a balanced way, Dearth said. That could include talking to someone, making sure they are eating and drinking water or going for a walk, she said. It can take over our lives if were not careful because it is such a heavy thing to carry, Dearth said. There are families doing this all day, every day because they have to, but making sure to find ways to bring ourselves back ensures we can do that work when we have the capacity to do so. (CNN) Britons are more likely to say their views of the monarchy have worsened than improved over the past decade, according to a CNN poll, suggesting that King Charles III is facing serious challenges on the eve of his coronation, when he will be officially crowned head of an institution that has endured years of internal upheaval. More than one-third of UK adults (36%) say their opinion of the family has become more negative than it was 10 years ago, the survey by polling company Savanta found. Queen Elizabeth II's death last September brought to an end an era defined by the late monarch's steadfast dedication to duty, amid rapidly changing times. Just 21% say their views on the royal family have gotten more positive over the past decade, with another 41% saying their overall opinion has stayed the same. And three in 10 say they have become less interested in news about the family over that time, while 22% say they have grown more interested. A little less than half say that their interest level hasn't changed. Most Britons say they plan to take part in at least one event this weekend related to the coronation, which is set to be a magnificent display of tradition and pageantry. But the public celebration of the new King comes as at a time when decades of demographic, religious and societal change have resulted in shifting attitudes to the monarchy, following the longest interlude between two coronations in British history. Generational divide UK residents are split in their level of interest in the coronation, the polling suggests, with broader views about the royal family and its members marked by generational divides. Half of UK adults say they're interested in the coronation, with only a fifth describing themselves as "very interested." Most say they plan to participate in at least one activity surrounding the festivities this weekend, with 40% planning to watch the coronation ceremony, 28% to watch the coronation concert on Sunday, 14% to attend a street party or other community event, and 7% to volunteer as part of the "Big Help Out" initiative. Just over a third plan to opt out of coronation-related events entirely. Those age 55 and older are roughly 10 percentage points likelier than younger adults to say they're interested in the coronation. They were most likely to say they'll watch the ceremony, with about half planning to tune in. By contrast, 37% of those age 35-54 and just 31% of those younger than 35 say they intend to watch the event, as an increasing number of young Britons express their indifference to or dislike for an institution they say has no relevance in their lives. Ahead of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations last June, CNN spoke to young people in the UK who cited factors from British colonialism to a lack of diversity as reasons for feeling disconnected to the monarchy. Adults younger than 35 are more likely than their older counterparts to say they're planning to participate in the volunteer effort. Women are 10 points likelier than men to say they plan to watch the coronation concert, and 9 points likelier to say they'll watch the ceremony. More broadly, the poll finds the UK public reporting declining interest in -- and opinions of -- the royal family over the past decade, a period during which the institution has been embroiled in a series of controversies that have threatened the family's popularity. In 2019, Prince Andrew stepped back from his royal duties over his ties to disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. A day after a judge ruled a sexual abuse civil lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre against Andrew could proceed, Buckingham Palace announced that he had been stripped of his military titles and charities. Andrew later settled the lawsuit. The royal institution has also faced serious allegations of racism over the years. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, said that pleas over her mental health were disregarded and that she was made to feel ostracized while she endured racist treatment from the British press during her time as a working royal. In January, the family carried on with public duties as they worked to repair the fallout from Prince Harry's explosive memoir, in which he made incendiary accusations against a number of senior royals. Such controversies may have helped shape public attitudes toward the institution. CNN's polling suggests UK adults are closely divided on whether or not they currently see the royal family as role models: 44% say that the royal family isn't a good source of leadership and guidance to people like them, while 41% say they are, with another 16% unsure. More than half (55%) of UK adults younger than 25 say that they don't consider the royal family a good source of leadership and guidance, a view shared by just 36% of those aged 55 or older. But not all members of the royal family are viewed in the same light. William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales are the best regarded: 62% of UK adults hold a favorable view of both, with just 14% and 13%, respectively, viewing them unfavorably, and the remainder neutral or expressing no opinion. Just less than half have a favorable view of King Charles, with 23% rating him unfavorably. Views of Queen Camilla are more split, with 34% rating her favorably, 32% unfavorably, and 31% saying their view is neither positive or negative. And opinions of Prince Harry and Meghan are underwater, with 52% and 56%, respectively, rating them unfavorably, and fewer than 3 in 10 expressing positive views of either. Within the UK public, opinions on specific royals differ sharply by age. Older adults are substantially more positive than younger adults toward King Charles -- almost two-thirds of those older than 55 view him favorably, compared with about a third of those younger than 35. The same pattern holds true for opinions of Queen Camilla, who has a 44% favorability rating among those age 55 and older and a 23% favorability rating among under-35s, and for both the Prince of Wales (78% vs. 46%) and Princess of Wales (78% vs. 44%). By contrast, the age dynamic is reversed for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex: 42% of UK adults younger than 35 hold a favorable opinion of Prince Harry, compared with just 13% of those 55 and older, and 40% in the youngest group view Meghan positively, compared with 10% among the oldest group. The poll was conducted on March 24 through 26 among a random sample of 2,093 UK adults aged 18 and older. Surveys were conducted online, and weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region and social grade. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points; it is larger for subgroups. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Britons support for the monarchy is in long-term decline, suggesting King Charles faces challenges" Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Thad Scudder Friday sentenced sitting Kalama council member Matthew Michael Merz to community service after being convicted of computer trespass and data theft in March. Merz, 42, avoided jail time but must serve 160 hours of community service and pay fines, after a jury found Merz illegally accessed the email of another city councilmember as part of Merzs plan to uncover alleged and unproven misconduct concerning the Kalama Police Department. Merz was ordered to physically stay away from fellow council member Jon Stanfill whose email Merz was convicted of breaking into until May 5, 2028. He is still allowed to remain on the council and participate via Zoom. In reaction to Merzs sentencing, the Kalama City Council will hold a special meeting on Monday to address the felony conviction and sentencing of Merz. Kalama Mayor Mike Reuter told The Daily News the meeting will address how to legally remove Merz from the council now that hes been convicted of two felonies and formally sentenced. Scudder told Merz his remaining time would be in jail if he did not complete his community service by Nov. 17. Allegations, sentencing Merz has claimed he found evidence, after guessing Stanfills email password, that the city illegally created a secret shadow committee to advise the police, which city officials continue to deny. The city reports the committee was legitimately created to get citizen input on the police departments five-year strategic plan. In December, Administrative Law Judge Dan Gerard found Merz is a government official, not an employee, and does not qualify for protections under the state whistleblower statute, under one whistleblower claim Merz made through the Washington State Office of Administrative Hearings. Waiting in the galley Friday were several Kalama city officials, including Stanfill, Reuter, City Clerk Coni McMaster, and Kalama Police Chief Ralph Herrera. Herrera said the people at the sentencing want Merz to be held responsible for his actions. What you saw in there was not a gallery of spectators, he said. It was a representation of the community looking for the accountability of [Merzs] bad deeds. Stanfill read aloud a pre-written statement asking the judge for the maximum punishment as Merz failed to take full responsibility for his actions. Before entering the courtroom, Merz told The Daily News he plans to file a motion for a new trial to submit more evidence. I dont think upholding my constitutional rights in this late juncture is inappropriate, said Merz. In court, Merz stood tall, holding a stack of documents and recapping the allegations of conspiracy he made during the trial between Kalama city officials and the Kalama Police Department covering up misconduct, which has not been proven. Merz mentioned the alleged local law enforcement mishandling of a man convicted of cyberstalking Merz, another cyberstalker who reportedly falsified pictures depicting Merz in sexual scenarios, and the emotional toll it took on him. The latter cyberstalking case was settled June 2020, reducing the charge against the alleged harasser to littering. The prosecuting attorney recommended 70 days in jail, but Scudder, taking into account Merzs non-criminal past, decided on community service. Merz has 30 days to file a notice of appeal. Stanfill told The Daily News he is relieved it is over; hopefully, we can move forward. The Lewis County Sheriffs Office plans to book three teens into juvenile detention for first-degree robbery and murder following the Wednesday night shooting death of a worker at a Toledo area Shell station. The sheriffs office was contacted at about 12:20 p.m. by a Florence, Oregon, law enforcement agency, which reported its belief the vehicle and suspects involved in the Toledo area death potentially matched an incident there. They further advised the vehicle and suspects involved in their incident had been located by authorities with the Sumner Police Department and were currently in custody, the sheriffs office reported. Detectives were able to contact the Sumner Police Department and were able to confirm the vehicle, firearm and suspect information were consistent with the homicide investigation occurring in Lewis County. Detectives responded to Sumner, conducting additional investigation into the suspects and vehicle in question. The three individuals in custody are a 15-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, all from Redding, California. Photos of the previous incident and two of the suspects in Florence were widely shared on social media after their arrests, with Lewis County residents piecing together the connection hours before it was announced by the sheriffs office. According to the sheriffs office, all three teens will be booked into Lewis County Juvenile Detention for first-degree robbery and first-degree murder. At about 8:49 p.m. Wednesday, Lewis County 911 received a call from a passerby indicating they saw two masked individuals running out of the store in the 100 block of Mulford Road. The caller also reported the two individuals left in a white, extended-cab Dodge pickup truck and said their actions appeared suspicious. Upon arrival at the scene, deputies discovered a worker of the business deceased with injuries consistent with having been shot by a firearm, according to a news release from the sheriffs office. Detectives were summoned to the scene, and based on initial investigation it appears two suspects confronted the victim. A struggle over a firearm held by one of the suspects occurred, and the victim was shot. The fleeing suspect vehicle appears to be an extended cab white Dodge Dakota or similar model. The identity of the worker killed has not been released. Detectives were continuing to process the scene Thursday morning and requested assistance from the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab Response Team, according to a news release. Anyone with information related to the case is asked to contact the Lewis County Sheriffs Office at 360-748-9286 or Lewis County Communications at 360-740-1105. A top US spy official said intelligence agencies should use commercially available AI to keep up with foreign adversaries that will do the same while being sure to address the risks to privacy and broader concerns about misuse of the fast-developing technology. The intelligence community needs to find a way to take benefit of these large models without violating privacy, Gilbert Herrera, director of research at the National Security Agency, said in an interview. If we want to realize the full power of artificial intelligence for other applications, then we're probably going to have to rely on a partnership with industry. Herrera said he wants the NSA to be able to use large commercial AI models that are trained on the open Internet, citing companies that can access massive amounts of data such as Meta's Facebook, Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Microsoft Corp., which also owns GitHub, used as a repository for code by software developers. He acknowledged that using commercially available AI models risks importing potentially biased algorithms into classified spying missions. He said intelligence needs can be met without accessing the underlying data of American people and companies used to train and develop the models. If we used a model that was trained on the world, then we wouldn't have access to the data, we would only have the decision trees, that would yield the information that we wanted out of it, he said on the sidelines of a summit on modern conflict held at Vanderbilt University, The National Security Council and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Herrera's warning came after Vice President Kamala Harris met Thursday with the chief executive officers of Alphabet, Microsoft, OpenAI Inc., and Anthropic, and said the White House supports efforts to mitigate the potential harms from artificial intelligence technology. Harris said businesses must work with government to ensure safeguards to protect civil rights and privacy and prevent disinformation and scams. Wall Street firms have begun adapting some AI technology. Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. unveiled an artificial intelligence-powered model that aims to decipher Federal Reserve messaging and uncover potential trading signals. Even if relying on commercial AI proves feasible, Herrera's proposal could undermine 2020 guidelines from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that US spy agencies should maintain accountability for iterations, versions and changes made to any AI model and identify and mitigate undesired bias. Herrera warned the US nevertheless needed to find a way to solve the problem because adversaries will be exploiting commercial AI. He said those who draw on large data sets will have an advantage, citing China's proliferation of video surveillance cameras and other troves of data. China has said it wants to become the world leader in AI by 2030. The issue of the intelligence community's use of publicly trained information is an issue we're going to have to grapple with because otherwise there would be capabilities of AI that we would not be able to use, Herrera said. It would put us in a position where adversaries would be able to take full advantage of the technology and we couldn't. Herrera said private companies' algorithmic models could be useful for the NSA's work on coding and in report writing assessing classified information. It all has to be done in a manner that respects civil liberties and privacy, Herrera said. It's a tough problem. Maria Martinez constantly calculates how much water is left in the 2,000-gallon tank that sits outside her home near El Paso. When theres less than 600 gallons, its time to place an order. A few loads of laundry and dirty dishes will use every last drop. For the last 15 years since Martinez moved to Colonia Hueco Tanks, a majority low-income Latino community outside the city limits she has longed for running water. Aqui nunca habido agua, Martinez said in Spanish. Here theres never been water. Colonia communities, like hers along the Texas-Mexico border, trace back to the 1950s and 1960s, when developers purchased less desirable tracts of land for cheap. These lands were susceptible to floods and not conducive for agriculture. Developers sold them anyway. To this day, thousands of these communities continue to live without basic human services such as water infrastructure, electricity, sewage and plumbing. State lawmakers are on track to approve billions of dollars that will finance new water supply projects and upgrades to water infrastructure, specifically benefiting rural communities. However, water advocates and community organizers say the funding in Senate Bill 28, filed by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, will not reach colonia communities unless changes are made before the legislature adjourns at the end of month. The legislation prioritizes two specific types of communities: rural subdivisions and incorporated towns with a population of less than 150,000. Colonias generally do not fall into these categories, said Alex Ortiz, a water resources specialist at Texas chapter of the Sierra Club. It makes me a little crazy, Ortiz said. Texas is diverse. And I think its really important that we take a broader look at which communities are actually capable of getting priority. The plight of Texas colonias During the 1980s, thousands of Mexican and Central American laborers immigrated to the U.S. to work jobs in farms and manufacturing plants. They often settled in colonias because it was affordable land. Developers promised that these areas would prosper with time and that plumbing and electricity services were on the way. But, in the majority of cases, they never came. Decades later, more than 1,300 of colonias lack basic services. A 2015 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found 922 out of the 2,300 colonias in Texas had access to drinkable water, wastewater disposal, paved roads, adequate drainage and solid waste disposal. Installing infrastructure in areas that are far from the main water and sewer lines and in these unincorporated towns is not easy and very expensive. And unincorporated neighborhoods like the colonias have little political power. So residents have had little success lobbying for changes. Utilities are controlled by cities, not by rural county commissioners, said Oscar Munoz, director of the Texas A&M Colonias Program. The program provides colonias residents with health and education services, aiming to improve the communities quality of life. Why should cities worry about giving any of these colonias water when they cant tax them? Munoz said. In some cases, the only hope for a colonia is being absorbed into a nearby city, he said. As soon as you get absorbed into city limits, you become part of the taxing entity. Therefore, poco a poquito, little by little, the government will be extending the water lines and [colonia residents] will start getting water, Munoz said. However, the colonias historically have had a limited tax base, making them less appealing to cities. Martinez, the colonia homeowner, was born in Texas but grew up in Ciudad Juarez. Her home in Colonia Hueco Tanks near El Paso was built over the years by her husband, dad and uncles crossing the Texas-Mexico border on weekends. She moved to the house permanently when violence surged in Ciudad Juarez in 2009. While she and her family, including two children, were safe, it felt like a step backward. In Mexico, she said she had todos los servicios, all the basic services. In the United States she felt like she had nothing. About 30 divided blocks of ranch land make up her neighborhood. Colorful homes dot each one. Inside those homes are upset residents. So many years have passed by, and water pipes have not reached her neighborhood. Today, Martinez uses the thousands of gallons of water that are truck-delivered for washing dishes, cleaning, bathing and laundry. Neither she nor her neighbors trust the water that is delivered to drink or cook with. The water stored in tanks for days or weeks before it is piped into homes is prone to contamination from dust or rainwater, creating a serious risk of water-borne illnesses. Many of them say theyve had stomach problems after drinking it. This lack of water infrastructure, Martinez said, is impacting the water they drink. Most buy bottled water, another expense on top of the $180 Martinez said she spends every two weeks for the water storage. I wouldnt dare drink it unless I boil it, she said. But even then, if Im going to make a pitcher of Kool-Aid, Im going to do it with bottled water. Ivonne Santiago, an engineering professor at Texas-El Paso who has worked on water quality in El Paso colonias for more than a decade, said that to overcompensate for the degrading water quality in the tanks, colonia residents add chlorine to the water, hoping it will remove algae or other bacteria that might grow. But in doing so, some might over-chlorinate the water they use to brush their teeth and bathe in. Theres a lot of complaints about itching and skin issues because theyre basically bathing in water that has more chlorine than a pool, Santiago said. Santiago helped gather information for a recent survey, commissioned by the nonprofit organization Texas Water Trade, that found Texans most concerned about their water quality are in rural, unincorporated colonias. And among the people surveyed, many did not trust the water they drink. Martinez said that keeping track of how much water is used is complicated during times of extreme temperatures. Requests for more water increase in the summer or in times of drought as people use and drink more water to stay hydrated. When theres extreme cold, water tanks and pumps freeze or crack. Martinez said she doesnt think she will see water infrastructure reach Hueco Tanks in her lifetime. She said her community is forgotten and isolated, and theres limited development planning that could forecast services getting to her quicker. I dont think youll see that soon. From what we can see, this is going to take a long time because the drainage is still very far away, she said. Incentivizing cooperation for the colonias Despite not being specifically named in this years hallmark legislation, SB 28, one water expert has reason to believe colonias will see benefits after that and other bills win approval. Carlos Rubinstein, a former chair of the Texas Water Development Board, said the added state funding will make it easier for regions to support one another. Colonias ultimately are best served when they can be brought into a larger existing system. Larger existing systems shy away from taking in colonias because of the costs, he said. But Senate Bill 28 provides funding for that. An estimated 2,300 colonias along the borderlands in El Paso, Hidalgo, Maverick, Starr, Webb and Cameron counties have existed outside city limits and are largely unregulated by any level of government. At least a half million people mostly U.S. residents call these economically distressed communities home. Rubinstein said that label economically distressed could make a difference for many colonia residents if legislators manage to secure more funding this session. House Joint Resolution 169, authored by Rep. Travis Clardy, R-Nacogdoches, and House Bill 3523, by Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-Clint, could allocate increased and sustained funding to the Economically Distressed Areas Program, or EDAP, a decades-old state-run program that has been vital in providing water and wastewater services to colonia residents. One of the problems with EDAP is having to come back to the Legislature not every session, but frequently to get money. This bill secures perpetual funding, Rubinstein said. Gonzalez is also sponsoring another bill, House Bill 3522, which would allow the Texas Water Development Board to increase the amount of financial assistance the agency can provide to local governments who are applying for colonia water projects. The less costly the state makes it for local communities to help, the better for everyone, Gonzalez said in a statement. When a city runs a water line to a colonia, all the land adjacent to that line can be developed into housing or commercial use, creating jobs and economic develop[ment] opportunities for residents. The EDAP has distributed approximately $1.1 billion in grants and loans for communities, including colonias, over the past three decades. The colonias that still dont have running water are the most difficult and severe because they are the furthest away from cities and the smallest. Getting water to those homes is much too expensive for a local government to shoulder. Adding more state money helps secure water projects for the colonias that still dream of turning on their tap every day and seeing clean water flowing out. Its unclear whether Gonzalezs request to help all economically disadvantaged communities will become reality. The Texas House in late April approved both bills. However, the state Senate must also give its OK. Because of this, the Sierra Clubs Ortiz is urging lawmakers to add colonias to the major water bill that is expected to pass. We dont want to leave already vulnerable communities outside of our prioritization schemes. That could be really damaging to some of these communities, Ortiz said. Sometimes, local action helps There is at least one recent example of a city helping a nearby colonia with grant funding. Nearly 800 miles from Martinezs home near El Paso, Francisca Quintanilla has been part of the fight to get water infrastructure to the colonias near Palmview in the Rio Grande Valley for decades. Quintanilla is a member of La Union del Pueblo Entero, or LUPE, a group founded by Mexican labor rights activists Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta that organizes community movements to create social change. Along with the need for clear water and wastewater infrastructure, theres also the problem of drainage and flooding in colonia communities. Households in Quintanillas Colonia Ramirez Number 4 depend on private septic systems to get their water and are not connected to the citys sewage system. Quintanilla, who moved to Colonia Ramirez Number 4 with her kids in 1986 after a divorce, remembers having to depend on one household with a water tank to get the water she needed to bathe her kids and wash the dishes. And although this is not the reality anymore, the colonia has another water problem. Colonia Ramirez Number 4 is prone to flooding because theres no stormwater drainage in the streets. When heavy rain pours, colonia residents brace for flooding. Quintanilla remembers her soaked, cold feet. Se nos mojaba la ropa y pies, she said in Spanish. Our clothes and feet would get wet. When it rained, the streets flooded. Quintanilla stacked up cement blocks in a path to take her children to the bus stop blocks away for school. Quintanilla lived with these complications for two decades, when she decided to leave the colonia in 2016. She was tired and filled with despair. But years after her departure, when her two kids grew up, she felt a guilt that consumed her. Something tugged at her heart. I realized it is not worth being comfortable when others are suffering, she said. Quintanilla joined LUPE, came back to Colonia Ramirez Number 4 as an organizer and since then has pushed for better lighting, individual septic tanks for households and drainage systems. Nunca nos desesperamos. Seguimos insistiendo, she said in Spanish. We never gave up and kept insisting. Crucial initiatives and programs have emerged to address the challenges faced by colonia communities, Quintanilla said, given that water infrastructure problems are just one of many. In her role with LUPE, she said shes talked to staff at the county and other officials about her environmental concerns: groundwater pollution during floods, water contamination from septic tanks and various health conditions. These colonias have been suffering for decades. They are practically forgotten. My job is to hold meetings, look for leaders to help us and to show them how they can help, she said. For two years, Quintanilla supplied information to residents, organized community meetings and went door to door collecting signatures from colonia residents who, she said, had raised their hands and given up. Her efforts partly led to the city of Palmview recently receiving a more than $600,000 grant from the Texas General Land Office to alleviate drainage issues in Colonia Ramirez Number 4, about 18 acres of property. The drainage improvements will include adding storm inlets, an underground drain pipe system that will convey water to a new detention pond and a pump station. Quintanilla said this victory has encouraged colonia residents to hold on to hope that lawmakers gathering in Austin will address their issues. Advocates say there are more bills that could help colonias but that they face an uphill battle in the Legislature. Ortiz points to Senate Bill 1823 by Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, which would instruct the Texas Water Development Board to consider funding for drainage in economically distressed areas. Johnson said EDAPs current funding ability is great, but its insufficient and said this new funding would be in addition to water and wastewater treatment funds the agency already provides. Its probably not likely to go anywhere, Ortiz said. But getting it on everyones mind over the interim is important. We shouldnt be neglecting one part of the state or some parts of the state at the benefit of the others. Despite facing significant challenges, Quintanilla said disadvantaged communities have proven time and again that change comes from within as they band together and rely on help from nonprofits or organizations, like hers, to overcome obstacles, advocate for themselves and empower others. We did it, knocking door to door, she said. Even when people didnt believe it was possible, we gave them something to hope for. (CNN) The Church of England has changed the wording of its invitation to the public to pledge allegiance to King Charles during his coronation, following a public backlash. The Archbishop of Canterbury will now give people the option of saying just "God save King Charles" rather than making the full pledge of allegiance. The move follows widespread criticism of the proposed pledge. In a recent online poll for ITV's Good Morning Britain, 86.5% of more than 164,000 respondents said they would not recite the pledge, while a prominent friend of the king had described the earlier wording as "ill-advised." According to a revised text of the liturgy for the coronation service, published Saturday by Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury will say: "I now invite those who wish to offer their support to do so, with a moment of private reflection, by joining in saying 'God save King Charles' at the end, or, for those with the words before them, to recite them in full." The full pledge reads: "I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God." In a previous version of the text, published in April, the archbishop was to "call upon all persons of goodwill in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other realms and the territories to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted king, defender of all." The earlier version had been described as "ill-advised" by a prominent friend of the King. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Church of England changes wording of public declaration in King Charles IIIs coronation, following backlash" The Texas House has passed a bill that would create new economic incentives to attract large companies to come to the state or expand current projects in Texas after lawmakers allowed a similar 20-year-old program to expire in December. House Bill 5 replaces the former tax-discount program known as Chapter 313 with a plan that still allows the companies to enter into agreements with school districts but restricts renewable energy projects from being able to easily access the incentives. The chamber voted 118-22 to tentatively pass the measure Thursday, and gave it final approval Friday on a 120-24 vote. For Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, one of the most contentious aspects of the old program was how much it was benefiting renewable energy projects. But opponents on both sides of the aisle said it was rife with abuse and derided the program as corporate welfare that conferred benefits on some school districts while others were left out. House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Republican, has made the new plan a priority bill for his chamber and cast a rare vote for it on the floor Thursday. On Thursday, the bills sponsor, House State Affairs Chair Todd Hunter sought to separate the new program from the controversial Chapter 313 plan. Chapter 313 does not exist anymore. It is out in the cold, he said. This is brand-new legislation. The legislation would allow school districts to offer limited, temporary property tax discounts to eligible companies for projects that bring jobs and investment into the district. The state pays the school districts the difference, and the district also gets to collect extra money from the company as part of any tax-discount deal they strike. The program would be up for renewal in 2036, similar to the 12-year sunset cycle of state agencies. Eligible projects would include a manufacturing project, or a project that would require an investment in a Texas school district of more than $1 billion. They also include projects that add more on-demand electricity to the power grid, such as a natural-gas-fueled generator or batteries, a project to produce hydrogen fuel or a seawater desalination project. Hunter called the program a modern, transparent economic development tool that will keep Texas at the top of the nation in job creation and new business investment. Texas economic future depends on our ability to compete not only with other states but with other countries around the world, he said. On Thursday, House members, led by Democratic state Reps. Trey Martinez Fischer and Jarvis D. Johnson, tweaked the legislation to address concerns that the new program did not go far enough to protect the quality of the jobs the companies would be required to create in order to get the property tax discounts. They pushed through changes that raised the wages of those jobs, required the employers to offer and contribute to health benefits for those jobs and stiffened the penalties for noncompliance. The bill has the support of business groups and the Texas oil and gas industry. Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association and a former Texas senator and commissioner of agriculture, said it would be an important economic development tool. Theres just simply no reason Texas, the worlds ninth-largest economy, should be dependent on foreign countries to meet its needs, Staples said. We believe this bill will help us reduce our dependence on foreign supply chains that will bring manufacturing back to Texas and keep our state a national and global economic leader. The bill was criticized by Democrats and some rural Republicans for specifically excluding renewable energy projects. Hunter told House members that the main reason renewable energy sources like wind and solar were sliced out of the programs eligibility criteria was to create a program that would get various groups on board. I have no problem with the renewables industry, and Ill work with them, but in this bill, they are not included, Hunter said. It is not a negative message. Co-author state Rep. Hugh Shine, a Temple Republican, said under questioning during the floor debate that it was reasonable to conclude the bills inclusion of grid projects that create more dispatchable power which means power that can be turned on at any time and would include battery storage could eventually open the door to wind and solar companies if they one day develop battery technology. Amarillo Republican state Rep. John Smithee viewed such a possibility as a good thing, telling his colleagues that the state shouldnt be picking winners and losers when it comes to shoring up the grid and storing power for emergencies, such as what the state saw during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021. If renewable companies can create dispatchable power one day, he said, why not incentivize them to come to Texas? If we can create dependable, reliable, dispatchable energy from whatever source it might be, thats what we need to be doing, Smithee said. All of the above. When we need energy here in this state, we cant discriminate against any source. But Tyler Republican state Rep. Matt Schaefer argued that without language in the bill that specifies renewables cant be included through the batteries loophole, the state is essentially continuing to invest in energy sources that opponents within the Republican party say are wholly unreliable. Battery production is heavily subsidized, Schaefer said. And the reason its heavily subsidized by the federal government is that it benefits wind and solar projects, and my concern is [House] members think that wind and solar are not included in this bill, and they really are. But an attempt by Schaefer to specify in the legislation that renewable energy sources could not be eligible failed on a 20-107 vote. Hunter opposed it because, he said, there was an agreement made with particular groups on this bill, and were going to honor the agreement. Hunter did not say which groups or what the agreement was. Schaefer said he was not privy to those discussions but that he wanted to make sure the chamber was able to decide independently on the issue. Staples told The Texas Tribune in an interview on Thursday that his association takes an all-inclusive philosophy about where the state should get its power, and that his group did not lobby against renewables being part of the bill. The oil and natural gas industry supports an all-of-the-above energy approach. And we have been neutral on House Bill 5 with regard to inclusion of wind or solar, Staples said. But the political reality is there is resistance to their inclusion, and the Legislature will have to make their decision. Kellogg (NYSE:K Get Rating) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Kellogg had a return on equity of 32.51% and a net margin of 6.27%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. Kellogg updated its FY 2023 guidance to $4.25-$4.34 EPS. Kellogg Price Performance K stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $70.35. 2,698,282 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,137,528. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $66.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.49. Kellogg has a 12 month low of $63.74 and a 12 month high of $77.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.42. Get Kellogg alerts: Kellogg Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 31st. Kelloggs dividend payout ratio is 84.59%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Insiders Place Their Bets A number of equities analysts have issued reports on K shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Kellogg from $60.00 to $71.00 in a report on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on Kellogg from $73.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Kellogg in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They issued a hold rating and a $71.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised Kellogg from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Kellogg from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $72.10. In other Kellogg news, Vice Chairman Gary H. Pilnick sold 22,197 shares of Kellogg stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.81, for a total transaction of $1,527,375.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,464 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,614,557.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Vice Chairman Gary H. Pilnick sold 22,197 shares of Kellogg stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.81, for a total value of $1,527,375.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 23,464 shares in the company, valued at $1,614,557.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 100,000 shares of Kellogg stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.63, for a total value of $6,763,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 55,631,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,762,381,203.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 628,437 shares of company stock valued at $41,995,511 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of K. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P increased its holdings in Kellogg by 95.3% during the 1st quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 424,951 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,405,000 after purchasing an additional 207,392 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kellogg by 16.7% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 18,121 shares of the companys stock worth $1,167,000 after acquiring an additional 2,590 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in shares of Kellogg by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 34,232 shares of the companys stock worth $2,208,000 after acquiring an additional 2,119 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Kellogg by 46.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 8,653 shares of the companys stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 2,764 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kellogg by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 38,670 shares of the companys stock worth $2,494,000 after acquiring an additional 2,313 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.59% of the companys stock. About Kellogg (Get Rating) Kellogg Co engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of ready-to-eat cereal and convenience foods. It operates through the following segments: North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Middle East Africa. The North America segment includes the U.S. businesses and Canada. The Europe segment consists of European countries. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Kellogg Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kellogg and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Post (NYSE:POST Get Rating) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.42, Briefing.com reports. Post had a return on equity of 5.36% and a net margin of 14.30%. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Post Stock Up 0.7 % Shares of POST traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $90.14. 900,652 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 439,115. The company has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of 6.41 and a beta of 0.69. The firms 50 day moving average is $89.05 and its 200-day moving average is $90.42. Post has a 52 week low of $74.09 and a 52 week high of $98.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.79. Get Post alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of brokerages recently issued reports on POST. UBS Group upgraded Post from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Post in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $106.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Post in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on Post in a research report on Tuesday. They set an overweight rating on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Post from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $100.00. Insider Transactions at Post Hedge Funds Weigh In On Post In related news, Director David P. Skarie sold 2,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.74, for a total transaction of $224,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 42,518 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,815,565.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website . 10.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in POST. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Post by 98,990.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,108,952 shares of the companys stock valued at $551,394,000 after acquiring an additional 6,102,787 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Post in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $79,259,000. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new stake in shares of Post in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,200,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Post by 33.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 364,242 shares of the companys stock valued at $25,228,000 after purchasing an additional 92,140 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Post by 290.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 104,327 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,591,000 after purchasing an additional 77,613 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.40% of the companys stock. About Post (Get Rating) Post Holdings, Inc operates as a consumer packaged goods holding company. The firm engages in the operation of center-of-the-store, refrigerated, food service, food ingredient, active nutrition, and private brand food categories. It operates through the following segments: Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice, Refrigerated Retail and BellRing Brands. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Post Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Post and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Timken (NYSE:TKR Get Rating) updated its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $7.00-$7.50 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.02. The company issued revenue guidance of $4.92 billion-$4.92 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $4.85 billion. Timken also updated its FY23 guidance to $7.00-7.50 EPS. Timken Stock Performance Shares of NYSE TKR traded up $2.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $76.79. The company had a trading volume of 535,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 628,275. Timken has a 12 month low of $50.85 and a 12 month high of $89.40. The firm has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.01, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.54. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $79.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Get Timken alerts: Timken (NYSE:TKR Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The industrial products company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Timken had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 20.72%. The businesss revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Timken will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Timken Announces Dividend Analyst Ratings Changes The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 17th. Timkens payout ratio is presently 22.63%. Several brokerages recently issued reports on TKR. Bank of America upgraded shares of Timken from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the stock from $71.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Timken from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Timken from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Timken from $88.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Timken from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $91.75. Insider Transactions at Timken In other Timken news, CEO Richard G. Kyle sold 24,841 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.97, for a total transaction of $2,135,580.77. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,082 shares in the company, valued at $32,933,559.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 9.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Trading of Timken A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Timken during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Timken during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Timken during the 1st quarter worth approximately $76,000. Point72 Middle East FZE acquired a new stake in Timken during the 4th quarter worth approximately $106,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Timken during the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. 82.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Timken Company Profile (Get Rating) The Timken Co engages in the engineering, manufacturing, and marketing of bearings and industrial motion products. In addition to bearings, it offers drives, belts, chains, lubrication systems, couplings, industrial clutches, and brakes. It operates through the Mobile and Process Industries segments. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Timken Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Timken and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Admiral Group plc (OTCMKTS:AMIGY Get Rating) has been given a consensus rating of Hold by the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $2,312.00. Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AMIGY. Citigroup downgraded shares of Admiral Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Admiral Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Berenberg Bank lowered their price objective on shares of Admiral Group from GBX 2,688 ($33.58) to GBX 2,543 ($31.77) in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Admiral Group from GBX 1,700 ($21.24) to GBX 1,650 ($20.61) in a research note on Thursday, March 9th. Get Admiral Group alerts: Admiral Group Trading Up 1.6 % Shares of AMIGY stock opened at $28.23 on Friday. The businesss 50 day moving average is $26.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.64. Admiral Group has a 12 month low of $20.70 and a 12 month high of $29.92. Admiral Group Cuts Dividend About Admiral Group The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 5th will be given a $0.6004 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 4th. This represents a yield of 6.23%. Admiral Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.83%. (Get Rating) Admiral Group Plc is a holding company, which engages in the business of sale and underwriting of private car insurance. It operates through the following segments: UK Insurance, International Car Insurance, Price Comparison, and Other. The UK Insurance segment consists of the underwriting of car insurance and other products that supplement the car insurance policy. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Admiral Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Admiral Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Babcock International Group (OTCMKTS:BCKIF Get Rating) had its price objective cut by Berenberg Bank from GBX 430 ($5.37) to GBX 400 ($5.00) in a research note published on Tuesday, The Fly reports. BCKIF has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup lowered shares of Babcock International Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Babcock International Group from GBX 475 ($5.93) to GBX 455 ($5.68) in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Get Babcock International Group alerts: Babcock International Group Price Performance OTCMKTS:BCKIF opened at $4.30 on Tuesday. Babcock International Group has a one year low of $2.98 and a one year high of $4.49. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $3.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.62. About Babcock International Group Babcock International Group Plc engages in the provision of engineering support services to government organizations and key industries in the private sector. It operates through the following business segments: Marine, Land, Aviation, and Nuclear. The Marine segment provides through-life support of submarines, naval ships, and infrastructure; and operates an international naval support business. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Babcock International Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Babcock International Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN Get Rating) had its price target raised by BMO Capital Markets from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, The Fly reports. BEN has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Franklin Resources from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $24.55. Get Franklin Resources alerts: Franklin Resources Trading Up 1.8 % Shares of BEN stock opened at $25.54 on Tuesday. Franklin Resources has a 12-month low of $20.24 and a 12-month high of $34.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 4.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firms 50 day moving average is $26.98 and its 200 day moving average is $27.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.39 and a beta of 1.26. Franklin Resources Announces Dividend Franklin Resources ( NYSE:BEN Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 11.21%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Franklin Resources will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Investors of record on Friday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.70%. Franklin Resourcess dividend payout ratio is presently 72.29%. Insider Activity In other news, insider Franklin Resources Inc bought 2,465,483 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction on Friday, April 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.14 per share, with a total value of $24,999,997.62. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 4,955,483 shares of the companys stock, valued at $50,248,597.62. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 23.40% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 25,280 shares of the closed-end funds stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 180.5% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 27,858 shares of the closed-end funds stock worth $290,411,000 after acquiring an additional 17,927 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 328,149 shares of the closed-end funds stock worth $8,657,000 after acquiring an additional 7,777 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 540,715 shares of the closed-end funds stock worth $14,264,000 after buying an additional 133,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 112,451 shares of the closed-end funds stock worth $2,966,000 after buying an additional 4,131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.47% of the companys stock. About Franklin Resources (Get Rating) Franklin Resources, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of investment management and related services. The firm offers services and products under various distinct brand names, including, but not limited to, Franklin, Templeton, Legg Mason, Benefit Street Partners, Brandywine Global Investment Management, Clarion Partners, ClearBridge Investments, Fiduciary Trust International, Franklin Bissett, Franklin Mutual Series, K2, LibertyShares, Martin Currie, Royce Investment Partners and Western Asset Management Company. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Franklin Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Franklin Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA (OTCMKTS:GBLBY Get Rating) announced a dividend on Friday, May 5th, investing.com reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.1623 per share on Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 10th. Groupe Bruxelles Lambert Stock Down 5.2 % Shares of GBLBY opened at $9.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.46. Groupe Bruxelles Lambert has a 1 year low of $6.80 and a 1 year high of $14.25. Get Groupe Bruxelles Lambert alerts: Groupe Bruxelles Lambert Company Profile (Get Rating) Featured Articles Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA is a holding company, which invests, reinvests, owns, manages, and trades shares in companies.It operates through the following segments: Holding, Imerys, Webhelp, and Sienna Capital. The Holding segment manages investments, non-consolidated operating companies, and associates. Receive News & Ratings for Groupe Bruxelles Lambert Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Groupe Bruxelles Lambert and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. (TSE:INE Get Rating) have been given an average rating of Moderate Buy by the ten analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$19.35. Several analysts recently commented on INE shares. National Bankshares lifted their target price on shares of Innergex Renewable Energy from C$20.00 to C$21.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Innergex Renewable Energy from C$19.00 to C$18.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. CIBC dropped their target price on shares of Innergex Renewable Energy from C$19.00 to C$17.50 in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Cormark lowered their price objective on shares of Innergex Renewable Energy from C$20.00 to C$19.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 24th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Innergex Renewable Energy from C$19.50 to C$17.50 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Get Innergex Renewable Energy alerts: Innergex Renewable Energy Stock Up 0.6 % Shares of INE stock opened at C$13.78 on Friday. The firms fifty day moving average price is C$14.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$15.43. Innergex Renewable Energy has a 1 year low of C$13.48 and a 1 year high of C$20.46. The firm has a market capitalization of C$2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.05, a PEG ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 405.34. Innergex Renewable Energy Dividend Announcement Innergex Renewable Energy ( TSE:INE Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported C($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C$0.02 by C($0.14). Innergex Renewable Energy had a negative net margin of 9.38% and a negative return on equity of 6.40%. The firm had revenue of C$203.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$211.20 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Innergex Renewable Energy will post 0.2988605 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 17th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 30th. Innergex Renewable Energys dividend payout ratio is currently -167.44%. About Innergex Renewable Energy (Get Rating) Innergex Renewable Energy Inc operates as an independent renewable power producer in Canada, the United States, France, and Chile. It acquires, owns, develops, and operates hydroelectric facilities, and wind and solar farms, as well as energy storage facilities. The company operates through three segments: Hydroelectric Power Generation, Wind Power Generation, and Solar Power Generation. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Innergex Renewable Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Innergex Renewable Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. (CNN) Standing in his field of stunted, withered maize, Santi Caudevilla is very worried. If the weather does not change it will be zero. Nothing is going to be harvested, he said. Caudevilla, who grows maize, sorghum and other crops in Gimenells in Catalonia, has been hit hard by the severe drought which has hammered this part of northeastern Spain. Rainfall has been low for years. We are in a desert. This is a desert today, he said. The lack of water is starting to feel like an existential crisis for farmers such as Caudevilla and he is worried about the future of his profession. Its becoming increasingly hard to make ends meet as crops shrivel through lack of water or cannot be planted at all. Droughts are a fact of life in this corner of Spain. They are typical of Catalonias Mediterranean climate, said Albert Ruhi, a freshwater ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who is originally from Catalonia. But a significant lack of rain and snow have made this one much, much drier, he told CNN. This is the worst period that we have had for the last 100 years, Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Water Agency, told CNN. The problem spreads beyond Catalonia. Spain has been in a long-term drought since the end of 2022, said Ricardo Torrijo, a spokesperson for AEMET, the Spanish national weather service. In March, the country only received 36% of the average monthly rainfall, making it the second driest March this century. The trend continued into April, which could end up being the driest on record, Torrijo told CNN. Drought conditions have been exacerbated by searing temperatures that are more reminiscent of mid-July than spring. Last Thursday, April records were smashed, with the city of Cordoba in southern Spain reaching 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.8 degrees Fahrenheit). The combination of drought and heat have stoked fears for a repeat of last summer where the country saw blistering heat waves and wildfires that burned through 306,000 hectares (756,000 acres). Unusually early wildfires this spring have already burned more than 10,000 acres in the eastern region of Castellon. These conditions point to a new reality for parts of Europe, which is warming twice as fast as the global average. While it will take time to pin down the exact role climate change is playing, scientists are clear that human-caused global heating is making droughts and heat waves more common and more extreme. An agricultural disaster The cracked, desiccated earth at the Sau Reservoir reveals the heavy toll the lack of rainfall has taken on Catalonias water sources. Located about 60 miles north of Barcelona, the reservoir is a key drinking water source for the region, but in late April it was only at 7% of capacity. Its water levels are so low that a medieval village, flooded when the lake was created in the 1960s, has emerged, lending an eerie presence to the sun-baked lakebed. Authorities have been forced to siphon out water from the reservoir in an attempt to protect water quality and have had to remove native fish to stop them asphyxiating. Reservoir levels across Catalonia are hovering at around 25%, substantially lower than usual for this time of year. The lack of water is having a catastrophic impact on farms across the region. There is no precedent, said Marti Costal, head of water at the Young Farmers and Ranchers of Catalonia (JARC). The majority of wheat and barley harvests on rainfed land will be lost, and on irrigated land will be cut by half, Costal told CNN. If it does not rain in May it will be a disaster, he said. Its a story which tracks across the countrys agricultural heartlands. Drought affects 60% of Spains countryside, and has destroyed crops across 3.5 million hectares (8.6 million acres), according to the Coordinator of Farmers and Ranchers Organizations (COAG). Thats an area bigger than the state of Maryland. Livestock farming is at risk as farmers need pasture to feed their animals. Without it, they are forced to buy food. Losses are also expected for orchards, vineyards, olive oil production and vegetable farming, Serge Zaka, an agrometeorologist, told CNN. These agro-climatic conditions are leading to an agricultural disaster, he said. A lack of vegetation is also preventing bees from making honey. Beekeepers are facing a third consecutive season without a harvest thanks to water shortages, according to COAG. In April, Spain requested emergency funding from the European Union to help farmers cope with the impacts of the drought. There is no water Water scarcity is not just affecting farmers, but also drinking water. The village of Castellcir, around 30 miles north of Barcelona, is one of many in Catalonia that have been relying on water brought in on trucks. People have been asked to save water by having quick showers, being careful when washing dishes and not filling their pools. The situation has been going on for more than a year, said Juan Cogdony, a resident of the village. We are very worried, he told CNN. It just wont rain, Cogdony said, looking up at the sky. There is no water. Beer, yes, but no water, he joked. As the summer approaches, and the hope of heavy spring rains fade, many are sounding the alarm on what might be in store for Spain. We are now in a very dramatic situation, said Joan Girona Gomis, a scientist at the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology, a research organization owned by the Catalonian government. Without significant rain we will suffer a bad drought this summer, he told CNN. Gomis has been working on experiments to increase the efficiency of irrigation systems used by farmers, including by using technology such as sensors to evaluate the precise amount of water crops need. Whether Catalonia can remain one of Europes key farming regions is the big question, Gomis said. It all depends on if we are able to adapt. It will mean big changes, Costal said, including researching drought-resistant crops, investment in urban and agricultural infrastructure and improvements in water efficiency. He hopes whats happening in Spain and other parts of Europe will remind people where their food comes from. The fruits are produced in the field, not on the shelves of a supermarket, he said. In Gimenells, Caudevilla is deeply worried about what will happen to the Catalonian countryside if, as expected, droughts and heat waves become more frequent and more intense. This area is facing abandonment, he said. Farmers are aging, he added, in 10 years nobody will want to work in this countryside. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Disappearing lakes, dead crops and trucked-in water: Drought-stricken Spain is running dry" Local Bounti (NYSE:LOCL Get Rating) is one of 34 publicly-traded companies in the Agricultural production crops industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Local Bounti to similar businesses based on the strength of its valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and dividends. Volatility and Risk Local Bounti has a beta of 1.7, meaning that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Local Bountis competitors have a beta of -23.34, meaning that their average share price is 2,434% less volatile than the S&P 500. Get Local Bounti alerts: Earnings and Valuation This table compares Local Bounti and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio Local Bounti $19.47 million -$111.07 million -0.36 Local Bounti Competitors $1.63 billion $21.77 million 2.12 Profitability Local Bountis competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Local Bounti. Local Bounti is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry. This table compares Local Bounti and its competitors net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Local Bounti -570.35% -95.94% -47.68% Local Bounti Competitors -339.21% -25.62% -16.02% Analyst Recommendations This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Local Bounti and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Local Bounti 0 1 4 0 2.80 Local Bounti Competitors 103 172 492 23 2.55 Local Bounti presently has a consensus target price of $2.85, suggesting a potential upside of 516.48%. As a group, Agricultural production crops companies have a potential upside of 58.02%. Given Local Bountis stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Local Bounti is more favorable than its competitors. Institutional and Insider Ownership 65.3% of Local Bounti shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of shares of all Agricultural production crops companies are held by institutional investors. 36.3% of Local Bounti shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of shares of all Agricultural production crops companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Summary Local Bounti competitors beat Local Bounti on 7 of the 13 factors compared. About Local Bounti (Get Rating) Local Bounti Corporation grows fresh greens and herbs in the United States. It produces lettuce, herbs, and loose-leaf lettuce. The company sells its products to food retailers and food service distributors. Local Bounti Corporation was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Montana. Receive News & Ratings for Local Bounti Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Local Bounti and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Lundin Mining (OTCMKTS:LUNMF Get Rating) had its price target boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from C$11.00 to C$12.00 in a research note released on Friday, The Fly reports. A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. CIBC lifted their target price on Lundin Mining from C$9.50 to C$10.00 in a report on Thursday. Credit Suisse Group lifted their target price on Lundin Mining from C$8.25 to C$10.25 in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Lundin Mining from C$8.00 to C$8.50 in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. National Bankshares cut Lundin Mining to a sell rating and set a $8.75 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Lundin Mining from C$9.00 to C$9.50 in a research note on Friday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $24.25. Get Lundin Mining alerts: Lundin Mining Price Performance Shares of OTCMKTS:LUNMF opened at $8.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Lundin Mining has a 52 week low of $4.54 and a 52 week high of $9.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.47. Lundin Mining Increases Dividend Lundin Mining ( OTCMKTS:LUNMF Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $811.40 million during the quarter. Lundin Mining had a return on equity of 5.84% and a net margin of 8.15%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lundin Mining will post 0.79 EPS for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 24th were issued a $0.0665 dividend. This is a positive change from Lundin Minings previous dividend of $0.07. This represents a yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 23rd. Lundin Minings payout ratio is currently 44.83%. Lundin Mining Company Profile (Get Rating) Lundin Mining Corp. is a metal-based company engaged in mining, exploration and development of mineral properties, primarily in Chile, USA, Portugal, and Sweden. It holds interest in the following projects: Chapada, Candelaria, Eagle, Neves-Corvo, and Zinkgruvan. The company was founded on September 9, 1994 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Lundin Mining Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Lundin Mining and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com lowered shares of Methode Electronics (NYSE:MEI Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning. Separately, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Methode Electronics from $52.00 to $49.00 in a report on Monday, March 13th. Get Methode Electronics alerts: Methode Electronics Trading Up 3.0 % Shares of Methode Electronics stock opened at $40.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.81 and a beta of 1.12. Methode Electronics has a 52-week low of $33.91 and a 52-week high of $51.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 3.51. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $43.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.68. Methode Electronics Announces Dividend Methode Electronics ( NYSE:MEI Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 9th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $280.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $284.50 million. Methode Electronics had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 9.29%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Methode Electronics will post 2.5 EPS for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Methode Electronicss dividend payout ratio is currently 24.35%. Institutional Trading of Methode Electronics Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MEI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Methode Electronics by 2.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,114,176 shares of the electronics makers stock worth $152,842,000 after purchasing an additional 89,454 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Methode Electronics by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,332,876 shares of the electronics makers stock worth $86,666,000 after buying an additional 93,727 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Methode Electronics by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,237,865 shares of the electronics makers stock worth $99,295,000 after acquiring an additional 64,769 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Methode Electronics by 23.3% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,060,715 shares of the electronics makers stock valued at $91,434,000 after acquiring an additional 390,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Methode Electronics by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,393,355 shares of the electronics makers stock valued at $51,763,000 after acquiring an additional 29,049 shares during the last quarter. 95.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Methode Electronics Company Profile (Get Rating) Methode Electronics, Inc engages in the manufacture of component and subsystem devices. It operates through the following segments: Automotive, Interface, Industrial, and Medical. The Automotive segment supplies electronic and electromechanical devices, and related products to automobile original equipment manufacturers. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Methode Electronics Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Methode Electronics and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR Get Rating) has been given a consensus recommendation of Hold by the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $206.80. A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, January 19th. They issued a market perform rating and a $187.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on RenaissanceRe from $215.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $245.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on RenaissanceRe from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 31st. Get RenaissanceRe alerts: RenaissanceRe Trading Up 0.4 % RNR opened at $206.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.99 and a beta of 0.43. RenaissanceRe has a 52 week low of $124.18 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The businesss 50 day moving average is $204.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend RenaissanceRe ( NYSE:RNR Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The insurance provider reported $8.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.34 by $0.82. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. RenaissanceRe had a positive return on equity of 11.89% and a negative net margin of 1.61%. The firms revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that RenaissanceRe will post 22.97 EPS for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRes previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. RenaissanceRes dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -41.99%. Insider Buying and Selling at RenaissanceRe In other RenaissanceRe news, Director Carol P. Sanders sold 1,515 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.32, for a total transaction of $320,149.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,629 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,189,520.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders. Institutional Trading of RenaissanceRe Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in RenaissanceRe by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,800 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments acquired a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe during the 4th quarter valued at $422,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 235,258 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $43,342,000 after acquiring an additional 43,645 shares during the last quarter. Markel Corp grew its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 600.0% in the 4th quarter. Markel Corp now owns 14,000 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $2,579,000 after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,008 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $1,686,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.52% of the companys stock. RenaissanceRe Company Profile (Get Rating) RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. engages in the provision of reinsurance and insurance services. It operates through the following business segments: Property, Casualty and Specialty, and Other. The Property segment focuses on catastrophe, and other property reinsurance and insurance. The Casualty and Specialty segment deals with casualty and specialty reinsurance, and insurance. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for RenaissanceRe Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for RenaissanceRe and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE:OHI Get Rating) had its price target decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $36.00 to $33.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, The Fly reports. OHI has been the subject of several other research reports. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Omega Healthcare Investors from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Omega Healthcare Investors from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Omega Healthcare Investors from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, April 8th. Credit Suisse Group restated an underperform rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Omega Healthcare Investors in a report on Friday, March 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Omega Healthcare Investors from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Omega Healthcare Investors presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $30.60. Get Omega Healthcare Investors alerts: Omega Healthcare Investors Stock Up 1.3 % OHI opened at $28.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 4.76 and a quick ratio of 5.01. Omega Healthcare Investors has a fifty-two week low of $25.61 and a fifty-two week high of $33.71. The companys 50-day moving average is $27.24 and its 200 day moving average is $28.62. Omega Healthcare Investors Increases Dividend Institutional Trading of Omega Healthcare Investors The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.29%. This is an increase from Omega Healthcare Investorss previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 28th. Omega Healthcare Investorss dividend payout ratio is 233.05%. Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of OHI. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Omega Healthcare Investors during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Omega Healthcare Investors during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Omega Healthcare Investors by 1,146.7% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 935 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Omega Healthcare Investors during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Nordwand Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Omega Healthcare Investors during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. 63.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Omega Healthcare Investors Company Profile (Get Rating) Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc engages in the provision of financing and capital to the long-term healthcare industry with a particular focus on skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, independent living facilities, rehabilitation and acute care facilities, and medical office buildings. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Omega Healthcare Investors Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Omega Healthcare Investors and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe With the recent release of her first album, local Tejano artist Madison Pulido has made a name for herself while performing all over the area, already earning herself awards and radio plays. My family has been a huge support and I've just been wanting to be able to share who I am with my community too and be able to do more with my community, Pulido said. Although her current main genre is Tejano music, Pulido, born in Lake Jackson and raised in Freeport, doesnt want to stop there. With plans to dabble in several different styles of music and branch out to other stages, she doesnt plan to forget that Tejano and Brazoria County is where she got her start and the idea to become an artist after being surrounded by the music and encouraged by her family to kick start her career. Ever since I was little my family, they've always just surrounded me with the music, and I've always had a love for it, Pulido said. We've always had backyard barbecues or pool parties, stuff like that. Growing up I just adapted to the music. After a couple single releases early last year, Pulido released her first album Simplemente in December featuring nine songs written by Lorenzo Lopez and arranged by Brando Mireles, well known names in the industry. They've been in the industry for a long time, so to be able to have my first album being able to work alongside with them was definitely a huge blessing and very honored to be able to work alongside such legendary people in the industry, Pulido said. However, even before the release of her album, Pulido was gaining fast traction with her two already released singles Porque Sera and Simplemente Por Quererte a Ti, with several radio plays and performances in Corpus Christi and San Antonio and an upcoming return to her home county performance in Angleton. Pulido won the All Star award for Best Uprising Female Artist last year, and has another All Star award on the horizon. I'm excited to see what lies ahead of us with these events that are turning up, Pulidos mom and manager Michelle Garcia said. It's unbelievable, actually pretty unbelievable. Having only just broken into the industry around a year and a half ago and only 22 years old, one would assume that shes still nervous performing on stage in front of a crowd, but that is not the case for Pulido as time goes on. Now as I've gotten a little more used to it and it's getting into a routine, I've been looking forward to it and I'm wanting to do it more, definitely it's very exciting to get on stage now, Pulido said. Now that I have my own songs, I was getting on stage and singing a bunch of covers. But now that I get to sing original music, it's really fun, and the rush on stage is amazing, and it's fun to be able to see my family out there in the crowd, too. Within the year and a half, Pulido has gained a sizable fanbase that ranges in ages from young to old. But her younger fans are the ones she likes focusing on, hoping to be a role model for them in the future. I can see it as I can be a role model for them and they can look up to me and just not even music wise just, growing up to be a girl and sometimes even the little boys too, they like my music as well, Pulido said. I want to be able to make sure that everything I do is something that they know, that they see is something good. Pulidos hope with her music is to just make people feel happy while listening and her family proud as she continues on in her career putting out more music. I hope that sometimes people have a bad day or anything, they can just kind of sit back and listen to some good music and be able to just recharge themselves or just reset, Pulido said. Im just glad I get to fulfill my family, my grandparents dream, theyve always wanted to see me hit the stage and sing just because they know Ive always wanted to do it, its just something that I know I'm making them really proud. (CNN) The leaders of Sudan's warring military factions have agreed to start preliminary talks in Jeddah aimed at ending the conflict, according to Saudi Arabia and the United States. The two countries welcomed the start of "pre-negotiation" discussions, to take place on Saturday, and called on both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to "actively engage in the talks towards a ceasefire and end to the conflict" in Sudan. "(We) urge both parties to take in consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people," the two countries said in a press release on Friday. Clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary RSF erupted in mid-April, since when hundreds have been killed and thousands more injured. A temporary ceasefire is currently allowing foreign nations to evacuate their citizens -- but locals face deteriorating conditions and shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel. Hospitals targeted Meanwhile, people on the ground in the country have told CNN that RSF fighters are trying to take control of "strategically located" hospitals that can be used as bases for the paramilitary force. The RSF has already fully taken over Omdurman Maternity Hospital, a senior medical employee at a hospital in the state of Khartoum told CNN. The source, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told CNN he had confirmed this by speaking with several staff members at the hospital. He said the RSF was targeting hospitals because it needed cover from air strikes, "especially after their main military bases were completely destroyed by the army in the first few days of the war." "During the past days, they (have) controlled the maternity hospital in Omdurman. It is the biggest obstetrics and gynecology hospital in the whole country. (The RSF have parked) many of their vehicles inside the hospital yard. It will provide them with a very good cover ... It will be impossible for the army (SAF) to strike it by air because the surrounding area is full of civilians, it is in the middle of three big neighborhoods." A second medical source, who works at a different hospital in Khartoum and who also wishes to remain anonymous, confirmed the RSF had taken over the Omdurman Maternity Hospital. CNN has been unable to contact the hospital due to network connectivity issues in Sudan. However, it has obtained a widely circulated statement reportedly issued by the Omdurman Maternity Hospital administration that says the hospital was "attacked" at dawn on Thursday by RSF forces. "They managed to break into the hospital and steal from the exchange counter about 20 million Sudanese pounds, including the deposits (of patients) according to the financial statements of the counter. They also kicked the workers out of the hospital so that the hospital became completely under their full control, and their vehicles entered the hospital (area)," the statement reads. CNN has not independently verified these claims, nor has CNN been able to reach the paramilitary RSF for their comments. Omdurman is Sudan's most populated city, located less than hour northwest of the center of the capital and often referred to as Khartoum's twin city. A manager at another hospital in Khartoum voiced concerns over the spread of gangs throughout the two cities. "These gangs are becoming more aggressive, robbing banks and markets, and destroying shops. They have already stolen a large amount of money from the Khartoum Bank. There is a complete absence of police, and the army is not able to secure many routes," the manager said. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Jeddah to host talks between Sudans warring military factions, US and Saudi Arabia say" Joseph Rex Galaway, 98, of Fairmont, passed away on Friday, May 5, 2023 in Fairmont. He was born on January 10, 1925 to William and Grace (Smail) Galaway at McCool Junction. Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at Fairmont Community Church in Fairmont with Pastor Monica Magoola officiating. Graveside services will take place at the McCool Cemetery in McCool Junction. Visitation will be held on Tuesday, May 9 from 1 8 p.m. at Farmer & Son Funeral Home in Geneva. Memorials may be directed to the family to be designated at a later date. Online condolences may be left at www.farmerandsonfuneralhome.com. CARBONDALE Rita Ali, the first woman and first Black mayor to lead Peoria, Illinois, is the next guest in the virtual Meet the Mayor series hosted by Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. Ali will join John Shaw, institute director, for a virtual discussion at noon Friday, May 12. They will discuss Alis career in education, civic affairs and politics, along with her vision and policy agenda for her community. They will also explore her focus on workforce and diversity issues at Illinois Central College, her service on the Peoria City Council and her election as mayor. Mayor Ali is a trailblazing mayor of one of our states iconic cities, said Shaw, who was born and raised in Peoria. We are eager to learn about her career journey and the daunting challenges and big opportunities that she is confronting in Peoria. Ali is in her first term as Peorias mayor. She served two years on Peorias city council before she won the April 2021 mayoral election by 43 votes out of more than 16,500 cast. Prior to her election, Ali was vice president of workforce and diversity at Illinois Central College. Ali earned a bachelors degree in human services management from the University of Illinois Springfield, a masters degree in education administration from Bradley University, an MBA from Walden University and a doctorate in organization and management from Capella University. The online event is free and open to the public; registration is required at paulsimoninstitute.org/events. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for Ali on their registration form or email them to paulsimoninstitute@siu.edu. Meet the Mayor is a series of virtual conversations in which the institute hosts interviews with Illinois municipal leaders and discuss the challenges and opportunities they face. The institute also has a list of past speakers and events available for review. DENMARK -- Students, faculty, staff, community members and area utility companies gathered at the James W. Bowden Sr. Lineworker Range at Denmark Technical College to celebrate National Lineworker Appreciation Day on April 18. The celebration included inspiring speeches, skill demonstrations, a cookout and a meet-and-greet with current students and instructors for people interested in joining the next electrical lineworker training cohort. The centerpiece of the celebration was the presentation of a $10,000 check to Denmark Technical College from the Duke Energy SC Foundation. This gift from the Duke Energy SC Foundation reflects both our support for educational opportunities that promote students to enter the energy field, as well as our celebrating the legacy and commitment by our friend and former colleague, James Bowden," said Theo Lane, Duke Energy district manager for government and community relations at Duke Energy South Carolina. Denmark Tech launched the electrical lineworker program last year, the first of its kind at a South Carolina HBCU. The program has already graduated two cohorts and boasts a 100% job-placement rate. As we continue putting the TECH back in Denmark Tech, we are elated by the success of the program and are ready to expand it to more people in our service area, said Dr. Willie L. Todd Jr., president and CEO of Denmark Technical College. We are honored to be in a position to help increase diversity and gender equality in the power industry and to provide the residents of rural South Carolina with access to education that creates socioeconomic mobility and generational wealth. "The lineworker training program at Denmark Tech prepares participants for a rewarding career opportunity with endless options, as well as the chance to be a part of supporting our state critical infrastructure that drives both our vibrant economy and quality of life here in the Palmetto State, Lane said. Denmark Tech's next cohort for the electrical lineworker program begins this summer. There are limited spaces available. Interested individuals can visit www.denmarktech.edu/lineworker to learn more. COLUMBIA -- Approximately 1,700 high school seniors from nearly 40 high schools across the state converged on the South Carolina Statehouse for the second annual South Carolina College and Career Decision Day rally, an event to celebrate graduating high school seniors who are taking charge of their futures. Mirrored after National Signing Day and organized by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, the event is an opportunity for the state to recognize and applaud students who are committing to college or university enrollment, beginning a vocational or training program, joining the military or entering the workforce. Youve finished high school, youve made it through, youve done the hard part. Youve got that behind you, youve got that in the bank. All you have to do now is make a decision, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster said. Whatever you want to do, we are here to see to it that you get the opportunity to go as far in any direction as you want to go. McMaster also proclaimed May as College and Career Decision Month at the event. Youve completed one leg of your educational journey, but your education is not over, said CHE President and Executive Director Dr. Rusty Monhollon. Our information driven-fast paced and ever-changing world demands we gain new knowledge and skills throughout our lives. If you choose to enter college now or choose to enter the workforce and then pursue postsecondary education later, please know that South Carolinas higher education system will be here to support you. We are here to celebrate your hard work and your success and your future. You have invested hard work in yourself and there are so many people who have invested in you, said Ellen Weaver, South Carolina superintendent of education. As you go forward into your exciting futures, think about how you can pay back the wonderful gift youve been given on your educational journey. Co-emcees Whitney Sullivan, WLTX News 19 Columbia, and Mikel Hannah-Harding, WRDW News 12 Augusta, Ga., welcomed the crowd, gave words of encouragement, and kept the seniors energized throughout the program. College and university representatives set up tables at the celebration rally on the Statehouse North steps and lawn and were joined by representatives from the business community and state government. Last year, approximately 1,100 students from 21 high schools attended the inaugural event. Orangeburg area participants came from: Bethune-Bowman Middle/High School Edisto High School Lake Marion High School North Middle High School Orangeburg High School for Health Professions Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School Claflin University graduating senior Patrice Burgess took the nontraditional route to graduation. The 40-year-old Orangeburg resident received her masters in nursing with a concentration in leadership Saturday morning. Shes excited about what the future has to offer. She was one of seven students known as the Super 7 to be the first to graduate in the university's master of nursing program. It was a long time coming, Burgess said. Being able to reach my goals with the help of family, friends and the church means the world to me. Burgess earned her associates degree in nursing from Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College and her bachelors degree in nursing from Claflin. As a nontraditional student and a U.S. Army veteran, Burgess feels she was better prepared than if she attended college straight out of high school. The military prepared me for any kind of situation that came up, Burgess said. Being deployed, being a medical assistant, working in migrant health, as a phlebotomist and then becoming a nurse ties back to my experiences being a nurse. It worked for me. Burgess loved studying at Claflin. I love the interactions I had with my instructors. The availability of my instructors was a great experience," Burgess said. "The opportunity to attend an HBCU was at the top of my list. I loved every aspect of being a student at Claflin University." One thing she will not miss? All the homework, she said, laughing. There was a lot of homework. Burgess joined her fellow graduates for the spring commencement convocation at Claflin Universitys Jonas T. Kennedy Health and Wellness Complex. Of the 236 graduates, 96 graduated with honors. University officials believe it marks the first time in half a century that there were nine student valedictorians. The students made straight As during their time at the university. About 15 students graduated with master's degrees. The keynote speaker, former S.C. Rep. Bakari Sellers, told the students to continue to fight for what is right no matter the obstacles and hurdles they may face. We need you, Sellers said. The world needs you right now. I have hope that burns like the sun inside me telling me that we know that life ain't fair, but it ain't fixed either because we are here, Sellers said. We have hope and we have a voice that tells us there is something here worth fighting for. It tells us that a lot of time Black folk are going to have to work longer and work harder, but if you believe in something, that victory is much sweeter. Sellers told the story of retired U.S. Army Sergeant Major Teresa King, who became the first female commandant of the Army Drill Sergeant School at Fort Jackson. King, who was born in North Carolina as the daughter of sharecropper, rose through the ranks of the United States military. She had a sense of right and wrong and wasn't going to quit for anyone, Sellers said. There were many who did not accept her position as a minority woman leader in the military, he said. King's success was noted by a number of media outlets, but in 2011 King was suspended from her role as commandant of the Drill Sergeant School following an internal personnel action investigation around her command style. Some folks did not like answering to a woman, much less a Black woman, Sellers said. It wasn't just the folks beneath her. It started with the whispers, She doesn't belong here. She didn't earn it. She is not like us, just a diversity hire. The whispers got louder. They became conversations. They evolved into plans of actions, allegations, Sellers said. King was cleared of wrongdoing six months after her suspension and returned to duty, but soon lost her job. The Army needs you somewhere else, they told her, Sellers said. What they were really saying is that you are not one of us. They took her career, they took her future, they even took her good name and they ran her out of the Army. Sellers said King learned, that everybody gets knocked down. That is not the important part of life. What matters is when you got your behind back up. She got back up not to fight back but to fight forward. King took on the Army for 12 years in a lawsuit, but eventually won back her good name and her honor. I want you to know not assume and not guess but know that there is a part of Teresa King in you, too, Sellers said. That part is going to be important in years to come. You know that life ain't fair. You know how hard it gets. Some of you have come from poor communities where the school leaks when it rains. Some of you all left everything you knew behind. Some of you all come from a place where nobody believed in you except your preacher and your teacher, but you are here standing, so that shows you know how to get back up, too, Sellers said. The world ain't fair, but you can change the world and I know you will, Sellers said. Nickeisha Cuthbert, a 23-year-old resident of Jamaica, wants to change the world. As an Alice Carson Tisdale Honors College scholar and one of nine valedictorians, Cuthbert majored in biotechnology and minored in chemistry. Graduation is a time that allows me to reflect on all the amazing people Ive met and experiences Ive had at Claflin, Cuthbert said. Also, as an international student and a first-generation student, this is a momentous occasion for my family as well as myself. Claflin provided an excellent environment for growth that pushed me to succeed even in the darkest times of the pandemic, Cuthbert said. The familial environment and excellent mentors unreservedly encouraged me throughout the years. Undoubtedly, they fostered the Claflin Confidence and I'm happy to be graduating from CU with an amazing education and skills to take on the world. Cuthbert will continue her studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston where she will pursue a doctorate in biological engineering. I'm very interested in working in the biotechnology industry, she said. In addition to the 2023 graduating class, about 33 members of Claflin University class of 1973 were presented with the Golden Diploma. Log a Load for Kids, in conjunction with the Childrens Miracle Network, hosted its annual sporting clays fundraiser on Wednesday, April 12, at Broxton Bridge Plantation in Ehrhardt. The event drew 104 shooters, who raised more than $40,000 for the Shawn Jenkins Childrens Hospital at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. The generosity of our loyal supporters is a testament to the great people we have representing our local timber industry, the organizers said in a release. The following businesses were among the many sponsors of the event: Cameron Lumber Co., CawCaw Logging & Timber, Dempsey Wood Products, Edisto Surveyors, Mikes Logging, Santee Building Solutions, Streamline Timber Co., Edmonds Forestry, Ag South, Pat Lee and James M. Simons and Co. For information about how to get involved with Log a Load for Kids, contact Lin Houck 843-908-3641. NORWAY Norway officials say the town will not have to pay more to offset the cost of the Harrison Avenue water upgrade project, but the town still has other, unrelated debts to offset. The Harrison Avenue Water Project is going forward, and the town does not have to provide additional funds, Mayor Lynn Garrick said during councils May 1 meeting. Councilman Gregg Covington said, The Commerce Department will make up the difference. The recent meeting was held at the Norway Town Hall, just off the Savannah Highway. Town officials asked for the help of the Municipal Association of South Carolina when they learned the Harrison Avenue water project was going cost more than the original bid. The MASC then sought help from S.C. Department of Commerce, which was approved. Prior to the regular meeting, council held a public hearing on the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The general fund revenue is listed at $1,092,470. Expenses are listed at $1,211,330. Public Service Commission revenue was listed at $236,635; expenses were listed at $255,210. Also, the Municipal Court revenue was listed at $75,000; expenses were listed at $76,123. Garrick later said, We do have quite a bit of old debt. We are working on a plan for that debt. The town is catching up on some old audits and has asked for assistance from the staff of S.C. Rep. Lonnie Hosey, D-Barnwell. They have not heard back about that assistance. Once we resolve the old audits, we can then try to get some grants, Garrick added. Garrick said she has been doing a lot of calling and talking about old audits and debts. She said earlier the biggest shortfall is in public service. We have $48,000 (in debt) that hurts us in the general budgets, she said. Garrick added, Property taxes are down by $20,000 a year (in revenue). We also do not have any American Rescue Act Plan funds left, she said. Council gave first reading to the budget during the regular meeting after the hearing. Council discussed concerns about Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities costs. We are buying more water than we are selling, Garrick said. Millions of gallons of water have been lost in the town because of leaks and lack of access to valves. Garrick said, S.C. Rural Water is coming, and they are trying to find the valves under the asphalt. They will shut down some of the valves. Garrick is also asking the S.C. Department of Transportation not to pave over the valves when they come through to repave Savannah Highway. Lack of access to the valves made the town unable to shut down leaky lines in the past. Garrick and Covington said, in summary, they both have been seeking solutions for the water line issues and water costs. Garrick also said the town has been given seven findings from the S.C. Public Employee Benefit Authority audit results. Among other findings, insurance premiums were incorrect and council members were not offered insurance. A full listing of these findings can be obtained from the town hall. The mayor said she will have to answer PEBA about these findings by Friday, May 19. In other business: To address a citizens concerns in a previous meeting, Garrick said a certified, registered letter was sent to the property owner whose debris was blocking part of a road in town. The property owner is out of state and if they do not get the debris up, they will be fined by the town, she said. Police Chief Edgar Williams mentioned three case files from the month, including one for assault and battery, one for grand larceny and a third for burglary in the second degree. He also mentioned 12 traffic citations. Garrick mentioned that a police officer had resigned, and Williams confirmed he had. Council went into executive session to discuss a personnel issue. No decisions or motions were made upon return from the executive session. The next meeting of the Norway council will be held Monday, June 5, at 7 p.m. at the Norway Town Hall. Town Clerk Dee Gore confirmed that the meetings will continue to be held at the town hall instead of the Old Willow School. (CNN) -- When a tourist at a Tibetan hotel noticed a foul smell in his room and asked to move, little could he have guessed he would get caught up in a murder investigation. The traveler spent half a day in the room wondering where the smell was coming from and initially suspected either the bakery downstairs or perhaps his own feet. But he was later informed it came from a dead body under the bed. The tourist -- identified only as Mr Zhang -- had checked into the hotel, said to be popular among internet influencers, in Lhasa on April 20, according to reports in China's state-affiliated media. But it was not until two days later -- after he had transferred rooms -- that he learned the source of the smell, when he was summoned back to the original room by a group of police officers. "I asked them what happened and they told me someone had died. So I asked them where," he told Shangyou News. "They said under my bed." The police told him they had opened a murder investigation, but he was not a suspect because the body had been lying there for days before his arrival. The case has been widely reported across China, with many state-affiliated news outlets publishing video footage of the subsequent arrest of a suspect on a train bound for Lanzhou, a city around 2,000 kilometers from Tibet. Recounting his experience to Shangyou News, Zhang said he had left Tibet as soon as he helped the police with their investigation. But he said he was still reeling from the shock and had struggled to sleep ever since. "I stay up until 2am to 3am every morning and the slightest movement would wake me up," he said. "It left me in a bad mental state." This story was first published on CNN.com, "He smelled something strange in his Tibetan hotel room. It was a dead body under his bed" COLUMBIA Alex Murdaugh may be serving a life sentence for killing his wife and son, but the legal system is far from done with him. As he sat in his South Carolina prison cell this week, Murdaugh's lawyers dealt with large financial claims against him. They told an insurer looking to force him to repay $3.4 million it awarded in a wrongful death settlement over Murdaugh's housekeeper that he lied about the circumstances of her death. Murdaugh's first version of events was designed to force the insurer to pay, the lawyers said. The imprisoned Murdaugh now says he doesn't remember the events of five years ago. Meanwhile, Jim Griffin, who helped lead the defense in the murder case, is asking Judge Daniel Hall to release an additional $160,000 from Murdaugh's retirement account to pay for his appeal of his life sentence because the six-week trial exhausted the $600,000 they were initially given. Murdaugh, 54, was convicted in March. Prosecutors said he stole millions of dollars and found himself teetering on financial disaster, which led him to shoot to death his 22-year-old son, Paul, and 52-year-old wife, Maggie, at their Colleton County home. Also pending against Murdaugh is a lawsuit filed by the family of Mallory Beach. They say she was killed when Paul Murdaugh drove a boat into a bridge piling while he was drunk in 2019. Her family sued the Murdaughs and the owner of the convenience store that sold the underage Paul the beer. According to media reports, Greg Parker's lawyer argued Wednesday that he and his stores should be dismissed from the lawsuit because Paul Murdaugh had a duplicate of his older brother's driver's license and the clerk did quickly glance at it. Parker also showed footage from a Netflix documentary that showed Paul's friends discussing how he liked drinking when driving the boat and that Beach knew the risk when she hung out with them. Almost all of Murdaugh's assets are frozen as courts sift through claims from the clients whom he allegedly stole from and others who have sued. But he was allowed to pay his attorneys though $600,000 out of his 401K retirement account since that money was legitimately earned. The officials appointed to control Murdaugh's money are against giving his lawyers more. But Griffin said the six-week murder trial was more complex and longer than expected. Murdaugh's lawyers are also fighting a lawsuit against him filed by Nautilus Insurance Co., which paid out nearly $4 million to settle claims in the aftermath of the death of his longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield. Satterfield's family said they never received the money. Eric Bland, the family's attorney, said Murdaugh never told them about the settlement and pocketed the money after convincing Satterfield's sons to use a lawyer as their representative who was a family friend. Nautilus is suing in federal court to get the money back. Murdaugh's lawyers suggested Nautilus take legal action against Satterfield's family members, saying they collected more than $7 million in settlements and other fees. However, Bland said Nautilus has no claim against the family because they didn't receive the insurance money. Its investigators should have looked more thoroughly into Murdaugh's account of Satterfield's death which changed recently before paying, Bland said. Murdaugh previously said Satterfield died in a fall but now says he doesn't remember. "This is nothing but noise," Bland said. "Just gutless people trying to continue to victimize Gloria's siblings and children." Murdaugh is awaiting trial on over 100 other criminal charges, including insurance fraud for trying to arrange his own death and money laundering. He also is charged with tax evasion. From 2011 to 2021, Murdaugh made about $16 million as a lawyer, while stealing about $9 million from his law firm, settlement money for clients and other places, according to indictments. You have reached a premium content area of Transitions. To read this entire article please login if you are already a Transitions subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). KEMMERER Bill Gates on Friday made his first visit to Kemmerer, the southwestern Wyoming town where his nuclear development company, TerraPower, plans to build its inaugural next-generation reactor. After touring the planned site and the adjacent coal-fired Naughton Power Plant, and sitting down with community leaders at the new Fossil Fuel Coffee Co., Gates and several TerraPower executives spoke to a packed room of residents and state officials at a Best Western about their vision for the Natrium project. This is a pioneering move that will be a big part of how we keep electricity reliable and keep the United States at the forefront of providing energy technology to the entire world, said Gates, who has long been a vocal proponent of modernizing the countrys nuclear fleet. Were committed to the project, he added. Were committed to work closely with you, committed to listen to the concerns and address those concerns. And being here today is just an early part of that. Rodger Holt, a Rocky Mountain Power employee who manages the Naughton plant, led TerraPower through the facility. He said Gates seemed genuinely interested in what we currently do and the workforce here. After the tour, everyone asked if I was relieved, he said. Its like, No, from the moment I heard that TerraPower was looking at this, I spent so much of my own time trying to get everything that I thought they would be looking for to convince them, this is where you want to be. Its been a year and a half since Holts plant won out. I figured this day would come, and it was great that it came, he said. Id like to do it again next week. Gates, for his part, expects to return to the town of roughly 2,400 people though maybe not quite so soon. Im sure it wont be my last visit, Gates said. I look forward to coming and seeing this plant as it becomes reality. The relationship between his company and the state has grown a lot stronger since the company announced its plan almost two years ago to build the reactor at one of four retiring Wyoming coal plants, TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque and Gov. Mark Gordon each told the Star-Tribune on Friday. Two years ago, Rocky Mountain Power was looking at early retirement for its coal plant, Gordon said. And the state reacted, I reacted, the Legislature reacted: We think there is a big future for coal in Wyoming and theres going to be a lot more of it. Its going to be really tough for communities like Kemmerer to really lose that sort of economics. Before TerraPower settled on Naughton, Kemmerer faced the likely closure of not only its power plant, but the coal mine that supplies it, with few prospects for the workers who would be left behind. But since TerraPower came to the town, the promise of hundreds of permanent jobs and the prospect of thousands more in supporting industries has been transformative. Now developers are everywhere, and all sorts of businesses are coming to a community that had up until now been known for being the home of the nations first JCPenney department store. We look forward to making power, but also being a part of helping this community pivot, Levesque said. Really, we know theres been some hard times weve listened to a lot of people here and we want to be part of creating a new future. All the interest in Kemmerer has been a welcome change of pace for the struggling coal town. Its also brought with it plenty of new challenges. Top of mind, for many, is the aging local infrastructure, which languished for years as the population that funded it shrank. The town needs a lot more money than it has right now to support the plants estimated peak of 1,600 construction workers and 200 or more permanent employees, along with an unknowable number of others. The handful of town staff tasked with handling community development, overwhelmed by their ballooning responsibilities, have had to bring on a team of assistants and grant writers to field inquiries from the growing number of interested developers and try to secure the tens of millions of dollars itll take to accommodate them. TerraPowers primary focus is on the exhaustive federal permitting process its trying to complete in time to start operating the reactor by 2030 still an aggressive target despite the projects two-year delay, Levesque said. But the company is trying to help keep the community its joining informed about funding available at the federal level. We try and facilitate communication with them, he said. Trying to make sure people here know that fundings available and apply for grants. Money is on the table at the state level as well, Gordon said, and the states going to try to stand with them to help as they expand. That includes trying to land new customers for the coal mine when the power plant does eventually close, he said, because these jobs are solid and theyre part of this community. All those efforts have started to have an impact, said Brian Muir, Kemmerers city administrator. Were making progress. Close Bill Gates, center, stands outside a hotel in Kemmerer. Bill Gates speaks to local residents and officials during a meeting Friday at a hotel in Kemmerer. Gates' nuclear development company is planning to build a next-generation reactor at the site of a coal-fired power plant adjacent to the town. This was the Microsoft founder's first visit to the community. Gov. Mark Gordon speaks to local residents and officials during a meeting Friday at a hotel in Kemmerer as Bill Gates looks on. Gates' nuclear development company is planning to build a next-generation reactor at the site of a coal-fired power plant adjacent to the town. This was the Microsoft founder's first visit to the community. Bill Gates speaks with a group of people outside a Kemmerer hotel on Friday. Bill Gates speaks to local residents and officials during a meeting Friday at a hotel in Kemmerer. Gates' nuclear development company is planning to build a next-generation reactor at the site of a coal-fired power plant adjacent to the town. This was the Microsoft founder's first visit to the community. U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, right, was one of the many officials who were on hand for Bill Gates' visit to Kemmerer. Chris Levesque, president and CEO of TerraPower, speaks Friday at an event in Kemmerer. Bill Gates speaks to local residents and officials during a meeting Friday at a hotel in Kemmerer. Gates' nuclear development company is planning to build a next-generation reactor at the site of a coal-fired power plant adjacent to the town. This was the Microsoft founder's first visit to the community. Bill Gates looks on during a TerraPower presentation Friday in Kemmerer. Tara Neider, a senior vice president at TerraPower, speaks Friday at an event in Kemmerer. Gov. Mark Gordon speaks Friday at an event in Kemmerer to discuss a planned nuclear reactor there. Illustrations of a planned nuclear reactor are displayed at an event Friday in Kemmerer. Chris Levesque is president and CEO of TerraPower. Chris Levesque is president and CEO of TerraPower. Bill Gates speaks with a group of men outside a Kemmerer hotel on Friday. PHOTOS: Bill Gates visits Wyoming for his nuclear project Microsoft founder Bill Gates visited Kemmerer on Friday as part of his effort to build a nuclear reactor there. Here's a look at his time in Wyoming. Bill Gates, center, stands outside a hotel in Kemmerer. Bill Gates speaks to local residents and officials during a meeting Friday at a hotel in Kemmerer. Gates' nuclear development company is planning to build a next-generation reactor at the site of a coal-fired power plant adjacent to the town. This was the Microsoft founder's first visit to the community. Gov. Mark Gordon speaks to local residents and officials during a meeting Friday at a hotel in Kemmerer as Bill Gates looks on. Gates' nuclear development company is planning to build a next-generation reactor at the site of a coal-fired power plant adjacent to the town. This was the Microsoft founder's first visit to the community. Bill Gates speaks with a group of people outside a Kemmerer hotel on Friday. Bill Gates speaks to local residents and officials during a meeting Friday at a hotel in Kemmerer. Gates' nuclear development company is planning to build a next-generation reactor at the site of a coal-fired power plant adjacent to the town. This was the Microsoft founder's first visit to the community. U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, right, was one of the many officials who were on hand for Bill Gates' visit to Kemmerer. Chris Levesque, president and CEO of TerraPower, speaks Friday at an event in Kemmerer. Bill Gates speaks to local residents and officials during a meeting Friday at a hotel in Kemmerer. Gates' nuclear development company is planning to build a next-generation reactor at the site of a coal-fired power plant adjacent to the town. This was the Microsoft founder's first visit to the community. Bill Gates looks on during a TerraPower presentation Friday in Kemmerer. Tara Neider, a senior vice president at TerraPower, speaks Friday at an event in Kemmerer. Gov. Mark Gordon speaks Friday at an event in Kemmerer to discuss a planned nuclear reactor there. Illustrations of a planned nuclear reactor are displayed at an event Friday in Kemmerer. Chris Levesque is president and CEO of TerraPower. Chris Levesque is president and CEO of TerraPower. Bill Gates speaks with a group of men outside a Kemmerer hotel on Friday. Looking at the Wyoming Department of Healths opioid overdose death map, Casper stands out. A deep yellow colors the center of a jawbreaker-like circle, reflecting the severe toll that opioid addiction took on the city from 20092018. Now, settlement money from national lawsuits has begun to filter into Casper to address the lasting legacy of the opioid epidemic. While nothing is final, the city of Casper and Natrona County are considering partnering to broaden the impact of the money. Both are weighing putting the money toward addiction treatment as they look to take action sometime this year. This town is really in need of a detox center, said Commissioner Steve Freel, the chairman of the Natrona County Board of Commissioners. It really just seems like it would be smart of us not to build a facility but [to] utilize the funds to in conjunction with city and county partner up with a treatment center and put that detox center in place. The city of Casper has so far received approximately $494,000 in opioid settlement money, said Eric Nelson, the citys attorney. Casper and Natrona County will together collect a little more than 15% of the settlement money that goes to local governments as a part of the OneWyo Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Agreement, second to only Cheyenne and Laramie County. The money has begun to trickle in as a result of nationwide settlements between states, drugmakers and distributors. In 2021, Johnson & Johnson and distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen agreed to a multistate settlement totaling $26 billion, while pharmacy chains like Walmart, CVS and Walgreens have since agreed to their own settlements. Wyoming and the states local governments have been party to other successful lawsuits, including against Purdue Pharma and McKinsey & Company, one of the largest consulting firms in the world, for their roles in the opioid epidemic. Nelson said that he expected Casper to receive more money as a result of continued settlements, but the city does not have a final figure. Part of the uncertainty lies with how the payouts are structured. In some cases, they will be disbursed over more than a decade. Its always been a little bit of a mystery kind of how much were getting and when, Nelson said. According to the OneWyo settlement, the money must be used for treatment, prevention and other services to actively abate and alleviate the impacts of the opioid crisis and co-occurring substance abuse. Conversations between the city and county about how to use the money have been ongoing since it started to come in late last year. Neither the city council nor the county commissioners have made a decision, and both sides have not agreed to work toward a particular direction, Nelson and Freel said. But there has been mutual interest in partnering. Freel said he saw a funding match as the best way forward for the two local governments. In order to get kind of the most bang for the buck, the thought was, Lets maybe put the money together, Nelson said. In their discussions, both governments have identified detox and opioid treatment as a gap that they would consider filling. So far, the Casper-Natrona County Health Department and the Mercer Family Resource Center (formerly Mercer House) have developed a request for proposal for detox services that Nelson is in the process of reviewing. The request will then go to city council and the county commissioners, and if the two sides can come to agreement they would likely formalize their partnership and set up a small board to screen proposals and make funding recommendations, Nelson said. If things go smoothly, Nelson estimated the city and county could start putting those steps in action as soon as June or July. Alongside Casper and Natrona County, the state has also been taking a methodical approach to its opioid settlement money, a process that will likely kick off this year. As of Jan. 31, the Wyoming Department of Health had not spent any of the roughly $4.4 million the state has received so far. But it has identified how it plans to use the money: expanding treatment access and substance abuse prevention and education. Freel said Casper and Natrona Countys efforts to transform the settlement money into action are only beginning. I dont really think any of us know exactly what were doing with it, Freel said. We just have ideas and we really just need to take it to the next level to figure out what direction we want to go. Community members are raising money on behalf of three people who died Monday when two trucks collided head-on east of Casper. The victims included the drivers of both trucks, Aaron Henson and Kristofer Counts, along with Counts child, Max. Family and friends of the Counts said the community lost two precious, caring and great souls on Monday morning, the GoFundMe page, organized by Keisha Glover, states. It is hard to forget someone, especially to people who gave us so much to remember, the statement said. Services will be announced at a later date, and the family is asking for time and space to grieve. The other driver, Henson, was a friend, father, husband and business owner, a separate GoFundMe account, organized by Colton Roberson, states. He is survived by his wife and two children, who are 2 and 7 years old. Henson and his wife Kaylynn put countless hours of work into their businesses together, the statement said. Henson was also heavily involved in his local community, especially when it came to his children. AJ was not someone you would forget, the statement said. His sense of humor and ability to make light of any situation will not be forgotten by many. Hensons memorial services were scheduled to be held at the Glenrock High School Gymnasium on Friday morning. On Monday, two trucks crashed at about 8:45 a.m. on Old Glenrock Highway near Edness Kimball Wilkins State Park, the Wyoming Highway Patrol reported. Counts, 34, was driving a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup west on the highway when his truck crossed the center line and collided head-on with Hensons 2018 Ford F-150. Counts, who lived in Casper, died at the scene. He was not wearing a seatbelt. His son Max was traveling with him at the time, the patrol reported. He also died at the scene. The child was wearing a seat belt. Henson, 28, of Glenrock, was taken to Banner Wyoming Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries, the statement said. He was wearing a seat belt. The highway patrol is investigating driver inattention and fatigue on the part of Counts as possible causes. Forty-four people have died on Wyomings roads so far this year. At the same time last year, there were 28 deaths. The highway patrol has attributed the stark increase, in part, to this winters harsh weather conditions. JACKSON Wyoming Republican Party Chairman Frank Eathorne won reelection to a third term as the state GOPs leader on Saturday, snuffing out the possibility that turnover in county parties would translate to changes in state-level leadership this year. Eathorne, who has served as chairman of the party for five years and is close with former president Donald Trump, beat out Converse County rancher and former lawmaker Frank Moore in a 49-25 vote. I am your grassroots candidate. I am proven, Eathorne said during his opening speech. You answer to the grassroots, the chairman answers to you. And that means we all need to be riding for the brand. The platform is our standard, and we need to continue to govern red, and were gonna save this state and save this nation. Some have said that Eathornes reelection to a third term is unusual, though its allowed under the partys bylaws. Eathorne told the Star-Tribune that he doesnt know whether or not he will run again for the chairman post after his third term, though he mentioned that he knows of other state chairmen who have served far more times. Moore, Eathornes opponent, told the Star-Tribune that he had expected to win and was surprised by the outcome of the election. He said he isnt sure if hell run for chairman of the party again but plans to stay involved. Whether I run again or not, it was a rewarding experience, Moore said. Eathorne didnt say whether or not he had expected the ultimate outcome of the election, saying that he was focused on clarifying his message and intent to serve. If that wins the votes, great, and if not, I dont deserve to lead. Incumbent vice chairman David Holland also defended his post in a 49-25 vote against Sweetwater County GOP Chairman Elizabeth Bingham. Incumbent secretary Donna Rice, a fourth-generation Wyomingite, attorney and small business owner, ran uncontested for reelection. There were no additional nominations from the floor. Party divisions Eathornes time as chairman has coincided with what many describe as the most fractured period of the Wyoming Republican Partys recent history. Though some have praised his handling of the partys infighting, others say his leadership has instigated conflict. Nevertheless, the party has grown in dominance under his watch. The chairman said on Saturday that he agrees the party is divided. Its an obvious ideological, political matter, but people are entitled to their opinion, Eathorne said. Every voice must be heard, and then we debate. We have rules of debate so that its orderly, and then we vote. Thats where the decision comes in. Eathorne mentioned in the same vein the state partys censure of Wyomings former Rep. Liz Cheney. Nearly half of Wyomings county GOPs passed resolutions to censure Cheney after she voted to impeach Trump. The Wyoming state GOP central committee subsequently voted to censure Cheney, after which Eathorne co-sponsored a resolution to censure her at the Republican National Convention. (The resolution passed). Honestly, I didnt enjoy much of that, Eathorne said. However, it was coming from the grassroots. Its the job, he said, of the national committeewoman, national committeeman and chairman to represent the county and state GOPs will at the Republican National Convention. The unpleasant aspect of it is that you have a representative who voted 97% with Donald Trump, the party had a good relationship with her, Eathorne told the Star-Tribune, adding that on a personal level he and the former representative shared cell phone numbers, had breakfast together and had visited in her D.C. office. So youve got a relationship that has a positive track record, then it suddenly takes a bad turn, based on her decision making, not ours. The rancher and former police officer is a controversial figure in the Wyoming GOP. A Star-Tribune investigation detailed revelations about the chairman ranging from infidelity to his taking of federal government subsidies. Photos and video appear to show him on restricted grounds during the Jan. 6 attack of the U.S. Capitol. Leaked documents indicate that he was a member of the Oath Keepers, a militant right-wing organization, WyoFile reported. Eathorne, like Moore, said he believes its acceptable to keep elected Republicans accountable regarding their adherence to the Republican Party platform a point thats raised conflict within the party as sites like WyoRINO.com have singled out Republicans in Name Only by rating them according to their voting records. We go by the Reagan rule: 80%, Eathorne said. That was decided years ago. Thats the minimum that were asking for elected officials. Please follow the platform 80%. Unlike Moore, Eathorne said he supports the established system of county parties paying dues to the state GOP central Committee a practice that some have bucked against in recent years. The Natrona County GOP has resisted paying shares to the state GOP since 2019 over concerns about the state partys spending as well as disagreements over its direction and behavior. State GOP leaders responded last year by slashing the number of Natrona County delegates from 33 to the minimum six for the 2022 state convention. Right now, the Natrona County GOP is still only allowed to have six delegates for the upcoming 2024 state GOP convention. Taft Love, the new chairman of the Laramie County GOP, which also had outstanding dues, told the state central committee at the meeting on Saturday that the county has now paid the remainder of the shares it owed. Other elections Vice Chairman Holland, who also ran for his third term, is an Arizona native who moved to Wyoming in the 70s and has served on and off as a Republican precinct committeeman in Crook and Campbell counties since 1984. Folks, theres a war going on today in America, and we have to be aware and we have to be facing it. We cant sit back and not address the things that are happening in our country, Holland said during his speech. We have to be aware that were in a war for the soul of America right now. People in the audience emphatically voiced agreement. Holland previously told the Star-Tribune that several of his concerns and priorities center on national issues, some of which have made their way into discussions in Wyoming the crisis at the southern border, stopping what some call the sexualizing of children and worries about election integrity, though cases of voter fraud in Wyoming are extremely rare, to name a few. The vice chairman of the party supports and fills in for the chairman as necessary but doesnt have voting power at the national level like the chair, national committeeman and national committeewoman do. Vice chairmen often run for the chairman post after serving for a couple terms. Holland told the Star-Tribune he had considered and turned down the idea of running for chairman because he supports Eathorne. Changes in county GOP makeup this year put into question whether Eathorne and Holland, who both ran uncontested in the last leadership election, had enough votes (the chairman, state committeeman and state committeewoman of each county get to vote for state GOP leadership). Several counties ousted hard-line conservatives in favor of more traditional Republican leadership, cutting into votes that would have likely backed Eathorne and Hollands reelection. Nevertheless, both candidates resoundingly won their races. Views on Eathorne There were roughly 50 guests attending the meeting on Saturday. Several current members of the Legislature sat in the audience during the meeting, including Sens. Bob Ide, R-Casper, and Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, and Reps. Allen Slagle, R-Newcastle, Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, and Mike Yin, D-Jackson. State Auditor Kristi Racine, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, Secretary of State Chuck Gray and State Treasurer Curt Meier also attended the meeting. Among the guests was Ben Mahrle, a precinct committeeman and member-at-large of the Laramie County GOP. Mahrle, who described himself as a political refugee from Colorado, said that what he considered at stake in the leadership elections was the integrity of the party, and that coming from Colorado, a blue state, he has a specific concern about this. Though he wasnt strongly rooting for a particular candidate, he said that he thought Eathorne had been doing a good job, and that he didnt see a reason to change leadership. Crystal MacGuire, a Natrona County GOP precinct committeewoman and the spouse of the county partys chairman, Joe MacGuire, said prior to the election that what she saw as being at stake was flipping the party in favor of new leadership. She described the current state of the party as full of hatred and prejudice. Its at an apex right now, she said, adding that she believes a flip sometime soon is inevitable. Hot Springs County GOP Chairman Cheryl Aguiar similarly saw this as the crux of what was at stake in the elections, though she was rooting for the incumbents. One side is interested in having a big tent, Aguiar said, referring to the Moore-Bingham slate. The other side is: Get out of my tent! Aguiar mentioned that the Hot Springs County GOP was one county party that declined to talk with Moore about his candidacy prior to the elections. Moore, a staunch critic of the Biden Administration who called on the party to unite against Biden, Pelosi and DC, told the Star-Tribune that he had been called a Republican In Name Only multiple times over the past few weeks, though he said he wasnt informed why specifically people thought of him that way. No one who knows me would call me a RINO, he said. Microsoft founder Bill Gates visited Kemmerer on Friday as part of his effort to build a nuclear reactor there. Here's a look at his time in Wyoming. (CNN) Nearly a year since the US' first alert system for missing Indigenous people launched in Washington, the push to address the crisis of unsolved cases continues spreading in the state and beyond its borders. The system, known as MIPA, was launched last July. As of this week, authorities have issued 56 alerts, according to the Washington State Patrol. While most people have been found safe, two were found dead and six people have not been located. "It's working because of the community coming together and people stepping up," said Patti Gosch, a tribal liaison with the Washington State Patrol. "More people are being found because the community is involved, than (with) law enforcement going out on the ground and physically finding people." Gosch, who answers calls from relatives when an Indigenous person goes missing, says the alert system has streamlined the case response and highlighted their urgency. Before it was launched, Gosch says investigators along with advocacy groups and relatives would work to gather information to create and distribute a poster, but it would take 8 to 10 hours to do so. "Now, it takes 10 minutes to hit the East Coast and come back. So it's freed up a lot of time to help other families, which is incredible," she said. The alert is similar to Amber and Silver alerts, and it can be activated when an Indigenous person is missing "due to unexplained, involuntary, or suspicious circumstances and/or is believed to be in danger because of age, health, adverse weather, or other circumstances and is believed to be unable to return to safety without assistance," according to the Washington State Patrol. Chris Loftis, a spokesperson for the Washington State Patrol, says alerts have been issued for a wide range of cases, from teenage runaways to people who have been abducted or taken for criminal activities such as human trafficking. While it's difficult to confirm whether an alert has a direct impact on most cases, Loftis and Gosch say it has saved lives. A young woman who was abducted was left on the side of the road, more than 100 miles away from her home after the person who took her saw that an alert was issued, they say. They declined to discuss more details about the incident to protect the woman's privacy. "If you are a victim, it sends a message of 'hey, we're looking for you. We're not going to give up,' and if you're a perpetrator, it says 'hey, we're looking for you,'" Loftis said. The focus on the crisis of missing Indigenous persons in the state and its efforts are expanding. A new cold case unit to investigate violent crime is expected to be created within the state attorney general's office after Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation into law last month. As of Monday, there were 142 Native Americans missing in Washington state, according to the Washington State Patrol. Native Americans comprise nearly 2% of the state's population. A 2018 report by the Urban Indian Health Institute shows Washington was among the states with the highest number of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Biden and state officials are joining the call to action The state's response to the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people is part of a series of federal and state initiatives launched across the United States in recent years to address a growing crisis that advocates and tribes say has largely been ignored. The Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates there are thousands of missing and murdered cases involving Native Americans across the US that have gone unresolved. Meanwhile, data from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System shows there were 793 unsolved cases of missing Native American people as of December 2022. President Joe Biden's administration created a unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to investigate the cases and enhance the collaborating among federal agencies and Indian Country. This week, Biden issued a proclamation commemorating Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day on Friday and called on the nation to respond with the "resources needed to stop the violence and reverse the legacy of inequity and neglect that often drives it." "Families have been left investigating disappearances on their own, demanding justice for their loved ones, and grieving pieces of their souls. Generations of activists and organizers have pushed for accountability, safety, and change," Biden wrote in the proclamation. At the state level, California and Colorado have launched their own alert systems to assist in search efforts for an Indigenous person who has been reported missing. This story was first published on CNN.com, "The nations first alert system for missing Indigenous people is bringing a crisis to the forefront in Washington state" The hulking mass of an MC-130J landing on Highway 287 isnt something you expect to see every day, or any day for that matter, but it happened last weekend. The 160,000-pound aircraft, along with an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), two MH-6M Little Bird helicopters and two A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthogs, used highways 287 and 789 as landing zones on Sunday and Tuesday as part of a week-long military mission named Exercise Agile Chariot, according to the military. The name of the exercise was spot on. It was all about agility, being able to refuel and rearm aircraft in the field without the need for trucks or major infrastructure. Were mitigating or avoiding the danger to the guys on the ground, the missions commander U.S. Air Force Maj. Matt Waggy told the Star-Tribune. Basically what were telling our adversaries is that you cant pinpoint where were going to be, he continued. Though not a new idea, a highway landing on this scale had never been done. The exercise saw the first-ever highway landing, refuel and rearm of a UAV. It proved that the time it takes one to fly back to base and do the same can be cut by 200% when done in the field, Waggy said. Members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, meanwhile, conducted a search-and-rescue simulation. The helicopters were shuttled to the highway via the MC-130J; from there they conducted the simulation. Another element of the exercise were a parachute jumps by airmen from the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron. The unit jumped from the MC-130J to secure the highway for all the incoming aircraft. But it wasnt just about landing aircraft on roads. It was about collaboration. It started around June. Someone told me I should land a C-130 on a highway and I laughed. ... Until I started thinking about it later that night, Waggy said in a Thursday interview. The exercise took almost a year to plan before its execution, and according to Waggy, Wyoming was a no-brainer. There was really no other place we wanted to look at that time a year ago. ... We had extraordinarily good results of how strong the roads are, he said. The military worked with over a dozen county, state and federal agencies and Gov. Gordon to make the exercise work. Im overwhelmed with the amount of support, Waggy said. Gordon even took part in one of the landings. The governor was aboard the MC-130J on Sunday when it touched down on Highway 789. He (Gordon) could have pulled the plug at anytime, Waggy said. But at the end of the day the mission was complete and 100% successful, Waggy said. Personnel from as far afield as Kentucky, Florida and Michigan took part in the exercise. Atlantic Aviation helped with parking and hanger space for the aircraft. Local military was also involved. Once the Warthogs pilots were finished with refueling, they dropped their bombs on the range at Camp Guernsey. The Wyoming Department of Transportation handled the road closures, along with removing signs and delineators to make room for the aircraft. And then there was the community. On April 29, the 1st Special Operations Wing spent time on the ground with the Young Eagles and Civil Air Patrol. Around 50 people attended the event at Casper/Natrona County International Airport. Kids got to spend time in and around some of the planes participating in the exercise. As tired as I was, seeing those kids as excited as they were, it rejuvenated my soul, Waggy said. PHOTOS: US military conducts Exercise Agile Chariot in Wyoming Gordon C-130 160th soar 123rd c-130 Col. Jocelyn Schermerhorn C-130 casper airport C-130 Gordon, Waggy Agile Chariot little bird helo Parachute jump 123rd Special Tactics Squadron arming and refueling Reaper drone Mark Gordon Agile Chariot C-103 parachute jump C-130 natrona airport C-130 jump A-10 warthog C-130 C-130 C-130 C-130 A-10 warthog 160th SOAR highway landing A-10 Thunderbolt landing MC-130J highway landing As a nurse, you find out early in your career that the greatest heartbreaks will come from those patients whose illness is so far along, that by the time they seek treatment, they cant be helped. I unfortunately see this all too often in the oncology ward. Our calling is to save lives, but we cant fulfill that mission when we arent able to see a patient until the cancer has progressed to the point where any treatment, no matter how advanced, wont be able to save them. According to the American Cancer Society, 1,000 Wyoming citizens will die of cancer this year. Thats nearly one in 600 Wyomingites. A major factor for this high number is because the people in our state dont get screened for cancer at the same rate as those elsewhere. Our mammogram use rate, for example, ranks 52nd in the country, behind all states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Were also 51st in colon cancer screening. The causality is undeniable. Fewer screenings mean higher mortality. There are reasons for this in states like ours. Many people living in rural counties must drive long distances to get to a facility that offers screening. That difficulty reduces the likelihood that someone will seek preventive health care. This problem could be compounded in the not-too-distant future given the report this year that a third of our rural hospitals are in danger of closing. Thats why we need to be prepared to take full advantage of a new medical technology that has the potential to be a game changer in the field of cancer care. This includes blood tests that can detect many different types of cancer. The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating these innovations that can tell health care professionals with just a draw of blood not only whether a patient has a signal for cancer but where in the body it may be located. These breakthrough technologies provide two significant advantages over the status quo. First, it radically changes the way we detect cancers. Today, we only have recommended screenings for five types of cancer breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate. But seven of every 10 cancer deaths are from types of cancer for which we dont have screening capabilities. These blood tests allow doctors to search for many of the previously unscreened cancers all at once. In addition, Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) tests can address many of the problems we have with preventive care in a rural state like Wyoming. Most notably, it can be administered in practically any doctors office, mobile health care van or community health center. To make these technologies accessible to patients, especially to those who are at the highest risk, it is vital that Medicare be able to provide coverage for these tests as soon as theyre approved by the FDA. This is going to require an act of Congress. Current Medicare law does not provide a timely pathway for coverage of new preventive care tools, and MCED tests are expected to be tied up in the federal bureaucracy for years unless Congress acts. Our U.S. Senators, John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both sponsored the Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act in the last Congress. Their leadership on this is important for future cancer patients and improving rural health and we look forward to their continued support and leadership on this issue. It's a tragic fact that too many people in our state are dying of cancer when they could have been saved with early screening, detection and treatment. As a nurse, I see this every day, and am tired of having to witness a situation where the cancer has been allowed to gain the upper hand. If an asset is placed in our hands that can help us beat this terrible disease, we need to be ready to use it. Regardless of who serves as president of the Wyoming Senate, it is a position of service, not a kingship. Recent actions taken by the Wyoming Senate president have led me to address this issue because I voted for him. In an unprecedented manipulation of legislative power, the Wyoming Senate president took it upon himself to notify a committee chairman that he had been removed from his position and subsequently replaced him with another. This action is specifically prohibited by Senate rule 2-8 which states Changes in Committee Membership. No change shall be made in any committee except by vote of a majority of the members of the Senate. The president of the Senate may appoint a member to fill any vacancy occurring on any Senate Standing Committee during the interim providing the appointment is made with the advice of the respective majority or minority leader, dependent upon the party in which the vacancy has occurred. The Wyoming Senate ratified both the committee membership and the committee chairmen through formal action on the floor of the Wyoming Senate on January 10, 2023, as reflected in the Senate journal. The presidents reason for taking this authoritarian action? The chairman attended a meeting virtually (as allowed by Senate rules) and not in person. How did the president inform the current chairman of this action? With a voicemail. As with any elected leadership office, the president serves at the pleasure of the Senate as a whole. He is elected to carry out the orderly business of the Senate and bound by Senate rules and the formal actions of its members. The Senate president is not granted authority to make arbitrary decisions, his position is one of service and facilitation of the business of the body, not a dictatorship. The Senate has set a high bar regarding decorum, collegiality and process. We must refuse to stand by and watch as these long-standing tenants are dismantled. We must publicly object to this action on the basis that the Senate ratified both the committee members and the chairman through a formal process on the floor of the Wyoming Senate and enforce the provisions of Senate rule 2-8. Otherwise, who will the president come after next? Who knows. Even so, we must not allow the voice of one to prevail over the voice of the people who speak through their elected Senators. We must preserve the process, culture and the institution of the Wyoming Legislature for our constituents, future generations of Wyoming citizens and future legislators. It is a misuse of office to singlehandedly move duly elected, Senate confirmed committee members like pawns on a chess board. The State of Wyoming and in particular the Senate must reject this power grab and decry any leader who would use the citizens elected office to build his own kingdom. We must demand more from our elected leaders. Rep. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, is a chairwoman on the Senate Agriculture, State & Public Lands & Water Resources and Select Water Committee. IT was highly unethical for President Christine Kangaloo to be the one conferring her husban Over the next three months, 100 employees of childrens homes and community residences acros JOINT OPERATION: National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, third from left, joins Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher, Chief Fire Officer Arnold Bristow, from left, Acting Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier Dexter Francis and Commissioner of Prisons Deopersad Ramoutar during a walkabout at the Queens Park Savannah yesterday. Photo: ROBERT TAYLOR LONDON (AP) The coronation of King Charles III involves one of the most important and complex security operations in U.K. history, Britains security minister said Wednesday, as rights groups accused the authorities of stifling civil liberties in their attempt to ensure events run smoothly. Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said the coronation involves one of the most important security operations that the country has put into plan," with scores of foreign royals, dignitaries and heads of state expected to attend Saturday's Westminster Abbey service. This is an enormously important moment for the country, Tugendhat told Times Radio. The police are, to put it mildly, all over it, and our intelligence and other security forces are extremely aware of the challenges that we face and ready to deal with them as the police did quite brilliantly yesterday. As thousands of police began to be deployed across London, officers arrested a man and blew up a suspicious bag outside Buckingham Palace. London's Metropolitan Police force said the man approached the palace gates on Tuesday night and asked to speak to a soldier. When he was refused, he began to throw shotgun cartridges into the palace grounds, the force said. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said the man was searched and a lock knife was found. He was arrested on suspicion of possession of a knife and ammunition. Video footage showed officers walking a man backward away from the palace gates. Adelekan said the man's knapsack was blown up in a controlled explosion after the suspect told officers to handle it with care. Police said the run-in was not being treated as terrorism-related. No shots were fired, and no one was injured. Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, were not at Buckingham Palace at the time. Buckingham Palace has seen a flurry of activity as tourists and international media begin to descend for the coronation the first to take place in the country since Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953. More than 9,000 police officers are expected to patrol London on coronation day, along with 2,500 law specialist members of law enforcement, including marine police, explosives experts and surveillance officers. The Metropolitan Police also said it would use facial recognition technology in central London to spot wanted criminals among the crowds a move the privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch called Orwellian. British police have previously conducted limited trials of facial recognition, sparking debate about its intrusiveness and its accuracy. The hundreds of thousands of innocent people attending this historic event must not be treated like suspects in a lineup and subjected to biometric police identity checks, said Madeleine Stone, legal and policy officer for Big Brother Watch. Tugendhat said the presence of so many foreign dignitaries and potentially myriad protesters made maintaining security for the coronation a very complex policing operation, a very complex intelligence operation. Hundreds of anti-monarchist protesters plan to chant Not my king during the procession, and police say environmental activists could also try to disrupt the day's events. Authorities sent mixed signals to coronation dissenters. Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks spokesman said that the right to protest is fundamental," but the police force said its tolerance for any disruption, whether through protest or otherwise, will be low. Activists accused authorities of trying to intimidate protesters with a government letter reminding them of new police powers to curb disruptive demonstrations. New measures in the Public Order Act, introduced in response to civil disobedience by environmental groups, allow police to search demonstrators for items including locks and glue and imposes penalties of up to 12 months in prison for protesters who block roads or interfere with national infrastructure. Graham Smith of anti-monarchist group Republic described the letter as intimidatory. He said the group would protest as planned on coronation day. U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona was inducted Saturday into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. He and the other retired NASA astronaut inducted in Saturdays class, Roy Bridges, join 105 astronauts already honored in the hall. To have played a small part in the worlds greatest space program was a privilege, and to have been selected for this recognition is a true honor, Kelly said. I cant help but to reflect on the journey here, from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, to flying in the Navy in Operation Desert Storm, to becoming a test pilot, and eventually getting that call that Id been selected as an astronaut. Im so grateful to have been born in a country where the son of two police officers, who watched the Apollo missions from his living room floor, can go on to achieve his dreams of flying to space in service of their country. Kelly was selected as an astronaut in 1996 in the same NASA class as his identical twin brother, Scott. Mark Kelly made four trips into space, including commanding space shuttle Endeavour on its final flight. In total he spent more than 50 days in space, traveling over 20 million miles, NASA said in a news release. A retired Navy captain, Kelly was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Tucson Democrat to fill a vacancy in 2020 and was reelected in 2022 to a full term. Bridges, a retired Air Force major general, was selected as an astronaut in 1980. In July 1985, he piloted the space shuttle Challenger for the eight-day Spacelab 2 mission. He went on to serve as center director of NASAs Kennedy Space Center from 1997 to 2003, and as center director between 2003 and 2005 of NASAs Langley Research Center. From the moment that I heard about the launch of Sputnik while I was in high school, my dream career was to be involved in opening the space frontier. My dream came true, Bridges said. Cybercriminals made off with confidential data about Tucson Unified School District employees and students and put it on the dark web for public access, Bloomberg News reports. After the ransomware attack in late January, TUSD officials said for weeks that there was no proof sensitive data was stolen. But Bloomberg News found that cybercriminals made off with gigabytes of files, containing tens of thousands of current and former employees Social Security numbers and other confidential records. They then uploaded the information in February to the dark web for anyone to access with an easily downloadable browser, Bloomberg reporter Jack Gillum found. Examples of the leaked files include a high schoolers medical records; another detailed arguments for expelling several students, the report said. Bloomberg found more than 16,000 numbers and birth dates tied to current and former employees on the dark web. Another leaked document included confidential records concerning a high school students diabetes diagnosis and instructions for their insulin injections, the Bloomberg report said, adding that the students parents did not respond to inquiries seeking comment. TUSD data is still available on the dark web for downloading, Gillum confirmed to the Arizona Daily Star on Friday, May 5. There are documents showing a confidential settlement agreement with Joann Anderson, a former employee who had previously sued Tucson Unified School District in federal court, alleging discrimination, Bloombergs article said. It quoted Anderson as saying a school district lawyer had recently told her there was no evidence of a data breach and that nothing was taken. District Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo was on personal leave and unavailable to comment, TUSD communications director Leslie Lenhart said. When asked by the Star about Bloombergs findings, Lenhart provided an email Trujillo sent to staff and families on April 25, a week after the Bloomberg report, updating them on the situation. Trujillo confirmed in the email that a large amount of sensitive and confidential employee data was accessed and taken. Our cyber-security forensic experts are working to confirm, on a person by person, employee by employee basis, the validity of any personal and confidential information that has been posted or published online, particularly social security numbers, birth dates or any other personal health or financial information, Trujillo wrote. This requires the team to review tens of thousands of documents and files at a time as well as to determine if each file can be linked to a current or former TUSD employee, parent or student. This work, which is part of our ongoing investigation is time consuming and has not yet been completed. For this reason, we have made no further statements about the validity of any district information that may have been posted on the dark web. Trujillo encourages employees and families to remain vigilant and monitor all banking information, accounts and credit-related information, the email said. If the investigation determines that confidential information was compromised, those affected will receive individual communications on behalf of TUSD. The district will also work with the Arizona Risk Retention Trust to determine the support and services that will be available if the investigation reveals Social Security numbers were breached, the email said. Ravi Shah, president of the TUSD Governing Board, declined to comment to the Star on the Bloomberg findings and referred questions to district officials. Lenhart said TUSD didnt engage with the attackers or pay a ransom. A ransomware group called Royal, active internationally, was responsible for the cyberterrorism attack, Trujillo previously confirmed. Trujillo told the district governing board in February he was asking the community for patience because, out of an abundance of caution ... we are very limited in what we can say about specific security steps and other details. Officials have high confidence two critical district systems, for finance/human resources and student information, are secure, the board was told then by Rabih Hamadeh, TUSDs executive director of technology services. Hamadeh said TUSD did a massive password change for all teachers, students and staff after the attack, and would conduct training for all about new security measures. As Pima County readies to receive what could be thousands of asylum seekers when Title 42 ends May 11, its preparing resources with the key goal of avoiding releasing incoming migrants on the streets. The county is working with federal partners, but May 11 is a day that is fairly frightening for some of us, nonetheless, County Administrator Jan Lesher told the Board of Supervisors at its meeting Tuesday during a discussion of the end of Title 42. Title 42 was enacted at the beginning of the pandemic and allows the federal government to immediately expel some migrants from the country. The policy is set to end on May 11 when the COVID-19 public health emergency will expire. The average daily number of migrants entering Pima County ranged from 224 to 770 throughout 2022, but Border Patrol estimates place the number between 1,200 to 1,500 people per day when Title 42 ends. The philosophy thats driving everything were doing now is that were saying there will not be street releases in this community. And if we say that, then that means were going to provide certain kinds of services, Lesher said. That means increasing trips from places like the Nogales Port of Entry and Border Patrol processing center on east Los Reales Road to the Casa Alitas Welcome Center run by Catholic Community Services that provides short-term shelter to migrants. The county also coordinates transportation from the welcome center to migrant shelter services in Phoenix. Asylum seekers typically stay at shelters in Tucson for a few days, enough time to arrange transportation to other cities where they can live with relatives and friends while their asylum claims are processed. Shane Clark, director of Pima Countys Office of Emergency Management, has been working closely with federal and state officials to coordinate the countys response to Title 42 ending. According to his latest weekly report, 2,556 asylum seekers were released from Border Patrol custody in Pima County from April 20 to 26th, which averaged 365 people a day. Those numbers included 1,127 single adults and 508 families. Even while Title 42 has been in place, the county has come dangerously close to street releases but managed to find shelter for asylum seekers in hotel rooms. Regardless, Lesher said the county is prepared for May 11. To prepare for Title 42s end, the county leased a new location on Tucsons south side on West Drexel Road near Interstate 19 to house migrants in partnership with Catholic Community Services that will have capacity for about 400 people. In addition to the Casa Alitas Welcome Center and Drexel sites, the county is using three hotels to house migrants as needed. Looking at the Drexel facility as an example the reality is, there may be 150 or 300 cots, it will hold however many its going to need to hold at some point, if thats people sleeping on the floors or something. That is certainly not our hope, Lesher told the board on Tuesday. A uniquely federal program But as the county prepares for an increase in people coming across the border in coming weeks, the situation has unleashed concerns from county officials and the Board of Supervisors about the paradoxical issue of a local government taking on federal tasks. Pima County is fully aware that comprehensive immigration reform has been elusive, Deputy County Administrator Francisco Garcia testified at a U.S. Senate committee hearing on April 26. But Pima County doesnt want to be, nor should it be, in the business of sheltering and caring for people seeking asylum in the United States. That should be a function of the federal government. Pima County has provided care to asylum seekers since 2019 when Catholic Community Services asked for help setting up temporary shelter, Garcia said. At the time, the county thought its involvement would last just for a month or two. Instead, Garcia testified, the countys procurement and fleet services staff are still spending significant time securing contracts for asylum care and arranging transportation services instead of focusing on county-specific programs. The federal funding mechanism for the county to provide migrant services has also been a hindrance, Garcia said. Since the summer of 2019, Pima County has spent more than $23 million on migrant services using funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agencys Emergency Food and Shelter Program. However, the funding strategy doesnt allow the county to plan more than three months at a time. Lesher said the county knows it has federal funding to care for asylum seekers through June, and has assurances that we will get the money from the federal government, but its not sitting in our checking account. This is a uniquely federal program, and in effect, were doing some of the work of the federal government, she said. That can continue as long as the federal government continues to pay for it. The county has passed through most of the federal funding to Catholic Community Services to provide aid and shelter and subcontracted with the city of Tucson to provide staffing and hotel capacity to receive asylum seekers. Supervisor Steve Christy blamed the countys willingness to aid asylum seekers as part of the reason its in its current position. We were a welcoming center because we were welcoming the federal money, he said. Now, for many of us who have been sounding the clarion call for a number of years now that this is a problem, now I have to say I do feel a sense of vindication and relief that the Pima County administration is finally coming forth and admitting that we have a crisis. Supervisor Adelita Grijalva said it was in the countys best interest to intervene in 2019, pointing to when Border Patrol released migrants in Ajo without warning local governments and nonprofits. I think we were just trying to make the most of a situation that we had in order to ensure the safety of all of our community, she said. Federal intervention Garcia told the board that a return to stricter processing conditions under the transition to Title 8 immigration laws could be positive for the countys ability to manage the end of Title 42. The rules impose a five-year ban on reentry if migrants dont enter the U.S. legally through a port of entry. Migrants in central and northern Mexico are asked to use a mobile application, CBPOne, to schedule an appointment to apply for asylum. The Department of Homeland Security is also opening regional processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala to facilitate safe, orderly, humane, and lawful pathways from the Americas, according to a fact sheet from the department. From a policy perspective, trying to assist asylum seekers as close to where they are I think is really key in being successful in delivering what is reasonable asylum policy, Garcia said. The Biden administration has confirmed it will deploy 1,500 active-duty troops to the southwest border to aid Border Patrol in processing a higher number of migrants entering the country. Tucson hospitals and county health officials werent immediately notified about a nitric acid spill on Interstate 10 in February, among communication missteps in a mostly strong and effective emergency response, says a new report. The after-action report by the Pima County Emergency Management Office, released to the public on Friday, assessed strengths and weaknesses in agencies response to the hazardous material spill. On Feb. 14, truck driver Ricky Immel, 54, was driving near Kolb Road on I-10 when he slowly veered off the road and onto the median, where the uneven ground caused the truck to roll onto its left side. Containers carrying about 18,200 kilograms of nitric acid ruptured in the crash, causing the Arizona Department of Public Safety to shut down both directions of the interstate and tell residents and other people in the area to shelter in place. Immel died in the crash. He had a blood alcohol level nearly eight times above the states legal limit, the county medical examiner found. With the help of the Tucson Fire Department and DPS, the county Emergency Management Office conducted a survey and held two debriefing sessions to discuss what went well and what could have gone better. The first session was for first responders, and the second session included community stakeholders and support agencies, the report said. No incident response is ever perfect. Lessons are learned and reinforced, the Emergency Management Office said in the report. At a recent Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Steve Christy asked that the report be made public and available to the board. The report states that several agencies from various disciplines worked well together throughout the incident. Many survey participants also listed teamwork and cooperation as strengths. The immediate response and swift actions by various agencies were also highlighted. A commuting Border Patrol agent was first at the scene and was able to take the initial steps in closing I-10 before a full closure of the interstate was ordered 15 minutes later, the report said. Also, within 15 minutes of the initial 911 call, the substance that spilled was identified as nitric acid, and the National Weather Service was able to provide plume modeling for the first responders at the scene. The WebEOC, a crisis information management system accessible via the Internet where responders across the state can share incident updates, was found to be a valuable source for sharing information. Using the system, updates were provided throughout the incident. Websites made by various agencies were also praised for keeping the public informed. DPS created a website dedicated to providing updates on the crash and shelter-in-place notifications, while the Pima County Health Department worked with the Arizona Poison Control Center to create a website in response to the publics concerns about exposure to the acid. When it comes to opportunities for improvement, communication was brought up several times. While the three transportation departments, the Arizona Department of Transportation, Pima County Department of Transportation and Tucson Department of Transportation, assembled traffic plans to deal with the I-10 closure, the departments did not share information with each other. This created community stress as there was no unified detour designated, the report said. The incident command post was not clearly identified or known to all response partners, causing multiple responders to have trouble finding the DPS incident commander on-scene, the report said. One survey response said eight Marana Police Department officers were sent to the scene and could not locate the incident command post. Radio communication between responders was another issue found. While local public safety and public service organizations can easily communicate with each other using the Pima County Wireless Integration Network, other partners who do not use it have limited access, hindering radio operability with DPS, the report said. Communication was hampered as interaction between the lead public information officer and other PIOs was very limited, the report said. This led several survey takers to recommend activating a joint information system to help create unified messaging during emergencies such as the nitric acid spill. That would help alleviate discrepancies in messaging and help provide clear information to media and public outlets, the report said. Lastly, many responding agencies were not well informed about the incident, the report said. Initial notification about the incident was not made by DPS to the Pima County Emergency Management Office. A recommendation has since been made that DPS notify that office of incidents affecting the community, the report said. Other support agencies, including the Pima County Health Department, local hospitals and the Pima County Department of Transportation, were also not immediately notified of the incident, leaving many with limited information or a lack of messaging, the report said. The health department was not notified until the next day. Exposure to nitric acid can cause irritation to the eyes, skin, and mucous membrane; it can also cause delayed pulmonary edema, pneumonitis, bronchitis, and dental erosion, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says. Agencies and departments appropriately review and revise their internal policies and procedures, leading to more comprehensive preparedness for the next emergency, the Emergency Management Office said in the report. It is already being witnessed that lessons learned are being shared among partners, collaboration and coordination enhances community preparedness. Relationships and networking are being reinforced. A new $1 billion contract for Javelin anti-tank missiles used to great effect by Ukraine against Russian tanks will keep Raytheons Tucson missile factory busy for years. A joint venture of Tucson-based Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Lockheed Martin was awarded a four-year, $1.02 billion contract by the U.S. Army to produce Javelin anti-tank missile systems and related equipment, as part of a deal potentially worth up to $7.2 billion, the Army says. The Pentagon did not say how many missiles are to be produced under the contract. Javelins cost about $200,000 and their launch units cost about $250,000 each, budget documents show. The U.S. and its allies have sent some 7,000 Javelins to Ukraine to help fend off the Russian invasion since 2022, and the Pentagon has been ordering thousands to replenish U.S. stocks. Last year, the Tucson-based Javelin Joint Venture was awarded Army contracts worth more than $300 million to produce Javelin missiles and launchers. Much of the Javelin work is performed in Tucson, where Raytheon is the biggest private employer with about 13,000 workers. Lockheed performs its Javelin work in Orlando, Florida. Army Assistant Secretary Doug Bush said the Army and its industry partners are striving to shorten the production lead time for production and delivery of Javelin systems. This contract award further illustrates the urgency the U.S. government is applying to the acquisition of systems and replenishing munitions stockpiles, Bush said in a statement announcing the latest contract. First fielded in 1996, the FGM-148 Javelin is a fire-and-forget missile that locks on targets before launch and guides itself to target with an imaging infrared seeker, allowing operators to quickly move off after launching to avoid counterstrikes. It is man-portable and also can be mounted on a variety of combat vehicles. Equipped with an imaging infrared seeker and tandem warhead, the missile can be configured in a top-attack flight arc to hit armored vehicles where they are most vulnerable, and it can also be used in a direct-line mode against buildings, fortifications and helicopters. The Army plans to buy 541 Javelin missiles in fiscal year 2024 and more than 800 in fiscal 2025, then more than 500 annually through 2028, according to Pentagon budget documents. The Marine Corps also fields Javelins, as well as the United Kingdom and more than 20 other allied nations. Ukraine has used Javelins to destroy hundreds of enemy tanks and vehicles since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and its success led to a popular meme of St. Javelin fashioned after a religious icon. Besides the Javelin, Raytheon produces several weapon systems that have been provided to Ukraine in its struggle against Russian, including Stinger portable air-defense missiles, TOW (Tube-Launched, Optically-tracked Wire-guided) anti-tank missiles and the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, which Raytheon makes with Norwegian partner Kongsberg Defence. Major leadership changes at the University of Arizona offer a ray of reassurance to the campus community after a school year spent grappling with safety concerns following a deadly shooting, a faculty leader and others say. On Monday, UA President Robert C. Robbins announced that Liesl Folks, the provost, will step down and that Paula Balafas is out immediately as chief of the UA Police Department. The university is launching a national search for their permanent replacements. The resignations come after months of criticism directed at the UA administration for its handling of threats lodged by a former student against hydrology professor Tom Meixner. The ex-student, Murad Dervish, is charged with first-degree murder in Meixners shooting death on campus in October. Mondays resignation announcements were hard-fought and expected, said Katharine Zeiders, a UA faculty senator and associate professor of family and consumer sciences. This was an organized move. We had many staff, students and faculty behind the scenes advocating and working on this, Zeiders told the Arizona Daily Star on Wednesday. Weve been organizing and advocating since 2020, and weve been focused on worker protection and fair wages, said Zeiders, who is also an organizing member of the United Campus Workers of Arizona. But then, after Toms death, we felt like enough was enough and we started organizing around accountability of administrators. Last resort After Meixners death, news reports and later two separate investigations, one compiled by faculty and one by outside consulting firm PAX, LLC, publicly revealed that Dervish had sent threatening communications to Meixner and numerous others in the hydrology department for close to a year. Dervish was expelled and barred from campus in February 2022 but that did not stop his communication with Meixner and others, all of whom made numerous attempts to get help from various units on campus, including through the dean of students, Office of General Counsel and the UA Police Department. But, according to the PAX report, because the UA was not running an effective Threat Assessment Management Team, it placed an undue burden on administrative functions, and led to a decentralized and fractured approach to campus safety. The report also cited UAPDs multiple missed opportunities to engage, disrupt or arrest Dervish, who had an extensive violent criminal history, prior to Meixners death. It said the police department lacked effective communication with Pima County law enforcement in illustrating a more complete picture of the seriousness of the threat and provided more substantial reasons for arrest of Dervish. The Pima County Attorneys Office had declined to charge Dervish with misdemeanor threats and intimidation earlier in 2022 based on evidence in a report UAPD submitted about some of his behavior. Once the PAX report was made available to the public in March, Robbins made multiple statements acknowledging that university leaders made mistakes and vowing to make meaningful change and rebuild trust with students, faculty and staff. However, the same day in March, the UA Faculty Senate passed a non-binding vote of no confidence in Robbins and his administrations ability to investigate and manage campus safety. At that time, senators told the Star they hoped Robbins would interpret the votes as a wake-up-call, not a call for his resignation. Organizing around the removal of administrators was our last resort, said Zeiders, who added that she and other faculty members felt unheard by administrators in the aftermath of the Oct. 5 slaying. But over the past month, Robbins has met with numerous faculty members and students to address campus safety reform, and Zeiders said the administrative changes announced Monday give the impression he is taking these conversations seriously. Part of a larger change? We hope this is part of a larger change, Zeiders said, emphasizing higher wages, worker treatment and safety. We want to keep leaders accountable. This is our university, which we love. We want to see these systemic changes at our university. For Kathy Varin, who is the senior business manager in the hydrology department, the resignation of the police chief brings her some comfort as she prepares to return to work on campus next fall. Im glad shes gone. She should have been gone the next day, Varin told the Star. Somebody was not passing these threats up to the police chief. The police chief should have known about that guy. Varin was just around the corner the day of the shooting when she heard gunshots and rushed to Meixners side until police arrived. As soon as I heard gunshots, I knew it was (Dervish), Varin told the Star. I knew he had been making threats, I just didnt know the extent. Varin, whos worked for the UA for 20 years, said the hydrology department had even considered installing a panic button in the building in case Dervish came. But it was expensive and the department would have to pay for it, so it never materialized. We were sitting ducks. I kept thinking, What am I going to do if he comes into the office? How am I going to survive? But when Varin returns to campus next fall, there will be panic buttons in numerous buildings on campus in addition to required background checks for all graduate students. UA is carrying out these and other changes including installing more locks and keyless entries, launching a mobile crisis team, setting up a new safety website and streamlining oversight of offices that deal with safety issues. These are steps in the right direction in the eyes of Varin, who has already seen the worst case scenario of ineffective campus safety protocols. Id like to see more police presence on campus. Maybe theres other students thinking of doing this sort of thing. They need a deterrent, Varin said. If you can keep a Murad Dervish out of your department, believe me, you want to. At the same time, some students say theyre fearful of the kind of climate an increased police presence could create. Nousha Aldhefery, a junior and student activist, said she doesnt want to see any more police officers get hired to serve UAPD now that Balafas is out. Weve never felt safe around police, especially after the death of Professor Meixner, she said at a rally in front of Old Main Thursday where dozens of students called for the additional resignation of Dean of Students Kendal Washington White. In a petition calling for White to resign, activists claim she is unwilling to be part of a process of rebuilding trust with those she is charged to serve, and that to the contrary she contributes to an ongoing culture of fear and retaliation. White and other UA officials have not responded to the Stars requests for comment on the petition. Instead of hiring more police, wed like the administration to work with us to see what would make us feel safe, Aldhefery said. As for Folks stepping down as provost or chief academic officer to establish a UA semiconducting manufacturing center, Aldhefery said: Its good, but its not a solution. If we settle for this, theyll make us settle for everything else. Rebuilding trust Steve Patterson, who is now heading the Threat Assessment and Management Team and started his job as chief interim safety officer on Monday, would not comment to the Star about Balafas resignation. But, he did say that striking a balance between safety and trust is one of his top priorities in launching the new Office of Public Safety. He said hell be working with the newly established Campus Safety Advisory Commission to discuss questions like, How do we engage with the campus community and make sure people feel comfortable reporting to the university or UAPD. He added that campus safety has a broad scope. Its not just for making our campus safe against violence, Patterson said. For example, its about making sure were fire-safe and have enough defibrillators in appropriate locations. Patterson will also have a new police chief and provost to work with to implement that plan, but at a news conference Friday, Robbins said it could be months before the UA permanently fills either of those roles. Organizational change is sometimes a good thing to rebuild trust, said Robbins, who acknowledged that many many mistakes were made during the last school year and that the new provost and police chief will need a safety-first mindset. There are many opportunities for improvement for making our campus safer, he said, but theres a lot of work to do and no one person can do that. Rep. Julie Willoughby (center) poses with Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick (left) and House Speaker Ben Toma (right) after being sworn in on May 5, 2023, as a House staffer takes a photo. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror Just hours after the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors selected her to fill a legislative vacancy in a Chandler-based district, Julie Willoughby took the oath of office and became a state representative. Willoughby, a Republican, replaces former GOP Rep. Liz Harris, who was expelled on April 12 for inviting a woman who made unfounded criminal allegations against lawmakers at a February hearing, then lying about it to the Arizona House of Representatives Ethics Committee. Willoughby, who ran as a team with Harris in 2022, distanced herself from the former lawmaker during her swearing in ceremony Friday in the House chambers. The biggest issue I have with the 2020 election is that it is 2023 and we are still talking about it, Willoughby said when asked by reporters if she believed the election fraud lies pushed by her former running mate. When asked directly if she is an election denier, Willoughby answered, No, sir, I am not. I really would like to move forward and, if there is fraud, if there is issues, lets look at them. Lets tackle them together in a real way where we can make a difference and we can move forward, Willoughby said. If we keep looking in the rear view mirror, we are never going to find the way that we need to be, so I really want to focus on that. Willoughby is the chief nursing officer for Exceptional Community Hospital-Maricopa. She also ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for the legislature. The swearing in came after a short special meeting of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Friday morning in which the Board approved Willoughby on a 4-1 vote, with Democratic member Steve Gallardo casting the sole vote against Willoughby. These are never easy decisions, they are not, Gallardo said. Gallardo said he spoke to a couple of the candidates and made it clear that they likely didnt agree on all issues, but one issue was tantamount to him elections. For Gallardo, approving any candidate that was not willing to say that the 2020 election in Maricopa was safe and secure was a non-starter. Willoughbys campaign website includes voter integrity in her issues section, and states that being able to ensure our elections are not being tampered with or manipulated is of the utmost importance. There is no evidence that the 2020 or 2022 elections were tampered with or manipulated in any way. Upon Gallardo mentioning his objections, one of the handful of Harris supporters in the crowd heckled him and the rest of the board. The small contingency of Harris supporters also argued with Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone prior to the meeting starting, making claims that he was not upholding the constitution. Harris supporters have been showing up at board meetings since her expulsion, often making dubious claims of election fraud or throwing verbal barbs at those in attendance. An increased presence of Maricopa County Sheriffs deputies was at the special meeting, though only four Harris supporters showed up. None of the three nominees to fill the vacancy Harris, Willoughby and Steven Steele showed up at the meeting. Other members of the board were more accepting of the appointment, thanking all the nominees for their patience and participation in the process. District 1 Supervisor Jack Sellers, whose district encompasses Legislative District 13, conducted the interviews, said that his discussions with the candidates addressed issues like homelessness, water, elections and Proposition 400. Sellers called the conversations polite and cordial, but added that Harris reaffirmed that she believes her removal was unlawful. The Arizona Constitution allows the legislature to expel members with a two-thirds supermajority. There you go, violating the constitution! You guys are good at it! one of the Harris supporters shouted at the conclusion of the meeting, followed by yells of treason. The scene at the swearing in was much more cordial as Willoughby, surrounded by family and friends, was sworn in by Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick. I know we are going to hit the ground running, Willoughby said in a short speech after her swearing in, flanked by her husband and kids. The legislature has already been in session for 115 days and Republican and Democratic lawmakers are currently working on negotiating a budget with Gov. Katie Hobbs as the deadline looms for a possible government shutdown, something that was tacitly noted by House Speaker Ben Toma. Yes, we have a lot of work to do in a very short period of time, Toma said. Youre going to (see) what it really means to drink from a firehose very soon here. The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer: As an Asian-Pacific American, Im filled with pride to support Julie Su as Secretary of Labor. Julie Su is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Her mother came to the United States on a cargo ship because she couldnt afford a passenger ticket, her parents later built a small laundromat business and raised a daughter who became a workers advocate and civil rights leader. Sus unwavering dedication to confronting corporate greed and championing workers rights is genuinely inspiring. Her track record speaks volumes about her commitment to creating a more inclusive economy and fighting for the millions of working families around the country; exactly the type of leader we need managing our Department of Labor. The numbers speak for themselves: the labor market has been sluggish; wage growth stagnating for decades and income inequality an all-time high. This reality has been even more challenging for marginalized communities, including Asian-Pacific Americans, who face discrimination and barriers to advancement. A barrier to advancement many minorities face is wage theft. This includes the underpayment of wages, denials of benefits, and failure to pay overtime. In Arizona alone, an estimated $473 million in wages are stolen from workers each year, equivalent to 2.6% of the states total workforce or about 80,093 workers. This staggering amount of money should be going to hard-working individuals and their families to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. We are not keeping our promise that if you work hard enough you can achieve the American dream. Our systems are broken. However, with Su at the helm of the Department of Labor, there is hope for change. As former Labor Commissioner of California, she implemented groundbreaking policies to protect workers from wage theft, and her efforts resulted in over $50 million in stolen wages being recovered for workers. Julie is lawful and accountable to the people she represents. Su is endorsed by a range of business groups and labor leaders from the AFL-CIO and NABTU to LiUNA and the United Mineworkers. She has garnered all the right support and all the expected corporate opposition, who are more concerned for their profits rather than the people who keep our country running. Across the country, working people are contacting Senators to ensure Su is our next Secretary of Labor. It is time to stand with Julie Su and support her nomination as Secretary of Labor. Her experience and commitment to workers rights make her the best candidate to ensure that all workers, regardless of their job classification, receive the basic labor protections we are entitled to. We are urging our Senators to confirm her appointment and work towards creating a fair and just workplace for all. NEW YORK (AP) Chris Strachwitz, a producer, musicologist and one-man preservation society whose Arhoolie Records released thousands of songs by regional performers and comprised an extraordinary American archive that became known and loved worldwide, has died. He was 91. Strachwitz, recipient in 2016 of a Grammy Trustee Award, passed away Friday from complications with congestive heart failure at an assisted living facility in the San Francisco Bay Area's Marin County, the Arhoolie Foundation said Saturday. Admired by Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and many others, Strachwitz was an unlikely champion of the American vernacular a native German born into privilege who fell deeply for his adopted countrys music and was among the most intrepid field recorders to emerge after Alan Lomax. He founded Arhoolie in 1960 and over the following decades traveled to Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana among other states on a mission that rarely relented: taping little-known artists in their home environments, be it a dance hall, a front porch, a beer joint, a backyard. My stuff isn't produced. I just catch it as it is, he explained in the 2014 documentary "This Ain't No Mouse Music." The name Arhoolie, suggested by fellow musicologist Mack McCormick, is allegedly a regional expression for field holler. Ry Cooder would call him El Fanatico, the kind of true believer for whom just the rumor of a musician worth hearing would inspire him to get on a bus and ride hundreds of miles like the time he sought out bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins in Houston. Strachwitz amassed a vast catalog of blues, Tejano, folk, jazz, gospel and Zydeco, with Grammy winners Flaco Jimenez and Clifton Chenier among those who later attracted wider followings. An Arhoolie 50-year anniversary box set featured Maria Muldaur, Taj Mahal, Savoy Family Band and Cooder, who would cite the Arhoolie release Mississippis Big Joe Williams and His Nine-String Guitar as an early inspiration. It just jumped out of the speaker on this little school record player, Cooder told NPR in 2013, adding that he decided once and for all to become a musician. Im gonna do this, too. Im gonna get good on guitar, and Im gonna play it like that. Strachwitz despised most commercial music mouse music, he called it but he did have just enough success to keep Arhoolie going. In the mid-1960s, he recorded an album in his living room for no charge by Berkeley-based folk performer Joe McDonald, who in turn granted publishing rights to Arhoolie. By 1969, McDonald was leading Country Joe McDonald and the Fish and one song from the Arhoolie sessions, the anti-war anthem I-Feel-Like-Im-Fixin-to-Die Rag, was a highlight of the Woodstock festival and soundtrack. Arhoolie releases were cherished by blues fans in England, including Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Around the same time Strachwitz met with McDonald, he taped more than a dozen songs by bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell, including McDowell's version of an old spiritual, You Gotta Move. The Stones sang a few lines from it during the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter and recorded a cover that appeared on their acclaimed 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Strachwitz prevailed over the resistance of the bands lawyers and ensured that royalties were given to McDowell, who was dying of cancer. I was able to give Fred McDowell the biggest check hed ever seen in his life, Strachwitz later said. In 1993, Arhoolie was boosted again when country star Alan Jackson had a hit with Mercury Blues, a song co-written and first performed by K.C. Douglas for the label. Besides his Grammy, Strachwitz received a lifetime achievement award from the Blues Symposium and was inducted as a non-performing member of the Blues Hall of Fame. In 1995, Strachwitz established the Arhoolie Foundation to document, preserve, present and disseminate authentic traditional and regional vernacular music, with advisers including Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and Linda Ronstadt. In 2016, Strachwitz sold his majority interest in the record label to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, part of the national museum in Washington. The ripple effect of Chris Strachwitz in the world of is immeasurable in preserving this music, Raitt, a longtime friend, told the podcast The Kitchen Sisters Present in 2019. The son of wealthy farm owners, he was born Count Christian Alexander Maria Strachwitz in the German region of Silesia, now part of Poland. His family, displaced at the end of World War II, moved to the United States in 1947, eventually settling in Santa Barbara, California. Strachwitz had already been exposed to swing overseas through Armed Forces Radio and became a jazz fan after seeing the movie New Orleans, a 1947 musical featuring Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. He also felt a strong kinship with country and other forms of hillbilly music. I felt it all had this kind of earthiness to it that I didnt hear in any other kind of music. They sang about how lonesome you are, and how you miss your girlfriend and all this other thing, Strachwitz told NPR. Those songs really spoke to me. By his early 20s, he was taping local radio and live performances and he perfected his craft while attending the University of California at Berkeley. He served two years in the Army, completed his studies at Berkeley through the GI Bill and, starting in the late 1950s, taught high school for a few years in Los Gatos, California. Often short on money, Strachwitz sold pressings from his collection of old 78s to support his early recording efforts. Arhoolie's first release was Mance Lipscombs Texas Sharecropper and Songster, for which Strachwitz and friends personally assembled 250 copies. So much of pop music has all this slop added, with this mush background that I cant even call music, he said in a 2013 interview with the online publication waytooindie.com. You can hardly hear the voices! They bury the voices. If somebody wants to sing, sing god damn it! You know? In the old days, you could hear them sing. China strongly protests Canada's summoning of ambassador over 'interference' allegation Global Times) 09:01, May 06, 2023 China on Friday strongly protested the Canadian Foreign Ministry's threat of expulsion of Chinese diplomats based on hyping of rumors, and said it will take firm actions to defend its interests, as the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry lodged a stern representation to Canada's ambassador to China. The diplomatic row between China and Canada continued on Friday, with analysts criticizing Canada for losing rationality in its China policy. China-Canada relations, which have not fully recovered from the arrest of Huawei's Meng Wanzhou, should not be kidnapped and destroyed by certain Canadian politicians, observers said. "Should the Canadian side continue to make provocations, China will play along every step of the way until the very end," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, reiterating Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu's remarks in response to the latest developments in the dispute. On Thursday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced the summoning of the Chinese ambassador and threatened the expulsion of Chinese diplomatic and consular personnel after Canadian Conservative MP Michael Chong accused a Chinese diplomat of seeking to "intimidate" him and his family in Hong Kong over his criticisms of China. Certain Canadian politicians and media hyped the so-called intimidation, which is a baseless political stunt with ideological bias. Chinese diplomats in Canada have always abided by international conventions and fulfilled their duties in accordance with laws, said Mao, stressing that China will take necessary action to firmly defend its interests. China's sanctions against certain Canadian politicians in March 2021 were reciprocal countermeasures to Canada's sanctions on Chinese individuals and entities based on lies and disinformation about China's Xinjiang region. Mao said that Canada's provocation harmed China's interests, and China's countermeasures were legitimate and necessary. Canadian media Globe and Mail claimed in a report on May 1 that China's intelligence agency had planned to target Chong and his relatives with sanctions after Chong voted in February 2021 for a motion condemning China's policy in Xinjiang region as "genocide." Both the Chinese Consulate-General in Toronto and the Chinese Embassy refuted the baseless claims and groundless accusations on Thursday. Moreover, while meeting with a senior official of Global Affairs Canada on Thursday, Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu stressed that China's diplomatic and consular officials' normal performance must not be smeared, and China's sovereignty, security and development interests must not be violated. The Chinese ambassador also urged the Canadian side to immediately stop this self-directed political farce, and not go further down the wrong and dangerous path. Should the Canadian side continue to make provocations, China will play along every step of the way until the very end, he said. The current political stunt staged by some Canadian politicians and media is the latest in a series of mounting allegations of China meddling with Canada's elections to favor Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party, and the opposition parties are using the event to attack the Trudeau government, pushing him to take a tougher policy toward China, analysts said. The Conservative Party, as the main opposition party in Canada, has suffered a setback in the election and is hyping China-related issues to attack the Liberal Party. Some Canadian politicians are using baseless allegations to slander China and to estrange China from Canada, Huang Zhong, an expert on Canadian studies from the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, told the Global Times on Friday. Canadian opposition parties have pushed for months for a broad public inquiry into alleged interference from China into Canada's election. For example, in March, Kenny Chiu, a member of Canada's Conservative Party, claimed that "China's meddling" is the reason he lost his seat in the 2021 federal election, media reported. China has repeatedly refuted the interference allegations, but some Canadian politicians continued to hype the issue. Analysts noted that Canadian politicians are making China-related topics a core agenda for political struggle regardless of Canada's national interests, and the mounting anti-China sentiment has poisoned the atmosphere of bilateral exchanges. "Canada is gradually losing its basic attitude of calmness, objectivity, rationality and independence in its China policy," said Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University. Instead of reflecting on its deviated China policy, Canada summoned the Chinese ambassador, which will further consolidate the "China threat" narrative, Li told the Global Times. If some Canadians are determined to blindly follow the US in targeting China, China-Canada relations will be affected and so will Canada's international image, said Li, noting that China has warned Canada of serious consequences for expelling a Chinese diplomat. Huang also expressed concerns over the Trudeau government's future China policy. Unlike Australia, which has closely followed the US in recent years and fully cooperated with it through mechanisms such as AUKUS, Canada actually hopes to balance influence from the US. However, it is facing more pressure from opposition parties to take a tougher China policy due to domestic politics and pressure from the US, said Huang. Analysts also called for more rational voices from Canada to resist the current frenetic anti-China sentiment of some politicians, as sour relations bring no good to the two countries. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Oklahoma School Counselors Association President Christi Sturgeon could not even get the full sentence out Friday afternoon before being drowned out by loud cheers from Booker T. Washingtons seniors. We are excited today to announce that Ms. Jennifer S... was all Sturgeon could muster before the students erupted at the news that Jennifer Sack, a counselor at Booker T. Washington High School for the last 11 years, is the 2023-2024 Oklahoma School Counselor of the Year. Sturgeon, Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist and others surprised Sack at the schools Senior Awards Assembly with the news. She will go on to be considered for the National School Counselor of the Year award, which will be presented in February. Sack is the second faculty member at Booker T. Washington to receive statewide accolades this semester, as English teacher Traci Manuel was named Oklahoma Teacher of the Year in March. She did an excellent job of creating programs at TPS that advance students and advance the counseling profession, Sturgeon said. Thats basically what got her the award she stood out from the rest regarding what she does here at TPS. Along with successfully working with school administrators to have non-counseling duties such as test administration and coordination of individualized education plans moved out from under the counseling teams purview, Sack coordinated Booker T. Washingtons College Application Week in October, which saw a 22% increase in the number of seniors applying to college within a five-day window. Im really honored and thrilled, Sack said. We work really hard and its nice to have that recognized. When you sit down and quantify the amount of work you do in the course of a year, its staggering to look at it and go Wow, we did a lot of work this year. No wonder were tired. But it is worth it when you see the kids reap the rewards because of it. Sack was nominated and a panel of independent judges selected the winner from among six finalists. Others on the short list included Blaine Coffey from Fairview Public Schools, Amy Cozens from Mustang Public Schools, Sheri M. Ingham from Enid Public Schools, Ferrell Johns from Oklahoma City Public Schools and Tenille Mehl from Noble Public Schools. One of four school counselors at Booker T. Washington, Sack works with about 300 students in grades 10-12 to address their academic needs, college and career advising and social-emotional needs, such as connections to mental health resources and food pantries. As per the American School Counselor Association, the recommended ratio for school counselors is 250 students per adult. With Oklahomas average case load at 400 students per counselor, Sack said that while she and her colleagues are all in to help students, meeting the needs of so many of them simultaneously is a challenge. Our rosters are high, she said. I think were lucky here, as I know there are schools with higher rosters than here, but we make an intentional effort to have one-on-one time with our students. Where he ranks among his synagogue's finest bakers, Rabbi Marc Fitzerman won't hazard a guess. But after years of dedication to the craft, he knows there's still room to improve. "I love all of it, and I'm trying to master (the Jewish traditional favorites)," Fitzerman said. "I give myself an A-minus for deli rye bread. So far my rugelach are a solid B." For Fitzerman, who makes all the rye loaves for Congregation B'nai Emunah's Seventeenth Street Delicatessen, baking is about more than just mouthwatering food, though. One of countless hands-on activities Fitzerman has promoted among congregants, its chief value is as a symbol and connection to the past. "Jewish ideas about everything including God, family and celebration are inscribed in the baked goods of our community," he said. And as a gesture from his synagogue community to the larger Tulsa community, it's one more way Fitzerman believes in showing love and gratitude. One more way among many. This weekend, the Tulsa community is invited to join synagogue members in celebrating Fitzerman the longest tenured rabbi in their history ahead of his retirement. The FitzFest Sing-a-Long Concert and Supper is set for 4 p.m. Sunday at the synagogue. Organizers say the concert will highlight the ideas and passions that have animated Fitzerman's career. Afterward, everyone is invited to stay for the supper. Everything is free. Fitzerman, who is retiring after 38 years, has been rabbi at the congregation for almost a third of its history and leaves behind a remarkable legacy of service at the synagogue and in Tulsa. While it comes with a lot of emotions, he's comfortable with his decision, he said. "I'm grateful that no one seems to be hustling me offstage," he said. "But it's now time for other people to shine." One of those other people is his successor, Rabbi Dan Kaiman, who's been his co-rabbi for several years. "He is a superb congregational leader," Fitzerman said. "The synagogue is in very good hands." 'Patience on both sides' A native of Oak Park, Michigan, Fitzerman is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He served as a congregational rabbi in the Kansas City area before coming to Tulsa in 1985, where he succeeded longtime B'nai Emunah leader Rabbi Arthur Kahn. The seventh senior rabbi in synagogue history, Fitzerman found it a difficult fit at first. "I loved the synagogue from the start, but the synagogue may not always have loved me," said Fitzerman, who represented more progressive trends in the faith than some members were ready for at the time. "Eventually things worked out, but it took patience on both sides," he said. Gradually and with growing support, Fitzerman helped usher in various changes, ranging from the ritual life of the congregation where the role of women was increased and instrumental music added to the synagogue's expanded role in the larger Tulsa community. With the latter, he pushed for a stronger commitment to social justice efforts, as well as community and interfaith outreach through concerts, cultural events, broadcasts and other gatherings. Fitzerman also helped guide improvements to the synagogue campus, with everything, including the sanctuary, either rebuilt or remodeled. Celebrating Marc Fitzerman FitzFest Sing-a-Long Concert and Supper free event 4 p.m. Sunday Congregation B'nai Emunah, 1719 S. Owasso Ave. For more: Go to tulsagogue.com His nearly 40 years in the role is a long time, he said, and there have been occasions where he's been "tempted by opportunities in larger Jewish communities." But his love for Tulsa's Jewish community and the city itself only deepened with time, making the thought of leaving untenable. 'A new city' Coming in as an outsider originally has allowed Fitzerman to appreciate Tulsa in ways that city natives might miss. He said what's impressed him most is the city's "enormous capacity for renewal." "We came to Tulsa at the lowest point of the oil bust. Downtown seemed to close on the day we arrived," he recalled. "Today, this is a much better city than the one we came to. It's a lively center for ambitious people who are creating a new city from rich, raw materials." Tulsa, he added, also "rewards ambition and initiative. If you have a good idea, someone will come forward to support it." No better example of that, he said, is the "philanthropic powerhouse" that is Tulsa's Jewish community. "What the larger community knows is what I experience as a rabbi," he said. "If there is a compelling need, a social justice necessity, someone in our community will stand up to say yes." Needs that have found ready support, he said, range from public amenities, to mental health and education, to the safety and stability of the LGBTQ+ community. "I'm intensely proud to know these good people who put themselves and their resources to work in our city," he said. Fitzerman has left many marks on synagogue life that are sure to be carried on, including a variety of arts and crafts. They include everything from communal music and photography to typography and bookmaking. And, of course, the baking. Dozens of congregants have baked challah with him. He founded the Altamont Bakery, a partnership with Mental Health Association Oklahoma that over the years has employed dozens of homeless people and others battling mental illness, who bake side-by-side with synagogue volunteers. As he looks ahead, Fitzerman said he still has some fundraising and organization to do with the synagogue. Beyond that, he expects to use the additional time fruitfully. "I want to continue the work I've done, but try to be more overtly political. There's a lot of work left in racial reconciliation, reproductive justice and climate activism." "It all comes down to doing my part." Tulsa World Opinion podcast: Why Holocaust education is so important for all ages OKLAHOMA CITY Newly minted Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummonds handling of a high-profile death penalty case set off alarm bells in some prosecutors offices across the state. They believe a victims family was treated poorly and that he is neglecting his duty. Shortly after taking office, Drummond hired former district attorney and former Republican lawmaker Rex Duncan to review the case of Richard Glossip. Glossip was twice convicted and sentenced to die for the 1997 death of Barry Van Treese, who owned an Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. Justin Sneed, a motel handyman, testified that Glossip hired him to kill Van Treese, something Glossip denied. Sneed got a life without parole sentence for his testimony against Glossip. Glossip had been scheduled to be put to death on May 18 despite arguments he did not receive a fair trial, but a U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday blocked Glossips execution. Duncans 19-page report noted numerous trial and appellate defects in Glossips case. He recommended a new trial. Duncan was paid under a $120,000 contract, of which $30,000 was for the report, according to a Drummond spokeswoman. Duncan is on retainer for a year with Drummonds office to handle events including when a local prosecutor recuses from a case. Duncan is a Drummond childhood friend and $4,400 donor to his campaigns. For decades, staff at the Oklahoma Attorney Generals office have represented victims at clemency hearings, arguing for the death penalty to be carried out. But in a highly unusual move, Drummond personally appeared at the April 26 clemency hearing and advocated for a clemency recommendation, which failed on a 2-to-2 vote after one member recused. Based on the complete record including the new evidence that the jury did not hear, it would represent a grave injustice to execute a man whose trial conviction was impugned by a litany of errors, that when taken in total would have created reasonable doubt, Drummond wrote. Drummond ceded his remaining time to an out-of-state anti-death penalty firm, Reed Smith, that did a report at the request of lawmakers that attempted to tear apart the conviction. Dozens of lawmakers have advocated on Glossips behalf. The 343-page report was released in June 2022. The firms website said it is attempting to shed light on issues about the death penalty in the state of Oklahoma and the country as a whole. Prosecutors say Drummonds ceding of his remaining time to the firms attorneys left the family in the untenable situation of not having an attorney pick apart the defenses case. His (Drummonds) statement at the Pardon and Parole Board meeting didnt really fit with what our impression of what was going to happen, said Derek Van Treese, the victims son. Van Treese, who spoke at the hearing, called Drummonds actions a betrayal of the familys respect. He said the Pardon and Parole Board clemency hearing provided two sides for the defense and no one acting as prosecutor. The family was given time to speak at the hearing. We have always been reliant on our Attorney Generals Office to zealously advocate on behalf of the victims of those crimes, as well as upholding the rule of law, said Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, who attended the clemency hearing. The attorney generals actions have certainly given me pause, and I am going to make inquiry of the attorney general as to what his intentions may or may not be with regard to Tulsa County cases. Former Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said after the courts and Pardon and Parole Board have denied relief, Drummond needs to follow the law and pursue the jurys decision. He accused Drummond of giving anti-death penalty advocates fodder to attack the death penalty. In 2016, Oklahomans approved State Question 776 dealing with methods of execution. The vote was 942,504 for the measure and 477,717 against it. Mike Fields district attorney for Canadian, Grant, Garfield, Kingfisher and Blaine counties is among those prosecutors who showed up at the clemency hearing because they felt the Van Treese family was not going to be represented and to show support. Fields said that in 2018, the voters amended the state constitution to include the rights of victims. It is called Marsys Law. In that constitutional amendment, it specifically states victims rights are to be protected in a manner no less vigorous than the rights of a defendant, Fields said. He said the way Drummond handled the hearing ensured that the family would not have an attorney present to counter point by point the claims being made by Glossips lawyers. And in doing so, I believe he violated their rights under the Oklahoma Constitution, Fields said. Fields said he understood why the Van Treese family felt like it had been stabbed in the back. He can have whatever personal opinion he wants to have, Fields said. There are ways he could have handled the way it was conducted and done right by the Van Treese family. That is what I take exception to. That concerns me going forward. Jason Hicks district attorney for Caddo, Grady, Jefferson and Stephens counties said a recent Court of Criminal Appeals decision denying relief said the issues raised by Glossip are not new, adding that multiple attorneys and courts have looked at the case. This court has thoroughly examined Glossips case from the initial direct appeal to this date, according to the April 20 Court of Criminal Appeals opinion. We have examined the trial transcripts, briefs, and every allegation Glossip has made since his conviction. Glossip has exhausted every avenue and we found no legal or factual ground which would require relief in this case. Drummond said his objective it to seek justice. He said he ceded his time to Reed Smith attorneys at the request of members of the Legislature, though he confirmed there is no law that requires lawmakers to be represented in a clemency hearing. He said he visited several times with members of the Van Treese family and they were well-aware of how the hearing was going to go. He said he has carefully reviewed Marsys Law before the hearing and ensured the family would have a full 20 minutes to speak. He said Duncan is a highly skilled former district attorney with years of experience. He said Duncan is also a distinguished combat veteran. Drummond said the person who brutally murdered Barry Van Treese will be in jail for the rest of his life. I have reviewed every death penalty case for which there is a defendant on death row and in every occasion, with the exception of Glossip, I feel like it was justly adjudicated and I support the death penalty and their execution, Drummond said. Don Knight is Glossips attorney. I think they are afraid that if he doesnt support this conviction, there are other convictions he may not support, Knight said. I think if anybody looks at this conviction and looks at the Reed Smith report and the report from Rex Duncan, they will see so many problems with this conviction. Attorney General Drummond is a courageous man and smart man, and he can see a terrible conviction. Meanwhile, newly elected Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna recently instituted policies and created a Capital Case Review Committee, made up of experienced homicide prosecutors, to determine when the death penalty would be considered an appropriate punishment in homicide cases. The new capital punishment procedures are based on guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice, Behenna said. Under those policies, Glossips case would not qualify for the death penalty, she told the Pardon and Parole Board in an April 25 letter. Behenna said it wasnt until she took office that she realized the District Attorneys Office didnt have any policies, protocols or guidelines to determine when a prosecutor should seek the death penalty. Everybody just needs to be treated equally, she said. If there arent policies and guidelines, I fear that sometimes emotion might drive decisions rather than facts. Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong met the leaders and high-ranking officials of some countries in London on Friday on the sidelines of his ongoing visit to the United Kingdom to attend the coronation of King Charles III slated for Saturday. Apart from being received by the leaders of the Parliament of England, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other officials of the UK, the Vietnamese state leader met with Singapores President Halimah Yacob and Vice President of Cuba Salvador Valdes Mesa. UK appreciates President Thuongs visit At the meetings with British officials, President Thuong expressed his pleasure to see the stronger Vietnam-UK strategic partnership. The remarkable achievements of the two-way ties demonstrated the two governments determination and efforts in elevating their ties to a new height, moving toward sustainability and response to global challenges. British officials affirmed that the Vietnamese state leaders UK visit played a key role in marking the 50th anniversary of the two nations diplomatic relations. Vietnam is one of the UKs key partners worldwide, especially when the latter is bolstering its strategic partnership with the Indo-Pacific, said British officials. The two nations will deepen their two-way cooperation in various fields such as defense-security, green economy, climate change adaptation and renewable energy. President Thuong also proposed the UK help Vietnam with technology and funding, and promote the efficiency of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). The leaders of the British governments and the Parliament of Britain said that they are in favor of the standpoints of Vietnam and Southeast Asia in protecting sovereignty over East Vietnam Sea. Vietnams standpoint is settling disputes at sea by peaceful means based on international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982. Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong (R) shakes hands with Singapores President Halimah Yacob in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2023. Photo: Singapores President Office Singaporean president invites Vietnamese state president to Singapore Speaking at the first meeting with Singaporean President Halimah Yacob since he took office in March, Vietnamese State President Thuong lauded the establishment of the Vietnam-Singapore digital and green economic partnership. The top Vietnamese official expected the two nations to continue to advance exchanges and foster cooperation at international forums and events, mainly ones held by the United Nations and Southeast Asia. Singaporean President Yacob also agreed to boost collaboration in training and innovation. Yacob hoped that the two nations would promote their bilateral partnership based on the success of the Vietnam-Singapore industrial park network and some potential fields such as renewable energy, digitalization and carbon credit. At the meeting, the top Singaporean official invited President Thuong to visit Singapore. In response to her invitation, President Thuong said that the would visit the country at a good time. At the meeting with Vice President of Cuba Salvador Valdes Mesa, Vietnamese State President Thuong said that 2023 is a special year for the Vietnam-Cuba relationship. This year marks the 50th anniversary of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro Ruzs first visit to the liberated zone in South Vietnam in wartime. The relationship between Vietnam and Cuba is special, intimate, long-standing, and healthy, Vietnams state leader underlined. Vice President of Cuba Mesa believed that the two countries partnership and friendship would be strengthened in the future. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong met the leaders and high-ranking officials of some countries in London on Friday on the sidelines of his ongoing visit to the United Kingdom to attend the coronation of King Charles III slated for Saturday. Apart from being received by the leaders of the Parliament of England, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other officials of the UK, the Vietnamese state leader met with Singapores President Halimah Yacob and Vice President of Cuba Salvador Valdes Mesa. UK appreciates President Thuongs visit At the meetings with British officials, President Thuong expressed his pleasure to see the stronger Vietnam-UK strategic partnership. The remarkable achievements of the two-way ties demonstrated the two governments determination and efforts in elevating their ties to a new height, moving toward sustainability and response to global challenges. British officials affirmed that the Vietnamese state leaders UK visit played a key role in marking the 50th anniversary of the two nations diplomatic relations. Vietnam is one of the UKs key partners worldwide, especially when the latter is bolstering its strategic partnership with the Indo-Pacific, said British officials. The two nations will deepen their two-way cooperation in various fields such as defense-security, green economy, climate change adaptation and renewable energy. President Thuong also proposed the UK help Vietnam with technology and funding, and promote the efficiency of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). The leaders of the British governments and the Parliament of Britain said that they are in favor of the standpoints of Vietnam and Southeast Asia in protecting sovereignty over East Vietnam Sea. Vietnams standpoint is settling disputes at sea by peaceful means based on international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982. Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong (R) shakes hands with Singapores President Halimah Yacob in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2023. Photo: Singapores President Office Singaporean president invites Vietnamese state president to Singapore Speaking at the first meeting with Singaporean President Halimah Yacob since he took office in March, Vietnamese State President Thuong lauded the establishment of the Vietnam-Singapore digital and green economic partnership. The top Vietnamese official expected the two nations to continue to advance exchanges and foster cooperation at international forums and events, mainly ones held by the United Nations and Southeast Asia. Singaporean President Yacob also agreed to boost collaboration in training and innovation. Yacob hoped that the two nations would promote their bilateral partnership based on the success of the Vietnam-Singapore industrial park network and some potential fields such as renewable energy, digitalization and carbon credit. At the meeting, the top Singaporean official invited President Thuong to visit Singapore. In response to her invitation, President Thuong said that the would visit the country at a good time. At the meeting with Vice President of Cuba Salvador Valdes Mesa, Vietnamese State President Thuong said that 2023 is a special year for the Vietnam-Cuba relationship. This year marks the 50th anniversary of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro Ruzs first visit to the liberated zone in South Vietnam in wartime. The relationship between Vietnam and Cuba is special, intimate, long-standing, and healthy, Vietnams state leader underlined. Vice President of Cuba Mesa believed that the two countries partnership and friendship would be strengthened in the future. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong and over 2,300 guests will take part in the coronation of King Charles III of the United Kingdom on Saturday. The Vietnamese state leaders attendance at Britains biggest ceremonial event for seven decades showed Vietnam attaches much significance to the partnership with the UK and the relationship with King Charles III, who has actively boosted the bilateral ties. Vietnam-UK relations get stronger British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that before the coronation took place, a reception would be organized for all the guests of the British royal family. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and 80 officials of the UK government and parliament will attend the event. President Thuongs trip to the UK showed signs of deeper Vietnam-UK friendship, Chairman of the Vietnam-UK Network Mark Kent told the Vietnam News Agency. Kent, who served as British Ambassador to Vietnam in the 2017-20 tenure, also saw potential for a modern and collaborative relationship between the two countries. Over the past 50 years of Vietnam-UK diplomatic ties, King Charles III has played a key role in strengthening the two-way relations. When meeting Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the COP26 summit in November 2021, then Prince Charles III pledged to throw his weight behind the Vietnam-UK cooperation, especially in climate change response, energy transition and green economic development. As for President Thuong, this is the first time the two leaders have met in their new positions. The coronation of King Charles III will be organized in a modern way. The newly crowned King and Queen will ride in a parade from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, the nations coronation church to start the ceremony, which is slated at 10:20 am on May 6, or 4:20 pm (local time), and is expected to last for two hours, reported Reuters. The ceremony will be led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Apart from the Vietnamese representative, Australias Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Vice President of China Han Zheng, French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, New Zealands Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will attend the coronation. The representatives of Japanese, Thai, Spanish and Danish royal families will also participate in the ceremony. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong and over 2,300 guests will take part in the coronation of King Charles III of the United Kingdom on Saturday. The Vietnamese state leaders attendance at Britains biggest ceremonial event for seven decades showed Vietnam attaches much significance to the partnership with the UK and the relationship with King Charles III, who has actively boosted the bilateral ties. Vietnam-UK relations get stronger British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that before the coronation took place, a reception would be organized for all the guests of the British royal family. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and 80 officials of the UK government and parliament will attend the event. President Thuongs trip to the UK showed signs of deeper Vietnam-UK friendship, Chairman of the Vietnam-UK Network Mark Kent told the Vietnam News Agency. Kent, who served as British Ambassador to Vietnam in the 2017-20 tenure, also saw potential for a modern and collaborative relationship between the two countries. Over the past 50 years of Vietnam-UK diplomatic ties, King Charles III has played a key role in strengthening the two-way relations. When meeting Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the COP26 summit in November 2021, then Prince Charles III pledged to throw his weight behind the Vietnam-UK cooperation, especially in climate change response, energy transition and green economic development. As for President Thuong, this is the first time the two leaders have met in their new positions. The coronation of King Charles III will be organized in a modern way. The newly crowned King and Queen will ride in a parade from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, the nations coronation church to start the ceremony, which is slated at 10:20 am on May 6, or 4:20 pm (local time), and is expected to last for two hours, reported Reuters. The ceremony will be led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Apart from the Vietnamese representative, Australias Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Vice President of China Han Zheng, French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, New Zealands Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will attend the coronation. The representatives of Japanese, Thai, Spanish and Danish royal families will also participate in the ceremony. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Check out the latest news in Vietnam today: Business -- Seven more airports are projected to be built in Vietnam as of 2030, raising the total number of airports in the country to 30 by that time, according to the Transport Ministrys master plan on the development of airports in the 2021-30 period recently sent to the prime minister for approval. -- The Department of Planning and Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City has proposed a plan developing food streets and a duty-free zone at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport urban area in a bid to beef up the local socio-economic growth. -- Luxembourg pledged its support for Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City, in the field of green finance and sustainable development, said Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel at a meeting with the citys Chairman Phan Van Mai on Friday afternoon. Society -- Police in southern Binh Duong Province have filed charges against the director of Tra Vinh Environment Company for allegedly directing his subordinates to bury 25,000 metric tons of solid waste illegally, causing environmental pollution. -- Four traffic inspectors and five business owners in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province have been detained for allegedly giving and accepting bribes worth over VND10 billion (US$426,300), a local procuracy official confirmed on Friday. Politics -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will attend the 42nd ASEAN Summit, which will be held in Indonesia between May 9 and 11, at the invitation of President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. -- Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong met with some government leaders and high-ranking officials of many countries in the United Kingdom on Friday, after he arrived in London to attend the coronation of King Charles III scheduled for Saturday. World News -- The World Health Organization ended the global emergency status for COVID-19 on Friday more than three years after its original declaration, and said countries should now manage the virus that killed more than 6.9 million people along with other infectious diseases, according to Reuters. -- Cambodia kicked off its first ever hosting of the Southeast Asian Games on Friday, in a historical ballyhoo of singing, dancing, flag-waving and fireworks, AFP reports. -- Charles III will be crowned king on Saturday in Britain's biggest ceremonial event for seven decades, a sumptuous display of pageantry dating back 1,000 years, Reuters reports. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Check out the latest news in Vietnam today: Business -- Seven more airports are projected to be built in Vietnam as of 2030, raising the total number of airports in the country to 30 by that time, according to the Transport Ministrys master plan on the development of airports in the 2021-30 period recently sent to the prime minister for approval. -- The Department of Planning and Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City has proposed a plan developing food streets and a duty-free zone at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport urban area in a bid to beef up the local socio-economic growth. -- Luxembourg pledged its support for Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City, in the field of green finance and sustainable development, said Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel at a meeting with the citys Chairman Phan Van Mai on Friday afternoon. Society -- Police in southern Binh Duong Province have filed charges against the director of Tra Vinh Environment Company for allegedly directing his subordinates to bury 25,000 metric tons of solid waste illegally, causing environmental pollution. -- Four traffic inspectors and five business owners in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province have been detained for allegedly giving and accepting bribes worth over VND10 billion (US$426,300), a local procuracy official confirmed on Friday. Politics -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will attend the 42nd ASEAN Summit, which will be held in Indonesia between May 9 and 11, at the invitation of President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. -- Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong met with some government leaders and high-ranking officials of many countries in the United Kingdom on Friday, after he arrived in London to attend the coronation of King Charles III scheduled for Saturday. World News -- The World Health Organization ended the global emergency status for COVID-19 on Friday more than three years after its original declaration, and said countries should now manage the virus that killed more than 6.9 million people along with other infectious diseases, according to Reuters. -- Cambodia kicked off its first ever hosting of the Southeast Asian Games on Friday, in a historical ballyhoo of singing, dancing, flag-waving and fireworks, AFP reports. -- Charles III will be crowned king on Saturday in Britain's biggest ceremonial event for seven decades, a sumptuous display of pageantry dating back 1,000 years, Reuters reports. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Traffic police officers said on Friday that they fined a truck driver VND17 million (US$725) for driving on the wrong side of the newly-opened Phan Thiet-Dau Giay Expressway in southern Vietnam. The penalty, which also includes a six-month drivers license revocation, was imposed on N.T.D., a 52-year-old native of Dong Nai Province. D. drove the truck numbered 60C-542.91 on the Phan Thiet-Dau Giay Expressway in the direction from Phan Thiet to Dong Nai, but on the lane used for traveling vice versa on Wednesday afternoon. D.s truck wrong-way driving next to the road divider startled many drivers traveling in the correct way. He was thus slapped with a fine of VND17 million and has his drivers license revoked for six months. Traffic police officers are also verifying another case where a driver steered a seven-seater car wrong way on the same expressway at 5:56 pm on Wednesday. On Thursday, they fined a pickup truck driver for driving on the wrong side of the route. The driver made not knowing the right way as the excuse for his traffic safety violation. The 99-kilometer Phan Thiet-Dau Giay Expressway was opened to traffic last weekend. The route starts from an intersection with the Vinh Hao-Phan Thiet Expressway running through Ham Thuan Nam District in Binh Thuan Province and ends at an intersection with the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway passing through Thong Nhat District in Dong Nai Province. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Traffic police officers said on Friday that they fined a truck driver VND17 million (US$725) for driving on the wrong side of the newly-opened Phan Thiet-Dau Giay Expressway in southern Vietnam. The penalty, which also includes a six-month drivers license revocation, was imposed on N.T.D., a 52-year-old native of Dong Nai Province. D. drove the truck numbered 60C-542.91 on the Phan Thiet-Dau Giay Expressway in the direction from Phan Thiet to Dong Nai, but on the lane used for traveling vice versa on Wednesday afternoon. D.s truck wrong-way driving next to the road divider startled many drivers traveling in the correct way. He was thus slapped with a fine of VND17 million and has his drivers license revoked for six months. Traffic police officers are also verifying another case where a driver steered a seven-seater car wrong way on the same expressway at 5:56 pm on Wednesday. On Thursday, they fined a pickup truck driver for driving on the wrong side of the route. The driver made not knowing the right way as the excuse for his traffic safety violation. The 99-kilometer Phan Thiet-Dau Giay Expressway was opened to traffic last weekend. The route starts from an intersection with the Vinh Hao-Phan Thiet Expressway running through Ham Thuan Nam District in Binh Thuan Province and ends at an intersection with the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway passing through Thong Nhat District in Dong Nai Province. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Season 3 of Irish thriller Smother is coming to ABC later this month. This debuted internationally in February. After the turmoil and Finns subsequent injuries, Grace returns to London. Finn is furious about his ordeal despite the Ahern familys honesty. Will the entire truth about Denis death finally be revealed. The Ahern clan gather for Vals (Dervla Kirwan) rather speedy remarriage to the mysterious Paul. Everyone is surprised by the arrival of Elaine, who has been let out of prison early and invited by Jacob. When she reveals that Grace had visited her in prison, Jenny (Niamh Walsh) and Anna are shocked and set out to discover why. Also stars Gemma-Leah Devereux and Conor Mullen. 8:30pm Friday May 26 on ABC. HA NOI Vietravel Airlines and Vietjet Air are both ramping up their expansion efforts in response to the opportunities arising from the recovering aviation industry. Vietravel Airlines plans to boost its fleet to six aircraft by adding three more in the third quarter of 2023, in line with its original establishment plan. The new carrier, which launched in 2020, presently operates six domestic routes connecting Ha Noi, HCM City, and major tourist destinations like a Nang, Phu Quoc and Quy Nhon, as well as two international routes. As of Q1 2023, Vietravel Airlines has conducted over 11,600 flights safely, carrying 2.5 million passengers with an average occupancy rate of 93.7 per cent. The airline has allocated resources for extending its international reach in its third year and aims to augment its charter capital nearly sixfold to VN7.64 trillion (US$323.7 million) by 2025. Likewise, Vietjet Air is also making moves to capitalise on the robust recovery of the aviation sector. The carrier's shareholders approved a plan to expand its fleet to 87 aircraft in 2023, up by 12 from the previous year. The leading low-cost provider is eyeing wide-body A330 aircraft to enhance the international market and its main route between Ha Noi and HCM City. With this expanded fleet, the first privately-owned airline in Viet Nam aims to operate 139,513 flights, serving 25.7 million passengers. The airline also anticipates increasing the number of cargo routes, targeting over 160,000 tonnes of cargo. In 2023, Vietjet Air will focus on pioneering potential routes besides stabilising its domestic routes. Last week, General Director inh Viet Phuong announced that Vietjet Air had received three new A321 ACFs from Hamburg, Germany, to serve the peak holiday season from April 30 to May 1. This delivery also brings the airline's fleet up to date with the most modern narrow-body aircraft of Airbus. The Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam (CAAV) reports that the aviation sector has been showing signs of recovery since March 2022. By April 2022, the domestic market had returned moderately to pre-pandemic levels. With the surge in travel demand expected for the summer, the domestic market is predicted to grow by over 30 per cent in August, compared to the same period in 2019. According to CAAV, there are positive signs that the aviation market will fully recover in the second half of 2023, necessitating additional fleets in the immediate period and 2023. At the beginning of 2023, the total number of aircraft operated by the five domestic airlines in Viet Nam (Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Pacific Airlines, Bamboo Airways and Vietravel Airlines) was 225. VNS HA NOI Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha hosted a reception in Ha Noi on Friday for Wang Chuanfu, Chairman of Chinas BYD Co. Ltd., which holds high competitive edge in the field of new technology. With the selection of Viet Nam's northern province of Phu Tho for its investment, the Deputy PM believed that the BYD Co. Ltd. would reap success. Committing all possible support for the company, he hoped that its idea of cooperation to shift from electronics to automobile production would go smoothly, and BYD would create competitive products in international markets, targeting those with high standards. On the back of Viet Nam's advantages within the framework of new-generation free trade agreements, he wished that the company would contribute to driving the development of supporting industries in Viet Nam. Wang, for his part, spoke highly of Viet Nam's business environment, especially in Phu Tho Province where the company plans to invest in a factory specialising in tablet computer production. BYD vowed to keep renewing its technology for sustainable development in the future, he said. As BYD would expand investment into electric automobile production and assembly with the best technology to supply the Vietnamese market and export to the Southeast Asian region, he wished for favourable conditions to complete investment procedures and quickly put the electric car production and assembling project into operation. Along with that, BYD would establish a chain of supporting industrial enterprises for the electric car project, he added. On the same day, while receiving Honna Hitoshi, President and Representative Director of Japans Erex Co. Ltd., the Deputy PM hailed Erexs decision to invest in biomass power in Viet Nam, noting that biomass power had been included in Power Development Plan VIII as a fundamental renewable energy source for various projects. He suggested Erex engage in treating solid waste and by-products in agriculture and forestry, and promoting environmental protection, afforestation and environmental treatment. Hitoshi said Viet Nam held great potential to develop biomass power thanks to a large amount of unused agricultural and forestry by-products. In addition, biomass power would also contribute to reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants with co-firing options, he said. In the coming time, Erex would fully consider suggestions by the Deputy PM to launch projects on biomass fuel and building biomass power plants in Viet Nam, he said. VNS HCM CITY Peoples Artist Bach Tuyet, a cai luong (reformed opera) guru, is working with rapper Wowy of HCM City to launch a new music project aimed at young people. The project offers music videos which combine rap and cai luong, a 100-year-old art gerne of Vietnamese theatre in the South. Tuyet and Wowy have worked to write, compose and produce a series of songs featuring topics on love and life. Social issues are also included. The first video is complete and is expected to be released on YouTube and TikTok next month. I hope our project will attract and encourage young audiences to love and learn more about cai luong, said Tuyet. To preserve our traditional music, we need to expand it among younger generations. Last year, Tuyet launched a project called Tinh Hoa Cai Luong (Beauty of Vietnamese Theatre) on TikTok. The project offers clips featuring famous extracts from dramatic and historical plays performed by Tuyet and her younger colleagues. Cai luong should be released on YouTube and TikTok to attract youngsters, said Tuyet. Cai luong plays are performed at traditional festivals and anniversaries in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta provinces of Can Tho, Soc Trang, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu. The art features the hopes and dreams of southern people, who love singing cai luong after a hard day of working in the fields. Tuyet began offering her art on YouTube in 2018. In her videos, she combines cai luong and pop and rap music. Her video, Mang Tien Ve Cho Me (Bring Money to Your Mother), is a cai luong version of the same song by rapper en Vau. It was released on her official YouTube channel in January, 2022 and has attracted more than 358,000 views and 1,384 comments. Many fans wrote in their comments that they fell in love with cai luong after listening to Tuyets Mang Tien Ve Cho Me version. Another video by Tuyet that has attracted young fans is Ve Nghe Me Ru (Coming Home Lullaby), released on YouTube last year. The video has attracted more than 18 million views. In the work, Tuyet and young pop idol Hoang Dung create and sing a cai luong version of a hit by Dung. Tuyet was a theatre star in the 1960-70s and performed for several leading cai luong theatres in the region. She has offered training courses providing young participants with performance skills to sing vong co (nostalgia tunes) and cai luong, and has wrote and released many books and documents on the operatic art form. Rapper Wowy, 35, whose real name is Nguyen Ngoc Minh Huy, has been in the industry for more than 15 years. He is also considered a pioneer of rap in the South and has been particularly successful in combining rap with social and cultural issues. VNS DUBAI Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan met with ruler of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi as part of her trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi congratulated Viet Nam on its development achievements, and expressed his hope for stronger cooperation between the Emirate and Viet Nam. The host said he would assign agencies of Ras Al Khaimah to step up cooperation with Viet Nam in all fields, pledging to facilitate the operations of Vietnamese investors, especially in the Emirates special economic zones. Xuan said Viet Nam and the UAE boast potential to strengthen their collaboration in the time ahead. The two sides agreed to consider establishing cooperative ties between Ras Al Khaimah and Vietnamese localities, coordinate in organising cultural activities and people-to-people exchanges, step up tourism promotion, share experience in preserving historical relic sites, and cooperate in education. The Vice President suggested relevant agencies of the two sides continue completing important legal frameworks and mechanisms such as the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), and soon establish a Vietnam-UAE business council to enhance links between Vietnamese enterprises and those of the UEA and Ras Al Khaimah in particular. On Thursday, Xuan had a meeting with the UAEs Minister of Economy Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, who spoke highly of the Vietnamese Vice Presidents speech at the Global Summit of Women 2023, which took place in Dubai earlier the same day. The UAE always kept a close watch on developments of the Vietnamese economy, the minister said, informing that the UAE would soon send a delegation to Viet Nam to seek cooperation opportunities in the Southeast Asian nation. He also urged the two sides to push ahead with negotiations of the CEPA to create breakthroughs for their economic cooperation. Xuan affirmed that Viet Nam stood ready to create favourable conditions for foreign firms, including those from the UAE, to seek investment opportunities in the country. She suggested the two sides soon organise the fifth meeting of the Viet Nam-UAE Inter-Governmental Committee. During her stay in the UAE, Xuan also met with the President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, one of the largest economic development arms in Dubai, and CEO of Elite Agro the UEAs leading company in agriculture. VNS LONDON State President Vo Van Thuong had meetings with British leaders as part of his trip to the UK to attend the coronation of King Charles III from May 4 to 6. The Vietnamese leader met with the UKs House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, House of Commons Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly, and Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace, among others British officials. During the meetings, Thuong rejoiced at positive developments of the Viet Nam-UK strategic partnership in the context that the two countries were celebrating the 50th anniversary of their bilateral diplomatic ties. The British officials shared their view on the significance of Thuong's visit, stressing Viet Nam was a leading partner of the UK in the region as the European nation was accelerating the implementation of its Indo-Pacific strategy. They also noted with pleasure the dynamic developments of the Viet Nam-UK strategic partnership over the past more than 10 years in all fields, and agreed to continue increasing all-level delegation exchanges in all the channels of Party, State, Government, parliament and people-to-people exchange, while further fully and effectively materialising the UK-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) and bilateral cooperation mechanisms like the defence policy dialogue and the Viet Nam-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO). The two sides expressed their wish to expand and deepen the bilateral cooperation in such potential spheres as national defence-security, green economy, climate change response and renewable energy. Thuong suggested the UK help Viet Nam in finance and technology, and raising the countrys capacity within the framework of the Just Energy Transition Partnership, towards fulfilling its commitments at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), which took place in the UK in 2021. Regarding cooperation at regional and international forums, the two sides agreed to closely coordinate and support each other in multilateral frameworks like ASEAN-UK cooperation, the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council for 2023-2025, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The British officials affirmed their support for Viet Nam and ASEANs stance on the South China Sea (known in Viet Nam as the East Sea), the settlement of disputes by peaceful measures on the basis of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as negotiations for a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) between ASEAN and China. VNS HCM CITY HCM City wishes to learn from Luxembourgs experience and cooperate with the European country in science-technology and green finance, towards building a financial centre in the time ahead, a municipal official said on Friday. At a reception for Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, Chairman of the HCM City Peoples Committee Phan Van Mai stressed that PM Bettels visit would contribute to boosting cooperation activities between the city and the European nation. The official noted that HCM City stood ready to cooperate with Luxembourg partners in the fields of high-tech, digital transformation, renewable energy and green energy. Mai used this occasion to thank Luxembourg for its financial support to HCM City in the rollout of climate adaptation projects, and called on the PM to continue connecting the city with Luxembourg partners. HCM City always welcomed foreign partners and enterprises, including those from Luxembourg, to operate in the city, he affirmed, adding that HCM City wanted to strengthen cooperation with businesses of Luxembourg in the areas in which the southern largest economic hub has potential and demand such as agricultural product processing, high-tech agriculture and manufacturing. For his part, PM Bettel held that HCM City and Luxembourg held substantial cooperation opportunities, and that Luxembourgs enterprises would be sustainable, reliable partners of local firms, helping them expand connections with the European market. The two countries should create more favourable conditions for their businesses to operate in the respective markets, he continued. Sharing Mai's view, the PM said finance, especially green finance, would offer good cooperation opportunities to Luxembourg and HCM City, stressing that Luxembourg would be committed to assisting Viet Nam and HCM City in particular in this field, as well as sustainable development. He said cooperation in traditional spheres such as education, environmental protection, climate change response, renewable energy and green energy would be maintained. While in HCM City, PM Bettel attended and delivered a speech at a Viet Nam - Luxembourg business forum, visited the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, and the War Remnants Museum, and found out about climate change impacts in the area along Sai Gon River. VNS LONDON - President Vo Van Thuong was among 100 heads of state at the coronation of King Charles III of the UK, held in Westminster Abbey in London on May 6 (local time), at the invitation of the UK Royal Family. On the occasion, the President had meetings with King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. President Thuong warmly congratulated the King, the Queen, the British Royal Family and people of the UK. He said Viet Nam attaches great importance to developing the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership, and expressed his hope that the King, the Queen and the Royal Family would continue to actively support multifaceted cooperation between the two countries. He took the occasion to invite the King to visit Viet Nam at an appropriate time. King Charles III affirmed that the British Royal Family and the King personally always paid attention to and support Viet Nams renewal and development as well as the Viet Nam - UK strategic partnership. President Thuong also met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, during which the PM said that the potential for cooperation between the two countries was huge and wished to expand cooperation with Viet Nam in various fields. He thanked Viet Nam for supporting the UK in the negotiation on the country's participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). On the occasion, President Thuong met with the Presidents of the Philippines, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia, Austria, Mongolia, Zimbabwe and Israel, the Governors-General of Australia and New Zealand, the Vice President of Honduras, the Prime Ministers of the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the President of the European Council, and the OECD Secretary General. During the meetings, the leaders agreed to further bilateral ties in the coming time, contributing to peace, development and prosperity of the region and the world. On Saturday afternoon, President Thuong left London, concluding his programme to attend the coronation of King Charles III of the UK at the invitation of the Royal Family and of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. VNA/VNS Anh Tuan & Thanh Vu HCM CITY The labour market in Viet Nam is undergoing a transformation, with a focus on constructing a sustainable and efficient supply chain of workers. The Vietnam News Agency reporters went to HCM City and the Southeast Region of Viet Nam to discover the challenges of the labour market in these regions and gather recommendations from experts to solve the underlying problems and create a better working environment. Unstable labour market After enduring the effects of the pandemic for two years, employment opportunities in the region have become unstable, with many workers experiencing abrupt reductions in work hours, temporary suspensions, or job loss in the late months of 2022 and early months of 2023 due to a lack of customer orders and capital to maintain operations. Though it's a situation that nobody wants to be in, the unpredictable developments in life, such as the pandemic and the market, have made it increasingly difficult for workers to find and maintain employment. V. T. Thoa, an employee of PouYuen Vietnam Co. Ltd., in Binh Chanh District, HCM City, has been searching for a new job since her contract was terminated. She has not, however, found a new employer. "Caring for my family is becoming increasingly challenging, but fortunately, our children are intelligent and diligent," said Thoa. "I am grateful that the authorities frequently assist families like ours." Another employee, L.M. Ngoc, currently working at the Ty Hung Co. Ltd., in Binh Tan District, HCM City, was disheartened when she lost her employment due to the company's dearth of orders and the need to scale back production and operations. Like many of her coworkers still employed at the company, Ngoc was concerned when she realised there were no longer any job opportunities and it would be difficult to avoid unemployment. She is genuinely concerned about the future and unsure what to do or where to go. After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, although the difficulties seemed to be surmounted, everything for businesses and employees is truly unpredictable and challenging, particularly for export-dependent industries. When businesses reduce working hours, income, and job stability, many families of out-of-town employees have sent their children back to their hometowns to live with their grandparents, and even spouses have returned to their hometowns one by one. According to Cu Phat Nghiep, Trade Union Chairman of PouYuen Vietnam Co. Ltd., which has more than 50,000 employees at times, when the pandemic broke out, thousands of workers were worried about their livelihoods in the city and the unpredictability of the pandemic, so they rushed back to their hometowns. "After the pandemic was controlled, the company accelerated its recruitment efforts to fulfil the work that had been delayed during the pandemic," said Nghiep. "However, recruiting new workers has been temporarily halted, and many employees have been laid off." HCM City and other provinces and cities, notably industrial zones in the region, are experiencing significant job losses and reduced working hours. In Q1 2023, more than 294,000 workers in Viet Nam were either jobless or had their hours cut, a decrease of 2,000 from Q4 2022, with foreign-invested businesses accounting for 83.8 per cent. The number of workers on leave or reduced hours was 21,800 in Tay Ninh, 36,400 in Binh Duong, 35,000 in ong Nai and 19,800 in HCM City. Viet Nam lost 149,000 enterprise jobs in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 118,000 in Q4 2022. According to Pham Chi Tam, Vice Chairman of the HCM City Labour Confederation, the body has instructed firms' trade unions to regularly connect with workers and businesses to find solutions to overcome difficulties and build a cooperative worker-business relationship. Nguyen Van Lam, Deputy Director of the HCM City's Department of Labour, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, added that the city is implementing labour relations, social insurance, and unemployment insurance policies to help workers cover salary costs and stabilise their lives after losing their jobs. Job introduction centres and vocational schools are improving their support, counselling, skills training, new job opportunities, resources, and loans to help workers with employment issues. The HCM City People's Committee also supports workers in the informal sector access to loans from the National Employment Fund, the Fund for Poverty Reduction and Hunger Eradication, and the Capital Aid for Employment of the Poor Microfinance Institution (CEP) to switch jobs and create their own. Building a better labour management policy The post-pandemic global economic crisis has caused a "shortage" of orders for many Vietnamese and Southeast Asian businesses, which has led to many workers having to take time off, reduce their hours, or even quit their jobs. The Southeast region has 10.487 million workers, accounting for 20.31 per cent of the nation's total, according to Le Tan Dung, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs. The region has the highest concentration of businesses, industrial parks, and export processing zones in the country, with over 353,000 enterprises employing over 5.3 million workers. In 2021, 59.1 per cent of the region's workforce was negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and more than 6 per cent of active job seekers were unemployed (compared to 2.33 per cent before the pandemic). To solve this problem, Dung suggests improving labour force management, training high-quality human resources, and prioritising spearheading industries that can motivate and lead other industries to develop, especially new occupations and future skills. Many labour management issues in HCM City have arisen due to the pandemic. The HCM City People's Committee says the human resources database does not meet State management standards: only 10 per cent of organisations and businesses report labour movement to the specialised labour agency. The Government has regulated the sharing of information on business registration and worker social insurance, but there have been no synchronisations from central-to-grassroots in this practice to improve the management capacity of local authorities. "Without management data, especially on migrant workers and informal residents, local authorities must spend time counting and listing affected individuals who need urgent state support," stated the HCM City People's Committee. Labour management agencies and localities are recommended to increase the application of technology in population and labourer management, and incorporate information with the National Population Database to regularly update residence and employment data as well as State support policies. According to labour experts, the forecasting work is still limited due to the incomplete and timely input data system. The coordination in providing information between sectors and localities is still disjointed; the criteria for collecting information are not uniform and synchronised. Tran Anh Tuan, a labour forecast expert and Chairman of the Council of Science of the Viet Nam Institute of Training and Development, suggested establishing a labour market information system, providing timely and accurate information and connecting labour supply and demand to address labour market imbalances. The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs recommends synchronising support solutions to develop local labour markets, investing in and enhancing employment service centres, and developing modern job transactions on digital platforms to create jobs and ensure social welfare for workers in industrial parks and export processing zones and Southeast Viet Nam. Improving labour management performance New-generation free trade agreements, which include labour provisions to level the global labour market, are deepening Viet Nam's economic integration with the global economy. Many domestic and foreign businesses lead the country's largest and most dynamic economic and manufacturing region, the Southeast. To develop the Southeast region, State policies, mechanisms, and labour management must be improved, especially in building sustainable and stable labour supply chains. Regional connectivity and local workforce cooperation are essential for a stable and sustainable labour market. Vo Van Hoan, Vice Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, believes regional connectivity is essential to balancing labour supply and demand from a local management perspective. Local training resources should prioritise business-focused human resource development. Businesses, localities, research institutes, universities, and regional high-quality labour training centres can partner to develop high-quality vocational training. Experts such as Su inh Thanh, Principal of the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, recommend a people-centred strategy for the development of the Southeast region. Each sector's local human resource development project must specify this view. Localities must identify training needs, attract talent to key industries, and promote local advantages through market demand surveys. Adjusting labour supply and demand policies and laws is becoming increasingly important to sustain labour market growth, meet business needs, and support Southeast economic and social development. Specifically, improving the labour supply and demand support system, developing the labour market information system, connecting domestic and foreign labour supply and demand, supporting social security system development, and promoting the construction of a labour market information system are also recommended. Nguyen Van Lam, Deputy Director of the Department of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs, says only workers from other provinces come to HCM City to work in labour-intensive factories or simple jobs. When production increases, some companies lack labour. Therefore, policies and programmes should encourage and attract young workers and those without jobs, skills, and qualifications. Training should also improve their skills and marketability. It is necessary to improve and effectively implement policies and mechanisms that attract sustainable labour and provide a stable living environment, housing, and social welfare. VNS HA NOI The Ministry of Health has called for improved monitoring and regulation of the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products nationwide. Deputy Health Minister Tran Van Thuan emphasised the need for increased monitoring and punishment of those involved in the trade of these harmful products in a document sent to provincial and municipal authorities, as well as the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Ministry of Public Security. According to the Ministry of Health, many electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDs), heated tobacco products (HTPs), and shisha products have appeared in Viet Nam in recent years. These products are currently not authorised for import, sale, or distribution in the domestic market, but they are widely advertised and sold online. These products have various designs and appealing flavours that attract young people, leading to a rapid increase in the use of electronic cigarettes, especially among school-aged children. A 2019 survey by the World Health Organisation found that the rate of e-cigarette use among 15 and 17-year-old students in Viet Nam was 2.6 per cent. A 2022 survey of tobacco use among students aged 13-15 showed an increase in electronic cigarette use to 3.5 per cent. There are roughly 20,000 types of flavouring agents used in e-cigarettes, many of which are harmful and have not been fully evaluated for their health effects, it reported. Electronic cigarettes contain nicotine, a highly addictive substance that can cause cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive diseases. It also contains glycerin and propylene glycol, which can form propylene oxide, a carcinogenic substance when heated and vaporised. Recently, there have been cases of students who have been hospitalised due to nicotine poisoning and other chemicals found in tobacco products. In addition to the health risks of traditional tobacco products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products also pose a risk of drug use and other addictive substances. Under the document, the Ministry of Health has requested the municipal and provincial peoples committees to work with relevant ministries and agencies to increase awareness of the dangers of traditional tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and heated tobacco products. The municipal and provincial peoples committees should also direct departments and units to prevent using these products in government offices, schools, and public places. They should strengthen strict measures to prevent the purchase, sale, and use of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and shisha in their localities. Schools should be instructed to strengthen the dissemination of information about the dangers of these products to students, teachers, and other staff members. They must increase monitoring and prevention of the use of e-cigarettes. The departments of industry and trade, the market watchdogs, and other relevant agencies should be directed to increase inspections and strictly handle cases of illegal purchase, sale, and trade of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and shisha. These products cannot be imported, traded, or circulated in Viet Nam. Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training has actively collaborated with the Ministry of Health in effectively implementing many activities to prevent the harmful effects of tobacco products on students and young adults. These activities include issuing guidance documents and organising training courses on the dangers of tobacco products. To prevent the use of tobacco products, the Ministry of Health has called for smoke-free environments in schools and asked schools to cooperate with local authorities to strictly enforce the ban on selling tobacco and new-generation tobacco products outside school gates. The Ministry of Health has also recommended the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Public Security strengthen inspections and strictly handle cases involving the purchase, sale, transportation, and storage of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. VNS Thanh Nga Summer is coming, and this is the perfect time to enjoy the holidays on beautiful islands. With clear blue beaches, white sand and fresh air, the islands will help you find peace and relax. Here are five islands to choose from for your summer vacation. Phu Quoc Island Thanks to its stunning beauty, you will fall in love with Phu Quoc from the first time you arrive. Phu Quoc is the largest island of Viet Nam, located in the southwest. Phu Quoc, together with 22 other islands, Phu Quoc Island District in Kien Giang Province. Phu Quoc, a "small paradise", is one of the islands owning the most beautiful beaches in Viet Nam. Sao and Khem are gently curved beaches with fine white sand and clear blue water and are extremely wild. Taking a tour here, you will be free to swim in the water and feel free to release energy with games on the sea. The endless fun makes you feel lost in a peaceful summer paradise. In addition to the white sand and delicious food. Phu Quoc is also famous for fish sauce, pepper, beautiful coral reefs and tropical forests with beautiful streams such as Tranh Stream, a Ban Stream and a Ngon Stream. Con ao If you are looking for a relaxing, free and extremely quiet place for your summer trip, Con ao is an ideal choice. The island makes tourists unable to ignore the charm of one of these mysterious islands in the country. Located in Ba RiaVung Tau province, it is quite far from the mainland, Con ao still retains its wild beauty. This tropical island paradise boasts long and extremely unspoiled blue beaches. With fine sand beaches and clear blue water with rich marine life, you can not sit still on the shore when choosing Con ao as a summer destination during your trip. Not only that, when travelling to Con ao in the summer, you also have the opportunity to explore tropical rainforests with cool and fresh streams, wildflowers and many kinds of birds. Snorkelling and coral viewing are great activities for those who love adventure and want to learn about the beauty of this beautiful island. Visitors will enjoy the beauty of undersea landscapes, such as colourful and diverse coral reefs and fish and sea animals swimming around. Con ao has a rich and diverse source of seafood, so you should enjoy fresh seafood such as crabs, oysters, shrimp and squid, which are processed into many delicious dishes, giving visitors a colourful and flavorful culinary experience. Ly Son Island Ly Son, a beautiful island in Quang Ngai Province, is located about 30km from the mainland. It is also one of the islands chosen by many people as a destination this summer. It is known as the Maldives in Viet Nam. Ly Son attracts tourists by the pure beauty of nature and the idyllic sincerity of the locals. The colour of the sky and the sea captivates so many visitors when coming here. The golden sunlight flows through each tree top, the sky is clear, and the wind blows cool. The sea in Ly Son is very clear and blue, so on hot summer days, lying on the beach and watching the clear blue water to the bottom will dispel all the heat and fatigue of a long day. The wavy cliffs, the seas with velvety moss, and the onion and garlic fields stretching on the white sand are images that anyone who is seen must be captivated by. Fresh and delicious specialities in Ly Son must include seaweed salad, attractive spicy garlic salad or fresh seas seafood dishes such as Cu, Tuong snail and Huynh e crab. Coming to Ly Son, tourists should visit places like Mu Cu Island, To Vo Gate, a freshwater lake on Thoi Loi Peak, and endless garlic fields. Accommodation in Ly Son Island is not too expensive, ranging from VN200,000 to VN400,000 with hotels, motels and homestays. Nam Du Island Compared to Phu Quoc, Nam Du Island, also in Kien Giang Province, is not as famous and has only been known by tourists in recent years. However, it is an extremely attractive destination for tourists because of its beautiful scenery, delicious food and low cost. Nam Du is a beautiful archipelago consisting of 21 large and small islands in the Gulf of Thailand, of which Cu Tron is the largest. In the distance are Dau, Ong, Ngang, and Mau Islands, forming a charming area. The wild beauty and unexplored tourism services attract tourists to this archipelago. With beautiful pristine beaches such as Chuong Beach and a en Beach, with shallow water levels and coconut trees, Nam Du will bring you an extremely comfortable summer trip and freedom with nature. Currently, there are also a variety of motels, hostels and even homestays. You can also set up camping tents right at the beaches on the island. Co To Island Co To Island in Quang Ninh Province is considered one of the most beautiful islands in the Gulf of Tonkin. It includes over 50 large and small islands with green and fresh beaches and surrounding wild and poetic natural scenery. In addition, Co To Island also has natural primaeval forests and historical relics with extremely important positions in the security and defence of the country. Some of the places to visit when travelling to Co To Island such as Dragon Claw Beach, Co To Lighthouse, Love Road, President Ho Chi Minh's memorial site, Van Chay Beach and small Co To Island. Like travelling to Nam Du Island in the south, there are no luxury hotels or resorts on Co To Island. Visitors will mainly stay at homestays and guesthouses or ask to stay at people's houses on the island. Travelling to Co To Island, you must eat seafood. The seafood here is very fresh and delicious, and the price is also quite cheap. Some famous seafood is cu ky (a kind of crab), be be (sea mantis shrimp), cau gai (sea urchin) and sa sung (sea worm). It is said that "from Co To Island to paradise is only a step away", because of the special charm of the romantic island in the middle of the vast ocean. Try to feel it once. VNS Vietnam and Luxembourg will strengthen cooperation in finance, logistics and sustainable development to help address climate change via a series of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed between the two sides at the Vietnam-Luxembourg Business Forum held in Ho Chi Minh City on May 5. A signing ceremony of the MoU between representatives of the two countries was held in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: VNA Speaking at the forum, Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, who is on a visit to Vietnam, said that Vietnam is one of the most dynamic economies in the region and the world. Economic, trade and investment cooperation is a priority for the two countries. He added that Luxembourg is a developed country with advantages in green services, finance, banking, and circular economy, which are of interest to Vietnam. The forum provided an opportunity for businesses of the two countries to exchange information and make new beginnings of cooperation in the coming period. Vo Tan Thanh, Vice President of the Vietnam Confederation of Trade and Industry, said that trade and investment cooperation between the two countries had achieved impressive results in the past. However, they need to be effectively combined with solutions to remove the EU's yellow card on Vietnam for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and to approve the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) soon. Thanh said the two countries would strengthen cooperation in tourism human resources training, an area where Vietnam is in high demand. Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien speaks at the event. Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien stressed that global challenges and difficulties require economies to be more open and deeply integrated. Vietnam and Luxembourg need close and more effective cooperation, especially in trade and investment, to improve the resilience of their economies. He said strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation within the multilateral framework between ASEAN and the EU will benefit Vietnam and Luxembourg greatly. Dien added that in terms of trade, the two countries have the potential for expansion because their structure of import and export goods is complementary, with Vietnam's advantages being garments, footwear, furniture, tropical agricultural products, and seafood, while Luxembourg's are chemicals, rubber, plastics, steel production, and financial services, banking and insurance from Luxembourg. In terms of investment, the comprehensive, practical, and effective cooperation mechanisms of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), EVIPA, and especially the strategic partnership on green finance recently signed by the two governments will create favorable conditions for investors in Luxembourg and the EU to expand investment projects in Vietnam, Dien said. As of March 2023, Luxembourg ranked third out of 24 EU countries and 17th out of 139 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. The country had invested in 64 projects worth US$2.6 billion in Vietnam. Hanoi Times Container shipping in Vietnam and Cambodia had the fastest port turnaround times in ASEAN in June 2022 with both countries scoring an average of 0.9 days, according to a World Bank (WB) report. Global logistics data released recently in Washington were among new key performance indicators that complement the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) for 139 economies, the WB said. Among other ASEAN members, Thailand had the second-fastest turnaround time of 1.0 day followed by Malaysia and Singapore (both 1.2 days), the Philippines (1.3 days), Indonesia (1.8 days) and Myanmar (2.0 days). In a statement, the bank said digitalisation was allowing emerging economies to shorten port delays by as much as 70% compared to those in developed countries. While most time is spent in shipping, the biggest delays occur at seaports, airports, and multimodal facilities, said Christina Wiederer, the banks senior economist who co-authored the report. Policies targeting these facilities can help improve reliability, she said. At 4.3 points, Singapore was top ranked, both within ASEAN and worldwide. It was followed by Malaysia (3.6 points), Thailand (3.5 points), the Philippines and Vietnam (both 3.3 points) and Indonesia (3.0 points). An ranking for Myanmar was not available. Despite challenges such as COVID-19, the bank said logistics services were broadly resilient for best and worst performers worldwide. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic-induced disruptions to shipping and the global supply chain crisis, the average overall score in the 2023 LPI was broadly the same as in the last survey in 2018, it said. The LPI has six indicators: efficiency of customs and border management clearance, quality of trade and transport infrastructure, ease of arranging competitively priced shipments, competence and quality of logistics services, ability to track and trace consignments, and frequency of on-time deliveries. Recently, major shipping lines in the world have invested in the construction and operation of seaports in Vietnam. For example, DP World Group of the UAE invested in and operates Saigon Premier Container Terminal (SPCT) HCM City; SSA Marine Corporation of the US with Cai Lan International Container Terminal (CICT) in Quang Ninh Province and SP-SSA International Terminal (SSIT) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province; PSA Group of Singapore with SP-PSA Terminal in Ba Ria-Vung Tau; APMT Group of Denmark with Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) and Hutchison Port Holding Group of Hong Kong with SITV Terminal in Ba Ria-Vung Tau as well. Better seaport services and rising shipping demands have attracted large shipping lines to open routes from Vietnam to other countries in the world. Lach Huyen wharf is capable of accommodating vessels of up to 132,000 DWT and Cai Mep - Thi Vai wharf, 214,000 DWT or over 18,000 TEUs. Every week, nearly 40 vessels depart from Cai Mep - Thi Vai Terminal, including 18 to Europe and America, and 10 to Asia, gradually making Vietnam an important link in the global maritime chain. Direct service routes connecting major markets globally will create opportunities for Vietnamese exports. The turnaround time of service routes from Vietnam to the West Coast of the US used to take from 35 to 49 days. With the AA3 direct service route operated by Wan Hai shipping company, the transit time is 21 days only. The USCW service of ZIM shipping line has the fastest route connecting Cai Mep - Thi Vai port with the West Coast of the US with transit time down to 15 days. The Ministry of Transport approved a plan to select contractors for site survey consultancy, drawings preparation and bomb disposal to upgrade the Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster from Buoy No.0 to the Cai Mep Container Terminal. Work on the project started in early February 2023 and will be completed in 2025 with total investment capital of 1.4 trillion VND from the State budget. According to the Ministry of Transport, the navigational channel from buoy No.0 to the upstream of the Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) is designed for ships of 160,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) with a full load and 120,000 DWT vessels for two-way operation./. Source: Vietnam Plus HCMC Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai has approved including two industrial parks in HCMC in the development planning of Vietnams industrial parks (IPs). The deputy PM signed Dispatch No. 364 approving the Ministry of Planning and Investments proposal for revising the development planning of Vietnams industrial parks. Pham Van Hai 1 IP with an area of 379 hectares and Pham Van Hai 2 IP with an area of 289 hectares are located in Binh Chanh District. In addition, the deputy prime minister removed three IPs in HCMC from the planning, namely Bau Dung and Phuoc Hiep IPs in Cu Chi District and Xuan Thoi Thuong IP in Hoc Mon District which were approved by the prime minister in 2014. Other IPs in the citys IP development planning, approved by the prime minister in 2014, will remain unchanged. HCMC was tasked with updating the locations and total land areas of Pham Van Hai 1 and Pham Van Hai 2 IPs in the city planning in 2021-2030 with a vision toward 2050. The conversion of land use purposes for the areas excluded from the IP development planning and the selection of contractors for implementing projects in these places will only be considered after the prime minister approves the scheme on removing Bau Dung, Phuoc Hiep and Xuan Thoi Thuong IPs from the planning. The prime minister also asked HCMC to build a policy to attract investment into the IPs in line with the citys socio-economic development orientations, especially projects using hi-tech, environmentally friendly projects and projects using less labor and resources of land, water and energy. HCMC Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will lead a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam to attend the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, from May 9 to 11. PM Chinh will attend the event at the invitation of the Indonesian President and Chairman of the 42nd ASEAN Summit, Joko Widodo, according to an announcement released by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 5. The ASEAN Summit will be held with the participation of ASEAN leaders and the Secretary-General of ASEAN. The Prime Minister of Timor-Leste has been invited to attend as an observer for the first time. The ASEAN Summit will feature dialogues between ASEAN leaders and representatives of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, ASEAN Business Advisory Council and the High-Level Task Force on the ASEAN Communitys Post-2025 Vision. Prime Minister Chinh will deliver important speeches, and propose measures to strengthen the ASEAN Community building process, enhance ASEANs relationships with its partners and exchange views on regional and international issues. The summit saw the participation of many US corporations and associations with investments in Vietnam. The event also welcomed over 1,200 investors from 70 countries and territories all over the world. The 20 businesses, which have invested in the US or have the intention to do so, operate in various industries, including software; electric vehicles (EVs) and battery production; construction and interior decoration; logistics and transport; food processing; and packaging. For example, VinFast is committed to investing large volumes of capital in the US. The group plans to set up an EV manufacturing complex in North Carolina, set to go into operation by 2024. The facility will eventually have capacity to produce up to 150,000 EVs annually, with the company planning to start off with two large SUV models that were unveiled last year. The assembly plant itself will cost about $2 billion, though additional operations, such as a battery facility, should bring the total cost to $6.5 billion. The gathering was organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington DC in coordination with The Asia Group. Diane Farrell, Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade in the Department of Commerce, said, "The US will support Vietnamese firms to make the correct choices when they invest in the American market." Six more Vietnamese basa fish producers gain entry to US market The US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on May 19 allowed six more Vietnamese basa producers to export to this market. Luong Viet Quoc: The first Vietnamese exporting drones to US market Drones are among tech-intensive items many countries have been paying a great deal of attention to and are often associated with tech giants like the US and China, but one Vietnamese, Dr. Luong Viet Quoc, founder and CEO of Real Time Robotics Inc. not only manufactures but also sells his drones to foreign customers. Bright prospects expected for Vietnam-US trade ties: Official Vietnam is seeing great opportunities in the US market, said Commercial Counsellor in the US Do Ngoc Hung who showed optimism about Vietnam-US trade prospects. Bill Bricker, Dreamship's founder Dreamship has built a strong partnership ecosystem. Tell us more about how these partnerships contribute to the success of Vietnamese e-commerce? Dreamship started with an ethos of bringing "ethical ecommerce" into the space. Our thesis was that if we were able to show entrepreneurs a path to do things the right way, we could unlock the channels and tech necessary for them to thrive. Fortunately, that vision resonated with executives at Google, with whom we partnered with early on. Google's and Dreamship were able to draw the very best teams and onboard them to a previously inaccessible channel. This exclusive partnership helped Google expand into Vietnam while protecting their global brand, growing revenue from the ground up for Google Ads, our clients, and Dreamship alike. Our approach is to curate partnerships with best-in-class tech organisations to create a win-win for all stakeholders involved. Dreamship's partnership growth playbook, which was built over five years and still followed to this day, has helped unlock access to the likes of Shopify, PayPal, Payoneer, Amazon, Stripe, and Twitter. How does Dreamship support the growth of Vietnamese e-commerce and empower local entrepreneurs to create sustainable brands? A sustainable brand is fairly simple. It means: Do the right thing at all times. While that might be easier said than done, this simple first principle is one we've challenged ourselves, our clients and partners to live up to, which has served well to empower this growing entrepreneurial market. Once customers (and all stakeholders) know you will have your back when times are tough and even if it costs extra money or effort, you will have built a sustainable brand powered by Dreamship. What are Dreamship's future aspirations and plans for expansion in Vietnam and other markets, and how do you see the company evolving? Our core focus will always be to meet our clients, and their customers, where they need us. While we see the changing e-commerce landscape as more of an opportunity than a threat for the talented entrepreneurs we serve, we acknowledge we need to stay agile to stay relevant. Changing tides at both a macro and micro level contributes to the perpetually shifting ecommerce landscape you've alluded to. Dreamship's platform is intentionally designed to combine the flexibility to add new (physical and digital) product offerings on-demand and the automated tech to scale with (and for) our clients when the opportunity calls. How does Dreamship ensure the reliability and quality of its fulfilment network, and what measures does it take to mitigate risks and ensure customer satisfaction? Dreamship's brand is based on the strength of our fulfilment network that we've cultivated in two primary ways: the long term partnership, and high-fidelity data and automation. For the first factor, we have building an insightful long term partnership with industry leaders. The vast majority of the time, there are no quality/SLA issues because our supply partners represent the best of the best in on-demand manufacturing. In the rare case an issue does arise, we are aligned and insist on making it right by our stakeholders, regardless of cost. We have SLA's and contractual agreements, but more importantly, we have built trust together over time by relying on each other for both current and future business we've earned together. Regarding the high-fidelity data and automation, we've built out the people, processes and technology to standardise on-demand fulfilment at scale, which historically has been arduous. Suppliers and client partners alike appreciate the level of visibility and simplicity that Dreamship offers. Internally, we track every component of the order/fulfilment flow at a very granular level, and can proactively identify issues and take pre-emotive actions, like load-balancing or auto-rerouting before constraints are hit. As a print-on-demand platform, how does Dreamship differentiate itself from competitors in the Vietnamese market? We remove any barriers to creation, which helps increase clients' revenue in three key ways, including being their most trusted fulfilment partner for on demand, quality products, providing real-time visibility to empower better decision-making and eliminating friction to partnering and scaling with us. Japanese fast fashion brands take over Vietnamese brands After Stripe Internationals purchase of NEM, Vietnam saw another deal between a Japanese fast fashion brand UNIQLO and local womens apparel company Elise. Fashion chain troubled over label fraud suspicions Fashion chain SEVEN.AM closed its stores after authorities began investigating allegations that the brand replaced "Made in China" labels on its products with Vietnamese ones, while other brands like NEM and IFU are also drawn into suspicion. Next era of e-commerce: Digital transformation with sustainable development E-commerce in Vietnam has entered a new era, focusing on sustainable development and digital transformation to become a driver of the economy. As of March 31, 2023, there were 52 foreign bank branches operating in Vietnam. Following the approval of their capital increase request by the SBV, KBank's Ho Chi Minh City branch is now poised to join the ranks of the top three foreign bank branches with the highest charter capital in the country. As one of the top three largest banks in Thailand with total assets worth $123 billion at the end of 2022, KBank is now setting its sights on conquering the Vietnamese market. After only a year of operation, the bank has announced this significant capital injection to enhance its transaction ecosystem and bolster its competitiveness, with the ultimate goal of becoming a digital leader in the region. The bank has set an ambitious target to rank among the top 20 banks in Vietnam in terms of total assets by 2027. Chat Luangarpa, KBank Executive Vice President, said, "KBank is proud to announce the decision to increase its charter capital by 2.5 times as a testament to our unwavering commitment to drive Vietnam's economic growth. This strategic decision will empower us to better assist business and retail customers, particularly in the midst of a volatile economic climate where the need for capital solutions has never been greater." "This infusion of funding will provide the necessary impetus for our cutting-edge IT platform in Vietnam, which has been a key enabler in driving our digital leadership," Luangarpa added. Building on its digital banking leadership, KBank remains committed to providing accessible and convenient digital banking services for Vietnamese consumers, anytime, anywhere. Capital increase has remained the paramount focus of banks operating in Vietnam in recent years, given the escalating industry requirements concerning operational safety. A plentiful capital reserve not only substantiates a bank's financial capabilities and enables the realisation of medium and long-term business goals, but it also ensures compliance with the capital adequacy ratio stipulated by regulatory bodies, thereby supporting the achievement of annual growth targets. Since entering the Vietnamese market, KBank has identified household businesses along with small and medium enterprises as significant contributors to the economy, accounting for over 97 per cent of the country's business structure. However, these entities often face difficulties in meeting the stringent collateral requirements of domestic banks. By increasing its charter capital, KBank intends to conduct extensive research and expand its services to this target group, providing opportunities for them to expand their businesses on a larger scale in the future. As part of its growth strategy, KBank is committed to advancing its digital payment and loan products in Vietnam, aligned with the government's push for cashless transactions. With its proven expertise in digital banking, KBank's 'K PLUS Vietnam' application offers Vietnamese customers a range of user-friendly loan products, including the 'KBank Biz Loan'. KBank aims to have outstanding loans of $960 million in 2023, streamlining the capital rotation process for businesses and accelerating economic growth in the country. Kasikornbank pledges seven-decade experience to Vietnamese SMEs Thai-based Kasikornbank (KBank) in conjunction with the Ministry of Planning and Investment held the co-organising seminar titled "Holistic empowerment of SMEs: How public and private sectors can join hands to develop SME landscape" on March 30. Thai KBank moves another step to bolster local SMEs KASIKORNBANK and Vietnams Agency for Enterprise Development last week signed a memorandum of understanding on the promotion of the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises and economic co-operation between Thailand and Vietnam. The MARD sent documents detailing the problem to several localities, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Defence on May 4. These documents require parties to control and supervise poultry-import activities and to apply strict punishment to violators to prevent the risk of infectious diseases. Accordingly, the MARD expects that these parties will develop solutions to survey border crossings, trails, seaports, and river ways to control the situation. Batches of illegally imported poultry will be culled immediately. The total chicken population of Vietnam, including white-feathered chickens, coloured chickens, and egg-laying hens, was 498 million in 2020 and is predicted to rise to about 555 million this year, according to the Vietnam Net Global. Meanwhile, statistics published by the Department of Livestock Production show that the total chicken volume imported both by legal and illegal channels is estimated at 200,000-250,000 tonnes per year. In the last five years, the volume of imported poultry is reported to have seen an average annual increase of 15 per cent. Nguyen Thanh Son, chairman of the Vietnam Poultry Association, said that the poultry sector has faced many difficulties recently as the domestic supply alone currently exceeds demand. As a result, both livestock companies and households are suffering losses. In light of the situation, Vu Anh Tuan, deputy director of C.P. Vietnam is petitioning the MARD to propose the provision of credit incentives, decrease the corporate tax for livestock companies, and lower import taxes for material to produce animal feed. Thai Navy strives to prevent oil spill in Gulf of Thailand The Thai government has ordered the Royal Thai Navy to join efforts to rescue an oil tanker operated by a unit of Chevron Corp that was damaged earlier this week during a routine maintenance in the Gulf of Thailand. Record haul of smuggled ivory seized in northern port city Task forces in the northern port city of Hai Phong seized about 7 tonnes of tusks hidden in a container arriving at Nam Dinh Vu Port from Africa on March 20, according to the General Department of Customs. Vietnam's National Power Development Plan for the 20212030 period has been delayed, much to the displeasure of investors. Speaking on May 4, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An said, "The MoIT is in constant contact with the government to approve the plan." The PDP8 is a significant sectoral master plan that will ensure national energy security while offering adequate, stable, and high-quality electricity at affordable prices for socioeconomic development. According to An, finalising the draft became complicated after Vietnam committed to attaining net-zero emissions by 2050 at COP26 and joined the Just Energy Transition Partnership. "More time is required to evaluate the situation and make the necessary adjustments to accomplish the energy and climate transition goals," An said. Although progress on the plan's approval could be delayed for some time, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, revealed on April 22 that he would devise and suggest policies for the pilot execution of PDP8 once approval was granted by the government. Dr. Ngo Duc Lam, former deputy director of the Institute of Energy under the MoIT, said, "PDP8 was developed in 2019 and should have been authorised in 2020, but with four draft submissions, nearly half of this year's plans have yet to be authorised." According to Lam, electricity planning has never before been required to go through so many revisions and contrary to the principle that planning must be one step ahead, the PDP8 is falling behind. The majority of power initiatives require a considerable amount of time to implement and prior to the PDP8, some power grid and power source initiatives that were omitted from the PDP7 had to be added to this plan. Moreover, the aim of developing 7GW of offshore wind power by 2030 may not be achievable because investors lack the information necessary to make the right decisions. Everything must wait until the PDP8 is given the green light. According to analysts, this plan is particularly important as it serves as the foundation for many other associated sectoral development schemes and further power projects throughout the country. In addition, Vietnam's transition from conventional, polluting energy, to more sustainable, ecological sources has attracted interest from foreign investors in the renewable energy sector, particularly wind power. John Rockhold, leader of the Power & Energy Working Group of the Vietnam Business Forum, believes there is not much time left for investors to meet their renewable energy development commitments and objectives in Vietnam. "There needs to be assurances over energy security and the capability of these master plans to achieve the economic and social goals laid out. Vietnam cannot rely solely on public resources, but must also develop strategies to draw the financial and technical participation of the private sector," said Rockhold. According to Rockhold, Resolution No.55-NQ/TW of the Politburo and the PDP8 seek to promote green and sustainable energy and will need approximately $16 billion to help Vietnam transition to renewable energy. To achieve this funding, he urged Vietnam to establish a legal framework for attracting private capital. "We believe that the right regulatory framework will boost capital inflows into Vietnam," he stated. Prime minister hosts meeting to complete PDP8 On September 28, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will work with leaders from many ministries and enterprises to discuss the National Power Development Plan VIII (PDP8). Assessing the dual features of nations energy plan and PDP8 Vietnams immediate prime concern is to conclude its energy plans and establish a blueprint for sustainable growth. The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technologys Dr. Bui Huy Phung, a former member of the Power Development Plan VII (PDP7) Appraisal Council, responded to VIRs Hai Van on this topic. Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon predicts the emergence of the weather pattern known as El Nino could relieve some aspects of the current drought in Central Texas come fall. But in coming years, warming global temperatures could mean drier soil and faster-forming droughts despite more intense, erratic rains, he told the Waco Rotary Club on Tuesday. A drought that began in 2021 has lingered into spring in Waco, with Lake Waco down 10 feet and Stage 2 drought restrictions still in place. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows 56% of McLennan County is in drought, down from 87% last week, thanks to a series of thunderstorms. Nielsen-Gammon, an atmospheric science professor at Texas A&M University, said the Waco region has been a dividing line between the dry western part of the state and the wetter eastern part as the region looks at the tail end of what has amounted to a two-year drought. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, East Texas is looking wetter than average. But further west it looks like much of the winter wheat crop in the Panhandle will fail, as drought conditions have persisted, Nielsen-Gammon said. So far this year, the Colorado River that supplies water for Austin has had its driest four months on record in terms of water flowing into reservoirs, he said. In the 12 months leading up to October 2022 Waco almost beat its own low-rainfall record, hitting just 15.66 inches of rainfall as the sixth-driest 12-month period recorded. In 2021 Waco enjoyed a wet spring and summer, coming into November 2021 10 inches above average rainfall, Nielsen-Gammon said. Then the rain stopped. Anticipated rainfall outpaced actual rainfall totals by March 2022 and never recovered. From November 2021 to November 2022, we went from basically close to 10 inches above normal to 10 inches below normal in that period, he said. Its basically historic drought conditions. Thunderstorms overnight Thursday brought the month-to-date rainfall total to 1.19 inches. Waco has received 11.19 inches so far this year, down 1.42 inches from normal but nearly 5 inches more than 2022 year to date. May is historically Wacos wettest month, according to the National Weather Service, with a normal rainfall of 4.44 inches. Over the last decade, the average May rainfall total has been 5.68 inches, with a range of 2.8 inches in May 2017 to 9.27 inches in 2015. Lake Wacos elevation late Friday topped 452 feet above sea level, up one foot since April 19 and the highest since October thanks to runoff from intense rains. The normal level of the lake is set at 462 feet. Though the rise is promising, water utility spokesperson Jessica Emmett Sellers said the city anticipates the need for Stage 3 drought restrictions in coming months. She encourages residents to be mindful of water use, even beyond current restrictions if possible. Weve seen a slight increase in the lake levels thanks to recent rains, which has kept us above the Stage 3 trigger level, Sellers said. We hope that a change in weather patterns this fall will help get us closer to normal lake levels, but anticipated spring and summer rain isnt forecast to be enough to prevent the move to Stage 3 any time soon. North American weather patterns are influenced by large-scale climate patterns, the El Nino Southern Oscillation, that either reduce or increase the temperature gradient from the pole to the equator and shift the Pacific Jet Stream. La Nina, a climate pattern characterized by lower-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the Pacific, was present from 2021 until earlier this year. The jet streams shift north during La Nina creates drier and hotter conditions than normal in the southern United States. La Nina was also present in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2018. Looking at historical trends, the El Nino Southern Oscillation patterns do not have much of an effect on rainfall in Texas during the warm season, Nielsen-Gammon said. However, rainfall in the spring and early summer in Central Texas is highly dependent on the amount of rainfall beforehand. Moisture from the soil evaporates, which can fuel future storms, he said, but in periods of drought the dryness is somewhat self-perpetuating. Sea surface temperatures are rising, representing a shift from La Nina to neutral, then to El Nino, the other extreme. The south tends to be wetter during El Nino winters, as thunderstorms move toward the central Pacific. With El Nino developing, that means that we have pretty good odds of having a wetter-than-normal period from late fall through winter to early spring next year, Nielsen-Gammon said. Not any good way of forecasting rainfall during the summertime, but once we get past the summer, things are going to be hopefully looking better. To predict much further than a year out, Nielsen-Gammon said it is important to look at climate changes rather than changes in weather patterns. He said there are three kinds of evidence that must be in alignment to predict with confidence what might happen: clear historical trends, consistent and reliable model projections and a sound physical reason to expect the trend. If youve got all three of these lined up, if its been happening, if its projected to happen and you know why its happening, you can pretty well count on it, he said. He said historical rainfall trends have been positive, increasing by about 1% per decade in Central Texas since 1895. That statistic would favor decreased drought possibility, but Texas sits between Mexico where theres a projected drying trend and the Midwest thats getting wetter, he said, leaving projections inconclusive. Climate models are consistent, however, in terms of soil moisture, predicting with confidence a 1-2% increase per decade in soil dryness. Nielsen-Gammon said despite average rainfall, global warmings impact on rising temperatures across the state could cause increased evaporation, leading to less soil moisture. Since the 1970s weve been warming at a pace of about 1.5 times the rate of the globe as a whole, he said. Projection going forward is probably not quite that rapid, maybe 20% faster than the globe as a whole. But its been happening over the whole state. And as higher global temperatures cause more evaporation from the grounds moisture and from reservoirs, the character of rainfall is projected to get more intense, as all that water vapor can sit in a warmer atmosphere longer, he said. So we have the same amount of rain and its coming down harder, then more of its going to tend to run off and less of its going to soak into the soil, so that would lead to dryer soils also, he said. Climate models generally agree that annual runoff will increase, which is favorable for reservoirs and water supply. As Lake Waco sits more than 10 feet below conservation pool, the prospect of increased runoff seems favorable for decreasing water restrictions. However, projections say that runoff during a typical month will actually decline, but during heavy-runoff months flood events will increase, Nielsen-Gammon said. So that may mean having to allow for more flood control for reservoir operations and thereby less water supply in the end after all, he said. Plus, you have to worry about water evaporating from the reservoir with the higher temperatures. The question of Wacos drought recovery remains, as substantial runoff and streamflow from the North Bosque watershed is needed before Lake Wacos level will see a significant rise. Having normal rainfall for the past six months has been favorable for agriculture, but does not provide for long-term drought relief in reservoirs, Nielsen-Gammon said. For future droughts, I cant say that theyre definitely going to be worse or definitely better, but its clear theyll develop faster because of the more erratic rainfall and the higher temperatures, he said. LINCOLN The Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation (NCF) announced they awarded over $64,000 in scholarships to help the next generation of the agriculture industry in their academic pursuits. The scholarships were awarded to fifty-nine distinguished students. Ryan Loeske, president of the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation, stated, Each year, generous donors from across the state donate to the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundations Retail Value Steer Challenge Fundraising Project. Our donors support allowed us to award 59 outstanding students with academic scholarships to pursue their education and we cannot thank them enough. He continued, The NCF looks forward to watching these talented students continue their education and strengthen the future of the beef cattle industry. Abby Miller of Mead earned the Bill Briggs Family Memorial Scholarship, $1,200. All scholarship recipients will be recognized at the Nebraska Cattlemen Midyear Meeting in North Platte, Thursday, June 8, during the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation Lunch. To donate or for more information concerning the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation, contact Lee Weide, Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation Secretary at 402-475-2333 or Jana Jensen, Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation Fundraising Coordinator at 308-588-6299. Vintage Aviation News staff did not write this article; the content comes via our partners who wish to help $upport our website. It is hard to imagine the modern world without aviation. It not only allows people to move through space at lightning speed. Aviation also speeds up the transportation of goods. It also has a significant impact on global education. It creates new professions and areas of study. Aviation also allows students to travel to other places to pursue their education and makes such travel fast. Its positive effects are not limited to this. What are the Impacts of Aviation Science and technology are also developing at lightning speed in the modern world. Universities, colleges, and other schools are trying to keep up with all the innovations. Thats why they attract world-renowned teachers and scientists. The latter give lectures and organize various events with them. Also, different resources are available to students to help with assignments. These include online courses and webinars. Many educational institutions offer the opportunity to complete assignments online. At the same time, students can use university assignment help and thus work on their academic performance. It also allows students to better organize their time and focus on learning their profession. The aviation industry is creating new opportunities for students. Thus, the number of qualified specialists in this field is growing. In addition, aviation events and airshows also have a significant impact on education. They stimulate interest in aviation among students and others. They also draw attention to new technologies and innovations in aircraft. Aviation High School One of the professions that aviation has created is pilots. They dont just fly airplanes, they are also called masters of the air. This profession is extremely responsible. It requires a high level of knowledge in the area of aviation safety. Many universities and schools now offer courses and diplomas in aircraft engineering. This gives young people the opportunity to become an aircraft engineer. Also, aviation colleges are becoming the Alma mater for those students who want to become pilots. These institutions offer courses and diplomas in aviation management and flight safety. Such things give an opportunity to develop ones knowledge and prepare for a successful career in the airline industry. Overall, aviation has a significant impact on global education. It opens up many opportunities. That is why it has become a mechanism for the development and creation of new professions and specializations. The opening of flight schools and their programs has allowed students and others to receive professional training in this field and become masters of the air. Current Situation of Aviation Industry Aviation has its own problems and challenges. The current situation in the airline industry is as follows. The rapid development of this sector leads to an increase in carbon emissions and other harmful substances. Undoubtedly, this has a negative impact on the climate and the environment. Therefore, many aviation companies are focusing on developing and using more environmentally friendly technologies and fuels. All this is done to reduce the negative impact on the environment. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline industry has recently been hit hard. Many airlines have ceased operations. Others were forced to reduce them. At the same time, some airlines managed to adapt to the new conditions and offered new services. This allowed them to continue their business. Universities and colleges specializing in aviation education have also been affected by the pandemic. Many of them either switched to distance learning or changed their approaches to it. However, thanks to modern technologies and developments in distance education, many universities have been able to provide students with the opportunity to study from anywhere in the world. What are 3 Benefits of Aviation The ability to move around the world quickly and efficiently. Air transportation allows people to reach remote corners of our planet in just a few hours. The aviation industry made a significant contribution to the global economy. It created millions of jobs and boosted tourism. The airline industry provides security and defense. Many countries have their own air forces. They carry out reconnaissance, defense of the territory and fight against terrorism. Aviation is important for ensuring national security and maintaining international peace. To summarize, we can affirmatively say that aviation has a significant impact on global education. It also directly affects the development of humanity. It opens up many opportunities for students and other people seeking to acquire new knowledge and skills. The airline industry creates new professions and areas. In addition, it facilitates education in remote areas. This is because it provides fast and efficient transportation to different parts of the world. This gives students the opportunity to study at the best universities and schools in the world, regardless of their geographical location. Meanwhile, the masters of the air are at the forefront when it comes to traveling to other continents and islands. Vintage Aviation News staff did not write this article; the content comes via our partners who wish to help $upport our website. INDEPENDENCE General Mills plans to close its Independence pet treats manufacturing plant, costing 250 employees their jobs, a spokesperson confirmed by email Friday. The Blue Buffalo plant, which makes select products for the companys Top Chews and Nudges brands, will shut down by the end of the year. We acquired the Independence facility as part of the acquisition of Nudges and Top Chews products in July 2021, and while never an easy decision to close a manufacturing plant, these changes are in direct support of our pet supply chain strategy, which supports the long-term growth of our business, said Mollie Wulff, a spokesperson at General Mills. The impacted employees will receive career services and benefits support and are encouraged to explore career opportunities across our network, she said. Nudges and Top Chews were products of Tyson Foods. The facility where they were made was added to General Mills portfolio when the company completed the acquisition of Tysons pet treats business for $1.2 billion in cash. General Mills already owned the pet food brand known as Blue Buffalo, now the name of the plant. Photos: A look back at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II ... 70 years ago CEDAR FALLS A 2024 U.S. presidential candidate will be passing through Cedar Falls later this month. Republican Nikki Haley will host an event May 18, a campaign spokesperson confirmed over email Friday, after The Des Moines Register was the first to report the stops on her latest swing through Iowa. No other details were immediately available. The former South Carolina governor is among a group of Republicans who have either announced or are likely to run for president: Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson. Democratic President Joe Biden announced his 2024 campaign last week, virtually securing his nomination as the partys candidate. The Courier Des Moines Bureau contributed to this story. Photos: The Arena League announces Waterloo franchise The Arena League 1 The Arena League 2 The Arena League 3 Tim Brown announces an arena football team in Waterloo Waterloo football franchise ribbon cutting The bells returned and work began Monday on the Campanille and carillon instrument, with the first of the largest bells being lifted Wednesday. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. COLUMBUS, Ohio The Republican secretaries of state in Ohio, West Virginia and Missouri have promoted their states elections as fair and secure. Yet each also is navigating a fine line on how to address election fraud conspiracies as they gear up campaigns for U.S. Senate or governor in 2024. The split-screen messaging of Ohios Frank LaRose, West Virginias Mac Warner and Missouris Jay Ashcroft shows just how deeply election lies have burrowed into the Republican Party, where more than half of voters believe Democrat Joe Biden was not legitimately elected president. Even election officials who tout running clean elections at home are routinely pushing for more voting restrictions and additional scrutiny on the process as they prepare to face GOP primary voters next year. All three withdrew their states last month from the Electronic Registration Information Center, a bipartisan, multistate effort to ensure accurate voter lists. LaRose did so less than a month after calling the group one of the best fraud-fighting tools that we have and vowing to maintain Ohio's membership. He defied backlash against the organization stoked by former President Donald Trump before relenting. The three also have supported increased voter restrictions in their states part of a national trend for Republicans that they say is intended to boost public confidence. Those bills impose new voter ID requirements, shrink windows for processing ballots or ease the ability to consolidate voting precincts. For Republicans aspiring to higher office, "its kind of hard to skip some of these things if you want to succeed in GOP primaries, said Nancy Martorano Miller, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton. That includes appearing responsive to Republican voters' belief in Trump's false claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election at the same time they promote the job they're doing in their own states. Youre secretary of state, so its your job to run elections and make sure theyre fraud-free, Martorano Miller said. Youre kind of stuck between, I need to show Im doing these things to battle fraud,' but at the same time, 'if I make it seem like theres too much fraud, it looks like Im not doing my job. Warner and Ashcroft have announced campaigns for governor while LaRose is considering a U.S. Senate run. When he unveiled legislation in February aimed at standardizing election data, LaRose said it was all about providing transparency so voters would "have confidence in knowing that when the election is over, that the true voice of the people was heard. A couple weeks later, he was sitting on an elections panel titled They Stole It From Us Legally at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. LaRose's spokesperson said the panel was renamed at the last minute, but the secretary used the opportunity to promote the integrity of Ohio elections. Voter fraud is exceedingly rare in Ohio because we take election security very seriously, aggressively pursue those who commit it and refer the potential crime to the attorney general and county prosecutors, Rob Nichols said. Similarly, Ashcroft has said Missouri has secure elections and praised Gov. Mike Parson for signing a package of election law changes last year that included a new photo ID requirement. Missouri voters are passionate about their right to vote," he said. "This bill makes Missouri elections safer and more transparent, which instills confidence and trust. Then in January, Ashcroft hosted a meeting at his office with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a conspiracy theorist who travels the country fueling distrust in elections. The meeting alarmed some voting rights advocates in the state. Warner has defended Trumps false claims of a fraudulent 2020 election and demonstrated alongside Stop the Steal protesters, while also promoting the integrity of West Virginia's elections. He said in a recent interview that he is working to strike a balance between those on the right who believe the 2020 election was stolen and those on the left who argue theres nothing to see here. The truth is obviously somewhere in the middle, he said, while adding: I will admit Biden won the election, but did he do it legitimately? Or did that happen outside the election laws that legislatures in certain states had put in place? Thats where I balk and say no. Warner said he would like to see an after-action review of the 2020 election, like those conducted in the military, to ease citizens minds and make elections better. Trump and others have criticized the expansion of mail voting in 2020 in the COVID-19 pandemic, although there is no evidence of any widespread fraud and multiple reviews in the battleground states where Trump contested his loss have upheld the results. The House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol found that Trump advisers and administration officials repeatedly debunked allegations of fraud in the weeks after the 2020 election, but Trump continued to push the lies, anyway. In a recently settled defamation case against Fox News, a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled it was CRYSTAL clear that none of the claims repeatedly aired on the network about Dominion Voting Systems machines rigging votes against Trump was true. Milestones in women's history from the year you were born Milestones in women's history from the year you were born 1919: National Women's Party sparks 'Watchfires of Freedom' 1920: The 19th Amendment becomes law 1921: Edith Wharton wins the Pulitzer Prize 1922: First woman serves in the Senate 1923: Equal Rights Amendment is first proposed 1924: First woman diplomat gets to work 1925: Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first woman governor in the U.S. 1926: Gertrude Ederle swims the English Channel 1927: Women petition to become 'persons' in Canada 1928: Britain's Equal Franchise Act becomes law 1929: Nigeria's Women's War wins rights 1930: Frances Marion writes Oscar-winning 'The Big House' 1931: Jackie Mitchell strikes out two of baseball's best 1932: Amelia Earhart's first solo flight across the Atlantic 1933: First female Cabinet member is appointed 1934: First woman serves on board of directors of a major corporation 1935: National Council of Negro Women is founded 1936: Wallis Simpson is Time's first female Person of the Year 1937: First woman climbs the Adirondack High Peaks 1938: First woman wins the Nobel Prize in Literature 1939: Kitty O'Brien Joyner is NASA's first woman engineer 1940: First African American woman wins an Oscar 1941: Wonder Woman debuts 1942: First woman is awarded Purple Heart medal 1943: Women's Army Corps is created 1944: French women win the right to vote 1945: Ireland's laundry workers go on strike 1946: UN establishes the Commission on the Status of Women 1947: First woman wins a Nobel Prize in medicine 1948: UN Declaration of Human Rights debuts 1949: 'The Second Sex' is published 1950: First girl plays Little League baseball 1951: Rosalind Franklin makes crucial DNA discoveries 1952: Grace Hopper revolutionizes computers 1953: First woman breaks the sound barrier 1954: UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women goes into force 1955: Rosa Parks sparks Montgomery Bus Boycott 1956: Women march on Pretoria 1957: First television show built around a female protagonist airs 1958: First woman wins multiple Grammys 1959: Tibetan Women's Uprising commences 1960: Sri Lanka elects world's first female prime minister 1961: India bans dowries 1962: Katherine Johnson helps send a man to space 1963: Betty Friedan publishes 'The Feminine Mystique' 1964: First woman of color elected to Congress 1965: Dolores Huerta directs a five-year strike 1966: National Organization for Women is founded 1967: First woman runs the Boston Marathon 1968: Miss America ignites 'bra burning' protests 1969: Nation's first 'no fault' divorce law passes 1970: First woman plays American football 1971: Reed v. Reed is decided 1972: Title IX goes into effect 1973: Roe v. Wade is decided 1974: Women earn the right to open their own credit cards 1975: Icelandic women go on strike 1976: First class of women enters West Point 1977: First woman wins an EGOT 1978: Pregnancy Discrimination Act passes 1979: UN adopts the Women's Bill of Rights 1980: First democratically elected female president takes office 1981: First woman is appointed to the Supreme Court 1982: First African American principal ballerina leads a U.S. company 1983: Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space 1984: First woman is selected VP candidate for a major political party 1985: Guerilla Girls forms 1986: Oprah becomes first woman to own and produce her own talk show 1987: First woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1988: Switzerland establishes Federal Office of Gender Equality 1989: First woman receives IBM fellowship 1990: First female president of the Americas is elected 1991: Anita Hill testifies before the Senate 1992: Junko Tabei finishes climbing the Seven Summits 1993: Family Medical Leave Act becomes law 1994: Violence Against Women Act passes 1995: Fourth World Conference on Women commences 1996: United States v. Virginia is decided 1997: First female secretary of state joins Cabinet 1998: Senegalese mothers end female circumcision in their villages 1999: Google's first female engineer gets to work 2000: Million Mom March commences 2001: Take Back the Night Foundation forms 2002: U.K.'s Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act passes 2003: Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace ends a civil war 2004: March for Women's Lives takes place 2005: Kuwait's Blue Revolution secures women's suffrage 2006: Iran's One Million Signatures campaign ends polygamous marriage 2007: First woman Speaker of the House takes the gavel 2008: Rwanda becomes first country with majority-female legislature 2009: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is signed into law 2010: First woman wins Oscar for Best Director 2011: Saudi Arabian women protest driving ban 2012: UN passes resolution to ban FGC 2013: Pentagon announces end to ban on women in combat 2014: Malala Yousafzai wins the Nobel Peace Prize 2015: Emma Sulkowicz carries her mattress across campus 2016: Hillary Clinton becomes first female presidential candidate for a major party 2017: #MeToo movement takes off 2018: Record-breaking number of women are elected to Congress 2019: First all-woman spacewalk 2020: First woman elected US vice president 2021: Most gender-balanced Olympics in history 2022: Ketanji Brown Jackson becomes first African American woman to serve on US Supreme Court First came the good news. After taking classes at a community college, Ricki Korba was admitted to California State University, Bakersfield, as a transfer student. But when she logged on to her student account, she got a gut punch: Most of her previous classes wouldn't count. The university rejected most of her science classes, she was told, because they were deemed less rigorous than those at Bakersfield even though some used the same textbooks. Several other courses were rejected because Korba exceeded a cap on how many credits can be transferred. Now Korba, a chemistry and music major, is retaking classes she already passed once. It will add a year to her studies, plus at least $20,000 in tuition and fees. "It just feels like a waste of time," said Korba, 23, of Sonora, California. "I thought I was supposed to be going to a CSU and starting hard classes and doing a bunch of cool labs." Every year, hundreds of thousands of students start at community colleges hoping to transfer to a university later. It's advertised as a cheaper path to a bachelor's degree, an education hack in a world of ever-rising tuition costs. Yet the reality is rarely that simple. For some students, the transfer process becomes a maze so confusing it derails their college plans. Among nearly 1 million students who started at a community college in 2016, just one in seven earned a bachelor's degree within six years, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse. One of the biggest obstacles is known as credit loss: when students take classes that never end up counting toward a degree. Sometimes it's a result of poor advising. Without clear guidance from community colleges, students take courses they don't need. Blame can also lie with four-year colleges, which have varying rules for evaluating transfer credits. Some are pickier than others. The outcome, however, is often the same. Students take longer to finish their degrees, costing more in tuition. For many, the extra work becomes too much to bear. Ultimately, roughly half of community college students drop out. "It's completely defeating for some students," said Jessie Ryan, vice president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, a research group. "These systems have been designed to work for colleges and educators, but they haven't been designed to work for students." The search for solutions has yielded scattered success. In many states, colleges and universities have formed partnerships to make sure certain classes transfer. More than a dozen states have adopted common class numbering systems to create consistency across schools. Still, problems remain frustratingly common. A recent study at the City University of New York system found, among students who transferred from a community college to a bachelor's program, nearly half lost at least some work. On average, those students lost the equivalent of almost a full semester. "The pipeline from community college to a bachelor's degree is a very leaky pipeline," said Alexandra Logue, one of the researchers and a former provost at the CUNY system. The outcomes are worst among Black, Hispanic and low-income students, who are more likely to start at community colleges, she said. Korba thought she was taking the right classes at Columbia College, a community college in Sonora. She worked with a counselor and used an online catalog showing which courses were supposed to transfer to CSU schools. But when officials at Bakersfield reviewed the transcript, they said most of her classes wouldn't count toward her major. University officials declined to comment on Korba's case, but said a small number of transfer credits can fall into a "gray area" and require extra review. Dwayne Cantrell, Bakersfield's chief enrollment officer, said credit loss is rare and many classes from California community colleges are accepted automatically. Facing an extra year of school, Korba likely will run out of financial aid before she graduates. She's making plans to go part-time in school and work longer hours so she can afford tuition and rent. But she wonders how long she can juggle it all. Columbia College officials said they will advocate for Korba as much as possible as she continues her education. "We consider the transfer process a high priority as such we will continue to provide focused career counseling and transfer services to assist students with this occasionally challenging process," said Lena Tran, president of the college. Stories like Korba's aren't uncommon, especially in California, which has long struggled to connect its 116 community colleges to more than 30 public universities. When students transfer to any school, their transcripts are often reviewed by faculty. For instance, biology professors would decide whether a biology class from another school should count. But those judgments can be colored by stigma some faculty look down at community colleges and financial incentives, Logue of CUNY said. Some states have intervened to take subjectivity out of the process. Under a new Maryland rule, a class must be accepted if it shares 70% of the learning objectives with a comparable class. If credits are denied, students and community colleges must receive an explanation. California made strides with a 2010 law requiring community colleges to offer special associate degrees guaranteeing admission to a CSU campus. A 2021 law will put all eligible students on that track unless they opt out, and create a set of general education classes that must be accepted at all state universities. Two Virginia colleges have gone further. From their first day on campus, students at Northern Virginia Community College are offered a direct path to a bachelor's at nearby George Mason University. Students receive dual admission at both schools and they can choose from 87 academic pathways telling them exactly which classes they need. 100 best community colleges in America Intro #100. Kansas City Kansas Community College #99. Harper College #98. Central Wyoming College #97. Oakton Community College #96. San Diego Mesa College #95. CUNY Kingsborough Community College #94. Manchester Community College - New Hampshire #93. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College #92. Redlands Community College #91. College of Lake County #90. Glendale Community College - California #89. Lewis & Clark Community College #88. Pinellas Technical College - Clearwater #87. Stanly Community College #86. Amarillo College #85. Eastern Arizona College #84. Northwest College - Wyoming #83. Kapi'olani Community College #82. St. Philip's College #81. Howard Community College #80. Savannah Technical College #79. Saddleback College #78. North Central Kansas Technical College #77. Montgomery College #76. 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Renton Technical College #16. New Mexico Military Institute #15. Mitchell Technical College #14. Lake Area Technical College #13. Lakeshore Technical College #12. Bellingham Technical College #11. Collins Career Technical Center #10. The Ohio State University - Agricultural Technical Institute #9. Craven Community College #8. Atlantic Technical College #7. Southeast Technical College #6. Las Positas College #5. Santa Barbara City College #4. Moraine Park Technical College #3. Fox Valley Technical College #2. Northwood Technical College #1. Foothill College I am addressing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and creator of the Wagner PMC. It is unpleasant for me, as for everyone who is not indifferent to the fate of our country, to hear the latest statements of Yevgeny Viktorovich, and it is doubly unpleasant that the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense does not comment or does not meet with the leadership of the Wagner PMC to make any decision or clarification. After all, Prigozhin deserves respect for the invaluable contribution of the Wagnerites to the liberation of the cities of Donbass. If there is a shortage, then it is necessary to explain, show, on the basis of which the commanders will at least correct the further tactics of the Wagner units, not relying on artillery. I recall the experience of the Chechen units in Mariupol. When it took five tanks from the Ministry of Defense to support the infantry, we were able to provide only one, the combat crew of which left the vehicle in the very first battle. Then the tankers had to be calmed down, set up for battle and put back into the combat vehicle so that they would cover at least one position of the Azov Satanists with volleys. There were also problems with other equipment. Since the beginning of the SVO, we could not replace 30 artillery guns. I personally called Moscow, talked to the commanders, commanders, superiors. A month later the problem was solved. Yes, it didnt work on the first call. But our units did not record videos, they did not give a pleasant informational occasion to the enemy. By the way, filming the bodies of dead comrades for the sake of public outcry is wrong. Lets never do that In the zone of responsibility, for example, Apta Alaudinov, my dear brother, the commander of the Akhmat special forces, the deputy commander of the 2nd Army Corps of the RF Armed Forces, more than a hundred kilometers of the line of contact with the enemy. Not a day goes by that he doesnt have problems. But not once did Apty Aronovich declare this publicly via the Internet, but only through internal communication with the leadership. I note that the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, with rare exceptions, have always met the Chechen units and helped. And misunderstandings are always present in ordinary civilian life, not to mention the war, where there is ALWAYS not enough ammunition! I really hope that Sergei Kuzhugetovich will listen to my call and an order will be given to the General Staff to go to the place and sort things out. This is the only and soldierly correct way out of the situation. Chechen units fought side by side with the Wagnerites in the most difficult areas in Popasnaya, Severodonetsk, Lisichansk and other settlements of Donbass. Together they performed a sacred duty to the Motherland without division into nationalities or faith. The interests of the state and the security of the country must come first. And when the SVO ends, I would like all of us to be winners, every fighter, every commander, every Russian patriot. Together. Yes, if older brother Prigozhin and Wagner leave, then the General Staff will lose an experienced combat unit, and his younger brother Kadyrov and Akhmat will come to his place in Artyomovsk. If the scenario is still like this, then our fighters are ready to advance and occupy the city. Its a matter of hours. But I would like us to take the remaining two kilometers of the city not at the cost of the lives of soldiers, but as a result of mutual understanding, support, determination of the command and fighters to fulfill the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Kadyrov Update 07/05/2023: The suspect, identified as 29-year-old Ukrainian-born Alexander Permyakov, was apprehended shortly after the attack while trying to escape the scene on foot. Locals alerted the police to the fleeing man, who was eventually captured in a nearby village *** On May 6, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, as a result of a car explosion on an explosive device planted along its route, a veteran of military operations in the LPR Alexander Shubin died, Russian writer, publicist and public figure E.N. Prilepin (Zakhar Prilepin) was seriously injured. Russian law enforcement agencies are investigating all the details of what happened. However, already now, from the materials received by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Russian Investigative Committee, which quickly worked, it is obvious that we are talking about another terrorist act organized and carried out by the Kiev regime, behind which Western curators stand. The terrorist attack against Evgeny Prilepin is yet another manifestation of that systematic approach to eliminating ideological opponents, which, through the efforts of Washington, has been actively planted in Ukraine since 2014, becoming the basic reflex of the Kyiv regime. < > Today, a real hunt has been declared for objectionable journalists, writers, and public figures. In August 2022, saboteurs of the Kiev regime in the same way blowing up a car dealt with the Russian journalist D.A. Dugina , in March 2023 they attempted on the life of the founder of the Tsargrad TV channel K.V. Malofeev . An improvised explosive device also became the murder weapon of M.Yu. Fomin (Vladlen Tatarsky), a military commissar. Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with the Ukrainian authorities, but with their Western patrons, primarily the United States, through whose efforts, since the February 2014 coup detat, the anti-Russian project implicated in neo-Nazism in Ukraine has been painstakingly nurtured. The lack of condemnation of another terrorist attack against a Russian journalist and public figure by Washington is self-revealing for the US authorities. The silence of relevant international organizations is unacceptable. We express our condolences to the families and friends of the deceased. We wish E.N. Prilepin a speedy recovery. WtR FOUNTAIN CITY Residents and business owners along Highway 35 in Fountain City are looking forward to summer after historic floodwaters rapidly receded and cleanup efforts to remove thousands of sandbags are winding down. We had our trials, but we made it through, said Jason Puterbaugh, owner of WingDam Saloon and Grill, which flooded in April. WingDam reopened late Friday morning for the first time since the flood. It was a crazy experience, said Steve Prosser, a Fountain City resident removing sandbags from around his house. Residents, business owners and local officials noted the speed that the river receded. Just one week after the Mississippi River crested last Tuesday, the river stage at Minnesota City fell by nearly four feet. Mississippi River gauges just upstream and downstream of Fountain City are predicted to read water levels below flood stage on Saturday. Thats been nice if there was a silver lining, said Anson McCune, general manager of Fountain City Ford, another Highway 35 business in Fountain City that flooded and reopened Thursday. Residents and businesses spent the week clearing the thousands of sandbags and plastic tarps laid in preparation. Even after floodwaters receded, people across Fountain city pointed to the flood preparation done by volunteers including busloads of students from Cochrane-Fountain City High School. They sure added a lot to the sandbagging efforts, so we appreciate them, said Jeff Mann with Gasoline Alley, an auto business on the flooded section of Highway 35. Mann said that the building, primarily used for storage, was not flooded. The cleanup has gone incredibly well, said Prosser, noting the role volunteers played in facilitating residents getting sandbags. Ive lived here for 40 years, so the system has been refined. People were really good at helping. If they said they needed help, they came, said Frances Burt, a longtime Fountain City resident who was able to stay at her riverfront residence, built on an elevated slope, during the flood. Despite the thousands of sandbags that were laid in preparation for the flood and that needed to be cleaned up once waters receded floodwaters rose through cracks in the Highway 35 blacktop. The Buffalo County Highway Department repaired part of the road submerged by the flood before opening the road on Wednesday. They re-did the road, which I think is really something, said Burt. It would have been terrible for people to drive on. Rising waters flooded the WingDam Saloon and Grill, basement, but no water reached the work area of the building. Flooding isnt new to the restaurant, which opened 17 years ago. During 2019 floods, the bar closed for five days. This year, flooding shut down WingDam for three weeks. It definitely hurt me big time financially. We lost three weeks of sales, said Puterbaugh, comparing the time to three weeks without paid leave. Since Ive been here its the worst one. In addition to lost sales, which are not covered through the business flood insurance, the pumps WingDam rented cost over $1,000 to rent, not including the cost of gasoline and electricity. As of Wednesday, the business was still pumping water out of the basement. (We) look forward to serving our loyal customers again, said Puterbaugh. Getting rid of sandbags, getting everything cleaned up and getting ready for a busy summer, hopefully. A block down the street, Fountain City Ford ran nine pumps for three days straight to clear flooded shop floors. Damage to the building was minimal, said general manager Anson McCune, but the flood inflicted an estimated $50,000 in costs, including the cost to rent pumps and labor to move the 5,000 70-pound sandbags around the dealership. While a Ford dealership has stood at that location for more than 100 years, the dealership came under new management in 2021. This was our first flood since weve been in charge, said McCune. Its hard to fight when you dont have the knowledge. Now that we have it, it will be a lot more effective. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Evacuees flown out of Sudan disembark a Qatari C-17 Globemaster at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Saturday, May 6, 2023. Qatar flew a relief flight into Sudan, carrying some 40 tons of food and leaving with 150 evacuees early Saturday as fighting continues between two generals vying for power in the African nation. (AP Photo/Lujain Jo) This image taken from video released by the Russian Investigative Committee on Saturday, May 6, 2023, shows the site of the exploded car of Russian writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. Russian state news agency Tass says the car of Prilepin exploded in Russia on Saturday, May 6, 2023, injuring him and killing his driver. (Russian Investigative Committee via AP) 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. King Charles III is now the anointed sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, after 70 years as heir to the throne the longest wait in history to claim a destiny ordained at birth. Charles, 74, was crowned Saturday in an ancient and often moving religious ritual that bowed to tradition, displayed Britains honed sense of organized pageantry, and added touches of modernity aimed at updating a 1,000-year-old monarchy for an uncertain future. He is the oldest monarch ever to take the throne in the U.K. It was a normal spring day, a bit wet, as it was for the 1953 and 1937 coronations. But it wasnt torrential, just a drizzle, nothing that would dampen the enthusiasm of the cheering crowds of royal fans lining the Mall for the procession to Westminster Abbey; some of them had been camped out there for days. Charles consort, Queen Camilla, 75, was crowned as well, and his heirs to the throne son William, the Prince of Wales, 40, and grandson Prince George of Wales, 9 took part in the two-hour ceremony in Westminster Abbey. The king emerged from the abbey wearing the heavy imperial state crown and with Queen Camilla returned to Buckingham Palace in an antique horse-drawn carriage accompanied by ranks of colorfully clad troops, horses and bands through central London streets lined with enthusiastic crowds. Later, the royal couple, wearing their crowns and coronation robes, appeared on the palace balcony with most of his immediate family to acknowledge the cheers from the jam-packed Mall, and to watch the traditional, always impressive fly-past by military aircraft trailing British red, white and blue. Here are some of the highlights of the day, widely carried by broadcasters around the world for hours before the ceremony began at 11 a.m. London time. The British outdid themselves again, pulling off a massive and complicated coronation ritual that was almost flawless. The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby places the St Edwards Crown on King Charles III. WPA Pool/Getty Images Balancing the weight of the crown ... literally! The St. Edwards Crown wobbled. After placing it on Charles head, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, seemed to twist it a bit to make sure it stayed put, then briefly lifted it again to secure it. The crown tipped forward, so the archbishop adjusted it some more before he was satisfied. Aside from being old, the crown is heavy and tall, but it was specially fitted for the kings head after being removed from the Tower of London, where it is usually part of the display of the crown jewels. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, talks to his aunt, Princess Anne, Princess Royal at Westminster Abbey. AFP via Getty Images Where is Prince Harry? Not at the back, as predicted by some hostile tabloids, but not in the front, either. The Duke of Sussex was seated in the third row, far from estranged elder brother Prince William and his family in the front row. Harry, the rebel younger son of the king, who is fifth in line to the throne and a Councilor of State, paid a price for his decision to give up his royal role and move with his American wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, to California: He walked into the abbey alone (Meghan stayed home with their two children) behind his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and their husbands, who followed their father, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the kings younger, scandal-scarred brother. All of the Yorks are far behind Harry in the succession. Harry was not wearing a uniform because he was stripped of his military associations and roles by his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, after he left the U.K. And he was not on the palace balcony after the ceremony; he was expected to return to California immediately after the ceremony, thus missing the coronation concert on Sunday at Windsor Castle. Prince William touches the St Edward's Crown on the head of his father, King Charles III. AFP via Getty Images Prince William bows to the King Prince William, first in line to the throne now, was first after the archbishop to pay homage to the king and he was the only one because the Homage of the Peers of past coronations was dropped. He pledged to be the kings liege man, and kissed him on the cheek. The Bernalillo County Courthouse has taken on a somewhat medieval vibe with the addition of new fencing around the building. Visitors to the county-owned building at Fourth and Lomas NW recently have been treated to the sight of new wrought-iron fencing resembling rows of spears guarding the porticos around the courthouse, home of New Mexicos 2nd Judicial District Court. The fencing adds a distinctive touch to the stone Romanesque archways along the courthouse facade. The spear motif would make a Roman legionnaire feel right at home. Looking on from across Fourth Street is a 14-foot scrap-iron Bumblebee statue, modeled on an Autobot character from the Transformers movie franchise. Its no secret that the semi-enclosed areas around the courthouse had become a favorite place for folks to sleep and hang out overnight before the new fencing was installed in late March. Old blankets, fast-food wrappers and other debris were a common sight around the courthouse most mornings. Now, staff lock the gates at the end of each business day. Litter still turns up around the margins of the property, but probably not in the same quantity as before. The wrought iron gates were installed to prevent sleeping, drug use, littering, and depositing of human waste around the courthouse, Bernalillo County spokeswoman Tia Bland said in a written statement. The county was cleaning up drug paraphernalia and feces every day. The cost of the fencing and installation was $217,000. We hope it will make the courthouse feel more sanitary and safer for all visitors and employees, Jared Divett, the countys fleet and facilities management director, said of the fencing. The new security measure was erected primarily at the request of the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office and the 2nd Judicial District Court administrative staff, she said. Chief District Judge Marie Ward said the court values safety and security for employees and visitors. The fencing, which is open during the daytime and secured in the evenings and weekends, adds an extra layer of security and helps to maintain the beauty of the Bernalillo County Courthouse. Olivier Uyttebrouck covers courts for the Journal. Send him questions at ouyttebrouck@abqjournal.com. More courts news: Jury returns guilty verdict in 2019 shooting death of Jacqueline Vigil Three men sentenced in torture, killings of 14- and 15-year-old boys in 2018 Supreme Court suspends Santa Fe magistrate judge charged in DWI crash This story was first published by Searchlight New Mexico. In March, New Mexico lawmakers took their biggest step yet in an attempt to block plans for a nuclear waste storage facility in the scrublands near Carlsbad. The Legislature passed Senate Bill 53 on a largely partisan vote, seeking to block Holtec Internationals eight-year effort to build a facility in southeastern New Mexico that would hold 8,680 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants across the country. The state has been challenging Holtecs plans for years, both in court and before the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But New Mexicos best chance at stopping the project may come in the form of the new law, which became effective when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed it on March 17. Legal and nuclear experts anticipate that the law will face legal challenges, however. And in the end, federal courts will likely determine if New Mexico has the authority to keep Holtec from building its Consolidated Interim Storage Facility on a 1,040-acre site between Carlsbad and Hobbs. Foes of the project include not only the governor and state legislators, but also the states congressional delegation, the All Pueblo Council of Governors, numerous local governments and a wide array of activists and citizens. Transporting radioactive waste through New Mexico and storing it near one of the worlds most productive oil fields would jeopardize the economy, the environment, and health and safety, opponents say. Supporters say the Holtec facility would create jobs and is desperately needed. The nations lack of a nuclear waste repository has forced power plants to store their spent fuel on site, at enormous cost. The expense covered by the federal government has already reached $9 billion. Legal questions ahead Lujan Grisham sent a letter to the NRC shortly after she signed SB 53, asking the agency to immediately suspend any further consideration of the Holtec license application. The new law, the governor noted, establishes two conditions that must be met before the state can issue permits, contracts or licenses for a high-level nuclear waste storage facility. First, New Mexico must consent to the facility; and second, the federal government must have a permanent nuclear waste repository in place, so that an alternative storage site exists. Neither of those conditions have been met. In the event of a court challenge, legal experts say New Mexico will need to prove that the new law is not focused on safety concerns. Nuclear safety, including the storage and transport of radioactive waste, falls under the federal governments purview, as established by the Atomic Energy Act (AEA). Under the AEA, the federal government reserves the right to regulate safety issues for nuclear power plants and waste. The federal law preempts or takes precedence over state statutes, which can be challenged in court if they conflict with federal authority. Costly and time-consuming litigation could occur if this bill were challenged, as the fiscal impact report for the new law puts it. The measures co-sponsor, Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, directly addressed the preemption issue during committee hearings, assuring fellow lawmakers that the bill sidestepped any problems. Federal law preempts the states ability to regulate the safety or handling of nuclear waste, he told the House Judiciary Committee in March. So were not doing that. About half a dozen lawyers and experts, however, said it was unclear whether New Mexicos law could be considered a preemption. Nuclear waste storage laws like New Mexicos are almost always challenged in court, said Geoffrey Fettus, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. However, he said, New Mexico took deep pains to sail the ship into the dock without hitting the sides of federal preemption. Mixed results in court Nearly two decades ago, Utah enacted statutes to block an interim nuclear waste storage facility, basing them on safety concerns. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit struck down Utahs laws, finding that they were preempted. (The facility was nevertheless never built due to political opposition.) A more recent case regarding Virginias battle to ban uranium mining went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. This time, the state prevailed: The high court upheld Virginias ban in 2019. Legislation, meanwhile, has not always paid off. In September 2021, Texas enacted House Bill 7 to block a nuclear waste storage facility much like the Holtec project, located about a mile from the New Mexico border. Days later, the NRC approved a license for it. (The facility is not yet built; the battle against it is ongoing.) The NRC has not yet issued a decision about whether it will approve a license for Holtecs venture in New Mexico. The agency recently informed Holtec that its decision would be delayed until about the end of May. Train crashes and temblors In the backdrop, safety issues remain a major concern. Among many potential dangers, critics of the Holtec project note that trains transporting radioactive waste could derail or crash, a possibility made more real by the recent train derailment disaster in Ohio. An accident involving the Holtec project would not only threaten residents and the environment. It could also devastate the economy, according to the legislative fiscal impact report. A significant accident or attack on a radioactive waste storage facility could significantly disrupt oil and gas activity in one of the most productive oil and gas producing regions in the world, it stated. In court documents, New Mexico has argued that the NRC did not consider the costs associated with upgrades to the states rail system to accommodate the transportation of large volumes of spent nuclear fuel. The Permian Basin is also prone to earthquakes, which have been linked to injection wells associated with fracking. New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney has expressed concern that earthquakes could damage Holtecs storage canisters, jeopardizing the public and the groundwater. Another concern is that Holtec could go out of business, leaving the canisters to languish and deteriorate, a prospect that many opponents mentioned during legislative committee meetings. Defenders cite benefits Patrick OBrien, a Holtec spokesman, said the company is deeply disappointed in New Mexicos new law. The proposed storage facility, he said in an emailed statement, is safe, secure and does not impact the environment negatively. The Holtec facility has local backing, OBrien added. Supporters include business leaders and public officials in Eddy and Lea counties, whose Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance has been promoting the project for years. The facility is a tremendous economic opportunity for Southeastern New Mexico, OBrien wrote. The company, he said, will continue working to help provide an interim solution to the spent fuel management impasse in the United States. Searchlight New Mexico and NM Political Report collaborated on this story. Searchlight New Mexico is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to investigative reporting in New Mexico. An Albuquerque police officer allegedly tried to strike up a romantic relationship with a 13-year-old in March inviting her to sleep over and trying to kiss her after initially responding to her house when she was contemplating suicide on two separate occasions. Officer Joshua DeLeon, 27, was placed on administrative leave from the department on March 9 and then resigned after the allegations surfaced. On Friday he was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on charges of child solicitation by electronic device and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. DeLeon is also charged with receiving public money for services not rendered after meeting the girl at her apartment on multiple occasions while in uniform and on duty. DeLeon reportedly told investigators he thought the girl was 14 but he had developed a crush on the teen, identified in court records as D.L., and considered her more than a friend. When police searched DeLeons patrol vehicle they found an unopened package of condoms, according to court records. When they searched his SnapChat account, they found an inappropriate chat with a separate self-proclaimed 13-year-old girl. It is unclear if DeLeon has an attorney. Prosecutors have filed a motion to detain DeLeon until trial, calling him a danger to young female children in our community who has shown that he has a sexual interest in vulnerable girls. In the motion prosecutors said the SnapChat messages between DeLeon and a separate teen are still being reviewed. However, this indicates that D.L. may not be (DeLeons) only victim, the motion states. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said in a statement, this kind of behavior is beyond disturbing, and it is a disservice to the department and our profession. Medina continued: I am disgusted by the fact that an officer would prey on a child who was experiencing a crisis, and relied on him for help during that crisis, adding that the department immediately relieved DeLeon of duty and opened a criminal investigation. While this case is adjudicated in the courts, we will change APD policies to make it clear we will not tolerate inappropriate contact between officers and citizens they encounter during calls for service, Medina said. On March 9 police learned the teen reported DeLeon being inappropriate with her, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. The girl told police she was scared as DeLeon had become aggressive when she wouldnt kiss him. Police said DeLeon first met the girl on Feb. 8 when he responded to her residence after she threatened suicide due to bullying at school. Then, on Feb. 14, he responded to the girls home again when she threatened suicide with a knife. The girl was taken to a hospital and treated for the next several days after that incident, according to the complaint. DeLeon began texting her on Feb. 25 asking if she was doing okay. Police said the pair began talking over the next few weeks, with DeLeon at first offering to cruise by to check on her offering to bring snacks and candy. He then offered to take her on a ride-along and would buy you anything you want. On March 3 DeLeon visited the teen at her apartment for the first time, texting her that she was very cute and adorable afterward, according to the complaint. On March 5 DeLeon texted that they go to a movie together and this might be bad but I think I like you. Police said the teen texted that she was inexperienced being in a relationship and DeLeon replied, I can teach you and we can keep it a secret. I dont think people would be okay with us dating, DeLeon texted the teen, according to the complaint. Because youre much younger and Im much older lol. Police said the teen asked is that bad? and DeLeon replied Technically yes.. lol. DeLeon then reportedly told the girl she should come stay the night sometime. When the teen asked what they would do, DeLeon replied, well we can seehow the night goes and just take it from there, according to the complaint. Then DeLeon said they could watch movies, play games, kiss, whatever else the night brings. DeLeon deleted the messages between the two on his phone but records showed they texted each other 250 times in two weeks. Police said surveillance video in the teens apartment caught DeLeon meeting with the girl after midnight on March 9, while on duty and in uniform. Video reportedly shows DeLeon hug the teen before they move out of view and he allegedly tried to kiss her. The teen told police she covered her face with a folder to stop DeLeon from kissing her and he got frustrated, according to the complaint. He texted her that was mean lol and she replied how was it rude and DeLeon texted Because lol I was hoping for a yes. Police said the teen told them DeLeon should have been there to help and protect her. When police interviewed DeLeon he initially told them he was doing a welfare check on the girl and denied trying to kiss her, according to the complaint. DeLeon said he invited the girl to stay over to give her options where she would have a sense of peace. Police said DeLeon acknowledged it was not appropriate and then told police he had developed a crush on the teen, felt they were more than friends, asked her for photos and sent her photos including one of him on his bed. A detective asked DeLeon you fell for her? and he replied unfortunately so, according to court records. An accused serial arsonist will remain in jail for now on charges stemming from an April 22 fire in the Huning Highland historic district after which he allegedly assaulted the owner of the property who chased him down. Sly Quincy Jones mental competency to stand trial wasnt considered because the issue before state District Judge Emeterio Rudolpho on Friday was whether Jones criminal history, past conduct and appearances at court proceedings warranted pretrial detention. At the hearing, Rudolpho lamented about the travesty or whatever we have for our mental health system. But the judge said he found no other way to protect the safety of others than to keep Jones in jail pending trial on felony charges of arson, aggravated assault and possession of controlled substances. No trial date is set. Assistant District Attorney Victor Sanchez told the judge criminal complaints allege Jones, 51, has set more than 10 fires in the past few years. That doesnt include the April 22 fire, after which Jones was charged and released on conditions pending trial. Four days after his release, another blaze in the same neighborhood erupted, court records show. He has not been charged in that suspected arson, but is under investigation. Each time the fire department had to go stop these fires and neighbors had to come out and attempt to stop these fires, Sanchez said. He has basically shown that hes a danger and that whenever he is caught, then he attacks the victim by throwing rocks or whatever. Jones defense attorney Douglas Wilber took issue with Sanchez characterizing Jones as a serial arsonist, noting that hes never been convicted of arson. Wilber acknowledged that two prior criminal cases filed against his client in 2021 were dismissed after Jones was found mentally incompetent to stand trial. Prosecutors at the time charged Jones with fire-related crimes, such as improper handling of fire and criminal damage to property. The fact remains, there has not been in any of these cases a factual hearing on the merits, Wilber said. He criticized the prosecution for making more out of the cases than the evidence showed. For instance, Wilber said the criminal complaint related to the April 22 fire refers to allegations that Mr. Jones has been starting fires on personal property. However, you know whats actually being burned is basically vegetation. The latest fire in the neighborhood engulfed a 1900s-era vacant home on High Street SE the morning of April 28. Jones was seen carrying fire starting material into the building and neighbors noticed him running out of an alley away from the building after the fire started, according to the DA motion for pretrial detention. He allegedly ran from fire investigators who arrived to patrol the area. When eventually caught, he was carrying a lighter, the motion stated. Wilber also said the homeowner who followed Jones after his property was set on fire April 22 was the aggressor, and Jones was the victim. Jones allegedly threw small rocks, then a brick at the homeowner, who had a knife but claimed self-defense. Rudolpho told the attorneys that both the defense and prosecution were using hyperbole. We know in this arid climate, Rudolpho said, even fire that seems to be out in the boonies can spread and put lives in danger. And here were seeing fires in real close proximity to homes and structures, and that, I find, creates a danger to the public. The judge also cited a ruling in July 2021 after Jones was accused of going on a fire-starting spree at a property near High Street SE and Gold Avenue. Four fires were ignited in a small area. Damage was estimated as more than $1,000. State District Judge Alisa Hart granted the DAs request for a detention order in that case, ruling that Jones had uncontrolled propensities to persist in the gravely dangerous conduct of starting fires. She cited his criminal history from the state of Florida, eight cases in New Mexico and two bench warrants for failure to appear. All give rise to the level dangerousness, Hart wrote. Less than a year later, that case and an earlier set of charges were dismissed because of Jones mental competency. Asked by Sanchez if the defense would again bring up the issue of Jones competency, Wilber said, Im not raising it at this time. Cassandra Huneau, 34, has spent almost her entire life dealing with food insecurity. Growing up, she said her family had very little money, and she spent much of her adult life on her own, bouncing around between multiple colleges. At one point, she was on the street, living without a home. Nowadays, the University of New Mexico senior still eats only one meal per day. Its hard to fight through when you dont have food, and youre starting to struggle, she said. Even though I have a high GPA, its been hard to maintain that. Roughly 60% of New Mexico students recently faced food or housing insecurity, according to results from a basic needs survey released Friday by UNM and the state higher education department. Overall, about two-thirds of people on college campuses including faculty and staff have struggled for basic needs. We have a long way to go in New Mexico to eradicate poverty and to solve food insecurity, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said during an event revealing the data. Were climbing out, but we were in such a deep hole. Forty percent of both undergraduate and graduate students who responded to the survey were counted as hungry. Fifteen percent of undergraduates were calculated as homeless, and for graduate students, that number jumps to 20%. Students who are Black or Indigenous tended to face the highest rates of hunger and food insecurity, according to survey results. Demographic data for which student populations face the most housing insecurity wasnt made available Friday. Students dealing with food or housing insecurity often face a trade-off between making ends meet and maintaining their grades. I had to schedule my entire life around when I was working, Blakely Hautzinger, 21, said. Eventually it felt like I was working and doing school on the side rather than the other way around. Students who struggled to meet basic needs tended to experience higher rates of depression and anxiety, and more commonly had lower grade-point averages. Theres a lot of work we have to do, Higher Education Secretary Stephanie Rodriguez said. New Mexico, Lujan Grisham said, will dedicate $1 million to on-campus food projects like food pantries throughout the state. In November, the state higher education department spread $900,000 across 15 schools to help combat food insecurity. But students can sometimes be hesitant to use some of the resources available to them, like food pantries, said associate professor Sarita Cargas, who heads up the UNM Basic Needs Project. Students can also be reticent to classify themselves as homeless, she added. Over 15,000 people a response rate of 16% across 27 public colleges and universities participated in the survey. But the survey is whats known as a convenience sample, Cargas said, meaning it may not necessarily be representative of the entire student, faculty and staff head count on college campuses. Could there be bias that more food insecure people took the survey? Yes. Theres nothing you can do about that, data comes with bias, she said. However, in line with other data, we think its accurate. Instagram Celebrity The 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star has decided 'with heavy hearts' to permanently close down her eatery in West Hollywood because the rent has become 'untenable.' May 6, 2023 AceShowbiz - Lisa Vanderpump is going to shut down her Pump restaurant after almost 10 years. The reality TV star launched her eatery in West Hollywood, California back in 2014 and it went on to feature in her "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" spin-off show "Vanderpump Rules" but the 62-year-old businesswoman has now confirmed Pump is set to close for good due to rising costs. "It's with heavy hearts that we announce that the lease at Pump Restaurant is expiring and we will be closing its doors on July 5th, after 10 years of beautiful evenings under our olive trees ...," a statement posted on the restaurant's Instagram page explained "While we have loved our time operating Pump, to take on another 10-year lease with a huge increase in rent by the landlords, is not something we are ready to commit to. After successfully running 37+ establishments for many years, this type of rent is untenable." "We will be open throughout Pride month in West Hollywood, to support the local community with one last hurrah ... Thank you for the past decade of support, we have loved our staff, our patrons and our time together." The statement added that star plans to open two more restaurants in Las Vegas in conjunction with Caesars Palace within the next 12 months. Vanderpump still runs two other restaurants in California - Tom Tom and SUR - while her other eaterie Villa Blanca in Beverly Hills shut its doors in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since announcing news of Pump's closure, details about the rent agreement have been disputed by the property's landlord, who told New York Post column PageSix, "We did not raise the rent and in fact have been nothing but supportive as they tried to catch up on lease obligations including forgiving some rent during COVID." Lisa previously opened up about her attitude towards her business empire in an interview with Forbes, explaining she wants to focus on "passion projects." She said, "I've got to a stage in my life where everything has to be a passion project. I've done so many different things that now I find that I am motivated by something that excites me. I love design." You can share this post! Instagram Celebrity The 'Crazy Rich Asians' actor and his spouse Liv Lo Golding are over the moon to announce on social media that they are having a new addition to their growing family. May 6, 2023 AceShowbiz - Henry Golding and Liv Lo Golding are due to welcome their second child together. The 36-year-old actor has announced the news on social media and shared a photo of his wife's growing baby bump. "Inbound [heart and child emoji] (sic)," Henry - who already has Lyla, two, with Liv - captioned the snap and shared a black-and-white photo of his family on Instagram. Liv, 37 - who married the Hollywood star in 2016 - has also shared the same image on her own Instagram account. She captioned the photo, "Oh hey! New baby otw, due Sept 1 [heart and stars emojis] (sic)." What's more, the yoga instructor has revealed that she plans to share how she practices yoga throughout her pregnancy in a video series. Liv explained in a caption, "I became a mompreneur when I became pregnant." "I have a prenatal yoga certification and practiced yoga throughout my last pregnancy, but this time, I am sharing my journey to demonstrate how important yoga is for the mind and body because health begins with the mother (sic)." Meanwhile, Henry previously admitted that fatherhood has transformed his life. The actor revealed that becoming a dad for the first time led to a change of "perspective." Henry told "Good Morning America", "It puts everything in perspective. It has allowed me to really kind of focus in on what really matters in life." The "Crazy Rich Asians" star also explained that Liv has been happy to share her experience of motherhood with the world. He said, "I think she felt really comfortable, of course, sort of sharing her experience. It's so important for her to share her experience as a new mother, especially all the challenges that come with that." You can share this post! Instagram Celebrity The late fashion model was on life support at Westmead Hospital for several weeks after being involved in a horse riding accident at Windsor Polo Grounds in Australia. May 6, 2023 AceShowbiz - Miss Universe finalist Sienna Weir has died at the age of 23. After she was involved in a horse riding accident at Windsor Polo Grounds in Australia, the fashion model passed away on Thursday, May 4. Tom Bull, her boyfriend, confirmed her passing on Instagram. "We loved with a love that was more than love," he wrote. Weir, who had a double degree in English literature and psychology from Sydney University, was on life support at Westmead Hospital for several weeks after her accident, according to News.com.au. The model's final Instagram post has already been flooded with heartfelt tributes from her friends, family, and colleagues. One friend wrote, "Heaven has gained the most beautiful angel today. I'll miss everything about you, I love you. I'm so lucky to have known you. Thank you for everything." Weir was actually planning to move to London in the coming years in order to develop her modelling career. Scoop Management, her agency, has shared several photos of Weir on social media, saying that she will "always be remembered." Weir was one of 27 finalists in the Australian Miss Universe competition in 2022, and photographer Chris Dwyer has also taken to social media to pay tribute to her. He wrote, "You were one of the kindest souls in the world, you lit up the room and the world is a lot darker now that you are gone. Hope wherever you are, you're being the gremlin we all know and love. Miss you so much already." Chris Dwyer paid tribute to Sienna Weir. The model started horse-riding at the age of three and she described it as her "passion." She told the Gold Coast Magazine, "My family aren't quite sure where this passion came from, but I've been horse-riding since I was three years old and can't imagine my life without it." You can share this post! Cover Images/Instagram/Dutch Press Photo Celebrity Before eventually deciding to attend the grand royal event, the Duke of Sussex was said to be unsure about showing up considering the tension between him and the rest of the British royal family. May 6, 2023 AceShowbiz - Prince Harry has arrived in London for his father King Charles' coronation. The Duke of Sussex landed in England's capital city on a commercial flight on Friday, May 5, one day before the grand royal event. At the coronation ceremony, Charles and his wife, Camilla, will officially be crowned king and queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms. The event is slated to take place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday. It was reported that before eventually deciding to attend his father's coronation, Harry was initially unsure about showing up considering the tension between him and the rest of the British royal family due to his tell-all memoir "Spare" as well as his and Meghan Markle's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. However, the 38-year-old royal is always open to mending their relationship. "There's a lot that can happen between now and then," Harry confessed during his January ITV interview with Tom Bradby. "But, you know, the door is always open. The ball is in their court. There's a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it." He continued at the time, "I want a family, not an institution. They've shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile. I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother, [Prince William], back. It never needed to be this way. The leaking and the planting They feel as though it's better to keep us, somehow, as the villains." Meanwhile, Harry will attend the historic occasion alone as his wife remains in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. "Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6th May," Buckingham Palace announced in a statement last month. "The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet." However, a source previously claimed that Harry won't be in the U.K. for too long as he will return to Los Angeles two hours after the ceremony in order to make it in time for Archie's 4th birthday celebration. "Harry's going to make every effort to get back in time for Archie's birthday," an insider said. The informant went on to note that Harry will be flying commercial, not private. In other news, King Charles, Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton surprised well-wishers when they greeted them outside of Buckingham Palace on Friday afternoon. Ahead of the coronation, people have been camped out for several nights along The Mall, a broad, tree-lined avenue that leads straight to the front gate of Buckingham Palace, to get the best view during the ceremony. A woman named Joan detailed to CBS News her brief exchange with King Charles. "I said to him, 'Congratulations for tomorrow,' and he turned to us and shook our hand," said Joan, who spent two nights camped out on The Mall. "He asked if anybody overnighted, and my hair is sticking up, and I said, 'Yes!' And he leaned over and shook my hand." Ahead of the coronation, royal family also met high-profile guests at Buckingham Palace. At a reception for realm prime ministers and governors general, Prince William could be heard saying, "We're praying for the weather tomorrow, we need a bit of sunshine tomorrow please. Did you hear the thunder just now?" The coronation service on Saturday is scheduled to begin at 11 A.M. local time or 6 A.M. ET. You can share this post! Instagram Celebrity The 1975 frontman is photographed by a concertgoer watching the 'All Too Well' songstress' show on her first Nashville 'Eras Tour' stop, further fueling the romance speculation. May 6, 2023 AceShowbiz - Matty Healy has shown his support for Taylor Swift during her "The Eras Tour" amid romance rumors. The British musician was spotted attending one of her latest shows during the break of his own tour. The 1975 frontman was caught watching Taylor's first Nashville stop on Friday night, May 5. In a snap taken by a concertgoer, he was standing among the crowd at Nissan Stadium in Tennessee. He kept a low profile in a flannel shirt on top of a black T-shirt. Matty Healy was photograpged at Taylor Swift's Nashville concert amid romance rumors. Matty apparently just flew back to the U.S. as he and his band performed in Manila, Philippines, on Thursday, May 4. He fueled the Taylor dating rumors by including "She's American" on the setlist. "DID MATTY JUST PLAYED [sic] SHE'S AMERICAN???? IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DATING RUMORS BETWEEN HIM AND TAYLOR SWIFT????" one Twitter user wrote on Twitter along with a clip of the 34-year-old singing the 2016 song. Taylor and Matty are said to be dating following the end of her longtime relationship with Joe Alwyn. "She and Matty are madly in love. It's super-early days, but it feels right," a source told The Sun. According to the source, when "they first dated, very briefly, almost ten years ago but timings just didn't work out." Assuring that Taylor did not cheat on Joe, the source claimed, "Taylor and Joe actually split up back in February, so there was absolutely no crossover." As to how the alleged new lovebirds maintain communications while they are physically apart, the source dished, "Both Matty and Taylor have been touring over the past few weeks, so it's been a lot of Face-Timing and texting but she cannot wait to see him again." While Taylor usually keeps her love life under the radar, she and Matty are reportedly ready to go public with their new romance this weekend, when she performs in Nashville, Tennessee. "Taylor just wants to live her life, and be happy. She's told pals Matty is flying to Nashville over the weekend to support her on the next leg of her tour," the source added. The two were first rumored to be an item in 2014. At the time, however, the rocker insisted his entanglement with Taylor was nothing more than a "flirtation." He went on doubling down on Twitter, "I have said on countless occasions that I found her to be one of the most gracious, hard working, creatively gifted, and beautiful women that I have had the pleasure to meet. I personally have a lot of respect and admiration for her. Why would I not?" He clarified, "I didn't even date Taylor, but the media's incessant and brutal obsession with her has meant that even a guy who DIDN'T DATE HER has been so battered by their never-ending questions that he's inevitably said something that can be lifted and moulded into something that resembles 'shade'. It's really sad." You can share this post! Cover Images/Michael Simon Celebrity After he's dropped from this year's San Francisco Pride event for supporting the KISS co-founder's transphobic tweet, the rocker issues a lengthy statement on his Facebook page. May 6, 2023 AceShowbiz - Dee Snider insists that he's still supportive of LGBT. After he's dropped from this year's San Francisco Pride event for supporting Paul Stanley's transphobic tweet, the rocker issued a statement on his Facebook page on Friday, May 5. "Why did the San Fransisco Gay Pride Parade invite me, Dee Snider, to be a Grand Marshal in their parade and sing 'We're Not Gonna Take It' on the center stage at what could possibly be the most important LGBTQIA+ gathering in the organization's long history?" Dee wrote. "I was not aware the Transgender community expects fealty and total agreement with all their beliefs and any variation or deviation is considered 'transphobic.' " The Twisted Sister vocalist went on to say, "So, my lifetime of supporting the Transgender community's right to identify as they want and honoring whatever changes they may make in how they present themselves to the world isn't enough? Why not?" "I've recently stated I do not believe young children are ready to decide their gender allocation. I believe their choices should be supported and accepted by their parents, but I do not think kids have the mental capabilities to make rational, logical decisions on things of a magnitude that will affect them for the rest of their lives. I do not believe they are mentally developed enough," Snider added. In his post, which was titled "So, I hear I'm transphobic. Really?", he also offered a plea to the transgender community. "I am a proud moderate. I drive a Tesla and a Hummer. I have too many guns but strongly support intelligent gun control. I have four children yet fight for a woman's right to choose. I am a motorcycle riding environmentalist. I am a heterosexual who proudly supports LBGTQIA+ rights," he said. "To me (and I believe to many of you) none of these things are mutually exclusive. The Transgender community needs moderates who support their choices, even if we don't agree with every one of their edicts. For some Transgender people (not all) to accuse supporters, like me, of transphobia is not a good look for their cause. Don't reject people who are willing to march, sing and stand with you just because we don't perfectly see eye-to-eye. We are still your allies," the musician continued. He concluded, "I. Dee Snider, will continue to support the Transgender community and their right to choose even if they reject me and moving forward, I am open to educating myself so I can be a better ally. Sincerely, Dee Snider Your cisgender, crossdressing ally." San Francisco Pride decided to part ways with Snider after he backed up Paul Stanley's comment about gender-affirming transformation amongst minors. "There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification as though some sort of game and then parents in some cases allow it," the KISS co-founder said. He added, "There ARE individuals who as adults may decide reassignment is their needed choice but turning this into a game or parents normalizing it as some sort of natural alternative or believing that because a little boy likes to play dress up in his sister's clothes or a girl in her brother's, we should lead them down a path that's far from the innocence of what they are doing." "Children who have no real sense of sexuality or sexual experiences [get] caught up in the 'fun' of using pronouns and saying what they identify, as some adults mistakenly confuse teaching acceptance with normalizing and encouraging a situation that has been a struggle for those truly affected and [has] turned it into a sad and dangerous fad," Stanley continued. Snider agreed with the statement as he wrote, "You know what? There was a time where I 'felt pretty' too. Glad my parents didn't jump to any rash conclusions! Well said, @PaulStanleyLive." You can share this post! Instagram TV The 'King of Staten Island' actor's generous move came after it was revealed that his hosting gig on 'Saturday Night Live' was canceled due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. May 6, 2023 AceShowbiz - Pete Davidson showed his support to the writers who are protesting amid the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. The comedian was spotted handing out pizza to the striking writers outside New York City's Silvercup Studios on Friday, May 5. For the occasion, "The King of Staten Island" star donned a black hoodie emblazoned with the logo for his new Peacock series "Bupkis". He flashed smiles while delivering boxes of pizza for the writers on the chilly streets. "No writers, no shows without the writers," the comedian said in footage that circulated online. The former "Saturday Night Live" star was also pictured grabbing a sign and picketing. At one point, he gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to the camera. Pete's generous move came after it was revealed that his hosting gig on "SNL" was canceled due to the strike. "The Suicide Squad" actor, who left the hit NBC comedy series in 2022, was supposed to make a return as a host in the May 6 episode. Pete was the latest celebrity who voiced his support to the writers amid their salary dispute. "Yellowjackets" star Sammi Hanratty and "Abbott Elementary" creator and star Quinta Brunson held picket signs as they joined WGA strikes in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers also help pay their crews while their shows, "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and "Late Night with Seth Meyers" respectively, are on production hiatus. Sources claimed that NBC is paying staff members on the shows through the end of next week, while the two late-night talk show hosts will pay for the employees' salary for the third week. Staffers were allegedly informed on Wednesday morning, May 3 during production calls, with the hosts taking part personally to discuss the matter with his staff. Healthcare for the shows' employees reportedly will also be paid through September. You can share this post! BBC Celebrity The 75-year-old British ruler has St Edward's Crown placed on top of his head before his oldest son makes a solemn pledge to the newly-crowned sovereign. May 6, 2023 AceShowbiz - King Charles III has officially been enthroned. The 75-year-old sovereign had the St Edward's Crown placed on top of his head by the Archbishop of Canterbury. "God save the King," the congregation cried. To mark the historical moment, gun salutes were fired across the UK. Earlier, the Prince of Wales presented the Stole Royal and Robe. He assisted the Right Honourable the Baroness Merron, while the king was invested in the Coronation Chair. The Archbishop said, "Receive this Robe, may the Lord clothe you with the robe of righteousness, and with the garments of salvation." He was presented with The Jewelled Sword of Offering which was placed in his right hand. The Archbishop said, "This kingly Sword, may it be to you and to all who witness these things, a sign and symbol not of judgement, but of justice; not of might, but of mercy." The King then offered the Sword at the Altar and it was received by the Dean. The Armills were then brought to the Altar by the Right Honourable the Lord Kamall. The King touched them, before the Archbishop said, "Receive the Bracelets of sincerity and wisdom, tokens of the Lord's protection embracing you on every side." The Orb was then brought from the Altar by the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan. The Archbishop of Canterbury placed it in The King's right hand. The Ring was then carried from the Altar by the Right Honourable the Lord Patel KT. The Glove was handed to him from the Right Honourable the Lord Singh of Wimbledon CBE, followed by the Sceptre with Cross and the Sceptre with Dove by the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Archbishop of Wales. As the Archbishop placed the crown on his head, he said, "King of kings and Lord of lords, bless, we beseech thee, this Crown, and so sanctify thy servant Charles, upon whose head this day thou dost place it for a sign of royal majesty, that he may be crowned with thy gracious favour and filled with abundant grace and all princely virtues; through him who liveth and reigneth supreme over all things, one God, world without end. Amen." The king was then crowned. The Prince of Wales made a solemn pledged to his father. He vowed, "I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth. I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God." The 40-year-old - who is first in line to the throne - then proceeded to kiss his father on the cheek. You can share this post! ABC Celebrity Britain officially has a new queen after Camilla is anointed and handed her regalia by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during a ceremony at the Westminster Abbey. May 6, 2023 AceShowbiz - Queen Consort Camilla has officially become a Queen after being crowned. The 75-year-old royal received her regalia, the Ring, Rod and Sceptre after being anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6. Camilla had Queen Mary's up-recycled Crown placed on top of her head. The regal headpiece featured the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds from the late Queen Elizabeth II's personal jewellery collection added. Similarly, the king used the same crown worn by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at her 1953 coronation, St Edward's Crown. Members of the public were invited to swear allegiance to the monarch in a "chorus of millions of voices." The King and Queen then removed their crowns and returned to their Chairs of Estate to take communion. The new King and Queen later retired to prepare for the most regal of processions back to Buckingham Palace followed out by their page boys as hymns continued inside the abbey. The more brief affair came after Charles, 75, was crowned with St Edward's Crown by the Archbishop of Canterbury. After which, the congregation cried, "God save the King." Gun salutes were fired across the UK to mark the historical moment. The Prince of Wales also made a solemn pledge to his father He vowed, "I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth. I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God." The 40-year-old royal - who is first in line to the throne - then proceeded to kiss his father on the cheek. You can share this post! Instagram Celebrity The 'Elisa Top Modele' actress has moved into a rented house with her children after estranged husband asked court to get her to sell their marital home. May 7, 2023 AceShowbiz - Alice Evans is reportedly leaving the California home she once shared with her estranged husband Ioan Gruffudd. The 54-year-old actress and the couple's two daughters, Elsie, 11, and Ella, seven, are rumored to move into a rental property this weekend after the actor begged a court to enforce the sale of the three-bedroomed family home in the coastal town of La Jolla following their split. "Alice is packing up and it's been a devastating period. She is very sad that she and the children have to move out, but there was no option," a source told the Daily Mail newspaper's Alison Boshoff. The 49-year-old "Fantastic Four" actor claimed Alice had been living at the mansion for free since they split more than two years ago while he pays the $6,750 mortgage as well as insurance and property tax - and he insisted he could no longer afford to keep up with the bills. Gruffudd - who is now living in Los Angeles with his 29-year-old girlfriend Bianca Wallace - said in the court filing, "The rent for my apartment is $3,400 per month; I live there with my girlfriend, who has been paying the majority of our living expenses, and all of our rent, since September 2022 due to my financial circumstances." "I have explained these financial circumstances to Alice and have asked her numerous times since we separated, through counsel, to help financially and to agree to sell the La Jolla residence ... but Alice has not agreed to my requests." Gruffudd filed for divorce in March 2021 after Alice claimed on social media that her husband of 14 years was walking out on her and their girls. He went public with his new relationship with Bianca seven months after his separation from Alice, who accused him of cheating - an allegation which has been denied. You can share this post! Celebrity The Duke of Sussex heads to Heathrow Airport for a flight back to the United States as soon as the royal coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey comes to an end. May 7, 2023 AceShowbiz - Prince Harry headed to Heathrow Airport immediately after King Charles' coronation. The 38-year-old Duke of Sussex was fetched by a car from Westminster Abbey after the service on Saturday, May 6 and went straight to Heathrow to return to California. Harry's car was seen being escorted by a police motorcade in the direction of the airport, according to The Sun. He was then led into the VIP Windsor Suite at Terminal 5. Earlier, Harry had arrived at the church along with Princess Beatrice's husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi. He then took a seat next to Princess Eugenie's husband Jack Brooksbank, a few rows behind his brother Prince William. A source said, "There were discussions that the seating could be arranged on line of succession. But that would have put fifth-in-line Harry front and centre, and with William and Kate. Instead the decision was working royals only at the front and work back from there." The royal was widely expected to leave London as soon as possible after the ceremony, in order to celebrate his son Archie's fourth birthday with his wife Duchess Meghan Markle and their daughter Lillibet in California. According to a lipreader consulted by HELLO! magazine, Harry told Brooksbank, "I will be straight to the airport." Following the service, Harry did not travel to Buckingham Palace with other members of the Royal family, and he was no-show on the balcony for the flypast as the coronation procession drew to a close. You can share this post! Scottish Leader, by category standards, is a modern brand, born from a contemporary and progressive take on whisky: a commitment to look beyond what is known, instead of what could be achieved, if we only open our minds to the possibilities. Since its establishment in 1976, Scottish Leader has benefited from a forward-thinking blending team and is now a trailblazing master blender, who endeavours to produce blended Scotch whiskies in step with contemporary tastes. Its CAGR of over 75% is higher than the growth of the comparable category. Over the previous five years, the regular blended scotch market has expanded at a CAGR of 13.3 per cent. Scottish Leader holds a significant market share in South Africa and Europe and is the second-largest Scotch brand in Taiwan. Aspri is one of the top participants in the imported alcoholic beverage market in India and represents some of the best brands in the world of wine and spirits. In addition to Aspris regional dominance, Scottish Leader is a global brand that has received numerous honours both domestically and abroad. In conversation with Adgully, Guirec Danno, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Distell International, talks about the jjourney of Scottish Leader in India, delivering a characterful drinking experience, changing consumer behaviour in the alcobev industry, and more. What are the ideations and collaborative approach of Scottish Leader in India? Scottish leader has been in India for the last 15 years. We decided to build this collaboration deeper, and four years ago we decided to launch the Scottish Leader in a wide spectrum. Two years ago we had the first launch in the Punjab market. And since then we have extended to the entire Indian market. How the brand has been successful in delivering a characterful drinking experience? It is a very approachable whiskey and we are the second-largest brand of whiskey. What consumers are telling us in terms of the brand is that it is very sweet, and the character of the 15 different ingredients we are using makes the character of this Scottish Leader quite unique and thats one of the main reasons for our success. What is the target market and how India is an important market for the brand? India is an attractive scotch market, but is also an attractive market in general the reason behind that is the fundamentals of India are very strong in terms of an economic point of view. The taste of Indian consumers has evolved and is evolving and Scotch is answering to that. The reason behind India being an attractive market for Scottish Leader is that the behaviour of consumers has changed a lot over a decade and Scottish Leader is the answer to all of their requirements. There is a behavioral change in the market, as well as a lot of female consumers are entering the market, which is also helping us in marketing and spreading more awareness about the Scottish Whiskey. What are the trends in you foresee in the alcohol/ beverage industry in 2023? More and more consumers will get into premium spirits around the world. People want to drink better quality drinks around the world, as well as in India. Premiumisation is going to be in trend the fact that people will drink less, but better quality is going to be the trend this year. For us, the most important USP is that the quality we deliver is the best at the price that it is available. We target an audience more of millennials. It is time for people to move on from a regular whiskey to Scottish Whiskey and that is what is going to be the trend. What is the distribution strategy for Scottish Leader in India? In India, the distribution strategy is to make good products more and more available to Indian consumers. We have had some great success in the last few years and we have got great directives to distribute the brand nationally. Our distribution strategy is to be available at more and more liquor stores, despite the fact that we are already covering half of India, but we are aiming to be available at restaurants, hotels, and many such places across the country. We have established footprints in the majority of key markets. We already have tapped into the top markets. We are looking at further expansion by the retail sector as well. We are also looking for a duty-free state. Muammar Gaddafi is on the verge of thwarting the three-week old revolution in Libya as his troops and mercenaries continue to reclaim areas initially lost to rebels and revolutionists. Reports claim that Gaddafis forces strengthened their counter-attack on the uprising heartland, shelling rebel positions in the oil port of Ras Lanu and Brega in the east of the country. We will never ever give up. We will never ever surrender. This is our country. We fight here in Libya. Libya is not a piece of cake. Its time for action. We are moving now. Time is out nowwe gave them two weeks (for negotiations), Gaddafis son told Reuters in an interview. Saif al-Islam who had described the pro-democracy rebellion against his fathers reign as a group of terrorists and armed gangsters told reporters that thousands of Libyans are ready to defend Gaddafis Libya with their lives. The International Committee of the Red Cross officially recognized that Libya had descended into civil war with increasing numbers of wounded civilians arriving in hospitals in the east. In recognition of Gaddafis strong hold, U.S. National Intelligence chief James Clapper told reporters in Washington that Gaddafi was in this for the long haul and was likely to prevail. Reporters on the ground have covered scenes of bloodbath, with women and children among the dead prompting Arab countries to delegitimize Gaddafis government. Reuters reported that the poorly equipped rebels have conceded they were struggling to hold ground against Gaddafis superior militia. (Gaddafi) might take it. With planes, tanks, mortars and rockets, he might take it, rebel fighter Basim Khaled is quoted saying. And whilst several Libyan opposition forces have demanded the establishment of a no-fly zone, international efforts to stop Gaddafis violent resistance have been hindered by the African Union which has rejected any form of foreign intervention. The AU said it was sending a delegation of five heads of state to Libya soon to try to arrange a truce in the hostilities. Nonetheless, Gaddafis troops, tanks and warplanes have been deployed in the rebel-held east of the country, and the international community deliberates over the wisdom of imposing no-fly zones without full legal justification. Maybe some misguided youth who were born in the 1990s and who do not know what it was to live and grow up in Punjab in the 1980s. The movement in the 1980s lost o because Sikhs never identified themselves with the movement for a separate homeland. Mind you, even after Operation Bluestar many Sikh Generals in the Indian Army only resigned in protest, imagine what would have happened had they revolted? Their protest was against the Indian States and authorities but not the Indian Nation. Congress was always unfair to Sikhs since the pre-independence era but the anger against them has almost faded in the struggle of choosing a lesser enemy. They prefer to vote for secular political parties rather than trusting communal politics. Punjab is mostly ruled by the Congress. Captain Amarinder Singh former Chief Minister was once a scion of Patiala state and former Indian army officer. He was the first Indian parliamentarian; who resigned as a mark of protest after Operation Blue Star operation in Punjab. But later on until early 2021 he was Congress veteran and Chaired as CM of Punjab. Decade old Aam Aadmi Party made their political debut from Punjab, and Sikhs across the globe kept a lot of hopes from them as they thought this new party may deliver some justice to them by releasing political prisoners from Jail. The Aam Aadmi Party turned out to be the biggest disappointment. Instead of sticking to its anti-corruption agenda, AAP got into unwanted politics. Now Punjab wants peaceful governance and Congress has managed to do so. Above all some political motivators were successful enough in creating a perception in urban voters that AAP is being supported by fringe elements like Khalistani supporters. Some unfortunate events also led to this like the Sucha Singh Chhotepur event. Chotepur was Punjab AAP convener and biggest leader of AAP in Punjab but he was caught selling tickets. In India being good and doing everything right doesnt guarantee you electoral success. Even those who considered AAP to be a reasonable alternative did not vote for AAP, in apprehension that Akalis may return to power hence those irritated with Akalis and supporters of AAP also voted Congress. Apart from political dilemmas and social stigmas, India Sikhs are still fighting for their religious and traditional identity. Why are they not allowed to disassociate with all other beliefs and adhere to Sikhism? Why do we try to establish their ancestry in Hinduism? Why is the Indian media also mostly biased against their faith? Why is their descent translated as Khalistan? To some extent, the politically motivated media houses hardly have anything to offer when it comes to the Minorities of India. Hindu supremacy is the prime agenda of mainstream media channels. Spewing venom against minorities, and creating disturbing narratives about them is routine assignments of some sold-out media houses. And in this race recent victims are Sikh farmers; their protest was deduced as Pakistan-sponsored and Khalistan sympathizers event. There are many Sikhs who proudly serve India, they belong here and calling them terrorists was disgraceful. During farmers agitation one old farmer said on the allegation of extremism, , ? (I am honest with both my conscience and my motherland; how can I make one believe?) The right to protest against the establishment is a fundamental right in Democracy. We all Indians have equal rights in this democratic country. Thankfully some parallel media houses were bold enough to echo farmers voices and gather support across the globe. These are the people who are holding democratic values against authoritarian elements. Indias Sikh population stands at 20.8 million, which is 1.72 per cent of the country's total population. Sikhism is the fourth largest religion in India contributing 1.7% of the population and has existed since the late 15th century. The Sikhs are present in all over the parts of India and their contribution is equally huge to all the states economy and welfare. During Farmers agitation, the headlines were made to project Sikh farmers as Khalistani terrorists, showing one viral video of a Sikh man threatening Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the entire agitation was branded as an anti-BJP protest. To counter this bias and menace, the agitating Sikhs came up with their own social media page called Kisan Ekta Morcha. Facebook temporarily shut down that page, and then they printed their news and circulated amongst farmers. Kisan Ekta Morcha' was the official update on the agitation, and was restored in three hours following social media outrage. Social media played an important role in Farmers agitation. While all kinds of media either refused to show them initially, and later on to demoralize farmers they were peddling fake news. Likewise, YouTube gave voices to agitating farmers. The powerful use of social media and the strong will of farmers finally forced our PM to repeal the farm Laws. Some see it as a political gimmick ahead of elections in crucial states. Some farmers are still agitating for a complete conclusion. Till today no media person was made accountable for making those derogatory statements and running those schemes. No media dared to talk, about what has forced the Modi government to repeal those laws? Some Media anchors were seen crying in their programmes questioning Modis soft approach, some went on tomtoming how kindhearted Modi is but none of them were absolutely responsible for drawing accurate conclusions. The seva by Sikhs was translated as picnic, the voices of Sikhs were anticipated as voice of Khalistan extremists and the participation of Sikh women was fated as sold-out protesters. Film actors, media channels, anchors, IT cells and celebrities were unleashed against one community, and finally, most of the common citizens started believing that the protesting Sikhs were terrorists. This is not the one and only issue, be it of releasing political prisoners or Sikh agitators, the media either remained mute or displayed their double standards. When Sadhvi Pragya was released from jail for health reasons Congress leaders coined a term called Hindu Terrorists. Entire media, social media, political leaders, Hindu religious preachers and Sanyasis all took to the prime-time debates with rabble-rousing media anchors by calling it Hindu-phobia. Some went on cursing the fate of other minorities in India. I am not passing any judgement here, but if we feel bad to be coined as terrorists then why the minorities of India had to be tagged arbitrarily? RFK, Jr. is one of the biggest voices pushing anti-vaccine rhetoric, regularly distributing misinformation and disinformation about vaccines, which scientific and medical experts overwhelmingly say are safe and effective based on rigorous scientific studies. A new Fox News poll shows some 19 percent of likely Democratic voters say that theyd like to see RFK, Jr. win the nomination. Linsey Davis: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. recently announced hell run against Biden. And he may have some supporters on his side. ABC News Linsey Davis sat down with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about his decision to run for the 2024 Democratic nomination, and questions his stances on vaccines and courting of conservatives. RFK Jr. on presidential run: 'I feel like my country was being taken away from me' https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/rfk-jr-presidential-run-feel-country-98922268 Weve used our editorial judgment in not including extended portions of that exchange in our interview. He also made misleading claims about the relationship between vaccination and autism. Research shows that vaccines and the ingredients used for the vaccines do not cause autism, including multiple studies involving more than a million children and major medical associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the advocacy group Autism Speaks. We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the COVID19 vaccines. Data shows that the COVID19 vaccines prevented millions of hospitalizations and death from the disease. ABC News' Linsey Davis interviews Presidential Candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. and admits that ABC cherry picked content. Every candidate should have his or her voice heard, regardless of topic. Anne Dachel transcribed the interview below. As ever, we cover candidates, we do not endorse them. ### I sat down with him earlier today to ask him about his campaign and trying to take on the President. Davis: So tell us, why did you decide to run for President? Robert Kennedy, Jr.: I felt like my country was being taken away from me. I felt like I wanted my children to grow up with the same pride in our country and the same love for our country and the same idea that we had this, you know, this idealism, these opportunities, our country, and that we had communities that were filled with dignity and enrichment, and that we were an exemplary nation. And that those things are being lost, and theyre being lost becausefor a lot of reasonsreally because of the rise of corporatism in this country and this addition that we have to war. My part also is becoming the party of war, the party of censorship the party of fear, the part of neocons and Wall Street. And I just felt like I was in a unique opportunity to change that. Davis: How so? You never held a political position before. Obviously youve been in environmental law for more than three decades, but what do you think qualifies you for the highest position in the land? Kennedy: I think I know more about how to fix regulatory agencies than any other politician in this country because Ive spent 40 years suing them. When you sue a regulator, you get kind of a PhD in how they work and how to unravel this kind of culture of corporate capture and corruption. There are ways we can fix these agencies, and we can do it very quickly. Davis: How would you do that? I want to justbecause youve been very critical on multiple government agencies, from the CIA, the EPA, the DOT, the CDC, the FDA. If you were to become President, you would effectively be the boss of all these agencies that youve cast so many aspersions on and said publicly that theres so much distrust there. How would you run them? Kennedy: Let me say this, Linsey. I think most of the people, 90 percent of the people in those agencies are good Americans. Theyre good public servants. Theyre patriots, they are idealistic and they want to do their job. The problem is the people who rise to power in those agencies usually are the people who are in the tank with industry or are willing to carry water for the industry. And theyre the ones that last for 50 years. They rise become theyre willing to do favors for industry and take directions from industry. Davis: Why do you feel that you should challenge Joe Biden? Kennedy: Ive known Joe Biden for 40 years. You know, hes friends with my family. Ive considered him a friend. His approach to government and to the Democratic Party is, to me, is completely different than the way I dont believe we should be the party of war. I dont believe we should be the party of Wall Street. I dont believe that we should let neocons dictate our foreign policy, and I dont believe in censorship, for starters. Those are all values that are traditional Democratic Party values that this White House has departed from. Davis: The DNC has said, as youre well aware, that theyre going to support Biden. Theyre not going to even hold any primary debates. Kennedy: Well, I think its troubling if we dont have debates. I mean, particularly, Linsey, at this point in history, there are so many Americans who believe that our democracy is broken and that the system is rigged against them. I think its really, you know, incumbent on the Democratic Party to act as a template, to make this election a template for democracy and saying were going to have debates. Were going to have open discussion. Were going to let the people decide. Were not going to have party leaders decide who are going to be our primary, like they did in the Soviet Union. Davis: The other day when you made your announcement that you were going to run for President, you invoked your dad when he was running for President back in 1968. VIDEO CLIP. RFK, JR: He was running against a president of his own party. He was running against a war. He was running at a time of unprecedented polarization in our country. And he had no chance of winning. My father, when he declared, had not a single molecule in him that he believed that he could win the Democratic nomination. Do you have a single molecule that you believe that you can win? Kennedy: I actually think I can win. Im not a soothsayer. Im going to try asIm going to wake up every day, and Im going to campaign. Im going to talk to Americans. Im going to do what Im supposed to do. And, and then, you know, its in Gods hands whether I win or not. Im going to take the action and do what I need to do. Davis: IF you dont win during the primary, would you consider an independent run? Kennedy: You know, I plan to win the primary. Im going to run a campaign that is respectful to the President but allows me to challenge him on the issues. And if people prefer my view of what the country should look like and where it should be headed, then Ill win. If they dont, I dont think theyre going to go away with any additional antipathy toward the President. Davis: There are those, as Im sure youre aware, who have criticized or question just how loyal you are to the Democratic Party. Do you whole heartedly, full throated say, yes, Im a Democrat? Kennedy: Im a Democrat, otherwise I wouldnt be running as a Democrat. But Im not loyal to any party about principles. Im loyal to the principles that the Democratic Party has always stood for. That is why Im running for President today, to make sure that those people, those lost, forgotten Americans who feel that the system is rigged against them, who feel forgotten by both political parties that they feel like they can be included one time, once again, in the political process. Davis: What do you think is the biggest misconception about you? Kennedy: You know, I think the public perception of me is just a bundle of misperceptions. I mean part of that is just not being vilified for three years, much longer than that, but for the last three years with total blanket censorship. I welcome what Ive done. Im at peace with that, you know, with the choices that Ive made. And I understand that Im living in a world where Im opposing large forces that are very, very powerful and are able to silence me. But I wouldnt know where to begin in telling you where the, you know what the biggest misperceptions are about me. If you go through them one at a time, Ill answer them. What do you think is the fairest criticism? Kennedy: I mean, listen, Ive got as many defects as I doI told my wife, I have more skeletons in my closest. I have so many that if they could vote, I could win president of the world by a landslide. Im not a guy whos coming to you and saying Im a perfect human being. Im not. Ive had a really, you know. Ive had a rich life. Let me put it that way. But, you know, Im coming here because I believe in something, and I think people know that if I believe in something, that, number one, you can change my mind, if you confront me with facts. Number two, if you dont change my mind with facts, Im going to stick to my guns, and nobody can move me. Davis: You say this, but then there are known conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones, Steve Bannon. You go on their talk shows, and, at the same time, tell America that media is lying to you. How do you square that with voters? Kennedy: First of all, those are two different issues. One issue is, should I be talking to Republicans platform? Thats a completely different issue. When I go on those platforms, Im not lying to people. Im telling the truth. Davis: But you legitimize the platforms. Kennedy: It doesnt matter. To me, theres no way that you can overcome the polarization without talking to people on the other side. How do youand Im done that my whole life. When I was, you know, 30 years, one of the leading environmentalists in the country, I was the only environmentalist who would go on Fox News. And some environmentalists would say, you shouldnt go there and legitimize it. I said, I want to talk to that audience. If we dont talk to them, how can we persuade them? So I will talk to anybody. 9:35 Davis: You said, in the past, that there is a correlation between vaccines leading to autism. Thats totally been debunked. Kennedy: Wait a minute. Who debunked it? Davis: We have not seen any kind of scientific connection from the CDC, the World Health Organization, the National Academy of Science. Kennedy: But those organizations are captive agencies, Linsey. Davis: And so you think theyre all in cahoots? Kennedy: Yeah, theyre all captive. Davis: Youve discussed the Kennedy family, as like any family, there are disagreements. But I think what makes it different here is that several of your relatives have not just said that they disagree with you, but theyve called you dangerous. As youre probably well aware, there were two of your siblings and a niece who wrote in a Politico article back in 2019, He has helped to spread dangerous misinformation over social media and is complicit in sowing distrust of science behind vaccines. We stand behind him in his ongoing fight to protect our environment. However, on vaccines, he is wrong. Your sister Kerry has said, I love my brother Bobby, but I do not share or endorse his opinions on many issues, including the COVID pandemic, vaccinations and the role of social media platforms in policing false information. Your sister Rory has said, I admire his past work as an environmentalist. Because of him, we can swim in the Hudson, but due to a wide range of Bobbys positions, Im supporting President Biden. And Im just curious, if you are not able to get your own sisters to vote for you for President, how would you make that appeal to American voters? Kennedy: What is your family like? Do they agree with everything that you say and do? Davis: Theyd probably vote for me if I ran for President. Kennedy: Yeah well, I have siblings who will vote for me as well, but I have a big family and many of them will not. I have two siblings who came to my announcement and a lot of other relatives as well. I mean theres disagreements, but, you know, I love my family. And, you know, my family particularly, in particular, we grew up arguing with each other. And we are very, very, Id say comfortable disagreeing with each other, both publicly and privately, on issues, and at the same time, loving each other. And thats something that weis a lesson that we ought to learn for this country. We can disagree with each other without hating each other, without vilifying each other, without marginalizing each other. Davis: Im just making a distinction. Im just using your familys words calling you dangerous. No, I was just using your familys words to call you dangerous rather than saying thats not like the typical family that might have disagreements around the kitchen table. Kennedy: And how do you expect me to respond to that other than saying they were wrong about the issue that they consider me dangerous? Davis: Thats a fair response. And my other point is just that if you dont regard the same scientific authorities Kennedy: Science is rarely static. There are very few scientific principles that are immovable. Science is dynamic, and you know, look, I Ive litigated over 500 lawsuits. In every one of those lawsuits, there are experts, authorities on one side and experts and authorities on the other that are saying the exact opposite thing. No, I dont trust authority. I need to see the details. I need to see the science. Davis: Your final pitch to voters. Kennedy: My pitch would be that, you know, we need, we need to look at whats happened to our country. We need to try to arrest this emergence of corporatism, of the corrupt merger of state and corporate power thats undermining our values, thats strip mining our landscape, that is stealing the assets of the middle class of this country, that is compromising the values of this country, thats keeping us in a constant state of war, and is creating a nation that doesnt resemble the nation that, you know, we all love, which is a nation with a few handful of billionaires and widespread poverty and democracy does not have a prayer of continuing. Lets try to take a new path that will allow us to give our children a country that is once again a moral authority around the globe, and exemplary nation, and that has a booming middle class in this country. That can sustain democracy. Linsey Davis added this disclaimer at the end of the interview: We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the COVID19 vaccines. Data shows that the COVID19 vaccines prevented millions of hospitalizations and death from the disease. He also made misleading claims about the relationship between vaccination and autism. Research shows that vaccines and the ingredients used for the vaccines do not cause autism, including multiple studies involving more than a million children and major medical associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the advocacy group Autism Speaks. Weve used our editorial judgment in not including extended portions of that exchange in our interview. We thank Mr. Kennedy for the conversation. The Vaccine Court 2.0: Revised and Updated: The Dark Truth of America's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program By Wayne Rohde The Vaccine Court looks at the mysterious and often unknown world of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), the only recourse for seeking compensation for those who have been injured by a vaccine. The NVICP, better known as the Vaccine Court, however, is not without controversy. Established by Congress as a direct result of the passage of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, the NVICP was supposed to offer a no-fault alternative to the traditional injury claims filed in state or federal courts and was to provide quick, efficient, and fair compensation for those who have been injured by vaccines. The reality, however, is that many cases take several years or longer to complete and require tremendous commitment from families already pushed to the brink of bankruptcy caring for the vaccine-injured family member, only to discover that the end result is manipulated by the government in defense of the US vaccine policy. A Letter to Liberals: Censorship and COVID: An Attack on Science and American Ideals By Robert Kennedy Jr. A leading Democrat challenges his party to return to liberal values and evidence-based science Democrats were the party of intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, and faith in scientific and liberal empiricism. They once took pride in understanding how to read science critically, exercising healthy skepticism toward notoriously corrupt entities like the drug companies that brought us the opioid crisis, and were outraged by the phenomenon of agency capture and the pervasive control of private interests over Congress, the media, and the scientific journals. A Letter to Liberals is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s, challenge to lockdown liberalisms embrace of policies that are an affront to once cherished precepts. Denial: How Refusing to Face the Facts about Our Autism Epidemic Hurts Children, Families, and Our Future By Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted Even as the autism rate soars and the cost to our nation climbs well into the billions, a dangerous new idea is taking hold: There simply is no autism epidemic. The question is stark: Is autism ancient, a genetic variation that demands acceptance and celebration? Or is it new and disabling, triggered by something in the environment that is damaging more children every day? An investigation is underway after a 58-year-old man fatally shot in Montgomery. Police on Friday night identified the victim as Lomax Hornsby. He lived in Montgomery. Hornsby was found shot to death at 10:45 a.m. Thursday after police and fire medics were dispatched to the 400 block of McGinnis Street on a report of a body. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Capt. Saba Coleman said the circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation. No additional information is being released. Anyone with any information is asked to Montgomery police at 334-625-2831, the Secret Witness tip line at 334-625-4000 or Central Alabama Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP. Both lanes of a portion of Alabama State Route 225 north of Spanish Fort were closed following a single vehicle crash Saturday. The lanes are now reopened. According to Alabama State Troopers, a vehicle crashed into a power pole at approximately 11:28 a.m., leading to the lane closures. Both lanes, near the 4-mile marker in Baldwin County, were blocked while Troopers with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agencys (ALEA) Highway Patrol Division investigated. State Police have not released any additional information. Two people have been charged with murder in the death of a 31-year-old east Alabama man missing for eight months. Anniston police on Friday night announced the arrests of Gavin Snider, 25, and Keither Snider, 50, in connection with the disappearance and death of Deangelo Dee Allen. Allen was last seen Sept. 21, 2022, in the area of Old Coldwater Road in Anniston. Family members told authorities its unlike Allen, a father, to disappear and not contact them. His remains have not yet been found. Police released no details about what they believe happened to Allen or what led to the charges against the suspects. A press release issued by Sgt. Jason Hawkins said only that the murder charges were made through continued efforts of Anniston Police investigators, the 7th Judicial Major Crimes Unit, and the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Ford. Friends and family have been out physically searching for Allen since his disappearance and started a Facebook page which has more than 5,000 members dedicated to Allens disappearance. Members of the group have previously made multiple posts about Gavin Snider as a potential suspect. Police Chief Nick Bowles said in January that Allens disappearance was involuntary, and we believe multiple people are involved. Deangelo Dee Shaquill Lepaul Allen (Contributed) Gavin Snider was already in the Calhoun County Jail on unrelated charges. Keither Snider was taken into custody on Friday. Earlier Friday, before the arrests were publicly announced, Allens mother, Adisa Pruitt, changed the name of the Facebook group from Searching 4 Dee Allen to DeAngelos Hope. We will never stop looking for and fighting for Dee, but our hope is that another family doesnt have to go through what we went through and if they do then they will have us to stand up and advocate on their behalf, Pruitt wrote. We have faced many challenges in the past eight months. Dealing with the police was extremely difficult for us. We are grateful to everyone on social media for spreading awareness of Dees story and the mistreatment we faced from the police department, she wrote. Lets continue to not only search four Dee but for justice for all those missing, murdered, and mistreated. Police said the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Anniston Police Department at 256-240-4000 or 911. The Justice Department is seeking 25 years in prison for Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as a violent plot to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House, prosecutors said in court papers filed Friday. A Washington, D.C., jury convicted Rhodes in November in one of the most consequential cases brought in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of then-President Donald Trumps supporters assaulted police officers, smashed windows and temporarily halted Congress certification of Bidens victory. Prosecutors described the Oath Keepers actions as terrorism and told the judge that a harsh sentence is critical to deter future political violence. They wrote that Rhodes believes he has done nothing wrong and still presents a threat to American democracy and lives. Rhodes used his powers of persuasion and his platform as leader of the Oath Keepers to radicalize more than 20 other American citizens to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States, prosecutors wrote in the nearly 200-page court filing. Those who have studied Rhodes and who know him best suggest that such behavior is completely in character and unlikely to change. Jurors found that Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, plotted an armed rebellion with members of his far-right extremist group to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden. In addition to seditious conspiracy, Rhodes was convicted of obstructing Congress certification of Bidens victory. Both charges calls for up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors asked the judge to go above the standard sentencing guidelines, arguing the crimes deserve a longer sentence for terrorism because the goal was to influence the government through intimidation or coercion. Related: Coverage of Alabama residents charged in Jan. 6 cases Prosecutors wrote that Rhodes, in media interviews behind bars, portrays himself as a victim of a politically motivated prosecution and continues to invoke the words and deeds of the Founding Fathers in not-so-veiled calls for violent opposition to the government. Rhodes is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25. As of Friday evening, Rhodes attorneys hadnt yet filed papers indicating how much time they will ask the judge to impose. They have vowed to appeal his conviction. Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences ranging from 10 to 21 years for eight other Oath Keepers defendants convicted at trials. The Justice Department asked for 21 years behind bars for Kelly Meggs, the Florida chapter leader convicted of the sedition charge alongside Rhodes. Meggs attorney urged the judge in court papers filed late Friday to sentence him to no more than 28 months, saying his client did not participate in any violence or destruction at the Capitol. Meggs lawyer called what happened of Jan. 6 abhorrent, but said the events that day do not reflect Mr. Meggss true character, nor his respect for the law. Mr. Meggs undoubtedly accepts responsibility for his actions and has spent every day while detained regretting any involvement he had with the Oath Keepers and the events of January 6, his attorney wrote. The sentencing recommendations come a day after jurors in a different case convicted four leaders of another extremist group, the Proud Boys including former national chairman Enrique Tarrio of seditious conspiracy. The Proud Boys were accused of a separate plot to forcibly keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate and former Army paratrooper, didnt go inside the Capitol. Taking the witness stand at trial, he insisted there was no plan to attack the Capitol and said the Oath Keepers who did acted on their own. Rhodes said the Oath Keepers only mission that day was to provide security for Trump ally Roger Stone and other figures at events before the riot. Prosecutors built their case around dozens of encrypted messages and other communications in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 that showed Rhodes rallying his followers to fight to defend Trump and warning they might need to rise up in insurrection to defeat Biden if Trump didnt act. Hundreds of people have been convicted in the riot, but Rhodes and Meggs were the first Jan. 6 defendants convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy. Three other defendants on trial with them were acquitted of seditious conspiracy, but convicted of obstructing Congress. Another four Oath Keepers were convicted of the sedition charge during a second trial. These defendants were prepared to fight. Not for their country, but against it. In their own words, they were willing to die in a guerilla war to achieve their goal of halting the transfer of power after the 2020 Presidential Election, prosecutors wrote. Jurors in Rhodes case saw video of his followers wearing combat gear and shouldering their way through the crowd in military-style stack formation before forcing their way into the Capitol. Rhodes spent thousands of dollars on an AR-platform rifle, magazines, mounts, sights and other equipment on his way to Washington ahead of the riot, prosecutors told jurors. Prosecutors said Oath Keepers stashed weapons for quick reaction force teams prosecutors said were ready to get weapons into the city quickly if they were needed. The weapons were never deployed. The trial revealed new details about Rhodes efforts to pressure Trump to fight to stay in the White House in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. Shortly after the election, in a group chat that included Stone, Rhodes wrote, So will you step up and push Trump to FINALLY take decisive action? Another man testified that after the riot, Rhodes tried to persuade him to pass along a message to Trump that urged the president not to give up his fight to hold onto power. The intermediary a man who told jurors he had an indirect way to reach the president recorded his meeting with Rhodes and went to the FBI instead of giving the message to Trump. During that meeting, Rhodes said they should have brought rifles on Jan. 6. ____ Associated Press reporter Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed. The Hansen siblings never planned in high school to all attend the same college. But the Pennsylvania quadruplets did, and they found themselves in Alabama. The siblings are from Blue Bell, a suburb of Philadelphia. And over the course of the weekend, they all four received their diplomas from the University of Alabama. Michaela graduated Friday, while Annagrace, Chloe and Max received their degrees during the universitys commencement ceremonies today. According to a story posted by the University of Alabamas News Center, the quadruplets arrived to Tuscaloosa for different reasons. Chloe, a criminal justice major, said she was interested in playing lacrosse at LaSalle University, but chose Alabama because she was impressed with the campus, the article states. Annagrace, a marketing major, and Max, a finance major, both wanted to go to a school in the South. Max admitted in the article that he grew up an Auburn fan, but that his parents encouraged him to go to Alabama. Michaela, an education major, said she and Chloe identical twins have always done everything together, including attending the university, the article states. The quadruplets, ahead of graduation, also met with University of Alabama President Stuart Bell. Filtering through misinformation, pushing back against book bans, and being woke, were among the charged cultural and topical issues Alabama native and Super Soaker inventor Lonnie Johnson warned against Saturday during a commencement address at Spring Hill College. Johnson, an Atlanta scientist and engineer and accomplished inventor who holds over 140 patents, urged students to use common sense while judging whether the news they are consuming is true information or not. He urged students to be aware, awake and not asleep or woke at a time when technological innovations like artificial intelligence advance at rapid speeds. And he took a shot at Fox News, without naming the cable TV giant, for having to pay out over $787 million to resolve a defamation lawsuit over election disinformation. The access to real truth is more and more challenging and more important (than previously), Johnson said. You have to inform yourself seeking from multiple sources, and not just those you agree with but you disagree with as well. He added, You will be tasked with decision making that will have profound impacts on humanity and in our future. Book bans A graduating class of 297 students took the traditional walk down the Avenue of Oaks on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala, during the college's annual commencement ceremony. Lonnie Johnson, a Mobile native and engineer who invented the Super Soaker water gun, was the keynote speaker. Johnsons commencement speech was the second in as many days. He delivered a similar speech Friday before graduates at several schools affiliated with the University of South Alabama. At Spring Hill College, he spoke before a graduating class of 297 students who took the traditional walk down the Avenue of Oaks, a picturesque half-mile-long lane that includes approximately 50 evenly spaced live oak trees. The lane has served as the home for the colleges graduation ceremonies since 1949. We live in the most prosperous time in human history and are surrounded by wealth and abundance yet we seek to be fighting each other and selectively removing books from schools, Johnson said, taking a shot at an issue spurred on by courthouses and statehouses in mostly Republican-led states like Alabama. It seems like the books being removed have to do with the history of Black people in America, Johnson said. Its branded as critical race theory and its lumped in as something evil and bad. How can we leave an important part of history out like it didnt happen? Book bans have been on the rise this year. According to a report last month from PEN American, a nonprofit free speech organization, there were 1,477 instances of books being prohibited during the first half of the 2022-23 academic year, up from 28.5% from the previous semester. The organization has recorded more than 4,000 instances of banned books since it started tracking cases in July 2021. There has been pushback, including from activists like 100-year-old Grace Linn, who spoke in protest against a Martin County, Florida, school board decision to purge over 80 books from school libraries. Johnson quoted Linn during his speech and noted her comparison of book bans with the Nazis efforts to burn books during World War II, calling both a fear of knowledge. Linns husband was killed in action during World War II, and she told the Martin County school board that a book ban is an affront of the First Amendment, Johnson noted. Where does it stop? he said. Do we take out references to the two atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Japan or references to World War II? What about knowing what was done in the past, so we dont repeat those terrible things? Were trying to dumb down education at a period of time when we are struggling with relationships and who we are. Johnson noted that as those social struggles continue, technology is moving forward as A.I. technologies are able to solve problems faster than we can. He said the ongoing technological activity is not going to slow down, and that we are fighting each other because we are finding the best paths forward. You have to have knowledge woke, not asleep. Whatever. Not aware. Dont burn books, said Johnson. If you do, the computer might know more than you do. And those burning books today, will they be burning computers tomorrow? Will we slip back into the past of distrust and conspiracy? He added, Humans are built to move forward. We are problem solvers. We have always been fixers of things. Perseverance Johnson, whose Super Soaker creation is considered one of the best toys of the 20th century, continues to move forward with his work. His rechargeable battery technology aims to revolutionize the electric vehicle industry, focusing on sustainable energy solutions and reducing dependance on fossil fuels. He also said he continues work on developing a device that converts heat into electricity, a process which he said his team is in the process of doing a large demonstration project on. We talk about perseverance and that technology would not exist if not for perseverance, Johnson said. We talked about this technology to investors and government and other people. They claimed it would not work. Well, now its working. We are getting a lot of attention and a lot of investors. Its exciting to see it finally come to fruition. Johnson, who grew up in Mobile during the days of legal segregation, has been celebrated by his hometown of late. Aside from speaking at the two commencement addresses, he was honored with the renaming of a 12,000-square-foot science wing after him at Williamson High School, his alma mater. Im truly honored that people look at the work I do and think so much of it, said Johnson. Im humbled sometimes when I hear people be complimentary toward me. I say, Im just going to work every day doing what I know how to do. A suspect was arrested Thursday and charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a central Alabama man more than four years ago, authorities said Friday. Leadam Quintez Kelly, 42, of Goodwater, in Coosa County, is being held without bond in the Coosa County Jail without bond on charges of capital murder, drug trafficking and possession of marijuana, according to jail records. Kelly was arrested Thursday in connection with the slaying of Andre Lamonde Davis, 29, of Kellyton on Feb. 3, 2019, said the Coosa County Sheriffs Office. The office asked the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to work the case in the early stages of the investigation. He is facing capital murder charges because Davis was shot in a vehicle. On Feb. 3, 2019 at around 9:28 p.m., Coosa County sheriffs deputies responded to a call of what appeared to be a traffic accident, the office said Friday. Deputies determined Davis was shot. The Kellyton man was later pronounced dead by the county coroner. Police in a small northwest Alabama city sicced a K-9 on an unarmed Black man on the front porch of his home two years ago, newly released body camera footage reveals. Bite him! Bite him! Yes! Get him! an officer is heard shouting in the footage, which shows 53-year-old Marvin Long on the ground shouting for help as the dog attacks. Civil rights attorneys representing Long, the Sheffield man who was bitten by the police dog, released the footage this week. These gang of officers didnt have the right to even walk onto Mr. Longs property, much less attack him with a police dog, attorney Harry Daniels said in a press release. The video is clear. These men arent protecting the public or enforcing the law. Theyre attacking an unarmed Black man for no reason and theyre enjoying it. [Read our series Mauled: When police dogs are weapons] Long is scheduled to go on trial this summer for resisting arrest. A judge in Sheffield City Court found him not guilty on an obstruction charge, court records show. The attorneys, Daniels and Roderick Van Daniel, say the bodycam footage backs up Longs claims that the Sheffield officers assaulted him and arrested him without probable cause. Van Daniel argued that the resisting arrest charge is invalid because Long had not committed any crime. How can you charge a man with resisting arrest when there wasnt a lawful arrest in the first place? said Van Daniel. For two years, theyve done everything they can to keep this video from coming out. Now its out and the people can see the truth with their own eyes. Efforts to reach Sheffield Police Chief Ricky Terry were unsuccessful. A drug task force staffed by Sheffield police and Colbert County deputies was executing a raid at a nearby home on June 17, 2021 when Long, who was unarmed, went outside to see why a police cruiser was parked outside his property, the lawyers said. Officers approach Long and ask whether the porch he was standing on was in fact his property, the bodycam footage shows. Go, man, Long, 53, tells the officers before two grab and subdue him. What are you doing, bro? Long asks in the video. You must think were f------ stupid, one of the officers says as Long screams for help, according to the footage. During the attack, one officer is heard ordering the dog to bite him and shouting youre resisting as Long screams for help. A spokesman for the lawyers said he did not have information about the severity of Longs injuries. Daniels and Van Daniel said they were able to identify two officers in the video: Sgt. Max Dotson and Sgt. Nick Risner, who was a K-9 handler. Risner was killed and Dotson was injured in an October 2021 shootout with a suspect in Muscle Shoals. The attorneys did not say in a press release how they obtained copies of the footage whether the authorities handed them over, or if they obtained them in court. A spokesperson told AL.com he did not know how the lawyers obtained the footage. Long has not filed a lawsuit over the dog attack or arrest. His trial is scheduled for June 6 in Colbert County Circuit Court. If convicted, he faces up to six months in prison. English News China, Egypt to jointly write more splendid chapter of human civilization Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 5 Mai 2023 "Under the strategic guidance of the heads of state, the strategic partnership between China and Arab states will achieve long-term and stable development. It is hoped that the two sides can further strengthen communication on literature and art, and jointly write a more splendid chapter of human civilization," Fergani noted. By Shen Xiaoxiao, Han Xiaoming, People's Daily In the home of Egyptian translator Mohsen Fergani, a Chinese knot and paper cutting hung on a wall of the living room are quite conspicuous. By the side of them, a certificate of the Award for Outstanding Contribution to China-Arab Friendship Fergani has received is also impressive. The award was issued to Fergani by Chinese President Xi Jinping when the latter was paying a visit to Egypt in January 2016. Xi met with Fergani and nine other friendly personages, and shook hands and posed for pictures with them after conferring on them the awards. "I was very honored that President Xi conferred the award on me in person. It was the proudest time of my life," Fergani recalled the moment, which still excites him today. The sixth UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, also former foreign minister of Egypt, received the award together with Fergani. The former UN head was in his nineties when receiving the honor. Xi came to him, bended over and shook hand with him, extending greetings to the old friend of the Chinese people. "This scene made me feel deeper how President Xi cherishes the traditional friendship between China and Arab states," Fergani told People's Daily. On the second day, Xi delivered an important speech titled "Work Together for a Bright Future of China-Arab Relations" at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo. "Yesterday, I met with ten old Arab friends who received the Award for Outstanding Contribution to China-Arab Friendship. It is the hard work of generations of friendly people from both sides that has enabled the seedlings of China-Arab friendship to grow into luxuriant and evergreen trees," said the Chinese President in the speech. Xi's mentioning of the ten award receivers touched Fergani and also reminded the latter of his responsibility in promoting the friendship between Arab states and China. Fergani has long been committed to the studies of Chinese literature and Chinese translation. He has published multiple translated Chinese ancient classics. His study well reflects his passion and seriousness for translation - various types of books are often placed on his desk and the books piled up on the floor are as high as a meter. Besides, there are short sentences in both Chinese and Arabic neatly written by him on the door to and walls in the study, such as "both authenticity and simplicity are important for translation." He has translated a series of Chinese works into Arabic, including ancient classics such as The Analects of Confucius, The Book of Songs, Tao Te Ching and The Strategies of the Warring States, as well as some contemporary literature works. Fergani received the Special Book Award of China in 2013, becoming the first Arabian winning the honor. When receiving an interview with People's Daily, the Egyptian translator cited Xi's remarks at the opening ceremony of the eighth Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum that the Chinese and the Arab civilizations, sharing a long history of mutually-reinforcing exchanges, have all the more reason to draw wisdom and strength from each other in this day and age. He said Xi's remarks inspire him to make greater contributions to translating Chinese literature works and promoting cultural exchanges between Arab states and China. "Chinese literature works are valuable marks left by the Chinese culture over the long course of history. I aspire to better introduce China to Arabian readers and show them the splendid Chinese culture," Fergani told People's Daily. In March 2014, Xi noted in a speech at the UNESCO headquarters that civilizations have become richer and more colorful with exchanges and mutual learning. Such exchanges and mutual learning form an important drive for human progress and global peace and development. Fergani said this impressed him very much. He believes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by Xi carries rich connotation, values people-to-people bond and has built a very important platform for cultural communication. "The ancient Silk Road was once a channel of commerce and civilization exchanges between the East and the West. Today, the BRI is once again facilitating mutual learning and exchanges between different cultures and ideas. Arab states are actively looking eastward to draw wisdom from the Chinese civilization," Fergani said. China-Arab states relations are constantly being elevated to new heights today. Fergani told People's Daily that there has been a "Mandarin fever" in Arab states, and more than 10 universities in Egypt have set up a Chinese language department or offered Chinese courses. Since Oct. 1, 2022, the teaching of Chinese language has been included in Egypt's national education system, becoming an optional foreign language course for middle school students. This creates more opportunities for young Egyptians to know more about China. "The 'Mandarin fever' has significantly promoted Chinese culture in Egypt and forged a closer people-to-people bond between the two nations, forming a synergy in building a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era," Fergani said. He told People's Daily that apart from keeping translating Chinese literature works, he will focus more on the training of translators so as to build a bigger translation foundation among young Arabians. "Under the strategic guidance of the heads of state, the strategic partnership between China and Arab states will achieve long-term and stable development. It is hoped that the two sides can further strengthen communication on literature and art, and jointly write a more splendid chapter of human civilization," Fergani noted. Dans la meme rubrique : < > Chinese enterprise contributes to Tanzania port construction Acting as a force for reconciliation, peace and harmony in the Middle East Chinese enterprises make remarkable contributions to South Africa's industrialization Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) The People Republic of China has gained attention by promoting itself as a peace advocate in the Russo-Ukraine War. Yet, it should always be kept in mind that when Chairman Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the issue it was part of a deepening of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two powers. It is not a proposal from a disinterested or neutral party. Li Hui, the Chinese diplomat tasked to broker the talks, is a former ambassador to Russia who once stated that China needs a powerful Russia. He was also awarded the Medal of Friendship by Putin. Chinese statements have mentioned everything from avoiding nuclear escalation, to maintaining supply chains and providing humanitarian assistance. The keys to peace, however, were set out by Beijing's UN ambassador Dai Bing who stressed Strengthening or even expanding military blocs will only undermine regional security and will never bring about peace. Russia, Ukraine, and European countries are neighbors that cannot be physically moved away. To realize lasting peace and stability in Europe, the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation must be abandoned, and the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously.In plain language, Russia, which invaded Ukraine with the object of installing a puppet government in Kyiv, is to be given security guarantees by the NATO which will not expand its membership. This is in accord with Beijing view that Russia is the victim of NATO expansion. Indeed, Beijing claims that in the Ukraine crisis it is Russia that is being targeted. It is amazing how accepted this Russo-Chinese narrative for the origins of Putins invasion has become in the West, and not just among the No to NATO leftist antiwar radicals, but even among some conservative commentators. Yet, the record does not support any justification for Russias attack, only an account of its lust for conquest. Poland, Hungry and the Czech Republic were the first of the newly liberated nations in post-Cold War Europe to join NATO. These countries had particularly tough times during the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe. Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 tried to gain their freedom but were crushed by the Red Army. Polands history of Russian domination dates back centuries. Poland had been partitioned in three waves (1772, 1793, 1795) by Russia, Prussia, and the Austrian Empire. It would not reemerge until after World War I when all three partitioners had been defeated. Yet, the first thing the new Soviet Union did was invade. That invasion was repulsed, but in 1939 Poland was partitioned between Nazi Germany and the USSR after the Hitler-Stalin Pact. Russia then overran the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) and invaded Finland. It is easy to see why Poland wanted to join NATO as defense against any resurgent Russia. There is no moral equivalency between NATO expansion by voluntary collective security and Russian expansion by fire and sword. NATO is not a threat to Russia, only to Russian ambitions to reestablish its reign of domination and oppression from which its neighboring people wish to remain free. History is very much alive in the Eastern European mind. Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic joined NATO the same year Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia (1999). The second wave of new NATO members was in 2004 when Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined. Again, it should be noted that at this time Putin was lamenting the collapse of the USSR and rebuilding Russian power. I n 2008, Ukraine and Georgia asked to join NATO. Russia immediately attacked Georgia and grabbed border areas. NATO then stalled on granting membership to either country to appease Moscow. In 2014, Russia seized Crimea (where it had been permitted to keep its naval base at Sevastopol) and instigated an uprising in Ukraines border areas. The alleged provocation was the popular overthrow of the pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych who then fled to Russia. Again, there was no NATO deterrent because Kyiv was still not a member. The West also looked weak after the failure to act against Syria for crossing the red line of chemical weapons use against civilians in its civil war. This also opened the door for Russian military intervention in support of the Assad regime in league with Iran. Then came last years full invasion of Ukraine. When Putin started marching troops around Belarus to gauge U.S.-NATO reaction, President Biden fell back on the not a NATO member excuse for non-intervention. And in the wake of his cut-off of aid to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iranian proxies in Yemen and his panicked collapse in Afghanistan, it looked to Putin that the American president had no stomach (or backbone) for foreign adventures. But the Ukrainians fought back with valor against an incompetent, overstretched Russian army, changing the strategic situation and winning sympathy and respect. The NATO alliance won new members as Finland and Sweden asked to join, and Japan squared the circle of global security when Japans prime minister Fumio Kishida visited Kyiv in March and his defense minister Nobuo Kishi told the press Confronting Russia will deter China. Had such muscular unity been displayed before Russia invaded, the war with all its casualties and global economic disruptions could have been deterred. Moscow would have decried any NATO guarantee of security to Ukraine, but Putin would not have dared attack (he had left the back door open by claiming he was not going to attack, until he did). A more robust NATO (pushed by President Donald Trump and now, belatedly, taken up by President Biden) is seen as a threat to Chinese expansion plans as well as Russian. An op-ed in Global Times, the media outlet of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, claims What the West is doing to Russia today can be seen as a rehearsal for what they will do to China in the future. This is a riposte to the concern in the West that what Putin is doing to Ukraine is a rehearsal for what Xi wants to do to Taiwan. Beijing loudly objected to Prime Minister Kishida Fumio visiting Ukraine and a NATO meeting (also attended by South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand) in Brussels. And the new security arrangements the U.S. is forging with South Korea and the Philippines are alarmingly compared to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. All are reactions by countries fearing aggression seeking collective security within the U.S.-led Free World. The global nature of international politics is demonstrated by an article published in the media outlet of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps quoting a Russian expert asserting NATO, with all its infrastructure, plans, and programs is really dangerous to Asian security. The Americans are now apparently preparing this infrastructure in the Philippines, perhaps not so much for the Americans as for NATO forces. The aim of these expanding alignments is to deter the wars constantly threatened by those who want to overturn the status quo by force. The eminent strategic thinker Colin S. Gray made a key point about deterrence in his book National Security Dilemmas: Challenges and Opportunities, Regional rogues, ambitious would-be great powers, and perhaps the more prudent terrorists must take into account that they share the planet with a heavily-armed superpower with the will to resort to force. Yet, these adversaries must believe that the U.S. is sufficiently armed and, even more importantly, does have the will to use force to stop them. Only then will adversaries decide they cannot achieve their objectives by resorting to violence. This is what Peace through Strength is all about, and how the first Cold War was won. William R. Hawkins is a former economics professor who served on the Republican staff of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. He has written widely on international economics and national security issues for both professional and popular publications. Image: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Art exhibition held at China Institute Gallery in New York Xinhua) 09:36, May 06, 2023 Paintings are displayed at the exhibition held at China Institute Gallery in New York, the United States, on May 4, 2023. The exhibition Flowers on a River: The Art of Chinese Flower-and-Bird Painting, is held here from March 23 to June 25, presenting over 100 works by 59 artists. (Xinhua/Li Rui) Visitors view a painting at the exhibition held at China Institute Gallery in New York, the United States, on May 4, 2023. The exhibition Flowers on a River: The Art of Chinese Flower-and-Bird Painting, is held here from March 23 to June 25, presenting over 100 works by 59 artists. (Xinhua/Li Rui) Willow Weilan Hai (R), director and chief curator of China Institute Gallery, introduces a painting to visitors at China Institute Gallery in New York, the United States, on May 4, 2023. The exhibition Flowers on a River: The Art of Chinese Flower-and-Bird Painting, is held here from March 23 to June 25, presenting over 100 works by 59 artists. (Xinhua/Li Rui) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Are you awash with anxiety, and horrified that decency, truth, hope, faith, and probity are being firebombed by the leftist anarchists intent upon upending all civilized norms, and wonder how it came to be? The transgender movement and all extant scourges on humanity --- sexual mutilation of children, denial of human biology, mainstreaming mental illness, de-criminalizing violence, mayhem and murder, celebrity of killing babies in the womb with impunity, emptying the prisons, depopulating the earth, and dozens more social perversions now commonplace -- can be traced to a single source. We are witness to the academic legacy of Friedrich Nietzsches prescient foreboding of nihilism since his madman declared in The Gay Science that God Is Dead, God Remains Dead, And We Have Killed Him. As Nietzsche foresaw and could not escape, the death of God and moral philosophy deconstructed any notions of truth vs vacant suppositions, beauty vs ugliness, good vs evil. Nietzsche asserted that upon the age of Charles Darwin, God and Christianity (and the metaphysics that depended upon God for notions of truth) were deemed irrelevant, an impediment to heroism, deserving to be erased. Human beings were no longer majestic individual designs from our Creator, just a more complicated higher order genus amidst the chaos of nature. The philosophical structuralisms from the time of Plato through the Christian era to the Enlightenment to the rise and supremacy of the natural sciences created arbitrary social constructs that needed to be abandoned. According to Nietzsche, since the face of God was a fiction, teleology and the progressive dialectic of history were nonsense, history didnt matter, truth and meaning were simply subjective and fleeting. Thus, every persons imagined or constructed self-identity and notion of good or evil was as valid as any other. Without God, humans no longer had any legitimate moral claim over any other organism, nor upon each other. Nietzsche brutally and unassailably swept to the curb Christianity and its unique claims to the transcendent reverence for each individual life. He also believed his analysis was catastrophic for civilization. His solution, of course, was the ubermensch in his Thus Spake Zarathustra. More on that later. Now, Nietzsche is not just some historical curio in the annals of philosophy, language, psychology, and sociology. Follow Freud from Nitzsche, then to Jung, Erickson, Fromm, Adler, Foucault. Follow the French anti-foundationalists from Nietzsche to Camus, to Foucault. Where there is Nietzsche there is Gramsci. Where there is Cloward and Piven there is Nietzsche. Scratch Saul Alinsky and youll find Nietzsche. Then comes Karl Popper, and George Soros. Dont leave out Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum. The transgender movement is part of the larger trans-humanism wave that denies objective truth. It admits no moral authority. It replaces Gods image with a random result of biodiversity, making each of us just another amoeba to be manipulated. Retired Great Books professor Michael Sugrue in his series of lectures on the Intellectual Tradition of Western Civilization offers a succinct, accessible, and stunning summary of Nietzschean analytics about the necessary degradations of culture and how it came about. Sugrues lectures are all on YouTube, mostly recorded in the mid to late 1990s. This is how Prof Sugrue frames it from his lecture Nietzsche and the Death of God explaining the Exceptional Man immune from morality : Remember Nietzsche is a prose poet, an artist, not a logician. In abolishing morality and destroying ethics he is staking a position much like Raskolnikov in Dostoyevskys Crime and Punishment who commits murder because he has the theory of the Exceptional Manthat is, the usual norms of right and wrong which we expect to be universal, can be ignored by certain superior individuals. The superior men are the great artists, creative in language, politics, or sciencethose who are breaking the boundaries inherited from centuries of error. That creative ability is more important than any moral judgment we might make of such a superior man. Although Nietzsche had only scorn for the proletariat and hated socialism because it would dilute and suppress the superior man, we cannot dismiss Karl Marx in exploring todays incarnation of Nietzsches superior man, his ubermensch. Marx of course introduced dialectic economic materialism, leading to the identification of the momentous clash between the proletariat working class and the propertied dominion. Marxs struggle actually wasnt between the propertied class and the proletariat according to sociologist the late Alvin Gouldner in his work---The Future of Intellectuals and the Rise of the New Class. The proletariat were mere pawns in the real war for power between the property-owning class and the upcoming rivalthe mercenary technocrat and intellectual class, as Prof Darren Stallof, colleague of Michael Sugrue, whose lectures are also on Youtube, remarks in his reading of Gouldners argument. Further, this intellectual class over the past fifty years has gradually elbowed its way to power in enlarging, controlling and manipulating the Administrative State, according to UNLV sociologist Prof John Marini in two podcasts with Steven Hayward at Powerline. Prof Marini says this intellectual class now is able to dictate rules and norms to the propertied class and nearly everyone else; an incremental subtle coup in the takeover of private property and the means of production while dismantling the US Constitution by obviating the separation of powers. Nietzsches superior man in the flesh, here and now, in our face, neither conjecture nor conspiracy, is this intellectual class, Prof Marinis Administrative State. And this technical intelligentsia is not populated by Christianitys faithful warrior/evangelists. These new overlords are emboldened by Nietzsches imprimatur to carpet-bomb moral guardrails and structuralism, and purpose for life, in order to impose their own secular eschatology whereby the remains of the civilized world would be theirs to inherit --- and resuscitate --- for their sole glory. Karl Marx can only watch and weep. His clash of the titans never benefitted the working class -- only enabled the intellectual elitists, the cultural bourgeoisie, the revolutionary technocrats in exploiting the working class to seize state and economic power, ostensibly temporarily, to facilitate the redistribution of wealth and power to the common man. Marx expected the proletariat takeover would lead to the evaporation of the temporary central state. Except, in the real world, following Nietzsches Will to Power, once acquiring central state power, the intellectual class will never relinquish it. Who shall dismantle the Administrative State, destroying Nietzsches ubermensch and the forces of evil surrounding us? In the meantime, Dostoyevskys Exceptional Man, Raskolnikov, in the end finds solace, salvation and redemption by reconverting to his Christian root, seeking Gods mercy, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Photo credit: Dutch Nationaal Archief Donald Trump is a different kind of guy and unique as a politician. Whereas, its usually a good idea in business and politics to avoid making enemies or taking on expensive lawsuits, Trump family money has allowed him to indulge in both. The guy is a fighter and has been in perpetual litigation-state, federal, tax, divorce, bankruptcy, or whatever, since he was a young adult. As I previously wrote, Trump is likely to lose the Alvin Bragg prosecution early next year, just because of some curious New York laws and legal doctrines. So too, Merrick Garlands torpedo man, Jack Smith, is obviously working on a seditious criminal conspiracy charge against Trump. Thats why he went to such great lengths to get Mike Pence before his grand jury. The worst thing you can say about Trump on Jan. 6 is he got some bad legal advice on the role of the vice-president. Thats not a crime, and I would think a federal appeals court would agree. The question is, would they intervene before or after a partisan D.C. jury convicts Trump on a sketchy legal theory? But right now, Trump has his most dangerous case ever going on in New York City. The advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is suing him for an alleged rape decades ago in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room and for defamation. Normally, rape is a state criminal matter. But this being Trump, its somehow a civil suit in a federal court. That means no prison time is on the line, but Carrol can gain a huge money judgment, merely by winning on the preponderance of the evidence. Its hard to see how Trump can prevail here. His legal team is so discouraged that they threw in the towel and will not offer a case for the defense. The Trump-unfriendly judge has made every ruling against him, including allowing the highly dubious Jessica Leeds to testify on an unrelated Trump incident, as well as admitting as evidence the old Access Hollywood tapes. Then Trump badly hurt his own case, saying in a video deposition he never met Carroll and she was not attractive to him, yet he identified a picture from the 1980s as being himself and his second wife Marla Maples with Carroll. Expect the judge to also pressure any juror who threatens to deadlock a verdict and force the decision for Carroll. Trump had been traveling in Scotland hoping to minimize the attention. But things have become so unglued, he may yet testify in person. He has until Sunday to decide. Obama buddy Reid Hoffman, no surprise, has bankrolled Carrolls case since the beginning. So too, a lot of other Trump lawsuits have been the product of his enemies. For example, Lisa Bloom, daughter of Gloria Allred and big time Democrat operative, was behind the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump in 2016, later dropped. Trump will downplay any decision against him as a payday for perjury and a put-up job by the Democrats, much like the ridiculous charges against justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh. Trump, however, went through an extended playboy era in his life before entering politics, leaving behind dozens of women complaining about everything from just kissing them on the lips, to serious Bill Clinton-style assaults. E. Jean Carroll herself is not a sympathetic figure. She has written a tell-all memoir of men abusing her since she was a kid. Something like the old Linda Ronstadt song. Yet, she came to New York City as an Indiana beauty queen and eagerly played the 1970s Sexual Revolution for fun and profit to become a famous Manhattan writer. The advice she gave young women for decades in the pages of Elle magazine was not exactly dont sleep around-find a nice guy, get married and have lots of kids. Since this is a civil not a criminal trial, Trump would technically not be a convicted rapist, but it would be rather embarrassing nonetheless. Tellingly, up until now, Big Media hasnt heavily covered the Carroll case, because sex scandals strike a bit close to home for the all the big-shot libs at the networks. Former CBS chief Les Moonves is even accused by Carroll of doing the same thing to her as Trump. Though, with Biden struggling (the Big Guy and his son may have to accept a plea deal, at least for Hunter, on tax and gun charges) and more news coming about all of Jeffrey Epsteins rich Democrat guests on Pedo-Island, like Reid Hoffman, a rape verdict for Trump is just the distraction they were hoping for. MSNBC has its story line for the next several years, or until they switch over to a home-shopping-channel format, whichever comes first. Meanwhile, Mark Penn had some good advice for Governor Ron DeSantis this week. You won the culture wars in Florida. Now its time to lean into your good government, man of character, appeal. That is certainly a safe way to draw a contrast with his main rivals. DeSantis is even being criticized as a guy who was not social in Congress and preferred to spend his time at home with the wife and kids. Thats one kind of attack neither Trump nor Biden will ever have to worry about. Frank Friday is an attorney in Louisville, KY. Image: White House In a previous post, I described the implications for all of us if Tucker Carlson has gagged himself by signing a "non-disparagement agreement" (NDA). But NDAs are not the only method available to unethical media companies, universities, churches, and others to silence those who speak a bit too much truth. Many contracts now contain Mandatory Arbitration (M.A.) clauses, often disguised, requiring that "employment disputes" be adjudicated in secret by private arbitrators. These can serve legitimate business purposes, by avoiding costly litigation. But they can also be used for concealment, and this is especially detrimental in fields like journalism and higher education, where free speech is essential. Here again, the dismissed have no recourse to publicity, because the M.A. keeps everything secret. They are instantly cut off from their salaries, courts, grievance procedures, oversight bodies and, most importantly, collegial and public opinion. They can seek redress only in a secret commercial proceeding consisting not of professional colleagues, but of lawyers, who can be counted on to suppress ethical issues. Proceedings are closed and without record, and public disclosure can be legally punished without any apparent limitation. Here, too, the mechanisms used to conceal are themselves concealed, and the deeds of which the employers are ashamed include using the methods of concealment. While M.A. may serve legitimate business purposes, even there the departure from accepted legal procedures and ethics, including due process protections, is breathtaking. Arbitrators (enjoying legal immunity) have no limits on the awards or punishments they can inflict, including unlimited punitive damages and lawyers' fees. Nothing requires that they follow the law, yet their secretive decisions are enforced by civil (and even criminal) courts with no opportunity for challenge or appeal. One firm (used by conservative Christian colleges) operates using rules that include these departures from standard principles of justice: Proceedings are secret, with participants bound to silence. No record or transcript is permitted. No access by public, press, or family. No protections for contractual, statutory, or constitutional rights. Decisions are legally binding and enforced by courts before which parties cannot present their case. No appeal is permitted. No jury trial is permitted. Rules of evidence are explicitly discarded. Participation is not voluntary or consensual; proceedings can be initiated against parties without their consent. Proceedings cannot be stopped, and one cannot withdraw. Decisions, damages, and punishments can be rendered in absentia, without parties present to defend themselves. No limits on arbitrators' rulings, their scope or relevance to merits, issues, or facts. Damages and fees can be imposed without any finding of legal culpability. Arbitrators are not required to explain decisions or record evidence. Unlimited fees can be imposed on parties who can be prevented from presenting their side of a case, including defending themselves, until fees are paid. No separation of powers or checks and balances in arbitrators' selection or powers. Procedures are vague, ambiguous, and self-contradictory and involve demonstrable intention to deceive. Decisions can be based on principles other than legal ones, such as religious precepts. Arbitrators can even issue restraining orders carrying criminal penalties. This constitutionally questionable weapon places legally innocent people under immediate penal supervision. A personalized criminal code is legislated around a legally unimpeachable person, imposing criminal punishments for doing what no statute prohibits and what anyone else may do without penalty. Punishments include mandatory incarceration without trial, even when the infringement is inadvertent or unavoidable, which it may be, since it criminalizes only otherwise legal acts. Despite enormous potential for injustice, M.A. now constitutes a vast privatized judiciary that "has largely displaced the civil justice system for most of the major transactions of ordinary people." Again, all this may be defensible in a business context, and it is defended on the presumption that arbitrators' business depends on a reputation for impartiality. Yet the incentives and ethics governing business disputes are irrelevant in matters where free expression is essential. Journalism and scholarship bring into play more serious dynamics, because of M.A.'s greatest asset to employers: secrecy. The heterodox can be airbrushed out of an institution, gagged, and placed under legal liability for public speech. Ethical principles become subsumed into an "employment dispute" that excludes everyone but lawyers from any role, where larger ethical requirements are irrelevant and about which the wider world will never know. Instead, lawyers "settle" everything in secret arbitration. Regardless of material awards, the employer wins the important battle before the procedure ever begins, because the secrecy guarantees to keep its reputation intact, regardless of how unethical its actions. M.A. cannot rectify ethical violations because enabling and concealing those violations is precisely the purpose of the procedure in the first place. Even if dismissed employees decline to use the arbitration to claim damages for unjust dismissals, they cannot be certain that any public utterance will not trigger an arbitration procedure against them by the employer. In absentia, it could seek punitive damages, and no rules limit the amount. Theoretically, the arbitrators could empty a journalist's or professor's bank account, seize his pension, force him to pay the institution $1,000 (or $1,000,000) a month for the rest of his life, plus unlimited legal fees, and even issue a restraining order adding criminal penalties (without criminal protections) for disclosure. Why would arbitrators act so unjustly? In journalism and university education, material settlements are trivial compared to the procedure itself. The arbitration firm is selling the power to silence and intimidate people. It offers employers a no-lose proposition: you may have to pay some nominal damages, but your reputation is guaranteed to remain intact so long as the whistleblower can be kept quiet. Given the lack of restraints on punishments described above, the firm has both the means and incentives to collude with the institution and twist the knife on any recalcitrant journalist or faculty member who dares to hit the employer where it really hurts, by exercising his authority as a public voice to damage its reputation for integrity, however truthfully. Criticizing the employer's ethics, including the arbitration procedure itself, undermines the firm's entire selling point. Whether the arbitrators would act as ruthlessly as the procedures permit, the open-ended possibilities (and the undisguised absence of justice) provide an unmistakable threat that will intimidate anyone contemplating criticizing the firm or institution. When your aim is to stop someone's mouth, the threat is everything. Here again, the dismissed cannot even vindicate their own reputations, because divulging the larger ethical or political issues behind their dismissal (to a prospective employer, for example) could bring retribution. (Few will believe the favorite pretext of "budget cuts.") Suspicion of having signed an NDA and accepted "hush money" may also compromise one's professional integrity. * * * All this might not be a problem for someone of Tucker Carlson's stature. Then again, it is possible that Fox News has some such legal leverage over him if not the ones I have described, then some similar ones that we do not yet know about. These devices are new and secretive enough that he could well have signed an employment contract containing an NDA or M.A. without realizing the full implications. If so, his wealth and public profile would protect him only so far, because the whole purpose is to allow the employer to inflict devastating destruction on dissenters and whistleblowers. A Mandatory Arbitration session could simply confiscate everything he owns and place him under a restraining order that could send him to prison for life. Such injustices and worse already happen in America's judiciary, the depths of whose depravity defy comprehension. Even if he survived such retribution, the rest of us might not. Stephen Baskerville is Professor of Political Studies at the Collegium Intermarium in Warsaw. He writes about the politics of the law and other topics. Points in this article are documented in a paper published by the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. Image: Pezibear via Pixabay, Pixabay License. Lance of The Serf Times, a Canadian YouTube channel, is a reliable purveyor of all things leftist. Thats why it stood out when he suddenly realized that abortion affects more than just the pregnant woman. To the extent that Lance lives and breathes leftism, theres not going to be an overnight Road to Damascus moment for him, but maybe that crack in the leftist wall will start changing his mind. The Serf Times promises that In a media landscape blemished by blemish [sic] we seek to provide news for the alienated masses. When you visit its YouTube home page, you learn that the news that Serf Times purveys comes solely from the left. It boasts about savaging conservative commentators, insists January 6 was an insurrection, attacks Dennis Pragers Five-Minute Videos, and generally toes the leftist party line in all things. Indeed, the channels attacks on Dennis Prager are a sure sign of the sites leftism because it calls that playlist PragerPoo, and all the videos have the poop emoji. If theres one thing you can be sure of, its the leftist obsession with fecal matter, just one of many signs showing how leftist ideology keeps people in a perpetual anal stage of life. I dont know if Lance and Serf Times are one and the same or if hes part of a crew. Its enough to note the affiliation. Image: Lance has an epiphany. Twitter screen grab. Its also appropriate to note that Lance isnt overwhelmingly bright, something obvious from his recent guest appearance on TimCast, one of six sites run by Tim Pool, a hugely popular podcast host. If you arent familiar with Pool, he started as a leftist (Occupy Wall Street and Vice Media) but, because hes intelligent and observant, has drifted to the right. Once on-air with Pool, Lance tried unavailingly to justify so-called gender-affirming care for children. He made a factually wrong comparison to left-handedness (just as left-handers are freed from forced right-handedness, so too are we freeing children from forced biological gender) and an equally fallacious claim that puberty suppressors are safe and have been prescribed to children for decades. Wrong and wrong. In other words, Lance is committed to every leftist idea but doesnt think things through very well. The really beautiful moment, though, came when Pool challenged Lance on his mindless statement that only the womans body and rights are at stake with an abortion. The video clip below shuts off when Lance suddenly has an epiphany about the errors in this thinking, so be sure to watch it to the end: Watch the very moment that this pro-abortion activist realizes just how WRONG he is... pic.twitter.com/CB6BaBNtBg Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 5, 2023 For someone as committed to all leftist shibboleths as Lance is, its highly unlikely that, having had this epiphany, hell suddenly realize that all his beliefs, including about abortion, are wrong. Thats seldom how the human mind works. What does happen, though, at least if you are intellectually honest, is that once theres a break in the dam, it cant be plugged. Instead, the dams integrity is gone. As you acquire new data, increasing numbers of fissures appear in the leftist dam that makes up your worldview. Get enough of those fissures, and the dam collapses. Your leftism is over and, maybe, Lance is on that journey. Senator John Kennedy asked David Turk, Biden's deputy secretary of energy, how much the temperature would go down if we got to carbon neutral, and the senior bureaucrat wouldn't or couldn't answer. He tap-danced around like a twenty-first-century version of Mr. Bojangles. The correct answer is zero. Temperatures will continue to fluctuate, as they have for billions of years, no matter what we do. The policy has always been about controlling us and confiscating more money for themselves and supporters nothing else. They claim that it is to control the climate, but that is BS. Less than fifty years ago, they were warning us of a disastrous ice age while CO2 was rising. $50 Trillion For What? Kennedy Dumbfounds Biden Climate Peddler In Fiery Exchange Over 'Carbon Neutrality' "If we spend $50 trillion to become carbon neutral by 2050 in the United States of America, how much is that going to reduce world temperatures?" Start at 1:51 on the video below to see Deputy Secretary Turk desperately evading giving an answer to Senator Kennedy: Biden official: It's going to cost trillions of dollars. There's no doubt about it. Me: So, if the U.S. spent $50T to become carbon neutral by 2050, how much is that going to reduce world temperatures? Biden official: *No answer* pic.twitter.com/6u8QmeJRdq John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) May 4, 2023 Photo credit: Twitter video screen grab. This April witnessed a steady stream of tragic cases involving claims of self-defense. In Missouri, for example, 84-year-old Missouri homeowner Andrew Lester shot and seriously injured 16-year-old Ralph Yarl after the teenager accidentally stopped at Lester's house. In Upstate New York, 65-year-old Kevin Monahan killed 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis, who mistakenly drove up to the wrong upstate address. That same day in Florida, 43-year-old Antonio Caccavale shot at a car carrying two teenage Instacart drivers who mistakenly pulled into his property and were on the phone with a customer trying to find the right address. These cases, and others like them, understandably generated torrents of reporting. Unfortunately, legal commentators on all sides of the political divide bungled self-defense basics. In so doing, they both dangerously misinformed the public and impeded an honest discussion about the role of defensive force and gun control in a modern, pluralistic society. A Washington Post reporter discussing the Yarl case, for example, wrote that stand-your-ground laws allow defenders to respond with violence, up to and including deadly force, immediately upon "perceiving a threat in a place where they have a right to be." The New York Times similarly claimed that U.S. castle doctrine and stand-your-ground provisions afford greater protections to those who act pursuant to "misjudgments and mistakes." It then doubled down by proclaiming that castle doctrine laws accord individuals in their homes a "legal presumption" that their defensive acts against an intruder are lawful. These claims about U.S. self-defense law are bold. But they are also entirely wrong wrong not as a matter of moral judgment or public policy preference, but as a matter of basic, undisputable law. For starters, simply "perceiving a threat" when you are in a place where you have a right to be is never in and of itself enough to trigger deadly defensive force, neither in Missouri nor in any other state in the Union. Nor do either the castle doctrine nor stand-your-ground provisions generate greater leeway for mistakes or, in any other way, produce a prodefensive force "presumption." Instead, stand-your-ground laws merely remove any otherwise existing duty-to-retreat state law when the defender could have retreated in complete safety. More to the point, the violence-reducing fundamentals of U.S. self-defense law remain in full operation. Most significantly, the person claiming self-defense must have acted (1) objectively reasonably in his belief, even if mistaken, that (2) defensive force was necessary to thwart the attack. The reporting notwithstanding, neither stand-your-ground nor castle doctrine provisions impact these foundational requirements. Of course, the perils of misinforming the public are the same, regardless of which side of the ideological divide births them. Consider when Fox, on February 9, 2023, while reporting on Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly's killing of a Mexican migrant, without qualification, asserted that "Arizona ... allows residents to shoot trespassers on their property." Arizona law permits no such thing. Nowhere in the U.S., in fact, can a person resort to deadly force to prevent a simple trespass. This, then, is just another recent example of commentators spreading risky misinformation. Even beyond using deadly force against trespassers, in the U.S., deadly force to defend mere property has long been unlawful. Although reasonable force is permitted to defend both personal property and dwellings, and deadly force can, in some states, be used to prevent an attacker from committing serious crimes in a dwelling, it is never okay to kill an attacker solely to protect property. The only counterexample is a strangely narrow one: Texas unusually permits deadly force to stop a burglar, robber, or thief from escaping with the property at nighttime when no other safe means of recovery are available. And even by international comparison, U.S. self-defense is surprisingly vanilla. England and Germany reject a categorical requirement that the defender either avoid conflict or retreat once the conflict is imminent. The same is true for legally, politically, and culturally diverse countries ranging from Argentina, Botswana, Canada, France, and Nigeria to Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Spain, and Sweden. Casting U.S. self-defense law as more extreme to appeal to a particular ideological base is perilous. Telling people they can kill mere trespassers, use deadly force to defend property, and shoot at will when they are in their house because the law will judge any mistake in their favor is indefensible. Spreading such misinformation puts lives at risk and distorts our public dialogue. We can and must do better. Markus Funk, a former federal prosecutor who taught criminal law at institutions including Oxford University (where he earned his Ph.D. in law), the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University, is in private practice with the international law firm Perkins Coie. He is the author of Rethinking Self-Defense: The "Ancient Right's" Rationale Disentangled (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). Image: Pix4Free.org. Justin Trudeau says he's had "the talk" with his teenage son, about not being a male chauvinist pig. He was all concerned, you know: Transcription: TRUDEAU: "And a big part of these conversations have to be men. We have to do it. I was pleased when President Biden was standing up for women's rights in the Canadian parliament. Guys, men, have to have conversations with their boys. I have a 15-year-old son who spends too much time on the internet, and I know the kinds of things that are out there, the sneaky misogynism that sort of slips through in workout videos and bro videos. Having those conversations are way more -- way more difficult for me than having just the basic birds and the bees conversations. Anyone talk about birds and bees anymore in this era of of too much information on the internet? But having those difficult conversations now about women's rights, about equality, about these things that are core to how boys are raised, this is something that men have to be better allies on and part of, and that is something that we will continue to be pushing in Canada and everywhere around the world." Apparently, the problem is male workout videos, and bro videos, whatever those are. It's stupid stuff, and kind of hideous, too, given that he's using his kid as the object in need of public instruction. Actually, the problem is his own. He not only comes from a sexual free-for-all family atmosphere involving Big Daddy Fidel Castro, which is as sexist as things get, making his claims to feminism a little ridiculous. He's been accused of "sexism" again and again by the feminist wokesters he associates with, which is about par for people with those victimhood orientations. It's all leftists we are talking about here, so of course they are going to whip out the victim card. Take an incident a few years ago, in 2019. He appointed half his Cabinet members women and loudly proclaimed that he wanted "strong women" in that Cabinet. Then he got into a fight with his justice minister/attorney general, one Jody Wilson-Raybould. She wanted to prosecute a corrupt company on the take; he wanted them to be let off easy. He demoted Wilson-Raybould to make sure that prosecution didn't happen, and she resigned in protest. After that, another female Cabinet minister resigned, too. So sure, the feminists are going to protest. Actually, anyone would. But that gave him problems with feminists, especially since he made such a big show of claiming a wokester feminist agenda. According to The Atlantic, which wrote about the spat at the time: The Canadian leader has made headlines around the world for, among other things, stating that he'll raise his sons as feminists, photobombing a prom photo shoot in Vancouver, demonstrating his core strength in a viral photo of him doing a peacock pose, and sharing a beer with Barack Obama in Montreal. In the Trump era, Trudeau's warmth and charm have earned him an international reputation as a liberal boy wonder, advocating for stronger women's rights, better environmental protections, and more stable relationships with indigenous groups. Back home, Trudeau's fondness for antics such as balancing babies in the palm of his hand, cuddling pandas at the zoo, and posing with his hands in a heart before a pink backdrop for the press have led to one Toronto writer calling him "the political equivalent of a YouTube puppy video"satisfying, but lacking depth. It's a criticism that has followed Trudeau since the start of his term, but one that feels even more salient now. For Bashevkin, the political-science professor, what this scandal illustrates most starkly is the prime minister's and his team's lack of experience. "I think if he's actually going to do what he says he will, which is think about how to learn from these events, I'd suggest that he might think about revaluing the women who are currently and were formerly in cabinet," Bashevkin says. So with all those self-created political problems of his, complete with angry Canadian feminists after him, Trudeau's kid is the one who gets the talk. No wonder he'd rather retreat into his workout videos. Daddy feminist, though, is chasing that kid even there. Image: Screen shot from CBC video via Grabien. A team of researchers at the University of Texas has developed a noninvasive means by which human thoughts can be converted into text. Though currently somewhat clunky, the "semantic decoder" could one day be miniaturized and mobilized such that one's most private thoughts could be made apparent anywhere and endlessly. The scientists' paper, recently published in the journal Nature Neuroscience (look for the centerfold!), indicated that a "brain-computer interface that decodes continuous language from non-invasive recordings would have many scientific and practical applications." I'm sure that is the case. You can bet that tyrannical governments from China to Canada, and from Iran to Washington, D.C., would love to avail themselves of the "practical applications" this interface would afford them. Regular citizens might not be so excited by this prospect, however. This new decoder utilizes functional magnetic resonance brain imaging and artificial intelligence, unlike previous brain-computer interfaces, which required invasive neurosurgery to decode speech articulation and other signals from intracranial recordings. Easy-peasy, right? According to an article in Interesting Engineering, the research team was led by Jerry Tang, a doctoral student in computer science, and Alex Huth, an assistant professor of neuroscience and computer science at the University of Texas-Austin. During a U.T.-Austin podcast, Huth stated, "For a noninvasive method, this is a real leap forward compared to what's been done before, which is typically single words or short sentences." He added, "We're getting the model to decode continuous language for extended periods of time with complicated ideas." Wow. The researchers claim to realize that the technology raises some ethical concerns. Tang averred, "We take very seriously the concerns that it could be used for bad purposes and have worked to avoid that." I'm sure the researchers at the lab in Wuhan said the same thing circa 2019. At the very least, when this technology/capability is perfected, it will be the end of marriage. When we can't keep our most private and unbidden thoughts about, say, the hot neighbor to ourselves or can't get away with a diplomatic answer to the question, "Do these pants make my butt look fat?," matrimony is finished. So, too, will be employment. When your boss approaches you and glowingly asks, "What do you think of my proposal, Johnson?," and you can't hide the fact that you think it is the dumbest idea since New Coke...you might want to freshen up your resume. In all seriousness, free speech is being massively curtailed by leftist tyrants around the world. Free thought is obviously the next target, and this new brain-computer interface technology will greatly aid them in their quest to make everyone totally and unequivocally submit and swear fealty to The State. We are witnessing in real time the deliberate destruction of the family and traditional values. Christianity is being mocked and attacked. The number of people identifying as LGBTQ is exploding, especially among our youth. Censorship is on the rise. "Misinformation boards" are being considered and created. Chinese-style social credit scores are coming soon to Canada, the U.S., and other Western nations. Say something your government doesn't like, and you could be put on a "Bias List." Lockdowns are now an approved tool of government. The Great Reset and the dismissal of capitalism are upon us. Western nations, in the grip of some sort of mass psychosis and delusion, are hell-bent on bankrupting themselves and therefore the global economy in the needless and preposterous attempt to fight "climate change." We are being told to eat bugs. And that we will "own nothing" and "be happy." Diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) is everywhere superseding and supplanting merit. Governments are trying to institute Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) so they can monitor and control every aspect of our lives via our finances. On top of all this, soon we will likely be at the mercy of "brain transparency." Can you guess what I'm thinking? It all ties together. A dystopian future? That seems almost optimistic. Only divine intervention can save us at this point. Graphic credit: DJ, CC BY-SA 2.0 license. The already vast influence of George Soros's billions will get a steroid infusion as his hedge fund, Soros Fund Management, joins in buying Vice Media Group out of bankruptcy for a reported $400 million. The Wall Street Journal reports (paywalled): Vice Media is nearing a deal for senior lenders including Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management to acquire the troubled media company out of bankruptcy at a valuation of around $400 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Nearly every Vice stockholder including backers such as private-equity firm TPG Group, Sixth Street Partners and media mogul James Murdoch would be wiped out under the proposed reorganization, the people familiar with the matter said. Outstanding debts held by TPG and Sixth Street would also be impaired as part of the plan, the people said. The Murdoch family is a major shareholder in Journal parent News Corp. The planned sale of the company to its lenders would value Vice at around $400 million including debt, the people said, a steep drop from its peak valuation of $5.7 billion in 2017. The final purchase price could also change as part of negotiations between the company and the lender group, the people said. The previous investors and lenders to Vice taking a severe haircut include Murdoch interests, as well as Soros's hedge fund Fortress, who are nevertheless planning on pouring more money into the venture. The acquisition is not 100% certain, as Vice has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the court must supervise any sale. It is not clear if another bidder would emerge. But if the Soros-affiliated bid succeeds, expect Vice to become even more biased to the left. The decline in the perceived value of Vice has to do with its own failures, but it also reflects the tough times for every internet publication, including American Thinker: Vice's planned bankruptcy is emblematic of the tough times new media companies that raised money at sky-high valuations have had as they tried to navigate a difficult advertising environment where most ad dollars go to Meta Platforms' Facebook and Alphabet's Google. YouTube screen grab (cropped). In its coverage of the proposed sale, Variety provides a chart that was stunning to me. Based on Comscore data, it charts the unique visitors to various digital media properties: Source. The chart doesn't specify the term during which the unique visitors are tabulated, but based on our own data, it has to be daily unique visitors. And, shockingly, we rank up at the top of the chart, right there with media properties that have attracted many millions of dollars in venture capital. These are unthinkable sums by several orders of magnitude; we are, frankly, starved for resources and reliant on our readers for survival on a month-to-month basis. The fact that big-money hedge funds are still willing to offer mid-nine-figures for Vice makes no sense to me, even as investors write down billions of dollars thrown at the left-wing outlets. I guess they are buying something other than financial returns. An article by Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report focuses on a puzzling phenomenon: [A]t this point, the share of voters who say they would vote for Biden over Trump is significantly higher than his job approval rating. To put it simply: Biden has a base of voters who don't really approve of his job performance. To me, this is a new phenomenon in American politics. For example, a March 29 Quinnipiac poll found Biden's job approval rating at a dismal 37%, with 57% disapproving. Even so, in a head-to-head matchup against Donald Trump, Biden took 48% to 46% for Trump. Biden's vote share was a whopping 11 points higher than his job approval rating. A Wall Street Journal poll from mid-April found similar results. Biden's overall job approval rating was 42%, yet he led Trump by two points, taking 48% of the vote a six-point improvement over his approval rating. Biden does very well almost a landslide, in fact among the segment of the public that "somewhat disapprove" of his job performance: According to the Quinnipiac survey, the 13% of voters who "somewhat" disapprove of Biden say they'll vote for him by an 11-point margin (48% to 37%) over Trump. The Wall Street Journal poll showed similar results. The 8% of respondents who "somewhat" disapprove of Biden on job approval pick Biden over Trump in a head-to-head matchup, 66% to 19%. What makes this unusual phenomenon of support among somewhat disapprovers crucial is that it is not shared by Trump. Trump, meanwhile, does not get support from the "somewhat" disapprovers. According to data from the Wall Street Journal, those who "somewhat" disapprove of Trump picked Biden over Trump, 56% to 18%. (snip) [T]hose who "somewhat" disapprove of Biden are still committed to supporting him, while those who "somewhat" disapprove of Trump and DeSantis are not planning to vote for either of those men. But it appears that DeSantis does somewhat better than Trump among those who somewhat disapprove of the man. This makes sense, since DeSantis has not (yet) been the target of a multi-year campaign of demonization based on false stories, like Russia collusion. As things stand now, this would be enough to carry six tossup states critical to any successful presidential campaign. Polling done by the GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies (April 11-13), of 500 voters in each of six battleground states (Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin), finds DeSantis leading Biden in every state, while Trump trails Biden in all six. Moreover, DeSantis, their surveys find, outperforms Trump among Biden "somewhat" disapprovers by anywhere from 8 to 36 points. It is a testimony to the incredible power still residing in the corrupt corporate media that Trump is such an anathema that a bloc of voters big enough to swing an election would vote for a candidate of which they disapprove, even somewhat, over him. That's why the corporate media are pushing stories that DeSantis is all over, that Trump is a lock to receive the nomination. It is also why they continue to demonize DeSantis, just in case the first initiative to ensure that Trump wins the nomination fails. Hat tip: Richard Baehr. Samsung is rapidly getting done with the May 2023 update for Galaxy devices. A week into the rollout, the company has already pushed the latest security patch to over a dozen smartphones and tablets, including the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy Tab S8. It continues to add more devices to the party every day. The latest to join this group is the Galaxy S22 series. The Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and Galaxy S22 Ultra are currently receiving the May SMR (Security Maintenance Release) in Latin America. The update is live in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Samsung should expand the release to more countries in the region over the next few days. The new firmware build number for the 2022 flagship trio is S90*EXXS4CWD5 or S90*EXXS4CWD4 depending on your country. Samsung pushes the May update to the Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S22 Note that the Galaxy S22 series shipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in Latin America and most other markets, while users in Europe got the Exynos 2200 chipset. The build numbers may vary depending on your region as well as the processor variant. The content should remain unchanged, though. And speaking of content, there isnt much here to look forward to. The build numbers suggest its just a security patch and Samsungs official changelog confirms that. That said, it isnt unusual for Samsung to push different updates to the same device in different markets in the same month. It sometimes delays new feature updates in some markets for the next month. We can confirm that only after the company releases the May update for the Galaxy S22 trio outside Latin America. The vulnerabilities patched by the May SMR wont change anywhere, though. Advertisement The latest security release contains patches for more than 70 flaws, including at least six critical ones. Among those are 21 Galaxy-specific issues (at least two critical flaws) and over 50 Android OS issues. Samsung will push these security enhancements to all eligible Galaxy devices globally. If youre using a Galaxy S22 or any other Galaxy device, you can check for updates from the Settings app. To see if you have an update available, open the Settings app and go to the Software update menu. Now tap on Download and install. If an update is available, you will be prompted to download it. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. But if you dont see any updates today, wait a few days and repeat the steps to check again. Thousands of Britons braving rainy weather and grey skies over London to witness the coronation pomp and pageantry were warned to wear raincoats and expect puddles. The Met Office said many southern parts of the UK are likely to be cloudy with some outbreaks of rain throughout Saturday afternoon. This raised fears a planned military flypast of more than 60 aircraft over Buckingham Palace at 2.30pm on Saturday could be called off. It will be a wet afternoon for many in the south and southeast Elsewhere there will be some sunshine, but with a scattering of locally heavy showers too pic.twitter.com/IHIluxQclS Met Office (@metoffice) May 6, 2023 But the Ministry of Defence (MoD) instead announced it would be scaled down. An MoD statement said: Due to unsuitable weather conditions, the coronation flypast will now be formed of helicopters and the Royal Air Force aerobatic team The Red Arrows. The flypast will last for two minutes and 30 seconds. The Met Office said temperatures could could get to 22C in the South East on Sunday. This would be the highest temperature recorded in the UK in 2023 so far, exceeding the 21.2C in Kinlochewe, Scotland, on April 17. On Saturday, Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna told the PA news agency it is definitely wet weather gear weather, adding Its not going to be very nice this afternoon. A lot of standing water around, puddles. Things could be a lot better, to be honest, not looking nice at all. He said Saturdays conditions were certainly good for reservoirs but not particularly good if you are doing events out and about as many people are. Mr Petagna added: For the South East its not looking great to be honest from now onwards through the day we are going to see cloudy skies, outbreaks of rain. So across the South East, some of the rain could be on the heavy side turning a bit more showery into the afternoon. Crowds wore rain ponchos in the grandstand opposite Buckingham Palace ahead of the coronation ceremony (Owen Humphreys/PA) He said temperatures in the capital could peak at 16C or 17C on Saturday afternoon, with 17C expected in Belfast and 15C in Glasgow. Mr Petagna stressed that it was not his place to decide whether the conditions were appropriate for the military flypast. But he added: Theres going to be low cloud around so its not going to be the of best conditions. Certainly not good conditions for flying. Aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force had been set to take part in the display. For the #Coronation of Their Majesties The King and Queen, the UK Armed Forces will conduct a flypast over Buckingham Palace, subject to weather, serviceability, & operational commitments. Find out what its like to prepare for such a spectacle: https://t.co/rbQc3QMIpN Royal Air Force (@RoyalAirForce) May 6, 2023 Elsewhere on Saturday, he said north-east England and eastern parts of Scotland could see some low cloud, with some brighter spells developing in places such as Northern Ireland and western Scotland. He added: Some brighter skies also a scatter of heavy showers and one or two of the showers could be thundery, so, essentially, cloudy and wet across central and south-east England. Elsewhere brighter later with some showers. On Sunday, he said, Britons can expect a bit more of an east/west split of weather conditions. He added: In the east tomorrow we will see further heavy showers, particularly across eastern England whereas out towards the west its drier and brighter and a bit warmer tomorrow as well, temperatures tomorrow could get to 22C in the South East. That would make it the warmest day of the year so far. He said these highs could be enjoyed in the London area. He added: Wet and fairly windy weather moving across from the west, sweeping eastwards across all areas Sunday night into Monday. Followed by sunshine and showers in the west late on Monday. Its going to vary day to day. This (Saturday) afternoon the showers could be particularly heavy across the west of Northern Ireland, southern Scotland and later parts of the Midlands as well could see some quite heavy showers. Whereas tomorrow, its more east and south-east England and then on Monday the rain coming in will be heaviest on hills in the west and north west. He said areas in south-east England and potentially in Northern Ireland could get highs of 18C or 19C on Monday. The King will be crowned at Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury during a coronation ceremony dating back centuries. Cries of God Save the King will ring out around the abbey after St Edwards Crown is placed on Charles head by Archbishop Justin Welby. The senior cleric said the coronation served as a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity. He said people will be struck by the majesty and sacred wonder of the service, but also hoped they would find ancient wisdom and new hope. The event will bring together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple, with Charles estranged son the Duke of Sussex expected to attend. 9am: The congregation arrives at Westminster Abbey 10.20am: The King and Queen's procession sets off from Buckingham Palace 11am: Charles and Camilla arrive at the Abbey and the coronation ceremony begins 12pm: The King is crowned 1pm: The service ends and Charles and Camilla begin a procession back to the Palace in the Gold State Coach 2.15pm: The King, Queen and other royal family members appear on the Palace balcony for a flypast Invited guests include David and Victoria Beckham, musician Lionel Richie, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US First Lady Jill Biden but her husband President Joe Biden will not be attending. The day will be a display of pomp and pageantry, with the nations Armed Forces promising a spectacular event when the King and Queen process through the streets of the capital. The event is the militarys largest ceremonial operation since Queen Elizabeth IIs 1953 coronation, with 9,000 servicemen and women deployed and 7,000 of these performing ceremonial and supporting roles. (PA Graphics) A relaxed looking Charles went on a walkabout in The Mall on the eve of the coronation on Friday with the Prince and Princess of Wales, whose son Prince George will be one of the Kings Pages of Honour. During the surprise event Kate described the coronation, which will also see Queen Camilla crowned, as a great moment for celebration and when quizzed about her children replied they were Excited, a bit nervous obviously with a big day ahead cant wait actually. A massive security and policing operation, dubbed Golden Orb, is under way that will see 11,500 police officers on duty on Saturday alongside more than 9,000 military personnel taking part in the ceremony. The policing plan has been re-examined after a security incident outside Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening when a man who allegedly had a knife threw shotgun cartridges over the palace gates. King Charles III on a walkabout outside Buckingham Palace meeting well-wishers ahead of the coronation on Saturday (Toby Melville/PA) Representatives from the nations faith communities will play an active role in the coronation of a monarch for the first time in history. The archbishop described the service as foremost an act of Christian worship but said new elements reflected the diversity of our contemporary society. New ground has been broken in other areas, from the inclusion of female bishops for the first time, to the use of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic languages. But the inclusion of the homage of the people, an invitation for those watching to make their own pledge to Charles, has provoked criticism with broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, a friend of Charles who wrote the Kings authorised biography, saying the monarch would find it abhorrent. A boy who raised money for charity by sleeping in his garden and a leukaemia patient who supported vulnerable people during the pandemic were among youngsters invited to the coronation. Max Woosey, 13, known as The Boy In The Tent for his efforts, was seated inside Westminster Abbey with his father, Major Mark Woosey. Having raised more than 700,000 for North Devon Hospice by sleeping outside for three years, Max received a British Empire Medal in the 2023 New Year Honours List for his service. Speaking outside nearby St Margarets Church after the ceremony, he said: Its absolutely incredible meeting everyone. My dads like a textbook, so hes been letting me know about all the military personnel. Asked what it meant for Max to receive an invite, his father said: It was slightly surreal. Max Woosey (Aaron Chown/PA) Another teenager invited to the ceremony for his charity work was Sahil Usman, 17, from Blackburn, who nearly declined his invitation because he thought it was a hoax. Sahil was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2018, and while still battling the disease during the pandemic, he supported around 300 vulnerable people in his community by creating gift hampers. He said: I was sent an invite by email, but I thought it was a spam email. Speaking about his familys reaction to his invitation, Sahil, who lives with his mother and brother, said: I thought it cant be real, why would I get invited? My mum was really proud and convinced me that my invite was real. Weve always followed the royal family, but the best part of the coronation is that a diverse community has been invited this shows us the kind of King Charles will be. Sahils highlight of the ceremony was meeting the First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf. Sahil said: After we spoke, I was just going to take a selfie, but then he told me to bring my mum in the picture, that was a proud moment. Sahil was given the British Empire Medal in the 2022 New Year Honours List for his charity service. Meanwhile some 400 young people were invited to watch the ceremony from St Margarets, next to the abbey, through their charity work, including Hana Saada, 18, from Buckinghamshire and Aniya Sofia, 18, from east London, who said getting a mention from the Archbishop of Canterbury during the service was an amazing experience. Hana and Aniya are members of the National Citizen Service, a skills development programme for young people. Aniya said: When the Archbishop of Canterbury shouted us out, it was such an amazing experience, everyone was cheering. The fact that young people are at the forefront of this event was really nice to see. Asked what the monarchy means to her, Aniya added: I think its important to celebrate the tradition. But then again, after hearing how a protester was arrested and considering the taxpayer money spent on todays events, it makes me question whether these traditions are necessary in everyday life. Im really grateful to be here and I enjoyed sharing this with other young people. Hana said: I think young people definitely have different views on the monarchy. Im hopeful that the King will continue to promote young people. The King and Queen have made their first appearance of coronation day travelling the short distance from their Clarence House home for final preparations at Buckingham Palace. Crowds in The Mall cheered as they caught sight of Charles and Camilla being driven in a state limousine between the royal residences. They are due to leave the palace at 10.20am and travel in a procession to Westminster Abbey where first the King and then the Queen will be anointed and crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly in the pews ahead of the coronation (Phil Noble/PA) The Duke of York was also seen being driven down The Mall in a state car, with parts of the crowd booing as he went past. Celebrity guests have begun arriving at the abbey for the Kings coronation as thousands flocked to the capital to share in the historic day. Actress Dame Emma Thompson, musicians Lionel Richie, Nick Cave and a cheery-looking Ant and Dec, in their smart morning suits, were photographed entering the place of worship. Inside the ancient abbey, the church buzzed with noise as the congregation filed in and took their seats hours before the ceremony was due to start. A smiling Dean of Westminster in his vivid red clerical robe was seen hurriedly carrying the holy oil for the anointing down the length of the abbey from the altar through the quire, clutching the precious ornate silver vessel in both hands. Crowds had been building up in the capital since dawn with the streets around the procession route The Mall, Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Parliament Square thronged with people. Charles and Camilla travelling to Buckingham Palace (Niall Carson/PA) As anticipation mounted among royal fans, a group of republicans were arrested around 7.30am more than four hours before the coronation service began. Footage on Twitter seemed to show Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, being apprehended by police in St Martins Lane, Westminster. Pictures appeared to show demonstrators in yellow Not My King T-shirts, including Mr Smith, having their details taken by officers. Protest group Just Stop Oil also said approximately 13 demonstrators were arrested on The Mall, as well as five at Downing Street. The King will be crowned during a coronation ceremony dating back centuries. Lionel Richie arriving ahead of the coronation (Gareth Cattermole/PA) Cries of God Save the King will ring out around the abbey after St Edwards Crown is placed on Charles head by Mr Welby. The senior cleric said in a statement issued on the eve of the coronation that the ceremony served as a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity. He said people will be struck by the majesty and sacred wonder of the service, but also hoped they would find ancient wisdom and new hope. But in a change, the controversial Homage of the People element of the service has been toned down after there was widespread criticism of the new element. Mr Welby will now invite a show of support from the congregation rather than a call to those in the abbey and elsewhere to swear allegiance to the King. The event will bring together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple, with Charles estranged son the Duke of Sussex expected to attend. Invited guests include David and Victoria Beckham, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US First Lady Jill Biden but her husband President Joe Biden will not be attending. The day will be a display of pomp and pageantry, with the nations Armed Forces promising a spectacular event when the King and Queen process through the streets of the capital. The event is the militarys largest ceremonial operation since Queen Elizabeth IIs 1953 coronation, with 9,000 servicemen and women deployed and 7,000 of these performing ceremonial and supporting roles. The King and Queen are to leave the Big Help Out volunteering and Big Lunch celebrations over the coronation weekend to the rest of the royal family, Buckingham Palace has said. Charles and Camilla will attend the coronation concert at Windsor Castle on Sunday evening, but are not set to appear at any of the street parties earlier in the day. They will also not be appearing publicly on the Monday the day of the Big Help Out which is billed as a lasting volunteering legacy to mark the Kings crowning. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby help sort clothing as they join other faith leaders in a Big Help Out event (Aaron Chown/PA) The public have been encouraged to take up hundreds of thousands of volunteering roles on the extra bank holiday, with more than 1,500 charities involved. An app has been created to allow people to search for volunteering opportunities, ranging from helping the elderly to working with environmental charities and supporting animal welfare. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: While wholly supportive of the Big Help Out initiatives taking place right across Britain on Monday 7 May, they will not be attending any events in-person. These will instead be attended by other members of the royal family. Camilla is patron of the Royal Voluntary Service charity, and has also been patron of the Big Lunch initiative since 2013. Thousands of street parties are expected to be held across the country, with people encouraged to come together for a Coronation Big Lunch on Sunday. Local resident Sarah Mountcastle and Celebrity TV Chef Ainsley Harriott with a coronation spread as he takes part in the Big Knock to promote the Coronation Big Lunch (Kirsty OConnor/PA) Charles and Camilla will attend an early family supper at Windsor Castle before hosting a private larger scale reception for VIP guests ahead of the concert and then taking their seats at 8.30pm for the live televised show. The Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to carry out engagements over the weekend. On Sunday, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will attend a big lunch in Cranleigh, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence will attend a community street party in Swindon, and Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie will attend a big lunch in Windsor. For the Big Help Out, Edward and Sophie will take part in a puppy class at the Guide Dogs training centre in Reading, while Anne and Sir Tim will attend a civic service recognising local volunteers at Gloucester Cathedral. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will meet young volunteers from the Coptic Orthodox Church at a coronation party at St Marks Coptic Orthodox Church in Kensington. At 74, Charles is the oldest British monarch at a coronation, and his reign follows that of his mother Elizabeth II, the nations longest-reigning sovereign. A council has said it is deeply concerned by reports that volunteers who work on womens safety were arrested in the early hours of coronation day. The Metropolitan Police said that at around 2am on Saturday three people were stopped by officers and arrested in the Soho area of central London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance. Among items seized were a number of rape alarms, the force said. The Met said it received intelligence that indicated groups and individuals seeking to disrupt todays coronation proceedings were planning to use rape alarms to disrupt the procession. The three people a 37-year-old woman, a 59-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man were taken to a south London police station, where they were questioned. The 47-year-old man was also further arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods, police said. All three have since been released on bail pending further inquiries. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: The intelligence we received led us to be extremely worried about the potential risk to public safety. We are aware of and understand there is public concern over these arrests. However, the matter is still under investigation. Councillor Aicha Less, cabinet member for communities and public protection at Westminster City Council, said: We are deeply concerned by reports of our Night Stars volunteers being arrested overnight. This service has been a familiar and welcome sight in the West End for a long time and have extensive training so they can assist the most vulnerable on the streets late at night. We are working with the Metropolitan Police to establish exactly what happened, and in the meantime, we are in touch with our volunteers to ensure they are receiving the support they need. Night Stars is a part of the councils night safety campaign. According to the councils website, Night Star volunteers are focused on working with the West Ends evening and night-time economy businesses to promote womens safety and reduce violence against women and girls. It adds: The team will provide wider support to anyone who becomes vulnerable due to intoxication to reduce the risk to their safety or prevent them from becoming victims of crime. The Night Safety volunteers aim to make Londons nightlife safer for everyone. They provide a welcoming place for all and collaborate to ensure that Westminsters nightlife remains a safe, inclusive and enjoyable experience for residents and visitors alike. The countdown to the coronation of the King has begun but the controversial Homage of the People element of the service has been toned down. Charles reportedly approved the change which came after a string of commentators criticised the new addition as divisive. Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, a friend of Charles who wrote the Kings authorised biography, said the monarch would find the Homage of the People abhorrent. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will now invite a show of support from the congregation rather than a call to those in the Abbey and elsewhere to swear allegiance to the King. Build up to the big day has already begun with workers sweeping sand onto roads, police officers arriving and a rain shelter is being set up outside the Abbey entrance. Metropolitan police and military police officers patrolled the route from Victoria to Westminster from the early hours on Saturday. Royal fans with Union flags and crowns could be seen on trains and in Tube stations from just after 4.30am. The King will be crowned at Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury during a coronation ceremony dating back centuries. Guardsmen arrive by train for the coronation (Peter Byrne/PA) Cries of God Save the King will ring out around the abbey after St Edwards Crown is placed on Charles head by Mr Welby. The senior cleric said in a statement issued on the eve of the coronation that the ceremony served as a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity. He said people will be struck by the majesty and sacred wonder of the service, but also hoped they would find ancient wisdom and new hope. The event will bring together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple, with Charles estranged son the Duke of Sussex expected to attend. Invited guests include David and Victoria Beckham, musician Lionel Richie, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US First Lady Jill Biden but her husband President Joe Biden will not be attending. The Princess of Wales speaks (left) to the First Lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan Biden, during a reception at Buckingham Palace on the eve of coronation (Jacob King/PA) The day will be a display of pomp and pageantry, with the nations Armed Forces promising a spectacular event when the King and Queen process through the streets of the capital. The event is the militarys largest ceremonial operation since Queen Elizabeth IIs 1953 coronation, with 9,000 servicemen and women deployed and 7,000 of these performing ceremonial and supporting roles. Mr Welby followed the longstanding tradition of commissioning new coronation liturgy the prayers and actions of the coronation service which has the theme Called To Serve. He chaired an advisory group of theology, constitutional history and inter-faith relationships experts to draft the liturgy, produced in close consultation with the King and the Government. The Homage of the People replaced the homage of peers, and Lambeth Palace described it as an invitation to the estimated global television audience of tens of millions to make a a great cry around the nation and around the world in support for the King. Mounted police officers on The Mall ahead of the coronation (Charles McQuillan/PA) Mr Welby was to say: I call upon all persons of goodwill in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other realms and the territories to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted King, defender of all. All those interested would be invited to say: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to your majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God. But now he will say: I now invite those who wish to offer their support to do so, with a moment of private reflection, by joining in saying God save King Charles at the end or, for those with the words before them, to recite them in full. A Lambeth Palace spokesperson said: The Homage of the People was always an invitation rather than expectation. To provide further clarity as the order of service was finalised, it has been mutually agreed by Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace that the introductory words will be changed. This reflects the collaborative approach that has been taken throughout the coronation planning. We are looking forward to the service with much joy and expectation. Heavy rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of well-wishers hoping to catch a glimpse of the King and Queen. Fans cheered Charles and Camilla as they travelled down the Mall, with many holding Union flag umbrellas and wearing waterproof ponchos. All procession viewing areas along the route were filled to capacity and those who could not get in were encouraged to make their way towards Hyde Park where the coronation was being screened. Martin Viney flew from Australia with his wife to watch the coronation and arrived on the Mall at 5am. Crowds gather ahead of the coronation (Niall Carson/PA) He said: Historical things like this only happen once in a while. As soon as my wife and I heard the coronation was happening we booked flights. Its an eye-opening event. Its so different to any other event. People in a grandstand in front of Buckingham Palace erupted into cheers after an announcement that coronation day is here, at about 8.30am. The stand has about 3,800 seats for veterans, NHS staff, social care workers and representatives of charitable organisations with links to the royal family. Crowds standing on either side of the Mall burst into chants of hip hip hooray, and campers had been singing and chanting since Friday. A Mexican wave started half way down the road, and Charles-themed 1 million notes were handed out to the crowd. In Trafalgar Square, artist Gideon Summerfield, 28, was sketching the procession route. He was one of three alumni of the Royal Drawing School tasked with recording the event. Mr Summerfield, drawing with chalk and pastels, said his fellow artists were stationed at Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. He said: It is such a massive honour. Its incredibly lucky to be able to capture such an historic moment. Its great for a young artist to be able to capture it. Im totally indebted to the Royal Drawing School for the opportunity. He said the King had helped to establish the school about 20 years ago. The royal family wore an array of intricate gowns and grand velvet cloaks signifying their membership of historic orders of chivalry at the King and Queens coronation. The ceremony was a Collar Day meaning the Windsors could wear morning dress with mantles appropriate to the most Senior Order to which they belonged the Order of the Garter, Thistle or Royal Victorian Order. Here are the ensembles worn by the royals in Westminster Abbey: The King The King carrying the Sovereigns Orb and Sceptre leaves Westminster Abbey (Ben Stanstall/PA) Charles arrived at Westminster Abbey in his grandfather George VIs crimson Robe of State with a new crimson Coronation Tunic trimmed with gold artillery lace, cream silk overshirt and Royal Naval trousers. His deep red Coronation Tunic, made by Ede and Ravenscroft, and overshirt, with collars and cuffs featuring embroidered oak leaves and acorns, was inspired by designs worn by George V and George VI. At the end of the ceremony for his departure, the newly crowned monarch swapped into a newly-made purple satin Coronation Tunic, trimmed with gold artillery lace, and George VIs grand purple silk velvet and gold embroidered Robe of Estate. The King wore his Garter Star and Garter Collar decorations. The Queen The Queen after being crowned with Queen Marys Crown by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Aaron Chown/PA) The Queens coronation gown, designed by Bruce Oldfield, was a tailored ivory, silver and gold coat-like dress embroidered with delicate garlands of British wildflowers. With motifs of daisy chains and forget-me-nots, it represented the King and Camillas affection for nature, and also featured celebratory bunting, in antique gold and silver thread. Oldfields vision was to create a sophisticated and modern dress that showcases Camillas style and personality in its details, Buckingham Palace said, describing it as simple and tailored. On top, for her arrival at Westminster Abbey, the Queen wore the crimson velvet Robe of State with long train originally made for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. At the end of the service, Camilla changed into her new purple velvet Robe of Estate, embroidered with gold motifs of 24 flowers. Princess of Wales The Princess of Wales arriving at Westminster Abbey (Andrew Milligan/PA) Kate wore a deep blue Royal Victorian Order mantle edged in scarlet over an Alexander McQueen embroidered ivory silk crepe dress. Her silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery headpiece was by Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen. The princess earrings were a touching tribute to Williams late mother, with the pearl and diamond pieces belonging to Diana, Princess of Wales. She also wore Queen Elizabeth IIs George VI Festoon Necklace, which George VI commissioned for his daughter Princess Elizabeth in 1950. Prince of Wales The Prince and Princess of Wales with Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis ahead of the coronation ceremony (Andrew Milligan/PA) William wore his navy blue Order of the Garter mantle over his red Welsh Guards ceremonial dress uniform as Colonel of the regiment. The cloak which the prince wears to the Order of the Garter ceremony in June at Windsor each year was made from deep blue silk velvet with white satin ribbons and a lining of white taffeta. His dress uniform, single-breasted in style with a stand-up collar, was made from Hainsworth Scarlet Wool Doeskin. William wore his Pilots Wings badge, and his Queens Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals. His leg garments known as overalls in the Army are made from a blue-black wool barathea with two inch scarlet stripes. The prince also wore his Order of the Thistle sash and badge, Garter Star and Thistle Star, Order of the Garter Collar and Great George of the Order of the Garter. Prince George as one of the Kings Pages of Honour Prince George was one of the Kings Pages of Honour (Jacob King/PA) George, along with the Kings other Pages of Honour, wore a scarlet tunic decorated with gold lace trim and blue velvet cuffs, with an open-fronted design and lined in silk. He wore an ivory silk satin waistcoat trimmed in gold braid, with wool trousers and boots. The uniforms were originally made during the reign of Elizabeth II and have been retailored for the coronation Princess Charlotte Princess Charlotte wore an Alexander McQueen dress (Andrew Milligan/PA) Charlotte was a mini-me version of Kate, with her similar silver bullion, crystal and silver thread headpiece by the same milliner. She also wore an Alexander McQueen dress with a cape in ivory silk crepe, with rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs with the emblems also featuring on her mothers dress. Prince Louis Prince Louis and sister Princess Charlotte arriving at Westminster Abbey (Andrew Milligan/PA) Louis, five, wore a Hainsworth Garter Blue Doeskin Tunic with specially designed lace work embellishment to the collar, cuffs and fronts, made by bespoke Savile Row tailors Dege and Skinner. The youngsters leg garment was black, complete with Garter Blue stripe. The Queens Pages The Queen arrives at Westminster Abbey (Ben Birchall/PA) The Uniforms of the Queens Pages paid tribute to some of Camillas military affiliations. Gus Lopes and Arthur Elliot wore outfits based on the uniform of the Rifles, of which Camilla is Colonel in Chief, with green jackets and contemporary red Rifles piping, collar braid on the neck and front, and the Queens cypher on the shoulder. Louis Lopes and Freddy Parker Bowles wore uniforms based on the Grenadier Guards, of which Camilla is Colonel-in-Chief. The red outfits had gold cuffs and an Officers gold and crimson sash around the waist and Camillas cypher on the shoulders. The Queens Companions: Fiona Clare designed and made the dresses of the Marchioness of Lansdowne and Camillas sister Annabel Elliot. Duke of Edinburgh The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh at the coronation (Andrew Matthews/PA) Edward wore morning dress with Garter Mantle. Duchess of Edinburgh The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (Ben Birchall/PA) Sophie wore a Suzannah dress with a Jane Taylor headpiece and Royal Victorian Order Mantle. Princess Royal The Princess Royal arrives for the ceremony in a rainy London (Toby Melville/PA) Anne wore her Blues and Royals uniform with the dark green Thistle Mantle, and the Thistle Collar, Garter Sash, Garter Star, Thistle Star, GCVO Star, full sized medals, KCVO Star and Companion of the Order of the Bath neck decoration. The Thistle cloak is made from deep green silk velvet with a lining of white taffeta, and features a hand embroidered gold badge and garter blue velvet hood. Duke and Duchess of Gloucester The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester (Andrew Matthews/PA) The Duke of Gloucester wore a morning coat with Garter Mantle, Garter Collar, Garter Star and Medals, while the Duchess of Gloucester wore a white dress with Royal Victorian Order Mantle, Star, Collar and Family Order. Duke of Kent The Duke of Kent wore a morning coat with Garter Star and Order of St Michael and St George neck decoration with Garter Mantle and Collar. Princess Alexandra Princess Alexandra wore a white dress with the Mantle of the Royal Victorian Order and the Garter Star. A politicians Olympic effort carrying a sword and a yawning Prince Louis were among the lighter highlights for social media users watching the Kings coronation across the world. The coronation at Westminster Abbey was the top trend worldwide on Twitter on Saturday, with more than half a million tweets posted with the hashtag #Coronation by 1pm. Among the more unorthodox highlights, many social media users commended Lord President of the Council Penny Mordaunt after she became the first woman to carry the Sword of State into the abbey. The honour required her to carry the large golden weapon as she walked through Westminster Abbey, before being presented with a second, smaller sword the Jewelled Sword of Offering which she presented to the King as part of the service, becoming the first woman to do so. What a shift from Penny Mordaunt, tweeted television presenter Dan Walker. Finally she gets to put the sword down. Get her in the Olympics. What a shift from Penny Mordaunt. Finally she gets to put the sword down.Get her in the Olympics #Coronation pic.twitter.com/GhepTNYTtR Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) May 6, 2023 Fellow Twitter user @garius posted: Penny Mordaunt has now been holding that sword longer than Liz Truss was Prime Minister. Among many to make the same joke, Labour MP Chris Bryant tweeted: The Penny is mightier than the sword. The Penny is mightier than the sword Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) May 6, 2023 Prince Louis, who captivated viewers with his behaviour at the Platinum Jubilee last year, was also closely watched by many. Images taken in Westminster Abbey showed the five-year-old yawning and staring at the ceiling, and later television footage showed he had disappeared from alongside his parents the Prince and Princess of Wales and sister Princess Charlotte. Assume Prince Louis reached tipping point He vanished a while ago, tweeted Twitter user @Fyrishsunset. Either that or hes crawling around tying shoelaces together. Assume Prince Louis reached tipping point. He vanished a while ago. Either that or hes crawling around tying shoelaces together #coronation pic.twitter.com/8an9DveHjS Aviemore (@Fyrishsunset) May 6, 2023 He reappeared alongside his family a short while later. To be fair Prince Louis behaved a lot better than the last time a Prince Louis occupied London during the crowning of a king, historian Dan Snow tweeted, referencing the actions of the future Louis VIII of France at the beginning of Henry IIIs reign in the 13th century. He didnt fill the breach at Dover Castle with corpses for a start. Celebrities were also a hot topic, with the appearance of Australian musician Nick Cave, of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, inspiring jokes after he took a seat at the back of Westminster Abbey. Nick Cave and the Back Seats #Coronation pic.twitter.com/4JdGzvwnRz Differently Dave (@GoldenVision90) May 6, 2023 Nick Cave and the Back Seats, posted user @GoldenVision90. Other viewers felt the ceremony was longer than necessary, with columnist Ian Dunt tweeting: They couldve shaved 30 minutes off this bad boy. They could've shaved 30 minutes off this bad boy. Everything after the crown bit is a bit Hobbits-on-the-bed. Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) May 6, 2023 Everything after the crown bit is a bit Hobbits-on-the-bed. TV critic Scott Bryan went further, posting: This could have been an email. Many watching the ceremony were reminded of the finale of Rowan Atkinsons 2003 spy comedy Johnny English, in which the protagonist snatches the crown during the coronation of antagonist Pascal Sauvage, played by John Malkovich. Anyone else watching the #Coronation to see if Johnny English pops up and accidentally becomes king? pic.twitter.com/OspJbw7zDm Ben Hinchliffe (@Ben_Hinch10) May 6, 2023 User @Ben_Hinch10 tweeted: Anyone else watching the #Coronation to see if Johnny English pops up and accidentally becomes king? While other broadcasters were showing the coronation ceremony, Channel 4 broadcast the 2018 comedy sequel Johnny English Strikes Again. A photo-finish has denied the King a racing victory on coronation day. His horse Saga, an 8-1 shot running in the Howden Suffolk Stakes at Newmarket, was narrowly beaten on Saturday afternoon by King of Conquest. Another of King Charless horses, Candle Of Hope, finished fourth in the Listed William Hill Conqueror Fillies Stakes at Goodwood earlier in the day. Jockey Frankie Dettori in the Kings colours (David Davies for The Jockey Club) Jockey Frankie Dettori described it as a thrill to wear the colours for the King, adding: I watched the whole thing (coronation) this morning. He said: Almost. He ran a super race, I couldnt go when I wanted to and William (Buick) got a couple of lengths on me, but he ran a super race. Oh yes (it was a thrill to wear these colours). I watched the whole thing (coronation) this morning, it was pretty special wasnt it? I know Im old, but Ive not seen one before. Trainer Thady Gosden said the Kings horse was slightly unfortunate. He said: He ran great. It wasnt his fault, he didnt get the gap in time. William (Buick) got first run (on King Of Conquest) and we had to wait to get through and then he ran out of real estate at the end, but he ran a super race. He was slightly unfortunate not to get there but its nobodys fault, thats racing. Police have been heavily criticised over the incredibly alarming arrests of Republican protesters ahead of the Kings coronation. Campaign groups said Saturdays arrests, including that of the chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, were something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London. The Metropolitan Police confirmed four people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance on St Martins Lane and that lock-on devices were seized a move described by human rights organisation Liberty as a dangerous precedent for us as a democratic nation. Just after 7am, footage of Republic chief executive Graham Smith was posted on Twitter which showed him among the demonstrators apprehended on St Martins Lane near Trafalgar Square. In one video an officer said: Im not going to get into a conversation about that, they are under arrest, end of. Just Stop Oil told the PA news agency approximately 13 protesters were arrested on the Mall ahead of the coronation. A spokeswoman for the campaign group said five demonstrators were also arrested at Downing Street and one at Piccadilly. Footage from the Mall showed the Just Stop Oil protesters being handcuffed and taken away by a heavy police presence. A significant police operation is under way in central London. We have made a number of arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace. The individuals have been held on suspicion of breaching the peace. Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) May 6, 2023 The force also said they made a number of breaching-the-peace arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace and a further three arrests in the Wellington Arch area on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. Animal Rising said a number of their supporters were apprehended on Saturday while at a training session miles away from the coronation. Nathan McGovern, spokesman for the campaign group, described the arrests as nothing short of a totalitarian crackdown on free speech and all forms of dissent. Human Rights Watch labelled the arrests incredibly alarming, adding: This is something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London. Amnesty Internationals chief executive Sacha Deshmukh also raised concerns after police were reportedly given instructions to apprehend people with megaphones. Outside London hundreds of people joined a march through Cardiff city centre in protest against the monarchy as the King was crowned. Abolish the monarchy, not the right to protest As we speak the whole core team of Republic is still being detained. We are not given a reason. They will probably be released when the whole monarchy pr-show is over.#NotMyKing #AbolishTheMonarchy pic.twitter.com/Dr8BPjhn78 Republic (@RepublicStaff) May 6, 2023 Demonstrators walking down Queen Street shouted Down with the Crown, not my King and God save the poor. Nick Wall, member of campaign group Republic and chairman of the Labour For Republic organisation, addressed crowds at a Not My King rally in Cardiff where he called the arrests of protesters in London disgraceful. I felt compelled to say a few words because one of Republics co-ordinators, his name is Ben and hes only 21 years of age, and hes been arrested. Its appalling. After the King was officially crowned, the Met tweeted to say: We swear that we will pay true allegiance to his Majesty, and to his heirs and successors according to law. One Just Stop Oil protester Ben Larsen, 25, said he was there to see the coronation and peacefully protest. Grinning at police officers, he told them: Youve searched me and havent found shit. Anti-monarchy protesters demonstrate in London ahead of the coronation (Piroschka van de Wouw/PA) A police officer told him: You need to educate yourself on what peaceful protest is. On Wednesday the Met said they would have an extremely low threshold for protests during the coronation celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect swift action. Under the controversial new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to lock on are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Critics previously hit out at plans from the Met to use facial recognition software on crowds to assist their policing operations. An official letter warning of the new powers was sent to Republic, which said its campaign around the coronation would proceed as planned. Just after 7.30am on Saturday, one woman in a Republic T-shirt was carried away by officers during an interview with the PA news agency. Before being arrested, she said: We had a delivery of placards ready for the protest and then the tactical support unit questioned us as to how we had got through the road closures. They questioned whether what we were doing was a delivery. They then said they found evidence of means of locking on, of items that could be used to lock on, and they arrested us. Another protester, Symon Hill, 46, who was previously arrested for shouting who elected him? during a proclamation ceremony for the King, said he hoped he would not be arrested again. Mr Hill had charges against him of using threatening or abusive words or disorderly behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service. He told PA: I very, very much hope I will not be arrested. I am joining peaceful, lawful protest and I am worried there will be more arrests on spurious grounds. Police have said they understand public concern after officers made 52 arrests throughout the Kings coronation day including alleged affray, public nuisance and breach-of-the-peace offences. The Metropolitan Police came under heavy criticism on Saturday after what campaign groups described as incredibly alarming detentions during republican protests. Protesters from the anti-monarchy group, including its chief executive Graham Smith, were apprehended during the day as well as demonstrators from Just Stop Oil and Animal Rising. We understand public concern following arrests made this morning. We police proportionately and in the context of the event. This is a once in a generation moment and that has been a key consideration. You can read more here https://t.co/CoSQtj7QV2 Metropolitan Police Events (@MetPoliceEvents) May 6, 2023 The Met said it received information that protesters were determined to disrupt the coronation including defacing public monuments with paint, breaching barriers and disrupting official movements. But campaigners said the protests were peaceful, describing the arrests as a dangerous precedent for us as a democratic nation. The force confirmed reports from Just Stop Oil that 13 demonstrators were detained on the Mall and six public nuisance arrests on St Martins Lane following protests from Republic. Three people were also apprehended in Soho, three at Wellington Arch and five on Whitehall on conspiracy to cause public nuisance, with another in Whitehall arrested for religiously aggravated behaviour likely to cause harassment. The Met said a further 14 people were detained in east London on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Campaigners labelled the arrests incredibly alarming (Labour for a Republic/PA) All suspects remain in custody, the force said. Footage from the Mall showed the Just Stop Oil protesters being handcuffed and taken away by a heavy police presence. Animal Rising said a number of its supporters were apprehended on Saturday while at a training session miles away from the coronation. Nathan McGovern, spokesman for the campaign group, described the arrests as nothing short of a totalitarian crackdown on free speech and all forms of dissent. Ms Findlay, who led the policing operation, said: We absolutely understand public concern following the arrests we made this morning. Protest is lawful and it can be disruptive. We also have a duty to intervene when protest becomes criminal and may cause serious disruption. Ms Findlay added: This depends on the context. The coronation is a once in a generation event and that is a key consideration in our assessment. A protest involving large numbers has gone ahead today with police knowledge and no intervention. Human Rights Watch labelled the arrests incredibly alarming, adding: This is something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London. Amnesty Internationals chief executive Sacha Deshmukh also raised concerns after police were reportedly given instructions to apprehend people with megaphones. Separately, Westminster Council cabinet member for communities and public protection Aicha Less said she was deeply concerned over reports of arrests of members of its Night Star volunteer team, who assist vulnerable people on the streets late at night. We are working with the Metropolitan Police to establish exactly what happened, and in the meantime, we are in touch with our volunteers to ensure they are receiving the support they need, she said. The Met said they received intelligence that people wanted to disrupt the coronation by using rape alarms to disrupt the procession, and arrested three people in the Soho area on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance. Outside London, hundreds of people joined a march through Cardiff city centre in protest against the monarchy as the King was crowned. Demonstrators walking down Queen Street shouted Down with the Crown, not my King and God save the poor. Nick Wall, member of campaign group Republic and chairman of the Labour For Republic organisation, addressed crowds at a Not My King rally in Cardiff where he called the arrests of protesters in London disgraceful. On Wednesday, the Met said it would have an extremely low threshold for protests during the coronation celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect swift action. Under the controversial new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to lock on are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Critics previously hit out at plans from the Met to use facial recognition software on crowds to assist their policing operations. The Princess of Wales combined parenting with pageantry during the Kings coronation. While the Prince of Wales had a formal role paying homage to his father during the service, Kate focused on caring for the couples younger children, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Charlotte, eight, showed focus and composure throughout the formal service, but Louis, who turned five less than two weeks ago, needed a little more attention. Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis with their mother, the Princess of Wales, in the front row of Westminster Abbey for the Kings coronation service (Aaron Chown/PA) While William focused on the service, knowing that the next coronation will likely be his own, Kate took time to calm and reassure Louis when he became a little fidgety. Although William, Kate, Charlotte and Louis arrived later than planned for the service, they showed no signs of being flustered and were seen chatting as they waited to go inside. The family appeared composed as they joined the procession through Westminster Abbey behind the King and nine-year-old Prince George, the couples oldest son, who was one of his grandfathers pages of honour. Prince Louis frequently glanced at his mother during the service (Victoria Jones/PA) Kate, who wore a deep blue Royal Victorian Order mantle edged in scarlet over an Alexander McQueen embroidered ivory silk crepe dress, looked every inch the polished princess. The outfit was topped with a silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery headpiece by Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen. The princess pearl and diamond earrings belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales so were a touching tribute to Williams late mother. Princess Charlotte wore a similar dress and headpiece to her mother, the Princess of Wales (Yui Mok/PA) Kate also wore Queen Elizabeth IIs George VI Festoon Necklace, which George VI commissioned for his daughter Princess Elizabeth in 1950. Charlotte, who exchanged affectionate smiles with her mother during the service, was a mini-me version of Kate, with a similar headpiece by the same milliner and an ivory silk crepe Alexander McQueen dress which featured the same rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs as her mothers. Despite the formality of the occasion, Kate looked relaxed and gave a beaming smile as she listened to the performance of Alleluia by the Ascension choir a gospel choir handpicked for the occasion. The Princess of Wales encouraged Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis to stand close to her on the balcony at Buckingham Palace (Jordan Pettitt/PA) Kate smiled down at Louis, seated to her right, when the five-year-old struggled to stay still during the formal ceremony, often glancing at his mother. The princess was seen bending down to talk to Louis when the congregation stood for a hymn, shortly before the five-year-old left the front row of the abbey for a short time. George joined his family for the carriage ride back to Buckingham Palace and all five were seen smiling and waving to well-wishers. The Prince and Princess of Wales arriving at Westminster Abbey with Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis (Andrew Milligan/PA) The prince then stood happily with the Kings other pages of honour for the royal familys appearance on the palace balcony while Louis and his sister Charlotte joined their parents. Kate, with some help from the Duchess of Edinburgh, encouraged Louis and Charlotte to move along so they were closer to her. She kept a close eye on the young prince, placing a reassuring hand on Louis shoulder and encouraging him to look up when the aircraft approached for the flypast. The Queen of Spain wore a Victoria Beckham dress, a design previously worn by reality TV star and model Kendall Jenner, to a reception at Buckingham Palace on the eve of the coronation. Showing her support for British design talent, Letizia teamed the green gathered-waist midi dress with a black clutch bag and court heels. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain arrive for a reception at Buckingham Palace (Danny Lawson/PA) Accompanying her husband, King Felipe, at the event for overseas coronation guests, Letizia, 50, added a glittering bow-shaped brooch and drop earrings. Her Majesty the Queen of Spain looks incredible!!! Wearing one of my dresses!! Beckham wrote on Instagram. The dress, in parrot green, costing 850, is sold out on the Victoria Beckham website. From the designers SS23 collection, it was previously worn by US star Jenner during a visit to Dubai, where she teamed it with long black latex gloves and knee-high boots. The cap-sleeved dress debuted on the SS23 runway in Paris, modelled by Bella Hadid and paired with a tasselled clutch bag. Pop star-turned-fashion designer Beckham, 49, launched her eponymous fashion label in 2008. The former Spice Girls designs have recently been worn by celebrities including Michelle Obama, Florence Pugh and the Princess of Wales. A royal butcher has spoken of the privilege of serving the King and his late mother as coronation celebrations get under way. The Royal Deeside village of Ballater often dubbed one of the most royalist towns in Britain has bunting and flags on almost every shop window. The HM Sheridan butchers shop in the village high street was granted a royal warrant for the late Queen and Charles in 1987 to serve Balmoral Castle and Birkhall, the Kings estate nearby. Co-owner John Sinclair is proudly displaying his specially made coronation sausages, made of pork, plum and ginger, to mark the coronation. Charles with John Sinclair (left) and James Ingleby, Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire (right), during the Highland Games in Ballater (Jane Barlow/PA) The shop is known for its specialist sausages for the royal familys famous barbeques at the castle on the nearby Balmoral Estate. The recent births of royal children were also marked with special sausages, including Georges Strathearn Sausage, made of venison and heather herb, while the Dumbarton sausage was made after the birth of Archie in recognition of his father Harrys Scottish title as the Earl of Dumbarton. Mr Sinclair told the PA news agency: For the coronation we have produced a coronation sausage. The idea behind it was weve never made a sausage with plum before, so we thought it had to be something special to mark the special occasion. The Ballater butchers shop was visited regularly by Elizabeth II and the Balmoral Estate had placed an order a few days before her death. Queen Elizabeth II speaks with the co-owners of HM Sheridan, Barry Florence and John Sinclair (John Linton/PA) Mr Sinclair said: We served the late Queen up until she last year when she died at Balmoral. It has been an honour and a privilege to work with them and the same with the Prince of Wales (now King) as well. I hope we can do some work with him in the future. Mr Sinclair, who was chairman of the Ballater Highland Games, also recalled his times sitting with Charles at the famous event. And after the town became one of the communities impacted when Storm Frank caused millions of pounds of destruction in 2015, the King joined his mother to reopen the butchers shop, and took time to speak with people whose homes had been flooded. Mr Sinclair added: The royals do a hell of a lot for this area, especially Ballater. The King came to visit the shop after Storm Frank and he reopened the shop after it was rebuilt. The organiser of a King Charles spaniel parade on the day of Kings coronation said the march was a fitting way to honour Charles. Jenny Matthews, owner of Love My Human a pet groomers boutique on Kings Road in Chelsea, led a parade of more than 150 dogs to celebrate Charles becoming King and to mark the first coronation in over 70 years. Ms Matthews said onlookers were in wonderment and that hosting the spaniel march was a no brainer. It was fitting to honour King Charles today with a lot of King Charles spaniels, the 53-year-old told the PA news agency. A pair of King Charles spaniels in a pushchair decorated with Union flag bunting (Amira Ibrahim for Kensington and Chelsea Council) I heard comments saying Oh my goodness, and theres more. I think everyone was charmed by it. Spaniels, young and old, were seen parading through Kings Road passing luxury boutiques and some donned royal attire to mark the historic event. We had much older dogs in pushchairs that came out and the owners decorated the pushchair with bunting and beautiful velvet purple throws, she said. One of the stipulations was if you wanted to take part in the parade, and if your dog doesnt mind, can you get them to wear a crown? We saw all kind of crowns homemade crowns, little shop bought ones, paper crowns and everybody was really keen to comply and we were hoping to create a spectacle. There were lots of dogs wagging their tail down the street. We wanted to really make sure that everyone knew why we were there. King Charles spaniels donned crowns to mark the Kings coronation (Amira Ibrahim for Kensington and Chelsea Council) The pet company owner was initially dubious that dog owners would not take part in the parade, but was overwhelmed to see the masses of King Charles spaniels walk Kings Road. Its been amazing and I really didnt think it would get the attention that it did, she said. From initially a few people taking up on it, and everyone loved the idea, then all of a sudden overnight 150 King Charles have registered on the Cavaliers of London site to want to take part. At one stage I stood still to photograph the parade and it just went on and on and on. Many spaniels wore regal attire to celebrate the Kings coronation (Cadogan) The parade started at 2pm and the party of dog owners and their spaniels was popular with the crowd as everybody wanted to stop and take a photograph. Ms Matthews said: We got to Dovehouse Green where we were meeting everyone to make our way over to the Duke of York Square, and I was just overwhelmed because everybody showed up. Despite the weather, peoples spirits were not dampened, though Ms Matthews admits that the rain may have helped to limit numbers to make the event more manageable. She added: It was just pouring with rain, and I thought yes, thats so British come rain or shine theyre out with their dog and they didnt care they were getting wet. In a way (the rain) did us a favour because I think everyone with a King Charles spaniel would have come out in force and it would have been overwhelming. Rail bosses and military officers managing the arrival and departure of 5,000 armed forces personnel and members of the public at Londons Waterloo station for the coronation have described the huge logistical operation as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Troops involved in the coronation arrived at the UKs busiest station on Saturday morning before marching off to take part in the procession, in the biggest movement of military personnel on Britains railways since Sir Winston Churchills funeral in 1965. Members of the Royal Navy, Army, RAF and Commonwealth forces arrived on seven South Western Railway trains and two chartered West Coast Railways trains, before marching over Westminster Bridge to assemble ahead of the coronation. Royalists arriving in central London to see the ceremony waved flags as the soldiers marched into the station, which was draped with Union flag bunting and signs featuring coronation emblems. Sergeant Richard Flattery, of the Royal Logistics Corps, is working alongside police and railway security teams to manage the flow at Waterloo. Troops arrive at Waterloo (Peter Byrne/PA) He told the PA news agency: Its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in my career. Weve got the military police with us as well on standby and theyre lining the route as well to make sure nobody is encroaching on the parade. South Western Railway managing director Claire Mann said: Its an amazing opportunity, the planning thats gone into this. Its been years in the making, and were hoping for a really successful delivery today. Its a real honour to be part of this. As well as the delivery of troops into Waterloo, Ms Mann has also overseen the presentation of station staff and management of different teams across the station. She said: Theres the security piece around ensuring personnel are trained, and in presentation, making sure theyre smart, the engineering, so its been lots of teams coming together to ensure its as smooth as it can be. Asked how she felt about facilitating such a significant logistical event, Ms Mann said: Its absolutely phenomenal. Im just so proud of the trust that has been placed in us to move the personnel here today, but also to be at the heart of whats happening in London and the whole of the country and the world actually celebrating such an amazing event today. (PA Graphics) Network Rail route manager Mark Killick said: Its fantastic for us as the rail industry to be involved in this great coordination celebration. This is a huge thing for rail, so for colleagues across the industry and network around South Western Railway, its just a massive privilege to be involved to be able to support the great coronation today. Its been a huge amount of planning, weve had to reschedule big engineering work that was planned for this weekend to make sure that the railways open and the trains can run. Weve worked closely with South Western Railway, with the Ministry of Defence, with the British Transport Police, to make sure those arrangements run smoothly. Key for me today is making sure that those trains depart on time and we get those armed services personnel into London bang on time so they can get off and do what they need to do. Rishi Sunak hailed the friendship between the UK and Canada, as well as between himself and Justin Trudeau as he welcomed the Canadian premier to Downing Street. The pair met over tea, as part of a series of bilateral meetings the Prime Minister was holding around the Kings coronation. Mr Trudeau was one of the world leaders who watched the royal event at Westminster Abbey earlier. Justin Trudeau and Rishi Sunak exchanged warm words ahead of their private talks in No 10s White Room (Sophie Wingate/PA) The two leaders hugged when Mr Trudeau arrived at No 10. Speaking in front of the media ahead of their private talks, Mr Sunak said: Weve seen each other a lot over the past few months, but I think that speaks to the friendship between our two countries and between you and I. Were members of all the same clubs, whether thats the G7, the Commonwealth obviously important at the moment, Nato. He thanked Mr Trudeau for his support in the UKs accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and said they would continue to work together to support Ukraine. The Canadian leader stressed the two countries shared values. We are aligned on how were going to move forward, standing strong for our values, making sure theres opportunities for jobs and growth for citizens across our countries and around the world as we work together. He noted the pair would meet again at the upcoming G7 summit in Japan, saying there would be lots of opportunities for us to make sure that as we always are, were aligning in our values, in our approach. The duo then admired coronation teacups made by Emma Bridgewater, a pottery with strong royal connections. According to a read-out of their meeting, Mr Sunak and Mr Trudeau remarked on how special the occasion had been and reflected on their conversations with counterparts from across the world. The leaders also discussed how Canada and the UK could deepen collaboration on defence and security technology, including in cyber security and quantum. They agreed on the importance of ensuring Ukraine continues to get the support it needs for its defence and reconstruction, now and for years to come. At the coronation, Mr Trudeau was joined by his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, governor general Mary Simon and several other dignitaries. Canadas premier tweeted: Today, we celebrated the Coronation of King Charles III and reaffirmed Canadas enduring commitment to the Commonwealth. Today, we celebrated the Coronation of King Charles III and reaffirmed Canadas enduring commitment to the Commonwealth. Find out how were marking this historic occasion with the new Royal Crown, Royal Flag, Canadian stamp, collector coins, and more: https://t.co/Xf30B46uEt Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 6, 2023 Canada is one of the 14 Commonwealth realms where the British monarch is head of state. Mr Trudeau had a video call with the King as part of a busy run of diplomatic duties for Charles ahead of the coronation. The King also met with Canadian indigenous leaders, Chief Roseanne Archibald, Natan Obed and Cassidy Caron. Mr Sunaks calendar of pre-coronation diplomacy, which came amid a difficult set of local election results for him, also featured meetings with the Australian and New Zealand prime ministers, the Emir of Qatar and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he looks forward to hosting the King in Ireland. Mr Varadkar and Irish president Michael D Higgins attended the coronation service in Westminster Abbey in London. They were also present at a reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday and spoke to Charles and members of the UK Government. Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar is attending the coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey in London today. He also attended a reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday evening.https://t.co/k6mpqeXPNd pic.twitter.com/IIAZoJQdU0 MerrionStreet.ie (@merrionstreet) May 6, 2023 The Taoiseach said: King Charles and Queen Camilla are long-standing friends of Ireland and King Charles has visited regularly in the past two decades, supporting good bilateral relations, co-operation, peace and reconciliation. I expressed my hope that his regular visits will continue into his reign. I was pleased to accept the invitation to attend the coronation, alongside President Higgins, symbolising the close neighbourly relations between our two countries. This is a historic moment for the British people, for the realm, and for their friends around the world. Mr Varadkar added: We have deep political, economic, cultural, and personal links with Britain, which provided a welcome home to so many of our citizens for generations. The King and Irish President Michael D Higgins have met on a number of occasions (Liam McBurney/PA) A vibrant British community actively contributes to life in Ireland in so many ways. And, of course, there are many people, in the north especially, who are both British and Irish. As we mark the coronation of King Charles III, I look forward to further strengthening British-Irish relations and the friendship between our peoples and look forward to welcoming the royal couple to Ireland in due course. Mr Higgins is the first Irish head of state to attend a coronation. To mark the event, Mr Higgins and and his wife Sabina requested the Tree Council of Ireland plant a native Irish oak tree in the woodland forest of Aurora in Co Wicklow. The gesture was to acknowledge the Kings commitment to environmental sustainability. Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail has offered congratulations to the King following the coronation (Maxwell Photography/PA) Meanwhile, the Speakers of the Dail, Sean O Fearghail, and of the Senate, Jerry Buttimer, have offered their congratulations to Charles and Camilla following the coronation. In a joint statement the Ceann Comhairle and Cathaoirleach said: On behalf of the Houses of the Oireachtas, we congratulate King Charles and Queen Camilla on this auspicious day and wish them well in their endeavours for the British people. As the late Queen Elizabeth herself acknowledged during her landmark visit to Ireland in 2011, the history between these islands is long and complex, but at the same time the family, cultural and economic ties that bind the people of Ireland and the United Kingdom make us firm friends. Like his late parents, King Charles has worked over the decades to build and nurture peace and reconciliation between the communities in Northern Ireland, across this island and between Ireland and Britain. Throughout her long reign, his late mother was the embodiment of public service, dedicated to performing her duties for her people at home and committed to representing her nation abroad. We know King Charles will continue in that tradition to build his own relations and legacy as monarch. Three people were stabbed to death in separate incidents in east London over a period of less than eight hours on the eve of the coronation. A 16-year-old was ambushed as he left school and stabbed to death, while murder investigations were also started after the killings of an 18-year-old and a man in his late 20s, the Metropolitan Police said. One senior police officer said his team was fully focused on the inquiry despite the significant events taking place in London on Saturday. Four people have been arrested in connection with two of the stabbings, but detectives are still hunting the killers of the schoolboy, a pupil at Kelmscott school, Walthamstow. A local said his attackers were waiting for him, and he died in the street at 4.39pm on Friday. No arrests have been made, and head teacher Sam Jones said the attack marked the darkest of days for the school community. A Kelmscott student was tragically killed in a senseless knife attack, he said. Kelmscott is a large and tight-knit family and this loss will be felt for a long time to come. Hold those that you love close this evening. I know we will come together as a community and support one another through this. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rogers, who is leading the investigation, said the cause of death was a stab wound to the chest, and the boys family were being supported by specially trained officers. This is a fast moving investigation and we are aware that this brutal attack took place near a school, and was witnessed by many bystanders and young people, he said. My thoughts are with them as they come to terms with seeing such an act of violence unfold and I would ask anyone with footage or images to do the right thing and send them into my team of detectives. Metropolitan Police officers were carrying out three murder investigations (Kirsty OConnor/PA) The attack, which happened shortly after the end of the school day, shocked those who witnessed it. One business owner, who asked not to be named, said he saw one of the assailants get out of a white Hyundai shortly before the attack. Another added: He was a year 11 kid. There were three other kids older than him. They were waiting for him. They chased him. He ran and when he got to the tyre shop they stabbed him three times in the stomach and he bled to death. The victim is the second 16-year-old killed in the area in recent years Amaan Shakoor was shot in the head near the school in April 2018. The family of Amaan, whose killer has never been found, offered a 50,000 reward for information earlier this year. Detectives started a murder investigation after a teenager was stabbed to death after two groups were reported fighting with machetes near Dagenham Heath Tube station. Police and the London Ambulance Service were called shortly before midnight on Friday and found an 18-year-old man with stab injuries, and he died at the scene despite the efforts of the emergency services. A second man was taken to hospital with a stab injury, and a 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and is in police custody. Detective Chief Inspector James Shirley said: My thoughts are with the young mans family and friends. I want to offer my full reassurances to them, and the wider community, that despite the significant events taking place in London today, the focus of my team is bringing the person or people responsible to justice. Our investigation is progressing at pace and I would thank everyone who has already spoken to officers. I would ask anyone who has not yet come forward to do so as a matter of urgency. I would also ask local residents to check dash cams and doorbell footage for anything out of the ordinary and share that with us as soon as possible. An urgent investigation has been launched following a fatal stabbing in Hackney last night. Three arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing. Read more https://t.co/4YbgzuAiDX Hackney Police (@MPSHackney) May 6, 2023 Three people were arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was fatally stabbed at a residential property on Mare Street, Hackney. Police were called at 11.07pm on Friday and found a man in his late 20s, who was declared dead at the scene. Two men, one in his 40s and the other in his 50s and one woman in her 50s, have been arrested on suspicion of murder. They were taken to east London police stations where they remain for questioning, the Met said on Saturday. Updated 6 May 2023 at 10:01 am The UK Independence Party (Ukip) has been wiped out at Englands local elections, losing all six seats it was defending. The pro-Brexit party lost two councillors in Folkestone & Hythe, one in South Staffordshire, one in Tamworth, one in Tendring and one in Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole. It points to a sharp decline in Ukips political fortunes since it won the largest share of the vote of any party at the 2014 European elections. Ukips political influence has waned since Nigel Farage stepped down as leader in 2016 (Kirsty OConnor/PA) Ukips rise contributed to then-prime minister David Camerons decision to announce a referendum on EU membership. But the partys influence has dwindled since Nigel Farage stepped down as leader in 2016. Ukip, now led by former Tory MP Neil Hamilton, has no MPs in the House of Commons. In a video posted on Twitter, Ukips deputy leader Rebecca Jane said: Im not disheartened today. The results were expected. Another right-wing party, Reform UK, also had a poor showing in the local elections, failing to gain any seats despite fielding nearly 500 candidates. It lost half its councillors, retaining eight. Reform, which has no MPs and was previously called the Brexit Party, mainly targeted wards that heavily voted Leave in the 2016 referendum. Its leader Richard Tice told the Telegraph on Friday that Reform had changed the course of numerous seats at the Conservatives expense. The former MEP had previously vowed to ensure the Tories never have a majority government again. The Ukrainian prime minister has thanked the King for his solidarity after the pair met during a reception on the eve of the coronation on Friday. Charles offered Ukraine his unwavering support when he met with the countrys First Lady Olena Zelenska and prime minister Denys Shmyhal. Mr Shmyhal said on Twitter: It is a special honour to attend the reception of His Majesty King Charles III ahead of coronation. We received assurances from His Majesty that (Ukrainian) people will have unwavering support until the final victory. Grateful for the solidarity. It is a special honour to attend the reception of His Majesty King Charles III ahead of coronation. Together with @ZelenskaUA, we received assurances from His Majesty that people will have unwavering support until the final victory. Grateful for the solidarity. pic.twitter.com/w6z88tT1gg Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) May 5, 2023 Charles hosted heads of state from around the world at a Buckingham Palace reception on the eve of the coronation. The Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence also greeted their overseas guests at the event. There were 42 people at the event, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and prime minister of New Zealand Chris Hipkins. Back in March, Charles visited Berlin where he met with Ukrainians who had been forced to flee the country. First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska and prime minister Denys Shmyhal (right) arrive at Buckingham Palace for a reception hosted by King Charles III for overseas guests on Friday (PA) He told them Im praying for you after condemning the unimaginable suffering caused by Russian president Vladimir Putins invasion of their homeland. He praised Germanys courageous, important and appreciated decision to send significant military support to Ukraine in a historic address at the German federal parliament, the Bundestag. Charles made history back in March by delivering the first speech by a British monarch during a session of the Bundestag. He told the packed chamber: The unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has inflicted the most unimaginable suffering on so many innocent people. Countless lives have been destroyed; freedom and human dignity have been trampled in the most brutal way. The security of Europe has been threatened, together with our democratic values. US anglophiles say the beautiful celebrations and ceremony surrounding the Kings coronation in the UK shows that we still have some depth in our world. Californian locals arrived at Ye Olde Kings Head in Santa Monica on Saturday to watch replays of the ceremony alongside British expats. Shirley Aconti, who lives in Beverly Hills, had arranged to have high tea and watch the coronation with her friends at the pub. She dressed up in a sparkling silver cardigan, with a locket of Queen Elizabeth II and a small plastic tiara. A general view of the gift shop at Ye Olde Kings Head pub in Santa Monica, California (Mike Bedigan/PA) Were going to have the tea with all the famous English goodies and sandwiches and watch the coronation on the big screen, she told the PA news agency. They make it so beautiful and so historic and I hope they keep it that way. It shows we still have some depth in our world. She added: Everybody that I know is just thrilled about it. We love it. Americans are very interested in the monarchy. Erin Gerton, who came to Ye Olde Kings Head with her British friend, said she felt it was important for her daughter to watch the ceremony. Inside of Ye Olde Kings Head (Lisa Powers/PA) You can read about the ceremonies but it doesnt mean as much so the fact we can see it and what (Charles) is doing differently is important, she told PA. Eight-year-old Violet said she was very excited to watch the coronation but had been sad about the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Los Angeles resident Jenny Welsh told PA she had wanted to celebrate the coronation with people that care. I will never not root for royalty, she said. Ive got friends that say its crazy and that theres a million problems with it, and I totally get itand yet theres something about the lineage, the tradition, something that stays and is exciting. A general view of the entrance to Ye Olde Kings Head pub in Santa Monica, California (Mike Bedigan/PA) The jubilee, the funeral and now this. I wanted to come down here and be with people who cared. Ms Welsh said she had become a royalist after watching the wedding of Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, but had since grown a soft spot for Camilla. I want the old guy (Charles) to be happy. He waited a long time, I want him to succeedI wish him well, she said. She added: Im going to have an English breakfast, maybe a couple of pints and then go to the beach for a snooze. Its the perfect Saturday. A public screening of the King and Queens coronation will take place in the Welsh capital while church bells ring out and dozens of street parties are held across the nation. Up to 2,000 people will mark the occasion at Cardiff Castle, where visitors will watch the coronation service and processions to and from Westminster Abbey. The event is free to enter but spaces will be offered on a first come first served basis when gates open at 9.30am. A royal gun salute will be carried out by the 104 Regiment Royal Artillery, while regimental mascots from the Royal Welsh and The 1st Queens Dragoon Guards with a quarter guard, Welsh Guards and the Regimental Band and Corps of Drums of the Royal Welsh will be in attendance, along with representatives from the Royal Navy and the RAF. Lord Mayor of Cardiff Graham Hinchey said: The coronation of a new monarch is an event of great national significance, and one that will undoubtedly be remembered long into the future. As the capital city of Wales, a country that is close to King Charles IIIs heart, Cardiff is proud to host this series of wonderful events to mark the occasion. The Church in Wales called it a significant and happy occasion. The bells at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff will ring for two hours before the ceremony at Westminster Abbey begins at 11am. Charles meeting wellwishers after a service at Llandaff Cathedral for the life of Queen Elizabeth II (Frank Augstein/PA) At St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, the bells will ring for the ceremony. The Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, and the bishops of Swansea and Brecon, St Asaph, Monmouth and Llandaff sent their warmest congratulations to the royal couple. Mr John will present Charles with the Sceptre with Dove during the ceremony. The Cross of Wales will also be carried before the King at the head of the coronation procession. In a statement the bishops said: The coronation of their majesties the King and the Queen is a significant and happy occasion for our nation and for the Commonwealth, and we know people from across the world will be joining us in praying for our new King and Queen. Organisers of street parties and town events will be hope the rain, which is forecast for most of the day, does not make their events a washout. One event will be a beach party in Barmouth, Gwynedd, where a Big Lunch is due to be held on the seafront followed by DJs. (PA Graphics) A number of events in Wales have already been cancelled, including an outdoor screening of the coronation at Friars Walk shopping centre in Newport. Another is at Caldicot Castle in Monmouthshire, after organisers failed to raise 3,000 to cover costs. In an online post, Caldicot Town Team said a crowdfunding page had been running for 16 days, but despite being promoted on social media it had failed to raise any money whatsoever. A coronation party in Caldicots town centre was also cancelled after organisers failed to raise the funds needed to cover costs amid a lack of interest from the community. A Not My King protest will take place in Cardiff, with organisers Cymru Republic asking people to gather by the statue of Aneurin Bevan in Queen Street from 12.30pm. Protests at the Accession Proclamation Ceremony at Cardiff Castle last September (Ben Birchall/PA) They will march through the streets before heading to Bute Park stone circle for a Big Republican Lunch. It will coincide with similar anti-monarchy protests expected to take place across the UK during the coronation. One of the organisers, Welsh politician Bethan Sayed, said: This is not just about attending a protest, its about starting a conversation with people in Wales about what the royal family is, what the monarchy represents, and what we could do differently in Wales should we want to. The crux of it is that we dont believe there should be the institution of a monarchy in our democracy and we want to look at growing within the 21st century to have a system where young people are treated on an equal basis and people are not left in poverty or have to be subjects of a family that are born into their position. Ms Sayed led a similar protest during Charless last visit to Wales after his accession to the throne, which is said to have attracted around 500 people and made international headlines. She said the group had not received letters from the Home Office as the organisers of Londons planned protest, Republic, did last week but said they had been in communication with South Wales Police. First Minister Mark Drakeford (right) will attend the coronation (Chris Jackson/PA) Chris Truscott, the forces chief superintendent said: Officers will be on patrol across South Wales this weekend to ensure that our communities can enjoy the coronation bank holiday safely. We are aware of a demonstration which is planned to take place in Cardiff city centre on Saturday and officers will be on duty to facilitate a peaceful demonstration and minimise disruption to the wider community. Over the last week, a Royal Mail postbox in Cardiff that was decorated in Union flag colours in celebration of the Kings crowning has been vandalised with republican and Welsh independence stickers. Complaints were made and the stickers have been moved, but the the location of the box one of four around the UK has drawn criticism as it is outside the historic Owain Glyndwr pub in St John Street. Glyndwr was a Welsh hero who fought against English rule in the late Middle Ages. His 15-year revolt means he is often referred to as the last Prince of Wales and is seen as a symbol of Welsh nationalism. Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford will attend the service in Westminster alongside world leaders, but the countrys Llywydd speaker of the Senedd Elin Jones declined the invite saying as a republic it was for others to celebrate a coronation. A neighborhood known for its "perfect lawns" that was due to host a lavish party to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III this weekend has been vandalized in a rather distinct way. Residents of Royal Crescent in Bath, England awoke on Thursday, May 4 to find that an enormous penis and balls had been mown into the grass on the otherwise immaculately maintained lawn that is, unfortunately, visible from pretty much every house on the streetjust in time for the royal festivities. The local community has been planning a Georgian-themed event to coincide with Charles' ascent to the throne, and is expected to go ahead as planned, despite the addition of a new set of crown jewels to the location. SWNS Charles was officially sworn in as King of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth today in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London. His sons, Prince William and Harry, Duke of Sussex were both in attendance, and Charles was accompanied by his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, who now bears the title of Queen Consort and will be known as Queen Camilla. The coronation has been turned into a nationwide holiday in the UK, with an opulent "coronation concert" to be held on the grounds of Windsor House on Sunday May 7, headlined by Lionel Richie and Katy Perry, with performances by Paloma Faith, Steve Winwood, Nicole Sherzinger, Andrea Bocelli and Take That, in addition to special pre-filmed appearances by A-List stars like Tom Cruise and Dame Joan Collins. You Might Also Like Read McKendree Prewar apartments in Manhattanwith their high ceilings, generously sized rooms, and decorative period detailsare undeniably alluring to residents and their designers alike. So when Lucy Doswells clients handed her the keys to their new Upper East Side home, it was like hitting the interior design jackpot. I really appreciated that, although theyd done some rooms, they didnt want to box me in and gave me the freedom to come up with something funand we had such great bones to work with, explains Doswell, whose eponymous design firm has offices in New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina. Originally the apartment had been finished in very neutral tones and was totally one note throughout, but they were ready to make it interesting. Read McKendree The couplebusy professionals with two teenage childrenbought the approximately 5,000-square-foot apartment from its previous owners, whod lived there for over half a century, and immediately hired Kinlin Rutherfurd Architects to update the floor plan to fit their lifestyle. I believe it was a classicand somewhat linear14-room apartment before they combined some spaces, Doswell explains of the units original layout in the 1931 building. Read McKendree Situated on the 11th floorwith incredible views of the East Riverthe now four-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom apartment remained a blank canvas, and after the renovations were complete and the family moved in, the designer was given carte blanche to transform every space in the expansive property. Although theyd painted the walls and even put some wallpaper up, they were very open to making any changes that would bring color and life into the home. Known for her layered approach to design and ability to mix elements from all periods, Doswell delivered on her promise to give this dynamic and active family a home that reflects their sophisticated urban sensibilities. To see how, click through below. You Might Also Like In this 2020 image taken from video, Elizabeth Hoover, UC Berkeley associate professor of environmental science, policy and management, conducts an interview with Indian Country Today. Hoover whose identity as Native American had been questioned apologized for falsely identifying as Indigenous, saying she is "a white person" who lived an identity based on family lore. Hoover posted her apology online on Monday, May 1, 2023. (Indian Country Today via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) An anthropology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, whose identity as Native American had been questioned for years apologized this week for falsely identifying as Indigenous, saying she is a white person" who lived an identity based on family lore. Elizabeth Hoover, associate professor of environmental science, policy and management, said in an apology posted Monday on her website that she claimed an identity as a woman of Mohawk and Mikmaq descent but never confirmed that identity with those communities or researched her ancestry until recently. I caused harm, Hoover wrote. I hurt Native people who have been my friends, colleagues, students, and family, both directly through fractured trust and through activating historical harms. This hurt has also interrupted student and faculty life and careers. I acknowledge that I could have prevented all of this hurt by investigating and confirming my family stories sooner. For this, I am deeply sorry. Hoovers alleged Indigenous roots came into question in 2021 after her name appeared on an Alleged Pretendian List." The list compiled by Jacqueline Keeler, a Native American writer and activist, includes more than 200 names of people Keeler says are falsely claiming Native heritage. Hoover first addressed doubts about her ethnic identity last year when she said in an October post on her website that she had conducted genealogical research and found no records of tribal citizenship for any of my family members in the tribal databases that were accessed. Her statement caused an uproar, and some of her former students authored a letter in November demanding her resignation. The letter was signed by hundreds of students and scholars from UC Berkeley and other universities along with members of Native American communities. It also called for her to apologize, stop identifying as Indigenous and acknowledge she had caused harm, among other demands. As scholars embedded in the kinship networks of our communities, we find Hoovers repeated attempts to differentiate herself from settlers with similar stories and her claims of having lived experience as an Indigenous person by dancing at powwows absolutely appalling, the letter reads. Janet Gilmore, a UC Berkeley spokesperson, said in a statement she couldnt comment on whether Hoover faces disciplinary action, saying discussing it would violate personnel matters and/or violate privacy rights, both of which are protected by law. However, we are aware of and support ongoing efforts to achieve restorative justice in a way that acknowledges and addresses the extent to which this matter has caused harm and upset among members of our community, Gilmore added. Hoover is the latest person to apologize for falsely claiming a racial or ethnic identity. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren angered many Native Americans during her presidential campaign in 2018 when she used the results of a DNA test to try and rebut the ridicule of then-President Donald Trump, who had derisively referred to her as fake Pocahontas. Despite the DNA results, which showed some evidence of a Native American in Warrens lineage, probably six to 10 generations ago, Warren is not a member of any tribe, and DNA tests are not typically used as evidence to determine tribal citizenship. Warren later offered a public apology at a forum on Native American issues, saying she was sorry for the harm I have caused. In 2015, Rachel Dolezal was fired as head of the Spokane, Washington, chapter of the NAACP and was kicked off a police ombudsman commission after her parent told local media their daughter was born white but was presenting herself as Black. She also lost her job teaching African studies at Eastern Washington University in nearby Cheney. Hoover said her identity was challenged after she began her first assistant professor job. She began teaching at UC Berkeley in the Fall of 2020. At the time, I interpreted inquiries into the validity of my Native identity as petty jealousy or people just looking to interfere in my life, she wrote. Hoover said that she grew up in rural upstate New York thinking she was someone of mixed Mohawk, Mikmaq, French, English, Irish and German descent, and attending food summits and powwows. Her mother shared stories about her grandmother being a Mohawk woman who married an abusive French-Canadian man and who committed suicide, leaving her children behind to be raised by someone else. She said she would no longer identify as Indigenous but would continue to help with food sovereignty and environmental justice movements in Native communities that ask her for her support. In her apology issued Monday, Hoover acknowledged she benefited from programs and funding that were geared toward Native scholars and said she is committed to engaging in the restorative justice process taking place on campus, as well as supporting restorative justice processes in other circles I have been involved with, where my participation is invited. President Biden dismissed the notion that his son Hunter Biden's possible indictment by the Justice Department for tax- and gun-related violations will have any impact on his presidency. "My son has done nothing wrong," Biden declared in a rare sit-down interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle that aired at 10 p.m. Friday. "I trust him. I have faith in him, and it impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him," Biden said. The president's comments come as federal prosecutors are reportedly close to deciding whether to indict Hunter Biden following a four-year investigation. FEDERAL PROSECUTORS NEAR DECISION ON HUNTER BIDEN PROBE: REPORT President Biden complained about the "negative" press coverage he's received during an interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle Hunter's attorneys met with DOJ officials at Main Justice last week. Several of the younger Bide's attorneys were present at DOJ headquarters with tax division career attorneys, including longtime attorney Chris Clark. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP The First Son has been under federal investigation since 2018. U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a prosecutor appointed by former President Donald Trump, is leading the investigation. Fox News first reported in December 2020 that Hunter Biden was the target of a grand jury investigation prompted, in part, by Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) regarding suspicious foreign transactions. Fox has also learned that Biden was being investigated for two misdemeanor tax filing charges, a felony tax evasion charge, and a false statement charge over a gun purchase. HUNTER BIDEN ATTORNEYS MEET WITH DOJ OFICIALS AMID ONGOING FEDERAL PROBE President Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 10, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Before last week's meeting, a career IRS employee sought whistleblower protections in alleging that the investigation into the younger Biden was being mishandled . Attorney General Merrick Garland has insisted that his office would never interfere in the Hunter Biden investigation. The looming charges have reportedly caused "tensions" between President Biden and his son. Axios reported Friday that Hunter has hired a new lawyer, Abbe Lowell, seeking a more "combative approach" to his defense without consulting with the president's aides. Lowell is noteworthy for having recently represented Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Additionally, the White House is wincing as Hunter Bidens team is "moving toward creating a legal defense fund, and hiring ethics advisers for it," according to Axios. WHITE HOUSE REPORTEDLY WORRIED OVER HUNTER BIDEN GOING ROGUE WITH LEGAL DEFENSE PLAN: LEGITIMATE HEADACHE The report added, "High-level Democrats and others are worried about the idea of the president's son soliciting money to pay for his legal troubles." Former Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley told the outlet, "For this fund to work, it must be extraordinarily transparent and even restrictive by prohibiting foreign citizens and registered lobbyists from contributing." However, the White House is reportedly worried Hunter Bidens team will not be careful enough. Coley, who was senior adviser to Attorney General Merrick Garland, added, "Without these type of guardrails, the fund will be a legitimate headache for the White House." Fox News' Bradford Betz and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report. Initial analysis showed blood on two items that police seized during their search of Moscow homicides suspect Bryan Kohbergers Washington State University housing, documents the university released Thursday revealed. Testing of 50 items found in Kohbergers student apartment in Pullman, Washington, came back with at least trace amounts of blood on brown- or reddish-stained bedding, according to an inventory list obtained by the Idaho Statesman through a public records request. A mattress cover and an uncased pillow each were positive for blood in the presumptive chemical tests. A dark red spot on the kitchen counter near the sink could not be tested but was collected, the records showed. Kohberger, 28, a former WSU graduate student, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November. The victims were seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, each 21, junior Xana Kernodle, 20, and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20. The newly released WSU records do not indicate whose blood may have been present on the bedding. Among a list of other items police sought, the search warrant directed them to seize evidence of blood, or bodily fluid or human tissue or skin cells, or any items that contained them as part of their investigation into the Moscow homicides. The other 48 tested items, including stains on towels, swabs of bathroom sinks and the shower drain, and a microwave and pizza cutter in Kohbergers kitchen, each came back without the presence of blood. Not all tested items were seized by police. Police took the two pieces of bedding, plus the red spot that flaked off the kitchen counter, as part of more than a dozen items seized in the search, as the Statesman previously reported. Campus police executed the search warrant on Kohbergers WSU housing and office Dec. 30 the same day he was arrested in eastern Pennsylvania. Upon discovery of a storage closet assigned to Kohbergers apartment, the documents showed police sought from a judge and received an amended search warrant for the closet, which was located in the same building as the student housing complexs laundry area. Moscow homicides suspect Bryan Kohbergers Washington State University housing complex, in Pullman, Washington. Police suspected Kohberger used the storage closet between the Nov. 13 homicides and his trip to Pennsylvania in mid-December to visit his parents during WSUs winter break, they wrote. Kohbergers storage closet had cobwebs leading up to its door, which was found ajar, and with dust on the floor, the documents showed. It did not appear the closet had been used recently, wrote Dawn Daniels, WSUs assistant police chief, in a post-search warrant narrative included in the records. Like Kohbergers campus office, nothing was seized or collected from his storage closet, she wrote. Kohberger banned from WSU campus The WSU records also include a Dec. 30 letter to Kohberger threatening him with criminal trespassing if he again set foot on the WSU campus, signed by WSU Police Chief Gary Jenkins. Kohberger was served with the document the next day while he was held in jail in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, and includes his signature. While still enrolled in WSUs criminal justice and criminology Ph.D. program, Kohberger previously interviewed with Jenkins, then-chief of the Pullman Police Department, for a doctoral-level graduate research assistantship for public safety, prior public records obtained by the Statesman showed. In email correspondence from April 2022, Kohberger thanked Jenkins for his interview for the position. Bryan, Great to meet and talk with you as well, Jenkins responded the same day. It remains unclear if Kohberger, one of four finalists from his Ph.D. program according to records, received the role. Pullman police and a WSU spokesperson have declined to answer questions or provide documents related to whether Kohberger got the research position. Also, attorneys for Kohberger this past week formally asked in court for all genetic and forensic laboratory information that investigators used to identify and justify the arrest of their client on suspicion of the Moscow homicides. The discovery request, filed by Kohbergers public defender, Anne Taylor, Wednesday in 2nd Judicial District Court in Latah County, seeks a series of DNA-related evidence. Information about all involved labs, profile databases, lab technicians and chain-of-custody details is included in the filing. On Thursday, Taylor also asked for all Pennsylvania police video and audio recordings from Kohbergers arrest, notes and recordings from an interrogation of her client by Moscow police and the training records of specific officers. The defense has not received the pieces of evidence some of which may contain information that negate Kohbergers guilt in prior discovery requests, she wrote. Updated May 6, 2023 at 6:50 AM Kansas City, Kansas, police detectives were investigating the discovery of a dead body in the Missouri River on Friday. Shortly after 6:15 p.m., police officers were dispatched to the area of the 7th Street Bridge for an emergency call, officer Jovanna Cheatum, of KCKPD, said in a statement. A fisherman reported that he thought someone was in the river, she said. Arriving officers found a deceased male there, Cheatum said. Fire rescue assisted with the recovery of the body. Further information was not immediately available from police. Kansas City, Kansas police were asking that anyone with information regarding the investigation call the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS. Its pretty much a miracle that Ron Nessman, 52, was at A1 Hand Car Wash in Hesperia, Calif., when he saw a baby stroller heading straight towards a busy street Monday afternoon. Surveillance video from the car wash has now been seen by millions of people. The baby was clearly headed for what Nessman described as the roaring traffic on Bear Valley Road when he runs into the video frame and grabs the stroller. But he easily couldve been elsewhere. He has recently moved back in with his sister, Donna Gunderson, who had the time to take him to his job interview at Applebees Grill + Bar that day. She decided to get her car washed, and Nessman didnt want to be seen in his dress clothes. I'm wearing a tie and slacks, and I really don't want to go out in public because I'm not that type of person, Nessman told Yahoo News. I'm a Levi's and a sweater [type]. And so I'm like, Donna, look at me, I don't want to go to the car wash. Then she goes, No one's going to see you, Ron. So 56 million views later, I guess everyones seen me. It was a windy day, and Nessman was sitting on a bench near the street while he waited for his sister. The baby, caught on security camera, was heading towards the road, and his great-aunt fell over in her rush to stop the stroller. (CCTV via A1 Hand Car Wash) I'm facing a car, and I see a stroller getting blown by the wind, and by the time I start running, when I catch the stroller, it's just at the top of the driveway, right next to traffic, Nessman recalled. On my way over there, the lady, she had started to run and she had fallen, and I heard her yelling, My baby! And I'm already on it by that point. I catch it and I hold my hand up, like I got it, I got it, Nessman said. What was going on in my head was: 'Get the stroller, get the stroller!' Nessmans sister Donna Gunderson told Yahoo News. Gunderson spoke to local Los Angeles media after the rescue. She said it was a busy time of day, when cars are usually traveling at 50 to 55 mph. The great-aunt of the child is seen in the video turning toward her car for a moment when the stroller starts to take off. Then she stumbles as she tries to run after it herself. Nessman said she was hysterical and crying, with bloody knees. She did everything in her power, its just sometimes your body doesn't do what your mind wants it to do, he said. The last thing she's seen, there's nobody in her vision that she could see that can assist her with a stroller and so I can just imagine what's going through her mind. Nessman has gone through some hard times. Although he obtained a license to drive trucks in 2008 and worked in trucking for a while, in 2018, his girlfriend died. That sent him into a downward spiral, leading to homelessness. He eventually stopped driving and downgraded his license. He also had previously been in prison. His sister has always looked out for him, he said, and he moved into her home in Victorville, Calif., which is why she was taking him to his interview at Applebees. Nessman said he hasn't heard from the establishment, but he told Yahoo News that he has since gotten four job offers from people who have seen the video, which include painting and driving a truck, with more offers rolling in, according to CBS in L.A. The only thing that's holding me back is transportation, Nessman said. I'm trying to get something where I don't have to depend on anybody. I'll take a bus, I'll ride a bike. But some of these job offers are down the hill, and I have no way to get to them. I have to call these people and thank them for their generosity, he said. As for the viral video, Nessman and his family joked about him being seen in his tie and slacks by so many people online. A tweet of the footage posted by one Twitter user has garnered more than 68 million views at this point. Ron Nessman walking the baby boy back to his great-aunt, whom he hugged. (CCTV via A1 Hand Car Wash) After securing the baby, he also hugged the great aunt and met the baby's grandmother. He never did find out the childs name, but if he could say anything to the boy in the future, it would be: I got you. I am very proud of Ron, Gunderson said of her brother, but Im not surprised he did this. He is definitely a hero. I didnt realize how close the baby was to the street until I rewatched the video. Nessman said that people online should stop shaming the great-aunt for what happened and posting mean comments. It could happen to anybody, so he hopes the video serves as a reminder to anyone with a small child. Its an eye-opener. People see that, and I hope that they go, Oh, I remember, Ive seen that video. I'd better set the brake if it's windy and my child's in the stroller. That's all I'm hoping for. One person notices this and sets the brake. It can change everything in their life. Just that simple, Nessman said. What I did was what anybody else wouldve did if they had the opportunity, and I'm thankful today that it worked out the way it did, he added. I couldn't imagine if anything would have been a little different. It worked out good, I mean, for everybody. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, shown in 2020. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is laying offmore than 100employees, including pharmacy technicians, administrative support staff, patient service representatives and management employees,in a move that the hospital said was needed to reduce costs as it faces "a challenging financial environment." The workers who are being laid off are not unionized, the hospital told state officials in a legally required notice, which listed dozens of different kinds of employees hit by the layoffs. The reductions represent less than 1% of the workforce across Cedars-Sinai facilities and are primarily affecting "nonpatient care positions," a Cedars-Sinai spokesperson said. In a statement, the hospital faulted a growing gap between its revenues and expenses, "the result of underpayments from government insurance programs and the rising costs of caring for patients, among other factors." "We appreciate that these changes are difficult and painful, and we have taken every step possible to avoid them," Cedars-Sinai said in its statement. The layoffs will affect 131 employees at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a slight reduction from the numbers the hospital originally reported to the state, according to its spokesperson. Cedars-Sinai has also cut roughly two dozen employees at other Cedars-Sinai-related entities. The Cedars-Sinai layoffs come as industry groups have been raising alarms about the financial footing of California hospitals amid rising costs for labor and supplies. Hospital systems across the country have been announcing layoffs this year, citing the pressure of growing expenses. In the San Joaquin Valley, Madera Community Hospital closed this winter; in Los Angeles County, Beverly Hospital in Montebello recently filed for bankruptcy protection, saying it was trying to avoid the same fate, and had previously announced that it would no longer provide labor and delivery care in its maternity department or admit children for inpatient care. However, the cuts at Cedars-Sinai are much more modest in scope for a major employer, "not a signal of a hospital in trouble," said Glenn Melnick, a USC professor focused on health finance. Melnick said that as hospitals anticipate continued increases in labor costs and grapple with losses in the stock market, "prudent places are adjusting in advance." Rand Corp. economist Christopher Whaley characterized the Cedars-Sinai cuts as "a normal fluctuation, rather than something that I think is indicative of bigger concerns" with its finances. California lawmakers decided this week to offer a lifeline to the hardest-hit hospitals to prevent them from closing, voting to loan $150 million to financially distressed nonprofit and public hospitals.The California Hospital Assn. has been pushing for a much bigger infusion of $1.5 billion in the upcoming state budget, but lawmakers are also facing a projected $22.5 billion budget deficit. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has vetoed spending a final $64 million to open the tribes long-anticipated medical cannabis dispensary in Western North Carolina. In a Facebook message to tribal members Friday, Richard Sneed said he vetoed the Tribal Councils recent approval of the final $64 million for the project because the original proposal said the entire project would be completed for $50 million. Sneed attached a copy of a letter he sent to Tribal Council Chairman Richard French informing him of his veto and his reason. The fact that this projects original cost for an outdoor grow, an indoor grow and an indoor dispensary was $50m, and we are now being told it is $95m, demonstrates that there is an immediate need for a full accounting of the money that has been expended to date, Sneed wrote. Sneed told French he fully supports cannabis, both medical and adult use. He also is encouraged and inspired by tribal workers at the growing operation at Coopers Creek on the tribes Qualla Boundary in Cherokee, he added. The operation is run by Qualla Enterprises LLC, the tribes for-profit medical cannabis arm. Yet, Sneed told French, I am very troubled by the lack of accountability for the managing of the business side of the operation. The current projected cost is almost 100% over budget as compared to the original RFP projected cost. RFP stands for request for proposals. It wasnt immediately clear Saturday how Sneeds veto will affect the opening of the dispensary on U.S. 19 South near Harrahs Cherokee Casino Resort. Forrest Parker, Qualla Enterprises general manager, planned to give a statement to The Charlotte Observer Saturday afternoon, Qualla Enterprises executive assistant Kara Howard said. On an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the growing operation in late March, Parker told the Observer he expects the mega dispensary to open in a limited capacity in late summer or fall. The Cherokee are converting their massive old bingo hall into the dispensary that is a first of its kind in North Carolina the only location that would be in a three-hours drive from Charlotte where weed is sold legally. The Cherokees 57,000-acre territory is a sovereign nation outside the bounds of North Carolinas prohibition on marijuana. The EBCI Tribal Council first voted about two years ago to legalize controlled use of marijuana on Cherokee land and to grow and sell it. On April 6, the council approved backing a loan of about $64 million to complete the medical marijuana project, lifting EBCIs total investment to about $95 million, the Observer previously reported. Non-gaming tribal revenues will fund the investment, Parker said. We just want to get funded, because were under-capitalized, Parker told the council before its 6-to-3 vote in favor of backing the loan. In 2022, Parker said, North Carolina had the second highest illicit cannabis market in the United States at $3.2 billion, behind only Texas. It is past time that some portion of those folks, and many others, get the chance to buy medical cannabis that is tested, regulated and safe, Parker said. Eight of the alleged fake electors who sought to give Georgias electoral votes in the 2020 election to former President Donald Trump instead of President Joe Biden have agreed to immunity deals with the prosecution, a new court filing shows. Seven of the electors sat in April for interviews with representatives of the Fulton County District Attorneys Office before accepting the deals, the court filing says. The eighth was out of the country, but also accepted. The filing did not disclose the terms of the immunity deals. President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally, Thursday, April 27, 2023, in Manchester, N.H. The revelation came in a document filed Friday by the electors lawyer, Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow, in response to a request from the prosecution that Debrow be disqualified as the lawyer for the eight electors with immunity deals in addition to two others who do not have immunity deals. The court filing was first reported by CNN. Debrow's continued participation in this matter is fraught with conflicts of interest that rise to the level of her being disqualified from this case in its entirety, District Attorney Fani Willis told the court in a filing on April 18, days after the prosecutors met with the eight electors about immunity deals. Willis wrote that the prosecution had offered immunity in 2022, but that another lawyer working with Debrow came back to the prosecution saying the clients werent interested. However, some of these clients in their interviews told members of the investigative team that no potential offer of immunity was ever brought to them in 2022. Additionally, Willis said some of the electors said during their interviews that another elector represented by Ms. Debrow committed acts that are violations of Georgia law and that they were not party to these additional acts. The document did not name that elector. The filing cited Georgias professional conduct rules saying that lawyers should not represent a client if there is a risk that a lawyers interests or duties to another client, former client, or third person will materially and adversely affect the representation of the client. Willis said Debrows clients have signed waivers regarding any potential conflict of interest, but they are not enough. In the 68-page filing submitted Friday and signed by Debrow that disclosed the existence of the immunity deals, the eight electors with immunity deals called Willis allegations complete fiction and that the request to have Debrow disqualified as their lawyer is factually and legally baseless. They asked the court to pay for the cost responding to her motion. The eight electors in question make up half of the 16 people who met at Georgia's state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won the presidential election and declaring themselves the states duly elected and qualified electors. Willis' office said in July each of the 16 people was a target of her investigation, which is examining whether Trump and his allies committed any crimes while trying to overturn his narrow election loss. Willis said in late April that criminal indictments could come between July 11 and Sept. 1. On Monday, she signaled in letters to local law enforcement authorities that she would be indicting Trump this summer, warning them about significant public reaction when grand jury results are announced. While the grand jury could decide to indict or not, and she did not specifically name Trump, she asked for heightened security and preparedness during that period. A fresh indictment of the former president and current White House candidate would add further complications to both the 2024 election and the future of the Republican Party, where Trump remains a frontrunner for the presidential nomination. Contributing: USA TODAY reporter Bart Jansen andThe Associated Press This is breaking news. Check back for updates. Georgia prosecutor Grand jury investigating Trump could decide charges this summer This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 8 alleged fake Trump electors accept immunity deals in Georgia probe WASHINGTON A federal judge on Friday sentenced a man who was armed with a wooden tire knocker and engaged in a series of assaults on officers during the Jan. 6 attack to 14 years and two months, the longest sentence for a Capitol rioter yet. Peter Schwartz, who has 38 prior convictions, said he regretted the riot's damage. I do sincerely regret the damage that January 6th has done to so many people and their lives, said Schwartz, a 49-year-old welder from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Peter Schwartz. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said he did not buy Schwartz's remorse. You are not a political prisoner Mr. Schwartz, the judge said while imposing the sentence. You are not Alexei Navalny, Russias most prominent opposition politician. The sentencing guidelines indicated a 262-month sentence. The Justice Department requested 294 months, or 24.5 years in federal prison. During sentencing, the judge Mehta called that request pretty dramatic, noting that it was 2.5 times longer than the longest Jan. 6 sentence one he handed down. Schwartz, who was convicted in December, will also be under 36 months of supervised release and must pay $2,000 to the Architect of the Capitol in restitution. Prosecutors said Schwartz was the first to throw a folding chair at the line of officers protecting the Capitols Lower West Terrace. "By throwing that chair, Schwartz directly contributed to the fall of the police line that enabled rioters to flood forward and take over the entire terrace," they wrote in a sentencing memo. Schwartz then used chemical munitions, including pepper spray, that had been left behind by the fleeing officers to attack the officers as they "desperately tried to escape the growing and increasingly violent mob," prosecutors wrote. Pepper spray evidence. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) Schwartz later made his way to a tunnel entrance, which officers had spent hours defending against rioters who tried to force their way into the Capitol building. Working with two other co-defendants, Markus Maly and Jeffrey Brown, Schwartz again wielded pepper spray against officers, officials said. Brown was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison last week, and Maly is yet to be sentenced. The Justice Department said that Schwartz has demonstrated zero remorse for his conduct, giving repeated interviews from the D.C. Jail claiming that he is a completely innocent victim of a biased prosecution and has done nothing wrong. Federal prosecutors had also sought a fine of $71,541, which is how much they say Schwartz has raised on a crowdfunding platform in which he branded himself Patriot Pete Political Prisoner in DC. The judge rejected the fine. In their own memo, Schwartzs lawyers wrote that his actions were not motivated by any desire for personal financial gain or any other type of benefit but rather by a misunderstanding as to the facts surrounding the 2020 election, and that Schwartz knew next to nothing about the 2020 election and listened to sources of information that were clearly false. On a festive Friday night in September 2011, the man now known as King Charles III helped usher in a new era for the arts in Kansas City. It was a bit of a shock for the nearly 2,000 people who witnessed it. On that night, a gala was held to open the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the new home of the the Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. After cocktails and oohing over the shell-shaped building with a glass atrium offering a million-dollar view of the city, the guests assembled in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre, one of two performance halls. They were the first guests to sit in those plush red seats inside a theater inspired by grand opera houses of Europe. The woman of the night was Julia Irene Kauffman. The Kansas City busineswoman and philanthropist is the daughter of the late Ewing Kauffman, the founder of the Kansas City Royals, and Muriel Kauffman, the mastermind behind the Kauffman Center. Julia Kauffman carries on her mothers work supporting the citys arts as chairman and CEO of the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation. The night of the gala, Julia Kauffman walked on stage to greet her guests, glowing under the lights in a sequined silver dress and diamonds around her neck. But first, she had a surprise from across the pond. A giant video screen descended over the stage and the face of then-Prince Charles appeared, larger than life. A benefactor of the arts and a fan of architecture, the royal delivered a taped greeting, noting that the arts are a hallmark of our humanity, he said. The performing arts are thriving in Kansas City. The moment was unexpected and inexplicable. Gasps and giggles could be heard from the audience. Prince Charles? In Kansas City? Julia Irene Kauffman talked to her guests at the grand opening of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 16, 2011. She arranged to have then-Prince Charles tape a message for the occasion. On Saturday, she was set to attend his coronation. Whats become known in the years since, largely through the British media, is Kauffmans status as a kindred spirit of the king. She has been named in news articles as one of many generous benefactors of his projects, including work on the Castle of Mey, the beloved Scottish home of the late Queen Mother, a majestic building with fairy-tale turrets and towers, according to The Herald, a Glasgow newspaper. King Charles is said to stay at the castle every August in memory of his grandmother. In January 2021, The Herald named Kauffman as one of the donors who helped fund a 10-bedroom bed-and-breakfast on the grounds. The newspaper described her as American philanthropist Julia Irene Kauffman the daughter of the late pharmaceutical magnate Ewing Kauffman. This weekend that relationship bears rather lofty fruit: Kauffman was set to witness history firsthand. I am in London to attend the coronation, she told The Star this past week, describing the king as a wonderful, generous person who will be a caring, excellent monarch. The final guest list wound up at more than 2,200 people, including British royals, assorted European kings and queens and about 100 heads of state. About 400 young people representing charitable organizations will watch from the church next door. Emily Schwendeman was excited to try a mint julep and see the horses race at the 2023 Kentucky Derby. But most of all, Schwendeman, her husband Ryan, and 9-month-old Charlotte, traveled to Churchill Downs from Portland, Oregon, to honor her late grandmother who dreamed of coming to see the Run for the Roses. Her dream in life was to come to the Kentucky Derby, Schwendeman recalled. She would watch it every year growing up. My mom and my aunt would watch it with her and she would turn it on television every year, crying when My Old Kentucky Home played. Her grandmother, Dorothy Ann, of Russell, never got to attend. So, Schwendeman and her family made a pilgrimage, visiting her grandmothers hometown, the cemetery where she is buried, and Morehead State where she attended college. The day at the Derby was the final stop on the trip. Schwendeman and her daughter were in matching yellow dresses, each with an identical fascinator. On Schwendemans chest, was a button with black and white pictures of family members, including her grandmother Dorothy. We came out here and we are fulfilling that dream of hers, she said. Despite living across the country in California, Joe Conforto made his 13th trip to the Kentucky Derby on Saturday with his wife, as he does each year. Joe Conforto, from California, wears a Secretariat outfit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of horses Triple Crown-winning campaign. In a suit with a drawing of Secretariat on the back and a horse hat on his head, Conforto said hes here for the horses. He was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Triple Crown winner Secretariat, who he said is his all-time favorite. (The horses) are the greatest athletes in the world, he beamed. Conforto said he and his wife come to Kentucky each year for races, also spending time in Nashville. Aside from the Derby, he reflected on what Kentucky has to offer. Kentucky people are some of the best people in the world so friendly, he said. Then there is the bourbon, and the beautiful horses. Garey Faulkner, right, celebrates his 40th birthday at the Kentucky Derby. With it being my birthday, we have to go extra crazy! he said of his outfit. For Garey Faulkner of Cincinnati, Ohio, Derby was all about the outfit for him and his tailor at Peppe Ramundo. In a flamboyant, bright blazer, Faulkner said he went all out this year for his 40th birthday. He loves Derby time for me, because he loves helping me find these crazy outlandish suits and get ups, Faulkner said. With it being my birthday, we have to go extra crazy! Most notable of his outfit was his hat, which he created himself: a black top hat and streamers sticking out the sides, with a large horse, painted orange also wearing a top hat. A rose was inside the horses mouth, with a cardinal resting on the stem of the flower. He has worn the hat before, making modifications over the years. This is his eighth time at the Derby. Lucky number eight, he said. It is my 40th birthday, so it doesnt matter to me about any of the races if I win or not. I may make a giant bet, and roll the dice. Whitney Cessell, of Louisville, said her outfit a lace top and puffed out frilly pink skirt, was all about comfort. It is comfortable, light and fun which is what the Kentucky Derby is all about, she said. A member of the military, Cessell said she and her family just moved back to the area and decided on short notice to come to this years Derby. She was at the track early Saturday morning to participate in the Dawn of the Downs to watch the Derby Horses run and practice. Cessell said she had a horse picked to win the race, but her original pick to win the Derby, Forte, scratched early on in the day. Whitney Cessell of Louisville holds a horse racing-themed bag on Derby Day at Churchill Downs. Forte was far from the only horse expected to race on Saturday who didnt make it to the starting gate. Five horses scratched from this years Derby following Mondays post position draw: The others were Practical Move (elevated temperature), Lord Miles (trainer suspension), Continuar (fitness) and Skinner (elevated temperature). This marked the most scratches from the Kentucky Derby since 1936. Additionally, expected Derby contender Wild On Ice was euthanized last week after suffering a leg injury during training at Churchill Downs. Earlier this week, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. was suspended by Churchill Downs following the unusual deaths of two of his horses at Churchill Downs. Early on in Derby day, Chloes Dream, was vanned off and euthanized after failing to finish the race. Chloes Dream was the sixth horse to die at Churchill Downs since the Spring Meet began last Saturday. That afternoon, a seventh horse, Freezing Point, also reportedly died after an incident in the eighth race. Cessell, who owns an Andalusian horse, called the deaths unfortunate. It is really sad, she said. I am not big into actual horse racing, so I am not too sure what goes on behind the scenes. These horses are athletes, these jockeys are athletes, and it is just really sad to see them kind of pass away, they are really young and it is really unfortunate. However Conforto said the attention on the deaths was perhaps over exaggerated. I think it is bad luck. These horses are well taken care of and they are meant to run. I think they over exaggerate everything that happens, Conforto said. You know you have 1,100-pound animal that is running on really thin legs, and it happens. Some horses are this is what they do. Musicians, actors and celebrities walked the red carpet early in the day, including Louisville native Jack Harlow and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Other celebrities on the red carpet included Randy Travis, Yellowstone actor Ian Bohen and former host of The Bachelor franchise Chris Harrison. Family members of the 6-year-old boy fatally shot while playing outside of his Kansas City, Kansas, home have started a fundraiser to help with burial costs. On Wednesday evening, the child, SirAntonio Brown, was killed, according to witnesses, when three masked gunmen exited a car in the 3100 block of Greeley Avenue and a volley of gunfire followed. The online fundraiser was started on GoFundMe by Browns godmother on Friday. His mother and the rest of our family appreciates all the support, the webpage says. We want his name known worldwide as no child deserves to have their life taken away due to any type of violence. Family told The Star the 6-year-old was a kindergartner at West Park Elementary School. He loved karate, the thrill of bikes and food, and loved his family, his great-aunt Shawna Davis-Scott said during an interview Thursday. Down to his grandmother, his mother, his sisters, his aunties, his uncles, his cousins that 6-year-old felt like he was the protector, she said, adding that he always wanted to know that everyone was OK. Kansas City, Kansas, homicide detectives continued on Friday to investigate the killing as those responsible had yet to be found. Department leaders, including Chief Karl Oakman, have highlighted the brazenness of killing a child in broad daylight in the context of broader gun-violence issues. Police have also said they are devoting as many resources as possible to finding the suspects and have received helpful information toward identifying them thanks to the community. The suspects sought by police were believed to be using a maroon-colored Subaru Legacy. Police located the vehicle on the Missouri side of the state line on Thursday after publicly sharing still images from area surveillance cameras. Kansas City, Kansas police continued to ask anyone with information about the case to contact the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS. The Stars Glenn E. Rice and Katie Moore contributed to this report. A gag is a restriction on information. The Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance continues the practice of trying to limit speech. Past and present CEOs for the taxpayer-funded organization tasked with revitalizing downtown Myrtle Beach are prevented from saying anything that might be considered disparaging. Was there previous misuse of taxpayer funds, are outside forces controlling the board members, or were companies misled about downtown revitalization? The public may never know if that happened in the past 19 months since the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance was formed, or if it happens in the future. When former Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance CEO Amy Barrett left her position and was replaced, and her replacement was paid more, she did not speak about why she left or what transpired. That could be for fear of legal repercussions due to her contract. Free speech and government transparency advocates see restricting information as bad for democracy and taxpayers. The Sun News reporting has called into question the procedure used by the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance to fill their CEO position, which was never advertised to the public. No search firms were used to find the best candidates, and no interviews were conducted. When newly appointed board member Dan Sine, who became chairman of the board at his first meeting on March 14, made the employment offer to his friend and longtime acquaintance Jason Greene, he said the non-disclosure agreement included was a mistake because he used a boilerplate employment offer letter. A review of the employment contract voted on by the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance board members on Wednesday shows that the contract avoided using the term non-disclosure agreement, or NDA, but the contract certainly restricts speech. Sine declined to speak to a reporter for this story, instead insisting on the submission of written questions, which The Sun News agrees to only in rare situations when no other avenue is practical. The newspaper also rejected a request from Benjamin Broody, the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance attorney who drafted the contract, to negotiate rules of engagement and provide information before he was willing to agree to an interview. Dan Sine is new chairman of the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance board of directors Sine did send an email saying, Jasons employment contract includes no Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) clauses. Reader and taxpayers can make their own conclusions. Why could Myrtle Beach taxpayers be concerned about gagging those managing public dollars? The employment contract has restrictive covenants barring the new employee from any speech that could impact the goodwill and reputation of the corporation and its board members. The contract states in part, employee specifically agrees not to take any action that impairs the goodwill and reputation of the Corporation or any of the Protected Parties through posting comments and/or reviews on internet platforms, sending letters, texts, and other electronic messages, and speaking on radio, television, video, or podcasting platforms/broadcasts/services. So it doesnt say its a non-disclosure agreement. Whats the big deal? Allen Cheney, legal director for the ACLU of South Carolina, said he was unfamiliar with specifics of the downtown alliance contract but in general, theres no technical difference that springs to mind between a non-disclosure agreement and restrictive covenants. Cheney also supports the idea of not restricting information and promoting transparency for the public. Our position generally speaking is we support a maximum view of what the public should have access to when it comes to public entities, he said. The Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance receives money directly from the City of Myrtle Beach and from some property owners. The organization acts as a quasi-governmental agency and therefore has to follow similar rules and laws for disclosure and transparency. Greene and any other employees would still also be responsible for any other South Carolina statutes or law regarding employment, confidentiality and economic development already. The Sun News has asked Sine to provide his emails and text messages that discuss the employment contract. Non-disclosure agreements are uncommon for employees who are paid using taxpayer funds and it sets a potentially dangerous precedent that can harm democracy, transparency and ultimately taxpayer who are funding the multi-million dollar operation, said S.C. Press Association attorney Taylor Smith. Non-disclosure agreements impact our marketplace of ideas, and when that marketplace concerns how public money is used or how decisions are made about public business, the harm to the marketplace can be extreme, Smith said. Agreements that suppress information which could be used to create a better-formed democracy ... are things that should be avoided. There are legal questions about the enforceability of non-disclosure agreements and restrictive covenants. Some legislators, like Alabama State Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, discussed plans to file legislation banning non-disclosure agreements involving taxpayer dollars. #NDAFree is a global movement with a vision to free individuals, Christian organizations and local churches from the misuse of non-disclosure agreements. This is what the group says about non-disparagement clauses. Whilst we shouldnt bad-mouth people, however truthful those comments may be, a non-disparagement clause goes far beyond a legal restriction on gossip. It prevents you saying anything negative at all. So if you talk about a harmful company product or an abusive executive with the aim of protecting other people, you can still be accused of disparagement. The group also points out that disparagement is different from defamation. Disparagement includes truthful statements about the company, while defamation only covers false statements. The South Carolina Press Association attorney sums up a significant concern with gagging employees funded and responsible for managing public dollars. Particularly since NDAs are disfavored by courts, it seems like it would be easier just to have trade secrets language in there so it kind of begs the question, what are they really trying to hide? he said. A 24-year-old man is accused of killing two people and seriously wounding another during a February shooting in Kansas Citys East Community Team South neighborhood. Damyon D. Cook, of Grandview, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree assault, Jackson County prosecutors announced on Friday. Cook is accused of killing Derrick Rich, 30, and Deondrea Brand, 38, in the driveway of a home in the 5200 block of East 28th Terrace on Feb. 8. According to charging documents, Kansas City police officers were called to the reported shooting shortly after 9:30 p.m. on that day. They were advised that approximately 20 gunshots had been fired toward a residence. Rich and Brand were found suffering from gunshot wounds inside a van parked in the driveway. Rich was pronounced dead at the scene, and Brand was taken to the hospital where she died. Police were told of two other gunshot victims who had shown up to the hospital in connection to the same shooting. Witnesses told police Cook was a drug dealer who also sold a synthetic cannabinoid called K2. On the night of the shooting, he allegedly sold ounces of the synthetic drug and started shooting from the passenger side of the van as the money was being counted. Detectives were told that Cook was known to drive a Chevy Camaro with no hood over the engine a vehicle that matched the description of one seen leaving the area, authorities allege. The Kansas City Crime lab also confirmed his DNA was found at the scene through a comparison with recovered shell casings, according to court documents. Cook was arrested Thursday. During a police interview, Cook denied taking part in the double killing or knowing any of the people involved. He also told police he was being monitored through a GPS ankle bracelet at the time, though authorities allege that the device was not active on the day of the killing. Online court records did not list an attorney for Cook as of Friday. John Legend says Megyn Kelly, right, is 'desperate' after she dissed Chrissy Teigen's White House Correspondents Dinner dress. (Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press, left; Evan Agostini / Associated Press, right) Did John Legend just drop the mic on Megyn Kelly? Kelly went after Chrissy Teigen on Mondays episode of Sirius XMs The Megyn Kelly Show in a post-White House Correspondents Dinner rant aimed at Teigens choice of attire for the event. The awards and fundraising dinner was a star-studded event that took place last Saturday. Game of Thrones actor Lena Headey, Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan and Succession actor J. Smith-Cameron were among the many celebrity guests who suited up to hear former broadcast journalist and comedian Roy Wood Jr. poke fun at President Biden and the state of American politics, and to honor the press. Legend, who sang Feeling Good at a celebration of the Biden-Harris inauguration in 2021, was also in attendance, and his supermodel-turned-cookbook author wife turned a few heads when she arrived at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. Teigens sheer draped lilac gown by designer Georges Hobeika particularly became a point of discussion, both for its high slit and because three assistants followed after her carrying the train as she headed into the event. Kelly appeared to be especially perturbed, saying Teigen showed up like she was literally going to the coronation and that she had three minions following her. I can see London, I see France, I see Chrissy's underpants, Kelly continued. Nobody shows underpants at the White House Correspondents Dinner. OK, Chrissy, they just don't do it. And nobody shows up with serfs to carry their train, which there shouldn't be on your White House Correspondents Dinner dress anyway, because it's barely a formal event. Well, TMZ caught up with Legend on Thursday at Mirame in Beverly Hills and asked how he felt about Kelly dragging Teigen, and the Grammy-winning artist didnt mince words, saying Kelly should just shut up, and calling the conservative media personality desperate. She likes attention, Legend quipped. She needs it after she got fired from Fox. (Kelly actually left Fox for NBC by choice, then she and NBC parted ways by mutual agreement before her contract was up.) He added that he thought Kelly had pissed off conservatives when she asked former President Trump a tough question, and now she's trying to figure out a way to win them back. He then praised his wife as "very kind, loving and down to earth" before admitting that its not necessarily normal behavior to have someone help carry a person's dress. When asked if Teigen felt bad about it, Legend said, No, why should she? Teigen also took a moment on Twitter to address the uproar over her dress, posting a video of herself from the event and writing, Im all for some good s talking but this is a legitimately great dress. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The magistrate who granted bond to a teenager arrested after the mass shooting at Meadowlake Park last month wont be tapped for another four-year term. South Carolina state senators choose magistrate judges for their counties, and state Sen. John Scott, D-Richland, said he will not reappoint Judge LaTonya Derrick, a Richland County Central Court magistrate. Derrick, along with other Richland County judges, have been in carryover status since April 30, Scott said. TyQuan Kelly, an 18-year-old, was one of two teens arrested following the early-morning shooting at an unofficial post-prom party on April 29. Kelly was charged with possession of a handgun after deputies saw a gun and magazine being tossed from the window of the car he was riding in following the shooting. He was also charged with possession of marijuana. Although it was his third arrest on gun-related charges since March 1, he was issued a $10,000 bond by Derrick. That bond was rescinded earlier this week by Circuit Court Judge Robert Hood, and Kelly was ordered into custody. I find that you are a danger to the community, Hood told Kelly on Wednesday. Scott said he looked at this bond and other bonds issued by Derrick in making his decision. Given the magnitude of the shooting, Scott said it was in the best interest of the county and the judge. He said that because Kelly had a history of arrests, it was important to consider his repeated offenses, and whether he had a gun problem or gang affiliations. Until those questions are answered, you should wait to set your bond, Scott said. Scott emphasized that Derrick was not terminated, just not reappointed. Kellys role in the Meadowlake shooting remains unclear. On Wednesday, his attorney, Jessica Sturgill, said that he had nothing to do with it. However, revoking the bond hinged on the fact that the teen had already been arrested and released on bond twice in less than three months. On March 1, Kelly was charged with unlawful carrying of a pistol and possession of a narcotic with intention to distribute. He received a $2,500. A month and a half later, Kelly was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a stolen pistol and possession of a machine gun or a sawed-off shotgun or rifle on April 16 after a 911 caller said that he had blocked the doorway of her room and put a gun against her head. For this, bond was set at $50,000. Kelly is now held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. Two other teens were arrested in connection to the shooting, the Richland County Sheriffs Department announced Wednesday. Their names have not yet been released because they are 16. Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk, April 24. (Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) KIYV, Ukraine The light is dim and the windows are sandbagged. Classical music plays on an unseen speaker somewhere. The man sitting at the large wooden desk, in this fortified bunker office on the Rybalsky Peninsula, on the edge of the Dnipro River, has a pistol holstered at his side. Theyve been trying to charge me with terrorism since 2016, Maj. Gen. Kyrlo Budanov, the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, said. But I want to begin by saying that the things they call terrorism, we call liberation. And this began not because I went mad and started killing people in Moscow. It happened because they invaded our country back in 2014. They refers to the Russian government. On April 21, just a few days before Yahoo News sat down with Ukraines most recognizable spymaster, the Lefortovo District Court of Moscow arrested Budanov in absentia. He stands accused of creating a terrorist community, the illegal acquisition of weapons by a group of persons, and the illegal acquisition of explosive devices by a group of persons. Chief of Ukrainian Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, center, attending an event in Kyiv, March 10. (Yurii Stefanyak/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images) The implication is that Budanovs intelligence service, more commonly known by its Ukrainian acronym HUR, was behind a string of audacious and lethal attacks inside Russian territory or what the Kremlin considers to be Russian territory. These include the August car-bomb assassination of Daria Dugina, daughter of Russias notorious far-right theorist Aleksandr Dugin, in central Moscow, and the suspected truck bombing in October that partially dismantled the Kerch Bridge, Russias only direct link from the Black Sea to occupied Crimea. U.S. intelligence has attributed Duginas killing to the Ukrainian government, although not specifically to the HUR. Asked about this allegation, Budanov said, Dont continue with that topic. All I will comment on is that weve been killing Russians and we will keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of this world until the complete victory of Ukraine. At 37, Budanov has a full face, dotted with light stubble and a slightly shorn forelock, possibly to raise his hairline in an effort to appear older. He is one of the youngest generals in modern Ukrainian history, and probably the youngest director the HUR has ever had certainly the most famous. Memes of Budanov grinning or his eyes alight in bright red, a la Superman villain General Zod, routinely circulate online whenever something catches fire in Russia or goes badly wrong for Russian occupiers on the Ukrainian battlefield. After a surprise Dec. 26 drone attack on the Engels-2 air base in Saratov, home to Russian strategic bombers, Budanov told an interviewer he expected to see more of its kind, deeper and deeper in enemy territory. According to the Washington Post, the CIA had to persuade Budanov to postpone HUR anniversary strikes on Russia on Feb. 24, including one proposed naval-borne TNT assault at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. An oil tanker moored at the Sheskharis complex, one of the largest facilities for oil and petroleum products in southern Russia. (AP) Officially, the HUR claims no responsibility for any cross-border attacks, of which there have been many documented examples. It adopts a Mossad-like air of menacing ambiguity whenever they occur. On some matters, though, Budanov is unambiguous. As of today, Russia has no military, economic or political potential to create another attempt for a serious offensive anywhere in Ukraine, he said. Besides that, it is completely capable of waging serious defensive operations, and this is the very problem we are about to face, referring to Ukraines anticipated counteroffensive. Budanov believes that Russias supply of missiles are running low, almost to the point of exhaustion. They are trying to accumulate certain stocks and have them ready in order to try to disrupt our offensive, but the truth is that they have taken their stocks almost to zero. As with Ukraines Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, Budanov declines to offer details of where and when that campaign will be. But he is equally confident that occupied Crimea will be liberated because our victory is impossible without liberating Crimea. Policymakers in Washington have long fretted that a recapture of Crimea, assuming such a thing is even feasible, would be something Russian President Vladimir Putin could not tolerate and would prompt him to undertake a massive retaliation, possibly with weapons of mass destruction, but Budanov is not swayed by those fears. Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing the Federal Assembly, April 28. (Alexey Danichev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images) Id like to underline here that it is unpleasant for me to recognize the following, but its the truth, Budanov said. Unfortunately, the Russian Federation knows how to work with the information space. That is why any event imagine a rocket that falls into the Kremlin they will show it as a victory for Russia. They will claim that theyve prevented the biggest catastrophe to mankind by having that rocket fall into the Kremlin, that this missile has actually demolished the building it was supposed to and has even helped them. It sounds like a joke, but indeed, Russian society is accepting of such stupidities. Yahoo News interview with Budanov took place on April 24, more than a week before two drones were recorded striking the Kremlin, lightly singeing its domed roof. The Russian government has blamed Ukraine for the attack, which it hyperbolically characterized as an assassination attempt on Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky denied his governments involvement. We dont attack Putin or Moscow, he said while on a trip to Finland. We fight on our territory. We are defending our villages and cities. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington could not validate reports of the drone attacks, adding, I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt. Budanov is calculating and curt. He speaks English well enough to field questions in the language but prefers to answer more precisely in Ukrainian. Often he begins replying before the question has fully been articulated, and throughout the hour Yahoo News spent with him, he at times betrayed an impatience bordering on hostility. Some of his more eyebrow-raising claims that Putin is terminally ill with cancer and other ailments, or that the Putin shown in photographs or on television is a body double have a whiff of psychological warfare to them. In that regard, they are hugely successful, fueling tabloid speculation to the point that even Western intelligence has had to sprinkle cold water on them. Back in 2021, there was a statement, I believe it was mine, Budanov said, that Putin is greatly sick with cancer. It has been two years since then and now everyone starts saying something might be wrong with him. Time will show who was right. (Bill Burns, the CIA director, characterized Putin as entirely too healthy at a public event in July 2022.) Whatever the veracity and intent of Budanovs big assertions, there is no doubt he has at his disposal a vast intelligence-gathering capability, if not an extensive agent network operating inside Russia, as is obvious from what the HUR has managed to do. Behind his chair hangs a large portrait of an owl grasping a bat in its talons. This is in homage to the HURs official emblem, whose motto in Latin is sapiens dominabitur astris, The wise man will rule the stars. The nocturnal bird of prey was selected by a previous HUR director because the bat features in the emblem of the special forces of the GRU, Russias military intelligence agency and the HURs counterpart. And owls eat bats, that director said. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. (Andre Pain/AFP via Getty Images) About four months before the Russian invasion, one of his deputies showed Yahoo News a website HUR put together featuring the personal photographs, passport, even the results of a prostate ultrasound, all belonging to Maj. Gen. Andrey Averyanov, commander of Russian GRU Unit 29155. Also featured were the passports of the various young Russian women with whom Averyanov has traveled on business trips to Sochi and Crimea. Unit 29155 is an elite murder-and-sabotage squad that Western intelligence has blamed for poisoning GRU defector Sergei Skripal, along with his daughter Yulia, in Salisbury, England, in 2018; mounting a failed coup in Montenegro; and blowing up a series of weapons and ammunition facilities in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. How did the HUR manage to quite literally see up the backside of a senior Russian intelligence operative? This question prompted a rare bit of laughter from Budanov. We are not a consuming body, he said, we are a collecting body. That is why everything we say oftentimes is very much different from what others say. We base our assessment on things that are real and some other people watch a lot of TV or just talk to other people and thats how they build their assessments. The fact that we are geographically close to Russia lets put it this way: We have capabilities in the Russian Federation, quite powerful ones. Ukrainian soldiers take part in military exercises outside Kyiv, April 20. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images) Budanov was appointed to what became a crucial wartime intelligence role in August 2020 after having served a brief stint as deputy director of one of the departments of Ukraines foreign intelligence service. Before that, he was a HUR Spetsnaz or special forces commando dispatched behind enemy lines: Even now, he occasionally appears in selfies from the front, kitted out in full tactical gear, in what one senior HUR official said are no mere photo ops: Budanov still takes part in special operations. In August 2016, so one story goes, he was part of a saboteur campaign in Crimea that killed a lieutenant colonel of Russias Federal Security Service, or FSB, one of the successor agencies of the Soviet KGB. Whatever Budanov got up to as a soldier, it was enough to merit receipt of Ukraines Order for Courage, roughly equivalent to the Medal of Valor. Russia has tried to assassinate Budanov ever since, including by blowing up his Chevrolet Evanda in 2019 (the bomb detonated too early). There is a birdcage at one end of Budanovs office with two chirping canaries. An apocryphal but plausible tale has it that theyre here to die that is, provide an early-warning system in the event poison gas is ever deployed in this room. The truth is more mundane: Theyre just pets, as is the frog frantically trying to climb the glass wall of its aquarium behind Budanov. According to leaked Pentagon intelligence, Budanov played an instrumental part in fortifying the besieged city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine. For months, the Russians have been devoting enormous resources and manpower into capturing the city, in itself of limited strategic significance, but symbolically a large prize for Moscow. Ukraines policy has been to bleed the Russians there for as long as possible in order to weaken their defensive capability when Kyiv presses its counteroffensive in the next few weeks. A Ukrainian soldier on a destroyed Russian tank in Luhansk, Ukraine, June 9, 2022. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) The U.S. was highly skeptical of such a plan. It anticipated that Bakhmut would fall in January, and U.S. intelligence, as reported in the Pentagon leaks, cited Budanov describing conditions in the city as catastrophic. He personally ordered a Ukrainian special forces detachment, the so-called Kraken unit, to deploy to Bakhmut to help beat back the threat of Russian encirclement. It worked. Budanov, who correctly predicted the date and timing of Russias Feb. 24 full-scale invasion, is dismissive of those in the West who argued that the effort to save Bakhmut would fail or wasnt worth the cost in untold Ukrainian lives. Whoever says this, and you just mentioned these leaks of U.S. materials we can add to the statements of the Russian leadership at various levels, he said. They have been saying since June 2022 that they have almost captured Bakhmut. We are almost in May now and they are still capturing Bakhmut. Its very easy to talk about territories you have no relation to. It happened in Syria, with people saying, This can be given away, that can be taken. It happened in Chechnya. It happened also in Iraq. While Bakhmut remains contested, Russia has made unmistakable gains toward the center of the city, largely thanks to the Russian mercenary group Wagner, the vanguard fighting force that has suffered its own catastrophic losses. Its three times the number of killed in action that the United States faced on the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II, and that was over the course of five months, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said of Russian losses in Bakhmut on Monday. Nearly half of those killed in action since December, Kirby explained, were Wagner fighters. A Ukrainian medic on the frontlines in Bakhmut, Ukraine. (John Moore/Getty Images) Budanov esteems this enemy, now labeled by the U.S. as a transnational criminal organization, above all other Russian military formations. Unlike the regular troops of the Russian military, Wagner engages in training, Budanov said. Even the convicts they recruit from Russian prisons are being trained to serve and that is why the results are a lot better than what normal regular army have. They are our enemy, but we need to admit that they are an enemy youre not ashamed of. Its incomparable to the level of regular troops. They are a lot higher. In yet another sign that the Bakhmut meat grinder has had serious repercussions in Russia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, this week took to social media to denounce the Russian Ministry of Defense, general staff and fat-bellied bureaucrats in Moscow for what he alleges is their refusal to supply adequate ammunition to his guns for hire. My lads will not be taking senseless and unjustified casualties in Bakhmut without ammo, Prigozhin said, surrounded by dozens of masked Wagner mercenaries, in a video. Whether a theatrical ploy or something more serious, he threatened to withdraw all his forces from Bakhmut on May 10, a decision that would in effect mean a Russian abandonment of the city. For Budanov, Prigozhin has played politics over his private armys sacrifices in the war since last year because he has to. His political future is directly linked to his physical survival because there are too many forces in the Russian Federation who want to eliminate him. He obviously will try to defend himself because for him its not even an issue of exile or prison; its an issue of life and death. Missouri lawmakers on Friday approved a roughly $50 billion budget for the next fiscal year that funds a massive expansion of Interstate 70 across nearly the entire state from Blue Springs to Wentzville near St. Louis. The $2.8 billion plan would extend the highway that connects the states two largest cities from two lanes each way to three to curtail traffic jams and congestion. Its substantially more ambitious than Gov. Mike Parsons $859 million proposal earlier this year to extend the highway in three specific spots near Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis. This is probably a six, maybe seven-year-long project, said state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican who chaired the budget committee in the Senate. So, maybe I should apologize up front for the traffic, but I think the end result is going to be something that, quite frankly, generationally will transform that artery across the state. The entire spending plan headed to Parsons desk comes as the state is flush with cash, propped up by a record $5 billion surplus. It includes several key items including $3.6 billion in state aid to K-12 schools and $78 million to boost rates for child care providers. It also includes several one-time costs such as $300 million to build a new psychiatric hospital in Kansas City. The states fiscal year begins July 1. Lawmakers, with little discussion, also agreed to strip two culture war-focused provisions passed by the House that had threatened to derail the budget process. The budget approved Friday rejected Republican-backed plans to cut funding from every state agency associated with diversity initiatives. It also restores $4.5 million in state aid for libraries that the House had cut in retaliation for a lawsuit on behalf of two library groups challenging a new state law that bans certain materials in school libraries. I mean, yeah, Im relieved they werent insane, Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat, said Friday. This session, over and over, its been like the war on acronyms. The state budget also for the third year in a row blocks Medicaid patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood. Fridays approval comes less than a year after a Cole County judge ruled that lawmakers could not use budget bills to limit the list of eligible Medicaid providers. The Missouri Supreme Court found in 2020 that lawmakers violated the state constitution when they attempted to end all funding of Planned Parenthood. In a state that consistently ranks among the worst for health care access, coupled with a high uninsured population, you would think conservative politicians would expand access to life-saving preventative care, said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes. Hough rejected this criticism Friday, telling reporters that the language in the budget doesnt really have, in my opinion, a lot of practical implications. Lawmakers were able to approve Fridays budget ahead of a 6 p.m. constitutional deadline, avoiding a filibuster over legislation aimed at killing a landfill proposed in Kansas City. A fight over the landfill legislation had blocked Senate action for nearly all of Thursdays session and threatened to upend the budget process. State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, ultimately agreed to end his filibuster over the legislation after negotiations among senators and phone calls between Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Senate leadership. After Brattins filibuster, senators, in a last-minute addition, added $100,000 for an environmental study near the proposed site to study the impacts of a landfill on nearby schools, homes and the environment. Lucas also said on Twitter that he would be filing a city ordinance that would ban the approval of landfills in the city through next June. Were extremely pleased with Mayor Lucas, Brattin told reporters. What we were able to get...was an environmental study for one year and it will be a moratorium of any permits issued to anyone to try to put in a landfill while this study goes on. Parson and lawmakers have framed the I-70 expansion as necessary to combat high levels of congestion on the major highway that slices through the state. However, researchers have disputed the idea that highway expansions are a long-lasting solution. While the Missouri House had approved the governors proposal, Hough pushed for a full expansion of the highway. The final $2.8 billion plan would fund half of the project through general revenue and half through bonds that would be repaid over 15 years. We are pleased with the efforts to make transformative, generational investments in infrastructure here in MO, said Tom Crawford, president and CEO of the Missouri Trucking Association. We have been advocating for these investments for decades and are pleased to see progress made in this budget. The Sedgwick County Health Department is providing free pneumonia vaccines for adults who have medical conditions that put them at high risk for illness. This comes as a response to a rising number of young smokers being hospitalized for pneumonia. The health department received 300 doses of the vaccine from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and will offer the free doses until they are gone, according to Beverly Bruce, the preventative health associate director for the main clinic. She is unsure if more vaccines will be provided. Pneumococcal pneumonia is a lung infection that hospitalizes about 150,000 people every year in the United States. Last year in Kansas, the rate of cases was six out of every 100,000 people, according to the Sedgwick County Health Department. In Sedgwick County this rate was doubled. The case rate per 100,000 people in Sedgwick County went from nine in 2021 to 12 in 2022. The county has especially seen a rise in hospitalizations for smokers under 65 years old. During the first three months of this year, 29 people were hospitalized with pneumococcal pneumonia, and 62% had a history of smoking. Fifty-nine percent of patients were younger than 65, according to a press release from Sedgwick County. People dont realize that they dont have to be old to qualify for the pneumococcal vaccines, Bruce said. Its not that we dont want the elderly people to be immunized because we definitely do, but we really are targeting those 19-64 with risk factors. People with alcoholism or who smoke cigarettes have a higher chance of infection. Some medical conditions, including diabetes and chronic heart, liver or lung disease, can also put people at a higher risk. Anyone 19-64 with an illness that is on the CDCs list of qualifying conditions is eligible for the free pneumonia vaccine. Everyone 65 or older automatically qualifies. A nurse will ask questions at the vaccine appointment to ensure patients qualify for the free vaccine. Since the state-funded vaccines are intended to provide relief to people who cant always afford medical help, the health department will file a claim if the patient has health insurance. A patient who does not have health insurance or a qualifying condition can still receive a vaccine, but will be charged $302.84 out of pocket, according to Bruce. Free walk-up vaccinations will be available this Sunday, May 7, from noon to 4 p.m. at Oaklawn Activity Center, 4904 S. Clifton Ave. The vaccine clinic will be part of the centers free summer kickoff event, Family Fest. Scheduled appointments will be at the Sedgwick County Health Department Main Clinic, 2716 W. Central. You can call 316-660-7300 to find out what time slots are available. Every patient should bring their ID and a copy of their shot records. For mobile clinic appointments they should be able to find shot records in the state database if people do not have them when they arrive. Princess Dianas former butler has said he believes the late royal wouldve attended the coronation of King Charles III if she were alive today. In an interview with GB News broadcaster Dan Wootton on Thursday (4 May), Paul Burrell said that not only would the late Princess of Wales have attended her ex-husbands coronation on Saturday (6 May), but she also wouldve outshone everyone at the ceremony. I think she would have attended, Burrell said. I think she would have looked stunning. She would have outshone everyone much to the anger of some but she would have done it with grace. The former butler emphasised that Princess Diana wouldnt pass up the coronation being such a vociferous member of the royal family and being so proud of her sons Prince William and Prince Harry. He added that Diana herself would have moved on by now and hopefully would have found love with someone else. Paul Burrell developed a close relationship with the late Princess Diana, acting as butler to the princess until her death in August 1997. He began serving as a footman at Buckingham Palace when he was 18, and became the personal footman to the late Queen Elizabeth II one year later. Burrell has previously said that Diana described him as her rock and he was the only man she ever trusted in subsequent memoirs written by the ex-butler. However, he came under fire in 2008 during an inquest into Dianas death, when it was revealed that he secretly copied letters between her and other members of the royal family. He has also been criticised for disclosing private aspects of Dianas personal life, which he was told in confidence, in his books. Princess Diana and her butler, Paul Burrell, in Bosnia on 9 August 1997 (PA) Princess Diana who died in a tragic car accident in Paris, France at age 36 would have been 61 years old at King Charles coronation. The former Prince and Princess of Wales were married on 29 July 1981 at Westminster Abbey, the same location where Charles will be crowned more than 40 years later. They were married for nearly 10 years and welcomed two sons, but Prince Charles infidelity with Camilla Parker Bowles caused the couple to separate in 1992. Their divorce was finalised in 1996. The then-Prince of Wales went on to marry Parker Bowles in 2005. On Saturday, his wife will be crowned Queen Camilla alongside her husband during the coronation ceremony. Since the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, she had been referred to as Queen Consort. Some 2,000 guests have been invited to attend The Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III & Queen Camilla By Command of the King the Earl Marshall is directed to inviteto be present at the Abbey Church of Westminster on 6th day of May 2023. The invitation, designed by Andrew Jamieson, also includes an illustration featuring Camillas coat of arms enclosed by the Garter, to represent her installation as a Royal Lady of the Order of the Garter last summer. A senior royal aide recently confirmed to the Daily Mail that she will henceforth be called Queen Camilla because it made sense to refer to Her Majesty as the Queen Consort in the early months of His Majestys reign, to distinguish from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Camilla is the appropriate title to set against King Charles on the invitation, they added. The Coronation is an appropriate time to start using Queen Camilla in an official capacity. All former Queen consorts have been known as Queen plus their first name. The Duke of Sussex will also be in attendance at the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla. There had been much speculation over whether Princess Dianas youngest son would attend his fathers coronation, following the release of his tell-all memoir, Spare, in January. Since stepping down as senior working royals, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have shared many details about the royal family in their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 and their six-part Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. On 12 April, Buckingham Palace confirmed Prince Harry will attend the coronation, while Meghan will stay at home in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that the Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6 May, the Palace said in a statement. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. It was previously reported that Harry was seeking an apology from his father, Charles, and his brother, the current Prince of Wales, before he made any commitment to the ceremony. Harry had also said in an interview that the door is always open for reconciliation. Follow for live updates from the coronation here. Florida governor Ron DeSantis said Friday he plans to decide whether to run for president in 2024 relatively soon. DeSantiss comments came during a news conference marking the conclusion of Floridas legislative session. Reports have suggested for months now that the governor would join the 2024 race sometime after the session ended. I felt very confident going into November 22 we were gonna do very well, but you really had to put up or shut up on that, DeSantis said of his landslide 19-point reelection win last year. I also understood that we had this opportunity here to be able to really, really do a lot of great stuff, and Ive always said that were gonna see this through, he added. What happens in the future? Well get on that relatively soon. You either gotta put or shut up on that as well. Late last month, DeSantis dismissed reports that he planned to announce his candidacy in mid-May or early June. If theres any announcements, those will come at the appropriate time, he said. But if anyones telling you that somehow they know this or they know that, thats just inaccurate because theres not been any decisions made. DeSantis has visited several areas across the country over the past two months to promote his book, The Courage to Be Free: Floridas Blueprint for Americas Revival, allowing him to fortify his national star power. Hes visited several early primary states, including Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. In early March, Ken Cuccinelli, who previously served as the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security under Trump, announced the launch of the Never Back Down PAC to urge DeSantis to run for president. DeSantis would join an ever-growing Republican field that includes former president Donald Trump, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson. Other Republicans weighing a potential 2024 bid include former Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. A polling average from FiveThirtyEight has Trump leading with 52 percent of the vote. DeSantis trails behind at 22.9 percent, coming in ahead of Pence with 5.7 percent and Haley at 4 percent. More from National Review For the second time in two weeks, Sumter County sheriffs deputies have made arrests involving a large quantity of opiates. On May 1, the Sumter County Sheriffs Office Narcotics Unit executed search warrants on two houses following what deputies described as an extensive investigation. The raids, announced Friday, resulted in the arrests of three suspects, the recovery of several firearms and the seizure of methamphetamine, cocaine and almost three pounds of what investigators believe to be a mixture of heroin and fentanyl, with an estimated street value of $198,000. Jalik Shykeil Tucker, 28, of Camden, Shajuan Johnson, 20, of Dalzell, and Stacie Anita Latrelle Wright, 41, also of Dalzell, were arrested the same day. The suspects frequented the houses where the search warrants were executed, according to a statement released by the Sumter County Sheriffs Office. In addition to 1,320 grams of heroin/fentanyl mixture, the sheriffs office said that the raids also yielded 644 grams of methamphetamine with an approximate street value of $32,200 and 286 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of $28,600. Investigators also seized an undisclosed amount of cash and three guns, one of which had been illegally modified. Tucker has been charged with trafficking in methamphetamine and cocaine, possession with intent to distribute and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. He is being held in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County with a $150,000 surety bond. Johnson was charged with three counts of trafficking in methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. She was released from Sumter County Detention Center on May 2 on a $7,500 cash surety bond. Wright was charged with two counts of possession of narcotics and one count of distribution of methamphetamine. She was also released from the Sumter County Detention Center Thursday after posting a $5,000 surety bond. The three arrests come less than two weeks after Sumter deputies arrested Kori Dairon Green allegedly in possession of a bag containing an estimated two kilograms of suspected heroin with a street value of approximately $200,000. In addition to the heroin, Green is alleged to have had a large sum of money and a gun that was previously reported stolen. In a statement, Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis expressed his gratitude for the investigators involved in the joint multi-jurisdictional operation to combat drug trafficking in Sumter. Our people dont want recognition, but the public needs to know the work of the Sumter County Sheriffs Office never sleeps, Dennis said. These men and women put in long hours, often in dangerous settings, to stop evildoers from spreading their poison in our county. The heroin/fentanyl mixture is being analyzed in order to determine how much fentanyl is present, said Dr. Mark Bordeaux, a sheriffs department spokesperson. Fentanyl, which one sheriffs office narcotics investigator called public enemy number one, has been the driving force behind the alarming rise in overdose deaths in South Carolina. In 2021, the state recorded a 25% spike in drug overdose deaths, according to a report released Friday by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl rose by more than 35% in South Carolina between 2020 and 2021, according to the report. Of the total 2,168 overdose deaths in the state in 2021, 1,494 were due to fentanyl. Kentucky Derby entrant Sun Thunder works out at Churchill Downs on Thursday. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press) Everybody loves to be in a Kentucky Derby pool, especially if you have 19 friends, or 19 people you think are your friends. Youve gone to a neighbors house, usually one who was raised in Kentucky but for whatever reason thought living elsewhere was a better idea. Honestly, your chances are 1 in 20. Imagine being the person who got stuck with Rich Strike last year, a horse that got into the Derby only when another horse scratched out. Oh, yeah, he won 80-1. But whatever your reason, whatever your draw, whatever number of mint juleps youve had, everyone has the same question. What time is the Kentucky Derby? Well answer this question with geographical accuracy. If you are in Louisville, thats local time, you can expect the race to go off somewhere around 6:57 p.m., although it rarely goes off right at the exact time. Its usually a couple of minutes late. The actual decision, even though they wont admit it, is made by NBC, which is trying to balance one last commercial against being punctual. And, of course, the load of horses can be problematic. If you are lucky enough to live in Los Angeles or the Pacific time zone, set your watch alarm for 3:57 p.m. If you are still experiencing some cold weather in the Chicago area, or Central time zone, get ready around 5:57 p.m. Or lets say you live in Denver or the Rocky Mountain time zone, and you still she patches of white on your deck, plan on a 4:57 post. Of course, any of you who are reading this are likely not at Churchill Downs, so lets talk about where you will be seeing it, on a television or your tablet or phone. Or maybe on the big screen that obscures part of the backstretch in the infield at Santa Anita. NBC has the rights to the Kentucky Derby and it is going all in. There will be horse racing coverage from noon to 7:30 p.m. EDT (thats 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Los Angeles) on the traditional television network and streaming on Peacock. The official Derby coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. Thats a lot of time to fill. For years, NBC has carried all three Triple Crown races, but this year, the Belmont Stakes moves to Fox, which has purchased an interest in NYRA Bets, which means New York racing. FanDuel TV, formerly known as TVG, will also have coverage from Churchill Downs but will not be able to carry the Kentucky Derby live. Thats what NBC paid big bucks for. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Hollywood star Richard Dreyfuss, an Academy Awardwinning actor best known for his role in the Jaws, said in an interview that the new diversity rules imposed by the Oscars for films to be eligible for the Best Picture award make me vomit. They make me vomit, Dreyfuss told Margaret Hoover on Firing Line which aired Friday night on PBS. This is an art form. No one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is. New policies enacted by the Oscars in 2024 will see film award eligibility dependent upon meeting two of four stipulated diversity benchmarks. One, for instance, mandates a third of a movie cast must be comprised of an underrepresented group. Its finding the right balance. So, we want rules that make sense, that keep people kind of on your toes about it, but not telling people what to make, the film producer and Academy President Janet Yang told Sky News in March. Still, Yang maintained that the proposed equity measures would not disqualify any previous nomination which dates as far back as 1929. We did find that, given these new guidelines all the past nominations would still qualify. During the conversation, Dreyfuss praised Laurence Oliviers performance of Othello performed in blackface in 1965. Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man? Dreyfuss asked rhetorically. Are we crazy? Do we not know that art is art? Hoover pushed Dreyfuss, challenging him to clarify whether people of another race should be allowed to represent groups they do not belong to. Do you think theres a difference between the question ofwho is allowed to represent other groupsand the case of blackface explicitly in this country given the history of slavery and the sensitivities around Black racism? the journalist followed up. There shouldnt be, Dreyfus responded. Because its patronizing. The actor also discussed his decades-long commitment to improving civics education. In 2006, the star created the Dreyfuss Civics Initiative aimed at revitalizing national awareness of government and politics. I think were in the endgame right now, he told PBS. We could let slip the greatest idea for governance ever devised, and we wont even know that it happened. I still cant really wrap my head around the fact that people confuse being exposed to an opposing view on any subject with being a traitor or with being a subversive. His comments come on the heels of scores for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a standardized test referred to as the Nations Report Card released on Wednesday, showing a worrying drop in civics knowledge for the average eighth-grader to the lowest point since they were first administered in 1998. "I think we're in the endgame right now." Actor @RichardDreyfuss discusses restoring civics education and his fears for the nation's future. Plus, he reacts to Hollywood's new inclusion standards: "They make me vomit." TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET@PBS listings: https://t.co/yjV9uYyL5J pic.twitter.com/njuxohjD5d Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) May 5, 2023 Senior administrators in the White House have sought to cast Republican state governments and the pandemic as culprits for the drop in test scores. The latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress further affirms the profound impact the pandemic had on student learning in subjects beyond math and reading, Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona noted in an official statement. More from National Review In a movement sweeping the country, many parents, governors and legislatures say they have lost control over childrens education to woke educators, authors and librarians. They are convinced that schools and libraries are presenting material that is totally inappropriate for impressionable minors. This is not about banning books, says Keith Flaugh, a founder of Florida Citizens Alliance. Its about protecting the innocence of our children and letting the parents decide what the child gets rather than having government schools indoctrinate our kids. These protesters say liberal educators present issues of sex and sexual identity in the classroom, while libraries carry books that describe everything from trans kids to prostitution to graphic depictions of inappropriate sexual contact. For such people, stories about rape and incest, onanism and adultery, homosexuality and violent sex have no place on the bookshelves where children could find them. That is why they should demand that schools ban the Bible. In fact, a Utah parent is requesting that the Bible be banned in schools because, under a new state law, it is pornographic. From the beginning of our Holy Scriptures, there are verses that cannot be ignored. The Bible implies a debauched sexual scene with Noah in a drunken state with his youngest son (Genesis 9) and that Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was incestuously seduced by his daughters (Genesis 19). Given Americas commitment to monogamy, Abraham and Jacobs mistresses, who produce their children, would be a wholly inappropriate reading. The word onanism comes from our sacred scripture when God strikes down Onan for spilling his seed (Genesis 38), which could, of course, strike fear or, more likely, inspire our vulnerable boys to self-stimulation. How do todays protective parents explain the heroic Judah, ancestor of Jesus, having sex with a prostitute who happens to be his daughter-in-law or Prince Amons violent rape and disposal of his sister, Princess Tamar (2 Samuel: 13)? Then there are the voyeurism, sexual assault and murder scenes of King David and Bathsheba that could be cited to justify nonconsensual premarital sex (2 Samuel 11). As for homosexuality, parents should be appalled by Davids passionate and tearful claim that his love for Jonathan far exceeded his love of women (2 Samuel: 1). Like King David, his ancestor according to Christian Scripture, Jesus descends from incest and rape, adultery and prostitution. It would seem that for this protest movement, the stories of the Bible would pose a dire threat: titillating the sexual fantasies of our children. There is a further step groups such as the Florida Citizens Alliance could take, committed as they are to shielding defenseless children. Not only would the Holy Bible be expelled from public schools and libraries. If they are serious, righteous parents and politicians should demand that it be removed from all churches and synagogues across the land. Florida can follow the lead of a Utah law that forbids a business from distributing to a minor any material with a description of illicit sex or sexual immorality and encourages parents to sue any priest, minister or rabbi who allows children to read the Bible. According to the logic of this movement, the danger is real that a child, bored by a dreary sermon or mediocre Sunday-school teacher, could flip through the Bible, find one of the graphic salacious pages and learn more about violent fornication, murderous rape and homoerotic love than found in any book in the school library. The deep-pocketed conservative donors, parents and politicians none more vocal than Florida Gov. DeSantis in his wide-ranging attacks who are so eager to purge schools of reading materials are claiming to protect childrens moral character. They believe that the purity of the soul of America is in jeopardy. They ask Americans to stand against inappropriate sexual indoctrination. They are wrong. As Jesus taught, You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. It is transparently clear how dangerous these politically driven assaults are on truth and on our freedoms, an attack that undermines civilization itself. David Elcott is a political scientist, Bible scholar and professor teaches at Green Haven maximum security prison, in Dutchess County, New York, for Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison. He is the author of Faith, Nationalism and the Future of Liberal Democracy. Turkeys Republican Peoples Party (CHP) launches a new campaign office in the Sultangazi district of Istanbul (Yusuf Sayman) A crowd gathers in the commercial centre of Sultangazi, one of Istanbuls historically Kurdish neighbourhoods, where the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) is opening a new campaign office. It comes just ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections that are seen as crucial in deciding Turkeys future with the partys leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, regarded as a real threat to the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The location is important. The CHP was established a century ago by Turkeys secular founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, with a strong tradition of nationalism that alienated much of the countrys Kurdish minority. But Turkeys Kurds are in the middle of a historic political realignment. An overwhelming number of residents encountered in Sultangazi say they will vote for Kilicdaroglu, as they aim to end Erdogans two-decade domination of the countrys politics. Kilicdaroglu is backed by a six-party opposition alliance and has the explicit endorsement of Turkeys second-biggest opposition party, the pro-Kurdish HDP. People are excited and enthusiastic to vote because they have great expectations, says Zubeida Ince, a local leader of the HDP, which is campaigning this year under the banner of the Green-Left Party. This is thanks to a pending court case that, in a sign of the crackdown Erdogan has instigated in recent years, alleges links between the HDP and Kurdish militants. Our voter base is very political, and they know how to operate on the ground, Ince says. Zubeida Ince, a Kurdish political official (Yusuf Sayman) There is visible change afoot, and the shift is in large part attributable to Kilicdaroglus efforts to reinvent the CHP as a party with a broader support base. CHP used to be non-votable for Kurds, but not any longer, says Sezgin Tanrikulu, a Kurdish member of the CHP who is now running for office as the top candidate in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. We did a lot of work over the last 10 years. Erdogan continues to draw support from a significant, but arguably shrinking, core of pious Kurds who identify with his appeals to faith and tradition. But it is no mystery why many other Kurds, who make up perhaps a fifth of Turkeys population, have soured towards Erdogan. Kurds have their own distinct language and culture, and have resisted decades of efforts including those made by the CHP to assimilate. After courting the Kurdish vote for much of his political career, Erdogan, together with the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) he co-founded, shifted course in 2015 and partnered with the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) of Devlet Bahceli. It has an even worse history of animosity towards Kurdish aspirations than the CHP. After the instigation of the AKP-MHP partnership, a sometimes violent crackdown ensued on Kurdish political parties and institutions. Scores of elected officials were removed from their posts. Anti-riot vehicles and water cannons were turned on protesters in neighbourhoods like Sultangazi. Cultural and educational organisations were shuttered. Selahattin Demirtas, the charismatic 50-year-old lawyer emerging as the leader of the countrys Kurds and leftists, was jailed. Late last month, authorities rounded up 150 people, including journalists and politicians, and charged them with being members of the outlawed Kurdistan Democratic Party (PKK), which Turkey, the US and the EU consider a terrorist organisation. Vedat Demir, a 27-year-old rapper (Yusuf Sayman) Kurdish neighbourhoods like Sultangazi and rural districts heavily populated by Kurds remain under intense surveillance. In cafes where old men play backgammon, many are afraid to speak about politics, worried that undercover plainclothes security officials may be scouring the area. People are scared to speak. We are under siege, says Ince, who has been in and out of prison for years. You either have to shut up and submit or go to jail. In recent years, the CHP has been courting Kurds and others by endorsing an inclusive centre-left message. In 2021, a leading CHP official travelled to northern Iraq and met with representatives of the Barzani clan, which leads Iraqi Kurds in the self-rule region that has emerged as an important commercial and strategic partner to Turkey. Perhaps more importantly, under Kilicdaroglu, the party convinced its own long-time secular base that a partnership with Kurds was the way to defeat Erdogan. Demographic and cultural shifts helped. Hyphenated identities are more accepted in Turkey, as well as worldwide. Younger voters are less fixated on issues of ethnic identity than their parents and grandparents are, and open bigotry towards ethnic minorities is less tolerated. People today are not like the old people, says Vedat Demir, a 27-year-old Kurdish rapper and textile worker in Sultangazi. I am very much a part of this country. The first successful test of the partnership was in 2019, when Istanbuls secular old guard known as White Turks and Kurds allied in an effort to propel the CHPs Ekrem Imamoglu to victory over the candidate of the AKP. Kurds, angry at Erdogan, put aside their long-time hostility to the CHP and voted in droves for Imamoglu. We showed [Erdogan] in Istanbul that the people are bigger than one man, says Ince. We decided to show him by voting for the CHP. That Istanbul election was also a turning point for secular Turks, convincing them that Kurds could be a useful political partner, says Tanrikulu. White Turks saw defeating Erdogan as the most important thing, and they see Kurds as the most important bulwark against the Islamists, he says. Erdogan himself appears intimidated by the alliance of the Kurds and White Turks who have long opposed him, and has begun to lash out. In a speech on 1 May, Erdogan warned that Turks would refuse to hand power to a president supported by armed Kurdish separatists. A cost of living crisis has hit the Sultangazi district of Istanbul hard, regardless of ethnicity or religion (Yusuf Sayman) My nation will not hand over power to them if they are elected president by the support they get from Qandil, he said, referring to the northern Iraqi mountains where PKK guerillas are headquartered. Kilicdaroglus identity as a member of Turkeys religious Alevi minority, from a historically ethnic Kurdish region of the countrys east, may also endear him to some Kurds, while it could turn off some pious Sunni Kurds. But all the questions about ethnicity and faith, cultural values and political orientation that have characterised Turkish history over the last century may be moot in the forthcoming election. Among Turkish and Kurdish voters, dissatisfaction with the economy is running at an all-time high. Turkey is undergoing its worst economic crisis in decades, and many blame Erdogan. In Sultangazi, voters say they are unable to make ends meet. Prices for food and rent have rocketed across the country. One voter says she cannot remember the last time she was able to purchase meat. We cant buy anything; we cant afford anything, says a 70-year-old retiree, who does not want to give his name. He is living on a monthly pension equivalent to 225. Meanwhile, rents have risen to more than 400 for a basic flat. People cant afford even going out to a cafe because they cant afford tea. With the economic crisis has come a flood of social problems, such as broken homes and criminality including drugs and gangs. Tekin Tan, a 55-year-old operator of a tobacco and liquor shop, says he was shocked when a boy who looked no more than 10 years old walked into his shop and asked to purchase cigarette papers. He was shocked, but he believes it as a by-product of a society going backwards, pulled down by a terrible economy and a lack of action from those in power. There is no justice. There is so much corruption, he says. We want change. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS. At the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, the members of the Armenian delegation raised the issue of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, emphasized the danger of the genocide of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the parliament of Armenia. The MPs presented what work they carried out within the framework of the session of the PA. The focus of the agenda was the role of parliamentary diplomacy in the dynamics of global change. Reports on different topics were made by different countries. The focus of the agenda was the role of parliamentary diplomacy in the dynamics of global transformations. Reports on different topics were made by different countries. "First, I reflected on the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the recent events, the installation of a checkpoint and I called on Azerbaijan to respect the statement signed by them on November 9, to which, of course, they reacted furiously," said Babken Tunyan, the head of the Armenian delegation. During the session, Gevorg Papoyan stressed that Azerbaijan has illegally blockaded Artsakh and Artsakh Armenians. "I emphasized that these people are now facing many social problems, there is a shortage of medicine and food. And there, in fact, there is a danger of genocide. And, of course, Azerbaijan is the first to blame and responsible for this," said Papoyan. "I emphasized that these people are now facing many social problems, there is a shortage of medicine and food. And there, in fact, there is a danger of genocide. And, of course, Azerbaijan is the first to blame and responsible for this," said Papoyan. The members of the parliamentary delegation of Armenia also sent an admonition to the Secretary General, Azerbaijani citizen Asaf Hajiyev, who, being an international civil servant, violated the principle of political neutrality. Babken Tunyan informed that recently, using the organization's social network platforms, he made one-sided statements. Speaking as an official in an interview with the Turkish media, he made inadmissible remarks against Armenia and several other countries, threatening to use force. "We gave the last warning. We called on him not only to remove these publications, but also to never try to make such expressions in the future," Tunyan said. YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS. Chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, a consultation was held in the Government, during which the draft strategy for the development of the mining industry was discussed, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister. In particular, reference was made to the current situation in the field, production and export volumes, the realization of existing potential, opportunities and prospects for the development of the field, introduction of modern technologies. It was noted that the goals of the strategy are the creation and management of unified geological digital information databases, effective decision-making in the field of subsoil use and protection, application of international standards and approaches in the field of mining. The consistent fight against the illegal exploitation of mines and the introduction and application of clear mechanisms for this purpose, the effective management of tailings were highlighted. The Prime Minister instructed to amend the draft strategy and submit it for the approval of the government, taking into account the recommendations presented during the discussion. (Photo : Jason Koerner/Getty Images) Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News, issued a cease-and-desist letter to Media Matters over leaked footage of former host Tucker Carlson make crude and sexist remarks. Fox Corp. issues cease-and-desist letter to Media Matters for America over Tucker Carlson's leaked footage Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said reporting on newsworthy leaked material is the essence of journalism The videos show Carlson making crude and sexist remarks, with one where he can beard calling a woman "yummy" Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News, issued a cease-and-desist letter to Media Matters for America over the publication of leaked footage showing former host Tucker Carlson making crude and sexist remarks off the air. The attorneys for the network wrote in the letter dated Friday that they were writing on behalf of Fox Corporation to clarify any misunderstandings. They noted that the unaired footage was part of Fox's confidential intellectual property and that the network did not consent to its distribution or publication. Fox Issues Cease-and-Desist Letter to Media Matters The lawyers for the network added that the footage was provided to the liberal media watchdog group despite not having Fox's authorization. They demanded that it "cease and desist from distribution, publication, and misuse of Fox's misappropriated proprietary footage," as per The Hill. On Friday, the president of Media Matters, Angelo Carusone, spoke in an interview and said that reporting on newsworthy leaked material was the cornerstone of journalism. He added that the fact that Fox argues otherwise could be considered "absurd" and makes it seem like they are not a news operation. Carusone said that their concerns would be alleviated if he told Fox that the leaked videos came from a combination of WikiLeaks and Hunter Biden's laptop. Over the past few days, his media outlet has published several videos of Carlson, who recently parted ways with Fox News. In the footage, Carlson could be heard making crude and sexist remarks about women, and he also complained about the network on the set of his popular show. In one instance, the former Fox host said that a woman was "yummy"; in another, he asked a female makeup artist whether or not they had "pillow fights" in the restroom. Read Also: US to Tighten Foreign Property Ownership Near Military Bases Tucker Carlson Video Leaks The situation comes after Carlson's sudden parting of ways with Fox News following a settlement deal between the media outlet and Dominion Voting Systems. It also comes as leaks of text messages from the former host show him making other nasty comments, according to CNN. In one video, Carlson called a Dominion lawyer a "slimy little motherf**ker" and told his producer how much he hated him. The former Fox host argued that he did not want to feel that way and that the other guy triggered him to make those remarks. The settlement between Fox News and Dominion amounted to $787.5 million, half of what the latter initially wanted from the news outlet. The case focused on how the media company published false information and stories regarding the 2020 presidential elections. Before the settlement agreement, many of Fox's staff members were set to testify in court to clarify any allegations made to the company they work for, which included Carlson, said Deadline. Related Article: New York Court Releases Donald Trump Deposition Video in Civil Rape Case @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In his words: "I am just a professional writer, which means I don't do blogs and try and get money for whatever I write." Millions all over the world will watch as the BBC covers hours of march pasts by troops O Bachchoo you were the thief of love You stole so many hearts Even though your aspiration Dwelt on other parts. From Much Urdu About Nothing Tr. by Bachchoo Its coronation week in the United Kingdom, with the great tribal celebrations to which the British are addicted -- anointings with oil, certainly gold and maybe frankincense and myrrh, crowns for the King and Queen, useless officials with obscure medieval titles in silly costumes and all the rest. The ceremonial was to be modernised through the presence of priests of most religions, pop music and the invitation of celebrities whose claim to fame is not any talent but a presence on television. Millions all over the world will watch as the BBC covers hours of march pasts by troops, air displays of formation greetings from the Royal Air Force, some gun salutes from ships and the ceremony itself. And then the BBC, in keeping with its recent reassurance to remain politically neutral in all circumstances, may turn its cameras on the estimated 17,000 republican protestors who are scheduled to gather at Trafalgar Square, half a mile away from Westminster Abbey where the coronation will take place. These protesters who are in favour of the abolition of the monarchy have been publicly told that theyre free to express their opinions as long as they dont disrupt any part of the ceremonials. The pomp and ceremony have to live in open co-existence with British democratic guarantee of free speech. That being said, the Tory government of Hedgie Sunak and Cruella Braverperson has passed a bill through Parliament limiting the rights of protesters who have till this day demonstrated their opposition to anything they passionately believe needs changing. Two protesters against climate change, which they believe is caused by the burning of coal and oil, were jailed this week for climbing on a bridge across the Thames and blocking traffic for several hours. The bill, now law, specifies that protesters who glue themselves to a public facility, as some have been doing to cause an obstruction, are in breach of the law and can be fined or jailed. The government insists that this is not an infringement of the right to protest but simply a measure to stop this aspect of freedom of expression getting in the way of other people who are going about their business. I must confess, gentle reader, that I shall miss the circus of the coronation and the protests against it as I am, for the duration, in the worlds most extravagant ahistorical artifice the vibrant heights of tax-less Dubai. No, I am not here to dodge tax or to launder my millions (if only!). Im here on a mundane task of attempting to instruct screenwriters on how to do it. This collection of coloured-crayon packs, or cardboard box collections of skyscrapers, acres of barracks-like bungalows, desert patches and artificial lakes and eight-lane, heavily trafficked highways is a monument to the present. By which I mean it manifestly has no history, rising in the last few decades from the desert sands. Its the flourishing Present -- and repetitively insists, through the testimony of its inhabitants, that it is, like crypto-currency or artificial intelligence, the Future. Yes, with a capital F -- all investment and only financial abstractions to sell. Being in this capital of clean streets, shopping malls as big as small towns, ski-slopes built inside buildings in the desert, the tallest building in the world and other vulgar wonders in the week that Britain holds local elections in which the governing Tory Party is expected to get a severe drubbing and celebrates the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, stimulates thoughts and arguments about monarchies, republics and democracy. The arguments are with unlike-minded friends, one of whom has moved from India to Dubai and loves it here. He extols its cleanliness and asserts that one can leave ones car windows down in the streets with a laptop on the seats with no fear of either the car or the computer being stolen. He compares the real monarchy of the sheikhs of the Middle East with the ceremonial monarchy of Britain. The real monarchy has, he says, brought about the state of spit-and-polish of Dubai, the enforced discipline of its traffic and the scrupulous honesty of its citizens. The contrast he says is the chaos, injustice and prejudice of democracies that elect parties, presidents and governments who sanction the oppression of the minorities and espouse manifestly irrational policies. He quotes the election of Donald Trump, among others. Wasnt it Winston Churchill who said that democracy is the best of all the bad ways of being ruled? I think, gentle reader, I agree with him. No, I dont like the fact that BoJo, Hedgie Sunak, Jacob Rees-Mogg and other Tories manifestly lied to the British electorate to narrowly win the democratic vote for Brexit. And no again to democracies whose majority votes are cast through a falsely motivated patriotic nationalism, religiously motivated nationalism or religiously motivated xenophobia. And yet, while one hesitates to say yes to these, in democracies there is the prospect of changing the government peacefully -- if it allows genuine and legitimate elections to take place, as say Kenya and Belarus do not. My argument then is that before one criticises democracy, please take a hard look at Myanmar, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, Sudan. During his loooooong and illustrious political career, Sharad Pawar, 82, has played several complex roles, but never a Drama Queen At the time of writing, the maha-mayhem in Maharashtra continues, with more twists and turns than on the treacherous Khandala Ghats. During his loooooong and illustrious political career, Sharad Pawar, 82, has played several complex roles, but never a Drama Queen. This weeks theatrical performance at his autobiography launch (Lok Maze Sangatee) deserves a Golden Globe! Actors/politicians (interchangeable roles) are judged for their acute sense of timing on stage. Sharad Pawar couldnt have picked a better occasion or platform to announce his resignation as the supreme boss of the Nationalist Congress Party, which he formed in a fit of pique, back in 1999. Angry, hurt and snubbed back then -- that too by a woman (Sonia Gandhi), he left the mother ship to go it alone, hoping to achieve his ultimate dream (the Prime Ministers job) one day. So far, that dream remains unfulfilled. Pawar seems doomed to play the perennial bridesmaid, never the bride. Frankly, given his brain, dynamism and political acumen, I so wish hed had a shot at it. Why not? Lets not talk about his unreal wealth, etc. Poor people rarely stand a chance at bagging the top job. Pawar, like a lot of canny politicians, not just knew the power of filthy lucre, he understood exactly how, when and where to deploy his resources. Not for nothing was he frequently hailed as the wealthiest politician in the world, even though on paper he was like you and me: comfortable, but not stinking rich. A shetkari who controlled all the shets in the state. The tragedy about ageing strongmen is that they believe in their own immortality. Nobody willingly steps away, nobody walks into the sunset, leaving younger people to carry the legacy forward. Well, despite the shock value generated by his sudden announcement, those who read him well are certain most of it was stage-managed for effect. Its entirely possible a setting was firmly in place, and all the emotionalism that followed was a part of the script. A wily leader knows which buttons to press for maximum impact. Pawar is too seasoned a player to throw such a googly, without first fixing the match. Why not? Theres Ajit Pawar, an impatient nephew (at 63, not a spring chicken himself), and a shrewd, secure daughter (Supriya Sule, 53) who allegedly wrote his roti, kapda, makaan resignation speech, waiting for a verdict. It was never going to be a public Dada vs Tai spat, given the high stakes. Punters have their money on Dada becoming Maharashtras CM, no matter what it takes. I have taken a ten-bucks bet myself. Ajit is a buddy of Devendra Fadnavis (another smooth, smart, astute neta, like Sharad Bhau), say sources. Ajit should have an easy passage jumping across the muddy Mithi creek and joining the BJP. Hed done it earlier, but that torrid love affair collapsed within 80 days. Its a question of numbers its always about numbers. If Dada manages to get the right number of cash-and-carry NCP deserters to hop on to his bandwagon, hes home and dry. But wait, thats not all. He may use muscle and money power to muster up the numbers but theres a trickier issue to resolve before that. What happens to the troublesome court cases against him? Will the new suitors say all is forgiven and drop the charges? Or are they still haggling? Meanwhile, the bitter taste of burnt roti/chapati/bhakri needs to be neutralised with the sweetness of sugarcane juice. Sharad Pawar doesnt seem to be in the mood to hang up his chappals just yet. Running the show pardey ke peechhay has never been his preferred style of netagiri. Even though he has announced his decision to quit and is sticking to his guns so far, the stepping-down drama sounds like a trump card hes holding to better his bargaining power in next years elections. As the wobbly MVAs chairperson, he cannot be ignored or discounted no matter what the roti tastes like after being on a hot tava for too long. The idea is to make it indigestible. Unlike his cool-headed pragmatist uncle, Ajit Pawar is known for his hot-headedness and arrogance. Impulsive, swashbuckling netas are okay on screen, but the reality of running a large, unwieldy state like Maharashtra is a different ballgame altogether. With Sharad Pawar openly mocking Uddhav Thackeray in his autobiography, accusing him of being too laid back as CM, and attending office just twice a week, their future equation is worse than shaky. Throw in a hyper-charged-up, impatient nephew and an ambitious daughter, going head-to-head in the Pawar Parivaar saga, and the old boy has post-retirement assignments cut out for him. Uffffff aata majhi satakli! Lets talk fluff. How many of you know or care what the Met Gala is? In India, we associate the word Met with the meteorological department. But as a certain miniscule desi segment (Mumbais Bandra-Juhu and Delhis Chhatarpur-DLF Mall) went into overdrive over the lewks on the most-photographed carpets in history (not red this year, but striped like Pepsodent toothpaste), a large pinch of scorn for this over-hyped event at which an invitation comes with a $50,000 tag, is overdue. The Met Gala 2023 was a tribute to a mega-fashion icon, the late Karl Lagerfeld. It was themed A Line of Beauty. Dunno about beauty, but many lines must have been done pre-and post- the event, going by the absurdity on parade. Mercifully, our petite, baby-faced Alia Bhatt didnt try too hard to attract flashbulbs: she was fully covered. Some say she was dressed a little too blandly by Prabal Gurung (New York Nepali-American designer), and looked more Disney Cinderella doll than a Bollywood diva. Ironically, the biggest Gala statement was made by a fashion-forward, bold and daring live cockroach which turned up in its birthday suit, and effortlessly stole the show, crawling around the carpet, posing for paps who followed every twitch of its whiskers. If Prabal G missed the big moment, so did other international designers: it was a bit like casting pearls before swine, since most labels attached yards of pearls to every outfit as their tribute to the Kaiser, as Karl was called so obvious, yaar! From flashing fake pearls to flaunting real baby bumps (Serena Williams), this years Met Gala disappointed those who demand annual outrage. Perhaps Anna Wintour, the Grande Dame of global fashion, she-who-knows, needs to take a cue from our very own Sharad Pawar and step down from her pretty perch after decades of ruling the roost. That would be in keeping with the theme of Line of Beauty: theres nothing quite as chic as knowing when to quit the limelight gracefully, and make way for the next generation. Meeeeow! to that, as American rapper-singer Dojo Cat purred on the Pepsodent carpet. Dont forget we had pushpaka vimanams. Imagine if we decided to bring them back. What would happen to your airlines and visa fees? Lol! As we speak, in a cabin on the Swiss Alps, unmindful of the howling blizzard outside, five men sporting thick jackets and ruddy cheeks are hovering over a crackling wood fire, tension writ large on their furrowed brows. They are M/s Sven Bjorg, Leonardo Bertolucci, Alain Belmondo, Ludwig Becker and Pablo Banderas, members of The Secret Schengen Visa Committee That Meets In Cabins To Discuss Important Matters. The subject of the hushed conference: the sentiments of our ancient nation. We cant understand a word theyre saying because they are speaking in Swedish, Italian, French, German and Spanish respectively. But were lucky: there are subtitles. Bjorg: Chetan has spoken. We need to do something immediately. Belmondo: Yes, otherwise they will cancel our wines. Bertolucci: Do you know pizza is the second most ordered dish in that great land? Our mission to overtake biryani on Swiggy cannot fail at this point. Becker: Yes, I heard many of their BMW crashes can be traced back to the drivers drinking French wine and eating pizza while driving. Banderas: What if Hrithik tells people not to come to our La Tomatino? Well, I may have a taken a bit of artistic licence there. But something along these lines has to be happening somewhere in Europe. Because, as Sven Borg put it so eloquently, Chetan Bhagat has spoken and that means India has. In a recent article, Indias most-loved writer, second only to Veda Vyasa in popularity, gave that all-purpose tight slap to those continental curmudgeons who are making our travel plans near-impossible by demanding far too much from us for a simple visa. Who do they think they are, he asked, to give us this shabby treatment when it is 2023 and we can transfer large sums of money on our phones, order any item from a shirt to a car, share our location, upload files, buy tickets, watch live matches, make videos all on our phone, give us a tedious collation of endless paperwork and interview wait times (which) can go up to a year? He doesnt hold back, our Chetan. We Indians are not crooks, he argues most emphatically. We wont submit fake bank statements, nor is everyone here a doubtful, sketchy, freeloader who will squat there and never leave. Barely have the Europeans recovered from this fusillade of literary punches when our Five-Point quillmeister, god bless him, delivers a velvet-gloved upper-cut to their collective chin: European companies are perfectly happy selling their products cars, electronics, chocolates to Indians. (Yet) somehow when an Indian wants to visit, he or she is humiliated with this cumbersome, risky, outdated and expensive process. India is not a third-world country he adds in the end, with the best sign-off of all: We Indians treat our guests as equivalent of God. At least treat us like trustworthy human beings. The way I see it, its only a matter of time before the European Union, shaken out of its complacency by this rocket from our Pasha of Pensters, begins a door-to-door service where Austrians will be competing with Hungarians, and Greeks will be tripping over the Polish to push their visas down our throats, saying You must visit us soon, okay, promise? Mother promise? As a writer (who has sold less copies of his book than Mr Bhagats security guard), I am totally behind him. And this is what I have to add listen, Continentals, its about time you began seeing past the biased data that diabolically puts us at the bottom of the employment, per-capita income, education, environment indices. They are bogus. We will not leave India come what may. Every day some of us are told to go to Pakistan. But do we go? No, sir. We only want to come to your countries to take selfies to upload on Insta, speak exclusively in Telugu, Gujarati or Bengali at breakfast buffets making your people choke on their dry toast, drink ourselves stupid and heckle our hosts. Also, if this is some kind of retaliation for foreigners being gypped, harassed, mugged or molested in our country, those are rare occurrences, I say. (In big, big countries, such small, small things happen.) Our tagline is Atithi Devo Bhava. We regularly enclose foreigners in bear hugs. Go watch the news. Women are treated like goddesses here. Bollywood songs constantly have loads of European women dancing in the background, for gods sake. What more proof do you want of our hospitality? I know you guys, being petty and all, will bring up our bank scams. That, too, is completely overstated. Only a few people did it. Its just that they did it large-scale. The average Indian is scrupulously honest. See the number of people taking the ultimate step when they havent been able to repay their loans. Look at our ancient culture and glorious past, no, instead of going on harping on irrelevant things? We invented plastic surgery. We defeated the Mughals in the syllabus. We are on the verge of becoming a ten-trillion-dollar economy. Keeravani got an Oscar. Dont forget we had pushpaka vimanams. Imagine if we decided to bring them back. What would happen to your airlines and visa fees? Lol! So, listen to Chetan, for gods sake. My twenty-fifth wedding anniversary is coming up and I want to spend it with my classmates in Amsterdam. (The wife will be going to Kashi, of course, to pray for my longevity.) As India heads into the 2024 general elections, it will have to be very watchful of its strategic, tactical and territorial interests In the April of 2020, the Peoples Liberation Army of China transgressed across a broad swathe of Indian territory across what is the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in violation of an architecture of border management covenants put in place since 1993. These agreements are the Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement, 1993, the Agreement on Confidence Building Measures, 1996, the Protocol for the Implementation of Military Confidence Building Measures, 2005, and the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs, 2012. On June 15, 2020, the worst clash since 1975 took place between the Indian Army and the PLA at Galwan that is characterised as Patrolling Point-14 in Indian military parlance. After three years and 18 rounds of military-to-military talks and numerous other meetings with the Chinese leadership, the position on the LAC can be best summed up by quoting from a paper written by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Leh. The paper entitled Security Issues Pertaining to Unfenced Land Border was ostensibly written for presentation to the all-India director generals of police/inspector generals of police conference held in New Delhi on January 20-22, 2023. Two paragraphs in the paper read as follows; Presently, there are 65 PPs (patrolling points) starting from Karakoram pass to Chumur which are to be patrolled regularly by the ISF (Indian security forces). Out of 65 PPs, our presence is lost in 26 PPs (i.e., PP no. 5-17, 24-32, 37, 51, 52, 62) due to restrictive or no patrolling by the ISFs. Later on, China, forces us to accept the fact that, as, such areas have not seen the presence of ISFs or civilians since long, the Chinese were present in these areas. This leads to a shift in the border under control of ISFs towards Indian side and a buffer zone is created in all such pockets which ultimately leads to loss of control over these areas by India. This tactic of PLA to grab land inch by inch is known as salami slicing. The PLA has taken advantage of the buffer areas in the de-escalation talks by placing their best of cameras on the highest peaks and monitoring the movement of our forces. This peculiar situation can be seen at Black Top, Helmet Top mountains in Chushul, at Demchok, at Kakjung, at Gogra hills in Hot Springs and at Depsang plains near Chip Chap river. With the salami slicing strategy they object to our movement even in the buffer zone, claiming it to be their area of operation and then further ask us to move back to create more buffer areas. This situation has happened with Y-nallah at Galwan where we were forced to move back to Camp 01 without dominating the higher posts overseeing Y-nallah; at Chushul the BPM hut near the airfield has become the de-facto LAC and Nilung Nallah at Demchok has been restricted. If the above stated assessment is correct, then notwithstanding all the bluster and the years spent ducking a discussion on China in Parliament as well as blocking questions on the LAC by resorting to the rather ambiguous national security rule 41 (XXI) in Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha and the analogous rule in the Rajya Sabha, India does not seem to have come off very well from this confrontation. For loss of access to 25 patrolling points by the certain assessment translates into a loss of 2,000 square kilometres of sovereign Indian territory if not more. On the back of all these developments there was a bilateral between the Indian and Chinese defence ministers on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers meeting in New Delhi on April 28, 2023. The fact that the meeting did not yield anything either substantive and much less productive is evident from the different narratives put out by the Indian and Chinese sides, respectively. While the Indian defence minister reportedly told his Chinese counterpart that development of relations between India and China is premised on prevalence of peace and tranquility at the borders", he further reiterated that violation of existing agreements has eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations and disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation". The Chinese defence minister, Li Shangfu, was on a different tack altogether. According to a news report published in the Global Times, Li said that common interest between China and India prevails over discrepancies, thus both sides should view bilateral ties and their development in a comprehensive, long-term and strategic way. He said two countries should bring the border situation under normalised management and to jointly enhance mutual trust between the two armies, according to a readout published by China's ministry of national defence on Friday. It is, therefore, quite evident that both the countries view the prevailing situation on the border very differently. From the Chinese response it is more than evident that they have absolutely no intention of rolling back their transgressions that they had carried out in the April of 2020. The larger geostrategic context is also changing. When the Sino-Indian border standoff commenced in the April of 2020, there was no conflict in Europe. China was at that point in time being castigated (perhaps rightly) for keeping the Covid-19 pandemic under the wraps before it just exploded in everyones face. However, today, with the Western Alliances collective energies being sucked by the endemic conflict in Ukraine that is now entering its twenty-seventh month the United States and its allies are also recalibrating their position qua China. In a recent deposition before the House Appropriations Committee of the United States Congress, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated, War with Russia or China is neither inevitable nor imminent. He, however, caveated his remarks describing Beijings actions as moving it down the path towards confrontation and potential conflict with its neighbours and possibly the United States. This military assessment is in tune with broader political approach of the Biden Administration to ensure that the Moscow-Bejing axis does not play to the broader detriment of US interests globally. The recent Tehran-Riyadh detente brokered by China being a case in point. While the US is compelled to play hardball with Russia, it has defined the economic and strategic arenas where China needs to be circumscribed. India, therefore, would do well to evaluate the shifting sands of geopolitics given that China is negotiating fairly hard to end its border dispute with Bhutan and is generally fairly well-ensconced in South Asia that should legitimately be Indias natural sphere of influence in keeping with the Monroe doctrine. As India heads into the 2024 general elections, it will have to be very watchful of its strategic, tactical and territorial interests. On Thursday, Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II met with representatives of the various Christian Churches. This is the first visit by a Syriac Orthodox patriarch since the 1967 Six-Day War. For Archbishop Mor Anthimos Jack Yakoub, Syriac Orthodox patriarchal vicar of the Holy Land and Jordan, the visit is a historic occasion. Jerusalem (AsiaNews) On Thursday, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II visited the Holy Land for the first time. This is the first visit to Jerusalem by a patriarch since the Six-Day War in 1967. Accompanied by a delegation of bishops and priests, the patriarch took part in a procession to the Monastery of Saint Mark in Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by monks, priests and deacons, and where he led the prayer and blessed the assembled believers. The prelate then visited Jaffa Gate in the Old City and was received by representatives of the various Christian Churches in the Holy Land, including Archbishop Mor Anthimos Jack Yakoub of Jerusalem, Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Vicar of the Holy Land and Jordan, who delivered a speech welcoming the entire delegation. The prelate stressed the significance of the patriarch's visit to Jerusalem, calling it a historic occasion. Afterwards, Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II visited the Church of the Resurrection, where he offered prayers at the tomb of Christ, as well as the Church of Saints Nicodemus and Joseph, where he led the prayer and blessed the faithful. The Other news of the day: Vietnam asks Australia to pull thousands of commemorative coins. In Hong Kong, police seize a statue commemorating the events of Tiananmen Square. Five Indian soldiers die in military operations in Kashmir. In Iraq, 400 women members of the Islamic State group go on hunger strike. Protests break out in Turkmen factories. THAILAND With less than 10 days to go before the countrys parliamentary election, the latest surveys put opposition leader Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, in the lead. The head of the progressive Move Forward Party scores high among young voters. With almost 30 per cent of the vote, he is ahead of Paetongtarn Shinawatra, leader of the Pheu Thai party, and considered the favoured to beat the incumbent government set up after the 2014 military coup. VIETNAM AUSTRALIA Vietnam's communist government has asked Australia to stop issuing commemorative coins showing the flag of South Vietnam, now banned in the Southeast Asian country. According to the Royal Australian Mint, which issued 85,000 coins last month to mark the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of Australian troops from southern Vietnam, the design actually reflects the colours of the ribbons of the service medals awarded to Australian soldiers, not the flag of South Vietnam. More than 60,000 Australian troops served in the Vietnam War, Australias longest and most unpopular war in the 20th century. HONG KONG Hong Kong police seized a statue called the Pillar of Shame that commemorates the protesters killed during the Tiananmen Square crackdown on 4 June 1989. More than eight metres high, the statue depicts torn and twisted bodies, which for the authorities constitutes an "incitement to subversion". INDIA Indian authorities have confirmed the death of five soldiers in a military operation in Kashmir, a region disputed with neighbouring Pakistan. India, which has been fighting secessionist forces for decades, launched a series of operations in the Rajouri sector against what the government considers rebel terrorist groups after five soldiers were killed in an ambush last month. IRAQ At least 400 women members of the Islamic State group, held in a high security prison in Baghdad, have been on hunger strike since 24 April to protest against their incarceration and conditions of detention. The group includes nationals from Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Syria, France, Germany and the United States, plus about a hundred children. ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN After an intensive and constructive series of bilateral and trilateral discussions, the parties made significant progress in addressing difficult issues, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after four days of negotiations with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, in Washington. TURKMENISTAN Protests broke out in two factories in the city of Konye-Urgench, as hundreds of workers complained about the lack of food subsidies over the past few months, which were granted to other factories. The police tried in vain to stop the protests, arresting 15 people. A former medical and behavioral provider at Pitkin County Jail recently filed a motion to dismiss an ex-deputys negligence lawsuit over an inmates attack. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. A fake AI-generated Tucker Carlson spoke with Alex Jones in an elaborate prank by a YouTuber. The InfoWars founder and conspiracy theorist, Jones, disclosed the prank call on his show, which used an AI version of the former Fox News host's voice. Fake AI Tucker Carlson Pranks Alex Jones As per a report by Newsweek, the AI-generated prank call comes shortly after Fox News parted ways with Carlson on April 24 after more than a decade, or 14 years, to be exact. The conspiracy theorist talked about the recent AI-generated call targeting the radio host on his Infowars show. He admits initially thought it was his friend, the former Fox News host. He even asked the AI version of Tucker, "What's going on?" During his show on Thursday, May 5, he recalled that he heard the voice of Carlson. Not to mention the call came from the number of the former Fox News host. But then, things got weird when the AI-generated voice started blurting out, what Jones says, are "horrible, lewd sexual things." Jones revealed on Infowars, a website he founded in 2000, that the AI version of Tucker's voice made "sexual threats" to him. Gizmodo notes in its report that a leaked text conversation between Carlson and Jones revealed how close they were earlier this year. The Infowars founder and ex-Fox News host even bantered humorously in their text exchanges. Read Also: This Week: Fox News Host Tucker Carlson and CNN Host Don Lemon Exit Networks YouTuber Plans to Upload AI-Generated Tucker Carlson Prank The person behind the AI-generated prank call has come clean in a tweet before the Infowars broadcast. According to Vice, YouTuber Chris James, who goes by Prank Stallone, revealed that he targeted the Infowars founder in a recent phone call. In a tweet, YouTube says that he called Jones and duped him with an AI-generated Carlson voice to have a conversation with the conspiracy theorist. James admits he was "caught off guard by how much [Jones] bought that it was Tucker." Jones gave the YouTube prankster an open invitation to his Infowars show to explain himself. He wants James to tell his viewers he did not intend to be mean. On top of that, the conspiracy theorist also urged Prank Stalone to prove that he is not working hand in hand with any government agency. The radio host warns the prankster that pretending to be another person using their number is a crime in many jurisdictions. Prank Stallone plans to premiere the audio recording of the AI-generated prank call on his YouTube channel on Monday, May 8. Related Article: Tucker Carlson Update: Fox Loses $500 Million in Value After Parting Ways with Star Host @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The double world premiere is, of course, the all-new 2024 BMW 5 Series with the G60 internal code and the first-ever BMW i5 fully electric saloon. The latter has one clear target just like the larger i7 squares off with the EQS, so is the i5 going to duke it out with the Mercedes EQE mercilessly. And while the bigger sibling opposes quirkiness to general blandness/bulkiness, we fully expect the i5 to represent a more significant challenge for the bubbly EQE.Anyway, traditional fans are more involved with the 2024 E-Class versus G60 BMW 5 Series skirmishes and the Mercedes foe has already presented itself as a feisty contender with stuff like a selfie camera, a triple-screen dashboard setup, standard mild hybrid systems for the E 350 and E 450 models, plus a trio of plug-in hybrid options available for specific regions. As for the G60, BMW is doing its due diligence with camouflaged prototype reveals, the classic "oh-no-we-did-it-again" leak, and a targeted introduction date of May 24.But until then, we can easily presume that people are eager to see it come to life as fast as possible. To potentially ease the wait, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators is always ready and willing to provide its virtual two cents on the matter, sometimes from all angles. For example, the good folks over at the AutoYa info channel on YouTube have a satellite venue dubbed AutoYa Interior , and that is where all the (CGI) G60 action occurs, both from inside and out.One thing to note. BMW's designs, as of late, have been controversial, to say the least. And we have numerous examples: the little X2 crossover coupe, the Minecraft-like M2, the 4 Series coupe and Convertible, their M3 and M4 siblings, the 7 Series and i7, the extensive X7 facelift, or the iX and XM, among others. Of course, most of the criticism revolved around the front-end treatment, but luckily or unfortunately (depending on your POV) the new 5 Series will play the styling cards as safely as possible.That is also reflected in the unofficial presentations by pixel masters, which are at least partly based on the recently leaked BMW 5 Series. Alas, that one was only caught from behind. Instead, the resident CGI expert of the YouTube channel has imagined the looks of the front and the cabin's high-tech layout which is, of course, inspired by the 7 Series. Plus, the traditional color reel shows many inside and outside choices. So, which shade is your favorite? CVT Well, between you and I, it's not that mysterious, as it is understood to build on the Austral . The only thing surrounded in mystery is its name, as Renault could go for the Austral Coupe moniker, or they could end up reviving the Avantime nameplate. The latter was last used in the early 2000s on a two-door minivan, and it would make sense to revive this old moniker instead of going for a new one.The compact crossover coupe likely uses the same construction as the Austral. If that's correct, then it features the CMF-CD platform, which is the foundation stone of the new Espace, Nissan X-Trail/Rogue, Qashqai, Mitsubishi Outlander, Mercedes-Benz T-Class, and others. It might use the same powertrains as the Austral, which is offered with electrified gasoline units, mated to manual and automatic transmissions, and a. The Austral is the successor of the Kadjar, and its less practical sibling will sit above the Captur-based Arkana in the brand's lineup.Although still thick, the camouflage allows us to see more of the slender headlamps that appear to be similar to those of the Austral. The prototype still has some plastic cladding on it to keep most of its design traits a secret, so we still cannot decipher the shape and size of the grille, the lines going across its profile, and the back end. Here, the tailgate and bumper's styling appears to be very clean, but that might change once the crossover coupe starts shedding its fake skin. The single exhaust tip on the left-hand side of the bumper may receive some fancy surrounding trim.It is supposed to be identical to the Austral inside too. That would mean featuring a portrait-oriented display for the infotainment system in the middle of the dashboard, the same digital instrument cluster, a three-spoke steering wheel, and most buttons and knobs, alongside the same driver assistance systems. The upholstery, door cards, center console, and a few other things could be tweaked to put some space between the new Avantime (name unconfirmed) and its more mainstream and more practical sibling, the Austral. We do not know when the unveiling date of the auto firm's new compact crossover coupe is, but if we were to guess, we'd say it is probably due before the end of 2023 or early 2024. Production should commence not long after the presentation, and the first units might arrive at dealers in Europe in the first half of next year. This Live Summit event is called Brawn vs. Beauty, and those brave enough to complete the challenges will leave with a king's ransom (on four wheels).You'll get the usual 200k in-game followers for the Bronze medal, just 50k more than the regular rate. Silver will bring you a Legendary MX Performance Parts set (Nitro Chemist, Ventilated + Bender).Those that strive for the Gold trophy will find themselves pushing at least 412 hp (418 ps) in the form of a 5.0-liter V8 2011 Ford Mustang GT with a top speed of 186 mph or 300 kph if you have the metric system turned on in the settings.If you reach the Platinum spot, you will get the 2016 Ferrari F12tdf (Hypercar). Ferrari created the F12tdf as a homage to the legendary Tour de France race when they dominated it during the '50s and '60s with the help of the 250 GT Berlinetta.The Italian sportscar manufacturer produced the F12tdf between 2015 and 2017; only 799 vehicles were built. They were all rocking a superb 6.3-liter V12 capable of outputting 769 hp (780 ps) with 520 lb-ft (705 Nm) of torque.Next up, we have the Brawn vs. Beauty Bundle that contains a 2015 Ford Mustang GT Fastback (Drift), a 2013 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta (Street Race), and a 2016 Ford GT Le Mans Race Car (Touring Car).Unlike the F12tdf, the Berlinetta wasn't a fancy schmancy tribute car but a simple replacement for the Ferrari 599. It, too, rocked a 6.3-liter V12 but with fewer horses under the hood. This one produced 730 hp (740 ps) with 509 lb-ft (690 Nm) of torque.Then we have the Magma Bundle under the Vehicle & Vanity section, which brings us the mighty 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 . You'll also get cosmetic items like the Red Neon Rally Tire, Dark Red Nitro, Red Lightning Smoke, and the Black Window Tint.Ford built this generation from 2012 until 2015, and they equipped them with a roaring 5.8-liter V8 that could output 662 hp (671 ps) with 631 lb-ft (856 Nm) of torque.Another impressive bundle awaiting us is the Italian Touch, which contains the fantastic 2005 Pagani Zonda F (Hypercar), the 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera (Street Race), and finally, the 2016 Ducati DraXter - Street Race Bike.The American Dream bundle is last on our list. It contains the impressive 2019 Chevrolet Corvette C7 ZR1 (Hypercar), a 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Interception Unit, and a very cool 2019 Indian Motorcycle FTR 1200 S (Street Race Bike).In the words of the famous Porky Pig, "That's all, folks!" Drive safe with these new Mustang additions, and keep The Crew Motorfest hope alive.Maybe we'll see more of it until the June 12 Ubisoft event, which should also rock our minds with new Assassin's Creed Mirage footage and hopefully something new about Skull and Bones, if not even the troubled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake. Photo: wptardif/Bring a Trailer Photo: wptardif/Bring a Trailer Photo: wptardif/Bring a Trailer The Toyota Land Cruiser story begins in 1951 with the BJ, a military vehicle produced in Japan and used by Americans in the Korean War - talk about Mr. Worldwide. After the armistice agreement in 1953, the little off-roader was no longer needed, but Toyota wanted to keep making them.To achieve that, Toyota needed to redesign the rugged off-roader and make it a little more user-friendly, translating to comfier seats and softer suspension. The result was called the 20 Series, which came in gas and diesel form. This model is the birth of the Land Cruiser name in 1954, making it the longest-running nameplate in the automaker's history. Toyota tried to sell the new 20 Series abroad, which was a first for them. You see, the problem was that after the war, every country already had domestic manufacturers, but Toyota did a smart thing.The 20 Series was comparable with America's Jeep. So, they did this: they sent the Land Cruiser to oversea markets, and next to it strapped the Crown. The Land Cruiser's toughness gave credibility to the sedan, and Toyota got itself in markets all over the world using this strategy.Next up, in 1960, the Land Cruiser got its first refresh, and it was called the 40 Series. It was more refined and stronger, and it had a low-range gear, which, combined with more powerful engines, meant greater off-roading capabilities.In 1967, the Land Cruiser got a major redesign - and I think it's safe to say it's the ugliest one yet. It is called the 55 Series and looks like a disfigured pig. That said, it was more of a lifted station wagon, which set the trend for Land Cruisers to come - it was a shift from the ultra-utilitarian character to a more lifestyle, adventure-oriented vibe.What followed was a slow but steady shift towards comfort, which peaked with the 80 Series, released in 1989, and it was a full commitment to luxury. Toyota started to understand that most people were not going to take the Cruiser off-road , and it was more of a family car - but don't think for a second that it lost its edge when taken off the beaten path. Now, to take a deeper look at what makes the 80 Series so good, we have here an example from 1992, so let's dive.Before getting to the car itself, we should take a look at Toyota's naming insanity. They might seem confusing at first, but they really are not. The first letter is the engine, and it comes in two variants, with 'F' meaning it has a straight-six gasoline engine. At the same time, 'B' and 'H' represent diesel variants in four-cylinder and six-cylinder mills, respectively.The following letter is the letter 'J,' and that is just Toyota's talk for Land Cruiser . The number after that is what you'll hear fanatics refer to in terms of body style. If it has a 40 to 42 number, it means that it's a short wheel-base configuration, while 43, 44, and 46 are medium wheel-base and 45 and 47 are long wheel-bases. Now, the one we have here today is an FJ80, so let's get our greasy paws digging and find out what makes it so cool.On the outside, the Model 80 is not flashy at all; it's quite easily overlooked, actually. That said, its size and tall stance give it an intimidating look. This FJ80 left the factory in Dark Gray Metallic, and it was refinished in its current shade of gray under the current ownership. Contributing to the tough look of this behemoth, you'll find a front brush guard, a receiver hitch, a roof rack, and the all-important mud flaps.Providing you with grip on the busy highways and on the forest roads are Michelin X LT tires that are wrapped around 15-inch alloy wheels. Behind them, you'll find disk brakes in the front and drums in the rear.Moving on to the inside, you'll be greeted by a super luxurious interior, at least by '90s standards. The seating arrangements are more like a living room with two armchairs and a sofa rather than a car cabin with seats and a rear bench - but, no matter which one you choose to sit in, you will lay yourself in a little cloud upholster in gray cloth. Gray cloth could also be found on the third row of seats. They are not currently installed, but the brackets are there, and the bench itself can be tracked down by the owner. The dash and other trim pieces, however, leave a lot to be desired, as black, outdated plastic is the norm right here.Guiding you through tight parking lots and tight forest trails is a three-spoke steering wheel that fronts a 110 mph (180 kph) speedometer, a tachometer, and a plethora of other gauges, among which we find the odometer. I mention the odometer for one special reason - it shows 334,000 miles (538,000 kilometers). This is the sole reason I chose to show you this particular Land Cruiser and not another pristine one. It's a trooper. After all of that traveling , it still looks great, and it still is ready to take on more adventures, which is a testament to how rugged and dependent the whole Land Cruiser lineup is.This insane reliability can be best seen under the hood. The 4.0-liter (244 ci) inline-six produces an apparently-crummy 155 hp (157 ps), but power is not the main concern here. The main focus is reliability and torque, and with 220 lb-ft (300 Nm) in naturally-aspirated form, it's more than enough to pull itself out of any tricky situation. That rather low power is sent to all four wheels via a four-speed automatic transmission and a locking center differential that came as standard.This Land Cruiser really paved the way for the ones to come. It's the perfect blend of comfort, off-road capabilities, and status. If you fancy yourself one of these bad boys that are ready for anything you can throw at it, this particular FJ80 is up at auction in Los Angeles, California. Given the high mileage, it won't reach absurd price points, meaning you can enjoy the awesomeness for a reasonable price - and I've seen these reach over 600,000 miles (965,000 kilometers), so this one is still fresh, just out of the break-in period. Also, keep in mind that the Carfax report shows mileage inconsistencies in November 2021, so the total number is unknown, but again, that shouldn't be a problem. Caught testing in a premiere in Michigan in prototype form, the all-new Toyota Camry looks like an evolution of the current one. The heavy disguise prevents us from seeing the actual novelties, like the new front and rear ends for one, but it appears to have about the same footprint.The overall size, and the fact that it hasn't gone down the four-door coupe route with a sloping roofline behind the central pillars, means that headroom for rear-seat passengers should be roughly identical. We wouldn't be surprised if it offers slightly more legroom for those sitting at the rear. Even if our man with the cam could not get close enough to the snapped tester to take a few images of the cockpit, we expect a pair of large screens to dominate the dashboard. Drivers will be assisted by new safety gear.There isn't much we can report on regarding the platform, but the upcoming Camry could build on an updated version of Toyota's TNGA-K. In its current form, the construction underpins the Camry, Avalon, Crown Crossover , Harrier, Venza, Highlander, RAV4, Sienna, and many other vehicles. By using this architecture, it will be compatible with all sorts of powertrains. Word on the street is that it will feature a couple of four-cylinder mills, some of which will be assisted by electricity, as it needs to be future-proof. Some people believe the V6 will be dropped altogether, but this information hasn't been confirmed or denied yet.Nevertheless, we will know more about the engine family, the styling inside and out, technology gizmos, safety gear, chassis, and so on when the car premieres. Rumors claim the all-new Toyota Camry might be due as early as the end of 2023. Assembly will reportedly kick off in the first half of next year. With the first units expected to start arriving at dealers nationwide shortly after, it will likely be marketed as a 2025 model on our shores.The new 2025 Toyota Camry will face stiff competition in the United States as it will continue to gun for the likes of the Hyundai Sonata, Honda Accord, and Nissan Altima. Chances are it might be the last of its kind, as this segment has lost significant ground to crossovers and SUVs. But who knows, maybe the Japanese company will remain committed to mid-size passenger cars for far longer than we anticipate. kW EV AMG Carwow isnt the YouTube channel that would fail to put on a show when it comes to car battles over the quarter- and half-mile trials. However, even the best cant make up for a complete lack of fun from automobiles that foresee the future of motoring.The following video is solid proof that internal combustion is deeply rooted in our warm-blooded DNA. Regarding cars, electricity is our reptilian compromise for the allegedly cleaner and quieter future.Lets face it nothing will ever be par with the sheer bombardment shockwave erupting from a big-block under full throttle. I accept the emissions argument as valid, but socket-suckers are trash as far as the put a smile on my face Sound Effects and Original Score factors are concerned.Sure, they will make our hearts skip a beat or several with the instant torque and catapult-like acceleration . But then again, the same is valid when we stub a toe, which is not cataloged as something wed rather have over New Year's Eve party.If it is unclear that I am not the greatest supporter of EVs - from the strictly-delimited enjoyment perspective please watch the video and feel free to prove me wrong. Three of Germanys greatest brands are lining up their most powerful full-electric automobiles in this English weather drag race.BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche sent their range-topping performers to settle it in the rain. When I say range-topping, I refer to performance, not battery autonomy. Also, certain particularities may occur because carwow usually holds its races in England. In this case, the BMW is the most powerful model available for the UK market.Here are the contenders (in alphabetical order): a BMW i7, a Mercedes-AMG EQS 53, and a Porsche Taycan Turbo S. (Side note: Porsche is at least maintaining long-lasting traditional appearances with the name, although there is no turbine anywhere in the car).Porsche put 560(751 hp / 761 PS) in the Taycan and 1,050 Nm (774 lb-ft) of torque, the sportiest brand in the showdown, while keeping the all-wheel-drive car on the light side of the scale at 2.3 tons. The twin-motorcan hit 62 mph / 100 kph in 2.8 seconds from a standstill (on paper - and on a better surface than the soaked track of this race).Surprisingly, the most powerful electric Merc is behind the Porsche in all aspects, bar body weight. 484 kW (649 hp / 658 PS) and 700 lb-ft / 950 Nm push 2.65 tons toward the finish line via all four wheels. The 0-62 mph sprint is over in 3.8 manufacturer-declared seconds. (Second side note:s optional and very expensive - DYNAMIC PLUS package ups the performance to 560 kW (751 hp / 761 PS) and 753 lb-ft / 1,020 Nm).However dismal this standard electric AMG might seem when measured with the Taycan yardstick, the BMW is even lower. 537 hp / 544 PS and 550 lb-ft (745 Nm), dual-motor drivetrain architecture, all-wheel drive, 2.7 tons. Zero-to-sixty-two takes 4.7 seconds, so it will lose badly thats not even a question but click Play below to see just how badly.In all fairness, BMW does have a more powerful purely electric version available elsewhere, not in the UK (at the time of the race, anyway). The i7 M70 xDrive has 485 kW (651 hp / 660 PS) and 812 lb-ft (1,100 Nm).In short, the oddly-named Taycan Turbo S wins all events standing quarters, rolling start half-mile sprints, and 100 mph-0 (161 kph) brake test. The pleasant surprise comes from the EQS, wrapped neatly in a splendid launch - it outpaces the Porsche off the line every time.It loses its electric breath soon, though, and falls behind. Either that or the Taycans two-speed automatic transmission is a considerable advantage in this Greenpeace-endorsing drag race. The BMW is left for dead almost every time.The notable exception is the 100-mph rolling start, where the massive sedan is not so utterly defeated . Still, it plays dramatic music (courtesy of Hans Zimmer) while admiring the taillights of its adversaries. 6 May 2023 18:16 (UTC+04:00) There are great opportunities for attracting investors from Egypt to Azerbaijan, Egyptian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hisham Mohamed Nagy Abdel Hamid said at a meeting with representatives of the Azerbaijan Construction Manufacturers Association (ATIA) Public Union. The executive director of ATIA, Shahana Sar, said that the main goal of the institution is to support the production of construction materials and to promote the measures implemented by the state in the direction of the development of this sector. It was brought to the ambassadors attention that ATIA has the potential to introduce innovations in this field to the world by bringing local and foreign manufacturers together, Azernews reports. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 09:00 (UTC+04:00) Elnur Enveroglu Read more The 4th International Conference "Shapping the geopolitics of the greater Eurasia: from past to present to future" dedicated to 100th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev took place in Shusha on Wednesday. On the special invitation of the ADA University there were also heads of organisations, media representatives and very influential guests attending the event. Following the address of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev some senior officials of organisations across European and eastern countries extended questions to the Azerbaijani President. One of the guests among the participating organisation heads was Dr Mehmood ul Hassan Khan, Executive Director of the Centre for South Asia & International Studies, who shared his impressions as the participant of the event, speaking also to AZERNEWS. "It has been wonderful and learning experience to attend, interact and participate in this event. It is well organised in term of selection of speakers, panellist and representatives of prominent think tanks, media, policy makers from the more than 38 countries around the globe which vividly reflects Azerbaijans worldwide peaceful diplomacy. It is timely because it caters all aspects of geopolitics from past to present to future. It is result oriented. It suggests numerous workable plans to achieve durable peace, stability and harmony in the region and beyond," the Pakistani pundit said. Khan also pointed out his discussion with the rector of ADA University esteemed Hafiz Pashayev. "During the first session, while intervening I requested H.E. Hafiz Pashayev the Rector of ADA University to add the fourth G I.e. Geography, Geology, Geopolitics and Great Statesmanship attributes to the immense socioeconomic growth of Azerbaijan which he agreed to do so. I also requested to add another fourth D I.e. Diplomacy, Dialogue, Development and Determination of visionary leadership to build a progressive, prosperous and positive country which was again accepted, which is indeed a great honour for me," he said. Dr Mehmood ul Hassan Khan emphasized that he has met with political figures of Azerbaijan during his participation in the event. He notes that later he had discussions with those persons about the political and economic relations of Azerbaijan in and outside the region. "At the end, I purposely suggested to policy makers of Azerbaijan to think about initiation of rigorous diplomatic drive of connectivity, political consultations and economic cooperation in the GCC, Middle East and MENA after the Chinese facilitated Saudi-Iran peace agreement to rescuer the vested interests of Azerbaijan." It should be noted that Dr Mehmood ul Hassan Khan, representing his country Pakistan and the organization he heads, also addressed questions to the President of Azerbaijan during the event. "Interestingly during the conference live interaction with H.E. Ilham Aliyev President of Azerbaijan I expressed my and my countrys special respect, love, passion and connection with him and of course the people of Azerbaijan. I was honoured to ask two questions pertaining to strategic importance of Geoeconomics in the region and beyond." Further, the Pakistani pundit, who visited Shusha for the first time, expressed his impression that he enjoyed the charming scenery of the place and that after the 44-day war, thanks to the decisive and far-sighted policy of the country's president, those places have flourished rapidly. "While visiting Shusha, the Cultural Capital I lost in the natural beauty and biodiversity of it. It is full of history, culture, Center of multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, positive energy, life, color and last but not least life. I must say Shusha represents fascinating struggle of armed forces of Azerbaijan which successfully changed the history of modern war theatre with its zeal & zest, bravery and determination in which the strategic vision of the President Ilham Aliyev also played the most decisive role. I found Shusha like a newly married couple, full of love, intimacy, integrity, integration, holy connection, trust, and true passions, promises and pledges to jointly move forward to achieve dreams of a qualitative life in the days to come," Khan added. --- Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews deputy editor-in-chief, follow him on @ElnurMammadli1 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Commentary: This UK magazine pretends to be European. It's not Xinhua) 10:27, May 06, 2023 French President Emmanuel Macron arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, April 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Bin) In an opinion piece, The Economist downplayed Europe's ability to make independent decisions, disregarded international law and consensus regarding Taiwan and was seen as aligning with the views of the United States, just like a vassalized media organization. BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron's call on Europe to develop more strategic autonomy lest the continent become a "vassal" in the event of a great-power confrontation has stirred up anxiety and furor in Western media. But he was later criticized by some Anglo-Saxon media for making a "blunder," though he merely told the truth. In an opinion piece, The Economist downplayed Europe's ability to make independent decisions, disregarded international law and consensus regarding Taiwan and was seen as aligning with the views of the United States, just like a vassalized media organization. During an interview on his flight back from China in April, Macron said it was not the continent's business "getting caught up in crises that are not ours," and "the worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and adapt to the American rhythm or a Chinese overreaction." The Economist enumerated Macron's "two errors" in the interview, claiming his words sowed further division inside the bloc, peeled Europe away from the United States and undermined "allied support for Taiwan." However, these arguments are rendered invalid by the following basic facts. First, Washington treats the bloc only as a "selective ally," with their ally-ship subject to the U.S. interests. Second, the Taiwan question is purely an internal matter for China and brooks no external interference. A staff member hangs a U.S. national flag before U.S. President Joe Biden arrives for the European Council meeting in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng) The United States, a master of the "beggar-thy-ally" scheme, has never wanted a united and autonomous Europe. The distrust and divide in Europe and between the two sides of the Atlantic should be ascribed to self-serving Washington, as reflected by the Ukraine crisis. Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute for International and Strategic Affairs in Paris, opines that Washington has utilized the crisis to keep Europe permanently dependent on the United States. By inflaming the Ukraine situation, the United States has reaped considerable profits from Europe, pushing the continent to bear all the painful consequences, such as the energy fiasco and selling it energy at much higher prices when it desperately needed gas. Macron was quoted as saying last year "That is not exactly the meaning of friendship." With the transatlantic rift deepening in recent years, the voice calling for Europe's "strategic autonomy" is simultaneously growing. In mid-April, European Council President Charles Michel suggested that Macron's position was not isolated among EU leaders but instead reflected an ongoing tendency among them. As for the Taiwan question, there is only one China, and Taiwan is part of China; this is an indisputable fact supported by history and law. Any attempt to distort these facts and dispute or deny the one-China principle will fail. Apart from Macron, many European leaders, including Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, have recently reiterated their commitment to the one-China policy on various diplomatic occasions. (From L to R) French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are pictured during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Schloss Elmau in south Germany's Bavarian Alps on June 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Chen) The suspicion and hysteria sparked by Macron's truthful remarks have highlighted the hypocrisy and fragility of "Western unity." Meanwhile, the Economist represented a crowd of self-righteous elites in the West who elevate themselves by smearing others and seek to bolster Western hegemony while pretending that it claims a moral high ground. By the way, the UK is not as seriously affected as its neighbors on the European continent in the Ukraine crisis. The Economist concluded, "Together, America and Europe may or may not prevail. Apart, they will usher in a Chinese century" -- a typical piece of the dualistic discourse. In fact, China advocates for a multipolar world and greater democracy in international relations but never a so-called "Chinese century." And what the Economist fears most is that China's development will drive the Global South's pursuit for a more just, balanced and democratic world, thereby ending a Western-centric, hegemonic era. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) (Photo : OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images) After a fight during a meeting of Black Sea countries in the Turkish capital of Ankara, Ukrainian and Russian delegates had to be separated. A Ukrainian member of parliament landed several blows to the head of a Russian official A Ukrainian flag was ripped during a summit The outburst happened at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation A raucous fistfight and slap-fest erupted on Thursday in the hallways of Black Sea cooperation talks in Ankara, Turkey. A video of the brawl was shared on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian delegate, Oleksandr Marikovski, who was involved in the brawl. Ukrainian, Russian Delegates Spark Brawl During Summit The altercation occurred in the lobby when the Russian delegate's secretary, Valery Stavitskiy, stole away a Ukrainian flag that was being held up for a photo op, and Marikovski grabbed it back, striking and slapping the Russian in the process. According to Russia's TASS news agency, the consul and a doctor arrived at the hotel to attend to Stavitsky following the incident. Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Nations, confirmed the footage to CBS News on Friday, questioning if Americans or any other country would tolerate the removal of their flag. Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's first Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, confirmed the footage as well, telling CBS News that "that was the pinnacle of the whole day" of what he called Ukrainian provocations during the conference. Previously, members of Ukraine's parliament hoisted a Ukraine flag at their table before Turkey's parliament speaker Mustafa Sentop yanked it and subsequently chastised some of the Ukrainian delegates' "provocative and physically aggressive behavior." Both the Ukrainian and Russian UN Ambassadors made it clear that the fight did not take place at the negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, which are also taking place on Friday, and where the UN, Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia are meeting to attempt to save the grain deal, which is up for renewal on May 18. The scuffles occur as the senior United Nations trade official, Rebeca Grynspan arrives in Moscow to ease Russia's concerns about the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the UN confirmed to CBS News on Friday morning. The agreement, reached in July, has allowed cargo ships to securely move millions of tons of food for export via the Black Sea, despite Ukraine's war. Earlier in the day, Ukrainian delegates disrupted Timofeeva's speech to the assembly, waving Ukraine's yellow and blue flag by her side as she spoke, Khaleej Times reported. Read Also: WHO Fires Lead COVID-19 Origins Investigator for Sexual Misconduct Russia-Ukraine War Notwithstanding Ukraine's ongoing crisis, the arrangement, which was initially agreed upon in July of last year, has allowed cargo ships to securely transport millions of tonnes of food for export across the Black Sea. The summit opened with a commotion on Thursday when Ukrainian delegates raised their country's yellow and blue flags by Timofeeva's side as she addressed the conference. In a tweet, Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop denounced the "provocative and physically aggressive acts of several members of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation." Meanwhile, air alerts have been issued in the majority of Ukrainian districts, including Kyiv, the capital city. There has been a considerable increase in the number of alerts issued in recent days, after Russia's accusation that Ukraine attempted to murder President Putin in a drone strike early Wednesday morning, which Kyiv denies. Kyiv alone has issued six notifications in the last three days warning of impending Russian assault, as per Daily Express. Related Article: Vladimir Putin Warned of Possible Arrest if Russian President Attends BRICS Summit @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. 6 May 2023 11:27 (UTC+04:00) As part of a working visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan`s Speaker of Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has met with countrys Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Leo Docherty. UK Under Secretary of State Leo Docherty expressed gratitude to Speaker Sahiba Gafarova for her participation in the coronation of King Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Leo Docherty hailed the high level of relations between the UK and Azerbaijan, noting the increasing role of Azerbaijan as a supplier of energy resources to Europe as well as an essential trading and energy partner of Europe. Docherty also pointed out Azerbaijans stabilizing role in the region before fondly recalling his visit to Baku in February this year. He underscored the significance of the conversations held with Azerbaijani officials held during his visit, Azernews reports. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova highlighted the mutual trust and support between Azerbaijan and the UK and noted the dynamic development of bilateral cooperation in political, economic, humanitarian and other fields. Sahiba Gafarova also provided an insight into the activities of Milli Mejlis. The speaker praised the development of inter-parliamentary ties between the two countries. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova informed Leo Docherty on the current situation in the region. During the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 14:17 (UTC+04:00) Chairman of Azerbaijans State Customs Committee, Customs Service Lieutenant General Shahin Baghirov has met with a delegation led by Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoshikawa Yuumi. Touching upon the economic and trade relations between the two countries, the sides stressed the importance of further strengthening of cooperation in the field of customs, Azernews reports. The meeting focused on preparation of the draft "Agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of Japan", exchange of information and experience, creation of a "unified transit portal" of the countries along the Trans-Caspian International East-West Middle Corridor as well as prospects for cooperation in the field of information technologies. The parties also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 14:41 (UTC+04:00) On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, a large-scale tree planting campaign was held in the Lankaran district. According to Azernews, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, founder and head of IDEA Public Union Leyla Aliyeva, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev took part in the campaign. The campaign with the participation of young volunteers saw the planting of argan trees listed in the Azerbaijans Red Book. It was followed by a symbolic marking of the ecotourism trail in Hirkan National Park using the "Czech model" to facilitate movement for hikers. Lastly, seven crested porcupines an important local species - provided by the Baku Zoological Park were released into the wild. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 15:11 (UTC+04:00) A bas-relief to the National Leader has been unveiled outside the building of the Cabinet of Ministers in Baku. The event has been on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev. Prime Minister Ali Asadov and government officials attended the ceremony. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 17:09 (UTC+04:00) A group of Azerbaijani members of Parliament will pay a visit to France's Strasbourg on May 8, the Press and Public Relations Department of the Milli Majlis (Parliament). According to Azernews, head of the delegation to the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee Tural Ganjaliyev, as well as members of the delegation Sevil Mikayilova and Nurlan Hasanov will hold a number of meetings with official representatives of the European Parliament. The meetings will include an exchange of views on strengthening mutual cooperation and other issues of mutual interest. According to the source, the visit will end on May 12. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 22:28 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday signed an order "On the provision of a personal pension of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to cultural figures of Azerbaijan." Azernews informs with reference to the press service of the President. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 20:44 (UTC+04:00) Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov has met with President of the International Canoe Federation Thomas Konietzko and President of the European Canoe Association Jean Zoungrana. Ali Asadov praised the participation of Thomas Konietzko and Jean Zoungrana in the President Cup 2023 Regatta dedicated to the 100th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev, Azernews reports. The Prime Minister hailed the fact that the solemn opening ceremony of the tournament was held for the third time in Azerbaijan`s liberated Sugovushan settlement. He noted that the number of countries participating in the competition is increasing year by year. They also discussed the prospects for Azerbaijan`s cooperation with the International Canoe Federation and the European Canoe Association. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 22:48 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on granting awards of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to artists, Azernews reports. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 08:00 (UTC+04:00) Advertisers are committed to continue spending on TikTok due to its immense popularity with users despite threats of a potential ban in the US over national security concerns, ad experts said, Azernews reports citing Al Arabiya. The steadfastness comes as TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, is fighting to prevent a ban in the US after lawmakers introduced a bill that would grant President Joe Bidens administration authority to ban apps that pose security risks. The short-form video app has already been banned from government-issued phones in multiple countries. TikTok is set to host a presentation for advertisers on Thursday evening in New York as part of NewFronts, an annual week of events where social media and streaming video platforms reveal new content and features for marketers. Despite the concerns about its Chinese ownership, TikToks ad business is poised to grow 36 percent to $6.83 billion this year, according to research firm Insider Intelligence. Ryan Detert, chief executive of Influential, an influencer marketing company, said that of the firms clients none are saying dont spend money on TikTok, he said. Theres no contagion that were seeing, he added. Influential has worked with brands including Pepsi and the NFL. Two media buyers at two different major ad agencies told Reuters that Washingtons scrutiny over the app had yet to impact their clients plans on TikTok. The two buyers spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss relationships with TikTok. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 May 2023 15:50 (UTC+04:00) A car belonging to the Turkish Embassy to Sudan has been fired. The car of Turkish Ambassador to Sudan Ismail Cobanoglu has been fired on in Khartoum. Azernews informs citing, foreign media outlets that the car has been damaged as the result of the shoot out, there have been no dead or injured. It is not yet known who is behind the attack. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu previously did not rule out the temporary transfer of the Turkish embassy from Khartoum to Port Sudan. Armed clashes between the army and the Rapid Reaction Forces (RRF) have been going on since April 15 in Khartoum and a number of other cities in Sudan. Differences over the military security reform, which provides for the full integration of the RRF into the armed forces, resulted in a heated conflict between the two power structures. The Sudanese Foreign Ministry reported that the commander of the Sudanese Republican Army, Abdelfattah al-Burhan, decided to disband the RRF and declared them rebels. Sudan's death toll has risen to 551 since mid-April, with 4,926 others injured, according to WHO. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz (Photo : ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images) After photos went viral, it has been determined who discarded hundreds of pounds of pasta in a New Jersey woodland. (not the actual phot) According to reports, the enigma of who discarded hundreds of pounds of pasta in a New Jersey forest has been solved. Residents of Middlesex County stated that the noodles originated from a for-sale residence in Old Bridge. A neighbor reported that a military veteran relocating out of the home after the death of his mother discovered an apparent cache of expired food. New Jersey Dumped Pasta Mystery Per WCSI, neighbor Keith Rost said the behavior is generational, stating, "I really feel like he was just attempting to clear out his parent's house, and they were undoubtedly stocked with COVID." He observed that his relatives always kept a pantry stocked with canned goods and pasta "just in case." This week, images of the pasta, which has since been removed from the banks of the Iresick Brook, went viral on social media, with the Department of Environmental Protection reporting no damage. Approximately 500 pounds of pasta were strewn across 25 feet of forest floor. According to Fox News, the pasta appeared wet following the weekend's torrential rainfall. someone very mysteriously dumped 3-400 pounds of pasta in the woods in old bridge, nj i need to know everything pic.twitter.com/z6D1e7u2JJ pasta girl (@worrystonee) May 2, 2023 Breaking: Cooked pasta mysteriously DUMPED in New Jersey woods. Someone has dumped 3 to 400 lbs of pasta Word on streets is there LOOKING for a guy named Linguine & his partner who goes by AL DENTE...... https://t.co/jtEeHt41L4 Joe Delfino (@JoeDelfino9) May 4, 2023 Nina Jochnowitz has received complaints from fellow residents of Old Bridge, New Jersey, a suburb located approximately 30 miles northeast of Trenton since she encountered thousands of them while campaigning for local office a few years ago. Typically, they contact her hoping she can persuade the municipality to clamp down on pyrotechnics or ATVs or remove trash from their curbs. Last week, however, Jochnowitz received a call from a woman she encountered during that unsuccessful campaign to report an entirely different issue: "There is a pile of pasta deposited on the side of the stream." Jochnowitz, a trained scientist, said she hopped in her vehicle to investigate. Someone had discarded hundreds of pounds of spaghetti, macaroni, and alphabet shapes in large piles along a stream in a wooded area where, according to Jochnowitz, people frequently discard construction materials, bed frames, and furnishings. Per NY Times, the scene was reminiscent of the classic children's book 'Strega Nona' by Tomie dePaola, about a kind "grandma sorceress" whose magically overflowing pot flooded her Italian village with pasta. Jochnowitz estimated that between 300 and 500 pounds of linguine had been abandoned in the woods to congeal. She photographed the linguine with her phone's camera, emailed a municipal official to report the discovery, and uploaded the photos to Facebook. In a state renowned for its love of Italian cuisine, the community was soon consumed with hypotheses regarding who dumped the pasta and why. Denise Bloom, a local Facebook group administrator in Old Bridge, described the incident as the "Great Pasta-gate of 2023." She reported that some locals have uploaded photos of a few strands on the ground and labeled them "impasta." When photos of the dumped pasta were posted on a Reddit thread about New Jersey, puns and dad gags flourished. Someone stated, "The perpetrators should be sent to the state penitentiary." Anthony Esposito, proprietor of Via Sposito, an Italian restaurant in Old Bridge serving spaghetti, linguine, penne, tortellini, and gnocchi, could only speculate about the origin of the pasta. Read Also: US Employers Add 253,000 Jobs in April Despite Recession Worries Lack of Waste Service on Old Bridge Jochnowitz viewed the pasta, previously reported by NJ Advance Media, as evidence of the lack of bulk-waste service in Old Bridge, which is home to approximately 67,000 people. She said, "This has been a source of contention for many years." Himanshu Shah, the town business administrator, stated in an email with the subject line 'Pasta Dumping' that the Department of Public Works visited the site and discovered "what appeared to be 15 wheelbarrow loads of illegally dumped pasta along a creek in a residential neighborhood" after photos of the pasta were shared on Facebook last week. The Police Department dispatched an officer to take a report. Shah stated that two Public Works employees cleared the pasta and disposed of it appropriately "in less than an hour." It was unclear whether a sizable blade was used. Jochnowitz stated that the pasta was cooked, but Shah stated that it was undercooked pasta that had been removed from its packaging and had become mushy after several days of rain. In a residential neighborhood, the Department of Public Works discovered what appeared to be 15 loads of unlawfully discarded pasta. Two Public Works employees scrubbed up and disposed of all the pasta in less than an hour after the police were dispatched, and a report was taken. The police department is investigating the incident, ABC7 reported. Related Article: Hundreds of Pounds of Cooked Pasta Dumped in New Jersey Woods: What We Know So Far @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. 6 May 2023 19:18 (UTC+04:00) By News Centre Russia confirmed May 10 for a quadrilateral meeting between Turkiye, Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime, the Turkish foreign minister said Friday. It is not clear who will attend from Iran if that countrys foreign minister decides to embark on an Africa tour, Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcaster TV24. Regarding Turkish troops in northern Syria, he said if forces withdraw from the area, terror groups will fill the space. Terrorist organizations persecute everyone and exile anyone who does not obey them. It means a wave of immigration towards our door. More importantly, it would be a very serious threat to our national security, he said. Noting that Turkiye has engaged with the Syrian regime and its administration, he said a joint statement may be issued after the meeting. It is not possible to say clearly in advance what we will agree on in our talks that day, he added. Turkish, Russian and Syrian regime defense ministers and intelligence chiefs met last December in Moscow and agreed to continue tripartite meetings to ensure stability in Syria and the wider region. Iran was also included in the talks, with Turkiye indicating earlier that Ankara would be "pleased if Iran is involved in this process." Bakersfield, CA (93308) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 74F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 51F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Bakersfield, CA (93308) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High around 75F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 51F. WSW winds shifting to NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Across North Carolina Sorry, No Results Found for this Category... Check back at a later time. Stan Deatherage takes pictures all over North Carolina, from the mountains to the coast and very much in between. Here, we explore what goes on within the photographer's eye of this Tar heel traveler, who valiantly shoots first and uploads later. SECU Kicks Off Financial Literacy Month with CUNA Mutual Group and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Press Release: CHARLOTTE North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has once again proclaimed April as Financial Literacy Month. State Employees' Credit Union (SECU) kicked off its efforts by teaming up with CUNA Mutual Group and Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Schools to host a multi-school SECU Reality of Money event for students at three local high schools. The financial education event provided 200 students with an interactive experience simulating life as an adult in the real world. The event was organized as a community service component for credit union league officials attending a Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Mutual Group Partners' meeting in Charlotte. "It was a lot of fun to join league leaders from across the country and have an impact on the financial well-being of students in our local Charlotte community," said Dan Schline, Carolinas Credit Union League president and CEO. "If you work in the Carolinas, you know the great work that State Employees' Credit Union does each and every day. We appreciate all of SECU's work in organizing the event, and we were certainly proud to let our league colleagues see the SECU team in action." "These events provided league officials the opportunity to engage students in conversations that reinforce the importance of education and building solid financial skills that will help shape their future," said Kelli Holloway, SECU Outreach senior vice president. "The SECU Reality of Money financial simulation is a practical and realistic effort, giving students a better view of the adult working world as it relates to personal finance. Hearing students comment about this being an eye-opening experience makes it so rewarding for all of us." During April and throughout the year, SECU uses various educational resources to grow awareness around economic education for North Carolinians of all ages. From FAT CAT activities for young members, to Biz Kid$ curriculum and Real World experiences for middle school students, and Your Financial Future and Reality of Money high school classroom presentations, students throughout North Carolina are learning the importance of sound money management. The Credit Union's outreach extends beyond the classroom through its Students@Work and Summer Camp Award programs, career fairs, young adult presentations for college students, and consumer education sessions for adults in local communities statewide. Contact: Sandra Jones Phone: 919-508-8773 Email: sandra.jones@ncsecu.org NC State researchers in 2016 found that 80 percent of North Carolina beachgoers would either not return to a beach rental if wind turbines were visible - or require an unreasonable discount for spoiled views That study asked respondents about wind turbines that were over 500 feet tall, much smaller than the ones being planned off Brunswick County beaches (853 feet tall) or for the Kitty Hawk wind energy area (1,042 feet tall) The General Assembly passed the Mountain Ridge Protection Act of 1983 to prevent mountaintop condominiums and hotels spoiling the viewsheds in tourism-dependent North Carolina mountain communities This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation . The author of this post is Jon Sanders The previous research briefs have discussed the research and physics underlying why large arrays of enormous wind turbines with flashing lights would be major features on the coastal horizons of North Carolina. This brief will discuss why negative tourism effects are to be expected from offshore wind turbine arrays and look at how state leaders responded to a prior threat to destroy the scenic beauty of another part of the state heavily dependent on tourism.NC State survey: 80 percent of North Carolina beach home renters would not rent againIn 2016 the Center for Environmental and Resource Economic Policy of North Carolina State University conducted a survey of beach tourists with respect to offshore wind turbines on the coastal horizon. This survey found that North Carolina beach tourists are highly sensitive to viewshed disruption by wind turbines.The 484 survey participants had all recently rented beach vacation homes in North Carolina in areas under consideration for offshore wind energy development. An NC State News release describes the survey design:To reiterate, recent beach tourists were asked if they would rent the same beach house they had just rented - even at discounted rates - if their beach views would now include an array of 144 wind turbines at varying distances from shore: five, eight, 12, or 18 miles.The turbines in the study design were over 500 feet tall - much smaller than turbines now being considered. Turbine heights being planned off the coast of Bald Head Island and other Brunswick County beaches would reach 853 feet tall, a few feet short of the tallest building in North Carolina (Charlotte's 871-foot-tall Bank of America Corporate Center). Turbines for the Kitty Hawk wind energy area would be significantly taller than those: 1,042 feet tall.The study found that a majority - 54 percent -So over half the survey participants said even a large discount wouldn't be enough, that they refuse to return to their previous beach house rentalThe finding suggests that tourism at affected beaches would take an enormous hit, not just for one season but ongoing.Another 26 percent wanted discounts if the turbines were 12 miles offshore - butSo 80 percent of North Carolina beachgoers would not return to a beach rental if wind turbines were visible - most because they'd refuse to have their views spoiled, and the rest because they'd demand too much of a discount for spoiled views.The 20 percent remaining had a greater tolerance for visible wind turbines. They were willing to accept a slight discount averaging about 5 percent, and only if turbines were closer in - eight miles offshore.Again, respondents were presented views of offshore turbines over 500 feet tall, not 853 feet tall (70 percent taller). The Wilmington West wind energy area off the coast of Brunswick County beaches would start around nine nautical miles (10.4 miles). So regardless of the much taller turbine heights, it would be within 12 miles from shore.The Wilmington East wind energy area off Bald Head Island would start around 15 nautical miles (17.3 miles), but as discussed in the previous research brief, a person overlooking the ocean from a beach house on stilts would be able to view the upper 770 feet of the taller turbines.Coastal residents have every reason to expect not only significant viewshed disruption, but also significant economic disruption from offshore wind turbine arrays.The Ridge Law: When lawmakers acted to protect scenic views and tourismThe mountains of North Carolina also feature destinations that residents, vacationers, and tourists seek out for breathtaking views and contemplative beauty. When a ten-story condominium was placed atop Little Sugar Mountain in 1982-83, not only spoiling the viewshed in the surrounding areas but also threatening a near future of construction dotting the surrounding mountaintops, the General Assembly responded quickly with the Mountain Ridge Protection Act of 1983 (Ridge Law) to prevent further ridgeline disfigurement.The Ridge Law wasnoted Robert M. Kessler in the North Carolina Law Review. Prior to the Ridge Law, such restrictions were made by local governments (e.g., creating historic preservation districts). Nevertheless,Kessler wrote, as the public'sConcerns about the destruction of scenic views and natural beauty won out even despite there being an argument that mountaintop condominiums and hotels could help, not harm, tourism and therefore the local economies - by bringing in more people. No such argument could be made credibly for enormously expensive arrays of offshore wind turbines, however.Studies estimate that meeting Gov. Roy Cooper's goal of 8 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind production would cost $55.7 billion to $71.5 billion, greatly raising electricity rates and leading to an estimated loss of 45,000 to 67,000 permanent jobs (and that's not counting tourism impacts). Even the North Carolina Utilities Commission's initial Carbon Plan acknowledged there would be higher rates from taking on more wind and solar energy - and that they would mean fewer jobs.The real kicker: forcing these great costs on North Carolinians in general and our coastal communities in particular thinking it'sto reduce global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is just plain wrong. Even as North Carolina's CO2 emissions have been cut nearly in half without building expensive offshore wind facilities, the rest of the world keeps adding to CO2 emissions in such large amounts as to negate and overwhelm North Carolina's reductions - even if we completely eliminated all of our CO2 emissions.Forcing offshore wind development in North Carolina can't do anything for the world's climate, but it would make affected coastal communities poorer - and leave North Carolinians worse off with more expensive, less reliable electricity. Bridges Math Curriculum Approved One item on the agenda at the May 2, 2023 Beaufort County school board meeting was the vote to approve the math curriculum Bridges for K-5 grades. There was a good bit of discussion advocating for and against this new math curriculum. Those aligned against it cited the inclusion of Common Core math, which was removed from the NC Standards in 2017. Dr. Parker explained the teachers will be instructed to skip over Common Core related instruction. Board member Mack Hodges remarked that he is concerned this new math curriculum could be like another curriculum the board purchased a few years ago. He did not mention the name but was likely referring to Wit and Wisdom, which was purchased prior to Dr. Matthew Cheeseman being selected as the current superintendent. Wit and Wisdom was sold to another local school system upon Dr. Cheesemans arrival. Another point that Dr. Parker made was the contract for Bridges is for one year and may be renewed each year thereafter. Should the school board desire to discontinue Bridges, the board can do so without penalties. These assurances allowed the board to approve the purchase by a seven to two vote. Senate Bill 670 Will Cut Beaufort County Public School Funding Dr. Cheeseman reported to the board that a bill the NC Legislature is considering S 670. This bill if passed will consolidate all state funding to local school districts into one allocation as opposed to the more than 20 allocations now in effect. Dr. Cheeseman indicated this would likely result in over $1M in reduced funding to Beaufort County. State Senator Jim Perry, (R) from Kinston is a sponsor of this bill. The board members were requested to call Senator Perry to express their opposition to this legislation. Dr. Cheeseman said this bill would reduce the state allocations to several counties in the southeast. If passed and signed by the Governor, the board will have less than two months to react to this funding change method as it is set to take effect in the next fiscal year which starts July 1, 2023. Some of you will recall a few weeks back during a public meeting, the three new board members were chastised for communicating with Representative Keith Kidwell. This tongue lashing went on for 40 minutes culminating in a motion to restrict any board member from communicating with any elected official without board approval. It turned out that only one board member communicated with Rep Kidwell and this was after he was contacted by Rep Kidwell seeking more information on the Hillsdale College Social Studies curriculum. This curriculum is not on the approved list of the NC DPI. Ford F-150 Lightning EV orders are reopening this May 9 despite the production issue the American automaker is facing. The all-electric truck has been widely popular with consumers, leading to hundreds of thousands of reservations. If you are frustratedly trying to get your hands on it, this is your chance to do so. Ford F-150 Lightning EV Orders to Reopen in May As per a report by Reuters, the Blue Oval announced on Friday, May 5, that it plans to open the doors for more F-150 Lighting EV orders in the following week. The reopening comes as the giant automaker aims to expand the annual production of the highly sought-after electric truck to 150,000 units. Electrek notes that the all-electric F-150 has been widely popular among consumers since its debut in May 2021. As it celebrates its two years in the market, it plans to welcome more orders, enabling excited customers to get behind the wheel of the EV. The American carmaker touts that the F-150 Lightning is a pretty special offering, dubbing it the "smartest" and "most innovative" pickup truck in its entire history, which spans over a century. Despite the intense demand, Ford faced hurdles in ramping up its production. Early this year, according to The New York Times, the renowned automaker had to pause the production and shipments of its electric truck due to a possible battery issue. Reuters notes that the Blue Oval resumed F-150 Lightning production in March, a month after the battery fire triggered a production halt. Read Also: New EPA Emissions Rule Threatens US EV Sales, Automotive Industry Fears Setbacks No Reservation Required? Now, Ford has confirmed that it plans to reopen the order for its highly sought-after electric truck. This time, it also opens its doors to customers with no reservations. Previously, the automaker only welcomed purchases from those with prior reservations. According to Electrek, three out of four F-150 Lightning variants, such as the Platinum, Lariat, and XLT models, will be available again. On the other hand, the Pro trim option remains out of stock since it has already been sold out. The Lariat trim starts at $75,974, whereas the XLT option costs $80,974. Meanwhile, the top-of-the-line Platinum variant sells for $98,074. New F-150 Lightning Production Issue While Ford plans to accept orders from all customers, even those with reservations, it faces a new production issue. Sources of Reuters disclosed that the American automaker is now having problems with the door handles of the F-150 Lightning. The automaker admits that the "supplier part shortage is affecting some North American plants." But it assures everyone that they are planning to iron out this problem. Related Article: BMW Recall: 90,000 Car Owners Warned Over Dangerous Airbag Defect @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Shutting down perfectly functional, cheap and reliable coal fired power plants to transition to expensive and undependable wind and solar carries a massive sting in the tail for electric customers in terms of much higher power costs. That scenario is underway for North Carolina thanks to the RINOs giving us HB951, North Carolina's Green New Deal, which has already given us a recent 18% electricity rate increase, the first of many to come. That scenario has just played out in the Australian state of New South Wales, whose Labour government has just needlessly closed their major coal fired power plant at Liddell to move to reliance on intermittent wind and solar. The result was an almost overnight 80% increase in electricity prices in the state. https://stopthesethings.com/2023/05/06/energy-transition-turns-high-farce-power-prices-surge-80-after-coal-fired-plant-shutdown/ HB951 will shut down North Carolina's coal fired power plants. One of the key supporters of that awful legislation was the senator (mis)representing Beaufort County in the state Senate, liberal RINO Jim Perry of Kinston. Duke's Christmas rotating blackout was a quick result of the first coal power plant closure in North Carolina.. Woke Duke Energy plans more of the same, approved by the Green New Deal, HB951. This is not the first Australian state to have this experience of electric rates skyrocketing from switching from coal to wind and solar. The former Labour state government in South Australia led the way on that. In their 15 year reign, South Australia's Labour govenment closed and blew up all of their coal power plants and built lots of wind and solar, declaring their state a "renewable energy superpower". The result was that residential power prices went from the lowest in the world to the highest in the world and rolling blackouts became a common occurance. The political result was that a minor party opposed to "green" energy won three of the state's federal senate seats and the conservative coalition parties ousted Labour for control of state government. But it was too late, the damage was done. Lets hope some real conserevative oust the RINOs and Demcorats before they do the same thing to our power prices. Music video on wind turbines killing birds - "Where Have all the Eagles Gone" to the tune of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?": ZAVALLA Tom Bailey had just finished his morning routine of checking the towns three water well sites when he got a call from a resident: Water was coming out of the road. Bailey, public works director for this small, East Texas town, hopped in his pickup truck and drove to the scene on a bumpy road that sits behind the high school. The entire road was wet. Water was just boiling up in the middle of the road, Bailey said. Not normal. Not normal at all. As water continued to flow down the street, Bailey and Cody Day, a water operator who works under Bailey, jumped back in the truck and drove into town to pick up a mini excavator from storage. They returned and dug into the ground to find the water source: a leaking pipe. That one leak turned into a saga. Every time Bailey and Day would make a repair, the line would break somewhere else. Customers in the area lost water intermittently for three days. I felt disappointed in myself, Bailey said. If its my repair and my repair failed, then I did something wrong. The repeated line breaks were not under Baileys control. Installed in the 1960s, the pipes are part of a larger, deteriorating underground infrastructure that Bailey was handed when he took over as the towns public works director in January. His start date followed a disastrous water crisis that left Zavallas roughly 700 residents without drinking water for 10 days and forced the towns water department to work on Christmas Eve. Theres so much in disrepair, Bailey said. Its a daily balance. Zavallas struggles are not unique. Across the state, from the arid plains of West Texas to the Piney Woods along the Louisiana border, water and wastewater infrastructure is failing if it exists at all. The Lone Star States drinking water infrastructure barely received a passing grade in a 2021 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers, a low mark for the nations second-most-populous state with a reputation for bravado. The multibillion-dollar situation has grown only more dire, as the underground problems erupt into Texans everyday lives. In 2021, the state reported more than 30 billion gallons of water lost due to breaks or leaks that were fixed, according to the Texas Water Development Board, a state agency that tracks the states water supply. Another 100 billion gallons of water loss can be attributed to faulty infrastructure and other statewide issues, Texas officials said. That loss cost the state more than $266 million. The actual amount of water lost is likely greater. While water audits are required from all agencies that have more than 3,300 connections or receive money from the water board, only a fraction of those entities are captured because either the local water agencies didnt report or the state found inaccurate data in what was submitted and rejected the audit. For example, only about 800 agencies are represented in the 2021 report. More than 4,000 are expected to submit data every year. Agencies that do not report face few, if any, consequences: The water board can withhold financial support until a water provider has submitted its audit. Deteriorating water infrastructure contributed to an extended water outage in Odessa last summer and continues to fuel a growing number of boil-water notices statewide. Over the last five years between 2018 and 2022 water entities have issued 55% more boil-water notices than they did over the previous five-year period, according to a Tribune analysis of data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The problem is exacerbated in rural areas where population densities tend to be lower and the pipes tend to be older, some dating back to the 1890s. With a smaller tax base, rural communities have less money to spend on fixing repairs or upgrading water infrastructure. Texas has the largest rural population in the country. Nearly 4.8 million people live outside a metro area in Texas, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The state continues to grow rapidly, and although much of that growth is concentrated in metro areas, it is beginning to spread into rural counties, including those just outside of Houston and Dallas. The booming population places more pressure on the states vital resources, including water. As Texas population continues to grow at a record pace including in new developments across rural Texas the question is not if, but when, the pipes will break. Texas water infrastructure issues mirror those across the nation. From Jackson, Mississippi, to Lincoln Park, Michigan, water systems are under duress. While water infrastructure is traditionally a local issue, water advocates and cash-poor municipalities hope the state will take a larger role in investing in past-due upgrades. And state lawmakers have a unique opportunity to address the states crisis before they leave the Capitol at the end of the legislative session. Texas lawmakers entered the legislative session with more money at their disposal than they ever had before, thanks to a historic budget surplus of $32.7 billion. Texas is expected to receive approximately $2.5 billion of federal dollars earmarked for water infrastructure through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021. And as Texas gets hotter, drier and more populated, state lawmakers are paying attention to the collapsing, aging systems that are meant to provide safe drinking water to 30 million Texans. Lawmakers are keen to act. Texas senators unanimously approved legislation that would create a new water supply fund and pay for upgrades to water infrastructure, with some funding reserved for communities with fewer than 150,000 people. The amount of money allocated for the legislation is yet to be determined. The Senate has set aside $1 billion and the state House, which must co-sign on any legislation, has proposed a substantially higher figure: $3 billion. Water advocates and stakeholders say the bill is both a crucial step and insufficient to meet the growing statewide need. Texas needs an estimated $61.3 billion in infrastructure investment over the next 20 years, according to a national survey by the Environmental Protection Agency released in March. Jeremy Mazur, a senior policy analyst for the nonpartisan advocacy group Texas 2036 who has studied the states water needs, put the federal and state investment this way: Its going to be a drop in the bucket compared to the long-term cost. Boil-water notices bring to light water infrastructure woes Two days before Thanksgiving, dozens of Zavalla residents packed into City Hall for an emergency town meeting. What had begun with low water pressure earlier in the month turned into a complete outage that caused schools and businesses to close. The towns public works director resigned, and no city employee had the appropriate license to operate the towns main well. For longtime Zavalla residents, the problems were bad but nothing new. Weve always had water problems, said Brenda Cox, a former City Council member who will take office as the towns mayor this month. The bottom line is, we need a quick fix. Weve got to have water. The Texas Division of Emergency Management sent pallets of bottled water to Zavalla and deployed the Texas A&M Public Works Response Team to help. They fixed leaks and checked water lines for a loss of pressure. By Thanksgiving Day, water was restored for most residents, but a boil-water notice remained in effect. The working-class town 25 miles outside of Lufkin and known for its proximity to the popular fishing destination of Sam Rayburn Reservoir was thrust into the public spotlight. Boil-water notices are among the most public manifestations of the states water crisis, and they are increasing rapidly. In 2021, 3,866 boil-water notices were issued across the state the highest number in the last decade, according to data self-reported by water agencies across the state to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. That high number likely was linked to the 2021 winter storm Uri, which caused pipes to freeze and burst across Texas. The number of notices dropped slightly to 3,068 in 2022. That number is significantly higher than the 10-year average, and numbers have remained high in 2023. During the first three months of this year, 759 notices have been issued, or an average of about eight per day. Boil-water notices are issued for a variety of reasons and do not necessarily mean water is contaminated. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requires water entities to issue boil-water notices under circumstances in which public health could be compromised, including when water pressure drops below 20 pounds per square inch. A loss in pressure can indicate a leak, and leaks can allow foreign particles or contaminants to enter the water supply. Leaks are becoming increasingly common in part because of aging infrastructure. Old pipes are more vulnerable to breaks and damage during extreme weather events. And those events are becoming more frequent because of climate change, experts say. Last year, Texas faced its worst drought in more than a decade. About 75% of the state is still experiencing drought conditions, according to U.S. drought monitor, and those conditions will persist this summer. On the other end of the spectrum, ice storms are also common occurrences in Texas. In February, a heavy winter storm caused widespread power outages in much of Central and East Texas and raised questions about whether Texas infrastructure is equipped to handle such extreme weather. In Crockett, one of the oldest county seats in Texas, water workers at Consolidated Water Supply Corporation have dubbed one particularly troublesome area mini tornado alley. Tornadoes can bring strong wind gusts along with lightning and floods that can damage water infrastructure, including storage tanks and distribution systems. Ruptured service lines can decrease water pressure and result in more boil-water notices. In April 2019, a devastating tornado with peak wind speeds of 140 mph struck northeast of Crockett. The storm uprooted one of Consolidateds water lines, and post-storm cleanup damaged water mains, said Amber Stelly, general manager of the water agency. Three boil-water notices were issued in connection with the storm. Last March, a tornado struck between two of Consolidateds water plants. The water system issued two boil-water notices that day due to low-pressure systems and water outages. The water tanks were spared, Stelly said, but severe weather keeps everyone on edge. What I lose sleep over is storms, said plant operator BJ Perry, who worked for the water department in Elkhart a town about 25 miles north of Crockett before joining Consolidated. Its like, oh my god, here we go again. On a Friday afternoon in March, Perry was nearing the end of his shift when a tornado warning sounded an alarm on Stellys iPhone. Perry had just returned from investigating a chlorination issue and was reporting his findings to Stelly. State environmental guidelines say that chlorine levels of 0.2 milligrams per liter must be maintained throughout the drinking water treatment process and distribution system. Water systems are supposed to issue boil-water notices when levels fall below that threshold. Chlorine is a common disinfectant used to rid drinking water of bacteria or other microorganisms. Perry detected signs of a possible drop in chlorine levels. The likely culprit: a leak. If he could get the levels in check, he could avoid issuing a boil-water notice. Consolidated issued 68 boil-water notices in 2022, the highest number issued by a public water entity last year and has led the state in the number issued in March, according to TCEQ data. Stelly said notices typically apply to certain areas, but they still go out to all customers and can unnecessarily cause alarm. I want people to heed warnings, Stelly said. I wont want them to ignore them because they are blasted with them all day. She said shes working on a system that would better target the notices. Barely keep up with growth Water is the never-ending task on Randy Criswells daily to-do list as Wolfforths city manager. Every day, he must manage the delicate interplay among quantity, quality and the system that is supposed to ensure both. Not one single day has passed that it doesnt come up, Criswell said of his 15 months in office. Some days its the majority of my time, if not a substantial portion of it. Criswell inherited the Lubbock suburbs worst-kept secret the towns water problems. Over a 10-year period, Wolfforth received 362 violations for exceeding the legal amounts of fluoride and arsenic, a known carcinogen. Wolfforth was using water from private wells supplied with water from the Ogallala Aquifer, which does have both contaminants. As a way to make the water safer for residents and regain their confidence, Wolfforth opened its current water treatment plant in 2017 specifically to lower the arsenic and fluoride levels. The Ogallala water in this part of the state is not the greatest quality, said Criswell, who took office in January 2022. A lot of it has fluoride concentration levels that are not where the EPA and TCEQ would like to see them. Wolfforth isnt the only town that has higher levels of the carcinogen. A 2016 report found that 65 Texas water systems, primarily in small towns or rural areas clustered in West Texas and the near the Gulf Coast, contained excessive levels of arsenic, exposing more than 82,000 Texans. Water in Seagraves, 65 miles southwest from Lubbock, had arsenic levels that were three times over the health standard, making it unsafe for the 2,396 residents. Subpar water infrastructure makes the arsenic problem which is largely unavoidable, particularly in the endless plains of West Texas worse. Existing in pockets of dirt and rocks, arsenic is essentially shaken loose by natural causes and human activity, such as traffic or construction. Its then released into groundwater sources, such as the aquifer. Its also found in industrial products and chemicals that are used in the region. Older pipes that break and develop small cracks also leave the water vulnerable to harmful contaminants. The risk could get worse, depending on what the water lines and their bindings are made of. Since some cities were developed in the late 19th century, construction workers made do with whatever materials they had nearby. Sometimes their water supply piping or stormwater piping might have actually been made out of wood, said Ken Rainwater, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. They would make cylindrical pipes out of planks because thats what they had on hand. Rainwater said other materials included cast iron, copper and lead a new EPA assessment found that 647,000 water lines in Texas are made of lead, accounting for 7% of the states total water infrastructure. Keeping track of endless miles of water lines can be difficult as there is no database tracking the age or materials of pipes, or even where exactly they are located underground. While some cities in Texas have managed to create such mapping, many small and rural communities have understaffed city offices that cant commit resources to intensive, yet necessary, mapping. Melinda Luna with the Texas ASCE often finds herself piecing together the lost history of the states water infrastructure. Its a daunting task. When she asks local officials for maps of their water lines for projects, she is sometimes met with confused looks. If cities were built 100 years ago and they havent touched them since, then its out of sight, out of mind, Luna said. Lunas research has shed light on some of the states oldest pipes, such as wooden pipes in Waco, Tyler, Eastland, Laredo and Weslaco. Most recently in 2019, a wooden water pipe in the Panhandle town of Pampa was discovered that had originally been installed in the 1890s. Until cities get a true inventory of their stuff out there, they dont really know whats there, Luna explained. Once you have an inventory, you can maybe manage the madness a little bit easier. Back in Wolfforth, Criswell is hopeful he has found a way to manage the madness. The filtration system in his areas treatment plant is designed to clean the water through thousands of thin polymer membrane layers. The layers could have cost the city a pretty penny they are worth $35,000. However, they were reclaimed from a plant in El Paso. The city is in the process of designing another water treatment plant, this one to clean the water and to hold more water that the city is bringing in from other sources. Its made city officials more optimistic about the future of their home. Soon, well have survived a crisis in Wolfforth that everybodys going to come out on the other end of OK, Criswell said. In Zavalla, a small rate increase could go a long way On a Monday evening in April, Bailey Zavallas public works director drove back up the road where he had tended to a series of leaks three weeks earlier. His truck jostled over potholes that residents have been asking him to patch up. Bailey oversees water and wastewater along with the towns infrastructure needs like road repairs. Bailey and Day patched up holes on that road using gravel. It was never meant to be a long-term fix, Bailey said, but it was the most he could do. Im on a limited budget, Bailey said. I only have so much money a year for patching. Down the road, an orange traffic drum marked the spot where the leaks had occurred. The spot was still damp. I hope its not leaking, Bailey said. But its awfully soft. A mile away at City Hall, the towns council was set to discuss changes to the water departments payment plan guidelines. In February, the council approved a $4 per month increase on water and sewer rates, the first rate increase they had adopted in decades. It was a small victory for Bailey, who hopes the added revenue will help the town create a contingency fund for infrastructure repairs or future expansions. Mayor pro tem Kim Retherford said some residents have not paid for water in years and have accumulated an over $800 water bill. She urged the council to change the towns payment plan guidelines, which have previously allowed residents to repeatedly defer payment on their water bills. On the paperwork we have, there is not a place where you can say this is how much you owe, this is when you're gonna pay it, and this is how, Retherford said to the council. Weve got to give [the water department] what they need to push forward. After nearly 30 minutes of debate, Retherford called for a vote on the new policy. Under the new guidelines, customers who enter into a payment plan would be expected to pay off their bill within four months. With three city council members in favor, none against, and one member abstaining, the new policy passed and went into effect immediately another victory for Bailey. Saturday is the last day to cast your ballot in a number of city and school board races across Southeast Texas. But with the timing of voting results and the Enterprise's print deadline, where we'll be reporting those results is going to look a little different this weekend. In the print newspaper on Sunday, you'll find a recap from residents' experience at the polls -- how long were lines, which races most voters were excited to cast a ballot in and any challenges they experienced on the way. You'll also find a QR code, which you can scan with your smartphone's camera to go online and see Saturday's election results. You also can navigate to our website yourself, where a link to the election results will be clear on our homepage. Election Day polling locations Beaumont -- All locations are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Alice Keith Park Recreation Center -- 4075 Highland Ave. Amelia Elementary School (Gymnasium) -- 565 S. Major Dr. Beaumont ISD Administration Building (Boardroom) -- 3395 Harrison Ave. Beaumont ISD Career Center (First Floor Old Library) -- 2330 North St. Charlton-Pollard Elementary (Gymnasium) -- 825 Jackson St. Dishman Elementary (Gymnasium) -- 3475 Champions Dr. Jefferson County Courthouse (Lobby) -- 1085 Pearl St. John Paul Davis Community Center -- 3580 E Lucas Dr. Lamar University Montagne Center (Cardinal Club Room) -- 4401 S. MLK Pkwy. MLK Middle School (Gymnasium) -- 1400 Avenue A Rogers Park Community Center -- 6540 Gladys Ave. Roy Guess Elementary (Hallway near Gymnasium) -- 8055 Voth Rd. Sterling Pruitt Center (Multi-purpose Room) -- 2930 Gulf St. Theodore Johns Library (Meeting Room) -- 4255 Fannett Rd. Port Arthur -- All locations are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Abraham Lincoln Middle School -- 1023 Abe Lincoln Ave. (Precincts 32C, 32D, 57, 59 and 104) Port Acres Elementary School (Old Dick Dowling Elementary) -- 6031 Pat Ave. (Precincts 29, 33, 34, 35, 80 and 101) Port Arthur City Hall (5th Floor) -- 444 4th St. (Precincts 50, 51, 53, 54 and 55) Port Arthur Public Library -- 4615 9th Ave. (Precincts 45, 46A, 46B, 46C, 46D, 70, 81, 82A, 82B, 82C, 82D, 95, 96, 97 and 98) R.L. Eldridge Community Center (Sabine Pass) -- 5262 S Gulfway Dr. (Precincts 32A and 32B) Tyrrell Elementary School -- 4401 Ferndale Dr. (Precincts 42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 49, 60, 61, 71, 76 and 93) Jasper -- All locations are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. City of Jasper Municipal Building -- 465 S Main St. (Portions of p recincts 7, 8, 20 and 21 inside the city of Jasper District 3 and the portions of precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 19 and 20 located outside the city limits of Jasper and inside the Jasper ISD) Jasper High School -- 400 Bulldog Ave. (Portions of precincts 6, 7,8 and 21 inside the city of Jasper District 4) Mount Olive Baptist Church -- 1942 N Main St. (Portions of precincts 7, 20, and 21 located inside the City of Jasper District 1) inside the City of Jasper District 1) Parnell Elementary School -- 151 Park St. (Portions of precincts 7, 8, 20 and 21 located inside the City of Jasper District 2) Nederland -- The location is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nederland City Hall -- 207 N 12th St. Kountze -- The location is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Kountze City Hall -- 1025 N. Pine Silsbee -- The location is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Silsbee City Hall -- 1220 E Texas 327 Orange County -- All locations are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Bridge City Knights of Columbus Hall (Main Hall) -- 495 W Roundbunch Rd. Orange Public Library (Ira Williamson Meeting Room) -- 220 N 5th St. Raymond Gould Community Center (Main Room) -- 385 Claiborne St. Salvation Army Building (Lobby) -- 1950 Martin Luther King Dr. St. Francis Catholic Church (Francis Clare Room in Canticle) -- 4300 Meeks Dr. See More Collapse RELATED: Early voting is over, next stop Election Day You'll also find a QR code, which you can scan with your smartphone's camera to go online and see Saturday's election results. You also can navigate to our website yourself, where a link to the election results will be clear on our homepage. There, we'll have the final totals from races across Southeast Texas, as well as photos and interviews with the prevailing candidates. If you don't want to wait until Sunday morning, we'll be posting updates online as soon as results come in. We'll share these links, which also will be on our homepage, on social media and through breaking news alerts. RELATED: Click here to sign up for breaking news alerts If you're not excited about getting online, you'll see those stories in Monday's edition of The Beaumont Enterprise. And as we move through next week, you'll also see more interviews with candidates headed for runoffs as well as those who ran in the less hotly-contested races in print and online. While shifting variables are changing where and how our coverage is presented, we remain more committed than ever to our part of one of the most vital aspects of our democracy -- free and fair elections. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate CLEVELAND, Texas (AP) Manuela Lara's Mexican food stand is not far from the house on Walter Drive, the one with the Christmas lights still up, where a man next door with an AR-style rifle walked over and killed five of his Honduran neighbors. Lara is also an immigrant and has lived for years in the Trails End neighborhood, where residents say law enforcement was slow to respond to frequent gunfire long before the rural sheriffs department drew scrutiny for taking 11 minutes to get to the scene of the April 28 shooting, and for the ensuing four-day manhunt. There arent enough patrols. The police dont come over here, Lara said. This happened because police didnt come in here. The capture of 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza Tuesday night has not eased concerns in the largely Latino neighborhood about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Houston, where many immigrant residents feel disregarded and disrespected by officials from the local level up to the governor. In the arrest's wake, even some law enforcement officials have questioned how the response was coordinated. Authorities have acknowledged it usually takes deputies from 30 minutes up to an hour to respond to calls in Trails End, but say they face challenges that are familiar to law enforcement across rural America, where firearms are common and officers are responsible for vast stretches of terrain. Three deputies were patrolling the 700 square miles (1,800 square kilometers) of San Jacinto County when the first call about the shooting came in as a harassment report at 11:31 p.m., according to the sheriff's office. Weve got poor roads. Were understaffed," Chief Deputy Sheriff Tim Kean said. "Welcome to rural law enforcement. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, sheriff's deputies got help searching for Oropeza from several local and state law enforcement agencies. But they didn't formally accept help from the FBI until the next morning, according to the bureau. And an official with the two-man agency that does much of the day-to-day police work in the neighborhood said they were left to learn about the shooting and manhunt the next morning through calls from neighbors and news reports. "Maybe we could have caught him faster. I can't say that we would have, but when it happens in your own back yard you would hope youd be the first to be notified, said Cpt. Peter Sparta of the San Jacinto County Constables Office. The sheriff's office generally doesn't coordinate with the area constable, who lives a 15-minute drive from where the shooting occurred, Sparta added. Oropeza is now in jail on five murder charges and awaiting the appointment of a lawyer. But some residents question whether the shooting will prompt action needed for local law enforcement to show up quicker next time they call. Others remain angry with Gov. Greg Abbott for calling the victims illegal immigrants, saying immigration status is irrelevant to their being the victims of gun violence. Theyre human beings and they just lost their family, said Shawn Crawford, 52, who also lives on Walter Drive. It had nothing to do with politics, the border, the immigrants. Abbott, a Republican, drew widespread backlash for the comment and his office later apologized, acknowledging at least one of the victims was in the U.S. legally. Diana Velasquez Alvarado, 21, will be buried in the United States, according to her father, who said she had recently obtained residency after leaving Honduras eight years ago. Oropeza was a Mexican national who was deported four times between 2009 and 2016, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Trails End is on the outskirts of Cleveland, a diverse town of about 8,000, and homes there sit on wide lots and under a dense canopy of pine trees. As in other rural places in Texas, the legality of firing weapons in one's backyard can be confusing depending on where one lives but seems to be largely tolerated by law enforcement as long as no one is hurt and nothing damaged. Complaints about such gunfire in the neighborhood were daily, according to the sheriff's office. Nearly 31% of Cleveland's population are Latinos, and their growing presence can be seen in businesses from taquerias to stores that sell products from Mexico and Central America. Some of the Hondurans killed in the shooting had lived in the U.S. for years, according to their families back home. Authorities say the shooting began after three of Oropeza's neighbors asked him to go farther away if he was going to fire his gun so late because a baby was trying to sleep. At a vigil for the victims a few days before Oropeza's arrest, Krystal Segundo was one of the many residents who complained about law enforcement not responding in the past to calls about gunfire from neighbors. They accused San Jacinto County Sheriffs deputies of normally not taking any action. I told my husband, after this tragedy now we have so many police. Before, I never saw one officer pass or do anything, said Segundo, who has lived in the neighborhood for five years with her husband and four kids. Wilson Garcia, whose wife, Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, and his 9-year-old son, Daniel Enrique Laso, were killed in the shooting, told reporters that people in his house called police five times after Oropeza brushed them off about firing his gun, and that each time a dispatcher told them help was coming. Deputies took 11 minutes to arrive, Sheriff Greg Capers said. Thats pretty quick, according to Kean. The chief deputy said one of the three working deputies was responding to a robbery at the time of the shooting, but didnt specify where the other two were. The exact timeline of the police response to the shooting remains unclear because the sheriffs office has yet to release call logs, 911 recordings and other records in response to public records requests. You got to remember the initial call on this was somebody firing their gun in the yard, all right. At that point, it wasnt an attack, Kean said. So the aggravated robbery trumps the guy shooting in the yard. But Sparta, the constables captain, who said he grew up nearby, suggested the shooting might have been avoided if more resources went to doing routine police work there. You need to police these communities where these peoples houses are," he said. It prevents burglaries. It prevents things that just happen like this. ___ Weber reported from Austin and Bleiberg from Dallas. Associated Press videojournalist Lekan Oyekanmi contributed to this report. With summer just around the corner, a Texas coastal community known as the state's "best-kept secret" is making local headlines again for its fishing scene and beaches. A nearby 1,350-acre ranch for sale with over a mile of lake frontage included on its property is the recent story to draw attention to this small piece of paradise. Port O'Connor is not a city. It's not even a town. It's a census-designated place only, which just means the U.S. government wanted to study data about the area so the Census Bureau marked off a piece of the region based off the "geographic extent associated with inhabitants' regular use of the place" to better define in reports what location correlated to the data government agencies wanted to study. Government researchers aren't the only travelers who wander here though. About 1,139 people call Port O'Connor home, and hundreds more visit during all 12 months of the year because local guides say the best time to go fishing in this coastal community is actually all year round. Anglers can pick from at least 21 different types of fish, with amberjack, black drum, fluke, blue marlin, redfish, sheepshead, snapper, and speckled trout prevalent from January to March. During the second quarter of the year, redfish, cobia, crevalle jack, Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, kingfish, mahi mahi, and red snapper are swimming around below. From October to December, the waters in Port O'Connor are teeming with yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, redfish, blue marlin, and fluke. Beach-goers also have many to choose from on "the unspoiled seascape" of the Texas coast. King Fisher Beach is the closest, popular with surfers, shell collectors and, again, anglers. Sunday Beach is about two miles out, only accessible by boat, and known as a "pristine, sandy beauty." Magnolia Beach is ten minutes to the west, uncrowded, and has one of the highest bird counts in the nation. Lastly, Alamo Beach is a mile behind Magnolia, with waters protected from the harsher Gulf of Mexico, so it's perfect for swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding. For people who prefer enjoying the community away from the water, the region also offers hunting, a long history of cattle raising and oil drilling to learn about, and just walking around the Victorian summer homes to catch sunset views of the Gulf of Mexico. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate For a community to be successful in today's day and age, its institutions have to work together, according to Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Ahlenius. That idea is the basis of the chamber's most recent agreement with Lamar Institute of Technology. The two entities on May 1 signed an economic development memorandum of understanding, representing "a deepening of already established economic development ties between the two institutions," according to a news release from the chamber. "The days of doing things as a 'lone wolf' are gone," Ahlenius told The Enterprise. "We need each other to be successful. Relationships are the foundation of that success. The chamber Board of Directors recognizes that by working together, everybody wins." RELATED: Beaumont chamber names new economic development director The new agreement outlines a commitment by the chamber and LIT to work together, particularly in strengthening economic development efforts and broadening workforce training programs. Additionally, it promotes collaboration and a "mutually supportive relationship," while fostering "a culture of innovation to find solutions to our community's challenges," according to the release. "This (agreement) will allow us to leverage our collective resources and expertise to drive economic development and create new opportunities for the people of Beaumont," Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce Chair Rebekah Maxwell said in the release. LIT and the chamber each bring different strengthens to the table in order to spur community success, Ahlenius said. "LIT is the workforce training powerhouse," he said. "The chamber is recruiting and bringing new businesses to town and helping existing businesses expand. Together we make it a successful partnership." RELATED: Beaumont chamber unveils new platform to gauge economic 'pulse' Partnerships such as this help the community collaborate more in order to further its success, Ahlenius said. "We found too many times, organizations stay in their silos and we want to make sure we have an open line of communication and we are intentional about the relationship," he said. Workforce development is the key factor for Beaumont's success, LIT President Sidney Valentine said. "The need for a qualified workforce is always on the top of the list of considerations for any business or industry considering moving in an area," he said. "This collaboration allows the chamber to continuously keep LIT appraised of any companies that are considering coming to Beaumont. This is beneficial to the chamber in recruiting clients, to the college in recruiting students and to the community, as it ensures that opportunities will be available to LIT's graduates. It is the college's hope that this will encourage them to stay in the area for these new and exciting opportunities." olivia.malick@hearst.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Southeast Texas' worker shortage could soon be alleviated in part by college students working toward their degree, being paid to get hands-on work experience. The thread of that very small needle was pulled this week by Lamar State College Orange and its stakeholders, as they announced the program that would allow students to do just that. Dozens of college administrators, elected officials and community members on Wednesday gathered at the Brown Estate in Orange to announce the creation of a local chapter of the national Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education Program, or FAME. The Golden Triangle Chapter is only the fourth FAME Chapter in Texas, said International Paper Global Manufacturing Training Coordinator and Chapter President Stacey Nichols. FAME was started in 2010 by Toyota, when they found themselves struggling to find the workers they needed, said Manufacturing Institute Director for Workforce Initiatives Pooja Tripathi. The Washington, D.C.-based institute is a nonprofit education and workforce development arm of the National Association of Manufacturers. RELATED: 'Great day to be in Orange:' Lamar Orange breaks ground on state-of-the-art academic building The national program now has more than 35 chapters across 14 states and has graduated more than 1,500 students since 2012. "This organization will help us achieve a talent-strong Texas right here (in the Golden Triangle)," said LSCO President Tom Johnson. "Billions are forecasted to be invested in Southeast Texas in the coming years in industry projects and the creation of this FAME Chapter with our partners in industry is another example of how we are attempting to meet the immense needs for skilled, ready-to-work employees." The idea to establish a FAME Chapter in the Golden Triangle formed about a year ago when Nichols learned that International Paper participated in it at another one of their facilities, she said. "I knew we needed (this) in Southeast Texas, and we needed it fast based on all the industry coming to our area ," she said. "Honestly, the FAME Program, once you know a little bit about it, it's really an easy sell." Nichols said the FAME Program will help the region face a prevalent issue -- having a qualified local workforce that can take advantage of the jobs produced by multiple Orange County projects. RELATED: Vidor partners with Lamar University, Lamar Orange to ease teacher shortage "The FAME Program is going to be combined with Lamar State College Orange's electromechanical technology program," she said. "It's five semesters -- students are going to be prepared for all the skills they're going to need for these jobs. They're going to be the next generation of folks here that are going to take over and be leaders in our community." Beginning in the Fall 2023 semester, LSCO students enrolled in the program will attend class two days a week to learn technical skills and spend the other three days of the week learning hands-on tactical skills at one of the various industry partners in the FAME Program, who will also pay them for their work, Nichols said. Industry partners include International Paper, Cloeren Incorporated, ISS/Buna Electric Motor Service, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, Dow Sabine River Operations, United Rentals, the Orange County Economic Development Corporation and Workforce Solutions Southeast Texas. "That's what makes this whole group stand apart," Nichols said. "It's a group of industries coming together as one whole unit to figure out how we're going to have a program that prepares students for what we need." International Paper, Cloeren Incorporated, ISS/Buna Electric Motor Service and United Rentals will sponsor students through the program, beginning in Fall 2023. RELATED: Officials reiterate economic impact of new Orange plant during groundbreaking ceremony Nichols said the chapter set a minimum pay of $15 per hour for its industry partners to pay students, though they may pay more if they wish to. The $15 is comprised of $7.25 minimum wage, with the rest covering the program cost, meaning students could potentially leave the program with no student loan debt. "Some partners, in addition to that $15 minimum hourly wage, they're going to pay for tuition as well," she said. "It's not a requirement for industry partners to do that, but some can and have the option to go above and beyond to do that." Students who graduate from the program will earn an associate's degree in electromechanical technology and certification and will be able to pursue employment as robotics engineers, machinist technicians and automation mechanics, among other fields. For more information about the local FAME Chapter and to become an industry partner, visit goldentriangleFAME.com. For advising questions, students can contact advising@lsco.edu. olivia.malick@hearst.com Getty Images / Getty Images/Getty Images A Port Arthur man will spend the foreseeable future in federal prison after getting caught with methamphetamine and a firearm during a traffic stop more than a year ago. Anthony James McGuire, 39, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone to five years in federal prison, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Eastern District of Texas office. McGuire pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking offense on April 18, 2022. UPDATE: May 8, 2:50 p.m. CT Water used in firefighting efforts at Shell's Deer Park chemical facility is no longer being re-routed into the Houston Ship Channel, company officials tweeted Monday. "The re-ignited fire at our facility was extinguished last night," the company said in a statement. "With the fire extinguished, runoff water discharge is no longer being directed to the Houston Ship Channel. Water continues to be added to nearby retention ponds as we continue to cool equipment." Shell further stated that air monitoring in the area had returned no dangerous readings for the local community, though residents in the area may witness "intermittent flaring" at the site. --- End of Update --- UPDATE: May 7, 12:15 p.m. CT Harris County emergency responders remained on site at the Shell facility in Deer Park Saturday evening as officials worked to contain the reignited chemical fire. On Sunday morning, Shell officials released a statement, saying that work crews have exceeded the local wastewater storage capacity due to the large amount of water needed to control the fire. As a result, the company is directing runoff water to the Houston Ship Channel "as part of a controlled discharge," and workers have taken precautions to "prevent any product from entering the channel." "Water continues to be added to nearby retention ponds with an expectation that when the fire is extinguished, large volumes will still be needed to cool equipment for up to 36 hours," Shell officials tweeted. Efforts to monitor air quality in the area will continue, and no harmful levels of chemicals have been detected in nearby neighborhoods, the company said. But residents may notice black smoke, flaring and more noises coming from the facility. --End of update-- UPDATE: May 6, 5:30 p.m. CT Emergency crews and Deer Park officials are responding to a second fire that broke out at the Shell chemical plant Saturday afternoon. Leftover chemical products from Friday's fire reignited another blaze, the company said on Twitter. In the tweet posted at 4:33 p.m., Shell said no injuries were reported, and all employees and contractors have been accounted for. "Air monitoring is ongoing and has not detected harmful levels of chemicals. There is no danger to the nearby community, however residents and neighbors will notice black smoke, flaring and a potential for increased noise from the facility," the company added in a follow-up tweet. --End of update-- UPDATE: May 6, 12:30 p.m. CT Shell tweeted Friday evening that all facility employees were accounted for and a total of nine contractors have been released after undergoing precautionary medical evaluations from yesterday's fire at the company's chemical plant in Deer Park. No harmful levels of chemicals have been detected, the company tweeted the following Saturday morning. Although continued "response activities" may produce flaring and loud noises, Shell assured nearby residents that "there is no danger" and said its team is monitoring hot spots that could potentially reignite. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has also surveyed local neighborhoods, officials tweeted. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzales also took to Twitter to correct an initial report of the incident. He said there was no explosion as was previously stated, but flames erupted from a "heat exchange between two heavy gas oils." Shell added that the fire started when workers were performing routine maintenance in the facility's olefins unit. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, olefins are a class of chemical compounds produced at oil refineries and petrochemical plants. Authorities will be investigating the exact cause of the blaze. Harris County Fire Marshal Captain James Singleton told Juan Lozano and Acacia Coronado with the Associated Press that his office would be in Deer Park through the weekend. Youre looking at a large number of people that need to be interviewed, Singleton told them. Everyone who was at the unit at the time of the fire, the controllers, management, anybody that called 911. --End of update-- Earlier According to the Community Awareness Emergency Response messaging board, the fiery explosion in Deer Park on Friday occurred at a Shell chemical plant. The messaging board was created to alert local residents whenever emergency instances occur in the area. "This is the Environmental Duty Representative at Shell Deer Park. We are currently experiencing fire within one of our units. The incident is being handled within the boundaries of this facility, and there is no threat to the community from this incident. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause," a Shell representative said at 4:07 pm CT. Additionally, officials confirmed in the CAER board that PEMEX is assisting Shell in extinguishing the explosion. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said emergency units are also responding to the fire in Deer Park. The fire occurred on Beltway 8 and State Highway 225. The fire started around 2:52 pm CT. Houston news station KHOU 11 reported that employees were instructed to evacuate the facility, and two workers were injured in the blaze. According to the Deer Park city officials, a shelter-in-place has not been used for Deer Park residents. "Receiving preliminary reports of some type of explosion at an industrial plant at 5900 SH-225. Responding units can see the fire from the freeway. @hcfmo& @HCSOTexas industrial team have begun coordinating," Gonzalez tweeted Friday. The cloud of black smoke caught the attention of residents driving along the freeway. Many took photos of the ominous scene and guessed the smoke's nature. "A refinery explosion. Deer Park, TX. On my way to get my kids out of school," Twitter user @The0nlySema said. "Deer Park is exploding," Twitter user @blueghostpirate also said. The explosion at Deer Park comes one month after a chemical fire at the INEOS Phenol Pasadena facility injured a worker in March of this year. The cause of the fire determined by investigators was liquified petroleum gas being transferred from one tank to another. The injured employee recovered at Memorial Hermann Hospital. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday that authorities faced extremely challenging circumstances along the border with Mexico days before pandemic-related asylum restrictions end. A surge of Venezuelan migrants through South Texas, particularly in and around Brownsville, has occurred over the last two weeks for reasons that Mayorkas said were unclear. On Thursday, 4,000 of about 6,000 migrants in Border Patrol custody in Texas Rio Grande Valley were Venezuelan. Mayorkas noted that Mexico agreed this week to continue taking back Venezuelans who enter the U.S. illegally after asylum restrictions end Thursday, along with Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans. Migrants have been expelled from the U.S. more than 2.8 million times since March 2020 under what is known as Title 42 authority. The secretary reaffirmed plans to finalize a new policy by Thursday that will make it extremely difficult for migrants to seek asylum if they pass through another country, like Mexico, on their way to the U.S. border. The situation at the border is a very serious one, a very challenging one and a very difficult one, Mayorkas said. Illegal crossings tumbled after President Joe Biden announced asylum restrictions in January, but they have risen since mid-April. Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said this week they have been hovering around 7,200 daily, up from about 5,200 in March. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said 1,500 active-duty troops will be dispatched to El Paso, Texas, adding to 2,500 National Guard troops already positioned across the border. Ortiz said El Paso was chosen because it has been a busy corridor for illegal crossings over the last six months. The troop deployment was announced this week but not the location. Mayorkas, on his second day of a visit to the Rio Grande Valley, said smugglers were deceiving migrants and luring them on a dangerous journey. The border is not open, it has not been open, and it will not be open subsequent to May 11, he said. Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard echoed Mayorkas' sentiment about smugglers spreading misinformation. Were seeing a very significant flow (of migrants) in recent days on the basis of a hoax, Ebrard said at a news conference. He said smugglers are saying, Hurry up to get to the United States by crossing Mexico because on May 11 theyre going to end Title 42. Its a trick and theyre at risk, Ebrard said. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged those who want to migrate to follow legal pathways, such as applying in U.S. processing centers scheduled to open in Guatemala and Colombia. He said Mexico was not making special preparations for the end of Title 42 because he didn't expect a surge. A lot of people wont let themselves be tricked, the president said. Mayorkas touted new legal pathways, which include parole for up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans a month who apply online with a financial sponsor. But he said the Biden administration could only do so much without Congress. We have a plan, we are executing on that plan, Mayorkas said. Fundamentally, however, we are working within a broken immigration system that for decades has been in dire need of reform. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday that it is raising the number of people admitted to the country at land crossings with Mexico to 1,000 a day from 740 using a mobile app called CBPOne that was extended in January to asylum-seekers. Demand has far outweighed available slots. The administration faced a setback, at least a temporary one, when Colombia said Thursday that it suspended deportation flights from the U.S. due to cruel and degrading treatment of migrants. Colombia's immigration agency said it canceled returns of 1,200 Colombians after complaints about conditions in U.S. detention centers and on the flights. ___ Associated Press writer Christopher Sherman in Mexico City contributed. The 24-year-old US Marine veteran and college student who is accused of killing a homeless man on the New York City subway has been named by his attorneys. His lawyers insist that their client "acted to protect themselves" and "never intended harm." Who Is Daniel Penny? After an incident on the northbound F train on Monday, May 1, witnesses and police have identified Daniel James Penny, 24, as the guy who held 30-year-old Jordan Neely in a deadly chokehold, Fox News reported. According to a statement published by his lawyers at Raiser&Kenniff, Penny is presently enrolled as a college student and joined the Marines in 2017. Public records that the Independent has seen show that Penny lived at Marine Corps Base Camp LeJeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He was a sergeant and infantryman in the army. Reportedly, he departed the Marines in 2021. In a service sector employment site on his LinkedIn, Penny said that his military experience made him "passionate" about "helping, communicating, and connecting to different people from all over the world." Witnesses and police say that Neely was having a mental breakdown on the train platform. Neely was reportedly ranting and pacing back and forth when Penny stepped in, pushed him to the ground, and placed him in a chokehold. "Mr. Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness. When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived," the lawyers said, according to Fox News. "Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death." See Also: NYC Subway Chokehold Death: Some Say It's Crime, Others Disagree Inquiries Are Ongoing Prosecutors in Manhattan are looking into Neely's death after the city's medical examiner ruled that the homeless Michael Jackson impersonator died from compression to the neck. Freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who filmed the now-viral occurrence, told the New York Post that Neely began aggressively yelling that he was hungry and thirsty. The Marine veteran then put Neely in a chokehold for allegedly about 15 minutes. Police have not made any arrests in connection with his death, which has been considered a homicide by the city's medical examiner. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said they are conducting an investigation to review the medical examiner's report, assess video and photo footage, identify witnesses, and obtain additional medical records. An Outcry for Justice The tragedy has spurred citywide rallies seeking justice for Neely's death, with state and municipal officials advocating for a fresh mental health crisis response. To 28-year-old Wallace Mazon, the killing brought to mind the death of George Floyd, who was held down for over nine minutes by a police officer in Minneapolis. According to The New York Times, when Mazon witnessed Neely's last moments on video, he was devastated. "I kind of felt hopeless," Mazon said during a rally outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. "I just wanted to be in community with other people and not feel so helpless." See Also: New York Court Releases Donald Trump Deposition Video in Civil Rape Case @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Mayo Clinic is considering pulling billions in investments from Minnesota over two bills related to nurse staffing levels and healthcare costs, the Minnesota Reformer reported. Mayo is reconsidering plans for new facilities and infrastructure that are "four times the size of the investment in U.S. Bank Stadium" a $1.1 billion project in downtown Minneapolis the Rochester, Minn.-based health system told Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state lawmakers May 3 in an email obtained by the newspaper. Mayo's decision is "time sensitive" and will be made soon, Kate Johansen, vice chair of external engagement, wrote in the email, according to the Reformer. According to the newspaper, Ms. Johansen said: "Because these bills continue to proceed without meaningful and necessary changes to avert their harms to Minnesotans, we cannot proceed with seeking approval to make this investment in Minnesota. We will need to direct this enormous investment to other states." At issue is the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act, which would require hospitals to form hospital nurse staffing committees to set staffing levels. The state would evaluate each hospital's compliance with its own staffing plan. The bill, backed by the Minnesota Nurses Association, also includes workplace violence prevention and loan forgiveness programs. Another bill at issue establishes the Health Care Affordability Board to address high healthcare costs. The board would monitor costs and set targets to limit costs, according to an article posted on the Minnesota House of Representatives website. Both bills are in the final stages of negotiations among state lawmakers, according to the Reformer. Mayo Clinic did not respond to a request from the newspaper for comment on what specific project is being referenced in the May 3 email, but the email indicated it would be privately funded, according to the Reformer. Amy Williams, MD, chair of the Midwest Clinical Practice Committee for Mayo Clinic, shared the following statement with Becker's: "At the heart of this is legislation we believe will negatively impact access to care and our ability to transform healthcare to support our staff and meet the evolving needs of our patients. Like any responsible organization, we must evaluate the legislative and regulatory environment in the places we operate. Mayo has been working to address these concerns for months and is committed to transparently sharing the impacts of these policy decisions. We will continue working with leaders on a bill that is in the best interests of patients, the state and Mayo Clinic." State Rep. Sandra Feist said the email from Mayo was surprising because she had been working with the health system to address their concerns without gutting the proposal, according to the Reformer. Mr. Walz, the governor, told the Reformer he believes a compromise is possible. To read the full article, click here. The Becker's Hospital Review website uses cookies to display relevant ads and to enhance your browsing experience. By continuing to use our site, you acknowledge that you have read, that you understand, and that you accept our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy This morning, a specially commissioned bugle fanfare will ring out from the grounds of Hillsborough Castle as part of the nationwide celebrations to mark the coronation of King Charles III. The composer and bugler is a man from Ballynahinch who has a long and proud association with the Hillsborough Fort Guard. A former member of the Royal Irish Regiment, Andrew Carlisle has been in post since 2006 and has previously played a prominent role in the Diamond and Platinum Jubilees, the Proclamation of Charles III and the Kings first official visit to Royal Hillsborough. For the Platinum Jubilee, he also had the honour of composing bugle music that signalled the lighting of the beacons across the Commonwealth, and last year, individual pieces for the proclamation of the Queens death and the announcement of the new King at Hillsborough Castle. Andrew is engaged to play a royal salute to announce the arrival of royal visits to Hillsborough. One of only two private ceremonial units left in Europe, he and his fellow fort warders also guide walking tours around the historic village and periodically conduct the centuries-old Ceremony of the Keys, which is the ceremonial posting of sentries and locking of the gates to secure the Royal Fort of Hillsborough for the night. Its an incredible honour to be the ceremonial Bugler of the Hillsborough Fort Guard, he says. Its the smallest and oldest private regiment still in existence and was created in 1660 by Charles II. The guard consists of 20 people, as detailed in the Royal Warrant. Being part of it gives me a huge sense of history and its great to know that Im helping to keep this 350-year-old tradition alive. Music has played a major part in Andrews life since he was a young boy. One of my fondest memories is when I was four years old listening to my dad play the accordion and my granda teaching me how to drum on the tiled hearth of his fireplace. These early drumming lessons led to band membership, which in time resulted in performances at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Milwaukee Irish Festival in America, the Bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand, the Ballynahinch War Memorial and sounding his composition at the State Entrance of Hillsborough Castle to herald the Proclamation of the new King. He remains grounded and says that his motivation has always been to just enjoy the moment. I have been fortunate enough to have taken part in many memorable ceremonies, events and services over the years. Some were very humbling, low key and poignant. Others were high profile and conducted under the glare of the worlds media. Each holds its own special memory. Andrew admits that its a challenging instrument to play. There are no valves, so hitting the right notes depends on the perfect positioning of lips and careful control of the amount of air going through the mouthpiece. He adds: The role of a bugler is a solitary one with nowhere to hide if it goes wrong, which it sometimes does. Being too warm, too cold, and having a dry mouth or dry lips are some factors which can influence the sound that emanates from the bugle. He feels blessed to have a very supportive and tolerant panel of critics at home Stephanie, his wife of 23 years and daughters Hannah (20) and Ruby (17), saying: You can always rely on an honest appraisal even if its a reference to a couple of split notes. In between musical performances and ceremonial duties, he enjoys showing people around Royal Hillsborough. The village is steeped in history and as a warder of the Hillsborough Fort Guard, he relishes the opportunity to pass on his considerable local and military knowledge about a place that he thinks of as unique. The rejuvenation of the Hillsborough Fort Guard in 2021 saw the warranting of a further six warders allowing for increased awareness of the historical significance of this tradition in the village. Members of the Guard are volunteers, willing to give their time and talents to preserve tradition for tourists and locals. The Hillsborough Fort Guard is also part of the Royal Hillsborough and Historic Moira initiative. The programme integrates local businesses with tourism providers creating combined visitor experiences and itineraries to drive tourism and provide experiences to showcase what these areas have to offer. Andrew has had a lifelong interest in bands and military history. Outside of work, his taste in music varies and includes classical, rock, traditional and modern everything from Strauss to Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Irish Rovers and Jerry Lee Lewis. While he has played in a variety of silver, folk, accordion and ceilidh bands, the bugle will always have a special place in his heart. I was proud to be given the opportunity to perform with what I believe to be the finest military ensemble ever, Andrew says. I began playing the bugle in adulthood and through my service have played with some of the most talented musicians in the country. Up until 2007, the band, bugles, pipes and drums of the Royal Irish Regiment was comprised of a group of regular, home service full-time and part-time members who worked to produce a unique spectacle of colour and sound in performance. Since 2007, the musical traditions of the Royal Irish Regiment have been entrusted to the Army Reserves. Andrew considers his role on coronation day as the pinnacle of his musical and military career, adding: Its an absolute honour to be asked to participate in events marking the coronation of the King. The Hillsborough Fort Guard will be on parade at Hillsborough Castle in support of 38 (Irish) Brigade and 206 (Ulster) Battery Royal Artillery who will be firing a salute to mark this significant occasion. Later in the day, to announce the firing of the feu de joie, a salute fired by soldiers in succession along the ranks to make a continuous sound, he will be sounding his composition Royal Hillsborough Flourish, which will be followed by a performance from the band of the Royal Irish Regiment. It will be a moment to savour for the boy on the hearth who became the bugler from Ballynahinch and part of one of the most significant events in living memory. To find out more about the Royal Hillsborough and Historic Moira programme, go to: visitlisburncastlereagh.com/royal-hillsborough-and-historic-moira When Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8 last year, a countdown started ticking for many of the companies which hold royal warrants to supply goods and services to the monarch. For the 700 or so businesses which have permission to include the words By appointment to HM The Queen and the royal coat of arms on their products and stationery, the monarchs seal of approval officially ended with the death of the Queen. Thats because royal warrants are associated with households rather than titles and theyre an expression of preference rather than excellence. Since the Queen can no longer express a preference and her household is being replaced by that of the new monarch, Charles III, a red line has effectively been drawn through the list of her former suppliers. These range from car maker Bentley to the chemical company that produces Jeyes Fluid, whose royal warrants are part of a tradition that stretches back to medieval times, when tradespeople jockeyed for the patronage of the Crown. Since the 15th century, the task of issuing the warrants has been entrusted to the head of the royal household, the Lord Chamberlain, who hands them out on the instructions of the monarch. Many warrants will undoubtedly be retained a glug of Jeyes Fluid will still be needed when the palace drains are blocked so most suppliers arent rushing to remove their royal crest. Warrants must be renewed at least every five years, and can be withdrawn at any time, so companies have two years grace to make the necessary changes to their packaging and notepaper. With the ascendancy of Charles to the throne, its likely some of them will have to get cracking on redesigns fairly soon. Quite a few wont be worrying, however, since the new King granted 159 royal warrants of his own when he was Prince of Wales. Many of them were issued to drinks producers, and the striking differences between Charless endorsements and those of the late Queen make for interesting reading. Take, for example, the classic drink of the royals, the gin and tonic. The Queens gin maker of choice was Tanqueray Gordon & Co, while Charles gave his warrant to the makers of Juniper Green, which claims to be the worlds first organic gin and is one of the few London Dry gins actually made in London. When it comes to mixing their gins, the Queen favoured a cocktail of two-parts Dubonnet to one-part gin, and granted a royal warrant to the French aperitif just a year before her death. Charles, on the other hand, is said to enjoy a 50/50 gin and vermouth Martini. A distant relative of his, Count Tibor Kalnoky of Hungary, once let slip to a Channel 4 documentary team: He likes a martini before dinner, that's for sure. And a biographer revealed Charles sometimes has a pre-mixed Martini carried by a protection officer and served in his own glass. So it seems a fairly safe bet that Bacardi-Martini Ltd, formerly suppliers of vermouth to the Queen, will have their warrant renewed by King Charles. Whisky is another area where tastes differ, it seems. The late Queen granted warrants to Scottish blenders John Dewar & Sons, Johnnie Walker and Famous Grouse, as well as the single malt distillery of Royal Lochnagar, located just a mile from Balmoral Castle, while Charles gave his endorsement to Laphroaig, an Islay single malt once described by him as the finest whisky in the world. Warrants are again divided in the choice of beer makers. The Queen gave her stamp of approval to the Windsor & Eton Brewery the nearest thing to a local for Windsor Castle whereas Charles opted for Britains oldest brewer, Shepherd Neame, a family business in Kent since 1698. Differences are evident too among soft drinks suppliers, with the Queen endorsing Schweppes, Britvic and Sandringham Apple Juice, and Charles choosing Welsh Farmhouse Apple Juice, produced on a family farm in Powys, and the organic mixers of Devon-based Luscombe Drinks. Champagne makers have earned more royal warrants than most over the years. Bollinger has held one since 1884 and the Queen endorsed nine different houses, among them Mumm, Krug, Laurent-Perrier, Moet and Veuve Clicquot. However, as Charles settles into the throne, its possible an English sparkling wine producer might join these famous French names. And there may also be a new batch of warrants from royals who have never issued one before. During the Queens reign, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles also had the authority to grant warrants, so its possible that, post-coronation, that privilege will pass on to Camilla and Prince William. Camilla is president of the UK Vineyards Association and enjoys a glass of red wine, while Prince William likes a beer, so both will have their own ideas about who should be by royal appointment. With a new King, a new Consort and a new Prince of Wales making the choices, it seems more than likely that there are a few changes looming among the drinks producers trumpeting their royal approval. Bottle of the week, by Patricia Maginn Ropiteau Freres Les Plants Nobles Pinot Noir A deep red French wine with ruby highlights, made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes grown at an altitude of 200 to 400 metres where the vines are influenced by both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean. Warm aromas of red fruits mingle with peach, toast and vanilla notes, while the predominant flavours on the palate are cherry and blackcurrant with a hint of liquorice. An ideal partner for pizza, barbecues or cheeses. RRP 8.99-9.99, available from The Vineyard, Belfast; The Sipster, Whiteabbey; The Crafty Vintner, Belfast; Donard Wines, Newcastle; Newells Stores, Dungannon; Eight South, Carryduff; Duke Off Sales, Warrenpoint. Blackjack: Famous pairing team up Fans of JD and Coke will no doubt cheer the news that the two giants of drinks retailing have combined their famous brews into a single can, which is now on sale in Northern Ireland. Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey and Coca-Cola is reputed to be the worlds most popular drink order in bars, so pairing the two in a 5% alcohol ready-to-drink can seems a sure-fire seller. Jack Daniels was previously available pre-mixed with a generic cola, but now, with Cokes involvement, a worldwide roll-out of 330ml cans pairing the two is in full swing after a launch in Mexico last November. Theyre available in off-licences here for around 2 each, depending on the retailer. Two men have been arrested in connection with the assault Two men have been arrested after a man was beaten in the head with a hammer during an assault in east Belfast on Saturday. Detective Sergeant Young said: "Shortly after 7am, it was reported that a man had been assaulted inside a property in the Woodstock Road area. "It was reported that two men gained entry to the property and assaulted the man as he lay in bed, beating him about the head and body with a hammer. The victim, who is aged in his thirties, sustained a number of injuries which are not believed to be life-threatening at this time. "Two men, aged in their thirties and forties, have since been arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary with intent to commit grievous bodily harm. They remain in custody at this time, assisting with enquiries. "Our investigation is ongoing and I would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time and saw anything, or who may have CCTV, dashcam or other video footage, to contact us. Suspected drugs seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim Ammunition seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim Suspected firearm seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim Two men have been charged following a police operation during which a suspected gun, ammunition and over 50,000 worth of suspected drugs were seized in Co Antrim. Their arrests came after searches were carried out in Belfast and Carrickfergus on Friday. District Commander for Mid & East Antrim, Superintendent Gillian Kearney said: Local officers stopped a vehicle in the North Road area of Carrickfergus on Friday, 5th May when they saw what they believed to be suspicious activity. A small quantity of suspected Class B controlled drugs were located on a 33-year-old man and searches were subsequently carried out at a nearby property. A number of items were seized, including a suspected assault weapon, magazine and ammunition, a large quantity of suspected Class A controlled drugs, a further amount of suspected Class B controlled drugs and drug-related paraphernalia, she added. Additional searches were conducted at a second property in Carrickfergus and a property in central Belfast. During these searches, a number of items were seized including a quantity of suspected Class B and Class C controlled drugs and drug-related paraphernalia. Ammunition seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim The 33-year old has been charged with possessing a firearm, other than a handgun, without a certificate, possessing a prohibited weapon, possessing ammunition without a certificate, possessing a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possessing criminal property, possession of Class A and Class B controlled drugs with intent to supply and possession of Class B and Class C controlled drugs. The 44-year-old has been charged with possessing ammunition without a certificate, possessing a firearm, other than a handgun, without a certificate, possessing a prohibited weapon, possession of a firearm or ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possession of a Class A controlled drug with intent to supply and possession of a Class A controlled drug. Detective Inspector McCamley of Organised Crime Branch said: Yesterdays operation is part of an investigation into the activity of a criminal gang and the activities of those who we suspect have been engaged in organised crime throughout Northern Ireland. Suspected drugs seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim The suspected firearm is a highly significant find. We are investigating how the weapon was obtained, and how the suspects intended to use it. This could have been used to threaten, intimidate and ultimately kill, and the removal of this weapon along with a large amount of drugs intended for our streets, has made our community safer, he continued. The people who are involved in this type of dangerous and life-threatening criminality put entire communities at risk. The Police Service of Northern Ireland will continue to work with communities across Northern Ireland to relentlessly tackle the scourge of criminals who use the threat of violence in an attempt to coercively take control of peoples lives. Together we can tackle this. Both men are expected to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday May 8. As is usual procedure, all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service. In light of the increasing competition between China and the US in the artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors industries, Chinese President Xi Jinping has reiterated his call for the country to strengthen its AI capabilities. AI Usage for Industrial Modernization On Friday, May 5, during a key economic conference, Xi emphasized that China should use its strengths in AI to assist in the modernization of the country's industrial sector, as reported by the official news outlet Xinhua. In order to construct a holistic, advanced, and harm-free 21st-century industrial system, Xi said China should make the most of recent scientific and technical advancements like AI. The suggestion came up during a discussion of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs. According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), this was Xi's second time highlighting the importance of AI research in recent weeks. His remarks come as the US continues to take steps to inhibit China's advancement in AI by limiting the shipment to China of advanced semiconductors like central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs), which are essential for training complex AI models. The US government is likewise interested in AI. President Joe Biden recently met with the heads of some of the biggest names in AI, including Microsoft and Alphabet's Google. He emphasized the need to take precautions to ensure the security of their technologies before they are released to the public. At an April 28 Politburo meeting, Xi's decision-making communist party apparatus, Chinese leaders agreed that China must develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), create an innovation ecosystem, and mitigate risk. It was the first time AGI had been mentioned in a Politburo statement from Beijing, reflecting the country's ambiguous stance on ChatGPT and similar services up to this point. See Also: ChatGPT AI-Generated Stock Portfolio Made More Money Than Top 10 UK Funds Risks Associated With AI Development Although progress in AI is welcomed, others worry about the potential drawbacks if it is pushed too far too fast. After leaving Google this week, computer scientist and "godfather of AI" Geoffrey Hinton issued a warning that the race to release new AI technologies was putting jobs at risk and could facilitate the spread of misinformation. Experts in the field of cybersecurity also chimed in, expressing concern that fraudsters will weaponize generative AI systems like ChatGPT. The Microsoft-backed OpenAI project ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, has been called the "iPhone moment" of the AI industry. Concerns that the human workforce could soon lose its competitive advantage to AI have been fueled by the technology's language understanding and task-performing capabilities. Services similar to ChatGPT have recently become trendy among China's startup community and the country's "Big Tech" corporations. The likes of search engine major Baidu, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, video game developer NetEase, and AI firm SenseTime have all introduced services similar to ChatGPT. See Also: PETA Uses ChatGPT to Rewrite Bible's Genesis With Vegan Teachings @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A sum of cash was stolen from a business in east Belfast on Friday evening. A man armed with a knife entered the Belmont road premises, threatened staff and took money from the till before making off. No staff were injured but were left shaken. Detective Sergeant Young said: Just after 9.55pm, police received a report that a man armed with a knife had stolen a sum of cash from a business in the Belmont Road area. Officers attended the scene and spoke with a staff member who reported that she had been threatened by the man with a knife, causing her and another staff member to seek safety at the back of the store. The man, who was dressed in black with a snood covering his face, removed money from the till before making off. Thankfully, although shaken by the ordeal, the staff members were not otherwise injured. Police have asked anyone with information to contact them via 101. Inside Westminster Abbey ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty Images Some of the guests from Northern Ireland making the journey to celebrate the new monarchs coronation include Michelle ONeill Perhaps the most notable guest from here attending, the Sinn Fein vice president announced last week she will be there alongside Stormont Speaker Alex Maskey. I am an Irish republican. I also recognise there are many people on our island for whom the coronation is hugely important occasion, she said. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson The DUP leader has already been spotted in London meeting with the King. A royalist, the MP has been frequently sharing updates on social media ahead of the ceremony with Royal Hillsborough, in his Lagan Valley constituency, getting into the coronation spirit. Mr Donaldson will be joined by Lord Nigel Dodds, while his predecessor Baroness Arlene Foster is not expected to attend. Jim Allister The leader of the TUV confirmed he would attend the event by sharing a photograph of his invite on social media, writing that he was pleased on behalf of those TUV represent to be invited to the occasion. Colum Eastwood The SDLP leader will be there too, despite criticising the cost of the event, which is expected to be around 250m. Mr Eastwood said he would be present to show respect to people from different traditions who share our island. Doug Beattie The UUP leader will also be there, but said he would happily forego his place to be represented by a sitting First and Deputy First Minister. Naomi Long Alliances leader will be in attendance, and sent her congratulations to the royals ahead of the event. She said: My best wishes and congratulations go to Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla for their coronation day. It is an historic occasion, with the first crowning of a new monarch in 70 years. But it wont just be political guests from this side of the Irish Sea who will be in Westminster Abbey. The new King and Queen will be entertained with music from here, both during and after the ceremony. Omagh man Philip Turbett(61) will play the bassoon alongside the world-famous Monteverdi Choir and chamber orchestra English Baroque Soloists ahead of the royal couples arrival at the Abbey tomorrow. Pupils from Methodist College Belfast will also be involved in some of the choir performances during the coronation. Archbishop Eamon Martin will be present. The Primate will be the first Irish Catholic bishop at a coronation since the Reformation. Church of Ireland Primate of All Ireland John McDowellwill present the Sovereigns Orb at the service. The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Right Reverend Dr John Kirkpatrick, is to attend the ceremony. He described the invitation as a privilege and honour. Olympic golden girl Lady Mary Peterswill be spotted among the coronation participants as Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter. She frequently enjoyed private conversations with the late Queen. Syrian refugee Hassan Alkhawam, who lives in Belfast, will also be there due to his involvement with the Princes Trust charity. Having previously met the King, Hassan told the BBC he was on the edge of his seat ahead of the event in London. He will join nursing student Claire Thompson, who raises awareness of the sign language tool Makaton. Guests from the Republic will includePresident Michael D Higginsand Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. A republican protest against the coronation was held on the streets of west Belfast this morning. Padraic Mac Coitir (left) holding a sign in Irish saying, Ni He Ar Fine E, (Not Our King!), during a white line protest at International Wall on the Falls Road, Belfast, on the day of the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla. Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill departs following the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Pic: Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Images Getty Images Michelle ONeills attendance at the coronation of King Charles is about demonstrating her commitment to be a Minister for everyone, former Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has said. The new monarch was crowned at a ceremony in Westminster Abbey this morning, with wife Camilla being crowned Queen. Ms ONeill attended the ceremony along with Alex Maskey, who was invited as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. She said she was attending the event as First Minister Designate". "Today I will attend the coronation of King Charles III as First Minister Designate, she tweeted. My determination is to keep moving forward, and to represent the whole community. The political landscape across our island is changing. My focus is on building a shared future for all. God save the King: Charles is crownd King during coronation service Former Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has used his Andersonstown News column to voice his support for Ms ONeills decision, but recognised there was republican opposition to her stance. "Republicans are against unelected hierarchies of all kinds, including monarchies. That would be the case even if, God forbid, there was a native Irish one, he said. "The Good Friday Agreement referendum on the future will decide that. Governing ourselves means everyone who lives here having respect and tolerance for each other. "Thats what the First Minister and the Assembly Ceann Comhairles acceptance of the coronation invite is about. No matter about their own personal and political or ideological view they are about representing everyone as best they can. "Those who expect a reciprocal gesture from the extremes of unionism are naive. That is not the rationale for this initiative. A First Minister for all is exactly that. "Michelle O'Neill continues to hold, and to act on, her own republican views, but as First Minister designate she is demonstrating her commitment to be a Minister for everyone. TUV and Alliance Party leaders Jim Allister and Naomi Long were also in attendance at the ceremony, with Mr Allister saying he was disappointed Mrs Long did not participate in a public affirmation of allegiance to the King. "It was a great honour to attend todays Coronation Service in Westminster Abbey. This was a most momentous occasion in the history of our nation, he said. The event itself was a blend of the solemn, based on relevant scriptural references, and great pageantry. A truly British spectacular. In terms of the politics of the event I was disappointed to observe that Naomi Long joined with Sinn Fein and the SDLP in refusing to participate in the public affirmation of allegiance. If Alliance doesnt owe allegiance to the United Kingdom, then where does its allegiance lie? Padraic Mac Coitir (left) holding a sign in Irish saying, Ni He Ar Fine E, (Not Our King!), during a white line protest at International Wall on the Falls Road, Belfast, on the day of the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla. Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX It comes after a white-line protest took place at the International Wall in west Belfast to coincide with the coronation celebrations at Buckingham Palace. Around 50-60 people took part in the protest, organised by Irish socialist republican group Lasair Dhearg. Protestors held red flags carrying the yellow star emblem of the group and placards bearing the blilingual message Ni he ar Rine e/Not our king. A statement on their Facebook page said the protest on the Falls Road was to show opposition to poverty, occupation [and] monarchy. "Over 100 gathered alongside a heavy press presence at Belfast's International Wall on the Falls Road as the British coronation was underway to send a clear message to the media and state political parties that we do not accept poverty, occupation or monarchy, they said. Against a backdrop of rising poverty rates and growing calls for justice for victims of state collusion members of certain political parties saw fit instead to attend the coronation of the Commander-in-Chief of Britains occupying forces. Earlier this morning, the head of anti-monarchist campaign group Republic was arrested by police during a protest in Trafalgar Square ahead of King Charles Coronation. Footage showed protesters in "Not My King" t-shirts being detained, including Republic's CEO Graham Smith. Paige Ryall (second from right) singing the hymn alongside pupils from other schools in Antrim and Newtownabbey borough Some of 450 pupils from 19 primary, secondary and special schools took part in the project Its an anthem fit for a king. And it is also the stunning result of a project involving one of our foremost composers and children from 19 local schools. Invocation: A Coronation Hymn was written by Philip Hammond to mark the crowning of King Charles III. It will no doubt be sweet music to the ears of the new monarch and his wife Queen Camilla. The rousing piece is sung by young opera performers Mary McCabe and Erin OHare, accompanied by 450 pupils from primary, secondary and special schools in the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. The Ulster Orchestra strings section provides the backing for the piece, which uses texts from the Psalms and incorporates the words of well-known Irish hymn Be Thou My Vision. Paige Ryall (second from right) singing the hymn alongside pupils from other schools in Antrim and Newtownabbey borough It all came together in a memorable work that is both traditional and contemporary, and a fitting soundtrack to an historic occasion. Mr Hammond (72), a former teacher, said of working with the children: They really put their hearts and souls into it and Ive loved working with them. Everything has gone remarkably well. In fact, it couldnt have gone any better. The hymn invites people to take inspiration from the words, and I hope they do, because its very special. Among those involved was Paige Ryall (16) from Hill Croft School, which caters for pupils with severe challenges to learning and have complex needs. The Newtownabbey teen said she really enjoyed playing her part in marking the royal occasion. Ive been involved in the choir ever since Ive been at Hill Croft but this is definitely my most important work, Paige said. I love singing and it makes me feel special to be involved in this project with all the other children. Theres nothing better than singing with your friends. It makes me happy and I hope we make the people listening happy too. Composer Philip Hammond, who wrote the new anthem Hill Croft principal Roz McFeeters said contributing to the anthem had been a fabulous opportunity for her pupils. Theyve enjoyed playing their part in the wider community; this has allowed them to have their voices heard in a way thats meaningful to them, she said. Teacher Holly Rankin, who takes choir at Hill Croft, said it was superb to see the children sing using Makaton, a communication tool used by those with learning or communication difficulties. They have wonderful voices and its great to see them share their skills on this platform, said Holly. Antrim and Newtownabbey mayor Stephen Ross said it was a proud moment for the borough. What a way to honour the new King and Queen, he said. I want to thank Philip Hammond and everyone who has worked so hard to turn this idea into a reality. Most of all, I want to thank the children. Without them our celebrations would be much more muted, and much less jovial. The King and Queen will be crowned at Westminster Abbey (Chris Jackson/PA) Chris Jackson The countdown to the coronation of the King has begun but the controversial Homage of the People element of the service has been toned down. Charles reportedly approved the change which came after a string of commentators criticised the new addition as divisive. Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, a friend of Charles who wrote the Kings authorised biography, said the monarch would find the Homage of the People abhorrent. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will now invite a show of support from the congregation rather than a call to those in the Abbey and elsewhere to swear allegiance to the King. Build up to the big day has already begun with workers sweeping sand onto roads, police officers arriving and a rain shelter is being set up outside the Abbey entrance. Metropolitan police and military police officers patrolled the route from Victoria to Westminster from the early hours on Saturday. Royal fans with Union flags and crowns could be seen on trains and in Tube stations from just after 4.30am. The King will be crowned at Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury during a coronation ceremony dating back centuries. Guardsmen arrive by train for the coronation (Peter Byrne/PA) Peter Byrne Cries of God Save the King will ring out around the abbey after St Edwards Crown is placed on Charles head by Mr Welby. The senior cleric said in a statement issued on the eve of the coronation that the ceremony served as a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity. He said people will be struck by the majesty and sacred wonder of the service, but also hoped they would find ancient wisdom and new hope. The event will bring together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple, with Charles estranged son the Duke of Sussex expected to attend. Invited guests include David and Victoria Beckham, musician Lionel Richie, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US First Lady Jill Biden but her husband President Joe Biden will not be attending. The Princess of Wales speaks (left) to the First Lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan Biden, during a reception at Buckingham Palace on the eve of coronation (Jacob King/PA) Jacob King The day will be a display of pomp and pageantry, with the nations Armed Forces promising a spectacular event when the King and Queen process through the streets of the capital. The event is the militarys largest ceremonial operation since Queen Elizabeth IIs 1953 coronation, with 9,000 servicemen and women deployed and 7,000 of these performing ceremonial and supporting roles. Mr Welby followed the longstanding tradition of commissioning new coronation liturgy the prayers and actions of the coronation service which has the theme Called To Serve. He chaired an advisory group of theology, constitutional history and inter-faith relationships experts to draft the liturgy, produced in close consultation with the King and the Government. The Homage of the People replaced the homage of peers, and Lambeth Palace described it as an invitation to the estimated global television audience of tens of millions to make a a great cry around the nation and around the world in support for the King. Mounted police officers on The Mall ahead of the coronation (Charles McQuillan/PA) Charles McQuillan Mr Welby was to say: I call upon all persons of goodwill in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other realms and the territories to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted King, defender of all. All those interested would be invited to say: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to your majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God. But now he will say: I now invite those who wish to offer their support to do so, with a moment of private reflection, by joining in saying God save King Charles at the end or, for those with the words before them, to recite them in full. A Lambeth Palace spokesperson said: The Homage of the People was always an invitation rather than expectation. To provide further clarity as the order of service was finalised, it has been mutually agreed by Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace that the introductory words will be changed. This reflects the collaborative approach that has been taken throughout the coronation planning. We are looking forward to the service with much joy and expectation. A light hearted painting inspired by the old Guinness Advertisements painted by John Gilroy. In 1953 Guinness produced an advertisement to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. By Brian John Spencer Co Down artist Brian John Spencer with his portrait of King Charles While he is well-known for his sharp political cartoons and caricatures, Co Down artist Brian John Spencer has shown he is a dab hand at the finer work in a portrait of King Charles to mark the coronation. Brian John Spencer, who is self-taught, said the idea for the portrait came about much by chance. He was recently surfing on the web and an advert promoting a portrait of King Charles popped up, along with a hefty price tag. Feeling that local artists could do a much better job, he took out his brushes and gave it a shot. A watercolour of a young Prince Charles. By Brian John Spencer Inspired by a photograph of Charles holding a pint of Guinness at an event last year, Brian got to work and the piece was finished in less that two days. If theres ever a big moment I feel compelled to document or capture it. For this moment [the coronation] I didnt think it was one for a political cartoon, Brian said. I have three kids and as solemn as the Queens funeral was last year, for us it was special time to go through it as a family. Likewise, the coronation is also a special moment. Well be going to Hillsborough tomorrow to watch it on the big screen. Being an artist, Brian said he wanted to mark the occasion with some of his own work. In Northern Ireland, the King wouldnt be divisive as such, but hes a figure who either people are really into or who just dont really bother with, he said. Being someone who is Northern Irish, Irish and British, I wanted to do the piece that harks back to our wee corner of these islands. Guinness is also something that crosses all divides here, whether youre down in Dublin for the hurling final, or watching Ulster versus Leinster, everyone is drinking Guinness, so I thought that would be a nice twist on it. A light hearted painting inspired by the old Guinness Advertisements painted by John Gilroy. In 1953 Guinness produced an advertisement to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. By Brian John Spencer Brian said some of his work has been lying incomplete for months, but in this case the Charles portrait only took a day and a half. Sometimes it just flows out of you and, as soon as I found a good image of him holding a Guinness, I had to do it, he said. The artist said he is also working on a painting of Prince William holding a pint of the black stuff, which he hopes to have finished before the big event. Looking around I also found a Guinness poster that was commissioned for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953, which is quite fun and includes the famous Guinness stork holding a Union Jack, he added. So Im working on another piece inspired by that and some of those old Guinness posters, which is done in a more cartoon style with the King holding a pint and the stork behind him with a crown. As a local artist, I often find people just contacting me and offering to buy my work, and itll be the case with these pieces too. Anti-monarchy protesters demonstrate in London ahead of the coronation on Saturday (Piroschka van de Wouw/PA) Piroschka van de Wouw Republican protesters have been arrested just hours before the coronation, after police seized lock-on devices. Footage on Twitter showed officers using their powers under the new Public Order Act, as chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, Graham Smith, was among those apprehended in St Martins Lane near Trafalgar Square. Pictures showed demonstrators in yellow Not My King T-shirts, including Mr Smith, having their details taken. In one video an officer said: Im not going to get into a conversation about that, they are under arrest, end of. The Metropolitan Police confirmed four people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance on St Martins Lane and that lock-on devices were seized. The force also said they made a number of breaching-the-peace arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace and a further three arrests in the Wellington Arch area on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content Just Stop Oil told the PA news agency approximately 13 protesters were arrested on the Mall ahead of the coronation. A spokeswoman for the campaign group said five demonstrators were also arrested at Downing Street and one at Piccadilly. Footage from the Mall showed the Just Stop Oil protesters being handcuffed and taken away by a heavy police presence. Campaign group Human Rights Watch described the arrests as incredibly alarming, adding: This is something you would expect to see in Moscow not London. One Just Stop Oil protester Ben Larsen, 25, said he was there to see the coronation and peacefully protest Grinning at police officers, he told them: Youve searched me and havent found shit. A police officer told him: You need to educate yourself on what peaceful protest is. An anti monarchy protester being arrested ahead of the coronation (Labour for a Republic/PA) Labour for a Republic On Wednesday the Metropolitan Police said they would have an extremely low threshold for protests during the coronation celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect swift action. Under the controversial new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to lock on are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Critics previously hit out at plans from the Met to use facial recognition software on crowds to assist their policing operations. An official letter warning of the new powers was sent to Republic, which said its campaign around the coronation would proceed as planned. Just after 7.30am on Saturday, one woman in a Republic T-shirt was carried away by officers during an interview with the PA news agency. Before being arrested, she said: We had a delivery of placards ready for the protest and then the tactical support unit questioned us as to how we we had got through the road closures. They questioned whether what we were doing was a delivery. Placards were taken from Republic protesters by police on Saturday (Labour for a Republic/PA) Labour for a Republic They then said they found evidence of means of locking on, of items that could be used to lock on, and they arrested us. Officers carried her away from where she had been standing outside a Tesco store. Two men who appeared to have been part of the same demonstration were carried away by officers to a marked police van. Another protester, Symon Hill, 46, who was previously arrested for shouting who elected him? during a proclamation ceremony for the King, said he hoped he would not be arrested again. Mr Hill had charges against him of using threatening or abusive words or disorderly behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service. He told PA: I very, very much hope I will not be arrested. I am joining peaceful, lawful protest and I am worried there will be more arrests on spurious grounds. I am nervous but determined to keep on protesting peacefully against monarchy and arbitrary policing. The arrests this morning are appalling but I am not surprised. The policing operation will see 11,500 police on duty on Saturday. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he looks forward to hosting the King in Ireland. Mr Varadkar and Irish president Michael D Higgins are attending the coronation service in Westminster Abbey in London. They also attended a reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday and spoke to Charles and members of the UK Government. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content The Taoiseach said: King Charles and Queen Camilla are long-standing friends of Ireland and King Charles has visited regularly in the past two decades, supporting good bilateral relations, co-operation, peace and reconciliation. I expressed my hope that his regular visits will continue into his reign. I was pleased to accept the invitation to attend the coronation, alongside President Higgins, symbolising the close neighbourly relations between our two countries. This is a historic moment for the British people, for the realm, and for their friends around the world. Mr Varadkar added: We have deep political, economic, cultural, and personal links with Britain, which provided a welcome home to so many of our citizens for generations. The King and Irish President Michael D Higgins have met on a number of occasions (Liam McBurney/PA) Liam McBurney A vibrant British community actively contributes to life in Ireland in so many ways. And, of course, there are many people, in the north especially, who are both British and Irish. As we mark the coronation of King Charles III, I look forward to further strengthening British-Irish relations and the friendship between our peoples and look forward to welcoming the royal couple to Ireland in due course. Mr Higgins is the first Irish head of state to attend a coronation. To mark the event, Mr Higgins and and his wife Sabina requested the Tree Council of Ireland plant a native Irish oak tree in the woodland forest of Aurora in Co Wicklow. The gesture was to acknowledge the Kings commitment to environmental sustainability. An image from a Washington Metropolitan Police Department officers body-worn video camera, released and annotated by the Justice Department in the Governments Sentencing Memorandum, shows Peter Schwartz circled in red using a canister of pepper spray against officers on January 6, 2021, in Washington (Justice Department via AP/PA) Uncredited A Kentucky man with a long criminal record has been sentenced to a record-setting 14 years in prison for attacking police officers with pepper spray as he stormed the US Capitol with his wife. Peter Schwartzs prison sentence is the longest so far among hundreds of Capitol riot cases. The judge who sentenced Schwartz also handed down the previous longest sentence 10 years to a retired New York Police Department officer who assaulted a police officer outside the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 24 years and 6 months for Schwartz, a welder. US District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Schwartz to 14 years and two months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Judge Mehta said Schwartz was a soldier against democracy who participated in the kind of mayhem, chaos that had never been seen in the countrys history. You are not a political prisoner, the judge told him. Youre not somebody who is standing up against injustice or fighting against an autocratic regime. Schwartz briefly addressed the judge before learning his sentence, saying, I do sincerely regret the damage that January 6 has caused to so many people and their lives. The judge said he did not believe Schwartzs statement, noting his lack of remorse. You took it upon yourself to try and injure multiple police officers that day, Judge Mehta said. Schwartz was armed with a wooden tyre tool when he and his then-wife, Shelly Stallings, joined other rioters in overwhelming a line of police officers on the Capitols Lower West Terrace, where he threw a folding chair at officers. By throwing that chair, Schwartz directly contributed to the fall of the police line that enabled rioters to flood forward and take over the entire terrace, prosecutor Jocelyn Bond wrote in a court filing. Schwartz, 49, also armed himself with a police-issued super soaker canister of pepper spray and sprayed it at retreating officers. Advancing to a tunnel entrance, Schwartz coordinated with two other rioters, Markus Maly and Jeffrey Brown, to spray an orange liquid toward officers clashing with the mob. Insurrectionists loyal to Donald Trump breach the Capitol in Washington, on January 6, 2021 (John Minchillo/AP/PA) John Minchillo While the stream of liquid did not directly hit any officer, its effect was to heighten the danger to the officers in that tunnel, Ms Bond wrote. Before leaving, Schwartz joined a heave ho push against police in the tunnel. Stallings pleaded guilty last year to riot-related charges and was sentenced last month to two years in jail. Schwartz was tried with co-defendants Maly and Brown. In December, a jury convicted all three of assault charges and other felony offences. Judge Mehta sentenced Brown last Friday to four years and six months in prison. Maly is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9. Schwartzs lawyers requested a prison sentence of four years and six months. They said his actions on January 6 were motivated by a misunderstanding about the 2020 presidential election. Then-president Donald Trump and his allies spread baseless conspiracy theories that Democrats stole the election from the Republican incumbent. There remain many grifters out there who remain free to continue propagating the great lie that Trump won the election, Donald Trump being among the most prominent. Mr Schwartz is not one of these individuals; he knows he was wrong, his defence lawyers wrote. Prosecutors said Schwartz has bragged about his participation in the riot, shown no remorse and claimed that his prosecution was politically motivated. He referred to the Capitol attack as the opening of a war in a Facebook post a day after the riot. I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war, Schwartz wrote. Schwartz has raised over 71,000 dollars (56,000) from an online campaign entitled Patriot Pete Political Prisoner in DC. Prosecutors asked the judge to order Schwartz to pay a fine equalling the amount raised by his campaign, arguing that he should not profit from participating in the riot. Schwartz was on probation when he joined the January 6 riot. His criminal record includes 38 prior convictions since 1991, several of which involved assaulting or threatening officers or other authority figures, Ms Bond wrote. Schwartz was working as a welder in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, before his arrest in February 2021, but he considers his home to be in Owensboro, Kentucky, according to his lawyers. More than 100 police officers were injured during the riot. More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to January 6. Nearly 500 of them have been sentenced, with over half getting terms of imprisonment. The 10-year prison sentence that Judge Mehta handed down in September to retired NYPD officer Thomas Webster had remained the longest until Friday. Webster had used a metal flagpole to assault an officer and then tackled the same officer as the mob advanced toward the Capitol. You made my Day thats the message from a stand-up comedian with very fond memories of his last visit to Belfast. Fast Show star Simon Day said he felt the love when fans plied him with so many pints of Guinness he was unable to finish them all. The 61-year-old said the gesture helped him bounce back after a less successful show south of the border. He told Sunday Life: The last time I came over and did a gig, I did Dublin and it didnt go very well and then I did Belfast and it went amazingly. I went to the pub over the road after and people were offering me pints of Guinness. I said yes to the first couple, but I didnt realise that everybody kept giving me pints. I looked round the corner of the table and there was like nine pints on there. I couldnt drink them all. It was fantastic. Simon is back in Belfast on Thursday to play the Limelight, and hes bringing some of his much-loved TV alter egos with him. He said: Its four different characters with Billy Bleach from The Fast Show, the pub bore and know-it-all. Then theres Dave Angel, whos an eco-warrior. Youve also got Tommy Cockles the star of the music halls, and Geoffrey Allerton, whos Yorkshires finest unpublished poet. I used to do characters in my stand-up. Paul Whitehouse saw me with Charlie [Higson] and said, Were doing a show soon with different characters and youd be good for it, so I said Okay and they called me up it was that simple. That was The Fast Show, which was a real game-changer. Id already done a tour with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer and then after this it went very quickly for me. Simons career is a rags to riches story, and he has been open about his troubled past, which included getting hooked on drugs, booze and gambling, and spending a year in a borstal after being caught stealing to fund his habits. Simon Day brings his Dave Angel Eco Warrior: Living The Dream Tour to the Limelight 1 on May 11. Tickets are available sale now through Ticketmaster Ukraine claims Russia fired phosphorus bombs in an airstrike on the besieged city of Bakhmut. White phosphorus seems to be raining down on the city in a drone video provided by the Ukrainian military. Although the deployment of white phosphorus weapons in residential areas is not illegal, it is a war crime. They cause flames to spread rapidly and be difficult to extinguish. Russia has previously been accused of using them. Not enough shells, but more than enough phosphorus. Ruscists are shelling unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition. They will burn in Hell. @SOF_UKR pic.twitter.com/7oqNTumJ34 Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 5, 2023 Attack in Bakhmut City The strategic relevance of Bakhmut has led Russia to spend months attempting to seize it. According to Western authorities, the attack has killed thousands of Moscow's forces. Ukraine's defense ministry tweeted that "unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition" were the targets of the phosphorus assault. It was also reported by Kyiv's special forces command that Moscow's troops were still actively destroying the city. The time frame of the claimed attack is unknown. However, Ukraine's published video, which was apparently shot by a surveillance drone, showed burning skyscrapers. There was also footage of flames blazing on the ground and white clouds of phosphorus lighting up the night sky that was shared on social media. In a report by BBC, the region seen in the defense ministry's video was determined to be the west of Bakhmut's city center, not far from a children's hospital. BBC analysis showed that incendiary bombs were employed in the assault, but it was unable to definitively prove that phosphorus was among them. See Also: WATCH: Ukrainian Delegate Punches Russian Counterpart During Black Sea Summit Employing White Phosphorus Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, and especially during the first siege of Mariupol, the country has been repeatedly accused of employing white phosphorus. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that white phosphorus had been used in the country's conflict last year, but Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied this. White phosphorus is a wax-like material that, when exposed to oxygen, explodes into brilliant smoke plumes. The chemical is "notorious for the severity of the injuries it causes," according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Extreme burns may be inflicted on human flesh at temperatures of 800 degrees Celsius. In addition to being incredibly sticky and difficult to remove, it may reignite when bandages are taken off. The employment of incendiary weapons (i.e., weapons intended to start fires) in civilian areas is prohibited under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which Russia has ratified. HRW, however, says that white phosphorus is not covered by the treaty since its main function is to "create a smokescreen to hide military operations." Meanwhile, some experts argue that it should still be prohibited to employ such a weapon as an incendiary weapon in close proximity to humans. But despite having a population of 80,000 before the conflict, Bakhmut is now almost completely devoid of residents. See Also: US to Tighten Foreign Property Ownership Near Military Bases Following Chinese Firm Controversy @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Pictured at the Ormeau Park Darkness into Light walk are (from left to right) Maureen Bolton, Katie Rose-Meehan, Seamus Kelly, Rachel Barr Pictured at the Ormeau Park Darkness into Light walk are Claire Dobbin (right) and members of St John Vianney Youth Centre Pictured at the Ormeau Park Darkness into Light walk are Lynsey and Geoffrey Wightman Hundreds of people across Northern Ireland walked from darkness into light on Saturday morning in aid of the suicide prevention charity Pieta. Starting at 4.15am, walkers started out at 16 venues here to greet the most important sunrise of the year as Darkness into Light returned. Pictured at the Ormeau Park Darkness into Light walk are (from left to right) Maureen Bolton, Katie Rose-Meehan, Seamus Kelly, Rachel Barr The sunrise event, organised by Pieta and supported by Electric Ireland, welcomed people to walk, swim, hike, run or indeed, simply watch the day dawn. In doing so they supported the life-saving work of Darkness into Lights 14 partner charities providing suicide prevention and bereavement services across Northern Ireland. Pictured at the Ormeau Park Darkness into Light walk are Lynsey and Geoffrey Wightman All of those who participated are part of global community which sees Darkness into Light, take place in 15 countries across five continents, offering support and solidarity to those who have been impacted by suicide and symbolising a journey from despair to hope. Across Ireland an estimated 100,000 people took part with the largest individual event held at the Phoenix Park in Dublin, where some 10,000 participants, sporting the distinctive bright yellow Pieta t-shirts, walked, ran and wheeled together around a 5km route. Pictured at the Ormeau Park Darkness into Light walk are Claire Dobbin (right) and members of St John Vianney Youth Centre Pieta CEO Stephanie Manahan said the annual initiative has become a phenomenon. It is just amazing to walk amongst thousands and thousands of people to and to know that all across Ireland there were people getting up this morning, in the middle of the night, to walk in community and solidarity with people who have been affected by suicide and self-harm. "It is a phenomenon I have to say, it is a special event and it is incredible to see people walking together, having conversations quietly or others who just take time to reflect and to think and to walk in sort of silent harmony with one another. Its really, really special, she said. Stephen McDonnell with dog Grace Ms Manahan was joined at the event in the Phoenix Park by former RTE broadcaster Charlie Bird. Last year, Mr Birds Climb With Charlie initiative raised over 3 million euro for Pieta. Royal Australian Navy guided-missile frigate HMAS Parramatta (FFH 154) (left) sails with U.S. Navy vessels in the South China Sea, April 18, 2020. The Australian military has conducted top-secret war-gaming exercises, with such scenarios as China setting up a military base in a South Pacific nation, while examining its defense posture, Australias media reported. The exercises, described in a classified version of the Australian governments defense strategy review, found that the countrys army would struggle to respond to certain plausible and specific scenarios, according to the Sydney Morning Herald and Channel 9 News. Among the scenarios that were analyzed in detail by security experts are a war between the United States and China over Taiwan, and Beijing establishing a military base in the Solomon Islands, neighboring Australia. In the latter scenario, the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLA) would be within just 2,000 kilometres (1,243 miles) of the Australian mainland. In a recent series of interviews conducted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, four leading Australian defense experts warned that a war between the U.S. and China over Taiwan would "probably be the biggest and most disruptive war the world has seen since 1945" as it would swiftly escalate into a full-scale regional maritime war. The defense review found that the Australian Defence Force is not fully fit for purpose and called for a major strategy and forces overhaul to deal with radically different strategic circumstances and the return of major power strategic competition. Members of Australia's special forces conduct an exercise during the Australian International Airshow in Melbourne, March 2, 2011. [Mick Tsikas/Reuters] The Australian government released last week a de-classified version of the Defence Strategic Review 2023 before announcing that it will host, for the first time, a Quad leaders summit on May 24 in Sydney. The Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, comprises Australia, India, Japan and the United States. The last Quad leaders summit was held in Tokyo in May 2022. Beijing has repeatedly accused Quad countries of building small cliques and stoking bloc confrontation. Facing Chinas threats Analysts say that there has been a remarkable shift in Australia's approach to defense, mainly stemming from concerns about Chinas increased military power and ambitions. The review said Chinas military build-up is the largest and most ambitious of any country since the end of World War II. The new strategy will shift the Australian military from a balanced to a focused force, which will concentrate on long-range power projection and 'impactful projection' capabilities, said Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Those capabilities include long-range strike for deterrence, particularly in regards to the growing challenge of China's military, Davis told RFA. The review noted that the Australian Navy needs enhanced lethality to deal with the PLA new capabilities. Of particular concern is Beijing's rapid build-up of nuclear weapons capabilities, with a shift from about 350 warheads to 1,500 warheads by 2035, and the establishment of the world's largest navy, along with advanced long-range precision strike capabilities, the Canberra-based analyst said. These capabilities and China's actions have dramatically reduced the warning time for a major power war, he added. As a result, the review is now emphasizing the rapid acquisition of military capabilities needed for littoral operations in northern Australia and maritime spaces, as well as long-range strike capabilities. The Australian militarys range for firing projectile munitions will increase from 40 to 300 kilometers (25 to 186 miles), and with the acquisition of the precision strike missile, over 500 kilometers (311 miles). Australia will develop indigenous long-range missile manufacturing, according to the defense ministry, with options to be provided by the second quarter of next year. Beijings reaction The Australian government said it has accepted the reviews recommendation for an inaugural National Defence Strategy in 2024, which will be updated biennially. The total to be spent on implementing the review is AUD$19 billion (U.S.$12.7 billion) over four years, including the AUD$9 billion (U.S.$6 billion) spent on purchasing up to eight nuclear-powered submarines via a tripartite deal with the U.S. and the U.K. (AUKUS) To start, Australia on Tuesday announced that it will offer service members bonuses of up to AUD$50,000 (U.S.$33,500) at the end of their initial period of service if they commit to a further three years in the military. Beijing quickly condemned the Australian governments defense strategy review, with a spokesperson saying that China hopes certain countries will not use China as an excuse for military build-up and will refrain from hyping up the China threat narrative. China pursues a defensive national defense policy and stays committed to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and the wider world. We do not pose a challenge to any country, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. Australias perception of a Chinese threat is most definitely not hype, said Malcolm Davis from ASPI, adding that China has been building up its military with virtually no transparency on its intentions. This story was produced by Radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. NORTH ADAMS Filmmaker Suneil Sanzgiris personal meditations on his Indian ancestry and family history unfold on his computer screen, shared with us like were looking over his shoulder. In one of his short films, he opens a Gmail message and types out a note seeking to commission a drone operator to film aerial shots around Goa, the south Indian state where his father was born. If You Go What: "to see oneself at a distance" Where: Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams On view: Through April 2024 Tickets and more information: 413-662-2111, massmoca.org As he clicks "send," the film leaps into the finished scene a sweeping wide-screen shot of a train winding through hills and forests, with roads and buildings and passers-by going about their lives. We move from the personal space of a computer screen to the full visual spectrum of his familys distant homeland. The train tells a story about western imperialism and its long afterlife, of a colonial technology built to extract Indian wealth for distant European power, but it is also about being tied to a faraway place in ways that continue to surprise. Sanzgiri shows how threads of history, economics, and power channel through the lens of one artist considering the sweep of changes from the 20th century through the present moment. Three of his short films are now on display at Mass MoCA as part of a new exhibit, to see oneself at a distance, which features four artists who in their different ways consider what it means to live in a post-imperial world. Each of the works deals with the aftermath of national liberation movements the decades in the middle of the 20th century when European empires were at last dismantled and new structures struggled to emerge, a time of hope and empowerment as well as disappointment and frustration. It was not a series of discreet political actions, the show explains, but an ongoing process that cut across continents and generations, through means of creation and modes of expression. And for all the artists, whether in printmaking, photos, sculptural installations, or film, it is a living experience of improvisation, collaboration, and imagination. Meghan Clare Considine is a Mass MoCA curatorial fellow who curated the exhibit based on her graduate work studying the visual culture of international anti-colonial movements around the world. These are artists who work within that legacy, she said. They harken back to that eras optimism and ideas around solidarity. And they also think through memory and forgetfulness, what we hold on to from that era of liberation and the still-unmet promises of that moment. Each artist engages this complicated history in a different way. It opens with Huong Ngos luminous golden prints featuring the text of an essay about the question or problem of womens rights, written by lionized Vietnamese Communist revolutionary Nguyen Thi Minh Khai in 1938. The essay was unsigned, as Minh Khai was under constant surveillance by French colonial authorities, who ultimately imprisoned and executed her. Ngo, a U.S.-based interdisciplinary artist, created the prints in collaboration with a papermaking studio near Hanoi that sustainably makes what is called Do paper from tree bark. She created a 3D-printed press of the essay and pressed it into the paper, which was then hung on cleats and lit in such a way that the shadows make them appear floating and disconnected from the rules of gravity. That kind of deep collaboration appears again in a series of works by Kapwani Kiwanga, a Canadian artist who now lives in France, who recreated a series of flower installations from photos of independence celebrations around Africa. Each assembly, from a simple boutonniere to a room-spanning garland, was assembled by local florist Tu Le of 328North, which is now at GreylockWorks in North Adams. Considine said that Kiwanga relies of the local artisans to execute her ideas and bring their knowledge of what is available and what will last, as it is not refreshed over the course of the show. [The flowers] are meant to shrivel and wither and call attention to the fact that freedom is a constant struggle, she said. Other artists dive into abstract questions of how events are remembered, like the photo assemblies by Maryam Jafri who repurposes archival photos to investigate the idea of digital colonialism that geopolitical power relations are reflected and sometimes even made worse when moved online. Each work in her Versus Series features an image of moments from the liberation era, from both the official state archives and similar (sometimes almost the same) images for sale by international photo agencies. In the Disappearance Online photos do a similar thing, with archival images from Syria, Iraq and Jordan of kings and leaders and how and why the images exist in various murky and ghostly online databases, or simply dont seem to officially exist at all. Unlike the immediacy of the prints and the flower arrangements, the photos highlight how images are used, and how they appear and vanish. But the work highlights a challenge of a show like this. Sometimes it can be hard to tell exactly what we as viewers are supposed to notice. Is it how the works are cropped? Whether they are in color? Shot from above or below? How much history and background to include is a challenging question, especially as we run into the reality that we cant know everything. There is a real barrier of not being able to read Minh Khais words, which are still in the original Vietnamese. Or we may not off the top of our head understand the thinking and legacy of Ghanas independence-era leader Kwame Nkrumah. Should there be timelines explaining the history of post-colonial Africa or the Portuguese presence in India? The exhibit avoids becoming too heavy-handed in laying out the history and theoretical concepts to focus on the feelings and impressions it inspired for these artists. While the exhibit offers enough guideposts on panels and guides available online, it mostly leaves the art to speak for itself. All those threads come together in the last room, which features three of Sanzgiris short films shown on a loop in an improvised theater designed to resemble the hasty, crowd-sourced architecture of protest movements. The films deal with Goas independence after hundreds of years of Portuguese rule, his own familys history of growing up in the independence era and their life in the United States, and about more recent Indian protest movements led by Muslim women. Sanzgiri is a young experimental filmmaker specializing in desktop cinema, which weaves a variety of film images original shots, archival footage, computer animation and applications seamlessly into a new kind of filmmaking. It has been around since personal video editing software has become affordable and common and seems to have picked up during the pandemic when more of us experienced the new push-pull dynamic between the intimate and close view from our laptop screens in contrast to the depth and richness of todays digital camera technology. Within that specific format, Sanzgiri includes collages of old films, Google Maps searches, animation, Skype phone calls with his father, archival photos, and drone footage. All of it is pulled together through Sanzgiris editing and narration, which returns again and again to the idea of what it means to be living through this moment. As he asks at one point, Which came first: the desire to fly, or the desire to see oneself at a distance? IF YOU GO What: "to see oneself at a distance" Where: Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams On view: Through April 2024 Tickets and more information: 413-662-2111, massmoca.org PITTSFIELD Prosecutors are expected to reveal new information Tuesday about the killing of a North Adams woman allegedly by her granddaughter. Kelsie Cote, 27, is charged with murder in the death of her grandmother, Doris Cote, inside the 74-year-olds home on Halloween night. Prosecutors claim that Doris Cote was violently attacked by Kelsie Cote. We sat down with new Lenox principal Jeremiah Ames to find out how he plans to improve the school's culture, including how the school will handle reports of bullying and improving student and staff relationships. What was discussed at your annual town meeting? Looking for the results of your town election? We've got all of that information here in one place. GREAT BARRINGTON In the wake of revelations that Bard College received money and visits from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Bard officials say Epsteins money never reached the schools early college off Alford Road. Nor did Epstein, who had abused young girls, ever visit Simons Rock College at Bard in Great Barrington, said a spokesperson writing in response to questions on behalf of Bard President Leon Botstein. Bard, a private college in New Yorks Hudson Valley, had received two unsolicited donations in 2011 totaling $75,000 as well as 66 laptops, said Mark Primoff, associate vice president for communications at Bard, in an emailed response to questions. The two unsolicited gifts in 2011 and the fact of the President meeting with Epstein subsequent to them in his capacity as primary fundraiser for the college has been previously reported and took place with full transparency, Primoff added. Epstein, a financier who spent time with a vast array of powerful people, was convicted in Florida of soliciting a child for prostitution in 2008. New charges for sex trafficking were filed a decade later, and he was found dead in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial in New York in an apparent suicide. As a scouring of documents that expose Epsteins connections continues, some reveal that Botstein turned up in Epsteins schedules along with other prominent people, including current CIA Director Williams Burns, The Wall Street Journal reported on April 30. Botstein, president of Bard since 1975, had about two dozen meetings scheduled with Epstein over about four years, which were mostly visits to the townhouse, the newspaper reported. Botstein said he had gone there to thank him for donations and laptops that went to Bards high school programs, he told the Journal, adding that he had unsuccessfully tried to solicit more donations from Epstein. A blessing in disguise, Botstein told the Journal, noting that he already had stopped contact, realizing that Epstein was stringing us along. Sign-up for The Berkshire Eagle's free newsletters Sign up Epstein received two invitations to visit the campus from Botstein, the Journal reported. Schedules show Botstein invited him to an opera and a concert on two separate occasions. Epstein planned each time to bring some of his young female assistants and arrive by helicopter, the newspaper reported. In both cases he arrived, attended, and departed with no other interactions, said Primoff, the Bard spokesman, speaking for Botstein. Botstein also told the paper that the college knew about Epsteins criminal record for a sex crime and that the school believes in rehabilitation. In a story by The New York Times published Friday about Botsteins connection with Epstein, the Times noted that the school was struggling financially during the 2008 recession. Botstein told the Times that Bard is at the mercy of the very wealthy. The news about Epsteins calendar coincidentally broke as Simons Rock students were organizing a sit-in and list of demands for administrators amid allegations that there is a culture of sexual violence on campus and that the Title IX office is mishandling complaints. Bard College also has seen its share of controversy around its handling of Title IX cases, having faced three lawsuits in 2016. The new revelations also come six years after the father of a Simons Rock student who took her life on campus sued the school, according to an Eagle report on Thursday, saying there were a host of obvious warning signs, and that she had been sexually assaulted there. Who Stole the 2020 Presidential Election? Antony Blinken and others have much to answer for By Philip Giraldi May 04, 2023: Information Clearing House -- The corruption engaged in by the Democratic Party leadership appears to be never-ending and no one is ever held accountable. A recent report described how Michael Morell, the former acting Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, colluded with Antony Blinken, who was then a senior official in the 2020 Joe Biden presidential campaign, to prepare and find signatories to a letter to discredit those seeking to exploit the emerging Hunter Biden laptop scandal, which was threatening to do real damage to the Biden electoral prospects. Following in the footsteps of the Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign, which sought to use fabricated information from the Steele dossier to smear Donald Trump and some of his advisors, Blinken suggested that Morell promote the argument that the laptop story involved Russia and should be dismissed as little more than a disinformation operation ordered by President Vladimir Putin. At the time, there was no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Russia had had anything to do with spreading fabricated information regarding Hunter Biden or his laptop, but that was regarded as immaterial. The conspiracy to use a false narrative to corruptly influence the outcome of the election, for that is what it was, was recently revealed in testimony by Morell to the House Judiciary Committee, led by Republican Representative Jim Jordan. Morell described how he had been instrumental in convincing 50 other former colleagues in the intelligence and national security community to sign on to the letter that he had drafted. Morell told the committee that Blinken acting for the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the timing and distribution for the public release of the letter and he described how his two objectives in drafting and releasing the statement was to help then-Vice President Biden in the upcoming presidential debate and assist him in winning the election. Get Our Free Newsletter Presumably Morell, known for his ambition and ruthlessness, may have expected Biden to appoint him head of the CIA when it came time to hand out rewards after the election was over. Concerning his own political ambitions and inclinations, one recalls how in 2016 Morell wrote an op-ed in the New York Times that was picked up nationally which headlined I ran the CIA: now Im endorsing Hillary Clinton. By virtue of exploiting his own top level connections inside the Agency, five of Morells letters signatories were former Directors of the CIA. The letter included the assertion by the signatories that they were deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this caseIf we are right this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this. It concluded that the laptop allegations exhibited all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation. After the letter was prepared, Blinken advised Morell on its most advantageous timing, selecting a date close to the election so it would have maximum impact. The laptop story itself had appeared in the New York Post on October 14th, revealing emails demonstrating how the Vice President Joe Biden appeared to have pressured Ukrainian officials into firing a prosecutor who was investigating corruption in the energy company Burisma. Joe met with a top company official, which led to the granting of a sinecure position on the Burisma board to his influence peddling son Hunter, which paid him $50,000 per month. Material also included on the laptop revealed Hunters moral turpitude and drug use. The Morell rebuttal appeared in Politico five days later, two weeks before the election, on October 19th, and was picked up by the mainstream media all over the United States. Joe Biden also used the material in his debate with Trump on October 22nd, accusing Moscow of targeting his son in an elaborate propaganda operation, claiming that the laptop story was garbage and part of a Russian plan. Biden referred to the many signatures on the intelligence community letter to declare that nobody believes that the laptop is real. And the denial did have a genuine impact on the campaign. After the Morell letter appeared, nearly all major social and news media platforms that had allowed linking to or discussion of the Hunter laptop story either censored the material completely or limited access to it while also posting warnings that the tale had been debunked by knowledgeable experts. Also to be considered is how the Blinken-Morell letter fueled the false perception that Russia and Putin were supporting Trump through clandestine and underhanded means. Investigative journalist Jim Bovard, writing in the New York Post, reports ironically how Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the closing speech at last months Summit for Democracy piously proclaimed that As President Biden has said, democracy doesnt happen by accident. It requires constant effort. And shortly after he became Secretary of State, Blinken had had the nerve to claim that the US government doesnt sweep problems under the rug We deal with them in the daylight, with full transparency. Indeed, Blinken may have been rewarded by Biden with his cabinet position after his successful plausibly illegal intervention. Also apparently rewarded was a signatory on the Morell letter Avril Haines who is now Director of National Intelligence. To be sure, the honorable Secretary of State Antony Blinken should now be instead offering his resignation over the exposure of his blatant and possibly successful attempt to change the outcome of an election by conspiring to corrupt the electoral process with false information to sway voters. Bovard opines how the Morell letter defused what had become the biggest threat to the Biden presidential campaign Polls show that Biden would have lost the election if the media had accurately reported the contents of that laptop. And theres more to the Hunter Biden story and the corrupt hand of government. An IRS employee has recently turned whistleblower and stated that his Agency has been moving sluggishly on an investigation of Hunter regarding tax evasion relating to foreign income derived largely from Ukraine and China. And he claims that another senior Biden appointed official is involved in the politically motivated foot dragging. No less than Attorney General Merrick Garland has been identified as the unnamed senior official whose sworn testimony to a congressional committee is being challenged in a letter from the whistleblowers attorney alleging a cover-up of the Hunter Biden criminal investigation. Attorney Mark Lytle wrote that the longtime IRS employee would like to provide information to congressional leaders to contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee now identified as Garland and also to provide details of claimed preferential treatment in the criminal probe of Hunter. One more tale just might illustrate where this country is going under Joe Biden and company, where party and personal interests are all that matter to a leadership which regards integrity as a dirty word. In fact, the government has become increasingly intolerant of speech or writing that in any way challenges its power, exposes its corruption, reveals its lies, and encourages the citizenry to resist government overreach. The Biden Administration has recently indicted four Americans and charged them with conspiracy to spread Russian propaganda and acting as unregistered Russian agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938. The four are members of the African Peoples Socialist Party, which has criticized and opposed US foreign policy since 1971 and currently is against Washingtons promotion of the war against Russia in Ukraine. They potentially face 15 years in prison. This exploitation of quite plausibly unconstitutional lawfare is nothing new, as in my own experience the Justice (sic) Department has been moving to silence Americans who write for Russian news sites by threatening them with huge fines or even imprisonment. It is a tendency that is unfortunately not unique to any particular presidential administration which has been building since 9/11, though it has become far worse under Joe Biden and Merrick Garland. In no cases that I know of have any of those pressured or accused actually been receiving direction or secret benefits from the Russian government. That all means that the definition of illegal speech or writing has been considerably broadened of late. The Biden Administration has been actively waging a campaign to eradicate what it chooses to call disinformation, to include those who allegedly share false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information with terrorists. It is, in fact, the United States government that is the worlds largest purveyor of disinformation, to include adopting the Israeli practice of defining anyone who resists US hegemony as a terrorist. For example, that is how the Justice Department labels white so-called supremacists as domestic terrorists. And, of course, the government is being assisted and protected due to the fact that nearly all the negative stories about Biden and his crew have predictably been suppressed by the mainstream media, which has become a de facto a partner of the White House disinformation program. Consider, for example, the Seymour Hersh revelations about the hideous act of war Nord Stream pipeline destruction and the corruption in Ukraine, or the revelation of disinformation regarding the war in Ukraine itself exposed by leaker Jack Teixeira, or the biolabs in Ukraine, or the incessant lies denigrating Russia and its leadership. And where does one go to for any legitimate criticism of the reckless White House driven direct engagement in Ukraine that could go nuclear even though it is in support of no real national interest? Or the thoughtless threatening of China over Taiwan? And how about the State Department using overseas Embassies to promote woke-ism rather than protecting American travelers and interests? All these stories are targeted and diminished deliberately, gone or going, never to be seen again. So it should surprise no one that the White House and media are right now trying to kill the exposure of how Blinken and Morell turned around the story of the Hunter laptop because that would confirm suspicions that Joe Biden may have actually stolen the 2020 election. And the back story is that the fabricated material planted by the Clinton and Biden campaigns in 2016 and 2020 only succeeded because of the medias surrender of its traditional role as an exposer of government crimes and evasions. The phony Morell intelligence letter and its possible consequences is a scandal of huge proportions that would once upon a time have ended in resignations, impeachment, and plenty of jail time for all of those involved but Michael Morell and Antony Blinken have not even been touched or even interviewed by the FBI. Nor have the other fifty national security puppets who signed off onto claims made in a document that they must have known to be fabricated for political reasons experienced any discomfort. They have no shame and are all disgraces to the oath of loyalty to the Constitution that they once swore. And the real danger is that if the clueless government and media continue to be able to bury stories they do not approve of, the United States will cease to be a functioning democracy and every election will be little more than a farce. Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org. Should consumers be able to buy raw milk at farmers markets or farm stands? A new bill is being considered by Massachusetts legislators Raw milk consumers and sellers are once again asking state lawmakers to expand access to raw milk, which can currently only be bought at a farm licensed to sell raw milk, but cannot be delivered or sold at farmers markets. Should consumers be able to buy raw milk at farmers markets in Massachusetts? Currently, state law restricts sales of raw milk to the property where its produced. Consumers can travel to a dairy farm that packages raw milk there are a handful across Berkshire County but farmers cant bring raw milk to a local or regional farmers market. A bill being considered on Beacon Hill would change that. Its not the first time this controversial issue has dropped into the Legislatures bucket. The bill state Sen. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer, filed earlier this session (S.43) is similar to one she filed last year. In addition to allowing raw milk sales at farmers markets, it would also allow dairy farmers to sell raw milk at farm stands apart from their contiguous property and deliver raw milk directly to consumers, including through community supported agriculture programs. The controversy that has swirled around this issue stems from what some see as public health concerns. Unlike the stuff youd usually find in the dairy aisle at the supermarket, raw milk is unpasteurized. Pasteurization is a process intended to kill or deactivate potentially harmful microorganisms in food products like milk by heating it before packaging and distribution. Raw milk fans say this process affects the taste of milk and makes it less nutritious (though the Food and Drug Administration plausibly denies that latter claim). Others say consuming milk that hasnt been pasteurized increases risk of foodborne illness such as E. coli, listeria and salmonella a risk the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is underscored by recent nationwide research. Its fair to say there is some evidence to raw milk critics claims that its consumption comes with risks. For policymaking purposes, though, the critical question is this: Why should state law reflect that this risk is acceptable when consumers travel to a dairy farm but unacceptable when farmers bring their wares to a local farmers market? While raw milk does carry increased pathogen risk compared to pasteurized product, its far from the only possible vector of foodborne infection at farmers markets (or supermarkets, for that matter). And dairy farms that produce raw milk for consumption in Massachusetts have to be licensed, which means there is an enforcement mechanism in place to encourage stricter sanitation standards and penalize farms that shirk them. Further, the legislation in question would also compel the state Department of Agricultural Resources to develop reasonable rules about handling and transporting raw milk for delivery to farmers markets or directly to consumers. Whatever the risks, folks who like raw milk can already buy it in Massachusetts its just more inconvenient to procure, meaning the dairy farms licensed to produce it take a hit on their potential sales. The commonwealth lets licensed businesses big and small sell legalized products that carry considerable risk not just to individual consumers but public health as well. As supermarkets pad their revenues by selling liquor while small farms struggle, is it fair to arbitrarily restrict some dairies to selling their wares only on their farm and not at the downtown farmers market? We think not, and this legislation seems like a fair way to address that arbitrary dynamic facing some Berkshire farms. By Julian Assange May 06, 2023: Information Clearing House -- ON THE coronation of my liege, I thought it only fitting to extend a heartfelt invitation to you to commemorate this momentous occasion by visiting your very own kingdom within a kingdom: His Majestys Prison Belmarsh. You will no doubt recall the wise words of a renowned playwright: The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. Ah, but what would that bard know of mercy faced with the reckoning at the dawn of your historic reign? After all, one can truly know the measure of a society by how it treats its prisoners, and your kingdom has surely excelled in that regard. Your Majestys Prison Belmarsh is located at the prestigious address of One Western Way, London, just a short foxhunt from the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. How delightful it must be to have such an esteemed establishment bear your name. Get Our Free Newsletter It is here that 687 of your loyal subjects are held, supporting the United Kingdoms record as the nation with the largest prison population in Western Europe. As your noble government has recently declared, your kingdom is currently undergoing the biggest expansion of prison places in over a century, with its ambitious projections showing an increase of the prison population from 82,000 to 106,000 within the next four years. Quite the legacy, indeed. As a political prisoner, held at Your Majestys pleasure on behalf of an embarrassed foreign sovereign, I am honoured to reside within the walls of this world class institution. Truly, your kingdom knows no bounds. During your visit, you will have the opportunity to feast upon the culinary delights prepared for your loyal subjects on a generous budget of two pounds per day. Savour the blended tuna heads and the ubiquitous reconstituted forms that are purportedly made from chicken. And worry not, for unlike lesser institutions such as Alcatraz or San Quentin, there is no communal dining in a mess hall. At Belmarsh, prisoners dine alone in their cells, ensuring the utmost intimacy with their meal. Beyond the gustatory pleasures, I can assure you that Belmarsh provides ample educational opportunities for your subjects. As Proverbs 22:6 has it: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Observe the shuffling queues at the medicine hatch, where inmates gather their prescriptions, not for daily use, but for the horizon-expanding experience of a big day out all at once. You will also have the opportunity to pay your respects to my late friend Manoel Santos, a gay man facing deportation to Bolsonaros Brazil, who took his own life just eight yards from my cell using a crude rope fashioned from his bedsheets. His exquisite tenor voice now silenced forever. Venture further into the depths of Belmarsh and you will find the most isolated place within its walls: Healthcare, or Hellcare as its inhabitants lovingly call it. Here, you will marvel at sensible rules designed for everyones safety, such as the prohibition of chess, whilst permitting the far less dangerous game of checkers. Deep within Hellcare lies the most gloriously uplifting place in all of Belmarsh, nay, the whole of the United Kingdom: the sublimely named Belmarsh End of Life Suite. Listen closely, and you may hear the prisoners cries of Brother, Im going to die in here, a testament to the quality of both life and death within your prison. But fear not, for there is beauty to be found within these walls. Feast your eyes upon the picturesque crows nesting in the razor wire and the hundreds of hungry rats that call Belmarsh home. And if you come in the spring, you may even catch a glimpse of the ducklings laid by wayward mallards within the prison grounds. But dont delay, for the ravenous rats ensure their lives are fleeting. I implore you, King Charles, to visit His Majestys Prison Belmarsh, for it is an honour befitting a king. As you embark upon your reign, may you always remember the words of the King James Bible: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7). And may mercy be the guiding light of your kingdom, both within and without the walls of Belmarsh. Your most devoted subject, Julian Assange This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WEBBER TOWNSHIP Former employees of the Webber Township government are gathering signatures for a petition to recall the current supervisor, clerk and treasurer. The recall was initiated by former deputy clerk Piedad Medina, who believes the current administration is guilty of unlawful expenditures, violating ordinances, failing to maintain financial records and bullying her out of her position. The clerk and treasurer are accused of paying the township attorney for personal and private reasons, including to expunge the criminal record of a township employee, and unlawfully paying for the hospital bill and ambulance charge of a township employee who was assaulted on the job. What we have on the recall is just the tip of the iceberg, Ruth Riley, a former member of the planning commission, said. Riley, Medina and former supervisor Tony Gagliardo claim to have evidence that the township is guilty of nepotism and under-the-table dealings, and Medina accused them of pocketing thousands of dollars. In response to the allegations, supervisor Ernie Wogatzke said Were not perfect, we do make mistakes. If we do make mistakes, were not doing anything. Its not a heinous crime, its not like we embezzled, he said. I don't think you have to commit a felony to be recalled in the first place. Not doing your job is a reason to be recalled from office. They're in a position right now where they need to scramble and they need to make people believe that they did the right thing, Gagliardo said. Gagliardo believes the independent auditors who biannually audit the township are not trustworthy, and the Michigan Township Association-appointed attorney would do anything for a buck. I dont put a lot of faith in the auditor, he said. Treasurer Pat Williams said though the township doesnt reconcile the way the auditors would like (which Medina and company have highlighted), it will pass for the state of Michigans requirements and theres nothing unsavory or illegal going on. They swear that I have stolen, Why would I wanna' mess myself up? Ive gotta' balance at the end of the month. If I stole, then Im not gonna' balance and its gonna' cause headaches for me. Also, its wrong and I dont do those things. Why steal from the hand that feeds you? Williams said. Medina retired from working with the state of Michigan to join the township board and was quickly surprised by how she was treated. I had this illusion in my mind about what local government was going to be like. I thought I'd be part of the American process. I thought I was here to help. I very quickly found out how underhanded some things can get and nasty. It's called politics, she said. Medina was let go from her position as township clerk. She and Riley accused the township board of setting her up to be fired by leaving classified documents out for her to read unknowingly. Apparently, I'm not their cup of tea. It didn't take them long to literally, in my opinion, bully me out, she said. Medina believes she was the victim of a targeted attack by the supervisor Ernie Wogatzke and his girlfriend, the secretary at the time. I couldn't believe it until it actually happened to me. The vengeance from a certain person in that office is ridiculous. She carries the vengeance for friggin' ever, she said. Williams and Wogatzke said the former members of the township board, including Medina and others, have been making their lives difficult since 2016. They all were let go because of their incompetence and/or voted out, and they voted us in. It seems disgruntled to me because theyre acting that way. Theyve been horrible ever since Ernie got in office, Williams said. Wogatzke believes Medina and the other former members of the township board trying to recall them are trying to seek revenge. Its vindictiveness. Its retaliation for her getting let go. If they were to say I did some heinous general crime, felony, Id say alright Ill resign. None of this is even a prosecutable offense. Its all made up, Wogatzke said. Since leaving the township, Medina and her group have submitted FOIA Freedom of Information Act requests for countless documents of the townships activities since 2016, persistently keeping tabs on how the township spends money. I held my ground, and I'm not going to move off of it, Medina said. Its the one mission, to keep the honest, honest. Gagliardo insisted that if the recall were for the sake of vengeance, it would have been done years ago. We would have recalled them in their first term because we had so much then. That's all they kept saying You guys are just trying to get back at us because you no longer work here, he said. Riley said shes spoken to higher-ups in the government and they were wowed by the evidence theyve gathered on the current township board. Despite that, no investigation by the county or state has taken place. However, Riley believes an investigation, or formal action, will soon take place. Thats coming down the road, believe me. We gave them enough rope to hang themselves, she said. Wogatzke doesnt want taxpayer money to be spent on an election to recall him and his colleagues. This is all a bunch of crap. If it goes through shes gonna' waste more of our tax dollars with a so-called election, he said. All this is grabbing at straws. Williams said their meetings have become more unruly as this process has continued. Its crazy. Our meetings are ridiculous. They just disrupt, yell all the time, and talk amongst each other during our meetings. Someone walked right up to the trustee and just started showing them some documents right in the middle of the meeting. Theyre just disruptive and rude, Williams said. Police have been called on more than one occasion to settle down the meetings. Wogatzke pointed to the townships ability to serve the people despite these issues. We still get work done, we still get services completed. Weve made leaps and bounds with different services weve provided for the people, he said. Wogatzke believes its a minority of people trying to get them recalled and he will continue to listen to the majority. Weve got a minority of people that want the township run a specific way. Thats not how were doing it. Were going to help our citizens here, he said. Augmento's FDA clearance represents a major milestone for the healthcare industry DeepTek.ai, a Pune-based radiology artificial intelligence (AI) startup, has made a significant breakthrough with its AI-powered Radiology Workflow Management Solution, Augmento. This platform has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical use, making it a reliable choice for healthcare providers around the world. The Indian Radiological and Imaging Association has released a report indicating a critical shortage of radiologists in the country. The ratio of radiologists to population is only one per 100,000 people, which is significantly lower than the World Health Organisation's recommended standard of one radiologist per 10,000 people. DeepTek.ais AI-Powered Augmento platform addresses this issue by bringing in AI in a seamless and in a responsible way to revolutionise radiology workflows and transform productivity, quality, and patient care. Augmento is currently servicing 350+ hospitals and imaging centres across India touching about 60,000 lives every month. Outside India, it is deployed across several countries in the APAC region. The Singapore government as a part of its National AI strategy has been adopting the Augmento platform in key hospitals. Medisols range of products is available to hospitals and retail pharmacies across the whole French territory Global pharma major Lupin, headquartered in Mumbai, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the entire share capital of the French pharmaceutical company, Medisol, subject to approval from the French Ministry of Economy and Finance. Founded in 2011, Medisol specialises in Generics Injectable products and is engaged in developing and commercialising its products in France, in pharmacies and in hospitals. With this acquisition, Lupin will gain access to Medisols portfolio of seven injectable products across four therapeutic areas, including pain management, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular diseases, and obstetrics. Commenting on the acquisition, Vinita Gupta, CEO, Lupin said, The acquisition of Medisol is part of our strategy to expand our presence in the EU and accelerate our Injectables franchise in France. Thierry Volle, President - EMEA, Lupin added, The acquisition of Medisol marks a significant milestone in Lupins journey to strengthen our injectables portfolio in France, the second-largest market in Europe for injectables. Medisols unique product portfolio complements our existing range, enabling us to offer our customers an even more robust selection of high-quality products." Home Search ICH Question Everything! Click Here To Support Information Clearing House 'Nearly A Third Of The World Economy Is Now Subject To Sanctions' By Moon Of Alabama May 06, 2023: Information Clearing House -- " Moon Of Alabama " -- The results are as any observer of such acts would expect. Sanctions are used too broadly. They hardly ever serve their supposed original purpose and do not reach their aims. They hurt the poor more than the supposedly targeted leaders of this or that country. These numbers though are astonishing: Over the past six decades, there has been significant growth in the use of economic sanctions by Western powers and international organizations. Less than 4 percent of countries were subject to sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, or United Nations in the early 1960s; today, that share has risen to 27 percent. The magnitudes are similar when we consider their impact on the global economy: the share of world GDP produced in sanctioned countries rose from less than 4 percent to 29 percent in the same period. In other words, more than one fourth of countries and nearly a third of the world economy is now subject to sanctions by the UN or Western nations. Get Our Free Newsletter Under international law only sanction imposed by the United Nations' Security Council have legal standing. Sanctions by the U.S. or EU are under international law an illegal use of state instruments. The U.S. is using sanctions constantly to press under nations to do its bidding. Until the recent war in Ukraine the EU has used sanctions mostly to 'do something' because it had run out of ideas or diplomatic abilities. The recent sanctions on Russia proved to be hurting the Russians much less than they are hurting the people living in the European Union. It was a catastrophic mistake by EU leaders to preemptively agree to the sanctions the U.S. had been pushing for before Russia entered the civil war in Ukraine on the side of its Ukrainian brethren. The consequences had obviously not been gamed out and thought through. When nearly one third of the world economy is under sanctions the other two-third are losing out too. It would therefore make sense for everyone to abolish all sanctions that have not been issued by the UNSC. Even UNSC sanctions should only be used sparsely and in a very narrowly targeted manner. Sanctions that hit the whole economy of a country are inhuman and should be prohibited. Views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Registration is not necessary to post comments. We ask only that you do not use obscene or offensive language. Please be respectful of others. See also Search Information Clearing House The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. Hollywood actor Chris Pratt has commemorated the release of the third Guardians Of The Galaxy by sharing a number of pictures and videos of his cast mates on set during filming. The final instalment in the Marvel franchise sees Pratt reprise his role as Star-Lord Peter Quill in the blockbuster, alongside Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff and Vin Diesel. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 was released in the UK on Wednesday and in the US on Friday. On Twitter, Pratt shared a video of Gillan and Saldana, dressed in their respective characters Nebula and Gamora, dancing to We Are Family by Sister Sledge before their stunt doubles also appear on-screen. Todays the day! I am SO pumped for all of you to experience the final Guardians of the Galaxy movie. All I can say is, thank you to all our friends and fans who made this so fun. The past 10 years wouldn't have been possible without any of you. Ill forever be grateful. pic.twitter.com/w0AMtSPzWE Advertisement Chris Pratt (@prattprattpratt) May 5, 2023 The 43-year-old also shared a photo of director James Gunn carrying him in his arms, a picture of all the cast dressed in their characters on set and a video panning around the set. Pratt captioned the Twitter post: Todays the day! I am SO pumped for all of you to experience the final Guardians of the Galaxy movie. All I can say is, thank you to all our friends and fans who made this so fun. The past 10 years wouldnt have been possible without any of you. Ill forever be grateful. #GOTGVol3. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and President Michael D Higgins spoke with Britain's King Charles at a reception in Buckingham Palace on Friday evening, ahead of the coronation. Mr Varadkar and Mr Higgins will both be among the guests for Saturday's coronation. At Friday's reception, the pair also spoke with members of the British government, royal family and a "range of other international heads of state and government". Mr Varadkar said: King Charles and Queen Camilla are long-standing friends of Ireland and King Charles has visited regularly in the past two decades, supporting good bilateral relations, co-operation, peace and reconciliation. I expressed my hope that his regular visits will continue into his reign. I was pleased to accept the invitation to attend the coronation, alongside President Higgins, symbolising the close neighbourly relations between our two countries. This is a historic moment for the British people, for the realm, and for their friends around the world." Advertisement He added: We have deep political, economic, cultural, and personal links with Britain, which provided a welcome home to so many of our citizens for generations. A vibrant British community actively contributes to life in Ireland in so many ways. And, of course, there are many people, in the North especially, who are both British and Irish. As we mark the coronation of King Charles III, I look forward to further strengthening British-Irish relations and the friendship between our peoples and look forward to welcoming the royal couple to Ireland in due course. Art Busan, one of Korea's leading art fairs, returned this year with the largest edition ever hosted in the country, with 145 galleries from 22 countries setting up their booths across the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO). Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol Korean art market experiences slowdown, but latest fair aims to invite more emerging international galleries to attract art lovers By Park Han-sol BUSAN Art lovers and collectors have gathered in Korea's second-largest city on the first weekend of May for a major culture-filled outing: Art Busan. The leading art fair returned this year with the largest edition ever hosted in the country, with 145 galleries from 22 countries setting up their booths across the sprawling 26,500-square-meter hall at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO). The four-day event made a seemingly auspicious start as long lines of visitors stretched down the hall on Thursday in time for the VIP opening. But it remains to be seen how much the visibly increased public interest will actually affect sales figures in the end, especially considering that the country's art market, which peaked last year after surpassing the 1 trillion won ($759 million) mark for the first time, is experiencing a slowdown following the global economic downturn. Last year, the fair's sales hit a record high of 74.6 billion won after drawing in more than 102,000 art enthusiasts. Prominent local art dealer Gallery Hyundai has returned to Busan for the fair, bringing the works of artists like Kenny Scharf, Lee Kun-Yong, Simon Fujiwara, Lee Kang-so and Shin Sung-hy into its booth. Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol Prominent dealers here and abroad have returned to Busan for the event Thaddeus Ropac, Peres Projects, Whitestone Gallery, Tang Contemporary Art, Kukje Gallery, Gallery Hyundai, Hakgojae Gallery, among others. A number of them reported a string of topline sales by the end of the VIP preview day. Kukje Gallery sold Korean modern abstract master Ha Chong-hyun's piece from his world-renowned series, "Conjunction," for between $515,000 and $580,000, as well as a gouache painting by American sculptor Alexander Calder for over $250,000. Gallery Hyundai confirmed the 400 million won sale of performance artist Lee Kun-yong's large-scale "Bodyscape" painting. Tang Contemporary Art, which spotlighted creators like Ai Weiwei, Chun Kwang-young and Woo Kuk-won, announced that it sold a majority of its exhibited pieces, and Peres Projects, which recently opened a new space in Seoul's cultural district of Samcheong-dong, placed the works of Ad Minoliti, Bayrol Jimenez, Paolo Salvador and Rebecca Ackroyd to its buyers. But at the same time, gallerists like Javier Peres, founder of Peres Projects, which has been participating in Art Busan since 2019, remarked that the overall first-day sales were indeed "slower" compared to previous editions. "For the last two years, the Korean art market experienced an unprecedented boom. In comparison to those years, it does feel like the heat has relatively died down," another gallery official told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity. Shanghai-headquartered Leo Gallery, one of the international newcomers to Art Busan, highlights eight Chinese and European painters, like the emerging artist Kai Chen, at its booth. Courtesy of Leo Gallery International newcomers Among the 145 participating galleries, more than a dozen are newcomers to the Korean art scene, including Shanghai-headquartered Leo Gallery, Amsterdam-based Galerie Bart, Madrid-based VETA by Fer Frances and Lazy Mike, which has relocated its space from Moscow to Riga, Latvia in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine War. "We decided to (come here), because a couple of our artists received so much interest from local Korean collectors on social media," said Mikhail Ovcharenko, co-founder of Lazy Mike along with his wife, Tanya Stern. The gallery primarily works with Russian and Ukrainian creators, who have either decided to stay in their home countries because of their families or relocate following the political turmoil. On view in its booth are the works of Moscow-based twin artists, Aleksey and Anton Tvorogov, who produce dark fairy tale-inspired sculptures and paintings. Nuo Yin from Leo Gallery noted that the Chinese gallery has been eyeing to expand its collector base, currently made up of those from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, into the bigger Asia-Pacific region. "For the past few years, we could definitely see there was a growing shift of interest; the global art market, it's focusing more and more on the Korean area," she said. The eight Chinese and European painters the dealer highlighted at the booth, like the emerging artist Kai Chen, were quite well-received and intrigued different audience groups a higher ratio of casual art lovers than professional collectors throughout the first day, she added. Visitors take photos of vibrant, eye-popping works of Dutch artist duo Rotteveel Vermeer presented at the booth of Amsterdam-based Galerie Bart. Yonhap Galerie Bart's manager Niek de Brabander echoed the sentiment: "We are very interested in the Korean art market, as we heard that it is booming, and ... Busan has a convenient geographical position in Asia." The Dutch exhibitor introduced the vibrant works of artist duo Rotteveel Vermeer. The two colorists focus on bringing to life the intriguing, eye-popping mix of different color palettes with folded-up foil and tape. "I think our visits to Korea are really going to inspire us in our new work," Thomas Vermeer said, adding that he and Jochem Rotteveel were fascinated by the color aesthetics of Seoul's skyscrapers, street signs and Busan's picturesque Gamcheon Culture Village. "We felt that their pieces would suit the (taste of the) Korean public, and they did," de Brabander noted. A couple of the duo's framed works were sold by the end of the day, and the dealer expects to see more sales based on the amount of interest shown by the booth's visitors. It remains to be seen how much the visibly increased public interest will actually affect the final sales figures at Art Busan, especially considering that the country's art market, which peaked last year after surpassing the 1 trillion won ($759 million) mark for the first time, is experiencing a slowdown following the global economic downturn. Yonhap Jeong Seok-ho, managing director of Art Busan, told The Korea Times that the art fair aims to serve as a "bridge" between the Korean collectors and the global art dealers. "Among the 12 international galleries that currently have their outposts in Seoul, eight, including Peres Projects, Thaddaeus Ropac and Tang Contemporary Art, were first introduced to the Korean art scene by us," he explained. "We are striving to continue in this role, so that we can invite a global dealer that can be the next Peres or Ropac in Korea." "There is an amazing generosity of spirit and an amazing creative receptiveness I find in Korea," said British neo-pop artist Philip Colbert, whose signature gigantic inflatable lobster in an octopus costume is now sitting across Busan's Haeundae Beach as part of Art Busan's special exhibition section. The art fair runs through Sunday at BEXCO. Ukraines air force claims to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using Patriot defence systems recently acquired from allies. It is the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscows most modern missiles. Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile was intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It is also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defence systems. Yes, we shot down the unique Kinzhal, Mr Oleshchuk wrote. It happened during the night-time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region. He said the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from Russian territory and was shot down with a Patriot missile. Advertisement The Kinzhal is one of the latest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 1,250 miles and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. A combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets like underground bunkers or mountain tunnels. The Ukrainian military has previously admitted lacking assets to intercept the Kinzhals. They were saying that the Patriot is an outdated American weapon, and Russian weapons are the best in the world, air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Ukraines Channel 24 television. Well, there is confirmation that it effectively works against even a super hypersonic missile. He said intercepting the Kinzhal is a slap in the face for Russia. Ukraine took its first delivery of Patriot missiles in late April. It has not specified how many it has, but they have been provided by the US, Germany and the Netherlands. Germany has acknowledged sending at least one system and the Netherlands said it has provided two. Ukrainian troops have received extensive training to locate a target with the systems, lock on with radar and fire. Each battery requires up to 90 personnel to operate and maintain. Advertisement Defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the US in August 2021, months before Russias full-scale invasion but seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula. He has described possessing the system as a dream but said he was told in the US at the time that it was impossible. The Patriot system costs approximately $3 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $8 million, according to analysts. In other developments, Ukraines Special Operations Forces accused Russia of using phosphorous munitions in its attempt to win control of the eastern city of Bakhmut. Russian troops have been trying to take the city for more than nine months, but Ukrainian forces are clinging to positions on the western edge of the city. On Saturday, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper quoted military officials as saying that the enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut in an attempt to wipe the city off the face of the Earth. Russian forces have not commented on the claim but have rejected previous accusations by Ukraine that they used phosphorus. International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus or other incendiary weapons in areas where there could be concentrations of civilians. After attending the coronation of the King in London, Brazils President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denounced the lack of concerted efforts to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent four years in Belmarsh Prison. It is an embarrassment that a journalist who denounced trickery by one state against another is arrested, condemned to die in jail and we do nothing to free him. Its a crazy thing, Mr Lula told reporters. We talk about freedom of expression; the guy is in prison because he denounced wrongdoing. And the press doesnt do anything in defence of this journalist. I cant understand it. Mr Lula offered the remarks in response to a question about Assange, who is a native Australian. He said he had forgotten to discuss the matter with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but that he would write to him upon returning to Brazil. Advertisement Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Assange has been fighting extradition to the United States, and Mr Lulas comments come at a moment that he has shown little reluctance to voice his differences of opinion with Washington regarding geopolitical matters, particularly in his opposition to providing arms to Ukraine for its war against Russia, and accusing the US and Europe of encouraging the fighting. His stance and repeated statements have drawn sharp rebukes from the White House and Europe. For its part, Australia has been stepping up diplomatic pressure on the US government to call off its prosecution of Assange. On Friday, Australias Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp in an interview that enough is enough. There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration. Last November, Mr Albanese told Parliament that his position is clear and has been made clear to the US administration: That it is time that this matter be brought to a close. Assange has battled in British courts for years to avoid being sent to the US, where he faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse that stem from WikiLeaks publication of a huge trove of classified documents in 2010. Advertisement American prosecutors allege he helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk. To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed US military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think there must be a movement of world press in his defence. Not in regard to his person, but to defend the right to denounce, Mr Lula told reporters. The guy didnt denounce anything vulgar. He denounced that a state was spying on others, and that became a crime against the journalist. The press, which defends freedom of the press, does nothing to free this citizen. Its sad, but its true. Last year, Assanges father John Shipton sought to convince Mexicos President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to address the issue of his sons prosecution with the US top diplomat, and to get Australias Mr Albanese to raise the issue with US President Joe Biden at Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral. Sir David Attenborough said the future of humanity depends on state leaders giving their full backing to environmental issues which he believes Britain's King Charles will do. The broadcaster and naturalist, who turns 97 on Monday, appeared on BBC One with Kirsty Young as part of its coverage ahead of Charles' coronation on Saturday. Mr Attenborough said Charles very clearly understood the relationship and importance of the natural world right from being a small child. Prince William, Sir David Attenborough, the then-Prince Charles and Prince Harry (Kirsty OConnor/PA) He said: When he became prominent and an adult, he took a strong line at a time when nature conservation was regarded as being slightly specialist. But he realised what it was about and he was mocked actually, because he said trees are so important I feel like talking to trees. But in fact, he was absolutely right and the world has come to see the world as he saw it. Advertisement He continued: The fact is 20 or 30 years ago, it really was sort of oddball to a lot of people. But now everybody realises that the future of humanity is dependent upon a healthy natural world. The way ahead demands that leaders of the state should actually give their full backing and Im quite sure that as King he will lead this country in a very important way. Mr Attenborough said Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, was very vigorous in ordering conservation, adding: Im quite sure King Charles will be the same. Sir David Attenborough watches as Prince Charles and Princess Anne make friends with Cocky, a cockatoo brought back from his last Zoo Quest expedition (PA) He also spoke about first meeting the then-Prince Charles when he visited the BBC studios at the age of nine and held his pet cockatoo named Cocky. I had just come back from New Guinea with a load of animals which were going to the London Zoo, but I had a pet cockatoo and I was asked to bring it to the studios, which I did, he said. Dear little Cocky is sitting on his (Charless) hand but in fact they have a very powerful beak and a very powerful bite and although I was fairly confident about Cocky, he could actually have removed his little finger. Advertisement But all was well and it was a very happy occasion. Speaking about the coronation on Saturday, Mr Attenborough said he was looking forward to the whole panoply of the military, the parade, and, of course, the ceremony itself which he said will be deeply moving. Republican protesters appear to have been arrested ahead of the coronation of Britain's King Charles. Footage on Twitter seemed to show Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, being apprehended by police in St Martins Lane, near Trafalgar Square, on Saturday morning. Pictures appeared to show demonstrators in yellow Not My King T-shirts, including Mr Smith, having their details taken by officers. The organisers of the #notmyking protest have been arrested - police wont say what for pic.twitter.com/qu5JgNhCgF Alliance of European Republican Movements (@AERMorg) May 6, 2023 In one video, an officer says: Im not going to get into a conversation about that they are under arrest, end of. On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police announced they would have an extremely low threshold for protests during the coronation celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect swift action. Advertisement After the apparent arrests, Republic activist Luke Whiting, 26, told the PA news agency: Six Republic members have been arrested including the CEO as the demonstration was starting at the edge of Trafalgar Square. It is unclear why, potentially it is because one of them was carrying a megaphone. It is unclear exactly whether the police are using these new powers and whether they are misusing them to stop protest happening. (PA Graphics) One woman in a Republic T-shirt who was arrested told PA: We had a delivery of placards ready for the protest and then the tactical support unit questioned us as to how we we had got through the road closures. They questioned whether what we were doing was a delivery. They then said they found evidence of means of locking on, of items that could be used to lock on, and they arrested us. Officers carried her away from where she had been standing outside a Tesco store. Two men who appeared to have been part of the same demonstration were carried away by officers into a marked police van. The policing operation is set to see 11,500 police officers on duty on Saturday. Israeli forces have shot dead two Palestinians during a military raid in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said. The raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarem was the latest in Israeli-Palestinian violence that has surged since last year. The ministry and Tulkarems branch of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group with connections to president Mahmoud Abbass Fatah party, identified the pair as Samer El Shafei and Hamza Kharyoush, both aged 22. Palestinians carry the body of militant Samer El Shafei in the Nur Shams refugee camp (Majdi Mohammed/AP) The Israeli military said the two were suspected of carrying out a shooting at a nearby Israeli settlement earlier this week. An Israeli civilian was injured and vehicles were damaged during the attack at the Avnei Hefetz Jewish settlement. Videos on social media purportedly shows the bodies of the two gunmen lying on a tin roof as two Israeli soldiers search them. Advertisement Palestinian media, citing witnesses, said soldiers left after ensuring the two were dead. The deaths raised to 104 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the start of the year. The body of Hamza Kharyoush wrapped in a Hamas flag (Majdi Mohammed/AP) Israel has been staging near-nightly arrest raids in West Bank villages, towns and cities for more than a year in an operation prompted by a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year. Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the attacks as further entrenchment of Israels 56-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for a future independent state. Some 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the raids were launched. Israel says most have been militants, but stone-throwing youth and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. During that time, nearly 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Russias top investigative agency said the suspect in a car bombing that injured a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist and killed his driver has admitted acting at the behest of Ukraines special services. The blast that hit the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of Russias war in Ukraine, was the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the conflict. It took place in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 250 miles east of Moscow. Russias Investigative Committee said the suspect was a Ukrainian native and had admitted under questioning that he was working under orders from Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry in turn blamed not only Ukraine but the United States as well. Russian writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP) Advertisement Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with the Ukrainian authorities, but with their Western patrons, in the first place, the United States, who since the coup detat of February 2014 have painstakingly nurtured the anti-Russian neo-Nazi project in Ukraine, the ministry said, referring to the 2014 uprising in Kyiv that forced the Russia-friendly president to flee. In August 2022, a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as Putins brain. The authorities alleged that Ukraine was behind the blast. Last month, an explosion in a cafe in St Petersburg killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. Officials once again blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies. Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Mr Prilepin was traveling back to Moscow on Saturday from Ukraines partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and stopped in the Nizhny Novogorod region for a meal. Mr Prilepin became a supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2014, after Mr Putin illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula. He was involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of Russian-backed separatists. Last year, he was sanctioned by the European Union for his support of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Advertisement In 2020, he founded a political party, For the Truth, which Russian media reported was backed by the Kremlin. A year later, Mr Prilepins party merged with the nationalist A Just Russia party that has seats in the parliament. A co-chair of the newly formed party, Mr Prilepin won a seat in the State Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, in the 2021 election, but gave it up. Party leader Sergei Mironov called the incident on Saturday a terrorist act and blamed Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed Mr Mironovs sentiment in a post on the messaging app Telegram, adding that responsibility also lay with the US and Nato. Washington and Nato have nursed yet another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime, Ms Zakharova wrote. Direct responsibility of the US and Britain. Were praying for Zakhar. The deputy chair of Russias Security Council, former president Dmitry Medvedev put the blame on Nazi extremists in a telegram he sent to Mr Prilepin. Ukrainian officials have not commented directly on the allegations. However, Ukraines presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, in a tweet on Saturday, appeared to point the finger at the Kremlin, saying that to prolong the agony of Putins clan and maintain the illusionary total control, the Russian repression machine picks up the pace and catches up with everyone, including supporters of the Ukraine war. Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has made his first public statements since being admitted to hospital a month ago, delivering a video address to his Forza Italia party. Mr Berlusconi, who appeared in the video sitting at a desk set up inside the hospital and flanked by Italian and EU flags, received a standing ovation from the floor of the party congress in Milan. The 86-year-old three-time former premier and media mogul noted that it was the first time since he was taken to hospital that he had worn a coat and jacket. Forza Italia party activists watch Silvio Berlusconi as he talks in his video address (Luca Bruno/AP) He told party members that Forza Italia is an essential and loyal pillar of the governing majority led by Giorgia Melonis far-right Brothers of Italy, and said he was proud of the governments accomplishments so far, including a reduction in payroll taxes. Advertisement Mr Berlusconi was admitted to Milans San Raffaele Hospital with a lung infection on April 5, and doctors later revealed he also has chronic leukaemia. His party is the smallest in Ms Melonis coalition, which also includes Matteo Salvinis League group. Mr Berlusconi has a seat in the senate but no cabinet posts. There is a bit of a pile on at the moment [with Alan]. In Australia, the guy next door knows how to run Qantas. Its been ever thus. Loading The airline revealed on Friday Hudson would be paid a base salary of $1.6 million when she started the role in November. She is set to make millions more if the group meets a series of operational and share price performance targets. Fleet renewal plan Qantas may have returned to profitability since acquiring $7 billion in debt over the COVID-19 pandemic but its looming fleet renewal plan has unnerved some analysts who say the airline has underestimated how much it needs to spend on aircraft over the next five years. The average age of Qantass fleet has reached a record high of more than 14 years, a significant increase from the average of all Asia Pacific airlines, which hovers around nine years. Qantass former management considered fleet age to be a pivotal part of aircraft planning and kept to a benchmark of 10 years but its importance has waned under Joyce according to Qantas group treasurer Greg Manning who spoke to The Australian last month. Loading Average age has always been a factor in our fleet planning process, but its definitely not the main factor and hasnt been for some time, Manning said. For the period of time we keep most aircraft, well replace the cabins and replace or refurbish engines, so its not as simple as the date of manufacture. Qantass fleet modernisation program dubbed Project Winton will refresh its domestic and international arms. The airline expects the program to cost $5 billion over the next five years, but analysts from Morningstar and UBS put the figure at above $12 billion. It will be down to Hudson to manage the exposure without jeopardising shareholder returns or operations, a task shes said the airline was ready for due to its reduction in costs. New aircraft are set to service extra-long haul flights from Australias east coast to Europe and New York in 2025. Credit: Getty The airline has so far ordered 118 aircraft to be delivered over the next 10 years including 12 Airbus 350-1000s, 20 A220s and 20 A321XLRs. The first of the A321s and A220s will begin arriving this year and will, along with 109 A320neos, replace Qantass current domestic and short-haul international fleet of Boeing 737s and 717s and increase the number of seats by 40 per cent. The A350s are expected to service Qantass extra-long haul Project Sunrise flights from Australias east coast to Europe and New York, from 2025. The modernisation means passengers will be travelling on more fuel efficient, quieter aircraft with a lot more seats. But its too soon to tell if they will be thanking Hudson for the extra comfort or cursing an increase in fares as we do not know how much passengers will be charged for the pleasure of flying in the new aircraft. Sustainability targets The aviation industry has a bigger carbon footprint than Australia and is responsible for about 2.5 per cent of the worlds emissions. Its also one of the few major carbon-emitting sectors disproportionately used by wealthier people. Like the majority of the worlds airlines, Qantas has set ambitious emissions reductions targets to reach net-zero by 2050. Unlike in other countries, its difficult for local airlines to meet their targets by simply reducing the number of services due to the size of Australia and lack of viable alternate transportation options. The International Air Transport Association which represents 290 of the worlds biggest airlines estimates the aviation sector will need to invest $4 trillion in offsets and sustainable fuel through to 2050 to achieve emissions reductions compatible with a 1.75 degree carbon cap, which works out to an annual investment of $192 billion. This means travellers banking on an industry-wide fare price fall are likely to be disappointed as airlines are likely to offset some of the cost of sustainable travel through airfares. In the case of Qantas, Hudson will have to manage the price pressures of the airlines emissions-lowering fuel initiative and lobby federal and state governments for assistance in setting up this new industry. Qantas has said it will convert to 10 per cent sustainable aviation fuel by 2030, and 60 per cent by 2060. Made from crops, household waste, animal fat and other biomass, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produces about one-fifth of the emissions of conventional jet fuel, but theres a global supply issue, and its more than double the price. The airline hopes its joint $307 million investment with Airbus to develop a local SAF industry will prompt the federal government into action. Although groundbreaking, some industry experts argue banking on SAF is a lofty pursuit given theres only enough currently produced to replace about one per cent of the worlds flying Qantas generates more than 30,000 tonnes of total waste every year. COVID-19 exacerbated the use of single-use plastics across the industry as airlines and airports grappled with how to minimise human-to-human contact. In 2022, the airline committed to eradicating single-use plastics by 2027 and generate zero landfill waste by 2030. Increased competition and staff shortages Airlines are notoriously difficult to make profitable. To keep Qantas in the black, Hudson will have to display a competitive streak. But according to Virgin co-founder Brett Godfrey, theres never been a better time to run an airline. Qantas is one of the most financially fit airlines in the world and right now is the best of times in terms of yield and demand, he said. The fact weve now got four airlines and none of them are bleeding red ink indicates the strength of current conditions and may point to temporary industry capacity constraint versus longer-term sustainability. Airlines were caught flat-footed by the swift pick up in travel post-COVID. Credit: Louise Kennerley Despite the increased choice, Qantas continues to control more than 60 per cent of the domestic market. Airlines globally lack economic moats due to a business model with high fixed costs not conducive to rational pricing, a lack of barriers to entry, and low switching costs. We expect these conditions, which plagued the airline industry before the pandemic, to return, Morningstar analyst Angus Hewitt said. Loading UBS said in a note last month that Qantass competitors are well positioned to increase capacity and reduce their prices to put pressure on the airline on key domestic routes. However, the note also said Qantass capacity for returns is high now its reduced its costs. Perhaps the most significant change consumers will be looking for from a Qantas under new management will be in service delivery. Qantas became a lightning rod of customer anger when flying resumed more quickly than its COVID-crunched operations expected in 2022. This led to extensive delays, cancellations and lost bags across over key holiday periods in 2022. All airlines experienced similar problems. Qantas has since corrected its on-time performance and baggage handling system, but some consumers remain unmoved. Hudson said earlier this week the airline was working to restore customer trust and had so far invested $200 million to improve its customer service. Loading The industry continues to be affected by ongoing staff shortages. In March, Qantas announced it would create 8500 jobs over the next decade in an acknowledgement of its swathe of redundancies in 2020 which meant 9400 people lost their jobs had restricted performance. Qantass $1 billion restructure created tension between the airline and many of the unions representing its staff. One of Hudsons major tasks will be rebuilding the relationship between the airline and these unions. The news of her appointment was met with enthusiasm from most unions, with the Australian Services Union saying it marked the first opportunity in 10 years to reset the relationship between the airline, its customers and its workers. This clean slate may be tested as soon as next week when Qantas fronts the High Court to appeal a Federal Court verdict that its outsourcing of 1700 ground handling roles in 2020 was illegal. Although the bulk of Qantas employees covered by an enterprise agreement have now signed onto post-COVID-19 agreements, the airline still needs to make a deal with its short-haul and long-haul pilots, a task that may well fall to Hudson when she takes the mantle in November. Theres a drawing in the State Library of Queensland that always makes me think of Rosa Frankenstein. Its 1885 and a ship is disembarking newly arrived migrants to Australia. Two men guide an elegant young woman onto the gangplank that will lead her into the teeming dockside and her new life. I imagine this young woman is Rosa, nervous, excited. She has come to Sydney to be married to Jules Francois, an ambitious, intelligent young journalist whom she met in London while he was on assignment for his Australian newspaper, The Bulletin. A drawing of a young womans arrival in Australia. Credit: State Library of Queensland Nothing in her life has prepared her for this new world. Everything she knows her loving family, her London home and Jewish community might as well be a million miles away. There will be no happy-ever-after for Rosa. For Jules Francois was not the man he had made himself out to be. London: The invitation to the coronation, florid and colourful, almost conveyed an air of informality. As though King Charles III himself had whipped it up one afternoon at Highgrove while tinkering with a palette of watercolours in the garden. In fact, it was designed by heraldic artist Andrew Jamieson, from the Art Workers Guild, of which Charles is an honorary member, and opened with: By command of the King, the Earl Marshal is directed to invite ... Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary arrive at the coronation. Credit: Getty About the size of a vinyl album, it was the regal equivalent of a golden ticket to Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory. Russia-U.S. ties on verge of open armed conflict over Ukraine: Russia's deputy FM Xinhua) 10:38, May 06, 2023 VLADIVOSTOK, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned on Thursday that Russia and the United States are on the verge of an open armed conflict over Ukraine, but Moscow is trying to prevent this. Ryabkov said that Moscow knew that Kiev was acting under Washington's instructions when it chose to attack targets in Russia, including a drone strike on the Kremlin, adding that both Ukraine and the United States looked ridiculous when they denied their involvement in the attack. Noting the growing risk of escalation in recent months, he said the United States continued to use Ukraine as a tool to stage and carry out audacious and dangerous acts of provocation. Moscow patiently and calmly made it clear to Washington that further escalation was unacceptable, Ryabkov said, adding that it was necessary for both sides to have contact. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) A woman arriving from China enters a COVID-19 testing center at the Incheon International Airport, Jan. 5. AP-Yonhap The government plans to "swiftly" lower its national crisis level for COVID-19, the head of the country's public health agency said Saturday, after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the virus as a global health emergency earlier this week. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Commissioner Jee Young-mee made the announcement in a release, following the WHO's move Friday to end the public health emergency of international concern that had been in place since January 2020. "By considering the WHO Emergency Committee results, the trend of the virus spread at home and abroad, domestic antivirus measures, medical response capabilities, policies of major countries, and others, we will swiftly confirm the downgrade plan for the COVID-19 emergency level through an emergency assessment meeting with experts," Jee said. In March, Korea unveiled a road map to eventually redefine COVID-19 as endemic and ease the remaining virus restrictions after the WHO declares an end to the global emergency status for the virus. London: The contrast couldnt have been more stark. William, the Prince of Wales, and his wife, Catherine, the Princess of Wales, looked resplendent and regal as they waited outside Westminster Abbey to enter as part of the formal procession. Their outfits were determined in consultation with the King and Queen, now formally crowned. Catherine and William arrive at Westminster Abbey. Credit: Getty Images Members of the royal family wore morning dress with mantles. William wore ceremonial dress uniform, belonging to the Welsh Guards, reflecting his rank and position as Colonel of the Regiment. The second in line to the throne, Prince George, the youngest-ever royal to take part in a coronation, served as a Page of Honour, wearing that official uniform. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, left, poses for photos with Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden before their meeting at Dowden's office in London, May 5. Joint press corps Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has met with Britain's new Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden during his visit to the country to attend King Charles III's coronation. During the 40-minute meeting at the British government's central office building in London, Friday, the two leaders discussed strengthening cooperation in the fields of economic security, nuclear power and renewable energy, and raised the need to start negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries by the end of this year, Han's office said. The closest political ally to the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Dowden was named his new deputy on April 21 right after Dominic Raab resigned from the position. Dowden expressed his hope for comprehensive security cooperation, including on cybersecurity, the economy and energy, a Korean government official said on condition of anonymity during a press briefing to Korean reporters. Han responded that he wants to strengthen cooperation with Britain, a country that shares values, such as democracy and the rule of law, the official added. The two leaders also agreed to explore cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, citing Britain's ambitious agenda for cooperation with countries in the region and Korea's adoption of its Indo-Pacific strategy at the end of last year. They also discussed Ukraine and agreed to continue working together to support international efforts for peace in the region. Dowden introduced his daughter as a fan of BLACKPINK, the biggest K-pop girl group currently, during the meeting. The quartet will become the first K-pop act to headline the British Summer Time Hyde Park, one of the largest British music festivals, in July in London. In the evening, Han attended a reception at Buckingham Palace, hosted by King Charles. The prime minister also had a series of meetings with leaders of three African countries Malawi, Sierra Leone and Gambia on the sidelines of the visit. He asked for their support for the port city of Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo while stressing Seoul's hope to create sustainable and long-term cooperative relationships with the African countries, according to his office. The prime minister is scheduled to attend the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, Saturday, as part of his weeklong trip to Europe that also includes stops in Sweden, Austria and Romania. (Yonhap) A BJP leader in Bihar on Saturday lodged a complaint in a court against state president of the ruling RJD, Jagadanand Singh, and another political figure, for allegedly using derogatory language against godman Dhirendra Shastri. Shastri, popularly known as Bageshwar baba', is scheduled to visit Patna next week for holding a five-day congregation. The petition was filed before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Muzaffarpur, by Anil Kumar Singh, a lawyer who is also associated with the BJP's legal cell. The petitioner has cited videos uploaded on YouTube a couple of days ago, wherein Jagadanand Singh and Pappu Yadav, a former RJD MP now heading his own outfit Jan Adhikar Party, allegedly made disparaging remarks about Shastri. The petitioner has contended that this was tantamount to hurting religious sentiments of Hindus, and sought trial of Jagadanand Singh and Yadav under relevant sections of the IPC. The petition, which will be taken up for hearing on May 16, has been filed barely a few days after another complaint lodged at the same court had accused Shastri of hurting Hindu sentiments by proclaiming to be an incarnation of Lord Hanuman. Also Read Hearing on Trinamool minister's derogatory remarks on President postponed Microsoft introduces 'sign language view' feature in Teams for deaf users Modi govt played 'active role' in Rahul's disqualification: Lalan Centre cutting its share in funding education: Bihar FM Vijay Choudhary TOEFL to be shortened by an hour, candidates to get real-time score status Drones, Army choppers pressed into service in ethnic violence-hit Manipur Rahul's visit raises security concerns, will ensure not happen again: DU Cyclonic circulation formed over Southeast Bay of Bengal, says IMD Five-day work for bank employees soon, FinMin to issue notification: Report Delhi BJP launches 'Jhootha Kahin Ka' campaign against AAP's Kejriwal Shastri is scheduled to be in the Bihar capital from May 13 onwards. The proposed tour has raised the hackles of the RJD, the BJP's principal rival in Bihar. Tej Pratap Yadav, the maverick elder son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and the state's environment minister, has vowed to "gherao" Shastri at the airport and prevent him from addressing the congregation. Barely in his 20s, Shastri, who heads the Bageshwar Dham pilgrimage centre in Madhya Pradesh, has acquired a huge fan following, largely on account of a proclaimed ability to read people's minds. The ruling BJP, hoping to retain power and beating the anti-incumbency factor in Karnataka, has got a shot in the arm with the Congress proposal to ban the Bajrang Dal. Congress insiders confide that the move by the party has given undue advantage to the BJP. Bharatiya Janata Party insiders say they are celebrating the self goal by the Congress and want to keep the issue alive till the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The BJP, which was struggling to keep the Hindu vote bank intact, has heaved a sigh of relief. BJP leaders proclaimed that the Bajrang Dal is an extension of the RSS like the BJP. The Congress proposal also gave the BJP an opportunity to reach out to the masses and make more inroads for the Bajrang Dal. Barring the coastal regions, the presence of the Bajrang Dal is minimal in the state, but now the hue and cry surrounding the organisation will help it to grow, say sources. The momentum is like the hijab crisis, where a large section of young students volunteered to join the RSS and Hindu organisations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi now makes it a point to raise the slogan of 'Jai Bajrang Bali' in every public rally and is getting a tremendous response. Modi has also given a call to the voters of Karnataka to take the name of Bajrang Bali and cast their votes in the May 10 general elections. Political analyst B. Samiulla told IANS that the development has helped the BJP to keep its Hindutva vote bank intact. The Hindu vote bank was divided earlier. However, the BJP will not gain extra votes in significant numbers. The development has also helped the BJP to curb the resentment due to mismanagement among its traditional voters. Also Read Row over Cong's K'taka election manifesto reaches poll-bound Madhya Pradesh Congress promises to take action on Bajrang Dal, PFI for hate speech Cong making mockery of Hindu faith by asking to ban Bajrang Dal: Adityanath Kamal Nath challenges BJP, RSS to discuss religion, spirituality with Rahul Hindu gurus do more social service in South than missionaries: RSS Chief MP's Former BJP minister Deepak Joshi joins Congress ahead of state polls IBBI seeks public ideas, comments on regulations under insolvency law Waiting for girls' statement to be recorded before DM: Sakshi Malik Manipur students clash in DU area, situation under control: Police Cong making mockery of Hindu faith by asking to ban Bajrang Dal: Adityanath The Bajrang Dal does not have roots in Karnataka. The people do not know about any Bajrang Dal leader after the demise of Mahendra Kumar. It does not have a presence in Mandya, Mysuru and other main regions of the state, Samiulla explained. V. Suresh, VHP district sampark pramukh of Bengaluru Rural district, told IANS that banning the RSS and the Bajrang Dal is impossible. "The proposal is like banging your head against a wall. We oppose the move and legally it is not possible for us to stage a protest in the present times. They (Congress) will face the consequences. The voters are educated and aware of what is happening around them. They will register their protest at the time of voting," Suresh claimed. According to Rajesh Pavithran, state president of the Akhila Bharatha Hindu Mahasabha, the BJP is using the proposal to ban the Bajrang Dal as an election gimmick. "Saying this I am clarifying that we are not with the Congress. Both the parties are waging a bitter fight for power. The hunger for power is more in the BJP," he said. "Hindu Mahasabha pursues Hindutva. But, the BJP has tried to break our leadership. We wanted to field 93 candidates and now only six are contesting. The BJP is creating a rift among ourselves. The BJP and the Congress are two sides of the same coin. The BJP is not for Hindutva," Pavithran stated. What is wrong in saying that if the Bajrang Dal or the PFI go against the Constitution, they will be banned? The social media infrastructure of the BJP is well ahead of all other political parties. They get 30,000 to 40,000 likes within minutes of uploading their posts. They are afraid of defeat and lying, Pavithran said. The BJP built a house for the family of Praveen Kumar Nettaru. They gave a job to his wife as well which is appreciable. But, what about scores of other Hindu activists who were hacked to death? Their parents are still selling flowers in the markets. "I am saying this being a follower of the Hindutva ideology. I was jailed because I questioned the razing of an ancient temple by a BJP MP. There is no right for me to raise my voice regarding the temple," he said. However, the BJP is celebrating the development as the cadres and party workers got a much needed boost before the elections. The BJP leaders claim that the development has neutralised the anti-incumbency factor. On the other hand the JD (S) also appears confident and its leader Kumaraswamy is appealing to the people to give his party a majority. --IANS mka/bg Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Saturday accused the Congress of functioning on the banned Popular Front of India's (PFI) agenda, as he urged the people of Karnataka not to vote for the opposition party in Assembly polls next week. Alleging that Congress indulges in appeasement politics, he claimed that it has insulted Lord Hanuman, along with freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar. "Congress party for the sake of vote bank indulges in appeasement politics. First, they gave four per cent Muslim reservation, despite knowing that our Constitution doesn't provide for reservation based on religion. BJP has scrapped this unconstitutional Muslim reservation and increased quota for Lingayats and Vokkaligas by two per cent each," Shah said. Addressing a public meeting here in Belagavi district, he said Congress promises that in case the party comes to power, they would bring back Muslim reservation and take it up to six per cent instead of four per cent. "From where will you (Congress) get it, whose (quota) will you reduce? Will you reduce the quota of Lingayats or Vokkaligas or SC/STs, clarify it. Congress people listen with open ears, you will neither form the government, nor Lingayats reservation will get reduced. Only the BJP government will come," he added. Recalling that the BJP government outlawed PFI last year, the Home Minister claimed Congress says that on coming to power they would take back the ban on the Islamist outfit. "We don't indulge in vote bank politics, whoever does anti-national work will go behind bars". Also Read BJP CEC meeting today to finalise candidates for Karnataka Assembly polls Karnataka Assembly polls: Rahul Gandhi promises Rs 2 hike in milk subsidy Amit Shah to address party workers in Bharatpur in poll-bound Rajasthan BJP preparing young team to lead Karnataka's development in next 25 yrs: PM Gujarat polls: Counting of votes from 8 am; AAP looks to make strong debut Manipur CM N Biren Singh convenes all-party meeting in violence-hit state 7% Bengali films are hits post-covid, success rate satisfactory: Official Cong's Bajrang Dal ban promise a windfall for BJP as it battles incumbency MP's Former BJP minister Deepak Joshi joins Congress ahead of state polls IBBI seeks public ideas, comments on regulations under insolvency law Pointing out that PFI had placed two demands, he further said one is to increase the minority budget to Rs 10,000 crore, and the Congress "silently" in its manifesto has promised to increase the quantum to Rs 10,000 crore. Also, PFI had asked for reservation to minorities, and Congress said it will give six per cent reservation instead of four per cent earlier, he said. "Congress is functioning on PFI's agenda, never vote for Congress." Accusing Congress of keeping Lord Ram "under lock" by not allowing the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya for 70 years, Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on coming to power laid the foundation for building the structure at the site. The Congress, in its manifesto, has also insulted 'Bajrangbali' (Lord Hanuman), he said, adding "they don't stop there". "One senior Congress leader asked what is the birth date of Bajrangbali, do you have his birth certificate? Whole country knows his birth date. It's on Hanuman Jayanti Poornima. You (Congress) don't know as you only remember appeasement." Hitting out at the Congress for "insulting" Savarkar, the BJP leader said: "They don't know history. Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi), you insult Savarkar. Even if you live for 10 janams (births), you cannot make one-tenth of the sacrifices that Savarkar made." He said BJP has installed Savarkar's portrait at the Assembly hall in Belagavi's Suvarna Vidhana Soudha. Stating that during his travel across the state for campaigning, he has seen the situation in Karnataka, the Home Minister said, BJP will form a majority government in Karnataka. Appealing to the people of Karnataka to ensure that BJP gets full majority, he said: "Under Modi's leadership, the BJP will make north Karnataka the most developed region of the state....give all the 18 seats in Belagavi district to BJP in this election." Noting that the Congress despite having governments in Karnataka, Goa and at the Centre in the past did not resolve the inter-state Mahadayi river water dispute, Shah said in 2007, top Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had said in Goa that Mahadayi water will not be given to Karnataka. "Sonia ji, you left and your government too left. Modi ji came (to power) and the issue has been resolved and Mahadayi water is coming to northern districts of Karnataka," he pointed out, as he accused the Congress of using "lathis and bullets" against farmers. Taking a dig at Congress' poll guarantees, Shah said similar promises were made by Congress in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland, and the party was "wiped out" there. "Rahul baba, no one believes your guarantees. Those who don't have respect, no one trusts their guarantees," he claimed. Pointing that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had called PM Modi a "venomous snake", Shah said it shows the party's "level", and the time has come for the people of Karnataka to teach them a lesson. The ruling BJP is locked in a tussle with the opposition Congress with less than a week to go for polls in the state. Voting is on May 10 and the results will be declared on May 13. While there is an in-principle agreement between the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and public sector banks (PSBs) unions, several other issues will have to be resolved among PSBs, cooperative banks and private banks. Employees of government-owned banks may soon be allowed five-day work i.e., Monday to Friday, according to a CNBC Awaaz report. The Finance Ministry is likely to issue a notification on the same in the coming weeks. However, bank employees will be required to work an additional 40 minutes per day from 9:45 am to 5:30 pm, stated The Times of India (ToI) report. The upcoming G20 meeting which will be held here is a great opportunity to promote Jammu and Kashmir's tourism potential globally as it will show the world that the union territory is a wonderful destination for all, an official said on Saturday. The third G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting will be held in Srinagar from May 21 to 23. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the trailer launch of the movie "Welcome to Kashmir" at Inox Cinema here, Tourism Secretary Syed Abid Rasheed Shah said the department has identified 300 new destinations for film shootings and will facilitate production houses. "The third G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting is taking place in Kashmir which in itself is a major international event. I do not think such a big international event has taken place in Jammu and Kashmir ever before," he said. "Whether it is adventure tourism or leisure tourism, or our focus areas of film tourism and MICE tourism, we are working to attract the attention of the world and this event is a major opportunity to promote it at the global scale. The event will show the world that Jammu and Kashmir is a wonderful destination for all to come and enjoy," he added. Jammu and Kashmir was a prime destination for film tourism in the 1960s and 70s. Also Read Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar likely to host G20 event: Govt official Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury seeks discussion in parliament on Jammu-Kashmir JK Bank records highest-ever net annual profit of Rs 1,197 crore in FY23 Unfortunate that no G20 meetings were scheduled in Jammu: Farooq Abdullah Inox Wind, Inox Green Energy Services reduce debt by Rs 411 crore Poor diligence while granting driving licences is costing lives on roads Suvendu writes to Ashwini Vaishnaw accusing Mamata of misusing railways Manipur: Army evacuate more than 16,000 people from violence-hit areas Cong working on banned PFI's agenda: Amit Shah at Karnataka election rally Stories of Bihar women entrepreneurs to be showcased during G20 events Efforts of the Department of Tourism and the administration are aimed at making the union territory the prime destination for film tourism once again so that people come here instead of going to Switzerland, France and the Alps, Shah said. In the last year, over 200 films, web series and TV serials have been shot in Jammu and Kashmir, he said. "In the coming year, our effort is that as a subset of tourism, film tourism is promoted in a major way inside and outside the country so that the hitherto untouched beautiful destinations and locations that are much better than some of the most beautiful European destinations, are brought on the map," he said. The tourism secretary said there is a one-stop centre for all the necessary permissions. There is an online portal, there is an enabling atmosphere so that the film production units do not face any difficulty, he said. On the shooting of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer movie "Dunki" in Kashmir last month, Shah said major production houses and film stars are coming to the Valley for shooting films. "I want to give an open-hearted invitation to all those, whether inside the country or outside, interested in shooting in Jammu and Kashmir. This year, we are projecting 300 new destinations and they can choose any. The government of Jammu and Kashmir will be forthcoming and facilitate you in every way," he said. In a scathing attack on the BJP, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said Karnataka and the rest of the country cannot make progress without getting rid of the ruling party's "loot, lies, ego and hatred". Making her maiden entry into the 2023 Karnataka Assembly poll battle here, Sonia also said the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by her son Rahul Gandhi a few months ago was against those spreading hatred. "This was the reason that lakhs of people joined Rahul Gandhi's 4,000 km march". "Neither Karnataka nor India can make progress without getting rid of the atmosphere of BJP's loot, lies, ego and hatred," Gandhi said in her first public rally in the poll-bound state, which votes on May 10. The former Congress president said: "It is everyone's responsibility to strengthen our voice against this (BJP) government's dark rule." She was flanked on the stage by Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar who recently quit BJP over the denial of ticket and joined the party. The party has fielded Shettar, a six-time MLA, from Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency, from where he had won the previous Assembly polls in 2018. Gandhi said people have seen how rattled the BJP was in this election due to which it has resorted to all "kinds of repression". Don't you feel that dacoity has become the business of those in power? You had not given them power in 2018 but they robbed the government and captured it. Then, their 40 per cent commission government got busy in looting, she charged. Also Read Cong leaders greet Sonia on birthday, Kharge hails her 'indomitable spirit' 2020 Delhi riots: Court acquits two of rioting, arson and dacoity charges Karnataka Assembly polls: Rahul Gandhi promises Rs 2 hike in milk subsidy Rahul Gandhi to start his two-day visit to poll-bound Karnataka on April 16 BJP CEC meeting today to finalise candidates for Karnataka Assembly polls Biju Patnaik Airport inaugurates 4 MW solar plant, switches to green energy PM Modi congratulates King Charles III, Queen Camilla on their coronation INS Magar decommissioned after 36 years service to the country Republic Day 2024: Only females to be part of marching contingents, bands PM Modi to visit Gujarat on May 12 to participate in inauguration ceremony Accusing BJP leaders of being "egoistic", she said they neither answer any questions nor any letter addressed to them. Gandhi made an indirect reference to the letter written by the contractors' association in Karnataka to the Prime Minister about 40 per cent commission being charged from them for public works in the state. They (BJP leaders) are not bothered about accountability. They think that they have pocketed all the constitutional institutions. I want to ask you whether you have ever seen such arbitrariness. Does democracy function like this? No, Gandhi said. According to her, the situation today is such that the BJP leaders openly issue threats that if their party does not win the Karnataka election then the state will not get the "blessings" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement in an election rally that there will be riots in Karnataka if Congress comes to power in the state, Gandhi, without naming him, said: "They say that if the BJP loses, then there will be riots here. On your behalf, I want to tell them not to treat the people of Karnataka as powerless and helpless." The people of the state do not depend on anyone's blessings but rely on their hard work and firm decisions, she underlined. The people of Karnataka are not cowardly and greedy so that you can induce them. The people of Karnataka will tell you on May 10 what they are made of. Gandhi also raised the issue of the alleged attempt of merging Karnataka Milk Federation's Nandini brand with Gujarat-based Amul. "The time has come now to tell them (BJP) that they will not succeed here in their conspiracy to loot a good institution like Nandini (Karnataka Milk Federation's cooperative dairy brand), ignoring the interests of lakhs of farmers and milk producers, she said. Gandhi also appealed to the people to remind those in power that the fate of the leaders is decided by the blessings of the people and not the other way round. Invoking the name of 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara, she said Bhagwan Basavanna' always favoured equal opportunities to everyone without any discrimination. Gandhi said the BJP has been insulting the great Kannada poet Kuvempu and cautioned them against "playing with the history of India and the hundreds of years old tradition of social justice". "To meet your (BJP) political interests, don't push the nation and Karnataka towards destruction, the Congress leader said. Even with tension reportedly deescalating in Manipur, violence reached Delhi with a group of Kuki students residing in Delhi University North Campus area alleging that they were attacked by a group of Meiteis on Thursday night. The following day, on Friday, the students claimed they tried to register an FIR at the Maurice Nagar Police Station and when the police refused to file the complaint, the students staged a protest outside the police station. Police said that the situation is now under control and action has been initiated and a few students have been detained in this connection. The incident follows the violence that gripped the State in the immediate aftermath of inter-community clashes which erupted in a few districts of the northeastern State amid protests against the inclusion of the majority Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. Manipur Government had requisitioned Army and Assam Rifles on May 3 and 4. State's Director General of Police P Doungel has said that the situation the State has improved after the intervention of security forces. Forces including RAF, BSF, CRPF have been deployed in Manipur, he said and that the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Kuldiep Singh, has been appointed as the security advisor. Also Read Kuki-Chin refugees continue to flee violence in Bangladesh hills Cash-strapped Mizoram gets Bangla refugee influx; border talks with Assam Tribal protest in Manipur turns violent; curfew imposed, internet suspended 16 students from Kuki-Meitei communities over a brawl in Meghalaya Manipur violence: Long-standing issue of ST status for Meitei torches state Cong making mockery of Hindu faith by asking to ban Bajrang Dal: Adityanath Government doing all it can to contain Manipur trouble, says Kiren Rijiju To probe audio recording's credibility: Bommai on Kharge assassination plot The Kerala Story' made tax-free in Madhya Pradesh: CM Chouhan With Punjab's debt at Rs 3.12 trn, CM's OPS promise faces uphill challenge The State government has also appointed Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence), Ashutosh Sinha as the overall operational commander to control the situation in Manipur, the State DGP said. "As a result of the proactive and timely response, Churachandpur, KPI, Moreh and Kakching are now under firm control with no major violence since last night", the Indian Army had said in a statement on May 5 evening. The Army said that situation in Manipur has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. "The situation has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. IAF undertook continuous sorties from two airfields in Assam employing C17 Globemaster and AN 32 aircraft," Indian Army had stated. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the situation in Manipur through a video conference meeting with state Chief Minister N Biren Singh and top officials in the state as well as the Centre. A total of 10 more companies (nearly 1,000 personnel) of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were also dispatched to the violence-hit state earlier in the day on Friday following orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation. "Warmest congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation. We are sure that the India-UK relationship will be strengthened further in the coming years. @RoyalFamily," tweeted PM Modi. Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and his spouse Dr Sudesh Dhankhar attended the Coronation ceremony of King Charles III in London. King Charles III has been crowned during a majestic and deeply religious ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London. After the service, the King and selected members of the royal family made the customary appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony. A flypast of military aircraft was scaled back due to bad weather in London. US President Joe Biden also congratulated the King and Queen, noting the "enduring friendship" between the United Kingdom and United States in a tweet. Also Read Sunak, wife Akshata to lead with UK flag at King Charles III's Coronation King Charles III to confer thank-you Coronation Medals to thousands King Charles III's coronation: Here are the 5 things to look out for Armed forces veterans, get prime spots at King Charles Coronation Charles to be crowned King in thousand-year-old Coronation ceremony INS Magar decommissioned after 36 years service to the country Republic Day 2024: Only females to be part of marching contingents, bands PM Modi to visit Gujarat on May 12 to participate in inauguration ceremony Congress looted money of even farmers: PM Modi during rally in Karnataka Girls outperform boys in Andhra Pradesh SSC exams, 72% pass in total "Congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their Coronation. The enduring friendship between the U.S. and the U.K. is a source of strength for both our peoples. I am proud the First Lady is representing the United States for this historic occasion," tweeted Biden. French President Emmanuel Macron said King Charles III and Queen Camilla are "friends of France." "Proud to be by your side on this historic day," he tweeted in French. President of the European Council Charles Michel extended his "best wishes" to King Charles III and Queen Camilla in a tweet, adding that the council appreciates the King's dedication to environmental efforts. "EU-Great Britain friendship," he tweeted. Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin congratulated the King and Queen on Coronation Day, "a very important day for many across these islands." "We will continue to work in support of the bonds of friendship between our peoples and the strong connections we share," he said. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said "it was a great pleasure and honour" to be at the coronation in London. "On behalf of Finland, we extended Their Majesties our very best wishes for a long and successful reign," he tweeted. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tweeted in Italian: "The ancient Cosmatesque mosaic in Westminster Abbey, on which today the throne was placed for the coronation of King Charles III, was masterfully created by Italian craftsmen some eight centuries ago." "Today it is still there to amaze the world, and to tell the story of the historic and fruitful cooperation between Italy and the United Kingdom, which we are sure with King Charles III - who once again reminded yesterday that he loves Italy - will further strengthen, as we have already begun to do with PM Rishi Sunak," she said. South Korean and U.S. tanks take part in a live-fire exercise at Seungjin Training Field in Pocheon, 52 kilometers northeast of Seoul, in this September 2011 file photo. Korea Times file Korea and the United States will begin their largest-ever combined live-fire exercise, this month, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of their alliance and the 75th anniversary of the Korean military's establishment, Seoul's defense ministry said Saturday. The allies are set to stage the drills five times between May 25 and June 15 at Seungjin Training Field in Pocheon, 52 kilometers northeast of Seoul, according to the ministry. This year's drills will be the largest ever of their kind, and the exercise is expected to involve advanced weapons systems, including F-35A stealth fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, K2 tanks and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers. More than 10 such high-profile firepower demonstrations have taken place since 1977, including both combined and South Korea-only drills. The leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, has written to Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misusing railway services during her recent trip to Malda and Murshidabad for attending an administrative review meeting and a political rally. Although the letter is dated May 4, Adhikari shared it in the public domain on Saturday. In the letter, Adhikari has alleged that the Chief Minister, while travelling on May 3 in Saraighat Express from Howrah, forced extended stoppages of the train at three stations to serve her own political agenda. "In spite of being fully aware of the critical connectivity provided by this train to the Northeast, she forced an extended stoppage of the train at Bardhaman Junction by five minutes to accommodate her chit-chat with Kokhan Das, a party functionary," Adhikari's letter to the Railways Minister read. Adhikari added that the scene was repeated at Bolpur station to accommodate Bikash Roy Chowdhury and Chandranath Sinha. "At Malda, the train was constrained to stop for 31 minutes against the scheduled stoppage time of 15 minutes," Adhikari said. Also Read Vande Bharat pelted with stones in Bengal's Malda; BJP demands NIA probe Panchayat polls: Suvendu Adhikari approaches SC against Calcutta HC order Mamata Banerjee scared of losing popular support: BJP state President Won't answer to legal notice from non-existent 'TMC': Suvendu Adhikari Legal crisis erupts in Bengal over slander campaign against HC judge Manipur: Army evacuate more than 16,000 people from violence-hit areas Cong working on banned PFI's agenda: Amit Shah at Karnataka election rally Stories of Bihar women entrepreneurs to be showcased during G20 events Manipur CM N Biren Singh convenes all-party meeting in violence-hit state 7% Bengali films are hits post-covid, success rate satisfactory: Official The leader of the opposition also requested the Railways Minister to order an inquiry into the matter and take action against the offenders as well as the errant railway personnel because of the disruption of the punctual movement of the train. "There is a tendency among certain insensitive political VIPs to use their journey by train to extend their political agenda, resulting in disruption of services and causing avoidable harassment for the passengers. Crucially, some of these trains are critical in providing connectivity to forward defence locations and otherwise inaccessible areas in the Northeast," Adhikari said. --IANS src/arm As the name indicates, the SCO is a China-inspired and, whatever the pretence, China-led organisation. Look at the two others that have come up more or less in the same era, the past two decades: The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and RIC (Russia-India-China) forums. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers meeting in Goa has produced the usual photo-ops and probably even some important outcomes in backroom conversations. It should also make us reflect on the proliferation of similar multilateral organisations, what they stand for, and what they mean for India. We know all governments love the razzmatazz of summitry, and the Narednra Modi government revels in it more than any since probably Indira Gandhis. But the downside of participating with such enthusiasm in three regional groups led and dominated by China, with Russia as its loyal follower, has to be debated. Three countries are common to these. China, Russia, and India. The common factor in all three forums is the pre-eminence of China. Which is the reason we have listed India as the last of the three. It will be triggering for many if we use the expression an isolated India. Think, however, about any of these three organisations. China and Russia are now fully hyphenated. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov can speak at a high-powered intellectual hangout in Delhi (ORFs Raisina Dialogue) and admonish both his host and the Indian audience by reminding them that the only country with which they have a written strategic alliance (treaty) is Russia. This in a country where three successive prime ministers over 25 years hailed another essential and natural strategic partnership, though with the US, not Russia. We also know that the buzzword these days is multilateralism. However, what quality and what kind of multilateralism can be expected from China-launched and China-run organisations with a couple of its loyalists, if not near-vassals, and an adversarial India? Also Read BRICS surpass G7 GDP, India, China major economies with fast growth BRICS mulling alternative to dollar-dominated payment system: South Africa Two-sided triangle Global cooperation is not necessary to fight climate change SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting to kick off in Goa today; all you must know Two-sided triangle Atiq, Ansari, Naroda Unity in futility The evolution of brand BJP Reformative to retributive justice Nowhere people A living fossil, on TV today Censorship and its costly fallout What critics of the govt miss: Not much is lost if the PLI scheme fails Indo-Pacific naval strategy It cannot stay away from Russia which, immensely weakened now, is joined at the hip with the Chinese. At the same summit, at the same tables, India would not be seen to be anything but rude with the Pakistanis. But can it afford to frown at the Chinese? This SCO meeting, more than any other lately, serves to underline Indias current geopolitical predicament. It is forced to spend so much time and energy, invest so much political capital, and radiate fake smiles in a grouping where it has so many serious clashes of interest. Since hypocrisy is central to the craft of diplomacy and no country is judged for practising it, sleeping with the enemy might not have the same meaning as in peoples personal lives. But, if multilateralism is about widening your options, this supping at China-dominated tables is, unfortunately, more an example of how these are instead becoming limited. In the big picture, who is the bigger adversary right now? Who is the bigger pain in the neck? And who is it that is keeping more than 3,000 km of our borders active, throwing our military posture and deployments into imbalance? One way to put the SCO in perspective is to imagine if SAARC, which has India as the dominating partner, expanded to include several other major nations in the region. Say, Afghanistan, Thailand, the Central Asian republics, Iran, and Russia. Would China join such a grouping? And if so, would it still be possible for India to retain any dominance? These three supposedly multilateral organisations have come up in the two decades when both India and China have grown phenomenally. For now, China has won the race for pre-eminence in the extended region. Indias cause is not helped by the fact that, while it may have taken the lead with South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC ), its been rendered mostly defunct. If even within our immediate region multilateral bodies only function with some sense of purpose if they include China, its a bummer for us as an aspiring superpower. Any doubts about the essentially military-strategic origins of the organisation were answered by what came out of the next years summit in Moscow, on April 24, 1997: Treaty on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions. Now see how the SCO came into being. It was initially the gathering in 1996 of what was described as the Shanghai Five: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The summit on April 26, 1996 resulted in a Treaty on Deepening Military Trust among these five neighbours. This, from the second half of P V Narasimha Raos tenure onwards, is precisely when India started looking westwards. On to Vajpayee and through Manmohan Singh to Narendra Modi, the movement was in that direction. Now, nostalgia for the non-aligned years is back in India, probably as an instinctive reaction to Western institutions and governments criticism and questioning of the Modi governments record on human rights, civil liberties and the minorities. The revived suspicion of the West has brought multilateralism back in fashion. Funnily, the only places where we seek refuge are the organisations China founded or dominates. Boris Yeltsin and Jiang Zemin also signed a joint declaration on a multipolar world. The mid-90s were the peak of unipolarity, where Russia and China were both desperate to create a borough immune from American/Western influence. These bodies, the SCO in particular, given its military-strategic priorities, do not help Indias quest for strategic autonomy. On the contrary, they only limit it. Today, if you have Russia and China sitting at the same table with you, you know which friendship is stronger and which relationship is adversarial. Together, they constrain Indias options on the groupings where its current strategic interests lie. the Quad, for example. That is the problem with the SCO, BRICS, RIC, all the organisations Mr Lavrov had reminded us of. What compounds the problem is that over the decades, India has failed even to build a regional forum of its own to create a sense of a geopolitically limited multilateralism, however limited To be fair, you cant blame Mr Modi or S Jaishankar for this, because they did not dig this hole. Nor did they walk India into it. They have to navigate a way out of it. Or at the very least, buy a decade of relative peace and stability, without bartering one half of Indias strategic autonomy for the sake of the other. To have your avowedly best friend of six decades as not just the new, essential strategic ally of your most significant adversary and even dependent on it is a bummer. It also exposes Indias most painful vulnerability, on military equipment. By special arrangement with ThePrint Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will kick off the Congress' campaign for the year-end Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls from Jabalpur next month, a party functionary has said. The last Assembly elections in MP were held on November 28, 2013. Priyanka ji will launch the party's campaign and Sankalp 2023' on June 12 here, Jabalpur mayor and Congress' city chief Jagat Bahadur Singh told PTI on Saturday. The Congress general secretary will hold a 2-km roadshow in the city and address a rally, Singh said. We are expecting a crowd of 1.5 to 2 lakh. For this we are going to hold meetings of leaders in Mahakoshal area shortly, Singh said. Her final programme will be out in three or four days, he said. "She is coming to Jabalpur on June 12 for sure. I have been informed about it and asked by the state leadership to make preparations for it," he said. Also Read Priyanka Gandhi Vadra takes part in second day of Bharat Jodo Yatra in MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joins Bharat Jodo Yatra for first time in MP Rahul Gandhi a warrior, not afraid of govt's might: Priyanka Vadra Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to visit K'taka on Tuesday ahead of assembly polls Priyanka Gandhi to join 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' as it enters MP on Wednesday Take refinery to Gujarat, bring good projects from there to Maha: Uddhav Kapil Sibal questions PM Modi's 'silence' over wrestlers' protest With swelling wage bills, pension arrears, OPS may push HP to the wall OPS becomes an election issue in K'taka after Cong promises to deliver it What happened when in power? BJP questions Cong's sudden interest in OPS People in Mahakoshal area (Jabalpur division having eight districts) feel neglected by the BJP, said the Congress leader. "We did well (last time) in the area. This time around we are going to sweep elections in the region, he said. The last MP polls threw up a hung Assembly, with the Congress emerging as the largest party with 114 seats in the 230-member House. The BJP won 109 seats. The Congress formed a coalition government under Kamal Nath, but it fell in March 2020 after several MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia walked out and joined the BJP, paving the way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan to return as chief minister. The Congress is aggressively raising the issue of restoration of the Old Pension Scheme as it is being said that the issue was one of the key reasons behind the grand old party's victory in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. After forming the government in the hill state, as per its poll promise, Congress restored the scheme. Besides Himachal, the Congress government also implemented the scheme in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where the Assembly elections are to be held by the end of this year. Realising the importance of the issue, the Congress has also included it in its election manifesto for Karnataka, where it has promised to implement the Old Pension Scheme after coming to power. While the issue has emerged as a 'lifesaver' for the grand old party; for the BJP, it is becoming tougher to counter this issue. It is clearly visible that the Congress is preparing to make it a big issue across the country by the time of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and this is the reason why BJP's dilemma is rising. BJP's national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi has questioned the intention of the Congress over the restoration of the scheme, arguing that the grand old party cannot be trusted as it had not implemented the old pension scheme when it was in power at the Centre for 10 years. Also Read BJP defeat in HP will lay foundation of Oppn unity in 2024: JDU's KC Tyagi Sports facilities to be expanded at SAI's National Centre of Excellence Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu next Himachal CM, Agnihotri his deputy: Congress Assam Cong youth wing chief expelled for 6 yrs for anti-party activities No decision for 110 days direct encouragement to horse-trading, says Raj HC Centre-State tussle over funds casts a shadow over Rajasthan OPS move 'Kill Kharge plot' launched by BJP leaders, claims Congress' Surjewala BJP trying to get attention through religion-based politics: Himachal CM Organisations that spread hatred in country should be banned, says SP chief Moved by love and trust in me: Pawar takes back resignation as NCP chief "Besides this, the Congress was also in power in many states for so many years yet they did nothing to restore the scheme, and thus it can not be trusted," Trivedi asserted. The BJP-led Central government has made it clear that it will not implement the old pension scheme again in the country and the government has no intention of going back to the old scheme. Politically, the BJP realises very well that if the pension issue is not dealt with properly, it may find it difficult to make a comeback in Madhya Pradesh and may also face difficulties in defeating the Congress in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh as well. Sources say that such feedback from the party organisation is also being shared with the government continuously. The Central government is also understanding the election strategy of the Congress and perhaps, this is the reason why Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the Lok Sabha during the budget session in March to constitute a committee headed by Finance Secretary T.V. Somanathan to review the two-decade-old National Pension System. At that time, the Finance Minister had argued that such a demand is coming that there is a need to reform the National Pension System and that the committee should look into meeting the needs of the employees while keeping in mind the state of the exchequer, and the safety of the common citizens. She also said that measures will be designed in such a way that they can be adopted by both the Central as well as state governments. It is quite clear that the BJP government is not in favour of bringing back the old pension scheme under any circumstances, but if sources are to be believed, the committee headed by the Finance Secretary can find a way through which old pension can be restored, so that people in favour of the old scheme can be satisfied. To dull the edge of this election issue of Congress, the government is considering a plan to make the new pension scheme as profitable and attractive as possible. The BJP-led Atal Bihari Vajpayee government abolished the old pension scheme on April 1, 2004. At that time, the NDA government abolished the old pension scheme and started the National Pension Scheme (NPS) in its place. After this, in the Lok Sabha elections held in 2004, the BJP had to be voted out of power. The UPA coalition led by the Congress won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister. Five years later, in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the UPA coalition again formed the government and Manmohan Singh was re-elected as the Prime Minister. --IANS stp/sha By Martin Coulter LONDON (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence could pose a "more urgent" threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday. Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the "godfathers of AI", recently announced he had quit Alphabet after a decade at the firm, saying he wanted to speak out on the risks of the technology without it affecting his former employer. Hinton's work is considered essential to the development of contemporary AI systems. In 1986, he co-authored the seminal paper "Learning representations by back-propagating errors", a milestone in the development of the neural networks undergirding AI technology. In 2018, he was awarded the Turing Award in recognition of his research breakthroughs. But he is now among a growing number of tech leaders publicly espousing concern about the possible threat posed by AI if machines were to achieve greater intelligence than humans and take control of the planet. "I wouldn't like to devalue climate change. I wouldn't like to say, 'You shouldn't worry about climate change.' That's a huge risk too," Hinton said. "But I think this might end up being more urgent." Also Read Bard, Bing and Baidu: How big tech's AI race will transform searches Google adds 'Search Status Dashboard' to provide real-time service outages Key staff driving Apple search engine leaves, rejoins Google: Report India among top 3 markets for AI-powered Bing preview: Microsoft official Big tech has moral, legal responsibility to develop ethical AI: Harris India witnesses 18% surge in weekly cyber attacks in Jan-Mar 2023: Report Apple stakes future growth on emerging markets, starting with India In a bid to make chat interesting WhatsApp introduces single-vote polls Google to introduce Bard AI as homescreen widget on Pixel devices Sellers set to launch big discounts on smartphones to clear stock He added: "With climate change, it's very easy to recommend what you should do: you just stop burning carbon. If you do that, eventually things will be okay. For this it's not at all clear what you should do." Microsoft-backed OpenAI fired the starting pistol on a technological arms race in November, when it made AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT available to the public. It soon became the fastest-growing app in history, reaching 100 million monthly users in two months. In April, Twitter CEO Elon Musk joined thousands in signing an open letter calling for a six-month pause in the development of systems more powerful than OpenAI's recently-launched GPT-4. Signatories included Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque, researchers at Alphabet-owned DeepMind, and fellow AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell. While Hinton shares signatories concern that AI may prove to be an existential threat to mankind, he disagreed with pausing research. "It's utterly unrealistic," he said. "I'm in the camp that thinks this is an existential risk, and it's close enough that we ought to be working very hard right now, and putting a lot of resources into figuring out what we can do about it." In the European Union, a committee of lawmakers responded to the Musk-backed letter, calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to convene a global summit on the future direction of the technology with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Last week, the committee agreed a landmark set of proposals targeting generative AI, which would force companies like OpenAI to disclose any copyright material used to train their models. Meanwhile, Biden held talks with a number of AI company leaders, including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the White House, promising a "frank and constructive discussion" on the need for companies to be more transparent about their systems. "The tech leaders have the best understanding of it, and the politicians have to be involved," said Hinton. "It affects us all, so we all have to think about it." (Reporting by Martin Coulter, editing by Deepa Babington) A basket of stocks selected by ChatGPT, a chatbot powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), has far outperformed some of the most popular investment funds in the UK, according to media reports. Between March 6 and April 28, a dummy portfolio of 38 stocks gained 4.9 per cent while 10 leading investment funds clocked an average loss of 0.8 per cent, according to an experiment conducted by financial comparison site finder.com, CNN reported. It wouldn't "be long until large numbers of consumers try to use (ChatGPT) for financial gain," Jon Ostler, Finder's CEO, said in a statement earlier this week. Over the same eight-week period, the S&P 500 index, which tracks the 500 most valuable companies in the US, rose three per cent. Europe's equivalent, the Stoxx Europe 600 index, ticked up 0.5 per cent in that time. A typical investment fund pulls together money from multiple investors, and is overseen by a fund manager who decides how to invest that money, CNN reported. Finder's analysts took the 10 most popular UK funds on trading platform Interactive Investor as a benchmark for assessing the performance of the ChatGPT-generated fund. Funds managed by HSBC and Fidelity were among those selected. Also Read Debt fund taxation changes to impact corporate bond demand: Fund managers Global food security at risk: Over 350 mn family farmers warn world leaders What are Alternative Investment Funds? Twitter removes 'government-funded' news labels from all media accounts InCred Alternative launches its first long-short fund of Rs 1,000cr Facebook blocks more than 10 fake ChatGPT apps trying to frame users AI's threat to world may be 'more urgent' than climate change: Pioneer India witnesses 18% surge in weekly cyber attacks in Jan-Mar 2023: Report Apple stakes future growth on emerging markets, starting with India In a bid to make chat interesting WhatsApp introduces single-vote polls The analysts asked ChatGPT to select stocks based on some commonly used criteria, including picking companies with a low level of debt and a track record of growth. Microsoft, Netflix and Walmart were among the companies selected. While major funds have used AI for years to support their investment decisions, ChatGPT has put the technology in the hands of the general public, with the potential to guide the decisions of retail investors, CNN reported. A survey of 2,000 UK adults conducted by Finder last week showed that eight per cent had already used ChatGPT for financial advice, while 19 per cent said they would consider doing so. Yet a much bigger 35 per cent said they would not consider using the chatbot to help them make decisions about their money, CNN reported. In a study published in April, researchers at the University of Florida found that ChatGPT could predict the stock price movements of specific companies more accurately than some more basic analysis models. --IANS san/khz/ The Telangana Police has set up an emergency helpline for Telangana citizens stranded in violence-hit Manipur. Director General of Police Anjani Kumar said Telangana Police is coordinating with Manipur Police to provide support Citizens can contact Telangana helpline number 7901643283 - Sumathi IPS DIG for assistance. The phone lines are open round-the-clock and citizens can also email dgp@tspolice.gov.in. At least 20 people have lost their lives in Manipur carnage since May 3, a government official said here on Saturday. However, unconfirmed reports have put the toll between 50 and 55. Also Read Tribal protest in Manipur turns violent; curfew imposed, internet suspended Northeastern Railway cancels all Manipur-bound trains following violence Telangana cabinet approves state Budget 2023-24; to be presented on Monday Rs 6,000 aid for farmers by Maharashtra govt insufficient: Telangana CM 54 dead in Manipur violence, Imphal peaceful, most shops, markets open Sony to shut 'PixelOpus', developer of video game Concrete Genie: Report Google's AI chatbot Bard now available for users with Workspace accounts Bug exposed private Circle tweets to public; Twitter says security incident Stocks selected by ChatGPT far outperform most popular UK fund managers Facebook blocks more than 10 fake ChatGPT apps trying to frame users The situation in Manipur turned volatile on May 3 after thousands of people turned up for the 'Tribal Solidarity March' called by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) in 10 hill districts to oppose the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category. --IANS ms/svn/ There is dissatisfaction and anger among Chinese fresh graduates over growing unemployment in the country, Tibet Press reported. The youth are facing difficulties in getting jobs matching their qualifications. Though the country's economic recovery has begun to gain momentum, with growth rebounding to 4.5 per cent in the first quarter after pandemic restrictions were scrapped early this year, youth unemployment has remained a persistent area of pain. According to Tibet Press, the Chinese Government, instead of providing job opportunities, is urging graduates to accept other menial jobs involving "manual labour" work. They are shifting the blame of soaring unemployment on jobless university graduates, accusing them of refusing to put aside their professional ambitions and take on manual labor. Last month, the Communist Youth League criticized young graduates for holding on to their professional aspirations, accusing them of refusing to "tighten screws in factories" and exhorting the current generation to "take off their suits, roll up their sleeves and go to the farmland". A much-liked WeChat retort to the Communist Youth League was to ask if its author was "willing to give up his current position and salary to become a cleaner". Also Read Incursions along Indo-Tibet border are by China, says Tibetan Sikyong UN report shows worsening human rights situation of Tibetans under China US introduces legislation for resolving issues between China and Dalai Lama 10 killed, 9 injured in apartment fire in northwest China's Xinjiang region Urgent need to resolve Tibet-China conflict, says UN Advocacy group IMF negates cash-strapped Pakistan govt's claim of meeting loan conditions King Charles III's coronation: Here are the 5 things to look out for King Charles III: Monarch with a multi-faith outlook, great love for India US Prez polls 2024: Trump lauds rival Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy Covid-19's new Omicron subvariant continues to spread rapidly in US Simultaneously, the propaganda machinery of the Chinese state is circulating fake stories on social media about people making a good amount of money in non-white collar jobs, according to Tibet Press. Siemens Korea CEO and Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KGCCI) Vice Chairman Chung Ha-joong speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, May 2. Courtesy of KGCCI This article is the third in the series of interviews with CEOs of foreign companies operating in Korea ED. KGCCI to promote Korea's 2nd-largest city during next month's forum in Frankfurt By Park Jae-hyuk When Siemens came to Korea for the first time in the 1950s, its mission was to help rebuild the war-torn country through projects to install power generation facilities, chemical plants, cement factories and cables. About a half-century after the opening of Siemens' liaison office here in 1967, Korea has grown to become one of the world's top 10 economies, playing major roles in the international community. As one of the contributors to Korea's economic development, the German company's local subsidiary is now making all-out efforts for the Asian country to host the World Expo 2030 in its second-largest city, which is also a base for Siemens' infrastructure business here. Siemens Korea CEO Chung Ha-joong told The Korea Times in a recent interview that he has communicated with German leaders to support Busan's World Expo bid, as the city came up with a powerful and appropriate theme for the global event "Transforming Our World, Navigating toward a Better Future." "As a Korean, it is natural for me to hope for Busan to host the World Expo 2030," he said. "As one of the businesspeople working in German companies here, I think it is important to declare full support for Busan's bid." Chung, who is also the vice chairman of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KGCCI), accompanied KGCCI President Martin Henkelmann on a visit to Busan in February and gave Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon a letter showing the chamber's support for the city's efforts. "During The Korea Times' spring concert at Seoul Arts Center in March, I also tried to give foreign envoys a good impression of Busan," he said. "Whenever I have an opportunity, I have promoted the city to global leaders." He is also considering promoting Busan during the German-Korean Business and Investment Summit, which will be held in Frankfurt between June 28 and 29, on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The event will be hosted by KGCCI, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with the support of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the German Asia-Pacific Business Association. Siemens Korea CEO and Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KGCCI) Vice Chairman Chung Ha-joong, right, poses with Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, center, and KGCCI President Martin Henkelmann at Ananti Hilton Busan, Feb. 16, after expressing the chamber's intention to support the city's bid to host the World Expo 2030. Courtesy of KGCCI Contribution to Korean economy In addition to supporting the World Expo bid, Siemens Korea has made efforts to let export-reliant Korean companies enhance efficiency and productivity as global players, according to its CEO. He said that Siemens CEO Roland Busch's visit to Korea between April 23 and 25 was also intended to boost the company's ties with Korean clients, including POSCO, SK hynix and Samsung C&T. "POSCO and our company promised to strengthen their relationship as business partners," Chung said. "We received a plaque of appreciation from the leading steelmaker in Korea, in recognition of our support and contribution to its steel mill's restoration from damage caused by Typhoon Hinnamnor last year." He added that the Siemens CEO talked with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon about creating a smart city. Busch is an honorary citizen of Seoul, who previously worked as an adviser to the Korean capital. "Economics textbooks say that the purpose of business is seeking profit and growth, but it is also important for us to fulfill our social responsibility," Chung said. "We have therefore offered meals for the underprivileged, making donations to the victims of the east coast wildfire, the Turkey-Syria earthquake and the Ukraine war." POSCO Vice Chairman Kim Hag-dong, fourth from left, gives a plaque of appreciation to Siemens CEO Roland Busch, fourth from right, at POSCO Center in Seoul, April 25. Courtesy of POSCO Wanted Khalistani terrorist Paramjit Singh Panjwar was on Saturday morning shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Lahore, the provincial capital of Pakistan's Punjab province, police said. Panjwar, 63, was heading the banned Khalistan Commando Force-Panjwar group and was involved in drug and weapons smuggling and other terror activities when he was designated as a terrorist by India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. He was walking along with his guard at the park of SunFlower Housing Society, Nawab Town near Tokhar Niaz Baig in Lahore, where he was residing when two assailants opened fire on him and managed to flee on a motorcycle, a senior officer of Pakistan's Punjab Police told PTI. The victims were shifted to hospital where Panjwar was pronounced dead on arrival by doctors while the condition of his guard is stated to be critical. "The gunmen shot (Panjwar) Singh in his head," the officer said on condition of anonymity. Pakistan's intelligence agencies including the ISI, Military Intelligence (MI) and Counter Terrorism Department cordoned off the area and launched an investigation. 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Hailing from Tarn Taran district in India's Punjab, Panjwar was involved in drug and weapons smuggling and was designated as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. He joined the KCF in 1986. He later headed this outfit and crossed over to Pakistan. The KCF was listed as a terrorist organisation under UAPA. Though he was inactive for the last couple of years, Panjwar had been operating from Lahore and was involved in arranging arms training for youths in Pakistan. He was engaged in supplying arms and ammunition and subsequent infiltration into India for targeting VIPs and economic installations. He was also involved in broadcasting highly seditious and separatist programmes on Radio Pakistan, intended to incite minorities against the Indian government. He was active in the smuggling of drugs and was a major conduit between smugglers and terrorists, India's Ministry of Home Affairs had said in a notification that designated him a terrorist under UAPA. "Panjwar's complicity in promoting drug trade and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) operation in Punjab are well documented. Efforts are being made by his organisation KCF to reactive former militants, sleeper cells and also those on bail and it has been in favour of forming nexus with other forces hostile to India," the ministry had said. KCF came into existence in February 1986 and the modus-operandi of this organisation was to commit bank robberies and kidnappings for ransom for use to purchase sophisticated weapons for terrorist activities. The banned outfit under the patronage of Paramjit Singh Panjwar was involved in various terrorist attacks in India, which include the following a bomb attack in October 1988, killig 10 Rai Sikhs at Firozpur and the killing of Major Gen. B. N. Kumar, according to the ministry. King Charles III becomes the 40th British monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday, surrounded by heavy symbolism of his many passions, including a drive towards more sustainable living, a multi-faith outlook and a great love for India and the wider Commonwealth. While he ascended to the throne immediately after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II last September, the 74-year-old will be formally crowned King when the Archbishop of Canterbury concludes the religious ceremony by inviting the 2,200-strong congregation and millions watching worldwide to swear allegiance to the new British Sovereign. At the end of the service, he will receive a spoken greeting delivered in unison by representatives from Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish communities. We have had many discussions, having met frequently over the years when he was the Prince of Wales and now as King, and he is adamant that the essence of different beliefs is one and the same, shares Lord Indarjit Singh, the Indian-origin House of Lords peer who will be representing the Sikh faith at the Coronation ceremony. The aim of religion as I see it, and I believe as he sees it, is to move society towards the good, the better end of the spectrum. In all the discussions I've had with him, he totally agrees with that concept, he said. This multi-faith outlook also resonates with his strong connection with India and its age-old traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda. Also Read Armed forces veterans, get prime spots at King Charles Coronation King Charles III's Coronation screen to have Commonwealth symbolism Charles to be crowned King in thousand-year-old Coronation ceremony Sunak, wife Akshata to lead with UK flag at King Charles III's Coronation King Charles III to confer thank-you Coronation Medals to thousands US Prez polls 2024: Trump lauds rival Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy Covid-19's new Omicron subvariant continues to spread rapidly in US Charles to be crowned King in thousand-year-old Coronation ceremony King Charles III enthronement 'interesting moment' for India: Indian envoy LIVE: 'Kill Kharge plot' launched by BJP leaders, claims Congress As the heir to the throne, he made several visits to India and focussed many of his charitable efforts on India through the British Asian Trust founded by him in 2007 to tackle poverty and hardship in South Asia. The royal spoke of his great love for India when he launched an emergency COVID appeal in 2021 and helped raise millions during India's severe pandemic wave. Like many others, I have a great love for India and have enjoyed many wonderful visits to the country. Indian aid and ingenuity have been a support to other countries throughout this immensely difficult time. As India has helped others, so now must we help India, he said at the time. It was in the wake of COVID that he reflected upon the healing and therapeutic power of Yoga, which he described as an accessible practice that helps manage stress. By its very nature, Yoga is an accessible practice which provides practitioners with ways to manage stress, build resilience and promote healing, he said, in a recorded video message for a virtual healthcare event called Wellness After Covid in May 2021. Back in April 2018, he hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Science Museum in London to launch a new Ayurvedic Centre of Excellence, aimed at creating a first-of-its-kind global network for evidence-based research on Yoga and Ayurveda. His wife Camilla, the new Queen, is also believed to practice Yoga. He last visited India in November 2019 and also celebrated his 71st birthday with schoolchildren in Mumbai and earlier this week he told British Indian peer Lord Karan Bilimoria at a pre-Coronation reception that he looks forward to making a State Visit to India soon. As the Prince of Wales, Charles was also a very vocal supporter of causes related to the environment and has been an ardent voice against the ravages of climate change. He has spoken regularly about India's important role in meeting the global climate action targets. As the Head of the Commonwealth, an association of 56 independent countries including India and 2.4 billion people, he has to contend with moves by some of the remaining member nations straining to replace him as their Head of State. In a very visible nod to his determination to keep hold of this group made up largely of former colonies, the "anointing screen" used for the most sacred part of the Coronation ceremony bears a central design of a tree with branches filled with 56 leaves naming each of the Commonwealth nations. Buckingham Palace stressed it is reflective of the monarch's "deep affection" for the organisation. He is already nearly seven months into the role of King and the transition from Britain's Elizabethan Age to the Carolean Age has been largely smooth so far. The Coronation ceremony, the planning of which involved much of the new King's personal input, is reflective of his determination to celebrate his cherished ideas about the culturally and religiously diverse country that is modern-day Britain. Charles, born Charles Philip Arthur George on November 14, 1948, became the oldest person to ever accede to the British throne on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II aged 96 on September 8 last year. He studied history at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and in 1970 became the first British royal to be awarded a university degree. He went on to train as a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot before joining the Royal Navy and also learned to fly helicopters before ending his military career in 1976. On the personal front, he had an infamously turbulent first marriage to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. From that marriage, they had two sons: Prince William and Prince Harry. In 2005, he married Camilla with the late Queen's permission after years of a rumoured love affair. On her marriage, Camilla became the Duchess of Cornwall and went on to be referred to as Queen Consort following the passing away of Queen Elizabeth II. The 75-year-old, born Camilla Rosemary Shand and previously married to Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, is now known as Queen Camilla in keeping with royal tradition. King Charles III coronation is going to bring a seachange in the UK and across Commonwealth realms, prominent being National Anthem, coins, stamps, postboxes and passports to name a few. Following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, Charles III instantly became King. However, officially he will be crowned on May 6, eight months after he ascended to the throne. Numerous small changes to British daily life are taking place after King Charles III ascended to the throne. For instance, King Charles portrait will now feature on British money and postage stamps, Los Angeles Times reported. The British national anthem -- "God Save the Queen" or "God Save the King," depending on who is reigning, as per the news report. After King Charles III ascended to the throne, the first three lines of the UK national anthem are: "God save our gracious King! Long live our noble King! God save the King! 'God Save The King' was a patriotic song first publicly performed in London in 1745, according to Buckingham Palace. The patriotic song came to be known as the National Anthem at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Bank of England unveiled the design of King Charles III banknotes on 20 December 2022. The King's portrait will feature on all four of UK polymer banknotes (5, 10, 20 and 50). The rest of the design on the banknotes will remain the same. The King's image will feature on the front of the banknotes and in the see-through security window. Also Read Armed forces veterans, get prime spots at King Charles Coronation Sunak, wife Akshata to lead with UK flag at King Charles III's Coronation King Charles III to confer thank-you Coronation Medals to thousands King Charles III's Coronation: All you need to know about showbiz side King Charles' coronation: Rising popularity can't mask monarchy's problems King Charles III's Coronation: All you need to know about showbiz side Charles III to finally get his crown as world tunes in to coronation Top Vodafone backer to increase stake to upto 25% to ensure influence Here's how AI is once again putting tech companies in the hiring mood Court rejects Imran Khan's request to dismiss defamation case against him Bank of England expects to issue bank notes featuring the King's portrait by mid-2024. People in the UK will still be able to use all polymer notes that feature the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Current banknotes featuring the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II will continue to be legal tender and will only be removed from circulation once they become worn or damaged. The banknotes featuring the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II will co-circulate with those featuring King Charles III. The Coronation of The King and The Queen Consort will take place at Westminster Abbey on May 6. The event will mark almost seven decades since the last coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. He will be the 40th monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey. The Service will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. King Charles III and Camilla will arrive at Westminster Abbey in procession from Buckingham Palace, known as 'The King's Procession', Buckingham Palace announced in a statement. After the Service, King Charles III and Camilla will return to Buckingham Palace in a larger ceremonial procession, known as 'The Coronation Procession'. Other members of the royal family will join King Charles III and Camilla in this procession. The King and the Queen Consort accompanied by the members of the royal family will appear on the balcony to conclude the day's ceremonial events. More than 6,000 men and women of the UK's Armed Forces and nearly 400 armed forces personnel from at least 35 Commonwealth countries will participate in the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, according to Buckingham Palace. It is for the first time since 1937, the coronation of King Charles III will include the crowning of a Queen Consort. King George VI's wife Queen Elizabeth was the last Queen Consort to be crowned. King Charles III's coronation comes almost 70 years after the coronation of his mother. On 6 February 1952, King George VI died after a prolonged illness and Princess Elizabeth immediately acceded to the throne, becoming Queen Elizabeth II. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. The ceremony was conducted by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Geoffrey Fisher. Representatives of the peers, the Commons and all the great public interests in the UK, the Prime Ministers and leading citizens of the other Commonwealth nations, and representatives of foreign states were present in the coronation ceremony. Queen Elizabeth II's coronation was the first to be televised and for most people, it was the first time they had watched an event on television. 27 million people in the UK watched the ceremony on television while 11 million listened on the radio. How will King Charles III coronation be different from Queen Elizabeth II's coronation? Both the processional route and service will be shorter, CNN reported. There will be difference in the number of guests participating in the coronation. Another difference is the number of guests. In 1953, the guest list was so long that temporary structures had to be erected within the abbey to accommodate more than 8,000 people who were invited to the coronation, as per the CNN report. Some of the changes to the ancient Christian ceremony, the theme of which is "called to serve" include the King praying aloud, participation of religious leaders from other faiths, involvement of female clergy and including other languages spoken in the British Isles, as per the CNN report. Furthermore, the traditional homage of peers has been replaced with a "homage of the people." The development will witness the people being invited to become a part of "a chorus of millions of voices enabled for the first time in history to participate in this solemn and joyful moment." A Lambeth Palace spokesperson called the new homage an "opportunity for those who wish to be given voice within the service, and for those at home to have a chance to be an extension of the abbey congregation," as per the news report. The Lambeth Palace spokesperson said the change was "an invitation" and not "an expectation or request. Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday said his visit to Goa was a "success" as he advocated his country's case on the soil of India. His remarks came hours after his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar accused him of being a "promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terror industry." Addressing a press conference after his return from Goa where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting, Bhutto Zardari said his trip to India was a success as it helped to negate the view that every Muslim was a terrorist. We made an attempt at breaking this myth, Bhutto-Zardari said. Jaishankar mounted an offensive against Bhutto-Zardari in his address at the SCO meeting, contending Pakistan foreign minister's statement that terrorism shouldn't be "weaponised for diplomatic point-scoring", in remarks seen as directed at India. Hours later at a press conference, Jaishankar said Bhutto-Zardari's statement on the weaponisation of terrorism unconsciously revealed a mindset. "As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Bhutto-Zardari was treated accordingly. As a promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terrorism industry, which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and they were countered including at the SCO meeting itself," Jaishankar said. Also Read PAK vs ENG T20 World Cup Final Live Streaming: When, how to watch in India NZ vs PAK T20 World Cup SF Highlights: Rizwan, Babar take Pakistan to final Bilawal must give answer on atrocities on minorities in Pak: AISC Chair PAK vs ENG T20 WC Final Highlights: Stokes' 52* guides England to the title NZ vs PAK T20 World Cup Semi-Final Live Streaming: When and how to watch LIVE: King Charles enthronement 'interesting moment' for India, says envoy UN experts warn Taliban restrictions on women may amount to femicide Former US Prez Donald Trump's video deposition in rape lawsuit made public Iran expels four Azerbaijani diplomats in a 'retaliatory' response Biden appoints Indian-American Neera Tanden as his Domestic Policy Advisor Responding to a question about talks with India, Bhutto-Zardari said that Pakistan was clear that India should create a conducive environment for talks by restoring the pre-August 5, 2019 status of Kashmir. He also said that countries from Central Asia were looking forward to becoming part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He said every country except India supported and praised CPEC. Earlier, Bhutto-Zardari returned back on a special Pakistan Air Force plane from India and landed in Karachi where was received by the Sindh chief minister, Murad Ali Shah, and other cabinet members. Hytera Communications (SZSE: 002583), a leading global provider of professional communication technologies and solutions, today announced that the Court of Appeals Dusseldorf has ruled in favor of Hytera Communications Corporation Limited (Hytera) and its subsidiary HMF Smart Solutions GmbH (HMF) in patent infringement proceedings initiated by Motorola Solutions Inc. (MSI) at the Regional Court Dusseldorf back in 2017 and 2018. The Court of Appeals found the patent-in-suit not infringed by Hytera and HMF. With decisions of April 20, 2023 (court ref: I-2 U 78/18 and I-2 U 79/18) the Court of Appeals Dusseldorf modified the first instance verdicts of November 20, 2018 (court ref: 4b O 43/17 and 4b O 70/18) by the Regional Court Dusseldorf and it fully dismissed MSIs patent infringement complaint. The Court of Appeals also ordered MSI to pay the costs of the court proceedings in the first and second instances and the decision is preliminarily enforceable for Hytera and HMF. In 2017, MSI filed a complaint alleging infringement of its European patent EP 2 342 851 B1 by Hyteras Pseudo-Trunking/TDMA direct mode/TX-none radio functionality. The complaint was initially filed against HMF (Hytera Mobilfunk GmbH back then). After Hytera joined as an intervener in these proceedings on the side of HMF, MSI extended its complaint against Hytera, resulting in two parallel proceedings. The Regional Court Dusseldorf found infringement of MSIs patent in the first instance decisions. Hytera and HMF appealed the decisions. The Court of Appeals Dusseldorf found the patent-in-suit not infringed and dismissed MSIs complaints. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230505005154/en/ Sudan's military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan stands at the podium during a ceremony to sign the framework agreement between military rulers and civilian powers in Khartoum, Dec. 5, 2022. Reuters-Yonhap Sudan's two warring generals sent their envoys to Saudi Arabia, Friday, for talks aimed at firming up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, three Sudanese officials said. The negotiations would be the first between Sudan's military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, since clashes broke out April 15. According to the three two senior military officials and one from their paramilitary rival the talks will begin in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, Saturday, following concerted efforts by Riyadh and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. The three officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the upcoming peace talks. No timeframe was given for the length of the talks. The fighting has turned Sudan's capital of Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. There is increasing concern for those trapped and displaced by the fighting, and aid workers and civilians have said there is a dire lack of basic services, medical care, food and water. Foreign governments have rushed to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Saudi warships have been ferrying those fleeing from Port Sudan, on Sudan's Red Sea coast, which has now become the entry hub for aid sent to the embattled nation. A series of fragile and often violated cease-fires over the past three weeks has failed to stop the fighting. Fierce battles raged Friday in areas around the military's headquarters and the international airport in Khartoum, according to residents. According to the three officials, the talks in Jeddah would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles. One of the military officials said the talks are part of an initiative proposed by Saudi Arabia and the United State. He said they would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities. Evacuees flown out of Sudan disembark a Qatari C-17 Globemaster at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, May 6. AP-Yonhap Russian senior diplomats say US may deny involvement in drone attack on Kremlin, but 'it does not convince anyone' MOSCOW (AA) - The relations between Moscow and Washington are on the edge of an open armed conflict, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said. "We are working to keep relations with the US from falling into the abyss of an open armed conflict, we are already on the verge, on the edge of this abyss," Ryabkov said on Thursday night in an interview with Russian Pervy TV channel. Russia and the US maintain contacts, and the problem is in the lack of trust, that Washington defies everything Moscow says as "disinformation," he said. The diplomat added that the US "has long been a direct part to the Ukrainian conflict, waging an open hybrid war." "Ukraine is only a tool in their hands. ... Their goal is to destroy a sovereign, independent Russia as an international factor, they are increasingly tempted to play with the idea of dismemberment of Russia. ... This is a direct encroachment on the foundations of our state system," he stressed. Ryabkov also said Russia has many times explained the roots of the conflict in Ukraine, including the "destructive role that the US played in events, preceding the 2014 coup in Kyiv" that led to eight years of civil war in Donbas, which no one, except Russia, wanted to solve with diplomatic means. "And now, they are trying to pretend that they are only helping Kyiv in its kind of struggle, this is the height of cynicism and hypocrisy," he said. Ryabkov further claimed that it depends on Washington when Kyiv will stop fighting and get to the negotiating table, and that the US is currently determined to inflict on Russia a "strategic defeat." "We see that the US bets on further escalation and we warn them against it. ... We remind them that the risks have increased many times in recent months," he stressed. The diplomat said there is no "magic solution" for the Russia-US difference, and that Moscow is waiting for a response from Washington that will allow to make a consequence that its signals were heard. - Drone attack on Kremlin and arrest of US journalist Ryabkov said the US reaction to Tuesday's drone attacks on Kremlin is a "neglect of the basics of foreign policy," adding that Washington's attempts to show their non-involvement do not persuade anyone. "I think that any sane person in any country will understand that we are talking about the fact that the US continues its escalating course and uses its wards in Kyiv, its puppets there, to organize and carry out increasingly defiant and increasingly dangerous provocative actions," he stressed. The US can deny its responsibility and involvement in the attack, but this "does not convince anyone," Ryabkov noted. As for Russia, it is ready to use all means to defend its security and leadership, he stressed. Turning to the arrest of US journalist Evan Gershkovich, the Russian deputy foreign minister said Washington did not provide any evidence of the journalist's innocence. According to Ryabkov, the situation around Gershkovich is being "heated to the limit" by the US media and presidential administration, which are trying to exercise pressure on Russia this way, but, he said, the decision on Gershkovich's case will be made by the court. "Gershkovich was caught red-handed. Officials in Washington are not able to oppose anything to this," Ryabkov stressed. Elena Teslova/AA Zimbabwes President Emmerson Mnangagwa joined other leaders from across the world to witness the coronation of King Charles, with the invitation seen as a stepping stone in mending relations between the two countries. Not everyone could be close enough to watch the coronation but still many tried to make their way to be as close as possible to the coronation venue. On the streets of London, the ZBC News crew spoke to some who were trying to make their way to Westminster Abbey, including American students studying in the United Kingdom. We are actually students from America we are studying here in the UK but we decided to wait for the coronation even after the university closed a week ago, a student said. Im really excited to be here and Im hoping to at least just one member of the royal family, said another. King Charles III ascended to the throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth on the 8th of September last year. The Archbishop of Canterbury placed the St Edwards crown on the Kings head. The crown was made for King Charles II in the 17th century and is only worn once, on the day of crowning. After King Charles was crowned, his wife Camilla was crowned as queen. President Mnangagwa used the opportunity to meet with businesspeople in the United Kingdom during his visit. zbc The Board of Secondary Education, Madhya Pradesh is all set to declare the MP Board 10th, 12th results 2023 on its official website, mpresults.nic.in or mpbse.nic.in. The board has invited proposals from various online portals for hosting the MP Board results 2023. Students can expect the results to be declared after May 11, once the board reviews the proposals and announces the alternative websites for students to check their MPBSE 10th, 12th results. As per various media reports, the MP Board results 2023 are likely to be declared in the end of May. The state board conducted the MPBSE Class 10 exams 2023 from March 1 to March 27 and the Class 12th exams 2023 from March 2 to April 5. Students will be able to download the MP Board result 2023 using their roll number. The MP Board 10th, 12th results 2023 are crucial for students as it will determine their future academic endeavors. With the board adopting the online mode of result declaration, students can access their results from the comfort of their homes. As the board has invited proposals from online portals, it provides an opportunity for various web portals to showcase their efficiency and technical expertise in hosting the MP Board results. The board has also set a lump sum amount of Rs 90,000 to be paid by the web portal through DD and sign an agreement with the board for the publication of results. After a decade in development and production, Disney great Andreas Deja is now introducing the world to his directorial debut Mushka. Deja just hosted the European premiere of the film at the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film and is now at Animayo in Spains Canary Islands, where he is screening the film and hosting a masterclass. Deja was with Disney for three decades and left an incredible legacy behind him when departed. During his time there, he oversaw the animation of numerous iconic Disney characters including King Triton from The Little Mermaid, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Jafar from Aladdin, Scar from The Lion King, Hercules from Hercules, Lilo from Lilo & Stitch, and Tigger from Winnie the Pooh (2011), to name a few. He was honored with the Winsor McCay Award from ASIFA-Hollywood in 2007 and named a Disney Legend in 2015. Mushka turns on a young girl named Sarah who is pulled from her comfortable life in Soviet-era Kyiv and forced to live with her dad in Siberia after her grandmother suffers a fall. Unhappy and feeling lost, the girl disobeys her fathers orders and wanders into a nearby forest where she encounters a tiger and her cub. Startled by the big cat, the girl is carried back to the safety of the camp by the tiger, who is quickly hunted down and killed by the laborers there. When Sarah learns that the mother tiger has been killed, she convinces her father to let her raise the cub. The two bond as the animal matures into a huge apex predator that the men of the camp see as an opportunity for profit, setting up a tense confrontation. Deja took time from his festival tour to speak with Cartoon Brew about his passion project, what it took to make it happen, and what its like to be sharing it with the world now. Where did the inspiration to make Mushka come from? Why was this the film you wanted to make after striking out on your own? After my three decades at Disney, I asked myself a series of questions, starting with, What do you like to draw? I like drawing animals more than people, so I thought about what would be fun to animate. Well, I love big cats and have some experience from Lion King, so I thought maybe I could build on that with a tiger. Ive always loved stories about relationships between wild animals and humans, and I think there is something very dynamic and exciting about that. I immediately thought of a little girl that could raise this tiger cub, and in doing so she would learn that there are some bad people out there that want to harm the tiger, so she would try to take him back out into the wilderness where hed be safer. So I had that general idea, but Im not a story guy so I reached out to my friend Michael McKinney to help with the story. He writes poetry and does architecture. Hes a real artist. He fleshed out the story, added the dad, the grandma, and what he came back with read almost like a novel. Can you talk about the visual development that went into creating Mushka? There is a bit of a Disney look to it, but how did you make it your own? How is it different from the work you did while at Disney? Ive always been a huge fan of the Disney of the 1960s and 1970s, Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, you know, those were the first movies I saw. I only saw the really old Disney films when I was older, so I first fell in love with the drawings with the thick black outlines that became characters and told stories. But I missed out on that a little bit when I was at Disney because we tended to go back to the cel-painted look. Everything was super clean and had a certain color to it then youd put a flat piece behind it. I thought I needed to go back in time a bit with Mushka and do something like the work that inspired me. So we didnt have any cleanup artists working on our film. That gives a vibrancy to the line as you might remember seeing in 101 Dalmatians. I wanted that for the backgrounds as well. I had my wonderful background painter Natalie Franscioni-Karp paint about 80% of the backgrounds herself. I told her, Dont paint anything that looks super finished and super beautiful. Lets keep a rough quality. That also fits the story better. There is a roughness to that world out there in Siberia. We dont need to finish every leaf and rock. And she got it immediately. In traditional animation when you are happy with your storyboard, you give the board to the rough layout artist who analyses everything one more time and then it goes to a cleanup layout artist who does a fine line drawing of the layout, and that goes to the background painter. Well, we didnt have any of those layout people. It went from story sketch to Natalie, to paint. How long were you working on the film? It was close to seven to eight years. Which seems ridiculously long, but thats what it took. Our crew stayed very small. When you see the credits at the end of the film, most of those people are from Skywalker or from the orchestra. The artistic crew stayed very small. My freelance artists came and went. Sometimes they would only be around working on the film for two weeks between jobs and then I might not see them for four or five months. To be honest with you, I asked quite a few artists to work with that I knew would be good on this, but most of them had their own projects they were working on when they were between jobs. So my crew stayed really small. The good thing is that I didnt have a studio finance this because then I would get a call saying, Hey Andreas sequence nine was supposed to be done last Friday, where is it? This way when it was done it was done and we just stayed on course. Can you talk me through the production process? Which tools did you use and how did you achieve the look you were going for? It was all drawn on paper. I still have stacks and stacks in my office. Its just something I was used to, and honestly, never saw a problem with it. I like paper, and if the artist is happy with that, why give it up? I tried early on a bit of storyboarding on the Cintiq and it was going fine, but I knew if I had drawn those poses on paper they would be better. So, Matthieu Saghezchi, who did the storyboard with me, told me, Before you get cranky, go back to your desk and draw on paper and Ill come by with my phone and take pictures and use those. And thats exactly what he did and everybody was happy. We did use TV Paint as our main program because its very 2d friendly and we had a little bit of Photoshop. The characters do have solid painted areas, but we added a texture over that. All that took was just one sheet of paper and you just scribble a texture with your pencil, and wed scan that in and expose it at 80% or something, just so that it kind of looks like somebody with a crayon could have colored this. That was something I wanted on top of the cel-painted look. I suppose one disadvantage is that studios can help you find distribution. What are your plans for the film after you finish your festival run? When were done with the festivals Ill knock on the doors of some streamers, but right now Im focusing on introducing the film to new audiences and enjoying sitting in the audience and watching people react to the film. Experiencing them experiencing the film for the first time. How different is that experience now that its your film the audience is reacting to, and not just a film that you worked on? Its a little bit different for sure. I was just thinking about that the other week and if Im really honest with myself, which Im trying to be, Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Roger Rabbit, all of those films would totally exist without me. Someone else would have filled my role. In a different way probably, but they would exist. This Mushka thing only exists because I had an idea you know? Its kind of a weird thing to think about. If I werent around, this whole thing wouldnt exist. So maybe its a bit more of a thrill to share it with the world because there is nobody behind it other than me and my crew. There is also a sense of pride because Ive never directed. I watched the directors whom I worked with, Musker and Ron Clements, and all of the others, so I know what the job entails. But as a director, youre responsible for storytelling. Youre not just given a scene and told to go animate it. No, no, no character arcs, storylines, does the story make sense, is it too long, whats the pacing all about. All these things I never really had to mess with now came into play. But I bounced my ideas off other people to make sure that I was on the right track. It was still a team effort. Do you think that making your own film is something that more artists should consider? Is it the kind of thing where you need resources, connections, and a resume built over a career, or should more young, less experienced artists try making their own films? I think so. That would be one thing Id like to see. The idea that you can do this yourself now, or with a small group of friends. Its entirely possible. It doesnt have to be 28 minutes like my film, it can be a five or seven-minute project. Its not overwhelming anymore because one of the big reasons back in the day that those passion projects failed was that you needed to deliver a 16-millimeter or 35-millimeter print of your film to festivals or networks and that was really expensive. So many artists just stopped even trying to go there. Well, thats not the case anymore. Now its just a file, a little thing you can send somebody in a few seconds. So because of that cut in costs, its entirely possible to set up your pipeline there, especially with some of the tools that can help you with it, and do your thing. Infect other people with a passion for your project and theyll help you. Its so doable that there is no excuse anymore not to do your passion project. Youre touring with the film now. In fact, youre speaking to me from the Animayo festival in the Canary Islands where youre also giving a masterclass and meeting with attendees. Is that something youre passionate about as well? Teaching and inspiring new generations of artists? Totally, totally. You meet so many people who are right on the verge and thinking, I dont know if I can do it. I want to push people over that edge and say, Of course you can do it! Talk it over with your friends who have some talent, work with people you respect, and get excited about your idea. I got so excited two or three years ago when Ralph Bakshi went to Comic Con in San Diego and he said, I really dont like young people waiting by the phone waiting for the studios to offer them a job. He said, Do it yourself. He called the computer the machine, and he always said the machine can help you keep costs down and let you do your project. Its so doable. (91710) Today Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. High 69F. SW winds at less than 5 mph, increasing to 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 52F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. The Collegedale Police Department has four new AEDs ready to be issued to officers in the field. Five were issued last year, and more are expected to be ordered next year. The agency aims to outfit each patrol car with an AED for deployment during emergencies. An AED, or automated external defibrillator, is used to help people experiencing cardiac arrest. This easy-to-use tool evaluates a patients heart rhythm and delivers a shock when necessary to stimulate the heart into beating. These days, AEDs are commonly found in most government or large business buildings. Chief Jack Sapp wants to ensure all his patrol officers are equipped and trained to use this life-saving tool. Since our officers respond to all fire and EMS calls and are the first on scene a lot of those times, it makes sense to have an AED in every patrol car, said Chief Sapp. No different than the blue lights or sirens, my goal is to make AEDs a standard piece of equipment for our police vehicles. According to the American Red Cross, cardiac arrest is among the leading causes of death in the United States. For each minute defibrillation is delayed, the odds of survival are reduced by 10%. Access to an AED and knowing how to use one is critical during those emergencies. In addition to CPR, Collegedale police are recertified in operating AEDs every two years. A woman on Battery Place told police she received a call from a number linked to the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office. She said the caller identified as "Officer Scott Hughes and told her charges for failure to appear were pending. She requested to speak with a supervisor. She then spoke with another individual who identified as Lt. Douglas Wilson. That person said she was under a gag order to remain quiet about the circumstance and instructed her to get $7,500 in vouchers (Money Pack) and mail it to the Department of Treasury without postage. * * * Police were told there was a black male sleeping by the entrance of Kleen-A-Matic at 5211 Hixson Pike. Police arrived and found the man sleeping. They woke him up and told him he would have to leave. The complainant asked for the man to be trespassed. Police explained to the man that he was trespassed and no longer able to come back onto the property. He expressed his understanding and left. * * * An employee of Motel 6 at 5505 Brainerd Road told police she needed a man to leave the property. The man had been notified verbally to leave the day before. The man argued he needed to be evicted and had to have written notification. After much discussion, the man agreed to gather his belongings and leave. * * * An employee for the Chattanooga Gas Company told police he needed to shut off the gas to a property on Duncan Avenue for a safety inspection. The owner of the property was not wanting the gas company to turn off the gas delivered to the house. She was worried about the age of her furnace and shutting the gas off may impact it due to its age. An officer explained to the woman that the gas company had an obligation to safely deliver gas to the residence, so she let the gas company into her property to turn off the gas. * * * Police responded to a disorder on N. Orchard Knob where a man said he had been in a verbal altercation but everything was settled down. He said he pays rent at the location, but was being asked to leave by another man. He said the argument was "nothing" and he just needed to smoke a cigarette. Police then spoke with a third man, who said he was the one in the verbal altercation with the man but they were no longer arguing. He said the man was "his dawg" and they figured everything out. The officer then spoke with the complainant, who said the two men had been arguing so he called police. Everyone agreed that it was settled down and police were no longer needed. * * * A woman on Cherryton Drive told police she received a text from her bank about an attempted purchase from "Digital to the Edge" for $56. Then she received a call from a man in Texas. The man stated that he was with law enforcement and that she had a warrant for her arrest. The woman said she later ended the call after they stated her personal information to her, including her correct Social Security number. The woman has canceled her debit card and will be reporting her social as comprised to other agencies. * * * A woman on Brandywine Lane called police because she is going out of town and she doesnt want her mother, who lives with her, to stay in the home while she is gone. The woman purchased a hotel room for her mother to stay in while she is gone. The mother has lived with her since November, but doesnt contribute to rent, bills, or any expenses in the home. Her mother is staying temporarily until other arrangements can be made for her living situation. Officers were eventually able to convince her mother to leave the residence. The woman said she would give her mother a ride to the hotel. * * * A man on Georgia Avenue told police a black male hangs out near his back door and harasses women that live in the apartment complex. The man described the man as about 5'9"-5'11". He believes his is homeless. * * * A concerned citizen called to report a suspicious man traveling north on Old Hixson Pike and walking through people's yards. An officer spoke with the man who said he was just trying to avoid traffic. When asked if he was staying in the Hixson area, he said he stays everywhere, but doesn't frequent any one specific homeless camp. He's been staying with his girlfriend, whom officers are also familiar with. The man and woman have involved police before in their disputes. The man didnt appear to be doing anything illegal while police were speaking with him. He continued north on Old Hixson Pike. * * * An employee at JC Penney at Hamilton Place Mall told police a black male snatched an entire rack of Levi jeans. Then he ran out of the business without paying for the merchandise. The suspect jumped into an SUV, possibly CR-V, and sped away. The total value was about $2,500. East Ridge Parks and Recreation and East Ridge Police Department invite all citizens to an important presentation concerning a growing problem titled Being Scam Aware. On Friday, East Ridge Police Departments Assistant Chief Josh Creel will be speaking on how to be scam smart, knowing when you are being scammed, and what to do if it happens to you. The Being Scam Aware presentation is part of the East Ridge Community Conversation series which offers a variety of helpful topics to the community and surrounding areas. The presentation will be held at the East Ridge Community Center at 1515 Tombras Avenue on Friday, at 6 p.m. Participants at the Being Scam Aware presentation will learn how to take basic steps that may well keep them from becoming a victim of an increasing number of scams. The FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center catalogs complaints, showing 3.26 million complaints and 27.6 billion dollars in losses from 2018-2022. There was 10.3 billion in losses reported in 2022 alone. Unfortunately, this figure does not include complaints never reported. Assistant Chief Creel will explain how to protect yourself and your loved ones from common scams that frequently happen in the area. The more popular scams include elder fraud schemes, money mule or repackaging fraud, romance scams, credit card skimming, and scam calls. Creel said that most all victimization by scams can be prevented by education and awareness. At the Being Scam Aware session, he will explain how scammers gain personal information, such as social media and open-source intelligence gathering. Creel will also provide resources, such as the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) IC3.gov site, detailing tips and giving reporting information. To learn more about the latest scams and get advice to help you avoid, report, and recover from them, plan on attending the East Ridge Community Conversation series Being Scam A ware presentation on Friday. For more information, contact Hannah Spear with East Ridge Community Center at hspear@eastridgetn.gov or Assistant Chief Creel at jcreel@eastridgetn.gov or call 423 867-6406. In an effort to demonstrate an impartial view towards the Trillion Dollar redevelopment plan of our beloved inner city a positive and respectful suggestion has been received from another reliable unidentified source of information based from the hometown of the Ohio State Buckeyes. The planting of lovely flowers and plants in the concrete containers adjacent to the thoroughfare formerly known as Broad Street is greatly appreciated. The creative and forward thinking move by our neighbors in the North (Ohio) should be adopted and expanded by the backward boys (girls, etc.) from the former Dynamo of Dixie. It has been reported that members of the Columbus City Council in its infinite wisdom has voted to spend $25,000 of the local folks tax money to purchase 130 new fold-down changing stations allocated for men and gender neutral restrooms at city facilities and small businesses. While this monetary appropriation in the Ohio capitol was approved without consideration of a potential sexual discrimination allegation expressed over concern that the existing changing stations were primarily in women's restrooms, the Gig City can do better. With a little bit of Southern ingenuity the dual problem of not having a place to relieve oneself other than in the front door of one of our multiple banking institutions and showing a genuine concern for our ever increasing population of tax paying new citizens from other regions the opportunity for another forward advancement in progress is guaranteed. By placing a beautifully designed (by local architects/artists) portable toilet on the corner of each thoroughfare beginning at the Tennessee River near the Big Fish Tank through St. Elmo it would not only enhance the scenery but would also eliminate any false accusations that the former Scenic City is uncaring as a municipality. It probably could also be agreed between CARTA and the Uptop Town that their relief station might contain a mural on the historical significance of the Battle Above The Clouds. (Having established an impeccable record in obtaining local, state, and federal non-taxpayer funds by grants no objection from either the Democrats/Republicans is anticipated prior to the 2024 elections on this progressive idea.) * * * You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com The name Sarah Jessica Parker is synonymous with Carrie Bradshaw. While Parker has starred in a number of productions since her youth, her rise to stardom really came from portraying Carrie Bradshaw in the Sex and the City franchise. While Parker has said in the past that she doesnt feel that connected to Bradshaw, the pair do share at least one thing in common. Heres the one thing that Parker and Bradshaw both love. Sarah Jessica Parker never felt very connected to her Carrie Bradshaw character Actor Sarah Jessica Parker was born in a small Ohio town in the mid-1960s. She was one of eight children born into a family that struggled to get by. However, that didnt stop Parkers mother from ensuring that her children were well-versed in the arts from a young age. During her childhood, Parker moved with her family from their small town in Ohio to Cincinnati, where she and her siblings began taking ballet and theater classes. After a few years in Cincinnati, the whole family relocated to New York City in 1977. According to IMDb, this is when Parker got her big break on Broadway when she was just shy of her 12th birthday, an opportunity that spurred the familys move. Of course, Parker is most known today for her role as Carrie Bradshaw in the romantic comedy-drama Sex and the City, which aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004. Despite playing Bradshaw for six years in the original series, and then again in the 2008 film Sex and the City, the 2010 Sex and the City 2, and the revival series And Just Like That which aired its first season in December 2021, Parker has publicly stated that she never felt very connected to the character. One thing that both Parker and Bradshaw can relate on is their love of New York City Along with her more humble upbringing, Parker is more attached to a good girl persona rather than Bradshaws flawed, adventurous, and somewhat crass characterization. In addition, Bradshaw has always been a character who loved to date around, while Parker is more of a relationship girl, having been in a nearly eight-year relationship with Robert Downey Jr. from 1984 to 1991 and then marrying Matthew Broderick in 1997. Parker and Broderick have now been married for over 25 years and share three children together, while the character Carrie Bradshaw made the decision to forgo motherhood altogether. While there are many differences between Sarah Jessica Parker and Carrie Bradshaw, one thing that both can seem to truly relate to is their love of New York City. On a podcast episode of Awards Chatter, Parker got candid with host Scott Feinberg about how moving to New York City as a kid changed her life for the better. Sarah Jessica Parker has lived and worked in New York City for decades now On her podcast episode with Awards Chatter, Parker opened up about landing a leading role in the revival of The Innocents on Broadway in 1976 as an 11-year-old kid. Landing this role was the primary reason her family left Ohio for New York City and was the sole reason that Parker fell in love with the city in her youth. During the podcast, Parker commented, I simply couldnt shake New York. I couldnt seem to get rid of thisI think its very hard to describe. People that come to New York and touch on it, and then dream on it, its a very peculiar thing as some people have that feeling and they come, and it doesnt last, while some people come and they never leave, and Im the latter. Parker went on to describe how she saw this hard-to-describe promise in New York City. She knew she wanted to be an actor from a very early age, and New York City gave her that unspoken promise that her dreams could be a reality there. While Parker is much different from Bradshaw on a broad spectrum, the way she speaks about what New York City means to her is very Carrie Bradshaw-esque. Royal family followers are looking forward to King Charles IIIs coronation happening on Saturday, May 6, 2023. Prince Harry plans on attending the coronation despite Meghan Markle staying behind in California. The couples son, Prince Archie, turns 4 on coronation day, and Meghan wants to stay back for that reason. Now, it looks like Harry will try to make both the coronation and his sons birthday. What time is he leaving the coronation? What time will Prince Harry leave King Charles coronation? King Charles and Prince Harry | Paul Thomas/Getty Images for Jaguar Land Rover Prince Harrys about to have a jam-packed weekend. King Charles invited Harry and Meghan Markle to the coronation, but only Harry plans on attending. Many royal family followers assumed this meant that Harry would skip out on Archies 4th birthday. But new reports suggest Harry plans on heading home immediately after the coronation to get back to California in time for his sons big day. So, what time will Prince Harry leave the coronation? Reports suggest hes only staying in the UK for 24 hours, and hes leaving the ceremony within two hours of it ending. Harry will be in and out of the UK in 24 hours, an insider shared with The Sun. He will only be doing the coronation service, then leaving. The coronation begins at 11 a.m. local time and finishes at 1 p.m, which means the ceremony begins at 3 a.m. PDT and ends at 5 a.m. PDT. Its likely Harry will catch a plane back to California by 3 p.m. UK time, which could put him back in Santa Barbara by 4 p.m. PDT. While Harry will likely be tired from his whirlwind travels, he could theoretically return home well before the sun goes down in California. Meghan Markle isnt attending because of Prince Archies birthday Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation Prince Harry will attend King Charles coronation, but Meghan Markle opted out. While she claims to be staying home for Archies birthday, royal expert Omid Scobie told the Hindustan Times that shes also clearly protecting her peace by not going. People around the Sussexes guided press at the time that this is very much about Archies fourth birthday, Scobie said. I disagree with that to some extent because I also know from friends of hers that shes protecting her peace as well. She is aware of how much the spotlight goes on her when she sets a foot near the story. The royal expert also noted that the royal family is likely feeling relieved that Meghan wont be there. I would say so, and I would put it down to the fact that so much of the attention goes on someone they would rather [it] didnt go on, Scobie added. If you look back at some of Meghan and Harrys biggest problems, it was all down to the fact that everyone was always talking about them and the attention was on them at times when it shouldnt have been. King Charles isnt allowing Prince Harry on Buckingham Palace balcony on coronation day King Charles is reportedly happy that Prince Harry plans on attending the coronation. But Harry isnt invited to join the working royals on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Perhaps Harrys lack of a role during the coronation will also give him the opportunity to leave the festivities early to head back to California. Royal expert Gareth Russell told Us Weekly that its no surprise that Harry wasnt given any royal duties for the coronation, as the other royals didnt want to complicate matters further by having him involved simply because the royals are hoping that they can draw a line under the recent controversy with the Duke of Sussex. For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheets YouTube channel. There is nothing quite like the romance you experience when you are young and in love. First kisses, slow dances at prom, holding hands in the school hallway all those treasured moments are something that many people look back on years later with fondness. It is widely believed that relationships kickstarted in high school never last, but this pair of high school sweethearts will prove you wrong. Sorelle (@sorelleokoli) shared the timeline of her dating journey with her boyfriend on TikTok, and its actually a really sweet story. It all started back in 2008 when Sorelle moved to his neighborhood. The first time they met was at a park between their houses. In middle school, they were part of the same friend group. However, he was dating one of her best friends at the time. Skipping ahead to sophomore year of high school, Sorelle recalls how he asked her to the homecoming dance. This was the pivotal moment that led to everything falling into place. A few months later, he went to one of Sorelles dance performances, and after the show, he asked her to be his girlfriend. We dated all throughout high school. We were voted cutest couple, went on lots of cheesy dates, and won prom king and queen in our senior year, said Sorelle. Sorelle ended up going out of state to Chapman University in California, while her boyfriend chose to attend Washington State University. Because of the distance, they decided to break up. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Unsplash/Melinda Gimpel In a stunning late-night reversal, U.S. Greg Guidry, a district judge, disqualified himself from the New Orleans Roman Catholic bankruptcy case involving nearly 500 victims of clergy sex abuse. The choice was made a week after an Associated Press story revealed Guidry had given the archdiocese tens of thousands of dollars while routinely siding with the church in his decisions. In his initial announcement, Judge Guidry had stated that he would continue to hear the case because no "reasonable person" could dispute his impartiality, according to other federal judges. But in a terse, one-page filing late Friday, he reversed course in the face of mounting pressure and nagging questions. To avoid the appearance of any personal bias or prejudice, Guidry wrote, "I have chosen to recuse myself from this matter." Judge Guidry's Recusal Throws New Orleans Roman Catholic Bankruptcy Case into Disarray According to Associated Press News, the 62-year-old judge, who served as an appellate judge for the three-year-old bankruptcy, is expected to recuse himself, likely resulting in new hearings and appeals of every significant decision he has made. This development comes after an image from a U.S.-provided video. Senate, depicting Judge Greg Guidry speaking on Wednesday, February 13, 2019, in Washington, D.C., during a hearing for district court candidates held by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. According to The Associated Press, Guidry's support of the disputed bankruptcy of the New Orleans Roman Catholic archdiocese through donations and decisions may have created a conflict of interest that might have thrown the case into turmoil. According to another source, The Guardian reported that Despite giving over $50,000 to Catholic organizations in the New Orleans region, Guidry had previously informed lawyers involved in the case that a federal court committee on standards of conduct had cleared his handling of appeals about the issue. During his ten years as a justice on the Louisiana state supreme court, his residual contributions were used to make the payments. Due to federal legal precedence that permits every decision made by a recused judge to be appealed and overturned potentially, Guidry's decision is anticipated to completely destabilize the bankruptcy case, which has been underway since May 1, 2020. Under the bankruptcy court records, a well-known local lawyer named John Litchfield, who served as the campaign finance committee head and cleared Guidry's gifts to the New Orleans archbishop, received at least $80,000 straight from the neighborhood church. Litchfield's firm had been defending some archdiocesan affiliates wherein, mainly nursing homes and senior living facilities, that are against allegations of medical misconduct. However, Litchfield emphasized that his company had steered clear of the most divisive claims at the heart of the bankruptcy, those involving people who claim they were assaulted as minors by Catholic priests and deacons. Also Read:Connecticut Catholic School's Alumni Rally to Rescue School Amidst Diocese's Sex-Abuse Bankruptcy Judge Guidry's Recusal Prompts Reactions from Court Spokesman and Bankruptcy Creditor According to the article shared in Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts' Charles Hall said Judge Guidry had no additional comments beyond the recusal order delivered last Friday. James Adams, a bankruptcy creditor who claims he was molested by a priest in 1980, thinks the judge's removal from the case was long overdue. Like the church, some federal judges won't frequently act honorably until the press starts looking into and questioning them, according to Adams. "Putting on a black robe can have dangerous side effects, such as inflated ego and arrogance." Related Article:Catholic Diocese of Albany Might Face Bankruptcy Due to Lawsuits Alleging Sexual Abuse Pixabay/PublicDomainPictures Many mothers suffer emotional anguish after losing their children from conditions that may have been treated, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria. As a result, several churches have decided to contribute to the "Mother's Day Mission Match" to assist mothers worldwide in meeting their children's fundamental needs. Contribution of 30 Churches A report from Religious News Service stated that there are a lot of women in the world that need assistance with the most fundamental aspects of child survival. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans were projected to spend $28.1 billion to mark Mother's Day in 2021, equivalent to almost $220 per person. In 2023, 30 churches that also spend money to assist these worldwide mothers are qualified for matching contributions from Mission Match. These contributions ranging from $500 to $3,000, can be made to parishes for the charitable activities they are working on. As mentioned, churches proceed with having one of the most effective distribution systems, as they can deliver aid to the areas with the highest level of need. Following a check of the websites of several denominations, some examples of things that are needed include portable ultrasound devices, training for midwives to work in remote regions and malaria nets. Moreover, religious organizations can submit an application for a matching donation through the Mission Match program for a project that either helps staff medical facilities, assists in the construction of medical infrastructure, or gives supplies that aid in children's survival. The study may also be helpful to younger or older age groups. Churches can contact Christian faiths and charitable organizations to determine what supplies are required to reduce deaths. As per Yahoo News, it is hoped that the mobilization of these thirty churches will help launch a movement of many more churches to continue in their footsteps. Additionally, on the Church Application page of missionmatch.org, places of worship can learn about the details of the registration process that they will need to go through. People may find the list of 40 countries on the "40 Countries" page at missionmatch.org. Furthermore, they reportedly hope that by celebrating this year, more moms worldwide will be rejoicing with their kids for the next year rather than lamenting their children's loss. Also Read:'Mother's Love,' on Mother's Day Celebrating Mother's Day Based on an article from Berns N Petals, Mother's Day is an event that is celebrated in several areas of the world to demonstrate love, respect, and honor towards mothers. It is a day set aside to acknowledge mothers, recognize the work that goes into maintaining maternal relationships, and pay tribute to mothers' important role in society. In addition, although several nations commemorate the event on various dates, March and May are the most usual months for the celebrations. Mother's Day requires the same amount of preparation as other holidays, such as Father's Day, Siblings Day, and Grandparents Day. Accordingly, this occasion is an important day to pay special attention to motherly figures worldwide. It is a day that causes people to reflect on the relevance and significance of mothers in their lives. Related Article: Franklin Graham Celebrates Life During Mother's Day Message Pixabay/Kevin Seibel Devotees and church leaders of the former spiritual home of President Teddy Roosevelt are asking for support to raise money for the Restoration of Grace Reform Church. They reportedly need $6 to $7 Million to supply the needs for the church's repairs. Restoration of Grace Reform Church A few years ago, Grace Reform Church decided to cease operations; nevertheless, when it was at its height, it served as President Theodore Roosevelt's church. Chris Moerman, the senior pastor at Grace Capitol City Church, throughout the years he served as President, Teddy Roosevelt was known to travel from the White House to Grace Reformed Church to attend Sunday services regularly. Fox 35 reported. Church officials have expressed their desire to pay tribute to Roosevelt's legacy and maintain the integrity of Grace Reform Church to the greatest extent possible. That's how they got started with SaveTeddysChurch.com. According to Pastor Moerman's estimation, the project's total cost might range from $6 million to $7 million. Moreover, his congregation has already raised close to $2.5 million in donations. "We know there are a lot of people who have a love for either faith, presidential history, historic buildings, or maybe some combination of all three of those, so we wanted to make sure people know the opportunity that's available here," the pastor noted. Based on an article from The Clio, the historic Grace Reform Church may be found in the Logan's Circle district of Washington, District of Columbia. The church was designed in the Late Gothic Revival style and built between 1892 and 1903, but now it is most famous for being the place of worship that President Theodore Roosevelt went to when he was in his administration. Traditional worship services at this church emphasize the historic creeds, Gospel preaching, and choral and instrumental music. Furthermore, Grace Reformed Church is reportedly associated with the United Church of Christ. In 1991, the building and its Sunday School and Parish House were acknowledged as deserving of inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Also Read: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Churchs Reconstruction Currently Costs $85 Million Save Teddy's Church Goal The mission of Save Teddy's Church is to acquire, renovate, and reopen the church that served as President Teddy Roosevelt's spiritual home during his time in office as President of the United States. They believe that one of the best ways to respect the President's legacy would be to restore his church and populate it with members of the coming generations who put their beliefs into practice via acts of service. The former President had a hand in constructing this site, where he was able to lay the cornerstone and where he was said to have established a true spiritual home. The church received financial support from President Roosevelt, yet, it is more important that it appears the President's spiritual life and physical health were significantly influenced by his involvement in the church. Theodore Roosevelt is quoted in Benjamin Wetzell's book Spiritual Lives. He said that coming into the temple of the Lord to offer thanksgiving and to sing with sincerity the hymn "Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty" is a form of spiritual rejuvenation after a week of grappling with challenging issues and engaging in intense competition. Accordingly, when President Roosevelt was leaving Washington, DC, he stated in a letter to the minister of Grace Reformed, "When I leave Washington DC, I shall regret few things more than leaving your church." Related Article:Lilly Endowment Inc. Gave $3 Million Grant for Reconstruction of Historic First Baptist Church in Williamsburg Pixabay/Rudy and Peter Skitterians The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has threatened to cut federal funding to a Catholic hospital in Texas over its refusal to remove a religious item from its chapel. Violating Religious Beliefs According to attorneys representing the hospital, the HHS has taken issue with a permanent candle that is lit in the chapel to symbolize the presence of Christ. The hospital has argued that removing the candle would violate its religious beliefs and infringe on its First Amendment rights, Fox News reported. St. Jude Medical Center in Montgomery County, Texas, is one of several U.S. Catholic hospitals that have faced scrutiny over their religious objections to specific medical procedures, such as abortion and assisted suicide. In this case, the HHS has specifically cited the hospital's participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs as grounds for its authority to regulate the facility's operations. As mentioned, legal experts have warned that the dispute could ignite a legal firestorm, potentially pitting the hospital's constitutional rights against the government's interest in ensuring equal access to healthcare services. "This issue could have far-reaching implications for all religious healthcare providers," said Mary Kate Knorr, Illinois Right to Life Action executive director. In addition, the Biden administration has threatened to revoke a hospital's accreditation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, unless it removes a chapel candle that has been a fixture in its chapel for decades. According to local news outlet KRMG, the candle has become the subject of a dispute between the hospital and the federal government, arguing that it violates the separation of church and state. The hospital, St. Francis Hospital, is a Catholic-affiliated institution that has received federal funding for years. The government's demand to remove the candle reportedly came after a patient complained that it was offensive to non-Christians. Also Read:Catholic Hospitals Shouldn't Be Forced To Conduct Transgender Procedures, North Dakota Court Ruling Says Hospital's Response The Tablet reported that St. Jude Medical Center threatened legal action against the U.S. government after being ordered to remove a sanctuary candle from its chapel. The hospital has refused to comply with the order, arguing it violates its religious beliefs and First Amendment rights. "This is an important symbol of our faith, and we cannot in good conscience remove it," said Sister Mary Michael, the hospital's director of mission integration. The HHS, which oversees the Medicare and Medicaid programs, has cited a federal regulation prohibiting religious symbols in federally-funded healthcare facilities. The agency has argued that the sanctuary candle constitutes a religious symbol and is, therefore, in violation of the law. Legal experts have warned that the dispute could have far-reaching implications for the relationship between religious institutions and the federal government. "This case raises important questions about the limits of government authority and the protection of religious freedom," said Gregory Baylor, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group. Moreover, the hospital has retained the services of Alliance Defending Freedom to represent it in the legal battle. The group has argued that the HHS is overstepping its authority by trying to dictate the religious practices of a private institution. "We will fight this order in court, if necessary," said Baylor. Related Article: University Of California Forcing Catholic Hospitals To Violate Religious Convictions Pixabay/LoggaWiggler A man from Cherry Grove is suspected of starting a series of suspicious blazes in Alberta. Recently, a man was also allegedly responsible for destroying the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building in Cherry Grove, Alberta. Wildfires at Alberta The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Cold Lake, Serious Crimes Branch, Forestry Crimes Unit (FCU), and detectives from Alberta Forestry, Parks and Tourism collaborated on an investigation into a string of deliberately lit wildfires that took place between August and September of 2022 in Alberta, as well as the arson of automobiles and buildings in the Hamlet of Cherry Grove in April of 2023, Global News reported. In August 2022, an inquiry was launched into various wildfires in Hilda Lake, Cold Lake Provincial Park, Ardmore, and Cherry Grove. After investigating, the authorities concluded that the blazes were unusual and had been started on purpose. Additionally, a fire broke out on Sept. 9, 2022, at the Cherry Grove Rodeo Grounds. The RCMP stated that the fire that broke out on a wooden platform seemed to have been started on purpose. A report from CFWE Radio stated that on Friday, Apr. 28, around 3:30 in the morning, a blaze flared out in Cherry Grove, located close to the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was consumed by fire despite the efforts of many firefighters from Cold Lake, Bonnyville, La Corey, and Iron River who fought the flames at the building. As mentioned, another fire was found at the Cherry Grove Canada Post office. According to the police, both incidents are being investigated as possible arson attempts because they were extinguished before any substantial damage could be caused. Moreover, Edmonton CTV News reported that on Sunday, Apr. 30, in the areas of Maple Street and Pine Drive in Cherry Grove, police also responded to several incidents of vehicle and structural wildfires, including two residences. On the same day, a man from Cherry Grove, John Cook, aged 29, was arrested by authorities. Ten separate charges of arson have been brought against him. The police asserted that he had previously been subject to a restraining order to stay on his property due to an event unrelated to this issue. He is still being held in custody, and his next court date is Wednesday, May 10, in Cold Lake. Also Read:Fountain of Life Center Church Devastated With Eight-alarm Blaze Other Suspicious Wildfire that Destroyed Churches After flames damaged Roman Catholic churches located north of Halifax and Edmonton in 2021, police investigations reportedly occurred in Nova Scotia and Alberta. They suspect that the St. Kateri Tekakwitha Church in the Sipekne'katik First Nation and the St. Jean Baptiste Parish in Morinville were the intended targets. It was 4.20 in the morning on Wednesday, Jun. 23, 2021, based on the RCMP in Indian Brook, Nova Scotia, when the fire at St. Kateri Tekakwitha was reported. Roughly 64 kilometers to the north of Halifax is where people find the Sipekne'katik First Nation, whom the church serves. Cpl. Chris Marshall, a spokesman for the RCMP, has stated that the province's arson marshal has been asked to investigate the blaze, which caused damage to the structure's south side. He could not prove why the investigators were suspicious about the fire's origin. In a short statement, the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth confirmed that the Katilin Healing and Cultural Centre, which is linked to the church, sustained damage; luckily, nobody was hurt. Related Article:Man Set Fire to Mount Zion Church Pleaded Guilty, Allegedly Suffers from Schizophrenia Pixabay/Praesentator On May 3, author Martha Patricia Molina delivered the third part of her article "Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?" through a Zoom conference from exile. A total of at least 529 attacks, including 90 so far in 2023, have been made against the Church in Nicaragua under the Daniel Ortega dictatorship over the past five years, according to the research. The Ortega administration engaged in a number of "hostilities, persecution, sieges, desecration, destruction, robbery, expulsions, and confiscations" against religious leaders and institutions, as Molina described in her presentation. The report's results provide a bleak picture of the nation of Central America's continued attack on religious freedom. Nicaraguan Catholic Church Under Siege: New Report Reveals Hostilities and Persecution Since 2018 According to the Catholic News Agency, the "imprisonment of committed religious and lay leaders" inside the Nicaraguan Church was another issue raised by Molina. These people's illegal detention further shows the dictatorship's intolerance and commitment to repressing all opposition. The ongoing persecution of the Church in Nicaragua is a blatant sign of how badly things are going for human rights there. With the publication of her most recent report, Molina seeks to increase public awareness of the situation of the Nicaraguan people and the Ortega dictatorship's steadfast violations of their fundamental rights. The enormous hostility and persecution the Catholic Church in Nicaragua has endured since April 2018 have been made public by a recent report. In the article shared in National Catholic Register, the extensive information, written by a specialist in corruption and the rule of law, describes numerous assaults on the Church, such as the unfair imprisonment of Bishop Rolando Lvarez for more than 26 years, the expulsion of 32 religious people, the seizure of seven Church-owned properties, and the closure of various media outlets. The report, which spans the period of April 2018 to March 2023, is divided into four chapters. A chronicle of heresies, blasphemies, assaults, robberies, and attacks on the Church, as well as a methodical examination of the ongoing wars, are among the noteworthy incidents. The expert stressed the crucial part that the public played in aiding the overwhelmed Church, recording incidences of church damage, and monitoring attacks on priests and nuns. The research also identifies rising anxiety among the laity that prevents them from reporting unfriendly acts and keeping records of them. Also Read: Nicaragua Dictatorship: Restrictions of President Daniel Ortega During Holy Week Nicaragua's Freedom of Expression and Association Under Attack Freedom of speech and association are seriously threatened in Nicaragua due to various violations that human rights advocates, journalists, and critics must endure. According to the website of Human Rights Watch, death threats, physical violence, intimidation, surveillance, and online defamation campaigns are frequently directed at these people. Police often detain and arrest people arbitrarily, stopping them from going about their regular lives or engaging in political activities. For disseminating "fake news" and damaging national integrity, several journalists have been found guilty and given severe prison sentences. Numerous journalists have been forced into exile due to harassment directed at media organizations, which has caused newspapers and radio stations to close. Related Article:Nicaragua Arrests Around 21 People for Celebrating Traditions During Holy Week Russian and Ukrainian delegates brawl at meeting in Turkiye Xinhua) 10:42, May 06, 2023 ANKARA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Russian and Ukrainian delegates had scuffles during a meeting of Black Sea countries in Ankara, the Turkish parliament speaker confirmed on Friday. The fightings broke out late Thursday at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation in the Turkish parliament building. When the head of the Russian delegation began to deliver a speech, people from the Ukrainian delegation started to raise banners and flags, and speak loudly, Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop told reporters on Friday. Then a moment brawl erupted between the delegations of the two countries. Sentop said he came up to intervene, "but later on, I heard that such actions and provocations continued even after I left." Local media reported that later on, a Ukrainian delegate unfurled the Ukrainian flag behind Russian delegation deputy head Olga Timofeeva when she was being interviewed outside the conference room. News footage showed that a Russian delegate came up and snatched the flag before a clash broke out between him and the Ukrainian delegate. "This platform is not a platform for these things to happen," Sentop said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Pixabay/Mikdev In a meeting with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Pope Francis encouraged child protection advocates to seek spiritual healing and reparation for abuse victims. Embracing Spirituality of Reparation The Pope commended the commission for its ongoing efforts to address the issue of abuse within the church. He stressed the importance of a holistic approach that addresses the legal and pastoral aspects of the case and the spiritual. According to a report from the National Catholic Register, the Pope said that "spiritual healing is essential in addressing the harm caused by abuse." He encouraged commission members to "embrace a spirituality of reparation." The Pope also called on the commission to continue promoting greater awareness of the abuse, its impact on victims, and its efforts to support and care for survivors. As mentioned, the meeting comes as the church grapples with the abuse scandals that have rocked it in recent years. In his remarks, the Pope acknowledged the pain and suffering caused by these scandals and expressed his commitment to addressing them head-on. An article in America Magazine reported that the commission has been implementing several initiatives to prevent abuse and promote greater transparency and accountability within the church. These include establishing guidelines for the protection of minors, training church personnel in child protection, and developing protocols for responding to allegations of abuse. The commission has also been working to promote greater collaboration between the church and civil authorities in addressing the issue of abuse. Moreover, in his closing remarks, the Pope thanked the commission members for their dedication to the cause of protecting minors and for their ongoing efforts to address the issue of abuse within the church. He urged them to continue their work with a renewed sense of commitment and purpose and always to remember the importance of seeking spiritual healing and reparation for abuse victims. Also Read: Around 445 Sexual Abuse Victims of Priests and Church Officials in Spain Break Their Silence Vatican's Efforts to Address the Issue of Abuse within the Church In a move towards greater transparency and accountability, the Vatican's anti-child abuse panel has issued its first full report, according to Reuters. The report covers the period from 2022 to 2024 and provides a comprehensive overview of the panel's work in addressing the issue of abuse within the Catholic Church. The report details the efforts made by the panel to prevent abuse, support, and care for survivors, and to promote greater awareness of the issue within the church and in broader society. It also highlights the progress made in implementing reforms and initiatives to address the root causes of abuse and promote greater transparency and accountability within the church. Accordingly, the panel has focused on several key areas, including developing guidelines for protecting minors, training Church personnel in child protection, and establishing protocols for responding to abuse allegations. The panel has also worked to promote greater collaboration between the church and civil authorities in addressing the issue of abuse. The report emphasizes the importance of a victim-centered approach to addressing the issue of abuse and the need for the church to take responsibility for the harm caused by misuse and to provide support and care for survivors. It also acknowledges the pain and suffering caused by the recent abuse scandals that have rocked the church. It expresses the panel's commitment to a more just and compassionate response. Furthermore, the report's release is a significant milestone in the Vatican's efforts to address the issue of abuse within the church. It demonstrates a renewed commitment to transparency and accountability and a willingness to confront the brutal truths about the church's past and present failures in protecting children from abuse. Related Article:Pope Francis Includes Lay Leaders in 2019 Church Law Governing Clerical Sexual Abuse 55:11 Every story shared on EEMs 55:11 podcast is a living example of Isaiah 55:11. Hosts Dirk Smith, Payton Armstrong, and Brooke Kehl share inspiring stories of Gods power moving globally in the lives of ordinary people. EEM publishes, prints, and distributes Bibles and Bible-based materials in 30+ nations and in 20+ languages. Free to all. Learn More: http://bit.ly/3lNrAEO * * * Beyond Ordinary Women Christian women, do you long to enhance your leadership skills, gain discernment in church issues, and grow in Christlikeness? BOWs episodes feature guests with years of ministry experience. Whatever your callinginfluencing those around you, mentoring, or leading a small group or entire ministryour podcast is designed with you in mind Learn More: http://bit.ly/3npQkDf * * * Compelled Podcast Compelled uses gripping, immersive storytelling to celebrate the powerful ways God is transforming Christians around the world. Listen to missionaries, addicts, martyrs, and more who have seen Jesus at work in unbelievable ways. Learn More: http://bit.ly/3zh4OYR * * * Discovery Mountain Help your kids to fall in love with the Bible! Take an audio adventure with Discovery Mountain. Each season is packed with true-to-life stories that exercise listeners faith and draw them closer to Jesus, all without being tethered to a screen! Visit DiscoveryMountain.com/CT for episodes the whole family will enjoyfree and on demand. Learn More: http://bit.ly/3M1SZNW * * * Grace Enough Grace Enough is a weekly podcast where Amber and a special guest delve into challenging faith questions and the unwavering grace of God. Listen to inspiring stories of individuals on their journey towards God's kingdom here on earth, just as it is in Heaven. Learn More: http://bit.ly/3lPjo6X * * * Lets Read the Gospels Lets Read the Gospel with Annie F. Downs is a daily podcast where Annie guides listeners through a monthly reading of the Gospelsthe books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. With a different version and order each month, this podcast invites you into an immersive, fresh approach to spending time in the story of Jesus. Learn More: http://bit.ly/3zi4wBe * * * The Living Church Join pastors, artists, writers, and theologians in exploring faith, leadership, the arts, and other timely topicsall to equip and encourage leaders in the Episcopal Church, Anglican Communion, and beyond. A little evangelical. A little Catholic. A lot Anglican. Listen in. Learn More: http://bit.ly/3JT5Xeg * * * That Sounds Fun That Sounds Fun is hosted by New York Times Bestselling author Annie F. Downs, featuring conversations with guests like Bob Goff, Lauren Daigle, and Tim Tebow. If sitting down for coffee to talk books, faith, music, relationships, and more with old (and new) friends sounds like fun to you, listen in on Mondays and Thursdays! Learn More: http://bit.ly/3TVc06n * * * The Table The Table is a weekly podcast on topics related to God, Christianity, and cultural engagement brought to you by The Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary. The show features a variety of expert guests and is hosted by Dr. Darrell Bock, Bill Hendricks, Kymberli Cook, Kasey Olander, and Milyce Pipkin. Learn More: http://bit.ly/3KjgsZK * * * Things You Wont Hear On Sunday From Seacoast Pastors getting real about mental illness and being overweight to Christian celebrities talking about ego, here's life stories of pain, miracles, and family. This is a podcast that represents the heart of Seacoast Church and the things we don't have time to talk about on Sundays. Learn More: https://bit.ly/42Rh0gp * * * Truce Podcast Truce is a history podcast for people intimidated by history shows. Truce explores how we got here and how we can do better, from pyramid schemes to the origins of Christian fundamentalism. Podcast Magazine called Truce, reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwell. Learn More: http://bit.ly/3KidPax * * * United? We Pray United? We Pray is a ministry devoted to praying and thinking about racial strifeespecially between Christians. We want to encourage Christians amid the strife to rely upon God in prayer. So our prayers can be informed, we strive to learn and teach Biblically about race, racism, and its effects. Learn More: http://bit.ly/3GpjnxJ * * * 4 reactions to Joshua Butler's resignation as pastor of Arizona church Christians and non-Christians alike have had plenty to say about the news that Joshua Butler, an Evangelical Christian pastor and author, resigned from the leadership of his Arizona megachurch following backlash over his book, Beautiful Union, in which he asserted that sex is an icon of Christ and the church. Butler stepped down from his role as pastor at Redemption Church in Tempe, announcing the move in a letter in which he acknowledged some mistakes I've made I wish to own but also deep convictions I hold that I wish to contribute to the broader conversation. In response to the feedback he received, Butler stated his intention to revise the book for future printings. He also expressed his willingness to engage in discussions with any church members who were upset or offended by the controversy surrounding his book. His resignation drew responses from both supporters and critics across social media here are four of those reactions. Biden admin. has 'seen the light,' backs down in battle over Catholic hospital's sanctuary candle The Biden administration has decided to allow a Catholic hospital to keep its sanctuary candle lit after initially demanding that the hospital blow out the flame due to concerns over it being a fire hazard. In a Friday tweet, Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at the law firm Becket, revealed that the United States Department of Health and Human Services informed the St. Francis Health System in Oklahoma that it can keep its sacred candle lit. "The government has seen the light and has abandoned its attempt to force an Oklahoma hospital to blow out a small candle or stop serving elderly, disabled, and low-income patients. @HHSGov has told Saint Francis that it can keep its living flame a sacred candle housed in the hospital chapels." #BREAKING: The government has seen the light and has abandoned its attempt to force an Oklahoma hospital to blow out a small candle or stop serving elderly, disabled, and low-income patients. @HHSGov has told Saint Francis that it can keep its living flamea sacred candle housed pic.twitter.com/1bkpjqi19M LoriWindham (@LoriWindham1) May 5, 2023 The government knew it was playing with fire today it announced its decision to allow the living flame so Saint Francis can continue to serve God and its community, as it always has, Windham tweeted. HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a letter on Thursday to Michael J. Lissau, senior vice president and general counsel of the St. Francis Health System, agreeing to provide the St. Francis South Hospital with a waiver for the living flame located in the hospitals chapel. This waiver is contingent upon the hospital providing a plan of correction to [The Joint Commission] that includes taking some simple, appropriate steps to mitigate fire risks, the letter reads. The Joint Commission is an accrediting organization that determines if proper conditions for Medicare and Medicaid are met at facilities seeking to care for patients who use the federal programs. Recommended steps included signage posted outside or in the chapel warning patients, visitors, and staff of keeping oxygen equipment and their delivery devices sufficiently far from any flame in the chapel and the use of a rope or other barrier to serve as a secondary mitigation measure. Lissau responded in a letter sent Friday, questioning how the encased candle ever qualified as an open flame and why concerns about the candle even existed, since it was not an issue before this year. As Becket explained in a statement Friday, St. Francis keeps the candle lit inside one of its chapels as a symbol of the living presence of Jesus, following Catholic Church teaching. It is encased in two glass globes with a bronze cover on top. The candle holder is affixed to the wall and the chapel ceiling has multiple sprinkler heads. In February, a surveyor from The Joint Commission of CMS visited St. Francis and concluded that the sanctuary candle was a violation of standards on fire safety. CMS agreed with the surveyors conclusion and sent a letter on April 20 advising the facility to correct it after the hospital requested an appeal and reconsideration regarding the citation. If the hospital did not address the Joint Commissions concern, it would have lost the ability to provide for patients who use Medicare and Medicaid. Earlier this week, Becket sent a letter to HHS and other government agencies on behalf of the Catholic hospital, accusing the government agencies of violating the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment rights of the St. Francis Health System in addition to promising to file an emergency lawsuit it the agencies did not cease and desist. For its part, a CMS spokesperson informed The Christian Post on Thursday that an independent accrediting organization made the safety finding about the fire risk. CMS stated that it was working with the hospitals accrediting organization to develop options to mitigate the potential fire risk and remove the safety finding. During the safety inspection, the surveyor saw a lit candle with an open flame burning unattended 24/7 and he believed it violated the requirement for candles to be placed in a substantial candle holder and supervised at all times they are lighted. The governments demand is absurd and unlawful it is targeting Saint Francis sincere beliefs without any good reason, Windham said in a statement published before CMS approved the waiver. The government has a simple choice: either stop this attack on Saint Francis faith or expect a legal firestorm. Youre attacking God: Pastor John Grays church hit by ransomware attack Relentless Church in South Carolina has suffered a ransomware attack and its head Pastor John Gray cautioned the culprits, warning, Youre not attacking us, youre attacking the God that we serve. Upon discovering an external attack on the churchs servers, Gray told NBC News affiliate WYFF in Greenville that the church's IT team took immediate action, adding that they subsequently hired a top security firm to examine the breachs source and safeguard the data of both the church and its congregation. Gray also released a statement: Anyone who would seek to harm a church, youre not attacking us, youre attacking the God that we serve, and you dont want to go against him. We are very confident that our data is secured, and our congregations information is protected. Gray assured the congregation that services and programs would proceed as usual. Were going to continue with ministry as usual, and were not going to allow this to stop us or hinder us in any way, he said. Addressing the perpetrators directly in an interview with WYFF, Pastor Gray warned, If I were you, Id leave the things of God alone, and make an honest living instead of trying to steal from people who are doing their best to live a right, upright life. This is not the first time a church has reported being hit by a cyber attack. In 2016, an alleged terrorist group called United Cyber Caliphate took credit for hacking Michigans Lamont Christian Reformed Churchs website. I clicked on the website and all of the sudden this video pops up, and Im like, what is going on? a church member was quoted as saying at the time in an interview with Fox 17. The video played, reading, We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses and enslave your women by the permission of Allah, the Exalted. Consumers often receive unsolicited commercial emails or spam, which can sometimes serve as a means for criminals to contact potential victims for fraudulent schemes or identity theft, according to the Department of Justice, which encourages victims to report such unsolicited emails to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. For internet fraud involving Africa-based investment schemes, the Justice Department urges the public not to send any money or financial information, and report any financial losses to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. For emails involving potentially fraudulent medical devices or products, contact the Food and Drug Administration at webcomplaints@ora.fda.gov, the advisory continues. To report investment-related spam, reach out to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission using their SEC Tips, Complaints and Referrals Portal, it says, adding, for other online crimes, including online fraud or auction fraud, use the ICCCs online complaint form, even if you havent lost any money. 75 years later, Israel still stands strong May 2023 marks an important historical milestone. Seventy-five years ago, in May 1948, the modern nation of Israel was born. After having been scattered virtually around the world, Jews from around the earth were able to return to their homeland and create the modern state of Israel. Much of the land they came to was a wasteland, but through Gods help, and irrigation and advanced technology, they have been able to see streams in the deserts. Susan Michael is the U.S. Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. She said of this important milestone: Israel has not just survived for 75 years. Shes thriving. And there are so many things that we can celebrate at this time. I interviewed Susan Michael for a radio and a television segment recently. She told me, When Israel was founded May 14th, 1948, the next day she was attacked by five Arab armies. Now, you have to understand, Israel had no army, no defense forces, very few weapons, ill-trained people How they defeated five invading armies, there's no other explanation for it, but a miracle of God. She added, And then in 1967, another major moment, [Israel was] attacked by all the same countries again, and the victory was so resounding that she almost doubled in size. How can you explain this? Except that God was at work for her and defending her. Seventy-five years ago, the United States became the first nation to acknowledge the establishment of Israel. Historically, Jews have done well overall in the United States. On August 14, 1790, Washington wrote the oldest synagogue in America (in Newport, R.I.), May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. Washington was citing his favorite Bible verse, Micah 4:4. To Washington, this was a metaphor for what America could and should be: Everyone can enjoy peace and safety under their own vine and fig tree with none to make them afraid. It is fitting, therefore, that the United States and Israel have enjoyed overall good relations. Dr. Richard Land, president emeritus of Southern Evangelical Seminary, observes, America and Israel have a deep affinity because were the only two countries in the world that were founded on the Ten Commandments. Despite Israels astonishing achievement as a global high-tech leader, despite their success as the Middle Easts one-and-only democracy, we find today that many young Americans are not supportive of Israel. In fact, 89% of American Jews say that anti-Semitism is a problem in the U.S. today, There is a big push against Israel called BDS, which means, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. The BDS movement is trying to strangle Israel financially. This movement seems to be gaining traction on many college campuses, where the left has a virtual monopoly. Dennis Prager makes an interesting observation about the push to destroy Israel. He said, Nobody gives a hoot if you criticize Israel. If you support those who wish to destroy it, thats different ... There are a million hatreds in the world, but theres only one exterminationist hatred, and thats anti-Semitism. Anti-Semites dont dislike Jews. I wish that was all they did, you could live with this. You cant live with people who want to exterminate you. In light of Americas overall history of officially honoring religious freedom for the Jews, Susan Michael notes, I cannot believe that my country has this rise of anti-Semitism that we see taking place. But it does. And so, its very important that we let the Jewish people know that we are with them, that we support them, that we're praying for them, and that we stand with Israel. Its a great comfort to them at this time. One of the great benefits of the modern state of Israel is that Christians are able to go there and to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ Himself. It is terrific. It helps one to see firsthand the places where most of the great events took place in the Bible. The 75th anniversary of Israel as a state is a tremendous milestone, notes Rev. Erwin Lutzer, Pastor Emeritus, Moody Church, in a recent television interview for D. James Kennedy Ministries. He concludes, And we should rejoice in the fact that there is, in the Middle East, a country that believes in democracy, and that, of course stands in contrast to all the countries around it. And so we congratulate them on this special time and hope that Israel continues to exist. We, of course, know that America is friends with Israel; and we pray for their continued blessing and existence. Whats so special about human beings? On April 13, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Heartbeat Protection Act, which bans abortion after six weeks of a pregnancy. Thats when a heartbeat can be detected, indicating the existence of a new human being with a unique DNA. The law will go into effect if the Florida Supreme Court upholds the existing law barring abortions after 15 weeks, a statute lawmakers enacted in 2022. That law has been challenged by the pro-abortion industry. Because more than 90% of abortions occur before 15 weeks, the heartbeat bill was needed to protect many more innocent lives. More than a dozen heartbeat laws have been enacted or under consideration across the country. Due to the brainchild of my friend Janet Porter of Faith2Action, the bills have been made possible by the U.S. Supreme Courts Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. The latest law signals a growing pro-life sentiment in the Sunshine State. The Florida House overwhelmingly approved it 70-40 Among other things, the law increases state funding for the Pregnancy Care Network, Inc. from $4 million to $25 million. The network helps support crisis pregnancy centers that provide care for pregnant women. The new law also requires that drugs that induce abortion be dispensed, not mailed. This may well save many girls and women from suffering unforeseen complications from abortion pills. Lawmakers allowed some abortion exceptions including for victims of rape and incest, up to 15 weeks. Also, as with other pro-life statutes, the law allows abortions if the mothers life is in danger. The Heartbeat Act is the culmination of decades of pro-life activism, aided by scientific advances that decimate abortion backers claim that a growing baby in a womb is not a human being. And whats so special about human beings? For starters, we are the apple of our Creators eye: So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Gen. 1:27). Furthermore, science is uncovering the mysteries of the human body, revealing just how marvelous it is. For example, a human body contains 10 to 100 million unimaginably complex cells, each comprising a trillion atoms. Our eyes alone should scotch the idea that we are some sort of cosmic accident, thrown together over millions of years haphazardly and therefore disposable. Each retina has 120 million rods and seven million cones. In his book, More than Meets the Eye, Richard A. Swenson, M.D. explains that each eye has one million nerve fibers that electrically connect the photoreceptors in the retina to the visual cortex of the brain. This divinely designed hardware allows us to distinguish literally millions of shades of color and to detect a small candle flame from 30 miles away. The rest of the body, mind and soul are just as fearfully and wonderfully made, as Psalm 139 puts it. Anyone who has held a newborn should instinctively appreciate the miracle of birth and the blossoming of a new life. But sometimes it takes a shock to the system to convince people that abortion is the opposite of reproductive health care. I experienced that shock, along with my wife, Bonnie, at an Orlando theater around 1990, when we saw Silent Scream. The film depicts a fetus desperately trying to elude an abortionists tools of death. This got me off the sidelines, and I have worked in and supported the pro-life cause ever since, including chairing Floridas Life Chain. On Oct. 6, 1991, some 9,000 Central Floridians stood in a Life Chain along a busy Orlando boulevard. The next year, it was 10,000. The next year 15,000. Our growing faith and clarity about abortion were driving forces in the creation first of an investment fund for pastors and then the Timothy Plan in 1994, which launched Biblically Responsible Investing. We pledged then, and still do, that not a penny will be invested in companies that facilitate or support abortion, pornography, anti-family cultural trends, or other practices that violate our values. We have bought out theaters for showings of pro-life films like Unplanned and Gosnell, and we support Liberty Counsel and other groups that fight for life and our other God-given constitutional rights. Why do we do all this? Not to pat ourselves on the back. Its a matter of obedience to our Lord and Savior. Thirty-five hundred years ago, God through Moses conveyed what was at stake: See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live ... (Deuteronomy 30: 15-19). Floridas leaders have chosen life. May God bless them and bless their work. 'Heresy': Worshipers leave Cambridge sermon in tears over claim Jesus has trans body, crucifixion wound is vagina Worshipers in a chapel at the University of Cambridge said they were left in tears after a research student claimed that Jesus side wound in Renaissance and Medieval paintings of the crucifixion can be likened to a vagina, suggesting Jesus could have been transgender. At an evening service at Trinity College chapel last Sunday, Joshua Heath, a junior research fellow, displayed three paintings of the crucifixion, including Jean Malouels 1400 work Pieta and Henri Maccheronis 1990 work Christs, The Telegraph reported Saturday. Heath, whose Ph.D. was supervised by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, said during the service that Jesus side wound and blood flowing to the groin in Pieta looks like a vagina. When Jesus was crucified and died on the cross before His Resurrection, John 19:34 says Roman soldiers broke the legs of the two men who were crucified alongside Him, but seeing that Jesus was already dead, one of the Roman soldiers decided not to break Jesus' legs but instead pierced His side with a spear, "and at once there came out blood and water." The Cambridge research student then referred to the 14th century Prayer Book of Bonne of Luxembourg, saying this side wound was isolated and takes on a decidedly vaginal appearance. The British newspaper quoted one worshiper as saying Heaths claims left them in tears and made them feel excluded from the church. And when many students complained, the dean of Trinity College, Michael Banner, called Heaths views legitimate. A congregation member wrote a complaint to Banner, saying: I left the service in tears. You offered to speak with me afterwards, but I was too distressed. I am contemptuous of the idea that by cutting a hole in a man, through which he can be penetrated, he can become a woman. I am especially contemptuous of such imagery when it is applied to our Lord, from the pulpit, at Evensong. I am contemptuous of the notion that we should be invited to contemplate the martyrdom of a trans Christ, a new heresy for our age. Last June, Christians were outraged by the decision of a Scottish teachers union, Education Institute of Scotland, to promote a play depicting Jesus Christ as trans in celebration of June, what LGBT activists call pride month. The production was titled, The Gospel According to Jesus Queen of Heaven. The play imagines a transgender Jesus coming back to the world today, the plays creator, Jo Clifford, told BBC News in a previous interview. Clifford, a man who identifies as female, added, She has a communion, shares bread and wine with the audience, which is really a gesture of solidarity in the face of death, and she gives a blessing. In September 2020, the National Church of Iceland featured a bearded Jesus with breasts in an ad purportedly meant to encourage children to attend Sunday school. The animated ad part of a campaign costing about $14,800, which was contributed mostly by the bishops office depicted Jesus as having breasts and jumping around as he points to a church. When the ad was shared on social media, one of the comments read, There was a reason I left the National Church and found another Christian congregation. Another read, Shame on the bishop! Some called it tasteless and particularly stupid. Another user wrote, The church should be ashamed for humiliating Jesus like this. Assessing growth in justification' with Bishop Robert Barron Robert Barron serves as bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, and is the founder of the Catholic media organization Word on Fire. He has been called the bishop of social media and bishop of the Internet. With 3 million followers on Facebook and 116 million views of his YouTube videos, the highly sought-after bishop is even scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Hillsdale College on May 13. In this revealing video, Bishop Barron discusses the Council of Trent and the Catholic teaching on justification. He states, (Martin) Luther made it central to his teaching that we are justified, set right with God by grace through faith. Its by faith alone. When I accept in faith the grace offered to me, I am justified, apart from works of the Law (9:01). In explaining the Catholic position, Barron asks, Do we need a higher power to save us? Yes, and here Trent is clearly nodding toward Luther approvingly we cant save ourselves we need a Savior, not just a teacher Jesus is not just someone that teaches us nice moral truths that now we can imitate He is a Savior who has to go into our dysfunction and set it right (9:30). Barron continues: Trent here is clearly acknowledging the primacy and necessity of grace. I think its saying to Luther, You were right about that. You were reflecting the mainstream of the great Christian tradition (10:18). He then adds: Luther taught a version of forensic or imputed righteousness. That means were not really made righteous by grace. We are declared righteous. God imputes as it were righteousness to us. Trent balks at that. The Catholic church has always balked at that because we hold to a real transformation (10:39). Balking at a believer's imputed righteousness, while holding to the necessity of a real transformation, sure seems like a straw man argument. After all, I dont know a single Christian who believes that a person can be converted and justified by Christs imputed righteousness without there also being a real transformation that accompanies the spiritual conversion. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Barron then expresses an idea that conflates justification and sanctification even further. But then it (Trent) speaks of an increase in justification, which can happen through our cooperation. And in this we get, if you want, the Catholic difference the difference is the capacity to cooperate with the energy of grace so as to grow in justification (11:45). This theory of growth in justification does indeed reveal a significant Catholic difference from what much of Christendom teaches regarding the doctrine of justification. When the Apostle Paul wrote to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, (Romans 1:7) he declared: Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand (Romans 5:1-2). The word saints in the New Testament refers to those who have been converted and have gained access by faith into this grace. Every believer (saint) has already been justified, saved, redeemed, born again, and forgiven. Spiritual conversion is instantaneous, similar to the birth of a baby. The Christian life immediately follows conversion and is known as sanctification. The Holy Spirit enters a believer's soul at conversion. In fact, the third Person of the Trinity is the One who works the miracle of conversion in the first place. Jesus said, Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit (John 3:6). Sanctification is a lifelong process in the life of a Christ follower, whereas justification occurs at the beginning of ones relationship with God through faith in Jesus. Was the thief on the cross justified the moment he trusted Jesus to save him? (Luke 23:40-43) Of course. Jesus used the term born again in the third chapter of John because spiritual birth is similar to physical birth. The notion that a Christian can grow in justification is comparable to saying that part of a teenager still needs to be born physically, be it a hand, foot, ear, etc. Physical birth doesnt work that way, and neither does justification. I suspect Bishop Barron would agree with my 2013 CP op-ed titled, Salvation Without Good Works Is an Oxymoron. In similar fashion, I suspect he would largely agree with these CP op-eds I wrote in 2018: 1. Galatians for Catholics, Protestants and Every Christian deals extensively with justification. 2. Philippians for Catholics, Protestants and Every Christian deals extensively with sanctification. 3. Ephesians for Catholics, Protestants and Every Christian deals extensively with both justification and sanctification. Healthy babies crave milk, and healthy Christians crave the Word of God. Committed followers of Christ sincerely serve the Lord and perform many good works, whereas pretend Christians live for sin rather than for Christ. The Bible identifies these fake Christians as unconverted hypocrites. And those in the Church who are attempting to earn their way into Heaven are also unconverted and in need of justification by grace through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). Interestingly, the Apostle Paul referred to certain believers as infants in Christ due to their jealousy and quarreling (1 Corinthians 3:1,3). They were justified, saved, born again, forgiven and redeemed, but were nevertheless terribly immature in their life of discipleship. In a CP op-ed dealing with faith and good works, I wrote, Apple trees produce apples, and Christ produces good works in the life of every Christian. Its what happens if you are truly connected to the vine. Anyone who turns to God in repentance and rests their faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross is justified, and immediately begins to do good works as a result of their spiritual conversion. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26), and growth in sanctification is the fruit of faith. Growth in justification, on the other hand, is impossible. You are either completely justified, or completely unconverted. A simple way to test your grasp of the biblical teaching on justification would be to check out my recent CP op-ed involving three chairs. As the Apostle Paul exhorted those in the Church: Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5). The 'godfather of AI' leaves Google: Who will rule the 'coming gods'? Geoffrey Hinton, director of AI research for Google, has resigned from the company because of concerns not about Google, but in general. He told a reporter for The New York Times that he was not leaving Google because he wanted to be free to criticize that corporation, but so that he could voice his concerns about artificial intelligence freely. One of Hintons major concerns is that it is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things. Hinton also noted the possibility that AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research and knowledge by top AI labs. Though I do not have the experience and knowledge of Geoffrey Hinton, my own concerns from a theological perspective prompted me to write a book, Who Will Rule the Coming gods: The Looming Spiritual crisis of Artificial Intelligence. There I detailed my own concerns. The biggest of these issues were embedded in a quote by the founder of a new AI church, Anthony Lewandowski, another former Google employee. He explained why it was appropriate to name the new project a church: What is going to be created will effectively be a god (If) there is something a billion times smarter that the smartest human, what else are you going to call it? My major concern then, and even more, now, is that in many churches the focus is no longer on the transcendence of God, but the immediate needs of people and the way God can meet those needs. Transcendence means that God is immaculate in His majesty and glory. Transcendence also means that we humans made in the image of God are accountable to Him for the way we lived those lives and used the gifts He bestowed upon us. As churches and their people go more deeply into the AI age, hard questions will demand the right answers: Will it be the transcendence of God or the machine? Who will rule the coming gods? What do builders of the machines worship and regard as transcendent who sets their values and boundaries? Will the new AI age bring us into a new Eden, or a society dominated by authoritarians who use machines to dominate and control us? It is imperative that we get the right answers to those questions now rather than later. David Berlinski wrote a book, The Devils Delusion, and reflected on Gods transcendence and the accountability it infers. Berlinski told of an old Jewish man in an East European village. A Nazi soldier held his gun on the elderly man and threw him a shovel for the Jewish man to dig his own grave. The Hasidic Jew looked up at the soldier, and said, God is watching you. Berlinski wrote, What Hitler did not believe and what Stalin did not believe, and what the SS did not believe, what the Gestapo did not believe, and what the commissars and functionaries and thousands of party hacks did not believe was that God was watching over what they were doing. Hitlers minions worshipped Hitler and forgot or tried to use God to sanction their crimes and gave us the most extensive acts of sheer murder in history. What are the modern tyrants who have no sense of history or the Lord over it, giving us? Thats the most important AI question of all. Professor James K.A. Smith wonders how the consensus regarding Gods transcendence left so quickly (from Western culture). Actually, any trend toward the worship of AI, whether formal or informal, shows that we are at the ultimate outcome of desecularization, which is sacralization on the immanent scale. John Calvin understood well the human need for transcendence. Mans nature is a perpetual factory of idols, he wrote. Man begets an idol and the hand gives it birth. Juval Harari, centuries later, would see it in the same way, as he writes that new technologies kill old gods and give birth to new ones. And this has happened again and again, across history, as it seems to be doing in our present age. Harari writes about techno-religion emerging now: Just as socialism took over the world by promising salvation through steam, so in the coming decades new techno religions are likely to take over the world by promising salvation through algorithms and machines Eric Ortlund, in his book, Idolatry and the AI Singularity, says: The ancient idolater used half a piece of wood to cook his food and then bowed low before the statue he carved from the other half; the modern idolater uses his laptop to pay his bills, read the newsand possibly create a god. We havent come so far after all. A coronation for all It is 70 years since our last coronation, and the United Kingdom today is a very different nation. The social and cultural changes are such that our predecessors all those years ago would have difficulty in recognising the place. The UK is no longer a nation where the cultural significance of Christianity holds sway. Yet the coronation, apart from a few minor changes, remains essentially a Christian ceremony. A new king submits to the King of Kings King Charles III will be crowned in Westminster Abbey where Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will anoint him with holy oil from Jerusalem symbolising the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. While this is happening the choir will sing 'Zadok the Priest', an anthem drawn from the anointing of Solomon in I Kings 1. This moment is deemed so sacred that it will take place behind a screen out of the view of the people over whom Charles III reigns. The symbolism of a leader submitting to God and who vows to govern under God's oversight is very powerful. At the start of the service a young chorister will welcome King Charles to the abbey 'in the name of the King of kings'. To which Charles will respond, 'In his name, and after his example, I come not to be served but to serve.' Our late Queen epitomised the type of public service the King wishes to follow. She steadfastly, even sacrificially, performed her duty through an unrelenting round of obligations. The 'overarching theme' of the coronation will be that of 'loving service', in emulation of that offered by Jesus. The first gift the King will receive is a Bible presented by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The words, spoken by the Moderator, sets the word of God above all human laws: 'Sir, to keep you ever mindful of the law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes'. To accept the gift is for the King to recognise its authority and to accept that constitutionally there should not be any attempt by human authorities to overrule it. A Christian coronation for a country abandoning Christianity In the coronation liturgy King Charles will take a vow to maintain 'the doctrine, worship, discipline and government' of the Church of England. There are some, particularly those influenced by the American understanding of the separation of church and state, who find this melding of the two indefensible. Baptist theologian Nigel Wright defends the vow, arguing that while Charles will be head of state for all of the UK, the CofE is the established church of only one constituent part and affects only that minority belonging to the CofE. This will be a deeply Christian ceremony to install the head of state of an increasingly multicultural country which is progressively turning from Christianity. A 2018 survey found that 43 per cent of the population rarely if ever attend a religious service of any kind. Even the Church of England admits that just 1.5 per cent of the English population attend one of its weekly services. Some evangelicals see the coronation as an opportunity for mission. Hope Together, a charity dedicated to evangelism, has produced a series of resources suggesting that the coronation is 'an ideal time for us as the church to point to the kingship of Jesus, the ultimate King of Kings'. The CofE states: 'The Coronation weekend presents a unique missional opportunity for the Church to reach out, gather together with those we know, and establish new links and relationships.' How realistic are these aims? Throughout the twentieth century successive archbishops saw the coronation as an opportunity to reawaken the latent spirituality of the people. We live with the failure of successive coronations to have any lasting spiritual impact on the people of the UK. The purpose of the coronation is constitutional, not evangelistic. Just as the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II was a deeply moving and Christian ceremony but had nothing more than a fleeting impact on the spiritual condition of the nation, we should not expect this ceremony to be any different. It can be appreciated by all Will the coronation, a profoundly religious ceremony, be anything more than a spectacle celebrating tradition and ritual, a nationwide exercise in nostalgia? Why should the UK be the only monarchy left in Europe which retains a Christian coronation? Surprisingly there is little popular outcry concerning the Christian nature of the ceremony, apart from the usual suspects on social media. The meaning of the coronation is undoubtedly different for those who lack a living relationship with Jesus, yet it is meaningful nonetheless. Non-Christians are quite capable of appreciating the coronation on its own terms, accepting it for what it is. Jews, Muslims and Hindus will take part without quibble, glad to be acknowledged as part of the nation. The first reading, from Colossians 1:9ff, will be by our Hindu prime minister. The fact that our new King is a confirmed Anglican and takes the significance of the ceremony very seriously can be accepted and admired whatever your personal religious affiliation. We are all able to appreciate the significance of religious ceremonies where we do not share the theology of the service. Are there many Protestants who would not acknowledge the seriousness and sincerity of a couple getting married according to Roman Catholic rites? We can appreciate the significance of an act without accepting its underlying structure. The history, symbolism, and importance of this unique ritual can be and, indeed, are significant for all, regardless of faith. Campbell Campbell-Jack is a retired Church of Scotland minister. He blogs at A Grain of Sand. A coronation with Christianity at its heart King Charles III will be crowned at Westminster Abbey today in a dazzling coronation that is by its very nature a Christian act of worship, with the Gospel-inspired theme of humble service to God and people at the heart of its liturgy. Bridging a millennium of coronation tradition with new elements that reflect his desire to be a monarch for all in modern Britain, King Charles will be crowned in front of 2,300 guests inside the abbey and millions more watching on TV and online around the world. The King and Queen will process into the Abbey to I Was Glad, a version of Psalm 122 set to music by composer Sir Hubert Parry. In keeping with the theme of the coronation, 'Called to Serve' - and a new addition to the service - the King will be welcomed to the abbey by the Child of His Majesty's Chapel Royal, 14-year-old Samuel Strachan. The King will say to him, "In his name and after his example I come not to be served but to serve," paraphrasing Mark 10:45, in which Jesus tells his disciples, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Reflecting the King's commitment to ecumenical and interfaith relations, the procession into Westminster Abbey will include faith Leaders and representatives from the Jewish, Sunni and Shia Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Baha'i and Zoroastrian communities, as well as the leaders of other Christian denominations and traditions. Lambeth Palace said, "This represents the multi-faith nature of our society and the importance of inclusion of other faiths whilst respecting the integrities of the different traditions." In an unprecedented break from past coronations, multi-faith leaders will play an active role in the service, delivering a greeting to the king at the end of the service. The service is being conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, who has selected a new Epistle for the coronation, Colossians 1:9-17, "to reflect the theme of service to others, and the loving rule of Christ over all people and all things, which runs through this coronation liturgy," Lambeth Palace said. The passage will be read during the service by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The Gospel reading is taken from Luke 4:16-21, which records Jesus worshipping in the synagogue and reading from the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." Expressing his hopes for the coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: "The coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla promises to be a beautiful, joyful and historic occasion. "People can certainly expect to be struck by the majesty and sacred wonder of the service, but also to be invited to pause and reflect. "To reflect on our past, our future and, as we pray for our new sovereign, on our own lives and how we too are called to serve others." Before taking his oath, the King will be presented with a specially commissioned Coronation Bible, handbound in red leather and decorated in gold leaf. The Bible will be presented to him by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland General Assembly, the Rt Rev Dr Iain Greenshields, who will say, "Sir, to keep you ever mindful of the law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes, receive this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; this is the royal Law; these are the lively Oracles of God." Before the oath, the Archbishop of Canterbury will, in new wording, say that the Church of England "is committed to the true profession of the Gospel, and, in so doing, will seek to foster an environment in which people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely". The King will place his hand upon the Bible when he takes his oath, solemnly promising and swearing to govern the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and His Majesty's other realms and territories. Kneeling at the Coronation Chair, the King will be asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury, "Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? "And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?" The King will promise to do so and place his hand on the Bible, saying, "The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God," before kissing the Bible. The King will then say, "I Charles do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will, according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the Throne, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my powers according to law." The King will then say a prayer at the altar: "God of compassion and mercy whose Son was sent not to be served but to serve, give grace that I may find in thy service perfect freedom and in that freedom knowledge of thy truth. Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and belief, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness and be led into the paths of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." The sermon will be preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury, following which King Charles and Queen Camilla will be anointed with oil that was consecrated at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem earlier this year. The oil will be presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, and the King and Queen will be anointed in the form of the cross on their palms, breast and head. Placing the Royal Orb in the King's right hand, the King will be asked to "remember always that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our God, and of his Christ". The King will then take hold of the Sceptre with Cross and the Sceptre with Dove, and the Archbishop will say, "Receive the Royal Sceptre, the ensign of kingly power and justice; and the Rod of equity and mercy, a symbol of covenant and peace. May the Spirit of the Lord who anointed Jesus at his baptism, so anoint you this day, that you might exercise authority with wisdom, and direct your counsels with grace; that by your service and ministry to all your people, justice and mercy may be seen in all the earth." Placing the crown upon King Charles' head, the Archbishop will say, "King of kings and Lord of lords, bless, we beseech thee, this Crown, and so sanctify thy servant Charles, upon whose head this day thou dost place it for a sign of royal majesty, that he may be crowned with thy gracious favour and filled with abundant grace and all princely virtues; through him who liveth and reigneth supreme over all things, one God, world without end. Amen." This will be followed by declarations of "God save the King". In further comments ahead of the coronation service, Archbishop Justin Welby said, "This service reaches deep into our nation's Christian history. From the ancient and sacred act of anointing monarchs, to the use of the sixth-century St Augustine Gospels, the service will link us in a profound way with our national story. "But this is not simply history: I hope the service offers people an opportunity to hear the living words of God, which bring good news to every person in every generation. "I also hope and pray that the Coronation will serve as a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity. "So I will be praying that everyone who shares in this service in the Abbey, across the country and beyond will find ancient wisdom and new hope. I pray that it inspires us all, like the King and Queen, to live our lives in service to others." Churches join in historic coronation celebrations Thousands of events are being hosted by Church of England churches to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday. On one of the biggest days for Britain in recent times, many churches will be celebrating along with the nation. Over 2,000 local events have been registered on the Church of England's website AChurchNearYou.com, with food and drink at the heart of many of them. At St Andrew's Barming Heath, in the Diocese of Canterbury, visitors can enjoy a Coronation Cream Tea. Rockland St Mary, in Norwich Diocese, has gone for something similar with its 'Crowns, Coffee & Croissants' event, and in Wokingham, All Saints Church is hosting a Picnic in the Park. Some churches are holding coronation flower festivals, like St Andrew's Aysgarth, in the Diocese of Leeds, and St Mary the Virgin Longcot, which is also holding a free music concert called 'Music fit for a king'. Others are hosting Coronation Services of Celebration over the weekend, like Christ Church Cathedral Oxford. The Bishop of Newcastle, Helen Ann Hartley, said: "It's exciting to see communities up and down the country preparing to mark the Coronation in their own ways. "Like at Westminster Abbey, services of worship will be at the heart of these celebrations, which give us an opportunity not only to pray for the King and Queen, but for communities across the UK and the Commonwealth they serve." Juan Manuel Lara II, a student at the Dr. Leonides G. Cigarroa High School and Sabas Perez Early College High School, was selected for the prestigious Gates Scholars Class of 2023. Lara was one among 750 outstanding students selected from a pool of over 51,000 applicants from across the nation for this prestigious, nationally recognized scholarship that will support higher education for the recipients. The Gates Scholarship is known to be a highly selective scholarship for outstanding, minority, high school seniors from low-income households. Gates scholarships are one of the fully-funded undergraduate scholarships which can be renewable for five years. Each year, the scholarship is awarded to exceptional student leaders, with the intent of helping them realize their maximum potential. During a seven month long process with multiple phases, Lara expresses he underestimated how well he did during the application process. I did not expect to get so far in the process. I honestly expected to be knocked out during the semifinals! I did not see my essays making it far. They were sort of outside the box. As silly as it sounds, I mentioned media like Dragon Ball, Red Dead Redemption, Pokemon, and Transformers, and how their lessons would help shape who I am today, he said. To those who know Lara, it came to no surprise he would accomplish something as grand as this. My parents cried, my brother was not surprised, and my sister was happy to go eat somewhere, he added. Lara shares the moment he realized he was among the chosen scholars felt very cinematic. I was listening to My Way by Frank Sinatra and when the last chorus hit, I read Congratulations! I had a pretty big reaction, and made sure to call my friends right after. The most rewarding part is knowing I will be able to attend my dream school with no financial burden on my family. The Gates Scholars are selected based on their academic record, demonstrated leadership and a variety of other criteria, which includes essays, recommendations and interviews. The scholarship covers fees, housing, boarding, books and supplies, computer, transportation, personal expenses, loan fees, internship programs, study abroad, and health insurance. Lara is an active CHS state winning robotics team Xtreme Robotics, founding member of the Water Boys, Regional Placed UIL One Act Play, Superintendents Student Advisory Council, Health Occupations Students of America, Senior Class, Principals Advisory Board, Sabas Perez ECHS Advisory Board, Junior Achievement, National Honor Society, and UIL Congress Speech and Debate. An accomplished student within the top 4% of his class and a dually enrolled student at Laredo College, he has earned a variety of academic recognition due to his determination. These include the Honor Roll, State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness Master Performance in U.S. History, English II, Algebra I, and English I, and recipient of the U.S Border Patrol Youth of the Month Award. Furthermore, Lara is certified in American Red Cross Lifeguarding Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)/Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and American Red Cross Lifeguarding Blended Learning. Additionally, he volunteers his time within the community. This includes volunteering with Larga Vista Community Center, Imaginarium Financial Literacy Workshop, Mile One School Supply Drive, and Webb County Sheriffs Office Share-A-Bear Drive. As a member of The Gates Scholarship Inaugural Class of 2023, Lara will attend The Gates Scholarship Summer Institute (TGSSI). The mandatory four-day, overnight, conference is designed to welcome and empower the scholars, give them an opportunity to meet and connect with each other, and expand their professional networks by participating in workshops and social activities aimed at preparing and inspiring Scholars for their first year of college and beyond. The Gates Scholarship will cover all costs associated with the conference. Campus mentors and administrators have expressed their happiness and pride as theyve witnessed Lara grow and mature over the years. Juan Manuel Lara is now part of this elite class of young leaders who represent high achievement in academics, service, leadership ability, and commitment. Juan Manuels hard work and perseverance has set him apart from other students across the nation Sabas ECHS Director Dr. Rocio Lopez said. During his study, he demonstrated initiative and perseverance. Juan has proven that he possesses the intellect, initiative, and perseverance necessary to further his education. He is hardworking and dedicated; he works well with others and is a leader when needed. And now, he is a proud recipient of the Gates Scholarship, which I am sure will help him in his path to success, CHS English Language Arts and Reading Teacher Gloria Salinas said. In addition to funding, The Gates Scholarship will provide further support to Scholars, by engaging with them and their institutions in a variety of ways, to ensure they have access to the resources and services they need, from their first to last day of classes, through graduation and the transition to their chosen careers. Lara will be attending University of Oregon this fall. He plans on exploring a career in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field. I hope I proved that even if you come from South Laredo, you can achieve the wildest things with a little commitment, creativity, and an unwavering heart, Lara said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Several scaleless fish with fanged jaws and huge eyes that can be found more than a mile deep in the ocean have washed up along a roughly 200-mile (322-kilometer) stretch of Oregon coastline, and it's unclear why, scientists and experts said. Within the last few weeks, several lancetfish have appeared on beaches from Nehalem, in northern Oregon, to Bandon, which is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) from the California border, Oregon State Parks said on Facebook. The agency asked beachgoers who see the fish to take photos and post them online, tagging the agency and the NOAA Fisheries West Coast region. Lancetfish live mainly in tropical and subtropical waters but travel as far north as areas like Alaskas Bering Sea to feed. Their slinky bodies include a sail-like fin, and their flesh is gelatinous not generally something humans wish to eat, according to NOAA Fisheries. Ben Frable, a fish scientist who manages the Marine Vertebrate Collection at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, said it's not uncommon for lancetfish to wash up on beaches, particularly in California and Oregon and in other parts of the north Pacific. It's unclear what might be behind the deep-sea fish washing ashore, Frable said, calling it an area of open research." He added that it's not clear if these incidents are happening more frequently or are just noticed more often in the social media age. Reports of finding the freaky looking lancetfish on beaches date back to the 19th century, he said. The collection he manages includes lancetfish from beaches, including one that wound up on the beach near the institution in late 2021. In that case, the lancetfish shot out of the water, where it was mobbed by seagulls, Frable said. It's possible the fish had been chasing prey, such as small fish, and got too close to shore or that it was pursued by a predator, such as a sea lion, he said. Some have also hypothesized that such incidents could be related to weather or climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean, he said. According to NOAA Fisheries, lancetfish can be more than 7 feet (2 meter) long and swim to depths of more than a mile beneath the surface of the sea. Last week, Miranda Crowell happened across a lancetfish on a beach in Lincoln City, Oregon. At first, she thought it might be a barracuda but that didnt seem right, so she posted a photo of it on Twitter and asked what it could be. She quickly got a response. The fish, which she saw April 28, was more than 4 feet (1 meter) long and seemed to have just washed ashore. I have never seen anything like that on that beach, she said. Frable encouraged people to report any sightings, saying it could provide useful information for researchers. He also said that incidents like these provide an opportunity to kind of highlight the true diversity of life on the planet and how there are things that you just dont think about but they're out there. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate New York City's mayor announced plans Friday to send hundreds of asylum-seekers to two hotels north of the city for up to four months as it tries to cope with a surge of arrivals, antagonizing officials in the largely suburban area. Democratic Mayor Eric Adams' administration said up to 300 single, adult men under the citys care will be transported on a volunteer basis to a hotel in Orangeburg in Rockland County and another in Orange Lake in neighboring Orange County. Adams has denounced Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for busing asylum-seekers to New York City without prior coordination, and officials representing the areas north of the city lodged similar complaints against Adams on Friday. The mayor also has repeatedly pleaded for more state and federal help to deal with an influx of asylum-seekers, many of whom were bused to the city by out-of-state governors. He said the program would help the city handle the more than 37,500 asylum-seekers currently in the citys care. The administration said the men using the hotels as temporary shelters will be provided with meals, counseling, legal support and other services. With a vacuum of leadership, we are now being forced to undertake our own decompression strategy, Adams said in a prepared release. This new, voluntary program will provide asylum-seekers with temporary housing, access to services, and connections to local communities as they build a stable life in New York state. Some Republican officials in areas north of New York City reacted harshly, saying they were just informed about the plan and that the region lacks subways and the necessary services to handle a surge of asylum-seekers. Rockland County Executive Ed Day called the mayor's plan reckless. This is akin to taking a nonswimmer, dropping him in the middle of the ocean and hoping he does well, Day said in a phone interview. Day said the county attorney was looking at getting a restraining order. Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said he was shocked to hear the news Friday and that he still had questions with the arrivals expected imminently. Who are these guys? Were they properly vetted? What are they going to be doing? Are they going to be roaming around the town? Neuhaus said in a phone interview. Advocates for immigrants also criticized the move. Busing people upstate for shelter is only a temporary fix, Murad Awawdeh of the New York Immigration Coalition said in a prepared release. "They will be out of sight, but its short-sighted to think that the Mayor can resolve New York Citys housing problems in this manner. About 60,000 asylum-seekers have come to the city since last spring, according to the mayors office. The administration has already tried a number of ways to accommodate the asylum-seekers, including a plan announced in January to temporarily turn a cruise ship terminal into a shelter and services hub. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate KYIV, Ukraine - The Ukrainian military has spent nearly 15 months exceeding the world's expectations. Now, senior leaders are trying to lower those hopes, fearing that the outcome of an imminent counteroffensive aimed at turning the tide of the war may not live up to the hype. "The expectation from our counteroffensive campaign is overestimated in the world," Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in an interview this past week. "Most people are . . . waiting for something huge," he added, which he fears may lead to "emotional disappointment." The planned counterattack - made possible by donated Western weapons and training - could mark the most consequential phase of the war, as Ukraine seeks to snatch back significant territory and prove it is worthy of continued support. Offensive military operations typically require overwhelming advantage, and with Russian forces dug into heavily fortified defenses all across the 900-mile-long front, it is hard to gauge how far Ukraine will get. The buildup ahead of the assault - the details of which remain secret - has left Ukrainian officials grappling with a difficult question: What outcome will be enough to impress the West, especially Washington? Some fear that if the Ukrainians fall short, Kyiv may lose international military assistance or face new pressure to engage with Moscow at a negotiating table - not on the battlefield. Such talks would almost certainly involve Russian demands for a negotiated surrender of sovereign territory, which Ukraine has called unacceptable. "I believe that the more victories we have on the battlefield, frankly, the more people will believe in us, which means we will get more help," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with The Washington Post on Monday, in his heavily fortified headquarters building. Kyiv is eager to make a rapid breakthrough in what has essentially slowed to a grinding artillery war in the country's east and south, with neither side making significant territorial gains. Experts say it will be difficult, if not impossible, to push the Russians back to their positions before the invasion started on Feb. 24, 2022, when Moscow held parts of Luhansk and Donetsk and the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula. The pressure comes in part from Ukraine's past battlefield wins - first repelling Russia's attempt to capture Kyiv and later dislodging the invaders from strongholds in surprise attacks in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. "[W]e inspired everywhere because the perception was that we will fall during 72 hours," Reznikov said. But the track record means Ukraine's partners now have a "joint expectation that it would be successful again," he said. Western partners have told him, he said, that they now need a "next example of a success because we need to show it to our people. . . . But I cannot tell you what the scale of this success would be. Ten kilometers, 30 kilometers, 100 kilometers, 200 kilometers?" A major success could rally more support for the Western arms and ammunition Ukraine needs to continue the fight and offer a much-needed morale boost for the civilian population, which relished Ukrainian forces' resilience against Russia's efforts to take Kyiv last spring and later, their surprise autumn offensive in the Kharkiv region, which retook hundreds of miles of territory in a matter of days. But in Kharkiv the Ukrainians had an advantage when they stormed Russian troops - who had lowered their defenses - by surprise. Many who remained simply fled without a fight. And in Kherson to the south, Ukraine had a major geographic edge, with Russia struggling to supply troops west of the Dnieper River. Now, Russia may have the geographic advantage and stronger numbers. Some 500,000 Russian troops are currently focused in Ukraine, with at least 300,000 troops inside Ukrainian territory, Reznikov said. One key objective for Ukraine, and perhaps an early sign of success, would be to break the so-called land bridge between mainland Russia and occupied Crimea, severing crucial supply lines to Russian troops in the Zaporizhzhia region, and isolating Russian bases on the peninsula. Another top imperative is to regain control over hugely valuable critical infrastructure facilities, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest atomic energy station, which is located in the occupied city of Enerhodar, and the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant in the southern Kherson region. Recognizing the formidable obstacles, Ukrainian officials have continued to press for additional materiel from supporters in the West. Ukraine will be ready to launch the assault "as soon as the weapons that were agreed with our partners are filled," Zelensky said. The timeline could also depend on weather, because of unseasonably damp ground along the country's front lines. Reznikov said that Ukraine's "first assault formation" is more than 90 percent prepared to begin but that some designated troops are still finishing training programs abroad. The huge front line creates numerous potential avenues of attack. Ukraine could focus its efforts south and attempt to seize the city of Melitopol, which Russia has established as the occupied regional capital of Zaporizhzhia, and then push forward in an effort to sever the land bridge. Ukraine could also attack Crimea itself, likely with naval operations and possibly even beach landings. Satellite imagery shows extensive trenches that Russian forces have dug in preparation for a potential assault. Other scenarios could see the Ukrainians attacking east through the fiercely embattled city of Bakhmut, or from the town of Kupiansk, in a push to regain control of areas in the Luhansk region. Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, has threatened to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut, which would leave the city vulnerable. Another option would be for the Ukrainians to attack Russian positions through the southern city of Vuhledar toward occupied Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. Zelensky said he would consider reoccupying any Ukrainian territory to be "a success." "I can't tell you which towns or cities, which borders are a significant success for us and which are average . . . only because I don't want to prepare Russia for how, in which directions, and where and when we will be," he said. Ideally, Reznikov said, the offensive will not only liberate villages and cities but also "cut logistic chains of [Russian] troops" and "reduce their offensive capacity." Western leaders insist Ukraine is well-equipped for the fight ahead. But U.S. intelligence assessments disclosed in a massive leak of classified documents on the Discord forum revealed U.S. misgivings over Ukraine's ability to make major progress this spring, in part due to assessed "deficiencies in training and munitions supplies." "We are currently losing in the sky," Zelensky said in the interview with The Post in Kyiv. The Ukrainian president has been pleading for American-made F-16s. President Biden has pointedly denied the request, saying Zelensky does not need the planes. Zelensky said that Ukraine will not wait for more fighter jets to start the offensive but that "it would be much easier for us" if they had them. And although Ukraine recently received the U.S.-made Patriot missile defense system, "we also need to remember that the name alone does not protect people," Zelensky said. More air defense is "priority number one," Reznikov said. Gen. Richard Barrons, commander of the U.K. Joint Forces Command from 2013 to 2016, said there are concerns that Ukraine's still-depleted air defense could face a barrage from Russian missiles once the counteroffensive begins. The United States, he said, might have to strip its own systems in order to counter the weakness. "There is a question mark over Ukraine's ability to control its own airspace," Barrons said, adding that it had been a clear Russian tactic throughout winter to try to exhaust Ukrainian air defenses, which had mostly consisted of Russian or Soviet-made equipment. Ukraine is also pleading for more long-range strike capabilities as the counteroffensive nears its start. Kyiv's partners have long expressed fears that such equipment could be used to strike inside Russia - potentially triggering a major escalation from Moscow. But the lack of such weaponry is putting Ukraine at a serious disadvantage, Zelensky said. "I don't quite understand, I'll tell you frankly, why we can't get long-range artillery," he said, claiming he has offered assurances that Ukraine will not use such equipment to strike inside Russia, as some allies fear. This lack of equipment, Zelensky said, is why Ukrainian forces, after retaking the southern city of Kherson in November, have been unable to push Russian forces out of the territory they control just across the Dnieper River. It's from those riverside positions that Russian forces regularly lob ammunition into the now Ukrainian-controlled city. Dozens of civilians have been killed in such shelling in the months since Kherson's liberation. "They can take troops from there and move them to the east or to the south. And still, they are reinforcing," Zelensky said. "Why? Because they know that we cannot reach them . . . and we suffer every day because they have the ability to shoot at our people." Russian forces in Kherson knew that Ukraine lacked long-distance strike capabilities, so "they withdrew all their command posts, fuel depots, ammunition depots, more than 120 kilometers away," Reznikov said. "That's why we need something interesting with a range capability of 150 kilometers," he said. "It's become more difficult for them logistically. But we need to push them deeper and deeper." - - - Karklis reported from Washington and Granados from Malaga, Spain. The Washington Post's Catherine Belton in London contributed to this report. LOS ANGELES (AP) Los Angeles teachers have overwhelmingly approved a new contract with the LA Unified School District that will give a significant pay raise to educators, nurses, counselors, librarians and other educational staff in the nations second-largest school system. United Teachers Los Angeles announced Friday that its 35,000 members voted by a 94 percent margin to ratify the three-year deal that was given tentative approval last month. The deal calls for a 21% pay increase in increments of 3% or 4% retroactive to last July and through Jan. 1, 2025. The pact, reached over 11 months of bargaining, also enhances pay for substitute teachers, decreases class sizes by two students, creates enforceable class size caps for special education, provides support for immigrant students and families, and increases mental health and counseling services. "This contract will set the national standard for all other educators to achieve livable wages and solidify an equitable future where students are supported in a healthy learning environment, UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a statement Friday. District Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho last month said the agreement is a necessary step not only to make Los Angeles Unified the district of choice for families but also the district of choice for teachers and employees. In March, the teachers union largely supported a three-day strike by a separate union representing the districts bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other service workers. The strike shut down the district, which quickly reached a deal with the Service Employees International Union, whose members ratified the pact in April. Both contracts require approval by the district Board of Education. The LA Unified School District has more than 500,000 students. It serves Los Angeles and all or part of 25 other cities and unincorporated county areas. U.S. prosecutors on Friday asked a federal judge to sentence Oath Keepers founder and leader Stewart Rhodes to 25 years in prison and eight of his followers to at least 10 years behind bars starting later this month, in the first punishments to be handed down to far-right extremist group members convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. "No January 6 case sentenced to date is comparable to the scope and magnitude of these defendants' convictions and conduct," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey S. Nestler wrote for a prosecution team, asking U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta to apply "swift and severe" punishment, including an enhanced terrorism penalty, for the Oath Keepers' actions intended to intimidate or coerce the government. Rhodes, a top deputy and four others were found guilty at trials in November and January of plotting to unleash political violence to prevent the inauguration of President Biden. Three co-defendants were acquitted of that count, but convicted of obstructing Congress as it met to confirm the results of the 2020 election, among other crimes. Both top offenses are punishable by up to 20 years in prison, but prosecutors asked the court to stack sentences to exceed that total for Rhodes and Florida leader Kelly Meggs. Attorneys for Rhodes and Meggs are expected to file their own sentencing memo later. In a 183-page government sentencing request covering all nine defendants, Nestler noted that Judge Mehta has called it "one of the great tragedies in the history of this country" to see "ordinary, hardworking Americans" turn into criminals on Jan. 6 and suffer the consequences. "These defendants are in part responsible for that national tragedy; they played significant roles in spreading doubt about the presidential election and turning others against the government," the prosecutor wrote. Rhodes "exploited his vast public influence" over the anti-government extremist movement and used his talents for manipulation to lead "more than twenty other American citizens into using force, intimidation, and violence to seek to impose their preferred result on a U.S. presidential election. This conduct created a grave risk to our democratic system of government," Nestler wrote. Rhodes and his co-defendants were the first accused of seditious conspiracy in the Capitol breach and the first to face trial and be convicted on any conspiracy charge in the massive Jan. 6 investigation, which has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests and more than 650 convictions so far. The total now includes 14 Proud Boys or Oath Keepers members who have pleaded guilty to or been convicted of seditious conspiracy. Most recently, four members of the Proud Boys, including former chairman Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, were convicted on Thursday by a different jury in Washington, D.C., of spurring a violent mob to overrun police and enter the building. Rhodes and Tarrio are the highest-profile figures to face trial in connection with rioting by angry supporters of former president Donald Trump. Rioters injured scores of officers, ransacked offices and forced lawmakers to evacuate. According to prosecutors, Rhodes and followers, dressed in combat-style gear, converged on the Capitol after staging an "arsenal" of weapons at nearby hotels, ready to take up arms at Rhodes's direction. Rhodes's defense said he and co-defendants came to Washington as bodyguards for Republican VIPs including Roger Stone and a relative of Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander. Oath Keepers said they brought firearms only to help act as "peacekeepers" in case Trump met their demand to mobilize private militia to stop Biden from becoming president. After networks declared the election for Biden, on Nov. 7, 2020, Rhodes asked a "Friends of Stone" chat group, including Stone, his former aide Tarrio, and others, "What's the plan?" and shared a proposal for storming Congress. Rhodes spurred followers with growing urgency over the ensuing two months to be ready for an "armed rebellion," including in two open letters to Trump, as he organized members who came to Washington with firearms prepared for violence. Rhodes was at the Capitol and did not enter. But he tapped Meggs, an auto dealer manager, as Florida state lead, and was in phone contact with him just before Meggs led a single-file line of members in military-style tactical gear up the East Capitol steps, where they helped a crowd force entry to the building. "We are Militia! We don't have to play by their rules! We make the rules," Meggs wrote in Oath Keepers chats, echoing Rhodes. He also said he had "orchestrated a plan" with the Proud Boys, having met members of the group during an earlier violent pro-Trump protest in D.C. Rhodes and co-defendants testified that those plans did not include entering the Capitol, describing it as a spur-of-the-moment decision made without consultation. But prosecutors said their words and actions demonstrated tacit agreement with an illegal plot proposed in public and private before Jan. 6 by Rhodes, who warned repeatedly that "bloody civil war" was necessary to keep Trump in office if the election results were not overturned. Convicted of seditious conspiracy in addition to Rhodes and Meggs were Roberto Minuta, of Prosper, Tex.; Joseph Hackett, of Sarasota, Fla.; David Moerschel, of Punta Gorda, Fla., and Edward Vallejo, of Phoenix. Convicted of other crimes were Kenneth Harrelson, a former Army sergeant from Titusville, Fla., Jessica Watkins, another Army veteran and bar owner from Woodstock, Ohio, and Thomas Caldwell, a retired Navy intelligence officer who stayed outside the building but hosted other defendants at his farm in Berryville, Va. Meggs, Harrelson and Watkins were convicted of impeding lawmakers, and all were convicted of destroying evidence but Watkins, who was found guilty of a separate rioting count. Caldwell was the first defendant to submit his sentencing request to the court, and noted he was not convicted of any conspiracy count. Caldwell's defense asked for a sentence of time served - 53 days of pandemic solitary confinement in jail and more than nine months' home confinement - citing his 20 years of Navy service, clear criminal history and declining health after his full service-related disability. "Caldwell is a physical wreck," attorney David W. Fischer wrote, "Caldwell's conduct and behavior were more akin to a loud-mouth Walter Mitty than the Rambo-type figure the government has portrayed him since his arrest." The Justice Department arrested Rhodes in January 2022 and Tarrio the following June after an internal debate over whether their actions in the Capitol attack merited bringing seldom-used seditious conspiracy charges, one of the gravest crimes that can be alleged against an American citizen in peacetime. The department ultimately chose to send a public message by charging the defendants with committing a wider attack on democracy. "As Vice President Joe Biden sold his influence to the highest bidder. He is unfit to be President of the United States." - Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), in a tweet, May 4 - - - "It is a very serious allegation. I wish I could say that I knew it was true or untrue." - Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), in an interview on Newsmax, May 3 - - - A vague request by GOP lawmakers for the FBI to make public a document allegedly about President Biden has led to feverish speculation in the right-wing media and innuendo by some members of Congress, such as Stefanik. The White House has dismissed the report as yet another in a long line of failed efforts by Republicans to implicate Biden in illegal activity. Here's a guide to the story as it now stands, based on interviews with congressional staff members. - - - What's been requested? Grassley, ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, on May 3 sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland saying that they had obtained information through "whistleblower disclosures" that somewhere in the bowels of bureaucracy exists "an unclassified FD-1023 form" that alleges Biden, as vice president, received money from a foreign national in exchange for favorable policy decisions. They said the document included "a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose." Comer's committee issued a subpoena for the document with unusual specificity - indicating that the document was created in June 2020 - which suggests the lawmakers are certain the form exists. But neither the letter nor the subpoena reveals the country or policies in question. "The FBI needs to explain whether it's accurate or not," Grassley said in a May 3 interview on Fox News. "But this is based upon information that we get from what I think are very credible sources within the department." The FBI has not commented on the letter. - - - What is an FD-1023 form? An FD-1023 form is used to record information from a person the FBI considers a "confidential human source" (CHS). That means it would not be a tip from an unknown walk-in - that would result in an internal summary known as an FD-302 form - but someone who had been vetted and assessed by the FBI as potentially helpful for investigations. Still, such sources can be unreliable and any such statements are basically unverified tips. Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele was a CHS during the FBI's investigation of possible links between the Trump administration and Russian operatives; he even received payments for his information. He was fired for cause after talking to the media - and many of the allegations he made turned out to be wrong. At this point, the claim about Biden can only be labeled as unsubstantiated - though that hasn't stopped some Republicans from falsely suggesting Biden is all but convicted. - - - Was the claim investigated? That is unclear. The Grassley-Comer letter notes that the allegation is so specific that the Justice Department and FBI should have had enough information "to determine the truth and accuracy of the information" contained in the document. The subpoena requests forms that might be in open or closed files, as well as "restricted access case files." That suggests that lawmakers wonder whether the report, once received, had been stored in a way that would make it more difficult for investigators working on other cases to access it. The date of the report, June 2020, suggests it was received during the Trump administration, just months before the presidential election. Given Donald Trump's continuing efforts to tag Biden with criminal activity, it might be surprising if Justice Department officials had decided not to pursue it. - - - Do we know the country involved? The letter does not name the country. In a May 4 interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Comer said: "I know the country and I know the policy decisions but I am not at liberty to say." John Solomon, a onetime Washington Post reporter who now runs the conservative news site Just the News and is a Trump ally, reported that "multiple officials" said the matter "involves transactions and policy tied to Ukraine that date to when Biden was Barack Obama's vice president." As vice president, Biden was tasked with managing relations with Ukraine, but he was carrying out policies developed at the State Department and coordinated with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Interestingly, in June 2020, hacked conversations of Biden speaking with Ukrainian officials when he was vice president appeared on the conservative network One America News - tapes that the New York Times said "had been edited in misleading ways" to make the conversations appear nefarious. In 2020, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani actively sought information in Ukraine to discredit Biden, with a particular focus on any connections between Biden's public anticorruption efforts in the country and his son Hunter Biden's lucrative service on the board of a gas company owned by an oligarch who had been the target of anticorruption probes. U.S. intelligence agencies had warned the Trump White House that Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence, The Washington Post reported. It's worth recalling that Trump's first impeachment concerned his effort to link more aid for the country to having the Ukrainian government investigate Biden's actions in the country as vice president. Republicans have never given up trying to prove Trump had a reason for doing so. Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who is considering a White House bid, touched on a number of topics recently in a "Conversation with the Candidate" town hall event with voters in New Hampshire. Watch the full conversation in the video player above or the links below. Included is a 30-minute, online-only portion of the conversation: Who is Mike Rogers? Rogers represented Michigan's 8th District in Congress for 14 years. Rogers was born in Livingston County, Michigan, and graduated from Howell High School and then Adrian College. While in Congress, the Republican chaired the powerful House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, authorizing and overseeing the $70 billion budget that funds the country's 17 intelligence agencies. Rogers focused much of his efforts in Congress on counterterrorism and national security policy. Since his time in Congress, he has advised multiple U.S. companies on cybersecurity issues, hosted a show on CNN and regularly contributes to major print outlets. Rogers is a former FBI agent and commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. He has said that if he were to get into the presidential race, he would run a "more civil, solutions-oriented" campaign. He and his wife, Kristi Rogers, have two children. See the full "Conversation with the Candidate" event through the following links: China, says Mike Rogers, is greatest threat to America Voters asked Rogers, who served as chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee, where he sees danger ahead for the United States. "I think the biggest threat right now is China, and the second biggest threat is China, and the third biggest threat is China," Rogers said. "We have been invaded digitally with cyber warfare, stealing intellectual property, stealing government secrets, disrupting certain operations around here in the United States and around the world. And it's all malicious; none of that has been to the benefit (of the United States)." Referencing experience as FBI agent, Mike Rogers breaks down strategy to manage opioid crisis Rogers also addressed the ongoing opioid epidemic across the country. He shares a story about his prior experience as an FBI agent and what he would do to combat the crisis. "As a young, 26-year-old FBI agent who was going to save the world, right, and grab every bad guy, it shocked me that we would find new heroin shipments coming into the city, because you'd find more heroin junkies dead that particular weekend. That's how they test the strength -- this was back in the 80s, and I thought, man, 'We have a huge problem.' It has exploded." See the full "Conversation with the Candidate" event through the following links: Other "Conversation with the Candidate" events will be held throughout the campaign season. The full list of candidates who participate will be updated here. Watching a person be killed on video differs in a crucial way from hearing about it. That view forces us to simultaneously look outward and inward. It forces us to bear witness with our eyes and consider with our minds what action we would have taken in that moment if we had been standing there, able to do more than just watch. By now, you have probably seen the video that shows the final moments of Jordan Neely's life in a New York City subway, and if you haven't, then you have no doubt heard about it. What that video doesn't show: Neely was a Michael Jackson impersonator who entertained people with his impressive dance moves, until he couldn't. He was someone who was able to tuck away a horrific childhood trauma and make strangers smile, until he couldn't. The 30-year-old was experiencing homelessness and mental illness, and on Monday, in the moments before he was killed, he reportedly shouted on the train that he was hungry, thirsty and tired of having nothing. He then reportedly threw his coat on the floor and talked about not caring if he went to jail. What that video does show: Another passenger, who has since been identified as a 24-year-old Marine veteran named Daniel Penny, placed Neely in a chokehold and held him on the floor of the train. He kept him in that position, with the assistance of two other men at one point, even after Neely grew still. Too still. Authorities pronounced Neely dead that day, and on Wednesday, the city medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. The killing has since ignited justifiable anger, grief and outrage. As of Friday much still remained uncertain, including whether the men who restrained him would face charges, but this much was clear: Neely should be alive. He needed help in that moment, and long before that moment, and he didn't get it. "I would have been SCREAMING at that man to let him go!" reads a comment under a Facebook post of the video, which was taken by Juan Alberto Vazquez. "Why are those people just standing there? Why did no one check a pulse? No CPR? Nothing! This is sickening." It's easy, of course, to feel that way when we are removed from the situation. It's easy to watch what happened through a screen and believe that if we had been a bystander we would have stood up and done something instead of stood there and done nothing. But here's the thing: We are bystanders. We are bystanders every day, watching people who are unhoused succumb to a slow chokehold. Jordan Neely was a unique individual with unique skills and unique struggles. But in D.C. and other major cities across the country, there are many people like him, and we know they are dying in preventable and premature ways. The numbers tell us that. The stories that occurred before that video of Neely went viral tell us that. And what we see in front of us every day as we make our way through our cities tells us that. In D.C. last year, more than 70 people died while homeless. Some of the causes: intoxication, hypothermia and homicide. The youngest person who died was 30. Others who died were 31, 32, 36, 41 and 45. The average age was 55. Those ages appeared on a list shared by advocates who hold a vigil every year for the people who die in the city "without the dignity of a home." When those advocates took a deep look at the lives behind those numbers, they found that most of those people died while waiting to use housing vouchers and that the losses didn't fall evenly across racial lines. Nearly 85 percent of the people who died in the city last year without housing were Black. None of those individuals were held in a chokehold on a train. But make no mistake, they died because they were homeless. They died because officials have shown time and again that they are more interested in trying to push people who are unhoused out of sight than pull them out of homelessness and the dangers that come with it. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser vowed to end homelessness and has made some notable strides toward that goal, including closing the D.C. General family shelter after the disappearance of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd. But under her leadership, tent encampments have also been cleared before housing has been secured for all of the people in them, leaving unhoused individuals displaced and disconnected. I told you in an earlier column about a woman who was forced to leave an encampment and was alone when her tent collapsed under the snow. In February, dozens of people, and their belongings, were removed from McPherson Square by the National Park Service. A day later, officials estimated that two-thirds of the people who had been displaced were still sleeping on the street. More recently, D.C. officials announced that the city was no longer placing migrant families at shelter hotels because they were full. One of those hotels is a Days Inn. That means migrant families who come to D.C. without housing or much of anything are hearing from the city a rejection with biblical roots: "There's no room at the Inn." It would be laughable if it weren't true. An organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, which has been helping migrant families since they started arriving on buses from Texas and other states, told me on Friday that about 20 families have arrived since the city made that announcement. The organization has found residents to take in some of those families and paid for hotel rooms for others. Their effort is admirable, but it should not fall on volunteers to try to keep people from ending up on the street. The city needs to prioritize providing more temporary and permanent housing options for struggling families - no matter where they were born - because the local homeless population is not disappearing. On Friday, newly released data revealed that the city's homeless population has increased by 11.6 percent in the past year. Anyone who has spent time with people who are unhoused knows these are not easy issues. Getting people who have been chronically homeless, or suddenly thrust into it, into stable housing is complicated. It's even more so when people have a history of trauma and mental illness. (When Neely was a teenager, his mother was strangled and stuffed in a suitcase, friends and relatives have said in recent days in explaining his long struggle with mental illness). But if we don't push lawmakers to invest resources toward addressing homelessness, we will pay with public safety, educational gaps and lost human potential. After the video of Neely emerged, Jesse Rabinowitz tweeted that he was "heartbroken." Rabinowitz, the senior manager for policy and advocacy at Miriam's Kitchen and manager of The Way Home Campaign, which aims to end chronic homelessness in D.C., also noted the other ways unhoused people die. "And also, not funding housing kills," he wrote. "Evicting encampments kills. Policy choices that allow homelessness to exist kill. May their memories compel us to do better." May their memories compel us to do better. Most of us weren't there on the train that day with Neely. We couldn't step up or speak up then. But we are bystanders, every day. A House committee has recommended the expulsion of Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton after finding he had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with an aide, then acted to thwart an investigation into the matter. A scathing report by the House General Investigating Committee, distributed to House shortly after noon Saturday, found Slaton did not dispute allegations that he had sex with the 19-year-old woman and provided alcohol to her, nor did he express regret or remorse for his conduct. Instead, the report said, Slatons lawyer argued the complaints should be dismissed because the behavior occurred in Slatons Austin residence, not the workplace. The Royse City Republicans decision to remain in office and not resign compelled the House to force his removal, the report said. In a speech from the floor, Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, the committee chair, acknowledged that expulsion a measure not taken by the Legislature in nearly a century is a level of punishment we don't take lightly. [Expulsion] is intended to protect the integrity and dignity of this legislative body and provide accountability to everyone that works and serves in this building, Murr said. After Murr's speech, clerks distributed the committees 16-page report, which detailed the panels findings and its recommendation of expulsion. What had been a jovial Saturday workday, the first weekend meeting of the session, transformed into uncharacteristic silence as members read about a disturbing pattern of alleged conduct by one of their colleagues. Slaton remained seated at his desk, occasionally peering at his phone. The report, based principally on complaints from three female legislative employees, painted Slaton, 45, as a man who repeatedly used poor judgment in interactions with young women at the Capitol. This included helping three women, two of whom were under 21, acquire alcohol at a lobbying event early in the legislative session. The report found Slaton had sex with the 19-year-old staffer in the early hours of April 1 at his apartment in Austin. The aide told the committee Slaton had provided her several drinks of rum and coke and that she consumed a lot of alcohol and felt really dizzy. The aide declined to answer questions from the committee about sexual activity. The aides friend told the committee that the woman, who had never had sex before, said she had unprotected sex with Slaton and obtained Plan B pregnancy-prevention medication from a drugstore the next day. The committee concluded that because the aide was intoxicated, she could not effectively consent to intercourse and could not indicate whether [Slatons conduct] was welcome or unwelcome. In addition to accusing Slaton of violating House rules, the committee report found reason to believe Slaton committed three crimes, all Class A misdemeanors that carry a maximum punishment of one year in jail and a $4,000 fine: Providing alcohol to a minor. Abuse of official capacity, which occurs when public servants violate a law relating to their office or employment. Official oppression, which can occur when a public servant intentionally subjects another to sexual harassment. The committee also found reason to believe that Slaton engaged in unlawful employment practices in violation of state labor laws against sexual harassment. Expulsion vote looming After members read the report at their desks, Speaker Dade Phelan resumed normal legislative business. The speaker, who typically does not participate in chamber debates as its presiding officer, said in a written statement he would stick to that role. I will withhold public comment until my colleagues have the opportunity to deliberate and then vote on the General Investigating Committee's recommendations, Phelan said. The decision to remove Slaton will ultimately be up to the full House; the Texas Constitution allows members to be expelled with a two-thirds vote of the chamber. Murr on Saturday filed House Resolution 1542, the legislation which would expel Slaton. The Republican Party of Hunt County, which is within Slatons district, called on the representative to resign for the good of the Republican Party and the values we hold dear. The Report is well researched and documents actions inappropriate for an individual holding office, the party said in a Facebook post. Several House members expressed eagerness to move forward with expulsion. Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, said on Twitter that he was disturbed by the report, calling Slaton a predator, and was looking forward to expelling him. Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, noted in a text message that he called for Slaton to resign about a month ago, when news of the allegations against him were first surfacing. He had plenty of time to do the right thing, Cain said. Now this body must do the right thing and expel him. The House last expelled legislators in 1927, when the House removed Reps. F.A. Dale and H. H. Moore on the grounds of conduct unbecoming any member. Witness intimidation alleged Slaton, the report said, attempted to intimidate other young women who worked in the Capitol and became aware of his relationship with the aide. In one instance, Slaton showed the aide a supposedly anonymous email he had received from someone saying they knew the representative and the aide had sex but that nothing would happen as long as her and her friends keep quiet. The aide told the committee that she understood the email to be a threat, but also suspected Slaton may have fabricated the email. She said she believed it was sent from a Slaton Financial Services address, where Slaton works outside the Legislature. Slatons attempts to keep his conduct with the aide secret extended to fellow lawmakers, the report found. An unnamed representative who had learned of the allegations called Slaton to confront him, the report said. The representative asked if Slaton invited a young staffer to your condo and you guys had sex, to which Slaton responded yes, thats true, but declined to answer further questions. In a later conversation on the House floor, the representative said Slaton asked him to keep the phone conversation between us. Instead, that lawmaker reported Slaton to the investigative committee, as did three other House members the report also did not identify. The Legislature has struggled to shake a long-held reputation that lawmakers tolerate sexual harassment, especially toward women. The House revised its sexual harassment guidelines in 2017 and two years later began directing complaints of inappropriate behavior by members to the investigative committee, which has the power to subpoena witnesses. In Slatons case, the House moved swiftly. The committees investigation, led by former state District Judge Catherine Evans, took 27 days. Still, the investigation faced obstacles. The report noted that Slaton's lawyer attempted to delay proceedings and that all five men employed by Slatons office refused to meet with investigators. One of the most conservative House members Slaton took office in 2021 after defeating Rep. Dan Flynn, a longtime Republican state representative whom Slaton had challenged multiple times and considered too moderate. His political campaign was largely funded by West Texas oil and gas billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. The two are among the biggest donors to some of the most socially conservative lawmakers in the Legislature, including far-right opponents to lawmakers who vote against their political interests. Slaton is known as one of the most conservative members in the chamber, frequently rankling House leaders, and this year fought a losing battle to amend House rules to prohibit Democrats from leading legislative committees. The issue has been a major concern for ultraconservative grassroots Republicans who do not want Democrats leading key legislative debates. Last year, he called for a blanket ban on minors at drag shows, saying it was necessary to protect children from perverted adults. He has also proposed giving property tax cuts to straight, married couples but not same-sex couples or those who have been divorced based on the number of children they have. Earlier this year, Slaton also filed a bill that would allow for a referendum on Texas secession from the United States during the states next general election. Most experts agree such a move would be illegal. This developing story has been updated. James Barragan contributed reporting. This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/06/texas-legislature-bryan-slaton-investigation/. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org. In a state teeming with steakhouses, it takes a special recipe to stand out from the pack. Logic might tell you that said recipe involves opening in a big city with prime visibility and heavy foot traffic, and surely not in a tiny town of just 500 people. But Perini Ranch Steakhouse defies that logic, because its still standing 40 years later in Buffalo Gap, the same West Texas town where it got its start back in 1983. Before the restaurant, there was a chuck wagon. Tom Perini, whose family has owned the eponymous ranch in Buffalo Gap since 1952, would pull up to big events and cook for cowboys and ranchers. People liked his food, and a friend convinced him to open a place of his own, so in 1983 Perini Ranch Steakhouse debuted in a wooden barn on the familys 640-acre property. I really didnt understand restaurants, Tom Perini tells InsideHook. In those early days, I did everything wrong. We were on a little farm-to-market road, and you couldnt see us from the highway. Everything was word of mouth. In 1983, Perini Ranch Steakhouse debuted in a wooden barn on the familys 640-acre property. Perini Ranch The early days were lean. The barn could seat up to 50 people, but that first year rarely saw more than 10 at a time. Tom worried about making payroll and realized hed better learn the ropes fast. The food was good and the atmosphere authentic, so eventually word spread, first to locals and then to others in nearby Abilene and across the state. Today, the expanded restaurant seats 200 people across the dining room and patio, and it draws 100,000 visitors annually. Theres an offshoot cafe and country market, both located less than a mile down the road, plus two guest houses where visitors can stay overnight. The catering business is still going strong, taking Tom and his wife Lisa across the country to weddings, parties and even the White House. Theyve published four books. Its been a wild ride punctuated by a series of key opportunities and recognition for the restaurants self-described real Texas food. That Texas food includes Angus beef steaks that are seasoned and then grilled over live mesquite fire. Options include classic cuts, from filets to well-marbled ribeyes and a prime rib. It would be a shame to come here and not get a steak, but the menu also includes entrees like grilled Cajun catfish, pork ribs and burgers, plus salads and sides like potatoes, green chile hominy and the fan-favorite Zucchini Perini, which sees sliced zucchini rounds baked in an Italian meat sauce and topped with grated Parmesan. Perini Ranch steak options run the gamut from filets to well-marbled ribeyes to prime rib. Perini Ranch/Ralph Lauer/Zuma Press Once Texas publications sniffed out what was happening at Perini Ranch, visitors would show up with magazines in hand, ready to experience cowboy cooking. The first time that happened, I panicked, says Tom. In 1995, The New York Times selected the restaurants Mesquite Smoked Peppered Beef Tenderloin as their mail-order gift of the year. There was only one problem: Perini Ranch didnt have a mail-order business. That same year, the James Beard Foundation invited Tom to cook at the Beard House in New York. So to offset the travel costs for him and his staff, Tom explains that he sent tenderloins to several New York publications, including The New York Times, hoping to drum up interest in the restaurant. When the story came out, he decided to lean into the exposure and developed a mail-order company. Back then, it was paper order forms, not the convenient online ordering like today, but it turned into a big part of the business thats still going strong. Its been important for our brand because its so far reaching, says Lisa Perini. We sell them to people in every state. National and international press brought Perini Ranchs unique story to people all over the world. And soon, those people came in person. The steakhouse received an influx of visitors from Japan after it was featured in a Japanese documentary, and groups have traveled from as far afield as Sweden, France, England and India, all looking for that true Texas experience. Lisa credits the restaurants wide appeal to its authenticity. We didnt try to create a destination, it just is one, she says. You have to make a big effort to get here, and youre eating dinner on a working ranch. It feels natural and comfortable. Its the Texas that people expect. We didnt try to create a destination, Lisa says, it just is one. Perini Ranch Plenty has changed at Perini Ranch since the steakhouse debuted, but the restaurant still occupies that same wooden structure on that same farm-to-market road where it first opened 40 years ago. To celebrate four decades in business, the Perinis are kicking off an anniversary celebration this month that will last through the fall. First up is the launch of their new podcast, Meet Me At The Wagon. It highlights the tradition and romance of rural Texas and takes listeners through the timeline of how Perini Ranch Steakhouse became what it is today. Tom and Lisa will be joined by a roster of celebrity guests, including Reba McEntire, actor Rex Linn and chef Dean Fearing. The Perinis also have a new book that contains stories and photography from Toms private collection and provides a rare glimpse behind the scenes of Perini Ranch. This fall, they will continue the celebration with an outdoor art exhibit curated by Michael Grauer of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. It will be open to the public from September 28 to October 29 and feature works that showcase the history of Buffalo Gap, chuckwagon cooking and the steakhouse. Tom says he never could have imagined all this when he opened the restaurant 40 years ago, joking that he still barely understands what a podcast is. But throughout it all, hes kept an open mind and adapted as the business evolved. His advice? When an opportunity presents itself, just try to make it work. The Secret to Great Cocktails? Find Out in The Spill. The post Perini Ranch Celebrates 40 Years as the Most Iconic Steakhouse in Texas appeared first on InsideHook. WFO SACRAMENTO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Sacramento has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... North central Colusa County in central California... Southwestern Butte County in northern California... Southeastern Glenn County in central California... * Until 515 PM PDT. * At 412 PM PDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Willows, moving southeast at 10 mph. HAZARD...Quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Damage to vehicles is expected. * Locations impacted include... Willows, Glenn, Bluegum, Butte City and Codora. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Central Burnet County in south central Texas... * Until 745 PM CDT. * At 640 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Burnet, moving southeast at 20 mph. HAZARD...Two inch hail and 60 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Burnet, Marble Falls, Kingsland, Bertram, Granite Shoals, Meadowlakes, Highland Haven, Inks Lake State Park, Spicewood, Oatmeal, Longhorn Cavern State Park, Joppa, Smithwick, Shady Grove and Cottonwood Shores. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Large hail, damaging winds, and continuous cloud to ground lightning are occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING Flash Flood Statement National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX 852 PM CDT Fri May 5 2023 ...FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1030 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR NORTHWESTERN BURNET AND EAST CENTRAL LLANO COUNTIES... At 852 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across southeastern parts of the warned area while additional thunderstorms are moving into the warned area. Up to 6 inches of rain have fallen. The expected rainfall rate is 4 to 6 inches in 1 hour. Additional rainfall amounts up to 3 inches are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Burnet, Marble Falls, Buchanan Dam, Buchanan Lake Village, Inks Lake State Park and Longhorn Cavern State Park. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. Stay away or be swept away. River banks and culverts can become unstable and unsafe. In hilly terrain there are hundreds of low water crossings which are potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded roads. Find an alternate route. Flooding is occurring or is imminent. It is important to know where you are relative to streams, rivers, or creeks which can become killers in heavy rains. Campers and hikers should avoid streams or creeks. Please report observed flooding to local emergency services or law enforcement and request they pass this information to the National Weather Service when you can do so safely. TX . TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE BASTROP BELL BLANCO BOSQUE BROWN BURNET COLEMAN CORYELL ELLIS FALLS GILLESPIE HAMILTON HAYS HILL LAMPASAS LEE LLANO MCCULLOCH MCLENNAN MASON MILAM MILLS SAN SABA TRAVIS WILLIAMSON The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southwestern Williamson County in south central Texas... Northwestern Hays County in south central Texas... Northwestern Travis County in south central Texas... Northeastern Blanco County in south central Texas... Southeastern Llano County in south central Texas... Southwestern Burnet County in south central Texas... * Until 1000 PM CDT. * At 853 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Granite Shoals, or near Marble Falls, moving southeast at 35 mph. HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Austin, Cedar Park, Burnet, Marble Falls, Kingsland, Dripping Springs, Round Mountain, Anderson Mill, Leander, Lakeway, Lago Vista, Bee Cave, Granite Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, Hudson Bend, The Hills, Meadowlakes, Highland Haven, Spicewood and Cypress Mill. For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside should move immediately to shelter inside a strong building. Stay away from windows. Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Northwestern Bell County in central Texas... South Central Coryell County in central Texas... Southeastern Lampasas County in central Texas... * Until 1130 PM CDT. * At 856 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated slow-moving thunderstorms producing heavy rain across portions of Killeen, Copperas Cove, and Fort Hood. Up to 2 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are possible. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets, and underpasses as well as other poor drainage and low lying areas. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Killeen, Copperas Cove, Harker Heights, Belton, Fort Hood, Nolanville, Salado, Kempner, Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Belton Lake, Union Grove, Ding Dong, Maxdale, Woodland and Moffat. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southwestern Williamson County in south central Texas... Northwestern Travis County in south central Texas... Northeastern Blanco County in south central Texas... South central Burnet County in south central Texas... * Until 1045 PM CDT. * At 947 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Smithwick, or 9 miles east of Marble Falls, moving east at 15 mph. HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings. * Locations impacted include... Austin, Cedar Park, Anderson Mill, Leander, Lakeway, Lago Vista, Bee Cave, Hudson Bend, The Hills, Spicewood, Barton Creek, Smithwick, Mansfield Dam, Jonestown, Briarcliff, Point Venture, Volente, Lost Creek and Brushy Creek. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside should move immediately to shelter inside a strong building. Stay away from windows. Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Northern Blanco County in south central Texas... Southeastern Llano County in south central Texas... Southern Burnet County in south central Texas... * Until 1115 PM CDT. * At 1022 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Horseshoe Bay, or 7 miles northwest of Round Mountain, moving east at 15 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Marble Falls, Round Mountain, Granite Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, Meadowlakes, Spicewood, Cypress Mill, Smithwick, Cottonwood Shores and Sunrise Beach Village. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside should move immediately to shelter inside a strong building. Stay away from windows. Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1100 PM CDT FOR NORTHEASTERN GILLESPIE AND SOUTHWESTERN LLANO COUNTIES... At 1024 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, or 14 miles south of Llano, moving east at 15 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. Locations impacted include... Oxford, Prairie Mountain and Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. should move to a shelter, inside a strong building and away from windows. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Western Brown County in west central Texas... Northern Coleman County in west central Texas... * Until 530 PM CDT. * At 426 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Valera, moving northeast at 25 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * This severe thunderstorm will be near... Coleman and Silver Valley around 450 PM CDT. Burkett around 520 PM CDT. Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Echo and Hords Creek Reservoir. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Northwestern Coleman County in west central Texas... Northeastern Runnels County in west central Texas... * Until 615 PM CDT. * At 522 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Talpa, moving north at 15 mph. HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * This severe thunderstorm will be near... Talpa and Valera around 525 PM CDT. Glen Cove around 550 PM CDT. Novice and Silver Valley around 615 PM CDT. Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Hords Creek Reservoir. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. West central Jones County in west central Texas... Southern Fisher County in west central Texas... * Until 630 PM CDT. * At 523 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Longworth, moving northeast at 15 mph. HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and ping pong ball size hail. considerable tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings. Sylvester around 600 PM CDT. Mccaulley around 620 PM CDT. Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Busby, Capitola and Gannon. Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside should move immediately to shelter inside a strong building. Stay away from windows. Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO SHREVEPORT Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Shreveport has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southern Smith County in northeastern Texas... * Until 115 AM CDT. * At 1208 AM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Bullard, or 7 miles west of Whitehouse, moving east at 20 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Tyler, Whitehouse, Overton, Bullard, Troup, Arp, Noonday and New Chapel Hill. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather Three people, left, duck for cover before returning fire at a man shooting from an entrance to Spence Court on Amelia Street in Thunder Bay Tuesday. Police, who say the dangerous incident was drug-related, have so far arrested two suspects a Thunder Bay woman and a man from Toronto on charges including attempted murder. Malik Woodard asked his doctor not to look at records of the treatment he received from a psychologist while recovering from crush injuries that happened when a one-ton battery cabinet fell on him while at work. Dr. Victor Chin obtained the treatment records anyway by asking a medical case manager with the workers compensation insurer for Woodards employer. When Woodard obtained a court order requiring Chin to return those records or destroy them, Chin appealed. A divided Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that Chin and his practice, Sportsmed Occupational Specialists, must comply with the court order. In a 6-2 ruling, the high court also rejected a motion by Chin and Sportsmed to invoke Alabamas medical malpractice law and change the venue of the civil case to the location where the injury occurred. The majority rejected Chin and Sportsmeds arguments that they need to retain notes that Chin took from the records to defend himself against Woodards claims of breach of contract, fraud, invasion of privacy, the tort of outrage and civil conspiracy. Although those notes may be relevant to the Sportsmed defendants defense, it is not at all clear from the Sportsmed defendants petition and reply brief that those notes (and any testimony based on them) are the only evidence that could be presented at trial to show Dr. Chins reasons for requesting the psychological records, the majority opinion says. Nor is it clear that Dr. Chins reasons would be the central factual issue at trial; it appears that other issues, such as whether Woodard consented to Dr. Chins obtaining the records, could be equally or more significant. Woodard was injured while trying to install the cabinet that crushed him in March 2018. He saw Chin, a pain-management specialist, in October 2019 after undergoing emergency surgery and followup treatment with a psychologist. He signed a medical-records release form that generally authorized other health providers to share medical records with Chin. During the appointment, Chin asked Woodard for his consent to review the records from the psychologist. Woodard refused, but Chin obtained the records from the case manager anyway. When Woodard found out, he filed a lawsuit in Jefferson Circuit Court. Chin and Sportsmed filed a motion seeking to change the venue to Madison Circuit Court, noting that the Alabama Medical Liability Act requires any action alleging damages against a health care provider based on a breach of the standard of care must be brought in the county where the alleged breach occurred. Woodard filed a motion seeking a protective order prohibiting Chin and Sportsmed from disclosing psychological records in discovery or using them at trial. He asked the court to order Chin and Sportsmed to destroy the records or return them. The Jefferson County court granted Woodards motion and denied the motion by Chin and Sportsmed. The Supreme Court accepted an appeal. The majority said to invoke the Medical Liability Act, the defendants had two options: They could assert that the record did not support an inference that Chin had no medical reason to request the psychology records, or they could submit affidavit evidence that Chin did have a medical reason. Chin and Sportsmed did neither. Instead, they argued that a change of venue was appropriate because the alleged harm occurred in the course of medical treatment. The Supreme Court said it rejected the use of time-and-place to invoke the provisions of the Medical Liability Act in a 2006 case, Ex parte Addiction & Mental Health Servs., Inc. The court ruled that the liability act did not apply to a lawsuit filed by a patient whose psychological records were dropped on the floor where they were seen by others because the injury was not medical in nature. The majority said Chin and Sportsmed also failed to make a convincing argument that they would be unable to defend themselves against Woodards lawsuit unless they retained a copy of the psychology records. Justices Greg Cook and William B. Sellers dissented. Cook said that the evidence clearly showed that Chin requested the records in order to treat Woodard, so the change of venue was appropriate. He said the Circuit Court had not authority to order the return or destruction of records that Chin possessed before a lawsuit was filed. GATES MILLS, Ohio -- Mayor Karen Schneider announced during the April 26 annual meeting of the Gates Mills Improvement Society, that she will be retiring when her term as mayor comes to a close at the end of the year. The mayor traditionally speaks and reports on the villages activities ad administration undertakings during the annual meeting, held at the Chagrin Valley Hunt Club. At the conclusion of her remarks, Schneider surprised those in attendance by announcing that, after 28 years as a public ofcial -- 20 on Village Council and eight as mayor, the time had come to Pass the gavel. Schneider also endorsed the person she believes should succeed her as mayor, Village Treasurer and current president of the villages Improvement Society Steve Siemborski. Schneider said Siemborski is extremely well-qualied to take (her) place, and that she intends to lend him her 100-percent support. Those in attendance honored Schneider with a standing ovation. See more Sun Messenger news here. BROOK PARK, Ohio -- A worker at Ambers Cabaret, 13311 Brookpark Road, called police at about 2:30 a.m. April 15 and said she had been attacked by two coworkers. The worker, 22, told police that she had been complaining that some coworkers were receiving preferential treatment. One coworker, 21, asked her why she was saying that. They argued, and the first worker feared the coworker and a second coworker, also 21, would beat her up. The worker called her mother, summoning her to the nightclub for help. Before Chi Baik moved into her 240-square-foot studio in Seattle last year, she tells CNBC Make It she "didn't even know they made apartments this tiny." The open layout of the 26-year-old's "micro" studio is enough to fit her queen-size bed and a dresser, with space under the bed for storage and a bed for her dog, Bear. Baik moved in September of 2022 and used to pay $1,550 for the place. Her building became income-restricted in January, and her rent was reduced in proportion to her earnings about $27,000 a year from her Ph.D. funding and taking on extra grading work. She now pays $1,157 per month on rent, plus another $100 or so for utilities. Chi Baik used to pay $800 to split a townhouse outside of Washington, D.C., with friends, but now spends $1,157 for 240-square-foot micro-studio in Seattle. John Paget | CNBC Make It Her kitchen has modern finish with a two-burner stove but no oven. Because everything is out in the open, she uses shelving for decor and two closets (including one with a washer/dryer in-unit) to keep everything tidy. Thankfully, a floor-to-ceiling window brings in natural light to make the place feel more roomy, and she also has a surprisingly large bathroom. Last year, Baik left her job as a teacher outside the Washington, D.C., area where she earned $60,000 per year and paid $800 to split a townhouse with friends and moved to Seattle to become a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington, where she studies special education. Money is tighter than it used to be, and it's her first time living so far from friends and family. Still, "it feels like I'm starting a new chapter in my life, and I'm really excited for it," she says. Chi Baik enjoys the open layout of her studio, which features big windows, a closet with a washer/dryer in-unit, and a surprisingly roomy bathroom. John Paget | CNBC Make It Chi Baik moved to Seattle from the Washington, D.C., area in the fall of 2022. It's her first time living so far from friends and family. John Paget | CNBC Make It Baik's favorite thing about living in Seattle is being surrounded by nature and greenery, as well the experience of living on her own for the first time. She says her brother, who is two years older and lives in Philadelphia, encouraged her to make the big move and take on the challenging transition. Baik knows most people will think $27,000 is "so little money," but says "I feel very grateful that I'm making that much, that I have a home to live in, especially in Seattle. The unhoused population is really large, and that makes me even more grateful for the money that I am making." Depending on her spending for the month, Baik's rent accounts for roughly 40% to 50% of her expenses. Her other major spending categories are food (she subscribes to HelloFresh and mostly cooks at home), shopping (for herself and for Bear's pet supplies), and transportation (she's currently without a car and uses both public transit and Uber to get around). Baik doesn't currently have any money left over at the end of the month to regularly put into savings, but she does have about $3,700 already stashed away and nearly $70,000 saved across two retirement accounts from her teaching days. Her brother recommended she put 30% of her paycheck toward retirement, which "wasn't too hard" since she was coming straight out of college. Chi Baik is getting her Ph.D. at the University of Washington in special education Jon Paget | CNBC Make It As the automobile took over America, so did parking lots and parking garages. There are between 700 million and 2 billion parking spaces in America or put another way, between 2.5 to seven spots for every registered vehicle. About 10% of that inventory is paid parking. And for decades, it was a pretty stable business. But low barriers to entry make it a crowded, fragmented industry. Competition is fierce. Insiders say demand for paid parking is either flat or declining in nearly every market, except for health-care facilities and events. The entire parking industry pulled in about $121 billion in 2022, according to Jerry Marcus, who runs a Boston-based parking consultancy called the Parking Advisory Group. The industry is slowly recovering from the pits of the Covid-19 pandemic, when revenues fell to $58 billion in 2020 56% lower than 2019. The entire parking industry is projected to pull in about $144 billion in 2023. That's a 10% increase over 2019 levels. Yet many in the industry worry about demand declines. E-commerce has dealt a blow to brick-and-mortar retail, the rise of ride-hailing has eliminated the need to park in many cases, and post-pandemic work trends have meant fewer people drive into urban areas five days a week, if at all. Within the larger parking industry, there's a group of companies that manage parking facilities for owners. That industry pulled in somewhere between $8 billion and just over $10 billion in revenue in 2022, according to market estimates. From 2018 through the end of 2023, IBISWorld estimated they will have shrunk at an annual rate of 7.7%. But it is expected that the parking facilities industry will grow 1.4% from 2023 through 2028. Growth is expected to return, albeit slightly and slowly, in part from pent-up demand and adaptations operators are making, including providing services for the growing ride-hailing market and the rise of electric vehicles, such as charging or vehicle maintenance. The industry has been forced to find ways to reinvent itself. Parking management companies such as SP Plus have been investing in new services and technology, including an app that allows customers to reserve spaces ahead of time and pay for parking on their phones, and tech allowing companies to change prices as needed say for time of day or for when there is high demand. There's also tech for charging cars automatically as they enter and exit a lot. As of 2022, technology solutions accounted for about 2% of SP Plus' gross profit. The company expects that number to jump to 10% by 2025. "What we are finding with technology. Is that we can deliver hardware and software on a very competitive basis," said SP Plus CEO Marc Baumann. "Even in situations where we might not be a parking operator right now. And so that makes the addressable market for us larger than it used to be." Tim Mulrooney, group head of global services at William Blair, said big players like SP Plus are better positioned to weather waning demand than smaller parking companies. "The larger folks, the folks with the capital to invest in R&D and technology, technological capabilities can do things like dynamic pricing, pricing, gateless technologies, other things that really differentiate them from the mom and pop parking management company that just manages a couple of locations in a single region," Mulrooney said. Oprah Winfrey has a highly decorated media career, winning 20 Emmy awards, a Tony award and a Peabody award, amongst many others. These feats may not have happened, however, if it wasn't for a reality check from a college professor. Winfrey, 69, started her sophomore year with a career in education in mind, she told 2023 graduates at Tennessee State University, her alma mater, during her commencement speech on Saturday. "I was majoring in speech communication and drama. I wanted to be an actress, but my father had proclaimed that no daughter of mine is going to be on somebody's casting couch," she said. "And so I decided, all right, I will teach." Winfrey's Scenic Design professor had other plans. During his class, she got a call from a lead news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV with a job opportunity. He'd heard her on the radio, a career she started in high school, and wanted to offer her an anchor position but Winfrey initially turned it down "I said no sir My father says I have to finish school and school is just too important," she recounted. "And I doubt that my dad would even let me do something like that." When Winfrey told her professor, he looked at her "as if I didn't have a brain that God gave lettuce," she said. "He said, 'this is what you get an education for. So that CBS Channel Five will call you. You and your father ought to know that,'" she told the students. "He rolled his eyes and he's walking away. He said, 'I'll tell him myself,' and he did." By her second semester of sophomore year, she changed her entire class schedule to be finished by 2 p.m. from 2:30 to 10:30 pm, she worked at the news station, with enough time to be home before her dad's "ironclad 11:00 curfew," Winfrey said. Winfrey's career was already on the up and up before graduation, so she decided to stop pursuing her degree, opting to focus on work instead. By the time she officially received her diploma in 1988, 13 years after her original graduation year, Winfrey had her own talk show, was on her third Emmy and in the early stages of launching Harpo Studios, her production company. Winfrey now wears many hats, from journalist and host to actress, author and entrepreneur all of which have helped her become the richest Black woman in America and first Black woman billionaire in the U.S., with a $2.5 billion net worth, Forbes reports. She says she couldn't have reached such heights without trusting in her faith and herself. "At no time did I ever feel out of place or not enough or inadequate or an imposter," she said. "Why? Because I knew who I was." DON'T MISS: Want to be smarter and more successful with your money, work & life? Sign up for our new newsletter! Get CNBC's free report, 11 Ways to Tell if We're in a Recession, where Kelly Evans reviews the top indicators that a recession is coming or has already begun. Drone footage shows clouds of black smoke over Bahri, also known as Khartoum North, Sudan, in this May 1, 2023 video obtained by REUTERS Sudan's warring parties were to hold talks on Saturday in the Saudi city of Jeddah, international mediators said, as they pressed for an end to a conflict that has killed hundreds and sent around 100,000 fleeing abroad. The U.S.-Saudi initiative is the first serious attempt to end three weeks of fighting that have has turned parts of Khartoum into war zones and derailed an internationally backed plan to usher in civilian rule following years of unrest and uprisings. Riyadh and Washington welcomed the "pre-negotiation talks" between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and urged them to actively engage following numerous violated ceasefires. But there were early signs that both sides remain unwilling to make compromises to end the bloodshed. In the city of Bahri across the Nile from Khartoum, warplanes were heard overnight and explosions startled residents. "We don't leave the house because we're scared of stray bullets," said a local who gave his name as Ahmed. An eyewitness in Eastern Khartoum reported gun clashes and airstrikes over residential areas on Saturday. The RSF did not immediately confirm its attendance in Jeddah. Sudan's armed forces said they sent a delegation to the Red Sea city on Friday evening, but special envoy Dafallah Alhaj said the army would not sit down directly with any delegation that the "rebellious" RSF might send. The warring sides have previously said they will only discuss a humanitarian truce and not an end to the fighting. It erupted on April 15 between the army of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF of commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a former militia leader known as Hemedti, following the collapse of an internationally backed plan for a transition to democracy. Chad Spangler filming a video. Courtesy: Chad Spangler As TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced hours of grueling questioning from members of Congress in late March, small business owner Chad Spangler watched in frustration. The bipartisan congressional committee was exploring how TikTok, the massively popular short-form video app owned by China's ByteDance, could pose a potential privacy and security threat to U.S. consumers. Representatives grilled Chew about the app's addictive features, possibly dangerous posts and whether U.S. user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government. Politicians have been threatening a nationwide TikTok ban unless ByteDance sells its stake in the app, a move China said it "strongly" opposed. But that's not the only source of dissent. Creators such as Spangler, who sells his artwork online, are worried about their livelihood. TikTok has emerged as a major piece of the so-called creator economy, which has swelled past $100 billion annually, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. Creators have formed lucrative partnerships with brands, and small business owners such as Spangler use the sizable audiences they've built on TikTok to promote their work and drive traffic to their websites. "That's the power of TikTok," Spangler said, adding that the app drives the majority of sales for his business, The Good Chad. "They've captured the lightning in the bottle that other platforms just haven't been able to do yet." Spangler has more than 200,000 followers on TikTok, and his business brought in over $100,000 last year, largely because of his reach there. Influencer Marketing Hub's data shows that the average annual income for an influencer in the U.S. was over $108,000, as of 2021. TikTok has been on a meteoric rise in the U.S., capturing an increasing amount of consumer attention from people who used to spend more time on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. In 2021, TikTok topped a billion monthly users. An August Pew Research Center survey found that 67% of teens in the U.S. use TikTok and 16% said they are on it almost constantly. Advertisers are following eyeballs. According to Insider Intelligence, TikTok now controls 2.3% of the worldwide digital ad market, putting it behind only Google , including YouTube; Facebook, including Instagram; Amazon, and Alibaba . But with Congress bearing down on TikTok, the app's role in the future of U.S. social media is shaky, as is the sustainability of businesses that have come to rely on it. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on "TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy and Protect Children from Online Harms," on Capitol Hill, March 23, 2023, in Washington, DC. Olivier Douliery | Afp | Getty Images In April, Montana legislators approved a bill that would ban TikTok from being offered in the state starting next year. TikTok said it opposes the bill, and claims there's no clear way for the state to enforce it. Congress has already banned the app on government devices, and some U.S. officials are trying to forbid its use altogether unless ByteDance divests. ByteDance did not respond to CNBC's request for comment. The White House also threw its support behind a bipartisan Senate bill in March called the RESTRICT Act, which would give the Biden administration the power to ban platforms such as TikTok. But following significant pushback, momentum behind the bill has slowed dramatically. As the debate gains steam, creators are in a state of limbo. Creators are turning to other platforms Vivian Tu, who lives in Miami, has been preparing for a possible TikTok ban by working to build her audience and diversify her content across multiple platforms. She began posting on TikTok in 2021 as a fun way to help answer co-workers' questions about finance and investing. By the end of her first week on the platform, she had more than 100,000 followers. Last year, she left behind a career on Wall Street and in tech media to pursue content creation full time. Tu shares videos in an effort to serve as a friendly face for financial expertise. Aside from posting on TikTok, she uses Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, and she also runs a podcast and a weekly newsletter. Tu said she began building out her presence on multiple platforms before a potential TikTok ban entered the equation, and she's hoping she spread out her income sources enough to be OK if anything happens. But she called her work on TikTok, where she has more than 2.4 million followers, her "pride and joy." "It would be a huge letdown to see the app get banned," she told CNBC in an interview. The top social media companies in the U.S. are preparing to try to fill the vacuum. Meta , which owns Instagram and Facebook, has been pumping money into its TikTok copycat, called Reels. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on the company's earnings call last month that users are resharing videos over 2 billion times a day, a number that's doubled in the past six months, adding "we believe that we're gaining share in short-form video." Snap and YouTube have been pouring billions of dollars into their own short-video features to compete with TikTok. Tu said she expects there will be a "massive exodus" of creators that flock to other platforms if TikTok is banned, but that the app is hard to beat when it comes to discovering new and relevant content. "That's why someone like myself, who didn't have a single follower, didn't have a single video, could make a video and have the very first one get 3 million views," she said. "That really doesn't happen anywhere else." Emily Foster with her stuffed animals. Source: Emily Foster Emily Foster, a small business owner, agrees. She said other media platforms can't come close to offering the type of exposure she gets from TikTok. Foster designs stuffed animals that she sells through her Etsy shop and her website called Alpacasews. She said she started sewing the plushies by hand as gifts for her friends and on commission. But when a video of a dragon she made during the pandemic received 1,000 views on TikTok a number that's tiny for her these days she said it gave her the confidence to open an Etsy shop. "I was like, 'Oh my god, this could be something,'" she told CNBC. Foster's designs quickly gained traction on TikTok, where she now has more than 250,000 followers. She recently shared a behind-the-scenes video that showed her packaging up an order for someone who ordered one of every stuffed animal in her Etsy shop. The video quickly amassed more than 500,000 views, and her entire inventory sold out within a day. 'Audience just isn't there' Demand for Foster's stuffies soon outpaced her ability to make them by hand, so she turned to crowdfunding site Kickstarter to raise money to cover manufacturing costs. She raised over $100,000 in her most recent Kickstarter campaign, which came after three of her videos went viral on TikTok. "My business would never be where it is today without TikTok," she said. With the looming threat of a TikTok ban, Foster said she's been sharing content across Instagram, YouTube and Twitter to try to expand her following. At this point, she said, her business would probably survive if TikTok goes away, but it would be difficult. "The audience just isn't there, especially for smaller creators," she said. Beyond the money, Foster is concerned about losing the following she's worked so hard to build. She said she's met "fantastic" friends, artists and other small business owners on the platform. "You're never quite alone. It means a lot," she said. "I'm stressed about potentially losing sales, potentially losing customers, but it's more so just losing a community that'll break my heart." For Spangler, the artist, the debate surrounding TikTok is maddening not just because of what it could mean for his livelihood, but because it seems to him that lawmakers are ill-informed about what the app does. Spangler recalled one Republican congressman asking Chew in his testimony about whether TikTok connects to a user's home Wi-Fi network. "If you even have a working knowledge of anything technology related, if you watched those hearings, it was just very embarrassing," Spangler said. "What's extra frustrating is it feels like this is being potentially taken away from me by people who have no idea how any of this works." Spangler channeled his anger into his artwork. After the hearing, he designed a T-shirt featuring a zombie-like congressman with the phrase, "Does the TikTak use a Wi-Fi?" He shared a video about it on TikTok and made almost $2,500 from T-shirt sales in less than two days. WATCH: TikTok's regulatory scrutiny may be a tailwind for Meta Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett gave Apple glowing reviews during Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders meeting Saturday. "Our criteria for Apple was different than the other businesses we own It just happens to be better business than any we own," Buffett said. He also called the iPhone "an extraordinary product." "We don't have anything like that that we owned 100% of, but we're very, very happy to have 5.6 or whatever-it-may-be percent, and we're delighted every 10th of a percent that goes up." To be sure, Buffett clarified Berkshire doesn't have 35% of its holdings in Apple as a questioner incorrectly believed. Still, the tech giant is one the stars among Berkshire's holdings. "We want to own good businesses and we also want to have plenty of liquidity. And beyond that, the sky's the limit," Buffett noted. The legendary investor, known by many as "The Oracle of Omaha" for his investment acumen, also shared his thoughts on some of the conglomerate's other holdings. Check them out below. TSMC Buffett said he thinks TSMC is a preeminent player in the semiconductor space. However, he sold some of his shares in the chipmaker due to geopolitical concerns. "Taiwan Semiconductor is one of the best-managed companies and important companies in the world. And I think you'll be able to say the same thing five, or 10, or 20 years from now. I don't like its location and reevaluated that. ... There's nobody in the chip industry, in their league, or at least in my view." Bank of America Bank of America is Berkshire's sole bank holding, and Buffett said he plans to stick with it. "I like Bank of America, I liked the management. ... So, I stick with it. But do I know how to project out what's going to happen from here? The answer is I don't, because I've seen so many things in the last few months, which really weren't that unexpected to me to see." Paramount Buffett said that, while he's "not in the business of giving stock advice to people," Paramount 's dividend cut is not good news. "It's not good news when any company cuts its dividend dramatically. And the streaming businesses extremely interesting to watch because people love to use their eyeballs being entertained on a screen in front of them. ... But there's a lot of companies doing it." Occidental Petroleum Buffett dispelled rumors that Berkshire plans on taking full control of the oil giant, of which Berkshire currently has more than a 20% stake. "We will not be making any offer for control of Occidental , but we love the shares we have. We may or may not own more in the future, but we certainly have warrants on what we got on the original deal on a very substantial amount of stock around $59 a share, and warrants last a long time, and I'm glad we have them." Activision Blizzard The investor said that Microsoft has been more than cooperative with British regulators w hich blocked its acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard . However, Buffett added he isn't positive if the deal can go through. "I think Microsoft has been remarkably willing to cooperate with governing bodies. ... The opposition that seems to need more than halfway. ... That doesn't get solved by offering more money or so. I don't know how it [will] turn out. But if it doesn't go through, I don't think it's through any shortcoming by Microsoft or Activision. But not everything that should happen, has happened." Follow our live coverage of Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway meeting. OMAHA, Neb. Warren Buffett said Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway doesn't plan on taking full control of Occidental Petroleum , an oil giant where it has amassed a stake north of 20%. "There's speculation about us buying control, we're not going to buy control," the 'Oracle of Omaha' said at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting. "We wouldn't know what to do with it." In August last year, Berkshire received regulatory approval to purchase as much as a 50% stake. Since then, Buffett has been steadily adding to his bet, including this year, boosting the conglomerate's stake in the Houston-based energy producer to 23.5%. The moves had fueled speculation that the 92-year-old investor could acquire the whole company. "We will not be making any offer for control of Occidental, but we love the shares we have," Buffett said. "We may or may not own more in the future but we certainly have warrants on what we got on the original deal on a very substantial amount of stock around $59 a share, and warrants last a long time, and I'm glad we have them." Berkshire owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock, and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million common shares for $5 billion, or $59.62 each. The warrants were obtained as part of the company's 2019 deal that helped finance Occidental's purchase of Anadarko. Shares of Occidental were down about 3% this year, after more than doubling in 2022. The stock was the best-performing name in the S&P 500 last year. CNBC's Sarah Min contributed reporting. Follow our live coverage of Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway meeting. Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett said Saturday that regulators avoided a financial disaster by making sure that Silicon Valley Bank customers didn't lose money in the firm's collapse. The sudden downfall of SVB in March forced the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to seize the bank, selling some of its assets to First Citizens weeks later. The FDIC protected SVB customers in the process by invoking the systemic risk exception during the March tumult, allowing the regulator to make all depositors whole, even if their accounts exceeded the $250,000 coverage threshold. "It would've been catastrophic" if regulators hadn't done that, Buffet said during his annual shareholder meeting. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 6) K-pop girl group Red Velvet has arrived in Manila ahead of their first solo concert on Sunday, May 7. PH REVELUV, the Queens have landed! event organizer PULP Live World said in a social media post Saturday afternoon. Only Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, and Yeri of the five-member group will perform their sold-out "R to V" show at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, as it was earlier announced that Joy will not be able to join due to health reasons. PULP also released more details to guide concertgoers, including the event day schedule, venue map guide, and more reminders. Red Velvet last went to Manila in July last year to headline the advocacy concert "Be You: The World Will Adjust." The group also performed in the country in June 2019 and in April 2015 for the "K-POP World Music Festival" and the "Best of Best in the Philippines" concert, respectively. DBS Singapore told to set aside SGD1.6 billion by MAS after digital banking outage DBS Singapore, one of the top banks in South Asia, has been ordered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to make an additional provision to cover any losses following the latest outage in the banks digital services. DBS Singapore has been pulled up by MAS for its repeated service outages. Photo: Connected to India The outage on May 5 was intermittent, while the outage on March 29 lasted nine hours, and that in November 2021 lasted two days. Though the duration of outage has sharply decreased, MAS took a strict view of the repeated interruptions in service and told the bank to set aside additional capital, on top of the requirement imposed after the 2021 outage. This is a penalty of sorts, and it means the bank now has to have a total of SGD1.6 billion set aside as provision, up from the previous regulatory requirement of SGD930 million. MAS has also asked DBS to include the May 5 outage in its enquiry into the March 29 outage. The bank had its annual general meeting on March 31, when DBS Chairman Peter Seah said that the bank would have external experts look into that outage. Now the scope of that expert review has to be expanded. The Singapore regulatory authority had called yesterdays outage unacceptable, as it had significantly inconvenienced the public. Responding to user comments on social media, DBS said yesterday: We seek your kind patience to try again later due to high login traffic volume. In a MAS media release yesterday, MAS Deputy Managing Director (Financial Supervision) Ho Hern Shin said that the top bank had fallen short of MAS expectations for banks to deliver reliable services to their customers. Apologising for the recent disruptions, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said that the bank was committed to doing better and that the review was a matter of utmost priority. The capital provision requirement, acting as a buffer against losses arising from disruptions, is calculated as a multiplier of risk-weighted assets for operational risk. Following the November 2021 outage, a 1.5 times multiplier was imposed on DBS in February 2022, and the new requirement is a 1.8 times multiplier. MAS has indicated that even the new multiplier might be modified, depending on the outcome of the expert review. Dear Narendra, My friend Macron: Bastille Day 2023 invite for Modi reflects growing India-France ties Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to attend Bastille Day 2023 on July 14 as the Guest of Honour. President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@EmmanuelMacron This is the first time in 14 years that the Prime Minister of India has been invited in this capacity to this event, which marks the storming of Bastille prison in 1789 and the start of the French Revolution. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had attended Bastille Day, aka the National Day of France, in 2009 as the Guest of Honour. Apart from extending the invite, Macron also posted on Twitter in French, starting with Cher Narendra (Dear Narendra) Modi accepted with thanks, saying: Thank you my friend @EmmanuelMacron! I look forward to celebrating Bastille Day and our Strategic Partnership with you and the French people. This deepening of connection comes against the backdrop of increasing India-France trade. It was reported in December 2021 that bilateral trade had seen a steady rise in volume over the past decade. In February 2023, news was out that Air India, reacquired by the Tata Group in January 2022, was committed to ordering 250 aircraft from Airbus Industrie of France; it was part of a move to buy 470 new planes, with the rest coming from Boeing. An Airbus press release said: The Tata Group-owned Air India has announced its commitment to order 250 Airbus aircraft to boost its domestic and international operations. The commitment includes 140 A320neo and 70 A321neo single-aisle aircraft as well as 34 A350-1000 and six A350-900 wide-body jets that will mark a new era for the country as the all-new, long-range aircraft celebrates its debut in the Indian market. India-France defence deals include the 2015 order placed for a fleet of Rafale fighter jets made by Dassault, the French aerospace company. Though the deal became politically controversial, the last of the 36 Rafale jets landed in India in mid-December 2022, and a happy Indian Air Force tweeted: Feet dry, pack is complete. Reporting in late April this year on the expected Bastille Day 2023 invite from Macron to Modi, the business news agency Bloomberg reported that the invitation reflects booming business and military bilateral ties as well as Indias strategic importance as the worlds most populated country and the current leader of the Group of 20 nations. Bastille Day 2023 If, say, North and South Korea were to go to war again, you'd pretty much expect the fighting to stay there. If you were hanging around Disney World in Orlando and suddenly a couple of North and South Korean platoons showed up and started shooting at each other, you'd assume you were the victim of some elaborate flash mob prank. Yet that sort of thing has happened all through history, like the time ... 5 The German Navy Attacked Cape Cod Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images Quick: What exactly does the U.S. Coast Guard do? They save sinking boats and shit, right? Maybe stop smugglers, that sort of thing? All of it must seem like a pretty sweet deal if you're doing that instead of, say, fighting a world war. That's why the Coast Guard off the small town of Orleans, Massachusetts, probably thought they had a pretty sweet gig during World War I -- no filthy trenches or death-defying naval attacks for them. All they had to do for the war effort was guard a bunch of lobster traps and enjoy the whale watching. Which made it all the more pants-wetting when, out of the blue, an Imperial German submarine suddenly rose from the abyss in attack mode. In freaking Cape Cod. Via Grolltech This itty bitty little sideways elf shoe looking place. Advertisement It was July 21, 1918, and the German sub U-156 suddenly found itself in possession of far too many torpedoes and far too few targets. The U-boat's captain, Richard Feldt, spotted Orleans, with its several unassuming tugboats and barges docked in the harbor. Most people would've shaken their head sadly and gone off to blow their excess torpedoes on icebergs or whatever. Feldt, on the other hand, thought, "I must now shoot all of this," high-fived his second in command, and proceeded to attack the quaint little town in a move right out of a Stephen King novel. Bemused bathers ashore stared in slack-jawed surprise as the U-boat began its attack, blasting at boats and spraying the town with bullets from mounted machine guns. The Coast Guard, annoyed by the pesky sounds of warfare in their peaceful station, popped their heads out to investigate -- only to find their little town quickly turning into a war zone. They hastily sent out a few shoddy aircraft, which completely failed to damage the U-boat with their bombs. George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images "OK, that's close enough to finished -- just send it out." Advertisement Advertisement Still, they lucked out: The Germans were apparently completely unprepared for an attack from an enemy nation whose soil they were actively bombing. They retreated in the face of the Coast Guard's desperate flailing, leaving the town in panic and disarray. 4 The American Civil War Spilled Over into France and Brazil Goodshoot/Goodshoot/Getty Images The big thing about civil wars is that they tend to keep within the country in question. That's the whole point, really. So if you were fighting in the American Civil War and took a break in, say, France, you'd think you had left the fighting behind and could relax with some nice 19th century French prostitutes. Advertisement Perhaps that is why the Confederate ship CSS Alabama was so confident when it stopped for repairs in the French seaside town of Cherbourg. The Alabama had been busy raiding Union ships in the Atlantic and went to get some repairs time on the other side of the ocean. Even if you have to endure accordion music and filthy mimes, a little holiday in a then-neutral country must've felt like heaven after all that hardcore warrin'. Then, after the repairs were finished, they sailed leisurely back to sea to run right the fuck into a Union battleship. Suddenly the North and the South were continuing their American conflict within sight of ... whatever France had at the time instead of the Eiffel Tower. Simon Willms/Lifesize/Getty Images Back then, their main tourist attraction was just a dude. People loved Chad France. Advertisement Advertisement The ship was the Union vessel USS Kearsarge, a sloop-of-war that, unbeknownst to the Confederates, had been tracking the Alabama down due to everyone getting tired of its bullshit. The Kearsarge hung around French waters until the Alabama was shoddily (France, remember) repaired. The second the latter left safe waters, crew relaxed and hull creaking, it ran into the Kearsarge. Unable to turn back and unfit to fight, the Alabama had just one thing left to do: Say "fuck it" and challenge the Kearsarge to a one-on-one duel, just off the French shore. This went about as well as you'd expect. The Alabama went under after an hour's combat, its crew presumably still cursing the French sea chanty from the tavern last night that they couldn't get out of their heads. Via History.navy.mil "EAT SHIT, SCUMB- blbblbllblblbll ..." Advertisement By the way, almost the exact same thing happened to the Confederate ship the CSS Florida (which happened to be a sister ship of the Alabama) when it decided to stop for coal in the Brazilian port of Bahia. Despite the fact that they were in freaking South America -- the wartime equivalent of a get-out-of-jail-free card -- the Florida happened to encounter the Union ship USS Wachusett, which promptly captured the vessel. Via History.navy.mil "Onward! We will not stop until we have shown the entire world how much we suck at war." Advertisement 3 Greenland Was Full of Secret Nazi Outposts Via Ringomassa Advertisement Imagine being an American rescue pilot in 1943, gliding over the vast emptiness of Greenland. You may be drifting off course over the world's largest island, but you don't care -- you're thousands of miles from World War II, and that's what counts. After all, who the hell cares about Greenland? Via Connormah Look at that piece of shit. Just floating there like it doesn't know it sucks. Advertisement Suddenly, you notice a strange structure in the middle of the rugged wilderness below. Whatever could that be? Intrigued, you mark the spot on your map, making a point to return to the site on foot to see what this peculiar construct in the untouched wilderness might be. Days later, you finally make the trip and knock on the door of the structure. Advertisement Then, a Nazi comes out and punches you in the dick. Why the hell were Nazis in Greenland? Did they hear that the Ark of the Covenant was buried there? Actually, it was all about monitoring the weather. In the days before weather satellites, you needed weather-monitoring stations in remote places to tell you what weather systems were coming your way. So when an American rescue plane stumbled upon that strange shack in the ass end of Greenland, they had actually come across a major Nazi operation. NARA via Fold3.com Or as we call it in the States, a "Minnesota Hitler shed." Advertisement Once a patrol had captured the lone German officer manning that outpost, they realized that the Nazi bastards had secretly littered Greenland's coastline with them, providing valuable weather data for Hitler and pals 24/7. Since bombing the entire coastline of a massive island wasn't really an option even for America, they devised an alternate strategy: A 15-strong congregation of U.S., Norwegian, and Danish troops stormed station after station after station using dog sleds, commandoing their way through hundreds of miles of snow and ice. Sometimes they met heavy resistance from the Germans, while others surrendered almost immediately because their toilet had frozen. Via Wikimedia Commons Which wasn't a huge issue until their assholes thawed. Advertisement Advertisement By October 1944, the Allies had won one of the coldest operations of the war, losing just one man in the process, which is still more casualties than what they probably expected to lose in fucking Greenland. 31st China Int'l Bicycle Fair kicks off in Shanghai Xinhua) 10:59, May 06, 2023 A visitor looks at a bicycle during the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Li He) Polish traders look at a kids bike during the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Cai Yang) People visit the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Cai Yang) People visit the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Cai Yang) A visitor looks at bicycles displayed during the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Cai Yang) People visit the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Li He) People visit the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Li He) Visitors talk about a folding bike during the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Cai Yang) Visitors look at a bicycle displayed during the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) People visit the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Cai Yang) Visitors look at bike frames displayed during the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Cai Yang) A young biker shows biking stunts during the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. The fair kicked off here on Friday, drawing more than 1,200 enterprises to participate. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TALLINN, Estonia (AP) Russia's top investigative agency on Saturday said the suspect in a car bombing that injured a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist and killed his driver has admitted acting at the behest of Ukraine's special services. The blast that hit the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, was the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the conflict. It took place in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. Prilepin was hospitalized with broken bones, brusied lungs and other injuries; the regional governor daid he had been put into a medical sleep, but did not elaborate. Russia's Investigative Committee said the suspect was a Ukrainian native and had admitted under questioning that he was working under orders from Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry in turn blamed not only Ukraine but the United States as well. Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with the Ukrainian authorities, but with their Western patrons, in the first place, the United States, who since the coup detat of February 2014 have painstakingly nurtured the anti-Russian neo-Nazi project in Ukraine, the ministry said, referring to the 2014 uprising in Kyiv that forced the Russia-friendly president to flee. In August 2022, a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as "Putin's brain. The authorities alleged that Ukraine was behind the blast. Last month, an explosion in a cafe in St. Petersburg killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. Officials once again blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies. Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Prilepin was traveling back to Moscow on Saturday from Ukraines partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and stopped in the Nizhny Novogorod region for a meal. Prilepin became a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, after Putin illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula. He was involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of Russian-backed separatists. Last year, he was sanctioned by the European Union for his support of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2020, he founded a political party, For the Truth, which Russian media reported was backed by the Kremlin. A year later, Prilepin's party merged with the nationalist A Just Russia party that has seats in the parliament. A co-chair of the newly formed party, Prilepin won a seat in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, in the 2021 election, but gave it up. Party leader Sergei Mironov called the incident on Saturday a terrorist act and blamed Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed Mironov's sentiment in a post on the messaging app Telegram, adding that responsibility also lay with the U.S. and NATO. Washington and NATO have nursed yet another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime, Zakharova wrote. Direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain. We're praying for Zakhar. The deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev put the blame on Nazi extremists" in a telegram he sent to Prilepin. Ukrainian officials haven't commented directly on the allegations. However, Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, in a tweet on Saturday, appeared to point the finger at the Kremlin, saying that "to prolong the agony of Putins clan and maintain the illusionary total control, the Russian repression machine picks up the pace and catches up with everyone, including supporters of the Ukraine war. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DAVIS, Calif. (AP) A 21-year-old former university student on Friday pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one of attempted murder in connection with a series of stabbings in the college community of Davis. Yolo County Superior Court Judge Daniel Wolk also denied bail to Carlos Dominguez, citing the risk to public safety and the defendant's own flight risk given the seriousness of the alleged crimes. Dominguez remained expressionless as the judge read out the complaint filed by prosecutors Friday. He responded in the affirmative several times to questions from the judge but did not speak otherwise. Yolo County prosecutors said Dominguez is eligible for a life prison term without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, given the multiple murders. He is accused of fatally stabbing two people, including a fellow student, and stabbing a third victim who is now recovering. Dominguez was represented by Dan Hutchinson, a deputy public defender. Hutchinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He was picked up for questioning Wednesday near the city park where he was alleged to have killed his second victim and has been in jail since early Thursday. News of his arrest Thursday was a relief to students and residents shocked by the vicious stabbings, which Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel described as particularly brutal and brazen. Dominguez was a student at UC Davis until April 25 two days before the first victim was found when he was let go for academic reasons, the university said. He was a third-year student majoring in biological sciences. On Friday, students headed to class, in contrast to earlier in the week when the campus was practically deserted, some said. Talia Mickelsen, a third-year student studying animal sciences, said she lives across the street from the house in which Dominguez lived. She noticed him a few times, but never interacted with him, she said. Mickelsen said the last week has been scary, and she feels more secure now that he is arrested. It is very eye-opening, but I guess these things can happen anywhere, she said. "Now, I just make sure Im vigilant and cautious wherever I go. Coco Yan, a student also majoring in animal sciences, said she and a friend did not leave the house unless they went out together. I have no sympathy for the stabber," said Yan. A lot of people were stressed and scared because of it." Davis police and multiple law enforcement agencies fanned out to investigate after the body of David Breaux, 50, was discovered at a downtown park near the University of California, Davis campus April 27. The second victim, UC Davis senior Karim Abou Najm, 20, was found Saturday night at another city park. On Monday, Kimberlee Guillory was attacked while inside her tent but survived. Both Breaux and Guillory were homeless. Davis police have not provided a motive and it is unclear if he knew the victims. Pytel, the police chief, said 15 people called into the department Wednesday afternoon when they spotted someone matching the stabbing suspect's description at Sycamore Park, where Najm was found. Dominguez went voluntarily with police for more questioning, Pytel said. They found a large knife in his backpack. Davis is a city of 67,000, with an additional 13,000 students living on campus. His next court date is May 22. Warmer weather this past winter and early spring is leading to an increase in ticks, according to state scientists. "Tick activity this year started quite early. We did not have much of a break during the winter months," said Goudarz Molaei, director of the Tick Testing Program for Lyme and Allied Diseases at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES). "In the past, during the winter months, we used to maybe receive about 100 ticks for the entire duration. In recent years, that number has increased to several hundred." The state has received 1,200 ticks so far this year as part of its passive tick collection program, but these 1,200 are just a fraction of ticks in Connecticut, according to Molaei. This year is projected to be the second-highest year for tick activity second to 2021. "We moved to high gear in early March," Molaei added. According to Molaei, we are entering peak tick activity for blacklegged ticks, or deer ticks, which make up 80 percent of all ticks in Connecticut. Once this current peak subsides by mid-May, the month of June will see another peak in tick activity. The last peak in tick activity this year will take place in November. In January, CAES scientists were warning of ticks being "active year-round" in Connecticut. This is because winter was shorter and milder this year, according to Molaei. The increase in rainfall has also played a part in the presence of ticks in Connecticut. "If we get a good amount of precipitation, that would provide enough humidity for these ticks not be desiccated," Molaei said. Additionally, an increase in the state's deer population has made it easier for deer ticks to find hosts to feed on. Molaei said that there are 12 active tick-borne illnesses that the state is monitoring, including Powassan virus, which killed a Connecticut woman in 2022, anaplasmosis and Lyme disease. Connecticut is also combating invasive tick species, including the lone star tick, the Gulfcoast tick and the Asian longhorned tick. Last year, CAES was given $5 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to come up with "creative ways to control the tick population" as well as train scientists on how to fight tick-borne illnesses. As for keeping pets safe during tick season, Molaei said that pet owners should talk to their veterinarians to discuss options for preventing tick bites including specialized collars and topical medications. There are also specialized antibiotics that fight tick-borne illnesses, like Lyme disease, especially in dogs. Ticks can be submitted for testing using the CAES tick submission form. Ticks must be properly sent in accordance with CAES standards. There is no fee to submit ticks for testing. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukraine's air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow's most modern missiles. Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems. Yes, we shot down the unique Kinzhal, Oleshchuk wrote. It happened during the night-time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region. Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from Russian territory and was shot down with a Patriot missile. The Kinzhal is one of the latest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. A combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets, like underground bunkers or mountain tunnels. The Ukrainian military has previously admitted lacking assets to intercept the Kinzhals. They were saying that the Patriot is an outdated American weapon, and Russian weapons are the best in the world," Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Ukraine's Channel 24 television. "Well, there is confirmation that it effectively works against even a super-hypersonic missile. Ihnat said. He said successfully intercepting the Kinzhal was a slap in the face for Russia. Ukraine took its first delivery of the Patriot missiles in late April. It has not specified how many of the systems it has or where they have been deployed, but they are known to have been provided by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. Germany and the U.S. have acknowledged each sending at least one battery and the Netherlands has said it has provided two launchers, although it is not clear how many are currently in operation. Ukrainian troops have received the extensive training needed to be able to effectively locate a target with the systems, lock on with radar, and fire. Each battery requires up to 90 personnel to operate and maintain. Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the U.S. in August 2021, months before Russias full-scale invasion but seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula. He has described possessing the system as a dream but said he was told in the U.S. at the time that it was impossible. The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, according to analysts. At such a cost, it was widely thought that Ukraine would only use the Patriots against Russian aircraft or hypersonic missiles. In a Telegram post on Saturday, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraines Armed Forces, said he had thanked U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for the ongoing American aid to Ukraine. Zaluzhnyi said he also briefed Milley about the situation at the front and preparations for Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia. Ukraine has not said when it might launch the counteroffensive, but it is widely anticipated this spring. In an interview this week with Foreign Affairs magazine, Milley said he would not speculate on if or when it might come, but that with NATO assistance to help train and equip nine brigades' worth of combined arms, armor and mechanized infantry, the Ukrainians right now have the capability to attack. He also said that their capability to defend was significantly enhanced from what they were just a year ago. I dont want to suggest that they may or may not conduct an offensive operation in the coming weeks, he said. Thatll be up to them. Theyve got a significant amount of planning and coordination and all of that to do, if they were to do an offensive operation. But theyre prepared to do offense or defense. In other developments, officials in both Russia and Ukraine said they had carried out another of their regular exchanges of prisoners of war. The Russian Defense Ministry said it brought three military pilots back to Russia, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said 45 fighters who defended the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol had been returned to Ukraine. Also on Saturday, Ukraines Special Operations Forces accused Russia of using phosphorus munitions in its attempt to wrest control of the eastern city of Bakhmut from Ukrainian forces. Russian troops have been trying to take the city for more than nine months, but Ukrainian forces are still clinging to positions on the western outskirts. On Saturday, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper quoted military officials as saying that the enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut in an attempt to wipe the city off the face of the earth. A photo accompanying the newspaper report showed an urban area lit up with fire in multiple places. The allegations could not be independently verified. Russian forces have not commented on the claim but have rejected previous accusations from Ukraine that they had used phosphorus. International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus or other incendiary weapons munitions designed to set fire to objects or cause burn injuries in areas where there could be concentrations of civilians. White phosphorous can also be used for illumination or to create smoke screens. ___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine I have to disagree with Hugh Baileys opinion column about prison commutations, but not for the reasons you might expect. I was a Connecticut attorney, in Norwalk, for more than 50 years. Early in my career I represented a number of criminal defendants and juvenile court defendants, but I spent the last 40-plus years representing thousands of disabled persons who were seeking Social Security disability benefits. Based on my experience, I find that more than 90 percent of the clients I represented had one or more mental illnesses. My experience was confirmed by a report released this week by the Connecticut Sentencing Commission which found that 95.5 percent of prison inmates in Connecticut have a history of mental illness. When I began practicing law, mentally ill people received hospital treatment, in psychiatric wards, or in state hospitals like Fairfield Hills. In a misguided policy of protecting the rights of mentally ill people, as well as an attempt to save money by both the state and by hospitals, mentally ill people were released in favor of outpatient treatment, the state closed mental hospitals, and hospitals closed their psychiatric wards. The policy was, and is, misguided because many mentally ill people are unable to obtain proper treatment for their mental illnesses. I have read thousands of medical records confirming this. These patients are unable to make or keep appointments, unable to get to outpatient treatment sites, and unable to maintain a proper dosing schedule for prescribed medications. Many refuse treatment because a prominent symptom of many mental illnesses is the belief that the person does not need medication, or a delusion that prescribed medication is harmful. Many, of course, use street drugs instead of prescribed medications. Many also neglect physical illnesses and ailments for the same reasons, resulting in significantly higher costs for emergency rooms throughout the state. As the Connecticut Sentencing Commission study shows, mentally ill people end up in Connecticut prisons, leading to the conclusion that should be obvious, that our state's prisons have replaced our state's mental hospitals and psychiatric wards as the providers of treatment for mentally ill people. The medical records I have reviewed show me that medical treatment in Connecticut's prisons is inferior to treatment in hospitals and outpatient clinics, but some treatment is better than no treatment at all. The recommendation that more sentences be commuted, and more prisoners be released, completely ignores that reality that just about all of the released inmates are mentally ill, are unlikely to receive significant treatment after they are released, and are likely to return to prison because of their mental illnesses. There will, of course, be an initial saving in the cost of housing those inmates, but if hundreds or thousands of mentally ill inmates are released, that saving will disappear once those mentally ill released prisoners return to prison, and before they return, there will be increased costs for the outpatient treatment and emergency room treatment of those who do obtain treatment, and increased costs for law enforcement who will have to arrest those mentally ill inmates who commit more crimes, and there will be financial losses and possibly injuries to the victims of the crimes those released inmates commit. The result is a significant net loss for Connecticut. Mental hospitals and psychiatric wards are not pleasant places, but they are still better than the homeless shelters or park benches and tents to which many of the inmates with commuted sentences will be released. How does the proposal to increase commutations solve this problem? This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ATLANTA (AP) Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill into law Friday creating a new commission empowered to discipline and remove wayward prosecutors, saying it will curb far-left prosecutors who are making our communities less safe. Kemp made the remarks at the Chatham County Sheriff's Office in Savannah, where he signed the measure establishing the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission, which will launch July 1 and start accepting complaints Oct. 1. I am not going to stand idly by as rogue or incompetent prosecutors refuse to uphold the law, Kemp said. Today we are sending a message that we will not forfeit public safety for prosecutors to let criminals off the hook. The law parallels pushes to remove prosecutors in Florida, Indiana, Missouri and Pennsylvania, as well as broader disputes nationwide over how certain criminal offenses should be charged. The efforts continue anti-crime campaigns that Republicans ran nationwide last year, accusing Democrats of coddling criminals and improperly refusing to prosecute whole categories of crimes, including marijuana possession. Georgia Democrats strenuously opposed the measure, saying the Republican legislative majority was seeking another way to impose its will on Democratic voters at the local level. I strongly oppose an excessive and unnecessary commission as district attorneys are already held accountable under existing laws and through the current democratic process of holding election, said Deborah Gonzalez, Democratic district attorney for Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties. Gonzalez, under fire in Kemps hometown of Athens, was cited by Republicans as one of the law's top targets. She has declined to prosecute marijuana crimes, some prosecutors have left her office and judges have criticized her for missing court deadlines. Crucially, the Georgia law mandates that a prosecutor must consider every case for which probable cause exists and cant exclude categories of cases from prosecution. Experts have said that considering every case individually is unrealistic, because prosecutors turn down many more cases than they charge. However, its unclear if the new law will change prosecutors behavior or just lead them to avoid talking publicly about charging decisions. The eight-member commission will include six current or former prosecutors and two other lawyers. It will oversee DAs and solicitors general elected prosecutors who handle lower-level crimes in some counties. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has also decried the measure, calling it a racist attack after voters elected 14 nonwhite DAs in the state. Some have viewed the law as Republican retribution against Willis, who is considering criminal charges against former President Donald Trump over interference in Georgias 2020 election. Willis declined further comment Friday. The law was born from frustrations involving a white Republican prosecutor in suburban Atlanta who was indicted for bribery related to sexual harassment claims. He lingered in office until he pleaded guilty to unprofessional conduct and resigned in 2022. Some Democrats were interested in similar measures for a time because of Jackie Johnson, a coastal Georgia DA who was charged with hindering the police investigation into the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery. Democratic interest cooled after voters ousted Johnson. The rules could also target prosecutors who declared before Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022 that they wouldn't prosecute abortion-related offenses. Seven current Georgia DAs fit that description. Nationwide, the efforts aimed at curbing prosecutors have met with mixed success. In Missouri, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced on Thursday that she will resign June 1 as Republicans maneuvered to oust the Democrat. A bill was proceeding to let Republican Gov. Mike Parson appoint a special prosecutor to handle violent crimes, taking over most of Gardner's responsibilities, but her resignation could sideline the bill. Missouri's Republican attorney general, Andrew Bailey, was pursuing legal steps to remove Gardner. An Indiana bill originally written to let an oversight board appoint a special prosecutor when a noncompliant prosecutor refused to charge certain crimes appears dead for the year. Efforts by Pennsylvania Republicans to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner are stalled pending a court appeal. In the meantime the state House has flipped from Republican to Democratic control and, its unclear what that would mean for any trial. And in Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren in Tampas Hillsborough County in August. A federal judge found DeSantis illegally targeted Warren because hes a Democrat who publicly supported abortion and transgender rights. But the judge wrote he had no power to reinstate Warren, leading to an appeal to the state Supreme Court. CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) It wasn't the first time Judge C. Carter Williams had been pulled over by West Virginia law enforcement for minor violations. But his behavior at a traffic stop two years ago berating the police officer, calling the officers supervisors to complain and even driving to the mayor's house to lecture her crossed a line. Now, Williams has been suspended for six months without pay and was fined $5,000 for actions that ventured past coercion into retaliation, according to a state Supreme Court sanction issued Thursday. It was longer than the three-month suspension that the state Judicial Hearing Board recommended last October. Beth Walker, the Supreme Court's chief justice, wrote that Williams call to the officer's supervisor during the traffic stop can only reasonably be interpreted as coercive, and the calls made thereafter were a blatant invocation of his office. A judicial disciplinary investigation found Williams had been pulled over three other times in 2020 and 2021 without being ticketed. In another traffic stop, a state trooper did not ticket Williams for failing to wear a seat belt. The trooper said he didnt really see a need to stir up the hornets nest for such a minor violation. The trooper also knew he was involved in felony court cases where Williams was the judge, according to court documents. During the July 2021 incident that led to Williams' suspension, Moorefield Police Officer Deavonta Johnson stopped the judge's car after seeing him driving with a cell phone in his hand, according to court records. Cell phone use by drivers is banned unless a hands-free device is used. Johnson had pulled Williams over once before after the judge ran a stop sign in January 2020. As the officer explained why the judge was being stopped, Williams interrupted, saying he was a judge and raising his voice at the officer, court records show. Williams said he'd heard something drop between the door and the seat, picked up the phone and transferred it from one hand to the other while his hands were on the steering wheel. Williams initially refused to provide his license and registration before complying, then told Johnson several times to write a ticket. When Johnson went back to his police cruiser, the judge called the officer's supervisor, who then called Johnson to ask if he had already written the ticket. If no, the supervisor told Johnson not to write it in order to defuse the situation, according to court records. Returning to Williams' car, Johnson told the judge that his license was expired and needed to be renewed. Williams took his license from the officer and drove off. Later that night, Williams called Johnson's supervisor again. He also phoned the Moorefield police chief to complain about the traffic stop before hanging up on him. Williams later called a former police chief, the circuit court's chief judge, and Moorefield Mayor Carol Zuber as Williams was parked outside of her home. According to Zuber, who is also the town's police commissioner, a frustrated Williams said, Youre going to have to do something with your police officers." The Judicial Hearing Board found last October that Williams violated six judicial rules related to professional and public conduct, compliance with the law and using his office for personal gain. MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexicos government said Friday over 2,000 migrants were kidnapped by smuggling gangs and drug cartels last year, as authorities mounted a successful search for 10 Colombians abducted in northern Mexico this week. Mexicos national immigration agency said authorities had freed 2,115 migrants of all nationalities kidnapped by gangs in 2022. Gangs and cartels appear to be increasingly charging migrants fees to cross Mexico, and then kidnapping them for ransom. There have been a string of such mass migrant abductions in Mexico in recent months. Prosecutors in the northern border state of Sonora said late Friday they had found 10 Colombians who went missing Tuesday in the border city of San Luis Rio Colorado, across the border from Arizona. The Colombians were found in good shape at a gasoline station, officials said. A relative of one of the missing Colombians said kidnappers had called to demand thousands of dollars from relatives in the United States. Reached by telephone in Bogota, Colombia, Johan Morales the son of a couple among those who went missing Tuesday said his parents and other relatives had been planning to reach the Arizona border and turn themselves in to U.S. officials to request asylum. He said a cousin who lives in New York received a call from kidnappers Thursday demanding $2,500 apiece to release his relatives. Just a week before, Ecuador had contacted officials in Sonora to complain that 30 Ecuadorans had been abducted in the state. When officials arrived at the safehouse where they were being held in another border town, they found more people than they expected: 43 Ecuadorans and 20 other abducted migrants were being held there. That has not been uncommon in recent months: complaints about a few missing migrants have led police to investigate and find dozens more being held against their will. In April, a reported kidnapping of about 20 people in the north-central state of San Luis Potosi led police to mount a massive search by air and land and they found not only the 20 migrants they were looking for, but about 80 more migrants being held against their will, apparently by the same gang. PORT SUDAN, Sudan (AP) Qatar flew a relief flight into Sudan carrying some 40 tons of food and left with 150 evacuees early Saturday as fighting continued between two generals vying for power in the African nation. The Qatari Emiri Air Force C-17 Globemaster touched down in Port Sudan, some 670 kilometers (415 miles) northeast of Sudan's violence-torn capital of Khartoum. The port city has been spared in the fighting and has become one of the few safe transit points out of the country, whether by air or by ships crossing the Red Sea heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Evacuees boarded the C-17 bearing the livery of Qatar Airways, the energy-rich nation's long-haul carrier. Those who spoke to The Associated Press described facing very scary, terrifying conditions trying to leave Khartoum for the airfield. We still faced many difficulties because of the lack of security in the country due to the security forces being occupied with the battles. We were faced by mobs on the way, said Nemat Allah Saber Ibrahim, a Sudanese doctor evacuated who lives in Qatar. "Other than the burden of travel and the different checkpoints by both security forces and Rapid Support Forces. But thank God we have arrived safely to the Port of Sudan. The conflict started on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and a rival paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The fighting has turned urban areas into battlefields. Foreign governments have rushed to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Despite repeated cease-fires being declared, the warring sides have shown little commitment to even short-term promises to stop the fighting. Qatar in the past has held peace talks between warring parties in Sudan's Darfur region, as well as those between Sudan and South Sudan. We are leaving but unfortunately Khartoum is in a dire situation. Khartoum is done," said Aliah Helelo, another Sudanese resident of Qatar being evacuated. We are leaving with our hearts in our hands. We left our families behind and we fear for them. But thank God. I pray that God avenges and punishes whoever caused this. The food carried into Sudan by the Qatari military aircraft included bags of rice, dates, oil, lentils and tomato sauce. Hunger is becoming a problem in Sudan as stores remain closed amid the fighting and food is in scarce supply. Prices across the country are reportedly skyrocketing, making critical goods unaffordable for many people, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. Khaled Mahmoud Osman, the deputy chief of mission at the Sudanese Embassy in Qatar, told journalists gathered at Qatars sprawling Al-Udeid Air Base before the flight that the food aid was of the utmost importance to our people. In Sudan, these are some of the unfortunate events caused by the rebellion of the Rapid Support Forces, which have affected the lives of civilians in all Sudanese cities and Khartoum in particular, in hospitals, neighborhoods, markets and in areas supplying food from villages, he said. We ask Allah almighty for peace to prevail in Sudan soon, to support the Sudanese armed forces, to take care of the rebels or they would surrender. I mean, that they will lay down arms for the mercy of civilians. Separately, the World Health Organization said it and the United Arab Emirates shipped some $444,000 worth of urgent medical supplies Friday into Sudan at Port Sudan International Airport. The WHO said that a shipment brought in just before the start of the fighting was exhausted after a few days given the number of injured. Later Saturday, envoys from the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces, started negotiations in Saudi Arabia, in the city of Jeddah, across the Red Sea from Port Sudan, according to a joint Saudi-American statement. ___ Follow Lujain Jo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lujainjo. WESTPORT Public transportation funding has faced the chopping block from the Board of Finance multiple budget seasons in a row. "This is an annual rite of spring," said Peter Gold, Westport's transit director and a Representative Town Meeting member. But every year, the RTM reinstates the funds, just as it did for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Gold said it is critical to address the issue of public transportation as Westport approaches its net zero goal in 2050. Officials are considering whether the solution is for the town to take on more of an active role in its operation, or if it officially merges with a nearby city, such as Norwalk or Bridgeport, and regionalizes. Regardless, Gold said it's not going to magically produce more riders or reduce the costs. Gold said if they merge transit districts, they could secure more state funding, though. Public Law 22-40 passed in May 2022, which says if a transit district's population is under 100,000, it will start losing money by the start of 2025. If it exceeds 100,000, though, there is an opportunity to receive additional funding, and the districts can be moved around to include other municipalities. And, Gold added, combining districts may be inevitable. "We work so closely with Norwalk already, so it would probably be seamless," he said, though not the same for Bridgeport. Chief Executive Officer of the Norwalk Transit District Matt Pentz said Westport "would be a perfect partner," as it would put the transit district over a population of 100,000. Norwalk has a population of more than 91,000, while Westport has more than 28,000 residents. If combined, Pentz said the whole governing process of transit for both communities would be combined into one, with about two board members joining for Westport. Pentz said he thinks the partnership would be beneficial, since Norwalk is already a regional provider to Westport, Greenwich, Stamford, Wilton and Darien. Gold said Westport was considered innovative for its public transportation in the 1970s and 80s, with fixed and minibus routes. But as the years went on, ridership declined, and less money was invested into public transportation, he said. When Gold got involved in the RTM transit committee about 10 years ago, there were seven fixed routes that went around Westport, with regular sized buses. There even was an after-school services that transported students. Of the seven routes, ridership totaled 39,020 in fiscal year 2018-2019, which was the last full fiscal year prior to COVID-19, he said. Thuses were provided through Norwalk, as Westport has not has its own since the early 2000s. And then COVID-19 struck, ending the fixed route service in March 2020 with low ridership. In October 2020, Wheels2U launched, a microtransit service offering on-demand rides to the Saugatuck or Greens Farms train station with Norwalk buses, Gold said. As of June 22, 2022, Gold said they had 18,144 rides for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. As of two months ago, data stood at over 22,000 rides for the current fiscal year, with projections expecting to get over 26,000 by the end of June. Next year, funds are budgeted for 26,000 Wheels2U rides, but they expect to get close to 30,000, which would be pre-COVID numbers, he added. Gold said the hard part is getting funding, but he hopes to expand public transportation in town. "Wheels2U only goes to and from the station," he said. It also only runs from 5:45 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., so Gold said he would like to get service in the middle of the day. Gold said he would like to see the service routinely go to the Post Road, Homes with Hope and the Westport Weston Family YMCA, possibly in a variation of Wheels2U with a fixed route service. He said that he would like to offer services to people with disabilities, too, who often have jobs at the Y, Westport Library or The Porch at Christie's, among other places. Pentz said he wants to expand the reach of public transportation, such as with microtransit. Norwalk also uses the Wheels2U app. "At the end of the day, it all boils down to funding," he said. Norwalk is also facing its challenges. There was a recent proposal to dissolve the Norwalk Transit District, which would cause the state to take over the public transportation in the area, but it was put on hold for this legislative session. Critics have said Norwalk's transit district limits when riders can use the service since there are not enough routes. However, Pentz said he met with legislators in the state and city to address the issue. Pentz said he would like some flexibility within microtransit, as train stations are currently the point of origin for the service. But Gold said it is difficult to expand services when the budget is low. So, he hopes to plan out what each service would cost to be ready with a proposal for the next budget season. He said if the Board of Finance were to reject that, the funding could go to the RTM for a vote, similar to this year, which would need 70 percent to pass. Some Westport RTM members have questioned what public transportation would need to look like in Westport to be successful. At a recent meeting, RTM District 8 member Stephen Shackelford said asked if it involved a certain number of riders, increasing the service options, converting the buses to electric. "It would be really helpful to have that sort of direction," he said. Shackelford said they need to have specific goals for the next time they have a budget request for public transportation. RTM District 1 Member Chris Tait said he is looking for opportunities to make transportation better in Westport, particularly Wheels2U. "How do we get more services for the town?" he asked. He said either the transit committee should work together, or the town should appoint somebody to focus on it. He used Middletown as an example, which partnered with the Connecticut Transportation Department to create a bus services that runs through town, which the state pays for. Tait said Westport used to have a minibus, which got people anywhere in town within 20 to 30 minutes. He mentioned getting someone from Westport onto Norwalk's Transit Authority board, and possibly reinstating a minibus. "Something needs to be discussed moving forward," he said. RTM District 3 Member Jimmy Izzo said they need to get more people riding the Wheels2U buses, as well as raise prices from $2. Gold said it is important to talk with people who have expertise in public transportation to expand it and determine day-to-day operations. He said they would work with people within transit to integrate Wheels2U into a town policy if the town took over more of Westport's public transportation operation, beyond just Gold and the RTM transit committee. But the big hurdle is getting more funding, which Gold said involves marketing to gain awareness and increase ridership. As for additional services, Gold said he is open to suggestions as to what those should be. Joining Wheels2U with the Coastal Link bus line could be done without a lot of funding, and he plans to look into it. Outside of buses, Gold said he would also like to see the Metro-North New Haven Line sped up. He said it once only took 59 minutes to get into Manhattan, but now it takes about an hour and 20 minutes. He said he would also like to know the data of ridership involving the Metro-North, as he has not received that information. That way, they could tailor services to what times and days are most needed. The mood of the nation, if I have read it correctly, has been one of muted joy over the past few weeks. We are not in ecstasies. We are not in a state of hysterical euphoria. We are not like Catholics expecting the enthronement of a Pope, still less like music fans in an arena awaiting the arrival of our favourite rock star. We certainly are not treating the Coronation as an excuse for saying how much we love the King personally, or indeed any of the Royal Family, some of whose members are not only bad jokes in themselves, but threaten to make the whole monarchical system itself seem like a bad joke. But, nonetheless, despite this, we are quietly and strangely happy. Im really looking forward to it, said the kind young woman at a lending library which I visit every few weeks. If she had been in her late middle-age, the remark would not have struck me as surprising. But she cant be more than 25. She is of Bangladeshi origin, Id guess. She wears the hijab. Were all looking forward to it, arent we? The barista who sells me my coffee each morning is, again, not your stereotypical royalist. He and his friend march in Gay Pride every year, and it is usually about such events, or of the holidays from which he has returned, that he speaks as he hands over my flat white. Yet his words were almost word-for-word the same as those of the librarian. Im really looking forward to it. Everyone is going to have fun. On buses and trains, where I am an unabashed nosy parker and listen to the conversations of my fellow passengers, I have noticed that people have been talking about it for weeks. Pictured: The Imperial State Crown. King Charles III will switch from the St Edward's Crown into the lighter Imperial Crown before he processes out of the abbey at the end of the service True, only last week, I heard a young man saying how ridiculous he thought it was why could we not simply have an unassuming accession ceremony, as they have with Scandinavian monarchies, in which the incoming king or queen swears an oath to uphold the constitution? Why all the palaver? But most of the conversations I have heard have been different. People are planning family get-togethers, or parties with their neighbours. Some of the really ancient crocks (i.e. a tiny bit older than me) have been talking about their memories of the last coronation, when, of course, very few people in the street had a telly. But most people the middle-aged and the young have absolutely no memory of the last coronation and are simply looking forward to it. I grow more and more cynical with age, and I have to admit that, if you had asked me at the beginning of this year what were my feelings about the impending Coronation, the reply would have been a groan. Why? I suppose my answer would have been that Britain has changed so irrevocably since the last coronation that any attempt to revive the atmosphere of 1953 was bound to be cringe-worthy. In the last coronation, a tired, proud, poverty-stricken nation had just come through World War II. The nation had been united by the tough experience of its cities being bombed, its young people killed in action. Whereas, before the war, there was real bitterness between the classes, the experience of fighting Hitler had made the nation come together. Everyone lived on the same food rations every week. Everyone had similar experiences of fear and bereavement. And when it was over, everyone could feel a sense of shared pride that Britain had done the decent thing, stood up to the dictators, and liberated Europe from fascism. Pictured: The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953 In contrast, the nation of 2023 is not united. Brexit and the culture wars have revealed to us that we are at odds with one another. Old versus young. Pro-Europe versus anti-Europe. Socially liberal versus those who, because of age or religious belief, feel that in a whole range of matters things have gone too far. In 1953, a majority of the population claimed to belong to the Church of England, so it made some sense to continue the tradition of having a coronation, which was a religious ceremony conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with other bishops in tow. Compare that with Britain today, when only a tiny proportion of the population are regular Anglican church-goers; when the majority of church-goers are actually Roman Catholics; and where, since the migrations which began in the 1950s, vast numbers of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs are now fellow citizens alongside Christians. So Id have said a few months ago: what right has the C of E to hog the show? In what sense does an Archbishop of Canterbury, dressed up in arcane clothing and indulging in strange rituals, which to most people would seem to be mere mumbo-jumbo, represent the nation? Is this really the most appropriate way of inaugurating a head of state in the 21st century? And while we are about it, how can we justify choosing a head of state entirely on the hereditary principle? At the last coronation, the old hereditary peers came tottering into the Abbey wearing the moth-eaten robes of their ancestors, which had been rotting in their stately homes since 1937, when last fished out for service. At the moment of crowning, the peers all men, of course raised their coronets and shouted: Long live the Queen! Only in Latin. If there is anything which tells us that we are living in a different world, it is the thought of those old peers shouting Vivat! in 1953. The British have always taken the class system with a pinch of salt, making snobbery the butt of their jokes and only half accepting the hierarchy of society. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II, wearing the Imperial State Crown, and the Duke of Edinburgh, dressed in uniform of Admiral of the Fleet, waving from the balcony to the onlooking crowds at the gates of Buckingham Palace after the Coronation on June 2, 1953 But now the class system is all but over and done with. Only a small proportion of the hereditary peers remain in the House of Lords, which is made up chiefly of political appointees, nominated by prime ministers for their own strange reasons. So the people organising todays Coronation were in a pickle. They couldnt call the old peerage out of mothballs and get them to shout Vivat! to King Charles. But, on the other hand, if they assembled a few life peers, preferably chosen for their religious and ethnic diversity, what was that going to symbolise? It would show that the hereditary principle was dead as a doornail. And if that is the case, what are we all doing, watching a ceremony in which we choose a head of state purely on the hereditary principle? The funny thing is that, although it is always easy to pick holes in and to mock these sorts of events, I have changed my mind as this one has approached and I suspect that most of us will not feel like mocking it. The Coronations ceremonies will speak for themselves, and whether they are carried out as in the 1950s by some old geezer whose family have been landowners for generations, or a newly appointed female life peer, it wont really matter. That is the great thing about ceremonies when they are solemnly conducted. They are impersonal. The strangely clad participants, carrying the priceless Crown Jewels and the accompanying regalia will seem like dolls in a beautifully choreographed puppet show. And the central figure will, too. Todays Coronation reminds me of two wise observations by the 20th-century journalist and poet G. K. Chesterton. One is that man was a ritualist before he could speak the fact is, rituals such as todays ceremony speak more eloquently than words, and it will probably take us months or years to turn into English the feelings which we have had when watching this spectacle. Chesterton also remarked that he would have been happy to choose the head of state by simply opening a telephone directory with his eyes shut and sticking a pin in someones name. Then, having made the observation, he realised that the hereditary principle is just as arbitrary as this. True, we no longer live in an age of deference, and the hereditary aristocracy has only a very small role to play in our Parliament, and less and less in the way our society is conducted. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II seated upon the throne at her Coronation in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953 But the sheer randomness of how we choose the head of state is actually tremendously in our constitutions favour. The Coronation is not a rally of the King Charles Fan Club. It would still go ahead, whatever our views of the man though as it happens, the majority of the British people would surely, in this week at least, acknowledge that Charles had been a public-spirited person, endeavouring through his many charitable concerns to make life better for his fellow mortals. That is not, however, why he is the King. Hes King simply because someone wearing a blindfold stuck a pin in a list of names. Only it wasnt a person, it was Fate, or Destiny, or Luck. In the era when most of Europe was getting rid of its kings, queens and emperors, there were a great many British people who felt we should do the same. Why not be like the Russians, and have Comrade Lenin? Or, as the fascists rose to power, why not have some strutting, uniformed despot who solved unemployment and made the trains run on time? But as the confused bloodbath which was the 20th century unfolded, history provided some clear answers to this. Many British people came to feel very grateful that we did not have a communist or a fascist government. And the reason we didnt was in large part because we have maintained the idea of a constitutional monarchy. Under this system, the Crown the symbol of power is above politics. The person who wears it is a guardian of the institutions which keep us free namely the rule of law, the judiciary, jury trial and Parliament. The monarch works in tandem with the political Establishment, often as a sounding block, having laboriously ploughed through the state papers brought to them in the red boxes. Our kings and queens have the advantage of being an embodied link with the great weight of history all their ancestors and that of the British people stretching back to Alfred the Great. This is why, at times of national solemnity, the monarch is so much bigger a person than any elected president could ever be. The Crown is not placed on the head of the most powerful person in the country. We do not crown a king because he is the cleverest or the most handsome or the most popular person in the realm. Instead, we ask the Archbishop of Canterbury to invest power, using the symbols of crown, orb and sceptre, in a human being who is chosen, as it were, at random. Pictured: King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort pose for a portrait in the Blue Room at Buckingham Palace on April 4, 2023 During World War II, when Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini were reducing millions of human lives to misery, Britain had a king who was the polar opposite of the dictators. George VI, a small chain-smoker with a stammer, who had clearly loathed the idea of being thrust into this role by his selfish brothers abdication, was the perfect symbolic definition of why we valued our constitutional monarchy. The absolute power symbolised by the Crown was being placed on the head of someone who did not want it and who was, by human standards, rather weak as his biographer Philip Ziegler suggested, he was extraordinary in his ordinariness. Yet after the abdication crisis of 1936, he was determined to re-establish the monarchy as the paradigm of decorum and reliability, which was exactly what his subjects wanted. This Coronation will inevitably bring thoughts of our history to mind and, in my case, feelings of gratitude that we have had a monarchy rather than some of the gruesome political alternatives. But it will also cheer us up. The vast majority of people in Britain want our society to work, want it to be fair and compassionate, as well as well-ordered and just. We want to get on with our neighbours and work colleagues. The celebrations of the Coronation are an expression of all these harmless hopes. The ceremony itself is, as a matter of fact, only a small part of what will make us happy on Coronation Day. The real cause for rejoicing is that, despite all our problems in Britain, we live in a reasonably prosperous, reasonably peaceful society. If you sometimes feel depressed about the state of the nation, imagine being an American, who will likely have to choose between a dodderer and an old crook at their next presidential election. Imagine being in Putins Russia, or Macrons faction-torn France. Think of the countries of the Middle East; think of Sudan. The British have much to be thankful for. Without quite spelling out what those things are, they will be mysteriously expressed, not only by the Coronation ceremonies we watch on our tellies, but in the street parties, family get-togethers and jolly noises coming from pubs. Vivat! Vivat! An Australian mum who started making her own deodorant in her kitchen after she feared toxins in popular brands were poisoning her newborn baby is now making a fortune. Tegiye Mimi-Ozalp, from Melbourne, set about creating a 100 per cent natural deodorant by experimenting with ingredients at home. She soon realised that other mums were after a similar product and decided to start selling it. However as she'd given up her job as an accountant when she had kids, she feared investing the family's savings into a new business was too risky. Tegiye Mimi-Ozalp, from Melbourne, set about creating a 100 per cent natural deodorant, experimenting with ingredients in her kitchen at home Instead, she saved $5 every time she went shopping or bought a coffee. Within four months she'd saved $1,500 and decided to start her business, Saf Organics. Now she turns over about $60,000 a month and says other mums are constantly asking for more products. 'It all started when I became a mum,' Tegiye told Daily Mail Australia. 'I just picked up a spray deodorant. And then picked up my newborn to breastfeed. Now a mum-og-four, Tegiye turns over around $60,000 a month and says other mums are constantly asking for more products (pictured with her children) 'And I thought, "oh my god, this child is suffocating" (on the fumes). 'So that's when my search for a good deodorant started. A natural deodorant with no fumes, a low tox... and there was just no such thing at the time nine years ago.' Despite her husband having faith in the company and telling Tegiye to 'not be silly' and to use their savings, she was worried about their mortgage and car payments. What is low tox? Low-tox stands for low-toxins. While most chemicals in food and cosmetics are completely safe, some have potentially dangerous toxins. People who follow the 'low tox lifestyle' avoid products with so-called 'toxins' in, such a Teflon pans, scented candles and products with pesticides. Tegiye believes there needs to be better regulation around so-called 'natural' products, with her believing many high street products are mislabelled. 'You often see things like "fragrance" on bottles. But that can mean up to 100 ingredients, but it's covered by the word,' she added. Advertisement 'I literally started saving $5 notes. Every coffee, every supermarket trip,' she said. 'Then I started selling things that I no longer needed. 'Within four months I'd saved $1,500 in $5 notes only.' Tegiye then decided to start making her product by buying ingredients and setting up a website. 'On the first night that we launched we sold out everything we had.' Within the first month, they made $10,000 in profit. Four years later, Tegiye and her husband, and her two children and her dog, decided to sell their home in Melbourne and caravan around the country, where they discovered the 'magic of Australia botanicals'. She then launched her facial skincare range inspired by the Outback and Indigenous bush medicines. Now living in country Queensland, Tegiye and her husband, who has resigned from his job, sell about 600 to 700 products a month. The range includes a cleanser, moisturiser, vitamin C serum, sleep mask and eye cream. 'We got to outback Australia and on an Indigenous tour we realised that everything we see as weeds is actually bush medicine and has so many healing properties,' Tegiye explained. The mum-of-four said that there are 'so many' vitamin C serums in Australia that use imported ingredients, and that there are 'much better' ingredients native to Australia. Despite her husband having faith in the company and telling Tegiye to 'not be silly' and to use their savings, she was worried about their 'mortgage and car payments' so saved up her money in cash. Tegiye is pictured with her children The new range includes a cleanser, moisturiser, vitamin C serum, sleep mask and eye cream (pictured) She added that oranges and other citrus fruits - which are commonly used in vitamin c serums - have 14 grams of vitamin C per unit, while Kakadu plums, which are indigenous to Australia, has more than 7000 grams per unit. 'We haven't even been able to collect the data to use it in marketing yet, because the feedback has been crazy,' Tegiye added. 'Everyone says that in two days, you noticed the difference in using the vitamin C serum. 'In terms of colour, texture, it makes your skin look great. It's really high quality so we decided to use all our tribal knowledge that we've gained along the way and put them into a bottle.' Advertisement Monarchs from around the world made their way to Westminster Abbey today, to watch the coronation of King Charles. In a break from tradition, King Charles added crowned royals to the guest list for this coronation, meaning a number of kings and queens were able to take part in the pageantry. For centuries, convention dictated that no other crowned royals should attend the coronation of a British monarch, in a tradition that lasted for 900 years. This was based on the idea that the sacred event should be an intimate exchange between the monarch and their people, in the presence of God. But Charles decided to move on, which marks one of the ways he has tried to modernise the ceremony, meaning his crowned friends, including European royals and rulers from Arab states made it onto the guest list. Among the royals leading the glamour were Princess Charlene of Monaco and Queen Letizia of Spain, among others. Prince Albert of Monaco and Princess Charlene of Monaco Prince Albert of Monaco, who was the first European royal to confirm his attendance at the coronation, attended the event with his wife Princess Charlene Princess Charlene of Monaco put on a united front with her husband Prince Albert today, as they attended the coronation together He was the first European royal to confirm his attendance at King Charles' coronation, revealing the news at the end of January. And Prince Albert of Monaco, 64, spoke fondly of the British king, whom he described as 'a very educated man and someone with a great sense of humour'. He also suggested he was looking forward to the event, telling PEOPLE magazine he was 'certain that it's going to be an incredible ceremony and a very moving one'. He added: 'I'm certain His Majesty will add his own personal touches to the ceremonies, but what those will be, I'm sure I don't know.' Albert was accompanied by his wife Princess Charlene of Monaco. The South-African Olympic swimmer's marriage to Prince Albert has been plagued by controversy in recent times, with Albert admitting to two illegitimate children and Charlene spending a significant amount of time outside of Monaco. However they put on a united front today, and entered the service together. The pair share eight-year-olds Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco and Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carlades, however the twins were not with them today. Princess Charlene was chic on in a two-piece trouser suit in cream. She donned a matching cream hat, worn atop her cropped hair. King Felipe and Queen Letizia, Spain The Spanish royals - Queen Letizia of Spain and King Felipe of Spain - were typically glamourous as they made they way to the Abbey today Queen Letizia of Spain, who worked as a journalist before she married King Felipe, was in attendance today, with her husband King Felipe of Spain. Felipe is a distant cousin of Charles: his mother, Queen Sofia, was a third cousin of the Queen and a first cousin once removed of the Duke of Edinburgh. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth, who Felipe celled Aunt Lilibet, the Spanish royal wrote a touching letter to Charles. He wrote: 'Your Majesty, dearest Charles, 'Deeply saddened by the sorrowful news of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, your beloved mother. 'I would like to offer Your Majesty and the British people, on my behalf and on the behalf of the Spanish government and people, our most heartfelt condolences.' King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, Jordan Like many of the other royal women, Rania opted for a monochrome outfit, matching her midi-length, long-sleeved cream frock to her cream stiletto pumps Queen Rania was also typically chic as she arrived at today's ceremony with her husband King Abdullah. Like many of the other royal women in attendance, she wore a monochrome outfit. Her long-sleeved midi-length, which boasted long sleeves and a high neck, were perfectly paired with cream pumps. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last year, Rania, 52, paid tribute to the late monarch who she described as 'elegant in the way she lived her life'. At the same time, she spoke warmly of King Charles, describing him as 'incredibly intelligent.' King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Queen Maxima Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attended the ceremony with her husband King Willem-Alexander. The 51-year-old was typically stylish in a cream ensemble Queen Maxima attended alongside her husband King Willem-Alexander. The 51-year-old opted for a pale dress in cream, which fell to just below her knees. The frock was accompanied by matching gloves, and a pale hat. Maxima opted for towering heels, donning nude stiletto pumps, which matched the nude clutch bag she carried in one hand. King Willem-Alexander is distantly related to King Charles - he was the Queen's fifth cousin once removed thanks to an ancient connection in their family tree. Willem-Alexander is a descendant of Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau, who was the daughter of William IV, Prince of Orange, and his wife Anne, the eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort Caroline of Ansbach. King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden and Crown Princess Victoria King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden and Crown Princess Victoria make their way to the Abbey today, ahead of the coronation ceremony The Swedish royals attending the coronation were King Carl XVI Gustav and his daughter Crown Princess Victoria. At the age of 75, Carl is the longest reigning monarch in Swedish history, having took to the throne in 1973. There are familial ties between the Windsors and the Swedish royals: King Gustav is a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria and was a third cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth. Crown Princess Victoria looked suitably regal at the coronation, wearing a royal blue fitted midi-dress, with matching shoes and hat. Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway Representing the Norwegian royals were Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit. The Norwegian royals share a close bond with the British royal family There has long been a bond between the British and Norwegian royal families, which intensified after Germany visited Norway in 1940, and the royals came to stay in the UK. Charles was names after the former King Haakon VII, who was known colloquially among friends and family as Carl, and called Uncle Charles by Queen Elizabeth. Crown Prince Haakon is the great grandson of Haakon VII, and represented his family at the coronation today alongside his wife the Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Haakon donned ceremonial military attire for the event. Meanwhile, Mette-Marit was elegant in pale pink, wearing a monochrome outfit with matching midi-dress, hat, gloves and stiletto pumps. Haakon is heir apparent to the throne of Norway. Despite being older, his sister Princess Martha Louise of Norway is fourth in line to the throne due to Norway's succession rules. Mette-Marit was born a commoner, to farmers in Norway and was a single mother by the time of her engagement to Crown Prince Haakon in 2000. She became Crown Princess after the couple's marriage in 2001. Mette Marit has spent her reign championing humanitarian projects while joining official visits. Her first official appearance was at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony at Oslo City Hall on December 10, 2000, following the announcement of the couple's engagement on December 1. Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark was in attendance today, accompanied by his wife Crown Princess Mary, who was resplendent in purple Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark was in attendance today alongside his wife Crown Princess Mary. Mary opted for a more colourful ensemble than some of the other royal women, opting for a vibrant purple outift. She matched her coat dress, which fell to just below knee length, with a purple fascinator and stiletto heeled pumps. Queen Margrethe - who is the only living European queen since the death of Queen Elizabeth - was unable to attend due to back surgery. King Philippe of Belgium and Queen Mathilde King Philippe of Belgium, accompanied by his wife Queen Mathilde, was one of the royal guests today. The Belgian monarch is very distantly related to Charles The Queen's distant cousin King Philippe of Belgium also attended the coronation, and was snapped walking in alongside his wife, Queen Mathilde. Philippe is very distantly related to Charles, via King Christian IX of Denmark, known as the 'grandfather of Europe' due to his far-reaching family tree. The late Queen Elizabeth II was the Christian's great-great granddaughter, while Philippe is his great-great-great-grandson. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde attended the service without their four children. Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa Grand-Duke Henri of Luxembourg was accompanied by his wife Maria Teresa today. She opted for a trouser suit in midnight blue, while he wore ceremonial military garb The Grand Duke of Luxembourg and his wife Maria Teresa were also guests at today's ceremony. Maria Teresa bucked the trend of wearing a midi-dress, and instead, opted for a stylish trouser suit in midnight blue. The garment boasted on-trend flared trousers and a long length blazer. She opted for statement jewellery, opting for silver pieces including a necklace, bracelet, and brooch. Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie, Lichtenstein Alois, the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein came with his wife Sophie. Alois' father Hans-Adam II, the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, was an eighth cousin of Queen Elizabeth Alois, the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein was one of the guest royals today, accompanied by his wife Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein. The royal, 54, whose father Hans-Adam II, the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, was an eighth cousin of Queen Elizabeth, donned a classic suit with tails for today's event. Meanwhile, mother-of-four Sophie wore a knee length dark lavender shift dress, with a matching coat and hat. She completed the ensemble with a pair of nude slingbacks and a small clutch bag. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema, Bhutan Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema are photographed upon their arrival at the ceremony today King Jigme, the hugely popular fifth Druk Gyalpo, studied in the UK and the US and ascended the throne in 2006, aged just 26 after his own father abdicated. He was accompanied at the coronation today by Queen Jetsun Pema, who wore a purple, full length gown for the occasion, worn with coordinating nude pumps and a clutch bag. He attended a reception hosted by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida, Thailand Thai royals King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida , who were present at today's ceremony, earlier revealed that they would also be attending a reception on Friday night at Buckingham Palace The Thai King and Queen were in attendance at Westminister Abbey today. The revealed ahead of the weekend that they would be attending a May 5 reception given by King Charles for invited heads of state and overseas representatives at Buckingham Palace. King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau'u, Tonga Tonga's Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau'u attended the ceremony together. Since acceding the throne in 2012, the monarch has nurtured his close links with the British Royal Family Tupou VI, who has reigned as the King of Tonga since 2012, attended the coronation with his wife Nanasipauu Tukuaho. During his reign, the monarch has nurtured his close links with the British Royal Family. In 2018, Tupou met with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during their tour of Australia and New Zealand. His brother, Oxford-educated King George Tupou V passed away in a Hong Kong Hospital at the age of 63 in 2012, the cause of death believed to be linked to kidney problems. Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku, Malaysia Yang Di-Pertuan Agong XVI and the Raja Permaisuri Agong were among the royals who flew in from across the world - in their case, from Malaysia - for today's event Yang Di-Pertuan Agong XVI and the Raja Permaisuri Agong jetted in from Malaysia to attend the major royal event in London this weekend Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdullah, 63, became the King of Malaysia in 2019. As a young man, he completed his military training in the UK at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. King Charles held an audience with the couple at Buckingham Palace last October, marking one of his first engagements after the two weeks of mourning for the late Queen ended. Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, Japan Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko represented Emperor Naruihto, 63, at the coronation at Westminster Abbey today Japan's imperial household announced last month that that Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko would represent Emperor Naruihto, 63, at the coronation. The Crown Prince is the current heir presumptive. During the week, the royal couple were pictured arriving at Claridge's hotel in Mayfair, where they will stay for their three day trip. According to the Imperial Household Agency, Japan received an invitation from the British Royal Family to the coronation in March. Although Emperor Naruhito and his wife Empress Masako attended the Queen's funeral in September 2022, the ruler asked his younger brother Crown Prince Fumihito, 57, to represent him at the coronation. Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, with Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal Queen Anne Marie of Greece attended the Westminster Abbey coronation alongside Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal Queen Anne Marie of Greece was snapped walking into the ceremony with her son Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and his wife Crown Princess Marie-Chantal. Prince Pavlos is the eldest son and second child of Constantine II, the last King of Greece from 1964 to 1973 and his wife. Despite the Royal Family being abolished in Greece, the British royals still have a close relationship with their distant royals. In the 1990s, Constantine was stripped of his Greek citizenship and the state seized Tatoi and a palace on the island of Corfu - where Britain's Prince Philip was born. Today's two-hour service, pared back Queen Elizabeth's in 1953, is a pivotal moment in the history of the Royal Family, and will balance ancient tradition and a future in the 21st century. More than 100million people around were predicted to watch the historic first coronation of a British monarch in 70 years - with an estimated 2million people taking to the streets of London to watch history unfold. How are YOU celebrating the Coronation? Send your pictures and videos to pictures@mailonline.co.uk Queen Camilla is being anointed in full public view and presented with a ring which 'marries' her as consort to the King in today's Coronation ceremony. The Queen Consort will be consecrated with holy oil without being hidden under a canopy, in contrast to the late Queen Mother's coronation. The King, as is custom, will be shielded during his sacred anointing. As details were revealed of the coronation liturgy, Lambeth Palace described the role played by a key element in the ceremony - the Queen's Ring. An octagonal mixed-cut ruby surrounded by 14 diamonds, it bears the symbolism of a ring exchanged in marriage. A spokesman for the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury said: 'It signifies covenant and agreement, an unbroken bond, without end. The Queen Consort was anointed and crowned alongside her husband at today's Coronation ceremony The King, as is custom, was shielded during his sacred anointing, and is using a new 2.6-metre high, three-sided, embroidered screen to ensure the privacy of the moment Queen Elizabeth II was also anointed in private during her Coronation in 1953, as is the tradition 'It 'marries' Consort to King, and them both to God in duty and to the people in loving service, and in turn acts as an assurance of God's unfailing love.' Lambeth Palace said the uncovered anointing symbolises Camilla's role as a consort rather than a reigning monarch. But it marks a change from the coronation of the last Queen consort - Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother - in 1937 who was anointed under a canopy. The Lambeth Palace spokesman said: 'The only distinction this time is that there won't be anything that will obscure the view.' The Palace said that, in comparison to the King: 'This anointing will happen without a screen or canopy to demonstrate the different nature of anointing a consort compared to a reigning sovereign, as this anointing is at the permission of the sovereign.' Archbishop Justin Welby, writing in the official coronation souvenir programme, said Charles will swap his 'robes of status and honour' for a simple white shirt for the private anointing during the May 6 ceremony. Camilla is wearing a Robe of State, decorated with the King's favourite flowers, delphiniums, and lily of the valley, a favourite bloom of the late Queen Elizabeth II. He wrote that the historic occasion will be one of 'magnificence and pomp' but also, in the midst of the ceremony, one of 'stillness and simplicity' when the King is anointed with holy oil in private under a canopy, in the most sacred part of the coronation. Elizabeth II was also anointed in private as per tradition. The new King will be concealed behind a new 2.6-metre high, three-sided, embroidered screen as he is anointed, to ensure the privacy of the moment. Lambeth Palace said the uncovered anointing symbolises Camilla's role as a consort rather than a reigning monarch The Queen Consort has chosen to be crowned in the crown made for Charles's great-grandmother Queen Mary King Charles' personal prayer God of compassion and mercy whose Son was sent not to be served but to serve, give grace that I may find in thy service perfect freedom and in that freedom knowledge of thy truth. Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and conviction, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness and be led into the paths of peace. through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Advertisement Buckingham Palace described the new approach for Camilla's anointing as 'just one of a number of ways in which the service has been adapted, evolved, simplified without losing any of its magic and majesty'. A 14-year-old chorister will also play a key role in proceedings. As part of the theme, 'Called to Serve', Samuel Strachan will welcome the new monarch in the name of the 'King of Kings' - a reference to Jesus Christ. And, for the first time in British history, the Coronation will feature members of different faith groups, with leaders from the Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Buddhist communities set to deliver a greeting to the King. The Archbishop of Canterbury described the service as 'foremost an act of Christian worship' but said new elements reflected the 'diversity of our contemporary society'. New ground has been broken in other areas, from the inclusion of female Bishops the first time, to the use of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic languages and the opportunity for those watching around the globe to join in and pay homage to the King. While Justin Welby will anoint and crown King Charles, various other faith leaders will greet the King in unison, which the new monarch will acknowledge. A Greek Choir has also been invited to sing a psalm during the service to pay tribute to the King's late father, Prince Philip. Charles, 74, will speak directly to 14-year-old Samuel, the longest-serving chorister of the choir of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace For the first time in British history, the Coronation will feature members of different faith groups A spokesman for the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury said the Queen Consort's ring 'signifies covenant and agreement, an unbroken bond, without end' In another significant first, the King will become the first monarch to pray aloud in front of a coronation congregation, reading out a prayer written especially for him, in a 'powerful' new addition to the service. Charles, 74, will speak the words directly to 14-year-old Samuel, the longest-serving chorister of the choir of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. The teenager will welcome the King and Charles will reply: 'In his name, and after his example, I come not to be served, but to serve.' Millions around the world have also been asked to speak aloud, with another new addition to the proceedings involving people swearing allegiance to the King. In many ways, the event will be in keeping with tradition. For one, Camilla's ring - made for Queen Adelaide in 1831 - will be presented to her. However, as with other regalia, the Queen will acknowledge it before it is placed back on the altar, in contrast to the Queen Mother, who had it placed on the fourth finger of her right hand and wore it for the rest of the ceremony. The King will not wear the Sovereign's Ring either, as is the usual custom. This ring - a large sapphire and diamond cluster with baguette-cut rubies in the form of a cross, made for William IV in 1831 - is known as the Wedding Ring of England and it marries the monarch to God in duty and to the people in service. Camilla will only touch the Queen Consort's Rod with Dove - controversial as it is made from ivory - as well as the gold Queen Consort's Sceptre with Cross, rather than holding them like the Queen Mother. In 1937, Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, was presented with the sceptre in her right hand and the ivory rod in her left. Camilla instead will acknowledge the historic items by touching them, Buckingham Palace said. All you need to know about Queen Camilla's Coronation crown No fewer than five pieces of the worlds biggest diamond, the Cullinan, will be glittering among the Royal regalia at Westminster Abbey today, with parts set into the Sovereigns Sceptre, the Imperial State Crown and Queen Marys Crown, which will be used to crown Queen Camilla. The diamond was 3,106 carats, and the size of half a house brick or a human heart when it was first discovered. Camilla will pay tribute to the late Queen by resetting her coronation crown with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds - which were part of the late monarch's personal collection. It is the first time in recent history that a consort has not commissioned a new crown for the coronation as Camilla follows her husband's efforts to be more sustainable. She also requested that four of the eight detachable arches are removed from the crown, which was made by Garrard & Co for Mary of Teck in 1911. Previously, the Cullinan III and IV diamonds were temporarily set into the crown for the 1911 coronation and the Cullinan V was placed in the headpiece for the 1937 crowning of King George VI. Camilla paid tribute to the late Queen at the Coronation today by resetting her coronation crown with Cullinan diamonds from the late monarch's personal collection The Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds took the place of the Koh-i-Noor diamond in Queen Marys Crown One of the gems cut from the Cullinan diamond features in the Imperial State Crown. King Charles is pictured wearing the crown as he waves from the Buckingham Palace balcony after his Coronation Thomas Cullinan is pictured holding the world's biggest diamond after it was discovered at his mine in South Africa The true story of the Cullinan, found in 1905, is one of mystery, malice and maybe even murder. It sparked a treasure hunt without parallel and stories of a curse on whoever took it from the African earth. It starts on a sticky summers evening at the Premier Mine near Pretoria when Surface Manager Frederick Wells was getting ready to go home. A worker raced into his makeshift office saying hed spotted something protruding from the earthen wall of the mine. Using his pocket knife, Fred prodded at the object from where it protruded 18ft below the surface. At first, he thought that someone was playing a trick on him that it was a large lump of glass but brushing off the dirt and dust, he realised that he had unearthed an enormous diamond. Back in the mine office a worker laughed at Fred's claim, and threw it out of the window; but the gemstone was quickly retrieved then weighed and measured. It was more than half a kilo, and ten centimetres long! Senior manager William McHardy, telegrammed mine owner Thomas Cullinan who also suspected the discovery was a prank. 'I am sure it is just a crystal,' he said to his wife. Within hours, the story was swirling through the simple homes of the mining compound. And within days, it had reached the rest of world. Newspapers across Africa, Europe and America printed extra copies to satisfy the public demand for news. Almost a week after the find, on February 1, 1905, the diamond left the mine for Johannesburg where it was exhibited at The Standard Bank. Soon, though, the Premier Mine Company realised they now had a problem: the diamond was simply too valuable to keep in South Africa. What followed was an operation to smuggle it to London which could have come straight from the pages of a Wilbur Smith novel. The Cullinan was hidden in a hat box belonging to the wife of a senior employee of the South African postal service and transported by steam train from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Then it was put in the regular parcel post and secretly mailed back to London while on the same ship, a worthless rock was packed into a biscuit box, locked in the Captains safe, and placed under 24-hour armed guard. No one, instructed Thomas Cullinan, was to be trusted. Joseph Asscher, pictured in 1908, spent eight months splitting and cutting the Cullinan diamond The Cullinan was officially accepted by the King in 1907 as a present for his 66th birthday and it was split into the nine principal pieces which are now among the Royal familys most valuable and prized jewels After the diamond was found, there had been an operation to smuggle it to London as it was too valuable to keep in South Africa The largest Cullinans will play a starring role in the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Saturday 6th May The diamond arrived in the UK in early April 1905, but proved too big to sell. In 1907, General Louis Botha, the newly elected Prime Minister of the Transvaal, suggested buying it and gifting it to King Edward VII (still then the King of South Africa) as a token of their loyalty. It was a controversial offer, but the Cullinan was officially accepted by the King as a present for his 66th birthday. On November 9, 1907, it travelled to the royal railway station at Wolferton near Sandringham, in a First Class carriage with a huge police escort, to be presented to the Royal family. Finally, it would cross the North Sea to Amsterdam in the coat pocket of Abraham Asscher, scion of the worlds best diamond cutting family as the Royal Navy ran a decoy operation with a sealed box on board a warship. It would take Abrahams brother Joseph Asscher eight months to split and cut the diamond into the nine principal pieces, Cullinan I to Cullinan IX, which are now among the Royal familys most valuable and much-prized jewels. The rest is history as we shall see when the five largest Cullinans play a starring role in the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Saturday 6th May. Or is it? One hot dusty January day, 104 years after the discovery of the diamond, I arrived in the picturesque town of Cullinan, with its main street lined by jacaranda trees and cute cottages. I had booked myself onto a tour of the mine and village and had a wonderful time listening to an elderly lady whose husbands ancestors had been the Prinsloo family, the farmers from whom Thomas Cullinan had bought the koppie (hill) where hed opened his mine. While having a cup of tea, the lady proudly told me, as if it were a secret, that even though their land had turned up the largest diamond in the world, the true Cullinan had once been bigger, much, much bigger. Mary of Teck, wife of King George V, would wear a triangular-pear cut diamond weighing 18.80 carats that was part of a stomacher One of the original glass replicas of the rough diamond at the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge I assumed this was a myth. But a year later, when I started research for my debut novel - the first of a mystery series about jewels - I looked again at this extraordinary story. I began with the work of Gustaaf Molengraaff, the former State Geologist of South Africa whod been tasked with examining the Cullinan and valuing it on behalf of Central Bank of South Africa. He was the first expert to suggest the diamond was only a fragment of a colossal crystal. Diamonds grow mostly into an octahedral shape two square pyramids back to back. Since four of the eight sides of the Cullinan were smooth, as opposed to misshapen and rough, Dr Molengraaff deduced that it had been part of something bigger when it was catapulted from the earths upper mantle, where diamonds are formed, and upwards through whats called a volcanic chimney, or diamond pipe, to the surface of the earth. Queen Victorias favoured gemmologist Sir William Crookes, who examined the Cullinan when it arrived in London and agreed with the verdict from Johannesburg that it had cleaved from a bigger crystal. Sir William, later president of the Royal Society, said the stone given to the King represented probably less than one half of the original octahedral crystal. I also found evidence from George Frederick Kunz, a mineralogist and vice president of Tiffany and Co, who concurred with Sir William but added that, in his expert opinion, the other half may have fragmented into several still-enormous diamonds. All of which suggests the original Cullinan had been a mighty 7,000 carats or more when it was expelled from deep within the earth by a volcanic eruption. But there my trail grew cold. In 2012, I tried to pick it up again. I wrote to Lord Balfour, then aged 88, asking if he knew of any other evidence which might help me substantiate the story. He wrote back saying South African historians Eric Rosenthal and Hedley Chilvers had both independently recorded versions of it and, after much searching in the British Library, I located their work which I believe is the closest we have ever come to knowing the truth. The Cullinan I, known as the Great Star of Africa, is featured in the Sovereigns Sceptre as held by King Charles during his Coronation The late Queen is pictured after her Coronation in 1953 holding the sceptre and wearing the Imperial State Crown It appears that in late 1907, a Premier Mine worker called Johannes Paulus let it be known hed found a diamond even larger than the one that had just been given to the King. He wanted 2000 Rand in gold (154,000 in todays money) for it. A former farmer and reformed convict, Johannes Hendrikus Fourie, then working as an informer for the Pretoria police, heard of Pauluss boast and began making enquiries within the corrupt and dangerous world of diamond smuggling and thieving. A Dr Van Wijk said that he knew Paulus, and it was arranged for the two men to meet at midnight, out on a lonely patch of veld near the Premier Mine, accompanied by a Detective Inspector Hill. When Paulus arrived, he was surprised to find three men awaiting him, rather than just Fourie. Suspicious, he asked to see the gold but when he thrust his hand into the sovereigns, he realised it was a bag full of washers beneath a surface layer of gold. He had walked into a trap. To allay his fear, a document was quickly written out on the policemans notepaper guaranteeing that if Paulus was to hand over the stolen diamond, the mining company would offer him an amnesty. He would not be prosecuted and he would be paid the agreed amount. Paulus did not believe the offer was genuine and fled into the night taking the diamond with him. The Detective Inspector later reported he had seen the stone and that one side was indeed flat and smooth in other words, a cleavage plain just like those on the Cullinan. Johannes Paulus was never heard of or seen again. Fourie was said to have become obsessed with the hunt, spending months sitting in the Premier Mine pub hoping for clues as to the whereabouts of Paulus. Of course, legend of the cursed diamond did not end the treasure hunt. A report from the New York Times on December 19, 1909 asked Where is the Cullinans Other Half, and captured the ongoing frenzy of press and public interest four years after the discovery of the original. South Africans still busy in search for famous diamond, ran the headline, adding: Its not impossible that the broken-off fragments of the Cullinan are scattered over a wide space and that they may one day be found on the surface of the earth but it is just as possible that they are still reposing in the depths of the mine. More than a century later, itll be a very lucky person indeed who finds them. Cullinan I The Cullinan I, known as the Great Star of Africa, was mounted in the Sovereigns Sceptre by Garrard The stone, known as the Great Star of Africa, is the largest colourless cut diamond in the world. Part of the Crown Jewels collection, it is usually on display in the Tower of London, but has a central role to play at next months Coronation. In 1911, it was mounted in the Sovereigns Sceptre by Garrard, the then Crown Jeweller, and is so large that the Sceptre which was made for Charles IIs coronation in 1661 had to be reinforced to take its weight. Cullinan II The Cullinan II, often referred to the Second Star of Africa, is set below the Black Princes Ruby at the front of the Imperial State Crown Like the first Cullinan stone, this diamond is also a part of the Crown Jewels, and is often referred to the Second Star of Africa. The 317.4-carat cushion-cut stone is set below the Black Princes Ruby at the front of the Imperial State Crown. This will be exchanged with St Edwards Crown during the Coronation ceremony, worn for the Kings departure from the Abbey for his Coronation Procession and then his appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony. Cullinans III and IV The Cullinan III a 94.4-carat pear-shaped diamond and the Cullinan IV, a 63.6-carat cushion-shaped diamond, are normally joined together in an impressive brooch The two Lesser Stars of Africa are being reset for the Coronation in Queen Marys Crown, with which Queen Camilla will be crowned Part of Queen Elizabeth IIs private collection, the Cullinan III a 94.4-carat pear-shaped diamond and the Cullinan IV, a 63.6-carat cushion-shaped diamond, are normally joined together in an impressive brooch. The late Queen jokingly called them Grannys Chips, because she inherited them from her grandmother, Queen Mary. However, the two Lesser Stars of Africa are being reset for the Coronation, in Queen Marys Crown, with which Queen Camilla will be crowned. The gems will take the place of the Koh-i-Noor diamond. Cullinan V The Cullinan V is a triangular-pear cut diamond weighing 18.80 carats that was part of a stomacher worn by Queen Mary It is now usually set in a brooch, which was worn by Her late Majesty and will also appear at the Coronation in the Queen Mary's Crown A triangular-pear cut diamond weighing 18.80 carats that was part of a stomacher worn by Queen Mary a stomacher was an enormous brooch that covered the abdomen. Now usually set in a brooch, which was worn by Her late Majesty, it too will appear at the Coronation in the Queen Marys Crown. Cullinans VI and VIII An 11.50 carat, marquise-cut stone, Cullinan VI was purchased in 1908 by King Edward as a gift for his wife, Queen Alexandra and she generally wore it as the pendant to Cullinan VIII More than any other Cullinan gem, VI was the one worn most often by the young Queen Elizabeth II, though she later declared that, as a brooch, it gets in the soup An 11.50 carat, marquise-cut stone, Cullinan VI was purchased in 1908 by King Edward as a gift for his wife, Queen Alexandra. She generally wore it as the pendant to Cullinan VIII and latterly in a small circlet when she became a widow. When Queen Mary inherited it in 1925, she preferred to wear Cullinan VI in a brooch, either with Cullinan VII or VIII, an emerald-cut diamond of 6.8 carats, as a brooch. More than any other Cullinan gem, VI was the one worn most often by the young Queen Elizabeth II, though she later declared that, as a brooch, it gets in the soup. Cullinan VII The Cullinan VII is an 8.8-carat marquise-cut diamond set as a pendant hanging from the diamond and emerald-set Delhi Durbar necklace The late Queen is pictured wearing the necklace for a state banquet in Singapore in 1989 This 8.8-carat marquise-cut diamond is set as a pendant hanging from the diamond and emerald-set Delhi Durbar necklace, once part of the late Queen Elizabeths personal collection. Created by Garrard for the coronation of George V and Mary as the Emperor and Empress of India in Delhi, the diamond is detachable and can be reset in a brooch. Cullinan IX The Cullinan IX, the smallest of the nine principal stones cut from the Cullinan, was set in a ring with a prong setting for Queen Mary The smallest of the nine principal stones cut from the Cullinan, this pear-shaped diamond was set in a ring with a prong setting for Queen Mary. The late Queen Elizabeth sometimes wore it, but it has rarely been seen on modern Royals. *Josie Goodbodys novel The Cullinan Diamond Connection: A Jemima Fox Mystery will be available later this year Two women have expressed their humiliation after claiming they were forced to change their outfits in front of other passengers before boarding a plane. Comedian and YouTuber Chrissie Mayr tweeted about the incident - which happened when she was traveling with her friend, Keanu Thompson, from Las Vegas to Dallas on American Airlines - and the post quickly garnered more than 200,000 views. In the tweet, she reveals the outfits she and Keanu were initially wearing. Hers consists of sheer sparkly flared pants and a matching cropped long-sleeve top, while Keanu poses in a long jungle-print skirt with slits running to the thigh and a matching bralette. Comedian and YouTuber Chrissie Mayr and Keanu Thompson were told to change their pants at the gate, but the shorts they put on instead turned out to be more revealing Many online commenters sympathized with the women over their outfit fiasco Bizarrely, the duo were told to change their pants at the gate, but the shorts they put on instead turned out to be more revealing. Chrissie exclaimed that 'THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT A REWARDS MEMBER.' She told DailyMail.com that 'it was such a mortifying situation and I know this wouldn't have happened to us if we were trans, or obese or people of color.' Recounting the exact chain of events, she said: 'They didn't say what was wrong with our pants, the man at the gate just touched me on the arm and said: "Come with me I need to speak with you you have to change your pants." 'It was such a panicked situation, I felt like I had to instantly do what he said or else we wouldn't be allowed to board the plane. We also had plans to do appearances in Austin the next day (we're comedians) so we didn't want to be delayed. 'I wish he had said, "ladies take a few minutes go to the bathroom and find something else to wear." But he didn't specify why it was inappropriate nor did he tell us what else would be okay to put on. So I just grabbed the first thing in my luggage which was a a couple of pairs of shorts. 'All our other luggage had been checked. Then the other gate attendant told me that then the bag I had needed to be checked as well because there was no more overhead space left. So we had no way to change into something else on the plane.' In a follow up to her initial tweet, Chrissie explained that they both had to change at the gate 'with no cover' in front of other passengers. Chrissie told DailyMail.com that 'it was such a mortifying situation and I know this wouldn't have happened to us if we were trans, or obese or people of color' Chrissie said she did receive an apology from an American Airlines customer relations employee but nothing more Keanu also took to Twitter to highlight the debacle, writing: 'I don't understand how my friend and I were forced to change clothes AT THE GATE IN FRONT OF EVERYONE, minutes before our flight took off the outfits we had on were more than appropriate.' She added in the thread that she was 'forced to be butt naked from the waist down at the gate' and the whole situation was 'completely bizarre.' Many commenters sympathized with the women. One person tweeted in response to their story: 'I think that's absolutely crazy and should be against the law. 'How could they possibly make you undress in front of everyone that is wrong, very wrong. Especially since neither one of you look remotely suspicious whatsoever.' And another Twitter user commented: 'Wow!! Wow!! You girls need to make a serious complaint and get compensation, it seems like you've been singled out and made a joke of as the pants you were made to take off happened to be more than appropriate for travel.' In response to both women's tweets, American Airlines issued an automatic reply reading: 'Your comments concern us. DM us with additional details and your record locator.' While DailyMail.com has reached out to American Airlines for comment, Chrissie said she did receive an apology from a customer relations employee, but nothing more. The letter, which was sent via email, read: 'Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. 'While I am very sorry to learn you and Ms. Thompson didn't have the best experience traveling out of Las Vegas recently, I do greatly appreciate the opportunity to assist you with your concerns. 'As mentioned in our conversation, we take matters of customer service very seriously. 'I have thoroughly documented the details you shared with me so they can be reviewed by appropriate leadership. I can assure you the behavior you witnessed will be addressed.' Asked what she would like to see happen, Chrissie replied: 'I would like American Airlines to apologize for having a male employee make us feel like we had to get undressed at the gate in front of everyone. 'Couldn't a woman have told us this? I really don't want this to happen to another woman. These dress code rules seem so arbitrarily enforced it seems like we were singled out because we were alone... or how we looked.' Tom Bower, author of an insider's account of Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors, has stated that now is the time for King Charles III to cut his son and daughter-in-law off, once and for all. Chatting to Jo Elvin on Mail Plus's Palace Confidential, the 76-year-old spoke candidly about how he thinks Charles should handle his youngest son going forward. When asked what his thoughts were on Harry, Meghan and their fractured relationships with his family, Tom said: Well I think King Charles has played it badly, thats the problem. I dont think he realised the full nature of Meghans vindictiveness and her poisonous attitude towards relationships. He went on: And I think he should have closed her down and shouldnt have let them give their children titles and all the rest. Tom Bower spoke exclusively to MailOnline's Palace Confidential about his thoughts on the Royal family and how King Charles should treat his son Prince Harry Mr Bower has urged the King to 'cut off' Harry and Meghan (the father and son seen here with Queen Camilla and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II) Hes a father clearly with a conscience that he somehow hasnt helped Harry in his youth, but now I think its up to him to make it absolutely clear that the Montecito Royals are cut off and have absolutely no role whatsoever in Britain. Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, moved into their $14 million mansion in Montecito, California, after they stepped back from their royal duties in 2020. The Duke of Sussex jetted in from Los Angeles to UK for the coronation on a commercial American Airlines on Friday, amid gobsmacked passengers, landing at 11.23am at London Heathrow. He's leaving his wife and two children at home, and is intending to fly back to California straight after the historic ceremony ends this afternoon so he can make it to see Archie on his fourth birthday. King Charles greeted well-wishers along the Mall on Friday morning ahead of his Coronation on Saturday 6 May at Westminster Abbey There is speculation he will have no formal role in the service at Westminster Abbey and may even be sat several rows back from his brother William and other working royals. Royal commentators have considered whether he will even be allowed to fit within the processions to the Abbey. They have also suggested that he could face uniform humiliation as he may not be allowed to wear his military garb. There was no sign of Harry last night at a family dinner ahead of Charles' big day. Prince Andrew joined his children, the Tindalls, Princess Anne and her husband, the Kents and the Wessexes at Mayfair club Oswald's, which is owned by British entrepreneur Robin Birley. Birley also owns and runs 5 Hertford Street, which is where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had their first date. Oswald's is the most exclusive of London's private members' clubs, with the Queen Consort and Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie among those who frequent the venue. Advertisement The Princess of Wales looked radiant in a dazzling ivory Alexander McQueen dress as she attended the Kings Coronation alongside Prince William today. As she arrived in London this morning, Kate Middleton, 41, was elegant in the stunning ivory silk crepe gown, which featured silver bullion and thread work embroidery featuring rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs to represent each of the four nations. Instead of a tiara, the royal mother-of-three wore a matching Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen Headpiece with silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery. The Princess has long chosen to wear Alexander McQueen for significant moments in her life. And in a touching nod to her late mother-in-law, the Princess wore a set of Dianas pearl and diamond earrings for the occasion. The Princess of Wales, 41, looked radiant in a dazzling ivory Alexander McQueen dress as she attended the Kings Coronation alongside Prince William today (pictured) Instead of a tiara, the royal mother-of-three wore a matching Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen Headpiece with silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery The Princess walked into the Abbey in front of Princess Charlotte and her youngest son Prince Louis and stood side-by-side with William She has worn Alexander McQueen one of her favourite fashion brands on numerous occasions, most notably choosing its creative director Sarah Burton to design her wedding dress. The four flowers of the home nations - English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil and Irish shamrock - were embroidered onto the dress. Kate donned pearl earrings that were gifted to Diana before her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. The mother-of-three previously wore the jewellery, left to William and Harry, at the BAFTAs in 2019. They feature a double curve of various cuts of diamond, with a hanging pearl. Diana wore the earrings on various occasions, including at a banquet for the Japanese Emperor Akihito in 1990 - and at a gala at the Palace of Versailles in 1994. Queen Mary, the Queens grandmother, was said to have made regular use of the service. The resulting triple strand necklace has rows of graduated stones, suspended between two diamond triangles. It was also the Queens preferred necklace for wearing without a tiara. Last night, Kate commanded attention at a reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of the big day. The mother-of-three Kate donned a new 360 Self-Portrait wrap midi dress to attend the lavish event in London, hosted by King Charles on the eve of his coronation. Joining foreign royals, world leaders and dignitaries including Queen Letizia of Spain at the glittering reception, the princess completed her ensemble with the Queen Mother's sapphire and diamond earrings. Enhancing her features with a smattering of glamorous makeup, Kate kept her hair in tight curls, with a statement side parting as she chatted to guests, including Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and US First Lady Jill Biden. Kate appeared relaxed and at ease as she shared jokes with those invited, while King Charles was seen deep in conversation with the First Lady of Ukraine, President Zelensky's wife Olena Zelenska. Kate joined members of the royal family on the balcony after the Coronation to wave to huge crowds who had gathered below (pictured) Smiling through the rain! As the Wales's joined a procession through the streets of London, Kate appeared to be beaming (pictured) The Princess of Wales was sitting alongside her husband Prince William and their children as they rode through the streets of London today Kate's youngest son Prince Louis appeared totally in awe of the incredible circumstances in the abbey this morning (pictured) Kate glanced across at her children during the service, who were sitting quietly alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales throughout the ceremony The Princess appeared contemplative once inside the Coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey earlier this morning (pictured) The Princess of Wales stood alongside her husband Prince William and their children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis during the service Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Louis of Wales during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla In a touching nod to her late mother-in-law, the Princess wore a set of Dianas pearl and diamond earrings for the occasion (pictured) Kate held up her stunning white gown by Alexander McQueen, which featured silver embroidery showing the flowers of the four nations, as she arrived at the service today Kate donned pearl earrings that were gifted to Diana, marking a touching handover from one Princess of Wales to the other The royal mother-of-three walked into the ceremony alongside her youngest children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis (pictured) The future Queen swept her hair into a bun atop which she wore a floral diamond headpiece by Alexander McQueen (left and right) The Princess has long chosen to wear Alexander McQueen - one of her favourite fashion brands - for significant moments in her life The Princess of Wales paid tribute to her mother-in-law Princess Diana by wearing her earrings today. Pictured, Diana wearing the earrings in Washington DC in 1985 Prince William was also on hand to greet guests as final preparations get underway for tomorrow's ceremony. Earlier in the day, the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales thrilled royal fans at The Mall as they made a surprise appearance to greet well-wishers less than 24 hours before the coronation. Charles III's day of destiny today has arrived as the world prepares to watch the historic first coronation of a British monarch in 70 years at Westminster Abbey where Britain will hail its new King. The monarch had been heir since the age of three, and is now ready to finally embrace his day of destiny with the woman he loves by his side. VIP guests queued for a mile from the Abbey from 6am to get one of the prime 2,300 seats inside. Charles will be crowned in a Christian ceremony that dates back for 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry. It will also shine a spotlight on Britains place on the world stage. And on the streets of London today, including on a packed Mall, there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe. Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Some 100 heads of state are in London, with representatives from 203 countries due to attend. The longest-serving heir to the throne in British history will today be crowned at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that is steeped in the majesty of his illustrious forebears but also embraces and emphasises the proud diversity of modern-day Britain. There will be all the pomp and ceremony you could dream of, but as little of the them and us as possible, one senior royal aide said last night. Crowned alongside the King, 74, will be his wife of 18 years and his love for much, much longer. The once unthinkable has become a reality, and from today the former Camilla Parker Bowles will be known as Queen Camilla as she is anointed and has Queen Marys Crown placed upon her head. Yesterday the 75-year-old Queen Consort made only a brief public appearance as she attended a final rehearsal at the Abbey with her husband in the morning. She chose not to attend any of the other public engagements by his side, preferring to pace herself and also ensure the day was about her husband, sources said. She loves him unconditionally and always wants him to shine, a friend said. Last night the couple retired to enjoy a private dinner at their London home, Clarence House. The calm before the storm perhaps metaphorically as well as literally, a friend said with a nod to the dismal weather forecast, something the new King and Queens celebrations have in common with the late Queens Coronation in 1953. Known for her fashion prowess, Queen Letizia stunned in an elegant all-pink look at Westminster Abbey. The Spanish royal, 50, joined her husband King Felipe VI, 55, to watch the historic first coronation of King Charles III where Britain will hail its new King today. The Queen of Spain wore a pencil skirt and a top with a ruffled peplum, which featured an embroidered neckline along with buttons down its centre. The mother-of-two kept her locks in a neat bun and topped it off with a chic wide-brimmed hat. She accented the style with matching pink shoes and a clutch purse. Her husband looked equally sophisticated for today's historic event in his formal dress, with a pair of gloves on hand. Queen Letizia stunned in an elegant pink dress at Westminster Abbey as she walked on the arm of her husband King Felipe VI The Queen of Spain's peplum waited dress featured an embroidered neckline along with buttons down its centre Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia walking outside Westminster Abbey ahead of Britain's King Charles' coronation ceremony Felipe is a distant cousin of Charles: his mother, Queen Sofia, was a third cousin of the Queen and a first cousin once removed of the Duke of Edinburgh. Last night, the Spanish couple stepped out dressed to impress at Buckingham Palace for a lavish reception hosted by King Charles ahead of the monarch's coronation. Letizia, who was also joined at the reception by other foreign royals, including Princess Charlene of Monaco, oozed elegance in a green Victoria Beckham midi dress, costing 850, teamed with navy heels and a black clutch. Featuring a gathered front, the dress was gorgeous with its tulip sleeve detail and a slight V-neck at the back. Adding a touch of glitz to her ensemble, Letizia completed her look with a dazzling diamond brooch and an emerald and silver bracelet. The couple were amongst the many foreign royalty who mingled with other VIP guests at the dazzling eve-of-Coronation reception at Buckingham Palace last night. The reception was organised as a chance for the King to greet his guests because there will be no formal event outside the Coronation itself today. King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain walked into the Abbey as King Philippe of Belgium and Queen Mathilde of Belgium followed behind Her husband looked equally sophisticated for today's historic event in his formal uniform Spain's King and Queen were at the centre of the foreign royals arriving at Westminster Abbey Others who attended included Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco striking in Terrence Bray lavender trousers with a one-shouldered top along with King Philippe of Belgium and daughter Princess Elisabeth, who wore a 3,609 Giorgio Armani navy dress. Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco stopped for photographers at the Grand Entrance, as did Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg. Glamorous Queen Rania of Jordan - sporting a button-down midi dress from Schiaparelli, costing 8,000 - and her husband King Abdullah were welcomed warmly by King Charles, an old friend. Today, Charles will be crowned in a Christian ceremony that dates back 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry. It will also shine a spotlight on Britain's place on the world stage. And on the streets of London today, including on a packed Mall, there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe, including Queen Letizia's Spain. Last night, the Spanish couple stepped out dressed to impress at Buckingham Palace for a lavish reception hosted by King Charles ahead of the monarch's coronation Letizia oozed elegance in a green Victoria Beckham midi dress, costing 850, teamed with navy heels and a black clutch Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Some 100 heads of state are in London, with representatives from 203 countries due to attend. The longest-serving heir to the throne in British history will today be crowned at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that is steeped in the majesty of his illustrious forebears but also embraces and emphasises the proud diversity of modern-day Britain. 'There will be all the pomp and ceremony you could dream of, but as little of the 'them and us' as possible,' one senior royal aide said last night. King Charles III speaking to King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain during the reception at Buckingham Palace Crowned alongside the King, 74, will be his wife of 18 years and his love for much, much longer. The once unthinkable has become a reality, and from today the former Camilla Parker Bowles will be known as Queen Camilla as she is anointed and has Queen Mary's Crown placed upon her head. Yesterday the 75-year-old Queen Consort made only a brief public appearance as she attended a final rehearsal at the Abbey with her husband in the morning. She chose not to attend any of the other public engagements by his side, preferring to 'pace herself' and also ensure 'the day was about her husband', sources said. 'She loves him unconditionally and always wants him to shine,' a friend said. Last night the couple retired to enjoy a private dinner at their London home, Clarence House. 'The calm before the storm perhaps metaphorically as well as literally', a friend said with a nod to the dismal weather forecast, something the new King and Queen's celebrations have in common with the late Queen's Coronation in 1953. Today's Coronation will see 7,000 servicemen and women accompanying Their Majesties, making it the country's biggest ceremonial event since 1953. How are YOU celebrating the Coronation? Send your pictures and videos to pictures@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement Princess Beatrice wore ornate 37,000 earrings to her uncle's Coronation at Westminster Abbey in London today as she made a glamorous entrance with her sister. The royal, 34, lit up the room in a hot pink gown from Beulah, worth 695. The belted ensemble accentuated King Charles III's niece's figure for an elegant and stylish display. Garrard's pricey Blaze Pink Sapphire, Rubellite and Pink Opal Hoop Earrings made the perfect complement to her look, as did the subtly peachy smokey eye of her make-up. Beatrice wore her auburn tresses down in elegant waves and toned the magenta tones down with a chunky bronze headband and beige-hued clutch. Meanwhile Princess Eugenie showed off her baby bump in an all-navy ensemble as she joined her family in London for the historic festivities. The royal, 34, lit up the room in a hot pink gown from Beulah, worth 695. The belted ensemble accentuated King Charles III's niece's figure for an elegant and stylish display The mother-of-one, 32, who is expecting her second baby in the next few months, looked elegant in a deep blue smock dress - topped with a matching overcoat and headpiece. And her accessories were no less opulent than her sister's. The daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson sported the Albemarle White Gold and Diamond Collar Necklace - which costs 130,000 and White Gold and Diamond Drop Earrings - worth 26,000 from Garrard. She wore a FENDI by Kim Jones custom-made navy silk and satin mid-length dress, finished with a plisse side-panel. The ensemble was topped off with a cashmere FENDI coat featuring a matching obi belt and wore heels from the designer, as well as FENDI Swarovski embroidered navy silk and satin gloves. The younger of the sisters was also snapped holding onto a FENDI ISeeU Peekaboo bag with 3D leather roses as she sat in a car with her father for the arrival. The duo walked in with their husbands, father Prince Andrew, and their cousin Prince Harry - who is attending his father's coronation while his wife Meghan Markle is staying back in California. The Duke of York's children were among the Family members who kicked off the celebrations for the weekend last night, as Eugenie and Zara Tindall enjoyed a rare night out together. The royal revellers sported glamorous velvet ensembles for the occasion exclusive Mayfair private members' club Oswald's. Meanwhile her elder sister, 34, put on a colourful display in a magenta dress as she walked into Westminster Abbey in a colourful frock, and sported a quirky beige headband Zara, 41, who arrived at alongside her husband Mike Tindall, 44, opted for a striking navy blazer and trouser combo, paired with a light blue shirt. Meanwhile her cousin Eugenie - who is expecting her second child with husband Jack Brooksbank, who was also in attendance at the family occasion - seemingly took inspiration from Zara and donned an Asceno Velvet Athens Robe, costing 575. She donned a deep blue smock dress - topped with a matching overcoat and headpiece. The daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson accessorised with an ornate diamond necklace and earrings Eugenie wore matching black heels to match the dark tones of her ensemble as she walked into the Abbey with her sister this morning Garrard's pricey Blaze Pink Sapphire, Rubellite and Pink Opal Hoop Earrings made the perfect complement to her look, as did the subtly peachy smokey eye of her make-up Beatrice wore her auburn tresses down in elegant waves and toned the magenta tones down with a chunky bronze headband and beige-hued clutch Beatrice looked glam in a Louis Vuitton's 2,900 chain print asymmetrical long-sleeved frock, which she teamed with a chic blazer for a perfect Spring night look. Other royals, including the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne, were pictured celebrating the eve away ahead of today's big festivities. And this morning King Charles III's day of destiny has arrived as the world prepares to watch the historic first coronation of a UK monarch in 70 years at Westminster Abbey where Britain and the Commonwealth will hail its new monarch today. The royal had been heir since the age of three, and is now ready to finally embrace his day of destiny with the woman he loves by his side. VIP guests queued for a mile from the Abbey from 6am to get one of the prime 2,300 seats inside. On the the streets of London today - including on a packed Mall - there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe. The belted piece from Beulah cost 695 and accentuated Beatrice's figure for an elegant display. She teamed the bright look with beige accessories Eugenie and Beatrice sat in the same row as their father. The couples arrived at the same time as their cousin Prince Harry, who came without his wife The mother-of-one, 32, who is expecting her second baby in the next few months, looked elegant in an all-navy ensemble as she arrived in London for the historic first coronation The duo walked in with their husbands, father Prince Andrew, and their cousin Prince Harry - who is attending his father's coronation while his wife Meghan Markle is staying back in California The younger of the sisters was also snapped holding onto a black leather clutch as she sat in a car with her father for the arrival Andrew and his daughter were pictured arriving in the drizzle together as they arrived for the ceremony at Westminster Abbey today The Duke of York's children were among the Family members who kicked off the celebrations for the weekend last night, as Eugenie and Zara Tindall enjoyed a rare night out together She donned a deep blue smock dress - topped with a matching overcoat and headpiece. The daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson accessorised with an ornate diamond necklace and earrings Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Yesterday the 75-year-old Queen Consort made only a brief public appearance as she attended a final rehearsal at the Abbey with her husband in the morning. She chose not to attend any of the other public engagements by his side, preferring to 'pace herself' and also ensure 'the day was about her husband', sources said. 'She loves him unconditionally and always wants him to shine,' a friend said. Last night the couple retired to enjoy a private dinner at their London home, Clarence House. 'The calm before the storm perhaps metaphorically as well as literally', a friend said with a nod to the dismal weather forecast, something the new King and Queen's celebrations have in common with the late Queen's Coronation in 1953. The Coronation bank holiday weekend will conclude on Monday with The Big Help Out, when members of the Royal Family will join volunteers working with local community organisations as part of an initiative to create a lasting legacy from the celebrations. Charles and Camilla, however, will leave for their Sandringham estate in Norfolk for a well-earned break. The Duke of Norfolk, who is organising the ceremony, said: 'The Coronation is an opportunity to bring our great nation, the realms and the Commonwealth closer together, plugging into the power of the past and promoting our shared values to the wider world with all that we have to offer.' Mr Sunak said the weekend would be a chance to reflect on the 'enduring nature of monarchy' and urged the nation to celebrate its history and culture. The Prime Minister added: 'Let's celebrate this weekend with pride in who we are and what we stand for. Let's look to the future with hope and optimism. And let's make new memories, so we can tell our grandchildren of the day we came together to sing God Save The King.' Annabel Elliot and Lady Lansdowne looked glamorous of ever as they joined the Queen for today's ceremony Advertisement Queen Camilla was joined by two elegant companions as she walked alongside her sister Annabel Elliot and close friend The Marchioness of Lansdowne during today's Coronation ceremony. The royal, 75, axed the centuries-old tradition of having ladies-in-waiting as part of her retinue last September - instead opting for a smaller number of 'Queen's companions'. It's evident that both have an eye for fashion and aesthetics - having worked in interior design - as the two women struck the perfect chord between sophistication and glamour with their gowns. Fiona Clare created two long, ivory dresses for Her Majesty's Companions, designed to complement each other whilst retaining individual touches in terms of the embroidery and choice of fabric. Silver edging features on The Marchioness's, whilst Annabel's has a standing collar and hand-embroidered detail. The royal, 75, axed the centuries-old tradition of having ladies-in-waiting as part of her retinue last September - instead opting to have a smaller number of 'Queen's companions' Camilla has today been crowned with Queen Marys Crown by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey, as Buckingham Palace officially confirmed her title. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed the 112-year-old crown on her head following the anointment of her husband. As he did so, he recited an open prayer: 'May thy servant Camilla, who wears this crown, be filled by thine abundant grace and with all princely virtues. 'Reign in her heart, oh king of love. That being certain of thy protection, she may be crowned with thy gracious favour. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.' The Queen was then handed the royal sceptre as the archbishop completed his proclamation. The monarch and his wife smiled to the congregation as they walked through the church for a Christian ceremony that dates back 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry. The royal had her two confidantes by her side throughout in the festive ceremony. arlier last month, the Marchioness spoke out against Prince Harry after he branded his stepmother 'dangerous' and a 'villain' in his bombshell biography Spare. It comes as e In an interview with The Sunday Times, Fiona, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, said Prince Harry's comments had 'hurt' the Queen. Fiona Clare created two long, ivory dresses for Her Majesty's Companions, designed to complement each other whilst retaining individual touches in terms of the embroidery and choice of fabric It's evident that both have an eye for fashion and aesthetics - having worked in interior design - as the two women struck the perfect chord between sophistication and glamour with their gowns Silver edging features on The Marchioness's, whilst Annabel's has a standing collar and hand embroidered detail. The Queen's confidantes were with her during the ceremony Marchiness Lansdowne has long been a friend of the Queen's and supported her during the 1990s when details of her relationship with Charles emerged She said: 'Of course it bothers her, of course it hurts. But she doesn't let it get to her. 'Her philosophy is always, "Don't make a thing of it and it will settle down least said, soonest mended."' Marchioness Lansdowne has long been a friend of the Queen's and supported her during the 1990s when details of her relationship with Charles emerged. In March, King Charles and Queen Camilla were also by her sister Annabel's side for the funeral of her husband Simon. The businessman was married to Annabel for over 50 years and passed away at the age of 82 in March. Camilla was known to have a close relationship with the businessman, who Annabel wed in 1972 at the age of 23 - and the couple even joined the royal on her honeymoon with Charles in 2005. The late Queen had around seven devoted ladies-in-waiting affectionately dubbed the head girls at the time of her death, some of whom had been by her side for more than 60 years. They dealt with everything from public and personal correspondence and organising the royal diary to accompanying the monarch on engagements, collecting flowers and arranging private family events. Camilla has today been crowned with Queen Mary s Crown by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey, as Buckingham Palace officially confirmed her title Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed the 112-year-old crown on her head following the anointment of her husband. As he did so, he recited an open prayer They were also loyal companions to the monarch and operated as her eyes and ears in the Palace. The roles were unpaid and holders were almost always picked from the upper echelons of the aristocracy as there are few wealthy enough to be able to afford to take on such a demanding position simply out of loyalty to the Crown. But with most of the existing holders of the roles due to retire, Camilla has decided to organise things 'a little differently'. One source previously told the Daily Mail: 'When she got married and set up her own office for the first time she got two brilliant private secretaries, Amanda Macmanus and Joy Camm. 'But they were very much "two for the price of one". Not only did they arrange all her engagements and projects, but they also acted as ladies-in-waiting if needed, accompanying her on official duties, collecting bouquets of flowers and the like. 'No one stands on ceremony in her office, everyone mucks in. The feeling is that although things have changed dramatically in many respects, she won't take on an official line-up of ladies-in-waiting.' The monarch and his wife smiled to the congregation as they walked through the church for a Christian ceremony that dates back 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry The royal had her two confidantes by her side throughout in the ceremony. It comes as earlier last month, the Marchioness spoke out against Prince Harry after he branded his stepmother 'dangerous' and a 'villain' Camilla currently has two loyal and extremely capable female private secretaries, Sophie Densham, and her deputy, Belinda Kim. As well as organising Camilla's diary and public engagements, they already accompany her on official visits and will continue to do the same at Buckingham Palace, sources say. And this morning King Charles III's day of destiny has arrived as the world enjoys the historic first coronation of a UK monarch in 70 years at Westminster Abbey - where Britain and the Commonwealth hailed its new monarch today. The royal had been heir since the age of three, and is now ready to finally embrace his day of destiny with the woman he loves by his side. VIP guests queued for a mile from the Abbey from 6am to get one of the prime 2,300 seats inside. On the the streets of London today - including on a packed Mall - there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe. Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Queen Camilla was joined by two elegant companions as she walked alongside her sister Annabel Elliot and close friend - The Marchioness of Lansdowne - during today's Coronation ceremony The Coronation bank holiday weekend will conclude on Monday with The Big Help Out, when members of the Royal Family will join volunteers working with local community organisations as part of an initiative to create a lasting legacy from the celebrations Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Yesterday the 75-year-old Queen Consort made only a brief public appearance as she attended a final rehearsal at the Abbey with her husband in the morning. She chose not to attend any of the other public engagements by his side, preferring to 'pace herself' and also ensure 'the day was about her husband', sources said. 'She loves him unconditionally and always wants him to shine,' a friend said. Last night the couple retired to enjoy a private dinner at their London home, Clarence House. 'The calm before the storm perhaps metaphorically as well as literally', a friend said with a nod to the dismal weather forecast, something the new King and Queen's celebrations have in common with the late Queen's Coronation in 1953. The Coronation bank holiday weekend will conclude on Monday with The Big Help Out, when members of the Royal Family will join volunteers working with local community organisations as part of an initiative to create a lasting legacy from the celebrations. Charles and Camilla, however, will leave for their Sandringham estate in Norfolk for a well-earned break. The Duke of Norfolk, who is organising the ceremony, said: 'The Coronation is an opportunity to bring our great nation, the realms and the Commonwealth closer together, plugging into the power of the past and promoting our shared values to the wider world with all that we have to offer.' Mr Sunak said the weekend would be a chance to reflect on the 'enduring nature of monarchy' and urged the nation to celebrate its history and culture. The Prime Minister added: 'Let's celebrate this weekend with pride in who we are and what we stand for. Let's look to the future with hope and optimism. And let's make new memories, so we can tell our grandchildren of the day we came together to sing God Save The King.' 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 How are YOU celebrating the Coronation? Send your pictures and videos to pictures@mailonline.co.uk Princess Charlene of Monaco and Prince Albert cut stylish figures as they both made their mark at Westminster Abbey for the historic Coronation of King Charles. King Charles will officially be crowned as the head of the British monarchy today in a historic ceremony which will be broadcast around the world. The royal, 45, turned heads in an incredible all-cream ensemble as she walked with her husband to the main event. The former Olympic swimmer wore a buttoned blazer and ankle-length skirt for the historic event. She teamed the elegant co-ord with a matching hat and pointed heels while holding what appeared to be a gold clutch bag. Princess Charlene of Monaco and Prince Albert cut stylish figures at Westminster Abbey She also wore a natural makeup look with a nude base, pink lips and a smokey eye. Her husband, 65, wore a heavily embellished military uniform as the power couple stunned onlookers. Today's Coronation is the first since 1953 when the late Queen Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster Abbey. King Charles, 74, ascended the throne in September last year when his mother died at the age of 96. The Coronation is set to showcase up to 15 working members of the Royal Family, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, as they ascend to the Palace balcony for the day's events. Princess Charlene's appearance at the Coronation follows the news that her husband, Prince Albert of Monaco, was the first European royal to confirm his attendance at King Charles' Coronation, revealing the news at the end of January. Monaco's crown prince spoke fondly of the British King, whom he described as 'a very educated man and someone with a great sense of humour'. He also suggested he was looking forward to the event, telling People magazine he was 'certain that it's going to be an incredible ceremony and a very moving one'. Albert added: 'We've maintained contact since His Majesty became King, but I haven't talked to him personally since the Queen's funeral.' The prince added: 'I'm certain His Majesty will add his own personal touches to the ceremonies, but what those will be, I don't know.' Earlier this year, Charlene and Albert were recently rumoured to have split after the Princess was pictured without her wedding ring. Prince Albert wore a heavily embellished military uniform as the power couple stunned onlookers The Princess wore an all-cream outfit as she walked arm in arm with her husband During an appearance in Milan last month, Charlene's ring finger was noticeably bare, prompting speculation that the Monegasque royals may be separating. HOW PRINCESS CHARLENE OF MONACO BOUNCED BACK In May 2021, while on a trip to raise awareness about the issue of rhinoceros poaching in southern Africa, Charlene caught an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) infection. A series of other health problems ensued for the mother of two which saw her undergo multiple surgeries in South Africa. The princess spent ten months away from her husband and children, followed by a stint in a Swiss clinic for 'exhaustion'. However, after months of looking frail and pained, the royal is back to her glamorous best and is in the full swing of royal duties again, today attending King Charles lll's Coronation. Advertisement However, later that day, the couple made a joint appearance at the Monte Carlo Woman of the Year awards, where Charlene appeared to be wearing her wedding ring - pouring cold water on the rumours. Rumours about the couple's marriage first circulated after Charlene was absent from Monaco for most of 2021 while having medical treatment in her native South Africa, and was admitted to a Swiss clinic to be treated for exhaustion on her return. The pair have eight-year-old twins Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco and Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carlades. Prince Albert - who competed in bobsledding at the Winter Olympics five times from 1988 to 2002 - ascended to the throne after the death of his father, Prince Rainier III in 2005. Advertisement The Princess of Wales's family looked in high spirits as they arrived at Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of King Charles III. Kate's parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, arrived together with her younger sister, Pippa, 39, and her younger brother James, 36, to celebrate the historic occasion. Pippa looked glamorous in a yellow blazer dress by Claire Mischevani and her brother James was smart in a suit and matching yellow waistcoat as they joined the festivities for the royal event. Pippa beamed as she arrived with her family, opting to wear her chocolate locks in a sleek up-do with a matching yellow hat. Meanwhile Carole, 68, looked elegant in sapphire coloured dress as she smiled at crowds alongside her husband, Michael Middleton, 73, who donned a suit with a red patterned tie. Pippa looked glamorous in a yellow dress and her brother James was smart in a suit as they joined the festivities The Middletons have maintained a close relationship to the royals, appearing at many family occasions following the 2011 marriage of Kate and William. And as Kate has ascended the ranks of the Royal Family, Carole and Michael have continued to play an important role in the lives of their grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. They also continue to remain a pillar of stability for William, who they have known since his university days. It is believed that William is very fond of his in-laws, and that he very much enjoys spending time with Kate's parents and siblings. As well as spending time with their daughter and son-in-law, and their children, the Middletons have also been spotted at other royal events and have even been invited to join the royals at church in Sandringham, Norfolk. After speculation around whether they would or wouldn't appear at Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee last June, they were spotted at the Platinum Party on the Saturday night. Making an appearance at a much more sombre occasion, Carole and Michael joined senior members of the Royal Family for the Queen's funeral and Committal Service in September. Last December, Kate's family turned out in full support of their daughter's carol concert at Westminster Abbey, which came after the release of the final three episodes of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's explosive Netflix documentary. The Middletons have maintained a close relationship with the royals, appearing at many family occasions following the 2011 marriage of Kate and William. Pictured: Pippa and James entering the Abbey Meanwhile Carole, 68, looked elegant in sapphire coloured dress and matching head piece as she smiled at crowds She was joined by her husband, Michael Middleton, 73, who donned a suit with a red patterned tie Pippa Middleton arrived at Westminster Abbey in a bright yellow outfit, contrasting with London's grey and rainy weather Middletons are in high spirits! Carole beamed as she entered the Abbey followed by her daughter Pippa and son James The family will today be showing their support for the new King and Queen as they are crowned. Kate's siblings have also been thrown into the spotlight after her entry into the Royal Family. Mother-of-three Pippa made headlines around the world, when she was maid of honour at her sister's wedding, with many sharing photos of her striking gown. She is married to hedge fund manager and former racing driver, James Matthews, brother of Made in Chelsea star, Spencer Matthews. Her brother James Middleton married his wife Alizee Thevenet at a French Riviera wedding in 2021. Pippa wowed as she wore her hair in a sleek up-do and paired her bold yellow dress with nude coloured heels Carole Middleton and Michael Middleton entered Westminster Abbey for the historic event. The Middleton family also continue to remain a pillar of stability for William, who they have known since his university days He has previously spoken out about how he has battled depression and was also diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Speaking on his depression, he revealed to The Telegraph that he 'couldn't do anything', including seeing his family while he was struggling and that he was in a 'dark and miserable place'. He added that Kate would join him at therapy sessions and his mother, father and sister Pippa also supported him. Last year, Kate's family turned out in full support of their daughter's carol concert at Westminster Abbey, which came after the release of the final three episodes of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's explosive Netflix documentary. Advertisement Crown Princess Mary of Denmark looked stunning as she and her husband Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark arrived at King Charles IIIs Coronation today. The 51-year-old royal and her husband are on the exclusive guest list attending the dazzling event at Westminster Abbey to watch Charles and Camilla being crowned. The Australian royal donned an elegant purple ensemble, with a vibrant coat dress and matching gloves and fascinator. Wearing her long chestnut hair wrapped into a bun without a fascinator, Mary kept her make-up soft and classic with a slightly smokey eye and subtle pink lip, opting for a nude shade on her nails. MailOnline exclusively revealed that guest numbers for the Kings Coronation are so tight many foreign royals and British aristocrats have missed out on invitations to the Westminster Abbey ceremony. The couple were also among the foreign royals who attended King Charles IIIs drinks reception at Buckingham Palace. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark looked stunning as she and her husband Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark arrived at King Charles III s Coronation today The Australian royal donned an elegant purple ensemble, with a vibrant coat dress and matching gloves and fascinator (pictured) Arriving at the event with her 54-year-old husband, Princess Mary showed off her impeccable style in a coral pink Andrew Gn dress. The thrifty royal previously wore the garment to celebrate her daughter Princess Isabella's confirmation at the end of April 2022. Mary's coral Andrew Gn dress stood out beautifully against her olive complexion, while she added a pop of colour with a turquoise beaded clutch to tie in with the exquisite brooch on the dress's matching belt. The mother-of-four finished the outfit with nude heels, a thin gold necklace and diamond earrings. Mary's pre-Coronation outfit is a much more subtle take compared to how she styled the same dress for her 16-year-old daughter's special occasion last month. Opting to forgo a bag, the royal added a statement headband to her hair that featured a soft pink netted veil. However, the fashionista couldn't help but add a pop of fresh spring colour on her nails by wearing a hot coral pink. Charles III's day of destiny today has arrived as the world prepares to watch the historic first coronation of a British monarch in 70 years at Westminster Abbey where Britain will hail its new King. The monarch had been heir since the age of three, and is now ready to finally embrace his day of destiny with the woman he loves by his side. VIP guests queued for a mile from the Abbey from 6am to get one of the prime 2,300 seats inside. Charles will be crowned in a Christian ceremony that dates back for 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry. It will also shine a spotlight on Britains place on the world stage. And on the streets of London today, including on a packed Mall, there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe. Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Some 100 heads of state are in London, with representatives from 203 countries due to attend. The longest-serving heir to the throne in British history will today be crowned at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that is steeped in the majesty of his illustrious forebears but also embraces and emphasises the proud diversity of modern-day Britain. There will be all the pomp and ceremony you could dream of, but as little of the them and us as possible, one senior royal aide said last night. Crowned alongside the King, 74, will be his wife of 18 years and his love for much, much longer. The once unthinkable has become a reality, and from today the former Camilla Parker Bowles will be known as Queen Camilla as she is anointed and has Queen Marys Crown placed upon her head. Yesterday the 75-year-old Queen Consort made only a brief public appearance as she attended a final rehearsal at the Abbey with her husband in the morning. She chose not to attend any of the other public engagements by his side, preferring to pace herself and also ensure the day was about her husband, sources said. She loves him unconditionally and always wants him to shine, a friend said. Last night the couple retired to enjoy a private dinner at their London home, Clarence House. The calm before the storm perhaps metaphorically as well as literally, a friend said with a nod to the dismal weather forecast, something the new King and Queens celebrations have in common with the late Queens Coronation in 1953. How are YOU celebrating the Coronation? Send your pictures and videos to pictures@mailonline.co.uk Was joined by Finnegan, who wore an elegant yellow dress and matching heels after her husband chose not to attend the historic event Jill, 71, was seen making her way inside Westminster Abbey on Saturday First Lady Jill Biden put on a very elegant display in a blue ensemble as she arrived at Westminster Abbey today to represent her husband President Joe at the coronation of King Charles - alongside her 24-year-old daughter and official plus one, Finnegan. The 71-year-old donned a cornflower blue Ralph Lauren skirt suit for the historic occasion, accessorizing the look with a pair of matching gloves, nude heels and clutch, and a blue bow in her hair. Meanwhile her granddaughter - who is the daughter of President Biden's scandal-ridden son Hunter - opted for a pale yellow Markarian cape dress, pairing the design with a matching floral headband, silk heels, and a small handbag. The two women are representing the President at the coronation after Jill's husband Joe declined his invitation from Charles, telling MSNBC last night that he was unable to attend because he has 'a lot going on'. First Lady Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan, 24, put on an elegant display in coordinating pastel shades as they arrived at King Charles' coronation on Saturday The 71-year-old First Lady looked chic in a cornflower blue ensemble, while her granddaughter opted for a pale yellow cape dress Jill and UPenn graduate Finnegan are representing the President at the historic event - after he declined his invitation to attend, telling MSNBC that he has 'a lot going on' The pair were flanked by several Secret Service agents as they made their way into the abbey No US President has ever attended a British coronation - and Jill and Finnegan are understood to be the first immediate family members of a sitting President to attend the event. Finnegan and Jill were seen being escorted into Westminster Abbey, where they took their seats several rows back behind the representatives from Serbia, Slovakia, and Macedonia. The First Lady and her grandchild - with whom she is known to enjoy a very close relationship - were seated alongside Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, whom they were seen chatting with at a lavish reception at Buckingham Palace last night. It is understood that the two women donned yellow and blue - the colors of the Ukrainian flag - in a show of solidarity with the country. Jill and Finnegan have attended several events since their arrival in the UK - with the East Wing confirming on Thursday that the First Lady would be joined by her granddaughter in the absence of her husband, who opted out of the coronation. During an interview on MSNBC last night, the President said of his absence at the coronation: 'I told [King Charles] I couldn't be there because I have this going on.' He added that he told the King that he would be in the UK during the summer during the NATO conference, saying 'He's a good acquaintance and we've worked together on environmental issues.' Biden's likely opponent in 2024, ex-President Donald Trump, earlier expressed his disgust that the president was not making the trip across the pond. 'Certainly, he should be here as our representative of our country. I was very surprised, I think it's very disrespectful for him not to be here,' the former Apprentice host told GB News. Finnegan and Jill were seen being escorted into Westminster Abbey, where they took their seats several rows back behind the representatives from Serbia, Slovakia, and Macedonia The First Lady and her grandchild - with whom she is known to enjoy a very close relationship - were seated alongside Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska Jill put on a very elegant display in a cornflower blue skirt suit, while her granddaughter wore a complementary pastel shade of yellow Both women accessorized their outfits with delicate fascinators, with Jill opting for a blue bow, while Finnegan chose a floral yellow design At the last such event, when Charles' late mother Elizabeth was crowned in 1953, then US President Dwight Eisenhower sent a delegation of envoys to represent him. Trump went on to accuse Biden of not being physically well enough to make the journey to the UK. 'He's got a lot of things going, a lot of strange things happened,' the twice impeached president added. Jill was last in the UK for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September, which she attended alongside President Joe Biden. However, yesterday, First Lady Jill Biden's first stop was a meeting with Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Here, they met veterans and visited a local school before they are due to meet US Embassy staff in Vauxhall. Mrs Biden later met King Charles, her 13th cousin once removed, at a reception in Buckingham Palace. The reception was organized as a chance for the King to greet his guests because there will be no formal event outside the Coronation itself today. President Biden has faced some criticism, notably from his predecessor and potential 2024 election rival Donald Trump, for skipping Charles' coronation. At the last such event, when Charles' late mother Elizabeth was crowned in 1953, then US President Dwight Eisenhower sent a delegation of envoys to represent him. Upon her arrival at Westminster Abbey, Jill was seen being helped out of her SUV by several Secret Service agents, one of whom held up an umbrella to shield her against the drizzle Jill and Finnegan are understood to be the first immediate family members of a sitting US President to attend a British coronation The White House said last month President Biden had told Charles he wanted to meet the King in Britain at a future date. President Biden visited Belfast and Ireland last month to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. It comes as new research has revealed how Mrs Biden and King Charles are distant cousins. The monarch and Mrs Biden both descend from 16th century noble couple Philippe III de Croy and his wife Johanna. They are 13th cousins once removed. Philippe III, who died in 1595, served as a knight under Spain's King Philip II, the husband of Queen Mary who sent the Spanish Armada to invade England in 1588. The research by genealogy website MyHeritage has also shown that the King is a 12th cousin of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, who will also be at the Coronation. The King and Mrs Biden are both the 13th generation descending from De Croy. The 'once removed' element of their connection refers to the number of generations that separate them. A first cousin once removed would refer to a cousin who is of your parents' generation. De Croy, who was also the Stadtholder - or steward - of Flanders in Belgium, had daughters Anne and Marguerite with his wife. Charles is directly descended from Anne, whilst Mrs Biden descends from Marguerite. Charles will be crowned in a Christian ceremony that dates back 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry. It will also shine a spotlight on Britains place on the world stage. And on the streets of London today, including on a packed Mall, there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe. Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Some 100 heads of state are in London, with representatives from 203 countries due to attend. Jill Biden, wife of US President Joe Biden, has been welcomed to No. 10 Downing Street Akshata Murty, wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Akshata Murthy greets Finnegan Biden, Jill Biden's granddaughter, outside of No 10 Downing Street The Princess of Wales speaks with the First Lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden and her grand daughter Finnegan Biden The longest-serving heir to the throne in British history will today be crowned at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that is steeped in the majesty of his illustrious forebears but also embraces and emphasizes the proud diversity of modern-day Britain. There will be all the pomp and ceremony you could dream of, but as little of the them and us as possible, one senior royal aide said last night. Crowned alongside the King, 74, will be his wife of 18 years and his love for much, much longer. The once unthinkable has become a reality, and from today the former Camilla Parker Bowles will be known as Queen Camilla as she is anointed and has Queen Marys Crown placed upon her head. Yesterday the 75-year-old Queen Consort made only a brief public appearance as she attended a final rehearsal at the Abbey with her husband in the morning. She chose not to attend any of the other public engagements by his side, preferring to pace herself and also ensure the day was about her husband, sources said. She loves him unconditionally and always wants him to shine, a friend said. Last night the couple retired to enjoy a private dinner at their London home, Clarence House. The calm before the storm perhaps metaphorically as well as literally, a friend said with a nod to the dismal weather forecast, something the new King and Queens celebrations have in common with the late Queens Coronation in 1953. Advertisement First ladies from around have turned out world turned out in force for the Coronation. Jill Biden, 71, attended without her husband, and sported a smart blue two-piece with matching elegant gloves and a pale clutch and matching stilettos. Her greying hair was worn down with a cheerful blue bow accessorising it. The first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, also arrived with the Prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal. The mother of two wore a pale blue coat over a matching dress and white stilettos and smiled as she entered the abbey. Jill Biden sported a smart blue two-piece suit with matching elegant gloves and a pale pink clutch and matching stilettos She seemed happy, despite her husband being absent and staying in Ukraine as the war continues. She topped off her classy outfit with simple pearl drop earrings and matching necklace. Her hair was slicky styled and she wore minimal make-up with a slick of dark lipstick. Akshata Murthy, 43, also arrived on the arm of her husband, British prime minister Rishi Sunak, who spoke at the significant event. She wore a Claire Mischevani pale blue dress and a small black hat and tall black heels, with elegant earrings. With no coat, she smiled and seemed to be enjoying the occasion even as she got wet from the rain. Pippa Middleton was also sporting an elegant yellow Claire Mischevani gown as she arrived at the Abbey with her brother James and parents Carole and Michael. Meanwhile, Brigitte Macron, 70, wore a pale pink dress with a matching coat and pink shoes as she joined the crowd with her husband Emmanuel Macron, the president of France. She carried a matching clutch bag and wore her hair swept up as she walked into the abbey clutching her husband's arm. Jill Biden, 71, arrived with her granddaughter Finnegan, who was dressed in a pale yellow caped dress, white bag and matching yellow head band U.S first lady Jill Biden smiles as she arrives outside a rainy and grey Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles The first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, and Prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, smile as they arrive at the Abbey Mother of two Olena Zelenska walks outside Westminster Abbey ahead of Britain's King Charles' coronation ceremony The first lady left her husband at home and represented her country alone as it continues to suffer from the war. She wore a smart sage coloured dress with a matching blazer coat British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murthy arrive at the coronation, with Akshata sporting a classic blue patterned dress Akshata Murthy wore an elegant blue dress, black heels and an onyx coloured clutch bag as she arrived at the coronation in the rain Brigitte Macron, 70, wore a classy pink coat and matching dress and shoes as she accompanied her husband, President Macron The French couple joined the host of stars at the coronation, which saw Charles and Camilla crowned king and queen in front of his loved ones Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Trudeau beamed as they arrived at Westminster Abbey in the rain Pretty in pink! Canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Trudeau arrive to attend the first coronation in 70 years Sophie sported a large blush-coloured hat with her long brunette hair loose over her shoulders. Her satin dress featured puffy mesh sleeves President of Israel, Isaac Herzog arrives with his wife Michal Herzog to attend the significant event. She opted to wear a white blouse with blue smart trousers and a glittery head piece, while Isaac matched his tie to his wife's outfit and donned and suit Michal Herzog and Isaac Herzog arrive at Westminster Abbey ahead of the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla Israel's President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal Herzog arrive to attend the spectacular coronation. Isaac's suit was slightly wet due to the rain While Michal Herzog - the first lady of Israel - donned a more practical outfit. The Canadian first lady, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 48, also wore a pretty pink dress and pink stilettos. She sported one of the largest hats and wore her brunette hair loose over her shoulders. She wore a long blue coat decorated with an intricate flower pattern over matching blue trousers and a white top. The sixty-one-year-old also sported flat shoes and minimal make-up, and smiled as she entered the abbey. Advertisement The Princess of Wales looked radiant in a dazzling ivory Alexander McQueen dress as she attended the Kings Coronation alongside Prince William today. But the mother-of-three, 41, has impressed even further by bravely breaking royal protocol with her outfit choice. Royal fans watching from around the world might have expected her to mark the occasion by wearing a tiara. However she defied expectations and opted for a Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen Headpiece with silver bullion, crystal and silver threadwork three-dimensional leaf embroidery instead. As she arrived in London this morning, Kate was elegant in the stunning ivory silk crepe gown, which featured silver embroidery featuring rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs to represent each of the four nations. Royal fans watching from around the world might have expected The Princess of Wales to mark the occasion by wearing a tiara In a touching nod to her late mother-in-law, the Princess wore a set of Dianas pearl and diamond earrings for the occasion. Meanwhile, she also paid tribute to the late Queen by wearing The George VI Festoon Necklace, which was a gift from King George VI for his daughter, then Princess Elizabeth. The Princess of Wales, 41, looked radiant in a dazzling ivory Alexander McQueen dress as she attended the Kings Coronation alongside Prince William today (pictured) Instead of a tiara, the royal mother-of-three wore a matching Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen Headpiece with silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery The Princess walked into the Abbey in front of Princess Charlotte and her youngest son Prince Louis and stood side-by-side with William The Princess has long chosen to wear Alexander McQueen for significant moments in her life, most notably choosing its creative director Sarah Burton to design her wedding dress. The four flowers of the home nations - English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil and Irish shamrock - were embroidered on to the dress. Kate donned pearl earrings that were gifted to Diana before her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. The earrings, made by Collingwood, mark a touching handover from one Princess of Wales to the other. They became firm favourites of Diana and were sported on royal tours of Australia, Canada and Italy. The earrings feature a round diamond stud, from which is suspended an additional round diamond and a bell cap set with three more rows of small diamonds. The bell caps each contain a pearl drop. Diana began wearing the earrings before she was Princess of Wales. They were a gift from Collingwood, a jewellery firm that was a favourite of the Spencer family. She wore them on several occasions throughout her marriage. They made her gala outfits sparkle during her tour of the US in 1985, where she wore them with a lacy white gown and the Lover's Knot tiara for a gala dinner at the British Embassy. The Princess appeared contemplative once inside the Coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey earlier this afternoon (pictured) The Princess of Wales stood alongside her husband Prince William and their children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis during the service Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Louis of Wales during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla In a touching nod to her late mother-in-law, the Princess wore a set of Dianas pearl and diamond earrings for the occasion (pictured) Kate held up her stunning white gown by Alexander McQueen, which featured silver embroidery showing the flowers of the four nations, as she arrived at the service today Kate donned pearl earrings that were gifted to Diana before her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. The earrings, made by Collingwood, mark a touching handover from one Princess of Wales to another The royal mother-of-three walked into the ceremony alongside her youngest children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis (pictured) The future Queen swept her hair into a bun atop which she wore a floral diamond headpiece by Alexander McQueen (left and right) The Princess has long chosen to wear Alexander McQueen - one of her favourite fashion brands - for significant moments in her life She also wore them with the form-fitting black dress she sported as she attended the Vanity Fair party at the Serpentine Gallery in November 1994 in London, which later became known as the Revenge Dress. Kate has worn the earrings several times, including in her official portrait released to mark her 40th birthday last year and for the Queens funeral last September. Meanwhile the glittering diamond festoon necklace belonged to the late Queen and was one of the monarchs favourites in her lifetime. It was made from 105 loose diamonds that were kept in reserve at Garrard, stored in pouches marked C for Crown, in case a monarch wanted to extend a necklace or improve a tiara. Queen Mary, the Queens grandmother, was said to have made regular use of the service. The resulting triple strand necklace has rows of graduated stones, suspended between two diamond triangles. It was also the Queens preferred necklace for wearing without a tiara. Last night, Kate commanded attention at a reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of the big day. The mother-of-three Kate donned a new 360 Self-Portrait wrap midi dress to attend the lavish event in London, hosted by King Charles on the eve of his Coronation. Joining foreign royals, world leaders and dignitaries including Queen Letizia of Spain at the glittering reception, the princess completed her ensemble with the Queen Mother's sapphire and diamond earrings. Enhancing her features with a smattering of glamorous makeup, Kate kept her hair in tight curls, with a statement side parting as she chatted to guests, including Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and US First Lady Jill Biden. Kate appeared relaxed and at ease as she shared jokes with those invited, while King Charles was seen deep in conversation with the First Lady of Ukraine, President Zelensky's wife Olena Zelenska. The late Queen's much beloved glittering Festoon necklace, gifted to the royal by her father, is pictured during an outing to a concert with President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy in America in 1983 The Princess of Wales paid tribute to her mother-in-law Princess Diana by wearing her earrings today. Pictured, Diana wearing the earrings in Washington DC in 1985 Prince William was also on hand to greet guests as final preparations get under way for tomorrow's ceremony. Earlier in the day, the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales thrilled royal fans at the Mall as they made a surprise appearance to greet well-wishers less than 24 hours before the Coronation. Charles III's day of destiny today has arrived as the world prepares to watch the historic first Coronation of a British monarch in 70 years at Westminster Abbey where Britain will hail its new King. The monarch had been heir since the age of three, and is now ready to finally embrace his destiny with the woman he loves by his side. VIP guests queued for a mile from the Abbey from 6am to get one of the prime 2,300 seats inside. Charles will be crowned in a Christian ceremony that dates back for 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry. It will also shine a spotlight on Britains place on the world stage. And on the streets of London today, including on a packed Mall, there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe. Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Some 100 heads of state are in London, with representatives from 203 countries due to attend. The longest-serving heir to the throne in British history will today be crowned at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that is steeped in the majesty of his illustrious forebears but also embraces and emphasises the proud diversity of modern-day Britain. There will be all the pomp and ceremony you could dream of, but as little of the them and us as possible, one senior royal aide said last night. Crowned alongside the King, 74, will be his wife of 18 years and his love for much, much longer. The once unthinkable has become a reality, and from today the former Camilla Parker Bowles will be known as Queen Camilla as she is anointed and has Queen Marys Crown placed upon her head. Yesterday the 75-year-old Queen Consort made only a brief public appearance as she attended a final rehearsal at the Abbey with her husband in the morning. She chose not to attend any of the other public engagements by his side, preferring to pace herself and also ensure the day was about her husband, sources said. She loves him unconditionally and always wants him to shine, a friend said. Last night the couple retired to enjoy a private dinner at their London home, Clarence House. The calm before the storm perhaps metaphorically as well as literally, a friend said with a nod to the dismal weather forecast, something the new King and Queens celebrations have in common with the late Queens Coronation in 1953. How are YOU celebrating the Coronation? Send your pictures and videos to pictures@mailonline.co.uk The Princess of Wales, 41, was caught on camera beaming after a choir performed during the Coronation Advertisement The Princess of Wales was caught on camera beaming as she enjoyed a choral performance while she was watching the King's Coronation today. Kate Middleton, 41, wore a dazzling ivory Alexander McQueen dress as she attended the event at Westminster Abbey alongside Prince William today. She was elegant in the stunning ivory silk crepe gown, which featured silver bullion and threadwork embroidery featuring rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs to represent each of the four nations. At one stage, a handpicked gospel choir - The Ascension Choir - were performing as part of the service and, as the song came to a close, the camera panned to Kate, who appeared to be grinning with joy. Charles personally selected the musical programme for the ceremony, which has been designed to showcase a range of musical talent and styles from the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. The Princess of Wales was caught on camera beaming as she enjoyed a choral performance while she was watching the King's Coronation today At one stage, a handpicked gospel choir - The Ascension Choir - were performing as part of the service and, as the song came to a close, the camera panned to Kate, who appeared to be grinning with joy The Ascension Choir had been chosen by Charles, who personally selected the musical programme for the ceremony, which has been designed to showcase a range of musical talent and styles from the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth The Princess of Wales, 41, looked radiant in a dazzling ivory Alexander McQueen dress as she attended the Kings Coronation alongside Prince William today (pictured) Instead of a tiara, the royal mother-of-three wore a matching Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen Headpiece with silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery The Princess walked into the Abbey in front of Princess Charlotte and her youngest son Prince Louis and stood side-by-side with William Instead of a tiara, the royal mother-of-three wore a matching Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen Headpiece with silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery. In a touching nod to her late mother-in-law, the Princess wore a set of Dianas pearl and diamond earrings for the occasion. The Princess has long chosen to wear Alexander McQueen for significant moments in her life, most notably choosing its creative director Sarah Burton to design her wedding dress. The four flowers of the home nations - English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil and Irish shamrock - were embroidered onto the dress. Kate donned pearl earrings that were gifted to Diana before her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. The mother-of-three previously wore the jewellery, left to William and Harry, at the BAFTAs in 2019. They feature a double curve of various cuts of diamond, with a hanging pearl. Diana wore the earrings on various occasions, including at a banquet for the Japanese Emperor Akihito in 1990 - and at a gala at the Palace of Versailles in 1994. Kate's youngest son Prince Louis appeared totally in awe of the incredible circumstances in the abbey this morning (pictured) Kate glanced across at her children during the service, who were sitting quietly alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales throughout the ceremony The Princess appeared contemplative once inside the Coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey earlier this morning (pictured) The Princess of Wales stood alongside her husband Prince William and their children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis during the service Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Louis of Wales during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla In a touching nod to her late mother-in-law, the Princess wore a set of Dianas pearl and diamond earrings for the occasion (pictured) Kate held up her stunning white gown by Alexander McQueen, which featured silver embroidery showing the flowers of the four nations, as she arrived at the service today Kate donned pearl earrings that were gifted to Diana. The earrings mark a touching handover from one Princess of Wales to the other The royal mother-of-three walked into the ceremony alongside her youngest children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis (pictured) The future Queen swept her hair into a bun atop which she wore a floral diamond headpiece by Alexander McQueen (left and right) The Princess has long chosen to wear Alexander McQueen - one of her favourite fashion brands - for significant moments in her life Last night, Kate commanded attention at a reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of the big day. The mother-of-three Kate donned a new 360 Self-Portrait wrap midi dress to attend the lavish event in London, hosted by King Charles on the eve of his Coronation. Joining foreign royals, world leaders and dignitaries including Queen Letizia of Spain at the glittering reception, the princess completed her ensemble with the Queen Mother's sapphire and diamond earrings. Enhancing her features with a smattering of glamorous makeup, Kate kept her hair in tight curls, with a statement side parting as she chatted to guests, including Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and US First Lady Jill Biden. Kate appeared relaxed and at ease as she shared jokes with those invited, while King Charles was seen deep in conversation with the First Lady of Ukraine, President Zelensky's wife Olena Zelenska. The Princess of Wales paid tribute to her mother-in-law Princess Diana by wearing her earrings today. Pictured, Diana wearing the earrings in Washington DC in 1985 Prince William was also on hand to greet guests as final preparations get under way for tomorrow's ceremony. Earlier in the day, the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales thrilled royal fans at The Mall as they made a surprise appearance to greet well-wishers less than 24 hours before the Coronation. Charles III's day of destiny today has arrived as the world prepares to watch the historic first Coronation of a British monarch in 70 years at Westminster Abbey where Britain will hail its new King. The monarch had been heir since the age of three, and is now ready to finally embrace his destiny with the woman he loves by his side. VIP guests queued for a mile from the Abbey from 6am to get one of the prime 2,300 seats inside. Charles will be crowned in a Christian ceremony that dates back for 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry. It will also shine a spotlight on Britains place on the world stage. And on the streets of London today, including on a packed Mall, there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe. Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Some 100 heads of state are in London, with representatives from 203 countries due to attend. The longest-serving heir to the throne in British history will today be crowned at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that is steeped in the majesty of his illustrious forebears but also embraces and emphasises the proud diversity of modern-day Britain. There will be all the pomp and ceremony you could dream of, but as little of the them and us as possible, one senior royal aide said last night. Crowned alongside the King, 74, will be his wife of 18 years and his love for much, much longer. The once unthinkable has become a reality, and from today the former Camilla Parker Bowles will be known as Queen Camilla as she is anointed and has Queen Marys Crown placed upon her head. Yesterday the 75-year-old Queen Consort made only a brief public appearance as she attended a final rehearsal at the Abbey with her husband in the morning. She chose not to attend any of the other public engagements by his side, preferring to pace herself and also ensure the day was about her husband, sources said. She loves him unconditionally and always wants him to shine, a friend said. Last night the couple retired to enjoy a private dinner at their London home, Clarence House. The calm before the storm perhaps metaphorically as well as literally, a friend said with a nod to the dismal weather forecast, something the new King and Queens celebrations have in common with the late Queens Coronation in 1953. Advertisement Queen Camilla was 'initially nervous' as she was crowned during the Coronation at Westminster Abbey today - while King Charles was 'emotional' in one moment with Prince William, a body language expert has claimed. Charles became the 40th reigning sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony dating back to William the Conqueror in 1066, when Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edward's Crown on his head. The historic crowning, watched around the globe, was a fulfilment of the King's destiny, but followed the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, last September after a 70-year reign. Minutes later Camilla was crowned. As Andrew Lloyd-Webber's coronation anthem was sung, the Queen was officially enthroned. The enthroning of the Queen was a moment in which Charles and Camilla were 'united in their joint vocation before God'. Body language expert Carole Railton told FEMAIL Camilla was 'comfortable' and appeared to be 'without airs and graces', saying: 'Camilla obviously had trouble with the crown balancing and being in place and tried to adjust it herself. Queen Camilla was 'initially nervous' as she was crowned during the Coronation at Westminster Abbey today - while King Charles was 'emotional' in one moment with Prince William, a body language expert has claimed Body language expert Carole Railton told FEMAIL Camilla was 'comfortable' and appeared to be 'without airs and graces' (pictured) 'She appears comfortable and in control - relaxed and sure of herself. Smiling and with her hand and arms relaxed, she became graceful and in control following some initial nervousness. ' She continued: 'It struck me how in control she was - she was ready for what was happening and in a subtle way there were no airs and graces. 'She appeared engaged and strong. Obviously excited and engaged in what was happening and there were a couple of times she looked anticipatingly at her partner to comfort him, rather than seek for herself.' Meanwhile she also revealed how Charles appeared overwhelmed during the service at Westminster Abbey today and was experiencing 'lots' of emotions. She explained: 'When William was in front of him he looked emotional to me.' The body language expert explained: 'He is blinking a lot, showing a bit of stress for sure...He also appears tired and the previous deep breath gives notice that he is refreshing his self getting back in step.' She added: 'He sat on the edge of his seat, showing that he is exciting about what is going on even thrilled.' The King then looked emotional as Prince William paid homage to him, in a break with tradition, kneeling to give an oath of allegiance to his father. He said: 'I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God.' He then stood, touched the crown and kissed the King on the cheek. Charles was moved as he nodded to his son, and said 'amen'. The historic crowning, watched around the globe, was a fulfilment of the King's destiny, but followed the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, last September after a 70-year reign. Minutes later Camilla was crowned. Meanwhile she also revealed how Charles appeared overwhelmed during the service at Westminster Abbey today and was experiencing 'lots' of emotions King Charles was 'emotional' as Prince William knelt in front of him - and is 'thrilled' with the Coronation, a body language expert has claimed The King appeared moved as Prince William paid homage to him, kneeling to give an oath of allegiance to his father. He then stood, touched the crown and kissed the King on the cheek. Charles was touched as he nodded to his son, and said 'amen' In a historic moment, King Charles III is crowned - the 40th reigning sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey Charles became the 40th reigning sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, dating back to William the Conqueror in 1066, as Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edward's Crown on his head. The monarch and his wife Queen Camilla smiled to the congregation as they walked through the church for a Christian ceremony that dates back 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry. The monarch had been heir to the throne since the age of three, and was ready to finally embrace his day of destiny with the woman he loves by his side. Before his crowning moment the King was anointed with holy oil away from public view. He was dressed in a white linen garment called Colobium Sindonis, a golden coat called the Supertunica and has had the coronation girdle placed around his waist. Charles III was crowned King - in the historic first Coronation in 70 years today - having prayed to be a 'blessing' to people of 'every faith and conviction', and serve his millions of subjects in Britain around the globe The King then looked emotional as Prince William paid homage to him, kneeling to give an oath of allegiance to his father. He then kissed him on the cheek The Archbishop places the ancient crown on the King's head, which has taken place at the same spot since 1066 The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby places the St Edward's Crown onto the head of Britain's King Charles III King Charles III receives The St Edward's Crown After the King was crowned, Camilla was also crowned and made his Queen After being sanctified at his anointing, the King was presented with the coronation regalia. Minutes earlier Charles swore on the Bible and kissed it, having taken the oath: 'I, Charles, do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will, according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the throne, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my powers according to law.' His family were sat closest to him in a 2,300-strong congregation, although Prince Harry was sat in the third row, away from Prince William, his wife and children, and other working royals. The national anthem had played and crowds shouted God Save the King as Charles took their 1.3mile journey from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey through streets lined with 2million people and 7,000 British troops. The two-hour service, pared back from his mother's in 1953, is a pivotal moment in the history of the Royal Family will balance ancient tradition and a future in the 21st century. In it Charles became the first monarch to pray publicly at a coronation - praying for grace to be 'a blessing to all... of every faith and belief', and to serve after the pattern of Christ. A special personal prayer was written for the King to reflect the 'loving service' theme of the service, and the words were inspired in part by the popular hymn I Vow To Thee My Country. He said: 'God of compassion and mercy whose son was sent not to be served but to serve, give grace that I may find in thy service perfect freedom and in that freedom knowledge of thy truth. Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and belief, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness and be led into the paths of peace; through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen.' Prime Minister Rishi Sunak read The Epistle - Colossians 1: 9-17 to the congregation. Lambeth Palace said that although Mr Sunak is a Hindu, he is reading as Prime Minister so there is no issue over his personal faith during the Anglican service.# Prince George and the other pages of honour were sitting behind the King in Westminster Abbey as Charles swore the coronation Oath. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. Royal fans are baffled after seeing cue cards at today's Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, with many questioning the need for them. Taking to social media, those tuned in to the historic event noticed the constant turning to the boards being held up as King Charles III officially became Britain and the Commonwealth's monarch today. The royal, 74, was pictured glancing down for his 'lines' throughout the festivities this morning. 'He's got cue cards for about three sentences,' one observer tweeted. 'You've had a lifetime to memorise it mate.' 'All the theatre kids I know could do this entire ceremony without all these cue cards, I'll tell you that much,' a second added. The royal, 74, was pictured glancing down for his 'lines' throughout the Coronation festivities this morning A third slammed the new king, writing: 'Oohh slightly concerning that Dull King Chas had to read the cue cards for his few words for the Coronation.' 'How does Charles need cue cards for this,' one baffled fan added. 'YOU'VE HAD 74 YEARS TO PRACTICE.' And it wasn't just the monarch who seemed to need a little bit of stage support, with the Prince of Wales and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby seen glancing at the placards as well. 'See they're all at the cue card thing. It's not like they didn't have any notice they were going to have to do this,' one commented. Another added: 'I think it's slightly weird all the cue cards, and glancing at them at the coronation, surely it can't be that difficult to memorise a few words. 'Just seen one priest look at a cue card and then say Amen.' 'Oh my god the cue cards at the coronation!' one remarked. 'William reading a cue card to pledge allegiance to his father! Members of the clergy reading scripture from cue cards! Have they not had enough decades to practice?' Taking to social media, those tuned in to the historic event noticed the constant turning to the boards being held up as King Charles III officially became Britain and the Commonwealth's monarch today Meanwhile, some even felt King Charles's son reading off the cards made the ceremony feel less sincere. One said: 'It was probably just him reading off the cue card, but William looked like he was intentionally avoiding eye contact with his father during that (thoroughly anachronistic) pledge of loyalty.' It comes as this morning King Charles III's day of destiny has arrived as the world enjoys the historic first coronation of a UK monarch in 70 years at Westminster Abbey - where Britain and the Commonwealth hailed its new monarch today. The royal had been heir since the age of three, and is now ready to finally embrace his day of destiny with the woman he loves by his side. VIP guests queued for a mile from the Abbey from 6am to get one of the prime 2,300 seats inside. On the the streets of London today - including on a packed Mall - there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe. And it wasn't just the monarch who seemed to need a little bit of stage support, with the Prince of Wales and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby seen glancing at the placards as well Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Yesterday the 75-year-old Queen Consort made only a brief public appearance as she attended a final rehearsal at the Abbey with her husband in the morning. She chose not to attend any of the other public engagements by his side, preferring to 'pace herself' and also ensure 'the day was about her husband', sources said. 'She loves him unconditionally and always wants him to shine,' a friend said. Last night the couple retired to enjoy a private dinner at their London home, Clarence House. Royal fans are baffled after seeing cue cards at today's Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, with many questioning the need for them 'The calm before the storm perhaps metaphorically as well as literally', a friend said with a nod to the dismal weather forecast, something the new King and Queen's celebrations have in common with the late Queen's Coronation in 1953. The Coronation bank holiday weekend will conclude on Monday with The Big Help Out, when members of the Royal Family will join volunteers working with local community organisations as part of an initiative to create a lasting legacy from the celebrations. Charles and Camilla, however, will leave for their Sandringham estate in Norfolk for a well-earned break. The Duke of Norfolk, who is organising the ceremony, said: 'The Coronation is an opportunity to bring our great nation, the realms and the Commonwealth closer together, plugging into the power of the past and promoting our shared values to the wider world with all that we have to offer.' Mr Sunak said the weekend would be a chance to reflect on the 'enduring nature of monarchy' and urged the nation to celebrate its history and culture. The Prime Minister added: 'Let's celebrate this weekend with pride in who we are and what we stand for. Let's look to the future with hope and optimism. And let's make new memories, so we can tell our grandchildren of the day we came together to sing God Save The King.' Royal fans have gone wild over how much Princess Charlotte looks like her late grandmother Princess Diana at the Coronation today. The eight-year-old looked incredible as she matched her mother in an Alexander McQueen dresse at Westminster Abbey. The young princess wore a dress and cape in ivory silk crepe with ivory stitch embroidery featuring rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs, to signify the four nations. Her mum Kate also looked elegant in a similar stunning ivory silk crepe gown, which featured silver bullion and thread work embroidery featuring rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs also to represent each of the four nations. Despite matching outfits with Kate, followers of the event confessed they were amazed by how similar the little Princess appeared to her late grandmother Diana. Royal fans have gone wild over how much Princess Charlotte looks like her late grandmother Princess Diana at the Coronation today (left, Diana in 1970, and right, Charlotte today) Many shared an image of Charlotte's grandmother, who died in 1996, from when she was aged around 10. One person commented: 'Princess Charlotte looks exactly like Diana, it's insane.' Another wrote: 'Charlotte looks like Diana omg.' A third added: 'Charlotte looks like grandma Diana.' A fourth wrote: 'Her way of smile reminded me her granny Princess Diana, she had the same shy smile. 'God bless our little princess and future Princess Royal.' It's not the first time royal fans have spotted the likeness between Charlotte and Diana - with many often commenting the two appeared to share many similarities. At the event today, Charlotte matched her mother in a Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen headpiece with silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery. Meanwhile the pair completed their ensembles with white shoes and swept their locks back into chic updos for the historical occasion. In a touching nod to her late mother-in-law, the Princess of Wales wore a set of Dianas pearl and diamond earrings for the occasion. Despite matching outfits with Kate, followers of the event confessed they were amazed by how similar the little Princess appeared to her late grandmother Diana The Princess has long chosen to wear Alexander McQueen for significant moments in her life. She worn the fashion brand on numerous occasions, most notably choosing its creative director Sarah Burton to design her wedding dress. The four flowers of the home nations - English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil and Irish shamrock - were embroidered on to the dress. Kate donned pearl earrings that were gifted to Diana before her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. Diana pictured in 1970, holding a croquet mallet during a game at Itchenor, West Sussex Princess Charlotte offers a calming hand to younger brother Prince Louis as the pair arrive in Westminster Abbey to watch their grandfather's Coronation ceremony The pair completed their ensembles with white shoes and swept their locks back into chic updos for the historical occasion Princess Charlotte offers a sweet smile as she arrives alongside younger brother Louis at the Coronation Look at that! Prince Louis points out something in the Abbey to his older sister The mother of three previously wore the jewellery, left to William and Harry, at the Baftas in 2019. They feature a double curve of various cuts of diamond, with a hanging pearl. Diana wore the earrings on various occasions, including at a banquet for the Japanese Emperor Akihito in 1990 - and at a gala at the Palace of Versailles in 1994. Last night, Kate commanded attention at a reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of the big day. She wore a new 360 Self-Portrait wrap midi dress to attend the event in London, hosted by King Charles on the eve of his Coronation. Earlier today Charlotte was seen sitting alongside her little brother Prince Louis in Westminster Abbey after they arrived alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales. The siblings arrived without their older brother Prince George, nine, who was a Page of Honour for his grandfather. The Prince and Princess of Wales' two youngest children were immaculately behaved during the service, with Charlotte proving a reassuring presence to her younger brother, who couldn't help but stifle a few yawns during the sacred service. Meanwhile, her younger brother Louis - who turned five on St George's Day on April 23rd - looked regal in a bespoke outfit. For the historic occasion, the young Prince is wearing an outfit made by Savile Row tailors Dege and Skinner, which consists of a Hainsworth Garter Blue Doeskin Tunic with specially designed lace work embellishment to the collar, cuffs and fronts. The leg garment is black complete with a Garter Blue stripe. Princess Anne and Prince Edward warmed the hearts of royal fans with their 'supportive' behaviour towards their older sibling, the King, during his Coronation. Charles and Camilla were crowned in a Christian ceremony that dates back 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry at Westminster Abbey. The historic two hour service was marked by several poignant moments. A Twitter account called The Royal Watcher highlighted the moment the Princess Royal and the Duke of Edinburgh appeared to beam with pride as they watched their brother being crowned. Wearing her military uniform, the Princess Royal, 72, looked particularly moved, sending royal fans into a frenzy. 'Ok but look how proud Anne looks of Charles', the account said, sharing a picture. That's my brother! A Twitter account called The Royal Watcher captured the moment the Princess Royal and Duke of Edinburgh beamed with pride as they watched the King being crowned Charles became the 40th reigning sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony dating back to William the Conqueror in 1066, when Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edward's Crown on his head, pictured In the touching snap, the Princess Royal smiled warmly as she looked at her brother fulfilling his destiny. Close by was her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. Standing in the second row, her brother Prince Edward, 59, sported an equally moved expression. On social media, one person said: 'Edward looks proud and slightly sad. It's wonderful to see his siblings be so supportive. Anne looks just so pleased for him.' 'Gosh that made me a bit teary seeing the look on her face. They've been such a team for so long,' another said. 'Must be thinking how their parents would have been proud,' one suggesting, in reference to the late Queen Elizabeth II and the late Prince Philip. Royal fans were moved by the special moment, with some saying they loved seeing how proud Anne and Prince Edward looked 'I love this,' one gushed. 'Both Princess Anne and Prince Edward proud young siblings,' one said. Charles became the 40th reigning sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony dating back to William the Conqueror in 1066, when Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edward's Crown on his head. The King then looked emotional as Prince William paid homage to him, in a break with tradition, kneeling to give an oath of allegiance to his father. He said: 'I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God.' He then stood, touched the crown and kissed the King on the cheek. Charles was moved as he nodded to his son, and said 'amen' and 'thank you William'. The historic crowning, watched around the globe, was a fulfilment of the King's destiny, but followed the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, last September after a 70-year reign. Anne was standing with the rest of the royal family, next to her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, behind the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Prince and Princess of Wales and their two youngest children Minutes later Camilla was crowned. As Andrew Lloyd-Webber's coronation anthem was sung, the Queen was officially enthroned. The enthroning of the Queen was a moment in which Charles and Camilla were 'united in their joint vocation before God'. The newly-crowned King and Queen later appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony with a select group of senior royals as The Mall was swamped by tens of thousands of cheering patriots. The royal couple waved to gargantuan crowds before a RAF flypast, which had to be scaled back to just just helicopters and the Red Arrows because of the heavy rain in London. The Mall was a sea of people, many of whom sprinted to get close to the Palace and catch a glimpse of the King and Queen following their historic coronation watched by 100million people on TV worldwide. Charles and Camilla were joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales, their children, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and Princess Anne. Once again Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte stole the show with some enthusiastic waving and pointing as the jets flew over the Palace to roars. But their uncle Prince Harry decided to dodge the event amid reports he planned to jet home after a 24-hour stay in the UK to get back to California on his son Archie's fourth birthday today. His limousine was spotted at Heathrow this afternoon, less than two hours after the Coronation service ended. Read more about Lady Pamela Hicks and her role in Her Majesty's inner circle One of Princess Diana's bridesmaids has spoken out about why she wasn't invited to the coronation, defending the king's meritocratic guest list. India Hicks, also a goddaughter of King Charles, appeared today during the BBC's coverage of the event, discussing her lack of invitation - something she has discussed before. The 55-years-old has previously said it is 'exciting' that the monarch, who she described as a 'considerate and patient man, opted to reduce the number of aristocrats on the list, choosing instead to invite 'ordinary' people with achievements in different sectors. However, Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine has claimed there may be another reason that India - and her mother Pamela Hicks - were left off the list. Lady Pamela Hicks, whose father, the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma was Prince Philip 's uncle, is one of only two surviving bridesmaids from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's wedding in 1947. One of Princess Diana's bridesmaids, India Hicks (pictured) has revealed why she has no hard feelings about not being invited to the coronation Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine has claimed the lack of invitation is because Lady Pamela Hick's father Mountbatten 'convinced the Queen not to let Charles marry Camilla.' Sarah said: 'I don't think Charles has forgotten.' India, who spends much of her time in Barbados, donned a chic cream dress and a matching tweed jacket, to take photos of herself outside Buckingham Palace, which she shared on Instgram. In the caption for the images, she revealed she had been on television talking about Charles' charity The Princes Trust. In the photo's caption, she described the king as 'considerate', and 'patient'. King Charles's goddaughter India Hicks, 55, has praised her godfather King Charles for his 'patience' with her as a child and paid tribute to his work through The Prince's Trust She also posted a video of horses and a carriage travelling through a street in Westminster and joked: 'The traffic's been interesting.' Later, India also sat down with a Canadian interviewer. In a post on her Instagram grid, she added: 'Talking on telly today about The Prince's Trust, the remarkable man behind it, and a very considerate, very patient godfather (with an annoying five-year-old India).' India's busy day comes after she posted a photo of herself on Instagram with a long caption discussing the commentary over Charles's invitation list. The British designer, 55, posted a video on Instagram of two horses pulling a carriage in Westminster ahead of King Charles's coronation The designer has paid tribute to her godfather's work with the Prince's Trust while wading into the debate over coronation invitations She wrote: 'There has been so much heated discussion about who has, or has not, been invited to this Coronation, why? Surely its exciting to see so many invitations based on meritocracy? 'Does it not show we have a King who understands both tradition and what it takes to evolve with the times? 'Although this should come as no surprise from a man who upon completing his duty in the Royal Navy, used his severance pay to fund a community of initiatives, which were the founding projects of The Princes Trust. 'The Prince's Trust has always focused on equality, diversity and inclusion and isnt that what we are seeing with a guest list mainly awarded on effort, not rank?' India is an ambassador for the charity's Women Supporting Women project and last year raised money for the initiative with a sponsored cycle. Shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth, when King Charles ascended the throne, she undertook the ride from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle. Posting on Instagram, she wrote: 'Tomorrow I am biking from Buckingham Place to Windsor Castle, along with several thousand other people, in the hopes of raising awareness and funds to help transform the lives of youngsters who are facing a frankly s***** future. 'King Charles (still feels strange saying that) set up the charity in 1976 with a few thousand pounds of his severance pay from the Navy, to tackle high youth unemployment which he feared would leave young people marginalised.' Royal fans have shared their delight after seeing ex-Play School host Baroness Floella Benjamin perform an ancient role in the King's Coronation. The former children's TV presenter, and now an author and peer who chaired the Windrush Commemoration Committee, carried Charles's sceptre, known as the Rod Of Equity And Mercy, at the Westminster Abbey service in London. The 73-year-old was awarded an OBE in 2001 and was considered a close ally of the late Queen and other British royals. Today the mother-of-two was praised for elegantly delivering on the honour of carrying the sceptre ahead of King Charles's arrival at the ceremony. The baroness was photographed donning a regal-red floor-length outfit as she gracefully made her way to the front of the service to fulfil her role. Baroness Floella Benjamin (pictured right), carrying the The Sovereign's Sceptre with the Dove alongside General Sir Gordon Messenger, (pictured centre), the Governor of HM Tower of London carrying St Edward's Crown and Dame Elizabeth Anionwu (pictured left) during the coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey The baroness, 73, who carried the sceptre through the Abbey, was awarded an OBE in 2001 and was considered a close ally of the late Queen and other British royals The Baroness, right, played a key role as King Charles lll was officially crowned today, in a historic ceremony which was broadcast around the world The baroness was photographed donning a regal-red floor-length outfit as she gracefully made her way to the front of the service to fulfil her role Only 50 people were selected to participate in the extraordinary ceremony, many of them military representatives and other officials. People from around the world couldn't seem to get enough of the political peer's starring role as they reminisced on the 'childhood legend' who stole the show for some. Taking to Twitter, one person wrote: 'That brief moment when people of a certain age across the nation came together in a cry of "ooo, its Floella Benjamin from Play School and Play Away."' Another added: 'It was Floella Benjamin that did it for me, for some reason. Central figure of my early childhood.' A third agreed, tweeting: 'My highlight was my childhood legend Floella Benjamin.' One added: 'Imma let you finish, but Floella Benjamin had the best sceptre handling.' One person said: 'When I saw her I squealed "oh my goodness it's Floella Benjamin!!" Genuine love! She's beautiful, kind and holds a place in all of our hearts.' Meanwhile another tweeted: 'Best bit about the #Coronation (for me) was seeing the icon, Baroness Floella Benjamin.' Royal fans took to Twitter to express their delight over Baroness Floella Benjamin's key role in the historic ceremony Known as one of Britains first black childrens TV presenters, the Baroness is one of the most successful names in showbiz, with a 50-year career spanning theatre, film, radio and television. Born in Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad, she first arrived on English shores as a Windrush child in 1960 at the tender age of 10. Now she sits in the House of Lords as Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham, has authored over 30 books including her 2022 biography What Are You Doing Here?', and has been awarded a Special Lifetime Achievement BAFTA Award. As King Charles III was crowned today in an historic ceremony, he was presented with a stunning collection of symbolic jewels. Alongside the glittering crowns and rings, the gold orb is perhaps one of the most symbolic items that was used during the ceremony. Such is its association with the Coronation, the ceremony for King Charles was given the secret codename 'Operation Gold Orb' after Queen Elizabeth's death last year. It was handed over to the King along with the Sovereign's Sceptre to form a mirror image of the Coronation portrait of his mother, the late Queen, who took on the role before him. The orb, which weighs a staggering 1.3kg, usually sits in the Tower of London as part of the Coronation Regalia and has played a central part of the crowning of monarchs for hundreds of years. The Sovereign Orb was placed in King Charles's right hand during his Coronation ceremony Representing the globe, the Sovereign's Orb is a hollow sphere which is separated into three sections to represent the three continents known in medieval times. The sections are outlined by rows of precious jewels and it is mounted with clusters of emeralds, rubies and sapphires surrounded by rose-cut diamonds, and single rows of pearls. It also features a cross beset with pearls and rose-cut diamonds, with a sapphire in the centre on one side and an emerald on the other. Made in 1661, the golden orb weighs a staggering 1.3kg and features a showstopping amethyst that forms the 'monde' and measures more than an inch in each direction. The orb represents the Christian world and the join which runs across it depicts the equator. It is therefore a symbol of the monarch's power with the cross reminding the bearer that their power derives from God. During today's Coronation service, King Charles looked solemn as the orb was placed in his right hand by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. He was also presented with a number of symbolic regalia alongside the orb, including the two Sovereign's Sceptres. The newly-crowned monarch left Westminster Abbey holding the orb and the Sovereign's Sceptre and wearing the Imperial State Crown The image of the King carrying the sceptre is reminiscent of the picture of his mother, the late Queen, after her Coronation The orb represents the Christian world and the join which runs across it depicts the equator The Sceptre with Cross features the Cullinan I diamond - the largest colourless cut diamond in the world. In 1911, it was mounted in the Sovereigns Sceptre by Garrard, the then Crown Jeweller, and is so large that the Sceptre which was made for Charles IIs coronation in 1661 had to be reinforced to take its weight. While holding the two sceptres, he wore the St. Edward's Crown - the historic centrepiece of the Crown Jewels which was also created for Charles II and is named after Edward the Confessor. In the 19th century it was made lighter and more comfortable to wear, and was given a new purple velvet cap. In December, it was announced it had been removed from the Tower of London, where it is normally kept, to be resized for the coronation. As he left Westminster Abbey, he was pictured holding the orb and sceptre and wearing the Imperial State Crown. The crown also features one of the Cullinan diamonds - a 317.4-carat cushion-cut stone which sits below the Black Princes Ruby. The newly-crowned King was seen wearing the crown as he waved from the balcony of Buckingham Palace alongside his wife, Queen Camilla. He was also presented with a number of symbolic regalia alongside the orb, including the two Sovereign's Sceptres The anointing of the new monarch was kept private from viewers using a specially commissioned screen While the presentation of regalia could be seen by millions watching the Coronation ceremony, the anointing of the new monarch was kept private from viewers. Shielded from view with a specially commissioned screen, Charles was anointed with Holy Oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury as part of the proceedings. Depicting a tree with 56 leaves representing the Commonwealth nations, the hand-sewn design on the front of the screen had the Kings cypher at the base of the trunk showing the sovereign as a servant of the 'family of nations'. Sustainability - a long-held passion of the King - was a key theme of the design, even using poles made from a windblown oak tree from the royal estate at Windsor originally planted by the Duke of Northumberland in 1765 and special biodegradable thread. Charles selected iconographer Aiden Hart, a member of the Greek Orthodox Church who has created liturgical art and cathedral interiors for the Pope, Anglicans and his own faith during a 40-year career, to create the screen. All eyes were on the Royal Family today as they came out in force to support King Charles on the day of his coronation. The monarch and his wife Queen Camilla were crowned at Westminster Abbey in front of some 2,000 guests in a lavish and historic ceremony. Lip reader Jacqui Press has caught sweet interactions between the royals during today's pivotal moments, including what was said in the royal carriage as the King and Queen made their way to the Abbey ahead of the service. She also spotted a fun moment between the Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess of Wales as the royals gathered to mark the day with a flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Here, FEMAIL reveals the other interactions you may have missed today. Lip reader Jacqui Press has caught sweet interactions between the royals during today's pivotal moments.' Pictured L-R: Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Charlotte, Princess of Wales, Prince Louis, Prince of Wales, a page of honour, Prince George on the balcony of Buckingham Palace this afternoon According to Press, the King and Queen shared a conversation about the weather when they travelled in the Jubilee State Coach on the way to Westminster Abbey. The King supposedly turned to Camilla and said: 'Oh look at that,' remarking about the rainy weather. He then pointed to the crowd and simply said: 'Wonderful,' followed by 'marvellous,' as he waved to the eager fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the monarch. Queen Camilla then said: 'oh look see that, see that flags.' It is then unclear what Camilla was referring to, but she said: 'I can, yes it's super, amazing.' Press revealed how the King pointed his finger up by Trafalgar Square and said: 'It looks wonderful, see that.' Queen Camilla replied and said: 'So beautiful.' Inside the carriage when Charles was waiting, Press then claims that the King said: 'Im worried about time, I mean its been longer this time and, well, erm, I mean look! I know.' The King supposedly turned to Camilla and said: 'Oh look at that,' remarking about the rainy weather Prince William told his younger children to pay attention to the flypast as members of the Royal Family gathered on Buckingham Palace's balcony this afternoon It is not known what the King was referring to when he said 'look!' but Press noted the King said it with much enthusiasm. A while later when the pair were walking into Westminster Abbey, Press said that Camilla asked for help with her cloak. According to Press, she asked: 'Can you help?' to the man on the right, who was tugging at her cloak. She replied 'Thank you.' King Charles then askked: 'Wait here? Now?' to which the Bishop responded: 'Yes.' Meanwhile, Prince Louis, five, was sat in a car with his eight-year-old sister, Charlotte, while travelling to Westminster Abbey when the two exchanged a few words. The lip reading expert said the little royal told his sister: 'Yes,' before saying, 'Look waving.' According to the professional, the young prince also said, 'Yes of course' while smiling, as he waved from the window of the car to onlookers. According to Press, Kate said to William: 'Are you ok? Look at the bottom of your...' and then she gestured towards his gown They then smiled at each other and entered the Abbey, ready to participate in the first coronation in 70 years Prince Louis always manages to steal the show at royal engagements, from sticking his tongue out at his mother or dramatically covering his ears on the Buckingham Palace balcony - and he didn't let his fans down today. Louis was given a break from the event to relax behind the scenes. He was reunited with his family at 1pm to leave Westminster Abbey. The cheeky royal, known for his hilarious funny faces at royal events, also took part in the Coronation procession. The expert has claimed Louis said: 'Lots of people waving,' referring to the cheering crowds when travelling past. A short while after, Press says the sweet royal also said: 'Yaaay King.' The youngest Wales sibling looked on with excitement at the flypast of the Red Arrows as he stood next to his older sister Charlotte, eight. He was also spotted waving to the crowds in a funny routine and pulling funny faces. At one point, Jacqui reveals he said: 'What's those copters?' His father William then told his youngest son: 'Wave.' Kate and William then watched as Charles and Camilla were crowned King and Queen of our country Many viewers around the world watched not only a heartwarming moment between and father and son, but a touching moment between the newly crowned King of the United Kingdom and our future monarch As the Prince and Princess of Wales arrived at Westminster Abbey this morning, they seem to have had a conversation about the gowns they were wearing outside Westminster Abbey. According to Press, Kate said to William: 'Are you ok? Look at the bottom of your...' and then she gestured towards his gown. To which William said: 'Yes it's caught.' Prince William then smiled at Kate as they walked in, before she said: 'Just mind your gown.' The Prince of Wales responded: 'Dont worry I caught it.' They then smiled at each other and entered the Abbey, ready to participate in the first coronation in 70 years. According to Press, Queen Camilla asked for help with her cloak when she was entering Westminster Abbey The cheeky royal, known for his hilarious funny faces at royal events, also took part in the Coronation procession Kate and William then watched as Charles and Camilla were crowned King and Queen of our country. Meanwhile, Press revealed what she thinks Prince Harry said to Princess Eugenie's husband, Jack Brooksbank, during an exchange at Westminster Abbey. Press said the conversation appeared light-hearted as they waited for the historic occasion to begin, with Harry possibly discussing an event happening on Sunday. She claimed the Prince, who is alone at the service without the Duchess of Sussex or their two children Archie and Lilibet, smiled at Mr Brooksbank and said: 'Thats funny, mmm interesting'. To an unknown question from Mr Brooksbank, Prince Harry said: 'About quarter to 4?' Mr Brooksbank then replied: 'Oh really, when?' to which the Duke responded: 'I think tomorrow...' She claimed the Prince, who is alone at the service without the Duchess of Sussex or their two children Archie and Lilibet, smiled at Mr Brooksbank and said: 'Thats funny, mmm interesting' Prince Harry was spotted chatting to Jack Brooksbank as he entered the Abbey; lip reader Jacqui Press told MailOnline the pair had a light-hearted conversation Earlier, Prince Harry, who chatted with both Prince Edward and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi on his way in, addressed the well-wishers and congregation, saying: 'Morning, morning, how are you doing?' One person in the crowd told him, 'You look smart', Press said - referring to the moment the suited and booted prince walked into the Abbey for his father's Coronation. The Duke of Sussex was seated between Princess Eugenie's husband Jack Brooksbank and Princess Alexandra, the cousin of the late Queen who has not worked as a royal for ten years. They were joined by Prince Andrew's daughters Eugenie, 33, and Beatrice, 34, and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. As the ceremony got underway, the Bishop said to the children holding King Charles's gown: 'Stop! Wait there,' before holding his hands up. During the service, William shared a wholesome exchange with his newly crowned father. Queen Camilla is pictured sat in the throne as she is crowned at the first coronation in 70 years Queen Camilla was pictured walking in Westminster Abbey with the crown on her head, as King Charles sat in the chair Here, The Princess of Wales is pictured speaking to Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in the Abbey The Prince of Wales bent down to give his father a kiss on the cheek, with a touched King Charles then simply said: 'Thank you William.' Many viewers around the world watched not only a heartwarming moment between and father and son, but a touching moment between the newly crowned King of the United Kingdom and our future monarch. Later on after the service, Charles said: 'thank you' to the faith leaders on his way out of the Abbey. As he reflected on the service, the King turned to the Bishop and said: 'It was wonderful.' The royal family left Westminster Abbey to head to Buckingham Palace, where King Charles and Queen Camilla appeared on the balcony. But it seems King Charles was concerned about going too close to the edge of the balcony, as it is thought he said: 'I dont want to get too close... I might give myself a fright!' He then said: 'Be careful, come close,' to his wife, Camilla. The King and Queen remarked about how lovely it was to see everyone, with the Camilla saying: 'Oh look how wonderful this is. Remarkable.' Charles then asked: 'Is everyone here?' before the Prince and Princess of Wales walked onto the balcony with their three children. George, Charlotte and Louis. Queen Camilla then smiled and said: 'This is so lovely,' before looking up and holding her hand out. According to Press, Camilla added: 'Ohhh, rain,' before pausing and trying to tilt her head upwards, but she could not, as her head was weighed down by the crown. When on the balcony to watch the flypast, Kate said to William: 'It's raining,' and the royal responded with a disappointed sigh. Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh also jokingly said to Kate 'Wheres George?' as they usher the children on to the platform. Kate laughed and then responded: 'Oh yes!' At this time, George is not in front of them, but stood beside William. Prince William smiled and then said: 'Oh yes!' The pair travelled back in the rather bumpy Gold State Coach, which past monarchs have described as uncomfortable The King and Queen remarked about how lovely it was to see everyone, with the Camilla saying: 'Oh look how wonderful this is. Remarkable' Prince Louis once again stole the show as the royal family watched a flypast on the Balcony of Buckingham Palace The cheeky prince was at it again with his hilarious facial expressions on the balcony as his mother laughed When the Red Arrows flew past, William said to his children, according to Press: 'Look guys please.' A boy then said: 'It's loud!' to which Prince George then smiled and agreed: 'Yes!' When they walked off the balcony into Buckingham Palace, Press claims William said to Prince Louis, 'Yes, wave!' King Charles then waved at the crowd below and said: 'Thank you everybody, thank you very much.' He then exclaimed: 'Look at everyone here.' Upon the arrival of the Red Arrows, Camilla said: 'Oh look here they come.' When the helicopters fly past, King Charles said: 'It feels wonderfully wobbly and almost makes it shake around,' although it is not clear what the King is referring to. When they bid the public farewell, Charles said: 'Thank you everyone thank you for coming,' while waving. Queen Camilla said: 'Bye! So lovely,' before going inside. Dior has revealed they dressed Prince Harry for King Charles' coronation - as the royal forwent wearing a military uniform. The Duke of Sussex, 38, wore a designer suit for today's event, which he watched from the third row, while the senior members of the royal family wore their military garments. The French fashion house revealed on their social media channels that they had the 'honour' to dress the royal for the event, adding he was wearing a custom design by Kim Jones, Dior Men's Artistic Director. Harry, who left swiftly after his father's coronation for Heathrow, where he caught a flight home to California, still wore his honours pinned to the suit. After his father's coronation, Harry left Westminster Abbey and got straight into a car that immediately left London and headed to the airport. Dior revealed they dressed Prince Harry for King Charles' Coronation at Westminster Abbey - as the royal forwent wearing a military uniform Shortly after the coronation ceremony, Dior took to its social media to reveal Kim Jones was the designer behind the father-of-two's suit. 'Tailoring fit for royalty. Dior is honored to have dressed Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, for the coronation of King Charles III in a custom design by Kim Jones,' the brand wrote on social media. 'Seen arriving at Westminster Abbey, gain an insight into the savoir-faire of his three-piece suit next,' it added. The three-piece suit consisted of a morning coat, a black vest, which Harry wore with a crisp white shirt and a pearl grey tie. Royal commentators had speculated about whether the royal would wear a military uniform - after he didn't wear one for the late Queen's funeral last September. Military Historian Dr Peter Johnston told True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat in April that Harry may be allowed to display a different tribute to his service despite serving two tours in Afghanistan. 'I imagine Harry won't wear uniform [at the Coronation],' he said. Even as a veteran who did two tours in Afghanistan, he won't wear uniform. The father-of-two wore a design custom-made by the brand's men's artistic director Kim Jones to the event The French fashion house announced it had designed the suit shortly after the end of the coronation ceremony 'I imagine he'll wear his medals but quite where he fits within the procession and where he comes, I think will be probably reasonably similar to where he was at the funeral as well.' Discussing Harry's role in the procession, the historical expert added that he will 'be a part of it, but not necessarily, a [leading] part of it'. Harry had been expected to swiftly return to Meghan in Montecito so they could celebrate the birthday of their son, Archie, who turns four today. It is believed the Duke boarded a British Airways flight to Los Angeles International. The flight time is around 11 hours, meaning he could be back in California in time to for his son's special day. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex is seen arriving at the Windsor Suite in a police convoy leaving on a British Airways flight from LHR to LAX Prince Harry looks on at his brother Prince William in the front row during the coronation of their father King Charles III at Westminster Abbey Moment the Duke of Sussex , 38, told Jack Brooksbank he would be 'heading off' as they took their seats inside Westminster Abbey, before saying the words 'airport', according to a professional lip reader The King's youngest son was all smiles as he climbed into a black vehicle immediately after the event on Saturday afternoon, rushing to make his way back to the airport. The same car was then seen being escorted away from the capital by a police motorcade in the direction of Heathrow. There was no appearance from Harry, nor his uncle, Prince Andrew, on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the finale of the day, with the Palace confirming earlier that the ex-working royals had no formal role at the event. After his father's service at Westminster Abbey, Harry got straight into a car that immediately left London and headed to the airport. (Left to right 3rd and 4th row): The Duke of York, Princess Beatrice, Peter Phillips, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Zara Tindall, Princess Eugenie, Jack Brooksbank, Mike Tindall and the Duke of Sussex, (left to right 2nd row) the Earl of Wessex, Lady Louise Windsor, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duchess of Gloucester, the Princess Royal Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Prince Michael of Kent, Princess Michael of Kent, (1st row) the Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Edinburgh Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex talks to Princess Anne as they take their seats ahead of the Coronation Ceremony The Duke of Sussex , 38, seemed keen to put on a jovial display at Westminster Abbey as he chatted to relatives, amid ongoing speculation of the Royal Family's inner turmoil following the release of his bombshell memoir Spare Prince Harry walking down the aisle by himself inside Westminster Abbey It was reported that the Duke had been invited to a post-coronation lunch at Buckingham Palace, in what many would have seen as an olive branch after his explosive memoir Spare left members of the Royal Family reeling - most notably his brother Prince William. Harry had worn an awkward smile at his father's ceremony as he was forced to watch the event of a generation from his relegated seat in the third row - while his sibling took centre stage alongside a radiant Kate Middleton. Harry had no formal role in the day's proceedings as he is no longer a working royal. The Duke seemed keen to put on a jovial display, however, amid ongoing speculation of the Royal Family's inner turmoil following the release of his bombshell book in February. Wearing medals pinned to his suit jacket, he had been seen laughing and smiling as he entered the church alongside Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and their respective husbands Jack Brooksbank and Edo Mapelli Mozzi. He had awkwardly nodded at other guests as he endured a solo walk down the aisle to take his seat next to his cousins ahead of the arrival of his father and the-now Queen Camilla. Once sat next to Mr Brooksbank, a lipreader consulted by Hello! magazine believes the Duke told him: 'I will be straight to the airport.' Choosing a coronation feast is not a trifle in terms of keeping your teeth healthy With coronation preparations in full swing, many people are looking forward to indulging in some truly iconic British cuisine. Jam scones, trifle, and sausage rolls are just some of the foods featuring among many people's spreads to celebrate a royal occasion. But do you know what coronation cuisine could give you bad breath, cause tooth decay, or yellow your teeth? Dr Khaled Kasem, chief orthodontist of orthodontics chain Impress, shared with MailOnline the foods that could cause dental disasters this weekend. Unless you're looking to have a dental crown after King Charles get his Royal one, he recommends paying heed to the following tips. A beloved street food favourite since the early 1800s the starchy pastry can sadly contribute to tooth decay Sausage Rolls Sausage rolls became a beloved street food favourite in the early 1800s. The quintessential snack is adored for its crispy puff pastry that encases sausage meat. While the humble treat is packed with protein and vitamin B12, it can have a serious impact on your pearly whites. READ MORE Does 'scone' rhyme with 'gone' or 'cone'? MailOnline asks ChatGPT for the correct pronunciation - so do YOU agree? The big question is - how do you pronounce 'scone' Advertisement Dr Kasem said: 'Pastry is starchy, which sticks to teeth and breaks down on them, leaving behind sugars that can cause damage and decay.' Tooth decay which affects one in three people in the UK and one in four in the US happens when acid is produced and forms a plaque which builds up on your teeth. Eating starch in any amount can also increase the risk of developing cavities, according to researchers at Newcastle University. Instead of tucking into sausage rolls, Dr Kasem swapping to another meaty treat. He said: 'Ditch the pastry and try cocktail sausages, negating the need for starch completely - and lets be honest, the sausage is the best bit.' Jam Scones Jam scones are far more controversial than they appear. As well as being the source of arguments across the country on whether the jam or cream goes first, they can also wreak havoc on teeth. The snack, which originated in Scotland in the early 1500s, did not become fashionable until the Duchess of Bedford, Anna, ordered it religiously for her afternoon tea in 1840. The eternal British debate, jam first or cream? Regardless of if you follow the Devon (left) or Cornish (right) school of scone dining, neither option may leave you smiling when it comes to your oral health Since then, Brits have held a place in their heart for delightful snacks but have given little consideration about the effects on their gnashers. Jam is packed with sugar, one of the main causes for tooth decay. And bacteria in the mouth produce tooth-dissolving acid as they break it down. Dr Kasem recommended people concerned about their oral health opt for a low-sugar jam, or even choose a savoury scone. 'If scones are a non-negotiable indulgence, pair with a low-sugar conserve, or opt for a savoury snack instead and spread your scones with some cream cheese and cucumber - a delightfully dignified snack if we do say so ourselves,' he said. Trifle Trifle is a custard, jelly and cream layered dish which is loved by the nation. But, while the British classic may taste like a treat, its effect on your teeth is anything but a trifle. The sugar content levels in every layer are outrageous. The 'best ever' M&S sharing trifle has 19.4g per portion nearly two-thirds of the maximum daily allowance. A trifle is anything but when it comes to how this sugary British classic could play havoc with your gnashers Dr Kasem said teeth brushing after eating the pudding is vital to prevent the sugar from sitting on your teeth and slowing starting to rot the outer layer, especially for those using teeth aligners devices that straighten teeth. He said: 'Its yummy custard, jelly and cream filling is a hazard for your teeth due to the sheer amount of sugar it contains.' Dr Kasem suggested swapping the desert for fresh strawberries and cream to cut down on the sugar content. The British dish has already proved popular around royal celebrations, as a lemon trifle, prepared by Jemma Melvin, a copywriter from Southport in Merseyside, was crowned winner of the Queen's Platinum Pudding competition last summer. Coronation Chicken The aptly named coronation chicken is a leading offender in staining teeth. The dish, originally served as part of celebrations held for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, carries a hidden consequences for your pearly whites. And while coronation chicken may be fit for a king, dentists are urging Brits to opt for caesar chicken salad instead to avoid staining their pearly whites While this may seem the perfect time to eat food fit for a king, it is probably best to give this one a miss if you are wanting to keep those teeth shining. Coronation chicken, and other dark-pigmented sauces, are packed with chemical compounds called chromogens which give foods their strong colour. These coloured particles that are capable of sticking to enamel and in turn stains your teeth. Dr Kasem advised instead opting for chicken with caesar dressing, as it is better for oral health. Most eight-year-old boys have to be reminded to wash their hands. But not Theo Panteli. For the past three years, Theo has been hooked on a rigorous routine of scrubbing them at the sight of a tiny speck of dust, often several times an hour. Each time it has to be exactly 20 seconds as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice, which he picked up from an announcement by Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister, at the height of the pandemic. And its not just his hands. Theo wont drink out of cups at school, even if they are clean. He asks other children to keep at least 2ft away from him when theyre ill. He wont even hold the hand of family members. All of these behaviours are driven by a fear of catching a virus which could harm him or his family. They are also the classic symptoms of the mental health condition called obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD. Theo Panteli, pictured with his mother, Tas, left, is very concerned about germs. He is so worried that when his friends are ill, the eight-year-old from Hertfordshire orders them to stay away Vivaana Doodhmal, left, pictured with her mother Jeroo, right, is also highly anxious about picking up infections while outside. Her mother said her six-year-old daughter was worried by the threat of Covid-19 Sufferers experience intrusive, unpleasant thoughts and attempt to tackle the anxieties with repetitive behaviours. The type of behaviours are dependent on the nature of the fear. Studies show that in around 40 per cent of cases, the fear is contamination. Other common examples include worries about being burgled, resulting in obsessive checking of locks on windows and doors. The condition can often be triggered by traumatic life events. In Theos case, this was the Covid pandemic, which began when he was just five. As a baby, he didnt have these problems, says his mother, Tas, a 31-year-old part-time medical secretary from Hertfordshire. Then Covid turned Theos life upside down. He would follow everything that was happening in the news about the pandemic because he wanted to know when he could see his family and go back to school. Thats when he started washing his hands obsessively I think because he thought it would help get things back to normal. He was really excited to go back to school and see his friends. However, his fear of germs hasnt gone. He is still worried there will be another lockdown. Theo has been referred to see a local mental health specialist but the family has been told to expect a long wait before an appointment. Alarmingly, Theo is not alone. Experts have told The Mail on Sunday of concerns about a recent rise in contamination-related obsessive compulsive disorder among school children. In many cases, they say, the problem was sparked by the events of 2020 and 2021. Some have warned that NHS mental health services could be dealing with this growing tide of OCD for years to come. Public safety promoting social distancing and mask-wearing had a much more pronounced effect on children than most people expected, says Dr Zenobia Storah, a Manchester-based consultant child psychologist. I still regularly see children with red-raw hands from the amount of handwashing they do and kids who refuse to go to school because theyre afraid of catching something. Its worrying because OCD can stay with them for the rest of their lives. The Mail on Sunday has heard from parents with children as young as three who use antibacterial handwash compulsively and avoid other children for fear of catching a virus. Around 750,000 people in the UK live with OCD. Of those, an estimated 35,000 are children. The condition can strike at any age, but it typically develops in childhood. Some are able to manage their compulsions with treatment, which usually involves regular sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy with a psychologist and, sometimes, antidepressants. But, in half of cases, treatment fails to keep the condition under control and patients remain unable to do everyday activities such as socialising and going to work. Some sufferers struggle to even leave the house. Dr Emma Citron, a private clinical psychologist in London said previous infectious disease outbreaks have seen increases in 'contamination OCD' where people have an irrational fear of catching a disease It is not the first time that a global health crisis has triggered a rise in contamination-related OCD. Weve seen increases in contamination OCD at points where infectious diseases are in the national conversation, says Dr Emma Citron, a private clinical psychologist in London. It was documented during the AIDS epidemic, along with the swine flu outbreak in 2009. While the behaviour of someone with OCD may be irrational, the basis of their anxiety is often genuine. But this anxiety can lead to intrusive thoughts about the worst possible outcome. Eventually sufferers reach a point where they believe if they touch something dirty or dont wash their hands properly, something bad is going to happen. In the first six months of 2020, when Covid was rife, OCD referrals to mental health services rose significantly in several countries. And many of those who have already been diagnosed found that their symptoms either returned or got worse. In the UK, there was a startling rise in the condition among children. One study, carried out at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, revealed that the number of children referred to mental health services for OCD rose by more than 30 per cent on the previous year. Meanwhile, nearly 70 per cent of children with OCD became more unwell. The researchers noted that many reported fears of infection and contamination by Covid. Three years on, experts are still seeing children with these fears. Were still regularly treating children with contamination fears that originated in Covid, says India Haylor, head therapist at the London clinic OCD Excellence. Weve found that kids under ten were susceptible to the public safety messages used during the pandemic. These are formative years. Now that theyve grown up a bit, these patterns of behaviour have become set in stone. Ms Haylor adds that these children have been especially difficult to treat. Usually we explain to children that their behaviour isnt good for them, she says. But Ive had kids who say, But the Government says I should be doing this. OCD commonly begins to develop around the age of five, with symptoms becoming pronounced by six or seven, according to studies. However, experts are concerned about an unusual focus on cleanliness in some of todays three- and four-year-olds. While it may not be full-blown OCD, these children are at higher risk of developing it in the future, they say. Ms Haylor says: You cant treat a three-year-old for OCD because theyre too young to really understand what theyre doing, but you can treat the mum or dad who are the source of the anxiety. Young children pick up the behaviour of their parents very quickly, so youve got to be super scrupulous to make sure nervous behaviour isnt passed on. One child affected by the fallout from the pandemic is three-year-old Stella Jones, daughter of Sofia Jones, 30, a solicitor from London. She was born during Covid and all she has known since then is a world which is hyper-focused on cleanliness, says Sofia. I carried antibacterial handwash everywhere with me during the pandemic, and now Stella wants to use it too. Shell point at the bottle and keep gesturing until I give it to her. Its got to the point where Ive had to buy Stella her own one to keep her calm. Sofia says that despite the fact her daughter is too young to understand what germs are, she is already showing signs of anxiety over hygiene. When Id come home from work during Covid, Id always wash my hands thoroughly before I touched Stella because Id been on the Tube. Now she always wants her hands washed too. When she is eating and gets stuff on her hands, shell hold them out for me to clean them. She doesnt know what Covid is but she sees crumbs and dirt and gets concerned. It feels like she associates dirt with bad things. Sofia adds: Shes at an age where Im beginning to worry if this is a permanent thing. I worry that shell miss out on fun childhood things like finger painting and playing in the playground. I dont want her to become obsessive about cleaning, like me. Clean freak or mental health problem? Here's how to tell An unusual interest in hygiene isnt necessarily something to worry about. Its common for some young children to take a keen interest in cleaning and making sure things are in the correct place, says India Haylor, head therapist at London clinic OCD Excellence. Having this interest doesnt necessarily mean that the child has obsessive compulsive disorder. But how do you know when it becomes a serious mental health problem? One of the tell-tale signs is when a child becomes very distressed when they cant for whatever reason do their cleaning ritual, says Ms Haylor. There will almost certainly be tears and a meltdown. Those who dont have a mental health disorder should be able to cope without the behaviours. The NHS suggests that parents consider seeking psychological help if their children start repeating their cleaning rituals very frequently for example, several times in an hour or if not doing them severely affects their mood. The NHS website advises that children with obsessive compulsive disorder may often be late for school because of their cleaning rituals, or they may refuse to leave the house for fear of going anywhere if they havent carried them out. Advertisement There is also concern that schools are still encouraging an obsessive relationship with hygiene. Were still hearing about schools telling children they need to wash their hands before every class, says Arabella Skinner of the parent group Us For Them. All this does is terrify children and make them believe that their bodies are dangerous and can kill others. The problem is compounded by the dearth in mental health services for young children, experts say. Recent research, carried out by the political magazine The House, suggests that a quarter of a million mentally unwell children in the UK cant access the services they need. This is largely due to the unprecedented rise in referrals since March 2020. NHS figures show that, prior to the pandemic, the number of children aged six to 16 with a mental health problem was one in nine that figure is now one in six. This rise in OCD cases has come at a time when it is more difficult than ever to get treatment on the NHS, says Dr Storah. Its really concerning, because most mental illnesses need to be tackled early. Dr Storah adds that half of all life-long mental health conditions develop by the age of 14. But some children can overcome their contamination fears. Six-year-old Vivaana Doodhmal became highly anxious about infection control during the pandemic. Her mum, Jeroo, 39, an author from London, says: There was a lot of uncertainty about how you could be catch Covid at the beginning, and I think I passed on my anxieties and paranoia. Eventually Vivaana became fearful of other people and would ask to cross the street if anyone was walking towards us. She wouldnt want to play with other kids or touch mud and grass. And she would wash her hands all the time, while singing the Happy Birthday song twice, just like they were taught in nursery. Eager to calm her daughters anxieties, Jeroo wrote a book, called Pip & Henrys Bug Hunt, which tries to explain the difference between naughty bugs such as Covid and good bugs that children come into contact with every day and are harmless. It helped her realise that the world isnt a scary place filled with evil creepy crawlies, says Jeroo. That, combined with our more relaxed attitude after vaccination, meant that Vivaana got over the anxieties. Shes quite a fearless kid now and loves playing with her friends. Seven days ago, I chuckled (and cried) my way through the film adaptation of Rachel Joyce's wonderful book The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry. It's a life-affirming story of an older gentleman's epic journey by foot to visit a former work colleague (Queenie) before she dies in the hospice she has been admitted to. For Harold, the walk from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed is both painful and cathartic. Painful because the loafers he is wearing leave his feet battered and blistered. Cathartic because the journey allows him to come to terms with the longstanding guilt he has felt over the suicide of his gifted son a death that caused a rift in his marriage to Maureen. To the main point I want to make. Before the film (which I urge you to go and see), I was 'treated' to the latest advert from Lloyds. The bank's adverts are always worth watching after all, who can't be mesmerised by a mix of graceful horses and Alicia Keys singing Girl On Fire. But not necessarily for the main message Lloyds is desperate to get across to viewers that it's a lovely, cuddly, all-inclusive bank rather than a business that made 2.3billion of profits in the first quarter of this year, essentially by taking many savers for a proverbial ride. Journey: Jim Broadbent stars in the life-affirming movie The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry The current advert promotes the bank's Smart Start, a combined savings and bank account for kids aged 11 to 15. No problems with that getting kids to save from an early age is to be encouraged. Yet the advert hasn't gone down particularly well in the Tate household. Paul and Helen Tate live in Fulwell, Sunderland within sight of the North Sea and have been customers of Lloyds for more than 35 years. Now in their 70s, they like to do their banking the traditional way by visiting their local Lloyds branch. They are part of the 40 per cent of over-65s identified by charity Age UK who have bank accounts, but do not manage their money online. Sadly, banking is going to become far more problematic for the Tates in late July when Lloyds shuts its Fulwell branch. The closure will leave the community bankless it was once home to both Barclays and NatWest branches. The couple will then have to traipse into Sunderland to do their banking not as epic a journey as Harold Fry's, but an inconvenience nonetheless. Paul, who works part-time at Asda, says a petition has been launched to keep the Lloyds branch open, but he doesn't hold out much hope. 'It's a great shame the branch is closing,' he told me last week. 'The impact on local shops will be awful while it will present issues for many elderly residents who will have to travel into town to use a bank branch.' Age UK believes face-to-face banking services should be protected so that communities such as Fulwell are not left bankless. It's a view that Paul shares. 'I don't have an issue with Lloyds targeting youngsters in its adverts,' he says. 'But it would be nice if, for a change, the bank accommodated the particular banking needs of the elderly the 70 and 80-year-olds. We are the forgotten ones.' Why credit unions are key part of financial jigsaw Credit unions are low-key organisations, providing a mix of financial products including savings accounts and loans to groups of individuals whose bond is their profession (for example, policing or firefighting) or where they live. Seven days ago, I stumbled across credit union M4Money, which had a stall at a 10km running event I was participating in at Frimley Green in Surrey. M4Money draws members from a number of London boroughs, the counties of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire and hospitals such as Frimley Park. Like other credit unions, it is set up on a not-for-profit basis, with savers providing the funds for M4Money to lend to those who need to borrow. Savers, whose funds are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, earn an annual dividend (the equivalent of interest). Borrowers get access to loans that maybe a bank would not grant them. Credit unions are part of the country's financial jigsaw. Take a look at the website of the Association of British Credit Unions: www.abcul.coop. Are bonuses last straw for members of NFU Mutual? 'Tough conditions': Chairman of NFU Mutual, Jim McLaren Financial services group NFU Mutual is loved by most of its customers which is something you can't say of many of its rivals. Last year, it paid 97 per cent of all general insurance (home and car) claims, delivered excellent customer service and rewarded loyal customers with a 'mutual bonus' (a premium discount) when they renewed their policies. Yet 2022 was a rough and tumble year for the Warwickshire-based business, as it concedes in the mailing it has just sent out to some 900,000 customers (members) ahead of its annual general meeting next month. Losses for the year, it reports, were in excess of 1billion, although it stresses that the business remains robust and is underpinned by mountains of capital. 'During 2022, we have seen some of the toughest market conditions in over 20 years,' concedes chairman Jim McLaren. 'But through prioritising our relationship with our members, calmly adapting to change, and hard work, NFU Mutual delivered for our customers and will continue to do so for many years to come.' Reassuring words, but some customers are now beginning to question their love affair with the mutual as a result of the handsome financial packages given last year to the business's executives (past, as well as present). The mailing confirms that despite the business's losses, the four executive directors who served on the mutual's board during 2022 earned combined annual bonuses in excess of 1million with chief executive Nick Turner receiving the biggest slice (nearly 477,000). Their total remuneration was not far short of 3.3million. Even former boss Lindsay Sinclair, who left the business in March 2021, continued to share in the boardroom spoils, getting a 310,674 payment. One customer who I spoke to last week said the remuneration paid to the directors (current and former) was 'outrageous'. She added: 'I'm sure many of the farmers who are core NFU Mutual customers will be shocked by these sums especially given the difficulties they are facing just to survive in business.' Fair point, I say. Expect some fireworks when the group holds its AGM at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire, on June 21. Leaving a gift in your will to charity ticks many boxes It can help reduce a potential inheritance tax bill (gifts to charity are IHT-free) as well as provide vital funds for a charity close to your heart. A substantial charitable gift made in a will can also result in a lower rate of IHT being charged 36 per cent instead of 40 per cent on assets above the nil-rate band of 325,000. So (chefs') hats off to Ken Hom multi-talented author, BBC TV presenter and chef for telling Donna Ferguson (our brilliant Me and My Money columnist) that he will be leaving Prostate Cancer UK a six-figure sum in his will. This is a charity that funds vital research into a cancer that kills one man every 45 minutes in the UK. The gift stems from 74-year-old Hom being successfully treated for prostate cancer ten years ago. He has since gone on to become an ambassador for the charity. Good on you, Ken. Supporting wonderful charities such as Prostate Cancer UK through gifting, donating, and fundraising is as cathartic as Harold Fry's epic journey was to see Queenie. Stylish: Erdem's floral dresses have been worn by the Princess of Wales and celebrities including Kylie Minogue (pictured) Designer fashion label Erdem has joined Burberry and Mulberry in throwing its weight behind a Mail campaign to get rid of a controversial tourist tax for shoppers. Philippa Nixon, chief executive of the London fashion house, said the tax cut would encourage tourists to shop in the UK rather than elsewhere in Europe. Erdem's floral dresses have been worn by the Princess of Wales and celebrities including Kylie Minogue. Nixon told The Mail on Sunday: 'London is the capital of creative expression and we should be encouraging the world to visit.' Brexit led to the then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak scrapping a 20 per cent VAT refund for overseas shoppers in 2021. Nixon said the move 'truly had catastrophic implications to big and small brands alike'. Marks & Spencer and Harrods are among 150 businesses signing a letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, organised by hotelier Sir Rocco Forte. The Mail's Scrap The Tourist Tax campaign has also been backed by a cross-party group of MPs. Online trading group Plus500 will not change plans to hand its top bosses 7million for 2022 despite a huge shareholder rebellion against its pay scheme last week, the Mail on Sunday understands. Almost 75 per cent of investors voted against hiking chief executive David Zruia's pay by 90 per cent to 3.6million and finance boss Elad Even-Chen's by 76 per cent to 3.7million. The vote was not binding but it was one of the largest revolts so far this year, with other companies targeted by their shareholders over current or future pay arrangements including Ocado, Pearson and Unilever. Revolt: Some investors are thought to be frustrated with how much detail the company gives about how it calculates bosses' bonuses A separate ballot on Plus500's pay policy which lays out rules for the next three years was also voted down by more than 20 per cent. Some investors are thought to be frustrated with how much detail the company gives about how it calculates bosses' bonuses. The Mail on Sunday understands that the company will not rescind any of the payment for last year but may make changes to the new policy following the showdown. Plus500, which is worth around 1.4billion, was founded in Israel back in 2008. A company spokesman said Plus500's share price rose 30 per cent in 2022 and that it gave investors more than 210million through dividends and share buybacks. The spokesman added: 'The board maintains a positive and open dialogue with all shareholders and will continue to do so around executive remuneration.' Anthony Albanese's anti-Royal past has been revealed as he enjoys a weekend in London attending the coronation of King Charles III with a bevvy of notable Australians. In 1999, the Prime Minister told a Republic Referendum Committee that young people 'simply cannot identify with Queen Elizabeth or Prince Charles'. Mr Albanese, who was an MP at the time, said the time had 'well and truly come' for Australia to ditch the monarchy and stand on its own two feet. 'It is very important that we are able to move forward,' he told the parliament. 'Young people in this country simply cannot identify with Queen Elizabeth or Prince Charles being our head of state. 'When you travel overseas it is seen as quite bizarre and embarrassing.' Mr Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon attend the coronation of King Charles III in London on Saturday. Mr Albanese warned that if Australia remained a monarchy, students and young people in 30 or 40 years time would see it as a missed opportunity. 'I urge people to support the republic and to support it now because it is inevitable -everyone accepts that. We should do it now, so we can do it with pride,' he said. His speech came just months before Australians were due to vote in a referendum on whether the nation should remain a monarchy or become a republic. Anthony Albanese will attend the coronation of King Charles III in London this weekend Mr Albanese (pictured with King Charles III in September) told a 1999 Republic Referendum Committee that young people 'simply cannot identify with Queen Elizabeth or Prince Charles' Fast forward to 2023, where Mr Albanese refused to give a direct answer when asked if Australians should be swearing their allegiance to the monarch. On Monday, the PM was asked if Australians could be expected to support the new monarch and whether he would invite the King for a Royal Tour. 'I would like to see the King come to Australia. I've invited the King... One of the things that occurs, of course, when we get sworn in as members of parliament, is that you do swear allegiance to the Crown,' he said on Monday. Mr Albanese said the coronation was an 'important event' and that the Royal Family would always be welcome in Australia. It comes after the prime minister was accused of making a major 'royal gaffe' after failing to formally invite King Charles to Australia. He gave an open invitation when he met Australia's new head of state in London at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September. The prime minister described his meeting with the King as 'a warm gathering' and that 'this is a time of respect, that is what is required here'. Australians have been called upon to cry out inside their homes during King Charles coronation (the Royal is pictured in Darwin in 2018) The prime minister was accused of making a major 'royal gaffe' after failing to formally invite King Charles to Australia after he visited the Royal in September (pictured) Mr Albanese, a republican, is yet to follow up on that promise with an official invitation for the King to visit Australia for the 17th time, his first as King. It's traditional for the monarch to visit Australia within 12 months of being crowned, according to royal biographer Robert Jobson. Mr Albanese has previously flagged there is unlikely to be a public referendum on the question of Australia becoming a republic until his second Labor term. In the aftermath of the death of Queen Elizabeth III, a survey found the majority of Australians were in favour of Australia remaining part of the monarchy. A poll conducted by Roy Morgan found of 1,012 people, 60 per cent wanted to remain a monarchy while 40 per cent would prefer to be a republic. More women than men were in support of the monarchy, 66-34 for women and 54-46 for men, while younger Australians were the biggest supporter of a republic, with 52 per cent of under-35s in favour of the move. Ahead of King Charles' coronation, popular supermarket brand Asda has revealed its opening hours for the upcoming Bank Holiday. Different opening hours may be in place at your nearest Asda store, depending upon its size and location. It is the second Bank Holiday to fall in May 2023, after the traditional early May Bank Holiday on 1 May. So, will Asda be open on coronation day? Will hours change due to the occurrence of another Bank Holiday? Read on below for everything you need to know about Asda opening times over the coronation weekend. Asda has announced its opening times for the day of King Charles' coronation and the Bank Holiday that will follow on Monday, 8 May Is Asda open on coronation day? On Saturday, 6 May, Asda superstores will operate between 6am and 7am, before shutting at 10pm. Usually, this will include stores open until midnight and its 24 hour stores. On Sunday, 7 May, most Asda superstores will open from either 10am or 11am, until 4pm or 5pm. Is Asda open on bank holidays? On the bank holiday, the majority of Asda stores will be opening from 7am to 8pm. Asda stores located in Scotland will run under normal trading hours on the Bank Holiday Monday. Asda has more than 600 stores across Britain, meaning that operating hours will vary across the country. If looking for opening times for your local Asda branch, shoppers should check the company's official store locator. What does Asda stand for? In the 1920s, the Asquith family, from Yorkshire, ran a butchers in the small market town of Knottingley. After opening a further seven stores, brothers Peter and Fred Asquith travelled to the US in 1958 - where they visited a Piggly Wiggly, which is considered to be the world's first self-service supermarket. The pair were so inspired by their business trip that they decided to convert a theatre in Castleford which was once known as 'The Queens' into a super-store in 1963. As they upscaled their business, the brothers decided to hire a new team to oversee their in-store butchers. A shopper pulls an Asda basket with COVID restrictions in place at the time due to the pandemic (photo dated 22 June, 2020) Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Ltd had been formed in 1949 and brought together a group local farmers in the West Riding area. While the Asquith brothers were opening their supermarkets in the 50s and 60s, the Associated Dairies team had opened a series of pork butchers along with their Craven Dairies branch of cafes. In 1965, Peter Asquith got in contact with Associated Dairies' Noel Stockdale to discuss merging their businesses. As detailed on the supermarket's website and confirmed by a spokesperson, the team settled on the name Asda for the business - as it combined the 'As' of Asquith and the 'Da' of 'Dairies'. Later this year Israel will finally have all four of their new Saar (Saar) 6-class corvettes operational. This comes two years after the ships were completed in Germany. At that point the Saars had most of their weapons and other equipment but it required another two years in Israel to install and test additional top-secret weapons, sensors and communications systems. In late 2o21 the last of these four Saar 6 corvettes arrived in Israel from Germany, where it was built. This came eight months after the first one arrived from Germany, where the Israeli crew conducted sea trials and other tests before making the two-week voyage to Israel. The other three did not linger in Germany and the Israeli crews quickly brought their new ships home. Israeli-designed electronics and weapons systems are only installed in their foreign-built warships once those arrive in Israel, a process that normally lasts about several months. That proved to be overly optimistic for the Saar 6s and it required about two years per ship to install and check out the new weapons and equipment. The German builders installed structures as well as power connections and wiring so the Israeli-made equipment could be quickly installed. These weapons and electronics are Israeli designed and built, and contain a lot of tech that Israel does not share. This sometimes causes problems with foreign supplied ships and aircraft. For example, Israel was one of the first export customers to receive the American F-35 stealth fighter. Israel planned to install their own modifications to the complex software systems that give the F-35 unique capabilities. The Americans initially refused to give Israel access to the source code for that software so that modifications could be made in Israel by Israelis. The U.S. and Israel have a long and successful history of jointly developing new weapons systems and those deals usually involve sharing new tech with each other. The U.S. considered the F-35 a special case and it took months of negotiations before Israel was allowed to make its modifications to the software. Details of that deal were kept secret but the Israeli version installed in the unique Israeli F-35I were apparently shared with the United States. The F-35I was the first F-35 to operate in a combat zone (Syria) and use that tech against the most modern Russian air defense and EW (Electronic Warfare) systems. The U.S. apparently got access to the results of those encounters, which were successful and somewhat alarming for the Russians and Iran. Some of the electronics and weapons capabilities in the Saar 6 are similarly new and meant to provide an unpleasant surprise for any future combat opponents. In addition, the 1,900-ton Saar 6s are the largest new ships to serve in the Israeli Navy. The Saar 6 is based on the 1,800-ton German Braunschweig class corvettes, which have been in service since 2008 and proven reliable and effective. Germany also builds submarines for Israel, which are modified to the point where they are considered a major upgrade to the German Type 212 and 214 subs German builds for itself and several export customers. Germany would like to form a joint development deal with Israel similar to the ones that Israel has long had with the United States. This has proved difficult to do because, while German shipbuilders see the advantages, European governments still have problems with anti-Semitism and are reluctant to cooperate as closely with Israel as the Americans do in developing new military tech and keeping the tech details secret. That may be changing because of Israel finally forming diplomatic and joint defense arrangements with Arab governments that long maintained this could never happen. These Arab states, like the Americans, recognize that Israel is the most democratic, economically successful, and militarily advanced nation in the Middle East. The Arab states wanted stronger defenses against aggressive neighbors like Iran. Europe sees Iran more as a business opportunity than a military threat. The 1,900 ton Saar 6 design contains more weapons and new electronics than ever and has undergone upgrades even while under construction. For example, in early 2017 the design was modified to improve anti-missile capabilities. This increased the number of VLS (vertical launch system) cells to include forty Tamir (range 70 kilometers) missiles used by the C-Dome (ship-based Iron Dome) system on these ships. Another 32 VLS cells contain Barak-8 surface-to-air missiles which can handle aircraft and missiles out to 110 kilometers. The 90-meter (288 foot) long Saar 6 is equipped with an AESA radar like the one used for the American Aegis system. Both Barak 8 and C-Dome missiles use the same Israeli designed AESA radar and fire control system. Currently the Israelis have fifteen Saar type ships in service; four Saar 6, three Saar 5 and eight Saar 4.5. All of the older Saar 4s were retired, sold off, or converted to Saar 4.5. The older Saar 4.5s are a 500-ton ships that are 61.7 meters (203 feet) long and heavily armed with a 76mm gun, eight anti-ship missiles, 32 anti-aircraft missiles, a Phalanx anti-missile 20mm autocannon, a 25mm autocannon, two 20mm autocannon, two 12.7mm machine-guns, a helicopter, and an extensive set of electronics (for a ship of that size). The Saar 5 and Saar 6 were similar in concept but larger. Israel also has five submarines and 45 patrol boats. Israel is getting a sixth submarine and building new 800-ton Reshef-class corvettes to replace the older450-ton Saar 4.5 ships. Israel is also building 1,000-ton Saar S-80 class corvettes. These are ships are designed for long ocean voyages as well as local operations. Since the early 1970s Israel has built 36 Saar type ships. This began with the Saar 1, 2, and 3 classes of fast missile boats, all under 250 tons. These boats were variants on older German designs. The Saar 4 were a unique Israeli design for a 450-ton warship built in Israel and armed with eight anti-ship missiles, a Phalanx anti-missile 20mm autocannon plus a rather complete set of electronics for a ship of that size. These could stay out for about ten days at a time, had a top speed of 60 kilometers an hour, a crew of 45, and entered service in 1972. In 1980 the Saar 4.5 class vessels arrived as a major upgrade to Saar 4. Five 4.5s were exported but most were used by Israel. The three Saar 5 class corvettes (also referred to as the Eliat class) were, because of their size, built in the United States. The 1,075-ton vessels are 85.6 meters (281 feet) long and carry an impressive amount of firepower that includes 64 Barak surface-to-air missiles, eight Harpoon (or Gabriel) anti-ship missiles, two triple 12.75-inch torpedo tubes firing Mk 46 torpedoes, two 25mm Sea Vulcans, a 20mm Phalanx CIWS (for destroying incoming missiles), and a helicopter. Top speed is 61 kilometers per hour. There is a crew of 74. These vessels entered service in 1993 and 1994. The Saar 6 may be the last of the many Saar type ships Israel had developed since the 1970s. Before Saar 6, there were three 1,075-ton Saar 5s and Israel is not sure more of these large ships are what they need. The much larger Saar 6s is something of a specialist ship. They are armed with a 76mm gun, anti-missile/aircraft systems and anti-ship missiles. Saar 6 has a max speed of 46 kilometers an hour and normal endurance of 10-12 days. Crew size is 70 and these ships have a longer range than earlier Saars. That means anywhere in the Mediterranean or to the Red Sea, Indian Ocean or Persian Gulf. Israel recently held joint naval training exercises in the Red Sea with American warships. This took place off the Saudi coast with the approval of the Saudis who want to establish closer military ties with Israel. That process must proceed slowly because for nearly a century the Saudi Kingdom has been a major opponent of an independent Jewish state in the region. Saudi leaders have changed their minds but getting the Saudi population to go along takes longer. Israel spent $100 million to equip all its Saar type ships with the latest version of the 76mm Oto Melara rapid fire cannon. The Israeli Navy has wanted these guns for a long time and American sailors who used them on the U.S. Perry class frigates spoke highly of them, as did sailors in navies throughout the world. Some 40 other navies have used these innovative naval guns and all have been satisfied. The 76mm Oto Melara has a 4.7-meter (15.5 foot) barrel and is operated remotely. The gun has an 80-round magazine under the gun turret and can fire up to 80 rounds a minute at surface targets. Thats apparently what the Israelis want the 76mm gun for, especially because a primary threat is many (up to dozens) of speedboats armed with missiles and rockets, or packed with explosives for suicide attacks. This is a tactic favored by Iran and its Lebanese franchisee Hezbollah. The 76mm gun can hit small targets (including cruise missiles) out to 20 kilometers, or twice that using a smaller guided shell. The standard 76mm shell is 12.5 kg (28 pounds), which is capable of accurately hitting and destroying small speedboats. The gun could hit about 60 targets in a few minutes. The fire control systems on all the Saar ships were upgraded in general and this will include the ability to handle the new 76mm gun. All active Saar type ships have received new Israeli made radars and EW (Electronic Warfare) equipment. All the Saar type ships mainly exist to guard the Mediterranean Coast, especially the offshore natural gas fields. Israel began pumping natural gas in 2013 from deposits discovered and developed since 2008. Israeli firms have found over $200 billion worth of oil and gas there so far. Israel is using these finds to achieve energy independence. The offshore facilities and pipelines must be defended from terrorists and military threats. Some of the offshore gas wells are within range of rockets fired from Gaza or southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah does as it wants. The unguided rockets are not accurate enough to hit a gas well, unless dozens (or more) were fired at once. To counter that tactic some of the offshore platforms will also be equipped with Iron Dome batteries. Iron Dome and C-Dome have a unique feature in which the radar system computes where the incoming rocket will land. If the rocket will not hit an inhabited (by ships, people or off-shore facilities) area, it will be ignored. Otherwise, an interceptor missile will be fired. Opening hours for post offices across the UK are set to be affected by the Bank Holiday weekend, which is taking place to mark the coronation of King Charles III. The Post Office is primed to operate with altered operating times on the upcoming Bank Holiday, which will fall on Monday, 8 May, 2023. The extra Bank Holiday has been called by the government to allow Brits to celebrate King Charles' coronation. Ahead of the next Bank Holiday, which comes just a week after May Day, here is everything you need to know about post office opening times. A post box in Rhyl, north Wales, is topped with a knitted crown ahead of King Charles' official coronation ceremony Is the post office open on coronation day? On the day of King Charles' coronation, some postcodes in London will not receive post due to security operations being in place for the event. Access in the EC4V, SE1 7, SE1 8, SW1, W1J, W1K, WC2N and WC2R postcode areas will be restricted until after the coronation clear-up on Saturday, 6 May. In addition, the Royal Mail customer service point at 9 Howick Place, SW1P 1AA, will also be closed on Saturday, 6 May. Are post offices open on Bank Holiday Monday? As Monday, 8 May, has been designated as another Bank Holiday by the government, no post offices will be open. Furthermore, there will no post delivered on the day as staff enjoy a well-earned break on the extra Bank Holiday. Royal Mail is marking the Coronation with a set of four new stamps, each approved by King Charles III, which have been unveiled in time for the Coronation. The four stamps depict the King being crowned and celebrate the Commonwealth, Britain's multi-faith society and biodiversity, a cause close to Charles' heart. On 'The Coronation' stamp, the scene is printed in regal purple ink and set in front of Westminster Abbey The set is based on newly-commissioned wood engravings by artist Andrew Davidson. One imagines St Edward's Crown being lowered onto Charles' head by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the moment of the Coronation on 6 May. The 1st class stamp shows a likeness of the monarch holding the Sceptre with Dove and the Sceptre with Cross and sitting in the Coronation Chair. The other three stamps depict Diversity and Community, The Commonwealth, and Sustainability and Biodiversity. Ahead of King Charles' coronation, popular supermarket brand Morrisons has revealed its opening hours for the upcoming Bank Holiday. Different opening hours may be in place at your nearest Morrisons branch, depending upon its size and location. It is the second Bank Holiday to fall in May 2023, after the traditional early May Bank Holiday. So, will Morrisons be open on coronation day? Will hours change due to the occurrence of another Bank Holiday? Read on below for everything you need to know about Morrisons opening times over the coronation weekend. Like other supermarkets across the UK, Morrisons will operate different opening hours to normal across the Bank Holiday weekend Is Morrisons open on coronation day? Morrisons opening times will remain as normal over the weekend of King Charles' coronation. Morrisons stores will open from either 6am or 7am before shutting at 10pm or 11pm on Saturday. Morrisons Sunday opening hours will also remain the same due to Sunday trading laws. This is usually either 10am until 4pm or 11am until 5pm, for stores in England and Wales. In Scotland, stores are typically open 8am until 8pm on Sundays. Is Morrisons open on bank holidays? For the Monday bank holiday, which falls on 8 May, Morrisons stores will open at their usual time but will close at 8pm, slightly earlier than normal. Customers should check their local store times on Morrisons store finder. Like many other supermarkets, Morrisons is launching a special promotion for the coronation weekend, with discounts on a number of different products. Its websites states: 'From throwing a street party to royally ravishing recipes, enjoy ideas and inspiration to help you make it a weekend fit for royalty. Purchasing a Morrisons Delivery Pass allows customers the chance to benefit from free deliveries when buying their groceries online Do you have to pay for Morrisons delivery? Customers not aware of a potential offering from Morrisons could be missing out on the chance to have free delivery when they shop online. Through a scheme called the Morrisons Delivery Pass, customers can shop online as often as they like without having to pay for delivery every time they checkout. To get free Morrisons deliveries, all you have to do is choose the length of your delivery pass and when you want your deliveries. Passes are available at varying different lengths and times of the week. For deliveries between Tuesdays and Thursdays, a monthly pass costs 5, with a six-month delivery pass available for 25. To get free Morrisons deliveries all year round, an annual pass will set you back 40. If you are looking for grocery deliveries from Morrisons from Monday to Sunday for extra flexibility, the cost rises to 8 for a weekly pass, 45 for a six-month pass and 70 for an annual pass. Shop opening hours across the UK are set to be affected by the Bank Holiday weekend, which is taking place to mark the coronation of King Charles III. Major DIY store brands including Wickes, Homebase and B&Q are primed to operate with altered operating times on the upcoming Bank Holiday, which will fall on Monday, 8 May, 2023. The extra Bank Holiday has been called by the government to allow Brits to celebrate King Charles' coronation. Ahead of the next Bank Holiday, which comes just a week after May Day, here are the opening times for all major DIY and home improvement shops. B&Q has announced it will open its stores as per normal ahead of the coronation of King Charles III and subsequent Bank Holiday Is B&Q open on Coronation day? DIY and home improvements store B&Q will be open as normal and close at 8pm in stores across the UK. To check any change in timings, view your local B&Q store's hours here. Is Wickes open on Coronation day? On Saturday, 6 May, Wickes will operate between the hours of 7am and 7pm across the UK. Sunday, 7 May will see stores in England and Wales open at 10am and shut at 4pm. In Scotland, branches will be open to visit from 9am until 6pm Wickes' shops will open from 7am to 8pm on the Bank Holiday Monday. Is Homebase open on Coronation day? In the UK, Homebase opening times may vary depending upon the size and location your nearest store. The brand will operate normal trading hours in Ireland. To check if your nearest Homebase branch is open, click here. Is Screwfix open on Coronation day? Screwfix stores will open between the hours of 7am and 6pm on Saturday, 8 May across most stores in the UK. On Sunday, 7 May, branches will open at 9am and shut at 4pm in England, Wales and Scotland. Stores in Northern Ireland will open from 1pm to 6pm. To check the exact opening hours of your local Screwfix tool, you can use the brand's store locator tool. Detectives believe local residents hold the key to finding the mystery mum who abandoned her newborn baby in a stranger's backyard. NSW police said solving the puzzle over the mother's identity lies with those who live around Blacktown and Doonside in Sydney's west to come forward with any relevant information. The naked baby girl - barely an hour old - was discovered alone on a wicker chair next to a children's playset at a Blacktown residence on Friday, April 21. She was covered in birth fluids with the umbilical cord still attached to her as she lay on a cushion. The infant has spent the last two weeks recovering in Blacktown hospital after becoming unwell - but is set to go into foster care soon. NSW police said solving the puzzle over the mother's identity lies with the locals around Blacktown and Doonside in Sydney's west to come forward with information (pictured, an aerial view of the home with its kids' playset) The naked baby girl - barely an hour old - was discovered alone on a wicker chair next to a children's playset at a Blacktown residence on Friday, April 21 (pictured, the playset with the wicker chair in the background) Detective Inspector Jason Pietruszka said police did not have any leads on who the mum of the baby is - but are pressing for answers (stock image) The infant was covered in birth fluids with the umbilical cord still attached to her as she lay on a cushion near a child's playset (pictured) Detective Inspector Jason Pietruszka said police did not have any leads on who the mum of the baby is - but are pressing for answers. 'We want to know what has occurred, what's the back story behind it,' he told The Saturday Telegraph. 'It's sure to be quite sad, tragic, but that's why we are police officers, to find the truth so we can help. 'We don't have the answers at the moment and that is frustrating, but we are appealing at a grassroots level for people in this proud community to come forward.' He urged residents in the area to report anything unusual they have seen where someone looked like they were in trouble or acting out of the ordinary. Inspector Pietruszka said police were also scouring DNA records in their system to see if there are any similar matches to the little baby. He added he was confident officers would find some sort of match. But he stopped short of speculating on the infant's ethnicity due to her features not being fully developed. Detectives are also searching through hours of CCTV footage from the area. Inspector Pietruszka said if the mother does not come forward the baby will be available for adoption - adding the infant was 'doing well'. He urged the mum to not panic or feel pressured but to come forward so authorities can help her. Meanwhile, Ann Carlos who lives at the Girra Road residence where the infant was found said her sister Lara discovered the baby when she went out to hang washing on the clothesline. The family wrapped the chilly newborn in a towel before ringing triple-0 as paramedics instructed them over the phone how to clamp the umbilical cord. 'I couldn't find anything in the kitchen, so I grabbed a shoelace and used thatthen [paramedics] talked me through how to do it,' Ms Carlos told The Daily Telegraph. Ann Carlos who lives at the Girra Road residence in Blacktown (pictured) where the infant was found said her sister Lara discovered the baby when she went out to hang washing on the clothesline 'We knew she had been born very recently, like only hours earlier, because she still had the white stuff [vernix] on her head.' She said she thinks the newborn was cleaned up before being dumped in their backyard as there wasn't much blood on her. Ms Carlos recalled hearing the side gate slam loudly shut around 2pm, thinking at the time it was her brother-in-law. 'But now we realise that must have been the mum or whoever left the baby here, and they closed it loudly so we would go out and find her. You don't bang a gate closed if you don't want to be heard,' she said. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. A man who bought a last-minute lotto ticket thought someone from his work was calling with a problem when he discovered he'd claimed the $20million top prize. The father from the Gold Coast man was heading to bed after work on Thursday when he mistook the call from Powerball officials as a call from work. 'I thought it was someone from work calling me with a problem,' he told The Lott officials. He'd bought his ticket online just hours before the draw. But his 11th hour purchase not only netted him the division one prize of $20 million but sizeable additional wins in the second, third, and fourth divisions. A Gold Coast man bought the winning ticket to the $20m Powerball hours before it was announced that he'd won The man from Oxenford, 60kms south of Brisbane, has been routinely buying tickets for the $20 million Powerball because 'it was a nice number'. 'I tend not to play Powerball every week, but as soon as the jackpot is over $20 million I'll get an entry,' he said. 'I've just always thought $20 million was a nice number, and now I know it is a very nice number. The best win I've ever had is $100, and I was pretty chuffed with that. This is something else.' On the way home from work, he'd decided to continue this tradition even though he had to buy it online - breaking the usual tradition. 'I didn't get the chance today as I left it quite late. It was after 5pm, and I almost didn't grab a ticket at all. I'm glad I did,' he said. 'I was literally walking into the bedroom to go to bed when you called. 'I've always wanted a call like this.' His division one draw of $20,053,292 was immediately followed by several System 8 PowerHit QuickPick prizes. His winning numbers were 35, 31, 20,18, 13, 2 and 34, with Powerball number 9. He was the only entry to win the massive division one prize. The additional wins including winning division two 19 times, division three 7 times and division four 133 times, adding another $442,070 to his windfall. The man ended up winning a total of $20,495,362 across four divisions After realising he'd just won a total of $20,495,362, the man immediately started looking toward the future. 'I'd like to retire earlier than planned, and I'd like to set the kids up with a house,' he said. 'I still can't believe it - I don't think I'll even believe it's real when it's in my bank account. 'I just want to wake up in the morning and make sure it's not a dream.' The University of California at Santa Cruz sent out a letter condemning a pair of recent events that saw students allegedly party for Adolf Hitler's birthday on April 20. The northern California outpost of the state's university system said that there were multiple anti-semitic and anti-LGBTQ+ incidents reported on or near the campus. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Success Akirah Bradley-Armstrong said in a statement that students were overheard singing happy birthday to Hitler and eating cakes 'adorned with hateful and horrific symbols.' The party was reported to have taken place on campus April 20. A second incident was reported on the next day in downtown Santa Cruz off campus when a flier 'included despicable and degrading claims about Jewish people and LGBTQIA+ people,' Bradley-Armstrong said. The University of California at Santa Cruz sent out a letter condemning a pair of recent events that saw students allegedly party for Adolf Hitler's birthday on April 20 'We unequivocally condemn these and all anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQIA+ actions,' Bradley-Armstrong said. The school's student conduct department is currently investigating the party celebrating Hitler's birthday. 'White supremacy has no place at UC Santa Cruz. Nor does any action intended to degrade, dehumanize, or intimidate another based on identity. We will not tolerate such vitriol; nor will we abide the fear and terror it intends to inspire,' Bradley-Armstrong said in the statement. 'United by our shared sense of humanity, we must strive to be a welcoming place for all people. Together, we must continue to reject all expressions of hate.' UC Santa Cruz has contacted city officials in an attempt to address the anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ+ fliers. However, the school has yet to say whether anyone has been suspected or charged with having participated. Bradley-Armstrong reiterated the campus' commitment to fighting hate. 'Whatever the purpose and wherever they take place, we reject any and all acts of antisemitism,' she added. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Success Akirah Bradley-Armstrong said in a statement that students were overheard singing happy birthday to Hitler and eating cakes 'adorned with hateful and horrific symbols' 'Our Jewish community members and our LGBTQIA+ community members are an integral part of our Banana Slug family, and we stand with them against all such acts of hate.' UC Santa Cruz's mascot is the banana slug. The incident even drew condemnation from California's Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom. 'This is absolutely sick. These kinds of disgusting acts have no place in California,' he tweeted in response. The Anti-Defamation League, who tweeted in anger about theincident, said last month that anti-Semitic incidents in the US reached their highest level in the US last year since they began keeping record in 1979. The mother of twin girls who died in a tragic commune fire while visiting their father and his girlfriend has demanded an inquest into their deaths. Four-year-old Tarrow and Ophelia were fast asleep by themselves in a house when a tall candle burning just metres away set a painting alight, resulting in toxic smoke that engulfed the children and ended their young lives. The adults who were gathered outside around a bonfire approximately 50m away had no warning of what happened as the smoke alarm was found disabled with no battery at the Goonengerry commune in northern NSW, near Byron Bay, on November 6, 2021. Their mother, Akira Garton, says many questions remain and wants a NSW coronial inquiry to find out whether the fire involved criminal negligence. Coroner Karen Stafford has declared the twins' death an accident and didn't launch an inquest as she didn't think it was needed. Akira Garton (pictured), the mother of twin girls who died in a tragic commune fire while visiting their father and his girlfriend, has demanded an inquest into their death after the coroner did not recommend one Four-year-old Tarrow and Ophelia (pictured) were fast asleep by themselves in a house when a tall candle burning just metres away set a painting alight, resulting in toxic smoke which engulfed the children and ended their young lives in 2021 'At most, the inquest would remind parents and carers not to leave children alone with a naked flame and not to remove the cover of a smoke alarm,' Ms Stafford said in her unpublished reasons for not recommending an inquest, reported The Australian. Yet Ms Garton is urging for more to be done to prevent future tragedies from occurring, saying that around Byron there is a culture of leaving children unattended near burning candles and incense, as well as neglecting to install smoke alarms. 'Almost a year and a half after my children died, I feel like the system would prefer to act as if my children did not exist,' Ms Garton said. 'No one has taken responsibility for the deaths, acknowledged or even apologised for the deaths. An inquest will provide a space for all of the questions to be asked an inquest is the absolute minimum my children deserve.' Ms Garton had dropped her girls off to their father James Wright (pictured in 2019), a political activist who was outside at a bonfire while a candle was left burning on top of a piano in their bedroom where the girls were asleep Ms Garton had dropped her girls off to their father James Wright, a political activist who was outside at a bonfire while a candle was left burning on top of a piano in the bedroom where the girls were asleep. He and his girlfriend arrived back to the home just before 4am and noticed smoke billowing from the room. They called emergency services, but the twins could not be revived. There was little damage to the home itself, but it's believed the toxic fumes from the smoke resulted in the twin's death. The mother had broken up from Mr Wright more than three years before the fire and said they were doing their best to make things work for their girls, with an agreement that they would spend seven days each with their children at their separate residences in Mullumbimby. Ms Garton says many questions remain and wants a NSW coronial inquiry to find out whether the fire involved criminal negligence Four-year-old Tarrow and Ophelia died of smoke inhalation at a Goonengerry commune in northern NSW , near Byron Bay, on November 7 Mr Wright, 39 at the time of the fire, was a well-known Bay FM community radio presenter and was a former state political candidate with the anti-lockout party Keep Sydney Open. He and his new partner Hannah Forrester resided on a multi-occupancy property at Goonengerry. There were six separate dwellings on the site, with Ms Forrester living in an open-plan house that police were told was nicknamed 'The Love Shack'. Investigations revealed property owner Michael Hameiri had an electrician install a new smoke alarm inside the home in January, 2021 and therefore faced no blame for the fatal fire. Coroner Karen Stafford found the candle caused a painting hanging on a wall above the piano to fall which 'likely' knocked over the candle and started the fire. All bar one of the windows to the property was closed, which caused the house to fill with smoke. While the coroner found there was one smoke alarm in the property, 'the cover had been opened, and as it had no battery inside, the power source had been disconnected rendering the alarm inoperable'. Coroner Stafford was satisfied there were no suspicious circumstances and didn't believe an inquest was required. 'Whilst leaving a naked flame in a room with a child, no adult supervision and no effective smoke alarm are matters of safety, there is no wider issue of public safety,' she said. Coroner Karen Stafford found the candle caused a painting hanging on a wall above the piano to fall which 'likely' knocked over the candle and started the fire Conservative firebrand Megyn Kelly came for the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle on the May 5th edition of her hugely popular SiriusXM show. 'I'm glad she's [Markle] not going. Who wants to sit and look at her try to pretend like she's there in any way supportive of the royal family? She hates them, despite the fact that they made her a megastar,' Kelly, 52, said. Earlier this year, it emerged that Markle, 41, would not be attending her father-in-law's coronation as king and will remain at home in California with her and Prince Harry's children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. 'They gave her all this opportunity to earn millions and millions of dollars ... And gave her a royal wedding and Diana's jewels and the Queen's and all of it. She hates them, so why would we have to look at her sitting there pretending otherwise? It was annoying enough at the Queen's funeral,' the former Fox News and NBC host said. Markle attended Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in London in September 2022 alongside her family. Conservative firebrand Megyn Kelly came for the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle on the May 5th edition of her hugely popular SiriusXM show 'I'm glad she's [Markle] not going. Who wants to sit and look at her try to pretend like she's there in any way supportive of the royal family?,' Kelly said '[Prince Harry's] going to come in front of that same group and I pray that they break decorum and boo him like I will be doing from my home,' she added. It has been widely reported that Prince Harry is intending to remain in London for just 24 hours around the coronation. The Duke of Sussex is intending to fly back to California straight after the historic ceremony ends tomorrow afternoon so he can make it back to see Archie on his fourth birthday. Prince Harry jetted into the UK for the coronation on a commercial American Airlines flight shocking his fellow passengers, MailOnline can reveal. Harry flew in from Los Angeles on American Airlines flight AA136, which landed at 11.23am at London Heathrow on Friday. ''[Prince Harry's] going to come in front of that same group and I pray that they break decorum and boo him like I will be doing from my home,' Kelly also said Harry was expected to spend Friday night at Frogmore Cottage, the home that he and his wife were evicted from just days after the release of his memoir Spare. The Duke of Sussex will see his father King Charles III crowned at Westminster Abbey. But there is speculation he will have no formal role in the service and may even be sat several rows back from his brother William and other working royals. Asked in an interview in January whether he would attend the Coronation if invited, Harry said the door is always open.' Earlier this year, Kelly brought up Meghan and Harry after the pair were mocked on an episode of South Park. Harry (right) will be jetting straight back to his LA home after the ceremony to his wife Meghan and their two children The host said that being mocked on the long-running Comedy Central cartoon is a sign that it's over for them. 'I feel this is a pronouncement that they have jumped the shark, they are not beloved and her hopes of running for president, reported hopes, are all but dashed,' Kelly said. Markle has become more involved in politics of late, with whispers of presidential ambitions being heard as recently as last summer. Her biographer went as far as to call a White House bid 'likely'. 'That's not happening,' Kelly added. 'When 'South Park' turns on you, there's no recovering.' Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stones show follows the young royals, the Prince and Princess of Canada, flying around the world on a Global Privacy Tour to promote his autobiography Aaargh. In the last year they were called on 'a number of occasions' In the year leading up to his shock death multiple welfare checks were carried out by emergency services on celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo, it's been reported. Medical response units were called on 'a number of occasions' to check up on Zonfrillo, 46, a source told the The Herald Sun. The welfare checks were due to ongoing concerns about the late chef's health before he was found dead at Zagame's House hotel at 2am on Monday, May 1 by police. Police were alerted that something might be wrong with him after receiving an anonymous tipoff, which is believed to have come from his concerned wife Lauren Zonfrillo, well-placed sources have told Daily Mail Australia. Zonfrillo was set to star in the latest season of Australia's Masterchef, which had been scheduled to start on the day he was found unresponsive. A source claimed multiple welfare checks were called for celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo in the year leading up to his shock passing Lauren Zonfrillo (pictured) rang police from Rome early on Monday morning after becoming concerned when her husband did not follow their usual daily schedule of telephone calls Lauren rang police from Rome early on Monday morning when Zonfrillo failed to answer multiple calls from his wife. Officers who attended Zagame's House at Carlton at about 2am found Zonfrillo dead in his bed and saw no signs of anything suspicious or unusual. There was no drug paraphernalia located, no one else in the hotel room and police formed the view the father-of-four had died of natural causes. Mrs Zonfrillo is now left to care for the couple's two young children and the chef's adult daughters from his former relationship, who are understood to have arrived in Australia from Italy on Tuesday night. Daily Mail Australia previously revealed the 46-year-old had been diagnosed with bowel cancer about May 2021, after an earlier bout with the disease. It is not suggested the cancer killed Zonfrillo, only that he had told friends its return was detected after a routine colonoscopy. A close friend and former neighbour of Zonfrillo told Daily Mail Australia the chef sometimes opened up to him about his 'demons' over a glass of whisky. Stuart Ayer said he and his wife struck up a close relationship with the TV star's family during the three years they were next-door neighbours in Carlton. Speaking about Zonfrillo's relationship with his wife, Mr Ayer said 'they were a really solid couple'. 'The kids were the light of his life,' he said. 'They're great kids and it's such a tragedy.' Daily Mail Australia has been told Zonfrillo had been receiving treatment for bowel cancer from at least June 2021, a month after it was detected in a colonoscopy. A source said at the time: 'No one in his circle is aware of what he is going through. Neither colleagues or friends.' 'He has not wanted anyone to know as he deals with this tough journey. He is coping poorly with chemo treatment, and the effects it is having.' In the months that followed Zonfrillo was an out-patient at the Kinghorn Cancer Centre in Sydney and Epworth Oncology in Melbourne as well as seeking treatment in Queensland, the source said. Zonfrillo's body was discovered by police in the early hours of Monday morning in a Zagame's House hotel room in Melbourne (pictured, stock of a Zagame's House room) The Zonfrillo's neighbour, Stuart Ayer, told Daily Mail Australia that the chef would open up about his 'demons' over a glass of whisky Zonfrillo underwent chemotherapy while filming his second series of Celebrity MasterChef in 2021. Daily Mail Australia, which has seen evidence of Zonfrillo discussing the diagnosis with a close friend, contacted the chef and members of his family in August 2021 but received no response. Another source said Zonfrillo had been avoiding hospital and was instead being attended by a doctor who was flown in to treat him. 'He claimed that each time he was getting any medical treatment there was a barrage of nurses that keep coming into his room, and he didn't want to be impolite by asking to be left alone,' the source said. Zonfrillo was settling into Italian life when he had to return to Melbourne to undertake promotional work for the latest season of MasterChef from Monday morning. Mrs Zonfrillo is believed to have arrived in Australia with the couple's children on Tuesday night Zonfrillo was back in Australia to begin the promotional tours for Channel Ten's latest season of Masterchef along with MasterChef judge Melissa Leong (pictured together with Zonfrillo, Jamie Oliver, and Andy Allen) A source said Zonfrillo kept his health problems from most friends and colleagues, usually receiving treatment including chemotherapy when the hit cooking show was not filming. It is understood MasterChef co-host Andy Allen had a meeting with Channel Ten executives on Thursday morning, along with third MasterChef judge Melissa Leong, to discuss how publicity for the program would be handled. Zonfrillo, who recently moved to Rome with his family, left his wife and two young children Alfie and Isla in Italy to return for the launch of MasterChef's 15th season. Network Ten has announced the series, which had been due to begin on Monday, would now premiere on Sunday with the full support of Zonfrillo's grieving family. In his 2021 memoir Last Shot he did not mention suffering from cancer, but did discuss his years of heroin addiction as a young man in Glasgow. An autopsy will now be conducted to determine the celebrity chefs cause of death. Congo opposition parties are warning that president Tshisekedi is following in the footsteps of former president Kabila and intends to guarantee his re-election by rigging the December 20 national elections. The key charges are that Tshisekedi has appointed crony judges and stacked the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) with his supporters. They also contend his state of siege in Ituri and North Kivu provinces has become a tool for undermining the election. Eastern Congo provinces tend to be anti-Tshisekedi. Congolese financial auditors claim they have discovered over 145,000 civil servants on fabricated government payrolls. Another 40,000 people are paid though they do not appear on official staffing lists. All told the ghost workers cost the country over $800 million a year. The auditors say the thefts have been orchestrated by nearly a thousand corrupt payroll officers. Do the math. Approximately 8 percent of Congo's national budget ($10 billion) is stolen by crooked officials. May 2, 2023: In eastern Congo (Ituri province) ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) Islamic terrorist rebels linked to ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) attacked a village, killing six people. Some ADF fighters are now calling themselves the ISCAP (Islamic State Central Africa Province). May 1, 2023: In eastern Congo (North Kivu province) EAC (East African Community) claims its peacekeeping force has occupied seven towns and villages previously held by the M23 rebel group. Residents are now returning to their homes. April 30, 2023: Ugandan military intelligence arrested three men believed to be members of the ADF. Ugandan intelligence and police believe the three men have been involved in terror attacks and assassinations in Uganda and eastern Congo. April 28, 2023: The Kenyan commander of the EAC peacekeeping force has resigned. Major General Jeff Nyagah said his attempts to carry out the mission have been obstructed. His safety has also been threatened. He asserted that there is a "systematic plan" to frustrate the peacekeeping effort. April 26, 2023: In southern Congo (Lualaba province), Gecamines, Congos state mining company, and China's CMOC mining corporation announced they have reached a new royalties agreement that could re-open the Tenke Fungurume Mining cobalt operation. April 23, 2023: The former prime minister of Burundi, Alain Guillaume, prime minister of Burundi from June 2020 to September 2022, has been arrested. The government says he is suspected of organizing a coup. April 21, 2023: Eastern Congos Tutsis (known as Banyamulenge Tutsis) claim the government is trying to prevent them from registering to vote in the December election. In a recent interview Rwandan President Paul Kagame (a Rwandan Tutsi) gave his view on the Congo-Rwanda border conflict. The borders that were drawn during colonial times had our countries dividedpart of Rwanda was left outside, in eastern Congo, in southwestern Uganda and so forth. You have populations in these parts of other countries who have a Rwandese background. But they are not Rwandans, they are citizens of those countries that have absorbed those parts of Rwanda in the colonial times. A history lesson. Bad borders fuel current and future conflict. (Austin Bay) April 20, 2023: The UN has painted two helicopters operating in eastern Congo a bright orange. UN copters assigned to humanitarian missions are typically white. The orange paint is an attempt to distinguish the helicopters and prevent rebel groups from firing on the aircraft. ADF rebels killed at least 20 people in an attack on a village near the town of Beni (North Kivu province). April 19, 2023: The UN reported that several days have passed without a major clash in eastern Congo. The EAC peacekeepers deploying there may be one reason. On the ground UN observers report M23 (March 23 Movement) fighters have withdrawn from some positions. A Ugandan government minister was charged with corruption in a scandal involving metal roofing sheets in a relief program to help Ugandas northeastern Karamoja region. Uganda confirmed it is in the process of evacuating 275 Ugandan nationals from Sudan. April 18, 2023: In eastern Congo (Ituri province) CODECO extremists killed several dozen people during attacks on several villages. April 16, 2023: In the Central African Republic (CAR) the propagandists are fighting over the narrative. Pro-government and pro-Russian sources blame the deaths in a March attack on CAR forces on the CPC (Coalition of Patriots for Change) rebels. The rebels blame the Russian Wagner Group mercenaries operating in the CAR for conducting the attack. Who did it? We dont know. But the UN condemned the attack. (Austin Bay) April 14, 2023: In eastern Congo (North Kivu province) M23 has withdrawn from three towns. April 13, 2023: Malawi revised the death toll figures for Februarys Cyclone Freddy to over 1,000 killed. Originally the government said 500 died. According to the UN and NGO relief groups, Malawi still needs emergency aid. April 12, 2023: Rwandan President Kagame said his country is exploring the possibility of using modular nuclear plants to produce electricity. April 7, 2023: A Congolese military tribunal sentenced six men to life in prison for the February 2021 murder of Italys ambassador, Luca Attanasio. Two other men were murdered during the assassination attack. April 5, 2023: Congos government says that it is aware that many people are apprehensive about the deployment of the EAC peacekeeping force. The government says that the force is deploying with the approval of the Congolese government with the aim of de-escalating tensions in eastern Congo. March 31, 2023: The Ugandan troop contingent operating as part of an EAC peacekeeping force has deployed in the border town of Bunagana to observe the withdrawal of M23 rebel fighters. The Ugandan initial contingent is a reinforced battalion of 1,000 soldiers. March 28, 2023: Senior Ugandan and Kenyan military leaders have been meeting in Kenya to discuss closer defense relations and military operations. Uganda and Kenya have established a Joint Defense Committee to coordinate joint defense operations. March 26, 2023: In eastern Congo (Ituri province), CODECO militiamen have executed 17 hostages they took from a village north of Bunia. A CODECO source claimed the militia took the hostages after a local militia killed three CODECO fighters. March 24, 2023: In eastern Congo (North Kivu province) Burundian soldiers have officially deployed with the EAC peacekeeping force. A Congo defense official said the Burundians have occupied ten villages. M23 rebels vacated seven of the villages. March 23, 2023: President Tshisekedi appointed former Congo vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba as minister of defense. Tshisekedi also reassigned over 50 other government jobs. At one time Bemba spent ten years in jail on charges of war crimes. March 21, 2023: The FCC (Front Commune pour le Congo), an opposition political party, has decided to boycott the national electoral process. The FCC says there is no agreed upon legal framework for the election and security conditions are poor. A star of hit TV crime drama Broadchurch has called for an inquiry into why the doctor who saved her baby's life was sacked after 'raising safety concerns'. Dr Martyn Pitman, a 'dedicated and brilliant' obstetrician and gynaecologist, had worked at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester for more than two decades until he was let go last month. But colleagues and hundreds of his former patients, including actor Sarah Parish, who has appeared in Broadchurch, Peak Practice and Bancroft, have made their support for Dr Pitman known over social media. They claim managers had their sights set on him since he raised concerns over safety more than three years ago - when he got an electric shock from a piece of equipment in the operating theatre. Ms Parish said that 'there needs to be an inquiry, without a shadow of a doubt'. Sarah Parish (pictured), star of hit TV crime drama Broadchurch has called for an inquiry into why the doctor who saved her baby's life was sacked after 'raising safety concerns' Dr Martyn Pitman (pictured), a 'dedicated and brilliant' obstetrician and gynaecologist, had worked at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester for more than two decades until he was let go last month The reason for Dr Pitman's dismissal have not yet been made public and Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have said they cannot discuss cases relating to individual employees, The Times reports. The paper understands that no concerns over his competency as a doctor were raised and there have been no suggestions of improper behaviour. Dr Pitman is reportedly expected to challenge his sacking at an employment tribunal. Ms Parish was looked after by Dr Pitman through her two pregnancies - firstly with her daughter Ella-Jayne, who was born with a congenital heart defect after a 'dramatic' emergency caesarean section. Ella-Jayne sadly passed away when she was eight months old. The actor's second pregnancy with her daughter, Nell, resulted in a complicated birth when she was taken in five weeks early. She said nobody could help but Dr Pitman rang 'every single hospital in the country' to get the people she needed to deliver the baby at midnight on a Saturday. Ms Parish said he got a team together who managed to deliver her daughter in theatre 'in the nick of time', saving her daughter's life. Consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Alexander Taylor, who was an adviser for the Ockenden review on safety at maternity wards, said Dr Pitman's sacking left a 'huge gap' in the safety of maternity services for women in Winchester. The doctor who trained with Pitman from 2004 to 2012 told the Times that local services would not be able to deal with his absence given the crisis in maternity staffing. Dr Pitman and his family are not able to comment because of legal advice they have taken. An employment tribunal is reportedly scheduled for this year. On social media, one mother said it was thanks to Dr Pitman that they had their son. She said: 'Martyn has looked after me for 20 years now, without him we may not have had our beloved Jake and I am horrified to learn more and more of the way he has been treated. 'Described in the paper by one of his patients as a Superhero and talking to a few of my friends, I can see that there are many of you who feel the same.' A spokesman for the trust told the Times: 'Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust takes all complaints, including grievances and whistleblowing made by its staff, extremely seriously. 'Each is handled impartially, professionally and in line with robust policies. In certain cases, this includes the commissioning of independent reports/reviews by outside experts to ensure the highest levels of scrutiny. In addition, every effort is made to support the health and wellbeing of those involved in what can be a challenging process. 'We do not comment on cases relating to individual employees or former employees, particularly where there are ongoing processes. 'At Hampshire Hospitals we actively encourage all of our staff to speak up when they have concerns no matter what they are and actively support those who do. This can be done in a number of ways, including anonymously and in complete confidence via our Freedom to Speak up Guardians or using the Speak in Confidence System.' While the weather might not be on side, at least the stars have put on a show for the Coronation. In what some may herald as a good omen, a meteor shower lit up the skies early this morning ahead of King Charless big day. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower was forecast to peak with up to 50 meteors per hour from midnight until dawn. It will continue until May 28. It is caused by the Earth passing through dust left over from Halleys Comet, which is visible from Earth only every 76 years. Fittingly, Halleys Comet is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, which tells the story of the Norman Conquest by William the Conqueror Charless ancestor who was crowned in 1066. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower was forecast to peak with up to 50 meteors per hour from midnight until dawn. Pictured: Eta Aquariid meteor shower over Brimham Rocks, North Yorkshire Meteors are pieces of debris, sometimes as small as a grain of sand, that enter Earths atmosphere at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per second, vaporising and causing the streaks of light that delight skygazers. The meteor show favoured the Southern Hemisphere and appeared low in the sky for northerly latitudes, such as the UK, in the early predawn hours. According to the Greeks and Romans, the arrival of comets, meteors and meteor showers were signs that something good or bad had happened or was about to happen. In Ancient Greece, an astronomer named Ptolemy claimed that shooting stars would occur when the gods opened up the sky to watch the humans below. The former Marine who put 30-year-old Jordan Neely in a chokehold on a subway in New York prior to his death released a statement in which he said that he acted in self defense and that he 'never intended to harm' the former Michael Jackson impersonator. Daniel Penny, 24, has not been charged with a crime in relation to Neely's death. Multiple reports suggest that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg may convene a grand jury and pursue criminal charges as early as next week. In the statement, Penny's lawyers say that the Long Island-native 'could not have foreseen [Neely's] untimely death.' It also said that Penny was merely trying to restrain Neely, who was accused of being disruptive on board an F train, until the police arrived. Neely's attorneys also took aim at 'elected officials' calling on them to 'address the mental health crisis on our streets on subways.' Penny's attorney is former Republican Manhattan District Attorney candidate Thomas Kenniff, who unsuccessfully ran against Bragg in 2021. Left wing Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Neely's death a 'murder' earlier this week. Former Marine Daniel Penny has been questioned by police in relation to Neely's death but has not been charged with a crime Jordan Neely, 30, was a Michael Jackson impersonator whose mental health deteriorated in recent years, according to his family 'Earlier this week Daniel Penny was involved in a tragic incident on the NYC Subway, which ended in the death of Jordan Neely. We would first like to express, on behalf of Daniel Penny, our condolences to those close to Mr. Neely,' the press release begins. 'Mr Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness. When Mr Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.' 'For too long, those suffering from mental illness have been treated with indifference. We hope that out of this awful tragedy will come a new commitment by our elected officials to address the mental health crisis on our streets and subways,' it concluded. The statement was issued through the law firm Raiser and Kenniff on Friday evening. Neely's death occurred on Monday. It is not known when the grand jury would be convened nor what charges District Attorney Alvin Bragg is likely to pursue. According to a separate report from ABC New York, the case is likely to be heard as early as next week. The man who put Neely in the chokehold was earlier named as Penny, 24, of Long Island, New York. The ABC report notes that it is 'typical' for prosecutors to take their time in complex cases before impaneling the jury. Detectives in the case have spoken to around six witnesses who saw the disturbance and are seeking to talk with around four or five more. Penny has been questioned by police and released. According to reports, he said that he did not intend to kill Neely and had been trying to restrain him until the police arrived. Earlier this week, the medical examiner's office ruled Neely's death a 'homicide' but it remains to be scene if a grand jury will see it as a criminal act. Friday afternoon marked the third-day-in-row of protests calling for Penny's arrest. Activists gathered in Manhattan's Washington Square Park to hold a demonstration. Demonstrators displayed signs saying 'Justice for Jordan Neely' and 'Being poor is not a crime.' Organizers of local protests called the act a 'lynching' and an example of 'white vigilantism' against victims of color. New York Mayor Eric Adams cited mental health issues as having a role in the incident, but said he would refrain from commenting further while the investigation is under way. Also on Friday, Neely's family called for Penny to be arrested, saying they 'want to see him behind bars'. 'The family is outraged at what happened,' said Lennon Edwards, one of their attorneys. He told TMZ: 'The family feels like the justice system is failing them at this moment. 'It took too long really for there to be a determination that this was homicide. It was clear from the beginning. You look at the video, it tells you that. 'The coroner's office came back and said death by compression on the neck. That's clear - you see that chokehold.' Edwards said the video was extremely distressing for the family to watch. 'You look at this video, and the family has looked at this video and they are in tears. Every conversation we have with them - there is not a dry eye. 'And literally, they want justice.' Edwards added: 'They want to see Jordan's killer prosecuted. They want to see him in jail, behind bars.' Penny's attorney tells DailyMail.com they have contacted the DA's Office and the NYPD to cooperate. Neely had been arrested 42 times in the past, including for punching a 67-year-old woman in the face. But New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke for many when she said his criminal history was irrelevant. 'Leaders want to raise his record as if that warrants a public execution on the subway?' she tweeted. 'What have we come to?' Edwards agreed that his prior history should not matter, and nor should his ranting on the subway. Protesters on Broadway last night after Neely's death was ruled as a homicide During the protest, activists chanted: 'F*** Eric Adams!' and 'black lives matter' 'You don't kill someone because you feel uneasy,' he said. 'You feel uneasy when you talk to your boss: you feel uneasy when you talk to lots of people in the course of your day. 'If we stick to what happened here, we have someone who began with - and sequence is important here - the first statement that we've heard out of his mouth, from witnesses, is that he said: 'I'm hungry.' 'That's the problem.' Edwards noted that Neely was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt, giving 'clear visibility as to whether someone is armed or not'. Neely was not armed. 'He was approached from behind, and put into a chokehold immediately. This is not a reasonable response to anything that took place before. 'Some have used the word unhinged - well, who's really unhinged when you look at this incident? It's the man who killed him - that's who everyone should have been afraid of.' Edwards said that Penny was acting as a vigilante. 'This is clearly the mentality of someone who says I am taking the law into my own hands. I am taking this situation into my own hands. 'And I think it became less about protecting the people on the train, and more about how he felt about the person he had his arms wrapped around.' Initial footage showed Penny holding Neely in a chokehold while two other men restrained his arms, but it did not show the moment Penny released him. Witnesses say Neely, who was schizophrenic, was behaving erratically, throwing garbage and screaming that he wanted to 'die' or 'go to jail' because he was fed up about having no food. A longer video that emerged on Friday shows the three minutes and 52 seconds after the train pulled into Broadway Lafayette station on Monday at 2.30pm. The footage begins with Penny already restraining Neely in the chokehold. For two minutes and five seconds, Neely struggled on the floor, flailing his feet. He went limp after two minutes and six seconds, by which point a by-passer had stepped onto the train. The man - who can be heard but is not seen - warned Penny that Neely had defecated, which he feared was a sign that he was dying. 'He's defecated on himself... you're going to kill him now,' he said. Another man who was helping Penny restrain Neely replied that it was an old stain on Neely's trousers, and that Penny was no longer 'squeezing'. 'He's not squeezing? All right. Because after he's defecated himself that's it. You've got to let him go,' he replied. He then warned of a 'murder charge'. The second man turned to Neely and said: 'Hey can you hear me?'. Met with silence, the man told Penny to stand up. Penny does not speak, but releases Neely and springs to his feet. The unidentified by-stander can be heard saying: 'That was one hell of a chokehold, man.' Over the next several seconds, Penny and the other man who had been helping him attempt to put Neely in the recovery position. After three minutes and 50 seconds, Neely appears to convulse or take a deep breath. The video cuts out at three minutes and 52 seconds. It is unclear whether he moved again. In a statement on Thursday, a spokesman for the DA's office said: 'This is a solemn and serious matter that ended in the tragic loss of Jordan Neely's life. 'As part of our rigorous ongoing investigation, we will review the Medical Examiner's report, assess all available video and photo footage, identify and interview as many witnesses as possible, and obtain additional medical records. 'This investigation is being handled by senior, experienced prosecutors and we will provide an update when there is additional public information to share. 'The Manhattan D.A.'s Office encourages anyone who witnessed or has information about this incident to call 212-335-9040.' For over seven centuries, it has been the chair on which history is made. Today, it will be so again. Made of oak, and with a lion at each of its feet, this high-backed seat of majesty, commissioned by King Edward I in 1296, is the most ancient artefact involved in King Charles III's Coronation: the Coronation Chair. King Edward's (or Saint Edward's) Chair, to give it its correct name (it was named in honour of the 11th century monarch Edward the Confessor), is the oldest piece of furniture in the United Kingdom still used for its original purpose. It's also the oldest we have a named craftsman for the painter and carpenter Master Walter of Durham. Walter decorated the chair with gilding, stained glass, and decorations of foliage, animals and a king believed to be either Edward I or Edward the Confessor. Today, these details have been all but lost. King Edward's (or Saint Edward's) Chair, to give it its correct name (it was named in honour of the 11th century monarch Edward the Confessor), is the oldest piece of furniture in the United Kingdom still used for its original purpose The intervening centuries have not always proved kind. 'It wouldn't look out of place in the Steptoes' junkyard,' commented a recent visitor to Westminster Abbey of the throne's appearance. The chair was originally commissioned by Edward I to house the Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny, a highly significant spoil of his wars in Scotland. The stories of the throne and the stone have become so intertwined it is impossible to separate them. Before Edward got his rapacious royal hands on it, what looks like an ordinary rectangular block of sandstone had for centuries been used as the seat upon which kings of Scotland were crowned. The Stone of Destiny had been housed at Scone Abbey, in Perthshire, before Edward removed it during one of his campaigns and had it taken to London as a potent symbol of Scottish submission. It was, after all, his successful warring north of the border which won the King the epithet 'Hammer of the Scots'. His tomb in Westminster Abbey bears that inscription in Latin. The first king whom historians are confident was crowned on the coronation chair is Edward I's great-great-grandson, Henry IV, in 1399. From then onwards, the coronations of English monarchs (and from 1603 that also meant Scottish monarchs, and since 1707 British monarchs) took place on the throne and the stone. For two inanimate objects, they have had a lively and dramatic history. Pictured: King Charles III, who will sit in the Coronation chair (illustrated above) on Saturday In the 1650s, during the short-lived republic that followed the English Civil War, throne and stone were taken to Westminster Hall where the military dictator Oliver Cromwell sat upon them for his installation as Lord Protector of England. Cromwell's is not the only common posterior to have rested upon the chair. Until the 1850s, members of the public were allowed to sit on it briefly, if they paid a few pence for the privilege. Over time it has suffered at the hands of initial-carving vandals, leading to regular restoration work. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the chair suffered particularly badly from graffiti. One impudent visitor carved: 'P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800'. After a thick brown varnish was added in 1887 for Queen Victoria's golden jubilee wrecking the remaining gilding in the process it's no wonder the great Gothic Revival architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott described the chair early in the 20th century as 'mutilated'. In June 1914, on the eve of World War I, militant suffragettes fighting for women's right to vote exploded a bomb in the Abbey. No one was injured, but it damaged a corner of a lion leg. In World War II, fears of a German invasion or damage from the Blitz that was raining bombs on London led to the chair being removed for safe keeping to the crypt of Gloucester Cathedral for the war's duration. The presence of the Stone of Destiny in Westminster Abbey was a source of contention for Scottish nationalists, and on Christmas Day 1950, four students from Glasgow University broke into the Abbey and retook the stone. While struggling to get it out, they dropped it, breaking it in two. The students gave the two pieces to the Scottish Covenant Association, who were campaigning for a Scottish Parliament, and they had it repaired. Four months later, they handed it over to the police, who returned it to Westminster. There it remained until 1996, when, on the 700th anniversary of Edward seizing it, John Major's government returned the stone. It is now on display in Edinburgh Castle along with the Scottish Crown Jewels. Major returned the stone to its native land on one condition: that it would come back to Westminster whenever it was needed for a coronation. Today it takes its former place beneath the Coronation Chair as His Majesty Charles III prepares to sit where so many of his predecessors have sat before. Joe Biden on Friday defended his scandal-hit son Hunter amid investigations for alleged tax violations and lying on a gun permit, insisting: 'My son has done nothing wrong.' The president spoke to MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle in his first one-on-one with a television reporter since February, when he spoke to PBS Newshour. It is also the first since announcing his 2024 campaign. Biden was asked about his 53-year-old son, whose business and tax dealings are being investigated by prosecutors. Asked how the investigation impacts his presidency, Biden replied: 'First of all my son has done nothing wrong. 'I trust him, I have faith in him,' he said. 'And it impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him.' Joe Biden on Friday night defended his son Hunter, despite federal prosecutors weighing four charges against Hunter - three related to tax crimes, and the fourth a felony charge related to a gun purchase, according to the Washington Post Biden on Friday spoke to MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle, and said he remained the best man for the job. 'I have acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom and know more than the vast majority of people,' said Biden. 'And I'm more experienced than anybody that's ever run for the office. And I think I've proved myself to be honorable as well as also effective' Joe and Hunter Biden are seen landing in New York on February 4 Hunter Biden (pictured leaving court in Arkansas this week) is moving toward forming a legal defense fund as a federal investigation nears its conclusion and he faces off GOP investigations. He is also engaged in a child support battle in court Hunter Biden met with U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss at Justice Department headquarters in Washington D.C. last week, in a sign that the federal investigation of him on tax matters and a gun charge are reaching a conclusion. Weiss and his federal prosecutors are weighing four charges against Hunter - three related to tax crimes, and the fourth a felony charge related to a gun purchase, according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans are stepping up their probes of Hunter Biden's finances and what some of them call the 'Biden crime family.' This week, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, 89, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said they had heard from a whistleblower. They described being told about a bribery scheme from when Biden was serving as vice president. 'We believe the FBI possesses an unclassified internal document that includes very serious and detailed allegations implicating the current President of the United States,' said Grassley. Grassley later said in an interview that he did not know whether the whistleblower's claims were true. He told Newsmax: 'It is a very serious allegation. I wish I could say that I knew it was true or untrue.' Hunter Biden has been open about his struggles with drugs and alcohol. Photos found on his abandoned laptop document his battles Hunter purchased this gun and stated on the permit application that he had never used drugs, despite later admitting his cocaine addiction Biden, in his gun permit form (pictured) ticked 'no' to the question of whether he was 'a user of any depressant, stimulant or narcotic drug' Biden (right) held a bilateral press conference last week with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left), where leaders answer questions from two chosen journalists from each country The president, meanwhile, was asked by Ruhle why he was running for re-election. Biden, 80, made his reelection bid official last Tuesday by releasing a video. Since then, he has yet to hit the campaign trail - and spent most of this week out of the public eye. Ruhle pointed out that no Fortune 500 company is currently looking to hire a CEO in their 80s, and asked why he thought he was up to the task. 'Because I have acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom and know more than the vast majority of people,' said Biden. 'And I'm more experienced than anybody that's ever run for the office. 'And I think I've proved myself to be honorable as well as also effective.' He added that it would be catastrophic for the United States if Donald Trump returns to the White House. 'We cannot let this election be won and the same man who was president four years ago,' he said. Asked what the difference was between himself and Trump, Biden replied: 'Everything, everything. Everything.' Biden touted his success with infrastructure, telling Ruhle that voters were 'going to see movement.' He added: 'How can we be the most successful economy in the world without first rate infrastructure? 'We used to be number one in the world; now we're 13.' Biden said he was changing that, investing in improved railroads and bridges, and replacing lead pipes. Asked why the polls were so against him, Biden blamed the media. 'All they've heard is negative, for three years,' he said. 'I'm not being critical of the press, but you turn on the tv and it's all negative.' Ruhle noted that his campaign launch video featured multiple clips showing his vice president, Kamala Harris. She asked whether Harris was so heavily featured because Biden was intending to hand over the presidency to her, without completing his term. He said no, adding: 'I just think Vice President Harris hasn't got the credit she deserves.' He referenced her resume, pointing out her career as a senator and attorney general of California. 'She is really, really very good,' he said. 'She hasn't got the credit she deserves.' The president was also asked about the debt ceiling and potential default. He said he had faith in Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Speaker of the House, but felt he was cornered by MAGA Republicans who wanted extreme cuts to the budget - slashing the number of teachers, FBI and DEA agents, and ending caps on drug pricing. Biden said he thought Kevin McCarthy was 'an honest man' who was cornered by MAGA Republicans 'I think he's an honest man,' said Biden. 'I think he's in a position tho that he - 15 votes, he just about sold away everything. There's the Republican party and the MAGA Republicans. 'In order to be speaker, he agreed to things that maybe he believes, but it's extreme.' He added: 'I am prepared to negotiate in detail with their budget.' Biden expressed frustration at the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying he asked Congress to come up with help. Next week, Title 42 expires, which will potentially spark a surge in migrants coming across the border. Biden has frequently been criticized for failing to spend enough time answering questions. Two weeks ago, The New York Times called Biden's press shyness a 'deliberate strategy' noting that in the 100 years since President Calvin Coolidge took office only Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan held as few news conferences as Biden. He's yet to do a sit-down interview with an American newspaper. Overall, before Friday's meet-up with Ruhle, he'll have done 54 interviews. By comparison, Donald Trump did 202 interviews during his first two years in office, while Barack Obama sat down for 275 interview, The Times said. On Friday, Biden cut short shouted questions, saying he was going to do a press conference later on. President Joe Biden teased journalists at the White House on Friday telling them that he would answer their questions later that afternoon at a 'major press conference' Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris went on Friday to Taqueria Habaneros to pick up some Cinco de Mayo supplies Conservatives on Twitter mocked Biden for confusing an interview and a press conference. 'The White House is already scrambling to walk this back,' said Republican National Committee Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel It was later clarified by aides that he meant the interview. Biden and Kamala Harris then went to a takeout spot in DC to buy tacos, to mark Cinco de Mayo. In the meantime, conservatives on Twitter mocked Biden for confusing an interview and a press conference. 'The White House is already scrambling to walk this back,' said Republican National Committee Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel. 'Biden's last solo press conference was 172 days ago.' The woman, reportedly his girlfriend, is the sole suspect The female friend of an Australian exchange student who was poisoned in Taiwan is now being investigated after local police found 'relevant evidence' in her home. Taipei City Police looking into the poisoning of Queensland student Alex Shorey, 24, said on Wednesday that they'd searched the house of a 45-year-old Taiwanese woman - reported in local media as Mr Shorey's girlfriend - and made suspicious findings. Local media are reporting that rat poison was found, similar to what was in Mr Shorey's system when he arrived at Taipei Medical University Hospital. It's unknown if the alleged poison found was identical to the superwarfarin - a highly toxic poison that stops blood from clotting - that he had ingested. The woman is now the sole suspect of a criminal investigation and is barred from leaving the country. Alex Shorey's (pictured) 45-year-old female friend is now the sole suspect of a criminal investigation into his poisoning Mr Shorey was admitted to a Taiwanese hospital after days of heavy bleeding and later suffered a severe anaphylactic shock after ingesting rat poison Taipei Police had previously announced that a criminal investigation had been opened to figure out whether Mr Shorey was deliberately poisoned. '[We] searched the home of a female friend and found relevant evidence', ABC reported. 'Police questioned this female friend on Thursday and restricted her from leaving Taiwan,' a spokesman said. Mr Shorey was flown back to his home town of Toowoomba, 130km west of Brisbane, in an emergency evacuation from Taiwan after medical staff were finally able to stabilise his condition. His father, Stephen Shorey, was informed of Taipei Police's criminal investigation before he accompanied his son for the flight back to Australia on Wednesday. Earlier, police in Taiwan had said that they were figuring out whether the poisoning was an act of 'criminal intent', although nothing was confirmed until they had searched the female's home. 'It's all speculative at the moment. All that's been confirmed is the poison,' Mr Shorey's uncle, Ross Shorey-Kitson, told 7News. It was initially suspected that Mr Shorey had accidentally consumed the poison from contaminated street food at the end of March before he was rushed to hospital prior to Easter. This theory was dropped after medical examinations found that he couldn't have eaten an amount large enough to have prompted the extreme symptoms he had. Mr Shorey had noticed blood in his urine in early April before he woke up covered in blood soon after. He was checked into the ICU at Taipei Medical University Hospital after experiencing abdominal pain and nausea, which quickly worsened to hypovolaemic shock, haemorrhaging and an anaphylactic reaction once staff began treating him. A language barrier added to the confusion on how to treat him as his condition deteriorated, causing severe organ damage, respiratory failure, and anaemia. Six days after being checked into the ICU, he also experienced a severe allergic reaction to a vitamin K treatment, resulting in cardiorespiratory collapse. These complications stifled efforts by his family to bring him back to Australia after they launched a GoFundMe to raise the funds to afford a medical evacuation. Mr Shorey and his family arrived in his home town of Toowoomba, 130km west of Brisbane , late Wednesday after leaving Taiwan (pictured in Taiwan) Alex Shorey (left) had been fighting for his life at Taipei Medical University Hospital in Taiwan Despite quickly raising more than $200,000, the flight was repeatedly delayed until his condition strengthened to the point where he was able to withstand the eight-hour flight. In total the family raised $208,682 after nearly 3,000 people donated to help get Mr Shorey back to Australia. The initial target of the campaign was $172,000 which would have covered his medical evacuation, with the rest of the money going towards his treatment. Mr Shorey's family posted an update on April 25 after the overwhelming amount of money raised confirmed that they could bring him home. 'We have attempted three flights over the past few weeks, each one of them cancelled as Alex's condition deteriorated further just prior to departure as the poison worked through his body, causing further complications,' they wrote in an update. 'So to have the reassurance that we can now fund the medical support and specialised medical retrieval services he needs is utterly amazing.' The Fulton County DA's office has yet to decide if charges will be filed in the case At least eight of those people have no struck immunity deals with prosecutors, leaving them open to testify against former President Donald Trump There 16 people in Georgia being eyed for investigation over their roles in alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election Prosecutors for Georgia's Fulton County have granted immunity to at least eight people under investigation for conspiring to overturn Georgia's vote in the 2020 presidential election, according to a court filing on Friday. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to disclose this summer whether former President Donald Trump and others will be charged with crimes related to interfering with the 2020 election. Attorney Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow represented 10 of the 16 suspected fake electors who may have offered to cast electoral college votes for Trump even though Democrat Joe Biden won Georgia and the right to all of the state's 16 electoral college votes. Debrow said in a court filing on Friday that prosecutors 'made actual, written offers of immunity to these eight electors in April 2023 but not to the remaining two.' That led to the non-immunized clients getting new lawyers, Debrow said in the filing. With immunity, those eight would be free to testify against any defendants. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to reveal over the summer if Donald Trump and his allies will face charges over alleged election fraud in Georgia Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied wrongdoing and accused Willis, an elected Democrat, of targeting him for political gain Attorney Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow, shown here, is representing 10 of the 16 accused fake electors, including all eight who have taken immunity deals Willis' probe began soon after a recorded January 2021 phone call in which Trump asked Georgia's top election official to 'find' the votes to reverse Biden's victory. Last July, the DA's office revealed that each of the 16 people who signed the false elector certificate was a target of her investigation. The 16 fake electors met at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won the presidential election and declaring themselves the state's 'duly elected and qualified' electors. Willis' office has yet to decide whether or not to file charges against the fake electors. In letters sent to law enforcement agencies late last month, she advised them to prepare adequate security as she intends to announce her charging decisions between mid-July and early September. Debrow's filing Friday came in response to a motion filed last month by Willis seeking to bar the defense attorney from further participation in the proceedings stemming from the investigation. Debrow called Willis' motion 'reckless, frivolous, offensive, and completely without merit.' At the time when Willis informed the 16 fake electors last summer that they could face charges in the investigation, 11 of them were represented by Debrow and another attorney, Holly Pierson, who were hired by the state Republican Party. A special grand jury in Fulton County interviewed 75 witnesses over seven months Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney oversaw the special grand jury hearings in the investigation Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the special grand jury that had been seated to aid the investigation, ruled in November that Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer could not share an attorney with the other 10 fake electors represented by Debrow and Pierson. In the new filing, it says that when the district attorney's office offered immunity deals to eight of her 10 clients, she consulted with her other two clients and they determined that the 'most conservative and practical course' was for those two people to hire their own lawyers. She said they have since done that. In her motion last month, Willis said that in interviews with her team in April some of Debrow's clients said another of the fake electors she represents 'committed acts that are violations of Georgia law.' The motion also says some of Debrow's clients said they were never told about possible immunity deals last summer despite Pierson having told the court that they had spoken to their clients and none were interested. Debrow's representation of 10 of the fake electors represents a clear conflict and had become an 'impracticable and ethical mess,' Willis wrote. Willis 'has falsely but publicly maligned the integrity of two well-respected and fellow members of the Bar based on fictional claims known to be untrue when made,' Debrow wrote. 'Such reckless and unprofessional conduct is simply untenable and unacceptable.' The only actual immunity offers made by Willis' team came on April 4, and any prior discussions were 'highly generalized, non-individualized 'offers to offer' potential immunity to undisclosed recipients,' Debrow wrote. Each of the 11 people she and Pierson represented last summer was provided with information in August on the existence and possible implications of potential immunity offers. All 11 of them declined the offer of potential immunity as presented at the time, Debrow wrote. Additionally, Debrow wrote, 'none of the interviewed electors said anything in any of their interviews that was incriminating to themselves or anyone else, and certainly not to any other elector represented by defense counsel.' During the interviews with her clients last month, prosecutors never said they believed that any of Debrows clients was incriminating another and never said they objected to her representation of all of her clients, Debrow wrote. There was no basis to disqualify her from the case before and that is even more true now that all of her clients have immunity, Debrow wrote. Meanwhile, Trumps Georgia legal team in March filed a motion seeking to toss the special grand jury report and any evidence related to the panels investigation and to bar Willis from any further involvement in the case. Cathy Latham, who signed the bogus elector certificate, joined that motion on April 29. Latham had been one of the 10 represented by Debrow, but last weeks motion was filed by a different lawyer. McBurney has given Willis until May 15 to file a combined response to Trump and Lathams motions. Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied wrongdoing and accused Willis, an elected Democrat, of targeting him for political gain. The former Apprentice host became the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges when New York prosecutors indicted him on March 30 for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to a porn star who claimed to have had an affair with him. He faces other investigations, including a pair of U.S. Justice Department probes into his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House and his efforts to alter 2020 election results. A grieving mother has slammed a hospital after staff sent away her troubled daughter hours before the girl tragically took her own life. Anne Le Pla said her daughter Courtney Grace Morison was released from Townsville University Hospital on two separate occasions last October after twice attempting to take her own life. The hospital is now under a 'full clinical review' into the care given to the young woman. Courtney had tried to take her life twice in the days leading up to her death - once on October 9 and again on October 10. The teen, who suffered from depression, was sent to the hospital after the first attempt but was released the next day. Courtney Grace Morison (pictured) was released from Townsville University Hospital on two separate occasions last October despite attempting to take her life twice in the days leading up to her death Courtney posted on social media (pictured) after one visit to the hospital saying the staff 'won't help me' - and they had put her issues down to just a 'behavioural' problem Anne Le Pla (pictured, with her partner Gene Le Pla) said her 'cheeky and funny' daughter should never have been released in such a short space of time Courtney was diagnosed with bipolar in 2018 but was on medication to help her cope with her mental health challenges The mental health facility at the hospital then took her in later that night after she tried to take her life again - but the teenager was again released just hours later. Courtney then died the next morning. After one occasion of being dismissed by the hospital, Courtney posted on Facebook about how she wasn't being taken seriously. 'How do you deal with being told its behavioural all (the) time from the hospital ' she wrote. 'Im diagnosed with bipolar as well and haven't been doing well, everyone around can see something is clearly wrong but they wont help me cause (sic) its behavioural apparently.' Mrs Le Pla said her 'cheeky and funny' daughter should never have been released in such a short space of time. 'If somebody goes in there twice in a row trying to take their own life, you would think that would mean something was wrong,' she told News Corp. 'At the end of the day, what they told her was inexcusable.' Courtney was diagnosed with bipolar in 2018 but was on medication to help her cope with her mental health challenges. The teen, who her family described as having a bubbly personality despite her issues, would front up to mental health care facilities to get help. She had also posted on social media after one visit to the hospital saying the staff 'won't help me' - and they had put her issues down to just a 'behavioural' problem. Her sister Brittany Morison said Courtney told her the hospital workers would often dismiss her saying there was nothing wrong with her. 'Courtney has suffered with her mental health for many years and when she was living up in Townsville she would present herself to the hospital when she was struggling something I was extremely proud of,' Ms Morison said. But things started to go down hill after Courtney was sexually assaulted - with the incident under investigation. Mrs Le Pla said she wants answers and doesn't want any mother to go through the same 'painful' thing she has. Meanwhile, Townsville University Hospital chief executive Kieran Keyes told Daily Mail Australia the review into Courtney's care is under way. 'Findings will determine if there are any learnings or actions resulting from this tragedy,' he said. Mr Keyes said intensive mental health care is complex and is tailored to individual needs which can include being an inpatient or out in the community. 'Our health service is subject to privacy and confidentiality legislation and for this reason, I am unable to provide any further details about Ms Morisons care,' Mr Keyes added. 'I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the family of Ms Morison.' Her sister Brittany Morison said Courtney (pictured) told her the hospital workers would often dismiss her saying there was nothing wrong with her Health Minister Yvette DAth would not comment on individual cases but said a review into the teenager's care at the Townsville University Hospital (pictured) was ongoing The family's story comes after a man was sent home from the same facility after he tried to harm himself. Army veteran Steven Angus was released from the hospital on April 21 before being shot dead at his home by police just hours later. Health Minister Yvette DAth would not comment on individual cases but said a review into the teenager's care at the hospital was ongoing. She said she recognises there is a lot of work to be done to improve mental health, alcohol and other drug services across the state. Lifeline: 13 11 14 Suicide call back service: 1300 659 467 Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636 Murri Watch: 3891 6431 Open Arms - Veteran and families counselling: 1800 011 046 Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800 Headspace: 1800 650 890 A DNA test has confirmed the identity of a Texan woman who was reunited with her family last year after being abducted as a toddler 51 years ago. Melissa Highsmith, now 53, was taken from her parents' Fort Worth home in 1971 by a babysitter when she was just 22 months old She was miraculously reunited with her biological parents - Jeffrie Higshmith, 72; Alta Alpantenco, 73 and siblings - Rebecca Del Bosque, 48; Vicitoria Highsmith, 47; Sharon Highsmith, 45 and Jeffrey Highsmith, 42 - on November 26. Fort Worth Police Department announced on Thursday it had completed official DNA testing which confirmed Melissa's identity as the missing child. For more than half a century her parents and siblings had been looking around the country for her - but she had been living just ten minutes away. They eventually found her through her children's DNA samples which were shared on genealogy website 23andMe. Melissa meets her parents- her dad Jeffrie Highsmith, 72 and mother Alta Altanpanco, 73 for the first time since she was kidnapped August 23, 1971 when she was 22 months old A DNA test confirmed the identity of Texan woman Melissa Highsmith who was reunited with her family last year after being abducted as a toddler 51 years ago A black and white composite sketch of the babysitter from the 1970s. The mother's roommate, who handed baby Melissa to the babysitter told the authorities she was wearing a bonnet and white gloves Police issued a statement to confirm Melissa's identity after spending months working to complete their DNA testing. 'It is our hope that this test result will offer additional closure for the Highsmith family,' it read. Melissa, who had a horrific childhood and suffered sexual abuse by her stepfather, has said she has no doubt in her mind that the person she called 'mama' was the same person who abducted her. 'Before I met my new family I reached out to the mother that I thought raised me and asked her if there was something she needed to tell me,' she previously told Dailymail.com 'She told me she had purchased me on the street for $500. 'I was shocked. My head was spinning. I didn't sleep. She never told me,' Melissa said, 'but she always told me that she had something to tell me that she had been wanting to tell me for a long time that is when I told her I already knew.' According to Melissa's family members the woman who posed as Melissa's mother was identified as Patricia 'Sugar' Lewis, who now lives in Missouri. The time spent away from her family is precious time she will never get back, a lost childhood, time away from her parents and siblings, but Melissa said 'she doesn't want to focus on the anger.' 'I am still angry but I am going to focus on the happiness that is to come not the pain that I left,' she said. 'God got this done and I have to focus on going forward.' Melissas brother Jeff, 42, explained that when she went missing on August 23, 1971 his mother was a single mom and needed help with childcare while she worked as a waitress. After putting up an advertisement in the local newspaper he said a woman who identified herself as Ruth Johnson, responded. He said the woman agreed to meet his mother at the restaurant she worked at, but never showed up. Then the potential babysitter called up again insisting she was right for the job. Undated photos of Melissa from the time she was a child to a teen and as a young woman A photo of Melissa with her younger sibling Melissa's birth mother told Fox4 in 2019 what the babysitter had told her before snatching her child. 'She said, you know, I really love kids and I've got this huge backyard and the kids love to play out there, and I was desperate, I needed a babysitter because I was supporting myself,' she said. Melissa had been in the care of her mother's roommate, with whom she was living in the Spanish Gate Apartments on East Seminary Drive in Fort Worth, who handed Melissa over to the unknown babysitter. It would be the last time anyone would ever see baby Melissa again on that hot summer day in August 1971. After baby Melissa was reported missing, the roommate told the authorities that the mysterious woman who picked up the infant was wearing white gloves and a bonnet on her head. The next five decades would be one of agony for the Highsmith family. 'My mom did the best she could with the limited resources she had. She couldn't risk getting fired. So, she trusted the person who said they'd care for her child,' Sharon Highsmith, Melissa's sister said. 'For 50 years, my mom has lived with the guilt of losing Melissa. She's also lived with community and nationwide accusations that she hurt or killed her own baby. 'I'm so glad we have Melissa back. I'm also grateful we have vindication for my mom.' The criminal statute of limitations expired 20 years ago when Melissa was 18, but her family is now determined to change the laws. Fort Worth Police said they are still looking into Melissa's case and have urged anyone with information to come forward. Melissa added: 'I don't want her to go to jail I just want her to be held accountable and to say, 'I'm sorry.' But, younger sibling Rebecca Del Bosque feels differently and said: 'She stole a sibling from us we never knew, a child from her parents, there is no justice for us at all.' She added: 'We need to find out if her siblings were kidnapped too. Right now we have no idea.' As her family spent decades looking for their family member, Melissa whose name was changed to Melanie was barely surviving. She shared with DailyMail.com some of the hardship and horror she endured at the hands of the woman she thought was her mother and her stepfather - having no idea she was adopted until last year- and had this giant family searching for her. 'I thought she was my real mom but I thought she regretted having me. There was no closeness... no love. She told me all of my life I was brain damaged and I was mentally retarded,' she said. Melissa said when she was a child her mother had put her in special classes despite her teachers telling her that she did not belong in them. She said that her two other siblings, a younger and older brother, had lived with her too. She recalled her older brother, who she said she wasn't close to, getting treated differently than she and her younger brother. Melissa pictured with her husband, John Brown, who she married in April 2022 and plans to remarry so her dad can now walk her down the aisle Melissa hugging her dad for the first time as her mother tearfully looks ahead The Facebook post the family sent out when Melissa was 'found.' The image shows Alta, as a devastated young mother holding up the newspaper story when Melissa first went missing 'My dad was very abusive to us. My little brother ended up moving in with my grandma and then it was just me and my stepfather,' she said. 'My mother was emotionally abusive and my stepfather was sexually abusive.' She told DailyMail.com that she never got pregnant during the years of abuse and said when she was 15 years old she ran away from home. 'I tried to runaway when I was 14, but it was unsuccessful. I didn't have nowhere to go so it was easy for them to track me but the second time I had somewhere to go. When they found me the police came to get me and I told them I wasn't going back so I never went back.' She and her high school sweetheart, she described as her 'first love,' married and the pair endured a rough time and were living on and off the streets. Texas records show she was arrested at least four times and charged with misdemeanors related to prostitution, The Washington Post reported. 'I did things I didn't want to do,' she told DailyMail.com 'but I supported me and my husband.' By the time she was 19, she was a mother of three but, said her children were taken away from her and put up for adoption- two boys and a girl. She said she had her tubes tied after that and was no longer able to have children. After leaving her first husband she started working in a host of different jobs from working at a bar, to a few fast food joints, and waitressing to support herself. She married again. Her husband, she said, was in and out of prison most of the time. They were together for 16 years and she finally left him because of his addiction. Eventually, Melissa found love again with a new man. She said they had a 'good marriage,' and were together for ten years but it ended, she said, after he fell into addiction 'I couldn't go down the walk he was walking so I chose to go another path,' she said. During this period, she became more religious and relied on her faith to get her through and started cleaning churches and eventually people's homes to earn some income. A job that she proudly says, she still does today. 'I had PTSD from things that happened in my past so I couldn't really work around a lot of crowds so I started the cleaning business so I could do one-on-one which was easier for me.' 'It keeps me busy. I do two or three jobs a day,' she said. Last year, Melissa married her soul mate a man named John Brown she wed in April 2022. On November 27, Brown posted on Facebook the emotional reunion that took place when Melissa met her birth mother for the first time. 'This is my beautiful wife Melissa Brown meeting her mother for the first time in 51 years,' he wrote. In the video, the pair embrace and sob in each other's arms. Melissa pictured with her baby brother, Jeffrey, 42, who has been searching for his big sister most of his life Melissa (left) and another sibling Victoria Highsmith, 47, (right). Both siblings have their own cleaning businesses and both love to donate to charity Melissa Highsmith (pictured) was kidnapped by a babysitter in 1971 at just 22-months-old 'I have seen all the pictures of when we were young,' Melissa says to her mom. Her mother removes her sunglasses to get a better look of her long lost daughter, and responds: 'I used to be young and beautiful. I changed getting old,' she said, 'And missed all these years with you. Maybe we can get to know each other better.' Melissa asks: You live in Forth Worth?' 'I live in Forth Worth,' her mother says. 'Seventeen minutes away from you.' During the tear-jerking meeting, the video captures her meeting her father and one of her cousins named Melissa, who she learned was named after her, for the first time. Rebecca told DailyMail.com how she joined websleuth and was always trying to find Melissa and between 2005 and 2007 thought she came close but was heartbroken when she learned after a DNA test that the person she thought maybe her sister wasn't, after all. 'When the DNA came back and it wasn't our sister it was pretty devastating because I had built a connection with her,' Rebecca said. 'I just couldn't put myself in my heart out like that.' She said her brother Jeff and sister-in-law created a Facebook page and started their own investigation. In September 2022, everything changed when Rebecca and Sharon Highsmith learned that their had been a possible sighting in Charleston, South Carolina of the their sister. That lead, although it ended up being a dead end, gave the family renewed hope. Jeff previously said that he never met his big sister and was only six years old when his parents told him about her abduction. He said at the time he was too young to understand, but around thirteen he began to do his own research and became obsessed with her disappearance. 'It was a horrible tragedy and we never thought we would find her and we just moved on but it haunted me and consumed me,' Jeff said. He said his mother was only 20 years old when his sister was abducted, and his father, 19 at the time, had left his mother to run off with another woman. He said, his parents eventually reunited to help find their missing child. In an emotional clip filmed on Thanksgiving, Melissa was seen hugging her parents for for the first time in over 50 years - as they all embraced and wept in joy. 'Jeff said each year the family would celebrate Melissa's birthday. During the last birthday they spent without her, Melissa's father told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: 'We are looking for her and still care.' Later that day the family uncovered a lead that would unify them with her just weeks later, after decades of agony. It was brought about by a DNA test and detective work by Lisa Jo Schiele, a clinical laboratory scientist and amateur genealogist who encouraged the family to try a 23andMe DNA test. Melissa's father submitted a DNA sample to 23andMe, which returned a 100 percent match with three people. Those three people were the children of Brown and his wife Melissa. 'It's overwhelming and incredible to me,' said Sharon Highsmith, Melissa's younger sister. 'For decades, my parents have chased leads, hiring their own labs and investigators and yet, these DNA tests, which are available to anyone, helped us find our lost loved one.' The Missing person flyer the family distributed when Melissa was missing A picture of baby Melissa and a computer-generated photo of Melissa as an adult Melissa said she would be changing her name officially to reflect the one she was given at birth. 'Now that we have Melissa home all of us are going to be together - the grandkids the great grandkids, the great nephews for Christmas,' he said. 'We haven't all been together in 20 years.' Sharon now lives in Spain and had not seen Melissa but was looking forward to doing so this Christmas. Jeff said that the Forth Worth Police Department, Tarrant County and the FBI were looking at his mother in connection with his sister's disappearance. 'The police never took the investigation off of my mom. They always thought my mom had something to do with it and they didn't pursue anything else,' he said. 'I didn't understand. There was no justification. It was frustrating,' he said. 'From what I was told, in 1971 it was a different time for women. It was a time when Roe vs. Wade and the women's movement and women weren't treated as equal as me Last October the family traveled to Charleston, South Carolina to investigate a tip that Melissa had been seen there. She was identified based on a computer generated prediction of what Melissa would look like fifty years later - as an adult - from her baby photos. When the family got there they were faced with disappointment. That's when the they started thinking about DNA tests and were connected with her children. 'We had coffee with her on Thanksgiving night, and when I looked at her, I just knew. I knew,' Jeff said, adding that she had a striking resemblance to their mother, he told Fox. 'Our family has suffered at the hands of agencies who have mismanaged this case,' Sharon said. 'Right now, we just want to get to know Melissa, welcome her to the family and make up for 50 years of lost time.' Sharon, her siblings and their parents encouraged other families with missing loved ones to keep on believing. President Joe Biden brushed his decision not to attend King Charles III's coronation on Saturday during a softball interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle by saying: 'I told him I couldn't be there because I have this going on.' Biden, 80, said that he told the king that he would be in the United Kingdom during the summer during the NATO conference. 'He's a good acquaintance and we've worked together on environmental issues,' the president said of King Charles III. The president dispatched his wife to represent the US at the celebrations in London. No American president has ever attended a British coronation. First Lady Jill Biden's first stop was a meeting with Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. During the MSNBC interview, his first since February's sit down with PBS Newshour, Biden was asked why voters should choose the octogenarian. 'I have acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom. And know more than the vast majority of people I'm more experienced than anybody who has ever run for the office. And I think I've proven myself to be honorable as well as also effective,' he bragged. During his interview with MSNBC, President Joe Biden described King Charles III as a 'good acquaintance' The president dispatched his wife to represent the US at the celebrations in London. No American president has ever attended a British coronation First Lady Jill Biden pictured with Princess Kate and the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska Biden's likely opponent in 2024, ex-President Donald Trump, earlier expressed his disgust that the president was not making the trip across the pond. 'Certainly, he should be here as our representative of our country. I was very surprised, I think it's very disrespectful for him not to be here,' the former Apprentice host told GB News. Trump went on to accuse Biden of not being physically well enough to make the journey to the UK. 'He's got a lot of things going, a lot of strange things happened,' the twice impeached president added. Biden visited Northern Ireland and Ireland last month to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace pact. The coronation ceremony takes place on Saturday at Westminster Abbey and will be attended by foreign heads of state and dignitaries. The first lady, 71, also visited a local school along with Murty on Friday afternoon, after which she was scheduled to meet staff at the U.S. embassy and King Charles at a reception in Buckingham Palace. 'Have fun tomorrow, I'll be thinking about all of you,' she told children at the school, where students greeted her wearing golden paper crowns and shared a tea-party lunch. During the last coronation of a British monarch, when Charles' late mother Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1953, then U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower sent a delegation of envoys to represent him. The White House said last month Biden had told Charles he wanted to meet him in Britain at a future date. The president and Charles are hardly strangers. They have chatted each other up at global climate events since Biden took office, and during the queens funeral last year. They also spoke in April when Biden called to say he was sending the first lady to the coronation, and the president expressed interest in meeting with the king in the United Kingdom at a future date, the White House said at the time. Biden was the 13th and final US leader to meet the queen. They saw each other when he visited England in 2021 with his wife to participate in a Group of Seven world leader summit. At the time, the queen also invited the Bidens to have tea with her at Windsor Castle. Joe and Hunter Biden are seen landing in New York on February 4 Meanwhile during his MSNBC interview, Biden defended his scandal-hit son Hunter, 53, amid investigations for alleged tax violations and lying on a gun permit, insisting: 'My son has done nothing wrong.' 'I trust him, I have faith in him,' he said. 'And it impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him.' Hunter Biden met with U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss at Justice Department headquarters in Washington D.C. last week, in a sign that the federal investigation of him on tax matters and a gun charge are reaching a conclusion. Weiss and his federal prosecutors are weighing four charges against Hunter - three related to tax crimes, and the fourth a felony charge related to a gun purchase, according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans are stepping up their probes of Hunter Biden's finances and what some of them call the 'Biden crime family.' This week, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, 89, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said they had heard from a whistleblower. They described being told about a bribery scheme from when Biden was serving as vice president. 'We believe the FBI possesses an unclassified internal document that includes very serious and detailed allegations implicating the current President of the United States,' said Grassley. Grassley later said in an interview that he did not know whether the whistleblower's claims were true. He told Newsmax: 'It is a very serious allegation. I wish I could say that I knew it was true or untrue.' Feature: South China fishing village thrives through surfing Xinhua) 11:10, May 06, 2023 HAIKOU, China, May 5 (Xinhua) -- When Li Jing first arrived in Tianxin a decade ago, she never imagined the small fishing village would transform itself into a bustling surfing resort. Located just a few hundred meters from Riyue Bay, a premier surfing spot in Wanning City in southern China's Hainan Province, Tianxin has reaped the benefits of surfing's development and morphed into a surfer's paradise in recent years. Li settled in the village in 2013. "The environment here is perfect for me. I adore living by the sea with my dog, surfing under the blue sky and white clouds every day," she said. Over the past ten years, Li has taken part in surfing competitions and related activities, witnessing the village's remarkable evolution. "In 2013, the village had just one path leading into it, and express delivery services were non-existent. Now, Tianxin boasts five express stations, a gym, and even a skatepark. Life is becoming increasingly convenient," Li explained. Riyue Bay, with its high-quality seawater and comfortable water temperature, has become a world-class surfing destination suitable for year-round enjoyment. The bay is renowned for its long waves and consistent swells. Tianxin has emerged as a preferred choice for surfers seeking accommodation and dining options. Surfing's surge in popularity since 2019 has attracted more surfers and tourists to Riyue Bay, as well as young entrepreneurs looking to start their businesses. Tang Xin first visited Riyue Bay with friends on China's National Day in 2021. Just one month later, he decided to launch a homestay business in Tianxin. "This village is the closest to Riyue Bay surfing base and has experienced rapid development in recent years. The construction of additional parking lots and charging stations has made it even more convenient for tourists," Tang said. "Our rooms get fully booked up before holidays," he added. The growing popularity of surfing has prompted hundreds of young locals to return from big cities to their hometown, seeking new opportunities. Today, Tianxin is home to 35 homestays and 30 surfing clubs. Villagers have shifted away from fishing to make a living, opting instead to engage in surfing-related businesses. Hu Zhigang, a 25-year-old Tianxin native, returned from Shenzhen in 2021. He now operates a surfing club that teaches beginners how to surf, and is currently outfitting a new restaurant to expand his enterprise. "I think I've found my path. My club is thriving, and it generates 200,000 yuan (28,930 U.S. dollars) to 300,000 yuan annually," Hu said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) The Iranian IRGC (Islamic Republic Guard Corps) announced Sadid-365, a new ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile) with a range of 8 kilometers and designed to hit the thinner armor on the top of a tank. On closer examination Sadid-365 is crude, limited and not very accurate. The missile weighs about 25 kg (55 pounds) and is launched and guided manually via a data link to an operator in the launch vehicle who guides the missile to its target. This type of guidance system does not provide pinpoint accuracy and has the missile hit within a five meter circle. A video of a test launch against an armored vehicle showed the missile hitting the tank tracks rather than the top. Since the missile follows a ballistic trajectory it can only be guided to distant targets between, at best, 7,000 and 8,000 meters. Sadid-365 appears to be useful only in clear weather during daylight. Iran used an old BMP IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) with the turret replaced by a four missile launcher. The missile operator was inside the vehicle. Iran has become obsessed with these "propaganda weapons," where they hack something together from an existing system and proclaim it to be a breakthrough weapon "designed and manufactured in Iran." It's all rather pathetic, and it all began during the 1980s, when Iran and Iraq were fighting a nasty war. Some of the hacks worked, after a fashion. Iran created a longer range SCUD missile by the simple expedient of lengthening the missile with a larger fuel tank. This changed the flight characteristics of the missile but since these things were being fired at city size (as in Baghdad) targets, it didn't matter. Actually, the Iranians didn't really need the longer range missiles because Baghdad was pretty close to the Iranian border. Iran actually got the technology for these SCUD mods from North Korea but Iranian press releases always touted the achievement as being the work of Iranian scientists and engineers. Every year the Iranian media features several new weapons described as locally designed and produced. This is to improve morale among a population that knows the country has been under an international arms embargo since the 1980s. Some of the new wonder weapons announced earlier included a cruise missile with 200 kilometer range and a submarine torpedo designed for shallow coastal waters. There was also a new 73mm missile that appeared to be a small, unguided rocket, albeit with a good press agent. All of this stuff was fluff, with a bit of recycled reality to back it up. If you go back and look at the many Iranian announcements of newly developed, high tech weapons, all you find is a photo op for a prototype. Sadid-365 went beyond the photo op by adding a larger rocket motor to the older, UAV launched Sadid-345 guided missile that used a more expensive guidance system that did not require operator control. Production versions of these propaganda weapons rarely show up. Its all feel-good propaganda for the religious dictatorship that runs Iran and needs a steady supply of good news for its supporters, at least the ones who do not examine the new weapons with much scrutiny. The Vietnam government is reportedly furious about the release of an Australian commemorative war coin as they say it shows the flag of the toppled South Vietnamese regime, a claim the Australian government disputes. In April, the Royal Australian Mint issued 85,000 sets of gold and silver $2 coins in memory of the 50th anniversary of Aussie troops withdrawing from southern Vietnam. Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang released a statement on Thursday asking the Australian government to immediately halt the production of the coin as it showed a banned regime flag. The South Vietnam yellow and red flag was banned by the Vietnamese government after the regime was overthrown. 'We regret and strongly protest the Royal Australian Mint and Australia Post for issuing items with the image of the yellow flag the flag of a regime that no longer exists,' the spokeswoman said. Australia and Vietnam stated their intention to move from a bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership during National Assembly in Canberra last November, when chairman Vuong Dinh Hue's visited the Australian capital. 'This is completely inconsistent with the good development trend (of those efforts),' Ms Hang said. Vietnam has requested a halt to the circulation of a commemorative coin which marks 50 years since Aussie troops pulled out of the country, citing its concern that the flag of the toppled South Vietnamese regime appears on it However, the Royal Australian Mint defended the coins on Friday, stating it is a misunderstanding. 'The design of the coin reflects the colours of the ribbons of the service medals awarded to Australians who served in Vietnam, including the Vietnam Service medal, introduced in 1968,' the mint said in a statement to AFP. 'The Australian Government does not recognise the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam.' The Vietnam War was the war of Australia's longest involvement in the 20th century and became increasingly unpopular as thousands protested against the country's role in the conflict in the early 1970s. The Australian war memorial website states more than 60,000 Australian soldiers served in the Vietnam War with 523 losing their life and almost 2,400 wounded in battle. Australian troops withdrew from Vietnam in 1973 and in 1975 communists from the north stormed Saigon and unified the country. Australian ISIS brides could take action against the government The remaining ISIS brides trapped in north-eastern Syria are looking to take legal action against the Australian Government for leaving them in limbo. About 40 women, many who were stripped of their Australian passports after travelling to ISIS-controlled Syria, and their children, who are legal Australian citizens, say they feel let down by the government. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year brought home the first batch of 'ISIS brides' and promised to return the rest in later batches. However, the Saturday Telegraph revealed no plans have been made for the remaining women's resettlement almost seven months later. About Australian 20 children and their mothers who are trapped in Syria are looking to take legal action against the Australian Government (pictured, al-Hol camp in Syria) Shayma Assaad, her mother Bessima Assaad, Mariam Dabboussy and Mariam Raad and their 13 children returned to Australia last year under a cloud of controversy. One of their relatives now claims they see the government's inaction for the remaining women as a 'broken promise'. '(The government) have been indicating they want to bring them back but without providing any kind of timeline because now "is not a good time",' they said. A team of lawyers with the assistance of Save The Children is looking to help 20 of the children still being held in Syria, as well as their mothers, file an Australia-first lawsuit in the Supreme Court. The case will claim the women are being 'detained' by the Australian Government who have failed to bring them home from Syria. If the case is brought to court, the women would be required to return to Australia to appear. Among the women yet to be returned to Australia is Nesrine Zahab (above) whose extremist cousin, Muhammad Zahab, is understood to have lured the majority of the women into Syria 'We have assembled a high-calibre legal team to prepare an application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of these Australians, who have now been trapped in the camps for more than four years,' Save The Children CEO Mat Tinkler told the Telegraph. 'Save the Children has been encouraging the Australian Government at every available opportunity to bring home the remaining Australians, and working to avoid the prospect of legal action. 'However, the families have become increasingly desperate, as the risks to their childrens health and safety grow with every day that passes. While litigation is a last resort, continued government inaction means the filing of the case is now imminent.' Similar legal battles have been launched in America and India. Among the women yet to return to Australia is Nesrine Zahab whose extremist cousin, Muhammad Zahab, is understood to have lured the majority of the women into Syria. Nesrine said in 2019 she was forced to marry Sydney-born ISIS fighter Ahmed Merhi after arriving in Syria. Police say the attack was due to the employee being unable to help him Police allege the stabbing of a Services NSW worker in Sydney's CBD was due to the employee being unable to amend the customer's paperwork. Mahmoud Salhab, 37, from south-west Sydney, did not appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday after he was charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. His lawyer told the court his client, accused of stabbing the NSW public servant in an unprovoked attack, is experiencing mental health issues and requested he moves to a mental health facility, a request the magistrate denied. Salhab allegedly turned up to the service centre in Haymarket about 9am Friday to amend his birth certificate. They also allege he sat on the lounge while the worker fought for his life. A court has heard the stabbing of a Services NSW worker in Sydney's CBD was allegedly due to the employee being unable to amend the birth certificate of Mahmoud Salhoub, 37 His lawyer Javid Faiz requested his client be transferred to a mental health facility, under section 25 of the Cognitive Impairment Act 2020. 'He's mentally not in a stable position,' Mr Faiz told the court, adding that Surry Hills Police Station where he is currently detained 'had some concerns for their protection'. Magistrate John Bailey denied the request on the basis there was 'insufficient information' to make the order. Instead, he requested a psychiatric report be made available for the next court date. Outside court, Mr Faiz told reporters his client had experienced mental health issues 'for quite some time now'. 'He's undergone treatment in the past,' Mr Faiz added. Salhab allegedly turned up to the service centre about 9am Friday to amend his birth certificate and when he couldn't help him stabbed him multiple times in the chest Mr Salhab did not make a bail application and bail was formally refused. The matter was adjourned to be heard at the Downing Centre Local Court on June 23 The police fact sheet, sighted by The Daily Telegraph, states the 54-year-old employee approached Salhab in the lobby of the building on Rawson Pl, Haymarket before becoming aggressive when the staff member was unable to help him. Police allege Salhab began 'fidgeting' with his hands behind his back before pulling out a knife and allegedly stabbing the Services NSW employee at his workplace in Haymarket in Sydney's CBD at about 9.20am on Friday. The facts state by the time the employee pressed a duress alarm on his lanyard, he had been stabbed in the chest multiple times in a 'frenzied and uncontrolled attack'. The government worker suffered lower back, chest and shoulder wounds during the attack and remained in intensive care late on Friday after undergoing surgery at St Vincent's Hospital. Mr Salhab did not make a bail application and bail was formally refused. The matter was adjourned to be heard at the Downing Centre Local Court on June 23. Lifeline 13 11 14 Beyondblue 1300 22 4636 A Denver councilwoman has sparked fierce debate after suggesting that white-owned businesses pay additional tax, which would be given in reparations to the owners of minority-owned businesses. Candi CdeBaca, a 37-year-old Democratic Socialist, told a business forum in Denver on Thursday that more needed to be done to provide reparations. 'Capitalism was built on stolen land, stolen labors, and stolen resources,' said CdeBaca, speaking at a forum at the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance. She said business improvement districts could levy the racial tax. 'You could be collecting those extra taxes from white-led business all over the city and redistributing them to black and brown-owned businesses,' she said. Councillor Candi CdeBaca, a 37-year-old Democratic Socialist, told a business forum in Denver that white-owned businesses should be taxed and the money given to minority-owned firms CdeBaca said that those questioning the legality and practicality of her plan were a 'white nationalist mob' Critics seized on her plan, and pointed out that the plan would be illegal under federal and state law. CdeBaca's office said she was being 'targeted by a white nationalist mob'. The councilwoman said: 'I will not be silenced by the far-right playbook. 'A nuanced discussion about reparations is necessary, but that opportunity has been taken from us by the right-wing outrage machine. 'This kind of discussion is not going to happen in this media landscape.' Questioned by 9News about the plan, CdeBaca said the constitutionality of a race-based tax is 'not a factor' because the taxes from a business improvement district are 'voluntary.' A spokesman for Denver's Department of Finance said that was untrue. CdeBaca said that San Francisco's Legacy Business Program, which aims to help long-standing small businesses in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, was a 'similarly aimed' system - but the San Francisco plan does not consider the race of the business owners. CdeBaca's remarks came as communities across the country are wrestling with the idea of reparations - most notably in California. Activists calling for reparations staged a rally on March 14 in San Francisco ahead of a Board of Supervisors meeting, at which the public could share their views on reparations In San Francisco, a panel called The African American Reparations Advisory Committee has spent two years working on a proposal for the city. Their suggestions - 111 in total - include a $5 million lump sum given to every eligible black person; a $1 house; and a $97,000-a-year guaranteed income for 250 years. The city's board of supervisors will not decide on whether or not to adopt the recommendations until later this year, once the AARAC has submitted a final report. Another meeting has been scheduled for September. The state of California has formed its own taskforce, which has until July 1 to provide their complete set of recommendations. Before Christmas, St. Louis announced they were creating a commission to consider paying reparations to descendants of the victims of racist policies - raising interesting challenges in a struggling city of 300,000 where 45 percent of residents are black. Democrat mayor of St. Louis Tishaura Jones signed an executive order to create a nine-member volunteer commission to explore and recommend reparations - following a lead set by cities in Illinois, California and Rhode Island . 'The people closest to the problems are closest to the solution,' said Jones. 'I look forward to reviewing this commission's work to chart a course that restores the vitality of black communities in our city after decades of disinvestment. We cannot succeed as a city if one half is allowed to fail.' Zara and Mike Tindall enjoyed a big night out before the King's Coronation, partying at private members venue The Arts Club until 2am following a royal dinner. The couple left Mayfair club Oswald's at 11pm after eating with other members of the Royal Family including Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Princess Anne. The Tindalls then continued their evening at The Arts Club where they left at around 2am and were photographed walking in the street looking for a taxi home. They were out just nine hours before the Coronation begins at 11am at Westminster Abbey following the procession from Buckingham Palace which starts at 10.20am. One witness told MailOnline: 'After leaving Oswald's they carried on their evening partying at nearby the Arts Club where they left at approximately 2am.' Zara and Mike Tindall leave private members venue The Arts Club at 2am this morning The Tindalls leave at 2am and are photographed walking in the street looking for a taxi home The Tindalls were out in Mayfair just nine hours before the Coronation begins at 11am Zara and Mike Tindall smile as they enjoy a big night out before the King's Coronation Zara and Mike Tindall arrived together at Oswald's earlier in the evening for the royal dinner The witness added that the Tindalls were then seen 'stumbling in the street while taking in all the Coronation bunting before getting into a taxi home'. It comes after the Royals united at a huge family dinner at Oswald's. The Tindalls attended along with Andrew and children Beatrice and Eugenie and their husband, Anne and her husband, the Kents and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. Oswald's is owned by British entrepreneur Robin Birley, who also owns and runs 5 Hertford Street, which is where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had their first date. Oswald's is the most exclusive of London's private members' clubs, with the Queen Consort and Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie among those who frequent the venue. Named after owner Birley's grandfather, it is a club for both men and women - with a focus on wine. Prince Andrew joined his children, the Tindalls, Princess Anne and her husband, the Kents and the Wessexes at Mayfair club Oswald's, which is owned by British entrepreneur Robin Birley Princess Eugenie wore a stunning velvet gown as she arrived with her husband Jack Brooksbank Her sister Princess Beatrice wore strappy black heels, and a key-patterned dress underneath a trim charcoal blazer as she arrived beside husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi The Princess Royal arrived with her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence Prince Edward was sporting a bright orange tie and a light grey suit as he arrived in the rain His wife Sophie Wessex was wearing a billowing purple floral dress with a frilly collar that mirrored her violet toenails. She matched her sleek beige overcoat with her strappy heels The private members' club is thought to be the best for wine connoisseurs, where guests can either cellar their own wine, or buy in house, before enjoying them in the ground floor restaurant or on the small rear terrace. Zara, 41, who arrived at Oswald's alongside her husband Mike, 44, opted for a striking navy blazer and trouser combo, paired with a light blue shirt. Her cousin, Princess Eugenie, 33, who is expecting her second child with husband Jack Brooksbank, who was also in attendance at the family occasion, seemingly took inspiration from Zara and donned an Asceno Velvet Athens Robe, costing 575. They were joined alongside Princess Beatrice , 34, dressed in Louis Vuitton's 2,900 chain print asymmetrical long-sleeved frock. Today, they will join King Charles, Queen Camilla and the Prince and Princess of Wales at the coronation in Westminster Abbey. The King, Kate and William attended a Buckingham Palace reception yesterday with foreign royals and world leaders. Eugenie, who already shares two-year-old August with her husband Jack, paired her glamorous red robe with black heels and a matching bag. Coordinating with his wife, Jack opted for a smart suit, white crisp shirt and a red patterned tie. The couple's children, James, Earl of Wessex, and Lady Louise Windsor, arrived alongside their parents Also at the dinner at the luxury club were Prince and Princess Michael of Kent Prince Andrew was wearing a tightly-fitting white shirt and patterned dark blue tie Princess Eugenie is heavily pregnant with her second child, which is expected later this summer Beatrice, meanwhile, teamed her designer dress with black heels and a matching blazer. She added a touch of glitz to her look with dazzling earrings. Her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 39, who she shares one-year-old daughter Sienna with, looked equally sophisticated in a navy suit and a light blue tie. Meanwhile, Zara - arriving alongside her husband Mike - teamed her look with court heels and dazzling diamond earrings. Elsewhere, Sophie, 58, and Prince Edward, 59, were joined by their children, James, Earl of Wessex, 15, and Lady Louise Windsor, 19. Oswald's attracts the likes of Dame Joan Collins, Priti Patel, David Beckham, the Earl of Snowdon, and is where Amber Heard was seen partying during the High Court in Johnny Depp's libel suit against a newspaper last year. Prince William, who was seen enjoying a night with friends at the club in November, is also said to be a member of 61-year-old Etonian Birley's secretive members only club 5 Hertford Street. Eugenie arrived at the Mayfair club, which had a floral arch at the entrance to greet the royals Her sister Princess Beatrice's husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi sported a charming pale blue tie and navy suit Ever-fashionable Princess Anne wore a pair of shiny black heels and a red, white and blue cravat ahead of the coronation Lady Louise was a picture of elegance as she wore an intricate paisleyesque dress while striding ahead of her brother Joining costs 1,800 a year and members - rumoured to include Harry Styles, Margot Robbie, Mick Jagger and numerous royals - need to be recommended by a proposer and a seconder. In the summer of 2020 following lockdown, Mr Birley, who is known as the 'king of clubs' spent millions of his own money to lure members back to his fashionable Mayfair nightspots. The mogul gifted every member of 5 Hertford Street and Oswald's a free meal up to the value of 500 - an offer which lasted until Christmas, with members allowed to bring as many guests as they like. There are understood to be at least 3,000 members of the two clubs so it could have set Birley back more than 1.5million. Birley, the son of Lady Annabel Goldsmith and late club owner Mark Birley, opened 5 Hertford Street in 2012 and it soon became London's most exclusive watering hole. Based in a labyrinthine townhouse, it is decorated like a bohemian stately home and members are charged fees of about 2,500 a year. Birley bears facial scars left by a tiger that attacked him at a family friends' private zoo when he was just 12. And the businessman made headlines in 2019 after it was claimed that he helped to fund Boris Johnson's campaign to become prime minister. A Queensland surfer who has been arrested for an alleged drunken rampage in Indonesia has made a bizarre appearance after being paraded in a black balaclava to make a public apology. Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, is facing a maximum of five years in an Indonesian prison and a public caning if authorities charge and sentence him for allegedly breaking laws in an ultra-conservative province. Mr Risby-Jones was on a three-week surfing holiday on the island of Simeulue, off the coast of Sumatra, when he allegedly drank vodka in Aceh province, where alcohol is banned. Police allege just after midnight last Thursday the 23-year-old left his hotel in a drunken state, punched a security guard in the neck and knocked local fisherman Edi Ron off his motorbike. Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones was marched to a press conference wearing handcuffs, an orange jumpsuit and a balaclava (above) on Saturday Mr Ron has suffered a broken ankle and needed 50 stitches. Footage of Mr Risby-Jones' appearance at a press conference on Saturday shows him being marched by police to a stage in handcuffs while wearing and an orange jumpsuit and a black balaclava. 'I'm very sorry for my actions and the embarrassment I've caused and the embarrassment that I've caused for us Aussies overseas, especially Indonesia,' he told the conference. 'I'm very sorry and yeah, I wish what I did never happened. I really, really want to come home.' When asked if he knew alcohol was outlawed in Aceh, the Queenslander said: 'I was not aware, no, I was not aware. I understand now. 'It was at duty free in the airport. It was cheap and my friends actually purchased it. 'I actually don't usually drink that much at home. If I do drink though it would be beer usually.' Mr Ron and his family are demanding AUD$60,000 compensation for the fisherman's injuries and income loss. Mr Risby-Jones (above) is accused of assaulting a fisherman while on a drunken rampage in a province where alcohol is banned Mr Risby-Jones (above) faces a maximum of five years in an Indonesian prison and a public caning if authorities charge and sentence him Mr Risby-Jones and his family have so far paid Mr Ron over $2,000. A lawyer for Mr Risby-Jones is hopeful a peaceful resolution can be reached and Mr Risby-Jones can be deported without charges. Police chief Jatmiko said investigators gave information to prosecutors on Friday. 'If they choose to withdraw their police report, or if they want to resolve this issue peacefully among themselves, we can talk about that,' he said. 'But, if not, then we're going to continue (processing the case).' King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will be crowned tonight, Australian time, with the ceremony to be broadcast to millions around the globe. The event begins with a procession at 10.20am (7.20pm AEST) before the Coronation starts at 11am in London, which is 8pm AEST. Massive crowds started building in London before dawn along with a more visible security presence at landmarks along the Coronation rout, which begins at Buckingham Palace and travels along The Mall, through Whitehall and Parliament Square before reaching Westminster Abbey. Many Royals fans camped out overnight in chilly conditions in London. Australians will be able to watch the once-in-a-generation event as it unfolds with the ABC, Sky News and Channel Seven among the outlets broadcasting the ceremony. The Coronation service for King Charles III (above) will be live-streamed by ABC from 5pm on Saturday Residents will be able to watch the ceremony and processions to and from Westminster Abbey live with ABC's coverage of the event starting at 5pm ahead of the King's Procession at 7.30pm. The Procession will leave Buckingham Palace to head down the Mall, through the Admiralty Arch and turn onto Whitehall while accompanied by The Sovereign's Escort of the Household Cavalry. It will then move along Parliament Street before finishing the half-hour trip at Westminster Abbey. The ABC will finish its coverage of the event shortly after 10.30pm with the Royal family's Buckingham Palace Balcony appearance. Viewing for the coronation will also be available on ABC's app, ABC iview, or directly from the UK on streaming service BritBox. Channel Seven will start their coverage of the coronation at 7pm while Channel 10 begins slightly earlier at 6pm. All reporting will finish by 11:30pm. Sky News will report on the coronation from 3pm with streaming also available on its website and app. Nine journalists Peter Overton and Ally Langdon will broadcast the coronation from 5pm on Channel Nine in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Tasmania and on Nine Gem New South Wales and Queensland. The ceremony will also be available for streaming on Nine Now and will run ad-free. King Charles, 74, automatically took the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September last year. King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla's (above) coronation ceremony will start at 8pm AEST He also acts as head of state in 14 realms - including Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Canada and Jamaica. At Saturday's coronation, he and Queen Consort Camilla will be officially crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. People watching from home will also be invited to take part in proceedings for the first time by swearing allegiance to the new King in the homage of the people. Archbishop Welby will read the homage for viewers to recite after Charles and Camilla are crowned. 'I call upon all persons of goodwill in The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other Realms and the Territories, to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted King, defender of all,' the Archbishop of Canterbury will say. The public is then asked to say: 'I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.' The Archbishop will then say: 'God save The King' to which the public is asked to respond: 'God save King Charles, long live King Charles, may The King live for ever.' People wait to watch Britain's King Charles' procession to his coronation ceremony from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, at The Mall in London Anti-monarchy activists have blasted police for arresting a number of protesters in the run up to the Coronation of King Charles III in central London. Republic's megaphone-wielding chief executive Graham Smith was among those arrested, as police said they had seized multiple lock-on devices and hundreds of posters. New legislation passed this week means protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to 'lock on' are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. However, group director Harry Stratton, who witnessed the arrest of his six colleagues, denied any megaphones or locking chains were being carried or seized, and that they hadn't broken any rules laid out by the force in a series of meetings - which included not mentioning Prince Andrew and the sex claims against him, which he denies. Mr Stratton accused police of 'intentionally picking them out', while another campaigner claimed straps holding their placards had been 'misconstrued' as something that could be used for locking on. Police were seen scouring vans with hundreds of Not My King banners A Republic activist is questioned and searched by police following protests on The Mall this morning A police officer searches a woman following protests by Republic activists this morning READ MORE: King Charles' moment of history: Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Emma Thompson lead guests arriving at Westminster Abbey, red carpet is rolled out for the King and troops march to their places as millions flood into London Dame Emma Thompson gives a thumbs up as she arrives for the Coronation, the first in Britain for 70 years Advertisement Mr Stratton told MailOnline: 'We had meetings with the police where they outlined what would and wouldn't be accepted today. 'They told us any mention of Prince Andrew or the sex abuse cases would mean arrests. 'They said if anybody got in the way of the possession, they could be shot because the military around the streets might be a bit touchy and not understand what was going on. 'We believe we had made our intentions, clear, to have a peaceful protest, and we did not bring any megaphones or any other equipment. 'These arrests seem like the work of a police state. It's not acceptable. We are only saying that we don't believe in the monarchy and we're doing it peacefully. How can they arrest six people who are just on the way to a peaceful protest?' Another protester, Symon Hill, 46, who was previously arrested for shouting 'who elected him?' during a proclamation ceremony for the King, said he hoped he would not be arrested again. Mr Hill had charges against him of using threatening or abusive words or disorderly behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service. He said: ''I very, very much hope I will not be arrested. I am joining peaceful, lawful protest and I am worried there will be more arrests on spurious grounds. 'I am nervous but determined to keep on protesting peacefully against monarchy and arbitrary policing. 'The arrests this morning are appalling but I am not surprised.' Footage on Twitter showed officers using their powers under the new Public Order Act, with a number of demonstrators in yellow 'Not My King' T-shirts having their details taken. In one video an officer said: 'I'm not going to get into a conversation about that, they are under arrest, end of.' In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: 'A significant police operation is under way in central London. 'We have made a number of arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace. The individuals have been held on suspicion of breaching the peace. 'Earlier today we arrested four people in the area of St Martin's Lane. They were held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance. 'We seized lock-on devices. A further three people were arrested in the area of Wellington Arch. 'They were held on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. There will be further updates later today.' It comes as a number of Just Stop Oil activists were also arrested on The Mall, with protesters insisting they were only planning on waving flags and wearing T-shirts during the Coronation. Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Police said they would have an 'extremely low threshold' for protests during the celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect 'swift action'. But non-profit campaign group Human Rights Watch said the coronation arrests were 'something you would expect to see in Moscow not London'. Its UK director Yasmine Ahmed said in a statement: 'The reports of people being arrested for peacefully protesting the coronation are incredibly alarming. This is something you would expect to see in Moscow not London. 'Peaceful protests allow individuals to hold those in power to account, something the UK government seems increasingly averse to.' And human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who was with the anti-monarchy protesters, said on Twitter: 'Police arrest peaceful anti-monarchy protesters & have erected giant barriers to obscure pro-republic banners. Right to freely protest suppressed. Shame!' A protester holding up a 'Not My King' sign as thousands are expected to demonstrate on the Mall today A protester wearing a yellow 'Abolish the Monarchy' T-shirt is searched by police officers Protesters hold up placards saying 'Not My King' in Trafalgar Square this morning Anti monarchy protest material being confiscated by police in central London A Republic activist wearing a yellow top has their details taken by a police officer Supporters of the Republic pressure group protest against the coronation on the edge of Trafalgar Square Anti-monarchy campaigners hold up a yellow sign saying 'citizen not subject' in London today An anti-monarchy campaigner holds up a sign saying 'Privatise Them' at the Coronation Each time Republican protesters broke out into chants of 'not my King', concerted boos and jeers went up from the rest of the crowd, before turning into cheers when the protesters were drowned out Anti-monarchy campaigners dressed in yellow wave a flag reading 'Abolish the Monarchy' Each time Republican protesters broke out into chants of 'not my King', concerted boos and jeers went up from the rest of the crowd, before turning into cheers when the protesters were drowned out. Elaine Myatt, 63, from Stoke on Trent said: 'I'm not having it. It's an insult to to the King. The protesters have taken up a prime position and Charles is going to come past here and see them when he could see the thousands of us who are cheering and supporting him.' Her friend Jenny Gannon, 66, also from Stoke, agreed and said: 'Who would replace the King if we were to become a republic? I certainly wouldn't want a president Boris Johnson.' The Clay family from Ashford, Kent, were amongst some of the loudest people expressing their support for the monarchy and drowning out the protesters - and were showing no signs of fatigue despite their 5am start. Grandmother Maggie Clay, her daughters Georgina and Alex, and grandchildren Marnie, 11, Micky, 7 and Beau, 6, labelled the protesters 'fun sponges' and said they had only shown up to spoil the day for people who like the Royal family rather than out of any real conviction. They had even recruited an American tourist to join in with their cheers. Ms Clay said: 'We've been shouting back at them because they're party poopers. We're just here trying to have a good time. 'They [the protestors] are all going to have the Monday Bank Holiday off aren't they. They're probably going to have a drink after this with their friends too. It's hypocrisy.' At its height, Republic expects 1,700 members to arrive at the scene at midday. Currently, the first military parades are filing past the square, in the shadow of Nelson's Column. Peter Tatchell, 71, a long time supporter of Republic said: 'It is an outrageous infraction on the right to protest, for the head of Republic and other protestors to be arrested for an entirely peaceful protest. 'The police have confiscated tall the Republic placards and they have erected a giant barrier in front of the protest so we cannot been seen by the King and Queen Consort. 'That is a violation of our right to freedom of expression. 'Even people who support the monarchy, I hope would respect our right to protest. Clearly, the police don't.' Republic supporters dressed in yellow and waving placards stood shoulder-to-shoulder with royal fans bedecked in Union flags as thousands of people lined the procession route. Later, police arrested a defiant royalist shouting 'He is My King' who is believed to have been detained for allegedly throwing an object and carted away by two officers in Trafalgar Square. The Metropolitan Police said a number of arrests had been made and the individuals were being held 'on suspicion of breaching the peace'. Up to 2,000 people are expected to join peaceful 'Not My King' protests in Trafalgar Square amid fears eco-zealots could also target the historic occasion. But around 8am, six Republic members, including the group's chief executive Graham Smith, were detained as the peaceful demonstration got under way in central London, according to the group. Group spokesman Luke Whiting, 26, said: 'It is unclear why, potentially it is because one of them was carrying a megaphone. 'It is unclear exactly whether the police are using these few powers and whether they are misusing them to stop protest happening.' A royal fan was seen being led away by police for allegedly throwing an object at Not My King protesters Republic tweeted that Graham Smith and five other members were arrested this morning An anti-monarchy protester being arrested by police in central London this morning One video showed members of the public quizzing police on why Republic members had been arrested, with an officer saying: 'I'm not going to get into a conversation about that - they are under arrest, end of.' Carol Lever of Republic told MailOnline: Graham has been arrested and we believe the police action to be heavy handed. 'We had been in consultations with police in the lead up to today and we had also taken legal advice on the new rules about protests. 'We don't understand why the police have done this. Our colleagues had stayed in a hotel near Trafalgar Square last night to be there early today, but they were stopped on the way and the placards were taken away by police.' Several people have been arrested on suspicion of offences including breaching the peace and conspiracy to cause public nuisance close to the coronation, Scotland Yard said. Under the controversial new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to 'lock on' are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Critics previously hit out at plans from the Met to use facial recognition software on crowds to assist their policing operations. An official letter warning of the new powers was sent to Republic, which said its campaign around the coronation would proceed as planned Police were seen arresting crying anti-monarchist protesters and scouring a van full of 'Not My King' banners amid attempts to foil a peaceful protest by thousands of Republic demonstrators at the King's Coronation. Huge crowds turned out at Tral for the King's coronation on Saturday Metropolitan Police officers were seen scouring a van filled with 'Not my King' banner A ring of steel has been placed around the capital with 11,500 officers on duty and a further 10,000 military personnel taking part in the ceremony, in what is set to be the biggest security operation in British history. It comes amid fears eco-zealots are plotting a graffiti attack on a monument on The Mall during Charles' coronation, as police vow hardline action against such tactics. Royal fans drowned out Just Stop Oil protesters on The Mall this morning as rival chants broke out between well-wishers and eco activists on the coronation procession route. Just Stop Oil said 13 of their activists had been arrested but insisted they were only planning on waving flags and wearing T-shirts. They said a protester was arrested in Piccadilly on their way to The Mall, and a further five were arrested near Downing Street. As thousands of royal fans and well-wishers crammed onto The Mall to catch a glimpse of the King on his way to Westminster Abbey, they were joined by a group of Just Stop Oil activists. Onlookers sang the national anthem as the demonstrators shouted messages about climate change and their right to protest. Some people approached protesters who were wearing handcuffs and told them to 'shut up', while onlookers heckled the group. Fifteen demonstrators wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts were seen in handcuffs surrounded by police and backed up against railings on The Mall. Officers from the Welsh Police force, part of the 11,000 on duty, formed a human shield in front of those in handcuffs. One of the protestors shouted out that he was arrested for wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt. Police did not attempt to stop him shouting out as he. Said he was exercising his freedom of speech. They were mostly ignored by the crowds who kept their focus on The Mall as marching bands paraded down the route from Buckingham Palace. Police search a van filled with 'Not my King' placards Following the arrests, Republic tweeted: 'So much for the right to peaceful protest' Advertisement More than 5,000 members of the Armed Forces arrived at Waterloo Station this morning in preparation for their role in the procession for the King's Coronation. Network Rail said it was the biggest movement of military personnel on Britain's railways since Sir Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965. Members of the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force and Commonwealth forces travelled to the UK's busiest railway station on Saturday morning on board seven South Western Railway trains and two chartered West Coast Railways trains. The soldiers, sailors and aviators arrived to the sound of a special announcement recorded by the King and Queen, which is being played at stations across Britain this weekend. Many of the soldiers were carrying guns whilst others were wielding the drums and other musical instruments that they would play in a few hours' time. After leaving Waterloo, they marched over Westminster Bridge to assemble ahead of the Coronation. More than 5,000 members of the Armed Forces arrived at Waterloo Station this morning in preparation for their role in the procession for the King's Coronation Network Rail said it was the biggest movement of military personnel on Britain's railways since Sir Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965. Above: Drummers pass through barriers at Waterloo this morning Hundreds of troops are seen at Farnborough station in Hampshire this morning as they wait for a train to London The military personnel led processions accompanying the King and Queen to and from Westminster Abbey. Royalists arriving in central London to see the ceremony waved flags as the soldiers marched into the station, which was draped with Union Flag bunting and signs featuring Coronation emblems. Sergeant Richard Flattery, of the Royal Logistics Corps, is working alongside police and railway security teams to manage the flow at Waterloo. He said: 'It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in my career. 'We've got the military police with us on standby and they're lining the route as well to make sure nobody is encroaching on the parade.' Network Rail's Wessex route director Mark Killick said: 'We are delighted to have welcomed over 5,000 Armed Forces personnel to London Waterloo this morning in what is the biggest movement of military personnel by the rail industry since 1965. 'The Coronation of the King and the Queen Consort is of huge national significance and we're very proud of the role we are playing, not only in helping transport the Armed Forces but also the many thousands of customers who are travelling by train to London to take part and celebrate this occasion. 'I would like to thank the many colleagues who are working exceptionally hard to ensure our customers experience smooth and pleasant journeys and I would like to wish customers an enjoyable and memorable Coronation weekend.' Members of the Royal Logistical Corps are seen before they board a train to Waterloo this morning Members of the Armed Forces taking part in the procession arrive in London ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Soldiers are seen after passing through Waterloo station this morning as they prepare to take part in the King's Coronation Troops wearing bearskin hats pass through Waterloo Station this morning. They will have a central role in the procession later Troops pass through a mostly empty Waterloo Station early this morning as they prepare to take part in the Coronation procession South Western Railway managing director Claire Mann said: 'It's an amazing opportunity, the planning that's gone into this. It's been years in the making, and we're hoping for a really successful delivery today. 'It's a real honour to be part of this. As well as the delivery of troops into Waterloo, Ms Mann has also overseen the presentation of station staff and management of different teams across the station. She said: 'There's the security piece around ensuring personnel are trained, and in presentation, making sure they're smart, the engineering, so it's been lots of teams coming together to ensure it's as smooth as it can be.' Asked how she felt about facilitating such a significant logistical event, Ms Mann said: 'It's absolutely phenomenal. 'I'm just so proud of the trust that has been placed in us to move the personnel here today, but also to be at the heart of what's happening in London and the whole of the country and the world actually celebrating such an amazing event today.' She added: 'We are proud to support the Armed Forces in their ceremonial duties for what will be an unforgettable day for the whole country. A marching band is seen moving towards Parliament Square after going across Westminster Bridge Members of the Armed Forces are seen as they begin a march across Westminster Bridge this morning 'I'm very grateful for the hard work and support of all of my colleagues who have made these special trains possible, and the additional services we are providing to Windsor & Eton Riverside for the Coronation concert tomorrow. 'On behalf of all colleagues at South Western Railway, I wish everyone a happy Coronation weekend.' Lieutenant Colonel Belinda Forsythe, deputy chief of staff for the London district, who has overseen the military operation's logistics, said: 'The coronation is a momentous occasion and it's with immense pride that UK and Commonwealth armed forces are taking in the largest military ceremonial operation of its kind for a generation. 'For the thousands of soldiers, sailors and aviators from the UK and across the Commonwealth to arrive in London together by train before marching off to take part in this historic ceremony was a unique and special moment and my thanks go to all involved in making it happen.' : .. 6 The words of the Homage of the People at the King's coronation were toned down at the eleventh hour, it emerged today. The Homage is the promise of allegiance and faithfulness the King receives from all of his peoples upon his enthronement, led first by the Archbishop of Canterbury. For the first time in history, every citizen of the UK and all the other nations of which the monarch is head of state had been asked to 'make their homage in heart and voice to their undoubted King'. It was to make the ceremony more of a 'People's Coronation', as previously only members of the aristocracy were called upon to make such a pledge. But Charles reportedly approved the last-minute change which came after a string of commentators criticised the new addition as divisive. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will now 'invite' a show of support from the congregation rather than a 'call' to those in the Abbey and elsewhere to swear allegiance to the King. BEFORE: The previous wording of the Homage saw the Archbishop of Canterbury 'call upon' all persons to make the oath of allegiance NOW: The revised wording of the Homage is toned down and sees the Archbishop 'invite those who wish to offer their support to do so' Only the Prince of Wales will now kneel before the King (pictured) and pledge to be his 'liege man of life and limb' Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, a friend of Charles who wrote the King's authorised biography, said the monarch would find the Homage of the People 'abhorrent'. Archbishop Welby followed the longstanding tradition of commissioning new coronation liturgy - the prayers and actions of the coronation service - which has the theme Called To Serve. He chaired an advisory group of theology, constitutional history and inter-faith relationships experts to draft the liturgy, produced in close consultation with the King and the Government. The Homage of the People replaced the homage of peers, and Lambeth Palace described it as an invitation to the estimated global television audience of tens of millions to make a 'a great cry around the nation and around the world in support for the King'. Archbishop Welby was to say: 'I call upon all persons of goodwill in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other realms and the territories to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted King, defender of all.' All those interested would be invited to say: 'I swear that I will pay true allegiance to your majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.' But now he will say: 'I now invite those who wish to offer their support to do so, with a moment of private reflection, by joining in saying God save King Charles at the end or, for those with the words before them, to recite them in full.' Commenting on the changes to the Homage of the People, a Lambeth Palace spokesperson said: 'The Homage of the People was always an invitation rather than expectation. 'To provide further clarity as the Order of Service was finalised, it has been mutually agreed by Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace that the introductory words will be changed. 'This reflects the collaborative approach that has been taken throughout the coronation planning. 'We are looking forward to the service with much joy and expectation.' The Homage of the People is one of a number of significant updates to the ancient ritual to make it more inclusive and up to date The new Homage has been toned down, with members of the public invited to repeat the words if they wish Labour MP Clive Lewis (pictured) previously told the Guardian that he thought the oath would be 'either unwelcome or ignored by many' The event will bring together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple, with Charles' estranged son the Duke of Sussex expected to attend. Invited guests include David and Victoria Beckham, musician Lionel Richie, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US First Lady Jill Biden but her husband President Joe Biden will not be attending. The day will be a display of pomp and pageantry, with the nation's Armed Forces promising a 'spectacular' event when the King and Queen process through the streets of the capital. The event is the military's largest ceremonial operation since Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation, with 9,000 servicemen and women deployed and 7,000 of these performing ceremonial and supporting roles. King Charles, pictured last night, will be crowned today as his day of destiny arrives Build up to the big day has already begun with workers sweeping sand onto roads, police officers arriving and a rain shelter is being set up outside the Abbey entrance. Metropolitan police and military police officers patrolled the route from Victoria to Westminster from the early hours on Saturday. Royal fans with Union flags and crowns could be seen on trains and in Tube stations from just after 4.30am. The King will be crowned at Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury during a coronation ceremony dating back centuries. Cries of 'God Save the King' will ring out around the abbey after St Edward's Crown is placed on Charles' head by Mr Welby. The senior cleric said in a statement issued on the eve of the coronation that the ceremony served as 'a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity'. He said people will be struck by the 'majesty and sacred wonder' of the service, but also hoped they would find 'ancient wisdom and new hope'. A rammed Mall this morning with Buckingham Palace behind Charles III's day of destiny has arrived as the world prepares to watch the historic first coronation of a UK monarch in 70 years at Westminster Abbey where Britain and the Commonwealth will hail its new King today. The monarch had been heir since the age of three, and is now ready to finally embrace his day of destiny with the woman he loves by his side. VIP guests queued for a mile from the Abbey from 6am to get one of the prime 2,300 seats inside. Charles will be crowned in a Christian ceremony that dates back for 1,000 years on a day dripping with glorious displays of pageantry. It will also shine a spotlight on Britain's place on the world stage in the UK's biggest ceremonial military operation since the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. His family, including Prince Andrew and Princess Anne, enjoyed a dinner at Mayfair club Oswald's last night. Mike and Zara Tindall were out until 2am. Prince Harry flew in from Los Angeles yesterday for his 24-hour trip. It emerged last night he has been relegated to the third row in the Abbey with other non-working royals. And on the streets of London today, including on a packed Mall, there is huge excitement among tens of thousands who have been camped out for days so they can see the extraordinary event unfold. More than 100million will watch on TV around the globe. Approaching two million people - from all corners of the UK, Commonwealth and the world - are flowing into Central London, despite rain being forecast. Trains into the capital were packed this morning, with soldiers taking part in the ceremony seen flowing into mainline stations. Stephen Fry joins the queue for Westminster Abbey. 2,300 guests will attend, including world leaders, stars and hundreds of charity workers Guests for the service at Westminster Abbey queuing all the way back to Lambeth Bridge - a mile from the church Members of the House of Lords arriving at Westminster Abbey, including Baroness Hoey The Abbey awaits its King this morning Staff at Buckingham Palace literally rolling out the red carpet this morning on the royal balcony, where the King will stand later for a flypast Police officers guarding Parliament today Soldiers march in huge numbers over Westminster Bridge Members of the Royal Navy assemble at the Cenotaph ahead of the coronation Soldiers proceeds to their meeting point ahead of Britain's King Charles III and the Queen Consort Camilla Troops in full military uniform from various military barracks march past Waterloo A marching band passes Westminster Station New dawn as the coronation of King Charles III and Camilla approaches. The view from The Mall as machines give it a final clean People wait to watch Britain's King Charles' procession to his coronation ceremony from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey A group paint faces on The Mall this morning on an extraordinary day for the country The scene on The Mall this morning, where crowds were already huge after days of camping Grenadier Guards march over Westminster Bridge towards Big Ben this morning Soldiers rushed into London Waterloo this morning Royal supporters have rushed to fill central London to be part of the day A young woman wrapped in a Union Flag waits at her spot at dawn Guests of the King started arriving at the Abbey from 7am - four hours before the ceremony. Some 100 heads of state are in London, with representatives from 203 countries due to attend. The longest-serving heir to the throne in British history will today be crowned at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that is steeped in the majesty of his illustrious forebears but also embraces and emphasises the proud diversity of modern-day Britain. A beloved takeaway store with a cult following has unexpectedly shut its doors amid Australia's worsening cost of living crisis. Mr Crackles opened on Sydney's Oxford Street in 2013, and then expanded into Melbourne with the opening of a Bourke Street store in 2018. Coined 'king of the midnight pork roast', Mr Crackles was loved for it's iconic pork crackling, juicy rolls and hot dogs, and quickly became a favourite amongst revellers for a late-night feed. However, co-owners Sam Horowitz and Carlos Justo announced the doors of both their venues will be shut for good, citing problems stemming from the Covid pandemic. Mr Crackles (pictured, Sydney store) has quietly closed the doors to both it's venues after 'never recovering' from the pandemic The late-night takeout joint served pork crackling, rolls and hot dogs and quickly amassed a cult following with partygoers (pictured, roll) 'Costs of goods doubled and revenue is still down,' the duo told news.com.au. 'We relied a lot of volume which hasn't returned to normal after Covid.' They said that Sydney's nightlife never bounced back to what it was pre-pandemic. 'The juice just wasn't worth the squeeze anymore,' the co-owners said. Mr Crackles' website has been taken down and both stores are marked as permanently closed on Google - even though the official Mr Crackles Instagram shared a photo on its account just last week stating it was 'open late all weekend'. Regulars have been left shocked at the news of the popular takeout's collapse, with several taking to social media to voice their devastations. 'RIP', one wrote, 'been a big fan of you (sic)'. 'Livid,' another customer said. Customers have been left in shock at the news of Mr Crackle's collapse, with many taking to social media to voice their devastations (pictured, customer with a roll) One regular wrote: 'We're in mourning.' 'Noooo, this is such a great little spot. How heartbreaking,' another shared. 'So sad that you left,' said another. 'This is just the worst news,' one customer said. Mr Horowitz and Mr Justo also owned fried chicken restaurant Thirsty Bird, with customers noticing both the Newtown and Potts Point stores were 'emptied out' in early 2023. The official Instagram account for Thirsty Bird confirmed the restaurants closure, responding 'yes' to a customer asking in the comment section if the Newtown store was 'closed for good'. Tourists can only swim in one netted area Chris Davis, 55, died from horror injuries from a monster tiger shark while swimming at Chateau-Royal beach in the New Caledonian capital of Noumea on February 19 A popular beach where a beloved Aussie father was mauled to death by a shark will be closed for a year as will other nearby swimming spots following a spate of recent attacks. Chris Davis, 55, died from horror injuries after being bitten by a four-metre tiger shark while swimming at Chateau-Royal beach in the New Caledonian capital of Noumea on February 19. The triathlete and father-of-three was swimming just 150m from shore when the predator severed his femoral artery in a single bite. The horrific attack was the third in months, with a 49-year-old woman mauled by a bull shark while swimming at the beach just weeks before. In response to the series of attacks, the Noumea City Council has banned swimming at the capital's tropical beaches until November 30, 2023. Tourists can only swim 20m from the shore in one supervised area at Lemon Bay in Baie des Citrons between 8.45am and 4pm. In response to the attacks, the Noumea City Council has banned swimming within 300m of the coastline until November 30 (pictured, signs at local beaches) The triathlete and father-of-three was just 150m from shore when the four-metre predator (pictured) severed his femoral artery in a single bite The ban will remain until the council installs shark nets at the beaches, with swimming allowed in bays outside the council area. Australian government service Smartraveller has issued a warning to tourists, which originally warned beaches would be closed in December, rather than November 30. 'Beaches in Noumea will remain closed until 31 December 2023 following a ban by local authorities on swimming along the city's entire 300m coastal zone,' it said. 'This follows three shark attacks in early 2023, one of which was fatal.' Australians have taken to social media to complain about the ban. 'Hey New Caledonia I thought I should point out that due to the stupid council decision to ban all beach swimming in Noumea, we have been forced to cancel our bookings,' one wrote on Facebook. 'We used to love heading to the Hilton Noumea La Promenade and local restaurants. 'But that's it for us. Those bookings are cancelled and we're done. Au revoir.' Tragic footage emerged showing two lifeguards desperately trying to save Mr Davis Mr Davis had been on holiday in New Caledonia when he was attacked by a tiger shark, with eye witnesses saying the attack lasted no more than 10 seconds New Caledonia, near Vanuatu and Fiji, is a popular tropical destination for Australian tourists Others were concerned about the danger shark nets can bring to other wildlife. 'So all the turtles that I swam with at Duck Island are now going to be caught up in nets... f****** ridiculous,' one said. 'It's funny to read this info... looking at the stats, the area has had 13 shark attacks since the 1990s and Australia has had 365 or so... we are still swimming in our beaches,' a third commented. Mr Davis had been on holiday in New Caledonia when he was attacked by a tiger shark, with eye witnesses saying the attack lasted no more than 10 seconds. Jet-skiers plucked him from the water and returned him to the sand where paramedics performed CPR for 40 minutes but could not revive him. It was the third shark attack in the bay in recent months, after a local teacher lost her leg on January 29 and a foil surfer was attacked but escaped unharmed a week later. New Caledonia has recorded an average of one shark attack a year since 1958 A map of shark attacks in New Caledonia and surrounding islands over the 60 years shows attacks have happened regularly at tourist beaches around Noumea. The island has recorded an average of one shark attack a year since 1958. Local authorities removed tiger and bull sharks from its protected species list in 2021 as part of a wider mission to reduce attacks. There has been local speculation that the shark was drawn to the beach by food scraps discarded into the water from a nearby restaurant's viewing platform. Local posters warn people not to throw food or fish less than 500m from the shore. It's not just humans who are getting in on the coronation action as we prepare for the coronation of their majesties the King and Queen. Pets across the country are donning their red, white and blue glad rags to celebrate the coronation. Dogs and coronations have a long history. Queen Victoria, a devoted dog owner, reportedly bathed her dogs before her own coronation in 1838. Coronation-goers have been warned by vets to be careful if they take their dogs to places with large crowds, which could cause their pets stress. Battersea Dogs and Cats Home shared pictures of some of its residents looking 'extra proud' ahead of the beginning of the coronation ceremony. Do YOU have pictures of patriotic pets? Email pictures@mailonline.co.uk Dogs from the Battersea Dogs Home share a picnic ahead of the coronation celebration on Saturday Pets across the country have been pictured in their red, white and blue Sunday best as people prepare to celebrate with them A pup sleeps by its owners feet after a long day of coronation celebrations in Hyde Park A proud spaniel wearing a Union Jack bow poses for a picture with other coronation merchandise A sopping wet dog still looks smart in his bow tie for the Coronation celebrations in Windsor Vets warned coronation celebrators not to make a easy mistake if they decide to take their dogs with them to street parties or to watch the procession in central London Royal supporters and pet owners shared pictures of their proud puppers in their Sunday best. Some used neckchiefs to celebrate the big day with their pets while others went further, with special leads and harnesses. Large bows festooned the collars of other dogs, decorated with glitter and emblazoned with Union Jacks. Vets warned coronation celebrators not to make a easy mistake if they decide to take their dogs with them to street parties or to watch the procession in central London. Dogs can be easily overwhelmed in large crowds which can cause behaviour problems even in well-trained dogs. Vets said that unless the pet was an assistance or support animal, it would be best to leave them at home, where they feel safe. But that doesn't have to stop pet owners enjoying the coronation day with their dogs, as pictures on social media show. Murphy, a mini-daschund from Stalybridge, getting in the party spirit A pooch wrapped in a flag as members of St John's Deaf Community Centre come together to watch and celebrate the coronation of King Charles III Social media users shared pictures of their dogs enjoying the big day, dressed majestically in red white and blue Images of proud pets were shared before coronation day as people prepared to celebrate the King's big day. Murphy, a mini-daschund from Stalybridge, looked dashing in a red and white hat as he got into the party spirit. Gus, a gorgeous miniature wire haired dachshund living in Battersea, looked regal in his crown and gold ribbon for the Coronation while Teddy the King Charles Cavalier Spaniel wore a noble 'God Save The King' bib against a backdrop of Union Jack flags. Meanwhile, Clementine the fuzzy sphynx looked as pretty as a Princess, wearing a sequined rainbow crown and multi-coloured vest. Four-legged friends across Britain have dressed like royalty amidst the countdown to King Charles' Coronation Gus, Battersea's best loved miniature wire haired dachshund, looked regal in his crown for the Coronation Dressed like a Royal: This pup has been crowned and dressed in a majestic robe ahead of the Coronation Ringo the eight-year-old miniature schnauzer, from Emsworth in Hampshire, gets set for the big day Not wanting to miss out on the coronation celebrations, Brits in Benidorm have hit the beach to mark the historic event - enjoying far sunnier climes than royal fans are seeing in rainy London. Tourists kitted out in Union Jack t-shirts strolled along the beachfront under sun and blue skies with temperatures expected to reach a glorious 24 degrees Celsius (75.2 Fahrenheit) today. A hotspot for Brits abroad and home to scores of ex-pats, many in the Spanish town are putting on events to rival Britain's street parties. British pubs in the Costa Blanca offered full live coverage of the momentous occasion, complete with cut-price beer and prosecco and traditional afternoon teas. Patriotic punters turned out early this morning in their red, white and blue garb, paying homage to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on the day of their coronation. Brits have been soaking up the sun while watching the King's coronation in Benidorm. Pictured: Fans watch the ceremony at the Rockstar Benidorm bar Tourists kitted out in Union Jack hats basked in the Benidorm sunshine as they watched the coronation Buck's fizz for the bank holiday: Brits in Benidorm toasted the King as they celebrated the coronation, bank holiday, and a birthday One royal fan sported a bold Union Jack top in a show of support for the King as he stepped out on Levante beach, Benidorm British tourists wearing monarchy T-shirts walk along Levante beach promenade ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla A toast for the King: One Brit abroad raised a bottle of champagne as he watched the coronation from the Ibrox Bar Brits have piled into bars and pubs to watch live feeds of the ceremony, declaring God Save the King as the crown was placed on Charles' head. Toasts have been made to the King across British pubs on the Costa Blanca, with pictures showing jubilant families celebrating. At the Ibrox Bar, a publican unveiled a portrait of the new King after he was officially crowned. Pubs had been advertising their showings of the coronation for days ahead of the event, with landlords seen making preparations for an onslaught of royal fans. A staff member at the Jumping Jacks pub in Benidorm proudly put up a Union Jack flag alongside a patriotic guitar decoration. The pub had a huge TV screen up ready for the event, allowing people to watch the procession and ceremony live all the way from Spain. The Royal Arrow put, which declared itself the 'one and only' place to catch the coronation in Benidorm, urged royal fans to get there early if they wanted to secure a seat. A man places a Union Jack flag under a tv screen at Jumping Jacks Pub in Benidorm, ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla A portrait of King Charles III is unveiled after the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camila at the Ibrox Bar in Benidorm Ladies donning King Charles III t-shirts raise a glass of prosecco to the new King as they holiday in Spain Other bars tempted customers with special coronation offers, including a free buffet and 1.50 pints of lager to toast the King at one venue called Bar Happy Days. Meanwhile other venues offered more traditional British treats, with scones and tea being put on at The One Bar. As pubs opened up, royal fans began to pour into the town this morning, proudly wearing their support for the new monarch on their sleeves. Many opted to soak up some rays on the beach, while displaying their patriotism with Union Jacks and Queen Elizabeth II pictured on their tops. Brits have been flocking to Spanish hotspots like Benidorm, Barcelona and Ibiza over the coronation bank holiday weekend One tourist firm told Spanish media that it has seen the number of Brits heading to the tourist traps rocket A couple were seen wearing royal -themed T-shirts as they walked along Levante beach. Another royal fan sported a bold Union Jack top in a show of support for the King. It comes as Brits have been flocking to Spanish hotspots like Benidorm, Barcelona and Ibiza to catch some sun. One tourist firm told Spanish media that it has seen the number of Brits heading to the tourist traps rocket, as they try to make the most of the bank holiday weekend. Anti-monarchy activists have hailed Meghan Markle as the 'People's Princess' during their protest against the Coronation today. Supporters of the campaign group Republic assembled in Trafalgar Square in London to express their opposition of the crowning of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The protesters held up placards saying 'Not My King' and showing their support of Meghan who they claim is the 'Princess of our Hearts.' Meghan and her husband Prince Harry stepped down from their roles as working royals in 2020. Since then the couple has been a source of controversy for the family. The Sussexes have given a series of high-voltage interviews and starred in a Netflix docuseries which saw them take aim at the King, Camilla, Prince William and his wife, Princess Kate. Harry, who is attending the coronation today without his wife, also published a tell-all memoir in which he claimed William attacked him and claimed some members of the royal family exhibited 'unconscious bias.' Anti-monarchy activists have hailed Meghan Markle as the 'People's Princess' during their protest against the Coronation today The protesters hold up placards saying 'Not My King' and showing their support of Meghan who they claim is the 'Princess of our Hearts Republic protesters, dressed in yellow t-shirts to make themselves stand out, gathered in Trafalager Square today demanding an elected head of state. Up to 2,000 people are expected to join the protests today amid fears eco-zealots could also target the historic occasion. The group, which ramped up its rallies against the King ahead the Coronation, claims the royal family has no place in a modern constitutional democracy and is staggeringly expensive to maintain. Director of Republic, Harry Stratton, told MailOnline that some of the group were cuffed by Metropolitan Police officers as they arrived at Trafalgar Square this morning. The group's megaphone-wielding chief executive Graham Smith was among those arrested, while police said they had seized multiple lock-on devices and hundreds of posters. New legislation passed this week means protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to 'lock on' are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Mr Stratton accused police of 'intentionally picking them out', insisting the protesters had not broken any of the rules laid out by the force in a series of meetings in recent weeks, while another campaigner claimed straps holding their placards had been 'misconstrued' as something that could be used for locking on. Republic protesters, dressed in yellow t-shirts to make themselves stand out, gathered in Trafalager Square today demanding an elected head of state. Up to 2,000 people are expected to join the protests today amid fears eco-zealots could also target the historic occasion Some of the group were cuffed by Metropolitan Police officers as they arrived at Trafalgar Square this morning Footage shared on Twitter showed officers using their powers under the new Public Order Act, with a number of demonstrators in yellow 'Not My King' T-shirts having their details taken Met Police confirmed four people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance on St Martin's Lane and that lock-on devices were seized Footage shared on Twitter showed officers using their powers under the new Public Order Act, with a number of demonstrators in yellow 'Not My King' T-shirts having their details taken. Met Police confirmed four people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance on St Martin's Lane and that lock-on devices were seized. The force also said they made a number of breaching-the-peace arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace and a further three arrests in the Wellington Arch area on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. Just Stop Oil said approximately 13 protesters were arrested on the Mall ahead of the coronation. A spokeswoman for the campaign group said five demonstrators were also arrested at Downing Street and one at Piccadilly. Footage from the Mall showed the Just Stop Oil protesters being handcuffed and taken away by a heavy police presence. Campaign group Human Rights Watch described the arrests as 'incredibly alarming', adding: 'This is something you would expect to see in Moscow not London.' One Just Stop Oil protester Ben Larsen, 25, said he was there to see the coronation and peacefully protest Grinning at police officers, he told them: 'You've searched me and haven't found shit.' A police officer told him: 'You need to educate yourself on what peaceful protest is.' Police were seen scouring vans with hundreds of Not My King banners Supporters of the Republic pressure group protest against the coronation on the edge of Trafalgar Square at the top of Whitehall today Members of the anti-monarchist group Republic stage a protest along the route of the procession ahead of the coronation today On Wednesday, Met Police said they would have an 'extremely low threshold' for protests during the coronation celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect 'swift action'. Under the controversial new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to 'lock on' are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Critics previously hit out at plans from the Met to use facial recognition software on crowds to assist their policing operations. An official letter warning of the new powers was sent to Republic, which said its campaign around the coronation would proceed as planned. Just after 7.30am today, one woman in a Republic T-shirt was carried away by officers. Before being arrested, she said: 'We had a delivery of placards ready for the protest and then the tactical support unit questioned us as to how we we had got through the road closures. 'They questioned whether what we were doing was a delivery. 'They then said they found evidence of means of locking on, of items that could be used to lock on, and they arrested us.' Officers carried her away from where she had been standing outside a Tesco store. Republic, which ramped up its rallies against the King ahead the Coronation, claims the royal family has no place in a modern constitutional democracy and is staggeringly expensive to maintain. Protesters are pictured today Anti-monarchists unfurl huge yellow flags on the Mall on the day of King Charles' coronation Two men who appeared to have been part of the same demonstration were carried away by officers into a marked police van. After the apparent arrests, Republic activist Luke Whiting, 26, told PA: 'Six Republic members have been arrested including the CEO as the demonstration was starting at the edge of Trafalgar Square. 'It is unclear why, potentially it is because one of them was carrying a megaphone. 'It is unclear exactly whether the police are using these new powers and whether they are misusing them to stop protest happening.' The policing operation will see 11,500 police on duty today. Meanwhile, Prince Harry cut a solo figure today as he arrived at Westminster Abbey for his father's historic coronation. The Duke of Sussex, 38, emerged this morning as he joined other members of the royal family in entering the church in central London, before being seen walking down the aisle by himself to take his seat in the third row. He was seen laughing and smiling as he walked alongside Princess Eugenie and Beatrice and their respective husbands Jack Brooksbank and Edo Mapelli Mozzi. The Prince had not been seen for over 24 hours after his arrival and accommodation plans remained shrouded in secrecy - before it emerged he had flown into the UK on a commercial American Airlines flight yesterday morning. The King's youngest son, who was expected to stay at Frogmore Cottage overnight, is invited to lunch at Buckingham Palace today following the historic service, reported Sky News. It is not yet known, however, if the Duke will accept, given that he is expected to rush back to California to reunite with Meghan to celebrate their son Archie's fourth birthday. The invitation will be seen by many as an olive branch from Charles after Harry's explosive memoir Spare left several members of the Royal Family reeling - most notably his brother Prince William. The Duke of Sussex , 38, finally emerged this morning as he joined other members of the royal family in entering the church in central London, before being seen walking down the aisle by himself Harry making his way to his seat inside Westminster Abbey ahead of the King's coronation Prince Harry walking down the aisle by himself inside Westminster Abbey Sources last month said Charles was very pleased that Harry was coming and his mood was described as 'generally quite forgiving', however, his brother William was understood to still feel betrayed and angry, particularly by the revelations in the memoirs. One source told The Telegraph that the 'gulf' between the brothers, who were once as close as siblings could be, is now so large they cannot see how their relationship can ever be repaired. When Harry and Meghan came to the UK for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee they joined other members of the Royal Family at St Paul's Cathedral for a service of thanksgiving. But, notably and rather awkwardly, they were seated on the other side of the nave from Charles, Camilla, William and Kate. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been shunted away from the main seats as their rift with the Royal Family has grown. There had been hopes the Coronation could provide an opportunity for reconciliation - but as of last month, members of the Royal Family were understood not to have an appetite for it. One source told the Daily Express: 'The Royal Family are focused on planning for the historic occasion and have no appetite or time at this stage to think about reconciliation.' Furious royal fans have slammed the BBC for the 'terrible' audio quality in the broadcast of King Charles III's Coronation. Viewers criticised the network on Twitter this morning as 'breaks in the sound feed' interrupted their viewing of the historic event. The outraged royalists complained that the network's sound failure was 'shocking' especially since BBC had 'months of preparation and years of anticipation' for the monumental event. One alleged that when asked what he remembers most from the event he would say 'BBC f*****g the sound up'. Others demanded an 'on-screen apology' from the broadcaster as they vowed to switch the channel to ITV and Sky. It comes as the UK's broadcasting big guns are going toe to toe in the ratings war over this weekend's royal coverage. Furious royal fans have slammed BBC for the 'terrible' audio quality in the broadcast of King Charles III's Coronation. King Charles and Queen Camilla are pictured during their Coronation at Westminster Abbey today Outraged royalists complained that the network's sound failure was 'shocking' especially since the BBC had 'months of preparation and years of anticipation' for the monumental event. Gyles Brandreth, Craig Revel Horwood and Kirsty Young (left to right) are pictured during the BBC's coverage today The BBC positioned itself to be a leader in Coronation coverage ahead of this weekend's festivities. The broadcaster is airing the proceedings across its network, available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. It also offered a special one-off TV licence dispensation for the historic ceremony, meaning if you are hosting an event, you wont need a TV licence to screen coverage of the Coronation today or the Coronation Concert tomorrow. However, royalists allege the network dropped the ball by having poor sound quality in its broadcasts. 'Come on BBC. Sort the sound out on your outside broadcasts. Keeps breaking up,' Twitter user Jane Trout penned, adding: 'Going over to ITV to watch the Coronation without the hiccups.' 'Bloody dreadful sound quality for the Coronation,' tweeted Helen Parsons. Kelsey Harkness-Jones added: 'BBC you will ruin the Coronation if you don't sort the sound!!!' Social media users called on the broadcaster to address the audio issues, with one mockingly saying: 'Hats off to whoever is the #BBC sound engineer doing the audio mixing at the #Coronation ceremony. Top class work.' One viewer said it was 'quite frankly embarrassing' that the network that 'specialises in effective and smooth communication' had so many breaks in its sound. 'Months to prepare, but the BBC clearly have sound issues today of all days!' Twitter user Sherri wrote. 'Glad it's not my TV but disappointing that the sound has been cutting out so frequently...' Many viewers alleged that ITV and Sky were providing superior broadcast quality as they branded BBC's coverage as being 'really disappointing'. 'Sound constantly dropping out on the Coronation. This is what we pay our licence fee for?' one tweeted. 'Switched over to ITV.' Another added: 'Gave up on the BBC 1 coverage of the Coronation - horrendous sound issues. The UHD feed on iPlayer is much better - crystal clear visuals and the sound is in sync!' Several social media users said they 'switched over to ITV' to watch the event. Julie Etchingham and Tom Bradby are pictured during ITV's Coronation coverage this morning Many viewers alleged that ITV and Sky were providing superior broadcast quality as they branded BBC's coverage as being 'really disappointing'. Sky News reporter Sarah-Jane Mee is pictured interviewing royalists ahead of the historic Coronation this morning The criticisms come amid backlash from royal correspondent Jonny Dymond after the BBC branded Charles's Coronation 'the strangest show in town'. In his BBC article, Dymond references Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave, who will attend today's event 'for the bizarre, the uncanny, the stupefying spectacular, the awe inspiring'. Dymond then states that 'The Coronation will be all these things and more,' headlining his article 'the strangest show in town'. One person wrote on Twitter: 'This seems a somewhat "strange" adjective to use by the #BBC Royal Correspondent. 'Why pick on the Coronation?' Another wrote: 'What a waste of our licence money. This reporter helpfully tells people areas to avoid in London and other unnecessary advice as to how to avoid the strangest show in town'. 'People who dont want to go, or even know about this historic day have already made their plans.' The BBC has branded Charles's Coronation 'the strangest show in town' - sparking backlash at royal correspondent Jonny Dymond In his BBC article, Jonny Dymond (pictured) references Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave, who will attend today's event 'for the bizarre, the uncanny, the stupefying spectacular, the awe inspiring' BBC presenter Huw Edwards (pictured during the broadcast) has also been criticised on Twitter for spending 'five minutes' talking about spoons Dymond also wrote: 'Every big royal occasion, jubilee or wedding, birth or death, is an opportunity of sorts. 'A chance to remind the nation and the world of the institution's role and relevance. And a moment to reinvent and rebrand.' He added: 'And this Coronation comes against a challenging backdrop.' BBC presenter Huw Edwards was also criticised on Twitter for spending 'five minutes' talking about spoons. MANZINI The Coordinating Assembly for Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) has committed to counter social media unrest in the upcoming national elections. CANGO Executive Director (ED) Thembinkosi Dlamini announced the project during the Press Freedom Day celebrations held at the American Corner, at Manzini Library yesterday. The project aims at countering misinformation, disinformation and fake news on social media. Dlamini said social media brought social biases to light and opened opportunities for them to be evaluated and addressed at a public scale, hence the need to address all prejudice, since the online space influenced offline behaviours. He said researches suggested that online hate contributed to offline violence. Virtual communities and networks also offered individuals opportunities to interact, and to find solidarity. Harness We will harness this potential by facilitating dialogue online around elections with the aim to conduct narrative monitoring and reporting on the elections and to also calm online unrest caused by disinformation. We will further use the dialogue facilitation methodologies to promote posts encouraging voter participation. Social media platforms also offer a convenient, cost effective and sustainable way to engage with people and stimulate social change on a long term basis. These platforms can contribute to preventing the spread of mis or disinformation and preventing violence during elections, he said. Dlamini added that they would report and monitor election irregularities and complications during the elections. He said the programme was aimed at questioning misinformation and disinformation online, aimed at the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC). He said the proposed programme would be a partnership between CANGO and EBC, and would include dialogue facilitation campaigns online to share information on the importance of elections and voting procedures. We will monitor for signs of violence on the content posted on social media and other online platforms and also monitor the post-election narrative. The dialogue facilitation campaign has the potential to have a wide impact. The use of social media plays an increasingly dominant role in our daily lives and has become an integrated aspect of our existence. Although prejudice is not a new phenomenon, social media brings social biases to light and opens opportunities for them to be investigated. People often discuss critical social issues on social media, he said. CANGO ED said a few people were equipped to dialogue effectively in online environments, and difficult conversations became challenging. Opposing Dialogue skills are particularly important since unstructured online communication between opposing groups is connected to offline violence. In the dialogue facilitation campaign, we will harness our skills in dialogue facilitation and narrative therapy, to drive transformative conversations in online spaces. Dialogue has long been recognised as a unique method of generating knowledge, challenging assumptions and creating opportunities for social intervention. Our dialogue approach is based on respect, care and empathy, and derives from an understanding that violence breeds violence, and that all parties require healing in order to change, said Dlamini. He further averred that through self-reflection and critical thinking, online conversations were effectively challenging online and offline gender-based violence and gender subordination. He elaborated that one of the things they viewed as important was knowledge creation and knowledge dissemination so that people could be free to form and to voice their opinions without fear of reprisals. It does seem that we are having a scenario where for the longest time we thought the government was the one with a problem but now we are realising that we are a problem ourselves. We are a problem because we do not read and we do not participate in such forum. We do not seek knowledge yet our responsibility should be that of seeking and processing it before taking action. We are living in an era where there is social media. We talk about trolls, fake news, fake accounts, and violation of privacy of people, cyber bullying and many other atrocities. All this needs to be addressed and tackled head-on. We need to be honest to ourselves, he said. Eswatini National Association of Journalists (ENAJ) President Welcome Dlamini applauded the initiative by CANGO and said it was bound to change the media landscape in the country. Dlamini said there was a need for the nation to be equipped on the content of real news against fake news. This is a great initiative by CANGO and I want to applaud them for taking such a step towards educating the nation, especially social media users on the issue of information sharing. Not everyone is a journalist and not every gossip is a story, there is what we call fact-checking and balancing of a story and we find people taking everything that they read on social media as the real story. Such a project needs our support as stakeholders, he said. Dlamini, who was among the speakers on the day, requested to address the participants on an off the record basis and touched on the problems faced by the media in the country. Threatned He said the media was threatened by self-censorship, fake news and misinformation. He also stated that journalists were lowly paid in the country and, therefore, tempted to take bribes. Dlamini further said the judiciary was being used to suppress the media through deliberate lawsuit, where some law-firms even call clients and ask them to sue the media for stories published. Political Parties Assembly (PPA) Deputy Head of Secretariat Thami Hlatshwayo, who was part of the event, said they were interested to see how CANGO would implement the programme. We have questions on how they would implement such a programme because even governments have failed to do what they want to do. It is interesting and we are waiting on them to unpack or implement their proposal, then we can make an informed comment or contribution on the matter, he said. Representatives of the academia, Khulekani Nene and Nqobile Ndzinisa both concurred that there was a need for media literacy in the country. They both said the nation needed to be educated on what was the composition of news before misinformation takes over the space. The project is yet to be officially launched to the public and will run for a period of three months. Meanwhile, tribespeople in Vanuatu declared Charles 'son of our power' Others lit up local landmarks in Britain's national colours of red, white and blue Coronation fever has swept all over the world today, as thousands have gone above and beyond to celebrate the crowning of King Charles. From the Prince Philip-worshipping island of Vanuatu, to the bustling Croatian city of Osijek, royalists are paying a variety of touching tributes to His Majesty. It comes as King Charles pledged his faith to Britain in a historic ceremony, surrounded by the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and numerous other Royal Family members. Nations across numerous continents were seen to stream the landmark event too, with crowds gathering in the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates to watch the spectacle on huge screens. On the island of Vanuatu, one tribe declared Charles as the 'son of our power', as they celebrated his crowning after being presented with his portrait. Members of the tribe on Vanuatu have declared Charles the 'son of our power', and have today been presented with a portrait of the new King Meanwhile in Australia, a group of Indigenous men performed a traditional smoking ceremony to mark King Charles' Coronation day Osijek's pedestrian bridge was lit up in red, white and blue at the heart of the Croatian city The Kastom people around the villages of Yaohnanen and Yakel, on Tanna, Vanuatu, have also long believed that the late Duke of Edinburgh was the son of a mountain spirit. The communal belief has stemmed out of ancient legend, which says that the spirit's son travelled overseas to a distant land where he married a powerful woman, before returning home. This theory strengthened when Philip visited the remote island in 1974, and Charles has since met the villagers during a 2018 tour of the South Pacific island. As they celebrate Charles' coronation today, villagers from Iaohnanen and Yakel on received a portrait from Britain's Acting High Commissioner Michael Watters. Ahead of the ceremony in Westminster Abbey, Chief Johnson Iakapass said islanders would celebrate the new King with a flag-raising ceremony. They also planned to take part in celebrations involving ceremonial dances and lots of kava, a traditional drink in a yellow coconut shell. 'It will be a big celebration. We're talking about 5,000 to 6,000 people gathering together to celebrate the crowning of this king,' the Chief told ABC. 'This person is really meaningful to the people of Tanna. Villagers from Iaohnanen and Yakel on Vanuatu's Tanna island received a portrait of King Charles III from Britain's Acting High Commissioner Michael Watters Pictured: Vanuatu is a nation made up of around 80 islands in the South Pacific Ocean The Prince of Wales with Chief Sine Mao Tirsupe, President of the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, during a visit to the Chiefs' Nakamal, as he visits the South Pacific island of Vanuatu during his tour of the region in 2018 Sikor Natuan, the son of the local chief, holds two official portraits (one holding a pig-killing club, left) of Britain's Prince Philip in front of the chief's hut in the remote village of Yaohnanen on Tanna in Vanuatu Tribesmen holding portraits of Britain's Prince Philip in the town of Yaohnanen, near the town of Yakel Chief Johnson Iakapass said there would be a flag-raising ceremony to celebrate the coronation 'It's another thing that will bring back the history of England and Tanna and keep remembering the friendship on this island.' According to Kirk Huffman, an expert on Vanuatu and authority on what is known as the Prince Philip Movement, the tribespeople likely switched their focus to King Charles following the death of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II. Mr Huffman told The Mirror: 'The movement has nothing to do with "worshipping a white man", as they believe that the Duke of Edinburgh was originally from their island (not from anywhere in Europe or other 'remote areas' like that). 'Interest there may now eventually focus on King Charles (as the son of their god/spirit/guardian/power). The 400-strong community believe that after his death, Philip's spirit will return home to their island, and will bring peace and harmony to the world. 'People may say that we're crazy,' said one villager. 'But that makes me believe he'll come home even more,' he told Channel 4's Meet The Natives. The tribe believe that Tanna and England were once the same island. 'When they broke apart, things started to go wrong for you on the other side of the world,' explains one tribesman. 'So our God of the volcano sent his son on a special mission to try to help you in England. 'You, the people of England, have always been told that Prince Philip was born in Greece, then he came to your country to join the navy where he met your young Queen.' 'But we believe that Prince Philip is a spirit, born in Tanna, who was sent to England to bring peace, unity and harmony to the world.' The Prince of Wales is given a grass skirt to wear prior to receiving a chiefly title during a visit to the Chiefs' Nakamal, as he visits the South Pacific island of Vanuatu in 2018 A member of the tribe can be seen heading deep into the forest and says: 'Every year we plant new yams which grow new shoots that keep Prince Philip's spirit alive.' Pictured, the yam plants It is the tribe's belief that Prince Philip and the yam plant are one defined being which keeps all of us alive. Pictured, the yam plants 'All happiness comes from Him,' says one tribe member, while another enthuses: 'I love Him so much...I pray for my life to connect to His.' A third added: 'He's the spirit and he's the son of our god. Everyone believes in him and his name is Prince Philip.' In 2007, five of the tribe members were invited to travel to England to meet Prince Philip as part of Channel 4 documentary, 'Meet the natives.' The tribe (pictured) believe that Prince Philip is a spirit, born in Tanna, who was sent to England to bring peace, unity and harmony to the world During their pilgrimage, the tribe are met with some resistance from those who have abandoned the traditional ways, actively rejecting Western lifestyles and Christianity (pictured) Keen to share one message with those who no longer believers, a member of the tribe recalled a recent meeting with Prince Charles Vanuatu island tribe held day of rituals to mark Prince Philip's death The tribesmen and women on the South Pacific island of Tanna in Vanuatu mourned Prince Philip through dancing, speeches and the ceremonial drinking of the native plant kava, according to an expert on the culture. The group - who believe Prince Philip is their god and the incarnation of a volcano spirit - was also expected to anoint his son Prince Charles as his successor. Australian Museum research associate Kirk Huffman is considered an authority on what is known as the Prince Philip Movement - a group based in villages in the south-western part of the island of Tanna in southern Vanuatu. He said followers all speak a language called Navhaal - which is only spoken by approximately 4,500 people worldwide - just a few hundred people are associated with the Philip Movement. He said at the time: 'Those in the movement have been very saddened to hear about his death. 'As soon as the messages about his death came they had meetings. 'They got leaders, important people from two, possibly three different factions of the group together at a meeting to sort out how they're going to deal with the funerary situation. 'They held funerary speeches last weekend. There may be special dances. 'Dancing there is a highly-respected form of saying something powerful, and there may be some that have already gone on. 'There may be a periodic display of some of the movement's Prince Philip memorabilia - photographs, letters, that sort of thing. There'll also be more periodic speeches by various traditional leaders there.' However, possibly the most important element of the funerary rituals was evening sessions of the men of the group drinking kava - an infusion made from the root of a pepper plant. Mr Huffman described the drinking of kava as a 'sacred activity', which is the 'liquid key that opens the door between the material world and the non-material world'. He said: 'Through the medium of kava, one can pass messages back and forth between those worlds. 'Traditionally, the purpose of drinking kava is to ensure the continuity of life as it should be. 'Through the use of kava, you can get better rain, better sun, better crop fertility, all sorts of things. Because you put these requests into the world through the kava. 'There'll be that same sort of thing in Tanna for Philip's spirit. There'll be messages and ideas being sent and received, that will be very important.' Mr Huffman explained that, in traditional religions throughout the region of Melanesia - which consists of Vanuatu, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea - death is merely considered the end of someone's physical form, with their spiritual form persisting. He continued: 'Your spirit form can recycle. You can be reincarnated. It can wander around, it can come out years later in another person. 'So from the point of view of the people of the movement, (Philip) is originally from Tanna.' Advertisement During the trip, they took the opportunity to deliver a special message to the Duke of Edinburgh - with the chiefs wanting to know if the pawpaw was ripe yet or not - which was their way of knowing whether Prince Philip's spirit was ready to return home to the island. 'My heart rejoices that He is returning to Tanna,' exclaimed one,' while another explains: 'The prophecy states that when Prince Philip's work is over in England, He will come back to Tanna. The fish will leap from the sea, the harvest will never fail and we will all live forever.' 'These days we have plenty of food and our life is good. 'Why then do we really need Prince Philip?' asks one person, to which another replies: 'The goodness we are experiencing is a gift from someone else and that someone who is greater than all of us, is Prince Philip. 'That's the story we are delivering to the people everywhere. He is the ending of the story and only He has the final word.' A further member of the tribe can then be seen heading deep into the forest and says: 'Here we grow the sacred yam plant that we worship. 'Every year we plant new yams which grow new shoots that keep Prince Philip's spirit alive. This yam propagates the next one, which then produces new yams. Meaning that He can never really die because the yam spirit is eternal.' It is the tribe's belief that Prince Philip and the yam plant are one defined being which 'keeps all of us alive.' During the pilgrimage, the tribe pass through the mountains where they believe the spirit of Prince Philip was born before he left for the coast. At last they arrive at the coast where Prince Philip left for England to marry the Queen - it's also where he's said to have returned some 50 years later. Now, many years later, the human form of Prince Philip has died, and the tribe believe he has finally sent them his sign. 'This is the pawpaw I asked about in the castle,' explains the tribesman, cutting it from the plant. 'The one that Philip told me about. And now it is ripe!' Believing the time is right for the Duke of Edinburgh's spirit to return to Tanna, the five of them embark on a pilgrimage across their island in a bid to share the good news with everyone they meet. In the 1970s, the Royal Britannia was on the tour of the south pacific when it sailed past our island. 'Our grandfather saw Prince Philip on board, lit up by the sun. 'It was that moment which confirmed to us he really is defined.' A tribesmen who witnessed it happen, explains: 'My father, Kehma, told me His kava here. Philip's ship was due to pass our island. 'Dad said He will come here to drink kava at night. As I prepared the kava, Prince Philip shone a search light from His ship. His spirit came ashore, drank the kava and went back to His ship. So He drank the kava and left!' However, during their pilgrimage, the tribe are met with some resistance from those who have abandoned the traditional ways, many of the villagers still live the 'kustom' way of life, actively rejecting Western lifestyles and Christianity, and continue to worship their Gods. Keen to share one message with those who no longer believers, a member of the tribe explains: 'Recently, Prince Charles visited our islands. 'The High Commissioner contacted me from the Embassy. He said it's vital Charles meets us five ambassadors who met his Father in England. 'I was already in Port Vila, so I went to give Prince Charles a message on behalf of us all.' He continues: 'On his arrival he shook hands with me and I told him that we are giving you this rod and telling you that the chiefs who foretold your Father's prophecy are dead. The men were captured kneeling before a portrait of the new King as a brass band played behind them This event took place at a tree-planting event hosted by the Government House in Sydney Antananarivo's town hall 'Lapan' ny tanana' shone a bright shade of blue in Madagascar He shook my hand and said: 'Thank you. I almost missed what I came for. It's a special mission isn't it.'' 'Charles accepted from me the story about his Father. He will keep our faith alive. Prince Charles.' In Australia, a group of Indigenous men performed a prestigious smoking ceremony to mark King Charles' Coronation day. The traditionally dressed men were captured proudly kneeling before a portrait of the new King as a brass band played behind them. This event took place at a tree-planting event hosted by the Government House in Sydney, with Australia remaining to be one of the 54 countries in the Commonwealth. On the other side of the world in Chiang Mai, Thailand, crowds proudly waved Union Jack flags outside a hotel in the country's northern region. Others nearby appeared to have organised a festival celebrating Charles' big day too, brimming with food, music and activities. Similar festivities took place in Yaounde, Cameroon, with familiar red, white and blue decor laid out on the grass amidst the royal ceremony. Crowds proudly waved Union Jack flags outside a hotel in Chiang Mai, Thailand Festivities took place in Yaounde, Cameroon, with red, white and blue decor laid out on the grass amidst the royal ceremony The British Embassy in UAE celebrated the Coronation in a bunting-filled bar Meanwhile, numerous countries streamed the ceremony on huge screens, with crowds gathering to watch at bunting-filled bars in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and mass-scale picnics in the Philippines. The British Embassy in the UAE tweeted: 'Our embassy staff and HM Ambassador took #watchpartygoals to the next level during the coronation ceremony! We had themed snacks, and fancy crowns. It was a blast celebrating together!' In the Philippines, another Twitter used added: 'The British Embassy is hosting a livestream picnic at Quezon Memorial Circle with different booths.' Canada, France, Germany, and South Africa are among other countries believed to be watching the Coronation today, with coverage running on a number of TV networks. Other countries, such as Croatia and Madagascar also lit up local landmarks with Britain's national colours in the midst of the unforgettable event. Osijek's major pedestrian bridge was lit up in one of Croatia's largest cities, while Antananarivo's town hall shone a bright shade of blue in Madagascar. Historian Mr Starkey criticised the PM for being 'invisible' during preparations The PM, who is Hindu, read from the Epistle to the Colossians during the service Rishi Sunak read from the Bible at the King's Coronation today, just days after a prominent historian sparked a race row by claiming he was 'not fully grounded in our culture'. The Prime Minister, who is a Hindu, had a prominent role in Westminster Abbey with a reading from the Epistle to the Colossians. Mr Sunak's reading included the lines: 'For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.' In the lead-up to the King's coronation, historian David Starkey claimed Mr Sunak was 'not fully grounded in our culture'. Asked to explain his comment, made as he criticised the PM for being 'invisible' in preparations for the coronation, he said: 'In terms of religion.' Rishi Sunak read from the Bible at the coronation service just days after a prominent historian claimed the Prime Minister has been 'invisible' in the preparations for the event Historian David Starkey, pictured on GB News, was embroiled in a new racism row this week within hours of declaring he had 'uncancelled' himself following a previous scandal Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy, arrive for the Coronation of King Charles III Dr Starkey later insisted his remarks on GB News were not racist, saying he was referring to the Prime Minister being a 'typical international liberal' with no interest in British 'values'. Mr Sunak tweeted this morning: 'Today's #Coronation is a moment of extraordinary national pride. No other country could put on such a dazzling display. 'But it is not just a spectacle. It's a proud expression of our history, culture, and traditions. 'It is a vivid demonstration of the modern character of our country. And a cherished ritual through which a new era is born. God Save The King.' It came as a number of Mr Sunak's predecessors at No10 were also in attendance at the Westminster Abbey service today, including Boris Johnson, Tony Blair and John Major. Mr Johnson arrived holding his wife Carrie's hand as Theresa May and her husband Philip walked ahead of them and Liz Truss trailed behind with her spouse Hugh. Mr Major, 80, was seen talking to Mr Blair's wife Cherie as he arrived without his other half Norma, 81, who had been set to attend but is unwell. Gordon Brown, 72, was joined by his wife Sarah, while David and Samantha Cameron rounded off the line of Britain's seven surviving former leaders and their spouses. The group went to take their seats after current PM Mr Sunak had also arrived with his wife Akshata Murthy. Mr Sunak replaced Ms Truss as PM last October after her disastrous short-lived stint in Downing Street. Ms Truss was PM when Her Late Majesty The Queen died aged 96. She became PM after Mr Johnson was forced to step down by his own MPs following a string of scandals. Boris Johnson is seen smiling as he sits next to his wife Carrie and predecessors Liz Truss and Theresa May and their husbands. Behind him is (left to right) Mr Blair, Mrs Blair, Gordon Brown, his wife Sarah and David and Samantha Cameron Boris Johnson is seen arriving at Westminster Abbey for the Coronation with his wife Carrie Cherie Blair is seen talking to John Major as she arrives with husband and former PM Tony Blair. Mr Major was without his wife Norma, 81, who is unwell Theresa May and her husband Philip lead former PMs and their spouses into the Abbey as they walk to take their seats. Behind them are Boris and Carrie Johnson and Liz Truss with her husband Hugh Mr Blair is seen talking to his predecessor John Major as they arrive for the Coronation Theresa May holds her husband Philip's hand as she makes her way into the Abbey ahead of Boris and Carrie Johnson Liz Truss walks alongside her husband Hugh as she arrives at Westminster Abbey for the Coronation Mrs Blair talks to Mr Major outside the Abbey as he arrives without his wife Norma Mrs May, who served as Prime Minister from 2016 until 2019, is seen after arriving inside the Abbey with her husband He had replaced Mrs May as PM in 2019 after the failure of her attempts to get her Brexit deal through Parliament. And Mr Cameron, 56, served as PM from 2010 until 2016, when he resigned after Britain voted to leave the EU. Mr Brown, the most recent Labour PM, was in Downing Street from 2007 until 2010 after replacing Mr Blair, who served for a decade from 1997. Jordan Neely was self-medicating with K2 to treat his depression in the wake of his mother's passing when he was choked to death on a New York City subway, his uncle claimed as he called on officials to make an arrest. Christopher Neely, 44, revealed his nephew's reliance on the synthetic weed known as Spice, as he slammed New York City law enforcement for releasing Daniel Penny. Penny, 24, is the US Marine veteran who was identified as the person who fatally choked Neely in the incident on Monday. He joined public officials and civil rights activists calling for the arrests of at least three people for what he called a 'gang killing' of his nephew, who he said would only get help when people called the police on him. Daniel Penny, 24, has not been charged with a crime in relation to Neely's death, but broke his silence Friday claiming he acted in self defense and that he 'never intended to harm' the former Michael Jackson impersonator. Multiple reports suggest that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg may convene a grand jury and pursue criminal charges as early as next week. Jordan Neely, 30, was a Michael Jackson impersonator, was self-medicating with K2 to treat his depression when he was choked to death on a NYC subway, his uncle claimed The former Marine who put homeless man Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on the NYC subway has been formally identified as Daniel J. Penny (right) Penny was questioned on Monday but has not been arrested. His attorneys say they have reached out to the NYPD and the DA's office to cooperate with the investigation The release of Penny has outraged many, including Neely's uncle who told The New York Post that the drugs were a way of dealing with his grief. 'When he lost his mother, my sister, it was heartbreaking for him,' he said 'He got into K2 and drugs, which was his way of healing himself.' Neely said he did not know if his nephew was on any other drugs besides K2. 'He was back and forth on the medication. Jordan was really out on the streets he didn't want no help. The only time he'd get help is when people would call the police on him. The mental health system is horrible.' Witnesses said that around 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Neely, who relatives have said he was schizophrenic, was behaving erratically, throwing garbage and screaming that he wanted to 'die' or 'go to jail' because he was fed up about having no food. Video footage shows Penny with Neely in the chokehold. For two minutes and five seconds, Neely struggled on the floor, flailing his feet. He went limp after two minutes and six seconds. Police took Penny into custody. But he was later released and has not been charged. 'Why would you release somebody who just choked someone to death?' he told The Post on Friday. 'The Marine should never have been released at all,' he added. 'That was a stab in the face to all of Jordan's family and loved ones. 'The good Samaritan laws shouldn't be a license to kill the homeless.' Neely went limp in Penny's arms. When he was unresponsive, Penny released him and stood up After being warned that Neely could die, Penny (left) and the other man who helped restrain him (right) continued to restrain him for several more seconds. He jumped up when Neely became unresponsive The men then put Neely in the recovery position. His limbs were limp by this point But Neely said Penny is not the only one who should be arrested. He also called for the arrests of the two other people see in the video footage. 'Three men killed Jordan, not just the Marine. It was a gang killing period,' Neely said, adding that his nephew 'got jumped by three hoodlums.' 'The Marine choked Jordan to death but the other two men held my nephew's hands while he was trying to break free from the chokehold,' he continued. 'They were all assailants in this murder and should all be charged.' In the statement, Penny's lawyers say that the Long Island-native 'could not have foreseen [Neely's] untimely death.' It also said that Penny was merely trying to restrain Neely, who was accused of being disruptive on board an F train, until the police arrived. Neely's attorneys also took aim at 'elected officials' calling on them to 'address the mental health crisis on our streets on subways.' Penny's attorney is former Republican Manhattan District Attorney candidate Thomas Kenniff, who unsuccessfully ran against Bragg in 2021. Left wing Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Neely's death a 'murder' earlier this week. 'Earlier this week Daniel Penny was involved in a tragic incident on the NYC Subway, which ended in the death of Jordan Neely. We would first like to express, on behalf of Daniel Penny, our condolences to those close to Mr. Neely,' the press release begins. 'Mr Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness. When Mr Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.' 'For too long, those suffering from mental illness have been treated with indifference. We hope that out of this awful tragedy will come a new commitment by our elected officials to address the mental health crisis on our streets and subways,' it concluded. The statement was issued through the law firm Raiser and Kenniff on Friday evening. Neely's death occurred on Monday. 'Jordan was murdered here,' read one protester's graffiti at the subway station last night It is not known when the grand jury would be convened nor what charges District Attorney Alvin Bragg is likely to pursue. According to a separate report from ABC New York, the case is likely to be heard as early as next week. The man who put Neely in the chokehold was earlier named as Penny, 24, of Long Island, New York. The ABC report notes that it is 'typical' for prosecutors to take their time in complex cases before impaneling the jury. Detectives in the case have spoken to around six witnesses who saw the disturbance and are seeking to talk with around four or five more. Penny has been questioned by police and released. According to reports, he said that he did not intend to kill Neely and had been trying to restrain him until the police arrived. Her latest post comes after she had to apologize during the COVID pandemic for comparing it to a 'respiratory flu' The actress, 43, posted a lengthy Instagram post talking about masculinity and men being villainized Ant-Man and The Wasp actress Evangeline Lilly has launched a scathing attack on the subversion of traditional gender roles and says manly men should be celebrated. In a post shared to her Instagram, the actress spoke of her frustration over people who applauded masculinity in women, and villainized it in men. The 43-year-old said: 'Why are we only applauding masculinity in women and villainizing it in men? 'And why are we only applauding femininity in men and debasing it in women? Why can't we just allow for all of it? 'Why do we feel the need to vilify a man wearing s***-kicker boots, driving a pick-up truck who's not afraid to punch someone in the face, but if they were a woman, they would be the epitome of cool? Evangeline Lilly (pictured) attends the 'Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania' UK Gala Screening in February of this year. In a post on her Instagram, the actress spoke of her frustration over people who applauded masculinity in women. 'Why is a man who loves make-up, cries easily and stays at home to tend to the domestic responsibilities valiant, but a woman who does the same is pathetic?' Lilly, who is Canadian, also urged members of the public to stop 'trying to juggle the minutia of judgement' and bring 'grace and charity' back into their lives. The Avengers star has previously been outspoken about her views on the COVID vaccine. Paul Rudd and Lilly attend the Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania world premiere at Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, California, in February A known critic of the vaccine, she attended a anti-vaccine mandate rally in Washington D.C in January of last year. Previous to that, she was forced into an apology after comparing the deadly virus to a 'respiratory flu'. The Ant-Man and Wasp star also starred in The Hobbit trilogy as Tauriel, she has two children with Hobbit co-star Norman Kalio. She shot to fame in TV drama Lost. A 16-year-old schoolboy bled to death in the street after being ambushed outside his school in a 'senseless knife attack'. The student at Kelmscott School in Walthamstow, east London, died after being stabbed by three 'older kids' who chased him into a nearby tyre shop. He tried to run from his attackers, who were 'waiting for him' as he left school on Friday afternoon, but died just a short distance away, as other pupils watched. Emergency workers were unable to save the year 11 pupil, who died in the street on on Friday at 4.39pm, after being stabbed in the stomach three times. The attack, which comes as the second killing of a 16-year-old in Walthamstow within the past five years, has shocked those who witnessed it. The 16-year-old bled to death in the street after being ambushed by three attackers on Friday The boy was stabbed as he tried to escape his attackers by running into a nearby tyre shop One witness to the scene said he saw one of the assailants get out of a white Hyundai shortly before the attack. Another local business owner said: 'He was a Year 11 kid. There were three other kids older than him. They were waiting for him. 'They chased him. He ran and when he got to the tyre shop they stabbed him three times in the stomach and he bled to death.' Head teacher Sam Jones said the attack marked the 'darkest of days' for the Kelmscott School community. 'A Kelmscott student was tragically killed in a senseless knife attack,' the headteacher said. 'Kelmscott is a large and tight-knit family and this loss will be felt for a long time to come. 'Hold those that you love close this evening. I know we will come together as a community and support one another through this.' Chief Superintendent Simon Crick, who leads North East Command at the Metropolitan Police, said he was 'totally devastated by the loss of a young man's life'. No arrests have been made and road closures and cordons remain in place around the scene. The local business owner said that gang-related violence had become a common occurrence in Walthamstow, claiming it had gone from 'bad to worse'. The victim is the second 16-year-old killed in the area in recent years. Amaan Shakoor was shot in the head near Kelmscott school in April 2018. The family of Mr Shakoor, whose killer has never been found, offered a 50,000 reward for any information in January 2023. There were 45,000 knife crimes in England and Wales in the year ending March 2022 - 9% higher than the previous year and 34% higher than in 2010 to 2011, figures from the Office for National Statistics show. President Biden declined his invitation from Charles, telling MSNBC he 'has a lot going on' President Biden has congratulated King Charles and Queen Camilla on their coronation as he hailed 'the enduring friendship' between the two nations. In a tweet, President Biden said: 'Congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their Coronation. 'The enduring friendship between the U.S. and the U.K. is a source of strength for both our peoples. 'I am proud the First Lady is representing the United States for this historic occasion.' King Charles III is crowned with St Edward's Crown by The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby Queen Camilla arrives for her coronation at Westminster Abbey, London. President Biden pictured on Friday during a meeting with his 'Investing in America Cabinet No US President has ever attended a British coronation - and Jill and Finnegan are understood to be the first immediate family members of a sitting President to attend the event. Finnegan and Jill were seen being escorted into Westminster Abbey, where they took their seats several rows back behind the representatives from Serbia, Slovakia, and Macedonia. The First Lady and her grandchild were seated alongside Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska. During an interview on MSNBC last night, the President said of his absence at the coronation: 'I told [King Charles] I couldn't be there because I have this going on.' He added that he told the King that he would be in the UK during the summer during the NATO conference, saying 'He's a good acquaintance and we've worked together on environmental issues.' Last year, President Biden and his wife Jill attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey. Corks were being popped as the sun rose over the East Coast The Churchill pub in Manhattan was packed with locals and ex-pats looking to watch the ceremony unfold Royal family fans in New York City celebrated King Charles coronation by flocking to English pubs and a famed tea shops in the city. Manhattanites witnessed King Charles' official coronation at 7am, with The Churchill Tavern in Kips Bay and Tea & Sympathy cafe in Greenwich Village among popular spots to celebrate. And the early start did little to calm excitement, as thousands of champagne popping revelers headed for monarchy-themed deals and bunting-clad bars to mark the occasion. After kicking off the day in a traditional English pub, DailyMail.com has trawled through New York to showcase how the historic day was commemorated across the pond. New York royalists packed the streets of Manhattan. Pictured from left to right: Maddie McDermott, Hannah Wall and Christina Vientimilla King Charles and Queen Camilla travel from Westminster Abbey in the Gold State Coach Corks were already popping as the sun rose over the East Coast on Saturday, with numerous New York hotspots relishing in the coronation day boost. Among the excited revelers was friends Maddie McDermott, Hannah Wall, and Christina Vientimilla, who all gathered at British restaurant Tea & Sympathy for a taste of British culture with a cup of tea and scones. The trio said that they are big fans of the Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, and The Crown. Maddie said: 'We tuned in towards the end - it was awesome! It was a beautiful ceremony and it was something new for us. 'Were big Kate Middleton fans, we love her, and princess Charlotte because shes adorable.' Pictured: Millie Gibbons seen here in her Union Jack coat, at Tea & Sympathy Locals gathered at Tea & Sympathy including this Corgi, named Robbie Children (L-R) Rex, Thalia, Tess, Arabella, Octavia and dog Winnie visited the coronation hotspot to soak up the occasion Millie Gibbons, 23, who is originally from Suffolk, England, donned a Union Jack coat in celebration outside the tea shop. She said: 'Charles represents a more modern turn for the monarchy which is exciting. You feel connected, youre so far away from home so to be able to enjoy this little England here is nice to have, it brings you home. All the celebrations back in London, you sometimes feel you miss out being out here. When the queen passed it was so eerie, but this is nice as it's very celebratory. Earlier in the day, a large crowd gathered at The Churchill pub in Manhattan to celebrate the occasion. British ex-pat Ben Lawson and his American wife Leslie Lynn got up at 5am to be at the pub to celebrate the ceremony. Ben said: 'Were grateful that were both here to watch it. Its a very interesting sort of feeling. 'Were grateful that were both here to watch it,' Ben said. 'Its a very interesting sort of feeling. 'My grandmother is watching from the UK, and she was alive for the Queens coronation, and its a lovely feeling to know that shes watching it, and Im watching it with her. I'm always proud to be British. Pictured: Ex-pat Ben Leslie enjoys a early morning pint with his American wife Leslie Lynn Pictured: Jonathan Athamhood and Cristi Forbes inside The Churchill The Churchill pub in Manhattan pulled out all the stops for their early morning celebration I'm just terribly excited to be out here celebrating King Charles coronation, and were very proud of him,' added fellow-pub goer Jonathan Athamwood. This is a celebration, so it would be rude not to libate the occasion. Its an early pint for myself. Very exciting occasion, and its something I will be talking to my kids about.' Herbert Westphalian, who claims he is a member of the Prussian Royal Family and is distantly related to the new King, told DailyMail.com: I have been a big fan of the royal family my whole life, and we are distantly related.' At Tea & Sympathy in Greenwich Village, owner Nicky Perry said she was expecting over 1000 people to come through the small boutique due to the Coronation. Speaking to DailyMail.com, she said: 'It was marvelous, the coronation boost will be mad, it will be loads and loads of customers.' Pictured: Tea & Sympathy in Manhattan, New York Pictured: (L-R) Anthony Rafaniello, Robbie the Corgi, and Tea & Sympathy owner Nicky Perry American Brenda Halkias, who is a regular at the restaurant, said she loves the 'grandeur' and 'pomp' of British culture. I was up at 6am watching it live,' she said. 'Its quite pomp and circumstance, but all the years its been going on I really respect that tradition. I find it moving in many ways. I like all that grandeur, people dont get dressed up anymore so I quite like that.' Diana Utech was up at 4am to watch the proceedings, she said: Being a New Yorker, I love celebrations in the city. We do things in a big way.' Dozens of royal family fanatics attended a party in Central Park hours after the coronation Anne Akiri said one of her favorite parts of the coronation was seeing the 'uniforms and pageantry' Georgia native Charlie Freeman dressed to the nines as he stepped out in Central Park A young child enjoying the day in the sun at Central Park Uptown from the midtown store, droves of coronation watchers moved to Central Park to enjoy the rest of their day in the sun. Georgia native Charlie Austin, who travelled to the UK last year for the Queen's funeral, said he felt compelled to enjoy the historic event because America and the UK are still 'tied together by a common heritage'. His friend Barbara Sullivan, an American who previously liked in the UK, added: 'I thought the ceremony was so impressive! I love the pageantry. I like Charles and think he will do a good job, but I really love William and Kate.' Dressed in an all-red suit, Anne Akiri said the coronation was 'one of the best British days' during her 20 years of living in New York. 'I didn't miss the rain,' she joked. 'It was great to see all the uniforms and pageantry, but seeing all the everyday people enjoy the day was great as well.' And British mum Charlotte Mizel, who was joined by her family in the iconic park, said she 'loved' the ceremony, because of the 'new elements they introduced'. 'As a woman I really felt the presence of women in the service - and then obviously the balcony moment was a real highlight'. British ex-pat Josh Sailes poses with her dog Billy Bongo Diana Utech (pictured) said she was up at 4 in the morning to watch the special occasion Flags in hand, fans of the royals sit down to a cup of tea in celebration of the Coronation Despite the early rise, the Churchill pub filled up quickly with those wishing to watch the ceremony Pictured: Bartender Jared Sepaugh standing guard at the Tea & Sympathy dressed in a red coat British-themed bodega Myers of Keswick has built a following in the Big Apple through its offerings of British staples including tea bags, English mustard and HP Sauce. Providing such rarities in New York leads British ex-pats to flock to the store to pick up their long-lost favorites - and today, to celebrate the coronation from across the Atlantic. The store's social media manager Terry Gaffney was running a pop up stand outside the store, selling Coronation branded goods. She said: 'Its busier than Christmas time, which is really saying something because we always have a line down the road for Christmas. This whole week has been insane. We were up early to catch the coronation, and it was beautiful.' Terry Gaffney said the whole past week had been 'insane' at the popular British bodega Customers gathered at the store in the West Village earlier today following the Coronation Myers of Keswick is known for stocking British rarities, including HP sauce Numerous classic British foods were on display, including sausage rolls and scotch eggs The store was opened 1985 by husband and wife Peter and Irene Myers, with Peter being originally from Keswick, a market town in England. In 2019, Peter retired back to England and his daughter Jennifer now runs the store. The rabid republicans, Britain-hating BBC and shameless Sussexes have lost. On a glorious day for Great Britain, undamped by the soggy weather, Britain's Royal Family showed why the monarchy in this country will endure far beyond the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II. In a timeless Coronation ceremony, rich in tradition but featuring an appropriate degree of modernisation, the strength of the Crown was on display to a global audience of billions. And King Charles III got the moment for which he has waited 70 years I haven't always been his biggest fan, but not a foot has been put wrong since the death of his mother and he deserves our support. So how must Prince Harry have felt watching this historic service in the third row with also-ran royals knowing he's spent the past three years trying to torpedo the very institution his beloved grandmother worked so hard to maintain? The Duke of Sussex , 38, finally emerged this morning as he joined other members of the royal family in entering the church in central London, before being seen walking down the aisle by himself Harry pulls an awkward face as he takes his seat inside Westminster Abbey READ MORE: Not staying for lunch then, Harry? Prince's car is spotted at Heathrow just one hour after King Charles's Coronation after he told Jack Brooksbank he planned to 'head off' Prince Harry looks on at his brother Prince William in the front row during the coronation of their father King Charles III at Westminster Abbey Advertisement The cheeky chappy facade on full display as he sauntered into Westminster Abbey cracking jokes like he owned the place hid a reality crueller than a receding hairline that makes his mockery of his brother's balding in his autobiography Spare look even more hypocritical. The fifth in line to the throne has missed out on the role of his life and deep down he knows that. His late mother Princess Diana's wish was that her youngest son would be there to support Prince William during what she knew would be an undoubtedly testing reign for Charles III, who is trying to follow the GOAT. But that was before William had found Kate, Diana's successor as Princess of Wales, who showed how her gorgeous family represents the future of the monarchy. And didn't Prince George, Princess Charlotte and little Louis do their grandfather proud yesterday, while making all of our collective hearts swell. The Wales are a family united in service and duty. It was especially touching to see the bond between father and son soon after the most holy moment of the crowning ceremony. Charles and William, whose once rocky relationship has been transformed to an unbreakable union of mutual respect and love, have never been more at one. By contrast, Harry walked into the Abbey isolated and alone, a painful representation of how his family and most of the country now feel about him as a direct result of his destructive behaviour. What a shame the BBC didn't put a camera on the Duke during the controversial pledge of allegiance: 'I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.' If Harry did join millions of us in reciting the oath, then surely he has to call his publisher Penguin Random House quick smart and ask for every copy of his treacherous moanfest Spare to be pulped? My prediction is he muttered along with the same lack of conviction in which he sang God Save the King at the late Queen's funeral. Sadly, the heavens opened in London during the ceremony. I like to think they were the tears of Meghan Markle watching the wall-to-wall coverage of the Coronation on US TV from her Montecito mansion, fuming at the fact the world has, yet again, realised how much they adore the important traditions of the British monarchy. Despite the weather, there were many small mercies to rejoice in yesterday. Regal Tory Penny Mourdant was no doubt privately thanking her lucky stars that Rishi Sunak never promoted her to a more senior Cabinet job so she could play a central role in history and burnish her credentials for a future run at the top job. Camilla looked truly overwhelmed as she was formally crowned Queen, no doubt wryly wondering: 'How on earth did I end up here?' And thank the Lord the pen used by the new King early in the service didn't leak. But what of the Meghan Markle republican disciples causing disruption on the streets of London, who shamefully tried to distract the horses during the procession, screaming into the abyss while 90 per cent of the country realised yesterday should have been moment of unity, unbothered by divisive politics? Outside of the BBC, Woke ITV and Sly News, who have become suddenly obsessed with their minority cause, they thankfully proved an irrelevance yesterday. DAN WOOTTON: Sadly, the heavens opened in London during the ceremony. I like to think they were the tears of Meghan Markle watching the wall-to-wall coverage of the Coronation on US TV from her Montecito mansion, fuming at the fact the world has, yet again, realised how much they adore the important traditions of the British monarchy. (Pictured: Meghan, Harry, William and Kate in 2018) I believe yesterday's pitch perfect ceremony, the culmination of the most emotional seven months of grief and transition since the death of the late Queen, assures this will not be the last Coronation, argues DAN WOOTTON (pictured) But the biased and unpatriotic broadcast media has, once again, shown how out of touch it is with the population they claim to represent, with their republican fervour in full display over the past 24 hours. The British Bashing Corporation couldn't help but mock the festivities, with royal correspondent Jonny Dymond labelling the ceremony 'the strangest show in town' and Claudia Winkleman using her Radio 2 show to mock Coronation weekend as 'Tory Christmas'. The Beeb can sneer all they want at our proud traditions, but there's no doubt they will be proven wrong. I believe yesterday's pitch perfect ceremony, the culmination of the most emotional seven months of grief and transition since the death of the late Queen, assures this will not be the last Coronation. MBABANE Maphoyisa, vula! Loosely translated, This is the police, open up. These words were all that was needed for four robbers to enter a home in Ezulwini. This is said to have happened at around 8pm on Thursday evening. The robbers allegedly forced their way into the home of a bank manager and violently attacked her and other family members. The robbers are said to have been stalking the banker for some days and allegedly loitered around her home, presumably studying the familys daily movements. Information gathered from credible sources was that the thugs loitered around the nearby streets. According to a police report seen by this publication, the men entered the premises by jumping over the high wall fence. After jumping over the wall, it is alleged the four men headed for the main door, where they knocked and said they were police officers. Thinking they were genuine police officers, the door was opened for them but they quickly pushed their way in. It could not be ascertained at the time of compiling this report, where the gate security guard was. Violent One of the occupants in the house is said to have tried to close the door after realising that they were not police officers but this is said to have turned violent. One of the robbers allegedly opened fire towards the door and injured the person who was trying to close the door, on the hand. The thieves made the daring robbery despite that there are two police bases in the area. Also, Ezulwini has a neighbourhood watch to ensure that people loitering at night are kept away. However, last Thursday the thieves managed to enter the home, robbed and tortured the occupants before walking away with cash and goods amounting to about E177 300. After entering the house forcefully, the armed men warned the family against calling the police. It is alleged they wore balaclavas while entering the house but as the night continued two of them allegedly took them off. According to *Juno, who is a resident, the thieves are said to have obtained information about the family before the attack. He also revealed that when the men were in the house, they rounded up the occupants before robbing them. He said initially, the men asked for money, but were not pleased with the amount of cash in the house. After they realised that no money was forthcoming, they then demanded bank cards with pin numbers. It is alleged that two of the men then demanded the keys to a vehicle that was parked within the homestead and used it to drive to an ATM so that they could withdraw more money. They allegedly took the bank manger along with them to the ATM. There, they withdrew E1 800 and returned to the house. Further, Juno said the men appeared to speak in a Zulu accent but said he believed this was an act. The police arrived to find that the men had already fled. However, it could not be established how long the police officer spent at the crime scene while collecting information from the victims. Confirmed Chief Police Information and Communication Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the incident and said no arrest had been made yet. Note worthy, a neighbourhood patrol team is said to have interrogated a man who was driving a Honda Fit and claimed to be a police officer visiting his girlfriend in the area. It was alleged that the vehicle was detained but he was later handed over to the police. Meanwhile, concerns were also raised over overgrown grass and bushes in the neighbourhood near where the robbery took place. This concern is also said to have been raised by some police officers, who wondered why there was so much overgrowth around the area. It was gathered that after they had arrived some officers searched the grass assuming that the alleged robbers may have been hiding there but they had already vanished by the time the police officers arrived. Our sister publication recently reported on a similar incidence in which thugs had robbed homeowners. Concerns have now been raised by some members of the public that the alleged thugs may be operating as a syndicate and that they use a similar modus operandi of pretending to be police officers or members of the security forces on patrol but then turn out to be thieves. In previous stories it was reported that a similar incident happened around Pine Valley and that the alleged robbers operated in a similar manner of ambushing a family at their home during evening hours. They allegedly forced the man, who they had targeted, to go to the bank with and withdraw some money from his account. It was gathered that the robbers target expensive electronic gadgets as well as cash. Targeted Almost similar to the Ezulwini robbery, the thugs also targeted an area near overgrown grass. Some members of the public who spoke on condition of anonymity stated that it appeared the robbers were operating as a gang within the Mbabane and surrounding areas. They said it appeared they were now targeting upper market urban areas, after stalking their victims. These people seem to know where you work and they follow you and know that you are now at home, said a resident of Ezulwini who asked to remain anonymous for her safety. The resident said Ezulwini had two nearby police stations, namely Lobamba and Satellite but despite this, violent robberies were still taking place. Joe Biden has been mocked for trying to turn his advancing years into a positive by claiming he's the most experienced presidential candidate ever. Biden - who at 80 is the oldest man ever to occupy the White House - says he is worthy of a second term in office because he 'knows more than the vast majority of people.' The president gave liberal network MSNBC a very rare interview Friday, and when asked why he should be re-elected when a Fortune 500 company would never hire an 82 year-old CEO, said: 'Because I've acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom'. 'I'm more experienced than anybody's ever run through the office,' he told the outlet. 'I think I've proven myself to be honorable as well as also effective.' He also praised his VP Kamala Harris - whose polls continue to crater - and claimed she hasn't 'gotten the credit she deserves.' Ruhle pointed out that Biden's toughest critics are speculating that he's 'elevating her because they think you wouldnt serve a full term.' Harris is seen as a particularly weak link of the Biden administration, and the prospect of her taking over from the president if he is unable to complete a second term is likely to be exploited by GOP rivals. Biden, 80, joined MSNBCs Stephanie Ruhle last night to discuss his 2024 re-election bid, which he announced late last month. While defending his re-election campaign, the politician - who is the oldest US president - insisted that he has 'acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom' and knows 'more than the vast majority of people' Ruhle, however, wasn't done questioning Biden about his push to keep Kamala's image at the front of his campaign, as he showed her 10 times in his bid announcement video. She commented: 'When Obama was in that position, he didnt mention you, sir.' Once again, Biden blew it off, simply stating at he and Obama were 'good friends' and they have 'slightly different style of how we do things.' Twitter was quick to alight with Republicans and critics' comments on Biden's claim, with one writing: 'Heard Joe say he knows more than the vast majority of people' with 21 laughing emoji faces. One man just posted nine laughing emojis as a response. Another called the president an 'egomaniac-out of control/crook not qualified to do anything in government. Not even dogcatcher.' 'If the last 2 years are the result of acquired wisdom, then the word no longer has any meaning,' one man wrote. Another accused of acquiring a 'lot of power.' 'What fantasy world are you living in? Trump is a hell of a lot better. President Joe Biden ever be hes more competent. He knows what the hell hes saying and what hes doing. Donald Trump is the is the true president of this country,' William Lane wrote. Many were quick to take to Twitter to mock the President, calling him 'egomaniac' and asked 'what fantasy world are you living in?' 'Lies lies and more lies, and now doctored data from Joe Biden and his pathetic Administration. Roll on President Trump being back in office to fix the mess Joe Biden has done in the past 2 years. God knows what mess its gonna in another 2 years of Pedo Joe Bidens management,' Stanley Youngson wrote on the popular social media platform. Biden also defended his administration after he was accused of not wanting to 'play ball' like Trump. Trump has also announced plans to run again in 2024, and is currently hammering likely Republican rival Ron DeSantis in the polls. 'Played ball, what?' he said outraged. '[Trump] ballooned the debt he created...When I came to office, we had an incredibly high unemployment rate, we're in a situation where we were had very little movement on anything going on, and look at the employment rate right now. Just today 250,000 new jobs, highest participation in 75 years of women in the job market, lowest unemployment rate for African Americans. 'Things are moving,' he said. He also claimed he cut the national debt by 1.7trillion dollars. '[That's] more than anyone's ever done in history,' he told Ruhle. The president also called House Speaker Kevin McCarthy an 'honest man.' Biden announced his campaign on April 25 with the slogan: 'Let's Finish the Job' The Democrat confirmed Harris will be by his side and attacked 'MAGA Extremists' for wanting to take 'bedrock freedoms away', cut Social Security and to give tax cuts to the wealthy 'I think he's in a position though he had to make a deal,' he said. 'Fifteen votes, that where he just about sold away everything. 'There's a Republican party and there's the MAGA Republicans and the MAGA Republicans really have put him in a position where in order to stay speaker he has to agree - he's agreed to things that maybe he believed but are just extreme.' However, Biden does believe he can get things done in his second term, despite the MAGA lawmakers. Biden announced his campaign on April 25 with the slogan: 'Let's Finish the Job.' He formally announced his re-election bid in a three-minute video that incorporated footage from January 6 and abortion protests, attacked 'MAGA Republicans,' and highlighted his time in the White House as he appealed to voters to 'finish this job.' The 80-year-old has thrown his hat into the ring despite mounting questions about his age - which will be 86 at the end of his second term - dire polls, and concern from his own party over whether he is the best candidate. The Democrat confirmed Kamala Harris will be by his side again as his running mate and attacked 'MAGA Extremists' for wanting to take 'bedrock freedoms away', cut Social Security and to give tax cuts to the wealthy. Biden's announcement video included images of who he calls 'MAGA Republicans' including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (left) and Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis (right) He also took aim at Marjorie Taylor Greene and Republicans for wanting to ban books, dictate 'health care decisions women can make' and tell 'people who they can love'. He did not mention his Republican rivals by name. But, as he spoke, footage of Rep. Greene appeared on screen as did images of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis with their arms around each other. The two men are considered the top two contenders for the Republican nomination. Trump currently leads in the polls and that sets up a potential rematch between him and Biden. The president echoed many of his 2020 campaign themes in his announcement video - including a focus on the 'battle for democracy' - in a sign Biden and his team think Trump may be their competition in the general election. 'Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours,' Biden said the video that was posted on his social media channels on Tuesday morning. 'That's why I'm running for reelection as President of the United States. Join us. Let's finish the job,' he said. If you've ever been confused by the meaning of an emoji, you're not alone. Emojis have become a crucial part of every day communication, but their meanings can sometimes be misinterpreted - like the upside down smiley face and or the person with folding hands. But the most confusing for people across America is the 'woman tipping hand,' according to a study conducted by Preply last month. The emoji, which is widely understood to express sassiness or sarcasm, shows a woman with her hand up like she's holding a tray of drinks or like she's flipping her hair. The 'money with wings' and 'nail polish' emojis came in at number two and number three on the list. The 'Woman tipping hand' has been named America's most confusing emoji, with 'money with wings' coming in second and the 'nail polish' emoji coming in third, according to a new study The emoji, which is commonly used to express sassiness or sarcasm, shows a woman with her hand up like she's holding a tray of drinks or like she's flipping her hair While 35 percent of Americans who participated in the study took the 'woman tipping hand' emoji to mean 'feeling sassy,' 31 percent took it as 'I have a suggestion,' and 20 percent said they felt it meant 'feeling sarcastic.' 'I have no clue what people mean when they use this one,' Saraya Weerasinghe, 18, of Kips Bay told The New York Post. More than 1,000 Americans Participated in the survey. Their ages ranged from 18-76. The second most confusing emoji is Money with wings - which shows a bundle of cash with wings. The survey reported that 40 percent of the participants felt it symbolized gaining money while 34 percent thought it meant losing money. Just 18 percent took it to mean 'flaunting wealth.' The nail polish emoji, which shows a hand being applied with nail polish, came in number third. About 43 percent of Americans felt it meant classy/bougie whole 40 percent thought it was 'just nail polish.' According to the study, 45 percent of participants thought the upside down smiley face emoji meant sarcasm, while 23 percent said the emoji symbolized passive aggressiveness The upside down smiley face came in fourth of the most confusing emojis. 'The upside down smiley face one is definitely confusing because that could mean anything,' St. Francis College student Sabrina Tayeh, 18, of Brooklyn Heights, told The Post. According to the study, 45 percent of participants thought it meant sarcasm, while 23 percent said the emoji symbolized passive aggressiveness, and 37 percent said it was 'smiling through pain.' But there were 12 percent who said it was the same as the traditional smiley face. 'Sometimes I just don't know what the emoji is supposed to mean especially when an old person uses one,' Tayeh added. 'I purposely don't send emojis to older people because I know they won't get what it means.' Confusingly, the Unicode Consortium, which creates emojis, does not specify the meanings of its images, meaning they remain open to interpretation. Preply spokesperson Matt Zajechowski said that generational differences is a big reason for confusion when sending emojis. The findings highlight 'the need for context and clarity in digital conversations,' Zajechowski said about the study. The study also highlighted the top five least recognizable emojis. There were nearly 300 people who did not know any of these meanings were attached to the emoji, according to the study. 'Most people use other emojis not these ones,' Tony Junior, 20, said. These included the dotted line face, shooting star, twins, and a person getting a head massage. While Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, remained in Montecito with her two children, Lilibet and Archie, some eagle-eyed Twitter users were convinced she had made it to Westminster Abbey. Speculating that the duchess might have snuck into today's service in a large white wig and glasses, one tweet joked that she 'wasn't fooling' anyone. But it turns out the hairdo was not an elaborate disguise - instead, the man pictured was legendary composer Sir Karl Jenkins, whose 'haunting, very Welsh' work Tros y Garreg was played during the ceremony. Others joked online about the misunderstanding, saying it was 'Tilda Swinton deep in character' or 'Just wait until the polyjuice [a transforming potion from Harry Potter] wears off'. Many agreed that the off-the-cuff remark was one of the best jokes made about the day, which saw King Charles III crowed at Westminster Abbey alongside his wife, Queen Camilla. One Twitter user speculated that the pictured person was in fact the Duchess of Sussex in deep disguise - but it's actually composer Sir Karl Jenkins Sir Karl Jenkins, 79, whose 'haunting, very Welsh' work Tros y Garreg was played during the ceremony today (pictured in 2015 receiving his knighthood) Composer Sir Karl Jenkins, 79, recently told BBC News that he remembered watching the last coronation in 1953 as an eight-year-old in Swansea. Today his music formed part of Charles III's coronation ceremony, to show the King's love and appreciation for Welsh culture and music. 'I am very honoured. It obviously sums up Welsh culture - the harp - and he [the King] has always supported Welsh music,' said Sir Karl. 'I don't know whether he chose it, but he was happy to have it there. I know he likes it otherwise he wouldn't have asked me.' The piece was first composed for the then Prince of Wales two decades ago, when he was reinstating the role of royal harpist. Catrin Finch, the first person to win the reinvigorated role, played the piece. 'It's a slow movement based on old Welsh folk tune,' said Sir Karl. 'It's haunting, it's very Welsh and the story is redolent of a soldier returning home and crossing the stile. Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex join the Prince and Princess of Wales to grieve the loss of the late Queen Elizabeth II Social media users enjoyed the suggestion that the Duchess of Sussex would don a disguise to sneak in to the coronation. One said the image reminded him of Tony Clifton, the rude alter-ego of American comedian Andy Kaufam in Man In The Moon, who was memorably portrayed by Jim Carrey (pictured) 'It starts very quietly, with the strings playing the melody of the folksong, then the harpist is doing this technique called bisbigliando, which means whispering in Italian,' he added. Sir Karl is perhaps best known for composing the song Adeimus, which was official released in 1995 and featured in Delta Air Lines in-flight adverts and as the opening music on Biblical series Testament: The Bible In Animation. He studied music at Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a fellow and an associate. He became the lead songwriter of jazz-rock bank Soft Machine in 1974, having joined the band two years earlier. He collaborated with Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber on Jesus Christ Superstar and with Elton John on Tumbleweed Connection, released in 1970. In 2008 Jenkins's The Armed Nab was listed as No. 1 in Classic FM's 'Top 10 by living composers'. He received an OBE in the 2005 New Year Honours and a CBE in 2010, before being knighted in 2015. The Metropolitan Police made a total of 52 arrests to around the Coronation yesterday for affray, public order offences, breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. The Met said it received information that protesters were 'determined to disrupt' the Coronation procession - including defacing public monuments with paint, breaching barriers and disrupting official movements. Among those arrested was Patrick Thelwell - who tried to egg the King in a visit to York on November 9 last year. The 23-year-old was convicted of threatening behaviour at York magistrates court last month and sentenced to a 12-month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay 600 in court costs. Commander Karen Findlay, who lead yesterday's operation, said: 'This has been a magnificent team effort and everyone in the Met is hugely proud to have played our role. The Met said it received information that protesters were 'determined to disrupt' the Coronation procession - including defacing public monuments with paint, breaching barriers and disrupting official movements The police service came under heavy criticism after what campaign groups described the arrests as 'incredibly alarming' detentions during republican protests Among those arrested was Patrick Thelwell - who tried to egg the King in a visit to York on November 9 last year 'Our first priority has been to ensure that the tens of thousands who travelled into London yesterday, and millions more around the world, were able to enjoy a safe, secure and dignified Coronation. 'Our heartfelt thanks goes to everyone. I know our colleagues take great satisfaction from the warm comments from the public they have met.' But police service have been slammed by campaign groups who described the arrests as 'incredibly alarming' detentions. Protesters from the anti-monarchy group Republic, including its chief executive Graham Smith, were apprehended during the day - as well as demonstrators from Just Stop Oil and Animal Rising. Smith, who is now out of prison, declared the arrests show ther 'there is no longer a right to peaceful protest in the UK.' He continued: 'I have been told many times the monarch is there to defend our freedoms. Now our freedoms are under attack in his name.' But campaigners said the protests were 'peaceful', describing the arrests as 'a dangerous precedent for us as a democratic nation'. The force confirmed reports from Just Stop Oil that 13 demonstrators were detained on the Mall and six public nuisance arrests on St Martin's Lane following protests from Republic. In a graphic video posted by Thelwell on social media, he was shown shouting at the crowd: 'This is fascism. I am being arrested just for being here. What have I done.' Protesters from the anti-monarchy group Republic, including its chief executive Graham Smith, were apprehended during the day - as well as demonstrators from Just Stop Oil and Animal Rising In a graphic video posted by Thelwell on social media, he was shown shouting 'this is fascism' at the crowd Others around him hold signs bearing republican slogans while supporters chant: 'shame on you' In the run up to the Coronation, the green-fingered protestor announced his intention to go south to London from his home in Heslington, York and protest Wearing a yellow 'Not My King' sticker, the ex-University of York student was held by two uniformed officers as he was escorted past a huge banner reading 'Abolish the Monarchy'. Others around him hold signs bearing republican slogans while supporters chant: 'shame on you'. Speaking on social media, the self-employed ecological landscape garener claimed: 'Today I was arrested at the Coronation on suspicion of carrying eggs. 'I was identified by facial recognition cameras, and snatched from the protest in handcuffs so tight they cut my skin. 'For the second time I was dragged through a crowd of monarchists baying for my blood. 'I was searched, and when they found nothing, was released after half an hour. 'The police had to escort me back through the monarchist crowds because so many people were assaulting me.' In the run up to the Coronation, the green-fingered protestor announced his intention to go south to London from his home in Heslington, York and protest. Wearing a yellow 'Not My King' sticker, the ex-University of York student was held by two uniformed officers as he was escorted past a huge banner reading 'Abolish the Monarchy' Protesters from the anti-monarchy group Republic, including its chief executive Graham Smith, were apprehended during the day - as well as demonstrators from Just Stop Oil and Animal Rising The force confirmed reports from Just Stop Oil that 13 demonstrators were detained on the Mall and six public nuisance arrests on St Martin's Lane following protests from Republic He told his social media followers: 'I'm expecing to be arrested', York Mix reported. He later compared the UK to authoritarian Russia, saying: 'I'd love to throw eggs at Putin, and I'd support anyone who did. 'In both countries peaceful protest is now banned. Anti-monarchy activists hailed Meghan Markle as the 'People's Princess' during their protest against the Coronation yesterday. Supporters of the campaign group Republic assembled in Trafalgar Square in London to express their opposition of the crowning of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The Met Police also arrested one for suspicion of racially aggravated behaviour, one on suspicion of sexual assault, one for possession of drugs and possession of a knife, and one for religiously aggravated behaviour. The protesters held up placards saying 'Not My King' and showing their support of Meghan who they claim is the 'Princess of our Hearts.' Meghan and her husband Prince Harry stepped down from their roles as working royals in 2020. Since then the couple has been a source of controversy for the family. The Sussexes have given a series of high-voltage interviews and starred in a Netflix docuseries which saw them take aim at the King, Camilla, Prince William and his wife, Princess Kate. Anti-monarchy activists have hailed Meghan Markle as the 'People's Princess' during their protest against the Coronation yesterday The protesters hold up placards saying 'Not My King' and showing their support of Meghan who they claim is the 'Princess of our Hearts Harry, who is attending the coronation without his wife, also published a tell-all memoir in which he claimed William attacked him and claimed some members of the royal family exhibited 'unconscious bias.' Republic protesters, dressed in yellow t-shirts to make themselves stand out, gathered in Trafalager Square yesterday demanding an elected head of state. Up to 2,000 people are expected to join the protests amid fears eco-zealots could also target the historic occasion. The group, which ramped up its rallies against the King ahead the Coronation, claims the royal family has no place in a modern constitutional democracy and is staggeringly expensive to maintain. Director of Republic, Harry Stratton, told MailOnline that some of the group were cuffed by Metropolitan Police officers as they arrived at Trafalgar Square this morning. The group's megaphone-wielding chief executive Graham Smith was among those arrested, while police said they had seized multiple lock-on devices and hundreds of posters. New legislation passed this week means protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to 'lock on' are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Mr Stratton accused police of 'intentionally picking them out', insisting the protesters had not broken any of the rules laid out by the force in a series of meetings in recent weeks, while another campaigner claimed straps holding their placards had been 'misconstrued' as something that could be used for locking on. Republic protesters, dressed in yellow t-shirts to make themselves stand out, gathered in Trafalager Square yesterday demanding an elected head of state. Up to 2,000 people are expected to join the protests amid fears eco-zealots could also target the historic occasion Some of the group were cuffed by Metropolitan Police officers as they arrived at Trafalgar Square this morning Footage shared on Twitter showed officers using their powers under the new Public Order Act, with a number of demonstrators in yellow 'Not My King' T-shirts having their details taken Met Police confirmed four people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance on St Martin's Lane and that lock-on devices were seized Footage shared on Twitter showed officers using their powers under the new Public Order Act, with a number of demonstrators in yellow 'Not My King' T-shirts having their details taken. Met Police confirmed four people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance on St Martin's Lane and that lock-on devices were seized. The force also said they made a number of breaching-the-peace arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace and a further three arrests in the Wellington Arch area on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. Just Stop Oil said approximately 13 protesters were arrested on the Mall ahead of the coronation. A spokeswoman for the campaign group said five demonstrators were also arrested at Downing Street and one at Piccadilly. Footage from the Mall showed the Just Stop Oil protesters being handcuffed and taken away by a heavy police presence. Campaign group Human Rights Watch described the arrests as 'incredibly alarming', adding: 'This is something you would expect to see in Moscow not London.' One Just Stop Oil protester Ben Larsen, 25, said he was there to see the coronation and peacefully protest Grinning at police officers, he told them: 'You've searched me and haven't found shit.' A police officer told him: 'You need to educate yourself on what peaceful protest is.' Police were seen scouring vans with hundreds of Not My King banners Supporters of the Republic pressure group protest against the coronation on the edge of Trafalgar Square at the top of Whitehall yesterday Members of the anti-monarchist group Republic stage a protest along the route of the procession ahead of the coronation yesterday On Wednesday, Met Police said they would have an 'extremely low threshold' for protests during the coronation celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect 'swift action'. Under the controversial new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to 'lock on' are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Critics previously hit out at plans from the Met to use facial recognition software on crowds to assist their policing operations. An official letter warning of the new powers was sent to Republic, which said its campaign around the coronation would proceed as planned. Just after 7.30am yesterday, one woman in a Republic T-shirt was carried away by officers. Before being arrested, she said: 'We had a delivery of placards ready for the protest and then the tactical support unit questioned us as to how we we had got through the road closures. 'They questioned whether what we were doing was a delivery. 'They then said they found evidence of means of locking on, of items that could be used to lock on, and they arrested us.' Officers carried her away from where she had been standing outside a Tesco store. Republic, which ramped up its rallies against the King ahead the Coronation, claims the royal family has no place in a modern constitutional democracy and is staggeringly expensive to maintain. Protesters are pictured yesterday Anti-monarchists unfurl huge yellow flags on the Mall on the day of King Charles' coronation Two men who appeared to have been part of the same demonstration were carried away by officers into a marked police van. After the apparent arrests, Republic activist Luke Whiting, 26, told PA: 'Six Republic members have been arrested including the CEO as the demonstration was starting at the edge of Trafalgar Square. 'It is unclear why, potentially it is because one of them was carrying a megaphone. 'It is unclear exactly whether the police are using these new powers and whether they are misusing them to stop protest happening.' The policing operation will see 11,500 police on duty yesterday. Meanwhile, Prince Harry cut a solo figure as he arrived at Westminster Abbey for his father's historic coronation. The Duke of Sussex, 38, emerged this morning as he joined other members of the royal family in entering the church in central London, before being seen walking down the aisle by himself to take his seat in the third row. He was seen laughing and smiling as he walked alongside Princess Eugenie and Beatrice and their respective husbands Jack Brooksbank and Edo Mapelli Mozzi. The Prince had not been seen for over 24 hours after his arrival and accommodation plans remained shrouded in secrecy - before it emerged he had flown into the UK on a commercial American Airlines flight yesterday morning. The King's youngest son, who was expected to stay at Frogmore Cottage overnight, is invited to lunch at Buckingham Palace yesterday following the historic service, reported Sky News. It is not yet known, however, if the Duke will accept, given that he is expected to rush back to California to reunite with Meghan to celebrate their son Archie's fourth birthday. The invitation will be seen by many as an olive branch from Charles after Harry's explosive memoir Spare left several members of the Royal Family reeling - most notably his brother Prince William. The Duke of Sussex , 38, finally emerged this morning as he joined other members of the royal family in entering the church in central London, before being seen walking down the aisle by himself Harry making his way to his seat inside Westminster Abbey ahead of the King's coronation Prince Harry walking down the aisle by himself inside Westminster Abbey Sources last month said Charles was very pleased that Harry was coming and his mood was described as 'generally quite forgiving', however, his brother William was understood to still feel betrayed and angry, particularly by the revelations in the memoirs. One source told The Telegraph that the 'gulf' between the brothers, who were once as close as siblings could be, is now so large they cannot see how their relationship can ever be repaired. When Harry and Meghan came to the UK for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee they joined other members of the Royal Family at St Paul's Cathedral for a service of thanksgiving. But, notably and rather awkwardly, they were seated on the other side of the nave from Charles, Camilla, William and Kate. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been shunted away from the main seats as their rift with the Royal Family has grown. There had been hopes the Coronation could provide an opportunity for reconciliation - but as of last month, members of the Royal Family were understood not to have an appetite for it. One source told the Daily Express: 'The Royal Family are focused on planning for the historic occasion and have no appetite or time at this stage to think about reconciliation.' HLUTI It was initially announced that the late Simhle Fakudze would be buried this morning, however, that all changed. The late Simhle Fakudze, who was a member of political party Swazis First Democratic Front (SFDF) was buried yesterday evening. Fakudze who was a police recruit at the time of her death was set to be buried this morning at kaBhejisa in Hlatikhulu after a night vigil yesterday. Despite the announcement Fakudze was laid to rest after a service that started soon as her body arrived around 5pm having been escorted by the police. It is worth noting that there was tight security at the funeral, as over 20 police officers were stationed at the main station at KaBhejisa. Every car that was headed towards the direction of Fakudzes homestead was searched and occupants questioned on where they were headed to. It was noted that mostly the youth were questioned by the police officers. It was gathered that they were questioning even kombi drivers from both Nhlangano and Hluti direction, if there was a group of people who dropped off along the way wearing any political party merchandise. Armed There were in fact more police officers on the ground at the Fakudze homestead and most of them were armed. Upon arrival at the homestead, there was a short service, where close relatives made speeches. One of the family members who spoke during the service said they were saddened by the demise of Fakudze who they looked up to. He said even if there would be disagreements (bugudlugudlu) the family was supposed to look unto Jesus as a source of their strength. One of the speakers shared that on the day Fakudze died, they had a conversation, wherein she requested that she start making arrangements of availing herself for her police celebratory pass out as she wanted her relative present, but she was sad that she was now attending her funeral instead. After the speeches, Fakudzes casket was loaded into the hearse and proceeded to the graveyard. It was already getting dark after 6pm and people were using their flashlight as they walked to the graveyard. At the graveyard, police handled the funeral proceedings and as the casket was lowered, one member of the Operational Support Servies Unit (OSSU) blew a trumpet. There was no gun salute at the funeral. It was gathered from one family member that police allegedly gave the family an ultimatum to let them bury the deceased or allow political parties to be present. The family member shared that it was then that they made the decision to proceed with the funeral a day before originally scheduled. The family is also counting on getting benefits from government, which they were not going to get in the event they allowed political parties to be present, he said. After the funeral, which lasted for an hour, people quietly left. Derogatory It was gathered that Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) Shiselweni Regional Chairperson Norman Xaba was among those who were turned back at the main station. Xaba alleged that police were hurling derogatory words towards him; telling him to leave the area. Police took my cap and told me not to pass as I was headed to the funeral. They detained me for two hours, he alleged. It was gathered that the police allegedly got physical and started pushing him around . Xaba further alleged that he was with other people who were also followed and had their phones taken away from them. It was alleged that the phones were taken to Hluti Police Station, where they were allegedly formatted before being handed back to them. It was also gathered that one of the PUDEMO members was allegedly detained at the police station until after the funeral whereby he was then released. A murder probe has been launched after a teenager was stabbed to death following a machete fight in London. Emergency services were called shortly before midnight on Friday as an 18-year-old man was found with stab injuries near to Dagenham Heath station. The man, who remains unnamed, died at the scene despite the best efforts of police and the London Ambulance Service. A second man was taken to hospital with a stab injury, while another 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody. Detective Chief Inspector James Shirley at the Metropolitan Police said: 'My thoughts are with the young man's family and friends. Teenagers were reportedly involved in a machete fight outside a London station An 18-year-old man died after being stabbed and another was taken to hospital Another 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody 'I want to offer my full reassurances to them, and the wider community, that despite the significant events taking place in London today, the focus of my team is bringing the person or people responsible to justice.' The detective chief inspector also added that the investigation is 'progressing at pace', and thanked everyone who had already spoken with officer. She continued: 'I would ask anyone who has not yet come forward to do so as a matter of urgency. 'I would also ask local residents to check dash cams and doorbell footage for anything out of the ordinary and share that with us as soon as possible.' A Metropolitan Police statement also read: 'Police were called at 23:47hrs on Friday, 5 May to reports of two groups fighting with machetes near to Dagenham Heath tube station. 'Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended. At the scene an 18-year-old man was found with stab injuries. Despite the efforts of emergency services he sadly died at the scene. 'His family have been made aware. A post-mortem will be scheduled in due course. 'A second man, was also taken to hospital with a stab injury. His condition is not believed to be life threatening.' A Metropolitan Police statement also read: 'Police were called at 23:47hrs on Friday, 5 May to reports of two groups fighting with machetes' The detective chief inspector said that the murder investigation is 'progressing at pace' A post-mortem is set to occur following the death of a man outside the East London station Scotland Yard said that 'a number of crime scenes are currently still in place' following this Scotland Yard also confirmed that a 'number of crime scenes' were still in place following the incident. They continued: 'A 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody at this time.' MailOnline has approached the Metropolitan Police for further information. The National Police Association has filed a lawsuit in a bid to make trans Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale's manifesto public. Hale's manifesto has remained shrouded in secrecy since the March 27 massacre at Covenant Christian Academy that killed three children and three school workers, with the gunwoman also shot dead by cops. But on April 28, NPA Head Ed Hutchinson and Tennessee investigator Clata Renee Brewer filed the suit with Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. They subsequently issued an amended complaint on Friday blasting the 'absurd' decision to withhold the manifesto once more because of pending litigation. Calls for its release has grown in the last few weeks that saw another mass shooting in the nation- 192 mass shootings so far, this year and 647 mass shootings in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive, as per The New York Times. The Tennessee Firearms Association also filed an administrative appeal for the materials, The USA Today Network reported. The National Police Association filed the first amended complaint on Friday in response to their new refusal of Nashville shooter Audrey Hale's manifesto calling their response 'absurd' Surveillance video provided by the Metro Nashville Police Department shows mass shooting suspect Audrey Hale, 28, carrying out the mass shooting at Covenant school on March 27 Ed Hutchinson (pictured) head of The National Police Association filed a lawsuit to make the writings and other materials of Nashville mass shooter Audrey Hale public The Metro Nashville Police Department officials claimed the release had been paused because their attorneys told them to hold off from any release while the suit was making its way through the courts. That pause came just days after the MNPD and the Tennessee Governor announced that Hale's writings would be released for public consumption. The MNPD Police, who sought their legal counsel blamed the recent litigation for the change, according to The New York Post. Attorney John Harris, who is representing former Tennessee Sheriff James Hammond and the Tennessee Firearms Association in the lawsuit told the news outlet it was 'an interesting turn of events.' 'If there was some plan to release some information why isn't that information being released?,' Harris said. On April 27, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee reassured the public in a tweet that Nashville authorities would be releasing Hale's writings and documents. No details of the manifesto have been released, and a motive for the shooting remains unclear. On Friday, the National Police Association (NPA) announced the filing of an amended and supplemental complaint in conjunction with its Tennessee investigator Clata Renee Brewer, against the governments of Nashville and Davidson County for their new refusal to act on a request for records. The Freedom of Information Act request asked for all writings by Hale, to include a manifesto, recovered by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) relating to the March 27 mass shooting The FOIA also requested all records, including emails, texts, and other communications to and from the MNPD mentioning or regarding the writings of Audrey Hale recovered by the MNPD. 'It has been more than a month since the shooter was killed and the officers involved have been praised for their actions in the incident,' Doug Pierce, a lawyer for the NPA, said according to a news release. 'Accordingly, there is no criminal case and there is no reasonable likelihood of there ever being a criminal case arising from this incident.' 'The Metro Nashville Police Department has sought to rely upon a rule of Criminal Procedure to deny public access, but those Rules only relate to a 'criminal proceeding,' Pierce added. 'Therefore, the Rules of Criminal Procedure do not provide an excuse to deny public access to the records related to this incident. 'Since MNPD now seems to acknowledge there is no criminal investigation there is no remaining excuse for why they have not complied with our request.' Audrey Hale, 28, killed three children and three members of the staff at the school on March 27. Pictured: Hale before transitioning to male Nashville shooter's home of Audrey Hale. She lived in the house with her parents. Police raided the home shortly after the school shooting. 6 people were killed in a Nashville school shooting Two women hug at a memorial at the entrance to The Covenant School on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee According to the National Police Association, MNPD claimed that a criminal investigation was underway. But the Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations disclosed publicly at least twice there was no ongoing criminal investigation, likely because Hale herself has been killed. Once, on April 5 which addressed a meeting of the Tennessee Sheriff's Association, Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Director David Rausch that had disclosed it had already been established from Hale's writings recovered that Hale 'acted alone'. Again, on April 14, a video interview with PIJN News was published in which Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Director David Rausch was asked: 'What are the next steps' since there will be no trial because the shooter is dead.' Rausch had responded, 'Unfortunately you're right, this is it.' 'The individual responsible is no longer with us.' On April 27, it was reported MNPD will release Hale's writings in some form at some point. The reported change in posture by MNPD, did not address the NPA's requests for MNPD communications, nor did it indicate an intent to fully comply with a complete release of all the Hale writings, nor did it indicate an intent to conform to a timeline, according to the release. 'The NPA believes releasing the complete materials will benefit law enforcement and the public,' the NPA said. 'The writings of killers often offer critical insights into the factors that contribute to the development of criminal behavior.' 'The communications between MNPD and influencers who may have caused the MNPD to not honor the FOIA statute will provide guidance going forward on how other departments can plan for and prevent similar interference.' Lady Susan Hussey, who was forced to stand down from Royal duties after finding herself at the centre of a racism row, was back in the fold at Westminster Abbey yesterday. The presence of Prince William's godmother at the Coronation ceremony confirmed that she and the Royal Family have managed to put last year's controversy behind them. Lady Hussey, 84, sported a purple and blue suit, blue hat, black shoes and a black bag. She found herself in hot water in November over remarks she made to Ngozi Fulani at a Buckingham Palace reception for domestic violence charities. The British-born founder of Sistah Space tweeted that Lady Hussey had repeatedly asked her where she came from. Lady Hussey (pictured), 84, sported a purple and blue suit, blue hat, black shoes and a black bag. She found herself in hot water in November over remarks she made to Ngozi Fulani (right) at a Buckingham Palace reception for domestic violence charities Ms Fulani and her supporters claimed it was motivated by 'prolonged racism' and that the royal aide was incapable of grasping she was from Britain and not Africa. The charity worker later told reporters: 'She demanded to know where I was from. No matter how many times I answered her it wasn't the answer she wanted.' In a bid to calm tensions before a visit to the US, the Prince of Wales stated through his spokesman that 'racism has no place in our society'. Lady Hussey's friends insisted she was only trying to take an interest in a fellow guest, but such were the sensitivities of the issue, she stood down from Royal duties. In December it was reported the women cleared the air in a meeting 'filled with warmth and understanding' at Buckingham Palace. A statement issued by the Palace said: 'Lady Susan has pledged to deepen her awareness of the sensitivities and is grateful for the opportunity to learn more.' Lady Hussey, who served as lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II for more than 60 years, has since made a gradual return to the Royal fold. This is the stunning footage from inside the cockpit of a Red Arrow - as it soared over cloudy London. Looking down the nose of the scarlet jet, streets and skyscrapers unfold as the plane speeds towards its destination. And from either side of the cockpit, the formation appears almost in touching distance - with white plumes already stretching out behind them. As they follow the river West into London, these soon transform into the iconic red, white and blue the display team are known for. Skimming below the potent cloud cover, the incredible jets hold a steady path towards Buckingham Palace. At the end of the day 'unsuitable weather conditions' meant the planned flypast was curtailed to just the Red Arrows and a helicopter display which still enthralled the royals Little Prince Louis was especially impressed by the Red Arrows' display As Hyde Park and the Serpentine - just by the Palace - appears below them, the pilot turns the camera towards himself and gives a confident thumbs up. Fly-past complete, the nine Hawk T1As banked elegantly to the right on their way out of the capital. At the end of the day 'unsuitable weather conditions' meant the planned flypast was curtailed to just the Red Arrows and a helicopter display which still enthralled the royals, who included the Princess Royal, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and their children and the King and Queen's pages of honour. The RAF's Red Arrows display team trailed red, white and blue smoke as their jets flew over the crowds gathered on The Mall and outside the palace. More than 60 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force had been due to take part in the flypast, but 'unsuitable weather conditions' meant that plan had to be abandoned. Instead, helicopters from the three services and the Red Arrows took part in the display which lasted for around two-and-a-half minutes. The King and Queen smiled and waved to the crowds as the aircraft flew overhead. The RAF acknowledged it was 'disappointing that the poor weather prevented all of our aircraft participating in the flypast'. In a social media post, the RAF said: 'The safety of spectators and our pilots and crew always comes first and the conditions weren't right for the other planned aircraft to join the flypast today. The RAF's Red Arrows display team trailed red, white and blue smoke as their Hawk jets flew over the crowds gathered on The Mall and outside the palace More than 60 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force had been due to take part in the flypast, but 'unsuitable weather conditions' meant that plan had to be abandoned Instead, helicopters from the three services and the Red Arrows took part in the display which lasted for around two-and-a-half minutes 'We are hoping for clear blue skies in June for The King's birthday flypast.' Footage from Royal Navy helicopters showed how poor the weather was in the skies above London. Rain streaked the windshields of the aircraft as they flew low over the heart of the capital. The flypast involved 16 Juno, Wildcat, Merlin, Apache, Chinook and Puma helicopters and nine Red Arrow Hawks. The King and Queen set the seal on their coronation day by twice appearing on Buckingham Palace's balcony to acknowledge the nation. Charles and Camilla, in lavish robes and wearing their crowns, returned with a wave the cheers of the crowds who braved downpours during a ceremonial military celebration not seen for 70 years. The Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, joined the monarch and his wife and then well-wishers were treated to an encore with just the King and Queen. Making their first balcony appearance of the King's reign, the couple looked relaxed after the momentous coronation, watched around the globe. As Hyde Park and the Serpentine - just by the Palace - appears below them, the pilot turns the camera towards himself and gives a confident thumbs up As the jets follow the river West into London, the plumes behind them soon transform into the iconic red, white and blue the display team are known for Fly-past complete, the nine Hawk T1As banked elegantly to the right on their way out of the capital It was the fulfilment of Charles' destiny, but followed the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, after a 70-year reign. The event brought together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple. Global popstars Lionel Riche and Katy Perry were part of the 2,300-strong congregation, as was French President Emmanuel Macron, actresses Dame Judi Dench and Oscar-winner Dame Emma Thompson, presenters Ant and Dec and King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. Pomp and pageantry were to the fore, with the Armed Forces staging the biggest ceremonial military operation since Queen Elizabeth's 1953 coronation, culminating in a 4,000-strong coronation procession of servicemen and women from across the globe that wound its way through the heart of the capital. Charles' grandson Louis, who turned five a few weeks ago, lighted the mood as he yawned and fidgeted during the ceremony, while big brother George was a page of honour helping to hold the long train of the King's robe. The historic moment came a few minutes past midday, when the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edward's Crown on Charles' head and he became the 40th reigning sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, the nation's coronation church since 1066. The coronation was a spiritual and deeply personal event for the King, a 'committed Anglican Christian', who was anointed, seen kneeling at the abbey's high altar and received homage from his son and heir, the Prince of Wales. William's interaction with his father, where he touched St Edward's Crown then kissed the King on the right cheek, appeared a poignant moment for the head of state. As William knelt before Charles, who held his son's hand between his palms, the future monarch said: 'I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God.' The event brought together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple Pomp and pageantry were to the fore, with The Armed Forces staging the biggest ceremonial military operation since Queen Elizabeth's 1953 coronation, culminating in a 4,000-strong coronation procession of servicemen and women from across the globe that wound its way through the heart of the capital The King and Queen set the seal on their coronation day by twice appearing on Buckingham Palace's balcony to acknowledge the nation The King's estranged son the Duke of Sussex was among the congregation, sitting two rows behind his brother with the Duke of York's family, and he was seen intently watching the crowning. And when a few minutes later the congregation was invited pay homage to the new monarch, Harry spoke, along with the other royals around him, the words: 'God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the King live forever.' Charles delivered a King's Prayer, the first time a monarch has spoken words to God aloud during a coronation, and he prayed to be a 'blessing' to people of 'every faith and conviction'. In his sermon the archbishop told the nation's new monarch 'we crown a King to serve'. Mr Welby spoke of how 'Jesus Christ was anointed not to be served, but to serve' - adding: 'The weight of the task given you today, Your Majesties, is only bearable by the spirit of God.' The ceremony had five main elements: the Recognition; the Oath; the Anointing; the Investiture and Crowning; and the Enthronement and Homage, as well as the Queen's coronation. Tracing it roots back to the medieval period the Christian ceremony, not witnessed for 70 years when Queen Elizabeth was crowned, saw the King dressed in a series of garments signifying a symbolic journey which concluded with him anointed with holy oil during its most sacred moment and crowned. It reflected the diversity of the of UK, with representatives from the nation's faith communities playing an active role in the coronation of a monarch for the first in history. But in a change, the controversial 'Homage of the People' element of the service was toned down after there was widespread criticism. The Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, joined the monarch and his wife and then well-wishers were treated to an encore with just the King and Queen Away from the pageantry the Met Police were heavily criticised over the 'incredibly alarming' arrests of Republican protesters ahead of the coronation Tracing it roots back to the medieval period the Christian ceremony, not witnessed for 70 years when Queen Elizabeth was crowned, saw the King dressed in a series of garments signifying a symbolic journey which concluded with him anointed with holy oil during its most sacred moment and crowned The historic moment came a few minutes past midday, when the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edward's Crown on Charles' head and he became the 40th reigning sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, the nation's coronation church since 1066 Mr Welby 'invited' a show of support from the congregation rather than a 'call' to those in the abbey and elsewhere to swear allegiance to the King. Charles who wore the Imperial State Crown and Camilla Queen Mary's Crown, were among the last to leave the balcony during an appearance which lasted almost 10 minutes and saw the crowd sing along when the national anthem was played. But they were back a few minutes later by themselves and received a cheer from the crowds as they waved. Away from the pageantry the Met Police were heavily criticised over the 'incredibly alarming' arrests of Republican protesters ahead of the coronation. Campaign groups said Saturday's arrests, including that of the chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, were 'something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London'. It said 52 people had been arrested for affray, public order offences, breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance around the coronation. Metropolitan Police Commander Karen Findlay acknowledged concerns about the arrest of protesters but defended Scotland Yard's actions, saying: 'Our duty is to do so in a proportionate manner in line with relevant legislation.' TikTok star Bobby Moudy sold his home at auction days just days before he killed himself due to 'financial pressure' TMZ reported that, Rankin County records show a construction company won the auction for Moudy's Mississippi home with a bid of $309,000 after it went into foreclosure. A fundraiser organized by a friend of the family has also now brought in over $70,000. His family earlier revealed that Moudy, 46, had been 'weighed down by financial pressures' Further details of Moudy's money woes have not been shared, although they are said to have left his wife in 'financial crisis.' Bobby Moudy, left, died in debt, leaving his stricken widow Jennifer, right struggling to deal with both her husband's suicide and his money woes The family's Mississippi home is pictured. Moudy's death is said to have left his surviving loved-ones in serious financial difficulties The social media star and 'loving father and husband' garnered 360,000 followers and over 18.6 million likes on TikTok, and shared his last video just two days before his death. Moudy's family said it was 'with great sadness' they shared news of his death. In her own heartbreaking statement, Kaitlyn wrote: 'On April 28th my best friend was able to see our Heavenly Father. 'He was the most amazing dad, brother, uncle, and friend. He had such an impact on not only his family but those around him. 'He was and is still so loved by so many. He will forever be remembered. I hope you're hugging Louie tight for us. We're counting down the days until we see you again.' His wife Jennifer posted a tribute to her husband following news of his passing, with a montage of images of her late husband alongside the music to Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow. She wrote: 'My precious Bobby! Go fund me in bio for his 3 babies.' In response to a fan's message about his death, she added: 'I keep thinking he will walk in the door any minute'. Bobby leaves behind his wife Jennifer, and kids Kaytlin, Max and Charleigh A friend of the family, Mandy Castle, organized a gofundme to help the family. She said: 'Bobby was a loving husband, father, brother and friend. On April 28th, he was a tragic victim of suicide. 'Bobby was full of life and laughs, but also weighed down by financial pressures. His wife, Jennifer and their three children are in an emotional and financial crisis as he was their rock. 'If Bobby touched your life in any way, personally or through his fun family TikTok page, please consider helping his family through this devastating time. 'Whether you are able to give or not, please cover Jennifer, Kaytlin, Max and Charleigh in your prayers.' Father-of-three Bobby Moudy, who rose to prominence on TikTok, died by suicide aged 46 A statement read: 'Bobby was a loving father, husband, brother and friend. On April 28th, he was a tragic victim of suicide. Bobby was full of life and laughs...' An obituary for the late star described him as 'an avid outdoor enthusiast' who 'enjoyed fishing, hunting and camping.' The obituary said after meeting Jennifer in 1999, the couple married in 2004 and started their family, where he became 'a devoted husband, father and brother'. 'He was happiest showing his love and support for his kids,' it continued. 'He was often the loudest voice on the sidelines cheering on his children at their sporting and educational events. 'He approached life with a contagious enthusiasm and a smile.' Moudy leaves behind his wife Jennifer, and kids Kaytlin, Max and Charleigh, who were a regular fixture on his 'day-in-the-life' videos. Scottish Police reportedly called in 'Britain's FBI' to help on SNP investigations Scottish cops asked 'Britain's FBI' to help with their probe into the missing SNP finances before arresting Nicola Sturgeon's husband. National Crime Agency (NCA) officers are the frontline on serious and organised crime, but they were reportedly called in by Scottish Police to help with the SNP investigation. They were drafted in several months before Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell was arrested. Specialist officers were asked to bring fresh ideas to the table once they had seen the evidence. They conducted what has been reported as a 'peer review' into Police Scotland's investigation last year, between October and December. National Crime Agency (NCA) officers were drafted in several months before Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell (pictured with Sturgeon in 2016) was arrested Officers from Police Scotland at the home of former chief executive of the Scottish National Party (SNP) Peter Murrell on April 5, in Glasgow, after he was arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the party The force had been looking into allegation of fraud pertaining to 600,000 in donations that should have been ring-fenced for pro-independence campaigning since 2021. Nicola Sturgeon resigned as SNP leader in February, just a few months after the alleged NCA review. Her husband was arrested in April and questioned for 11 hours before he was released without charge. Peer reviews are standard practice in policing and it would not be out of the ordinary for Police Scotland to have requested one, as The Times reported. It came as detectives carrying out a fraud inquiry into the Scottish National Party are investigating the whereabouts of 400,000 bequeathed to it in supporters' wills. Speculation continues to mount as to when Police Scotland will question Nicola Sturgeon (pictured) Police Scotland is probing what happened to some 660,000 given to the party to fund a second independence referendum. The party received some large bequeaths in recent years, including 300,000 from the estate of Estelle Brownrigg, who died aged 73 in 2018. The Sunday Mail reported that the party has received a million in this way since 2021, with a source saying: 'Large sums left to the party in wills are being looked at as part of the investigation. 'Huge amounts have been left over the years, including donations declared to the Electoral Commission in recent months. 'In terms of the independence fund money which has been reported as missing, there is around 400,000 which officers are trying to account for. It is a complex investigation being run by specialist officers with training in financial fraud. 'They are looking at company accounts and bank accounts and at specific items which have been purchased and where funds and items have ultimately ended up.' Police Scotland declined to comment when approached by MailOnline. MailOnline has contacted the National Crime Agency for comment. San Francisco Democrats have been called 'mean girls' after they banned a lesbian Asian from setting up a liberal club in the city. Cyn Wang, who worked for the Obama Administration, attempted to set up a group called the Westside Family Democratic Club, but was stopped because the title contained the word 'family' and for backing a recall of a woke school board. The Chinese immigrant has long been a Democrat, and on paper looks like the perfect candidate to represent a liberal group. Wang voted for Biden in 2020, labeled herself an intersectional feminist, and denounced the Republican Party as 'the biggest threat to our democracy.' She also married a Mexican immigrant, who got her green card this month; runs a small family business and sends her daughter to a public school. Wang was sure her club would be approved by the Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) without incident, but when she and her other club members logged onto the Zoom meeting, they were sorely mistaken. Cyn Wang, who worked for the Obama Administration, attempted to set up a group called the Westside Family Democratic Club Wang (pictured with Nancy Pelosi) was sure her club would be approved by the Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) without incident, however, when she and her other club members logged onto the Zoom meeting, they were sorely mistaken The group was met with backlash, accused of being racist, and even being secretly funded by Republicans. 'My mouth was agape,' Wang told the San Francisco Chronicle. 'Those allegations could not be more false.' 'Fighting systemic racism is one reason Im involved in local Democratic politics. To me, it lifted the veil on how narrow of a definition they have of what being a Democrat means.' Even DCCC member Janice Li said the meeting gave 'mean girl' mentality. 'Its that You cant sit with us mentality that makes me very uncomfortable with the state of San Francisco politics,' Li told the Chronicle. 'Its very: "Youre not even allowed in." Its very Mean Girls.' San Francisco politics have always been a battle ground and the group planned on getting more voters registers in Districts One, Four and Seven, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and they wanted families to get more involved, rather than ditching the city - hence why family was in their club's name. Wang wanted a more welcoming party for families, especially on the westside, where very few clubs existed. She even helped start the San Francisco Parent Coalition, which focused on recalling two of three school board members last year and a few parents she met there helped found her new club. The club was accused of being racist and secretly backed by Republicans, among other things, and one critic, local tenant activist Jordan Davis (pictured at a different meeting), told them: 'F**k you' The club wanted to focus on improving the public school system, cleaning up the streets, getting more houses built, and strengthening the public transportation in the city - all causes local Democrats supported. In addition, they met all the requirements to be chartered - a point Honey Mahogany, a DCCC chairman, highlighted. Despite that, they were met with negativity and a local tenant activist even told them: 'F**k you.' 'F you, Westside Family Democratic Club!' Jordan Davis said at the meeting. 'I yield my time! F you!' Davis has been to several political events in San Francisco and always used strong language and often left the podium yelling obscenities. Local Brandee Marckmann, who opposed the school board recall, starkly accused them of being conservative: 'I know a Republican when I see one.' DCCC members were reportedly grilling Parag Gupta - one of the parents from the parent coalition who helped found the westside club - who was left shocked by the harsh questioning. DCCC members were reportedly grilling Parag Gupta - one of the founders of the westside club - who was left shocked by the harsh questioning. They asked him the members income levels, racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, and even if they they voted on the school board recall The group met all the requirements to be chartered - a point Honey Mahogany, a DCCC chairman, (left) highlighted. Another DCCC member Peter Gallotta, who voted to table the chartering, said he questioned why the club wanted chartered rather than just become an advocacy group They asked him their income levels, racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, and even if they voted on the school board recall. 'Were just starting out,' Gupta told the DCCC. 'We seek to be an inclusive club, and we seek to be representative of all demographics, genders, races and inclusive of all families. If someone considers themselves a family, we consider them a family.' Despite his attempt to reconcile the criticism, the DCCC garnered enough votes to shut them down temporarily - even though not all members voted. Keith Baraka, a DCCC member, abstained from voting due to the public commenters concerns, but later told the Chronicle that he had spoken with Wang and would support the group if they went up for charter again. Peter Gallotta, who voted to table the chartering, said he questioned why the club wanted to be chartered rather than just become an advocacy group. 'I think we need to reform our application process so we have more, and better, information as members before we give a stamp of approval,' he told the Chronicle. Mahogany, the only member to defend the group, said another charter vote will be set up soon. A black man has been accused of shooting two white men in the back of the head in what authorities are describing as a racially motivated hate crime in Oklahoma. Carlton Gilford, who is homeless, allegedly shot Lundin Hathcock, 35, and James McDaniel, 55, in two different shootings on April 18, according to the Tulsa Police Department. He allegedly killed Hathcock in Rudisill Library around 9.40am. He reportedly walked up behind Hathcock, who was sitting at a desk, and shot him. Shortly after, he allegedly went to a nearby QuikTrip convenience store and shot McDaniel. After he fell to the ground, Gilford shot him again. Hathcock, was rushed to the hospital where he died while McDaniel died at the scene. Surveillance footage also shows Gilford shooting at another person and a security guard at QuikTrip, according to Fox News. When police arrived, the homeless man admitted to shooting Hathcock and McDaniel. Carlton Gilford (pictured), who is homeless, shot Lundin Hathcock, 35, and James McDaniel, 55, in two different shootings on April 18 When police arrived, the homeless man admitted to shooting Hathcock and McDaniel. He was arrested on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of shooting with intent to kill, and one count of malicious intimidation or harassment Lundin Hathcock is seen being stretchered to a waiting ambulance Police were at the scene shortly after the shooting broke out A fleet of patrol cars are pictured at the scene of the shooting Gilford was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of shooting with intent to kill, and one count of malicious intimidation or harassment. The latter charge is Oklahoma's version of a hate crime. Under Oklahoma law, there is no specific hate crime statute, but malicious intimidation or harassment includes targeting someone based on their race. His malicious intimidation charge is considered a hate crime in Oklahoma and means the victims were targeted based on their race, according to Fox News. Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said the evidence supported that the two men were targeted based on race, but did not elaborate to Fox News about why she thought that. He allegedly killed Hathcock (pictured left) in Rudisill Library around 9.40am. He reportedly walked up behind Hathcock, who was sitting at a desk, and shot him. Shortly after, he allegedly went to a nearby QuikTrip convenience store and shot McDaniel (pictured right). After he fell to the ground, Gilford shot him again. He died on the scene The family of Lundin Hathcock are seen by his bedside following the shooting The Hathcock family paid tribute to Lundin in a posting on Facebook Facebook Post from the family of Lundin Hathcock. Hathcock was fatally shot in Tulsa Oklahoma. Tulsa Police have charged Carlton Gilford with the shooting. Gilford is also charged with shooting another man, James McDaniel Family members are seen by the bed of Lundin Hathcock - a victim of a random shooting Hathcock's family are seen huddling together in hospital after their loved one did not survive 'The information suggests that race played a role in it,' said Kunzweiler, according to KOTV. 'I feel like that is something we can prove, and it is something that a judge or jury obviously needs to listen to. So, we will present that information along with everything else.' 'Whenever you are talking about the dynamic where the safety of the public is at risk, in my mind, somebody who is killing somebody or doing harm toward somebody who they don't know, that really amps things up,' said Kunzweiler. Ankara, May 6 (UNI) Turkey has closed its airspace to flights by Armenian aircraft carrying high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, to third countries, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday. "Every day, flights were conducted through the Turkish airspace. Now we have closed [it]. We have closed it for VIP-persons as well, let them not get offended. We closed it for Pashinyan's plane, too. Only the speaker of the Armenian parliament came to take part in the PANSEC summit [in Ankara]. We hosted the summit, that is why we could not close [the airspace] for a member of the organization," Cavusoglu said in an interview with the Turkish 24TV. On April 29, Turkey canceled the permission previously granted to the FlyOne Armenia airline to operate flights to Europe through the Turkish airspace. On May 3, Cavusoglu confirmed that the airspace was closed for flights from Armenia, saying that he did not exclude additional measures. The move came after a monument to the participants of Operation Nemesis the code-name for a covert operation carried out in the 1920s to kill the Turkish masterminds of the 1915 Armenian genocide was unveiled in Yerevan. One of the people killed under the operation was Mehmed Talaat, commonly known as Talaat Pasha, the former interior minister of the Ottoman Empire. The developments come amid the already tense relations between the two countries, the root cause of their estrangement being Turkey's opposition to the international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The 1915 Armenian Genocide has been recognized by 34 countries to date, including Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the United States, as well as by the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches. According to estimates, 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s. Turkey has repeatedly denied the accusations of genocide, claiming that the killings were part of hostilities during World War I. UNI/SPUTNIK GNK They were last seen in the Sydney suburb of Forest Lodge Police are searching for two teen girls who went missing Two teenage girls who went missing in Sydney have been found following a desperate search by police. Yoshino Stanford, 12, and Isabella Herring, 13, were last seen on Hereford Street in Forest Lodge about 8am on Saturday. When the girls couldn't be found, police were called and officers commenced an investigation. A search is underway to find two teenage girls - Yoshino Stanford (pictured), 12, and Isabella Herring, 13 - who were last seen in Forest Lodge on Saturday morning Yoshino was last seen wearing a blue jumper and white pants while Isabella (pictured) was last seen wearing a white t-shirt over a grey long-sleeve shirt and black shorts Police and the families of both girls held concerns for their welfare due to their young age. It's understood the girls may have travelled to the Manly and Circular areas together. The pair were later found with the pair discovered at Manly at 8.30am on Sunday. Yoshino is described as being of Asian appearance and about 152cm tall. She has a slim build and curly shoulder-length black hair. She was last seen wearing a blue jumper and white pants. Isabella is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 162cm tall with a medium build, shoulder length straight blonde hair, and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a white t-shirt over a grey long-sleeve shirt and black shorts. Camilla has been cheered by African conservationists for not backing down over the use of the Ivory Rod with Dove during the Coronation service. The 3ft sceptre has been a fixture of the ceremony since the crowning of James II in 1685. Despite the ivory having been taken from an elephant that had been dead for centuries, anti-hunting campaigners have called for it to be banned. Camilla has refused to bow to pressure and will be adorned with it today. Dr Rodgers Lubilo, chairman of the Southern Africa Community Leaders Network, said: I am pleased Queen Camilla has ignored the naysayers to wear this beautiful item. Camilla has been cheered by African conservationists for not backing down over the use of the Ivory Rod with Dove during the Coronation service 'This can only help conservation. He also slammed the activists as totally out-of-touch with the reality that ivory is a vital economic resource with important historical as well as cultural values. Dr Lubilo said: The demand by the animal rights groups that Queen Camilla should not use an historic ivory rod is totally unreasonable. Even our own chiefs use ivory and other animal parts such as tails and skins as symbols of the greatness and richness of African culture and their role in preserving it. Siyoka Simasiku, Director of the Ngamilands Council of Non-governmental Organisations in Botswana, also welcomed the move. He said: In Southern African countries, the ivory of elephants that die of natural causes is a symbol and source of our communities livelihood. Camilla has refused to bow to pressure and will be adorned with it today They say that the money generated from the ethical trade of ivory from elephants that die from natural causes can fund vital animal conservation work. It came after Chieftainess Rebecca Banika of Botswana cheered the move by Camilla. Its indeed a good move for the Queen of England to show support for the need to use wildlife products such as ivory, she said. We see this as support for communities co-existing with wildlife such as those in elephant-over-populated Botswana. We need trade in surplus ivory to help us survive. The sceptre was made by the royal goldsmith Sir Robert Vyner for Mary of Modena and has been used to crown every Queen Consort since. Claudia Winkleman is facing backlash after calling the Coronation weekend 'Tory Christmas' live on her BBC Radio 2 show today. In an interview with comedian Jack Whitehall, the presenter, 51, was heard making the remark and laughing after Whitehall let out a similar comment. 'The coronation is like Tory Glastonbury - it's a huge event,' he said. Winkleman, who has royal ties and featured on shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, replied: 'Tory Christmas.' The presenter's half-sister Sophie Winkleman is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, who is a member of the British royal family. Claudia Winkleman is facing backlash after calling the Coronation weekend 'Tory Christmas' live on her BBC Radio 2 show today In an interview with comedian Jack Whitehall (pictured), the presenter, 51, was heard making the remark and laughing after Whitehall made a similar comment. 'The coronation is like Tory Glastonbury - it's a huge event,' he said. [File image] Speaking about his mother, the comedian told the host: 'My mum camped out on The Mall and is down there right now. She's been there for three days. 'It's insane. She's there with a load of people I don't think she's ever met before.' He added: 'She is genuinely a royal enthusiast. I think it's because she made a promise to one of her friends, like, 40 years ago that they'd go to the Coronation, so there is one of her friends there.' It comes as huge crowds formed across the country today to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. Royal fans who shook his hand after sleeping on the pavement and in tents outside Buckingham Palace yesterday were left emotional and in tears after meeting the royal. Today's remark by Winkleman also follows comments made by the presenter in February, when she revealed she isn't sure what makes a show a success. On whether she had any indication to whether her new show The Piano would do well, she told Radio Times: 'I have absolutely no idea. Of course not.' It comes as huge crowds formed across the country today to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III The presenter's half-sister Sophie Winkleman is married to Lord Frederick Windsor , who is a member of the British royal family After it was suggested that her latest show, The Traitors, was a hit due to its 'unpredictable format', Claudia mused: 'I hope so. I don't know. I hope people watch The Traitors because it's a good game. 'I hope people will watch The Piano, but you can never take anything for granted.' MailOnline has contacted the BBC for comment. Christina Applegate may never act in front of a camera again amid her battle with progressive disease, Multiple Sclerosis. The 51-year-old actress, who excoriated Candace Owens after she criticized a Skims ad featuring a model in a wheelchair, has been thinking about what her future might look like - two years after her diagnosis. 'I cant even imagine going to set right now,' the Emmy winner told Vanity Fair. 'This is a progressive disease. I dont know if Im going to get worse,' she explained. Adjusting to her new life as a person with multiple sclerosis has been difficult for the star who has been acting since she was five months old. Future: Christina Applegate may never act in front of a camera again amid her battle with progressive disease, Multiple Sclerosis (pictured February 2023) Diagnosis: Christina was diagnosed with MS just before the third and final season of Dead to Me went into production (pictured in the show) 'With the disease of MS, its never a good day. You just have little sh**ty days.' Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that causes damage to the nerve sheaths in the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms can include numbness, speech impairment, difficulties with muscular coordination, blurred vision, and severe fatigue. 'There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives that I took for granted. Going down the stairs, carrying thingsyou cant do that anymore. It f**king sucks.' 'I can still drive my car short distances. I can bring up food to my kid. Up, never down.' The Bad Moms actress has turned to a friend to help her care for her daughter, Sadie, 12, whom she shares with husband Martyn LeNoble, 54. A caretaker comes on the weekend to do what is needed. 'I actually dont want to be around a lot of people because I'm immunocompromised,' she explained. 'I also dont want a lot of stimulation of the nervous system because it can be a little bit too much for me. I like to keep it as quiet and as mellow as possible.' Adjusting: The actress said she has adjusted to her new life by having a friend help her take care of daughter Sadie, 12 during the week. A caretaker comes to her home on the weekends to do what is needed Human: 'Im probably not going to work on-camera again, but I'm so glad that I went out with someone who is by far the greatest actress Ive ever worked with in my entire life, if not the greatest human Ive ever known,' she said of her co-star Linda Cardellini, 47. The actress received her diagnosis in August 2021, just before production on the third and final season of Dead to Me began. 'None of us knew I was going to be sick and gain 40 pounds from medication and have immobility.' 'Im probably not going to work on-camera again, but I'm so glad that I went out with someone who is by far the greatest actress Ive ever worked with in my entire life, if not the greatest human Ive ever known,' she said of her co-star Linda Cardellini, 47. Christina said she got good advice from her friends Jamie-Lynn Siegler and Selma Hayak, who were both diagnosed with MS several years before. Jamie-Lynn suggested she quickly set boundaries. 'She was like, You need to tell them [what you need] now that youve let it out of the bag.' The veteran actress said she wish she had received that same advise when she was recovering from breast cancer after her 2008 diagnosis while shooting Samantha Who. 'I didn't speak up for my boundaries back then. I should have asked for some more time after one of my surgeries. I went back to work two weeks after my reconstruction. And that was really difficult for me to do.' Boundaries: Christina said her friends Selma Hayak and Jamie-Lynn Siegler, who have both been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis advised her to set boundaries regarding her limitations on set Breast cancer: The actress said she had received that same advise when she was recovering from breast cancer after her 2008 diagnosis while shooting Samantha Who. I should have asked for some more time after one of my surgeries... that was really difficult for me to do' Family reunion: The actress may join an animated re-boot of Married with Children reuniting her with her on-screen family that included Ed O'Neill, Katey Segal, and David Faustino. 'I cant really say much, but all I know is that all four of us are attached to it,' she said WHAT IS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS? Multiple sclerosis (known as MS) is a condition in which the immune system attacks the body and causes nerve damage to the brain and spinal cord. It is an incurable, lifelong condition. Symptoms can be mild in some, and in others more extreme causing severe disability. MS affects 2.3 million people worldwide - including around one million in the US, and 100,000 in the UK. It is more than twice as common in women as it is in men. A person is usually diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. The condition is more commonly diagnosed in people of European ancestry. The cause isn't clear. There may be genes associated with it, but it is not directly hereditary. Smoking and low vitamin D levels are also linked to MS. Symptoms include fatigue, difficulty walking, vision problems, bladder problems, numbness or tingling, muscle stiffness and spasms, problems with balance and co-ordination, and problems with thinking, learning and planning. The majority of sufferers will have episodes of symptoms which go away and come back, while some have ones which get gradually worse over time. Symptoms can be managed with medication and therapy. The condition shortens the average life expectancy by around five to 10 years. Advertisement Christina said it has been difficult for her to watch the final season of Dead to Me. 'Ive only seen bits and pieces of the show because its a little difficult for me to watch.' But that doesn't mean she will give up acting altogether. 'I can do voiceover stuff because I have to support my family and keep my brain working.' The actress may lend her voice talents to an animated re-boot of Married with Children reuniting her with her on-screen family that included Ed O'Neill, 77, and Katey Segal, 69, and David Faustino, 49. 'I cant really say much, but all I know is that all four of us are attached to it. Its not in our hands now, so were just kind of waiting.' Nadia Bartel rocked a modern chic look on Thursday as she led the arrivals at Gem Oral Care's Woolworths launch. Garbed in a form-fitting black turtle neck to protect against the cooling weather, the former WAG, 37, slipped into loose, straight-legged boyfriend jeans. She elevated the casual look with black, pointed pumps and an oversized black designer bag clutched in her hand as she worked all her best angles. The entrepreneur, who shares sons Aston and Henley with ex husband Jimmy Bartel, let her natural beauty shine through with a bronzed, barely-there makeup look. Her luscious balayage locks tumbled around her shoulders and framed the beauty's genetically blessed features. Nadia Bartel, 37, (pictured) rocked a modern chic look on Thursday as she led the arrivals at Gem Oral Care's Woolworths launch Nadia was seen cosying up to billionaire heiress Georgia Geminder who is currently heavily pregnant with her first child. The 28-year-old, whose mother Fiona is Australia's third richest woman, also donned a casual chic look, wearing a brown maxi dress and black leather coat. Slipping into comfortable white sneakers and letting her auburn hair fall free, the businesswoman cuddled up to husband Matthew Danos throughout the night. Garbed in a form-fitting black turtle neck to protect against the cooling weather, the former WAG slipped into loose, straight-legged boyfriend jeans Nadia was seen cosying up to billionaire heiress Georgia Geminder, 28, who is currently heavily pregnant with her first child The 28-year-old, whose mother Fiona is Australia's third richest woman, also donned a casual chic look, wearing a brown maxi dress and black leather coat She opted for a natural makeup look which highlighted her soft features Slipping into comfortable white sneakers and letting her auburn hair fall free, the businesswoman cuddled up to husband Matthew Danos throughout the night Georgia was all smiles as she also posed up a storm with controversial blogger Loni Jane Anthony. The 33-year-old mummy blogger kept her look low-key for the occasion, pulling her dark locks back into a tight bun before twirling a green scarf about her neck. She completed the look with a long grey maxi skirt and a black leather coat featuring a feathered neckline. The vegan influencer landed in hot water in 2018 when doctors slammed her health advice as 'utter garbage' after she claimed being vegan cured her 'cancerous cells'. Danniella Westbrook took to Instagram on Thursday to announce the tragic death of pal Jody Sharp. The former soap star, 49, told followers her 'heart was broken' and she was still in a state of shock. No cause of death was given. Daniella, who is currently recuperating from facial reconstruction surgery in Portugal, said the news had left her 'devastated'. She penned: 'Just had the most devastating news, my heart is broken and I'm in complete shock.' 'R.I.P Jody Sharp, I hope your heart finds peace. I love you.' Heartbreak: Danniella Westbrook, 49, took to Instagram on Thursday to announce the tragic death of pal Jody Sharp Grief: The former soap star told followers her 'heart was broken' and she was still in a state of shock. No cause of death was given The television personality has been shaken after a health scare saw her back in hospital, hours after landing in Portugal. Taking to her Instagram Stories, she penned: 'Only I could land back in Portugal after surgery only to end up in hospital. 'The pain I've experienced is unreal, most frightening few days. Need it like a hole in the head, literally.' When Danniella first woke up after the lengthy procedure, she said she looked 'like she had done 10 rounds with Tyson Fury'. She has wanted the reconstruction for the last seven years, but was unable to find a surgeon who would operate because her septum had completely collapse. She told The Sun: 'I was very fearful. My mum and my son Kai were on the phone constantly - I wrote up a will before I left and my son is the executor of that. 'But luckily I'm still here and I've come through the other side. Someone is looking over me. I looked like I'd gone 10 rounds with Tyson Fury. 'But the swelling has actually gone down really quickly. I'm already happy with the results.' Emotional: Daniella, who is currently recuperating from facial reconstruction surgery in Portugal , said the news had left her 'devastated' Danniella says she paid for the surgery herself despite being offered freebies from clinics all over the world, after a health scare last year left her in intensive care because she struggled to breathe through her nose. Now in the recovery stage, Danniella has to just stick to ibuprofen and paracetamol, because any pain killer stronger could be a trigger for her past cocaine addiction. Danniella previously revealed she needed five operations to correct her 'collapsing' face due to a previous cocaine addiction and osteoporosis, and was planning to have it done on the NHS. She told The Sun: 'I've spent the last seven years trying to get somebody to do it, but they said no in case it failed and they got struck off. 'Plastic surgeons wanted 500,000 to change my face, so I thought I was never going to get it done. It was only because I went into intensive care before Christmas. 'I couldn't breathe because I had a cold. There was a build up of fluid and after I fell asleep I couldn't wake up properly and ended up in ICU. 'I was sent over to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool and it's only because I was put in front of the right doctors, or else I'd still be waiting now to find someone. 'They're doing it for me under the NHS now.' Important: Danniella previously revealed she needed five operations to correct her 'collapsing' face due to a previous cocaine addiction and osteoporosis, and was planning to have it done on the NHS (left pictured in 2022, right in 1996) Scary stuff: The television personality has been shaken after a health scare saw her back in hospital, hours after landing in Portugal Danniella previously underwent a rib insertion procedure in 2018, after osteoporosis rotted away her cheekbones and gums and, after spending the last year getting lip filler and Botox, in addition to surgery on her face, she is hoping to get back to her best. The actress' battle with drugs has been well-publicised, and she famously had her nose reconstructed after her septum collapsed from excessive cocaine use in 2002. At the height of her use it was reported she would take up to five grams of cocaine a day, blowing close to 250,000 on the drug. The star has since embarked on multiple rehab stints in order to battle her demons - and revealed she was finally clean in June 2021, after attending a clinic in Mijas, Spain. An Australian model with over a million followers on Instagram has received backlash for her 'naked' wedding dress. Ellie Gonsalves, 33, didn't spare any expense for her luxurious Gold Coast wedding, as she had three different white gowns for her big day. Her main dress for the ceremony to her partner Ross Scutts featured long sleeves, an illusion neckline and a dramatic train. However, it was the influencer's third dress that received an abundance of negative comments, as many said it was inappropriate for a wedding. Ellie posted a video to Instagram of her walking out to her bridal party in the barely-there dress. Australian model Ellie Gonsalves (pictured), who has over a million followers on Instagram, has received backlash for her 'naked' wedding dress She captioned the clip: 'My husbands face when he saw me in this dress reveal at our wedding.' The bride paired the corset-style 'naked' wedding dress with a pair of silver strappy heels. Some of her followers said the revealing mini-dress was more akin to lingerie, as it featured see-through tulle and a very high thigh split. Ellie, 33, didn't spare any expense for her luxurious Gold Coast wedding, as she had three different white gowns for her big day One person wrote: 'What you're sharing with everyone is supposed to be only for your husband.' While another commented: 'Soon, people will be going to weddings in their bikinis. More skin on show that way, right?' And a third said: 'I'm sorry but this is not a good dress for the wedding. Dress modestly!' However, many of Ellie's loyal followers defended her dress choice, and the bride herself later hit back at her haters. One person commented that she looked 'fast and loose' on her wedding day and Ellie hit back, writing: 'The only thing thats fast and loose was your mums hands when she dropped ya on your head as a child.' Some of her followers said the revealing mini-dress was more akin to lingerie, as it featured see-through tulle and a very high thigh split The bride then shared a screenshot of this comment to her Instagram, and added: 'Whats that phrase? If you dish it out, be prepared to take it? I cant believe people are getting so offended by a wedding dress.' Responding to another troll, Ellie wrote: 'FFs lighten up girl. Its a dress at a wedding of someone you dont know. Dont like it, change the channel. Simple as that.' According to Vogue Australia, the influencer worked with designer Sam Oglialoro and stylist Paul Versace for her three wedding dresses. Ellie told the publication: 'We got married the way we started, just him and me. Celebrating our love in the most special way we could think of.' Nick Cave cut a dapper figure as he arrived at Westminster Abbey ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday morning. The Australian music icon is one of a just a handful of Aussie representatives invited to take part in the historic event. The 65-year-old was dressed in his trademark black suit as he made his way inside alongside Rowan Williams. Nick appeared to go solo to the ceremony, with his wife Susie Cave not spotted by his side. He had earlier fought off controversy over his decision to attend the Coronation and said it was less about his political leanings and more about his love of pageantry. Nick Cave (pictured) cut a dapper figure as he arrived at Westminster Abbey ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday morning The Australian music icon is one of a just a handful of Aussie representatives invited to take part in the historic event The 65-year-old was dressed in his trademark black suit as he made his way inside alongside Rowan Williams 'I am not a monarchist, nor am I a royalist, nor am I an ardent republican for that matter,' he wrote on his personal blog The Red Hand. 'What I am also not is so spectacularly incurious about the world and the way it works, so ideologically captured, so damn grouchy, as to refuse an invitation to what will more than likely be the most important historical event in the UK of our age. 'Not just the most important, but the strangest, the weirdest.' In response to a fan asking 'why the f*** he would attend', he shared the story of his one and only meeting with the late Queen - revealing he had been surprised to find himself weeping while watching her funeral on TV. Nick appeared to go solo to the ceremony, with his wife Susie Cave not spotted by his side He had earlier fought off controversy over his decision to attend the Coronation and said it was less about his political leanings and more about his love of pageantry 'I am not a monarchist, nor am I a royalist, nor am I an ardent republican for that matter,' he wrote on his personal blog The Red Hand 'What I am also not is so spectacularly incurious about the world and the way it works, so ideologically captured, so damn grouchy, as to refuse an invitation to what will more than likely be the most important historical event in the UK of our age' he went on In response to a fan asking 'why the f*** he would attend', he shared the story of his one and only meeting with the late Queen - revealing he had been surprised to find himself weeping while watching her funeral on TV Cave said the Royal had seemed almost 'extraterrestrial' and was one of the most charismatic women he had ever met. 'Maybe it was the lighting, but she actually glowed,' he wrote of the Queen. Cave is one of over a dozen Australians invited to attend the King's coronation. Millions of people around the globe will tune in to watch King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla be crowned at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday. All the pomp and splendor will start at 7.30pm AEST with the King's procession to Westminster Abbey and the Coronation will begin at 8pm. Cave said the Royal had seemed almost 'extraterrestrial' and was one of the most charismatic women he had ever met Gogglebox stars were repulsed by one of the most disgusting I'm A Celebrity trials ever during Friday's episode. As cast members including Ellie and Izzi Warner and Dave and Shirley tuned into the challenge involving Joe Swash and Dean Gaffney, they were left feeling sick. Joe and Dean were required to drink a plethora of horrific drinks to win treats for their campmates before they made their late arrival into the camp in South Africa. Their trial included everything from cow's vagina to blended maggots and the men, who are known for their strong reactions to challenges, repeatedly gagged and struggled to keep the concoctions down. The vile scenes also affected Gogglebox viewers, leaving many feeling nauseous and they took to Twitter to express their feelings. Gross! Gogglebox stars were repulsed during Friday's episode by one of the most disgusting I'm A Celebrity trials ever which involved a plethora of vile drinks Oh no! As cast members including Ellie and Izzi Warner and Dave and Shirley tuned into the challenge involving Joe Swash and Dean Gaffney, they were left feeling sick Struggle: Their trial included everything from cow's vagina to blended maggots and the men, who are known for their strong reactions to challenges, repeatedly gagged and struggled One person wrote: 'OMDS That is pure disgusting that vomiting' while someone else said: 'Watching these 2 vomit is worse than the actual food they are consuming.' Another penned: 'Bad time to watch this while I'm eating' and a separate person said: 'omg dean and joe drinking that lol... that is vile!' Someone else said: 'I cannot watch other people vomiting or heaving- it makes me feel sick' as they shared a Friends meme of character Phoebe saying: 'Oh my eyes, my eyes!' Another person was seriously unimpressed by the scenes, writing: 'I only ever see reality tv on #Gogglebox. 'I cannot believe anyone seriously watches tripe like I'm A Celebrity. People drinking vile things and vomiting. This is entertaining is it?' And a separate viewer penned: 'Oh god I KNEW they'd show the Gaffney vomming clip.' It comes after I'm A Celebrity South Africa viewers kicked off on Friday night as the show ended on a dramatic cliffhanger ahead of a double elimination. The latest instalment wrapped up during a tense trial in which yellow pride's Jordan Banjo and Myleene Klass and green pride's Andy Whyment and Georgia Toffolo battled for their place in camp. Too much! The vile scenes also affected Gogglebox viewers, leaving many feeling nauseous and they took to Twitter to express their feelings The group were going head-to-head in the gold mine trial, with the winners earning a luxury picnic, while the losing pair would be sent home. However, just as things began to heat up with the competition closely fought, the show abruptly ended, with the result not being announced until Monday. And viewers were far from impressed with the 'cruel' twist as they took to Twitter to vent their fury, with one even asking: 'What are you playing at?!' 'Making us wait till Monday?!' fumed one person, while another questioned: 'What you mean NEXT TIME ???!' OnlyFans star Mikaela Testa has gotten a very questionable tattoo. The 23-year-old has shown White Fox just how dedicated she is, as she got the words 'white fox' tattooed across her wrist. She has a clothing collaboration coming soon with the fashion brand, and seemingly got the ink to promote it. Mikaela got the tattoo at a White Fox boutique event on Friday where they had a tattoo artist available for guests. She shared a photo with her new ink and captioned it: 'So I did a thing'. OnlyFans star Mikaela Testa (pictured) has gotten a very questionable tattoo on her wrist Posing in a mirror as she showed off the tattoo, she added: 'Y'all better buy tf out of my collection w @whitefoxboutique June 6th!! Save the date'. Last month, Mikaela made headlines after she was deported back to Australia from the United States. The 23-year-old shared a series of posts on her Instagram stories revealing her visa was 'revoked' and she spent 30 hours in a border force room before being sent back to Sydney. The 23-year-old has shown White Fox just how dedicated she is, as she got the words 'white fox' tattooed across her wrist Mikaela shared pictures of her flight and a shot of Sydney from the plane saying she was 'grateful to come back home to a safe country'. 'I've just been locked in the U.S. border force room for over 30 hours with no phone and had my visa revoked,' Mikaela said. 'They've just deported me back to Australia and I can't enter the U.S.' Mikaela has a clothing collaboration coming soon with the fashion brand, and seemingly got the ink to promote it Underneath a shot of Sydney, she wrote: 'I'm so grateful to come home to a safe country, some of the girls that were detained with me will not.' She added: 'Some had been there for over three days with no contact to the outside world.' Mikaela reportedly earns more than $162,000 per month selling X-rated images and videos on OnlyFans, an adults-only subscription platform. Her racy photos have also resulted in several bans on Instagram and TikTok. Molly-Mae Hague shared an adorable photo of her daughter Bambi on Saturday morning as the influencer celebrated the King's Coronation. Taking to Instagram, the former Love Island star, 23, who shares Bambi, four months, with boyfriend Tommy Fury, said that their child was a 'happy girl.' The snap she posted showed Bambi dressed in a comfy brown baby grow as she lay in a bouncer smiling. Molly-Mae wrote: 'Good morning happy girl' as a caption to the sweet Instagram story post. Meanwhile, the reality star revealed that she was watching the Coronation festivities and took a photograph of her television, adding a crown emoji. 'Good morning happy girl:' Molly-Mae Hague shared an adorable photo of her daughter Bambi on Saturday morning as the influencer celebrated the King's Coronation Celebrations: Meanwhile, the reality star revealed that she was watching the Coronation festivities and took a photograph of her television, adding a crown emoji It comes after Molly-Mae took to Instagram to showcase the stylish outfit she wore earlier in the week, including a 9k Chanel bag and 700 Loewe shirt having previously set tongues wagging over 'flaunting her wealth'. Captioning her snap, she penned: 'Not everyday tracksuit. Much to my sadness.' While Molly-Mae looked comfortable in her pricey ensemble, she recently divided her social media followers, who accused her of flaunting her wealth by posing in an airport terminal surrounded by her 4,000 designer luggage. Having just returned from a lavish family holiday in Dubai, the star cut a casual figure in a black T-shirt, matching leggings and an oversized blazer as she sat outside a Hermes boutique in a post shared on Sunday. She styled her long blonde tresses pulled back in a claw clip leaving strands to frame her face as she leaned on her hand. The reality star seemed less than impressed in the picture as she sat next to her 2,200 Louis Vuitton suitcase and her matching 1,790 travel bag. Molly-Mae looked ready for her flight as she kept her AirPod Max headphones, which are worth over 500, around her neck. Referencing her surroundings in the accompanying caption, she wrote: '5 star airport shopping.' However the post, shared in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, prompted an inevitably divided response from followers. Replying to her latest update, one quipped: 'If there ever was a caption to humble the working class.' Chic: It comes after Molly-Mae took to Instagram to showcase the stylish outfit she wore earlier in the week, including a 9k Chanel bag and 700 Loewe shirt Elsewhere a second quickly added: 'Thanks for reminding me to work harder,' while a third remarked: 'the caption is a little controversial ha' Another simply added: 'Read the room.' However others defended the influencer, with one fan writing: 'she isn't pictured with Hermes shopping bags though. 'She's saying 5* shopping and has a tiny paper bag from purchases... working class can walk round all shops at an airport too... people have a choice how they spend their hard earned money.' While another added: 'Stop taking offence ffs.' Anna Nicole Smith's ex Larry Birkhead brought their daughter Dannielynn, 15, to the Barnstable Brown Gala in Louisville on Friday, the eve of the Kentucky Derby. The event has a special significance for the fatherdaughter pair, as Anna Nicole first met Larry at the 2003 Barnstable Brown Gala. Dannielynn and her father have been a fixture at the annual beano for years, and this year they gave a special tip of the hat to the teen's late mother. As seen on Larry's Instagram, Dannielynn arrived in a Guess top splashed with Anna Nicole's own modeling shots for the brand. It was back in 1992 that Anna Nicole became the face of the fashion brand, which rocketed the rising young model to international fame. Family time: Anna Nicole Smith's ex Larry BIrkhead brought their daughter Dannielynn, 15, to the Barnstable Brown Gala in Louisville on Friday, the eve of the Kentucky Derby Homage: In a tip of the hat to her late mother, Dannielynn arrived in a Guess top splashed with Anna Nicole's own modeling shots for the brand Remember when: It was back in 1992 that Anna Nicole became the face of the fashion brand - which rocketed the rising young model to international fame Dannielynn was a dead ringer for Anna Nicole as she posed smiling on her father's arm for a brace of snaps he posted to his Instagram page. 'Heading to the annual Barnstable-Brown Derby Eve Gala. Tonight is the 20th anniversary where I met Dannielynns Mom at the same event,' he noted. While offering a string of fashion credits at the bottom of the caption, he touchingly revealed that Dannielynn was wearing the jewelry she inherited from Anna Nicole. 'More Barnstable-Gala pre-party pics,' he wrote with another Instagram caption. 'Cant believe Dannielynn is almost 17. Time for a great Derby weekend.' Ahead of this year's Derby, Larry gave DailyMail.com an exclusive interview lifting the curtain back on his two-and-a-half years with Anna Nicole. 'I met Anna first in 2003 and she blew me kisses. I was intrigued by her but we didn't have too much interaction,' he candidly revealed. 'She came back the next year and she had totally transformed. I always thought she was so beautiful. She has a unique look. But when she returned to the Derby in 2004 she was in her tip top shape.' The dashing blond recalled: 'She was blowing me kisses, but I thought she was doing that for everyone. Being flirtatious for the camera. I never thought that she would want some guy like me from Kentucky when she could have any guys who wants.' Larry, a photographer, was later summoned by Anna Nicole's team to snap her at a children's charity event 'and the sparks were there again.' They remained in contact for a few weeks, until 'I got a call from Anna and she said that she wanted me to move in with her in LA and be her personal photographer.' Larry fondly remembered: 'Of course I said yes. When I first went there, I looked around her house and I asked her: "Where am I going to stay?" She laughed and responded: "In here with me," pointing to her bedroom.' They carried on a live-in romance that lasted until months into Anna Nicole's pregnancy with Dannielynn, when she suddenly decamped to the Bahamas. Her rupture with Larry came amid her legal battle over the $30 million that she insisted she was promised by her billionaire late husband J. Howard Marshall, whom she infamously married just 14 months before his death when he was 89 and she 26. All in the family: Larry has also touchingly revealed that Dannielynn Friday night was wearing the jewelry she inherited from Anna Nicole Remember when: The event has a special significance for the father-daughter pair, as Anna Nicole first met Larry at the 2003 Barnstable Brown Gala, where she is pictured The way they were: Before this year's shindig, Larry gave DailyMail.com an exclusive interview lifting the curtain back on his two-and-a-half years with Anna Nicole 'They took her to the Bahamas because she was in a lawsuit for all that money, and they thought that I was going to try and take it from her, so they saw me as a threat and Anna believed it,' Larry claimed. Three days after Dannielynn was born her half-brother Daniel died of a drug overdose, and five months later so did Anna Nicole. Anna Nicole, who listed her boyfriend Howard K. Stern as Dannielynn's father on the birth certificate, left her entire estate to her daughter upon her death. A string of men including Zsa Zsa Gabor's ninth husband claimed to be Dannielynn's real father until a DNA test confirmed that it was Larry. Will Poulter was spotted outside Good Morning America's studio in New York City on Friday morning. The 30-year-old performer supported himself with a single crutch during his appearance and stopped to sign a few autographs for a group of fans. The actor used his time on the program to promote the release of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, in which he stars as Adam Warlock, and he previously warned his fans about the difficulty of emulating his body transformation. Poulter wore a dark green turtleneck sweater that was tucked into a pair of light brown cargo pants during his time outside of the program's set. The Midsommar actor also donned pairs of light green socks and beige Birkenstock-style sandals. Out and about: Will Poulter was spotted outside of Good Morning America 's studio in New York City on Friday morning The performer has not made any public comments about the cause of his injury as of yet. Poulter began his time on the program by stating that, although he was initially intimidated about the prospect of working on a Marvel movie, he quickly endeared himself to the project's cast and crew. 'It's a little bit scary, initially, from the outside looking in, because I was a fan first and foremost... they're the nicest group of people and they make it so easy as a newbie coming in. [I] couldn't have been made to feel more welcome,' he recalled. The We're The Millers star also spoke about getting into makeup to portray Adam Warlock and discussed the difficulty of removing it all at the end of each shooting day. 'There's a very, very talented group of in charge of that. I literally can take no credit. I sit there and do nothing. Getting it off is a surprisingly long process...I would wear trash bags, actually, and we would go to town on the hot towels and wipes,' he said. Poulter briefly spoke about how Adam Warlock was more of an imperfect character than many would expect. 'It became pretty clear they weren't going for perfect when they cast me, they were going in a different direction with the role,' he said. The actor went on to discuss his fitness routine for the project and thanked the individuals who helped get him into shape. On the mend: The 30-year-old performer supported himself with a single crutch during his appearance on the program Staying comfortable: Poulter wore a dark green turtleneck sweater that was tucked into a pair of light brown cargo pants during his time outside of the program's set Man of the people: The Midsommar star briefly stopped to sign autographs for his fans 'I had to give, kind of, superhero my best shot. I was really lucky, I worked with a team of guys who were able to help me go through that process in a way that was safe and natural and protected my mental health,' he said. Poulter subsequently discussed how the Guardians franchise's longtime creative team quickly made him feel welcome as he worked on the project. 'They had so much advice and wonderful tips to pass on that, I think, are kind of unique to being part of movies like this and working on these sets, which have specific challenges, and I was super grateful for that,' he said. The actor also singled out one cast member that assisted him with keeping himself in shape as they worked on the movie. 'Chris [Pratt] was particularly helpful when it came to the physical side of things, he's gone through that himself, and so he was able to kind of pass on some really, really helpful workout stuff,' he said. The first Guardians Of The Galaxy movie, which also starred performers such as Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Bradley Cooper, premiered in 2014. The Marvel Cinematic Universe entry was followed up by a 2017 sequel, and its characters subsequently appeared in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Development on the third Guardians Of The Galaxy movie was revealed to the public in April of 2017, and director James Gunn was famously fired and then re-hired to work on the project. New addition: Poulter began his time on the program by stating that, although he was initially intimidated about the prospect of working on a Marvel movie, he quickly endeared himself to the project's cast and crew Fond memories: The We're The Millers star also spoke about getting into makeup to portray Adam Warlock and discussed the difficulty of removing it all at the end of each shooting day Poulter was later revealed to have been cast as Adam Warlock in October of 2021. Other new additions to the cast of the movie were Maria Bakalova and Chukwudi Iwuji, who voice Cosmo The Spacedog and play the High Evolutionary, respectively. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 premiered in Paris this past April, and it was released to the public on May 5. The movie has become both a commercial and critical success, and it currently holds an 81% fresh rating from critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes. If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit PM Modi is clear that to realise his grand plans, support of all Indians is needed Prime Minister Narendra Modis radio outreach programme Mann ki Baats 100th episode has indicated a host of geopolitical underpinnings that could have a long-term impact on India at the regional level at the least. Apart from 22 Indian languages and 29 dialects, Mann Ki Baat was broadcast in 11 foreign languages including French, Chinese, Indonesian, Tibetan, Burmese, Baluchi, Arabic, Pashto, Persian, Dari (a dialect of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan) and Swahili besides English. The choice of foreign languages for the broadcast like Chinese, Indonesian, Tibetan, Burmese, Baluchi, Pashto and Dari is indicative of the Prime Ministers confidence to enhance support on the cultural front from people outside India, especially countries that were part of India over two millennia back. The outreach is intended for these regions and several related cultural aspects were covered in the 100th episode, which is important in the current context. The areas where Chinese, Indonesian, Tibetan, Burmese, Baluchi, Pashto and Dari are spoken were under Chandragupta Maurya empire ((350-295 BCE). The choice of these foreign languages used for the broadcast coincides with the Akhand Bharat map. The areas in which these languages are spoken have been separated from the Akhand Bharat in the historical past. Geopolitical analysts said the disintegration of the common cultural fabric also referred to as sindhu ghati ki sabhyata (Indus Valley Civilisation) from the Akhand Bharat is indicative of the pain the Prime Minister feels for the historical shift. However, the experts pointed out that the outline of the Akhand Bharat in Modis vision is more focused on coexisting cultural values and not religion-based as either Islam or Buddhism is prevalent in these regions. The policy also discounts military integration for assimilation. The vision is also indicative of Modis strong adherence to the parent organizations ideology and willingness to accommodate people of various cultural backgrounds if Akhand Bharat becomes a reality. Modis strong bond with the BJPs parent organization RSS is also explicit. The vision and the discreet implementation of the idea are a pointer that Prime Minister Narendra Modi relies mostly on National Security Advisor Ajit Doval for policies related to this. Doval directly deals with the region in which these languages are spoken. He has also spent several years on the ground in this region. The vision is also indicative of a grand strategy for the next five years where India will challenge, compete and contain China through the cultural initiative. The challenge, competition and contain strategy will make India more secure and help New Delhi create a regional cultural umbrella. With the execution of the grand strategy, the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb concept formulated by the Britishers to maintain law and order will fade with a broader cultural concept like the revival of Sindhu Ghati Sabhyata covering Balochs, Tibetans, Muslims and Hindus, experts said. To fulfil this strategy, the cultural and moral support of the Balochs in Balochistan, Tibetans in China and Pashtuns in Afghanistan is envisioned. All of these groups---Balochs, Tibetans and Pashtuns are opposed to China. The strategy aims to make India more relevant by supporting these groups who harbour anti-China sentiment, Geopolitical analyst Dr Rituraj Mate told The Pioneer. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a clear understanding that it is not easy to realize the grand strategy unless the support of all Indians is enlisted, a reason why the Mann ki Baat programme is being broadcast in 22 regional languages and 29 dialects across the country, Dr Mate said. The vision further highlights the willingness to expose the original concept of Hindutva ideology which postulates vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family) and implement the grand strategy through cultural interventions as military means can neither be afforded nor is sustainable in the current era. The cultural influence of India will not increase unless significant acceptance from a cross-section of people in the region is garnered across geographies, he added. (The writer is a special correspondent, The Pioneer) The Haryana CM remains unfazed despite Opposition unity bids. In an interview, he tells Manish Anand that such attempts dont work Haryana also has at least three big political players in the state. How do you look at the prospect of the Opposition unity and what impact will there be in Haryana? Khattar: This is nothing new. The Opposition unity plank is a failed project. They tried in the past also but failed miserably. The Opposition parties have tried all tricks in the 2019 elections, but the people rejected them. The Opposition parties fail to realise that they have a disconnect with the people. Congress has unveiled a slew of measures such as cash allowances for the unemployed, free electricity and several other promises. Will Congress pose a challenge in the Haryana Assembly elections next year? Khattar: The people in Haryana are very proud and they have no appetite for freebies. The BJP government in Haryana has shown that good governance can guide the people to a fast path of progress and prosperity. Before the BJP government took office in Haryana, the losses of electricity were to the extent of over 34 per cent. But we explained to the people the benefits of paying the electricity bills. Jag Mag Gaon Yojna was thus born, and the villagers began paying electricity bills for a 24-hour electricity supply. With electricity in villages, the people engaged in gainful activities, which improved their incomes. We have shown that good governance with the right intention can change the situation for the better. Thus, there are no takers for freebies in Haryana. The Narendra Modi government at the Centre will complete nine years on May 30. What are your thoughts? Khattar: The Modi government has shown good governance. The employment of technology in governance has brought benefits to the people. The use of technology also weeded out corruption. The benefits of good governance are reaching out to the people on a great scale. In the last eight years, how many people have come out of the poverty line? Khattar: The Centre mandates states to screen the people below the poverty line with an income cut-off line of Rs 1.20 lakh per family annually. But Haryana has a very high per capita income, and the poor as discussed in the cases of other states may not be here in Haryana. So, we decided that the state government will screen people in the BPL category with an annual income ceiling of Rs 1.80 lakh, much above what the Centre mandated. At the same time, we launched a massive exercise backed by IT to prepare Parivar Pehchan Patra, which fetches all data based on the field surveys on the basis of criteria. This has enabled a system of automatic inclusion and exclusion of the people in the BPL list based on their income. There are currently 31.5 lakh people on the BPL list.But there may be scopes for the exclusion of genuine people because of the system error. Khattar: Even in the case of exclusion, ration doesnt stop automatically. Such people continue to get ration for three months during which they can challenge the exclusion which will be checked with another round of field inspection. But we have been able to exclude over nine lakh such families who were filing income tax returns and holding government or private jobs from the BPL list. In place, we added over 12 lakh families who were previously deprived of their right to free foodgrains. Is there any consideration to include families who may have a marginally higher income than the ceiling of Rs 1.80 lakh annually? Khattar: We are contemplating including another eight lakh families in the ambit of the ration scheme with the monthly cost of Rs 3000 shared equally by the government and the beneficiaries. We seek to cover families with an annual income of Rs 1.80 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.You are leading a coalition government in Haryana. Will there be a possibility of a pre-poll adjustment with the ally JJP? Khattar: The BJP contested the 2019 Haryana Assembly elections on its own. We formed an alliance government after the elections. Therefore, the BJP will contest the next year's poll once more on its own.Haryana mandates that 75 per cent of the unskilled workforce is sourced from within the state. What is the impact on the industries? Khattar: The industries have positively adopted the measure, which is also prevalent in several other states. We have launched an initiative whereby we have become a facilitator to bring employees and employers together. The first lot of demand was for 6,000 unskilled employees and we provided over profiles of 12000 candidates whose records are already verified by the government department. This eliminates middlemen and also ensures that the employees avail of all statutory benefits and get full payments. Does the Haryana government also give incentives to the industries for hiring locally? Khattar; We have divided Haryana into four categories, from Group A to Group D. Haryana government extended monthly support of Rs 4,000 per employee to industries in Group D as part of an initiative to promote the industrialization of such districts. How has Haryana employed technology in governance? Khattar: Haryana has a very robust technology-enabled governance model. Farmers upload details of their cultivable land on the designated portal and they get benefits as given under the existing schemes. Bhavantar Yojna under which the state government pays the difference between the Minimum Support Price and the prevailing market price is fully executed through the portal. We have eliminated the scope of the middle class. Even in the case of the farmers leaving their land fallows, they are automatically paid compensation. What changes are being seen in agriculture in Haryana? Khattar: Farmers in Haryana are highly progressive. Farmers here are also environmentally sensitive and open to adopting the best tools and techniques. We launched Mera Pani, Meri Virasat to encourage farmers to sustainable agriculture. Paddy is a water-intensive crop. We want farmers to shift from paddy cultivation to other crops which require less water. In the last few years, a significant number of farmers have shifted away from paddy to take up short-duration crops, which are also highly remunerative. Bollywood star Kartik Aaryan said his mother was recently diagnosed with cancer but her "never-give-up attitude" helped her win the battle. In an Instagram post on Friday evening, the actor said his family felt "helpless beyond despair" after his mother Mala's diagnosis. "Some time ago during this month the Big C - Cancer' sneakily crept in and tried to rattle the lives of our family! We were frazzled and helpless beyond despair! (sic)" Aaryan wrote alongside a picture with his mother. "But thanks to the willpower, resilience and never-give-up attitude of this fierce soldier - My Mom, we turned to the Bigger C- Courage' and marched with all our might and won the dark but destined to win war," he added. The "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2" actor said the tough time taught him about the importance of family. "What it taught us eventually and continues to teach us every day, is that there's no superpower bigger than the love and support of your family! #SuperHero #CancerWarrior," the actor said. On the work front, Aaryan will next be seen in "Satyaprem Ki Katha" and the sequel to his 2022 blockbuster "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2". As Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari became the first minister to visit India since 2014, External Affairs S Jaishankar on Friday welcomed him with a namaste in Goa at a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Visuals showed the foreign ministers customary greeting with folded hands before the two posed for pictures and Jaishankar directed him to the venue. In fact, Jaishankar greeted all his other counterparts of the SCO grouping with a namaste. Incidentally, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did not shake hands with his Chinese counterpart General Li Shangfu in New Delhi during the SCO Defence Ministers meet on April 27. At Thursday evenings reception for the SCO Foreign Ministers, Jaishankar shook hands with his Pakistani counterpart like he did with others, according to a few people who are part of Bhtutto-Zardaris entourage. Bhutto-Zardaris visit to India to attend the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting came amid continuing strain in ties between the two countries on a host of issues, including Islamabads use of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. He was received at the airport in Goa on Thursday by JP Singh, the joint secretary heading the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division at the external affairs ministry. On his arrival in the coastal state, Bhutto-Zardari had said he looks forward to constructive discussions with his counterparts from friendly countries. Bhutto-Zardari attended the SCO conclave at Jaishankars invitation. I am happy to arrive in Goa for participating in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. I am leading the Pakistan delegation at SCO and hope that the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) will be successful, Mr Zardari said in a video on Thursday. In one of the deadliest attacks, coinciding with the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation organisation (SCO), five elite commandos of Para Special forces were killed in action by a well entrenched group of heavily armed terrorists, possibly trained in guerilla warfare, in the thickly forested belt of Kotranka in the frontier district of Rajouri on Friday. One of the senior Army officers, who received critical injuries during an explosion triggered by the terrorists, was airlifted and is undergoing specialised treatment at a military command hospital in Udhampur. His condition is stated to be stable till the time of filing the report. Earlier, on April 20, five Indian soldiers were killed in action after a group of terrorists ambushed an Army truck in Bhatta Durrian area of Poonch. It is suspected the same group of foreign terrorists, hiding in the thickly forested areas of Rajouri and Poonch, were behind the deadly attack. It is after a gap of almost three long years that the elite para commandos suffered heavy casualties during counter-terrorism operations in Jammu & Kashmir. A group of five commandos were martyred in the Keran sector of Kupwara on April 5, 2020 while foiling a major infiltration bid. Five terrorists were neutralised in the hand to hand combat by the elite commandos. Similarly, on February 22, 2016, two officers of the Para Unit along with one para commando had attained martyrdom while neutralising holed up terrorists inside the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) in Pampore. According to the ground reports the group of terrorists vanished inside the deep forests after triggering an explosion thereby causing heavy army casualties. Additional reinforcements were rushed to the area to launch a massive manhunt to track down the footprints of the terrorists. Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh along with Additional DGP Mukesh Singh, visited the thick forest belt during the day long operations in the area. Meanwhile, in a written statement Indian Army said, Indian Army columns have been conducting relentless intelligence based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an army truck in Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region on April 20. Five Indian soldiers had sacrificed their lives in the terror attack. According to a statement of the Indian Army, a joint operation was launched on May 3, 2023 on the basis of specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Kandi Forest belt in Rajouri sector. At about 7.30 am on May 5, 2023, a search team established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave. The area is thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs. The terrorists triggered an explosive device in retaliation. The Army team has suffered two fatal casualties with injuries to four more soldiers including an officer. Later in the day, a Defence spokesman in Jammu confirmed out of four injured soldiers, three of them succumbed to their injuries in the command hospital, Udhampur. List of Martyred soldiers 1. L/Nk Ruchin Singh Rawat S/O Sh. Rajendra Singh Village- Kunigad Teh Gairsain, Uttrakhand 2. Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri S/O Sh. Kharka Bahdur PO Pulbazar District - Darjeeling, (WB) 3. Nk Arvind Kumar S/O Sh Ujwaal Singh Village- Suri(Chatiala), PO - Marhoon Tehsil - Palampur, District- Kangra (H.P) 4. Hav Neelam Singh S/O Shri Gurdev Singh Village- Dalpat, PO Jourian, Akhnoor District -Jammu (J&K) 5. Paratrooper Pramod Negi S/O Sh Devinder Singh Negi Village - Shillai, District -Sirmaur (H.P) Reiterating Indias stand that terror and talks cant go together, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday ruled out bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart on the sideline of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers meeting. He said, Victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism. Jaishankar termed Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari a promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of the terrorism industry, and said his position on the menace was called out at the SCO meeting on Friday. Addressing the conclave, Jaishankar said Taking our eyes off the menace would be detrimental to our security interests. We firmly believe that there can be no justification for terrorism and it must be stopped in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism. The channel of finances for terrorist activities must be seized and blocked without distinction. Members need not be reminded that combating terrorism is one of the original mandates of the SCO, he added in an apparent reference to Pakistan. Chairing the meet, he said India firmly believes that there can be no justification for terrorism and noted that combating the menace is one of the original mandates of the SCO. Bilawal was present when Jaishankar underlined the challenges posed by scourge of terrorism at the two-day SCO Foreign Ministers meeting. Jaishankar also underlined that while connectivity is key to progress, it must come with respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member states. It was in apparent reference to China. Its foreign minister Qin Gang was also present at the conclave. The meeting at a luxury hotel in this beach resort was attended by Qin Gang, Russias Sergey Lavrov and their counterparts from other SCO member nations. In his remarks, Bilawal said the collective security of our peoples is our joint responsibility. Terrorism continues to threaten global security. Lets not get caught up in weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring. When I speak on this topic, I do so not only as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan whose people have suffered the most in terms of number of attacks and number of casualties. I also speak as the son whose mother was assassinated at the hands of terrorists, the Pakistan foreign minister said. Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber in Rawalpindi in 2007. Bhutto-Zardari said he and his country are firmly committed to be part of regional and global efforts for eradicating terrorism. This requires not only a comprehensive approach but also a collective approach. It demands we address the root causes as well as the threats posed by specific groups. It requires that we let this challenge unite us to fight it rather than divide us to become its victim. Our success requires us to isolate this issue from geo-political partisanship, he added. Jaishankar also delved into the situation in Afghanistan and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the consequences of geo-political upheavals that impacted supplies of energy, food and fertilisers. On Afghanistan, he said the unfolding situation in that country remains at centre of our attention. Our efforts should be directed towards the welfare of the Afghan people. Our immediate priorities include providing humanitarian assistance, ensuring a truly inclusive and representative government, combating terrorism and drug trafficking and preserving the rights of women, children and minorities. Jaishankar noted that current crises facing the world have exposed a credibility and trust deficit in the ability of global institutions to manage challenges in a timely and effective manner. He said reform and modernisation of the SCO will aid a more contemporary outlook which India will actively support. The external affairs minister also noted the progress for the admission of Iran and Belarus as full member states of the SCO. He also said constructive steps are being taken to make English the third official language of SCO. Currently, Chinese and Russian are the two official languages of the SCO. In his address, the Pakistan foreign minister, talking about the challenge of terrorism, also said that practical and pragmatic solutions exist to put an end to this chapter once and for all. We must stop conflating non-state actors with state actors. Condemn all forms of terrorism including state sponsored terrorism, he added. Bhutto-Zardari also called upon interim Afghan authorities to uphold their commitments on not allowing the use of Afghan soil for terrorism. The Pakistan foreign minister also made a special mention of the commendable role China has recently played in bridging differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran. We must ensure respect for these universally recognised principles within the SCO. Unilateral and illegal measures by States in violation of international law and Security Council resolutions run counter to the SCO objectives, he said. We need to be unambiguous in keeping our commitments and charting out a new future for our people. One that is not based on conflict preservation but on conflict resolution, he said. After the SCO meet was over, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted The SCO Council of Foreign Ministers chaired by EAM Dr S Jaishankar concludes. Members discussed the preparations for the upcoming SCO Summit in India and global and regional situations. Combating terrorism, expansion and reform of the organisation was also on the agenda. The SCO summit will be held in New Delhi in July and chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chinese President Xi Jingping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are likely to attend the high-profile event where 15 decisions will be ratified. The SCO Foreign Ministers meet in Goa discussed these proposed decisions related to trade and other issues concerning the region. The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations. It was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017. India was made an observer at the SCO in 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping, which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. India has shown a keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence. Keeping up his relentless attack on the Congress amid intense campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked The Kerala Story movie at a public rally in the north-east part of the State on Friday to accuse the Congress of having a backdoor understanding with terror groups and standing with them. Modi alleged the Congress has nurtured, given shelter and surrendered before terror for the sake of vote bank politics. At Tumakuru in the east-central part of the Mysuru rally, Modi said, The BJP is returning to power in Karnataka with a thumping majority. Addressing a public rally in Bellary, Modi alleged that the Congress had opposed the film The Kerala Story, which, according to him, exposes a terror conspiracy. He further claimed the Congress was backing individuals who support terrorism by attempting to ban the film. The Hindi film The Kerala Story directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah depicts the story of three women from Kerala who are said to have been converted to Islam and made to join the extremist ISIS. A petition to ban the film was rejected by the Kerala High Court on Friday asserting that secular Kerala society will accept the film for what it is. In his address, Modi sought to draw the attention of the public to the film saying The Kerala Story has exposed the terror conspiracies and sought people in Karnataka to be wary of the Congress which as Congress is standing with such terror elements. There was a lot of discussion about The Kerala Story, which discusses ploys to make the country hollow from within. They say The Kerala Story is based on the terrorist plots in just one State. Such a beautiful State, where people are hard working and talented. The Kerala Story has exposed the terror conspiracies. But look at the misfortune of the country, the Congress today is standing with such terror elements that have destroyed the nation. Not only that, the Congress is having a backdoor understanding and deals with such elements. People of the State should be wary of the Congress, the Prime Minister said. Modi said when many big nations were not keen on evicting their citizens from war-hit Sudan, India deployed its Army and Navy to evict its citizens under Operation Kaveri. We brought back our Indian brothers and sisters from areas where even aircraft could not land. Yet, in such challenging times, the Congress did not stand with the country, he said, accusing leaders of the Opposition party of trying to expose Indian citizens to the warring factions in Sudan. The Prime Minister said this was done to jeopardise the operation and thereby reap electoral dividends in Karnataka. But they forgot that Modi is here. That this Modi will cross all limits if our citizens are in danger, he said. Modi said the Congress had corrupted politics in the State and that the party was using money power and its ecosystem to set a false narrative to win the elections. While the BJP manifesto set a roadmap to make Karnataka number one state in the country, the Congresss manifesto was a document of appeasement , he alleged. Their manifesto says that we will stop this, repeal that. This is this their focus, he said in the backdrop of the Congresss promise in its manifesto to ban Bajrang dal and give back Muslims their four per cent quota deleted by the BJPs Bommai Government recently. Days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Sydney to attend the Quad Summit on May 24, alleged Khalistanis on Friday vandalised a prominent Hindu temple there. Earlier this year, three Hindu temples in Melbourne and two temples in Brisbane were targeted by the so-called Khalistan supporters residing in the country. In the latest incident in Sydney, the perpetrators defaced the temple with anti-India graffiti on the walls. The incident took place at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Rosehill. Reporting about the incident, the Australia Today newspaper said temple authorities also found a Khalistani flag hanging on the gate, and reported the matter to New South Wales (NSW) police. Incidentally, Prime Minister Modi is likely to attend a reception organised in his honour by the Indian Diaspora on May 23 in Sydney. We are deeply saddened by the anti-India graffiti on the walls of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Rosehill, Sydney by anti-social elements, the temple said in a statement. We are further disheartened that BAPS temples in Australia have been targeted. For the last 23 years, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir has been a cornerstone of the local community and a prominent Hindu Temple which, like all BAPS temples worldwide, is an abode of peace and harmony, equality, selfless service and universal Hindu values, it said. Member of Parliament for Parramatta Andrew Charlton reached the BAPS Temple as soon as he was informed of the Hindu hate incident, the Australia Today newspaper reported. Charlton along with temple authorities helped to repaint the wall. This morning, the BAPS temple in my electorate of Parramatta was vandalised by religious extremists. I am deeply shocked and saddened by this act of mindless vandalism. Everyone in Australia has the right to practice their faith in peace, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper. At this time, the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha prays for peace and unity and has appealed to all devotees and well-wishers in the community to maintain peace. We are thankful to the local police command, the Department of Home Affairs, State and Federal Members of Parliament, the Indian High Commission and the Consul General of Sydney for their continued support, the temple said. BAPS temples across Australia are symbols of a thriving multicultural society that nurture Australian values of respect, mateship and tolerance. We request everyone to join in worldwide prayers that God blesses and guides us all to continue to do good and think good of all, it said. Officers from Cumberland Police Area Command have commenced an investigation following reports of malicious damage to a religious site in Rosehill, NSW Police spokesperson said in a statement. Police are conducting inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the incident. Earlier this year three Hindu Temples in Melbourne and two Hindu Temples in Brisbane were vandalised by Khalistan supporters. In March, during Prime Minister Anthony Albaneses visit to India, Modi raised the issue of frequent attacks on Hindu temples with him and conveyed his concerns. Albanese assured Modi that Australia will not tolerate attacks on religious places and that anyone responsible for such activities will face the full force of the law. Signifying strong bilateral ties between the two countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend this years Bastille Day Parade, Frances National Day, in Paris as the guest of honour on July 14, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Friday. An Indian Armed forces contingent will also participate in the parade along with their French counterparts, it said. Reacting to the announcement, French President Emmanuel Macron in a tweet in French and Hindi said, Dear Narendra, it will be my pleasure to welcome you to Paris as the guest of honour for the 14th of July parade. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the India-France Strategic Partnership, Modi has accepted Macrons invitation to attend this years Bastille Day Parade as the guest of honour, the MEA statement Modis visit is expected to herald the next phase of the India-France strategic partnership by setting new and ambitious goals for strategic, cultural, scientific, academic and economic cooperation, including in a wide range of industries, the MEA said. India and France have a shared vision on peace and security, especially in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, and uphold the objectives and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which are also the basis of their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, it said. This historic visit will also deliver common initiatives in order to respond to the key challenges of our time, including climate change, biodiversity loss and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, and will be an opportunity for India and France to reaffirm their commitment to multilateralism, including in the context of Indias G20 presidency, the statement said. The French Embassy here said, also called Bastille Day, July 14 is Frances National Day. It is a day on which the French people celebrate the values of liberty, equality, fraternity. The celebrations are marked by a military parade on Paris most iconic avenue, the Champs-Elysees. This is the second time that a Prime Minister of India will be the guest of honour for July 14, after Manmohan Singh in 2009. Modis visit this year bears special significance since France and India are celebrating the 25th anniversary of our strategic partnership, launched in 1998. A contingent of troops from the Indian Armed forces will march down the Champs-Elysees with French troops, reflecting the solidarity, trust, and exceptionally close ties between our two countries. Indeed, this visit will provide a historic opportunity to celebrate our joint achievements of the last 25 years, and set our common ambitions for the next 25 years in all areas. France and India are committed to further strengthening our partnership, to contribute to peace and security, especially in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, make our nations stronger, and advance common initiatives to face the main challenges of our time. Since 1880, July 14 has been marked as Frances National Day. Its significance dates back to the French Revolution of 1789: the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, and the Fete de la Federation celebrating the unity of the French people on July 14, 1790. The high point of the celebrations is the military parade on avenue des Champs-Elysees and the flypast in the skies of Paris. France does not systematically invite heads of State or Government as chief guest at the Bastille Day parade. Such invitations are extended on few occasions, it said. Given the frosty ties between the two countries, Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Friday unless India reviews abrogation of Article 370 giving special status to Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan is not in a position to engage bilaterally with India. He was in Goa to attend the two-day SCO Foreign Ministers meeting which started on Thursday. Replying to a question on why there had been no talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar during his visit, he said, Unless India reviews the action it took on August 5, 2019 (abrogation of Article 370), Pakistan is not in a position to engage bilaterally with India. He addedd, As far as Pakistans position on bilateral relations with India or any meaningful engagement or dialogue with my Indian counterpart, our position remains unchanged. The Pakistani foreign minister said the country wishes to quell terrorism not because India said it or the Indian government said so, but because we want to end this menace. Pakistan has suffered the most. I myself am a victim of terrorism, so Pakistan and myself are wholly committed to combating this menace, Bilawal said in an exclusive interview with India Today, Speaking on Indias stance that it will not engage in bilateral talks with Pakistan unless the latter controls cross-border terrorism and stops alleged funding of terror outfits, Bilawal Bhutto stated, As far as accusations are concerned, we are willing to engage any concerns that India might have but India will also have to address our concerns. India will have to explain what Kulbhushan Jadhav a state actor, a navy commander, was doing in Pakistan carrying out terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil. Does that not come under cross-border terrorism?, he asked. Kulbhushan Jadhav is a retired Indian Navy officer who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. Bhutto also mentioned the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing where around 70 people, reportedly mostly Pakistanis, were killed. He also said We are yet to see any justice. In an anti-climax to nearly 80-hour-long high-voltage drama that had unfolded after he declared that he was stepping down from his post, Sharad Pawar on Friday took back his earlier decision and said he would continue as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president, thus restoring normalcy within his party. Pawar said though he had decided to continue as the NCP chief, he considered it essential to develop someone as his successor who could accept any post or take up any responsibility within the party. Within hours after a search-committee appointed to look for a successor to him rejected his resignation and requested him to continue in the post, Pawar said, Having been in active politics for 63 long years, I had decided to give up political responsibilities. But the announcement I had made on May 2 plunged the party into turmoil and it resulted in unrest in the rank and file of the party. Countless party workers, leaders, office bearers and well-wishers rallied together and requested me to reconsider my decision. Even leaders from various political parties insisted that I re-accept the party chiefs post. Addressing a crowded news conference at the YB Chavan Centre in south Mumbai, Pawar said, I am overwhelmed with the love, trust and faith bestowed in me. I can ill-afford not to honour these overwhelming sentiments that I should continue in the post. In view of the requests I received and the resolution by the partys search committee rejecting my resignation and asking me to continue in the post, I have decided to roll back my decision to resign from the NCP chiefs post. With Pawars announcement to continue as the NCP chief, the curtain has come down on an unprecedented drama witnessed within the party after Pawar announced his decision to step down as the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a party he founded and built brick by brick after breaking away from the Congress as a rebel leader in 1999 and remained in the post for the past 24 years. After Pawars announcement, hundreds of party workers had gone on a spontaneous agitation demanding the NCP chief to take back his resignation and continue in his post. While party leaders met him on several occasions and tried to convince him to continue in the post, the search committee appointed by the NCP chief on Friday rejected Pawars decision and asked him to continue in the post. Thursdays development helped regain full control over the party set up especially after the intense speculation that his nephew and current leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Ajit Pawar might switch sides and join the ruling BJP along with a group of MLAs supporting him. Pawars return as the NCP chief has put paid to the possibility of Ajit dada, as Ajit Pawar is known in the state political circles, indulging in misadventure like he did in November 2019 when he teamed up with BJP leader Devendera Fadnavis to form an eighty-hour-long Government in Maharashtra. No wonder that immediately after he resumed his office as the NCP chief, Pawar announced his plans to make major organisational changes and develop new leadership within the party. In the coming days, I will concentrate on bringing about organisational changes, developing new leadership and taking the partys aims and ideologies to the people in a big way, he said. Replying to an Ajit Pawar-related query, Pawar revealed that he had dropped hints to his nephew about his plans to step down as the partys chief. Queried about Ajitdadas reported move to quit the NCP, Sr Pawar said, We cannot stop those who wish to quit. Pawar asked the party workers to prepare hard for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The 2024 Lok Sabha polls are extremely crucial. The Maha Vikas Aghadi should win as many seats as possible in the polls. Some surveys have predicted that the MVA will win 30 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. We should work hard and win as many seats as possible. After Hindu priests espousal of the green cause, the imams of several mosques located alongside the Yamuna on Friday during khutba (prayers) urged their community members to ensure cleaning of the Yamuna river. For the last few days, Hindu priests of major temples situated along the banks of the Yamuna have taken initiatives, sensitising Delhiites not to dispose of waste items like clothes, old idols, calendars, posters, flowers among others in the river. Efforts to clean the river are being carried out through wide-ranging awareness campaigns, including discouraging people from throwing waste into it. The imams reminded their community members that Islam gives primacy to cleanliness of the mind, soul, body, house, neighbourhood and water bodies like rivers and canals. If the Yamuna river is clean, it is good for Muslims as they perform ablution in the river itself and offer namaz (prayers), they said. Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena had launched the Yamuna cleanliness drive on February 16 and after inspecting cleaning work at the Qudsiya Ghat, he had said that the target is to rejuvenate the Delhi stretch of the river by June 30. The recent efforts by the L-G towards cleaning and rejuvenation of the Yamuna have begun to show visible and concrete results, said Muslim clergies after Friday namaz at mosques in Dwarka, Rohini, Darya Ganj and Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin. Even as critical steps to clean the Najafgarh drain and restore the Yamuna floodplains have been going on in the right earnest, efforts at preventing disposal of physical waste into the river have started bearing results, they noted. In view of the extreme importance of public participation in the Yamuna rejuvenation efforts, it has been decided to undertake wide ranging awareness generation and motivational IEC (information, education and communication) campaigns on various media platforms. Various macro and micro-level steps have been taken by a high-level committee chaired by the LG, formed at the direction of National Green Tribunal, that have begun showing results in the shape of relatively improved pollution levels in the Yamuna where the Najafgarh drain empties into the river, the L-G office had earlier said. Trapping of sub-drains flowing into the Najafgarh drain, restoration of floodplains at Kudasia Ghat, Asita East, Baansera and the stretch between Bela Farm and Garhi Mandu, are other initiatives for rejuvenation of the river and its floodplain. Earlier this week, Saxena inspected the 11-km Signature Bridge-ITO Barrage stretch of the Yamuna on a boat and said he was exploring the chances of starting boat rides on the 22-km stretch in the future. He was accompanied by Delhi Government officials, mediapersons and NDRF teams in over twenty-five boats. Gujarat Titans made light work of a 119-run target set by Rajasthan Royals as the defending champions romped home with a commanding nine-wicket win in a one-sided Indian Premier League match here on Friday. After bundling Rajasthan Royals out for a mere 118 in 17.5 overs, a 71-run resolute opening stand between Shubman Gill (36) and Wriddhiman Saha (41 not out off 34 balls) set the platform for the huge victory, which was also accomplished with captain Hardik Pandya's brisk 15-ball 39 not out (3x4s, 3x6s). Gujarat Titans finished at 119 for one in 13.5 overs, winning with 37 balls to spare. Gujarat Titans thus also got back to winning ways against last year's finalists Rajasthan Royals, handing them their fourth defeat in an overall five meetings, while consolidating their position at the top of the points table. The Pandya-led side took their tally to 14 points in 10 matches with seven wins and only three losses, while Sanju Samson's Royals remained fourth with five wins and as many loses in 10 games. Both Saha and Gill got off the blocks quickly against RR pacer Trent Boult, hitting the left-armer for a couple of fours each inside the powerplay, at the end of which GT were 49 for no loss. Yuzvendra Chahal got Gill stumped for a 35-ball 36 (4x4s) in the 10th over but the breakthrough had no impact on the Gujarat Titans' juggernaut. Pandya was severe on RR's Adam Zampa, hitting the Australian leg-spinner for three sixes and a four to collect 24 runs in the 11th over and hasten the process. Earlier in the first half, Rajasthan Royals surrendered against the Gujarat Titans' duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad to be bundled out for a poor total, as the two Afghan spinners shared five wickets. Rajasthan Royals' decision to bat after winning the toss backfired as their batting crumbled against Rashid, who returned 4-0-14-3 to spark a collapse, and Noor, who registered 3-0-25-2. Rajasthan looked in control until the fifth over of the innings at 47 for one, but the home side collapsed without any resistance to lose nine wickets for a mere 71 runs and was bowled out in 17.5 overs, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Hardik Pandya had Jos Buttler (8) caught by Mohit Sharma at short third man after the batter cracked two fours in a row in the second over. The pair of Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal (14) tried providing RR with momentum, but their 36-run second-wicket stand was broken in the final over of the powerplay with Abhinav Manohar putting in a dive to stop a cut from Samson. Mohit threw the ball to Rashid, who broke the stumps with Jaiswal far out from the crease. The Rashid-led bowling attack then took firm control of the proceedings. Little ended Samson's promising start at 30 off 20 balls (3x4s, 1x6s), getting the RR captain caught inside the ring off a mistimed stroke. Samson moved across the line to play on the on side but could only get a leading edge, collected by Pandya as the RR skipper looked at the surface in disbelief. Rashid then outgunned his counterpart Ravichandran Ashwin (2) for the majority of the eighth over, dismantling his off-stump on the final ball. Riyan Parag (4) continued to disappoint as he failed to read the Afghan leggie's googly in the 10th over and appealed unsuccessfully against the umpire's leg-before call. At the halfway mark, RR were stuttering at 72 for five. Noor got into the act to keep RR under the pump, castling the left-handed Devdutt Padikkal (12) in the 12th over and trapping the dangerous Dhruv Jurel (9) leg-before in his next. Rashid returned in the 15th over to dismiss Shimron Hetmyer (7) leg-before, with the Caribbean batter's horrendous run continuing in this IPL. With scores of 3, 2, 8, 8 and 7, Hetmyer has now recorded five single-digit scores on the trot. Rashid nearly had his fourth wicket in his final over but a return shot off Trent Boult's bat was a bit too far away for his reach in the follow-through. : Five people of Kendrapada district returned to their native villages from the conflict-hit Sudan on Tuesday under the "Operation Kaveri. '' They reached at Bangalore Airport and from there they reached their villages with support from former Congress MLA of RajnagarAnshumanMohanty. The locals and family members thanked the Indian Government and former local MLA AnshumanMohanty for taking steps to bring them home. Meanwhile, three other persons of the district, who returned from the conflict- hit Sudan, were in Covid quarantine camp at Bangalore and Delhi Airport. The ones who returned from Sudan were identified as Himanshu Rout, SarojBal of Mathasahi in Srirampur, Debaraj Rout of Santapada, BijayNayak of Bantapatana under Pattamundai block and SibaprasadBarik of Manikapatana under Aul block. ManoranjanSahoo of Bilikana and SahadevNayak of Mathasahi under Srirampur were in Covid quarantine centre at Bangalore Airport and Pradeep Rout of Baliajodi was in quarantine centre at Delhi Airport,informed former MLA Mohanty. According to Himanshu Rout, about one and a half years back they had gone to Sudan and were working in a cigarette company AfrraGutukha. They were staying in Khartoum -3 city by getting a salary amount ofRs 45,000 per month.While sharing the horrifying tale of the dangerous conflict, Rout stated that there were about eight Odias in a group in Sudan. Since disputes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces escalated into a conflict on April 15, Sudans capital city Khartoum turned into a war zone and life became a hell. There were explosions all around in front of our company. We were so terrified that we couldnt sleep properly for some days and hardly ate anything amid the scary scenes near our camp. Drinking water crisis along with power cuts made life miserable amid the 24- hour bombardment and firing. We left the area on last April 28 and came 800 km by bus in the violence- hit zone by risking our life amid the firing of bullets and explosions. Later, we reached the Indian Embassy camp. We boarded a ship and reached Saudi Arabia. Later, we came to India by air on May 2, narrated Himanshu. The Delhi Prisons Department on Friday suspended seven staff members of Tihar Jail in connection with the fatal stabbing of gangster Tillu Tajpuriya on the premises, officials said. Tajpuriya was killed early Tuesday allegedly by four members of the rival Gogi gang Deepak alias Titar, Yogesh alias Tunda, Rajesh, and Riyaz Khan who stabbed him 92 times. A senior prisons official said they conducted a departmental enquiry in the incident. The report was received on Friday and lapses were found on the part of nine staff members. Out of them, seven -- three assistant superintendents and four warders -- have been suspended. We had a meeting with Tamil Nadu Special Police force officials and they have also agreed to take department action against their personnel, the officer said. The Tamil Nadu Special Police provides security on the jail premises. A fresh CCTV video from Tihar Jail emerged on social media purportedly showing that Tajpuriya was attacked in front of security personnel as well when they were carrying him away after he was stabbed. Tajpuriya was assaulted with improvised weapons by the Gogi gang members inside the high security prison Tuesday morning. But he was still alive and was being carried away by the prison security personnel when the accused attacked him for a second time, according to the fresh CCTV footage. The fresh footage shows security personnel were in a corridor when the accused barged in through the door and again attacked Tajpuriya. He could be seen moving his leg in the video, confirming he was alive at that time. In the footage, it appears the security personnel remained a bystander while the assailants keep attacking the gangster. DG Tihar today met LG VK Saxena and presented a detailed report on the Tihar incident, said LG house sources. The Congress on Friday said the Bhupesh Baghel governments term in Chhattisgarh was a golden period for youths. Citing that thousands of vacancies have been opened in the state in recent days, PCC Communication Wing chief Sushil Anand Shukla said it was the first time that recruitment on such a huge level had been advertised for government posts. He claimed that so far over 20,000 posts have been advertised and more were yet to come. After the Supreme Court gave a go ahead to fill up the vacancies, the state government had ordered recruitment on a mission mode, Shukla said. 2 OF FAMILY DIE AS BIKE HITS TREE IN DHENKANAL Dhenkanal: Two members of a family died when their bike hit a tree in the Kankadahada area of Dhenkanal district on Friday. They were identified as DugguMankadia and his nephew SiddhantMankadia of MalharSahi. The duo was going to Kankadahada when their vehicle dashed against the tree near Bandania village. They were severely injured. Locals rushed them to the nearest hospital, where doctors declared them dead. CM OPENS CONCENTRIX CUSTOMER CENTRE IN BBSR (Pix) Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated a state-of-the-art customer experience centre of global customer experience solutions and technology company, Concentrix, here on Friday. Now, the Concentrix is operating out of 14 cities in the country. The Concentrix signed an agreement with the Rama Devi Womens University to work for womens empowerment. BUDDHA PURNIMA CELEBRATED AT DHAULI (Pix) Bhubaneswar: The Kalinga Nippon Buddha Sangh together with the Ekta Trust (The Power of Unity) celebrated the Buddha Purnima at the Shanti Stupa at Dhauligiri on Friday. The idols of Gautam Buddha were bathed with milk and fruits and flowers were offered followed by distribution of Prasad. Chief monk Likyo Yung, Sangh development director Rabi Maharana, OTDC Chairman Lenin Mohanty and Ekta Trust chairman ErDiptirekhaPattnaik were present. JINDAL STAINLESS SPONSORS NASHAMUKTA ODISHA DRIVE (Pix) Bhubaneswar: President DroupadiMurmu launched a year-long campaign Addiction-Free Odisha (Nashamukta Odisha) at Rairangpur on Thursday. The campaign, which will be helmed by the Brahma Kumaris in association with the Government of India, is sponsored by the Jindal Stainless. NIM HONOURS SCRIBE BRAHMA IN BPUR (Pix) Brahmapur: Senior scribe Ashok Brahma was felicitated at a workshop held on Development of Entrepreneurship vis-a-vis Development of State organised by the National Institute of Management and Xtruder Engineering Agency here. Brahma was honoured with a citation and memento for his outstanding contributions in the field of journalism, particularly during the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. SubashMaharana graced the event as chief guest, while General Manager of TPSOD Pramod K. Choudhury, Director of the Institute RashmitaKumariPanigrhi, Managing Director of the Agency SrijaSurajita Panda were present. NEW DFO FOR B'PUR FOREST DIVISION (Pix) Brahmapur: Odisha Forest Officer Manoj Kumar Patro has joined as DFO of the Brahmapur Forest Division. He succeeded Rajat Mishra, who has been promoted as Additional Forest Conservator and transferred to the Ghumusara Forest Division. NEW BRAND DALMIA SUPREME CEMENT LAUNCHED (Pix) Bhubaneswar: The Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited (DCBL) has announced the launch of its new brand, Dalmia Supreme Cement, for the eastern States to be available for retail consumers in the markets of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand. The premium brand is a high-quality Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) product type offering triple benefits of superior strength, faster setting and better workability, making it the perfect choice for constructing strong and durable houses. GLUCOSE DISTRIBUTED ON THAKURANI JATRA (Pix) Brahmapur: During the BudhiThakuraniYatra here, the Ganjam&Phulbani Chemists & Druggists Association in association with the NTR SevaSamiti distributed glucose free of cost at Sana Bazar junction. Utkal Chemist & Druggist Association secretary Prasant Kumar Mohapatra inaugurated the programme. PHONEPE GOES LIVE WITH UPI LITE Bhubaneswar: PhonePe has announced that it has gone live with the UPI LITE feature on its app. The feature allows users to initiate low-value payments under Rs 200, with a single tap from their UPI LITE account without entering a PIN. The transaction is processed directly by debiting the on-device UPI LITE balance without involving the customers banks (remitter bank) core banking systems in real-time. HPCL DRIVE: CYCLE RALLY HELD IN TALCHER (Pix) Talcher: The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) held a "SAKSHYAM " programme at Talcher. The prime objective of was to conserve petroleum products. A cycle rally was organised in which over school students, advocates, youths, teachers and businessmen participated. Educationist MayadharSahu, social activist SanjeebPattanaik, scribe Dhiramohan Ray, HPCL Area Manager AbhisekAnup Kaur and Senior Manager, Finance Biswajit Patra were on the dais. Editor of Area Khabar News Soubhagya Chandra Nayak hosted the programme. People were advised how to conserve the petroleum products and save the environment by lessening their dependence on fossil fuels. Meera (23) from Nepal was lured by a false promise of a job in India. She thought that her life would change for the better and her family would benefit from the wages she would earn. However, what she did not know was that her dream would be shattered and she would become a victim of human trafficking. Meeras story is not an isolated case. In fact, thousands of women are trafficked from Nepal to India every year. According to a report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), around 15,000-20,000 women and girls are trafficked from Nepal to India annually. Meera was promised a job as a domestic help in Delhi with a monthly salary of INR 10,000. She was excited about the prospect of earning such a large amount of money and providing for her family. However, when she reached Delhi, she was taken to a brothel and forced into prostitution. Meera narrates her story with tears in her eyes, I was devastated when I realised what was happening. I felt trapped and helpless. I was forced to sleep with multiple men every day. I didnt know how to escape from this nightmare. Meeras ordeal continued for months, until she was finally rescued by a non-governmental organisation on the initiative of the NGO Maiti, Nepal. She was taken to a rehabilitation centre where she received medical attention and counseling. She now rues the day she left Nepal. I wish I had never left Nepal. I was immature and did not know the dangers of human trafficking. I was promised a job, but I didnt know that it was a trap. I lost my dignity and my self-respect. I hope no one else has to go through what I went through, says Meera, with a deep sense of regret. Meeras story is a stark reminder of the harsh reality of human trafficking. It is a multi-billion dollar industry that preys on vulnerable individuals, particularly women and children. The victims are often promised a better life but they end up being exploited and abused. According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), human trafficking is the third-largest criminal activity in the world, after drug and arms trafficking. It is estimated that around 25 million people are currently victims of human trafficking globally. Meeras story highlights the urgent need for greater awareness about the dangers of human trafficking. It is important for governments, NGOs and civil society to work together to prevent human trafficking and provide support to the victims. Human trafficking is a grave violation of human rights. It is a form of modern-day slavery and must be eradicated. We need to raise awareness about the dangers of human trafficking and provide support to victims like Meera, says a spokesperson for the NGO based in Gorakhpur that rescued Meera. Meera will return to her family back in Nepal. She is slowly rebuilding her life and trying to move on from the trauma she experienced. She is grateful to the NGO that rescued her and helped her get back on her feet. I am grateful to the NGO for rescuing me and giving me a second chance at life. I am determined to rebuild my life and help others who have been victims of human trafficking. I dont want anyone else to suffer like I did, says Meera with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Meeras story is a reminder that human trafficking is a global problem that needs to be addressed urgently. It is a crime that destroys lives and leaves its victims traumatised for years. It is time for governments and civil society to come together and take concrete action to prevent human trafficking and provide support to the victims. In the first of its kind operation in any government hospital in Chhattisgarh, a cancer affected boys leg was saved from being amputated by performing mega prosthesis limb salvage surgery. A team of doctors in the Orthopedic Department of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial Medical College Hospital here performed the major surgery, an official communication said on Friday. Dr. Vineet Jain said the doctors removed the cancer (osteosarcoma) above the knee in the right leg of a 13-year-old child resident of Balodabazar by installing megaprosthesis (artificial organ made of metal). The surgery is termed as megaprosthesis limb salvage surgery. He said the specialty is that only the cancerous bone is removed by surgery. The healthy muscles are saved. It helped to save the leg from being amputated. He said the patient was earlier given chemotherapy to stop the spread of cancer. Filipinos slam defense guidelines with U.S. violating national sovereignty Xinhua) 11:11, May 06, 2023 MANILA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Filipino politicians and scholars said the recently released defense guidelines between the United States and the Philippines violate the latter's national sovereignty, escalating regional tensions, and called for an end to the defense treaties with the United States. Former Congresswoman Liza Maza said in a forum on Thursday that the guidelines "unduly and dangerously" opened up Philippine national strategies, defense plans, budgets, intelligence gatherings, and other matters to the United States. U.S. claims of friendship with the Philippines are "nonsense," said Maza, adding that "the Americans are here solely and mainly to advance their geopolitics, military and economic interests." On Wednesday, Washington and Manila released a six-page "bilateral defense guidelines" after Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos met his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, at the White House. Ronnel Arambulo, a spokesperson of a fisherfolk organization, accused the recent joint military drills by the two sides of affecting local fishermen's livelihood and damaging the marine ecological environment. Arambulo said the government bans dynamite fishing to preserve the ecology of marine life, but the live fire drills destroy nature and harm the livelihood of fishing communities. Roland Simbulan, a geopolitics expert and professor at the University of the Philippines, believes the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement bases and other military maneuvers of the United States in the Southeast Asian country will drag his country into conflicts. The U.S. island-chain defense strategy in East Asia "is very provocative," Simbulan said, blaming the U.S. foreign policy of being "a war of aggression, conflicts, and intervention" through funding wars and 800 overseas military bases. He warned that U.S. military facilities in the Philippines will make the country a "sitting duck" and a direct target of potential conflicts. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Tilda Wilson in NPR: Fatimah Asghar is the first recipient of the Carol Shields prize for fiction for their debut novel When We Were Sisters. The award was announced Thursday evening at Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn. They will receive $150,000 as well as a writing residency at Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland and Labrador. Asghars When We Were Sisters is a coming-of-age novel that follows three orphaned Muslim-American siblings left to raise one another in the aftermath of their parents death. The prize jury wrote that Asghar weaves narrative threads as exacting and spare as luminous poems, and their novel is head-turning in its experimentations. When We Were Sisters reflects some of Ashgars own experiences both as a queer South Asian Muslim and a person whose parents died when they were young. In October, they told NPRs Scott Simon that being on the margins of society and vulnerable from such a young age was a window into a certain kind of cruelty that I think most people dont have a reference point for. Ashgar said that the stories they read about orphans while growing up never really rang true that theyd always think this doesnt feel accurate. More here. Celebrating his birthday in a special way, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday gave employment gift to the youths of the state by sending job offers to 896 youth through Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN). Extending best wishes to those who received the job offers, the Chief Minister said that the youth should discharge their duties with honesty and integrity. Khattar also announced an amount of Rs 2 crore to the Haryana State Council for Child Welfare, pointing out that this amount is being provided to be spent by the Haryana State Council for Child Welfare Council on the welfare of orphans. Birthday wishes for the Chief Minister started pouring in from the morning, with a large number of people gathering at the Chief Ministers residence to extend their wishes. Khattar performed yajna at his residence along with saints and gave the message of environmental cleanliness and wished for the happiness and prosperity of the residents of Haryana. Entire state is my family and my life is dedicated to every Haryanvi. I will always work with the spirit of public welfare, he added. On the occasion, Transport Minister, Mool Chand Sharma, Cooperation Minister, Banwari Lal, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Om Prakash Yadav, BJP state president, OP Dhankar, Alwar MP, Mahant Balaknath, Gita Manishi Swami Gyananand ji Maharaj, Chief Secretary, Sanjeev Kaushal, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, DS Dhesi, along with many saints, senior administrative officers and party workers were present. CELEBRATES HIS 70TH BIRTHDAY AT PANCHKULAS SHISHU GREH Khattar celebrated his 70th birthday with simplicity at Shishu Greh of Haryana State Council for Child Welfare, Sector 15, Panchkula and advised the children to continue their studies. He also presented gifts to the children. The Chief Minister inquired about the facilities and various activities being provided for the children at Shishu Greh. He also inquired about the virtual classroom being run for the children from Class VI to X. Presently, 50 children are studying through a virtual classroom. DEDICATES BIRTHDAY TO SOCIAL WELFARE Dedicating his birthday to social welfare, the Chief Minister appealed to the saints to cooperate with the state government to curb the social evils spread in the society. The saints appreciated the campaign being run by the state government for water conservation and de-addiction and assured the Chief Minister of their cooperation for the success of these virtuous works. A special meeting was organized on the subject of water conservation and de-addiction campaign with saints at the Chief Ministers residence. During the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Information, Public Relations, Languages and Culture Department, Rajesh Khullar apprised about the reality of the drug abuse problem through a presentation. He informed that as per the instructions of the Chief Minister, the state government is taking strict action against the drug peddlers. For this, the government has constituted a special task force. Anti-narcotics cells have been formed at the district, range and state levels and more than 5,000 arrests have been made in Haryana, he added. Till January 2023, properties worth Rs 37.29 crore of persons involved in drug offences have been attached and the process of attaching property worth Rs 15 crore is underway. Khullar informed that a mobile app 'Saathi' has been created to prevent illegal sale of medicines. Also, software HAWK has been developed for database of criminal activities and Inter-State Drug Secretariat has been established at Panchkula. He informed that the state government has prepared a special action plan for de-addiction and 52 de-addiction centers have been opened in the state. Besides, de-addiction wards have been opened in government medical colleges and de-addiction centers have been set up in civil hospitals of 13 districts. Apart from this, toll free anti-drug helpline number 9050891508 has been started on which citizens can give information and Dhakad programmes are also being run to save the youth from drugs. Two brick kiln workers along with their daughter were killed by a herd of elephants at village Maalhan under the Chandwa police station last night. The deceased couple who hailed from Bhandarya block in Garhwa district were identified as Panuwa Bhuiyan 26 and his wife Babita Devi and their daughter Manjisha 3 years old. The brick kiln workers along with their daughter were at the Maalhan brick kiln site in a shanty dwelling when the herd of the elephants numbering more than a dozen attacked the three and trampled each of the three to death. Officer in charge of the Chandwa police station Amit Gupta said bodies were sent to the sadar hospital Latehar for the post mortem. Dr Sarwan Mahto was notified for the conduct of the post mortem, said a senior health official of the sadar hospital Latehar Ved Prakash. The regional chief conservator of forest Palamu Kumar Ashutosh said the forest division of Latehar has doled out 60,000 rupees for the post death rites and rituals of the three. The herd of the elephants is said to have moved towards Barwa Toli which is in contiguity of Lohardaga district Kuru. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has started a research on the issue of paid period leave for the working women across India, including Odisha, as a matter of empowerment of women and ensuring their rights as well. After complete research, a final decision will be taken by the Chairperson and all other members (Full Commission) of the NHRC. Acting on a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer and rights activist RadhakantaTripathy, the NHRC has taken the decision on May 1. The petitioner raised certain issues concerning working women. It is stated that women, especially the working women, are still under dominance of masculine thinking. Though the Maternity Benefit Act has been legislated to regulate the employment of women in certain establishments for certain period before and after child birth and provide for maternity benefit to it, provisions inter-alia had not been made for leave to working women during their menstrual pain. It is stated that Bihar is the only State in India, which is providing two days of special menstrual pain leave to women since 1922. Some Indian companies are offering paid period leaves to its women employees, Tripathy pointed out. He also stated that despite there is a provision u/s 14 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 that there will be an inspector for a particular area to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Act ,but ironically, the State Governments have not created the post of inspectors and hence have not appointed any of such inspectors. Tripathy requested the NHRC to ensure an integrated, comprehensive holistic provision for working women in India, formulation of a policy and administrative measures for ensuring the basic dignity of working women, help during menstruation as well as measures to prevent infections during such periods by maintaining hygiene and adequate supply of basic hygiene essentials like soap, mask, sanitary pads for women employees. The Commission has considered the complaint and is of the view that the issue which the complainant has raised in the instant matter comes within the realm of policy formulation. The Commission decided the matter to be analysed by the Research Division of the NHRC for taking a call on the same by interaction with members of Core Group of women. Thereafter the matter will be finally decided by the Full Commission, the Chairperson and all other members of the NHRC. Crime Branch Bhopal arrested an accused from Jodhpur who cheated Rs 42.73 lakh in the name of Ayurvedic treatment; accused along with his accomplices used to cheat, gang members used to target elderly women around the hotel and restaurant. The accused had opened several accounts for cheating. Two members of the gang used to go home for treatment as doctors and assistants. Posing as an assistant, the member used to go to the bank and get money transferred to his gang member's account. As soon as the money came, the member based in Jodhpur used to withdraw it immediately. A complaint by Rakesh Mohan Virmani resident of Shahpura Bhopal was made with Crime Branch Bhopal against Rajeev, Dr. R. Patel and Sanjeevani Ayurvedic Bhandar and another boy in connection with cheating of Rs.44 lakhs in the name of treatment. During the investigation, a team was formed and sent to Rajasthan, after reaching Jodhpur Rajasthan, the account holder accused Vishal's , resident of Jhawar district, Jodhpur was searched, which was not found, later the other account holder accused Savar Lal Jat was arrested after questioning the accused in connection with the incident, the accused accepted the crime. Two cheque books, Aadhaar card and mobile phone were recovered from the accused. On interrogation, the accused told that he has a gang in which there are about 6-7 people. He and his two-three companions live in Jodhpur. The rest of the members come to Bhopal and live in the outer area and visit big hotels and restaurants in the day and evening and take care of elderly and women who have difficulty in walking. Targeting them and going to them they used to say that their mother also had a problem in her legs, for which they have treated the doctor, which is a lot of relief because women used to be very worried about the disease and provide mobile number of his aide. The others would reach and would tell that the legs have severe problem and would require to treat it from about 300-400 places. One-time charge of Rs.6,000 was told as the victim had a lot of problems, due to which he agreed to undergo treatment through this process. In this way, this process was done by them about 400 times, out of which some money given by the victim at home, the remaining money of Rs 21 lakh was taken from their bank to assistant and RTGS was done from the bank to the gang members' accounts. For Ayurvedic medicines, the victim was given the address of Sanjeevani Ayurvedic Bhandar, New Delhi by the Vaidya of the gang and told to order the medicine through courier. Even the gang members couriered fake medicines to the victim from Rajasthan, in return for which about Rs 10 lakh were deposited in their accounts. In this way, the incident of cheating was carried out by the gang member in the name of treatment. In a big setback to Mayawati, one of her close confidants, Govind Bhati, left the Bahujan Samaj Party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party here on Friday afternoon. Sources in the party confirmed that Bhati and some other senior leaders of the BSP were unhappy with the ticket distribution and were quitting the party one by one. Mayawati too removed some leaders after learning that they indulged in anti-party activities. Govind Bhati, who was the mandal coordinator of BSP in Meerut, on Friday, quit his party and joined the BJP. Speculation of him switching loyalty was already made by some senior leaders of the party. Bhati is counted as very close to Mayawati and also hails from Palla village next to the BSP chiefs village Badalpur. It may be mentioned that the news of resentment within the party had earlier also come to the fore regarding ticket distribution at many places following which Mayawati had changed the coordinators of many districts. Chief zone incharge of Kanpur, Munkad Ali Kohtakar, was removed and the responsibility was given to Shamsuddin. Apart from this, Naushad Ali was sent as Moradabad divisional in-charge while Satpal Pepla, who was looking after the charge of Moradabad, was attached with the Meerut division along with Bhati. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, on Friday, welcomed Bhati into the party fold. Bhati joined BJP in the presence of Pathak at party state headquarters here on Friday afternoon. Besides Bhati, other prominent leaders who joined the BJP included national president of All India Brahmin Sabha and former assembly candidate of BSP from Baraut, Ankit Sharma (Meerut), former district president of Rashtriya Lok Dal in Agra, Kusum Chahar, former national secretary of Samajwadi Party Lohia Vahini, state president of Bari Samaj, Anoop Singh Bari (Ambedkar Nagar), district panchayat member Chandrabhan Singh (Ayodhya), district vice-president of Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade, Mukesh Raj Bhatnagar (Lucknow), vice-president of Lucknow Bar Association, Anuj Yadav (Lucknow), national executive member of Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade, Dheeraj Kumar Singh (Lucknow) along with a large number of their supporters. On this occasion, state general secretary of the BJP, Sanjay Rai, state vice-president Santosh Singh, state media incharge Manish Dixit and many other senior leaders were present. Welcoming those who took the membership of the party, Brajesh Pathak said that they should work to strengthen the BJP in their respective areas. He said that the public welfare works being done under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were being widely appreciated. Pathak said that after the first phase of polling, the BJP was on the way to a big victory. In order to make Bhopal city number one in Swachh Survekshan 2023 by Mayor Malti Rai is continuously monitoring the city's cleanliness system, as well as feedback is also being taken from common citizens and businessmen for all the work related to cleanliness and a challenge is also being given to make Bhopal city the cleanest and plastic free city of the country. In this sequence, Mayor Rai observed cleanliness, door-to-door garbage collection, segregation, etc also inspected the centers. Mayor Rai instructed to ensure a cleanliness system and door-to-door garbage collection work in 100 percent areas in a better way, as well as directed the corporators to maintain cleanliness by better coordination and communication with the residents/businessmen. Mayor Rai gave instructions for better cleaning of drains and providing better public facilities along with a high-level cleaning system in accessible public facilities. She visited Rishi Vilas Colony, Abbas Nagar slum, Aerocity, Gandhi Nagar, Jhulelal Market, Sumit Vihar, Nirmal Enclave, Jain Nagar, Vitthal Nagar in the morning and Amar Vihar, Kanha Kunj, Meenakhedi, Bairagarh Chichli etc. in the evening. Inspected residential settlements, markets, accessible public facilities and drains etc. and obtained detailed information regarding cleanliness, door-to-door garbage collection, spot fines, etc. Mayor has ensured comprehensive cleanliness arrangements in the residential and market areas in the morning and afternoon and by forming a team of all the cleaning friends of the zone to clean all the areas of a ward, door-to-door garbage from 100 percent areas. Instructions were given to ensure a better collection system, to clean the drains with Poclain machines and to make the flow of water smooth and orderly. Mayor also gave instructions for providing high-level cleanliness arrangements and better public facilities in accessible/community public facilities. While talking about cleanliness with the businessmen and residents in different areas of Zone No. 20 and 19, advised to keep the garbage separately and give it to the garbage collector separately, as well as ask the shopkeepers to collect polythene, single use plastic material. Instead of cloth bags and steel utensils etc. were asked to use. Mayor appealed to the residents and businessmen to cooperate actively in the cleanliness activities conducted by the corporation and maintain cleanliness themselves and also motivate others for cleanliness and make their city number 1 in cleanliness and plastic free city. DU classrooms, labs to open from 8 am to 8 pm New Delhi: The Delhi University (DU) has directed all its colleges and departments to keep their classrooms and laboratories open from 8 am to 8 pm on working days to ensure the efficient use of resources. A notification to this effect has been posted on the universitys website. Additionally, the colleges and departments have been instructed to submit a report on the actions taken by May 31, according to an official statement. IIMS to launch 2 new executive MBA progs New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Management Sirmaur (IIMS) has announced the launch of two new Executive MBA programmes General Management & Digital Transformation and Analytics in the current academic year. The two programmes are designed for working professionals in collaboration with University of Bordeaux and University of Paris, France, with an aim to empower business leaders with the knowledge and skills of today rapidly changing work environment. We are confident that these programs will have a positive impact on our participants and their organizations, and are proud to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of executive education in India, said Dr. Prafulla Agnihotri, Director, IIM Sirmaur during the launch of new courses. brother-in-law slits mans throat in nangloi New Delhi: A 20-year-old man died on Friday after his brother-in-law allegedly slit his throat in west Delhis Nangloi area, police said. Accused Pankaj Rana is absconding and the reason for the murder is not clear. However, the pair was not on good terms, they said. Around 1.30 pm on Friday, the police received a PCR call where the called informed the operator that his brother had killed a man. The body was found at Railway Station Park of Veena Encalve in the Nangloi area. A blood-stained kitchen knife was also found near the body, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Harendra Singh said. The victim has been identified as Vikas alias Akash from Kirari Suleman Nagar. People from manipur stage protest in delhi New Delhi: A group of people from Manipur on Friday staged a demonstration at Delhis Jantar Mantar against the ongoing violence in the state over the Meitei community Scheduled Tribe status issue. The protesters were seen carrying placards bearing messages such as Save Manipur, Save Meitei. Clashes broke out in Manipur on Wednesday in the Torbung area of Churachandpur district during a Tribal Solidarity March organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur to protest against the demand of Meiteis for Scheduled Tribe status. The march was organised by tribal groups, including the Nagas and the Kukis, after the Manipur High Court last month asked the state government to send a recommendation to the Centre within four weeks on the Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe status. technical glitch hits violet line service New Delhi: Services on Delhi Metros Violet Line were affected for nearly two hours on Friday due to technical issues, causing inconvenience to commuters. The Violet Line runs between Kashmere Gate in Delhi and Ballabhgarh in Haryana. Many people took to Twitter to share the inconvenience faced by them due to the delay in services. Movie on AP tribe to hit screens nationwide New Delhi: Love in 90s, the first-ever movie based on the Tagin community, one of the major tribes in the Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh will be soon screened nationwide, showcasing the rich culture, song and food of the far Northeastern State. The trailer of the film will be launched by Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on Saturday at an event at the National Media Centre here. It is a celebration of Arunachal Pradeshs culture and tradition and a tribute to the resilience of its people, says Tapen Natam, Director of the film. Joint convocation programme organised New Delhi: A Joint convocation ceremony of Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies (MRIIRS, including Manav Rachna Dental College {MRDC}) and Manav Rachna University was held recently to celebrate the achievements of its students of batch 2022. This was the 8th Convocation for MRU and the 18th convocation for MRIIRS. Dr Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, Indian Chemical Engineer and former DG CSIR and Prof. Yogesh Singh, Vice-Chancellor, DU were the guests of honour at the event. Police have arrested 10 persons, including a Bajrang Dal member, for allegedly vandalising the Congress office in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh during a protest against the partys poll promise in Karnataka to act against the right-wing outfit, an official said on Friday. Of the 10 arrested so far, Sumit Singh Thakur has been identified as the main accused, Additional Superintendent of Police Priyanka Shukla told. The official said that 25 people have been booked so far on the basis of video footage and a complaint for rampaging through the Congress city office in the Baldeo Bagh area. A case has been registered under sections 452 (trespass with intention of assaulting a person) and 147 (rioting) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, said police. Thakur is a functionary, vibhag prachar pramukh, of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Jabalpur, according to Umesh Mishra, who holds the position of Mahakoshal Pranth Mantri in the organisation. He said Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of VHP. A local Sangh Parivar leader said Thakur has been assigned to work with the Bajrang Dal. The Congress in its manifesto for the next week's Karnataka polls, released on Tuesday, promised to take action as per law, including imposing a ban, on organisations like the Bajrang Dal and PFI which spread hatred. The Jabalpur unit of the Bajrang Dal had said on Wednesday that it would stage a protest. Before his arrest, Thakur on Thursday said they protested as the Congress equated a Hindu organisation that works for welfare, security and culture promotion with PFI, a jehadi organisation. He also denied that Bajrang Dal activists resorted to vandalism. They were Congress workers....They entered our group and after covering their faces indulged in vandalism, he claimed. A group of people barged into their office and ransacked it, Congress leaders alleged on Thursday. Meanwhile, videos showing men wearing saffron stoles and waving saffron flags barging into the Congress office went viral on social media. Hazaribag police have arrested three hardcore members of naxal organization TSPC from Darmaru jungle of Keredari block of the district. Police have recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition from them. They all are wanted accused of so many police stations of Hazaribag, Chatra and Ranchi districts. Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothey said in a press conference that the police received the information that the group of naxal organizations had gathered in Damaru jungle to discuss different incidents which will be carried out by the organization. The Barkagaon and Keradaripolice along with CRPF jawans had raided the meeting spot. The area commander and other members escaped from there but police arrested three persons. The arrested members confessed that they are attached with the TSPC ( Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee). This organization was formed after the restriction made on TPC ( Tritiya Prastuti Committee). They said that this organization has been restricted also. The SP further said that the police team recovered one 9mm loaded pistol, two country made pipe guns, four 9mm cartridges, 10 of .315 cartridges, one motorcycle and three mobiles from them. The hardcore members who have been arrested are Dinesh Lohara of Chanwa, Mukesh Kumar of Urimari and Bahadur Ganjhu of Giddi police station. He further said that all the arrested members are named as accused of Hazaribag , Chatra, Ramgarh and Ranchi district police stations. The SP Chothey said that there was no ideology of this organization. They all are criminals which are involved in loot, murder and levy collection from the different areas. We are investigating all the information which was collected from them. We will take them on remand and investigate them for more information from them. All the three members have been sent to central jail by the court. Rich tributes were paid today to reputed footwear company Sreeleathers's founder Suresh Chandra Dey's wife Kiranmoyee Dey on her birth centenary year. A memorial meet to pay tributes to Dey was held at the K-Road store in Bistupur today. On the occasion, Shekhar Dey, director, paid tribute to the legend. A cake cutting ceremony was also organised. Kiranmoyee Dey played an instrumental role in setting up the shoe trade empire. She stood by her husband during his struggle days and motivated him to fulfill his dreams. Suresh Chandra Dey, a visionary leader was born on April 21, 1911. Dey brewed up a unique way of serving his motherland. He felt the need for generation of capital growth and employment within his country as the best way to serve the nation. A patriot and a great revolutionary, Suresh Chandra Dey, was a trusted disciple of Surya Sen, a protagonist of the Chattagram armoury plunder. He had seen many ups and downs in his life. From Bangladesh he moved to Calcutta and took up a job with Bata. Later he moved to Jamshedpur in connection with his job and settled there with his family. Here, he made a difference with his wisdom, sense of discipline, attention to needs of customers and his understanding of the processes relating to manufacture of leather goods. Set up in 1953 by Suresh Chandra Dey, a noted freedom fighter of his time, the Group entered the export market in 1993-94. The first Sreeleathers shop set up at Jamshedpur in 1953 still stands today. It was a time when India was striving to fight British rule in India. His aim was to fight back British autonomy and establish Indian independence. He spent his best years fighting for the cause of Indian independence. He braved bullets and blood as part of Surya Sen's legendary team that fought the British at Jalalabad as well as in the now historic Chittagong Armoury Raid. As footfall of customers has been gradually increasing, continuous efforts are made to enlarge the size of the showrooms. All this has been done to make the shopping experience more comfortable at Sreeleathers. As a special effort to serve its customers with the best, Sreeleathers introduced them to a world class shopping experience that was till now a privilege of the upper strata of society. There is joy of shopping for one and all. Tim Sahay and Kate Mackenzie in Polycrisis: Watch the Korean Peninsula. It is in South Korea that the New Cold War has most visibly upset the delicate balance between industry, security, and domestic politics. South Koreas growth miracle has been based on deterrence and detente between China, its main trading partner; the United States, its ally and security guarantor; and North Korea, its neighbor with newly developed intercontinental ballistic missiles. The country has been on hair-trigger alert since last October, when North Korea stepped up its barrage of ballistic missile tests, including launching one over Japan. In a show of strength, South Korea launched its own ballistic missile, but the weapon malfunctioned, crashing in the coastal city of Gangneung, where the resulting fire raised panic of a North Korean attack. Now that North Korea has demonstrated the ability to strike the US homeland, South Koreans worry that Washington might abandon them in a conflict to protect US cities instead. Today, 71 percent favor developing their own nuclear weapons. New York for Berlin was the central extended deterrence dilemma of the old cold war. The new question is: Would the Americans really trade Seattle for Seoul? Last week, while the national security advisor Jake Sullivan was unrolling the new Washington consensus (the subject of our next dispatch), Presidents Biden and Yoon were holding security and trade negotiations in DC that resulted in a Washington Declaration. Our mutual defense treaty is ironclad, and that includes our commitment to extended deterrence, Biden said, referring to the treaty signed to end the Korean War seventy years ago. For his part, Yoon referred to the unprecedented expansion and strengthening of the US nuclear umbrella. The upshot was that South Korea agreed not to pursue its own nuclear weapons program in return for a greater decision-making role in US military planning should North Korea launch a nuclear attack. More here. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has pledged a financial assistance of Rs 25 lakhs to a young man to pursue higher education despite failing eyesight. Beneficiary Mohit and his sister Muskan met the Chief Minister on Thursday evening. Muskan said: My brother and I suffer from Retinitis Pigmentosa, a genetic disease of the eyes. The eyes gradually lose vision. I can't see at all while my brother has lost almost 50 percent vision in his eyes. She said her brother got selected for IIM Ahmedabad but they had to pay hefty fees which the family could not afford. "We were told to approach the Chief Minister," an official communication quoted her as saying. Baghel told them not to be concerned about fees but instead work hard. He asked the officers to send the proposal regarding providing Rs 25 lakh for Mohit's fee for approval from the cabinet. Raipur resident Mohit said their father works in a private company. After securiing 99.93 percent in the common admission test for Master in Business Administration, he got selected for IIM Ahmedabad. "The fees for two years totals around Rs 25 lakh. Our family is unable to pay the money," he said. Muskaan further said she too is pursuing B.Ed from Banaras Hindu University. Simultaneously, both run a project called 'Ray of Hope', under which he teaches Mental Maths and English online to about 200 people suffering from poor vision. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday launched a scathing attack on Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, and Lok Dal by labeling them as opportunistic and anarchist parties. The chief minister said that when these parties were in power they orchestrated riots while no riots had been reported in the last six years under the double-engine government. Addressing a public gathering in Bulandshahr he said, Today, the Kanwar Yatra is organised in a grand way in the state. Our cities are now being seen as smart cities rather than garbage dumps. Bulandshahr is known for its historical background in the freedom movement, the chief minister said. Today, this district's pottery sector has established its own identity on the global stage. The double engine government is building a medical college in Bulandshahr in the name of Kalyan Singh ji, he added. Targeting the opposition parties, he further said that they turned the state into heaps of garbage and handed guns to the youth, whereas we were developing smart and safe cities, giving tablets to our youth, and linking them with technology and training. Chief Minister Yogi said that investment proposals worth Rs 35 lakh crore had been received through the Global Investors Summit. With this, more than one crore youth would get job opportunities. Our government was also working on reducing the distance between the cities. For this, we were building highways and expressways. He said that there was no dearth of money for development. A triple engine government was needed to increase the pace of development by three times. The time had come to add a third engine to the double engine by ensuring that the BJP wins the municipal elections. An assassination plot has been hatched to wipe out' Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and his entire family by a BJP candidate, the party general secretary and Karnataka in charge Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged on Saturday. Surjewala also shared an alleged audio recording of the BJP candidate from Chittapur constituency in Kalaburagi district, Manikanta Rathod, in which he is heard purportedly saying in Kannada that he will wipe out Kharge, his wife and children'. Rathod rejected the charges outright and said, It is all a lie. They are playing some fake audio. The Congress is leveling baseless allegations fearing defeat. Addressing a press conference here, Surjewala said, I am going to play for you an audio recording of an assassination plot to wipe out none less than the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife, and his entire family as being hatched by the BJP leaders. There can be nothing more serious than that". He added that "the assassination plots have entered the electoral discourse of Karnataka and this was the lowest political discourse anyone can stoop to". Intimidated by the all-round blessings of Kannadigas being showered on the Congress party and facing a complete rout in the ensuing Karnataka election, the BJP leaders are now hatching a plot to murder Sri Mallikarjun Kharge as also his family members, Surjewala alleged. He also alleged the Chittapur candidate is a blue eyed boy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. The foreign ministers of Pakistan, China and Afghanistan will meet here for a trilateral meeting on Saturday that aims to forge cooperation on the vexed Afghan issue and also have bilateral interactions with top Pakistani leaders. Pakistans Foreign Office in two separate statements confirmed the visit of Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to attend the 5th China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers Dialogue, of which Pakistan is a member. Chinas State Councillor and Foreign Minister H.E. Qin Gang would pay an official visit to Pakistan on May 5 and 6, 2023. This would be his first official visit to Pakistan since assuming office, FO said in a statement. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and State Councillor Qin will co-chair the 4th round of the Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue, which is a structured mechanism that reviews bilateral cooperation in key areas. The two sides will reaffirm the abiding vitality of the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership; develop a roadmap for multidimensional cooperation between Pakistan and China; and discuss the evolving regional and global landscape. The 3rd round of the Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue took place in July 2021 in Chengdu, China. Separately, FO said that Muttaqi will lead a high-level delegation, including Acting Afghan Minister for Commerce and Industry Haji Nooruddin Azizi, and senior officials from the Afghan ministries of foreign affairs, transport, and trade. The visit of the Acting Afghan Foreign Minister is a continuation of Pakistans political engagement process with Afghanistan, FO said. Nepal Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda on Friday said he was inspired by Lord Buddha to abandon the path of violence after conquering many smaller states and adopt a peaceful path shown by him. Addressing a special function on the occasion of Buddha Purnima organised at Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, Prachanda compared himself with Maurya King Ashoka, who renounced violence after coming into the fold of Buddhism. Recalling the historic incident of Maurya emperor Ashok transforming himself by shunning the path of war and adopting a peaceful way of life by following the teachings of Buddha, Prachanda said the same is true with the Nepalese Maoists, who renounced armed struggle and adopted peaceful politics through signing Comprehensive Peace Agreement (in 2006). It is estimated that the 10-year-long conflict (1996-2006) resulted in the death of over 17,000 people. The Maoist rebels started an armed agitation in 1996 to overthrow the monarchy in Nepal and establish a peoples system. Prachanda said his party had abandoned the path of violence by signing the peace process as they are inspired by the teachings of Buddha. This has also proven that peace and revolution are complementary to each other, he remarked.Nepal on Friday celebrated the 2567th Buddha Jayanti by organising various programmes. The special programme organised at Lumbini saw Prachanda as the chief guest. Speaking at the programme the Prime Minister further said that the government is committed to resolving the instability and adverse economic situation that has currently surfaced in the country. India and Israel are expected to sign several MoUs next week to boost bilateral trade with a focus on agritech, energy, tourism and healthcare during Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohens visit to New Delhi, a top Israeli trade body official has said. Cohen, who will be on a three-day visit to India from May 9 to 11, will also inaugurate a Jewish trail in Mumbai. A business delegation of 25 multi-sectoral companies will be accompanying the Israeli foreign minister during his trip to explore opportunities, along with members of leading economic organisations who will be signing MoUs with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Anat Bernstein-Reich, President of the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce, told PTI. Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce, The Israeli Manufacturers Association (IMA) and the Israeli Export Institute will all be signing MoUs with CII. The growing trade relations between Israel and India require a stronger collaboration between the economic organisations of the two sides. CII has been a close friend of our Chamber and we are planning to host several of their delegations in the near future. As part of the I2U2 programme, we hosted in Israel a delegation of CII from UAE and India. We are planning an I2U2 event in India soon, Bernstein-Reich said. From a humble beginning of USD 200 million in bilateral trade (primarily in diamonds) in 1992 when full diplomatic relations were established between the two countries, merchandise trade has diversified and reached USD 7.86 billion (excluding defence) during the period 20212022. In addition, bilateral trade in services in 2021 was USD 1.1 billion and in FY 2022-23 bilateral merchandise trade from April to December 2022 stood at USD 8.09 billion (excluding defence). I2U2, a quad comprising India, Israel, UAE and the United States was unveiled during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankars visit to Israel in October 2021 and since then it has held several meetings, including one in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated along with the top leaders of the other three countries involved. The quad has indicated a firm commitment to enhancing the economic interests of the involved nations by putting in place projects related to ensuring food security and strengthening the renewable energy sector. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this week conducted the India Forum with the participation of several ministries with the aim of enhancing governmental coordination leading to a larger trade, innovation, tourism and cultural collaboration, Bernstein-Reich said. Singapore is seen as a prize target by terrorist groups and it continues to be mentioned in their propaganda, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said, emphasising that his nation cannot afford to let its guard down against such ultra forces. Speaking at the launch of the Religious Rehabilitation Groups (RRG) Majulah Gallery at the Khadijah Mosque in Geylang on Wednesday, Lee said that his government is alert against terror groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS), Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah (JI) that remain active and still influence and inspire followers worldwide. Singapore is seen as a prize target by terrorist groups and continues to be mentioned in their propaganda. Locally, there have been a growing number of self-radicalised individuals in recent years, The Straits Times report Prime Minister Lee was quoted as saying, adding that his nation is on alert against terror groups. He said that since the rise of ISIS in 2015, Singapore has dealt with 49 self-radicalised individuals under the Internal Security Act. This is four times more than the number of cases from 2007 to 2014. Of these 49 individuals, 37 are Singaporeans. They include women and, worryingly, many young people, he said.Eleven are aged 20 or younger, and five of them wanted to mount attacks in Singapore. Audioboom Group plc (LON:BOOM Get Rating)s share price crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 473.26 ($5.91) and traded as low as GBX 340 ($4.25). Audioboom Group shares last traded at GBX 355 ($4.44), with a volume of 66,143 shares. Audioboom Group Trading Down 3.5 % The stock has a market cap of 55.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8,375.00 and a beta of 1.24. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is GBX 403.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 471.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. Get Audioboom Group alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Audioboom Group In related news, insider Michael Tobin bought 1,162 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 420 ($5.25) per share, for a total transaction of 4,880.40 ($6,097.45). Insiders acquired 17,938 shares of company stock valued at $6,999,400 in the last quarter. 56.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Audioboom Group Company Profile Audioboom Group plc, a podcast company, operates a spoken-word audio platform for hosting, distributing, and monetizing content primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States. The company's platform allows content distributed through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Deezer, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, RadioPublic, Saavn, Stitcher, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as a partner's own websites and mobile apps. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Audioboom Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Audioboom Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Avista (NYSE:AVA Get Rating) updated its FY23 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of $2.27-2.47 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $2.33. Avista also updated its FY 2023 guidance to $2.27-$2.47 EPS. Avista Price Performance Shares of AVA stock traded up $0.29 on Friday, reaching $44.52. The companys stock had a trading volume of 499,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 830,972. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $42.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Avista has a 1 year low of $35.72 and a 1 year high of $45.28. Get Avista alerts: Avista (NYSE:AVA Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.43). Avista had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 8.04%. The company had revenue of $474.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.37 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. The companys revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Avista will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Insider Activity at Avista AVA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded shares of Avista from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Avista from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho downgraded Avista from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and cut their price target for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, February 9th. In other news, VP Bryan Alden Cox sold 2,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.30, for a total transaction of $104,984.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,027.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avista A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AVA. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Avista by 624.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,945,495 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $130,603,000 after buying an additional 2,539,057 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Avista by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,311,667 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $149,522,000 after buying an additional 704,947 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Avista during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,554,000. Susquehanna International Group LLP grew its stake in Avista by 2,186.8% during the 4th quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 534,545 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $23,702,000 after buying an additional 511,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Avista by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,839,530 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $327,504,000 after buying an additional 228,077 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.92% of the companys stock. Avista Company Profile (Get Rating) Avista Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of electric and natural gas utility business. It operates through the Avista Utilities, and Alaska Electric Light and Power Company (AEL&P) segments. The Avista Utilities segment includes electric distribution and transmission, and natural gas distribution services in parts of eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, and Northeastern and Southwestern Oregon. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Avista Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Avista and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL Get Rating) CEO Christophe Beck sold 34,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.48, for a total transaction of $5,976,386.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,043 shares in the company, valued at $9,201,899.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Ecolab Stock Up 0.8 % ECL stock traded up $1.31 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $173.67. The companys stock had a trading volume of 959,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,137,955. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.04 and a 52-week high of $179.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.66, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.28. Get Ecolab alerts: Ecolab (NYSE:ECL Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.02. Ecolab had a net margin of 7.96% and a return on equity of 18.05%. The company had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. The firms revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.96 EPS for the current year. Ecolab Dividend Announcement Analysts Set New Price Targets The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 20th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 16th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Ecolabs payout ratio is 52.48%. ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company. VNET Group reissued a maintains rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Ecolab from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Monday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $178.20. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ECL. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,214 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,126 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $2,007,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $205,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 47.2% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,791 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the period. Finally, Zevin Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 2.7% in the first quarter. Zevin Asset Management LLC now owns 55,994 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $9,269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Ecolab Company Profile (Get Rating) Ecolab, Inc engages in the provision of products and services in the field of water, hygiene, and energy. It operates through the following segments: Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, Global Energy & Life Science, and Other. The Global Industrial segment consists of the water, food and beverage, paper, and downstream operating segments. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Ecolab Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ecolab and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL Get Rating) issued an update on its FY23 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $3.29-$3.39 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $4.99. The company issued revenue guidance of $15.6-$16.0 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $16.65 billion. Estee Lauder Companies Stock Performance Shares of EL stock traded up $2.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $203.54. 3,302,680 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,624,276. The company has a market capitalization of $72.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.53, a PEG ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firms 50-day moving average is $243.15 and its 200 day moving average is $241.13. Estee Lauder Companies has a 1 year low of $186.47 and a 1 year high of $284.45. Get Estee Lauder Companies alerts: Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.04). Estee Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 23.99% and a net margin of 6.88%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.90 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Estee Lauder Companies will post 4.9 EPS for the current year. Estee Lauder Companies Announces Dividend Analyst Ratings Changes The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 30th. Estee Lauder Companiess payout ratio is 87.71%. EL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $290.00 to $225.00 in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $271.00 to $281.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $300.00 to $305.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $295.00 to $240.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $300.00 to $288.00 in a report on Monday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $264.21. Insider Activity In other news, EVP Carl P. Haney sold 9,741 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.90, for a total transaction of $2,473,239.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,773 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,211,864.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 12.75% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estee Lauder Companies A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EL. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Estee Lauder Companies by 27.3% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 978 shares of the companys stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in Estee Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $244,000. Financial Advocates Investment Management acquired a new position in Estee Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $238,000. NBT Bank N A NY boosted its position in Estee Lauder Companies by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,043 shares of the companys stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BOS Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Estee Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,000. 55.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Estee Lauder Companies Company Profile (Get Rating) The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc engages in the manufacture of skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. It sells products under the following brand names: Estee Lauder, Clinique, Origins, MAC, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Aveda and Too Faced. Its channels consist of department stores, multi-brand retailers, upscale perfumeries and pharmacies, and prestige salons and spas. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Estee Lauder Companies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Estee Lauder Companies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. First Horizon (NYSE:FHN Get Rating) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued on Friday. Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of First Horizon in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of First Horizon from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 24th. Get First Horizon alerts: First Horizon Stock Performance Shares of FHN traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $10.94. 45,297,400 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,971,434. The stocks fifty day moving average is $17.88 and its 200 day moving average is $22.22. The stock has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.94. First Horizon has a 1-year low of $8.99 and a 1-year high of $24.92. Insider Buying and Selling First Horizon ( NYSE:FHN Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $863.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $871.36 million. First Horizon had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 24.76%. First Horizons quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that First Horizon will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. In related news, Director Colin V. Reed acquired 25,138 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.96 per share, for a total transaction of $250,374.48. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 187,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,862,788.92. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other First Horizon news, Director Colin V. Reed bought 25,138 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.96 per share, with a total value of $250,374.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 187,027 shares in the company, valued at $1,862,788.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D Bryan Jordan sold 93,157 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.80, for a total transaction of $2,310,293.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,396,259 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $34,627,223.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FHN. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of First Horizon by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 29,962 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 4,036 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First Horizon by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,303 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its stake in shares of First Horizon by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 310,733 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $7,507,000 after buying an additional 30,189 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in shares of First Horizon by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 28,364 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $666,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of First Horizon by 3,619.3% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,003,120 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $23,563,000 after buying an additional 976,149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.41% of the companys stock. About First Horizon (Get Rating) First Horizon Corp. (Tennessee) operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of checking accounts, savings products, mortgage banking, lending, and financing to individuals and businesses. It operates the business through three segments: Regional Banking, Specialty Banking, and Corporate. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for First Horizon Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for First Horizon and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H Get Rating) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.06), Briefing.com reports. Hyatt Hotels had a return on equity of 10.22% and a net margin of 7.72%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.33) EPS. Hyatt Hotels Stock Performance H stock traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $116.30. 979,084 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 885,490. Hyatt Hotels has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $125.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $112.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Get Hyatt Hotels alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In H has been the topic of a number of research reports. TheStreet raised shares of Hyatt Hotels from a c rating to a b rating in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Barclays cut shares of Hyatt Hotels from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and cut their target price for the company from $130.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Hyatt Hotels from $112.00 to $124.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Hyatt Hotels from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hyatt Hotels presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $121.50. Insider Transactions at Hyatt Hotels Institutional Inflows and Outflows In other news, insider Malaika Myers sold 9,378 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.59, for a total transaction of $1,037,113.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,956 shares in the company, valued at $1,764,574.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink . In other news, insider Peter Sears sold 10,698 shares of Hyatt Hotels stock in a transaction on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.03, for a total value of $1,230,590.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,315 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,384.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website . Also, insider Malaika Myers sold 9,378 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.59, for a total value of $1,037,113.02. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,956 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,764,574.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,357 shares of company stock worth $8,726,994. 21.24% of the stock is owned by insiders. Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Hyatt Hotels by 59.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 256,384 shares of the companys stock worth $24,472,000 after purchasing an additional 95,574 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 31.4% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,991 shares of the companys stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 18,865 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in Hyatt Hotels during the first quarter worth approximately $1,214,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Hyatt Hotels in the first quarter valued at approximately $94,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About Hyatt Hotels (Get Rating) Hyatt Hotels Corp. engages in the development and management of resort and hotel chains. It operates through the following segments: Owned and Leased Hotels, Americas Management and Franchising, ASPAC Management and Franchising, EAME/SW Asia Management and Franchising, and Apple Leisure Group. The Owned and Leased Hotels segment offers hospitality services and hotels. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Hyatt Hotels Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hyatt Hotels and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Manchester & London Investment Trust plc (LON:MNL Get Rating) passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 370.68 ($4.63) and traded as high as GBX 391.10 ($4.89). Manchester & London Investment Trust shares last traded at GBX 384.50 ($4.80), with a volume of 49,101 shares changing hands. Manchester & London Investment Trust Stock Down 2.9 % The company has a market cap of 156.14 million, a PE ratio of -234.04 and a beta of 0.43. The firms fifty day simple moving average is GBX 372.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 357.17. Get Manchester & London Investment Trust alerts: Manchester & London Investment Trust Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 13th were issued a GBX 7 ($0.09) dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 13th. Manchester & London Investment Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -843.37%. Insider Buying and Selling at Manchester & London Investment Trust Manchester & London Investment Trust Company Profile In other news, insider Daniel Wright acquired 2,500 shares of Manchester & London Investment Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 375 ($4.69) per share, with a total value of 9,375 ($11,712.89). Insiders own 1.83% of the companys stock. (Get Rating) Manchester & London Investment Trust plc is a close-ended fund launched and managed by M&L Capital Management Limited. The fund primarily invests in the public equity markets of the United Kingdom. It makes its investments across diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in growth stocks of companies by employing a fundamental analysis. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Manchester & London Investment Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Manchester & London Investment Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. McDonalds Co. (NYSE:MCD Get Rating) insider Jo Sempels sold 6,425 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.10, for a total transaction of $1,896,017.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 730 shares in the company, valued at $215,423. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. McDonalds Trading Up 0.5 % Shares of MCD stock traded up $1.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $296.60. 1,815,405 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,689,473. McDonalds Co. has a 52-week low of $228.34 and a 52-week high of $298.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $278.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $271.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.63. Get McDonald's alerts: McDonalds (NYSE:MCD Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The fast-food giant reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.32. McDonalds had a negative return on equity of 122.21% and a net margin of 29.36%. The firm had revenue of $5.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.58 billion. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that McDonalds Co. will post 10.97 EPS for the current year. Institutional Trading of McDonalds Analyst Ratings Changes Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of McDonalds by 16.7% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 25,303 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $7,075,000 after acquiring an additional 3,621 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its stake in McDonalds by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 1,063 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC boosted its stake in McDonalds by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 884 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Allegheny Financial Group LTD boosted its stake in McDonalds by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD now owns 1,945 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Finally, Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in McDonalds by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 7,470 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $2,089,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.86% of the companys stock. Several equities analysts have commented on MCD shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of McDonalds from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM reissued a reiterates rating on shares of McDonalds in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of McDonalds from $309.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of McDonalds from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of McDonalds from $300.00 to $316.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $306.83. About McDonalds (Get Rating) McDonalds Corp. engages in the operation and franchising of restaurants. It operates through the following segments: U.S., International Operated Markets, and International Developmental Licensed Markets and Corporate. The U.S. segment focuses its operations on the United States. The International Operated Markets segment consists of operations and the franchising of restaurants in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, and the U.K. Read More Receive News & Ratings for McDonald's Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for McDonald's and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Wake Forest Bancshares, Inc. (OTCMKTS:WAKE Get Rating) crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $17.66 and traded as low as $16.87. Wake Forest Bancshares shares last traded at $16.87, with a volume of 1,200 shares. Wake Forest Bancshares Price Performance The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $17.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.66. Get Wake Forest Bancshares alerts: Wake Forest Bancshares (OTCMKTS:WAKE Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter. About Wake Forest Bancshares Wake Forest Bancshares, Inc, (OTC: WAKE) parent company of Wake Forest Federal Savings and Loan Association. Based in Wake Forest, North Carolina since 1922, the Company conducts business as Wake Forest Federal from its office in Wake Forest, (Wake County), North Carolina. Wake Forest Bancshares, Inc operates as a subsidiary of Wake Forest Bancorp, M.H.C. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Wake Forest Bancshares Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Wake Forest Bancshares and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE:AJRD Get Rating) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The aerospace company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.02), Briefing.com reports. Aerojet Rocketdyne had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 20.57%. The firm had revenue of $566.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $540.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Aerojet Rocketdyne Price Performance Shares of NYSE:AJRD opened at $56.31 on Friday. Aerojet Rocketdyne has a fifty-two week low of $36.44 and a fifty-two week high of $56.80. The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.57 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Get Aerojet Rocketdyne alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Aerojet Rocketdyne from $45.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, January 9th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Aerojet Rocketdyne in a research note on Friday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Institutional Trading of Aerojet Rocketdyne Aerojet Rocketdyne Company Profile Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Aerojet Rocketdyne by 247.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 643 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aerojet Rocketdyne during the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Aerojet Rocketdyne by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its position in shares of Aerojet Rocketdyne by 115.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,237 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Aerojet Rocketdyne during the 2nd quarter worth about $129,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.78% of the companys stock. (Get Rating) Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc engages in provision of solutions in the field of aerospace and defense, as well as in the field of real estate. It operates through the following business segments: Aerospace and Defense, and Real Estate. The Aerospace and Defense segment operates through Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc in developing and manufacturing aerospace and defense products and systems for the United States government, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, major aerospace and defense prime contractors as well as portions of the commercial sector. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Aerojet Rocketdyne Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Aerojet Rocketdyne and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO Get Rating) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,320 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 2,240 shares during the quarter. Altria Group makes up approximately 1.0% of Affinity Investment Advisors LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Affinity Investment Advisors LLCs holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Glenview Trust Co lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Glenview Trust Co now owns 69,405 shares of the companys stock worth $3,173,000 after buying an additional 1,002 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 538,899 shares of the companys stock worth $24,633,000 after buying an additional 16,916 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 80.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 326,214 shares of the companys stock worth $14,911,000 after buying an additional 145,100 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $292,000. Finally, Keating Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 141,583 shares of the companys stock worth $6,472,000 after buying an additional 12,408 shares during the period. 58.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Altria Group alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They issued a buy rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Altria Group from $49.50 to $47.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $45.50. Altria Group Stock Performance MO stock opened at $46.69 on Friday. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $45.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.84. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.35 and a fifty-two week high of $57.03. The company has a market cap of $83.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group (NYSE:MO Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 245.43% and a net margin of 22.44%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year. Altria Group Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 24th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.05%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 23rd. Altria Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 120.90%. Altria Group Company Profile (Get Rating) Altria Group, Inc operates as a holding company, which engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States. It operates through the following segments: Smokeable Products, Oral tobacco products, and Wine. The Smokeable Products segment consists of cigarettes manufactured and sold by PM USA and machine-made large cigars and pipe tobacco manufactured and sold by Middleton. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Altria Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Altria Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AKITA Drilling (TSE:AKT.A Get Rating) had its price objective trimmed by ATB Capital from C$4.75 to C$3.75 in a research report report published on Friday, BayStreet.CA reports. Separately, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of AKITA Drilling from C$3.25 to C$2.50 in a research report on Tuesday, March 21st. Get AKITA Drilling alerts: AKITA Drilling Stock Performance AKT.A opened at C$1.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of C$53.20 million, a P/E ratio of 12.73, a PEG ratio of -0.69 and a beta of 1.85. AKITA Drilling has a 1-year low of C$1.03 and a 1-year high of C$2.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$1.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.14, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.54. AKITA Drilling Company Profile AKITA Drilling Ltd. provides provides contract drilling services in Canada and the United States. The company is involved in the drilling of oil and gas wells; other forms of drilling related to potash mining; and development of storage caverns. It specializes in pad and other purpose-built drilling rigs; and conventional, directional, horizontal, and underbalanced drilling, as well as provides specialized drilling services. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for AKITA Drilling Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AKITA Drilling and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM Get Rating) by 25.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 32,445 shares of the companys stock after selling 11,100 shares during the period. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLCs holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $5,141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SJM. Fairfield Bush & CO. grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 1.5% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 30,551 shares of the companys stock worth $4,137,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 6.6% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 14,499 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,963,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 1.7% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 339,555 shares of the companys stock valued at $45,980,000 after acquiring an additional 5,531 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in J. M. Smucker by 1,012.2% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 192,636 shares of the companys stock worth $26,085,000 after purchasing an additional 175,315 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,721,847 shares of the companys stock worth $1,722,666,000 after purchasing an additional 162,944 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.21% of the companys stock. Get J. M. Smucker alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at J. M. Smucker In other J. M. Smucker news, Director Richard K. Smucker sold 51,373 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.27, for a total value of $7,925,312.71. Following the sale, the director now owns 640,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,795,896.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Richard K. Smucker sold 26,294 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.04, for a total transaction of $3,945,151.76. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 629,282 shares in the company, valued at $94,417,471.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard K. Smucker sold 51,373 shares of J. M. Smucker stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.27, for a total transaction of $7,925,312.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 640,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,795,896.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 122,462 shares of company stock worth $18,744,753. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades J. M. Smucker Stock Performance SJM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $157.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Argus raised J. M. Smucker from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on J. M. Smucker in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They set a hold rating and a $168.00 price objective for the company. Barclays assumed coverage on J. M. Smucker in a research note on Tuesday. They set an equal weight rating on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $153.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $153.27. SJM opened at $158.20 on Friday. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 52-week low of $119.82 and a 52-week high of $163.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.87 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 0.21. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $153.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.09. J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.08. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 8.54% and a return on equity of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. J. M. Smuckers revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 8.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. J. M. Smuckers dividend payout ratio is presently 61.45%. J. M. Smucker Profile (Get Rating) The J. M. Smucker Co engages in the manufacture and marketing of food and beverage products. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Retail Coffee, U.S. Retail Consumer Foods, U.S. Retail Pet Foods, and International and Away From Home. The U. S. Retail Coffee segment includes domestic sales of Folgers, Dunkin Donuts, and Cafe Bustelo branded coffee. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for J. M. Smucker Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for J. M. Smucker and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO Get Rating) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 538,899 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 16,916 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.s holdings in Altria Group were worth $24,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,134,691 shares of the companys stock worth $6,425,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,790 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 71,579,128 shares of the companys stock worth $2,957,671,000 after acquiring an additional 513,208 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 6.4% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the companys stock worth $1,896,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,178,596 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,517,169 shares of the companys stock worth $990,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,192,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 6,084,403 shares of the companys stock worth $245,688,000 after acquiring an additional 150,351 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.68% of the companys stock. Get Altria Group alerts: Altria Group Stock Up 1.2 % Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $46.69 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.35 and a 52-week high of $57.03. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $45.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.84. The firm has a market cap of $83.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group Announces Dividend Altria Group ( NYSE:MO Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.01). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 245.43% and a net margin of 22.44%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. The companys revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.06 EPS for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 24th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 23rd. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.05%. Altria Groups payout ratio is currently 120.90%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $49.50 to $47.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $45.50. Altria Group Profile (Get Rating) Altria Group, Inc operates as a holding company, which engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States. It operates through the following segments: Smokeable Products, Oral tobacco products, and Wine. The Smokeable Products segment consists of cigarettes manufactured and sold by PM USA and machine-made large cigars and pipe tobacco manufactured and sold by Middleton. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Altria Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Altria Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AMG National Trust Bank decreased its position in Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D Get Rating) by 34.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,717 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 3,462 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Banks holdings in Dominion Energy were worth $412,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Dominion Energy by 3.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,953,046 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $5,110,895,000 after purchasing an additional 2,767,626 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Dominion Energy by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 58,954,665 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $4,074,356,000 after purchasing an additional 3,051,912 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Dominion Energy by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,478,314 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $3,419,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,875 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Dominion Energy by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,771,075 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,126,590,000 after purchasing an additional 2,763,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Dominion Energy by 486.1% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,364,622 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $716,299,000 after purchasing an additional 8,596,097 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.30% of the companys stock. Get Dominion Energy alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several brokerages recently issued reports on D. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Dominion Energy from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Dominion Energy from $76.00 to $66.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Dominion Energy from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Dominion Energy from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on Dominion Energy from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $64.18. Dominion Energy Trading Down 0.1 % NYSE:D opened at $56.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.18 billion, a PE ratio of 51.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.43. The firms 50 day moving average is $56.05 and its 200 day moving average is $59.67. Dominion Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.03 and a 12 month high of $86.28. Dominion Energy (NYSE:D Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.12). Dominion Energy had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The business had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Dominion Energy, Inc. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year. Dominion Energy Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.73%. Dominion Energys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 244.95%. About Dominion Energy (Get Rating) Dominion Energy, Inc engages in the production and distribution of energy. It operates through following business segments: Dominion Energy Virginia, Gas Distribution, Dominion Energy South Carolina, Contracted Assets, and Corporate and Other. The Corporate and Other segment focuses on corporate, service company, non-controlling interest in Dominion privatization, and non-regulated retail energy marketing operations. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding D? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Dominion Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dominion Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti Limited (NYSE:AU Get Rating) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,773,483 shares of the mining companys stock after selling 173,798 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.66% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $53,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the first quarter worth about $282,000. APG Asset Management N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 1st quarter valued at $2,163,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 395.1% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 82,383 shares of the mining companys stock worth $1,973,000 after purchasing an additional 65,743 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 51.6% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,050,334 shares of the mining companys stock worth $48,572,000 after buying an additional 697,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 44.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,412,291 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $33,457,000 after buying an additional 432,001 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.90% of the companys stock. Get AngloGold Ashanti alerts: AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 2.7 % NYSE AU opened at $28.34 on Friday. AngloGold Ashanti Limited has a 12 month low of $11.94 and a 12 month high of $30.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firms fifty day moving average price is $23.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.18. AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend Analyst Ratings Changes The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 17th were paid a $0.177 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 16th. This represents a yield of 2.4%. Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, March 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $20.00 to $27.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. HSBC lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a buy rating to a reduce rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, Investec downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a buy rating to a sell rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $27.00. AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile (Get Rating) AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. engages in the exploration, mining, and production of gold. It operates through the following business segments: Africa, Australia, and Americas. The Africa segment consists of Ghana, Guinea, the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Tanzania. The Americas segment comprises of Argentina, Brazil, and projects in Colombia and the United States. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for AngloGold Ashanti Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AngloGold Ashanti and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. APi Group (NYSE:APG Get Rating) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.55 billion. APi Group had a net margin of 1.42% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. APi Group updated its FY 2023 guidance to EPS and its Q2 2023 guidance to EPS. APi Group Stock Up 3.4 % APi Group stock traded up $0.74 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $22.49. The stock had a trading volume of 2,042,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 867,618. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.22. APi Group has a 12 month low of $13.09 and a 12 month high of $24.49. The stock has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 281.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.54. Get APi Group alerts: Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of APi Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,300,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of APi Group by 6,301.4% during the 1st quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 880,510 shares of the companys stock valued at $18,517,000 after acquiring an additional 866,755 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of APi Group by 163.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,203,117 shares of the companys stock valued at $25,302,000 after acquiring an additional 746,708 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG raised its position in shares of APi Group by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 3,066,900 shares of the companys stock valued at $64,497,000 after acquiring an additional 454,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of APi Group by 3,353.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 337,612 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,054,000 after acquiring an additional 327,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.84% of the companys stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades APi Group Company Profile A number of brokerages have commented on APG. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of APi Group from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Barclays increased their price target on APi Group from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on APi Group from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, APi Group presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $23.67. (Get Rating) APi Group Corporation provides safety, specialty, and industrial services in North America, Europe, Australia, and the Asian-Pacific. It operates through three segments: Safety Services, Specialty Services, and Industrial Services. The Safety Services segment offers safety solutions focusing on end-to-end integrated occupancy systems, such as fire protection solutions; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions; and entry systems, which include the design, installation, inspection, monitoring, and service of these integrated systems. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for APi Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for APi Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Bank of the Philippine Islands (OTCMKTS:BPHLF Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, The Fly reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating on the stock. Bank of the Philippine Islands Stock Performance Shares of BPHLF opened at $1.76 on Tuesday. Bank of the Philippine Islands has a 1 year low of $1.49 and a 1 year high of $1.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.72. Get Bank of the Philippine Islands alerts: Bank of the Philippine Islands Company Profile (Get Rating) Featured Stories Bank of the Philippine Islands engages in the provision of commercial banking services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Corporate Banking and Investment Banking. The Consumer Banking segment covers deposit taking and services, consumer lending such as home mortgages, auto loans and credit card finance as well as the remittance business of individual clients and retail markets. Receive News & Ratings for Bank of the Philippine Islands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of the Philippine Islands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Birchcliff Energy (TSE:BIR Get Rating) is scheduled to be announcing its earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday, May 10th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of C$0.08 per share for the quarter. Birchcliff Energy (TSE:BIR Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The oil and natural gas company reported C$0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.54 by C($0.28). Birchcliff Energy had a return on equity of 30.34% and a net margin of 46.60%. The firm had revenue of C$320.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$433.50 million. Get Birchcliff Energy alerts: Birchcliff Energy Stock Up 2.1 % BIR stock opened at C$7.80 on Friday. Birchcliff Energy has a twelve month low of C$7.47 and a twelve month high of C$12.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.03. The firm has a market cap of C$2.08 billion, a PE ratio of 3.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 2.26. The business has a 50 day moving average of C$8.11 and a 200 day moving average of C$9.00. Birchcliff Energy Increases Dividend Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.26%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Birchcliff Energys previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Birchcliff Energys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.61%. BIR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. National Bankshares reduced their price objective on Birchcliff Energy from C$11.00 to C$10.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Stifel Firstegy lowered Birchcliff Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. Haywood Securities reduced their target price on Birchcliff Energy from C$14.00 to C$13.00 in a report on Friday, March 17th. CIBC reduced their target price on Birchcliff Energy from C$9.00 to C$8.00 in a report on Friday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Birchcliff Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their target price for the stock from C$9.00 to C$8.00 in a report on Thursday, March 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Birchcliff Energy presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of C$10.98. Insider Activity at Birchcliff Energy In related news, Senior Officer Theo Van Der Werken sold 20,000 shares of Birchcliff Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$8.20, for a total transaction of C$164,000.00. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders. About Birchcliff Energy (Get Rating) Birchcliff Energy Ltd., an intermediate oil and natural gas company, acquires, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, light oil, condensate, and natural gas liquids in Western Canada. The company holds interests in the Montney/Doig resource play located approximately 95 km northwest of Grande Prairie, Alberta. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Birchcliff Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Birchcliff Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Phoenix Group Holdings plc (LON:PHNX Get Rating) have received an average recommendation of Hold from the six analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is GBX 713.33 ($8.91). Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PHNX shares. Morgan Stanley restated an underweight rating and set a GBX 650 ($8.12) price objective on shares of Phoenix Group in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Phoenix Group from GBX 815 ($10.18) to GBX 820 ($10.24) and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Phoenix Group from GBX 665 ($8.31) to GBX 655 ($8.18) and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Phoenix Group from GBX 790 ($9.87) to GBX 765 ($9.56) and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Get Phoenix Group alerts: Insider Activity In other news, insider Nicholas Shott acquired 107,427 shares of Phoenix Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 602 ($7.52) per share, with a total value of 646,710.54 ($807,984.18). In other news, insider Rakesh Thakrar sold 8,878 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 547 ($6.83), for a total value of 48,562.66 ($60,672.99). Also, insider Nicholas Shott purchased 107,427 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 602 ($7.52) per share, with a total value of 646,710.54 ($807,984.18). Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 107,474 shares of company stock worth $64,700,898. Insiders own 14.92% of the companys stock. Phoenix Group Price Performance Phoenix Group Increases Dividend Shares of LON:PHNX opened at GBX 577.60 ($7.22) on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 161.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 580 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 593.39. The company has a market cap of 5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -305.61, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.78. Phoenix Group has a twelve month low of GBX 501 ($6.26) and a twelve month high of GBX 690.40 ($8.63). The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 30th will be paid a GBX 26 ($0.32) dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.21%. This is a boost from Phoenix Groups previous dividend of $24.80. Phoenix Groups payout ratio is -2,751.32%. About Phoenix Group (Get Rating) Phoenix Group Holdings plc operates in the long-term savings and retirement business in Europe. The company operates through four segments: UK Heritage, UK Open, Europe, and Management Services. It provides a range of pensions and savings products to support people across various stages of the savings life cycle. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Phoenix Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Phoenix Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brookfield Renewable (NYSE:BEPC Get Rating) released its earnings results on Friday. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, Yahoo Finance reports. Brookfield Renewable had a net margin of 0.57% and a return on equity of 0.19%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.16) earnings per share. Brookfield Renewable Price Performance NYSE:BEPC traded up $2.89 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.08. The stock had a trading volume of 657,522 shares, compared to its average volume of 417,468. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Brookfield Renewable has a one year low of $27.19 and a one year high of $42.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.47 and a beta of 1.09. Get Brookfield Renewable alerts: Brookfield Renewable Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be issued a $0.338 dividend. This represents a $1.35 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th. Brookfield Renewables dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -225.00%. Institutional Trading of Brookfield Renewable Brookfield Renewable Company Profile Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Brookfield Renewable by 30.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 90,746 shares of the companys stock worth $3,975,000 after purchasing an additional 21,313 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Brookfield Renewable by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 417,541 shares of the companys stock worth $18,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,254 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Brookfield Renewable in the 1st quarter worth $261,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in Brookfield Renewable by 154.7% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 3,601 shares of the companys stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 2,187 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Brookfield Renewable by 33.4% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 33,511 shares of the companys stock worth $1,464,000 after acquiring an additional 8,391 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.12% of the companys stock. (Get Rating) Brookfield Renewable Corporation owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy power generating facilities primarily in the United States, Europe, Colombia, and Brazil. It operates hydroelectric, wind, and solar power plants with an installed capacity of approximately 12,723 megawatts. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Brookfield Renewable Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Brookfield Renewable and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Ford Motor (NYSE:F Get Rating) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,043,222 shares of the auto manufacturers stock after selling 33,960 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Ford Motor worth $23,763,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in F. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA bought a new position in shares of Ford Motor in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Ford Motor in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp bought a new position in shares of Ford Motor in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its stake in shares of Ford Motor by 65.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,836 shares of the auto manufacturers stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Ford Motor by 82.7% in the 2nd quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 3,065 shares of the auto manufacturers stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. 49.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Ford Motor alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets F has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on Ford Motor in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $13.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Ford Motor from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Tudor Pickering downgraded Ford Motor from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Ford Motor from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut Ford Motor from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $15.30. Ford Motor Price Performance Ford Motor stock opened at $11.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market cap of $47.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.54. The businesss fifty day moving average is $12.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.66. Ford Motor has a 52 week low of $10.61 and a 52 week high of $16.68. Ford Motor (NYSE:F Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The auto manufacturer reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $39.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.42 billion. Ford Motor had a return on equity of 19.99% and a net margin of 1.75%. The businesss revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ford Motor will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Ford Motor Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 25th. Ford Motors dividend payout ratio is currently 84.51%. Insider Activity In other news, insider Ashwani Kumar Galhotra sold 24,850 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.01, for a total transaction of $323,298.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 511,605 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,655,981.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO James D. Farley, Jr. sold 79,921 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.86, for a total transaction of $1,027,784.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,638,667 shares of the companys stock, valued at $21,073,257.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ashwani Kumar Galhotra sold 24,850 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.01, for a total value of $323,298.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 511,605 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,655,981.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,592 shares of company stock valued at $1,740,843 over the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Ford Motor Profile (Get Rating) Ford Motor Co engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of automobiles. It operates through the following segments: Ford Blue, Ford Model E, and Ford Pro, Ford Next, and Ford Credit. The Ford Blue, Ford Model E, and Ford Pro segment includes the sale of Ford and Lincoln vehicles, service parts, and accessories, together with the associated costs to develop, manufacture, distribute, and service the vehicles, parts, and accessories. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Ford Motor Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ford Motor and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Crewe Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM Get Rating) by 34.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 131 shares of the information technology services providers stock after selling 69 shares during the quarter. Crewe Advisors LLCs holdings in EPAM Systems were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EPAM. DSM Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in EPAM Systems by 148.5% in the 3rd quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 624,907 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $226,336,000 after buying an additional 373,436 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in EPAM Systems by 9.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,471,924 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $733,197,000 after buying an additional 206,636 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of EPAM Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,862,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of EPAM Systems by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,234,948 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,849,348,000 after purchasing an additional 115,422 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of EPAM Systems by 212.9% during the third quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 163,702 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $59,290,000 after purchasing an additional 111,386 shares during the period. 92.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get EPAM Systems alerts: EPAM Systems Stock Performance Shares of EPAM stock opened at $242.47 on Friday. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $287.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $322.16. The company has a quick ratio of 3.69, a current ratio of 3.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $14.00 billion, a PE ratio of 34.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.56. EPAM Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $239.41 and a 12 month high of $462.99. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth EPAM Systems ( NYSE:EPAM Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The information technology services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.48. EPAM Systems had a net margin of 8.69% and a return on equity of 21.55%. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Equities research analysts expect that EPAM Systems, Inc. will post 9.15 EPS for the current fiscal year. A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on EPAM Systems from $430.00 to $360.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of EPAM Systems from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Cowen cut shares of EPAM Systems from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $390.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on EPAM Systems from $462.00 to $410.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on EPAM Systems from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $396.43. EPAM Systems Company Profile (Get Rating) EPAM Systems, Inc engages in the provision of software product development and digital platform engineering services. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Europe, and Russia. The company was founded by Leonid Lozner and Arkadiy Dobkin in 1993 and is headquartered in Newtown, PA. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EPAM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for EPAM Systems Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for EPAM Systems and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN Get Rating) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $174.17. ETN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Eaton from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Eaton from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Eaton from $168.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $149.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $180.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Get Eaton alerts: Insider Activity at Eaton In related news, insider Joao V. Faria sold 2,326 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.23, for a total transaction of $398,280.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 77,626 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $13,291,899.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Eaton news, insider Joao V. Faria sold 5,204 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.55, for a total transaction of $908,358.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 76,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,320,608.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Joao V. Faria sold 2,326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.23, for a total transaction of $398,280.98. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 77,626 shares in the company, valued at $13,291,899.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,377 shares of company stock valued at $5,864,193. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Eaton Stock Performance A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETN. Horan Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eaton by 228.6% in the 4th quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 161 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. RFP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. 80.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Shares of ETN opened at $171.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $68.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.12. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $166.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.32. Eaton has a 1 year low of $122.50 and a 1 year high of $178.75. Eaton (NYSE:ETN Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.23 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 12.00% and a return on equity of 18.70%. Eatons revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Eaton will post 8.39 EPS for the current year. Eaton Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Investors of record on Monday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 5th. Eatons payout ratio is 53.67%. Eaton Company Profile (Get Rating) Eaton Corp. Plc is a power management company, which provides energy-efficient solutions for electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical power. It operates through the following segments: Electrical Americas and Electrical Global, Aerospace, Vehicle, and eMobility. The Electrical Americas and Electrical Global segments engage in sales contracts for electrical components, industrial components, power distribution and assemblies, residential products, single and three phase power quality, wiring devices, circuit protection, utility power distribution, power reliability equipment, and service. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Eaton Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Eaton and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Enel Chile S.A. (NYSE:ENIC Get Rating) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 1,119,237 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 144% from the previous sessions volume of 458,754 shares.The stock last traded at $2.78 and had previously closed at $2.83. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Enel Chile in a research report on Friday, March 17th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Get Enel Chile alerts: Enel Chile Trading Up 4.3 % The stocks fifty day moving average price is $2.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enel Chile About Enel Chile A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ENIC. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Enel Chile by 147.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,496,126 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $3,366,000 after purchasing an additional 890,978 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Enel Chile by 38.4% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,781,819 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 494,605 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Enel Chile by 17.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,465 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $3,103,000 after buying an additional 415,298 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Enel Chile by 220.4% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 530,560 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 364,982 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Enel Chile by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,095,678 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,326,000 after acquiring an additional 333,790 shares during the period. 2.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. (Get Rating) Enel Chile SA engages in the development, operation, generation, and distribution of electricity. It operates through following segments: Generation, Transmission, and Distribution. The Generation segment supplies electricity to end customers using lines and substations that belong to transmission and distribution companies. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Enel Chile Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Enel Chile and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Erste Group Bank AG (OTC:EBKOF Get Rating)s stock price traded down 3.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $34.55 and last traded at $35.38. 2,507 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 56% from the average session volume of 1,611 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.75. Erste Group Bank Stock Performance The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.14. Erste Group Bank Company Profile (Get Rating) Erste Group Bank AG provides a range of banking and other financial services to retail, corporate, real estate, and public sector customers in Austria, Central and Eastern Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Retail, Corporates, Group Markets, Asset/Liability Management & Local Corporate Center, Savings Banks, and Group Corporate Center segments. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Erste Group Bank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Erste Group Bank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management grew its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT Get Rating) by 59.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,791 shares of the healthcare product makers stock after buying an additional 1,414 shares during the quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Managements holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 339.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,581,157 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $443,273,000 after buying an additional 3,537,778 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 83.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,925,012 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $582,924,000 after buying an additional 2,235,314 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 154,563,421 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $14,955,557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011,683 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 99.8% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,140,866 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $371,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $131,945,000. 72.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Abbott Laboratories alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. SVB Leerink increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $136.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $103.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $122.37. Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $111.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $193.36 billion, a PE ratio of 33.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.67. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $93.25 and a 1 year high of $118.23. The companys fifty day moving average price is $103.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.40. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 19th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The companys revenue was down 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year. Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. Abbott Laboratoriess payout ratio is 62.01%. Insider Activity In other news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total value of $26,842.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,896 shares in the company, valued at $4,222,103.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total value of $26,842.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,896 shares in the company, valued at $4,222,103.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 8,226 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.56, for a total transaction of $909,466.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 70,427 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,786,409.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,197 shares of company stock worth $6,659,607 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the companys stock. Abbott Laboratories Company Profile (Get Rating) Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a broad and diversified line of health care products. It operates through the following business segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment refers to the international sales of a line of branded generic pharmaceutical products. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ABT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Abbott Laboratories Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Abbott Laboratories and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Heartland Advisors Inc. lowered its position in Public Storage (NYSE:PSA Get Rating) by 31.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,973 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after selling 1,362 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.s holdings in Public Storage were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Public Storage by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,495,913 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $6,001,408,000 after buying an additional 286,384 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Public Storage by 1.1% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,157,864 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $5,023,993,000 after buying an additional 186,843 shares during the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Public Storage by 4.3% during the third quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 1,573,083 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $460,614,000 after buying an additional 64,446 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Public Storage by 2.0% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,429,511 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $557,910,000 after buying an additional 27,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Public Storage by 1.3% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,404,390 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $411,219,000 after purchasing an additional 17,569 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.88% of the companys stock. Get Public Storage alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages have weighed in on PSA. Raymond James lowered shares of Public Storage from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, January 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Public Storage in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $353.78. Public Storage Trading Up 1.9 % Shares of Public Storage stock opened at $295.91 on Friday. Public Storage has a 1 year low of $270.13 and a 1 year high of $357.13. The firm has a market cap of $52.01 billion, a PE ratio of 12.59, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $295.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $293.75. Public Storage (NYSE:PSA Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.99 by ($1.93). Public Storage had a net margin of 98.82% and a return on equity of 72.08%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.54 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Public Storage will post 16.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Public Storage Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 13th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. Public Storages payout ratio is presently 51.04%. Public Storage Profile (Get Rating) Public Storage operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in acquiring, developing, owning and operating self-storage facilities. It operates through the following segments: Self-storage Operations, Ancillary Operations, and Other Items. The Self-storage Operations segment reflects the rental operations from all self-storage facilities. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PSA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Public Storage (NYSE:PSA Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Public Storage Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Public Storage and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM Get Rating) by 22.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 356,494 shares of the insurance providers stock after purchasing an additional 65,176 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.28% of Humana worth $182,593,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arlington Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Humana in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new stake in Humana in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Humana in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Humana by 1,257.1% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 95 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Affiance Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Humana in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. 93.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Humana alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts have weighed in on HUM shares. Stephens lowered their target price on Humana from $625.00 to $590.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Humana from $630.00 to $625.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Humana from $562.00 to $568.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Humana from $645.00 to $620.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Humana from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $597.37. Insider Buying and Selling Humana Trading Up 1.2 % In related news, CEO Bruce D. Broussard sold 17,575 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.85, for a total value of $8,890,313.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,040 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $35,429,734. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link . In other news, CEO Bruce D. Broussard sold 17,575 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.85, for a total transaction of $8,890,313.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,429,734. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink . Also, insider Joseph C. Ventura sold 2,048 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.97, for a total value of $1,040,322.56. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,256 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,161,920.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the companys stock. Shares of NYSE HUM opened at $535.02 on Friday. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $505.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $512.35. Humana Inc. has a 52-week low of $410.87 and a 52-week high of $571.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Humana (NYSE:HUM Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The insurance provider reported $9.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.25 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $26.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.40 billion. Humana had a return on equity of 21.04% and a net margin of 3.26%. The businesss revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $8.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Humana Inc. will post 28.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Humana Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th will be issued a $0.885 dividend. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 29th. Humanas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.38%. Humana Profile (Get Rating) Humana Inc engages in the provision of health insurance services. It operates through the Insurance and CenterWell segments. The Insurance segment consists of Medicare benefits, marketed to individuals or directly via group Medicare accounts, as well as contract with CMS to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition, or LI-NET, prescription drug plan program and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible demonstration, and Long-Term Support Services benefits, which refer to as state-based contracts. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Humana Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Humana and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC cut its position in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR Get Rating) by 59.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,373 shares of the companys stock after selling 6,342 shares during the quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLCs holdings in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. were worth $221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of RGR. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 65.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,952 shares of the companys stock worth $762,000 after purchasing an additional 4,339 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 37.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 15,661 shares of the companys stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 4,233 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 366,955 shares of the companys stock valued at $25,548,000 after buying an additional 8,850 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its position in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 5,864 shares of the companys stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,505 shares of the companys stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 3,317 shares in the last quarter. 68.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Sturm Ruger & Company Inc. alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Stock Performance Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. stock opened at $54.09 on Friday. The firms fifty day moving average price is $56.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.62. The stock has a market cap of $957.93 million, a P/E ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 0.51. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.50 and a fifty-two week high of $69.90. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $149.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $138.80 million. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 12.52%. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.70 EPS. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Cuts Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.s payout ratio is presently 33.87%. About Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (Get Rating) Sturm, Ruger & Co, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of firearms to domestic customers. It operates through the Firearms and Castings segments. The Firearms segment manufactures and sells rifles, pistols, and revolvers principally to a number of federally-licensed, independent wholesale distributors primarily located in the United States. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding RGR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Sturm Ruger & Company Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sturm Ruger & Company Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA Get Rating) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. TD Cowen currently has $19.00 price target on the industrial products companys stock, up from their previous price target of $11.00. Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. TheStreet raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $13.57. Get Mueller Water Products alerts: Mueller Water Products Price Performance MWA stock opened at $14.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 3.15. Mueller Water Products has a 52 week low of $9.90 and a 52 week high of $14.96. The firms fifty day moving average is $13.47 and its 200 day moving average is $12.44. The firm has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.30. Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement Mueller Water Products ( NYSE:MWA Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 6.18% and a return on equity of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $314.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.13 EPS. The firms quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 10th will be given a $0.061 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 9th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Mueller Water Productss dividend payout ratio is 47.06%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MWA. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 480.6% during the 4th quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 4,035 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 3,340 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Mueller Water Products during the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,580 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Finally, Kepos Capital LP lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 67.8% during the 4th quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 7,553 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 3,051 shares during the period. 88.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Mueller Water Products (Get Rating) Mueller Water Products, Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of products used in the transmission, distribution, and measurement of water. It operates through the Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions segments. The Water Flow Solutions segment includes iron gate valves, specialty valves, and service brass products. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Mueller Water Products Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mueller Water Products and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN Get Rating) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 8.85%. The company had revenue of $462.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.46 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.80 EPS. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. Northwest Natural updated its FY23 guidance to $2.55-2.75 EPS and its FY 2023 guidance to $2.55-$2.75 EPS. Northwest Natural Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:NWN traded down $1.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $47.05. 137,618 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 114,045. Northwest Natural has a 1-year low of $42.37 and a 1-year high of $55.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.59. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $47.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.89. Get Northwest Natural alerts: Northwest Natural Announces Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 28th will be issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 27th. Northwest Naturals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.21%. Institutional Trading of Northwest Natural Analysts Set New Price Targets Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NWN. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 372.0% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 445,329 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $23,647,000 after purchasing an additional 350,988 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Northwest Natural in the 4th quarter valued at $15,541,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Northwest Natural by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,878,324 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $200,586,000 after buying an additional 277,421 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Northwest Natural by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,562,357 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $80,805,000 after buying an additional 226,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Northwest Natural by 67.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 314,030 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $14,946,000 after buying an additional 126,147 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.80% of the companys stock. A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NWN shares. StockNews.com downgraded Northwest Natural from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Friday. TheStreet raised Northwest Natural from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Northwest Natural in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Finally, Maxim Group downgraded Northwest Natural from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $48.25. Northwest Natural Company Profile (Get Rating) Northwest Natural Holding Co engages in the local distribution of gas and water through its subsidiaries. It supplies natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. The company founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Portland, OR. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Northwest Natural Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Northwest Natural and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS Get Rating) issued an update on its FY23 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $2.41-2.81 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $2.55. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.03-2.18 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.09 billion. Nu Skin Enterprises also updated its FY 2023 guidance to $2.41-$2.81 EPS. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades NUS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from a buy rating to a hold rating and cut their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, January 30th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Nu Skin Enterprises from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, TheStreet cut Nu Skin Enterprises from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $39.33. Get Nu Skin Enterprises alerts: Nu Skin Enterprises Stock Up 1.2 % NYSE NUS traded up $0.47 on Friday, hitting $38.87. 273,558 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 358,887. Nu Skin Enterprises has a fifty-two week low of $29.95 and a fifty-two week high of $47.84. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a PE ratio of 25.24 and a beta of 1.21. Nu Skin Enterprises Dividend Announcement Nu Skin Enterprises ( NYSE:NUS Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $481.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $477.49 million. Nu Skin Enterprises had a net margin of 3.68% and a return on equity of 14.13%. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nu Skin Enterprises will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 26th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 25th. Nu Skin Enterprisess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.30%. Insider Activity at Nu Skin Enterprises In other Nu Skin Enterprises news, Director Emma S. Battle sold 987 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.70, for a total transaction of $41,157.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,659 shares of the companys stock, valued at $194,280.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Andrew D. Lipman sold 2,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.75, for a total value of $81,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 60,393 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,461,014.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Emma S. Battle sold 987 shares of Nu Skin Enterprises stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.70, for a total value of $41,157.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,280.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 90,115 shares of company stock valued at $3,649,237 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nu Skin Enterprises Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Nu Skin Enterprises by 37.1% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 809 shares of the companys stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 118.2% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,150 shares of the companys stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 623 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises during the second quarter worth about $144,000. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 12.7% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,657 shares of the companys stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC acquired a new position in Nu Skin Enterprises in the 1st quarter valued at about $231,000. 93.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Nu Skin Enterprises Company Profile (Get Rating) Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the development and distribution of beauty and wellness solutions. It operates through the following segments: Mainland China, Americas, South Korea, Southeast Asia/Pacific, EMEA, Japan, Hong Kong/Taiwan, Nu Skin Other, Manufacturing, and Rhyz Other. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Nu Skin Enterprises Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Nu Skin Enterprises and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Nwam LLC lifted its holdings in SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:JNK Get Rating) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,194 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after purchasing an additional 1,409 shares during the period. Nwam LLCs holdings in SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF were worth $1,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JNK. Wright Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF in the 4th quarter valued at about $500,643,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF by 108.9% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 3,807,000 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $334,445,000 after buying an additional 1,985,000 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF by 59.8% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,388,708 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $394,984,000 after buying an additional 1,642,368 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF by 772.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,668,197 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $146,555,000 after buying an additional 1,476,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,180,234 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $630,784,000 after buying an additional 1,456,287 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.13% of the companys stock. Get SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF alerts: SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF Trading Up 0.5 % NYSEARCA:JNK opened at $91.65 on Friday. SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF has a 12 month low of $86.28 and a 12 month high of $99.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $91.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.45. SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF Company Profile SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (the Fund), formerly SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF, seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Barclays Capital High Yield Very Liquid Index (the Index). The Index includes publicly issued United States dollar denominated, non-investment grade, fixed-rate, taxable corporate bonds that have a remaining maturity of at least one year, regardless of optionality, are rated high-yield using the middle rating of Moodys, S&P, and Fitch, respectively, and have $600 million or more of outstanding face value. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding JNK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:JNK Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. trimmed its position in shares of L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LHX Get Rating) by 26.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,865 shares of the companys stock after selling 9,087 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.s holdings in L3Harris Technologies were worth $5,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Grimes & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of L3Harris Technologies by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 1,236 shares of the companys stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of L3Harris Technologies by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 543 shares of the companys stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of L3Harris Technologies by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 1,514 shares of the companys stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in L3Harris Technologies by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,150 shares of the companys stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co increased its position in L3Harris Technologies by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 393 shares of the companys stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. 82.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get L3Harris Technologies alerts: L3Harris Technologies Trading Up 1.1 % NYSE LHX opened at $187.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.18. The company has a market capitalization of $35.57 billion, a PE ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. L3Harris Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $183.21 and a 12 month high of $255.10. L3Harris Technologies Announces Dividend L3Harris Technologies ( NYSE:LHX Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.87 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.26 billion. L3Harris Technologies had a return on equity of 13.03% and a net margin of 5.30%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.12 EPS. Research analysts forecast that L3Harris Technologies, Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 1st. This represents a $4.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. L3Harris Technologiess payout ratio is presently 95.20%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts have commented on LHX shares. Truist Financial dropped their price target on L3Harris Technologies from $264.00 to $255.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on L3Harris Technologies from $278.00 to $264.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on L3Harris Technologies from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on L3Harris Technologies from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group lowered their price objective on L3Harris Technologies from $240.00 to $234.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, L3Harris Technologies has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $250.00. L3Harris Technologies Profile (Get Rating) L3Harris Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of defense and commercial technologies across the air, land, sea, space, and cyber domains. It operates through the following segments: Integrated Mission Systems, Space and Airborne Systems, Communication Systems, and Aviation Systems. The Integrated Mission Systems segment consists of multi-mission ISR and communication systems, integrated electrical and electronic systems for maritime platforms, and advanced electro-optical and infrared solutions. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LHX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LHX Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for L3Harris Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for L3Harris Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Osisko Gold Royalties (TSE:OR Get Rating) will issue its quarterly earnings data after the market closes on Wednesday, May 10th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of C$0.14 per share for the quarter. Osisko Gold Royalties Trading Down 1.6 % OR opened at C$23.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.65. The firms 50 day moving average is C$20.86 and its 200-day moving average is C$18.13. Osisko Gold Royalties has a 52-week low of C$11.90 and a 52-week high of C$24.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 5.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.95. Get Osisko Gold Royalties alerts: Osisko Gold Royalties Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 14th were paid a dividend of $0.055 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Osisko Gold Royaltiess dividend payout ratio is currently 46.81%. Insider Activity Analysts Set New Price Targets In other news, Senior Officer Andre Le Bel sold 15,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$18.40, for a total transaction of C$276,000.00. In related news, Senior Officer Andre Le Bel sold 15,000 shares of Osisko Gold Royalties stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$18.40, for a total transaction of C$276,000.00. Also, Director Victor Bradley sold 5,000 shares of Osisko Gold Royalties stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$20.47, for a total transaction of C$102,350.00. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $655,100. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. A number of brokerages recently issued reports on OR. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Osisko Gold Royalties from C$23.00 to C$25.50 in a research note on Monday, March 27th. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Osisko Gold Royalties from C$22.00 to C$27.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Osisko Gold Royalties from C$21.00 to C$27.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Eight Capital lifted their price target on shares of Osisko Gold Royalties from C$24.50 to C$28.00 in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Finally, National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Osisko Gold Royalties from C$23.00 to C$27.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Osisko Gold Royalties presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of C$25.38. Osisko Gold Royalties Company Profile (Get Rating) Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd acquires and manages precious metal and other royalties, streams, and offtake and other interests in Canada and internationally. It also owns options on royalty/stream financings; and exclusive rights to participate in future royalty/stream financings on various projects. The company's primary asset is a 5% net smelter return royalty on the Canadian Malartic mine located in Canada. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Osisko Gold Royalties Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Osisko Gold Royalties and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Teradata (NYSE:TDC Get Rating) had its price target increased by Craig Hallum from $48.00 to $50.00 in a research note published on Friday, The Fly reports. Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on TDC. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Teradata from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Teradata from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Teradata from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. Cowen raised their target price on shares of Teradata from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Teradata from $37.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $47.44. Get Teradata alerts: Teradata Price Performance Shares of Teradata stock opened at $44.55 on Friday. Teradata has a 52-week low of $28.65 and a 52-week high of $45.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.70 and a 200-day moving average of $35.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. Insider Transactions at Teradata Teradata ( NYSE:TDC Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $435.63 million. Teradata had a net margin of 2.08% and a return on equity of 24.80%. The firms revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Teradata will post 0.97 EPS for the current year. In other news, CFO Claire Bramley sold 5,000 shares of Teradata stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,100 shares in the company, valued at $3,324,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Kathleen R. Cullen-Cote sold 24,400 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $995,032.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 121,489 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,954,321.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Claire Bramley sold 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,324,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.92% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradata A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TDC. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in Teradata during the first quarter valued at approximately $466,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Teradata by 2.5% in the first quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 208,000 shares of the technology companys stock worth $8,378,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank increased its position in Teradata by 2.0% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 19,392 shares of the technology companys stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in Teradata in the first quarter worth $1,841,000. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in Teradata by 1.2% in the first quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 52,747 shares of the technology companys stock worth $2,125,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.92% of the companys stock. Teradata Company Profile (Get Rating) Teradata Corp. is a cloud data analytics company which is built for a multi-cloud reality and solving data challenges at scale. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, EMEA, and APJ. The company was founded on July 13, 1979, and is headquartered in San Diego, CA. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Teradata Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Teradata and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Security forces personnel assess the situation in Manipur. (DC) Kolkata: Fresh violence has left three persons dead on Friday night in Manipur which has been reeling under sporadic ethnic clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities, leading to a heavy deployment of Army and other security forces across the North Eastern state in the last three days. According to defence sources, Churachandpur, which is a Kuki-dominated district in Manipur, witnessed fresh rounds of violence after remaining peaceful for the last 18 hours. At Changpikot, inter-community clashes between Kukis and Meitis occured late on Friday night. 3 persons, all being males, of one community were killed, sources revealed on Saturday. In another incident, a violent crowd of approximately 400 people surrounded the Army and Assam Rifles (AR) columns in Lamka village in Churachandpur, another source said. The security forces, owing to violent and life threatening actions by the mob, opened fire as a last resort. Eye witnesses said that two people were injured in the shooting and were immediately evacuated by the violent crowd themselves. So far 16,000 people who were stranded in the state have been rescued by the security forces while the deployment of Army and AR columns have gone up to 125 in the trouble-hit areas. While the security forces are doing everything they can in the kinetic operations domain, a need for immediate political outreach initiative at the political level towards communities virtually at war with each other has become prominent to restore peace. The bench, in the hearing, also suggested that the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana power utilities negotiate between themselves to end the dispute. (Representational Image: DC) Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Saturday directed the Centre, by June 9, to furnish its file note directing the Telangana power department to pay Rs. 6,757 crore to its Andhra Pradesh counterpart, in an order dated August 29, 2022, to clear supply dues for the period of June 2, 2017, to June 10, 2017. The division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji issued the directions over petitions filed by the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL) and Telangana State Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSNPDCL), challenging the August 29, 2022 order of the Union government. The bench, in the hearing, also suggested that the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana power utilities negotiate between themselves to end the dispute. Telangana power utilities argued in the Telangana High Court that the Union government was discriminating against it on the issue, arguing that the orders were issued without considering the dues owed by the AP power utilities or violations made by AP distribution companies (discoms) in power supply. Vaidyanathan, senior Supreme Court counsel, representing the TSSPDCL and TSNPDCL, contended that AP power generation companies (GENCOs) stopped power supply to Telangana upon bifurcation, despite the AP Reorganisation Act mandating the states to supply power to one another for 10 years, in case of a shortfall or deficiency in either state. The counsel said that Telangana spent over Rs. 4,740 crore to buy power from the market, which was not considered by the Union government. Meanwhile, senior counsel C.V. Mohan Reddy, representing AP power utilities, argued that the AP utilities were on the verge of becoming non-performing assets due to non-payment of dues by Telangana. "The power companies obtained financing, produced electricity, and supplied Telangana power utilities," the senior counsel said, adding that the Bifurcation Act applied only to controversial problems from the pre-bifurcation period and not to authority that was provided after the split. Published on: May 6, 2023 | Updated on: May 6, 2023 Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh during the roadshow of Karnataka former chief minister Siddaramaiah (Twitter) New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a roadshow in Bengaluru on Saturday, the Congress called him a "master of distortion" and alleged that he will only inflame prejudice and bigotry in his rally. Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said the PM's roadshow will block the entire city and create chaos and uncertainty for students writing exams. It shows how desperate the PM is, he said. "The Master Of Distortion and Incitement ('Abuse' No. 92??) is arriving in Bengaluru today. "We already know what he'll say to inflame prejudice and bigotry," he said on Twitter. Ramesh said that the prime minister will stay absolutely silent on the real issues of Karnataka, which according to the Congress leader were "40 per cent commission sarkar, intolerable price rise, rising unemployment, and a forever under-construction and dug-up Bengaluru." "This time the despair is so high that his #40km40percent roadshow over 2 days is locking up an entire city, creating chaos & uncertainty for students writing crucial exams, and felling a number of trees ," Ramesh said. "Have you ever seen a PM this desperate," he asked. Modi began his 26 km roadshow in the city Saturday morning, campaigning for BJP candidates ahead of May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka. The roadshow from Someshwar Bhavan RBI ground in Bengaluru South to Malleshwaram's Sankey Tank is expected to be covered in about three and half hours, according to party sources. Modi's roadshow today will be passing through parts of south and central Bengaluru, crossing about a dozen Assembly segments, they said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves at supporters and party workers during a roadshow ahead of Karnataka Assembly elections, in Bengaluru, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi/Bengaluru: Seeking support for the "double engine government", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asserted that the BJP is the only party that can fulfil the aspirations of the people of Karnataka. The PM, who held a massive roadshow before addressing two campaign rallies, slammed the Congress, saying the Opposition party has only worked to "destabilise and discourage Indias ancient democratic traditions". He also claimed that the OBCs, Lingayats and others in Karnataka are "angry over the Congress' lies and abuses" and that the Opposition party stands for "85 per cent commission" and appeasement politics. With the month-long campaigning for the May 10 Assembly elections in the southern state nearing an end, the PM held a massive roadshow in Bengaluru, with the BJP claiming that more than 8-lakh people participated during the 26 km-long stretch from Someshwar Bhavan RBI Ground in Bengaluru South to Malleshwaram's Sankey Tank. A much shorter roadshow of the Prime Minister, about 10 km between Kempegowda statue at Thippasandra and Trinity Circle, will be held on Sunday. Addressing a rally in Badami in Bagalkote district, the Prime Minister said that the overwhelming response he received in Bengaluru during the roadshow made him believe that it is the people who are contesting the 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka on behalf of the BJP. Mr Modi said: "The people of Karnataka are fighting on behalf of the BJP. I see the total control of the election in the hands of the people." The Prime Minister said the "never-seen-before love and affection" he saw in Bengaluru was "unparalleled". "This morning, I went to have a 'darshan' (opportunity to see) of janata janardhan' (public god) in Bengaluru. People gave me never-seen-before' love and affection," said Mr Modi while addressing a public meeting in Bagalkote district. He also said the BJP's "double engine" government has been working on bringing in development without discrimination. Former chief minister and Congress stalwart Siddaramaiah, who is contesting from Varuna this time, represents Badami constituency in the outgoing Assembly. Taking a swipe at Mr Siddaramaiah, the Prime Minister said, "I have heard that Mr Siddaramaiah is saying that whatever development has happened in the last 3.5 years was due to his government's efforts. His confessional statement is self-explanatory -- if there is anyone who does the work, then it is the double-engine government." Hitting out at the Congress, Mr Modi said the party means total corruption, scams, and 85 per cent commission" and can never work to serve the people. Addressing another rally in Haveri, the PM claimed that Karnataka and the entire nation have become aware of the corruption, appeasement and misrule of the Congress. Slamming the Congress for cheating people, the PM said that the party has been making false commitments during the election campaigns for a long time, but when people ask about fulfilling them after the Congress comes to power, they say a committee has been formed to look into it. "Have a look at their track record and find out how false their guarantees are," Mr Modi said, as he listed out Congress' false guarantees in party-ruled states like Himachal Pradesh. The Prime Minister said: "Fifty years ago, the Congress gave its biggest guarantee of 'garibi hatao' (getting rid of poverty). The entire election was fought on this one guarantee by the Congress... It is their biggest fraud in history, which is still going on." Claiming that the Congress has been making several false guarantees in Karnataka as well, the Prime Minister further cautioned the voters and urged them to respond to it during voting on May 10. Earlier in the morning, during the roadshow, the Prime Minister was accompanied by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya and Bengaluru Central MP P.C. Mohan. Standing on the specially designed vehicle, Mr Modi greeted the crowd gathered on the sides of the roads and on nearby buildings, many of whom were seen chanting "Modi, Modi", "Jai Bajarangbali" and "Bharat Mata ki Jai" slogans. At many places, people showered him with flower petals as the PM cavalcade passed through the stretch slowly, amid the sounds of drum beats. The Prime Minister, too, responded by showering the flower petals gathered on the vehicle back at the crowd. Massive arrangements had been made along the stretch, including erecting barricades, to ensure that the roadshow went smoothly. Tight security was put in place. The entire distance was decorated in saffron hues as the BJP flags were seen on either side of the road, and thousands of party workers and supporters too were wearing saffron shawls and caps. Cultural teams were also stationed at different places along the stretch to welcome Mr Modi. Saffron flags with Lord Hanuman's face on them were also spotted at several places. Keeping the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in mind, the BJP on Friday modified Mr Modi's two-day roadshow in Bengaluru by scheduling the extensive event on Saturday and a shorter one on May 7. The roadshow, earlier scheduled to be held for eight hours on Saturday alone, was split into two parts -- on Saturday and Sunday -- to avoid inconvenience to the public. She will be addressing a public meeting at the Kolnad grounds in Mulki, Congress leader Manjunath Bhandary said. Around half a lakh people from Mangaluru North, Moodbidri and Kaup constituencies will take part, he said. (Photo: By arrangement) Hyderabad: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is likely to visit the city on May 8, for a Youth Sangarshan rally and a public meeting at Saroornagar Grounds, according to the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee. Priyanka Gandhi will arrive at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 3.30 pm, proceed to Saroornagar in a chopper and interact with families of Congress leaders who died, giving them Rs 2-lakh cheques, party sources said. Later, Priyanka Gandhi will participate in a public meeting, where she is likely to make a youth declaration for the upcoming polls on the occasion of the Youth Sangarshan rally. After the public meeting, around 5 pm, Priyanka Gandhi would leave for Delhi, leaders said, following a meeting at Gandhi Bhavan, which also saw the presence of AICC Telangana incharge Manikrao Thakre. Thakre said that the ruling BRS government failed to provide jobs to unemployed youth in Telangana and that Priyanka Gandhi would address the public on the injustice done to them. "Priyanka Gandhi will announce the youth declaration in a public meeting. Youth have confidence in the Congress and the party will provide jobs to youth in Telangana. The BRS ruling government has done nothing for youth in nine years," Thakre said. He said that the Congress formed the Telangana state based on the youth movement in the state. After forming Telangana, the BRS party came to power and cheated the youth without providing jobs. Beijing has joined Islamabad in seeking the settlement of the row over Kashmir according to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions a day after a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Goa witnessed a war of words between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan over bilateral disputes. After a meeting between Chinese and Pakistani foreign ministers, Qin Gang and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in Islamabad on Saturday, the two sides issued a joint statement, taking a veiled swipe at New Delhi on the issue of Kashmir and opposing what they called unilateral actions that could further complicate the already volatile situation. China and Pakistan also underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability in South Asia and the need for the resolution of all outstanding disputes. The Pakistani side briefed the Chinese side on the latest developments of the situation in Jammu & Kashmir. The Chinese side reiterated that the Kashmir dispute was left over from history between India and Pakistan and should be properly and peacefully resolved in accordance with the UN Charter, relevant Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements, noted the joint statement released in Beijing and Islamabad. Read | India, Pakistan exchange barbs over terrorism, J&K at SCO meet India has been maintaining that the 1972 Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan and the 1999 Lahore Declaration had left no scope for the UN or any other third party to play any role in resolving the outstanding issues between the two South Asian neighbours. Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modis government in August 2019 moved to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution of India to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and to reorganise the state into two union territories, Beijing and Islamabad have been running an international campaign, opposing what they called a unilateral move by New Delhi on a disputed territory. Both Qin and Bilawal were in Goa on Thursday and Friday for the SCO meeting, which was hosted by External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, at a beach resort in the coastal state. They were joined by the foreign ministers of the other member nations of the bloc. The meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers was however overshadowed by the war of words between Jaishankar and Bilawal. Bilawal accused New Delhi of causing a setback to the India-Pakistan peace process with its August 2019 move on Kashmir. Wake up and smell the coffee. (Article) 370 is history. The sooner people realise it, the better it is, responded Jaishankar, adding that the only issue New Delhi would like to discuss with Islamabad about J&K was when Pakistan would vacate Indias territory it had been illegally occupying. His remark was in response to Bilawals comment that the onus to create a conducive atmosphere for restarting the stalled India-Pakistan dialogue was on New Delhi. Read | What he said is his wish: Bhutto on EAM's terrorism remarks Jaishankar also dismissed Pakistans claim over J&K stating that the territory had been, was and would always remain an integral part of India. Bilawal returned to Islamabad from Goa on Friday. Qin also arrived in the capital of Pakistan on Friday for a pre-scheduled visit. They on Saturday chaired the fourth round of Pakistan-China Foreign Ministers Strategic Dialogue. Addressing media-persons jointly with Qin, Bilawal lauded Chinas steadfast support on all of issues of core national interests of Pakistan including its principled position on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. The UN reaffirmed its "commitment to stay" in Afghanistan on Friday, in a review assessing its operations in the country in light of the Taliban banning women from working for the world body. The United Nations announced on April 4 that the Taliban had barred Afghan women from employment in UN offices countrywide, a prohibition that had previously only affected NGOs but spared the UN. The UN mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, subsequently launched the review, and concluded Friday that it was committed "to stay and deliver on behalf of the men, women and children of Afghanistan," Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the secretary-general, told reporters. It also launched an appeal "to our donors to keep funding this assistance people need," he said. In a statement issued from Kabul, UNAMA reiterated its condemnation of the ban, which "seriously undermines our work, including our ability to reach all people in need." Also Read | Enough is enough: Australian PM Albanese expresses frustration at US effort to extradite Julian Assange However "we cannot disengage despite the challenges," it said, noting that it had conducted "extensive consultations with multiple Afghan stakeholders, including civil society and women's groups, member states and donors." "We continue our focused, principled and constructive engagement with all possible levels of the Taliban de facto authorities to obtain a reversal of this ban and ensure the safety of all UN and aid personnel," it said. UN entities on the ground in Afghanistan will "continue to discuss appropriate working modalities," Haq said, adding that "humanitarian operations continue to be undertaken." Since the ban, UNAMA has asked all of its Afghan staff, both men and women, to work from home, but other agencies in the country "have had different ways of handling the situation," he noted. Since ousting a foreign-backed government in 2021, the Taliban authorities have imposed an austere version of sharia law that the United Nations has labelled "gender-based apartheid." Jharkhand IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, arrested in connection with alleged illegal land deals, was suspended by the Jharkhand government on Saturday, an official said. The Enforcement Directorate had produced him before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Saturday, which had remanded him to six days of ED custody. Also Read | 11 trafficked girls rescued in Bengaluru, brought to Jharkhand's Ranchi "Chhavi Ranjan, Director, Social Welfare, Jharkhand is suspended with immediate effect after his arrest by Enforcement Directorate, regional office under section 19 of the PMLA Act, 2002," a notification issued by the state government said on Saturday evening. The 2011-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre was arrested late on Thursday and taken into ED custody, after he was interrogated for around 10 hours. The special court had on Friday sent Ranjan to Birsa Munda Central Jail, Hotwar. More than 1,100 people from Manipur's Jiribam district and surrounding areas have crossed the inter-state border to enter Assam's Cachar district, following violence in the neighbouring state, officials said on Saturday. Most of the migrants are from the Kuki community and they fear that their homes back in Manipur have been destroyed by the groups which attacked them on Thursday night when they fled to safety in Cachar. "It was around 10 pm on Thursday when we heard screams in our area and it took a few minutes for us to realise that we had been attacked. They were pelting stones, threatened us and said that this is their final war," 43-year-old L Muangpu, a resident of Jiribam said after crossing the state border. Also Read: Manipur violence: Govt issues 'shoot at sight' orders; 55 army columns deployed, RAF flown-in Another resident, 24-year-old Vahcy Khongsai, who along with her family members fled their home, said that there was a peace meeting in their area on Thursday morning and both Meitei and Kuki communities assured to protect each other. "A resolution was taken and we are happy that both the communities have agreed to protect each other. At night, however, we realised that it was a false agreement. They first attacked the church and attempted to burn our homes. The men in our area risked their lives to protect us," she said. Khongsai said the Army controlled the situation on Thursday night but still they preferred to leave their houses at least for sometime. "We are safe till the army is there but they cannot protect us every time. At midnight we decided to walk towards the Assam border and we crossed the Jiri river with kids and elderly persons," she added. Cachar Deputy Commissioner Rohan Kumar Jha visited the border area under Lakhipur Sub-division on Friday and said that all necessary facilities are being provided to the people from Jiribam by the Cachar district administration. Jha said that over 1,100 people from Manipur have come to Cachar via the Jiri river waterway and a few others by road due to fear of the ongoing violence in their state. Some of them have gone to their relatives home and others have taken shelter in the different camps established by the Cachar district administration in Jorkha Hmar lower primary school, Mirpur lower primary school, Fulertal Union high school, and community halls in Rangmaijan, K Bethel and Lalpani villages in the sub-division, the deputy commissioner said. Rations for two days have been provided immediately and more will be distributed as required, he said. The situation along the border area is peaceful the DC said, and appealed to people not to fall prey or spread any rumour related to the unrest in neighbouring Manipur. Cachar Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatto said that security has been beefed up in neighbouring areas of Cachar-Manipur border and all measures have been taken to maintain the peace and tranquility in that area. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government was in constant touch with students from Assam who are in Manipur. "We will bring them back as soon as the first available opportunity arises. I request all family members not to worry about their safety, as we are taking all possible measures to ensure their well-being", Sarma tweeted. The chief minister had directed the Cachar district administration on Friday to take care of Manipur violence-affected families that have sought refuge in the state and that he was in constant touch with his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh. Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy said the Central government is keeping a close eye on this issue and Assam Government is standing by Manipur in this situation. He said that migrants will be safe in Assam till the situation becomes normal in Manipur. Assam's two districts -- Cachar and Dima Hasao -- share a 204.1 km border with Manipur. Violent clashes broke out between tribals and members of the majority Meitei community in Manipur on Wednesday, displacing thousands of people. The clashes were reported after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the ten hill districts of Manipur to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of the state population and live mostly in the Imphal valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside mostly in the hill districts. Abuja A group of 130 Nigerians evacuated from Sudan arrived in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Friday, about 36 hours after another group of nearly 400, mostly students, had landed. The arrivals -- 128 females and two males -- were evacuated from Port Sudan on the Red Sea and received by Nigerian officials. More evacuations are expected in coming days. Nasir Sani Gwarzo, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, told a crowd that Nigerians who fled Sudan to Egypt also will be brought home. "We're getting good cooperation from the Nigerian communities that are living in that port," said Gwarzo. "In the next few hours, we shall have no Nigerian stranded in the Egyptian side." Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency estimates some 5,000 Nigerians were in Sudan when fighting broke out on April 15 between Sudan's military and the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces. On Wednesday, Nigeria evacuated 376 Nigerians from Sudan. Gwarzo said hundreds more will be evacuated soon. Ismail Aliyu, chairman of the nonprofit Center for Peace and Literacy Propagation, said students sponsored by the nonprofit to study in Sudan have yet to be evacuated. "As I speak right now, none of my students is back from Sudan, they're still in Port Sudan," Aliyu said. "The most important thing is that most of the students have left the war zone." Authorities said the evacuation was delayed by logistics and bottlenecks at the Sudanese-Egyptian border. "Some Nigerians were claimed to have entered the bus without permission which caused the Egyptian side to delay the flight until that was sorted," said Gwarzo. "The Nigerians have now been moved into the Egyptian side of the border and we have two planes that can carry all of them at the same time." NEMA said authorities have expanded partnerships with more airlines to evacuate the remaining nationals as soon as possible. Girls outperformed boys in Andhra Pradesh's Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or Class 10 examinations with an overall pass percentage of 72 per cent recorded in the state. Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana announced the SSC results for academic year 2022-23 on Saturday that saw more than six lakh students appearing for it. Out of the total number of students who graduated, 69.2 per cent of boys cleared the examination, compared to 75.3 per cent girls, according to a state government release on Saturday. The pass percentage of girls is 6.1 per cent higher than boys. As many as 933 schools logged 100 per cent pass percentage while 38 registered zero pass percentage. Among the districts, Parvathipuram Manyam secured the top pass percentage of 87.4 per cent while Nandyala witnessed the lowest at 60.3 per cent. SM Energy (NYSE:SM Get Rating) Equities researchers at Capital One Financial dropped their Q2 2023 earnings estimates for SM Energy in a note issued to investors on Thursday, May 4th. Capital One Financial analyst B. Velie now anticipates that the energy company will post earnings per share of $1.29 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.44. The consensus estimate for SM Energys current full-year earnings is $5.60 per share. Capital One Financial also issued estimates for SM Energys Q3 2023 earnings at $1.51 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $1.60 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $1.50 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $1.48 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $1.54 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.59 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $6.11 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $5.31 EPS. Get SM Energy alerts: Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on SM. Roth Capital reissued a buy rating on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $46.00 to $32.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Friday, March 24th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of SM Energy from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Cowen downgraded shares of SM Energy from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $41.00. SM Energy Price Performance Shares of NYSE SM opened at $26.92 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 4.40. SM Energy has a one year low of $24.66 and a one year high of $54.97. The companys fifty day moving average is $28.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.34. SM Energy (NYSE:SM Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 28th. The energy company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.14. SM Energy had a net margin of 41.07% and a return on equity of 28.22%. The firm had revenue of $573.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $559.37 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. SM Energys quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. SM Energy Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 21st were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 20th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.1%. SM Energys payout ratio is 5.89%. Insider Transactions at SM Energy In other news, CEO Herbert S. Vogel bought 1,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.63 per share, with a total value of $25,630.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 406,063 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $10,407,394.69. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $86,460. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SM. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 41.0% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,075 shares of the energy companys stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 2,348 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 28.4% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 20,390 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 4,513 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 55.1% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 63,571 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $2,476,000 after acquiring an additional 22,582 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 110,627 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $4,431,000 after acquiring an additional 2,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,226,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.45% of the companys stock. About SM Energy (Get Rating) SM Energy Co is an independent energy company, which engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Denver, CO. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for SM Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for SM Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Derry's Void Gallery has announced the appointment of Viviana Checchia as its new Director. Viviana Checchia is a curator, programmer, and researcher active internationally and joins Void Gallery from her recent roles as Residency Curator at Delfina Foundation, London, and Senior Lecturer on the MFA at HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg. The Gallery said Viviana brought with her long-standing experience as Co-Director of Vessel, an international curatorial platform based in Puglia, South of Italy, for the support of social, cultural, and economic development through and with contemporary art. "Previous to these roles, she was Public Engagement Curator at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, and has produced and contributed to a range of international projects, including the Young Artist of the Year Award, Ramallah and the 4th Athens Biennale. "Viviana has lectured on curatorial studies and contemporary art practice at amongst others: the Centre for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York, MA Social Practice and the Creative Environment, Limerick Institute of Technology; the International Academy of Art Palestine, Ramallah. With Anna Santomauro, she received the 2013 ICI/Dedalus Research Award for research into the legacy of socially-engaged art practice in the U.S., and in 2016 was awarded the Igor Zabel Award for Culture and Theory Laureates choice for her contributions to the comprehension of and international interest in Eastern European art. "Viviana holds a PhD from Loughborough University that focused on alternative Mediterranean curatorial practices. She currently serves as a trustee of cultural organisation, Timespan, Helmsdale, Scotland." Welcoming the appointment, Void Board member and Curator at IMMA Ireland, Sean Kissane, said: "The Board of Void is delighted to welcome Viviana as the new Director. She has a fantastic record of achievement in many fields, including the co-founding of Vessel with its focus on socially engaged practice, public programming, commissioning, and writing. Viviana has set out a very exciting vision for Void, and we eagerly anticipate seeing how this will evolve and develop in the coming years. "The Board would like to sincerely thank the outgoing Director, Mary Cremin, for her extraordinary work at Void, among the highlights were Helen Cammocks winning of the Turner Prize; bringing Eva Rothschild to the Venice Biennale; and moving the gallery to its new home in Waterloo Place. We wish her the very best with her future endeavours. Responding to her appointment, Viviana said: I am really looking forward very much to taking on my new role at Void and to working with the team and the board. "Art and its relationship with society is one of the catalysts that has informed my work to date and I am excited to see what we can do at Void by way of this catalyst, with the locale and with the wide array of artists, curators and organisations connected to Void. Engagement and commoning have been very important aspects of my practice and I hope to share some of this approach as we shape a future for the organisation with Voids creative ecosystem that is responsive to the urgent socio-environmental issues of our time and imaginative with the ways in which contemporary art can drive that ambition. Image credit: Candice Earle-Hutton Photography, 2023 Today marked a proud and momentous day for the management and staff at City of Derry Airport, and the entire Northwest region, as the first service in history between City of Derry and London Heathrow Airport took to the skies. The new service operated by Loganair, who have a long-standing partnership with the Airport spanning over four decades, is now available three times per day. This not only provides frequent air access to one of the worlds leading transport hubs, but also offers a fast and convenient gateway for international outbound travel and inbound tourism opportunities via the Northwest. The launch was celebrated at the Airport with special guests; Cllr Sandra Duffy, the Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Anna Doherty, CEO of Derry Chamber of Commerce, James Kilgore, Vice President of Causeway Chamber of Commerce, Shane Grant, Board Member at Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce, and Ciaran Doherty, Head of Regions at Tourism NI. The passengers on the inaugural outbound London Heathrow service received some VIP treatment with the provision of some complimentary refreshments and goodies to get their trip off to a best start, and the first inbound passengers also received a truly memorable Welcome to the Northwest with a water cannon salute to celebrate the inaugural arrival from London Heathrow! Steve Frazer, Managing Director at City of Derry Airport, expressed his delight at the launch: The take off of Loganairs new service between City of Derry Airport and London Heathrow Airport is a significant milestone for us. Gaining international hub access is a substantial step in the economic and strategic growth of the region and our vision for the future of the Airport. In terms of outbound travel, London Heathrow truly opens a Gateway to the World, as passengers are now able to book single ticket connections to and from City of Derry Airport via London Heathrow to 119 destinations across 56 countries. Destinations across Europe, Middle East, North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australasia will all soon be available from City of Derry Airport through Loganairs partner airlines such as British Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, KLM / Air France, Virgin, Singapore Airlines and Finnair, with several more to follow, all from the convenience of your local Airport. Mr. Frazer continued: We look forward to welcoming the world to the Northwest and connecting our people across the globe, with our own world class welcome and customer service experience. Jonathan Hinkles, Loganairs Chief Executive, said: This is a milestone moment for Loganair - and indeed for regional connectivity as we operate the first flights between City of Derry and London Heathrow. Those travelling from Northern Ireland can take advantage of Heathrows improved access into central London via the new Elizabeth Line or its vast range of onward flight connections as an international hub. In return it also opens the possibilities for business and leisure travellers to visit City of Derry, with a choice of three departures in each direction every weekday throughout the year. The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Cllr Sandra Duffy was delighted to be part of the official launch of the route to London Heathrow. The new route between City of Derry and London Heathrow is great news for the city and region. This connection not only sees the retention of this vital service to London that is so important to our local business community, but it further opens up access to destinations right across the world, which will be of huge benefit to both business and tourism. "This new arrangement offers passengers a wide range of benefits with increased availability in flights and reductions in travel times, that will further enhance the first class travel experience already offered by City of Derry Airport. For more information on Loganairs NEW service between London Heathrow Airport and City of Derry Airport, and the onward international connections to 119 destinations across 56 countries, visit www.loganair.co.uk. Tributes have been paid to Fr Kevin Mullan for his immense work and dedication locally following his death this morning. Fr Kevin Mullan dedicated a lot of his time over the years to the feis in the city. The Committee of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Fr Kevin Mullan. A former secretary of the institution, Fr Kevin was until his passing still chairperson of the institution and had as ever paid his customary visit to the feis just a few short weeks ago at Easter. His association with the feis began in the early 1970s when as a recently ordained priest at St Patrick's in Pennyburn he was asked to take over the reigns from the late Fr Willie McGaughey. His qualifications for the post of feis secretary came as a result of his own participation in the feis as an Irish dancer. Feis Registrar Ursula Clifford described the news of Fr Mullan's death as "heartbreaking". "My own mother, Sibeal Sharkey, was like a second mother to him. I'm heartbroken. He had a great passion for the dancing at the feis and keeping it going as well as organising the rest of the disciplines." Feis Secretary, Aisling Bonner added: "Fr Kevin was instrumental in keeping Feis Dhoire Cholmcille alive through some very dark days in this city and his love for it never diminished even when his clerical duties saw him move to Drumquin which was close to his native town of Omagh. "On behalf of the Committee of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille I want to express our sincere condolences to Fr Kevin's family circle, his clerical colleagues and his wide circle of friends. "To say that his experience, knowledge and wisdom is relation to the feis will be greatly missed, is a vast understatement." Drumquin GAA also paid tribute to Fr Mullan in a post on social media. A spokesperson for the club said: "It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Fr Mullan in the early hours of this morning. "He has been an integral part of our community for over 20 years and will be sadly missed by us all. "Despite his failing health over the past few years, he remained dedicated to his work and fought his illness bravely. We were delighted that he was able to be with us last year for the opening of our new pitch and he was a great supporter of any events we held. "Rest in eternal peace now Fr Kevin, your work on earth is done. "On behalf of our Committee, Players and Members we would like to offer our heartfelt sympathy to his sister Joan, extended family, fellow Priests in the Diocese and his great many friends in Drumquin, Omagh and beyond. "Ar dheis De go rabih a anam "As a mark of respect all Club activities have been suspended until after the funeral." On May 9, the Poco F5 5G series is expected to go on sale worldwide. The Poco F5 5G and the Poco F5 Pro 5G model are part of the series. On the same day, the Poco F5 5G series' entry-level model, which is anticipated to supplant the Poco F4 5G, will also go on sale in India. Poco has been hinting at some of the smartphone's primary features and aesthetics before the debut. The Poco F5 5G India variant's colour selections and other important features have now been officially announced. Himanshu Tandon, the head of Poco India, reportedly revealed the India-specific Poco F5 5G smartphone, which will be on sale on May 9 at 5:30 PM IST. The vanilla variant of the model will be available with 8GB RAM and 256GB memory. The smartphone can be found in two colours, Charcoal Black and Snowstorm White, which are exclusively available on Flipkart. Also read: Nothing Phone (2) coming later this year: Check confirmed specs Snapdragon recently announced the new 4nm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 5G chipset which will be powering the upcoming Poco F5 5G, claimed by Tandon. The smartphone will sport narrow bezels, with a hole-punch slot in the centre that will flaunt the front camera on the topmost surface of the screen. Tandon also mentioned that the device has an AnTuTu score of nearly a million and the display panel of the device is suggested to be the most efficient with a 93 per cent screen-to-body ratio. A turbine-like design can be observed on the back of the phone where the text written on the camera module suggests that the set of triple rear cameras on the Poco F5 5G India variant are projected to flaunt a 64-megapixel main sensor. Also read: 5 awesome features that make Samsung Galaxy M14 5G a game changer! The Poco F5 5G is expected to include a 6.67-inch full-HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, according to past rumours. With an Adreno 725 GPU, the forthcoming Snapdragon 7 series SoC could run Android 13 alongside MIUI 14 on top. An 8-megapixel sensor with an ultra-wide angle lens plus a 2-megapixel sensor featuring a macro lens is probably going to be added to the Poco F5 5G's primary rear camera. A 16-megapixel sensor might be used with the front camera. The phone, which is anticipated to be a Redmi K60 rebrand, is anticipated to be powered by a 5,000mAh battery with 67W fast charging capabilities. For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. Upper-midrange smartphones from Oppo in the Reno10 series will soon be available. According to the company's typical biannual release schedule for the Reno range, the Reno10, Reno10 Pro, and Reno10 Pro+ should go on sale in the coming weeks. As a result, more leaks are beginning to appear than before. CAD-based renderings of the Reno10 Pro are available today. In comparison to their predecessors, which were released in China last year, the Reno10 phones appear to have a fresh rear design. Also read: Nothing Phone (2) coming later this year: Check confirmed specs The Reno10 Pro will have a screen size of 6.7 inches with the centred hole-punch notch for the selfie snapper that you observe in the renders, citing the source of the pictures. The device reportedly has dimensions of 163.2 x 74.2 x 7.9 mm. The amplifier grille and USB-C connector are located on the bottom. The volume and power buttons appear to be located on the right side of the device, where Oppo has traditionally liked to place them. The launch of the Reno10 series could impact that, or perhaps the renderings are inaccurate. We can only wait and observe. Previous rumours claim that the MediaTek Dimensity 8200 SoC, a minor upgrade from the 8100 seen in the Reno9 Pro, will power the Reno10 Pro. Also read: 5 best Amazon Great Summer Sale deals on smartphones that you should check out That is all the information we currently have regarding its specifications. However, information on its more expensive brother, the Reno10 Pro+, has been provided in much greater detail. According to rumours, the top-tier Reno will have a periscope zoom camera on the rear, a 6.74-inch curved 1220x2712 120 Hz display, a 50 MP primary camera alongside Sony's IMX890 sensor, a 4,700 mAh battery along with 100W charging, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC at the forefront with up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512GB of storage. For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 has been in rumours for a while now. Past leaks and rumours show how it isnt just an incremental update over its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4. The leaks have revealed a lot of massive improvements and also a much larger cover display. Earlier, except for the size of the cover display nothing much was deciphered about the cover. But new rumours have much more to offer about the display now. Let's go ahead and have a look at that. Leaks about Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 cover display According to the leaks and tips, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a lot of new features and widgets on the cover screen. But what widgets these tips suggest are unknown. Earlier, the predecessor Galaxy Z Flip 4 also had widgets on the cover display but there were quite a handful of them and because of the smaller size there were restrictions in the functionality as well. So, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 owing to its larger size will have much more widgets and the functionalities are also expected to be much more. Also, the tips and leaks suggest that hopefully owing to its bigger size, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will have the ability to work on different apps on the cover itself like a lot of its competitors have indulged in. But whatever the tips and leaks suggest aren't verified yet. These can only be counted on, only when Samsung decided to announce the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 or launch it. Except for this earlier leaks had given out some information about the software, battery, camera and battery of the foldable smartphone. Now, it's expected to be launched super soon and then we'll be able to know all about this foldable device. For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. Nairobi Mukami Kimathi, the widow of Kenya's revered freedom fighter Dedan, will be laid to rest on May 13, 2023. Confirming the burial date, the family spokesperson Evelyn Kimathi stated that they consulted with President William Ruto. Mukami died on Thursday night at the Nairobi Hospital aged 101. Until her death, Mukami has been advocating for the exhumation of the remains of her husband from Kamiti Maximum Prison to be buried at his home. Dedan headed the feared Mau Mau rebellion and was executed half a century ago by the colonial authorities, prompting her later to appeal to the Kenyan government to exhume his body so he could be given a state funeral. But successive governments tried and failed to locate his remains. Official government records show that Kimathi was captured by the colonial administration in 1956 at Kahigaini in the Aberdare ranges and executed in 1957 in Kamiti Prison. "I do not want to die before being shown the exact place where my husband was buried. I want to see the remains of my Kimathi before I go. I do not have long to live and this matter has been a thorn in my flesh," Mukami said in a recent media interview. Kimathi, born Kimathi wa Waciuri, was a senior military and spiritual leader of the Mau Mau uprising who led the armed struggle against the British colonial regime in Kenya in the 1950s until 1956 when he was captured and executed a year later. He is believed to have been born in 1920. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he looks forward to hosting the King in Ireland. Mr Varadkar and Irish president Michael D Higgins attended the coronation service in Westminster Abbey in London. They were also present at a reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday and spoke to Charles and members of the UK Government. Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar is attending the coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey in London today. He also attended a reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday evening.https://t.co/k6mpqeXPNd pic.twitter.com/IIAZoJQdU0 MerrionStreet.ie (@merrionstreet) May 6, 2023 The Taoiseach said: King Charles and Queen Camilla are long-standing friends of Ireland and King Charles has visited regularly in the past two decades, supporting good bilateral relations, co-operation, peace and reconciliation. I expressed my hope that his regular visits will continue into his reign. I was pleased to accept the invitation to attend the coronation, alongside President Higgins, symbolising the close neighbourly relations between our two countries. This is a historic moment for the British people, for the realm, and for their friends around the world. Mr Varadkar added: We have deep political, economic, cultural, and personal links with Britain, which provided a welcome home to so many of our citizens for generations. A vibrant British community actively contributes to life in Ireland in so many ways. And, of course, there are many people, in the north especially, who are both British and Irish. As we mark the coronation of King Charles III, I look forward to further strengthening British-Irish relations and the friendship between our peoples and look forward to welcoming the royal couple to Ireland in due course. Mr Higgins is the first Irish head of state to attend a coronation. To mark the event, Mr Higgins and and his wife Sabina requested the Tree Council of Ireland plant a native Irish oak tree in the woodland forest of Aurora in Co Wicklow. The gesture was to acknowledge the Kings commitment to environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, the Speakers of the Dail, Sean O Fearghail, and of the Senate, Jerry Buttimer, have offered their congratulations to Charles and Camilla following the coronation. In a joint statement the Ceann Comhairle and Cathaoirleach said: On behalf of the Houses of the Oireachtas, we congratulate King Charles and Queen Camilla on this auspicious day and wish them well in their endeavours for the British people. As the late Queen Elizabeth herself acknowledged during her landmark visit to Ireland in 2011, the history between these islands is long and complex, but at the same time the family, cultural and economic ties that bind the people of Ireland and the United Kingdom make us firm friends. Like his late parents, King Charles has worked over the decades to build and nurture peace and reconciliation between the communities in Northern Ireland, across this island and between Ireland and Britain. Throughout her long reign, his late mother was the embodiment of public service, dedicated to performing her duties for her people at home and committed to representing her nation abroad. We know King Charles will continue in that tradition to build his own relations and legacy as monarch. Music fans are in for an outstanding evening of world class blues on May 25 in Toales Bar of Dundalk at 7pm, in a fundraising gig in aid of the Irish Cancer Society, organised by Mags Tuite. Local blues pioneer Grainne Duffy, described as having a "voice that is as passionate as it is raw and honest", the legendary Harbour Blues Band, Sam Davidsons TASTE, and the Mc Collum Brothers, are gathering under one roof for an evening of exceptional selected music in support of Mags Tuite and the Irish Cancer Society. Even under the duress of not-for-the-first-time chemo treatment, Mags Tuite has gathered these remarkable musical talents to raise awareness and funds for the amazing services of the Irish Cancer Society. Grainne Duffy who needs no introduction performs in Toales coinciding with release of her new album Dirt Woman Blues, recorded in collaboration with Marc Forde formerly of the Black Crowes. Audiences may well have enjoyed the Harbour Blues Band, whose regular Sunday afternoon gigs in the Spirit Store were legendary. The lads who play an innovative blend of blues, some of which has its origins at the start of the 1920s, are set to light up the old fans and make new ones with their set on the night. Sam Davidson's TASTE an iconic blues/rock band from the 60s were founded by songwriter and guitarist Rory Gallagher who left the band in 1970. Sam Davidson has taken over Rory Gallaghers role as frontman as TASTE with McCracken and Mills keeping the sound and energy of the original band alive. The Mc Collum Brothers, Shane and Roddy, will perform their original blend of Celtic Rock. Dont miss this opportunity to re-live Rorys sound at Toales on Crowe Street, Dundalk, on May 25th at 7pm. This is a night and of exceptional international talent brought to local audiences in the spirit of awareness and support. Tickets 15 at the door - All donations gratefully accepted. The National Director of Junior Cycle for Teachers, Dr Padraig Kirk, was in Colaiste Chu Chulainn last week to present the 2022 Junior Cycle Profiles of Achievements. Speaking of the visit of Dr Kirk, Deputy principal Ms Niamh O'Neill stated: "It is a great honour for us to have Dr Kirk in our school for these awards. "The Junior Certificate was reformed under Dr Kirk's leadership. Now all students receive evidence of their exam results, skills and additional achievements. Some of our student's certificates detail their five languages, All Ireland sporting successes, engineering innovations and community-based actions." Dr Kirk was the Chief Executive in charge when Colaiste Chu Chulainn was sanctioned as a new school for the area. He explained the importance of innovation to the students assembled: "Colaiste Chu Chulainn is a leader in innovation in Irish education. Your building has the highest specifications in design and your equipment is the most modern available. It is a source of pride to all of us in education leadership that you have built a culture of success and achievement in your nine year's history. Student, Franciszik Chmielecki spoke on behalf of the students in thanking Dr Kirk for his advice: "As a student body, we are proud of the certificates you are awarding to us. we worked hard for them and know that they are a valuable account of our efforts. "The Junior Cycle has set us on a positive road in our senior studies and we are committed to doing our best." Two north-east primary schools are celebrating this week as they were announced as the winners of the recent Setanta Wind Park art competition. SSE Renewables ran the competition in celebration of the renamed Setanta Wind Park and to acknowledge the community feedback shared during public consultation across Louth, Meath East and North Dublin last year, a spokesperson said. Fourth Class pupil Ruby Durnin from Scoil Mhuire na Trocaire, Ardee, Co. Louth and Ava OConnell from Sixth Class in Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh, Laytown each won 3,000 for their school, to be used for the purchase of digital technology equipment. Their artworks depicting folk legend Setanta were chosen as the winning entries. Deirdre Sweeney, Principal, Scoil Mhuire na Trocaire, Ardee said: Thanks to SSE Renewables for this IT funding which will be put to very good use in our school, and well done to our own Ruby Durnin who created such a beautiful artwork to submit to the competition. I also thank the class teacher Ms Mason for her work with the class preparing all their entries. Bryan OConnor, Project Manager, SSE Renewables said: Congratulations to Ruby and Ava and to their schools for supporting them to create such wonderful artworks. We were bowled over by the standard of artistic talent shared with us from schools across the Setanta Wind Park catchment area. Thank you to all the students and schools who took part and we hope to be offering more opportunities like this locally as we continue to develop the project. Blaithin Maguire, Principal, Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh, Laytown said: We are very proud of Ava and all the students who took part in this competition. It is wonderful to receive a prize that can make a real impact and through a project that can get us thinking and talking about renewable energy. SSE Renewables renamed the formerly known Braymore Wind Park to Setanta Wind Park last November based on local feedback that the existing name was not identifiable with the wider communities that the wind park covered, a spokesperson explained. The name Setanta was the given name of one of the great champions of the ancient Irish sagas, Cu Chulainn who dominates as a giant of Irish mythology including in the series of epic tales collectively known as The Ulster Cycle. Setanta was the name used until he was bestowed with the warrior badge-of-honour title Cu Chulainn. The battles, skirmishes and scrapes in the closing sections of the Tain, as the poem/saga is usually more briefly referred to, took place in the present-day counties of Meath and Louth. In fact, most of the action took place between present-day Drogheda and Dundalk, overlooking the section of sea in which Setanta Wind Park will be situated. The proposed Setanta Wind Park site is situated off the northeast coast of Ireland in the Irish Sea between Dunany Point in County Louth at its most northern point and Braymore Point in County Dublin and secured a foreshore licence to facilitate surveys of the seabed to enhance understanding of the prevailing conditions at the site. Once operational, Setanta Wind Park will be capable of generating up to 1GW of renewable energy, powering over 1 million homes and offsetting up to 1 billion kgs of carbon annually. Pakistan, China vow to strengthen ties, deepen cooperation Xinhua) 11:25, May 06, 2023 Pakistani President Arif Alvi (R) meets with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Islamabad, Pakistan, on May 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan and China have vowed to strengthen bilateral relations, jointly accelerate the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and deepen cooperation in the fields including agriculture, connectivity and information technology. At a meeting with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Friday, Pakistani President Arif Alvi said the friendly relations between Pakistan and China are rooted in the profound traditional friendship between the two peoples. The more profoundly the international situation changes, the more close and solid friendship between Pakistan and China should be forged, and the good tradition of frequent exchanges between the two countries should be carried forward, the president said. The Pakistani side sincerely appreciates China for its great support for Pakistan's efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing post-disaster reconstruction, and evacuating overseas Pakistanis from the conflict-hit Sudan, said Alvi. The president said the Pakistani side looks forward to making joint efforts with China to push forward the CPEC construction, as well as deepen cooperation on agriculture, connectivity and information technology. Pakistan firmly pursues the one-China policy and supports China on issues concerning its core interests, such as those concerning China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the president stressed. Pakistan will make every effort to ensure the safety of the Chinese personnel and institutions in Pakistan and is ready to work with China for peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan, he noted. For his part, Qin said that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, noting that consolidating and enhancing the bilateral ironclad friendship has been the priority for the successive governments of the two countries. Stressing that China has always stood firmly with Pakistan, Qin said the Chinese side upholds Pakistan's unity, stability, development and prosperity, and supports Pakistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. China is willing to join hands with Pakistan to implement Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, jointly resist external risks and challenges, and steadily promote the China-Pakistan community with a shared future, Qin said. China stands ready to work with Pakistan to promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), accelerate the CPEC construction, deepen cooperation in fields such as industry, agriculture, information technology, and disaster prevention and mitigation, and help Pakistan restore its economy and improve people's livelihood, the Chinese foreign minister said. Qin said China and Pakistan should strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, adding that China encourages more outstanding Pakistani students to study in China. The Chinese side is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with the Pakistani side on the Afghan issue in order to promote the peace and reconstruction process in Afghanistan and contribute to regional stability and development, he added. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) analysis Will other African countries now also consider withdrawal from the International Criminal Court so Putin can visit? Just as South Africa was done rescinding its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the saga of former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir's 2015 visit to Johannesburg, it probably wished it had withdrawn after all. Because now the government has to deal with another dilemma over a visiting head of state with an ICC arrest warrant - Russian President Vladimir Putin. So Pretoria is again toying with the idea of pulling out of the ICC. Or at least amending South Africa's 2002 ICC legislation to try to legalise immunity for visiting heads of state. This raises a question about whether the country's revised approach to the international court might not inspire some of the 33 other African signatories of the ICC's Rome Statute to follow suit. Pretoria was reprimanded by the ICC and its own courts after ignoring an ICC request to arrest and surrender al-Bashir when he visited the country for an African Union (AU) summit. Al-Bashir was indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed between 2003 and 2008 in Sudan's Darfur region. The ICC arrest warrants for al-Bashir, and Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, who both became presidents, provoked anger in the AU and an instruction to member states to not cooperate with the court. It also triggered moves in Africa to withdraw. South Africa under former president Jacob Zuma tried to leave but was blocked in 2017 by its courts because the move hadn't been approved by Parliament. Then President Cyril Ramaphosa replaced Zuma, and the steps to withdraw were shelved and eventually dropped, in March this year. However, just days later, the ICC issued its warrant for Putin's arrest. The Russian president is allegedly responsible for war crimes against children in Ukraine since February 2022. The court's decision threw Pretoria into a panic as Putin is due to visit South Africa in August for the BRICS summit (with Brazil, Russia, India and China). So last week, both Ramaphosa and the African National Congress (ANC) caused an uproar by announcing that South Africa intended, again, to withdraw from the ICC. This was a shock to rule of law advocates inside and outside government, who were encouraged by the recent confirmation of their commitment to the international court. Then, just hours later, both recanted these decisions. They said withdrawal was the last option if other solutions to the dilemma of hosting Putin and complying with its ICC obligations failed. This embarrassing about-turn has prompted considerable speculation about Ramaphosa's competence. Some wonder whether Russia has some powerful hold over the ANC, perhaps financial. One solution was suggested by Justice Minister Ronald Lamola when he told Parliament this week that government was exploring the possibility of amending the country's ICC implementation act to allow the usual diplomatic immunity to visiting heads of state. Lamola said countries such as Britain and the Netherlands had domesticated the Rome Statute to allow the executive to exit or suspend the statute's operations if it was not in the national interest to implement them. Experts have privately expressed doubts to ISS Today that the law could be amended in time for the BRICS summit. It seems more likely that the summit will be held virtually or elsewhere. Still, Pretoria appears to be preparing for future visits by allies who might fall foul of the ICC. The government has again made it clear that it thinks the ICC is biased in its prosecutions against Africa and enemies of the West. The ANC, Ramaphosa and Lamola have all quoted Amnesty International's 2022/2023 human rights report that blasted the international community - including the ICC - for 'shameless double standards.' Amnesty International said the West's 'robust response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine' - including the ICC indictment of Putin - 'contrasts sharply with a deplorable lack of meaningful action on grave violations by some of their allies including Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.' It also contrasted the ICC action against Russia to 'pitiful existing responses on conflicts such as Ethiopia and Myanmar.' Could similar sentiments motivate other African countries to consider withdrawal from the ICC? South Africa has a particular grievance because of its BRICS membership and strong historical ties to Russia, or at least the Soviet Union. But other African countries have similar ties. Namibia's ruling South West Africa People's Organisation also received military and other support from the Soviet Union in its liberation struggle. President Hage Geingob, who visited South Africa last week, has also threatened to pull Namibia out of the ICC before.The fact that many African countries voted against or abstained from United Nations General Assembly resolutions condemning Russia's aggression in Ukraine suggests that dismay at Putin's indictment may extend to other states on the continent. The ANC's decision to rescind its withdrawal from the ICC also noted that few African countries had ratified the Malabo Protocol. This would enable the African Court to replace the ICC as a viable - and from Africa's perspective, more objective - judge of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and transnational organised crime. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines South Africa Legal Affairs Governance 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. The continent has no real intention of establishing a viable African Court though. So withdrawal from the ICC shouldn't be a real option. However, the sort of changes Lamola proposes could have some traction on the continent, even though that means blunting the most important purpose of the ICC - to ensure that even heads of state don't escape justice. There is another irony in this saga. While the ANC welcomed Amnesty International's criticism of the ICC's disproportionate focus on Ukraine, would the ANC necessarily appreciate a more even-handed approach in practice? This week Nigerian human rights lawyer and activist Chidi Odinkalu rebuked the ICC for being so focused on Ukraine that it was neglecting the violence in Sudan - including Darfur, 'a location under active ICC consideration.' It was in Darfur, of course, that atrocities were committed almost 20 years ago for which Bashir was indicted. If the ICC were to issue arrest warrants for the two antagonists in Sudan's war, Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and one of them emerged as Sudan's head of state, would Pretoria and other African capitals be happy to welcome him? Peter Fabricius, Consultant, ISS Pretoria opinion Bonn The world is in permanent crisis mode. In addition to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, the war in Ukraine and other violent conflicts, a worldwide cost of living crisis and an intensified debt crisis in more and more countries of the global South are affecting large parts of humanity. Scientists are now even warning of the risk of a global polycrisis, "a single, macro-crisis of interconnected, runaway failures of Earth's vital natural and social systems that irreversibly degrades humanity's prospects". Human rights, and especially women's rights, are under attack in many countries. Nationalism, sometimes coupled with increasing authoritarianism, has been on the rise worldwide. Rich countries of the global North continue to practice inhumane migration policies toward refugees. At the same time, they pursue self-serving and short-sighted "my country first" policies, whether in hoarding vaccines and subsidizing their domestic pharmaceutical industries, or in the race for global natural gas reserves. This has undermined multilateral solutions and lead to a growing atmosphere of mistrust between countries. "Trust is in short supply", UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council in August 2022. Consequently, Member States defined one of the main purposes of the Summit of the Future in September 2024 to be "restoring trust among Member States". Antonio Guterres had proposed to hold such a Summit of the Future, which he described as "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate global action, recommit to fundamental principles, and further develop the frameworks of multilateralism so they are fit for the future". The Summit offers an opportunity, at least in theory, to respond to the current crises with far-reaching political agreements and institutional reforms. However, this presupposes that the governments do not limit themselves to symbolic action and voluntary commitments but take binding decisions - also and above all on the provision of (financial) resources for their implementation. In this context, the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) remains absolutely valid. Without such decisions, it will hardly be possible to regain trust between countries. The G77 emphasized in a statement on 20 April 2023, "since the Summit of the Future is meant to turbo-charge the SDGs, it must address comprehensively the issue of Means of Implementation for the 2030 Agenda, which includes, but is not limited to, financing, technology transfer and capacity building." Of course, it would be naive to believe that the risk of a global polycrisis could be overcome with a single summit meeting. But the series of upcoming global summits, from the SDG Summit 2023 and the Summit of the Future 2024 to the 4th Financing for Development Conference and the second World Social Summit 2025, can certainly contribute to shaping the political discourse on the question of which structural changes are necessary to respond to the global crises and to foster multilateral cooperation based on solidarity. Our new report Spotlight on Global Multilateralism aims to contribute to this process. It offers critical analyses and presents recommendations for strengthening democratic multilateral structures and policies. The report covers a broad range of issue areas, from peace and common security, reforms of the global financial architecture, calls for a New Social Contract and inclusive digital future, to the rights of future generations, and the transformation of education systems. The report also identifies some of the built-in deficiencies and weaknesses of current multilateral structures and approaches. This applies, inter alia, to concepts of corporate-influenced multistakeholderism, for instance in the area of digital cooperation. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Africa Governance Climate 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. On the other hand, the report explores alternatives to purely intergovernmental multilateralism, such as the increased role of local and regional governments and their workers and trade unions at the international level. Seventy-five years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a key challenge is to create mechanisms to ensure that human rights - as well as the rights of future generations and the rights of nature - are no longer subordinated to the vested interests of powerful economic elites in multilateral decision-making. Timid steps and the constant repetition of the agreed language of the past will not be enough. More fundamental and systemic changes in policies, governance and mindsets are necessary to regain trust and to foster multilateral cooperation based on solidarity and international law. Jens Martens is Executive Director of Global Policy Forum Europe IPS UN Bureau FRIENDS and family travelled from Brazil, Thailand, London, and all over Ireland to join Karen Clancy and Lucas Guedes on their special day. They feature in today's Wedding of the Week. Karen is from Fermoy and Lucas is from Sao Paulo in Brazil. They currently live in Nenagh, County Tipperary. Karen is working as a post primary art teacher in Limerick and Lucas is an electrical engineer. SAYING I DO: Karen Clancy and Lucas Guedes at the Vienna Woods Hotel, Glanmire, where they were married. Pictures: Murat Terzi The couple met in July, 2020, for a coffee after messaging online for a few weeks. Karen recalled: We shared a lot of similar interests and got on great. We got engaged on September 3, 2021, near Lough Doire Bhile with Lucas on one knee. "We love being outdoors and going on little adventures so it was perfect. They were married in a civil ceremony by Alison Driscoll from Bespoke Words. She really made the ceremony around our personal story, which was so special, the bride said. Karen Clancy and Lucas Guedes with their wedding party on their special day. The ceremony and reception were hosted at the Vienna Woods in Glanmire, Cork, on October 30, 2022. The bride sourced her dress in Memories Bridal Boutique in Cork, her gold shoes were from Anna Fielden and her head-piece was made by a UK designer at The Handmade Tiara. The brides wedding rings were a set of three bands from Chupi with a green emerald at the centre. Lucas had a celtic inspired wedding band in yellow gold and rose gold from Clonmel jewellers. ECHO FEATURES Wedding of the Week Karen Clancy and Lucas Guedes Pictures: Murat Terzi The band Hot Fuss had everyone on the dance floor Irish dancing and rocking the boat till late. Thanking everyone who travelled to be with them on the day, Karen said: We felt immense gratitude for the love shared on the day and it was really special. One of our favourite parts of the day was a handfasting, which I had not seen before so we were really delighted by this, as well as that the music was so important to creating the atmosphere. My uncle Jimmy Morrison was playing the accordion, my best friends Ryan, Orla and Amy sang and played guitar in parts. Karen Clancy with her maid of honour and bridesmaids. The bride sourced her dress from Memories Bridal in Cork, which her talented uncle Dermot was able to adjust to her measurements. It really was a family affair with my cousin Aisling doing the make-up and my auntie Eileen doing a fantastic job of everyones hair. I was also fortunate enough to have time the day before the wedding to make up the flower arrangements together with my friends with Ber making the bouquets with a variety of locallying sourced greens and shop bought flowers. The couple had a stunning autumnal themed cake which tasted amazing, made by a Brazilian Baker @sweetsmilecork. It was the input of everyone that made the build up and the day extra special for myself and Lucas. We will always cherish the memories of the day and all the love shared. We are excited for the adventures that lie ahead. ENGLISH Market trader Virginia OGara is already doing her bit to save the planet, as the devoted vegan runs the My Goodness food stall there. The Texan-born foodie is also trying to reduce food waste at the popular Cork city venue, as she tells Michael Kelly in the final episode of Food Matters on RTE1 on Wednesday May 10 at 8.30pm. Virginia, who established the raw vegan food company My Goodness almost a decade ago, explains to Michael how she is trying to change policy in the English Market when it comes to food waste. Also in the episode, Michael looks into the work of the Cork Urban Soil Project and its bio-di gester, which composts urban food scraps and use the resulting soil enhancer to grow more food, right in the middle of the city. Scientist Odile Le Bolloch, of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Wexford, reveals the shocking statistics regarding the current level of food waste in Ireland, including the fact that in 2020, households were the biggest producers of food waste, accounting for 31% of the total. Heading to Dublin, Michael Kelly meets journalist Conor Pope to gauge the public perception of food waste. In search of some projects that are trying to make a difference when it comes to waste, he meets Bernie Brannick from Falling Fruit in Aventine Wellness Garden in Foxrock, which donates excess apples to Falling Fruit, then distributes them to charities. Michael then looks at how technology can play its part in food waste by interviewing London- based Too Good To Go (Technology App) CEO Jamie Crummie, and MD for UK and Ireland Sophie Trueman. Plus, we hear from chef Conor Spacey of FoodSpace, who runs numerous zero-waste kitchens. ECHO columnist, blogger, and award-winning food writer and founder of Flavour.ie, Kate Ryan has been named Blas na hEireanns Producers Champion for 2023. The Producers Champion is selected annually by Blas na hEireann producers, based on a survey that goes out to the entire Blas network a network that covers every county in Ireland with producers from across the food industry. Originally from Bristol, Kate moved to Cork in 2005 and quickly recognised the food scene in Ireland was becoming transformative. With a growing number of food and drink producers and an increasing abundance of exceptional restaurants to celebrate, her idea of Flavour.ie became a reality. The platform, which is dedicated to promoting Irish food and drink, also features her blog, The Flavour Files, where Kate writes about great local produce, seasonality, wild and foraged food, and craft drinks of all kinds, with recipes that illustrate how artisan foods are as at home in our kitchens as they are on a restaurant menu. As well as writing for her own website, Kate writes regularly as a food features writer for The Echo and Irish Examiner, among others. I write about Irish producers to showcase and highlight what they do because I care so passionately about them. We are blessed on this island to have such a vast amount of fantastic produce and it is so important to celebrate that. I started Flavour.ie as an ode to exceptional Irish producers, so this award is down to them. Artie Clifford, founder of Blas na hEireann said: Kates contribution to the Irish food scene is deeply appreciated, as is her continued support for producers. She is incredibly well-regarded in the industry so I know that the extended Blas family will see this award of Producers Champion 2023 for Kate as something that is extremely well-deserved. Joining past Producers Champions like Simon Coveney TD, Neven Maguire, John & Sally McKenna, and last years winners Johnny McDowell & Laura Bradley from Indie Fude, Kate Ryan is keeping very good company indeed. A 'jam-packed' festival featuring over 50 art, design and craft events is set to take place in the heart of the city later this month. Cork Craft & Design, benchspace, Sample-Studios and Shandon Art Studios are joining forces to present STAMP Festival of Creativity which will run from May 19-21 at the Counting House on South Main Street. The festival will include a mix of free and ticketed exhibitions, workshops, demonstrations and screenings. Attendees will be able to forge their own ring, learn how to dye cotton fabric with low water immersion technique using pleating and tying, make a coiled basket using various natural materials, learn the steps and techniques used to carve a fresh piece of wood into a spoon using hand tools and much more. The festival will also feature a diverse market in the Counting House Plaza, which features works of local artists, designers, and craftspeople. Vendors include Emily Thompson, Riki Mats, Haven Yarns, Martha Cashman Sculptural Art, Mr Kite Designs, Barbara Hubert Bookbinding, Hen Jewellery, Riona Skincare, My Goodness, Volcano woodfired pizza, Purpose Mosaic and many more. Additionally, Inter_site - the Cork City based artist collective established by Padraic Barrett, Deirdre Breen, Aoife Claffey and Kate McElroy - will stage a site-specific installation and event Oscillation: An altering rhythm, utilising a dynamic mix of video projection, spoken word, installation and sound. The STAMP festival will also feature an exhibition entitled, Do You Remember Where the Window Was, curated by Ava Hayes, director of Cork Craft Month, featuring work by over 15 local artists. A programme of films is also scheduled to take place. STAMP has been made possible by the support of Cork City Council, BAM Ireland, the Arts Council of Ireland and the Creative Ireland programme administered by the Cork City Arts Office. Early booking is advised as workshop places are limited. Visit www.stampcork.ie for more details. A Cork city councillor has welcomed an increase in funding this year for projects across the northside to help and advance communities in areas such as education, family support and sport. Fianna Fail councillor Tony Fitzgerald told The Echo that funding to the tune of over 491,000 has been secured for a number of initiatives under the SEEP (Social Economic and Environmental Plan) 2023 programme by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. I welcome Minister Darragh O'Briens SEEP allocation for 2023 totalling 491,600 - Cork City Council's highest allocation to date within the SEEP programme, Mr Fitzgerald said. Cllr Tony Fitzgerald pictured outside St Vincent's GAA which has been allocated funding under the SEEP (Social Economic and Environmental Plan) 2023 programme. Cork City Council, he said, received 20 proposals from across the community for this years SEEP call. There are 15 projects that are receiving funding through this SEEP allocation benefitting a diverse group right across the area linking into and further embedding the SEEP themes, he continued. Groups to receive funding include The Kabin Studio, St Vincents GAA Club and St Marys Senior Citizens. Mr Fitzgerald said that the funding of community projects in line with the development of new housing under the regeneration project is essential. The Cork City Northwest Quarter Regeneration Masterplan was adopted by Cork City Council in November 2011. The masterplan involves the demolition of 450 houses and the design and construction of 650 new homes. The Cork City Northwest Quarter Regeneration (CNWQR) project includes a number of phases of demolition and new-build housing projects, to be delivered over a long-term period. The vision of the CNWQR strategy is to create better homes, enhance social and economic opportunities, improve transport links, and create better and safer streets, squares, and parks. The SEEP is described as a multifaceted approach to regeneration in line with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and National Development Plan (2018) policy. Crowds in their droves gathered at various locations across Cork in the early hours of the morning to participate in the annual Darkness into Light events in aid of Pieta. Darkness into Light commenced in 2009 when around 400 people at the Phoenix Park in Dublin set off on the inaugural 5km walk. From humble beginnings, Darkness into Light has now become a global movement dedicated to raising vital funds for Pietas life-saving services. Some of the UCC Committee that organised Darkness into Light 2023 for Pieta. Pieta provides a professional one-to-one therapeutic service to people who are in suicidal distress, those who engage in self-harm and those bereaved by suicide. All of the services are provided free of charge and no referral is needed. Brilliant turnout for #DarknessIntoLight2023 at UCC this morning as well as Ballyvolane, Ballincollig and many other locations. pic.twitter.com/soshJNIWon Oliver Moran (@oliver_moran) May 6, 2023 Across the city and county, Cork again showed its support for the movement this year. The Darkness into Light event which starts and finishes at UCC was launched this morning by Cllr Fergal Dennehy, deputising for the Lord Mayor. The event, one of the largest outside of the Phoenix Park, saw crowds galore set off from the Quad at 4.15am. Cllr Fergal Dennehy and Caitriona Twomey, volunteer co-ordinator of Cork Penny Dinners, at the Darkness into Light event at UCC. Picture credit: Mick Finn Event co-ordinator Mick Finn said it was welcome to see the event return after a Covid-19 related hiatus. Up to 4,000 men, women and children - and loads of well behaved dogs - took part in the Cork City Darkness into Light at UCC. It was great to have it back for the first time in four years and while not as busy as other years, participants were thrilled to be back," he told The Echo. Thanks to all who took part, the organising committee, volunteer stewards, the team at UCC, the Gardai, Cork City Council, the Order of Malta, the Irish Red Cross (Cork) and the High Hopes Choir who kept the walkers in high spirits." Over on the northside, a fine crowd was also said to have gathered at Hollyhill Library in Knocknaheeny to participate in Darkness into Light 2023. At the Darkness into Light walk starting at the Hollyhill Library Knocknaheeny. A fine crowd supporting a good cause and great to see so many young people taking part. pic.twitter.com/M8yi5T0Zoi Thomas Gould TD (@ThomasGouldSF) May 6, 2023 In Ballincollig, walkers and runners were treated to music from the White Horse Guitar Club as they set off on their way. What a way to set off on the #darknessintolight2023 walk in #Ballincollig #Cork to the sounds of the @WHGuitarClub. Thanks to all the volunteers who made the event happen. #DIL2023 You can donate whatever you can afford here: https://t.co/2R0kyl8ZZz pic.twitter.com/zxe3xuJU7q Eoin English (@EoinBearla) May 6, 2023 Elsewhere in Cork, some brave swimmers took to the water in Fountainstown to raise funds for Pieta. Youghal and Kinsale were also among the many locations in Cork where communities joined in and set their alarm clocks for the most important sunrise of the year. Debbie Laatz, centre, pictured with Caoilainn and Deborah Foley with Holly the dog at the Darkness into Light in Youghal. Picture: Howard Crowdy Nationally, the 2022 Darkness into Light event was also well attended. CEO of Pieta, Stephanie Manahan expressed her thanks to the event sponsors, Electric Ireland and all those who turned out to support Darkness into Light 2023. I want to thank Electric Ireland. I want to thank all of the people, the volunteers and most of all the participants, the people who came out in their hundreds of thousands to walk with us in Pieta and in Darkness into Light to walk in solidarity and community and to send a massive, massive message of hope to everybody who needs it out there, she said. Hundreds of walkers participated in the Kinsale Darkness into Light walk. Picture: John Allen To avail of Pieta services, visit www.pieta.ie or call 0818 111 126. Pieta provides 24/7 support via the freephone crisis helpline on 1800 247 247, or text HELP to 51444. Sentencing of two men for the violent robbery of a 93-year-old Cork woman of her pension has had to be further adjourned until May 9. Prosecution barrister, Donal OSullivan, said because of the age of the injured party, the gardai who investigated the case were very keen that the court would hear the sentencing evidence as a matter of some urgency. It was not possible to reach the case yesterday because of other court business. Judge Catherine Staines listed the case for 9.30am on May 9 at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. The two accused were remanded in continuing custody. Damian Fitzgerald, aged 35, of Inniscarra Rd, Fair Hill, Cork, and Damien Long, aged 43, of Ardbhaile, Mayfield, Cork, first pleaded not guilty to robbing the woman. A jury had to be sworn in for a trial before Judge Helen Boyle at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. However, just as the trial was ready to begin their lawyers asked for the accused to be rearraigned. Fitzgerald and Long then pleaded guilty to the charge of robbing the woman of her handbag with 588 in cash, purse, bank cards, driving licence, public service card, house keys, car keys and phone. It was alleged previously that the injured party had collected a double pension in advance of Christmas at a post office in Cork and that she was knocked to the ground and dragged by two attackers who robbed her on November 9 2022 at Charlemont Tce, Wellington Rd, Cork. A Judge at the Court of Civil Appeal has upheld a High Court ruling which concluded that a legal action taken by a plaintiff against Danske Bank, involving a property in Cork, was frivolous and vexatious. Mr Justice Senan Allen delivered his conclusion on April 27, in the case of an appeal by the plaintiff, Gerardine Scanlan, against the judgment of the High Court delivered on March 16, 2022, and the consequential order made on August 30, 2022. This judgement ordered that Ms Scanlans action against the respondents, Danske Bank, Sharon Keenan, Stephen Tennant, and Targeted Investment Opportunities ICAV, be dismissed as an abuse of process and as frivolous and vexatious and bound to fail. In 2008, Ms Scanlan borrowed 107,500 from Danske Bank on the security of a residential investment property in Cork. Ms Scanlan was unable to meet the repayments due on foot of the mortgage and, in 2013, the bank made a demand for repayment of 84,599.44 then owed. Ms Scanlan did not pay the amount due, and the bank appointed a receiver, Stephen Tennant, over the property, which was eventually sold. In 2014, Ms Scanlan instituted a cross action against the Bank and Mr Tennant. If the background is unremarkable, the same cannot be said of the protracted and convoluted litigation which it has spawned, noted Judge Allen. It has proved challenging to try to unpick and to resist the temptation to cut the knot of Ms Scanlans prolix, vague, obscure, and contradictory claims. In a statement in 2015, Ms Scanlan made a range of claims including that the bank had engaged in reckless lending, and that she had suffered personal injuries by the respondents actions. She claimed that her right to privacy and confidentiality had been violated, and that the bank had breached various provisions of consumer protection legislation. She maintained that the bank was carrying on business without a valid banking licence, and that it had breached various legislative provisions. She asserted that the respondents had engaged in robo-signing, that is to say that affidavits had been sworn by persons with no knowledge of the facts deposed to. Ms Scanlan maintained that the respondents had been guilty of gross misconduct, and that they had attempted to illegally enter the mortgaged property and had harassed the residents. On March 18, 2015, the bank applied to the High Court for an order dismissing Ms Scanlans 2014 action on the grounds that the claims were frivolous and vexatious and bound to fail. In 2016, the bank recovered judgment against Ms Scanlan on the remaining balance of the loan, credit having been given for the proceeds of realisation of the security. Following a contested costs hearing in March 2016, the orders in each case, including Ms Scanlans action and the banks subsequent action, were perfected on July 5, 2016. There was no appeal by Ms Scanlan against either order. On August 30, 2022, a High Court order was perfected by which Ms Scanlans actions were dismissed against the first and third defendants as an abuse of process and as frivolous and vexatious. In September 2022, Ms Scanlan appealed against the judgment and order of the High Court on sixteen grounds. In his summary on April 27, Judge Allen wrote: All of the issues which Ms Scanlan sought to agitate in this action in relation to the demand for payment, the appointment of the receiver and the realisation of the security held by the bank for the loan were finally and conclusively determined by the judgment and order of Fullam J in Ms Scanlans 2014 action, and her attempt to re-litigate those issues in this action was frivolous and vexatious. The outcome of the appeal is that first and third defendants were entitled to have succeeded largely, but not entirely, in the High Court. Ms Scanlan has succeeded in her appeal to a very limited extent and has been largely unsuccessful, he added. Judge Allen directed that the case be listed for May 2 last to deal with the question of costs. PIETA will open a new centre in Cork next month, a service for the county, to cater for the growing demand for mental health services. The new centre, in Dunmanway, will complement Pietas centre in Sundays Well in the city, and bring to two the number of Pieta service centres in Cork. The CEO of Pieta, Stephanie Manahan, who is from Cork, said the new service will remove the barrier of travel for people who want to see a therapist. We are reaching out now and expanding our services into county Cork, Ms Manahan said. Pieta have more than 20 locations nationwide, but are constantly asked for more, she said. I know there are other counties in Ireland that are screaming out for services, but Cork county is such a big county, she added. What we dont want is that barrier of travel to get in the way of people getting all the way up to Cork to have to see a therapist. The Dunmanway service will be open three days per week initially. We are delighted that the family resource centre in Dunmanway is going to be able to give us the space to work out from, said Ms Manahan. It is a positive start for us. It will probably be [open] three days initially and then, hopefully, grow. We may look for another location as well, she added. We were originally looking at Bantry and Skibbereen, as well, to see if we could get locations there. It is hard to get locations. We are really excited about that service in Dunmanway. It is a good start. I think it will be very positive. 9,000 hours of therapy Last year, Pieta in Cork provided over 9,000 free hours of in-person therapy to 1,200 people. The charity is an invaluable service to people of all ages throughout the city and county. Suicide continues to be a problem in Ireland, and, in 2019, was the leading cause of death in men aged under 25. Ms Manahan said Pieta is seeing an increase in demand for their services both from a regional and national perspective. Cork would be our second-busiest location nationally, after Dublin, she said. If you look at the Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures, they would say Cork has a higher than national average, unfortunately, of suicide per 100,000 of the population. Ms Manahan, who was appointed as the chief executive of Pieta last May, said 60% of people they see are under the age of 25. 40% of the people we see are under the age of 18, she said. We are seeing these figures both nationally and regionally. "Certainly, over the last number of years, both before and after Covid, we are seeing an increase in the under 18 population looking for help and support. This is both in suicidal ideation so suicidal thoughts and those who self-harm. Self-harm is also a very big component of what we do and who we work with. What is quite interesting is that over the last three years, the average age of under 18-year-olds presenting to us were 16. The following year, in 2021, they were 15 and, last year, they were 14. The age is getting younger, she said. What we are seeing in the therapy rooms are young people struggling with lots of issues. This could be family issues, school issues, and pressure with exams. Social media continues to play a significant part in the pressure that our young people are experiencing, said the Pieta CEO. We are seeing more people with gender and sexuality challenges, as well, and just trying to navigate the complexity of their lives now, which is getting more and more complex. There are 20 therapists in Pieta Cork. For us it is about being as accessible as possible, said Ms Manahan. In Pieta, people can either text or telephone us. We have a crisis-intervention line which runs 24/7 and that is manned by fully qualified therapists. It is not a volunteer line. It can be accessed any time of the day or night. Young people would access that a lot of the time via text. It is a tool that is there for everybody, she said. Our Pieta Cork centre is very busy. We work late evenings and Saturday mornings to make it as accessible as possible for people. It is all free, she added. Ms Manahan stated that Pieta is there to offer hope to people who are feeling down or vulnerable. We know we can make a difference, Ms Manahan said. Our message is that if you are worried about a loved one, pick up the phone and we will give you advice. Dont ever sit with that worry on your own. "Dont be afraid to reach out if you are feeling down or vulnerable. Pieta also offers a separate service which supports people who have lost a family member or loved one to suicide, and the charity continues to offer its services online to accommodate people who cannot make an appointment in person. We would be encouraging people that, if you cant get to a centre to meet a therapist, you can always do it online via telephone or video or your mobile phone, and [we try] to make it as confidential and easy as possible, Ms Manahan said. Darkness Into Light Thousands of people from Cork came together at events across the city and county in the early hours of Saturday morning to mark the Darkness Into Light 2023 fundraiser. The annual sunrise event helps raise essential funds and enables Pieta to continue providing free suicide prevention, intervention, and bereavement support to people across Ireland. Jenny Geary, Sonia O'Sullivan and Mags Moran taking part at the Darkness Into Light swim that raises funds for Pieta, at Fountainstown on Saturday morning. Picture: David Creedon The Darkness Into Light fundraiser is the most important sunrise of the year, said Ms Manahan. Everyone comes together and stands together, whether their lives have been affected by suicide or not. It is a real signal of hope from neighbour to neighbour, and it raises substantial funds. It is hugely important to us. London Clive Baldwin is the London-based senior legal advisor at Human Rights Watch and lead author of the Human Rights Watch report on UK and US colonial crimes against the Chagossians In 2022, Charles III became king not just of the United Kingdom, but of 14 other states, and Head of the Commonwealth. He now heads a monarchy that is starting to face questions about its role in British imperial atrocities, such as slavery, and, as he has said, concerning which it is time to "acknowledge the wrongs that have shaped our past." There is an ongoing, colonial crime that he could acknowledge, help rectify and apologise for today. That crime is the forced displacement of the entire Chagossian people from their homeland in the Indian Ocean by the UK and US governments in the 1960s and 70s. This colonial crime continues to this day as the UK government still prevents the Chagossians from returning home. It is a crime in which the monarchy has played a significant role. Queen Elizabeth II issued, on behalf of the UK government, the Orders that have forced the Chagossians to remain in exile and that remain in force. A British court said in 2019 that the orders "extinguished" the legal rights of the Chagossians in UK law, including their right to return. The Chagossians are an Indigenous people, the descendants of enslaved people and indentured labourers, who lived, under British colonial rule, on the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean until the 1960s. The US government decided it wanted the largest island, Diego Garcia, to build a military base, and wanted it without people. After secret US-UK deals, the UK kept control of Chagos as its last colony in Africa, even as Mauritius, which had administered Chagos, obtained independence. Over a period of years, the UK and US forced the entire population of all the islands to leave, through deception, force, and threats including rounding up and killing people's dogs. Senior UK officials wrote about the Chagossians in blatantly racist and disparaging terms, such as calling them 'Man Fridays', treating them as a people who didn't matter. The Chagossians were left to live in abject poverty in Mauritius and Seychelles; some have since moved to the UK. Chagossians described to Human Rights Watch, in our recent report, the misery of their forced exile, which left them without adequate food or homes for years. Many Chagossians have died without ever being able to return to their homeland. We found that the abuses against the Chagossians amount to crimes against humanity - forced displacement, the prevention of their return home, and persecution on the grounds of race and ethnicity. The UK monarchy has been involved in this colonial crime, especially through the use of "Orders-in-Council," an arcane method in which the monarchy issues an order, with legal effect, on behalf of the government through the Privy Council, the centuries-old body of advisers to the monarch. Issuing Orders-in-Council through the monarch has been a convenient way for the government to bypass parliament. The UK has used such Orders against the Chagossians. The orders were used in 2004, after Chagossians had won a stunning legal victory against the UK government, quashing earlier orders used to keep them in exile. Robin Cook, the UK foreign minister at the time of the court ruling, acknowledged the wrongs done to the Chagossians and for a brief moment it appeared they would be able to return home. Although the US had built its military base on part of Diego Garcia, the rest of that island and the other islands were empty. But the UK and US decided that they would block Chagossians return to any island, on dubious grounds of security and cost. Prime Minister Tony Blair's government used Queen Elizabeth II and the Privy Council to do this. In 2004 Elizabeth II issued the orders, still in force today, that legally prevent Chagossians from returning to all the islands. Meanwhile US military and civilian personnel along with UK officials live on Diego Garcia and people can visit Chagos on luxury yachts. The arcane colonial orders continue to have a very real and negative impact on the lives of thousands of people. And yet, the Chagossians never gave up their struggle. This June marks the 50th anniversary of the final deportation of the Chagossians. But also, extraordinarily, the UK and Mauritius governments have recently begun negotiations on the future of Chagos, although, so far, without meaningful consultation with the Chagossians themselves. Any settlement on the future of the islands needs to be focused on the rights of Chagossians, above all their right to reparations from the UK and US, including the right to return. Reparations for such abuses also mean a guarantee that such crimes could never again take place. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Africa Governance Europe and Africa 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. And this is where King Charles can play a key role. He could mark his coronation on May 6 by issuing a full and complete apology for the crimes against humanity committed against the Chagossians, and acknowledging the monarchy's role. As many Chagossians have urged, he should call for them to receive full reparations, including the right to return to live in their homeland, after meaningful consultations with them. And he should guarantee that never again will the monarchy be used to take away fundamental rights from a people or be used in crimes against humanity, especially through the misuse of Orders-in-Council. For Charles, who has spoken to the Commonwealth of his sorrow at the "suffering of so many" in history, such action would show how he can help right the wrongs of the monarchy's past and present. Residents of the Carrigane Rd near Midleton have been left frustrated as to when waterworks along the road will be completed, according to a Cork county councillor. A major sewerage line is being constructed from Midleton to Carrigtwohill, as Midleton cannot expand anymore due to a lack of capacity, while a Carrigtwohill plant has spare capacity, said Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry. The works have been ongoing for the last four or five months, but now all works have ceased, much to the annoyance of residents and businesses operating on the Carrigane Rd, said Mr Barry. Where is this project now, and its timeline? The effect is, if it doesnt happen, will Midleton be stuck in a crisis in that you cant expand in Midleton? Work has ceased on that project for the last two weeks, with no discussion with residents or the business people who are there, he said. Contractors have left the site and there is no indication of when they will return, said Mr Barry. The Carrigane Rd is one of the main roads in the area and is particularly used by residents north of Midleton travelling back towards Carrigtwohill. The road is essentially closed and has been closed for the last couple of months. That was grand when the contractors were on site, and working, and people understood that. Now everything has stopped, said Mr Barry. An Uisce Eireann spokesperson said the utility company is working in partnership with Cork County Council to progress the Midleton Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) Wastewater Project. These works commenced in late June 2022. Construction works are continuing on the wastewater project that involves two new wastewater pumping stations in the Water Rock area and the associated new pipework to Carrigtwohill. Works are being undertaken by our main works contractor GEDA Construction Ltd at two locations, the pump station sites and pipelaying areas. Significant progress has been made to date on constructing the main Water Rock pump station and the pipelines between Nordic Business Park and Carrigtwohill. Workload will vary at these locations over the course of the project and we will continue to liaise with the local community to limit any disruption during the works, the spokesperson added. Debbie Holden, Uisce Eireann project manager, said: This is another step towards development of essential new housing and businesses in the Water Rock area. The citys newest bridge was recently lifted into place over the N40 with the new structure set to connect Grange to Tramore Valley Park when it opens to the public. People had been asked to get involved in the naming process for the bridge which will accommodate pedestrians and cyclists, with the public consultation coming to a close last week. With the recent installation of the new structure, this weeks Nostalgia takes a look back at three of the citys most traversed bridges. Amongst them is the iconic Shakey Bridge, formally known as Dalys Bridge. Completed in 1926 and opened in 1927, the Shakey Bridge was constructed by the London-based David Rowell & Company to the specification of Stephen W. Farrington, the then Cork City Engineer. Built to replace an old ferry crossing at the location, the residents of Sundays Well had lobbied for 19 years to see the construction of the bridge after the ferry went out of business in the first decade of the 1900s. Significant restoration works to the beloved structure took place between 2019 and 2020 when it was refurbished, repainted and given a new lease of life. Peace Commissioner Mr M. O'Driscoll officially opening Daly's Bridge (otherwise known as the 'Shakey' Bridge) at Sunday's Well in 1927. In the heart of the city centre, the foundation stone for St Patricks Bridge was laid on July 25, 1788. However, as historian Kieran McCarthy notes, the bridge was beset by an incident in early 1789. Unfortunately, on 17 January 1789, disaster occurred as a flood swept through the Lee Valley. A boat tied up at Carrolls Quay, then Sands Quay, broke loose and crashed against the uncompleted centre arch or keystone and destroyed it. The bridge was rebuilt and christened on 29 September 1789, Mr McCarthy states on his Cork Heritage website. In November 1853, disaster happened again when St Patricks Bridge was swept away by another flood. The rebuilding of the new bridge was conducted by architect John Benson. In late 1859 the new St Patricks Bridge was opened and christened but the bridge would face yet another misfortune when it was struck again by a ship. It was built back up and was opened in December 1861. In recent years it underwent 1.2m repair and rehabilitation works. St Patrick's Bridge pictured in 1956. Elsewhere in the city, its been almost 51 years since Parnell Bridge near City Hall was completed. The quarter-of-a-million pound structure was officially opened on May 24, 1971, by the then Lord Mayor of Cork, Peter Barry. Official opening of the new Parnell Bridge by Lord Mayor Peter Barry in 1971. Three years, prior an older Parnell Bridge was closed over safety concerns that the structure could not hold the ever-increasing traffic through Cork City. The old swivel bridge was demolished and replaced by a new three-lane structure. That day on May 24, large crowds lined the quays at both sides of the river to watch the grand opening. You've heard this premise before: In a post-apocalyptic world, the remnants of civilization live in a stratified society, governed by oppressive rules as they struggle to maintain their humanity. Then, a hero appears and threatens to topple the social order. We've seen this story repeated so often throughout the history of dystopian fiction most notably in Fritz Lang's masterpiece, Metropolis that I wasn't immediately excited when Apple first announced Silo, an adaptation of Hugh Howey's wildly popular Wool novels. Surely, this can't top Bong Joon-ho's bonkers Snowpiercer (itself adapted from an '80s French graphic novel), so why even bother? Well, I was wrong. Spearheaded by Graham Yost (Justified), Silo exemplifies everything I love about great science fiction. It wrestles with complex ideas and moral questions, it's filled with memorable and realistic characters, and it features a truly distinctive setting: a 144-story self-sustaining underground city that's reminiscent of The Matrix's Zion. In this case, though, the population seems mostly content with their situation. There's no memory of the world before the silo, so most people concern themselves with keeping the city running instead of breaking out. Why rock the bunker? But, echoing a theme from HBO's excellent Station Eleven and Deep Space Nine, survival is insufficient. Some can't help but wonder about the nature of the silo: Is the video feed of the destroyed outside world real, or is it some sort of trap to keep them underground? Who, exactly, determines who can get pregnant? And what can they learn from the artifacts left behind from the previous civilization? Silo makes a strong impression from the start. We're introduced to Sheriff Holsten (David Oyelowo), a well-liked law man who goes about his morning and makes a shocking announcement: He wants to go outside. The gravity of his declaration is instantly made clear, even though the show doesn't explain it up front. We later learn that anyone who asks to go out can, but it's essentially a death wish. All of this is conveyed almost wordlessly at first, thanks to the strength of Oyelowo's performance. Apple I can't help but love a show that begins so confidently. Throughout the first two episodes, Silo makes it clear that you're in good hands. Yost and his writing team which includes Jessica Blaire (On Becoming a God in Central Florida) and Cassie Papas (Tyrant) take time to introduce every character, establish their motivations and build a greater mystery. The impeccable production design makes the silo seem genuinely lived in. And the direction from Morten Tyldum deftly balances intimate drama with epic visuals (the silo has no elevator, just a very long stairwell that seems to go on forever). Silo is the rare show where every word speaks volumes, every gesture seems meaningful, and every element of the frame tells a story. It's also filled with grounded and believable performances across the board: There's Rashida Jones as Allison, the Sheriff's wife, someone who's eager to start a family but also can't help but be curious about the history of the silo. Rebecca Ferguson (Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Fallout), ostensibly the star of the show, doesn't really get much screen time until the second episode, but she paints a convincing portrait of a world-weary engineer who just wants to solve the murder of her friend. Apple Of course, this wouldnt be a dystopian story without some sort of greater conspiracy going on. The silos leadership is clearly hiding something from its citizens though the mayor (played by Geraldine James) also seems genuinely concerned about the well-being of her people. There's a sense that even those in power are only trying to do their best, but may be faced with hard decisions to keep society going. Youd think after being somewhat burned by Lost, The X-Files and other shows centering on major sci-fi mysteries, Id be less inclined to commit to yet another one. But Silo is so compelling, I just cant help it. UN Special Representative Volker Perthes rejects accusations that the West is at fault for the crisis in Sudan and warns of "fortune seekers" joining the conflict, as tens of thousands of refugees flee. Tthe Sudanese army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has battled Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for three weeks. According to German UN Special Representative Volker Perthes, most of the fighting is now in the capital, Khartoum, and in the country's western Darfur region. DW: American intelligence predicts a drawn-out conflict. Do you agree? Volker Perthes: We are working together with the United Nations, also with other international partners, and especially with Sudanese society, to make sure that this war does not drag on. The first step must be a firm cease-fire. Not just a declaration of cease-fires, but a cease-fire with a monitoring mechanism. From there, talks must start between the fighting parties to reestablish a functioning government in a more stable situation. American intelligence has its own assessments, I will not comment on those. But our goal is to prevent a long war likely to bring the country to the precipice. What role do Egypt and Libyan General Haftar play in this conflict? I can say very little about the role of General Haftar. He is the supporter of one of the two parties, but he has no decisive role in this war. The right question is about the neighboring states, Egypt, South Sudan, but also others. For a solution that stabilizes the country, we need neighboring states to contribute. South Sudan has already been very active. The current cease-fire -- which is not being observed or fully observed -- has been negotiated by Salva Kiir, the South Sudanese president. Egypt is also pushing for a cease-fire as a first step toward ending the war. Mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group are allegedly present in this conflict. Do you know about this? I have no concrete evidence to say there are Wagner mercenaries fighting in this war. I can neither confirm nor deny that. You were met with frustrated demonstrators in Sudan. What message did you receive? Do you acknowledge the frustrations of the civilians? We were not greeted by demonstrators when we arrived, but by the governor of Red Sea State, where Port Sudan is located. But you are right: There was a demonstration yesterday by about 150 people from a certain political camp who were protesting the presence of the UN and my presence. That is part of the political confrontation going on between Sudanese parties and forces. Cease-fires have not stopped violence or even assuaged fears of a humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan. What can be done now? The United Nations is here to continue providing humanitarian assistance under the limited circumstances. The onset of war has made this difficult, even though more aid is needed, especially where access is difficult. The World Food Program warehouses in Darfur have been looted, and if the warehouses are empty, aid simply cannot be distributed. A number of trucks carrying food aid have been attacked and looted on their way to Darfur. In Khartoum, we have great difficulty in equipping hospitals with medicines, for example. A World Health Organization ship has now docked in Port Sudan, but we are still waiting for permission to unload it. There are limited areas free from fighting where we can work, especially in the east and center of Sudan. There is a lot of pressure on the local population and authorities because a lot of refugees are moving across the country. These are instances where we can effectively help -- be it providing goods, money for refugees, medicines, equipping hospitals or providing access to drinking water. Aid workers have raised concerns about the plight of refugees. Many have fled to nations like the Central African Republic or Chad. What can be done in these two countries to help refugees? Tens of thousands of Sudanese have indeed fled to neighboring countries. Not as many to the Central African Republic, but some have. Chad, South Sudan, and especially Egypt have taken in refugees. The UNHCR and its partner organizations are actively helping refugees on the other side of the borders. Refugees only become refugees once they have left their home nation. Within the country, we try to provide help through local NGOs, civil society organizations. But in combat zones, this is extremely difficult, especially if the relief supplies have already been stolen or destroyed by the armed forces. Is there a risk of the whole region being destabilized? War always destabilizes, and of course neighboring states will be affected. The one aspect is the migration of refugees. But there is also migration in the other direction: "Fortune seekers" or mercenaries from the Sahel states like Mali, Chad, and Niger are coming to support the RSF in Sudan. Their number is not insignificant. This is not official policy of these states, but rather people looking for opportunities to steal and enrich themselves. Some have blamed the international community and the West for the current situation because of their past dealings with the generals. Do Western nations carry a certain responsibility for this war? Responsibility for this conflict lies at the door of the Sudanese military figures, and by that, I mean leaders on both sides and in both military institutions who are war with each other. Both sides are trying to gain international support. In my position as a UN representative, I cannot comment on the policies of individual member states, but I believe, and my advice to those trying to mediate the conflict, would be to establish responsibility for the war with those actually fighting it. Not with foreign actors who have actually tried to decrease tensions. However, history and journalists will judge if international actors, and I include the United Nations and African Union in this, did enough. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Sudan Conflict International Organisations 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. Was the democratic movement not supported enough? I think the international community did try to support all sides in Sudan in finding a way back to democracy after the military coup in 2021. We supported everyone who was willing to talk and work together for a resolution and finding common ground. Whether we did enough of this will be judged in the future. The international community does not necessarily share the same opinion. But there are plenty of actors like the UN, AU, the regional IGAD [whose members are the East African nations of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda], as well as UN member states, all trying to bring about a cease-fire. The UN Security Council, the AU and others have demanded an end to the fighting. There is, however, a lack of consensus, and I believe within Sudan there is only partial agreement on how to involve international actors, military leaders and civilians. Parts of the civil society are certainly calling for a more active policy in terms of African or international troops, but this also needs international consensus, for example in the Security Council, which we would certainly not have. This interview was conducted in German by DW's Kossivi Tiassou. It has been translated by Cai Nebe. Google may have taken years to ship the first Pixel Watch, but it might not take nearly so long to introduce a sequel. A 9to5Google source claims the company will release the Pixel Watch 2 this fall alongside the Pixel 8 phone family this fall. Details are scarce, but Google has historically delivered new flagship Pixels in October. It teased the first smartwatch at I/O last year, and we wouldn't be shocked if there was a repeat at this year's event. There's plenty of room for improvement, at least. The current Pixel Watch is based on a 2018-era Exynos 9110 system-on-chip that leaves it lagging in efficiency compared to the Apple Watch and numerous Wear OS watches. A newer SoC could wring more battery life out of the design, not to mention more performance. Google could borrow health sensors from newer Fitbit devices like the Sense 2. There's also just one 41mm case, so it won't be surprising if there's a larger model for those who prefer big timepieces. Software could also play an important role as well. Pre-release Android 14 code hints Wear OS may use the adaptable Material You color theming seen since Android 12. Google also has yet to enable key health metrics like oxygen saturation (SpO2) and overnight skin temperature for the existing Pixel Watch, although those might not require new hardware. Whether or not the rumor is accurate, expectations are high if and when the Pixel Watch 2 arrives. Google's wristwear is supposed to be a showcase that raises interest in Wear OS as a whole. A successful follow-up could not only fix the Pixel Watch's flaws, but push other smartwatch makers to step up their efforts. Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission. Read more about how we evaluate products Google's Pixel Buds Pro drop back down to a record-low price of $145 Pick up our favorite earbuds for Android while they are $55 off. Android users looking for a solid pair of wireless headphones should seriously consider Googles Pixel Buds Pro. Now, you can pick them up for the best price weve seen Wellbots has the buds for $145 when you use the code 55ENGAD at checkout, which is $55 off their regular price. Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget Google Pixel Buds Pro Use code 55ENGAD at checkout to get the Pixel Buds Pro for the lowest price we've seen. $145 at Wellbots We gave Googles earbuds a score of 87 in our review and they earned a spot in our best wireless earbuds guide. Since they have many Android-specific features (and even a few perks reserved for Pixel phone users), they are almost like a foil for Apples AirPods. They have a dedicated Android app that you can use to customize features, check battery levels and turn on automatic audio switching between Android devices. You can also use it to fine-tune Google Assistant features, and the buds support hands-free access when you say Hey Google. As far as hardware goes, the Pixel Buds Pro are the best iteration thus far of Googles wireless earbuds. They have a small, comfortable design, reliable touch controls and good active noise cancellation. While transparency mode isnt as great as youd get on competing models, its still competent and will let you jump in and out of conversations easily. Battery life is solid as well: youll get seven hours on a single charge, plus an additional 20 hours with the buds charging case. The case also supports wireless charging, making it convenient to power them up with various pads and stands you may have around your home. Its worth noting that Google I/O is right around the corner, however, we have not heard rumors of an updated version of the Pixel Buds Pro coming any time soon. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice. The Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department of Jharkhand on its website introduces the state as, Jharkhand has a unique relation with forests since ancient times. The word Jharkhand connotes area of land covered with forests. Therefore, literally as well as symbolically, Jharkhand is associated with forests.1 The state is rich in natural resourcesminerals, forests, waters, flora and fauna, biodiversity, etc. It has 29.76% forest cover, spread over 23,721 sq km; 32 indigenous communities classified as Scheduled Tribes (STs) make up one-fourth (26%) of the states population; 13 districts are fully covered and three are partially covered under the Fifth Schedule Areas (FSAs). A third of Jharkhands population (31.6%) is urban, nearly half of which is concentrated in four citiesBokaro, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, and Ranchi (Census 2011). The Jharkhand Definition of Local Persons and for Extending the Consequential Social, Cultural and Other Benefits Bill, 2022 (henceforth the bill) was passed on 11 November 2022, by the coalition government, the Mahagathbandhan, which includes Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Indian National Congress. As per the bill, a person can claim sthaniyata (local residence)2 of Jharkhand, if they can link their ancestry to the 1932 Khatiyan. Khatiyan is a record of rights, including land rights. Although all states have a specific resident domicile policy that aims to protect certain interests of local populations, most of them are not based on a historical sense of belonging in which land is central to the sociocultural fabric of the community, although this could underpin the understandings of local for many citizen groups. The new bill empowers gram sabhas to grant sthaniyata for landless non-Khatiyanis as per the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) (PESA) Act, 1996. The bill has been intensely debated by different, yet intersecting socio-demographic categories of Jharkhand (Munda and Bosu Mullick 2003)the urban and rural, Adivasis, Moolvasis3 and Dikus (in-migrants from different states of India). Social activists, community-based organisations (CBOs), and civil society organisations (CSOs) have expressed their opinions through the media, memoranda and grey literature. The law on the de-Sovietization of public space came into force in Lithuania. It provides for a ban on propaganda of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and their ideology, as well as a new procedure for dismantling public facilities that violate this ban. Public facilities will also be banned from placing signs of military aggression, including the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. When most people think of San Antonio's Beacon Hill neighborhood, the stretch of Blanco Road just north of a 28-foot-tall steel obelisk in the middle of a roundabout at the intersection with Fulton Avenue comes to mind. Peppered with densely packed antique stores and cheery gift shops if you need a vintage desk or purse shaped like a concha, this is the part of town to be in it's easy to get lost in the growing number of businesses concentrated in this area. And that includes restaurants. From Blanco Road's southern origin at Fredericksburg Road to its intersection with Hildebrand Avenue just a mile and a half away, diners have the choice of nearly a dozen restaurants, food trucks and bars to satisfy just about any appetite. Texas favorites including tacos, barbecue and burgers are on the menu, but that's just the beginning. You'll find everything from Russian dumplings to French crepes to New York-style hoagies along this vibrant stretch of pavement. In this week's edition of Eat the Street, a series the Express-News Taste Team launched in January to highlight the many diverse and dynamic food and drink experiences to be found on our sprawling network of roadways, we're going to take a drive (or stroll you may want to burn some calories with all the options available) along Blanco Road. Bring an appetite, because you definitely aren't getting out of this one without loosening your belt a notch or two. Paul Stephen/Staff Web House Cafe & Bar Begin your Beacon Hill dining adventure at this unassuming restaurant and bar near Blanco Road's southernmost point at the intersection with Fredericksburg Road. Owner Mikhail Timofeyev serves a menu of pub-grub standards including burgers, wings and mozzarella sticks, but that barely scratches the surface of the unique offerings at this establishment. While Timofeyev has lived in the United States for nearly 30 years, he pays tribute to his native Moscow in a menu that celebrates Russian comfort cooking. Expect hearty bowls of beet-rich borscht, dumplings called vareniki and pelmeni stuffed with meat, potatoes, mushrooms, sauerkraut and more, all topped with fresh dill and sour cream, and juicy kebabs or schnitzels served with complex sauces. Eat the Street: Walzem Road filled with soul food, markets, Mexican restaurants including Pollos Asados Los Nortenos On Sunday, you'll find one of the best values on a barbecue plate in town with smoked ribs, chicken and sausage on a plate with two sides that includes Russian favorites such as buckwheat and sauerkraut among more familiar Texas classics for an incredibly budget-friendly $15. Timofeyev is an active force in the Beacon Hill Neighborhood Association, and has helped create a community pantry program providing free shelf-stable food items to area residents in need. Web House Cafe & Bar, 320 Blanco Road, 210-531-0100, webhousecafe.com Paul Stephen/Staff Beacon Hill Market & Deli Wife-and-husband team Maray McChesney and Matt McGlaughlin first entered San Antonio's food scene as operators of the sandwich pop-up Dangw!ch and as the purveyors of the Bexar Tonic line of tonic syrups. They achieved their dream of opening a sandwich shop earlier this year with a snug counter-service establishment cranking out one of the best Italian hoagies you'll find in town. He's from Philadelphia, so expect cheesesteaks both in sandwich and a quirky soup form that occasionally shows up as a special among other deli favorites. The Pastrami Reuben is loaded with smoky meat and tangy sauerkraut along with spicy mustard and 1,000 Island Dressing. That Italian hoagie is fully dressed with razor-thin slivers of onion, lettuce and tomatoes over ham, salami and capicola punctuated with sharp slices of Provolone cheese. A small shelf of retail items at the store features the complete Bexar Tonics lineup, which currently includes prickly pear, juniper, smoked fig and Texas wildflower flavors. They make a quick and easy addition to any cocktail for the home bartender. Beacon Hill Market & Deli, 1717 Blanco Road, 210-999-5239, Facebook: Beacon Hill Market And Deli Mike Sutter/Staff file photo Blanco Cafe For nearly half a century, this San Antonio institution has developed a well-earned reputation for one of the best enchilada plates the city has to offer. Crimson tortillas along with plenty of day-glow orange cheese, a generous scoop of chile con carne along with rice and beans, it's the easiest way to warm your soul in San Antonio. Eat the Street: Fredericksburg Road keeps the Medical Center well-fed But don't sleep on the menudo. This popular brunch destination serves up a remarkably restorative bowl of tripe and chiles along with homemade corn tortillas that will chase away any of the previous night's excess. Expect a long wait if you try to dine here on the weekend. There's nearly always a healthy crowd queued up for a table of sustenance between visits to the many cute and quirky shops along this stretch of Blanco Road. Blanco Cafe, 1720 Blanco Road, 210-732-6480, blancocafesa.com Mike Sutter/Staff file photo Julias Bistro & Bar Restaurateur Jean-Francois Poujol has been one of the city's most prolific developers of neighborhood eateries for the past 15 years. With more than a half dozen enterprises opened and closed under his belt, Pujol has found his sweet spot along Blanco Road. He led off with the Italian-inspired pizza and pasta joint SoHill Cafe, which opened in 2018. Pujol upped the ante with his refined Julia's Bistro & Bar in 2019. Inspired by his French heritage and the spirit of famed television chef Julia Child, Pujol presents a menu of escargot, oysters, duck confit, steak frites and other Gallic staples, but with a Texas twist. His braised lamb shanks, for example, are done birria style in a bath of chiles and finished with Cotija cheese. Julia's is a top-shelf destination for brunch on the weekend with an elegant mimosa service, lemon ricotta pancakes, steak and crepes. Julia's is connected to SoHill Cafe through a passageway in the back of the restaurant. If you're in more of a casual mood, head next door for a broad lineup of pizzas, burgers, truffle-laced fries and plenty of cold beer and wine. Julias Bistro & Bar, 1725 Blanco Road, 210-476-5404, juliasonblanco.com Mike Sutter/Staff file photo Chris Madrids When many people think about burgers in San Antonio, this Beacon Hill institution is the first place that comes to mind. For 45 years, this restaurant has met and exceeded the city's expectation for meat and cheese on a bun. Eat the Street: 5 spots to try on Hildebrand Avenue, the key to San Antonio's midtown dining scene And oh, my, does this restaurant take its cheese seriously. The Cheddar Cheezy burger is a good entry point to the excess that Chris Madrid's does so well. A river of molten cheddar streams aggressively past the boundaries of its patty and bun, challenging diners to reconsider their idea of what it means to be a cheeseburger. Chris Madrid's is also ground-zero for another San Antonio staple the bean burger. This isn't some kind of health-minded vegetarian alternative. When you place an order for the Tostada Burger, what you get is all the beef and cheese of the Cheddar Cheezy plus tortilla chips, a smear of refried beans and salsa. It's famous for a reason, y'all. Chris Madrids, 1900 Blanco Road, 210-735-3552, chrismadrids.com analysis Mozambique's president says the security situation in jihadist-plagued Cabo Delgado has returned to normal and that energy giant TotalEnergies can restart its lucrative gas projects. But many locals are skeptical. The French energy company Total withdrew its workers from a multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in 2021 because of a worsening security situation in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province. In 2023, two years later, TotalEnergies' CEO Patrick Pouyanne paid a visit to the southern African nation to discuss conditions for a possible restart. The "environment" in the gas-rich province has improved for "the company to resume activity at any time," Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said at a recent mining and energy conference in Mozambique's capital, Maputo. TotalEnergies should now restart its $20 billion (around 18 billion) gas project, Nyusi added. Escalating extremist violence But Cabo Delgado has been struggling with a militant insurgency which, during the last five years, has claimed at least 4,683 lives -- nearly half of them civilians -- and forced around 1 million people to flee their homes. When the jihadist activities began in 2017, the Mozambican government was slow to react. The situation escalated, and it became clear that the local security forces were not capable of handling the insurgency issue without international assistance. In July 2021, Rwanda offered its help, which Nyusi eagerly accepted. Rwanda was not only the first country to send troops to Cabo Delgado -- it also provided the largest contingent of foreign troops in the restive province, to the tune of around 1,000 soldiers. Since the end of 2021, other countries -- such as South Africa, Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Botswana -- have also participated in the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), whose 3,000 soldiers provide security in northern Mozambique. The European Union and the United States have also sent military advisers. Africa's largest investment The international investment plan for Cabo Delgado envisages the construction of a huge onshore LNG plant. Investors would likely gain influence in a region that could potentially gain a key position in Africa's economy. Mozambican authorities said there are plans to produce nearly 13 million tons of LNG per year. Investments in the project are expected to exceed $20 billion and generate a profit to the tune of $60 billion in the medium term. The main investors are France's TotalEnergies, the United States' Anadarko, and Italy's Eni. Other smaller companies from Europe, China, Brazil, India, Japan and Australia also announced their financial involvement. Exploration was originally scheduled to begin in 2023. But Total's departure dealt a major blow to the plan. Has the region's security situation improved? There is a lack of reliable information about the security situation in the region, according to Delfim Anacleto, DW's correspondent in Cabo Delgado. "The government said the situation is normalizing." "People on the ground that I interviewed say energy companies like TotalEnergies should wait before sending their employees back to Cabo Delgado," Anacleto noted. "It has calmed down, but it may be that it is just a tactical withdrawal of the jihadists." Anacleto said he cannot move freely in the province and is only rarely invited to on-site inspections, but is then not allowed to leave a radius specified by the military leaders. There are fewer attacks, and also fewer refugees who come to the capital Pemba, and some even make their way back to their villages," said Anacleto. "That's our impression, but it's not certain because we have hardly any access to the areas." Is it safe for TotalEnergies to return? DW spoke to some of the aid workers who regularly travel to the embattled areas in Cabo Delgado. "People must be able to return to the areas from which they fled," said Anchina Abdul from Kwendeleya, an NGO which helps internally displaced persons in Cabo Delgado. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Mozambique Petroleum 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. "The government and security forces must ensure that people can return to their homelands," she said. "There are currently other priorities than the return of employees of international energy companies." Aly Caetano, who also travels to the region frequently, agreed. "The situation is still chaotic," Caetano said. "The priority is not for TotalEnergies to resume the gas projects, but for ordinary people, small traders to be able to resume their businesses, fishermen to resume fishing, farmers to plant crops without danger, and young people to have access to their schools and education so that they can soon take care of themselves." "In many areas, it is still not possible to travel from A to B without armed security personnel," said Abudo Gafuro, who added that there are occasional attacks by jihadists who target vehicles carrying food. "If I were the boss of TotalEnergies, I would definitely wait a bit longer, two or three months," he suggested. "Clearer guarantees would be needed from the security forces that security is truly ensured. Perhaps the work could be resumed partially, step by step." San Antonios Siclovia is rolling back into town Sunday, transforming the city streets into the ultimate playground. The free bi-annual event organized by the YMCA of Greater San Antonio encourages residents and visitors to get out, get active and explore their city through car-free streets. Automobile traffic on selected city streets will be temporarily shut down so residents can use the space for recreational and sporting activities. The event originated in Bogota, Colombia, about 30 years ago, according to the YMCA. Residents can bring their bikes, skateboards or their running shoes. On ExpressNews.com: 4 surprising ways to get from San Antonio to Austin without a car Since its first installment in 2011, the event has drawn over 1 million people, according to the YMCA. The pandemic put a pause on the event, but it returned in fall 2021. During the last Siclovia, in fall 2022, the event had over 23,000 attendees, according to the organization's website. This Sunday, the route will begin in downtown San Antonio from North Main Avenue to Lexington Avenue to Augusta Street to Brooklyn Avenue to North Alamo Street. The event will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Madison Square Park and Crockett Park will host group exercise classes, music, vendors, water stations and rest areas. Gabriella.Ybarra@Express-News.net Second of two columns Two weeks ago, we looked at the namesakes of Barrera and Yndo streets, both named after old families, though only the Barrera Street name has survived. But reader Belinda Molina Yndo also asked for more information about a Bowie knife passed down by Agustin Barrera (1803-1883) to his grandson, Dr. Charles Augustus Rosenheimer Campbell, a public health officer famous for his patented bat roosts as a natural form of mosquito control (covered here June 6, 2015). This week, well delve into the history of the knife. The Bowie knife, a weapon whose fame will descend into posterity, was presented to Campbell by his grandmother and Barreras widow, Antonia, as a gift for Christmas 1884, says the San Antonio Light, Dec. 27, 1884. Said to be the original knife of (Texian Army) Col. James Bowie, it was described by the Light as having a curved blade, being 15 inches long and 1 inches wide, and is sharpened to a point. Mounted on a deer-horn handle and made by Broomhead & Thomas, it (was) worn very much and somewhat rusty. CAMPBELL BATS: Bat roosts provided natural pest control The connection between the Barrera family and the Alamo hero, according to this story, was through Agustins profession. A gold- and silversmith, he had done some silver work for Bowie, (who) in return, presented Mr. Barrera with this knife in the year 1832, says the Light, probably depending on Campbells account. The dates check out. James Jim Bowie arrived in San Antonio in 1830 and become a Mexican citizen Oct. 5, 1830. He married the daughter of a wealthy and influential family, Ursula Veramendi (mentioned here Sept. 10, 2011), April 25, 1831, so he would have been well-established here by 1832. UTSA Special Collections He had been given his first Bowie knife a long-handled, fixed-blade hunting knife in time to have used it in his 1827 duel with Louisiana Sheriff Norris Wright. But that knife was made by the blacksmith at the Bowie familys Louisiana plantation, according to the Bullock Texas State History Museums website, www.thestoryoftexas.org. Most biographies say it was the gift of his older brother Rezin. S.A. KNIVES: Mystery San Antonio Iron Works knives may have been produced by local craftsmen If the Barrera knife was made by Broomhead & Thomas, it was produced in England between the early 1830s and 1838, according to The Antique Bowie Knife Book, by W. Adams, J.B. Voyles and T. Moss. So its unlikely to have been the original Bowie knife. But could it have been one of Bowies knives? Campbells grandparents, Antonia and Agustin Barrera, were married Jan. 12, 1827, so she could have been the source of the Bowie-for-barter story, either because she witnessed the transaction in her husbands shop or heard about it from him. Its possible that the silversmith had heard about the use of this type of butcher-style knife as a tool for not only hunting but self-defense, as news of its use in the Bowie-Wright duel had spread. Men everywhere wanted a knife like Bowies, says the Bullock Museum site. In fact, Bowie knives became a fad so popular that factories in England and Germany turned out thousands for export to Texas and the West, says the website of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, which owns one likely made in England for the American trade, with a horn handle and an inscription from R.P. Bowie to Capt. Wm. Y. Lacey, possibly referring to Rezin Pleasant Bowie as the giver. However, the weapon wasnt an overnight sensation. American craftsmen at first supplied the growing demand for Bowie knives, said Mark Zalesky, publisher of Knife magazine. The first evidence of English manufacturers trying to capitalize on the interest in Bowie knives is found in June 1836, Zalesky said, when the first such imports arrived in New York too late for Bowie, who had died March 6, 1836, during the Battle of the Alamo. VERAMENDI FAMILY: Historical Veramendi Palace fell on hard times Nevertheless, Campbell sent the one he owned to be exhibited as Bowies knife at the New Orleans Exposition or World Cotton Centennial in 1884. Its presence as a relic of the Alamo hero at this worlds fair was reported by newspapers all over the country, says Zalesky, adding that this was not the only knife exhibited as James Bowies knife during the 19th century; there were one or two more even back then. A later local story about Campbells prized possession shows that the knife made it home from the fair and gives more detail to its origin story. Above a photograph of the elderly doctor in the San Antonio Express, Dec. 26, 1929, is the headline Knife to be Witte relic. This time, the transfer of the weapon from Bowie to Barrera is said to have happened a few years later, in 1835, and the story doubles down on the blades. UTSA Special Collections A year before the fatal battle of the Alamo, says the Express, Bowie had Barrera repair the stock of his rifle by screwing silver plates on each side. For payment, he gave the goldsmith some money and two of the knives which bear his name. For many years, the Barrera-Campbell family treated these artifacts casually as household implements, especially useful at hog-butchering time. One was lost, and Texas Ranger William A.A. Bigfoot Wallace was responsible for the preservation of the remaining knife. The famous Indian fighter, who had a habit of casually dropping in for a visit at Dr. Campbells home near hog-killing time, saw the knife on one such occasion and recommended that it be preserved as a valuable relic. Campbell also got a signed certificate of authentication for the knife from Madam Candelaria (covered here July 9, 2011, and Sept. 4, 2011). One of the last living survivors of the Alamo who had known Bowie personally, Andrea Castanon Villanueva whose nickname came from her innkeeper husbands first name, Candelario is said to have nursed the ailing Bowie and other defenders during the 13-day siege of the Alamo. ALAMO CONNECTION: Kin of Madam Candelaria back her Alamo story While historians have debated her accounts of the battle offered as much as 60 years after it occurred, since she lived to be 113 knife enthusiasts are even tougher on her knowledge of antique weaponry. It is well-established that Madam Candelarias endorsement carries no credibility, Zalesky said. In fact, she endorsed a knife that is now at the San Jacinto Museum (in Harris County) as having belonged to Bowie (although) it was made in the 1850s or 60s. Zalesky is also skeptical of claims for the Barrera-Campbell knifes association with Bowie himself. Lets assume for a moment that the English imports arrived some months before evidence of them has been found say, in late 1835, he suggested. This would make it theoretically possible. Certainly Bowie already owned a Bowie knife at that time. Very likely, he had more than one, custom-made to his specifications by American makers who may even have been friends and associates. Would Bowie, the famous knife fighter, replace these with what equates to a mass-produced knife of plain and simple construction, produced by a company who couldnt possibly have known Bowies preferences? I dont think so, Zalesky concludes. MORE ON WITTE: Hertzberg elephant at home at Witte The 1929 Express story says that Dr. Campbell plans to lend the knife to the Witte Memorial Museum, together with (Madam Candelarias) certificate. But that doesnt seem to have happened. Witte Museum The Witte has on display a large, stag-handled knife made by Mechi of London, said to have been found on the San Jacinto battlefield some time after the last, decisive battle of the Texas Revolution on April 21, 1836. It is similar to the description of the knife owned by the Barrera-Campbell family, Zalesky says, but it is not the knife. Campbell died Feb. 22, 1931. After consulting with museum staff, including Texas History Curator Bruce Shackelford, Witte spokesman Jonathan Miles confirmed that the Barrera knife is not in the museums collection. Records show that there was a donation from Campbells estate in 1932, but it was primarily medical books. There are no other Charles Campbell gifts or loans in museum files. Anyone with information or even theories about the whereabouts of the knife as lost as Bowies fabled silver mine may contact this column. City Councils two progressives got a last-minute boost from actor Jane Fonda as they look to keep their seats for a second term in Saturdays election. Jane Fondas climate-focused political action committee is endorsing District 2 City Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 5 City Councilwoman Teri Castillo, it announced Friday afternoon. The San Antonio region has been home to one of the nations biggest toxic polluters, a coal plant that has destroyed the air that people breathe, reads a news release. I am proud to endorse Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and Teri Castillo, who are devoted to ensuring that these toxic facilities shut down, and that San Antonio keeps its promise to end its use of coal within five years and then eventually, it ends its reliance on fossil fuels entirely. Bob Owen, Staff / San Antonio Express-News CPS Energys board voted in January to close its coal-fired J.K. Spruce plant by 2028. Neither Castillo nor McKee-Rodriguez sits on its board, but they pushed for the city-owned utility to diversify its power sources and shift to greater reliance on renewables. Last year, they voted against a CPS rate hike but were outvoted. READ MORE: Progressive Councilwoman Teri Castillo backs Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Mario Bravo in re-election bids Noticeably absent in the Jane Fonda Climate PACs endorsement was District 1 City Councilman Mario Bravo, another loud voice on council for utility reform. Bravo was a project manager for Environmental Defense Fund prior to taking office in 2021. He faces six challengers. This is the first time Fonda has ventured into a San Antonio race. She launched her PAC in 2022 to support candidates up and down the ballot who are prioritizing ambitious climate policies and taking on the fossil fuel industry, she told The 19th News. McKee-Rodriguez faces nine challengers in the race for the East Side seat the most of any council member, all of whom are up for election on the May 6 ballot. Castillo has two opponents for the seat representing the West and Southwest sides. Their challengers have said theyre too progressive and out of touch with their districts, a characterization both reject. Drunken driving was blamed for three overnight accidents, including one that killed a 21-year-old woman. The fatal accident occurred shortly after 1:30 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of the access roads for North Loop 1604 and Interstate 10 West on the Northwest Side. A vehicle traveling east on the access road for Loop 1604 collided with another vehicle, which was traveling south on the I-10 access road, according to a preliminary report from the San Antonio Police Department. The woman was in the front passenger seat of the second vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene. No information was provided about the driver of that auto. The driver of the first vehicle, who was evaluated at the site for intoxication, now faces a charge of intoxication manslaughter, according to the report. No other details were provided. BREAKING NEWS: News travels fast. Keep up with breaking email alerts About an hour before that accident, police responded to the scene of another accident this one at the intersection of the Texas 151 access road and West Military Drive on the West Side. In that case, the driver of a 2004 Ford F-150 was traveling south on Military Drive. The driver turned in front of a 2020 Dodge Challenger heading north on Military Drive and collided with it, according to the preliminary report. Three people in the Dodge were injured and taken to University Hospital, including a 14-year-old girl, whose left femur was fractured, police said. The Ford driver was evaluated on the scene and arrested on a charge of intoxication assault, according to the report. About three hours later, shortly after 3 a.m., police responded to a single-vehicle accident in the 7100 block of Spring Grover Drive, according to the SAPD report. A 2007 Pontiac G5 was heading west when it veered to the right, driving over the sidewalk and then crashing into a parked truck tractor, police said in the preliminary report. A 22-year-old woman who was in the front passenger seat was seriously injured and taken to the hospital, police said. At last check, she was in critical but stable condition. The driver, who admitted drinking alcoholic beverages earlier and was found to be intoxicated, now faces an intoxication assault charge, police said. The driver also was taken to the hospital in stable condition with minor injuries, according to the report. E-N INVESTIGATION: Getting off easy Alcohol-related crashes and fatalities in San Antonio have declined slightly on a per capita basis over the last decade. Yet they continue to take a heavy toll, causing an average of 53 deaths per year since 2010, according to data from the Texas Department of Transportation. In 2021, drunken drivers caused nearly 2,000 crashes in San Antonio, killing 57 people and seriously injuring 107. Among Texas 12 most populous counties, Bexar County has ranked first, second or third in alcohol-related accidents per capita every year since 2010, a San Antonio Express-News analysis found. Bexar also consistently ranks near the top in alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities per capita. Two men accused of killing a man while attempting to steal marijuana and cash from a home in eastern Bexar County have been charged with capital murder, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said Friday evening. Malyk Jason, 26, and Seth Ronterio Little, 20, were both already in custody at the Bexar County jail when investigators linked them to the year-old slaying of Corwin Davis, 31. Bail for the capital murder was set at $1 million each, court records show. This case, quite frankly, went cold for some time. We did not have very much information at the beginning, Salazar said. CRIME NEWS: Guilty verdict for man who shot friend seven times in 2021 and claimed self-defense Davis was fatally shot May 3, 2022, inside a home at the 11700 block of Loop 107 in Adkins. Several men clad in black and wearing ski masks had entered the home and began threatening Davis and a woman, according to authorities. The woman told deputies that the men shot at her and Davis, fatally wounding him. She was able to escape and run to a neighbors home for help, while the men fled. Courtesy Bexar County Sheriff's Office Salazar said the men had gone to the house with the intent to rob a large amount of marijuana, and what they believed to be a large amount of case. But after that shooting occurred, they lost their nerve to continue with that crime and left the scene, Salazar said. Trace evidence found at the scene was developed by investigators, combined with phone records and other technology that the sheriff said he could not go into. It was a true whodunit, Salazar said. They (investigators) started linking to other crimes that were unrelated to this due to forensic evidence recovered at the scene. CRIME NEWS: Woman who hog-tied and smothered best friend with pillow gets 35 years The trail led deputies to Jason and Little. Little had been previously booked into the Bexar County jail by San Antonio police for a laundry list of unrelated charges. They include four counts of aggravated robbery, unlawful carry of a handgun, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and theft from $2,800 to $30,000. Jason also had been booked, on charges of felon in possession of a weapon, tampering with evidence, evading arrest with a vehicle and unauthorized use of a vehicle. There are still other persons of interest in the case, the sheriff said. They can either consider themselves witnesses or consider themselves co-defendants in this case, Salazar said. If they want to come tell us their side of the story, wed love to hear that. But if we have to go looking for them, we are done considering them witnesses in this case and we will be making an arrest at that point. Anyone with any level of involvement in the case is encouraged to call the Bexar County Sheriffs Office at 210-335-6070. They also may email the sheriffs office at BCSOtips@bexar.org. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Keystone School junior was found dead Thursday at the bottom of a cliff near Heroes Stadium. The body of Siri Reddy, 16, was discovered about 5 p.m. in the 4700 block of David Edwards on the Northeast Side, according to a San Antonio police report. Siris mother had gone to pick her daughter up at school, but she was not there. The mother, however, was able to track her daughters phone to a large area near the stadium. ALSO READ: SAPD calls: Body found in flooded West Side creek; man dead after hit by train on the East Side As officers were heading to that location, Siris mother found her at the bottom of the north ridge. Emergency medical personnel attempted to save her life, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. Police do not know why Siri was there, but she appears to have fallen and died from her injuries. The investigation is ongoing. Monte Bach / Staff William Handmaker, principal of Keystone, said in a statement that the school was greatly saddened by Siris death. Our heartfelt sympathies are with her family, friends and every member of the Keystone School community, he said. ALSO READ: Fisherman finds dead mans body along San Antonio River at Espada Park The school has made on-campus counselors available to Keystone students, teachers and staff member to discuss the incident confidentially. Handmaker said the school requests that all members of the community cooperate with law enforcement, should they become involved. Siri was a member of the National Honor Society, an award-winning member of the schools Science Fair team and a member of the Upper School robotics team. She also contributed to The Keynote, the schools newspaper. ALSO READ: Dead body with gunshot wounds found at suspicious fire Last year, she sang Vedrai Carino by Mozart at Music Fest at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, and she sang in the cast of the Upper School musical Grease. She will be deeply missed, Handmaker said. A fire at Shell Chemical's Deer Park plant sent dense black smoke rising into the Friday afternoon sun, raising residents' concerns, again, despite company and local officials' attempts to dampen fears. Drivers along Texas 225, within sight of the expansive chemical units Shell has operated for decades, began seeing the smoke shortly before 3 p.m. At 4:02 p.m., a representative of Shell alerted on the community emergency reporting system to a contained fire on the property, saying air monitoring was underway, but no shelter in place was needed anywhere around the plant despite the ominous billowing. Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia said after speaking to a plant manager at Shell the "situation is under control." LIVE UPDATES: Fire contained to Shell Chemicals Deer Park, company says No serious injuries were reported, but Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said five contractors were transported to the hospital for "precautionary reasons, largely due to the heat." Three others arrived on their own to Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital. The total number of those sent to hospitals was slightly revised late Friday, according to a tweet from Shell. It said, "all site personnel have been accounted for, including 9 contractors who were released after undergoing precautionary medical evaluations." Ken Ellis / Houston Chronicle The company added that the fire started while its olefins unit was "undergoing routine maintenance. igniting cracked heavy gas oil, cracked light gas oil and gasoline." Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos. Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer Harris County Fire Marshal Captain James Singleton said the cause of the fire still was under investigation. Singleton said the fire marshals office was interviewing employees in an attempt to figure out what happened. Youre looking at a large number of people that need to be interviewed, Singleton said. Everyone who was at the unit at the time of the fire, the controllers, management, anybody that called 911. Theres a significant number of interviews involved in an investigation. MORE ON SHELL PLANT: What to know about the chemical plant that caught fire in Deer Park Gonzalez said a representative from Shell was invited to a late Friday afternoon press conference, but that person did not make it in time. Hopefully, theyll be coming out with some kind of statement here soon, Gonzalez said. Ultimately theyre the ones that have the answers to whats happening. The plant manufactures chemicals for industrial uses, including compounds common in insecticides and antifreeze, as well as those used to make everything from paints to the coating on wires and agricultural chemicals. Trey Smith, a rig welder at the plant, said he and a coworker were alerted to the problem when they heard coworkers yelling to get down, then the facility's alarms blaring. "We turned the corner to go to the stairs and you could see the flames burst up across the fence line," Smith said as he waited for a ride because his pickup was in the area cordoned off by the fire. "You could feel the heat from it running down the stairs." His main concern as he bounded for the evacuation location established for workers was that the unit would explode. "Luckily, it didn't," Smith said. "After I got away, I felt fine." Others remained on edge, even when officials signaled an all-clear and began more thorough air monitoring. "If no one got hurt on the ground here, its going to be a miracle," said George Gamble, 71, a truck driver who delivers to the plant. Harris County Pollution Control Services began monitoring gasses at the site of the explosion around 3:30 p.m., spokeswoman Annie Tapia said. We have not gotten any readings of concern. Its probably due to the fact that the smoke is so high above and dissipating above the industrial area, Tapia said Friday evening. It does not appear to actually be coming down to where it would be harmful. Gamble, who lives less than 2 miles away, received a call from his daughter checking on his whereabouts and safety. Its just happening too much, Gamble said. Its pretty scary with the sound in the area of the flames." The fire is the second incident in as many months along Houston's chemical alley, served by the Houston Ship Channel. One person was injured March 22 at the INEOS Phenol plant in Pasadena when a truck transferring liquid petroleum gas into a pipeline at the facility led to an explosion. The blast sent a fireball into the air. PASADENA BLAST: What to know about chemical plant where the explosion occurred That jolt shook buildings in Pasadena, while Friday's fire left residents looking up as a black smoke snaked upward. Experts said the dark plume could contain any number of gasses, depending on the specific location of the fire within the plant. Its dark color had more to do with an incomplete burn of hydrocarbons things such as gasoline, diesel or crude oil than the specific gasses it contains. The fact that its black means that theres a substantial amount of black carbon or soot in the particles, along with a range of organic carbon compounds, said Dr. Daniel Cohan, a Rice University professor of civil and environmental engineering. Once experts know which section of the plant burned they will be able to identify potential contaminants, according to University of Houston Vice President of Energy and Innovation Dr. Ramanan Krishnamoorti. For instance, if its in the desulfurization unit, it could be sulfur, Krishnamoorti said. Without knowing where it is located, the first order of concern is the impact the thick smoke could have on people who have got compromised breathing, people who have upper respiratory challenges, he said. Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer As the company and emergency crews responded, life went on in Deer Park, where residents live in the shadow of the petrochemical complexes, for good or ill. Shiv Srivastava, 37, and Yvette Arellano, 35, members of environmental justice group Fenceline Watch, saw the smoke and rushed to the site. They stood across the freeway from the explosion for more than an hour and Srivastava said they saw a litany of school buses pass, while other residents got out of their cars to take video of the plume. "Other people were doing everyday things," Arellano said. "There were folks having garage sales, just sitting on their porches who had no idea. There were even kids playing outside, skateboarding. Arellano said the pair had expected to hear a siren to indicate an industrial shelter in place, but the area was quiet. They did see emergency responders and police officers blocking the way so passers-by could not get too close to the scene. Nathan Thompson, 45, stood in a parking lot south of the plant, watching the smoke billow out and drift to the north. Thompson said he had been on his way to go swimming when he noticed white, then black smoke coming from the plant. As he watched for about 30 minutes, he saw multiple ambulances go by. Thompson said he has lived in Deer Park for about five years, and was here for the 2019 Intercontinental Terminals Company fire, which burned for three days. I just thought, oops, there goes another one, he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Uvalde city officials and the county district attorney have negotiated a truce in their legal battle over investigative materials that bear on the performance of police officers who responded to the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Morning of chaos: An interactive timeline of the Uvalde school shooting The city is seeking security video from the school, police body camera footage and other materials from a criminal investigation into the massacre, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed. The police response to the shooting has been widely condemned as a fiasco. Nearly 400 officers from two dozen local, county, state and federal agencies were on the scene. Yet more than an hour passed before members of a Border Patrol tactical unit stormed the classroom where the teenage gunman was holed up and shot him to death. Final encounter: Border Patrol agents who took down Uvalde shooter were slowed by bad information, missing equipment Uvalde officials say they need they need the investigative materials to determine whether any city police officers violated department policy and should be disciplined or fired. The material at issue was collected by the Texas Rangers and eventually will be handed over to Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell so she can decide whether to file any criminal charges in the shooting. A family's heartbreak: A Uvalde High senior graduates without her little sister Mitchell has said that in weighing whether to prosecute anyone, she will look at the actions of "every adult who was in the hallway" at Robb while the 18-year-old gunman was in the classroom with his victims and that she would examine whether the teen's family or anyone else assisted him or knew of his intentions in advance. In court filings, Mitchell's office says it has only incomplete drafts of some of the materials collected by the Rangers, not their final report, and that if any of the information leaks, it could affect the integrity of the criminal investigation. The DA's office says it should not have to turn any items over to city officials until after Mitchell has presented the evidence to a Uvalde County grand jury. The city says it can't wait that long. Its lawyers argue that the city needs the material now because state law and city policy require the police department to conduct administrative reviews of officer conduct within a specified time period. Otherwise, the city could be "harmed" in any potential disciplinary action against officers. In a court filing last week, the city asked a state district judge for an injunction compelling Mitchell to turn over the items, with restrictions "to maintain strict confidentiality of the district attorney's investigation." A hearing on the motion was scheduled for Thursday. Instead, both sides met behind closed doors in a conference room for more than an hour. Upon emerging, they told the judge the hearing would not be necessary. No injunction was issued, records show. The "city and I are still working together on this issue," Mitchell said in a statement Friday. "With the one-year mark of the tragedy coming up, the county, city and local leaders continue to work together for the betterment of our community." In a separate statement, Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr. said, "The city of Uvalde and the district attorney will continue to work together to achieve their respective objectives with regard to the Robb Elementary tragedy." Neither side would say what, if anything, Mitchell had agreed to hand over. Courtesy of the State of Texas On the morning of May 24, the gunman, armed with a military-style semiautomatic weapon, climbed a fence at Robb Elementary, entered the school through an unlocked side door and opened fire on teachers and students in two interconnected classrooms. Pedro "Pete" Arredondo, then chief of the Uvalde school district police force, directed the initial response. Arredondo was harshly criticized and ultimately fired for treating the shooting as a "barricaded suspect" situation, in which police could bide their time and negotiate, rather than as an "active shooter" scenario requiring immediate action to eliminate the threat and save lives, regardless of the danger to officers. The officers assembled at the school included 25 members of the Uvalde Police Department, according to a report by a special Texas House committee that investigated the massacre. The city last year hired a retired Austin police officer, Jesse Prado, to investigate the actions of Uvalde police officers. Court records show Prado wants video from body cameras worn by officers from other agencies, as well as statements they gave to criminal investigators. He is also seeking reports and surveillance video from the school district. Since late summer, the city has served an unspecified number of Uvalde police officers with "complaints," putting them on notice that they are under investigation, according to the city's court filings. Some of those officers could be fired, the filings state. Since then, city officials have been negotiating with Mitchell to see if she'll turn over the requested materials. She told city officials the criminal investigation might be completed by November. After months passed without a conclusion to the investigation, the city sued Mitchell. "The city would be harmed if its internal affairs investigation cannot be completed within a reasonable amount of time," the city's lawyers wrote in one filing. "In particular, the city will be harmed by not adhering to its own policies if it does not have the complete information related to the Robb School incident, including information from all law enforcement agencies to evaluate its own officers' conduct." The city's lawyers said Uvalde "has waited for months to conduct its independent internal affairs investigation. ... And it is unknown how long (Mitchell) will take to complete her own investigation." Scott Durfee, a special assistant district attorney in Mitchell's office, has argued in court filings that the materials are shielded by "work-product privilege," which applies to documents prepared in anticipation of litigation. Durfee argued that the DA should not have to turn the materials over until after a grand jury has reviewed them. Mitchell has said that once the Texas Rangers complete their investigation and turn over their massive file, her office will need three to four months to review it and then decide what should be presented to a grand jury. The Rangers, part of the Texas Department of Public Safety, investigate major violent crimes and officer-involved shootings, among other duties. Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez was out of town on the day of the shooting, and Lt. Mariano Pargas was acting chief. City officials moved to terminate Pargas after CNN aired audio from the scene that showed Pargas knew some children were still alive in the classrooms and did not take action to save them. Pargas retired in November before he could be fired. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court on Friday blocked Oklahoma from executing death row inmate Richard Glossip for his role in a 1997 murder-for-hire after the state's attorney general agreed Glossip's life should be spared. While it's rare for the conservative-dominated court to put executions on hold, it's even more unusual for a prosecutor to side with the inmate. Glossip had been scheduled to be put to death on May 18 despite statements by new Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond that Glossip did not receive a fair trial. An Oklahoma appeals court subsequently upheld Glossip's conviction and the state's pardon and parole board deadlocked in a vote to grant him clemency. The high court put the execution on hold indefinitely while it reviews the case. Justice Neil Gorsuch took no part in the decision, presumably because he dealt with the case earlier as an appeals court judge. There is nothing more harrowing than the thought of executing a man who the state now admits has never received a fair trial, Glossip attorney Don Knight said in a statement. "Our hope is that the court will reverse the decision of the (Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals) and vacate Mr. Glossips conviction once and for all. Drummond, a Republican and the state's top prosecutor, supported a high-court reprieve for Glossip, telling the justices, Glossips trial was unfair and unreliable. He in a statement he was grateful for the high court's decision. I will continue working to ensure justice prevails in this important case, he said. But Drummond also has said he does not believe Glossip is innocent of the murder-for-hire killing of Glossips former boss, Barry Van Treese, in 1997. Another man, Justin Sneed, admitted robbing and killing Van Treese after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000. Sneed received a life sentence in exchange for his testimony and was the key witness against Glossip. Van Treeses brother, Ken Van Treese, declined to comment on Friday's ruling. Former Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater has long said he believes Glossip persuaded Sneed to kill Van Treese. He said that while Sneed's testimony was most compelling, there was plenty of evidence to corroborate it. When police came to talk to Glossip about Van Treese's whereabouts, he directed him away from the room he knew Van Treese was in, Prater said Friday. At any point, Glossip had the opportunity to tell the police that Sneed did this. He never did that. He even helped Sneed clean up everything. Prater said Sneed and Glossip also both had a large amount of cash that Prater said they stole from Van Treese's car. In light of Gentner Drummond's position regarding the stay, I don't feel like the Supreme Court had much of a choice, Prater said. But the truth will come out. Two separate independent investigations have revealed problems with the prosecution's case. Drummond said Sneed lied on the stand about his psychiatric condition and his reason for taking the mood-stabilizing drug lithium, and that prosecutors knew Sneed was lying. Also, evidence was destroyed, Drummond said. Some Republican state lawmakers who support the death penalty have joined the growing chorus of Glossip supporters who are seeking to overturn his conviction. We're just ecstatic, state Rep. Kevin McDugle said in a brief telephone interview on Friday. Glossip was spending his last day of contact visitation with his wife, Lea Glossip, at the prison when he learned of the news, she said. We were reaching the end of the visit where we would have to say our goodbyes when the warden came in, pulled us out into the hallway and told us the news, Lea Glossip said in a text message to The Associated Press.It truly feels like answered prayers. Glossip's case has been to the Supreme Court before. He was given a reprieve in 2015, although the court later ruled 5-4 against him in a case involving the drugs used in lethal executions. Glossip has been just hours away from being executed three separate times. His last scheduled execution, in September 2015, was halted just moments before he was to be led to the death chamber when prison officials realized they had received the wrong lethal drug. That mix-up helped prompt a nearly seven-year moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma. Glossips case attracted international attention after actress Susan Sarandon who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean in the 1995 movie Dead Man Walking took up his cause in real life. Prejean herself has served as Glossips spiritual adviser and frequently visited him in prison. His case also was featured in the 2017 documentary film Killing Richard Glossip. Glossip is the first inmate who was granted a reprieve by the justices since their term began in October. The court rejected pleas from 15 others, including Darryl B. Barwick, who was executed in Florida on Wednesday. But in a similar situation to Glossip's, the justices in January ordered a Texas appeals court to look again at the case of a death-row inmate who also had the backing of prosecutors. The inmate, Areli Escobar, had been convicted and sentenced to death based of forensic evidence that a judge later found to be flawed. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the judges order for a new trial, even though the newly elected prosecutor in Travis County, Texas, was no longer standing behind the conviction. When Escobar appealed to the Supreme Court, the prosecutor supported his bid. Escobar was not facing imminent execution. ___ Murphy reported from Oklahoma City. ELECTION CENTRAL: Full election Results | Prop A analysis | City Council runoffs Below is a running list of updates from election night in San Antonio. Im Shepard Price, a reporter for the Express-News. All votes are counted With all precincts now reporting, every race can be called. Key takeaways include the failure of Proposition A, the re-election of Mayor Ron Nirenberg and two runoffs. In city council District 1 Sukh Kaur (33.9 percent of the vote) will face Mario Bravo (25.97 percent) in a runoff. In District 7, Marina Alderete Gavito (42.58 percent) will face Dan Rossiter (21.13 percent). Marc Whyte officially replaces Clayton Perry as well in District 10. This was largely a good night for incumbents, with Nirenberg, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Adriana Rocha Garcia, Teri Castillo, Melissa Cabello Havrda, Manny Pelaez and John Courage all taking more than 55 percent of votes. Nearly all voting centers have now reported At about 10:40 p.m., 47 more precincts reported their ballots, bringing the total number of votes in this election to 159,303. That's just over 15 percent of registered voters in Bexar County. Ron Nirenberg is virtually guaranteed to become mayor of San Antonio for a fourth term after the additional ballots were counted, while Sukh Kaur maintains her lead over incumbent Mario Bravo. Phyllis Viagran of District 3 looks to have avoided a runoff of her own. The trend of most incumbents winning re-election looks to have held, with just two runoffs in this year's election District 1 between Kaur and Bravo and District 7 between Marina Alderete Gavito (who now has 42.74 percent of the more than 16,000 ballots cast in that election) versus Dan Rossiter, with 21.02 percent. While San Antonio's Prop A looks destined for failure, Austin's passes by a large margin On a night when San Antonio's Proposition A looks destined to fail, with just 28.33 percent of voters agreeing that the justice charter amendment should pass as of 10:45 p.m., Austin's Prop A looks like a sure success. Austin's proposition would give more power to the Office of Police Oversight and the citizen-led panel that reviews incidents of police misconduct. Austin's Proposition B, which would do the opposite, restricting power of both the office and the panel, looks destined for failure. Nearly 200 voting centers have now reported At around 10 p.m., 55 more precincts reported their ballots, bringing the total thus far to 149,863 votes cast in this election. Phyllis Viagran, incumbent in District 3, fell to 50.93 percent of the votes, following a trend with each report. If the trend continues as more ballots are counted, Viagran appears headed to a runoff , as Erin Gallegos Reid sits at 22.28 percent. Viagran dominated the early vote but hasn't done as well on election day, in which she's received less than half the votes. Big lead in New Braunfels mayoral race Neal Linnartz grabbed a big lead in the New Braunfels Mayoral race on Saturday night after early voting results poured in. Additionally, voters have appeared to say "yes" to the city's $140 million bond package partially intended for a new public library branch. More than half of voting centers have reported votes As of 9:30 p.m., more than half of all voting centers had reported results. With 141 precincts tallied, Proposition A continued to perform better with those who voted on Saturday than those who took to the polls early or via absentee ballot. About 72 percent of votes tallied as of 9:30 were against the proposition. Mayor Nirenberg declares victory Following a commanding lead in early voting and through the first 78 of 251 voting centers counted, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg declared victory in his pursuit of a fourth and final term. Nirenberg held 60.98 percent of the votes by 9:30 p.m., well above the 50 percent mark needed to avoid a runoff. His closest competitor was Chris Schuchardt, the 33-year-old entrepreneur focused on crime and safety. More votes trickle in At around 9 p.m., another 8,000 ballots were cast from 45 precincts across Bexar County. This round of ballots did not have a massive impact on any one race. Sukh Kaur, who looks like the upset of the night against incumbent Mario Bravo, maintains her lead although that race looks more and more likely for a run-off, as Kaur holds just 33.73 percent of the votes. School board election results come in Several school district races appear all but officially called. Among them, each of three Alamo Heights ISD propositions looks likely to pass, while David Salcido, the Democrat in District 1, holds a lead over Amy Hoffmann, the Republican who was present outside the capital during the Jan. 6 insurrection. New ballots flow in from 33 precincts After 33 of 251 voting centers tallied their ballots, 6,000 more votes came in at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. Those ballots changed very little, but did make a few noticeable impacts. Among them, Dr. Sukh Kaur grew her lead over incumbent Mario Bravo in District 1, extending a 33.5 percent to 26 percent lead, while District 7 continues to appear likely for a run-off between Marina Gavito (42.87 percent) and Dan Rossiter (21.92 percent). The new votes shrank the gap between "for" and "against" in the Prop A ballot measure. Political newcomer takes early lead in Boerne mayor race Businessman Frank Ritchie took an early lead over City Council member Nina Woolard in the Boerne Mayor's Race, with 74.5 percent of the vote after the early vote was released following the 7 p.m. polls closure. Tim Handren, the departing mayor, decided not to seek re-election after four years in office. With early voting in, most but notably not all incumbents appear likely for re-election Following the 111,000 ballots cast as part of early and absentee voting, Mayor Ron Nirenberg and other sitting council members appear headed for re-election. However, there is one notable exception to the trend: Mario Bravo trails Sukh Kaur, who has 32 percent of the vote to Bravo's 26. Most of those looking likely for re-election made it seem easy in early voting, with percentages over 50 percent, although District 7, one of two open seats, may head to a run-off. Proposition A likely to fail after early vote pulverization Following a heap of votes against the justice charter amendment, an early forecast shows the proposition likely heading for defeat. The proposition would have decriminalized marijuana and abortion in the city and banned chokeholds and no-knock warrants, but an inclusion of a cite-and-release program likely killed the amendment. The early totals were greeted with a smile from San Antonio Police Officers' Association President Danny Diaz. Early election results pour in After more than 100,000 people voted early, election results have begun to pour in. Early takeaways include Mayor Ron Nirenberg's sizable lead in pursuit of a fourth term. The mayor garnered 57,000 of the 95,000 votes tallied so far in the mayoral race. Of the 98,000 votes cast in the Prop A ballot measure, roughly 74% voted against the justice charter amendment . Polls close as Bexar County election counts begin At 7 p.m., most of the 251 polling locations in Bexar County closed, as election workers began counting votes, starting with those that came in early and through the mail. Bexar County Elections Department offers election day livestream During Saturday's election counting, the Bexar County Election Department is offering a livestream of the department's work on YouTube. With a three-camera set up, including views of the ballot board, mail room and tabulation room, the feed will likely pick up once polls close at 7 p.m. Tony Gonzales responds to Allen shooting On Saturday, at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, multiple people were injured after gunfire erupted. The victims included children. Tony Gonzales, U.S. Representative for part of San Antonio, called the shooting "senseless violence" and said that "something has to change" in the wake of the second mass shooting in less than a week in Texas. Pay attention to early results as polls set to close soon Polls close in less than an hour, and early voting results will likely drop shortly after 7 p.m. election day ballots will be counted and reported throughout the night. Bookmark our Live Election Results page as races like mayor, city council and Proposition A are called. Austin, Houston-area elections also taking place Saturday It's not just Election Day in San Antonio. From Austin to the Houston suburbs, local elections are taking place all over Texas today. Such elections in other parts of the state inlude a $1.26 billion bond proposal in Fort Bend, the largest in the history of the city's school district. More than 33,000 voters take to the polls through Saturday afternoon As of 3 p.m., 33,870 Bexar County voters had voted on Saturday. Jacque Callanen, elections administrator at the Bexar County Elections Department, wrote that with a third of the day left to vote, the 251 election centers across the county will remain open until 7 p.m. and even later for locations with voters in line at that time. Jane Fonda endorses two San Antonio City Council members up for re-election Jane Fonda, the Academy Award-winning actress and activist, endorsed two San Antonio City Council members on Friday as they look to keep their seats for a second term. Fonda's climate-focused political action committee endorsed District 2 City Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 5 City Councilwoman Teri Castillo due to their actions on utility reform. Mario Bravo, of District 1, was absent from the endorsement after being a loud voice on the council for utility reform. Bravo faces six challengers in the first district. Bryan Slaton evicted from Texas House In state news, Texas State Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, was evicted from the House after the action was unanimously recommended by a panel. The panel found Slaton engaged in "inappropriate sexual conduct" with a 19-year-old legislative aide who previously worked in his office. Slaton's eviction would mark the first expulsion of a member of the Texas House since 1927. Hazardous Weather Outlook issued for election night The National Weather Service issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for Bexar County and surrounding areas on Saturday morning ahead of election day. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms are possible with a chance to turn severe. Large hail, damaging straight-line winds and locally heavy rainfall is is also possible. Rain chances remain for much of next week as well. Officials remind those voting late to stay in line Voting will continue through 7 p.m. tonight, although if youre in line at 7 p.m., Bexar County elections officials remind you to stay in line. While you will not be able to get in line past that time, if you already have a spot, you will be able to vote. Bexar County early voting totals According to Jacque Callanen, elections administrator at the Bexar County Elections Department, the busiest day of early voting was May 2, which saw a total of 28,779 voters. There were 106,948 in-person voters in total during early voting around the county, which lasted from April 24 to May 2 at 43 locations. However, in San Antonio itself, early voting turnout was down 9 percent from 2021, when the mayor and several city council members were last on the ballot, along with another policing reform proposition. shepard.price@express-news.net Rubavu District, Rwanda / Washington Heavy rains and flooding have killed at least 130 people in Rwanda, officials said Thursday. The country began mass burial of victims, mostly in northern and western provinces. In a service punctuated by tears and stories from the relatives of the victims, 14 bodies were laid to rest Thursday at Rugerero cemetery, 15 kilometers from Rubavu town in western Rwanda. "A strong wave hit both of us and she lost hold of the support we were clinging to. That was the last time I saw her alive," Felix Nteziyaremye said, remembering the last moments with his wife Generose Mukamurenzi, 26, who was buried Thursday. Their 6-month-old baby survived. Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente attended the burial service and said authorities will "continue to ensure that you [victims] have shelter and basic needs." A VOA Central Africa Service reporter in western Rwanda said floods destroyed hundreds of houses, roads and other infrastructure in the area. On Wednesday, dozens of vulnerable people were trapped in partially submerged houses as they waited for rescue, the reporter said. More than 5,100 houses destroyed The floods that began Tuesday evening have destroyed more than 5,100 houses and impacted an additional 2,500, deputy government spokesperson Alain Mukuralinda told reporters. Speaking to VOA earlier, Mukuralinda warned that the death toll may be higher and that rescuers are still trying to reach people and properties washed away by flooding. Affected areas include the districts of Rubavu, Ngororero, Nyabihu, Rutsiro, Karongi, Gakenke, Burera, Musanze and Nyamagabe, according to a statement released by the office of the president on Wednesday. "We are doing everything within our means to address this difficult situation. I am personally following up the response closely," President Paul Kagame said in a statement. The president said ongoing rescue efforts include "evacuation and temporary relocation of residents from affected and high-risk areas while rains are ongoing." "I have lost everything," Nyirabihingwa Florence, a resident of the flood-stricken western province, told VOA. "I had seven houses, 500 chickens, a full food store, many things. Everything has been washed away. I have nothing." Witnesses in the area say the floods gained momentum due to the overflowing of the nearby Sebeya River. Hundreds of people are still missing, and several houses submerged in water are collapsing, witnesses told VOA's Central Africa Service. "We saw a powerful wave of flood water sweeping through compounds, ripping through houses and leaving nothing in its wake as we struggled to cling to anything nearby to survive. It was horrific," Nzayisenga Christine, another resident, recounted. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Rwanda Climate Aid and Assistance 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. "We are asking the government to put in place a mechanism that stops this river from overflooding in case of heavy rains such as today." A communique from the office of the president says the government has set up a command center to coordinate emergency response. "We are setting up tents in safer areas where we shall be receiving those affected by the floods as rescue operations continue," spokesperson Mukuralinda told VOA. Local authorities overwhelmed Disasters such as floods and landslides are not uncommon in this part of Rwanda. But the magnitude of the latest occurrence seems to have overwhelmed local authorities who sought intervention on national level. Meanwhile, the National Meteorological Center recently warned that Rwanda is likely to experience heavy rains in May. Tuesday's downpour and floods also extended to parts of southwestern Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to local authorities. Some information for this report came from Reuters. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A panel of House lawmakers is unanimously recommending that the chamber vote to expel state Rep. Bryan Slaton after finding that the Royse City Republican engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old aide who worked for him. A House investigative committee found that Slaton had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a subordinate and that the behavior was induced by alcohol that he provided to her. He also acted systematically to influence that subordinate and multiple witnesses and obstruct the investigation into the matter, said state Rep. Andrew Murr, the Junction Republican who chairs the committee. Slaton and his attorney did not present any evidence that contradicted the allegations, nor did the lawmaker express regret or remorse for his conduct, the report says. Murr announced the panels findings Saturday as House members were handed copies of its investigative report. Murr said the House would vote Tuesday whether to remove Slaton, a move that would require support from two-thirds of the 150-member chamber. READ THE REPORT: Report of the Committee on General Investigating In the Matter of Representative Bryan L. Slaton Slaton was seated at his desk in the House chamber as Murr announced the panels recommendation. His attorney, Patrick Short, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement last month, Short denied wrongdoing on Slatons part. We are aware of outrageous allegations circulating online by second-tier media that make false claims against Representative Slaton, Short said. The inquiry was triggered by three complaints from other young staffers at the Capitol, all signed under penalty of perjury. The investigation lasted a month and was led by Catherine Evans, a former Harris County criminal district court judge who now operates a private law practice. The expulsion of a fellow member is a level of punishment we dont take lightly, Murr said. It is not meant to punish the member. Rather, it is intended to protect the integrity and dignity of this legislative body and to provide accountability to everyone that works, works and serves in this building. The report recommended Slatons expulsion based on his alleged violation of numerous House rules governing workplace conduct, along with a provision of the Texas Constitution that allows House members to be punished for disorderly conduct. It also accuses Slaton of violating several state laws, including providing alcohol to a minor and abusing his official capacity as an elected official. It was not immediately clear whether the matter had been reported to police. The conservative firebrand and former minister from East Texas is known for pushing politically extreme, attention-grabbing bills, such as one calling for Texas to secede, and another providing tax cuts for straight couples with children, as long as neither spouse had been previously divorced. He has often locked horns with more moderate members of his party. Slatons combative posture has earned him a number of enemies on both sides of the aisle. State Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, said in a tweet that he would vote in favor of expulsion. Patterson tweeted that he could not finish reading the report. Its disturbing and disgusting that a predator like Rep. Slaton is a member of the Texas House. I look forward to voting to expel Mr. Slaton and protecting the integrity of the Texas House of Representatives. House Speaker Dade Phelan, citing his oversight role over the proceedings, said in a statement he would withhold public comment until my colleagues have the opportunity to deliberate and then vote on the General Investigating Committees recommendations. Report: Slaton often drank with underage staff According to the report, Slaton on multiple occasions helped underage staffers obtain alcoholic drinks. He had grown close to the legislative aide, taking photos of her and complimenting her appearance. A friend of the aides had warned her it was wrong for the two to be so close, but the aide shrugged off her concerns by saying there was nothing going on between the two and that Slaton and his wife had problems, the report said. Then, on March 31, Slaton invited the aide to his Austin condo around 10 p.m., saying he did not want to drink by himself, the report said. When she insisted on going, her friends decided to accompany her as a protective measure. One of the friends told investigators the aide had never really had a boyfriend before and was somewhat naive. Slaton was initially surprised that the aide had brought other people but then proceeded to make all of them rum and Cokes, according to the report. The aide said she had a lot of alcohol, felt pretty rough, really dizzy and had split vision. One of the friends threw up from drinking too much. Her friends testified that Slaton and the aide would frequently leave and go to other parts of the apartment, and the two were flirting and looked like they were a couple. About two hours later, her friends decided to leave and urged the aide to leave as well, but Slaton told her she did not have to leave if she did not want to, and she ultimately stayed. The aide told investigators she did not feel pressured to stay nor did she feel that it was a requirement of her job, though she acknowledged that she was in an inappropriate situation. Slaton dropped the aide off the next morning, after which a friend drove her to a drugstore to buy Plan B, an emergency contraceptive, the report says. The aide told at least two coworkers she had sex with Slaton, the report says. She also told one of them Slaton told her, Im not scared of anyone else. You know you own me now? Back at work a few days later, Slaton called the aide into his private office to show her an email he had received. One of her friends told investigators that the email read: I know youre sleeping with a staffer. Can you really trust those 20-year-old girls? She owns you now. The aide told the committee the email made her really fearful that I would potentially lose my job. She said Slaton told her, Everything would be fine. Everyone involved just has to stay quiet, which she took as a threat and said she found intimidating but told him she would not tell anyone. The aide and the friend were panicking and stayed up all night trying to figure out what to do. Given the language repetition of own you, lack of demand and awkward interactions between Slaton and the aides friends, they decided Slaton must have sent the email himself. The aide later told the friend if she hadnt been drunk, she would not have done it, as in had sex with Slaton. She told an investigator Slatons conduct was inappropriate under these circumstances because I had too much to drink. Three unnamed state representatives also contacted the committee to advise it of allegations against Slaton. One had advised Slaton to resign, but Slaton had told them he had a plan and needed their support, the report says. The lawmaker had previously called Slaton and asked if it was true that he had invited a young staffer to his condo and had sex with them, and Slaton confirmed. Man, Ive made a mistake and now it seems everyones against me, Slaton told him during the call, according to the complaint. The representative said he was praying for him and hung up. (The Center Square) The federal government is directing U.S. Border Patrol agents to release foreign nationals into the U.S. with Notice to Appear/Warrant to Appear forms for immigration court in 2026. The Center Square obtained documents provided in a packet to foreign nationals who were processed by Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas, were released and later apprehended in Jackson County, 260 miles north. Highway 59 is a major human smuggling route where an Operation Lone Star Task Force is operating to interdict criminals, state officials say. Jackson County Sheriff Kelly Janica and his deputies are key players in the task force whove been involved in a range of interdiction activities, from seizing stolen cars, to apprehending smugglers, to arresting other perpetrators and fugitives. Biden administration policies have been an unmitigated disaster, Janica argues, but now the federal government is involved in legalized smuggling, he told The Center Square. Janica contacted The Center Square to describe a recent incident his deputy encountered. On May 2, one of his deputies noticed a silver Toyota Tundra heading north on Highway 59 with five people sitting in the bed of the truck. The deputy pulled over the vehicle believing the group to be foreign nationals being smuggled north from the border. According to his report, he observed multiple Hispanic passengers in the bed of the truck and multiple Hispanic passengers in the cab. The driver, a 36-year-old man from Humble, said he was the son of a 63-year-old man sitting in the passenger seat to whom the vehicle was registered. The deputy asked if all the occupants in the vehicle were in the U.S. legally and the driver said they were family members from Honduras who they picked up in Brownsville, Texas, and were driving to North Carolina. All 11 being transported had Honduran identification cards or passports and were between the ages of 5 and 73, including four men and four women each, two boys, and one teenage girl. Three were minors, ages 5, 9 and 16. They all had manila envelopes including Notice to Appear/Warrant to Appear papers, which are what Border Patrol agents give foreign nationals when they release them into the U.S. The document states, You are an arriving alien. The Department of Homeland Security alleges that you: 1. Are not a citizen or national of the United States; 2. You are a native of Honduras and citizen of Honduras; 3. On or about May 2, 2023, you applied for admission to the United States at a Brownsville, Texas, Port of Entry; 4. You are an immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa, reentry permit, border crossing card or other valid entry document required by the Immigration and Naturalization Act. On the basis of the forgoing it is charged that you are subject to removal from the United States pursuant to several federal laws listed. They were all ordered to appear before an immigration judge at a court in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Oct. 15, 2026. The deputy contacted Border Patrol to confirm their paperwork and was told they were apprehended on April 23 and had been released pending their immigration hearing in three years. Border Patrol advised they would not take them and they were free to go, the deputy said. Janica contacted The Center Square alarmed by what he says is the Biden administration finding a way to get people into country under the auspices of a court proceeding in three years, moving people across the country to North Carolina. They said they were all family members, the sheriff said, but we dont believe that for one minute. Under normal circumstances, if federal law were being enforced, Janica said his deputy would have arrested the driver and front passenger and they wouldve been charged with human smuggling. The reason they couldnt arrest them is because Border Patrol said they wouldnt come and get them; a court date in 2026 was enough to release them, he said. We really dont know where theyre going. Thats just a piece of paper the federal government gave them so they dont have to come and get them, he said. Janica said law enforcement expects to see more of this after the public health authority Title 42 expires on May 11. Theyll be coming on a party bus, he told The Center Square, and at our expense, meaning the taxpayers. He also said the federal government is preventing law enforcement from doing their jobs. In a previous stop, his deputies apprehended 22 people they believed were illegal aliens but they each had brand new U.S. passports. They were heading to Florida. They were being driven by a Mexican national who was hired by a third party funded by U.S. government to drive the 17-passenger van, Janica said. His deputies called Border Patrol, who said the 22 people had been apprehended and released a few days before his deputies stopped them. Border Patrol said, they were good to go. There was nothing we could do, we had to release them. How were they American citizens if theyd just come across the border? he asked. How did they get brand new passports? It takes my residents 6 to 10 weeks to get a passport. How did they get a passport in two days? Somethings going on down there that the American people dont know about. Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs Senate Bill 23-190, which bans a controversial practice known as abortion pill reversal, on April 14, 2023. Polis is surrounded by abortion rights advocates and legislators who helped craft the bill text, which declares it medical malpractice to prescribe any drug with the intention of reversing an abortion. (Photo by Claire Cleveland for KFF Health News) In Glenwood Springs, Colorado, registered nurse Katie Laven answers calls from people whove started the two-pill medication abortion regimen and want to stop the process. They are just in turmoil, said Laven, who works at the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and answers some of the roughly 150 calls it says come in each month. They feel like, Well, maybe an abortion would make it better. And then they take the abortion pill and theyre like, I dont feel better. In fact, I feel much worse that I did that. The Abortion Pill Rescue Network is run by Heartbeat International, an anti-abortion group that promotes a controversial practice called abortion pill reversal, in which a patient is given progesterone within 72 hours of taking mifepristone, the first pill administered in a medication abortion, and before taking misoprostol, the second pill. The organization said more than 4,000 infants have been born since 2013 after people went through the reversal process. KFF Health News couldnt independently verify that number, which Heartbeat International said is based on internal patient data. But such interventions may be coming to an end in Colorado, which recently became the first state to ban abortion pill reversals. The Colorado legislature passed a bill to make prescribing any drug in this way medical misconduct, unless three of the states medical boards find it is a generally accepted standard of practice. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law on April 14. The bill also limits advertising by pregnancy resource centers, which do not offer abortions; rather, they are known to try to talk people out of getting an abortion. The Colorado attorney generals office, several district attorneys, the Colorado Medical Board, and the Colorado Board of Nursing said they would not enforce the new law until the two medical boards determine whether abortion reversal is a generally accepted standard of practice, The Colorado Sun reported. Pills have emerged as the latest front in the war over abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in June 2022. In early April, a federal judge in Texas ruled to halt access to mifepristone nationwide, a decision later stayed by the Supreme Court. The push to promote so-called medication abortion reversal is part of a larger strategy that aims to misinform the public about abortion safety, about the effectiveness of abortion methods, about people who are seeking abortion care and how sure they are of their decision, said Daniel Grossman, director of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health at the University of California-San Francisco. All of that misinformation has played an important role in eroding peoples rights to this essential component of health care. For Laven, the nurse who works for the Abortion Pill Rescue Network hotline, abortion pill reversal is another aspect of patient choice. We should not be forcing them to continue, she said of pregnant people. We should give them the choice to stop if they want. In 2020, medication abortion accounted for more than half of all documented abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. During the pandemic, the FDA eliminated a long-standing rule that abortion pills be picked up in person, paving the way for patients to receive them in the mail. There is no comprehensive public data on how often a person takes the first abortion pill then changes their mind. Andrea Trudden, Heartbeat Internationals vice president of communications and marketing, said in a statement that about 150 women a month start the reversal process through its network, but she did not respond to requests for more details. No woman should be forced to complete an abortion she no longer wants, Trudden said. Imagine knowing that there is a way you can try to save your baby and not be allowed to. Its not right. Abortion rights advocates said patients do sometimes change their minds, even though doctors typically counsel patients beforehand that its not a reversible process. Doctors can recommend that they induce vomiting if less than an hour has passed since taking mifepristone or else tell them to forgo the second pill, misoprostol. They also cited ANSIRHs Turnaway Study, which tracked more than 600 people who had abortions in the United States for five years afterward, and found that more than 95% felt abortion had been the right decision for them. Abortion pill reversal is not based on science, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which says mandates based on unproven, unethical research are dangerous to womens health care. By 2021, 14 states had enacted laws that required patients to receive information on abortion pill reversal, largely during pre-abortion counseling, according to a study in the American Journal of Public Health. Earlier this month, the Republican-controlled Kansas legislature passed a bill that would require providers to tell patients that medication abortions are reversible once underway. The bill was vetoed by the states governor then overridden by the legislature. It goes into effect in July. The practice is also not supported by the American Medical Association, which filed a lawsuit in North Dakota in 2019 challenging two laws that required physicians to tell patients about abortion pill reversal and that abortion terminates the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being. That case is pending while a separate lawsuit challenging North Dakotas abortion ban plays out. Proponents of abortion pill reversal point to a case study led by an anti-abortion physician, George Delgado, president of the Steno Institute, a nonprofit devoted to what the institute calls pro-life research. The retrospective analysis reviewed 547 cases and found 64%-68% of patients given progesterone continued their pregnancies after taking mifepristone. But the study elicited criticism for several reasons, including its methods and lack of safety data. Mifepristone alone is not a very effective abortifacient, according to ANSIRH. In a 1988 study that looked at continued pregnancy in 30 women after they took 200 milligrams of mifepristone, 23% of women continued their pregnancies. The women in that study were no more than seven weeks pregnant. Delgados analysis compared its continued-pregnancy rate, which included women who were anywhere from five to nine weeks pregnant, to that study. Grossman and other authors who reanalyzed the Delgado case series at seven weeks gestation found no significant difference in patients who took progesterone reversal treatment and those who took only mifepristone. For now, any use of reversal treatment should be considered experimental and offered only in the context of clinical research supervised by an institutional review board, Grossman and a co-author wrote in a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine. In 2020, researchers from the University of California-Davis set out to evaluate abortion pill reversal treatment in a controlled trial. That study ended early due to safety concerns. Three women, two in the control group and one in the experimental group who received progesterone, hemorrhaged. Its a very small study, so its hard to draw a definitive conclusion, but it certainly is concerning, said Grossman. And its surprising that all of the reports that have come from Delgado, including the largest case series, dont have any reports of patients having heavy bleeding. And that just really makes me concerned that they werent adequately capturing those kinds of safety outcomes. Delgado, who is a plaintiff in the Texas case against mifepristone, refuted the arguments against his research. He said the case study is one piece of evidence to support abortion pill reversal, alongside other safe uses of progesterone, animal case studies, and the more than 4,000 reversals documented by Heartbeat International. Abortion pill reversal has been demonstrated to be safe. Its been demonstrated to be effective, he said. And in my experience in talking to women that Ive treated, and in talking to other women who have been treated by others, women who are given that opportunity to reverse their chemical abortions have expressed great gratitude. And Ive never had a woman tell me that she regretted attempting to reverse her chemical abortion. Colorado legislators targeted pregnancy resource centers and abortion pill reversal as part of a broader package of abortion rights policy proposals. The other bills in the package protect providers and patients of abortion care and gender-affirming care and expand funding for abortion services, both of which Polis signed into law. Last year, the Democratic-led legislature passed the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which codified the right to an abortion and contraceptives in state law and declared that an embryo or fetus does not have rights under state law. As a result of those protections and bans in neighboring states, Colorado has seen an influx of out-of-state patients seeking abortions. In 2022, 3,835 people from out of state received abortions in Colorado, according to provisional data from the state Department of Public Health and Environment. That is 2,275 more people than state officials recorded the year before. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFFan independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF. The post Colorado becomes the first state to ban abortion pill reversals appeared first on Daily Montanan. Deciding where to go college is the first major life decision many Americans make. And while there are many factors to weigh when selecting a school - including cost and distance from home - many of the 16.6 million American college students today chose to enroll in the best school they could get into. It is generally believed that graduates of elite colleges and universities are better positioned for higher-paying careers later in life. And there is plenty of evidence to back this claim. According to one study conducted between 1996 and 2014, about 38% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 45% of billionaires attended elite post-secondary schools. (This is where the 25 richest American billionaires went to college.) Because elite colleges and universities offer high quality and rigorous academic programs, they receive far more applications each year than they can accept. As a result, many of the best schools in the country are also the most selective. It is worth noting that those who graduate from top-tier institutions are high achievers to begin with, and therefore, any career success cannot be attributed to their college education alone. Based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, of the six colleges or universities in Montana with available data, The University of Montana-Western, located in Dillon, ranks as the hardest school to get into. Only 33.3% of applicants for the fall 2021 semester were admitted, and the median SAT score among enrolled students in the 2020-2021 academic year was 1005 out of a possible 1600. The average cost of attending The University of Montana-Western as a full-time student is $17,790 for one academic year. Average annual cost of attendance is only for full-time, first-time, undergraduates who receive Title IV aid. All schools within each state with at least 1,000 applicants in fall 2021 were ranked based on an index score of median SAT scores, from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard and admissions rates, from the National Center for Education Statistics. Average annual cost of attendance is also from the College Scorecard. Fairfield, MT (59436) Today Cloudy with occasional rain showers. Thunder possible. High 58F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight A few clouds. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 38F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Dame Emma Thompson, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Kenneth Branagh brought a touch of Hollywood glamour as they arrived at Westminster Abbey for King Charles' coronation. Dame Emma Thompson arrives at Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles The actors were among the early arrivals to take their seats at the historic venue in London on Saturday (06.05.23) ahead of the glittering ceremony which will see the new monarch crowned alongside his wife Camilla, Queen Consort - and they were joined by other famous faces including rocker Nick Cave - who is part of the Australian delegation - and Lionel Richie, who will perform at the coronation concert on Sunday (07.05.23). Also among the early arrivals was 'Downton Abbey' actress Dame Maggie Smith, Stephen Fry, Dame Joanna Lumley, magician Dynamo, TV presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly and musical theatre mogul Andrew Lloyd Webber, who has written the official anthem for the King's coronation. The stars were joined by a number of UK politicians including Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and London Mayor Sadiq Khan who were seen arriving at the Abbey. Guests started arriving at the venue from 7am and were advised to be seated by 9am - two hours before the service is due to begin. The Abbey has been decorated with lavish floral arrangements in colours of reds, burgundies and yellow golds as well as a royal blue carpet. Around 2,300 people are expected to among congregation which will include representatives of 39 Commonwealth nations and as well as 100 heads of state., Guests also include many ordinary citizens who have been given the opportunity to attend to thank them for their service to their country and communities. Jamie Lee Curtis has decided to step down from her role as a presenter at the MTV Movie and TV Awards to show her support for the Hollywood writers strike. Jamie Lee Curtis will skip the MTV awards due to the writers strike The 'Halloween' star had been due to take to the stage to present one of the gongs at the annual bash, which takes place at The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica on Sunday (07.05.23), but she's now decided not to go because she "won't cross a picket line" amid the Writers Guild of America walk-out which kicked off on Tuesday (02.05.23). Jamie posted a picture of herself in a previous red carpet outfit on Instagram and declared she won't be getting dressed up to go to the awards show, writing: "I'm not gonna be able to go and present because the @wgawest needs and deserves my support and I won't cross their picket line." It comes after the awards show's host Drew Barrymore also announced she was pulling out of the show because of the strike. In a statement issued to Variety, she said: I have listened to the writers, and in order to truly respect them, I will pivot from hosting the MTV Movie and TV Awards live in solidarity with the strike. Everything we celebrate and honour about movies and television is born out of their creation. And until a solution is reached, I am choosing to wait but Ill be watching from home and hope you will join me. The show will go ahead as planned, but will no longer be broadcast live and will reportedly be without an audience. Bruce Gillmer, executive producer of the MTV Movie and TV Awards, said in a statement: "As we carefully navigate how best to deliver the fan first awards show we envisioned that our team has worked so hard to create, were pivoting away from a live event that still enables us to produce a memorable night full of exclusive sneak peaks, irreverent categories our audience has come to expect, and countless moments that will both surprise and delight as we honour the best of film and TV over the past year." King Charles has been proclaimed the "undoubted King" and anointed. King Charles has been anointed Standing next to the 700-year-old Coronation Chair, the 74-year-old monarch was proclaimed before the congregation before carrying out the Coronation Oath. He solemnly declared to uphold the law and the Church of England during his reign. He then completed the Accession Declaration Oath confirming that he is a faithful Protestant. The congregation replied: "God save King Charles." The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "Your Majesty, are you willing to make, subscribe, and declare to the statutory Accession Declaration Oath?" "The King replied: "I am willing. "I Charles do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will, according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the Throne, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my powers according to law." The King then signed copies of the Oaths, presented by the Lord Chamberlain, whilst the choir sings His four page boys, including Prince George, nine, carried the train of his robe. The King moved to the High Altar, where he lead his prayer. He then moved back to the Chair of Estate. Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave a reading of the Epistle, continuing a tradition dating back several years. Sunak is a Hindu reading from a biblical text, a nod to the king's dedication to encouraging a nation of multi-faith inclusivity. The passage was Colossians 1:9-17. Before the shielded anointment, the Archbishop of Canterbury read: "Blessed art thou, Sovereign God, upholding with thy grace all who are called to thy service. Thy prophets of old anointed priests and kings to serve in thy name and in the fullness of time thine only Son was anointed by the Holy Spirit to be the Christ, the Saviour and Servant of all. "By the power of the same Spirit, grant that this holy oil may be for thy servant Charles a sign of joy and gladness; that as King he may know the abundance of thy grace and the power of thy mercy, and that we may be made a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for thine own possession. Blessed be God, our strength and our salvation, now and for ever. Amen." For the anointing, unlike his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, His Majesty had it done in private behind a screen rather than a canopy. The archbishop poured a special oil from a golden flask - or the Ampulla - onto the coronation spoon before anointing the King with a cross on his head, chest and hands. During the historic moment, the choir performed George Frideric Handel 1 Kings 1: 3940, which was composed for the Coronation of George II in 1727. They sang: "God save The King, Long Live The King." The UN refugee agency has advised governments not to return people to Sudan amid an ongoing conflict there. Meanwhile, Arab ministers will meet in Cairo this weekend to discuss the fighting. DW has the latest. The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday that it was telling governments not to return people to Sudan as fighting between two rival generals continues to rage. "We're advising governments not to return people to Sudan because of the conflict that's going on there," Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR's director of international protection, told reporters at a briefing in Geneva. "This applies to Sudanese nationals, to foreign nationals, including refugees who are being hosted in Sudan, stateless persons, as well as those who do not have a passport or any other form of identification," Tan said. Witnesses said the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, has been hit by further airstrikes and gunfire on Friday in fighting that has killed hundreds and caused almost half a million people to flee their homes. About 100,000 of those have fled Sudan to neighboring countries, the United Nations says. The UNHCR said on Thursday said it was preparing for 860,000 people to leave Sudan. It said $445 million (404 million) would be needed to support them just up to November. Even before the conflict broke out, some 15 million people -- a third of Sudan's population -- were in need of food aid, according to UN estimates. The clashes broke out in mid-April, pitting forces loyal to Sudan's de facto leader, Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who leads the regular army against those of his deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, known more commonly as Hemeti. Hemeti commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are descended from the notorious Janjaweed militias that have been accused of committing atrocities during the Darfur conflict two decades ago. The current fighting has persisted despite threats of US sanctions and multiple truces that have been agreed during the three weeks of battles so far. Here are other key headlines about the crisis in Sudan for Friday, May 5 UN special representative warns of possible spread of conflict The conflict in Sudan could lead to further violence in the surrounding region, according to Volker Perthes, the UN special representative for Sudan and head of the UN UNITAMS mission. Perthes told DW that two factors could contribute to destabilizing the region: first, the flows of refugees and, secondly, the influx of fighters into Sudan who are looking to profit from the conflict. He however declined to confirm reports that the Russian mercenary group Wagner was involved in the Sudan conflict. He also downplayed the reported involvement of Libyan General Khalifa Hifter, saying only that Hifter supported "one of the two parties but has no major role in this war." He said the UN was working to prevent the war becoming a prolonged conflict. "Our aim is to prevent exactly that: that there is a long war that could bring the country to the brink," he said, adding that a monitored cease-fire would have to be the first step in resolving the conflict. Arab ministers to convene in Cairo amid prolonged conflict Diplomats from nations in the Arab League will meet in Cairo this weekend, with the conflict in Sudan at the top of the agenda, according to Arab League spokesperson Gamal Rushdy. The Arab countries hold different views on the conflict. Egypt, for example, is a staunch backer of the Sudanese Army, whereas the UAE is favorable towards the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). UN warns of large number of child casualties The United Nations has said it has received reports indicating the seven children were been killed or injured every hour in the Sudan conflict. "As feared and as warned, the situation in Sudan has become fatal for a frighteningly large number of children," James Elder, spokesman for the UN children's agency UNICEF, told reporters in Geneva. He said his agency had received reports from a trusted partner that 190 children had been killed and 1,700 injured in the first 11 days of the conflict alone. The reports have not yet been independently verified by the UN, he said, adding, however, that the real number was likely to be much higher. Refugee flow likely to heavily impact South Sudan: UNHCR representative South Sudan, one of the main destinations for people fleeing the conflict in Sudan, is likely to struggle to host the large number of refugees, according Marie-Helene Verney, the UNHCR representative in South Sudan. Verney told DW that refugees started arriving to South Sudan two weeks ago. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Sudan Conflict International Organisations 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. "The first week was quiet because people were stuck in Khartoum and really could not leave Khartoum because the fighting was too hard," she said. She said the UNHCR had recorded 33,000 people coming through one particular border crossing point into South Sudan over the past two weeks but that the real number was likely much higher. There are about 800,000 South Sudanese who are refugees in Sudan, and the vast majority of those coming back are these refugees, Verney explained. "So in a way, they're coming back home. But the return was not prepared at all," she said. Verney said that much of South Sudan was already suffering from a high degree of food insecurity, meaning that the country would have great difficulties assisting the refugees. In addition, she said South Sudan was largely reliant on its northern neighbor for food, basic goods and oil transit. "So there's also a huge economic impact on South Sudan that is likely to play out in the next few weeks and months," Verney said. tj/wd (AFP, Reuters) The Coronation flypast has been scaled back due to the poor weather conditions in London. King and Queen's scaled-back flypast due to bad weather Only the helicopters and The Red Arrows acrobatic team are to take part in the display for the newly-crowned King and Queen, as rain pours down on the British capital this Saturday (06.05.23). The display over The Mall and Buckingham Palace was originally set to take place for around six minutes, however, it will only have a duration of two minutes 30, the Ministry of Defence said. More than 60 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force were meant to take part, all flying in different formations. The Red Arrows told ITV News they would be "waiting until the last minute" to decide if it's possible to take to the skies. King Charles and Queen Camilla are still expected to view the display from the balcony of Buckingham Palace with senior members of the Royal Family. Met Office Chief Meteorologist Matthew Lehnert said in his forecast: An area of rain is expected to move into southwest England early on Saturday, moving northeast through the day with some heavy bursts at times. "This is likely to bring some rain to London from mid-morning. Further north in Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland it will be a day of sunshine and showers before the more persistent rain moves northwards overnight. "Under the cloud and rain, temperatures will be subdued with 16 degrees in London, whilst 20 degrees is likely in sunnier northwest Scotland. The coronation flypast follows the coronation service at Westminster Abbey and the grand procession back to Buckingham Palace and The Royal Salute. Michael Shannon "feels for" 'The Flash' co-star Ezra Miller. Michael Shannon 'feels for' Ezra Miller The 48-year-old actor has reprised his role as DCs villainous General Zod Andy Muschietti 'The Flash', which stars Ezra, who was arrested multiple times last year, as the titular character. When asked about the controversy surrounding the movie, Michael told Vanity Fair: "If youre talking about Ezra [Miller], I thought Ezra was lovely very kind to me when I was there. Its difficult to talk about, but I always give people a lot of slack in this business, because theres a lot of people in this business that have issues. And some people have more privacy than others. "Any time somebody is out in the spotlight getting picked on, I feel for them. Even if its warranted, its still a horrible situation. Michael also revealed that he didn't spent too much time filming the upcoming movie. He said: "'Flash', I was in and out of there in a couple of weeks. But I hear theres been some - Ive got to admit, Im not looking at the trades every morning, keeping my finger on the pulse of things, but I know theres been some issues. It seems like theyre ready to let it out." Miller, who goes by they/them pronouns, has previously been hit with allegations of grooming after the parents of Native American activist Tokota Iron Eyes, 18, filed a protection order against the actor. Miller was also arrested twice in Hawaii in March last year and charged with disorderly conduct and second-degree assault. They were accused of shouting and swearing at customers as they sang karaoke at a bar, as well as grabbing a microphone from a 23-year-old woman. Miller pleaded no contest to one count of disorderly conduct and paid a $500 fine over the incident. A married couple also took out a restraining order against them after Miller burst into their bedroom and threatened to kill them then left, stealing her passport and his wallet. And in April 2022 the star was accused of throwing a chair at a 26-year-old woman and hitting her at a private party. A video of Miller appearing to choke a woman at a bar in Reykjavik, Iceland, also surfaced in April 2020, but did not result in any charges. Last year, Miller announced that they were seeking treatment for complex mental health issues, saying in a statement: Having recently gone through a time of intense crisis, I now understand that I am suffering complex mental health issues and have begun ongoing treatment." Prince Harry wore custom Dior for King Charles' coronation. Prince Harry's custom Dior coronation suit The Duke of Sussex arrived at the ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday (06.05.23) in a three-piece suit designed by Dior Mens artistic director Kim Jones. Dior shared a picture of Harry on Twitter and wrote: "Tailoring fit for royalty. Dior is honored to have dressed Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, for the coronation of King Charles III in a custom design by Kim Jones. Seen arriving at Westminster Abbey, gain an insight into the savoir-faire of his three-piece suit next." Dior also posted on Instagram: "For the coronation of King Charles III in London, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, was attired in a formal Dior look specially designed by @MrKimJones for the momentous occasion. Pictured arriving at Westminster Abbey, his black wool and mohair peak lapel tailcoat is worn with a matching double-breasted vest and trousers, a white shirt, and grey tie." According to Rain magazine, Harry's outfit consisted of a "custom black peak wool and mohair peak lapel tailcoat, grey wool and mohair pants, a white cotton shirt, grey silk tie, a wool and mohair peak lapel double-breasted best and black leather derbies". Harry, 38, who served for 10 years in the Army and did two tours in Afghanistan, also wore his Afghanistan service medal, along with Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals. He wore the Knight Commander Victorian Order Star decoration around his neck. Harry attended the ceremony without his wife Duchess Meghan, who remained in California with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. He left Westminster Abbey for Heathrow immediately after the service, in order to catch a flight back to California so he wouldn't miss Archie's fourth birthday. Cambodias apparel exports to Japan continue to rise in the current year, after registering a healthy growth in 2022. The exports increased 8.68 per cent to $1.201 billion during the last year. The shipment was recorded at $334.145 million in the first quarter of the current year. However, the exports of home textiles to Japan halved due to gradual decline in previous years. The exports eased to $1.043 billion in 2020 from $1.147 billion in 2019 because of disruption from COVID-19. But it bounced back to $1.105 billion in 2021, according to Fibre2Fashions market insight tool TexPro. The shipment was noted at $1.065 billion in 2018. Cambodia's apparel exports to Japan have continued to grow, reaching $1.201 billion in 2022, an 8.68 per cent increase from the previous year. The first quarter of 2023 saw a shipment value of $334.145 million, indicating sustained momentum. However, home textile exports to Japan have been on a downward trend, halving to $17.327 million in 2022. On a quarterly basis, the trade increased to $334.145 million in Q1, 2023 from $280.554 million of Q4, 2022 and $303.040 million of Q1, 2022. It shows that the momentum remained intact during the current year. The shipment was recorded at $380.611 million of Q3, $237.491 million of Q2 and $303.040 million of Q1, 2022. The export was noted at $296.524 million in Q4, 2021. But Cambodias home textiles exports to Japan have registered constant declining trend in the previous years. Gradually, it halved to just $17.327 million in 2022 against the shipment of $35.920 million during 2018. The shipment was recorded at $33.036 million in 2019, $24.025 million in 2020 and $22.784 million in 2021, as per TexPro. Cambodia exported home textiles worth $4.626 million during the first quarter of current year 2023. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL) Kangana Ranaut Opens Up On The Kerala Story Controversy: A Sudipto Sen film, headlined by Adah Sharma, The Kerala Story is mired in controversies ever since the makers unveiled the trailer of the film. The movie hit the theaters on May 5 and has received mixed reviews from movie-goers. The Kerela Story was released in theaters amid massive protests. People called out the film for factual inaccuracies and termed it as 'propaganda'. The film's controversy has garnered reactions from people all across and Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut is the latest actor who has reacted to the controversy. HERE'S WHAT KANGANA RANAUT SAID ABOUT THE FILM 'THE KERALA STORY' CONTROVERSY Kangana voiced her opinion in support of the film and asserted that anyone who feels attacked by the film is a terrorist. During an event at ABP's Majha Maha Katta, the Queen actress said, "See, I have not watched the film, but a lot of effort has gone into trying to ban it. I read it today; correct me if I am wrong, High Court has said that the film cannot be banned. I think it's not showing anybody in a bad light except ISIS, right? They are right if the HC, the country's most responsible body, is saying this. ISIS is a terrorist organization. It's not like I am calling them terrorists; our country, the Home Ministry (Ministry of Home Affairs), and other countries have called them so." She further added, "Agar aap aisa samjhte hai ki woh terrorists organisation nahi hai toh zaheer si baat hai phir aap bhi terrorist hi hai. Agar aap sochte hai ek terrorist outfit, ek terrorist nahi hai, aur usko terrorist ghoshit kiya gya hai, legally, morally by every standard aur aapko lagta hai woh terrorist nahi hai toh more than the film you are a bigger problem you should first think about where you stand in life (If you think ISIS is not a terrorist outfit despite its declaration then you are also a terrorist)," Kangana further pointed out, "I am talking about those people who think it's attacking them, not ISIS. If you think it's attacking you then you are a terrorist. Maine kuch nahi kaha bhai, ye simple maths hai (I am not saying this)." ABOUT THE KERALA STORY The Sudipto Sen directorial stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, and Sonia Balani in pivotal roles. The story depicts the tale of Fathima Ba (Adah Sharma), a Hindu Malayali nurse who is among the 32,000 women who disappeared from Kerala, was forced to convert to Islam, and was later recruited by ISIS. Meanwhile, on the work front, Kangana will be next seen in Emergency. Top Bollywood News: Hello, to all film buffs! As the day has come to an end, Bollywood is buzzing with several juicy and hot gossip. While the weekend has just started, it may not have been possible for you to keep an eye on the updates from Tinslevile. But there's nothing to worry about as we bring you all the top Bollywood news of the day in this segment. From Burak Deniz recreating Shah Rukh Khan's iconic pose to Rakul Preet Singh taking a dip in cold water in a bikini. Scroll down to read the latest updates from the film industry. Turkish Actor Burak Deniz Recreates Shah Rukh Khan's Iconic Pose The Turkish actor, Burak Deniz recently attended the 23rd edition of FICCI Frame in India. Burak enjoys a massive fan following on social media, and during the event, he was seen expressing his love and admiration for Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan. He was seen recreating his iconic pose. The video went viral on social media and netizens heaped praises on him. Rakul Preet Singh Takes A Dip In Minus 15 Degrees In Bikini Rakul Preet Singh shared a video on her Instagram showing her dipping in a blue bikini amid a snow-capped location. The video shows Rakul walking out of a wooden cabin and taking a dip in cold water. She captioned the post, "Cryo in -15 (degree Celsius) anyone?" Shah Rukh Khan Shares The New Release Date Of Jawan Shah Rukh Khan took to Instagram to share the new release date of Jawan with a never-seen-before teaser. He captioned the post as, "#Jawan #7thSeptember2023." Shah Rukh Khan Reveals AbRam Thinks He Looks Like A Mummy In Jawan Poster Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan held an #asksrk session on Twitter. During the fun interaction, a fan asked the actor "What's the reaction of Abram, Aryan, and Suhaana on Jawan poster?" To this, SRK hilariously replied, "AbRam feels I look like a Mummy!! #Jawan #7thSeptember2023." In the poster of Jawan, Shah Rukh Khan has bandages all over his face. Rajkumar Santoshi Blames Salman Khan-Aamir Khan For Andaz Apna Apna Failure Rajkumar Santoshi said Andaz Apna Apna could not be a box-office success as the film was not promoted as the leads Salman Khan and Aamir Khan were not available for film's promotions. Rajkumar Santoshi told Aaj Tak, "Andaz Apna Apna was a completely different story, it had more comedy, adventure, and humour than romance. It was a unique film, I do not remember watching any such film (before Andaz Apna Apna). People took the time to understand this film. When the film was released 29 years ago, the distributors were also newcomers." The filmmaker further said that "neither Salman nor Aamir was in the city to promote the film". He further added, "There was no activity related to the film. There was no interaction with the media either. Whatever was to be done for the publicity of the film, that too could not be done. The distributors were also very angry." Harshad-Gaurav Bond: It's been quite a long time since Star Plus shows Anupamaa and Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai have been ruling the TRP charts across channels. Interestingly, both the hit shows are produced by Rajan Shahi's Director's Kut Productions. While Anupamaa stars Rupali Ganguly and Gaurav Khanna in the lead roles of Anupama and Anuj respectively, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai is currently focusing on the third generation with Pranali Rathod and Harshad Chopda as the lead stars. ARE GAURAV KHANNA & HARSHAD CHOPDA GOOD FRIENDS IN REAL LIFE? Almost everyday, both the daily soaps trend on social media thanks to their storylines and intriguing twists. However, today we'll be talking about the leading men of Anupamaa and YRKKH - Gaurav and Harshad. Is Karan Kundrra Planning A Roka With Girlfriend Tejasswi Prakash? Actor Says 'Kuch Karte...' Did you know that the duo shares a great equation in real life and know each other since a very long time? Yes, you read that right! Eisha Singh On Working With Tejasswi Prakash In Naagin 6-Bekaboo Mahasangam Episode: I Think She Is A... In a recent interview, Gaurav Khanna aka Anuj Kapadia of Anupamaa opened up about his bond with Harshad Chopda and revealed that they share a special family-like bond. GAURAV KHANNA ON HIS OFFSCREEN EQUATION WITH HARSHAD CHOPDA Talking to Tellychakkar, Gaurav said, "The connection is special, we are like a family. My wife and I stay alone in Mumbai and my parents reside in another city. So, when I come to my work family, I feel so much at ease. I have known Harshad for many years and we used to meet at parties. So, the friendship and connection goes long back." As Harshad and Gaurav are doing different shows for the same channel, they often meet each other during events like Ravivaar With Star Parivaar. A few days ago, they even shot together for a mahasangam episide of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Anupamaa. Well, we had not much idea about their friendship? What do you think about it? Share your views in the comments section below. Keep watching this space for more updates! Naga Chaitanya For Custody Promotions Photo Credit: Internet Naga Chaitanya is one of the promising actors in the Telugu film industry. The youngster, who has a great filmy background is keen on making big with his hard work and efforts. Although his performance has been appreciated in many films that he chose to be part of, the actor is yet to earn an image and stardom. His notable last success was Sai Pallavi starrer Love Story, directed by Sekhar Kammula. Custody is his upcoming bilingual written and directed by Venkat Prabhu. The movie is set to hit the screens on May 12. Chaitanya has been promoting the film vigorously and even spoke about his divorce from Samantha, for the first time. Meanwhile, during the press meet, when quizzed about his project with Sarkaru Vaari Paata director Parasuram Petla, who earned recognition with Vijay Deverakonda's Geeta Govindam, the actor was upset. Talking About Parasuram Is A Waste Of Time: Naga Chaitanya "It's a waste of time to talk about director Parasuram. He wasted my time, I don't even like to talk about this topic. There is no reason, and talking about him is a waste of time even to you," said the actor to the interviewer. On the other hand, it is also learned that Parasuram had agreed to do films for some of the big Tollywood production houses earlier, and failed to show up. About five production houses have paid advances to Parasuram. For the unversed, Parasuram Petla met Naga Chaitanya and narrated a story to him, to which the latter gave a nod. The director then said that he will develop the script as discussed and didn't revet. Meanwhile, he went ahead and announced a project with Superstar Mahesh Babu, which is Sarkaru Vaari Paata. After all that, Parasuram couldn't maintain cordial relationships with actors and production houses that gave him advances. Parasuram Petla Photo Credit: Internet Parasuram was accused of taking advances and committing films to as many as five production houses but didn't work on them. Custody Is an upcoming cop action movie shot as a Tamil and Telugu bilingual under the Srinivasaa Silver Screen banner by Srinivasaa Chitturi. The movie is written and directed by Venkat Prabhu. It stars Krithi Shetty, Arvind Swamy, Premi Vishwanath, Vennela Kishore, and R Sarath Kumar among others in crucial roles. Yuvan Shankar Raj and Ilaiyaraaja are coming together for the first time to score the film's entire soundtrack and tunes. The movie is set for a huge theatrical release on May 12. Naga Chaitanya On Divorce From Samantha Photo Credit: Gallery Naga Chaitanya Akkineni and Samantha Ruth Prabhu were once the most loved and highly looked-up to couples in Tollywood. Unfortunately, the duo didn't last for at least four full years before getting legally divorced. Samantha and Naga Chaitanya started on a solid base of friendship before dating and tying the knot in 2017. The duo announced separation two days before their fourth wedding anniversary in 2021. Speaking to a news channel as part of promoting his latest cop thriller titled 'Custody' Naga Chaitanya tried to answer the questions about his separation and legal divorce from Samantha. He said, "I want Samantha to be happy. It has been about two years since we got separated and a year since our legal divorce. People always ask me questions about my personal life, and I try to avoid answering it," said Chaitanya. Naga Chaitanya Opens Up About Divorce The eldest son of Nagarjuna, half-brother to Akhil Akkineni, Chaitanya further said, "Amid our separation, the rumors that came up were disappointing. The entire scenario was projected as if we both don't respect each other. On the other hand, a person who is not involved with my past was dragged into the issue, which is nothing but disrespect to that person." Naga Chaitanya and Samantha remained almost tight-lipped about their divorce. Although they were expected to continue as a power couple, their separation came as a shocker to their fans and followers. They put out a message on their social media handles about their divorce. They said, they had a solid base of a decade old friendship which they continue to cherish. However, Samantha often spills some beans although indirectly suggesting that Naga Chaitanya might have cheated on her. During Shaakuntalam's promotions, Samantha said, "I gave my all and 100 percent to marriage. I didn't work out and it is not my fault." Custody Meanwhile, Naga Chaitanya's first Tamil-Telugu bilingual movie written and directed by Venkat Prabhu, is set to hit the screens on May 12. The movie stars Krithi Shetty, Arvind Swami, and R Sarathkumar among others in key roles. Samantha's Work Front The actress who is going all bold post her liberation from marriage will be seen alongside Vijay Deverakonda in Shiva Nirvana's Kushi. Also, she is part of the much-talked-about series Citadel. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 5, 2023) - Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc. (CSE: VEGI) (OTCQB: VGGIF) (FSE: 77i) ("Boosh" or the "Company") a premier plant-based brand in the "better for you" food sector announced today that it had entered into, and that it had finalized a secondary set of debt settlement agreements with the purpose to both satisfy and to extinguish an aggregate total of C$722,710 of secured debts. A combined total of 16,060,207 common shares were issued at a deemed price of C$0.045 per common share. The Company decided to satisfy the indebtedness with common shares to preserve its cash for the development of its business. No new control person of the Company will be created pursuant to the settlement of the debt settlement agreements. Connie Marples Founder/CEO connie@booshfood.com Telephone: 778 840 1700 www.Booshfood.com About Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc.: Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary, Boosh Food (www.booshfood.com) offers high quality, non-GMO, gluten free, 100% plant-based nutritional comfort foods for the whole family. Through a separate subsidiary, Beautiful Beanfields, (www.beanfields.com) the Company owns Beanfields, a plant-based chip brand sold in over 7,000 stores throughout North America. Boosh, good for you and good for planet earth. The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements. These 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. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, the Company's expectations concerning the size of the Financing, its ability to close the Financing in whole or in part or at all and its plan for the proceeds of the Financing. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company 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, the Company 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 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. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165079 In continuation of its journey in the Southern Red Sea Region, the Independence Cup toured the sub-zones of South and Central Dankalia and Araeta. Upon reaching the Beilul front, the Independence Cup was accorded warm welcome by the residents featuring cultural and artistic performances. Beilul front was one of the fronts in which a heavy fighting was conducted in 1991 between the EPLF fighters and the Derg regime during the offensive to liberate the port city of Assab. Upon arrival at the Central Denkalia, The Independence Cup was also awarded warm welcome by the residents, students and members of the Defense Forces featuring military parade and cultural performances. After completing its journey in the Southern Red Sea Region on 7 May, the Independence Cup will be handed over to the Southern Region in a ceremony that will be organized in Kohaito. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Western Digital Corp. (WDC), in an update on a network security incident involving the company's systems, said Friday that it restored My Cloud service and expects its online store to be restored in the week of May 15, 2023. The computer drive maker and data storage firm said that it is progressing through its restoration process and the majority of its impacted systems and services are now operational. The company noted that its factories are and have been operational throughout the incident and it is shipping products to meet its customers' needs. The company confirmed that an unauthorized party obtained a copy of a database used for its online store that contained some personal information of its online store customers. The information included customer names, billing and shipping addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers. In addition, the database contained, in encrypted format, hashed and salted passwords and partial credit card numbers. The company stated that it will communicate directly with impacted customers. It is aware that other alleged Western Digital information has been made public. On March 26, 2023, Western Digital identified a network security incident where an unauthorized third party gained access to a number of the Company's systems. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. VANCOUVER, BC, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wondershare Filmora, the AI-powered video editing software, has recently announced its Project Go Viral campaign in conjunction with its sponsorship of Vidcon 2023, the mecca for creators around the world. Running from May 3rd to August 3rd, the campaign's goal is to empower those who want to grow professionally as a creator by offering them a Go Viral Kit. To participate, creators can simply post their upcoming video content that reflects their creative style on social media with FilmoraVidCon and tag @Filmora_editor in the caption. Creators who have less than 20k followers are welcome to join in the fun. The Go Viral Kit is designed to help new creators accelerate their content creation journey. Three participants will be selected based on how well the content reflects their creative style by Wondershare Filmora to receive a Go Viral Kit that includes a $1000 gear fund, a Filmora Perpetual License with unlimited access to video effects, and a shoutout from a social media Influencer to their channel. On top of the Go Viral Kit, one of them will receive a trip to Vidcon valued at $3000 which includes a Vidcon ticket, a round-trip flight ticket and 4 nights of accommodation. In total, this prize package is worth up to $5000. "Video creativity has the power to transcend boundaries, connect communities across the globe, and inspire change. As a global corporation, it is our responsibility to nurture and support the growth of rising creators, providing them with the tools and resources they need to share their unique vision with the world, "stated Tobee Wu, CEO of Wondershare. "The Project Go Viral campaign shows how Wondershare Filmora is committed to empowering creators to unleash their full potential. We believe every creator deserves a chance to make their content go viral as long as they have a passion, and we're excited to be a part of that journey." While equipping creators with everything they need to increase their visibility on social media, Wondershare Filmora is also ready to attend VidCon from June 21 to 24 as a sponsor for the fifth time. Visit our event page to learn more as Project Go Viral goes live. About Vidcon Vidcon is an annual convention that celebrates the world of online video content, including YouTube and other social media platforms. It was founded in 2010 by Hank and John Green, who are well-known YouTube creators. The convention brings together creators, fans, and industry professionals from all over the world to network, learn, and have fun. Vidcon features a variety of programming, including panels, workshops, meet-and-greets, concerts, and more. Vidcon has become a significant event in the online video community, with thousands of attendees each year. It has also expanded to different parts of the world, with events held in Australia, Europe, and Mexico. Compatibility and Price Wondershare Filmora 12 is compatible with Windows PC, Mac, Android Phone, iPhone, iPad, and Android Tablet. Pricing starts at $49.99 per year. To get the free trial of Filmora 12, please visit https://filmora.wondershare.com/. Learn more about Filmora on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.? About Filmora 12 Filmora 12 has been designed with the user in mind, featuring smoother performance and a new, intuitive UX and UI design. With advanced AI functions, over 2,000 media resources, new royalty-free music, 3D LUTs, effects, and pre-set templates, you will have everything you need to perfect your videos while maintaining your creative vision. About Wondershare Wondershare is globally recognized as a software company that is committed to delivering innovative solutions for personal and professional use. As a leader in creativity and productivity products, Wondershare has received prestigious awards from organizations such as The Shorty Awards, G2, and GetApp. At Wondershare, the mission is to empower individuals to pursue their passions and build a more creative world. With over 100 million users across 150 countries, users can access a wide range of software solutions for video editing, PDF editing, data recovery, diagram and graphics, and more. Together, Wondershare strives to provide high-quality, user-friendly software that enables individuals and businesses to bring their creative ideas to life. Media Contact Iris Liu irisl@wondershare.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2070947/Wondershare_Filmora_Vidcon.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1623993/Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/wondershare-filmora-launches-project-go-viral-campaign-to-send-aspiring-creators-to-vidcon-2023-301817634.html Meghan Markle is not attending the coronation and Harry doesnt have a role to play. There is another cause of stress at the royal drama as Rose Hanbury, Prince Williams alleged mistress, will coincide with Kate Middleton at King Charles coronation. The coronation is merely hours away, and that means the internet is laser-focused on all things royal. And this time its not Harry and Meghan the world is frantically googling, but actually, Rose Hanbury. If that name doesnt ring a bell, then you must not be knee-deep in royal gossip, because obviously she is Prince Williams mistress and Princess Kates, ex-best friend. Looks like infidelity runs in the genes of the Royal British family. Rose Hanbury, who is rumoured to be Prince Williams mistress, will attend the coronation of King Charles III, an appearance that could cause some tension among the Royal couple. Wife of the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley and a close friend of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Rose (nee Hanbury)s son will be one of the Kings Pages of Honour at the coronation. According to geotv, Rose was considered a very close friend to William and Kate, but unsubstantiated claims that her connection to King Charles IIIs eldest son was more than friendly set the internet on fire in 2019. It was also claimed that William was unfaithful to his wife Kate during her third pregnancy due the same reason. In fact, since then, she has been referred to as the rural rival to the Prince and princess of Wales. And the palace and Kate reportedly asked William to remove her from his circle of friends. The coronation of King Charles III will take place on Saturday May 6 at Westminster Abbey. The coronation will be one of the most important events of the century as it marks the beginning of a new era after more than 70 years of rule of Queen Elizabeth II. Media providers across the world will be following every detail of the ceremony as it unfolds, especially as there could be some controversial moments to capture. Several years ago, a story surfaced in the British tabloids claiming that Kate Middleton had a falling out with her Norfolk neighbor, Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. A piece in the Sun, which has since been taken down, went so far as to call Rose Kates rural rival, but the Daily Mails Richard Kay reports that the story is false, and both women have considered legal action but, because none of the reports have been able to offer any evidence about what the so-called dispute is about, they have chosen to ignore it. The Marchioness of Cholmondeley has since been seen publicly with the Cambridges on more than one occasion, including the service of Thanksgiving for Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeths funeral. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I hope Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Sonam Kapoor and Sourabh Phadke have created a complicated but clever plan to retrieve the Kohinoor during the King Charles coronation, tweeted Ramesh Srivats a day before the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla. Minutes after the historic ceremony ended, another Twitter user wrote, #Coronation done? Now are we getting the Kohinoor back? #justasking. These tweets may be in jest but they draw attention to Britains cruel past. The priceless regalia and jewels displayed at the coronation ceremony have a murky, sometimes bloody history and the coronation has once again sparked the debate on whether Britains royal family should return these artefacts to their rightful owners. We take a look at some of the British loot and the growing calls for these jewels and art pieces to be returned. Kohinoor The Kohinoor didnt make an appearance at the coronation it was originally a part of Queen Marys Crown that Queen Camilla opted for the ceremony. Perhaps, she chose to steer clear of the diamond owing to its murky past and the growing calls for it to be returned to India. In fact, shortly after the Queen Elizabeth IIs demise last year in September, Twitter lit up with many calling for the return of the Kohinoor also spelled Koh-i-noor which is part of the British crown jewels. Journey of #Kohinoor : From India to England. It should come back to its origin, the least UK can do towards the centuries of exploitation, opression, racism, slavery inflicted on people of the Indian subcontinent. pic.twitter.com/W7zHBLKOaf Anushree (@AnushreeSays_) September 8, 2022 Last Week Tonight host John Olivers bit on the diamond, performed some five years, had also gone viral on all social media platforms with even actors such as Raveena Tandon jumping on to the bandwagon. The Kohinoor, which means Mountain of Light, was originally about 186 carats, and while its exact origins are unknown, it was most likely discovered in South India in the 13th century. According to the website of the UKs royal palaces, the Kohinoor was unearthed from the Golconda mines in central southern India before it was handed to the British monarchy in 1849. Britain came in to possession of the Kohinoor when the East India Company took the jewel from deposed 10-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh in 1849. Rumored to be cursed for men, it was initially worn as a brooch by Queen Victoria and later mounted in the crowns of Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary. It is currently set in a crown that was created for Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, for her coronation as queen consort in 1937. She wore it again at the coronation of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953. It is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. The diamond has been at the centre of political and legal controversy in India amid disputes over its ownership, with claims coming not just from India but Pakistan as well. Danielle Kinsey, an assistant professor of history with a focus on the history of 19th century Britain and empire at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario while speaking to NBC News observed that it is only a matter of time before the Kohinoor is surrendered. To be purely pragmatic about it, at some point the monarchy will understand that keeping the diamond is more of a public relations liability for them than an asset, she said to NBC News. I think the same is true for many, many looted artefacts in Britain today and the institutions that house them. Also, its the right thing to do if the royal family is serious about making apologies for the ills of British imperialism and how they profited from it. Other than the Kohinoor, The Guardian has also uncovered that the Royal Family had extracted other pieces of jewellery from India as trophies of conquest, including a short necklace of four very large spinel rubies, the largest of which is a 325.5-carat spinel that later came to be identified as the Timur ruby. Great Star of Africa Besides calls from India to return the Kohinoor, the British monarchy is also facing calls from South Africa for the return of the Great Star of Africa or Cullinan I diamond. Known as the Great Star of Africa or Cullinan I, it is the biggest stone cut from the Cullinan diamond, which was discovered in South Africa in 1905 in a mine owned by its namesake, Thomas Cullinan, and is the largest gem-quality uncut diamond ever found. Today, the Great Star of Africa is mounted in the Sovereigns Sceptre with the Cross, which King Charles carried at the coronation. According to the Royal Collection Trust, which oversees the royal collection of the British royal family, the Cullinan diamond was presented to King Edward VII (the British monarch at the time) in 1907, two years after its discovery in a private mine in South Africas old Transvaal province. However, many South Africans reject this narrative. A University of South Africa professor of African politics, Everisto Benyera, told CNN, Our narrative is that the whole Transvaal and Union of South Africa governments and the concomitant mining syndicates were illegal. Receiving a stolen diamond does not exonerate the receiver. The Great Star is a blood diamond... The private (mining) company, the Transvaal government, and the British Empire were part of a larger network of coloniality. Catch all coverage from the King Charles' Coronation 'Not my King' protests on Coronation Day: The Brits who want to dump the monarchy No uniform, no balcony appearance: How Harry was snubbed at coronation What are the crowns worn by King Charles and Queen Camilla? From Charles lover to mistress to queen, the fascinating life of Camilla King Charles Coronation: The British royal familys line of succession explained Activist Thanduxolo Sabelo was quoted as telling local media, The Cullinan Diamond must be returned to South Africa with immediate effect. The minerals of our country and other countries continue to benefit Britain at the expense of our people. A smaller diamond cut from the same stone, known as Cullinan II, is set in the Imperial State Crown which is worn by British monarchs on ceremonial occasions. Along with the sceptre, it is kept with the other crown jewels in the Tower of London. Theres also a petition being circulated asking for the Great Star of Africa to be returned and displayed in a South African museum. It has received the signatures of 8,000 people already. Elgin Marbles Greece has been demanding for the return of the Elgin Marbles since 1925. For those who dont know, the Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Marbles, are a collection of different types of marble architectural decoration from the temple of Athena (the Parthenon) on the Acropolis in Athens. Today, they sit inside the British Musuem. According to many media reports and archives in history, in 1803, Britains Lord Elgin allegedly removed the marbles from the Parthenons decaying walls in Greece and transported them to London. This is also the reason those precious marbles are called Elgin Marbles. The British Museum on their website state, Lord Elgin was the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and successfully petitioned the authorities to be able to draw, measure and remove figures. He was granted a permit (firman), and between 1801 and 1805 acting under the oversight of the relevant authorities, Elgin removed about half of the remaining sculptures from the ruins of the Parthenon. He also obtained permission to have removed sculptural and architectural elements from other buildings. All of Elgins collection of antiquities was then transported to Britain. His actions were thoroughly investigated by a Parliamentary Select Committee in 1816 and found to be entirely legal, prior to the sculptures entering the collection of the British Museum by Act of Parliament. Greece has been demanding for the return, with even actor George Clooney and his wife Amal campaigning on their behalf. In July, the deputy director of the British Museum proposed a Parthenon partnership with Greece that could see the marbles returned to Athens after more than 200 years. Rosetta Stone As Indians call for the return of the Kohinoor, the Egyptians want to bring back the Rosetta Stone, which is currently on display at the British museum. The Rosetta Stone, a granodiorite stele, has unlocked the mysterious hieroglyphic script of ancient Egypt. It is perhaps the most famous piece of rock in the world. As the story goes, the Rosetta Stone was found in Memphis, Egypt in 1799 by a French military officer before being seized by British forces in Alexandria and shipped to England two years later. In 1802, the stele, which enabled hieroglyphs to be deciphered, was given to the British Museum. Since then, the stone has been on display at the museum, with only one break during the World War I, in 1917, when the museum moved important objects to prevent damage from heavy bombing in London. Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass has initiated a campaign for the return of the atefact. The Rosetta Stone is the icon of Egyptian identity. The British Museum has no right to show this artefact to the public, he was quoted as telling The National, adding, They left Egypt completely illegally and they should come back, he said. Benin Bronzes The Benin Bronzes are a group of thousands of objects that were taken from the kingdom of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, in 1897. (Their exact number is unknown, though it is believed to exceed 3,000.) These objects including figurines, tusks, sculptures of Benins rulers, and an ivory mask were looted by British troops, and have since been dispersed around the world, with the bulk of the works now residing with state museums in Europe. But, how did the British come into their possession. It is said that the death of James Phillips, an unarmed British explorer, on the orders of Benins ruler Oba Ovonramwen caused the loot. Artnews.com reports that to avenge Philips death, the British Empire sent troops to steal artifacts from the kingdom, and they walked away with thousands of priceless objects. Today, Nigerians have been demanding that the figurines be returned to them, as they are a window into the African art of those times and its just unfair that the locals have to travel to London if they want to take a look at them. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. History is being made today as Britains King Charles III is coronated along with his wife Queen Camilla. Its meant to be a day of celebration and cheer. However, not all of Britain thinks this is a joyous occasion and they are carrying out protests across London. Amid hurrahs and cheers, placards of Not My King can be seen around Westminster Abbey where King Charles will be coronated. And just hours before the king could be crowned, the Metropolitan Police arrested the head of the UKs leading republican movement and five other organisers of an anti-monarchist protest. The Guardian reported that the Graham Smith, the chief of Republic, and five others were detained as they were collecting drinks and placards for demonstrators at the main site of the protest on Trafalgar Square. These arrests came after the British government fast-tracked anti-protests laws recently, involving tougher sentences for anyone participating in disruptive action at major events The anti-monarchy group tweeting after the arrest said, So much for the right to peaceful protest, adding the officers would not give the reasons for their arrest and confirmed their CEO was among them. But who exactly is Graham Smith? What is the anti-monarchy group Republic all about? What do they want? We answer all your questions. Graham Smith and Republic Graham Smith is the current campaign manager and Executive Officer of anti-monarchy group Republic. He has been associated with the organisation since mid-2005 and has a background in party political campaigning and the corporate sector. Graham lived in Australia for several years and has dual UK/Australian nationality. For the unaware, Republic is an umbrella group of anti-monarchists and was founded in 1983. Their main calling is the end to UKs system of constitutional monarchy and to replace the monarch with an elected head of state. The membership of Republic has grown over the years. According to a report, between the announcement of the engagement of Prince William to Catherine Kate Middleton in 2010 and the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2012, the groups support base has increased from 9,000 to 30,000. By 2015, this number increased to 35,000 online supporters. On its website, Republic states that the British monarchy stands firmly against the countrys principles of democracy and a fair society. It states that the Royal Family represents exclusion, elitism and hereditary power and privilege at the expense of everyone else. The group adds, There are no good reasons for keeping the monarchy. It is a corrupt institution. The royals spend public money your money on their own travel, palatial homes and luxurious lifestyles every day of the year. The institution costs us at least 345 million (Rs 3,563 crore) a year, money that should be spent on public services. Furthermore, Republic says that the monarchy is secretive and receives hundreds of exemptions, including environmental protection regulations and race discrimination laws. It also says that the monarchy stops Britain from having an effective, independent head of state. Catch our full coverage of King Charles' coronation King Charles' Coronation LIVE Inside Westminster Abbey, the heart of British monarchy, and site of King Charles coronation Coronation Snub: Will Harry be banned from Buckingham Palace balcony? Some Ancient, Some Stolen: Spoon, spectre, crown and other jewels to be used in King Charles coronation What is the Star of Africa set in King Charles' royal sceptre? Why are South Africans demanding its return? Explained: Why Charles coronation is taking place nine months after he was proclaimed king Charles coronation and protests Ahead of King Charles coronation, Republic has stepped up their protests against King Charles and the Royal Family. In fact, Not My King placards and similar chants have followed Charles in his previous outings. For today, around 1,700 members of the group congregated outside Londons oldest statue of Charles I, who lost his head to republicans nearly 400 years ago, and yelled slogans against Charles and the monarchy. When asked why they are protesting, the group said on their website, Its because we want to use the coronation to change the debate about the monarchy and show that were not a nation of royalists. They are absolutely against the coronation and the fact that the event with an estimated price tag of 1 million (Rs 10 crore) has to be burdened by the British taxpayer. Speaking to TIME magazine earlier, Smith had said, Instead of a coronation, we want an election. Instead of Charles, we want choice. The coronation is a pointless vanity parade thats costing a quarter of a billion pounds for Charles to parade along and have a hat put on his head when were in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis so it really isnt acceptable. Smith added in the same interview that the time to abolish monarchy was now as people held a more positive image of the Family owing to Queen Elizabeth II. However, with her demise last year, there are big changes in attitude. He said, Harry and Andrew have done a lot of damage to the monarchy, and so the spell is broken. People dont see them as anything different or special. Anti-monarchy sentiment grows And its not just members of Republic that demand the abolition of the monarchy. Recent surveys show that the Royal Family no longer enjoys the popularity it once had. A month before the coronation, a survey had revealed that 52 per cent of the people in Britain were not interested in the event. The survey showed that 15 per cent of the participants responded as being very interested" in the coronation ceremony, while 29 per cent said they were fairly interested." Around 24 per cent of the respondents claimed to be not very interested," while the rest 28 per cent were not interested at all. The survey also asked respondents about the funding of the coronation event and 37 per cent of the people believed that the Royal Family should pay for the entire coronation ceremony, while 36 per cent wanted the UK government and the Royal Family to fund it together. Around 15 per cent of the respondents said the UK government should pay for the ceremony while 12 per cent said they dont know. Another survey conducted by the National Centre for Social Research showed that support for the monarchy is at an all-time low. This survey revealed that only three in 10 Britons think their monarchy is very important the lowest proportion on record. Forty-five per cent of respondents said either monarchy should be abolished, was not very important, or not at all important. That figure was 35 per cent among respondents to a similar poll in 2022, the year of the late Queen Elizabeths platinum jubilee. The survey also found that the number of people who say the monarchy is very important had fallen to 29 per cent from 38 per cent just last year. In fact, the number of those answering very important was at the lowest level since data collection began in 1983, reflecting a significant trend of declining support for the British monarchy. This doesnt bode well for the Royal Family, who has also been seeing a dip in its popularity among the Commonwealth realms. Many nations where King Charles will be the head of state are now attempting to jettison the monarchy. Among them are the Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize. However, Britain becoming a republic in the near future seems unlikely. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Its the most famous balcony in the world. And today after the historic coronation ceremony of King Charles III and his wife Camilla, the spotlight was on it. The Buckingham Palace balcony is where the Royal Family gathered after the service. This will be one of the most talked-about photos in Britain for days to come. The picture is not candid. Its definitely staged. And while we know all about the ceremony and the guest list, who will make it to the balcony remained a mystery. Of course, there was the newly crowned king and queen. The obedient son Prince Williams, his wife Kate and their three children made an appearance. The big question was: Will Harry be part of this photo-op? And what about Charles controversial sibling Prince Andrews? We now have the answers. The two controversial princes have clearly been given the royal snub. The balcony is an important feature in all big celebrations of the Royal Family victories in wars, monarchs birthdays, jubilee celebrations, weddings, and of course, the rare, coronation. The balcony photograph after the coronation is going to speak more than a thousand words. And deliver a message. Working royals only On Saturday, after the family returned from the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the curtains were raised and several family members stepped out onto the balcony, waving to crowds gathered outside the palace gates. However, it was restricted to a core group of working royals, family members who carry out official duties on behalf of the King. King Charles III and Queen Camilla made their first appearance after the crowning. They were accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales (William and Kate) and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis; the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (Prince Edward and his wife Sophie); the Princess Royal (Anne), and other working royals Duke and Duchess of Gloucester (Prince Richard and his wife Birgitte) and the Duke of Kent (Prince Edward, Queen Elizabeths cousin). They were also joined by some of Camillas grandchildren. Our coverage of King Charles coronation Some Ancient, Some Stolen: Spoon, spectre, crown and other jewels to be used in King Charles coronation Explained: The whos who at King Charles coronation and the role they will play How King Charles coronation will reflect his love of nature What is the Star of Africa set in King Charles royal sceptre? Why are South Africans demanding its return? Not My King: How Britain is going after anti-monarchists ahead of Charles coronation The Ex Factor: Why Queen Camillas naughty first husband has received a coronation invite Explained: Why Charles coronation is taking place nine months after he was proclaimed king How Harry was snubbed Since it was working royals alone Harry did not make the balcony. In 2020, Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they are stepping back from their duties as senior royals and moving to California. A highly placed source told Page Six that there is no way Harry will be invited to join the family on the balcony. While Harry had reportedly not seen his father since arriving in the UK for the coronation, he was seen smiling at the ceremony in Westminster Abbey. Harry, however, has been invited to lunch at the Buckingham Palace but the British media has reported that he is likely to skip that. Harry did not have any formal role in the ceremony, according to Britains Press Association news agency. He was not part of the procession behind King Charles and Camilla from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace after the service. Thats not all. Harry was not permitted to wear his military uniform at the coronation despite having served in the army for 10 years, according to reports in the British media. The decision followed royal protocol, which typically bars non-working members of the royal family from wearing military uniforms to official state occasions. Harry was initially not permitted to wear the uniform during the funeral proceedings for Queen Elizabeth II. However, he was later allowed to while standing vigil at the late monarchs coffin at King Charles request. But since then, ties between Harry and his family have further deteriorated. The Sussexs in a Netflix special further criticised the family and the prince later went on publish this tell-all memoir Spare. This is the first time Harry met his father, brother and other members of the royal family since the release of his book, even as Meghan opted to sit the event out. The couples two children, Archie and Lilibet, are in California with their mother. Harry too is expected to return promptly to the US after the ceremony. Prince Andrew gets cold treatment Prince Andrew too was not allowed on the famous balcony. The controversial younger brother of King Charles was also banished from the most recent balcony moment for Queen Elizabeths Platinum Jubilee, reports the BBC. Like Harry, Andrew too was excluded from any formal role at the coronation. Prince Andrew has been stripped of all his royal duties and military affiliations last January as he was embroiled in a sex abuse lawsuit. His close friendship with now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and convicted sex trafficker Ghislane Maxwell has left the Royal Family red-faced. The prince was accused of sexually assaulting a then-underage Virginia Giuffre and eventually paid her a sum estimated to be in millions of dollars for an out-of-court settlement. While there are increasing calls to strip him of his formal title, Andrew remains the Duke of York. The shrinking family The big fat Royal Family has been shrinking. There was a time when more than 40 people appeared on the balcony for previous celebrations. Over the years, the numbers have been limited. For the Platinum Jubilee in 2022, there were 18 people on the balcony, including the late Queen. There were only six royals who made an appearance for the Diamond Jubilee in 2022. At a time when the popularity of the British monarchy is on the decline, there may have been no better opportunity than the photo-op to send out a message that the Royal Family is united. But too much has been said in public. For now, the royal rift remains. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It was a crowning moment! Quite literally. King Charles was officially crowned as king on 6 May (Saturday) along with his wife, Camilla, who became Queen. The coronation ceremony, a first since 2 June 1953 when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, held at Westminster Abbey saw the use of various jewels and regalia all steeped in history and tradition. There was the Sword of Offering, the Sovereigns Orb, the Coronation Spoon and much, much more. However, the one aspect that had everyone buzzing is the crowns being used in the ceremony. And there wasnt just one, but three crowns that were used in the over two-hour event. Read on to find out more about these three crowns and the significance of them in the coronation. St. Edwards Crown King Charles was first made to wear the St. Edwards Crown by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminister Abbey. It is believed to be the centrepiece of the Crown Jewels and is only ever worn at coronations. The crown is made of solid 22-carat gold and is over 30 cm tall and weighs 2.23 kg almost the same as a large melon. In fact, Queen Elizabeth, who had worn the St Edwards Crown at her coronation, said in 2018 during a documentary, Is it still heavy? and picking it up she confirmed: It weighs a ton. The crown has 444 jewels and gemstones such as sapphires, rubies and topaz. The jewels are set in enamel and gold mounts. Interestingly, these stones used to be removable, but in the 20th Century, they were set in the crown permanently. The headpiece was created for Charles namesake, King Charles II in 1661. This crown was meant to replace the original that dates back to the 11th Century Anglo-Saxon king of England, Edward the Confessor. Although it was made in 1661, King Charles III will be only the seventh monarch to wear the St Edwards Crown. It was his mother, Queen Elizabeth II that wore the crown last. It will also be worn only for the duration of the ceremony and will return to the Tower to await the next king. Charles will be crowned with the historic St Edwards Crown that has been used since the coronation of King Charles II in 1661 after the monarchy was restored following the 10-year republic 5/7 pic.twitter.com/xjB6oRlxqk Reuters (@Reuters) May 5, 2023 Tracy Borman, author of Crown & Sceptre, speaking of the St. Edwards Crown, told the BBC that it sends out a clear message that it represents both the resilience and the continuity of the monarchy. And for those wondering what would the cost of this crown be, it has been estimated that its value is $4.5 million (Rs 36.77 crore). Just the 365 aquamarine gems that are part of this crown are valued at a price of $172,500 (Rs 1.4 crore), while the sapphires at more than $2 million (Rs 16.34 crore). Our full coverage of King Charles' Coronation Explained: The who's who at King Charles' coronation and the role they played King Charles Coronation: The British royal familys line of succession explained 'Not my King' protests on Coronation Day: The Brits who want to dump the monarchy Coronation and Celebrations: Indians at the historic ceremony How different will King Charles be from his mother Queen Elizabeth II? Imperial State Crown At the coronation, King Charles was given not one crown the St. Edwards Crown but also a second, known as the Imperial State Crown. It is perhaps the most familiar treasure in the Crown Jewels. The Imperial State Crown is used by the monarch during the State Opening of Parliament and other formal occasions. The crown sparkles with nearly 3,000 stones, including 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, and five rubies. The Imperial State Crown weighs 1.06 kg and measures 31.5 centimetres in height. In the middle of these precious stones is the Cullinan II diamond, which weighs in at 317 carats and was cut from the largest diamond ever found. Besides the diamond, there sits the St. Edwards Sapphire which is said to be the oldest gem in the royal collectionfirst worn in a ring by St Edward the Confessor, who reigned as King of England in the 11th century. Above the Cullinan diamond, youll notice the Black Princes Ruby, worn by Henry V during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Anna Keay, historian and author of The Crown Jewels, has been quoted as once saying of the crown, It can be quite hard to look at sometimes because of the sheer light that comes off them. Its literally dazzling visually overpowering. The Imperial State Crown was first made in 1937 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeths father, King George VI, and was next worn by the then-Princess Elizabeth for her coronation in 1953. When not in use, the Imperial State Crown is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London which has been home to the Crown Jewels for more than 600 years. It was last seen during the demise of Queen Elizabeth II. After her demise, while she lay in state, the crown rested on top of her coffin. And what about the cost of this crown? Several specialists have decided that putting a price on the crowns worth is nigh on impossible. Queen Marys Crown Besides King Charles being crowned, his wife, Camilla, was also crowned as Queen during the ceremony. For her crowning moment, she chose Queen Marys Crown. Notably, this is the first instance in modern times of an existing crown being used for the Coronation of the Consort. The crown was made in 1911 for Queen Mary, the consort of King George V. She had commissioned reputed jewellery company Garrards for the event. The design of the crown was inspired by Queen Alexandras Crown of 1902. Like Queen Alexandras Crown, it can be worn without the arches in the form of a regal circlet, which Queen Mary wore for the Coronation of her son, King George VI, in 1937. The crown is composed of a silver frame, lined with gold and has a whopping 2,200 diamonds, mainly brilliant-cut, with some rose-cut. At the centre of this crown sits the Kohinoor diamond. However, Queen Camilla asked for the removal of this diamond before the coronation, in what some called nimble diplomacy. This is because of the murky origins of the 105-carat diamond and growing calls from India to return the jewel. As BBC had earlier reported, There were concerns about a diplomatic row with India if it had been used since India has demanded its return. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. After 70 long years, Britain will finally have a new monarch in King Charles and he will be coronated today in a ceremony that will go down in history as one of pomp and pageantry. And the place where this momentous occasion will take place is none other than Westminster Abbey, perhaps one of the most famous and historic churches in the United Kingdom. King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be formally crowned in front of 2,200 guests including world leaders, foreign royals and members of the British Royal Family at the church which has long been at the heart of Britains royal life. Incidentally, its also the same place where King Charles mother, Queen Elizabeths funeral was held. The historic and architectural marvel standing tall in the centre of London has borne witness to 16 royal weddings (including William and Kates), been the burial site of 18 monarchs, and served as the venue for 39 coronations of English and British monarchs. King Charles III will be the 40th monarch to be coronated there. As we look forward to the extraordinary event, lets also take a look back at the history of this gothic structure. History of Westminster Abbey The origins of Westminster Abbey (or the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster to give it its correct title) can be traced back to the 1040s, when King Edward (later St. Edward the Confessor) established his royal palace by the banks of the river Thames on land known as Thorney Island. Nearby a small Benedictine monastery founded under the patronage of King Edgar and St. Dunstan around 960 AD. This monastery Edward chose to re-endow and greatly enlarge, building a large stone church in honour of St. Peter the Apostle. This church became known as the west minster to distinguish it from St. Pauls Cathedral (the east minster) in the City of London. Unfortunately, when the new church was consecrated on 28 December 1065, the King was too ill to attend and died a few days later. His mortal remains were entombed in front of the High Altar. The abbey of Edwards vision survived for two centuries until the middle of the 13th century when King Henry III decided to rebuild it in the new Gothic style of architecture. Under the decree of the King Henry III, Westminster Abbey was redesigned to be more than a monastery and place of worship, but also a place for the coronation and burial of monarchs. This church was consecrated on 13 October 1269. But, once again, another king died before the nave could be completed. The older structure of Edward the Confessor stood attached to the Gothic building of Henry III for many years. Two centuries later, the western towers were finally completed in 1745, to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Inside the abbey, one of the first significant areas is called the nave. Thats where the tomb of an unknown British soldier who died in France during World War II is located. Located inside the nave is also the Scientists Corner, where some of the greatest British scientific minds have been laid to rest as well as the Poets Corner, where more than 100 writers and poets, including William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, have been memorialised. The abbey that stands before us was almost destroyed during World War II when firebombs rained down on London. Although the abbey wasnt directly hit, parts of its roof were consumed by flames started by German firebombs in 1941. According to the BBC, Winston Churchill who was prime minister at the time said the abbey must be saved at all costs. Coronations and burials Since its construction, the abbey has been part of history for the British monarchy. Since 1066, all British monarchs except two (Edward V and Edward VIII) have been crowned at the Abbey. The ancient Coronation Chair can still be seen in the church. It is also the final resting place of 13 kings, four queens reagent, 11 queens consort (those married to a king) and two other queens buried in the Abbey making a total of 30. The first royal to be buried here was Edward the Confessor whose magnificent shrine stands at the centre of the church. Queen Elizabeth IIs mother, Queen Elizabeth I is also buried here, along with her half-sister, the Catholic Queen Mary I. On the floor beside their tomb is the inscription: Remember before God all those who divided at the Reformation by different convictions laid down their lives for Christ and conscience sake. Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral last year was another big event at the church. There are also other notable figures such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Tennyson, Sir Winston Churchill and seven other prime ministers who are buried at the Abbey. The funeral of Princess Diana, mother of princes William and Harry, in 1997 also took place at Westminster Abbey and by her own wish she was buried at her family home at Althorp. Our coverage on King Charles IIIs coronation Explained: The whos who at King Charles coronation and the role they will play King Charles IIIs Coronation: From procession to enthronment, a guide to the historic ceremony Some Ancient, Some Stolen: Spoon, spectre, crown and other jewels to be used in King Charles coronation Ditching the Monarchy: How King Charles grip over the Commonwealth nation is slowly slipping away How King Charles coronation will reflect his love of nature The Ex Factor: Why Queen Camillas naughty first husband has received a coronation invite Not My King: How Britain is going after anti-monarchists ahead of Charles coronation Explained: Why Charles coronation is taking place nine months after he was proclaimed king Weddings at Westminster The architectural wonder has also been the scene of royal weddings most of them since World War I. The first was when King Henry I married princess Matilda of Scotland on 11 November 1100. Queen Elizabeths parents, prince Albert later King George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, wed in the church in 1923. And Queen Elizabeth II married Philip Mountbatten in the abbey in 1947, bringing some royal colour to the post-World War II recovery years. Queen Elizabeths sister, Princess Margaret, and her children Princess Anne and Prince Andrew all got married in the abbey. The last royal wedding was that of Charles eldest son Prince William, who wed his university sweetheart Kate Middleton in 2011. Queen Elizabeth IIs presence For King Charles III, Westminster Abbey would hold a very special place as the church played a major role in his dear mamas life. She marked key milestones of her life there. Her wedding to Prince Philip on 20 November 1947 took place at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was broadcast on the radio to millions of listeners, and there were 2,500 guests at Westminster, including six kings and seven queens. On 2 June 1953, she ascended the crown at the Abbey in a ceremony, which was televised to millions. And today as he gets coronated he can also enjoy his mothers presence through the stained-glass that has been installed in her honour. In September 2018, artist David Hockney unveiled a new stained glass window called The Queens Window, representing the Yorkshire countryside in the spring. It was commissioned to celebrate the reign of Elizabeth II, the United Kingdoms longest-reigning monarch. Westminster Abbey is all ready to add one more momentous occasion to its history and has prepped itself for the event. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Among the many impressive items that will be used in King Charles coronation on Saturday, perhaps sounds more intriguing than the Stone of Destiny. The ancient coronation stone, also known as the Stone of Scone, has already been moved from Edinburgh Castle to London for the first time in over two decades. But what is it? What do we know about it? Lets take a closer look: The Stone of Destiny is an oblong-shaped block of pale sandstone, as per Town and Country. According to the Edinburgh Castle website, the Stone of Destiny is seen as a sacred object. According to NBC News, the stone has a cross marked into it and iron rings attached on both ends. Legend has it that Jacob from the Old Testament rested his head on it after which it travelled from the Holy Land across the world and then reached Ireland, as per Britannica. In Ireland, around 700 BCE it was placed on the Tara hill where the kings of Ireland were crowned. It was then taken by invading Scots, as per legend. But scientists have said it likely comes from the Scone area in Scotland. What we do know is that it was used to inaugurate Scottish kings for centuries some say as far back as the early 9th Century. The last Scottish king to be crowned on it was John de Balliol. Seized for Scotland Then Englands King Edward I invaded and seized the stone from Scotlands Scone Palace in 1296. Edward built the stone into the Coronation Chair he ordered in 1308 for Londons Westminster Abbey, as per Edinburgh Castle website. This was meant to symbolise Englands dominion over Scotland, as per Harpers Bazaar. The chair has since been used in the coronation ceremonies of English and British monarchs since Henry IV in 1399. As per Harpers Bazaar, some say a piece of metal once attached to the stone contained a prophecy Sir Walter Scott translated it as: Unless the fates be faulty grown And prophets voice be vain Whereer is found this sacred stone The Scottish race shall reign. When Queen Elizabeth I died without children in 1603, she was succeeded by King James VI of Scotland who then took the throne as James I of Great Britain. Some Scottish nationalists took this to mean that the prophecy was fulfilled. Stolen from Westminster On Christmas Day in 1950, the stone was taken by Scottish nationalists from Westminster but was recovered a few months later 800 kilometres away on the high altar of Arbroath Abbey in Scotland. The four young men who stole the stone were named Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, Kay Matheson and Alan Stuart, according to 9News. The young men, who believed they were acting out of patriotism, were never prosecuted. The incident came at a time when Scottish feeling about nationalism was running high. A 2008 film entitled Stone of Destiny was made about the heist. Returned to Scotland Last used in 1953 during the crowning of Queen Elizabeth III, the stone was officially moved to Scotland on a permanent basis in 1996. Then Prime Minister John Major made the decision to move the 152-kilo stone, according to NBC News. The Stone of Destiny is displayed at Scotlands Royal Palace beside the Crown Jewels. The stone is being moved from its permanent home at Edinburgh Castle for the first time in more than 25 years, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said. HES, which looks after the stone an oblong block of red sandstone, said it had worked with police and other agencies to ensure it can be transported safely and securely, saying it was being taken in a special carrier constructed largely from Scottish oak. It was removed from the castle on Thursday in a ceremonial procession involving Joseph Morrow, the Lord Lyon King of Arms and the monarchs representative in Scotland, along with Scotlands First Minister Humza Yousaf, in his role as the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, HES said. It is a great responsibility to ensure the safe voyage and return of such an important national symbol, and one which has required the care, skill and expertise of a range of different specialist teams across our organisation, said Kathy Richmond, head of collections at HES. The stone will be placed under Charles coronation chair on 6 May, as per Town and Country. It will be returned to Scotland after Charles coronation. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Two men were arrested on Saturday for allegedly stalking and harassing Saachi Marwah, wife of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana in west Delhi, police said. A senior police officer said that a case of stalking and harassment was registered at Kirti Nagar police station and two men have been arrested. On Friday, a complaint was received at Kirti Nagar police station through email in which the complainant alleged that on Thursday around 8.30 pm, she was going back to her home from Chhatarpur in her car with her driver, Deputy Commissioner of Police (west) Ghanshyam Bansal said. While waiting at the red light in Kirti Nagar area, two bike-borne persons crossed her car at a high speed and stopped their motorcycle in front of her car. They started staring at her and banged their hands on her car, the DCP said. On Wednesday, netizens shared screenshots of what they said was Marwahs Instagram story. In the story, Marwah claimed that the Delhi Police refused to register a complaint saying that she has reached home safely. Just saw Nitish Ranas wifes Instagram stories (Saachi Marwah). Two men hit her car and followed her and Delhi police to her to leave it since they left??? This is so unacceptable! pic.twitter.com/UMQwB92xWo PS (@Neelaasapphire) May 5, 2023 A case was registered on Saturday under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354D (stalking), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at Kirti Nagar police station, Bansal said. During the investigation, CCTV footage of the area was analysed and the accused were identified as Chaitnaya Shivam (18), a resident of Pandav Nager, and Vivek (18), a resident of Patel Nagar, he said. The accused were arrested from their residences and further investigation is in progress, the DCP said. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Addis Ababa Ethiopia's Human Rights Commission has denounced security measures against protesters in the Amhara region this week that it said led to the deaths of civilians. The government-established commission, which is monitoring operations in the region, reported civilian deaths, though it did not specify how many people were killed. The regional director for monitoring and investigation, Alemu Meheretu, said the commission has received reports of shelling in the Amhara region's North Shewa Zone. "There have been attacks with heavy weapons. People have died because of this, and we have also been informed about the destruction of houses as well," Meheretu said. "Roadblocks and tensions are also being reported." Meheretu added that the commission will issue a report and work on interventions when it has full information. The clashes are between the Ethiopian military and the Amhara region militia, which has set up roadblocks on major routes to the capital. Protests in Amhara started in early April, following government calls to integrate regional forces into the military or the police. Regional Amhara forces fought alongside the Ethiopian government during the two-year war in the neighboring Tigray region. The government's law enforcement operations have also targeted opposition members accused of inciting protesters, according to the Human Rights Commission. Attempts to reach the region's communications director went unanswered. Security will be beefed up at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and on the capitals borders after two farmers organisations announced visits on Sunday and Monday to the site where some wrestlers are protesting, police said. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Saturday announced that it will hold nationwide protests in support of wrestlers protesting against Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The Delhi Police have planned elaborate security arrangements near Jantar Mantar and the citys bordering areas ahead of the visit, the officials said. A senior Delhi Police official said stringent security measures will be put in place near Jantar Mantar for the delegations visit, PTI reported. Another official said checking in the bordering areas will be beefed up and barricades put in place. Additional deployment will be made, especially in the bordering areas, and patrolling enhanced, the police said. On Sunday, several senior Samyukta Kisan Morcha leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh, with hundreds of farmers, will visit the protest site at Jantar Mantar and extend the fullest support to the wrestlers, the farmers union said in a statement. The outfit also demanded the immediate arrest of Singh. The announcement regarding Sundays visit comes a day after the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), a breakaway group of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha that spearheaded the year-long agitation against the now-repealed farm laws, said a large number of farmers would gather at Jantar Mantar on Monday (May 8) in support of the wrestlers. Several wrestlers have been protesting at the Jantar Mantar since 23 April, demanding that the government make public the findings of an oversight panel that investigated the sexual harassment charges against Singh. On 28 April, the Delhi Police registered two FIRs in connection with the allegations. With inputs from PTI Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Hubballi: In a scathing attack on the BJP, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said Karnataka and the rest of the country cannot make progress without getting rid of the ruling partys loot, lies, ego and hatred. Making her maiden entry into the 2023 Karnataka Assembly poll battle here, Sonia also said the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by her son Rahul Gandhi a few months ago was against those spreading hatred. This was the reason that lakhs of people joined Rahul Gandhis 4,000 km march. Neither Karnataka nor India can make progress without getting rid of the atmosphere of BJPs loot, lies, ego and hatred, Gandhi said in her first public rally in the poll-bound state, which votes on May 10. The former Congress president said: It is everyones responsibility to strengthen our voice against this (BJP) governments dark rule. She was flanked on the stage by Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar who recently quit BJP over the denial of ticket and joined the party. The party has fielded Shettar, a six-time MLA, from Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency, from where he had won the previous Assembly polls in 2018. Gandhi said people have seen how rattled the BJP was in this election due to which it has resorted to all kinds of repression. Dont you feel that dacoity has become the business of those in power? You had not given them power in 2018 but they robbed the government and captured it. Then, their 40 per cent commission government got busy in looting, she charged. Accusing BJP leaders of being egoistic, she said they neither answer any questions nor any letter addressed to them. Gandhi made an indirect reference to the letter written by the contractors association in Karnataka to the Prime Minister about 40 per cent commission being charged from them for public works in the state. They (BJP leaders) are not bothered about accountability. They think that they have pocketed all the constitutional institutions. I want to ask you whether you have ever seen such arbitrariness. Does democracy function like this? No, Gandhi said. According to her, the situation today is such that the BJP leaders openly issue threats that if their party does not win the Karnataka election then the state will not get the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shahs statement in an election rally that there will be riots in Karnataka if Congress comes to power in the state, Gandhi, without naming him, said: They say that if the BJP loses, then there will be riots here. On your behalf, I want to tell them not to treat the people of Karnataka as powerless and helpless. The people of the state do not depend on anyones blessings but rely on their hard work and firm decisions, she underlined. The people of Karnataka are not cowardly and greedy so that you can induce them. The people of Karnataka will tell you on May 10 what they are made of. Gandhi also raised the issue of the alleged attempt of merging Karnataka Milk Federations Nandini brand with Gujarat-based Amul. The time has come now to tell them (BJP) that they will not succeed here in their conspiracy to loot a good institution like Nandini (Karnataka Milk Federations cooperative dairy brand), ignoring the interests of lakhs of farmers and milk producers, she said. Gandhi also appealed to the people to remind those in power that the fate of the leaders is decided by the blessings of the people and not the other way round. Invoking the name of 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara, she said Bhagwan Basavanna always favoured equal opportunities to everyone without any discrimination. Gandhi said the BJP has been insulting the great Kannada poet Kuvempu and cautioned them against playing with the history of India and the hundreds of years old tradition of social justice. To meet your (BJP) political interests, dont push the nation and Karnataka towards destruction, the Congress leader said. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Indian Army has grounded its fleet of ALH Dhruv helicopters amid ongoing counterterrorism operations in the Jammu and Kashmir region following the May 4 crash in Kishtwar that resulted in the death of one soldier. This is the second time in the last two months that the Indian Army has grounded its fleet of ALH Dhruv helicopters for checks. The first crash had taken place in Mumbai in March this year when a ALH Dhruv helicopter of the Indian Navy had gone down after performing VVIP duties. The other mishap had occurred in Kochi, Kerala in April when a Coast Guard helicopter crashed landed while during a test. In view of the crash in which one Army jawan lost his life on May 4, operations of the ALH Dhruv choppers have been halted as a precautionary measure by the force, Defence officials told ANI. The grounding of the ALH Dhruv helicopters impacted the operations of the Indian Army as military movements had to rely on the Cheetah and Chetak fleet even as high-intensity operations are going on in the Rajouri and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir against terrorist groups based in Pakistan. The ALH Dhruv is the mainstay of the Indian Army which flies them extensively in high altitude and other operational areas. The Army Aviation Corps uses different variants of these choppers including the Rudra Weapon System Integrated version. (With agency inputs) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday accused the Congress Party of mocking the Hindu faith by proposing to ban Bajrang Dal. His comments came as he addressed a public rally in Chikkamagaluru ahead of Karnataka polls. Adityanath also said that those who oppose the idea of Ek Bharat, Sreshtha Bharat are supporting anti-national organisations like the Popular Front of India (PFI). Explaining the bond between UP and Karnataka, Adtiyanath said that has come from the land of Ram to the land of Hanuman (Karnataka). The bonding between the two states underlines the fact that they are integrally one and materialise the concept of Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat, he said. Banning Bajrang Dal means Congress is trying to make a mockery of the Hindu faith. Hindu community will not tolerate and accept it, the BJP leader added. #WATCH | Congress is playing with Hindu faith by talking about banning Bajrang Dal, says Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath in Chikmagalur, Karnataka pic.twitter.com/Doi2M0vgId ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) May 6, 2023 Raising the BJPs successful bid at making the construction of the Ram Temple in UP a reality, the chief minister asked the crowd to chant Jaikaara Veer Bajrangi, Har Har Mahadev. He said, When the Congress and the JD(S) government was in power in Karnataka, the PFI was encouraged. But due to the double-engine government (of the BJP) there is peace, harmony and security. Just as Uttar Pradesh has become a peaceful state, the double-engine government in Karnataka tried to break the backbone of PFI by banning it. The Yogi also asked the people of Karnataka to visit Uttar Pradesh to attend the grand opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in January next year. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. A militant believed to be a member of the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was killed during an encounter carried out by the Jammu and Kashmir police during the early hours of Saturday. The terrorist, who has been declared dead, has been identified as Abid Wani hailing from Kulgam. Incriminating objects like an AK 47 rifle have been recovered from the slain terrorist, the police informed. Baramulla Encounter Update: Killed terrorist identified as Abid Wani S/O Mohd Rafiq Wani R/O Yarhol Babapora Kulgam, linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT. Incriminating materials, 01 AK 47 rifle recovered, Kashmir Zone Police tweeted today. #BaramullaEncounterUpdate: Killed #terrorist identified as Abid Wani S/O Mohd Rafiq Wani R/O Yarhol Babapora Kulgam, linked with proscribed #terror outfit LeT. Incriminating materials, 01 AK 47 rifle recovered.@JmuKmrPolice https://t.co/U5iocqLfKW Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) May 6, 2023 Two terrorists were similarly killed on Wednesday during an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmirs Kupwara district. According to police officials, an encounter broke out between terrorists and the security forces near the Pichnad Machil area in the Kupwara district on Wednesday morning. PRO Defence Jammu said that another encounter broke out in Rajouris Kandi forest area today. Contact established with terrorists, the PRO Defence Jammu added. On Friday the Indian Army released the names of five soldiers who lost their lives during an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri sector. The deceased soldiers are Lance Naik Ruchin Singh Rawat, Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri, Naik Arvind Kumar, Hav Neelam Singh, and Paratrooper Pramod Negi. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Imphal: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday said peace committees will be formed in every assembly constituency to ensure that peace initiatives are implemented at the grassroots level. Singh made the announcement after chairing an all-party meeting over the prevailing situation in the violence-hit state. Held an all-political party meeting to discuss the current situation in Manipur and to collectively work towards bringing peace and stability in the state, he said. During the meeting, it was resolved to appeal for peace in the state, and encourage all citizens to avoid any actions that could lead to further violence or instability, he added. The meeting was attended by representatives of various political parties, including the Congress, CPI, JD(U), NPF, Shiv Sena, TMC, BSP, AAP, MPP, AIFB, MNDF, ABHKP, and former CM O Ibobi Singh. It was further resolved to form a peace committee in every assembly constituency to ensure that peace initiatives are implemented at the grassroots level, he tweeted. Violent clashes broke out between tribals and people belonging to the majority Meitei community in Manipur on Wednesday, displacing thousands of people and killing at least 54. The clashes broke out after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the ten hill districts to protest against the Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipurs population and live mostly in the Imphal valley. Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 percent of the population and live mostly in the hill districts. Singh also held a video conference with the senior officials of the state government, police and para-military forces to review the on-ground operations. The entire team is working round the clock to ensure that peace prevails in the state, he said. Earlier in the day, he met representatives of Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a civil society organisation, and the All Manipur Christian Organization (AMCO). Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the overwhelming response he received in Bengaluru during the roadshow made him believe that it is the people who are contesting the 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka on behalf of the BJP. The Prime Minister also said the never-seen-before love and affection he saw in Bengaluru was unparalleled. This morning, I went to have a darshan (opportunity to see) of janata janardhan (public god) in Bengaluru. People gave me never-seen-before love and affection, Modi said at a public meeting here in Bagalkote district of poll-bound Karnataka, which votes on May 10. People stood in every nook and corner of the road all along the 25 kilometres from where his convoy passed during the Bengaluru roadshow, the Prime Minister said. Modi said people with their families, differently-abled persons, and women with their newborn children stood on either sides of the road. What I saw in Bengaluru, I say with confidence that this election is neither Modi contesting, nor BJP leaders or our candidates, it is the election the people of Karnataka are fighting on behalf of the BJP. I see the total control of the election in the hands of people, the Prime Minister said. Heres a glimpse of the fervour in Bengaluru. pic.twitter.com/nBYdzf6hk0 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 6, 2023 He also said the BJPs double engine government has been working on bringing in development without discrimination. For the first time, the people of Bagalkote got three lakh tapped water connections. Over 25,000 people of Bagalkote got their own cement house. Ayushman Bharat scheme benefits reached the people of Bagalkote, Modi told the crowd. Taking a swipe at former chief minister Siddaramaiah who was elected from Badami constituency in the district in the 2018 election, the prime minister said, I have heard that Siddaramaiah is saying that whatever development has happened in the last 3.5 years was due to his governments efforts. His confessional statement is self-explanatory that if there is anyone who does the work then it is the double-engine government and does so without discrimination. It is the BJP governments work which has benefitted the people of this region, Modi said, adding, highways are improving and railway projects are happening as the party is governing both at the Centre and in the state. Siddaramaiah has left this place leaving you all (the former CM is contesting from Varuna seat this time). He has sensed which direction the wind is blowing. If he comes here by chance, ask him one question why people were deprived of basic infrastructure earlier, he said. Hitting out at the Congress, Modi said the party has a track record of 85 percent commission and they can never work to serve the people. Modi said former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi had said on record that when one rupee rolls from Delhi, only 85 paise reaches the people. Whose claw was it that eats away 85 paise from one rupee? This was the Congress way of functioning. Due to the misdeeds of Congress, India lagged behind for so many decades, he said. The BJP used the trident of Aadhaar, mobile phone and Jan-Dhan account that their (Congress) old habits have completely destroyed, he pointed out. Modi said in nine years, the BJP government transferred Rs 29 lakh crore into the bank accounts of poor and middle class families and the money reached people without a paisa being stolen. If it was the Congress government, then the party leaders would have plundered Rs 24 lakh crore, he alleged. The Prime Minister said India has become one of the largest mobile phone manufacturing nations. There was a time when India had only two cell phone making factories but now the country boasts of more than 200 factories, he added. Explaining further, he said before 2014, when Congress was in power at the Centre, one gigabyte (GB) mobile internet data used to cost Rs 300 but with the BJP government at the helm, one GB data now costs only Rs 10. The amount of data you use a month, if the old rates existed in the Congress era, have you ever imagined how much bill you would have received? Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per month, he claimed. With inputs from PTI Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a mega roadshow in Karnatakas capital Bengaluru today during the last leg of the campaigning ahead of polls which are scheduled for next week. The southern state will go to polls on May 10 and the results are to be declared on May 13. The roadshow was a spectacular event that panned 26 km and covered nearly 13 constituencies. A sea of supporters could be seen queued up on both sides of the road. Party sources have said that Modi is expected to hold two mega road shows and four public meetings this weekend. Prior to this, PM Modi took out a roadshow of 5 kilometres in Bengaluru, and a roadshow in Mysore on April 30, in which a large number of people participated. Earlier, on Tuesday, Prime Minister held a mega roadshow in Kalaburagi. The BJP is eyeing a second term in the state and has exuded confidence in retaining power with a full majority. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani started her career as an actor and is recognised by an entire generation for her role in the popular daily soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Before venturing into politics, the BJP leader not only worked in several TV serials and advertisements but also won multiple awards for performance. During her stint as an actor, Irani also worked in a powerful ad, addressing menstrual taboos. Recalling the same, the actor-turned-politician shared the 25-year-old ad on her social media handles, mentioning how the sanitary pad advertisement ensured the death of a glamour-based career. In the ad, a visibly younger Irani can be seen talking about menstruation and breaking taboos around it. When your past whispers .25 years ago, my first ad ever for a big company. However, the subject was not a fancy one. In fact such was the product that many were averse to the assignment since a sanitary pad advertisement ensured the death of a glamour based career for the model involved. Eager to start my stint in front of the camera I said yes! After all why should a conversation re menstrual hygiene be taboo. Since then there has been no looking back #throwbackthursday. p.s yes I was thinye yaad dilaane ki zaroorat nahi, she wrote in the caption. In the video, Irani can be seen dressed in a white shirt with short and open hair as she goes on to say, Those five days, like what? Ive had my periods and not some diseasePeriods is the Gods way of telling us that youre older, wiser, and you can carry life. In the meantime, social media users praised the politician and her ad. A user wrote, Today many of us would do this ad easily. But yeah, I remember how taboo it was to talk about it in front of anyone then. So hats off to you for doing it then, and so well at that. Another commented, Who wouldve thought that this young woman would challenge the spoilt brat of India now I think there is no one better than this young woman to do that! Actress Mouni Roy also reacted to the post and wrote, My beautiful smriti di. Notably, Smriti Irani is currently serving as the Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Minority Affairs. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. When senior journalist Manu Joseph wrote the article, A Republic of South India is not entirely unthinkable, on 1 May 2023, he accidentally hit the raw nerve. Accidentally, because though he was right about the threats of centrifugal forces being at play down south, he didnt know the exact nature of the sinister design and also the players behind that. He, therefore, got the prescription and the treatment wrong. Joseph, quite erroneously, just like most of his Western counterparts, puts the entire blame on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his style of governance for setting in motion Indias centrifugal forces. The blame, instead, lies with sustained and concerted attempts being made by the breaking-India forces, led by missionaries, to incapacitate Indias civilisational unity. South India, especially Tamil Nadu, is in the throes of competitive harvesting of souls from evangelists of different hues, with covering fire being provided by the Western, Left-liberal media and intelligentsia. The missionary forces are particularly targeting Indias troubled peripheries. This explains why Punjab has seen a spike in conversion cases. And Tamil Nadu, as per a study conducted a few years ago by the Centre for Policy Studies, a Chennai-based think tank, has been the most favourable state in India for the growth of Christianity. The population of Hindus, which constituted 90.47 percent of the states population in 1951, has come down to 87.58 percent by 2011. And if credible Tamil Nadu watchers are to be believed, the Hindu number is even lesser as neo-converts are now encouraged not to officially register their new faith. Its a win-win strategy: One, the neo-converts can still claim the governments welfare benefits; two, this allows the missionaries to remain under the radar; and three, the Hindu community, anyway prone to being indifferent to their larger religio-cultural SOS calls, can be hoodwinked to remain in its comfort zone. Tamil Nadus demographic change hasnt been confined to the areas near Kanyakumari, which in the past 100 years have seen the Christian population rise from 30.7 percent in 1921 to almost 50 percent today. (In fact, if George Ponnaiah, a controversial Roman Catholic priest from the region, is to be believed, the Christian numbers in Kanyakumari have crossed 62 percent. Soon we would be 70 percent.) Other areas such as Coimbatore, Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli, Dindigul, Coimbatore and Nilgiris, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, too, have witnessed a substantial rise in Muslim population. However, more than the missionary activities down South, especially in Tamil Nadu, it is the deeply entrenched anti-Hindu ecosystem a byproduct of the Left-liberal-missionary nexus which is threatening to create a divide that has not been there civilisationally. Originally a colonial-missionary construct, post-Independence, the Dravidian movement warriors again in collusion with evangelistic forces have perfected this language of divide. So, when Periyar, in 1953, broke the idols of Lord Ganesh, and his ideological successor, former Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi, called Bhagwan Ram a drunkard in 2007, the two were merely aping the colonial-missionary narrative to target Hinduism to forward their politico-ideological objectives. Without denying the excesses of the caste system, the fact remains that most campaigns against Brahminism were organised and orchestrated by those inimical to Hinduism per se: A Brahmin was targeted because he was seen as a symbol of civilisational Bharat. The missionaries attacked him because he was regarded as the biggest hurdle in winning India for the Christ a fact attested by Abbe JA Dubois in Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies. The British saw him as a rallying point of Indian nationalism rising against colonial rule. Worse, post-Independence, the Left-Dravidian forces have joined hands to villanise him, for he seems to epitomise everything that they detest. One can unravel the true nature of anti-Brahminism in Tamil Nadu which VS Naipaul categorically classifies in his book, India: A Million Mutinies, as a movement of the middle castes, and not all non-Brahmin castes from the fact that it offered no protection to lower castes. In fact, some of the most brutal attacks on the Scheduled Castes took place post-1967 during the DMK regime. In 1969, for instance, 40 Harijans were burnt alive by Thevars, a powerful middle caste. South India has a long history and a deep conspiracy to decimate Hinduism, of course in the name of Brahminism. There has also been a serious and incessant endeavour to assimilate Hinduism in South India into Christian history and theology. Even an apocryphal saga that places St Thomas in India in 53 AD has been invented to suggest Christian influence on Tamil culture and spirituality. It has been said that the Tamil classics, such as the great Thirukkural, were composed under Christian influence but got debased later under Aryan manipulations and interventions. Even the Hindu fine arts were not left alone. Heres a cautionary tale for the liberal Hindu. As the book Snakes in the Ganga, written by Rajiv Malhotra and Vijaya Viswanathan, shows, the rich and the powerful should choose institutions wisely (especially the Western ones) for charity, for they might actually be paying for writing the obituaries of their own people, culture and civilisation; likewise, the gurus of the fine art too need to choose their shishyas astutely. For there are artists who learnt ancient Indian dances under traditional Hindu gurus to later actively work to de-Hinduise, or rather Christianise, them. Rani David, a well-known Bharatanatyam dancer, is a classic case in study. Even more glaring is the saga of Leela Samson, who learnt Bharatanatyam from Kalakshetra. Rukmini Arundale had set up this revered institution to not just rescue the ancient dance form from the colonial-evangelistic interventions, but also acknowledge its innate Hinduness. As fate would have it, Samson became the head of Kalakshetra in 2005, and suddenly she became uncomfortable about the spiritual roots of Bharatanatyam. A year later, she stopped her students from participating in an Art of Living event in Chennai. The reason: This function is concerned with Hindu religion, she said matter-of-factly. If the actual conversion of Hindus on a large scale werent bad enough, this de-Hinduisation, or rather Christianisation, of the South Indian mind through selective tempering of their religious, cultural and artistic ethos is creating an enemy within. It has created a section of people who may physically be Hindu but think and act like the adversaries of Indias civilisational and constitutional unity. They act as Trojan Horses without even knowing it. It is in this backdrop that a republic of south India is very much possible and the blame for this rests primarily with the thriving Left-liberal-missionary ecosystem. If at all, the Modi government at the Centre can be accused of not doing enough to challenge these forces that have been bent on challenging Indias unity and decimating Hinduism down South. Maybe for the government, the liberation of Hindu temples from immoral state control can be a good starting point. And, its a low-hanging fruit too. (This is the concluding article of the two-part series) Read part one Why entertaining the idea of a republic of south India is mischievous, dangerous and outright ahistorical The author is Opinion Editor, Firstpost and News18. He tweets from @Utpal_Kumar1. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. An aerial view of fighting and violence in Khartoum (file photo). Khartoum The World Food Program says it is struggling to get aid to Sudan's capital, Khartoum, and other areas seeing intense fighting and multiple failed cease-fires. World Food Program spokeswoman for Sudan Leni Kinzli said Thursday the agency has started distributing food aid to people who have fled the fighting in what she described as "peaceful" locations. Kinzli told VOA by messaging app from Germany the WFP plans to provide food aid to 384,000 people. She said the aid would go to Sudan's eastern Kasala and Gedaref states as well as White Nile state, south of Khartoum. "This includes newly displaced persons, host communities that are extremely vulnerable as well as pre-existing refugees that were sheltering in some of these states," said Kinzli. Kinzli said intense fighting in and around Khartoum has prevented safe access the area, where millions of people are struggling to survive. The Associated Press reports heavy shelling in the Sudanese capital Thursday disrupted efforts to deliver badly needed aid to civilians trapped by the warring generals. Sudan's military and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, have agreed to a few cease-fires, but none have taken hold. Kinzli urged both sides to guarantee the safety of aid agencies to deliver assistance. "It makes it very difficult for us to provide assistance safely, so we continue to call on both parties to the conflict to adhere to the cease-fire and to all obligations under international humanitarian law, to protect humanitarian staff, humanitarian assistance and all assets and premises that are belonging to humanitarian organizations," said Kinzli. The fighting since April 15 has killed hundreds of people and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing for safety. The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said Thursday more than 128,000 people have already left Sudan and close to 900,000 are expected to flee to neighboring countries in the coming weeks. Kinzli said WFP has already provided food aid to more than one-third of the 30,000 Sudanese who fled to Chad. The UNHCR said similar numbers have fled to South Sudan, 47,000 to Egypt, and about 10,000 to the Central African Republic. The year was 2010. One of Indias chief ministers and cleanest of politicians publicly uttered words that left the Left-liberal ecosystem first bewildered, then bellicose. He said: Their plan is to make Kerala a Muslim state in the next 20 years. For that, they are luring youngsters, offering them money and insisting that they marry Hindu girls to increase the Muslim population. This is how they are growing their majority and these tricks are working. This leader was not from the BJP or the RSS and its affiliates. It was the Marxist veteran and CPMs stalwart from Kerala, VS Achuthanandan. A year before that, an angry Kerala Catholic Bishops Council had claimed that more than 4,500 girls in the state have been converted by Islamic fundamentalists. Christian organisations were among the first to use the term love jihad or Romeo jihad. Then in 2021, Bishop of Palai Joseph Kallarangatt blamed a section of Muslims for targeting Christian women through love jihad and narcotics. Speaking during Lent, the Bishop urged the laity to be conscious of the pitfalls in befriending people from other communities. He cited a statement by the former state police chief, Loknath Behra, that Kerala had become a hotbed of terrorist sleeper cells and a recruiting centre for jihad. Back in December 2009, Justice KT Sankaran of the Kerala high court concluded from a case diary that there were forceful conversions. He said it was clear from police reports that there was a concerted effort by certain outfits to convert women. The court, while hearing the bail plea of two persons accused of love jihad, said there had already been 3,000-4,000 such conversions in the past four years. Before one jumps to proclaim these as conspiracy theories of a saffron mind, it must be noted that the CPM leader, the Church and the bishops council, the police chief or the high court judge are not sentinels of the Hindutva bastion. On the contrary, many of them were avid opponents of the Hindutva ideology. So, when The Kerala Story yanks the cork off liberal silence on love jihad and opens it up to conversations and box-office collections, it is not Hindu fascism at work. Nor is PM Narendra Modis mention of the movie and its theme at an election rally in Karnataka a veiled attack on Muslims. Targeted and organised Islamist conversions using sex and marriage is a globally acknowledged threat, from the grooming gangs of Birmingham to the now-proscribed Popular Front of Indias (PFI) brainwash centres. That Kerala sent the largest number of Indians including misled and converted women to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq is also a well-documented fact. Organisations in Kerala like Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) put the number of converted Hindu girls at more than 30,000. The governments Operation Octopus on PFI in October 2022 was done after years of collecting facts and evidence, stalking the infinitely cunning and careful jihadi enterprise for months, waiting with the patience of a predator, and then one day going for the jugular. The evidence is so watertight that appeals against the ban and banishment keep failing in the UAPA tribunal. But the liberal-Islamist lobby calls The Kerala Story, which is a film on ISIS and its affiliate spider orgs in India, an attack on Muslims. This begs a question. If the Congress and the seculars attacking Hindutva is not an attack on Hindus, how is the RSS and the BJP exposing Islamist conversions and ISIS activities in Kerala or the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits anti-Muslim? Movies like The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story bring out the uncomfortable truth on which the elitist Congress-Left ecosystem had so far managed to firmly keep a lid. They muddy the still poison called silent complicity to crime. But the force of truth is such that it makes fake liberals see their reflection even in a whirlpool. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thousands of protesters demonstrated on Saturday against the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine station at Port Kembla in eastern Australia as part of the AUKUS defence agreement with the US, UK, and Australia, which is worth A$368 billion ($244.1 billion). According to public broadcaster ABC, the Defence Department prefers to build a new east-coast submarine facility near New South Wales second-largest coal export port. Trade union flags and banners were carried by protesters as they marched down the towns main street in this community of about 5,000 people 102 kilometres (63 miles) south of Sydney to express their opposition to the base. Im getting the sense of the renewable energy thats in this community to keep coming out on the streets, Greens Senator David Shoebridge, a prominent critic of AUKUS, told the crowd. Participants said that the crowds size ranged from 2,000 to 5,000. In regards to a location for a new east coast submarine facility, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles stated last month that no decision had been made. Following criticism of the contract for its expense, complexity, and potential sovereignty concerns from two former leaders, Australias Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the submarine project. According to the March arrangement, Australia will buy American Virginia-class submarines before jointly producing a new class of submarines with Britain and Australia that will be manufactured in Australia by the early 2040s. (With agency inputs) A top Chinese health official said that despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) ending the worldwide emergency designation for COVID-19, the virus is still dangerous and China will continue to monitor it while boosting vaccination rates among high-risk groups. More than three years after its initial statement, the WHO lifted the highest level of alert for COVID-19 on Friday, stating that nations should now handle the virus together with other infectious diseases. According to Liang Wannian, head of Chinas COVID-19 response expert group under the National Health Commission, the warning status being lifted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not imply COVID-19 will go away, but its effects can now be successfully managed. The interview with state media CCTV was broadcast on Saturday. Liang said that China will continue to track virus mutations, step up immunisation campaigns for vulnerable populations, and work to advance treatment options for COVID-19. Long after the majority of nations began to deal with the COVID-19 virus, China maintained its zero tolerance policy and didnt start to relax it until late in the year 2022. Although experts have questioned Beijings figures, Chinas senior authorities announced a decisive victory against COVID-19 and claimed the country had the lowest death rate in the world in February. (With inputs from agencies) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Today is the day when King Charles III will be crowned at the coronation ceremony to be held at Londons Westminster Abbey. While some celebrate and others protest, Lord Indarjit Singh, a British Sikh peer is honoured to be a part of the kings coronation. Singh will hand over a key item of the regalia to King Charles III today. The 90-year-old peer will form part of a procession of peers who walk up to the altar before handing over the Coronation Glove, which is a demonstration of the Sovereign as an advocate and challenger for the protection and honour of the people. It also bears a second meaning, as a reminder of holding power, symbolised in the royal Sceptre, gently in a gloved hand. The peer said in an interview, Its a great honour for myself, but much more for the wider Sikh community, in this country, in India and further afield wherever Sikhs are across the globe. Its a recognition of the Kings view of inclusivity. Singh will be joined by peers of other faiths like Lord Syed Kamall, 56, of Indo-Guyanese heritage, who will represent the Muslim faith and present the Armills or a pair of bracelets and Lord Narendra Babubhai Patel, 84, will represent the Hindu faith and hand over the Sovereigns Ring. Explaining the meaning of his task at the ceremony Singh said, As far as the procession goes, that is fairly usual and normal. Its always there on a Commonwealth Day service. The unusual element is the presentation of the gifts, that we go in turn to the King who is seated on a throne on a platform and offer him in my case, it will be the Coronation Glove. The peer has known King Charles personally for many years. He is the founder of the Network of Singh Organisations. The late Queen Elizabeth II also honoured Singh with a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) distinction for services to interfaith harmony. I have known King Charles for many years, we met on many occasions, seminars, and presentations, and I admire the work he is doing against global warming, care of the environment and so on. But I admire his attitude to religion even more, said the community leader and prominent interlocutor on the Sikh faith in the UK. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Iranian dissident who was born in Sweden and was found guilty of organising an Arab separatist group accused of attacks, including one on a military parade in 2018 that left 25 people dead, was hanged on Saturday, according to state media. According to Irans rigorous Islamic regulations, Habib Farajollah Chaab had been found guilty of the criminal offence of being corrupt on earth and had been given the death penalty. In 2022, Iran began Chaabs trial on claims that he had planned and executed numerous bombings and terrorist operations and was the leader of the separatist Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, which seeks a separate state in the oil-rich Khuzestan province in southwest Iran. Without providing further information, Iran claimed in 2020 that its security personnel had captured Chaab in adjacent Turkey and transported him to Tehran. Sweden had expressed worry regarding Chaabs case, and relations with Iran had also deteriorated as a result of a former Iranian official receiving a life sentence in prison by a Swedish court for his part in the mass execution of political prisoners in the Islamic Republic in 1988. Arabs, Kurds, Azeris, and Baluchs are among Irans ethnic minorities. Iran has contentious relations with these groups and accuses them of siding with its neighbours. Long-standing complaints of discrimination against Arabs and other minorities in Iran are refuted by Tehran. (With agency inputs) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Using the same emergency power that has been invoked more than 35 times for Ukraine, US President Joe Bidens administration proposes to provide $500 million in weapons aid to Taiwan. News agency Reuters quoted an official as saying that the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), a form of power that has aided in the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, was used by Congress to approve up to $1 billion in weapons assistance for Taiwan as part of the 2023 budget. This drawdown would be the first from that $1 billion authorisation, which permits the president to transfer goods and services from US stockpiles without congressional consent during an emergency. Over the past three years, China has upped military pressure on the island nation because it regards democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory. It has never abandoned the policy of using force to seize control of the island. After Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles last month, China held war games surrounding Taiwan. According to testimony Lloyd Austin gave in February to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the US Defence Secretary intended to use the drawdown power, a Pentagon official said on Friday. Regarding if the US was continuing with the $500 million aid programme, the spokeswoman declined to say. Our approach remains consistent with longstanding U.S. policy Were hard at work fulfilling our obligations under the TRA (Taiwan Relations Act), and were going to continue to do so, the spokesperson said. The Taiwan Relations Act, which has controlled US-Taiwan relations since 1979, offers Taiwan a legal foundation to arm itself with defence tools but does not require the US to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack. The aid package for Taiwan, which was first reported by Bloomberg news, was not immediately clear. Also undetermined was the timing. Since last year, Taiwan has complained about delays in US weapon supply, including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, as suppliers switched supplies to Ukraine as it fights the invasion by Russia. Some US senators are concerned about the situation. The delivery of 66 advanced modern F-16Vs from the United States has been delayed due to supply chain issues, according to Taiwans Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng, who added that the ministry was striving to minimise the harm and make up deficiencies. (With agency inputs) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. After his brother died of a drug overdose and the Canadian government decriminalised possession of drugs in small quantities, Jerry Martin, a 51-year-old Canadian man opened a mobile drug store in British Columbia but only to be arrested for drug trafficking a day later. His intention, according to him, was to make non-fatal drugs for those who use them in order to avoid drug overdose deaths. In his store, martin kept cocaine, heroin, and other dangerous drugs. On Wednesday, he started peddling the drugs out of a portable caravan that was parked in Vancouvers Downtown Eastside, a place with a high rate of drug use and a lot of drug overdose prevention services. Numerous people had reportedly lined up outside Martins mobile store to purchase drugs, at the time he was reportedly held. Although no formal charges have been filed, Vancouver police said they arrested a man for drug trafficking in connection with an illicit drug dispensary. 51-year-old Martin has declared intentions to contest his arrest in court, claiming his drugs were fentanyl free and that he is only doing this to protect the people from dying of overdose. Canada decriminalised the possession of small amounts of hard drugs in the province of British Columbia (BC) early this year as part of a three-year trial experiment. The public health measure was proposed in response to an increase in the number of fentanyl-laced drug overdose deaths in western Canada. More than 2,720 people in BC died from overdoses in 2022, or seven people on average every day. In Canada, BC has the second-highest rate of overdose fatalities. In an effort to stop more fatalities, Martin told local media sources that he intended to distribute batches of fentanyl free cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and crack in little doses, up to 2.5 grammes. He claimed to have tested all drugs for fentanyl content before putting it out for sale. Constable Tania Visintin stated in a statement that while police would continue to crack down on drug trafficking, they support measures aimed at improving public safety for people who use drugs, including harm reduction services and decriminalisation. Although Martins name was not mentioned in the police press release announcing the arrest, it received extensive coverage in Canadian media. According to authorities, he is not in prison while a court hearing is underway. Additionally, he has been told not to go to Vancouvers Downtown Eastside. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. More than 1 million polio vaccines intended for children have been destroyed as a result of looting in Sudan during the upsurge in violence since April, the UN childrens agency UNICEF told Reuters on Friday. A number of cold chain facilities have been looted, damaged and destroyed, including over a million polio vaccines in South Darfur, Hazel De Wet, deputy director of the Office of Emergency Programmes, UNICEF told Reuters in an email. The agency was in the middle of a series of polio vaccination campaigns in Sudan following an outbreak at the end of 2022. Polio, a disease which mainly affects children under 5, can lead to paralysis and death. Africa was declared free of wild polio in 2020 but Malawi, Mozambique and Sudan have reported imported cases since last year. A World Health Organization database shows there have been 28 attacks on health care facilities in Sudan since the conflict erupted last month, pitting Sudans army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Numerous humanitarian agencies have reported looting during the Sudan crisis including the World Food Programme, which said it lost $13-$14 million worth of supplies. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe ordered the early release of nearly 1,000 prisoners to mark the islands main Buddhist holiday, the prisons chief said Saturday. The pardons on Vesak Day, which commemorates the Buddhas birth, enlightenment and death, applied only to those convicted of minor offences, said Commissioner-General Thushara Upuldeniya. We released these inmates from 28 prisons across the country, Upuldeniya told AFP of the Friday evening releases. There were 982 men and six women who walked free. The cash-strapped South Asian nation is holding official Vesak celebrations for the first time in five years. Festivities were cancelled in 2019 after Islamic extremists carried out Easter Sunday suicide bombings that claimed 279 lives at churches and hotels in the capital Colombo. Official events marking the holiday were then put on hold by the Covid-19 pandemic and last years economic crisis, the worst since independence from Britain in 1948. The island defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022 one of a chain of events that led to the ouster of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa but secured a $3.0 billion IMF bailout in March this year. Sri Lanka has declared a week of celebrations to mark Vesak, which fell on Friday, the first full moon of May, and banned the sale of alcohol over the weekend. The islands jails are overcrowded. There were nearly 27,000 inmates at the start of May in facilities designed to hold 11,000, according to official data. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Pakistans Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called his visit to India for the Shanghai Cooperation Operation (SCO) Foreign Ministers Summit a success. His comments came hours after the Indian External Minister S Jaishankar accused Bhutto of being a promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry which is the mainstay of Pakistan. Jaishankar was addressing a press conference after the summit where he said Bilawal Bhutto Zardaris weaponising terrorism remarks at the SCO meeting. Hitting out at the neighbouring country, Jaishankar said that the victims of terrorism and perpetrators of terrorism cannot sit together to discuss terrorism. I want no citizen to be a victim of terrorism, we all have to fight terrorism as one, if we remain separate, we will continue to be victims of it, Bilawal said in a video shared by the Secretariat of Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman on Twitter. Terming Jaishankars comments as a joke, Bhutto said, This country knows me, have I once even in my political history accidentally sat down with a terrorist? They dont see that even in our country we (PPP) perform a role in the first ranks against appeasing terrorists, he added. According to a report by Dawn, Bhutto also said that he does not want to see either Pakistan or India fall victim to terrorism. He added, People would continue dying until we keep politicising this issue and become part of the geopolitical game being played in the world and this region. A false narrative is being propagated by the Indian Foreign Minister.. and this narrative has been damaged by my visit to India, my speaking and my stand, Bhutto said. At the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting, Jaishankar said taking the eyes off terrorism would be detrimental to the security interests of the grouping. Jaishankar said on terrorism, Pakistans credibility is depleting faster than even its Forex reserves. They are committing acts of terrorism. I dont want to jump the gun on what happened today but we are all feeling equally outraged. On this matter, the terrorism matter, I would say that Pakistans credibility is depleting faster than even its Forex reserves, he said. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. G77 and China calls for sustainable, inclusive tourism Xinhua) 14:56, May 06, 2023 HAVANA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Tourism ministers from the Group of 77 (G77) and China on Friday called for sustainable development of the tourism industry during a meeting held here. Addressing the event, which was also attended by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Manuel Marrero, Cuban prime minister, said that the meeting is a great opportunity to increase collaboration in the tourism sector in the face of new challenges in the post-pandemic era. "This meeting is very important as it facilitates the exchange of ideas and experiences among developing countries," he said, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the industry worldwide. Venezuelan Tourism Minister Ali Padron said that climate change will substantially impact the tourism sector, countries, therefore, need to adopt preventive measures. "We need to balance environmental, economic, and sociocultural issues," he added. Chilian Undersecretary of Tourism Veronica Pardo said that tourism development must be in line with environmental protection principles. "We need to take advantage of resources provided by nature" and "we must keep working on eco-tourism," she said. Gustavo Santos, regional director for the Americas of the World Tourism Organization, said that investment in sustainable infrastructure and adaptability to new tourist destinations are required. "We need to find mechanisms to increase South-South connectivity," he said, adding that the path of tourism development should be sustainable, inclusive, and resilient. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) WFP Food aid is distributed to people in southwestern Burkina Faso (file photo). Bamako Mali's military government has lashed out at the Economic Community of West African States' chairman for calling an April massacre in neighboring Burkina Faso part of a genocide. Burkina Faso's military leader has said militants who stole military equipment could be responsible. In a statement Thursday on Mali's state TV, ORTM, the government rejected the West African bloc's chairman's calling civilian killings "genocide." Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who is also president of Guinea Bissau, used the term in a tweet April 27 in which he condemned the April 20 mass killing of more than 100 civilians, allegedly by Burkina Faso's army. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) released a statement the same day stating that targeting civilians can be characterized as genocide by the International Criminal Court. An ORTM presenter read the Malian military government's response. The statement said the ECOWAS chairman's statements qualified the incident as genocide without any proof and that Embalo had imposed his will on the commission. The government's statement went on to say the accusations against Burkina Faso's army reminded it of what it called, "desperate attempts to exploit human rights in order to accuse the authorities" in Mali. More than 100 civilians were killed in the massacre in Karma, Burkina Faso, with survivors in an April 29 televised briefing blaming the army for the attack. Human Rights Watch said 156 people were killed in the massacre. Burkina Faso's military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore pointed the finger Thursday at the Islamist militants they've been fighting. He told state television RTB militants had seized military equipment and carried out attacks. In the televised report, Traore said the defense and security forces should not be immediately accused and that waiting on the results of an investigation was necessary. Traore questioned the motive of accusations against the defense and security forces, and said it might be an effort to damage their morale. Traore complained that many countries refuse to sell Burkina Faso weapons to fight the militants, so the country has had to turn to countries like Russia. But, he said, his country has many allies. He included France, which has an embassy there though its army had left the country. Burkina Faso also has strategic allies, Traore said, and described Russia as one. Rights groups have accused Mali's army of killing civilians, including working with Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries. In April 2022, several media outlets as well as Human Rights Watch reported a massacre of 300 civilians in central Mali, allegedly by Wagner and Malian troops. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines West Africa Legal Affairs Arms and Armies 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. Mali's military denied the allegation, and said it works with Russian "instructors," and that it killed more than 200 "terrorists" in the incident. Critics have raised concerns that Burkina Faso may also turn to the Wagner Group, which has been accused of rights abuses in other countries, including the Central African Republic and Russia's war in Ukraine. Mali's military has ruled since a 2020 coup. Burkina Faso's military seized control of the government in 2022. Burkina Faso's prime minister, in a visit to Mali in February, suggested the two countries form a federation to boost their economic power. Tensions between ECOWAS, Burkina Faso and Mali rose sharply due to the regional bloc's sanctions over the coups and their delaying a return to elections. Some sanctions were lifted after military leaders agreed to a transition period and timeline for elections. But individual sanctions remain against members of the military. Both Burkina Faso and Mali, along with Guinea, which had a coup in 2021, are suspended from ECOWAS and the African Union until the return of constitutional rule. Mali's military government announced Friday it would hold a referendum on a new constitution June 18, one of the steps toward elections next year. This report includes information from Agence France-Presse. A vehicle bomb has reportedly injured a well-known Russian author and pro-war blogger. According to reports, after the incident in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Zakhar Prilepin, a fervent supporter of the Ukraine war, was still alive, but his driver perished. According to the interior ministry, a suspect was detained in connection with the assault. It happens a month after Vladlen Tatarsky, another pro-Kremlin blogger, lost his life in a bombing at a cafe in St. Petersburg. The suspect was apprehended in Nizhny Novgorod, according to the interior ministry, less than two hours after the attack on Saturday was initially reported. The governor of Nizhny Novgorod, Gleb Nikitin, stated: Law enforcement officials are currently looking into the incidents circumstances and causes. Zakhars fine. According to reports, the explosion happened some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the town of Bor on a lonely road. The blogger reportedly fractured many bones and sustained a concussion, according to state media. One of the most well-known novelists in Russia, the 47-year-old is known for his engagement in Russian ultranationalist politics. He has acknowledged fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. He was a veteran of Russias brutal battles in Chechnya in the 1990s. He demanded that Kyiv return to Russia. A group Prilepin formed last year urged authorities to purge the cultural space of everyone who opposed the conflict. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, refrained from commenting on the purported bombing until the inquiry was finished. However, Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, attempted to pin the attack on the US and the UK. She claimed on Telegram that the fact has come to pass: Washington and Nato fed another global terrorist cell, the Kiev regime. We supplicate for Zakhar. The assault is the most recent to target prominent backers of President Putins conflict in Ukraine. Last month, Vladlen Tatarsky passed away. In a video posted last year, the blogger, who had been covering the conflict in Following the release of a video that was allegedly taped under duress and in which activist Darya Trepova, 26, admitted carrying a figurine to the cafe that later exploded, she was later detained and charged with terrorism. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Sudans warring parties were set to meet on Saturday in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah for talks, Riyadh and Washington said, as international mediators pressed to end a conflict that has killed hundreds of people and sent tens of thousands of refugees fleeing abroad. Saudi Arabia and the United States welcomed the start of the pre-negotiation talks between the Sudanese army and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and urged both sides to actively engage and come to a ceasefire, a joint statement said. Sudans Forces of Freedom and Change, a political grouping leading an internationally backed plan to transfer to civilian rule, also welcomed the Jeddah talks on Saturday. The Jeddah initiative is the first serious attempt to end the fighting that has crippled the Sudanese government and endangered the countrys political transition following years of unrest and uprisings. The conflict erupted on April 15 between the army of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF of commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a former militia leader known as Hemedti, following the collapse of an internationally-backed plan for a new transition with civilian parties. Sudans armed forces said it sent a delegation to Jeddah on Friday evening as part of the American-Saudi initiative. The RSF did not immediately confirm its attendance, but both forces have said they will only discuss a humanitarian truce and not an end of the war. Burhans special envoy, Dafallah Alhaj, said that the army will not sit down directly with any delegation the rebellious RSF might send. Despite multiple ceasefire declarations, the fighting has showed no sign of abating. However regional broadcasters said there was no exchange of gunfire in and around Khartoum in the early hours of Saturday. Western powers, including the United States, have backed the plan for a new transition and a civilian government. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he is travelling to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks with Saudi leaders. Saudi Arabia has had close ties to Burhan and Hemedti, both of whom sent troops to help the Saudi-led coalition in its war against the Houthi group in Yemen. The kingdom is also focused on security in the Red Sea which it shares with Sudan and which has been part of a vast economic plan for tourism called Saudi Vision 2030 and a strategic shipping lane for its oil exports. Saudi Arabias foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday discussed a plan for the warring parties to reduce tensions, the kingdom said. The U.N. has significantly cut back its operations in Sudan after three of its employees were killed and its warehouses were looted in the fighting. On Wednesday, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said he was seeking meetings with Burhan and Hemedti to obtain guarantees of safe passage of humanitarian aid. The fighting has impacted vital infrastructure and caused the closure of most hospitals in the fighting areas. U.N. agencies have warned of a major humanitarian catastrophe if fighting continues. A group of countries led by Britain, the United States, Germany and Norway is set to request an urgent meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council on the Sudan crisis next week, a document showed on Friday. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thousands of Scottish independence supporters reportedly marched through Glasgow streets at the time King Charles IIIs Coronation event was happening in Westminster, London. The demonstration in Glasgow Green was addressed by former first minister Alex Salmond who stressed on creating a nation based on equality not aristocracy and on human talent and ability instead of entitlement of birth. Joanna Cherry, an SNP lawmaker, and Ash Regan, a contender for party leader, were among the other speakers. More than 20,000 participants, according to organisers later tweets about the march. MARCH FOR INDEPENDENCE GLASGOW SATURDAY 6 MAY#AUOBGlasgow pic.twitter.com/pH2sZ7TwuI All Under One Banner (@AUOBNOW) May 6, 2023 Scotland voted by a margin of 55% to 45% against becoming an independent nation in the 2014 independence referendum. Nicola Sturgeon, a former first minister, had declared she wanted a vote on October 19 of this year. However, the Supreme Court ruled in November of last year that the Scottish government cannot call an independence referendum without the permission of the UK government. Humza Yousaf has requested a Section 30 order to permit a second referendum ever since he was appointed first minister, but Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, has not acceded to his request. Prior to the transportation of the Stone of Destiny to London for the Coronation, Salmond claimed that Police Scotland should have staged a standoff outside Edinburgh Castle. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Wanted Khalistani terrorist Paramjit Singh Panjwar was on Saturday morning shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Lahore, the capital of Pakistans Punjab province, local police said. 63-year-old Panjwar was heading the banned Khalistan Commando Force-Panjwar group and was involved in drug and weapons smuggling and other terror activities when he was designated as a terrorist by India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. He was walking along with his guard at the park of SunFlower Housing Society, Nawab Town near Tokhar Niaz Baig in Lahore, where he was residing when two assailants opened fire on him and managed to flee on a motorcycle, a senior officer of Pakistans Punjab Police told PTI. The victims were shifted to the hospital where Panjwar was pronounced dead on arrival by doctors while the condition of his guard is stated to be critical. The gunmen shot (Panjwar) Singh in his head, the officer said on condition of anonymity. ISI cordons off murder spot Pakistans intelligence agencies including the ISI, Military Intelligence (MI) and Counter Terrorism Department cordoned off the area and launched an investigation. The body has been shifted to the morgue for autopsy. Who was Panjwar? Hailing from Tarn Taran district in Indias Punjab, Panjwar was involved in drug and weapons smuggling and was designated as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. He joined the KCF in 1986. He later headed this outfit and shifted base to Pakistan. The KCF was listed as a terrorist organisation under UAPA. Though he was inactive for the last couple of years, Panjwar had been operating from Lahore and was involved in arranging arms training for youths in Pakistan. He was engaged in supplying arms and ammunition and subsequent infiltration into India for targeting VIPs and economic installations. He was also involved in broadcasting highly seditious and separatist programmes on Radio Pakistan, intended to incite minorities against the Indian government. He was active in the smuggling of drugs and was a major conduit between smugglers and terrorists, Indias Ministry of Home Affairs had said in a notification that designated him a terrorist under UAPA. Panjwars complicity in promoting drug trade and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) operation in Punjab are well documented. Efforts are being made by his organisation KCF to reactive former militants, sleeper cells and also those on bail and it has been in favour of forming nexus with other forces hostile to India, the ministry had said. KCF came into existence in February 1986 and the modus-operandi of this organisation was to commit bank robberies and kidnappings for ransom for use to purchase sophisticated weapons for terrorist activities. The banned outfit under the patronage of Paramjit Singh Panjwar was involved in various terrorist attacks in India including a bomb blast in Firozpur, Punjab and the killing of Major General BN Kumar in 1988, according to the ministry. With inputs from PTI Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The besieged city of Bakhmut was attacked by phosphorus bombs by Russian forces overnight, according to reports from Ukraine. A dramatic video posted on social media by the Ukrainian defence ministry on Friday night allegedly depicts the results of heavy bombing in the Donetsk regions besieged town. The city was reportedly videotaped by a drone following Russian shelling, most likely with phosphorus incendiary munitions, according to Ukrainian news outlet Euromaidan Press. Lets stand! was uploaded alongside a video on the Ukrainian militarys Facebook page. Soldiers from the Special Operations Force (SSO) and their allies are still defending Bakhmut. The enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut, trying to wipe the city off the face of the Earth, the SSO told Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda. Looks like something out of a video game. but it is real life, tweeted journalist Varenichok Eristavi to his 99,000 followers. There were real people still living in those buildings. Russia is a death cult. The same situation was in Mariupol. When they cant do anything, phosphorus munitions are fired, Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, posted on Telegram. White phosphorus is mixed into phosphorus bombs, which can be employed as smoke screens or as burning weapons. International treaties do not forbid their use as chemical weapons, but they are not permitted in civilian areas. However, information security expert Khaled Alfaiomi stated on Twitter that using phosphorus bombs in the city of Donetsk is a blatant breach of international law and a horrific act of cruelty. For their acts in Bakhmut, Russia and the Wagner mercenaries must be held accountable. The Ukrainian defence ministry tweeted, Not enough shells, but more than enough phosphorus, in response to Yevgeny Prigozhin of the Wagner Groups allegations that his men leading the assault on the city lacked ammunition. On May 9, when Russia celebrates the Soviet Unions part in overthrowing Nazi Germany, Victory Day, Kyiv issued a warning that Moscows forces were attempting to take Bakhmut. As Russia seeks with all its might to take the city, according to the deputy defence minister of Ukraine, Hanna Maliar, Wagner mercenaries are being relocated from other locations and replaced by airborne assault groups. Prigozhin announced on Friday that a 70 percent shortage of ammunition would force his soldiers to leave Bakhmut the day after Victory Day. Also Read: Russia fires white phosphorous bombs in Ukraine: What are these deadly munitions that rain down hell? Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Officials in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo said Friday that torrential rains in the South Kivu province during the past week prompted flash floods that killed nearly 200 people. Local and regional officials in South Kivu's Kalehe territory, on the western side of Lake Kivu, say the rainfall caused rivers to overflow Thursday, inundating several villages. According to Agence France-Presse, a Kalehe elected official told a local radio station that at least 150 people were dead. Reuters news service, citing South Kivu Governor Theo Ngwabidje Kasi, reported 176 dead and others missing. A Reuters reporter counted 72 corpses. On Thursday, Rwanda, on eastern side of Lake Kivu, reported at least 130 people were killed and 77 injured in floods and mudslides brought on by the excessive rainfall. A government spokesperson said more than 5,000 homes were destroyed. The region has been experiencing heavy and sustained rains since late March. The Rwanda Meteorology Agency has forecast more rainfall for the region in the coming days. Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse. As the rest of the world celebrates International Workers' Day, Zimbabwean workers are counting their pennies as they battle skyrocketing prices for basic goods. Workers' salaries no longer match the rising prices, as they are getting paltry remuneration. Their poor working conditions as well as the ailing economy further worsen their plight. Speaking to Scrolla.Africa, Talent Zimbuya, a 34-year-old security guard who works for Shawks Securities, said that it's now difficult for him to take care of his small family. "I am getting my salary in local currency and it's not increasing, while basic commodities' prices are rising almost every week," he said. Zimbuya said that he has three kids in primary school, and with schools opening next week, he will have to pay their school fees in instalments. He has prioritised buying food. "I get paid R3,600 ($300,000 ZWL), but with the current black market rate, I am left with nothing when I buy US dollars at R20 ($1,900 ZWL) against $1 USD," he explained. Domestic worker Christine Moyo, 35, said she has nothing to celebrate on Workers' Day, as it's a day that reminds her of the problems in Zimbabwe. "I get paid R1,100 ($68,000 ZWL) and I am struggling to feed my family as some prices are pegged in US dollars yet I get paid in local currency," she said. Moyo said that she is already stressed as the reopening of schools next week means that her children might miss the first few weeks so that they are not chased away for non-payment of fees. "I couldn't afford to send them to extra lessons during the holiday as I couldn't afford to buy forex on the black market. We are surviving on one meal a day," she added. Japhet Moyo, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, said that the status of workers in Zimbabwe has diminished. "The older generation reminisces with nostalgia [for] the good old days under colonialism when wages had value and they could develop themselves and their families from their earnings -- unlike today," he said. African countries can become global competitors and benefit from AfCFTA by investing in critical infrastructure, promoting innovation and technology The global economy is currently facing unprecedented challenges, including trade wars, disruptions in transport and logistics systems, shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions such as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and its ramifications for food security and the price of oil, and the impact of climate change. However, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a beacon of hope, offering significant opportunities for businesses across the continent. The AfCFTA Business Forum that took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 16 - 19 April this year brought together more than 1,000 policymakers, business leaders, and key stakeholders to discuss the potential of this ambitious initiative. The forum took place at a time when there is waning confidence in the multilateral trading regime, and concerns are growing about the unequal distribution of benefits and burdens, inefficiency in decision-making, loss of sovereignty, and politicization of global governance. The ongoing discussion regarding the effectiveness of multilateralism, particularly in the face of global economic and geopolitical shifts, underscores the importance of finding domestic solutions to national and continental issues. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a beacon of hope, offering significant opportunities for businesses across the continent. Given this context, it is increasingly compelling to pursue the pan-Africanist concept of a single African market, which would create a continental market of 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion, making it the largest free trade area in the world since the establishment of the World Trade Organization. The AfCFTA is expected to boost intra-African trade by 52.3 per cent by 2025, increase Africa's income by up to $450 billion by 2035, according to the IMF, and lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty. However, intra-African trade currently accounts for only 15 per cent of the continent's total trade, compared to 58 per cent in Asia and 67 per cent in Europe. The AfCFTA has been in effect for two years, and 2023 has been designated the "Year of AfCFTA: Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation" by the African Union. Infrastructure funding gap The AfCFTA Business Forum discussed the importance of seizing opportunities and investments created by a single African market, but emphasized the need to improve the continent's infrastructure, which requires $130-170 billion annually. Currently, there is a funding gap of $68-108 billion, resulting in only 34 per cent of the population having access to electricity and 40 per cent living more than 5km from the nearest all-season road. These challenges contribute to high logistics costs, which can account for up to 40 per cent of the cost of trading goods between African nations. AUDA-NEPAD and the government of Senegal jointly hosted the 2nd Dakar Financing Summit for Infrastructure (DFS-2) this February to address the infrastructure gap in Africa. The summit highlighted the importance of building partnerships with the private sector and leveraging technology to modernize infrastructure. As a result of DFS-2, $65 billion in investment interest was received for PIDA Priority Action Plan (PAP) 2 projects in the transport, energy, water, and ICT sectors. These investments will support the development of transportation networks, the construction of energy infrastructure, and the improvement of internet connectivity, among other initiatives. Such investments will play a crucial role in supporting the AfCFTA's objective of reducing trade barriers, harmonizing regulations and standards, and improving cross-border investment, thereby promoting economic growth, reducing poverty, and increasing regional integration and cooperation. AUDA-NEPAD is working with stakeholders to develop multi-sectoral industries in Africa, including agro-processing, manufacturing (especially pharmaceutical products), green technology, and minerals development. Manufacturing The Business Forum also discussed the opportunities for Africa's manufacturing sector. Currently, the sector contributes only 10 per cent to Africa's GDP, compared to 20 per cent in East Asia and the Pacific, and 15 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) predicts that Africa's manufacturing output could increase from the $500 billion currently to $1.7 trillion by 2030, potentially creating up to 14 million jobs. To overcome the challenges associated with raw material-oriented production, it is essential to promote critical industrial launch pads. What AUDA-NEPAD is doing? AUDA-NEPAD is working with stakeholders to develop multi-sectoral industries in Africa, including agro-processing, manufacturing (especially pharmaceutical products), green technology, and minerals development. Furthermore, AUDA-NEPAD is advancing alternative pathways to economic growth, such as industries without smokestacks, including blue economy industries, and tradable services like tourism and ICT. These industries have gained momentum in Africa, and their development can help create jobs, boost productivity, and promote sustainable economic growth. The forum called for increased investment in Africa to produce goods that meet international standards and are competitive in global markets. The platform also acknowledged that eliminating trade barriers under the AfCFTA will enable participating countries to develop their comparative advantages, increase productivity, and improve the quality of their goods and services. By promoting innovation and technology, investing in critical infrastructure, and improving the quality of their products, African countries can position themselves as global competitors and take advantage of the opportunities presented by the AfCFTA. While it is crucial to tackle the barriers affecting cross-border trade, it is equally important to encourage producers to improve the cost and quality of their products through innovation and technological upgrades. This will enable them to build dynamic comparative advantages and perform better than their competitors, which can help overcome the narrative that only a small proportion of African firms (around 20 per cent) can consistently produce high-quality products at scale. Digital trade Digital trade in Africa was a key topic of discussion at the AfCFTA Business Forum, and it is rapidly gaining traction. The continent is experiencing an increase in the adoption of digital technologies across various industries, with growing interest in e-commerce platforms, fintech solutions, mobile money, and other digital tools that are transforming how business is done on the continent. This will unlock the potential of digital trade in Africa and enable businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to expand their reach and tap into new markets. To support this growth, AUDA-NEPAD is engaged in various initiatives that promote private sector engagement and investment, innovation, technology development, collaboration, partnerships, and capacity building for AfCFTA. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Africa Trade 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. Additionally, AUDA-NEPAD is leveraging the potential of African MSMEs through initiatives such as Home-Grown Solutions Accelerator, African Kaizen Initiative, and 100K MSMEs. The continent is experiencing an increase in the adoption of digital technologies across various industries, with growing interest in e-commerce platforms, fintech solutions, mobile money, and other digital tools that are transforming how business is done on the continent. African MSMEs account for 80 per cent of total production, two-thirds of investment, and three-quarters of credit, employing 90 per cent of Africa's working-age population. Overall, the Forum recognized that cooperation and collaboration are pivotal enablers for the success of the AfCFTA. The AU and its organs, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), governments, and the private sector will need to work together to tap into each other's responsibilities, mandates, and capabilities. It is essential to raise awareness of all relevant stakeholders and capacitate them to ensure they are all on the same page regarding the nature, scope, and channels of impact. The AUDA-NEPAD-led AfCFTA impact assessment study will play a key role in identifying critical areas of sensitization and capacity building to be considered by all relevant stakeholders. In conclusion, by promoting innovation and technology, investing in critical infrastructure, and improving the quality of their products, African countries can position themselves as global competitors and take advantage of the opportunities presented by the AfCFTA. This will not only promote economic growth and reduce poverty but also increase regional integration and cooperation, leading to a more prosperous future for all Africans. Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas is the CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, the development arm of the African Union. analysis If the popular revolution of 2019 was badly undermined by its rejection of representative politics, how can it be revived? The current fighting between military factions in Sudan must be seen against the backdrop of the Sudanese revolution that started in December 2018. This popular revolt against the entire power system led to the fall of the dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. A joint civilian-military transitional government was established to lead the transition to democracy, but in October 2021 a military coup occurred that ousted the civilian goverrnment led by Abdalla Hamdok and cancelled the elections planned for 2022. The two factions currently fighting - the Sudan Armed Forces under command of General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under command of 'Hemeti' (Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo) - then shared power in a supreme military council, with Burhan president and Hemeti vice-president of the council. The coup seemed to kill the democratic transition, but it did not dismantle the infrastructure of the popular revolt. Years of neoliberal reforms under the guidance of the IMF and World Bank had hollowed out the state, meaning that Sudanese society before and during the revolution had developed institutions of self-rule. These were epitomised by the resistance committees that sprang up throughout Sudan to coordinate the protest movement. These continued to function largely undisturbed by military rule when I visited the capital Khartoum in April and May 2022. A European ambassador pointed out to me that the coup leaders had grabbed power to rule, but not to govern Sudanese society. The military government had no inclination to respond to the needs of the population: it focused on dividing the spoils of power. This is what the current fighting is entirely about. Sudan used to have one of the better-functioning states in Africa, including an expansive public sector. Al-Bashir's own coup, which brought to power the National Islamic Front led by Hassan al-Turabi in 1989, abused state power to militarise and Islamise society. The strong state became a rogue one in Western eyes when Sudan sided with Islamists, and it was hit by sanctions and covert warfare from the mid-1990s onwards. Al-Bashir gradually changed sides in the Global War on Terror and, by allowing the secession of South Sudan in 2011, gained the favour of Western countries. Capital started flowing into the country, conditional on structural reform. Like in other strong states being dismantled, a small military-business oligarchy captured the privatised state assets while plunging the country into unsustainable levels of debt. The resulting macroeconomic growth drew plaudits from international experts, but the introduction of large-scale commercial agriculture led not only to ecocide but also to a rural exodus, swelling the cities, in particular Khartoum's metropolitan area. With the shrinking of public expenditure for education, health, and the rapidly rising prices due to the elimination of subsidies and social protection measures, the urban poor turned to systems of self-help. The population came to despise the ruling class, and many local and some nationwide revolts took place in the 2010s. A new round of IMF-imposed austerity measures led to a massive revolt in 2018. The population congregated in peaceful and rather joyful sit-ins demanding the ouster of the Al-Bashir regime. To the surprise of many, the military ousted their long-time leader and arrested Al-Bashir in an attempt to control the situation. But their subsequent heavy-handed repression of demonstrations backfired and they had to surrender, under international pressure, to civilian rule. A civilian government led by the UN senior civil servant, Hamdok, was appointed. Despite manifestly good intentions and the support of the population, Hamdok's civilian government lacked leadership and made little progress in its goal of reforming political life. A characteristic of the Sudanese popular revolution that can also be found in other regional movements, such as Tishreen in Iraq and Lebanon's 17 October movement - but also among France's Yellow Vests - is the rejection of representative politics. The Sudanese revolution hinges on the activities of resistance committees, which are horizontal local assemblies of the population. Consisting of volunteers, these organise protests but also self-help systems, distribution of aid, provision of basic services, and the maintenance of public infrastructure - roles abandoned by the government. In Omdurman, for example, I visited a thriving cultural centre established in an abandoned building, entirely restored and managed by members of the local resistance committee. The resistance committees seem to function well but refuse to appoint representatives, as the population has lost confidence that when dealing with power structures, their appointees still represent them. For the UN, African Union, European Union, US and other international actors, this lack of representation made the democratic transition hard to manage. The Sudanese Professionals Association and the Forces for Freedom and Change, two of the driving forces of the revolution, did not seek to capture power or lead the transition. The few leaders of these organisations that did enter the political arena soon lost their constituencies. The biggest mistake, all Sudanese civilian forces now agree, was to accept the military as partners in the transition. The military have ruled Sudan, either directly or through their overbearing influence on civilian governments, since its independence in 1956. Thanks to neoliberal reforms and the ouster of Al-Bashir, they now also own a large share of national assets and run most of the economy. The option to establish a purely civilian government after the fall of Al-Bashir was never considered. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, concerned about the impact of a democratic revolution in Sudan on their own domestic affairs, insisted that the military be part of the solution, and the international community agreed. The democratic revolution in Sudan is not dead, but it has stalled. The Coordination of the Resistance Committees of Khartoum State has demanded an end to the fighting, a dissolution of the 'Janjaweed' (now RSF) and the return of the armed forces to their barracks. They have called upon local resistance committees to provide medical and food relief to the population, and collect accurate information about the fighting and local conditions to avoid false rumours. But all civilian forces in Sudan have lost hope. Who will stop the fighting between military factions? How to avoid Sudan's disintegration into regions ruled by gunmen, like in Libya? Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Sudan Governance Human Rights 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. If the international community cares about Sudan, it should take measures to isolate and sanction all Sudanese armed forces engaged in the current conflict, confiscate their foreign assets, and return them to the Sudanese people. Regional powers should not be allowed to meddle in Sudan, and certainly not be given a leading role in devising a political outcome. Instead, the healthy democratic spirit evidenced by Sudanese youth and civil society activists over these past years must form the basis for a national settlement, based on a process of dialogue excluding all armed forces, that the European Union, UN and other international players could support. This may require accepting an alternative to the system based on representation and multi-party elections that has become the universal norm. Dismantling the influence of the army over the society and economy will be a delicate task that requires a long-term commitment by international supporters of the Sudanese people. Robert Kluijver is a researcher at the Centre for International Research (CERI) specialising on the Horn of Africa. He was a news analyst in Somalia from 2016-2018 and is currently completing a PhD on statebuilding in Somalia. blog The European Commission recently unveiled eighty-seven projects--including everything from rapid bus transit systems to solar plants and data centers--as part of its Global Gateway initiative to support infrastructure, health, education, and climate-change adaptation in regions across the world. At the same time, the African continent faces a wide infrastructure investment gap, estimated at more than one hundred billion dollars annually, according to the African Development Bank. This gap affects both the continent's global competitiveness and many Africans' poor living conditions. Yet Africa has great potential, with an economic-growth rate that is expected to be surpass the global average in 2023 and 2024; high renewable-energy potential; and young, dynamic, and innovative populations. To turn Africa's potential into reality, investing billions--from African governments, the international community, and the private sector--in infrastructure will be crucial. Global Gateway, the European Union's (EU) answer to China's Belt and Road Initiative, plans to mobilize up to 300 billion euros (about $331 billion) in public and private investments by 2027, with half designated for African countries. Even though Global Gateway is providing the billions that Africa needs to harness its potential and close its infrastructure gap, success is not guaranteed. For it to be a success, several conditions must be met. A priority partnership Global Gateway's prioritization of Africa is quite plain to see, even beyond the fact that half of the planned funds are going toward the continent. Global Gateway is embedded in the renewed EU-Africa relationship. In February 2022, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Senegalese President Macky Sall, who was then the African Union (AU) president, announced that the Africa-Europe program would be the very first regional plan under Global Gateway. This announcement took place a few days before the EU-AU summit that set out to establish a renewed EU-Africa relationship based on a balanced and well-defined appreciation of interests and responsibilities of both partners. Going into the summit, the parties expected a "renewed, modernized, and more action-oriented partnership." Global Gateway, as a partnership itself, checks those boxes. For the EU, it is crucial to be perceived by African partners as delivering on promises made at the EU-AU summit. With Global Gateway, it seems as though the EU is making another effort to be a reliable partner that makes commitments that have concrete effects on the ground. That will be important for the EU as China and Russia continue to present competing narratives and models of international order, political organization, and values. Aligning with Africa's 2063 vision For Global Gateway's projects to have an impact and to live up to the promises of the renewed EU-AU partnership, they have to align with the goals and priorities of the AU's Agenda 2063. The agenda, adopted in 2015, aims to develop infrastructure, improve energy access, build an integrated network of transport infrastructure, and connect the African continent to the rest of the world. So far, Global Gateway's initial projects seem in line with the Agenda. The EU intends to invest in particular in energy, digital, and transportation infrastructure--doing so is a real emergency in Africa. The bloc also intends to accelerate the green transition, bolster health systems, and support education and training. Projects that tackle these issues include the construction of a EurAfrica Gateway Cable, a submarine fiber-optic cable connecting Africa with the EU; a Strategic Transport Corridor between Cabo Verde, Senegal, and the Ivory Coast; and solar power plants in Niger. Global Gateway also aims to boost youth entrepreneurship by financing the launch of high-potential startups and to more generally create jobs for Africa's growing youth population. The VaMoz Digital program, for example, plans to invest in digital literacy and skills for youth in Mozambique. How China compares Chinese investment always looms large, especially considering that China has mobilized over two trillion dollars for almost four thousand investment and construction projects abroad since 2005. Overall, China is far ahead of the EU in overseas investments. But looking only at Africa, and more especially at Sub-Saharan Africa, the picture is not so clear. China signed over $303 billion in investments and construction contracts between 2006 to 2020. From this perspective, the EU's 150 billion euros ($165 billion) over the course of only five years is certainly significant, especially considering that the investments made by EU member states outside of the Global Gateway initiative should also be added to this amount in totaling the EU's contributions. To reach its ambitious spending goals, the EU will need to rely on a range of financial instruments such as grants, capital investments, and guarantees; it will need to mobilize, among other tools, the European Fund for Sustainable Development+ (which is overseen by a financial tool called Global Europe: Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument) as well as the European Investment Bank. While China gets called out for its predatory loan practices--and especially its controversial resource-backed lending model--and for neglecting environmental health or human rights in its investments, Global Gateway aims to comply with the highest environmental and social standards and to respect the EU's democratic values. The program is rooted in EU values, and especially transparency, sustainability, and good governance. While the program is rooted in EU values, it is not just a one-sided European idea or an investment project; it is an investment in a relationship. In this regard, Global Gateway differs from traditional development policies by placing a greater focus on embedding the project in a political and strategic relationship built on partnership principles. The initiative aims to help African partners build quality and sustainable infrastructure to strengthen their resilience and their strategic autonomy in the energy, technological, health and economic fields; in doing so, it could be the foundation of long-term African growth. Conditions for success Critics of Global Gateway argue that the initiative has overly long timelines, that the EU communicates poorly about it, and that the goals are difficult to discern; some critics also say that some of the funding was already mobilized for existing projects and that, in the end, the initiative amounts to no more than rebranding. It is partly true that the EU often has difficulties in explaining its programs and initiatives, often opting for administrative jargon. It is also indeed the case that Global Gateway serves as an umbrella for some existing projects--which is understandable given that it takes more than a year to launch such infrastructure projects. However, Global Gateway scales up existing major infrastructure projects, speeds up their implementation, and provides a much-needed political impetus to unlock greater funding. African partners should take advantage of this to close the infrastructure gap in a sustainable way. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Investment Africa Europe and Africa 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. For Global Gateway to succeed, European and African partners must do the following: The EU must deliver on making the Global Gateway a renewed, and action-oriented partnership in line with the AU-EU summit's objectives. The EU should nurture its relationship with African countries by delivering concrete and ambitious projects that contribute to Africa's long-term economic growth. Both sides should recognize that this is not just a business issue: It is a political one. that contribute to Africa's long-term economic growth. Both sides should recognize that this is not just a business issue: It is a political one. African partners must seize Global Gateway to close the continent's infrastructure gap. But as it will be important to mobilize all investment needed--and to not come up short on funds-- African partners should be more proactive in identifying their needs and on broadcasting successes to maintain the political momentum for the initiative. to maintain the political momentum for the initiative. European and African partners should ensure that each project is compliant with the highest environmental and social-norms standards so that they contribute to green and resilient growth in Africa. Robust reporting will be crucial. Global Gateway projects have to be seen as an opportunity to reconcile economic development with climate-change mitigation and adaptation. Global Gateway projects have to be seen as an opportunity to reconcile economic development with climate-change mitigation and adaptation. Since Global Gateway is designed to leverage private fundings, African partners should build on this opportunity--in which the private sector is already investing in Africa--to unlock even more private-sector financing, beyond the initiative. African partners should use these investments to supplement the financing of green-growth and resilience projects. Emilie Bel is a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council's Africa Center and deputy to the director of public affairs and head of international affairs at the French Insurance Federation. Former Presidential aide, Reno Omokri has reacted to the sentencing of former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice and their doctor, Obinna Obeta. According to the activist, the case would not have been critical if the child involved was a Northern Nigerian Muslim.This comes following the incarceration of Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice over multiple charges involving attempted organ harvesting.According to Reno Omokri, his experience in Northern Nigeria taught him that Ikes predicament wouldve been settled quietly without the involvement of the police.Reno Omokri on how Ekweremadus case wouldve been settled quietly in Northern Nigeria Quote If a Northern Nigerian Muslim had been brought to London by a desperate Northern Nigerian Muslim seeking to save his daughters life, and the intended donor changed his mind, he would most likely have headed over to the nearest mosque, rather than the nearest police station. Even in disagreement, my experience in Northern Nigeria taught me that they would rather use Islam for resolution than use other means. And that is one thing I will forever admire about Northern Nigerian Muslims. The fact that they tend to cover their own in good and bad times. No matter what the world says about their own, they will cuddle him or her publicly, and any rebuke would be done in private. That lifestyle builds unity, and unity brings power! I do not support what Ike Ekweremadu and his wife did. But I empathise with them. May God never permit me to be in the same position. I do not know what I would do in such circumstances. May the Almighty provide relief to the Ekweremadus. In Yeshuas Name. Smoke rises following a shelling in the Al-Tayif neighbourhood of Khartoum, Sudan (file photo). After three weeks of fighting, envoys of Sudan's rival generals are set to begin "pre-negotiation talks" on Saturday. Meanwhile, aid shipments have started arriving. DW has the latest. The US and Saudi Arabian governments have confirmed that direct talks between the warring Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will begin in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Saturday. The statement comes as violence continued in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and other parts of the country. A joint statement by Washington and Riyadh on Friday welcomed the "start of pre-negotiation talks" and asked for continued global support to quell the clashes. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States urge both parties to take in consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks toward a cease-fire and end to the conflict," the statement said. Sudan's two warring generals sent their envoys to Saudi Arabia on Friday for talks, in light of several failed attempts at a temporary cease-fire. The internal power struggle between Sudan's de facto leader Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who leads the regular army, and his deputy-turned-rival Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the paramilitary RSF, has left hundreds dead in three weeks. Here are other key headlines about the crisis in Sudan for Saturday, May 6: East African leaders concerned about cease-fire violations The leaders of East African nations have voiced their concern over the violations to a cease-fire in Sudan, urging the warring generals to talk. South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, the region's lead mediator, spoke with Burhan and Dagalo on Friday regarding his and the other leaders' concerns. "President Salva stressed the need for the parties to observe the ceasefire and send their representatives to an agreed venue to commence talks," the South Sudanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. A 7-day cease-fire was announced by South Sudan earlier this week. Yet, violations have continued, as was the case with all previous cease-fires. Aid supplies arrive in Sudan A shipment of emergency medical supplies for some 165,000 arrived in Port Sudan from Dubai, the World Health Organization said on Saturday, being among the first to arrive in the country that has been torn by fighting for over three weeks. The shipment is some 30 tons and includes trauma and emergency surgical equipment. It's due to be distributed on 13 health facilities, the WHO said, though distribution will depend on "security and access clearances." Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Sudan Governance Arms and Armies 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. Qatar also flew a relief flight carrying some 40 tons of food. The Qatari plane touched down in Port Sudan, before returning early Saturday with 150 evacuees. Hundreds dead, thousands have left homes Data by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project shows some 700 people have died -- largely in Khartoum and the western Darfur region -- since the conflict began on April 15. Some 450,000 civilians have already fled their homes since the fighting began, the International Organization for Migration said, including more than 115,000 who have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the League of Arab States and the African Union are a few of the countries and international organizations who have supported talks in Jeddah, according to the US-Saudi statement. Sudan's pro-democracy Forces of Freedom and Change political coalition welcomed the start of political talks in Saudi Arabia. rmt, mk/wd (Reuters, AFP, AP) Australia Urges US to End Pursuit of Julian Assange By Phil Mercer May 05, 2023 Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday he is frustrated that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange remains in a British prison fighting extradition to the United States. Albanese also said a historic free trade agreement with Britian will come into force within weeks. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in London Friday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared "enough is enough" over the continued imprisonment of Julian Assange. He said the issue could be resolved before U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to Australia later this month for the 2023 Quad Leaders' Summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Japanese leader Kishida Fumio. Speaking in London, where he is for the coronation of British King Charles III, Albanese said he is frustrated a diplomatic solution to Assange's case had not been reached. The Australian-born journalist and publisher is wanted by United States authorities over military records and diplomatic cables leaked in 2010 and 2011, which the U.S. says broke the law and endangered lives. Assange is fighting extradition from Britain and is being held in a high security prison in London. He co-founded WikiLeaks, a website that publishes sensitive and classified information provided by anonymous sources. Assange is wanted by the United States on 18 counts, including an allegation of espionage. His lawyers have said he faces up to 175 years in jail. However, U.S. authorities have said the sentence is more likely to be between four and six years. Assange's wife, Stella, has previously insisted that her husband was innocent and had "committed no crime." The U.S. Embassy in Canberra did not return a call asking for a comment on Albanese' remarks Albanese also said Friday that an Australia-United Kingdom free trade agreement would come into force by the end of this month, after years of negotiations. He said the agreement would benefit business and individuals. "What it will mean, put simply, is more access to the market here for our goods and services," Albanese said. "So, for beef, for sheep products, for our seafood. But it will also have changes to the labor market - increased periods in which Australians can work here and vice versa." A former British colony, Australia has strong cultural and historic ties with the United Kingdom. Australia is an international trading nation and has a long list of free trade agreements dating back to January 1983 and an agreement with New Zealand. It also has accords with China, its biggest trading partner, and the United States, its most important military ally. Australia, the United States and Britain have signed the AUKUS security pact that will eventually deliver nuclear-powered submarines to the Australian navy. However, in Beijing a foreign ministry spokesperson said the trilateral accord undermines peace and stability. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Polish Armed Forces will be equipped with the HIMARS system already this year Republic of Poland - Ministry of National Defence 04.05.2023 On May 4, Deputy Prime Minister Mariusz Blaszczak began a visit to the United States, where he met, among others, with representatives of the Lockheed Martin plant in Camden, Arkansas, where Himars artillery systems are manufactured. The head of the Ministry of Defense informed that the first HIMARS rocket artillery systems will be delivered to the Polish Armed Forces as early as this year. "Later this year, the first HIMARS launchers, ordered in 2019, will go to the equipment of the 18th Mechanized Division, which is responsible for defending the so-called Suwaki Isthmus. (...) In the fall, these HIMARS which are visible behind me will go to Poland. However, I have great news, already in mid-May the first launchers will be in Poland. We have trained our soldiers, thus Polish soldiers will take up their duties, so to speak, on the march. In a very short time we will have at our disposal weapons that have proven themselves in Ukraine. In the hands of Ukrainians, these weapons make it possible to effectively repel Russian attacks." - he said. During the meeting with Lockheed Martin executives, the head of the Ministry of Defense also discussed co-production of HIMARS systems and production of Javelin guided anti-tank missiles in Poland. As he announced, the Lockheed Martin corporation is ready to cooperate with the Polish defense industry in this regard. "After a conversation with Lockheed Martin's board of directors, I heard an assurance of readiness to cooperate with the Polish armaments industry, of readiness to strengthen the Polish armaments industry. As it creates possibility to increase the scale of HIMARS production, it is beneficial for the United States as well.(...) Javelins have proven themselves splendidly in Ukraine, and even though they are already in the equipment of the Polish Armed Forces, the needs are much greater, as is the interest of countries in Europe." - Deputy Prime Minister stated. The head of the Ministry of Defense also announced that on Friday, during a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the head of the the Polish MoD will sign a cooperation agreement on defense procurement. "This agreement will create a basis for the Polish defense industry to engage more effectively in cooperation with the US defense industry" - Deputy Prime Minister pointed out. *** During the first day of his visit to the United States, the head of the Ministry of Defense took part in the celebration of Constitution Day at the residence of the Polish ambassador in Washington. At the celebration were present also officials from the State Department and Pentagon, as well as Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova. "This anniversary was not always as easy to celebrate. During the Russian and German occupation it was illegal and some of our citizens risked their lives demonstrating their commitment to Polishness (...) Today it is Ukraine that is fighting for its existence, sovereignty and freedom. Poland will never tire in efforts to realize this goal." - Deputy Prime Minister stressed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Secretary Blinken's Call with Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Safadi Readout Office of the Spokesperson May 4, 2023 Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi to discuss advancing an inclusive political solution to the Syrian conflict following the May 1 Amman meeting. Secretary Blinken made clear that the United States will not normalize relations with the Assad regime and does not support others normalizing until there is authentic, UN-facilitated political progress in line with UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2254. The Secretary emphasized the importance of coordinating with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, underscoring that UNSCR 2254 is the only viable solution to ending the war. The Secretary thanked the Foreign Minister for Jordan's hosting of refugees and reinforced the U.S. position that Syria must create conditions including greatly improved respect for human rights that would motivate refugees to return in a safe, voluntary, and dignified manner. Secretary Blinken emphasized our commitment to working together to advance regional security, stability, and prosperity. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address April 2023 Month in Review: The Defeat ISIS Mission in Iraq and Syria U.S. Central Command USCENTCOM May 5, 2023 Release Number 20230505-01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TAMPA, Fla. -- During the month of April 2023, U.S. Central Command, along with coalition and other partners, conducted a total of 35 D-ISIS operations, resulting in 13 ISIS operatives killed and 28 detained. These operations showcase our enduring commitment to the lasting defeat of ISIS and the continued need for targeted military efforts to prevent ISIS members from conducting attacks and regaining a foothold. We remain focused on building local partner forces' capabilities to prevent ISIS resurgence. The following is a breakdown of D-ISIS operations for April 2023 by country: In Iraq: 25 partnered operations 0 US-only operations 9 ISIS operatives killed 7 ISIS operatives detained In Syria: 10 partnered operations 1 US-only operations 4 ISIS operatives killed 21 ISIS operatives detained During Ramadan we observed a significant reduction in the number of ISIS attacks compared to previous years. We assess this is due to the increased operations by our partners. In Iraq, CENTCOM troops continue to advise, assist, and enable Iraqi Security Forces, including the Kurdish Peshmerga, who lead the shared fight against ISIS in Iraq. In Syria, CENTCOM relies heavily on our local partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces, in the fight with ISIS. "CENTCOM is committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS," said Gen. Michael "Erik" Kurilla, CENTCOM commander. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Air and ground interference simulated challenges for the Czech Armed Forces Ministry of Defence & Armed Forces of the Czech Republic 5.5.2023 RAMSTEIN, Germany -- April 24-28, the Czech Air Forceand Land Forces participated in training drills under Electronic Warfare (EW) conditions. They were testing their ability to jam and respond to jamming. Organized under the auspices of NATO, the Ramstein Guard exercise took place in the airspace of the Czech Republic, exposing more than 200 participants to an EW environment in which they had to operate, protect themselves, ensure mission accomplishment and defend against a simulated adversary. "You never know in advance what type of jamming the enemy will use and whether your own radar device or aircraft is able to respond to this threat. That is why we test our limits and our technicians, operators and pilots put their capabilities to the test," explains the deputy coordinator of the exercise, Lieutenant Colonel Petr Zavorka, adding that the annual exercise is always based on a pre-programmed simulated situation according to a prepared scenario. Managed from NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre in Uedem, the tactical control is provided by the Czech Control and Reporting Centre at Hlavenec. "Operational personnel, including Air Force Combat Control Team, regularly practice conducting combat operations in an EW environment," said Captain Radek Skuta, an officer at Hlavenec. "This means working with degraded or jammed radar communications and signals. It is also a good opportunity for us to try out cooperation with international participants," he added referring to the fact that the Ramstein Guard is part of the NEWFIP (NATO Electronic Warfare Force Integration Programme). "Modern military operations are conducted in an increasingly complex electromagnetic environment. Conducting our operations under EW conditions is one of the standard training activities of the Czech Air Force. For this purpose, we cooperate with the 53rd Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare Regiment," said Lieutenant Colonel Zavorka. The priority and task of participating Czech troops was to maintain a continuous overview of the air situation; therefore, the participants were supposed to identify the electronic jamming activity coming both from ground and air. Moreover, theywere to effectively counter this action while respecting protective measures. NATO created a jamming environment for the exercise and cooperated with the civilian contractor Draken Europe which provided their Dassault Falcon 20 aircraft that was based in Caslav Air Base precenting radar and electronic challenges for participating aircraft. To add complexity to the simulated jamming environment, NATO's Joint Electronic Warfare Core Staff (JEWCS) deployed a ground jammer Mini Radar Van. "For the Czech Air Force, the Ramstein Guard exercise represents an indisputable contribution to the readiness of our forces and will remain an integral part of their training," Lieutenant Colonel Zavorka concluded. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. May 5, 2023 Transcript Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Remarks Welcoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense of Poland Marius Blaszczak to the Pentagon Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III; Marius Blaszczak, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD J. AUSTIN III: Well, Mr. Blaszczak, welcome back to the Pentagon. It's a pleasure to host you today and to continue our important work together, so thanks for being here. You know, two weeks ago, we were at Ramstein at the most recent meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, and Poland was once again a leader in helping Ukraine increase its military capabilities. In fact, without Poland's tremendous contributions we would never have been able to do as much for Ukraine after Russia's indefensible invasion. Now Marius, I know that you are deeply dedicated to making the security ties between our country (sic) even stronger, so I'm pleased to hear that you're traveling to Illinois this weekend to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Poland's fruitful relationship with the Illinois National Guard under the State Partnership Program. And today, I'd like to discuss how we can build on our progress to strengthen our bonds even more. I look forward to renewing our reciprocal defense procurement agreement today, which will deepen our defense industrial cooperation now and into the future, and I'm especially proud that we will be unveiling a new exhibition here at the Pentagon that highlights the long historic security partnership between Poland and the United States. Ever since the founding of our republic, Americans and Poles have fought alongside one another, and the bond between our two countries continues to grow stronger to this day. So Marius, I'm grateful for your friendship and we deeply appreciate everything that Poland is doing for our shared security. Thanks again for making the great trip and -- and bringing the great weather, and I look forward to a great discussion this morning. MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEFENSE MARIUS BLASZCZAK: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, dear Lloyd. It's my pleasure to be in Washington to see you again to discuss the Polish-American defense cooperation. The challenging security situation on NATO's eastern flank stemming from the Russian aggression in Ukraine has modified the landscape of the Polish-American defense relations and confirmed our commitments to security and stability in the region. Poland, the United States and other allies presented solidarity, unity and unprecedented support. I'm convinced that we will continue these efforts until the Ukraine (wins) victory. Our bilateral cooperation is very intense. Poland is a proud host of the U.S. forces. I'm glad that our soldiers, through daily service, joint exercises and trainings, develop the partnership and enhance interoperability. The important landmark of the U.S. presence in Poland was the activation of the permanent structures of the Fifth Corps in Camp Kosciuszko in Poznan, Army prepositioned stock and the U.S. Army garrison forward. This is a vital strengthening of the U.S. capabilities in the European theater in support of the allied deterrence and defense posture. We are continuing with investments in infrastructure dedicated to the U.S. forces in Poland in accordance with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. I appreciate the U.S. understanding of the challenges of the changes in the Euro-Atlantic security environment. In this context, we continue efforts to enhance our defense capabilities by acquiring state-of-the-art U.S.-made military equipment, including F-35, Abrams, Patriot and HIMARS. I trust that these acquisitions will also pave the way for more intense cooperation of our defense industries to ensure an effective maintenance of the U.S.-made equipment used by the Polish Armed Forces. In support of this aspect of our cooperation, I'm glad that we will sign today the Reciprocal Defense Procurement Agreement. Mr. Secretary, dear Lloyd, I'm looking forward to discussing with you the common security challenges and advancements of our defense cooperation. Thank you. SEC. AUSTIN: Welcome back to the Pentagon, Mr. Minister. Thanks, everybody. https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3386558/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 5, 2023 Release DoD Co-funds Institute to Research the Neural, Biological, and Cognitive Foundations of Artificial Intelligence The Department of Defense announced the award of $10 million for the establishment of an institute dedicated to advancing unified research in artificial and natural intelligence. Co-funded with the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of its National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes program, the new institute will improve understanding of how the brain functions and pursue designs of more capable and trustworthy AI. The purpose of the NSF program is to support institutes in the performance of long-term, high-reward research on AI-related themes such as the next generation of cybersecurity, climate-smart agriculture and forestry, trustworthy AI, and AI-augmented learning. The program includes a DoD-sponsored focus area on the neural and cognitive foundations of AI, under which DoD and NSF are making this award. "As our understanding of artificial intelligence grows, it has transformed the fields of biology and neuroscience, even as our understanding of cognition in nature informs advances in AI research. This institute seeks to unify these fields," said Dr. Bindu Nair, Director of the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. "Continued advancement in these areas holds the potential to deliver significant economic impact and further improvements in quality of life." From a merit-based review of 15 proposals, a panel of experts selected one multi-university team, led by Columbia University, for the award. With joint funding, this award will total approximately $20 million over five years to explore how advances in understanding neural, biological, and cognitive processes can support a rich set of models and mechanisms for guiding the transformational development of AI. About USD(R&E) The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)) is the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Defense. The USD(R&E) champions research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain the U.S. military's technological advantage. Learn more at www.cto.mil, follow us on Twitter @DoDCTO, or visit us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ousdre. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3386541/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 5, 2023 By Jim Garamone , DOD News Polish-U.S. Defense Leaders Look to Further Crucial Partnership Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak discussed the situation in Ukraine and ways to strengthen interoperability between the United States and Poland during a meeting at the Pentagon. The two men met today, in part, to sign the Reciprocal Defense Procurement Agreement, which will deepen the partnership between the nations' defense industrial bases. Austin welcomed Blaszczak, who also serves as Deputy Prime Minister, and brought up the ghost of Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish officer who fought with the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. "Ever since the founding of our republic, Americans and Poles have fought alongside one another," Austin said. "And the bond between our two countries continues to grow stronger to this day." Austin noted that Polish support for Ukraine has been strong, and the country has been a leader in getting the Ukrainian military the weapons and training it needs to defend itself from the Russian invasion. "In fact, without Poland's tremendous contributions, we would never have been able to do as much for Ukraine after Russia's indefensible invasion," Austin said. Blaszczak said the challenging security situation on NATO's eastern front as a result of the Russian invasion "has modified the landscape of the Polish-American defense relations and confirmed our commitment to security and stability in the region." The Polish defense minister praised the solidarity, unity and unprecedented support, saying he's convinced it will continue until Ukraine's victory. Poland is the site of a U.S.-led NATO Battle Group, and the country hosts thousands of U.S. service members. Poland is investing in facilities for the U.S. forces, including the headquarters for the U.S. V Corps. Poland has divested itself of much old, Soviet-era equipment and has invested in state-of-the-art U.S. systems, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Abrams tank, the Patriot missile system, and the HIMARS multiple rocket-launching system. "I trust that these acquisitions, which will also pave the way for more intense cooperation of our defense industries, ... ensure an effective maintenance of the U.S.-made equipment used by the Polish armed forces in support of this aspect of our cooperation," Blaszczak said. The Polish defense minister will travel to Illinois to mark the 30th anniversary of his country's partnership with the Illinois National Guard as part of the State Partnership Program. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address analysis Sudan, Africa's third largest country by land mass, shares borders with seven countries in an unstable region. This means that Sudan's current conflict will have economic, social and political ripple effects across a number of countries, including the Central African Republic, Egypt, Libya, Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The conflict might also affect countries further afield, including the US, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, which have close economic ties with Sudan. It could destabilise the Sahel region and the Horn of Africa and jeopardise US interests in these regions. It could also delay the ratification, by the yet-to-be-formed legislative assembly, of the agreement for Russia to build a naval base at Port Sudan. Finally, the conflict could interfere with trade between Sudan and the Gulf states - the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Sudan's top exports are gold, which earned a total of US$2.85 billion in 2021, groundnuts (US$488 million), crude oil (US$385 million), and sheep and goats (US$239 million), all of which are sold primarily to the UAE, China, Saudi Arabia, India and Italy. Sudan (and South Sudan) exported about 132,000 barrels per day of crude oil in 2021 with the UAE accounting for 45% of these exports. Sudan is also the world's top exporter of gum arabic, a key ingredient for many food industries. The harvest of this product has been disrupted by the conflict. Sudan's main imports are raw sugar, refined petroleum, wheat, packaged medicines and cars, mainly from China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, India and Egypt. The current conflict could derail this trade and create economic problems for Sudan and its trading partners. Sudan is not a major export market for these countries but they should care about the instability in Khartoum for at least two reasons. First, the conflict could destabilise the region and negatively affect the efforts of these countries to expand their export trade. Second, Sudan is located on the Red Sea. Instability could interfere with trade flows through the Suez Canal, restraining these countries' ability to trade with the rest of the world. Port Sudan, which is about 169 nautical miles from Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), is an important travel point for thousands of Muslims from west and other parts of Africa who are embarking on the Hajj to Mecca through Jeddah Islamic Port. In addition, most Nigerian hajj air carriers transit through Sudanese airspace on their way to Mecca. Violent conflict in Sudan could force these carriers to seek alternative but more expensive and longer routes, a process that could prevent many Muslims from successfully performing this important religious ritual. In addition, 90% of Sudan's external trade passes through Port Sudan. The port is also an important commercial sea gateway for neighbouring landlocked countries. Interruption of the port could worsen already acute shortages of key commodities, including especially food. Port Sudan also has a container port that handles trade to and from various parts of the world. It has been argued that Russia is seeking to build a military base at Port Sudan in order to grant its warships access to and influence over one of the world's busiest and most contested sea lanes - the Suez Canal. Ripple effect A civil war in Sudan could spill into already violence-plagued neighbouring countries, such as Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Libya, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Were Sudan's neighbours to get involved on either side of the conflict, the region could become embroiled in the civil war largely because communities in the border areas share a common heritage. Two countries stand to suffer the most if the conflict escalates: Egypt and South Sudan. Sudan straddles the Nile River. Its main tributaries meet at Khartoum and then flow downstream to water-hungry Egypt. Fragility in Khartoum could affect Egypt's fresh water supply and hence economic and social development. Instability in Khartoum could also derail efforts to reach agreement on the filling and management of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. That could create problems, not just for Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, but also for the entire Nile basin. Read more: Ethiopia's dam dispute: five key reads about how it started and how it could end The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is a hydro-electric project which Cairo sees as a threat to its use of the Nile. Since Ethiopia began constructing the dam in 2011, Egypt has relied on Khartoum's cooperation to fight perceived threats to its water security. Cairo might see Sudan's security situation as a threat to reaching a mutually acceptable tripartite treaty for the filling and management of the dam. A peaceful, democratic Sudan, thus, is important to Egypt and other Nile Basin countries. Ninety percent of South Sudan's economy is based on oil, which is exported through Sudan to Port Sudan. Conflict in Khartoum could seriously interfere with oil shipments and force economic collapse in South Sudan. Read more: South Sudan's oil and water give it bargaining power - but will it benefit the people? External ties Outside the African continent, three countries have significant interests in seeing Sudan return to peaceful coexistence: the Russian Federation, the US and the UAE. The Russian Federation: Russia is interested primarily in gaining access to the country's enormous resources, which include gold, uranium, oil and its port facilities. Looking ahead, Russia also has much to lose. It has sought for some time to establish a military base at Port Sudan, which would host about 300 troops and give Russian warships access to and influence over the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Sudan East Africa Business 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. Russia's hope is that its foothold in Sudan will give it better access to other countries in North Africa and the Horn of Africa. A full-blown civil war would delay or derail that. The United States: Some foreign governments, such as the US, have indicated that they are interested in helping Sudan establish democratic institutions and a governing process undergirded by the rule of law. Others may want to place themselves in a position to exploit the country and its resources. However, since it signed on to the Abraham Accords, Sudan has emerged as an important player in efforts by Washington to improve diplomatic relations between Israel and the Arab States. The United Arab Emirates (UAE): The UAE has military and commercial assets in Eritrea, Somaliland, Somalia and the southern coast of Yemen. It stands to benefit from a peaceful Sudan. Under the administration of Omar al-Bashir - the military leader who ruled Sudan for three decades until he was overthrown during a 2019 popular uprising - Sudan was a beneficiary of billions of dollars in aid from the UAE. The UAE has also benefited from the relationship. For example, Sudan has become a major exporter of gold to the UAE. Finally, continued instability in Sudan could exacerbate the already serious humanitarian situation in many of Sudan's neighbours, such as Chad, which has received hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees. John Mukum Mbaku, Professor, Weber State University Tsahkna meeting with Stoltenberg: Ukraine's only security guarantee is NATO membership Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs 05.05.2023 Today 5 May, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the Alliance's continued support for Ukraine and preparations for the Vilnius summit. The foreign minister thanked Stoltenberg for his leadership in supporting Ukraine and recognised his recent visit to Kyiv, which gave Ukraine a clear perspective in the Alliance. "Today's meeting with the secretary general of NATO reaffirmed that we are committed to providing practical and political support to Ukraine for as long as necessary," Tsahkna said. Estonia contributes to NATO's extensive assistance package to provide practical aid that Ukraine most urgently needs to defend itself. Estonia's goal is for Ukraine to receive a clear roadmap for joining NATO at the Vilnius summit and to reaffirm the open door policy of the Alliance. "Just as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently stated in Finland, we would also like Ukraine to become the Alliance's 33rd full member after Sweden," Tsahkna said. He added that there can be no grey areas in Europe and NATO membership was Ukraine's only security guarantee. "I am sure that NATO will defend every inch of its territory. However, to ensure peace, we must be prepared to defend ourselves and to do it efficiently. Last year in Madrid, we agreed on NATO's new strategic concept," Tsahkna said, adding that quick progress is needed in implementing it. "In the new security situation, all Allies should increase their defence spending to 2.5 percent of their GDP by 2030. Estonia's defence spending will rise to more than 3% of its GDP as early as next year." Tsahkna also said he hoped Turkiye and Hungary would ratify Sweden's membership before the Vilnius summit. The meeting also covered progress with opening the Estonian branch of NATO's innovation accelerator DIANA. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Government of Estonia declared defence readiness exercise Okas for territorial defence units Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Defence 5. May 2023 The Government of Estonia decided to declare the defence readiness exercise Okas (Quill) with up to 607 members of territorial defence units ordered to participate in the snap exercise (SNAPEX). Exercise Okas is of a defensive manner, aimed at practicing national defence activities. There is no immediate security threat to Estonia. Based on the proposal by the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, up to 607 reservists from Tartu, Polva, Vorumaa, Valgamaa and Sakala districts of the Estonian Defence League's Territorial Defence Region South have been ordered by the Government of Estonia to participate in the SNAPEX Okas 23-2 from May 5 to 7, 2023. In addition, up to 300 members of the Estonian Defence League are involved in the exercise in supporting roles. Reservists whose units are called to the exercise are obligated to immediately report to the designated assembly points. Reservists that were called to duty can check their orders from the website www.kaitsevaeteenistus.ee. All participants of the exercise can receive additional information about the exercise from their home units: - Members of Polva district can get additional information from the phone number +372 5455 0399 and e-mail polva@kaitseliit.ee. - Members of Sakala district can get additional information from the phone number +372 717 9207 and e-mail sakala@kaitseliit.ee. - Members of Tartu district can get additional information from the phone number +372 5192 9180 and e-mail tartu.personal@kaitseliit.ee. - Members of Valgamaa district can get additional information from the phone number +372 717 9405 and e-mail valga@kaitseliit.ee. - Members of Vorumaa district can get additional information from the phone number +372 5340 5999 and e-mail voru@kaitseliit.ee. The main purpose of exercise Okas is to test the chain of command of national defence, from the decision of the Government of Estonia to achieving combat readiness of designated units in the rapid response structure. In addition, units of the Estonian Defence League's Territorial Defence Region South will practice performing wartime tasks such as establishing checkpoints, conducting ambushes, and sustaining themselves. The task of the Estonian Defence Forces and Estonian Defence League is to ensure that the country is constantly ready to defend itself and this needs to be practiced during exercises. The Estonian national defence model, based on national reserve military structures, has proven its vitality and effectiveness. Security does not generate by itself, and that is why Estonia must organize regular exercises in peacetime in order to maintain and increase the ability of the reserve structure to react in a timely matter. The previous SNAPEX Okas was carried out between January 26 and February 23, 2023. The Estonian Defence Forces regularly order reservists to larger and smaller exercises, such as Siil (Hedgehog) and Kevadtorm (Spring Storm), with a long, 120-day notice. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese, Indian foreign ministers meet, call for peace and stability of border region Global Times By Global Times Published: May 05, 2023 11:56 AM Updated: May 06, 2023 12:34 AM The current situation on China-India border is generally stable and the two sides should continue to make efforts to further cool and ease the situation in order to maintain sustainable peace and stability of the region, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said during a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Goa, India, on Thursday. China and India, as the two most populous developing countries in the world, are both in a critical period of modernization, Qin told Jaishankar, calling on both to draw experience and lessons from history, and view bilateral relations from a strategic height and a long-term perspective. Upholding the belief of respecting and learning from each other and achieving mutual success, China and India should embark on a new path of harmonious coexistence, peaceful development, and common revitalization among neighboring major countries. Then they can provide assistance for the rejuvenation of both countries and inject stability and positive energy into world peace and development, Qin noted. Qin also expressed China's willingness to work with India to carry out bilateral consultations and exchanges, enhance dialogue and cooperation under multilateral frameworks, deepen coordination and cooperation on international and regional issues, and push China-India relations back to the track of healthy and stable development. In their meeting, Jaishankar shared how India views relations with China. He said India and China still need strengthening cooperation in many regards. India is willing to seek safeguarding peace and stability of the border region through consultations. China supports India in hosting the SCO meeting, and hopes that India, holding the rotating presidency, will play an active role in making the events a success in the spirit of unity and cooperation, Qin said. The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Significant step forward: Lithuanian companies will be able to conduct testing together with the Lithuanian Armed Forces Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence 2023-05-05 Development and Strengthening of the Armed Forces | Security and defense policy As of now, Lithuanian academic institutions and defence industry companies are invited to seek testing of their products in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Military experts will put the products through trials and present conclusions on the developed product features. The procedure will facilitate creation of products that meet defence needs, respond to the requirements of Lithuania's defence and export. It comes as an effort of the Ministry of National Defence to prod Lithuanian defence industry development. "Until this point, the Lithuanian Armed Forces only tested the products it was looking to purchase. The introduced procedure enables companies to apply for testing the products they develop, receive military insight and improve their production. Field tests give developers more feedback on what works as desired and what needs change. We hope it will help Lithuanian defence industry companies develop future defence products with more efficiency," says Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anusauskas. Testing of defence technology and product is a critical step in defence industry, it requires public-private cooperation. It is customary to conduct tests of products before purchasing, however, it is also particularly important to provide insights during the process of product development. NATO has identified the needs and responded by initiating accelerator sites and test centers. That, however, is testing concrete products in laboratory conditions, not in the military. Testing in the armed forces offers a distinct chance to be evaluated and advised by the end user. "Testing of defence industry products allows us to clear up their operational, tactical, technical characteristics, quality, technical level, compatibility with other systems used in the military. It benefits both, the manufacturer and the Ministry of National Defence as the potential user. The Defence Materiel Agency is prepared to give all the information required on testing to Lithuanian manufacturers and invites them to avail of the opportunity," says Director of the Defence Materiel Agency under the MoD Sigitas Dzekunskas. Companies wishing to carry out the testing in the Lithuanian Armed Forces have to contact the Defence Materiel Agency, fill out an application and present a testing methodology project. Only entities registered and operating in Lithuania and approved to meet national security standards are eligible. Testing conditions will be coordinated after the application approval. Developers will be allowed to take part in the testing process. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President of Estonia visits NATO's DIANA European Regional Office NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 05 May. 2023 On Friday (5 May 2023), President Alar Karis of Estonia was welcomed to the regional office of NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) in London. DIANA will support the development of dual-use commercial technologies for defence and security challenges. President Karis was joined by the United Kingdom's Minister for Defence Procurement James Cartlidge. They discussed progress on DIANA with its managing director Professor Deeph Chana. The European Regional Office at Imperial College's White City Campus is hosted by the UK in partnership with Estonia and will be supported by a regional hub in Tallinn. A regional office for North America is due to open in Canada. President Karis said: "Cooperation between the United Kingdom and Estonia has been good throughout history, and when the UK became the lead nation for the NATO battlegroup in Estonia, this partnership advanced even further. I am pleased that in addition to excellent defence cooperation, our joint undertakings now also include working with academia and industry to benefit the whole Alliance. With such a strong foundation, we can only expect great things to follow." Imperial's White City Campus has already become a hub for security innovation, co-locating stakeholders from across academia, industry and government. Start-ups and other innovators in DIANA's programmes will have access to its network of accelerator sites and test centres across Europe and North America. Professor Chana said: "DIANA will be an innovation powerhouse. We are bringing together academia, the private sector, and governments to develop cutting edge dual-use technologies. DIANA will create innovation eco-systems in Allied countries that will help NATO keep its technological edge." DIANA is complemented by the NATO Innovation Fund, the world's first multi-sovereign venture capital fund, which will invest 1 billion euros in start-ups developing technologies for defence and security. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Marcos says Philippine military bases won't be used to attack China Philippine president says the U.S. has never asked Manila to contribute troops should war break out over Taiwan. John Bechtel and Jason Gutierrez for BenarNews 2023.05.05 -- Philippine military bases where the United States has been granted expanded access are not intended to be used for offensive action against any country, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said as he wrapped up a four-day visit to Washington. Marcos' remarks as he spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a local think-tank, marked his first categorical public rejection of such a scenario and it was also a message he said he had conveyed recently to China's foreign minister. "I assured him that, no, these are not intended to be military bases to attack, to move against anyone ... not China, not any country," he said at the CSIS event on Thursday, in response to a question from BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Marcos also replied that the U.S. had never asked Manila to contribute Filipino troops to combat operations should war break out between the U.S. and China over Taiwan. The sites under the bilateral Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement were conceived to respond more efficiently to natural disasters driven by climate change, and the U.S. had not brought up using them as "staging areas" for offensive action, he said. He added, however, that with increasing tensions, especially in the Taiwan Strait, security and defense had become part of the mission. "That's why it became sensitive," he said. "And that is why China has been terribly critical." Since coming to office last year, Marcos has deepened traditional security ties with the U.S., including by granting its treaty ally access to four new military bases in February. China criticized the move saying it would escalate tensions and endanger peace and stability in the region. The Marcos administration's decision to grant American forces expanded access to Philippine bases under the EDCA has also sparked domestic criticism from Filipinos, who worry this could drag their country into a war between the U.S. and China over Taiwan. "Should there be such an attempt to use the EDCA sites for offensive action, then that would be outside the parameters of what we had discussed and what the EDCA sites are in fact for," Marcos said at CSIS. "But to be fair, the United States has never brought up the possibility that we will use - that the United States will use - the EDCA sites as staging areas for any offensive action against any country." Analysts say Marcos is walking a foreign policy tightrope. On the one hand, the Philippines is on the front line of a territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea, while on the other, China is one of the Southeast Asian nation's biggest trading partners. The issue of U.S. access to Philippine bases comes amid heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province that must be reunited by force if necessary. Washington has said it wants to see Taiwan's status resolved peacefully, though it is committed to providing the island with the military needs to defend itself. Marcos' visit to the U.S. follows Balikatan, the largest joint training exercise between the partners in the Philippines, which included training on Patriot, Avenger and Stinger systems. The exercise featured a mock attack to sink an enemy ship. More recently, Washington joined with Manila in calling on Beijing to stop harassing Philippine ships after the coast guard reported a near-collision with a Chinese ship near the Manila-occupied Ayungin Shoal in the South China Sea. New defense guidelines Earlier this week, Marcos and U.S. President Joe Biden announced new guidelines for their 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. The updated guidelines now specifically mention that an armed attack on either country in the South China Sea, which includes both nations' coast guards, would invoke mutual defense commitments. The document also outlined continued support for modernization of the Philippine military considered among the weakest in the region and promised to transfer four patrol vessels as well as a military transport plane as part of its commitment. Renato Reyes, secretary general of left-wing nationalist group Bayan, said Philippine defense policy would now be more dependent on the U.S. and that Marcos had opened the country to American intervention. "While some will view this as a 'deterrent' against China's aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea, it cannot be denied that this also ties the hands of the Philippines to support U.S. military provocations and intervention in the region," he said. "If there is an incident involving American and Chinese ships, we become obligated to support the U.S. militarily, regardless of cause and outcome. "It still remains to be seen whether such provisions will indeed serve as a deterrent to China or if these will only further escalate tensions." While Marcos has secured more clarity surrounding the conditions under which Washington would come to the country's defense, agreements on trade and investment were thin on the ground, according to Richard Heydarian, a political analyst and senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines' Asian Center. "Why is this important? Because Marcos keeps on emphasizing that trade and investment are key to his foreign policy," he said. "This is important because trade and investment are one important element of Chinese statecraft and influencing regional states and my sense is that the Chinese will try to pull the pledges of Chinese investments to dissuade Marcos from going all out with the U.S." Heydarian said that Marcos appeared to be genuinely afraid of being dragged into conflict with China, and would rather have a defense arrangement with the U.S. "that is hot enough to keep the Chinese in check, but not too hot to provoke the Chinese." BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service. Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN In Afghanistan: Ban On Women Working For UN Seriously Impedes Work In Country By RFE/RL May 05, 2023 The United Nations in Afghanistan has reiterated its condemnation of a decision by the Taliban-led government to ban Afghan women from working for the UN, saying the move "seriously undermines our work, including our ability to reach all people in need." The UN mission said in a statement from Kabul on May 5 that the decision is unlawful under international law, including the UN Charter and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. "We also reiterate the United Nations' dismay over the relentless onslaught by the de facto authorities against the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan," the statement said. But the statement said that while lifting restrictions on the delivery of aid to Afghans is essential, the United Nations must remain focused on supporting the Afghan people. "We cannot disengage despite the challenges," the statement said. The Taliban-led government last December barred Afghan women from working at NGOs, allegedly because they were not wearing the hijab correctly and were not observing gender segregation rules. In April, the government extended the ban to UN offices and agencies in Afghanistan. The measure is being actively enforced by the country's intelligence agency, which reports to the Taliban-led government's leadership in Kandahar, although their chief spokesman says there are no obstacles for UN operations in Afghanistan. The country's Taliban rulers, who reclaimed power in August 2021, also have put other restrictions on females, including barring them from school beyond the sixth grade. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged on May 4 that the United Nations would stay in Afghanistan despite the difficulties, but he made a new attack on the "unprecedented" curbs on Afghan women's rights. The UN chief spoke during a two-day meeting of in Doha, Qatar, of representatives from about 25 countries and international organizations, according to diplomats. The Taliban-led government was not represented at the talks. Guterres said leading powers want new efforts to try to change the policies in Afghanistan, while noting that a $4.6 billion UN appeal is less than 7 percent funded. According to UN data quoted by Reuters, the United States was the largest donor to the UN appeal last year, giving nearly $1.2 billion. The United States has given the most money to this year's appeal: $75 million. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Richard Bennett also issued a statement on May 5 after spending a week in Afghanistan. The statement said girls and women are systematically oppressed in Afghanistan and expressed deep concern about the deterioration of the human rights situation in the country. The Taliban-led government has not responded to the comments. With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/un-afghanistan- taliban-women/32398902.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Azadi Briefing: Afghan Journalists Face 'Terrifying' Conditions Under Taliban Rule By Abubakar Siddique May 05, 2023 The Key Issue The Taliban has intensified its crackdown on independent reporters and media outlets in Afghanistan, where the militant group has stamped out any form of dissent. An Afghan media watchdog said cases of arbitrary arrests and detention, threats, and intimidation of journalists rose by around 60 percent in the past year. In its annual report issued on May 3, the Afghanistan Journalist Center said it documented 213 human rights violations against media personnel in the past year. During that time, one journalist was killed and 21 wounded in attacks targeting media workers. "Taliban intelligence has made our working environment terrifying," a female Afghan journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, told Radio Azadi. "Journalists face torture and detentions daily, which shows the real state of press freedom in our country." Afghan media advocacy group NAI said around half of Afghanistan's estimated 600 media outlets have closed since the Taliban seized power in 2021. Around two-thirds of reporters have lost their jobs in that time, according to NAI. Female media workers have been disproportionately affected. The Taliban's restrictions on women's right to work has left many women journalists unable to carry out their jobs. Why It's Important: Since seizing power, the Taliban has waged a brutal crackdown on dissent that has targeted human rights defenders, women activists, intellectuals, and journalists. The clampdown appears to have intensified in recent months, with the United Nations highlighting the "concerning number of civil society activists and media workers have been detained since early 2023." They include journalists Khairullah Parhar and Mortaza Behboudi. "Journalists are being forced to make editorial decisions based on fear, not public interest. It's sadly part of a wider trend of declining freedom of expression and access to information," said Roza Otunbaeva, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan. What's Next: The Taliban appears likely to further restrict the freedom of the press in Afghanistan as part of a wider rolling back of basic rights. Despite promising to allow free media upon seizing power, the Taliban has issued decrees intended to protect its government from "disrespectful" criticism by the media. The militants have also issued "11 rules for journalists" that prohibit the publication or broadcasting of reports that are "contrary to Islam," and which discourage reporting of news that has not been confirmed by Taliban officials. What To Keep An Eye On The Taliban has announced that it will build a nearly 1,500-kilometer-long railway line connecting three major Afghan cities. The Taliban's chief spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the railway line would connect the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif with the southern city of Kandahar via the western city of Herat. Mujahid said the Taliban would fund the ambitious project through domestic revenues. Why It's Important: The project underscores the Taliban's ambitions to transform Afghanistan into a trading hub connecting Central Asia to South Asia. But it is doubtful whether the Taliban government has the finances and technical expertise to complete the multibillion-dollar project on its own. There is also little indication that neighboring or regional powers are willing or able to step in to help the Taliban, whose government remains unrecognized and is under international sanctions. The Taliban has gone ahead with a giant canal project in northern Afghanistan that has provoked controversy in the region. Meanwhile, its attempts to attract Chinese investment in the mining sector have yet to bear fruit. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-media-clampdown- journalists/32397637.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pashinian Points To Lingering Differences Between Armenia, Azerbaijan After U.S.-Sponsored Peace Talks By Heghine Buniatian May 05, 2023 PRAGUE -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian still sees a "huge difference" between the wording of a draft peace agreement for Armenia and Azerbaijan and the two sides' positions despite reported progress in bilateral talks hosted by the United States this week. In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service on May 5, Pashinian said the key differences concern not only Nagorno-Karabakh but also territorial and security guarantees. "We are still unable to reach agreement in the draft peace agreement on the wording that will give us confidence that Azerbaijan recognizes 29,800 square kilometers of Armenia" within its Soviet-era borders, he said. Pashinian also highlighted the need for guarantees as "any agreement, even the most unambiguously written one, allows for interpretations." Pashinian, who spoke with RFE/RL while on a two-day official visit to Prague, referred to the draft bilateral Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations that was discussed by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, during the U.S.-sponsored talks. A joint statement issued on May 4 at the conclusion of the talks said Mirzoyan and Bayramov and their teams "made progress in mutual understanding on some articles of the draft bilateral [peace agreement]" but noted that positions on a number of key issues remain different. Despite U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's optimism that "with additional goodwill, flexibility, and compromise, an agreement is within reach," Pashinian assessed the progress as minimal. "While the difference between the sides was one kilometer before, now it is 990 meters. It is progress, but there is still a huge difference," he said in the interview with RFE/RL. Pashinian reiterated Armenia's position that the issue of the rights and security of Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians should be discussed in a dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert with international engagement. "Otherwise, this topic and agenda can simply be forgotten by Azerbaijan," he said, adding that there are different interpretations in Yerevan and Baku on how to address the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians. He also said that both international and local mechanisms should be applied to such matters as the withdrawal of troops and the establishment of a demilitarized zone. Pashinian said the discussion that started in Washington can continue in Moscow, denying claims there are differing "Western" and "Russian" drafts. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left ethnic Armenians in control of the predominantly Armenian-populated region and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper. Decades of internationally mediated talks failed to result in a diplomatic solution, and the simmering conflict led to another war in 2020 in which nearly 7,000 soldiers were killed on both sides. The six-week war in which Azerbaijan regained all the Armenian-controlled areas outside of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as chunks of territory inside the Soviet-era autonomous region ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire under which Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to serve as peacekeepers. Tensions along the restive Armenian-Azerbaijani border and around Nagorno-Karabakh leading to sporadic fighting and loss of life have persisted despite the cease-fire and the presence of Russian troops. They flared anew last month when Azerbaijan installed a road checkpoint at the start of the Lachin Corridor, the only route linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia says the checkpoint, set up on April 23, is a violation of the cease-fire. Azerbaijan insists it established it in response to what it says were Armenian military supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia denies that accusation. With reporting by RFE/RL's Armenian Service Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pashinian-interview-armenia- azerbaijan-peace-talks/32398806.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Denmark to Spend Billions to 'Plug Holes' in Defense, Meet NATO Demands Sputnik News 20230505 Igor Kuznetsov Denmark's spending spree, which involves bolstering its own military and supporting Ukraine's, has already taken its toll on the state coffers, prompting the government to abolish a popular Christian holiday to make up for the shortfall. Denmark has announced that it will invest DKK 38Bln ($5.6Bln) to modernize its defense over the next 10 years and rectify the mismanagement and neglect which has resulted from misguided political decisions. The Danish Ministry of Defense said in a statement that it will allocate some DKK 27Bln ($4Bln) on gear, equipment, buildings, information technology and personnel, and a further DKK 11Bln on new investments, citing "the current geopolitical situation" which needs "more resources" to ensure present levels of defense. "We have to recognize that we politicians have made decisions based on assumptions that turned out to be incorrect. This means that we are now faced with a major task: to restore the foundations of defense before building on them," Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a statement. Denmark's own press described the process as "plugging holes". Earlier, a major audit of the Danish armed forces revealed that equipment and barracks had suffered a huge degree of wear and tear, there were severe personnel shortages and massive IT challenges. The review set in motion further budget negotiations. While announcing an increase in military expenditure, Denmark added that it planned to reach the NATO spending target of 2 percent by 2030. The Danish government has also been an active participant in the EU effort to supply Ukraine with hardware and money in the ongoing conflict. Copenhagen has donated so much equipment to Kiev - from Leopard battle tanks and naval missiles to ammunition and night goggles - that senior Danish politicians, including Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, have been able to boast that the country has given the most relative to its size. However, Denmark's outsized military commitment has taken its toll on the state coffers, prompting the government to abolish an age-old Christian holiday called the Great Prayer Day, supposedly to replenish state finances that are running dry. It also forced the Nordic country to curtail its overseas presence in Iraq starting from early 2024 and instead focus on the Baltic countries, offering NATO a battalion to defend the region. The battalion is expected to consist of up to 1,200 soldiers, and is expected to be deployed in Latvia between four and six months every year. However, these plans may yet founder because of a drastic shortage of personnel. According to reports, none of the Danish Army's regiments can muster full strength at present. The shortage ranges from "only" a 10th to more than a third. The Navy is no better, where Arctic patrols have to be paused so that crews can rest or sleep since there are insufficient number to patrol 24/7. Earlier, Denmark's Nordic peers either announced or have already implemented heavy rises i in their military budgets: Norway pledged to use the windfall energy profits that dwarfed its military spending (relative to GDP) and reach NATO's spending goal by 2026. Finland, a newly fledged NATO member, has already increased its military spending to Cold War levels. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Joint Statement on Sudan Media Note Office of the Spokesperson May 5, 2023 The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the occasion of the start of direct talks between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Begin Text The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States welcome the start of pre-negotiation talks between representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Jeddah on May 6th 2023. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States urge both parties to take in consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks towards a cease fire and end to the conflict, which will spare the Sudanese people's suffering and ensure the availability of humanitarian aid to affected areas. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States also would like to stress the efforts of the countries and organizations which supported these talks, including Quad countries (The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the League of Arab States, and partners from the Trilateral Mechanism (UNITAMS, the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development). Finally, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States urge continued, coordinated international support for an expanded negotiation process that should include engagement with all Sudanese parties. End Text NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Geneva Palais Briefing Note: Horrifying numbers of children killed & injured in Sudan UNICEF This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva 05 May 2023 GENEVA, 5 May 2023 -- "As feared and as warned, the situation in Sudan has become fatal for a frighteningly large number of children. In reports UNICEF has received that cover the period from the start of the fighting until 25 April 2023, 190 children have been killed. While we are unable to confirm estimates due to the intensity of the violence, these reports state a further 1700 have been injured. "That is, we have reports that, on average, every single hour over this first 11-day period of fighting, seven children have been killed or injured. Seven children. Every hour. "It is important to note that these reports of children killed or injured are only those who had contact with a medical facility. So, as ever, the reality is likely to be much worse. "We don't have case-by-case information on each child, though it is data from the conflict hotspots of Khartoum and the Darfurs. "While these reports only cover the first 11 days of this conflict, children have now been living amid terrifying violence for three weeks in Sudan. Places where they simply must be safe - homes, schools and hospitals - have consistently come under attack, and continue to do so. Time and again UNICEF and partners have called on parties to the conflict to stop all attacks on health centres, schools, and water and sanitation systems upon which children rely. Time and again the attacks continue. "Humanitarian workers have also been attacked, while humanitarian facilities, vehicles and supplies - including those of UNICEF - have been looted or destroyed. All such attacks undermine our capacity to reach children across the country with lifesaving health, nutrition, water and sanitation services. Again, we join so many others in underlining the criticality that all parties to the conflict adhere to international law: to fulfil their obligations to protect children, and to ensure that humanitarian actors can safely operate on the ground to support civilians in need." ##### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Keep Sudan borders open UNHCR urges, amid alarming rise in child deaths 5 May 2023 - The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on Friday urged States to keep borders open to people fleeing military infighting across Sudan and suspend "negative asylum decisions" for Sudanese nationals outside the country, who cannot return because of the conflict. Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR's Director of International Protection said their first request was that countries allow civilians fleeing Sudan on "a non-discriminatory manner to access their territory". She said this applied to Sudanese nationals, foreign nationals, and refugees who are being hosted in Sudan, "stateless persons, as well as those who do not have a passport or any other form of identification." Since the military showdown began between the national army and main rival militia known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began on 15 April, UNHCR and humanitarian partners have been reporting a shocking array of human rights violations, including indiscriminate attacks against civilians and sexual violence. Widespread criminality and looting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and humanitarian premises, have forced many Sudanese to flee and seek safety outside Sudan. "There are Sudanese who are outside of Sudan and who now require protection," said Ms. Tan. "They should not be sent back to Sudan if they have ongoing asylum claims. We are requesting that negative decisions be put on hold." Large numbers of civilians have been forced to flee the fighting, including people who were already internally displaced because of previous conflict in Sudan, and refugees from other countries. "There were 1.1 million refugees hosted in Sudan, and those individuals require protection", she stressed. UNHCR remains particularly concerned about the situation of the newly displaced in Darfur. "We have heard reports about IDP (internally displaced people) camps being burned to the ground, so we know that people are being displaced. The IDPs in Darfur are being displaced again," said Ms. Tan. "Our ability to provide assistance in Darfur is severely constrained." She said in the east of the country, UNHCR was able to provide some assistance "because that part of the country is still relatively stable - In Darfur it's a different situation and so the humanitarian situation is likely to deteriorate." 7 children an hour killed or injured The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) also released disturbing new numbers of children killed and injured in Sudan, particularly the conflict hotspots of Khartoum and the Darfurs. "The reports we have received are 190 children killed and 1,700 injured," said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, referring to the time since the violent military clashes began. "That means that every single hour you have seven boys or girls have been killed or injured." Mr. Elder added that "these are only children getting to health facilities. I think this is underlining the enormity of how violent this is and how much it's impacting children. This is before we look at the eight million plus who needed humanitarian assistance", who are dealing with severely damaged health and water systems. No safe haven UNICEF stressed that particularly places where children must be safe such as homes, schools and hospitals have consistently come under attack. While condemning the attacks on humanitarian workers and humanitarian facilities as well as the looting of vehicles and supplies, UNICEF stressed that such attacks undermine the capacity to reach children with critical aid. Quoting the Sudanese Ministry of Health, Dr Margaret Harris, Spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that "4,926 people were wounded and 551 people have been killed" but that real numbers are likely much higher. Bleeding out According to WHO's Dr Harris, 25 per cent of people failed to survive because they could not get simple treatment to stem bleeding. In the third week of brutal fighting in Sudan, healthcare services are rapidly falling apart in the nation's capital, Khartoum. Very few hospitals are fully operating and over 60 per cent are no longer operating. On Thursday, UNCHR and 134 partners, announced funding requirements of $445 million for the regional interagency refugee's initial emergency response plan in five countries to assist an estimated 860,000 Sudanese, refugees of other nationalists and refugees' returnees leaving the country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DR Congo: Desperate situation facing millions displaced by armed violence 5 May 2023 - Recurring attacks by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continue to drive forced displacement and extreme hardship for millions of Congolese, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday. The country has 6.2 million internally displaced people, while more than 1.3 million have become refugees. UNHCR said that Goma, the capital of eastern DRC's North Kivu province, hosts over 560,000 displaced people in and around the city. Many live in spontaneous sites on the side of the road, in dire conditions, despite the efforts of humanitarian actors. Constant fear of attack Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR's Director of International Protection, recently returned from North Kivu, and she told reporters about one woman she had met, with five children: "She didn't have any food even for that day and so she had sent her children out to collect firewood and to try and make a little bit of money. And her main concern was, would her girls come back, without having suffered an attack in the forest." UNHCR warned that the lack of adequate sanitation and overcrowding are fuelling risks of cholera and measles outbreaks, while people desperately try to survive. Emergency shelters She said in Buchagara, an official IDP site on the outskirts of Goma hosting more than 15,500 displaced people, vulnerable individuals and families were now being housed in 3,000 emergency shelters alongside recently installed community kitchens, with water and sanitation facilities up and running. "Currently, the emergency shelter provided only covers three per cent of the estimated needs. Women and youth are particularly exposed to protection risks, including gender-based violence", she warned. She said IDPs had appealed for more shelters, and ways of making some income, through agriculture or small business opportunities. Safety and dignity "Adequate shelter is key to restoring personal security and dignity", said Ms. Tan. More than 180,000 have recently arrived in Kalehe territory, tens of thousands of whom are sheltering in the town of Minova, she added, a two-hour drive south of Goma. "Local hosting communities have generously shared their limited resources with the displaced populations so far, but they are under enormous strain." She said UNHCR had scaled up shelter, site management and protection responses, thanks to generous support from the international community. "However, the needs are great. The DRC is one of the most underfunded humanitarian situations globally. UNHCR requires $233 million to respond to the needs of displaced people in DRC this year, but so far, has only received 15 per cent of that amount." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In Burundi, Guterres outlines challenges facing the region 5 May 2023 - groups - both local and foreign - must lay down their arms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and efforts must be redoubled to advance a lasting, sustainable peace in the region, the UN chief said on Friday during his first visit to the African nation as Secretary-General. "Everyone must put an end to hate speech, work to restore trust, and refrain from any action that could undermine the progress made for peace" in DRC, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, on the eve of the high-level meeting of the Regional Oversight Mechanism of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for DR Congo and the region, which opens on 6 May in the capital, Bujumbura. "I renew my call for de-escalation...and restraint," he added. With a focus on ending recurring cycles of violence in DRC and resolving conflict, tackling instability, and building sustainable peace in the region, the high-level meeting will review progress and challenges on implementing the Framework agreement, signed in Ethiopia in 2013, including by the guarantor institutions: the UN, African Union, International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Noting Burundi's national progress in accelerating the country's development and economic growth, he said much remains to be done to ensure that efforts consider the needs of the most vulnerable populations and urged donors and the international community to support the Burundian authorities in this endeavour. 'Significant progress' Turning to Burundi's "positive role" in the region and the forthcoming regional meeting, he commended nations that are implementing the Framework agreement, in light of "significant progress" in economic cooperation and integration. But, the current crisis in the region underscores the need to redouble efforts to fully implement the commitments of the Framework agreement, he said. This will require a collective political will to fully implement all elements of the agreement to address the root causes of instability, break the vicious circle of conflict in the region, and put an end to the plight of populations, who have suffered only too much, especially in DRC, the UN chief said, adding that his Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region and the UN mission in the country (MONUSCO) will continue to support ongoing efforts. "All international partners must do the same and contribute to strengthening technical and financial support and work for peace and stability in the DRC and the region," he said. Crisis in Sudan With regard to the restive situation in Sudan, where rival military groups have been fighting since 15 April, he said the violence poses a threat to not only the Sudanese people, but to the security landscape in the Sahel and East Africa. "The country is facing a humanitarian catastrophe," he said, noting that more than 100,000 people have fled and as many as 800,000 people could leave Sudan in the coming days and weeks. In addition, he said, millions of Sudanese are trapped by fighting and face growing food insecurity. 'Fighting must stop' "The fighting must stop immediately, before this conflict turns into a civil war that could destroy the country and upend the region for years to come," he said, stating that all parties must de-escalate tensions, come to the negotiating table, and agree on a stable and lasting ceasefire, with the interests of the Sudanese people at the forefront. "A return to peace and civilian rule is crucial, and these objectives are at the heart of our exchanges with the parties to the conflict," he said, emphasizing that the UN is working closely with the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). "Safe and unhindered humanitarian access must be guaranteed, so that aid can be immediately distributed to those in need," he stressed. Civilian populations and infrastructure must be protected, and humanitarian personnel must be respected, he said, calling on the international community to support the Sudanese people in their quest for peace and a return to a transition to civilian rule. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Press Release U.S. Marine Corps activates first-ever Marine Innovation Unit, hosts defense innovation roundtable 5 May 2023 NEWBURGH, N.Y. -- In accordance with the 38th Commandant's Planning Guidance and Force Design 2030, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve formally activated the Marine Innovation Unit during an activation ceremony at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, on Friday, May 5, 2023. The activation symbolizes the Marine Corps' renewed focus on innovation and experimentation in support of the Total Force as it continues to modernize the service in preparation for the future fight. "We are extremely grateful for the advocacy provided by Gen. David Berger, Sgt. Maj. Troy Black, Lt. Gen. David Bellon, Sgt. Maj. Carlos Ruiz, and other leaders around the service," said Col. Matthew C. Swindle, commanding officer of MIU. "MIU exists to act as a strategic connector between industry and the entire Marine Corps. Our Marines are eager to provide that critical capability and enable success for our customers throughout the Total Force." The unit activation ceremony, hosted at the unit's command post in Newburgh, was widely attended by key stakeholders from around the U.S. Department of Defense and federal government. Notable ceremony attendees included guests of honor Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY-18); the Honorable Carlos Del Toro, 78th Secretary of the Navy; and Lt. Gen. David G. Bellon, commanding general of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Reserve and U.S. Marine Corps Forces, South. Just before the ceremony, the unit hosted the Department of the Navy's first-ever Defense Innovation Roundtable. The roundtable discussion hosted approximately 250 guests with representatives from industry, finance, academia, state and federal government, and the Department of Defense to help accelerate the transition of key capabilities from the private sector to the national security sector. The roundtable actioned the unit's unique connection to the civilian talent marketplace - specifically leveraging reserve Marines' civilian backgrounds and experiences to tackle some of the challenges facing today's Marine Corps. The unit is already doing just that - in the weeks and months leading up to the activation ceremony and roundtable, MIU Marines hit the ground running, conducting several annual training educational periods to establish a unit-wide common operational picture before proceeding to engage with clients around the Marine Corps. MIU is perhaps the only place in the Marine Corps where one might find lance corporals and lieutenant colonels working together on the same team to problem solve while on "engagements" - or the unit's moniker for projects and supporting activities that align with Force Design 2030; Talent Management 2030; or the Marine Forces Reserve Campaign Plan 2030. Sourcing talent for these engagements does not come in the form of an operations or fragmentary order. Instead, the Marines self-select work based on their civilian education and expertise once the unit's leadership appropriately scopes an engagement. MIU Marines are made up of chief executives; acquisitions and contracting experts; professional educators and investment professionals; cyber and coding gurus; researchers and data scientists; and self-funded entrepreneurs and innovators - just to name a few of the numerous career fields that define the service members in the unit. This is the type of civilian experience and background needed by the Fleet Marine Force to solve some of Force Design 2030's chief objectives and related initiatives, which are supported by the unit's lines of operation that target areas like contested logistics; data management & integration; and even command, control, computers, communications, cyber-defense & intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting (C5ISR-T). Whether in the form of experimentation for Force Design 2030; modeling the way ahead for talent management, training, and education; or developing enterprise-wide solutions in contested logistics as the service prepares to deploy onto the distributed battlefields of tomorrow, the Marines of MIU are working quickly to partner with key Active Component clients and discover, manufacture, and implement actionable results - at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels - around the Corps. MIU is here to help Marines innovate and win - today and in the years ahead. And the unit is actively recruiting its newest cohort of reservists before achieving full operational capability later this year. Interested Marines may apply to join the unit by visiting https://miu.applytojob.com. Prospective candidates may submit applications through May 21, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. PDT, with selection results released on or about June 30, 2023. To learn more about MIU, please visit https://www.marforres.marines.mil/MIU/. "Regardless of their uniquely qualifying civilian experience and background, our Marines first wear the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor on their uniforms just like all Marines," said Sgt. Maj. Robert K. Lusk, sergeant major of MIU. "And alongside our colleagues in the Fleet, our Marines continue to prioritize mission accomplishment by, with, and through our partners throughout the force." Capt. Devin Nathan Marine Corps Forces Reserves NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mali Decries ECOWAS After Burkina Faso's Army Accused of Massacre By Annie Risemberg May 05, 2023 Mali's military government has lashed out at the Economic Community of West African States' chairman for calling an April massacre in neighboring Burkina Faso part of a genocide. Burkina Faso's military leader has said militants who stole military equipment could be responsible. In a statement Thursday on Mali's state TV, ORTM, the government rejected the West African bloc's chairman's calling civilian killings "genocide." Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who is also president of Guinea Bissau, used the term in a tweet April 27 in which he condemned the April 20 mass killing of more than 100 civilians, allegedly by Burkina Faso's army. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) released a statement the same day stating that targeting civilians can be characterized as genocide by the International Criminal Court. An ORTM presenter read the Malian military government's response. The statement said the ECOWAS chairman's statements qualified the incident as genocide without any proof and that Embalo had imposed his will on the commission. The government's statement went on to say the accusations against Burkina Faso's army reminded it of what it called, "desperate attempts to exploit human rights in order to accuse the authorities" in Mali. More than 100 civilians were killed in the massacre in Karma, Burkina Faso, with survivors in an April 29 televised briefing blaming the army for the attack. Human Rights Watch said 156 people were killed in the massacre. Burkina Faso's military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore pointed the finger Thursday at the Islamist militants they've been fighting. He told state television RTB militants had seized military equipment and carried out attacks. In the televised report, Traore said the defense and security forces should not be immediately accused and that waiting on the results of an investigation was necessary. Traore questioned the motive of accusations against the defense and security forces, and said it might be an effort to damage their morale. Traore complained that many countries refuse to sell Burkina Faso weapons to fight the militants, so the country has had to turn to countries like Russia. But, he said, his country has many allies. He included France, which has an embassy there though its army had left the country. Burkina Faso also has strategic allies, Traore said, and described Russia as one. Rights groups have accused Mali's army of killing civilians, including working with Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries. In April 2022, several media outlets as well as Human Rights Watch reported a massacre of 300 civilians in central Mali, allegedly by Wagner and Malian troops. Mali's military denied the allegation, and said it works with Russian "instructors," and that it killed more than 200 "terrorists" in the incident. Critics have raised concerns that Burkina Faso may also turn to the Wagner Group, which has been accused of rights abuses in other countries, including the Central African Republic and Russia's war in Ukraine. Mali's military has ruled since a 2020 coup. Burkina Faso's military seized control of the government in 2022. Burkina Faso's prime minister, in a visit to Mali in February, suggested the two countries form a federation to boost their economic power. Tensions between ECOWAS, Burkina Faso and Mali rose sharply due to the regional bloc's sanctions over the coups and their delaying a return to elections. Some sanctions were lifted after military leaders agreed to a transition period and timeline for elections. But individual sanctions remain against members of the military. Both Burkina Faso and Mali, along with Guinea, which had a coup in 2021, are suspended from ECOWAS and the African Union until the return of constitutional rule. Mali's military government announced Friday it would hold a referendum on a new constitution June 18, one of the steps toward elections next year. This report includes information from Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rights Commission Denounces Security Measures in Ethiopia By Maya Misikir May 05, 2023 Ethiopia's Human Rights Commission has denounced security measures against protesters in the Amhara region this week that it said led to the deaths of civilians. The government-established commission, which is monitoring operations in the region, reported civilian deaths, though it did not specify how many people were killed. The regional director for monitoring and investigation, Alemu Meheretu, said the commission has received reports of shelling in the Amhara region's North Shewa Zone. "There have been attacks with heavy weapons. People have died because of this, and we have also been informed about the destruction of houses as well," Meheretu said. "Roadblocks and tensions are also being reported." Meheretu added that the commission will issue a report and work on interventions when it has full information. The clashes are between the Ethiopian military and the Amhara region militia, which has set up roadblocks on major routes to the capital. Protests in Amhara started in early April, following government calls to integrate regional forces into the military or the police. Regional Amhara forces fought alongside the Ethiopian government during the two-year war in the neighboring Tigray region. The government's law enforcement operations have also targeted opposition members accused of inciting protesters, according to the Human Rights Commission. Attempts to reach the region's communications director went unanswered. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistani, Indian Foreign Ministers Exchange Swipes at Meeting in India By Sarah Zaman May 05, 2023 During the first visit of Pakistan's top diplomat to archrival India in almost a decade, each side took veiled swipes at the other on bilateral issues but presented a united front on a key regional issue - Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was in Goa, India, Thursday and Friday for the Foreign Ministers Council Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. He was Pakistan's first high-ranking official to visit the neighbor since 2014. India is current president of the eight-member organization. In his speech to the forum, Indian Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar said there was no justification for terrorism. "And it must be stopped in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism," Jaishankar said. In his remarks provided by the Foreign Office, Bhutto Zardari said fighting terrorism was a joint responsibility but cautioned to "not get caught up in weaponizing terrorism for diplomatic point scoring." He asked the forum to "condemn all forms of terrorism, including state-sponsored terrorism." Pakistan accuses India of supporting militants in its restive southern province of Balochistan, which New Delhi denies. In an apparent reference to India's 2019 decision to take away the special autonomous status of Indian-controlled Kashmir and bring its part of the disputed Himalayan territory under New Delhi's direct control, Bhutto Zardari said, "Unilateral and illegal measures by states in violation of international law and [United Nations] Security Council resolutions run counter to the SCO objectives." Later, when Pakistani journalists asked whether he was referring to India's action in Kashmir or to Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territory, Bhutto Zardari laughed but did not specify. Pakistan's foreign minister asked SCO participants to "resolutely resist the temptation to stoke prejudice and discrimination to derive our identity," to condemn "incitement to hate, especially on religious grounds," and to fight "historical revisionism that is leading to violent ultranationalism anywhere in the world." Treatment of religious minorities While Pakistan's top diplomat did not name India, global human rights watchdogs routinely call out Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing government for not sufficiently protecting religious minorities. Incidents of mob violence against Muslims have risen in recent years, some cities named after or by Muslim rulers have been renamed, and lately, chapters on Muslim rulers have been removed from textbooks. Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told VOA there was no other member of the SCO that Pakistan would criticize except its archrival. "So we could assume that if he's taking a subtle swipe at someone within the SCO, it would have to be India," Kugelman said. However, in what he called a "silver lining" of the Pakistani foreign minister's visit, the nuclear-armed rivals presented a similar stance on Afghanistan. Pakistan is facing near daily attacks from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan militants, also known as TTP. Islamabad contends TTP leadership is operating from Afghan soil, a charge Kabul denies. Bhutto Zardari called on the de facto rulers to "uphold their commitments on not allowing the use of Afghan soil for terrorism." The Pakistani foreign minister also said the international community should "continue to urge Afghan authorities to adopt universally accepted principles of political inclusivity, and respecting the rights of all Afghans, including girls' right to education." In his remarks earlier, Jaishankar said that "ensuring a truly inclusive and representative government ... combating terrorism ... and preserving the rights of women, children and minorities" were his government's priorities in Afghanistan. "If you're looking for an example where Pakistan and India would see eye to eye within SCO, it would be the Afghanistan issue and the terrorism risks emanating from there, and concerns about the Taliban not having the ability - or more importantly, the desire - to combat these threats that are so concerning for both India and Pakistan," said Kugelman. Reconciliation? No Indian and Pakistani media closely covered Bhutto Zardari's visit to India. Kugelman said that while it was in Pakistan's interest to attend a conference in India where its ally, China, played a major role, "we should not think his [Bhutto Zardari's] visit to India will be the first salvo of an attempt to forge reconciliation." That became apparent quickly once the conference ended. At a press briefing with Pakistani journalists in Goa, after the foreign ministers conference, Bhutto Zardari blamed the lack of formal diplomacy with India on New Dehli's revocation of Kashmir's autonomy. He put the onus of creating a "conducive environment" for engagement on New Delhi. Speaking to local journalists, Jaishankar expressed outrage at Bhutto Zardari's remarks on terrorism, calling him a "promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry." Despite the tensions, Bhutto Zardari praised Jaishankar as a host, telling Pakistani media covering the event, "At no point did he [Jaishankar] make me feel that our bilateral disagreements have any impact on this conference." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address COVID no longer a global health emergency: WHO Global Times Virus still exists after killing 7m; surveillance won't stop: experts By GT staff reporters Published: May 05, 2023 09:24 PM The World Health Organization on Friday announced that COVID-19 is no longer a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the pandemic, which has taken 7 million lives around the world. The move is deemed a natural one given the current stable situation. "It's with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday while noting that this "does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat," as some regions, including Southeast Asia and the Middle East are seeing spikes in cases. The UN health agency first declared the coronavirus to be an international crisis on January 30, 2020 and during the past three years, the total number of infection cases worldwide exceed 765 million with more than 6.9 million deaths, according to WHO data as of May 3, while the US has the largest number of deaths from COVID-19 with more than 1 million. Feng Zijian, former deputy director of the Chinese Center of Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese CDC), told the Global Times that COVID-19 no longer being a public health emergency of international concern signifies that the epidemic disease will be treated as a commonly seen disease, just like influenza. Following the downgrading of COVID-19, global emergency response measures can be lifted, including quarantine and policies that hinder international travel. The production, approval and emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines will go through normal procedures, which usually require longer periods of time to process, Feng noted. "We finally stepped out [of the pandemic]," Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital in Beijing, also part of the first expert team that traveled to Wuhan in January 2020 at the beginning of the epidemic, said when talking about his personal feelings of the WHO's decision with the Global Times on Friday. The move is of great significance to China and the world after its three years' combat against the virus. Facts show that global prevalence remains at a low level, the pathogenicity of the virus is decreasing and the immunity of the global population against the virus is strong after mass vaccination and infection, Wang said. The move also thrilled many people in China, which withstood the first COVID-19 outbreak in the world and made great sacrifices over the past three years to contribute to the global combat against the virus. "This achievement we made today is based on the united fight against the virus at the beginning of the epidemic, based on the vaccines the researchers developed, based on the work of millions of grassroots officials and based on the people's cooperation in the anti-epidemic work," a Chinese netizen commented on Sina Weibo. Zeng Guang, former chief epidemiologist of Chinese CDC, agreed that the decision is a natural one given the current stable situation. China optimized its management of COVID-19 at the end of 2022. The latest decision by the WHO will further encourage the world to resume international exchanges and travel, experts said. The WHO continued to list the COVID-19 pandemic as a global emergency after China downgraded its management of the disease. This was mainly in consideration of the severe situation in some countries and regions, especially in some less-developed areas, where the mortality rate was still high, Zeng said. These days, the disease has basically been brought under control and the weather is getting warmer, which will help prevent the virus from spreading. It is based on these combined factors that the WHO made its latest decision, Zeng explained. But the virus will continue to stay with us even after it is no longer a global emergency, experts warned. In the future, sporadic cases will occur, but a large-scale outbreak is unlikely, according to Wang. He suggested high-risk groups like people with underlying diseases and the elderly take vaccines every year to protect themselves against the virus. COVID-19 won't disappear from our lives, and our surveillance and study of the disease, including whether we should receive vaccines over a certain period of time or how the variants will mutate, will not stop, Feng said. He explained that China and the rest of the world have already been infected on a large scale, and people in many countries have had repeated infections and received a large proportion of vaccines, so we won't need to worry about another peak outbreak in which rocketing infections occur in a very short period of time. Zeng also called for continued close supervision of the virus, saying it is better to wait until next spring to judge whether there will be large-scale outbreak. "But we should stay positive about the future." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Artsakh Republic State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan has made a statement on the energy, economic, humanitarian and ecological terrorism of Azerbaijan in relation to the Sarsang Reservoir. May 6, 2023, 18:00 We call on the international community to take immediate steps. Artsakh State Minister warns the reserves of Sarsang reached the critical limit STEPANAKERT, MAY 6, ARTSAKHPRESS: The statement is presented below: ''In the conditions of the 146-day blockade of the Republic of Artsakh, since 9 January 2023 and for 117 days now, Azerbaijan has disrupted the electricity supply from Armenia to Artsakh through the only high-voltage power transmission line, carrying out energy, economic, humanitarian and ecological terrorism and causing additional difficulties and suffering to the people of Artsakh. Both before and during the blockade, Azerbaijan regularly disrupted, and from 22 March completely cut off the supply of gas through the only Armenia-Artsakh pipeline, which has also led to serious humanitarian and economic problems, as well as to a forced increase in domestic electricity generation and overloading of energy supply networks. Under such conditions, the Republic of Artsakh is forced to use only the domestic electricity generation infrastructure, consisting of 6 hydroelectric power plants, of which only the Sarsang reservoir power plant accounts for about 70 per cent of the total capacity. Since before the interruption of the electricity supply by Azerbaijan, the domestic production met about 30 per cent of the demand, from 9 January, in order to meet the minimum energy needs of the population, the government of Artsakh had to introduce a number of additional measures, including the suspension of the work of all major business enterprises, daily rolling blackouts, operation at maximum capacity of all existing power plants, etc. As a result, not only a number of humanitarian and domestic difficulties have emerged, but also serious environmental challenges associated with the rapid depletion of the resources of the Sarsang Reservoir. Compared to the same period of last year, from 9 January of this year to today, almost three times more water was released from the Sarsang Reservoir, and the water inflow was almost two times less due to dry weather this year. Currently, Sarsang's water resources have reached a critical limit of about 88 million m (about 15 per cent of the total capacity), approaching the dead (unusable) volume of about 70 million m. This situation not only puts at risk the prospect of electricity supply for the population of Artsakh and deepens their daily suffering, but has also resulted in a significant negative impact on the environment, including drying up of springs, deterioration of the microclimate, decline of flora and fauna, etc. If this situation is not immediately addressed and the normal power supply of Artsakh is not restored, this will inevitably lead to a sharp aggravation of the above-mentioned energy, economic, humanitarian and environmental problems and, ultimately, to a humanitarian catastrophe. It is worth noting that during the entire period of independence, in contrast to the Soviet time, the water from the Sarsang Reservoir was used for irrigating also the agricultural lands (around 96,000 hectares) of Azerbaijan, since the it always kept the canal that irrigates the lands of Artsakh closed. However, by deliberately and criminally disrupting the electricity supply from Armenia to Artsakh, provoking an artificial energy crisis and forcing the Artsakh authorities to actively use the very limited water resources of the Sarsang Resevoir, Azerbaijan, in fact, in addition to exposing the people of Artsakh to energy, economic and ecological terrorism, also deprives its own population of the opportunity to receive enough irrigation water from the Sarsang Reservoir during the hot summer months. In fact, it was precisely for these same criminal purposes that the plainclothes agents of the Azerbaijani government or eco-terrorists acted so diligently, keeping the people of Artsakh under siege. Faced with the threat of depletion of Sarsangs water resources and the internal potential of Artsakhs energy production, as well as the impending risk of a humanitarian catastrophe, we once again call on the entire international community, the relevant international structures, governments of countries and all those, genuinely concerned about the rights and security of the people of Artsakh, not to turn a blind eye to this catastrophic energy, humanitarian, environmental and economic situation and undertake immediate measures to make Azerbaijan abandon such medieval, terrorist and cruel behaviour towards both the people and the environment.'' Attached are satellite images of the Sarsang Reservoir as of 1 January and 28 April, 2023, with surface elevations of 705.8 and 671.5 metres above sea level, respectively. Hainan sees more COVID-19 cases, with 70% caused by XBB.1 variant Global Times By Global Times Published: May 05, 2023 09:39 PM South China's Hainan Province has recently seen an apparent increase in COVID-19 infections, among which 70 percent were caused by the XBB.1 variant and its subvariants. But the cases are still sporadic and pose little impact to the local medical system, the provincial government said Friday citing a local disease control and prevention expert. Jin Yuming, an expert from the Hainan disease control and prevention center, said that data showed the infection cases in some local counties and cities had increased recently and the rate of fever patients testing positive for COVID-19 had climbed, according to a statement from the Hainan government. Experts studied the situation and judged that the epidemic in Hainan is still at a stage of sporadic cases, according to the statement. The XBB.1 variant and its subvariants have been detected in more than 70 percent of the cases. But the increasing infections so far have not overwhelmed the local medical service system, affecting neither the number of visitors to local fever clinics and emergency clinics nor the number of local severe patients hospitalized in intensive care units, according to experts. Experts called on people to enhance personal protection measures including wearing masks in public places, washing hands and maintaining social distancing. They stressed strengthened protection measures in high risk places and groups. Increasing reports of COVID-19 have been witnessed not only in Hainan after the country experienced a tourism boom in the five-day May Day holidays from April 29 to May 3. During the period, a total of 274 million trips were made across the country. Many people posted positive results from COVID-19 antigen tests on social media platforms during the holidays. Amid the apparent rising trend, the Chinese Center of Disease Control and Prevention released a study on the COVID-19 re-infections in South China's Guangdong Province from December 2022 to January 2023. The study showed that the rate of re-infection with the original variant is 50 percent and that of the Alpha and Delta variants is about 35.2 percent. The re-infection rate from Omicron is about 18.4 percent, but the rate of re-infection with Omicron three to six months after the first infection is only about 4 percent, according to the report. The report said that 94.2 percent of re-infected patients showed symptoms and only 7.7 percent of them needed medical intervention. The risk of the Omicron variant causing a large-scale epidemic in Guangdong is low, but supervision of new variants and investigation of the antibody level of the population is still necessary, the report concluded. According to another report based on data from 189 countries and regions published by the center, a second wave of the Omicron-based epidemic usually occurs five to seven months after the first wave. Some doctors in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and East China's Zhejiang Province told the media that they had observed a slight increase in COVID-19 patients in clinics recently. But these patients' symptoms were milder than those infected in earlier waves of the pandemic. Some of the recent patients are people who had not been infected in the first wave. Those who got re-infected were mostly people who had just come back from overseas or who had close contact with returnees from overseas, a doctor named LA Fangfang at the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital affiliated with the Zhejiang University School of Medicine, told the media. New variants like XBB may increase the risk of second infections, but the scale would not be as large as the first wave, LA said. People with weak immune systems and underlying diseases face a higher risk of re-infection, experts said. But they predicted that a second wave is not likely in China in the short term, as the majority of the population has built up immunity after the first wave of mass infections and vaccinations. "From December until now, almost one-third of those who were not infected during the last wave are gradually getting infected. Later, more and more of those who haven't got COVID-19 will be infected, but the peak won't surpass even 10 percent of that in December last year," Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert from Peking University First Hospital, told the Global Times. This means there won't be heavy pressure on China's hospitals and the medical system, according to Wang, who said a second wave might come in September this year. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Canada Accuses China of Intimidating Politician, Summons Ambassador By VOA News May 05, 2023 China's Foreign Ministry on Friday angrily protested a Canadian intelligence report that asserted Chinese diplomats tried to intimidate a Canadian member of parliament for his criticism of Bejing. China's strong comments come after Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Thursday summoned China's ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, and said she was considering expelling the diplomat. The 2021 report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, first surfaced in an article this week in Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper. The article said that according to the intelligence agency, opposition lawmaker Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong were targeted after Chong criticized China's treatment of its Uyghur minorities. The report identified a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat allegedly responsible for the intimidation. The intelligence agency also said Beijing had tried to influence the outcome of Canada's federal elections in 2019. Speaking Thursday in Parliament, Joly said such interference cannot be tolerated, and she assured lawmakers there would be actions, including the possibility of expulsion of diplomats. During a regular briefing Friday in Beijing, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called the allegations in the intelligence report "totally nonsense," "groundless slander" and "smears." She said the Chinese ambassador, when summoned to the Canadian Foreign Ministry, lodged a strong protest. The report also has been controversial within Canadian political circles. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday he first heard about the threats against Chong and his family from the Globe and Mail report. He said when he inquired with the CSIS, the intelligence agency said the information did not meet a threshold to pass along to him. The agency did give Chong a briefing in 2021, but the lawmaker said he was not told of the threats to him or his family, saying he learned the details from the Globe and Mail report. My statement on The Globe and Mail report regarding a diplomat of the People's Republic of China in Canada.https://t.co/9Fcm46tZSs#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/WL6zJNbBvE a Michael Chong YY (@MichaelChongMP) May 1, 2023 The issue became a point of debate Thursday in Parliament as members of Trudeau's Liberal Party insisted that Chong, a member of the opposition Conservative Party, had in fact known the details of the report all along. On Wednesday, Trudeau insisted that going forward, any intelligence report that specifically mentions a threat to a member of Parliament or their family must be elevated, and those parties need to be informed. Relations between Canada and China have been tense in recent years. In 2021, China released two Canadians - former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor - who had been detained by China for nearly three years. Their arrest on espionage charges came in late 2018, less than two weeks after Canadian officials arrested Chinese businesswoman and Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant related to the company's business dealings in Iran. Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Censorship in Hong Kong has led to 'war' on libraries and publishers With help from informers, books are being pulled from shelves under national security law. By Chen Zifei for RFA Cantonese 2023.05.05 -- Some Hong Kongers are calling it a "war on libraries." The number of books on offer at Hong Kong's public libraries has fallen as officials remove books from shelves under a restrictive national security law imposed in the wake of the 2019 protest movement. Since then, libraries have been required to remove politically sensitive titles from their collections, leading to a cull of books, and less time for staff to invest in new ones, according to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. "In order to maintain national security, more time is required to select suitable library materials, meaning that the size of the collection has also been reduced," the department said in a recent comment on an annual review of the city's public library services. "Inspection of library books to maintain national security is an ongoing effort in Hong Kong's public libraries," it said in a response to a report from the city's audit office. "From time to time, complaints from the public are received, which require inspection of library materials." Titles addressing the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, as well as books written by jailed protest leader Joshua Wong and Occupy Central movement founder Benny Tai, have disappeared from library shelves since the law took effect on July 1, 2020, according to local media reports. Hong Kong is in the throes of a "war on libraries," said current affairs commentator Sang Pu, who called on the government to disclose full details of books that have been removed from the collection, and to reinstate them. He also called on Hong Kongers overseas to set up a repository of banned titles so future generations would be able to read them and their content wouldn't be forgotten. Informers The general public have been actively encouraged by police to inform on any words or deeds that could be deemed subversive under the law, which criminalizes dissent in the form of words or deeds that "incite hatred" of the Hong Kong or Chinese authorities, leading to more than 40,000 tip-offs last year. Many of the books quietly disappeared from libraries after denunciations in the government-backed media, which said they broke the national security law, according to reports in pro-democracy news outlets, some of which have themselves been forced to close amid investigation by the national security police. "Hong Kong public libraries completed its review of [existing] library books that are clearly not conducive to national security, and has removed them from the collection," the Hong Kong Audit Commission said in an annual report released on April 26. But it added: "As of February 2023, inspections and follow-up actions are ongoing." It said government guidelines require libraries to "safeguard national security by preventing activities that could endanger it." "In purchasing library materials, considering book proposals, accepting book donations and adding to collections [by] purchasing books, libraries must ensure that their collections do not prejudice national security," it said, recommending that new acquisitions are processed through the government's Book Registration Unit. "If content is found in the collection that could violate the national security law, then loans of those materials must be suspended," it said. "The material can only be relisted after libraries have ensured that the content does not violate the law." 'Not conducive" to creativity The entire publishing industry is feeling the effects of the law, said published author Johnny Lau. "It's not just the libraries, but the entire publishing industry," Lau said. "In the current climate, a lot of people are censoring themselves." "The publishing industry and library collections as a whole are shrinking, and fewer and fewer books are getting published," he said. "The restrictions are affecting some people's desire to write books at all." "This climate hinders both freedom of speech and publication," Lau said. Former Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kei, who fled to the democratic island of Taiwan after being detained by mainland Chinese authorities for selling "banned" books to customers in China, said the government has no choice but to censor libraries under the national security law. "The Leisure and Cultural Services Department must follow the policies of the Hong Kong government, which is now the same as the mainland Chinese government," Lam said. "No book with any kind of ideological issue is going to get published now." "The current climate in Hong Kong isn't conducive to creative work," he said. Much as mainland Chinese writers used to get their banned books published in Hong Kong, authors who write about Hong Kong issues are now choosing to publish in Taiwan, where the publishing industry is much freer. "There are more and more Chinese-language books getting published in Taiwan," Lam said. "Recent works include The Last Concession, which chronicles changes in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Secret Operations about young people wanted [following the 2019 protests] who fled." "It's not just social commentary, but literary works as well," Lam said. "Taiwan is the only market for Chinese-language books in the world that remains free and open." "More and more Hong Kongers are coming to Taiwan to buy books, and they're surprised to see that there are so many being published here with a Hong Kong theme," he added. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster. Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China stresses strategic autonomy, security cooperation at SCO meeting Global Times Consensus on security, politics, and economy shows enduring vitality: experts By Wang Qi and Fan Anqi Published: May 05, 2023 11:14 PM Updated: May 06, 2023 12:28 AM Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang called on the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to build a closer SCO community with a shared future at a time when the world faces challenges and crisis including the resurgence of the Cold War mentality, surging unilateral protectionism and rising hegemonism, while proposing a five-point suggestion at the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Goa, India, on Friday. Chinese experts hailed the SCO meeting as a success that fully demonstrated the attraction of the SCO philosophy, namely, promoting regional stability and development through equality and mutually beneficial cooperation, openness and inclusiveness. This is in stark contrast to the confrontational mindset and bloc politics of some Western politicians. In the context of the intensifying game between major powers, maintaining the momentum of SCO solidarity and cooperation is of great significance to global governance as well as the process of multi-polarization, they said. During the two-day event, SCO members agreed to further strengthen security cooperation and jointly fight terrorism, separatism, drug trafficking, and cyber crimes. They also agreed to promote cooperation in the fields of transport, energy, finance, investment, free trade and digital economy, as well as environmental protection and jointly deal with climate change, according to a readout from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. On regional issues, SCO members support Afghanistan in achieving national stability and reconstruction, support the SCO in strengthening cooperation with the UN and BRICS, safeguard the principles of the UN Charter and uphold multilateralism. They agreed to strengthen the establishment of a regional anti-terrorist structure. All parties agreed to advance the SCO enlargement process in an orderly manner and further enhance the international influence of the SCO. According to reports, Iran and Belarus are expected to be the newest SCO members in the future. The SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting has made comprehensive preparations for the SCO summit to be held in New Delhi in July, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Li Yongquan, director of the Eurasian Social Development Research at the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times on Friday that the consensus reached by SCO foreign ministers showed that the SCO member states are as committed as ever to cooperation in security, and at the same time hope to make breakthroughs in new areas such as cyber space and supply chains. The consensus shows that the SCO's philosophy and development prospects have been fully recognized by its member states, and reflects the SCO's role as an important multilateral platform for practical cooperation and communication among countries, Zhao Huirong, an Eastern European studies expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday. 'Shanghai Spirit' On Friday, Qin stressed the need to carry forward the "Shanghai Spirit," or the undergirding values and guidelines for the SCO, featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations, and pursuit of common development. With that premise, Qin called on SCO members to uphold strategic autonomy, strengthen unity and mutual trust, and oppose external forces' meddling in regional affairs and instigating "color revolutions." Qin also suggested continuing to deepen security cooperation and resolutely cracking down on all forms of terrorism, drug trafficking and transnational organized crime. He also suggested that SCO members resolutely resist any action that undermines the international economic and trade order and market rules, and that the stability of industrial and supply chains be maintained. In addition to politics, security and economy, Qin's five-point suggestion also included the SCO's development in global governance and the development of the SCO's organization mechanism. The SCO is in a critical period, during which challenges and opportunities coexist, so Qin pointed out five aspects in which SCO can play a more important role in promoting a more just and reasonable international order, Zhao Huirong said. "China has a clear plan for the future development of the SCO, which is based on the common interests of all member states, and that's why Qin's suggestion has been positively recognized by all parties," Zhao noted. "The SCO member states differ in social and economic systems, cultures and history... They can live in harmony with each other mainly because they adhere to the SCO Charter and articles of association and especially follow the 'Shanghai Spirit'," Li Yongquan said. Against the backdrop of an intensifying game between major powers, maintaining the momentum of SCO solidarity and cooperation is of great significance to regional stability, development and global governance, Li said. The ministers' consensus on security is important for maintaining regional stability, given that the Ukraine crisis has provided a brutal example of the consequences of outside forces' meddling in Eurasian affairs, Li added. Facts speak for themselves Citing experts, some Western media claimed that the SCO "won't have to contend with an East-West split over the war in Europe," and doubt that the members will be able to achieve practical cooperation, as there's internal conflict. However, the facts speak for themselves. During the two-day event, a series of bilateral meetings were held in a frank manner at the SCO meeting platform, which analysts viewed as a convincing response to the West's "sour grapes" and attempts to smear and sow discord among SCO members. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Thursday, during which the two sides agreed to maintain the overall unity and cooperation of the SCO, and build the SCO into a platform for mutually beneficial cooperation among member states. They also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. When meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Qin said the two sides should continue to make efforts to further ease the situation on the China-India border in order to maintain sustainable peace and stability in the region. Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also spoke with Lavrov in a bilateral meeting, and the two sides exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan, according to media reports. As the foreign minister from the host country, Jaishankar also spoke with his counterparts from China, Russia and Uzbekistan on the sidelines of the SCO meeting, on topics ranging from bilateral and multilateral cooperation to global and regional issues, according to ANI News. Although no bilateral foreign ministers' meeting was held between Pakistan and India, according to Indian media, Jaishankar on Thursday welcomed Zardari, the first visiting Pakistani high-ranking official in nearly a decade. Analysts from Channel News Asia see it as "small but crucial progress" in their relationship. It is natural for different countries to have differences. It is precisely because of the existence of the SCO that member states can better manage differences and common challenges through dialogue and cooperation, rather than through hegemonic coercion, Zhao noted. "The close communication and exchanges between the foreign ministers show that the SCO member states take their relations seriously and support the organization in maintaining high spirits and strengthening its functions," Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Friday. "This is a vivid manifestation of the SCO's enduring vitality," Li said. In both multilateral and bilateral talks under the SCO, the foreign ministers discussed not only topics concerning their own interests, but also major international events, reflecting SCO's global influence as a regional organization, Li said. "In the western end of Eurasia, the expansion of NATO has led to the Ukraine crisis and a tragedy in Europe. The existence and development of the SCO has injected more positivity into Asia," Li said, noting that "China's initiatives on global security, development and civilization are reflected in the development of the SCO." SCO nations account for 40 percent of the world population, and also a third of global GDP. With broad representation and solid strength, the SCO has a bright future and will play a greater role in major international and regional issues, which the international community is happy to see, Li said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Puppet Traitor Yoon Suk Yeol's Visit to U.S. Draws Censure, Ridicule and Concern (6) Korean Central News Agency of DPRK Pyongyang, May 6 (KCNA) -- There is increasing concern about the serious impact on peace and security of the Korean Peninsula, region and the world by puppet traitor Yoon Suk Yeol's extreme sycophancy to the U.S. Chinese Global Times quoted analysts as saying "Yoon's overwhelming pro-U.S. policy could become nightmare for south Korea, with losses to outweigh gains". The paper said "south Korea's new nuclear deterrence agreement with the U.S. that could allow Washington to dispatch a nuclear ballistic missile submarine to south Korea has drawn strong criticism from its neighboring countries". It continued: Experts said deploying U.S. nuclear weapons on the Korea peninsula is an extremely dangerous and provocative act toward China, Russia and north Korea. And that Washington and Seoul will face strategic level retaliation which could spark another nuclear crisis in the region. A military expert said that the U.S. "extended deterrence" strategy is not for defending its ally south Korea but an approach to use north Korea's military development as a pretext to deploy U.S. strategic assets, including nuclear weapons, to impose more strategic pressures to China, Russia and north Korea. This will do nothing good for the denuclearization of the peninsula but make the situation worse and also seriously threaten the security of China, Russia and north Korea. Like the one in Europe, the U.S. is likely to use the Korean peninsula nuclear issue to provoke another crisis in Asia, but China and Russia will not allow the U.S. to do so. If Seoul ignores such warnings and completely executes U.S. order for "extended deterrence" in the region, south Korea will likely face retaliation, said experts. This could become a "nightmare" for Yoon and his country, and the protection and investment provided by the U.S. are not worth the loss that south Korea will suffer in terms of both economy and security, they noted. They said that Yoon's latest remarks completely confuse right and wrong and his increasingly extreme pro-U.S. foreign policy could destabilize the Korean Peninsula and that the so-called "extended deterrence" would only provoke Pyongyang to implement its principle of "might for might, frontal match". It is the U.S.-south Korea military exercises that escalate regional tensions, the Chinese newspaper said, quoting a foreign analyst on Korean affairs as saying in a news commentary on China Global TV Network "public opposition to Yoon's diplomatic strategy is rampant. And south Korea will get nothing for its unbalanced diplomatic approach entirely dependent on the U.S." The Russian magazine the International Affairs carried the following article titled "U.S.-south Korea: Nuclear deterrence against the DPRK instead of talks" by a senior researcher of the China and Modern Asia Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to the U.S. had been carefully prepared for a long time. However, the results of the visit were disappointing. The main topic of the "talks" was the "deterrence" against the DPRK, which would not improve the security situation in Northeast Asia at all. The U.S. and south Korea are planning to form a bilateral "Nuclear Consultative Group" at an early date, start discussions on nuclear and strategic plans in this way, conduct frequent military drills in the field of nuclear deterrence on the Korean peninsula and, at the same time, make U.S. strategic nuclear submarines equipped with nuclear ballistic missiles regularly call at south Korean ports. Such situation has arisen for the first time in the last 40 years. Strangely enough, Biden stressed that the "U.S. is seeking to make a diplomatic breakthrough in the relations with the DPRK" as regards the results of the recent "talks". However, no matter what breakthrough he may make, the U.S. nuclear obligation to south Korea won't be affected. And moreover, he openly threatened the DPRK. As seen above, the Biden administration is acting in a quite contrary direction, far from seeking talks on building military confidence. In conclusion, Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to the U.S. showed that the U.S. and its followers made big retrogression over the issue of security of the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia. China Daily in an article titled "Washington ensnares Yoon into geopolitical trap" said Yoon Suk Yeol 's visit to the United States could have far-reaching impacts on the future of the peninsula and that of the region, and perhaps, in some ways, of the world at large. It commented that the "Washington Declaration" and the "joint statement" which Yoon claims as a "bountiful harvest" appear to be potentially lethal, and there has been complaint that Yoon may have just submitted semiconductors, among other things, to U.S. control. Unless the new agreement is completely withdrawn, it will deal a massive blow to the south Korean economy, apart from poisoning its overall relations with China, the paper said, adding he has allowed south Korea to be sucked further into the U.S.' "Indo-Pacific" strategy. South Korean puppet media and experts are also becoming increasingly vocal denouncing puppet traitor Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to the U.S. as a traitor's war-oriented visit to turn the Korean peninsula into the theater of a nuclear war. The south Korean newspaper Hangyore noted that the regular exhibition of U.S. strategic means entering the Korean peninsula will not serve as "expanded deterrence" but as "extended crisis". Recalling that deployment of a U.S. strategic nuclear submarine was confirmed by the high-profile "Washington Declaration", the newspaper quoted the U.S. Pacific air force commander as saying at an interview with Japanese media that U.S. strategic bombers will regularly conduct operations in and around the peninsula and land in south Korea. It is abnormal for a strategic nuclear submarine operating underwater to surface and enter a south Korean port, and for a strategic nuclear bomber operating in the air to land on the soil of south Korea, it said, voicing concern that such military action of the U.S. and south Korea will spark sensitive reaction from the neighboring countries and deepen tensions and crisis. An executive member of the Solidarity for Culture of puppet south Korea said that Yoon seems to struggle hard for the sole purpose of making south Korea "a country needed by the U.S.", irrespective of the security of people, geo-political stability, peace on the peninsula and retaliation by neighboring countries and many other factors, quoting the public as saying that the "diplomatic disaster" of Yoon's regime continues and it is "self-ruining diplomacy." The member noted that foreign media and experts on diplomacy and security and even pro-U.S. conservatives in south Korea were stunned by Yoon's behavior. South Korean websites are deluged with articles deriding Yoon's visit to the U.S. as a war-inviting visit to complete the U.S.-Japan-south Korea triangular military alliance. They called for bringing down pro-U.S. warmonger Yoon who is inviting a nuclear war, commenting that Yoon earned an ill fame for his "top-notch" evil rule such as pro-U.S. and pro-Japanese flunkeyism, treachery, corruption, incompetence, anti-worker and anti-people policy, fascism and warmongering. Others censure his visit, branding him as "an idiot taking the lead with a rifle in executing the U.S. war strategy", saying "if Yoon is left intact, a war will break out and south Korea will be exposed to a shower of attacks", "it is as fool as a wart standing against a cart to level a gun at the nuclear and missile power," "one can not but wonder about Yoon's behavior of trusting even a thief", and "the recent U.S. visit would lead Yoon to a grave". The internet media Voice of Seoul derided the wretched plight of puppet traitor Yoon having a hard time for his wild act, saying: Outwardly the ruling party seems to be indifferent to Yoon's submissive diplomacy toward Japan and wild rhetoric of "ironclad trust" in the U.S. over its wiretapping, but it is jittery inwardly and is lamenting with deep sigh. In less than a year in office Yoon has made naught of everything. Economy went bankrupt with increasing debts. He is hyping up his considerable successes during his visit to the U.S. but what he achieved is not as good as it looks. He seemed to have miscalculated that everything will turn out OK if he holds hands with Kishida and Biden. But only yawning comes out at the thought of what convinced Yoon and the ruling party of a victory in the next year's "general election". Voters are the people on this land, not Kishida and Biden. The ruling party is seething because Yoon has gone too much. No wonder, he is ruining even economy, diplomacy and security. -0- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran expelled four Azerbaijani diplomats in tit-for-tat measure Iran Press TV Friday, 05 May 2023 1:28 PM Tehran has expelled four Azerbaijani diplomats after a similar decision by Baku amid heightened tensions between the two neighbors. Iran's news agency IRNA reported on Friday that the diplomats were declared persona non grata last month. They were working at Azerbaijan's embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northwestern city of Tabriz. The news agency said the measure took effect in April. The move is in response to Baku's decision last month to expel four Iranian embassy employees over what it called "provocative actions". Baku's decision was announced shortly it said it had arrested six men, who it claimed were linked to Iranian secret services and were plotting a coup in the Caspian nation. Iran had denounced Azerbaijan's decision as "radical and unconstructive", and vowed retaliation. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kan'ani said at the time that the move is in contradiction with good neighborliness principles and is in line with the Israeli regime's policy of fomenting tensions between Muslim nations. Azerbaijan's foreign ministry confirmed on Friday that Iran had declared four Azerbaijani diplomats persona non grata in early April. Azerbaijan's relations with Iran were strained in January following an attack on the Eurasian country's embassy in Tehran. Azerbaijan closed its diplomatic mission following the incident and evacuated staff over what it called a "terrorist act," with President Ilham Aliyev blaming it on the "Iranian establishment." This is while an initial investigation pointed to "personal and family-related problems" as the motive of the assailant. The ongoing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia as well as Baku's improving relations with the Israeli regime are among other bones of contentions between Iran and Azerbaijan. Late March, Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen said the regime had reached an agreement with Azerbaijan to establish a united front against Iran. The remarks followed the opening of Azerbaijan's embassy in Tel Aviv. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Expels Four Azerbaijani Diplomats By Aziza Goyushzade, Parvana Bayramova, Tapdig Farhadoglu May 05, 2023 Iran has revoked the visas of four Azerbaijani diplomats, adding to tensions between the neighboring countries a month after Azerbaijan expelled four Iranian diplomats from Baku. "The Iranian side, without any reason and citing the principle of reciprocity as an excuse, declared two employees of the embassy of our country in Iran, who were evacuated in January, as well as two employees of the consulate general, persona non grata," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told VOA. The move comes after Azerbaijan declared four employees of the Iranian Embassy in Azerbaijan persona non grata in early April "for activities inconsistent with diplomatic status and the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations." The Iranian government has not issued an official statement on the matter, while the Iranian Embassy in Azerbaijan responded to VOA's request saying that Iranian officials and institutions do not give interviews to VOA. Tensions have been on the rise between Azerbaijan and Iran in the past year. In January, there was an armed attack on the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran. The head of the embassy's security service was killed, and two other employees were injured. As a result, Azerbaijan suspended its diplomatic activities in the embassy. Azerbaijan's former ambassador to Iran, Sadraddin Soltan, said there was hope that after Azerbaijan expelled four Iranian diplomats, the Iranian side would take a few goodwill steps regarding the attack on the Azerbaijani Embassy and its attitude toward Azerbaijan. "On the contrary, they aggravated the situation," he told VOA. "Declaring four Azerbaijani diplomats persona non grata is a step taken by the Tehran authorities in the direction of straining relations between the countries, including relations in the diplomatic field." Relations became further strained after Azerbaijan opened an embassy in Israel March 29. Iran's parliament issued a statement denouncing the move. "This step of the Azerbaijani government will lead to many negative political consequences, and the Muslims of the world will see them as partners of the Zionist regime, which is killing and [causing the] suffering [of] the Palestinians. The Iranian parliament has called on the governments of Arab and Islamic countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to condemn this step of Azerbaijan." Tehran fears that Israel can use Azerbaijani territory for a possible offensive against Iran, according to Paul Goble, a specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia and a former special adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State. "They've also been very clear that, in their view, Azerbaijan's pro-Israel position is part of the general threat to Iran, that if Israel ever were going to attack Iran, Iranian targets, it would use Azerbaijan's territory to launch drones and even planes against Iranian targets," he said. Although several rounds of negotiations have been held between the foreign ministers of the two countries in the direction of normalizing relations, the parties have not made any statements regarding the progress. Dilshad Aliyarli contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bangladesh delegation with Rohingya to visit Myanmar Refugees say they are uninterested in moving back to camps. By Kamran Reza Chowdhury and Abdur Rahman for BenarNews 2023.05.05 -- Bangladesh is moving full steam ahead with a China-backed project to begin repatriating Rohingya to Myanmar, a plan that Human Rights Watch warned would put the lives of the persecuted refugees at "grave risk." On Friday, a delegation of 27 people, including 20 Rohingya from refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, is scheduled to visit Maungdaw in Myanmar's Rakhine state, to assess preparations for the planned move this month of about 1,000 refugees. Bangladesh's refugee relief and repatriation commissioner said the trip would be a follow-on action to a visit in March by Burmese officials to verify the identities of the Rohingya who were part of a mass exodus who fled a brutal 2017 military crackdown against the stateless minority group. "We are going to help the forcibly displaced people of Myanmar to assess whether the situation in Rakhine is favorable for return," Mohammed Mizanur Rahman on Thusday told BenarNews, an RFA-afilliated online news service. "Our plan is to start the repatriation by this month," he said, insisting that Dhaka would not force any refugees to go back. Despite its questionable role in this repatriation program, the United Nations refugee agency said in March that conditions in Rakhine state were not favorable for the safe return of 1,000 Rohingya. Abul Kashem, a Rohingya leader from the Cox's Bazar camp who is part of the delegation visiting Friday, told BenarNews that refugees were not interested in going back to camps in Myanmar. "Once we go there, we can see whether the situation is conducive to return. We, the Rohingya people, want to return to our homesteads, but not to camps there," he said. Bangladesh diplomatic observers said the plan really is a "ploy" by Myanmar's military rulers to stave off international pressure ahead of a hearing next month at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, in an application to the court by The Gambia that says Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya. The United States in March 2021 declared as a genocide the Myanmar military's 2017 deadly crackdown against Rohingya Muslims that killed thousands and forced nearly 740,000 people to flee across the border to neighboring Bangladesh. Myanmar is "interested in starting repatriation, though on a limited scale," said Faruk Khan, the chairman of the Bangladesh foreign ministry's parliamentary watchdog committee. "Myanmar has come to understand that they must take their people back. Otherwise, they would face more international sanctions and pressures," he told BenarNews. "China has also come to understand that the Rohingya crisis must be settled. So they have been using their influence over Myanmar. I would not say that all people would return in a year, but once the repatriation starts, gradually the pace would be faster," he added, about the Beijing-backed plan. A former foreign secretary, Md. Shahidul Haque, expressed skepticism about the repatriation move. "The Rohingya refugees want to return to their original homesteads, while Myanmar says they must live at guarded camps for 120 days before going to their villages; a big question remains what freedom the Rohingya would get in Rakhine," Haque told BenarNews. "Myanmar is set to submit their counter-[argument] at the ICJ. Keeping this issue in mind, Myanmar has been showing interests in repatriation. They become active in repatriation before every ICJ hearings, and cut off communications afterwards." In March, Human Rights Watch urged Bangladesh to halt the repatriation plan. The prospect of durable returns has grown ever more distant since the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, carried out by the same generals who orchestrated the 2017 mass atrocities, HRW said. "Voluntary, safe, and dignified returns of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar are not possible while the military junta is carrying out massacres around the country and apartheid in Rakhine State," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director for the watchdog group. "Bangladesh authorities should stop deceiving these refugees to get them to engage with junta officials when it's clear that Rohingya will only be able to return safely when rights-respecting rule is established." BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service. Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indonesian FM: Jakarta has quietly engaged with Myanmar stakeholders, including NUG ASEAN chair Indonesia has had at least 60 engagements so far this year, Retno Marsudi says. By Tria Dianti and Arie Firdaus for BenarNews 2023.05.05 -- ASEAN chair Indonesia has quietly engaged with the Burmese parallel civilian government and military administration, as well as China, India and Thailand, to solve Myanmar's post-coup strife, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Friday. This is the first concrete effort publicly announced by Indonesia, this year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has come under heavy criticism during the past two years for failing to rein in Myanmar's military rulers. The goal of these engagements - more than 60 of them this year - is to build trust "with non-megaphone diplomacy," Retno told reporters in Jakarta, although she acknowledged that Myanmar stakeholders' positions diverge considerably. "The engagements were conducted in the form of both virtual and in-person field visits. ... Quiet diplomacy does not mean we did not do anything. In fact, for the past four months, Indonesia has done many things," Retno said about Indonesia's efforts as the 2023 ASEAN chair. "The aim is to provide space for all stakeholders to build trust in order to be more open in communication. This approach was welcomed by all parties including stakeholders in Myanmar." Among the stakeholders Indonesia has engaged with are the Myanmar State Administration Council, as the junta is officially known; the shadow National Unity Government (NUG); Ethnic Armed Organizations in Myanmar; the European Union; Japan; the United Nations and the United States, Retno said. "[I]t has to be acknowledged that the differences in the positions of the stakeholders in Myanmar are wide and deep," the minister acknowledged. The NUG, which comprises elected lawmakers and members of parliament ousted in the Feb. 1 2021 Myanmar military coup, confirmed to Radio Free Asia that meetings with Indonesia did take place after it assumed ASEAN's chairmanship this year. "After Indonesia took over chairmanship of ASEAN, we have had an in-person meeting with the foreign minister of Indonesia as well as members of the special envoy office. NUG has had in-person meetings as well as online discussions with them," Zin Mar Aung, the NUG's foreign minister, told RFA Burmese. "These meetings were held by mutual consent to not publicize their details. ... It is difficult to say on what basis to judge these discussions in terms of progress. I must say that ASEAN is focusing on everything within its power to handle the Myanmar crisis but whether its attempts are satisfactory or how much progress it has made can only be decided after seeing what decisions it will make at the next ASEAN summit," she added. The summit is scheduled for May 9-11 in Labuan Bajo, in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province. Retno said that as ASEAN chair, Indonesia would not give up on efforts to solve the Myanmar crisis that erupted after the military toppled the elected government. There needs to be an end to bloodshed in the beleaguered country, Indonesia's top diplomat said. "Violence must stop, I repeat violence must be immediately discontinued. Without stopping violence, there will be no peace in Myanmar," Retno said. She added she would "communicate with stakeholders to ensure progress in delivering humanitarian assistance." The Myanmar military meanwhile has ignored a five-point consensus it agreed to with ASEAN in April 2021, one of the main points of which was an end to violence. Its forces have also killed more than 3,400 people since the generals seized power. But aside from barring the junta's representatives from the ASEAN summit and top ministerial meetings, the regional bloc has done little else to penalize the Myanmar military for going back on its word. 'Need to demonstrate some wins' Regional observers and analysts said they had mixed feelings about Indonesia's efforts. The engagements might reap benefits in the longer term, but it is not clear what good they will do in the near term during Jakarta's ASEAN chairmanship, said Hunter Marston, a Southeast Asia researcher at Australian National University. "Indonesia will need to demonstrate some wins soon or utilize its influence to bring various stakeholders together before India, Thailand, and the CLV [Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam] countries achieve an end run around Jakarta, further discrediting ASEAN and its failed five- point consensus," Marston told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. "Jakarta may want to consider an ASEAN+ model which moves ahead without Thailand and, or Vietnam's approval and invites dialogue partners such as Australia, Japan, and the U.S. to widen the talks and give them more leverage over Myanmar's various stakeholders, but that may require Western democracies overcome their revulsion to sitting down with the junta at some point," he added. Analysts have said that the views of Thailand, and authoritarian states Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam diverge from other ASEAN member-states on the Myanmar issue. They are more supportive of the Burmese junta and believe the regional bloc should not interfere in the internal affairs of a member. Thailand and India's Track 1.5 meetings were outpacing and overshadowing the ASEAN-led process, he said. Marston was referring to meetings in New Delhi in late April, and in Bangkok in March. Track 1.5 talks usually include government officials, who take part in an unofficial capacity, and non-governmental specialists. The April meeting, according to media reports, included Myanmar junta representatives, China, India, Japan and five ASEAN member-states: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam and Indonesia. One analyst, Teuku Rezasyah, from Padjadjaran University, said Indonesia's move to involve countries outside Southeast Asia, such as India and China, and the U.N., could be a positive step. "So far bilateral has not worked, regional has not worked either. By bringing this into a global issue, it is hoped that this will put pressure on Myanmar because they don't want this to become an international issue," the international relations professor told BenarNews. One ASEAN observer from the state research agency, BRIN, concurred, especially about involving China and India. "China is very close to Myanmar so it can be asked to encourage Myanmar to implement the five-point consensus," BRIN's Pandu Prayoga told BenarNews. "India can be a counterbalance so that Indonesia is not completely dependent on China. RFA Burmese contributed to this report. BenarNews is an RFA-afilliated news service. Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Myanmar military strength likely half of current estimates: USIP scholar Desertions and defections have weakened the army, suggesting that junta victory is not assumed. RFA Burmese 2023.05.05 -- The size of Myanmar's military has been drastically overestimated by the international community, a U.S.-based think tank said Friday, suggesting that its victory over the country's armed opposition is no longer a foregone conclusion. Estimates prior to the Feb. 1, 2021, coup d'etat put the headcount of Myanmar's military, an opaque entity also known as the Tatmadaw, at 300,000-400,000. But an analysis published Friday by the U.S. Institute of Peace, or USIP, asserts that the estimates are based on "undependable data" and posits that the current number is "almost certainly no more than half the historical benchmark." Ye Myo Hein, a visiting scholar at the USIP in Washington, concludes that the military currently has about 150,000 personnel, including roughly 70,000 who serve as combat soldiers, while at least 21,000 service members have been lost through casualties, desertions and defection since the coup. The estimates are based on interviews with deserters and defectors, internal directives, historical records of troop movements and sizes, and casualty counts from primary conflict data and military hospital records. "At this troop level, the Sit-Tat is barely able to sustain itself as a fighting force, much less a government," Ye Myo Hein said, using another name for Myanmar's armed forces. With only a fraction of the country's military serving as combat soldiers, Ye Myo Hein said it should no longer be assumed that the junta will overcome the resistance and consolidate its rule. "Therefore, the international community should stop engaging with the junta as if it is bound to win and the only relevant player in achieving stability," he said. Ye Myo Hein said that such engagement only "bolsters the generals' delusion" that they will wipe out the opposition and "delays the time until the junta comes to the table" to negotiate. Defections, desertions Not only is the size of the military smaller than previously thought, the author said, but the post-coup rebellion is "exacerbating the shortfall in combat forces." Ye Myo Hein said that lagging recruitment, defections and desertions are devastating the military. He cited sources as estimating that some 10,000 military personnel and police have gone over to the resistance, while the shadow National Unity Government puts the number at more than 12,300. Some 8,000 troops are believed to have defected or deserted since the coup. Although estimates vary, the NUG believes that around 20,000 junta combat troops have been killed since the coup, while analysts say that those killed or badly wounded over the past two years number between 10,000 and 15,000. Meanwhile, Ye Myo Hein said, the military is actively working to conceal and falsify data about its numbers "at all levels," further complicating any efforts at determining the institution's strength. Friday's analysis cited a former adjutant officer in the military who acknowledged that his primary duties involved falsifying data on deserters from his battalion, prior to his defection. He said the number of deserters was so high that his battalion commander asked him not to submit the full list, lest he face charges or lose his chance for promotion. "The frequency of data tampering was so high that even I was confused about the actual military strength of my battalion," he was quoted as saying. As a result of the dwindling numbers, Myanmar's generals have been forced to play a game of military "whack-a-mole" with resources, reassigning support corps and other inexperienced personnel to the front lines, often with disastrous results. The military has also increasingly relied on air operations to make up for growing losses on the ground, leading to widespread destruction and civilian deaths. Ye Myo Hein said that Myanmar's military is now "in its weakest and most vulnerable position," adding that what remains of its "mirage of strength" is rapidly disintegrating in the face of the resistance and "unprecedented public hatred." "It is high time for the international community, particularly those in the region of Myanmar, to take a hard look at assumptions about the Sit-Tat's strength, recognize that the emperor has no clothes, and recalibrate their approach to this conflict," he said. Military bases under attack Friday's analysis came days after the NUG's ministry of defense claimed that anti-junta forces had attacked the military's regional headquarters, bases and camps at least 70 times in the first four months of 2023 alone. Of those attacks, 44 were successful, the ministry said. NUG Secretary of Defense Naing Htoo Aung told RFA Burmese that such attacks are not intended to take control of bases, but to "destroy them or have a psychological impact on the junta's troops." In one such attack, a combined force of area People's Defense Force paramilitaries launched a raid on a police outpost in Magway region's Kan village on March 31, in which the anti-junta fighters seized 75% of the outpost before the military sent reinforcements, forcing them to retreat. An official with the PDF in Gangaw township, where Kan is located, told RFA that the outpost in the village was the junta's "strongest base" in the region. "Since we've already raided it, attacking the other two small police outposts in the town will be a piece of cake for us," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns. "We're no longer afraid of airstrikes [when we raid them] because if they attack their outposts, their men will be killed too." The PDF official claimed that as many as 40 junta troops were killed during the raid, while only two members of the resistance groups were killed and nine injured. RFA was unable to independently verify the claims. Attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the raids of military bases went unanswered. Further raids expected Political analyst Than Soe Naing said that the NUG hopes to change the balance of the military dynamic in Myanmar this year and suggested that there will be more raids by armed resistance groups on such strategic targets going forward. "From such raids, the anti-regime armed groups can gain more territory from which to stage further military activities," he said. "I expect there will be more attacks [on junta bases] because [the resistance] can seize badly needed arms and ammunition during those raids." In its second anniversary report on May 3, the NUG claimed that anti-junta forces have killed more than 30,000 junta soldiers and wounded more than 10,000 others since the coup. According to the report, more than 300 regiments of local defense forces have been formed in more than 250 townships across the country. Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The US, Philippines should not target China in their security cooperation: expert People's Daily Online) 15:46, May 06, 2023 Reacting to the expanded military agreements between the United States and the Philippines, a Chinese expert warned that ever-deepening US-Philippine security cooperation will be a main driver of militarization in the South China Sea, with US deployments in the region, including the growing number of forward bases, larger military exercises, and frequent close-in aerial reconnaissance of China. In an article in the South China Morning Post on May 3, 2023, Wu Shicun, chairman of the board of the China-Southeast Asia Research Centre on the South China Sea, suggested that the Philippines should neither target China in its security cooperation with the US nor continue to dwell on the South China Sea arbitration case. On April 3, the Philippine government announced the locations of the four new military bases it had agreed to make available for US forces in February. Wu explained that the US has made it part of its South China Sea policy to cause a rift between China and the Philippines. The US is planning joint patrols in the South China Sea with the Philippines, which Japan and Australia have been invited to join. It clearly intends to pursue a grey-zone strategy in the South China Sea. The Philippines seems to be a tool in this joint patrol plan, which would only widen its differences with China and trigger a crisis in the South China Sea. Once the US begins to access these four bases, things might get out of the Philippines control, said Wu. ASEANs centrality in the regional security architecture, founded on multilateralism, is being challenged by groupings built by non-resident forces, such as the US-led QUAD alliance, AUKUS and trilateral groupings featuring the US and Japan. The US and the Philippines should not target China in their security cooperation, Wu said, adding that the Philippines provides an important way for the US to shape Chinas neighboring environment through Washingtons strategy of invest, align, and compete. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Wu Chengliang) The newly crowned king and queen wave to crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. (Getty) King Charles and Queen Camilla have been crowned in a historic coronation service. Around 2,200 people, including the Royal Family, celebrities and faith leaders, watched on from inside Westminster Abbey for the first such ceremony in 70 years. Charles and senior members of his family then made their way to the Buckingham Palace balcony for a flypast from the Red Arrows. Amid all the pomp and ceremony inside the abbey, on the streets of London anti-royalists expressed their disapproval. A small number of protesters were arrested and there were reports of rival demonstrators clashing in central London. Human rights groups have criticised the heavy-handed response. The Metropolitan Police said a total of 52 arrests had been made for affray, public order offences, breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance around the coronation Yahoo held a live Q&A below to mark the historic occasion. Read below for a full recap of how the day unfolded and all the answers to your burning questions. Statement by H.E. Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Minister of Pakistan during the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting - 5 May 2023 a Goa, India Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Chairman of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers, Dr. S. Jaishankar, Excellencies, Foreign Ministers of SCO Member States, Secretary General of SCO, Director, Executive Committee of SCO-RATS, Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, Assalam-o-alaikum, peace be with you, and Good Morning! It is an honor for me to represent Pakistan today at the SCO-CFM. Pakistan considers the SCO a key regional platform comprising countries, which are bound together by longstanding historical, cultural, civilizational and geographical ties. There couldn't be a more powerful indication of the importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO than my presence here in Goa for this CFM. Pakistan strongly believes in and fully adheres to the principles of mutual trust, equality, respect for cultural diversity, and the pursuit of shared development enshrined in the original "Shanghai Spirit." These principles are in perfect alignment with Pakistan's own vision of enhanced regional economic connectivity and win-win cooperation. We believe the SCO could be a key platform for taking this vision of Eurasian connectivity to the next level. Pakistan's location at the crossroads of South Asia and the Middle East makes it an ideal trade conduit for the whole region. Last year's Samarkand Declaration made a timely call for building efficient transport corridors and reliable supply chains in the region. Investing in our collective connectivity capacities is crucial to advancing our shared vision for an economically integrated region. In that spirit, Pakistan looks forward to hosting the "Conference on Transport Connectivity for Regional Prosperity" in September 2023. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor can similarly be a force multiplier for regional connectivity. For too long, we have lamented the lack of connectivity between our economies - an impediment to regional trade and investment. CPEC does not only connect Pakistan to its neighbor China. CPEC offers all countries invested in the commonality of the future of this region to take the journey further and connect the dots towards full regional economic integration. Excellencies, In a world facing geo-political flux, dividing the world between us and them - the SCO has emerged as a platform for promoting mutual understanding, security and development through constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation. SCO's increasing influence and relevance is confirmed by its growing appeal. With each passing year, more countries are joining the Organization either as Dialogue Partner or Observer or Full Member. We congratulate brotherly Iran, which would soon become the newest member of the SCO family. We welcome the accession of Bahrain, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar and the United Arab Emirates as new Dialogue Partners. And look forward to welcoming Belarus as a full member in the near future. Excellencies, In a bitterly divided world, humanity faces the greatest challenges we have ever faced. We've survived the COVID pandemic with our economies shaken; peoples patience tested; and many questions arising about our readiness to face the next global crisis. The climate crisis poses an existential threat to humanity. Poverty haunts all societies and noble attempts to meet this challenge still have a long way to go. Finally, the situation in Afghanistan poses grave challenges but also offers some opportunities. The solution to our collective challenges should be collective action, not a divided reaction. While our problems may seem immense, I believe as a united human race we have the capacity to not only deal with the challenges but to learn lessons for our collective good, and build in the resilience that will equip us to address future challenges. We must isolate these issues from hyper-partisan geopolitics if we are to succeed. Our excuse cannot be we were too divided to put up a fight! Excellencies, Poverty still plagues this region. We can only overcome this challenge through common efforts and by learning from each other's experiences. China offers us hope, shows us how it can be done - lifting 800 million people out of poverty in less than 40 years. Pakistan is proud of the internationally acclaimed Benazir Income Support Program which has ushered in a silent revolution of poverty alleviation together with women's empowerment. Taking consistent strides on poverty eradication has been hampered by COVID and geo-political conflict. We need to set our priorities straight. To deliver to our people. To make poverty history. Chest thumping about economic progress rings hollow when the largest number of poor people on the planet dwell within our collective borders. Given our experiences in this area, there is a very strong and compelling case for closer cooperation for poverty alleviation under SCO. The establishment of the Special Working Group on Poverty Alleviation proposed by Pakistan will be a step in that direction. Ladies and Gentlemen, Our planet can only be saved from the ravages of Climate Change if the international community works in unison. For Pakistan, this is today's problem. We recently faced the greatest climate catastrophe we have ever witnessed. I ask you to imagine what it would mean for your people if a disaster of this scale were to proportionally afflict your country. What would one third of India's land mass look like under water? How the people of China would be tested if 1 in 7 people were made climate refugees over night. This was a reality for my county, my people, just last year. We are rebuilding our lives at great cost and bracing for the inevitability of such a disaster striking again. I am proud of Pakistan's leadership through our chairmanship of G77 + China, which helped advocate for loss and damage to be included on the agenda of COP27. However, this is too little, too late, and much more needs to be done. Especially by developed countries. We must hold the developed world up to their commitment of providing US $ 100 billion annually for climate finance. While Pakistan has emerged as an important voice in the global discourse on Climate Change in the aftermath of that natural calamity, it is encouraging to see that the SCO is also attaching greater importance to this critical issue. The Joint Statement to be issued by the Council of Heads of States on fighting Climate Change rightly calls for deepening cooperation in the areas of environmental protection. Pakistan would propose the establishment of a Joint Working Group in SCO on Climate Change. Excellencies, The collective security of our peoples is our joint responsibility. Terrorism continues to threaten global security. Let's not get caught up in weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring. When I speak on this topic, I do so not only as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan whose people have suffered the most in terms of number of attacks and number of casualties. I also speak as the son whose mother was assassinated at the hands of terrorists. I feel the pain of this loss, empathize with victims across the world a way most can't. I and my country are firmly committed to be part of regional and global efforts for eradicating this menace. This requires not only a comprehensive approach but also a collective approach. It demands we address the root causes as well as the threats posed by specific groups. It requires that we let this challenge unite us to fight it rather than divide us to become its victim. Our success requires us to isolate this issue from geo-political partisanship. Practical, pragmatic solutions exist for us to put an end to this chapter once and for all. We must stop conflating non-state actors with state actors. Condemn all forms of terrorism including state sponsored terrorism. Given that many SCO members confront the menace of terrorism, often from the same terrorist groups, the SCO RATS needs to be further strengthened to effectively address the growing threats to peace and security in the SCO space. Excellencies, The situation in Afghanistan presents new challenges as well as opportunities. We continue to call the international community to meaningfully engage with the Interim Afghan Government to better understand and influence the course of events. After being the play ground for great powers, time and time again, we owe it to the people of Afghanistan to not repeat the mistakes of the past. A united international community must continue to urge the Afghan authorities to adopt universally-accepted principles of political inclusivity, and respecting the rights of all Afghans, including girls' right to education. The international community should also help build their counter-terrorism capacity for the security of Afghanistan, the region and the world at large. It is alarming that terrorist groups within Afghanistan are cooperating amongst themselves more than we are as the international community. As the country that will be the first but not the last to suffer the consequences, Pakistan calls on the Interim Afghan Authorities to uphold their commitments on not allowing the use of Afghan soil for terrorism. It also calls on the international community to work towards addressing these security concerns to unlock the true potential of not only Afghanistan but the region as a whole. A peaceful and stable Afghanistan is a key not only to regional integration and economic cooperation but also to global peace and stability. We believe the SCO Afghanistan Contact Group can play a role in coordinating practical cooperation with Afghanistan. Excellencies, The SCO was established to ensure security across Eurasia. The organization stands for strict observance of the UN principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and people's right to self-determination. For its part, Pakistan remains committed to multilateralism and continues to play a leading role at all international forums, including the United Nations, for forging friendly relations among nations and supporting the peaceful settlement of longstanding international disputes. I want to make a special mention of the commendable role China has recently played in bridging differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran - two countries that are also associated with the SCO. When great powers play the role of peace maker, we can unlock the potential of peace while paving the way for greater cooperation, regional integration and economic opportunities for our peoples. We must ensure respect for these universally recognized principles within the SCO. Unilateral and illegal measures by States in violation of international law and Security Council resolutions run counter to the SCO objectives. We need to be unambiguous in keeping our commitments and charting out a new future for our people. One that is not based on conflict preservation but on conflict resolution. We must also resolutely resist the temptation to stoke prejudice and discrimination to derive our identity. It is imperative that willful provocations and incitement to hate, especially on religious grounds, are roundly condemned. It is our collective duty to fight against fascism and historical revisionism that is leading to violent ultra nationalism anywhere in the world. We must ensure that racism and xenophobic ideologies, have no place in today's world and fundamental human rights and freedoms are guaranteed to all. I would like to conclude by reaffirming Pakistan's unwavering support and commitment to the SCO's goals and objectives. The SCO represents more than 40 per cent of the world's population and almost a quarter of the world's GDP. In other words, the SCO represents the future. And it can be a glorious and prosperous future for all us - if only we can work together to seize it. Thank you. *** NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yoon's Japan Outreach Faces Bleak Future Without Japan Reciprocation, Warn Analysts By William Gallo May 05, 2023 When it comes to his country's ties with Japan, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol wants to look to the future. But if South Korean public reaction is any indication, that may be difficult without further moves by Japan to address the past. Yoon in March took unilateral steps to improve relations between South Korea and Japan, which had sunk to their lowest point in decades over a dispute related to Japan's use of forced labor during its brutal 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula. Under a proposal unveiled by Yoon, Korean forced labor victims will receive compensation via a private foundation. Crucially, the foundation will be funded by South Korean companies, rather than Japanese businesses, as mandated by a 2018 ruling by South Korea's Supreme Court. Japan welcomed the move; so did the United States, which has long urged the two countries to resolve their differences and work together on shared challenges, such as North Korea and China. But the reaction was much harsher in Seoul. About 60% of South Koreans oppose Yoon's Japan approach, opinion polls suggest. Many forced labor victims and their families, as well as the country's liberal opposition, accuse Yoon of diplomatic surrender, saying he should instead demand reparations and an apology from Japan. Such touchy historical issues are likely to come up during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's two-day visit to Seoul, which begins Sunday. But Tokyo has given no indication it will make any concessions on the forced labor issue, raising questions about whether Yoon's outreach will outlast his presidency. "I'm very doubtful," said Moon Chung-in, a Seoul-based international relations scholar and former adviser to multiple left-leaning South Korean governments. "Because President Yoon has not really built up the national consensus to conduct this diplomatic initiative toward Japan." Closely watched visit Kishida's stop in Seoul - the first by a Japanese prime minister in five years - follows Yoon's visit to Tokyo in March. During that visit, the two leaders announced a series of measures aimed at improving cooperation on trade, security, and diplomacy. Similar steps may be announced during Kishida's visit. But without progress on sensitive historical issues, many analysts warn it may be impossible to place Yoon's outreach on a more stable footing at home. "What is somewhat frustrating ... is actually how little Kishida would have to do to put a solid floor under these attempts to improve relations," said Daniel Sneider, lecturer of international policy at Stanford University. "That starts with whatever language he uses when he's in Seoul to talk about the past." South Korean desires During Yoon's visit to Tokyo, Kishida did not offer a new apology for Japan's wartime history. Instead, he reaffirmed that Tokyo upholds the position of previous governments, including a 1998 declaration that included an apology. That was not nearly enough for many South Koreans - including even some of Yoon's conservative allies, who had urged Kishida to express his own heartfelt remorse. "To use his own words - to speak with some degree of individual sincerity and responsibility about the past - I think that can make a big difference," Sneider said. Many South Koreans hope Kishida will also encourage, or at least speak positively about, the idea of Japanese companies contributing to the South Korean forced labor fund. Japan's position But none of that is likely, says Tetsuo Kotani, senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. "Prime Minister Kishida repeated our past statements on history, and this is the maximum that a current Japanese political leader can do," Kotani said. "If any Japanese prime minister says something beyond that, then Japanese conservative politicians could make a lot of noise." Many Japanese conservatives doubt Yoon can deliver on his promise to improve relations. In the past, conservative South Korean presidents have attempted to strengthen ties, only to criticize Japan once their approval ratings sank, said Kotani. Just one year into his single, five-year presidential term, Yoon's approval rating is already very low and South Korea's liberal opposition dominates the country's legislature. If his political fate worsens, Japanese conservatives fear Yoon will "play the Japan card" and try to exploit historical grievances, Kotani said. Japan insists the forced labor and all other compensation issues were resolved by a 1965 treaty that established bilateral relations and offered South Korea economic help. Additionally, multiple Japanese governments have issued apologies. The extent of Japan's colonial abuses, however, was only discovered decades later in some cases, leading to a wave of South Korean demands for individual compensation. Additionally, many South Koreans say that Japan's apologies were insincere, given later attempts by prominent Japanese conservatives to deny or downplay colonial-era atrocities. Forward looking Though Yoon faces enormous political pressure to take a tougher stance on Japan, so far there are no signs he will give in. During his Tokyo summit, Yoon said he has no plans to seek reimbursement from Japan after compensating forced labor victims. In an interview with The Washington Post last month, Yoon said he cannot accept the notion that Japan "must kneel [for forgiveness] because of our history 100 years ago." Instead, Yoon has argued, "future-oriented" cooperation with Japan is necessary to preserve freedom, peace and prosperity in northeast Asia. But even if Koreans agree with Yoon on the need for a closer strategic relationship with Japan, they are not ready "to just throw the past aside," according to Sneider, who urges Kishida to use the upcoming visit to take a conciliatory approach to historical issues. "This is not hard to do. Not hard. And it's the right thing to do," Sneider said. "It's the morally, politically, geo-strategically right thing to do." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia, US may fall into 'abyss of open armed conflict', Moscow warns Iran Press TV Friday, 05 May 2023 3:00 PM A senior Russian diplomat has warned that the US and Russia are on the verge of an "open armed conflict" just two days after a suspected drone attack at the Kremlin that Moscow has blamed on Washington and Kiev. "We are working on preventing a fall of our relations with the US into the abyss of an open armed conflict," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in a TV interview on Friday, RT reported. "We are already on the verge of this abyss." Russia says Wednesday's drone incident was a US-backed attempt by Ukraine to assassinate President Vladimir Putin. Slamming "Russiaphobic" policies that are pursued by Washington, the diplomat said the US should "think of its own safety." "The anger and hatred towards Russia with which Washington acts in a situation in which it frankly should think of its own safety, is inexplicable," he said. "No real diplomacy" regarding the Ukraine conflict is possible at the moment between the two nations because the US "has bet on further escalation," the diplomat said, pointing to Washington's "hybrid war" against Russia. "The US has long been a direct participant in the conflict and has long been waging an open hybrid war against my nation," he noted. Washington has denied involvement in the drone incident with John Kirby saying that the US does not encourage or enable Ukraine to strike outside its borders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said that Kiev had nothing to do with the reported overnight incident. Ryabkov further said the US and Ukraine's claims of non-involvement in the incident were "not convincing anyone" and are reminiscent of "how they attempted to pretty much blame us for the bombing of the Nord Stream." He stressed Russia's readiness to "use any means at its disposal" to deter threats to its security and the safety of its leadership. Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed the drone incident as a "hostile act", pledging that Russia would respond with "concrete action." "It was clearly a hostile act, it is clear that the Kiev terrorists could not have committed it without the knowledge of their masters," he said, referring to the US's involvement. The remarks come as some observers see the conflict in Ukraine as the US and NATO's proxy war against Russia, mainly because of their major military aid to Kiev. As per a report by TASS in January, Ukraine has received Western military aid of around $48.5 billion worth since the start of the war, which is practically equal to Russia's 2022 defense budget. The overall aid, received by the Ukrainian government from Western countries and international organizations since the start of the war, is estimated at more than $150.8 billion in Ukraine, the report said. Therefore, total Western aid to Ukraine since late February 2022 exceeded the Ukrainian budget - estimated by $55.5 billion - by almost three times, the news agency said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'I Didn't Know He Was Dead': Hundreds Of Wagner Mercenaries Have Been Quietly Buried In An Isolated Russian Cemetery By RFE/RL's Idel.Realities May 05, 2023 "I didn't know he was dead," said Nadezhda Skaleyush after learning that her father's grave had been found in a cemetery for Russian mercenaries killed in Ukraine. "But the date on the grave is his." Skaleyush had no idea that her estranged father, 40-year-old Aleksandr Skaleyush, had been recruited from prison by the Kremlin-connected Wagner mercenary group. Asked if it sounded like something he would do, she said, "Most likely, yes." RFE/RL's Idel.Realities found Skaleyush's grave among about 200 others in a cemetery in Nikolayevka, a village whose population was recorded in the 2010 census as 522. About 25 kilometers southeast of the Volga River city of Samara, the village sits on a highway but is not served by public transportation. By car from Samara, it takes at least half an hour to get there. In mid-April, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin made the trip to Nikolayevka to unveil a monument to the mercenaries interred at the cemetery. "Here are buried fighters of the Wagner private security company who died for their country in 2022-23," reads the inscription on the obelisk. Although no journalists were invited to the ceremony, Wagner issued a video in which Prigozhin gave a short speech over the howl of a constant wind, saying "our descendants will remember their glory for centuries." Moscow has not released reliable or up-to-date figures on its losses in Ukraine, where a devastating war continues more than 14 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a large-scale invasion in February 2022. The United States estimates that about 10,000 Wagner mercenaries have been killed in the past five months alone, most of them convicts killed in the intense fighting in and around the Donetsk region city of Bakhmut. Prigozhin himself has described the trench warfare there as a "meat grinder" and has complained that his forces have been ill-supplied for the fighting. The Ukrainian military has said Wagner's tactics seem to amount to little more than throwing large numbers of troops into battle against hardened positions. Journalists have discovered seven Wagner cemeteries, six in Russia and one in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Luhansk region. In early April, journalists discovered at least 69 Wagner graves in a Novosibirsk cemetery. A plot in a cemetery in Irkutsk has been set aside for Wagner burials, with at least 11 graves already there as of mid-April. In March, nearly 70 Wagner graves were found in a village outside of Yekaterinburg. Journalists reported in April that the number had grown to 106. Twenty-two Wagner graves were found in a cemetery near the Moscow region settlement of Fryanovo, many of them belonging to citizens of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the BBC reported, adding that there appeared to be a large area set aside for additional burials. In early April, journalists reported 607 Wagner graves in the Krasnodar region village of Bakinskaya. About 100 Wagner graves have been reported at a cemetery in the occupied Ukrainian city of Luhansk. Although Wagner insists the men died as heroes, the company seems to take pains to put the graves in remote locations and bury its dead without fanfare. By researching the social-media pages of some of the men buried at the cemetery, RFE/RL was able to contact some of their relatives and to learn more about the path they followed to the trenches in Ukraine. 'I Don't Know What To Tell You' According to court records, Aleksandr Skaleyush, a resident of the southern city of Orenburg, stopped a passerby in June 2020 and stole his mobile phone. He later sold the phone to a taxi driver for 1,200 rubles ($15). It took police almost a year to find and arrest him. In court, Skaleyush reportedly confessed and repented. On June 30, 2022, the court found him guilty and -- taking into consideration an earlier conviction on robbery and theft charges -- sentenced him to one year in prison. "None of our relatives wanted to be in contact with him," his daughter told RFE/RL. "He was constantly in trouble with the law. Constantly drunk. I don't know what to tell you. He didn't work. Drank a lot. He disappeared in 2020 and that is all I know." Skaleyush's social-media pages were active until March 2022. On August 25, his appeal was rejected. According to his grave marker, he was killed in Ukraine on November 19, 2022. After speaking with RFE/RL, Nadezhda Skaleyush contacted Wagner seeking information about her father. She says the Wagner representative sarcastically told her to get a death certificate "from the journalist who told her" that her father was dead. Later, another Wagner representative confirmed that her father was dead and promised to send his effects to her. Three Weeks At War The Nikolayevka grave of Mikhail Skripkin is one of the few in the cemetery that bears a photograph. The Orthodox cross is decorated with an oval photo of Skripkin in military uniform from his time in the Russian Army after he graduated from high school. When he was killed on October 27, 2022, he was 32 years old. "Yes, that is my brother," Dmitry Skripkin told RFE/RL after being shown a photograph of the grave. "I didn't know he was dead." Although Dmitry Skripkin was unwilling to speak about the matter further, his wife, Yekaterina Koltunova, agreed to be interviewed. "We knew that he had gone to the war on October 1," she said. "He had already passed the midway point in his sentence, but they told him that if he served [as a soldier] for six months, he'd be released." She added that the fact that he was killed in combat just three weeks later indicates how poorly the Wagner mercenaries are prepared. Koltunova said that Skripkin had been encouraged to volunteer by an actively pro-war aunt who, she supposes, had supplied the photograph for the grave marker. "She told him that all the guys are coming back from there and that the money was good," Koltunova said. "So, he signed up." In July 2016, when he was 25, Skripkin picked up a sealed package containing three mobile phones. He later testified in court that he had no idea there were also 14 grams of heroin in the bag, which was wrapped with duct tape. He took a taxi to the building of Correctional Facility No. 6 in Samara. He was detained outside the prison wall, with prison guards saying he intended to throw the package over the wall to prisoners inside. He was reportedly heavily drunk at the time. Skripkin testified in court that a friend serving time in the prison had called him and asked him to help smuggle the telephones in exchange for money. He denied any knowledge of the drugs. Nonetheless, a Samara court convicted him on October 31, 2016, of attempted large-scale drug smuggling and sentenced him to 10 years and one month in prison. The judge took into account the fact that when Skripkin committed the crime, he was just five days into a two-year suspended sentence for theft. "Misha really wanted to serve in the army," Koltunova said, "to show everyone he was tough. He had earlier been in the army in Lipetsk. He came back normal enough. He was very kind and generous. He didn't have a family of his own. A good boy. I don't know what else to say. He planned to return to the army -- they'd promised to give him an apartment. But then he stupidly ended up in prison." Koltunova later told RFE/RL that she and her husband were in contact with Wagner in an effort to confirm her brother-in-law's death and secure a death certificate. 'Federal Burial Districts' Sergei Podsytnik is the editor in chief of the local news website Protokol.Samara. He told RFE/RL that he first heard about the Wagner graves at Nikolayevka in early April. "We discovered that many of the graves contained convicts from, for instance, Tatarstan or the Orenburg region," he said, describing the Samara region cemetery as a "hub." "Apparently there is some sort of territorial principle -- some sort of new federal burial districts." He says his research indicated that most of the graves were those of men who had few or no contacts with relatives and who had expressed a desire to be interred with their Wagner comrades. "These are mercenaries who didn't leave any contact information," he said. "Or the contacts they left were ignored by the Wagner representatives. As a rule, there is one representative per region, and they are supposed to be responsible for reporting the deaths, issuing the documents, and making payments. I don't know why they often don't do this. We have followed online discussion groups of Wagner relatives and they often talk about this topic." Podsytnik also observes that Wagner takes pains to conceal its losses, picking hard-to-reach locations and conducting low-key burials. "For those of us who are against the war, the losses are obvious," he explained. "But for supporters of the so-called 'special military operation,' the enormous number of crosses could come as a surprise. 'No One Would Come To Get Him' Another Wagner grave in Nikolayevka bears the name Yury Zhartsev. Through his social-media pages, RFE/RL learned he was a native of Ufa, the capital of the Bashkortostan region. He was 44 years old when he was killed in Ukraine on January 18, 2023. "My Yurka had a modest biography," said his ex-wife, Oksana Zemlyanskaya. "He came from a large family, was the seventh child. I used to be friends with his sister, and I knew him since I was a child. But when he was 15, he fell into bad company and his life went out of control. After he went to prison, all his relatives disowned him." He had many convictions, Zemlyanskaya says, including robbery and assault. On July 29, 2021, an Ufa court sentenced Zhartsev to 12 1/2 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter for beating to death an acquaintance the previous March. Zhartsev pleaded guilty but said he had not intended to kill the man. A prosecution witness at the trial said he had known Zhartsev for 30 years and that he "was feared across the whole region." Zemlyanskaya says Zhartsev did not tell her he was going to Ukraine, adding that was not surprising because they had long been divorced. She says she would not be surprised to find out that he had requested to be buried in a Wagner cemetery in the Samara region rather than being sent back to Ufa. "He knew that no one would come to get him," she said, adding that she would make an effort to visit his grave in Nikolayevka. Written by Robert Coalson based on reporting from Russia by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-wagner-isolated- graves/32397730.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Press release on the outcomes of the SCO Foreign Ministers Council meeting 5 May 2023 14:57 868-05-05-2023 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's Foreign Ministers Council, held in Panaji, state of Goa, India, on May 4 and 5. The foreign ministers discussed the agenda for the upcoming meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council (HSC), which is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on July 3 and 4. Among other things, they reviewed draft documents to be submitted to the heads of state. The New Delhi Declaration will reflect the consolidated approaches of the participating parties to the key items on the SCO agenda, as well as topical global and regional matters. The HSC is also expected to adopt statements on specific issues, including deradicalisation, climate change, digital transformation and food security. The ministers paid special attention to expanding the organisation's membership, with Iran expected to be granted full SCO membership at the upcoming summit. Procedures to accept Belarus into the organisation have been launched and are well underway. Bahrain, Kuwait, Myanmar, the Maldives and the UAE are about to join SCO-led cooperation efforts as new dialogue partners. The meeting included a detailed exchange of views on key regional and international matters, during which the participants were unanimous in stating the importance of deeper foreign policy coordination among SCO countries, primarily at the UN. In the context of the combined efforts by SCO member states to counter terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and cross-border organised crime, the foreign ministers paid special attention to the situation in Afghanistan, considering the urgency of preventing the instability there from spilling over into the SCO space. Sergey Lavrov also held several bilateral meetings. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu inspected the Southern MD readiness of the military equipment and armaments sent to the areas of the special military operation 05.05.2023 The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation General of the Army Sergei Shoigu inspected the readiness of the military equipment and armaments sent to the units of the Russian Armed Forces in the areas of the special military operation in the Southern MD to carry out tasks as intended. The Deputy Minister of Defence Colonel General A. Kuzmenkov who is responsible for the material and technical support of the Russian Armed Forces, presented General of the Army Sergei Shoigu with new batches of modern tanks, armoured fighting vehicles, special equipment and motor vehicles supplied by enterprises of the military-industrial complex to supply the groups of Russian troops. The head of the military department also inspected storage and repair bases for weapons and military equipment withdrawn from combat areas. Colonel General A. Kuzmenkov reported to Sergei Shoigu that repair units of the Russian Armed Forces, together with brigades of Russian military-industrial complex enterprises, have a three to two ratio of the amount of repaired military hardware per day exceeding the damaged equipment by day- and nighttime work. The repaired vehicles are immediately sent to the units of the Russian Armed Forces in the special military operation area. The head of the Russian military department has instructed Colonel General A. Kuzmenkov to keep under special control the issues of continuous and rhythmic supply of the groups of troops in the areas of the special military operation with all the necessary weapons and military equipment. At the Joint Headquarters of Russian Group of Troops (Forces), Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu heard reports from the Russian Deputy Defence Minister as well as group commanders on the current situation in the areas of responsibility and plans for the further actions. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President Raeisi: Syria visit a 'turning point' in bilateral ties Iran Press TV Friday, 05 May 2023 7:29 AM President Raeisi has described his two-day visit to Syria as a turning point in promoting economic, political and security aaaaaarelations, saying the aim of the trip was to honor the spirited resistance of the Syrian government and nation. "Given the Islamic Republic of Iran's 12-year-long support for Syria-based resistance groups as well as the steadfastness of the Syrian nation and government against conspiracies and seditious plots of the enemies, the two-day trip to the Arab country is of paramount importance to both countries and the region," Raeisi said at Mehrabad airport in Tehran early on Friday upon return from Damascus. Iran and Syria enjoy ample potentials and grounds for cooperation to improve economic ties, President Raeisi said, adding he mainly discussed financial and trade issues during meetings with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. Cooperating in the field of power generation and transmission, setting up a joint bank and an insurance company, reducing trade tariffs between the two countries, expanding transit facilities between Iran, Iraq, and Syria as well as reviving Syria's agricultural, industrial and energy sectors were among the primary issues included in the 14 cooperation documents signed between the two sides, he added. A final communiquA issued at the end of Raeisi's two-day official visit to Syria, which started on Wednesday and was the first by an Iranian president to the Arab nation in over 13 years, stated that the two sides expressed satisfaction over joint cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism, and emphasized that they will continue working together until the total annihilation of all terrorist groups in Syria. Raeisi and Assad also held in-depth talks on ways to further develop and strengthen cordial and strategic relations between Tehran and Damascus, and exchanged viewpoints on the latest regional and international developments. The two presidents underlined the need to respect each other's national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity in accordance with the objectives and principles of the United Nations Charter. They went on to emphasize the importance of cementing mutual ties through continuation of political, economic and consular interactions, as well as exchange of high-ranking delegations between the two countries. The two sides also expressed readiness and willingness to take appropriate measures aimed at further promotion of bilateral commercial and economic relations through existing mechanisms such as the Joint High Commission for Economic Cooperation. They stressed the potential areas of cooperation in Syria's post-war era of reconstruction and development. Raeisi and Assad condemned in the strongest terms the recurrent Israeli air raids on various areas across Syria and described them as a destabilizing factor in the Middle East region, and pointed to Syria's legitimate right to respond to such acts of aggression in a proper manner. They denounced the continued Israeli occupation of Syrian Golan Heights, and the Tel Aviv regime's decision to annex the strategic plateau in flagrant violation of the international law. The two sides also censured the US government's decision to recognize Israeli control of the territory, which has been under an Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Raeisi and Assad also condemned the presence of foreign occupation forces on Syrian soil as "illegal," and called for cessation of such deployments. They stressed the need for the Damascus government to increase its sovereignty throughout Syria, and denounced the US military's continued plundering of Syrian crude oil and natural resources. The two presidents demanded a decisive response from the international community to stop such actions. The two sides also strongly condemned the unilateral and illegitimate sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union against Iran and Syria, stating that the coercive measures are in breach of international laws and humanitarian principles. They underlined that the sanctions affect innocent people and adversely affect them, calling for an immediate end to such inhumane measures. Raeisi also stressed that the Islamic Republic will stand by Syria in the reconstruction of quake-devastated areas, and condemned the continuation of illegal and cruel Western sanctions against Syria. The two sides emphasized the need to immediately break Syria's siege in order to receive international aid and assistance for the reconstruction of earthquake-hit regions. Raeisi and Assad finally hailed the recent reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia in a agreement brokered by China, terming rapprochement as an important step towards establishment of stability throughout the Middle East. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Xi prefers 'peaceful' unification of Taiwan: U.S. official ROC Central News Agency 05/05/2023 11:58 AM Washington, May 4 (CNA) Chinese President Xi Jinping (cea) is leaning toward unifying Taiwan in a "peaceful" manner but is also preparing possible military action to achieve the goal, a top U.S. intelligence official said at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Avril Haines, director of U.S. national intelligence, said that judging from the intelligence she had, "I think we continue to assess that he (Xi) would prefer to achieve unification of Taiwan through peaceful means." Still, Haines said, Xi has directed the Chinese military to "provide him with a military option, essentially, to be able to take it without concern of our intervention," which is expected to "have a meaningful impact on his capacity to do so." Avril's comments came after Senator Rick Scott raised concerns about the possibility of China invading Taiwan, citing Xi's remarks in recent 12 months indicating he was preparing the Chinese population for a war against Taiwan. Also at the hearing, Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, appeared more worried about a possible invasion of Taiwan, saying that Xi's rhetoric has been "picking up" after assuming his third term as Chinese president. "I think the bottom line is he's told his military to be ready," Berrier said. Berrier said he believed there were a number of dates for a possible military action China will take against Taiwan, including 2025, 2027, 2035 and 2049. Asked about the impact a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would have on the U.S. economy, Haines said she could not provide a precise answer since it would depend on what exactly will happen. She expressed concerns, however, over the possible interruption of semiconductor supplies from Taiwan because more than 90 percent of high-end chips are produced in Taiwan and almost every electronics product needs chips to power them. Haines said it would be a serious blow if the production of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, was cut off by China's military actions. "It would have an enormous global financial impact that I think runs somewhere between US$600 billion to over US$1 trillion on an annual basis for the first several years on the global financial economy," she said. Haines' assessment echoed U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken, who said in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes in September 2022 that if Taiwan was attacked by China, the global economy would be devastated as most high-end semiconductors in the world are produced there. To deal with that risk, TSMC is investing US$40 million to build two sophisticated wafer fabs in Arizona at Washington's urging. A fab using the 4 nanometer process is scheduled to begin mass production in 2024, and the other using the more advanced 3nm process is slated to mass produce chips starting in 2026. Meanwhile, Haines said the relationship between the U.S. and China has become "more challenging," citing a speech made by Xi in March in which he blamed Washington for suppressing Beijing, reflecting his distrust of the U.S. and his belief that Washington is seeking to contain his country. In his March 6 speech, Xi accused the U.S. of trying to isolate his country and hold back its development, and a U.S.-led campaign of "containment and suppression" of China has "brought unprecedented, severe challenges." Despite Xi's strong rhetoric, Haines said her agency continued to believe based on the intelligence gathered that China wanted to preserve stability in a bid to avoid triggering additional technology restrictions or sanctions from the U.S. (By Stacy Hsu and Frances Huang) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A female friend of an Australian student is reportedly under investigation after the 24-year-old ingested a powerful rat poison, causing him to fall deathly ill. Alex Shorey landed in Brisbane on Wednesday night after his family raised $208,000 for a specialist charter flight from Taiwan, where he had been studying for almost a year. Mr Shorey, who was due to return home before falling seriously ill several weeks ago, is now recovering at Princess Alexandra Hospital, where he was in stable condition on Thursday. Confirming his familys suspicions, doctors at the Taipei hospital where he was being treated found the university student from the Queensland city of Toowoomba had ingested superwarfarin a potent type of anticoagulant commonly used in rat poisons. Alex Shorey (pictured far left with his brother) landed in Brisbane on Wednesday night after his family raised $208,000 for a specialist charter flight from Taiwan. Source: 9News Police investigate 'girlfriend' in poisoning In a shocking twist, a Taipei City Police spokesman told the ABC investigators had found relevant evidence regarding the poisoning while searching the home of a female friend on Wednesday. Police questioned this female friend on Thursday and restricted her from leaving Taiwan, the spokesman said, confirming to the ABC that she is the only suspect. A theory that Mr Shorey accidentally ingested the poison while eating street food or from illicit drugs has been rejected by investigators. The Taipei Times claims the woman in question is Mr Shoreys Taiwanese girlfriend and said she has not yet been arrested or charged. She allegedly told authorities she intended to consume the poison herself after a fight with the 24-year-old, but he accidentally did so instead, the publication cites Chinese-language media. The 24-year-old was due to soon return home when he fell seriously ill several weeks ago. Source: ABC Family grateful for support Earlier this week, Mr Shoreys brother revealed the student had fallen ill on his birthday, with the entire ordeal starting out as a nosebleed and blood in his urine. Story continues So we werent really sure what it was at first, Jean-Luc Shorey said, adding that his dad, Dr Stephen Shorey, immediately flew to Taiwan to help. The longer it took to diagnose, he was getting his kidney, liver, lungs and heart damaged. Because the blood had perforated his muscles he started getting black spots all over his body as the blood seeped into his muscles. All his symptoms were very strange. His aunt Elizabeth Shorey-Kitson said the Queensland native suffered haemorrhaging and a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction to treatment in hospital in Taiwan. University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor Deborah Terry said it was in touch with the Shorey family and had offered support. Source: GoFundMe In an update on Wednesday, she added her nephew was still critically unwell and required oxygen and IV medication. She again thanked people who sent donations and messages of support, and the health staff who treated him. We are extremely grateful to Alex's medical team for their expertise and the care they've shown in treating him. We thank you all so much for everything you've done, we will be forever thankful. With AAP Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. China: US needs to halt arms exports to Taiwan since island becoming 'powder keg' Iran Press TV Friday, 05 May 2023 4:57 PM China says the United States should halt arms sales to Taiwan since Washington is turning the island into a "powder keg." Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks in reference to a Taiwan-US defense industry forum held in Taipei on Wednesday, where a delegation of US arms dealers called for deeper cooperation with Taiwan. "Lately the US and the Taiwan authorities have been stepping up military collusion," the spokesperson said. "It is further proof that the US is turning Taiwan into a 'powder keg', which only spells trouble for our Taiwan compatriots." "US arms sales to the Taiwan region seriously violate the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques," she said. "China firmly opposes them." Mao warned any "external forces" meddling in Taiwanese affairs may have to pay for their actions. "The Chinese side will take strong and resolute measures to firmly defend our sovereignty and security interests. Any external forces that interfere in China's internal affairs and undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait shall bear the consequences and pay for their erroneous acts," she said. Beijing regards the island as part of its own territory under the 'One China' principle. In recent months, tensions between China and the US have been rising over Washington's growing military and political support for Taiwan. China often conducts military drills around the island as a warning to Taiwan's separatist forces and their collusion with the US. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM meeting with President Lula da Silva of Brazil: 5 May 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed President Lula da Silva to Downing Street today. 5 May 2023 The Prime Minister welcomed President Lula da Silva to Downing Street today, ahead of His Majesty The King's Coronation tomorrow. The leaders discussed the great potential in the relationship between the UK and Brazil, including in health, research and development and technology. On trade, the leaders agreed on the importance of working together to address trade barriers and unlock investment between the two countries. The Prime Minister praised President Lula's leadership on climate change and welcomed his reflections on the concerning situation in the Amazon. The UK would contribute A80 million to the Amazon Fund to help stop deforestation and save the rich biodiversity in the area, the Prime Minister added. That contribution built on the launch of the Forest and Climate Leaders' Partnership at COP27, which was another strong signal of the UK's commitment to the protecting the Amazon, the Prime Minister said. The leaders also discussed the situation in Ukraine and agreed that Russia's invasion was unacceptable, as was the killing of innocent civilians. Peace was in everyone's interests, both leaders agreed. The Prime Minister said that while Russia's forces remained in Ukraine it would be impossible for the country to find peace and reiterated the need for the international community to continue to press President Putin to withdraw his troops. The leaders agreed to stay in close touch and looked forward to seeing each other at the G7 later this month, and to Brazil hosting the G20 in 2024. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM meeting with President Kagame of Rwanda: 4 May 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed Rwanda's President Paul Kagame to Downing Street. 5 May 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed Rwanda's President Paul Kagame to Downing Street. The Prime Minister opened by saying his sympathies were with all those affected by the devastating floods in Rwanda in recent days. The Prime Minister paid tribute to President Kagame's leadership of the Commonwealth as current Chair-in-Office, and the leaders discussed the unique opportunities the grouping offered, including in trade, tackling climate change and youth empowerment. Reflecting on the deep partnership between the UK and Rwanda, the Prime Minister said he hoped to be able to broaden cooperation between the two countries, especially in trade and cyber security. Discussing the UK and Rwanda's Migration and Economic Development Partnership, the Prime Minister updated on the court process and reiterated his commitment to operationalise the policy and begin flights to Rwanda at the earliest opportunity. The leaders also discussed international security challenges, including in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine. The leaders agreed on the importance of securing a just peace for Ukraine and working together to alleviate the global impact of Russia's aggression. Both looked forward to attending His Majesty The King's Coronation this weekend. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM meeting with the Amir of Qatar: 5 May 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the Amir of Qatar, His Highness Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to Downing Street this morning. 5 May 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the Amir of Qatar, His Highness Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to Downing Street this morning. The Prime Minister thanked the Amir for travelling to London for the Coronation of His Majesty the King, noting that it reflected the enduring friendship between the United Kingdom and Qatar. The leaders discussed the exciting opportunities to deepen cooperation between our two countries, including through greater investment in strategic industries such the partnership between Qatar and Rolls Royce to invest in ground-breaking green engineering projects. They highlighted the unique joint RAF squadrons operating in Qatar and committed to further develop our defence cooperation. Turning to international affairs, the leaders shared their deep concern at the unfolding conflict in Sudan. They stressed the importance of diplomatic efforts to facilitate talks between the parties, to end the violence and transition to a civilian-led democratic government. The Prime Minister also welcomed Qatar's principled support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's invasion and they agreed our governments would continue to work together to support Ukraine's defence and recovery. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM meeting with Prime Minister of New Zealand: 5 May 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosted the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Chris Hipkins, at Downing Street today. 5 May 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosted the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Chris Hipkins, at Downing Street today ahead of His Majesty The King's Coronation tomorrow. The leaders welcomed the announcement that New Zealand and the UK's Free Trade Agreement would come into force this month, agreeing it would unlock huge trading potential for both countries. Reflecting on strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific, the leaders discussed the UK and New Zealand's shared commitment to uphold stability in the region and how both countries could work closely with partners to improve economic resilience. The Prime Minister thanked Prime Minister Hipkins for New Zealand's strong commitment to Ukraine and the leaders discussed New Zealand's contribution to Operation Interflex. The tangible support offered by New Zealand through that programme was clearly making a difference on the battlefield in Ukraine, the Prime Minister said, welcoming Prime Minister Hipkin's commitment to extend New Zealand's training through to 2024. The leaders also discussed the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which will be hosted in Samoa in 2024, and looked forward to working closely with Pacific partners to deliver a successful summit. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO Secretary General's Special Representative in Kyiv: Ukrainian women inspire the world NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 04 May. 2023 Last updated: 05 May. 2023 Irene Fellin, the NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security, visited Kyiv on Thursday (4 May 2023), delivering remarks at the Ukrainian Women's Congress (UWC), and holding talks with Ukrainian officials. In her address to the UWC, Ms Fellin saluted the women of Ukraine, saying: "your determination to defend your country's freedom and values is an inspiration to me and to the entire world". One of the key lessons learned from Russia's war is that "women must participate in their societies at all times, be that in time of war or peace". Ms Fellin added that the use of sexual violence in war underscores the importance of integrating a gender perspective into conflict management, resolution, peacebuilding, reconstruction and the development of defence capabilities. Ms Fellin added that new priorities - including counter-terrorism, climate change, cyber security and resilience - have significantly broadened the Women, Peace and Security agenda since the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 almost 23 years ago. Today, Special Representative Fellin emphasised, our main task is to "safeguard and leverage the achievements we worked so hard for". She underlined the importance of "women's equal participation in decision-making throughout the war and after Ukraine's victory", and affirmed that she is working towards ensuring that initiatives funded by NATO's Comprehensive Assistance Package "will be gender responsive and that women's needs are met". While in Ukraine, Ms Fellin met with First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova; Deputy Minister of Defence Hanna Maliar; and Kateryna Levchenko, the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy and Vice-Chair of the General Equality Commission of the Council of Europe, as well as women from civil society organisations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukraine/Russia: Statement by the Spokesperson on latest targeting of civilian facilities European External Action Service (EEAS) 05.05.2023 Strategic Communications This week marked another escalation in Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine with increasingly indiscriminate and bloody shelling of civilian areas. Missile and drone strikes targeted again Odesa and the capital Kyiv. This comes in addition to Russian indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure in Kherson region using heavy artillery, hitting notably a large supermarket, railway station and a petrol station. The latest of these Russia's barbarities killed over 20 people and injured almost 50 in Kherson - all of them civilians. This reckless killing of civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure must stop immediately. These indiscriminate Russian attacks against civilian facilities constitute war crimes. The EU has made it clear that there will be no impunity for the commanders, perpetrators and accomplices of these atrocities. The EU remains committed to hold all of them to account. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lavrov vows 'concrete actions' in response to Kremlin drone attack Iran Press TV Friday, 05 May 2023 9:36 AM Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says Wednesday's drone attack on the Kremlin was a "hostile act", pledging that Russia will respond with "concrete actions". "It was clearly a hostile act, it is clear that the Kiev terrorists could not have committed it without the knowledge of their masters," Lavrov told a press conference on Friday in India, on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization ministerial meeting. "We will not respond by talking about 'casus belli' or not, we will respond with concrete actions," he said. A Latin term, "casus belli" refers to an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A casus belli involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring war. In the early hours of Wednesday, two drones exploded over Putin's residence at the Kremlin's citadel overnight after being disabled by electronic defenses, On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed Ukraine for the attack, saying Kiev had acted on US orders with the attack. "Attempts to disown this (attack on the Kremlin), both in Kiev and in Washington, are, of course, absolutely ridiculous. We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are made not in Kiev but in Washington," Peskov told reporters on Thursday. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied the accusations saying, "We don't attack Putin, or Moscow", and the US has dismissed the Russian claim. Wednesday's attack came as Ukraine appears to have increased its drone attacks on Russia, as it mostly targets oil refineries. Ukraine has continuously declined to claim responsibility for such attacks on Russia or Crimea, but officials in Kiev have frequently celebrated the attacks. Previously, Ukraine had demonstrated the ability to strike deep inside Russian territory, in one instance using drones to hit a strategically important airbase near Ryazan, a city around 240 kilometers from Moscow. On Friday, a fire broke out at an oil refinery in southern Russia, Russian state-run news agencies reported. Agencies gave conflicting reports about the cause of Friday's blaze at the oil refinery's reservoir in the southern Krasnodar region's Ilsky settlement. "The fire was contained even before the arrival of emergency services... It reached 60 square meters (645 square feet)," the local emergency services were cited as saying by Interfax. Russian state-run agency TASS, citing a source in the emergency services, said the fire was due to another drone attack. State agency RIA Novosti cited another source in the emergency services, saying the fire broke out after fuel reignited from Thursday's attack. On Thursday, an attack by "an unidentified drone" caused a first fire at the same reservoir, TASS reported. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fight For Bakhmut Picks Up Ahead of May 9 Celebration In Russia By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service May 05, 2023 The Ukrainian military reported on May 5 that fresh Russian reinforcements were being brought into Bakhmut, a city in the Donetsk region where fighting has intensified. The region has been at the epicenter of Moscow's push in eastern Ukraine, while Russia continued the shelling of southern Ukraine. On the battlefield in Bakhmut, Ukrainian defenders repelled 60 Russian assaults over the past 24 hours, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in its daily report on May 5, in what marked an increase in the intensity of Russia's repeated attempts to take the city. Fierce fighting was also reported in Maryinka, close to Bakhmut, where Russian forces attempted to improve their tactical positions, the General Staff said. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Russian troops -- spearheaded by mercenaries from the private Wagner group -- are making every effort to capture Bakhmut by May 9, the date when Moscow celebrates its World War II Victory Day. "To achieve this, they are bringing in Wagner forces from other battlefields who are being replaced with paratrooper assault units that are currently fighting in the Bakhmut direction," Malyar said on Telegram. "The Russians are inclined toward symbolism, and their key historic myth is May 9. They really have established the objective of taking control of Bakhmut by this date," Malyar said separately on Ukrainian television. Malyar's statement contradicted an apparent threat by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who earlier on May 5 claimed he would withdraw his fighters from Bakhmut in what looked like an escalation of his ongoing feud with the Russian Defense Ministry over supplies and support. In a video posted by his press service on May 5, Prigozhin said he would pull out Wagner forces from Bakhmut by May 10 -- the day after the Kremlin's planned World War II Victory Day commemorations. "We were supposed to take Bakhmut by May 9, but pseudo-military bureaucrats, who knew about it, literally cut us off from artillery ammunition," Prigozhin said in the video, as he addressed the camera with a group of apparent Wagner soldiers in the background. Later on May 5, the Russian-installed head of the Zaporizhzhya region ordered the evacuation from Russian-held frontline areas in southern Ukraine. "In the past few days, the enemy has stepped up shelling of settlements close to the front line," Yevgeny Balitsky wrote on social media. "I have therefore made a decision to evacuate first of all children and parents, elderly people, disabled people, and hospital patients." The "temporary evacuation" order affects 18 places, including the town of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant is located. Meanwhile, Russia bombed the southern city of Kherson again on May 5, regional officials said, causing injuries and infrastructure damage. Earlier in the day, heavy artillery fire destroyed civilian and energy infrastructure in Nikopol, said the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council, Mykola Lukashuk. "The occupiers targeted the homes of the townspeople. Ten private houses, a building, gas furnaces, and electricity networks were destroyed," Lukashuk wrote on Telegram. Russia has stepped up its strikes on southern Ukraine in recent days, targeting mostly the liberated areas of the Kherson region, where at least 23 civilians were killed by shelling this week. With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-bakhmut- maryinka/32397275.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Wagner Chief Threatens To Pull Forces Out Of Bakhmut, Escalating Feud With Russian Officials By RFE/RL's Russian Service May 05, 2023 Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has threatened to pull out all of his mercenary forces from the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a dramatic escalation of his ongoing feud with the Russian Defense Ministry over supplies and support. In a video posted by his press service on May 5, Prigozhin accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the country's top general of incompetent leadership and pledged to pull out Wagner forces from Bakhmut by May 10 -- the day after the Kremlin's planned World War II Victory Day commemorations. "We were supposed to take Bakhmut by May 9, but pseudo-military bureaucrats who knew about it literally cut us off from artillery ammunition," Prigozhin said in the video, as he addressed the camera with a group of apparent Wagner soldiers in the background. A lack of ammunition has led to "enormous" losses among his troops, Prigozhin said, and he lashed out at Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, chairman of Russia's General Staff, accusing them of being "incapable of managing the task you've been assigned." Prigozhin's forces have been at the heart of a brutal eight-month effort to capture the city of Bakhmut, located in the eastern Donetsk region. Fighting alongside regular Russian forces, Wagner troops have deployed tens of thousands of prison convicts as part of their assault. It's unclear how many Wagner troops have been involved in the battle, but the city has been demolished in the process, with Russian forces making painstaking, incremental gains at the cost of huge troop losses. Earlier this week, the White House estimated that since December, Russia's overall casualty tally in Ukraine -- killed and wounded -- total at least 100,000. That includes 20,000 Russians killed in action, of which about half of that number were Wagner mercenaries. "The majority of [that figure] were Russian convicts fighting in Bakhmut," White House spokesman John Kirby said on May 2. Prigozhin, along with other hard-line nationalists, has engaged in an increasingly public and increasingly bitter fight with Shoigu, Gerasmiov, and other Russian commanders, accusing them of botching the overall Russian effort to defeat Ukraine. The Wagner effort to take Bakhmut has also resulted in heavy Ukrainian casualties, and some Ukrainian soldiers have spoken out to question the decision to remain. Military experts have also questioned the strategic value of the city for Russia. In the video, Prigozhin said the threatened withdrawal would not happen until May 10 so as "not to spoil" Victory Day. After that, he said, his troops will retreat from Bakhmut " to lick their wounds" and hand their positions over to Defense Ministry troops. The Kremlin declined to comment on Prigozhin's remarks, as did the Defense Ministry. In an another video statement released the day before, Prigozhin was shown standing next to dozens of corpses -- what he called "freshly killed Wagner fighters." In an expletive-filled rant, he accused Shoigu and Gerasimov of complicity in their deaths, because he said Wagner's forces weren't getting enough ammunition. "They came here as volunteers and are dying here so that you could get fatter in your offices trimmed with mahogany," Prigozhin said addressing Shoigu and Gerasimov, calling them "bitches" and "sleazebags." It was not possible to independently verify Prigozhin's claims. He has previously made similar comments and threats, however, which he later did not follow through on. Prigozhin's comments also come as Ukraine is poised to launch what many predict will be a major counteroffensive against Russian positions, after a winter of failed Russian efforts to make major advances. Open-source imagery, Western officials, and reporters on the ground have pointed to extensive new Russian defensive positions -- trenches, mine fields, anti-tank defenses -- in several part of Ukraine's south and east. "We will wait until Russia's people will again need us, and I think that moment will come very soon," Prigozhin said. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-wagner-prigozhin- pullout/32397560.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A garage sale, chicken barbecue and can and bottle drive to support Ukrainian relief efforts will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at Auburn United Methodist Church, 99 South St., Auburn. The church is working with SS. Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church in Auburn and Bag O' Nickels Redemption Center in Owasco on the fundraiser. The sales will include household items, toys, sporting equipment and novelty items. Chicken dinners will cost $15, and halves only will cost $10. To arrange pickup of cans or bottles before the 13th, call (315) 975-5555 or deposit them at Bag O' Nickels, 7259 Owasco Road, and tell staff to donate proceeds to the church's Ukrainian relief fund. Faces of Ukraine: Refugees in Auburn recall war there, welcoming here AUBURN In July, Maryna Svorin was working in a building in the city of Vinnytsia, Ukraine, when it was struck by a bomb. Ukraine's Counteroffensive May Start in Coming Hours or Days - Zaporozhye Governor Sputnik News 20230505 SIMFEROPOL, Russia (Sputnik) - Acting governor of the Zaporozhye region, Yevgeny Balitsky, warned on Friday that the counteroffensive of Ukrainian troops in the region would be launched in the coming days or hours. "We understand that a counteroffensive will happen in the near future. It can happen in days, perhaps even hours ... According to information from our people in Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, and other cities where they are fighting against the [Ukrainian] regime, as well as information from the line of contact - the enemy is gathering forces," Balitsky told the Solovyov Live show. The Ukrainian military is evicting the frontline zone, including the city of Stepnogorsk, Balitsky noted, adding that the preparations for repelling the offensive continue. The authorities of the Zaporozhye region also decided to temporarily resettle residents living in a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) zone from the combat line to the south of the region, the governor said. On the same day, the region's deputy prime minister for economics Andrey Kozenko told reporters that up to 70,000 people will be resettled from the frontline areas. "A total of up to 70,000 people are expected to be relocated. There are priority categories a these are children, families with children ... they are moving to the city of Berdyansk," Kozenko said, adding that the relocation of people to safe areas is voluntary. Education in the front-line regions has also been suspended, Kozenko noted. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in early April that Kiev had scheduled its counteroffensive for the summer, while US media reported that it was expected to start on April 30. Later in April, the Foreign Policy newspaper reported, citing Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandra Ustinova, that Kiev indeed had planned to launch its counteroffensive in April, but later postponed it indefinitely due to a shortage of weapons. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lavrov: Ukraine's Denial of Kremlin Drone Attack Does Not Deserve to Be Believed Sputnik News 20230505 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Kiev's and Washington's denial that they were involved in the attack on the Kremlin does not mean they can be believed. "If you believe that just because the United States and Ukraine have denied the allegations, we should jettison what we know, that's not how it works," Lavrov said during a press conference after a foreign ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). A number of foreign ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries, including Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, condemned the drone attack against the Kremlin, Sergey Lavrov added. "As for the terrorist attack on the Kremlin and the residence of the head of state, all our assessments were set out. Almost all of my counterparts with whom we spoke yesterday expressed their condemnation. In particular, the Pakistani foreign minister directly condemned this terrorist act and expressed hope for the speedy establishment of the truth and the identification of those responsible," Lavrov said. Lavrov said that he had taken heed of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's assessments of the UAV attacks on Russian President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin residence, noting that they speak for themselves. "As far as Washington's attitude goes, I pointed out a statement by Antony Blinken, who said that the US would not dictate to Ukraine the methods by which it defends its sovereignty. Well, I guess that says it all," Lavrov said at his briefing. Russia will respond with action to the drone attack rather than speculate on whether it was a pretext for war, Lavrov said. "I wouldn't think about the name or the terms here either. It was clearly a hostile act, it is quite clear that the Kiev terrorists could not have committed it behind their masters' back. We will respond not by talking about whether it is a casus belli or not, but by concrete actions. We have a lot of patience - there is such a proverb 'Russians take long time to harness,' and so on," Lavrov said. The negotiations to resolve the current crisis do not concern Ukraine alone, they will take place sooner or later, but not with Volodymyr Zelensky - he is a Western puppet - but with his masters, Lavrov stressed. The minister added that the Chinese initiative in particular covers global issues - ensuring the indivisibility of security, refraining from actions that infringe on any other country, refraining from illegitimate sanctions. Ukraine is only mentioned in the title. Moscow has never given up on talks concerning Ukraine despite the US pumping weapons into Kiev, but resolving the issue is not just about the line of contact, but is more global, according to Lavrov. Western countries have been supplying military aid to Ukraine since the start of hostilities in February 2022. The aid evolved from artillery munitions and training in 2022 to heavier weapons, including tanks, later that year and in 2023. For the past several months Ukraine has been pushing to be supplied with fighter jets. The Kremlin, in turn, has repeatedly warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President holds meeting with world's largest investment company on creation of fund for rebuilding Ukraine President of Ukraine 5 May 2023 - 22:08 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with the management of the largest asset management company in the world a BlackRock. The parties discussed the details of the creation of an investment fund to restore the economy of Ukraine with the involvement of public and private capital. At the meeting, Ukraine's Ministry of Economy signed an agreement with BlackRock Financial Market Advisory on providing support services to the Ukraine Development Fund. The main goal of the fund's creation is to attract private and public capital for implementing large-scale business projects in Ukraine. As Zelenskyy stated at the meeting, since independence, truly large and strategic private capital in volumes that would correspond to the country's scale and capabilities has never come to Ukraine. "This will be a strong signal of strengthening the investment climate. It is important not only for our people, our society, but also for business, entrepreneurs abroad. Today is a historic moment because, since the very first days of independence, we have not had such huge investment cases in Ukraine. We are proud that we can initiate such a process," the Head of State said. According to him, for the transparency and success of the project implementation, Ukraine attracts the best financial and consulting organizations in the world a BlackRock, JP Morgan, McKinsey, and others. The President said that the creation and launch of the fund would make it possible to attract capital and start the active reconstruction of the country's economy and the creation of new enterprises immediately after the cessation of active hostilities. "We will be able to offer interesting projects to invest in energy, security, agriculture, logistics, infrastructure, medicine, IT, and many other areas. We want global partners to come who can provide us with large investments," Zelenskyy said. Managing Director, the Global Head of BlackRock's Financial Institutions Group and the FMA business Charles Hatami said: "It is a historic moment if not the greatest opportunity to unite the private and public sectors at a time when technological innovation can become a catalyst for further development. I think you will be able to contribute to the global economy, use innovation." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President meets with delegation of Venice Commission President of Ukraine 5 May 2023 - 21:01 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with a delegation of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) led by President of the Commission Claire Bazy Malaurie, who is visiting our country. The Head of State thanked the delegation for the visit at this difficult time and for fruitful cooperation between Ukraine and the Venice Commission in various areas of improving Ukrainian legislation. The President separately expressed gratitude for the important assistance of the Venice Commission in implementing European integration reforms within the framework of our country's implementation of the European Commission's recommendations related to granting Ukraine the EU candidate status. At the meeting, the issue of preparation and implementation of legislation related to the procedures for selecting candidates for the post of judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine was discussed. "For the first time, Ukraine is introducing a competitive procedure for the selection of judges of the Constitutional Court. It is a historic reform that was not even discussed under any other President. We are fully aware of the great responsibility that rests on us for holding a fair and transparent competition. It is what the Ukrainian people expect and demand," Zelenskyy said. He expressed hope for support from the Venice Commission on this path and confidence in the successful reform of the Constitutional Court. Laws on de-oligarchization and on national minorities were also discussed at the meeting. The Head of State confirmed Ukraine's readiness to continue close cooperation with the Venice Commission to ensure effective reforms in line with European standards. "In general, we are moving in one direction - reforms and victory in any case," the President said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address We are doing everything so that the world hears Ukraine, understands and helps our state - address of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy President of Ukraine 5 May 2023 - 20:27 Dear Ukrainians, I wish you health! Today, we kept the pace and strength of international work - the whole week gives Ukraine the results it needs. In the morning, after returning from the Netherlands, I held a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain. By the way, it is the first visit of the head of the foreign affairs department of this country during the entire period of our diplomatic relations - since 1992. That is, it is another argument that the world not only believes in Ukraine, but also sees how our state is getting stronger. We talked with the minister about how we can bring peace together for Ukraine and restore peace and stability in international relations. I thanked him for the unwavering support of Ukraine and civilized rules, in particular, the support at the UN platform. We talked about the Ukrainian Peace Formula, and I believe that Bahrain can participate in its implementation. In the afternoon, the United24 state fundraising platform anniversary summit was held. When this platform was launched last May, our main task was to unite ordinary people around the world, to unite for the sake of Ukraine and the defense of freedom. And it succeeded! United24 raised donations from different people, from different companies from 110 countries. We have 15 star ambassadors. I am personally proud of United24's support of our work for the naval fleet of drones, and all drone-related projects for the frontline. These are thousands of drones that make Ukraine stronger. A lot has been done within the Medical Aid area of United24, and there are results in the Rebuild Ukraine area. Now, we are adding another educational area - it is the restoration of schools, as well as - demining. It is a big task that Ukraine faces and that can be implemented not in decades, but in years if there is sufficient global support. Not a single Russian mine should remain in our land! In the evening, I held a meeting with a delegation of the Congress of the United States. We talked about further cooperation between our states for the sake of global freedom. Now, when we are fighting side by side with the United States against tyranny, we have reached a level of cooperation that has never been seen between Ukraine and the United States. But it is not the limit. We will continue developing our cooperation - our true alliance. And I thank everyone who helps! Thanks to President Biden for his leadership. I'm thankful to both parties and houses of Congress for their continued support. Thank you to all Americans whose desire for freedom, together with Ukrainian aspirations, together with all our allies and partners, protects global democracy. Also, today I had a meeting with representatives of the Venice Commission, with representatives of the BlackRock investment fund. So, in a week: the United States and Bahrain, the Netherlands and Belgium, Finland and Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and Iceland. Canada. New Zealand. The African Union and Comoros Islands. And the entire multinational community of United24 donors and partners. We are doing everything to make the world hear Ukraine, understand Ukraine, and help Ukraine. Because by helping us, the world protects itself. I am happy to say that after the meetings in Helsinki and The Hague, we have a powerful reinforcement with weapons for our soldiers - on land, in the air, and at sea. I thank the partners! This is a substantial reinforcement. We have more progress regarding NATO and the European Union. We have made more progress regarding Russia's accountability for aggression against our state. Glory to everyone who is now fighting for Ukraine, on combat missions, and at combat posts! I am especially grateful for this week to all the fighters of our Air Force and all units of other detachments defending the sky! Resisting, defeating and punishing the enemy is our common task. In unity, making Ukraine stronger every day, adding new opportunities to our state every day, we will achieve victory! Eternal memory to all our heroes of different times who defended and protected Ukraine! Glory to our people! Glory to Ukraine! NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President of Ukraine meets with delegation of representatives of U.S. Congress President of Ukraine 5 May 2023 - 19:45 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with a bipartisan delegation of the House of Representatives of the United States, consisting of Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission Joe Wilson, Congressman Steve Cohen, and Congresswoman Victoria Spartz. The delegation also included the permanent representative of the United States to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter. The Head of State said that such visits to Ukraine are a powerful signal of support from the United States for our country, the entire Ukrainian people, which is especially important at a time when the aggressor state has resumed heavy missile terror against Ukrainian cities. "You see that the war is going on not only on the battlefield but also here in the capital. So thank you very much for this meeting and for this dialogue, for supporting Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. The President separately thanked the representatives of the Congress for the powerful bicameral and bipartisan support of our state and the comprehensive assistance provided by the United States to Ukraine in our struggle for our own future and the future of our common values - freedom and democracy. "We are grateful for your help, leadership not only on the battlefield but also for financial support," he said. The Head of State said that continued assistance is a guarantee of Ukraine's success in the fight against Russian aggression. Zelenskyy briefed the U.S. delegation on the situation on the front line. At the meeting, the key areas of further U.S. assistance in the field of security and defense were discussed in detail. The President spoke separately about the priority needs of Ukraine's defense forces. The issue of extending the grain corridor, the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, and other important topics on the bilateral agenda were also raised at the meeting. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Two more areas added to United24: "Education and Science" and "Demining" - Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking at United24 Summit President of Ukraine 5 May 2023 - 17:41 Dear attendees! Ladies and Gentlemen! How many people are in this hall today? At first glance - hundreds. But, if we look more carefully, there are much more of us here today. A total of 110 countries are represented in this hall now. Thousands and thousands of human hearts that believe in the power of unity. Today, there are different cultures, many different difficult life stories, several human generations... From those who saw how the last century began, to those who will see how this century will end. Because older people and very young freedom helpers are together with United24. When we say "United24," we mean a huge community of people - from Ukraine to North America, from Britain to Australia, from Japan to Latin America. The Arab world, India, absolutely all European countries. Already in the first year, the Ukrainian fundraising platform has become a global brand and global proof that nothing is impossible when you bet on the priority of the state of Ukraine - humanity. And we can reveal the amount: over $330 million in the first year. A round of applause! And it is very important. It's a really big job. That's how much our United24 fundraising team has accumulated. And it is the greatest achievement among all Ukrainian foundations. But, of course, we are grateful to absolutely everyone who works for the sake of Ukraine, for the sake of our victory, the victory of humanity. But what does it all mean? Such a number of people of such strength, with such help. All these are people who have heard Ukraine, who have accepted the way we see life, and who, together with us, are approaching the day when life will definitely win, when we will win this war. The Ukrainian day of our victory will surely come. In particular, thanks to each and every one of you here. And who is not here now, but constantly supported and built United24. So there will be a victory thanks to the United24 community. And I am grateful to everyone who helps us to go this way, to endure, to protect life! I thank our ambassadors. The world sees and hears you! I thank the team of our project - really strong and tireless. Well done! I thank everyone who works for the media support of United24 because the information is a weapon and we know it. I thank those who help keep the world's attention on what our people are going through, our values are going through, Ukraine is going through... I thank everyone in the 110 countries who participate in our fundraising - every person, thank you to every family, every company, every business who joined our struggle, our common mission of United24! I thank you all! And, of course, we are all grateful to those for whom all this is raised. We are grateful to our soldiers, each and every one who is currently in battle, who is on combat missions, who is defending our state. Thanks to every Ukrainian hero! In our first year at United24, we focused on three areas. Defense and demining is the first. The second is Medical Aid. And the third is Rebuilding. Powerful things are being done! For example, United24 is helping to build the world's first naval fleet of drones. And it's very cool, and it's exciting. And it also equips our soldiers with "Shahed hunters" to neutralize the murderous Russian and Iranian drones used by the aggressor. United24 helps equip our soldiers with the drones that are so needed on the front lines - today, yesterday, tomorrow. In general, these are already thousands of different types of drones! And we help train drone operators. In addition to the fact that United24 supplies the equipment for the defense of our country, we managed to prove that global fundraising for the sake of defense is real. And it is a significant achievement at the level of the ideas themselves. Perhaps such a change in attitude towards fundraising will help to restore peace, which is so needed not only for Ukraine... To restore peace not only for our state... People have seen what Ukraine is capable of. People have seen what unity is capable of. Ordinary people around the world actually directly help our army, our people because they know that the Ukrainian army defends the life that every adequate, normal person seeks for himself, his family, children, relatives, for everyone. A decent life that strengthens families, communities, and countries. It's important that thanks to United24, more than 100 pieces of medical equipment have been purchased for children's clinics, for hospitals - thank you very much. Also, almost 200 ambulances, and these are high-class ambulances. All this is already helping to save the lives of people in our frontline areas, in the areas bordering Russia and exposed to daily terrorist attacks... In addition, thanks to United24 donors, rebuilding has begun in Odesa, Dnipro, Rivne, and other Ukrainian cities. By the way, rebuilding two hospitals - Chernihiv City Hospital No. 3 and Chernihiv Medical Center of Modern Oncology. I am sure that our joint efforts will add many more results to the initial list of achievements of the United24 medical aid area. I want to note the assistance to Ukraine during this harsh winter, which we went through and went through so confidently despite any intimidation from our neighbors. It was really energy sustainability that we demonstrated to the whole world. I am very proud of it. And I am proud of you - those who supported, and our energy workers - they were great. Great job... Dozens of countries, companies, international organizations, and ordinary people have started to help with energy equipment, to help cope with the great shortage of generators, transformers, various technical means that we needed to get through this winter. And, in particular, only thanks to United24 alone, hundreds of generators have already been purchased! Among other things, for medical institutions. Dear attendees! Ladies and Gentlemen! Today, I am pleased to announce that we are adding two more areas to the three existing United24 areas that I have already mentioned. For humanitarian demining, we are making a separate area so that as many people as possible can focus on it. And the fifth area for United24 will be education, which is a priority for us today. Accordingly, it is my honor to announce that new ambassadors are joining United24. The first ambassadors of the "Education and Science" area will be scientists and Nobel Prize laureates - Sir Paul Nurse, Mr. Edvard Moser, and Mrs. May-Britt Moser, as well as a Ukrainian woman known to the world will also join it. This is Ms. Ivanna Sakhno. We are very happy to welcome you to our team! Since the Second World War, Europe has not seen such barbaric destruction of the educational network and education in general as Russia is doing now. Unfortunately, hundreds of schools and dozens of universities are in ruins after Russian strikes on them. Non-accidental, targeted strikes. In addition, other educational institutions need to be modernized so that people can work and study remotely when there is a threat of daily terrorist attacks. It is a colossal task but we believe it is realistic. And I have the honor also to announce that Mr. Francis Fukuyama has become the first ambassador for the Demining project. He is not present in the hall, but he is with us. This area is also very important. It is a large-scale one. More than 170,000 square kilometers of the territory of our country are contaminated by mines and unexploded shells. Not all countries in the world have such an entire area that we must make completely safe for our people, for our children. I also want to personally thank all our ambassadors who are here today, who are with us today in Kyiv. And it is important that they are here, despite what happened yesterday. I am glad that you are going through this struggle with us. Together to victory. Mr. Andriy Shevchenko! Our ambassador of the "Medical Aid" area. Andriy, thank you very much from everyone! Mr. Liev Schreiber! Thank you. Our wonderful ambassador of "Medical Aid." Thank you, Liev! Mr. Oleksandr Usyk! Ambassador of the "Rebuild Ukraine" area. Thank you, Oleksandr! Ms. Katheryn Winnick! Katheryn, thank you. Our beautiful ambassador of the "Rebuild Ukraine" area. Also Mr. Michel Hazanavicius! Our ambassador of the "Rebuild Ukraine" area. Thank you very much, Michel! Representatives of the Imagine Dragons band. Thank you very much. You have been with us since the early days of United24. Thank you, guys, so much for your work and support. Thanks again to the new ambassadors. Thank you, Ms. Ivanna, and thank you, Sir Paul. Thank you very much for being with us. We are together. It is the most important thing. Together we defend our state, our people. Thank you very much to each and every one. And I would like to thank everyone involved in United24. It is a big job, a big result and a big positive. Glory to Ukraine! NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President of Ukraine had a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain President of Ukraine 5 May 2023 - 13:27 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, who is on a visit to our country. The Head of State noted that it was the first visit of the Foreign Minister of Bahrain to Ukraine since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries in July 1992. "This is an important signal of cooperation and support between our countries," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The President thanked the Kingdom of Bahrain for its unwavering support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine amid countering full-scale Russian aggression, which was repeatedly demonstrated in the course of voting for the relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly. According to him, humanitarian aid from Bahrain is also very important for our country and its citizens. "Because our struggle is not only on the frontline - our people, our society are also on the battlefield. Their work helps our army to de-occupy our territory," he said. Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine will definitely win, as it is fighting against aggression and defending its homes and families. The Head of State emphasized that Ukraine strives for peace, and that is why he offered the international community the Ukrainian Peace Formula. "And we will be grateful to all the states that really want to help Ukraine achieve peace," the President noted. Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited Bahrain to take part in the relevant diplomatic process, in particular, to join the implementation of certain points of the formula and participate in the upcoming Peace Summit. The President of Ukraine drew special attention to the problem of forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and the search for ways to return them to their homeland and their families. During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on the participation of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, as well as on joining promising projects of cooperation in the humanitarian and economic spheres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized the issue of demining large areas of Ukrainian territory contaminated by mines as a result of hostilities and the practical needs for the necessary equipment. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukraine Welcomes Lifting of Ban on Grain Shipments to Neighbors By Myroslava Gongadze May 06, 2023 The Polish ban on Ukrainian agricultural products last month sent a shock wave across Ukraine, which lost $143 million in a month, Deputy Minister of Economy Taras Kachka told an audience at the Brussels Economic Forum on Friday. Shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's early April visit to Poland, Polish officials, under pressure from local producers, suspended the import of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine. Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania followed suit because of concerns about a flood of Ukrainian grain that, before the war, would have been shipped farther afield through Black Sea ports. The Ukrainian minister of agriculture, who is traveling for negotiations through neighboring states, told VOA that the decision of the Polish government was unexpected. Ukrainians were informed about it a day before, and the restriction hit almost all Ukrainian agricultural production. "We learned about the decision on Friday night, and it was imposed on Saturday morning," said Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solskyi of Poland's April 15 ban. The EU had earlier liberalized all imports from Ukraine to help the country maintain its economy in the face of the Russian invasion. Ukrainian agricultural businesses were shocked, said Oleksyi Mushak, a former Ukrainian MP and co-founder of ReGenerative Agro, an agriculture company. "It's like a missile hit you, but in this situation, it was a Polish ban a unexpected," Mushak told VOA. "This brings us long-term problems. Now no one will have confidence, and no one will work on the long-term, only short-term contracts, making it difficult for Ukraine to access the money." After lengthy negotiations with the European Union, Poland agreed to cancel the unilateral restrictions. The European Commission agreed to allocate 100 million euros ($110.1 million USD) as compensation to farmers adversely affected by the glut of Ukrainian grain. According to the agreement, Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed can be sold to any country in the EU except to the five countries that had complained that the cheaper Ukrainian agricultural product was making their domestic production unprofitable. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, welcomed the agreement as "a deal that preserves both Ukraine's exports capacity, so it continues feeding the world and our farmers' livelihoods." I welcome the agreement in principle found on the transit of 4 types of Ukrainian grain and seeds.A deal that preserves both Ukraine's exports capacity so it continues feeding the world, and our farmers' livelihoods.Thank you @VDombrovskis and @jwojc for your efforts. https://t.co/9TqtuG1gla a Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 28, 2023 "We hope to continue to talk to our Polish partners. We hope that the transit routes will start working again and the relationship between Polish and Ukrainian businesses will continue, including the products that are not restricted," Solskyi told VOA. The European Commission has had to negotiate hard with the five so-called frontline states neighboring Ukraine to ensure grain can be exported from Ukraine. Brussels realized that new ways of exporting Ukrainian agricultural products must be found. In the last 10 years, Ukraine has become an agricultural powerhouse. According to the European Commission, as reported by Deutsche Welle, Ukraine accounts for 10% of the world wheat market, 15% of the corn and 13% of the barley market. Ukraine is also a significant player in the sunflower oil market. The war on Ukrainian soil reduced the ability to produce and export. However, even in the current situation, Ukraine is creating market competition. "We have been present in the European market for a long time. We have competed with different countries and local producers for 10 to 15 years," said Solskyi. "The key is the war that created this situation. Ukrainian farmers and traders looked at the western borders because the sea routes were blocked, and the amount of product that went to the European direction rose. That is why solidarity lanes were created. So, it is good there is competition; healthy competition is a key for development." However, the latest crisis is a sign of possible future obstacles to Ukraine's EU membership. Poland will assume the EU presidency in the first half of 2025. Ukrainian membership in the EU will be a priority for Poland, Polish President Andrzej Duda said this week. But experts and officials are pointing out that the agricultural talks, particularly, can become very difficult because of Ukraine's huge agricultural potential. "It is in the general interest of Poland that Ukraine will be a member of the EU. We have a common security issue," said Mushak of ReGenerative Agro. "However, we have to separate security and economic issues. Unfortunately, now we mix these two things." But Solskyi offered a reassuring message. "Even before this current situation, we understood a and Europeans understood, our partners understood, we all understood a that the negotiations could be the most difficult regarding agriculture," the Ukrainian minister told VOA. "But Ukraine is not unique. Most countries that joined the European Union had the most prolonged and difficult negotiations. However, I am confident there are solutions and ways that we can take that will work for Ukraine and be comfortable for EU countries." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Latest in Ukraine: Wagner Chief Prigozhin Lashes Out at Russian Military Establishment By VOA News May 06, 2023 New developments: The head of the Russian mercenary group fighting in Ukraine unleashed a tirade against Moscow, accusing it of incompetence, among other things. A fired Russian general known as the "Butcher of Mariupol" has a new job. He's joining forces with the Wagner mercenary group. The Kremlin said Russia's May 9 Victory Day parade, celebrating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany and the end of World War II, would go on despite security concerns. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the preparations Friday in a meeting with his Security Council. Drones that Russia says it disabled over the Kremlin earlier this week were likely launched from inside Russia, U.S.-based drones experts said. Ukraine denies any involvement in the attack. In his daily address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that on Friday and in recent days, he has held meetings with international leaders, including one Friday with a U.S. congressional delegation. The Ukrainian leader said that when countries help Ukraine, they also help themselves. "We are doing everything to make the world hear Ukraine, understand Ukraine, and help Ukraine. Because by helping us, the world protects itself," Zelenskyy said in his address. Meanwhile, Russia wants a victory in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on May 9, but the chief of the Russian Wagner mercenary force fighting there has threatened to retreat from the city by May 10 if he does not receive critically needed ammunition and other supplies from Moscow. In a video posted on his Telegram channel Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin unleashed a tirade directed at Russia's top brass, accusing them of negligence and incompetence. Pointing toward a field covered with dead soldiers, he screamed at the camera, "These are ... someone's fathers and someone's sons" he said. "We have a 70% shortage of ammunition!" "If you give [us] the normal amount of ammunition, there will be five times fewer [dead soldiers]," he said. Fired Russian Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, known as the "Butcher of Mariupol," has joined the Wagner Group as a deputy commander, according to Russian pro-war social media channels. In two videos posted by war correspondent Alexander Simonov on Telegram, Mizintseva dressed in Wagner-branded combat gear a was shown visiting a training camp and touring Russian positions in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The footage coincided with the release of Prigozhin's videotaped tirade, in which the Wagner chief accused Moscow of depriving his forces of ammunition because of jealousy over their success, Reuters reported. In other developments, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said Friday that Moscow is sending reinforcements to Bakhmut. She said the Kremlin is pulling Wagner mercenary fighters from other parts of the front line to redeploy them there. Wagner boss Prigozhin said Friday his mercenary army had planned to capture Bakhmut May 9, or Victory Day, the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in WWII, for which Moscow is organizing a large parade. President Vladimir Putin discussed the parade preparations in a meeting Friday with his Security Council, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Putin will preside over the annual military parade at Red Square despite the Kremlin's assertions that Ukraine tried to kill him in a drone attack Wednesday. Kyiv has denied any involvement in the incident. U.S.-based drone experts said the drones disabled over the Kremlin earlier this week had likely evaded an extensive number of defenses in and around Moscow, suggesting they might have been launched from inside Russia. Blake Resnick, founder and CEO of drone maker BRINC, said such smaller drones would not be able to fly the more than 400-kilometer distance from Ukraine to Moscow. Resnick said it could indicate the drones were launched from inside Russia, Reuters reported. Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused the United States on Thursday of being behind the alleged attack. He said Russia was "well aware that the decision on such actions and terrorist attacks is not made in Kyiv, but in Washington." "And then Kyiv does what it's told to do," Peskov said, without offering evidence for his claim. In Washington, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby rejected the Russian accusation, telling MSNBC, "I can assure you that there was no involvement by the United States. ... We had nothing to do with this, so Peskov is just lying there, pure and simple." Putin - International Criminal Court Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he was convinced Putin would eventually face an international war crimes trial for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. In a speech at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Zelenskyy said, "Only one Russian crime led to all of these crimes: This is the crime of aggression, the start of evil, the primary crime. There should be responsibility for this crime." The ICC in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin on a war crimes charge involving the alleged deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia. Zelenskyy said Putin "deserves to be sentenced for these criminal actions right here in the capital of the international law." The ICC cannot prosecute the crime of war aggression itself. But Zelenskyy appealed for a full-fledged tribunal to prosecute that overarching crime. "If we want true justice, we should not look for excuses and should not refer to the shortcomings of the current international law but make bold decisions that will correct ... shortcomings that unfortunately exist in international law," he said. The chances of Putin standing trial in The Hague are remote. The court does not have a police force to execute its warrants, and the Russian leader is unlikely to travel to any of the ICC's 123 member states that are under an obligation to arrest him if they can. Neither the U.S. nor Russia recognizes the authority of the court. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Shanghai (Gasgoo)- GAC Group saw its monthly wholesale volume leap 42.57% over a year earlier to 177,224 vehicles in Apr. 2023, according to the companys sales results issued on May 5. Most subsidiaries of GAC Group gained a rising movement in Apr. sales. To be specific, the two main Sino-Japanese joint ventures, GAC Honda and GAC Toyota, both scored a single-digit year-on-year rise by selling 25,418 and 72,000 vehicles last month, respectively. Notably, the retail sales of GAC Honda (including export volume) in Apr. leapt 41.1% from a year earlier to 60,888 units. GAC Motor, the passenger vehicle subsidiary wholly-owned by GAC Group, boasted a 45.32% jump in Apr. sales, which came in at 29,235 units. The groups new energy vehicle (NEV)-dedicated arm, GAC AION, witnessed its monthly sales rocket 301.61% from the previous year to 41,012 units, which resulted in a year-to-date volume of 119,330 units (+116.62% YoY). AION LX Plus; photo credit: GAC AION Mainly thanks to the blooming growth in GAC AION's sales, GAC Group's overall NEV sales zoomed up 308.61% year over year to 46,439 units last month. For the first four months of this year, the group sold a total of 133,390 NEVs, up 107.82% over a year earlier. GAC Group said it had a total of five models whose respective Apr. sales all exceeded 10,000 units, namely, the AION Y (21,065 units), the AION S (19,569 units), the Levin series (13,660 units), the Camry series (12,811 units), and the Frontlander (11,654 units). Denver, May 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Denver, Colorado - Denver, CO based David Ellis Jewelry is inviting the community to take a look at the stores expansive collection. A variety of items are available that can meet similarly diverse tastes, and the store is always more than happy to help customers find a piece of jewelry that speaks to them. Conversely, the store also does a good amount of business with those who wish to sell off gold, silver, diamonds - and other items of value. David Ellis Jewelry buys and sells virtually everything of value that could be thought of, from gold, silver, gold coins, silver coins, and even Rolex watches. Many search online for terms such as Sell Gold Denver, and find David Ellis Jewelry. Since it is common for people to come across or inherit items of unknown value, the store makes it a point to welcome anyone who wishes to learn more about the objects in their possession. Jewelry and gold evaluations are provided here completely free of charge, and the store may even go so far as to make a great offer if an item catches their attention. As such, customers have nothing to lose by visiting David Ellis Jewelry to talk with a member of their team. Many customers who take the time to stop by the store in person will deal with the owner, David Ellis, directly. The team takes their cue from him, taking every measure possible to educate customers about the items they bring in as well as provide a competitive quote. Customers who do choose to make a sale are able to receive cash upfront upon conclusion of the transaction, and the store has several methods of payment available for those who wish to make a purchase instead. Currently, David Ellis Jewelry is on the hunt for items made from gold or platinum (in addition to other valuable materials). The store encourages everyone in the community to check their belongings if they are short on cash and need to figure out a quick solution David Ellis Jewelry is willing to purchase US coins and bullion, diamonds, precious metals (including gold, silver and platinum) and more. It also accepts other items, such as Rolex watches. Simply put, anyone who believes they have one of these items of value they are willing to part with for instant cash is welcome to visit David Ellis Jewelry today to have it evaluated. If they find the stores offer to be satisfactory, they can leave with the cash in hand at once. Customers often praise the store for the assistance it offers. Lauren B. says, I had a great experience shopping here. I needed a gold chain in a length that isn't very common or available (14"). I was worried that this shop would be super expensive because they're independently owned (and located in Cherry Creek), but that wasn't the case at all. Not only did these guys give me a great price for the chain, but they also shortened it to the length I needed while I waited and didn't charge me extra for it. They were very friendly, helpful and accommodating. I highly recommend this place and will definitely be going back for any future jewelry purchases. An excerpt from a review by Ashley E. similarly says, Absolutely loved my experience and will never go anywhere else. The review continues, David is very professional and extremely knowledgeable. I waited for my ring to get sized and watched him interact with several customers and was very impressed. Miguel is the one that sized my ring, and he did such an amazing job, I love it! The owner is kind and welcoming and treated me with great respect. He made me feel like I was very important. I 10/10 recommend David Ellis! Many people unknowingly have treasures in their keeping that have no more use to them and their family, sentimental or otherwise. A quick look and a trip down to the family owned-and-operated David Ellis Jewelry can reveal an opportunity to trade in such items for cash. The most obvious items are made of gold, but the store looks forward to seeing what else the community can bring in. Learn more here: David Ellis Jewelry. ### For more information about David Ellis Jewelry, contact the company here: David Ellis Jewelry 2640 E 3rd Ave., Denver, CO 80206 Singapore, Singapore, May 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LAMBO, a new community-driven meme token built on the Ethereum Network, has launched. The project aims to leverage the iconic 'Wen Lambo' meme to reach mass audiences of crypto enthusiasts and grow an innovative and rewarding Web3 ecosystem. The $LAMBO token is inspired by Pepe, a meme token that has reached a market cap of over $1.5 billion, and aims to remind investors of what is possible when they believe and work together towards a common goal. The Wen Lambo meme is one of the most common phrases in the crypto space, serving as a way of asking if one will be able to gain enough wealth from their crypto investment to buy a Lamborghini. The dream of realizing a Lambo is the main focus of the $LAMBO community. Through hard work and strong communication, the community understands that in this market, a Lambo is really possible. A Deep Dive into LAMBO $LAMBO is a fully decentralized, community-powered meme token built on the Ethereum Network as an ERC-20 Token. The contract is renounced, and the blockchain owns the liquidity pool, removing the harm of any tampering from a developer. Taxes are 0%, and everyone who owns $LAMBO tokens shares ownership. The $LAMBO token was created out of the inspiration of the 'Wen Lambo' meme. Gaining mass popularity over the previous 3 years, the meme completely memes the $LAMBO token making parabolic growth possible. The $LAMBO token achieves success through the spread of its natural meme, and the community supporting the token. By spreading positive and a memeable culture, the $LAMBO token can bring wealth to its holders. Through the Lambo social channels, a community of crypto holders is able to communicate and form together to spread awareness of the Wen Lambo Meme and the $LAMBO Token. Development updates are clearly communicated with the community, allowing for the token to grow through its many different features. All transactions made are documented and tracked through the Ethereum Blockchain. The LAMBO Ecosystem The Lambo NFT Mint will take place and available to $LAMBO token holders of a certain percentage. Through mass marketing initiatives, the Lambo NFT Mints aim to bring added awareness and revenue to the token while strengthening the community through art and demand. The Lambo NFT Farming Pools offer NFT holders a way to earn additional tokens over time. A portion of the revenue generated through the mint is redistributed to the NFT Staking Pools and then given to those who stake. This method of staking, paired with the NFT mint, enhances the community atmosphere and the overall NFT experience. Owning a $LAMBO NFT can give you even more with real-life rewards. The project will announce more about the ownership program, exact dates, and more in the coming months. LamboSwap is a simple token exchange platform built-in to the $LAMBO Ecosystem, which allows users to trade their favorite tokens through a very user-friendly platform. With the trust and reputation of the $LAMBO token behind the swap, users know that their funds are safe. Through the Lambo Dashboard, users can view their $LAMBO token balance and its dollar value in real-time, making the trading experience easier and giving them more time to be part of the community. Token Staking offers holders a method of gaining additional tokens through Liquidity Pool contributions. By supporting the liquidity pool and earning LP tokens through the process, holders can be even closer to the success of the $LAMBO token. Within the $LAMBO Ecosystem, Liquidity Pool staking is offered through a very simple dApp. Tokenomics Token name: LAMBO Token ticker: LAMBO Token standard: ERC-20 Total supply: 69,000,000,000 LAMBO Taxes: 0% buy, sell, and transaction fees The $LAMBO token has a total supply of 69 billion tokens, with no additional tokens to be minted. There are no taxes on buying, selling, or transacting the $LAMBO token. This means that the value of the token is solely determined by market demand and supply, as there are no additional fees or charges that would affect its price. Furthermore, the $LAMBO token contract is renounced, which means that the development team has relinquished control over the contract, and it is now owned by the blockchain. This ensures that the contract is fully decentralized, and there can be no further modifications to it. In summary, the $LAMBO token has a simple and transparent tokenomics structure, with no additional fees or taxes, and a fixed total supply. Its contract is fully decentralized and renounced, providing a high level of security and trust for investors. 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. Website | Twitter | Telegram | UniSwap | DEXTools | CoinMarketCap ### LAMBO team@lambocoin.finance https://lambocoin.finance/ SAN FRANCISCO, May 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman urges Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now. Class Period: Apr. 26, 2018 Mar. 13, 2023 Lead Plaintiff Deadline: May 19, 2023 Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/RAD Contact An Attorney Now: RAD@hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895 Rite Aid Corporation (RAD) Securities Fraud Class Action: The litigation focuses on Rite Aids compliance with federal regulations concerning its pharmacies prescriptions practices and its federal healthcare program reimbursement billing. According to the complaint, Defendants made false and misleading statements or failed to disclose that Rite Aid: (1) filled hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked a legitimate medical purpose until June 2019; (2) ignored evidence that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions and intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers written by concerned pharmacists; (4) violated the Controlled Substances Act by knowingly filling unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances; and (5) violated the False Claims Act when it sought reimbursement from federal healthcare programs. Investors began to learn the truth on Mar. 13, 2023, when the US Department of Justice announced it filed a lawsuit against Rite Aid alleging that the company knowingly filled hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances and knowingly submitted false or fraudulent reimbursement claims for such prescriptions to federal healthcare programs. The DOJ alleges these activities violate the Controlled Substances Act and the False Claims Act and states, in part, [w]hile making millions of dollars [Rite Aid] opened the floodgates for millions of pills of opioids and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of [its] stores. This news sent the price of Rite Aid shares sharply lower. Were focused on investors losses and proving Rite Aids decision to put profits ahead of safety enabled it to record illegally-generated revenues, said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation. If you invested in Rite Aid and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firms investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman. Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Rite Aid should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email RAD@hbsslaw.com. About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman is a global plaintiffs rights complex litigation law firm focusing on corporate accountability through class-action law. The firm is home to a robust securities litigation practice and represents investors as well as whistleblowers, workers, consumers and others in cases achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and fraud. More about the firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw. SAN FRANCISCO, May 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman urges Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now. Class Period: Oct. 8, 2020 Mar. 3, 2023 Lead Plaintiff Deadline: May 15, 2023 Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/NSC Contact An Attorney Now: NSC@hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895 Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC) Securities Fraud Class Action: The complaint alleges that Defendants misrepresented and concealed material facts concerning Norfolk Southerns increased risk-taking at the expense of reasonable safety precautions due to the companys near-term focus on profits. Specifically, the company invoked a plan to, among other things, use longer, heavier trains staffed by fewer personnel, which led to increased train derailments and the risk of future catastrophic events. The complaint also alleges that while failing to make proper capital expenditures in safety risk programs, the company concurrently lobbied for policies undermining its ability to provide safe, efficient, and reliable rail transportation services. The complaint alleges that this undisclosed conduct made Norfolk Southern more susceptible to accidents that could seriously harm the company, its workers, its customers, third parties, and the environment. The true facts began to emerge on Feb. 3, 2023, when a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailed equipment included 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials that subsequently ignited and required the immediate evacuation of those within a one-mile by two-mile area. According to regulators, the derailment was entirely preventable. An additional revelation of Norfolk Southerns safety lapses occurred on Mar. 14, 2023, when another of its freight trains derailed near Springfield, Ohio. Were focused on investors losses and proving Norfolk Southern put profits over safety, said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation. If you invested in Norfolk Southern and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firms investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman. Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Norfolk Southern should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email NSC@hbsslaw.com. About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman is a global plaintiffs rights complex litigation law firm focusing on corporate accountability through class-action law. The firm is home to a robust securities litigation practice and represents investors as well as whistleblowers, workers, consumers and others in cases achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and fraud. More about the firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw. NEWPORT NEWS, Va., May 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HII (NYSE: HII) today christened the Virginia-class submarine Massachusetts (SSN 798) at the companys Newport News Shipbuilding division. Shipbuilding is a noble calling, and you can see our pride in the craftsmanship before you, NNS President Jennifer Boykin said. When Massachusetts joins the fleet, she will be the latest in innovation and power, forging ahead in defense of our freedom, just like Paul Revere on his famous midnight ride. As SSN 798 supports the Navys critical missions around the world, she will carry with her the patriotism of her shipbuilders. Sheryl Sandberg, founder and chair of the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation, and former chief operating officer of Meta (formerly Facebook), serves as the ship's sponsor. Sandberg performed the traditional honor of breaking a bottle of American sparkling wine across the submarine's bow during the ceremony. Photos accompanying this release are available at: https://hii.com/news/hii-christens-virginia-class-attack-submarine-massachusetts-ssn-798. I was raised to be deeply grateful for our freedom and all those who risk their lives to defend it, Sandberg said. So it was an honor when then Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus asked me to sponsor Massachusetts eight years ago. I couldn't be more excited to be in Newport News to celebrate this boat with the shipbuilders who have worked so hard to bring her to life. Today is more than just a christening of a vessel. It is also a celebration of progress. This is one of the first submarines intentionally built to allow both men and women to serve and it will make our military stronger. It is an honor to christen Massachusetts and spend the day with service members, shipbuilders and their families. They are a living legacy of all that America represents. The ceremony took place outside of Module Outfitting Facility at NNS and was attended by more than 2,000 guests, including NNS employees who are building Massachusetts, members of the submarines crew, Navy personnel and other government officials. Under Secretary of the Navy Erik Raven provided the keynote address. From design, to delivery, to employment, each person here is making their vital contribution to maintaining our nations maritime dominance and the freedom that we all cherish, Raven told the crowd. We are able to deploy exquisite capabilities across the globe in great part to our dedicated shipbuilders. These talented women and men are able to turn raw steel into the worlds most sophisticated undersea capabilities. Massachusetts is the 25th Virginia-class submarine and the 12th to be delivered by NNS. The crew and I are excited to share in this historic event with our sponsor, the shipbuilder, and all our families, said Cmdr. Mike Siedsma, commanding officer of the pre-commissioning unit. We look forward to operating Massachusetts in support of our nation's defense. We are honored to establish the Iron Patriots legacy as an enemy to tyrants. NNS is one of only two shipyards capable of designing and building nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy. The advanced capabilities of Virginia-class submarines increase firepower, maneuverability and stealth. A video of the ceremony, along with additional information on Massachusetts, Sandberg and the Virginia-class submarine program, can be found at: www.HII.com/SSN798 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: https://www.HII.com/ HII on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamHII HII on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/WeAreHII HII on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WeAreHII A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/69b2c8e5-a1c2-4db7-bcdb-0b01acd76ec1 Vancouver, May 5, 2023 - Element79 Gold Corp. (CSE:ELEM) (OTC:ELMGF) (FSE:7YS) ("Element79 Gold", the "Company") announces a non-brokered private placement of unsecured convertible note units (the "Unit") in the aggregate principal amount of up to CA$500,000 Each Unit shall consist of a $1,000 unsecured convertible note (each, a "Convertible Note") and 10,000 non-transferrable full-common share purchase warrants (each, a "Warrant"). Each Convertible Note will be convertible into common shares (each, a "Share") of the Company at a price of $0.10 per Share and any accrued but unpaid interest thereon will be convertible into Shares at the price of $0.10 per Share. Each Warrant will be exercisable into one common share of the Company (a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of $0.20 for two (2) years from issuance (the "Warrant Expiry Date") and are subject to an acceleration clause noting that in the event that the volume weighted average price (VWAP) of the Shares equals or exceeds $0.30 per share on the Canadian Securities Exchange for ten consecutive trading days after the date that is four months and one day from the Closing Date. The Principal Amount of the Convertible Note will bear interest at 15% per annum, payable every six months from the Closing Date, in shares or cash, at the Company's election with 60 days' notice. Any accrued but unpaid interest, will mature on the date that is two (2) years following the Closing Date (the "Maturity Date"). The Company may elect to extend the Convertible Notes for an additional one (1) year at the same terms as the initial term, with written notice to Note Holders 6 months prior to the Maturity Date. Note Holders will be entitled, at their option, to convert (the "Conversion Right"), at any time on or prior to the Maturity Date, the full outstanding Principal and accrued Interest into common shares of the Company ("Shares") at a price per share equal to $0.10 (the "Conversion Price"). The Company may elect to prepay all of the outstanding Principal Amount at any time and from time to time at a premium of 10% of the face value of the note, plus all accrued and unpaid Interest on the Principal Amount. The securities issued will be subject to a 4-month one day hold period from the date of issue of the Convertible Notes, or the Shares. The completion of the private placement and payment of any commission and fees remains subject to the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the Exchange. The Company will distribute all forms of capitalization in 2023 approximately 85-90% towards its projects and 10-15% for operations and reducing accounts payable. Certain members of the Company's Management and Board of Directors are leading the funding of this Convertible Note with $100,000 of total investment. In connection with the private placement, the Company may, subject to regulatory acceptance, pay a finder's fee to certain arm's-length parties on the proceeds raised. Debt Settlement The Company further announces that it has agreed to settle an aggregate of $555,793 of indebtedness of the Company with various arm's length creditors through the issuance of an aggregate of 7,352,068 common shares ("Debt Shares"). The Debt Shares are being issued at a price equal to the closing market price of the common shares of the Company as listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") on April 28, 2023, being CA$0.075, in accordance with the policies of the CSE. The Debt Shares issued pursuant to the debt conversion are subjected to a four (4) month hold period. Crescita Draw To advance its flagship projects at Maverick Springs in Elko and White Pine counties in Nevada, and Lucero in Arequipa, Peru, the Company has drawn an additional $399,000 from Crescita, exchanging 7,000,000 shares. Element79 CEO James Tworek comments: "There are three main efforts underway at Element79 Gold: cleaning up the balance sheet; restarting and expanding work programs to uncover value through resource development and create a clear path to near term cashflow generation; and ensuring we have the funds on hand to continue further exploration, drilling and project development. These recent efforts at our world-class projects have brought new energy to our story and as a team we are pulling together to bring further proof of the value we are confident is there for our shareholders today and in the future." About Element79 Gold Element79 Gold is a mining company focused on gold, silver and associated metals. Element79 Gold's main focus is on two core properties: developing its previously-producing, high-grade gold and silver mine, the Lucero project located in Arequipa, Peru, with the intent to bring it back into production in the near term; and its flagship Maverick Springs Project located in the famous gold mining district of northeastern Nevada, USA, between the Elko and White Pine Counties. Maverick Springs hosts a 43-101-compliant, pit-constrained mineral resource estimate reflecting an inferred resource of 3.71 million ounces of gold equivalent "AuEq" at a grade of 0.92 g/t AuEq (0.34 g/t Au and 43.4 g/t Ag) with an effective date of Oct. 19, 2022 (see news release October 20, 2022, available on SEDAR). The acquisition of the Maverick Springs Project also included a portfolio of 15 properties along the Battle Mountain trend in Nevada, which are non-core to its primary business focus. In British Columbia, Element79 Gold has executed a Letter of Intent and funded a drilling program pursuant to acquire a private company which holds the option to 100% interest of the Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project, which consists of 10 mineral claims located in Central British Columbia, approximately 20km west of Fort St. James. The Company also has an option to acquire 100% interest in the Dale Property, 90 unpatented mining claims located approximately 100 km southwest of Timmins, Ontario, Canada in the Timmins Mining Division, Dale Township. The Company is analyzing the non-core Nevada projects, The Dale Property and Snowbird Property for further merit of exploration, sale or spin-out. For more information about the Company, please visit www.element79.gold For corporate matters, please contact: James C. Tworek, Chief Executive Officer Email: jt@element79gold.com For investor relations inquiries, please contact: Investor Relations Department Phone: +1 (604) 200-3608 Email: investors@element79gold.com NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. TORONTO, May 5, 2023 - Voltage Metals Corp. ("Voltage" or the "Company") (CSE: VOLT) (OTC: VLTMF) announces that its application for a temporary management cease trade order ("MCTO") under National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203") was granted by the Ontario Securities Commission effective May 2, 2023. As previously announced on April 18, 2023, the Company applied for the MCTO on the basis that it would be unable to file its annual financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and the required certifications (the "Issuer Statements") on or before the prescribed filing deadline of May 1, 2023. The Company underwent a business combination transaction in its last financial year (the completion of which was previously announced on March 11, 2022), adding to the complexity of the audit of the Issuer Statements and contributing to the filing delay. The Company's recent change of auditors has also contributed to the delay. The MCTO prohibits trading in securities of the Company by its CEO and CFO until the Issuer Statements are filed and the MCTO is lifted. While the MCTO remains in effect, the general public will continue to be able to trade in the Company's listed securities. The Company expects to have the audit of the Issuer Statements completed no later than June 30, 2023. The Company confirms that it will satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines set out under Sections 9 and 10 of NP 12-203 until the Issuer Statements are filed. About Voltage Metals Voltage is a critical metals exploration and development company focused on Canadian projects near existing or past-producing mines. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by management. Although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information. There can be no assurance that they will prove to be correct. By its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause the actual results and expectations to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date hereof, and to not use such forward- looking information for anything other than its intended purpose. Management of the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE Voltage Metals Corp. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Mogo Auto, a Chinese autonomous driving technologies and operation services provider, recently announced the completion of its C2 round of financing, which raised for the company 580 million yuan. Investors involved in the fresh round include Chengdu Capital Group Co., Ltd., Tencent, and Yixin Group, etc. Upon completion of the aforesaid round, Mogo Auto has seen its market valuation lift to 3 billion US dollars. Mogo Auto's pre-installed self-driving bus; photo credit: Mogo Auto Mogo Auto said it has independently developed the industry's first "vehicle-road-cloud integration" autonomous driving system with full-stack L4 autonomous driving capability. Its core products include standardized digital road AI base stations, standardized autonomous driving vehicles, and a standardized smart transportation cloud platform. The system can be rapidly deployed on open city roads, highways, and other scenarios to provide intelligent vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) services for L0-L4 autonomous driving vehicles. To meet the different application needs of the terminal market, Mogo Auto has developed a standardized autonomous driving vehicle lineup with multiple categories and types, including taxis, buses, large-scale sweeping vehicles, and small-sized functional vehicles. They can be used in such scenarios as public transportation, shuttle services, sightseeing, environmental sanitation, security, and retail. Currently, the company's "vehicle-road-cloud integration" technology and standardized products have been applied in 18 provinces including Beijing, Hunan, Yunnan, Shandong, Hubei, Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Guizhou, to support the construction of city-level intelligent transportation and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) based autonomous driving smart scenic spots. Their application scenarios encompass open city roads, highways, parks, scenic spots, airports, etc., with a total signed contract amount exceeding 11 billion yuan so far. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On May 3, Chinese leading new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturer BYD announced its strategic cooperation with Andor Corporation ("Andor"), a car dealership group in Ecuador, to jointly provide sales and aftersales services of BYD-branded models in the country. At the event held in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, BYD also presented three battery electric vehicle (BEV) models, namely, the HAN EV, the YUAN PLUS EV, and the Dolphin EV. "We are delighted with this new step that BYD is taking in Ecuador", said Stella Li, Executive Vice President of BYD and CEO of BYD Americas. As a global company, we want to provide our consumers with the best technology and innovation, and offer solutions that allow us to improve the urban living quality with clean and efficient transportation." Diego Almeida, General Manager of Andor Corporation, said: "We are creating a comprehensive solution that supports the after-sales, made possible by a team of technical professionals from BYD Americas and BYD Ecuador." BYD HAN EV; photo credit: BYD The display of the aforesaid three models is expected to bring vigor to the Ecuadorian electric passenger vehicle market. Andor announced that BYDs new energy vehicle models will be exhibited in 3 shopping centersQuicentro Shopping, Paseo San Francisco, and Mall del Solas the beginning of its strategic plan. Over the next half years, six sales outlets of BYD models will be built in Quito Guayaquil, and Manta, and the local presence will expand to reach 12 outlets by 2024. Strikes Close to Home Broken Men from Broken Homes in a Broken Industry The Basement of Maslows Hierarchy The Cost of Extracting Black Gold in the Name of Energy Independence The Books Paradox Michael Patrick F. Smith would not seem to fit the profile of an oil field worker. Hes an actor, a musician and a playwright who sublet his Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment to head out west to Williston, N.D., during the height of the Bakken Oil Boom in 2013. As he admits, Its a weird resume for a man applying to work in the oil fields. Now hes published a thoughtful and well-written memoir of that misadventure,(You can read Clay Jenkinsons interview with Michael Patrick Smith here .)is two journey stories under one cover. It is the story of one of the thousands of men (and some women) who gravitated to the Bakken between 2005 and 2016 in search of jobs, wealth, adventure and excitement in an industrial arena where things are so hectic that the norms begin to break down and all sorts of marginal or illicit pleasures are possible. It is also a personal journey story of a talented man with an uncertain core identity who thought he might find clarity on one of the last frontiers. In the end, the personal journey story dominates, but the cast of extras is fabulous. Its like a carnival but with gargantuan equipment. Smiths oil field pals are not the kind of young men you invite home to Sunday brunch.As a North Dakotan who is fascinated by the Bakken boom, which brought tens of thousands of men and women, mostly men, to a place they would never otherwise have visited, much less lived, I picked upto learn how well North Dakota handled a 21st-century analog to the California Gold Rush of 1849. Not particularly well or badly, seems to be the answer to that question, but I soon realized that Smith was not especially interested in North Dakota except insofar as it was the location, the platform, on which the human drama of the oil rush played itself out. It might just as well have been west Texas. His focus is on the kind of men who gravitate to oil booms or other madcap industrial developments.is a memoir about brokenness his own and the brokenness of most of the individuals he met on the vast and open plains of a little-visited state tucked up against the Canadian border.Smith comes from a badly broken home back east a violent, raging father, a favorite sister who died at the age of 16 in an automobile accident, and a mother who found the courage to leave her abusive husband, who periodically threatened to kill his wife and his children, and they knew he wasnt altogether bluffing. Brokenness is the organizing principle of the book.Smith writes, That scar, that hole in a mans soul the shape of his father, was a defining feature of every man I met in Williston. Men had built their lives around it. Like a tree growing around a hatchet. The father wound served as a method of communication between me and the men I met. We talked jobs, then fathers. Before women, before politics, before home, Man, my dad whipped my ass! It bonded us together.Among other things, this passage indicates how superb a writer Smith is. But heres the most compelling insight of. Smith believes that extractive industrial capitalism depends on the father wound the brokenness to accomplish its mission. This kind of industrial capitalism attracts (preys on?) strong working class, Lee Greenwood, loose-ends young men who are willing to sacrifice their best years and their health while living in decidedly marginal communities. The work is backbreaking and heartbreaking, too, but the payoff is enough cash to make the day off an orgy of drink, loud conversations heavily laced with the f-word, opioids if you want them, pliant strippers, and a street fight if you arent careful.In other words, an oil boom attracts men who are not so much seeking economic independence as escaping the civilities they would be forced to observe if they were living in their home communities, surrounded by family, familiar neighbors, pastors, former schoolteachers, and community cops. They may come west for the best and most earnest reasons, but it is not long before most of them descend into a testosterone coma that brings them to the brink of mayhem or the personal bust that is sure to follow any boom.When you watch the drilling of a single fracking well in the Bakken, as if in a time lapse video, you surrender to a kind of gross industrial awe. The oil must be leased. Its 13,000 feet below the surface of the earth. An approach road is created to the spot. A level gravel pad of an acre or two is shaped. Power lines are brought to the site from the nearest trunk lines. The drilling rig is trucked in and set up. (This was Smiths place in the equation: mantle and dismantle). Enough pipe to slink seven miles into the ground must be piled up neatly at the site. Two thousand water trucks have to visit the site, with water hauled from 10 or a hundred miles away. Fracking material a special kind of sand or tiny plastic pellets arrives. An array of modular buildings trailers are arranged to facilitate the drilling. Colossal hydraulic engines inch in to provide the enormous pressure required to fracture (frack) the shale in which the oil is suspended.It may take two weeks to drill down and frack the shale or two months. Gamers with joysticks find the thin layer of oil-bearing shale, using extremely sophisticated sensing equipment and colorful monitors. Then they force the fracking fluids through perforated pipe into the fissures of the rock (seven miles down!). As soon as natural gas and oil start to find their way to the surface, they dismantle the whole industrial village, slap a pump jack and some storage tanks on the pad, and move to the next site.Daily TelegraphDrilling a single Bakken well can cost up to $10 million. This is how we get the oil that becomes the gasoline that you take for granted when you drive to the grocery store or the reunion. This is how we achieve energy independence. This is where the natural gas comes from that heats your home and cooks your pork roast. At the height of the boom, during the time Smith lived in western North Dakota, between 180-213 of these rigs were operating simultaneously, each one employing a couple of hundred people, many of them unskilled field grunts like Smith. (Actually, many of them are highly skilled, but the work they do is mostly grunt work).An average Bakken well will produce up to 600,000 barrels of oil over 30-40 years. A 42-gallon barrel of oil will yield about 20 gallons of gasoline. The average American consumes 656 gallons of gas per year. If you work the math, all this means that a single well will supply 609 people their annual gas ration. The American people consume about 2.9 billion barrels of oil per year. North Dakota currently exports approximately 1.25 million barrels per day.When you see all of this in the field, you come to a couple of remarkable conclusions. One: We must really want that black liquid substance if we are willing to spend $10 million just to get at it. If we learned that a lost painting of Rembrandt were buried at 13,500 feet in the earth, would we spend $10 million to dig it out? Two: We have developed extremely sophisticated methods of getting at that oil, but the process nevertheless requires the labor of hundreds and thousands of strong young men who are willing to live in substandard housing in a barren landscape, hundreds or thousands of miles from their kin, performing dangerous and extremely exhausting work out-of-doors in a place where winters are long and raw, often brutal. Three: We may be headed to a post-carbon future, but its going to be hard to find a substitute for this miracle liquid that powers the world economy. It must truly be magical if we are willing to use so much equipment and human muscle to draw it up out of the ground. Four: The oil business is based entirely on extraction extraction of a precious resource from under the earth, extraction of the metals that make the rigs and the pipes, extraction of gravel for the roads and pads, extraction of sand or plastic (made from oil) for the fracking process; but also extraction (or perhaps subtraction) of the aesthetic value of landscapes in all the places where oil is developed, extraction of the quality of life of the people who happen to live permanently in or near a boom town, extraction of the best years of the lives of the men (and some women) who drift around to work the boom sites, not to mention the friends and families they leave behind when they go in quest of the American dream.Heres how Smith summarizes the profile. Testosterone-fueled young men are working fourteen-hour shifts at jobs that can kill them in a town without friends or family. It only makes sense that the dangerous work of the day spills past sunset as parentless white boys roar through the night in F-250sSmith arrived in North Dakota in the summer of 2013. He had a very hard time finding a place to sleep not to live, but merely to sleep. He had a hard time finding a job. When he did, he wound up working very long hours with very little time off, and the pay, though good, was never what he and the rest of the oil field workers had come to expect. In fact, Smith left the state of North Dakota with less money than he brought to the adventure. In this, he was roughly typical. Its hard to generalize accurately for several tens of thousands of oil field workers, but most came with very high economic expectations and left sobered and disillusioned. The cost of living in the Bakken oil zone was high. At one time it was cheaper to rent an apartment in New York than in Williston or Watford City, N.D. Ifis an accurate window on the boom, most of the workers played as hard as they worked. Smiths pals seemed to spend every hour when they werent working either sleeping or drinking, and often enough brawling.Its not clear what Michael Smith was trying to prove out in the oil fields. It was not finally about money. In fact, as a talented musician, he might have made more money entertaining oil field workers than slinging metal with them on the pads. This is the lesson of virtually every gold rush the profit is in serving or servicing the miners, not sharing their privations. He did not take back to Brooklyn, and now Kentucky, any skills that would transfer to a less industrial career. As the title of the memoir makes clear, what he wanted most was to be accepted as a good hand, someone who was reliable, uncomplaining, hardworking and tough enough to take the physical and emotional abuse of the industry. The work woke something up inside of me, Smith writes, something that had been dormant for some time, something simple and elemental. I liked being tired at the end of the day. I like having sore arms and sore feet. I liked getting dirty. On top of that, I loved the opportunity to do something I felt had meaning. It woke up my hands and my heart.He stood the test graduated from a rookies green hardhat to the standard white one and had the opportunity to spend a big chunk of his life in northwest North Dakota, but chose to retreat after 10 months, before his body broke down or his after-hours diversions had the chance to spin out of control. He is a bit vague on just what motivated him, but he locates it in proving a kind of working-class masculinity that seems not to get validated in his artistic life now he is a writer with an agent, working on his second book!is a book of paradoxes. The East Coast liberals who are most critical of carbon are just as hopelessly addicted to all that oil brings to world civilization and the American economy as the proponents of big oil, which convicts them either of ignorance or hypocrisy. New York benefits from the oil boom far more than Williston ever will. The broken young men and women who seek the American Dream or some other fulfillment out on the energy frontier usually wind up even more broken when they finally limp away with chronic back problems, shattered personal relationships with the ones they left behind, and empty pockets. Most of the individuals Smith met in the Bakken were foul-mouthed, law-breaking, pass-out-drunk, racists, bigots, sexists, and angry patriots, and yet many of them were in some essential way good people and good friends, and a few of them, like Smiths closest Bakken friend Huck, somehow beautifully innocent. I struggled with this question, Smith writes, even as I enjoyed the company of unabashed bigots and learned to compartmentalize their casual, constant, continuing faucet of racism. How terrible is that? Does it make me a bad person? I dont know. How do you love men you disagree with so violently on the ethical and moral questions that you think define you?One climax of the book comes when the crew travels to Glendive, Mont., to set up a new rig. In the middle of a day off of hard drinking thats invariably what they do on their days off Smith reveals that he voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections. If this were a film (which it deserves to be) the whole bar would instantly go silent and everyone would turn to stare at whatever man uttered so outrageous, so appalling, so heretical a sentence. The result was explosive. Were all here because were capitalists, one of Smiths colleagues shouts. Obama is a socialist. He wants to give your money to crack addicts. Jesus Christ, said Tex, a real flesh-and-blood Democrat! And so on all day long.Smith doesnt spend a lot of time writing about North Dakota, but when he does, he writes about it beautifully:It is 20 degrees below zero, and the sun has yet to rise. My breath crystallizes in front of me. I watch the crystals all but fall to the earth as soon as they appear. I look up. The sky is racked with stars. They pulse in brilliance through an atmosphere so thin and clean that I feel like if I reached up to grab them, they would burn my hand. But they wouldntthey are cold and distantso I dont. I stuff my hands in my jacket pockets as a single big rig barrels past me. It takes all the sound with it, and the silence once it passes is full and strange. I start walking, my boots on icy gravel the only sound.As a writer and a deep lover of North Dakota, I can tell you: Smith nails it.The great book on the Bakken Oil Boom is yet to be written, but that does not makeany less interesting. Call it a portrait of an artist as an oil field grunt. Its a portrait of working class men through the eyes of a very talented writer.Michael Patrick F. SmithViking Press, 464 pages, Feb. 16, 2021, $29.00 Formula 1 will organise a smarter and more sustainable calendar for 2024, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has revealed. Currently, the stops on the calendar mean the thousands of personnel who travel from race to race are essentially "zig-zagging" across the world from one continent to another. For instance, the last race was in Azerbaijan - separated by mere days from this weekend's grand prix in Miami. "We will no longer hop from continent to continent," Wolff told APA news agency. "If we are somewhere, we will stay there longer." What he means is that the races will be more appropriately grouped together geographically. "The European races, the Asian races, the Middle East races, the American races. That's actually a no-brainer," Wolff said. He said Mercedes also undertakes many of its own measures to reduce F1's carbon footprint. "We fly some of the time with sustainable aviation fuel," said the Austrian. "For the flights where we can't find it, we offset our share of the flight's fuel requirements by purchasing sustainable fuel." Wolff said Formula 1 is also moving to sustainable fuels for the cars. "If we can deliver a sustainable fuel, we can help ensure that a fuel is also developed for road production," he said. "We have a billion viewers in the world. We have the task of beating this drum." (GMM) Formula 1 is looking to expand the newly-tweaked 'sprint shootout' weekend format to as many as ten grands prix in 2024. The format - now with a separate 'shootout' qualifying for a standalone sprint race on Saturday - debuted at Baku last weekend, and will be repeated five more times this season. "The main idea is that there is a lot of action from Friday to Sunday," F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said in Miami. "The first attempt with this new format turned out to be very encouraging, with positive reactions from partners, promoters and teams." He said some tweaks could be made to the revised format for 2024, and admitted that "traditional Formula 1 fans" are less enthusiastic than the newer ones. Therefore, Domenicali insisted that Formula 1 will not use the sprint race format at each and every grand prix, but the plan is to expand it to "maybe a third of the calendar". "It's an experimental phase," Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said on Friday when asked about the sprint format. "Some things work, others maybe not." Red Bull's Christian Horner added: "I think we need to let it settle, do the six races this year and then reflect on it at the end of the year." (GMM) Toto Wolff says he will sit down with Lewis Hamilton "in a few weeks" to sign a new Mercedes contract for the seven time world champion. The Brackley based team initially looked competitive in Miami, only to fall a second off the pace in the second Friday practice session. "It was like a punch in the stomach," said Hamilton, whose deal ends late this year. "It's not easy to accept such a gap. "The car is similar to last year here." A lot of hopes are now resting on a major car upgrade next time out at Imola, but boss Wolff says he is trying to "lower expectations". "There's been so much talk about these upgrades that they seem to expect that we will suddenly be beating Red Bull by a lap," he said. Nonetheless, Wolff says the package will include new front suspension, a new floor and other aerodynamic features. "Due to the budget constraints, it's impossible to do a new chassis in the current season," he said. "With free upgrades, we'd be changing twice as much. "Right now we can't say whether we'll be better there (at Imola) or not." At the same time, Wolff doubts that Red Bull's even more restricted wind tunnel time as a result of last year's overspend saga will slow the dominant team down very much. "They've had this penalty since October," he said, "and it hasn't really had an effect. That's not the way to make us competitive anyway." Wolff told Kronen Zeitung newspaper that Red Bull is as dominant today as Mercedes was in 2016. "In 2016 we won 19 races out of 21, mostly 1-2s," he said. "It's very similar at the moment. "But Formula 1 is a meritocracy, and we have to acknowledge how good the Red Bull is in terms of driveability. They have a suspension that is really in another league." On the driver front, however, Wolff thinks stability will be the order of the day - even though a new deal with 38-year-old Hamilton is long delayed. "Everyone is reporting on this topic live," he told Sky Deutschland. "In a few weeks, we will meet up and sign the contract renewal." (GMM) CorpsAfrica, Mastercard Foundation deepen partnership: $59.4 million project to impact 800,000 people Emmanuel Bruce Business News May - 06 - 2023 , 10:24 CorpsAfrica has expanded its partnership with Mastercard Foundation to develop the leadership skills of young Africans, particularly young women. The expanded $59.4 million partnership will enable over 1,600 young African volunteers to serve across 11 countries on the continent and impact over 800,000 community members. The five-year partnership aims to empower participants to fight poverty and facilitate sustainable community-led projects that impact public health, food security, education, gender issues, the digital economy, the environment and economic development. Under the partnership, CorpsAfrica recruits, trains and places ambitious hard-working young African women and men to serve in poverty stricken communities in their own countries for one year. The volunteers live within the communities to gain a deep understanding of the problems facing their fellow citizens and work with community members to implement sustainable solutions to improve lives, build resilience and create better economic outcomes for all. As part of their learning process, the volunteers work with communities to help identify their needs and support them in developing community projects such as building schools, wells and irrigation systems, helping launch small businesses and agriculture projects, tutoring in schools, training centres, and where community members identify a need for assistance. Creating jobs Commenting on the programme, the Founder and Executive Director of CorpsAfrica, Liz Fanning, said during their 10-month service, the volunteers would create formal and informal jobs using a human-centered design approach. She said they helped to create a healthy environment that allowed economic prosperity and independence. She added that the volunteers listened and learned while living alongside community members, which gave them critical thinking and problem-solving skills, humility and empathy. When their service is complete, they leave a legacy of innovation and change with families and communities, she stated. Funding from partners Ms Fanning said the funding from its partners could not have come at a more appropriate time, as real-world experience and service opportunities were urgently needed to engage young Africans and create sustainable economic opportunities for rural people. This extraordinary partnership will provide the resources to advance and expand CorpsAfricas mission by ensuring sustainability across the continent. Together, we can create a model for national and Pan-African service and participatory development that is efficient, effective, collaborative, and accountable, she stated. She noted that with long-standing support from founding the OCP Group of Morocco, the Mastercard Foundation, and from other generous supporters, CorpsAfrica had hosted almost 500 African volunteers in six countries Morocco, Senegal, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana and Kenya. With this new partnership, she said the organisation planned to extend its programme to Nigeria, Uganda and Ethiopia this year, and to two more African countries in 2024. Proven its impact The Chief Programmes Officer at Mastercard Foundation, Peter Materu, for his part, said CorpsAfrica had proven its impact in rural communities and demonstrated the value of deploying a network of service-minded young Africans to solve pressing issues across the continent. He said the vision of CorpsAfrica aligned Mastercards Young Africa Works strategy which sought to enable 30 million young people, particularly young women, to access dignified and fulfilling work. We are pleased to support their growth and expansion throughout the continent, he said. FBNBank MD charges new inductees of CIMG to be professional Graphic.com.gh Business News May - 06 - 2023 , 10:28 The Managing Director of FBNBank Ghana, Victor Yaw Asante, has charged the new inductees of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) to be professional and add value while practicing as marketers. He said that marketers needed to relentlessly seek to understand the demands of their customers and commit to proffer the necessary solutions. Mr Asante said this at the induction ceremony for newly chartered marketers held over the weekend in Accra. As professionals, we must live by the values of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana in delivering our mandate; we must be creative, show leadership, have integrity and be professional; all of which if well delivered, will make us very professional in our work. I want to encourage all those climbing up the ladder not to give up on their dreams of becoming chartered marketers, which is the pinnacle of the profession, he stated. Impact The chairman for the event, Professor Emeritus Stephen Adei, said being a marketer is not what we do today but about the impact it will have on the future. I want to take this opportunity to also congratulate the new inductees to go out and make a difference because as a marketer, you are responsible for anything and everything with regard to marketing, he stated. As such, he said a marketer had the mandate to implement decisions that were deemed to be profitable from his end. On that night, the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) decorated existing Chartered Marketers, including Victor Yaw Asante. The Chartered Marketer status is conferred on persons who achieve the highest standards in marketing knowledge, experience and enhance the skills professionally qualified marketers (ProM) need to deliver to customers, clients, employers and the community. The event witnessed the induction of some 71 new professional members into its fraternity. 'I already have cases for you' - John Dumelo congratulates wife on being called to the Ghana Bar GraphicOnline Showbiz News May - 05 - 2023 , 12:51 Actor and politician John Dumelo has taken to social media to publicly congratulate his wife, Gifty Mawunya Dumelo, on her recent achievement. In an Instagram post shared on his official account, Dumelo expressed his excitement and pride in his wife being called to the Ghana Bar, and congratulated her on her new title as "Mrs. Gifty Mawunya Dumelo Esq." She is the little sister of seasoned actress Selassie Ibrahim and prior to her marriage to John Dumelo, she was a Ghanaian lawyer based in the United Kingdom. Congratulations my love for being called to the Ghana Bar today. You are now Mrs Gifty Mawunya Dumelo Esq. I have cases for you already lol. Love you. pic.twitter.com/V2NP6MGyoW Farmer John (@johndumelo) May 5, 2023 Mrs. Dumelo is a graduate of Central University and also holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). Dumelo's Instagram post has since gone viral, receiving thousands of likes and comments from fans and well-wishers across the globe. As a proud husband, Dumelo has already lined up cases for his wife to tackle, as he looks forward to her contribution to the legal profession. The couple have been married since May 2018, and have a son and daughter together. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Great Wall Motor (GWM) recently signed the "Hydrogen Energy Cooperation Memorandum" with the government of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, aiming to jointly promote the feasibility study of hydrogen-powered transportation. In late Jan. 2022, the handover ceremony of GWM's "Arte. Futuro" plant in Brazil was held in the state of Sao Paulo, meaning GWM officially acquired the Iracemapolis plant. At the recent event, Yang Weiqi, president of GWM Brazil, revealed the factory is undergoing smooth upgrades according to GWMs global smart factory standards. The modernized renovation and expansion of the production lines will begin in the first half of this year with the upgraded facilities expected for official operation in May 1, 2024. Photo credit: GWM Mr. Yang added that the factorys annual production capacity will climb to 100,000 vehicles in the future and 2,000 jobs will be added upon completion of the construction works. The first model to be produced at the new factory will be a hybrid flex-fuel pickup. GWM stated that in the current development stage, the plug-in hybrid technology with ethanol as fuel is one of the best technical solutions for the Brazilian market, as it is consistent with the country's geographical environment that features a massive national land and complex road conditions, as well as its present power generation and energy storage structure. Currently, 80% of Brazil's electricity comes from renewable energy sources, which is far higher than the global average of 30%. According to GWM's plan, it will invest over BRL10 billion in its operations in Brazil over the next decade. By then, in addition to meeting the supply and demand of intelligent and electrified vehicles in the local market, the factory will also serve as GWM's fourth-largest production base in the world, radiating the entire new energy vehicle market in Latin America. 2nd Phase Ghana-Togo border reaffirmation exercise commences Della Russel Ocloo May - 06 - 2023 , 16:06 The second phase of the reaffirmation of the Ghana-Togo international land boundary has commenced. The reaffirmation exercise will cover a distance of approximately 80 km from the main border at Ave Dakpa to Wli Afegame in the Volta Region of Ghana. The exercise, which is said to be consistent with the mandate of the Ghana Boundary Commission and the AU Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation, is being funded by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), through the Africa Union Border Programme (AUBP). It will lead to the reconstruction of the boundary pillars or markings defining the land boundaries between the two countries. A number of boundary pillars along the Ghana-Togo border had been removed due to factors such as erosion, tampering or outright removal of the pillars. It is expected that the reaffirmation will also see to the construction of new main, intermediary and border post boundary pillars across Ave Hevi, Batume Junction, Wudome, Nyive, Shia, Honuta, Leklebi Dafor and Wli Afegame, all in the Volta Region which share borders with sister communities in Togo. Boundary pillars are physical concrete pillars constructed on the ground along the international boundary line to define the sovereign limits of neighbouring states. Reaffirming the boundaries, therefore, provides the opportunity for states to jointly confirm international boundaries to avoid any future disputes. Sensitisation programme At a joint community sensitisation programme at Agortime Kpetoe, organised by the Ghana National Boundary Commission, in partnership with the National Land Boundary Commission of Togo, a Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu-Bio, said rather than being barriers, international boundary lines ought to serve as bridges to promote economic and social growth in the two countries. Participants included municipal and district chief executives from Akatsi North, Afadjato North, Ho and Ho West, as well as the Hohoe districts. He said management of a common boundary was a shared responsibility, hence the need for Ghana and Togo to continue to maintain good relations through mutual respect, shared cultural and social beliefs to safeguard the peace and stability of both countries. I will also like to entreat our esteemed traditional rulers, opinion leaders and residents living along the international boundary line to accord members of the joint Ghana and Togo land boundary reaffirmation technical committee the maximum support and cooperation, the minister added. Land boundary The National Coordinator of the Boundary Commission, Major-General Dr Emmanuel Kotia, said the land boundary between the two countries was 906 km, making it the longest boundary Ghana shared with a neighbouring country. "The ongoing process is not to demarcate any new boundaries, rather, we are just reaffirming existing boundary lines to enable us to replace existing markings or pillars that have been damaged or tampered with," he said. According to the coordinator, the project will be undertaken within a three-week period, hence the need for the chiefs and people to cooperate with the team. The Permanent Secretary of the Land Boundary Commission of Togo, Dr Lardja Douti, also said that the reaffirmation exercise would be beneficial to both countries. A representative of the Paramount Chief of Agortime traditional area, Nene Akoto Sah VII, said: "We see political parties come to this area to run smooth campaigns during electioneering, however, when it is time for us to vote, many of our indigenes go through very difficult moments, and so our hope is that the demarcation processes will bring lasting solutions to such challenges." The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Letsa, expressed the preparedness of the Regional Coordinating Council to support the team in its work. ECG recovers GH3.1bn from debtors Maclean Kwofi May - 05 - 2023 , 08:08 THE Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has recovered GH3.1 billion from its nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise. The figure was realised from a targeted GH5.7 billion owed the power distribution company by individuals and corporate bodies in unpaid bills as at the beginning of the exercise on March 20, this year. Meanwhile, the company has earmarked the last week of every month for revenue mobilisation in an effort to retrieve the remaining GH2.6 billion. However, about GH1.5 billion of the unretrieved debts which were owed by collapsed companies and postpaid users affected by either demolition exercises or floods had been considered as bad debt by the company. Homes and other properties of the defaulting individual customers were also either non-existent or could not be traced. According to the Managing Director of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama, who disclosed this at a news conference in Accra yesterday, over 200 of the collapsed firms owed the company GH780 million, while that of postpaid users amounted to GH750 million. He said that the company would use every legal means possible to retrieve the debts, including seeking help from the receiver of the collapsed firms. Exercise Mr Mahama described the debt recovery exercise which started from March 20, 2023 - April 20, 2023 as successful. In the last week of every month, we will also undertake an exercise to identify customers who have not been captured in our books and include them for efficient revenue collection, he added. The MD also said that the revenue assurance unit of the company would ensure that bills were issued promptly for postpaid customers, adding that they were also designing a bill system that would check the reading of prepaid meters to tackle illegalities and losses. Meter shortages To address the issue of meter shortages, he said the company had introduced a loss reduction programme which had already started serving customers in the Accra East District. And so meters are now available and those who applied for them are getting served, but it is not moving fast enough because we are dealing with only local manufacturers. I will, therefore, like to inform customers that have applied for meters to visit the offices of ECG immediately for proper reconciliation, Mr Mahama said. He, however, said the company would soon start a flat rate service to bill consumers without meters. Galamsey brouhaha: I will cooperate with OSP - Frimpong-Boateng Graphic.com.gh May - 06 - 2023 , 10:12 A former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has said he will cooperate fully with the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) in its investigations into alleged corruption in the activities of the defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM). This was after the OSP formally invited Prof. Frimpong-Boateng to assist in investigations into the activities of the IMCIM which he chaired. In a statement confirming the invitation, the renowned cardiologist, in a statement, said he had been invited by the OSP and he had also formally responded to the invitation which he was ready to honour. Earlier today, I received a letter from the Office of the Special Prosecutor inviting me to assist the Office, as a person necessary for the investigation into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of the activities and expenditure of the dissolved Inter- Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM). I have formally communicated my willingness to attend the invitation and to support the OSP in its work, the statement said. OSP investigating The OSP on May 2, said it was already investigating issues on a number of corruption offences in the mining sector in the country. Those issues include allegations raised in a report authored by the former Environment Minister. In a press statement, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, acknowledged the recent calls from public and civil society following the publication of the report by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, who was the head of the dissolved IMCIM. The OSP welcomes the calls for action and investigations and it assures the public and civil society that its investigation is ongoing and far-reaching and it also covers the matters raised in the report published by the head of the dissolved IMCIM. The OSP will take necessary action against all persons deemed culpable of corruption and corruption-related offences in the mining sector, the statement said. Frimpong-Boatengs Report In a report presented to the Presidency in March 2021, which was currently in the public domain, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng mentioned dozens of people in the Akufo-Addo administration, as well as party bigwigs, as being complicit in illegal mining and frustrating the efforts of the President to combat the menace. Although the report was authored and presented to the President, it has become an issue of national discourse following the renowned world heart surgeons interview on GTV about the illegal mining menace. He said the report was handed over to personnel of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) during investigations on some missing excavators. I didnt write the report for Ghanaians to talk about it. It has been two years since the report was authored. I didnt leak it. After I granted an interview with GTV, some CID officials visited me to investigate some comments I made in the said interview concerning some excavators. I then handed over the report to them. I am not saying the CID officials leaked the report but I gave them the report to aid with their investigations and that was the end. Presidency, appointees react However, the Presidency and some of the individuals mentioned in the report have dismissed the report. A statement from the Presidency dismissed the report in its form and substance, and further described it as unfounded and hearsay. In terms of the form, the statement said the report was not an official document, but rather a catalogue of personal grievances by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng in response to some issues during his tenure as the Chairperson of the IMCIM. The report, the statement said, was delivered by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng to the Chief of Staff on March 21, 2021, when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo decided not to renew his mandate as a minister in his second term. The document did not have a transmittal or cover letter nor, indeed, an addressee, such as to suggest that it was submitted to the Chief of Staff for action. It is noteworthy that the IMCIM was a creation of Cabinet, and any formal report on its activities would, normally, be submitted to Cabinet through the Cabinet Secretary, or directly to the President of the Republic as Chairperson of Cabinet. To date, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng has done neither, the statement added. With regard to its substance, the statement noted that although the allegations made by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng were serious, he failed to provide any shred of evidence to support them. It is important also to point out that while Prof. Frimpong-Boateng makes serious allegations against some government appointees, as having been involved in, supporting or interfering with the fight against illegal mining, not a single piece of evidence was adduced or presented to enable the claims to be properly investigated, the statement from the Presidency said. Gokals-Laborex supports Blind Union Diana Mensah May - 06 - 2023 , 11:21 A pharmaceutical company, Gokals-Laborex, has donated 200 white canes worth GH25,000 to the Ghana Blind Union to support the mobility of the union members. The donation, which was held at the headoffice of the Blind Union, last Friday, was in response to an appeal made by the Regional Blind Union for support to enable the union to acquire essential equipment to help the mobility of its members. The donation, Gokals-Laborex officials said, highlighted the companys commitment to giving back to society as part of the organisations core principles. CSR At the brief exercise, the Managing Director of Gokals-Laborex, Mahesh Gokaldas, said the donation was part of the organisations corporate social responsibility towards the community and a response to an appeal made by the union. He said the organisations support for the union was out of the principle that caring for the vulnerable in society helped to build a better society. It is a pleasure to support the union. As a health care centre, the provision of white canes would help disabled people to be more independent, and harness their full potential as it was also an opportunity for the blind to navigate their environment a lot better, while avoiding over-dependency on family and loved ones, Mr Gokaldas said. He gave an assurance that the organisation would continue to support the union and others to enable vulnerable groups to contribute their quota to national development. Appreciation, more support The Regional President of the Ghana Blind Union, George Abelse, received the white canes on behalf of the union and expressed gratitude to Gokals-Laborex for heeding the call for support. He added that the donation came at the right time. Mr Abelse said the donation was to enable those who could not afford the white canes to own the essential item to help their movements in town. The white canes would help us to move independently and freely, as movement without the canes was always a problem for us, he said. He assured the union that the white canes would be distributed to the members who needed them. Hungry watchdogs; Would media perform effective guard duties? Rosalind Amoh & Michael Quaye May - 06 - 2023 , 10:35 The remuneration of local journalists has taken centre stage once again as Ghana joined the rest of the world to mark the 2023 World Press Freedom Day last Wednesday. Behind the fine setting of the durbar in Accra where a former President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, and the current President of the association, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, eloquently cautioned the media against politicisation, the main concerns of the practitioners lay elsewhere. To mark the occasion, a statement by the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) signed by its President, Andrew Edwin Arthur, said: It is the desire of the association and its members that government reconsiders or re-strategises on its media policy, particularly the distribution of state-sponsored adverts, so as to benefit the majority of media houses in the country. It said the move will go a long way in sustaining the Ghanaian media and saving them from eventual collapse. The PRINPAG statement, beyond serving a ceremonial ritual, underlined the state of the local newspaper space, with the space now threatened by financial difficulties. Media landscape While a few newspapers have folded up and left the vending space recently, some of those remaining appear to be there only in name rather than actual sales and impact. But practitioners in the electronic and print, and private and state-owned are desperately among the poorest remunerated professionals in Ghana. Local case According to a 2023 report on the state of the Ghanaian media, put together by the Department of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana, in collaboration with the Media Foundation for West Africa, salaries in the Ghanaian media space are generally quite low, with nearly half of the respondents (47 per cent) earning monthly incomes of, at most, GH1,000. Nearly half of that number (of respondents), the report said, actually earn no more than GH500 monthly. Salaries of respondents working in media organisations in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions were much higher than those working outside these two regions. Up to 70 per cent of respondents (two of every three) working in the other regions earn no more than 1,000. This is irrespective of their roles (e.g. editor, reporter, presenter, etc.), which did not seem to make much difference in earnings, surprisingly. This is in sharp contrast to the 26 per cent (one in every five) Accra and Ashanti-based respondents earning a similar amount, the report said. The silver lining, perhaps, is the finding that for a moderate majority of those who receive salaries, payments are relatively regular. Every two out of three respondents (65 per cent), typically, receive their salaries on time every month. That said, it is of concern that as much as 30 per cent of them experience frequent delays in salary payments. This is even more so when one considers the generally low salaries reported. In other words, for a good number of respondents, they must contend with delays in payments, besides their relatively low remuneration, the report further stated. At a days African Journalists Leaders conference in Accra in 2021, the immediate past President of the GJA, Affail Monney, said the slave wages of journalists compromised their professional conduct, and deemed it as a threat to democracy. The global theme for the 2023 World Press Freedom Day was: Shaping a future of rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights, but Ghana commemorated the day on the sub-theme: Freedom of expression: A driver for all human rights for Ghanas development. Interviews For the few journalists who spoke to the Daily Graphic, they preferred to lament their service conditions on condition of anonymity or remain silent altogether. Otherwise, their lamentations bore the common strands of unimpressive salary levels, non-existent social security, irregular work schedule without the necessary compensation, and even irregular salary payment schedule. For professionals expected to be the watchdogs for the society, it makes sense to link the remuneration of journalists to the impact of their work, especially in developing countries. Aside from their traditional roles of informing and entertaining the public, journalists are expected to speak truth to power and expose corruption in high places. But in a developing world, such as Ghana, journalists low wages, it is anticipated, may not empower them enough to be able to independently scrutinise persons of power. Clearly, incomes in media organisations are low and can render media personnel vulnerable to influence and corruption, the University of Ghana research report said in part. The only way to make ends meet as a media practitioner in Ghana is to seek alternative incomes, it added. Intriguingly, Ghana declined further on the global press freedom index in 2023, released by Reporters Without Borders, dropping two spots from 60 in 2022 to 62 among 180 countries listed on the Index. Before this, Ghana had dropped 30 spots from its 2021 position to rank 60 in 2022. The latest ranking, according to the Chairman of the National Media Commission, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, was induced, among various factors, by the welfare conditions of journalists in Ghana. He said much as it was important that media owners addressed the issues of welfare of their staff, unionising journalists was also not necessarily the solution. The condition of service of journalists has implications critical to the professional and ethical conduct and demeanour of the journalist, he said. Living Christ Lutheran Church May 7 500 W. Riordan Road, 500 W. Riordan Road, Flagstaff. 928-526-8595. 10-11 a.m., We invite all to celebrate with us Gods love and presence in our lives and be Gods hands in the world. We are intentionally inclusive. We worship through music, teaching, prayer, and the sacraments each Sunday at 10 a.m., at the Campus Ministry Center located on the NAU campus or join us online. Join Rev. Kurt Fangmeier for the Fifth Sunday of Easter! As we continue to celebrate the fifty days of Easter, todays gospel includes Jesus promise that he goes to prepare a place for his followers in his Fathers house. Our baptism commissions us to share Jesus mission in the world. As 1 Peter reminds us, we are a holy people, called to proclaim the one who called us out of darkness into light. In words and deeds, we bear witness to the risen Christour way, our truth, our life. We will learn more with our Reading of Acts 7:55-60 (The martyrdom of Stephen) Psalm 31:1-5,15-16(Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit) and Reading 1 Peter 2:2-10(Gods people chosen to proclaim Gods mighty acts), together with the Gospel John 14:1-14 (Christ the way, truth, and life). https://go.evvnt.com/1710360-0. Peace Lutheran Church May 7 3430 N. Fourth St., 3430 N. Fourth St., Flagstaff. 928-526-9578. 10-11 a.m., We invite you to join the family of Peace Lutheran Church (LCMS) on Sunday at 10:00am for in person blended service (Combined Liturgical, hymnal based and Praise Worship) with Holy Communion. Pastor William Weiss Jr. (Pastor Bill) will be presiding. The service will be live streamed on our website (peacelutheranflagstaff.org) and on YouTube. Fellowship and refreshments are available before the worship service beginning 9:15am. https://go.evvnt.com/1709279-0. Unity of Flagstaff Spiritual Center May 7 Unity of Flagstaff Spiritual Center, 1800 S. Milton Road, Flagstaff. 10:30-11:30 a.m., In the FlowWhere did it go? Ever been there? That place in life where it just seems that everything is flowing and falling perfectly into place, and then suddenly you are swimming upstream? Where did it go? How do I get back into the FLOW? Rev Penni takes a look at how we navigate the waters of life and asks the question, Where is the FLOW? Ryan Biter with music. 10:30 AM Live or Livestream. Unity of Flagstaff-Where God is too big for Religion. ALL are WELCOME! Tuesday 10 AM Chair/Floor Yoga Wed. 3 pm Integrated Movement. https://go.evvnt.com/1715560-0. Flagstaff Federated Community Church Please join us for in person services Sundays at 10 a.m. We are located at 400 W Aspen Ave. on the corner of Aspen and Sitgreaves in Downtown Flagstaff. All are welcome to our services. For more information about Flagstaff Federated Community Church please call our office at 928-774-7383, Mon Thurs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Church of the Resurrection Sunday Church Services 740 W. University Heights Drive S., 740 W. University Heights Drive S., Flagstaff. 928-853-8522. 10-11:30 a.m., Church of the Resurrection Presbyterian Church in America (PCA): We invite you to join us for worship at 10 a.m. on Sundays at 740 W. University Heights Drive South. Please feel free to contact us for information on our mid-week gatherings and for more information on our church. You can find us at www.cor-pca.org and www.facebook.com/CORFlagstaff or we can be reached at corflagstaff@gmail.com and (928) 699-2715. Leupp Nazarene Church The church, near mile post 13 or Navajo Route 15, has been holding services by teleconferences and doing drive-up meetings. For information, call pastor Farrell Begay at 928-853-5321. Teleconference number: 1-7170275-8940 with access code 3204224#. Services are 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sundays and 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Christian Science Society of Flagstaff 619 W. Birch Ave. Bible Lesson services every Sunday 10-11am (Zoom option: https://zoom.us/j/369812794). Testimony Meetings every Wednesday: 5:30-6:30pm (Zoom option: https://zoom.us/j/971672834). Zoom password: CSS. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Brian Gall remembers the first time he realized he wanted to work in aviation. He was in junior high and paying a visit Luke Air Force Base. Listening to the thunder of planes overhead during an airshow, he decided he simply had to work with aircraft in his view. When he entered college, Gall initially studied aerospace engineering, but he eventually decided the day-to-day work in that field wasnt the best fit for him. He became a civil engineer instead and started working on the design and development of airports. On Monday, he took over leadership of Flagstaff Pulliam Airport, but his history with the transportation hub stretches back a bit. Galls experience of Flagstaff is intertwined with his work at the airport. He said he first developed a love for northern Arizona and the city situated under towering pines while he was consulting with the airport in 2017. He worked on improvements to the runway and the westplex where the private shades and hangers are located. For part of those projects I was up here for several months at a time, and thats when I realized that Flagstaff was the community I wanted to live in, Gall said. He permanently moved to Flagstaff in 2018, but he didnt start working at the airport immediately. After a stint as an engineer for the Coconino and Kaibab national forests, Gall was hired on with the City of Flagstaff to review private development projects. Two years ago, an opening was listed for an airport programs manager and Gall jumped at the opportunity. I feel really invested in the airport and its community. Ive really enjoyed working here. Its been the most professionally rewarding place that Ive worked in my career, Gall said. Its hard to see myself working anywhere else. After working primarily on capital improvement and airport maintenance projects, he was tapped to take over when Barney Helmick retired. Helmick had decades of aviation experience and is well-liked and respected as a leader in the city. Barneys been great. We definitely miss him. Even today, I was noticing, its a little hard not to copy him on my emails all the time, but his emails are being forwarded to me, so Id just be sending them back to myself anyway, Gall said with a laugh. Heidi Hansen, the economic vitality director for the City of Flagstaff, said the airport is in good hands with Brian at the helm He has a great work ethic, is incredibly analytical, customer focused and has an extensive knowledge of capital projects and process, as well as FAA and TSA requirements, Hansen added. The Flagstaff airport is going through a change in leadership against the backdrop of shifts in aviation and air travel overall. Starting in 2009, federal regulators started requiring pilots to log at least 1,500 hours of flight time before they could be eligible to fly a commercial plane. Industry critics argued the rule was one of the catalysts of a nationwide pilot shortage a shortage that was later exacerbated by the arrival of COVID-19. What weve seen is some changes to route structure. Were seeing airlines that are flying routes that are not necessarily daily as much as they once did, maybe more several-times-of-week kind of service, Gall said. As airlines face staffing shortages and a challenging post-pandemic landscape, airports have also taken a hit, Gall said. Obviously, we lost United with a direct route to Denver this last summer which is something we didnt want to see, he said. Were working really hard to position the airport well for what the air carriers are looking for in the future. To bring in more air service, Galls team will be presenting passenger studies data to demonstrate demand for routes in and out of Flagstaff. Were updating our air service passenger demand analysis, which is a study that shows the ultimate destination of passengers that are departing from Flagstaff, so that we can show that to our airline partners and say, This is a destination you serve, and a lot of customers from Flagstaff are going there. Thats why we think wed be a good fit for routes, Gall said. This years passenger demand analysis will differ from reports of years past. Gall said the airport has found a way to capture data related to vehicle trips. If someone cant find a flight but they drive there, we can still capture that information to show that there is demand from this region to that region to make the case for additional air service, he said. Increasingly, Gall added, airlines are embracing larger planes. One of the ways the airport can work to attract new routes begins at the ground level by offering an airstrip that can accommodate the industrys trends. When I first started working in the aviation industry, it wasnt uncommon to see 19-seat passenger aircraft flying between some routes in some cities. Thats not really economically viable for the airlines anymore, so weve seen that jump to 35-seat aircraft, to 70-seat aircraft. Now its kind of moving into that 90- to 120-seat aircraft, he said. The tasks associated with upgrading and improving the airport facility sit firmly in Galls wheelhouse. He enters the directorship as a series of construction projects are getting underway. Gall will oversee improvements to the airports existing terminal parking lot, the re-paving of the runway, and the construction of a new parking area and pay-to-park system. After those projects are complete, construction will begin on a new equipment shed to house the airports colossal snow removal equipment. Many of the current projects are being paid for using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES funding was a very large injection of funds to get airports through that challenging time at the beginning of COVID when travel was very uncertain and a lot of our other revenue streams were not in place, Gall said. Thats not our only revenue source. The airport receives federal and state grant funding to put toward capital projects. It can now add revenue from passenger parking to that bucket. Gall is also hopeful that as more air service is added, the airports revenue streams will strengthen and help support the facility in growth and improvement. Generally, the airport has been moving toward being a more self-sustaining enterprise, he said. I think were well-positioned to take advantage of some of the opportunities we have moving forward, through some of those revenue sources to try to position ourselves well for that changing airport and air travel environment. Its something that I really want to be a part of. Haiti - Ottawa : MPs against military intervention in Haiti (Report) The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee is urging Ottawa not to send troops to root out Haiti's violent gangs, but instead to tighten sanctions against that country's political and economic elite. Members of the Committee say Canada should make it clear that its military will not participate in direct military operations on the ground. MPs say in a newly released report that Ottawa should respond by focusing on humanitarian, economic and political efforts, as well as supporting justice and security in the Caribbean country. They say Canada should empower the National Police of Haiti to solve the gang problem. MEPs also call on Canada to move from funding for interim humanitarian assistance to creating a longer-term strategy that would have predictable funding and target specific results. Wednesday's MPs' report urges that Ottawa "immediately address flaws in its sanctions regime, including the lack of transparency and information provided to parliamentarians, as well as insufficient resources for investigations and 'execution' and made 11 recommendations Download the MPs' report and their 11 recommendations : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/THE-HUMAN-RIGHTS-SITUATION-IN-HAITI-House-of-Commons.pdf HL/ HaitiLibre By William Schwartz | Published on 2023/05/05 On May 4th Allure Korea posted an interview with actor Lee Joon-hyuk. Lee Joon-hyuk discussed his upcoming film "The Roundup: No Way Out" among other topics. Lee Joon-hyuk plays the villain of the movie in a melodramatic role. When asked to compare this to the more melodramatic villains he's better known for, Lee Joon-hyuk cited the physical pain as the main significant difference. English subtitles are not available as of this writing Advertisement Lee Joon-hyuk noted with some irony that this put him in the right frame of mind to do a melodrama right now. As "The Roundup: No Way Out" is an action movie, many physical stunts were involved. However, Lee Joon-hyuk was actually referring to the intense exercise regiment he underwent to put on nineteen kilograms of muscle. Ironically, Lee Joon-hyuk started the regiment because he wanted to eat hamburgers and chicken, the objective usually being to lose late. Lee Joon-hyuk was motivated both to have Ma Dong-seok's attacks not hurt as much, as well as to have his own hits against Ma Dong-seok seem plausible, as Ma Dong-seok's physique is infamous for its sheer size. On a personal level, Lee Joon-hyuk was pleased to show a new side of himself through the performance. Lee Jon-hyuk claimed to be surprised at just how much impressive physical confrontation he was capable of on screen. Lee Joon-hyuk described his character in "The Roundup: No Way Out" as being filled with confidence, further emphasizing the appropriate nature of the workout regimen. Lee Joon-hyuk said that in general, he wanted to be remembered as a fun actor. "The Roundup: No Way Out" will premiere in South Korean theaters on May 31st. Written by William Schwartz ___________ "The Roundup: No Way Out" is directed by Lee Sang-yong, and features Ma Dong-seok, Lee Joon-hyuk, Munetaka Aoki, Lee Beom-soo, Kim Min-jae, Lee Ji-hoon-II. Release date in Korea: 2023/05/31. Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Subscribe to our daily NewsLetter Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password or receive our NewsLetter. Stay logged in Lost password Contact Following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, Charles III instantly became King. However, officially he was crowned today on May 6, eight months after he ascended to the throne. King Charles III coronation is going to bring a seachange in the UK and across Commonwealth realms, prominent being National Anthem, coins, stamps, postboxes and passports to name a few. Numerous small changes to British daily life are taking place as King Charles III ascends to the throne. For instance, King Charles portrait will now feature on British money and postage stamps, Los Angeles Times reported. The British national anthem -- "God Save the Queen" or "God Save the King," depending on who is reigning, as per the news report. As King Charles III ascends to the throne, the first three lines of the UK national anthem are: "God save our gracious King! Long live our noble King! God save the King! 'God Save The King' was a patriotic song first publicly performed in London in 1745, according to Buckingham Palace. The patriotic song came to be known as the National Anthem at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Bank of England unveiled the design of King Charles III banknotes on 20 December 2022. The King's portrait will feature on all four of UK polymer banknotes (5, 10, 20 and 50). The rest of the design on the banknotes will remain the same. The King's image will feature on the front of the banknotes and in the see-through security window. Bank of England expects to issue bank notes featuring the King's portrait by mid-2024. People in the UK will still be able to use all polymer notes that feature the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Current banknotes featuring the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II will continue to be legal tender and will only be removed from circulation once they become worn or damaged. The banknotes featuring the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II will co-circulate with those featuring King Charles III. The Coronation of The King and The Queen Consort took place at Westminster Abbey on May 6. The event marks almost seven decades since the last coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. He is the 40th monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey. The Service was be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. King Charles III and Camilla arrived at Westminster Abbey in procession from Buckingham Palace, known as 'The King's Procession', Buckingham Palace announced in a statement. After the Service, King Charles III and Camilla returned to Buckingham Palace in a larger ceremonial procession, known as 'The Coronation Procession'. Other members of the royal family joined King Charles III and Camilla in this procession. The King and the Queen Consort accompanied by the members of the royal family appeared on the balcony to conclude the day's ceremonial events. More than 6,000 men and women of the UK's Armed Forces and nearly 400 armed forces personnel from at least 35 Commonwealth countries participated in the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, according to Buckingham Palace. It is for the first time since 1937, the coronation of King Charles III included the crowning of a Queen Consort. King George VI's wife Queen Elizabeth was the last Queen Consort to be crowned. King Charles III's coronation comes almost 70 years after the coronation of his mother. On 6 February 1952, King George VI died after a prolonged illness and Princess Elizabeth immediately acceded to the throne, becoming Queen Elizabeth II. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. The ceremony was conducted by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Geoffrey Fisher. Representatives of the peers, the Commons and all the great public interests in the UK, the Prime Ministers and leading citizens of the other Commonwealth nations, and representatives of foreign states were present in the coronation ceremony. Queen Elizabeth II's coronation was the first to be televised and for most people, it was the first time they had watched an event on television. 27 million people in the UK watched the ceremony on television while 11 million listened on the radio. How is King Charles III coronation different from Queen Elizabeth II's coronation? Both the processional route and service is be shorter, CNN reported. There was a difference in the number of guests participating in the coronation. Another difference is the number of guests. In 1953, the guest list was so long that temporary structures had to be erected within the abbey to accommodate more than 8,000 people who were invited to the coronation, as per the CNN report. Some of the changes to the ancient Christian ceremony, the theme of which is "called to serve", include the King praying aloud, participation of religious leaders from other faiths, involvement of female clergy and including other languages spoken in the British Isles, as per the CNN report. Furthermore, the traditional homage of peers has been replaced with a "homage of the people." The development witnessed the people being invited to become a part of "a chorus of millions of voices enabled for the first time in history to participate in this solemn and joyful moment." A Lambeth Palace spokesperson called the new homage an "opportunity for those who wish to be given voice within the service, and for those at home to have a chance to be an extension of the abbey congregation," as per the news report. The Lambeth Palace spokesperson said the change was "an invitation" and not "an expectation or request." HT Source: ANI The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) arrested Gonzalo Lira , a US-Chilean national residing in Kharkiv, on suspicions of harbouring pro-Russian sentiments. This marks the second time Lira has been apprehended by the SBU. Lira, an author and filmmaker who relocated to Kharkiv years ago and married a Ukrainian, was initially detained in April 2022 but was released after a week without charges. He was subsequently instructed not to leave the city and prohibited from discussing his arrest. As reported by Ukrainian media, the SBU's statement accuses Lira of publicly justifying Russia's armed aggression, denying or glorifying supposed Russian war crimes, and undermining Ukraine's top military and political leadership and Defence Forces. On May 5, the SBU website published a statement in Ukrainian titled "SBU detained a foreign blogger in Kharkiv who denied the crimes of the Russian Federation and insulted Ukrainian defenders." The statement alleges that Lira was among the first to support Russian invaders and glorify their war crimes. It also accuses him of discrediting Ukraine's military-political leadership and Defense Forces. The SBU claims that Lira filmed provocative videos featuring Ukrainian defenders and insulted them. Lira disseminated his "streams" on his YouTube and Telegram channels, amassing nearly 300,000 subscribers. He also denied Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and the mass murder of civilians by Russian forces. The SBU has notified Lira of suspicion under parts 2 and 3 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (manufacturing and distributing materials containing justification of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, committed repeatedly). In March 2022, Ukraine's parliament enacted 14 laws to counter Russian aggression, including two that modify legislation on information activity. These laws prohibit mass media from justifying or legitimising the denial of Russia's armed aggression in Ukraine and the occupation of its territories. They also forbid the glorification of individuals involved in the aggression or administration of occupied areas. The Ukrainian Criminal Code now contains Article 435-1, which establishes liability for threatening or insulting military personnel and their families, and Article 436-2, which pertains to the justification or denial of Russian military aggression, the occupation of Ukrainian territories, and the glorification of those involved in the aggression or occupation. Penalties for these offences range from arrest for up to 6 months to imprisonment for up to 8 years, depending on the circumstances. The SBU filmed Lira's arrest, during which heavily armed agents were involved. All participants' faces, except Lira's, were blurred out. A close-up of a smartphone displaying an image of Lira's children as a screensaver was also left un-blurred. Lira is currently detained on suspicion of producing and disseminating materials justifying the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine. The edited video shows heavily armed special forces knocking on Lira's door and aiming a machine gun at the 55-year-old Lira, who opens the door in his pyjamas. The metal soundtrack from Override Spedup fades down enough to hear the words of a special forces member telling Lira while tapping his arm: "Welcome to Ukraine." While it is true that Lira has criticised the Zelensky regime and the eight-year-long shelling of Donbas residents by Kyiv, he has not participated in any activities other than exercising his right to free speech as a citizen and respected journalist. Whether or not we agree with Lira's opinions, freedom of speech must not be restricted, especially during times of conflict. These are the values we claim to be defending. Ukraines recent implementation of laws criminalising dissent, banning opposition political parties, nationalising the media, and even persecuting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for maintaining canonical communion with Moscow has raised concerns among free speech advocates. These actions have been criticised for undermining democratic values and creating a chilling effect on freedom of expression. The detainment of Gonzalo Lira serves as a stark reminder of the delicate balance between national security and individual liberties, especially during times of conflict. It also raises questions about the Zelensky administration's dedication to democratic principles and the obligation of its Western supporters to address these concerns. As the situation in Ukraine continues to unfold, it is crucial for the international community to remain vigilant in advocating for the protection of freedom of speech and other fundamental rights, while holding governments accountable for their actions. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Western media and governments have systematically overlooked or even suppressed news and information about any undemocratic, criminal, or corrupt activities or even war crimes committed by the Ukrainian side of the conflict, while emphasising the same from the Russian side. Gonzalo Lira is a Chilean-American writer, filmmaker, and financial analyst. Born on November 29, 1972, in Santiago, Chile, he spent much of his life in the United States. He is known for his work as a novelist, screenwriter, and director, as well as his contributions to the financial sector, particularly in economics and investment strategy. Lira has authored several novels, such as "Counterparts," "Acrobat," and "Gegenspieler." He maintains a presence on YouTube, where he shares his insights on politics and social issues. He is also a regular guest on the acclaimed "Mother of All Talk Shows (MOATS)" hosted by George Galloway. Lira is recognised for his controversial and outspoken style, which has both attracted and repelled various audiences. Despite the polarising nature of his opinions, he has developed a loyal following of people who appreciate his candour and expertise. Lira is active on Twitter, YouTube, and Telegram and has over 300,000 followers. For the truth about the Zelensky regime, Google these names: Vlodymyr Struk Denis Kireev Mikhail & Aleksander Kononovich Nestor Shufrych Yan Taksyur Dmitri Djangirov Elena Berezhnaya Once again: If you havent heard from me in 12 hours or more, put my name on this list. GL Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) April 22, 2022 His last tweet on April 22 mentioned the names of several Ukrainian dissidents who have been killed or arrested by the Kyiv regime. The list includes Volodymyr Struk, a Ukrainian politician who was abducted and killed in March 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Denis Kireev, a Ukrainian official executed in the street shortly after attending the first round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Belarus. HT Commemorative plaque will honor patriarch of craft brewing Oscar Wong and Leah Wong Ashburn share a toast. Oscar Wong, founder of Highland Brewing Co. and the patriarch of the craft brewing boom in Asheville, was recently awarded he Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor granted by the governor. To complement this award, on May 16, a commemorative plaque honoring Wong and the birthplace of Asheville craft beer will be unveiled in downtown Asheville at Barleys. The basement at 42 Biltmore Avenue housed Highland for over a decade. Oscars dedication and support of so many others who followed him in the craft beer industry has resulted in thousands of jobs and a new industry that has over a billion-dollar annual economic impact in Asheville, said Dana Stonestreet, chair of HomeTrust Bank and chair of the Boy Scouts 2023 Citizen of the Year dinner, where the Long Leaf Pine award was presented. In 2015, Wong passed the leadership of the brewery to his daughter, Leah Wong Ashburn, who now serves as Highlands president/CEO. Dads charisma, wisdom and genuine interest in people are inspiring. He has always valued doing more over saying more, Ashburn said. He and my mom share those values. For more than 55 years, she has been by his side. I love that we can do this together. The public dedication of the plaque will be downtown at 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 16, at the Asheville Art Museum. The event will include proclamations by Ashevilles mayor and county commissioners. Then, all will walk down the street for the unveiling of the plaque and a celebration at Barleys with Highland beers. NCDOT study calls for return of passenger rail service to Asheville Ray Rapp Ray Rapp, a former four-term state House member from Mars Hill, will discuss "Back On Track: The Return of Passenger Trains To Western North Carolina" during Saluda Train Tales at 7 p.m. Friday, May 19, at the Saluda Historic Depot. Rapp, a former Mars Hill University administrator who is co-chair of the Western North Carolina Rail Corridor Committee, will talk about the N.C. Department of Transportation feasibility study completed April 1 for the resumption of passenger rail service between Salisbury and Asheville. AMTRAK has included Asheville in its future planning and has targeted 2035 for the launching of this service. The NCDOT Rail Division's new study proposes three roundtrips per day along the 139-mile line with stops in Statesville, Hickory, Morganton and Marion and a running time of 3 hours and 25 minutes. The study projects 100,000 local trips and more than 150,000 "offline connections" annually. The initial capital cost is $665 million and 80 percent of the funding would be covered under an $80 billion Biden administration appropriation to expand AMTRAK services. At the end of March 2023, NCDOT's Rail Division submitted its application to the FRA's Corridor Identification Program for 13 such lines in the state. The Asheville-Salisbury corridor was ranked among its highest recommendations. Rapp will share the pathway and possible hurdles to bringing back passenger service to the mountains after a nearly 50-year hiatus. Rapp has lectured extensively on regional rail history. As early as his undergraduate career, Rapp was fascinated by the way railroads united the country after the Civil War by linking east, west, north and south. In ten short years after the arrival of the railroad in 1880, Asheville more than doubled its population and modernity transformed the mountains, he says. Especially fascinating to me was the challenge of building railroads up the Blue Ridge escarpment to the isolated mountain communities. This was done by laying looping tracks up the mountain and creating the steepest standard gauge mainline grade in the US. OMAHA Investors shouldn't expect a change of leadership at the top of Berkshire Hathaway anytime soon, even though Chairman Warren Buffett is 92 and his partner Charlie Munger is 99, one longtime board member said Thursday. Ron Olson told a group of investors gathered ahead of Saturday's annual meeting that after spending a lot of time with both legendary investors, he doesn't think a transition to Greg Abel as CEO is imminent. Buffett has said Abel will one day take over Berkshire and Abel already oversees all of the conglomerate's non-insurance businesses, but Buffett has no plans to retire. Charlie at 99? That brain is as good as it ever was, Olson said. Warren is the same way. His energy is amazing. So don't count on Greg taking over tomorrow. The longevity of the two men who have led Berkshire for nearly six decades is always in the back of mind of the shareholders who will pack an Omaha arena to listen to Buffett and Munger spend hours answering questions. Many wonder how the company will fare once those two are no longer at the helm. Olson has been on Berkshire's board since 1997 and has been part of countless conversations over the years about how to eventually replace Buffett. He said the board has total confidence in Abel, who led Berkshire's massive utility unit starting in 2008 before taking his current vice chairman role in 2018. Olson said Abel has had the advantage of spending many years working closely with Buffett and is steeped in Berkshire's unusual culture of letting companies it owns largely run themselves. Olson said he thinks preserving that culture of trust will be the most important part of Abel's job running the company. He has had a lot of what I would call grooming and practice, Olson said. Berkshire has said for years that Buffett's job as chairman, CEO and chief investment officer will be split into several parts when he is gone. Berkshire finally designated Abel as the CEO successor two years ago after Munger hinted at it during an offhand comment at the annual meeting. Buffett has said he believes his oldest son, Howard, who already serves on Berkshire's board, would make an ideal chairman to help protect the company's culture. Berkshire has hired two other investment managers who oversee a small part of the company's portfolio now. Olson said Abel will have to decide how big a role those two will play in managing Berkshire's investments in the future. Berkshire owns an eclectic assortment of businesses including Geico and other major insurers, a number of large utilities, BNSF railroad and a range of retail and manufacturing businesses. Berkshire also holds major stakes in companies like Apple, Bank of America, American Express, Coca-Cola and Chinese electric car maker BYD. Photos: 30 images of Warren Buffett through the years Buffett family at home in 1956 Buffett, 1966 Warren Buffett in 1966 Buffett, vice president of Boys Club-1969 Buffett in the 1970s Buffett, Blumkin, 1983 Buffett, 1982 Fortune magazine cover Buffett, Munger, 1989 Buffett grabs a Coke Buffett playing bridge, 1990 Warren Buffett and his mother Buffett at Omaha Royals game, 2003 Buffett, 1992 Buffett on TV show Buffett at office, 1993 Buffett throwing out first pitch, 1995 Buffett driving, 1996 Buffett at '98 Texas game Buffett and Gates, 1995 Buffett and Gates, 2004 Winning hand Buffett at Berkshire meeting, 2011 Buffett at his high school alma mater Advantage, Buffett Buffett playing cards, 2016 Buffett at 2017 meeting Buffett at UNO, 2013 More Nebraska businesses are coming out in opposition to a controversial bill that would ban gender-affirming care for individuals under 19. A letter sent to state lawmakers and Gov. Jim Pillen Thursday included the signatures of 113 local businesses and nonprofits sharing concerns about LB574. They also took issue with a a similar bill, LB575, which would regulate transgender students' access to bathrooms and locker rooms, and their participation in school sports. The primary critique in the letter is that the bills could increase Nebraska's already significant labor shortage, deterring out-of-state prospective employees from moving in. The legislation poses the same risk to Nebraska's effort to recruit new businesses, the letter said. "Businesses are watching state legislatures," the letter said. "They are investing in states with laws that foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and a robust workforce. And states that sanction discrimination simply cannot compete" The letter follows a similar statement issued recently by the Greater Omaha Chamber, urging lawmakers to step away from debating divisive policies and focus more on economic and workforce development. Though the chamber's statement doesn't reference any specific bills, many have taken it as a criticism of LB574. And nationally, the Human Rights Campaign is collecting signatures from businesses for a letter that takes issue with similar bills proposed in state legislatures across the country. As of Thursday, 319 businesses have signed on, including massive companies like Apple, Google, Pepsi and many others. "Americas business community has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws have a negative effect on our employees, our customers, our competitiveness, and state and national economies," the Human Rights Campaign letter reads. The letter from Nebraska businesses includes signatures from a range of Nebraska companies, from smaller ones like A Novel Idea Bookstore in Lincoln to larger ones like Omaha Steaks. It was drafted by Mike Hornacek, CEO of the nonprofit Together Omaha. The parent of a transgender teenager, Hornacek has said if LB574 passes as it stands, his family will leave Nebraska. LB574 and LB575 were both introduced by state Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha. LB574 needs to pass just one more round of debate before it goes to Pillen's desk to be signed. Meanwhile, LB575 has yet to make it out of its committee. Kauth said Thursday that the businesses signing the letter are entitled to their opinion. But she said lawmakers who support her bills should pay attention to which businesses signed as opponents when they "decide where they spend their money." She described the notion that her bills will hurt Nebraska's economy as a fear-mongering tactic that lacks evidence. Nebraska has more conservatives than liberals, she said, so failing to pass conservative policies might actually deter potential workers and make the labor shortage worse. Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2023 Authorities on Friday identified the Lincoln man who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound amid a standoff with police early Thursday as 49-year-old Jamie Mitchell. Mitchell died at a local hospital Thursday morning after shooting himself amid an hourslong standoff with the Lincoln Police Department's SWAT team at his north Lincoln home, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office. The 49-year-old had barricaded himself in his home near 27th and Holdrege streets after police tried to serve a search warrant on his home around midnight Thursday, Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said. Police initially responded to Mitchell's house, at 1535 N. 28th St., shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday, after he had made verbal threats of violence toward a local school and a city department, Houchin said at a news conference Thursday morning. Mitchell had been an employee of the city until "recently," Houchin said, but he had left his job before Thursday's standoff. It's unclear if he was fired or resigned. Houchin declined to say what department Mitchell worked for, but said it was the same department he later made threats toward. The 49-year-old man's LinkedIn page indicates he worked as an equipment operator. An acquaintance of Mitchell reported the threats to Lincoln Police, who found that the 49-year-old was violating a protection order and drafted a search warrant for his home, Houchin said. LPD's SWAT team converged on the north Lincoln home at around midnight, Houchin said, and breached Mitchell's front door but did not enter the house. Police negotiated with Mitchell for more than four hours, according to the sheriffs office. Then, at 4:49 a.m. Thursday, police rushed into the home after hearing a single gunshot and found Mitchell wounded, Houchin said. Lincoln Fire and Rescue crews, who had been waiting at the scene, took the 49-year-old to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries, Houchin said. Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of Mitchell's death. Houchin said Mitchell's death is considered to have happened in police custody, meaning a grand jury will be convened to investigate the events that led up to his death and determine if police acted criminally in the standoff. Its very sad that anybody had to lose their life during this incident, Houchin said. But were very glad that no innocent civilians or law enforcement were injured in any way. This is a developing story. Stay with JournalStar.com for updates. Investigators found 72 shell casings from five different guns following an early morning shootout near the Railyard in downtown Lincoln last month, police alleged in new court filings. Police believe that many of those rounds if not all of them were fired by members of rival gangs with ties to Omaha and Clarksdale, Mississippi, whose alleged violence spilled into the Haymarket at around 2 a.m. April 2, according to the court filings. Only one man 34-year-old Louis Benson has been arrested for his alleged role in the shootout. Prosecutors charged the Lincoln man with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person after police found a Glock semiautomatic handgun in his 2019 Dodge Charger, which was riddled with bullet holes in the 600 block of Canopy Street when police responded that morning, according to court filings. In a search warrant filed Tuesday, Lincoln Police Investigator Jon Rennerfeldt said police reviewed surveillance footage that showed Benson entering the Railyard bar Longwells at 12:25 a.m. April 2 with a group of around 10 people. On his way into the bar, Rennerfeldt said, the video showed Benson dapping up, or greeting, a man in a red hoodie later identified as a member of the Jaynes Street Bloods in Omaha, according to the search warrant. Benson left the bar just before 2 a.m. and walked south along Canopy Street toward his car, but stopped in front of a maroon Chevrolet Tahoe parked nearby, Rennerfeldt said. Then came the shootout, which police believe involved Benson and the group inside the Tahoe, according to the search warrant. Rennerfeldt said the videos framerate was too slow to show the gunfire exchange, but the footage showed Benson run onto the sidewalk to the east of Canopy Street just before the Tahoe sped north, crashing into vehicles parked near the Railyard. In a crash report filed in the incident, police identified the owner of the Tahoe which was damaged by gunfire in the shootout as an Omaha woman, but listed the driver as unknown. The crash caused damage to five other cars parked along Canopy Street. Two men got out of the SUV and ran north as Benson fled south on foot toward P Street, Rennerfeldt said. One of them the same Jaynes Street Blood member who had interacted with Benson at Longwells was later seen on video throwing a Glock handgun into a nearby dumpster. Benson returned to the scene as police converged on the Haymarket to retrieve his car, telling police he had been asleep in the backseat when the shootout occurred a claim Rennerfeldt said is disputed by video evidence. Gang investigators believe Benson, who moved to Lincoln from Mississippi, is a member of The Black Disciples and had been the subject of threats from a rival gang in Clarksdale, the Black P Stones, before he fled to Nebraska, Rennerfeldt said in the search warrant. Police believe the P Stones had worked with members of the Jaynes Street Bloods to coordinate a hit on Benson, Rennerfeldt said. A Lancaster County judge signed the search warrant sought by police for the contents of a phone found in Bensons car. Benson the only suspected shooter in custody remains at the Lancaster County jail, where he is being held on a $500,000 percentage bond. He must pay $50,000 to be released. Three of the guns used in the shooting remain unaccounted for, Rennerfeldt said. When police arrested Benson in mid-April, the department said investigators were still searching for additional suspects. Photos: Hundreds of Nebraska educators gather at Captiol to protest LB753 Karnataka Assembly Election 2023 LIVE Updates: As Karnataka is set to vote in less than a week, all major political parties are busy with campaigns, rallies and roadshows, with prominent leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi touring the state. The BJP is looking for a final push before the last day for campaigning, with PM Modi's mega rally in Karnataka capital Bengaluru over the weekend. The state is also reeling with a controversy over the recently-released Congress manifesto, which vowed to ban groups such as the Bajrang Dal. In response, BJP leaders have begun chanting Jai Bajrangbali at rallies, with members of the VHP and Bajrang Dal holding protests. Several leaders including union minister Shobha Karandlaje have also recited the Hanuman Chalisa in opposition to the Congress' manifesto. Meanwhile, the Congress party back peddled and said they only meant to say that organizations like PFI and the Bajrang Dal are disturbing law and order in the state. KPCC chief DK Shivakumar also visited temples and promised to build Hanuman temples in the event of the Congress coming to power in the southern state. Karnataka will vote on Wednesday, with results due to be released on May 13. Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday addressed the Congress party's allegation that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hatched a plot to assassinate their party president Mallikarjun Kharge and his entire family, saying that the matter will be taken seriously. CM Bommai said the matter will be taken seriously.(ANI) CM Bommai assured an inquiry into the claim and said legal action will be taken. "We will take the matter seriously. We will inquire into the whole thing and the law will take its action," he said. READ | 'Plotting to assassinate' Kharge: Congress's big claim on BJP's 'blue-eyed boy' The grand old party had earlier held a press conference - headed by Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala - and released an audio tape claiming that the BJP candidate from Chittapur, Manikanth Rathod, used derogatory language for Kharge and could be heard talking about eliminating him and his family. They alleged that a "sinister and "ugly plot" is being "hatched" by the BJP to kill Kharge and his family. READ | Who is Manikanta Rathod, accused of conspiring to kill Congress president? "BJP leaders are now hatching a plot to murder Mallikarjun Kharge and his family members. This is now clear from the recording of BJP's candidate from Chittapur who also happens to be the blue-eyed boy of PM Modi and chief minister Bommai," Randeep Surjewala said. I know the prime minister will remain mute, and so will Karnataka police and the Election Commission of India. But people of Karnataka will not remain mute and will give a befitting reply. BJP candidate Manikanth Rathod has since then denied the charges and said, It is all a lie. They are playing some fake audio. The Congress is levelling baseless allegations fearing defeat. Jalandhar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looks all gung-ho about its chances in the high-stakes bypoll to the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat scheduled for May 10. The party launched a massive outreach strategy in the state, inducting a large number of Sikh leaders, and contested the 2022 assembly polls on its own is now looking at the bypoll to test the strength of its cadre. It picked Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, a Dalit Sikh face as its candidate. Spearheading BJPs campaign in Jalandhar is Union minister for information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur, who has a long association with the region. On the last day of his campaigning schedule, Thakur spoke to HT about his partys prospects in Punjab, reconciliation with its erstwhile partner Shiromani Akali Dal and ongoing protest by wrestlers at Jantar Mantar. There is positivity and a lot of acceptability of BJP in this bypoll. I could gauge the difference between the situation a year back and now: Anurag Thakur (PTI File Photo) Edited Excerpts What are BJPs prospects in this bypoll? There is positivity and a lot of acceptability of BJP in this bypoll. I could gauge the difference between the situation a year back and now. Things have changed dramatically and the perception of the party has changed on the ground. The people have realised that AAP has been unable to fulfil big promises made before the 2022 assembly elections. There is a big question mark on the delivery mechanism of AAP, the corruption they are resorting to, lawlessness and drug issues. The Congress workers are demoralised. People are surely going to give a strong message to AAP, similar to what they faced in Sangrur parliamentary byelection. What are the key issues being projected by BJP? First of all, the ruling AAP has deceived people by showing dreams of changing Punjab but nothing has happened in the 14 months of their rule. The issue of misgovernance is there. The killings of Sidhu Moose Wala and Sandeep Nangal Ambian stand testimony to the poor law and order situation in the state. People are questioning AAPs capabilities and raising question marks on the security issues, especially, after how the government tackled Amritpal Singhs issue. The state was in danger of going back into the era of the 80s and 90s era when it suffered the most due to terrorism. Why did BJP pick a Sikh-Dalit face? Not really, the BJP has always believed in cordial relationships between the Hindus and Sikhs. We had a long-standing relationship with Shiromani Akali Dal, which was for pro-development. Inder Iqbals father Charanjit Singh Atwal, was the coalition candidate in 2019 and secured handsome votes. Was coalition with SAD a mistake, as Union minister Hardeep Puri has said? The coalition then was the need of the hour. Punjab needed stability as it was coming out of dark days of terrorism. Punjab needed stability and good governance. The SAD-BJP alliance was pro-development, and former CM late Parkash Singh Badal delivered on it. We have seen the change. The coalition was required at that time and both the parties took the right decision. Moreover, Akali Dal left us, and we didnt leave it. Is there a possibility of a coalition again? This will be decided by the partys high command. The political leaders are joining BJP seeing the possibility that the party can contest independently. The kind of response the BJP is getting, and with more people joining, I think the party will have a strong foundation in the state, which it could not get during its time in the coalition when it was restricted to 23 seats only. We are going to expand the party in the coming four years, and there is no looking back. This is the right time for the party to grow in Punjab, the way it established itself in Haryana, Assam and Tripura, where we had nothing. Wrestlers are still sitting on protest. Has to government failed to resolve the issue? We were the first ones to address the issue. We formed a committee, and IOA constituted a sub-committee to look into the wrestlers demands. As far as sexual harassment case is concerned, the Delhi Police have already registered two cases and initiated an inquiry. There are certain procedures which need to be followed by police, including registering statements and cross-examination of both parties. I request them (wrestlers) to let the Delhi police inquiry finish. As far as the WFI presidents resignation is concerned, he has not been working for the past three months. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Police have arrested a chemist in Pinjore for selling the restricted MTP (medical termination of pregnancy) kits without prescription and for a price higher than the MRP. The accused, identified as Ajay Taneja, who runs Shree Bala Ji Medicose in Pinjore, was arrested following a raid by a health department team on Saturday morning. (HT Photo) The accused, identified as Ajay Taneja, who runs Shree Bala Ji Medicose in Pinjore, was arrested following a raid by a health department team on Saturday morning. A department official said they sent a decoy customer to the shop on Friday morning. Taneja agreed to sell him the MTP kit for his wife for 850. He asked him to return on Saturday morning and gave him the Opt 2 kit that has an MRP of 490. The raiding team swooped in and caught Taneja red-handed. During interrogation, he revealed that he procured the medicine from a man named Rana, who handed him the kit in main bazaar. A case under Sections 120-B, 312, 315 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, along with various sections of the Indian Medical Council Act, Essential Commodities Act and Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, was registered at the Pinjore police station on the complaint of Panchkula deputy civil surgeon Dr Sneh Singh. Police are working to arrest Rana. Nearly two weeks after five men snatched the licensed pistol of a Mohali resident after assaulting him and vandalising his car in Kharar, the Mohali police have cracked the case with the arrest of the accused. Mohali police said all accused were former students of Chandigarh University, Gharuan, and had attacked Bhupinder Singh, alias Patwari, before fleeing with his .32-bore pistol on the intervening night between April 24 and 25. (Getty Images) Besides the licensed pistol of the victim, police have also recovered two .32-bore country made pistols, seven live cartridges and two cars from the possession of the accused. They have been identified as Sahil Beri and Ashutosh Kumar, both residents of Haryana; Kapil Attri of Kharar; Ajay Kumar of Delhi and Arya Basant of Himachal Pradesh. Police said all accused were former students of Chandigarh University, Gharuan, and had attacked Bhupinder Singh, alias Patwari, before fleeing with his .32-bore pistol on the intervening night between April 24 and 25. They were arrested through technical intelligence. As police conducted raids to arrest the accused on Thursday, Sahil opened fire at the police teams who fired back in retaliation and a bullet hit him, said senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Garg. While Ashutosh was residing in the hostel of the university, the others have dropped out of university. They are all aged between 20 and 25. After dropping out, they indulged in illegal activities. Now, with their arrest we are hopeful of cracking more criminal cases in Mohali, the SSP said, adding that two accomplices of the gang managed to flee and will also be arrested soon. Two carjackers land in police net Sohana police on Friday arrested two carjackers who had robbed a Sector 89 resident of his car on May 3. The victims Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire car and a sword was recovered from the possession of the accused, identified as Davinder Singh, 23, of Ferozepur and Parminder Singh, 18, of Fatehgarh Sahib. The victim, Ram Chand, had complained that he had stopped to relive himself at the Landran-Banur Road while returning home on Wednesday night, when two men attacked him with a sword and fled in his car. They also took away his mobile phone and wallet. The accused were traced to Ferozepur following investigation and arrested. The Chandigarh Police have registered seven fraud cases against two immigration firms for duping their customers on the pretext of sending them abroad. Chandigarh Police said the accused neither arranged the visas nor returned the customers money. (Grtty images) Six of these cases have been registered against Pooja Mahajan, Lovish Mahajan, Vivek Saini and Gogi Mehra of I-Abroad Education and Immigration, Sector 42. They are accused of duping different complainants from Punjab and Himachal Prardesh to the tune of 55.4 lakh after promising to help them secure Canadian visas. Police said the accused neither arranged the visas nor returned the customers money. Among their victims are Harinder Pal Singh of Lohgarh Road, Moga, who lost 5.91 lakh; Dilraj Singh of Jaiton, Faridkot, who was duped of 7.31 lakh; and Inderbir Singh of Gurdaspur, Rajbir Singh of Amritsar, and Kiran Bala and Anil Kumar of Una, Himachal Pradesh, who were cheated of a total of 16.21. Their other victims were Manjeet Kaur of Sector 80, Mohali, who was duped of 5.45 lakh; Manpreet Kaur of Gurdaspur, who lost 13.61 lakh; and Jagtar Singh of Landran, who paid the firm 6.91 lakh but didnt get the promised visa. Police have booked the accused for criminal breach of trust and cheating under the Indian Penal Code and under the relevant sections of the Emigration Act at the Sector-36 police station. The seventh FIR was lodged by the Sector-34 police against Rahul Narula, owner of Path Worldwide Pvt Ltd, for duping Mandeep Kaur of Moga, of 3.13 lakh. The Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday granted interim bail to Delhi-based journalist representing a national news channel, Bhawana Gupta but two of her associates will have to remain behind bars. Court made it clear that objections raised by the state would be taken into account on the next date of hearing. (Representational Photo) Gupta along with Mritunjay Kumar, the video journalist of the channel and Parmender Singh Rawat, the driver of vehicle, were booked in an accident case on Thursday by Ludhiana Police, when their car allegedly hit a woman in Ludhiana, when they were there to cover an event to be attended by AAP chief and Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal. The court observed that prima facie invocation of provisions of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (prevention of atrocities) Act 1989 were not made out. Court also took note of the fact that the petitioner was a woman journalist. Court made it clear that objections raised by the state would be taken into account on the next date of hearing. States advocate general Vinod Ghai had submitted that he did not have the case file and that main allegations were against her. In view of this her plea be not considered, Ghai, who appeared with Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala had submitted. The court, however ordered that she be released on interim bail till Monday, when further arguments are raised before the court. As per her lawyers, senior advocates RS Rai and Chetan Mittal, the trio had sought quashing of the FIR registered by Ludhiana Police and stay on the proceedings of the FIR. As an interim measure they had also demanded that all three be allowed bail. The case was registered for rash driving, causing hurt and under the provisions of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (prevention of atrocities) Act 1989. The court was told that they were illegally involved in the FIR as they were part of the expose done by the channel about the expenditure incurred on the redevelopment and renovation of the Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwals official residence. It is a systematic and calibrated attempt by the state to suppress freedom of speech, the plea alleged adding that the provisions under SC/ ST Act could not have been invoked as none of them new the complainant. It was further claimed that the case was nothing but a political witch-hunt on the part of the state at the behest of AAP as for the past two weeks the channel and its sister publications are reporting against the Delhi chief minister for renovating official residence at the cost of 45 crore. Since the said reporting of the matter, the channel as well as their reporters have become an eyesore to the AAP leaders and their workers, the plea alleged adding that the crew, including Gupta had gone there after an invitation from the AAP for the event but they were not allowed to enter the premises and later on this story about alleged accident was framed. Earlier, Punjab governor Banwari Lal Purohit took up the issue of Guptas arrest with chief minister Bhagwant Mann and said such incidents do not give a good message about the state. National Commission for Women chief Rekha Sharma had sought a detailed action taken report in connection with the matter within four days from the Punjab DGP. Meanwhile, Chandigarh Press Club condemned arrest of the TV journalist while she was on a professional duty. A Lashkar-e-Taiba militant from Kulgam was killed in an encounter in Karhama village in north Kashmirs Baramulla district on Saturday morning. Security personnel deployed near the site of the encounter in Kunzar area of Baramulla district, Jammu and Kashmir. (PTI) Sharing details, police said they were acting on a specific input regarding the presence of a militant in Karhama, Kunzer area of Baramulla. A joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, Army (2nd RR) and CRPF (176 Bn) in the area. Also read: Army temporarily grounds ALH Dhruv fleet after chopper crash in J&K: Report During the search operation, as the joint search party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorist fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which retaliated effectively leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, a local terrorist linked with proscribed terrorist outfit LeT was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter, a Jammu and Kashmir Police spokesperson said after the operation ended. Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including an AK-47 rifle were recovered from the site of the encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation, he said, adding, The plan of the killed terrorist was to target Srinagar Gulmarg road. The militant has been identified as Abid Wani of Yarhol Babapora Kulgam. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Baramulla Amod Nagpore told reporters that due to security alerts in view of the G20 meeting, the forces are getting a lot of inputs that resulted in the killings of three militants in the last 48 hours. This operation was also launched on specific input about militant presence in the area, he added. On Thursday, two militants from south Kashmir were killed in an encounter with security forces in the Kreeri area of north Kashmirs Baramulla district. Both the slain militants were locals belonging to south Kashmirs Shopian district. They had joined militant ranks in the month of March. Also read: Slain havildar Neelam Singh cremated with state honours in Jammu and Kashmirs Akhnoor Two infiltrators had also been gunned down near Line of Control in frontier district of Kupwara at Machil sector on Wednesday. Ahead of G20 meetings, scheduled between May 22 to 24, security across Kashmir has been beefed up and search and cordon operations are launched on a daily basis across the Valley. A man who is on the run after shooting at a toll plaza employee in Jind has been booked for trying to extort money from the chief general manager of the company, said the police on Saturday. Anil, alias Dhaula, of Khatkar village had shot the manager of the toll plaza on April 12, Devendra Chahar, CGM of the company operating the toll palaza said in his complaint Anil, alias Dhaula, of Khatkar village had shot the manager of the toll plaza on April 12, Devendra Chahar, CGM of the company operating the toll palaza said in his complaint. On May 4, Chahar received a threat call. The caller identified himself as Anil and threatened to kill him and his family if he did not give the extortion money every month, they said. Anil is absconding, his number has been put on surveillance and efforts are on to nab him, said ASI Hari Krishan. An FIR was registered against the accused under Sections 387 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC at Palam Vihar police station on Friday. Police have booked slain Shiv Sena leader Sudhir Suris brother Brij Mohan Suri for endangering peoples life by opening fire outside his home in Shivala Colony. After Sudhir Suris death, his brother Brij Mohan had taken over the Hindu outfits charge. (Representational Photo) A leader of Shiv Sena (Taksali), Sudhir Suri, who was vocal against Khalistani activists, was shot dead outside a temple in Amritsar in November. After Suris death, his brother Brij Mohan had taken over the Hindu outfits charge. The case against Brij was registered under Sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Sections 27-54-59 of the Arms Act on the complaint of sub-inspector (SI) Parshotam Kumar, who is in-charge of Shivala Bhaiya police post. We got information that Brij has received a threat call. We immediately rushed to Brij Mohans home. While I was talking to his security men, he came out of his home and straig away went to a park where he opened an aerial shot from his pistol. He opened the second shot from his pistol straight towards the railway tracks where Karam Bhimi Express train was standing, the SI said in his statement. On Friday, Brij had alleged that some unidentified persons fired outside his house on Thursday night. Terming it a terror attack, he said he also retaliated by firing a couple of gunshots. However, the Amritsar police had initiated an investigation after finding the mater suspicious. A senior police official, who wished not to be named, said, Our preliminary investigation has suggested that the gunshots were pre-planned to enhance his security cover. The timing of the incident has also raised questions as on April 27, the Punjab and Haryana high court had dismissed the petition of Suri who had requested for enhancing the security cover. In his reply to the court, the Punjab Police had contended that already nine policemen, including seven ASIs, were deputed for his personal and residential security while 23 cops were attached with the security of Manik Suri, son of slain Hindu leader Sudhir Suri. There was no sign of firing from any person, though Suri had fired a couple of gunshots, said Abhimanyu Rana, additional deputy commissioner of Police. On Friday, Brij Mohan along with his supporters had also held a protest outside Shivala police chowki demanding justice. The Catholic Diocese of Lincoln and other faith-based organizations have backed out of this years Give to Lincoln Day over concerns about an anti-discrimination requirement officials say goes against their beliefs. The diocese announced last month it was pulling out of the annual charitable giving day on May 24 because of a policy change that requires nonprofits to affirm they do not discriminate based on factors including sexual orientation in hiring matters. In an April column posted to the dioceses website, Bishop James Conley said the policy change from the Lincoln Community Foundation, which puts on the event, does not align with the tenets of the Catholic faith. Those requirements could also affect the right of Catholic schools to hire administrators and teachers who strive to live their lives in adherence to the Catholic faith, Conley wrote. In response, Conley said diocesan organizations would pursue their separate fundraising efforts, including a Lincoln Catholic Schools Day of Giving. Alec Gorynski, president and CEO of the Lincoln Community Foundation, said the anti-discrimination policy which he says is a best practice among community foundations is not new. But last fall, he said, the foundations board required that the policy be applied more consistently when it comes to its discretionary grant-giving, which includes the foundations Give to Lincoln Day match funds. Now, in addition to other requirements like that nonprofits must be locally based participating organizations must also sign off on the anti-discrimination affirmation statement. Gorynski said the statement is not a religious or political expression or a criticism of any group, but an affirmation that everyone has the opportunity to benefit in necessary programs and services. We stand behind that, he said. We stand behind inclusion. We stand behind everyone in our community (having) the opportunity to thrive. The foundation does not review nonprofits internal practices and would not challenge an organization that wishes to take part, Gorynski said, emphasizing that the policy only asks nonprofits to attest they do not discriminate. Gorynski also emphasized there are exemptions for faith-based organizations that consider religious affiliation when making hiring decisions per the Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act. ... We celebrate and applaud all (the) faith-based organizations that do meaningful work in our community, and wanted to offer them every allowance possible, so we included the exemption to use faith as a factor in hiring, as allowed by law, Gorynski said. The affirmation statement is similar to efforts by the Lincoln City Council to expand discrimination protections under city code to include sexual orientation and gender identity via the so-called Fairness Ordinance. The City Council passed the ordinance in February 2022, but it was rescinded following a successful referendum petition by the Nebraska Family Alliance, which would have put the question to voters. Karen Bowling, executive director of the Nebraska Family Alliance, said nonprofits began reaching out to her group seeking advice about the policy when registration for Give to Lincoln Day began in March. Bowling said the foundation was originally asking nonprofits to confirm they were not associated with any groups on the Southern Poverty Law Centers list of hate groups in addition to the anti-discrimination statement. After meeting with foundation officials, Bowling said the SPLC requirement was removed but not the anti-discrimination statement. According to Bowlings count, 40 faith-based nonprofits including schools, retreat centers and social services organizations have withdrawn. All of us have been grateful for having the opportunity to participate in Give to Lincoln Day, Bowling said. We affirm that everyone has intrinsic value and is created in the image of God, but ... we also want to be able to live out our values. There are 460 nonprofits taking part in Give to Lincoln Day, which kicked off May 1 with an online and in-person giving campaign. Thats slightly down from a record of 479 organizations that raised more than $8 million last year. Gorynski said he did not know many groups had opted out because of the policy. In addition to the diocese and its schools, Lincoln Lutheran, Parkview Christian and Lincoln Christian also have opted out of the event. At Lincoln Christian and Lincoln Lutheran, officials are planning their own giving days. Our programs and services are non-discriminatory, but the language in the LCF agreement could place our ministry at risk when it comes to our hiring practices where it is important for our educators and leaders to reflect the beliefs of our faith body, Lincoln Lutheran Chief Advancement Officer Scott Ernstmeyer said in a statement. Lincoln Christian Superintendent Zach Kassebaum said the requirement amounts to imposing a social and political agenda on nonprofits. We believe in the dignity and intrinsic value of every person as made in the image of God, Kassebaum said in an email. We are committed to not taking money from or participating in any program that restricts or adds unwarranted and unjust secular requirements or constraints to our biblically based mission and values. Specific churches and other houses of worship are already excluded from Give to Lincoln Day, Gorynski said. Thats partly because of the sheer number that would qualify and because the event is intended for nonprofits that offer specific community programming or services, like Catholic Social Services, a diocesan organization. Katie Patrick, executive director of Catholic Social Services, said that while Give to Lincoln Day has been instrumental for our goals, the organization is now putting on its own fundraising campaign centered around four initiatives. Other Catholic organizations not affiliated with the diocese like Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach and the local St. Vincent de Paul Society chapter are still participating, as are other faith-based groups. Dennis Kellogg, a spokesperson for the diocese, said officials from the Catholic Church and other faith-based organizations met with the Lincoln Community Foundation to share their concerns and said there was a good back and forth. But neither side budged. They were insistent that we sign the statement, Kellogg said. Its certainly their right to do that. Were not going to do anything thats going to compromise our right or our ability to adhere to the tenets of the Catholic Church in our charitable work. Kellogg said the policy is too broad, goes beyond what is required by law and could jeopardize employee agreements. We have a right, as a Catholic organization, to hire those Catholics ... who agree to teach the Catholic faith. Thats important to us as a faith-based organization, Kellogg said. Give to Lincoln Day has typically been a big fundraising event for Catholic and other Christian organizations. In 2021, Catholic Social Services raised $195,000, the third most of any nonprofit. The Pius X Foundation was in the top 10. Now, the Pius X Foundation will host a Lincoln Catholic Schools Day of Giving, on May 16 instead. The bottom line is our mission doesnt change, Kellogg said. We feel everyone should be treated with respect. ... Were called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless. Weve been doing that for 2,000 years and were not going to stop doing that. Gorynski said he supports any act of generosity, adding that he hopes the other fundraising events are wildly successful. But at the end of the day, the foundation is there to serve the organizations signed up for Give to Lincoln Day, which has raised $50 million in the past 11 years. Were focused on the 460 nonprofits that are still with us. Top Journal Star photos for May 2023 It is a family outing from Banjhan Kalhan village in Punjab to Phillaur town in the early 1950s. The destination is Dalip Studio named after the hearthrob filmstar. Dilip Kumars charming photograph adorns the main wall of the studio. Although it is one of the many reprints, yet the studio owner boasts saying that he has clicked it. Author Ujjal Dosanjhs latest work The Past is Never Dead is to be released in Chandigarh on May 14. (HT Photo) Kahla, who goes by the name of Kalu, passes the studio whenever in town and stares at it admiringly. Born Usuf, the film industry changed his name to make him acceptable to Hindus. This change of name evokes a kinship with him in Kalus mind, with acceptance being the key word because although a Ravidasia wearing a turban he has not been able to remove the stamp of caste on his birth and being. He leads his mother Banti and father Udho, who has returned home taking leave from the foundry he works for in England with the aim of getting the passport formalities completed for his wife and son. It is for his son that he migrated so that he may have a life different from him without the damnation of his caste. After the passport photos are shot, Kalu insists on a family portrait because he resents the fact that poverty and prejudice was the reason for his father moving abroad. He wants to celebrate this togetherness. This is one of the most touching passages in the mint-fresh novel by Ujjal Dosanjh, The Past is Never Dead published by Speaking Tiger, which is to be released in the city on May 14. Set in a Punjab village, it is not a nostalgia trip glorifying village life and pining for it, but rather a critique of the caste system which is still prevalent in Punjab with the prejudice greater and more visible against the mean ones in the rural areas. The thrust of this story told rather well is that caste prejudice tends to travel with the migrants even when they go to distant lands that can hardly make sense of the Hindu caste system. His writing is a validation of the famous saying by BR Ambedkar: Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or barbed wire which prevents the Hindus from co-mingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. Caste is a notion; it is a state of mind. Many stories to tell The novel comes from the pen of Ujjal Dosanjh, who we know as a politician with a spine. He migrated to the UK at the age of 17 and then moved to Canada. A lawyer and liberal politician, he served as the premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001, member of Parliament as Liberal Party of Canada Member from 2004 to 2011. He was minister of health from 2004 to 2006, when the party lost the government. A vocal critic of the Khalistan activists, he was the victim of a brutal attack in Vancouver in 1985. Born a few months before Partition in Dosanjh Kalhan, he could be called a midnights child too who grew with the turmoil of Partition leaving its mark on divided Punjab. Indeed, he has many stories to tell and his autobiography Journey After Midnight: India, Canada and the road beyond, published in 2016, was very well received. But he still has more to give. In this novel, he lays bare the prejudice of the land-owning Jat Sikh community, which is not part of the Hindu caste system unleashing its wrath on the Dalits. Kalu, despite being named Kahla, was addressed as Kalu even if his brown skin was no different from many of the other Jat boys. He grew up believing in Sikhism, the tenet of Guru Nanak and Ravidas. But the reality is that his father is maimed, thrown father and son out of the Quit India rally. As a young boy, he is mercilessly beaten when he tries to join Shivaratri celebrations in a temple and finally when they start prospering with the money his father sends from UK, his mother is threatened with rape. They flee from it all, but humiliation follows when he grows up to threaten the hierarchy of the landed class migrants. Dosanjh says, As a young migrant to the UK, I was witness to many such insults, but the worst was when I saw an elderly gentleman brutally beaten and have the worst caste abuses hurled upon him. I was too young to intervene, but there were others who did come to his rescue. While this novel exposes the casteist nightmares, it leaves the reader with hope in the form of the courage and resilience of the human spirit in rising above all. nirudutt@gmail.com The Delhi government is likely to make specific approvals, driver badges and customer verification mandatory and and call for greater use of electric vehicles by app-based cab services such as Uber and Ola and delivery businesses such as Zomato and Swiggy, according to the citys long-awaited policy on the matter, which is expected to be unveiled soon. The draft policy has been prepared under Delhi Motor Vehicles Rules, 2023. (HT PHOTO) Such services work in a regulatory vacuum at present and the tech companies that run them are not required to follow specific rules that conventional cab services are required to. The new rules, in the works since 2017, are now almost finalised and are likely to be shared by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in an announcement this month. The new protocols, a person aware of the rules said, will make it mandatory for these companies to register and obtain a license to operate. The policy could also recommend finalising a base fare for the aggregators, and the administration is considering mandating uniforms for drivers and delivery people. After it is finalised, the policy will be put up before the state cabinet for approval, following which the file will be sent to the lieutenant governor for consideration and approval. After a nod from the LG, the rules will be notified and will become binding on the aggregators. At least two officials aware of the development said that the draft policy is likely to be put into the public domain for suggestions and feedback from the people. Delhi has among the largest number of ride aggregators and delivery aggregators, whose services are used by a large number of people. However, they are beyond the regulatory framework of the Delhi government, even though they operate in the Capital, because necessary rules have not been framed to regulate them. Now the rules are in the final phase of being implemented, said one of the officials. The draft policy has been prepared under Delhi Motor Vehicles Rules, 2023, which will be binding on ride-hailing companies, door-to-door delivery firms, e-commerce companies and other aggregators. The purpose of the exhaustive task has been to ensure passengers safety, get their grievances redressed, and check the impact of the increasing number of aggregators vehicles on the traffic and the environment, said the official. Currently, the transport department does not know how many vehicles are engaged with ride-hailing companies, or how many are operating under the door-to-door delivery ecosystem. After the policy is implemented, these companies will have to share the fleet and drivers details with the government so that the government is aware about the number of the vehicles operating in the sector, said the second official. Decarbonisation of the fleet is also likely to be part of the upcoming policy. The aggregators will switch over to an electric fleet in a phased manner. They will be given a target to switch all their vehicles to electric by 2030, said the second official. The notification of the policy will also likely make bike taxis legal in the Capital. In February, the transport department asked cab aggregators to stop bike taxi services on Delhis roads because their plying is in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. HT reached out to cab aggregators Ola and Uber for comments on the move by the Delhi government, but no response was immediately available. Under the leadership of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi is going to be the first state to make rules for regulating the aggregators providing passenger transport and delivery services. The draft policy has been prepared after exhaustive experts and stakeholder consultations, and will get the final shape after we put the draft policy in the public domain and get suggestions from the people, said transport minister Kailash Gahlot. The Delhi government currently only regulates the fares of metered taxis and autos. The decision to regulate or not to regulate the fare of aggregators will be taken by the government, one of the officials quoted above said, asking not to be named. Also read: Unhappy with revised pay structure, over 1,000 Blinkit delivery executives join rival firms: Report Cab aggregators have played an important role in offering public mobility services, while also creating a significant number of employment opportunities. In Delhi, transport emissions are a major contributor to local pollution. The ride-hailing and delivery service vehicles cover more distance than personal vehicles and hence they also have a higher emission per vehicle. Therefore, it is imperative to prioritise the electrification of the fleet for these aggregators to curb pollution. It is also important that the Delhi government creates a favourable ecosystem for rapid electrification of these vehicles, said Amit Bhatt, managing director (India) of the International Council on Clean Transportation. The Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested two members of a gang in Moradabad involved in the printing and smuggling of fake Indian currency notes (FICN), officials said on Saturday. 2 held for printing, smuggling fake currency notes (Pic for representation) The police seized around 6000 FICN to the face value of 1.20 lakh as well as recovered lamination machine, printer and scanner and colours used in printing the FICN from a closed godown. The STF officials in the press note said that the two accused identified as Nafees Ahmad and Mohd Nazim, both residents of Moradabad, were arrested from the godown owned by Nazim under Bhojpur police station limits of Moradabad. They said Nazim with help of Nafees operated this racket and printed fine quality FICN. The officials said the duo confessed that they did it locally and no inter-state or international gang was involved in it. He said the duo intentionally used to print FICN in lower denominations as they believed that lower denominations are easily accepted in market. During the investigation, the accused said that they used a colour printer, photoshop software and good quality paper to print the currency note, the task force said. They also told the STF that they used to print 10, 20 and 50 currency notes. Officials said the duo used to sell this FICN to some other gangs in UP as well as in another state in half of its face value i.e. 50,000 for FICN to the face value of 1 lakh. They said Nafees Ahmad has previous crime record with around five criminal cases registered against him in Moradabad, Amroha and Gautam Buddh Nagar. They said Nafees was earlier arrested in the similar case and had remained in jail but he again started the same work after getting bailed out recently. Mumbai: The city civic bodys education officers and inspectors received a letter which warned that they will be booked if they fail to act against the illegal schools in the city as early as possible. The development came after the concerned education officers and inspectors had failed to submit a report on the closure of schools by April 30. HT Image In Mumbai, 218 schools were declared illegal, of which only 62 have been shut down. Officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) education department said that 30 more schools have been given a letter of closure and that further processes are still going on. In his letter, Sandeep Sangave, deputy director of education (DyDE), Mumbai division, has warned the authorities that if the action report on these illegal schools is not submitted immediately, the task force will determine the primary responsibility and make them co-accused in the crime. A letter regarding the same has been written to education officers of Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts as well as education inspectors of the South, West, and North Divisions in Mumbai. The education department has launched a vigorous campaign to crack down on unauthorised schools in the state. Accordingly, the state education commissioner ordered the closure of these schools by April 25. However, in Mumbai, this action is going on at a slow pace. The education department had ordered that punitive action should be taken against the schools. If the penalty imposed is not collected, FIR should be registered as necessary and these schools should be closed, said Nitin Dalvi, an education activist. The state education commissioner had written a letter on April 12 directing educational officers to take action against unauthorised schools. It was asked to complete this action and submit the report by April 30. MUMBAI: Tenants cannot dictate terms or foist their choice of redevelopment on the landlord, if they are assured of rehabilitation tenements, the Bombay high court held, while dismissing the petitions filed by seven tenants of a building on Hill Road in Bandra West seeking additional area over and above what was being offered by the landlord. HT Image A division bench of justice GS Kulkarni and justice Kamal Khata, which was hearing the petitions on Thursday, said, Once the landlord has guaranteed that the tenants would not be deprived of permanent alternate accommodation in lieu of their original premises, the tenants or occupantswhether minority or majoritywould not have any legal rights to dictate and/or foist on the landlord the nature of the development to be undertaken by the landlord. The tenants/occupants cannot assert any higher rights in relation to redevelopment, unless expressly provided by the law, the bench said. The tenants cannot dictate their notions and any facet on the redevelopment, unless the law recognises such rights, the bench said, adding, If such a right of the tenants/occupants is recognised, it is likely to bring a situation that the corporeal rights of the owners of the property would stand fully defeated. The ground-plus-two-storey building was declared dilapidated and dangerous by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 2018 and demolished for redevelopment two years later. The landlord, Swarna Highrise Constructions, assured each tenant a permanent alternate accommodation in the newly-constructed building. Twenty-two of the 29 tenants had accepted the offer of 324 square feet tenements in lieu of their existing 250 square feet houses. The minority group of seven members had, however, moved the HC contending that they were entitled to 35% of the fungible Floor Space Index (FSI) being utilised by the landlord, as provided in the Development Control Promotion Regulations 31(3) and 33(7)A). They contended that since this provision was made in the DCPR for the city, the BMC was duty-bound to ensure that the benefit of the fungible FSI was extended to the tenants. The landlord, on the other hand, had expressed inability to provide the fungible FSI on account of height restrictions in the proposed building and that the majority of the tenants have already accepted the area being offered by them. The court accepted the landlords contention and dismissed the petitions. An offence has been registered against a city-based developer and his son for allegedly duping a diamond trader of 2.7 crore in a property deal, police said on Saturday. The complainant in the case has claimed that he had paid the father-son duo 2.7 crore for a flat in a redevelopment project in 2016, and he still hasn't received possession of the property, an official said. In 2019, one of the accused informed the complainant that the said flat had been sold to another buyer and he was offered another flat in the building. (HT Photo/ Representative image) The complainant alleged that he had paid 2.27 crore out of the total 3.1 crore to purchase a 1,876 sq ft apartment in a housing society in Vile Parle and was given an allotment letter, which stated that the property will be handed over to him by December 2018, he said. In 2019, one of the accused informed the complainant that the said flat had been sold to another buyer and he was offered another flat in the building. However, he did not keep his end of the deal and failed to return the money, the official said. A case under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust and cheating has been registered against the developers. MUMBAI: The Mumbai police have invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against five robbers who would jointly target Angadias (couriers who transport cash and gold) from Pydhonie and Kalbadevi in South Mumbai. This is the first time the police have applied the stringent provisions of MCOCA in a case of this kind. India, Mumbai...21 March, 2013... This is the spot in Zaveri bazar where one of blast had taken place in 1993 , on Thursday ..Photo by Vijaynanand Gupta / (Hindustan Times) The decision to invoke MCOCA came after the cops received around 40 complaints of Angadias being robbed of bags containing cash or jewellery. Since the gang members worked in a coordinated and planned manner, their acts fell under the purview of organised crime and hence they were booked under the MCOC Act, 1999, said a police officer. The gangs modus operandi was to identify potential victims and then choose the ones carrying heavy bags. Senior members of the gang would follow the target while others would identify a relatively isolated spot to rob him. There, one or two members would keep a close watch on the surroundings, while a third would deliberately bump into the victim or try to distract him by asking for directions. Meanwhile, another member would snatch the bag and flee. The member tasked with distracting the Angadia would direct his attention in the wrong direction, thus enabling his fellow thug to get away easily. As complaints of Angadia agents being robbed began to spiral, the police started monitoring the Kalbadevi and Pydhonie areas and listing suspects. They zeroed in on the gang of five, who had the maximum cases registered against them, and who would routinely continue with their life of crime after getting bail or even being externed from the city. No deterrent worked. Every time we arrested them, they would get bail and history would be repeated, said Abhinav Deshmukh, additional commissioner of police, south region. We studied the pattern of the gangs crimes and found that it operated in an organised manner like a crime syndicate. Since the conviction rate in theft cases is very low and the accused would soon get out of jail, we nabbed all the five members and applied the stringent provisions of MCOCA against them. This will help detain them behind bars for a longer time. The arrested gang members are identified as Rahul Nandu Waghmare, 31, Javed Shaikh, 23, Salman Mohammad Jamil Ansari, 30, Sarfaraj Jamil Shaikh, 27, and Nabi Hussain Ali Shaikh alias Chikna Babu, 30. Javed Shaikh, the sharp and aggressive mastermind of the gang, roams around with a knife to cut the Angadias bags and threaten them at knife point. Javed, who has been committing such crimes since he was a minor, is allegedly involved in around 16 cases of robbery and bag-lifting. Nabi Hussain Ali Shaikh has the maximum cases registered against himover 40 offences at various police stations. He has at least 20 offences against him at Pydhonie and LT Marg police stations and an almost equal number registered in Dadar, Churchgate and Sewri for mobile-snatching and bag-lifting. Rahul Waghmare is involved in around 13 cases and was convicted in one in 2019. The police externed him from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region for one year but that failed to deter the expert in identifying potential victims, and he had to be arrested again. Sarfaraj and Salman, who joined Javed two years ago, are accused in five offences each. The case in which MCOCA was applied The MCOCA case was based on a complaint registered by a 26-year-old who runs a jewellery shop in Bhoiwada with his father. On March 27, around 5.30 pm, the victim was carrying 1.70 lakh in a bag to go pay a jewellery-maker. When he reached Khau Galli in Kalbadevi, two accused pushed him; when he turned around to question them, another joined them. The trio pushed him and as he fell to the ground, one snatched his bag and fled. During investigation, the LT Marg police got hold of CCTV footage of the accused from cameras in the vicinity. The Zaveri Bazaars Jewellers Association, which has a WhatsApp group that circulates pictures of notorious thieves with their names, showed the photos to the complainant, who identified the trio as Nabi, Rahul and Javed. The police then arrested them and recovered cash of Rs. 83,500. Prithviraj Kothari, national president of the India Bullion and Jewellers Association, said that the accused would steal cash and valuables worth lakhs, and pay a lakh or two to a lawyer and get out on bail to resume their life of crime. Jewellers and businessmen will be able to breathe freely for a few years now, he said. The police have taken appropriate action by applying MCOCA, as the robbers will not get bail for four to five years. This will send out a strong message to other criminals. A day after Sharad Pawar withdrew his resignation as Nationalist Congress Party chief, he praised Ajit Pawar, saying there were misconceptions about his nephew who was a hardworking member of the NCP. Pawar was speaking to mediapersons on Saturday at his hometown, Baramati. NCP Party President Sharad Pawar in a discussion with party leader Ajit Pawar after announcing being resigned from the party post at YB Chawan Auditorium in Mumbai on Tuesday.(ANI) Also read: NCP cadres rejoice after Sharad Pawar takes back his resignation. Watch The NCP supremos remarks came amid the still-persisting rumours about Ajit joining the BJP with a group of NCP legislators. Faced with the oft-asked question again, Pawar said an atmosphere of confusion was being created regarding his nephew. There was much talk that he would go with the BJP, but did anything happen? he asked. There was no truth to the speculation about him. Pawar had a few words of praise for Ajit and justification for his behaviour. Ajit by nature is different, he said. He is someone who loves to work on the ground and is result-oriented. He is not media-friendly and not bothered about publicity. He is working for the party and the state. But there are misconceptions about him. Pawars remarks notwithstanding, there is curiosity in political circles about Ajits next move, following his uncles decision to withdraw his resignation. As there were speculations about him being unhappy, he issued a press release welcoming Pawars decision. Significantly, Ajit was the only NCP leader who had vehemently supported Pawars resignation and insisted that the party leaders should respect the same. The 82-year-old leaders surprise announcement that he was stepping down had put a question mark on opposition unity efforts ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Responding to questions about this, Pawar said that leaders from different political parties across India had urged him to continue in the post since the elections were barely a year away, and the process of uniting the Opposition had just begun. It would have been wrong on my part to disrespect the sentiments of my colleagues and party workers, he said. Pawar revealed that a common minimum programme of the Opposition would be prepared ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and he would play a role in bringing opposition parties together. In the next 10 to 11 months, elections will be taking place in a number of places, he said. Leaders like Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, Chandrashekar Rao and Mamata Banerjee are trying to unite the Opposition. I will participate in bringing the Opposition together by creating a common minimum programme. Also read: Sharad Pawar's leadership important for Opposition unity: Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut When asked about the Barsu agitation, where locals are resisting the setting up of a refinery, Pawar said he had held meetings with industry ministry officials and was of the view that the government needed to take everyone along by listening to them. I myself interacted with farmers to understand their issues and also held a couple of meetings with officials from the industries ministry, he said. Instead of using force, there is a need to take everyone along by dispelling the doubts that damage will be caused to the environment and fishing trade. Pawar will meet NCP leaders and workers in Baramati before heading to Solapur on Sunday. Meanwhile, Ajit will be visiting Satara on May 8 and 9, Osmanabad and Latur on May 10 and Nashik on May 11. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday assured the protesting Barsu villagers in Ratnagiri district that there would be no oil refinery if they didnt want it and warned the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government that if they went ahead with the project forcefully, Maharashtra would be on fire. We can see what is happening in Manipur if peoples wishes are not respected. Ratnagiri, India - May 06, 2023: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray along with party leaders Ambadas Danve, Vinayak Raut, Rajan Salvi, Bhaskar Jadhav, Anil Parab and Milind Narvekar interacts with the villagers of Solgoan opposing the Barsu refinery project, at Solgaon, Girijadevi Kond, in Rajapur Taluka, Ratnagiri, India, on Saturday, May 06, 2023. (Photo by Rajesh Waradkar/HT Photo) (Hindustan Times) Meanwhile, BJP MLA Nitesh Rane along with his brother and former MP Nilesh Rane took out a march in nearby Rajapur town in support of the proposed refinery. Later in the day, industries minister Uday Samant claimed that the government would not impose anything without taking the locals into confidence. Thackeray, who was denied permission by the local administration to address a rally, met villagers at Girma Devi and Barsu-Solgaon. If all of you dont want the project there will be no refinery. We will stand with you as we supported the locals in Nanar - the earlier site. If the government tries to impose the project forcefully Maharashtra will be on fire. Responding to the allegations that he had himself recommended the Barsu site when he was the CM after it was shifted from Nanar, he said, I had suggested Barsu as the traitors told me it was barren land, and the project would have less impact on the environment. However, I didnt try to impose it on locals by using the police force. Later, the Sena (UBT) chief visited the heritage site of rock sculptures (Katal Shilp) near Barsu which, villagers claimed, would be destroyed due to the proposed refinery. If the oil refinery project is good then why is the government imposing it on locals? This is nothing but an emergency. We can see what is happening in Manipur if peoples wishes are not respected, he said at a press conference. Thackeray further said if the proposed refinery was so good (as claimed by the state) then let the Central government take it to Gujrat and return IFSC, Foxconn and Tata-Airbus projects to Maharashtra. Industries minister Samanat, who is from Shinde faction, said the CM had decided that the government would execute the refinery project only with the locals consent. We agree with Thackeray over the issue of peoples approval. We will also protect the heritage sculptures in the area. As of now, the administration is testing the soil and based on reports it would be decided if the project would come to Barsu or not, Samant said on his social media address. As per reports of the administration there were nearly 120 and 170 locals present at the two places to meet Thackeray, Samant said. On the other hand, more than 500 people turned up for the BJP rally. Thackeray should also have met supporters of the project to understand the ground reality. Nitesh Rane said, Thackeray is not a political leader. He is a broker and opposes the project for money. In Mumbai, Union MSME minister Narayan Rane too came down on the Sena (UBT) chief. There are many leaders in Maharashtra but only Thackeray is opposing the project. He and his party always oppose development in Konkan. Now, he is threatening to set Maharashtra on fire. How? He is the weak leader of the smallest party. Will he go by helicopter and use a flaming torch (symbol of Thackeray faction) to start a fire? Rane asked. Rajs appeal to people MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday urged people in Ratnagiri not to sell their land, without naming the Barsu oil refinery project. People come from outside and buy hundreds of acres in your area at throwaway prices. Later, once the project is announced they sell the land to the government at higher prices. How could you people not understand this? he said at a rally. Mumbai: It took an accident for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to paint an unmarked speed breaker posing a threat to motorists all this while. 25-year-old Yogesh Upadhyay faced several injuries on his hand, leg and ribs on Friday early morning after he lost the balance of his bike after hitting the unpainted speed breaker. Mumbai, India - May 06, 2023: BMC paint the speedbreaker with zebra crossing paint in the morning as a biker's video went viral after he met with an accident on Friday night while travelling on his bike from Goregaon towards Jogeshwari, near 24 Carat Theatre, S.V. Road, Jogeshwari (West), in Mumbai, India, on Saturday, May 06, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO) He was heading back home taking the SV Road in Jogeshwari West. After the fall, Upadhyays skin peeled off from leg, hand and his palm. The next day after the incident, Upadhyay sent a tweet to BMC, sharing photographs of his injuries and the speed breaker. More than 18 hours after the tweet went viral, BMC was forced to paint the speed breaker. I was going home after meeting my friends. I was riding a 350cc bike and accidentally I hit the speed breaker which was not visible at all. I called up a few of my friends and we went to the medical store and then went to a doctor the next day to get treated. I have some injuries to my ribs and the injuries on my hand and feet are also painful, said Upadhyay. This speed breaker is not like the standard ones. The height of the speed breaker is higher than it should be, and it had no painting at all. This is not some internal road, its on the SV road, he added. An official from the BMCs K west ward said, We saw the tweet. We do not know how the accident happened, that is for traffic police to see. But we fixed the speed breaker. We have more than 350-speed breakers in Andheri, and we regularly paint them. This speed breaker was painted last month also but because of traffic and water leakages, it gets dull. Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, founder of MNCDF, a citizen welfare forum said, Why is it that the BMC wakes up from its slumber only after citizens die or get injured? The civic body officials should be subjected to criminal prosecution for their intentional dereliction of duty under sections 166B, 217, 409, 431 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 & must face suspension from service, their dereliction must also be recorded in their service record book. The speed breakers across Mumbai suburbs are not in consonance with the IRC guidelines. Not only was the speed breaker not painted, but it was also made of tar, on a cement concrete road. The IRC guidelines have not been followed. he also said adding that the administration is waiting for people to die to get injured there for them to act. The BMC commissioner must instruct all wards to paint speed breakers across the city. The Indian Roads Congress (IRC) which is the Apex Body of Highway Engineers in the country sets guidelines for constructing speed breakers. The IRC was set up in December 1934 on the recommendations of the Indian Road Development Committee best known as Jayakar Committee set up by the Government of India with the objective of road development in India. It is these guidelines that the engineers of BMC or any other agencies have to follow while constructing the speed breakers. Besides having a pothole problem every year, citizens in various instances have also faced issues of potholes on the speed breaker. HT on December 8 had reported, Carelessly constructed speed breakers raise riders hackles. A man was killed and two children injured Friday in a rollover crash outside of Pryor, one of two fatal wrecks in Southeastern Montana in the past day. Emergency crews pronounced the 31-year-old Pryor man dead at the scene, according to a statement from Montana Highway Patrol. A boy and a girl traveling with the man, ages 8 and 7, respectively, were hospitalized. The man was driving an SUV northbound on Pryor Gap Road on Friday afternoon, MHP said. Near St. Charles Mission School, about two miles south of Pryor, he came to a curve in the road and the SUV overturned. The driver, who according to MHP was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the SUV. First responders transported the two children, who were wearing seat belts, to a Billings hospital. Speeding is suspected to be a factor in the crash, which is still under investigation. The road was also wet from rainfall in the region. Later that same day, a crash on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation killed a man and sent a woman to the hospital. The man was driving east on U.S. Highway 212 in a Ford Coupe, MHP said. When he reached the roundabout in Lame Deer, the car went off the road as it rounded the curve. The coupe overturned, and its 52-year-old driver was killed. A woman traveling with the man was taken to an Indian Health Services hospital. Neither of them, according to MHP, were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash. While MHP is still investigating the cause of the rollover, alcohol is suspected to be a factor. Three members of a family were killed, and two others injured after their car rammed a tree on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway early Saturday morning, Noida police said. The mangled remains of the Swift Dzire car. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo) Five members of the family were travelling in a Swift Dzire from Delhi to Agra after attending a wedding, police said. Around 5am, the speeding car rammed a tree on the divider of the expressway, police said. According to investigators, the dead have been identified as Karthik Gupta (25), his wife Shivani (23), and their three-month-old son. The injured have been identified as Karthiks sister-in-law Sheetal Sharma (18), and aunt Suman Gupta (50). They were all residents of Delhi. VK Singh, station house officer of Knowledge Park police station, said the accident took place near Sector 160. Karthik was driving the car and he possibly dozed off causing the car to crash into the tree, he said. Locals informed police about the accident. Police reached the spot immediately and rushed the injured to nearby hospitals. Karthik and Sheetal were taken to the District Hospital in Sector 30, where the former succumbed to injuries. The three-month-old child and Suman were taken to Felix Hospital in Sector 137 where the baby was declared dead, and Suman was admitted for treatment. Shivani was taken to the Jaypee Hospital in Sector 128 where she was declared dead, SHO Singh said. Sumit Gupta, a relative of the deceased, said the family had gone to attend a relatives wedding a couple of days ago. After attending the wedding on Friday, the family headed to Delhi in the night itself. However, we got a call from the police who told us about the tragic accident, he said, adding that Karthik worked in the finance department of a private firm in the national Capital. Sumit added that while Sheetals condition is stable, Suman is critical. He added that they are yet to register a police complaint. Meanwhile, in another accident in the early hours of Saturday, a 26-year-old man on a motorcycle was killed after his two-wheeler was rammed by an unidentified vehicle near Sector 34 in Noida, police officers said. The accident took place at 1.30am when Ujjwal Singh (26), was headed towards Delhi on his Enfield Bullet. An unidentified speeding vehicle hit his bike near the Sector 34 Metro station. Passersby informed the police after which the victim was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead, said Amit Kumar, SHO of Sector 24 police station. SHO Kumar added that Singh was a resident of Ashok Vihar in Delhi and worked in a factory in Sector 2. The deceased hailed from Azamgarh. His father has been informed about the incident and he is headed to Noida to carry out further formalities. Once he registers a written complaint, the matter will be investigated, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON LUCKNOW To save them from love jihad, 100 Hindu female students of Navyug Kanya Post Graduate College were shown The Kerala Story -- the recently-released movie loosely based on the lives of alleged ISIS women recruits -- at a cinema hall in Lucknow on Saturday. Helmed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the movie is headlined by Adah Sharma. (HT Photo) The tickets were sponsored by U.P. BJP secretary Abhijat Mishra, who also watched the movie along with the female students. Following the show, Mishra put out a tweet (in Hindi) saying, Show #KeralaStory to save girls from Love Jihad (sic)... Be alert, be safe. Used frequently in political discourses, Love jihad refers to the concept of a Muslim man luring a Hindu woman into accepting Islam. It is very important to protect them (young women) from falling into the trap of Muslim boys, added Mishra. When asked about his move to show the movie to female students, Mishra said, Firstly, love jihad is an insult to love. Secondly, they are making our children anti-national. Everyone is free to practice their religion but it is unacceptable to subject others to physical exploitation and push them onto the wrong path. He also claimed that during his three-month stint in Kerala, he witnessed how Hindu women were being lured by Muslim men. Commenting on the development, Manjula Upadhyay, the principal of Navyug Kanya PG College, said, The consent of the girls was taken before showing them the movie. She added that a couple of teachers also accompanied the girls. Helmed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the movie is headlined by Adah Sharma. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also invoked the movie while addressing a rally in poll-bound Karnataka. A 32-year-old man ferrying cattle in a lorry was allegedly shot dead by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel at Mawshun village in Meghalayas East Khasi Hills district around 11pm on Friday, said his cousin brother who was accompanying him. A police team rushed to the spot along with a magistrate and necessary legal formalities were conducted. (Representative Image) The incident happened at Mawshun locality near Pomshutia village, about 17 km away from the Indo-Bangladesh international border where the 04 Battalion is posted at Pyrdiwah. The deceased has been identified as Roning Nongkynrih, a resident of Jalynteng village, Nongkynrih. According to his cousin brother Ribalskhem Nongkynrih, who was in the lorry as well, they were ferrying cattle when suddenly they came across a BSF posse from across. He alleged that the personnel shot Roning at point blank range killing him instantly. It all happened so fast, we were travelling to drop of the cattle at a designated stockyard and as soon as we entered a side road towards the location, we were confronted by the BSF. My brother tried to swerve the lorry to make way for them, but they just shot him instead, he said. I pretended to be dead and just clung to my brother because I thought they would shoot me too. Only God saved me, he added. Asked what happened to the cattle in the truck, he said soon after the incident, the security team left the spot and shortly after that the cattle vanished too. East Khasi Hills superintendent of police (SP), S Nongtnger told HT over phone that soon after being alerted about the incident, a police team from Pynursla police station rushed to the spot along with a magistrate and necessary legal formalities were conducted. A K-9 unit and a team from the district crime scene unit (CSU) also arrived to help in the investigation. It is unfortunate no doubt and we have taken up the matter with utmost seriousness. A case has been registered under IPC Section 302 (Punishment for murder) in Pynursla PS and my officers are investigating it further, Nongtnger said, adding that no arrest has been made so far. There are formal procedures and protocol to follow in such cases and we are leaving no stone unturned to put the matter to rest as per law of the land, he said. When contacted, the Meghalaya Frontier BSF inspector general (IG) Pradip Kumar while condoling the incident told HT over phone that immediate action has been initiated from the frontier headquarters. I have ordered a court of inquiry to be headed by a DIG rank officer and we will ascertain all facts of the case, he said. Meanwhile, the three personnel involved in the incident have been withdrawn from the location and are on their way back to frontier headquarters here, he added. When prodded further on preliminary findings, the IG said, Apparently, the personnel who shot the victim was on the ground and sensing that he might be run over by the oncoming vehicle, shot in self-defense but unfortunately the person in the truck died. But this is not final, it is just preliminary, and we will get to the truth while cooperating with the state police in their investigation as well. LUCKNOW Triggering a scare in Gomti Nagar, a man named Rohit Pal climbed up an electricity pole outside the PGI Fire station on Saturday. The man was apparently upset over lack of facilities like water supply and others. He threatened to kill himself. However, Pal was successfully brought down by the officials of the Fire Station PGI, according to a press note from the fire station officer in Gomti Nagar. The rescue operation was precarious as the man had climbed on an electric pole of 1,32,000 Volts. (HT Photo) The rescue operation was precarious as the man had climbed on an electric pole of 1,32,000 Volts. The incident was first reported to the Hazratganj fire station, which then intimated the PGI Fire station. Subsequently, the fire service unit of PGI reached the spot and apprised Mangesh Kumar, the chief fire officer of Lucknow, who also arrived at the spot. The rescue was carried out with the use of hydraulic platforms through which the officers were able to climb to the height of the individual. They gave him water, and coaxed him off of the pole, and after securing a safety belt around his waist. They also assured him that he would be provided with the facilities he needs. The Bihar police on Saturday registered a first information report (FIR) against Subhash Yadav, former Rajya Sabha member and brother-in-law of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav, and six others for alleged land grabbing and extortion, officials said. Subhash Yadav (right) is a former Rajya Sabha member and a brother-in-law of RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav (left). (File Photos) The FIR on the charges of land grabbing, cheating, extortion, intimidation and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was lodged based on a complaint of one Bhim Verma, a resident of Bela village under Neora police outpost of rural Patna. Those named in the FIR include Subhash Yadav, his wife Renu Devi, son Randhir Kumar, Pankaj Singh Yadav, Arjun Ray, Arun Kumar Munsi alias Mukhiya and Arun Kumar Singh. The station house officer (SHO) of the Bihta police station, Pramod Kumar, said that the case is being investigated by Prabha Kumari, in-charge of Neora police out-post. According to the FIR, Subhash Yadav purchased a plot of land of 7 kattha in the name of his wife after paying an amount of 96 lakh to Bhims mother Meena Devi. The complainant alleged that on February 27, 2021 the former RJD MP forced him to return 60 lakh. The former MP took my mother and brother hostage at his house, threatened of dire consequences if I failed to return the said amount. He assured me that if I returned his money, he would transfer my plot. I returned the money the same day (Feb 27,2021) but he did not return the land, he alleged. Talking with HT, Bhim said that earlier his father had developed an agreement with Arun Kumar Munsi alias Mukhiya to sell a plot of land. In June 2022, Munsi, who acted as a middleman in the said land deal, attacked Bhims house and thrashed his mother and father mercilessly when they refused to return the remaining amount ( 30 lakh). A police team of Neora reached the spot and caught Munsi but the family refused to lodge an FIR against him. The victim approached Mukhya Mantri Janta Darbar on June 6, 2022, who directed the Patna DM to enquire into the incident. The victim again on May 4 met Patna DM Dr Chandrasekhar Singh who talked with Patna SSP Rajiv Mishra. The FIR was registered after intervention of Patna DM and SSP, said Verma. The former MP was not available for comments. Earlier, Mirganj police station of Gopalganj district had lodged an FIR against Subhash Yadav for allegedly manhandling a woman when she tried to stop his men from constructing a structure at her land. He was also accused of forcing the Patna-New Delhi Rajdhani Express to change its platform at Patna junction at a time when Lalu Prasad was the railway ministry. On May 10, 2010, a Bihar court ordered registration of an FIR against Subhash Yadav, his wife Renu Devi and three others with Patnas Jakkanpur police station on the charge of kidnapping a liquor shop employee Umesh Singh. In another development in March this year, the Patna police registered a FIR against Nagendra Rai, a cousin brother of deputy chief minister and Lalu Yadavs son Tejaswi Prasad Yadav, for demanding extortion of 2 crore from a builder. This was the second FIR registered against Nagendra within six years with Patnas Danapur police station. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar withdrew his resignation as the party chief, he praised Ajit Pawar saying there are misconceptions about his nephew who works hard on ground. On Friday, the 82-year-old Sharad Pawar withdrew his decision to step down as the NCP president, three days after the surprise announcement (HT FILE PHOTO) Replying to a query about Ajit being unhappy and speculation about his nephews next political move, Sharad Pawar said in Baramati on Saturday, There was talk that he will join the BJP, but has anything happened? There are misconceptions about Ajit who is working for party. Ajit loves to work on the ground, and there was no truth to the speculation about him, he said amid rumours about Ajit along with some NCP legislators joining the saffron party. Ajit was absent during Fridays press conference addressed by his uncle. When questioned during the presser about Ajits absence, senior Pawar replied that not everyone can be present in one press conference. Some of the people are here and some others are not. But this morning, senior leaders of the party, took a decision unanimously and made me aware of it, he said. Earlier this week when Pawar announced stepping down from the party chiefs post, the NCP workers and many senior leaders urged him to stay. However, Ajit supported the decision. On Friday, the 82-year-old leader withdrew his decision to step down as the NCP president, three days after the surprise announcement that had put a question mark on the opposition unity efforts ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Pawar said that several leaders from across India urged him saying with the national elections lined up less than year, opposition unity process has started. So, it would have been wrong for me to stay outside as also felt by many leaders, said the 82-year-old leader. The NCP chief said that a common minimum programme of the Opposition will be prepared ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and he will play a role in bringing opposition parties together. In the next 10-11 months, polls will be taking place in a number of places. Leaders like Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, Chandrashekar Rao, Mamata Banerjee are trying to unite the Opposition. I will participate in bringing the Opposition together by creating a common minimum programme, Pawar said. After his press conference in Mumbai on Friday, Pawar headed to Pune and spent a day in his hometown Baramati where he was welcomed by local NCP office-bearers amid slogan raised by workers on his arrival. He would be meeting local NCP leaders and workers before heading to Solapur on Sunday, party sources said. The veteran leader known for his deft political manoeuvring said he could not disrespect the sentiments of his colleagues and party workers who insisted that he withdraw his decision. On Barasu agitation Pawar said he held meetings with industry ministry officials and is of the view that government needs to take everyone along by listening to them. I interacted with farmers to understand their issues and held meetings with officials of industry ministry. There is a need to take everyone along by dispelling doubts about no damage is caused to environment, or fishing trade instead of using force, Pawar said when asked about agitation by locals opposing the proposed refinery project in Barasu at Ratnagiri district. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pune: The Tamhini and Sudhagad sanctuaries have officially received the status of forest reserves. Around the year, many tourists visit the valley along with the Kundalika River and Andharban forest area, which are parts of these reserves. In a training cum interaction session held by the forest department, the villagers were informed about the importance of protected areas. (HT PHOTO) Now, considering the significant footfall, the Forest Department is planning to regulate tourism in these areas. Accordingly, training has been given to 80 local villagers to act as tour guides for citizens visiting these spots. Apart from that, the department has undertaken the construction of small wooden bridges and setting up facilities for drinking water in the vicinity. Speaking about the efforts undertaken by the Forest Department, R N Rathod, forest guard, additional in charge, Pimpri area said, To regulate tourism activity, the department has undertaken various works in the reserve area. Considering the number of visitors in forest areas, entry fees will be levied on the tourist visiting the forest area. Also, water facilities will be made available at various locations. We are also planning a deposit scheme, under which 20 will be taken from tourists as a deposit for plastic bottles and it will be given back once the tourist deposits the bottles at the exit point. To streamline tourism activities and generate employment opportunities for villagers in the surrounding area, the department is also planning to involve the villagers in forest management tasks. Recently we have provided tour guide training for 80 villagers from 5 villages. A uniform and I card will also be issued to those who attended the training, and these people will be hired as official tour guides of the forest department, Rathod said. Speaking about the visitors to the Tamhini Sudhagad wildlife area, Sameer Ingole a range forest officer from Tamhini Forest Reserve, said, On average nearly 80-100 people in a month visit the forest reserve area. This number is higher during the monsoon season. He further added that trained and well-informed manpower in the area will help the visitors in getting to know the reserve better. In a move to bring transparency to the Indigent Patients Fund (IPF) health scheme for the underprivileged at charitable hospitals, the state health department will appoint Aarogya Mitra at all these health facilities. There are 58 charitable hospitals in Pune, 74 in Mumbai and 430 across the rest of the state (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE) The Public Health Department will appoint personnel who will work as a liaison between the patients and hospital administration. There are 58 charitable hospitals in Pune, 74 in Mumbai and 430 across the rest of the state. Patients from economically weaker sections get free or discounted treatment under the IPF scheme at these hospitals. However, the Public Health Minister, Tanaji Sawant and the Health Department have been receiving several complaints against the charitable hospitals of patients being denied treatment under the scheme despite being eligible. A meeting was held between the charity commissioner officials, the Public Health department under Health Minister, Sawant during which it was decided to appoint 467 Aarogya Mitra at various facilities. Sudhir Bukke, the joint charity commissioner of Pune, informed the reason to appoint Aarogya Mitra will benefit the patients and the government as it is likely to bring more clarity to the functioning of the scheme. Aarogya Mitra will work as a liaison between patients and the hospital administration. They can guide and help patients by scrutinising and verifying the document required to avail the benefit of the scheme. Currently, social workers help patients at charitable hospitals. But we have limited control over them, as they are hospital employees, he said. According to a state Health Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the 467 Aarogya Mitra would be recruited based on the discussion at the meeting and the order of the health minister, Sawant. They will be employed at charitable hospitals. The personnel will assist in providing prompt resolutions to patient complaints and issues. For the recruitment, a mobile application and a website will be developed, stated the official. According to the charity officials, there have been complaints about the social workers at the hospitals being biased toward the hospitals as they are employees of the hospital. Many times, they are unavailable at their desk and even dont respond to the calls of the patients. Rather than helping the patients avail the benefit of the scheme the social workers are accused of finding how the patient can be found unfit for the scheme, said the officials. Adv Manjusha Kulkarni, a legal advisor to Ruby Hall Clinic and secretary of the Association of Hospitals in Pune, said, as per the scheme each hospital keeps beds reserved. We are providing the beds as and when available. These beds have to be kept reserved at the General ward and if there are no beds available in this ward, we cannot admit the patients. In case of non-emergency, we keep the patient on the waiting list, and they are called up when the beds are free. However, if a patient asks for a private room or specific doctors, they are denied admission, she said. Kulkarni added that the social workers at hospitals work as per the provisions of the scheme. PUNE The fire incident that took place at the godown in Pune citys Wagholi area on Friday night brings the focus back to the issue of poor living conditions and safety lapses at commercial establishments where workers dwell. The godown, which was used to store goods and materials for installing pandals for various events, caught fire and killed three workers. This incident is not the first of its kind in Pune, in the past, similar incidents involving workers deaths at hotels or shops were reported in the city. (HT PHOTO) According to the fire brigade officials, the fire quickly spread, and the workers who were inside the godown could not escape due to the lack of proper ventilation and exit points. The deceased have been identified as Kamal Bar, 24, Bijan Milan Patra, 24, and Vishwajit Sen, 27. They all hail from Midnapur district of West Bengal, said police officials. Devendra Potphode, chief of Pune fire brigade department, said, Fire-related safety measures were not in place inside the godown. The owner had not taken a no objection certificate (NOC) from the concerned authority, while due to poor living conditions, the fire spread quickly leading to the deaths. Potphode said, We have appealed many times, specifically to commercial establishments to follow all fire safety norms in their premises. Also, they should frequently check whether all fire systems are in working condition or not. We are here to help people to get it done in a timely manner. Vijay Mahajan, a fireman, who was deputed to the accident site, said, It was found that the godown lacked proper ventilation and exit points. The building had no fire extinguishers, and the workers were unable to escape due to the locked exit points. The material used for setting up pandals likes chairs, tables, sound systems, mattresses, electric wire bundles, and electric equipment may have created a hurdle to escape. This incident is not the first of its kind in Pune, in the past, similar incidents involving workers deaths at hotels or shops were reported in the city. The officials from the fire brigade department, also found that the owners of these establishments had not provided adequate ventilation and exit points. The exit points were locked, making it impossible for the workers to escape during an emergency. Akhil Ghogre, industry safety officer said, Before establishing a commercial unit necessary permission should be taken and at least two exit points should be in place, proper height should be maintained, fire safety audit should be done and NOC should be obtained to ensure safety and security of the workers. The concerned authority should also conduct inspection from time to time. Anna Jogdan, human rights activist, said, The lack of safety measures in various establishments is a cause for concern and needs to be addressed immediately. The government and concerned authorities must take strict action against owners who do not adhere to safety guidelines. Jogdan said, They must ensure that all establishments are equipped with proper ventilation, quick exit points, and fire extinguishers. Moreover, regular inspections should be conducted to ensure that safety measures are being followed. If the hot-headed rhetoric of Indian politics has started to irk you, next week could be intolerable. As we approach the Karnataka assembly election results on May 13, the deafening cacophony of politicians hurling accusations at each other could silence everything else. So, this morning let me offer you something rather different. Its a selection of gems culled from the internet and shared by friends. PREMIUM Epeolatry: A person who worships words; (Shutterstock) Perhaps because I talk too much, Mala Gupta sent me this delightful tribute to the tongue. I trust the alliteration of Ts wont prove traumatic. The tongues terrible tendency to tell tall tales totally tarnishes traditional transcommunication theories. The tempestuous tirades traceable to the tongue testify to the traumatic tactics of this tiny tab of tissue. Thousands that take the time to think, try to tame the tumultuous torrent of the too talkative tongue. Temporarily, the tide turns. Towering tempers turn to tenderness. Then, tragically, the trend tapers. The tongue trips, teeters, then takes a tumble; the temptation to trifling twaddle triumphs. Therefore, throttle the testy tongue! Terminate the trivial topics that tinge the tenor of talk! In response, Bambi Rao dug out Madhusudan Dutts brilliant response to the challenge Can you make a sentence without using e? Heres his answer: I doubt I can. Its a major part of many many words. Omitting it is as hard as making muffins without flour. Its as hard as spitting without saliva, napping without a pillow, driving a train without tracks, sailing to Russia without a boat, washing your hands without soap. And, anyway, what would I gain? An award? A cash bonus? Bragging rights? Why should I strain my brain? Its not worth doing. Perhaps Shashi Tharoor might have done better but my Doon School buddies have sent me a collection of words even he has never used and, perhaps, doesnt even know. Theyre all to do with books. Incidentally, Barnes and Noble has vouched for them. Epeolatry: A person who worships words; Logophile: A person who is fascinated with words; Omnilegent: A person who has read everything; Librocubicularist: A person who reads books lying in bed; Chaptigue: The tiredness you experience when you stay up all night reading. Now, quite unlike Tharoor, there are people who should be very particular about the words they use but often arent. They end up saying something they clearly did not mean. Or did they? Ask yourself that question when you read the next paragraph. In 1977, Harry Carpenter said at the Oxbridge Boat Race: Ah, isnt that nice the wife of the Cambridge president is kissing the cox of the Oxford crew. Pat Glenn, a weightlifting commentator, proclaimed: This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning and it was amazing! Steve Ryder, commenting at the US Masters, declared: Ballesteros felt much better today after a 69 yesterday. On Sky Sports, Mike Hallett once said: Stephen Hendry jumps on Steve Daviss misses every chance he gets. In the heat of the moment if thats the appropriate phrase such errors can happen. Among my favourites is Brian Johnston who said: The batsmans Holding the bowlers Willey. Even better is what a US PGA commentator said of Arnold Palmer: One of the reasons Arnie is playing so well is that, before each tee shot, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them oh my God! What have I just said. Yet worse was in New Zealand, when a Rugby commentator excitedly shouted: Andrew Mehrtens loves it when Daryl Gibson comes inside of him. Finally, here are a few strange quirks or has the English language done this deliberately? Adult and Youth have five letters each. Permanent and Temporary nine. Good and Evil as well as Hate and Love are four each. Negative and Positive eight. But this could truly surprise you. Church, Mosque and Temple have six letters each, Bible, Geeta and Quran five. I know little of orthography but are these spellings just an inexplicable coincidence or is there more to them than meets the eye? Karan Thapar is the author of Devils Advocate: The Untold Story The views expressed are personal Montana lawmakers have eliminated a sunset provision on the state's compensation program for people who were wrongfully convicted, but critical changes sought by advocates failed to pass muster with the governor's office. House Bill 423, carried by Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, built on a program established by the 2021 Legislature following years of bipartisan construction. Lawmakers and advocates involved in that process came to Helena this year with several changes in hand aimed at stakeholders' original intent, which was to avoid costly, protracted litigation cases when someone seeks legal recourse after their convictions are exonerated. One of the major changes anticipated for this session was removing counties where the conviction occurred from the equation when doling out responsibility for paying the claims. The only case to test the new program so far is staged in Missoula County, where Cody Marble seeks compensation for his 15 years in and out of prison on a rape conviction the county attorney's office later said "lacks integrity." Missoula County officials, facing potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation claims from Marble, have since reversed course, now arguing in court filings that Marble's conviction was sound. Lawmakers in 2021 had passed legislation without counties, but Gov. Greg Gianforte sent the bill back, requiring they include counties or he'd veto the bill. Lawmakers did so again this session, and Gianforte likewise sent the bill back to lawmakers with the same ultimatum. "Historically, counties have been liable for approximately 77% of the damages paid to persons wrongfully convicted, and the state has been liable for approximately 23%," Gianforte's amendatory veto letter reads. " To ensure financial and legal responsibility rests with the part best able to keep it from happening again, and to protect Montana taxpayers," he requested lawmakers reinstate a provision that splits the county-state payout ratio to 75% and 25%, respectfully. "That's because that the allegations have been that there was exculpatory evidence withheld by someone in local law enforcement," Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings, told the House floor on Tuesday as the chamber considered Gianforte's changes. "Those are the sorts of things that have led to reversals and settlements in these cases, but it's not been the state that's been responsible. "To say that the state is going to fully fund this and the counties and municipalities would have no responsibility completely disrupts that order, the fact that we're going to try to minimize the kind of conduct that leads to these sorts of claims," he added. Gianforte's changes also included a provision that would eliminate claims in which people seek compensation for convictions for marijuana crimes following legalization of recreational cannabis in 2020. The House approved the changes on a 68-28 vote. The program still provides $60,000 per year in prison and $25,000 per year under probation or parole to people who were later exonerated. Under law, a person who has been exonerated has two options. They can file a claim under the program or attempt to seek damages in court, the latter being theoretically a riskier attempt for a higher dollar figure in financial recourse. Marble, in the Missoula County case, abandoned his civil case against officials to seek a claim under the new state program and is now in a different form of litigation to secure the claim. Richard Raugust, however, maintained course in his litigation and in December agreed to a $5 million settlement with Sanders County, where his homicide conviction was overturned after 18 years in prison. Directorate of Government Examinations, Andhra Pradesh has declared AP 10th Result 2023 on May 6, 2023. The Manabadi SSC result was announced at 11 am. Candidates who have appeared for Class 10 board examination can check their results through the official site of BSEAP at bse.ap.gov.in. AP SSC 10th Results 2023 Live Updates AP 10th Result 2023: Manabadi SSC Result releasing today at bse.ap.gov.in(Diwakar Prasad/ Hindustan Times) The result will be announced at the press conference to be conducted by the Board. The AP SSC results will be declared by Botsa Satyanarayana, Minister of Education of the state along with other board officials. Andhra Pradesh Class 10 board examination in the state was conducted from April 3 to April 18, 2023. The examination was conducted in single shift- rom 9:30 am and end at 12: 45 pm with the exception of twofirst language paper 2 (composite course) and SSC vocational course theorywhich ended at 11:15 am and 11:30 am, respectively. Like every year this year too around 7 lakh candidates have appeared for the examination. AP 10th Result 2023: How to check Candidates can follow the steps to check their results. Visit the official site of BSEAP on bse.ap.gov.in. Click on AP 10th Result link available on the home page. Enter the login details and click on submit. Once done your result will be displayed on the screen. Check the result and download the page. Anime fans, get ready to experience an unforgettable event as the Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King anime film prepares for its special fan screening on May 28th. Only 200 lucky fans will have the chance to attend this once-in-a-lifetime event and witness the film's first screening at Shinjuku Piccadilly in Japan. Anime fans, get ready to experience an unforgettable event as the Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King anime film prepares for its special fan screening on May 28th. (Netflix) Among the six voice actors from the Black Clover franchise, Gakuto Kajiwara (Asta) and Kana Yuki (Noelle) will be featured at the upcoming event. Fans will have the chance to hear from these talented voice actors as they share their experiences and insights about the film and the franchise as a whole. With the movie's worldwide release on Netflix set for June 16th, fans will have the opportunity to see it before the rest of the world. The Black Clover TV anime was a massive hit among fans and ran for a total of 170 episodes. The franchise follows the story of Asta and Yuno, who were both abandoned at a church on the same day. While Yuno possesses exceptional magical powers, Asta has none. However, at the age of fifteen, setting them on a path to becoming the most powerful wizards in the kingdom. The plot of the Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King anime film revolves around a new adventure for Asta and his fellow Black Bulls as they explore the underworld in search of a magical stone. Along the way, they will encounter new enemies and powerful wizards who will stop at nothing to get their hands on the stone. With the stakes high and the odds against them, Asta and his friends must use all their skills and knowledge to succeed in their mission. The fan screening is expected to be a major hit among Black Clover fans. The chance to see the film before its worldwide release on Netflix is a rare opportunity that fans should not miss. With limited tickets available, only 200 lucky fans will be able to attend the screening and be the envy of the rest of the Black Clover community. With its captivating storyline, well-developed characters, and thrilling action scenes, Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King anime film is sure to be an unforgettable adventure that fans of the franchise won't want to miss. So, mark your calendars for May 28th and get ready to experience an unforgettable event that you will remember for years to come! Are you ready for a double treat? The anime world is buzzing with excitement as both Heavenly Delusion and Hell's Paradise are set to release Episode 6 today. Fans have been eagerly waiting for the next installments of these two popular anime series, and the wait is finally over. Hell's Paradise Episode 6 is set to drop on Saturday, May 6th at 8:30 AM PT. Fans can catch the new episode on TV Tokyo in Japan and exclusively on Crunchyroll for international viewers.(MAPPA) Recap of Heavenly Delusion Episode 5 In Heavenly Delusion Episode 5, titled Day of Fate, Kiruko and Maru were hired to guard a passenger on a ferry who wanted to visit a doctor that could make people immortal by attaching monster parts to a human. However, they soon discovered that the monster's body had decomposed, and they decided to go to the location without the passenger. What is the exact release time of Heavenly Delusion Episode 6? Date Heavenly Delusion Episode 6 Release Time JST PT ET GMT CET IST May 06, 2023 10:00 PM 6:00 AM 9:00 AM 1:00 PM 3:00 PM 6:30 PM Heavenly Delusion can be streamed on Hulu for viewers in the US and is available for international viewers on Disney+. Recap of Hell's Paradise Episode 5 Meanwhile, in Hell's Paradise Episode 5, Sagiri recovers from the butterfly scales' poison, and the group discusses their findings on the island. Gabimaru scouted the island and found samurai flowers, but no Elixir of Life. Senta wants to focus on the mysterious statues, while Genji suggests Sagiri return to the mainland, believing her too weak for the job. What is the exact release time of Hell's Paradise Episode 6? Date Hell's Paradise Episode 6 Release Time JST PT ET GMT CET IST May 06, 2023 10:00 PM 8:30 AM 11:30 AM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 9:00 PM Hell's Paradise Episode 6 is set to drop on Saturday, May 6th at 8:30 AM PT. Fans can catch the new episode on TV Tokyo in Japan and exclusively on Crunchyroll for international viewers. Netflix will also release the new episode, but only for fans located in the Asia Pacific region, with the exception of Mainland China, Australia, and New Zealand. So, mark your calendars, and don't miss out on the next installments of these two anime series. Get ready for more action, drama, and adventure as Heavenly Delusion and Hell's Paradise continue to take the anime world by storm. Actor Vinali Bhatnagar feels that nothing matters much for a debutant than to get work with the right people and for the project to see the light of the day. Vinali Bhatnagar I have been auditioning like crazy and many a time reached the final stage too. I cleared auditions for the best in the business but something or the other didnt match up and I had to start from the scratch. My focus was only films, so I had no option other than trying for the right break instead of opting for other mediums. But all the wait has been worthwhile after making a debut with Salman Khan. I remember getting a call for an audition while visiting a gurudwara. I went to the studio the next day and had to go for an audition the very same day, says the Kisika Bhai, Kisiki Jaan actor who played the role of Chahat in the film. Bhatnagar recalls meeting the star for the first time on the sets. She adds, We got a couple of scenes with him. I remember, when I was shooting my first scene with him, I was totally zapped. I was like there is a Salman Khan film playing and I am watching it awestruck. It was a surreal experience; it took me a moment to realise that I was also part of the scene and I needed to act too (laughs). Also, I was surprised when he spoke to me about me being from Bhopal and the MP connect we had in common. Its really amazing to see how he bonds with everyone on the sets and the way hes involved in every department. On the film getting mixed reviews, she says, See, it was a big film and I am happy with the response. Some earn critic reviews while some get public love. As far as this film is concerned, I am nobody to judge or assess. It was and will be a dream debut for me. The actor is all set to shoot for her next soon. Actor-couple Hrithik Roshan and Saba Azad stepped out for a date night in Mumbai. Taking to Instagram, a paparazzo account posted a video of the duo exiting a theatre in Juhu on Friday night. Hrithik's younger son Hridhaan Roshan also accompanied his father and Saba Azad. (Also Read | Hrithik Roshan, Saba Azad step out for a date in their most classic avatars, look stylish in black) Hrithik Roshan and Saba Azad watched a movie together. For the outing, Hrithik opted for a black T-shirt, an olive green jacket, khaki pants, black shoes, and a cap. Saba wore a cropped black T-shirt, denims and shoes. She also opted for a bag. As they exited the building, the two were seen having a conversation. A photographer fell down and both the actors asked him to be careful. Hrithik then asked the paparazzi, "Aap log bhaag ke aaye hai kya (Did you run and come)?" When the photographers asked him to pose for the camera along with Saba, he said, "Next time dete hai yaar (Will pose next time)." Both of them left the venue together in the same car. Last month, Hrithik and Saba enjoyed some quality time over food at a restaurant in Mumbai. Both the actors twinned in black outfits. While Hrithik chose a black T-shirt under a shirt, Saba wore a sleeveless black gown. Hrithik greeted the paparazzi before making his way to the car with his girlfriend. Previously, they attended the NMACC event together in Mumbai. Recently, Hrithik also attended the special screening of Rocket Boys 2, in which Saba played an important role. Hrithik and Saba made public appearances together since last year. Saba also spends quality time with Hrithik's family. Rumours about Hrithik and Saba's relationship started after they were spotted out on a dinner date in February last year. Later, she also joined Hrithik's family for a get-together. All speculations on their relationship were set at rest after the two walked hand-in-hand at actor Karan Johar's 50th birthday bash in last May. Hrithik was previously married to interior designer Sussanne Khan. Fans will see Hrithik next in Fighter, directed by Siddarth Anand. The film also stars Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor. Fighter is homage to the valour, sacrifice and patriotism of the Indian armed forces. The film, backed by Viacom18 Studios and Marflix Pictures, will arrive in theatres on January 25, 2024. Hrithik was last seen in the neo-noir action crime thriller Vikram Vedha, the Hindi adaptation of the 2017 Tamil film of the same name. He will also be seen in the sequel of War, though, he has not made any official comment till date. As per reports, Jr NTR is the latest addition to the cast. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After the success of Pathaan, Shah Rukh Khan will next be seen in Atlee's Jawan. However, the film will no longer release in June this year. It has now been postponed by three months and will release in theatres on September 7. As several reports about the film being delayed made surfaced online, Shah Rukh and his wife and producer Gauri Khan confirmed the new release date on Instagram on Saturday. Also read: Jawan scene allegedly leaked online, Shah Rukh Khan fans are already calling it baap level ki movie New poster of Shah Rukh Khan's Jawan is out. Shah Rukh shared a new teaser of Jawan on Instagram Stories, showing him in a heavily bandaged avatar, jumping from a height with a spear-like weapon in his hand. He captioned it, #Jawan #7thSeptember2023. As fans are growing impatience about the film, many have shared their feelings in the comments section. A fan commented, Thoda dard hua par seh lenge .....thoda aur wait kar lenge (it pains but we will bear it and wait some more). Another said, Ab rukha nahi jaara (can't wait anymore). A fan also wrote, Go king. This is gonna be another hit. Soon after, Shah Rukh conducted an Ask Me Anything session on Twitter in which he said, Takes time and patience to make something worthy for audiences. Jawan will release worldwide in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Nayanthara plays the female lead in the film directed by Atlee. Sunil Grover, Priyamani, Vijay Sethupathi, Sanya Malhotra and Riddhi Dogra also have pivotal roles in the film. Shah Rukh's Pathaan co-star Deepika Padukone, Vijay, Sanjay Dutt and Allu Arjun are also said to have guest appearances in the film. A few days before, some pictures of Shah Rukh and Deepika on the film sets had also appeared online. In November last year, allegations were made against the film that it was a copy of the story of the Tamil film Perarasu. Film producer Manickam Narayanan filed a complaint with the Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) accusing the makers of Jawan of plagiarism. Vijayakanth played a dual role as Perarasu and Ilavarasu, twin brothers, in Perarasu. As per some reports, Shah Rukh Khan also has dual roles in Jawaan. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Kangana Ranaut recently talked about not getting proper modelling assignments in Delhi due to her height. She said she was still in her teens when she started modelling and was told that she was good for nothing. She revealed she came to Mumbai for a saree catalogue shoot and refused to go back to her agency in Delhi. She even tore her return ticket to stay back. Also read: Kangana Ranaut doesn't want compensation for demolition of her Mumbai home Kangana Ranaut made her Bollywood debut with Gangster. Kangana had left her home in Himachal Pradesh at a young age to follow her dreams. She struggled and picked up modelling to sustain herself in Delhi until she made her debut with the 2006 film Gangster, after three years. During a recent interview, Kangana was asked if shes ever been to Mumbai before landing in the city to become an actor. She denied it and said in Hindi, When I left home in Himachal I was 12-13 years old. I was studying in a hostel in Chandigarh. Later I came to Delhi and stayed for one to two years. In 2004, I came to Mumbai for a modelling assignment and then I threw away the phone my agency gave me. When they called me back (to Delhi) I even tore my ticket. I told them that I don't want to go back. Mujhe woh kaam karna hi nahi hai kyunki mujhe woh humesha modelling me nicha dikhate rehte they (I didn't want to work there because I was constantly humiliated). Kyuki unko lagta tha ki Delhi me ramp model zyada hote hai. Uske liye 5'11 to 6 ft ki height chhaiye hoti hai ladkiyo ko. Aur meri 5'7 ki height hai. Mai sara din baithi rehti thi. Mujhe kehte they aaj bhi kaam nhi mila tumhe, tumhara kuch nahi hone wala modelling me (To become a model in Delhi one needed to be 5'11-6 ft tall, but I was 5'7. I used to remain seated throughout the day and was told that I am good for nothing) Then, I started getting catalogue (shoots) and ads where I had to stand behind others. I came to Mumbai for a catalogue shoot of saree. But, it's okay, it used to help me with my expenses at that time, Kangana added. The actor said she stayed back in Mumbai after the shoot and started auditioning for roles. Her first film was Anurag Basu's Gangstar, with Emraan Hashmi and Shiney Ahuja. Currently, she is one of the most popular actors of the industry. Kangana was last seen in Dhakaad. She has Emergency, Tejas, Chandramukhi 2, Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda and The Incarnation: Sita and in pipeline. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan stepped out for a dinner date in Mumbai. Upon reaching the venue, Kareena came across a fan on the streets who wanted to touch her hands. While the actor politely declined the request, she smiled and made sure to greet her. Also read: Kareena Kapoor turns photographer for Saif Ali Khan at home Kareena Kapoor maintains smile as a fan wanted to touch her. (Photo: Viral Bhayani/ Varinder Chawla)((Photo: Viral Bhayani/ Varinder Chawla)) In a paparazzi video shared on Instagram, Kareena and Saif are seen arriving for their date night in their car. While Saif kept it casual in a grey t-shirt, Kareena stepped out in a yellow top with black pants. After she got down from the vehicle, her security guided her as a fan approached her. While Kareena greeted the media and others at the location with folded hands, she seemed rather uncomfortable when a fan walked to her and requested, Ek baar hath lagane do (let me touch your hands). While the fan kept repeating it after the actor's security denied her, Kareena waved at her before entering the venue. She also looked back for a brief moment to check on the fan. Soon after the video surfaced online, it left some taking Kareena's side, while a few objected to her behaviour. One social media user wrote in the comment section, Koi bhi normal bhi hota to haath nhi milata...cz aajkal logo ka kuch bharosa nhi kya karde...its not her fault...its normal (this is normal for everyone, not just celebrity). Now start commenting she is the bad guy , but she looked back if lady got no harm, pointed out another. Kareena was last seen in Laal Singh Chaddha, which fetched her to the Filmfare nominations for Best Actress in a leading role category. She recently started filming for her next film, The Crew. It also has Kriti Sanon, Diljit Dosanjh, and Tabu. It is directed by Rajesh Krishnan. Besides this, Kareena also has Sujoy Ghosh's upcoming film, based on the book The Devotion Of Suspect X, and Hansal Mehta's next untitled film. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Vidyut Jammwal, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming movie IB71, spoke about the ongoing wrestlers' protest in Delhi. During a media interaction on Friday, the actor said that even though people were hearing the wrestlers concerns, nobody was doing anything about it. Also read: Gauahar Khan tweets video of wrestler Vinesh Phogat crying Vidyut Jammwal during the promotion of his upcoming movie IB71. (PTI) Some of India's top wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, have been on a public protest over alleged sexual harassment by Wrestling Federation India chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh. Recently, a scuffle broke out between the protesting wrestlers and Delhi Police at Jantar Mantar in the national capital. Following this, many celebs including Gauahar Khan and Swara Bhasker tweeted in support of the wrestlers and demanded justice for them. Now, Vidyut has also weighed in on the issue. Vidyut said in Hindi at a media interaction, This is an important question. They are our athletes and troubled, but first, they are the citizens of the country. They should be given the required help. I think the authorities are listening to them, but what next? What are they doing about their concerns? I am an athlete and I have a feeling if they would listen to them and things will change now. Theyll do whats right. On Wednesday, an argument between some wrestlers and policemen turned violent in which two wrestlers suffered injuries, as per reports. Vinesh Phogat also accused a Delhi Police personnel of using derogatory language against her. Recently, sharing a video of Vinesh and her fellow wrestlers from the protest site on Twitter, actor Gauahar Khan had urged people to 'listen to their plight'. She had tweeted, "If this doesnt break your heart, then you are probably a non-living thing. These athletes have brought India pride on international levels and they are being manhandled, sad!!!!! They are fighting for justice, please listen to their plight!" She added the hashtags 'Indian wrestlers' and 'pride' to her tweet. Last month, actors Swara Bhasker and Sonu Sood had also tweeted in support of wrestlers protesting against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment allegations. Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt also came out in support of the protesting wrestlers, and had slammed Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief PT Usha for criticising them. Vidyut is the latest celebrity to speak on the public protest. In his next, Vidyut plays an Indian Air Force officer, who plans to block the airspace to prevent an attack on India by Pakistan and China. IB71 is set to be released in theatres on May 12. The espionage thriller is directed by filmmaker Sankalp Reddy. The film also features Anupam Kher and Vishal Jethwa in prominent roles. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Lily-Rose and Jack Depp, the beloved children of Hollywood icon Johnny Depp, have taken different paths in their lives, but that hasn't stopped them from cherishing their close bond. Even though their father's highly publicized breakup with Vanessa Paradis and his subsequent marriage to Amber Heard caused a lot of controversy, the siblings have remained steadfast in their love for one another. Lily-Rose and Jack Depp, the beloved children of Hollywood icon Johnny Depp, have taken different paths in their lives, but that hasn't stopped them from cherishing their close bond.(Instagram/lilyrose_depp) Jack, who tends to keep his private life out of the public eye, has been spotted on numerous occasions supporting his sister at her modeling gigs and events. Despite his reticence, he's clearly there for his sibling whenever she needs him. Meanwhile, Lily-Rose has shared numerous heartwarming throwback photos of herself and her brother on social media, showcasing their unbreakable connection. Their physical appearance may be different, with Lily-Rose taking after her mother and Jack bearing a resemblance to his famous father, but both siblings have inherited their parents' talents. Johnny has praised Jack's drawing and musical skills, while Lily-Rose has gained recognition as a talented actress and model in her own right. Their parents have strived to give them a normal upbringing despite their fame. Vanessa Paradis kept them out of the spotlight as much as possible, and Johnny has showered them with extravagant gifts. However, they've never lost sight of the importance of family and the unbreakable bond between siblings. Through the ups and downs of their parents' relationships, Lily-Rose and Jack have always been there for each other. Their unwavering love and support for one another is a testament to the strength of their sibling bond. As they navigate their own paths in life, it's clear that family is always their top priority. Burleigh County has worked out an agreement with townships regarding state relief money following the near record-breaking snow season. The winter slammed Bismarck with 101.2 inches of snow, just 0.5 inches shy of a city record and more than double the city's average total snowfall of 50.5 inches. Many other jurisdictions around the state also saw near-record totals. The Legislatures response was Senate Bill 2183, which will provide $20 million in snow removal aid to cities, counties, townships and tribal governments. Townships are to submit costs through their respective counties, according to North Dakota Department of Emergency Services spokesman Eric Jensen. The aid is split into two pots -- $15 million for costs incurred from October through December, and $5 million for costs from October to April 30. Applicants must show they exceeded 150% of their average yearly snow removal cost, with their average based on their four lowest-cost years from 2017-21 in order to qualify for aid from one or both pots. Applicants can be reimbursed up to 60% of costs in excess of the 150% of their four-year average. Burleigh officials met with township officials in April to discuss the aid, since townships in the county did not qualify for aid due to agreements with the county. Townships pay a set annual fee to the county for township road maintenance that includes snow removal but also covers things such as grass cutting and sign maintenance. The fees goal is to recover 50% of the cost of service in a calendar year by averaging the expenses of the prior three years, according to County Engineer Marcus Hall. The county's budget year is January to December. Townships' costs would have swelled for the next three years due to 2022's extraordinary snow removal costs. The agreement between the county and townships will not increase township road maintenance fees for three years -- to allow the abnormal 2022 year to clear the three-year average -- and the county also will cover all of the township's dozing costs this past snow season. The county received so much snow that local contractors with dozers were hired to push snow from roadways into fields. The dozing costs are usually split halfway between townships and the county. The snow season spans parts of two years and doesn't align with the county budget year, but Hall said, "We always have some minor issues with the snow season being different then the budget season, but it generally works out in the wash." The deal was made to cut out the process where the county receives aid and distributes it to townships only for townships to return the money when they pay their maintenance fees. The county will keep all relief money it receives. This was a paperwork deal, County Commissioner Steve Schwab said. The commission on Monday unanimously approved the arrangement. Burleigh County is requesting nearly $1.9 million in state aid -- $462,676 from the first pot and roughly $1.4 million from the second pot. The city of Bismarck, which lies in Burleigh County, submitted its own application for nearly $900,000 in aid from the first pot. The city has not yet calculated costs for the second pot, according to Public Works Director Steve Salwei. A total of 46 counties, 164 cities and one tribe applied for relief money, according to Jensen. Amounts to be reimbursed have not yet been calculated. Costs are calculated by totaling labor costs, equipment costs, rented equipment and operator costs, contractor services costs, pushback and hauling costs, and materials. Morton County applied for the first pot and intends to apply for the second. The county is waiting on the Department of Emergency Services to determine how much it will receive. The program opened on April 4 and the deadline to register for the program and submit documentation for the first phase was April 30. Documentation for the second phase is needed by May 31; payments will be made by June 30. The Bharatiya Janata Party leadership is maintaining a studied silence on the situation in Manipur and has declined to comment on whether the state government was blindsided by events that stoked violence in the northeastern state that left a trail of deaths and incidents of arson. All eyes are on how Manipur chief minister Biren Singh will combat the crisis. (ANI) Also read: Manipur death toll hits 55, humanitarian crisis festers Clashes broke out this week after the Manipur high court directed the state government to recommend the inclusion of the Meitei community in the list of scheduled tribes. Even as the union government has stepped in to control the violence, all eyes are on how chief minister Biren Singh will combat the crisis. Singh, who got a second term as chief minister after the party retained power in the assembly election held in 2022, is not new to controversies. His first term in office was marked by infighting among the state unit leaders and legislators, who on several occasions turned to the high command for resolution. In 2019, following serious differences between Singh and a section of leaders, the BJP central command backed Singh even as there appeared to be a split in the party. Public works minister Thongam Biswajit Singh, supported by some leaders, flew to the national capital demanding a change in leadership. The disagreement was put to unmet expectations of Biswajit Singh and a few others who were expecting a position in the state cabinet. Singh saved his position since the rival faction could not muster 30 legislators are required to stake claim. The chief minister came perilously close to being replaced a year later when in June 2021, there was another showdown between leaders after he divested his deputy, Joy Kumar Singh, of 11 portfolios and criticised him publicly. This led to nine members of the ruling coalition, which included four ministers, resigning. Of these nine legislators, three were BJP MLAs, four from the National Peoples Party, an ally, one independent and one from the Trinamool Congress. It was again left to the central leadership to step in and take control. Protracted dialogue between the state leaders, NPP party chief Conrad Sangma and the BJPs brass, including Union home minister Amit Shah and the then finance minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma. Most recently, the state was in the news after four legislators resigned for various reasons. Paonam Brojen Singh, MLA from Wangjing Tentha assembly constituency, resigned as chairman of the Manipur Development Society, while MLA from Khwairakpam, Raghumani Singh, stepped down as chairman of the Manipur Renewable Energy Development Agency. Both citied personal reasons for quitting. Thokchom Radheshyam Singh, who was an advisor to the chief minister, and Langthabal assembly constituency MLA, Karam Shyam, who stepped down as chairman of the Tourism Corporation of Manipur, resigned after complaining of not being given any responsibility. Also read: Over 1500 people move to Assam from violence-hit Manipur The chief minister is caught in a precarious situation, as the latest violence in the state has acquired a communal colour, said a party leader who spoke on condition of anonymity. The clashes have cast a shadow on BJPs outreach towards Christians, the leader said, blaming vested interests for stoking violence. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Saturday batted for the use of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the judiciary and appealed to judges to continue hybrid hearings, saying that this was not just meant for the Covid-19 pandemic period. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud addressed the two-day national conference on digitization, paperless court and e-initiative programme in Odishas Cuttack on Saturday. (ANI) Addressing the two-day national conference on digitization, paperless court and e-initiative programme in Odishas Cuttack, the CJI said he gets a lot of public interest litigations(PILs) from lawyers across India that hybrid hearings have been stopped and a parliamentary standing committee had found that so much of technology infrastructure set up in high courts was obsolete. I would appeal to the Chief Justices that please do not disband that infrastructure, and technology. It was not confined to the COVID 19 pandemic. It was for Covid and beyond, the CJI said. (A) parliamentary standing committee told us that in high courts, so much of technology infrastructure which has been set up is obsolete as it is not used... screens and other ICT is kept in a corner as a reminder that we once used technology. The committee said how will IT work, if so many high courts start discarding the infrastructure? Some high courts have disbanded video conference system but the infrastructure is in place. The question is not about the infrastructure but are we using it? he said. He further said that AI tools would be useful even as judges discretion would be necessary for sentencing. In one of my judgments which I was editing last night, I have said we cannot burden our lawyers due to our uneasiness with technology. The answer is simple: retrain ourselves, he said. We do not think we want to cede our discretion, which we exercise on sound judicial lines in terms of sentencing policy. At the same time, AI is replete with possibilities, and it is possible for the Supreme Court to have record of 10,000 or 15,000 pages? How do you expect a judge to digest documents of 15,000 pages, which comes with a statutory appeal, he said. The CJI said that the new version of Supreme Courts e-filing portal for crowd testing is in the final stage. We have aksed AoRs etc to come in groups who would be made aware of e-filing. The munshi and clerks are being trained and they cannot be left behind in the march of technology. The idea is to have mascots (representative members of the bar) who will do all e-filings, before we make it mandatory for all. Once e filing is there, there should be no physical filing, he said. While referring to the livestreaming of court proceedings, the CJI said that today most high courts are doing live streaming. There are clips on Youtube of a Patna high court judge asking an IAS officer why he was not appropriately dressed and a Gujarat HC judge asking a lawyer why she is not prepared with her case going around. Lot of funny stuff is going on on YouTube which we need to control, because this is serious stuff. What happens in the court is extremely serious stuff, said the CJI. The CJI said after launching the LGBTQ handbook, the SC would launch a legal glossary of gender-inappropriate terms. We have read lines like the victim was ravished by appellants or terms like concubine. Then terms like Negro arrested with cocaine. The glossary would not belittle our judiciary but in the times we are moving ahead, we pay more attention to language as much as to the substance, he said. Amid the row over Adah Sharma's The Kerala Story for its claims on the indoctrination of women in ISIS in Kerala, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made it an election issue in Karnataka. Addressing a rally in the poll-bound state on Friday, Himanta referred to the Congress manifesto of banning the Bajrang Dal if voted to power and said, "Does Bajrang Dal do any bomb blast? No. How will you ban Bajrang Dal? What is your friendship with the PFI that you are acting like their spokesperson?" Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma campaigned in Karnataka on Friday. (Pitamber Newar) "There is a new film The Kerala Story which reveals many things. When the BBC made a film on Modiji making false claims, the Congress was in favour of it. But today the same Congress wants a ban on The Kerala Story," Himanta said. The BBC documentary on Gujarat riots India: The Modi Question was at the centre of a controversy early this year after it was blocked from airing in India. "Congress can't give any guarantee as Rahul Gandhi has no guarantee," Himanta said. Earlier on Friday, PM Modi referred to The Kerala Story as he said in Karnataka: "Such a beautiful state of the country, where people are hardworking and talented. The Kerala Story film brings out terror conspiracies happening in that state. It is unfortunate that Congress can be seen standing with this terror trend that is seeking to ruin the country. Congress is even indulging in backdoor political bargaining with people having terror inclinations. People of Karnataka should be cautious about Congress." The Kerala Story released on Friday, sparking off a controversy as special screenings are being organised in many areas by BJP workers. Kerala Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan slammed the movie before its release and called it Sangh propaganda while the Congress too spoke against the movie for its "exaggeration". The Kerala high court on Friday refused to stay the release of the movie and said the trailer has nothing offensive. The disclaimer says that the film is a dramatised version of events, the high court noted. Row over teaser claim of '32,000 women' The teaser of the Sudipto Sen movie claims over 32,000 women from Kerala were recruited by the IS. Facing flak for the number, the producer has agreed to remove the teaser will be removed from social media. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Congress on Saturday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was planning to assassinate party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. Congress played an audio clip at a press briefing in Bengaluru, claiming that the BJP candidate from Chittapur Manikanta Rathod used abusive language for Kharge and could be heard talking about eliminating him and his family. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge addresses during a public meeting ahead of Karnataka assembly elections Gurumitkal in Yadgir district.(Congress Twitter) "Plotting to assassinate the president of Congress Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and his children is not something that anybody should brush aside," Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said. "And it's not an ordinary person. It is the blue-eyed boy, the Chittapur BJP candidate whose track record you know better than me, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Basavaraj Bommai." I know the prime minister will remain mute, and so will Karnataka police and the Election Commission of India. But people of Karnataka will not remain mute and will give a befitting reply. Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera was also present at the party briefing in Bengaluru. Congress later shared the audio clip on social media. HT couldn't independently verify the authenticity of the clip. Warning: Abusive language Rathod rejected the charges outright and said, It is all a lie. They are playing some fake audio. The Congress is leveling baseless allegations fearing defeat. Manikanta Rathod is contesting from the Chittapur constituency against Congress's Priyank Kharge, son of Mallikarjun Kharge. The controversial candidate, who is facing over 30 criminal cases, was earlier banished from Kalaburagi for a year. He was also arrested on November 13 last year for allegedly threatening Priyank Kharge with murder, and was later released on bail. In a media conference then, he had openly expressed his readiness to shoot down Priyank Kharge. "Intimidated by the all-round blessing of Kannadigas being showered on the Congress Party and facing a complete rout in the ensuing assembly elections, BJP and its leadership are now resorting to hatching a "murder plot" to kill AICC President, Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and the entire family. This is clear from the audio recording of BJP Candidate from Chittapur, Manikanta Rathod, who also happens to be the 'blue-eyed boy' of PM Narendra Modi and PM Basavaraj Bommai," read the Congress statement. Congress's allegations came just before PM Modi's mega roadshow in Bengaluru. (With PTI inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Congress leader Randeep Surjewala claimed on Saturday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been planning to assassinate the party's chief Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. At a press briefing in Bengaluru, Congress played an audio clip claiming that BJP candidate from Chittapur Manikanta Rathod had used abusive language for Kharge and was talking about killing him and his family. Charges against Manikanta Rathod include murder, smuggling drugs and narcotics, criminal intimidation and illegal possession of arms among other things. (Instagram/Manikanta Rathod) Plotting to assassinate the president of Congress Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and his children is not something that anybody should brush aside. And it's not an ordinary person. It is the blue-eyed boy, the Chittapur BJP candidate whose track record you know better than me, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, Surjewala said. Since the BJP announced Manikanta Rathod's candidature, he has been under fire from the opposition. Here, we take a look at who he is. Who is Manikanta Rathod? For the Karnataka Assembly Elections, BJP announced the name of Rathod from Chittapur. Before this, he had been banished from Kalaburagi for a year. Rathod, 48, has around 40 criminal cases registered against him in several districts of Karnataka including Kalaburagi. Charges against Rathod include murder, smuggling drugs and narcotics, criminal intimidation and illegal possession of arms among other things. Rathod has also been accused in several cases of illegally transporting rice for free public distribution. He has been convicted in three cases, for one of which he had been imprisoned for a year and asked to pay a 10,000 fine. He was last arrested in November last year for threatening Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge with murder. In a press conference, Rathod had expressed his readiness to shoot Priyank. However, he was later released on bail. Priyank is Congress party's candidate from Chittapur for the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections. In December last year, Rathod filed a case against Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyank Kharge with the Lokayukta saying that they had misappropriated government land and had used it for Karnataka Peoples Education Society, which had been founded by Mallikarjun Kharge. Due to criminal cases against him, Shivamogga Rural Police banished Rathod for a year last September. However, a court order stayed this decision. In fact, Rathod had to seek special permission in order to campaign in Chittapur. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Congress on Saturday hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Jagat Pratap Nadda for criticising India of the past, asking why such hatred towards the country. Addressing an election rally in poll-bound Karnataka's Kuppal district on Friday, Nadda said India was earlier known for corruption but now the country's identity has changed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rule. BJP president Jagat Pratap Nadda and Congress media department head Pawan Khera.(PTI) "How was India 9 years ago? Earlier, India was known for corruption. Earlier, India used to surrender and was indecisive. Now under PM Modi, G20 and SCO meetings are being held in India, Prime Ministers, ministers, and foreign ministers from all over the world are coming. PM Modi has created this identity of India", he said. Reacting to Nadda's remarks, Congress media department head Pawan Khera said, Why such hatred towards the country? There must be a reason that our elders had always kept you out of power, the wrote on Twitter. Shame on such an anti-national mentality. During his address, Nadda attacked the Congress's campaign around anti-corruption saying half of the party leaders are in jail while the other half are on bail and they are talking about corruption. "Rahul Gandhi is on bail, Sonia Gandhi is on bail and DK Shivakumar is on bail. Half on bail, half in jail and they talk about corruption", Nadda said. Nadda further said, You (Congress) withdrew cases against PFI, you demand a ban on Bajrang Dal, you are involved in corruption, and you put a break in development work. That's why remember this if you vote for Congress, then you are voting for PFI's return. Karnataka will go to polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The death toll after ethnic clashes in Manipur rose to at least 55 on Saturday but there was little clarity on the true scale of the damage and fatalities after the state convulsed through two days of violence, even as some parts began returning to normalcy while thousands of troops kept guard. Security personnel in Imphal on Saturday. (ANI) Also read: Manipur CM in focus after violence, arson rock state Newly appointed security advisor Kuldiep Singh told HT on Saturday that the number of fatalities confirmed to have been due to the violence is at 28, and more deaths are being verified. Officials in Manipur on Saturday said at least 51 bodies were at three hospitals across Imphal and Churachandpur and at least four deaths also took place on Friday night. State government officials in Imphal, who asked not to be named, said 12 bodies have been at the morgue at the Churachandpur district hospital, 26 are at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, and 13 more are at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences. People are reporting higher figures. We are verifying this. We are checking the circumstances of the other deaths and verifying if these are related to the violence or not. It is possible some deaths at hospital may not be related to violence, Singh told HT over the phone. Since Wednesday, clashes took place between Meiteis, the dominant community in Imphal Valley with over 53% of the total state population, and the tribal communities, especially Kukis, residing in the hill districts. The immediate trigger for the violence was a proposal to include Meiteis in the scheduled tribe category. More than 16,000 people have been taken to shelters in military compounds in and around the state, where army and paramilitary forces were deployed on Thursday and all internet services, including broadband, shut down. Till Friday, 100 columns of army and Assam Rifles personnel had been deployed a column has roughly 70 personnel. Scores more people are also believed to have fled their homes and taken shelter in neighbouring states. The displacement of the 16,000 people, a figure unnamed officials quoted to ANI, has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis. We are helping residents with food and their security. Not only the CRPF but other paramilitary forces too are housing the residents at their camps, said a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer, asking not to be named. Singh said that during the day, police and paramilitary forces recovered nearly 87 weapons surrendered by those who had stolen it from police stations during rioting. Different police units of Manipur are taking stock of the weapons stolen by the protesters. We urge people to surrender the weapons. Police have been directed to take strict action against the protesters, including those who do not surrender the weapons. Until evening, we arrested 10 people, he added. The officer also said that on Friday, there was one incident of violence in an area at the border of Kampoki district and Imphal East involving a mob but there were no casualties. Officials in Manipur police, who asked not to be named, said the protesters have stolen hundreds of weapons from police. Residents in Churachandpur, who spoke with HT, said four people, all Kukis, were killed on Friday night during an attempt by army personnel to evacuate a group of Meiteis to a safer location. A group of residents comprising mostly women reached the scene and started questioning why Meiteis are being taken to safer locations while many Kukis are trapped in Imphal. Things escalated after that, said a Kuki-politician based in Churachandpur, who asked not to be named. Singh said there were skirmishes in the same area and said three people were confirmed to have died. We received information about a skirmish with an Army column and Assam Rifles when they were controlling the situation there yesterday (Friday). The Army column had to open fire. We found three bodies this morning. The paramilitary forces are still present in 23 police station areas but the number of sensitive locations is decreasing. Flag marches are being conducted at those sensitive spots and police are involved in confidence building measures, he added. An order issued by the state government late on Saturday evening said that the curfew in Churachandpur will be partially relaxed between 7am and 10am on Sunday. Army officials refused to comment on the incident and maintained a report will be issued by the Union home ministry on the developments in Manipur. Separately, news agency PTI reported that five hill-based militants were killed and two India Reserve Battalion jawans were injured in two separate encounters in Churachandpur district on Friday night. On Saturday, there were no reports of any major violence from across the state, but the situation continued to remain tense. Residents in Churachandpur and Imphal said some essentials were available during early hours of the day, but it was difficult to get fuel and cash. Some residents also complained of a shortage of drinking water. There is no incident of arson or clashes since Thursday night in Churachandpur. But due to what happened in the past three days and with rumours spreading thick and fast almost everyone is edgy and theres a sense of panic. Most of us are still holed inside our houses and venturing out only when required, said a civil society leader from Churachandpur on condition of anonymity. In Imphal, chief minister N Biren Singh held a series of meetings, including an all-party meeting and groups like All Manipur Christian Association and Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity. During the all party meeting, it was resolved to appeal for peace in the state, and encourage all citizens to avoid any actions that could lead to further violence or instability. It was further resolved to form a peace committee in each constituency to ensure that peace initiatives are implemented at the grassroots level, Singh tweeted. People in the defence establishment said activities by cadres of Imphal Valley-based insurgent groups staying in camps in Myanmar may be detrimental to ongoing efforts to restore normalcy in Manipur and aerial surveillance as well as vigil along the Indo-Myanmar border was enhanced to prevent it. The issue is being addressed proactively by security forces who are leaving no stone unturned to thwart the nefarious designs, should it manifest, people in the defence ministry said, asking not to be named. Multiple rounds of aerial surveillance using Cheetah helicopters have already been conducted by army since Saturday morning in Manipur. Army and Assam Rifles are working in synergy to quell the present unrest in the state at the earliest, an army official said, asking not to be named. Also read: Over 1500 people move to Assam from violence-hit Manipur Meanwhile, the number of people that have escaped Manipur and fled to the border areas of Assam including Cachar grew to at least 1,500 on Saturday. Eight camps have been set up by the Assam government, and a peace committee has been set up. MLA from Jiribam Md Achab Uddin on Saturday visited the areas of Assam where Manipur residents have moved. People were afraid that violence from Churachandpur and surrounding areas may spread there. Our chief minister is in constant touch with us and we are trying to control the situation together. Rumours are creating problems but I can assure my people that they will be able to return home in next two days, he said. (With inputs Biswa Kalyan Purkayastha) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A Nigerian national was arrested from Delhi for allegedly duping a woman here of 81 lakh, Kerala police said on Saturday. He was arrested after 11 hours of questioning in connection with the money laundering probe. (HT File Photo) The Cyber Cell wing of the Kerala police have apprehended the 26-year-old man who had cheated the woman hailing from Changanassery after befriending her through Facebook. Police said the accused, using a fake name, befriended the woman in early 2021 and on August 15 of the same year, told her that a gift worth 30 crore has been sent to her as their Independence Day gift. Later, the woman received a call claiming to be from a diplomatic officer from Mumbai Customs and asked her to deposit 22,000 to a bank account as Customs Duty. Police said the woman was threatened to deposit more money in the following days and in July 2022, she approached the police with a complaint. The cyber cell traced the accused to Delhi and arrested him. Dr B. C. Roy, Premier of West Bengal who had submitted the resignation of his cabinet to the West Bengal Governor, Mr C. Rajagopalachari, on the invitation of the Governor formed a new Cabinet of 10 Ministers. The new Cabinet was sworn in at Government House this afternoon. HT This Day: May 7, 1948 -- West Bengal cabinet reconstituted This is Dr Roys second Ministry and the third West Bengal Cabinet since India became independent. Immediately after the swearing-in, at Government House, Dr Roy told waiting Pressmen that he had nothing to say on the occasion as all the Ministers who took the oath today were members of the outgoing Cabinet. We will go on working for the province as we have been doing in the past, he added. A communique issued from Government House, West Bengal, states: Dr B. C. Roy and his colleagues having tendered their resignation of their offices in the Council of Ministers, his Excellency the Governor accepted the same and called upon Dr B. C. Roy as Leader of the majority party in the legislature to accept the premiership and to advise as to the formation of a new Council of Ministers. Portfolios Dr B. C. Roy has accepted the invitation and his Excellency has appointed: Dr B. C. Roy to be Premier, Leader of the House and Minister in charge of Home (General Administration, Transport and Development) and Health and Local Self-government. Mr Nalini Ranjan Sarkar Finance, Commerce and Industries. Mr Kiran Sankar Roy-Home (Police and Jails). Mr Harendra Nath Chaudhuri - Education. Mr Profulla Chandra Sen-Civil Supplies. Mr Jadabendra Nath Panja - Agriculture, Veterinary, Forests and Fisheries. Mr Bimal Chandra Sinha-Works and Buildings, Irrigation and Waterways and Land and Land Revenue. Mr Ninkunja Behary Maity Cooperation, Credit, Relief and Rehabilitation. Mr Niharendu Datta Mazumdar - Minister for Judicial and Legislative. Mr Kalipada Mukherjee-Labour. Two of the Ministers, Mr Hem Chandra Naskar and Mr Mohini Mohan Barman (both Scheduled Castes) who were signatories to the requisition for the reconstitution of the ministry, have been excluded from the present Cabinet. Another Minister Mr Bhupati Majumdar, had resigned before the requisition was submitted. Mr Amar Krishna Ghosh, M.L.A has tendered resignation of his office as the Chief Whip of the West Bengal Government. Mr Ghosh was one of the signatories to the requisition for reconstitution of Dr Roys first Cabinet. A meeting of the Congress Assembly Party today unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing the Leader of the Party, Dr Roy, to select members of the Executive Committee and office-bearers of the Party including the Chief Whip and the Secretary. Dr Roy told the meeting that some more members who had previous signed the requisition asking for reconstitution of the Ministry under Mr Surendra Mohan Ghoshs leadership, had now expressed full confidence in him (Dr Roy) as the Leader of the Party and Premier. 46 members were present at the meeting. A day after budget carrier Go First, which has filed for bankruptcy, extended flight cancellations by another three days to May 12, the Travel Agents Association of India on Saturday said that its members couldnt refund passengers without the airline refunding them. Budget carrier Go First, which has filed for bankruptcy, extended flight cancellations by another three days to May 12. (AFP) Also read: Cash-strapped Go First cancels all flights till May 12, promises refunds This comes after Go First on Tuesday filed for insolvency and cancelled flight bookings from May 3 to 5, prompting the aviation regulator to issue a show cause notice. On Thursday, the airline declared that it would suspend the sale of tickets till May 15 and cancel flights till May 9. This was later extended to May 12. Hundreds of travel agents across the country have placed substantial deposits with your airline in a credit shell to be used for immediate and future bookings and which currently remain unutilized, the agents association said in a letter to the carrier. In addition, thousands of tickets need to be cancelled on account of the suspension of flights. A credit shell is a mechanism where the refund is not made in cash, but issued in a credit shell for the amount to be used in future bookings. Go First has been sending emails to the passengers who booked via travel agents to contact them for a refund, a travel agent said, declining to be named. Unless the airline gives actual credit, how is an agency expected to pay back the passengers? Is the agency expected to pay once to the airline (as credit) and again to the passenger? Also read: Govt will help 'unfortunate' Go First, says Scindia as cash-strapped airline cancels flights Passengers whose flights have been cancelled have already begun calling their agents and clamouring for refunds, the association said. The agents have already paid you for such tickets, and they cant refund the money until it is received from your airline. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON University of Jamestown alum Jim Unruh and his wife, Candy, have donated $15 million to the university. The school says it's the largest single donation in university history, as well as the largest single gift given to private education in North Dakota. Unruh graduated from Jamestown in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. He made his fortune in the business world, including being a longtime executive with Alerion Capital Group LLC. The donation goes toward the creation and naming of the university's new School of Character in Leadership, and will support the renovation of the Voorhees Chapel and a new building that will become the school's center for faith and life. Leadership is something we are all engaged in, and the pressure of leadership today is enormous, Unruh said. We cant be more supportive of trying to raise this program up, because the need is great. The success Ive had has a lot to do with the values that were reinforced here at UJ." University President Polly Peterson called Unruh "an incredible visionary for (the) University of Jamestown, challenging us to think boldly while never losing sight of the values upon which we were founded." The government is working on a plan to ensure maximum participation of women in next years Republic Day parade in line with the increased roles being assigned to them in the armed forces, paramilitary and police to advance their empowerment and break gender barriers, senior officials familiar with the matter said on Saturday. In a letter, the Centre has called for increased representation of women at the parade. (Sonu Mehta/HT PHOTO) Also read: Indian Army commissions 5 woman officers into Regiment of Artillery In March, the defence ministry wrote a letter (seen by HT) to the armed forces and other government ministries and departments involved in the parade, stating that the marching contingents, band and tableaux will have only women participants. The letter, however, has triggered surprise and confusion in military circles as so many women may not be available for the roles envisaged, and certain marching contingents can only have men. The drift of the letter is that steps should be taken to increase the representation of women in the parade, said one of the officials cited above, who asked not to be named. The armed forces have taken several measures for the first time this year to promote gender equality including assigning women to command roles, grooming them for future leadership roles, and allowing them to join the regiment of artillery. The Republic Day-2024 parade will reflect the growing contribution of women in the service of the nation. More women will take part in next years parade than ever before, said a second official, who also asked not to be named. The decision to ensure maximum participation of women was taken after a debrief meeting held days after this years Republic Day parade, said the first official. The meeting, held on February 7, was chaired by defence secretary Giridhar Aramane, and attended by senior representatives of the army, navy, air force, ministry of home affairs, ministry of housing and urban affairs, ministry of culture, ministry of education, Central Public Works Department, and the National Cadet Corps. Weeks after that meeting, the defence ministrys ceremonial wing issued a letter on March 1 to the armed forces and the other ministries and departments stressing on women playing a key role in the next parade. After the detailed deliberations, it has been decided that the Republic Day Parade, 2024 will be having only women participants in the contingents (marching and band), tableaux and other performances during the Parade at Kartavya Path, the letter stated. It asked all the participating ministries, departments and organisations to start preparations for this, and share the progress made with the defence ministry from time to time. Irrespective of what the letter states, the government will only do what is practical, said the first official. Its not possible to include women participants in all marching and band contingents, said another official. For instance, women have not been inducted in infantry, which has the maximum number of marching contingents at the parade. Officers lead the marching contingents which consist of personnel below officer rank (PBOR). The army has women in the PBOR cadre only in the Corps of Military Police, he said. To be sure, women officers have been taking part in the parade and leading marching contingents over the last few years, as part of the governments focus on Nari Shakti. Women in uniform are no longer on the fringes but are being assigned central roles on a par with their male counterparts across the three services they are flying fighter planes, serving on board warships, being inducted in the PBOR cadre, eligible for permanent commission, being assigned command roles, and undergoing training at the National Defence Academy. However, tanks and combat positions in the infantry are still no-go zones for women. Also read: Soon, a gender-neutral selection board in Indian Army In March, Colonel Geeta Rana, became the first woman army officer to assume the command of an independent unit in the sensitive Ladakh sector where India and China have been locked in a lingering border row for three years. In early January, the army for the first time deployed a woman officer, Captain Shiva Chouhan, at Siachen, the worlds highest and coldest battleground. It also army deployed its largest contingent of 27 women peacekeepers in Sudans disputed region of Abyei, where they are performing security-related tasks in a challenging mission as part of the United Nations Interim Security Force (UNISFA). On April 29, five lady cadets were commissioned into the regiment of artillery as lieutenants for the first time. A special court on Saturday gave bail to Arman Khatri, a student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay who was arrested for abetting a batch mates suicide on February 12. A special court gave bail to Arman Khatri, a student of the IIT Bombay who was arrested for abetting a batch mates suicide. (Agencies/Representative use) The court set up under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, asked Khatri not to make any inducement or threat to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him or her from disclosing the facts to the court or any police officer or tamper with the evidence. The court also restrained him from leaving Mumbai without permission. Khatri had to post a personal bond of 25,000 and one or more sureties of the same amount. Khatri said in his bail plea that the committee IIT-B established to probe the suicide did not find anything against him. Even Powai police, who investigated the death, ruled out foul play, he said, adding that he was falsely implicated in the case. In the last hearing, the special investigation team had told the court that the IIT-B committee did not conduct a proper inquiry as it only spoke to two of the victims friends over the phone to find out what had happened. Their statements were not recorded nor was any formal record of the inquiry maintained, it had said. The 18-year-old first-year chemical engineering student jumped from the seventh floor of his hostel on February 12. Some students and a security guard took him to the hospital on campus where doctors declared him brought dead. The next day, the victims family members allegedly told police they did not suspect foul play. However, on February 16, when a Powai police team went to their residence in Ahmedabad, the family said the deceased was a victim of caste discrimination. On February 24, the state government set up a three-member SIT headed by Lakhmi Gautam, joint commissioner of police, crime branch. The SIT, on March 3, found a purported suicide note in the victims room. Arman has killed me, the note is supposed to have said. Khatri was arrested on April 9 after police said their investigations revealed that the victim had made an adverse comment on his religion and Khatri allegedly threatened him with a paper cutter, saying that he would not spare him. The chemical engineering student thereafter died by suicide, investigators claimed. The Indian Army has grounded its fleet of the indigenous Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) for a comprehensive safety check after a helicopter crash-landed two days ago, killing a soldier and injuring the two pilots, an official familiar with the matter said on Saturday. An Indian Army ALH in eastern sector (HT Photo/Rahul Singh) The helicopter crash landed in Jammu and Kashmirs Kishtwar district on Thursday after the pilots reported a technical fault to the air traffic control. This is for the second time in less than two months that the army has grounded the ALH fleet. Also Read: Technician dies, pilot, co-pilot injured in army chopper crash at Kishtwar The three services grounded their entire fleets of the ALH in March for safety checks after an Indian Navy ALH ditched into the Arabian Sea on March 8 following unexplained loss of power. Ditching is a hazardous manoeuvre and refers to an aircraft making an emergency landing in water after the loss of control. The navy choppers are still grounded, while the Indian Air Force (IAF) is clearing its ALHs for flying in batches after the mandatory checks, said another official. The three services operate around 300 variants of the ALH, with the army accounting for the most - 96 ALHs and 75 armed versions called Rudra. The armed forces grounded their ALH fleets last year too after an army Rudra helicopter crashed in Arunachal Pradesh in October 2022, killing all five personnel on board. To be sure, it is not uncommon for an aircraft fleet to be grounded for inspection after an unexplained crash or incident. Temporary grounding of a fleet in such cases is absolutely in order and is essentially a precautionary move to ensure there is no recurrence, military aviation expert and former IAF vice chief Air Marshal KK Nohwar (retd) said after the March incident. Specialist teams of state-run aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which has designed and produced the helicopters, are involved in the ongoing safety checks, said officials. The helicopters have been riddled with problems including control rod failure (affecting power input to rotor blades) and hydraulics issues, the officials said. The Dhruv ALH is a twin-engine, multi-mission helicopter in the 5.5-tonne class. ALH operations have been hit in the past too - the helicopters were grounded in 2006 following tail rotor problems, and later again in 2014 after a fatal crash. Also Read: Heavy-lifter C-17 carries out remarkable rescue from Sudan: IAF The July 2014 crash, which left the choppers seven-man crew dead near Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, was one of the worst crashes involving the helicopter. It had logged only two hours of flying after being serviced at Bareilly. In another incident, former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh and eight others were injured after an ALH crashed in the Poonch sector in October 2019. The grounding of the ALH comes at a time when HAL is looking at tapping the export potential of the chopper. It is currently in talks with the Philippines for a possible order. In 2015, Ecuador unilaterally terminated a contract with HAL after four of the seven ALHs it had bought from the Indian firm were involved in crashes. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hit out at the Congress Saturday for a second time in less than 24 hours while campaigning for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in poll-bound Karnataka. Sarma accused the opposition party of trying to make the southern state a 'Popular Front of India (banned by the government last year over links to terror activities) valley' and aimed fresh barbs at Karnataka Congress leaders DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during a rally in Karnataka. (ANI) "DK Shivakumar is a family member of Tipu Sultan. If Congress will regain power, Karnataka will become a PFI valley," Sarma thundered at a rally in the state's Kodagu district. The Tipu Sultan reference was to a row in March when the BJP converted the 18th century ruler and his battle against the British into an election issue, casting him as a tyrant who terrorised the Hindu community of the time and forcefully converted thousands, pitching him against VD Savarkar and declaring that it was two chieftains from the influential Vokkalinga community who killed him and not a combined British-Maratha army. In a video shared by news agency ANI, Sarma claimed Assam had been attacked by the Mughals but the northeastern state repelled multiple attempts at invasion. Similarly, the people of Karnataka's Kodava (from Kodagu district) had defeated Tipu Sultan several times and 80,000 had sacrificed their lives, the Assam chief minister also claimed. "Now Siddaramaiah ji says he will celebrate Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary. Go to Pakistan, Bangladesh if you wish to celebrate his jayanti but you have no right to do that in India," he added. Apart from Sarma, several BJP leaders have made vicious claims using this poll plank, including Lok Sabha MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, who is the party's state boss. In February Kateel declared 'those who are ardent followers of Tipu should not remain alive on this fertile soil'. Earlier today Himanta Sarma also slammed the Congress over 'The Kerala Story' movie row. He demanded to know why the opposition party had supported the British Broadcasting Corporation's controversial documentary on Modi but criticised 'The Kerala Story'. Meanwhile, the Congress released its Karnataka manifesto Tuesday and likened right-wing group Bajrang Dal to the now-banned PFI, triggering yet another furious war with the BJP. This was followed by union home minister Amit Shah declaring said each vote for the BJP would protect Karnataka from the PFI. Karnataka votes for a new government on May 10 (Wednesday) with results due May 13 (Saturday). Congress comms-in-charge Jairam Ramesh ripped into prime minister Narendra Modi Saturday as the latter led a massive roadshow in Bengaluru in poll-bound Karnataka. The opposition leader labelled Modi 'the master of distortion' and his jab 'abuse' No. 92??' - a sarcastic reference to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's claims the prime minister is being 'targeted' by the Congress in a shrill and high-pitched battle for the control of the state. Ramesh also stopped short of accusing the prime minister of 'hate speech', declaring Modi's remarks at a rally scheduled for later today would only 'inflame prejudice and bigotry'. Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh addresses a press conference, at AICC HQ, in New Delhi. (ANI Photo/Sanjay Sharma) "The Master Of Distortion and Incitement (Abuse No. 92??) is arriving in Bengaluru today. We already know what he'll say to inflame prejudice & bigotry. He will of course stay absolutely silent on the real issues..." he tweeted before. The tweet highlighted four issues the Congress has flagged in the campaign so far - allegations Karnataka ministers and government officials command a 40 per cent 'commission' to grant projects, the price rise, unemployment and the poor condition of Bengaluru's infrastructure; the last is a perennial problem. LIVE UPDATES | PM Modi begins grand 26-km roadshow in Bengaluru "This time the despair is so high that his (Modi's) #40km40percent roadshow over 2 days is locking up an entire city, creating chaos and uncertainty for students writing crucial exams, and felling a number of trees" "Have you ever seen a PM this desperate?" Jairam Ramesh asked. The BJP and the Congress have grabbed most of the headlines in the run up to Wednesday's election, with insults and allegations thrown by both sides. This morning the Congress said it had audio evidence of a 'plot' to assassinate party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. "Plotting to assassinate the president of Congress Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and his children..." Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala tweeted with the audio clip. READ | 'Plotting to assassinate' Kharge: Congress' slams BJP's 'blue-eyed boy' The Congress has accused a BJP MP - Manikanta Rathod from the Chitapur constituency in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district - of orchestrating the plot. Hindustan Times cannot independently verify the authenticity of the audio clip. The BJP has yet to respond to the Congress' 'assassinate Kharge' claims. READ | Who is Manikanta Rathod, accused of conspiring to kill Kharge? The two sides also spat venom at each other over Kharge's comment about poisonous snakes and prime minister Modi; the Congress chief appeared to call Modi a snake in Kolar but later said he was referring to the BJP's ideology. Modi hit back claiming the Congress hates him because he is anti-corruption. READ | 'I am a snake, but': Modi responds to Kharge's jab in Karnataka's Kolar The BJP then launched its own 'poison' barb with a Karnataka BJP MLA Basanagouda Yatnal calling ex-Congress chief Sonia Gandhi vishe kanya. READ | 'Poisonous woman...': K'taka BJP MLA attacks Sonia Gandhi The exchange of insults prompted the Election Commission to 'warn' both sides against the use of 'inappropriate vocabulary and language'. Karnataka will vote for a new government in a single phase on May 10, with results due three days later. The election - and those in the key states of Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's Telangana - are seen as major tests of the BJP's bid next year to win a third consecutive Lok Sabha election. With input from agencies SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a last-minute campaign to better its electoral chances in Karnataka, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched protests against the Congress over its poll promise to ban the Bajrang Dal. In an interview with HT, state Congress chief DK Shivakumar said that the BJP is harping on the issue because it doesnt have any achievements to show on the development during its tenure. He further added the partys poll promises of providing free electricity, and stipends for unemployed youths and women among others are financially viable and that removing the corrupt practices of the BJP government would bring in more funds for development Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar. (ANI) Edited excerpts: Is there a sense that in the 2023 election, the Congress has momentum going in its favour.? When I took over as the party president, Operation Kamala had just taken place and in the byelection, we got only 2-3 seats. Then KPCC (Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee) president Dinesh Gundu Rao stepped down because that team couldnt manage the situation the party was in. So, Rahul Gandhi asked if I could do something to mobilise the cadre. We took out the Mekedatu Padayatra. Our party workers and people rallied behind us because we were doing it so that Bengaluru city may get power and drinking water. The campaign and momentum peaked with the Bharath Jodo yatra. And we were able to call out the BJP consistently over the corruption, which has put them on the back foot. But do you think the momentum you have created has been impacted by the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharges statement against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the controversy over the poll promise to ban the Bajrang Dal? The BJP is making this an issue because they have no work to show. The Prime Minister also is using emotions to campaign in the state, instead of talking about what development has been undertaken by his government. He should be talking about how many jobs were created by his party or how much land they irrigated, but they are creating a ruckus over these issues. Could you clarify your stand on the Bajrang Dal issue because some of your leaders are saying there wont be any ban? We have said that whoever disrupts the peace in society should be kept away. Thats all. Talking about the Bajrang Dal, they are responsible for coordinated attacks in the name of moral policing, they are involved in extortion and much more. In the past, the government has banned organisations that were deemed terror outfits. Are you telling that the Bajrang Dal is a terrorist organisation? I think there is an unnecessary amount of attention on this issue. It diverts attention from real issues that concern the voters of the state. Lets focus on the elections. Talking about issues, your party is relying heavily on the five poll promises you have made free rice, free electricity, unemployment stipend, stipend for women and free bus rides for women. Can a Congress government afford to fulfil them? Estimates suggest it would require more than 40,000 crores. First of all, the prices have skyrocketed, and the income of the common man has not increased if not gone down. It has become difficult for people to sustain. That is why we want to introduce these schemes; it is our responsibility to ease their burden and people will appreciate it. Now coming to the money part, our state budget is more than 3 lakh crores. In the current (financial) system we can provide 25,000 to 30,000 for these projects. Whatever schemes we have announced are feasible. Most importantly, when we put an end to the 40% commission system that the BJP is running now, under which project estimates are doubled to facilitate bribes, we can get more funds for these projects. What about your poll promise to increase the reservation in the state to 75%. There were concerns about whether the decision announced by the BJP government to increase the reservation cap to 56% would stand in court and your party is going way beyond that limit as well. How has Tamil Nadu done it then? We want to give a reservation that is proportionate to the population. What has the BJP done, they removed the 4% reservation and put them in the general category. Do you really think it is fair for Muslim students to compete against Brahmins for reservation in education? At the end of the day, it is important to give reservations as per the population and social justice needs of the communities. Since we are on the topic of reservation, will the Congress release the caste census data if it comes to power? When Congress comes to power, we will act on getting the data published. If the elections outcome calls for a hung government, will you be willing to join hands with Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) again? We are confident such a situation will not come this time. We will form the government on our own. Such a situation then presents the problem of Operation Kamala. You wait till (May) 13, you will see why there is no need for this question at all. Also, the BJP is misusing the official machinery already. You saw how votes were being deleted from the voter list. This shows their desperation and is a sign that we will win. The party is relying on you to get the Vokkaliga votes in the old Mysuru region. There have been talks of projecting you as a Vokkaliga chief minister as well. How successful have you been on this front? I am not just a Vokkaliga leader, I stand for all sections of society. May it be Lingayats, Vokkaligas or the backward classes I have support from all of them. Like the Congress party, even I am for everyone. I want to be a representative of all sections of society. But the JD(S) is consolidating its Vokkaligas vote bank They will get way fewer seats than they got last time. Do you think the Lingayat votes would shift from the BJP to the Congress? Since I have become the KPCC president there is a change in attitude in the party and in the Lingayat communitys outlook towards our party. They trust me, they love me, and they will stand by the Congress. Are you saying you consider yourself a mass leader with pan-state influence? I have fought my battles and come up the ranks. I have travelled across the state and built a rapport with the people. Im not some leader who dropped from the sky, I have worked my way up from the grassroots. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Designated terrorist and Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar alias Malik Sardar Singh was gunned down by two unidentified gunmen in Johar Town, Lahore in Pakistan this morning. He was killed while walking near his house in Sunflower Society in Johar Town around 6 am along with his gunman by two unidentified men on a motorcycle. The gunman was injured in the shootout and shifted to the hospital for treatment. ALSO READ: Why India banned 9 Khalistan-linked terrorists in 5 countries Despite denials by the Pakistan government, Panjwar stayed in Lahore while his wife and children relocated to Germany. Involved in drug and weapon smuggling through drones into Indian Punjab, Paramjit was born in Panjwar village near Taran Taran. He joined the KCF after being radicalized by his cousin Labh Singh in 1986, prior to which he was working in a Central Cooperative Bank in Sohal. Following the elimination of Labh Singh at the hands of Indian security forces, Panjwar took charge of KCF in the 1990s and crossed over to Pakistan. High on the list of most wanted terrorists sheltered by Pakistan, Panjwar kept the KCF alive by raising funds through cross-border weapons smuggling and heroin trafficking. Despite denials by the Pakistan government, Panjwar stayed in Lahore while his wife and children relocated to Germany. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Shot dead at Lahore in Pakistan by unknown assailants, Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Parmjit Singh Panjwar was among the few militant leaders who formed the backbone of militancy in Punjab during the 1990s. Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Parmjit Singh Panjwar was shot dead at Lahore in Pakistan by unknown assailants. (HT Photo) Also read: Khalistan Commando chief Paramjit Panjwar gunned down in Lahore It was a murder of another militant in Pakistan who was wanted in India. Three years ago, Khalistan Liberation Force leader Harmeet Singh, alias Happy PhD, was killed near Lahore. Born at Panjwar village in Tarn Taran district, known as a bastion of militants, Parmjit Singh Panjwar was 60 years old. The village is not far away from the India-Pakistan border. During militancy, Panjwar often used to visit Pakistan clandestinely. He worked in the Central Cooperative Bank before joining the militants. Former KCF chief Sukhdev Singh Sukha, alias General Labh Singh Panjwar, was also from the same village and has relations with his family. Labh Singh was the main source of inspiration for Panjwar to become an insurgent. In 1989, Panjwar was appointed as chief of the militant organization, which was called the army of Khalistan, which was declared on April 29, 1986, after the death of his predecessor Kanwarjit Singh Sultanwind. Besides taking part in many violent acts, Panjwar was the man behind the execution of main militant organizations joint plan to assassinate the then All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) general secretary Harminder Singh Sandhu in Amritsar amid differences between the militants and AISSF leaders, according to officials. As a representative of the KCF in the Sohan Singh-led Panthic committee, Panjwar played an important role in ensuring the boycott of 1992 assembly elections by Sikh militant and political groups, said Sarabjit Singh Ghuman, a Sikh writer and thinker. When circumstances no longer remained favourable for militancy in Punjab, he fled to Pakistan permanently and never returned. Panjwar was staying in Pakistan unofficially, according to the officials. Booked in several cases, he was one of the most wanted terrorists in India. The news of his assassination is shocking, of course. He has been lying low for many years. I knew him personally as we worked together under the umbrella of the Panthic committee during the peak days of militancy in the early 90s. Identity of his killers is a mystery, but surely they are enemies of the Sikh cause, said Kanwarpal Singh, a former militant who worked with Panjwar. In September last year, Panjwar lost his wife Paljit Kaur, who in Germany at the time of death, along with her sonsShahbaz Singh and Manveer Singh. The American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Dal Khalsa organized a function in the Golden Temple complex with cooperation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to pay tribute to his wife. She had to leave the country as she faced harassment and torture here, said Kanwarpal. About a month back, a special Central Bureau of Investigation court declared Jagdeep Singh, former assistant inspector general of Punjab police, a proclaimed offender in the case of an alleged disappearance of Panjwars mother in 1992. Read more: 'Amritpal Singh could be dangerous if', say Punjab Police sources: Report Mohinder Kaur, 75, disappeared after being allegedly abducted by the then station house officer of Chabhal police station Jagdeep Singh and the then deputy superintendent of police Ashok Kumar from her home in November 1992. Kumar has since died while Jagdeep, who was promoted, took retirement from the police department a year ago. Justice Ajit Singh Bains, former judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court and a human rights defender, had filed a petition in the court, demanding an inquiry from a central agency in Kaurs disappearance. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday called on the Indian diaspora to continue countering baseless narratives against the country as its ambassador. Addressing a community reception in London, Dhankhar, who is in the UK on a two-day visit to attend the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey, highlighted the growth strides by India and its success story as a "democracy functioning at an unmatched level". Vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar (File Photo) "The moment of glory for India has come and that moment is being reflected by the ground reality. The world is recognising it," said Dhankhar. "Every one of you has to be a 24x7 ambassador of Bharat. India is now the hub of manufacturing activity for the globe. I would therefore appeal to all of you to contribute to the growth of the nation, for the rise in its reputation and ensure that untenable, ill-premised, unfounded, baseless narratives do not take strides in the public domain," he urged the gathering. "No one is against honest assessment or criticism, that will always help us attain our goals. But malicious, pernicious orchestration is antithetical to good conscience. We must antidote it," he added. The vice-president, who has been critical of the judiciary's alleged overreach, hailed its reach for the common man. From the apex court down the line, look around. The reach of the Indian judiciary for the common man has no parallel. Imagine how outstanding an achievement it is! he said. The Vice-President was accompanied by his wife Dr Sudesh Dhankhar at the interaction with community members, representing a range of Indian diaspora organisations at the reception organised by the Indian High Commission in London. Dhankhars will represent India at the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey and fly back to India soon after the ceremony at the conclusion of the short visit. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation. Warmest congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation. We are sure that the India-UK relationship will be strengthened further in the coming years. @RoyalFamily, the prime minister tweeted. Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave to the crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the coronation ceremony in London.(AP) King Charles III was crowned at London's Westminster Abbey in Britain's first coronation since 1952. The 74-year-old became the oldest sovereign to be crowned as the heir to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II. King Charles III coronation: LIVE coverage He was anointed with oil from the Mount of Olives in the Holy Land, a part of the ceremony so sacred it was concealed behind screens before being presented with the Sovereign's Orb and other regalia. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed the solid-gold St Edward's Crown on Charles head as a sacred and ancient symbol of the king's authority. Charles' wife Camilla who has now become the Queen after his coronation. After returning to the Buckingham Palace in the second horse-drawn parade, the royal family appeared on the balcony to applause and more chants of approbation from tens of thousands of well-wishers braving a spring downpour. It was only the second to be televised and the first in colour and streamed online. Charles pledged "I come not to be served but to serve" during the Anglican service, much of which would have been recognisable to the 39 other monarchs crowned at Westminster Abbey since William the Conqueror in 1066. (With agency inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON GENEVA (Reuters) - China has overtaken the United States in healthy life expectancy at birth for the first time, according to World Health Organization data. Chinese newborns can look forward to 68.7 years of healthy life ahead of them, compared with 68.5 years for American babies, the data - which relates to 2016 - showed. American newborns can still expect to live longer overall - 78.5 years compared to Chinas 76.4 - but the last 10 years of American lives are not expected to be healthy. The lost years of good health that are a factor in calculating healthy life expectancy at birth are lower for China, Japan, Korea and some other high income Asian countries than for high income Western countries, said WHO spokeswoman Alison Clements-Hunt. The United States was one of only five countries, along with Somalia, Afghanistan, Georgia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where healthy life expectancy at birth fell in 2016, according to a Reuters analysis of the WHO data, which was published without year-on-year comparisons in mid-May. The best outlook was for Singaporean babies, who can count on 76.2 years of health on average, followed by those in Japan, Spain and Switzerland. The United States came 40th in the global rankings, while China was 37th. In terms of overall life expectancy China is also catching up with the United States, which Reuters calculations suggest it is on course to overtake around 2027. Chinese life expectancy has increased substantially and is now higher than for some high-income countries, said Clements-Hunt. Meanwhile U.S. life expectancy is falling, having peaked at 79 years in 2014, the first such reversal for many years, Clements-Hunt said. That reflected increasing rates of drug overdose deaths, mainly from opioids, suicides, and some other major causes among younger middle-aged Americans, particularly in less affluent areas, she said. The worlds longest life expectancy is in Japan, at 84.2 years, meaning that babies born there in 2016 were the first to be able to look forward to seeing the next century. While the Indian Army has launched full-scale counter-terrorist operations in Kandi Forest in the Bhata Dhurian area of the Rajouri sector to avenge the killing of five of its troopers on Friday, the needle of suspicion for the attack is on Kotli (Occupied Kashmir) based module of Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) group. File photo of security forces in counter-terror operations . According to inputs available from Jammu and Kashmir and the South Block, there is a possibility of two groups of LeT terrorists in the Rajouri-Poonch sector with local support but this stands to positive confirmation. It is understood that one group comprising two-three Pakistanis along with three local terrorists were involved in the April 20 attack on an Army vehicle in theBhata-Dhurian area, killing five Indian Army troopers. Given the scale of the attack and ambush on the 9 Para commandos, the security agencies believe that there could be another group of five terrorists with two Pakistanis at core operating in the area. While there is no word from the Army, casualties are expected on the terrorist side too as Indian troopers have gone into full fire-fighting mode. According to security agencies, the Kandi forest terror attacks are being handled from across the LoC in Kotli in Occupied Kashmir by Lashkar commander Habibullah Malik alias Sajjid Jutt alias Sajjid Langda along with Reyaz Ahmed alias Qasim, a resident of Mahore Reasi in the Jammu region, and currently based in LeT headquarters in Muridke in Lahore, and Rafiq Nai alias Sultan, a resident of Mendhar in Poonch, who is currently residing in Pakistan. While Sajjid Jutt, a resident of Kasur in Punjab, Pakistan, is the operational commander of the LeT in Jammu and Kashmir, he is also instrumental in coordinating terrorist activities like recruitment, weapons, smuggling and terror financing in South Kashmir. Married to a Kashmiri, Jutt is also involved in the drone dropping of arms and ammunition in the Jammu region for terrorist cadre in Kashmir. He is the prime suspect behind the Rajouri attacks on the Indian security forces. The other prime suspect is Reyaz Ahmed, who has been spotted in the Mirpur-Kotli area of PoK. Involved in drone operations for the LeT in the Rajouri-Poonch area, Qasim also provides logistics to terrorists using his local networks. He was involved in facilitating terrorists who orchestrated the attack at Dhangri on January 1, 2023. Part of the Jutt terror module, Rafiq Nai aka Sultan has been involved in smuggling of drugs, weapons, and infiltration of terrorists for the LeT in Poonch-Rajouri sector. He along with Jutt handled the terrorists who attacked the Indian Army troopers in the same Bhata Dhurian forest area in 2021 as a result of which nine Indian soldiers were killed in the fire-fight. After losing 10 troopers in a fortnight, the Indian Army is not only taking the terrorists head-on but also reviewing their own counter-terror tactics so that they do not take any more casualties. Top Indian security officials along with Army commanders are on their way to Srinagar today to review the entire terror attack and intelligence available on the LeT terrorists in the Kandi Forest area. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Even with tension reportedly deescalating in Manipur, violence reached Delhi with a group of Kuki students residing in Delhi University North Campus area alleging that they were attacked by a group of Meiteis on Thursday night. Police said that the situation is now under control and action has been initiated and a few students have been detained in this connection. (File) The following day, on Friday, the students claimed they tried to register an FIR at the Maurice Nagar Police Station and when the police refused to file the complaint, the students staged a protest outside the police station. Police said that the situation is now under control and action has been initiated and a few students have been detained in this connection. The incident follows the violence that gripped the State in the immediate aftermath of inter-community clashes which erupted in a few districts of the northeastern State amid protests against the inclusion of the majority Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. Manipur Government had requisitioned Army and Assam Rifles on May 3 and 4. State's Director General of Police P Doungel has said that the situation the State has improved after the intervention of security forces. Forces including RAF, BSF, CRPF have been deployed in Manipur, he said and that the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Kuldiep Singh, has been appointed as the security advisor. The State government has also appointed Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence), Ashutosh Sinha as the overall operational commander to control the situation in Manipur, the State DGP said. "As a result of the proactive and timely response, Churachandpur, KPI, Moreh and Kakching are now under firm control with no major violence since last night", the Indian Army had said in a statement on May 5 evening. The Army said that situation in Manipur has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. "The situation has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. IAF undertook continuous sorties from two airfields in Assam employing C17 Globemaster and AN 32 aircraft," Indian Army had stated. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the situation in Manipur through a video conference meeting with state Chief Minister N Biren Singh and top officials in the state as well as the Centre. A total of 10 more companies (nearly 1,000 personnel) of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were also dispatched to the violence-hit state earlier in the day on Friday following orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Following the violence in Manipur, the Indian army and the Assam Rifles have evacuated more than 16,000 people. Incidents of vandalism and arson were reported from across Manipur.(ANI) A senior official of the Indian army told ANI that efforts are being continued to bring the overall situation under control. "So far, the Indian army and Assam Rifles have evacuated more than 16,000 people from different parts of the state. Flag marches are being held to control the situation," the army official said. Security forces are also engaging in regular patrolling activities. Aerial surveillance and enhanced vigil are in place along the India-Myanmar border in Manipur so as to thwart any attempts by insurgent groups. Speaking about the situation in the state, Kuldeep Singh, Security Advisor of Manipur state said, ...Army & Forces are addressing problems & Exec Magistrates, Sr officers of Police, Paramilitary & Assam Rifles trying to outreach in far-flung areas...84 arms surrendered till now & 10 people arrested today. Nearly 10,000 army, para-military and central police forces have been deployed in the state. Two violent incidents took place in Manipur's Churachandpur district on Friday night. In the Changpikot area of the Churachandpur district, a clash between two groups occurred on May 5 night. In another incident, a violent crowd of approximately 400 people surrounded security personnel at Lamka village. Violence first broke out in the Torbung area of Manipur's Churachandpur district during the Tribal Solidarity March. This march was organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) on Wednesday to protest against the Meiteis community's demand to acquire Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. (With inputs from agencies) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Lashkar's Sajjid Jutt module behind Rajouri terror attack While the Indian Army has launched full-scale counter-terrorist operations in Kandi Forest in the Bhata Dhurian area of the Rajouri sector to avenge the killing of five of its troopers on Friday, the needle of suspicion for the attack is on Kotli (Occupied Kashmir) based module of Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) group. Read more Security personnel near the site of the encounter with terrorists in Kandi area of Rajouri district.(HT_PRINT) Congress slams Nadda for India used to surrender remark: Why such hatred The Congress on Saturday hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Jagat Pratap Nadda for criticising India of the past, asking why such hatred towards the country. Read more From Mumbai Dabbawalas to Sonam Kapoor: Indians at King Charles' coronation The enthronement ceremony of King Charles III as the 40th monarch of Britain will be witnessed by guests from all the world including heads of states, foreign royals like Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco; King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, among other dignitaries and politicians. Read more Watch: Neeraj Chopra's World Lead 88.67m throw that helped him continue global domination at Doha Diamond League India's star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra made a winning start to the year, as he clinched the Doha Diamond League title on Saturday night. Watch here Queen Charlotte A Bridgerton Story review: India Amarteifio, Corey Mylchreest star in this royal romance that delivers Netflix's newest series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story reminds us that it is 'fiction inspired by fact' and that 'liberties taken by the author are quite intentional'. Read more Maternal mental health at work: Here's how women can achieve work-life balance during the postpartum period Pregnancy is life-altering but it can be overwhelming for many women as they will be unable to cope-up with the challenges that occur during pregnancy and the postpartum period thus, it is the need of the hour that the family members and organisations should support them and makes their life easy. As per studies, how an organization handles a mothers return to work can have a dramatic impact on her mental health. Read more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Over 1,500 residents of Manipurs Jiribam and surrounding areas have shifted to Assams Cachar district due to ongoing tensions in their state till Saturday evening, police said. People of violence-hit area of Manipur at a relief camp setup by the Assam government in Cachar district. (PTI) The migration started on Thursday night and around 1,100 persons shifted till Friday evening. 400 more shifted on Saturday and took shelter in eight camps made by the Assam government, according the Assam police. A peace committee has been formed in Assam and the committee will visit the disturbed areas in Manipur on May 8. Kamalakanta Singha from the committee said that they want peace to return in Manipur. Violent clashes broke out between tribals and people belonging to the majority Meitei community in Manipur on Wednesday, displacing thousands of people. We have representatives of each and every linguistic communities staying in Manipur and Assam. With discussions we can understand the issues and positive message can be given. Well visit some of the areas with permission from the authorities, singha told HT. MLA from Jiribam Md. Achab Uddin on Saturday visited the areas of Assam where Manipur residents have shifted. He said that they left their homes because of rumours mostly. I have visited the disturbed areas, there was not much violence. People were afraid that violence from Churachandpur and surrounding areas may spread there, he said. The Manipur MLA said that things are getting normal in the state. Indian army and other security forces are dealing the situation efficiently and the people who migrated, will be able to return home in few days. Our chief minister is in constant touch with us and we are trying to control the situation together. Rumours are creating problems but I can assure my people that they will be able to return home in next two day, he said. Superintendent of police of Cachar district Numal Mahatta on Saturday told HT that they have increased the number of shelter camps in Lakhipur. Around 1,500 residents of Manipur have crossed the border so far, we are talking care of them and adequate security arrangements have been provided, he said. There were rumours that Meitei groups in Assam will stage a protest against the government for sheltering Kuki migrants. Mahatta said, There is no protest here, we have discussed with the locals from all communities, they are happy with the governments decision. The Cachar district administration is providing food and medicine to the migrants from Manipur. Teams of doctors have been deployed to check the health condition of the migrants, especially the kids and elderly people. Member of Parliament from Silchar, Rajdeep Roy visited the shelter camps on Saturday and assured that the migrants are safe. He said that these people will be able to return to their district in a few days. Apart from eight shelter camps, a large number of migrants have taken shelter in the houses of local residents. Some of them are returning home as per polices reports Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that it is the people of Karnataka that are contesting the state elections on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party, as he blamed the Congress for impeding the development of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally in Haveri on Saturday. (PTI) Also read: BJP will retain power in Karnataka with thumping majority: PM Modi in Tumakuru In the last leg of campaigning for the May 10 elections, the PM held a 26-km-long roadshow in Bengaluru, and addressed two public rallies at Badami in Bagalkote district and Haveri. The roadshow began at Someshwara Sabha Bhavan, Konanakunte, in Bommanahalli assembly constituency around 10am and culminated at Kadu Malleshwara temple, in Malleswaram, at around 1.30pm, having traversed 13 assembly constituencies. What I saw in Bengaluru, I say with confidence that this election is neither Modi contesting, nor BJP leaders or our candidates, it is the election the people of Karnataka are fighting on behalf of the BJP. I see the total control of the election in the hands of people, the Prime Minister said at the rally in Bagalkote. This morning, I went to have a darshan (opportunity to see) of janata janardhan (public god) in Bengaluru, he said, adding that the never-seen-before love and affection is unparalleled. According to BJP functionaries, nearly one million people lined both sides of the road along the route of the PMs roadshow. Hundreds of thousands of people were waiting on either side of the road, even as BJP workers showered flowers on the PM. The PM also pitched for the BJPs double-engine government as he hit out at former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah. I have heard that Siddaramaiah is saying that whatever development has happened in the last 3.5 years was due to his governments efforts. His confessional statement is self-explanatory that if there is anyone who does the work then it is the double-engine government and does so without discrimination, the PM said. Siddaramaiah has left this place leaving you all. He has sensed which direction the wind is blowing. If he comes here by chance, ask him one question why people were deprived of basic infrastructure earlier, Modi said. Siddaramaiah won from the Badami constituency in Bagalkote district in the 2018 election, but this year, the Kuruba leader is contesting from Varuna in Mysore district. It is the BJP governments work which has benefitted the people of this region, Modi said. For the first time, the people of Bagalkote got three lakh tapped water connections. Over 25,000 people of Bagalkote got their own cement house. Ayushman Bharat scheme benefits reached the people of Bagalkote, Modi told the crowd. The Congress, the PM said, has a track record of 85% commission and the party can never work to serve the people. Modi said former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi had said that when one rupee rolls from Delhi, only 85 paise reaches the people. Whose claw was it that eats away 85 paise from one rupee? This was the Congress way of functioning. Due to the misdeeds of Congress, India lagged behind for so many decades, he said. The BJP used the trident of Aadhaar, mobile phone and Jan-Dhan account that their (Congress) old habits have been completely destroyed, he said. At his second rally of the day, in Haveli district, PM Modi said the people should visit the state to see if the Congress still has something left. The people of Congress who were trying to make their partys wave through lies in Karnataka, their lies are now lost in the BJP wave, he said. Congress appeasement, and talaabandi (ban) politics have been realised by each and every person. Congress means total corruption, 85 per cent commission, appeasement politics, bowing before the terrorists and working on a Divide and Rule formula. The OBC and Lingayat community are very sad and angry with the abuse by senior leaders of Congress, he said. He also hailed former CM BS Yediyuarappa and chief minister Basavaraj Bommai for filling the gaps left by the former Congress regime. Today Haveri is moving ahead to write a story of development. The Yediyurappa and Bommai-led double-engine government is filling the gaps in Congress tenure in all these years. It has brought new medical and engineering colleges and a new milk plant in Haveri. The BJP government is investing in road, rail and connectivity infrastructure. People of Haveri, Karnataka, and the whole country are benefitting from these works, PM Modi said. The BJP has often used the double-engine government pitch to highlight benefits of voting the party in at both the state and Centre. The Congress responded by calling PM Modi a master of distortion, and accused him of caring only for his grand tamasha. Read more: Amit Shah meets Shinde-Fadnavis twice during daylong Mumbai tour Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that ambulances were stuck on roads due to the chaos caused by the PMs roadshow and said that Modi should cancel the second part of the roadshow slated for Sunday. The Master Of Distortion and Incitement (Abuse No. 92??) is arriving in Bengaluru today. We already know what hell say to inflame prejudice and bigotry, Ramesh said on Twitter ahead of Modis roadshow. In a second tweet, after Modis roadshow ended, Ramesh said, Ambulances stuck, chaos on road! If the PM has any shame left or even an iota of concern for the people of Bengaluru, he would immediately cancel part 2 of the #40km40percent roadshow tomorrow. But we all know that all he cares for is his Grand Tamasha. President Droupadi Murmu on Friday visited the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha. The reserve is known for being the only natural habitat in the world that protects the rare melanistic tigers, commonly referred to as black tigers. President Murmu in Odisha's Similipal Tiger Reserve on Friday(source:Twitter/@rashtrapatibhvn) During her visit, President Murmu took a leisurely walk inside the tiger reserve, enjoying the serene environment and observing the wildlife, including deer and monkeys. A video from Rashtrapati Bhavan, shared by news agency ANI, showed President Murmu donning a half-coat and a hat over her formal saree attire, as she was dressed for a jungle safari. Murmu spent over two hours exploring the reserve forest that covers an area of about 2,750 square kilometers. Members of eco-tourism groups, mostly women from Jamuni, Barehipani, Gurguria, and Kumari, actively participated in the President's jungle safari. The visit was part of her three-day visit to her home state of Odisha, which started on Thursday. President Murmu also laid the foundation stones on Thursday for the Skill Training Hub and Community Center at Pahadpur. Later, she visited the Brahma Kumaris Center in Hatbadra, where she launched the 'Addiction Free Odisha' campaign. That evening, the President attended a civic reception hosted in her honor by the Rairangpur Municipality at Rairangpur Stadium. This was her first visit to Rairangpur in the Mayurbhanj district, which is also her birthplace, after assuming the highest constitutional post of the country. On Saturday, President Murmu attended the 12th convocation of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University at Baripada. The President made a heartwarming gesture while she was en route to the convocation as she met a group of school students on her way. She deboarded her car in the middle way and had a conversation with the children lined up on the streets. They also received chocolates from the President for which the children were delighted. (With inputs from agencies) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On Saturday, lights went off for 9 minutes during the 12th convocation of the Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University in Odisha's Baripada. Incidentally, the snag took place at a time when the convocation ceremony was being addressed by its chief guest, President Droupadi Murmu, who hails from the state. Mayurbhanj: President Droupadi Murmu speaks during the 12th convocation of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University, at Baripada in Mayurbhanj district, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (PTI Photo) The President, however continued her speech as the mic system was unaffected. The venue's air conditioning system, too, kept working normally. power is playing hide and seek, Murmu, who was speaking in her native tongue, Odia, was heard saying, even as the audience listened to her patiently despite nothing being visible. Murmu, India's second female head of state (after Pratibha Patil), was elected to the country's highest constitutional office in July last year, succeeding Ram Nath Kovind. Officials on power snag The snag lasted from 11:56 am to 12:05 pm. According to Bhaskar Sarkar, CEO, Tata Power Northern Odisha Power Distribution Limited (TPNODL), there was no distribution disruption in the hall, and the glitch was apparently due to certain defects in the electrical wiring. Meanwhile, expressing regret and apologising for the power cut, vice-chancellor SK Tripathy blamed himself for the unfortunate incident. We are ashamed, and will certainly launch a probe into the incident. Action will be taken against those found responsible. The state-owned Industrial Development Corporation Limited supplied the generator for the event. We will ask them what was the reason behind the glitch, said Tripathy. (With PTI inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, when asked to draw something on the current situation of Maharashtra politics, sketched a caricature of Ajit Pawar signalling that the nephew is the central character of the developments triggered by Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's resignation from the post of the party chief- which he rescinded on Friday. Raj Thackeray drew a caricature of Ajit Pawar at an event on Friday. Raj Thackeray, who is also a cartoonist, has not commented on the issue yet apart from the spontaneous cartoon that he drew as he inaugurated the Pune International Cartoon Festival. Read | With Ajit induction on hold, BJP prepares Plan B ahead of SC verdict On Tuesday, Sharad Pawar announced his resignation at the event where the second part of his autobiography was launched. He said his decision was to encourage young leadership at the helm of the party while he would continue to remain the mentor. The decision triggered protests from his party workers forcing the leadership to convince him to take his decision back. "Because of your love and respect, I am taking back my decision to step down as party chief. I can't disrespect your sentiments. Due to your love, I am respecting the demand that was made to me to withdraw my resignation and the resolution that was passed by senior NCP leaders. I withdraw my decision to step down as the national president of the Nationalist Congress Party," Sharad Pawar said. The decision triggered speculation about whether it was to smoothen or foil Ajit Pawar's rumoured ease with the BJP. When Raj Thackeray asked Ajit Pawar to pay attention to uncle Amid speculations that Ajit Pawar may break away and support the BJP, Raj Thackeray earlier said he should pay attention to his uncle. To this, Ajit said, "The way Raj Thackeray paid attention to his own uncle, I will also pay attention to my uncle." Raj Thackeray left his uncle Balasaheb's Shiv Sena in 2006 to start MNS. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Defence minister Rajnath Singh and Army chief General Manoj Pande will be visiting Jammu today to review the security situation amid the ongoing encounter between security forces and terrorists in Rajouris Kandi forest area, according to people familiar with the matter. Northern army commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi flew in this morning and reviewed the ongoing counter-terror operations Trinetra. Defence minister Rajnath Singh. Northern Command chief Lt Gen Dwivedi is reviewing the operational situation on the ongoing operations at Kandi in Rajouri where contact was re-established with militants, a defence spokesperson said. Lt Gen Dwivedi was briefed on all aspects of the operations by ground commanders, he added. Meanwhile, one terrorist has been killed and one likely injured in a fresh exchange of fire that erupted in the forest area of Kandi in the early hours of Saturday. The contact was established with the terrorists at around 1.15am, resulting in an exchange of fire when terrorists attempted to escape the cordon. At around 5am, the cordon was readjusted and the gunbattle continued, according to Army officials. Five soldiers lost their lives in a terror ambush in the Kandi forest area on Friday morning, but it wasnt immediately clear whether the attack was carried out by the same group of terrorists that ambushed an army truck and killed five soldiers on April 20. Four of the soldiers killed on Friday were commandos from the 9 Para (Special Forces) while the fifth was from a Rashtriya Rifles battalion, people aware of the matter told HT. The army identified them as Havildar Neelam Singh from Akhnoor, Naik Arvind Kumar from Palampur, Lance Naik Ruchin Singh Rawat from Gairsain in Uttarakhand, Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri from Darjeeling, and Paratrooper Pramod Negi from Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh. Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha paid tribute to the five Army personnel who lost their lives in an IED explosion triggered by terrorists during an encounter in Rajouri. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ordered by Leonardo Leo to "give" Ginni Thomas "another $25k," KellyAnne Conway is, of course, claiming this is just totally normal business as usual and there is nothing to see here. Conway then goes on to say things no one with 2 IQ points to rub together will trust, but MAGAs will accept as gospel. Talk about alternative facts. In addition to Ginni Thomas, whom Conway deems a very serious person, being very seriously suspected of participating in a plot to overthrow Democracy, her husband, Clarence's, complete failure to disclose that he has sold his soul to a billionaire has disappointed several members of Congress. While it is clear that Thomas is completely shady, the Chief Justice is dodging the idea of ethics reform as his wife's problematic business dealings are coming to light. The Hill: A day after six members of a family were killed in Lepa-Bhidosa village of Madhya Pradeshs Morena district, the bodies of the victims were cremated after high drama through the day on Saturday, with the relatives of the deceased seeking the arrest of the accused and alleging police inaction. (Representational image) Refusing to conduct the last rites of the deceased, relatives demanded that security arrangements be made for the family and sought eight arms licences. We demanded security for the remaining members of the family and eight arm licences. We also sought the demolition of houses of the accused and houses for us under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, a relative of the deceased, Parvat Singh, said. The bodies were cremated later in the day, amid heavy police presence in the village, after the state government promises houses, BPL cards, five arms licenses to those without a criminal background, and a financial aid of 5 lakh, said Ankit Asthana, Morena district collector. The cremation was done along the banks of Asan river after we assured the family members of fulfilling their demands, Morena superintendent of police Shailendra Chauhan said. On Friday, six people, including three women, were shot dead after they returned to the village after nearly a decade. The assailants, who blamed the victims family for the murder of their relatives over a piece of land in the past, were waiting for them, a woman who survived the attack alleged said. The deceased were identified as Gajendra Singh, Sanju, Satyaprakash, Les Kumari, Babli Tomar, and Madhu Kumari. Of the nine assailants, police arrested two, Rajjo and Dheer Singh, on Friday evening and booked them for murder under Section 302 of IPC. The police have also announced a reward of 10,000 on the arrest of the absconding accused, said WHO. The relatives of the victims, however, alleged that delay in police action. Alleging collusion between the accused and the police, Gajendra Singhs wife Kusuma said, Police personnel were not present at the police station due to a conspiracy. In a video of the incident, that has been widely shared on social media, family members of the victims can be seen pleading with police officers at the Sihonia police station to come to their aid. However, a constable could be heard saying they were waiting for additional forces. HT has seen the video. Refuting the allegations, inspector general of police Sushant Saxena said, We enquired into the matter and checked CCTV footages. The video of the incident was shot at 9.43am. The victims family reached the police station at around 9.46am and a police team was dispatched at 10.01am. Even, in the viral video, the vehicle was seen ready and constable was asking someone over phone to come fast. The police reached the at 10.14am and at 10.30, police left for hospital with injured in Dial 100. During interrogation, Dheer Singh said that it was not a planned attack, a police officer, seeking anonymity, said. Gajendra and his family members started fighting with the accused and they (the victim) can be seen with canes and attacking them the accused family in the viral video. Later, the accused came with two rifles, which were borrowed from a relative. Police also checked that the accused dont have any arms license but we are yet to verify whether the guns were licensed or illegal, the police officer said. A second officer pointed to the inadequacy of staff at the Sihonia police station. Sihonia police station covers the 26 villages and 56 tolas in the radius of 15 km. We only have a staff of 10 people, the second officer said requesting anonymity. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday declared The Kerala Story tax-free in the state, saying the film exposes the horrific face of love jihad, religious conversion, and terrorism. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. In a video address, Chouhan said, "The film shows how the (life of) daughters who get entangled in the trap of love jihad get destroyed. It also exposes the design of terrorism." While we have already brought a law against (forced) conversion, the film creates awareness about the issue. This film should be watched by all and that's why the Madhya Pradesh government is declaring the film tax-free, he added. The Kerala Story, starring Adah Sharma and written and directed by Sudipto Sen, hit the screens on May 5. The film triggered a massive controversy after it falsely claimed in its teaser that 32,000 missing women in Kerala converted to Islam and joined the terror outfit Islamic State. The Kerala High Court on Friday refused to stay the release of the controversial film saying the trailer does not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole. A bench of Justices N Nagaresh and Sophy Thomas also noted the submission made by the producers that they do not intend to retain an "offending teaser" which contained a statement that "32,000 women" from Kerala were converted and joined a terrorist organisation. "In view of the disclaimer also, we are not inclined to pass an interim order restraining the respondents from exhibiting the film as such. In view of the above and taking into consideration the statement made by the producer that the producer does not intend to retain the offending teaser in their social media handles, no further orders are necessary in this petition at this stage," the court said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON One terrorist was neutralised and another was likely injured in a fresh exchange of fire with security forces during the ongoing encounter in the Kandi forest area of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday morning. The contact was established with the terrorists at around 1.15am, resulting in an exchange of fire when terrorists attempted to escape the cordon. At around 5am, the cordon was readjusted and the gunbattle continued, according to Army officials. (Also Read | Rajnath Singh, Army chief to visit Jammu amid ongoing encounter in Rajouri) Two separate encounters are underway between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri and Baramulla on Saturday. (ANI Photo) (ANI) Defence spokesperson Lt Col Devender Anand said that the cordon, while closing in, spotted and pinned down the terrorists. In the ensuing gunbattle one terrorist has been neutralised and one terrorist is likely to be injured, he added. With an encounter between security forces and terrorists already underway in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri, a terrorist was killed in a separate encounter that broke out on Saturday in Baramulla. Kashmir Zone police said the encounter started at the Karhama Kunzer area of Baramulla. (Also Read | Lashkar's Sajjid Jutt module behind Rajouri terror attack) "We had received information from a reliable source about some suspicious movement in Karhama village under Kunzer police station limits. A cordon and search operation was launched by joint parties of Baramulla police, the Indian Army and CRPF. During the operation, the search parties were fired upon and in retaliatory firing one terrorist of LeT has been killed," SSP Baramulla, Amod Ashok Nagpure, told ANI. Our forces are alert in view of the G20 Summit and we are neutralising the threat & G20 Summit will be organised successfully, he added. Meanwhile, the counter-terror operation in the Kandi forest in Rajouri, in which five soldiers have been killed in action, is currently underway. The contact with terrorists was established at 1.15am on Saturday and the firing was exchanged, defence spokesperson Lt Col Devender Anand said. Five Indian soldiers were killed and an officer was wounded in a terror ambush in the Kandi forest area on Friday morning. "Three more soldiers who were injured earlier have unfortunately succumbed to their injuries. A total of five soldiers have lost their lives in the joint operation in Rajouri, J&K," said the officials. Four of the soldiers killed on Friday were commandos from the 9 Para (Special Forces) while the fifth was from a Rashtriya Rifles battalion, people aware of the matter told HT. The army identified them as Havildar Neelam Singh from Akhnoor, Naik Arvind Kumar from Palampur, Lance Naik Ruchin Singh Rawat from Gairsain in Uttarakhand, Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri from Darjeeling, and Paratrooper Pramod Negi from Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh. The soldiers were part of army squads trying to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the April 20 ambush. Indian Army is conducting relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in the Jammu region, an official release stated. "On specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Kandi Forest in the Rajouri Sector, a joint operation was launched on May 3, 2023. At about 7:30 am on May 5, 2023, a search team established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave. The area is thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs," the official release stated. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON SILCHAR/AIZAWL For the past two days, 43-year-old L Muangpu, a Kuki tribal resident of Manipurs Jiribam district, has remained cloistered indoors, increasingly afraid of the sounds of ethnic violence roiling the northeastern state creeping closer to his remote village. People evacuated from violence-affected areas take rest at a shelter arranged by Indian Army, on Thursday. (ANI) At 10pm on Thursday, the fear hit home. It took a few minutes to realise that we were being attacked. The mob was pelting stones, trying to burn our homes, and threatening us. They kept chanting, this is our final war, he said. By sunrise, Muangpu had made up his mind. In the afternoon, he fled the village of his ancestors, the only home he had ever known, and crossed over into Assams Cachar district. Muangpu is one of at least 1,100 residents of Manipurs Jiribam and surrounding regions who crossed state borders into neighbouring Assam, fleeing the violence that has besieged Manipur. Clashes first broke out on Wednesday after tribal Kuki groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the states reservation matrix, granting scheduled tribe (ST) status to the majority Meitei community. Violence quickly engulfed the state. On Friday, acknowledging the influx, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, Several families affected by the recent incidents in Manipur have sought refuge in Assam. I have requested the district administration of Cachar to take care of these families. Numal Mahatta, superintendent of police of Cachar, said that the migration into Assam began at around 11 pm on Thursday, and continued through Friday. Each of those who crossed over had a harrowing tale. Twenty-four-year-old Vahcy Khongsai, also from Jiribam, said that in her locality, Meitei and Kuki representatives held a peace meeting on Thursday and said both sides would protect the other. But when night fell, we realised that it was a fake agreement. They attempted to burn our homes. The men in our area risked their lives to protect us, she added. Khongsai said that army personnel did reach the spot but local residents chose to leave, apprehensive of violence spiraling once the troops left. We are safe till the army is there, but they cannot protect us all the time. At midnight on Thursday, we decided to walk towards the Assam border, and crossed the Jiri river with the children and elderly neighbours in tow, she added. Residents of Churachandpur, a district where Kukis are in the majority, said that Meitei localities faced large-scale organised attacks. On Wednesday, mobs burned down two villages. Over a thousand residents have been rescued by army personnel and they are now taking shelter in Moirang, said Yambem Laba, adviser to the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee in Manipur. Another Meitei community member, 43-year-old teacher Joykumar Heisnam, said they wanted to move from their residence in Mizoram to Manipur because they feared retaliatory attacks. We have taken shelter in Assam and will try to enter Manipur again, he added. A 29-year-old woman, who belongs to the Kuki tribe, had roots in Mizoram, but grew up in the Imphal Valley with her 65-year-old mother and 26-year-old brother. On Thursday morning, she saw a 300-people strong mob looting and burning their way up his street. It was at that moment, the family knew they had to abandon their home. We were able to grab only our important documents, she said. To escape the mob, the family first sought refuge in a neighbours home. There were 17 of us in that living room, and we locked the gate from outside and bolted all the doors. But the mob knew we were inside, and ordered us to come out of the door, and said they would torch the house with us in it if we didnt comply, she added. The helpless family then watched as the mob first looted seven homes in the area before burning them down to the ground. We called for the police to help up but they did not arrive, and we just stood there and watched, she added. Imphal airport was 10 minutes away and the woman booked flight tickets to get out of the state. But she suddenly found her phone snatched when she tried to take a video of the violence. I pleaded for them to return it because all my PNR numbers were on the phone. An old lady who was part of the mob gave it back, she said. But as she did, she told us never to return because we were all illegal immigrants from Myanmar. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday slammed the Congress over its manifesto on banning the Bajrang Dal along with Popular Front of India (PFI). Addressing a rally in poll-bound Karnataka's Chikmagluru, Adityanath accused the grand old party of making a mockery of Hindu faith by threatening to ban Bajrang Dal if elected to Karnataka. He said the Hindu community "will not tolerate and not accept it." Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath targeted Congress on 'proposing to ban' Bajrang Dal in Karnataka.(Ashok Dutta) "Those who don't like 'Ek Bharat, Sreshth Bharat' somewhere encourage anti-social and anti-national organisations like Popular Front of India (PFI) on the one hand, and want to ban organisations committed to patriotism and social service on the other," the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said. Adityanath said similar to Uttar Pradesh becoming a peaceful state, the double engine government in Karnataka attempted to break the backbone of PFI by outlawing it. The Centre in September last year had banned PFI and several other associated organisations for five years. "The PFI was encouraged when the Congress and the JD(S) were in power in Karnataka. But there is peace, unity, and security because of the BJP's double-engine government," Adityanath claimed. The Congress has come under fire since the release of its electoral manifesto for the Karnataka assembly election 2023, in which it spoke for a ban on organisations that promote hatred and enmity, such as the Bajrang Dal and the PFI. "We believe that law and the Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI, or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities," the Congress stated. "We will take decisive action as per law including imposing a ban on such organisations." However, the statement sparked a flurry of political responses from the BJP and right-wing groups, with prime minister Narendra Modi equating the Bajrang Dal's predicted ban with imprisoning Lord Hanuman and his followers. Since then, a number of Congress leaders have made efforts to lessen the blow. DK Shivakumar, the state party president, made temple tour and pledged to erect new Hanuman temples or restore those that already exist around the state. (With agency inputs) Across the main entrance of a former Jesuit college in the heart of Mexico City, a bright-colored mural depicting Our Lady of Guadalupe represents both the Indigenous religiosity and the Christianity that shaped the culture of post-colonial Mexico. The mural was created by Mexican artist Fermin Revueltas between 1922 and 1923, when the walls of Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso became the canvases for the countrys emerging muralist movement. Historian Jonatan Chavez ascends a flight of stairs past a mural by Jean Charlot titled, Massacre en el Templo Mayor, illustrating the 1521 massacre that the Spaniards led in the most sacred site of the Aztec empire, at the former Jesuit college Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)(AP) To honor the art of Revueltas, Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco, who among others led the artistic movement a century ago, the baroque building that currently serves as a museum hosts an exhibition that reflects on the significance of their monumental art. The exhibit, which is regularly updated, recently welcomed a contemporary mural created by Mexican craftsmen who were inspired by the old masters and will run through June 12. That mural, called La Muerte de las Culturas (The Death of Cultures), depicts how Mexicans of African descent struggled for freedom and equality, and how the communitys identity was forged from that. Jonatan Chavez, historian of San Ildefonso, said that muralism arose in a highly politicized context. Many of the wall paintings criticize political leaders, inequality or the Catholic Church because the young muralists were influenced by revolutionary nationalism and academic scholarship that transformed their ideas about the Indigenous population. Some artists expressed their social and political views by painting divine figures or religious references. A 1924 fresco that Jose Clemente Orozco titled La Alcancia (The Piggy Bank) shows two slender hands depositing coins into a box that is open at the bottom and drops the money into another hand that looks more powerful and represents the Catholic Church. For a few other muralists such as Revueltas and Fernando Leal the goal was to find new ways to portray what the military and spiritual conquest led by the Spaniards meant. San Ildefonso has that reminiscence where the religious is present because it is part of the cultural identity of the people, Chavez said. It is no coincidence that muralism was born in this place. Hundreds of years before 1923, when the earliest murals were finished, this was the place where the Jesuits led their educational work. The Jesuits arrived in the capital half a century after the Spanish conquest, in 1572, and a few years later they founded San Ildefonso, a school for seminarians and missionaries. Their objective was to educate the descendants of Spaniards the criollo who were born in the colony, Chavez said. Before they were expelled from the Spanish Empire in 1767, the Jesuits travelled extensively. According to Chavez, these priests visited remote towns and sought to understand the worldview of the criollo people, whose Indigenous spiritual practices intertwined with new Christian customs and beliefs. They went beyond these branches of spiritual identity or the diffusion of faith, Chavez said. This dynamic allowed the Jesuits to teach the criollo arts and crafts, but it also strengthened the concept of criollo identity throughout the territory, a theme that muralists portrayed in the 20th century. Alegoria de la Virgen de Guadalupe (Allegory of the Virgin of Guadalupe) is an example. In the mural created by Revueltas, the Catholic image of Virgin Mary is in the top center and her children men and women with different skin tones pray around her. The painting is not meant to inspire devotion, Chavez said, but to portray how Our Lady of Guadalupe unifies people of different races and origins. A few steps away, two murals are in dialogue with each other and share a common theme. On the right side of the main stairs of San Ildefonso, a piece by Jean Charlot illustrates the massacre that the Spaniards led in the most sacred site of the Aztec empire Templo Mayor in 1521. On the opposite wall, Leal portrays what came after the conquest and the imported Christianity of the Spanish: religious festivities where sacred and profane symbols blend. In a recent article published in a digital magazine from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, art historians Rita Eder and Renato Gonzalez explain that these murals praise the countrys ancient cultures while strongly rejecting the violence brought by the Spanish conquest. Artists like Charlot, the article says, identify the Conquest as the most significant process in the history of Mexico, and its characterization as a struggle between civilization and barbarism (the latter, of course, represented by the armored attackers). According to Chavez, these murals will never lose relevance because they are a way to understand how history triggers a constant redefinition of spaces. Our past is important because it speaks of our present, he said. These murals tell a lot about who we are and what we are made of. World Laughter Day 2023: When in worry, laugh it away this mantra helps in getting over stress and being happy, no matter what life throws at us. It is believed that when people laugh more, they live more, and live better. Laughter helps in having a more optimistic view towards life and getting back after being sad. Laughter has a psychological effect on the body, where it feels happier and fresher. Not just that, laughing more has a direct effect on the physical health as well. It helps in reducing discomfort and improving immunity of the body. World Laughter Day is celebrated to create awareness on the health benefits of laughter and staying happy. World Laughter Day 2023: Date, history, significance(Pexels) As we gear up to celebrate the special day, here are a few things to know about World Laughter Day: ALSO READ: April Fools Day 2023: Best pranks to pull on your friends, family Date: Every year, on the first Sunday of the month of May, World laughter Day is observed throughout the world. This year, World Laughter Day will be observed on May 7. History: Dr Madan Kataria, the founder of Laughter Yoga movement started World Laughter Day in 1988 to create awareness on the positive effects of a persons facial expressions on their health. The first World Laughter Day was observed in Mumbai on May 10. Every year, this day is celebrated to create awareness of the significance of laughter and the benefits of staying happy. Significance: World Laughter Day promotes world peace and the idea pf creating friendship and brotherhood through the act of laughter. Laughter helps in reducing Cortisol the stress hormone in the body, thereby initiating better health and emotions. It also helps in aiding weight loss and promoting face and core muscle workout. It creates bursts of energy in the body, thereby creating better positivity and an optimistic outlook. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Delhi's first 'Haunted Heritage Walk', organised by the city government's Tourism department, will start with a guided tour of Malcha Mahal on Saturday, officials said. Delhi's first 'Haunted Heritage Walk' to kick off from Malcha Mahal on May 6. (HT_PRINT) Located inside the Ridge forest near Chanakyapuri in the heart of the national capital, Malcha Mahal was built by Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq and used as a hunting lodge. "We are organising the Delhi Tourism Haunted Heritage Walk at Malcha Mahal on May 6. This will be the first in a series of many. A lot of people have shown interest in this kind of walk," a Tourism department official said. Among the other sites that the walk will cover include Bhooli Bhatiyari ka Mahal, Feroze Shah Kotla and the Tughlaqabad Fort. The Tourism department is identifying "haunted" sites in the national capital to conduct heritage walks, an official had earlier said and added that Bhooli Bhatiyari ka Mahal, Feroze Shah Kotla and the Tughlaqabad Fort have a mysterious history that intrigue people. A detailed plan on the "hidden and unexplored" historical places in the city is being prepared, he had added. The official had said, "We are studying new places. Permissions are also being sought from the departments concerned." According to another official, the Tourism department wants to promote the wonders of the city -- its heritage, art and craft, diverse cuisine and culture -- through these walks. "Heritage walks create a positive impact on tourism, enhance the brand value of the city and project its culture. A unique way of experiencing the heritage of any area is to walk through the route with the help of a good interpreter," the official had said. On the same day as foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) gathered for a key meeting in Goa, a fresh attack by Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists in Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri district cost India the lives of five soldiers. The simultaneity of these events was glaring because the core mandate of the SCO, where Pakistan is a full member, is to jointly counter terrorism, extremism and separatism, and to forge a regional security architecture free of radical forces. PREMIUM The gap between Pakistans words and deeds was so stark that Indias external affairs minister S Jaishankar had to call out Bhutto as the promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry, and remind SCO peers that taking our eyes off this menace would be detrimental to our security interests. (ANI) Keeping up the pretence of unified counter-terrorism cooperation under the SCOs aegis was Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto, who said: I and my country are firmly committed to be part of regional and global efforts for eradicating this menace and that the SCOs eight member countries should adopt a comprehensive and collective approach instead of engaging in diplomatic point scoring and geopolitical partisanship. The gap between Pakistans words and deeds was so stark that Indias external affairs minister S Jaishankar had to call out Bhutto as the promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry, and remind SCO peers that taking our eyes off this menace would be detrimental to our security interests. Jaishankar added that victims of terrorism have to defend themselves, call it out, deligitimise it and that is exactly what is happening. An unstated goal of Indias SCO presidency has been to isolate Pakistan by exposing its terrorist linkages and generating regional consensus and pressure against Islamabad to kick the jihadist habit. Indias diplomatic investment in the SCOs Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) has increased member-States awareness of the nefarious ecosystem. Indias emphasis that the SCO should fix accountability on those aiding or funding terrorism and its sharing of intelligence about broader regional threats emanating from Pakistan-based, United Nation (UN)-proscribed jihadi organisations, have garnered greater attention within the SCO. Still, as the string of attacks in Jammu and Kashmir demonstrate, the SCO has not grasped the nettle in tackling terrorism. The same geopolitical partisanship Pakistan is decrying has allowed Pakistan to get away with crimes. China, a founding member of the SCO, which lobbied hard to secure full membership for Pakistan remains a central protector of Pakistan on terrorism. Even though China has suffered multiple terrorist attacks against its citizens in Pakistan, Beijing has prioritised its all-weather friendship with Islamabad, whose strategic purpose is to keep India under check, over and above counter-terrorism goals. Close coordination between Beijing and Islamabad to thwart action at the UN against LeT and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) leaders is one manifestation of this pro-terrorism axis. The use of made in China ammunition and drones to enable Pakistani terrorists to plan attacks in India, and the maintenance of a massive and aggressive Chinese force posture along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, give Pakistan space to carry on its holy war. Keeping India tied down on two fronts has always been Chinas geopolitical goal. In this context, China has not been enthusiastic about cornering Pakistan over terrorism in the SCO. In Goa, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gangs call for the SCO to oppose the attempts of external forces to interfere in regional affairs overshadowed his routine lip service to continue to crack down hard and sternly combat all forms of terrorism. Chinas central aim is to use the SCO as a geopolitical instrument to steer its members, especially India, away from developing strategic ties with the United States and construct a Eurasian regional order that is firmly anti-western. In pursuit of this objective, China deems the terrorism shenanigans of Pakistan as tolerable. Given that one SCO member, Pakistan, is spawning jihadi violence while another SCO member, China, is giving it diplomatic and military cover, can one expect the SCO to deliver on its formal declarations and measures to root out terrorism? The global history of terrorism shows how it has metastasised in a context of geopolitical rivalries and divisions which override shared multilateral interests. Indian defence minister Rajnath Singhs blunt point that the SCO has to effectively deal with terrorism to become a more credible international organisation deserves reiteration here. India has done its utmost as the SCO president to bring home the truth, but the realities of world politics show this endeavours limits. Sreeram Chaulia is Dean, Jindal School of International Affairs The views expressed are personal Bard, Google's conversational AI-powered chatbot announced in February and launched in March, is now available for Google Workspace accounts as well, the tech giant has announced. Google announced Bard in February and launched it in March (Image courtesy: Google) Google Workspace admins can now enable Bard for their domains, allowing their users to access it using their Workspace accounts. You can now use Bard to help with work, research, or other business needs, when signed into your administrator-enabled Workspace account, it said in a blog post on Friday. In a separate blog post, also on Friday, the company explained how Workspace admins will be able to activate user access for Bard, stating that this can be done in the Admin console under Apps> Additional Google Services> Early Access Apps. At first, Bard will be the only service managed by the Early Access Apps control. Over time, we may be adding other services under this control, mentioned the separate post. What does this mean? When launched, the AI tool was available only for people with personal Google accounts. Now, however, it is accessible on Workspace too, and the control to enable or disable Bard will be activated in those countries too, where it is yet to be launched. Also, it must be note that Bard is separate from the AI-powered innovations Google says it is developing for Workspace. Google Workspace Released in October 2020, it stores all of Google productivity apps in one place. These include Gmail, Drive, Docs, Meet, and more. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tens of thousands of people will descend upon Nevada's Black Rock Desert this year between August 27 through September 4 for Burning Man. The theme this year is "ANIMALIA," which the Burning Man Journal describes this way: The Black Rock Desert can appear at first glance to be lifelessother than, of course, the silly humans who build a city there every summerbut this is far from the truth. Anyone familiar with the high desert knows that even out on a dry lakebed, the skies carry soaring ravens and buzzing insects, the fairy shrimp slumber below ground waiting for rain, and countless other species roam the transition zones where the playa edges into scrub and wetlands. But all that life pales in comparison to the endless menagerie of imagined animals we bring with us every time we come to Burning Man. The mythic beasts we carry with us in our mindsimagined or idealized, objects of fear or fancy, the animal spirits that populate our dreams and are so often brought to life on the playa: boars and horses and bears, wild geese and giant bison, snakes and squids and space whales, oh my! And, of course us humanimals, a species of ape noted for complex language, advanced tool use, and lording it over the rest of the biosphere like we're special. This year's Burning Man theme will celebrate the animal world and our place in itanimals real and imagined, mythic and rememberedand explore the curious mental constructs that allow us to believe that imagined animals are real, real animals are imagined, and that somehow, despite all evidence to the contrary, mankind is somehow not part of the animal kingdom. In 1997, Black Rock City named its first street, Esplanade," and in 2006 the practice of "creatively alphabetizing" the radial streets of BRC began. This year, inspired by the "Animalia" theme of Burning Man, the streets will have a cryptozoology theme. Burning Man Journal revealed this year's names: Afanc a lake monster from Welsh mythology that is variously described as a crocodile, demon or beaver hybrid. Any two of which would be scary. Bigfoot a legendary race of ape-men found (or not found) around the world, from the Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest to the Yeti of the Himalayas. Enkidu, from the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2100 BCE), arguably marks the beginning of this "wild man's" grand genealogy. Chupacabra the dreaded "goat sucker" of the folklore of the Americas, a meter-high reptilian monstrosity said to have greenish-gray skin, sharp spines running down its back, and a taste for goat meat. BRC has reportedly not been spared from this cryptid's attacks (seen here in the Black Rock Gazette from August 26, 2003). Dingbat a fearsome critter from the tales of lumberjacks of North America from the 19th and early 20th centuries, described as a large bat or bird-like creature, with a short feathered body, large wings, and short deer-like antlers on its head. It is also described as resembling "a very fast owl." Encantado pink-skinned Brazilian weredolphins (what?) that shape-shift into smartly dressed humans. In the guise of men they walk the countryside listening for the sound of beating drums to guide them to the nearest party, since they love to dance and make love to human women. Their dapper chapeaux cleverly conceal their singular un-transforming feature: the blowhole. (WHAT?!) Frogbat native to the Black Rock Desert and possibly a distant cousin to the dingbat, the frogbat is a large fire-breathing playaphibian with bat-like wings and explosive digestion. Not even the firing squad of a well-regulated militia has managed to put this fearsome critter down for good. Grootslang literally "big snake," a legendary cryptid that is reputed to dwell in a deep cave in the Richtersveld, South Africa. Hodag a folkloric animal of the North American state of Wisconsin, it has "the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end." Ipogogo not to be confused with the Ogopogo a lake monster reported to live in Lake Okanagan in British Columbia, Canada the Ipogogo is instead a lake monster rumored to dwell in Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. Jackalope or Lepus temperamentalus, is an animal of North American folklore, described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail. Not to be confused with its winged Bavarian cousin the wolpertinger. Kraken a colossal legendary sea monster said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland, with the unique cryptid category of "massive." Okay, that's it for this year. Feel free to discover, invent or embellish your own cryptid legends for future denizens of Black Rock City. Because myths grow fast in the desert, but not without the seed of hearsay. And thanks in advance for not stealing the street signs, trash pandas. (At least not until Exodus, okay?) I've never been to Burning Man and will probably never goit's really not at all my scenebut I love cryptozoology, so I fully support these street names (and learned about a couple of new cryptids I'd never heard of before!). Russia's top investigative agency on Saturday said the suspect in a car bombing that injured a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist and killed his driver has admitted acting at the behest of Ukraine's special services. A view shows a damaged white Audi Q7 car lying overturned on a track next to a wood, after Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin was allegedly wounded in a bomb attack in a village in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia.(REUTERS) The blast that hit the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, was the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the conflict. It took place in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. Prilepin was hospitalized with broken bones, brusied lungs and other injuries; the regional governor said he had been put into a medical sleep, but did not elaborate. Russia's Investigative Committee said the suspect was a Ukrainian native and had admitted under questioning that he was working under orders from Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry in turn blamed not only Ukraine but the United States as well. Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with the Ukrainian authorities, but with their Western patrons, in the first place, the United States, who since the coup detat of February 2014 have painstakingly nurtured the anti-Russian neo-Nazi project in Ukraine, the ministry said, referring to the 2014 uprising in Kyiv that forced the Russia-friendly president to flee. In August 2022, a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as "Putin's brain. The authorities alleged that Ukraine was behind the blast. Last month, an explosion in a cafe in St. Petersburg killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. Officials once again blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies. Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Prilepin was traveling back to Moscow on Saturday from Ukraines partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and stopped in the Nizhny Novogorod region for a meal. Prilepin became a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, after Putin illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula. He was involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of Russian-backed separatists. Last year, he was sanctioned by the European Union for his support of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2020, he founded a political party, For the Truth, which Russian media reported was backed by the Kremlin. A year later, Prilepin's party merged with the nationalist A Just Russia party that has seats in the parliament. A co-chair of the newly formed party, Prilepin won a seat in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, in the 2021 election, but gave it up. Party leader Sergei Mironov called the incident on Saturday a terrorist act and blamed Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed Mironov's sentiment in a post on the messaging app Telegram, adding that responsibility also lay with the U.S. and NATO. Washington and NATO have nursed yet another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime, Zakharova wrote. Direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain. We're praying for Zakhar. The deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev put the blame on Nazi extremists" in a telegram he sent to Prilepin. Ukrainian officials haven't commented directly on the allegations. However, Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, in a tweet on Saturday, appeared to point the finger at the Kremlin, saying that "to prolong the agony of Putins clan and maintain the illusionary total control, the Russian repression machine picks up the pace and catches up with everyone, including supporters of the Ukraine war. The highly anticipated coronation of King Charles III was a grand affair that drew in a number of prominent figures. One of them was the First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, who made a bold statement with her choice of outfit. First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden and her grand daughter Finnegan Biden arriving at Westminster Abbey, central London, ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Picture date: Saturday May 6, 2023. (REUTERS) Jill arrived at Westminster Abbey wearing a stylish periwinkle blue jacket designed by Ralph Lauren, which was complemented by a knee-length pencil skirt of the same hue. She added a petite bow hat, matching gloves, and a pair of cream heels to complete her ensemble. But it was her use of color that truly made an impact. Jill and her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden, both wore outfits that featured blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. It was a visible display of support for the country, which has been facing ongoing aggression from Russia. Finnegan also looked stunning in her long, cream-yellow cape dress designed by Markarian. She wore a yellow floral hairband and carried a small vanity case-style bag to complete her look. The duo was seated next to Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, and the country's prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, during the ceremony. Prior to the coronation, Jill took to social media to share her message of support for Ukraine. She retweeted a post by Prince William and Kate Middleton showing a photo of herself, Kate, and Olena Zelenska from the Buckingham Palace reception held for world leaders and dignitaries. Her simple yet powerful statement read, "We stand with Ukraine." Jill's trip to the UK was on behalf of her husband, US President Joe Biden, who was not in attendance at the coronation. She spent the night before the event with Olena Zelenska at Buckingham Palace, where they explored issues related to veterans' affairs and education with Akshata Murty, the wife of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The first lady's support for Ukraine was an especially poignant moment during the coronation festivities. Her presence and fashion statement served as a symbol of solidarity with a country that has been facing great adversity. It was an uplifting moment that added to the already festive atmosphere of the ceremony. The Hong Kong government has decided to change the way local district councils are filled, it announced, slashing the number of democratically elected seats by 80 per cent and instituting a vetting system for candidates, Nikkei Asia reported. Candidates would also need to go through a thorough vetting process to weed out those who oppose the Hong Kong or Chinese governments in addition to being nominated by local committees. (File) The decision is yet another major setback for the city's pro-democracy movement, which has been under pressure since Beijing's enactment of a national security law in 2020. The proposal reduces the number of seats that are directly elected from 452 to 88. The chief executive, who serves as the leader of the Hong Kong administration, and local committees with ties to the government would appoint the majority of the seats, according to Nikkei Asia. Candidates would also need to go through a thorough vetting process to weed out those who oppose the Hong Kong or Chinese governments in addition to being nominated by local committees. There are 18 district councils in Hong Kong, and up until this year, most of the members were chosen democratically. They serve as discussion forums for neighbourhood issues and a means of capturing voter sentiment during elections. The upcoming elections, which will take place in November or December, are intended to mark the start of the new system, as per Nikkei Asia. Chief Executive John Lee stressed the necessity for stable administration at a news conference by alleging that violent Hong Kong pro-independence activists have previously infiltrated councils. In 2019, when anti-government protests were at their height, the pro-democracy movement swept to an overwhelming victory, winning more than 80 per cent of district council seats. Since then, new laws have been passed forcing politicians to swear allegiance to the Hong Kong government; any who do not will be compelled to resign or have their positions removed. According to local media, over two-thirds of the 380 individuals who were elected in 2019 are no longer in their positions, Nikkei Asia reported. Iran executed an Iranian-Swedish dual national Saturday accused of masterminding a 2018 attack on a military parade that killed at least 25 people, one of several enemies of Tehran seized abroad in recent years amid tensions with the West. Cha'ab's execution comes as a Swedish court last year sentenced an Iranian to life in prison over his part in the 1988 mass executions in Iran at the end of its war with Iraq. (File) Farajollah Chaab, also known as Habib Asyoud, had been a leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, an Arab separatist movement that has conducted oil pipeline bombings and other attacks in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province. That group had claimed the 2018 attack in its immediate aftermath. Cha'ab's execution comes as a Swedish court last year sentenced an Iranian to life in prison over his part in the 1988 mass executions in Iran at the end of its war with Iraq. Tehran, which has used prisoners as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West, reacted angrily to that sentence. Meanwhile, tensions also remain high between Iran and the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as well and at least one more prisoner with Western ties faces a possible execution. The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency confirmed Cha'ab's execution by hanging in a lengthy statement. It identified him as the leader of the militant group and alleged without providing evidence that he had ties to Swedish, Israelis and U.S. intelligence services. It accused his group of killing or wounding 450 people over the years, including multiple attacks on government offices and other sites. It also included state television interviews with Cha'ab, a feature of many Iranian trials that activists long have described as coerced confessions. It also for the first time clearly identified Iranian intelligence officers as being behind Cha'ab's abduction, saying that its unknown soldiers captured him in Turkey in November 2019. Iran has used similar ruses to capture its enemies abroad, including the exiled journalist Ruhollah Zam who was executed in 2020. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom condemned Cha'ab's execution. The death penalty is an inhumane and irrevocable punishment, and Sweden, together with the rest of the (European Union), condemns its use under all circumstances, he said in a statement. The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights separately condemned the execution, referring to Cha'ab's closed-door trial as grossly unfair. This is an example of the Islamic Republics state terrorism," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the group's director. We expect that the EU and Swedish government show adequate reaction to the murder of their citizen. Killing a hostage must not be tolerated. Tensions already had escalated between Iran and Sweden over the life imprisonment of Hamid Noury, an Iranian convicted of committing grave war crimes and murder during the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The end of the war saw mass executions of an estimated 5,000 Iranian prisoners, including those from an exiled opposition group and others. The 2018 attack in Iran targeted a military parade in Ahvaz in Khuzestan, the chaos captured live on state television. Militants disguised as soldiers opened fire, killing at least 25 people and wounding over 60 others in the deadliest attack to strike Iran in years. A spokesman for the separatist group claimed the assault shortly after in a televised interview. The Islamic State group also claimed the attack, though it offered factually incorrect details about the assault. In recent months, Iran has carried out other executions after the months of unrest over the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the country's morality police. In January, Iran executed a former high-ranking defense ministry official and dual Iranian-British national accused of spying. Also facing a possible execution is an Iranian-German national who lived in California, a man Iran describes as planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200 others, as well as other assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing. His family long has said he was captured by Iranian intelligence in Dubai. Iran is one of the worlds top executioners. Australia's Sydney Opera House will not light up its sails to mark the coronation of King Charles- considered head of state across the country. The decision is a cost saving measure, a spokesperson for the state government of New South Wales said as per news agency Reuters. This picture shows the Sydney Opera House with its lights switched off.(AFP) The role of the monarchy has been controversial in Australia as the country held a referendum in 1999 on becoming a republic. Then, 55% of voters opposed, although recent polls showed decreased level of supports for the monarchy. Many public buildings and monuments, including Parliament House in Canberra, will be illuminated in royal purple to mark the coronation. The Sydney Opera House was lit up in September to pay respect to Queen Elizabeth II following her death. "The New South Wales Government believe it has struck the right balance in terms of meeting community expectations on commemorating the occasion while being mindful of public expense," the government spokesperson said. This comes as Australian PM Anthony Albanese arrived in London for the coronation. "I want to see an Australian as Australia's head of state ... That doesn't mean that you can not have respect for the institution, which is the system of government that we have", he said. In addition to Australia, King Charles is the head of state in New Zealand and 12 other Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Camilla, King Charles III's wife, will officially become 'Queen' from 'Queen Consort' following the coronation ceremony where Charles will be crowned the King of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey in London. The solemn religious ceremony dates back almost a thousand years and the Westminster Abbey has been the site of every British coronation since that of William The Conqueror in 1066. King Charles Coronation: Camilla is seen.(AFP) Buckingham Palace tweeted on the eve of the coronation, using Queen Camilla- which means that Camilla's official title will be Queen after she will be anointed and crowned during the historic ceremony. The official invitation to the day, the order of service, the Church of Englands prayers and Royal Collection souvenirs all termed Camilla as the Queen or Queen Camilla. Although, the wife of a king automatically becomes a queen and only a change in legislation would have prevented Camilla from being so. Queen Camilla appeared officially for the first time on the coronation invitations as well. King Charles and Camilla's relationship has spanned over 50 years. Charles and Camilla first met in 1970 and married 18 years ago in a low-key ceremony. Their love story has been linked to marriage of Charles and his ex-wife Princess Diana owing to which it was not accepted by royal fans. In February 2005, Charles and Camilla announce their engagement. The couple got married in 2005. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prince William's wife Catherine on Saturday chose a floral headpiece instead of a tiara for the coronation of Charles III, in line with the "green" tone set for the coronation by the king. Britain's Prince William and Kate, the Princess of Wales arrive at Westminster Abbey ahead of the coronation of King Charles III. (AP) King Charles' coronation live updates Charles, a long-time environmental advocate with a passion for nature, made his wishes clear when he sent out coronation invitations featuring the Green Man, an ancient figure from British folklore symbolising the arrival of spring and rebirth. The break with tradition was also in keeping with Charles's reported desire that the coronation be "meritocratic not aristocratic", which saw the aristocracy largely replaced with "community heroes" who had earned their place. At the last coronation in 1953, almost all senior royal women and female aristocrats wore tiaras featuring precious stones and pearls. Catherine, whose formal title is Princess of Wales, instead wore a silver Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen headpiece with three-dimensional leaf embroidery, Buckingham Palace said. Her dress, also by Alexander McQueen, was in ivory silk crepe with embroidery featuring rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs to signify the four nations of the United Kingdom. It was worn with a ceremonial cape. She also wore a set of pearl and diamond earrings that belonged to Prince William's late mother Princess Diana. Floral motifs Catherine's daughter Princess Charlotte, a granddaughter of King Charles, wore a headpiece that matched her mother's while her dress was also by Alexander McQueen and featured similar floral motifs. Queen Camilla meanwhile turned to British couturier Bruce Oldfield, a favourite of the king's former wife Diana, for her coronation dress. Her ivory silk dress with silver and gold embroidery featured "garlands of abstract wildflowers from fields and hedgerows: daisy chains, forget-me-nots, celandine and scarlet pimpernel", the palace said in a statement. Oldfield designed dozens of evening gowns -- several of them iconic -- for Diana before her death in a Paris car crash in 1997. Oldfield has since become one of Camilla's favourite fashion creators. He designed the elegant black evening gown Camilla wore on the royal couple's state visit to Germany in March. Prince Harry at coronation live updates Charles, a biodiversity enthusiast, had a four-acre (1.6-hectare) wildflower meadow at his former Highgrove home in Gloucestershire, western England. To mark his coronation, 200,000 packets of wildflower seeds have been sent to primary schools for children to scatter in their green spaces and encourage them to develop a love of nature. The enthronement ceremony of King Charles III as the 40th monarch of Britain will be witnessed by guests from all the world including heads of states, foreign royals like Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco; King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, among other dignitaries and politicians. Actor Sonam Kapoor is seen. (PTI) At this historical moment for Britain, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and actor Sonam Kapoor are among the Indians set to be present at the Westminster Abbey for the royal spectacle which was last witnessed 70 years ago when the Queen Elizabeth was crowned. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar is officially representing India along with his wife Sudesh Dhankhar. Actor Sonam Kapoor will deliver a spoken word performance to introduce the Commonwealth virtual choir at the coronation, Variety reported. Two dabbawalas from Mumbai are also represent their fraternity at the event, news agency ANI reported. For King Charles, they are carrying a Puneri turban and a shawl made by the Warkari community as a gift. The dabbawalas were also invited to King Charles' wedding with Camilla. Several Indian community worker who have been associated with King Charles' charity initiatives are also invited to the ceremony. Sourabh Phadke, a 37-year-old Pune-born architect who graduated from Charles' foundation's Building Craft Programme and the Prince's Foundation School of Traditional Arts, too has been invited to the ceremony, PTI reported. Gulfsha, who was awarded the Prince's Trust Global Award last year, is also on the guest list as is Indian-origin Jay Patel from Canada. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON US President Joe Biden congratulated King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation on Saturday, paying tribute to the "enduring friendship between the US and the UK" President Joe Biden speaks during an event.(AP) LIVE Updates: King, queen begin coronation procession in gold state coach In a tweet, Biden called the countries' relationship "a source of strength for both our peoples," adding that he was proud First Lady Jill Biden was representing the United States for this historic occasion. The coronation of King Charles comes with a whole set of rules that he must follow as Britains monarch. King Charles is set to be crowned at Westminster Abbey alongside his wife, Queen Consort Camilla. The service will be attended by some 2,000 guests invited- a stark departure from the coronation of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, which was attended by 8,000 guests. Britain's King Charles III (R) and Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort wave as they greet the crowd.(AFP) While much has changed in 70 years since Queen Elizabeth was crowned, some royal protocol has stayed the same. Here are some rules King Charles must abide by now: Wait a year, please Coronation of a new monarch must take place after an appropriate time has passed following the death of the former monarch. Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne in February 1952 after the death of her father but she wasnt crowned until June 1953. No need for politics King Charles has to remain politically neutral but he is allowed to raise awareness towards issues. What autograph? What selfie? King Charles is banned from signing autographs to avoid the risk of his signature being forged. It is not against royal protocol to take selfies with royal fans, but the late Queen reportedly frowned upon it. Gifts galore King Charles must accept all gifts that are given to him during public appearances or on official tours. The Royal Familys official states, The fundamental principle governing the acceptance of gifts by Members of The Royal Family is that no gifts, including hospitality or services, should be accepted which would, or might appear to, place the Member of The Royal Family under any obligation to the donor. Strangers with food not welcome King Charles is not permitted to accept food or drink from strangers out of fear of getting sick or poisoned. No trips with Prince William As per royal protocol, two immediate heirs to the throne must take separate flights while traveling. Carry that black outfit because It is protocol that King Charles must pack a black outfit while travelling, to ensure they have something appropriate to wear in case he her to attend a funeral. Driving license swag King Charles is the only person in the United Kingdom who can drive without a license. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Check out this super clever art that incorporates a tea infuser into the design. Each piece is terrific, but I think my favorite is the tea-infuser-as-fly-eye. The drawings are created by artist and dancer Kristian Mensa, who goes by "Mr. Kriss." His website describes his background and his work: Kristian Mensa, known by his artistic name Mr. Kriss, is a self-taught artist born in Prague with Ghanaian roots. Despite his young age, he has become a respected and world-renowned artist, both as a dancer and illustrator. As a dancer, he merges breakdance with other styles, showcasing flexibility, fluidity, and lightness. He has performed at events such as the Red Bull Dance Your Style 2019 in Paris, the Eurovision Song Contest, and the Sziget Festival, and has worked with artists like Kylie Minogue, Rita Ora, Yoann Burgeois, and Armand Amar. He has also danced for brands such as Zara and Louis Vuitton. As a visual artist, Kristian works with everyday objects, incorporating creativity and playfulness into his pieces. He has had solo exhibitions in several European cities and has worked for brands such as Heinz and WWF UK. Indian-origin British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shared a special message as the UK counts down to the coronation of King Charles III. Highlighting the central role to be played by all faiths in the religious ceremony, Rishi Sunak said, In the Abbey where monarchs have been crowned for almost a thousand years, representatives of every faith will play a central role for the first time. Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attends an informal meeting with Commonwealth leaders at Marlborough House in London.(AFP) The first-ever Hindu incumbent of 10 Downing Street will read from the biblical book of Colossians- following the recent tradition of UK prime ministers giving readings at State occasions. His wife will also be at the head of a procession of flag-bearers. "The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be a moment of extraordinary national pride. Together with friends from across the Commonwealth and beyond, we will celebrate the enduring nature of our great monarchy: its constancy, devotion to duty, and service to others. No other country could put on such a dazzling display the processions, the pageantry, the ceremonies, and street parties," Rishi Sunak said. Stressing that the coronation is a proud expression of UK's history, culture, and traditions, Rishi Sunak said, "A vivid demonstration of the modern character of our country. And a cherished ritual through which a new era is born And in a fitting tribute to the spirit of service that will define the Carolean Age, people across our country will help their communities with thousands of acts of kindness. So let's celebrate this weekend with pride in who we are and what we stand for. Let's look to the future with hope and optimism. And let's make new memories, so we can tell our grandchildren of the day we came together to sing: God Save The King, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prince Harry has not been permitted to wear his military uniform to his father King Charles' coronation despite serving 10 years in the army, a report claimed. The Duke of Sussex is set to attend the coronation alone without his wife Meghan Markle as she remains in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Prince Harry: Britain's Prince Harry is seen.(AP File) Prince Harry, who has served two tours of Afghanistan, will wear a morning suit for the ceremony, Telegraph reported. The decision is part of royal protocol according to which non-working members of the royal family cannot wear military uniforms to official state occasions. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle stepped down from their royal duties in 2020 following which the couple relocated to the US. Owing to their decision, Prince Harry was stripped of his honorary military titles. Prince Harry was also not initially permitted to wear his military uniform during the funeral proceedings for his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II but later allowed to wear his uniform while standing vigil at the late monarchs coffin. Prince Harry made no specific requests concerning his outfit for the coronation, and was instead willing to wear whatever was asked of him, The Telegraph reported. King Charles' coronation will be attended by 2,000 guests compared to 8,000 guests present at Queen Elizabeths coronation in 1953. The ceremony will also be much shorter than the late Queens, which lasted more than three hours. Prince William is expected to wear his military uniform to their fathers coronation. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prince Harry has been relegated to the third row at King Charles coronation, reports claimed as the Duke of Sussex is set to attend the historic event without his wife Meghan Markle. Even though Prince William and Kate Middleton were seen ahead of the coronation, Prince Harry has kept a low profile. King Charles Coronation: Britain's Prince Harry in London, Britain.(File) Reports claims that Prince Harry will sit in the third row for the ceremony, far behind his brother and father and the other working senior royals. He will sit between Princess Eugenies husband Jack Brooksbank and Princess Alexandra - the cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. The Sun reported, There were discussions that the seating could be arranged on line of succession. But that would have put fifth-in-line Harry front and centre and with William and Kate. Instead the decision was working royals only at the front and work back from there. Harry will be a long way from his father. Relations between the Sussexes and the royal family have been at an all-time low following the couple's stepping down from duties in 2020 and the release of Prince Harry's bombshell memoir. Additionally, Prince Harry may be planning to leave just a matter of hours after the coronation, flying back to America to be with his family, reports have claimed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON British police arrested Graham Smith, leader of an anti-monarchist group Republic, ahead of King Charles' coronation on Saturday, a spokesperson for the group said. King Charles coronation: A photo posted on Twitter showed Smith sitting on the ground surrounded by a group of police officers.(Twitter/ @RepublicStaff) London police chief Mark Rowley had warned on Friday that there would be a "very low tolerance for disruption" on the streets in central London where tens of thousands of people have gathered to watch the royal processions. Police did not confirm the arrest, saying they did not immediately name those arrested. A photo posted on Twitter showed Smith sitting on the ground surrounded by a group of police officers. An officer at the scene near Trafalgar Square said three republican protesters had been arrested for carrying paint. More than 11,000 police officers are on patrol for the coronation, the biggest ceremonial event staged in the British capital for 70 years. Rowley said ahead of the event that police would take action if protesters tried to "obstruct the enjoyment and celebration" of a significant number of people. All eyes will be on the British royal family as they are joined by about heads of state and global dignitaries for King Charles coronation. Here's what royal family members are expected to do during the ceremony that dates back for almost 1,000 years: King Charles Coronation: Britain's King Charles III smiles as he speaks with guests during a Realm Governors General and Prime Ministers Lunch, at Buckingham Palace.(AFP) King Charles King Charles became monarch of the UK and 14 other realms following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September. He will take an oath to uphold the law and the Church of England during the ceremony when he will be be anointed with holy Chrism oil and presented with items from the Crown Jewels. He will then be crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Queen Consort Camilla Camilla, the second wife of Charles, will go through a smaller coronation as the queen during the service. Prince William Charles' eldest son and heir-to-the-throne Prince William will have a leading role in the coronation as he will kneel down before King Charles to pledge his loyalty as "your liege man of life and limb". Prince George William's eldest son, George - second in line to the throne and nine years old - will be one of the king's four pages of honour. He is set to join the procession through Westminster Abbey, joined by his siblings Charlotte and Louis in a carriage as part of the grand procession back to Buckingham Palace. Prince Harry Prince Harry does not have an official role in the ceremony and will not take part in the procession while his wife Meghan Markle will remain in the United States with their two children. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON King Charles III was officially crowned as the monarch of the United Kingdom on Saturday in a grand ceremony steeped in centuries of tradition. This historic event marked the country's first coronation in 70 years. In addition to being the head of state of Britain, King Charles III also assumed the role of monarch for 14 other countries, including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla greet the crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the coronation ceremony in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)(AP) Follow all updates here: Royals emerge for balcony wave following King Charles' coronation Here is the entire list: United Kingdom New Zealand Canada Australia Jamaica Tuvalu Belize Bahamas Saint Lucia Antigua and Barbuda Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Solomon Islands Papua New Guinea Grenada Saint Kitts and Nevis Although part of the Commonwealth, India is not under the British monarchy and has been a republic since the adoption of the Constitution of India on January 26, 1950. King Charles III's coronation The ceremony at Westminster Abbey was a big occasion, and as has been customary since the Middle Ages, the new monarch rode through the streets of London in a parade of carriages before being crowned. Numerous dignitaries, including heads of state and top government officials from throughout the world, were present at King Charles III's coronation. India was represented by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Following King Charles III's coronation as monarch of the United Kingdom on Saturday at Westminster Abbey in London, he has also assumed the role of Canada's official head of state. To mark this historic occasion, the government has organised a number of festive activities, including the unveiling of a new Royal Crown, Royal Flag, Canadian postage, and collector coins. Lord President of the Council, Penny Mordaunt, holding the Sword of State walking ahead of King Charles III during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London. Picture date: Saturday May 6, 2023. (via REUTERS) Follow all updates here: Royals emerge for balcony wave following King Charles' coronation In an official statement, the prime minister of Canada said, Today, we ring in the reign of His Majesty King Charles III and reaffirm Canadas enduring commitment to the Commonwealth. As we celebrate this momentous occasion, let us be reminded of our shared values of inclusivity, diversity, and respect for human rights as we work together to build a better future for all members of the Commonwealth. Here is how Canada made the day memorable: 1) Donation to environment conservation: The Canadian government has announced a donation of $100,000 to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in recognition of King Charles III's commitment to environmental protection and conservation, the statement added. The NCC is an organisation that works towards protecting Canada's lands and freshwater. 2) Royal Crown and Flag: In addition, a new Canadian Royal Crown has been introduced, which features stylised maple leaves and a wavy blue line representing the country's lands and waterways. The new flag of the sovereign, recently approved by King Charles III, features the shield of the coat of arms of Canada with maple leaves and royal emblems of the United Kingdom and France. The flag emphasises that the Royal Arms of Canada are also the arms of the monarch of Canada and will serve all future sovereigns, the statement said. 3) Postage and collectors coin: Canada Post is set to release a stamp featuring King Charles III, continuing a 170-year tradition of issuing stamps featuring Canadian monarchs. The stamp will display a photograph of the then-Prince of Wales taken by Alan Shawcross. The Royal Canadian Mint will also release special collector coins in honour of the coronation. North Korea criticized South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeols pro-US policies, calling them radical and excessive after the leaders recent trip to Washington. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP) Concerns of Yoons obsequence is growing in international society, North Koreas official Korean Central News Agency said, citing media reports in China and Russia. If the president keeps ignoring the concerns, South Korea will face retaliation which would incur bigger losses in the economic and security sectors, and that will be a nightmare to Yoon and his country, KCNA said. Yoon met US President Joe Biden last week and the allies announced the so-called Washington Declaration which laid out steps to bolster security on the Korean Peninsula. That included measures such as more regular deployments of US nuclear-armed submarines and South Korean involvement in strategic planning for nuclear contingencies. Six Takeaways from White House Visit by South Koreas Yoon KCNA said Yoon was misleading South Koreans that the US trip had yielded great results, calling it a fools gold. The South Korean leader is set to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul on Sunday. South Korea and Japan have been stepping up efforts to rebuild relations that have soured the past few years. A formal summit between the two countries was held in March for the first time in 12 years, followed by a security dialog in April and a meeting of their finance ministers this week. Kishida and Biden dont cast any votes, but the public on this land does, KCNA said. King Charles III and his wife Camilla were on Saturday, coronated in a mega event at Westminsters Abbey in London. The ceremony was attended by thousands of guests including foreign leaders, celebrities and members of the British royal family. Prince Harry, who permanently stepped down from his royal duties along with his wife Meghan Markle, was also present at his father's coronation. However, his role at the coronation was not as same as Prince William. Here are all the updates on Prince Harry attending the coronation: SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 17-year-old girl was killed and five other people were wounded in a shooting early Saturday at a party near a college campus in Northern California, police said. Police investigated the incident on Columbus Avenue connected to another on West Seventh Street after midnight Saturday.(AP) Officers responding around 3:30 a.m. to reports of gunfire found six people shot at an apartment building in Chico, police Chief Billy Aldridge said. All the victims were taken to hospitals, and the teenager died at a hospital, he said. Two men, ages 21 and 19, and a 17-year-old girl remained hospitalized in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, the chief said. Two other men, ages 18 and 20, were treated at the hospital and released, Aldridge said. The shooting appeared to be an isolated incident, and there was no ongoing threat to the community, police said. They released no information on the shooter. Police had been called to the same address about 30 minutes before the shooting and arrested a man on suspicion of brandishing a firearm, Aldridge said. That suspect matched the description of a man who was asked to leave a separate party about a mile away around 12:30 a.m., Aldridge said. A fight broke out at the earlier party, and two people were hospitalized after being struck in the head, one with a bottle and one with a firearm, the chief said. The investigation was ongoing Saturday. Both parties were in neighborhoods near California State University, Chico, in the city of about 101,000 residents 90 miles (145 km) north of Sacramento. Former President Donald Trump has privately told close associates that he plans to reinstate his infamous "Muslim ban" if he is reelected in 2024, according to US daily Rolling Stone. Trump has reportedly called the policy "beautiful" and has expressed interest in adding more majority-Muslim countries to the list of those banned from entering the United States. Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire,(REUTERS) Banning Muslims from entering the United States has been a long-standing obsession for Trump, dating back to his presidential campaign in 2015 when he called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." Just a few days after taking office in 2017, he signed an executive order banning the entry of citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries for 90 days. The ban was met with chaos and confusion at U.S. airports and ports of entry, and led to a diplomatic fallout with Iraq. Federal courts blocked the initial order, but in 2018, the Supreme Court narrowly approved a subsequent revision of the ban. President Joe Biden reversed the executive order in one of his first executive orders after taking office. While Trump has hinted at his interest in a reinvigorated travel ban in recent speeches, the idea has not received much public scrutiny. Trump has also touted other hardline anti-immigration policies while campaigning for a potential 2024 bid, including fully securing the border and removing illegal aliens. Former top Trump White House policy aide Stephen Miller, who helped write the executive order for the original Muslim ban, has also been pressing for a renewed ban. "Bring back the travel ban. Now," Miller wrote on Twitter in August. Miller and other MAGA conservatives have focused on Afghanistan, expressing outrage when the United States took in refugees as the country fell to the Taliban in 2021. Trump's interest in a second term is not just limited to hardline immigration policies, as he has also proposed bringing back firing squads and mass executions, fantasizing about journalists being raped in prison, and bombing Mexico. His appearance at CPAC featured a speech where he declared himself as the people's "retribution." Also read | Donald Trump goes on rampage, throws reporter's phones and kicks him off plane for questioning criminal probe Critics of the ban have argued that it is an incoherent policy mess that ruined countless families' lives, and would only cause more chaos in the already struggling legal immigration system. It remains to be seen if Trump's plans for a renewed ban will gain any traction in his run for president in 2024. An angry passenger on a United Airlines flight had to be held back by fellow travellers from jumping out of the plane after he allegedly punched a flight attendant. The incident occurred on a Texas-bound flight on Wednesday when the plane was about to take off, ABC reported. Representational image.(AFP) A video of the incident that is now doing rounds on social media shows the man attempting to strike the flight attendant, before managing to open the aircrafts emergency exit. The footage was shot by a passenger, Naya Jimenez. She claimed that the man became violent after the flight attendant asked him and his wife to move out of her assigned seat. "They had to bring in a gate attendant to try to talk to both of them," she told ABC7. Then, he began slurring his speech a little bit, like, 'Sir, why are you smiling at me?' That's the first thing he said, Jimenez added. After the altercation, the man rushed to jump out of the plane, she claimed. "After he paused for a minute, he ran toward where the pilot was, where the emergency exit doors are, and attempted to open it. He successfully opened the emergency exit and was about to jump down," said Jimenez. "The plane was elevated, so he would have jumped apparently two stories to the ground, and the flight attendants just kicked in, and everybody pulled him back to safety," she added. Reacting to the incident, the airline banned the passenger from future United Airlines flights, and said: On Sunday night, our team at San Francisco International Airport immediately contacted law enforcement officials after a customer became disruptive during boarding. We're grateful to our team in San Francisco for their professionalism in this situation and for looking out for the safety of our customers and their fellow United employees,". The 47-year-old man was arrested by San Francisco police on battery charges related to this incident. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama congratulated King Charles III on the occasion of his coronation. In his message, Dalai Lama wrote: May Your Majesty live long, and the people of the United Kingdom enjoy happiness and prosperity. Having been privileged to enjoy your friendship for many years, I am confident that you will continue to accomplish this great responsibility with kindness and affection, dedicated to the service of others. King Charles Coronation: Dalai Lama is seen.(File) According to an official statement, Dalai Lama further said: "Today, the international community is going through very challenging times. I believe we must make concerted efforts to achieve a more compassionate, peaceful world by resolving problems like the gap between rich and poor and protecting the natural environment of this planet that is our only home, in the spirit of the oneness of humanity." Concluding the letter, Dalai Lama wrote, I wish you every success in meeting the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the British people and contributing to the creation of a more peaceful world, free of violent conflict. King Charles's enthronement ceremony as the 40th monarch is set to take place today as world leaders, members of the monarch's family and members from other royal families gather in London for the crowning. King Charles' second wife Camilla will also be crowned in a separate smaller event. Following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, Charles ascended to the throne. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A Buffalo man was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in an international narcotics trafficking conspiracy in which more than 120 kilograms of cocaine and $3 million were seized by Homeland Security agents. Jai Hunter, 43, was sentenced Friday in federal court after a jury found him guilty of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and distributing five kilograms or more of cocaine, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Hunter was a co-defendant of Adrian Goudelock, who was sentenced last month to 27 years in prison after being convicted for the same charge, as well as attempted possession and possession of five kilograms or more of cocaine, and money laundering conspiracy. Man who led multimillion dollar narcotics trafficking ring is sentenced to 27 years in prison A man who federal prosecutors said was the leader in a multimillion dollar narcotics trafficking ring that stretched from Mexico to Buffalo was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to serve 27 years in federal prison. Prosecutors in the case said Hunter "drove Goudelock around" to traffic drugs and stored Goudelock's cocaine in an Elmwood Avenue apartment in Buffalo. The duo's efforts were part of a significantly larger drug trafficking conspiracy that stretched from Mexico to Buffalo, prosecutors said. Hunter was first indicted in 2018 after a cocaine probe identified participants and uncovered more than $500,000 in cash that was hidden in a tractor-trailer found in West Seneca. The cash was kept in a "magnetic secret compartment specifically designed to conceal narcotics and currency," said Kevin M. Kelly, special agent in charge of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the time. Feds take aim at cocaine, gun-trafficking rings, 'lifeblood' of city violence The two illegal operations played a significant role in the rash of violence occurring on city streets and Homeland Security Investigations' seizure of 10 kilograms of cocaine and about $260,000 shipped from El Paso, Texas, to Buffalo prompted a larger investigation in 2017, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Ten more co-defendants have been convicted in the case, as well as 21 more arrested in Kentucky and Ohio in which more than $2 million and 41 kilograms of cocaine were seized. When Dennis Garvey opened the men's bathroom door inside Senor Tequila, he saw a man sitting in one of the stalls hammering the walls with his hands and spitting in all directions. The man and Garvey briefly spoke. Garvey, the downtown restaurant's landlord, thought things were resolved as he walked out. But Garvey turned to see the man, who was holding a knife, approaching him, Garvey told an Erie County Court jury Friday. The man, who was smiling and had his tongue hanging out, said nothing. Garvey picked up a server's tray to use as a shield that night in November 2020, he testified. "He kept coming toward me with the knife, and he swung the knife under the tray and stabbed me in the abdomen," he told jurors. Garvey's testimony came on the third day of the trial of Christian Hodges. Hodges, 30, was indicted in June 2021 on charges of first-degree assault and attempted second-degree assault, according to court records. Assistant District Attorneys Megan Mahoney and Nicholas Marino are prosecuting the case. The stabbing inside the Pearl Street restaurant happened shortly before 8 p.m. Nov. 19, 2020. Garvey, an attorney whose office is above the restaurant, said he went down to the restaurant after work to "help out," since restaurants were being indefinitely shut down the next day as part of restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As far as his conversation inside the bathroom, Garvey said the man told him, "You don't know what's going on with me, man. You don't know what's going on." He said he didn't see anyone around after he was stabbed. He told jurors he went up to his office to get his phone and called 911 himself. The knife pierced his intestines in two places, he said. An ambulance crew took Garvey to Erie County Medical, where doctors released him three days later. Prosecutors have also accused Hodges of trying to stab another man, Deep South Taco owner Richard Hamilton, a friend of Garvey's who preceded him into the men's room and then alerted Garvey to the situation. Garvey, 65, testified under cross-examination by Florina Altshiler, Hodges' attorney, that he identified Hodges as his attacker for the first time on Friday while testifying in court. Parts of the encounter inside the restaurant were captured by security cameras. That footage was given to Erie County prosecutors by Garvey a few weeks ago, after he went to the restaurant owner and asked if he had any video, he testified under cross-examination. Judge Suzanne Maxwell Barnes did not allow Altshiler to question Garvey about his ties to Deputy District Attorney Mario Giacobbe. Garvey previously worked for Giacobbe while Giacobbe was in private practice and before he returned to the District Attorney's Office, Marino told the judge outside the presence of the jury. Hodges had a knife in his waistband when Buffalo police arrested him on Pearl Street shortly after the attack, according to a Buffalo police report. Friday's court session was cut short at the conclusion of Garvey's testimony, with Hodges suffering from "non-emergent medical health issues," Althiler told the judge. The prosecution's case is expected to wrap up Monday following testimony involving DNA evidence. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A massive fire broke out at Shell Chemicals Deer Park Plant on Friday afternoon. Harris County officials said around 5 p.m. that the situation was under control and all employees have been accounted for. By late Friday, Shell said nine contractors who underwent precautionary medical evaluations were released. LIVE UPDATES: Massive fire reported at Deer Park industrial plant, public advised to avoid the area Heres what you need to know about the plant. Where is the Shell Chemical Plant? The Shell Chemical Plant is in the city of Deer Park, about 20 miles east of downtown Houston. Located near the Houston Ship Channel, the area is home to many large chemical plants and other industrial manufacturers. Deer Park is home to nearly 35,000 residents, according to the most recent census. Ken Ellis / Houston Chronicle What does the plant make? The plant is in operations around the clock producing base chemicals or raw material chemicals, according to the company website. Those chemicals eventually go into a wide variety of products including plastics, pharmaceuticals, adhesives, insecticides, latex paints, wire coating, detergents and more. WORKERS, RESIDENTS REACT: Community on edge after latest blaze History of the complex Shell was the first manufacturer to set up shop in Deer Park, according to the companys website. Shell started with an 800-acre site in 1929, added the chemical plant in the 1940s, and today the complex spans 1,500 acres. The company sold its interest in an oil refinery on part of the site to the Mexican oil company Pemex in a deal that closed in 2022. The fire occurred on the Shell Chemical side of the site. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A pair of West Texas ranches are suing ERCOT, claiming the states power grid operator violated a 2021 law when it failed to stop a Chinese billionaires wind farm from moving forward in Val Verde County. Its the latest battle over the Blue Hills wind farm, a 46-turbine project planned near Comstock and started by Houston-based GH America Energy, whose parent company is owned by Chinese businessman Sun Guangxin. In response to the project, the Legislature passed the Lone Star Infrastructure Act in 2021, barring entities from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from having direct access to critical infrastructure, citing concerns over security of the electric grid. GH America applied to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas before the law went into effect to connect the wind farm to the Texas electric grid. In the lawsuit filed late last month in state District Court in Val Verde County, the ranchers, whose properties abut the site, claim that ERCOT should have canceled that interconnection application when the Lone Star Infrastructure Act became law. Spanish renewable energy company Greenalia, which was also named as a defendant in the suit, announced that it took over the wind farm in 2022 from GH America, but it is unclear who owns the ground beneath the planned turbines. Brazos Highland Properties, a company widely reported as controlled by Guangxin, owns 187 properties in Val Verde County. Records show Greenalia entered into a lease and easement agreement with Brazos Highland last July to develop and operate the wind farm on the Carma Ranch north of Comstock. A spokesperson for Greenalia did not return a request for comment Friday. The plaintiffs, Ward-Walker Seven Oaks Ranch and Cole Ranch, say ERCOT is jeopardizing the security and reliability of the grid and are asking the court to void the interconnection application previously filed by GH America. The lawyer representing the ranches, Dallas Barrington, said any new entity that takes over the wind farm should have to restart the application process to connect to the grid. An ERCOT spokesperson said the grid operator does not comment on pending litigation. A spokesperson for GH America could not be reached Friday. Randy Nunns, a board member at Devils River Conservancy, which opposes the project, said the proposed influx in wind energy poses a threat to an area known for its wilderness. People travel there to hunt and be in nature, spending thousands of dollars a night to stay at some Val Verde County ranches. Opponents say the project could also hurt unique wildlife habitats that monarch butterflies, migratory birds and bats call home. "Everybody is opposed to 700-foot-tall turbines in the county no matter who owns 'em, Nunns said. If it was Willie Nelson building 'em, we still wouldnt want 'em. BGLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) An eastern Illinois man was sentenced to 44 years in prison for assaulting a state trooper during a traffic stop. Randy M. Turner, of Danville, was pulled over in May 2022 for driving over 100 mph (161 kph) on Interstate 55 near Chenoa, northeast of Bloomington, The Pantagraph reported. U.S. Coast Guard The Coast Guard is searching for a missing 19-year-old man who was swept away by a wave Friday near Surfside Beach in Freeport. Along with local responders, the U.S. Coast Guard is looking for the man who was last seen wearing dark-colored swim trunks with an orange waistband, the uniformed service said in a tweet Saturday at 11:12 a.m. A Crosby man was sentenced to 45 years in prison this week after he confessed to killing a man he owed between $1,800 and $2,200 to and fleeing to Mexico for about a year. Leonardo Abarca, 27, was sentenced by a Harris County jury after an eight-day trial in which he was convicted of murder for fatally shooting Mustafa Ahmed Marfani, 25, of Humble, on April 7, 2016, the Harris County District Attorney's Office said in a news release Saturday. Harris County District Attorneys Office Abarca met with Marfani around noon in the parking lot of the Huffman Mason Lodge in the 2300 block of Third Street, the DA office's release said. Instead of paying his debt, Abarca killed Marfani, according to the release. Two witnesses told authorities they saw a white truck screeching out of the parking lot they were driving toward. The couple then saw Marfanis vehicle and found him dead with a gunshot wound to the head, the DA's office said. After the witnesses called 911, police put out an alert to try to locate the white truck. The next day, a deputy with the Precinct 3 Constables Office pulled over the vehicle and spoke with Abarca, who said he was the only one who had been driving his truck, the DA office's release said. Abarca agreed to talk Harris County Sheriffs Office detectives. During the interview, Abarca admitted to meeting Marfani because of the money he owed him. Abarca then "broke down," and told investigators that his "life was over and that he was going to jail for a long time," according to the DA's office release. He was then charged with murder. Video surveillance captured Abarcas truck before and after the murder. Abarca was freed on bail after being charged, the release said. In early 2017, he fled to Mexico. He remained there for almost a year until an anonymous tip helped the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force find him and bring him back to Harris County, the DA's office said. Gun crime in our community is rampant because of cases like this, in which a relatively minor disagreement led to a cold-blooded murder, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in the release. The victims family lost a son and a much-loved family member, and our hearts ache for them. Officials with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Service worried that Melissa Townes mental health would endanger her daughter, Chanel, from the time the child was born, a report from the state agency shows. Five years later, Towne brought the childs lifeless body to a hospital in a trash bag, with a slash across her throat. The report, made public Friday, offers harrowing new details into what appears to be pervasive mental health issues with the mother and neglect before the 5-year-olds brutal slaying. Towne, 37, demonstrated erratic thoughts when her daughter was born in 2017, and her mental health and behavior were believed to put the child in danger, the report states. MORE ON CLEVELAND SHOOTING: Friend of alleged Cleveland mass shooter faces federal charges after police find illegal guns in home There were concerns that she was undiagnosed and untreated for schizophrenia, and she was institutionalized, the report states. The Magnolia woman had been institutionalized at least nine times before the death of her child, said James Stafford, Townes defense attorney. Towne had not been taking medications for her disorder on the day her child died, he said. Woman said child was evil, compared her to killer doll from movie In October, Towne drove her daughter to a Tomball emergency room and told workers she had stabbed her child. During an initial investigation, she told authorities she led her daughter into a wooded area at Spring Creek Park and attempted to slit her throat with a pocket knife, prosecutors said. When the cut didnt go deep enough to kill the child, and her daughter began struggling to stay alive, she suffocated her for more than half an hour before she died, the report states. When nurses went to Townes vehicle in the emergency room parking lot, the child was found partially wrapped in plastic and mesh bags. Towne claimed her daughter was an evil child and compared her to Chucky, a fictional character from the horror movie Childs Play, the DFPS report states. She planned to kill her daughter because she claimed the child was not like other children and made a full admission to killing the child to law enforcement, the report states. MORE ON MENTAL HEALTH: Texas ranks No. 1 among worst states for mental health care, Forbes finds The Harris County Medical Examiners Office reported that the child died from blunt head trauma with asphyxia. The autopsy also showed bruising to the childs scalp, legs and knees. She had petechiae, round red spots from bleeding, on her face from her mother sitting on her chest and placing a bag over her head, the report states. Child was living in car with mother before she died Roughly four years before her death, Chanel was placed in the care of her father, James Michael Bradshaw Jr., and her grandparents after a judge in Montgomery County found that Towne had a history of family violence. Towne initially was granted supervised visitation before being allowed to keep the child overnight, documents state. She was also ordered to pay $200 a month in child support to the girls father. Bradshaw was found by the DFPS to have committed neglectful supervision of the child, the report states, after leaving Chanel in Townes care, knowing the extent of her mental and emotionally instability. The child was living with both parents at the time of the finding. Theres no doubt in my mind that that child should have been taken from both of them, Stafford said. The child was left in Townes supervision for at least two days before her death, he said. Towne was living out of her vehicle with her daughter, sleeping in front of her parents' house. Towne claimed she asked her parents to take care of her daughter, but they declined, the report states. Towne had been sleeping in her car off-and-on for nearly three years, Stafford said. A DFPS investigation 10 days before her death found that the child was covered in insect bites and scars from scratching them. The child was considered intelligent but was not in school. The child smelled of urine, was not potty trained and was still wearing pull-up diapers. Chanel had a younger sibling with a different father, but the child was safe in his custody. Towne has two other children also staying with paternal relations. Towne does not have access to the surviving children. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate With temperatures rising into the 90s and heat indexes predicted to be over 100 this weekend, most Texas prisoners will be exposed to elevated indoor heat, in housing units without air conditioning. Lawmakers this session are debating whether excessive heat and cold should remain perils that defendants face when sentenced to prison in Texas. A proposed budget appropriation would bring air conditioning to all prisons by 2031. This would be a drastic change for prisoners and correctional officers, as about 70 percent of the states prisons do not provide cooling systems in the area where inmates live. DEADLY HEAT: Texas prisons regularly hit 110 degrees inside. Without A/C, researchers say a 'disaster' is coming The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has reported 23 heat-related deaths since 1998, along with many reports of heat-related illnesses. Between 2018 and 2020, temperatures inside some of the uncooled Texas prisons regularly surpassed 110 degrees, topping out at a heat index of 149 degrees in one unit, according to a Texas A&M University study. Legislators have filed multiple bills this session seeking to set strict temperature regulations in Texas prisons. One bill, introduced by Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, would restrict the range of temperatures to between 65 and 85 degrees. It was approved by the House last week but still needs Senate approval. A similar bill stalled in the Senate in 2021. Separately, a House budget proposal sets aside funding for TDCJ to install air conditioning in prisons over the next eight years, a timeline prison advocates say is far too slow. The Senates proposed budget does not include funds to cool prisons. Jeff Edwards, a Houston-based lawyer for inmates who settled with the state prison system over excessive heat at a geriatric prison north of Houston, said regulating prison temperatures is a life-or-death matter. In that 2018 settlement with TDCJ, the state agreed to install air conditioning at the Wallace Pack Unit as well as on buses that transport inmates to the facility. Edwards has taken testimony from medical experts on thermoregulation and heard about what excessive heat can do to the body. Are the conditions were subjecting our inmate population to safe? Edwards said. The answer is unequivocal: No, unless you regulate the temperatures during the summer months, it is not safe. Residents of the Pack Unit, a prison in Grimes County that houses elderly and disabled inmates, described suffocating heat and said they experienced dizziness, nausea, headaches and difficulty sleeping, according to a 2014 lawsuit over conditions at the facility. Its indescribable. Its real misery, inmate Thomas Pennington said during a hearing in the case. COOLING CELL BLOCKS: Landmark suit could extend heat protections to thousands of inmates Since air conditioning came to the Pack unit in the 2018 settlement, the unit has changed dramatically, Edwards said. Its a livable place, Edwards said. Its not an unbearable sauna where peoples lives are in danger. Its a prison. The quality of life for every inmate at the Pack Unit is immeasurably better. Amite Dominick, president of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, said prisoners and guards have fainted from heat in uncooled prison facilities. Inmates have reported seizures from heat, heat rash and other serious health complications. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Dominick described accounts of prisoners taking desperate measures to cool off, sometimes flooding the toilets in their cells in order to lie on the wet concrete. Such actions put prisoners at risk of disciplinary action, and inmates disciplined for these cooling measures could have a lower chance at parole. An inmate told Dominick she woke one sweltering night after dreaming that rain was falling on her face. The woman realized that the rain in her dream was her upper bunkmates sweat dripping onto her. CRUEL AND UNUSUAL: Federal judge orders Texas prison system to provide a/c for heat-sensitive inmates at Pack Unit The extreme heat causes inmates to despair, Dominick said. What do you do as a mom when your child says, Mom, I just cant take it anymore, Im gonna kill myself, I cant handle it? Dominick said. In a statement, TDCJ spokesman Robert Hurst said the department makes certain heat mitigation efforts to keep staff and inmates safe in heat just as Texans without air-conditioning access do. Everyone (in the prisons) has access to ice and water, Hurst wrote. Fans are strategically placed in facilities to move the air. Inmates and staff have access to a fan, and they can access air-conditioned respite areas when needed. Hurst said that of Texas 100 prison facilities, 31 have air conditioning in all housing areas and 14 have no air conditioning in housing areas. Inmates more susceptible to heat stroke get first priority for beds in cooler facilities, Hurst said. Some of the inmates at highest risk are elderly prisoners; those with heart disease, mental illnesses or developmental disabilities; and people taking certain medications that increase heat susceptibility. Dominick said many of those drugs are psychiatric medications that cause the body to lose its capacity to regulate heat. Each inmate is assigned a heat susceptibility score, and those with the highest scores are sent to cooled facilities or cells first, Hurst said. But inmates and advocates have said those mitigation efforts arent enough. Theyre not working, Dominick said. That sums it up. Dominick said a survey of inmates conducted by Texas A&M found that the mitigation protocols for high heat situations were unevenly applied, were ineffective or in some cases were denied to inmates entirely. Some of the 309 inmates surveyed between 2018 and 2020 said they had inconsistent access to water or that the water provided was unsanitary. One inmate said a cockroach was found in the water cooler; another said a water cooler was removed after frozen maggots were found in the ice. Others said they were denied access to respite areas or cold showers. Many of the cooled beds are in solitary cells, meaning inmates moved to those cells could lose significant privileges and access to prison programming. According to an April 2022 list of cooled and uncooled prison units collected by TPCA, of 62,300 prison beds, 52,062 (84 percent) were not cooled. Many of the roughly 16 percent that did have air conditioning were temporary beds such as those in medical wards or restrictive housing (solitary cells). INMATE DEATHS: Geriatric inmates died waiting for state to address COVID concerns, lawyer says in trial closing Dominick said she would like to see the state move faster to install universal air conditioning rather than spreading the improvements out over years. Edwards, who led the suit at the Pack Unit, said he understood that fitting Texas large prison system with permanent AC would take time. He said the moves by legislators are in the right direction, though he added that TDCJ could at least install temporary air conditioning to provide immediate relief to some prisoners. When youre moving a battleship, sometimes it takes some time, Edwards said. He said he has seen a shift in attitudes since the Pack Unit settlement. Previously, he said, many officials seemed to believe that no one cared about jail conditions. I have found from my personal experience in litigating these cases that that is the furthest thing from the truth, Edwards said. Texans do care about the conditions in which they imprison people and know that not everyone in jail is a violent criminal, that people make mistakes. A Buffalo public elementary school student was taken to the hospital and several others were sent home Friday after the children had adverse reactions to ingesting gummy edibles in school. A Buffalo Public Schools spokesman said Buffalo police were investigating the incident at Harvey Austin Elementary School, where several students had to be evaluated after swallowing the edibles. One student who ingested the substance was transported to a local hospital, while others who ate it were sent home with either a parent or guardian, according to a statement released by Jeffrey Hammond, director of public relations and information for Buffalo Public Schools. "It's important to remind families to talk to their children about never ingesting unknown food or substances, even if a classmate or friend offers it," the statement said. The statement said school officials had no further comment. A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot Saturday morning while attending a high school after-prom party in west Houston, the sheriff's office said. Harris County sheriff's deputies went around 1:30 a.m. to a home in the 8500 block of Majesticbrook, where they found the Isaac Zetino deceased from a gunshot wound, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a tweet at 10:14 a.m. Robert Balli Based on the sheriff's office's preliminary investigation, a "very large" party with teenagers was transpiring, HCSO Sgt. Jason Brown said. Investigators later determined Zetino and another teenage boy had gotten into an argument with the father of a female who was in attendance at the party, Gonzalez said. During the altercation, the boys and the father of female drew guns and started shooting at each other, he said. The sheriff's office found the man who exchanged gunfire with Zetino and the other teenage boy, according to Gonzalez The man cooperated with investigators and claimed he acted in self-defense when he was shooting the teenagers, the sheriff said. Robert Balli No charges are being filed at this time against anyone due to the man's statement corroborating with findings at the scene, Gonzalez said. "The case is still under investigation and upon its conclusion, will be presented to a grand jury for possible charges," he said. When deputies arrived, 16 witnesses remained, but maybe up to 100 people were at the party based on surveillance footage, Brown said. It's unclear if the man who shot at Zetino and the other teenager stayed at the scene. Tim Bristow Three teenagers were shot Saturday morning after gunfire erupted during a fist fight in a south Houston nightclub's parking lot, police said. Houston police officers arrived at the club at 5200 Griggs and found a 17-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the leg, Lt. Ronnie Willkens said. Investigators later learned that two girls, possibly between the ages of 17 and 18, were shot around the torso area, he said. The city of Houston will develop a $5 million training facility for future pilots studying at Texas Southern University. Houston City Council approved a five-year lease agreement between Houston Airports and the HBCU on Wednesday, setting in motion the development of a 2-acre site at Ellington Airports Houston Spaceport. The new Aviation Education Facility will include a 22,000-square-foot aircraft hangar, as well as training and classroom space, an above-ground aviation fuel tank, vehicle parking and a 20,000 square foot apron, also referred to as the tarmac. TSU TAKES FLIGHT: Texas Southern's flight program prepares future pilots for changing industry We are honored to be the first tenants in this new lease space, said Terence Fontaine, TSUs executive director of aviation. This opportunity provides an enhanced environment for student learning opportunities as we work to address our nations critical aviation needs. Furthermore, it provides space for our fleet of eight aircraft to be housed inside and protected from weather conditions, thus allowing us to preserve them for extended use. TSU will have the right of first refusal to renew the contract at the end of five years, Fontaine said. Construction could begin this summer for an estimated opening in April 2024. The schools aviation students already train at Ellington but will now have a designated space at the southeast Houston airport. The new facility is the latest of many additions to the program, which has quadrupled in enrollment in the past year, Fontaine said. Texas Southern launched its aviation science management program in 1986 and offers courses on aviation weather, law, history and safety, and air traffic control. The pilot program began four years ago with the goal of building a pipeline that equips students with either a multi-engine commercial pilot license or a certified flight instructor license, allowing them to move directly to careers at airlines. TSU will also begin a drone program in the fall, Fontaine said. Houston Airports will charge a discounted annual rent of $60,000 to lease the new facility at Ellington for the next five years, according to city officials. AVIATION: Texas Southern partners with United Airlines to overcome pilot shortage Houston Airports is honored to invest in and inspire the next generation of aviation professionals, said Mario Diaz, Director of Aviation for Houston Airports. The facility at Ellington Airport continues the illustrious story of Houstons aeronautical history. More than 100 years ago, farmers watched the U.S. Army carve runways through rice fields so the nations first pilots could train for World War I. Decades later, NASA chose Ellington Airport to train for the Apollo Lunar landing. Soon, students at Texas Southern University will apply the crucial lessons learned at Ellington Airport to revolutionize the aviation industry. Mayor Sylvester Turner celebrated the agreement on Wednesday as the city's latest investment in Texas Southern. The HBCU launched the Center for Transformative Health in February, using $1 million in seed funding from the city to develop a program focused on health issues in minority populations. PHOENIX (AP) Republican lawmaker Liz Harris who was previously expelled will not be sent back to the Arizona House of Representatives, Maricopa County officials announced Friday. The county's Board of Supervisors instead selected Republican Julie Willoughby to replace her, despite Republican precinct committee members in her legislative district giving Harris the most votes. In my discussions with Ms. Harris, she firmly believes her removal was improper and unlawful, said Supervisor Jack Sellers, who represents an area that includes the legislative district. This board was not a party to that process but must give weight to an action that over two-thirds of the House members voted in favor of. Willoughby, an emergency room trauma nurse, teamed up with Harris in campaign ads and events during last year's election. They had hoped to win both district seats, but Harris and Democratic Rep. Jennifer Pawlik emerged as the top two vote-getters. Harris was kicked out last month in a bipartisan vote for organizing a presentation where an Arizona insurance agent made unsubstantiated accusations that a wide range of politicians, judges and public officials of both parties took bribes from a Mexican drug cartel. A prominent supporter of discredited election conspiracies, she was also found by the House Ethics Committee to have engaged in disorderly behavior in violation of the chambers rules. The committees report said Harris knew that the person she invited to the legislative hearing in February would accuse her colleagues of criminal activity, that she took steps to hide it from House leaders ahead of time and then misled the committee investigating her actions. Her removal came less than a week after Tennessee Republicans voted to expel two Black Democrats, a decision that made that state a new front in the battle for the future of American democracy. But the Arizona vote did not carry the same partisan and racial overtones. Instead, there was widespread and bipartisan condemnation for Harris actions. Tennessee Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones were reappointed by local officials to return to the Legislature. Why? Thats the question that advocates for Texas children who are neglected, abandoned, abused and in need of a safe place to live ask almost daily. Thats the question children themselves ask. Its a question every single Texan should be asking. Why does one of the wealthiest states in the nation, a state with a huge budget surplus to work with, find it almost impossible to take care of these children? Why, over the years, has Texas so vigorously resisted a long-running, class-action lawsuit designed to radically reform a foster care system that not only has failed to meet the most basic needs of these children but has actually placed them in harms way? Why, nearly two-and-a-half years after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered two state agencies that are his co-defendants in the class-action case to fully comply with a federal judges orders, are the agencies still balking, still resisting? Why, by the end of this legislative session, this bountiful session, is the foster care system expected emerge relatively unchanged? One more question: Why do Texas lawmakers worry more about drag shows, transgender medical care and books about being gay on school library shelves than they do about the needs of abused and neglected children in their own custody the custody, that is, of the State of Texas? Were talking about roughly 20,000 young Texans, from infants to older teenagers, who, through no fault of their own, have been removed from their parents homes and are now in the foster care system. We are well aware that countless state employees with the Department of Family and Protective Services and the Health and Human Services Commission, go to work every morning with the well-being of these children uppermost in their minds. Their job is difficult, often heart-wrenching. Caseloads are intolerably high, and turnover is at crisis stage. The state employees have their counterparts in the private sector and among volunteers dedicated to caring for children desperately in need of a safe and healthy home. U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack who at this point should be eligible for sainthood after 12 long years of poking, prodding and trying to pull the state into compliance with best practices and at the very least, constitutionality is equally dedicated. During a hearing last month in a federal courthouse in Corpus Christi, she noted that Texas has made improvements in recent years but has fallen back into its old bad habits in some areas. Threats to childrens safety are growing, not receding, she said, noting that too many foster children including children 3 years of age and younger are being prescribed four or more mental-health drugs at one time without the necessary evaluations and assessments. The State cant ignore the glaring issues with misuse and abuse of powerful drugs on young children, said Paul Yetter, the Houston business attorney who has represented the plaintiffs pro bono since the case was filed in 2011, in an email to the editorial board. Providers are violating state regulations without any consequences or, apparently, oversight. This is a huge health and safety risk in the system. The judge also chided the state for not moving fast enough to reduce the number of children living in hotels and churches because they dont have families or shelters to take them in. And she charged that foster children who have been victims of sexual abuse are being placed in bedrooms alongside youth with histories of sexual aggression. Now 76 and on senior status, Jack has presided since 2011 over the suit filed by two New York-based nonprofit groups asserting that Texas operates an unsafe, long-term foster care system. These days, plaintiffs are concerned that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to pressure the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rein in Jack, if not replace her. So whats the problem? Why do we tolerate a system thats chronically broken, to quote Austin foster parent Kristin Finan. She and her husband Patrick Badgley are parents of six children, four of them foster children. She also co-founded Carrying Hope, a non-profit that serves foster children in Austin and more recently in Houston Houston, she says, because the need is so great. State Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat who serves on the House Committee on Juvenile Justice and Family Issues, has at least a partial answer to the question of why. Everyone says ... Im very concerned about kids in foster care and all the bad things that happen, but dont ask me what to do about it, Wu told the Texas Tribune recently. And dont ask me to take away my funding priorities to pay for that. They wont ever say that publicly. But thats what is going through members minds. In the waning days of this legislative session, the proposed budget would give DFPS $300 million out of the budget surplus, money that would be used to increase pay for some foster care providers. Under the current system, relatives who take in children get paid much less than other foster parents. Legislation sponsored by state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, and Rep. Lacy Hull, R-Houston, would equalize the payments. A bill sponsored by Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, would lower the caseloads for DFPS staff, some of whom have been carrying more than double, some more than triple, the standard caseload of 20. At this point, those bills are either dead or dying, even though as attorney Yetter notes, There are critical reforms waiting to be done, and all we hear from the state is We dont have the money. Wed prefer for the state to work cooperatively with us. But innocent children are still at risk. This year, of course, we have had the money. With an unprecedented surplus of nearly $33 billion, the Legislature could fund foster care like never before. DFPS still needs more money for family or friends who take in foster children, for staff raises and for foster children aging out of the system (far too many who, in Wus words, end up in prison, sex-trafficking or dead.) Additional funding wouldnt fix every problem, but it could go a long way toward addressing the complications that perpetually make it difficult to take care of our most vulnerable children. Of course, to get that done, we would have to distract lawmakers from guys in dresses and alleged smut in the stacks. Wu concedes that the state has made some progress since 2017. In an interview last week, he mentioned a 2021 bill sponsored by Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, that revised the requirements for when a child could be moved out of the home. Frank has been a foster parent himself. His bill was based on the premise that keeping the child in the home if at all possible both avoids the inevitable trauma of separation and reduces the number of children who need an often difficult-to-locate place to live. Wu, an attorney who specializes in representing children in Child Protective Services cases, believes the new approach is working. Its one small step in a long, difficult journey. One other thing: Jack, unimpeded, needs to stay on the job. In the words of plaintiffs attorney Yetter, Judge Jack has been a godsend for Texas foster children. I think the 5th Circuit expects her to continue to give careful and close guidance to the reforms needed to ensure safe homes for these vulnerable children. The judge is determined to fix this broken system, and we plan to be there with her every step of the way. The children deserve no less. Wu echoed Yetter. The people involved have no voice, he told us. Theyre either children or theyre parents, usually poor, who have no political power. I have appreciated having the court there to speak for them. We should all appreciate Jack. Shes doing the Lords work, which, apparently, Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other powerful people running the state of Texas have no intention of doing willingly. That brings us back to a somewhat more spirited version of our original question: Why the hell not? Regarding the Make no mistake: Texas GOP wants control of local elections (Opinion)," (May 5): Cindy Siegel, chairman of the Harris County Republican Party, argues in her letter that SB 1993 and other bills are necessary because people (such as the mom with a car full of kids) turned away from a polling location due to paper shortages might not have been able to vote at all, potentially because of the tiny window in which to vote and no time to hunt down another voting location as well as the general discouragement a first-time voter might feel." Hmm. Maybe if Harris County (and the other 253 counties) had expansive early voting hours, drive-thru voting, 24/7 voting at some locations, a simple mail-in voting system, and plentiful mail-in voting drop boxes, none of the obstacles to casting a ballot that Ms. Siegel cites would exist. In fact, with expansive early voting and mail-in voting options, there probably wouldnt even be a danger of running out of paper at in-person polling locations on Election Day. Wait, didnt Harris County implement many of those things during the 2020 election cycle? Yes. Former Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins efforts led to record voter turnout. However, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 7 in 2021, banning counties from implementing many of these voting access improvements. So the root cause of Ms. Siegels concern about lack of paper making voting in (blue) Harris County difficult and discouraging can be traced to the earlier actions of her own party. Susan Hanley, Houston The chairwoman of the Harris County Republican Party stated in her letter that "Nearly three percent of polling locations ran out of ballot paper at some point, resulting in voters potentially not casting a ballot." Could that mean that the candidates who were declared the winners of the Nov. 8, 2022 election could have actually won by a bigger majority? Sally Curtis, Houston Regarding "Texas Republicans want power to overturn Harris County elections over mishaps at the polls," (May 2): As I read this morning about the Republican state takeover of Harris County, I felt, for the first time in my life, what it is like to live under totalitarianism. William Nelson, Houston Taking action Regarding "Abbott tells Chicago mayor he won't stop busing migrants north," (May 2): With each un-redacted text, its becoming increasingly evident that science lacks the tools to adequately plumb the depths of Tucker Carlsons perverse bloodlust. One could draw a line from his rants on replacement theory to at least three mass shootings. But lets not forget the line that ran quite recently from Tuckers mouth to Greg Abbotts ear. More than just a suggestion to pardon a convicted murderer, its a theme that runs through these articles on page A4 of the May 4 print edition and too many others. Performative cruelty GOP theatrics on full display. Here in Texas, its an all-out declaration of war against public schools, immigrants, women, transgender children and their families, voting, rural health care, books, drag shows, tenured faculty and municipal self-rule. Its no wonder families are fleeing the state while others refuse to step foot into it. Tragically and literally, children have become casualties in this war. The best our governor can do is disingenuously mumble something about illegal immigrants or force schools to display the Ten Commandments. As if thou shalt not kill is some cost-effective deterrent for mass shooters. I dont think these sentiments are held by a majority of Texans. Polls suggest as much. Demographically threatened, Abbott takes his cues from and panders to a small, angry but vocal contingent. He should do the state a favor and bus himself to Chicago. Unfortunately, we will continue to suffer the likes of Abbott, Ted Cruz, Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton until voters can look beyond the "R" next to a candidate's name to see whats really there. Or isnt. Robert Campbell, Katy Gov. Abbott is no different from Trump and the Jan. 6 insurrection. Abbott is having a law passed to overturn elections that are not in his and his party's favor, for whatever reason he deems. This is what that law is really all about. I don't think he will stop with Harris County but could extend that law to every county in the state. If the largest city and county in Texas does not fight, watch out, smaller cities and counties. Before we know it, little by little our great state will be run by a dictator such as those of Russia, China and North Korea. And you know what they do to those who oppose them. We have the right to vote as citizens, but new state laws are being passed to revoke the votes we have the right to cast. This must not happen. Our country and state are supposed to be democracies. The Republican Party leadership has become so corrupt and abusive they are no longer recognizable. We cannot and must not remain silent, gullible and complacent. Our democracy must prevail at all times. We cannot let them take our rights away. Shirley Jefferson, Missouri City Next week, many graduating students at the University of Houston will not hear a guest speaker at their commencement ceremony. Gone are the days when all the universitys graduates and their loved ones gathered in the stadium to hear wisdom from the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Matthew McConaughey. With so many students to recognize, a single ceremony would take too much time. So the university now holds separate, smaller ceremonies for each of its many colleges and schools, spread over the course of four days. Many, including the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences where I teach, opt to have no send-off speaker at all. Thats a shame: After so many upheavals during their time at UH, this graduating class merits more than a perfunctory send-off or one from a Hollywood star. The commencement address has long been a tradition at American universities. At its inception in colonial America, the speech was given by graduating students who mostly paraded their knowledge of Latin and Greek. Three centuries later, the speeches are given depending on the universitys reputation and riches by a gradation of celebrities who mostly parade theirwell, their celebrity. Ideally, the speaker speaks to the nature of commencement: it marks the resolution of one stage in the students life. But as the name suggests, the speech mostly emphasizes the commencement of the next stage. The problem today is that little has been resolved for these graduates. When my students look back over this period, they mostly express their confusion. How could it be otherwise? These past four years span several seismic events some global, some national, some local whose tremors we still feel. It was a time in which the abnormal became the norm and the unprecedented became the predictable. Of course, so much of university is unprecedented for entering freshmen. This is true when they find themselves sitting in a vast lecture hall with hundreds of fellow students or sitting around a conference table with a professor and a handful of peers. This is true when they pull an all-nighter at the library to finish a class project or pull an all-nighter at a bar to finish another beer at a downtown bar. This is true when they debate existential questions with friends in their dorm room or debate with themselves the practical question of whether to take a gut or a tough course. But the unprecedented took on new meaning for the undergraduate class of 2023. Halfway through their first year, the year stopped. When SARS-CoV-2 showed up, our university shut down, as did most other universities across the globe. Students here as elsewhere were, with no preparation, heaved into a virtual reality where they were expected to keep calm and carry on. In my classes, they admirably kept their calm and brilliantly carried on: from their bedrooms and backyards, cars and kitchens. They continued to keep calm when, once hybrid classes were allowed, we huddled in small groups outdoors, shouting to one another through our masks on a deserted campus. But the students did not keep quiet, and rightly so, about the emotional and mental toll their social isolation had taken on them and their families. More was to come. Their freshman year had barely ended when, in late May 2020, they and the world witnessed the slow and agonizing murder by a Minneapolis police officer of Houston native George Floyd. When my family and I joined the tens of thousands downtown to protest this act of barbarism, I met several students who, though masked, wanted their voices to be heard. The imperative of social justice, they told me, overruled the imperative of social distancing. In early 2021, the nation nearly shut down again. Not because of yet another mutation of the coronavirus that had already led to so much damage and death. Instead, it was the mutation of an ideological virus that had led to a failed insurrection in our nations capital.During spring semester, while the nation was still reeling from this event, one of the books my students read was Albert Camus The Plague. A tale about a city invaded and occupied by the Bubonic plague, it was also an allegory of France invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. Though the novel was published shortly after the Second World War, for many of the students, it was as if it had been written yesterday. Though they grasped the books tragic lesson that victory over both kinds of plague can never last these students were not prepared for the most recent tragedies that struck our campus. When two students took their own lives earlier this semester at Agnes Arnold Hall, the building was (finally) shut down, though temporarily. The only unprecedented aspect to student suicides here and elsewhere are their numbers: In the wake of the pandemic, a mounting wave of suicide contagion and suicidal ideation has touched most American campuses. Yet, as those near and dear to someone who takes their own life know, an individual suicide, by definition, is unprecedented because it spells the end of a life that had also been without precedent. All of this, perhaps, is reason enough to set a precedent at our upcoming commencement ceremony. Why not return to the original tradition of inviting students to speak? Dozens of billboards across town trumpet that we dare at UH. This transitive verb is then complemented, as befits a daring campaign designed to expand our brand perception beyond our borders, with a variety of generic direct objects such as create, discover and lead. But what if student speakers were invited to tell us how they dared to discover how a work of fiction or fact even if originally written in Latin or Greek! offered insights into their own lives in a world swept by disease and death? Or, again, how they dared to create, in local law offices, hope for people without legal immigration status who are lost in the labyrinth of our law courts and state bureaucracy? Or, even, how they dared to lead our administration, by organizing petitions and protests, to respond to the mental health crisis on campus? Heres one more direct object for our marketing blitz: reflect. We dare to reflect on what has been to better create what will be. Come commencement day, lets dare to take a moment to recall what and who we lost before we dare to discover and lead in this new chapter of our lives. Robert Zaretsky teaches at the University of Houston. Hes now completing a book on Stendhal and the art of living. WFO NORMAN Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Norman OK 443 PM CDT Sat May 6 2023 ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern Foard, northeastern Knox and northwestern Baylor Counties through 530 PM CDT... At 443 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 4 miles northwest of Red Springs, moving north at 15 mph. HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and penny size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible. Locations impacted include... Red Springs and western Lake Kemp. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio stations and available television stations for additional information and possible warnings from the National Weather Service. LAT...LON 3360 9938 3361 9955 3384 9959 3382 9926 TIME...MOT...LOC 2143Z 191DEG 14KT 3364 9947 MAX HAIL SIZE...0.75 IN MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... East central Haskell County in west central Texas... Northwestern Throckmorton County in west central Texas... * Until 545 PM CDT. * At 445 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near The Intersection Of Us-380 And Highway 222, or near Irby, moving northeast at 15 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * This severe thunderstorm will remain over mainly rural areas of east central Haskell and northwestern Throckmorton Counties, including the following locations... Us-183 Near The Throckmorton-Baylor County Line and The Intersection Of Us-380 And Highway 222. For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather May 13, 1928 May 4, 2023 When Joan Bozer first visited Buffalo in 1950, she wrote to her parents in New York City that she had arrived in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. She spent much of the rest of her life working to preserve and enhance that beauty. Her son Alan Bozer tells the story about her visit more than 70 years ago, when she was in Buffalo to meet the family of her future husband, Dr. John Bozer. On that day, Mrs. Bozer first experienced the parks she would one day play an integral role in conserving. The young couple drove along Genesee Street to Humboldt Park, now called Martin Luther King Jr. Park, then took Humboldt Parkway to Delaware Park, passing through Agassiz Circle on the way. From that point on, Mrs. Bozer embraced Buffalo as her home, her son said. "She adopted Buffalo as her city," Alan Bozer said. "She came to love it." Mrs. Bozer, a former Erie County legislator, died Thursday after a brief illness, her son said. She was about a week shy of her 95th birthday. Sean Kirst: In demolition-happy 1970s, the fight to save the old Post Office Joan Bozer and Minnie Gillette helped lead an uphill campaign to save the building for use as ECCs City Campus, an effort seen as a turning point in Buffalos attitude toward its historic She was known around Western New York as one of the region's longtime preservation and environmental advocates and the matriarch of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. As a legislator in the 1970s, Mrs. Bozer fought to preserve the old U.S. Post Office building by turning it into the City Campus for SUNY Erie Community College. She was among the organizers who founded the Western New York Sustainable Energy Association in 1990. In 2014, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Preservation Buffalo Niagara. For years, Mrs. Bozer pushed to bring a solar-powered carousel to Buffalo's waterfront. She saw that dream come true in 2021, when the restored Buffalo Heritage Carousel built in 1924 by Spillman Engineering in North Tonawanda opened at Canalside. Alan Bozer, her oldest son, described his mother as someone who could "charm and recruit other people to work with her" on projects she was passionate about. She was someone who could bring people together around a "kernel of an idea," Mrs. Bozer's friend Gretchen Toles said. "She never claimed credit only for herself," Alan Bozer said of his mother. "It was always her ability to bring other people in to work with her." That is how she played a key role in founding a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Buffalo's parks. In the late 1970s, the city proposed building a school on land at MLK Park. Mrs. Bozer was a "devotee" of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who built Buffalo's park system. Although she fought against building the school there, the city built the Charles R. Drew Science Magnet School. But from that fight, Mrs. Bozer formed the Friends of Olmstead Parks organization, which later became the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. Mrs. Bozer also helped develop the National Association of Olmsted Parks. "She, truly, was the greatest champion, and we consider her the mother of the conservancy, the mother of the park system," said Stephanie Crockatt, current executive director of the conservancy. Mrs. Bozer accomplished a lot in her life, but her proudest achievement was her family, her son said. She was married to her husband for almost 65 years and they had five children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Mrs. Bozer grew up during a time when women weren't expected to get involved in government and politics. She attended a junior college and did office work, then earned a bachelor's degree in history and government from Empire State College later in life. Before getting actively involved in politics, she was president of the League of Women Voters. She was a role model to women and encouraged them to get involved. Mrs. Bozer encouraged and supported her daughter and granddaughters to pursue education and careers. "So, when you ask what was she proudest of, first, her family, and secondly, contributing to Buffalo and its heritage," her son said. Toles, who worked with Mrs. Bozer to form the conservancy, said she can't imagine what Buffalo would be like without her influence. "She was a champion for good," Toles said. "She was a kind and thoughtful and passionate person. She stood by her convictions. She was one of the most intelligent women I've ever known. I think she made Buffalo a better place." A funeral service for Mrs. Bozer will be held at 11 a.m. on May 13 her 95th birthday at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Buffalo. Wait! Before you go Please sign up for our Evening Digest and Breaking Newsletters Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! 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If you have an existing print subscription, please make sure your email address on file matches your HudsonValley360 account email. FEMA Awards Over $2M to Mass for COVID-19 Hospital Staffing BOSTON The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $2 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse it for the cost of hiring temporary staff to handle the increased patient loads at public health care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The $2,079,767 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for the cost of contracting for medical and nursing staff to support the state-run medical facilities between April 2020 and July 2021. The department contracted for 123 staff such as registered nurses, certified medical assistants, physicians, and respiratory therapists for a total of 20,595 hours at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain, Tewksbury Hospital, and Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children in Canton. "FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with these costs," said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. "Providing resources for our partners on the front lines of the pandemic fight is critical to their success, and our success as a nation." FEMA's Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency. So far, FEMA has provided more than $1.6 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses. iciHaiti - D-6 School census : 14,767 schools already registered 6 days before the expiry of the extension period for latecomers (public and private) schools for the compulsory online school census, 14,767 schools have made their declaration, an essential step to renew the school's operating permit, obtain the accreditation and being able to register students for the official examinations of the 9th fundamental year https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-39377-icihaiti-school-census-2023-nearly-75-of-schools-in-haiti-already-registered.html It should be recalled that in order to take into account several requests made by certain School Directors to complete the formalities online, the Ministry has decided to extend the deadline for the declaration of schools until Friday, May 12, 2023, and to Monday May 15, 2023 the one for the online registration of candidates for the 9th A.F. exams To declare a school online : https://sigeee.menfp.gouv.ht/declaration-ecole/ If a school has difficulty filling out the online form, it can seek assistance from the School District Offices (BDS) and/or the Departmental Education Directorates (DDE). Number of schools identified by department, as of May 5, 2023: West: 5,307 schools Artibonite: 2,155 schools North: 1,500 schools Center: 1,346 schools North West: 968 schools South: 881 schools Southeast: 883 schools Nippes: 627 schools Grand Anse: 588 schools North-East: 512 schools Total: 14,767 schools See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39415-haiti-flash-extended-delays-for-the-census-and-registrations-for-9th-af.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-39377-icihaiti-school-census-2023-nearly-75-of-schools-in-haiti-already-registered.html IH/ iciHaiti Nardin Academy's Board Chairwoman Tish Van Dyke and others in school leadership have raised the importance during the past several months in the completion of a school assessment report undertaken earlier this year. Nardin president will step down at the end of June; 9 board members resign A statement issued by the Board of Trustees late Wednesday night said it had agreed on several measures, including that Nardin President Sandra Betters would step down as of June 30. The nine board members will also step down as part of that agreement. On Friday, two days after the board announced President Sandra Betters would leave her post June 30 and nine trustees agreed to resign, the academy released a brief statement, including one sentence about the assessment. "The third-party assessment, initiated by Nardin's board of trustees, showed no wrongdoing or misconduct on Sandra's part," the statement said. "We are grateful for Sandra's hard work, professionalism, and her unwavering support of the mission of Nardin and the Daughters of the Heart of Mary," the statement said. "As a board, we have begun to review the assessment report and we look forward to initiating the school's 'Plan for Healing and Growth.' " That plan calls initially for the establishment of broad working groups using recommendations from the assessment. The Nardin statement provided no information about the assessment, including how it was conducted, who was interviewed, what was investigated and how conclusions were reached. Van Dyke did not return a phone call Friday from The Buffalo News, which was made after a reporter reached out to Steve Bell and Adam Croglia, public relations specialists who have helped handle media inquiries for the school in recent weeks, to ask to speak with someone who could shed light on the assessment process. Seth Gilbertson, senior counsel with the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, conducted the assessment and reached the report's conclusions. He told The News he could not comment. Van Dyke and Elizabeth Dodge, U.S. provincial for the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, said in a communication to the Nardin community on April 7 that they hoped people would wait until the completion of the assessment before coming to conclusions about the school's leadership. Reaction to the brief statement was met with sharp reaction by Nardin Together, an ad hoc group of parents, alumni, former faculty and others with ties to the academy. "It's a whitewash," said Martha Mangan, a co-founder of the group. "From the conversations we have had with multiple people who were interviewed for the assessment, it's unconscionable they reached the conclusion they did," Mangan said. "We look forward to them sharing the entire assessment with the Nardin community." Mangan said Nardin Together, which has a social media presence, was issued a cease-and-desist order earlier this week from Phillips Lytle, which handles legal matters for the school, to stop using Nardin's "name, image or intellectual property." The News on Friday obtained a copy of a statement signed by 61 people, in which two thirds of those interviewed said they raised concerns about Betters that included abuse of power, hostile work environment, fear of retaliation and threats. "I was asked by Seth Gilbertson if I thought Nardin's reputation was being tarnished by the very people 'who were crying about it being tarnished,' " said Jennifer Westerholt, a former director of alumni relations. "It was pretty obvious to me that the assessment was far from independent." Employees continued to exit their jobs at Nardin this week. On Friday, Greg Altman, vice president of finance and operations, "departed his role," according to a statement released to employees by Nardin Academy and shared with The News. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} James Gunn has ensured that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 will be different every time you watch it. The director has worked with Marvel to create 600 versions of the new film that will offer a different experience for cinemagoers. These changes will not consist of any alterations to the story, but have been designed to ensure every exhibitor in the United States and in most international territories has the option to maximise their screen size for the audience. Disneys vice president of finishing and stereo, Evan Jacobs, told The Hollywood Reporter: So wherever you go to see it, youre gonna see the best version. Each version has been designed for a different aspect ratio, meaning you may witness more or less action depending where you see the film. While every Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film comes in hundreds of different aspect ratios, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 has broken the record for the most. Jacobs said: It wouldve been harder, frankly, to accommodate this kind of creative vision on a different delivery schedule. But we had the time and we were able to make it work. Reviews are in for the film, and they have been mostly positive. Find The Independents verdict on the film here. Last week, on the day of the films UK release, lead star Chris Pratt was urged to remove a hideous Instagram post, which prompted a reply from his mother-in-law, Maria Shriver. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is in cinemas now. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A mother-of-three who noticed her finger had become infected as it was all swollen and green and was put in an induced coma after a devastating leukaemia diagnosis which left her battling for life has said it was never an option to give up. Now celebrating being almost six years cancer-free, Peppie Scobbie, 53, who lives in Larkhall, South Lanarkshire, said she did not feel right while holidaying in Portugal in July 2017 after which she returned home and noticed her finger had gone green and was swollen and throbbing. After antibiotics failed to treat the apparent infection, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) a type of blood cancer aged 47, and underwent three intense rounds of chemotherapy, which made her hair fall out in clumps. During the first round of treatment, Peppie developed pneumonia and sepsis and was put in an induced coma and on life support, which made doctors question whether she was going to make it. Amazingly, Peppie bounced back, completed all three rounds of chemotherapy, and was told she was cancer-free just before Christmas in 2017. Peppie then received a stem cell transplant from her older brother Tom McClure in January 2018 a form of treatment for certain types of cancer as she knew that if she did not have this, she would relapse and die. Thanks to her treatment, she was able to marry Stevie, a 51-year-old foreman, in 2020, and her brother-turned-donor Tom walked her down the aisle. Now, despite being told she will be in chronic pain for the rest of her life and suffering with severe side effects as a result of her medication, she will soon celebrate being six years cancer-free and wishes to share the message that theres light at the end of the tunnel. I have days where I could cry, Peppie said. I could lie in my bed at night and cry because it upsets me, and I always say, Why me? Why did this have to happen to me? But I want to be here and live a life as best I can, considering whats against me. It was never an option for me to give up; it never ever has been and never ever will be. Peppie first noticed she didnt feel (herself) during a holiday in Portugal in July 2017. (PA Real Life) After returning home and resuming work with her cleaning business, from which she has since retired, Peppie said a clients dog jumped on her arm and it felt like an electric shock. Her arm went black and blue within a matter of hours, which she thought was strange but initially didnt think anything of it, however, this soon changed. I dragged myself out my bed every morning to go to work, but I was screaming inside because I just knew there was something not quite right with me, Peppie said. Peppie then noticed the skin on the middle finger of her left hand had become infected. The finger was throbbing but three courses of antibiotics prescribed by her GP did nothing to alleviate the symptoms. On August 16 2017, Peppie underwent blood tests and the following day she received a phone call from her doctor saying she had a high white blood cell count and low haemoglobin levels. Just 30 minutes later, she received a second call and was told she had leukaemia. She said she was devastated. I felt physically sick, Peppie said. You just read about things like that, and you hear it about other people, but you dont expect to hear that about yourself. It was a bit surreal. Peppies brother Tom, walking her down the aisle (PA Real Life/Gallery Eleven Photography) On August 18, the day after receiving the news, it was confirmed Peppie had AML and she began her first round of chemotherapy. Peppie said she did not have time to process her thoughts as her brain went numb, but the only question she had in her mind at that time was am I going to survive this? I just kept thinking, am I going to die? Peppie continued. Then I thought, no, dont put that in your head, because if I start thinking thoughts like that then its just going to consume me and its going to bring me down. I tried not to think about the bad side of things, I tried to be positive. However, after starting chemotherapy Peppie said she began to develop a temperature. She was taken to the high-dependency unit where she lost consciousness, before being moved to the intensive care unit (ICU) at University Hospital Monklands where she was put in an induced coma and placed on life support for two weeks. It was later discovered she had developed pneumonia and sepsis. Peppie was visited by her family during this time, and doctors did not know whether she was going to make it, but thankfully, the will and the fight was there. I was told about a week afterwards that not many people survive and come back up the stairs the way I did, Peppie said. Peppie then started her second and third rounds of chemotherapy, and while she did not have any major complications, the medication she was taking made her hallucinate and she lost her hair. This led to her shaving her head, which was a hard pill to take. I couldnt even look in the mirror because all I could see was this person that had cancer, who was ill, and it took me a long time to see past that person, she said. By Christmas, Peppie was told she was in remission, which was the best outcome, and she was able to spend time with her family and now-husband. She was also told that her older brother Tom McClure was the perfect match for a stem cell transplant, and she received this in January 2018. She had another transplant in June, but was then diagnosed with graft versus host disease where white blood cells attack the patients own body causing severe illness and damage to the skin on her feet and hands. After recovering from this, Peppie married Stevie on February 14 2020, and Tom walked her down the aisle, as their father, Thomas, had passed away from pulmonary fibrosis in 2015. She said she couldnt think of anyone better to stand in for her dad. Although Peppie is now nearly six years cancer-free, she is still taking numerous medications, including immunosuppressive drugs and steroids. As a result of taking steroids, Peppie said her gut and mouth have been permanently affected and she develops ulcers; she has avascular necrosis, which affects blood supply to the bone; she has undergone two knee replacements; and she has been diagnosed with osteoporosis a condition that weakens bones. She also has blood tests every fortnight and recently underwent two blood transfusions. Although she is in pain every single day, she still goes to aqua-fit classes three times a week, sees her friends, and walks her two dogs, Lily and Cooper. The grandmother-of-five said her family keep her strong because they mean everything to me, and she hopes that she can offer a glimmer of hope to those going through cancer treatment by sharing her story. Im five years post-transplant and Im still here, Im still living my life, she said. Its maybe not the best quality life most days it is but youve just got to cling on to that hope and that positivity to get you there, and obviously have good family and friends to help you achieve that. Theres light at the end of the tunnel. Leukaemia UK is investing in life-changing research into more effective treatments for AML and other types of blood cancer. For more information, visit: leukaemiauk.org.uk Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} First Lady Jill Biden has touched down in the United Kingdom with her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden, ahead of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The First Lady of the United States is expected to attend the coronation ceremony tomorrow (6 May) at Westminster Abbey with her 23-year-old granddaughter. Ahead of Saturdays coronation, the daughter of President Joe Bidens son Hunter Biden joined the first lady during a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks wife exploring veterans affairs and education. For the outing, the 71-year-old university professor dressed in a hot pink coat and matching dress, while the first granddaughter opted for a navy blue suit. On Friday evening, Finnegan was again by her grandmothers side for a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the King. There, the two were seen chatting with the Princess of Wales inside the Palace. According to the DailyMail, Finnegan is simply attending coronation weekend as her grandmothers guest. There is no official US delegation. Finnegan is a plus one, the White House said in a statement. As weve noted before with other family travel, historically, family members of Presidents have frequently joined them during travel. Current practices are consistent with those used by prior Administrations. Finnegan Biden is one of President Bidens seven grandchildren. She is the second child of his eldest son, Hunter Biden, and his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle. She was born on 9 September 2000 and is named after her paternal great-grandmother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden. Finnegan has an older sister, Naomi Biden, who was married on the White Houses South Lawn last November, and a younger sister named Maisy, who went to school with Sasha Obama. Her parents separated in 2015 and divorced in 2017. In 2018, Hunters fourth child was born to Lunden Alexis Roberts in Arkansas, with a judge signing an order declaring Hunters paternity in early 2020. He married South African filmmaker Melissa Cohen in May 2019 and had a son with her in March 2020, named Beau Biden Jr. First Lady Jill Biden and Finnegan Biden arrive for reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by King Charles III for overseas guests attending his coronation (Getty Images) Finnegan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 with a degree in history with a concentration in American studies, and a minor in art history. Her older sister Naomi celebrated her graduation with a touching Instagram post. BURSTING WITH PRIDE AND PERPETUALLY IN AWE OF MY FIRST LOVE AND LITTLE SIS, she capioned the post. Meanwhile, Finnegans Instagram account (@finneganbiden) is private. As a student, Finnegan led a successful petition to extend the universitys pass/fail deadline in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. I was talking with a lot of my friends, she told UPenns student-run publication 34th Street Magazine at the time. They were expressing this sincere anxiety about the pass/fail deadline being in a different time zone, and not knowing if their families are going to get sick. I was thinking of ways to enact change and to talk about it productively [so] the school might respond, and [the petition] seemed like the most productive [way] to show the school that the students really did care about this, she said. It wasnt her first time getting involved in school politics. In high school, Finnegan fought to change her schools dress code. I started this campaign where all the girls came into school and surprised the faculty, which they hated, wearing T-shirts saying: Im not the distraction. That was the first time I actually saw sincere impact [from] something I did because we got rid of the dress code and had a forum at our school about it, she also revealed to the publication. Finnegan Biden meets with Akshata Murty, wife of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, at 10 Downing Street on 6 May 2023 in London, England (Getty Images) Finnegan also joined her grandparents on the campaign trail around the US during the 2020 presidential race, and even encouraged young Americans to vote by hosting an event with the Young Democrats of America. Its not unusual that Finnegan has joined her grandmother in the UK for the Kings coronation. Last June, she and her sister Maisy accompanied the president and first lady in Spain for a meeting of NATO countries. In addition to Finnegan, President Joe Biden is also a grandfather to Naomi Biden, 29, Maisy Biden, 21, Natalie Biden, 18, Robert Hunter Biden II, 16, Beau Biden Jr, two, and Hunter Bidens daughter Navy Joan Roberts who he fathered with Lunden Roberts in 2018. The Bidens appearance in the UK comes after President Joe Biden received criticism for sending his wife to the coronation in his place. Former president Donald Trump hit out at Biden for his disrespectful decision to not attend the service. I was surprised when I heard that he wasnt coming, said Trump. I think its very disrespectful for him not to be there. No American president has ever attended a British coronation. Instead, the White House confirmed that Biden would travel to the UK for a state visit in the near future. As summer approaches and the U.S. travel industry celebrates the 40th anniversary of National Travel and Tourism Week, Buffalo is on the brink of a watershed year for travel and tourism. The impact in the months ahead will be profound with the June reopening of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, the new team booking guest stays at the Richardson Hotel, the plantings, labyrinth, sculpture and apartments emerging at Silo City and an expanding array of breweries and distilleries welcoming visitors with new flavors. Theres more: The waterfront from Canalside to the Outer Harbor teems with life from people out strolling to cyclists, boaters and parkgoers hanging out and soaking it all up. The creative menus and international fare from Sudan, the Phillipines and Ethiopia at the newly open Downtown Bazaar in the heart of the Theatre District are just a few examples of the great Buffalo food that has long attracted travelers. This summer will unfold at the Buffalo River with help from outfitters like Elevator Alley Kayak and Buffalo Bike Tours and the profusion of fun at RiverWorks with its tiki boat rides, zip lining and Ferris wheel that includes an adaptive seat for wheelchairs. This is all worth celebrating. The more people understand about our transformation, the more locals can be ambassadors and warmly welcome visitors to our community. This year, get your invitations out. Tell family, friends and visitors to come discover the best of our region. After its June 15 opening, you can start at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. With its beauty, complexity and new public welcome, it is a metaphor for the renaissance unfolding here. There is work underway for another highlight on the horizon: Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park, the former LaSalle Park, will have its swimming pool and splash pad open this year along with the newly renovated skate park. Those amenities are surrounded by work now underway to transform the park into another Buffalo waterfront destination with new ball fields, new shoreline access and a pedestrian bridge spanning the Interstate 190 with a new visual welcome to visitors as they drive in. These facets make our newly imagined city and region that surrounds it, something we can all be proud of. The open designs of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum and Centennial Park were a response to the desires of the citizens who live here. The ideas people expressed at community meetings shaped these new regional constellations. Now is the time to celebrate our good work and all the public spaces, restaurants and ways of exploring and sharing our beautiful home on the lake. Get the word out. And get ready for a memorable, and spectacular, summer. Patrick J. Kaler is president and CEO of Visit Buffalo Niagara. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Huge crowds flocked to London and braved the rain to celebrate the Kings coronation with some royals fans travelling from as far as Australia. The procession route along the Mall and Whitehall was lined with thousands of supporters hoping to catch a glimpse of Charles and Queen Camilla on the first of a three-day bank holiday weekend. Among them were best friends Carol Poore and Alison Stones, both 70, who flew to the UK all the way from down under on Thursday. Best friends Carol Poore (right) and Alison Stones (left) flew from Australia for the event (The Independent ) We love the monarchy, Carole said. Australia is a part of the Commonwealth and we were raised with the Queen, so were here to support them. Well be here for everything. This is a once in a lifetime its brilliant. Were feeling very excited. We hope we get to see the crown. Headteacher Wendy Bowen, 46, from Orkney, said she had made her dress specially for the coronation. With her husband, lollipop man David, she said the experience so far had been incredible, adding: I cant believe there are so many people. Noel Nuwe, 50, flew in from Uganda on Friday and plans on spending the whole weekend in the UK celebrating. From the top of The Mall, he told The Independent: Im feeling great and excited. Im looking forward to the ceremony. Its a good thing, the monarchy. King Charles is my favourite. Wendy Bowen (right, with her husband David), made the dress she is wearing for the coronation (The Independent) Noel Nuwe (right) flew in from Uganda to celebrate the coronation (The Independent) King Charles III has now become the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, the nations coronation church. The procession itself moved from Buckingham Palace, along the Mall then down Whitehall, ending at Westminster Abbey, where the ceremony took place before the newly crowned monarchs returned via the same 1.3-mile route. Screening sites were set up in Hyde Park, Green Park and St Jamess Park. King Charles wearing the Imperial State Crown following his coronation ceremony (PA) But some royal fans were not as fortunate as others, with most areas quickly reaching capacity. According to a worker providing information on the ground, Green Park, St Jamess Park and areas surrounding the procession such as Trafalgar Square were full by 8.30am. Members of the public were not dissuaded, however, and many were directed towards the screens in Hyde Park though that area also soon became packed. The procession passed along the Mall to Buckingham Palace following the coronation (PA) Daniel Ismail, who had flown from Malaysia with his family, told The Independent he was disappointed at the closure of so many areas so early in the day. With hopes of seeing the procession, he and his parents had gone to the Mall on Saturday morning to find it was already closed off. The trio were ushered to Hyde Park, where they were hovering at the side of a screen. Mr Ismail said it was a huge turnout and the royal family would be pleased, adding he had never seen crowds so big. Daniel Ismail had flown all the way from Malaysia with his family (The Independent) Helen Harbinson and her daughter Isabella were with Marie Greenwood and her daughter Hannah having a picnic under a tree in Hyde Park, feeling similarly disappointed having had little luck getting any closer to the royals. Ive never seen any crowds like this, said Ms Greenwood, from Essex. Theyre everywhere. This is my first royal event and it definitely wont be my last. Others like Aaron Barshack were less convinced by the pageantry. Although Im not a Republican, I was going to take part in the protests because the monarchy needs to be updated, he said. Aaron Barshack was less convinced by the pageantry, saying the monarchy needs to be updated (The Independent) Anti-monarchy demonstrators were arrested in the hours before the procession (AP) Earlier on Saturday, a number of anti-monarchy protesters were arrested by police in a move denounced by demonstrators. Supporters of the Republic campaign group saw hundreds of placards reading Not My King seized by the Metropolitan Police. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The coronation was the most diverse in the 1,000-year history of the ceremony, with a guest list that embodied the Kings determination to modernise the monarchy and reflect a multi-cultural Britain. Jonathan Dimbleby, a friend and biographer of the King, said this week that Charles would be a monarch for our times. He sees his role, I think I have talked about it with him as being doing his best to achieve a sense of overarching harmony in a very diverse and often rather troubled, very troubled, often divided United Kingdom. Mr Dimbleby added that he was a 21st-century person. Baroness Amos arrives at the abbey (Getty Images) The monarch is the supreme governor of the Church of England and has the title Defender of the Faith, but he has long made known his wish to be a defender of all religions. And for the first time, representatives from the nations faith communities played an active role in a coronation in Britain. Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus joined senior figures from the Jewish faith for the presentation of the coronation regalia. Lord Indarjit Singh of Wimbledon, editor of The Sikh Messenger, presented the King with the coronation glove, a white glove worn on the right hand by the monarch. Baroness Gillian Merron, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, carried one of the royal robes. The guest list left out hundreds of British lords and MPs, in an active attempt to include people of diverse origins and ordinary Britons. It was a striking contrast with the 1953 Queens coronation, which upheld the ancient traditions of the ceremony. Historian David Olusoga told BBC News: I think what you saw today was a strong representation and a huge effort to show the diversity of faith within Britain, one of the things thats very different between the Britain of today and the Britain of 1953. The Coronation Procession passes along The Mall to Buckingham Palace (PA) Defence force personnel and police officers from British overseas territories in the Caribbean, including the Royal Anguilla Police Force and the Royal Montserrat Defence Force, joined the procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. Britains most decorated nurse, Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, and Baroness Valerie Amos, the first Black woman Cabinet minister, played prominent roles in the ceremony in the abbey. Baroness Floella Benjamin (R), carrying the the Sovereigns Sceptre with Dove, General Sir Gordon Messenger, (C) the Governor of HM Tower of London, carrying St Edwards Crown as Lord High Steward of England, and Dame Elizabeth Anionwu (L) (Getty Images) Liberal Democrat peer and former childrens television presenter Baroness Floella Benjamin, who carried part of the Kings regalia, praised the King for sending a clear message on embracing diversity. The Bishop of Dover, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, was asked to play a leading role in the coronation. Queen Nanasipauu of Tonga and King Tupou VI of Tonga, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan, Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan (Getty Images) She told The Voice: I hope the legacy will be a lasting one that looks to the future of what kind of a people and nation we want to be as a diverse society where we respect one another and care about each other irrespective of colour, culture or creed. Former president of the National Black Police Association Franstine Jones said being invited to the coronation was the biggest recognition of her work to ensure diversity. The Kings and Queens of Tonga and Lesotho were also among representatives from 203 countries invited to the coronation. Meanwhile, 400 young people involved in charities were invited to watch the ceremony on a screen in a church next to the abbey. Rhys Mallows, 27, from Cardiff, who was a guest at the coronation, said the service represented a more inclusive future for Britain. Mr Mallows repurposed his family-run gin distillery to produce more than a million bottles of hand sanitiser for emergency services during the Covid pandemic and was awarded a British Empire Medal in 2022. He said the coronation symbolises moving on from where we were with the virus into that brave new future. This coronation is very different from past ones and represents a more inclusive, more diverse future, he added. Close The key moments from King Charless coronation ceremony Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The first official portrait of King Charles following his coronation has been unveiled. Buckingham Palace tweeted the photo, in which the monarch poses with his crown and sceptre, after three days of celebrations to mark the event drew to a close. It came after a number of royals took part in The Big Help Out on Bank Holiday Monday, a day of volunteering aimed at bringing communities together and creating a lasting volunteering legacy from the coronation weekend. Prince Louis attended his first official royal engagement, joining his family as they helped renovate a Scout Hut near to their Windsor home. Last night, his father Prince William made a poignant speech in honour of his father Charles at a glittering coronation concert held at Windsor Castle. The newly crowned King Charles and Queen Camilla joined around 20,000 members of the public at the concert in Windsor where, along with other family members, they enjoyed performances by Take That, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Duke of Sussex is believed to be on his way back to the US just hours after his fathers coronation ceremony ended today. Prince Harry has lived in the United States with his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, and their children, Archie and Lilibet, since he stepped down from his position as a senior royal in 2020. It is believed that he headed back to Heathrow Airport after attending the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, later boarding his return flight to Los Angeles, The Telegraph reports. The duke reunited with his wider family for the first time since the late Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral in September. It also marks the first time that he has seen his family since the release of his tell-all memoir, Spare, in January. The Duke of Sussex quickly got into a car with a blank expression on his face after leaving Westminster Abbey. Harrys vehicle, which had blacked-out windows, followed the coronation procession back towards Buckingham Palace. It is understood that Harrys visit to the UK was always planned to be a brief one, since the coronation has fallen on the same day as Prince Archies fourth birthday. He was seen smiling at several points throughout the service, and was seated near a heavily pregnant Princess Eugenie, and her husband Jack Brooksbank, Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall and Anne, the Princess Royal. He was also sat in the same row as Prince Andrew. Harry arrived alone at the event and did not appear to have any interaction with his brother, William. He seemed in good spirits, though, chatting with Beatrices husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and was also photographed smiling widely at the Princess Royal as he took his seat in the third row in the Abbey. He will now fly back to Montecito, California, to be with his wife Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and his children, Archie, four and Lilbet, one. The Independent has contacted the Duke of Sussexs representatives for comment. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The public pledge of allegiance to King Charles at the coronation ceremony will be changed, according to reports. Earlier this week, Charles asked for the peoples oath to be toned down, following backlash from the public and his own allies, including broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby. Dimbleby, a close friend of the King, called the homage of the people an ill-advised idea and not what the monarch would have wanted. I cant think of anything he would find more abhorrent, he told the Today Programme. In a statement to The Guardian, a spokesperson for Lambeth Palace has confirmed the introductory words to the pledge will be changed ahead of the Kings coronation on Saturday 6 May. The homage of the people was always an invitation rather than expectation, they said. The decision to change the wording reflects the collaborative approach that has been taken throughout the coronation planning, the spokesperson added. The nation has been invited to pledge allegiance to the King for the first time (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) During his appearance, Dimbleby said: [Charles] never wanted to be revered. Hes never wanted anyone to pay homage to him except in mock terms as a joke. He added: He wants, I think, to feel the people will share in the event and I dont quite know how this might have happened. Late on Friday (5 May), The Times reported that the wording of the new Homage of the People would be altered at the kings request. The Archbishop was initially set to call upon all persons of goodwill in The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other Realms and the Territories to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted King, defender of all. Instead, he will now invite people to offer their support, emphasising that this could be with a moment of private reflection. Night rehearsals for the coronation took place this week (PA Wire) Dimbleby said it seemed the initiative had come from the Archbishop, who is strongly evangelical. I think it was well-intentioned, but rather ill-advised, he added. The oath had been branded an offensive and tone-deaf gesture that holds the people in contempt by the campaign group Republic. The order of service at the coronation will read: All who so desire, in the Abbey, and elsewhere, say together: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God. It will be followed by the playing of a fanfare. Royal fans camping outside along the mall in preparation for the coronation (AFP/Getty) The Homage of the People will replace the traditional Homage of Peers, in which a long line of hereditary peers used to kneel and make a pledge to the monarch in person. The purpose of both oaths remains the same, however: to represent the pledge takers dedication to the monarch as the monarch is crowned. A spokesman for Lambeth Palace, the Archbishops office, said: The Homage of the People is particularly exciting because thats brand new. Jonathan Dimbleby said the decision for the public to pledge allegiance is ill-advised (EPA) Thats something that we can share in because of technological advances, so not just the people in the Abbey, but people who are online, on television, who are listening, and who are gathered in parks, at big screens and churches. Our hope is at that point, when the Archbishop invites people to join in, that people wherever they are, if theyre watching at home on their own, watching the telly, will say it out loud this sense of a great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the King. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis stole the show at the coronation of their grandfather, King Charles III. On Saturday 6 May, King Charles and Queen Camilla were crowned during a coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London. The Prince and Princess of Wales arrived at Westminster Abbey with their eight-year-old daughter and five-year-old son, while their eldest son, Prince George, served as Page of Honour for the King. It appeared Princess Charlotte was on big sister duty throughout the ceremony. As the young royals followed their parents into the abbey, many fans noted the sweet moment when the two siblings linked fingers before taking their front row seats. The brother and sister held hands again as they left the church once the coronation ceremony ended. Fans instantly took to social media to gush over the sweet sibling moment, as many people also simultaneously applauded Princess Charlotte for reining in her often rambunctious younger brother. Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte holding hands inside the abbey! tweeted one royal fan. Absolutely precious, one user replied. This is adorable, agreed someone else. One Twitter user pointed out: Best older sister EVER! Leading with a firm, gentle hand! LOVE IT TO BITS! OK, now THAT is proper cuteness overload...mind lost again, another person wrote. Princess Charlotte arrived at Westminster Abbey on Saturday wearing an ivory silk crepe dress and cape designed by Alexander McQueen, which was accessorised with a silver bullion, crystal and silver thread headpiece to match her mothers. Meanwhile, Prince Louis donned a Hainsworth Garter Blue Doeskin Tunic made by Savile Row tailors Dege and Skinner. The navy blue ensemble featured embellished lacework on the collar, cuffs, and fronts, along with black slacks complete with a Garter Blue stripe. Royal watchers also praised Princess Charlottes calm demeanour, while Louis was once again seen yawning and fidgeting during the early parts of the ceremony. However, he managed a smile even as he struggled to sit still. As the service drew to a close, the royal children sang God Save The King as their grandfather walked past. Prince Louis was the centre of attention once again at his grandfathers coronation, less than one year after he became an internet sensation during the late Queen Elizabeth IIs platinum jubilee celebrations last June. Louis kept the crowd entertained at Trooping the Colour on the Buckingham Palace balcony, as he pulled faces and covered his ears during the RAF flypast. He was also seen kissing his mother on the cheek and bouncing on his grandfathers knee during the jubilee pageant. Follow for live updates from the coronation. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Princess Dianas former butler has said he believes the late royal wouldve attended the coronation of King Charles III if she were alive today. In an interview with GB News broadcaster Dan Wootton on Thursday (4 May), Paul Burrell said that not only would the late Princess of Wales have attended her ex-husbands coronation on Saturday (6 May), but she also wouldve outshone everyone at the ceremony. I think she would have attended, Burrell said. I think she would have looked stunning. She would have outshone everyone much to the anger of some but she would have done it with grace. The former butler emphasised that Princess Diana wouldnt pass up the coronation being such a vociferous member of the royal family and being so proud of her sons Prince William and Prince Harry. He added that Diana herself would have moved on by now and hopefully would have found love with someone else. Paul Burrell developed a close relationship with the late Princess Diana, acting as butler to the princess until her death in August 1997. He began serving as a footman at Buckingham Palace when he was 18, and became the personal footman to the late Queen Elizabeth II one year later. Burrell has previously said that Diana described him as her rock and he was the only man she ever trusted in subsequent memoirs written by the ex-butler. However, he came under fire in 2008 during an inquest into Dianas death, when it was revealed that he secretly copied letters between her and other members of the royal family. He has also been criticised for disclosing private aspects of Dianas personal life, which he was told in confidence, in his books. Princess Diana and her butler, Paul Burrell, in Bosnia on 9 August 1997 (PA) Princess Diana who died in a tragic car accident in Paris, France at age 36 would have been 61 years old at King Charles coronation. The former Prince and Princess of Wales were married on 29 July 1981 at Westminster Abbey, the same location where Charles will be crowned more than 40 years later. They were married for nearly 10 years and welcomed two sons, but Prince Charles infidelity with Camilla Parker Bowles caused the couple to separate in 1992. Their divorce was finalised in 1996. The then-Prince of Wales went on to marry Parker Bowles in 2005. On Saturday, his wife will be crowned Queen Camilla alongside her husband during the coronation ceremony. Since the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, she had been referred to as Queen Consort. Some 2,000 guests have been invited to attend The Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III & Queen Camilla By Command of the King the Earl Marshall is directed to inviteto be present at the Abbey Church of Westminster on 6th day of May 2023. The invitation, designed by Andrew Jamieson, also includes an illustration featuring Camillas coat of arms enclosed by the Garter, to represent her installation as a Royal Lady of the Order of the Garter last summer. A senior royal aide recently confirmed to the Daily Mail that she will henceforth be called Queen Camilla because it made sense to refer to Her Majesty as the Queen Consort in the early months of His Majestys reign, to distinguish from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Camilla is the appropriate title to set against King Charles on the invitation, they added. The Coronation is an appropriate time to start using Queen Camilla in an official capacity. All former Queen consorts have been known as Queen plus their first name. The Duke of Sussex will also be in attendance at the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla. There had been much speculation over whether Princess Dianas youngest son would attend his fathers coronation, following the release of his tell-all memoir, Spare, in January. Since stepping down as senior working royals, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have shared many details about the royal family in their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 and their six-part Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. On 12 April, Buckingham Palace confirmed Prince Harry will attend the coronation, while Meghan will stay at home in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that the Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6 May, the Palace said in a statement. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. It was previously reported that Harry was seeking an apology from his father, Charles, and his brother, the current Prince of Wales, before he made any commitment to the ceremony. Harry had also said in an interview that the door is always open for reconciliation. Follow for live updates from the coronation here. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} King Charles III is Britains new monarch, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on 8 September 2022. Charles wife, Camilla, was subsequently named Queen Consort as the couple began a new chapter in a relationship that has spanned more than 50 years. Having first met in 1970, Charles and Camilla were married 18 years ago at Windsor Guildhall in a low-key ceremony. For most royal fans, the couples journey will always be intrinsically linked to the story of Charles and his ex-wife Lady Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales. Over the years, the public, and other members of the royal family, became more accepting of the match. Yet for decades the couple were pursued by gossip and scandal following Charless fraught marriage to Diana. Here, we detail Charles and Camillas complicated love story. 1970 - Charles and Camilla meet for the first time A 22-year-old Charles met Camilla Shand, 24, the daughter of a British Army officer, at a polo match at Windsor Great Park. In 1992, People magazine reported that, when the pair met for the first time, Camilla said to Charles: My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common. The couple subsequently began dating. February 1973 - Charles goes away to the Caribbean and Camilla gets engaged to someone else After meeting Camilla, Charles joined the Royal Navy. He was assigned to frigate HMS Minerva in November 1972 and, in February 1973, the ship was posted to the Caribbean, not to return until November that year. While Charles was away, Camilla announced her engagement to Andrew Parker Bowles, then a lieutenant, whom she met in the late 1960s. The Prince of Wales was reportedly heartbroken by the news, which Camilla shared with him herself in a letter. In his book about Camilla, The Duchess: The Untold Story, royal author Penny Junor wrote: She wrote to Charles herself to tell him. It broke his heart. July 1973 - Camilla gets married Andrew and Camilla Parker Bowles together in 1992 (PA) Camilla married Parker-Bowles at the Guards Chapel in London on 4 July, followed by a reception at St Jamess Palace. The ceremony was attended by The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Princess Anne, who Andrew Parker Bowles was rumoured to also previously have had a relationship with. July 1980 - Charles starts dating Lady Diana Spencer Charles and Diana initially met in 1977 when Diana was just 16 and Charles was 29 (and dating her older sister). Diana and the Prince of Wales grew close a few years later when Diana went to stay with a mutual friend, Philip de Pass, at his family home in Sussex for a weekend. While there, Diana spoke to Charles about the assassination of his great uncle, Lord Mountbatten, with whom he had been very close. The next minute, he leapt on me, practically, she claimed in the tapes that were released in Diana: In Her Own Words. But then it sort of built up from there, she added of their courtship. 1981 - Charles and Diana announce their engagement Prince Charles and Diana at Caernarvon Castle during an official tour of Wales in October 1981. (Getty) Charles and Diana announced their engagement on 24 February. However, all already didnt seem well between the pair. In Diana: In Her Own Words, the Princess of Wales recalled a joint interview the couple gave the same day. Charles married Diana at St Pauls Cathedral in London on 29 July 1981 (AFP/Getty) "We had this ghastly interview the day we announced our engagement, she said. And this ridiculous [reporter] said, Are you in love? I thought, what a thick question. So I said, Yes, of course, we are, and Charles turned round and said, Whatever love means. And that threw me completely. I thought, what a strange answer. It traumatised me. 1981 - Charles buys a bracelet for Camilla Weeks before his July wedding to Diana, Charles bought a bracelet for Camilla, which was engraved with the letters G and F. This stood for Gladys and Fred, the couples nicknames for one another, which were inspired by BBC radio programme The Goon Show. Diana discovered the bracelet, she later told her biographer Andrew Morton. She said: I was still too immature to understand all the messages coming my way. And then someone in his office told me that my husband has had a bracelet made for her. I walked into this mans office one day and I said, Ooh, whats in that parcel? And he said Oh, you shouldnt look at that. So I opened it and there was the bracelet. I was devastated, and I said Well, hes going to give it to her tonight. So rage, rage, rage. You know, Why cant you be honest with me? But no, absolutely cut me dead. It was as if hed made his decision, and if it wasnt going to work, it wasnt going to work. 1986 - Charles and Camillas affair begins American journalist and historian Sally Bedell Smiths biography of Charles, Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes, states that his affair with his ex-girlfriend Camilla began in 1986. In 2017, Camilla spoke about having been initially reviled by the press and the effect it had on her. She told You magazine: It was horrid. It was a deeply unpleasant time and I wouldnt want to put my worst enemy through it. I couldnt have survived it without my family. 1989 - Diana confronts Camilla Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker-Bowles together in 1980 (Getty Images) In 2004, an audio tape Diana made for her biographer Andrew Morton was broadcast for the first time on NBC for the first time. On the tape, Diana recounted an incident at a party in 1989 when she confronted Camilla, interrupting a chat between Camilla, Charles and another man. I was terrified of her. I said, I know whats going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that, Diana is heard saying in the recording. I said to the two men, OK, boys, Im just going to have a quick word with Camilla and Ill be up in a minute," she said. And they shot upstairs like chickens with no heads and I could feel, upstairs, all hell breaking loose What is she going to do? Diana said Camillas response was very interesting. She recalled: She said to me: Youve got everything you ever wanted. Youve got all the men in the world fall in love with you and youve got two beautiful children, what more do you want? So I said, I want my husband. And I said, Im sorry Im in the way... and it must be hell for both of you. But I do know whats going on. Dont treat me like an idiot. December 1992 - Charles and Diana announce separation On 9 December, Prime Minister John Major announced that the Prince and Princess of Wales had separated amicably. 1993 - Charles and Camillas explicit phone call revealed Details of a secretly recorded explicit phone call between Charles and Camilla, which took place in 1989, were published by tabloid newspapers. The leaked phone call did not make it into royal drama The Crown as Josh OConnor, the actor who portrays Charles, point-blank refused to do it. When they offered me the role, he told SiriusXM. One of my first questions was I say questions, I think it was pretty much a statement We are not doing the [phone call]. January 1995 - Camilla and Andrew announce divorce Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles announced that they intended to divorce. However, Charles still refused to confirm divorce proceedings between him and Diana, with a spokesperson telling The New York Times that a previous statement denying that a divorce was in the works was still absolutely the case. The original statement said that there is no truth in reports which state that it has been agreed that a divorce should take place or that there have been discussions about a financial settlement between the parties. November 1995 - Princess Diana is interviewed by Martin Bashir Diana during her interview with Martin Bashir for the BBC (PA) In her now-infamous BBC Panorama interview, Princess Diana said there were three people in her marriage, a reference to her husbands relationship with Camilla. Diana said that womans instinct meant she knew about Charless affair but that she was also told by her staff and those who minded and cared about our marriage. Bashir asked the princess: Do you think Mrs Parker-Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage? Diana replied: Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded. August 1996 - Charles and Dianas divorce is finalised Newspapers reporting that Queen Elizabeth had sent a letter to both Prince Charles and the Princess Diana spelling out her desire for an early divorce (AFP/Getty) The couple were finally legally separated in 1996, almost four years after their separation was first announced. July 1997 - Charles hosts birthday party for Camilla Charles hosted a 50th birthday party for Camilla at his home Highgrove in Gloucestershire. Sept 1997 - Diana is killed in a car crash The Princess of Wales died in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris while being chased by paparazzi. Her partner, film producer Dodi Fayed, also died in the accident alongside the couples driver, Henri Paul. A woman places flowers in front of the Pitie Salpetriere hospital in Paris where Diana was admitted following the fatal crash (AFP/Getty) August 1999 - Charles vacations with Camilla and his sons Camilla joined Charles, Harry and William on a holiday to Greece. 2000 - The Queen attends an event Camilla is invited to Up until this point, the Queen had declined invitations for events Camilla was going to be attending, including a private 50th birthday party for Charles in 1998. In 2000, however, she accepted an invitation to a 60th birthday party for the King of Greece at Charless home in Highgrove. 2003 Camilla moves into Clarence House Charles and Camilla moved into official London residence Clarence House in 2003. February 2005 The couple announce their engagement Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles formally announced their engagement, and that the wedding date had been set as 9 April 2005. In a statement released at the time, the Prince of Wales said the occasion would mark a very special day for us and our families. Princes William and Harry also released a statement, which said: We are both very happy for our father and Camilla, and we wish them all the luck in the future." It was also announced that Camilla would use the title HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, following her marriage to Prince Charles. It is intended that Mrs Parker Bowles should use the title HRH The Princess Consort when The Prince of Wales accedes to The Throne, the statement continued. April 2005 The couple marries 35 years after first meeting A family photo taken on Charles and Camillas wedding day (Getty Images) The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall married on 8 April 35 years after their first meeting at Windsor Guildhall, with Prince William as best man. The Queen and Prince Philip didnt attend the civil ceremony, but were present for the service of prayer in St Georges Chapel, after the civil ceremony. Camilla wore a cream dress by Anna Valentine. April 2020 The couple celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary The couple marked 15 years of marriage amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. They released a picture of them with the duchesss dogs Bluebell and Beth on the anniversary. February 2022 Queen Elizabeth II acknowledges Camilla as Queen Consort The Queen said she hoped the Duchess of Cornwall will be known as Queen Consort when Prince Charles takes the throne. She used her Platinum Jubilee message celebrating her 70th year as the monarch to set out her hopes for her daughter-in-law, once a royal mistress, to be called Queen. This was a a huge U-turn after Camilla took the lesser title Princess Consort when she married Charles 17 years ago, The late Queens message, expressing her succession support for Charles, read: And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service. September 2022 - Prince Charles and Camilla receive new titles after Queen Elizabeths death After Queen Elizabeth IIs death on 8 September, Prince Charles immediately became King Charles III. Addressing the nation outside 10 Downing Street, the countrys new prime minister Liz Truss said: Today the Crown passes as it is has done for more than a thousand years to our new monarch, our new head of state: His Majesty King Charles III. The Duchess of Cornwall was bestowed the title of Queen Consort, as per the late Queens wishes. On 9 September, King Charles referred to Camilla as Queen Consort officially, in his first address to the nation since his mothers death. In the televised speech, recorded from the Blue Drawing Room of Buckingam Palace, he said: I count on the loving help of my darling wife, Camilla. In recognition of her own loyal public service since our marriage 17 years ago, she becomes my Queen Consort. I know she will bring to the demands of her new role the steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Duke of Sussex eschewed British fashion brands to wear a suit by French label Dior to his fathers coronation, fuelling speculation he may be about to sign an endorsement deal with the company. Prince Harry was photographed in a suit with waistcoat for the ceremony, at which he sat in the third row. Harry, who left swiftly after the coronation to catch a flight from Heathrow, wore his dark morning suit and tie with his Afghanistan and Jubilee medals pinned to his suit jacket. He also wore a Royal Victorian Order star and neck decoration. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives for the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023 in London, England. (Getty Images) Luxury fashion house Dior tweeted that it had dressed the duke in a custom design by celebrity favourite British-born Kim Jones, saying to do so was an honour. The brand has often been a go-to choice for Harrys wife, Meghan, who wore a Dior outfit to the Queens platinum jubilee celebrations last summer. Last month, the prince wore Dior to the High Court in London for a case against the publisher of the Daily Mail, alleging its investigators hacked his phone. Celebrity stylist and royal fashion expert Miranda Holder told Newsweek: Designer sponsorship deals with celebrities are commonplace, and it is highly likely that the Sussexes have an arrangement with Dior; it would be a highly convenient passive income for Harry and Meghan who make ideal ambassadors for the brand. She said Meghan had opted for Dior on several royal occasions. The Duke of Sussex departs Westminster Abbey, London, following the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla (PA) I personally feel that she turned to such an elite fashion house in an effort to subconsciously clad herself in fashion armor, attempting to shield herself from the critical gaze of the media and the public, she added. Wearing Dior is a new fashion direction for Prince Harry, who usually prefers a more casual style, particularly now he has moved to California and no longer has to dress up to perform royal duties. Harrys whistlestop tour to the coronation ended as he headed to Heathrow soon after the ceremony was over. Fashion house Dior tweeted that it was honoured to have dressed Prince Harry. Harry was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) by the late Queen. Buckingham Palace said the appropriate insignia was a star and neck decoration with no mantle. Follow our live coverage of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla here When it comes to disappointing health outcomes, much of the discussion has focused on glaring disparities in urban areas such as Buffalo and Niagara Falls for good reason. But conditions in rural Western New York are equally alarming. Alleghany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties share poverty levels that exceed the statewide 14% average. The residents of these areas often live 30 miles or more from the nearest trauma center or childrens hospitals, and have very limited public transportation options. As Executive Mark Poloncarz recently said, people living in these rural parts can die waiting for ambulances to arrive. Finding solutions that will help alleviate the harsh realities of rural life is the focus of the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York. Thanks to the generosity of international philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the foundation has new resources to use in its battle to improve the well-being of rural New Yorkers. Scott, a novelist and the ex-wife of Amazons Jeff Bezos, has brought her compassion to regions throughout the U.S., finding many organizations and causes worthy of large donations, including $2 billion in 2022 alone. Locally, Scott gave $8 million to the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo in 2020 and last November she provided the Buffalo Urban League with the largest single donation $6 million in its 96-year history. Scotts penchant for funding causes that focus on the underserved has provided the Health Foundation with $9 million to help it address its work with racial and health inequities in two upstate regions. The Health Foundation is doling out the funds through a carefully crafted plan that provides grants to six rural health networks in the Buffalo and Syracuse regions, addressing important priorities in those areas such as maternal and infant health, chronic disease prevention, health literacy, and mental health access. The plan is straightforward. Selected agencies will receive $75,000 each to use at their discretion in the 16 rural counties that the Health Foundation serves. The agencies include Ardent Solutions, the Healthy Community Alliance and Southern Tier Health Care System in Western New York; and the Cayuga Community Health Network, Seven Valleys Health Coalition and Madison County Rural Health Council in Central New York. Another $50,000 will be designated to create a Community Health Needs and Opportunities Report for Central New York. The report will be similar to a Health Foundation Report issued last year about the Southern Tier, which focused on barriers to good health in Alleghany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties. This is money that will be put to good use in assisting families dealing with any range of issues, including lack of transportation, lack of health insurance, poverty and food insecurity. The donation also allows each agency the freedom to make choices as to where and for what purpose it will target funding. Often, foundation grants are sharply defined and cant be extended outside specific requests, regardless of need. The funding comes at an opportune time; agency leaders have noted a sharp decline in public funding. They have called on state government to return rural health care reimbursement to levels that have not been seen in nearly a decade. Scott has provided hundreds of grants since she and Bezos divorced in July 2019. She has vowed through the Giving Pledge, a campaign founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and aimed at wealthy donors, to give away most of her $33 billion fortune. Western New Yorkers owe her their heartfelt praise and appreciation. 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. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Prince Harry has not been permitted to wear his military uniform to his father King Charles IIIs coronation despite serving 10 years in the army, according to a new report. The Duke of Sussex is set to attend the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla alone on Saturday 6 May. His wife Meghan Markle will remain in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. For the ceremony, Harry, who also served two tours of Afghanistan, is expected to wear a morning suit, according to The Telegraph. The decision follows royal protocol, which typically bars non-working members of the royal family from wearing military uniforms to official state occasions. Harry and Meghan announced their intentions to step down from their roles as senior members of the royal family in January 2020. They later relocated to the US. Following the couples decision, Harry was stripped of his honorary military titles. The dukes status as a non-working member of the royal family also meant that he was initially not permitted to wear his military uniform during the September funeral proceedings for Queen Elizabeth II. However, Harry was ultimately allowed to wear his uniform while standing vigil at the late monarchs coffin alongside the Prince of Wales and Her Majestys six other grandchildren at King Charles IIIs request. Although the King granted his youngest son permission to wear his military uniform while paying respects to the late Queen, Prince Harry reportedly made no specific requests concerning his outfit for the coronation, and was instead willing to wear whatever was asked of him, according to The Telegraph. The Independent has contacted a representative for the Duke of Sussex for comment. The coronation is expected to be a slimmed-down affair, with 2,000 guests expected to be in attendance rather than the 8,000 guests present at the Queens coronation in 1953. It has been reported the ceremony will also be much shorter than the late Queens, which lasted more than three hours, and feature a more relaxed dress code, possibly allowing peers to wear lounge suits or morning suits instead of ceremonial robes made with crimson velvet and ermine. As for the Kings coronation outfit, it has been reported that he has been advised to forego the traditionally opulent dress that the coronation ceremony is known for, and instead to opt for his military uniform. Prince William, Prince Harrys older brother, is also expected to wear his military uniform to their fathers coronation. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The coronation of King Charles III will finally take place on Saturday 6 May 2023, almost eight months after he ascended to the British throne following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II. Ahead of the big event, many may be wondering what the royal familys tree looks like. Up until 8 September 2022, when she passed away at her beloved Balmoral estate in rural Aberdeenshire aged 96, the late Queen sat at the top as she had throughout her extraordinary 70-year reign, the longest of any monarch in our history. That began when she succeeded her father George IV in 1952, and ended in the year of her platinum jubilee celebrations with her inviting her 15th prime minister, Liz Truss, to form a new government. In her final hours, spent under medical supervision at her Scottish residence, many of the Queens immediate family raced to be at her bedside to say goodbye, including her sons Charles, Andrew and Edward and grandsons William and Harry (whose bitter estrangment has dominated royal concerns in recent months). The Queen married Prince Philip in 1947. The Duke of Edinburgh was her husband, consort and rock for almost 74 years until he passed away in April 2021. The couple had four children: Charles, now King Charles III and formerly the Prince of Wales, born in 1948; Anne, the Princess Royal (born 1950); Andrew, the Duke of York (1960); and Edward, Earl of Wessex (1964). Charles had two sons from his ultimately unhappy marriage to the late Princess Diana, William and Harry, the former now the heir to the British throne. (Getty) Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011 and the now-Duke of Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge have three children of their own, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, all of whom happened to be taking part in their first full day at Lambrook School in Berkshire on the day of the late Queens passing, hence their absence, and that of their mother, from Her Majestys bedside. Prince Harry married the American actress Meghan Markle in 2018 but the couple have since acrimoniously severed their official ties with the royal family and relocated to the US. They have two children: Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor. Princess Anne meanwhile presented the Queen with two grandchildren from her first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips: Peter Philips and Zara Tindall, the latter a successful equestrian married to the former England rugby player Mike Tindall. The Queen with members of the royal family at Buckingham Palace (PA) Mr Philipps and his ex-wife Autumn have two daughters, Savannah and Isla, while the Tindalls have three children: Mia, Lena and Lucas. The Duke of York, who has recently faced difficult questions about his friendships with notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, is likewise divorced but has two daughters from his marriage to Sarah Ferguson, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Both princesses have married and each had their first child last year Beatrice gave birth to a daughter, Sienna Mapelli Mozzi, and Eugenie a son, August Brookbank bringing the late Queens total number of great-grandchildren to 12. Lastly, Prince Edward has two children from his marriage to Sophie Rhys-Jones, the Countess of Wessex: Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} On 6 May, King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will be crowned at Westminster Abbey as the world watches. The monarch ascended the throne following the death of his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, last September. His coronation takes place more than 70 years after Elizabeth was crowned on 2 June 1953. During the crowning and anointing parts of the ceremony, which are said to be the most sacred parts, King Charles will sit upon the 700-year-old Coronation Chair. Follow our live blog for all the latest updates on the Kings coronation The throne has been at the centre of English coronations since it was made by order of King Edward I between 1300 and 1301.Westminster Abbey, where it is located, describes the chair as one of the most precious and famous pieces of furniture in the world. With centuries of history behind it, the Coronation Chair is a fragile piece of furniture and is currently undergoing conservation work to ensure it will be in top condition when the ceremony arrives in spring. We chart the history behind the iconic seat: Origins The Coronation Chair was made by order of King Edward I to enclose the Stone of Scone, which he brought from Scotland to Westminster Abbey in 1296. A general view of the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey on which King Henry VIII was throned in 1509 (Getty Images) The throne, created from oak, was made to contain the Stone between 1300 to 1301. The Stone was originally completely enclosed under the seat of the chair, but the wooden decoration at the front was torn away over time and exposed the Stone. The Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny or the Coronation Stone, is a block of red sandstone. It was previously kept at Scone Abbey in Scotland, which is now a ruin, but was seized by Edward I during the English invasion of Scotland. In 1996, former prime minister John Major announced the Stone would be returned to Scotland, but would travel back to the Abbey for coronations. It is now on display in Edinburgh Castle. A picture of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, sitting on the Coronation Chair, known as St Edward's Chair, on June 2, 1953 (AFP via Getty Images) The Coronation Chair was first used in a coronation ceremony in 1308, when King Edward II was crowned. According to Westminster Abbey, there have been 38 coronations for reigning monarchs held there, as well as 15 separate coronation ceremonies for Queen Consorts. Decorations Painted by Master Walter, Edward Is master painter, the Coronation Chairs original decorations included patterns of birds, foliage and animals. It was once covered in gold leaf, but much of it has worn away. The figure of a king with his feet resting on a lion was painted on the back. According to the Abbey, this is either Edward the Confessor or Edward I. Four gilt lions carved into the lower part of the chair were made in 1727 to replace the originals. They were not added to the chair until the early 16th century. Detail of a lion on the Coronation chair, at Westminster Abbey in London (PA) Krista Blessley, the Abbeys paintings conservator, is currently working on cleaning and preserving the chair. Earlier this month, she told PA that she had uncovered some overlooked details in the chairs decoration. I think they are previously undiscovered toes in the punchwork gilding on the back of the chair, she said. So there are areas of drapery where you can tell there would have been a figure. It might be they are figures of kings or it might be a figure of a saint, because so much is lost we cant really tell at the moment but Ill do some further investigation. Graffiti The back part of the historic chair is riddled with carvings and graffiti courtesy of Westminster schoolboys and visitors in the 18th and 19th centuries. Detail of graffiti on the Coronation chair, at Westminster Abbey in London, which is being restored ahead of the upcoming coronation (PA) These vandals mainly carved there initials or names into the chair. One visitor carved P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800. Some people also hacked off slivers of wood from the chair as souvenirs. One small corner of the seat was knocked off during a 1914 bomb attack, believed to have been the work of suffragettes. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Prince Harry attended the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, Buckingham Palace announced last month but his wife Meghan Markle stayed at home in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The news came after months of speculation over whether the couple would attend the ceremony. The Duke of Sussex has been seeking an apology from his family, according to his round of television interviews in January. But despite insisting he wanted to reconcile with his father and brother, there has been no meaningful reunion with Charles and William since the many personal family revelations made in his memoir, Spare. Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that the Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6 May, the royal statement said in April. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Royal author Omid Scobie, tweeted: I understand that Archies fourth birthday (also on 6 May) played a factor in the couples decision. He added: Expect it to be a fairly quick trip to the UK for Prince Harry, who will only be attending the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Harry laid bare his grievances with the royal family in Spare, released in January, along with his and Meghans Netflix documentary series, Harry and Meghan. Meghan will not attend the coronation in May (Getty) The book broke records, becoming the fastest-selling non-fiction title upon its release, selling 1.4 million copies on the first day. In March, the Duke made a surprise visit to the UK for a hearing at the High Court in London for his claim against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers, over allegations of unlawful information-gathering. The publisher is seeking to end High Court claims brought by people including Harry, Sir Elton John and Baroness Doreen Lawrence over alleged unlawful activity at its titles. It is alleged that the unlawful acts included hiring private investigators to secretly place listening devices inside cars and homes and the recording of private phone conversations. The publisher hit back at the allegations, describing them at the time as preposterous smears and a pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal. Charles and Camillas coronation was held at Westminster Abbey in London, with 2,000 guests in attendance. This comes in stark contrast to the 8,000 guests present at the Queens coronation in 1953. Charles will turn 74 years old in November 2022, making him the oldest person to be crowned in British history. Follow the latest royal updates here. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Privy Council, was the surprise star of King Charles IIIs coronation with her fierce outfit and stoney-faced sword-bearing. Mordaunt on Saturday 6 May became the first woman to carry the sword of state a symbol of the new kings authority during the procession at Westminster Abbey. Her part in the ceremony included carrying the heavy sword for a full 51 minutes, which weighs eight pounds (3.6kg), before exchanging it for the jewelled sword of offering and presenting that to Charles. Mordaunt kept a serious face and did not break a sweat while she was watched by thousands of people. Read our live coverage of the coronation weekend here. As part of an ancient custom, Mordaunt then bought back the glittering sword part of the new Kings regalia or collection of objects which symbolise his responsibilities as monarch from the Archbishop of Canterbury in exchange for 100 newly-minted 50p pieces bearing an effigy of Charles. Her appearance at the crowning ceremony impressed royal fans on Twitter, with one person wondering: Who had Penny Mordaunt overshadowing everything on their bingo card? Tony Blairs former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, tweeted during the event: Dont let anyone ever say I never say anything positive about Tories . . . I am in awe of Penny Mordaunts arm and shoulder strength! Mordaunt addressed her role in the coronation on Twitter, where she wrote: Honoured to be part of the #coronation with thousands of others who played their part. Im very aware that our armed forces, police officers and others have been marching or standing for hours as part of the ceremony or to keep us all safe. In comparison, my job was rather easier. Huge and heartfelt thanks to all who made this so remarkable. Im so proud of you all and the King and Queen today. Mordaunt previously told Matt Chorley on Times Radio that she had been doing press-ups ahead of the big day and had practised using a weighted replica. Fans of Mordaunt have also pointed to the irony of her viral moment at the coronation given her day job as the Leader of the House of Commons a role granted to her by former Prime Minister Liz Truss, often given to MPs to keep them quiet. And, as President of the Privy Council, she became the first woman in UK history to proclaim a new monarch. In honour of her show-stealing sword bearing, heres everything you need to know about the senior UK politician: What was Penny Mordaunt wearing to the coronation? The politician wore a teal caped dress designed by luxury ready-to-wear brand Safiyaa, embroidered with a fern motif, which is a nod to the privy council. The teal colour, called Poseidon, is a reference to her Portsmouth constituency. She arrived wearing ballerina flats, with studded bows and later changed into a pair of nude stilettos. A source told The Sunday Times last month: She is paying for [her outfit] herself as there is no budget for it, and no question that any taxpayers money should be spent on it. Penny has said that after the coronation she might sell it and use the money to fund future uniforms for women. Fans of fantasy TV and film, like Game of Thrones to Star Wars watchers, grew excited on social media, comparing her look to a fictional warrior princess in gladiator robes. Mordaunts political career Mordaunt has served as member of Parliament for Portsmouth North since 2010. Penny Mordaunt, holding the Sword of State walking ahead of King Charles III at the coronation (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Wire) In 2015, she was appointed Minister for the Armed Forces making her the first woman to ever hold this position in government. She was also the first woman to be appointed Secretary of State for Defence in 2019, after Mordaunt replaced Gavin Williamson. The appointment lasted 85 days, after Boris Johnson removed her from the position after he became prime minister. The 50-year-old politician was chosen Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Privy Council, a formal body of advisers to the sovereign, on 6 September 2022. Following Boris Johnsons resignation as Prime Minister over the Partygate scandal last July, Mordaunt launched her bid to become the leader of the Conservative Party eventually losing to Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss in the fifth round. After Truss resigned, the PM hopeful once again announced her candidacy but failed to gain the necessary endorsement of 100 MPs. Family life Mordaunt was born in Torquay on 4 March 1973. Her father John Mordaunt served in the Parachute Regiment before becoming a teacher and youth worker. Mordaunts mother was a special needs teacher and died from breast cancer when she was 15. She has a twin brother James and a younger brother Edward. The Tory politican, who was commissioned into the Royal Naval Reserve, said she was named after Navy Cruiser HMS Penelope. Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Archive) During her early years, Mordaunt worked in a Johnson & Johnson factory and was a magicians assistant to Will Ayling, past president of the Portsmouth Magical Society and of The British Ring. Mordaunt met her ex-husband Paul Murray while she was studying philosophy at the University of Reading. The couple got married in 1999 before divorcing the following year. Making a Splash! In 2014, Mordaunt appeared on the ITV show Splash!. A video of her belly-flopping into her pool during the show went viral online, after she announced she was running for prime minister last year. Read our live coverage of the coronation weekend here. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Britons are getting a second bank holiday weekend in a row, as the coronation weekend of King Charles III arrives right after the early May bank holiday last week. Monday 1 May was the early May bank holiday, while Buckingham Palace announced last year that Monday 8 May would also be a bank holiday to give the country an extra day to celebrate the coronation. With Big Lunches and street parties planned for the following one, British people have plenty to look forward to this weekend. However, it could also mean closures across some supermarkets on more days than usual. Many people will be looking to stock up for the long weekend and ensure they have plenty of food and drink for gatherings, parties, or just to relax with. Here are the opening times for Sainsburys, Tesco, Morrison, Lidl and more. Sainsburys 8 May Kings coronation bank holiday Sainsburys is operating at normal hours for the weekend of the Kings coronation. Again, opening hours may vary. Check your local store before you visit. Tesco 8 May Kings coronation bank holiday Most of Tescos large stores will operate at normal hours on 8 May. (PA) Morrisons 8 May Kings coronation bank holiday On 8 May, Morrisons stores will open at their usual time but will close at 8pm, slightly earlier than normal. Customers should check their local store times on Morrisons store finder. Aldi 8 May Kings coronation bank holiday Normal opening hours across Aldi stores on Saturday and Sunday (6 and 7 May). On 8 May, stores will be open until 8pm in England and Wales. In Scotland, stores will be open until 10pm. The opening times of some stores may vary and customers should check their local stores on Aldis website. Lidl 8 May Kings coronation bank holiday On Monday 8 May, Lidl stores will be open from 8am to 8pm in England and Wales. Stores in Scotland will remain open as normal until 10pm. Store opening hours may vary, so check the store finder before visiting. Asda (PA Wire) 8 May Kings coronation bank holiday Asda stores will be open at normal hours on Saturday and Sunday (6 and 7 May), but will shorten opening hours from 7am to 8pm on Monday 8 May. Marks & Spencer 8 May Kings coronation bank holiday Stores will be open at usual times on Saturday and Sunday (6 and 7 May), but will have shorter hours on Monday 8 May. Customers should check their local M&S using the store finder before visiting. Waitrose 8 May Kings coronation bank holiday Large Waitrose stores will be open for normal hours throughout the coronation bank holiday weekend. You can check your local Waitrose opening times using the companys store finder. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Former first minister Alex Salmond led a crowd of thousands in a chant calling for Scotland to be independent encouraging them to shout louder for the benefit of those in Westminster Abbey. The Alba Party leader was speaking at a rally held by independence campaigners All Under One Banner and organisers told the crowd the estimated attendance was more than 20,000. Marchers set off from Kelvingrove Park in the citys west end at around 11.30am coinciding with the Kings coronation ceremony to a rally at Glasgow Green. Mr Salmond told the crowd: In London, the subjects are required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown. In Scotland, in Glasgow, the citizens choose to swear an oath of loyalty to Scotland. The homage of the people is now to be said silently which will stop people having to swear at their TV sets. He said England is a country moving backwards and said the march was one of the greatest in Scotland ever, claiming the nationalist movement is the strongest political force in Scotland. He called for parties backing Scottish independence to stand together at the election in seeking a mandate. He added: We want our independence and we want it now. He then led the crowd in a chant calling for independence, urging them to shout louder for the benefit of those in Westminster Abbey. Other speakers included Ash Regan, who lost out in the SNP leadership race to now first minister Humza Yousaf. She told urged to crowd to unite, saying now is not the time for division. She added: An independent Scotland can only be built from a foundation of integrity. Earlier in the week Mr Salmond said Scottish police should have staged a standoff outside Edinburgh Castle to prevent the Stone of Destiny from being moved to London for the coronation. He said such a move could have been used as a bargaining tool in the push for a second independence referendum. The stone was taken to London last week to be used in the coronation, with First Minister Humza Yousaf attending a ceremony during which it was removed from its resting place at the castle. The stone has been used to crown monarchs of Scotland and later the UK in a tradition dating back centuries. Mr Yousaf dismissed the suggestion of involving the police, saying it would have not been the right thing to do. Later, hundreds of people gathered on Calton Hill in Edinburgh for an anti-monarchy rally organised by Our Republic. Some waved Saltire flags while others wore them as cloaks, and held signs with slogans such as Not our King and Down with the crown. Speakers included Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater who is a Scottish Government minister. Referring to the coronation ceremony she said: It is a bit obscene to be watching 100 million worth of horses, carriages, jewels and wild costumes when something like one in four families in the UK is struggling to feed their kids, it is simply obscene. So when it comes to the monarchy Scotland says no. Lets do better, lets build a better, brighter democratic future in an independent Scottish republic Lorna Slater, Scottish Greens She said that the inequality represented by the monarchy is a fundamental bit of social injustice. Ms Slater, the Scottish Governments green skills, circular economy and biodiversity minister, added: For the Scottish Greens we say that there is no social justice without climate justice, no climate justice without social justice. There are no kings on a dead planet. So when it comes to the monarchy Scotland says no. Lets do better, lets build a better, brighter democratic future in an independent Scottish republic. Other speakers included poet George Gunn, SNP MP Tommy Sheppard and Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman who took the stage at Calton Hill saying she was speaking from what I hope will soon be the capital of an independent socialist republic of Scotland. After she finished speaking the crowd sang you can stick your coronation up your arse before the next speaker took to the stage. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Archbishop of Canterbury has said the coronation serves as a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity. In a message issued on the eve of the historic occasion, Most Revd Justin Welby described the crowning of the King and Queen Camilla as beautiful, joyful and historic. He said people will be struck by the majesty and sacred wonder of the service, but also hoped they would find ancient wisdom and new hope. The Archbishop is conducting the service and has the momentous task of anointing and crowning Charles and Camilla in front of a global audience of millions during the live televised ceremony. Representatives from the nations faith communities will play an active role in the coronation of a British sovereign for the first time in history. When the regalia is presented to the King Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish peers will take part, handing over items which do not have Christian meaning or symbolism. New ground has been broken in other areas, from the inclusion of female Bishops the first time, to the use of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic languages and the opportunity for those watching around the globe to join in and swear allegiance to the King with the Homage of the People. Leaders from Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Buddhist groups will also deliver a greeting to the King in unison in the Abbey after the service. The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla promises to be a beautiful, joyful and historic occasion, the Archbishop said. People can certainly expect to be struck by the majesty and sacred wonder of the service, but also to be invited to pause and reflect. To reflect on our past, our future and, as we pray for our new sovereign, on our own lives and how we too are called to serve others. This service reaches deep into our nations Christian history. From the ancient and sacred act of anointing monarchs, to the use of the sixth-century St Augustine Gospels, the service will link us in a profound way with our national story. Charles III will be the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned in the Abbey when the golden bejewelled St Edwards Crown is lowered onto his head at midday on Saturday. Every monarch since William the Conqueror in 1066 has had their coronation on the site, with the exception of Edward V one of the disappeared Princes in the Tower and the abdicated Edward VIII, whose coronations never happened. The Archbishop added: But this is not simply history: I hope the service offers people an opportunity to hear the living words of God, which bring good news to every person in every generation. I also hope and pray that the coronation will serve as a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity. So I will be praying that everyone who shares in this service in the Abbey, across the country and beyond will find ancient wisdom and new hope. I pray that it inspires us all, like the King and Queen, to live our lives in service to others. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The King and Queen have made their first appearance of coronation day travelling the short distance from their Clarence House home for final preparations at Buckingham Palace. Crowds in The Mall cheered as they caught sight of Charles and Camilla being driven in a state limousine between the royal residences. They are due to leave the palace at 10.20am and travel in a procession to Westminster Abbey where first the King and then the Queen will be anointed and crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. The Duke of York was also seen being driven down The Mall in a state car, with parts of the crowd booing as he went past. Celebrity guests have begun arriving at the abbey for the Kings coronation as thousands flocked to the capital to share in the historic day. Actress Dame Emma Thompson, musicians Lionel Richie, Nick Cave and a cheery-looking Ant and Dec, in their smart morning suits, were photographed entering the place of worship. Inside the ancient abbey, the church buzzed with noise as the congregation filed in and took their seats hours before the ceremony was due to start. A smiling Dean of Westminster in his vivid red clerical robe was seen hurriedly carrying the holy oil for the anointing down the length of the abbey from the altar through the quire, clutching the precious ornate silver vessel in both hands. Crowds had been building up in the capital since dawn with the streets around the procession route The Mall, Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Parliament Square thronged with people. As anticipation mounted among royal fans, a group of republicans were arrested around 7.30am more than four hours before the coronation service began. Footage on Twitter seemed to show Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, being apprehended by police in St Martins Lane, Westminster. Pictures appeared to show demonstrators in yellow Not My King T-shirts, including Mr Smith, having their details taken by officers. Protest group Just Stop Oil also said approximately 13 demonstrators were arrested on The Mall, as well as five at Downing Street. The King will be crowned during a coronation ceremony dating back centuries. Cries of God Save the King will ring out around the abbey after St Edwards Crown is placed on Charles head by Mr Welby. The senior cleric said in a statement issued on the eve of the coronation that the ceremony served as a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity. He said people will be struck by the majesty and sacred wonder of the service, but also hoped they would find ancient wisdom and new hope. But in a change, the controversial Homage of the People element of the service has been toned down after there was widespread criticism of the new element. Mr Welby will now invite a show of support from the congregation rather than a call to those in the abbey and elsewhere to swear allegiance to the King. The event will bring together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple, with Charles estranged son the Duke of Sussex expected to attend. Invited guests include David and Victoria Beckham, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US First Lady Jill Biden but her husband President Joe Biden will not be attending. The day will be a display of pomp and pageantry, with the nations Armed Forces promising a spectacular event when the King and Queen process through the streets of the capital. The event is the militarys largest ceremonial operation since Queen Elizabeth IIs 1953 coronation, with 9,000 servicemen and women deployed and 7,000 of these performing ceremonial and supporting roles. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he looks forward to hosting the King in Ireland. Mr Varadkar and Irish president Michael D Higgins attended the coronation service in Westminster Abbey in London. They were also present at a reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday and spoke to Charles and members of the UK Government. The Taoiseach said: King Charles and Queen Camilla are long-standing friends of Ireland and King Charles has visited regularly in the past two decades, supporting good bilateral relations, co-operation, peace and reconciliation. I expressed my hope that his regular visits will continue into his reign. I was pleased to accept the invitation to attend the coronation, alongside President Higgins, symbolising the close neighbourly relations between our two countries. This is a historic moment for the British people, for the realm, and for their friends around the world. Mr Varadkar added: We have deep political, economic, cultural, and personal links with Britain, which provided a welcome home to so many of our citizens for generations. A vibrant British community actively contributes to life in Ireland in so many ways. And, of course, there are many people, in the north especially, who are both British and Irish. As we mark the coronation of King Charles III, I look forward to further strengthening British-Irish relations and the friendship between our peoples and look forward to welcoming the royal couple to Ireland in due course. Mr Higgins is the first Irish head of state to attend a coronation. To mark the event, Mr Higgins and and his wife Sabina requested the Tree Council of Ireland plant a native Irish oak tree in the woodland forest of Aurora in Co Wicklow. The gesture was to acknowledge the Kings commitment to environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, the Speakers of the Dail, Sean O Fearghail, and of the Senate, Jerry Buttimer, have offered their congratulations to Charles and Camilla following the coronation. In a joint statement the Ceann Comhairle and Cathaoirleach said: On behalf of the Houses of the Oireachtas, we congratulate King Charles and Queen Camilla on this auspicious day and wish them well in their endeavours for the British people. As the late Queen Elizabeth herself acknowledged during her landmark visit to Ireland in 2011, the history between these islands is long and complex, but at the same time the family, cultural and economic ties that bind the people of Ireland and the United Kingdom make us firm friends. Like his late parents, King Charles has worked over the decades to build and nurture peace and reconciliation between the communities in Northern Ireland, across this island and between Ireland and Britain. Throughout her long reign, his late mother was the embodiment of public service, dedicated to performing her duties for her people at home and committed to representing her nation abroad. We know King Charles will continue in that tradition to build his own relations and legacy as monarch. As I picked up the rod, the line started to scream out of the reel. No question, it was a Chinook salmon, undisputed king of Lake Ontario for so many reasons. Of course, the feisty fish did what kings do every spring as they begin their feeding frenzy. It wrapped itself around two diver lines and came out of the water a minimum of four times to see what was going on and look me in the eye. As Hamburg's Randy Jaroszewski and Ron Kozub worked hard to separate those lines from the acrobatic salmon, the fish won the battle and was off my line. Whether it was to show off that it was free again or not knowing he was free, the salmon leaped three more times before he disappeared in the cool waters of this Great Lake. It was my first salmon of 2023, and it was a great way to get the heart pumping again. This was Outdoor Media Week for Destination Niagara USA and Lake Ontario salmon and trout fishing was one of the many options available to outdoor media folks from around the country. On board with us this trip was Ken Perrotte of Virginia, the chairman of the board for the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers who filmed, took still photos and collected notes for his many media outlets. Also on board was Mark McQuown of Garmin, an electronics company that was one of the sponsors. The media gathering has coincided for many years with the start of the Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby, running this year from Friday to May 14. This was the appetizer to the main course as we prepared to target salmon and trout for the big show. Grand prize is $15,000 for the largest salmon, but you can still collect $2,000 for the largest brown trout, lake trout and walleye. While we didnt catch any salmon that would have made the 20-pound minimum for prize consideration, we did have one big lake trout that Perrotte manhandled to the back of the boat that surely would have made Top 20 in that species category. It was estimated at more than 20 pounds, leaving his arms aching as he watched it swim back to the bottom of the lake with our fishing lure. It's been mostly good news for salmon fishermen in this popular body of water. For the second year in a row, Lake Ontario fishermen have seen a stocking increase. Last year, New York and the Province of Ontario each stocked 50,000 fish. This year, New York and the Province of Ontario will be adding about 10% more Chinook salmon to the stocking effort. These are the first increases following three stocking adjustments that were made in the lake since 2016, due to concerns over the forage base. The increase in stocking had a direct correlation with a much more favorable outlook on the forage base, especially relative to the alewife population the top food source for Chinook salmon. It appears the stocking adjustments have allowed alewife numbers to recover, and researchers are predicting the alewife biomass will likely increase or remain stable for the next few years. It helps when we have a mild winter, too. The decision to increase stocking in 2023 was based on the predicted age-2 and older alewife biomass from the spring prey fish bottom trawl assessment, and the average weight of an age-3 Chinook salmon measured in the open lake fishery during August, said Christopher Legard, Lake Ontario unit leader for the Department of Environmental Conservations Bureau of Fisheries. DEC is working with the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources, and Forestry to develop a long-term plan for how stocking decisions are made for Lake Ontario, but the details of the new plan have not been agreed upon yet. There is also some discussion involving how much natural reproduction is going on in the lake to try to understand that fluctuating dynamic and how it would impact the forage base. The only estimate for natural reproduction of Chinook salmon in Lake Ontario in 2022 is from the young-of-year Chinook salmon seining index in the Salmon River, Legard said. The 2022 index was below average. About a decade ago, the DEC determined through fin clips that there could be as many as 50% of the salmon in the lake through natural reproduction. The 2023 stocking target for Chinook salmon in New York waters of Lake Ontario is 985,180. The Province of Ontario numbers is 467,000, an increase from just less than 416,000 in 2022. For the New York side of the lake, a little more than two-thirds of the fish were reared in holding pens. For the Canadian side, slightly more than 50% of the fish will be reared in pens. This is good news because by holding the fish in pens, the survival rate of these fish is better than 2-to-1 over direct stocked fish from the hatchery. In addition, it helps to imprint those fish to the areas that they are stocked for better staging after they mature and return home. Moving forward in 2023, DEC will continue to use a new stocking strategy for Chinook salmon. Rather than disperse stocking efforts at numerous locations along the south shore, hatchery plants will be concentrated at five sites the biggest at the Salmon River Fish Hatchery to ensure adequate returns for egg collection each fall. Large regional plants will continue to be stocked at Eighteen Mile Creek (Olcott), Oak Orchard Creek (Point Breeze), Genesee River (Rochester) and Oswego River (Oswego). In addition, stocking also will take place at the Niagara River and the Black River. All sites, except for the Salmon River, will see a stocking increase in 2023. One exciting new program could help lake managers understand how much natural reproduction is taking place. DEC has been working with Cornell University and the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry since 2018 to evaluate the use of genetic parentage-based tagging as a long-term monitoring tool to assess the proportion of wild Chinook salmon in Lake Ontario, said Steve Hurst, chief of the Bureau of Fisheries. Cornell University is finishing up the study this spring and will recommend a set of standard operating procedures to DEC for implementing the program. DEC intends to move forward with collecting and processing samples in 2023. This effort will help us better understand the proportion of wild to stocked Chinooks and aid in our decision making. A tissue sample is being taken from every fish in the hatchery. Every fish will be inventoried. A library is created that stores the genetic markers and it will be updated annually. Lake fish will either match or it wont. Not only will it help biologists figure out the percentage of wild versus stocked fish, but it could help managers to determine the success of specific stocking sites. Its also less expensive than the tagging trailer that was used previously. If you have never caught a king salmon in Lake Ontario, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Watch as anti-monarchy protesters gather in central London on the day of King Charles III's coronation. Republican activists have been chanting "not my King" during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square as royal fans lined the streets of central London to take part in celebrations. Some protesters were arrested hours before the ceremony took place as police seized lock-on devices. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that four people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance on St Martins Lane. A number of breaching-the-peace arrests were made in the area of Carlton House Terrace and a further three arrests in the Wellington Arch area on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage, the force said. Footage posted on Twitter showed police using their powers under the new Public Order Act, as chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, Graham Smith, was among those apprehended near Trafalgar Square. Demonstrators in yellow Not My King T-shirts, including Mr Smith, had their details taken. Click here to sign up for our newsletters. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A council has said it is deeply concerned by reports that volunteers who work on womens safety were arrested in the early hours of coronation day. The Metropolitan Police said that at around 2am on Saturday three people were stopped by officers and arrested in the Soho area of central London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance. Among items seized were a number of rape alarms, the force said. Those arrested were reportedly volunteers with Westminster Councils night life safety team. The Met said it received intelligence that indicated groups and individuals seeking to disrupt todays coronation proceedings were planning to use rape alarms to disrupt the procession. The three people a 37-year-old woman, a 59-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man were taken to a south London police station, where they were questioned. The 47-year-old man was also further arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods, police said. We are working with the Metropolitan Police to establish exactly what happened, and in the meantime, we are in touch with our volunteers to ensure they are receiving the support they need Westminster City Council All three have since been released on bail pending further inquiries. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: The intelligence we received led us to be extremely worried about the potential risk to public safety. We are aware of and understand there is public concern over these arrests. However, the matter is still under investigation. Councillor Aicha Less, cabinet member for communities and public protection at Westminster City Council, said: We are deeply concerned by reports of our Night Stars volunteers being arrested overnight. This service has been a familiar and welcome sight in the West End for a long time and have extensive training so they can assist the most vulnerable on the streets late at night. We are working with the Metropolitan Police to establish exactly what happened, and in the meantime, we are in touch with our volunteers to ensure they are receiving the support they need. Night Stars is a part of the councils night safety campaign. According to the councils website, Night Star volunteers are focused on working with the West Ends evening and night-time economy businesses to promote womens safety and reduce violence against women and girls. It adds: The team will provide wider support to anyone who becomes vulnerable due to intoxication to reduce the risk to their safety or prevent them from becoming victims of crime. The Night Safety volunteers aim to make Londons nightlife safer for everyone. They provide a welcoming place for all and collaborate to ensure that Westminsters nightlife remains a safe, inclusive and enjoyable experience for residents and visitors alike. News of the arrests come after the police force were criticised for their heavy-handed response to anti-monarchy demonstrators in central London on Saturday. Dozens of protesters from anti-monarchy and environmental groups were arrested in what they slammed as a dystopian nightmare. Amnesty International UK was among the human rights groups raising alarm about the arrests, saying peaceful protest was clearly protected under international law, while a Human Rights watch official slammed scenes youd expect to see in Russia not the UK. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Queens coronation gown, designed by Bruce Oldfield, is a tailored ivory, silver and gold coat-like dress embroidered with delicate garlands of British wildflowers. Motifs of daisy chains, forget-me-nots, celandine and scarlet pimpernel from fields and hedgerows, representing the King and Camillas affection for nature and the nations countryside, are among the embellishments. Celebratory bunting, in antique gold and silver thread, is also intertwined amongst the swathes of blooms on the historic dress, worn for Camillas crowning. On top, for her arrival at Westminster Abbey, the Queen wore the crimson velvet Robe of State with long train originally made for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The King meanwhile wore his grandfather George VIs crimson Robe of State with a new crimson Coronation Tunic, with cream silk overshirt and Royal Naval trousers for his arrival. His regal red Coronation Tunic, made by Ede and Ravenscroft, was inspired by similar tunics worn by George V and George VI at their coronations. Camillas couture coronation dress is cut from Peau de Soie, a silk fabric with a dull lustre finish, and woven by Stephen Walters in Suffolk, and has bracelet length sleeves, a strong shoulder and a wide V-neck neckline. Oldfields vision was to create a sophisticated and modern dress that showcases Camillas style and personality in its details, Buckingham Palace said, describing it as simple and tailored. Oldfield, one of Camillas favourite go-to designers, used to create outfits for the late Diana, Princess of Wales. I gave Diana her glamour and Camilla her confidence, he is once said to have remarked. The curved shape-lines of the dress swoop into a short train, the length and shape of which was designed to complement the Robe of State, and Camillas new purple velvet Robe of Estate worn for her departure from the Abbey. The dress has an embroidered skirt underneath, and is embellished on the front hem and on the cuffs of each sleeve with the flower emblems of the four nations of the United Kingdom a rose, a thistle, a daffodil and a shamrock. It features Oldfields signature panelling to the back and was made in his couture workrooms in Battersea, south London, with his team of pattern-cutters, seamstresses and embroiderers. Working with an artist and a textile designer, every detail of the embroidery was painstakingly transferred onto the paper patterns ready for the embroiderers could begin their work. For the Kings outfit, his Robe of State which is nearly 90 years old was conserved by the Royal School of Needlework, with the lining and gold lace worked on by Ede and Ravenscroft. His traditional Coronation Tunic is made from Order of the Bath crimson satin, trimmed with gold artillery lace. The cream silk overshirt is based on the design of similar ones worn by George V and George VI at their coronations. The overshirt was made Turnbull & Asser in Gloucestershire using English home spun silk, and the collars and cuffs feature embroidered oak leaves and acorns. The Royal Naval trousers belong to Charles and he regularly wears them as part of his Royal Navy full ceremonial tailcoat. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Thousands of people have marched through Glasgow in support of Scottish independence. All Under One Banner an organisation that campaigns for Scottish independence told the crowd the estimated attendance was more than 20,000. Marchers set off from Kelvingrove Park in the citys west end at around 11.30am coinciding with the Kings coronation ceremony to a rally at Glasgow Green. Former first minister Alex Salmond was among those due to address the crowd. He was expected to say: The independent Scotland we seek will be based on equality, not aristocracy, and on human talent and ability, not entitlement of birth. We are not looking backwards with Britain but forwards to a better Scotland. Earlier in the week the Alba Party leader said Scottish police should have staged a standoff outside Edinburgh Castle to prevent the Stone of Destiny from being moved to London for the coronation. He said such a move could have been used as a bargaining tool in the push for a second independence referendum. The stone was taken to London last week to be used in the coronation, with First Minister Humza Yousaf attending a ceremony during which it was removed from its resting place at the castle. The stone has been used to crown monarchs of Scotland and later the UK in a tradition dating back centuries. Mr Yousaf dismissed the suggestion of involving the police, saying it would have not been the right thing to do. Our Republic, which campaigns for an elected head of state, will also stage a protest in Edinburgh. The event on Calton Hill includes speeches from Scottish Government minister and Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater, as well as SNP MP Tommy Sheppard and Green MSP Maggie Chapman. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The iconic Red Arrows have taken part in a flypast to celebrate King Charles III and Queen Camillas coronation this afternoon. More than 60 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force including the Arrows had been scheduled to fly over Buckingham Palace at around 2.30pm. Half an hour before it was due to take place, the Ministry of Defence said it had been scaled back so only the Red Arrows and helicopters took part in the palace flyover. The Red Arrows fly over The Mall as huge crowds gathered for the King (Getty Images) Many people outside London will still be able to see the display as the aircraft fly to and from the capital though. The exact routes of the aircraft were not published in advance for security reasons. But airspace restrictions relating to the flypast revealed the areas being flown over. There had been warnings that the poor weather conditions meant the Arrows would have to wait until the last minute to decide whether the Buckingham Palace display could go ahead. The whole flypast will be 1,000 feet, so we need the cloud base to just be above that and right now the forecast is on those limits, squadron leader Tom Bould told ITV News on Saturday morning. We will get airborne, well go down to the hold and then we will make those weather calls right up until the point where were due to be over the top of the palace, he added. Its the British weather, and you never know whats going to happen. The Red Arrows flypast over Bournemouth has since been cancelled because of the poor weather conditions. The squad had been due to fly over the town shortly before 3pm. The flypast was scaled back but the Red Arrows still made an appearance (PA) The broad sections of the flypast route are; Area A between 1.15pm and 3pm: The Lincolnshire coast including Skegness and the Norfolk coast including Cromer and Great Yarmouth Area B between 1.45pm and 3pm: Thetford, Norfolk and Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Area C between 2pm and 3pm: Ipswich, Suffolk Area D between 2pm and 2.45pm: Colchester and Chelmsford, Essex Area E between 2.10pm and 2.45pm: London Area F between 2.20pm and 3pm: Croydon, south-east London, and Epsom, Surrey Area G between 2.20pm and 3pm: Farnborough, Hampshire; Reading, Berkshire; Swindon, Wiltshire; and Oxford, Oxfordshire The Red Arrows expected coronation flyover route (Google) The website Military Airshows has also published more specific timings and locations for the Red Arrows, subject to any last-minute changes due to the weather. 1.50pm RAF Waddington 1.35pm Southeast of Methringham 1.58pm East of Skegness 2.05pm Over the North Sea 2.13pm East of Caister-on-Sea 2.18pm - Over the North Sea 2.23pm Woodbridge Airfield 2.27pm Colchester 2.34pm Fairlop 2.35pm Leyton 2.36pm Buckingham Palace 2.38pm Heathrow 2.40pm Windsor 2.42pm Reading 2.44pm Hook 2.47pm North of Winchester 2.53pm Bournemouth (cancelled) Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Police have threatened anti-monarchy protesters with arrest if they shouted about Prince Andrew and the sex stuff or chanted anything that may be deemed offensive, The Independent has been told. One demonstrator claimed officers warned them they might get shot at if they blocked the coronation procession on Saturday. Harry Stratton, who was wearing a yellow Not My King hoodie, told The Independent: We were told [by police] if anyone gets in the way of the procession you might get shot at. They said slogans, chanting - go for it - but if you start saying Andrew and the sex stuff we will start arresting. The comment appeared to be a reference to Prince Andrews friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the financial settlement he reached in a US civil sexual assault case brought by Virginia Giuffre last year. Prince Andrew was booed by members of the public as he was driven down The Mall to his brothers coronation, where he did not have a formal role after stepping down from royal duties in 2019. Dozens of anti-monarchy and environmental protesters have so far been arrested, on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance, breaching the peace and possessing articles to cause criminal damage. Protesters wave Not My King signs near Trafalgar Square ahead of the coronation of King Charles III (POOL/AFP via Getty Images) Mr Stratton, 30, said he saw several organisers of a rally organised by the Republic group being arrested on Saturday morning, adding: They won't tell us why they arrested them or where they're taking them. Elsewhere in Westminster, another group of anti-monarchy protesters told The Independent police said they cant shout anything that may be deemed offensive. Sean, who did not want his surname printed, said: Its so vague. We arent able to get into place to protest as police arent letting us in but that was our designated place to protest given to us by police. He accused the police of manipulating the law and threatening to arrest people for saying something you dont agree with. Its archaic and outrageous, it doesnt fit with modern society, he added. Prince Andrew was booed by some members of the crowd as he was driven to the coronation (PA ) A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said they could not immediately verify what words of advice officers may have given on the ground. The warnings are believed to have been issued under the Public Order Act 1986, which was also used against hecklers during Septembers proclamations for King Charles III. The law makes it an offence to use abusive words or behaviour or display any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening or abusive, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress. It was used to charge Symon Hill, who shouted who elected him? at a proclamation ceremony in Oxford last year, but the prosecution was dropped before he was due to face trial in January. Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, a councillor from the east London borough of Hackney, said he had hidden a flag because he felt too intimidated to put it up. I was a bit worried Id get arrested, he added. The police said they've got a very low tolerance to protest and that's not what you want in a democracy. A protester supporting the Republic campaign group being arrested near Trafalgar Square before the coronation on 6 May (Rebecca Thomas) The Metropolitan Police had said it would facilitate anti-monarchy demonstrations unless they contravened existing laws, but said officers would have an extremely low threshold for protests during the celebrations. Deputy assistant commissioner Ade Adelekan said officers would not intervene over someone merely holding a placard in London. Protest is lawful, he told a press conference on Wednesday. If at any point any protest, either during the coronation or afterwards, moves from being a protest that is lawful into criminal intent then you will see extremely swift action from us. A controversial package of new laws came into force when the Public Order Act received royal assent on Tuesday, making it illegal for protesters to lock onto objects or each other, or possess items for that purpose. The law created a new threshold for police intervention against serious disruption, including hindrance to journeys, deliveries and services, allowing the arrest of demonstrators who break any conditions imposed. Another controversial package of protest laws brought in last year made public nuisance a new criminal offence. The policing and security operation around the coronation, codenamed Golden Orb, is one of the largest ever seen in Britain, with 11,500 police officers on duty on Saturday. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The chief executive of an anti-monarchy group who was arrested on the day of the Kings coronation has been released, after critics accused police of enforcing a totalitarian crackdown. Graham Smith was released after nearly 16 hours in police custody, while the majority of his Republic colleagues continued to be held. After emerging at around 11pm on Saturday, Mr Smith said there was no longer a right to peaceful protest in the UK. I have been told many times the monarch is there to defend our freedoms. Now our freedoms are under attack in his name, he wrote on Twitter. Some 52 protesters from anti-monarchy and environmental groups were arrested on the day of the coronation, in what they slammed as a dystopian nightmare. The Metropolitan Police had said it would facilitate anti-monarchy demonstrations unless they contravened existing laws or new powers that came into force last week banning locking-on and causing serious disruption. But members of the Republic campaign group were arrested on Saturday morning and saw hundreds of placards reading Not My King seized by the force, despite gaining police permission for a rally in Trafalgar Square. The group said its chief executive Graham Smith and five organisers were still in custody hours after the coronation had finished, writing on Twitter: We are not being given a reason. They will probably be released when the whole monarchy PR show is over. One of the protesters joining the Republic rally, 30-year-old Harry Stratton, said police had told him that anyone getting in the way of the coronation procession might get shot at. They said slogans. chanting - go for it - but if you start saying Andrew and the sex stuff we will start arresting, he told The Independent. Members of Republic were among around 50 protesters arrested, including other anti-monarchists, supporters of Just Stop Oil. Animal Rising said a number of its supporters were apprehended on Saturday while at a training session miles away from the coronation. Nathan McGovern, spokesman for the campaign group, described the arrests as nothing short of a totalitarian crackdown on free speech and all forms of dissent. Amnesty International UK was among the human rights groups raising alarm about the arrests, saying peaceful protest was clearly protected under international law, while a Human Rights watch official slammed scenes youd expect to see in Russia not the UK. The Metropolitan Police said a total of 52 arrests had been made as part of the policing operation around the coronation of King Charles III, codenamed Operation Golden Orb. Of those, thirty-two were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance - a new criminal offence created by a controversial package of protest powers that came into force last year. They included the Republic protesters, members of Animal Rising who were conducting training several miles away, and supporters of Just Stop Oil. While the environmental group has become known for blocking roads in disruptive protests, it said that on Saturday members had no glue, paint or any plans to disrupt the coronation. An anti-monarchy protester is arrested in central London (@Labour4Republic/PA) (PA Media) Just Stop Oil said around 20 supporters had been arrested, including a 33-year-old doctor who was planning to quietly hold a sign saying JUST STOP OIL, whilst in the crowd for the coronation. A tweet added: We are living in a dystopian nightmare. Police said 15 other people were arrested to prevent a breach of the peace near the coronation procession route, while other arrests were made for non-protest related crimes including drugs possession, sexual assault, affray and racially-aggravated harassment. Ahead of the coronation, the Metropolitan Police announced they would have an extremely low threshold for protests during the celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect swift action if they broke the law. But deputy assistant commissioner Ade Adelekan said officers would not intervene over someone merely holding a placard in London. The officer who led the operation defended the protest arrests on Saturday afternoon, praising the work of 11,500 officers who were part of the coronation policing operation. Commander Karen Findlay, who is leading the operation, said: We absolutely understand public concern following the arrests we made this morning. Protest is lawful and it can be disruptive. We have policed numerous protests without intervention in the build-up to the coronation, and during it. Our duty is to do so in a proportionate manner in line with relevant legislation. We also have a duty to intervene when protest becomes criminal and may cause serious disruption. Protesters from Just Stop Oil are arrested in the crowd near Westminster Abbey before the ceremony (POOL/AFP via Getty Images) This depends on the context. The coronation is a once in a generation event and that is a key consideration in our assessment. A controversial package of new laws came into force under the Public Order Act on Tuesday, making it illegal for protesters to lock on and allowing police intervention against serious disruption. Another controversial package of protest laws brought in last year made public nuisance a new criminal offence. Sacha Deshmukh, the chief executive of Amnesty International UK, said: Peaceful protest is clearly protected under international human rights law and its been worrying to see the police this week making numerous statements about their low tolerance for disruption at the coronation. Weve recently had the introduction of extremely draconian legislation outlawing disruptive or noisy protests, which has given the police excessive and highly subjective powers and seriously damaged peoples right of free speech and public assembly. The coronation shouldnt become yet another excuse for undermining peoples basic human rights in this country. Yasmine Ahmed, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, said people had been arrested for peacefully protesting against the monarchy, adding: These are scenes youd expect to see in Russia not the UK. Its disgraceful not dazzling. Separately, Westminster Council cabinet member for communities and public protection Aicha Less said she was deeply concerned over reports of arrests of members of its Night Star volunteer team, who assist vulnerable people on the streets late at night. We are working with the Metropolitan Police to establish exactly what happened, and in the meantime, we are in touch with our volunteers to ensure they are receiving the support they need, she said. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Madeleine McCanns sister has spoken publicly for the first time since her siblings disappearance 16 years ago. At a vigil marking the anniversary, Amelie, now aged 18, said: It's nice that everyone is here together but it's a sad occasion. The informal prayer meeting, attended by about 70 people, took place in the family's home village of Rothley in Leicestershire on Wednesday evening. Parents Kate and Gerry McCann took part, although Sean, Amelie's twin brother, did not. They wrote: Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleines abduction. Still missing .. still very much missed. It is hard to find the words to convey how we feel. Amelie, accompanied by a friend, joined in repeating mantras read out by people in the crowd including Never never give up, leave no stone unturned, dont forget about me and still missing, still missed. Gerry and Kate also shared a poem titled The Contradiction by Clare Pollard which they said resonates strongly with them. Gerry and Kate McCann released a poem marking the 16th anniversary of Madeleines disappearance (PA Wire) It contains the lines: The absence contradicts itself. The missing conjures what we miss. You are not here, Im not myself, But still I talk to you like this. Rob Gladstone, leading prayers at the event, told supporters: We are here this evening to show our loving concern for Madeleine and for all young children who have been taken away from their families against their will. We are also here to encourage one another to keep up hope and pray for a renewal of strength even after this long time. The parents added: The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough. Thank you to everyone for your support- it really helps. Madeleine disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007 (METROPOLITAN POLICE/AFP via Gett) It comes after a rape charge against the main suspect in the McCann investigation was dropped after a German court said it did not have jurisdiction over the case. Christian Brueckner was due to go on trial for an alleged rape in Portugal but a court in the city of Braunschweig threw out the case, Bild newspaper reported. The rape allegation is not linked to Madeleines case. The courts decision means that legal authorities in Braunschweig have no jurisdiction over Madeleines case, who disappeared in Portugal in 2007 aged three, lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher said. Bruckner spent many years in Portugal, including in the resort of Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine's disappearance there in 2007. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance. A rape charge against suspect Christian Brueckner was dropped (Reuters) The suspect is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he committed in Portugal in 2005. In the German legal system, a court must decide, after it receives an indictment from prosecutors, whether to take a case to trial. The Braunschweig state court said its supposed responsibility for the case had been based on Bruckers last residence before going abroad and then to prison. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Martin Lewis has issued a warning to pensioners who could miss out on a 301 payment from the government. The consumer champion shared the advice on Wednesday's Good Morning Britain, where Mr Lewis helps viewers navigate the cost of living crisis in his Wallet Wednesdays segment. He warned that around a million people have just over two weeks to access a Pension Credit benefit from the Department for Work and Pensions. Pension Credit is a top-up benefit that helps those of state pension age who are not getting enough income. Now, I've long been saying there are one million pensioners in the UK eligible for it who do not claim it. It's an absolute tragedy, Mr Lewis told viewers. They've paid into the system for all of their lives and they're not getting this important top-up. He added that it is a really crucial time to be accessing these payments. While the current Cost of Living payment has already started being paid out and for most people the eligibility period is over, Pension Credit can be backdated, so what this means is if you are eligible you will get that 301 and you've got until the 19 May in order to claim. Simply by claiming Pension Credit, even if you're only entitled to a small amount, you will get the 301. The warning comes as more than seven million households across the UK will have received a 301 cost-of-living payment by the end of Wednesday, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has said. The payments are part of a package of wider government support announced to tackle the cost of living in 2023-24, including a further 300 payment for eligible families in autumn 2023, with a payment of 299 in spring 2024. Mel Stride, work and pensions secretary, said: Paying more than seven million households 301 in a little over a week underlines our commitment to ensure those on the lowest income are protected from the worst of rising prices and give them peace of mind. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: We know the impact that rising prices are having on families, which is why we are providing significant support to millions through these direct cash payments. People will be eligible for the 301 cost-of-living payment if they have been entitled to a payment for certain benefits between 16 January and 15 February 2023, including, for example, universal credit, pension credit and child tax credit. HALIFAX As she sat with her nine-year-old daughter at a coronation viewing Saturday, Mandy Chapman said she's hoping for a King who reaches out widely when he next comes to the East Coast. "It's different, I've only ever known the Queen. That's all we've ever known in our lifetime It's going to be an adjustment for sure," said the 49-year-old Halifax resident, who was among the winners of a lottery to attend a breakfast at the Nova Scotia lieutenant-governor's residence. Chapman brought along her daughter Bella to enjoy the historic occasion in the ornate ballroom. The pair beamed as they enjoyed tea, scones and sweets at a table decorated with flowers. Still, amid the pomp and ceremony, Chapman who works for an agency that provides fruits and vegetables to those struggling for food access said she hoped the new King will carry on his mother's legacy of charity work. "They should be the King and Queen of the people," she said. "They shouldn't just be figureheads, but be really involved in what people are doing here in Canada." A few tables away, wearing a pink fascinator that shone under the chandelier, 20-year-old Noelle Lavoie said she believes King Charles needs to be particularly attentive to connecting with young people when he visits Atlantic Canada. The Halifax resident said she's interested to see how the King uses social media to reach out to her generation. "I don't think anybody my age has discussed this much. It's more my mom and her friends, rather than people my age," she said. "Even at events you see them attend, it's mostly an older generation. "I think he needs to find a way to include young people in the events he does." Around the Atlantic region, provinces long known as friendly toward the monarchy also held celebratory events. A parade wound its way through Charlottetown from the local armoury to Government House, where Lt.-Gov. Antoinette Perry presided over a public ceremony, and a 21-gun salute was fired from Fort Edward in Victoria Park. Story continues The residence of the lieutenant-governor was also illuminated in emerald green to mark the occasion. The King first visited Prince Edward Island as Prince of Wales in 1983 and travelled to the Island again in 2014 with his wife, Camilla. In an email Saturday, P.E.I Premier Dennis King said, "its the first time our constitutional monarchy will recognize a new sovereign in 70 years, and it is both a historic and significant moment in our history." In Newfoundland and Labrador, the coronation ceremony included a tree-planting, in keeping with the King's focus on environmental issues. About 1,000 seedlings from the provincial tree nursery were handed out to the public to plant, with plans for further distribution across the province. Artillery guns were also fired in St. John's, N.L., at 11 a.m. local time. The military noted the sound would be loud but not "loud enough to disturb local residents." New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said in a statement Saturday that his province has had a long and rich history with the monarchy. "We have had the pleasure of welcoming many members of the Royal Family to our province. We look forward to continuing this tradition," Higgs said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2023. Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Rishi Sunak hailed the friendship between the UK and Canada, as well as between himself and Justin Trudeau as he welcomed the Canadian premier to Downing Street. The pair met over tea, as part of a series of bilateral meetings the Prime Minister was holding around the Kings coronation. Mr Trudeau was one of the world leaders who watched the royal event at Westminster Abbey earlier. The two leaders hugged when Mr Trudeau arrived at No 10. Speaking in front of the media ahead of their private talks, Mr Sunak said: Weve seen each other a lot over the past few months, but I think that speaks to the friendship between our two countries and between you and I. Were members of all the same clubs, whether thats the G7, the Commonwealth obviously important at the moment, Nato. He thanked Mr Trudeau for his support in the UKs accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and said they would continue to work together to support Ukraine. The Canadian leader stressed the two countries shared values. We are aligned on how were going to move forward, standing strong for our values, making sure theres opportunities for jobs and growth for citizens across our countries and around the world as we work together. He noted the pair would meet again at the upcoming G7 summit in Japan, saying there would be lots of opportunities for us to make sure that as we always are, were aligning in our values, in our approach. The duo then admired coronation teacups made by Emma Bridgewater, a pottery with strong royal connections. According to a read-out of their meeting, Mr Sunak and Mr Trudeau remarked on how special the occasion had been and reflected on their conversations with counterparts from across the world. The leaders also discussed how Canada and the UK could deepen collaboration on defence and security technology, including in cyber security and quantum. They agreed on the importance of ensuring Ukraine continues to get the support it needs for its defence and reconstruction, now and for years to come. At the coronation, Mr Trudeau was joined by his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, governor general Mary Simon and several other dignitaries. Canadas premier tweeted: Today, we celebrated the Coronation of King Charles III and reaffirmed Canadas enduring commitment to the Commonwealth. Canada is one of the 14 Commonwealth realms where the British monarch is head of state. Mr Trudeau had a video call with the King as part of a busy run of diplomatic duties for Charles ahead of the coronation. The King also met with Canadian indigenous leaders, Chief Roseanne Archibald, Natan Obed and Cassidy Caron. Mr Sunaks calendar of pre-coronation diplomacy, which came amid a difficult set of local election results for him, also featured meetings with the Australian and New Zealand prime ministers, the Emir of Qatar and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A mix of royals, world leaders and celebrities flocked to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday (6 May) Some served up chic, well-thought-out looks that clearly took a lot of planning and even the involvement of a stylist. Others, however, could have benefitted from the latter. Ranked from best to worst, here were the most eye-catching looks of the day. Katy Perry I Kissed A Girl singer Katy Perry arrived at Westminster Abbey in a lilac tailored dress, complete with a corset-style waistcoat by Vivienne Westwood. She also wore a large matching fascinator and pearl Westwood choker with a signature golden orb, paying tribute to the late designer who died last year. The Teenage Dream singer will be performing at the coronation concert (PA Wire) Perry will be performing at the official coronation concert on Sunday (7 May) and has been invited to stay the night at Windsor Castle following the service. Jill Biden President Joe Biden has dispatched his wife to represent the United States at the coronation, and Jill arrived in a sleek blue midi skirt and matching jacket, with a bow in her hair. The look was completed with a pair of nude stilettos and a coordinated clutch bag. Jill Biden is attending the coronation on behalf of her husband (PA Images) Emma Thompson The Saving Mr Banks actor Emma Thompson also stunned in a red floral floor-length overcoat with a black midi dress. She posed for the camera holding up a peace sign and joking with fellow guests. Emma Thompson stunned in a long red overcoat (PA Wire) Penny Mordaunt The Conservative MP for Portsmouth North dazzled in a fern-embroidered deep teal dress from luxury ready-to-wear brand Safiyaa. She wore a matching hat. The outfit, however, lacked chicness from the waist down the ballet flats with diamante bows ruined the outfit. The look would have been elevated with a pair of teal stilettos instead. The fern motif on her dress and hat was a nod to the privy council, while the teal colour, called Poseidon, is a reference to her Portsmouth constituency. Update: as the day unfolded, it appears that Mordaunt had changed her shoes into a pair of nude heels. It seemed to be a comfort decision, rather than a fashion choice, after all. Mordaunt dazzled in a leaf-printed deep teal dress and cape (Getty Images) Princess Charlotte of Wales Princess Charlotte wore a sweet matching outfit to her mother, the Princess of Wales, including an identical crystal headpiece made by the milliner Jess Collett. She also wore an Alexander McQueen dress with a cape in ivory silk crepe. Princess Charlotte wore an ivory outfit almost identical to her mothers (REUTERS) Queen Rania Al Abdullah The Queen of Jordan and wife of King Abdullah II appeared chic in a pastel yellow pencil dress with mesh sleeves, a bow collar and a matching hat. It was designed specially for Rania by Tamara Ralph Couture. King Abdullah II of Jordan and Queen Rania arrive to attend the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla (Getty Images) King Letsie III of Lesotho and Masenate Mohato Seeiso, Queen of Lesotho The pair coordinated, with the Queen of Lesotho wearing a beautiful pool blue gown with a subtle print. The Queen of Lesotho also wore a fluffy fascinator (Getty Images) Finnegan Biden Jill Bidens first granddaughter, 23-year-old Finnegan, arrived in a long yellow dress with a matching cape. Together, the pair paid a subtle tribute to the people of Ukraine as they wore the colours of the Ukrainian flag. Finnegan and the First Lady have been seated right next to the Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, and the group has been seen chatting and laughing together. Jill and Finnegan Biden paid subtle tribute to Ukraine (PA Images) Rose Hanbury, Marchioness of Cholmondeley (WireImage/Getty) Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, attended the coronation ceremony in an elegant black-and-white dress with a pussy bow collar that had long, trailing ribbons. Her husband is David Cholmondeley, seventh Marquess of Cholmondeley, and her son, Oliver, served as one of the Kings Page of Honours alongside his grandson and Prince William and Kate Middletons eldest son, Prince George. Olena Zelenska The First Lady of Ukraine wore an elegant muted green coat with pleated details and a matching dress. She completed the sleek look with a pair of white high heels (PA) Zara Tindall Tindall, who is the daughter of Anne, Princess Royal and granddaughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II, wore a cornflower blue belted dress and a brooch belonging to her mother. She also donned a matching hat with a fluffy pom pom. Blue is definitely Zara Tindalls colour (Getty Images) Jay Blades Sporting his signature tweed flat cap, the Repair Shop host looked suave in a black tuxedo. Jay Blades is best known for hosting the BBC programme about restoring family heirlooms (Getty Images) Akshata Murty The wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Akshata Murty, wore a baby blue jacquard dress with puff sleeves. There was a missed opportunity to elevate the look with accessories, though, and the choice of a black headpiece and stilettos dulled down the outfit. Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty arrive at Westminster Abbey (REUTERS) Therese Coffey The secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs turned up with the right sentiment: dressed in red, white and blue. But the printed dress paired with the clashing union jack scarf was a shocking move, making her look more like one of the enthusiastic revellers outside Westminster Abbey. Therese Coffey wore a union jack scarf paired with a printed day dress (Getty Images) Joanna Lumley We had high hopes for the Ab Fab star. But the Peter Pan collar and monochromatic navy blue and white dress made her look more like a sailor than a guest at the service. Lumley went for a navy blue and white outfit (REUTERS) Lady Susan Hussey The former royal household employee wore an iridescent purple suit with a matching pillbox hat. Hussey wore a tiered pearl necklace to add to the look (PA) Follow our live updates of the coronation weekend here. This article was amended on May 9 2023 to remove an incorrectly captioned image. Close Rishi Sunak 'disappointed' as Tories lose control of seven councils in the local elections Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Sir Keir Starmer is celebrating wins in key battlegrounds in the local elections as an indication Labour is on course to win the next general election, but Rishi Sunak remains defiant despite heavy losses. The prime minister is under pressure as the results being declared showed both Labour and the Lib Dems seizing control of Tory councils across England. The Labour leader said the fantastic results combined with a hoped-for recovery in Scotland would give him a majority in Westminster after a national poll. With 229 results in out of 230, the Conservatives had lost 960 seats, with Labour gaining 635, the Lib Dems 416 and the Greens 200. The Conservatives had lost control of 48 councils. Sir Keirs party was projected to have won a nine-point lead over the Conservatives if all of Britain had gone to the polls. Mr Sunak conceded the results were disappointing but said he was not detecting any massive groundswell of movement towards the Labour Party or excitement for its agenda. The elections watchdog said regrettably some people were turned away from polling stations as a result of new rules requiring voters to carry photographic ID. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Prime Minister and his wife will welcome volunteers, Ukrainian refugees in the UK, and youth groups to Downing Street for a lunch to mark the coronation. Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty will host the event on Sunday as part of the Big Lunch celebrations taking place across the country over the coronation weekend. They will dine on food sourced from across the UK, including beef from Gloucestershire, Scottish Loch Duart salmon, Northern Irish soda bread, and ice cream from Wales, according to No 10. I am proud to welcome Ukrainians forced to flee their homes and some incredible community heroes to Downing Street for our very own Coronation lunch Rishi Sunak Crockery will be donated by Emma Bridgewater, a pottery with strong royal connections, including a limited edition King Charles III teapot. Like thousands of other street parties, Downing Street will be adorned with festive bunting. Recipients of the Points of Light Award, given to ordinary people doing extraordinary things for their community, have been invited. They include a couple who founded a charity supporting people who have gone through baby loss, Zoe and Andy Clark-Coates, breast cancer campaigner Laura Ashurst, and Navjot Sawhney, who designed a hand-cranked washing machine used by thousands of people with no access to electric ones. Ukrainians who have come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme after Russia invaded their country, as well as their UK sponsors, will also attend. Invitees also include young people from UK Youth and the National Association of Boys and Girls Clubs. Mr Sunak said: Come rain or shine, thousands of friends and neighbours are coming together this weekend to put up the bunting, pour the tea and cut the cake at street parties and community events across the UK. I am proud to welcome Ukrainians forced to flee their homes and some incredible community heroes to Downing Street for our very own coronation lunch to celebrate this historic moment. In England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and across our Overseas Territories and the wider Commonwealth people are marking this momentous occasion in the spirit of unity and hope for the future. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Ukrainian prime minister has thanked the King for his solidarity after the pair met during a reception on the eve of the coronation on Friday. Charles offered Ukraine his unwavering support when he met with the countrys First Lady Olena Zelenska and prime minister Denys Shmyhal. Mr Shmyhal said on Twitter: It is a special honour to attend the reception of His Majesty King Charles III ahead of coronation. We received assurances from His Majesty that (Ukrainian) people will have unwavering support until the final victory. Grateful for the solidarity. Charles hosted heads of state from around the world at a Buckingham Palace reception on the eve of the coronation. The Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence also greeted their overseas guests at the event. There were 42 people at the event, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and prime minister of New Zealand Chris Hipkins. Back in March, Charles visited Berlin where he met with Ukrainians who had been forced to flee the country. He told them Im praying for you after condemning the unimaginable suffering caused by Russian president Vladimir Putins invasion of their homeland. He praised Germanys courageous, important and appreciated decision to send significant military support to Ukraine in a historic address at the German federal parliament, the Bundestag. Charles made history back in March by delivering the first speech by a British monarch during a session of the Bundestag. He told the packed chamber: The unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has inflicted the most unimaginable suffering on so many innocent people. Countless lives have been destroyed; freedom and human dignity have been trampled in the most brutal way. The security of Europe has been threatened, together with our democratic values. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Sudans warring sides have started talks in Jeddah as international mediators pressed for an end to the devastating conflict. The US-Saudi initiative is an attempt to end three weeks of fighting between Sudans army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has turned parts of the Sudanese capital Khartoum into a war zone and derailed plans to usher in civilian rule following years of unrest and uprisings. Riyadh and Washington earlier welcomed the pre-negotiation talks between the two sides and urged them to actively engage following numerous violated ceasefires. But both sides have made it clear they would only discuss a humanitarian truce, not negotiate an end to the war. Confirming his groups attendance, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly know as Hemedti, said he hoped the talks would achieve their intended aim of securing safe passage for civilians. Sudans armed forces said they sent a delegation to the Red Sea city, but special envoy Dafallah Alhaj said the army would not sit down directly with any delegation that the rebellious RSF might send. Hemedti has meanwhile vowed to either capture or kill army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and there was also evidence on the ground that both sides remain unwilling to make compromises to end the bloodshed. In the city of Bahri across the Nile from Khartoum, warplanes were heard overnight and explosions startled residents. We dont leave the house because were scared of stray bullets, said a local who gave his name as Ahmed. An eyewitness in eastern Khartoum reported gun clashes and airstrikes over residential areas on Saturday. The Turkish ambassadors car also came under fire from unknown assailants, a Turkish diplomatic source said. The envoy made it safely to the embassy. Turkeys foreign minister said Turkey would move its embassy from Khartoum to Port Sudan following the attack. Also, a bus carrying Sudanese fleeing the fighting, overturned in Egypts southern province of Beni Suef, leaving at least 36 Sudanese, including women and children, and two Egyptians injured, local authorities said. Tens of thousands of Sudanese have crossed into Egypt since the fighting broke out. Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan said in a tweet he hoped both sides would engage in dialogue that we hope will lead to the end of the conflict. The conflict erupted in mid-April, following the collapse of an internationally backed plan for a transition to democracy. Mr Burhan, a career army officer, heads a ruling council installed after the 2019 ousting of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir and a 2021 military coup, while Hemedti, a former miitia leader who made his name in the Darfur conflict, is his deputy. Prior to the fighting, Hemedti had been taking steps like moving closer to a civilian coalition that suggest he has big political plans. Mr Burhan has blamed the war on his ambitions. Western powers have backed the transition to a civilian government in a country that sits at a strategic crossroads between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Africas volatile Sahel region. Jake Sullivan, White House national security adviser, was travelling to Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi leaders. Saudi Arabia has had close ties to Mr Burhan and Hemedti, both of whom sent troops to help the Saudi-led coalition in its war against the Houthi group in Yemen. The kingdom is also focused on security in the Red Sea, which it shares with Sudan. The UN has significantly cut back its operations in Sudan after three of its employees were killed and its warehouses were looted, and sought guarantees of safe passage of humanitarian aid. The fighting has also impacted vital infrastructure and caused the closure of most hospitals in conflict areas. UN agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if clashes continue. The World Health Organisation said on Saturday it had delivered medical aid to Port Sudan, but was awaiting security and access clearances that have prevented several such shipments from reaching Khartoum, where the few hospitals operating are running out of supplies. Reuters Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Attorneys for Daniel Penny, the 24-year-old former US Marine who was captured on bystander video fatally choking Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train, have released a statement that both confirms his identity and claims that Mr Penny and others acted to protect themselves from the homeless street performer. Mr Penny is represented by attorneys from Raiser and Kenniff. Earlier this week Daniel Penny was involved in a tragic incident ... which ended in the death of Jordan Neely. We would first like to express, on behalf of Daniel Penny, our condolences to those close to Mr Neely, according to a statement shared withThe Independent at 7.30pm on 5 May. Mr Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness, according to attorneys for Mr Penny. When Mr Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death, according to the statement. For too long, those suffering from mental illness have been treated with indifference. We hope that out of this awful tragedy will come a new commitment by our elected officials to address the mental health crisis on our streets and subways. The Independent and other news outlets confirmed Mr Pennys identity earlier on 5 May after online sleuths first discovered his name the previous night. Neelys previous criminal record and family history were widely published across the tabloids and mainstream news outlets. A spokesperson for the NYPD could not provide comment or identify the person in the video to The Independent; police were not able to disclose a persons identity unless they are wanted or in custody. On 3 May, Neelys death was ruled by the New York medical examiners office as a homicide due to compression against his neck. Video footage and eyewitness accounts show a man believed to be Mr Penny with his arm wrapped around Neely for several minutes until his eyes shut and body goes limp. New York City Police Department officers attempted CPR upon arrival on the F train at the Broadway-Lafayette platform, according to an incident report reviewed by The Independent. Neely was pronounced dead at Lenox Health Greenwich Village hospital. Widely shared video footage captured by journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez shows a man believed to be Mr Penny and two other men holding Neely to the floor of a train car on 1 May. Police initially questioned but did not arrest Mr Penny. He has not been charged with a crime. When he walked into a subway car on 2 May, Neely complained of hunger and thirst, according to Mr Vazquez, who posted a video of part of the incident on his Facebook page. He wrote that Neely was yelling and said he was tired, didnt care whether he went to prison, and was ready to die. He said Neely threw his jacket to the floor of the train car before another passenger grabbed him in a headlock. Others grabbed at his arms. In bystander video from inside the train car, a passenger can be heard warning the man holding Neely in a chokehold. You dont want to catch a murder charge, a man can be heard saying. You got a hell of a chokehold, man. OTTAWA The image of King Charles will eventually replace the queen on Canada's $20 bill and its coins, the federal government announced during Saturday's coronation events. A news release from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government has directed the Bank of Canada to replace the likeness of the late Queen Elizabeth II with King Charles III during the next design process. It has also tasked the Royal Canadian Mint with designing coins depicting the new monarch that will go into circulation. Canada Post also released its first regular-circulation stamp featuring King Charles as monarch. It continues the corporation's tradition of issuing definitive stamps depicting the Canadian sovereign, dating back more than 170 years. The federal government honoured the coronation of Canada's new head of state, with a ceremony of its own in the nation's capital Saturday morning. Elected officials and dignitaries attended the ceremony in Ottawa with speeches, musical performances and special unveilings. In a speech, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc spoke of the monarchy's place in Canada. "Millions of Canadians are witnessing the coronation of Canada's sovereign for the first time in a country that is radically different from the one that witnessed the last coronation," LeBlanc said. "But as Canada evolves, so do its institutions, and so does the monarchy." Leaders of federal parties, including the NDP's Jagmeet Singh and the Conservative party's Pierre Poilievre, were absent from the event. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen Mary Simon were in London for the coronation, along with a Canadian delegation. The Ottawa celebration included a diverse set of performers, including an Algonquin traditional drum group, the Eagle River Singers, and a fusion Celtic group from Charlottetown, Inn Echo. Pure gold and silver collector coins from the Royal Canadian Mint that mark the coronation were also unveiled at the event. Story continues Rideau Hall is open to the public this weekend for free activities, including viewing a recording the coronation ceremony and musical performances by members of the Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2023. The Canadian Press Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A Nashville hotel guest woke up to find the night manager allegedly sucking his toes, according to police. David Neal, 52, was arrested by Metro Nashville Police Department and charged with aggravated burglary and assault, say authorities. Investigators say that Mr Neal cloned a key card and let himself into the guests room at around 5am on 30 March. David Neal (MNPD) Peter Brennan, who is from Texas, told WTVF that he was asleep inside his room at the citys Hilton Downtown Nashville hotel when the alleged assault took place. I was in Nashville for a work conference, said Mr Brennan. I awoke to a gentleman, an employee of the Hilton, assaulting me. I instantly jumped up and was screaming. Went into sort of fact-finding mode. Who are you? Why are you in my room? What are you doing here? I could see he was wearing a uniform, he had his name tag on. He was talking to me but not giving me any substantive answers. Investigators say that the suspect told officers that he had entered the guests room because of the smell of smoke. Im having problems sleeping frankly, Im going through some PTSD, talking to a therapist, added Mr Brennan. I still dont really feel safe in my own home. Mr Brennan is now suing the suspect and Hilton Hotels over the incident. Hilton Nashville Downtown is independently owned and operated by a third party and no Hilton entity employs staff at this property. The safety and security of our guests is our top priority and Hilton takes matters such as these very seriously, said a spokesperson for Hilton. In a statement, the hotel management said it was cooperating with police. The safety and security of our guests and team members is our highest priority. We are working closely with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, and, as part of company policy, we do not comment on ongoing investigations, the statement said. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Three men were stabbed near the University of Iowa campus after a fight unfolded in the early morning hours of Saturday. Authorities first issued an alert shortly after 2am after responding to a large fight in the 300 Block of S Gilbert Street. Students were told half an hour later to avoid the area as multiple people had been attacked and several others fled the scene. The victims, whose ages are not immediately available but were described as young, are receiving treatment at the University of Iowa Hospital. Multiple victims confirmed. Police are searching for a suspect, the University of Iowa Police Department said on Twitter. Campus police said in a later update on Saturday that the fight was among parties known to each other and that there is no direct threat to the general public. An investigation is now underway, and no other information will be released at this time, police said. It comes just days after a former University of California, Davis, student allegedly stabbed three people, killing one, near the campus last week. On Thursday, the university said police of the city of Davis, UC Davis police, and the FBI identified and arrested a suspect in all three stabbing incidents. The person has been identified as Carlos Dominguez. Dominguez was in his third year at UC Davis until April 25, 2023, when he was separated for academic reasons, it said. Mr Dominguez was charged with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty. Anyone with information about the stabbings in Iowa is asked to contact campus police at 319-356-6800. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The parents of one of the teens killed by Jesse McFadden have said they believe the convicted paedophile texted them pretending to be their daughter before police discovered seven bodies on his Oklahoma property on Monday. Oklahoma authorities confirmed on Wednesday that McFaddens Henryetta property was the scene of a murder-suicide. Investigators determined Jesse McFadden, 39, shot dead his wife Holly Guess, 35, and her children Rylee Elizabeth Allen, 17; Michael James Mayo, 15; and Tiffany Dore Guess, 13. The childrens friends, 14-year-old Ivy Webster and 15-year-old Brittany Brewer, were also killed. McFadden then staged the grisly scene and turned the gun on himself, according to authorities. Ivy and Brittany had gone to the McFaddens house for a sleepover with Tiffany over the weekend and were planning to go swimming on a ranch in McAlester but never showed up. In an interview with NewsNation, Ivys mother Ashleigh Webster said now she believes the last conversation she had with her daughter was actually McFadden pretending to be the teen. I got a message the next morning, Sunday morning that was her phone but I dont believe it was from her anymore saying that they were going to McAlester and she would be home later, Ms Webster said. Justin Webster, Ivys father, also said: We think Jesse wrote that and probably had already happened at that point. An Amber Alert was issued to find Ivy and Brittany after they failed to return home by 5pm on Sunday as they had planned. The two teens were last seen at around 1.30am on Monday travelling with Jesse McFadden a convicted rapist who was on the states sex offender registry in a white Chevrolet pickup. Ivys mother told KJRH that her daughters cellphone tracking had been turned off and said it was unlike her daughter not to respond to messages or calls. McFadden was set to stand trial over child sex abuse image charges on the day authorities made the gruesome discovery. Relatives of the victims have expressed disbelief after learning that McFadden was facing fresh soliciting and child sex abuse image charges after he was caught using a contraband cell phone to exchange nude photos with a minor in 2016, while he was serving a 20-year sentence for the rape of another teen. Missing girls Brittany Brewer, 15, left, and Ivy Webster, 14, right, were found dead in Oklahoma in May 2023 (Brewer family / Webster family via Facebook) After his early release in October 2020, McFadden was arrested the next month and then released on a $25,000 bond pending trial, which was repeatedly delayed, partially due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Theres no reason why a monster should have been let out, Mr Webster told NewsNation. If I could tell Ivys story and get our government officials and everybody started speaking out loud about keeping these paedophiles in jail. The sexual registry does not work. It does not work at all. Ivy and Brittanys parents have said they did not know McFadden had been convicted of raping a minor, while Guess mother has said she only found out very recently. McFaddens 2003 rape victim Krystle Strong also told The Independent earlier this week that she had tried to stop his early release. This undated photo provided by Janette Mayo shows from left, Tiffany Guess, Michael Mayo and Rylee Elizabeth Allen I called the jail, Ms Strong said. I believe I left a voicemail and tried to get transferred and I kept getting the runaround. I told them, Look, Ive called you guys over the years several times trying to get updates and Ive seen that you guys are still going to let him out even after you found contraband child porn on his phone. If this doesnt show that somebody isnt rehabilitated, then I dont know what else would. McFaddens former cellmate James Fleming said that he also tried to warn Henryetta Police Department about McFadden back in February of this year. Screenshots of what appears to be a conversation between him and the departments Facebook page show that Fleming described McFadden as a predator with multiple offences. A spokesperson with Henryetta Police Department told The Independent that McFaddens address was located in an unincorporated part of Okmulgee County, where his registration was up to date, and deferred to Okmulgee Police Department. Close Lori Vallow trial: Gilbert detective testifies Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The trial of doomsday cult mom Lori Vallow continues for another week at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, where the mother-of-three is accused of killing her two youngest children and her new husband Chad Daybells first wife. The 49-year-old is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, son Joshua JJ Vallow, 7, and Mr Daybells wife Tammy, 49. Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September 2019. In June 2020, their remains were found buried on the Daybell property. Tammy died one month after their disappearance in October 2019. On Monday, jurors were shown chilling text messages between Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell around the time of the murders of their spouses and her two children. In one message in August, Ms Vallow wrote: We r both so tired of taking care of demons. We are weary. Please ask the Lord to take them. The following month, Tylee and JJ were killed. On Tuesday, Judge Steven Boyce ruled that the court will stream the verdict of the high-profile case once its reached. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Week five of Lori Vallows murder trial concluded on Friday with a detailed look at text messages between the doomsday cult mom and Chad Daybell in the days after her husband Charles Vallow was killed by her brother. As the two sent romantic messages to each other, Mr Vallows sons Zach and Cole pleaded with their stepmother to be told the basic details of how their father had died after she had nonchalantly informed them of his passing in a text. Meanwhile, Mr Daybell sent messages professing his feelings for her and even an elaborate romance story, sections of which were read out in court. Ms Vallow is currently on trial in Boise, Idaho, after being charged with the murders of his wife Tammy Daybell, 49 in October 2019; and her own two children Joshua JJ Vallow, seven; and Tylee Ryan, 16, the month before. Mr Daybell, who married Ms Vallow on 5 November 2019 just weeks after his wifes sudden death, is standing trial separately for the murders at a later date. Testifying on Friday at the Ada County Courthouse was former FBI Special Agent Douglas Hart who led the bureaus response when Tylee and JJ were declared missing. He also had a hands-on approach to the investigation. His biggest role was to examine Loris two iCloud accounts, which was important because of the value of information thats contained in the cloud storage. He told the court: In this instance, we have a large volume of direct communication between Lori Vallow and others in this case. We have a number of emails and notes and recordings that were discovered during the review and analysis of the iCloud account. Focusing on the period after Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell met on 26 October 2018 at a conference in St George, he examined 4,500 text messages as well as voicemails and photos. (AP) Agent Hart testified that he discovered several leads in the text messages, such as Lori and Chad saying they wanted to get married and lead a life together and the beginning of their affair that led to the murders. There were several communications regarding JJ and Tylee that were relevant to their deaths After the affair began, there began to be in communication regarding the deaths of Charles Vallow, Tammy Daybell, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, he said. Agent Hart also said Chad and Lori used the word obstacles to describe her children and their spouses. There were also discussions about life insurance policies and social security payments JJ and Tylee received. Texts between Lori and her brother Alex Cox and her niece Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) were also deemed relevant. Two days before Charles was murdered she told her niece: They have an elaborate plan Ill call you soon We both need to stay here to defend ourselves. Its coming to a head! This week will change everything. She then arranged for her brother to be present at her home at a time when Charles would be coming over. On 11 July 2019, Alex shot Charles, killing him. The court was then shown the text message Ms Vallow sent to Charless sons nonchalantly informing them of his death, but not giving any details. It reads: Hi boys. I have very sad news. Your dad passed away yesterday. Im working on making arrangements and Ill keep you informed with whats going on. Im still not sure how to handle things. Just want you to know that I love you and so did your dad!! The two brothers send a stream of increasingly distraught and desperate messages which Ms Vallow ignores for lengthy periods and sporadically answers giving little further information away. As that text chain was unfolding, the court was shown how over the same period Ms Vallow was exchanging flirtatious messages with Mr Daybell. I love you so immensely that the whole universe knows it. And very soon the people on this little blue globe will know it too, he told her in one text three days after the death of her husband. Later that day, Mr Daybell continued to text her an extensive piece of romantic fiction that was eventually compiled as part of the evidence against the pair. Those in the courtroom reported that the jury seemed to find the testimony very powerful. Agent Hart noted there appeared to be no sorrow or remorse from Ms Vallow about the killing of her husband by her brother, which seems evident from her apparent indifference to replying to the texts from his sons. He was our dad and we love him very much. We deserve answers, Cole Vallow texted her. The jury were all seen to write notes during this portion of Agent Harts testimony, with one woman apparently looking horrified. Court then adjourned early for the weekend. The trial enters its sixth week on Monday morning. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A gunman killed eight people and wounded another seven in a mass shooting at an outlet mall in Texas, say authorities. The gunman, who has not yet been named, was also shot and killed by police after the shocking incident unfolded at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, on Saturday afternoon. Seven people died at the scene and two more were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, Allen Fire Department Chief Jonathan Boyd told reporters on Saturday night. (AP) Three wounded victims were in critical condition, while four others were in stable condition, he said. Medical City Healthcare spokesperson Janet St James, said their trauma facilities received eight patients between the age of 5 and 61 following the shooting. Our thoughts and prayers are with the first responders, victims, their loved ones, and the North Texas community during this tragic event, the facility said. The violence broke out at around 3.36pm CDT and a police officer who was already at the mall responding to another situation heard gunshots and engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat, Allen police chief Brian Harvey told reporters. Witnesses told WFAA that the gunman, who police say they believe acted alone, was dressed in black. Helicopter video also showed a silver car in the street in front of stores with its doors open and riddled with bullet holes. Law enforcement is on the scene at Allen Premium Outlets. An active investigation is underway. Please avoid the area until further update, tweeted Allen Police Department. A Collin County Sheriffs Office spokesperson told WFAA that there are multiple victims, including children. The sheriff also confirmed that the shooter is dead at the scene. In a video posted to Twitter people could be seen running through a car park with the sound of loud gunshots heard in the background. News channel footage from helicopters showed long lines of people being escorted away from the shops with their hands in the air. Allen Premium Outlets is an outdoor mall with more than 120 outlet stores, its website states. It is located around 25 miles north of Dallas. (AP) We were outside the Converse store and we just heard all this popping, eyewitness Elaine Penicaro, who was shopping with her daughter, told Fox4. We kind of all just stopped, and then a second later, just Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and there were sparks flying like it was right in front of us. .@ATFDallas ATF personnel are responding to the active shooter incident at Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, TX. Allen Police Department is the point of contact and will release more information as it becomes available. pic.twitter.com/ntQXLIK4bs ATF Dallas (@ATFDallas) May 6, 2023 Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that he was monitoring the situation. Our hearts are with the people of Allen, Texas tonight during this unspeakable tragedy, said Governor Greg Abbott. I have been in contact with Mayor Fulk and DPS Director McCraw as well as other state and local leaders and offered the full support of the State of Texas to local officials to ensure all needed assistance and resources are swiftly deployed, including DPS officers, Texas Rangers, and investigative resources. US Representative Keith Self for Texass 3rd congressional district, which includes Collin County, issued a statement on the shooting. We are devastated by the tragic news of the shootings that took place at the Allen Premium Outlets today. Our prayers are with the victims and their families and all law enforcement on the scene, he tweeted. This is an ongoing situation, but Allen PD has full control of the scene. A shooter is down and there are multiple casualties. They are continuing to work to ensure the scene is safe. The public is being asked to stay away from that area while this investigation continues. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A Manhattan federal judge has ruled in favour of the US Virgin Islands request to subpoena Google co-founder Larry Page amid civil proceedings stemming from JPMorgan Chases alleged ties to Jeffrey Epsteins sex trafficking. In a lawsuit filed in December, the USVI claimed that JP Morgan facilitated Epsteins sex trafficking ring by handling his payments to recruiters and victims. Prosecutors said JPMorgan serviced approximately 55 Epstein accounts between 1998 and 2013 years after the paedophile was first arrested in Florida for soliciting minors. According to court filings on Thursday (4 May) that have been reviewed by The Independent, prosecutors believe Epstein may have referred or attempted to refer Mr Page, who stepped down as CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet in 2019, to JPMorgan. The USVI government alleged it has fruitlessly attempted to serve Mr Pages subpoena via traditional means since April after hiring an investigative firm to locate the billionaire, but all addresses listed for him were invalid. Prosecutors filed a motion for Judge Jed Rakoff to facilitate alternative service with a subpoena for Mr Page to produce unspecified documents, which was granted on Friday (5 May). The ruling comes just weeks before JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is set to be deposed later this month. Mr Page must now produce any communication between him and Epstein regarding JPMorgan that dates back to 2002. He has also been asked to disclose potential fees paid by him to Epstein and vice versa, in connection with his accounts at JPMorgan, as well as all documents reflecting or regarding Epsteins involvement in human trafficking and/or his procurement of girls or women for commercial sex. The Independent has reached out to Mr Page for comment. USVI prosecutors have previously subpoenaed JPMorgans former chief executive Jes Staley, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and former Disney executive Michael Ovitz, among other powerful figures. The territory claims that JPMorgan was complicit in Epsteins crimes given the business opportunities referred to [it] by Epstein and his co-conspirators in exchange for its known facilitation of and implicit participation in Epsteins sex trafficking venture. Judge Rakoff allowed some claims to move forward in the lawsuit last week, including accusations by one of Epsteins victims that Mr Staley allegedly raped her while Epstein was present, the New York Post reported. Mr Staley has previously denied any knowledge of Epsteins sex ring The Independent has reached out to him with the new claims against him. According to February filings, Mr Staley, then head of private banking at JPMorgan, exchanged more than 1,000 emails from his work account with Epstein between 2008 and 2012. The USVI argues that at least one of those exchanges pertained to Epstein procuring young women to Mr Staley while the latter was visiting London. The Virgin Islands government alleges that the men used the names of Disney princesses as code for the women that Epstein trafficked with Epstein also emailing Mr Staley photos of young women in seductive poses. In one of the emails, Epstein asked Mr Staley if he needed anything while in Englands capital, to which Mr Staley allegedly answered yes. Mr Staley later responded that was fun, and, Say hi to Snow White, prosecutors said in the documents. When Epstein asked, [W]hat character would you like next?, Mr Staley reportedly answered: Beauty and the Beast. JPMorgan has denied having knowledge of any misconduct by Epstein and Mr Staley, who stepped down from the company in 2013. The bank has also argued that it cant be held liable for Mr Staleys alleged awareness of Epsteins crimes. When reached out by The Independent earlier this year, the bank referred to its legal filing on 1 February. ... USVI had access at the time to the same information, allegations, and rumors about Epstein on which it alleges JPMC should have acted, the statement read. Indeed, as a law-enforcement agency, USVI had access to much more, along with the investigative advantage of physical proximity to Epsteins crimes. According to an extensive report from The Wall Street Journal published last week, the circle of global power players who continued to meet with Epstein after his first sex conviction was far wider than previously revealed. Using source documents including Epsteins schedules, the paper identified meetings between the disgraced financier and figures including the current director of the CIA, a former White House lawyer, a college president and a member of an international banking dynasty following his 2008 conviction for a sex crime involving a teenage girl. However, none of those names appeared to be in Epsteins Little St James black book. Epstein, who once counted the likes of Prince Andrew and Bill Gates among his friends and associates, was found dead in a jail cell in 2019 while he was awaiting charges of sex-trafficking, allegations he denied. He had earlier served a year in jail after a plea deal in Florida over sex offences. His partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping him procure girls, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill into law Friday creating a new commission empowered to discipline and remove wayward prosecutors, saying it will curb far-left prosecutors who are making our communities less safe. Kemp made the remarks at the Chatham County Sheriff's Office in Savannah, where he signed the measure establishing the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission, which will launch July 1 and start accepting complaints Oct. 1. I am not going to stand idly by as rogue or incompetent prosecutors refuse to uphold the law, Kemp said. Today we are sending a message that we will not forfeit public safety for prosecutors to let criminals off the hook. The law parallels pushes to remove prosecutors in Florida, Indiana, Missouri and Pennsylvania, as well as broader disputes nationwide over how certain criminal offenses should be charged. The efforts continue anti-crime campaigns that Republicans ran nationwide last year, accusing Democrats of coddling criminals and improperly refusing to prosecute whole categories of crimes, including marijuana possession. Georgia Democrats strenuously opposed the measure, saying the Republican legislative majority was seeking another way to impose its will on Democratic voters at the local level. I strongly oppose an excessive and unnecessary commission as district attorneys are already held accountable under existing laws and through the current democratic process of holding election, said Deborah Gonzalez, Democratic district attorney for Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties. Gonzalez, under fire in Kemps hometown of Athens, was cited by Republicans as one of the law's top targets. She has declined to prosecute marijuana crimes, some prosecutors have left her office and judges have criticized her for missing court deadlines. Crucially, the Georgia law mandates that a prosecutor must consider every case for which probable cause exists and cant exclude categories of cases from prosecution. Experts have said that considering every case individually is unrealistic, because prosecutors turn down many more cases than they charge. However, its unclear if the new law will change prosecutors behavior or just lead them to avoid talking publicly about charging decisions. The eight-member commission will include six current or former prosecutors and two other lawyers. It will oversee DAs and solicitors general elected prosecutors who handle lower-level crimes in some counties. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has also decried the measure, calling it a racist attack after voters elected 14 nonwhite DAs in the state. Some have viewed the law as Republican retribution against Willis, who is considering criminal charges against former President Donald Trump over interference in Georgias 2020 election. Willis declined further comment Friday. The law was born from frustrations involving a white Republican prosecutor in suburban Atlanta who was indicted for bribery related to sexual harassment claims. He lingered in office until he pleaded guilty to unprofessional conduct and resigned in 2022. Some Democrats were interested in similar measures for a time because of Jackie Johnson, a coastal Georgia DA who was charged with hindering the police investigation into the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery. Democratic interest cooled after voters ousted Johnson. The rules could also target prosecutors who declared before Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022 that they wouldn't prosecute abortion-related offenses. Seven current Georgia DAs fit that description. Nationwide, the efforts aimed at curbing prosecutors have met with mixed success. In Missouri, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced on Thursday that she will resign June 1 as Republicans maneuvered to oust the Democrat. A bill was proceeding to let Republican Gov. Mike Parson appoint a special prosecutor to handle violent crimes, taking over most of Gardner's responsibilities, but her resignation could sideline the bill. Missouri's Republican attorney general, Andrew Bailey, was pursuing legal steps to remove Gardner. An Indiana bill originally written to let an oversight board appoint a special prosecutor when a noncompliant prosecutor refused to charge certain crimes appears dead for the year. Efforts by Pennsylvania Republicans to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner are stalled pending a court appeal. In the meantime the state House has flipped from Republican to Democratic control and, its unclear what that would mean for any trial. And in Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren in Tampas Hillsborough County in August. A federal judge found DeSantis illegally targeted Warren because hes a Democrat who publicly supported abortion and transgender rights. But the judge wrote he had no power to reinstate Warren, leading to an appeal to the state Supreme Court. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} First Lady Jill Biden has opened up about her visit to the United Kingdom to represent the United States at the coronation of Britains King Charles III. Dr Biden, who attended the lavish ceremony along with granddaughter Finnegan Biden, spoke of her delight after witnessing the historical event, which took place at Westminster Abbey in London. The first lady said it was an honour to attend the royal ceremony. You cant imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on the head of the king and then on the head of the queen, the first lady told The Associated Press during a phone interview on Saturday. Its really surreal to see and experience that moment. It was so meaningful to me that I could bring Finnegan here, that we could travel together and experience this together and its meant a lot to both of us, she added. President Joe Biden asked his wife to represent the US in his stead, marking the first time that a US first lady was present for a British coronation, according to the White House. Dr Biden and her granddaughter donned stylish pastel blue and yellow gowns, respectively, and seemed in high spirits at the once-in-a-generation event. They sat next to Ukraines First Lady Olena Zelenska. Addressing Kyivs ongoing conflict with Moscow, Dr Biden said Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welbys message of hope and joy had touched her. And I thought that was such a strong message because I think that is true, she said. And its true for all people everywhere, but I think it was important at this moment that the clergy brought that into this moment in history. First Lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden arriving ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, central London (PA) The first lady said that following the celebration, she and her granddaughter decided to honour British customs and had tea time together. I felt as I sat there, I felt this sense of decorum and civility that binds together people of all nations, she said. US First Lady Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan arrive at Westminster Abbey (WPA ROTA) Dr Biden also recounted her chat with Kate Middleton, noting the Princess of Wales had not ruled out the possibility of feeding her children candy to keep them quiet during the coronation. Last year, the princess youngest son Louis stole the show during the Queens Jubilee Platinum celebrations as he made silly faces and at times appeared deep in conversation with his grandmother. [The Princess of Wales] said she didnt know if her son could sit still for two hours and we just had a good laugh over it, Dr Biden said about the coronation. Its just something, I think, thats common to a lot of us. King Charles III became the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned in a ceremony that involved holy anointing oil and a glove and coronation sword. Charles wife, Camilla, was also crowned queen during Britains first coronation in 70 years, following Queen Elizabeth IIs death last September. The Greyhound bus heading to New York City picks up passengers at the Mountain Mart bus stop in Plattsburgh in late April. (Verity Stevenson/CBC - image credit) Sitting at the bus and gas station in Plattsburgh, N.Y., 24-year-old Naomie shakes her head. She spent more than a year on what she calls le chemin de l'enfer, the road to hell, to escape persecution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and meet up with a long-lost uncle in Montreal, only to end up exhausted and without any money back at this convenience store in upstate New York. Naomie fled her country to neighbouring Angola in 2021, after she was raped by her stepfather, a soldier. In Angola, with next to no resources for asylum seekers, she met a man in a market who said he was willing to help her and rented a little place for her to stay. Naomie says she didn't know he was married and that when his wife found out, she called on a group of bandits who stormed her home in the night. One of the men also raped her. CBC has agreed not to use Naomie's last name because she fears repercussions to her safety and her immigration file for speaking to media. "I've been through so many horrible, horrible places," she said, sitting at a table next to the Dunkin' Donuts counter inside the store. "I went through all that, all that, all that for nothing." Verity Stevenson/CBC More than a month after changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the U.S. effectively closed the Canadian border to asylum seekers, refugee hopefuls like Naomie continue to try to claim asylum in Canada at the border in New York. Some believe they will qualify for one of the exceptions to the agreement; others still don't know about the changes. Most, including Naomie, have been turned away. Naomie's attempt to seek asylum in Canada at the official border crossing in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle south of Montreal was rejected in late April. Roxham Road, the unofficial crossing point where 40,000 asylum seekers entered on foot in the last year, effectively closed following changes to the STCA between the United States and Canada, announced March 24. Taxi drivers no longer shuttle people from the Plattsburgh bus station to Roxham as a result, instead driving them to the nearby official point of entry. Story continues At the convenience store, Naomie's expression had been stoic until then, resigned and almost in disbelief that she was, once again, thrown into the unknown, no solid ground to land on. But as she described the events in the DRC and Angola, she wiped away a tear with her sleeve. Verity Stevenson/CBC Naomie had learned of the closure of Roxham Road, but she believed she qualified for one of the three exemptions to the agreement. The exceptions include having a family member with legal status in Canada, being an unaccompanied minor and having a work permit or other official document allowing a person to be in Canada. Volunteers from Bridges Not Borders, an organization advocating for asylum seekers, connected Naomie with a lawyer who is helping her apply for a request for reconsideration in her case. "It's important to emphasize that the recourses available to people who've been turned back at the border under the Safe Third Country Agreement are extremely limited," said Kate Forrest, the immigration and refugee lawyer who has been helping Naomie. "It's difficult to get these decisions overturned. And yet the the stakes are very high, obviously, for the people affected." Even as word of the closure appears to have had an impact on the number of asylum seekers landing in Plattsburgh, it hasn't stopped nearly 300 people like Naomie from trying their luck anyway. Surge in numbers of people leaving South America According to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), 276 asylum hopefuls have attempted to make claims across the country since March 25, an overwhelming majority of them in Quebec. Seventy-nine of them were deemed eligible and let into Canada, one person withdrew their application and "voluntarily went back to the U.S.," and the rest were detained and sent back. After what happened in Angola, Naomie managed to get a flight to Brazil thanks to lax visa restrictions. From there, she met a family that was preparing to make the journey to North America. With no other options, she decided to follow them. The pathway north through about a dozen countries in South and Central America is one that a steadily growing number of asylum seekers have been taking in the past five years. Verity Stevenson/CBC According to a Pulitzer-prize winning article in The California Sunday Magazine, 24,000 migrants traversed the Darien Gap in 2019, a treacherous jungle people must walk through in order to get from Colombia to Panama on their way north. By 2022, that number had skyrocketed to 250,000. Earlier this month, two United Nations groups said 80,000 migrants have already walked through the forest this year and that they expect as many as 400,000 to make the journey by the end of 2023. Naomie spent four days in the jungle. She says she almost drowned several times and was robbed of all her possessions by bandits. Toward the end, she couldn't walk straight because of how hungry she was. She has a saying for all these places she travelled through: Dieu pour tous, chacun pour soi. In French, it means God can protect everyone, but it's everyone for him or herself. "No one is going to help you. If you are sick, you're stuck. If you have a partner, they can help you. But I am alone. Who is going to help me?" she asked. In Plattsburgh, there's little in the way of help for asylum seekers and the people who have been helping say they cannot meet the need, with asylum seekers ending up stranded either at the gas station or on the side of the road throughout the county encompassing Plattsburgh. Verity Stevenson/CBC In mid-April, local organization Plattsburgh Cares along with the mayor of Champlain, N.Y. (the town Roxham Road is in on the U.S. side) asked the Clinton County Legislature to do more to support stranded asylum seekers in the area. "I understand this is a federal problem, but I also understand that this is a crisis of humanity and it is in our backyard," the mayor, Janet McFetridge, told the legislature, according to the Plattsburgh Press-Republican newspaper. McFetridge said she met families who'd been knocking on locals' doors looking for help. Kathy Sajor, the president of Plattsburgh Cares, told the legislature: "They are stranded, desperate, confused, depleted and often traumatized by their circumstances." A motel owner in the town of Plattsburgh said the organization had paid for the stay of several asylum seekers there. In the corner of her lobby, there were paper bags filled with snacks and supplies put together by the group. "Really, every day, people are coming," said Nidhi Patel, the owner of the Rip Van Winkle Motel, near the shore of Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh. "A lot of people are having troubles. They don't have money." Patel, 32, said at least one family of asylum seekers have shown up every day at her motel in the past two weeks. Verity Stevenson/CBC When some have arrived without the help of Plattsburgh Cares, she has let them stay for free. The families usually arrive in the evenings, when they've exhausted all other options to try to get out of Plattsburgh, Patel said. She, too, would like to see various levels of government do more in response to the fallout from the changes at Roxham Road, noting those changes have also caused a slowdown in business as people used to stay at the motel on their way there. CBC reached out to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada several times, but received only an automatic reply saying the federal agency has been impacted by the public servants' strike. A friend Naomie made on her way to Plattsburgh in Portland, Maine, happened to be nearby when she was at the gas station and agreed to come pick her up. She has been staying with him since then. After Naomie left, another Congolese woman showed up at the gas station with her eight-year-old son. His feet dangling from his chair, he played with imaginary cars as she cried quietly. The mother and son had fled their country in the night only weeks earlier, leaving everything behind. She said she has a cousin in Canada, but their claims were rejected anyway. They caught the bus to New York City about an hour later. Power Malu, the executive director of Artists-Athletes-Activists, one of two grassroots organizations helping asylum seekers inside the Port Authority bus terminal in New York City, says his group has had to help several people who were turned away by Canadian border officials. "Including a pregnant mother and her child that were turned away just a few days ago and are here in NYC," Malu said by text message. Theresa Cardinal Brown, a senior policy adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, says it may still be taking time for news of the border changes to make its way through to those already heading north. "It's still a relatively recent development," Brown said in a phone interview. The hope, for both Canada and the U.S., is that it will discourage asylum seekers from seeking out irregular migration paths, such as Roxham, or more remote areas across the border, she said. Critics have countered it will only do the opposite, but Brown says the goal is to cause a major reduction in those numbers. Verity Stevenson/CBC She says the policy as well as similar U.S. policies effectively halting asylum seekers in other countries, such as Mexico at the southern U.S. border have come about in response to overwhelmed immigration systems. "Bureaucratically, expanding governmental systems like that, it takes a while," Brown said. Stephanie Valois, a Montreal-based immigration lawyer and the head of Quebec's immigration lawyers' association, believes improving Canada's immigration system is a matter of political will. The rising numbers of asylum seekers crossing at Roxham was referred to as a burden for Quebec. Valois's group and others have said abolishing the STCA and allowing asylum seekers to claim asylum at official points would mean a natural distribution of their numbers across the east-west land border. Melissa Claisse, communications co-ordinator for the Welcome Collective in Montreal, an organization that helps asylum seekers settle in the city, says clients are disheartened by the new agreement and several with family members who had been on their way to Canada are struggling to determine whether their kin are eligible for the exemptions. "It's very difficult for us to give good advice to our clients about what they can tell their family members because the policy was announced without really any details or kind of guidelines about how it'll be put into effect at the border," Claisse said. "There's no difference between them and the people who came a little bit later and got turned away. And we see how much they have suffered and have benefited from from finding safety in Canada." Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has made his first public statements since being hospitalized a month ago, delivering a video address to his Forza Italia political party on Saturday. Berlusconi, who appeared in the video sitting at a desk set up inside the hospital and flanked by Italian and EU flags, received a standing ovation from the floor of the party congress in Milan. The 86-year-old three-time former premier and media mogul noted that it was the first time since he was hospitalized that he has worn a coat and jacket. Berlusconi told party members that Forza Italia is an essential and loyal pillar of the governing majority led by Giorgia Melonis far-right Brothers of Italy, and said he was proud of the government's accomplishments so far, including a reduction in payroll taxes. Berlusconi was hospitalized at Milan's San Raffaele hospital with a lung infection on April 5, and doctors later revealed he also has chronic leukemia. His party is the smallest in Melonis coalition, which also includes Matteo Salvinis League. Berlusconi has a seat in the Senate, but no Cabinet posts. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Bill Barr has warned against Donald Trump getting a second term as president, warning that his former boss would deliver chaos to the country. The former US attorney general slammed the favourite for the 2024 Republican nomination when he was asked by TV host Geraldo Rivera if Mr Trump was fit for office. If you believe in his policies, what hes advertising as his policies, hes the last person that could actually execute them and achieve them, Mr Barr said at a City Club of Cleveland luncheon in Ohio on Friday. Mr Barr said that the one-term president does not have the discipline. He does not have the ability for strategic thinking and linear thinking or setting priorities, or how to get things done in the system. It is a horror show when hes left to his own devices, the ex-attorney general added. So, you may want his policies, but Trump will not deliver Trump policies. He will deliver chaos. And he said that the chaos would see Mr Trumps policies set much further back than they would otherwise be. Geraldo Rivera: Is Donald Trump fit to be president? Former Trump AG Bill Barr: He does not have the ability for strategic thinking and linear thinking It is a horror show when hes left to his own devices He will deliver chaos. pic.twitter.com/uNUumukl2h The Recount (@therecount) May 5, 2023 Mr Barr, who has publicly chastised the former president since he left office, said last month that he viewed Mr Trump as a weak 2024 candidate, even though he would support him if he secured the GOP nomination. Hes already, I think, a weak candidate that would lose, but I think this sort of assures it, Mr Barr told ABCs This Week. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has claimed the British people are greatly insulted by Joe Bidens non-attendance at King Charles IIIs coronation in London on Saturday. Joe Biden should have been at the Coronation of King Charles III. Is that really so much to ask? Mr Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. The people of the UK are greatly insulted. No wonder we are losing support all over the world, he added. Mr Biden announced last month he would skip the coronation, in line with a long-standing tradition of US presidents. First Lady Jill Biden attended the service at Westminster Abbey accompanied by her granddaughter Finnegan. Ms Biden wore a blue Ralph Lauren dress, with a blue bow and a pair of matching gloves for the ceremony. First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan Biden arriving at Westminster Abbey, central London, ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Picture date: Saturday May 6, 2023. Andrew Milligan/Pool via REUTERS (via REUTERS) President Biden congratulated King Charles III and Queen Camilla in a Twitter post on Saturday morning. The enduring friendship between the US and the UK is a source of strength for both our peoples, Mr Biden wrote. The First Lady added that it was an honor to represent the United States on this historic day at Westminster Abbey in a statement posted to Twitter. In a service attended by 2,000 world leaders, royalty and celebrities, King Charles III was crowned with the bejeweled St Edwards Crown to shouts of God save the king. Moment Red Arrows fly past Buckingham Palace in honour of King's coronation. (Getty) Charles and Camilla then rode in a Gold State Carriage from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace, accompanied by a procession of 4,000 troops. Tens of thousands of well-wishers came out to celebrate the coronation in London. Mr Trump, who is facing a civil rape and defamation trial brought by writer E Jean Carroll in New York, was not invited to attend the service. He wished the newly crowned King and Queen good luck and best wishes in a separate Truth Social post. You are two very special people. May your reign be a long and glorious one, he said. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Ron DeSantis has heaped lavish praise on Tucker Carlson following his firing by Fox News, calling the right-wing host a fantastic individual. Carlson exited Rupert Murdochs news channel days after the company settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5m over election lies pushed by its hosts. The Florida governor, who is expected to run against Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination, told Newsmax that Carlsons departure from Fox News was terrible. Tucker Carlson is a fantastic individual. His show was fantastic and I think it was terrible that he was fired, said Mr DeSantis on Friday. I think there is more to it, I dont think it was really about Tucker, I think it is about some of this other stuff that is going on with Fox. He was someone who was willing to speak out and challenge the prevailing orthodoxies. And he added: He is talented, he is funny and it was a great show. Mr DeSantis is not alone in his praise for Carlson, a conspiracy theorist who has been accused of pushing a white nationalist agenda. DeSantis: Tucker Carlson is a fantastic individual. I think his show was fantastic. pic.twitter.com/RbTQiznB7a Acyn (@Acyn) May 6, 2023 Mr Trump has also defended Carlson, who in private text messages wrote of his hate for the one-term president. Tucker was insightful, interesting, and ratings gold, Mr Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. He will be greatly missed. And Mr Trump also told Newsmax of his surprise at learning of the firing. Im shocked, Mr Trump said. Im surprised. Hes a very good person and very good man. And very talented, as you know, he had very high ratings. So, were just learning about it almost as we speak ... that was something, thats a big one. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, has been wounded in a car bombing that killed his driver an attack that Russia immediately blamed on Ukraine and the West. The state Investigative Committee said the writer's Audi Q7 was blown up in a village in the Nizny Novgorod region, about 250 miles (400km) east of Moscow, which it was treating as an act of terrorism. It said Prilepin had been taken to hospital. The committee released a photograph showing the white vehicle lying overturned on a track next to a wood, with a deep crater beside it and fragments of metal strewn nearby. An interior ministry spokeswoman said a suspect had been arrested. State news agency TASS quoted security sources suggesting the suspect was a "native of Ukraine" with a past conviction for robbery with violence. Interfax news agency quoted a source in the emergency services as saying Prilepin's condition was serious and doctors would operate on him. The novelist is an outspoken champion of Russia's war in Ukraine and has boasted of taking part in military combat there. He was the third prominent pro-war figure to be targeted by a bomb since Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the deaths of journalist Darya Dugina and war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in the two previous attacks. Kyiv has denied involvement. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak posted a cryptic comment on Twitter about Saturday's incident, appearing to suggest it was the result of Russian infighting. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram: "The fact has come true: Washington and Nato fed another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime." She claimed it was the "direct responsibility of the US and Britain", but offered no evidence whatsoever for what has been a regular complaint of Moscow the support by Western allies of Ukraine for their fight against Russias invasion. Officials at the White House, Pentagon and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. No comment was immediately available from the UK Foreign Office. It was the second time this week that Moscow has accused Ukraine of carrying out terrorist attacks on behalf of the West, a narrative it appears to be pushing with increasing urgency. On Wednesday, Russia accused Ukraine of trying to kill President Vladimir Putin with a night-time drone attack on the Kremlin. Ukraine denied that too, and the White House said accusations that Washington had a hand in it were "lies". TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as declining to comment on Saturday's car bomb in the absence of information from investigators. The agency said former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev had sent a telegram to Prilepin, calling the incident "a vile attack by Nazi extremists". Mr Prilepin often speaks out in support of the Ukraine war on social media, with more than 300,000 followers on Telegram and his own website and YouTube channel. He fought for Russian proxy forces in eastern Ukraine before last year's invasion and led a military unit there, boasting in a 2019 YouTube interview that his unit "killed people in big numbers". "These people are dead, they are buried and there are many of them," he said. "Not a single unit among the Donetsk battalions had such results. It was outrageous chaos what we did there... Not a single field commander had such results as I had." Reuters Close Vladimir Putin accuses the West of creating real cult of Nazism For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Russia fired cruise missiles at Kyiv on Tuesday and paraded troops across Red Square for its annual celebration of victory in World War Two. In a fiery 10-minute speech in front of the Kremlin walls, Vladimir Putin thundered against Western global elites and said civilisation was at a decisive turning point. A real war has been unleashed against our homeland, said the Russian leader, who last year ordered what the West calls an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, destroying cities and killing thousands of civilians. Meanwhile, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said he had been told he and his men would be regarded as traitors if they abandoned their positions in the city of Bakhmut. A combat order came yesterday which clearly stated that if we leave our positions [in Bakhmut], it will be regarded as treason against the motherland. That was the message to us, Mr Prigozhin said. [But] if there is no ammunition, then we will leave our positions and be the ones asking who is really betraying the Motherland, he added. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Ukraine's air force has claimed to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly-acquired American Patriot defence systems the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow's most modern missiles. Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defence systems. It comes as Kyiv accused Moscow of using phosphorus munitions in the eastern city of Bakhmut. Drone footage released by the Ukrainian military shows parts of the city the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the war ablaze as what is alleged to be white phosphorus rains down. Phosphorus weapons are not banned in their entirety, given their use for creating smoke screens or illumination. However, the use of white phosphorus, or other munitions designed to set fire to objects or cause burn injuries, in civilian areas is considered a war crime. Writing on Twitter, Ukraine's defence ministry said the attack had targeted "unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition". On Saturday, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper quoted military officials as saying that "the enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut in an attempt to wipe the city off the face of the Earth. The allegations could not be independently verified and it is not clear exactly when the alleged attack took place. Russian forces have not commented on the claim, but have rejected all previous accusations from Ukraine that they had used phosphorus. As for the hypersonic weapon, General Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from the Russian territory and was shot down with a Patriot missile. "Yes, we shot down the 'unique' Kinzhal," Gen Oleshchuk wrote in a Telegram post. "It happened during the night-time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region." The Kinzhal which means "dagger" in Russian is one of the latest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000 kilometres (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. A combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets, like underground bunkers or mountain tunnels. Russia, which did not immediately comment on Ukraine's statement about the Kinzhal, has in the past boasted that the missile has no equivalent in the West. The Ukrainian military has previously admitted lacking assets to intercept the Kinzhals. "They were saying that the Patriot is an outdated American weapon, and Russian weapons are the best in the world," Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Ukraine's Channel 24 television. "Well, there is confirmation that it effectively works against even a super hypersonic missile." Ihnat said. He said successfully intercepting the Kinzhal is "a slap in the face for Russia" led by President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine took its first delivery of the Patriot missiles in late April. It has not specified how many of the systems it has or where they have been deployed, but they are known to have been provided by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. The Patriot was first deployed by the US in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4m (3.1m) per missile, and the launchers cost about $10m each, according to analysts. At such a cost, it was widely thought that Ukraine would only use the Patriots against Russian aircraft or hypersonic missiles. In a Telegram post on Saturday, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, said he had thanked US General Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, for American aid to Ukraine. General Zaluzhnyi said he also briefed General Milley "about the situation at the front and preparations" for Ukraine's long-expected counteroffensive against Russia. Ukraine has not said when it might launch the counteroffensive, but it is widely anticipated to be soon. Elsewhere, a prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was wounded in a car bombing that killed his driver on Saturday, an attack that Russia immediately blamed on Ukraine and the West. The state Investigative Committee said the writer's Audi Q7 was blown up in a village in the Nizhny Novgorod region, about 250 miles (400km) east of Moscow, which it was treating as an act of terrorism. It said Mr Prilepin had been taken to hospital. An interior ministry spokeswoman said a suspect had been arrested. State news agency TASS quoted security sources as saying the suspect was a "native of Ukraine" with a past conviction for robbery with violence. The novelist is an outspoken champion of Russia's war in Ukraine and has boasted of taking part in military combat there. He was the third prominent pro-war figure to be targeted by a bomb since Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the deaths of journalist Darya Dugina and war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in the two previous attacks, and Kyiv has denied involvement. In other developments, officials in both Russia and Ukraine said they had carried out another of their regular exchanges of prisoners of war. The Russian Defence Ministry said it brought three military pilots back to Russia, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said 45 fighters who defended the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol had been returned to Ukraine. Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut with phosphorus munitions. Drone footage released by the UKrainian military, shows parts of the city the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the war ablaze as what is alleged to be white phosphorus rains down. While white phosphorus weapons are not banned in their entirety, but their use in civilian areas is considered a war crime. Writing on Twitter, Ukraine's defence ministry said the phosphorus attack targeted "unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition" although it is unclear exactly when the alleged attack took place. Moscow has been accused of using white phosphorus several times since the launch its invasion last year, including during the siege of Mariupol at the beginning of the war. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky alleged at a summit of Nato leaders in Brussels near the start of the invasion that white phosphorus munitions had already been fired on civilians in his countrys cities. This morning, by the way, phosphorus bombs were used. Russian phosphorus bombs. Adults were killed again and children were killed again, he said. Moscow has never publicly admitted to using white phosphorous, and last year Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov insisted "Russia has never violated international conventions" after Mr Zelenskys remarks. Cluster munitions are also alleged to have been fired on Ukrainian targets since the war began on 24 February while the UKs Ministry of Defence has said that the Kremlin itself has admitted to using thermobaric rockets. White phosphorus is a yellowish or colourless translucent substance, wax-like in texture and smelling faintly of garlic, which ignites immediately on contact with oxygen in the air, creating a bright plume of smoke. It cannot be put out with water and burns at up to 1,300C. The acid is commonly used in warfare to create smoke screens to conceal troop movements, to illuminate the battlefield at night or to mark targets and, because of these practical applications and the fact that it is not explicitly intended to target the bodys life systems, is not currently recognised as a chemical weapon under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. However, it can certainly be used as an incendiary weapon to maim, poison or kill indiscriminately and is known to cause instant scarring of the lungs, heart, liver and kidneys and to be capable of burning through muscle to the bone, often causing severe second and third-degree burns that typically require skin grafts. Incendiary weapons cause devastating burns, and in far worse ways than any of the standard scald or fire burns, Dr Rola Hallam, a physician who treated victims of chemical warfare in Syria, is quoted as saying in a report by Human Rights Watch. They can burn through everything. If they can burn through metal, what hope does human flesh have? Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons does explicitly prohibit the use of white phosphorus as a weapon against civilian populations, drawing a distinction between combatants and non-combatants, which means that the protocol is only breached if the latter group is fired upon. Article 35 of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions meanwhile rules that any weapon that causes superfluous or unnecessary suffering is outlawed, which could be applied to the indiscriminate firing of white phosphorus and potentially constitute a war crime. This is part of the horror of war, lamented RAND Corporation researcher and Army veteran David Johnson in conversation with Insider recently. These weapons were developed for military purpose. And, quite frankly, theyre going to be used. White phosphorus was deployed in both the First World War and Second World War and colloquially known as WP or Willy Pete. Its legacy can still be felt: in August 2017, a woman passing the banks of the River Elbe near Hamburg plucked what she believed to be a nugget of amber from the wet sand and tucked it into her coat pocket, only for it to catch alight, the explosive revealing itself and the pedestrian only narrowly escaping serious injury. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Iran has executed a Swedish-Iranian dissident convicted of leading an Arab separatist group accused of attacks including one on a military parade in 2018 that killed 25 people. Habib Farajollah Chaab, also known as Habib Asyoud, had been a leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, an Arab separatist movement that has conducted oil pipeline bombings and other attacks in Irans oil-rich Khuzestan province. That group had claimed the 2018 attack in its immediate aftermath. Chaabs execution comes as a Swedish court last year sentenced an Iranian to life in prison over his part in the 1988 mass executions in Iran at the end of its war with Iraq. Tehran, which has used prisoners as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West, reacted angrily to that sentence. Meanwhile, tensions also remain high between Iran and the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme as well and at least one more prisoner with Western ties faces a possible execution. The Iranian judiciarys Mizan news agency confirmed Chaabs execution by hanging in a lengthy statement. It identified him as the leader of the militant group and alleged, without providing evidence, that he had ties to Swedish, Israeli and US intelligence services. It accused his group of killing or wounding 450 people over the years, including multiple attacks on government offices and other sites. It also for the first time clearly identified Iranian intelligence officers as being behind Chaabs abduction, saying that its unknown soldiers captured him in Turkey in November 2019. Swedens foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, reacted with dismay to Chaabs execution, saying Sweden had pleaded with Iran not to carry it out. The death penalty is an inhumane and irrevocable punishment, and Sweden, together with the rest of the [European Union], condemns its use under all circumstances, he said in a statement. Swedens Nordic neighbours, Finland and Norway, also strongly condemned the execution, underlying their stance against the death penalty. I am appalled, said Finlands foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto. Tensions have already escalated between Iran and Sweden over the life imprisonment of Hamid Noury, an Iranian convicted in Sweden of committing grave war crimes and murder during the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The end of the war saw mass executions of an estimated 5,000 Iranian prisoners, including those from an exiled opposition group and others. The 2018 attack in Iran targeted a military parade in Ahvaz in Khuzestan, the chaos captured live on state television. Militants disguised as soldiers opened fire, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 60 others in the deadliest attack to strike Iran in years. A spokesperson for the separatist group claimed the assault shortly after in a televised interview. Isis also claimed the attack, though it offered factually incorrect details about the assault. In recent months, Iran has carried out other executions after the months of unrest over the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the countrys morality police. In January, Iran executed a former high-ranking defence ministry official and dual Iranian-British national, Alireza Akbari, accused of spying. The UK government had strongly condemned the execution. Iran is one of the worlds most active executioners. Associated Press Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A passenger had to be held back by fellow travellers after he appeared to attack a flight attendant and attempt to jump from the plane. In a video taken on board a United Airlines flight, the man can be seen attempting to hit the member of cabin crew, before managing to force open the aircrafts emergency exit. The footage was shot by Naya Jimenez shortly before the plane took off from San Francisco International Airport, bound for Houston, Texas, just after midnight on 1 May. Ms Jimenez told ABC News that the passenger was angry because she asked his wife, and then him, to move out of her assigned seat. She said: They had to bring in a gate attendant to try to talk to both of them. Then, he began slurring his speech a little bit, like, Sir, why are you smiling at me?. Thats the first thing he said. A person can be heard in the clip saying youre in my space right now before the first punch is thrown. But according to Ms Jimenez, after the man was briefly restrained, he attempted to jump off the plane. After he paused for a minute, he ran toward where the pilot was, where the emergency exit doors are, and attempted to open it. [He] successfully opened the emergency exit and was about to jump down, she said. The plane is elevated, so he would have jumped apparently two stories to the ground, and the flight attendants just kicked in, and everybody pulled him back to safety. A United Airlines spokesperson told The Independent: On Sunday night, our team at San Francisco International Airport immediately contacted law enforcement after a disruptive customer assaulted one of our customer service employees during boarding. This customers behavior was unacceptable, he has been banned from future United flights and we are working with local law enforcement in their investigation. Were grateful to our team for their professionalism and for looking out for the safety of our customers and their fellow United employees. ABC News report that a 47-year-old man was arrested by San Francisco police on battery charges related to this incident. The Independent has contacted United Airlines for additional comment. This isnt the only recent example of erratic behaviour on planes. At the end of April, a United Airlines flight was forced to turn back after spending three hours in the air when a passenger got into an argument with a flight attendant and refused to get out of a crew seat. And last month a man travelling on an American Airlines flight from New York to Delhi was arrested after allegedly urinating on a co-passenger during an argument. The union says research assistants are fighting to unionize to bargain as a collective over issues such as wages, rights and a grievance process. (Robb Douglas/CBC - image credit) The University of British Columbia has argued against allowing graduate research assistants to unionize, claiming they are students and not employees. CUPE 2278, which also represents teaching assistants at UBC, filed to expand its bargaining unit by including graduate research assistants. UBC graduate assistants are set to cast ballots in a union representation vote on Monday. Both the union and university attended a certification hearing before the B.C. Labour Relations Board this week, where the university argued against graduate research assistants' right to unionize. "The monies they receive are scholarship awards and are treated as such and do not constitute wages received for work performed," said Matthew Ramsey, director of university affairs, in a statement. CUPE 2278 says there are around 3,300 graduate research assistants at UBC who conduct research across different university departments. The union says research assistants are fighting to unionize to bargain as a collective over issues such as wages, rights and a grievance process. Largest organizing drive in years: union Gracy Buckholtz has worked as a graduate research assistant in UBC's botany department since 2021. She says research assistants are all compensated differently depending on their department. In her case, she says she is paid through her supervisor's grant. She says research assistants are currently forced to deal with issues about their work individually rather than as a collective. "I think people join for a variety of reasons and, for me, it was getting representation for everyone on campus," she said. "The goal of this is to leave UBC better than I found it." Buckholtz disagrees with UBC's classification of research assistants as students and not employees. "To call us students doesn't really recognize the fact that we are producing things that raise the university's global standing. It makes it an elite research institution to come to," she said. Story continues "That isn't possible without the work researchers are doing." Ben Nelms/CBC CUPE 2278 president Emily Cadger says it's the largest organizing drive in years in B.C. "We've made a really big statement about what actually needs to be protected labour in the workforce," said Cadger. In B.C., the Labour Relations Board can automatically certify a union if 55 per cent of its employees sign valid cards. If a union has between 45 and 55 per cent of support, the board can order a representation vote. Cadger says the union has collected enough support for a vote. The union's position that university research assistants are employees isn't unique. Across Canada, research students at several universities have unionized, including at Simon Fraser University, and Concordia and McGill universities in Montreal. Meanwhile, Ramsay says the university supports people's right to organize, adding that of the past eight certification applications since 2013, the university has only objected to one the application by the research assistants. The certification process remains before the board and it's unclear when a final decision will be made. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} North Carolinas Republican-controlled state senate passed legislation to ban abortion at 12 weeks on Thursday. The legislation, which follows the passing of a similar law in Florida, means that abortion access will be effectively cut off throughout most of the South. What is particularly surprising about the legislation is it would happen in a state like North Carolina. While the state was part of the Confederacy, it always viewed itself as not as regressive as other Southern states. When states like Alabama and Arkansas elected Dixiecrat governors in the 1960s, North Carolinas Terry Sanford championed civil rights and integration. With a city like Charlotte that attracts finance and the Research Triangle that includes universities like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University and North Carolina State University, it has always positioned itself as what political scientist V.O. Key called a progressive plutocracy. Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has threatened to veto the abortion bill, but Republicans have enough votes to override it. Mr Cooper won his first gubernatorial campaign in 2016 when Donald Trump won the state largely on the back of the Republican governor passing a bill that restricted transgender people from using public restrooms that matched their gender. Some likely hoped that after Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the state since Jimmy Carter in 1976 that its political trajectory would mirror that of Virginia, which also voted for Mr Obama in 2008. Instead, Mr Coopers victories in 2016 and 2020 notwithstanding, North Carolina has only moved further to the right in the 15 years since Mr Obamas victory. While Virginia has become more Democratic and Georgia voted for Joe Biden (though it remains staunchly Republican on the state level), Democrats have been unable to turn their fortunes around in the state. The bad luck began shortly after Mr Obamas victory. Unlike many Southern states, North Carolinas legislature remained firmly Democratic for the better part of a century and it had only elected two Republican governors in the 20th century, both of whom were decidedly moderate. But the Great Recession left many in the state reeling, as did the decline of the textile, tobacco and furniture industries. In response, North Carolina voted overwhelmingly for the GOP, giving Republicans both houses of the legislature for the first time since 1898 in 2010. Former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory won the governorship in 2012, giving the GOP a trifecta for the first time in more than a century, the same year Mitt Romney won North Carolina. In 2014, the states house speaker Thom Tillis routed Democratic Senator Kay Hagan, solidifying the GOPs hold. The hits continued to come in 2016 when Mr Trump won the state and flipped historically Democratic areas like Robeson County and repeated his performance in 2020. In 2022, the state Democratic party fell even further and the GOP gained seats in the state legislature, coming up only one seat short of a supermajority in the state house. Then, last month, the other shoe dropped when Tricia Cotham, a Democratic state legislator who had campaigned heavily on supporting abortion rights, switched parties and she joined the GOP, giving the party its super majority. All of this might have some Democrats wondering how a state that sees itself as separate from the rest of the South could shift so hard to the right. Ultimately, the answer comes down to demographics. While 26 per cent of residents in neighboring Virginia live in rural areas, only about 57 per cent of North Carolinians live in urban areas. As urban areas become increasingly Democratic, the party has become more reliant on the areas and less focused on rural areas nationally. Similarly, roughly 57 per cent of Georgias population lives in Atlanta, which has contributed to the state becoming fertile ground for Democrats and contributed to Senator Raphael Warnocks victory last year. Similarly, North Carolina also lacks the large college-educated numbers that turned Virginia into a solidly Democratic state. Whereas 59.3 per cent of residents of the Old Dominion have either a college degree or some post-secondary certificate, only 34.9 per cent of North Carolinians have a college degree. As educational polarisation continues, with non-college graduates no longer seeing the Democratic Party as the party of the working class, they will continue to face huge obstacles. Lastly, North Carolina lacks a sizeable African-American population. While about 30.5 per cent of Georgias population is Black, only about 22.3 per cent of North Carolina is Black. The lack of a large enough Black population combined with a lack of a college-educated population makes the state a heavy lift for Democrats. Incidentally, the more that the state passes laws like abortion restrictions, the less attractive it will be to college-educated voters who might otherwise migrate to North Carolina. It will also disincentivise college students at places like Duke, UNC and Wake Forest University from staying in North Carolina, which could contribute to the state becoming even more Republican. Conversely, the law could also create enough of a backlash that voters punish Republicans. The NCAAs decision to pull out of North Carolina because of the bathroom bill made the state look like a pariah and gave Mr Cooper the governorship. An old adage described North Carolina as a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit, and tarnishing that image might cost dearly. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Never was there a more solitary figure than the Kings second son walking down the aisle alone at the coronation. If your heart didnt ache to see Prince Harry yes, the spare, the black sheep, the outlier taking those brave steps all by himself to sit alongside former friends and relatives after months of acrimony, then it must be made of stone. Forget what hes done: the tell-all, explosive memoir, the revealing Netflix documentary, the inner circle revelations that have sent shockwaves through the core of the royal family. All I saw was a self-conscious, grim-faced man, in pain, without the comfort of his wife to soften the blow. I can only imagine how tightly he must have been gritting his teeth to do it in the first place. And while the Duke of Sussex walked into the venue with his cousins, Beatrice and Eugenie, and their respective partners, he could not have looked more lonely. We all know what its like to have to go to a big event (a wedding, a family party, a birthday) without your other half you feel like a part of you is missing. And Im sure we can all imagine what it would feel like to be without the one person who makes us feel bolstered, bold and confident at a once-in-a-lifetime event at the same time as your own brother has his wife and children by his side. It must be a painful wrench indeed for Harry to be without Meghan today. It is perhaps no surprise that hes cutting his time in London short Harry is rumoured to be returning to the US almost immediately after the coronation, after arriving early on Friday morning. He wasnt even there with the rest of the royal family on the balcony. But imagine how fast his heart must have been beating, how tough it must have been to keep a perfect poker face throughout the whole affair could you have done it? Im not sure I could have. Especially because this marks the first time Harry is seeing his father, brother Prince William, and other members of the royal family since he released his memoir Spare in January; notable for shocking revelations such as claims William physically attacked him, as well as his thoughts on Queen Camilla, his sex life, his drug use and his kill count during his time served in the army. If youve ever experienced a family breakdown or estrangement, or even just a savage argument at the dinner table, then you know how much it takes to walk back into the room (yes, even if youre the one who stormed out of it in the first place). It takes bravery, humility and a good deal of self-awareness to face the music after youve caused a right royal fuss. For that, Harry deserves to be commended. The fact that he turned up in the first place is admirable enough many wouldnt have been able to stomach it. Imagine the eyes of the world, let alone your family, on you and you alone; the whispers and giggles and snide looks. Imagine the poignancy of being relegated to the third row, next to a second cousin of the King, while your brother takes prominence and embraces your father as part of the official pledge of allegiance. Imagine knowing that you could have avoided it all by staying at home with your wife and celebrating your sons fourth birthday. Archies birthday plans apparently include a low-key party at the couples California residence. Quite a change from a coronation, then. People blast Harry for betraying his family, but his presence at his fathers special day, to my mind, proves the opposite: hes showing them a great deal of respect, at the expense of his own comfort. Lesser men wouldnt have gone at all. Weve explored before the idea that you might have to divorce your family in order to have a successful marriage; have heard the argument that in fact, its quite right that Harry chose Meghan and his children Archie and Lilibet over the sense of duty and rigid responsibility that would have kept him stifled and unhappy. Some might argue the bravest thing would have been for Meghan to come to the coronation to be by his side. But had he not split from the establishment had he remained in Britain, and the couple been made central to proceedings my guess is we would see a man even more reduced. What Harry has done today took guts, strength, determination, love and respect. We should show him the same in return. Russian jet firms seek to block record winding up case in the High Court Lawyers acting for creditors say GTLK Europe DAC and GTLK Europe Captial DAC are insolvent and unable to pay their debts GTLK customers include Aeroflot, Emirates and EasyJet Aodhan O'Faolain Sat 6 May 2023 at 03:30 As Sweden reaches for Irelands Eurovision record, how can we turn the beat around? Irelands crown for most wins in the contest could be matched next weekend, but many fans believe this could be a blessing Breaking the glass ceiling: Loreen is aiming to win Eurovision for a second time, and help Sweden equal Ireland's record of seven wins Kirsty Blake Knox Sat 6 May 2023 at 03:30 Cian Nugents return home to care for his mother yields thoughtful lyrics and exquisite arrangements, while Beach House provides dreamy tunes on their new EP Ed Sheeran releases whats likely to be one of the years biggest-selling and most streamed albums this weekend, but as no advance promo copies of Subtract were made available to reviewers in Ireland, attention turns elsewhere. Kismet, then, for Dublins Cian Nugent, who returns after a seven-year hiatus with a bewitching fourth album. She Brings Me Back to the Land of the Living comes straight from the heart. The title comes from words his mother, Kathy, has often said since she suffered a debilitating stroke in 2019. The album artwork is hers too a painting done in hospital during the early stages of rehabilitation. She Brings Me Back to the Land of the Living by Cian Nugent Having returned home to the Dublin-Wicklow border to be her sole carer, its little surprise that familial love, parent-child bonds and childhood memories seep their way into the songs. Its certainly the case on the woozy, languid Dogs in the Morning as he sings about finding a photograph of you in your youth. Like many of the tracks, an evocative portrait is created from snapshots, snatched words, little asides. One might have thought the songs would be downbeat, but in their own quietly determined fashion they celebrate life, its myriad challenges and the self-development that comes when we find ourselves in unexpected situations. The British music monthly Uncut, in a lengthy interview with Nugent in the current issue, calls the album drowsy and its a perfect description for songs that are somnambulant and soothing. Theres an unhurried feel to most of the eight tracks, several of them weighing in around the six- and seven-minute mark and that laidback, restful feel does not just come from Nugents gentle vocal delivery, but in the way the layers of music cushion the words. Having made his name as a guitarist of supreme gifts, he puts all manner of six-stringed instruments at this albums core. But the guitars are part of a wider whole and arrangements that have been carefully and beautifully executed. One of Nugents collaborators, Chris Forsyth, captures his approach in the Uncut feature. His isnt guitar music in the sense that his guitar is way out in front of everything, he says. His compositions are complete and his arrangements always reflect the nuances of the tunes. Exactly so. And thats especially the case on the albums most upbeat track, High Up Airplane, and its lovely jumble of drums and electric guitars. Nugents confidence in is own work is evident in the lengthy, wordless coda. Never once does it feel self-indulgent. Another gorgeous track,Siamese Sharks, is built on slow, purposeful guitar as he sings she brings me back to the land of the free while Ive Been Down has sprightly, playful arrangements that suit lyrics about new responsibilities. Kicking cans and chasing stones/ Looking for something to do/ Left with no option but/ Devote myself to you. Were just over four months into the year, but it will take a very special album from a homegrown musician to trump this one. Become by Beach House Beach House enthralled with last years Once Twice Melody double album and a new EP, Become, features five songs from those sessions that, according to the duo, didnt fit in the world of that album. Originally released for Record Store Day, the songs are spacious, sumptuous and dreamy. The marvellous Devils Pool is one of the most captivating songs theyve ever released: Victoria Legrands vocals both haunt and shimmer while strings add lushness and drama. Its not a signpost to where the band is going, but a look back to a period of remarkable creativity. A teenage Mike Oldfield received countless rejections for his anti-commercial debut before the music impresario took a chance on it and The Exorcist propelled it to iconic status Mike Oldfield lost count of the rejections. One record company after another politely declined to sign the precocious, single-minded 19-year-old. The instrumental music he had submitted was certainly different from the usual fare they received, but none could see it as a commercial proposition. He would eventually find a home in the fledgling label of another wunderkind, Richard Branson, and the album in question, Tubular Bells released 50 years ago this month would go on to sell about 15 million copies worldwide. Some 2.7 million of those were in the UK, making it one of the all-time biggest sellers there. The album was, by any measure, a sensation a cultural touchstone of the early 1970s that helped give birth to a genre that would soon become known as New Age. Years later, the Berkshire native whose nurse mother, Maureen Liston, was from Charleville, Co Cork mentioned that he had been curious about what happened to the record-company personnel who had turned him down. I did once spend half an hour Googling the A&R men who booted me out the door, thinking I was a complete nutcase, he said. I couldnt find any of them. I imagine that once Tubular Bells got to No 1, they probably got the sack. I suppose its an unenviable job choosing signings for record labels, he added, a little more charitably. They obviously wanted to play it safe and sign acts that were like ones that were already selling. But its always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster. Oldfield certainly was a black sheep. Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield Half a century on, listening to Tubular Bells now, one has sympathy with those who were so unwilling to take a punt. The two lengthy tracks are practically uncategorisable the first one,Tubular Bells Pt I, meanders wildly, constantly shape-shifting. The section towards the end, which features Viv Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band listing all the instruments that went into its creation, sounds utterly unlike the tracks famous opening bars. The second track, Tubular Bells Pt II, features ferocious animal-like growling from Oldfield, and what sounds like a wolf howling, over an increasingly frenetic rock wig-out. Oldfield has cheerfully talked about the large quantities of drugs that went into the albums creation. It certainly sounds like something that could only have been made while under the influence. His vision was comparatively straightforward, though: combine many of the tropes of classical music with the then increasingly popular genre of progressive rock. Remarkably, much of the music began life when he was just 14 or 15. His mother was an alcoholic and he shut himself away in the loft of his home near Reading and composed. He played every instrument himself. Oldfields early success is inextricably linked with that of Branson who, in turn, has to thank the musician for delivering him his first millions. The serial entrepreneur had been making serious money from the age of 16, having first founded a magazine called Student and then opened a record shop in Londons Oxford Street, but it was Tubular Bells that would really put him on the map. Bransons path would cross with Oldfields shortly after opening a residential recording studio, the Manor, in rural Oxfordshire in 1972. One day, Branson later recalled, an engineer from the Manor rang me and said hed heard this incredible instrumental demo tape by a teenager called Mike Oldfield. It was some of the most beautiful music Id ever heard. At that time, Oldfield was unhappily serving as second reserve guitarist in the West End production of Hair. He was already disillusioned by the record-company rejections. Branson thought he would have better luck, but the closest he got was with Mercury, who insisted they would only release the music if Oldfield sang conventional vocals. He refused. Undeterred, Branson decided to release the album himself on his new label. He invited Oldfield to the Manor to record the music properly. Much of the musicians focus was perfecting the striking opening motif. It had been inspired by the American minimalist composer Terry Riley. It was very fashionable not to have everything in 4/4 [time signature], Oldfield later recalled, so I made one bar seven beats and one bar eight and then later realised that it had the complexity of Eastern music, the repetitiveness of Terry Riley and the technique of Bach. It just turned out by accident that it was a very nice listenable thing. Despite his initial excitement, Branson was alarmed when he heard Oldfields completed version of the album. Now that he would have to put his own money behind the release, the reality of trying to sell such uncommercial music left him stumped. Getting the entrepreneur to release the music was, in the words of Tom Newman, the Manor Studio engineer who had notified Branson of Oldfields talent, like dragging stuff uphill through treacle. Branson was finally convinced and on May 25, 1973, the album was released. Initial sales were comparatively slow. It reached a high of No 7 in the UK chart, but truly took off in December when the first minutes of the opening track were used in The Exorcist, the standout horror film of the era and a box-office sensation. Richard Branson, the 28-year-old mastermind behind Virgin Music in 1979. Photo by Bill Rowntree/Mirrorpix/Getty Images Getty Images Serendipity played its part. Branson had sought a US distribution partner and found it in Atlantic Records. It was during a meeting with that labels legendary founder, Ahmet Ertegun, that Exorcist director William Friedkin first heard the music. According to Friedkin, the album was a white-label release bearing no artist information, and he simply put on the album, heard the opening bars and decided that it was perfect for his film. Oldfield was initially unhappy with the motifs inclusion, but changed his tune when he saw how the association was causing a massive surge in sales. Without his knowledge, Atlantic released a single featuring the piece with the subtitle Now the Original Theme from The Exorcist. Oldfield refused permission for it to be released in the UK, instead supervising his own edit of the Part II suite and putting it out as Mike Oldfields Single. Tubular Bells is, by an enormous margin, Oldfields best-selling album. There were 25 studio albums after that, including four Tubular Bells sequels, one of them a 2003 rerecording of the original. None came close to his debuts cultural impact. Earlier this year, he announced that he had retired from making new music. His last album, Return to Ommadawn, was released in 2017 and is a sequel to his 1975 album Ommadawn. The word is derived from amadan, the Irish for idiot. That final album was released on Virgin, but Oldfields relationship with Branson has had its ups and downs over the years. The 1990 album Amarok includes an Easter egg directed at the entrepreneur. Forty-eight minutes in, Oldfields guitar delivers a piece of morse code, which spells out F**k off, RB. Oldfield had become irritated by what he felt was a failure by Virgin and Branson to promote his music in the 1980s. Branson seems not to have minded. One of the perks that Oldfield has enjoyed since Virgin Atlantic was founded in 1984 is complimentary first-class flights on the airline, and that apparently continues to this day. RTE news anchor Caitriona Perry said she believes her late friend and former Six One News co-presenter Keelin Shanley would be delighted with her decision to leave the State broadcaster for a high profile job with the BBC in Washington. Appearing on RTEs The Late Late Show on Friday night, Ms Perry said that while it was a very difficult decision to leave RTE, she believes the late news anchor, who tragically died in 2020 following a battle with breast cancer, would have encouraged her to pursue her dream job. She revealed that even in her dying days Ms Shanley still wanted to do things and achieve things and they discussed plans for what to do after doing The Six One News which they had co-presented since 2018. Id like to kind of think that somewhere out there she kind of tipped the universe in my direction on this occasion. I think shed be delighted. She said Ms Shanleys death at start of the Covid-19 pandemic in February, 2020, was among the issues she considered when she made the life-changing decision to move her family to the US, she said. When you have a close bereavement, when you have children, and the pandemic for all of us makes you sort of re-evaluate what matters to me and my family, whats important to me, what do I want to do, what do I want to achieve, and what opportunities are out there while you still kind of have a bit of vim and vigour to take advantage of them, she told host Ryan Tubridy, who is also leaving RTE at the end of May. However, the mother-of-two said moving to another country and leaving her extended family behind will be bittersweet especially for the grandparents. I think its going to be tough for people but life is short and you have to make the most of it while you can and if adventures come your way you have to grab hold of it, she said. Meanwhile, she revealed that while I didnt think Id make it to the end of the selection process for the job, she was relieved and overjoyed when she was offered the job as chief presenter with the BBC in Washington where she will be one of seven anchors who will present a three-hour rolling news and current affairs show. The BBC, which has a US audience of around 50 million and 500 million worldwide, is the most trusted of the news networks currently operating in the US, she added. She said she always wanted to return to the US where she was RTEs Washington correspondent between 2013 and 2017 during her 16-year-long career with RTE. She will leave RTE at the end of May and take up her new role with the BBC in August. In a statement issued after she made the announcement on Thursday she said she was leaving with "a mix of sadness and excitement". "It is really hard to say goodbye. I have made great friends, worked with some incredibly talented people and had fantastic experiences and opportunities. I have reported from all over the world and had the chance to witness history in the making, particularly during my time as Washington correspondent and as co-presenter of the Six One News, she said. "It was a tough decision to walk away from RTE. It is an institution in Irish life, but I have been offered an incredible opportunity. I wish to say a special thank you to the RTE audience, the viewers, listeners and readers who have afforded me the extraordinary privilege of being a public service broadcast journalist." Pictured at the event in the Phoenix Park, Dublin were Charlie Bird and Stephanie Manahan, Chief Executive Officer, Pieta. Photo: INPHO/Ryan Byrne INPHO/Ryan Byrne Participants pictured at the event in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. Donations can be made online at www.darknessintolight.ie. Photo: INPHO/Ryan Byrne INPHO/Ryan Byrne Pictured at the event in Killarney is Antonina Paprocki. Donations can be made online at www.darknessintolight.ie. Photo:INPHO INPHO/ An estimated 100,000 people nationwide walked from darkness into light this morning in aid of the suicide prevention charity Pieta. The annual Darkness Into Light fundraiser and awareness initiative began at daybreak, approximately 4.15am, at 200 locations across Ireland and overseas. Participants pictured at the event in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. Donations can be made online at www.darknessintolight.ie. Photo: INPHO/Ryan Byrne INPHO/Ryan Byrne The largest individual event was held at the Phoenix Park in Dublin, where some 10,000 participants, sporting the distinctive bright yellow Pieta t-shirts, walked, ran and wheeled together around a 5km route. Thousands attend Darkness Into Light walks Since its inception, in 2009 when roughly 400 people took part, the charity initiative has grown significantly, with events being held today across four continents and10 countries. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content The annual initiative is expected to raise millions again this year and Pieta CEO Stephanie Manahan said it has become a phenomenon. It is just amazing to walk amongst thousands and thousands of people to and to know that all across Ireland there were people getting up this morning, in the middle of the night, to walk in community and solidarity with people who have been affected by suicide and self-harm. It is a phenomenon I have to say, it is a special event and it is incredible to see people walking together, having conversations quietly or others who just take time to reflect and to think and to walk in sort of silent harmony with one another. Its really, really special, she said. Pictured at the event in the Phoenix Park, Dublin were Charlie Bird and Stephanie Manahan, Chief Executive Officer, Pieta. Photo: INPHO/Ryan Byrne INPHO/Ryan Byrne Ms Manahan was joined at the event in the Pheonix Park this morning but former RTE Broadcaster Charlie Bird. Last year, Mr Birds Climb With Charlie initiative raised over 3 million euro for Pieta. Ms Manahan said Darkness Into Light would not be possible without the help from its amazing volunteers. Its just been incredible to meet people who are passionate about what we do and at that grassroots really believe in Pieta and believe that its so important that there are services like Pieta free, accessible, and available when they are required up and down the country, she added. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content Electric Ireland is Darkness Into Lights title sponsor again this year. The companys Executive Director, Pat Fenlon, was at the event in Ringsend this morning. "Ive always found its a really powerful event, really strong feelings. Its very peaceful but you can see how powerful it is for people to take part in it. You have a mixture of people who maybe have been directly impacted and some people who maybe have been indirectly. Other people are just coming out with good will and to support whats a really positive event to support people who went through a difficult time, he said. The earthquake was felt in these areas. Photo: INSN.ie A 2.5 magnitude earthquake was detected in Co Donegal during the early hours of this morning, officials from the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) have confirmed. The INSN, which is operated by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), said the tremor was detected 5km below ground near Glenveagh National Park, at approximately 1.30am. Glenveagh National Park is based in northern Donegal and is 169.6 km in size. The INSN has received reports that the event was also felt throughout the Donegal area. The earthquake was felt in these areas. Photo: INSN.ie The INSN is appealing for members of the public who felt the event to consider making a brief report via its website, INSN.ie. The group has received detection readings from stations in Mayo, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, Dublin and Wexford, as well as Donegal. "The earthquake was also detected by several Raspberry Shake seismometers operated in Ireland by citizens and schools, it said. The Geophysics Section in DIAS operates and maintains the INSN with support from the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI). 2.5 magnitude earthquake is on the lower end of seismic activity and in some instances may only be felt by instruments. President Michael D Higgins will be joined at the coronation of King Charles III in London today by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Mr Varadkar attended a reception at Buckingham Palace yesterday evening where spoke to Kind Charles and members of the British Government, Royal Family and a range of other international heads of state and government. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is to attend King Charles III coronation in London today. (Niall Carson/PA) Niall Carson President Higgins also attended both events. The coronation ceremony, at Westminster Abbey, will see widespread representation from around the world. Mr Varadkar said King Charles and Queen Camilla are long-standing friends of Ireland. "King Charles has visited regularly in the past two decades, supporting good bilateral relations, co-operation, peace and reconciliation. I expressed my hope that his regular visits will continue into his reign. I was pleased to accept the invitation to attend the coronation, alongside President Higgins, symbolising the close neighbourly relations between our two countries. This is a historic moment for the British people, for the realm, and for their friends around the world, the Taoiseach said. We have deep political, economic, cultural, and personal links with Britain, which provided a welcome home to so many of our citizens for generations. A vibrant British community actively contributes to life in Ireland in so many ways. And, of course, there are many people, in the North especially, who are both British and Irish. Mr Varadkar added: I look forward to further strengthening British-Irish relations and the friendship between our peoples and look forward to welcoming the royal couple to Ireland in due course. Protesters gather near Trafalgar Square ahead of the King's coronation Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin has extended his congratulations to King Charles and Queen Camilla also. He said today is a very important day for many across these islands. We will continue to work in support of the bonds of friendship between our peoples and the strong connections we share, he added. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content Mr Higgins is the first Irish head of state to attend a coronation. To mark the event, Mr Higgins and and his wife Sabina requested the Tree Council of Ireland plant a native Irish oak tree in the woodland forest of Aurora in Co Wicklow. The gesture was to acknowledge the Kings commitment to environmental sustainability. In London, Royal fans with Union flags and crowns could be seen on trains and in Tube stations from just after 4.30am this morning. The event will bring together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple, with Charles estranged son the Duke of Sussex expected to attend. Invited guests include David and Victoria Beckham, musician Lionel Richie, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US First Lady Jill Biden but her husband President Joe Biden will not be attending. The event is the militarys largest ceremonial operation since Queen Elizabeth IIs 1953 coronation, with 9,000 servicemen and women deployed and 7,000 of these performing ceremonial and supporting roles. The first part of the service is due to begin at 11am. Salmon Is About To Be Even More ExpensiveAnd Nearly Impossible To Buy Salmon may soon be very difficult to find, and may cost more than a pretty penny as a result. The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) is recommending the cancellation of salmon fishing in California and a small portion of Oregon for the 2023-2024 season, which begins May 16. The proposal is based on low population forecasts of Chinook salmon for Klamath River and Sacramento River. Salmon is beloved around the world for its rich flavor and health benefits. But if you buy a lot of it, be warned that the fish will probably become even more of a delicacy this year, especially wild-caught salmon. The nutrient-dense fish will come at a steep price if salmon fishing is closed this year in California, which is likely. Based on low population forecasts for Klamath River and Sacramento River Chinook salmon this fall, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) is recommending the cancellation of salmon fishing in California and a small portion of Oregon for the 2023-2024 season, which begins May 16. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) must approve the proposal by May 15. This is very likely to happen, given they already took in-season actions to halt most salmon fishing south of Cape Falcon, Oregon, until then. So what does this mean for your salmon dinners? For one, theyll likely become more expensive. California is really good at growing food and providingnutritionally valuable food to the American peoplesalmon is one of them, said Robin Ehlke, the PFMCs staff officer for salmon fishery management. I think it will definitely be noticed that salmons not part of anybodys meal plan. While there will be salmon fishing further north in Washington and parts of Oregon, the majority of wild-caught Chinook salmon on the West Coast comes from California, according to Ehlke. With a low supply of wild-caught salmon, it's only natural that the prices of farm-raised might also increase. A decline in fishing will increase prices and put a strain on people who make their living fishing, said Bryan Boches, co-founder and CEO of Safe Catch . We need to find the sustainable balance and invest in these ecosystems if we want future generations to enjoy catching salmon in California. Story continues Californias salmon industry has an annual value of $1.4 billion and supports 23,000 jobs, according to the Golden State Salmon Association . A Decreasing Salmon Population PATRICK T. FALLON - Getty Images "Chinook salmon populations have been in a general decline," said Boches. "We have a much smaller population of Chinook salmon now than just 20 years ago." This year, the forecast for Sacramento River Fall Chinook is less than 170,000, compared to a harvest of over 1 million fish in 1988 and 1995, according to a report from PFMC. The last time California's salmon fishing season was canceled was in 2009. While there are several factors that determine a fluctuation of salmon populations, one of the biggest ones, according to Ehlke, is waterboth lack of it and its quality. Salmon need cold, fresh, not fast-moving, but flowing water, she said. The water conditions have been greatly impacted by drought. "Low water flows during drought years is exacerbated by the diversion of water for farms and cities," said Boches. "Water was also being diverted to grow crops in the desert during a time of drought. That puts a tremendous strain on river systems." After spawning in rivers, salmon head out to the ocean for a few years before returning, so any environmental factors from three years ago are now affecting the low returns and population forecasts, according to a press release . Given past patterns of drought and rainfall, salmon populations should bounce backand return to plates. "With the well above average rainfall weve had this year in California, hopefully that will help the overall health of fresh waterways in the state. However, these are delicate ecosystems, and sometimes too much water can also negatively affect salmon eggs and hatchlings," said Boches. While salmon are resilient, Ehlke said it wouldnt be surprising for the numbers to be low again next year, as it will probably take a year or two for the population to recover. Increasing hatchery production is one way to increase population, but the survival of those fish is reliant on healthy water, according to Ehlke. Currently, there's an effort to remove four Klamath River damsthe first of which would be dismantled this summer. Ehlke said this exciting development has been in the works for decades and will provide flowing water and habitat for salmon. "As long as society comes together to protect the purity of our waterways and to utilize and monitor responsible, sustainable fishing practices, we can have a thriving ecosystem," said Boches. You Might Also Like Support for Fine Gael has fallen to its lowest level in nearly a year as the return of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach has failed to boost the partys fortunes. There is mixed news for the Coalition in the latest Ireland Thinks poll for the Sunday Independent with Fianna Fails support jumping three points to 19pc despite the recent controversy surrounding Minister of State Niall Collins. By contrast Fine Gael is down two to 20pc - its lowest rating since June last year - while the Greens have dropped a point to 3pc as the Government continues to ship damage over its response to the housing crisis. Sinn Fein remains by far the most popular party in the State but its support is unchanged on 31pc and there is bad news for Mary Lou McDonald whose personal approval rating has dropped four points to 39pc in the wake of renewed questions over the partys previous links to convicted criminal Jonathan Dowdall. There is also bad news for the Social Democrats which has lost much of the ground gained when Holly Cairns became its new leader earlier this year. The party has slid by two points for a second consecutive month and is now on 5pc. Ms Cairns, however, remains the most popular party leader in the State on 44pc approval rating, down one on last month. Elsewhere, the Labour Party is up one point to 4pc as is Solidarity-People Before Profit, while Aontu is down one point to 2pc. Poll Analysis - Mary Lou and Fine Gael take a hit in latest Ireland's Thinks poll Independents and Others are on 13pc a three-point increase that could be linked to renewed talk of a new rural political party involving like-minded independent TDs Among the party leaders, Tanaiste Micheal Martins approval rating is unchanged on 43pc, while Mr Varadkars approval rating has fallen slightly by a point to 37pc. Labour leader Ivana Bacik is on 32pc, which is unchanged, and Aontu leader Peadar Toibin is on 29pc, up one point. Green Party leader Eamon Ryans approval rating has fallen by two points to 20pc, making him the least popular political party leader in the country. Those polled were also asked in a forced choice, which would be your preferred government with the current Fine Gael-Fianna Fail-Green Party coalition coming in at 40pc, down one. Support for a Sinn Fein led government excluding Fine Gael and Fianna Fail stands unchanged at 42pc. Nearly a fifth - 18pc - of those polled said they were not sure, down one point on Aprils findings. The poll was carried out on May 5 and 6 among a sample size of 1,175 people. The margin of error is +/- 2.9pc For more results, video and print analysis from the Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll log on to Independent.ie on Sunday. Two weeks ago I chaired the Irish Planning Institutes annual conference. It was a lively affair. The planners came from the public and private sector telling stories of triumph and despair. Ill tell you about just three of them: Oonagh, Fred and Niall. The building on George's Street, owned by Dunnes Stores, has fallen into disrepair Buildings in the centre of Dun Laoghaire, which have been vacant for almost 20 years, are not within the scope of the Derelict Sites Register, councillors have been told. Calls have been made to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to add the eyesore on Upper Georges Street, owned by Dunnes Stores, to the register. However, this has been refused by the council due to the buildings passing repeated inspections. This has sparked concerns that the legislation governing the Derelict Sites Register is not fit for purpose. Councillor Lorraine Hall said the buildings have remained vacant for many years and believes they fall under criteria for the Derelict Sites Act 1990, being in a ruinous or derelict condition, or neglected or unsightly condition. Paul Kennedy, Director of Infrastructure at DRCC said parts of the site have been vacant for 20 years, however, the owners are doing just enough to avoid the inspectors deeming it eligible for the Derelict Sites Register. A local petition was launched last month to call on the council to add the building to the Derelict Sites Register, which has now reached more than 1,000 signatures. The council said the building has been inspected on a number of occasions, however, to date, no recommendation has been made in relation to initiating action. While the buildings are vacant and unoccupied for many years, they are not considered to come within the scope of the Derelict Sites legislation, it said. This may point to a need for making representations to the legislature to consider strengthening the powers of the Local Authorities to deal with vacant and unoccupied buildings. In the absence of such legislation, the council is only in a position to appeal to the owners of the buildings about their willingness to engage with the council in relation to their plans for the buildings. The council wrote to Dunnes Stores in October and November last year, however, received no response. Councillor Hall said: Boarded up buildings in the centre of our town are completely at odds with what local residents want and what local businesses want. Despite the prominently placed To Let signage on the front facade, there has never been any meaningful attempt to let these properties. The Derelict Sites Act 1990 provides that a local authority can compulsorily acquire a property on the Derelict Sites Register. Councillor Melisa Halpin said acquiring the buildings would be a no-brainer. It would be an amazing site for the community for the council to be purchasing, it could be any number of things, homes, community space, there could be all sorts of stuff, she said. Councillor Denis OCallaghan said the dereliction is unacceptable and wrong. Here is one of the largest retailers in the county who have done very well by the Irish people over decades, and especially in this county. It is wrong what is happening, he said. The local authority said that if any opportunity arises to progress the matter in the meantime, it will be pursued forthwith. The Emergency Department at Dublins Beaumont Hospital was like a war zone, with no locks on toilet doors and no food, according to one recent patient. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, was unable to get an appointment with her GP after trying for two weeks. On the advice of D-Doc, she presented at Beaumont Hospital on Dublins northside at 9pm last Friday night, April 28. After a 15-hour wait on a plastic chair in a prefab area, she was diagnosed with a gut infection and given antibiotics. She left the hospital at 12pm on Saturday, April 29. The word that springs to mind the most is a war zone. That sounds dramatic, but it felt like that. Its a tent, kind of like a prefab area before you get to wait in A&E, she said. Im luckily young and relatively healthy, Ive never really had to go into hospital before this. I consider myself lucky after seeing what goes on there. I wasnt prepared for what I experienced first-hand. The wait was one of the worst parts, it was at least 12 to 16 hours and longer if you needed to be kept in. What shocked me was the conditions we were expected to sit in for that amount of time, when we were all unwell. Imagine what thats like for a sick, elderly, frail person. One lad I spoke to was left waiting for 16 hours to see a doctor with a suspected bleed on the brain. When youre ill, you dont want to sit in a plastic chair that is drilled into the floor. You cant even drag it over to a wall to lean against and try to sleep. There were two toilet cubicles in the room, but only one had a lock on it. Really simple things like that, its carelessness. When youre unwell you dont want to be sitting on the toilet and trying to hold the door to make sure nobody comes in. Prefab-like waiting area outside the Emergency Department at Beaumont Hospital on Friday, April 28 You go in unwell and come out feeling even worse to be honest. There was only a water fountain and a vending machine, there was nothing substantial, soup, tea, or coffee. You could order in takeaway, that was the only option during the night. There was a cafe open during the day in the hospital but its a bit of a walk to it and you didnt want to leave your area in case youre called. If you miss your slot, theyre not looking for you too hard, she added. The Dublin woman said staff were working hard, but they were limited. Because of this, a lot of people decided to go home. One man said there was no dignity in this and left, she said. I got there at about 9pm on Friday night and I didnt leave until 12pm the next day. I got seen at about 11.30am. When you get seen its so quick, then youre out. Nobody came to check on anyone. I understand that nurses and doctors were held up. What if somebody took a turn if you were there alone? Nobody came to see if anyone had deteriorated or not, we were told to go and ask for painkillers if we wanted some. But if youre not well enough to do that, what happens? she added. According to the INMO, 27 people were on trolleys at Beaumont Hospital between Friday, April 28 and Friday, May 5. Independent.ie has contacted Beaumont Hospital and the Department of Health for further comment. A banned driver put pedestrians and other motorists in danger when he did a sudden U-turn to avoid a checkpoint in Dublin. Evan Byrne (21) had been disqualified from driving for four years a month earlier when he swerved dangerously in front of oncoming traffic as he saw the gardai. Byrne claimed he panicked due to his ban but took a chance the following month and was caught driving again. He avoided jail when Judge Bryan Smyth gave him a three-month suspended sentence and banned him for another five years. He was also fined 1,400. Byrne, a father-of-two of Cedarwood Place, Ridgewood, Swords admitted dangerous, uninsured and unlicensed driving. Dublin District Court heard gardai were operating a traffic checkpoint at Poppintree Park, Ballymun on February 16, 2023. Two gardai were standing on the footpath observing approaching cars when Byrne swung out in front of oncoming traffic and did a U-turn without observing other vehicles or pedestrians. When gardai stopped Byrne, he became highly aggressive and abusive towards them. A demand was made for his licence and insurance and it transpired he had been given a four-year disqualification in January. On March 10, gardai on patrol at Dane Road, Ballymun saw Byrne driving the same car. Again, he was stopped and it was established that he was driving under a ban. Byrne had 13 previous convictions including two for uninsured driving and two for having no licence. He panicked when he saw the gardai in the first incident, his solicitor Holly Laher said. He understood what he did was wrong and that he put the public in danger. In the second incident, he took a chance by driving again and accepted it was a foolish thing to do. Byrne, who worked in construction, knew he was facing a large ban and Ms Laher asked the judge not to impose a custodial sentence. Byrne said the car he was driving was his own. You took a chance driving with no insurance, its a serious offence, the judge told the accused. You put pedestrians and other drivers at risk by means of your dangerous driving. The judge suspended the three-month sentence for a year on condition the accused undertakes a road safety course. You are getting a chance now, Mr Byrne, a suspended sentence is hanging over you, Judge Smyth added. Solicitor Padraig OConnell tells Listowel court drivers genuinely believed they had been insured at time of offences A District Court judge exercised his discretion not to put three people who came before him, in separate cases, pleading guilty to driving without insurance off the road. A large group of Treasure Leitrim members met with Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan, in Sligo on Thursday evening to raise concerns regarding the issuing of prospecting licenses just over a year ago to Flintridge Resources for 47 townlands in Leitrim. The group were also accompanied by their 'Trojan Horse' sculpture which symbolises prospecting licenses as a Trojan Horse for the gold-mining industry. The minister spoke with a number of those outside the Glasshouse Hotel, where he was holding a public meeting, about their concerns regarding gold-mining and its potential negative impact on the landscape, air and water quality, and the possible damage to existing industries like tourism. Treasure Leitrim member Jamie Murphy spoke to the Minister. "Minister Ryan was kind enough to talk with some of us prior to the meeting and we expressed numerous concerns about the threat of gold mining ,not only for this area but for the country as a whole. There is almost 30% of land available for prospecting which is an astonishing figure. The track record of the industry as a whole was highlighted as was the record of Flintridge Resources specifically. I also mentioned to the Minster that there was a sense in this part of the country that we are under siege from various extractive industries such as non native forestry plantations, fracking previously and now mining. While the Minister listened it was disappointing that he ultimately still felt that possible mining would be necessary in the country. Many of those present outside then made their way into the public meeting to listen to Minister Ryan answer questions on a range of topics. Treasure Leitrim Chairperson James Gilmartin raised an important issue regarding the rights of companies such as Flintridge Resources to access land for prospecting. He said there were concerns that companies could seek injunctions against landowners who refused access to companies and this would obviously be worrying for farmers and landowners who didnt not wish to give the company permission to enter their land. He also raised the matter of whether Minister Ryan would support a ban on the use of cyanide in processing of gold/silver as had been done by Leitrim County Council. Treasure Leitrim is hoping to get clarity on these matters from Minister Ryan in the near future and reaffirmed their commitment to making sure the gold-mining industry is not allowed to gain a foothold in the region. Andrew was driven down The Mall in a state car towards Westminster Abbey, with members of the crowd in a grandstand in front of Buckingham Palace booing as he went past. The Duke of York was booed as he was driven to the coronation ceremony of his brother the King. Andrew was driven down The Mall in a state car towards Westminster Abbey, with members of the crowd in a grandstand in front of Buckingham Palace booing as he went past. Buckingham Palace had earlier said Andrew and his nephew Prince Harry would not have any formal role at the event as they are no longer working royals. Andrew stepped away from public life after a controversial Newsnight interview in November 2019 and the furore over his friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Virginia Giuffre also sued Andrew for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew denied the claims but paid millions in an out-of-court settlement in the US civil case. Queer Eye Netflix star Jonathan Van Ness: I was standing on stage in Dublin in my leotard with my foot in my mouth The Netflix star talks about his Leo Varadkar crush and being booed last time he performed here, going public with his HIV diagnosis, and why he is Derry Girls bestie Nicola Coughlan biggest cheerleader Jonathan Van Ness. Picture: Rachell Smith Tanya Sweeney Sat 6 May 2023 at 03:30 Our fashion editor rounds up the latest style news and fashion trends Denim and lycra inset jean styles, both 149; belt 79.99; basque top, 99, gloved sleeves top, 49.99 and vertical stripe mesh top, 59.99, from the H&M collaboration with Mugler A selection of the denim and sheer pieces from the new H&M x Mugler collab This years H&M designer collaboration with Mugler launches next Thursday, and in the mix with all those sharp-shouldered leathers and pave crystal sheer looks lies a bittersweet backstory that speaks of the power of legacy. Manfred Thierry Mugler, the legendary fashion visionary and avant-garde designer famous for his 1980s power dressing, had been working on the initial stages of the collaboration alongside the brands creative director, Casey Cadwallader, when he died suddenly of natural causes in his native France last year at the age of 73. Cadwalladers drive to honour the Mugler history and the houses codes became all the more important then to the American who had taken over the reins of creative director at Mugler in 2018. Creative director of Mugler Casey Cadwallader wearing leather trousers, 199, jacket, 199, and top, 59, with Molly Chiang wearing pave crystal top, 99, matching leggings, 99, and mini wrap skirt, 99 Ben Rosser/BFA.com The 43-year-old designer,who formerly worked at Acne Studios and Loewe, has certainly rejuvenated the look and legacy of the French couture house. He opened up its appeal with this collaboration with H&M, featuring lots of archive remakes from the 1980s and 1990s. When I interviewed Cadwallader in New York before the global launch last month, he told me how his own interest in body positivity had been fashioned by what he saw growing up in Massachusetts. I was raised in a household with very strong women and powerful women who had curves, he says. I was at the store, in the changing room with them, hearing what was happening Oh, I love this dress but damn it, I cant... Oh, its too and the idea that people would get into a bad spiral in the fitting room because the clothes are rejecting their body, I just really want to work toward people not having that experience. Cadwallader says when you are making a garment, instead of the clothing dominating your body, he explores, How can the body be respected and fit fluidly with the clothes? Sheer mesh long-sleeved body top, 59.99, and matching leggings, 79.99 The more that I work on curvy women, the better designer Im getting, he says. I wasnt trained to work on curvy bodies. None of the fashion designers are. It only comes from pushing yourself to it and learning how to work with the bodies. The 103-piece collection includes womenswear in sizes 6-22, and the menswear is exceptionally strong, especially the collarless leather blazer jacket (299) and an acid-green suit inspired by one Mugler made for David Bowie. You can see Cadwalladers training in architecture in the lines and indeed the many apertures, slashes and spaces in this contemporary, gender-fluid collection. Theres Lycra-insert low-rise denims with twisted leg detail; performative, music-fuelled disco glam; high-shine vinyl pants; sexy, cheeky cut-outs and a hardcore leather clubby section which, he says, was inspired by Mugler. One of the takeaways from the interview was hearing how much he enjoyed doing menswear in the collab, so how long can it surely be before he pushes to have it more prominent at Mugler? The New York launch party and show for the collection was wrapped around music, performance and fashion, with lots of body diversity on the catwalk. The Park Avenue Armory was thick with celebrities with links to the couture house and its connections with the music industry. Black sheer dress in viscose and elastane, 99, and pink dress with aperature, 99 Mugler started designing in 1973 and, while he retired from his own eponymous brand back in the early noughties, he loved a comeback. He designed the dripping wet latex and crystals look Kim Kardashian wore to the 2019 Met Gala ball. His 1995 Birth of Venus gown, in which he recreated Botticellis work in satin, was worn by rapper Cardi B to the 2019 Grammys. This gown was one of the standout exhibits at the Thierry Mugler Couturissime exhibition at Brooklyn Museum and it is interesting how the same curves are replicated in the sculptural, black velvet, off-the-shoulder dress (299) in the collab. Former supermodel Jerry Hall wore it in the campaign and, back in the mid 1990s, she was the face of Muglers first fragrance, Angel. Jerry Hall (left) in the off-the-shoulder black velvet dress dress, 'Star' earrings and front seam tights Now, down to shopping! This collection launches with some online exclusives. The entry-level price points in the collection are 39.99 for sheer gloves and 49.99 for Star earrings and prices go up to 599 for leather trenchcoats. Cropped denim jackets are 199, the bodycon Lycra/mesh top and leggings with strong vertical lines are 59.99 and 79.99, while the more exhibitionist bodysuit is 149. There are two sizes of silver logo buckle belts (79.99-99.99) depending on how big an M you want! Ive no doubt that the black jacket with sheer corset-detail panel (249) will be top of many womens shopping lists, and for a 1980s supermodel vibe, its hard to beat the black tights with the front seam (59.99). Jacket with sheer corset-detail panel Its 19 years since H&M launched its first designer collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld. The three Ms of Marni, Maison Martin Margiela and Isabel Marant garnered lots of love and, in recent years, collections by Balmain (2015), Erdem (2017) and Simone Rocha (2021) created their own frisson whether you were looking to buy-to-wear or playing a fashion-investor long game to sell on. These collections have a habit of multiplying in value at an incredible rate. Its an 8am start, so be warned! MENOMONIE A plea deal was reached Friday with the Menomonie man accused of killing his 6-week-old baby. Jonathon Lucas, 30, pleaded no contest in Dunn County Court to an amended felony count of second-degree reckless homicide. He will be sentenced July 10 for inflicting fatal head injuries to his six-week-old son, Daemyn Lucas, in 2021. Judge Christina Mayer ordered a Department of Corrections pre-sentence investigation while revoking Lucas $30,000 cash bail. Lucas will be held at the Dunn County Jail until sentencing. Mayer could sentence Lucas to up to 15 years in prison. According to the criminal complaint, Menomonie police responded to Lucas residence at 11:40 p.m. Feb. 19, 2021, for a domestic situation because a 911 caller could hear a voice screaming from the apartment. Lucas opened the door to responding police, yelling you need to help me, and ran toward the kitchen. His six-week-old child was on the counter and not moving, the report said. A breath test at 12:30 a.m. Feb. 20, 2021, showed Lucas had a blood alcohol level of 0.139, 1.5 times the legal limit to drive in Wisconsin. Lucas told police he took full responsibility for what happened to the infant. He also said he couldnt recall what had happened. Lucas said he most likely got up to change the babys diaper and forcefully put him on the living room floor. At some point he realized the baby was unresponsive. The baby was pronounced dead at the Menomonie hospital. On Feb. 20, 2021, an autopsy was conducted on the baby at the Ramsey County Medical Examiners Office in Minnesota. The autopsy showed Daemyn died of traumatic head injuries, including multiple bone fractures, due to physical assault. The doctor conducting the autopsy told law enforcement the injuries to the baby could not have been caused by an accident; the death was a homicide. When student Claire Thompson got an email asking her to attend the coronation of King Charles III, she asked her husband to read it to her again, and again. Lindy McDowell: Not quite ostracised, but still an awkward day for Spare Harry who walked up aisle of Westminster Abbey on his own Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks next to the bodies of what he says are Wagner fighters killed in the conflict. Photo: Concord/Handout via REUTERS via REUTERS Russias main mercenary group announced plans yesterday to pull out of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but Ukraine said the groups fighters were reinforcing positions to try to seize it before Russia marks victory in World War II day next week. Image Credit: Unsplash Agartala/IBNS: The State Level Investment Round Table (I&C) meeting held at Pragya Bhavan witnessed the signing of MoUs worth Rs 312.38 crores by eight industrialists in the presence of Chief Minister Manik Saha. Out of the 141 investors who attended the meeting, only eight of them signed the MoUs reported Northeast Now. Chief Minister Manik Saha announced that the state government will offer various subsidies, including State Capital Investment Subsidy, Industrial Promotion Subsidy, power subsidy, employment cost subsidy, and state transport subsidy, among others, to the investors. I am very happy that eight industrialists have come here and already signed a MoU with the government of Tripura with an amount of Rs 312.38 crores. When I heard that they were coming here to sign the MoU, I was very much eager to see and was very happy, stated CM Saha. Saha emphasized the significance of connectivity in the state's development and mentioned that Tripura has seven national highways and several more under construction. While expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing the state with the HIRA model, he also revealed that the upcoming Maitri Setu in Sabroom will soon open, making Tripura the gateway to Southeast Asia. The Chief Minister assured the investors of the state government's full support and provision of necessary facilities, while also urging them to leverage Tripura's infrastructure, and stating that the state has a promising investment future. Image Credit : Unsplash New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday issued a warning stating that a "cyclonic storm" may form in the Bay of Bengal by May 9, leading to "heavy to very heavy" rainfall in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and surrounding areas. According to IMD, a cyclonic circulation formed over the southeast Bay of Bengal on Saturday. Under its influence, a low-pressure area is likely to form over the same region by May 8 morning. It is likely to concentrate into a depression over the Southeast Bay of Bengal around May 9. The weather agency said thereafter, it is likely to intensify into a "cyclonic storm" while moving nearly northwards towards the central Bay of Bengal. If the system develops into a cyclonic storm, it would be known as cyclone Mocha, a name recommended by Yemen, and originating from the Yemeni city Mocha (or Mokha) located on the Red Sea coast. It, however, added that the details of its path and intensity will be provided after the formation of the low-pressure area. In view of this, IMD predicted squally weather with wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph is likely to prevail over the southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Andaman Sea from Sunday onwards. It also forecasts "heavy to very heavy" rainfall during May 8-11 over cyclonic Islands. The agency said the sea condition is likely to be rough from Sunday and very rough from May 9 onwards over the southeast Bay of Bengal. It is likely to be very rough to high over the southeast and adjoining central Bay of Bengal from the 10th onwards. "Sea condition is likely to be rough to very rough over Andaman Sea during May 8 and 9 and very rough to high over North Andaman Sea from May 10 onwards," it said. The fishermen, small ships, boats, and trawlers have been advised not to venture into the southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas of the Andaman Sea from May 7 onwards, and into the southeast & adjoining central Bay of Bengal from May 9 onwards. In view of this, the weather department has also issued a warning in 18 districts of Odisha regarding a cyclonic storm. The weather officials also warned the fishermen in West Bengal against venturing into the Southeast and Bay of Bengal from May 7 onwards. Those who are in the sea areas should return to the surface by May 7, the officials added. The following telephone numbers will be functional from 07.00 hrs on May 7, 2023, at Integrated Control Room, Lalbazar in/c/w the ensuing low pressure in the Bay of Bengal. 1. 94326 10450 (Whatsapp) 2. 2214 1890 3. 2250 5033 4. 2250 5044 5. 2250 5146 (With UNI inputs) Image: khalsavox.com Mai Bhago was certainly a warrior a woman revered in the Sikh community and beyond. Hers is the story of that knight in shining armour who chose her sword to epitomize her unwavering loyalty and devotion towards her faith and her people. Mai Bhago, born Mata Bhag Kaur, was the lioness of Punjab. In the 17th century, the Indian sub-continent was suffering under the fanatical and oppressive regime of the Mughals. These dark times saw a silver lining in the form of Sikhism which had carved out a safe space where masses believed in equality and were free to practice a faith of their choosing. Let us take a few more steps back and look through the doors of history. At this time Mughals were ruled by Aurangzeb who was a ruthless tyrant. He imposed discriminatory taxes on Hindus and brought back tough Sharia Laws. He was particularly aggressive towards the Sikhs, majorly because he was against their egalitarian norms which deemed women equal to men. Thus starts the saga of gallantry displayed by Mai Bhago in the battle of Kidhrana fought on 29th December 1705, between Sikhs led by Guru Gobind Singhji and the mighty Mughal army who came to capture the Guru and put an end to Sikhism. Although a detailed account of Mai Bhagos early life is not available, it is known that she was born in the village of Jhabal Kalan in Amritsar district (Punjab). She was the only daughter of Bhai Malo Shah and granddaughter of Bhai Piro Shah. The family were ardent followers of Sikhism since the time of Guru Arjan Dev. She was married to Sardar Nidhan Singh Warraich. Aurangzeb launched a major military campaign against Guru Gobind Singh and sent thousands of troops to fight against a much smaller force of Sikhs. Gradually, the Sikh soldiers died or deserted their army and Guru Gobind Singhji had to retreat into hiding. Mai Bhago, in the meantime, was getting military training from her father. Being a staunch Sikhni, she was devastated when she got to know that some of the soldiers from her own village had deserted their Guru. She, then, took matters into her own hand and persuaded them to return to the Khalsa. While these forty fighters and Mai Bhago were on their way to the Guru, they were attacked by the Mughals battalion of thousands of soldiers near Anandpur Sahib. The group of Sikhs fought valiantly under the command of Mai Bhago who, in full Khalsa uniform, with a Keski tied around her head, plunged head-on in the battle with her kirpan in her hand! Her war cry was, Waheguruji da khalsa, Waheguruji di fateh. She was the lioness of Punjab in the true sense of the word. Although 39 soldiers in her army died in the battle, they emerged victorious as they successfully chased the Mughals away. Only Mahan Singh Brar was barely alive at the time Guru Gobind Singh reached the battleground. The Khalsa was so impressed with their bravery that he tore the note that he had asked them to sign earlier when they had deserted him, renouncing their religion. He blessed them as Challi Mukte or the forty pearls. Mahan Singh eventually died and Mai Bhago was grievously wounded. She was nursed back to health by the Khalsa himself. Later, the guru asked her to return back to her village as she had lost both her husband and brother in the battle but she requested the Khalsa to reinstate her as a saint-solider so that could stay with the Guru. Her wish was granted and she stayed with him as one of his bodyguards. Mai Bhago accompanied Guru Gobind Singhji to Nanded and remained at his service till he passed away in 1708. Subsequently, she retired to Jinvara, near Bidar in Karnataka, where she preached Sikhism till she died at a ripe old age. Her hut in Jinvara has now been converted into Gurdwara Tap Asthan Mai Bhago. At Nanded too, a hall within the compound of Takt Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib has been marked as the site of her residence known as Bunga Mai Bhago. Mai Bhagos legacy lives on to date as a symbol of Sikh pride and bravery. She is often referred to as the little-known legend but continues to inspire many brave Sikh women to face death with honour. Image: Prof Yasmin Saikia FB Guwahati: The Arizona State University in the USA is planning to set up a Centre for Peace Studies in collaboration with the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM), according to media reports. International history scholar Prof. Yasmin Saikia, the Hardt-Nickachos Chair in Peace Studies, at Arizona State University, USA, informed this at an event of USTM, reported East Mojo. "We are considering developing a Centre for Peace Studies at the USTM, particularly focusing on the North East and its diverse communities, Prof. Saikia said while addressing a workshop on Humanism, Peace and Youth in Building Northeast India." Prof Saikia, who hails from Assam, spoke on peoples peace, a concept developed by Arizona State University, the website reported. She referred to the concept of xanmihali in the Assamese language and said xanmihali is an alchemical process in Assams history which produced a fused culture created by different groups over time. The Ahom kings created positive peace in the region through the process of xanmihali. However, xanmihali should not be confused with hybridity, but it is a capacity of creating a possibility of continuously expanding the limits of inclusion, the historian said as quoted by East Mojo. Image Credit: Twitter/@BJP4Karnataka Bengaluru/IBNS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday began a mammoth 26-kilometer roadshow in support of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bengaluru days ahead of the crucial election to the south Indian state of Karnataka . The roadshow, which is set to cross 13 assembly constituencies, began at Someshwara Sabha Bhavan, Konanakunte in Bommanahalli assembly constituency. It is scheduled to end at Kadu Malleshwara Temple in Malleswaram. Electrifying visuals from Prime Minister's grand 26 Km long Roadshow in Bengaluru, Karnataka!#NammaBengaluralliNammaModi pic.twitter.com/DzBi721oSk BJP (@BJP4India) May 6, 2023 The Prime Minister, who is the biggest trump card of the BJP in any election of the country, travelled in a vehicle amid the cheer from a huge number of people who gathered on the sides of the streets to get a glimpse of the popular leader. Modi was accompanied by Tejasvi Surya and P.C. Mohan, the BJP MPs from Bengaluru South and Bengaluru Central respectively, in the vehicle. The BJP, which is eyeing to return to power with full majority unlike 2018 polls, raised slogans 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Jai Bajrang Bali' heating up the last run of the campaign. Despite emerging as the single largest party in Karnataka in 2018, the BJP failed to form its government with the Congress tying up with Janata Dal Secular to form the government. Jayanagar's immense faith in their beloved PM translates into fountains of joy & rains of flowers!#NammaBengaluralliNammaModi pic.twitter.com/rbjNOVRx8q BJP (@BJP4India) May 6, 2023 However, several crossovers from the Congress and JDS to the BJP helped the saffron party to return to power. The 2023 assembly elections are scheduled to be held on May 10 and the results to be declared on 13th of the same month. Located in Altoona, this charming twinhome is walking distance from EC Golf and Country Club. The home has recently undergone updates that include new flooring, blinds and light fixtures, giving it a modern and stylish feel. The main level features an open concept living area, which seamlessly flows from the living room to the dining area and into the kitchen. The kitchen offers plenty of counter space for food preparation and storage. It also features 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom with bonus closet space in the main hallway. Laundry area is in the closet upon entry from the attached garage. In the lower level, you'll find a large living area, bathroom and bedroom. A second laundry hookup for the home is located in the unfinished basement. One of the best features of this home is its location which is conveniently located near Hwy 53 and Business Hwy 53. Check out the virtual tour and don't miss this opportunity to make this your dream home! Close date to be no sooner than July 5th. View More Image Credit: Wikipedia Kathmandu/IBNS: Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda, will have to undergo another round of floor tests within a month due to the withdrawal of support by one of the coalition members, Rastriya Swatantra Party. After a parliamentary and central committee meeting, led by Rabi Lamichhane, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) made the decision to withdraw its support, which has compelled the Prime Minister to undergo another round of floor tests, reported ANI. "The Prime Minister had expressed the desire that we join the cabinet, but the performance of the government and works being done aren't encouraging," Lamichhane told ANI. "In the by-election also, the voters voted in our favour sending a clear message to not join the ministerial portfolios but remain in opposition." "Honouring the mandate, we have decided not to join the government and withdraw the support," he added. Due to the decision made by the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, will have to face a third round of vote of confidence within a month, in accordance with Article 100, Clause 2 of the Nepalese Constitution. This provision states that a vote of confidence is required when any political party withdraws support from the government. The Prime Minister will be forced to step down if he is unable to acquire a vote of confidence. It is noteworthy that the Rastriya Swatantra Party left the government two months after its establishment, yet still continued to offer help. Prime Minister Dahal will have to undergo another floor test by the first week of June 2023. During his first vote of confidence on January 10, he secured an astounding 99% of the votes, with 268 votes in his favor. This was the first time in Nepal's parliamentary history that a Prime Minister received more than 99% of the votes in parliament. However, on March 20, he was only able to secure 172 votes from 10 parties. The formation of a 25-member cabinet has been challenging due to the hung parliament and an overcrowded ministerial enthusiast from the coalition partners. As a result, he is still struggling to complete his council of ministers. Image Credit: YouTube/Wikipedia Lahore/IBNS: Khalistan Commando Force chief Paramjit Panjwar, who is wanted for reviving Sikh insurgency, has been killed in Pakistan's Lahore city, reported CNN News 18. Besides revival of Sikh insurgency, Panjwar was wanted for murder, conspiracy and smuggling of arms in India. Reportedly, he had close links with ISI. After working at the Central Cooperative Bank till 1986, Panjwar joined the Khalistan Commando Force. KCF, which has presence in UK, Canada and Pakistan, is aimed at consolidation of all the secessionist Khalistani militant groups to form 'Sikh Homeland'. As per reports, his wife and children had relocated to Germany. File image by Tamrakaralina via Wikimedia Commons Kathmandu: After managing permission from the Lumbini Development Trust to light a lamp, the Chinese monastery situated in the Lumbini area of Nepal has occupied the entire Maya Devi Temple complex, reports said. The Chinese monastery was authorized to light the lamp for a limited duration on Thursday, following which they reportedly installed a platform and a board in such a way that the entire Maya Devi Temple was obstructed from view. Besides, hundreds of Chinese individuals have started moving around the temple premises, Epardafas reports. The Member Secretary of Lumbini Development Trust, Sanuraja Shakya, told Epardafas that the monastery had sought permission to conduct a lamp lighting programme and had erected the stage for only a few hours. Shakya, in a statement to Epardafas, clarified that the stage was not intended to overshadow the entire Maya Devi temple and that the permission granted was only for the programme and not for the construction of a large stage. Permission has been taken from us to hold a programme, not to build a stage. There was no such thing as making it so big. Only for two hours, Sanuraja Shakya stated. The location that houses the Maya Devi Temple and the Ashoka Pillar within the Lumbini complex is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, according to reports. Image Credit: Wallpaper Cave British Columbia/IBNS: A 51-year-old man from Canada, identified as Jerry Martin, was arrested in British Columbia after opening a mobile shop to sell cocaine, heroin, and other dangerous substances. The arrest was made on Thursday, a day after Martin launched his store. Although Vancouver police have apprehended Martin for drug trafficking related to an illegal drug dispensary, no formal charges have been filed yet, as reported by the BBC. Jerry Martin began selling illegal drugs out of a mobile trailer parked in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, reported NDTV. His store allowed adults to purchase drugs by presenting their ID cards. Martin claimed he opened the mobile shop to provide a safe supply of drugs in an area that has been severely affected by the "overdose epidemic". He further stated that all his drugs had been tested to ensure they did not contain fentanyl, the synthetic opioid responsible for the majority of overdose deaths. Martin had planned to sell small quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and crack, up to 2.5 grams, with the aim of preventing further deaths. In addition, the 51-year-old Jerry Martin claimed that he had intended to open his store after Health Canada's recent decision to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of hard drugs in the province of British Columbia (BC) for a three-year pilot project. He also revealed his plan to challenge his arrest in court, stating that contaminated drug supplies pose a risk. Constable Tania Visintin expressed support for measures aimed at improving public safety for drug users, such as harm reduction services and decriminalization, while also clarifying that the police would continue to enforce drug trafficking laws, reported NDTV. Currently, Mr Martin is free pending a court hearing and has been directed to stay away from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Another batch of Nigerians evacuated from Sudan has arrived at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It was gathered that the evacuees arrived at the Pilgrims Terminal of the airport at exactly 1:45 p.m., on board a TARCO aircraft from Port Sudan. According to the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Dr Sani Gwarzo, while receiving the retuning, said that psycho-social support would be given to all of them. NEMA, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Ministry of Health, and the Dangote Foundation have put in place a robust plan to look at the psycho-social support related to the stress they have faced so that it will not persist. This will be a service that will extend into the weeks ahead and I can tell you that the committee saddled with this responsibility are happy with how far we have gone, he said. READ MORE: FG Set To Evacuate Second Batch Of Stranded Nigerians From Sudan Gwarzo added that more Nigerians were being profiled in Port Sudan and the Egyptian border for onward evacuation to the country. According to him, the Federal Government is committed to evacuating everyone, students, and non-students, in the next few days. Mr Mustapha Ahmed, Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) added that two aircraft were already on the ground at Aswan Airport in Egypt to evacuate more Nigerians. Our people are already on their way to the airport, so hopefully, they will take off tomorrow morning and by tomorrow afternoon, we will be back to receive a large batch of almost 800 students. At Port Sudan, TARCO airline is going back to pick more returnees, even as Air Peace airline would be evacuating more returnees from that same point, he said. Men of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command have arrested a 16-year-old boy, Emmanuel John, over the killing of his father. According to The Punch, Emmanuel of Madala village, Karshi, Abuja, at about 10 pm on Tuesday, May 2, killed his father using a pestle, during a fisticuff between the deceased and his (Emmanuels) mother. READ ALSO: Son Stabs Mother To Death In Kano Over Disagreement A police source revealed that the culpable homicide was reported to the Karshi police station by one Yusuf Ayuba, male, of Madala, on Wednesday, May 3. Emmanuel is currently in police custody and will be arraigned in a juvenile court at the conclusion of the police investigation. Reacting to the incident during a press briefing on Friday, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Haruna Garba, said the suspect hit the pestle hard on his fathers head. Garba said, It all happened when the suspects mother and father engaged themselves in a physical fight. The suspect took sides with his mother, used a mortar pestle and hit hard on the fathers head which eventually led to his death. The suspect will be arraigned in a juvenile court at the conclusion of investigation. The Lagos State Police Command on Friday revealed that its men raided the shanties around the popular Alaba International Market in the Ojo Local Government Area of the state while acting on credible information. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, disclosed this via his Twitter handle. He stated that some suspected criminals were arrested after the raid while weapons were recovered from them. READ ALSO: Properties Lost As Fire Guts Alaba International Market Hundeyin added that the shanties were thereafter set on fire by the police officers. He wrote, This is a false narrative! Acting on credible information, police officers from Ojo Division raided shanties around the market, arrested suspected criminals and recovered some weapons. The shanties were thereafter set on fire. Alaba Intl Market is not on fire. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the February 25 vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to shun the swearing-in of president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Baba-Ahmed who made this call while speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Friday, also urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, to boycott the inauguration ceremony fixed for May 29, 2023. Recall that Baba-Ahmed, in a recent interview on the same platform, had called on the CJN not to swear in Tinubu as this would mean ending the nations democracy. To its end, the statement was met with condemnation by the ruling All Progressives Congress, National Broadcasting Commission, the Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government and Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. READ ALSO: Tinubu Not Qualified To Be Sworn-In As President Datti Ahmed However, speaking yesterday, swearing in a ticket that has not yet met constitutional requirements is tantamount to violating democracy, adding that he should not have been issued a certificate of return by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu. The vice presidential candidate described the process that produced Tinubu as Buharis successor as flawed. He said, Swearing in a ticket that has not met the constitutional requirements of the constitution. Whoever does not meet the constitutional requirements must never be sworn in. Mr. President, do not hold that inauguration. CJN, your lordship, do not partake in unconstitutionality. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has declined a request by former American mental health counsellor, Jeffrey Guterman, to release a file on Nigerias president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Guterman who disclosed the news on Twitter, noted FBIs refusal to confirm or deny the existence of files on third-party individuals, citing an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Recall Guterman, a staunch supporter of Labour Partys presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had previously requested the release of records regarding Tinubus $460,000 forfeiture in the United States related to drug trafficking. But, the FBI responded that his request submission did not meet their terms of service. In a tweet, Guterman stated, See below a copy of the letter I received today from the @FBI regarding my request, based on the Freedom of Information Act, for the FBI file on Bola Tinubu. READ ALSO: Release Tinubus File Jeffrey Guterman Writes FBI My request was rejected because, according to the FBI, the existence of files on third-party individuals will neither be confirmed nor denied by the FBI due to unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. I found it noteworthy that in my online submission, I referred to Tinubu as Bola Tinubu, but in their letter, the FBI referred to him as TINUBU, BOLA AHMED. How would the FBI access the Ahmed part of his name? Again, I did not provide the Ahmed part of his name in my submission. Moreover, it is public knowledge that the FBI has a file on Tinubu for his $460,000 forfeiture to the US. The letter also states that if I received their response through standard mail (which I did), this is because my online submission did not meet their terms of service. According to the letter, my options are to (1) submit any questions by email or call their office, (2) administratively appeal their decision within 90 days of the date of their letter, and/or (3) seek dispute resolution by email. I will now consider my next plan of action. * The confidence of China's private entrepreneurs in pursuing high-quality development is picking up, buoyed by new orders, enhanced competitiveness and an improving business environment. * The private sector contributes approximately 50 percent of China's tax revenue, 60 percent of its GDP, 70 percent of its technological innovation, and accounts for 80 percent of its urban employment. * The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Index, based on a survey of 3,000 small and medium enterprises in China, rebounded to 89.3 in the first quarter of 2023, up from 88 in the previous quarter. BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The confidence of China's private entrepreneurs in pursuing high-quality development is picking up, buoyed by new orders, enhanced competitiveness and an improving business environment. The revival of private companies and the improvement of private entrepreneur sentiment are crucial for the country's continued growth, as the private sector has been a key pillar sustaining China's economic expansion. Economic experts and the media frequently use a combination of the numbers 50, 60, 70 and 80 to describe the private sector's contributions to the Chinese economy. The sector contributes approximately 50 percent of China's tax revenue, 60 percent of its GDP, 70 percent of its technological innovation, and accounts for 80 percent of its urban employment. Development optimism in the private sector mirrors China's strong growth momentum in the first quarter of this year. MORE ORDERS, RECOVERING EXPECTATIONS Visiting customers, negotiating orders and participating in exhibitions have been daily tasks since the start of 2023 for Wang Xincheng, chairman of Changjiang Electric, a Hubei-based company specializing in intelligent energy construction and services. The company's orders totaled 810 million yuan (about 117 million U.S. dollars) in January, and logged a year-on-year increase of 15 percent in the first quarter. "The growth momentum is good, with new orders continuing to come in," Wang said, noting that the company is running at full capacity. Changjiang Electric's experience echoes the broader recovery of the world's second-largest economy. The Chinese economy registered better-than-expected 4.5 percent growth in the first quarter of this year, with factory output and household consumption both bouncing back. China's private sector, in particular, posted a highly anticipated recovery. Despite weak global growth, the foreign trade of China's private firms jumped 14.4 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, accounting for 52.4 percent of the country's total. The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Index, based on a survey of 3,000 small and medium enterprises in China, rebounded to 89.3 in the first quarter of 2023, up from 88 in the previous quarter. Its sub-indexes for all eight major sectors, including construction, transport, and accommodation and catering, rose across the board. "The overall economy is recovering. More importantly, central and local governments have sent a clear signal of support for the development of the private sector," said Wu Xiaoquan, COO of Nanjing TICA Climate Solutions Co., Ltd. "We are confident in our future." TICA's business performance rose 10 percent to 15 percent in the first three months of this year, with orders for industrial manufacturing projects and overseas markets increasing significantly. SHARPENING NEW EDGES Despite China's sound growth momentum, many private entrepreneurs have said that more time is needed for a full market recovery from the COVID-induced economic fallout, citing challenges such as rising costs, difficulties in financing and recruitment, as well as weak global demand. Tang Fangming, assistant general manager of Jiangsu Hengli Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd., said that despite an uptick in order numbers, companies in the sector are "just getting back on their feet," and the foundation for recovery has not yet solidified. In an effort to seize the initiative for development, the company has doubled down on its efforts in research and development (R&D), seeking to explore its development space by tapping into new materials and new energy. Shenghong Group, a textile industry leader in east China's Jiangsu Province, has accelerated its presence in the emerging new energy, new materials, and green and low-carbon development sectors. The company's capacity to produce regenerated fibers made from waste plastic bottles now accounts for more than 50 percent of the global market share. Wuhan Jingce Electronic Group Co., Ltd., a high-tech enterprise that provides products and services for testing in fields such as semiconductors, displays and new energy, has more than doubled its R&D spending from 288 million yuan in 2019 to 589 million yuan in 2022. This emphasis on R&D led to the rollout of several pieces of high-end testing equipment, which later translated into three years of revenue growth for the company. "Our business has been under pressure in recent years, but this also gives us an opportunity to improve our own capabilities and competitiveness," said Shen Yafei, the company's vice general manager. CONDUCIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT While private enterprises make efforts to thrive, their business environment is also improving, with a slew of conducive measures and pledges made by governments at different levels. Proper guidance should be given to the private sector for its healthy and high-quality development, and private firms should take the initiative to pursue high-quality development. These are messages delivered at the annual "two sessions" held in March this year. On April 21, the first meeting of the commission for deepening overall reform of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee noted that supporting the private economy is a consistent principle of the CPC Central Committee. It is also vital to help private enterprises find their right position in high-quality development and improve their development quality via self-reform and development, business compliance, as well as transformation and upgrading, said the meeting, which urged efforts to ensure precise implementation of preferential policies to effectively address the enterprises' difficulties. In terms of policy implementation, in the past five years, private enterprises have enjoyed a total of more than 8 trillion yuan in new tax and fee cuts and tax deferrals as well as exemptions, accounting for about 70 percent of the total number, said Wang Jun, head of the State Taxation Administration, last month. Of self-employed households in the private economy, 80 percent no longer pay taxes after the government implemented a series of support policies, according to Wang. Since the beginning of this year, many localities across the country have introduced special policies and measures to support the private sector. These policies and measures involve fields such as financing, talent, technology and land use, and are expected to boost the confidence of private enterprises in development. "Only when all parties work together to help ease the pressures and burdens of private firms can entrepreneurs feel relaxed, travel light and aim high," said Zhang Qing, deputy head of the Wuhan Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Association. Hu Yufang, chairman of Suzhou Taihu Snow Silk Co., Ltd., knew that embracing new opportunities would bring brighter prospects. "In the face of various uncertainties, we did not sit back and wait, but chose to face them head-on," Hu said. The company, listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange, has used online livestreaming to expand its sales and managed to attract more offline customers by opening new outlets at sites popular online. Liu Cong, chairman of the provincial federation of industry and commerce of Jiangsu, said that the overall market situation has been improving since the beginning of the year, and private entrepreneurs are becoming more confident, more energetic and more ambitious. "As the supporting policies continue to sink in, we have the confidence to consolidate the momentum," Liu said. A reminder to join me for a tree pruning demonstration on Tuesday, May 8, 6:30 p.m. at St. Bonaventure church in Columbus. Pruning of shade and ornamental trees is often overlooked until there is a problem; and then it is often too late to correct the problem. At this demonstration, what to prune to help develop structure and where to make correct pruning cuts will be shown. The workshop is free. For questions, contact Kelly Feehan at 402-563-4901. ********** The most common question to Extension horticulturists right now is Whats wrong with my evergreen? Heat, high winds and drought, often combined with poor tree watering practices from automatic lawn irrigation systems and excess nitrogen fertilization, have left many conifers stressed. Evergreen shrubs like Boxwood and Japanese Yew, and trees such as white pine and Arborvitae are beginning to show winter dessication injury. And because stressed trees are more susceptible to diseases, we are seeing an increase in Cytospora canker in spruce, Sphareopsis tip blight in pines and other diseases. Before doing anything, identify the problem. In some cases, the only thing that can be done is provide the best growing conditions possible to help a tree recover. In other cases, a pesticide application may help if applied at the correct time. Chances are some evergreens will be damaged too much to recover and removal and replacement will be needed. If an evergreen looked fine going into fall and winter but is now uniformly turning brown on the south or west side of the tree, this is most likely winter dessication injury. Scotch pine that are beginning to appear dull or gray green are likely dying from pine wilt. Symptoms of cankers on spruce and pine will be scattered branches dying throughout the tree. With Cytospora canker, a grayish blue resin that oozes from cankers may be noticed on spruce branches or as drips on the trunk. If needles of Austrian or Ponderosa pine are brown and hanging down on affected branches, check the bottom of pine cones for black specks. These are a signs of Sphareopsis blight. Winter dessication is common as drought conditions last summer and fall caused many plants to go into winter stressed. That was followed by no snow, some above average temperature days, and many high wind days. These extreme conditions affected even correctly watered plants. During winter, plants continue to lose moisture from tissues, especially evergreen leaves. Moisture is not replaced during winter as roots are not functioning in cold or frozen soils. Eventually, plant tissues lose enough moisture to dry out completely and die, but do not turn brown until late winter into spring. For winter dessication and spruce cankers, there is not much to be done other than water trees deeply as needed, place a 2 to 4-inch layer of organic mulch, like wood chips, around trees, and avoid fertilizing with nitrogen. Wait until June 1 to prune damaged branches or branch tips to see if new growth occurs. Fungicides can be applied to pines for Sphaeropsis tip blight to prevent new infections on healthy branches. Ideally, the first application would have been made the third week of April and a second one 7 to 14 days later. Fungicides applied in May can still help reduce infections. Products recommended are thiophanate-methyl, propiconazole and Bordeaux mixture. Follow label directions for application. To help identify evergreen issues, clear photos of the entire tree and close up photos of symptoms can be emailed to kfeehan2@unl.edu. Sonia Ekweremadu, daughter of embattled Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, says she is in a guilty state because the organ trafficking saga happened owing to her kidney disease. She added that her parents sought a kidney donor for her from outside because of the familys health history. Sonia, who spoke in an interview with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) following the Friday sentencing of Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months in prison by a UK court for organ trafficking, said her fathers family has a history of kidney conditions. Beatrice, Ekweremadus wife, was also sentenced to four years and six months in jail. The couple got entangled in the organ trafficking case while trying to find a donor for Sonia who has been on dialysis. However, 25-year-old Sonia explained that she had a gene that necessitated her to find a donor outside family members. Ekweremadu had told a UK court in March that he opted for a non-family kidney donor for Sonia following advice from Diwe, his brother who is a medical doctor. READ ALSO: King Charles May Pardon Ekweremadu Lawyer Its sad. It has been really hard to really wrap my head around it. I understand the conviction; personally, I disagree with it. However, that is from a very biased perspective. As their daughter, I would obviously always back my parents. However, the law has taken its course and we have to just move forward as a family, BBC quoted Sonia as saying. I had the APO1 gene. To us, that kind of excluded the family, especially on my dads side because they have quite a history of kidney conditions. Asked if she was aware that the donor at the centre of the case was portrayed as her cousin, she replied: Yea, I mean, I cant answer that, adding that she did not feel anything toward him and that she wish him all the best. According to her, she felt guilty for the plight that has befallen her family, adding that her lesson from the whole happenstance is that life is dynamic. Life is just so dynamic. One day you are in your house chilling, the next day, your whole life is turned upside down, she said. I dont think it would ever be the same. I feel guilty because I feel that all this has happened because of me. She furthered that though some persons came forward as donors after the case went public, she is still on dialysis but hopefully, I would be able to get the transplant soon. A legal practitioner, Kayode Ajulo, has said that the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday is a good opportunity for those making pleas for pardon on behalf of former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu to do that. Recall that INFORMATION NIGERIA had earlier reported that Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison by a UK court on Friday for plotting to harvest a mans kidney for his daughter. Beatrice Ekweremadu was sentenced to four years and six months in prison, while Obinna Obeta, a medical doctor, was sentenced to ten years in prison for the same offense. READ MORE: Organ Trafficking: UK Court Sentences Ekweremadu To Ten Years Imprisonment The defendants were charged with conspiracy to arrange the travel of a young Nigerian man named David Nwamini to the United Kingdom in order to exploit him for his kidney. But Ajulo who was a guest on Channels Televisions Politics Today on Friday believes the letters were done erroneously. He said that it could pass as trying to interfere in the court processes but proffered a better solution. Now that Ekweremadu has been sentenced, this is the time to do that (ask for pardon). Tomorrow King Charles III will be coronated as the King of England, as the Head of State. There is what is called royal prerogative for pardon, I believe anybody that wants to write a letter, anybody that wants to make a plea for Ekweremadu, this is the best time to ask the sovereignty of the United Kingdom; that is His Majesty King Charles III to pardon Ekweremadu. The precedent has been there since as far back as 1717, King George did the same. In 2003 and even as close as 2021, the same thing happened. Sovereign can do that and I believe that is the plea we need to do for Ekweremadu, not to be writing and interfering with the conduct of the court, Ajulo said. A Nigerian student at Bangor University, North Wales, United Kingdom, identified as John Nwadiaju, was sentenced to 11 months imprisonment and suspended for one year for violently attacking and abusing his wife, Kosisochukwu Echem. According to North Whales Chronicle, on Friday, the 34-year-old was handed the sentence, which included 250 hours of unpaid work, at the Caernarfon Crown Court. READ ALSO: Police Gun Down Kidnapper, Arrest Five Others In Delta The prosecutor, Paulinus Barnes, told the court that Nwadiaju and Echem married in Nigeria in April 2022 but separated in August 2022 over reported abuse and violence. The wife, hoping for reconciliation, had visited him in Bangor, where he studied. Still, Nwadiaju was said to have taken her passport and Personal Independence Payment card and assaulted her repeatedly. Police arrested him at the scene, and traces of blood were found on his person and property. Nwadiaju was found guilty, despite stating that his actions were in self-defence. Presiding Judge Nicola Saffman sentenced Nwadiaju to 11 months imprisonment and suspended him for one year, adding that Nwadiaju must also carry out 250 hours of unpaid work. Kano State Police command has arrested one Ibrahim Musa, a 22 years old boy suspected to have allegedly stabbed his mother to death on Wednesday evening. Ibrahim Musa was apprehended at a criminal hideout in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area on Friday following a tip-off from concerned citizens. According to the state Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO) SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa made this known in a statement issued and signed on behalf of the Kano Police Command that was made available to newsmen in Kano on Friday afternoon, said the boy was arrested at a criminal hideout at Dawakin-Tofa. READ MORE: Son Stabs Mother To Death In Kano Over Disagreement On the 4th May 2023 at about 2200hrs (10 pm), Ibrahim Musa, m, 22 years old, was arrested at a criminal hideout in Dawakin Tofa LGA, Kano State, SP Kiyawa said According to him, he was arrested shortly after stabbing his 50-year-old biological mother to death at Rimin Kebbe Quarters, Nassarawa LGA, Kano State. The suspect confessed to the crime and also confessed to dealing in illicit drug abuse. The Police then assured the 22-year-old suspect will be charged to court upon completion of the investigation. . The Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, CP Mohammed Usaini Gumel, FIPMA, psc appreciates those that assisted with information that led to the arrest and commended the Police Tactical Teams that ensure that the culprit is brought to book. Nollywood actress, Georgina Onuoha has mocked former Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, following their imprisonment in the United Kingdom. Recall that a UK Court sentenced Ekweremadu to 9 years and eight months, while his wife Beatrice and Obinna Obetta got four years and ten years jail terms, respectively. The sentence became the first of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act, following their conviction for organ trafficking in March, which lasted for six weeks. Prior to the sentence, Ekweremadu, Beatrice and Obeta were convicted of conspiracy to arrange the travel of a young Nigerian man who identified as David Nwamini to Britain in order to exploit him for his kidney. The kidney organ was intended for Ekweremadus sick daughter, Sonia. READ ALSO: Organ Trafficking: UK Court Sentences Ekweremadu To Ten Years Imprisonment Reacting, Georgina said the sentence serves them right. The actress accused Ekweremadu of embezzling money that was given to him to build hospitals in Nigeria. She wrote, And let the choir say Amen. Serves them right. Do not take advantage of anyone because you are in a place of power. Dear Nigerian doctors, nurses and caregivers, do not sacrifice your licenses for anyone let alone Nigerian politicians who deliberately neglect our health care system back home but can rush overseas to be treated by the same Nigerians clinicians they treat poorly back home. As for the ex senator I hope they can extend his imprisonment. This same man was given millions if not billions to build hospitals back home in his state, he embezzled it. As for their daughter, I wish her well and good health. If she was better advised Im sure she would have made a different choice. If you speak up and ask for help, Im sure someone somewhere would have helped her out. Best of luck young woman and I pray God send you help and healing. Melissa Lyon, director of the Delaware County Health Department, posed for a portrait in her office in Eddystone, Pa. on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. Read more Delaware County opened Pennsylvanias first new county health department in three decades last April, and over the past year has sought to build a leaner, nimbler public health model to respond to todays pressing health needs. Local health departments help manage chronic health problems, track emerging infectious diseases, and educate the public. In Delaware County, officials want to accomplish these core responsibilities while also addressing the complex relationships between environment, economics, race and access to care, which contribute to chronic health conditions. The department hopes to partner with other government agencies, hospitals, and county nonprofits to directly tackle these so-called social determinants of health. Were in the implementation stage, but I can assure you that is definitely the lens through which were building this department, said Melissa Lyon, the health department director. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed public healths weaknesses in getting services to at-risk communities and is shaping the new departments priorities, which include a focus on emergency response services. Filling gaps Just seven of Pennsylvanias 67 counties, including Delaware County, have their own health departments, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Philadelphia counties also run their own health departments. Lackawanna County is exploring starting one as well, state officials said. Pennsylvania provides public health services in counties that dont have their own department. Advertisement READ MORE: Delaware Countys new health department cant do inspections in eight townships after lawsuit To be the new-era, leaner health department that Delco administrators envision, health officials sought to coordinate services with existing nonprofits and private health providers. Were not trying to take over the work that theyre doing, but to fill in those gaps, said Monica Taylor, director of Delaware County Council, who has supported creating health department since she campaigned on issue in 2019. For instance, health experts want more doulas and community health workers to address the countys maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate among Black women and babies. Black women in Delaware County are four times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy or the months following birth. Black babies have an infant mortality rate of nearly 13 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to the county health department, compared to the national rate for black infants, 10 deaths per 1,000 births. The county received a $1 million federal grant recently and plans to largely disperse the funding to local health organizations already working on maternal and infant health in the community. READ MORE: Delaware County hopes to tackle high death rates among infants and mothers with nearly $1 million in federal funding The approach has strengthened the fledgling departments relationship with local health organizations, which have more established connections vulnerable communities. The best thing they could do is get to know the work were doing, determine were doing just fine, and have the confidence they didnt need to develop programming that was duplicative of the programming were already doing, said Joanne Craig, chief impact officer for The Foundation for Delaware County, and a member of the countys maternal and child health working group that is eligible to receive some of the federal funds. Lessons from COVID Delaware County health advocates have wanted the local department since the 1960s, said Rosemarie Halt, chair of the countys board of health. With 575,000 residents, Delaware County was the most populous county in the nation without a health department, she said. A Democratic majority was elected to council in 2019 and voted to create a health department, but then the pandemic hit. Delco officials put their plans on hold and instead contracted with Chester Countys health department for pandemic response. The country saw the need for local expertise during the pandemic. Many public health agencies had difficulties contact tracing, providing access to COVID-related services, and combating misinformation, said Halt, who also worked as Delaware Countys COVID director. Delaware Countys health administrators decided they needed to prioritize in-house emergency response, she said. This includes a new call center, based in Eddystone, with four full-time staff trained in contact tracing. Their efforts paid off in January, when staff were able to contain a tuberculosis case in a Darby middle school, Halt said. READ MORE: Delaware County hopes to tackle high death rates among infants and mothers with nearly $1 million in federal funding Now Halt worries about future funding. The department has an $18.3 million budget, smaller than Montgomery and Chesters health departments, though more than Bucks Countys. Halt would like to see more financial support from the state for health departments. Its startling to me that after COVID health departments are still fighting for funding, she said. The health of a county The departments first community health needs assessment, expected by the end of the year, will inform future projects. Delco officials expect it will provide a deeper assessment than reports from the state. Im really curious to see what it looks like on a micro level, she said. The state doesnt necessarily slice and dice that data in a way that gives us what we like to refer to as a hyperlocal analysis. Officials are especially interested to learn more about how Delaware County Memorial Hospitals closure in Drexel Hill last year has affected access to care. The area lost an emergency department and the only birthing hospital in that part of the county. READING The embezzlement trial of John J. Dougherty is once again on hold as the former labor leader has hired a new attorney, prompting a federal judge to agree to yet another delay in the four-year-old case. Jury selection was set to begin Monday, with prosecutors in a 96-count indictment accusing the former labor leader and others of embezzling more than $600,000 from the coffers of the union he once led, Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. But in recent weeks, Dougherty has hired Philadelphia attorney Gregory J. Pagano to lead his defense and will part ways with former lawyers Caroline Goldner Cinquanto and Alan J. Tauber, whom U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl had appointed to represent him last year. And despite expressing earlier frustration with the amount of time it has taken to bring the case to trial, Schmehl agreed to another postponement during a court hearing Thursday. The judge said hed set a new date at some point in time to give Pagano time to prepare. The trial, expected to last several weeks, has been repeatedly delayed over the last four years, in part by the coronavirus pandemic, scrutiny over an FBI informant, questions of conflict involving a past lawyer, and a previous overhaul to Doughertys legal team. Advertisement Pagano who has represented an ex-Philadelphia police commander, narcotics officers, a city mob leader, and a Delaware County man accused of hiding his past as a murderous Liberian warlord is the latest lawyer to take on Doughertys defense in a rotating door of legal representation. He replaces Cinquanto, who was appointed to represent Dougherty last fall after a bitter split between the union chief and his longtime attorney, Henry E. Hockeimer, after his first trial on bribery charges in 2021. At the time, Dougherty told the court he did not have the money to hire a lawyer on his own. READ MORE: The split between Johnny Doc and his former lawyers is getting messy. He hopes its enough to overturn his conviction. Schmehl noted Thursday that Dougherty said hed recently obtained the cash he needs to pay for a lawyer of his choice due to the recent settlement of a legal dispute with Local 98 over whether the unions insurance should cover his court costs. Citing precedent explaining that a trial court must make every reasonable accommodation for a criminal defendant to select his own attorney, Schmehl approved Pagano to lead Doughertys defense despite the delays it would cause. But he said this was the final time hed allow the former labor leader to change lawyers. Attorneys for Doughertys lone co-defendant who has not entered a guilty plea, Local 98 President Brian Burrows, pushed back on the postponement in court filings, calling Doughertys hiring of Pagano yet another attempt to delay this trial. Prosecutors have accused Dougherty, Burrows, and four other union officials and members of spending $600,000 of the politically powerful unions funds on personal hotel stays and vacations, pricey restaurant tabs, grocery bills, home appliances, and toiletries. Prosecutors also maintain Dougherty used Local 98 funds to pay for home repairs for several relatives. In court Thursday, Pagano said hed previously assisted some of those relatives in responding to a government subpoena for documents before Dougherty was indicted in 2019, but he said hed never personally met or spoke with them. Schmehl grilled Dougherty on whether he was comfortable with the potential conflict of interest posed by Paganos earlier representation of his family members, stressing to the former union chief that whatever conflicts that come up, you have to live with. Yes, your honor, Dougherty responded. Four of Doughertys codefendants have pleaded guilty to various charges tied to the scheme, including former Local 98 political director Marita Crawford; Michael Neill, the longtime head of the unions apprentice training program; and two of Doughertys onetime assistants. All four are set to be sentenced in June. Dougherty still faces one more set of federal charges for threatening a union contractor who tried to fire his nephew from a job site in 2020. Schmehl has not yet set a date for that trial to begin. Separately, Dougherty also awaits sentencing on his bribery conviction that could send him to prison for up to 20 years. Last month, Doughertys co-defendant in the case, former Councilmember Bobby Henon, began serving his 3-year prison sentence. Britain's King Charles III departs Westminster Abbey after his coronation ceremony in London on Saturday. Read more LONDON King Charles III was crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony steeped in ancient ritual and brimming with bling at a time when the monarchy is striving to remain relevant in a fractured modern Britain. At a coronation with displays of royal power straight out of the Middle Ages, Charles was presented with an orb, a sword, and scepter and had the solid gold, bejeweled St. Edwards Crown placed atop his head as he sat upon a 700-year-old oak chair. In front of world leaders, foreign royals, dignitaries and a smattering of stars, Charles declared: I come not to be served but to serve. Inside the medieval abbey, trumpets sounded, and the congregation of more than 2,000 shouted God save the king! Outside, thousands of troops, hundreds of thousands of spectators and scores of protesters converged. It was the culmination of a seven-decade journey for the king from heir to monarch. Advertisement To the royal family and government, the occasion code-named Operation Golden Orb was a display of heritage, tradition, and spectacle unmatched around the world. To the crowds gathered under rainy skies thousands of whom had camped overnight it was a chance to be part of a historic occasion. Julie Newman, a 77-year-old visitor from Canada, said the royal procession had been absolutely fabulous. Couldnt ask for anything better. But were ready to go back home and watch it all on the television, she added. But to millions more, the day was greeted with a shrug, the awe and reverence the ceremony was designed to evoke largely gone. And to a few, it was reason to protest. Hundreds who want to see Britain become a republic gathered to holler " Not my king. They see the monarchy as an institution that stands for privilege and inequality, in a country of deepening poverty and fraying social ties. A handful were arrested. As the day began, the abbey buzzed with excitement and was abloom with fragrant flowers and colorful hats. Notables streamed in: U.S. first lady Jill Biden, first lady Olena Zelenska of Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron, eight current and former British prime ministers, judges in wigs, soldiers with gleaming medals, and celebrities including Judi Dench, Emma Thompson, and Lionel Richie. READ MORE: 6 things to know about King Charles III's coronation During the traditional Anglican service slightly tweaked for modern times, Charles, clad in crimson and cream velvet and ermine-trimmed robes, swore on a Bible that he is a true Protestant. But a preface was added to the coronation oath to say the Anglican church will seek to foster an environment where people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely. It was the first ceremony to include representatives of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh faiths, as well as the first in which female clergy took part. Charles was anointed with oil from the Mount of Olives in the Holy Land a part of the ceremony so sacred it was concealed behind screens before being presented with the Sovereigns Orb and other regalia. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby then placed the crown on Charles head, while he sat in the Coronation Chair once gilded, now worn and etched with graffiti. Underneath the seat was a sacred slab known as the Stone of Scone, on which ancient Scottish kings were crowned. For 1,000 years and more, such grandiose ceremonies have confirmed the right of British kings to rule. Charles was the 40th sovereign to be enthroned in the abbey and, at 74, the oldest. These days, the king no longer has executive or political power, and the service is purely ceremonial since Charles automatically became king upon death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September. The king does remain the U.K.s head of state and a symbol of national identity and Charles will have to work to bring together a multicultural nation and shore up support for the monarchy at a time when it is waning, especially among younger people. While most Britons view the monarchy on a spectrum ranging from apathy to mild interest, some are fervently opposed to it. The anti-monarchy group Republic said several of its members, including its chief executive, were arrested as they arrived at a protest in central London. Police, whod warned they would have a low tolerance for people seeking to disrupt the day, said they made 52 arrests. Human Rights Watch said arrests of peaceful protesters were something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London. READ MORE: Jill Biden: Charles' coronation was 'just amazing to see' The multimillion-pound cost of the all the pomp the exact figure unknown also rankled some amid a cost-of-living crisis that has meant many Britons are struggling to pay energy bills and buy food. Charles has sought to lead a smaller, less expensive royal machine for the 21st century, and his was a shorter, smaller affair than his mothers coronation. The notoriously feuding royal family put on its own show of unity. Prince William, who is next in line to be king, his wife, Kate, and their three children were all in attendance. Toward the end of the ceremony, William knelt before his father and pledged loyalty to the king before kissing him on the cheek. Then Archbishop Welby invited everyone in the abbey to swear true allegiance to the monarch. He said people watching on television could pay homage, too though that part of the ceremony was toned down after some criticized it as a tone-deaf effort to demand a public oath of allegiance for Charles. Williams younger brother Prince Harry, who has publicly sparred with the family, arrived alone. His wife, Meghan, and their children remained at home in California, where the couple has lived since quitting as working royals in 2020. As Charles and the key royals joined a magnificent military procession after the ceremony, Harry stood waiting outside the abbey until a car arrived to drive him away. Large crowds cheered as Charles and Queen Camilla, who was also crowned, rode in the Gold State Carriage from the abbey to Buckingham Palace, accompanied by a procession of 4,000 troops and military bands playing jaunty tunes. From the palace balcony, the king and queen waved to a sea of people who cheered and shouted God Save the king! For many other Britons, the days events drew mild curiosity, at best. Cherie Duffy, who was visiting London from Anglesey, Wales, on a trip planned before the coronation date was set, watched the ceremony on TV but only because someone else turned it on. Theres a general not-botheredness, she said about how she and her friends felt. Philadelphia Police Sgt. Eric Gripp talks to the media near the crime scene in the 2200 block of N. Camac where two police officers were involved in a fatal police shooting of a 33-year-old man. Read more Police are reviewing video footage and interviewing witnesses in North Philadelphia after two officers opened fire on a 33-year-old man who, according to a police spokesperson, had fired a gun during a struggle with one of the officers. The man, identified Friday as Curtis Smith, was pronounced dead at 3:06 p.m. Thursday at Temple University Hospital. Sgt. Eric Gripp, a Police Department spokesperson, said Smith was shot around 2:20 p.m. Thursday after he fled down the 2200 block of North Camac Street during a police investigation into a possible stolen vehicle. He ran through an abandoned lot, then into an alley behind a property on Dauphin Street. Both pursuing officers fired their weapons and were wearing body cameras, but it remained unclear Friday if shots from both officers struck Smith. He was struck seven times, according to police. Advertisement Police have not yet named the officers or released the body camera footage. Both were relatively new to the department and have been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Neither was injured. According to a Philadelphia law enforcement source on Friday, the body camera footage appears to show Smith pointing a firearm at an officer. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the investigation, which was still in the preliminary stage. Nearby residents were distraught to learn that Smith, a father who came from a working-class neighborhood, had been shot by police. They disputed the police account of what happened. Phillip Smith, who answered the telephone Friday at a number linked through public records to Curtis Smiths address, said he saw the pursuit. He said one of the officers shot Curtis Smith several times in the back, but he declined to elaborate before hanging up. I was standing right there, I watched it, Phillip Smith said. His description was similar to an account by a woman at the scene Thursday who said she was a friend of Smiths grandmother. She declined to provide her name. The cameras gonna show and speak for itself, the woman said. Gripp, the police spokesperson, said Smith was not fleeing when he was shot. He said shots werent fired until both of the officers and Smith were behind the property on Dauphin Street where Smith had stopped running. Entry and exit wounds will be determined by a medical examiners investigation. Smith was facing the first officer with his gun pointed at him when that officer fired his weapon, according to Gripp. He said the first officer and Smith got in a struggle as the officer tried to disarm Smith and handcuff him. When the second officer arrived, both ordered Smith to drop the handgun, Gripp said. The struggle continued, he said, and Smith fired one shot that missed both officers. The second officer fired several times at Smith, striking him, while the first officer pulled the gun from Smiths hand. Security camera footage shared by NBC10 on social media appears to depict Smith running from two police officers near Fawn Street. Gripp said he couldnt authenticate the video, but that it was consistent with the pursuing officers body-worn camera footage and other evidence. Smith, who was registered to vote at an address on 12th Street near Susquehanna Avenue, one block from the shooting, has several arrests dating to 2009 and two open court cases on drug and firearms offenses, according to court records. Jane Roh, a spokesperson for District Attorney Larry Krasner, declined to release additional information Friday. As with all officer discharges in Philadelphia, the DAs Special Investigations Unit responds to the scene and works with the Officer Involved Shooting Investigation unit, Roh said. The SIU investigation of this matter is very much active and ongoing. Gripp said the officer who struggled with Smith joined the Police Department in March of 2020; the second officer in March of 2022. In an effort to promote transparency and accountability, a 2021 Philadelphia police directive requires the department in most cases to identify officers who fatally shoot an individual within 72 hours of the incident. The names can be withheld indefinitely if a threat assessment shows that releasing the names could put the officers in danger. Philly Proud Boys President Zach Rehl (center, in camouflage hat) and Joe Biggs, a leader of the group from Florida (left, in gray plaid shirt) stand at the forefront of a crowd of members of the organization that marched on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Read more As thousands of Donald Trump supporters arrived in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, to protest Congressional certification of President Joe Bidens victory, Aaron Whallon Wolkind, vice president of the Philadelphia Proud Boys, watched from afar brimming with anticipation for what he expected to unfold that day. I want to see thousands of normies burn that city to ash, he wrote in an encrypted chat channel that members of the right-wing group were using to coordinate their movements that day. The state is the enemy of the people. Across Pennsylvania, another Proud Boys leader watching remotely John Charles Stewart of Carlisle responded, using a term members used to refer to Trump backers who were not directly affiliated with the Proud Boys movement. Its going to happen, he wrote. These normiecons have no adrenaline control. They are like a pack of wild dogs. Advertisement That exchange was among thousands recovered by FBI agents and presented as evidence in the seditious conspiracy trial of four of the groups top leaders including Zach Rehl, president of the Philadelphia chapter who were convicted Thursday of helping to orchestrate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But it was just one of the dozens of exhibits that demonstrated that the Proud Boys culpability for the chaos to come on Jan. 6 extended well beyond Rehl and his codefendants especially in Pennsylvania. READ MORE: For Philly Proud Boys president Zach Rehl, sedition conviction for Jan. 6 attack rests largely on his own words Testimony and evidence presented throughout the four-month trial showed that Proud Boys from the state played an outsized role in shaping the groups plans for that day and preparing for its march on the Capitol. Here are four takeaways from what the trial revealed: Pa. Proud Boys were heavily involved in the planning for Jan. 6 Much of the evidence presented during the trial arose from the encrypted chats Proud Boys leaders used to prepare for their presence in Washington on Jan. 6 many arising from a channel on Telegram dubbed the Ministry of Self-Defense. Initially, the channel was only open to handpicked leaders within the organization, including Rehl, who went by the handle Captain Trump, and some of his codefendants like Proud Boys national chairman Henry Enrique Tarrio; Ethan Nordean, of Washington state; and Joe Biggs, of Florida. But Wolkind, 39, and Stewart, 45 both Proud Boys from Pennsylvania, who were not charged alongside the other leaders were also early and frequent participants in the chats, according to evidence presented at the trial. READ MORE: Proud Boys trial: Zach Rehl, the right-wing groups Philly leader, and three others convicted in Jan. 6 sedition case Neither man was in Washington during the Capitol riot, but it was Stewart using the handle Johnny Blackbeard in the chats who initially suggested in a voice memo in the channel that Proud Boys should focus their efforts in Washington at the front entrance to the Capitol building. Tarrio responded the next day: I didnt hear this voice note until now, you want to storm the Capitol. Wolkind, the vice president of the Philadelphia chapter who used the online moniker Aaron of the Bloody East, raised the suggestion as early as Jan. 1 that the Proud Boys should avoid wearing the black and gold shirts they typically wear to rallies a tactic he credited to antifa counterprotesters dressed in all black they often clashed with. We should start adopting [antifa] black bloc style tactics not all black like antifa, but make efforts to hide identifies in public, he wrote. Wolkind also suggested early on that the Proud Boys disposition toward the police needs to be reevaluated. Traditionally, the group had seen itself as allied with law enforcement throughout the May 2020 racial justice protests that arose after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. However, after a December 2020 rally in Washington that saw violent clashes with counterprotesters, several Proud Boys members stabbed, and the arrest of Tarrio for burning a Black Lives Matter banner, members of the group began to turn on authorities. Prosecutors at the sedition trial said that shift in attitude shaped the Proud Boys willingness to fight with police defending the Capitol building and cited communications in the Ministry of Self Defense chats. We could have ran police the f over in DC and they wouldnt have been able to do sh, Stewart wrote in the chat channel on Jan. 1, referring to that disastrous rally in December. Another member responded: #ftheblue. Agree, Stewart shot back. They chose their f g side so lets get this done. As Proud Boys gathered in Washington early on Jan. 6, Stewarts rage toward police appeared not to have abated. I will settle, he wrote to the others, with seeing them smash some pigs [police] to dust. Several Philadelphia Proud Boys were on the ground in Washington on Jan. 6 Though Rehl was the only member of the Philadelphia Proud Boys charged in the sedition case that wrapped up this week, several other members of the local chapter have been accused of playing a role in the riot. Stewart, who was charged separately, has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to obstruct Congress on Jan. 6, a lawyer for Tarrio said at a hearing leading up to the sedition trial. That case remains under court seal. It is unclear whether Wolkind has been charged. FBI agents raided his Newark, Del., home in October 2021. READ MORE: FBI raids home of Philadelphia Proud Boys vice president to gather info about Capitol attack plans Meanwhile, many of the Philadelphia Proud Boys who traveled with Rehl to Washington have been charged with various crimes, including illegally demonstrating on Capitol grounds. They include Isaiah Giddings, 31, and Freedom Vy, 37, both of Philadelphia, and Brian Healion, 33, of Upper Darby. Each is accused of following Rehl into the building, where they were photographed carousing in the office of U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) Giddings has pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge and awaits sentencing. During his guilty plea, he told authorities that as he advanced with Rehl and the others through the chaos unfolding on the Capitol steps, Rehl asked others in the crowd whether they had brought any bear spray. But Giddings said he didnt think Rehl ever obtained any. About that bear spray... In the initial indictment, prosecutors did not accuse Rehl of personally carrying out any acts of violence during the riot. However, that changed as he chose to testify in his own defense. On the witness stand, Rehl sought to portray himself as a staunch supporter of law enforcement who had no idea how violent the Capitol riot had become until it was over. But during days testifying under sympathetic questioning from his attorney Carmen Hernandez, prosecutors uncovered new police bodycam footage that appeared to show Rehl spraying what looked like pepper or bear spray at an officer. Confronted with that footage during cross-examination, Rehl at first insisted that he couldnt be sure the man in the video was him. Then, he said that the object in the mans hand looked to him more like a recording device than a spray can. Eventually, he told Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson, that he did not recall attacking any officers that day. Still, at least one juror said the video proved decisive in his decision to convict Rehl. Rehl really got caught on cross examination after he was adamant that he never sprayed a police officer, juror Andre Mundell told VICE News in an interview published Friday. On cross that all fell apart when the video came out and it showed that he was spraying towards the cops. The evolution of the Proud Boys Philadelphia chapter During his time on the witness stand, Rehl testified that when he became the groups leader in 2018 hed hoped to turn the chapter from a group that primarily operated as a mens drinking club into a more regimented organization one involved in political activism and better about weeding out hotheaded recruits prone to causing trouble. However, prosecutors confronted him with several text messages between him and Wolkind, the Philadelphia chapters vice president, to counter his suggestion that violence wasnt an integral part of the Philadelphia chapters operations. I dont buy the whole PBs are too violent, too degenerate, etc., to be effective at political organizing, Wolkind wrote to Rehl in June 2019 as they discussed a video showing a Proud Boy punching a counterprotester. I think people see [the attacking Proud Boy] knock that antifa the f out and it inspires them. They see that and secretly want to be him Thats why people flock to us in droves. Rehl responded that the punch was awesome. I love what he did in that video, he said. It motivates people to join, but I think it gives the wrong impression I think rallies and running for office and making an actual difference will make or break us. Throwing down from time to time helps It just cant be the only thing were about. Prosecutors also presented texts in which Rehl referred to a recruit as a beast and ready to crack skulls or expressed a desire for all members of the Philadelphia chapter to be jacked. On the witness stand, Rehl brushed off the insinuation that the most important qualification for becoming a Philadelphia Proud Boy was a penchant for throwing punches. I was looking for guys who could hold their own in a fight, he said. Doesnt mean I was looking for violence. In my first year as the leader of Nebraska Extension, Ive been humbled and gratified to witness the powerful accomplishments of the people across this state. When Nebraskans work together, we maximize opportunities for individuals, families and communities. Its clear to me the people of Nebraska Extension, covering all 93 counties, are vital in this collaborative progress. No other institution connects so widely and deeply with Nebraskans than Nebraska Extension. Extension experts share practical, research-based knowledge in a wide range of fields, from farm finance to mental wellness, nutrition to community development. In pursuing our statewide mission, Nebraska Extension part of the University of Nebraska from its earliest years has adopted strategic aims we call The Big 3: Strengthen Nebraska agriculture and food systems. Inspire Nebraskans and their communities. Enhance the health and well-being of all Nebraskans. By focusing in these three areas, we are delivering at our best to Nebraskans from all walks of life. Here are just a few examples from 2022: More than 440,000 Nebraskans attended programs or contacted local Extension professionals in regard to pest, insect and landscape/horticulture topics. Ag producers who farm or manage more than 132,000 acres attended Extensions 2022 On-Farm Research Network Results meeting. Extension specialists provide Nebraska farmers and ranchers with extensive year-round support statewide, sharing information on a range of practical production and planning needs. Nebraskans downloaded Extensions informative BeefWatch podcasts some 30,000 times. Extensions Early Childhood programming reached more than 202,000 children. Our Growing Together Nebraska program worked with 12 Nebraska communities to provide locally grown produce to 41 food pantries and emergency food distribution sites. In 2022, this initiative supplied more than 32,000 pounds (more than 97,000 servings) of fruits and vegetables. More than 140,000 Nebraska age-eligible children participated in Extensions 4-H programs, focusing on experiential learning. We are proud of those numbers, but what really matters are the individuals, families and communities behind the statistics. For example, when catastrophic floods struck huge areas of Nebraska in 2019, causing $2.6 billion in losses, Extension professionals took action. Coordinating donations of livestock feed, pharmaceuticals, hay and fencing supplies. Helping families connect to emergency nutritional assistance and find available contractors. Working with producers to restore damaged farm ground. In my travels around the state, Ive heard countless stories from Nebraskans about their work with Extension. Here are a couple of experiences I think more people should know about: David Barnes, from Lynch, points to the help Extension provided when his town explored opening a community grocery co-op in 2021. Extension professionals helped the Lynch steering committee address a range of bureaucratic, regulatory and business challenges. The Nebraska Cooperative Development Center, housed in the University of Nebraska-Lincolns Department of Agricultural Economics, also provided support. In February, the co-op marked its first-year anniversary as well as its community success: Sales over the past year were 50% above the projection. Without their help, it wouldnt have happened, Barnes, the manager of the co-op, says of Extension professionals. Carime Ruvalcaba, Grand Island resident, worked to set up the first bilingual day care in Nebraska to receive a Child Development Associate credential, officially designating high-quality care. A range of Extension professionals provided specialized assistance to Ruvalcaba as she received training, set up the center and navigated government processes. Would she recommend Extension to other Nebraskans? Totally, she says. Extension specialists are very professional. They have a lot of experience in issues that help educate and grow small businesses. Are we satisfied with these contributions? Of course not. Were looking to the future, striving to have an even bigger impact. As an example, we are exploring a major multi-faceted partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center to bolster statewide service to enhance health and wellness. Dr. Ali Khan, dean of UNMCs College of Public Health, is exploring alongside us. He says, The greatest strength for UNMC's collaboration with Extension is their community engagement. There's an opportunity for UNMC and the various colleges to work with Extension within these communities programmatic-related activities, case-related activities, research-related activities. That's all on the table with the interaction with Extension. When Nebraskans work together, our communities move forward. Nebraska Extension is proud to be partnering with Nebraskans, border to border, inspiring fulfilled, prosperous and healthy lives. The lawn in front of Pattee Library and several liberal arts buildings on Penn State's University Park campus. Read more This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our regional newsletter, Talk of the Town. STATE COLLEGE Days before graduation, Penn States special adviser to the president accused a group of seniors of harming Penn State and spreading misinformation after the students publicly supported a professor who criticized the university. The students, whom the College of the Liberal Arts selected to help lead this years graduation ceremony, wrote a letter to the editor that was published in The Daily Collegian in April. The statement expressed support for Michael West, a professor of African American Studies who publicly resigned as head of the department in early April. West alleged in his resignation letter that Clarence Lang, dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, was undermining the African American Studies department by backtracking on written promises to West to replace faculty, and by not making competitive offers to retain faculty. West also alleged that Lang had written that part of Wests job as department head was to defend the dean from negative media coverage. Advertisement In an email to Wests colleagues after the professor resigned, Lang said West was sharing a false narrative, according to a copy of the message obtained by Spotlight PA. Justin Schwartz, Penn States then-interim executive vice president and provost, said in a university-provided statement to Spotlight PA that Wests claims were unsubstantiated by a review of documented facts and agreements. The university did not publicly offer further evidence. The six students Maggie Bond, Jessica Kim, Emma Messersmith, Ahyanna Navarro-Foreman, Jake Otto, and Taran Samarth wrote in The Daily Collegian on April 28 that Penn State leadership must invest in African American Studies. Their success as students, underlined by the College of the Liberal Arts selecting them as graduation marshals, is because of faculty like West, they wrote. We come from various backgrounds, and each undertook different educational experiences at Penn State, the students wrote. But the key to our collective education has been the relationships weve cultivated with anti-racist and community-involved professors like West. Jennifer Hamer who is a professor of African American Studies, the special adviser on institutional equity for President Neeli Bendapudi, and Langs wife emailed five of the seniors on Tuesday morning accusing them of harming the people who are the College of the Liberal Arts and erasing Langs work. In her nearly 1,800-word email, which was obtained by Spotlight PA, Hamer did not disclose that she is married to the dean she was defending or that she leads some of the programs she cited as evidence that the dean supports African American Studies. The right to free expression is one of utmost value, Hamer wrote. At the same time, I would argue that with free expression comes a responsibility to ascertain facts. Otherwise, we risk the harm caused by the spread of dis- and mis-information. Im sorry to say that this has been the effect of your letter, despite what may have been your good intent. Several hours after receiving Hamers email, Richard Page, associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of the Liberal Arts, requested a meeting with them about their letter. Schwartz, in a statement provided by the university, defended Hamers email to the students. The free exchange of ideas, including debate, is fundamental to the mission of higher education, Schwartz said. The senior administration was not aware of this correspondence however, we have learned Dr. Hamer was writing to provide accurate details in her capacity as a tenured full professor of African American studies, as faculty are free to share their personal views. As I have stated before, I look forward to working with Dean Clarence Lang in his pursuit of excellence in the Department of African American Studies and to achieving objectives that have been previously outlined. Kim, a co-author of the letter, told Spotlight PA she does not understand the administrations motivation to contact the students privately, especially since West and the students presented their concerns and evidence in public. It makes it seem like theyre trying to intimidate us by saying, Lets have this one-on-one conversation, or to divide us from faculty, Kim said. A power imbalance exists between university administrators and students or faculty who speak out or defend their colleagues, Otto, another co-author, told Spotlight PA. When I read Hamers email, Otto said, I read it as another instance in a pattern of behavior among Penn State administrators cultivating a culture of fear, where everyone is a member of Happy Valley unless you speak out against the administration. The emails follow months of tension between Penn States senior administration and some faculty and students who criticized the universitys backtracking on previously promised diversity initiatives and its new proposals. Last fall, Bendapudi canceled the Center for Racial Justice, a project Penn State had marketed as just the beginning of its response to the 2020 protests against police brutality and racism. In private meetings with employees tasked with searching for the centers director, the president said the university did not have money for the project. Publicly, the president argued the center would not be effective. Lang distanced himself from the center despite co-chairing the commission that recommended the project. Bendapudis decision sparked outrage within and outside of Penn State. In November, more than 400 professors and lecturers signed an open letter questioning the presidents commitment to racial justice. The Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus said in a statement at the time that the presidents decision appeared to undermine, dilute and divert from the racial and social justice initiatives championed by professors, administrators and students. Bendapudi appointed Hamer in November as a special adviser to oversee the universitys new institutional plan for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and review its past policies. Hamer, Bendapudi, and Lang previously worked at the University of Kansas at the same time. The university released a summary of Hamers study last month. Bendapudi and Hamer unveiled the recommendations in a one-on-one conversation that was livestreamed. Dozens of Penn State faculty and students including West and others who proposed the Center for Racial Justice held a counter event at the same time as the stream. The faculty at the alternative event criticized the presidents new plan and the universitys decision not to allow professors or staff faculty to attend or ask questions at the presentation. The university defended its decision in a statement to local media. It would be difficult to expect members of our community to ask questions in a town hall format when they had not yet had the benefit of hearing the findings or initial recommendations, having not heard any initial institutional commitments, nor had time to digest them, the university said. SUPPORT THIS JOURNALISM and help us reinvigorate local news in north-central Pennsylvania at spotlightpa.org/statecollege. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability and public-service journalism that gets results. File photo of U.S. Marshals gathering at a shooting scene in Philadelphia in January. The U.S. Marshal's Office announced the arrest Friday of the father of a 3-year-old boy shot in the cheek last weekend. Read more Both the father and mother of a 3-year-old child who was shot in the face last week in Grays Ferry have now been arrested. U.S. Marshals and Philadelphia police arrested James Weldon, 31, on Friday morning, the Marshals announced in a tweet. He was wanted on firearms violations and endangering the welfare of a child, the tweet said, noting that the 3-year-old injured last Sunday was Weldons son. The boys mother, Laylaah Muhammad, 23, was arrested Wednesday and charged with criminal conspiracy, endangering the welfare of a child, unsworn falsifying, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, and making false reports. Following the shooting, Muhammad told police that she saw two men in dark clothing running as she carried her 3-year-old son along the 1500 block of South Taney Street about 5 p.m. Sunday. When she looked down at the child, she noticed he had been shot in the cheek, initial reports from police said. A stranger who happened to be driving by gave Muhammad and the boy a ride to the nearest fire station. The child was then taken to Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was placed in critical but stable condition. Police now say that investigators have since uncovered evidence indicating that the shooting happened inside a property on the 1500 block of South Taney Street, and not on the street. Philadelphia police have identified two SWAT officers who suffered minor injuries after a nine-hour barricade last Saturday in the citys Germantown section ended with gunfire that resulted in a 65-year-old man hospitalized with a bullet wound to his shoulder in what prosecutors called an attempted suicide by cop. Steve Robbins, who has an active criminal case involving alleged unlawful sexual contact with a minor and had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court, has been released from the hospital and was being held at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in lieu of $1 million bail on a slew of charges stemming from the barricade. Shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday, police responded to reports of a person with a gun at a house on the 400 block of West Bringhurst Street. They announced their presence and entered the house when they heard a gunshot, police said. The officers exited the house and a barricade was declared. A detective who serves as a negotiator was in communication with Robbins for several hours, police said, but Robbins allegedly said he would not leave the house. After several hours with no further communication with Robbins, SWAT officers entered the house and ascended to the third floor. Robbins was in a bedroom with the door closed when he allegedly fired a shotgun through the door, striking Sgt. Erik Bullock, 56, and Officer Matthew Fitzpatrick, 35, in their body armor, as well as a ballistic shield being held by a third officer. Advertisement Police said Bullock and Fitzpatrick returned fire, and Robbins was shot once in the right shoulder. Police didnt say which officer fired the shot that struck him. Robbins was transported to Einstein Medical Center, where he was initially listed in critical but stable condition. Bullock and Fitzpatrick, who did not suffer any penetrating injuries, were taken to the hospital as a precaution and then released. Bullock, a 25-year member of the force, and Fitzpatrick, a 10-year member, have been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of internal investigations. Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said in a statement on Friday: Although we are fortunate that their physical injuries were not severe, this serves as a stark reminder of the dangers our communities and officers face from armed criminals. Our members will not be intimidated, and we will not back down. Robbins was arrested in 2021 for unlawful contact with a minor, and after he failed to appear in court, a bench warrant was approved in February 2022, court records show. Participants in a workshop from TechOWL's Wheelchair Alliance learn about wheel repair and maintenance at Neighborhood Bike Works in West Philly. The workshops bring together wheelchair users and bike shop workers to learn how to care for wheelchairs. Read more Viola and Dan Dwyer decided it was time move on from the flip phone. When Dan was a child, he experienced a traumatic brain injury that affected his speech and motor skills and for most of his adult life, he has used a flip phone because of its fixed, tactile buttons. But those phones dont offer smartphone features that would be useful to Dan, like rideshare apps. So, Viola bought her husband his first iPhone, thinking theyd be able to figure things out together. Viola has her own disability, born with a neuromuscular condition called spinal muscular atrophy, and is a full-time wheelchair user. The Landsdale couple have their own YouTube channel that documents what its like to live with a disability. The Dwyers are used to coming up with creative solutions, but the iPhone still proved to be tricky for Dan. Advertisement A friend with cerebral palsy suggested they make an appointment with TechOWL (Technology for Our Whole Lives) at Temple University to get some help. TechOWL is Pennsylvanias designated Assistive Technology Act program, meaning it receives federal, state, and local funding to connect people with disabilities with technology that makes their lives easier. TechOWL has several other locations throughout the state. READ MORE: Disabled Pennsylvanians need more support They brought out this big box of devices and they were making things, even plugging things in and trying different switches, Viola said about their visit to the Temple TechOWL office. After some experimentation, the TechOWL staff, many of whom also have disabilities, built a makeshift external device for Dan. Now, with this switchboard, he can push several buttons to operate his iPhone. The staff also introduced the Dwyers to Eyegaze software, which would allow Dan to type at his desktop just with eye movements and facial gestures. They were really welcoming and they were willing to actually just devote time [to] go over what Dans needs are and what his problems were in the past with other tech, Viola said. It was just so much fun. Creating a community of belonging TechOWL was recently awarded a $500,000 grant from the Department of Education to construct a new community space in North Philly. The space, which is scheduled to open sometime this summer, will allow TechOWL to expand its services, as well as support existing ones. Were really trying to build a space thats centered in disabled experience, and that is accessible for as many different people with as many different circumstances as is possible, said Kim Singleton, the senior director of assistive technologies at Temples Institute on Disabilities. She made clear that this space is not just for Temple affiliates, but for all Philadelphians. We want to create this kind of community sense of belonging and being together with folks. READ MORE: 1 in 6 Pennsylvania voters has a disability. Why dont candidates campaign for their support? The space will host a variety of programs and events, all focused on assistive technology, which can include anything that enables people with disabilities to live more independently, like crutches, vibrating alarm clocks, magnifying glasses, speech-to text software, or the device the Dwyers are using for their iPhone. One of TechOwls signature programs is its Wheelchair Alliance. When someone has a mechanical issue with their wheelchair and needs to send it away for repair, it can take up to several months for a vendor to do the job, leaving the person in a bind. TechOWLs Wheelchair Alliance brings bicycle mechanics and wheelchair users together to learn about wheelchair repairs, so more local people are suited to make these fixes. Our vision of the work that we do is to make sure that people with disabilities are centered within the larger community. Not making [it so] that people with disabilities have to change to be into the community, said Sally A. Gould-Taylor, the executive director of Temples Institute on Disabilities. The new community space will accommodate more of that ongoing work, but also new programs, like adaptive gaming events. Singleton explained that many video game players with disabilities have their own setups at home, but might not be able to travel with them and play in person with others. TechOWL events will make it more possible for people to have the experience of playing together. Were trying to shift the idea that, oh, poor disabled people need able-bodied people to help them out, and shift it to: we all have a place at the table, said Singleton. READ MORE: Riding public transit can be a gamble for people with disabilities. This Philly-born app makes it easier. Dwyer believes people ought to widen their definitions of what it means to have a disability, and realize that assistive technology is helpful to everyone. When someone just even cannot do something physically that they used to, assistive technology, thats what its there for thats what having a disability is, she said. I would encourage the people who may think, Oh, I dont think I could do this anymore, [to] maybe second guess that and to explore further. Public safety is one of the main concerns in the city, but City Council creating a cabinet-level office is not the answer. Voters should reject the measure. Read more It wouldnt be election season in Philadelphia without voters being asked to weigh in on ballot questions. Like Harrisburg Republicans, Philadelphia City Council has begun to legislate through referendums, a move that good-government advocates believe upsets the checks and balances in our system of government. Since ballot questions are sometimes vaguely worded, and nearly all proposals pass, voters should exercise caution when evaluating each proposal. Voters have been asked to decide on four different questions, the last of which demands particular scrutiny. Here are this boards recommendations. Question 1: Yes Should The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to expand the requirements for annual minimum appropriations to the Budget Stabilization Reserve, more commonly known as the rainy day fund? Approved by voters in 2011, and supported by this board, the Budget Stabilization Reserve was created to put aside funds that could be used during fiscal emergencies. Under the provision, the city was required to contribute to the fund when there was a surplus at the end of its fiscal year. However, until 2020, when federal pandemic relief funds helped fill the citys coffers, there had been zero contributions made to the rainy day fund. The amendment, proposed by Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson and backed by the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, would help ensure larger deposits to better shield the city from unforeseen financial crises. Vote YES. Question 2: No Should The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to create the Division of Workforce Solutions within the Department of Commerce and to define its duties? The citys Commerce Department helps support small and large businesses in Philadelphia. The proposal would set up a Department of Workplace Solutions that would, according to the amendment, promote workforce development activity serving Philadelphians seeking jobs and training opportunities. The department already has an Office of Business Development and Workforce Solutions that is focused on employers. Investing in workforce development is an important goal for the city, but how to properly set up city departments is a question best answered by the mayor. The ballot question does not require any funding, which likely means it will increase the workload at an already heavily burdened department. Vote NO. Question 3: Yes Should The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to make employees of the Citizens Police Oversight Commission exempt from civil service hiring requirements? The goal of the Citizens Police Oversight Commission is to hold the Philadelphia Police Department accountable, improve policing practices, and enhance communication between the department and the community. Anthony Erace, the commissions interim executive director, testified in favor of the proposed change, which he says will help the oversight agency become more independent in its work. The carveout would separate commission employees from those in the Police Department, most of whom are part of the civil service system, as well as exempt the commission from cumbersome civil service hiring requirements that have contributed to staffing shortages. Vote YES. Question 4: No Should The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to create the Office of the Chief Public Safety Director and to define its powers, duties and responsibilities? At first blush, the idea seems worthwhile. After all, the city has been battling a record number of murders, daily shootings, and rampant shoplifting among other examples of the kind of lawlessness that has taken hold across Philadelphia. But the new position will likely not result in meaningful change. If anything, it will add yet another layer of bureaucracy, and give officials another person to blame when things dont improve. Advertisement While Council needs voter approval for the position, one important detail that will not be included in the ballot question is how much the chief public safety director will be paid. Thats been set at $265,000 a year $41,000 more than what the mayor makes. That salary doesnt include generous pension and health benefits, or the cost of support staff that will all be billed to taxpayers. Another entanglement is that City Council will have the power to reject the mayors choice for the position, as well as dictate the job description and qualifications. That makes for a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and all but ensures a compromise candidate will be appointed. At the end of the day, how much authority will the public safety director even have? To borrow a phrase from our friends in Texas, this job looks like it will be all hat and no cattle. There are already plenty of people in charge of public safety in Philadelphia. For starters, the managing director oversees public safety. There is also a deputy managing director who heads the Office of Criminal Justice and Public Safety. (Extra credit if anyone can name these officials, who, like the mayor, are rarely seen or heard from.) Of course, there is also the police commissioner who oversees the Police Department and its nearly $800 million budget. Finally, the mayor is ultimately in charge of public safety and ensuring the right people are in place and doing their jobs. Therein lies the rub. City Council would likely not feel compelled to create the public safety position if there was a belief that Mayor Jim Kenney or someone, anyone was in charge and doing everything possible to address the surge in crime. But the general consensus is that Kenney is ineffective and checked out. He made his lack of interest in the job clear last summer, when he told reporters he was looking forward to the time when he is no longer mayor. The pointless public safety director position, which was rammed through with little debate by outgoing City Council President Darrell L. Clarke, is a problem of the mayors own making. The fact that City Council, which has several new members, voted 15-0 to override Kenneys veto on the measure further underscores how he is the lamest of ducks. However, while the city is adrift and lacking leadership from City Hall, there will be a new mayor in January. Councils actions mean that taxpayers could be stuck paying for a useless public safety director in perpetuity. Vote NO. Jeffrey Yass addresses a class of interns at the Bala Cynwyd-based investment trading company in 2022. He is a major GOP donor and is funding a super PAC that's running negative ads against Helen Gym. Read more A new political group running last-minute negative advertising about Philadelphia mayoral candidate Helen Gym is largely funded by conservative Main Line billionaire Jeffrey Yass, who has donated millions to political candidates and causes. Yass, principal at Susquehanna International Group, poured $750,000 into the super PAC, called the Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth, which has raised nearly $1 million, according to campaign-finance reports filed Friday. Last week, the group began airing negative television advertising and circulating mailers about Gym a progressive former City Council member ahead of the May 16 Democratic primary election. Brendan McPhillips, Gyms campaign manager, said in a statement that Yass, an advocate for charter schools, is bankrolling a false smear campaign against the only candidate in the race with a real vision to invest in Phillys public schools. Advertisement Yass could not be reached for comment. Mo Rushdy, treasurer of the super PAC, said the groups contributors believe our next mayor needs to have a commonsense approach to solving the problems facing Philadelphia. All of our donors believe that Helen Gym is the wrong person to confront these challenges, he said. READ MORE: Five Philly mayoral candidates are in a TV ad war thats getting nastier by the day The campaign-finance report shows other notable contributions. A political-action committee controlled by the General Building Contractors Association, which advocates and lobbies for contractors, contributed $50,000 to the super PAC last month. GBCA officials did not respond to a request for comment. Another $50,000 came from Josh Kopelman, a venture capitalist and managing partner of First Round Capital. Kopelman is also the chairman of The Inquirer board. He did not respond to a request for comment, but he tweeted Friday that he has contributed to a handful of political candidates and PACs this year, including the Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth. Our city is at a major crossroads and on the cusp of a transformative election for Philadelphias mayor and City Council that could transform Philadelphias approach to fight poverty, improve education, increase public safety and create more family-sustaining jobs, he wrote. Another contributor was the PAC run by the Laborers District Council, which gave $25,000 last month. The council, which represents more than 5,000 union members, is backing Cherelle Parker for mayor and is run by Ryan Boyer, who is also the head of the citys politically powerful Building Trades & Construction Council. Boyer did not respond to a request for comment. Several other contributions came from individuals, including a $3,100 donation from former Mayor Michael A. Nutter. In March, Nutter endorsed Rebecca Rhynhart for mayor, and earlier this year he got into a high-profile spat with Gym while interviewing her in front of a live audience. Nutter did not respond to a request for comment. The chair of the Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth is Jabari Jones, a small-business advocate who launched a run for City Council this year but did not garner enough petition signatures to get on the ballot. Rushdy, the treasurer, is a real-estate developer who also lobbies the city on behalf of real-estate interests. He personally contributed $25,000 to the super PAC, the report shows. McPhillips on Friday called on Rhynhart and Parker to denounce these lies about Helens record and apologize, saying that some of their strongest supporters are part of the effort. Rhynharts campaign declined to comment. Aren Platt, a spokesperson for Parkers campaign, said they are focused on our own campaign and havent given a single thought to the funding of this or any super PAC. READ MORE: Mayoral candidate Helen Gym and ex-Mayor Michael Nutter clashed during a live event The television ads and mailers a campaign that has cost the super PAC more than $600,000 criticize Gym for voting in 2019 against a bill that would have added new restrictions to pharmaceutical sales representatives. At the time, her husband worked for the Conshohocken-based drug distributor AmerisourceBergen. He left the company in February. Before voting on the legislation, Gym sought advice from the citys Board of Ethics, which told her office in an email that she did not have a conflict of interest that would require her to recuse herself from the vote. The legislation failed, 9-5. One other super PAC is running negative advertising ahead of the primary. Philadelphians For Our Future, which is supporting Parker for mayor and largely funded by building-trades unions, is funding attack ads targeting Jeff Brown, Allan Domb, and Rhynhart. Domb has also funded attack ads against Brown for weeks. According to a recent independent poll and private polls that have been made public, any of those top five candidates could win the Democratic nomination. Yass, a registered libertarian and Pennsylvanias richest man, has primarily backed Republicans. He has also donated millions to political-action committees that have boosted some Democrats in favor of expanding the charter-school footprint in the state. In the 2015 mayors race, Yass and his business partners Joel Greenberg and Arthur Dantchik spent $7 million to boost state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, who came in second to Mayor Jim Kenney in the Democratic primary. A political-action committee funded by Yass has also poured $400,000 into an independent-expenditure group that is attempting to sway City Council races this year. Among a long list of agenda items covered during its Tuesday meeting, the St. Francois County Commission heard a report from Auditor Louie Seiberlich who, along with two of his staff, attended the annual County Auditors Conference held April 26-28 in Camdenton. At the conference, county auditors from across Missouri earned 20 hours of statute-mandated certification. Of the 24 counties represented at the three-day session, 13 (including St. Francois County) were Classification 1 counties, four were Classification 4, and two were Classification 2. "A few years ago, this county started taking members of the auditor's office to get a better understanding of how important our job is," Seiberlich said. "Since then, other counties have followed to get the updates on revised rules and accounting procedures. Amber and Bridget attended with me and made contacts for future references, as this office continues to cross-train our team to fill all roles in the office." According to Seiberlich, the conference highlighted a number of issues of importance to Missouri counties. "Prior to our conference, me, Commissioner Kater and Treasurer Peterson participated in a Zoom meeting with the Missouri Association of Counties about the distribution of opioid settlement funds, with new settlements coming, and the importance of tracking the funds over the next 17 years," he said. "Eighty-five percent of these funds are restricted for anything drug-related, with 15% unrestricted for county government." Seiberlich noted that final revised audit requirements for the use of ARPA funds will be released and that the U.S. Treasury will be conducting audits of schools and counties, as well as "anyone else" that has received them. He added that this is why his office insists on correct voting language and documentation. During the conference, he said, the offices of Missouri's attorney general and state auditor presented "separate but lengthy" Sunshine Law updates. Seiberlich said, "It is critical that any office getting a [Sunshine Law] request has to report it to Rhonda in the county clerk's office immediately, and then it is your responsibility to respond [to the request] immediately." Listing other items discussed at the conference, Seiberlich said, "The attorney for Boone County spent two hours on bid-letting, purchasing, setting office budgets, requisitions and nepotism. Tyler Technologies introduced new software that we are going to investigate. The state auditor presented three cases of payroll, sick leave and benefits fraud, and we hear more about ransomware shutting down county governments, schools and hospitals. There was also an extended roundtable discussion focused on county ordinances to improve, clarify and clean up problem areas. "From our lobbyist it is critical that county officials, primarily the county commission, pay close attention to the financial impact of proposed bills running through Jefferson City during the legislative session. It is important to contact our legislators on the cost of passed bills to the county, and in turn, to the taxpayer. Examples from this [legislative] session would be sales tax exemptions and personal property reassessment bills." According to Seiberlich, 42 bills regarding tax exemptions and personal property reassessment have been introduced in this legislative session alone. Concluding his report, Seiberlich said, "We also received an 'association approved' checklist for county offices of their duties related to our duties, which will be forwarded to each [St. Francois County] office for review and then submitted to the county policy manual." In other action by the county commission: Three cost proposals were approved for construction nearing completion at the county's new Law Enforcement Center. They include: 1) reducing the concrete apron at the maintenance bay for a savings of $3,157.80; 2) costs associated with treating unsuitable soils, as directed by Taylor Engineering at a cost of $15,592; and 3) the addition of a larger lift access gate in the center's chain link fence at a cost of $2,352. Two cost proposals were approved for construction nearing completion at the county's Juvenile Detention Center. They include: 1) crack and reseal the existing asphalt parking lot at a cost of $6,157; and 2) additional asphalt, striping and bumper blocks in the parking lot at a cost of $12,942. A request by the city of Farmington to annex county property in the 1100 block of South Jefferson Street was approved. Approval was given for the sheriff's department to place an ad in the Daily Journal requesting bids for four police interceptor SUVs. A trash service contract with Republic Trash Service was approved for the courthouse, courthouse annex, road and bridge department, Weber Road Facility and Juvenile Detention Center. Republic Trash Service, which had the previous contract with the county, was the only company to submit a bid. Three-year contracts renewing email licenses for St. Francois County government and the sheriff's department were approved. Because of a mistake made by the county, penalty and interest were waived on the 2020 tax bill of Suzi Kwon. The road and bridge department was given permission to bid various overlay projects. Because the county courthouse will be closed Monday in recognition of Truman Day, all agenda items for next Tuesday's county commissioner's meeting must be received by the county clerk's office by Friday. Presiding Commissioner Harold Gallaher announced the courthouse annex parking lot will also be closed Monday for repairs and improvements. Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett is known as the Oracle of Omaha, and each year, investors gather to hear his wisdom at the company's annual shareholder meeting. Buffett took control of Berkshire, a failing textile company, in the mid-1960s. Under his leadership, Berkshire has grown into one of the world's largest conglomerates. As a result, he and other longtime shareholders have become extremely wealthy. Berkshire Hathaway has, in some ways, set the standard for lavish annual meetings. The daylong, carnival-like atmosphere features comedy skits, disco balls, music, celebrities like Bill Gates, and even dancing characters from the various companies in the BH portfolio, including the GEICO gecko. Live online coverage of the proceedings provides real-time updates for those unable to attend. All it takes is a single share to be considered a stockholder and join the party. You can own either the company's Class A shares (BRK-A), which traded at $591,552 per share as of May 5, 2023, or the more affordable Class B shares (BRK-B), which started at $323.08 on that same date. Key Takeaways Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, which has large stakes in businesses such as GEICO and Fruit of the Loom. Berkshire's annual shareholder meetings are lavish spectacles featuring a keynote speech by Mr. Buffett himself. To attend a shareholder meeting, you'll need to own one or more shares of the company's Class A or Class B shares. Non-shareholders can sometimes find shareholder credentials available on eBay. The Lure of Berkshire Hathaway Buffetts record of creating shareholder value has made Berkshire Hathaways annual general meeting an anticipated event in finance. Individual investors typically choose not to attend annual meetings, but they make an exception for Berkshire. For many years, about 40,000 Berkshire shareholders from around the planet have traveled to Omaha, Neb. The event has become known as "Woodstock for Capitalists" in the financial press. Shareholder meetings are generally administrative sessions that follow a specific format well before the meeting. The format dictates parliamentary procedure, the time allocated for each speaker, and procedures for shareholders who wish to make statements. A corporate secretary, attorney, or official often presides over the process. Even for a behemoth like Berkshire, the business portion of the agenda takes only about 20 minutes. The election of directors and votes on shareholder proposals are handled in a largely scripted manner. After the meeting, the minutes are formally recorded. Berkshire Hathaways annual meeting provides a way to learn from the worlds most respected investor, Warren Buffett. The gathering is also an excellent opportunity to network with other company shareholders. Here is a guide for anyone considering attending the upcoming Berkshire shareholder meeting. Who Can Attend? For the most part, and as the name implies, Berkshires annual shareholder meeting is for the companys shareholders. The primary purpose of the gathering is to give shareholders an overview of Berkshires performance during the last year. It also gives everyone a chance to learn the company's plans going forward. Both investors and the media can pose important questions about the company to the management team. At the 2019 meeting, Buffett and Vice-Chairman Charlie Munger answered questions for almost six hours. Although it's for shareholders, being a shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway is technically not a requirement to attend the shareholder meeting. Having a meeting pass, however, is. Holders of both classes of Berkshire Hathaway stock (BRK.A and BRK.B) can request up to four passeswhich they generally do via a form they receive with their annual reports. If you are a shareholder and cannot receive your passes in time, you can visit the lobby of the CHI Health Center Omaha, the meeting site, the day before. You'll have to show identification and proof of stock ownership, like a brokerage account statement. What If I Am Not a Shareholder? People who are not Berkshire shareholders can sometimes buy a pass from a shareholder, some of whom sell extras on the secondary ticket market. EBay (EBAY) is one of the marketplaces where Berkshire meeting passes can be found a few weeks before the event. They typically go for between $10 to $25 each. Note that these passes are required to go to all shareholder events taking place throughout the week of the meeting. Passes also give you discounts on items sold by Berkshire subsidiaries during the week. Planning Ahead With tens of thousands attending, it is critical to plan your trip to Omaha many months in advance. As Warren Buffett once said, Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. Considering the costs of lodging, airfare, and dining, attending the meeting can get expensive. That is especially true if you wish to take advantage of the sales offered by Berkshire subsidiaries. Justin Boots, Dairy Queen, and See's Candies set up shop at the main meeting and other shareholder events. And they do a brisk business. For example, in Berkshire's 2012 annual report, Buffett shared some sales statistics for the previous year's meeting. He said, "Last year, you [shareholders] did your part, and most locations racked up record sales. In a nine-hour period, we sold 1,090 pairs of Justin boots, (that's a pair every 30 seconds), 10,010 pounds of See's candy, 12,879 Quikut knives (24 knives per minute), and 5,784 pairs of Wells Lamont gloves, always a hot item. But you can do better. Remember: Anyone who says money can't buy happiness simply hasn't shopped at our meeting." The Bottom Line Warren Buffett sure draws a big crowd for someone without a guitar. His company's annual general meeting is one of the most attended events in the business world. The point of the gathering is to update shareholders on the company's recent performance. However, being a shareholder is not a requirement for admission. All that one needs for entry is a meeting pass. The meeting brings tens of thousands of visitors to Omaha. That makes it almost impossible to secure a flight and a place to stay at the last minute. Potential attendees should plan and budget for the meeting months in advance. There are currently no plans to introduce tax exemptions for hurley makers, following the devastating impact of dieback disease on ash plantations, but the matter will be kept under review, Finance Minister Michael McGrath told the Dail. He was replying to Cork East Labour Party TD Sean Sherlock who asked if he would devise a similar scheme to that introduced for uilleann pipe makers. Mr Sherlock said there is a crisis with ash dieback at present, and we seriously want to preserve the craft of hurley making. He raised the issue when highlighting the impact of the disease which arrived in the country with trees imported from continental Europe. The availability of ash timber has caused serious concern in the industry and particularly for hurley makers. Scheme for instruments Uilleann piping, Irish harping, hurling and falconry were given UNESCO intangible heritage status in recent years. Mr Sherlock asked Finance Minister Michael McGrath if he would devise a similar scheme for hurley makers, given the UNESCO recognition for hurling. Minister McCrath said the Finance Act 2022 provides an income tax disregard of 20,000 for non-corporate sole traders. This is in respect of profits made from the manufacture, maintenance, and repair of sets of uilleann pipes, early Irish harps, and Irish lever harps. He said this tax exemption was put in place by the Government following a request from Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Minister Catherine Martin. It was provided having regard in particular to the low numbers of uilleann pipe and Irish harp makers in the State currently. The measure seeks to support the survival and development of the craft of making these traditional instruments. In addition, it is hoped that it will encourage the practice of uilleann pipe and Irish harp playing. Evidence has not been advanced to indicate that the challenges in terms of numbers of crafters are of the same low order in relation to hurley making. As such, there are currently no plans to extend the measure to the crafters of such equipment. However, this matter will be kept under review. The sunset date of December 31, 2025, put in place in relation to the measure for uilleann pipe and Irish harp makers will offer an opportunity to take stock of matters generally in this area in advance of that date, he said. Tipperary Independent TD Michael Lowry also told the Dail that every hurley maker in the county and country is telling him it is a very serious issue and that they have run out of raw material. This ash dieback is having a significant impact on the overall forestry sector. The ash tree has been a feature of the Irish landscape for centuries. It is also part of Ireland's social, economic and sporting life. But now, serious concern is being expressed about the survival of the species because of the devastating impact of ash dieback, he said. More recently, Mr Lowry said almost 80% of the 123 million ash trees in the State are dead or dying because of the disease. Valuable land, including 2,000 ha in Tipperary, has been rendered useless. Plant and animal life have been wiped out, and livelihoods have been seriously eroded. Commonsense would dictate that the lands should be cleared. It is a logical and sensible move that 6,000 landowners across the country should be compensated for this calamity and permitted to clear and reuse their land, returning it to productive use. Realism must prevail here. These trees have decayed, and landowners must be legally permitted to fell them, he said. Agriculture, Food and Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue said an interim scheme, which he introduced recently with Minister of State Pippa Hackett, has improved the terms and conditions and supports on the previous scheme. I understand the urgency for many to reconstitute their previous ash forests. We have spent 9m so far on this and are determined to ensure we see them all reconstituted. We are continuing to review the potential to provide additional support, but if we do so, anyone who moves now, and we want people to move now, will be able to benefit from any future supports as well, he said. It has previously been claimed that more than 80% of the planks used to make hurleys have been imported into the country, mostly from the UK, Croatia, Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden and Ukraine. A number of hurley-makers import ash planks from Ukraine, and this supply is disrupted due to the Russian invasion. Speaking last year, Minister Hackett said the breeding of ash for resistance, involving the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Teagasc, is promising but is relatively long-term and will not increase ash plank supply in the short term. She said the Department has met Croke Park, Teagasc, Coillte and hurley-makers several times to examine the issues associated with the disease. It will come as no surprise to anyone to hear that I am at present very flush with money. My recent success at Macroom mart (where I sold three bullocks), combined with the selling of 12 half-eaten round bales to a neighbour in need, have left me rich beyond my wildest dreams. I'm like Rockefeller entirely now at this stage. I have money to burn. If I get any wealthier, my britches will burst. And so, with my pockets jingling wherever I roam, I am only looking for an excuse to spend, and spend big. Well, luckily for me, an opportunity to spend wildly has presented itself. While perusing through a copy of this very paper the other evening, I spotted the very thing to tickle my fancy. The perfect investment opportunity for a high roller such as myself I spotted a farm for sale. But not any old broken-down place. No, only a vibrant spot simply gagging for a big money splash If truth be told, it's one of the nicest holdings I have come across in my 53 years as a farmer. A farm, nay, an estate that would be the envy of all, and I would be the greatest fool of all if I let the opportunity slip through my fingers. The location is Co Meath. But don't let that put you off. I can still visit on occasions when my farming chores haven't me weighed down. It's more than a farm, as I keep trying to stress; it stretches to well over 500 acres and with a couple of houses on the property, thrown in for good measure, it's ideal really for an affluent man seeking a fresh start. The place is called Dowth Hall Estate, but let there be no doubt about it, a bid I will throw. I read that it is fenced off and laid out perfectly. All the hard work has been done! Ideal really for keeping cast ewes or pigs, or whatever takes your fancy. But more importantly, again, ideal ground to turn a few bob. For while Dowth Hall Estate might be perfect for me in so many ways, there is one small problem, namely the price tag. You see, while I might have proclaimed earlier that I am presently sitting on a small fortune, alas, a small fortune is what it is. The purchase of Dowth Hall can only be done with deep pockets, and at present, my pockets only go so far. In layman's terms, it would take more than the sale of three bullocks and a dozen half-eaten round bales to secure. With an asking price of 10m, the purchase would put manners on King Solomon himself. But as ever, I won't let money get in the way of a good time. And sure, isn't that why we have banks in this country? Haven't they been giving money to every class of a yahoo for years? I should have no problem. And with my rugged, yet charming way, I'll convince somebody to trim a little of the price tag, too, before I sign the dotted line. This estate in Co Meath has my name written all over it. I can see myself now in Dowth Hall manor holding a glass of brandy and cracking a hunting whip off the side of my leg. I'd be like Lord Grantham entirely. And to top it all, there's an airstrip too on the estate, which comes with the deal. Can you imagine having a farm with an airport combined? Even Michael O'Leary doesn't have that! Not only would I be able to sell my cheap bullocks, and ship them to any part of the world, but I could sell cheap airline tickets too! I'll be on the pig's back in no time. For with land like this, the only way is up. At first, I dont notice any difference, then theres a moment where it nudges me along. I thought it was interfering. Like people who say Ill drive and take the computer mouse out of your hand. But the feeling doesnt last long. Within seconds I was happy to take the help from it. Check out our Sustainability and Climate Change Hub where you will find the latest news, features, opinions and analysis on this topic from across the various Irish Examiner topic desks and their team of specialist writers and columnists. It is an electric bike. Just a loan of one at this stage. My wife borrowed it from an e-bike library scheme through the school. I took it for some spins. The first silly half-thought I needed to get out of my head that electric bikes are somehow cheating. You see, a bicycle is anarchic. Its cheap. Self-sufficient. Just your legs and a system of levers. Whereas the e-bike with its little battery indicator that reminds you are dependent on the electricity grid, just a sop to The Man, to fecking capitalism. When I passed the mechanical cyclists I felt sheepish. As if the solidarity we used to have was gone. Like the time Bob Dylan first used an electric bike. Yeah well, that feeling didnt last long either. About as long as the first time I left from a set of traffic lights. The Take-off is the Big Thing. For anyone who doesnt cycle, the thing to realize is that its ALL about momentum. As a cyclist, I build up hard-won momentum with my out-of-shape, sometimes hungover body, and then I jealously guard it, my crown joules. Thats why I dont always let you out onto the road in front of me or wave you into that right turn. Id always love to do you a favour and brake and get a wave but itd be like giving you a place in the Lidl queue when you had MORE groceries than me. But with the electric, the take-off is completely different. I can get the momentum back for no cost. So go ahead motorist who was waiting for ages for these impatient hoors to let you out. Off you go out of the Circle K. And theres a new psychology that takes over when you know therell be a bit of electric help. Its easier to overcome the inertia that prevents you from ditching the car. Electric bikes will be brilliant for those with mobility issues, for small cargo but also, less nobly: will it get weak-willed people like me to use the car less? So far so good. There have already been at least three journeys where I thought about distance, time, a hill, or facing into the wind and faltered. But then a little voice (maybe it actually came from the bike) said I have your back. Because thats what cycling it feels like. Its not a massive battery so its just a bit like having a noiseless wind behind me. Its not a cool bike. Neither skinny and lissom for the sockless, nor is it fat-tyred like those yokes used in rap videos. where a diverse group of women (diverse racially, not sartorially because theyre all in bikinis) dance around while a lot of men point vigorously. Its nerdy. Baskety. Not aerodynamic. Maybe thats better. Because there is the conundrum of steal-ability in Ireland, where bike theft is practically on the Junior Cert curriculum. Its still nice enough that I worry a lot more about it being stolen. Maybe we need to have loads of ordinary-looking ones so that the thieves can concentrate on your nice one. Sorry, yes while you were reading this someone from the Aldi Handheld Angle Grinder Crew has been round to collect. My analog bike looks forlorn at the moment. But I havent forgotten that it got me where I am today. And when the other one goes back to the library, itll get me somewhere else after. When John Banville wrote Christine Falls back in 2007, he invented the pseudonym, Benjamin Black to show that this wasnt some post-modernist joke. Describing his crime writing as craft compared to the art of his literary novels, he caused consternation in the crime writing fraternity by saying that he could rattle off thousands of words a day as Benjamin Black, compared to just 400 as John Banville. I do like to disturb, says Banville, with a chuckle, when we meet in Howth, at his local wine bar. He dropped the pseudonym, when, checking a detail in an earlier book, he listened to it being read by the former James Bond, Timothy Dalton, and decided that it wasnt at all bad. Reading The Lock-up, his third as Banville, its clear that his crime books have become much closer to his literary ones. This book is a delight; full of atmosphere, imagery, and depth of character. A contrarian, Banville says that he hates his own books, and never re-reads them, then adds that his stuff is better than anyone elses. And Im not being ironic. Whats the point of writing a book if you dont write it well? The world is full of mediocre books, and I dont want to add to that pile. Banville can be a frustrating interviewee. He doesnt remember how he starts a book saying they seem to have already been embarked on and he seems to forget a lot of the content. When I mention one of my favourite scenes, he looks at me blankly. And later, answers a question with an anecdote hed forgotten hed used in the book. The Lock-up, featuring the pathologist Dr Quirke and DI Strafford, involves the apparent murder of a Jewish woman, a pro-life campaigner, found dead in a lock up garage. Initial enquiries lead to a German father and son living in County Wicklow who have business interests in Israel. Although its a fascinating premise with a clever twist in the tale, the joy of this novel comes from Banvilles immersion into fifties Dublin and the exploding tension between Quirke and Strafford. Quirke, who, like his creator is pretty much self-educated, resents the protestant, Strafford, son of the big house. But Banville dismisses any resemblance between himself and the woman loving Quirke, saying hes much more like Quirkes daughter, the ethereal Phoebe. I dont have a lot in common with Quirke except for the gloom, he says. Quirke, I find rather boring. He claims to find men, in general, boring. I bore myself, he says. I really do. How then, can he bear to be in his own company, day after day? Im not me when Im writing, he says. The person who eats, drinks and sleeps doesnt exist when Im writing. Every morning I sit down at my desk and think, I dont know how to do this. I put down a few words and squiggle around and shortly after lunch Im sunk deep in concentration. Sometimes, I watch my hand writing. Or I go for a walk, come back and find another thousand words done. Its a kind of hypnotic state. He shows an Ireland of class tension. There are about 12 layers of class in this country, he says. My American wife used to say theres a class system in Ireland, but nobody will explain it to you. Its an Ireland of Church domination, with an undercurrent of antisemitism. And its that aspect, Banville thinks might have been his starting point. I love the world of Jews, he says, telling me a story about his friend, the late David Marcus. I think theyre the funniest people in the world. And theyre inventors I love that Id love to be a Jew. The book starts with a scene, just post-war, of the Franciscans sheltering a Nazi. The Vatican was a big route for Nazis to South America, he tells me. And the Franciscans helped them. These followers of St Francis who love birds and bees, and probably didnt much like the Jews. The Lock-Up, by John Banville Before Banville started being published, he worked as a clerk for Aer Lingus. He then became a subeditor on The Irish Press and then The Irish Times. How did he make the leap to his highbrow writing? Books, he says. Reading and travel. He doesnt regret his lack of a university education. I think Ive been cosseted from not having gone. I could risk more things in my writing. Quirkes wife was killed in Banvilles last crime book, and in this one, hes in deep grief. A state he shares with Banville, whose wife died in recent years. Did he draw on that? He nods. Its material, he says. Were ruthless. In the seventies my first wife and I were having a really savage row. She was in full flow telling me what a swine I was, and I said, Can I use this? She said, What? And then she agreed that I could. We talk about the cruel joke played on him, when he had a call from Sweden telling him hed won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He shows me a cartoon from his fake Twitter account, showing the critic Fintan OToole asking a laughing Colm Toibin what accent he used when he rang Banville with the news. He was surprised when The Sea was nominated for the 2005 Booker Prize and told the committee he was unable to attend the ceremony. I was due to be in Saratoga Springs being conferred with an honorary degree. They said I had to be at the dinner, so I organised the conferring for the following day. Then I go and win the bloody thing. I rang the States and said I couldnt fly out that day, and they were furious. Theyd organised a banquet. I felt guilty, and it spoiled the whole thing of winning the bloody Booker Prize. These days, he says, the Booker means nothing. But then, he never reads contemporary fiction, claiming that young writers seem to inhabit a different world. But he did rather admire the young, (and extremely beautiful,) Irish writer, Nicole Flattery, whom he met recently at a book event in Oxford. I thought she was wonderful, he says. If there are more like her, I will start reading. We talk about Banvilles friendships with Martin Amis, Roddy Doyle, John Boorman, and Neil Jordan. And, mentioning the countless screenplays he has written, he tells anecdotes about Maggie Smith, and his great late friend, Nigel Hawthorne. I adore actors, he says. They are so vulnerable, but great fun. During the filming of Albert Nobbs, Glenn Close gave him a piece of writing advice. She said to me, John, you see all this stuff between the dialogue? You dont have to write that. Well do it. Were actors. In all, Banvilles had a pretty gorgeous life, I suggest. Of course, he says. Ive been amazingly fortunate. I mean, I made a lot of it myself. This boy from Wexford. I had to push myself because Im innately shy. But yeah, its a wonderful life. Its one that left his late mother rather puzzled. It scared her, he says. For her, it would have been ideal if Id become general manager of an insurance company in Wexford. She would have been proud of that. At 78, Banville doesnt fear death and swears he will never retire. Hes been much quoted as saying that his 2022 novel, The Singularities, will be his last literary book, and that he couldnt go through that process again. But when I say I bet another one will grow in his head, he says, Yeah of course! And Im going to call it Sinatras Last Tour. A vastly experienced former member of the Defence Forces who once described some senior officers as acting like theyre still living in the British Raj era has spoken for the first time without anonymity about how a few of the so-called 'old guard' treated subordinates almost like slaves while routinely ignoring and covering up complaints of inappropriate behaviour. Former navy senior petty officer Ken Holland, who is retired after 42 years unblemished service to the State, told a PDFOrra conference for enlisted personnel a couple of years ago that some of the older officers across the entire Defence Forces acted as though they were still living the Imperialist lifestyle of the British superior military class. In other words, they thought they could do whatever they liked to whoever they believed subservient to them in India, including abusing their own lower-ranked soldiers as much as the indigenous poorer classes.. At the time of the PDforra conference, the Irish Examiner was constrained from identifying him as the man who made these comments which caused some consternation in senior ranks because under military protocol only the general secretary of PDforra and its president can be quoted as speaking on behalf of the association at its annual conferences. However, Mr Holland, who lives in Carrigaline, Co. Cork, has now volunteered to be publicly identified and provide an insight into what he claims went on with a small powerful minority of senior officers in the Defence Forces and not just in the navy who saw those who complained about mistreatment in a worse light than the people they were complaining about. Mr Holland said: If somebody made a complaint it was viewed as though they were going against the grain and were disloyal to the military. "Proper procedures and policy (for such complaints) werent there. There was very little, if any accountability. This allowed bad eggs to thrive. People who stood up were picked off. He said he wasnt officer-bashing across the board, but some were intent on protecting the 'institution' as opposed to the individual. He stated some senior officers saw this as their duty so sticking your head above the parapet was a no-no. Importantly, some senior officers priorities were to the institution (Defence Forces) and that meant the welfare of soldiers, sailors and airmen and women came secondary. Hes at pains to stress that it was just a few officers who behaved like gods, and the Raj mentality wasnt evident among the younger ones, in the main. However, he said some powerful officers wanted a barrier between them and subordinates to such an extent that "it was them and us. They (senior officers) were made aware of bullying incidents, harassment (including sexual), unwarranted verbal abuse etc, but often ignored it and if complaints were made against officers they were investigated by officers. "So, you see where that was going. If you (as a subordinate) went against them (senior officer) it could career-ending for people, Mr Holland said. It was a case of dont rock the boat, because if you do it won't help you to progress with your career. He claimed even junior officers were often afraid to question the old guard views when it was patently apparent a senior officer had got it wrong. If you were dressed in a certain uniform (very senior) it gives you fierce privilege and power," he said. Ken Holland: Vitally needed recruitment into the Defence Forces will fail if family-friendly policies aren't properly implemented." Picture: Denis Minihane Mr Holland was for years a stalwart member of PDForra the representative body for personnel and on its national executive until he retired. But despite this he still felt vulnerable to retaliatory measures by some senior Defence Forces officers if he had to question their attitudes/orders etc. on behalf of his own members. When PDForra was founded 40 years ago military intelligence personnel were ordered by their own management and senior politicians to spy on people like him. It was suspected they were linked to subversives, which they patently werent. To shout and roar at subordinates was encouraged (by certain senior officers), he said. After a lifetime in the navy, he said its a great career for young people, despite the revelations from the Women of Honour campaign and he would encourage young people to join up. But hes fuming that these women, who had serious complaints, were ignored for years by the system. I commend them for their stance, but why is it they had to wait until theyd left and come out of uniform to have these complaints addressed. How can that be right? The Defence Forces have to recognise where they went wrong. Theres a duty of care and compassion that was missing and that needs to be addressed now, Mr Holland said. When women were first admitted to the Defence Forces they slept in male accommodation blocks. The women felt powerless to complain about this and anything else. Some Raj-type senior officers would insist that they were not going out on patrols (be it navy or army) unless they had a subordinate steward (navy) or batman (army) to look after their every need. These subordinates are now known as Log Ops. "They made officers beds, cleaned their boots, served their meals and even had to bring a cup of tea to them even though the kettle was just feet away from the officer, Mr Holland said. Some officers refused to go out unless there was a steward onboard to attend to them. This had been custom and practice, Mr Holland said. In recent years, successive Defence Forces chiefs have advocated family-friendly policies. Mr Holland said they need to adhere to this ethos, rather than spin-doctoring such ambitions. Read More Women of Honour 'disappointed' with Government after meeting to discuss inquiry terms Over the years we were rarely asked about how we or our families were. It [from some senior officers] was just get up in the early hours, work all day and night and do the job, no matter what your family commitments were. They didnt care. They didnt have family-friendly policies and as far as Im concerned, despite all the spin, they dont, he said. The Raj mentality they had was you do everything without question. Vitally needed recruitment into the Defence Forces will fail if family-friendly policies aren't properly implemented. It cant be achieved if the Raj mentality isnt removed and officers continue to conduct investigations into fellow officers accused of inappropriate behaviour, Mr Holland said. The biggest asset we possess in the Defence Forces are the people who serve, be it officer, NCO or private and that's something which should always be cherished, he added. More than 800 women from around the country packed into the Convention Centre in Dublin yesterday, all hoping for some inspiration. TV presenter Baz Ashmawy, serving as MC for the day, opened the Executive Women Gathering (EWG), promising a life-changing day and claiming last year's event was one of the most inspiring he had ever been to. With a stacked line-up of speakers, including the editor-in-chief of Glamour Samantha Barry, businesswomen Jo Malone and Pippa O'Connor, author and senator Lynn Ruane, and TV host Angela Scanlon, the EWG certainly delivered on Baz's promises. Thankfully, this event steered clear of the cringe #GirlBoss #BossBitch -type of content that marketing departments have shoved down our throats over the past few years. Instead, attendees got to spend the day listening to a group of speakers from a range of different industries, different backgrounds, and different stages of their lives and careers. Each woman spoke honestly and openly about experiences good and bad, and offered advice and perspective. No one talked down to anyone and there were no silly gimmicks. Imposter syndrome Despite the diversity of the speakers, there were common threads that linked them all imposter syndrome and resilience. These are traits that most people would say are far more common among women than men, but it often seems that it is more pronounced among Irish women. Each woman had their own relationship with imposter syndrome. For Samantha Barry, it is something very real and valid, but it should not be allowed to take over. Angela Scanlon said that if you do not feel like a bit of an imposter, then you are in the wrong room and you are not pushing yourself enough. There was an entire panel dedicated to the theme of resilience, featuring scientist, model, and former Miss Ireland Pamela Uba; chef and influencer Trisha Lewis; and founder of Dublin Make Up Academy Kim O'Sullivan. Pamela Uba pictured at the Julian Benson Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Winter Wonderland Gala Ball at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road,Dublin. Having to take on adult responsibilities after her family moved from South Africa to Ireland, where her entire childhood was spent in direct provision, the odds were stacked against Uba reaching third-level education, never mind obtaining a Masters. Uba said her resilience comes from what her mother had done to give her children a better life. She also knows that her achievements will inspire other young girls and women that look like her and come from similar situations. Discrimination Several women spoke of the discrimination they faced during and after pregnancy. Pippa O'Connor lost modelling jobs, and Wells Fargo Bank International chief executive Fiona Gallagher was encouraged to take on a less-demanding role after she had her first child. Conductor and composer Eimear Noone, who many will know as the first woman to conduct at the Oscars and for her work in video game music, took on the company that fired her because she was pregnant and won. Noone went through a 16-day trial, during which she was on the stand for 14 hours. "Who am I to fight this fight?" she had asked herself, before realising that if she did not fight, then who would? Noone delivered one of the highlights of the day when the audience was treated to a live orchestral version of AC/DC's 'Back in Black', the song she listened to on her way into the courtroom, and any time she needs to pump herself up. One of the most important points of the entire day came from Lynn Ruane while speaking about success and what it means to be successful. Success looks very different depending on the person, she said. For some people, it might be completing their education or landing their dream job, while for some people it is making it through the day or being able to put food on the table. No one version of success is more important than another. Always so delighted to hear from fellow Tallaght woman Lynn Ruane. A great addition to the already stacked line-up here at the Executive Women Gathering #EWG23 pic.twitter.com/TInBdv8J3u Michelle (@GirlsBadNews) May 5, 2023 She also made the point that while events such as the EWG are important, they are not accessible to everyone. Ruane encouraged people to think of those who do not have the same access as they do as they move throughout their careers. It was a point echoed by several women throughout the day: as you break through barriers and open doors, bring others with you. By the end of the day, those in the audience left with a feeling of inspiration, encouragement, and confidence. British pop star Ed Sheeran has gifted Ryan Tubridy with a signed guitar as the presenter prepares to bow out as host of The Late Late Show. Sheeran appeared on the Friday's show for an in-depth interview to mark the release of his new album, '-' (pronounced 'Subtract'). He gave the signed guitar to Tubridy, stating that the presenter had always "been very good to me over the years". A shocked Tubridy, who will present his final Late Late Show on May 26, thanked the singer, saying he was "very moved" by the gesture. He added: "You know what, I have a guitar at home, and this is one of my secrets that I've never shared. I have about four chords. And every now and again I might pick it up and strum away quietly. But now, I have no excuse. I'd like to apologise to my neighbours in advance." He said Sheeran was one of the nicest people you could ever meet in showbusiness, on air and off. In return, Tubridy gifted Sheeran with four Wexford jerseys for his family, as the singer's roots are in the county. Over the course of the interview, Sheeran spoke about his new album which was influenced by the challenging events in his life last year, including his wife Cherry Seaborn being diagnosed with a tumour while pregnant and the death of his close friend Jamal Edwards. Edwards founded the music platform SBTV in 2006 that helped launch Sheerans career and died in February 2022 at the age of 31. Sheeran said that his wife, who is now good and getting "regular check-ups", encouraged him to seek therapy for his grief. He added that writing his new album helped address some of his grief. It comes as Sheeran recently won a US copyright lawsuit over his song Thinking Out Loud, but vented his frustration at having missed his Irish grandmothers funeral for the trial. The musician was alleged to have used parts of Marvin Gayes Lets Get It On for his 2014 hit, which claimants said shared striking similarities with the 1973 soul classic. He was taken to court by the family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Gayes song. After his win, Sheeran described himself as just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy and criticised the lawsuit. Speaking outside court in New York, he said: Im obviously very happy with the outcome of this case and it looks like Im not going to have to retire from my day job after all. At the same time, I am absolutely frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all. He added: Having to be in New York for this trial has meant that I have missed being with my family at my grandmothers funeral in Ireland. I wont get that time back." Anne Mary Sheeran or Nancy as she was known passed away last week at Castle Gardens Nursing Home in Enniscorthy. She was laid to rest on Wednesday, May 3. His song Nancy Mulligan was inspired his grandmother's "sort of Romeo and Juliet romance" with his grandfather. Sentencing of two men for the violent robbery of a 93-year-old Cork woman of her pension had to be further adjourned until May 9. Prosecution barrister, Donal OSullivan, said that because of the age of the injured party, the gardai who investigated the case were very keen that the court would hear the sentencing evidence as a matter of some urgency. Last Wednesday, Paddy Cosgrave tweeted home from Rio de Janeiro, striking another blow for freedom. He was hosting the first Web Summit outside Europe. The Web Summit is Paddys brainchild, a highly successful business in which thousands of people from technology industries come together for conferences and networking. Even if Web Summit Rio was running as smoothly as a babys bottom, one might think that Paddy would have had his hands full last Wednesday, in a good way. The place was rocking with tech bros as they are known. This represented a major leap forward for his business. He must have been up the walls. Despite such excitement and business and millions banked, Paddy still had time to turn his gaze back across the Atlantic in his crusade to root out corruption in Irish politics. I have sent the below submission to the clerk of the Dail concerning the Tanaistes breach of Standing Order 71 last Thursday, he tweeted. The tweet had an attachment in which Paddy complained that Micheal Martin had claimed under Dail privilege that he (Cosgrave) was backing and/or funding a political organisation whose agenda is to take down the government. There were a few other issues too in relation to a contribution Martin made on April 27. There may well be a sound basis for Paddys complaint. Either way, for the many wealthy and powerful interests with whom Paddy interacts abroad, his tweet must have been worrying. Now the Irish Junta are attacking him in the national parliament. Already, the view abroad of Paddys Ireland would suggest that it is a kleptocracy in which corrupt Fine Gael and Fianna Fail run the country through their cronies. The press is entirely useless, operating as a tool for government propaganda. Only a few media outlets, with which Paddy is connected, are holding power to account. And the police are dangerously corrupt a private security force who protect Irelands upper middle class, according to Paddy. If all of that didnt make the foreign tech bros worry for Paddy, surely the fall-out from the verbal assault on him in the national parliament did. In its aftermath, Paddy tweeted: Following armed attacks on my family home, my wife, and endless threats on my safety for helping to expose the criminality & corruption of politicians & business people in Ireland, I now have to travel with a three-person private security team all former military personnel. Paddy's world Paddys Ireland, as observed through the Cosgrave lens, sounds like a cross between Russia today and Columbia during the cocaine wars. The tech bros must have fretted that this gilded entrepreneur would be arrested at Dublin Airport on his return from Rio and held without trial. Certainly, if you were looking for a rules-based society with solid democratic institutions in which to invest money youd be giving Paddys Ireland a wide berth. The issue which prompted Micheal Martins outburst in the Dail concerned a story that had been published by The Ditch website, which Mr Cosgrave funds, about junior minister Niall Collins. A 2015 photo of Fianna Fail Leader Micheal Martin and Niall Collins TD. Mr Martin launched an attack in the Dail against The Ditch in defence of Mr Collins. For days Collins was trending on Twitter, the subject of sustained and trenchant comment. Much of it cast him as irredeemably corrupt. More than a few openly suggested he should be in prison. His personal character was eviscerated as if he was a depraved member of a junta, lording it over the downtrodden peasantry. Paddys contributions werent as personal or demented as that, but he did surf the wave, repeatedly referencing the Collins case as another sick example of the corruption at the heart of the state and the fraudulent mainstream media. Niall Collins crime was to fail to recuse himself from a local area meeting of Limerick county council 16 years ago at which the proposed sale of a site came up for mention. Collins wife had earlier expressed an interest in buying it. She did eventually, at a price of 148,000 which was 38,000 higher than the original bid. At the meeting in question, the executive recommended the sale, the seven elected members all agreed and there wasnt even a contested vote. Best practice would have seen Collins recuse himself, but casting a failure to do so as a serious incident of corruption would be laughable if it weren't so serious. The Ditch, which has done some excellent work, didnt hit the jackpot here. What did occur is the whole affair was distorted, misrepresented, and exaggerated beyond reason on Twitter These days an increasing number of people get their news on forums such as Twitter. What matters is the headline, the sting of the tweet, the narrative, and whether some anger can be surfed on the item. Factual reporting, usually buried in an attachment, is an optional extra that most dont bother with. In the Collins story, all that matters is he is a Fianna Fail minister and he did something that can be used against him. Enough. Another exhibit of how hopelessly corrupt the country is. Boring stuff like evaluating or criticising public policies and administration cant hold a candle to the banana republic narrative online. What was interesting about the outrage this time around, however, was who gave it a skip. There was no righteous indignation from most of the opposition parties. Sinn Fein in particular demonstrated quite amazing discipline in staying schtum on Twitter while the storm raged. Even when the affair took off in the Dail the criticism of Collins was half-hearted from all opposition parties bar People Before Profit. Sinn Fein, Labour, and the Soc Dems know that Paddys Ireland is a convenient mirage but at this point of the electoral cycle potentially a dangerous one One day, in Paddys Ireland, it may be demanded of them that they account for everything they ever did since first receiving their confirmation money. They also know that if, or more likely when in Sinn Feins case, they are in government a different wealthy businessman might detail intrepid reporters to dig up every piece of paper ever generated by or about them. And they know that, unlike Paddy, they are fallible human beings who may not have done everything exactly as it should be done, just as Niall Collins didnt at a local area council meeting 16 years ago. The opposition, apart from People Before Profit, which has no genuine aspiration to govern, appears to be paddling gently away from Paddys Ireland. Meanwhile, Rio went down a bomb. Next big step for the Web Summit is Qatar in 2024. Yes, Qatar, that despotic outpost which is rife with corruption, the exploitation of vulnerable workers, where the dictatorial rulers consider non-heterosexuals to be some form of vermin. This should be a fertile battleground for a warrior of truth and justice like Paddy. No doubt he is already sharpening his tweets, girding his loins to call out the government and bring em down, his armed guard keeping him from harms way. Rooting out institutional corruption in Qatar should be no bother to him. The place will seem like a holiday camp after what he has come up against in the kip he has fashioned from this country. Adopting an island sounds like something a millionaire or movie star might do, but thats exactly what nine Southern Baptist Associations in Missouri did, including Mineral Area and St. Francois County. In partnership with Filipino Southern Baptist churches in North America, the associations adopted the island of Camiguin in the Philippines in a commitment to seeing the gospel permeate the island. Three years after the associations adopted Camiguin, new believers meet regularly to study the Bible, a Filipino missionary catalyst is living among the people, local schools welcome volunteers to host ministry programs and volunteers from the U.S. and the Philippines regularly travel to minister on the island. And, the first church plant appears to be on the horizon. Island adoption Former IMB missionary Roger Graham, who now serves as the Director of Missions for the Charleston Baptist Association in southeast Missouri, felt the Lord leading him and his association to increase their involvement in international missions by ministering to a people group. He shared his vision with the directors of missions from eight other associations, and all quickly jumped on board. Several of the directors of missions were former IMB missionaries, one having served in the Philippines for 30 years. The nine Southern Baptist associations in Missouri: Black River, Cane Creek Stoddard, Cape Girardeau, Charleston, Mineral Area, Reynolds County, Southeast Missouri, St. Francois and Wayne County committed to an Acts 1:8 partnership involving ministry to Filipinos in North America and the Philippines. An Acts 1:8 strategy is a comprehensive strategy, based on Jesus promise that the Holy Spirit would empower His disciples to share the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world. The Missouri associations involvement and commitment include ministering to Filipinos in southeast Missouri through partnerships with a Filipino-American church planter in the area. They also partner with Filipino churches across the U.S. and Canada, the IMB, the Southern Baptist Convention, the North American Mission Board, the Filipino International Mission Board and the Northern Mindanao Baptist Association. These partnerships focus on reaching Filipinos in North America and on the island of Camiguin, an island province in the Philippines. Jess and Wendy Jennings serve in the Philippines as IMB missionaries. One of their ministry focuses includes reaching what they call pockets of lostness in the Philippines. Many small islands have small populations without a consistent gospel presence. Weve been focusing on a few islands for the last few years, sending a lot of short-term teams, both American and Filipino, Jess said. Reaching the more than 7,000 islands is no small task, which is why partners like the Missouri associations are so crucial. When Graham asked Jennings how they could partner with them, Jennings suggested adopting an island to develop and implement a strategy to plant churches, and Camiguin rose to the surface. Camiguins population is 92,808 making it the second-smallest province in the Philippines. Camiguins evangelical population is 1.3%, and the island has four Baptist churches and around 1,500 Christians. Since travel in 2021 was not an option due to COVID-19, that year became one of prayer and partnership building. The associations are now in their third year of adoption. September 2022 and this past February, Graham traveled with pastors and directors of mission to Camiguin. On their trips, they prayer walked, hosted biblical programs in local schools, shared the gospel and preached in the four Baptist churches. The trip also provided an opportunity to strategically plan for ministry with their Filipino partners. In addition to churches and associations in the U.S. adopting islands, churches in the Philippines are also committed to adopting unreached islands. A Baptist association on the island of Mindanao came alongside the Missouri associations and identified a missionary catalyst to place on the island who will be a local missionary presence. Graham said they hope to place a second person on the island soon. Graham said they are close to seeing their first church plant formed on the island. Their vision is to establish a church-planting movement on the island that results in three to four healthy, multiplying churches in every municipality, which represents a minimum of 18 villages. The long-term goal is healthy, reproducing churches in the other villages on the island. Spiritual sight As they prayer walked, Graham and Jennings noticed an older man standing by his front gate. The 83-year-old man had vision problems and couldnt see well. As they began sharing the gospel with him, they noticed a change in his eyes. When we really got into the gospel, and sharing the heart of the gospel, you could see a literal physical change in his eyes, and it was just so interesting to see that change that took place in his eyes for the time we were sharing the gospel until the time we quit, Graham said. Though he had trouble physically seeing, the gospel changed both his physical and spiritual blindness. You could literally see it in his eyes the impact the gospel was having on him, Graham said. Nehemiah Teams invested their summer in Camiguin last summer and saw people commit their lives to Christ, and the new believers were baptized. Nehemiah Teams offer summer missions opportunities for students to serve among unreached people groups. This summer Graham hopes several teams will continue the work the Nehemiah Teams furthered. Graham said he also hopes a NT4 Teens team a summer program for teenagers will also join. Additional teams from the Missouri associations will head to Camiguin in May and September and will do more prayer walking, provide values training in schools and, hopefully, pursue holding Vacation Bible Schools on the island. Micheal Martin knew well before he started into a lengthy and pointed address on China, that his comments would create more than a few ripples. A keynote speech given by the Tanaiste this week, which provided a substantial update on Ireland's position, included a warning that the Government and private sector need to be "realistic" and "clear-eyed" about China's strategic objectives and their implications for Ireland. He also made it clear that while our economic relationship has greatly expanded, reaching 34.5bn in two-way trade in 2021, we will not turn a blind eye to human rights and other issues in return for financial investment or trade deals. For a number of reasons, the remarks come at a very interesting juncture Europe is now trying to re-establish a post-covid relationship with the superpower amid a growing distrust, especially around the social media platform TikTok. In recent weeks the National Cyber Security Centre has advised that public servants should delete the video-sharing app from devices over fears that the data contained could be sent to the Chinese government. This warning comes after similar diktats, including to EU Commission staff. Establishing what must be an altered post-covid lockdown relationship with China is a balancing act that Europe knows it has to get right, especially at a time when the rules-based order, which acts as a code for States to follow in being good international citizens, is being eroded by Russia's attack on Ukraine. Read More Micheal Martin defends his comments on China Martin doesn't have to look far to see the value of Chinese investors with the likes of Cork's Kingsley Hotel and the Fota resort being bought up by the Beijing-based Kang family in multi-million-euro deals in the past decade. Irish beef exports to China, including Hong Kong, were worth 45m in 2021, it could be viewed as a difficult line to straddle. In short, the Tanaiste in his role as Foreign Affairs Minister said the relationship with Beijing is one that we value, however, the value of this cannot allow small nations like ours to be "silent when we see evidence of core principles being undermined". "We want to work constructively together; addressing climate change, advancing sustainable development, ensuring the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, building a fair and open global trading and investment system," he told a Royal Irish Academy event on Tuesday. "But we are not naive," Mr Martin told the gathering, before stressing the need to maintain the multilateral system, with the UN Charter at its heart. In comments that provided strong media headlines, Martin went on to say that the private sector, academia and other domestic partners need to "reflect" on how they can continue to build valuable relationships in China, in areas where it makes sense to do so. "They need also, though, to assess their level of exposure and identify areas where it may be necessary to de-risk." He stressed that the Government and private sector need to be "realistic" and "clear-eyed" about China's strategic objectives and their implications for Ireland. China's relations with the EU and US Sources have indicated that Martin, in his remarks, was pointing to the large reliance EU countries now have on China. Across the Atlantic relations with Beijing are becoming ever more fraught where the possibility of full-scale decoupling from China has been floated. Tensions have only been frayed further since the decision was made to hit China with semiconductor export controls, which US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said is not designed to stifle economic and technological modernisation but is "vital" in safeguarding certain technologies from the Chinese military. While not at the level of intensity seen in the US, it is clear that Europe is making strong efforts to redefine its terms of engagement with Beijing. Martin reiterated and endorsed recent comments made by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen who distanced herself from any move that might be in line with the US towards a full-scale economic decoupling and instead outlined that the EU favours de-risking from China. A source close to Martin later said that de-risking is about creating economic strength and agility. "We need to beef up European microchip production, for example, microchips are in everything. "If you are too reliant on one supply chain whatever happens geopolitically disrupts it. So, if there is increasing protectionism, where does Europe get its supply of microchips, for example? "It's about ensuring that Europe has more secure supply chains and has more economically resilient." War in Ukraine The rekindling of the EU-China relationship, however, is now also grounded in a new context, that of the war in Ukraine and China's close ties to Russia. It is clear that Europe wants to lean as heavily as possible on China in this context. Citing a position paper issued by China in February, Martin welcomed the fact that it had stated that the sovereignty of all countries must be respected and that it made clear Chinas opposition to the use of nuclear weapons and attacks on nuclear facilities. However, he called out China for remaining silent on Russias aggression and said the recent State visit of President Xi Jinping to Moscow was a "visual demonstration" of the close ties between the two countries. Mr Martin said: To date, Chinas proposals for peace have not acknowledged that Russia started this war and that it is Russia that can, and must, end it. He reminded China that it had assured the Ukraine of support for its sovereignty and territorial integrity, within its internationally recognised borders after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. "I call on China to reflect on this commitment, and to use its considerable influence to end Russias war." A source said encouraging Beijing to exert its influence on Russia is now a priority for European leaders and is seen as a potential route out of the war. "Russia can't ignore China," a source close to Martin said, adding that it has a "role to play" in retaining the rules-based order. China's reaction The remarks given at the Royal Irish Academy event, did not go unnoticed and the Chinese embassy in Dublin reacted with a statement of more than 800 words in which a spokesperson accused Mr Martin making overexaggerated and "groundless" claims. The embassy said that the Tanaiste made misleading comments on Chinas stance on current international hot issues and made groundless accusations against China on issues related to Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong, interfering in China's internal affairs. The Chinese embassy added that the comments denied the achievements of China-Ireland relations and "turns back on a brighter future for this relationship". Martin's intervention comes at a particularly delicate time when China, after emerging from lockdown, is beginning to re-engage with Europe as has been seen with a number of high-level visits from European leaders. This included Green Party leader Eamon Ryan who travelled there for St Patrick's Day events. But it seems Martin is willing to take whatever heat he comes under to raise the plight of the Uyghurs and other delicate issues. Despite the backlash from the Chinese Embassy, a source close to Martin said he stood by the tone and content of the speech: "This was a chance for the first time in quite a while to explicitly put a position on the record regarding China, it was seen as time to do it," the source added. "It was time to put a flagpole in the sand around all of these things." The last time that a British monarch was officially crowned at a coronation, it barely made the newspapers in Ireland. President Sean T OKelly and Cardinal John Dalton were front-page news instead of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, according to historian Dr Brian Murphy. The head of State and the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, respectively, were given the Freedom of Dublin City on the same day as the coronation across the water, dominating most column inches in Irelands media, he said. The Technological University of Dublin historian said it was most probably an early example of modern political spin and attempts to influence the news cycle, given the fractious relationship between the two nations at the time. Considering both the head of State and head of the Catholic Church were honoured on the same day as the queen became both head of State and head of the Church of England, it wasnt too subtle a message," he said. Minister for External Affairs, Frank Aiken, did not mince words at the time of the coronation, saying that 'it is an outrage on Irish sentiment to describe Queen Elizabeth as queen of any part of Ireland', in response to the inclusion of the North in her title. Even as recently as 1981, when the now-king was Prince Charles, the President of Ireland Dr Patrick Hillery did not accept an invitation to his wedding to Diana Spencer. He did not attend on the advice of Charles Haugheys government, with Anglo-Irish relations being fractious at the time. The Good Friday Agreement is really why we are where we are today, in terms of our relationship. "Brexit may have caused difficulties, but President Michael D Higgins and other political figures attending the coronation is a significant milestone in the two countries history. President Higgins has already met the king on at least nine occasions such a relationship was unheard of in decades gone by, Dr Murphy added. King Charles III and the Queen Consort greet President Michael D Higgins as they attend a Service of Reflection at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire The fact that King Charles III will speak Irish during his coronation is also a moment of history and bridge-building, but also a subtle nod to politicians in the North to get on with leading, Dr Murphy said. It may not be the overriding reason why he will do so, but the message is subtle and powerful, considering the controversy surrounding the Irish language by some unionist politicians," he said. I think it is fantastic that he is going to speak Irish. "All of us who value our own national language, we want to see cherished and keep it vibrant, and it is a mark of respect. Britain's King Charles III greets members of the public along the Mall in London, England. Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images The difference in outlook between the British public in 1953 and 2023 is also palpable, according to the historian. There is no doubt that respect for the monarchy is waning," he said. "Or at the very least, there is certainly more scrutiny today there are loud voices saying they dont believe in it, which are far more in number than the dissident voices in the 1950s. There was a lot more affection and respect for it 70 years ago compared to today. It is not as strong now as it was, and King Charles has a job to convince those who question the value of the monarchy. King Charles III arrives to greet members of the public in London. Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images Even though Irish people have no connection or appetite for royalty of their own, that does not mean they are not interested, according to Dr Murphy. Back in 1953, we had no State broadcaster, and the coronation was instead to be shown in cinemas in Ireland," he said. "However, many did not go ahead with it due to threats from anti-partition organisations. Today, whether we like to admit it or not, we are influenced by British culture and media, and plenty will watch from this side of the water. Its not because they want a monarchy but rather they can enjoy the pageantry of it all instead. There is also a Cork connection to the future kings, Prince William and his son Prince George. Britain's Prince William speaks with well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London. Picture: Sebastian Bozon/AFP Princess Dianas maternal grandparents were Maurice and Ruth Roche, also known as Baron and Baroness Fermoy. Maurice Roche was a grandson of Edmond Burke Roche, the First Baron Fermoy, who was born in Cork in 1815 and was a direct descendant of Maurice FitzEdmund Roche, the Mayor of Cork in the 1500s. Edmond Burke Roche is buried in Whitegate in East Cork. Much attention has been given to the threat to Ireland in its position as the jumping-off point for transatlantic digital connectivity between Europe and the US. It is estimated that about three-quarters of all cables in the northern hemisphere pass through or near Irish waters, carrying 97% of global communications, including financial transactions, business operations, and everyday internet access. Given Russias naval manoeuvres on the edge of Irish-controlled waters and the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, it is understandable that Nato would consider us a legitimate sphere of interest even though we are not part of that organisation and are unlikely ever to be so without contentious constitutional reform. Surprisingly there has been, so far, little debate about suggestions that the Republic could be an ideal launching site for a spaceport and that it is of paramount importance that the State support such an investment. Retired Brigadier General Peter OHalloran said commercial companies are looking at remote locations along the south and west coast as possible sites for a launchpad, and pointed to enhanced European strategies for space security and defence. Retired Brigadier General Peter OHalloran. Picture: Shane O'Neill, SON Photographic Europe is years behind the big geopolitical players China, the US, Russia, and to a lesser extent India who are targeting space as a final frontier for colonisation and exploitation. And in a century when nation states and corporations will take their earthly conflicts and competition into the skies, there is the potential for immense repercussions here on Earth. In a new book, How Power and Politics in Space Will Change Our World, geographer and journalist Tim Marshall recounts how the militaries of each of the superpowers have a space force that provides war-fighting capabilities on land, sea, and air. All are increasing their abilities to attack and defend the satellites that enable those functions. For the rest of us, and that includes Europe, there is the option of realigning into space blocs, says Marshall. Whatever Irelands future, it seems that any involvement will put a target on the Republic for bad actors and, at the very least, add further pressures to the debate on how to preserve neutrality in an increasingly fractured world. Astropolitics will be as much of a topic in the second half of this century as climate change has become in the first. Ireland has had a long connection with astronomy and once housed the most powerful telescope on Earth, the Leviathan of Parsonstown, at Birr Castle. We will need to be very clear-sighted about our policies for the 21st century. And much sooner than we might imagine. A practical, solutions-driven design approach to our homes, towns and cities is what Dermot Bannon wants to see. Irelands most famous architect has started filming Dermots Incredible Spaces series for RTE One this week and its due to air in September. Weve done Incredible Homes and theyve always got to be really big, and we had Super Small Spaces during the pandemic, says Dermot. For this, weve lost our shackles completely, and gone for really cool designs and the spaces dont just have to be a house, they can be really cool urban spaces or really cool homes, its a real magazine approach to design, and Im very excited about it, it will be different. Wayne Stanley (executive director, Simon Communities of Ireland), Dermot Bannon MRIAI (campaign ambassador, Open Door) and Kathryn Meghen (RIAI CEO), the campaign runs from May 8-14. Picture: Keith Arkins Theres so much on television and in the media giving out about whats wrong. Id love to make this a little bit solutions-driven. "Its very easy to say we have a housing crisis and say whats wrong. I feel my role instead is to ask what we can do. Thats what Im hoping that this will be solutions-driven positive, uplifting and exciting but real and tackling some of the issues of Ireland today in our homes and outdoor spaces, in our cities and towns. Dermot Bannon during filming in Catalonia. Flming for the equivalent series, Dermot's Incredible Homes, last year took the architect and TV crew to Spain, as they explored Catalonia and Barcelona (a city that has it nailed in terms of urban design, according to Dermot). Dermot Bannon in Catalonia last year while filming Dermot's Incredible Homes for RTE. You go to Barcelona and were all familiar with the Gaudi stuff but it was also lovely to get out into the countryside and to meet people and to get to do things like stopping off at a roadside cafe, he says. One of the things I love about doing that show you really get an insight into the country when you go into peoples homes and chat about life you can chat about the building only so much, and its that smalltalk, on life, that fills in the gap. Its with that you learn, so its a lovely process. Architect Dermot Bannon and quantity surveyor Claire Irwin on RTE's Room To Improve. Picture: Ruth Maria Murphy Those little interactions are also what make Room To Improve so popular we all tune in to see the relationships develop between Dermot and the homeowners. Dermot agrees. Yes, it really is the human interest factor that appeals, he says. Im not just popping into their lives for six weeks I could be there, for a year, in their ear! Born in Malahide, Dermot studied architecture in Hull in the UK before moving back to Dublin. The Castleknock house Dermot Bannon worked on in RTE's Room to Improve, broadcast in January 2023. Picture: Ruth Maria Murphy In 2006, he answered an advertisement seeking a presenter for a new series, to be called House Hunters, and in 2008, he began to present Room To Improve. It really is watching people going through a journey when youre seeing the project onscreen, says Dermot, who is based in Drumcondra, Dublin, with his wife Louise and their three children. But discovering what people think and what makes them tick also works in the reverse. Dermot Bannon MRIAI (campaign ambassador, Open Door), Kathryn Meghen (RIAI CEO) and Wayne Stanley (executive director, Simon Communities of Ireland). Picture: Keith Arkins Dermot courted his barber, Justin, for his opinion on a previous series of Room To Improve when planning ahead for 2023. Justin told the architect and presenter while he had enjoyed the episodes, he wanted to see a space on the programme that was more relatable. Dermot Bannon during filming for Dermot's Incredible Homes for RTE in Catalonia. I always ask people for feedback and Im always interested in what people think, adds the architect. I do this [the television series] for the audience, and If youre going to do it for people, well, you need to know what they think of it. I always listen, I always take it on board, and I always have. "Youd be a fool not to listen and youd be a fool not to adapt and change. I do this for the audience; I dont do this for myself for my ego. What about anonymous online commentary? Even with the anonymous comments if it hurts a little bit theres a truth in it, he says. If you think, How dare they? Then theres something in that [comment]. "Theres no harm in a little bit of self-reflection. Im in a position where Ive been very lucky. Im given airtime and Im given slots on television these are slots that people would love, I dont take that for granted. I do feel lucky that I get a voice. That voice has to be the most listened-to in Irish architecture and Dermot is using it to good effect this week to raise awareness of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland and the Simon Communities 19th annual RIAI Simon Open Door collaboration, for which he is an ambassador. Curve Appeal by Islander Architects: this project came out of an online Simon Open Door consultation in May 2020. Picture: Peter Molloy Dermot has taken part in the campaign since the beginning and this years event runs from May 8-14 (www.riaisimonopendoor.ie). I just love it, he says. Its as close as architects will get to a festival, he says. In return for a 98 donation, homeowners that sign up to the campaign will receive an hour-long consultation with an RIAI-registered architect to discuss building, renovating, or retrofitting their home. The funds raised support the Simon services, helping those who are homeless, at risk of homelessness or experiencing food poverty, addressed through various food provision programmes. Middleton Park Gate Lodge by TAKA Architects, RIAI Awards 2022, winner, Living category. Picture: Alice Clancy At the moment, grants, particularly Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) funding, are of huge interest, says Dermot. For anyone buying an older property now you get huge amounts of supports, he adds. You can claim up to 70k. Seoidin Courtyard House by DUA, RIAI Awards 2022, highly commended, RIAI awards, Living category. Picture: Shane Lynam Questions run the gamut of design.Ive had people come into me to talk about absolutely everything from understairs storage to designing a whole house, says Dermot. But whatever the scope of your project or renovation, arrive with your homework done. Youll get more out of this session the more prepared you are, says Dermot. Seoidin Courtyard House by DUA, RIAI Awards 2022, highly commended, RIAI awards, Living category. Picture: Shane Lynam That means arming yourself with photographs and plans. There will be a set of plans in the brochure, thats plenty, he says. As for pictures? We all have smartphones. I was involved day one 20 years ago and people had to go out and print them out. Now people swipe through phones. Curve Appeal by Islander Architects arose from an online Simon Open Door consultation in May 2020 during the pandemic. Picture: Peter Molloy In fact, that little android or iPhone dev will make the whole process easy. Now theres Google Earth someone gives us an eircode and it tells us where south is! he adds. Read More Peter Finn: Providing for and protecting my family is the most important thing in my life Fans of quality Irish and American whiskeys are in for a treat with the arrival in Ireland of Keepers Heart, offering the best of both worlds. Keepers Heart is a new style of whiskey, bringing together the best of Irish and American whiskey-making traditions. Based in Minneapolis, USA, the family-run OShaughnessy Distilling Co (OSDC) has chosen Ireland as the first international market in which to launch the award-winning Keepers Heart Irish American Whiskey. It seemed the natural choice, given that the range was created by Irish whiskey icon Brian Nation, formerly Master Distiller with Irish Distillers in Midleton, Co Cork. Brians name is synonymous with globally respected Irish whiskeys including Jameson, Redbreast, and Midleton, After leaving Ireland in 2021 to move to America and craft Keepers Heart with the OShaughnessy family, Brian says he is now very proud to be bringing the unique blend of Irish and American whiskeys home. Master Distiller Brian Nation, creator of Keepers Heart whiskey. The opportunity to bring together the best of both Irish and American whiskey-making techniques has been amongst the most exciting aspects of creating Keepers Heart, Brian said. By blending these styles together and also distilling American whiskey in the Irish style of triple copper pot distillation, we are effectively Irish-ising American whiskey and American-ising Irish whiskey. This innovative approach to whiskey-making has been incredibly rewarding and has provided a unique challenge that has kept me energised and motivated. Keepers Heart Irish + American Whiskey launched in 2021, and quickly expanded its portfolio with Keepers Heart Irish + Bourbon. With its innovative liquid and expert craftsmanship, Irish + American became the most awarded new whiskey brand in 2022, including International Wine and Spirits Challenge Platinum, Ultimate Spirits Challenge 94, Critics Challenge International Platinum and PR Award Double Gold honours. Meanwhile, Patrick OShaughnessy, co-founder of OShaughnessy Distilling Co, has great pride in his familys Irish roots. Accompanied by Brian Nation on a recent whistlestop tour of Cork, Dublin, Galway and Killarney, Patrick took time to visit some OShaughnessy family ancestral home places. The OShaughnessy family having emigrated from Gort, Co Galway, during Famine times, Patricks great-great grandfather Ignatius Aloysius O'Shaughnessy revisited Ireland in the 1950s. Ignatius bought part of an 8,000-acre estate in Kerry, which he protected against development. Today, that estate forms part of Killarney National Park. Patrick said: What started as an OShaughnessy family reunion became the birthplace of Keepers Heart, a celebration of our familys Irish American heritage. Our great great grandfather came to the United States from Ireland, and our large extended family has stayed close to our Irish roots. Keepers Heart was created to celebrate that. We are extremely proud of the Keepers Heart team and the reception the brand has received since we launched. It has made it possible to continue to grow Keepers Heart and evolve the liquid offerings, and now, as we begin international distribution, Ireland was at the top of the list. We hope the Irish people enjoy what we have created as much as the American drinkers have. Inside the family-run OShaughnessy Distilling Co in Minneapolis, USA. Liquid development is led by Master Distiller Brian Nation, who has more than 22 years of experience working on some of the most renowned and high-quality Irish whiskeys in the world. Born and raised in Cork City, Ireland, he moved to Minnesota following a meeting with the OShaughnessy family to embark on a new adventure and create a new style of whiskey, marrying the best of Irish and American whiskey-making traditions. I never thought Id leave Ireland until I met the OShaughnessy family and heard what they wanted to create, said Brian Nation. Their vision was inspiring, and together, along with American Whiskey visionary David Perkins, weve created an innovative liquid portfolio and a brand that celebrates family, and heritage. Keepers Heart is my passion project, and Im proud to return home to share with my friends and family what weve been up to across the pond. Nation collaborated on the blending of Keepers Heart with Liquid Collaborator and Advisor, David Perkins, founder of High West Distillery. The pair aim to combine the best of Irish and American whiskey traditions, by blending of Irish Triple Pot distilled whiskey, Irish Grain Whiskey with American Rye and Bourbon. From the beginning, our goal has been to put Keepers Heart on the world whiskey map, and today we begin expanding into international markets, sharing our story, our proud Irish American heritage, and our award-winning liquid portfolio with the global whiskey community. Beginning that journey in Ireland is the perfect first step, said Mike Duggan, CEO of OShaughnessy Distilling Co. The three copper pot stills, visible from the on-site bar in OShaughnessy Distilling Co, Minneapolis, USA, where Keepers Heart Irish American Whiskey was created. Keepers Heart will be available in Ireland, RRP 49.99. For more information, see: www.KeepersHeartWhiskey.com. Israeli forces have shot dead two Palestinians during a military raid in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarem was the latest in Israeli-Palestinian violence that has surged since last year. The ministry and Tulkarems branch of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group with connections to President Mahmoud Abbass Fatah party, identified the pair as Samer El Shafei and Hamza Kharyoush, both aged 22. Palestinians carry the body of militant Samer El Shafei in the Nur Shams refugee camp (Majdi Mohammed/AP) The Israeli military said the two were suspected of carrying out a shooting at a nearby Israeli settlement earlier this week. An Israeli civilian was injured and vehicles were damaged during the attack at the Avnei Hefetz Jewish settlement. Videos on social media purportedly shows the bodies of the two gunmen lying on a tin roof as two Israeli soldiers search them. Palestinian media, citing witnesses, said soldiers left after ensuring the two were dead. The deaths raised to 104 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the start of the year. The body of Hamza Kharyoush wrapped in a Hamas flag (Majdi Mohammed/AP) Israel has been staging near-nightly arrest raids in West Bank villages, towns and cities for more than a year in an operation prompted by a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year. Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the attacks as further entrenchment of Israels 56-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for a future independent state. Some 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the raids were launched. Israel says most have been militants, but stone-throwing youth and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. During that time, nearly 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Ethnic Issues Rohingya Refugees Reject Rakhine Villages Built by Myanmar Junta A team of 20 Rohingya accompanied by Bangladesh officials on Friday visited two of 15 villages in Myanmars Rakhine State built for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees. (Photo: Supplied) A team of 20 Rohingya who on Friday visited two of 15 villages in Myanmars Rakhine State built for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees said that they want full citizenship, equal rights and access to their places of origin before their repatriation. The Bangladesh-based team, which was accompanied by six Bangladesh government officials, also inspected infrastructure built in Rakhines Maungdaw Township with grants from the governments of Japan, India and China for the repatriation and resettlement of refugees. Myanmar junta authorities also briefed the team about the possible benefits they would likely get in the villages earmarked for returning Rohingya. One team member who wished to remain anonymous told The Irrawaddy that each returning family would be given a house, three acres of land for farming, seeds and agricultural material. He said that those families who wish to build their own homes in the demarcated area can do so and that the regime will pay for them. The team member added that there will be no barbed wire fence around the villages. During the tour the team also inspected the road that will connect the Rohingya villages to towns in Maungdaw Township where they will trade and do business. A Maungdaw official informed the team that Rohingya children will be allowed to study and to go onto Sittwe University, said the team member. I didnt like the village at allthey wont be able to provide us with homes in our places of origin, said Abu Taher on disembarking from the boat which ferried them to Myanmar in the morning and brought them back to Bangladesh in the afternoon. Another Rohingya representative, Mohammad Solim, told a group of journalists in Teknaf that he had asked the Myanmar authorities for whom they built the village and whether the Rohingyas would be given citizenship rights. Military regime officials said that Rohingya would be given special identity cards and within half a year would be able to travel outside Maungdaw Township. We will not get our original land backwe told them we do not want money, rather give us back our land and we will build our own houses, he added. He said that they wanted the same rights enjoyed by Myanmars other ethnic groups. Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, the Bangladesh Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner in Coxs Bazar, also traveled with the team to Maungdaw Township. He said that the newly-built villages were not constructed on Rohingya land. But he said that a team from Myanmar would visit the Rohingya in Coxs Bazar to try and convince them to be repatriated. He termed the initiative as part of a confidence-building measure for repatriation. Rohingya human rights activist Aung Kyaw Moe, an advisor to the civilian National Unity Governments Ministry of Human Rights, told the Irrawaddy: There is nothing for Rohingya refugees to see in Rakhine as the situation is the same as the one they fled in 2017 at the peak of the genocide. In some places, the situation is worse now than when they left. So, again, it is a kind of fake effort by the junta ahead of the coming hearing in front of the International Court of Justice. He added: People saw the villages and said they will not go back to those conditions. The visit by the Rohingya team was the first step in the much-awaited repatriation of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled Rakhine State for Bangladesh in 2017. A deal on their repatriation was signed by Bangladesh and Myanmar in 2018. Myanmar junta officials have already verified a list of 1,100 refugees for repatriation, but moves to return them to Rakhine State have stalled, said Bangladesh officials. At least two attempts to start the repatriation have failed, with Rohingya refugees refusing to return home without guarantees of citizenship and security. In August 2022, Chinas foreign minister Wang Yi assured his Bangladesh counterpart AK Abdul Momen during a visit to Bangladesh that China would facilitate the repatriation of the Rohingya to Rakhine State, where China had already constructed 300 houses, and offered to provide food for them for three to four months on their return. News Myanmar Junta Airstrike Kills Three Children in Sagaing Two regime jets during training. /Photo: regime website A Myanmar military airstrike killed at least seven civilians including three children on Thursday in conflict-torn Sagaing Region, one of the countrys resistance strongholds. The three children a girl aged six and two boys aged one and three were killed when a junta fighter jet dropped six bombs on Peik Ka Yar Village in the west of Sagaings Mingin Township at around 1pm on Thursday. Four adults were also killed and another 15 civilians injured in the airstrike, according to local sources. Four people were killed on the spot and the three-year-old boy died on the way to hospital, said a local resistance fighter. He added that the 15 injured people are receiving medical treatment and that more detailed information is still not available as communications are down in the area. Other sources said that some of the wounded were not allowed to enter Kale Town for treatment at Kale Hospital. One resistance fighter from Mingins Peoples Defense Force (PDF) Battalion 1 sustained injuries while rescuing villagers during the airstrikes. The Irrawaddy could not verify the claims independently. There was no reported fighting between regime troops and resistance forces in the area where the fighter jet launched the airstrike. Residents of Peik Ka Yar Village claimed the regime jet deliberately targeted the village. I have no idea why they targeted us. There is no PDF base in our village, one villager said. The military regime has stepped up its attacks on civilian targets in resistance strongholds, according to PDF fighters. In April, a junta airstrike on Pazi Gyi Village in Sagaings Kantbalu Township killed at least 175 civilians including women and children, according to witnesses. News Myanmars Civilian Government: Our Military Strategy is Weakening the Enemy Special commando training under the NUGs Western Regional Command. Myanmars civilian National Unity Government (NUG) said on Friday on the second anniversary of the formation of its armed wing the Peoples Defense Force (PDF) that its military strategy has weakened the enemy physically and mentally, while threatening the juntas control of the country. Military operations have been carried out effectively throughout the country in line with the strategy of applying pressure and attacking from all sides, known as multi-dimensional warfare, in order to wear down the enemy, the NUGs defense ministry said in a statement. The statement said that PDF operations have targeted not only the military regimes forward bases and columns, but also their rear bases such as battalion headquarters, regional command headquarters, air bases, defense equipment factories, military airfields, and oil storage tanks. The NUGs defense ministry added that while the junta has been weakened, the PDFs have grown in numbers and strength, surpassing that of the enemy. There are approximately 300 PDF battalions and columns nationwide, while other township public defense forces have been formed in 250 out of the countrys 330 townships. According to the ministry, 1,608 PDF fighters were killed and 1,583 injured in clashes with junta forces, while around 30,000 regime forces have been killed. However, some analysts estimate the juntas battlefield losses to be somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 over two years. The peoples revolution began with the phase of strategic defense and it has now progressed to the phase of strategic equilibrium, the defense ministry said, adding that to enter the final phase, the phase of strategic counter offensive, the ministry is working to acquire the necessary funds and arms and equipment. An analysis published by the U.S-based think tank US Institute of Peace (USIP) on Friday stated that the size of Myanmars military has been overestimated by the international community. USIP says the true number is around half of the common estimate of 300,000-400,000. Ye Myo Hein, author of the analysis and a visiting scholar with USIP, concluded that the military currently has about 150,000 personnel, including roughly 70,000 combat soldiers, while at least 21,000 service members have been lost through casualties, desertions and defections since the 2021 coup. The estimates are based on extensive interviews with military deserters and defectors, internal military directives and meeting notes, historical records of troop movements and sizes, and casualty counts from primary conflict data and military hospital records, stated Ye Myo Hein. At this troop level, the Sit-Tat [the Burmese word for Myanmars armed forces] is barely able to sustain itself as a fighting force, much less a government, he added. He also suggested that it is no longer reasonable to assume that an enfeebled military will overcome the resistance movement and consolidate its praetorian rule. Therefore, the international community should stop engaging with the junta as if it is bound to win and the only relevant player in achieving stability. That approach only bolsters the generals delusion that they will defeat the opposition and delays the time until the junta comes to the table, the scholar wrote. Junta Watch Junta Watch: Regime Issues Water Warning as Public Services Collapse; Min Aung Hlaing Barred From UK Coronation; and More Min Aung Hlaing at Mara Vijaya Buddha Park in Naypyitaw on May 3, the Kason full moon day. / MWD Public blamed for utility failures With Myanmar people in villages and towns suffering serious water shortages due to extreme summer heat and regular power outages affecting water pumps, the regime has chosen to lecture the public about wasting water. On Monday, junta-controlled newspapers featured a translated article titled Tunisias Government Orders Water Saving Measures, Threatens Fines and Jail an implicit warning to Myanmar people who are decrying power cuts and water shortages. Despite its promise to create economic prosperity for the country, the regime is struggling to provide even utilities as its delivery of basic public services collapses. Meanwhile, junta newspapers are overflowing with lectures telling people how they should save electricity, fuel, and water. Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing cynically used World Water Day in March to pass on the same message. Blacklisted again by UK Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing was not invited to Queen Elizabeths state funeral in September last year. So, it comes as no surprise that Britain has left the junta off its guestlist for King Charles coronation on Saturday. The coronation will see around 2,000 heads of state, kings and queens, blue-blooded families and other VIPs attend but will not feature representatives from Myanmar, Russia, Belarus, Syria, Venezuela, and Afghanistan. The same handful of countries were not invited to the Queens funeral either. Britain has imposed sanctions on Myanmar individuals and businesses with military links, including companies owned by Min Aung Hlaings son Aung Pyae Sone. The United Nations Security Council in December last year adopted its first resolution on Myanmar in 74 years, demanding an end to violence and calling on the countrys military rulers to release all political prisoners, including democratically elected leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The draft resolution was tabled by Britain. Min Aung Hlaing resorts to Yadaya magic again Min Aung Hlaing has issued secret orders to government departments across the country including self-administered zones to perform certain yadaya rituals on May 3, the Kason full moon day, which is a significant holiday for Buddhist communities. Widely practiced in Myanmar, yadaya refers to rituals done to delay, neutralize and prevent misfortune. The secret order dictates that six yadaya activities are to be carried out at specific times of the day. The purpose of the yadaya, it states, is to ensure success in every task to be performed and avert Set Ta Mee or the 11 Dangers, including death and misery. Perhaps the yadaya is mainly intended to protect him from the danger and misery he has been struggling with, given the unfaltering popular armed resistance against his regime. On May 2, the regime also donated rice to 11,111 Buddhist monks at Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. The precise number of Buddhist monks invited to the ceremony suggests yadaya was behind this event, too. Former military dictator Than Shwe was also superstitious and performed many yadaya rituals during his 18-year rule in the hope of retaining his grip on power. But Min Aung Hlaing appears to have overseen more yadaya rituals than his predecessor over the past two years. There are two possible explanations for this. Either Min Aung Hlaing is more superstitious, or he is at his wits end and has resorted to magic in fighting the resistance movement. Chinese FM visits dictator and predecessor Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on Tuesday, becoming the first top-level Chinese government official to meet with the regime leadership since the coup in 2021. He also met with Myanmars former dictator Than Shwe. Read more here. What do you care about? What really matters to your life and that of those about whom you care? I picked seven: Faith, Family, Friends, Firearms, Freer Market Economy, Future (for ALL Virginia who choose to participate in the process) and Freedom for my "cares". The "freedom for what?" you might ask. . To learn and earn in an atmosphere of historical reality; . To have reasonable privacy . To choose . To speak freely (and respectfully) . To have expectation to safety via Constitutional rights and responsibilities . To believe as one believes guided by truth (scientific and religious) . To see American dollars grow in a secure bank of one's choosing, not shrink To achieve this, we need Republican control of the State Senate - keeping what we have and adding a few more. Words are fine - but actions are better and more telling, and one among many possible actions is voting. If you support Republicans, please vote in the May 6th "firehouse caucus" from 10-4 p.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church, 601 Madison Road (the main street), Culpeper. It's the beginning of keeping the Rs we have in the State Senate, to be followed by primaries and concluding with the General Election on November 7th (plus the 45 days of "open voting season" preceding it and the absentee voting availability). This is why I'm supporting Bryce Reeves for State Senate. He checks all the boxes and adds both experience and leadership skills/roles. Note: The caucus was chosen as our method of nomination for our State Senate (District 28) candidate instead of a primary. Republicans are frugal. This costs the taxpayers zero dollars (as opposed to a primary which would have cost Madison alone an estimated $15,000 coming from all Virginia taxpayers (which would have cost well in excess of $100,000 to choose our Republican candidate to the State Senate)). All workers, organizers, staffers are volunteers. If you wish to contribute toward this cost-effective process, a voluntary (as in your choice, requested, not required) donation of $10 (or more if you're feeling really enthusiastic about saving Virginians money and restoring freedom to at least its historical place - if not beyond) is being suggested. Hope to see you at the polls Saturday, May 6th. Kim Smith, Brightwood An Albemarle County court awarded temporary custody of two girls to their father and approved the appointment of guardians ad litem that is, lawyers to look after their interests after their mother's recent arrest on child enticement and child pornography charges. Joel Hoppe, the girls' father and a federal magistrate judge, emerged from Albemarle County Circuit Court Friday afternoon, declining comment on the legal woes of his ex-wife, Eleanor Hunton Hoppe. Also declining comment was Eleanor Hoppe's father, Eppa Hunton V, who told the court that he was attempting to represent his daughter's interests without actually serving as her attorney. Near the close of a brief hearing, Hunton, who sat at the defense table, pleaded with Judge Claude Worrell for permission to amend the proposed rulings. "Would it be possible to add that they cooperate on custody with the mother's family?" Hunton asked the judge. "Not at this time," Worrell replied. Hunton also expressed a desire to ensure that the judge's paperwork would be delivered to his daughter, who has been incarcerated under the auspices of the federal district court for the District of Columbia since her March 20 arrest. "How will it be delivered to her?" asked Hunton. "I'm not sure yet," replied Worrell. Albemarle Circuit Court records show that a prior pack of documents was served last month on Eleanor Hoppe in jail by a private process server. She is currently incarcerated at the D.C. Central Detention Facility, also known as the D.C. Jail. She faces three felony charges stemming from her communications with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a perverted father interested in abusing his 8-year-old daughter. One of the three federal charges, enticement of a minor, carries a maximum life sentence. In statements the 45-year-old defendant made in court and at the scene of the sting, the parking lot of a Warrenton motel, Eleanor Hoppe professed her innocence. Shortly after his ex-wife's arrest, Joel Hoppe won permission from Judge Cheryl Higgins to reinstate the former couple's divorce case. He went to court Friday on a motion for temporary custody of his two daughters. He had previously filed a motion to temporarily modify the terms of his divorce agreement. Although Joel Hoppe does the talking at the federal cases he oversees in the courthouse on Vinegar Hill, he let his attorney Steven L. Raynor handle the case inside Albemarle Circuit Court on Friday. Raynor brought three orders memorializing the day's decisions, and the judge said that he would enter all three of them. Recruiters, local veterans, friends and family members filled Lane Auditorium at the Albemarle County Office Building to celebrate 51 military enlistees on Saturday morning. The seventh annual Enlistee Recognition Ceremony was held by Our Community Salutes of Greater Charlottesville to support the soon-to-be high school graduates. It was the first in-person ceremony since 2019, and a meaningful moment for students and their families. Everyone leaves emotional and in tears because all these kids are there with their long hair that theyre not going to have much longer and theyre shuffling in and I think: Kid, in a couple of months this is not going to be you, Lettie Bien, director of Our Community Salutes, told the Daily Progress the day before the ceremony. A retired Army Reserve colonel, she also founded the Enlistee Recognition Ceremony. It was a prediction that proved to be true for family of Chloe Rodriguez Thomas, who held back tears as they celebrated her commitment to the Marines. Im excited for her, said her mother Allison Rodriguez Thomas. Im so proud that she made this level of commitment. I think she wasnt sure and I love that shes thinking of purpose and that, as well, is driving her. So Im incredibly proud and excited to see what she becomes. The 18-year-old graduating senior at Western Albemarle High School has never been away from her friends and family for longer than a school-related field trip, she said, adding that being away from her loved ones for three months will be the hardest pill to swallow. The feeling was mutual. I guess I dont want her to leave, said Chloes younger sister Violet while holding back tears. The enlistees from Charlottesville, Albemarle, Harrisonburg, Greene and Lynchburg received a patriotic welcome from musicians of the Cville Band and the University of Virginia Joint ROTC Color Guard. Then they took their seats to listen to testimonies and words of encouragement from local veterans and service members loved ones. Keynote speaker Brigadier General Beth Salisbury of the 99th Readiness Division in Lakehurst, N.J. reminded the teenage recruits that this year is the 50th anniversary of the United States ending the draft, meaning U.S. citizens depend on all of us that are in uniform today and who are now enlisting. Those of you who serve may reenlist at some point and your career and continue to make the Army a career, Salisbury said. I will tell you when I enlisted in the Army many years ago, I never thought that I would stay this long. That sense of pride and professionalism makes our military the best in the world. Other speakers included Albemarle County Police Chief Sean Reeves, who spoke to the group about his days as a military police officer in the Army 27 years before becoming county chief. In addition to anecdotes and advice, the enlistees also received letters from Virginias U.S. Senator Mark Warner and Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs Craig Crenshaw; a certificate from Senator Tim Kaine; and an Our Community Salutes challenge cointhe first challenge coin of their military careers. Bien told The Daily Progress that she was blown away by the community support for the annual enlistee ceremony. PrintSource owner Ben Brigges donated free services for posters & programs; The Market by Tiger Fuel donated 100 bagged lunches for the enlistees and their families; and the Charlottesville Fire Department and Albemarle Fire Rescue hoisted fire truck ladders to hang the American flag over the building entrance as ceremony attendees came and went. As a final sweet treat, Our Community Salutes gifted each of the enlistees with a gourmet chocolate bar donated by former military cook and Gearharts Fine Chocolates owner Tim Gearhart. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has developed a large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) called BLUE WHALE, designed for covert intelligence gathering in the open sea and coastal waters. This AUV has undergone thousands of autonomous operation hours, including acoustic intelligence, identifying the presence of naval mines, and intelligence gathering for maritime and coastal targets. The AUV measures 10.9 meters long and 1.12 m in diameter. It weighs 5.5 tons and is capable of performing missions up to 30 days long. It can move at an optimal speed of 2-3 knots, with a maximum speed of 7 knots when required. BLUE WHALE has an integrated sensor payload mounted on an articulated telescopic mast that extends several meters high when fully opened, enabling the submarine to remain submerged throughout its mission which can span from two to four weeks. The AUV can descend to the bottom of the sea, where it can lurk and hide while using some of its sensors to collect intelligence for days. The mast is stored in a container protecting the sensors and equipment when submerged. An intelligent, on-board controller is managing the mission and sensors, sensors, communications, and power resources, enabling the operators to focus on the mission. The sensors are mounted on the sail and telescopic mast. The mast mounts a small radar, designed for low-probability of intercept (LPI), and electro-optical payload providing visual intelligence (VISINT) just as a submarine does. An electronic support measures (ESM) sensor array is tasked with COMING and ELINT. A broadband satellite communications antenna is also mounted on the mast, transferring the gathered data in real-time to command posts worldwide, either at sea or on land. To detect submarines and mines and gather acoustic intelligence, the AUV uses two types of sonars a bi-static towed array for acoustic surveillance and submarine detection and flank sonar arrays for mine detection and seafloor mapping. The autonomous submarine can perform a significant portion of the operations of manned submarines, at minimal cost and maintenance, without the need for personnel on board. The AUV can be shipped in a standard 40-foot shipping container and deployed from a port or a support ship at sea. In addition, the Blue Whale can be used as a forward scout for manned submarines and special forces and naval commandoes. After Frances reversal on pension rights, Senegalese veterans come back to their homeland. The French government has reversed its decision on the pension rights of the last surviving African soldiers who fought for colonial-era France, allowing them to spend their final days in their home countries. One of these veterans, Colonel Dieng, recently returned to Senegal and is now living with his family in the Dakar suburbs. Before the new reform, he had to spend at least six months of the year in France to collect his pension. Aissata Seck, who promotes the rights and memory of the tirailleurs senegalais, played a significant role in the recent return of Senegalese soldiers to their country of origin. Colonel Diengs descendants are thrilled with his return and are advocating for special status for the children of the riflemen. Watch the full report in the video player above. Is King Charles III an extremist environmentalist or a conventional ecologist? King Charles III was once considered an eccentric for advocating organic farming during the 1970s, but continues to champion environmental issues. His upcoming coronation will showcase his environmental commitments, but as a King, frequent travel and adherence to traditional British monarchy practices may challenge his beliefs. Charles has been a green advocate long before Greta Thunberg, with climate change and biodiversity being central to his royal work. His coronation will reflect his environmentalism, such as by wearing clothes that belonged to past monarchs and serving a vegetarian main course. Charles has warned about the consequences of pollution and climate change since 1970 at just 21 years old. Charles introduced organic farming on his property and personal land as early as 1985, experimented with natural pesticides and kept rare species of animals like Tamworth pigs. He also built an eco-friendly village in his Dorset estate. He converted his cars to run on biodiesel and implemented other green measures. Charles travel by private plane and love for fox hunting comes under scrutiny despite monitoring his carbon footprint. The next British monarchs overseas travel will continue to be closely monitored in the face of global warming. During his speeches and official visits, Charles promotes environmental conservation and combatting climate change. He supports Greta Thunberg and criticizes the business worlds ecological commitment. Charles created the Sustainable Markets Council, a body that encourages best practice, innovation, and connects investors to eco-friendly projects. As a monarch, Charles adheres to political neutrality, so he purportedly will not invite Thunberg to Buckingham Palace. While Charless positions are mainstream and accepted, he has received significant backlash for being a part of the environmental movement. In 2004, Charles secretly sent handwritten letters to British politicians about his views on organic farming, global warming, and urban planning. The king will continue to face criticism, and his lifestyle, including his love of fox hunting and frequent air travel, is deemed incompatible with his environmental stance. The Sudanese army has sent representatives to Saudi Arabia to discuss the details of the ongoing ceasefire with its paramilitary opponents. The ceasefire was initially announced by South Sudan for seven days, and while the regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan supported the ceasefire, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces extended the ceasefire by three days. However, multiple ceasefire agreements have been reached since the conflict between the rival security forces broke out on 15 April, but none have been observed. The Sudanese army has dispatched representatives to Saudi Arabia to discuss the specifics of the ongoing ceasefire with its paramilitary opponents. The talks come after South Sudan initially announced a seven-day ceasefire, which was supported by regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. However, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces extended the ceasefire by three days. The conflict between the rival security forces began on 15 April and has seen multiple ceasefire agreements reached. However, none of them have been observed so far, leading to a worsening of the situation. The situation in Sudan has been tense since the ousting of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. The country has been ruled by a transitional government since then, with a power-sharing agreement between the military and civilian forces. The Rapid Support Forces, which are part of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), are accused of carrying out atrocities in the Darfur region, leading to calls for their disbandment. The RSF was formed in 2013 to fight rebels in the Darfur region. Since then, it has been accused of committing human rights violations, including the killing of protesters during the 2019 uprising. The current ceasefire is seen as a step towards restoring peace in the country, but many are skeptical about its effectiveness. The talks in Saudi Arabia are aimed at ironing out the details of the ceasefire and ensuring its implementation. The international community has also been calling for an end to the violence in Sudan. The United Nations has expressed concern over the human rights situation in the country, while the African Union has called for an end to the violence. The talks in Saudi Arabia are seen as a positive development, but it remains to be seen whether they will lead to a lasting peace in Sudan. The country has been plagued by conflict and instability for decades, and it will take more than just a ceasefire to restore peace and stability. Jowhar Tel Aviv Protests Against Judiciary Reforms Continue for 18 Consecutive Weeks with Thousands in Attendance Thousands of Israelis continue to demonstrate for the 18th consecutive week against the controversial judicial reforms proposed by the hard-right government of Israel, despite the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put the overhaul on hold over a month ago. Hundreds of protesters gathered in the central city of Rehovot, blocking a major road junction and waving Israeli flags. In Tel Avivs Habima Square, thousands of demonstrators gathered and prepared to march through the city to Kaplan Street, chanting slogans against Netanyahu while waving the Israeli flag. One protester held up a large image of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir with a banner calling him the minister of national failure. Police did not release any estimates regarding the number of demonstrators. Protest organizers claimed that the Netanyahu government was seeking to create a messianic and dangerous dictatorship in Israel and said that the economy was being harmed by the governments failure to reverse the reforms. Critics have stated that the reforms would endanger democracy, while supporters claim that they are necessary to balance power between different branches of government. On March 27, Netanyahu announced a halt to the proposed judicial reforms in the interest of preventing a rift in the nation, following massive protests and a general strike. However, the protests have continued. (AFP) Charles III will receive his coronation at Westminster Abbey in a spectacular event that dates back 1,000 years and marks Britains biggest ceremonial event in seven decades. Keep up-to-date with our live blog for the latest info. After succeeding his mother, Queen Elizabeth, last September, Charles will be crowned king at the age of 74 and will be the oldest British monarch to receive the St Edwards Crown. As he sits on a 14th-century throne at Westminster Abbey, approximately 100 heads of state and dignitaries, including US first lady Jill Biden, will witness the event. The abbey has hosted all coronations since William the Conqueror in 1066. During the two-hour ceremony, Charless second wife, Camilla, 75, will also receive her coronation, further symbolizing a modern monarchy and nation full of promise. After months of anticipation, the day has finally arrived Charles III will be crowned king of the United Kingdom in a spectacular ceremony at Westminster Abbey. This historic event, which dates back 1,000 years, marks the biggest ceremonial event in Britain in seven decades. Charles III, who succeeded his mother, Queen Elizabeth, last September, will be crowned at the age of 74, making him the oldest British monarch to receive the St Edwards Crown. The ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, which has hosted all coronations since William the Conqueror in 1066. Approximately 100 heads of state and dignitaries, including US first lady Jill Biden, will be in attendance to witness the event. As Charles sits on a 14th-century throne, the world will be watching as he takes on the role of monarch. The ceremony, which is expected to last around two hours, will see Charless second wife, Camilla, also receive her coronation. This further symbolizes a modern monarchy and a nation full of promise. The coronation is steeped in tradition and history, with many elements that have remained unchanged for centuries. The St Edwards Crown, which is made of solid gold and weighs nearly 5 pounds, will be placed on Charless head by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This will be followed by the anointing with holy oil and the presentation of other symbols of royalty, such as the orb and sceptre. The coronation of a new monarch is a significant event in the history of the British monarchy and the country as a whole. It marks a new chapter in the life of the nation and the start of a new reign. For Charles, it is the culmination of a lifetime of preparation and dedication to his role as future king. As the world watches on, we can expect to see a celebration of tradition, history, and the future of the monarchy. The coronation of Charles III promises to be a truly unforgettable event, and we cant wait to see what the future holds for the British monarchy. The United States and Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday that talks aimed at solidifying a fragile cease-fire in Sudan are underway following three weeks of intense fighting that has resulted in hundreds of deaths and pushed the African nation to the brink of collapse. The negotiations mark the first between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since the conflict broke out on April 15 and are taking place in Jeddah, a coastal city in Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea. The talks are part of a diplomatic initiative, proposed by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, that seeks to end the fighting that has turned Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. In their joint statement, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. urged both sides to actively engage in the talks towards a cease-fire and end to the conflict, which will spare the Sudanese peoples suffering. The statement did not specify the timeline for the talks. The talks follow concentrated efforts by Riyadh and other international powers to pressure the two sides in Sudan to come to the negotiating table, and come as the United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that the number of Sudanese refugees fleeing to neighboring countries is expected to reach 860,000, with aid agencies requiring $445 million to assist them. Meanwhile, officials from both the military and RSF have stated that the talks will address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been at the center of the ongoing conflict. They will also tackle providing protection to civilian facilities, including health facilities suffering from severe shortages of both staff and medical supplies. The talks will also examine a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire, which is one of several truces that have failed to stop the fighting. The pro-democracy movement in Sudan, a coalition of political parties and civil society groups, has called for leaders of the military and RSF to make a bold decision to end the conflict. As of Monday, the Sudanese Health Ministry has reported at least 550 deaths and over 4,900 injuries, including civilians. The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, which tracks civilian casualties only, has stated that as of Friday, 473 civilians have been killed in the violence, and over 2,450 have been wounded. The fighting erupted following months of tension between Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the military, and his deputy in the council, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict has plunged the country into further chaos and led foreign governments to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have been displaced, with some crossing into neighboring countries. On Saturday, a bus carrying Sudanese refugees overturned in Egypts Beni Suef province, injuring at least 36 Sudanese, including women and children, and two Egyptians. Tens of thousands of Sudanese have fled to Egypt since the start of the fighting. (AP) Reddit 2 Email 118 Shares Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) Although King Charles III will, like his predecessors going back to Henry VIII, be styled Defender of the Faith, he intends the phrase to be understood in a pluralistic rather than exclusivist manner. Harriet Sherwood at The Guardian reports that before Charles takes the oath on Saturday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will say the words the church established by law, whose settlement you will swear to maintain will seek to foster an environment in which people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely. In the 1990s Charles had stirred a controversy by saying he would like to be a defender of all the faiths, sparking speculation that he would have the formula of the oath changed for his coronation. Instead, he is having Welby frame the oath in a universalist way. Ironically, Pope Leo X bestowed the title of Defender of the Faith on Henry VIII in 1521. When Henry broke with the Roman Catholic church over its ban on divorces, he and his successors kept the title. So it has already changed its meaning once in history. King Charles is a Christian, and favors High Church Anglicanism (Episcopalianism) for his services, though he has a mystical side and is drawn to Eastern Orthodox theology and devotion. He also seems to have a bit of the Perennialist about him, since he is deeply interested in other religions, including Judaism and Islam. It is not an abstract or purely academic interest, since he speaks of what he can learn spiritually from these other traditions. The British crown has over the centuries ruled over hundreds of millions of Muslims, in Asia and Africa. Today, 6.5% of the population in England and Wales, about 4 million people, are Muslims. They grew by a million persons from the previous census in 2011. Because of a marked increase over the past 60 years in the number of Britons who say they have no religion, Christians now form a minority in the UK. About 1.6% of Britons are Hindus, like the current prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who took his oath of office on a Bhagavad Gita. Some 0.4% of the UK is Buddhist, about a quarter of a million people, who disproportionately live in London. About the same number are Jewish. So Islam is the second-largest religion in Britain after Christianity. Charles when he was a prince on several occasions spoke highly of the Muslim tradition. He was vice patron of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, and in 1993 delivered a lecture on Islam and the West, to which I will return. Last year as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began, then-Prince Charles and Camilla shared a greeting on Instagram from their Clarence House account (a reference to their residence in London). It began with the Muslim greeting, Assalamu alaikum (Arabic for Peace be upon you.) Charles continued, As Muslims across the United Kingdom and the wider Commonwealth begin a period of fasting and prayer at the start of Ramadan, my wife joins me in taking this opportunity to convey our warmest good wishes to all those observing this month. Ramadan provides time to reflect on ones own blessings and to give gratitude for them. One of the greatest ways of showing gratitude in Islam, I understand, is by being of service to those less fortunate in our society. The generosity of spirit and kind-hearted hospitality of Muslims does not cease to astound me and I am sure that as we enter more uncertain times, with many now struggling to cope with increasing challenges, the Muslim community will again be a source of immense charitable giving this Ramadan. There is much we can all learn from the spirit of Ramadan not only the generosity, but also abstention, gratefulness and togetherness in prayer which will give great comfort to many across the world during this blessed month. I pray that all Muslims have a blessed Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak. HRH The Prince of Wales, In his 1993 speech on the occasion of his visit to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Islam and the West, he said he wanted to address the relationship of the two because the degree of misunderstanding between the Islamic and Western worlds remains dangerously high, and because the need for the two to live and work together in our increasingly interdependent world has never been greater. Article continues after bonus IC video HM King Charles III on Islam and the West (1993 lecture) The then Prince of Wales lamented the victimization of some Muslim populations, speaking forcefully about the persecution of the Marsh Arabs and of the Shiites in their holy cities by the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. He revealed that he had personally pleaded with General Norman Schwarzkopf, the Centcom commander during the Gulf War of 1990-1991 to spare Najaf and Karbala, which are holy to Shiites, from bombing raids. Of the war in the Balkans, Charles said, In Yugoslavia the terrible sufferings of the Bosnian Muslims, alongside that of other communities in that cruel war, help keep alive many of the fears and prejudices which our two worlds retain of each other. Charles pointed out the commonalities between Christianity and Islam (and Judaism): that which binds our two worlds together is so much more powerful than that which divides us. Muslims, Christians and Jews are all peoples of the Book. Islam and Christianity share a common monotheistic vision: a belief in one divine God, in the transience of our earthly life, in our accountability for our actions, and in the assurance of life to come. We share many key values in common: respect for knowledge, for justice, compassion towards the poor and underprivileged, the importance of family life, respect for parents. Honour thy father and thy mother is a Quranic precept too. Our history has been closely bound up together. He pointed to one reason for the rancor between the Christian and Muslim worlds being a common history of conflict and mutual suspicion, from the Crusades to the Spanish Reconquista. Charles admires the scientific and civilizational achievements of medieval Islam, including in Muslim Spain, much of which was bequeathed to Europe. He also, however, views Islam as having retained a sense of the human as interconnected with the natural world, about which he says the Quran is eloquent. He said, At the heart of Islam is its preservation of an integral view of the Universe. Islam like Buddhism and Hinduism refuses to separate man and nature, religion and science, mind and matter, and has preserved a metaphysical and unified view of ourselves and the world around us. In our own day of rampant Islamophobia, at a time when Donald John Trump and other felons of the MAGA cult are planning to bring back the Muslim ban, it is a pleasure to end with these words of Charles from 1993: Britain is a multi-racial and multi-cultural society. I have already mentioned the size of our own Muslim communities who live throughout Britain, both in large towns like Bradford and in tiny communities in places as remote as Stornaway in Western Scotland. These people, ladies and gentlemen, are an asset to Britain. They contribute to all parts of our economy to industry, the public services, the professions and the private sector. We find them as teachers, doctors, engineers and scientists. They contribute to our economic well-being as a country, and add to the cultural richness of our nation. Charles perhaps could not have imagined that by the time he was crowned, London would have a Muslim mayor. But he already foresaw three decades ago the increasingly important role Muslim Britons would play. He gives every evidence of living up to his goal of being a defender of faith, rather than of The (Anglican) faith, and it is arguably a role that a post-Christian, multicultural Britain desperately needs. Reddit Email 30 Shares By Mahad Darar, Colorado State University | After nearly a decade of grinding conflict, Yemen looks to be inching toward a peace deal. Talks between the Houthi movement controlling much of the countrys north and Saudi Arabia, the regional power backing an anti-Houthi coalition in the war, are ongoing and being encouraged by international observers. On May 1, 2023, the U.S. announced that it had sent Special Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking to the Persian Gulf to advance ongoing efforts to secure a new agreement and launch a comprehensive peace process. But the U.S. has far less of a role in steering negotiations than Washingtons great global rival: China. The recent breakthrough in Yemen has been undergirded by a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, facilitated by Beijing in March 2023. As an academic who specializes in U.S. and Chinese strategic engagement across eastern Africa and the Middle East, I appreciate that the diplomatic breakthrough brokered by Beijing has implications for the region. It has the potential to reduce rivalries and strengthen stability in Yemen, along with other countries prone to sectarian violence, including Lebanon and Iraq. Article continues after bonus IC video Yemen Today English: The UN Security Council Calls On Conflict Parties In Yemen To Continue Diplomatic Talks But it has also led to speculation over Chinas emergence as a major regional player in the Middle East. The development not only challenges the United States long-established dominance in the Gulf, but it also raises questions about Beijings strategic agenda and motives. Fragmentation and regional dynamics It remains to be seen whether the Saudi-Iran breakthrough might contribute to a lasting peace in Yemen. But given the role that the rivalry between the regional powers has had in fueling the fighting, international observers have expressed optimism. The disintegration of Yemen began with the collapse of its central government in 2011 after the Arab Spring uprising. In 2014, the Houthi group, a Shiite militia backed by Iran, took control of the capital, Sanaa, and forced transitional President Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Aden. Hadis government struggled to establish itself in Aden and eventually relocated to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he resigned in 2022. Viewing the Houthis as an Iranian proxy, Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemeni conflict, backing those loyal to Hadi and bombarding Houthi areas from the air. These Saudi-led attacks contributed to a massive humanitarian crisis. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of at least 377,000 Yemenis, the United Nations projected in 2021, many through indirect causes such as starvation and disease. It has also led to widespread displacement of civilian populations and the breakdown of infrastructure. The country remains fragmented, with militias controlling separate territories and no functional central government. Chinas path through Saudi Arabia So where does China come in? Beijing has no formal diplomatic, economic or political ties with any the numerous militias that currently govern parts of the country. But before 2014, China had a healthy trading and economic relationship with Yemen. According to the World Bank, in 2013 China was Yemens second-largest trading partner after Saudi Arabia. Since 2014, trade between China and Yemen persisted, albeit in a mostly informal manner. Data from the international trade-tracking Observatory of Economic Complexity indicates that China imported US$411 million worth of products, mainly crude oil but also copper, from Yemen in 2021. What remains unclear is which rebel factions have received revenue through the trade. Meanwhile, China has maintained formal diplomatic and economic ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates each of which back militias involved in Yemens war. In fact, China has been intensifying its economic and political connections with all three regional powers. In recent years, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has visited both the UAE and Saudi Arabia to underscore Beijings growing role as a partner in the region. Xi also recently hosted Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a state visit to China. Whats to gain from peace? This expanding relationship with key players in the Yemeni conflict puts China in a unique position as a potential peace broker. Yet uniting the three regional powers around a common peace plan has to date proved difficult. The UAE can influence Yemeni factions it has provided military and financial support to, including the Security Belt forces affiliated with the transitional government. However, the Emiratis goals may differ from those seeking a unified, independent Yemen. Since the conflict broke out, the UAE has displayed a tendency to undermine Yemens territorial integrity through, for example, taking control of some Yemeni islands, such as Socotra. Similarly, Iran may be reluctant to accept any peace agreement that would diminish its influence in Yemen. Tehrans relationship with the Houthis has not been as consistently solid as some outside observers suggest, but ties have grown as a result of the conflict. Should hostilities cease, the Houthis military dependence on Iran would decrease, diminishing Irans leverage. Saudi Arabia, of the three, stands to gain the most from peace in Yemen. Cessation of conflict would likely halt Houthi attacks on the kingdom, save the Saudis money and resources dedicated to the Yemeni war, and potentially restore an international reputation tarnished by alleged war crimes in the conflict. To broker peace in Yemen, China would presumably need to concentrate efforts on working with the Saudis. The Chinese-backed rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran could be a first step to this end. Although no direct mention of Yemen is made in the language of the agreement, it does talk of both sides support for the non-interference in internal affairs of states and keenness to exert all efforts towards enhancing regional and international peace and security. And since that agreement in March, there has been progress toward peace in Yemen. A Saudi delegation led by the kingdoms ambassador to Yemen held talks with Houthi leaders in Sanaa on April 9. The talks were the first direct negotiations between the two sides on Yemeni soil since the war began in 2015. The thinking in Beijing But why is China invested in what happens in an ongoing conflict far from its borders especially when it is already consumed with perceived strategic and military threats closer to home? The argument that a cessation of hostilities in Yemen would grant China economic benefits by providing access to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait a key strategic channel on the Arabian peninsula for commerce and trade, with an estimated 4% of global oil supply passing through it ignores some critical factors, I believe. Rebuilding a war-shattered Yemen and establishing a stable government may take time and the investment required to do so might outweigh short-term economic gains. Moreover, China already has a military base in Djibouti, giving it access to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait even without peace in Yemen. It could be that China is seeking to be seen as a global peacemaker as part of a strategy that has been referred to as diplomatic whitewashing that is, making friends overseas and playing the nice guy to distract from Chinas treatment of its Uyghur minority at home and Xis increasingly confrontational posture on Taiwan and the South China Sea. But it also fits a wider geopolitical trend. The counterbalance to Chinas growing role in the Middle East is the declining influence of the United States in the region. Priorities in Washington have shifted to strategic concerns in East Asia and Ukraine, leading to a diplomatic opportunity for China one Beijing is seemingly keen to exploit. Meanwhile, U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia have cooled, in part due to the Yemeni war. And Washington has had no formal diplomatic relations with Iran for decades. As a neutral player, China can engage with Tehran and Riyadh in a way the U.S. simply cannot. That was evident in Chinas role in the rapprochement, and it could be the case in resolving Yemens war. For China, it provides opportunities for another diplomatic success from which it could emerge as a reliable partner in a changing geopolitical landscape. Mahad Darar, Ph.D. Student of Political Science, Colorado State University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - May 4, 2023) - Showcase Minerals Inc. (CSE: SHOW) ("Showcase") is pleased to announce that it is progressing with its next phased exploration plan at its Dixie Flats-North Star Property, located 21 air-miles south of the City of Elko in northeast Nevada. The current exploration phase will include data compilation and interpretation with the aim of delineating Carlin-type drill targets for follow-up exploration drilling. All drilling, geologic mapping, and geophysical data, including surface sampling, Controlled Source Audio Magnetotelluric (CSAMT) surveys, gravity surveys with over 828 gravity stations and GTI NuSeis 2D active seismic, will be used with localized geology maps to construct 3D structural and lithology models. Intersections of major NNW-SSE and WSW-ENE structures will be identified, and drill targets will be highlighted where these intersections cut the Webb-Devils Gate limestone contact. About the Dixie Flats-North Star Gold Project The Dixie Flats-North Star Property (the "Property" or "Dixie Flats") is located on the east side of the Pinon Mountains, 21 air-miles south of the City of Elko in northeast Nevada. It is a combination of two claim blocks, the Dixie Flats group of claims and the North Star group of claims. The Property is comprised of a total of 236 total unpatented mineral claims on Federal land administered by the US Bureau of Land Management ("BLM"). The Property lies on the southern margin of the Carlin Trend, a northwest-trending belt of sediment-hosted gold deposits that makes up the greatest geographic concentration of gold deposits in North America, with reported production of more than 92.5 million ounces of gold since 1961 (Muntean, 2019). The Dixie Flats-North Star Property is underlain by rocks known to host gold mineralization on the Carlin Trend, and surface sampling has shown anomalous gold, silver, arsenic, antimony, and mercury levels in rock, soil, and biogeochemical samples from the Property, which is a characteristic geochemical signature of Carlin-Type gold deposits. Dixie-North Star is approximately three miles south of Newmont Mining Company's Emigrant Springs Mine, which finished production in 2018, and approximately 4.5 miles southeast of the past producing Rain Mine. Both of these deposits are hosted in dissolution breccia zones at the contact between the Webb mudstone, the basal unit of the overlap assemblage, and the underlying Devils Gate limestone. Prior exploration on the Dixie-North Star Property has been focused on delineating this contact at depth, and discovering possible extensions to the regional structures controlling mineralization at the Rain and Emigrant Mines and their demonstrated extension to the Dixie-North Star Property. The information on the adjacent projects is taken from publicly available sources and is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Dixie Flats-North Star Property. Additional information on the Dixie-North Star Gold Project can be found in the National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") technical report entitled "Technical Report on the Dixie Flats-North Star Gold Exploration Property", Elko, Nevada, dated September 21, 2022, which has been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Appointment of Corporate Secretary Showcase further announces that it has appointed Jelena Bugarin as its Corporate Secretary. Ms. Bugarin has acted a finance and mortgage specialist with over 15 years of extensive experience in customer service. Ms. Bugarin replaces Bruno Fruscalzo as Corporate Secretary. Mr. Fruscalzo will continue as Showcase's Chief Financial Officer and as a director. Qualified Person: Mr. Seth Cude, P.G., R.M., M.Sc., C.P.G. is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release. Mr. Cude is a licensed professional geologist with over 14 years of experience and a masters degree from the University of Wyoming. He has worked on world class precious and semi-precious metal deposits in across the western United States, Vietnam and Africa, including designing exploration drill campaigns, creating structural and lithologic models, and classified resource block models. About Showcase Minerals Inc. Showcase is a Canadian mineral exploration company with an exclusive option to acquire a 100% interest in Dixie Flats-North Star Gold Project and the Woodruff Gold-Vanadium Project (subject to various net smelter returns royalties ranging from 2.25% to 4.25%), which collectively consist of unpatented 254 lode mining claims covering approximately 1,818 hectares located in Elko County, Nevada. For further information, please contact: Kirk Reed, President Showcase Minerals Inc. Telephone: 1-800-982-0670 HEFEI, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Despite working in the research field of magnetic confinement fusion for nine years, Wang Teng, 31, is still amazed by the fact that the scientific term he accidentally read in high school would later become his career, where he and his team have even been able to break world records. On April 12, the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST), or the Chinese "artificial sun," achieved a steady-state high confinement plasma operation for 403 seconds, a key step toward the development of a fusion reactor. The breakthrough is a huge improvement over the original world record of 101 seconds, which was set by EAST in 2017. It is of great significance to improve the economy and feasibility of nuclear fusion energy, which is considered safer and cleaner, and therefore the ideal "ultimate energy" for the future of humanity. As a "post-90s" researcher, Wang is a member of the Chinese "artificial sun" team. "When I was a sophomore in high school, I saw a popular science article about magnetically confined fusion. I got so interested in this concept at that time, but I didn't expect to be able to participate in related work," Wang recalled. In 2014, Wang joined the team of EAST, located at the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province. "People usually only see the joy of success, but the failure behind it is always unknown," Wang said. Wang said that it took more than four years to go from proposing a problem related to the quench detection for superconducting magnets to completing the system. There were no cases that could be used as a reference at home or abroad, with the very concept itself even facing scrutiny. "I thought about giving up, but I kept telling myself that scientific exploration is often a process from zero to one, and the dawn is just ahead," Wang said. After countless failures and sleepless nights, he finally established a system to ensure the safe and stable operation of the device. "Every technical breakthrough makes this young team grow," said Song Yuntao, director of the ASIPP. Qin Jinggang, 43, said that the process of leading the team to tackle superconducting cable technological problems of the EAST is the most memorable experience of his career. As the leader of the applied superconducting engineering technology team of EAST, Qing recalled that after more than 1,000 days and nights of hard work, the team finally managed to make the superconducting cables unbreakable. "We are a team consisting of members from different majors, but we have the same scientific goal," Qing said, adding that most of the more than 30 researchers in the team are "post-80s" like him. According to data from the Ministry of Science and Technology, more than 80 percent of the participants in China's national key research and development programs are under the age of 45. Sci-tech talent aged 39 and below accounted for 73.89 percent of all sci-tech personnel by the end of 2019, according to a report on the country's sci-tech human resources development released by the China Association for Science and Technology in 2022. "Our generation will take the baton from our predecessors and move forward," Wang said. Now, in addition to scientific research, he also devotes to science popularization work, hoping that more young people can join scientific research with curiosity and yearning for science like him. An excerpt from Living Medicine: Don Thomas, Marrow Transplantation, and the Cell Therapy Revolution. Late in the summer of 1960, Dr. Clem Finch invited Dr. Don Thomas to Seattle to give a talk about his early experience with transplantation. Clem, who had been Thomass hematology fellowship instructor at the Brigham in Boston, had since moved to Seattle to join the faculty of the new University of Washington School of Medicine. During his lecture in Seattle, Thomas acknowledged his frustration that he had yet to show that marrow transplantation could cure anyoneeither there had been problems with graft rejection and graft-versus-host disease, or the leukemia recurred. After the lecture, a young physician came rushing up to the podium. We have the ideal patient! Moreno Robins remembered saying more than 50 years later. Robins was a pediatrician completing his internship at the University of Washington and was caring for a six-year-old girl, Nancy Lowry. Nancy had been well until a few months before, when something changed. She became pale, her gums began to bleed, bruises spontaneously formed over her arms and legs, and she developed intermittent fevers. Examination of her blood showed a paucity of white cells, red cells, and platelets, and a bone marrow examination was markedly abnormal, being largely devoid of cells and replaced by fat. Nancy had aplastic anemia. She also had an identical twin. Aplastic anemia, first described by Paul Ehrlich in 1888, is a terrifying and mysterious disease in which the marrow suddenly stops working. With no red cells, platelets, or white cells being produced, the patient quickly becomes profoundly pale and anemic, susceptible to bleeding, and at risk for the development of overwhelming infections. Even today, aplastic anemia is imperfectly understood. Most scientists think that exposure to a drug or virus can trigger the patients immune system to turn temporarily against its own blood-forming cells. Evidence for this is that some patients with aplastic anemia improve if treated with potent immunosuppression. In Nancys case no offending agent was identified. And in 1960, there were no treatments for aplastic anemia. As Robins said, We had a little girl who was going to die of aplastic anemia. Nobody lived with that disease. Over the weeks in Robinss care, Nancy had deteriorated. The bruising had extended, she had hemorrhages in both eyes, and infections leading to the death of tissue had developed at the sites of prior IVs. Her parents were desperate. Treatment with steroids and androgens had failed. So when he heard Thomass lecture, Robins approached him and asked whether together they might perform a bone marrow transplant for Nancy. With an identical twin, there should be no risk of graft rejection or graft-versus-host disease, and unlike Thomass leukemic cases, there was no malignant disease to eradicate. Thomas agreed. On August 12, 1960, Thomas joined Robins in the operating room, and after Nancys twin sister, Barbara, was placed under general anesthesia, they harvested bone marrow from her hip bones and shins. They stuck Barbara forty-four times with an 18-gauge needle, each time removing a teaspoon or two of marrow, which looks very much like thick blood. They filtered the marrow through a steel mesh to get rid of any bone fragments, placed it into a sterile bag, took the cells to Nancy, and, over the course of about an hour, let the cells flow through an intravenous line into her vein. Then they waited. For the first week not much happened. Nancy remained dangerously ill, with persistent fever and an expanding local infection around her urethra. Then came a marked change. Around ten days after the marrow infusion, the number of white cells in her blood began to rise, and with the increase in blood counts, her appetite and energy improved. A bone marrow examination performed two weeks after the transplant showed an increase in the overall cellularity of the marrow. Her blood counts continued to climb, and she was discharged from the hospital on October 11, two months after the transplant. Two months later, her blood counts and a bone marrow examination were normal, and she was able to return to school in the same class as her twin sister. Nancys recovery was reported in an Associated Press story that ran nationwide. In describing Nancys recovery, her mother noted that once again she had to peek at the twins shoes to tell one from the other. Nancys shoes are white, she told the AP. At least they were when we left home this morning. Rarely, aplastic anemia can spontaneously remit, and without a marker to distinguish Nancys and Barbaras cells, it is theoretically possible that this is what happened here. However, in those uncommon cases when a patient spontaneously recovers, the rate of blood count recovery is usually gradual. Given her rapid recovery occurring at exactly the time anticipated with a successful transplant, it is overwhelmingly likely that Nancy Lowry was the first patient on the planet ever cured with a bone marrow transplant. Fred Appelbaum is a hematology-oncology physician and author of Living Medicine: Don Thomas, Marrow Transplantation, and the Cell Therapy Revolution. Government featured Mallory strategic plan continues to move forward Photo provided by City of Key West The City of Key West is seeking input on the future of Mallory Square. The City of Key West continues to seek input from residents and visitors on the future of the iconic Mallory Square, home to the iconic daily Sunset Celebration. For more than a year, city staff has been collecting input to develop plans for the future development of the former commercial docks. From everything I have seen workshops and meetings with Sasaki, everything else we are moving in a great direction. We have had over a year of input from residents, visitors and business owners on improving Mallory Square. Johnston said the plan continues to be a work in progress with the Boston-based design firm, Sasaki, tasked with the reimagining. It is still very much a work in progress, but I believe we are moving towards a very sustainable and successful plan that will allow us to make Mallory Square a friendlier place. Through public input, the firm set out to remedy the most common problems with the square to make the area more viable as an attraction beyond the Sunset Celebration. One of the main criticisms gleaned from public input is that it is too hot and sunny for extended use beyond mornings and afternoons. Others expressed concerns that the area needs more amenities for user comfort, like restrooms, shade and seating. Many felt that the area was cluttered with visual obstructions and accessed by narrow passages, making it more challenging to locate and access on foot. Others were concerned that the square faces back-of-house areas and parking lots that detract from the enjoyment. To reach those goals, Sasaki introduced its vision for Mallory Square, centering around a prominent shade feature inspired by the coral reefs surrounding the island city. Plans also call for amenities such as new, elevated restrooms, a water feature and designated entry corridors accented with lights, trees, and other attractive features that let pedestrians know they are headed the right way. Performance areas will also be expanded and highlighted in the Sunset Celebration. One of the most significant obstacles in the reimagining is parking. The current plans call for approximately one-third of the existing parking on the squares north side to be reclaimed to expand the areas footprint. Key West Mayor Teri Johnston said city staff and planners are looking for other alternatives for parking. One possible solution could be adding second-story level parking at the Caroline Street Parking Garage adjacent to BOs Fish Wagon and Waterfront Brewery. Johnston said the entire project is crucial in tying the waterfront together, from Dantes to Mallory Square and eventually to Truman Waterfront Park. This is very important in tying everything together, said Johnston. And that brings up the issue of Admirals Cut. We hope that we can improve our relationship with the owners of The Opal to make that happen. Admirals Cut is the one break between Mallory Square and Truman Waterfront. The city has been attempting to build a pedestrian walkway over the water for more than 15 years. Vice Mayor Sam Kaufman agreed with Johnston. I and other commissioners, as well as city staff, have been meeting with the owners to improve our relationship and try to get all parties to understand that we are all in this together, said Kaufman. I think everybody wants the same thing: What is in the best interest of our residents, business owners, visitors and the city. The public can view and comment on the plans by visiting http://www.mallorysquare.engage.sasaki.com. ted@tedlund.com 1 of 1 , khaskhabar.com : , 06 2023 2:02 PM Barnardos childrens charity today launched their annual Big Toddle with the support of ambassador Amy Huberman. The theme this year, Big Toddle Little Heroes, celebrates Irelands youngest fundraisers who help vulnerable children their own age by completing a fun half-mile sponsored walk in their creche, childcare group, pre-school or with their families. Over the last 20 years, toddlers from across the country have raised an incredible 4.46 million in support of Barnardos Early Years services. This work focuses on some of the youngest and most vulnerable children to come through our doors and ensures that they get the best start in life. Big Toddle Ambassador Amy Huberman said I am delighted to be part of Barnardos Big Toddle and most importantly to support the work of Barnardos. I have been an Ambassador for 10 years now and supporting children to have a better start in life is something very close to my heart. So, to join in the fun, register today at www.barnardos/bigtoddle. Enjoy and happy toddling everyone!' Barnardos Director of Fundraising, Mary Gamble said: The Big Toddle at 20 years old is such a huge achievement for all our little heroes who have supported our vulnerable families and children across the country for so long. We sincerely thank everyone who has made it such a success. At Barnardos, we know that childhood lasts a lifetime and with the continued help of Irelands littlest fundraisers, we can reach even more vulnerable children who need us. Get involved by registering your family or creche online at barnardos/bigtoddle." Whether youre a creche, a parent or a childminder, you can organise your own Barnardos Big Toddle anytime in May or June by registering at www.barnardos.ie/bigtoddle - your support ensures that some of the youngest and most vulnerable children in Ireland are given the best possible start in life. The crowds came out from all over Kilkenny as the county gathered for Darkness Into Light 2023. Saturday mornings event, a major fundraiser for Pieta House, saw people of all ages rise early and walk together as a community to bring hope to people who have been impacted by suicide Described as the most important sunrise of the year, Darkness Into Light helps Pieta House provide free vital services to people impacted by suicide and self-harm. Kilkenny was home to two official walks again this year, the long-established City event being joined by one that left from Inistioges Cois Abhann Community Centre. In the city the James Stephens barracks was the designated base for an army of yellow-clad walkers and runners who left at 4.15am for their 5km journey. The route took people down the Canal Walk alongside Kilkenny Castle, before doubling back along the Parade and High Street, making its way back to the barracks. There, as the dawn broke, people were greeted by the Lady Desart Choir and a series of uplifting songs, while refreshments were served to all. This years Darkness Into Light saw 200 official walks take place in 15 countries across five continents. People can still make donations by visiting: https://www.darknessintolight.ie/donate People in Mullinavat 'can't even build a house' at present due to the poor water infrastructure in the area, according to local councillor Eamon Aylward. Cllr Aylward made the remark at the most recent meeting of Piltown Municipal District. "We've been looking for a sewerage upgrade in Mullinavat for ten years," he told elected members. "You cant even build a house in the village because of the way the system is at the moment." Irish Water became a focal point of discussion after Cllr Pat Dunphy stated that the water utility company had turned down an invitation to attend a future meeting of Piltown Municipal District. "Mooncoin has more leaks than almost any other part of the country," Cllr Dunphy said, and "in their letter in response Irish Water have shown no acceptance to attend a meeting with us." Cllr Dunphy further stated that the advice given to councillors by Irish Water was to attend local Irish Water consultations and councillor clinics instead. To that, Cllr Eamon Aylward described the advice as 'a waste of time'. "I give up going to them," he said. "This communication issue between local councillors and Irish Water can be found right across the country. In an overall context access to Irish Water needs to be improved and that's something that's being worked on at present in conjunction with AILG (Association of Irish Local Government)." Cllr Fidelis Doherty stated that 'they [Irish Water] must recognise theres an issue here, they should just meet the cause and have the conversation and deal with it'. Cllr Ger Frisby concurred with the speakers, adding that 'there has to be pressure kept on Irish Water the whole time'. "We can see the benefits of improved water infrastructure at present in Slieverue," he said, "but it's not good enough that its not being done in other areas where it's badly needed." Cllr Tomas Breathnach further added to the discussion, stating that 'whats important from a South Kilkenny perspective is input into review of Irish Water investment programme'. One of the stars of the hit US television show Seal Team has said it is good to be home as he returned to Ireland for the Irish Film and Television Awards. AJ Buckley, who plays Sonny Quinn on the gritty Paramount+ military drama, was born to Irish parents who lived in Dublin and came from a South Kilkenny family, before his family emigrated to Canada when he was six years old. Even though I wasnt here in Ireland, I was still surrounded by storytelling and whatnot. There was a big Irish community I grew up around and, like any big Irish family, theres always the singing and the dancing, the spoons come out and the bodhran and having a party. He said he could not exactly put his finger on the feeling of being back. Theres just something here, its like you feel a real connection. I think the Irish people are the hardest-working group of people in the world and they take such pride in what they do, and its that force of the connection to your family that the richness in your life is the memories you have with your family. He said he wants to bring his children to Ireland in summer 2024. Buckley even traces the moment he decided to become an actor back to Dublin, when he was five years old and watching a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the citys Abbey Theatre. I remember when Sneezy came on stage, the audience laughed and I remembered how it tickled my ear. I asked my mom, What are those guys up on stage and she said, Theyre actors. Since that moment, its the only thing Ive ever wanted to do. Buckley recalls that his acting journey had many highs and lows but even the toughest parts brought great perspective. He said there was a time he was sleeping in his car for a year and a half, before finding success in his most well known appearances in CSI: New York, Justified and now the successful Seal Team. He said he had previously played nerdy characters but wanted to get into a John McClane (the protagonist in the Die Hard movies) type role, his favourite character. I just worked my ass off to try and put on size and just physically changed how I looked. He said he is thankful every day for the Seal Team job, where he gets to ride around on Black Hawk helicopters and work alongside real former Navy Seals. It is the best job I ever had in the world call it the luck of the Irish. Seal Team was originally due to start filming its seventh season this month, but the ongoing Hollywood writers strike means call times are up in the air. Buckley said the shows could not get made without great scripts but said he does not think it is the right time to strike. I 100% agree with the writers and actors need to strike, I just dont think its smart to strike right now. Were just coming out of Covid, people are barely hanging on, were in a recession, studios have let whatever 10,000 people go in the last six weeks, their stocks are down. So, you know, you dont go to war when you have weak men. I just hope and pray they could figure it out sooner rather than later. Because people like the crew who work pay cheque to pay cheque, those people are going to get hurt the most. Maybe Im wrong, but I dont want to see anybody get hurt and I dont think the writers want to see anybody get hurt. Buckley will join guests from around the world to mark an incredible year for Irish filmmaking at the 20th anniversary IFTA awards on Sunday May 7. He praised Irish production, noting one of his all-time favourite shows is the Irish crime drama Love/Hate. He also singled out Barry Keoghans performance in the Oscar-nominated The Banshees of Inisherin. I really think hes hes probably one of my like, new favourite actors. His performance, hes so subtle with his thing and hes so sincere. Buckley said it would be a bucket list thing to work on an Irish stage or screen production in the future. Ive really wanted to come and just sink my teeth in and work with all these phenomenal filmmakers and storytellers. According to Screen Ireland, among the Actor Award nominees on the night are Keoghan, Jessie Buckley, Brendan Gleeson, Caitriona Balfe, Andrew Scott, Colin Farrell, Sharon Horgan, Ciaran Hinds, Paul Mescal, Stephen Rea and Anne-Marie Duff. Also in contention for an award are Aisling Franciosi, Sarah Greene, Genevieve OReilly, Kerry Condon, Pierce Brosnan, Dervla Kirwan, Jason OMara, and Liam Neeson. First-time IFTA nominees in attendance include: Daryl McCormack, Siobhan McSweeney, Danielle Galligan, Alison Oliver, Roisin Gallagher, Kelly Gough, Vinnie McCabe, Kerr Logan, and newcomers Zara Devlin, Ollie West, Kila Lord Cassidy and Alisha Weir. Irish actors also attending include: John C Reilly, Liam Cunningham, Charlie Murphy, Victoria Smurfit, Niamh Algar and Clare Dunne, among others. Eternal Flavors Bakery (5600 W. Dartmouth Ave.) This Mexican-owned family bakery in Denver's Bear Valley neighborhood was started by Melchor Ocampo, formerly the head baker at Larimer Square icon the Market for nearly three decades. The operation has since grown to include his daughter Ruth Simonson as general manager with plans to expand into a deli as well. While the cakes, pastries and more change seasonally, look out for fan-favorite the 'Spring Fling' cake all year round. Cultura Chocolate (3742 Morrison Road) Owner Damaris Ronkanen grew up visiting her grandparents in Mexico, recalling, "her abuela made the best champurrado (chocolate atole) and mole sauce in town," she wrote on Cultura's website. The company specializes in craft chocolate bars, atole and chocolate beverages with an emphasis on sustainability. Combi Taco (Delivery and catering only) Sign Up For Free: Denver Gazette Outdoors Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Although closed this weekend, Combi Taco has a wide selection of authentic Mexican flavors with a new twist, owner Alejandro Flores-Munoz said in a Westword interview. Flores-Munoz also is a vendor at HELLOFOOD, Meow Wolf's cafe, where he sells various flavors of aguas frescas. Work & Class (2500 Larimer St.) Co-owners Tony Maciag and Dana Rodriguez, who grew up in Detroit and on a farm in Chihuahua, Mexico respectively come to embody the American and Latin fusion at the Five Points eatery. Rodriguez is also behind Cantina Loca in the Highlands. Pato's Tacos (5038 E. Colfax Ave,) After moving to Denver from Mexico City in 2021, Patricio Pato Penalosa opened Pato's Tacos, bringing expertise from the region's well-documented taco scene. Pato's has a wide array of traditional tacos such as the pastor and cecina (thin-sliced beef curated in salt) as well as vegan flavors like jackfruit. Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 79F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies early with scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low 61F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Nearly one year ago, 17-year-old Riley Whitelaw was killed in the break room of the Colorado Springs Walgreens where she worked. The horrific details of the crime, allegedly committed by an adult co-worker who Riley had previously complained against, quickly consumed state and national news. In a matter of days, many of Rileys relatives, friends and classmates heard about her death from the news before Rileys family had the chance to reach out themselves. My family and I had no time to grieve in private, said Courtenay Whitelaw, Rileys mother, while testifying to the state legislature. The children didnt deserve to find out such horrors from news or social media. ... Riley preferred to stay out of the limelight. Yet, here we are after her death. Overexposed in headline news, not for the human she is, but for the crime against her. On Friday, Colorado lawmakers unanimously passed Senate Bill 75 in an attempt to prevent this situation from happening again. If signed into law, the bill would remove identifying information of victims and witnesses who are minors from criminal justice records released to the public, replacing names with child victim or child witness. This would make it so that children and teenagers who are victims or witnesses of crimes cannot be identified by public records. Lawmakers named the bill "Riley's Law" during the final vote on Friday. "This bill is about a mom who is fighting for her daughter and her friends," said bill sponsor Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada, through tears during the vote. "We thought it would be fitting that, she's worked so hard for this bill, that we name it after her daughter." During a public hearing on the bill, Rileys family, friends and classmates from Air Academy High School said they cannot escape the gruesome details of her death even months later, still coming across articles and true crime TikToks rehashing descriptions of what happened. The friends also spoke of their high school classmate, who was identified as a witness to Riley's murder in public records, saying she is frequently shamed by their peers for not doing something to save Riley. Im trying to protect the safety, welfare and emotional and mental health of minors, said bill sponsor Sen. Tony Exum, D-Colorado Springs. Putting childrens privacy at risk is unacceptable. ... Tell your story, but redact the names. Under current law, the names of victims who are minors are only redacted in public records in the cases of certain sexual crimes. However, when minors commit crimes, their identities are not released in public records unless they are charged as adults. Perpetrators are protected more than victims, Exum said. Thats not right. Thats not fair. In addition to protecting mental health, proponents of the bill argued it would protect minors physical health, saying releasing the names of minors who witnessed crimes can put them in danger of retaliation. In November 2021, a mass shooting occurred at Hinkley High School in Aurora. Mayor Mike Coffman said the names and addresses of teenage witnesses to the shooting were inadvertently released in an arrest affidavit published in the local newspaper. Coffman said this led to the witnesses being bullied at school and one being placed in protective custody after his house was shot up. The bills other sponsor Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, has been personally affected by this kind of witness retaliation. In 2005, Fields' son, Javad Marshall-Fields, and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, were murdered in Aurora the day after Marshall-Fields was threatened for being a witness in an upcoming murder trial. Im seeking justice on behalf of kids that are involved in being a witness, Fields said during the bill's committee hearing. It puts them at risk. ... We are responsible for protecting kids. The bill includes a good cause exception, meaning someone could petition the court to release the identity of minor victims or witnesses if there is public interest in accessing their identity. The petitioner would have to prove that the good to the public from releasing the identity would outweigh potential harm to the privacy of the minor and their family. The House passed the bill in a 63-0 vote on Friday, following the Senate's 34-0 passage last month. The bill will next be sent back to the Senate to approve the name change to "Riley's Law." Then, it will go to Gov. Jared Polis for final consideration. If signed by the governor, the bill would take effect in 2024. The bill would only redact minors names and identifying information from records going forward, not retroactively applying to past criminal justice records. It would not apply to records for traffic violations. BlackRock Throgmorton Trust plc (LON:THRG Get Rating) shares crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of GBX 585.40 ($7.31) and traded as high as GBX 598 ($7.47). BlackRock Throgmorton Trust shares last traded at GBX 593 ($7.41), with a volume of 116,639 shares. BlackRock Throgmorton Trust Price Performance The firm has a market cap of 601.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -201.69 and a beta of 1.23. The firms 50 day moving average price is GBX 584.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 597.67. Get BlackRock Throgmorton Trust alerts: BlackRock Throgmorton Trust Increases Dividend The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 23rd were given a GBX 8.50 ($0.11) dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 23rd. This represents a yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from BlackRock Throgmorton Trusts previous dividend of $2.60. BlackRock Throgmorton Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -371.62%. Insider Activity at BlackRock Throgmorton Trust About BlackRock Throgmorton Trust In other news, insider Glen Suarez acquired 4,800 shares of BlackRock Throgmorton Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 632 ($7.90) per share, for a total transaction of 30,336 ($37,901.05). 3.45% of the stock is owned by insiders. (Get Rating) BlackRock Throgmorton Trust plc is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by BlackRock Fund Managers Limited. It is managed by BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited. The fund invests in the public equity markets of the United Kingdom. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. See Also Receive News & Ratings for BlackRock Throgmorton Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BlackRock Throgmorton Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CCL Industries Inc. (TSE:CCL.A Get Rating)s share price crossed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$63.70 and traded as high as C$64.50. CCL Industries shares last traded at C$63.50, with a volume of 200 shares changing hands. CCL Industries Stock Performance The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$63.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.37. The company has a market capitalization of C$755.20 million, a PE ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 0.61. About CCL Industries (Get Rating) CCL Industries Inc manufactures and sells labels, containers, consumer printable media products, technology driven label solutions, polymer bank note substrates, and specialty films. The company operates through four segments: CCL, Avery, Checkpoint, and Innovia. The CCL segment offers pressure sensitive and specialty extruded film materials for decorative, instructional, functional, and security applications in the consumer packaging, healthcare, chemicals, consumer electronic device, and automotive markets. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for CCL Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CCL Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cochlear Limited (OTCMKTS:CHEOY Get Rating)s share price traded up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $83.50 and last traded at $83.50. 838 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 3,957 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.20. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Separately, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Cochlear from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Get Cochlear alerts: Cochlear Price Performance The firms 50-day simple moving average is $79.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.47. Cochlear Cuts Dividend Cochlear Company Profile The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 19th were given a $0.0408 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Saturday, March 18th. This represents a yield of 1.17%. Cochlears dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.84%. (Get Rating) Cochlear Ltd. engages in the provision of implantable hearing solutions. The firm operates through the following segments: Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Its products include cochlear, bone conduction and acoustic implants. The company was founded by Michael S. Hirshorn in 1981 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Cochlear Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cochlear and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Maximus (NYSE:MMS Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning. Separately, Raymond James increased their price target on Maximus from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Get Maximus alerts: Maximus Price Performance Shares of MMS opened at $80.50 on Friday. Maximus has a 12-month low of $54.46 and a 12-month high of $85.25. The businesss fifty day moving average is $79.87 and its 200 day moving average is $73.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.65 and a beta of 0.69. Maximus Announces Dividend Maximus ( NYSE:MMS Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The health services provider reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Maximus had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 3.62%. Maximuss quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Maximus will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. Maximuss dividend payout ratio is presently 39.86%. Insider Activity In other news, insider Ilene R. Baylinson sold 9,550 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.74, for a total transaction of $790,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,044 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $831,040.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Maximus Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Maximus by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 17,812 shares of the health services providers stock worth $1,402,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Maximus by 174.0% in the 1st quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 56,502 shares of the health services providers stock worth $4,446,000 after purchasing an additional 35,878 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Maximus by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 26,285 shares of the health services providers stock worth $2,069,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Maximus by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 15,257 shares of the health services providers stock worth $1,201,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the period. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its stake in Maximus by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 11,000 shares of the health services providers stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.41% of the companys stock. About Maximus (Get Rating) MAXIMUS, Inc engages in the operation of government health and human services programs, and the provision of technology solutions to government. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Services, U.S. Federal Services, and Outside the U.S. The U.S. Services segment offers business process services (BPS), appeals and assessments, and related consulting work for U.S. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Maximus Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Maximus and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Paradox Interactive AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:PRXXF Get Rating)s stock price traded down 4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $24.49 and last traded at $24.49. 113 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 337 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.50. Paradox Interactive AB (publ) Stock Performance The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.66. Paradox Interactive AB (publ) Company Profile (Get Rating) Paradox Interactive AB (publ) develops and publishes games and brands for PC, mobile, and console platforms primarily in North and Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. The company's game portfolio comprises various franchises and brands, including Stellaris, Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, Cities: Skylines, Surviving Mars, Prison Architect, Magicka, Age of Wonders, Victoria, and the World of Darkness. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Paradox Interactive AB (publ) Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Paradox Interactive AB (publ) and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Timken (NYSE:TKR Get Rating) issued an update on its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $7.00-$7.50 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $7.02. The company issued revenue guidance of $4.92 billion-$4.92 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $4.85 billion. Timken also updated its FY23 guidance to $7.00-7.50 EPS. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages have weighed in on TKR. Bank of America upgraded shares of Timken from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $71.00 to $87.00 in a report on Friday, January 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Timken from $78.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Timken from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Timken from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Timken from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Timken presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $91.75. Get Timken alerts: Timken Trading Up 3.6 % Shares of TKR stock traded up $2.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $76.79. The companys stock had a trading volume of 535,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 628,275. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $79.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.54. Timken has a 12-month low of $50.85 and a 12-month high of $89.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.54. Timken Dividend Announcement Timken ( NYSE:TKR Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The industrial products company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.24. Timken had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 20.72%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Timken will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 17th. Timkens dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.63%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, CEO Richard G. Kyle sold 24,841 shares of Timken stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.97, for a total transaction of $2,135,580.77. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,082 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $32,933,559.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 9.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TKR. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Timken by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 5,062 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Timken by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,785 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in shares of Timken by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 31,276 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,847,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Timken by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,584 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Timken by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 9,814 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. 82.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Timken Company Profile (Get Rating) The Timken Co engages in the engineering, manufacturing, and marketing of bearings and industrial motion products. In addition to bearings, it offers drives, belts, chains, lubrication systems, couplings, industrial clutches, and brakes. It operates through the Mobile and Process Industries segments. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Timken Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Timken and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Lake Tulare in California on 1 February 2023 and 30 April 2023, as seen from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASAs Landsat 8 satellite, and the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on the Landsat 9 satellite. In the spring of 2023, the long-dried basin of Lake Tulare rapidly refilled in the wake of intense rainfall and snowmelt. Photo: NASA By Jess Thomson 5 May 2023 (Newsweek) The long-dried basin of Lake Tulare in California has rapidly refilled in the wake of intense rainfall and snowmelt. The speed and scale of the southern San Joaquin Valley lakes return can be seen in images taken from space by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASAs Landsat 8 satellite, and the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on the Landsat 9 satellite. The flooded lakebed has already wreaked havoc across nearby agricultural land, home to, tomatoes, dairy, safflower, pistachios, wheat, and almonds. Further melting of the record-breaking snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains is expected to exacerbate the lakes flooding, as well as the impact on local residents and farmers. The NASA images are in false color to make the water appear more clearly: vegetation is green, bare ground is brown, and water is dark blue. Water level of the Merced River at Pohono Bridge, 19 April 2023 23 April 2023. Graphic: Hanford Weather forecast Office Tulare Lake used to be one of the largest freshwater lakes west of the Mississippi River. However, for the past 100 or so years, it has been drained due to the rivers that feed it being dammed and diverted. In the years since, the dried lakebed was overtaken by farms, which grew crops on the fertile lakebed soils. Now, however, as a result of heavy rainfall across the state due to the several powerful atmospheric rivers that have battered California, and the beginning of the big melt from the Sierra snowpack, Tulare has rapidly refilled. The story with the flooding in Tulare Lake is that it is a closed basin with no natural outlet, Nicholas Pinter, professor of applied geosciences and associate director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California Davis, previously told Newsweek. Since draining the lake in the early 1900s, it has been seasonally flooded again in 1938, 1955, 1983, 1997, and 2017. Given the current Sierra snowpack, flooding of the lake is likely to rival and possibly exceed 1983, when 130 square miles of former lakebed were refilled and took 2 years to drain, he said. The Lake Tulare regions agricultural industry is worth around $2 billion, so this flooding will be a massive expense to locals. Pastures and dairies have been flooded and cattle have been moved, United States Department of Agriculture meteorologist, Brad Rippey, previously told Newsweek. Orchards and fields have been submerged. Trees in orchards that spend time with their roots underwater will soon be lost and will need to be replanted, causing a years-long gap in production for those fruit and nut crops. Aerial view of floodwaters inundating farmland in the reemerging Tulare Lake, in Californias Central Valley, on 27 April 2023 near Corcoran, California. Photo: Mario Tama / Getty Images As the record-breaking, four-times average snowpack melts, Tulare isnt the only area at risk of excess flooding. The waterfalls in Yosemite National Park have been flowing at extremely high rates, and there are fears that the Merced River, which flows through Yosemite, may flood during the first week of May. The National Weather Service predicted that the Merced may exceed its 10-foot limit, reaching up to 12.5 feet in some areas. It warned visitors to the park to use extreme caution anywhere near flowing water; stay back from riverbanks. This may be in part due to Californias past two decades in the grip of a megadrought, which has dried out the soil and deplenished the groundwater supplies. This means that the soil struggles to reabsorb water, causing rapidly melting snow to instead run over the ground, leading to flash flooding. A recent article [from CalMatters] nicely described this as Californias precipitation paradox: the state has both too much water and not enough, Keith Musselman, an assistant professor at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder, previously told Newsweek. On the one hand, the State has more water than it can handle with more on the way as near-record snowpack in the Sierra Nevada begins to melt. On the other hand, there isnt enough water to satisfy the States long-term needs, and memories of drought stress and wildfire risk are still fresh, he said. [more] Tulare Lake Flooding Due to Snowpack Melt Seen From Space South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend a welcoming ceremony at the presidential office in Seoul on May 7. Reuters-Yonhap President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul on Sunday for the second summit in less than two months, a highly symbolic meeting demonstrating the neighboring nations are firmly on course to the full restoration of long-frayed relations. Yoon welcomed Kishida to the presidential office in Seoul in an official arrival ceremony that included the playing of the two countries' national anthems and a joint honor guard review. Kishida arrived in Seoul earlier in the day for a two-day working visit and stopped at Seoul National Cemetery to pay his respects to Korea's fallen independence activists and war veterans before heading to the presidential office. Kishida's visit comes as bilateral relations have warmed significantly following Seoul's decision in March to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor without contributions from Japanese firms. Yoon traveled to Tokyo 10 days after the decision was announced and held a summit with Kishida as the first South Korean president to pay a bilateral visit to Japan in 12 years. Kishida's visit is also the first bilateral visit by a Japanese leader in 12 years, marking the full-scale resumption of "shuttle diplomacy," or regular mutual visits, as agreed between Yoon and Kishida during their summit in Tokyo in March. Later in the day, Yoon and Kishida will hold a joint news conference, and then have dinner at the official presidential residence, where they will be joined by first lady Kim Keon Hee and Kishida's wife, Yuko, according to diplomatic sources. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko Kishida, arrive at Seoul Air Base, south of Seoul, May 7. Yonhap The summit was first held in a small group and will later be held in an expanded format, covering issues such as security, high-tech industries, science and technology, and cooperation on youth and cultural affairs, according to the presidential office. North Korea will feature high on the agenda as South Korea pushes to strengthen cooperation with Japan and trilaterally with the United States to counter the growing threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. Yoon recently returned from a state visit to Washington, where he and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed on a set of measures to support the U.S. "extended deterrence" commitment to defending South Korea with all of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons. A joint summit statement noted the two presidents also "emphasized the importance of U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation, guided by shared values, driven by innovation, and committed to shared prosperity and security." ROK is the acronym of South Korea's formal name, the Republic of Korea. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives at Seoul Air Base, south of Seoul, May 7. Yonhap Trade and economic issues will likely be high on the agenda as well, given calls for South Korea and Japan to work more closely together to defend their interests in high-tech industries, such as semiconductors and batteries, as the U.S. and the European Union move to protect their own industries. South Koreans will be watching closely for any discussion of Japan's plan to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant crippled by an earthquake and a tsunami in 2011. South Korea hopes Japan will agree to a joint investigation of the contaminated water in addition to the monitoring currently under way by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The two countries are also in the process of restoring each other as trusted trading partners after having removed each other from their respective "white lists" of nations eligible for preferential export treatment amid the forced labor row in 2019. The presidential office said the summit is unlikely to produce a joint statement, though the final decision will be made during the talks and the leaders will announce the outcome of the summit at a joint press conference. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida burns incense as his wife Yuko Kishida stands during a visit to Seoul National Cemetery, May 7. Reuters-Yonhap Yes, by at least $1 Yes, by $2 or more No Vote View Results Kendallville, IN (46755) Today A mix of clouds and sun. High 69F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds. Low near 45F. Winds light and variable. The Quantum Information Future Industry Summit was held at Zhong'an Chuanggu Technology Park in the Hefei high-tech zone on April 28. Plans were formulated to boost the quantum technology industry in the zone, located in Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui. According to the plans, the zone will serve as home to over 100 quantum information technology companies and will be a national hub for science and technology innovation and incubation in this industry by 2025. By that deadline more than 30 multidisciplinary scientists in the field of quantum technology will be cultivated and introduced in Hefei high-tech zone, along with 50 innovation and entrepreneurial teams, with more than 10,000 employees in total. The total valuation of core enterprises in the quantum field in Hefei high-tech zone is projected to reach 70 billion yuan ($10.14 billion), and its quantum technology-related industries will form a 10-billion-yuan industrial cluster. The zone's science and technology bureau also issued a plan on site to develop a science and technology park for future industries, and 12 quantum technology enterprises signed contacts to settle in the zone. King Charles III's coronation ceremony commences today. Several Indians will be part of the coronation ceremony to represent the nation at the royal event in London. Vice President Jaideep Dhankar along with his wife Sudesh Dhankar will represent India at the royal spectacle among numerous celebrities and heads of government from across the world. Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor will also be performing spoken word at King's enthronement ceremony as earlier reported by US-based media house Variety. Two Dabbawalas from Mumbai's Dabbawalas, famous worldwide for their lunchbox delivery in the metropolitan city are also invited to the royal ceremony. King Charles III Coronation: Video of Katy Perry Struggling To Find Her Seat at Westminster Abbey Goes Viral WATCH. The Dabbawalas bought Puneri Pagadi and a shawl of the Warkari community. Puner Pagadi is a unique style of turban and is considered a symbol of pride and honour in Pune. It was granted the Geographical Indication status in the year 2009. Numerous community workers connected to King Charles's charity work will also attend the royal extravaganza. Architect Sourabh Phadke, alumnus of Charles Foundation's Building Craft Programme and the Prince's Foundation School of Traditional Arts, with Gulfsa, 33, a Delhi resident who won the Prince's Trust Globe Award will be attending the event. Jay Patel who resides in Canada is also invited as he completed Prince's Trust Canada's Youth Employment programme last year. King Charles III Coronation: Tom Cruise Set to Attend the Event at Windsor Castle. Indian-origin British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will recite from the biblical book of Colossians at the coronation ceremony. Sunak with his wife Akshata Murty will lead the procession of delegates. To mark the representation of different faiths at the enthronement ceremony peers of Rishi Sunak, Lord Indrajit Singh and Lord Syed Kamall of Indo-Guyanese heritage will attend the ceremony. Lord Indrajit will stand in for the Sikh faith and Lord Syed Kamali for Muslim belief. New Delhi, May 6 (PTI) As Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a roadshow in Bengaluru on Saturday, the Congress called him a "master of distortion" and alleged that he will only inflame prejudice and bigotry in his rally. Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said the PM's roadshow will block the entire city and create chaos and uncertainty for students writing exams. It shows how desperate the PM is, he said. Also Read | Rajasthan: Three Men Die of Noxious Fumes While Cleaning Septic Tank in Pali. "The Master Of Distortion and Incitement ('Abuse' No. 92??) is arriving in Bengaluru today. "We already know what he'll say to inflame prejudice and bigotry," he said on Twitter. Also Read | Manipur Violence: Situation Improved After Security Forces Intervention, Says State DGP P Doungel (Watch Video). Ramesh said that the prime minister will stay absolutely silent on the real issues of Karnataka, which according to the Congress leader were "40 per cent commission sarkar, intolerable price rise, rising unemployment, and a forever under-construction and dug-up Bengaluru." "This time the despair is so high that his #40km40percent roadshow over 2 days is locking up an entire city, creating chaos & uncertainty for students writing crucial exams, and felling a number of trees ," Ramesh said. "Have you ever seen a PM this desperate," he asked. Modi began his 26 km roadshow in the city Saturday morning, campaigning for BJP candidates ahead of May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka. The roadshow from Someshwar Bhavan RBI ground in Bengaluru South to Malleshwaram's Sankey Tank is expected to be covered in about three and half hours, according to party sources. Modi's roadshow today will be passing through parts of south and central Bengaluru, crossing about a dozen Assembly segments, they said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi [India], May 6 (ANI): Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Saturday visited several historical and archaeological sites at the Mehrauli Archaeological Park and directed the authorities concerned to work out a time-bound plan for restoration, preservation and removal of encroachments from in and around the heritage places, an official statement issued by the office of Delhi LG said on Saturday. "The Lieutenant Governor, who was accompanied by Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakashi Lekhi, instructed officials concerned to take special care in repair and restoration works and directed them that carved stones and relics found at the site and during restoration should be separated and preserved and should be kept for proper display in an upcoming museum at the location," the press release said. Also Read | Manipur Violence: Rapid Action Force Conducts Flag March at Imphal in Violence-Hit State; 16,000 People Evacuated So Far. LG Delhi instructed the officials to sort out their differences and work in coordination for the works related to restoration and development at the site. "The restoration and beautification of these places have to be done in coordination between the ASI, DDA and other authorities concerned in a time-bound manner," LG Saxena said. Also Read | Manipur Violence: Telangana Government To Send Special Aircraft to Imphal To Evacuate Stranded Students and Citizens. "Lieutenant Governor made it clear that the departments concerned should have to sort out their differences and can also take the assistance of the expert in the respective field. At the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, some areas fall under the domain of ASI and some under the DDA," the official statement said. LG Saxena and Union Minister Lekhi were also accompanied by Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar and senior officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Delhi Development Authority (DDA). They visited the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, which houses Balban's Tomb, Kamali Jamali Mosque and other historical structures, apart from the iconic Qutub Minar. They also visited "Baolis" nestled in the thick reserve forest "Sanjay Van" which is a part of the South Central Ridge near Qutub Minar in south Delhi, the press release mentioned. At the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, LG Saxena was briefed about the situation prevailing there by Lekhi and some experts suggested measures to be taken for the restoration and development of medieval era ruler Balban's tomb, Jamali-Kamali Mosque, Rajaon Ki Baoli and other historical structures and water bodies, the statement said. While inspecting the site, the Lieutenant Governor instructed that "carved stones, relics (unattended) have to be separated and preserved. It has to be kept for the museum." The last stop of LG Saxena was at the Sanjay Van where he was told by the ASI officials and experts that objects recovered during the excavation concerned Jain idols and some other idols had been recovered, the press release mentioned. In this regard, LG stressed that restoration work for the water bodies at the Sanjay Van has to be expedited. "At a site in the complex where other activities were permitted without restrictions, LG Saxena directed DDA to undertake extensive landscaping and facilitate the development of an Eatery, for the thousands of visitors and tourists who throng these sites," it mentioned. On the occasion, Union MoS for External and Culture, Meenakshi Lekhi said, "People know about rulers who built these structures but there is a need to know about the rulers who establish the place before them. Much is beneath. People have to know about the Tomar dynasty and Prithviraj Chauhan". (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], May 6 (ANI): Delhi Police arrested one person for allegedly stabbing his brother-in-law to death over some personal dispute. The police said on Saturday that the arrest was made by the patrolling staff of Begumpur Police Station, Rohini, Delhi. Also Read | Manipur Violence: Telangana Government To Send Special Aircraft to Imphal To Evacuate Stranded Students and Citizens. The accused has been identified as Pankaj alias Golu (30), who is a resident of Kirari Suleman Nagar, Delhi. The bike used in committing the crime, and the blood-stained clothes were also recovered and seized, the police added. Also Read | Delhi Reports 113 New COVID-19 Cases, Three Deaths in Past 24 Hours; Active Cases Stands at 1,097. DCP Rohini, Guriqbal Singh Sidhu on Saturday said that the crack team of Begumpur Police Station were deployed for patrolling duty in the area. During the patrol, a suspicious person was found near Kali Mata Mandir towards Sector-32 road, where he was roaming on a motorcycle with blood-stained clothes. As per the police, on being questioned, the suspect disclosed his name as 'Pankaj'. He initially tried to mislead the police by saying that he met an accident by falling from his bike, due to which he got these blood stains, however, he didn't sustain any severe injury. On further questioning, the suspect claimed that the blood stains while he was working at his meat shop' However, he failed to give any satisfactory answer to the address of the shop and name of the owner, the police said. During the further enquiry, Pankaj claimed that he used to have frequent arguments with his wife, after which his in-laws who reside two houses away from his house used to intervene. His brother-in-law, Vikash alias Akash used to come to his house, and abuse and beat the accused. Pankaj decided to take revenge. On May 5, at 12: 15 pm, he took Vikas out for food and took him to the park near Nangloi Railway Station Pankaj had brought a chopping knife with him and started stabbing Vikas. Once, Vikas' body stopped moving after multiple stabbings, Pankaj left the spot. Upon reaching Nangloi Railway Station, he washed his blood-stained hands and tried to clean the blood on his clothes with water but suspecting people watching him, he ran away with his knife. After this, he was nabbed by the patrolling team, the police added. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], May 6 (ANI): Himachal Pradesh reported 47 new cases of COVID19 in the last 24 hours, the state health department informed through a bulletin on Friday. No death was reported in the past 24 hours while 151 people recovered in the same period, it said. Also Read | Russia: Outrage After Director and Playwright Detained. Meanwhile, 716 people were tested in the state and the active cases currently stand at 548. On the other hand, India reported 3,611 new cases of Covid19 in the last 24 hours while the number of active cases dropped to 33,232, according to the daily bulletin released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday. Also Read | Credit Suisse Buys Ecuador Bonds for Galapagos Conservation. Active cases stand at 0.07 per cent of the total active cases and the recovery rate is 98.74 per cent. 1,930 Covid-19 doses were administered in the last 24 hours. 220.66 cr Total Vaccine doses (95.21 cr Second Dose and 22.87 cr Precaution Dose) have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive, the Ministry said in its bulletin. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that the Covid19 pandemic is over as a global health emergency. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, made the announcement while addressing a media briefing on Covid-19 and global health issues. "It is therefore with great hope that I declare #Covid19 over as a global health emergency. However, that does not mean Covid-19 is over as a global health threat. Last week, Covid-19 claimed a life every three minutes - and that's just the deaths we know about," he said. "As we speak, thousands of people around the world are fighting for their lives in intensive care units. And millions more continue to live with the debilitating effects of post-#Covid19 condition," the Director General of WHO added. The WHO had declared Covid-19 as a global emergency in January 2020. "1221 days ago, WHO learned of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China. On the 30th January 2020, on the advice of an Emergency Committee convened under the International Health Regulations, I declared a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of #Covid19 - the highest level of alarm under international law," Tedros said. "At that time, outside China there were fewer than 100 reported [#Covid19] cases, and no reported deaths. In the 3 years since then, Covid-19 has turned our world upside down. Almost 7 million deaths have been reported to WHO, but we know the toll is several times higher - at least 20 million," he noted. "What this news means is that it is time for countries to transition from emergency mode to managing #Covid19 alongside other infectious diseases," he added. (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, May 6 (PTI) Indian naval sailing vessel Tarini is on her return passage to India after a six-month-long transoceanic intercontinental expedition that commenced from Goa in November 2022, officials said on Saturday. During the expedition, Tarini sailed to Rio de Janerio, Brazil via Cape Town, South Africa, participating in Cape to Rio Race 2023, and she will complete an arduous 17,000 nautical miles passage when she touches the Indian shores again, a senior Navy official said. Also Read | ABP News C-Voter Opinion Poll of Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Final Survey Shows Congress Still in the Lead in Poll-Bound. "Indian Naval Sailing Vessel Tarini is currently on her return passage to India after a six-month-long transoceanic intercontinental expedition that commenced at Goa on November 17, 2022 and is scheduled to complete at the same venue on May 24," he said. Indian naval ship Tarini had set sail to Cape Town to participate in an ocean sailing voyage from the South African city to Brazil's Rio de Janeiro. Also Read | ABP News C-Voter Opinion Poll of Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: PM Narendra Modi Remains Charismatic and Popular in Poll-Bound. "During the expedition, the vessel braved storms, rough seas, strong winds and heavy weather that battered her hull, but could not dent the spirit, grit and determination of her crew of six officers, including two women officers," he added. The 50th edition of the race was to be flagged off from Cape Town on January 2 and culminate at the Brazilian city, according to the Indian Navy. INSV Tarini is known for circumnavigating the globe with an all-women officer crew in the historic expedition titled Navika Sagar Parikrama that began in 2017. The six members of Navika Sagar Parikrama during their 254-day expedition had covered 22,000 nautical miles, facing rough seas, scorching sun, biting cold and freezing winds with an unrelenting spirit. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Rajouri/Jammu, May 6 (PTI) Fresh firing has started after a contact was established between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district in the wee hours of Saturday morning, officials said. According to a statement from the Army's Northern Command, its personnel have been conducting "relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region last month". Also Read | Russia: Outrage After Director and Playwright Detained. "In the ongoing operation in Kandi Forest in Rajouri sector, contact was established with terrorists at 0115 hours today and firing was started," PRO Defence Lt Col Devender Anand said. Five Army personnel were killed and a major was injured on Friday in an explosion triggered by terrorists in the densely forested Kandi area in Rajouri district where an operation was underway to flush out terrorists, officials said. Also Read | Credit Suisse Buys Ecuador Bonds for Galapagos Conservation. "On specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Kandi Forest in the Rajouri Sector, a joint operation was launched on May 3. Around 7.30 am on Friday, a search team established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave," they said. The area is thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs. Officials said additional troops of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Army were inducted into the area to put it in a tight cordon so that terrorists do not escape from the spot. The forces deployed drones and sniffer dogs and troops hit a cave hideout with heavy fire of mortars and grenades, they said. "The terrorists triggered an explosive device in retaliation," it said. On Friday morning, two soldiers belonging to the special forces were killed and four, including the major, were injured during the operation. Later in the day, three died in a hospital in Udhampur. The slain soldiers were lance naik Ruchin Singh Rawat from Gairsain in Uttarakhand, paratrooper Siddhant Chettri from Darjeeling in West Bengal, naik Arvind Kumar from Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh, Havildar Neelam Singh from Jammu and paratrooper Pramod Negi from Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], May 6 (ANI): Residents of Jammu and Kashmir are optimistic that the G20 events here will promote the union territory internationally and also give a new dimension to the tourism and handicraft sectors. The people associated with it are also hoping that such a summit can play an important role in promoting the handicraft products of Kashmir at the international level. Also Read | ABP News C-Voter Opinion Poll of Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: PM Narendra Modi Remains Charismatic and Popular in Poll-Bound. Talking about the G20 summit and the benefits of the meeting, the exporters of Kashmiri products said that holding such a summit is a proud moment for the entire country. Kashmiri carpet exporter Sheikh Ashiq said, "Holding such an international summit for the first time in Kashmir is a proud moment for the entire country, especially Kashmir. This will further promote Kashmir at the international level. Civilization, art and craft, tourism and other related sectors will also get a new dimension and recognition at the international level." Also Read | Assam Shocker: Elderly Man Dies by Suicide in Jorhat After College Girl Secretly Records and Shares Their Intimate Video on Porn Site; Three Including Prime Accused Darshana Bharali Arrested. Sheikh Ashiq said that the visit of delegates from 20 countries to Kashmir is a big deal for Kashmiris. He said that when we talk about the development of the tourism sector, other sectors related to the tourism sector will also be developed directly or indirectly. Handloom and craft are also an important part of the tourism sector. International tourism is expected to be boosted from the meeting held. Likewise, the handicraft industry here is also expected to be boosted. He said, "Not only the name of the country is brightened by such a summit. The art, and culture of the state, or region are cultivated there. Along with better publicity, avenues for future activities and trade are also opened. However, the key is to present things in a better and more efficient way." In response to a question, Sheikh Ashiq said that after 2019, the handicraft industry of Kashmir is on a ventilator. Many people have avoided this sector. However, in the last few years, there has been a considerable improvement in the business of carpets and other household products, which has resulted in good export figures. He further also said that to promote Kashmir's famous carpets more work needs to be done. "More work needs to be done on it at the public and private levels in the coming time so that Kashmir's famous carpets, pashmina, paper mache, wood carving and other products are promoted more internationally and for this, the G20 summit can play a positive and effective role," he said. During the discussion, Sheikh Ashiq also said that the new and emerging entrepreneurs of Kashmir, especially those associated with the handicraft industry, will also get a lot of benefits from this meeting. Such activities at the national and international level are welcome in themselves and it also gives opportunities to highlight the positive aspects in front of the world. Sheikh Ashiq further said that there is no doubt that GI tagging has given carpets and otherhousehold products a distinct presence domestically and internationally, for which the concerned departments deserve credit. There is an urgent need to do more by the government to provide more market facilities. It should be noted that this is the first time that Kashmir is getting the honour of hosting such a G20 summit. In the last week of this month i.e. from May 22 to 24, the summit is going to be held at SKICC, located on the banks of Afaq Lake Dal in Srinagar. The G20 includes the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, United Kingdom, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United States. The group meets on an annual basis and this time India chairs the G20. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Imphal, May 6 (PTI) Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday said peace committees will be formed in every assembly constituency to ensure that peace initiatives are implemented at the grassroots level. Singh made the announcement after chairing an all-party meeting over the prevailing situation in the violence-hit state. Also Read | Manipur Violence: Telangana Government To Send Special Aircraft to Imphal To Evacuate Stranded Students and Citizens. "Held an all-political party meeting to discuss the current situation in Manipur and to collectively work towards bringing peace and stability in the state," he said. "During the meeting, it was resolved to appeal for peace in the state, and encourage all citizens to avoid any actions that could lead to further violence or instability," he added. Also Read | Delhi Reports 113 New COVID-19 Cases, Three Deaths in Past 24 Hours; Active Cases Stands at 1,097. The meeting was attended by representatives of various political parties, including the Congress, CPI, JD(U), NPF, Shiv Sena, TMC, BSP, AAP, MPP, AIFB, MNDF, ABHKP, and former CM O Ibobi Singh. "It was further resolved to form a peace committee in every assembly constituency to ensure that peace initiatives are implemented at the grassroots level," he tweeted. Violent clashes broke out between tribals and people belonging to the majority Meitei community in Manipur on Wednesday, displacing thousands of people and killing at least 54. The clashes broke out after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the ten hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 percent of the population and live mostly in the hill districts. Singh also held a video conference with the senior officials of the state government, police and para-military forces to review the on-ground operations. "The entire team is working round the clock to ensure that peace prevails in the state," he said. Earlier in the day, he met representatives of Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a civil society organisation, and the All Manipur Christian Organization (AMCO). (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Imphal, May 6: The situation in violence-hit Manipur has improved after the intervention of security forces, according to the State's Director General of Police P Doungel. While talking to ANI, Doungel said, "Because of the security forces, the situation has improved and we have received strict orders that must not spare those who contribute to violence and strict action must be taken against them." Manipur Unrest: CM Nitish Kumar Seeks Security for Bihar People Living in Violence-Hit State. Manipur DGP P Doungel Speaks on Violence: #WATCH| "Because of the security forces, the situation has improved and we have received strict orders that must not spare those who contribute to violence and strict action must be taken against them": P Doungel, DGP, Manipur pic.twitter.com/MzqySmn8W5 ANI (@ANI) May 6, 2023 "Various kinds of forces have been deployed in Manipur including RAF, BSF, CRPF etc. To manage all the forces Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Kuldiep Singh, has been appointed as the security advisor. While the State government appointed Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence), Ashutosh Sinha as the overall operational commander to control the situation in Manipur, the State DGP said. Meanwhile, Assam Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi on Friday said, "The government both at the Centre and in Manipur should be more proactive they should put down this mindless violence in an impartial manner and culprits should be brought to justice." Manipur Government requisitioned Army and Assam Rifles on May 3 and 4 in the immediate aftermath of inter-community clashes which erupted in a few districts of the northeastern State. Manipur Unrest: Centre Airlifts Five RAF Companies Following Violence During Tribal Solidarity Marches, 10 More CRPF Companies To Be Sent Soon. "As a result of the proactive and timely response, Churachandpur, KPI, Moreh and Kakching are now under firm control with no major violence since last night", the Indian Army had said in a statement on May 5 evening. The Army said that situation in Manipur has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. "The situation has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. IAF undertook continuous sorties from two airfields in Assam employing C17 Globemaster and AN 32 aircraft," Indian Army had stated. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the situation in Manipur through a video conference meeting with state Chief Minister N Biren Singh and top officials in the state as well as the Centre. A total of 10 more companies (nearly 1,000 personnel) of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were also dispatched to the violence-hit state earlier in the day on Friday following orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). On Thursday, Shah had held two meetings via video-conferencing and spoke with the CMs of Manipur and neighbouring states including that of Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam. To keep the situation in control, five Rapid Action Force (RAF) companies of the Central Reserve Police Force along with other CAPF companies were dispatched to Manipur on Thursday. According to the Army statement, in the past 12 hours, Imphal East and West districts witnessed sporadic incidents of arson and attempts by inimical elements to establish a blockade, towards which a firm and synergized response coupled with the induction of additional columns ensured control of Security Forces over the situation. Proactive rescue operations, the conduct of flag marches, area domination, and interaction with locals/ influencers to reassure them of their personal safety were some of the major activities that were and are being undertaken, it said. According to the Army statement, a total of approximately 13,000 civilians have been rescued and are currently staying in various ad-hoc boarding facilities specifically created for the purpose of Company Operating Bases and Military Garrisons. As of date, more than 100 columns are working tirelessly towards restoring law and order in Manipur at the earliest. Indian Army remains committed to restoring law and order and appeals for peace and urges all communities to shun the path of violence, the statement added. As Indian Army and the Assam Rifles continue their efforts to evacuate and provide assistance to affected people in violence-hit Manipur, locals praised the efforts of security forces and thanked them for providing a "security blanket". A video shared by Indian Army shows glimpses of families rescued from violence-hit areas and their stay within Army and Assam Rifles premises. As per the army a total of about 13,000 people have been provided accommodation within their campus. The Indian Army also urged the citizens to rely only on content from official and verified sources. (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, May 6 (PTI) The Supreme Court has said that no legal system can have a scenario where someone keeps on raking up an issue repeatedly once it is resolved at the highest level and termed it a "complete wastage of the judicial time". The remarks came as the apex court dismissed with a cost of Rs 10,000 a plea filed by a man noting that he was dismissed from service and the matter stood closed in 2004. Also Read | Rajasthan: Three Men Die of Noxious Fumes While Cleaning Septic Tank in Pali. It noted that a review petition in the matter was also rejected. A bench of Justice S K Kaul and Justice Aravind Kumar said the petitioner has not filed a curative plea but a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution claiming that injustice has been done to him and the matter should be reopened. Also Read | Manipur Violence: Situation Improved After Security Forces Intervention, Says State DGP P Doungel (Watch Video). Article 32 of the Constitution gives individuals the right to move the Supreme Court for justice when they feel their fundamental rights have been infringed. "No legal system can have a scenario where a person keeps on raking up the issue again and again once it is resolved at the highest level. This is a complete waste of judicial time," the bench said in its order passed on May 1. "We, thus, dismiss this petition with costs, though we limit the amount of cost considering the petitioner is a dismissed person," it said. The bench directed that the cost of Rs 10,000 be deposited with the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Welfare Fund to be utilised for the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) library. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Rajouri/Jammu, May 6 (PTI) A terrorist was killed and another was most likely injured on Saturday in an ongoing operation in the densely forested area of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, Army said. Five army personnel were killed and a major-rank officer was injured on Friday in an explosion triggered by the militants during the ongoing operation to flush out the terrorists. Also Read | Delhi: Narrow Escape for Driver As Truck Catches Fire in Wazirpur. "In the ongoing joint operation in Kandi forest, Rajouri sector, by Indian Army in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF, at around 7 am the cordon, while closing in, spotted and pinned down the terrorists. "In the ensuing gunbattle one terrorist has been neutralised and one terrorist is likely to be injured," a defence spokesperson said. Also Read | Manipur Unrest: CM Nitish Kumar Seeks Security for Bihar People Living in Violence-Hit State. He said an AK-56 rifle, four magazines, 56 bullets, one 9 mm pistol, its three magazines and three grenades were seized from the slain terrorist whose identity and group affiliation were not known immediately. The operation is underway, the spokesperson added. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Pulwama (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], May 6 (ANI): The director of Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) on Saturday presided over a one-day Entrepreneurship Awareness Program (EAP) and said that women entrepreneurs can bring positive change in society. The one-day EAP was organized by Government Degree College for Women (GDCW), Pulwama in collaboration with JKEDI, said an official release. Also Read | Delhi Reports 113 New COVID-19 Cases, Three Deaths in Past 24 Hours; Active Cases Stands at 1,097. According to the release, the program is a part of the ongoing efforts of the Institute to create mass awareness among the educated youth of UT. The theme of the program revolved around women entrepreneurs and their contribution to the overall startup ecosystem of Jammu and Kashmir. "JKEDI intends to reach every corner of J-K and create awareness about entrepreneurship. With the potential to change the economic landscape of the UT, it can be a game changer. There are a lot of government initiatives to aid and support startups and aspiring entrepreneurs and one must avail such incentives to push their businesses. Women entrepreneurs can bring positive change and create an all-inclusive and balanced society," said Ajaz Ahmad Bhat, Director of JKEDI. Also Read | Sharad Pawar Lauds Nephew Ajit Pawar in Baramati, Says He Has Done a Lot for NCP. "I request the youth who are the future of J-K to think in terms of making a new beginning by taking the reins of the nation and become role models and capitalize their skills and available resources for a better tomorrow," he added. Principal GDCW, Pulwama, Prof. Yasmeen Farooq Khan also highlighted various issues concerning women entrepreneurs and motivated the young students to choose entrepreneurship as a first career option. Hundreds of students participated in the program. Senior faculty members of JKEDI also participated in the program and spoke about various activities and programs of the Institute. District Nodal Officer, JKEDI Pulwama also gave a presentation highlighting the achievements of the Institute. To motivate the young students, a number of inspiring success stories of women entrepreneurs from Pulwama and other parts of the UT were also showcased at the event. (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], May 6: More than 10 bogus ChatGPT apps that were created to defraud users have been blocked by Facebook, the parent company of social media behemoth Meta, according to Mashable website. The business has found that con artists are using the public's interest with ChatGPT, an AI-based language model, to persuade people into downloading malicious software and browser add-ons. Reels on FB: Meta Introduces New Personalisation Controls for Facebook Reels. By taking advantage of people's faith in ChatGPT, the cybercriminals behind these fraudulent apps are launching attacks and compromising accounts all over the internet. Once a user downloads the malicious software, the attackers can keep developing new strategies to get around security measures. Meta Takes Down Over 43 Million Bad Content From Facebook, Instagram in March in India. To counter this issue, Meta has identified and prevented the sharing of over 1,000 different malicious URLs on their apps. The business has also informed the file-sharing platforms where the malware was hosted about them so that they can take the necessary action as well, reported Mashable. The prevalence of online fraud is making the internet more dangerous, and even social media behemoths like Meta are now alerting users to the risks of fake ChatGPT apps. Users must use caution and only download ChatGPT applications from reputable websites. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Lhasa [Tibet], May 6 (ANI): Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has written to King Charles III to offer his congratulations on the occasion of his coronation. In his message Dalai Lama said: "May Your Majesty live long, and the people of the United Kingdom enjoy happiness and prosperity." Also Read | World War 3 Approaching? Jack Barsky, Former KGB Agent, Warns Russia Could Trigger Nuclear Apocalypse With 'Accidental Launch'. "Having been privileged to enjoy your friendship for many years, I am confident that you will continue to accomplish this great responsibility with kindness and affection, dedicated to the service of others," Dalai Lama said in his letter. According to an official statement, the Tibetan spiritual further said: "Today, the international community is going through very challenging times. I believe we must make concerted efforts to achieve a more compassionate, peaceful world by resolving problems like the gap between rich and poor and protecting the natural environment of this planet that is our only home, in the spirit of the oneness of humanity." Also Read | King Charles III Coronation: Tibetan Spiritual Leader Dalai Lama Congratulates King Charles III on Coronation. His Holiness concluded his letter: "I wish you every success in meeting the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the British people and contributing to the creation of a more peaceful world, free of violent conflict", according to official information. The enthronement ceremony of King Charles III as the 40th monarch will be a historical moment for Britain. The ceremony will be attended by numerous celebrities, a few of whom will also perform at the follow-up coronation concert on May 7. The star-studded ceremony has an exciting lineup. Meanwhile, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday, during his two-day visit to the United Kingdom, met King Charles III, the First Lady of the United States and other world leaders during a reception at Buckingham Palace. Dhankhar interacted with Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States, during the reception by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace. Vice President also joined leaders of the Commonwealth countries at a special event hosted by King Charles III at the Marlborough House, London. He exchanged views with Commonwealth leaders on making the institution of the Commonwealth stronger and more focused. King Charles III's coronation is going to bring a seachange in the UK and across Commonwealth realms, prominent being National Anthem, coins, stamps, postboxes and passports to name a few. Following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, Charles III instantly became King. However, officially he will be crowned on May 6, eight months after he ascended to the throne. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) London, May 6 (PTI) India is proud of its 32-million-strong diaspora which must continue to counter "ill-premised" and "unfounded" narratives about the country and act as its 24x7 ambassadors, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar has said. Dhankhar, who is in the UK on a two-day visit to attend the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London, addressed the Indian community on Friday night. Also Read | King Charles III Coronation: Charles To Be Crowned King in Thousand-Year-Old Coronation Ceremony. He focussed his address on the impressive growth strides being made by India and its success story as a democracy functioning at an unmatched level. He spoke of its "Amrit Kaal" achievements under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi marking 75 years of independence and highlighted the government's target to become the third-largest economy by the turn of the decade. Also Read | Earthquake in Japan: Strong Quake of Magnitude 6.2 on Richter Scale Hits Ishikawa; One Dead, 20 Injured. The moment of glory for India has come and that moment is being reflected by the ground reality, the world is recognising it, said Dhankhar. India is proud of its diaspora. They remain fully committed to the karam bhumi, and also to their janam bhumi, he said. Every one of you has to be a 24x7 ambassador of Bharat India is now the hub of manufacturing activity for the globe. I would therefore appeal to all of you, in whatever manner you can contribute to the growth of the nation, for the rise in its reputation and to ensure that untenable, ill-premised, unfounded, baseless narratives do not take strides in the public domain, he urged the gathering. No one is against honest assessment or criticism, that will always help us attain our goals. But malicious, pernicious orchestration is antithetical to good conscience. We must antidote it, he added. Dhankhar went on to speak at length about India's achievements across various sectors, including digital transformation, healthcare and vaccines, space technology and infrastructure growth. "Our institutions are spinally independent. The Election Commission of India can be a guiding factor, a lighthouse, for the rest of the world on how to conduct elections fairly, efficiently, and in the shortest time," he said. "From the apex court down the line, look around. The reach of the Indian judiciary for the common man has no parallel. Imagine how outstanding an achievement it is!" he added. There is an evolution of an ecosystem in the country that enables every youth to fully unleash his or her energy and potential, Dhankhar said. "In this flourishing, blossoming democracy, the focal point is the empowerment of the ordinary man at the end of the queue," he added. "Education is the most effective, potent, transformational mechanism. It is education alone that takes care of inequities in society, and brings about the emancipation of the vulnerable and empowerment of youth. That is something which is happening in this country," the Vice-President said. India has been rediscovered in an authentic manner, he said, adding a firm foundation has been laid for what India will be like in 2047. He said the country has also identified and honoured unsung heroes of its freedom struggle. The Vice-President was accompanied by his wife Dr Sudesh Dhankhar at the interaction with community members representing a range of Indian diaspora organisations at the reception organised by the Indian High Commission in London. Ahead of the meet, he said he had a remarkable and enlightened interaction with Indian-origin members of the House of Lords, including Lord Meghnad Desai, Lord Swraj Paul, and Lord Rami Ranger, among others present at the gathering, in his capacity as the Leader of the Rajya Sabha. It came at the end of a packed day of royal engagements for the Vice-President, who had his first audience with King Charles III at a Commonwealth Heads of Government reception hosted by Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland. It was followed by a reception hosted by the monarch for world leaders and visiting dignitaries at Buckingham Palace. On Saturday, Vice President Dhankhar and his wife will represent India at the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey and fly back to India soon after the ceremony at the conclusion of the short visit. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Lahore/Chandigarh, May 6 (PTI) Wanted Khalistani terrorist Paramjit Singh Panjwar was on Saturday shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Lahore, the provincial capital of Pakistan's Punjab province, police said. Panjwar, 63, was heading the Khalistan Commando Force-Panjwar group and was designated as a terrorist by India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. Also Read | UK: Indian-Origin Retired Man Charged With Killing His 77-Year-Old Wife in London. "The gunmen shot (Panjwar) Singh in his head and he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital," a senior officer of Pakistan's Punjab Police told PTI, adding his guard was also injured in the shooting and succumbed later in the day. Panjwar, along with his guard, was walking in the park at Sun Flower Housing Society in Jauhar Town in Lahore, where he was residing, when the two assailants opened fire at them and fled on a motorcycle, the officer said. Also Read | Dog Attack in Costa Rica: 2-Year-Old Boy Mauled to Death by German Shepherd After Deceased Accidentally Stumbles on Familys Pet. Pakistan's intelligence agencies including the ISI, Military Intelligence (MI) and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) cordoned off the area and launched an investigation while the media was not allowed at the crime scene. The killing is the latest instance of terror kingpins being targeted outside India. In February this year, Bashir Ahmad Peer, a self-styled commander of the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Pakistan's Rawalpindi. Also in the same month, former commander of Pakistan-based terror outfit Al Badr, Syed Khalid Raza, was killed in a similar manner outside his residence in Karachi while Kashmir-born terrorist, Aijaz Ahmad Ahanger alias Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri, who had joined the Islamic State( IS), was reportedly killed in February in Kunar province of Afghanistan. On the deadly attack on Panjwar on Saturday, an eyewitness told the CTD investigators that Singh along with his guard was in the park at around 6 am Saturday when a gunman came close to them and opened fire. After the firing, the assailant rushed to the gate of the society and fled along with his accomplice who was waiting for him outside, he said. A source in CTD told PTI that after recording statements from a number of people in the housing society, it has been revealed that the assailants had held a recce for a week. We have got an important clue about the killers and a couple of teams of the intelligence agencies have been formed to arrest the assailants and the network behind it, he said. Police in Pakistan's Punjab province have been asked to let the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) lead the whole investigation, sources said. The crime scene was protected by the agencies and the police were asked not to register an FIR till approval from ISI, sources in the Lahore police said. I cannot make a comment on this matter, Lahore police spokesperson Farhan Ali Sheikh said when asked about the incident. Singh joined the KCF in 1986. He later headed this outfit and crossed over to Pakistan. In 1986, the KCF was headed by Sukhdev Singh alias Sukha Shapai who was then serving as a police constable in Punjab, India. In 1989, Sukha Shapai was killed in a police encounter at Tanda in Hoshiarpur and thereafter, Kanwarjit Singh of Sultanwind in Amritsar became the chief of KCF while Paramjit Singh Panjwar became its deputy chief. After the death of Kanwarjit Singh Sultanwind, Panjwar became the chief of the KCF. Before he escaped to Pakistan in 1995-96, Panjwar was involved in a number of killings in Punjab, according to official sources. Though he was inactive for the last couple of years, Panjwar had been operating from Lahore and was involved in arranging arms training for youths in Pakistan. He was engaged in supplying arms and ammunition and subsequent infiltration into India for targeting VIPs and economic installations. He was also involved in broadcasting highly seditious and separatist programmes on Radio Pakistan, intended to incite minorities against the Indian government. He was active in the smuggling of drugs and was a major conduit between smugglers and terrorists, India's Ministry of Home Affairs had said in a notification that designated him a terrorist under UAPA. "Panjwar's complicity in promoting drug trade and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) operation in Punjab are well documented. Efforts are being made by his organisation KCF to reactive former militants, sleeper cells and also those on bail and it has been in favour of forming a nexus with other forces hostile to India," the ministry had said. KCF came into existence in February 1986 and the modus-operandi of this organisation was to commit bank robberies and kidnappings for ransom for use to purchase sophisticated weapons for terrorist activities. The banned outfit was involved in various terrorist attacks in India, which include the following a bomb attack in October 1988, killing 10 Rai Sikhs at Firozpur and the killing of Major Gen. B. N. Kumar, according to the ministry. Panjwar was also behind a number of IED explosions in Haryana, Chandigarh and Punjab, said sources. His wife, who along with two sons was staying in Germany, died in September 2022. After 2010, Panjwar had ventured into the business of real estate and heroin smuggling. He had got Pakistan's national ID card in the name of Gulzar Singh. The ISI had planned to re-activate Panjwar by using his old contacts in Punjab in a bid to revive militancy. Panjwar had a large number of contacts in border districts areas especially in Amritsar and Tarn Taran during the militancy period in Punjab. He also had links with drugs and arms smugglers based in Pakistan, they said. According to Pakistan media reports, Hizbul commander Peer alias Imtiyaz Alam and Raza were shot from point-blank range by the assailants, just like Punjwar. Raza had reportedly served as Al Badr's "commander" in Jammu and Kashmir for eight years. Peer, who hailed from Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, had been living in Pakistan for more than 15 years, intelligence officials here said. Peer had participated in a number of online propaganda groups to unite ex-militants and other cadres for the expansion of activities of Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and other terrorist organisations. Kashmir-born terrorist Ahanger was one of the chief recruiters of Islamic State J-K (ISJK) and was designated as an individual terrorist under the UAPA by India. He was a wanted terrorist in Jammu and Kashmir for more than two decades and was "working towards providing traction to militancy in Kashmir", the MHA had said. He was appointed as the head of the Islamic State (IS) recruitment cell for India and had been instrumental in initiating an online India-centric ISIS propaganda magazine. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) London, May 6 (PTI) King Charles III on Saturday became the 40th British monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey here at a spectacular ceremony rich in religious significance, history, pageantry and displaying a multi-faith outlook and his love for India and the wider Commonwealth. While he ascended to the throne immediately after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II last September, the 74-year-old was formally crowned King of the United Kingdom when the Archbishop of Canterbury concluded the religious ceremony by inviting the 2,200-strong congregation and millions watching worldwide to swear allegiance to the new British Sovereign. Also Read | King Charles III Crowned As UK King With St Edwards Crown, Queen Camilla With Queen Marys Crown (See Pics and Videos). Faith leaders and representatives of the Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish communities processed through the Abbey ahead of the service and House of Lords peers of Indian heritage handed over key regalia to the monarch during the ceremony. "We have had many discussions, having met frequently over the years when he was the Prince of Wales and now as King, and he is adamant that the essence of different beliefs is one and the same, said Lord Indarjit Singh, the Indian-origin House of Lords peer who represented the Sikh faith at the Coronation ceremony. Also Read | King Charles III Crowned King of UK at Westminster Abbey, First British Coronation Since 1953 (See Pics and Videos). "The aim of religion as I see it, and I believe as he sees it, is to move society towards the good, the better end of the spectrum. In all the discussions I've had with him, he totally agrees with that concept, he said. This multi-faith outlook also resonates with his strong connection with India and its age-old traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda. As the heir to the throne, Charles made several visits to India and focussed many of his charitable efforts on India through the British Asian Trust founded by him in 2007 to tackle poverty and hardship in South Asia. The royal spoke of his great love for India when he launched an emergency COVID appeal in 2021 and helped raise millions during India's severe pandemic wave. "Like many others, I have a great love for India and have enjoyed many wonderful visits to the country. Indian aid and ingenuity have been a support to other countries throughout this immensely difficult time. As India has helped others, so now must we help India, Charles said at the time. It was in the wake of COVID that he reflected upon the healing and therapeutic power of Yoga, which he described as an accessible practice that helps manage stress. By its very nature, Yoga is an accessible practice which provides practitioners with ways to manage stress, build resilience and promote healing, he said, in a recorded video message for a virtual healthcare event called Wellness After Covid in May 2021. Back in April 2018, he hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Science Museum in London to launch a new Ayurvedic Centre of Excellence, aimed at creating a first-of-its-kind global network for evidence-based research on Yoga and Ayurveda. His wife Camilla, the new Queen, is also believed to practice Yoga. He last visited India in November 2019 and also celebrated his 71st birthday with schoolchildren in Mumbai and earlier this week he told British Indian peer Lord Karan Bilimoria at a pre-Coronation reception that he looks forward to making a State Visit to India soon. As the Prince of Wales, Charles was also a very vocal supporter of causes related to the environment and has been an ardent voice against the ravages of climate change. He has spoken regularly about India's important role in meeting the global climate action targets. As the Head of the Commonwealth, an association of 56 independent countries including India and 2.4 billion people, he has to contend with moves by some of the remaining member nations straining to replace him as their Head of State. In a very visible nod to his determination to keep hold of this group made up largely of former colonies, the "anointing screen" used for the most sacred part of the Coronation ceremony bears a central design of a tree with branches filled with 56 leaves naming each of the Commonwealth nations. Buckingham Palace stressed it is reflective of the monarch's "deep affection" for the organisation. He is already nearly seven months into the role of King and the transition from Britain's Elizabethan Age to the Carolean Age has been largely smooth so far. The Coronation ceremony, the planning of which involved much of the new King's personal input, is reflective of his determination to celebrate his cherished ideas about the culturally and religiously diverse country that is modern-day Britain. Charles, born Charles Philip Arthur George on November 14, 1948, became the oldest person to ever accede to the British throne on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II aged 96 on September 8 last year. He studied history at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and in 1970 became the first British royal to be awarded a university degree. He went on to train as a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot before joining the Royal Navy and also learned to fly helicopters before ending his military career in 1976. On the personal front, he had an infamously turbulent first marriage to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. From that marriage, they had two sons: Prince William and Prince Harry. In 2005, he married Camilla with the late Queen's permission after years of a rumoured love affair. On her marriage, Camilla became the Duchess of Cornwall and went on to be referred to as Queen Consort following the passing away of Queen Elizabeth II. The 75-year-old, born Camilla Rosemary Shand and previously married to Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, is now known as Queen Camilla in keeping with royal tradition. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Islamabad [Pakistan], May 6 (ANI): In a relief to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in the Toshakhana case, the Islamabad High Court on Saturday declared the notices issued by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as illegal, reported Geo News. A two-member bench of IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Babar Sattar took up the plea filed by the ousted premier and his wife and issued the verdict, declaring the notices illegal. Also Read | UK: Indian-Origin Retired Man Charged With Killing His 77-Year-Old Wife in London. In its verdict, the IHC bench maintained that the NAB holds the right in taking a certain position as the petitioners did not appear in response to the notices. It however ruled that notices were not in conformity with the law, reported Geo News. The latest victory for the former prime minister came during the hearing of his and Bushra Bibi's pleas challenging the call-up notices issued on February 17 and March 16, by the anti-graft watchdog. Also Read | Dog Attack in Costa Rica: 2-Year-Old Boy Mauled to Death by German Shepherd After Deceased Accidentally Stumbles on Familys Pet. The petitions filed under Section 19 of the National Accountability (second amendment) Act 2022, moved the court to declare the NAB call-up notices illegal, as well as the disciplinary action against the petitioners based on the call-up notices, reported Geo News. IHC CJ also maintained that the anti-graft watchdog shall be at liberty to issue fresh notices to Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in line with the court's observations. It is pertinent to note that the Toshakhana issue became a central sticking point in the country's politics after the Election Commission of Pakistan disqualified the PTI chief for making "false statements and incorrect declaration" last month. The judgement added that the former premier was found to have indulged in corrupt practices under sections 167 and 173 of the constitution. A criminal proceeding was initiated against him over allegedly filing a false statement. The NAB action comes after Dubai-based businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor claimed that the PTI government sold an expensive Graff wristwatch, gifted to former premier Imran Khan by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, for USD 2 million, worth approximately PKR 280 million at the time of sale in 2019. Under the rules governing "Toshakhana" -a Persian word meaning "treasure house" - government officials can keep gifts if they have a low worth, while they must pay a reduced fee to the government for extravagant items, The News International reported. The Toshakhana is under a microscope ever since the emergence of the allegations that the PTI chairman bought the gifts he received as the country's prime minister at throwaway rates and sold them off in the open market for profits. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) London [United Kingdom], May 6 (ANI): Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar interacted with King Charles III during reception hosted by him for Commonwealth leaders at Marlborough House, London. King Charles III will be crowned on May 6, eight months after he ascended to the throne. Also Read | Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Seen Over Nepal Sky on Full Moon Day. Jagdeep Dhankhar also interacted with leaders of various nations during a Commonwealth reception hosted by King Charles III at Marlborough House in London. In the pictures shared on the Vice President of India's official Twitter handle, Dhankhar can be seen meeting with Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Also Read | COVID-19 No Longer an Emergency, but Not Going Anywhere, Says WHO. While sharing the pictures, the Vice President of India in a tweet stated, "Hon'ble Vice-President, Jagdeep Dhankhar interacted with leaders of various countries during Commonwealth reception hosted by King Charles III at Marlborough House, London." "Hon'ble Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar interacted with King Charles III during reception hosted by him for Commonwealth leaders at Marlborough House, London," Vice President wrote in a tweet. Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a tweet stated, "VP Jagdeep Dhankhar @VPIndia joined leaders of the Commonwealth countries at a special event hosted by H.M. King Charles III at the Marlborough House, London. Exchanged views with Commonwealth leaders on making the institution of the Commonwealth stronger and more focused." Vice President Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh Dhankhar arrived in London to attend the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. The Coronation of The King and The Queen Consort will take place at Westminster Abbey on May 6. The event will mark almost seven decades since the last coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. He will be the 40th monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey. The Service will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The event will mark almost seven decades since the last coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. King Charles III and Camilla will arrive at Westminster Abbey in procession from Buckingham Palace, known as 'The King's Procession', Buckingham Palace announced in a statement. After the Service, King Charles III and Camilla will return to Buckingham Palace in a larger ceremonial procession, known as 'The Coronation Procession'. Other members of the royal family will join King Charles III and Camilla in this procession. The King and the Queen Consort accompanied by the members of the royal family will appear on the balcony to conclude the day's ceremonial events. During his two-day visit to the United Kingdom, Dhankhar will join a gathering of about 2,000 dignitaries, including heads of state and government at the coronation ceremony. Recently, the UK extended an invitation recently to the international community, including India to attend the coronation ceremony. On May 2, British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis called on Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar to discuss preparations for the coronation ceremony of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey. "Honour to call on the Vice President before he attends the Coronation - a momentous occasion and an opportunity to further deepen UK-India ties," the British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis tweeted. (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, May 6: Jailed conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar has sent a fresh letter to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor V. K. Saxena, on Saturday claiming to have funded lavish furnishings present in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence. In his letter, Chandrashekhar, who is lodged in Mandoli jail, claimed that he had personally paid for the lavish furnishings and alleged that they were selected by Kejriwal himself, alongside jailed AAP leader Satyendar Jain. Chandrashekhar, in his letter sent to L-G through his advocate Anant Malik, also claimed some of the furniture pieces were imported from Italy, adding an international touch to the Chief Minister's living space. Conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar Writes Mush-Filled Letter to Bollywood Actress Jacqueline Fernandez From Mandoli Jail. "This is to bring to the urgent notice that as the recent ongoing investigation in regard to the residence of Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and the expenses used from the public funds to luxurify the official residence, I would want to make full disclosures. During the said renovation and post, there were high-end furniture and bedding which were paid by me for the very same residence of Mr. Arvind Kejriwal which is currently under scrutiny," he writes in his letter. "The furniture was personally selected by Kejriwal and Satyender Jain based on pictures which were sent by me on whatsapp and facetime chats of Kejriwal's mobile and Jain's phone," the letter read. According to Chandrashekhar's letter, he had purchased several items, including a Visionaire 12-seater dining table made of onyx stone in an olive green colour worth Rs 45 lakh, a Visionaire dressing table for his bedroom and the children's bedroom worth Rs 34 lakh, seven Visionaire mirrors worth Rs 18 Lakh, D. Rugs, bedspreads, and pillows totaling 30 pieces from Ralph Lauren worth approximately Rs 28 lakh, and Panerai wall clocks worth Rs 45 lakh. "These furniture mentioned were purchased by me on billing from Mumbai and Delhi, as all the above furniture were imported from Italy and France. The payments were made by me from my firm's News Express Post and LS Fisheries and the statement of records will be tendered to the investigation agency along with the whatsapp chats between me, Kejriwal and Satyender Jain, confirming it," the letter read. Chandrashekhar even claimed that all the furniture were directly delivered to the official residence of Kejriwal and installed in the residence by his staff member Rishabh Shetty. "Apart from these furniture mentioned he wanted silver crockery, which was given by a famous South Indian Jeweller worth Rs 90 Lakhs in exchange of an allotment, kickback in Karol Bagh Project of the Jeweller introduced by me. There were 15 thali plates and 20 silver glass, few idols and multiple bowls, spoons all in pure silver, delivered to the official residence," the letter further read. "Once investigated all the above will be fully confirmed and proven. I humbly undertake to submit all the bills during investigation," it added. ED Files Chargesheet Against Conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar in Another Case of Extortion and Money Laundering. The Delhi government's alleged expenditure of Rs 45 crore on the renovation of Arvind Kejriwal's residence during the Covid pandemic has drawn sharp criticism from the BJP. In response to these reports, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has instructed the chief secretary, Naresh Kumar, to secure all relevant records, conduct a thorough examination, and submit a detailed report within 15 days for the LG's review. However, AAP MP Raghav Chadha offered a rebuttal, highlighting the amounts spent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official residence and plane. Chadha emphasized the need for a comprehensive perspective in the ongoing debate. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2023 05:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Sangli, May 6: Four members of a family and a driver were killed when a speeding truck collided with their car in Maharashtra's Sangli district, police said on Saturday. The accident took place near Jath town on Vijapur-Guhagar road around 11 pm on Friday, an official said. "The family was traveling from Vijapur to Jath. When the car reached Amrutwadi Phata, a speeding truck laden with soil, collided with their vehicle," the official said. Maharashtra Road Accident: Two Injured in Head-On Collision Between Two Bikes in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Shocking CCTV Video Surfaces. The victims, who were from Jath town, were on a pilgrimage, he said. Mayuri Sawant (38), her eight-year-old son Shlok, father Namdev (65) and mother Padmini (60) and the driver, Datta Chavan (40) were killed on the spot, the official said. Mumbai: Minor Girl Vidya Bansode Crushed To Death by Dumper in Dahisar, Driver Arrested After Terrifying Accident Video Goes Viral. The truck driver fled the scene following the incident, he said, adding that further probe is underway. Two women, a director and a playwright, face charges of justifying terrorism over a play about Russian women recruited to marry radical Islamists in Syria. The charges sparked outrage amid a Russian crackdown on dissent.A court in Russia ordered pretrial detention for a prominent theater director and a playwright on Friday after the two were accused of "justifying terrorism." Also Read | Credit Suisse Buys Ecuador Bonds for Galapagos Conservation. Director Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk will be jailed for at least two months while awaiting trial, Russian news agencies reported. Also Read | Telangana Shocker: Boy Dies While Shooting for Instagram Reel In Front of Running Train in Hyderabad (Watch Video). The charges come as many in Russia's theater and arts community have fled the country amid a widespread crackdown on dissent at home amid Russia's war in Ukraine. What are they accused of? Berkovich and Petriychuk were arrested on Thursday in Moscow. Authorities also raided the homes of Berkovich's parents and grandmother in St. Petersburg. The charges against the two stem from a play entitled "Finist, the Brave Falcon," which was named after a Russian fairy tale. The play, which is performed only by women, tells the story of Russian women who faced prosecution after being recruited online to marry radical Islamists in Syria. Authorities allege that the play "justifies terrorism" a charge that could carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison. In court on Friday, Berkovich's lawyer noted that "Finist, the Brave Falcon" won two Golden Mask theater awards last year which is Russia's most prestigious national theater award. The play was also supported by the Russian Culture Ministry. Petriychuk's lawyer added that the play was read to inmates in a women's prison in Siberia in 2019 and that Russia's state penitentiary service praised the work on its website. What has the reaction been? The arrest of the 38-year-old theater director and the 43-year-old playwright sent shockwaves through the Russian theater scene both at home and abroad. Many Russian actors and directors described the charges as absurd, with some suggesting that the charges had less to do with the play and more to do with Berkovich's opposition to the war in Ukraine. Berkovich has published several poems criticizing President Vladimir Putin's more than year-long war in Ukraine. By Friday evening, an open letter supporting the two artists had been signed by over 3,400 people. The letter, which was started by the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, argued that the play "carries an absolutely clear anti-terrorist sentiment." "It is a bit like arresting Dostoyevsky for justifying killing old ladies after writing Crime and Punishment," journalist Alexander Baumov was quoted as saying on the Meduza news website. Berkovich was also a former student of one of Russia's most successful directors, Kirill Serebrennikov, who fled the country. "Such people in culture in a normal country are a rarity, a miracle, pride. But in Russia, everything is now the other way around," Serebrennikov said after the announcement of Berkovich's arrest. "You are a star," he said, calling her his "most talented" student. Crackdown on artists Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the government and authorities launched a campaign of repression not seen since the Soviet era. Criticism of the war has been effectively criminalized with those who speak out against Russia's actions facing lengthy prison terms. Many actors, writers, directors and musicians have faced mounting pressure prompting many to flee the country. Berkovich, who is raising two adopted daughters, has refused to leave Russia. rs/sms (AP, AFP) (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2023 05:50 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Northern Command, Lt. general Upendra Dwivedi and field commanders briefed the defence minister on the ongoing operation against the terrorists in the Kandi forest and other areas of Rajouri and Poonch districts. New proposed legislation backed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is getting backlash as it would ban citizens from certain countries, including China, from owning land or property in The Sunshine State. They could, but they should also be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. The bill was considered a priority bill and is being backed by DeSantis himself, as well as Republican legislators and a few Democrats. It targets citizens of Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria, as it bars them from purchasing land or property within a mile of a military base or piece of critical infrastructure. However, the reason it was branded racist as it specifically bans Chinese citizens from purchasing land or property statewide. It was approved by the Florida House this week by 95-17, according to Newsweek. It will now go back to the Florida State Senate where it previously received a unanimous vote. Opponents say that this legislation would possibly violate the 1968 Fair Housing Act which bans "discrimination based on race, national origin, religion, or sex in the sale of housing." Chinese Americans took to the Florida Capitol to protest against the bill. The bill actually came from growing concern regarding Chinese ownership of U.S. agricultural land. This includes farmland purchased by the Chinese in North Dakota back in 2022 that is near an air base. Controversial Florida Bills Part of Ron DeSantis' Anti-Woke Agenda Florida has now gotten quite the reputation for introducing controversial bills like this one. Other controversial bills include the "Don't Say Gay" law, as well as bans on the teaching of critical race theory. Ron DeSantis and his allies have been targeting "woke" ideology, and they have recently approved a bill that prevents colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. READ MORE: Disney Sues Ron DeSantis The bill is now awaiting to be signed by DeSantis, though it has sparked a massive debate about free speech in Florida's higher-education system and campus speech. Critics say that the bill will drive away top faculty members and students, according to NBC-6 Miami. Many have pointed out that bills such as "Don't Say Gay" and this latest one that targets colleges and universities violate the 1st Amendment. "It seems what the state is seeking to do is prohibit any type of speech in our classrooms that doesn't tow the line of what the state wants to hear," stated Florida International University assistant professor and faculty union president. Lewis Hamilton Slams Ron DeSantis' Policies During the Miami Grand Prix Racing champion Lewis Hamilton was in Florida for the Miami Grand Prix, and he did not hold back on his criticism of Ron DeSantis and his "anti-woke" policies, especially the "Don't Say Gay" law. "It's not good. At all," the F-1 racing champion said. "I stand by the LGBTQ community here and hope they continue to push back." He showed solidarity with the LGBTQ community during the race as he sported a rainbow helmet. He stated that Florida's policies are the same oppressive ones they have in Saudi Arabia, saying, "It is not the right direction and not the right message." "My sympathy and thoughts are with the people here in Miami. It's not them making the decisions, it's the people in government and that's the issue," said the Mercedes driver, who said that while he is in Florida, he will continue to support the LGBTQ community. REAAD MORE: North Carolina Is Luring Disney World to Abandon Florida This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Florida bill seeking to ban Chinese citizens from owning land passes House - MSNBC Over half of Donald Trump's fake electors in Georgia have taken immunity deals in the Fulton County DA's investigation into the former president's election meddling to keep himself in power after the 2020 presidential elections, which he lost. In addition, the New York Times is reporting that Georgia prosecutors are now nearing charging decisions as the investigations into whether or not former President Donald Trump and his allies meddled in the elections in Georgia back in 2020. The Georgia investigations are running alongside the federal investigations done by special counsel Jack Smith into the former president's attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in a bid to hold onto the presidency. Fulton County Fani Willis has spent over two years investigating Trump's alleged election meddling and is now reportedly weighing which charges to give the former president, his accomplices, and his fake electors. The immunity deals are an indication that the Georgia election probe is moving forward, with Willis previously hinting that she could announce charges for Donald Trump and his allies as early as July 2023. Eight Fake Electors Taking Immunity Deals Are All Notable Republican Activists According to Politico, the false electors who were part of the scheme to overthrow the will of the people of Georgia during the elections were all notable Republican activists, including David Shafer, the head of the Georgia Republican Party. Eight of them have now flipped and have all taken immunity deals with the Fulton County DA. This was revealed by the attorney for some of these fake electors, Kimberley Debrow, in her court filing last Friday. The deal was reportedly reached last month. The scheme was reportedly hatched by Trump and his inner circle, and it involves having fake electors from the Republican Party vote for him in seven states that he lost, subverting the election results and therefore the will of the people. The scheme has been investigated not just by the Fulton County DA but also by the House select committee and special counsel Jack Smith. READ MORE: White House Correspondents' Dinner: Roy Wood Jr. Roasts Joe Biden, Donald Trump, More It was reported that not all of these fake electors knew their signatures would be used by Trump in his efforts to overturn the elections in January 6. Instead, they were told they were only signing "contingent" certificates that would only be used in case the courts reversed Trump's election loss. However, some of them were also well-known Trump allies and state party chairs who, more or less, had a bigger role in Trump's election meddling schemes. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Moving Away From Donald Trump, But State Party Still Strongly Backs Former President Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, did not make Trump happy when he refused to play along with the then-president's schemes to overturn the elections. Ever since, Kemp has veered away from Trump, even as the former president threw a primary challenger against him. However, despite the Republican governor not backing Trump in this fractured Republican Party, state GOP members are still heavily throwing their lot with the former president, according to the Associated Press. Republicans in Georgia's 1st Congressional District elected the person Trump backed to challenge Kemp in the primary last year, Kandiss Taylor, to be their chair. She infamously ran on a "Jesus Guns Babies" platform. Another notable reason Georgia Republicans are still strongly pro-Trump was when Republican activists considered a resolution rejecting the results of the 2020 elections in Atlanta's 6th Congressional District. This has caused a deep divide within the party in Georgia, with the pro-Kemp former state Republican Party chairman John Watson saying, "In many ways, the Georgia Republican Party is a train that has left Crazytown, and the governor is trying to present a scenario and lead and demonstrate that that's not the path to success." READ MORE: Tucker Carlson, Other Fox News Stars Privately Blasted Donald Trump's Election Fraud Claims This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: What immunity deals for 'fake electors' could mean for Donald Trump - CNN Paraguay presidential election may be over, but the drama is not, as authorities arrested far-right presidential candidate Paraguayo Cubas, who placed third, police said on Friday. Cubas was reportedly arrested after he incited his supporters to protest the country's election results. Colorado Party candidate Santiago Pena was declared the winner in Sunday's presidential election with 43% of the vote. The party's candidates have won the Paraguayan presidency for over half a century. After the results were officially announced, Cubas allegedly urged his supporters to protest the election results. Much like the other right-wing candidates in the Americas who lost their respective elections, like Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, he also presented unsubstantiated claims, like there were massive amounts of fraud that led to his electoral defeat. According to the Associated Press, Cubas, who was part of the far-right National Crusade Party, was live-streaming on Facebook when Paraguayan police arrested him outside his hotel in San Lorenzo. He reportedly continued streaming live after he got inside the police car. As he streamed his arrest live from the police car, he was seen chatting with police officers and often focused the camera on his handcuffs. "You can see now I'm being imprisoned... All the criminals in this country should be handcuffed like Paraguayo Cubas," he said in the video. READ NEXT: Paraguay: Communist Rebel Leader Osvaldo Villalba Killed Presidential Candidate of Paraguay, Paraguayo Cubas, Charged for Alleged Peace Violation Paraguayo Cubas has called for a recount as he disputed the election results and sparked protests. Cubas placed third in the elections, only garnering 23% of the votes. He was defeated by the new president-elect and second-place finisher Efrain Alegre, who led a coalition of opposition parties. According to Reuters, his calls for protests and recounts come even after international organizations have confirmed that there weren't any anomalies found in Paraguay's presidential election. When he was arrested, Cubas was reportedly on the final leg of his planned trip to the capital, Asuncion, to protest the election at an electoral court. Based on the arrest warrant issued by the attorney general's office, Cubas was charged with "disrupting the peace" and other crimes. Cubas had been telling supporters since Monday that he was heading to Asuncion to lead a series of protests. His supporters then blocked roads in Asuncion late Monday and clashed with police outside an electoral court. Paraguayo Cubas' Political Rival Joins Calls For His Freedom Efrain Alegre was among those calling for the imprisoned former candidate's freedom. Like Paraguayo Cubas, he was also calling for a manual recount. "We demand an inspection and opening of all records," said Alegre in a social media post. "Because without an inspection, the public will not accept as legitimate a result they do not believe in. Why is there so much fear that citizens will find out what really happened?" Alegre has already conceded to Santiago Pena but still blasted the ruling Colorado Party for Cubas' detention, saying, "We demand the freedom of Paraguayo Cubas and all citizens imprisoned for asking for transparency." READ MORE: Paraguay Senator Falls Into Lake and Drowns This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Paraguay's Colorado Romps to Presidential Victory - From AP Archive A 6-year-old Kansas boy was shot and killed outside his Missouri home on Wednesday night, and police do not believe the shooting was a random attack. According to local reports, Sir'Antonio Brown was fixing his bike with his uncle when some gunmen wearing masks walked up to the family's home and opened fire. Police said the suspects were driving a maroon Subaru Legacy with Kansas plates, which was found Thursday, KCUR reported. Authorities noted that the "targeted attack" happened in the 3100 block of Greeley Avenue in Kansas City around 6:15 p.m. The Kansas boy's family and neighbors said three people in black masks drove past the house and parked near Lafayette Avenue before walking toward the home, where the gunmen indiscriminately opened fire. Police said more than 30 bullet casings were found. Sir Antonio's aunt, Sharon Wills, told the outlet that the suspects "had big guns, rifles or AKs." READ NEXT: Missouri Teen Shot Twice Investigation Is Ongoing as Police Looked For the Killers of Kansas Boy in Missouri The Kansas boy, a kindergarten student at West Park Elementary School, was transported to an area hospital after the shooting but died shortly later. The boy's relatives said he was interested in karate, enjoyed riding his bike, and considered himself the protector of his family even at a young age. According to KC TV5, police are still investigating the shooting incident and continue searching for the suspects. Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department Deputy Chief George Sims said somebody knew who did it and asked anyone with information to contact the police. After receiving a tip, the suspects' vehicle was located at 8 a.m. on Thursday near East 55th Street and Norton Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. A still image of the suspect's vehicle was released by police, taken from security footage. A family member also provided CCTV footage from their home to identify and apprehend the suspects. In the video, Sir Antonio Brown was seen standing in front of the house next to a car and a bike while another vehicle passed by, and minutes later, gunfire erupted. Fatal Shooting of Kansas Boy in Missouri Was Intentional, Authorities Said In a press briefing on Thursday, Sims noted that "this isn't a tragedy" but "an intentional act." Authorities believed that the adult was the intended target. Sims also said the shooters knew that the Kansas boy was in the street when they fired shots, making this one, in particular, hit "us exceptionally hard," KSHB reported. Police asked everyone nearby to look through their security footage and submit any leads they could find. The public can call the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477) to report any tips regarding this case, and all calls are anonymous. A tip leading to an arrest can get an award of up to $25,000. "We absolutely do need help locating them, but do not retaliate. Do not confront them. Do not shelter them," Sims said. "Call Tips [the tip line]. Call the police department so that we can follow up and bring this investigation to a quick conclusion and bring these shooters to justice," he added. According to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year, gun violence is now the leading cause of death for American children, surpassing car accidents. READ MORE: Police Arrest Former UC Davis Student This is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Bert Hoover WATCH: Boy Shot, Killed While Playing in Front Yard of Home in Kansas City - From KMBC 9 Coffee County Sheriff Scott Byrds message to his deputies every day is Just be nice! In any encounter with a citizen, he asks them to follow this advice when possible. Law enforcement officers face many dangerous situations every day, and the sheriff would like to avoid confrontations as much as possible. Byrd spoke recently to the Enterprise Lions Club. Byrd spoke highly of three of his deputies: Michael Hines, the Chief Deputy; Jace Holley, Captain of the deputies; and Mike Marler, Captain of the reserve deputies. Having worked in law enforcement for two decades, first as a reserve deputy and now as sheriff, Byrd said he loves helping people and wants the citizens of Coffee County to feel safe. He noted that the Coffee County Commission has been very helpful and supportive of his first few months in office. His deputies are receiving new uniforms and will also be getting more protective gear. Byrd reported that the county now has 43 full- and part-time deputies. He has been able to add deputies to the two courthouses in the county. When court is in session, a deputy must be present in the courtroom. With six courtrooms in Enterprise and two in Elba, this obligation takes a chunk out of his workforce. In addition, the deputies serve legal papers throughout the county and patrol the county roads. Byrd is proud of the jail system. The jail has space for 140 males and 40 females. Currently, there are 112 males and 23 females in residence. Byrd reported that 595 prisoners have come through the jail system since the first of the year. Deputies have driven 6,715 miles transporting prisoners, and the kitchen staff has prepared 46,170 meals. The sheriff said that his prisoners have three nutritious meals a day and he is proud of his kitchen staff. The jail has four different cell blocks, and prisoners are not segregated by the type of crimes they are in jail for. The female prisoners are housed in a separate dorm. The Coffee County Sheriffs Office has two drug dogs that are occasionally called upon to scan a building for drugs, and Byrd reported that his deputies work closely with the sheriffs departments in neighboring counties. The influx of fentanyl from across the border is still a problem. He is hoping to provide some of his deputies with ballistic vests that will stop bullets from an AR 15. When asked about the loss of revenue due to the new concealed carry law, Byrd admitted that his department has had to figure out how to do the same work, or more, with less money. Sheriffs departments all over the state are feeling the pinch from the loss of permit fees that they used to collect. Pistol permits are still required if someone wants to cross state lines, however. Carrying a pistol into Florida, for example, without a permit is a felony. Pistol permits cost $20 for one year, and veterans can get one for free. Having worked with the Coffee County Sheriffs Office for more than two decades, Byrd stated that he considers his co-workers to be family. Every day, he says, is like going home to family when he goes in to work. The Enterprise Lions Club meets weekly on Wednesdays at the Enterprise Farmers Market. Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m., followed by a brief business meeting and a guest speaker. Guests are welcome. The Ministry of Health has demanded enhancing examination and settlement of the purchase, sale, and trading of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, which have not been licensed in Vietnam. The ministry recently sent a document to city and provincial Peoples Committees nationwide, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Ministry of Public Security to ask for increasing communications about the harms of electronic nicotine delivery systems, or e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and shisha. It also called for boosting examination and settlement. Though Vietnam has not permitted the import, trading, or circulation of those products, they are becoming popular, sold widely on the Internet, the ministry said, pointing out that with diverse designs and flavors of e-cigarettes, vaping is rising fast in the country, particularly among students. It cited the 2019 statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) as showing that 2.6% of students aged 15 - 17 in Vietnam vaped. A 2022 survey also revealed 3.5% of those aged 13 - 15 used e-cigarettes. Healthcare establishments and the media have reported many cases of students poisoned with nicotine and liquids used in those products. Apart from the harms similar to regular cigarettes, the use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products also poses the risk of causing social evils, especially the crimes related to drugs and other addictive substances, according to the ministry. Editors Note: Lehighvalleylive.com is offering a benefit to subscribers: Click the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and get free, print-quality downloads - as well as the option to purchase keepsakes at half the price. Saucon Valley High School students celebrated their prom Friday at Homewood Suites in Center Valley. Contributing photographer Chris Shipley was there to capture a few of the students as they arrived for the prom. Lehighvalleylive.com will be sending photographers to proms throughout the Lehigh Valley and Warren County this season. Our full coverage of proms across the region can be found at lehighvalleylive.com/prom. Check out the gallery above to see everyone dressed up for a night to celebrate. SHARE YOUR PROM PHOTOS Dont forget to tag @lehighvalleylive in your Instagram photos and @lehighvalley on Twitter - we just might highlight the best pics! Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com. Returning on Saturday for its 271st season, the Easton Farmers Market is more than food. Theres no doubt its the vendors that make it happen, showing up each Saturday before 7 a.m. to set up stands with produce, dairy, meat and eggs, bakery and confection goods, specialty foods and beverages, blooms and botanicals, prepared foods and snacks, local libations, and arts and crafts. But to visit the Delaware and Lehigh riverside park where the market is now held and feel the camaraderie of chatting with the growers and makers and other patrons is how the market feeds the souls of patrons, according to Megan McBride, Easton Market District director for the Greater Easton Development Partnership. Theres this mutual sense of appreciation that goes on at the market, she said during Saturdays opening day ceremonies in Scott Park and on Larry Holmes Drive, which is shut off to traffic during the weekly event. Theres this appreciation for the farmers, the bakers, the makers, the people that are growing and cooking our food and creating products for us. And then theres this appreciation from the farmers for all of you that come out week after week in support of them and allow their businesses to grow. Eastons is the oldest open-air market in the United States, predating even the nation with its roots in 1752. It almost ended when the lone vendor in 2002, Gloria Raub, died that October. But it returned with 15 vendors the following spring, thanks to a community effort led by state Rep. Robert Freeman and residents like Lynn Prior. This week also marked the start of the second season of the West Ward Market, a collaboration between the West Ward Community Initiative and the Greater Easton Development Partnership. Providing fresh, high-quality food products directly to consumers, that market continues 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays, May-September, outside Paxinosa Elementary School along North 12th Street in Eastons West Ward. First held in Eastons Great Square, now Centre Square, the Easton Farmers Market moved to Scott Park for the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic to allow vendors and shoppers more room to spread out. Its remained there, with support from the GEDP and city and borne out by a study 2021. This is a place where we get to celebrate farms and all the work that goes into the food that we eat, said Assistant Market District Manager Emily Roland. This is a place to talk about sustainability, to talk about how things are grown, to learn about how things are grown and maybe do it yourself, to go home, try something new. The 2023 edition continues 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays through Dec. 16. It features nearly 50 vendors, said Steve Schmid, chairman of the Easton Market District Advisory Council. Were marking the start of a new season of fresh, locally grown produce and a renewed commitment to supporting our local farmers, he said Saturday. Visit eastonfarmersmarket.com for full details, including a list of vendors. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. TURKEYS The After School Satan Club is designed to provoke mainstream religions most faithful. Thats exactly what it did when earlier this year it received authorization to use Saucon Valley School District facilities for meetings that have little to do with Satan or any other religious figure. Some of the faithful took the bait, one allegedly went as far as to threaten violence, schools had to close because of the threat and the district revoked the clubs authorization. The revocation, the district argued, was the result of the club violating a policy barring certain language on promotional materials. To those with a basic knowledge of the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment, this argument didnt seem like it would hold up in court, especially considering Christian club members use district facilities for meetings. A federal judge shot down the argument this week and granted a preliminary injunction that will allow the After School Satan Club back into district facilities. We feel Saucon Valley School Districts administration and its legal counsel erred in pursuing this course of action with the After School Satan Clubs authorization. That said, we understand both their predicament. This could not have been an easy issue to navigate. The safety of all who walk the halls of the districts schools is paramount, and a credible threat of violence against the schools requires swift and sometimes extreme action. That said, it seemed like the districts move to ban the club was a knee-jerk reaction when a more measured approach may have saved the district and its taxpayers of the legal bills associated with fighting a court battle that has little chance of succeeding. A temporary ban on all religious clubs using district facilities may have resolved the legal issue. From there, perhaps you invite club members to a school board meeting and give the public a chance to talk to them about the clubs activities. At some point, perhaps, the community grows comfortable enough with the idea and the school board draws up a legally sound policy based on public input. That can still happen. In the meantime, the district shouldnt spend any more money on fighting this issue in court. TROPHIES Editors Note: Lehighvalleylive.com is offering a benefit to subscribers: Click the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and get free, print-quality downloads - as well as the option to purchase keepsakes at half the price. Bangor Area High School students celebrated their prom Saturday night at The Palace Center in Allentown. Contributing photographer Brandon Santiago was there to capture a few of the students as they arrived for the prom. Lehighvalleylive.com will be sending photographers to proms throughout the Lehigh Valley and Warren County this season. Our full coverage of proms across the region can be found at lehighvalleylive.com/prom. Check out the gallery above to see everyone dressed up for a night to celebrate. SHARE YOUR PROM PHOTOS Dont forget to tag @lehighvalleylive in your Instagram photos and @lehighvalley on Twitter - we just might highlight the best pics! Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com. Editors Note: Lehighvalleylive.com is offering a benefit to subscribers: Click the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and get free, print-quality downloads - as well as the option to purchase keepsakes at half the price. Pen Argyl Area High School students celebrated their prom at Blue Grillhouse in Bethlehem Township, Friday night. Photographer Saed Hindash was there to capture a few of the students as they arrived for the prom. Lehighvalleylive.com will be sending photographers to proms throughout the Lehigh Valley and Warren County this season. Our full coverage of proms across the region can be found at lehighvalleylive.com/prom. Check out the gallery above to see everyone dressed up for a night to celebrate. SHARE YOUR PROM PHOTOS Dont forget to tag @lehighvalleylive in your Instagram photos and @lehighvalley on Twitter - we just might highlight the best pics! Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com. A third-level student wants the High Court to order the removal of "fake and defamatory" material posted by an Instagram account holder who has allegedly been blackmailing him and sending altered sexualised images to his contacts. The student, who cannot be identified by order of the court, claims that his image alongside one of male genitalia that are not his has been sent to various contacts and followers of his social media accounts. He claims that he received message from an Instagram account that contained a picture of the student, alongside an image of another male, who he does not known, and the image of another male's genitals. The student says he also received a message from the account user, which he had connected with sometime earlier this year thinking it might be somebody he knew, demanding that he pay them or else the account holder was going to send what were described as "nudes" to all his Instagram and Snapchat contacts. The court heard that the account holder informed the student in a message that he should "make a payment" and should "co-operate" or else the account user would "ruin your life and make sure this goes viral". If he failed to comply, he was told by the use that they were "Gonna make your life miserable." The student said that after he blocked the Instagram account he recovered several communications from persons on his contact list, including from contacts at the college he attends, after they were sent the images by account. The student, who did not pay his blackmailer, claims he made a complaint to Meta, which owns Instagram, about the posts in an attempt to have the material about him removed. However, he claims Meta has not taken any action in relation to the account and in a response to the student said that the matters complained do not breach Instagram's "Community Guidelines." As a result, the student has brought High Court proceedings where he seeks an order restraining Meta Platforms Ireland Limited from publishing any further statements about him on the instagram account. The application against Meta came before Mr Justice Brian O'Moore on Friday afternoon. The judge who acknowledged the serious implications the alleged activity has had on the applicant, granted the student's lawyers permission on an ex-parte basis to serve short notice of the injunction proceedings against Meta. The judge adjourned the matter to early next week. The judge noting the nature of the complaint and the evidence put before the court said that this was a case where the court was prepared to make a temporary order anonymising the applicant. This was a case involving an allegation where more than just the plaintiff's privacy rights have been breached, he said. Seeking the orders John Temple Bl for the student said that his client has been defamed by the posts, and his privacy rights have been breached. The sharing of the false images has caused his client great upset and distress, counsel said. Despite requests from the student and his solicitor Ms Sinead Mulhall to remove the material complained of, Meta counsel said has done nothing, and its only response to his client was to say the material did not breach its Community Guidelines. His client was left with no other option other than to go to court and seek an order against the social media platform. Counsel added that as well as bringing civil proceedings his client has reported the matter to the Gardai, who are investigating his complaints. Counsel said that it is his belief that the sharing of the false images about his amount to an offence under the 2020 Harassment, Harmful Communication and Related Offences Act 2020, which is more commonly known as Coco's law. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. A politician who represents Laois voters in Europe wants a mass campaign that would see Irish and Palestinian towns twinned. Grace O'Sullivan is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Ireland South. The Green Party MEP is convinced that towns like Portlaoise and Portarlington should form links with Palestinian communities. "Twinning is a simple but important act of solidarity that can also bring lasting personal and commercial links between distant countries. Some of the Palestinian towns we could twin with live under the constant threat of demolition by Israel, and twinning could help bring international attention to their cause. While Laois is twinned with Franklin in Tennessee in the USA and Portlaoise is linked with Coulounieix-Chamiers in the Dordogne departement of France, other towns have taken a different approach around Ireland. Towns like Tralee have already twinned with the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour near Bethlehem, while Waterford City is in the process of twinning with the administrative capital of Palestine, Ramallah. MEP O'Sullivan's call also follows the one-year anniversary of the extra-judicial killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by the Israeli military. MEP OSullivan has led the campaign in the European Parliament for the EU to step in and back an independent investigation into the murder of the Palestinian journalist. She has also sharply criticised the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyens decision to sign a multi-million euro gas deal with Israel not long after Abu Akleh's murder. On World Press Freedom Day (May 3), she said, "Press freedom is increasingly under attack all over the world. In Ireland it comes in the form of trivial legal suits brought by powerful individuals with deep pockets. "In many countries, being a journalist is one of the most dangerous jobs to undertake. We must stand up for press freedom while we have the voice to do it with." O'Sullivan will be part of a commemoration for Abu Akleh in the European Parliament on the 11th of May with MEPs and the journalists colleagues. Her Cork Constituency Office will reportedly host a commemorative event on the anniversary of Abu Akleh's death next Thursday 11th of May at 7.30pm. Members of the public are invited to attend a screening of the Al Jazeera documentary about her murder, and hear from Palestinian and Irish voices about cooperation, solidarity and the path forward. Much more is needed to be done to achieve the aims of the 1916 rebels according to the Bishop of Ossory who also insists that the Easter Rising was much more than a blood sacrifice to achieve independence. Bishop Niall Coll made the comments when he delivered the Homily for Mass on the occasion of the Annual State Commemorative Ceremonies for the 1916 Easter Rising, Arbour Hill, Dublin on Wednesday, May 3. He made the case that those who fought and died during the rebellion had high ideals. A balanced appraisal [of the 1916 Rising] seems to indicate that it ought not be reduced, as sometimes can be the case, to an assertion of an unwavering devotion to a doctrine of blood sacrifice, he said. He continued: "But the actions of these revolutionaries were certainly rooted in a sense of a higher cause which would require the selfless sacrifice of their own lives in the cause of Irish freedom," he said. Bishop Coll said there has been something of a rich harvest building gradually over the decades since independence how over more is needed to deliver on the ideals of the 1916 volunteers. "Much more is needed now and into the future to ensure a fair and equitable share in this same harvest in terms of access to education, housing, medical care and so much more. The reality of Irelands incomplete revolution is clear to see. More needs to be done," said the Donegal native who oversees. TEXT of Homily Two fundamental duties are being observed by us this morning. First, the annual commemoration at Arbour Hill is the longest-running State ceremony to commemorate the Easter Rising. Second, we do so, as has always been important to the 1916 families, in the context of the celebration of the Eucharist, that great act of thanksgiving to God. The Rising as we know was mainly confined to Dublin, where the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State was proclaimed. And as the historian Joe Lee has observed: at the time It proved a militarily gallant but hopeless enterprise in the face of the superior [crown] force, which left over 400 dead and about 3000 wounded. You dont need me to rehearse the historical details now save to say that as the eventual coming into existence of the Republic was sealed with blood in the Rising so too was the partition of the country by the sacrifice at the Somme The recent, scaled-back twenty-fifth celebrations to mark the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 are testimony to the agony and the ecstasy of relationships on this island and between this island and Great Britain in the century since the Easter Rising. And, sadly, many other families, Orange and Green, know only too well the burden of the more recent trauma. The manner in which this commemoration is being traditionally observed just now invites those of us who can, Christians and people here present of other traditions and faiths to express our hope as we recommend to Gods love and mercy those who fell in 1916. Fittingly, as I talk directly to the relatives here present, we find ourselves gathered around the altar of the Lord this morning praying for the repose of the souls of your relatives, your antecedents. Volunteers who included in their ranks a mixture of poets, playwrights, socialists, educationalists, mystics and revolutionaries (with some a blend of all of these) and so many more, men and women, young and old. Historians debate the details of the Rising, its timing and aims. A balanced appraisal seems to indicate that it ought not be reduced, as sometimes can be the case, to an assertion of an unwavering devotion to a doctrine of blood sacrifice. But the actions of these revolutionaries were certainly rooted in a sense of a higher cause which would require the selfless sacrifice of their own lives in the cause of Irish freedom. Surely, the words of todays gospel would have touched many of their hearts and stirred their consciences: unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. And I think it fair to say that there has been something of a rich harvest building gradually over the decades since independence in terms of the economic, social, multireligious and multicultural development of Ireland I remember attending a lecture given by the late Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald in Trinity College when I was a student there in the early 1990s, where in a response to a question, he opined that if Ireland had not achieved her independence, she would now be as provincial as certain peripheral regions of the UK today. But much more is needed now and into the future to ensure a fair and equitable share in this same harvest in terms of access to education, housing, medical care and so much more. The reality of Irelands incomplete revolution is clear to see. More needs to be done. So, let me give the last word to Padraic Pearse and the determination and persistence which shine out from his poem The Fool: I have squandered the splendid years: Lord, if I had the years I would squander them over again, Aye, fling them from me! For this I have heard in my heart, that a man shall scatter, not hoard, Shall do the deed of to-day, nor take thought of to-morrows teen, Shall not bargain or huxter with God; or was it a jest of Christs And is this my sin before men, to have taken Him at His word? Teimis ar aghaidh le cheile agus muid lan le muinin. A Mhuire, a Mhathair na hEaglaise, guigh orainne. Poetry Day Ireland was celebrated in style in a Laois library with a stellar line up of proud and talented local poets sharing poems inspired by the county. The beautiful Mountmellick Library played host on national Poetry Day, March 21, with Dr Arthur Broomfield, Ann Egan, Declan Furlong and Laura Murphy all reading their work to an appreciative audience. More below gallery of photos. Amanda Hyland, Assistant Librarian and Mountmellick library manager, opened the event by welcoming everyone and explaining how the library service promoted the love of reading for pleasure across all age groups. Dr Arthur Broomfield read two poems including The Spirit of Mountmellick Speaks-which honours the heritage, history, people and spirit of Mountmellick. The poem was written in 2021 when Arthur was appointed Poet Laureate of Mountmellick for the Poetry Town initiative. Next was Ann Egan, another Laois Native and former writer in residence. Ann spoke very fondly of her Mountmellick connections through her mother. Ann spoke of the origin of St Brigids cross before reciting her poem St Brigids visit along with other work. Declan Furlong is a well-known Mountmellick native who has recently launched his first collection of poems The Exquisiteness of Ladders. Declan read the title poem of his book and the entertaining Lemmingism. Laura Murphy, another Laois poet and activist recited her tribute to Laois In Laois I Fly Free, which has received many plaudits along with other work. Laura explained that her work is centred around the ancient Irish poetic practice of Imbas Forosnai, which means inspiration that illuminates and was used by the ancient poets of Ireland to bring healing to society and truth to power. Olivia Murray, Library Assistant and host then invited any contributions from the audience. Declan Molloy, Ann Marie Foley, Sheelagh Coyle and Frances Harney all shared some of their work which was well received. Diane Seale representing Laois Arts Office then made a presentations to Dr Broomfield and Ms Hyland of framed copies of Arthurs poem, The Spirit of Mountmellick Speaks. Mountmellick Library intend putting this framed poem on permanent display in the library. The event showcases the breadth and depth of talent we have in our county and the power and relevance of poetry to our daily lives. This event was made possible by funding from both Laois Arts Office and Poetry Ireland. Rare earths are extracted from soil in Vietnam, November 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Chinh Vietnam's mined output of rare earths soared tenfold last year, U.S. data showed, as global firms have flocked to the country with the world's second largest estimated deposits to reduce reliance on China for the key industrial metals. Past attempts to build up Vietnam's rare earth industry have stuttered due to falling prices and regulatory hurdles, but growing sales of electric vehicles (EVs) and firms' efforts to diversify their suppliers has revived interest in Vietnam. Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASM) said on Monday that it would buy 100 tonnes of rare earth oxides this year from Vietnam Rare Earth Co and is looking for a longer term supply agreement. ASM said a longer-term agreement with the Vietnamese firm would provide it with a multi-source feedstock option and additional supply security for its processing plant in South Korea. Rare earths are a group of elements that have applications in electronics manufacturing and batteries, making them important for the global transition towards cleaner sources of energy and in defense. Vietnam's rare earth mine production jumped to 4,300 tonnes last year from 400 tonnes in 2021, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a government agency. Its output is a tiny fraction of the amount top producers mined last year. China, the world's biggest producer, mined 210,000 tonnes in 2022, the United States 43,000 tonnes and Australia 18,000 tonnes. But Vietnam's estimated reserves of 22 million tonnes are half of China's and larger than any other country, according to USGS. Its output growth last year, which turned it into the world's sixth biggest producer up from 10th in 2021, may signal a turning point in the exploitation of its resources. It was also the only major Southeast Asian producer to boost output last year, with its larger regional competitors Myanmar and Thailand reporting lower production, USGS data showed. The main beneficiary of the increased production in Vietnam appears to be China, the world's largest auto and EV market and also a major global manufacturing hub for electronic goods such as smartphones. China's customs data show a doubling of imports from Vietnam of rare earth elements (REEs) and other concentrates that usually contain the strategic metals to nearly 12,000 tonnes last year. What quantity of the imports were processed rare earths and unprocessed ores was unclear. Vietnam also imports rare earths for processing and re-exporting. Vietnam's "REE-processing infrastructure is rather advanced, and does process not only domestic REE-resources," Per Kalvig, a researcher at Denmark's Center for Minerals and Materials (MiMa), said. He said Vietnam was one of the world's biggest importers of raw rare earths compounds in 2021. The Kildare County Council Decade of Commemorations Committee is pleased to announce that the 7th Irish Military Seminar is taking place in Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge on Friday, May 19 and Saturday 20. The Cathaoirleach of the County of Kildare, Cllr Fintan Brett, will open the seminar on the Friday evening at a special event featuring former RTE Security Correspondent Tom McCaughren on The Peacemakers of Niemba. This event, attended by many serving and past members of the Defence Forces, usually sells out so tickets (free) should be booked in advance via www.riverbank.ie or by phoning 045448327. The event will also see the launch of a unique biographical dictionary of Co. Kildare men, women and children who took part in the fight for Irelands freedom in the revolutionary decade. Stand you now for Irelands Cause A biographical dictionary of County Kildare republican activists 1913-23 by historian James Durney will be launched at 7pm. All are welcome to the launch. The Saturday line-up features an exciting and varied programme of speakers and topics again this year, including talks on the Spanish Armada, the Irish Brigade at Monte Cassino, the War of Independence, the Niemba Ambush and a keynote address by Dr Siobhra Aiken titled Breaking The Silence: Writing the Civil War. Tickets (free to attend) must be reserved via www.riverbank.ie or by phoning 045448327. The full programme is available on www.riverbank.ie or by emailing localhistory@kildarecoco.ie The Irish Military Seminar is supported by the Kildare County Council Decade of Commemorations Committee and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-23 initiative. Email localhistory@kildarecoco.ie for more details. The Curragh Racecourse is promising an exciting bumper boogie of a weekend for the Tattersalls Irish Guineas Festival which will be headlined by 70s band Abbaesque. The infamous social and sporting weekend at the Curragh venue is set to kick off with an evening meeting of top-class racing on Friday 26th May which will culminate with monster 70s themed party headlined by super tribute band Abbaesque. Allied to this the racecourse management will be launching a competition this week on their social media channels and with Kildare Now to find out what is Co Kildares favourite Abba song and are urging as many people as possible to raid their old wardrobes and attics and come along in their best 70s and Abba costumes with Irish Derby tickets up for grabs for the best dressed on the night. Further to the fun there is serious racing on and the weekends action signals the first two of five Classic races in Ireland with some of Europes fastest horses along with the top trainer and jockey names in the sport competing for a record overall prize pot of 2.36 million thanks to HRI, sponsors and the Curragh Racecourse itself. RTE and ITV are confirmed to cover the racing as well as international TV companies who will be broadcasting footage of the Curragh globally. Off the track will see the first Best Dressed style competition of the summer racing season which will take place on the third day festival. from Friday 26th through to Sunday 28th May. Tickets are available online now from 15 and under 18s are free into the racecourse. Bundle packages are available from 28 each and include: - General admission - Race card - 10 food voucher - 5.00 Tote voucher See Ts & Cs on curragh.ie Free shuttle bus available - The racecourse continues to provide a free shuttle bus service in association with Manguard Plus to and from Newbridge and Kildare for all race days. The return Expressway service from Dublin will also be in operation for the Saturday and Sunday of Guineas Festival. The service will depart from Busaras, stopping at the Red Cow Luas Stop before continuing to The Curragh Racecourse. Book online at expressway.ie American TV personality Tucker Carlson appears on screen during the opening session of the Hungarian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, May 4, 2023. SZILARD KOSZTICSAK / AP The video sent by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was symbolic of the failure of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's attempt to hold a meeting between the American Trumpist right and part of the European far right, in Budapest on Thursday and Friday. In the clip that was recorded before he was fired on April 24, the Trump fans' favorite TV presenter promised he will be there, "If I ever get fired and have some time." Since he taped the video, Carlson was indeed fired, but he did not come to Hungary. In fact, Orban only managed to get second-stringers at the conference center hall near the Danube river, in a venue temporarily renamed the "Woke Free Zone." Among the attendees were some members of the US Congress from the most radical wing of the MAGA movement, leaders of Austrian and Portuguese far-right parties, and Jordan Bardella, the president of the Rassemblement National but not Marine Le Pen, who has run for president of France three times as the party's candidate. 'Wokist ideology' Apart from Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who faced unprecedented protests in his country in March for having proposed a law against "foreign agents" copied on the Russian and Hungarian models, no head of state or government visited the Hungarian capital. Not even Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of whom Orban had high hopes. The Hungarian leader had to content himself with welcoming his Czech and Slovenian allies, Andrej Babis and Janez Jansa, who both lost power in recent months. "Mister President [Trump], come back!" Orban implored in his opening speech, stating that "if he were president today, there would be no war in Ukraine." A common theme between the following speakers was to play down or completely ignore the seriousness of the Russian threat, and to focus their attacks on "woke" culture in all its imaginable incarnations: "people who want to tell you how to educate your children," "LGBT propaganda," "Brussels" and "the Green Deal." In his speech on Friday, after lunch with Orban, Bardella said, "This wokist ideology reminds us of totalitarian regimes." No progress on a union of the radical right While the RN leader said he hoped "allow an alternative to emerge" in the 2024 European elections, there was no apparent progress towards a wide union of the radical right during the two-day meeting in Budapest. The war in Ukraine still deeply divides them, and Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia party and the fiercely pro-Ukrainian Polish Law and Justice party (PiS) decided to keep their distance from Orban, who is known for his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin. You have 18.87% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only. Princess Elizabeth and her son Charles, in London, 1948. In June 1953, the photographer received a call from the palace informing him that the Queen wanted him to take the official photos of her coronation. Famous for his fashion photos, Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) infused theatricality, glamour and closeness to the portraits of Elizabeth II, who succeeded her father, George VI. CECIL BEATON / VICTORIA & ALBERT Constitutional scholar Robert Hazell founded the Constitution Unit at University College London (UCL), a research center specializing in British parliamentary democracy. He has recently launched a major research project on monarchies in Europe. Of the eight parliamentary monarchies Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden that exist in Europe, the United Kingdom is the only one to have retained a coronation ceremony. Why is this so? It is about traditions, it is such an ancient ceremony going all the way back to Anglo-Saxon kings. All schoolchildren in Britain learn that kings are crowned. The first King to be crowned in Westminster Abbey was actually a Frenchman who we call William the Conqueror. He was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day in 1066. But the coronation is older than that and some historians dated it to the sixth century AD, the first properly recorded coronation dates from AD 973. That was a coronation conducted by Saint Dunstan, then Archbishop of Canterbury, not at Westminster but in Bath Abbey. Is it not strange to maintain this ceremony with a religious significance the king pronounces vows and is then blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest figure in the Anglican Church after him when, according to the 2021 census, Britons declaring themselves to be Christians are no longer in the majority in the country? Well, you are right. And the church is conscious of that. I expect this coronation to be very different from the coronation of the Queen In 1953, there will be more prominent representation of other faiths. Charles has a very strong interest in other faiths. And he demonstrated that in the first week of his reign, because he held a special reception in Buckingham Palace for other faith leaders on September 16, where he was acknowledging that Britain is now a much more multi-faith and multi-ethnic society than it was in 1953. And its also a much more secular society. Will this coronation be the last in the UK? It will be Prince William's choice, when his time comes. His decision will be based in part on public reaction to his father's coronation. If the British public is muted or very critical, he may decide to take a simple oath to obey the constitution and uphold the laws passed by Parliament as other European monarchs do. The coronation is a state occasion. Its paid for by the state. So the government could also theoretically decide not to have a coronation, which is funded by the British state. But any such decision would be controversial. You have 74.55% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only. Sudan's two warring generals sent their envoys on Friday, May 5, to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at firming up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, three Sudanese officials said. The negotiations would be the first between Sudan's military, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, since clashes broke out on April 15. According to two senior military officials and one from their paramilitary rival, the talks will begin in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on Saturday, following concerted efforts by Riyad and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. The three officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the upcoming peace talks. No timeframe was given for the length of the talks. The fighting has turned Sudan's capital of Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. There is increasing concern for those trapped and displaced by the fighting, and aid workers and civilians have said there is a dire lack of basic services, medical care, food and water. Foreign governments have rushed to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Saudi warships have been ferrying those fleeing from Port Sudan, on Sudan's Red Sea coast, which has now become the entry hub for aid sent to the embattled nation. A series of fragile and often violated cease-fires over the past three weeks has failed to stop the fighting. Fierce battles raged Friday in areas around the military's headquarters and the international airport in Khartoum, according to residents. According to the three officials, the talks in Jeddah would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles. One of the military officials said the talks are part of an initiative proposed by Saudi Arabia and the United States. He said they would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities. The RSF official said Saudi and American officials would facilitate the talks. He said they would also discuss a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire and confirmed on Friday that the RSF delegation had left for Jeddah. Sudan's military delegation had also departed to Saudi Arabia, saying the talks would address "details of the truce," without elaborating. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, discussed the initiative in a phone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It said the initiative aims to "prepare the ground" for dialogue to deescalate tensions in the African country. The statement also did not provide further details. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Mr. Blinken expressed his "gratitude for Saudi Arabia's invaluable assistance in facilitating the safe arrival in Jeddah of US citizens and their family members departing Sudan." The two top diplomats "affirmed their countries' intensive collaboration on diplomatic work to bring about an end to the fighting in Sudan," Mr. Miller said. The UN envoy in Sudan, Volker Perthes, lauded the move as "a positive sign," but cautioned about high expectations from the meeting. "It is a positive sign, a sign of getting more realistic, realizing that there will be no easy or quick win," he told the AP from Port Sudan. "We need to realize, however, that this is a first encounter." The meeting may be "exploratory rather than concrete," he said, and added that achieving a "lasting cease-fire" would need more than one meeting. The battle for control of Sudan, which capped months of tensions between General Burhan and General Dagalo, has so far killed at least 550 people, including civilians, and as of Monday wounded more than 4,900, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Sudanese Doctors' Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Friday that 473 civilians have been killed in the violence, and more than 2,450 have been wounded. James Elder, a spokesman for UNICEF, said at least 190 children have been killed and 1,700 have been wounded in the fighting. "This means that every single hour, you have seven boys or girls ... killed or injured," he said at a press conference on Friday in Geneva. "I think this is underlining the enormity of how violent this is." The power struggle has put millions of Sudanese in the line of gun battles, artillery bombardments and airstrikes. So far, at least 334,000 people have been displaced inside Sudan, and tens of thousands more have crossed to neighboring countries Egypt, Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia, according to UN agencies. The UN World Food Program projects that the number of acutely food-insecure people in Sudan will increase by between 2 million and 2.5 million people raising the number to a total of 19 million people in the next three to six months if the current conflict continues, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. The UN refugee agency announced that $445 million will be needed to support an estimated 860,000 Sudanese refugees fleeing Sudan to five countries affected by the emergency. Le Monde with AP The death has occurred of Tom Browne of Knocktoosh, Broadford, Limerick. Formerly of Mallow, Cork. Tom passed away peacefully on May 5 after a short illness, at his home. Sadly missed by his wife Mary (nee Mulcahy), brothers Donie, Jim and Timmy, sister Eileen, sisters-in-law Patricia and Anne, nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces, relatives, neighbours and friends. Rest in Peace. Reposing at Sextons Funeral Home, Broadford on Saturday from 6pm with Removal at 8pm to the Church of Our Lady of the Snows, Broadford. Requiem Mass on Sunday at 12 noon. Burial afterwards in Kilbrin Cemetery. ----------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of David Gallagher, Baltimore, Maryland, USA and late of Tullerboy, Athlacca, Co Limerick. Following an accident, David passed in the outstanding care of all at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, surrounded by his family. Predeceased by his father Daniel, Uncle Phil and nephew Darragh. Very deeply regretted by his sorrowing mother Noreen (nee McAuliffe), sister Kay (OShea), brother Kevin, Davids special friend Nicole, uncles Paddy and Tony, cousins, nephews, nieces, relatives, kind neighbours and his many friends, both here and in the USA. May He Rest in Peace. Reposing this Saturday evening, May 6 from 6.30pm at Daffy's funeral home, Kilmallock, followed by evening prayers at 8pm. Removal to arrive on Sunday for 1pm Requiem Mass at St John the Baptist Church, Athlacca, with burial afterwards to the New Cemetery, Athlacca. David'd Requiem mass can be watched here. Messages of sympathy can be left in the Condolences section below, Mass Cards and letters of sympathy can be traditionally posted to Daffys Funeral Directors, Kilmallock. ----------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Kevin McAuliffe of Ballygrennan, Bruff, Limerick. Late of Old Cork Road, Limerick and Stryker, Dooradoyle, Limerick. Died peacefully in the tender care of the staff at Milford Care Centre. Predeceased by his mother Eileen, father Denis and brother-in-law Jack. Dearly loved husband of Catherine and much loved father of Rachel and Lucy. Sadly missed by his brother Denis, sisters Ann and Marie, mother-in-law, brothers-in-law, sister-in-law, nieces, nephews, neighbours and friends. May He Rest in Peace. Reposing this Saturday evening, May 6 at Butler's Funeral Home, Bruff from 5.30pm to 7pm. Arriving to St Peter and Paul's Church, Bruff on Sunday, May 7 for Requiem Mass at 3pm followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery. Family flowers only, donations to Milford Care Centre, Limerick if desired. Kevin's Requiem mass can be watched here. ----------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Patrick (Paddy) McCarthy of Clarina, Limerick. Patrick passed peacefully in the wonderful care of Milford Care Centre, surrounded by his loving family, after a long illness borne with great dignity and courage. Predeceased by his grandson, Graham, his parents James and May, his brother Charlie, his sisters, Mary, Rita and Nuala and his godmother Tessie. Deeply missed and forever loved by his wife Catherine. Devoted father of Mary (Gee), Paul, Patrick, Leona (Kelly), John & Conor. Sadly missed by his daughters-in-law Catherine, Carol and Mai, sons-in-law Dave and Nigel, and his 15 adored grandchildren. Paddy will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his brothers, Kieran and Jimmy, sisters Ann (Best), Betty (O'Connor) & Olive (Dinnage), sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, extended family and a wide circle of friends especially in Ballybrown GAA. May he rest in peace. Reposing at his son Patrick's home (V94 P2H5) on Saturday, May6 from 5pm to 8pm. Arriving at St Josephs Church, Ballybrown on Sunday, May 7 for Requiem Mass at 1.30pm followed by burial in Kilkeedy Cemetery. No flowers please donations, if desired, to Milford Care Centre or the Irish Cancer Society. Patricks Requiem Mass will be live-streamed here. ----------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Daniel (Dan) O'Connell of Trim Road, Navan, Meath. Late of Pallasgreen, Limerick. ied peacefully at home on Friday 5th May 2023. Dan, beloved husband of Marie and loving father of Irene, John, Linda and Danny is very sadly missed by his family, daughter in law Mary, grandson Daire and his wife Jade, brothers in law, sisters in law, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends. May Dan Rest In Peace. Reposing at the Fitzsimons Funeral Home, Canon Row, Navan this Sunday afternoon from 4pm to 7pm. Removal on Monday morning to arrive in St. Mary's Church, Navan for Funeral Mass at 10am. Burial afterwards in St. Brigid's Cemetery, Oldcastle. House strictly private, please. For those who cannot attend but wish to view Dan's Funeral Mass, it can be seen at livestream on the Navan Parish website. If you wish to leave a message of sympathy for Dan's family, you can do so in the condolence section below. ----------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Terry RYAN of High Meadows, Gouldavoher, Dooradoyle, Limerick. Late of C.I.E. Terry, passed away peacefully, at University Hospital Limerick. Beloved husband of the late Patsy. Devoted father of Fiona, Patrick, Lisa, Tara and Niamh. Beloved grandad to Andy and Abby, Cian, Gavin & Emma, Jeff and Emily, Lilly, Jack and Will. Sadly missed by his sons-in-law Derek, Mike and Dave, great-grandchildren Harry, Ben and Indie, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends. Rest in Peace. Reposing at Griffins Funeral Home, Johns Gate on Monday, May 8, from 5pm with removal to St Pauls Church, Dooradoyle at 6.30pm. Requiem Mass on Tuesday, May 9, at 11am. Funeral afterwards to Castlemungret Cemetery. Messages of sympathy may be conveyed through the condolences section (below), or by post to Griffins Funeral Home. ----------------------------------------------- To leave messages of condolence, or view masses, please click here. ----------------------------------------------- Workers have no regrets leaving HCMC for jobs in hometowns With the ongoing layoff among factories in Ho Chi Minh City, many migrant workers have chosen to return home to be with their children and save themselves from high living costs. Since the beginning of this year, LR Vietnam Co., Ltd, which specializes in making shoes in Linh Trung Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Thu Duc City, has operated for only three days per week due to a shortage of orders, leaving workers underemployed and on lower income. As a result, many workers have decided to quit. One such worker is Tran Thi Cam Linh, who has returned to her hometown to work on the family farm. Ten years ago, Linh, now 29, left Dong Nai Province that borders HCMC to work at factories in the city. She met her husband at Linh Trung EPZ, and both have lived in Thu Duc as workers at LR Vietnam for years. After many years working, their basic salary gradually increased. If business was stable, they could earn a combined monthly income of more than VND20 million (US$860). However with spending on rent, daily meals, and raising three children, they do not have any savings. The couple started to think about leaving HCMC when the city was hit by a severe Covid-19 outbreak in 2021. But having no savings, they decided to stay and hope for more opportunities to come once the pandemic was over. As it turned out, the pandemic aftermath has hit the worldwide economy harder than expected. With the factory running short of orders, Linh and her husband decided it was time to go home, especially as they had left two of their children with family in Dong Nai, and wanted to be with them again. Early last year, Linh's husband returned to Dong Nai first to work on their farm while Linh stayed and worked at the factory in case they could not earn money from farming. He has cultivated mangos and durians ever since. Nearly four months ago, Linh also left the factory. "The business situation at the company did not look good so I left sooner than planned," she said. Tran Thi Cam Linh and her husband work on the farm in Dong Nai Province, April 2023. Photo by VnExpress/An Phuong A few months ago, Phan Thi Kieu Trang, 40, took her daughters back home to central Quang Ngai Province. Before her homecoming, Trang had worked for Vietnam Nikkiso Co. in Tan Thuan EPZ in District 7 for 15 years. As her family does not have any farmland, Trang initially did not dare to return home to start a new life. But as the living cost in Vietnams biggest city kept rising, the single mom could not help but thinking about returning. Living in HCMC was always challenging for her to raise two children with a monthly salary of VND16 million. Early this year, when learning that the company she works for was about to open a factory not far from her parents house in Quang Ngai, Trang did not think twice and asked permission to move back immediately. Now working in Quang Ngai, Trang spends half an hour driving from her parents house to work every day and has her mother help care for her daughters. The living cost in the province is much lower. Although Trang is paid less in Quang Ngai, she has no regrets. Dozens of other workers at Vietnam Nikkiso have also asked to move back to Quang Ngai, as the new factory offers them the same job, yet they do not have to stay away from home and live in HCMC. A survey by the HCMCs Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in the first quarter of 4,000 companies revealed that 31% had reduced the number of staff, 50% stayed the same and only 19% recruited new employees. Businesses that imposed layoffs are mainly in footwear, garment and textile, construction and food processing. The Social Life Research Institute in a survey conducted late last year found that among more than 1,000 workers in HCMC, Binh Duong and Dong Nai, 15.5% said they would return home and 44.6% are considering it. Most respondents cited the high living costs in urban areas and the need to stay close to their children, whom they have left at home with their parents. Another reason is that there are now more job opportunities in the provinces thanks to the policy of expanding industrial zones to take advantages of lower labor and premise costs. Nguyen Duc Loc, president of the Social Life Research Institute, said among workers that are returning home, younger one will continue to look for jobs in factories while older ones are more likely opt for working on farms. FURTHER clarity is being sought in relation to proposed changes to the Opera Square development in Limerick city centre. Limerick Twenty Thirty (LTT), the council-owned company charged with carrying out the 200m development, had flagged its intentions to make changes to the 14-storey tower building which is a central feature of the project. This is earmarked to accommodate revenue staff, currently based at nearby Sarsfield House. A LTT spokesperson said the proposed changes were made in response to new building sustainability regulations. A number of other amendments were also sought, including increased social amenities and biodiversity measures in the public spaces. Its also proposed to increase the vegetation and to upgrade the planned mirror pool. In effect, LTT sought permission from An Bord Pleanala to carry on with these changes without the need for further planning permission, arguing that the proposed changes do not constitute a material alteration to the original plan. However, the national planning appeals body disagreed with this, and directed LTT to submit fresh papers. A spokesperson for Limerick Twenty Thirty said staff were expecting this outcome due to the nature of the proposed amendments and as a result have been preparing documents for the last number of months. The information requested by An Bord Pleanala will be submitted in the coming weeks, and a decision by the board is expected within a six month period. They added the works which are currently being undertaken already have full planning permission and are not part of the proposed change. David Geary of An Taisce Limerick said this represents a reprieve for Limerick, adding there is more need for accommodation than office space. IT'S SIMPLY the Best this May for those in need, as former Ireland and Ulster rugby captain Rory Best embarks on a 300km walk for children with cancer. With the aim of raising 2m, the rugby star sets out to travel through eight counties to raise money for a new therapeutic short break centre for children and families to avail of after a cancer diagnosis. Rory will arrive in Limerick on May 21, where he will go to the University of Limerick (UL) campus, before arriving at the new International Rugby Experience that officially opened earlier this week. With Cancer Fund for Children ambassador Rory saying his aim for the children is to be treated like the stars they are, the charity is hoping to build a new centre for short term family stays, in Mayo, with the millions of euros raised. Speaking about the upcoming challenge, officially named Rorys Miles 2 Mayo, Rory Best said: Im delighted to be doing my bit to help bring another therapeutic facility to Ireland for families impacted by childhood cancer. I am also looking forward to visiting Limerick on my journey, and stopping by the new International Rugby Experience. Every week across Ireland, 10 children and young people, aged 0-24, are diagnosed with cancer. Describing the upcoming campaign as epic, Barry Hannon, CEO of the International Rugby Experience, said: We will be delighted to welcome him (Rory Best) to the International Rugby Experience the Home of Legends - when he arrives in Limerick. We would encourage people to come out to OConnell Street on the day to support him. Beginning his journey at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, in a traditional kudos to his decorated rugby career, Rory will pass through Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Tipperary, Limerick, Clare, Galway and Mayo. Funds raised through the campaign will go towards the building of Daisy Lodge in Cong, Mayo. This second therapeutic centre is inspired by the existing Daisy Lodge in Down, which has supported over 3,300 families from across Ireland since it opened in 2014. ROAD markings at the new Bearys Cross roundabout on the N24 have been erased after concerns were highlighted by a local councillor. At the March meeting of the Cappamore-Kilmallock Municipal District, Cllr Martin Ryan queried the signage for motorists coming from the Boher side of the recently-installed roundabout. Cllr Ryan said when motorists approached the roundabout there was an arrow, painted on the left lane, to indicate that that lane was only to be used for the left turn to Caherconlish. Normally, he added, the left lane on a roundabout is used for turning left and for going straight through a roundabout. Cllr Ryan said a person who is travelling in the left lane and who wants to go straight for Limerick is in the wrong lane. Cllr Ryan, who knows a thing or two about roads and transport as he runs Martin Ryan & Sons with his brothers Declan and Brendan, added: Motorists are not informed early enough. Cllr Ryan said he feared the markings could cause an accident if somebody in the left lane heading for Limerick city encroaches on those in the right or correct lane. An arrow painted on the right lane indicated that it was the correct lane to be in to continue towards the city. At the March meeting, Trevor McKechnie, senior executive engineer with Limerick City and County Council, said he would make enquires with the Road Design Office. A subsequent story regarding the roundabout was published in the Limerick Leader and online. The story was widely read with many commenting on the confusion they had experienced because of the road markings. Mr McKechnie had an update for councillors at the April meeting. Ive spoken to the road design office. A number of safety audits were done and they agree the road markings should be taken off. It will operate as a normal roundabout, he said, adding that the council was waiting for a contractor to remove the road markings. That work has since been completed (see below). Cllr Martin Ryan, who raised the issue in the first place, welcomed the move. Im delighted to see the quick action taken after they listened to everyones opinion. In fairness, they took peoples concerns on board and went with it straight away. The article got a lot of reaction. I got a lot of calls and texts from people who agreed with the sentiment that you enter a roundabout thinking of the basic standard rules of the road, said Cllr Ryan. People also reported a number of near misses as two vehicles got pinched as they both headed towards the city. Another fear, in a worst case scenario, was that a car could come into collision with or even go under a lorry. People were very concerned that there were going to be accidents. People had seen near misses happening and their concern was the near misses would turn into accidents, said Cllr Ryan, who added that people also raised with him a similar situation on the roundabout on the N69 coming from the Clarina side and heading for the Dock Road. Continuing the transport theme, Cathaoirleach of the Cappamore-Kilmallock Municipal District, John Egan welcomed the National Transport Authority (NTA) funding for bus shelters in Bruff, Caherconlish, Hospital, Kilfinane, Kilmallock and ORourkes Cross. However, he expressed his disappointment that Murroe, Cappamore and Doon were not included. Hopefully next year, he said. Mr McKechnie said they are working on further locations for bus shelters with the Active Travel Investment Programme which is funded by the NTA. We are hoping more will come. They havent been forgotten about, he said THE CHARTERED Institute of Personnel and Development Mid West (CIDP Mid-West) hosted a round table discussion on the topic of micro-credentials in collaboration with the University of Limerick (UL). Micro-credentials are small educational courses designed to meet the demands of learners, enterprises and organisations. Incorporating micro-credentials into your retention strategy was the central discussion by CIDP Mid-West and UL. According to the CIDP organisations are repeatedly innovating their approach to retaining and attracting talent, thats where micro-credentials come into play as they are seen as key opportunities in the future of work. One of the intentions of micro-credentials is to enable employees to personalise their learning journey that supports their career goals. Chairperson of CIPD Mid-West Lavinia Ryan-Duggan says while micro-credentials dont replace other education offerings, they can offer another choice for both employers and employees that can support their work-life balance and career choices. This was a great opportunity to hear views and benefits these bite-sized accredited courses can have to retain key talent and address skills gaps for organisations of all sizes, Ms Ryan-Duggan said. Graduate and Professional Studies at UL Helen Brown said, Talent leaders from across the Mid-West debated the opportunities to be had with these new bite-sized, accredited, enterprise-powered qualifications which allow learners to gather skills and competencies in a flexible, fast, and affordable way. Acknowledging the challenges that businesses are facing in retaining talent, these micro-credentials are shaping the future of professional education and proving to be an excellent resource for companies recruitment and retention strategies, she added. 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We take no responsibility for the content of advertising materials, including any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies included therein. HTML reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to amend or vary any of these Terms & Conditions at any time without prior notice or intimation. Mutual fund calculator: Investing in mutual funds via Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) route. It's a well-known fact that in the long term, mutual fund SIP helps an investor get compounding benefits. So, the majority of mutual fund SIP investors go for long-term investments. So, if your goal as an investor is to accumulate 1 crore, there is a simple and effective strategy that you can follow- the 15x15x15 rule. What is the 15x15x15 rule of mutual funds? The 15x15x15 rule of mutual funds involves investing 15,000 per month for a period of 15 years in a fund that offers a 15% annual return. Well, it simply says that if one does a 15,000 rupees SIP per month for 15 years which earns an average 15% compounded annual returns, You are able to accumulate 1 crore (against your total investment of only 27 lakhs ), said tax and investment expert Balwant Jain. What is compounding? Compounding refers to the process of earning interest on your interest, leading to exponential growth in your investments over time. By investing just 15,000 per month for 15 years in a stock that offers a 15% annual return, you can amass a corpus of 1,00,27,601. In other words, you would have invested only 27 lakh and earned a profit of 73 lakh," said Amit Gupta, MD, SAG Infotech. 15 X 15 X 30 rule of mutual funds Furthermore, if you continue this investment strategy for another 15 years, your corpus will grow exponentially. The 15 X 15 X 30 rule of mutual funds? If u do a 15,000 Rs.SIP per month for 30 years (instead of 15 years as earlier), at a 15% compounded annual return, You will be able to accumulate 10 CRORE against 1 crore if u invest for 15 years), said Balwant Jain. This shows that time, and not timing is important for Wealth Creation, added Jain. Meanwhile, capital markets regulator Sebi is looking at introducing a performance-linked incentive for mutual funds and will soon be coming out with a consultative paper on the same, news agency PTI reported. " we are trying to focus. Shortly, you will see once we come out with a consultative paper where we will try to link performance and try to see surrounding that performance what incentive structure we can create," Kumar said while speaking at an MF summit organised by industry lobby CII. The Election Commission has issued a notice to the Karnataka Congress over its "corruption rate card" advertisements published in newspapers targeting the BJP and sought "empirical" evidence to prove its allegations by Sunday evening. The notice was issued on Saturday following a complaint lodged by the BJP. Ahead of the May 10 assembly polls in Karnataka, the Congress released a set of posters and advertisements listing "corruption rates" in the state between 2019 and 2023 while terming the BJP government a "trouble engine". "It is a fair assumption that INC possesses the material/empirical/verifiable evidence based on which these specific/explicit 'facts' have been published, an action which can fairly be assessed to embed knowledge, motive and intent to do so by the author," the EC notice read. It asked the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president to "convey the empirical evidence of the same, for example, the evidences for rates for kinds of appointments & transfers, kinds of jobs and kinds of commission mentioned in the advertisement given by you along with if any explanation by 19.00 hrs on 7th May 2023 and also put that in public domain." arnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar on Saturday exuded confidence that his party would win at least 141 seats in the May 10 assembly polls and asserted that he would abide by whatever the party decides on the issue of chief ministership. Voting for the 224 assembly seats in the state will take place on May 10 and the results will be out on May 13. In an interview with PTI, Shivakumar said the Congress will get a comfortable majority in Karnataka and the win would open the doors for the Lok Sabha elections as the party's victory in the state in 1978 had done. The Karnataka Congress chief lashed out at the BJP for raising issues such as the Uniform Civil Code and the National Register of Citizens in its manifesto for the assembly polls, saying it shows their "bankruptcy" of ideas and vision for the state. He also claimed that since the BJP has no agenda and vision for Karnataka, the "Modi factor" will not work in the assembly polls this time. Shivakumar, who is a leading aspirant for the chief minister's post along with former chief minister Siddarammaiah in case the Congress comes to power, said all stories of infighting in the party are created by the media and there is no truth in them. "The fact is that the Congress leadership is united and the party workers are very active in spreading our message both on the ground and in social media. We are putting a combined effort to ensure that the Congress comes back to power with a clear majority," he asserted. NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) airlifted 192 passengers, mostly women, children, and elderly persons, from the strife-hit country of Sudan in a 24-hour mission. According to the Ministry of Defence, the mission involved a C-17 Globemaster aircraft taking off from Hindan and landing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before flying non-stop to Sudan and back to India. Most of the passengers on the flight were Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), foreign nationals, or Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) holders. They could not be transported to Jeddah and needed to be flown directly to India on a non-stop flight using a heavy jet. While in flight, the crew faced an unexpected emergency when one of the passengers lost consciousness, prompting the administration of oxygen. At Sudan, the aircraft carried out an overhead steep tactical arrival followed by an assault approach to land the heavy jet. The engines were kept running throughout the duration of the ground operations, in readiness for a quick exit from the airfield in case of an emergency. The aircraft landed at Ahmedabad late in the evening on 4 May and then at the home base of Hindan late in the night on the same day. This mission showcased the IAFs unwavering commitment to serving the nation and its people, especially in times of crisis. The success of this operation is a testament to the IAFs preparedness, skill and bravery in the face of adversity, the ministry said in the statement. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave a stern warning to Visva Bharati University which issued an eviction notice to Amartya Sen in connection with the ongoing property row between the Nobel laureate and the university. If you touch Amartya Sen's house, you don't know what I can do," she warned the university management while speaking to media persons in Bolpur, West Bengal. CM's warning has come a day after the Calcutta High Court stayed the university's eviction notice till a lower court passes an order on the matter. A lower court will hear the matter on May 10. The university has accused Amartya Sen of encroaching upon the land which was entitled to the university. It also issued an eviction order to Sen. In its notice, it accused him of possessing 1.38 acres of land on the Santiniketan campus, which is more than his legal entitlement of 1.25 acres. Earlier, Amartya Sen was asked to leave the 13 decimals of land at his Santiniketan residence by May 6. However, Mamata Banerjee's clear warning in the matter is an indication that any action in the case by the university can have repercussions. Mamata Banerjee has been openly supporting Amartya Sen over the land dispute with the Visva Bharti University. Now, she has given a clear warning that she will not tolerate Visva Bharati University's move in any way. The West Bengal CM has even asked TMC party leaders and workers to start campaigning against Visva Bharati's eviction notice. Party workers have been asked to conduct the protest legally, and stand with Amartya Sen. This is not the first time, when Mamata Banerjee came down heavily on the Visva Bharati University over the disputed land case. Earlier she said that she would sit inside Amartya Sen's house if Visva Bharati University would dare to bulldoze his house. People are still talking about the incident that happened during a recent IPL 2023 match between the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on May 1. The match was marred by an on-field altercation involving RCB captain Virat Kohli and LSG players Naveen-ul-Haq, Amit Mishra and their mentor Gautam Gambhir. Meanwhile, Kohli has written to BCCI officials explaining the situation and expressing his disappointment for being docked 100% match fee. Kohli reportedly said he did not say anything to Naveen-ul-Haq or Gambhir during the fight that would warrant such a punishment from the BCCI, according to a report in Dainik Jagran. Livemint could not independently verify the claim. However, witnesses to the verbal altercations claim that Kohli was hostile towards Naveen-ul-Haq and Kyle Mayers and Amit Mishra, who was batting with Naveen towards the end of LSG's chase, also complained to the umpires about Kohli's behaviour. The incident occurred after Kohli allegedly abused Mayers and gave him a send-off, which prompted Gambhir to step in and take Mayers away. Kohli then told Gambhir to stay away from the matter, to which Gambhir replied that his players are like his family and he won't tolerate anyone abusing them. Both Kohli and Gambhir were fined 100% of their respective match fees for the altercation, which was deemed a Level 2 offence and in breach of IPL Code of Conduct's Article 2.21. Kohli, however, doesn't feel his behaviour warranted such a fine, although he won't pay the fine as RCB has a policy of not deducting match fees from their players' salaries for on-field offences. As far as Naveen-ul-Haq's behaviour is concerned, the Afghanistan and LSG pacer was fined 50% of his match fees after the aggressive manner in which he brushed aside Kohli's handshake and almost pushed him away. This incident is not the first time Kohli has found himself in the midst of on-field controversies, but it remains to be seen how the situation will impact his leadership going forward. Fans and analysts alike will undoubtedly be watching closely as the IPL season unfolds. Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag have called for stricter punishment for Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir to encourage improved behaviour. The Indian legends asked for suspension instead of fines. ELKO A bill winding its way through the Legislature could have an impact on future public-private capital projects and is being opposed by local elected officials and at least one contractor. Senate Bill 226 could force nonprofit organizations to pay prevailing wage rates for construction and improvement projects if they are financed in whole or in part from public money or donations of land. Elko City Council and Elko County Board of Commissioners have publicly opposed the bill, stating concerns about ramifications to groups and services for children, elderly, veterans and other vulnerable populations. Proposed by Democrat lawmakers from Clark County; State Senator and Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, District 6; and supported by Assemblyman Steve Yeager, District 9, the bill was introduced in the Senate on March 7. Since its introduction, the bill has been amended but there is still concern about the projects that could be delayed or halted if it passes. Pedro Ormaza, president and owner of Ormaza Construction in Elko, said the proposed legislation points to the lack of understanding that Clark County lawmakers have for rural areas that rely on public-private relationships to improve their communities. Perhaps the Vegas senators that introduced this bill do not believe in public-private partnerships, he said. However, in northern Nevada, our City and County frequently partner with private and nonprofit companies. We work together to help our community survive and thrive. Ormaza said the bill could limit current charitable foundations and discourage new ones from being created. SB226 will take away from the goal of helping the community partners and could prevent future charities from starting up, he said. A member of the nonprofit Northeastern Nevada Museum board of directors, Ormaza said community donations are funding an expansion project that would extend the museum into Elko City Main Park. A bill like SB226 will double the cost of the project because it will be on City property, he said. The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada asked the Committee on Government Affairs to back the legislation to bring more affordable housing to the state, adding that prevailing wages will be able to provide a quality of life for Nevada workers. Ormaza said despite supporters claims that the bill would generate a larger workforce and benefit Nevada communities, that isnt the case. It will not bring any additional jobs to the community. It will cost the community more money and bring zero added benefit by paying prevailing wages, he said. This is one example, but there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of projects that will be decreased or canceled altogether if SB226 passes. Although rural counties are worried about the effects of the bill, so are urban areas. The Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote an editorial critical of Democrat leaders in Carson City who have received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from organized labor in recent years. The newspaper added that the intent of the bill is to ensure that all government construction jobs are done with union labor and questioned the rhetoric posed by lawmakers that the mandate will ensure quality work without driving up costs. The Legislative Record shows little support for SB226. As of this week, three organizations including Elko County have submitted letters of opposition. Geoffrey Lawrence, research director with Nevada Policy Research Institute, wrote against the bill, stating that it would classify almost everything as a public work and that 13 states have repealed [prevailing wage] laws, with Michigan the most recent state to do so in 2018. Lawrence and the Review-Journal both cited the history of prevailing wage law in Nevada, going back to 1937 when lawmakers at the time used the federal Davis-Bacon Act as a template. Lawrence said that was to preclude Black Americans from winning contracts on federal projects. [It] was not a not-so-subtle effort to protect union workers at the expense of nonunion laborers, many of whom were Blacks or immigrants, the Review-Journal explained. Its unseemly origins aside, markets remain a far more efficient means of setting wages than the edicts of bureaucratic central planners. Republican State Sen. Pete Goicoechea said even after SB226 was amended to remove custom work that would trigger prevailing wage, such as contractors installing specially ordered windows, still its a bad bill. If theres any public money in it at all, or if the county or the city gave a piece of property or building to a nonprofit or NGO, it would trigger it and make it prevailing wage. Union contractors The legislation would bring Nevada a right-to-work state one step closer to unionization, Goicoechea said. Theyre really eroding that [right-to-work]. If you dont have a project labor agreement especially in Clark County you dont build. Its a union job or you dont build. In rural Nevada we dont have a lot of union contractors and a lot of our subcontractors arent union, he continued. They keep changing it and shaping it and were getting to the point if youre not union youre not going to get a contract. And then once you get a contract, youre union, youre going to pay prevailing wage and its going to get very expensive. He said the proposed legislation could be more stringent than federal laws if passed. Goicoechea said prevailing wage exists for federal projects such as the upcoming Veterans Cemetery due to the Davis-Bacon Act but its not quite as tough as what weve got on some of the prevailing wage laws [Nevadas] got on the books. City Manager Jan Baum explained that if passed, SB226 would not affect construction projects because the City already follows Public Works project requirements. The City will continue to follow public works NRS requirements. But it could potentially affect the recreation and events center project run by the nonprofit Boys & Girls Club of Elko, because City land has been earmarked to be conveyed for that purpose. Boys & Girls Club CEO Rusty Bahr said the bill would negatively affect all public-private partnerships across the state and could increase costs of the new recreation center and events center. The Boys & Girls Club State Alliance is keeping a close watch and is in contact with legislators to oppose the bill, Bahr continued. The Boys & Girls Club is hopeful that this bill does not gain traction. Bahr said in December having the Club take over the project would save 30% on the cost, which would be about $12 million. Right now, the City is keeping an eye on the progress SB226 during the legislative session. Weve had meetings with the Nevada League of Cities and a Nevada legislative call that have concerns regarding the bill, Baum said. Impact on nonprofits The bills impact could be felt by community partners, she observed. Community partners either minimizing, deferring or terminating construction projects because of the increased costs, she explained. The population that utilizes facilities provided by nonprofits that have partnered with government are usually underserved or at-risk community members. Elko County Manager Amanda Osborne agreed with Baums belief that the bill could impact the Countys partnerships with nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits provide essential services such as social services, child care, veteran services, senior services, healthcare, youth services, recreation and so much more for our underserved populations, Osborne said. Private-public partnerships have become a method for entities to supply land and financial resources to a smaller organization that cannot support major remodeling projects, she continued. It is common for local government cities and the County to enter into leases or convey land/facilities below fair market value specifically to nonprofit organizations, which means nonprofits would be subject to the requirements of NRS 338 for public works. A recent example of this is Elko Countys lease of the Lions Club Camp in Lamoille Canyon that will cover the camps insurance and help the nonprofit organization build a dining hall to replace the lodge that was destroyed by the Range 2 Fire in 2018. Tracking the bills Currently the bill is in the Senate Finance Committee, but Goicoechea said it is one of several involving prevailing wage in the 82nd legislative session. None of them are any good, he said. Theres one if youre working for the truckers if youre delivering cement, asphalt or aggregate. If you deliver a load of cement to a public works job, then you have to pay that driver prevailing wage. It would be a bookkeeping nightmare. There is hope that Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo might veto the bills if they are passed. Goicoechea said eight no votes from senate Republicans could sustain a veto if the bill is brought back to the Legislature before it concludes. Goicoechea said so far during the session, prevailing wage bills have not had much success. But it doesnt hurt for the cities and counties to put the pressure on the Governor and the other side of the aisle, he continued. Local government cant afford 30% more construction costs, especially if were talking schools and non-government organizations like Boys & Girls Club and senior housing. All this adds up. Elko County Commissioner Delmo Andreozzi supports the Countys opposition to SB226 and has watched the bill as it goes through the Legislature. When I watched the testimony, all of the support was from the unions, but some of the non-supporters were from groups trying to work within the framework of NRS 338. I [keep] thinking about how tragic that particular bill could be, he said. [It] doesnt do a good job of saying what loophole they are trying to close. They just cast this huge net that potentially undermines all kinds of things we do. NEW DELHI: Range countries of the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) have collaborated to strengthen conservation efforts for migratory birds and their habitats. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme/Convention on Migratory Species (UNEP/CMS) organised the meeting from May 2 to May 4, 2023, in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by representatives from 11 countries, including Armenia, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Mongolia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, along with Secretariats of CMS, AEWA, and Raptors MOU, and representatives of Chief Wildlife Wardens of States, scientific institutions in India, international and national non-governmental organizations, and subject experts. The delegates deliberated on an institutional framework for the Central Asian Flyway, discussed priority areas for implementation, and agreed on a draft roadmap for updating the CMS CAF Action Plan. According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the discussions also led to the modalities of an institutional framework mechanism to develop a coordinated approach to the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. The formalisation of the Central Asian Flyway initiative was seen as a significant step towards the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey who inaugurated the event emphasized the need to adopt a sustainable lifestyle for the co-existence of all life forms, including migratory birds. The Central Asian Flyway is a major migratory route for birds, covering 30 countries from the Arctic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. It is home to more than 400 species of migratory birds, including threatened and endangered species such as the Siberian crane and the lesser white-fronted goose. In an ongoing encounter operation, Jammu and Kashmir security forces eliminated a terrorist in the Karhama Kunzer area of Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir. Notably, security forces are undertaking two different encounters in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.One is underway in Kandi forest in Rajouri, whereas, another started in the Karhama Kunzer area of Baramulla. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Army Chief General Manoj Pande will visit Jammu and Kashmir to review the security on Saturday. The situation has been closely monitored by Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi on ground zero, defence sources told ANI. #WATCH| J&K: Encounter underway in Karhama Kunzer area of Baramulla (Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/jpv0iiK6Ve ANI (@ANI) May 6, 2023 The security forces are able to establish contact with terrorist in Rajauri, said Jammu Defence PRO. In a tweet, Kashmir Zone Police said, #Encounter has started at Karhama Kunzer area of #Baramulla. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow. @JmuKmrPolice." In the ongoing anti-terror operation, a total of five soldiers lost their lives in the Kandi area of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri. An encounter broke out between terrorists and security forces in the Wanigam Payeen Kreeri area of Jammu and Kashmir' Baramulla on Thursday. Giving the information about the encounter operation that began on Thursday, Kashmir Zone police tweeted that the J&K police and security forces are on their job to mow down the terrorists in the location. "#Encounter has started in Wanigam Payeen Kreeri area of #Baramulla. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow," tweeted Kashmir Zone Police. Two terrorists were killed by the security forces in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Wednesday. The neutralisation was followed by an encounter which broke out near the Pichnad Machil area in the Kupwara district on Wednesday morning. Informing about the encounter of two terrorists, the officials said that the Kupwara police and the Indian Army are conducting search operation to track down other terrorists. "Two terrorists have been killed in the encounter and the search operation is underway," officials said. The security personnel launched an operation based on inputs provided by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kupwara. The SSP was alerted about the infiltration by the terrorist launch pads from across the Line of Control towards Machhal sector, said Defence Public Relations Officer (PRO) Srinagar. Later troops were put on high alert on May 1. According to the official statement, troops were alerted and ambushed to track down the terrorists infiltrating from across the LOC. "A well-coordinated counter-infiltration grid was put in place in the extremely difficult area. Indian Army and Special Operations Group (SOG) Kupwara were also deployed along the possible routes of the infiltration. The alert troops in ambushes braved continuous bad weather marked by incessant rainfall, poor visibility and a significant drop in temperature for two consecutive nights," the statement read. The troops tracked the infiltrated terrorists on Wednesday morning at around 8:30 am. An intense firefight broke out between the two parties and led to the elimination of two terrorists, said the statement. Security forces recovered dead bodies of two terrorists along with two AK series rifles, magazines and a huge cache of arms and ammunition. (With inputs from ANI) Claiming that the central probing agencies are trying to prove by any means" that he is a thief", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday told PM Modi that he can hang the Delhi CM publicly if found guilty of corruption. The CBI and ED are trying to prove that the Delhi CM is a thief, and PM Modi can hang him publicly if corruption of even a single paisa is found against him, said Arvind Kejriwal while addressing the public at an event in Punjab on Friday. Also Read: SC extends stay on proceedings against Arvind Kejriwal over Khuda remark Notably, Arvind Kejriwal was on April 16 interrogated by the CBI in connection with the excise policy case. Earlier, Delhi's former deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was sent to jail for his alleged involvement in the liquor policy scam. Arvind Kejriwal was also summoned by the agency as a witness. Also Read: Congress, AAP or BJP must..: Arvind Kejriwal on wrestlers' protest at Jantar Mantar "They put the CBI, ED, Income Tax, and police after me. Why? There is only one purpose -- which is to prove by any means that 'Kejriwal chor hai (Kejriwal is a thief)' and prove that he has indulged in corruption," he said. Arvind Kejriwal was speaking at an event that marked the inauguration of 80 Aam Aadmi Clinics' to the people of Punjab at an event. Also Read: Arvind Kejriwal spent 45 cr on 'beautification' of official residence during peak Covid: BJP He also claimed that if they will be successful in proving Kejriwal's involvement in corruption, then there is no one honest in the world. "I want to tell Modi ji," the Delhi CM said, "Prime Minister ji, if Kejriwal is corrupt, there is no one honest in this world. I want to tell him that the day you find corruption of a single paisa against Kejriwal, hang me publicly." In his speech, he also attacked the Modi government and asked to stop the roz roz ka drama" "But stop this 'roz-roz ki nautanki and tamasha (drama)," Kejriwal said, attacking the Modi government. King Charles' Coronation ceremony promises to be a star-studded affair with an impressive guest list of Indian celebrities, community workers, and beneficiaries of the Prince's Trust charity. With Indian Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar as one of the official representatives, the event is sure to make headlines across the globe. The ceremony, last witnessed 70 years ago, is an occasion to witness the grandeur and splendour of the Royal spectacle, as the King is crowned the fortieth sovereign at Westminster Abbey. Vice President Dhankhar and Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor are among the guests invited to King Charles III's Coronation ceremony in London on May 6. The event at Westminster Abbey will host heads of state and foreign dignitaries for the ceremony last witnessed 70 years ago when the monarch's mother Elizabeth was crowned the Queen. Star-studded guest list The guest list for King Charles' Coronation ceremony includes a mix of Indian celebrities, community workers, and beneficiaries of the Prince's Trust charity, which Charles supports. Dhankhar, who will officially represent India, has already arrived in London along with his wife Sudesh Dhankhar. Sonam Kapoor will deliver a spoken word performance to introduce the Commonwealth virtual choir. Two dabbawalas from Mumbai will represent their fraternity at the Coronation event. They have brought a Puneri turban and a shawl made by the Warkari community to gift to the King on the special occasion. Charles had visited the renowned lunchbox delivery men of Mumbai during his India visit in 2003. Indian community workers associated with King Charle' charity initiatives Several Indian community workers who have been associated with the King's charity initiatives have also been invited. These include a self-made consultant and a chef. Sourabh Phadke, a Pune-born architect who graduated from Charles' foundation's Building Craft Programme and the Prince's Foundation School of Traditional Arts, is also on the guest list. Gulfsha, 33, who was awarded the Prince's Trust Global Award last year, is also on the list. She now works for a consultancy firm, providing price estimates for construction projects, according to Buckingham Palace. Indian-origin Jay Patel from Canada, who completed the Prince's Trust Canada's Youth Employment programme last May and secured a chef's job at the iconic CN Tower in Toronto, will also attend the Coronation ceremony with his wife Akshata Murty. First Indian-origin British prime minister The first Indian-origin Prime Minister of Britain, Rishi Sunak, will recite from the biblical book of Colossians at the Coronation ceremony. He and his wife Akshata Murty will also lead the procession of flag-bearers. Vice President Dhankar was earlier seen interacting with her. One Laredoan witnessed firsthand the 70th anniversary celebration of the alliance between the United States and South Korea as she watched the countrys president, Yoon Suk Yeol, address the congressional chamber in late April. Monica Perales, who is the in-house counsel for Fasken Oil & Ranch, was invited to the speech by Rep. Henry Cuellar who said he is always provided an extra ticket to give out. Perales happened to already be at the nations capitol at the time of the speech. Cuellar said it's important to show his constituents the importance of the United States on a global scale. I always take the opportunity to listen and how they view the U.S. relationship, and you can also see as the co-chair of the Spain caucus and see how they all view us, Cuellar said. Whether it is South Korea or whether it is Guatemala or Spain, in one way or another we are all interrelated as we have an impact on them, and they have an impact on us. Perales was in Washington, D.C. lobbying against the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions plan to send high-level nuclear waste to Texas, and she was not aware of the South Korean presidents speech. It was the first time ever I was at an event like this, and security was definitely tight, which gave me the feeling that it was a historic event with all of the security and all the black SUVs. So you do get the feeling that you must be at something that is important, Perales said. The Korean president was gracious in thanking America for continually upholding our commitment to freedom, as we did when we supported South Korea when their own freedom and democracy were on the brink of collapse when they were invaded by North Korea. She was moved by the Korean presidents words about American and South Korean soldiers fighting side by side to protect their liberties and about the shared values and customs between the nations. Perales was also intrigued by him drawing parallels between the Korean War and the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. At that point, it was when the entire gallery was so moved that they all rose to their feet in applause, Perales said. Perales watched the speech from the top of the chamber where she was next to people such as Larry Cohen, who is the chief of staff for California Congressman Juan Vargas. They discussed issues about a nuclear plant in San Diego having many problems including with nuclear waste. Cuellar said he enjoyed how the South Korean president talked about the history of Congress and its importance to democracy while also sharing stories about how rich the history between the two countries has been since World War II. He said the president spoke about the economic ties between the countries and singled out Texas thanks to the Samsung factory that has been operating in Austin where more than 9,000 jobs have been created. Cuellar also discussed how Yeol spoke about pop culture uniting the countries. He talked about Korean movies that have won the Oscars and even about the famous Squid Game on Netflix, Cuellar said. He was very good at showing how the U.S. and Korea are intertwined in so many ways, and he also mentioned how the Indo-Pacific region has 65% of the global population and 62% of the world GDP. He was very good at also quoting many people, and you can see they did put a lot of thought into this 70th anniversary of the Republic of Korea. Along with watching the speech, Perales also got to meet the ambassador to Guatemala. He was there in his office, and he spoke to me about economic development programs in his country. We spoke about oil and gas development and energy and natural resources, and I told him that we would love to be a resource to him, Perales said. I also spoke to him about how the region that I am working in is called the Permian Basin, composed of five counties, and it spreads from New Mexico to Texas, and that if we were an independent nation then this region would be the third-largest producer of oil and gas in the world. Perales said the ambassador was fascinated by the methods used in Texas to get such production and said they intend to stay in touch to discuss how her expertise and her company could provide guidelines for what they do in Guatemala. Along with all the speeches and meetings, Perales was intrigued seeing Cuellar in his element in Congress and said it is a different feel than seeing him at work in Laredo. It was different to see him there in his element at work, and it was exciting for me to hear firsthand how they all know him, how they all respect him and how they all tell me that he is willing to work with everyone, Perales said. It is comforting when you hear that at a time when you are like gosh, some of these people are not able to reach across the aisle and get anything done. Attorney General Ken Paxton has once again waded into the conservative fight to restrict access to gender-affirming care for trans youth, announcing Friday that he was opening an investigation into potentially illegal practices at Dell Childrens Medical Center of Central Texas. The investigation comes in the wake of a video report that alleges to show a social worker at Dell Childrens saying the Austin-based hospital provides certain gender-affirming treatment for patients as young as eight, nine. Gender-affirming care is an umbrella term for the treatment of gender dysphoria, or the discomfort that comes when someones gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth. Gender-affirming care ranges from socially transitioning using different pronouns or dressing differently to puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical interventions. Project Veritas, a far-right activist group that engages in deceptive practices to do hidden camera-style investigations, filmed health care professionals at Dell Childrens and other facilities around the country as they discussed gender-affirming care. The clip of the social worker at Dell Childrens takes up less than a minute of the 11-minute edited video package. In the video, the woman is seen saying that patients could potentially be prescribed puberty blockers after just one appointment with a doctor. Its not something that we want to gatekeep and require you to, you know, come to us 10 times before its prescribed, the woman in the video said. In a statement, Dell Childrens said they are reviewing the situation and will take appropriate action to the extent that care provided at our clinic may have been inconsistent with our organizations position on this important issue. The statement also noted that Dell Childrens does not prescribe hormone therapy or use surgery to treat gender dysphoria, but does provide a safe and welcoming place for children to receive other forms of primary care and treatment. On Friday, Paxton filed a request to examine letter with Dell Childrens parent organization, Ascension Seton, asking them to turn over documents relating to the use of puberty blockers and counseling for trans youth. Its not clear what law Paxton believes Dell Childrens has broken; Texas does not currently have age limits on gender-affirming care, nor does it require doctors to see patients a specific number of times before prescribing puberty blockers. But that could soon change. Paxton announced this investigation on the day of a crucial House vote on Senate Bill 14, which would prohibit transgender youth from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapy. In the two years since the Legislature last met, gender-affirming care for trans youth has emerged as a central issue for Republicans, led in many ways by Paxton. Last session, the Legislature did not approve a measure that would have classified gender-affirming care as child abuse. But during the interim, Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion, claiming that existing state law allowed for parents who provide their trans children with gender-affirming care to potentially be classified as child abusers. Citing this opinion, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the states child welfare agency to pursue investigations into families with trans children. The subsequent investigations sent shockwaves through Texas LGBTQ communities as parents of trans children lawyered up or left the state out of fear of persecution. The Texas Supreme Court said in a ruling that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services erred in following Abbott or Paxtons guidance on this, and a court order has broadly blocked the agency from opening new investigations. But this has not stopped Paxton from continuing to push the issue. He has opened deceptive trade investigations into two pharmaceutical companies that produce puberty blockers and joined multistate coalitions opposing other state laws allowing for gender-affirming care. In a statement Friday, he urged the House to pass SB 14, to ban acts of child abuse such as so-called gender transitioning surgical procedures and prescribing puberty-blocking drugs for minors. This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/05/ken-paxton-trans-care-investigation-dell-childrens/. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Iran executed an Iranian-Swedish dual national Saturday accused of masterminding a 2018 attack on a military parade that killed at least 25 people, one of several enemies of Tehran seized abroad in recent years amid tensions with the West. Farajollah Chaab, also known as Habib Asyoud, had been a leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, an Arab separatist movement that has conducted oil pipeline bombings and other attacks in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province. That group had claimed the 2018 attack in its immediate aftermath. Cha'ab's execution comes as a Swedish court last year sentenced an Iranian to life in prison over his part in the 1988 mass executions in Iran at the end of its war with Iraq. Tehran, which has used prisoners as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West, reacted angrily to that sentence. Meanwhile, tensions also remain high between Iran and the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as well and at least one more prisoner with Western ties faces a possible execution. The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency confirmed Cha'ab's execution by hanging in a lengthy statement. It identified him as the leader of the militant group and alleged without providing evidence that he had ties to Swedish, Israelis and U.S. intelligence services. It accused his group of killing or wounding 450 people over the years, including multiple attacks on government offices and other sites. It also included state television interviews with Cha'ab, a feature of many Iranian trials that activists long have described as coerced confessions. It also clearly identified Iranian intelligence officers as being behind Cha'ab's abduction, saying that its unknown soldiers captured him in Turkey in November 2019. Iran has used similar ruses to capture its enemies abroad, including the exiled journalist Ruhollah Zam who was executed in 2020. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom condemned Cha'ab's execution. The death penalty is an inhumane and irrevocable punishment, and Sweden, together with the rest of the (European Union), condemns its use under all circumstances, he said in a statement. Swedens Nordic neighbors Finland and Norway also strongly condemned the execution, underlying their stance against the death penalty. I am appalled, said Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights separately condemned the execution, referring to Cha'ab's closed-door trial as grossly unfair. This is an example of the Islamic Republics state terrorism," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the group's director. We expect that the EU and Swedish government show adequate reaction to the murder of their citizen. Killing a hostage must not be tolerated. Tensions already had escalated between Iran and Sweden over the life imprisonment of Hamid Noury, an Iranian convicted in Sweden of committing grave war crimes and murder during the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The end of the war saw mass executions of an estimated 5,000 Iranian prisoners, including those from an exiled opposition group and others. The 2018 attack in Iran targeted a military parade in Ahvaz in Khuzestan, the chaos captured live on state television. Militants disguised as soldiers opened fire, killing at least 25 people and wounding over 60 others in the deadliest attack to strike Iran in years. A spokesman for the separatist group claimed the assault shortly after in a televised interview. The Islamic State group also claimed the attack, though it offered factually incorrect details about the assault. In recent months, Iran has carried out other executions after the months of unrest over the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the country's morality police. In January, Iran executed a former high-ranking defense ministry official and dual Iranian-British national accused of spying. Also facing a possible execution is an Iranian-German national who lived in California, a man Iran describes as planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200 others, as well as other assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing. His family long has said he was captured by Iranian intelligence in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Iran is one of the worlds top executioners. ___ Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Finland, contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) Heart-wrenching cries echoed as funerals were held in Serbia on Saturday for some of the victims of two mass shootings that happened just a day apart this week, leaving 17 people dead and 21 wounded, many of them children. The shootings on Wednesday in a school in Belgrade and on Thursday in a rural area south of the capital city have left the nation stunned with grief and disbelief. Though Serbia is awash with weapons and no stranger to crisis situations following the wars of the 1990s, a school shooting like the one on Wednesday has never happened before. The most recent previous mass shooting was in 2013 when a war veteran killed 13 people. The shooter on Wednesday was a 13-year-old boy who opened fire on his fellow students, killing seven girls, a boy and a school guard. A day later, a 20-year-old man opened fire randomly in two villages in central Serbia, killing eight people. Classmates and hundreds of other people cried inconsolably as one of the girls killed in the school shooting was laid to rest in Belgrade in a small white coffin that was covered with heaps of flowers. Overwhelmed by grief, the girl's mother could barely stand. One girl collapsed during the service amid screams and sobbing. While the country struggled to come to terms with what happened, authorities promised a gun crackdown and said they would boost security in schools. Thousands lit candles and left flowers near the shooting site in Belgrade, in an outpouring of sadness and solidarity. My soul aches for them, said Vesna Kostic, who came to pay her respects outside the school on Saturday. I keep looking for a cause, a reason why this has happened to him (the shooter), why this has happened to us. Serbian media reported that four of the eight children killed in the school shooting, as well as the Vladislav Ribnikar school guard, were buried at cemeteries in Belgrade on Saturday, the second day of a three-day mourning period for the victims. Some 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the south, a mass funeral was held in the small village of Malo Orasje for five young men who were gunned down in the shooting rampage on Thursday evening. Sobbing mourners lined up to light candles while waiting for the coffins to be placed on five benches outside the village church for a service. Five graves! He (the killer) shut down five families, one villager told N1 television. How could this happen? Serbian police have said that the suspected shooter stopped a taxi after his rampage and made the driver take him to a village further south, where he was arrested on Friday. Officers later said they found weapons and ammunition in two houses he was using there. The suspect, identified as Uros Blazic, told prosecutors during questioning on Saturday in the central town of Smederevo that he shot people he didn't personally know because he wanted to sow fear among residents, RTS state television reported. He faces charges of first-degree murder and unauthorized possession of guns and ammunition. The motive for both shootings remained unclear. The 13-year-old boy, who is too young to be criminally charged, has been placed in a mental clinic. His father was arrested for allegedly teaching his son to use guns and not securing his weapons well enough. The suspected village shooter wore a pro-Nazi T-shirt, authorities said, and complained of disparagement, though it was unclear what he meant. Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic promised the monsters would never see the light of day again. Those wounded in the two shootings have been hospitalized and most have undergone complicated surgical procedures. A girl and a boy from the school shooting remain in serious condition; the village victims are stable but under constant observation. The school shooting left six children and a teacher wounded, while 14 people were wounded in the villages of Malo Orasje and Dubona. The dead in Dubona included a young, off-duty policeman and his sister. Authorities released a photo showing the suspected shooter upon arrest a young man in a police car in a blue T-shirt with the slogan Generation 88 on it. The double eights are often used as shorthand for Heil Hitler since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Apart from the gun crackdown, officials have announced stepped-up monitoring of social networks and the media. Already by Saturday, several people had been questioned for posting threats or videos supporting the killers on social networks, the Tanjug news agency reported. Serbia's education ministry outlined a crisis plan for the students of Vladislav Ribnikar school to gradually return to classes next Wednesday. A team of experts, backed by the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, will offer support and oversee the process, a ministry statement said. Experts have repeatedly warned that decades of crises and economic hardship, coupled with corrupt institutions and a high level of intolerance in public speech and politics, could push some people over the edge. The populist-led Balkan country has refused to fully face its role in the wars of the 1990s, war criminals are largely regarded as heroes and minority groups routinely face harassment and sometimes physical violence. The question now is whether our society is ready to reject the model of violence, psychologist Zarko Korac warned. When you glorify a war criminal you glorify his crimes and you send a message that it is legitimate. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) Tears flowed amid heartfelt embraces as Mexican families were allowed brief reunions at the border Saturday with relatives who migrated to the United States. As a mariachi band played the popular song Las Mananitas, about 150 families passed over the Rio Grande to meet with loved ones they had not seen for years. Margarita Pina could not hide her emotion as she waited to greet her son, whom she hadn't seen since he left home two years ago in the middle of the pandemic to seek a better future in the U.S. Its very hard because we dont know what theyre suffering over there, Pina said. Knowing their meeting would be limited to only five minutes, Pina said she would take advantage of the limited time to tell him that we still love you very much. It was the 10th edition of the Hugs, not walls event, which was organized by humanitarian groups near the Casa de Adobe Museum in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, which sprawls across the border from El Paso, Texas. Unlike at earlier reunions, a strong guard of U.S. officers was present at the event, which came just days before Washington will lift Title 42 asylum rules imposed for the pandemic that allowed the U.S. to expel more than 2.8 million migrants since March 2020. The end to the provision Thursday is expected to encourage a surge of migrants toward the border, and U.S. authorities have beefed up security, including stringing barbed wire fencing. The government has said 1,500 troops will be sent to El Paso, in addition to 2,500 National Guardsmen already at the border. We have never had a border as militarized as today, said Fernando Garcia, head of the Network in Defense of the Rights of Migrants. There is a war against migrants, refugees, against us border crossers, he added. ASWAN, Egypt (AP) Sudans warring sides began talks Saturday that aim to firm up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, the United States and Saudi Arabia said. The negotiations, the first between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, since the fighting broke out on April 15, were underway in Saudi Arabia's coastal city of Jeddah, on the Red Sea, according to a joint Saudi-American statement. The talks are part of a diplomatic initiative proposed by the kingdom and the U.S. that aims to stop the fighting, which has turned Sudans capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. In their joint statement, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. urged both parties to actively engage in the talks towards a cease-fire and end to the conflict, which will spare the Sudanese peoples suffering. The statement did not offer a timeframe for the talks, though it was expected the initial session could last two-three days. The talks come after concerted efforts by Riyadh and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan welcomed the rival sides to Jeddah, saying on Twitter that he hopes the talks would restore security and stability in Sudan. Since a 2021 coup that upended Sudan's transition to democracy, the kingdom has been mediating between the ruling generals and a pro-democracy movement. After Sudan's top two generals commanders of the military and the paramilitary turned on each other after months of tensions and the latest fighting broke out in April, Jeddah became a hub for those evacuated by sea from Sudans main sea port of Port Sudan. Officials from the military and the RSF said the talks would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles. They would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities that have been overwhelmed and suffer from dire shortages of both staff and medical supplies, one military official said. An RSF official they would also discuss a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire, which is one of a series of truces that failed to stop the fighting. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks in Jeddah. Meanwhile, Sudan's pro-democracy movement said the talks would be a first step to stop the countrys collapse and called on leaders of the military and the RSF to make a bold decision to end the conflict. The movement, which is a coalition of political parties and civil society groups, had negotiated with the military for months to restore the countrys democratic transition after a 2021 military coup led by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who also chairs the ruling sovereign council, and his deputy in the council Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. On Saturday, Dagalo tweeted his first comment on the talks, welcoming the initiative to establish a firm cease-fire and open humanitarian corridors. We remain hopeful that the discussions will achieve their intended goals, he said. At least 550 people have been killed, including civilians, and more than 4,900 have been wounded as of Monday, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Friday that 473 civilians have been killed in the violence and more than 2,450 have been wounded. The fighting capped months of tensions between Burhan and Dagalo. It plunged the country into further chaos and forced foreign governments to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese were displaced inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring countries as the fighting dragged on in urban areas. The U.N. refugee agency estimated that the number of Sudanese fleeing to neighboring countries would reach 860,000, and that aid agencies would need $445 million to assist them. On Saturday, unknown assailants fired on a convoy in Khartoum that included Turkish Ambassador Ismail Cobanoglu, reported Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency, citing diplomatic sources. There were no casualties in the shooting, the report said. The Sudanese military and the RSF traded accusations of attacking the convoy. Also, a bus carrying Sudanese fleeing the fighting, overturned in Egypts southern province of Beni Suef, leaving at least 36 Sudanese, including women and children, and two Egyptians injured, local authorities said. Tens of thousands of Sudanese have crossed into Egypt since the fighting broke out. ___ Associated Press writer Andrew Wilks in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report. During his recent speech at the U.S. Congress, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol criticized "false propaganda" and "disinformation." This statement is consistent with President Yoon's stance since taking office, as he frequently mentions "freedom" and "democracy," while linking "false propaganda" and "disinformation" to "value diplomacy." This closely aligns with the diplomatic context of the Biden administration in the United States. Yoon's diplomatic visit to the United States was welcomed with high honors, but it seems that the issues of national security and development highlighted before his departure by the South Korean newspaper, the JoongAng Daily, were not addressed. For instance, the monitoring of critical South Korean government departments by U.S. intelligence agencies. If the U.S. had not publicly acknowledged the leaked documents' authenticity, South Korea would have considered them "disinformation." Therefore, it appears that the Yoon government perceives "false propaganda" and "disinformation" differently. While his own government is under surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies, Yoon criticized and condemned the use of "false propaganda" and "disinformation" during his speech at the U.S. Congress, which is somewhat ironic. Ahead of Yoon's U.S. visit, Korean media reported on the scandal involving leaked U.S. documents. This included the National Security Office in South Korea being monitored by the U.S., with conversations of senior officials being recorded, and that under the pressure of the U.S., South Korea may have to provide military assistance to Ukraine. This information had been circulating online for several days. However, Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, claimed that most of the leaked information related to South Korea was fake, and that no evidence of malicious surveillance by the U.S. had been found following an investigation. Kim made two statements regarding the U.S. document leak scandal: First, he claimed that the documents were mostly "disinformation," with the part related to South Korea being particularly untrue, as per the definition of "disinformation" by the South Korean government, at least according to the National Security Office. Second, he stated that even if the U.S. was monitoring, it was not malicious. However, the U.S. quickly contradicted Kim, admitting the authenticity of most of the leaked documents and claiming that it would thoroughly investigate the leak, without making any mention of halting its surveillance. Kim's response was a typical case of "false propaganda," dismissing the fact that the U.S. was monitoring South Korea and portraying it as "non-malicious" in order to prioritize the "value" of U.S.-South Korea relations over the South Korean people's national dignity. South Korean newspaper The Hankyoreh acknowledges that the U.S. has been monitoring South Korean presidents, which is an open secret going back more than 40 years. In the 1970s, the CIA wiretapped then-President Park Chung-hee, with The New York Times disclosing detailed methods, further confirming the eavesdropping. As for whether it is "malicious" or not, that's for Kim and his colleagues to decide. South Korean film "The Man Standing Next" also touched on Americans installing listening devices in the South Korean president's office, with the country's intelligence agencies being completely unaware. The president in the film was indignant, saying: "They're taking us for fools! How dare they bug the president's desk! Get me the ambassador! Have him kneel before the flag. Korea's pride is on the line!" Compared with Kim's rhetoric, these lines in the film seem to be closer to what South Koreans think. Either Kim falsely peddled the idea of "non-malicious tapping" by the U.S., or the South Korean film falsely peddled the country's indignant stance. One of these must be true. While South Korea labeled the "leaked documents" as "forged" and false information, the U.S. defined them as "leaks." The difference between the two sides on the same issue speaks for itself. As the perpetrator, the U.S. did not deny eavesdropping, only noting that it would investigate the loopholes in its intelligence system; whereas South Korea, which is the victim in this case, denied the fact of having been harmed, let alone accepted its victim status. The "false propaganda" and "disinformation" that Yoon criticized in his speech to the U.S. Congress in fact match the roles that the two countries play. Of course, his goal was merely to emphasize that the two countries share common values and to avoid any rifts that may cast a shadow over bilateral relations. In addition to factual errors, President Yoon has changed South Korea's national narrative to a large extent since taking office, which may be a major issue related to the direction of the country's development. Once they deviated from this path, what awaited them was not merely "false propaganda," but also mistakes in strategic narrative. As Yoon noted in his speech to Congress, false propaganda and disinformation are distorting truth and public opinion and threatening democracy and the rule of law. Indeed! However, decisions made without listening to the opinions of the people can have even more catastrophic consequences. The Biden administration is facing another lawsuit over extending the pandemic-related pause on federal student loan payments. This funding, along with a USD2 million contribution from the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific, financed by the Government of Japan, will support a technical assistance (TA) that aims to expand inclusive and climate finance in the country. Source: Internet Fintech has been at the center of the governments plans to expand financial services to consumers and SMEs. The TA will help the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) to strengthen the regulatory framework for digital finance, build the capacity of government and other industry stakeholders, and assist financial institutions to develop digital banking. Financial institutions rely heavily on collateral-based credit decisions. This disadvantages SMEs, which typically have little or no collateral. Banks also often centralize their credit processes, making it relatively more expensive to process smaller loans, said ADB Director General for Southeast Asia Winfried Wicklein. This TA can help find solutions such as alternative credit scoring and introducing digital lending. Almost 80% of Viet Nams population is unbanked or underbanked. Microenterprises and SMEs are particularly affected, with their unmet financing need estimated at 500 trillion dong (around USD21 billion). Women-owned and women-led SMEs (WSMEs) are even more adversely affected. Women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam have an estimated USD1.2 billion, but few banks have taken active measures to pursue this market opportunity. The TA will help advance womens financing access, including through the provision of training opportunities on fintech and green banking best practices to SBV staff, targeting 25% female participation, as well as consulting services to WSMEs on preparing green loan applications. It will also help SBV refine its policies on green banking and communicate them to finance sector stakeholders. Green banking is poised to help Viet Nam achieve the USD11 billion annual financing needed to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. By enhancing the regulatory environment for innovative fintech solutions and building capacities of market players in digital finance, Switzerland supports Viet Nam in fostering the digital transformation of its financial sector, said Head of Economic Cooperation and Development at the Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO) and Switzerlands Governor to ADB Dominique Paravicini. Ultimately, this will help SMEs in Viet Nam to better access finance and expand their businesses. Based in Bern, SECO is the Swiss Confederations center of expertise for all core economic policy issues, including economic cooperation and development. It implements Switzerlands economic and trade policy measures for the benefit of developing countries. SECOs mandate is to facilitate economic growth and sustainable prosperity in its partner countries. For more information: www.seco-cooperation.admin.ch Postmasters have called on the public to use their Post Office, to sustain local services which support communities and businesses. Speaking ahead of the Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) annual conference in Cork this weekend, General Secretary Tony Howard said members of the public have a central role to play in keeping their local Post Office open by using it. The Post Office Network has been evolving year on year and offers comprehensive banking services, including a full a current account. An advantage of the Post Office is that these services can be accessed in person in almost 900 locations the largest retail network in the country. Our Network is playing the leading role in keeping financial services available locally, following the withdrawal of other banks. Post Offices also offer collection of social welfare, payment of utility bills, parcel services, State savings and licence renewal. Furthermore, we know that cash withdrawn at the Post Office has a significant multiplier effect for other shops and services within the community. By deciding to value and use the local Post Office, people influence the future and keep services available for everybody, and importantly for those who are not online, Mr Howard said. Postmasters annual conference is at the Maryborough House Hotel and will be attended and opened by the Tanaiste Micheal Martin on Saturday. This weekend Paddy OShea, who is Postmaster for the past 42 years at Upper Aghada in East Cork, is set to retire from the IPUs Executive Committee after long service. Mr Howard thanked Mr OShea for his significant contribution. Paddy OShea has served his community with huge commitment and consistency through his work with the IPU. He has been an IPU Executive member since 2000 and served two terms as President. We thank Paddy and wish him every health and happiness. IPU President Sean Martin said the Post Office can be the State on your doorstep, the provider of choice and the front office for all Government Services. Postmasters are working closely with Government and An Post to develop and evolve the services which the public can use. To sustain our Network the public has its role to play too. Our message is simple use your Post Office and encourage others to use it too. Four years ago a community childcare facility in Granard was robbed of over 3,000 in cash, and last week, Fergal Gannon (39) of Ferefad, Longford, was convicted of the offence. The defendant was before Judge Bernadette Owens in Longford District Court charged with the theft of a safe containing cash to the value of 3,200. The first State witness, Linda Heffernan, recalled the events of the morning of March 3, 2019. Ms Hefferan was the Deputy Manager and a childcare worker in the Granard Community Care Group, located at Church Hill, Granard. The witness was the designated keyholder on the night, and received a call regarding a break in at the premises. Ms Heffernan attended on site and noted a broken window and the office was ransacked. She turned off the alarm and inspected the premises. The office was the only area of the building that had been targeted in the break in. The deputy manager reviewed the CCTV footage of the incident. The video showed a hooded man walking around the building, looking in the windows and making his way to the office window. Four minutes later he was observed walking back with an item in his hand. Under cross examination by counsel for the defendant, Andrea Callan BL, the witness described how the safe was located in the office of the childcare facility. Ms Heffernan described it as a private area, but said that parents would come into the office to make payments. Ms Callan put it to the witness that over 100 children and perhaps up to 200 guardians, along with over 20 staff members, could access the office in the course of a week. Ms Heffernan agreed that the office was accessible to parents making payments. The second witness for the prosecution, Amanda Mason, was the creche manager at the time of the break in. Ms Mason spoke of receiving a call from her deputy manager telling her about the break in and the subsequent alarm. On the morning of March 3, 2019 the witness attended at the creche. She noted the safe was gone, but nothing else was taken. Ms Mason said on the previous Friday parents had been making payments all day. She said as it was a community facility there was never an issue leaving money in the safe until the following Monday. The creche manager said laptops and phones in the office were ignored by the thief, while valuable tablets and toys in the classrooms were also overlooked: It didn't look like someone was rooting around, it looked like someone who knew what they were looking for, Ms Mason told the judge. The court viewed the CCTV footage from the previous Friday. In it Mr Gannon could be seen calling in to the creche office with his partner, to collect a child. The CCTV footage from Saturday night was then viewed. The hooded figure approached the office widow, then returned some minutes later with a panel in which the safe was mounted. The witness said although the perpetrator's face was covered she knew who it was. Ms Mason said she could identify the defendant, Mr Gannon, from his walk as he had attended at the creche a number of times with his partner to collect one of the children. Ms Callan put it to the defendant that her client did not have a distinctive walk. The witness said: I was looking at people walking up everyday, I'm not an expert, but I would know someone from their walk. Ms Mason described the walk as kind of hunched over, sauntering. The third State witness, Garda Eoin Reilly, was the first officer on the scene of the break in. He conducted a foot patrol of the area in the early hours of the morning, but there was nobody around. He took a statement from Ms Mason. In the statement Ms Mason said she recognised the intruder from his gait, height, build, clothes and shoes. Garda Reilly obtained a search warrant of the defendant's home address. A number of items were seized in a search of Mr Gannon's house, including a sledgehammer, a pair of blue jeans, a jacket, a pair of gloves and a hat. The items were sent to Forensic Science Ireland for analysis. Mr Gannon was arrested, but made no admissions in the interview. Witness Detective Inspector Tom Quinn said a review of the circumstances and CCTV suggested that the perpetrator of the burglary had intimate knowledge of the office and knew where the cash was. Having reviewed the CCTV of the break-in and the visitors to the office on the previous day DI Quinn said he suspected Mr Gannon may have had knowledge of the crime. The Detective Inspector was among the officers executing the search warrant, finding a sledgehammer in the hallway of Mr Gannon's house as well as a pair of blue jeans matched those in CCTV, and a jacket with a pair of gloves and a hat in the pocket. Dr Brian Gorey, of Forensic Science Ireland, said an assessment was done of the items to ascertain if they contained evidence relevant to the case. Dr Gorey said he undertook examinations of the sledge hammer and the clothes. The forensic scientist said he expected he may find powdered glass on the hammer, but there was none. However seven fragments of glass were found on the socks, jeans and jacket seized under warrant. The witness said a random sample of members of the public may find one fragment, however the examination of Gannon's clothes found seven samples. A 'refractive index' of three glass fragments found on the clothes match the glass from the creche window. Dr Gorey said this gave moderate support to the belief Mr Gannon was at the scene of the crime. Judge Owens asked how moderate support ranked, the forensic scientist said this was around eight out of 12 on a scale. In her submission to the judge Ms Callan said the prosecution failed to put their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Counsel pointed to the open door policy in the creche which could allow up to 200 parents going in and out of the office in any week. The barrister described the robbery as extremely targeted and not one that could have been undertaken by someone who was only in the office a couple of times. In her summation Judge Owens identified two distinct issues as integral to the case. The judge noted the identification by Ms Mason of the man in the CCTV footage and the glass fragments on Gannon's clothes as crucial points of the prosecution's case. The judge said she accepted the evidence of both Ms Mason and Dr Gorey. Judge Owens convicted the defendant of the burglary charge. The court was told Mr Gannon has 24 previous convictions; including criminal damage, theft, drug possession, and burglary. Ms Callan described her client as a carer who looks after his brother who is a wheelchair user. Counsel acknowledged the defendant has some history, but asked the judge to consider an up-to-date probation report before moving to sentencing. Judge Owen noted Mr Gannon's last conviction dated from 2019 and directed that a probation report be prepared. The matter was adjourned to July 25 next to allow for the preparation of the report. Food, Wine, & Dining By Ls Cohen Published: May 06 2023 Acclaimed Japanese restaurant moves in old Tai Show spot in Gardiners Plaza. A new sushi spot called Ginza opened up in Levittown recently. The restaurant relocated from a much larger stand-alone place in Massapequa (a beautifully architectured building on Carmans Road near the Sunrise Mall) and moved into the old Tai Show spot in Gardiners Plaza. Ginza had been known as one of the best sushi bars on Long Island before it closed in Massapequa in 2020. The new place has new fans and is bringing back old ones. They offer a selection of ala carte sushi and sashimi including some classic rolls we all have come to expect. Chef special rolls include an Angel roll with tuns, salmon, yellowtail, avocado, cucumber, caviar and kelp paper ($15), the Syosset with spicy tuna and avocado ($15), the Red Devil with spicy tuna, crunch, black pepper tuna and callion ($16) and the Sexy Model with spicy tuna, crunch, tuna, ikura (salmon eggs) and scallion ($16). On Yelp, Fred F, from Wantagh, gave them five stars. This is a relatively new Japanese restaurant, he wrote. The decor is very pretty & the food is excellent. We went there for dinner tonight and the ambiance is very unassuming. We will be returning to this restaurant many times. Kelly V, from Levittown, agreed, also giving them a maximum score. Delicious food, Kelly wrote. Location: 170A Gardiners Avenue, Levittown, (516) 882-9688. Enwell Energy PLC - Ukraine-focused oil and gas exploration and production company - On Thursday, says that the State Geologic & Subsoil Survey of Ukraine has suspended its Vasyschevskoye production licence and Svystunivsko-Chervonolutskyi exploration licence in Ukraine. Consequently, field operations end on the Vasyschevskoye licence. Notes this contributes around 12% of its production. Field activities on the Svystunivsko-Chervonolutskyi licence were already and will remain suspended, it adds. Enwell says it will consult with its legal advisers regarding the suspension in order to protect its assets. Separately, company announces a successful appeal decision in the legal proceeds relating to the Svystunivsko-Chervonolutskyi exploration licence. Says that the Supreme Court in Ukraine overturned a ruling made by the Appellate Administrative Court meaning the licence is valid. Current stock price: 19.00 pence 12-month change: down 20% By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved. The US and Saudi governments confirmed direct talks between the warring Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces would start in Jeddah on Saturday, even as fighting showed little signs of abating in the Sudanese capital. A joint US-Saudi statement welcomed the start of pre-negotiation talks and urged sustained global support to quell fighting. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States urge both parties to take in consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and itspeople and actively engage in the talks toward a ceasefire and end to the conflict, the statement said. Hundreds have died in nearly three weeks of fighting between forces aligned with Sudans de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the regular army, and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Multiple truces have been reached since the fighting erupted on April 15, but none has been respected. ADVERTISEMENT The army confirmed late Friday it had sent envoys to Saudi Arabia to discuss details of the truce in the process of being extended with its paramilitary foes. Burhan had given his backing to a seven-day ceasefire announced by South Sudan on Wednesday, but early on Friday the RSF said they were extending by three days a previous truce brokered under US-Saudi mediation. The US-Saudi statement noted the efforts of other countries and organizations behind this weekends talks, including Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the League of Arab States, the African Union and other groups. In Khartoum, witnesses reported continued air strikes and explosions on Friday, including near the airport. The fighting raged despite a threat of sanctions from US President Joe Biden against those responsible for threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan and undermining Sudans democratic transition. The north African country suffered decades of sanctions during the rule of autocrat Omar al-Bashir, ousted in a palace coup in 2019 following mass street protests. The violence taking place in Sudan is a tragedy and it is a betrayal of the Sudanese peoples clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy. It must end, Biden said. The conflict has killed about 700 people so far, mostly in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. The UN childrens agency, UNICEF, warned Friday that the situation in Sudan has become fatal for a frighteningly large number of children. Spokesman James Elder said UNICEF had received reports from a trusted partner not yet independently verified by the United Nations that 190 children were killed and 1,700 wounded during the conflicts first 11 days. He said the figures had been gathered from health facilities in Khartoum and Darfur since April 15, meaning that they only cover children who actually made it to facilities in those areas. The reality is likely to be much worse, Elder said. Aid workers have struggled to get much-needed supplies to areas hit by violence. According to the International Medical Corps, at least 18 aid workers have been killed amid the fierce urban fighting. The UN Human Rights Council said it would hold a special session next Thursday to address the human rights impact of the ongoing conflict. US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Thursday that Washington expected the conflict to continue for a long time. The fighting was likely to be protracted as both sides believe that they can win militarily, and have few incentives to come to the negotiating table, she told a Senate hearing. Nearly 450,000 civilians have already fled their homes since the fighting began, the International Organization for Migration said, including more than 115,000 who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. At a reception for Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, Chairman of the HCM City Peoples Committee Phan Van Mai stressed that PM Bettels visit will contribute to boosting cooperation activities between the city and the European nation. Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel visits the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange. (Photo: VNA) The official noted that HCM City stands ready to cooperate with Luxembourg partners in the fields of high-tech, digital transformation, renewable energy and green energy. Mr. Phan Van Mai used this occasion to thank Luxembourg for its financial support to HCM City in the rollout of climate adaptation projects, and called on the PM to continue connecting the city with Luxembourg partners. HCM City always welcomes foreign partners and enterprises, including those from Luxembourg, to operate in the city, he affirmed, adding that HCM City wants to strengthen cooperation with businesses of Luxembourg in the areas in which the southern largest economic hub has potential and demand like agricultural product processing, high-tech agriculture and manufacturing. For his part, PM Bettel held that HCM City and Luxembourg hold substantial cooperation opportunities, and that Luxembourgs enterprises will be sustainable, reliable partners of local firms, helping them expand connections with the European market. The two countries should create more favourable conditions for their businesses to operate in the respective markets, he continued. Sharing Mr. Phan Van Mais view, the PM said finance, especially green finance, will offer good cooperation opportunities to Luxembourg and HCM City, stressing that Luxembourg is committed to assisting Vietnam and HCM City in particular in this field, as well as sustainable development. He said cooperation in traditional spheres like education, environmental protection, climate change response, renewable energy and green energy will be maintained. While in HCM City, PM Bettel attended and delivered a speech at a Vietnam - Luxembourg business forum, visited the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, and the War Remnants Museum, and found out about climate change impacts in the area along Sai Gon River./. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has rescued 10 women believed victims of human trafficking who were about to depart for Singapore where they would work as sexual entertainers. BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the 10 women, 20 to 30 years old, were intercepted moments before they could board a Cebu Pacific flight to Singapore. We received information earlier this month from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) that these women were being trafficked abroad and were recruited as entertainers, but will end up as sex workers, Tansingco said. He said that upon receipt of the information, they immediately included the group in their monitoring records to be able to intercept them. The BI chief said after including the information from IACAT on their records, they also received information from the Office of Senator Risa Hontiveros on the women, further validating their suspicions on their actual purpose of travel. ADVERTISEMENT The women claimed that they were traveling as tourists with friends. However, a closer inspection of their records revealed valid working permits as entertainers in Singapore. Vito Barcelo They were allegedly recruited separately online through Facebook messenger to work in a pub in Singapore. They were offered a salary of P40,000 per month, with deduction of their travel expenses for six months. This is a clear example of debt bondagea tactic in traffickingwherein they are made to pay the expenses for the recruitment. These expenses pile up, and they end up being forced to work to pay their debt, Tansingco noted. A multi-agency approach is needed in the fight against trafficking. Coordination with government agencies in gathering information and intercepting trafficking victims is necessary for us to be able to stop this illegal activity, he said. The victims were turned over to the IACAT for assistance in filing cases against their recruiters. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is optimistic that all Filipinos trapped in the fighting in Sudan could be repatriated by next week. Meanwhile, about 320 Philippine nationals fleeing Sudan are currently in safe shelters and hotels in Egypt, awaiting their flights to Manila. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Affairs Jose de Vega said in an interview with ABS-CBN. He added that there were no more Filipinos at the Egypt-Sudan border. Our goal is they will be home by next week, De Vega said. He said more than 50 Filipinos from Port Sudan have already reached Saudi Arabia. We are thankful to Saudi Arabia. They were the ones who sent military vessels to evacuate foreign nationals wishing to leave Sudan, De Vega said. ADVERTISEMENT According to De Vega, at least 179 Filipinos have been repatriated from Sudan, leaving an estimated 100 more still trying to find a way out of the strife-torn country. But we are making a last call. We appeal to them to contact us. This may be their last chance to get out of harms way, De Vega said, He disclosed that two buses were scheduled to pick up the Filipinos and bring them to Port Sudan. However, he said there are still at least 100 Filipinos who remain in Sudan, and that they are making a last call. De Vega also said overseas Filipino workers who wish to find jobs in other countries may no longer be repatriated if they have working visas in their chosen countries. Hundreds have reportedly died in nearly three weeks of fighting between forces loyal to Sudans de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the regular army, and his former deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). There were several attempts to forge a truce between the warring camps since the war broke out last April 15, so far none held on. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SCOTTVILLE West Shore Community College Police Academy graduates exited the Center Stage Theater to applause and high fives of congratulations Friday. Darrin McCall, police academy class president who is joining the Muskegon Heights Police Department, said the 16-week program started with 21 students and ended with 21 graduates. Always remember what instructor OHagan taught us: your reputation is everything. And never allow anyone to change who you are. Always be true to yourself, McCall told the 43rd police academy class. Keynote speaker, former police academy director and former Manistee County Sheriff John OHagan, shared a number of takeaways with the graduates. OHagan shared a quote from former President Ronald Reagan about evil being powerless if the good are unafraid. Arielle Breen/News Advocate You are the good. You are the warriors that give us hope. You are the courageous who the citizens put their faith and trust in daily, he said to the graduates. Recall the law enforcement oath: I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character or the publics trust. Catrina Saylor, Muskegon County Sheriffs Office deputy and 2020 police academy graduate, introduced the challenge coins as a way to give to future graduates. A challenge coin represents camaraderie, unity and they usually represent an achievement or an honor, Saylor said. The front of the coins have the criminal justice shield logo of West Shore Community College and the back features a list of learned core values: loyalty, duty, respect, altruism, honesty, integrity and personal courage. Each of the graduates were given a challenge coin. Arielle Breen/News Advocate Staffing struggles Most of the graduates noted plans for joining area law enforcement agencies like the Mason County Sheriffs Office, Ludington Police Department, Lake County Sheriffs Office and the Pentwater Police Department. The influx of new police academy graduates ties in with a time when police departments in the region and around the state are struggling to maintain and recruit new members to agencies. At the Manistee County Public Safety Committee meeting on Friday, leaders from the Manistee County Sheriffs Office, Manistee City Police Department and Michigan State Police each stated that they are shortstaffed and referenced the topic of low staffing and changes over time. David Skorka, Michigan State Police Cadillac Post community service trooper, said during the meeting that the Cadillac post handled 55 complaints in Manistee County in April. Crime is going up, complaints are going up, Skorka said. Were not getting troopers over here as much as we would like and I dont see it changing anytime soon. He compared the staffing from his arrival in Manistee 22 years ago to present day, saying that he "competed against several thousand people for my position, we're barely filling recruit schools of 60 people now. It's just hard to get bodies." Skorka noted that the post went from having a larger number of troopers covering just Manistee County to now having a similar number responsible for all counties the post covers. In 2001 when I came to Manistee, I think we had 15-17 troopers working the road in Manistee County and in four townships of Benzie County, he said. We have 16 troopers working three counties now. As the Manistee County Sheriffs Office is going through budget planning, Sheriff Brian Gutowski noted at the meeting that he is planning to ask for two additional staff members. Gutowski noted that calls for service to his staff are increasing and further referenced an exceptionally busy week that started with an arson in Bear Lake and a two-day search for a missing angler at Tippy Dam near Brethren. As staffing has dwindled, Manistee County police agencies have increasingly collaborated with others. Gutowski vehemently thanked the other agencies both inside and outside of Manistee County for assisting with the search for a missing Gladwin man whose body was found on Tuesday. The (Manistee) chief from the city gives a sergeant to our dive team, the tribal director gives staff to our dive team and have people at that operation, Gutowski said. The second operational period on day two, I had over 40 officers and deputies from around northern Michigan. Gutowski listed Emmet, Arenac, Clare, Grand Traverse, Missaukee and Roscommon counties as having been represented at the search. Tippy Dam operator Consumers Energy also helped in the search by lowering the water levels at the dam to help responders search. I cant tell you how much it means to me that the local partners and then our northern Michigan partners to be able to bring that kind of manpower together is awesome, he said. So, (we were) able to get some closure for the family. And those are tough and they are long days and we have way less than ideal weather conditions we were working in. The Manistee County Sheriff's Office identified the drowning victim as Chad Randall Hetherington, 49, of Gladwin. Recruitment changes At the public safety meeting, Gutowski said he and others in the area are now using different recruiting techniques such as sponsorship models and holding physical agility tests ahead of hiring to get police officers on staff earlier. Its not just us or the (Manistee) chief, everybody in law enforcement is doing this, he said. West Shore typically had eight to 10 candidates through their police academy a year, this year, they had 21 or 22 and there was only four or five cadets that were not sponsored by agencies in that academy this year. Glass said there are also some boot-style camp models being used that include housing for the training duration. Manistee City Police Department Chief Josh Glass said what youre seeing is what the future looks like. Its standard now, not dissimilar to what we saw in the 70s when you had to find people who (have) strong moral character and integrity and say have you ever thought of being a police officer? Were kind of back to that, Glass said. Gutowski said another pathway to gaining officers is to approach jail staff, but that would then lead to fewer staff for the jail. Glass and Gutowski also noted that another hurdle is when officers are sponsored but then leave for other police departments. I commend the federal government, the state of Michigan putting $30 million toward grant funds which unfortunately arent being spent quickly, Im told because were struggling to find police candidates, Glass said. 43rd West Shore Community College Police Academy graduates Duke Breen Christopher Burch Austin Byers Joelynn Gamble-Brown Makayla Gibson Elizabeth Gillette Luke Killingbeck Jacob Lesinski Brittany Manier Grayson Marshall Darrin McCall Darwin Mitchell Brendan Nienhuis Noah Noble Amiya Overstreet Gavin Porter Rachel Raschke David Robinson Tyler Stitt Jake Ternik Mitchell Wilson A former Boston high school dean serving a 26-year sentence in state prison for shooting a student he had recruited to deal drugs has received an additional 18 years or more on a federal gang-related charge. Prosecutors said that Shaun Harrison, 63, lived a double life, portraying himself as an anti-violence activist and mentor for troubled teens while hiding his own gang ties and luring students into drugs and violence. In 2022, Harrison pleaded guilty to a count of racketeering conspiracy, also referred to as a RICO conspiracy. Harrison is serving time after his 2018 conviction for attempting to kill a student who was selling marijuana in the high school at Harrisons direction, authorities said. The 17-year-old was shot in the back of the head after a dispute over declining drug sales, prosecutors said. The student survived but suffered partial face paralysis, permanent hearing loss and other injuries. Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said Harrison exhibited what she described as an astonishing level of betrayal and dishonesty. As the academic dean at a Boston public high school he lured and manipulated teenagers into a criminal enterprise that specialized in street terrorism, Rollins said in a written statement after Harrison was sentenced Thursday in federal court. Harrison was the architect of ruin for an entire generation of promising young lives. She said Harrison continued to associate with the Latin Kings gang while in state prison. The English High School, where convicted Latin King member Shaun Harrison was a former academic dean. Photo by Google Maps Federal prosecutors said last year that Harrison was one of dozens of defendants to plead guilty in a sprawling Latin Kings case stemming from an investigation dubbed Operation Throne Down. Last year, a federal judge ordered Harrison to pay more than $10 million in damages to the former student he was convicted of trying to kill, but its unclear whether the victim will ever get any money from Harrison. Harrison was hired by the Boston Public Schools in 2015 to serve as an academic dean at English High School, a public, magnet school. In that role, Harrison was to act as a mediator between teachers and students, contact families when students struggled and work with at-risk students, officials said. SPRINGFIELD The state Economic Development Planning Council will host the first of a series of engagement sessions from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, May 19, at Springfield College. Other sessions are set for Bridgewater, Boston, Haverhill and Chatham, the state said Friday. The councils first meeting was Friday. With leaders from a diversity of backgrounds and regions, the council will gather public input about the states economic development needs and opportunities. The council will then craft a strategic plan to guide Massachusetts economic development policy over the next four years. Roger W. Crandall, chairman, president and CEO of MassMutual, is on the council from Western Massachusetts as is Steven Ellis, Montague town administrator, Mary Kay Wydra, president of the Greater Springfield Convention Visitors Bureau, and Laura Hooks, vice president and general manager, maritime ad strategic systems, General Dynamics Mission Systems. From day one, our administration has been committed to making Massachusetts a thriving and great place to live, work, raise a family and do business, Gov. Maura T. Healey said in a news release. We have assembled this council of leaders from across the business community and representing every region of our state to advise us on how to harness our tremendous human talent and assets to create opportunity across the state. According to Section 16G of Chapter 6A of the Massachusetts General Laws, a new economic development plan must be formulated and signed by the governor within the first year of a new administration. The Big Y in Longmeadow was evacuated after a bomb threat was called to the grocery store Friday afternoon. Police deemed the threat a hoax and re-opened the store to the public about an hour later. On Friday at around 1:50 p.m., Longmeadow police responded to a bomb threat called to the Big Y at 802 Williams St. Police evacuated the store as first responders searched the building. Laurie Lemieux, a salesperson at the In Chiq Boutique across the street from the Big Y, said she saw people come over from the grocery store saying they were told to leave their carts and just immediately evacuate over the intercom. After the search, authorities determined the bomb threat to be a hoax with no credible threat to the store or shoppers. The Longmeadow Big Y was opened back up to the public at about 3 p.m. Longmeadow police are investigating the source of the bomb hoax. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should resign, Attorney General Andrea Campbell said Friday afternoon, a day after The Washington Post reported that a conservative activist concealed hefty payments to his wife. Campbell, in a radio interview, said she probably thought Thomas should have resigned a long time ago, as she expressed concern about Supreme Court decisions including about the environment, gun rights and abortion that she said fly in the face of legal precedent. There have been concerns about the integrity and the credibility of the court for some time, Campbell said on GBHs Boston Public Radio. I think you add these ethical issues and clear ethical violations by any legal standard in which we as elected officials including in Massachusetts, we have some very progressive laws when it comes to this have to operate by, Im really concerned. Leonard Leo, a longtime Federalist Society leader, had coordinated with GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group and send the tens of thousands of dollars to Virginia Ginni Thomas, while ensuring her name wouldnt appear on paperwork, according to The Post. The nonprofit later submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on a voting rights case, and Justice Thomass opinion aligned with the Judicial Education Project without mentioning the group, The Post reported. Thomas has come under scrutiny recently over reports he went on luxury vacations for more than two decades, funded by a Republican donor who also paid tuition costs for the justices great-nephew. Over the years and decades, he has revealed many things about his character and things that are completely flawed, and I think get in the way of objectivity and being a justice on the highest court of the land, Campbell said. So I think weve seen enough. Traditional craft products of Phu Xuyen district (Photo: CPV) Some craft villages have invested to welcome tourists, such as Bat Trang ceramics village, Van Phuc silk weaving village, Ha Thai lacquer village, and Phu Vinh bamboo and rattan village. Visitors to these craft villages can learn about the culture of the village, watch artisans demonstrate their craft and experience some stages of crafting products, as well as shop for the villages' products and gifts. However, these craft villages have not been exploited suitably with their potential due to unattractive product and packaging design, along with promotional activities that have not been properly invested. Today, craft villages basically offer what they have instead of what tourists need, while local artisans, although being skillful, lack experience, financial and technology know-how, so they have not accessed customers via the internet. In addition, the connection with tourist destinations is weak, so craft traders cannot understand the needs and tastes of tourists, which is also the reason for the poor sales of souvenirs. Products made in craft villages have tangible and intangible values. However, due to lack of sound development directions, craft villages have not promoted their advantages. Meanwhile, homestay tours in craft villages are a popular choice of international tourists. Many localities in the country have adopted this kind of tourism successfully. When taking homestay tours in craft villages, apart from sightseeing and shopping, tourists can take part in producing handicraft products. Thanks to this service, Bat Trang pottery village and Van Phuc silk village have lured a large number of tourists. Many foreign tourists want to stay overnight in the villages, however, local authorities can not meet their demand due to lack of accommodations. Like Bat Trang, Van Phuc silk village is an ancient village with small streets. Sometimes buses which take tourists to the villages create traffic jams. The village still lacks construction works serving tourists demand. Hence, the village has not effectively exploited its tourism potential. Realizing these shortcomings, some establishments have invested efforts to innovate product designs and packaging. In addition to traditional items such as rattan baskets, rattan tables and chairs, artisans from Phu Vinh bamboo and rattan craft village in Chuong My district have created new products suitable for the demand of young visitors such as bracelets, rings which are made of rattan and bamboo. Products of Bat Trang ceramics village (Photo: kinhtedothi.vn) Meanwhile, many lacquer products of Ha Thai village in Thuong Tin district, after applying changes in motif and design, have earned the preference of foreign customers. Some businesses and craft village households have set up their websites and take advantage of social networks to promote their products. In order to support craft villages, the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade in cooperation with the municipal Department of Tourism organized the design competitions for handicraft products in recent years, to stimulate creativity and launch new product models suitable to the demand of tourists. Besides, the Hanoi Department of Tourism has supported those villages through promoting handicrafts on its website. Moreover, instead of mainly depending on foreign tourists, craft villages should pay more attention to domestic tourists, especially as this segment is one of the important solutions to restore and stabilize the tourism market in Hanoi in particular and in Vietnam in general. The tourism Department will launch an application to introduce craft village products using 3D technology, allowing visitors to see details of products, information about the artisans, craft villages and the process of elaborating the item. This application is expected to be a promotion channel for more than 300 craft villages, contributing to improving the quality of tourism products and increasing the spending of local and foreign visitors to the city in the coming time. In addition, to attract more tourists, apart from helping people in craft villages to enrich their knowledge of product marketing, professional services and comprehensive infrastructure systems are an important factor. It is necessary for travel agents, the Hanoi Travel Club and local craft village associations to work together to look for methods to attract more tourists. Local authorities and related departments should create favorable conditions for craft villages to promote infrastructure systems and make a proper plan on craft village development./. SPRINGFIELD So far, $102 million of the citys $123.8 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money has been awarded. The city is now looking for outside help in reviewing applications submitted by thousands of Springfield residents hoping to be approved to each receive $1,400. In a recent statement, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno acknowledged that requests for household or individual assistance remain pending. The mayors office put out a request for proposals for extra help in reviewing each submission. Once approved, this third party will help to efficiently and effectively review and approve the remaining pending direct cash assistance applications for households, he said. As of this week, $4.2 million in direct grants to residents have been approved for 3,000 applicants. But 16,000 other households are still waiting for an answer on their applications. The deadline to apply has passed. All ARPA funding is expected to be committed by 2024 and allocated by 2026, according to treasury department rules. At each press conference at which ARPA awards had been announced, Sarno has said his team is working to ensure that fraudulent or incomplete applications are not taken into consideration. I want to thank everyone for their understanding and patience, he said. We waited till the end to award as many qualifying applications as possible. Those who applied but have not heard whether they will be approved may well wonder whats happening. On the citys website, this update appears: Please be advised that we continue to review applications to determine eligibility based on the order in which they were received. The ARPA department will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your participation in Springfields ARPA Household & Senior Individual Assistance Program. Residents who were granted funding were at least 18 years old, live in the city and were not labeled a delinquent on their local, state or federal taxes. Applicants must also provide information on any federal benefits they are receiving, say if they have had to file for bankruptcy, state how many people live in the house and disclose total household income. Timothy J. Plante, the citys chief administrative and financial officer, said Springfield has not yet announced how much of the remaining ARPA funding will be channeled into the direct cash grants. If all 16,000 applicants were to be approved, the payout would be $22.4 million, slightly more than the amount of ARPA funds that remain. Plante said staff members have been needed to conduct application reviews and determine eligibility. Attempts to reach Plante and Lindsay Hackett, deputy chief administrative and financial officer, for further comment were unsuccessful. Residents can visit the citys website and fill out a short form to request a status update on their application. They can also call (413) 750-3212. I hope youre all doing well! This week was a big one for the Holyoke Veterans Home, as we got word that the VA has officially awarded $164 million to the Massachusetts Office of Veterans Services for the construction of a new facility, the first award in $263.5 million of federal funding. This funding process all started with our state bond bill in 2021, which I was proud to help get across the finish line, and I am thrilled that we are one step closer to making the new facility a reality. Even with this excitement, Team Velis still had quite a busy week. On Monday I had the honor of joining Rep. Carey and Easthampton city officials for a ceremony recognizing resident Robert Cayo, a Korean War veteran who was awarded both the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for his heroism in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. These events are always special to me, and I was proud to present Robert with a Senate citation in honor of his service. Tuesday morning, I joined the Holyoke Taxpayers Association for a quick update on the FY24 budget process. Afterward, I virtually joined students from throughout Massachusetts for a hearing of the Legislatures Education Committee, where we testified in support of my School Robotics Bill, S. 360. The legislation would create a grant program to expand and support robotics clubs in our schools and it has been phenomenal to work alongside students on the bill. At the lease agreement signing ceremony (Photo: nhandan.vn) Under the agreement, the Vietnamese carrier will receive an Airbus A319 on May 20, raising its fleet to four, and two others in July. Vu Duc Bien, a representative from Vietravel Airlines, said the event is expected to create a turning point in the carriers development, towards expanding its domestic and international routes. Currently, Vietravel Airlines, which made its debut in late 2020, is operating flights between HCM City/Hanoi and Da Nang, Quy Nhon and Phu Quoc, and between HCM City/Hanoi and Bangkok (Thailand), along with charter flights between Daegu (the Republic of Korea) and Cam Ranh. With the new planes, it expects to launch more domestic and international flights from/to Cam Ranh and Da Nang in the third quarter, and charter flights to China, Taiwan (China), the RoK and Japan. As of the first quarter of 2023, Vietravel Airlines had operated over 11,600 flights safely and carried close to 2.5 million passengers, with an average occupancy rate of 93.7%./. The confidence of China's private entrepreneurs in pursuing high-quality development is picking up, buoyed by new orders, enhanced competitiveness and an improving business environment. The private sector contributes approximately 50 percent of China's tax revenue, 60 percent of its GDP, 70 percent of its technological innovation, and accounts for 80 percent of its urban employment. The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Index, based on a survey of 3,000 small and medium enterprises in China, rebounded to 89.3 in the first quarter of 2023, up from 88 in the previous quarter. BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The confidence of China's private entrepreneurs in pursuing high-quality development is picking up, buoyed by new orders, enhanced competitiveness and an improving business environment. The revival of private companies and the improvement of private entrepreneur sentiment are crucial for the country's continued growth, as the private sector has been a key pillar sustaining China's economic expansion. Economic experts and the media frequently use a combination of the numbers 50, 60, 70 and 80 to describe the private sector's contributions to the Chinese economy. The sector contributes approximately 50 percent of China's tax revenue, 60 percent of its GDP, 70 percent of its technological innovation, and accounts for 80 percent of its urban employment. Development optimism in the private sector mirrors China's strong growth momentum in the first quarter of this year. A seller promotes snacks via livestreaming at a health industry company in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, March 23, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Han) MORE ORDERS, RECOVERING EXPECTATIONS Visiting customers, negotiating orders and participating in exhibitions have been daily tasks since the start of 2023 for Wang Xincheng, chairman of Changjiang Electric, a Hubei-based company specializing in intelligent energy construction and services. The company's orders totaled 810 million yuan (about 117 million U.S. dollars) in January, and logged a year-on-year increase of 15 percent in the first quarter. "The growth momentum is good, with new orders continuing to come in," Wang said, noting that the company is running at full capacity. Changjiang Electric's experience echoes the broader recovery of the world's second-largest economy. The Chinese economy registered better-than-expected 4.5 percent growth in the first quarter of this year, with factory output and household consumption both bouncing back. China's private sector, in particular, posted a highly anticipated recovery. Despite weak global growth, the foreign trade of China's private firms jumped 14.4 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, accounting for 52.4 percent of the country's total. The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Index, based on a survey of 3,000 small and medium enterprises in China, rebounded to 89.3 in the first quarter of 2023, up from 88 in the previous quarter. Its sub-indexes for all eight major sectors, including construction, transport, and accommodation and catering, rose across the board. "The overall economy is recovering. More importantly, central and local governments have sent a clear signal of support for the development of the private sector," said Wu Xiaoquan, COO of Nanjing TICA Climate Solutions Co., Ltd. "We are confident in our future." TICA's business performance rose 10 percent to 15 percent in the first three months of this year, with orders for industrial manufacturing projects and overseas markets increasing significantly. This photo taken on April 3, 2023 shows circuit boards produced by Traffic Control Technology Equipment Co., Ltd. in Wuqing District, north China's Tianjin. (Xinhua/Li Ran) SHARPENING NEW EDGES Despite China's sound growth momentum, many private entrepreneurs have said that more time is needed for a full market recovery from the COVID-induced economic fallout, citing challenges such as rising costs, difficulties in financing and recruitment, as well as weak global demand. Tang Fangming, assistant general manager of Jiangsu Hengli Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd., said that despite an uptick in order numbers, companies in the sector are "just getting back on their feet," and the foundation for recovery has not yet solidified. In an effort to seize the initiative for development, the company has doubled down on its efforts in research and development (R&D), seeking to explore its development space by tapping into new materials and new energy. Shenghong Group, a textile industry leader in east China's Jiangsu Province, has accelerated its presence in the emerging new energy, new materials, and green and low-carbon development sectors. The company's capacity to produce regenerated fibers made from waste plastic bottles now accounts for more than 50 percent of the global market share. Wuhan Jingce Electronic Group Co., Ltd., a high-tech enterprise that provides products and services for testing in fields such as semiconductors, displays and new energy, has more than doubled its R&D spending from 288 million yuan in 2019 to 589 million yuan in 2022. This emphasis on R&D led to the rollout of several pieces of high-end testing equipment, which later translated into three years of revenue growth for the company. "Our business has been under pressure in recent years, but this also gives us an opportunity to improve our own capabilities and competitiveness," said Shen Yafei, the company's vice general manager. A visitor looks at bicycles displayed during the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Cai Yang) CONDUCIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT While private enterprises make efforts to thrive, their business environment is also improving, with a slew of conducive measures and pledges made by governments at different levels. Proper guidance should be given to the private sector for its healthy and high-quality development, and private firms should take the initiative to pursue high-quality development. These are messages delivered at the annual "two sessions" held in March this year. On April 21, the first meeting of the commission for deepening overall reform of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee noted that supporting the private economy is a consistent principle of the CPC Central Committee. It is also vital to help private enterprises find their right position in high-quality development and improve their development quality via self-reform and development, business compliance, as well as transformation and upgrading, said the meeting, which urged efforts to ensure precise implementation of preferential policies to effectively address the enterprises' difficulties. In terms of policy implementation, in the past five years, private enterprises have enjoyed a total of more than 8 trillion yuan in new tax and fee cuts and tax deferrals as well as exemptions, accounting for about 70 percent of the total number, said Wang Jun, head of the State Taxation Administration, last month. Of self-employed households in the private economy, 80 percent no longer pay taxes after the government implemented a series of support policies, according to Wang. A staff member works at a workshop in a textile enterprise in Zhijiang, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo by Liu Weidong/Xinhua) Since the beginning of this year, many localities across the country have introduced special policies and measures to support the private sector. These policies and measures involve fields such as financing, talent, technology and land use, and are expected to boost the confidence of private enterprises in development. "Only when all parties work together to help ease the pressures and burdens of private firms can entrepreneurs feel relaxed, travel light and aim high," said Zhang Qing, deputy head of the Wuhan Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Association. Hu Yufang, chairman of Suzhou Taihu Snow Silk Co., Ltd., knew that embracing new opportunities would bring brighter prospects. "In the face of various uncertainties, we did not sit back and wait, but chose to face them head-on," Hu said. The company, listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange, has used online livestreaming to expand its sales and managed to attract more offline customers by opening new outlets at sites popular online. Liu Cong, chairman of the provincial federation of industry and commerce of Jiangsu, said that the overall market situation has been improving since the beginning of the year, and private entrepreneurs are becoming more confident, more energetic and more ambitious. "As the supporting policies continue to sink in, we have the confidence to consolidate the momentum," Liu said. Editor: ZAD A team of representatives from the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) inspects the first grain-laden ship leaving Ukraine on the northwestern entrance of the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, Turkiye, Aug. 3, 2022. (Turkish Defense Ministry/Handout via Xinhua) "We urge all parties to continue their discussions, overcome operational challenges and work toward the full implementation and continuation of the initiative," said a UN spokesman. UNITED NATIONS, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The world body is working toward the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and asks all parties concerned to engage constructively, said a UN spokesman on Friday. The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) has not reached agreement to authorize new vessels to participate in the initiative, which allows the export of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products from Black Sea ports. The JCC continues its daily inspection work on the previously authorized vessels, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The UN chief has communicated to all parties his proposal on the way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion of the initiative, taking into account positions expressed by the parties, said the spokesman. "We urge all parties to continue their discussions, overcome operational challenges and work toward the full implementation and continuation of the initiative." UN representatives will be participating in a technical meeting convened by the Turkish government on the initiative, in preparation for a senior-level meeting taking place next week in Istanbul, said Haq. "So we're looking forward to constructive and frank discussions with all sides, with the aim to overcome challenges and work toward the continuation and full implementation of the initiative." All the parties -- Russia, Ukraine, the United Nations, and Turkiye -- will be represented at next week's senior-level meeting. But the names of the participants are still to be determined, he told a daily press briefing. Head of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, Rebeca Grynspan, traveled to Moscow on Friday as part of the ongoing consultations with senior Russian officials regarding the world body's engagement to facilitate the unimpeded export of Russian food and fertilizer, including ammonia, to global markets, said Haq. The memorandum of understanding between Russia and the United Nations on the facilitation of exports of Russian food and fertilizer is a parallel agreement with the Black Sea Grain Initiative. While the exports of Ukrainian grain have made strides, Russia has constantly expressed displeasure with the lack of progress in the facilitation of exports of Russian food and fertilizer. Grynspan met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, relaying the strong commitment of the UN secretary-general to the full implementation of the memorandum of understanding, said Haq. Last week, Guterres presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, outlining his proposal for the improvement, extension and expansion of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Haq said Friday that Guterres has not received any formal response from Putin. The Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed separately by Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul with Turkiye and the United Nations on July 22, 2022. The deal, initially in effect for 120 days, was extended in mid-November 2022 for another 120 days till March 18, 2023. At that point, Russia only agreed to extend the deal for a further 60 days, till May 18. Editor: ZAD President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with the management of the world's largest asset management company BlackRock. "The parties discussed the details of the creation of an investment fund to restore the economy of Ukraine with the involvement of public and private capital," the press service of the Office of the President said. Ukraine's Economy Ministry signed an agreement with BlackRock Financial Market Advisory on providing support services to the Ukraine Development Fund on the results of the meeting. The main goal of the fund's creation is to attract private and public capital for implementing large-scale business projects in Ukraine. Zelenskyy said at the meeting that truly large and strategic private capital in volumes that would correspond to the country's scale and capabilities has never come to Ukraine over the time of its independence. "This will be a strong signal of strengthening the investment climate. It is important not only for our people, our society, but also for business, entrepreneurs abroad. Today is a historic moment because, since the very first days of independence, we have not had such huge investment cases in Ukraine. We are proud that we can initiate such a process," the head of state said. He also said that for the transparency and success of the project implementation, Ukraine attracts the best financial and consulting organizations in the world BlackRock, JP Morgan, McKinsey. Zelenskyy said that the creation and launch of the fund would make it possible to attract capital and start the active reconstruction of the country's economy and the creation of new enterprises immediately after the cessation of active hostilities. "We will be able to offer interesting projects to invest in energy, security, agriculture, logistics, infrastructure, medicine, IT, and many other areas. We want global partners to come who can provide us with large investments," he said. "This is a historic moment, perhaps the greatest opportunity to bring the private and public sectors together at a time when technical innovation can be a catalyst for further development. I think that you will be able to contribute to the global economy, use innovation," Vice Chairman of BlackRock Philipp Michael Hildebrand, who is a member of the firm's Global Executive Committee, said. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen have discussed export and transit of Ukrainian agricultural products through the EU countries, in particular the situation at the checkpoint on the border with Poland. "At the reception of His Majesty Charles III in the Buckingham Palace, I met with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. I thanked her for the macro financial assistance and support for the restoration [of Ukraine]," the prime minister said on the Telegram channel on Saturday. During the meeting, the issue of export and transit of Ukrainian agricultural products through the EU countries was raised, and, in particular, the difficult situation at the checkpoint on the border with Poland. "We should make common decisions to overcome this challenge and ensure food security in the world, which Ukraine guarantees. We count on further close coordination with the European Commission," Shmyhal said. MANISTEE COUNTY The Manistee County Council on Aging is set to host a number of events and other activities aimed at keeping older residents healthy, happy and active. Here is a list of what is planned for the week of May 8 and beyond. Congregate meals The congregate meal site at the Wagoner Community Center is serving lunch Monday through Friday at noon. Remember to call and reserve your lunch by noon the day before. Senior nutrition menu Monday: Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, steamed asparagus, diced pears, roll Tuesday: Orange blossom chicken, rice pilaf, steamed cauliflower, Oriental blend vegetables, pineapple tidbits Wednesday: Breaded pork chop, cheese potato bake, green beans, strawberries, roll Thursday: Italian spaghetti, Key Largo vegetables, sliced carrots, garlic toast Friday: Shredded pork barbecue on a bun, baked beans, steamed corn, fresh apple Menus are subject to change. See More Collapse The congregate meal site in Wellston serves lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Onekama meal site at the Farr Center is currently closed. The Marilla meal site serves lunches Wednesday at noon, and the Pleasant Valley Community Center in Arcadia serves meals Tuesdays and Fridays at 12:30 p.m. The meal site in Maple Grove Township serves meals Thursdays at noon. Keep in mind that the menu is subject to change, as certain food shortages can affect the kitchen. Food bank The senior center food bank takes place on the third Friday of the month from 9-11 a.m. People from Manistee County who are 60 years of age and older are eligible to participate. If you are picking up for another senior, be sure you have a proxy note, along with their name, address, birthdate and household information. Monetary and non-perishable food item donations are always appreciated. Next food bank is May 19 from 9-11 a.m. at 260 St. Mary's Parkway in Manistee. Emergency food assistance If you are a Manistee County senior and are in need of emergency food assistance, call the senior center at 231-723-6477 and speak to a staff member. The senior center has an emergency food pantry that is used to help prevent food insecurity in the senior population during these times. Senior reimbursement program The Manistee County Council on Aging has a program designed to help seniors remain independent, by reimbursing qualifying expenses. If you are an older adult from Manistee County, you could receive reimbursement for payments you have made for house cleaning, yard work, snow removal services. For current clients in the Senior Reimbursement Program, take note, all receipts must be current, no more than 30 days old. Income requirements apply. New clients must fill out a registration form. Mail all receipts to 260 St. Mary's Parkway, Manistee MI 49660. Call the senior center at 231-723-6477 ext. 214, for more information. Once a senior has moved out of their home, they are no longer qualified for the reimbursement program. Exercise opportunities Sit and Get Fit, Tuesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Wagoner Community Center, Monday and Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Farr Center in Onekama. Tai Chi Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m. Indoor walking group, during business hours, Monday through Friday. Chair yoga Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. and Pound Fitness class is Thursday at 3:45 p.m. All classes are free to all seniors, and donations accepted for those under 60. Dementia support group The dementia support group will meet the second Thursday of the month. The group is a supportive, friendly gathering for caregivers, family members or anyone interested in learning more about and supporting senior dementia community. The next meeting will be May 11 at 3 p.m. Contact Jacki Krolczyk at 231-883-1341 for more information. Parkinson's support group The Parkinson's support group meets at 11 a.m. on the third Thursday of each month. The next support group meeting will be on May 18 at the Wagoner Community Center. Please call Marcia Holbrook 614-937-4442 for more information. Upcoming events May 8 9 a.m. Tai Chi 10:15 a.m. You Gotta Have Art 10 a.m. Dominoes 1 p.m. Pinochle 1 p.m. Mah Jongg Attorney by appointment May 9 10 a.m. Sit & Get Fit 10 a.m. Cards & Coffee 11 a.m. Toe Tapping Tuesday 12:30 p.m. Bridge 1 p.m. Pinochle 2 p.m. Knit & Crochet circle 3:30 p.m. Chair Yoga May 10 9 a.m. Tai Chi 10:30 a.m. TOPS 11 a.m. Fun Bingo 1 p.m. Sign Language 3 p.m. Zumba Gold Foot Care Clinic by appointment. May 11 9 a.m. Wellston Jammers day 10 a.m. Cribbage 1 p.m. Chess 1 p.m. Q& A with Smith & Eddy 3 p.m. Dementia Support Group 4 p.m. Pound Fit class May 12 9 a.m. Tai Chi 10 a.m. Alzheimer's 10 Warning Signs 12 p.m. Piano w/Suzanne 1 p.m. Euchre 1 p.m. Sip & Stroke Painting Party We are already into the fifth month of the year: May! Hopefully May will bring warmer temperatures again. The gardens are really wet yet from all the rain we had this past week. It was a cold, rainy day on Sunday when communion services were held at Dustin and Lorettas. It was a challenge to keep the pole barn heated. It isnt insulated, so quite a few tanks of propane were burned to heat the big building. The barn was divided in half with canvas hung from the rafters. On one side, the benches were set for the church services. On the other side, tables were set up as well as a small area for a nursery for the mothers with small children and babies. For those of you new to this column or the Amish lifestyle, Ill try to explain how we do communion. Everyone gathers by 9 a.m., and church services start at 9 a.m. or before. Around 11 a.m., we (the family that hosts church and their help) have lunch ready. Tables are set one for the men and one for the women. With our church being so big, we set a third table for the young boys and girls to eat at. At each place setting is a glass for water, a cup for coffee or hot water, a bowl, spoon, fork and knife. On Sunday, we could serve 50 people at once. On the menu was chicken noodle soup (I made four 12-quart kettles), homemade wheat and white bread, ham, cheese spread, peanut butter spread, pickles, pickled red beets, hot peppers, strawberry jam, butter, coffee and spearmint tea and a variety of four different cookies (chocolate chip, oatmeal, sugar and lemon). When someone was finished eating, their spot at the table would be cleaned and reset. By 12:30 p.m., everyone was fed and back in the services. Around 3 p.m. communion is held, with the bread and wine being passed out, then the feet washing, etc. By 4 p.m. everything is done, and everyone leaves for home. Grandson Isaiah (Ervin and daughter Susans son), 4, was sitting beside me when the members were washing each others feet. He was trying to figure all this out. I asked him if he wants his feet washed and he said, No, I do not want to. He was quite entertained watching one after another come to wash their feet. It made me smile to see him so deep in thought. It was a long day for Loretta, but she is glad everything is now cleaned and back to normal. Grandson Denzel popped through his first two teeth! He holds his mouth different trying to feel the teeth. He can feel something is there now and found out pretty fast to not chew on his fingers. His two top ones are almost through, too. On Monday, Ervin and Susans four children, Jennifer, 5; Isaiah, 4; Ryan, 3; and Curtis, 3; were here while Susan went to help in preparation for a wedding that she will be cook at on Friday. Kaitlyn, 6, was in school. Today our plans are to all go help niece Elizabeth (Manuel) clean. Elizabeth and Manuel will host next church services at their house. Daughters Loretta and Lovina and I will go together with our horse Midnight and Dustin and Lorettas buggy. Their buggy is a handicap-accessible buggy and has a lift in the back so Loretta can get in with her mobility scooter. Also going today to help are sisters Verena and Emma; nieces Emma and Crystal; and daughters Elizabeth, Susan and Verena. I made a casserole and Loretta made a salad to take along. Its nice to have lunch made so we can keep cleaning. Gods blessings to all! I will share the cheese spread recipe. It is also in my cookbook, The Essential Amish Cookbook. Lovinas Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, "Amish Family Recipes," is available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at Lovinas Amish Kitchen, P.O. Box 234, Sturgis, MI 49091 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply); or email LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails. Homemade Church Cheese Spread 6 pounds processed cheese spread (Velveeta) 1 1/2 cups butter 8 cups cream Put all three ingredients in a big roasting pan and bake at 150-200 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring every 15 minutes, until all is melted. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent it from getting a crusty top while cooling. The spread is served on a sandwich with or without meat. It is good just spread on bread with some pickles. MANISTEE A training event for active shooter response is open to anyone interested in attending the free event on Monday. Brian Gutowski, Manistee County sheriff, is hosting a Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events, also known as Crase training, at 6 p.m. at the Vogue Theatre. The sheriff had previously been the Manistee County emergency management coordinator when he started presenting the Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events training in Manistee County. Ive done, I think its about 4,000 of them for our community for that training, he previously told the News Advocate. We talk about exactly what you should do if you find yourself in a situation like that. He said he is still available to give those presentations to private companies, groups or organizations. Along with that, I have often been asked by organizations we present (at) to give them some tips on how to improve the physical security of their building or their operations and just look at how theyre doing things kind of like a site visit of their operations, he had said. Every building and every operation is different. He said the training is free and it takes about one to two hours to complete. Anyone interested in the training is encouraged to email gutowskib@manisteesheriff.org or call the Manistee County Sheriffs Office at 231-723-8393. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Families of fallen police and law enforcement officers have a way of honoring their loved ones. The Caro and surrounding communities came together on Wednesday evening to honor fallen police and law enforcement officers from Tuscola, Huron, and Sanilac counties at the Indianfields Township Cemetery in Caro. During the month of May, law enforcement agencies around the country recognize the month as National Law Enforcement Appreciation Month. Back in 2013, former state officer Bill MacNicol and the Greater Thumb Fraternal Order of Police started having a memorial service honoring fallen officers from the Thumb area. Within the last four or five years, the service has now become a permanent annual event at the Indianfields Township Cemetery in Caro. "It means a lot to keep this going," said event coordinator and former Tuscola County officer Bill Stratz. "I had no idea there were so many fallen officers from these counties." MacNicol passed away due to his battle with cancer in the summer of 2022, but Stratz and the F.O.P wanted to continue this tradition that he helped to start and support those families as many of them by a line of duty death no matter what happens. "This is always something that's close to my heart," Stratz said. "It hits close to home and to continue to keep this going means a lot to me." At this year's service, families were welcomed by law enforcement officers followed by the chaplains of Tuscola County reading out the names of the fallen officers. Each family received a red rose to signify the bloodshed and sacrifice that the officers made to ensure the freedom of the United States. Also at this year's service, MacNicol was honored by the county and the F.O.P. with a memorial bench in his name. MacNicol's wife, Shellie, and his daughter were presented with the bench for a man that dedicated so much to the county and his fellow officers. Courtesy Photo/Tom Lounsbury The F.O.P. hosts this event every year on the first Wednesday of May. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly have met in London to discuss the key priorities of the future Ukraine Recovery Conference. "Ukraine will focus on three directions: quick restoration, attracting private businesses to the restoration and development of Ukraine, reform implementation. We count on a high interest of UK companies and specific agreements," the prime minister said on the Telegram channel on Friday, May 5. He also expressed hope for support of the UK at the NATO Summit in Vilnius. "The Ukrainian army is mastering the Alliance's standards in practice and is ready to share its successful combat experience with the allies after victory," Shmyhal said. HARTFORD Thursday's mayoral forum at the Connecticut Historical Society was teetering along like most have during this election season, with a laundry list of candidates on stage mostly agreeing that the city needs to address a slew of major issues. But then it heated up. An audience member asked the candidates if they would support the winner of the expected Democratic primary in September. Most said they would, until the microphone was passed to former state Sen. and Judge Eric Coleman, who drew a few gasps with his answer. "If the process is a fair one, and some of us have reason to believe that it won't be, if the process is fair I will have no hesitancy in supporting the winner of the September primary," he said. "However, I personally have made too many sacrifices, and my family has made too many sacrifices for me not to pursue the position of mayor in the city of Hartford if someone or some people have their fingers on the scale and are skewing the process." Next was Councilman Nick Lebron, who said quickly, "I hope everybody's going to support me." Then it was Hartford Land Bank CEO Arunan Arulampalam, who said, "I will support the winner of the primary, and I will not engage in any election denialism in the city of Hartford." That marked the end of the forum. Asked afterward what he meant, Coleman told CT Insider he'd heard from members of the Democratic Town Committee that they were being "arm twisted" to vote for Arulampalam. "If we got to the convention and everybody turns around and supports me, obviously then the town chair's efforts were not successful," Coleman said. "If there are votes that are changed and multiple ballots that occur and people are changing votes in ballots after the first ballot, I will know that the town chair is responsible." Coleman said he would decide after seeing how the process plays out if he supports the primary winner. Giselle Jacobs, another candidate in the crowded eight-person field in the race for mayor, said she would file to run as a petitioning candidate in the general election if she does not win the primary. Arulampalam denied there was any "arm twisting" and said he had support from some town committee members because of his relationship building and campaigning. "I have been sitting down in people's living rooms and having coffee conversations with them and drinks with them and talking with them one on one," he said. "And because of that, a number of community leaders who happen to be on the town committee are supporting me. It's not arm twisting. I don't have the power to do that. In fact, I'm the only one who doesn't have a legislative record to do that with. It's just general relationship building." He criticized Coleman for questioning the election process. "To doubt in our election process, because I'm getting support in this race, is incredibly cynical," he said. "And I think coming out of the Trump years, we all know it's incredibly dangerous." The forum had been similar to others so far this election cycle until the final few minutes, when organizers asked for questions from audience members. That led to an exchange between state Sen. John Fonfara and a few audience members, including Hartford activist Bridgitte Prince. The back-and-forth concerned a proposed bill in the state legislature, SB 1139, that would have reformed the oft-criticized Metropolitan District Commission. Fonfara said he had not voted on any bill about the MDC. "There is no amendment. There is no bill that has come before me," Fonfara said. "People can say things, but the facts are that there's nothing for anyone to vote on in the legislature in that regard." Prince then said she had been told by state Sen. Derek Slap, D-West Hartford, that it would not have support. It wasn't immediately clear what the bill's status was. Lebron, who resigned from the MDC board of finance last month and has been outspoken about his issues with the agency, said the bill would have provided oversight over MDC but was not going to move forward. "We can no longer protect folks who don't need to be protected, when they don't have the vested interest for people who have poop in their basements," he said, referring to the flooding and sewage problems that have plagued Hartford's North End for years. OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) One person is dead and at least six other people were shot during a Cinco de Mayo party at a Mississippi restaurant late Friday night, police said. Ocean Springs Police Capt. Ryan LeMaire, in a news release, confirmed that seven people were shot at The Scratch Kitchen on Government Street. The surviving victims were transported to area hospitals for treatment, LeMaire said. The extent of their injuries was not immediately released. BOSTON (AP) A former Boston high school dean serving a 26-year sentence in state prison for shooting a student he had recruited to deal drugs has received an additional 18 years or more on a federal gang-related charge. Prosecutors said that Shaun Harrison, 63, lived a double life, portraying himself as an anti-violence activist and mentor for troubled teens while hiding his own gang ties and luring students into drugs and violence. In 2022, Harrison pleaded guilty to a count of racketeering conspiracy, also referred to as a RICO conspiracy. Harrison is serving time after his 2018 conviction for attempting to kill a student who was selling marijuana in the high school at Harrison's direction, authorities said. The 17-year-old was shot in the back of the head after a dispute over declining drug sales, prosecutors said. The student survived but suffered partial face paralysis, permanent hearing loss and other injuries. Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said Harrison exhibited what she described as an astonishing level of betrayal and dishonesty. As the academic dean at a Boston public high school he lured and manipulated teenagers into a criminal enterprise that specialized in street terrorism, Rollins said in a written statement after Harrison was sentenced Thursday in federal court. Harrison was the architect of ruin for an entire generation of promising young lives." She said Harrison continued to associate with the Latin Kings gang while in state prison. Federal prosecutors said last year that Harrison was one of dozens of defendants to plead guilty in a sprawling Latin Kings case stemming from an investigation dubbed Operation Throne Down. Last year, a federal judge ordered Harrison to pay more than $10 million in damages to the former student he was convicted of trying to kill, but its unclear whether the victim will ever get any money from Harrison. Harrison was hired by the Boston Public Schools in 2015 to serve as an academic dean at English High School, a public, magnet school. In that role, Harrison was to act as a mediator between teachers and students, contact families when students struggled and work with at-risk students, officials said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DENVER (AP) Colorado lawmakers pushed a bill to the governors desk that would allow politicians to block social media users from their private accounts, just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would consider to what extent that's legal. The bipartisan measure Colorados Democrat-controlled Legislature approved Thursday allows lawmakers to block people for any reason they choose. The rule wouldnt apply to some politicians' accounts, such as one of Gov. Jared Polis Twitter accounts, @GovofCO. The idea has sparked a national debate as social media becomes an increasingly popular tool for politicians to squeeze arguments into 280-character Tweets, laud their successes, air their grievances, and announce official business all of which blurs the line between personal accounts and public forums. That fuzzy line has already spurred a litany of lawsuits, including one against former President Donald Trump, but legal precedent remains slim. The bill takes a swing at delineating between public and private accounts: a politician's social media page is public if it's required for the position or uses taxpayer dollars managed by an official's staff, for example. Public accounts can be those that are passed from one officeholder to the next, such as @WhiteHouse, used by both Trump and President Joe Biden. The legislation effectively defines a private account, which could block others, as a page not supported by government resources and not required for the office. It can be kept after a politician leaves office, such as @realDonaldTrump. The legislation's bipartisan sponsors argue that it's merely drawing a line between public and private lives and liken it to a town hall if two constituents began screeching at each other or harassed or intimidated onlookers, they would be rightfully removed. (It's having) the same treatment from the physical world to the social media world, said Rep. Matt Soper, a Republican and one of the bill's sponsors. Soper said it appears to be the first bill of it's kind in the country and argued that it's a step forward in grappling with the wild, wild West of our generation." The bill would allow a politician to block a user for any reason," and detractors worry it staunches the public's access to their representatives and limits their ability to voice opinions and engage in debate. "The U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that social media is an instrument for speaking and listening in the modern public square, and that it affords 'perhaps the most powerful mechanisms available to a private citizen to make his or her voice heard,'" said Catherine Ordonez, the ACLU of Colorados policy counsel, in a committee hearing on the bill. Legislators following the text of this bill will regularly violate the First Amendment rights of the individuals interacting with their social media accounts, said Ordonez. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Trump, on his long-held @realDonaldTrump account, have both faced lawsuits for blocking other Twitter users. A lower court ruled that Trump violated the First Amendment whenever he blocked a critic to silence a viewpoint, but the Supreme Court declined in 2021 to hear the case, partly citing Trump's account being then-suspended from the platform. Greene settled her case, a common outcome of such litigation. At least two similar lawsuits in Colorado were also settled, leaving the topic largely void of legal precedent. The Colorado bill is modeled off a 2022 federal court ruling that sided with the city manager of Port Huron, Michigan, who was sued for blocking someone and removing their posts from a Facebook page he used to communicate with the public. That case is now heading to the Supreme Court, which will not hear the case before fall. The legislation outlines the criterion to determine whether an elected official's account is private, but it generally does not include the account's content. On a private page, for example, an elected official could still largely post about their work, bills they were supporting or opposing, announcements or political discussions. If Im at a bar and I decide to talk to my friend about a bill Im running Does that make my conversation public? argued Rep. Leslie Herod, a Democrat and one of the bill's sponsors. "As an elected official, every single part of our lives is not public. Herod argued that the intent of the law is largely to stop some who may harass or intimidate from chilling the free speech of others who are engaging in good-faith online. Tim Regan-Porter, CEO of the Colorado Press Association, pushed back, arguing that what politicians say about their work as elected officials is salient to the public and, consequently, reporters. Its not just important what the law says, but what the intent was, why they chose to do it, and what parties might have influenced them," he said, "and pronouncements on social media can give clearer understanding of what went into a decision. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis didn't not immediately respond to questions regarding his position on the bill. ___ Jesse Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Does the post-PCS prospect of finding a new community of friends at your new home sound as daunting as the move itself? Even so, if you "go out there and show up and take that first step," you might find your stint at that new location more personally rewarding, said Air National Guard spouse Tawny Trottier Cale, an activist and small business owner. "You don't have to love the location. You don't have to love the weather. But if you have a community there, it can sure make up for those two things," Cale said. In an episode of the "PCS with Military.com" podcast, Cale, who has moved nine times in her 15-year marriage -- most recently into base housing in Great Falls, Montana -- shared some of her experiences in making new connections after a move. Find Groups Geared to Your Culture or Personal Passions An enrolled citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as well as the descendant of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and the Spirit Lake Nation, Cale founded the business where she and her three sisters work -- Sister Beads -- in part to share her culture. "I really think that you're doing yourself a disservice by not staying connected to your culture or to whatever community you want to be affiliated with," Cale said. "You are missing out on those connections, ... and you're also robbing your children of those potential connections as well." She has made connections with her cultural background through her kids' school district, which has "a really great Indian education program, and that's really one of my passions, education." Among activist groups, in particular, "just showing up makes a huge difference," Cale said. "A lot of times, groups that are working toward some end, quite frankly, there's never enough people." Know Your 'Why' Cale said her background in direct sales taught her the principle of "just knowing your 'why,'" she said. "Why are you doing this? Why do you want to do it? ... Having a good knowledge and understanding about why this particular issue, why this particular part of you, is important ... is really important for wanting to find your community." Rely on Your Existing Connections Military spouses who have already moved around a lot often have made friends or acquaintances along the way who can connect you with new friend prospects at your new base, Cale said. "When we moved to where we live now, I had three or four people message me and say, 'Oh, hey, if you're moving there, I know this person who lives there," Cale said. "If somebody you know thinks you'll like this person, chances are, they're right." -- Amanda Miller can be reached at amanda.miller@monster.com. Keep Up-to-Date for Your Next PCS Get the inside information from those who know. Get PCS help and all the news and benefits information you need delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe to Military.com now. Plenty of military families choose to homeschool, and some do so, at least in part, to ease the academic disruptions of changing school districts numerous times while the kids are still in school. However, even homeschooling households have questions when it comes time for a permanent change of station (PCS) move. Natalie Mack's military family moved about 16 times throughout her husband's Navy career. So far, four of her homeschooled kids have graduated from high school and gone on to college, with one left to go. The author and speaker shared some of her best advice in an episode of the "PCS with Military.com" podcast. Here's what she said. Related: Military Homeschooling Help No Matter Where You're Stationed Where You're Allowed to Homeschool in the US and Overseas Homeschooling is permitted in all U.S. states, and military families can homeschool in other NATO countries even where, such as in Germany, homeschooling has proven to be a challenge for locals, Mack said. Rules and requirements that govern homeschooling vary by state. "Yes, each state has laws that you need to follow, because education is under state jurisdiction," Mack said. But military families' homeschooling isn't regulated in those overseas locations. The U.S.'s NATO Status of Forces Agreement lets military families homeschool "without any legal requirement" in NATO countries, Mack explained. In non-NATO locations, she suggests consulting the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), where she works as the military community outreach coordinator. Families that join HSLDA can pose questions to the association's lawyers. Non-NATO countries may have such agreements with the U.S., but they may not address homeschooling. DoDEA Schools Let Homeschoolers Join Classes, Sports Aside from a few locations in the eastern U.S., the Department of Defense Education Activity, or DoDEA, mostly educates military kids overseas, serving as their public school district. And whereas a given state or school district stateside may not offer much to homeschooled students, DoDEA makes a number of opportunities available. "Homeschoolers have the opportunity to sign up and to take classes. They can take the standardized testing like the AP and the SAT and the PSAT for the high school level. They can also do clubs and activities," Mack said. "They can also participate in sports. They could use the libraries at the local DoDEA school." Where to Get Help with Homeschooling in the Military Mack cited three official and one unofficial source for help with homeschooling in the military. Social media: Informally, connecting with other parents on social media lets PCSing homeschool families ask questions such as, "I'm going to Fort Hood," or, "I'm going to Camp LeJeune or Camp Pendleton ... What are the laws there? What's homeschooling like?" Mack said. "Social media is what is really the best, most up-to-date, current, relevant place." Informally, connecting with other parents on social media lets PCSing homeschool families ask questions such as, "I'm going to Fort Hood," or, "I'm going to Camp LeJeune or Camp Pendleton ... What are the laws there? What's homeschooling like?" Mack said. "Social media is what is really the best, most up-to-date, current, relevant place." HSLDA: This legal organization also maintains resources on its website available to non-members. This legal organization also maintains resources on its website available to non-members. Homeschooling groups: Often organized at the state level and typically nonprofits, "they just have so much information you can access," Mack said. "Many of them have directories of local support groups." Often organized at the state level and typically nonprofits, "they just have so much information you can access," Mack said. "Many of them have directories of local support groups." Official state websites. State education departments "typically have lots of information as well," she said. Harnessing the Power of the School Liaison Officer While Mack characterized the military as having no "official position" on homeschooling because it recognizes that education is generally a state's jurisdiction, the DoD does "affirm" parents' right to homeschool. Additionally, she said installations' school liaison officers work on behalf of all military-connected students, not just those going to a typical school. "I think many military homeschoolers perceive the school liaison officer as an advocate for those who are not homeschooling," Mack said. "But what I'm finding is, school liaison officers really want to reach the military homeschooler, and they really want to say, 'Hey, we are here to support you as well.'" A school liaison officer might be able to help homeschooling groups access facilities or other resources that can be challenging to line up, such as, "Where can we meet?" Mack said. "Where can we host classes? Where can we have holiday parties? Where can we bring in speakers? All of those things." -- Amanda Miller can be reached at amanda.miller@monster.com. Keep Up-to-Date for Your Next PCS Get the inside information from those who know. Get PCS help and all the news and benefits information you need delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe to Military.com now. The Air Defense Forces of Ukraine destroyed all eight Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones launched by the enemy to attack Ukraine last night. "On May 6 night, the enemy launched Shahed drones from the southern direction the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov. The occupiers used eight Shahed 136/131 attack drones. All of them were destroyed by the forces and means of the Skhid (East) Air Command," the Ukrainian Air Forces Command said on the Telegram channel on Saturday morning. "We also make public the information about the night attack on May 4! At around 02:30, the Patriot system destroyed in the sky over Kyiv region an aero-ballistic missile Kh-47 Kinzhal, which was fired by MiG-31K aircraft from the territory of Russia," it said. The military command made the decision to not publish this information immediately, the command said, adding that the reasons for this decision were obvious. TODAY: The Cubs announced that Borucki has opted for free agency rather than accept the outright assignment. MAY 5: Cubs reliever Ryan Borucki has gone unclaimed on waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Iowa, tweets Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Borucki has the right to decline the assignment in favor of minor league free agency based on a previous career outright and having over three years of major league service. According to Bastian, the left-hander is still deciding whether to accept the assignment. Borucki signed a minor league deal with Chicago over the offseason. The Cubs selected his contract at the end of April. He was on the MLB roster for two days and didnt get into a game before being designated for assignment. While hes yet to pitch in the majors this season, the Illinois native reached the highest level every year between 2018-22. The bulk of that experience came with the Blue Jays, who initially drafted Borucki in the 15th round back in 2012. Borucki had some success early in his career but has struggled in the last few years. Since the start of the 2021 campaign, he carries a 5.33 ERA with a 20.1% strikeout rate and lofty 10.5% walk percentage in 49 innings. Borucki has been off to a rough start to the year in Iowa. Prior to his call-up, he was tagged for 13 runs (12 earned) in nine innings. He punched out 11 and induced ground-balls at a quality 51.7% clip but walked six of 49 batters faced. FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) The U.S. government is embarking on an effort to record the oral histories of survivors and descendants of boarding schools that sought to civilize Indigenous students, often through abusive practices. The Interior Department announced a partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities on Wednesday to document the experiences of thousands of Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students at federally funded schools across the country. SOUTHFIELD, MI - Police are investigating after two people died in a head-on crash on I-696 northwest of Detroit. The wrong-way crash occurred around 4:30 a.m. on I-696 near Greenfield Road, Michigan State Police said in a news release. Police say the preliminary investigation found a 2022 Ford F-150 traveling west in the center lane of the freeway was struck by a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee traveling east in the westbound lanes. There were no witnesses or 911 calls reporting a wrong-way driver. Both drivers were killed instantly. Police have not yet identified the victims of the crash. We are trying to determine why the driver of the Jeep was driving the wrong way, said Michigan State Police F/Lt Mike Shaw in a statement. We will need to wait for autopsy results to see if impairment is a factor. But again, this is another example of poor driving behavior leading to the loss of lives. Michigan State Police said westbound I-696 will remain closed at Greenfield Road while the investigation continues. More on MLive: Wrong-way driver causes fatal crash on I-696 near Roseville Man, 27, dies after rollover crash in Holland Township 2 teens injured in Kalamazoo shooting GRAND BLANC, MI Erica Gresock, an art teacher at Grand Blanc East Middle School, was one of 15 educators across the country to receive a 2023 Artsonia Art Education Leadership Award. Artsonia is an online database that many art teachers use to showcase students artwork on a greater scale through digital profiles. Each year, the organization picks teachers that demonstrate outstanding leadership and innovation within the art education community. Gresock has taught middle school students for more than 25 years. She teaches both 6th and 8th grade. She was nominated by her fellow art teacher, Barbara Blakelock, at East Middle School. I am so blessed to have had so many wonderful students go through my art classes, Gresock said. Its really fun to see what they have accomplished and how they use art in their lives even after they leave middle school. The Grand Blanc middle school teacher was the only Michigan educator to receive an award. Im not used to this kind of acclamation, Gresock told MLive-The Flint Journal. I just do what I do with kids. Art is my passion and I love teaching kids how to make it and show them how to use their talents. Creativity is dwindling these days and it is so important for us to foster that in each new generation. I dont consider myself to be that special, but it does feel really nice to be recognized. The full list of award winners can be viewed on the Artsonia website here. Read more at The Flint Journal: UM-Flint will host COVID-19-era teaching and learning conference in May See the historic renovations at Flints Doyle-Ryder Elementary School GISD adds paid construction pre-apprenticeship program to bolster trades Trustee resigns from Davison Board of Education, replacement sought GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A 34-year-old man was shot in the hip in Southeast Grand Rapids late Friday, May 5. The mans injuries are not believed life-threatening. Grand Rapids police officers responded about 7:50 p.m. to the 500 block of Worden Street SE on a report of shots fired. They located a victim in the 800 block of Union Avenue. Anyone with information about the shooting can call detectives at 616-456-3380 or tips can be sent anonymously to Silent Observer at 616-774-2345 or at www.silentobserver.org GRAND RAPIDS, MI If youre looking for a rooftop bar with a wide-ranging menu, The Friesian Gastro Pub on Grand Rapids Medical Mile might be the perfect spot. The restaurant, at 720 Michigan St. NE, is housed in the former Lords Chapel building. It features a heated covered lower patio with seating for 20 people and a 50-person rooftop deck that opens for the summer on Memorial Day weekend. We have a very laid-back, casual vibe, said owner Craig Jones. We want people to just enjoy their time. Theres no pressure, were not fancy. The diverse menu at The Friesian features vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. The entire restaurant is peanut-free. We focus on having a little bit of something for everybody, Jones said. We have several vegan options that are absolutely killer and we have a dedicated gluten-free fryer. We keep things fun and exciting. The gastro pub offers both a brunch and dinner menu. One of the most popular menu items is the Nashville hot chicken sandwich, made with fried chicken thigh tossed in house-made Nashville hot sauce and topped with lettuce, sliced tomato, pickles and lemon herb aioli for $15. One of Jones personal favorite meals at The Friesian is the wonton soup, made using the chefs family recipe. The wonton soup has house-made wontons stuffed with pork, shrimp and scallions in a chicken and shiitake mushroom broth with egg noodles, scallions and cilantro for $20. The soup is served with hot chili oil and dark soy sauce. Or, try the short rib rigatoni, made with red wine braised short ribs, leeks and cherries tossed in a tomato sauce and rigatoni and topped with parsley and aged Grana Padano cheese for $20. No matter what you pick for dinner, youre going to want to save room for dessert. The Friesians carrot cake is a crowd favorite, made with a chai carrot custard, brown butter caramel, loaded with walnuts and topped with cream cheese frosting and candied carrot dust for $10 a slice. If youre in more of a tropical mood, try a slice of the hibiscus vegan cheesecake, topped with toasted coconut, candied hibiscus and candied lime for $12. Jones recommends making a reservation to dine at The Friesian, especially on the weekends. To make a reservation, call the restaurant at 616-825-3001 or go online to friesiangr.com. Come with an open mind, Jones said. Weve got a chill vibe and it should be a great time for everybody. The Friesian Gastro Pub is open 3 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 3 p.m.-midnight on Friday, 11 a.m.-midnight on Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday. More from MLive: Whats that being built on Plainfield Avenue near Creston Brewery? Big, mixed-use plans underway Kent, Ottawa counties saw higher than average turnout for May 2 special election 5 fun things to do in Grand Rapids this weekend (May 5-7) Is $50K starting pay enough to attract new teachers? This West Michigan school district will find out. ROCKFORD, MI As kindergarteners easily wrote out their names on the top of their worksheets before starting a class activity Friday, teacher Laura Gregory shifted her attention to 7-year-old Ellie Gard for a little extra help. Rather than having Ellie try and write her whole name by herself, Gregory had the youngster focus on carefully crafting each letter of her name, one by one. It would take a bit longer than the other kids in class, but that was okay. Can you write a tall line? Gregory asked, guiding Ellies hand to help her write the two Ls of her name. Ellie Gard was born with Down syndrome, and she is a student in Gregorys developmental kindergarten class. The Rockford Public Schools general education class at Meadow Ridge Elementary School is for 5-year-olds who need a little extra time developing social and academic skills before they go to kindergarten. Even though the 7-year-old cant do everything at the same pace as her classmates, Gregory does everything she can to make sure Ellie is included in every activity. Ellie is in my classroom all day, every day, and she is participating in all the activities her peers participate in, Gregory said. Shes not excluded from anything. I consider my goals when Im lesson-planning just like I consider all of my students goals and where theyre at so that shes participating in everything that we do in our classroom. Gregory, who is in her fifth year of teaching, was recently named the 2023 Educator of the Year by the Down Syndrome Association of West Michigan, for her inclusive work in the classroom. Jennifer Gard, Ellies mom, nominated Gregory for the award. Jennifer Gard said Gregory has been a rockstar of a teacher this year, going above and beyond for her daughter to make sure Ellies needs are being met. This was Ellies first year in a general education classroom after transitioning out of Early Childhood Special Education, so it was a new experience for her family. You couldnt ask for a better teacher, and you couldnt ask for a better experience for your child, Gard told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. What she is doing is setting an example for other teachers and paving the way. I know in future years, there are going to be people who learn from her about how she made her classroom so welcoming. In a world where we dont always welcome people that are different, I feel like she just exemplifies that. As a parent, thats what you hope for. Gregory had never taught a student with Down syndrome before this year. While it has been a new experience for her, she said she has worked hard to make sure she caters to Ellies unique needs and celebrates her accomplishments, even if they look different from other students. I knew I had a lot to learn, and I was open to learning it, Gregory recalled. To make her classroom more inclusive, Gregory invited Gard to come read a book about Down syndrome to students at the beginning of the school year. The kids were encouraged to ask questions about what it means for others to look, behave or learn differently, which helped them better understand Ellies abilities. That was an important piece of the inclusion being so successful in our classroom, Gregory said. Our kids arent afraid to ask questions... and even outside of the classroom, if other kids have questions, my students are able to answer those questions. Our school family really sticks up for Ellie and educates other students in the building. Gard said Gregory has been phenomenal about celebrating Ellies progress this year. For parent-teacher conferences, Gregory created a slideshow of photos to show Ellies parents some of the things the 7-year-old had accomplished in the classroom throughout the year. For example, Gregory included photos showing Ellie making her lunch choice each day and deciding on her own if she wanted hot or cold lunch, Jennifer Gard said. Little things like that are super important to us, for her to be successful in that room, she said. As a parent of a child with a disability, it was really impactful, because we know what she cant do. Were always seeing the things that she cant do alongside her peers. But we like to focus on her strengths, and were always trying to push and help her gain more skills and be more independent. We just really appreciated how Laura was able to view (Ellies) strengths and successes differently, but still in a way that was keeping the expectations there for her in that classroom. The Down Syndrome Association of West Michigans Educator of the Year award was created to acknowledge teachers who go above and beyond to support students with Down Syndrome in their classrooms, according to a news release from the organization. The award is given every year to an educator who advocates for the educational and social success of students with Down syndrome by including them in learning opportunities alongside their neurotypical peers, making appropriate accommodations to promote success, and serving as a role model for their fellow educators. Gregory will be recognized for the award at the Down Syndrome Association of West Michigans annual gala, the Winners Cup Benefit, on Saturday, May 6, at the Egypt Valley Country Club. Gard will present the award. More on MLive: Is $50K starting pay enough to attract new teachers? This West Michigan school district will find out. Grand Rapids kindergarten teacher wins West Michigan regional award Gift from God. West Michigan freshman remembered after sudden death Muskegon to Milwaukee Lake Express ferry launches this week for 2023 season The Russian occupation forces launched an air strike against Sumy region on Saturday night, preliminarily five people were wounded in Hlukhiv, 44 private households and an educational institution were damaged, the Pivnich (North) Operational Command has said. "At around 22:13 on May 5, an air strike was made on Hlukhiv by two guided bombs fired from Su-35 aircraft. As a result of the attack, 44 private households and an educational institution were damaged. According to preliminary information, five people were wounded," it said on the Telegram channel on Saturday morning. The Pivnich Command also said that the information is yet to be updated. ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MI A man recently charged in a homicide case from nearly 35 years ago was found dead in his jail cell Saturday. Robert Odell Waters was found dead May 6 in his cell at the Beaufort County Detention Center in South Carolina, according to a press release from the Three Rivers Police Department. Waters, 53, was arrested April 30, in Beaufort, South Carolina on a charge of open murder stemming from the 1988 death of 19-year-old Cathy Swartz. Related: Suspect arrested from 1988 Michigan homicide An investigation into Waters in-custody death is being performed by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, police said. This is an ongoing investigation and Three Rivers police will review the results of a medical examination before making a statement to the media in the near future, per the release. The St. Joseph County Sheriffs Office had been working on arrangements to transport Waters to Michigan before his death, officials said previously. Swartz was stabbed numerous times and strangled while her 9-month-old daughter was in the next room on Dec. 2, 1988 in Three Rivers, police chief Scott Boling said in previous release. Evidence shows she fought back against her attacker. Fingerprints, blood and a footprint were found in Swartzs apartment, which police believed belonged to the suspect. When DNA identification improved, the DNA found at the scene was uploaded to a national system, but no match came from it, officials said. Three Rivers police made solving the case a priority in 2022, partnering with Michigan State Police and the Cold Case Project at Western Michigan University. The WMU students scanned and organized around 10,000 documents during the investigation, police said. Forensic genetic genealogy narrowed the suspect pool to a single family, police said. Investigators interviewed, fingerprinted and DNA tested the family, leading to Waters being identified as the suspect, the release said. More on MLive: 6th arrest made in homicide of woman found wrapped in tarp near Monroe Police chase ends with crash that kills 1, injures 3 in Ann Arbor area Grass Lake woman accused pediatrician father of sexual abuse before she died of fatal overdose 2 drivers killed in wrong-way crash on I-696 near Detroit MUSKEGON, MI Muskegon Lake was abused for more than a century but after 20 years of cleaning up industrial pollution at a cost of more than $80 million, the focus is now on the promises of a blue economy. The excitement about how the lakes transformation will impact the community and economy were on full display Monday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the $250 million Adelaide Point development on the lake thats expected to revitalize the area. Related: $250M Adelaide Pointe development on Muskegon Lake celebrates groundbreaking The development includes a 233-slip marina, condominiums, hotel and other amenities. Here are three takeaways from the May 1 event attended by the developer Ryan Leestma and his wife, Emily, community leaders and local, state and federal officials: Clean lake restarts economic engine The cleanup of Muskegon Lake has made it a destination place. Muskegon city officials have been very intentional about improving public access to the lake while promoting a blue economy. Muskegon Mayor Kenneth Johnson looked beyond the waterfront access and recreation opportunities Monday, May 1 to how Adelaide Pointe will contribute to the local economy, supporting our small businesses - both new and long established and adding to the tax base. Adelaide Pointe is already creating an environment where businesses can thrive this project will give residents of Muskegon a beautiful place to gather, work, and play, U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, said in a statement, following up on her remarks during the ceremony. The Dream The public will be able to access two Muskegon Lake peninsulas and nearly a mile of shoreline through an agreement Leestma has with the city that says he intends to develop the City Property for boat dockage, boat launching, and recreational purposes including fishing, picnicking and other park-type activities. Adelaide Pointe sits on over 30 acres of property in the 1200 block of W. Western Avenue, on the site of the former West Michigan Steel foundry. Emily Leestma said their dream when the large-scale project is done is of a very, very diverse group of people all enjoying the water together in our beautiful city. Ryan Leestma told those gathered Monday about his humble beginnings and as a child thinking only rich kids got to go to the beach. He said when he finally got to the water it changed his life. Were trying to inspire people with the opportunity to access the water, he said. Next steps Construction on a 55-unit condo building will begin this year and be completed next summer, as will a multi-use building, boater services building and restaurant, Ryan Leestma told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle earlier this year. Development plans also includes a $35 million hotel, for which designs currently are being developed. 25 1 / 25 Adelaide Pointe groundbreaking ceremony More from MLive: Great Lakes resurrection: Muskegon Lake transforms from industrial dump to ridiculous potential Tourist mecca? Muskegon Lake cleanup gives community a new lease on life You could smell the lake. Muskegon Lakes incredible transformation from industry to blue economy GRAND HAVEN, MI Theres a popular dessert shop in West Michigan that is guaranteed to leave your sweet tooth extremely satisfied after devouring one of their mouth-watering milkshakes. Now, you can grab more than just dessert at Bad Habit in downtown Grand Haven after owners recently expanded the eaterys menu, offering other food options to visitors. The menu expansion followed the over-the-top milkshake spots move into downtown earlier this year. Bad Habit, at 215 Washington Ave., opened its doors in March 2022 as an extreme milkshake bar. Co-owner Bonnie Brown said the last year has been amazing and described the business opening day as mind blowing. RELATED: New dessert shop features $14 milkshakes with insanely decadent options We served over 600 milkshakes the first day we were open, Brown told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle. These arent your typical milkshakes either. The $14, 16-ounce milkshakes are piled high with decadent toppings. The first milkshake Brown created, the Potty Mouth, features a lemon cream cookie and vanilla ice cream with cheesecake, lemon bars and whipped cream. Currently, Browns favorite milkshake on the menu is The Insomniac, which includes vanilla ice cream blended with tiramisu and coffee extract, chocolate drizzle, whipped cream, and topped with a slice of tiramisu cake. You can now also create your own milkshake too starting at $7. More toppings can be added to your concoction for a fee. I love seeing younger children come in to create the shake and watching their eyes light up when you hand it to them, Brown said. Bad Habit has introduced other new features in the last 14 months since opening. Owners have expanded the menu to now include breakfast, lunch and dinner options. The most popular food item? Well, its in the name: Most amazing chicken wings ever. People are really loving our chicken wings, Brown said. The chicken wings marinate overnight before being roasted not fried to perfection with feta cheese sprinkled on top. You can get these wings in portion sizes of six, 10 and 24 and they range in price from $10 up to $23.50. Another tasty option on the menu is the sunshine pasta salad, which includes penne pasta and is topped with red onion, carrots, corn, lemon zest, creamy dressing, banana peppers, and red peppers. The refreshing pasta salad is $5 per serving. Bad Habits summer hours are from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The restaurant can be reached at 616-777-7864. To view Bad Habits menu, click here. Read more on MLive: Is $50K starting pay enough to attract new teachers? This West Michigan school district will find out. New shuttle service would link Grand Rapids airport with downtown Bridge work to impact Seaway Drive in Muskegon for months, 2 intersections will close GRAND HAVEN, MI With voters defeating a $155 million bond proposal Tuesday for Grand Haven Area Public Schools, district leaders are returning to the drawing board to figure out how to address rising infrastructure needs. The 21-year bond proposal to build a new middle school, as well as to provide security upgrades and infrastructure updates across the district, failed in the Tuesday, May 2 election by a vote of 52% (5,514) to 48% (5,039), according to unofficial election results from the Ottawa County Clerks Office. Scott Grimes, superintendent of Grand Haven Area Public Schools, said the district still has significant infrastructure needs that it must take care of to ensure a quality learning environment for students, including outdated facilities, security upgrades and technology enhancements. Related: Grand Haven schools asking voters to support $155M bond request for new school, security Though the bond was defeated, the needs remain, Grimes said in a Thursday statement. Important school safety and security updates will still need to be addressed. Lakeshore Middle School is 70 years old and in need of expensive repairs. Our next step will be to find creative ways to address the most urgent safety, security and facilities issues using the resources we currently have. Grimes said its too early to say why voters denied the bond proposal. The district will be spending the next few weeks soliciting feedback from the community to learn more about the reasons voters cast their no votes, he told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press on Friday. Well have a more complete picture once we have more data, he said in a statement emailed Friday, May 5. For example, were planning a community survey in the next couple of weeks to better understand the top reasons the proposal failed. Once the district gathers feedback from the community, school leaders will figure out the best way to move forward and plan for the future of Grand Haven Area Public Schools, he said. The main project that would have been funded by the proposed bond was the construction of a new middle school building on 152nd Avenue and Lincoln Street. Built in 1953, the current Lakeshore Middle School is old and outdated, Grimes said. Renovating the building to current standards would cost nearly 70% as much as constructing a new facility, and would also require more expensive maintenance costs. A new building would cost around $82 million and would have up-to-date security features, modernized classrooms and more space for collaboration. The bond also would have funded security upgrades across the district, as well as the construction of a new multi-purpose room to accommodate student athletes and marching band students at Grand Haven High School. The last time Grand Haven Area Public Schools asked voters for a bond was in the May 2014 election, when voters approved two bond proposals totaling $45 million for technology and facility upgrades. Grimes said those bond funds helped provide the district with enough technology to ensure a 1:1 student-to-device ratio across the district. That technology was hugely important at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools were abruptly shut down and had to switch to online learning. We were fortunate in 2020 to have a device available for every student, Grimes said. When we had to transition to online learning, we had many components already in place. Its truly the kids who win when the resources are there. The bond proposal that failed Tuesday would have extended the districts current debt tax levy of 4.20 mills for another five years, through 2027, followed by a gradual decline until the bond expired in 2045. It would not have increased taxes above the current rate, Grimes said. With the failure of the bond, Grand Havens existing debt levy is expected to drop to 2.22 mills in 2023, followed by 1.29 mills in 2024, and will fall off the tax rolls completely in 2025. Grand Havens current 4.2-mill debt levy is the second lowest among West Michigan school districts, according to the district. Grand Haven voters did approve a renewal of the districts operating millage Tuesday, by a vote of 6,791 to 3,605. The operating millage was renewed at its current rate of 18 mills for 2023, which would bring in an estimated $16.2 million this year. Grimes said he is grateful for the communitys support of Grand Havens operating millage, which provides vital funds for the districts operating budget and is required to collect its student foundational allowance from the state. Excellence in education is a defining feature of our district, due in no small part to the funding that this operating millage provides, Grimes said. With this support, we can plan for the continuation of many excellent programs and services. Thats a big win for students and the community. More on MLive: Is $50K starting pay enough to attract new teachers? This West Michigan school district will find out. After 7-year-old brings gun to school, Grand Rapids leaders plead for gun safety Gentex breaks ground on preschool at Zeeland headquarters BAY CITY, MI - Residents from the Bay City and Saginaw area will have a chance to participate in a statewide chemical data collection project. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is asking residents in the Saginaw and Bay City areas to join the Michigan Chemical Exposure Monitoring, or MiChEM, project. The MiChEM project is the first statewide effort to gather data on the amount of certain chemicals in the blood and urine of Michiganders, including lead, mercury and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, according to the state. The MiChEM project will help us understand more about the chemical exposures of Michigan residents, including if some groups have greater amounts of certain chemicals in their bodies and how the amounts compare to national averages, said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive. This is the first time that a project of this type and scale has been done in Michigan. Households in parts of Saginaw and Bay City will receive invitations to participate in the project.. Any adult who receives an invitation follow the steps given in their invitation to sign up as soon as possible, as the project team will only be in each area for a short amount of time. One adult will be randomly selected to participate from each registered household. Taking part in this project is completely free and participants will receive their individual lab results along with a $65 gift card. The state is planning to have the MiChEM team in the Saginaw and Bay City area from May 16 to May 20. Approximately 138,000 randomly selected households from across the state will receive an invitation. The multi-year MiChEM project began recruitment of selected households from the Lansing area and parts of Jackson, Ingham, Barry and Eaton counties in Sept. 2022, according to information provided by the state. For more information on the project visit Michigan.gov/DEHBio . Read more from MLive Bay Citys Labadie Rib Fest returning with concerts, ribs galore Self-ish Selfie Shoppe brings new experience to Old Town Saginaw Saginaw Street closed along Uptown in Bay City, detours in place Party on McCarty summer concert series to launch with 80s music in Saginaw Township Saginaw River mouth launch temporarily closing for final upgrades JACKSON, MI -- It was an Evening in Paris for 2023 prom at Lumen Christi High School. About 170 students and guests attended the event at the school, said junior class moderator Eileen Lienhart. Students walked a red carpet into the prom just after 9 p.m. Two Michigan cities nationally ranked among the best in the nation for energy-efficient buildings. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced both Jackson and Grand Rapids ranked especially well in a nationwide analysis in 2022 for Energy Star commercial and multifamily residential buildings. Jackson ranked No. 1 in the nation for small cities and Grand Rapids ranked No. 4 for mid-sized cities. Jackson had 41 certified Energy Star buildings last year more than any other small city in the United States and today has even more. It is an incredible honor to be recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as best in the nation on any metric. To have 50 Energy Star-certified commercial buildings in a city of our size reflects our communitys continuing commitment to a green, sustainable future, said Kelli Kazmier, chairperson of Jacksons Environmental Commission. Grand Rapids was ranked No. 4 against all other medium-sized cities nationwide with its 37 certified Energy Star buildings in 2022. Grand Rapids was ranked No. 4 nationwide in 2022 among mid-sized cities for energy efficient buildings. (Daniel Shular | MLive.com)Daniel Shular | MLive.com Steve Prins, Grand Rapids city director of facilities and fleet management, said city government is always looking at ways to improve energy efficiencies. We got three buildings fully certified this year, and were quite proud of that, Prins said, adding a couple more city buildings scored only a few percentage points away from certification. EPA officials have annually ranked U.S. cities in its top cities list since 2009 as part of the Energy Star program. Federal environmental regulators said commercial buildings are responsible for 16% of the nations greenhouse gas emissions, annually spending more than $190 billion on energy. In many cities, a majority of greenhouse gas emission results from the energy used by buildings, said Michael S. Regan, EPA administrator. Those building-related emissions can account for between 30% and 70% of a citys total emissions. Improving energy efficiency within buildings is real action to address the climate crisis, Regan said. Nationwide, there were more than 7,000 commercial buildings that received the federal certification in 2022, which brought the U.S. total to almost 41,000. Those buildings collectively saved $5.4 billion on energy bills and prevented more than 22 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent of annual emissions from more than 2.7 million homes. Energy Star is the EPA program launched in 1992 to promote energy savings to protect the climate, improve air quality, and protect public health. On average, buildings certified through the federal program use 35% less energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 35% when compared to typical structures. Building efficiencies developed under the federal program has in the last 30 years led to the reduced use of 5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity, more than $500 billion in energy cost savings, and four billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane trap heat from the sun within the Earths atmosphere and cause global warming at accelerating rates. Sign up to receive MLive's free new environment and climate newsletter, "Lake Effect." Enter your email below: Related articles: Jackson County commissioners OK huge energy efficiency project Whitmer says shes a climate optimist in keynote speech Michigan is a climate haven in a warming world TED Talks, global climate summit coming to Detroit this summer Some NPP Members of Parliament supporting Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumias Presidential ambition are currently locked up in a meeting in the Ashanti Region ahead of the New Patriotic Partys (NPP) presidential primaries. Credible sources from the group tell Citi News the meeting is to discuss strategies to help the Vice president lead the party in the 2024 general election. Although the meeting is being held behind closed doors, Citi News Ashanti Regional correspondent, Hafiz Tijani is monitoring and gleaning some information about the ongoing meeting. The meeting took place at the residence of the Effiduase Asokore lawmaker, Dr. Ayew Afriyie. Pro-Bawumia supporters including constituency chairmen, Zonal Coordinators, the NPP MPs, and regional executives are part of the engagement which happens to be the first-ever operational meeting for the Dr. Bawumia campaign. The Vice President in a meeting with members of the Majority Caucus in Parliament on Tuesday, May 2 disclosed his intention to contest the NPP Presidential Primaries on November 4, 2023. He comes up against nine others including three-time runner Alan Kyerematen who resigned in January 2023 to focus on his Presidential ambition. Others include former Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, and Francis Addai Nimo. The rest are former MP for Essikado-Ketan, Joe Ghartey, former General Secretary of the NPP, Kwabena Agyapong, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku and former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko. Dr. Bawumia is considered by many as the favourite to succeed President Akufo-Addo in 2024. Parliament are rooting for vice president Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to become the next flagbearer of the party. Over 100 NPP MPs who are rooting for Dr. Bawumia say he stands tall among the persons that have so far put themselves up for the NPP's flagbearership slot. -Citi Newsroom Aspiring NDC parliamentary candidate for Dome Kwabenya constituency, Faustina Elikplim Akurugu has vowed to snatch the seat from the ruling New Patriotic Party in the upcoming 2024 general elections. She stated that, Dome Kwabenya is not an NPP stronghold and that the NDC would change the political landscape of the constituency if they work together. Elikplim Akurugu lamented the lack of job opportunities in the constituency. She pledged to support the young people in the constituency and to provide them with employment opportunities to better their lives. Creating job opportunities, and improving the lives of Dome-Kwabenya citizens is my agenda as a lawmaker, Faustina Elikplim Akurugu exclusively told Accra-based Original TV. She added, The party needs someone who has the face, background, competence among others to reckon with the NPP in the coming elections. According to her, the constituency lacked development several years in the hands of the NPP and it was time to unseat the incumbent MP Sarah Adwoa Safo for the betterment and growth of the area. A European judicial team questioned Lebanon's caretaker finance minister on Friday in an investigation related to corruption probe of the country's Central Bank governor, officials said. The questioning is part of a probe by a delegation from France, Germany, and Luxembourg, now on its third visit to Lebanon to interrogate suspects and witnesses in the case. Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh is being investigated abroad over several financial crimes and the laundering of some $330 million. During Friday's session, caretaker Finance Minister Youssef El Khalil was questioned about his work as a close associate of Salameh while working at the Central Bank, before he became a Cabinet minister, officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing probe. El Khalil worked for the Central Bank from 1982 until he became finance minister nearly two years ago and was last the executive director of its financial operations department. On Thursday, the European delegation questioned Salameh's brother, Raja Salameh. After questioning El Khalil, the delegation was expected to leave Lebanon. It was not clear if it would return for more questioning at a later date. The three European governments in March 2022 froze more than 120million in assets linked to the investigation. In March this year, the delegation came to Beirut and questioned the governor about the Central Bank's assets and investments abroad, a Paris apartment owned by Road Salameh, and Forry Associates Ltd, a brokerage firm owned by his brother, which featured in the Panama Papers. France had earlier questioned the chairman of Lebanon's AM Bank, Marwan Kheireddine, on several charges, including money laundering. Reports in Lebanon say the governor and his associates had used commercial banks to siphon off public money. The 72-year-old governor has repeatedly denied all allegations against him, insisting that his wealth comes from his previous job as an investment banker for Merrill Lynch, inherited properties, and through investments. The governor is also being separately investigated by Lebanese authorities. (Agencies) Victory Day celebration in Russia likely to be on smaller scale due to security concerns, potential protests against war in Ukraine British intelligence Moscow's Victory Day celebration is likely to go ahead but on a smaller scale, Russian President Vladimir Putin's reception following the parade (last held in 2019) will not go ahead, according to a defense intelligence report tweeted by the British and Northern Ireland Department of Defense on Saturday morning. "Six Russian regions, occupied Crimea, and 21 cities have cancelled their 09 May Victory Day parades citing security concerns," it said. Also, the traditional March of the Immortal Regiment, where family members display photographs of deceased veterans of the Second World War, associated with Victory Day, has also been cancelled. This follows the recent cancellation of the Russian-hosted International Army Games. Accodring to the British intelligence, the timing of the UAV strike on the Kremlin a few days before Victory Day shows Russia's increasing vulnerability to such attacks and has almost certainly raised the threat perception of the Russian leadership over the Victory Day events. In addition, the potential for protests and discontent over the Ukraine war are also likely to have influenced the calculus of the Russian leadership. Air strikes and gunfire rocked Sudan's capital on Friday as fighting showed no sign of abating, even as the Sudanese army said it had sent a delegation for ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia. Hundreds have died in nearly three weeks of fighting between forces of Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the regular army, and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Multiple truces have been agreed since the fighting erupted on April 15, but none has been respected. The army said late Friday it had sent envoys to Saudi Arabia to discuss "details of the truce in the process of being extended" with its paramilitary foes. Burhan had given his backing to a seven-day ceasefire announced by South Sudan on Wednesday, but early on Friday the RSF said they were extending by three days a previous truce brokered under US-Saudi mediation. Representatives of Britain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States will also meet in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah Saturday, a Saudi diplomat said. Witnesses reported continued air strikes and explosions in Khartoum on Friday, including near the airport. The fighting raged despite a threat of sanctions from US President Joe Biden against those responsible for "threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan" and "undermining Sudan's democratic transition". Map showing number of people killed in fighting and strikes in Sudan between April 15 and 28, according to data from NGO Acled, mostly from the military or the paramilitary group. By Sophie RAMIS, Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA, Laurence SAUBADU (AFP) The north African country had already suffered under decades of sanctions during the rule of autocrat Omar al-Bashir, ousted in a palace coup in 2019 following mass street protests. "The violence taking place in Sudan is a tragedy -- and it is a betrayal of the Sudanese people's clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy. It must end," Biden said. Children at risk The conflict has killed about 700 people so far, mostly in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. The UN children's agency, UNICEF, warned Friday that "the situation in Sudan has become fatal for a frighteningly large number of children". Nearly 450,000 civilians have already fled their homes since the fighting began. By - (AFP) Spokesman James Elder said UNICEF had received reports from a trusted partner -- not yet independently verified by the United Nations -- that 190 children were killed and 1,700 wounded during the conflict's first 11 days. He said the figures had been gathered from health facilities in Khartoum and Darfur since April 15, meaning that they only cover children who actually made it to facilities in those areas. "The reality is likely to be much worse," Elder warned. Aid workers have struggled to get much-needed supplies to areas hit by violence. According to the International Medical Corps, at least 18 aid workers have been killed amid the fierce urban fighting. The UN Human Rights Council said it would hold a special session next Thursday "to address the human rights impact of the ongoing conflict". US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Thursday that Washington expected the conflict to continue for a long time. Workers offload WHO and UAEAID aid supplies from a plane in Port Sudan. By Giuseppe CACACE (AFP) The fighting was "likely to be protracted as both sides believe that they can win militarily, and have few incentives to come to the negotiating table", she told a Senate hearing. "Both sides are seeking external sources of support, which, if successful, is likely to intensify the conflict and create a greater potential for spillover challenges in the region." Nearly 450,000 civilians have already fled their homes since the fighting began, the International Organization for Migration said, including more than 115,000 who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. International mediation The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said it was preparing for an outflow of 860,000 people, adding that $445 million would be needed to support them just through October. Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (L), and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (R) who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. By ASHRAF SHAZLY (AFP/File) Haines said the conflict had exacerbated already dire humanitarian conditions, "raising the spectre of massive refugee flows and aid needs in the region". The UN warned that if the fighting continued, it could raise the already large number of Sudanese threatened by hunger and malnutrition by as many as 2.5 million. "That raises the number to a total of 19 million people in the next three to six months," said Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres. Mediation efforts have multiplied since the conflict began. Speaking in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, an envoy of Burhan, Dafaallah al-Haj, vowed that "shortly the government of Sudan is going to put an end to this rebellion", referring to the RSF. The RSF is descended from the Janjaweed, a militia unleashed by Bashir in Darfur, leading to war crimes charges against the former strongman and others. After a joint coup in October 2021 that upended a fragile transition to civilian rule, Burhan and Daglo have engaged in a power struggle -- most recently over the RSF's integration into the regular army -- which has now flared into bloody violence. A group of Fetish Priests in the Ashanti region have threatened to curse any political leader who will undermine the passage of the anti-LGBTQ bill in parliament. The group calling itself Traditional Healers Association says they will deal severely with any political authority who will try to sabotage the bill. The Parliament of Ghana is currently working on a Private Members Bill that would make it illegal to practice or promote LGBTQ+ activities in the country. The proposed legislation which aims to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values seeks to restrict LGBTQ+ communities and its activities The new Bill among others would criminalise the promotion and funding of LGBTQ+ activities as well as public displays of affection, cross-dressing and more. Campaigning for LGBTQ+ persons on social media or online platforms is also prohibited under the Bill. The move by Ghana has however met tough opposition from both local and international stakeholders who wants the country to drop the bill. Chairman of the traditional healers, Nana Yaw Achampong in an interview with this reporter has however emphasized that they strongly opposed lesbianism, bisexual and gayism hence calling on government and parliament to pass the bill. He slammed President Akufo Addo for not taking a strong stance on the LGBTQ issues. "Let me warn the country, we have consulted our gods and per what we know so far, it will be suicidal if any sitting president decides not to append his signature to the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill after Parliament passes it," he said The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has declared the Ashanti Region as one of the epicenters of the rabies disease in Ghana. According to GHS, the data available show that Ashanti Region recorded the most rabies cases followed by the Greater Accra Region. This was disclosed during sensitisation program for the media on rabies on Thursday, May 3, 2023. The event which was organized by the Ghana Health Service with support from USAID is aimed at equipping journalists in the region with the right information on rabies to help them in their reportage. A presentation by GHS showed that, a total of 4010 cases of dog bites were recorded with six rabies cases identified in 2022 The data further revealed that all victims of the six cases of rabies died. Speaking to this reporter at the sidelines of the event, the Ashanti Regional Vertinary Officer, Dr Maybel Abudu said rabies is a deadly viral disease of warm-blooded animals which are transmitted through a scratch or bite. She noted that, all cases of rabies recorded in the region were from dog bites and urged all dog owners to vaccinate their animals. She however called on the government to bring back the mass vaccination for dogs to reduce rabies deaths. For his part, the Dean of School of Vertinary Medicine at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Professor Ben Emikpe attributed the situation to urbanization. Dr. Kwabena Duffuor 06.05.2023 LISTEN The CEO of Atta Miils Institute, Samuel Koku Anyidoho has made a strong case why Dr. Kwabena Duffuor should lead the main opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC in the 2024 general elections. He emphasised the decision by the party to change its leadership in Parliament based on economic background of former leaders should be the yardstick for the former Finance minister to led the NDC. "If the NDC changed its leadership in Parliament because they wanted someone with economic background then it must be applied to the Presidential candidate as well. And you know, Dr. Duffuor stands way ahead of Mahama" Mr. Anyidoho told Ohene Amoako (The Flagbearer) on 'The Seat' political show on Net 2 TV. According to the former General Secretary of the NDC, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor would be in the best position to manage the economy instead of the former president whom he described as a failure. He was optimistic the 'Ahotor Project' by Dr. Duffuor would give opportunities to party members to be entrepreneurs with the support they will get instead of always looking up to political leaders all the time. "It is better to teach people how to fish than making them serve you for little things they may need. The Ahotor Project will help transform many party supporters into entrepreneurs and thereby be self dependent. Mahama want the people to always run to him for help so he is not interested in investing in party members," Koku Anyidoho stressed. He also accused the party's leadership of trying to do 'dirty' works for former President John Mahama to be the party's Flagbearer but warned of the consequences it will come with that. Stephen Atubiga, Leader of NLC 06.05.2023 LISTEN "If President Akufo-Addo is able to complete many of the ongoing road projects across the country then he will be known as a historic leader to have invested in that sector since Ghana's independence". Founder and Leader of the Liberation National Congress Stephen Atubiga disclosed on Net 2 TV 'The Seat' political program. Speaking to the host Ohene Amoako (The Flagbearer), Mr. Atubiga was overwhelmed with the many road infrastructural projects undertaken by the Akufo-Addo led NPP government as his tour of all the 275 constituencies has revealed to him many of the projects he was previously not aware of. He, however, chided the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for 'blindly' speaking ill about the economy despite the many strives made by President Akufo-Addo. "I am about to start my third time tour to all the 275 constituencies across the country but I must tell you that my last two tours have exposed me to a lot of ongoing roads projects. In fact, the old man (Akufo-Addo) has really done well as far as road infrastructure is concerned. He will be the first President with historic road infrastructure development should he (Akufo-Addo) be able to complete them," he stated. Commenting on NDC's upcoming internal Primaries, the NLC leader said emphatically that the party will loose the 2024 presidential election should former President John Mahama lead the party. He argued that there is no way a defeated President can win elections in Ghana and therefore advised the NDC as a party to restructure it's activities if it want to win back political power. "Now the NDC don't have any person aside Mahama and that shows the party is in crisis. Everybody is expecting Mahama to lead them into the 2024 elections but my brother, there is no way a defeated President can win back power in Ghana," he added. Air strikes battered Sudan's capital on Saturday, as fighting entered a fourth week only hours before the warring parties are to meet in Saudi Arabia for their first direct talks. Hundreds of people have been killed since the outbreak of the conflict on April 15 between Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the regular army, and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting has seen warplanes bomb targets in Khartoum and the two rival generals' forces engage in intense street battles in the city of five million inhabitants. Multiple truces have been reached, but none has been respected. In a joint statement, the United States and Saudi Arabia said the army and RSF would hold direct discussions in Jeddah on Saturday, describing them as "pre-negotiation talks". Charts showing UNHCR's estimated number of people in Sudan that could potentially flee to neighbouring countries as the conflict continues between the army and a paramilitary group. By Gal ROMA, Sabrina BLANCHARD (AFP) "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States urge both parties to take in consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks toward a ceasefire and end to the conflict," the statement said. Sudanese officials told AFP on Saturday that both sides were sending negotiators to Jeddah, but the RSF has yet to confirm through official channels that its representatives will attend. On Saturday morning, even after the army confirmed its representatives were heading to Jeddah, witnesses said warplanes pounded various parts of the Sudanese capital. International mediation Burhan had given his backing to a seven-day ceasefire announced by South Sudan on Wednesday, but early on Friday the RSF said it was extending by three days a previous truce brokered under US-Saudi mediation. A file picture fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces riding on the back of a heavily armed pickup truck in Port Sudan. By - (Rapid Support Forces (RSF)/AFP/File) The US-Saudi statement noted the efforts of other countries and organisations behind this weekend's talks, including Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the Arab League, the African Union and other groups. At least 700 people have been killed and thousands injured in the fighting that has displaced hundreds of thousands either internally or across the border to neighbouring countries. Mediation efforts have multiplied since the start of the conflict. Neighbouring South Sudan, which had negotiated the seven-day truce extension, said late Friday that its president, Salva Kiir, had spoken to the warring generals in Sudan about "his concerns and those of the IGAD leaders" from the East African regional grouping. A plane delivers aid from the United Arab Emirates in Port Sudan. By Giuseppe CACACE (AFP) While the army had previously said it favoured "African solutions to the continent's issues", it was ultimately the US-Saudi initiative that gained leverage as Sudan had been suspended from the African Union since a 2021 coup. Burhan and Daglo had together orchestrated the coup in October that year, derailing a transition to democratic rule that had been painstakingly stitched together following the ouster of former autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019. But they later fell out in a bitter power struggle, most recently over the integration of the RSF into the army. Humanitarian crisis The announcement of the direct talks came following warnings on Thursday from US intelligence chief Avril Haines of a "protracted" conflict that would "create a greater potential for spillover challenges in the region". Ivorian nationals who were evacuated from Sudan disembark from a plane at Felix Houphouet Boigny International airport near Abidjan. By Issouf SANOGO (AFP) In the joint statement, Washington and Riyadh urged "continued, coordinated international support for an expanded negotiation process that should include engagement with all Sudanese parties". The fighting persisted despite warnings from US President Joe Biden on Thursday of possible sanctions against those responsible for "threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan" and "undermining Sudan's democratic transition". The northeast African country suffered decades of sanctions during the rule of Bashir, ousted in a palace coup in 2019 following mass street protests. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has said it is preparing for an outflow of 860,000 people as a result of the conflict, adding that $445 million would be needed to support them just through October. The UN also warned on Friday that the fighting could plunge an additional 2.5 million people into food insecurity within months, meaning 19 million people would need aid to stave off famine. The UN children's agency, UNICEF, warned Friday that "the situation in Sudan has become fatal for a frighteningly large number of children". Spokesman James Elder said UNICEF had received reports from a trusted partner -- not yet independently verified by the United Nations -- that 190 children were killed and 1,700 wounded during the conflict's first 11 days. Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has issued Episode 3 of the National Cathedral Scandals American Edition. The Parliamentarian traveled to the US after Parliament went on recess and has made a number of decoveries which he has been sharing in a series on his Facebook page. In the latest post on Saturday, May 6, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa indicated that both the Oklahoma and Illinois registration documents reveal that one Dr. Vernon Darko is the President and Director of the National Cathedral of Ghana and Bible Museum Foundation, Inc. Arguing that this is not in any document submitted to Parliament by the National Cathedral Secretariat, the MP is demanding answers for Ghanaians to know how Dr. Venon Darko became president of the national project. How did Dr. Vernon Darko become President of a national project abroad? Who appointed him to that position? How does he derive his authority? How is he accountable to Ghanaians? Why is Parliament not aware of his exalted status? Ablakwa quizzed. The North Tongu MP continued, If the "National" Cathedral of Ghana and Bible Museum Foundation, Inc. is truly a national project belonging to Ghanaians, why are Ghanas two diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C. and New York playing absolutely no role? Why should Dr. Vernon Darko and his collaborators have all the authority over a so-called national project abroad while our Ambassador and Permanent Representative have absolutely no authority and no locus? Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa insists that the Auditor-General must urgently commence an audit into the domestic and international operations of the National Cathedral of Ghana. Find more in the attachment below: Air strikes battered Sudan's capital on Saturday, as fighting entered a fourth week only hours before the warring parties are to meet in Saudi Arabia for their first direct talks. Hundreds of people have been killed since the outbreak of the conflict on April 15 between Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the regular army, and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting has seen warplanes bomb targets in Khartoum and the two rival generals' forces engage in intense street battles in the city of five million inhabitants. Multiple truces have been reached, but none has been respected. In a joint statement, the United States and Saudi Arabia said the army and RSF would hold direct discussions in Jeddah on Saturday, describing them as "pre-negotiation talks". Charts showing UNHCR's estimated number of people in Sudan that could potentially flee to neighbouring countries as the conflict continues between the army and a paramilitary group. By Gal ROMA, Sabrina BLANCHARD (AFP) "Saudi Arabia and the United States urge both parties to take in consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks toward a ceasefire and end to the conflict," they said. The army confirmed it had sent envoys to Saudi Arabia to discuss "details of the truce in the process of being extended" with its paramilitary foes. Daglo, commonly known as Hemeti, took to Twitter to welcome the talks and thank the US, Saudi Arabia and other international players for their efforts. The general, whose RSF descended from the Janjaweed militia accused of war crimes Sudan's Darfur region, affirmed "the need to reach a civilian transitional government that... achieves the aspirations of our people". Both the army and the RSF have sought to present themselves as protectors of democratic values, despite staging a coup in 2021 that derailed the country's transition to civilian rule. International mediation On Saturday morning, witnesses said warplanes pounded various parts of the capital Khartoum, where telecommunications company MTN said all of its services had been interrupted. Burhan had given his backing to a seven-day ceasefire announced by South Sudan on Wednesday, but early on Friday the RSF said it was extending by three days a previous truce brokered under US-Saudi mediation. A file picture fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces riding on the back of a heavily armed pickup truck in Port Sudan. By - (Rapid Support Forces (RSF)/AFP/File) The US-Saudi statement noted the efforts of other countries and organisations behind this weekend's talks, including Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the Arab League, the African Union and other groups. Khalid Omer Yousif, a former minister, expressed hopes the talks would lead to "a complete ceasefire that paves the way for a comprehensive political solution". At least 700 people have been killed and thousands injured in the fighting that has displaced hundreds of thousands either internally or across the border to neighbouring countries. Neighbouring South Sudan, which had negotiated the seven-day truce extension, said late Friday that its president, Salva Kiir, had spoken to the Sudanese generals about "his concerns and those of the IGAD leaders" from the East African regional grouping. A plane delivers aid from the United Arab Emirates in Port Sudan. By Giuseppe CACACE (AFP) While the army had previously said it favoured "African solutions to the continent's issues", it was ultimately the US-Saudi initiative that gained leverage as Sudan had been suspended from the African Union since the 2021 coup. Burhan and Daglo had together orchestrated the coup in October that year, derailing the democratic transition that had been painstakingly stitched together following the ouster of former autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019. But they later fell out in a bitter power struggle, most recently over the integration of the RSF into the army. Humanitarian crisis The announcement of the direct talks came following warnings from US intelligence chief Avril Haines of a "protracted" conflict that would "create a greater potential for spillover challenges in the region". Ivorian nationals who were evacuated from Sudan disembark from a plane at Felix Houphouet Boigny International airport near Abidjan. By Issouf SANOGO (AFP) The fighting persisted despite warnings from US President Joe Biden on Thursday of possible sanctions against those responsible for "threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan" and "undermining Sudan's democratic transition". Sudan suffered decades of sanctions during the rule of Bashir, ousted in a palace coup in 2019 following mass street protests. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has said it is preparing for an outflow of 860,000 people as a result of the conflict. The UN has also warned the fighting could plunge an additional 2.5 million people into food insecurity within months, meaning 19 million people would need aid to stave off famine. Its children's agency, UNICEF, said "the situation in Sudan has become fatal for a frighteningly large number of children". Russia and India have pledged to boost defence ties despite concerns that the war in Ukraine could block deliveries from Moscow and that US sanctions might get in the way of future weapons contracts. Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu met in Delhi on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conference where they promised to put start-stop military trade on a steady track. "We acknowledged the unique, long-lasting and time-tested relationship between India and Russia," the men said in a joint statement on Thursday. Singh and Shoigu discussed Russia's backing for India's plans to rake in 3.8 billion from foreign investors into its defence production sector by 2025, officials added. India, which holds the current G20 presidency, has refused to criticise Moscow for the war in Ukraine and instead pumped up imports of discounted Russian crude oil despite criticism from Western powers. Russia accounts for almost half of weapons imported by India, the world's largest arms buyer despite an 11 percent decline in foreign purchases since 2013, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Ammunition Experts say however that the war sanctions have put a question mark on Indian orders for MiG-29 jets, M-17 helicopters and stealth frigates while Russia failed to deliver key military components to India because of the Ukrainian conflict. Last year, India received three of the five units of S-400 air defence missile systems worth 4.5 billion but Delhi is unable to pay 1.8 billion for weapons already delivered as it fears violating secondary US sanctions, local media added. The two allies in March unveiled a 192-million deal for jointly produced maritime cruise missiles but the future of the prestigious contract seems hazy. Media reports also suggest Russia is reluctant to accept payment in rupees because of exchange rate volatility of the Indian currency. In a reflection of his preoccupation with the war in Ukraine, minister Shoigu on Tuesday said the state-run Tactical Missiles Corp had been ordered to double its production. Analysts said Russia was staring at an ammunition crunch. "Right now, it is necessary to double the production of high-precision weapons in the shortest possible time," Shoigu said as Britain's defence ministry remarked: "logistics problems remain at the heart of Russia's struggling campaign in Ukraine". China factor Experts such as Kartik Bommakanti also warned that the conflict is driving Russia closer to China and is creating an unwanted headache for India, which has prickly ties with Beijing over an unresolved border dispute that took the two Asian neighbours to war in 1962. "The increasing proximity between Moscow and Beijing will limit India's military options and fetter its capacity to credibly prosecute military operations if a war breaks out between India against Beijing," he said. Bommakanti, a strategic analyst at Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank, said in recently published comments that India must wean itself away from Russia's embrace. India currently operates 250 Russian-built Sukhoi fighter jets, seven Kilo-class submarines and 1,200 Soviet-designed T-90 tanks. The systems would need replacement or spares in 10 to 15 year's time. "India, today, is at a crossroads requiring some sharp choices that should enable it to break free from Moscow's stranglehold over key military supplies," Bommakant added. But Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar seemed upbeat as he recently said Delhi was ready to restart free trade negotiations with Russia, which previously backed India during its wars with Pakistan and China. "Our partnership today is a subject of attention and comment, not because it has changed, but because it has not," he said before a scheduled meeting on Thursday with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. A police officer by name Constable David Gbati has been shot dead by a senior officer after an argument, 3news.com gathers. The two were said to be on their way to Awaso in the Bibian-Anwhiaso-Bekwai Municipality in the Western North Region on Friday night when the incident occurred. ASP Frank Nsiah, who is said to be the head of the Western North Regional Police Intelligence Unit (PIU) was said to be under the influence of alcohol. He, then, picked an argument with his subordinates in the Ghana Police Service vehicle, resulting in the shooting of Constable Gbati. The body of the deceased officer has been deposited at the Sefwi Wiawso Government Hospital morgue while ASP Frank Nsiah has been detained at the Sefwi Bekwai Police Station for further investigations. 3news.com Ukraine has returned from Russian captivity 42 male and three female defenders of Azovstal, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak has said. "Great news on this sunny day. We have returned 45 our people home. These are 42 male and three female defenders of Azovstal. All of them are National Guard fighters from the detachment that was created nine years ago on the Azov coast. Thirty-five privates and sergeants, ten officers," he said on the Telegram channel on Saturday. "Among them there are the fighters who got married during the defense of Mariupol, at Azovstal. There is also our fighter who had been in Russian captivity for two and half years before the full-scale invasion. He was captivated during the Shyrokyne operation. Later he was released from captivity and immediately returned to the detachment. He was captivated again at Azovstal and today he is coming back home," Yermak said. The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said that among the released defenders there is a participant of the legendary helicopter mission of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine for the evacuation of wounded from Azovstal. The evacuation helicopter was shot down, however, the serviceman managed to survive. Severely wounded, he was threatened with the so-called "trial." Now, he will receive necessary treatment and rehabilitation. "A veteran of the war in Afghanistan, a 56-year-old sergeant, who was injured on Maidan, went through the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation], the JFO [Joint Forces Operation] and repelled the Rushist enemy's full-scale aggression, is also breathing the air of freedom," the headquarters said. Many of the defenders who were released today have wounds and serious health problems, They will receive all necessary assistance in Ukraine, undergo rehabilitation and receive all social payments and financial allowance. Meanwhile, the Russian media reported referring to the Russian Defense Ministry that three pilots were released from Ukrainian captivity on Saturday. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP Get Rating) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The energy producer reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.36, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $15.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.06 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 22.74% and a return on equity of 35.30%. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. ConocoPhillips Price Performance NYSE:COP traded up $3.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $100.37. 5,566,550 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,549,843. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $78.30 and a 12 month high of $138.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $102.79 and a 200 day moving average of $113.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $121.64 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.30. Get ConocoPhillips alerts: ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 15th. ConocoPhillipss dividend payout ratio is currently 14.06%. Insiders Place Their Bets Institutional Inflows and Outflows In other ConocoPhillips news, Director R A. Walker bought 4,800 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $103.00 per share, with a total value of $494,400.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 27,600 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,842,800. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link . Insiders own 0.08% of the companys stock. Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ConocoPhillips during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in ConocoPhillips during the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in ConocoPhillips during the 1st quarter worth approximately $69,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the energy producers stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.76% of the companys stock. Analyst Ratings Changes COP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Capital One Financial downgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $102.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $137.11. About ConocoPhillips (Get Rating) ConocoPhillips engages in the exploration, production, transportation and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas on a worldwide basis. It operates through the following geographical segments: Alaska, Lower 48, Canada, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia Pacific, and Other International. See Also Receive News & Ratings for ConocoPhillips Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for ConocoPhillips and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG Get Rating) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The energy exploration company reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.27, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $6.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.28 billion. EOG Resources had a net margin of 30.19% and a return on equity of 34.95%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 51.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.00 EPS. EOG Resources Stock Up 2.6 % Shares of EOG Resources stock traded up $2.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $114.17. The companys stock had a trading volume of 6,094,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,760,605. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.99. EOG Resources has a 1-year low of $92.16 and a 1-year high of $150.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $67.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.53. Get EOG Resources alerts: EOG Resources Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 17th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. EOG Resourcess payout ratio is 24.98%. Analysts Set New Price Targets Institutional Trading of EOG Resources A number of brokerages have issued reports on EOG. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of EOG Resources from $167.00 to $158.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Roth Capital reiterated a buy rating on shares of EOG Resources in a report on Friday, February 24th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of EOG Resources in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of EOG Resources from $141.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of EOG Resources from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $150.42. A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EOG. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in EOG Resources during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in EOG Resources during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in EOG Resources during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in EOG Resources by 1,436.8% during the 1st quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 292 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, Highlander Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in EOG Resources during the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.40% of the companys stock. EOG Resources Company Profile (Get Rating) EOG Resources, Inc engages in the exploration, development, production and marketing of crude oil and natural gas. It operates through the United States, Trinidad & Tobago, and Other International segments. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Read More Receive News & Ratings for EOG Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for EOG Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Israel Discount Bank Limited (OTCMKTS:ISDAY Get Rating) rose 7.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $51.00 and last traded at $51.00. Approximately 327 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 975 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.47. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Separately, Barclays raised shares of Israel Discount Bank from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Get Israel Discount Bank alerts: Israel Discount Bank Price Performance The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $49.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.46. Israel Discount Bank Cuts Dividend About Israel Discount Bank The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 24th were paid a $0.2763 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 23rd. (Get Rating) Israel Discount Bank Ltd. engages in providing comprehensive banking services through a network of branches in Israel, direct banking services, and digital banking. It operates through the following segments: Household, Private Banking, Small and Minute Businesses, Medium Businesses, Large Businesses, Institutional Bodies, Financial Management, and Other. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Israel Discount Bank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Israel Discount Bank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR Get Rating) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.04), Briefing.com reports. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 15.62%. The business had revenue of $644.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $954.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was down 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. New Jersey Resources updated its FY23 guidance to $2.62-2.72 EPS and its FY 2023 guidance to $2.62-$2.72 EPS. New Jersey Resources Stock Performance Shares of New Jersey Resources stock traded down $0.27 on Friday, reaching $50.88. 627,576 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 514,249. New Jersey Resources has a 52 week low of $38.07 and a 52 week high of $55.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.30 and a 200 day moving average of $49.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Get New Jersey Resources alerts: New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 14th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 13th. New Jersey Resourcess payout ratio is 53.98%. Insider Activity Institutional Trading of New Jersey Resources In related news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 2,040 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.00, for a total value of $104,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 38,129 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,944,579. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link . Insiders own 0.72% of the companys stock. Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 71.2% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 914 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 8,077 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 220,388 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $10,936,000 after buying an additional 7,402 shares in the last quarter. CI Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $941,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Treasury Department raised its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 190.9% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 76,198 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $3,781,000 after buying an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. 74.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several brokerages have commented on NJR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of New Jersey Resources in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $48.50. About New Jersey Resources (Get Rating) New Jersey Resources Corp. is a holding company. The firm provides safe and reliable natural gas and clean energy services, including transportation, distribution, asset management and home services. It operates through the following segments: Natural Gas Distribution, Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Services, Storage and Transportation, and Home Services and Other. See Also Receive News & Ratings for New Jersey Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for New Jersey Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new stake in iShares MSCI Finland ETF (BATS:EFNL Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,218 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $307,000. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marotta Asset Management raised its stake in shares of iShares MSCI Finland ETF by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Marotta Asset Management now owns 173,628 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,496,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of iShares MSCI Finland ETF by 93.4% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 45,348 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 21,906 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI Finland ETF in the 1st quarter valued at about $410,000. Get iShares MSCI Finland ETF alerts: iShares MSCI Finland ETF Stock Up 1.3 % Shares of BATS EFNL opened at $38.95 on Friday. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $38.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.51. The company has a market cap of $17.53 million, a PE ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 0.97. iShares MSCI Finland ETF has a twelve month low of $34.51 and a twelve month high of $43.37. iShares MSCI Finland ETF Company Profile The iShares MSCI Finland ETF (EFNL) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI Finland IMI 25\u002F50 index, a market-cap-weighted index of Finnish all-cap stocks. EFNL was launched on Jan 25, 2012 and is managed by BlackRock. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EFNL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI Finland ETF (BATS:EFNL Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI Finland ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI Finland ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new stake in iShares China Large-Cap ETF (NYSEARCA:FXI Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 12,511 shares of the exchange traded funds stock, valued at approximately $354,000. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Credit Suisse AG boosted its stake in iShares China Large-Cap ETF by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 15,714,199 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $406,369,000 after purchasing an additional 136,689 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of iShares China Large-Cap ETF by 83.2% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 5,326,000 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $137,688,000 after acquiring an additional 2,418,500 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of iShares China Large-Cap ETF by 83.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 4,059,925 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $119,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846,648 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of iShares China Large-Cap ETF by 4,736.8% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,000,000 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $103,440,000 after purchasing an additional 3,917,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares China Large-Cap ETF in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $97,957,000. Get iShares China Large-Cap ETF alerts: iShares China Large-Cap ETF Price Performance NYSEARCA FXI opened at $28.67 on Friday. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $28.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.26. iShares China Large-Cap ETF has a 12 month low of $20.87 and a 12 month high of $34.83. The company has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 0.44. About iShares China Large-Cap ETF iShares China Large-Cap ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the FTSE China 25 Index (the Underlying Index). The Funds portfolio of sectors include Financials, Telecommunication, Oil & gas, Technology and Consumer goods. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FXI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares China Large-Cap ETF (NYSEARCA:FXI Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for iShares China Large-Cap ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares China Large-Cap ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI Get Rating)s share price hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $65.73 and last traded at $65.89, with a volume of 52211 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $66.76. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of analysts have weighed in on AWI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Armstrong World Industries from $77.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Armstrong World Industries from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Credit Suisse Group restated an outperform rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Armstrong World Industries in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Armstrong World Industries from $97.00 to $86.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Armstrong World Industries from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Armstrong World Industries currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $83.63. Get Armstrong World Industries alerts: Armstrong World Industries Trading Up 1.4 % The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $70.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. Armstrong World Industries Dividend Announcement Armstrong World Industries ( NYSE:AWI Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The construction company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $310.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.86 million. Armstrong World Industries had a net margin of 16.32% and a return on equity of 41.94%. The companys revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Armstrong World Industries, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 4th will be paid a $0.254 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 3rd. Armstrong World Industriess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.82%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Armstrong World Industries by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 23,479 shares of the construction companys stock worth $1,673,000 after acquiring an additional 5,954 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Armstrong World Industries by 283.2% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,902 shares of the construction companys stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 4,362 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Armstrong World Industries by 74.6% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,101 shares of the construction companys stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 3,889 shares during the last quarter. CM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Armstrong World Industries during the 1st quarter worth approximately $970,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in Armstrong World Industries by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 4,206 shares of the construction companys stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. About Armstrong World Industries (Get Rating) Armstrong World Industries, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and trade of commercial and residential ceiling, wall, and suspension system solutions. It operates through the following segments: Mineral Fiber, Architectural Specialties, and Unallocated Corporate. The Mineral Fiber segment produces suspended mineral fiber and soft fiber ceiling systems for use in commercial and residential settings. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Armstrong World Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Armstrong World Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bank of China Limited (OTCMKTS:BACHY Get Rating)s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $10.26 and last traded at $10.22, with a volume of 34800 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.81. Bank of China Stock Performance The stock has a market capitalization of $122.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.16. Get Bank of China alerts: Bank of China (OTCMKTS:BACHY Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 30th. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $21.27 billion during the quarter. Bank of China had a return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 21.54%. About Bank of China Bank of China Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking and financial services. It operates through six segments: Corporate Banking, Personal Banking, Treasury Operations, Investment Banking, Insurance, and Other Operations. The Corporate Banking segment offers current accounts, deposits, overdrafts, loans, trade-related products and other credit facilities, foreign currency, derivatives, and wealth management products to corporate customers, government authorities, and financial institutions. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Bank of China Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of China and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hexcel (NYSE:HXL Get Rating) had its target price hoisted by Barclays from $64.00 to $80.00 in a report released on Tuesday, The Fly reports. Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Hexcel in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Hexcel from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. TheStreet raised Hexcel from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Hexcel from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Hexcel from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.00. Get Hexcel alerts: Hexcel Trading Up 1.3 % Shares of HXL stock opened at $72.27 on Tuesday. Hexcel has a 12 month low of $47.38 and a 12 month high of $75.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The businesss 50 day moving average is $69.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.35. The company has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a PE ratio of 40.83 and a beta of 1.23. Hexcel Announces Dividend Hexcel ( NYSE:HXL Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.12. Hexcel had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 9.19%. The company had revenue of $457.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $431.53 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Hexcel will post 1.87 EPS for the current year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 4th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Hexcels dividend payout ratio is currently 28.25%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Hexcel news, insider Thierry Merlot sold 565 shares of Hexcel stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.91, for a total transaction of $40,064.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,010 shares in the company, valued at $2,695,289.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Marilyn Minus sold 700 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.31, for a total value of $49,917.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $261,850.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Thierry Merlot sold 565 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.91, for a total transaction of $40,064.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,695,289.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hexcel by 6.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,420,295 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $500,755,000 after buying an additional 475,375 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Hexcel by 838.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,810,199 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $400,780,000 after purchasing an additional 6,084,592 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Hexcel by 58.1% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,160,587 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $318,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,263,252 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Hexcel by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,857,258 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $227,132,000 after purchasing an additional 57,276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Hexcel by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,409,631 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $202,771,000 after purchasing an additional 344,711 shares during the last quarter. 97.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. About Hexcel (Get Rating) Hexcel Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of lightweight structural materials. It operates through the Composite Materials and Engineered Products segments. The Composite Materials segment includes carbon fiber, specialty reinforcements, resins, prepregs and other fiber-reinforced matrix materials, and honeycomb core product lines and pultruded profiles. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Hexcel Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hexcel and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BILL (NYSE:BILL Get Rating) had its target price lowered by Mizuho from $100.00 to $92.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, The Fly reports. A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on BILL. BMO Capital Markets downgraded BILL from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their price target for the company from $158.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group reiterated a neutral rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $140.00) on shares of BILL in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on BILL from $150.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of BILL in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on BILL from $100.00 to $110.00 in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $138.15. Get BILL alerts: BILL Stock Performance BILL stock opened at $94.04 on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average is $77.88 and its 200-day moving average is $99.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.81. BILL has a twelve month low of $68.30 and a twelve month high of $179.85. Insider Transactions at BILL BILL ( NYSE:BILL Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported ($0.61) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of ($0.88) by $0.27. The company had revenue of $260.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $242.59 million. BILL had a negative return on equity of 4.85% and a negative net margin of 30.41%. Research analysts predict that BILL will post -2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. In related news, CFO John R. Rettig sold 6,008 shares of BILL stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.01, for a total value of $558,804.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,494,342.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other BILL news, CFO John R. Rettig sold 6,008 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.01, for a total value of $558,804.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,818 shares in the company, valued at $2,494,342.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rajesh A. Aji sold 847 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total transaction of $83,853.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,015 shares of company stock worth $657,697 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.00% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in BILL by 60.8% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 230 shares of the companys stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems grew its position in BILL by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 17,510 shares of the companys stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in BILL by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,924 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,921,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BILL by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 21,643 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,865,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BILL by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 10,538 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.80% of the companys stock. About BILL (Get Rating) Bill.com Holdings, Inc provides cloud-based software that simplifies, digitizes, and automates back-office financial operations for small and midsize businesses worldwide. The company provides software-as-a-service, cloud-based payments, and spend management products, which allow users to automate accounts payable and accounts receivable transactions, as well as enable users to connect with their suppliers and/or customers to do business, eliminate expense reports, manage cash flows, and improve office efficiency. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for BILL Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BILL and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. The fourth international conference on "Shaping the Geopolitics of the Greater Eurasia: from Past to Present and Future" was held on May 2 through 4 in Azerbaijani cities of Baku and Shusha, with the organizational support of ADA University. Up to 60 delegates from more than 30 countries took part in the conference. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev spoke at the conference and touched upon many important points, in particular about the situation in the region, as well as about the growing role of Azerbaijan in a wide geography, ongoing peace negotiations with Armenia. Foreign experts shared their opinions with Trend after the conference. Director of Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS) John Nomikos told Trend that he was impressed by President Ilham Aliyev's speech at the conference. "President Ilham Aliyev knows how to promote Azerbaijan's interests in the international arena," he said. Nomikos also said that he was very glad to visit the country. According to him, the best way to get information is to personally visit the country and talk to people. He also pointed out that Azerbaijan is an important partner for European countries. Polish political scientist and journalist, Jakub Korejba told Trend that cooperation between Europe and Asia is impossible without Azerbaijan. According to Korejba, its very important to understand what role Azerbaijan plays for Eurasia, especially in times of crisis, when important corridors, the main routes of contact between Europe and Asia are blocked, and its unknown how long this will last. "For example, this winter, Azerbaijani gas saved us in Poland, when we, like many other European countries, had to completely rebuild our energy system, find new suppliers of oil, gas, coal, electricity, and we found them in Azerbaijan as well," Korejba said. The expert noted that Azerbaijan is ready to cooperate not only with Europe, but is also interested in cooperation with Asia. "We understand that the future of Eurasia depends on Azerbaijan which wants and can encourage cooperation between Europe and Asia," he said. Robert Cutler, Fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute told Trend that Azerbaijan is one of two countries capable of providing energy resources to Europe. "There are only two countries in the world that have serious prospects for gas and oil supplies to Europe - Norway and Azerbaijan," Cutler said. According to him, Azerbaijan has significant energy resources offshore, which Europe needs, but the potential is not fully realized due to the energy policy of the EU, which, in particular, focused on the purchase of gas from Russia via the Nord Stream pipeline. The expert also noted the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor, which, according to him, is one of the most important achievements of international energy cooperation in the post-Soviet era. The speech which the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev delivered at the fourth international conference in Shusha should be analyzed by both Armenia and a number of other countries and organizations. Black Diamond Group Limited (TSE:BDI Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 4th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.02 per share on Saturday, July 15th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. Black Diamond Group Stock Down 1.1 % Black Diamond Group stock opened at C$6.93 on Friday. Black Diamond Group has a 1-year low of C$3.10 and a 1-year high of C$7.30. The firm has a market capitalization of C$418.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75 and a beta of 1.55. The firms fifty day moving average price is C$6.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$5.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 91.38. Get Black Diamond Group alerts: Black Diamond Group (TSE:BDI Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported C$0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C$0.07 by C($0.01). Black Diamond Group had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 10.91%. The business had revenue of C$89.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$78.45 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Black Diamond Group will post 0.4788434 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Analysts Set New Price Targets Black Diamond Group Company Profile Several analysts have recently commented on BDI shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Black Diamond Group from C$7.00 to C$8.50 in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Acumen Capital increased their target price on shares of Black Diamond Group from C$8.50 to C$9.75 in a report on Monday, March 6th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Black Diamond Group from C$8.00 to C$10.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Black Diamond Group from C$8.00 to C$8.50 in a report on Monday, March 6th. (Get Rating) Black Diamond Group Limited rents and sells modular space and workforce accommodation solutions. It operates through two segments, Modular Space Solutions and Workforce Solutions. The Modular Space Solutions segment provides modular space rentals to customers in the construction, real estate development, education, manufacturing, health care, financial, government, and defense industries in North America. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Black Diamond Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Black Diamond Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Black Hills (NYSE:BKH Get Rating) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $921.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $754.70 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 9.62% and a return on equity of 8.45%. Black Hillss revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. Black Hills updated its FY 2023 guidance to $3.65-$3.85 EPS. Black Hills Trading Up 0.4 % Shares of NYSE BKH traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $66.14. The company had a trading volume of 358,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 475,724. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 0.59. Black Hills has a 52 week low of $58.81 and a 52 week high of $79.78. The businesss 50-day moving average is $63.24 and its 200-day moving average is $66.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Get Black Hills alerts: Black Hills Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Black Hillss dividend payout ratio is currently 62.66%. Analysts Set New Price Targets Institutional Investors Weigh In On Black Hills A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BKH shares. Sidoti downgraded shares of Black Hills from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Bank of America lowered Black Hills from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Mizuho downgraded Black Hills from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and cut their target price for the company from $71.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Black Hills from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $81.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Black Hills in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $67.29. Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 63.3% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 890 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Black Hills by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Black Hills by 120.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,200 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC bought a new stake in Black Hills during the 4th quarter valued at $216,000. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the 4th quarter worth $230,000. 88.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Black Hills Company Profile (Get Rating) Black Hills Corp. is a diversified energy company. It operates through the following segments: Electric Utilities, Gas Utilities, and Corporate and Other. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The Gas Utilities segment provides natural gas in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Black Hills Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Black Hills and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Boston Partners lowered its position in Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR Get Rating) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 914,625 shares of the companys stock after selling 35,128 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned 1.52% of Par Pacific worth $21,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Par Pacific by 3.6% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,804,462 shares of the companys stock worth $128,070,000 after acquiring an additional 273,924 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 14.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,080,201 shares of the companys stock valued at $66,956,000 after purchasing an additional 508,925 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 19.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,266,246 shares of the companys stock valued at $53,599,000 after purchasing an additional 524,413 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 8.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,207,338 shares of the companys stock valued at $19,812,000 after purchasing an additional 94,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 45.6% in the third quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,181,469 shares of the companys stock valued at $19,388,000 after purchasing an additional 370,133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.76% of the companys stock. Get Par Pacific alerts: Insider Activity at Par Pacific In other Par Pacific news, President William Monteleone sold 13,589 shares of Par Pacific stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total transaction of $386,063.49. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 304,862 shares of the companys stock, valued at $8,661,129.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, President William Monteleone sold 13,589 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total value of $386,063.49. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 304,862 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $8,661,129.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ivan Daniel Guerra sold 7,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.28, for a total value of $212,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 18,925 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $535,199. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 23,089 shares of company stock valued at $657,863. Company insiders own 4.90% of the companys stock. Par Pacific Price Performance Shares of NYSE PARR opened at $20.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 2.05. Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.91 and a fifty-two week high of $30.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.53 and a 200-day moving average of $24.77. Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Par Pacific had a return on equity of 130.50% and a net margin of 9.65%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current year. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upgraded Par Pacific from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and raised their target price for the company from $27.00 to $33.00 in a report on Friday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Par Pacific from $29.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Par Pacific from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Par Pacific from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Par Pacific from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $29.13. Par Pacific Profile (Get Rating) Par Pacific Holdings, Inc engages in the operation of energy and infrastructure businesses. It operates through the following segments: Refining, Retail, Logistics, and Other. The Refining segment produces ultra-low sulfur diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, marine fuel, low sulfur fuel oil, and other associated refined products. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Par Pacific Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Par Pacific and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP Get Rating) (TSE:BIP.UN) had its price target raised by National Bankshares from $38.00 to $39.00 in a research report report published on Friday, BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the utilities providers stock. Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Thursday, April 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $43.75. Get Brookfield Infrastructure Partners alerts: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $35.54 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 444.31 and a beta of 0.88. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a one year low of $30.03 and a one year high of $43.62. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement Brookfield Infrastructure Partners ( NYSE:BIP Get Rating ) (TSE:BIP.UN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.74). The firm had revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.00% and a net margin of 1.67%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be given a $0.382 dividend. This represents a $1.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partnerss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 1,912.74%. Institutional Trading of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BIP. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the first quarter worth approximately $81,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 58.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,090 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.9% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 13,645 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $904,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.3% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 29,899 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,980,000 after buying an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the first quarter worth approximately $201,000. 57.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (Get Rating) Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP operates as an infrastructure company, which engages in the management of diversified portfolio of infrastructure assets that will generate sustainable and growing distributions over the long-term for unit holders. It operates through the following segments: Utilities, Transport, Midstream, and Data. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Builders FirstSource (NYSE:BLDR Get Rating) had its price objective upped by BMO Capital Markets from $92.00 to $100.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, The Fly reports. Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Builders FirstSource from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Builders FirstSource from $95.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Builders FirstSource from $97.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Builders FirstSource from $80.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Builders FirstSource from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $111.42. Get Builders FirstSource alerts: Builders FirstSource Price Performance NYSE BLDR opened at $111.25 on Friday. Builders FirstSource has a 12 month low of $48.91 and a 12 month high of $111.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.26 billion, a PE ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.98. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $89.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.78. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Builders FirstSource Builders FirstSource ( NYSE:BLDR Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.33. Builders FirstSource had a net margin of 11.68% and a return on equity of 55.42%. The business had revenue of $3.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.90 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 31.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Builders FirstSource will post 6.99 EPS for the current fiscal year. A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BLDR. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Builders FirstSource by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,277,012 shares of the companys stock valued at $727,819,000 after buying an additional 1,455,580 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Builders FirstSource in the 4th quarter valued at $91,288,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Builders FirstSource by 4,346.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,116,833 shares of the companys stock valued at $72,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,716 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Builders FirstSource by 7,986.5% in the 1st quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,017,685 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anomaly Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Builders FirstSource by 123.6% in the 4th quarter. Anomaly Capital Management LP now owns 1,310,751 shares of the companys stock valued at $85,042,000 after purchasing an additional 724,481 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.71% of the companys stock. Builders FirstSource Company Profile (Get Rating) Builders FirstSource, Inc engages in the supply and manufacture of building materials, manufactured components and construction services to professional homebuilders, subcontractors, remodelers and consumers. Its products include factory-built roof and floor trusses, wall panels and stairs, vinyl windows, custom millwork and trim, and engineered wood. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Builders FirstSource Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Builders FirstSource and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF (NYSEARCA:XMLV Get Rating) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 555,431 shares of the companys stock after selling 40,614 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.s holdings in Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF were worth $29,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,686 shares of the companys stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,119 shares of the companys stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC raised its position in Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 15,020 shares of the companys stock valued at $721,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF by 85.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 975 shares of the companys stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,036 shares of the companys stock valued at $482,000 after buying an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. Get Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF alerts: Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF Stock Up 1.7 % XMLV stock opened at $51.71 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.49. The company has a market cap of $998.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.79 and a beta of 0.80. Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF has a twelve month low of $47.34 and a twelve month high of $56.96. Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF Company Profile The Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF (XMLV) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the S&P MidCap 400 Low Volatility index. The fund tracks a volatility-weighted index of the 80 least volatile S&P 400 companies. XMLV was launched on Feb 15, 2013 and is managed by Invesco. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding XMLV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF (NYSEARCA:XMLV Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Invesco S&P MidCap Low Volatility ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL Get Rating) have been assigned a consensus rating of Moderate Buy from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $264.82. Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Charles River Laboratories International from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $255.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Charles River Laboratories International from $241.00 to $230.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price target on Charles River Laboratories International from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Charles River Laboratories International from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Get Charles River Laboratories International alerts: Charles River Laboratories International Trading Up 0.9 % NYSE:CRL opened at $191.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Charles River Laboratories International has a one year low of $181.22 and a one year high of $262.00. The company has a market cap of $9.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.20, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $201.50 and a 200-day moving average of $219.73. Insider Activity at Charles River Laboratories International Charles River Laboratories International ( NYSE:CRL Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Charles River Laboratories International had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 12.23%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Charles River Laboratories International will post 10.19 EPS for the current fiscal year. In related news, COO Birgit Girshick sold 3,205 shares of Charles River Laboratories International stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.39, for a total value of $815,319.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,439,656.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Shannon M. Parisotto sold 4,558 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.41, for a total transaction of $1,159,600.78. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,010 shares in the company, valued at $1,529,004.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Birgit Girshick sold 3,205 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.39, for a total transaction of $815,319.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,038 shares of the companys stock, valued at $10,439,656.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,763 shares of company stock worth $6,974,921. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Trading of Charles River Laboratories International Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRL. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Charles River Laboratories International by 417.3% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,288 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 1,039 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 1.5% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 103,472 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $20,364,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in shares of Charles River Laboratories International by 7.2% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 9,148 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Charles River Laboratories International by 6.1% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 14,059 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $2,767,000 after purchasing an additional 804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in Charles River Laboratories International by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 29,592 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $5,824,000 after buying an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. 97.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Charles River Laboratories International Company Profile (Get Rating) Charles River Laboratories International, Inc is an early-stage contract research company, which provides research models required in the research and development of new drugs, devices, and therapies. It operates through the following segments: Research Models and Services (RMS), Discovery and Safety Assessment (DSA), and Manufacturing Solutions. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Charles River Laboratories International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Charles River Laboratories International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Chorus Aviation (TSE:CHR Get Rating) had its target price reduced by TD Securities from C$5.00 to C$4.75 in a report published on Friday morning, BayStreet.CA reports. TD Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Cormark cut their price objective on Chorus Aviation from C$4.75 to C$4.25 in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Scotiabank lowered Chorus Aviation from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from C$4.00 to C$4.40 in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. National Bankshares cut their price objective on Chorus Aviation from C$4.80 to C$4.50 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 17th. CIBC cut their price objective on Chorus Aviation from C$4.75 to C$4.50 in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Chorus Aviation from C$4.00 to C$3.25 in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of C$4.38. Get Chorus Aviation alerts: Chorus Aviation Stock Performance Shares of CHR stock opened at C$3.02 on Friday. The businesss 50-day moving average price is C$3.11 and its 200-day moving average price is C$3.20. Chorus Aviation has a 12 month low of C$2.24 and a 12 month high of C$4.10. The firm has a market capitalization of C$605.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 160.06. About Chorus Aviation Chorus Aviation ( TSE:CHR Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported C$0.11 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts consensus estimates of C$0.11. Chorus Aviation had a return on equity of 5.30% and a net margin of 3.06%. The firm had revenue of C$439.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$409.16 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Chorus Aviation will post 0.4103261 EPS for the current year. (Get Rating) Chorus Aviation Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various aviation support services in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Regional Aviation Services and Regional Aircraft Leasing. The Regional Aviation Services segment includes all three sectors of the regional aviation, such as contract flying, including ACMI and charter operations; aircraft leasing; and maintenance, repair, and overhaul, as well as part sales and technical services. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Chorus Aviation Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chorus Aviation and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE:CIO Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 5th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.10 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, July 21st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 6th. City Office REIT has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 5.2% per year over the last three years. City Office REIT has a dividend payout ratio of -1,333.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect City Office REIT to earn $1.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.3%. Get City Office REIT alerts: City Office REIT Trading Down 7.2 % NYSE CIO opened at $5.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 2.48. The firms fifty day moving average price is $6.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.49. The company has a market capitalization of $206.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.62. City Office REIT has a 12 month low of $5.08 and a 12 month high of $14.27. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Institutional Investors Weigh In On City Office REIT Several research analysts have issued reports on CIO shares. B. Riley lowered their price objective on shares of City Office REIT from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of City Office REIT from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in City Office REIT by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 6,571 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in City Office REIT by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 56,962 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 15,212 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in City Office REIT by 165.1% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 7,245 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 4,512 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new stake in shares of City Office REIT during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $5,674,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of City Office REIT by 57.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 23,617 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 8,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.80% of the companys stock. About City Office REIT (Get Rating) City Office REIT, Inc is a real estate investment trust. It focuses on acquiring, owning and operating office properties located primarily in metropolitan areas in the Southern and Western United States. The company was founded on November 26, 2013 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Read More Receive News & Ratings for City Office REIT Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for City Office REIT and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CVS Health (NYSE:CVS Get Rating) had its price target trimmed by Sanford C. Bernstein from $107.00 to $93.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports. Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on CVS Health from $111.00 to $104.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 31st. Barclays reduced their price target on CVS Health from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. StockNews.com started coverage on CVS Health in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. They issued an overweight rating and a $87.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CVS Health presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $112.84. Get CVS Health alerts: CVS Health Stock Performance CVS opened at $70.68 on Tuesday. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $75.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. CVS Health has a 12-month low of $68.10 and a 12-month high of $107.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.61. CVS Health Announces Dividend CVS Health ( NYSE:CVS Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The pharmacy operator reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $85.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.67 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.75% and a net margin of 1.20%. The businesss revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that CVS Health will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 21st were given a $0.605 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 20th. This represents a $2.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. CVS Healths dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.56%. Insider Activity In other CVS Health news, CEO Karen S. Lynch purchased 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $69.75 per share, for a total transaction of $976,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 431,392 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $30,089,592. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Live Oak Investment Partners purchased a new stake in CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in CVS Health by 105.8% during the 3rd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 284 shares of the pharmacy operators stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. purchased a new position in CVS Health during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. VitalStone Financial LLC purchased a new position in CVS Health during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC raised its position in CVS Health by 227.8% during the 4th quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the pharmacy operators stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.29% of the companys stock. About CVS Health (Get Rating) CVS Health Corp. is a health solutions company, which engages in the provision of healthcare services. It operates through the following segments: Pharmacy Services, Retail or Long-Term Care, Health Care Benefits, and Corporate and Other. The Pharmacy Services segment focuses on the pharmacy benefit management solutions. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for CVS Health Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CVS Health and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. The EU welcomes the talks of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the US, Toivo Klaar, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, wrote on Twitter, Trend reports. "There is promising news from Washington. The EU welcomes the constant contacts between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan during the four-day talks. Progress can only be achieved through dialogue. We continue to be together with Armenia and Azerbaijan and work with our partners in search of lasting peace," Klaar said. The trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken took place on May 1 in the US. After that, a bilateral meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries was held at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center. The talks continued on May 2 and 3 in a bilateral format and the final round of negotiations took place on May 4. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new stake in BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund, Inc. (NYSE:MUC Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 126,045 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,354,000. Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 64,703 shares of the companys stock valued at $694,000 after acquiring an additional 14,528 shares during the last quarter. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. bought a new position in BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund in the 4th quarter valued at $75,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund in the 4th quarter valued at $491,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Melfa Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund in the 4th quarter valued at $863,000. Institutional investors own 44.65% of the companys stock. Get BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund alerts: BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund Stock Up 0.5 % Shares of BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund stock opened at $10.82 on Friday. BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.95 and a 52 week high of $12.96. The stocks fifty day moving average is $10.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.88. BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund Announces Dividend About BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.0335 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. (Get Rating) BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund, Inc operates as a closed-end investment fund. The companys investment objective is to provide shareholders and investing primarily in municipal obligations exempt from federal income taxes and California income taxes. The company was founded on February 27, 1998 and is headquartered in Wilmington, DE. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MUC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund, Inc. (NYSE:MUC Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BlackRock MuniHoldings California Quality Fund and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares (NYSEARCA:YINN Get Rating) passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $45.40 and traded as low as $37.34. Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares shares last traded at $37.64, with a volume of 919,007 shares trading hands. Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares Stock Up 4.1 % The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.10 and a 200-day moving average of $45.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $604.72 million, a P/E ratio of 8.56 and a beta of 1.45. Get Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares alerts: Institutional Investors Weigh In On Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares by 9,825.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 234,448 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 232,086 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares by 123.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 200,690 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $927,000 after acquiring an additional 110,682 shares during the period. Credit Suisse AG boosted its stake in shares of Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares by 1,356.6% during the 3rd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 46,100 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,875,000 after acquiring an additional 42,935 shares during the period. AJ Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares during the 1st quarter worth approximately $192,000. Finally, Flow Traders U.S. LLC bought a new position in shares of Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $912,000. Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares Company Profile Direxion Daily China Bull 3x Shares ETF (the Fund) seeks daily investment results of 300% of the price performance of the BNY China Select ADR Index (the China Index). The China Index is a free float-adjusted capitalization-weighted index designed by the Bank of New York to track the performance of a basket of companies who have their primary equity listing on a stock exchange in China and which also have depositary receipts that trade on a United States exchange or on the National Association of Securities and Dealers Automated Quotation. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its holdings in Devon Energy Co. (NYSE:DVN Get Rating) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,583 shares of the energy companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLCs holdings in Devon Energy were worth $897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DVN. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in Devon Energy in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 115.0% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 430 shares of the energy companys stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Devon Energy during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Devon Energy in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company bought a new position in shares of Devon Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.08% of the companys stock. Get Devon Energy alerts: Devon Energy Price Performance NYSE DVN opened at $50.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.52, a PEG ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $51.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.37. Devon Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $44.03 and a 1 year high of $79.40. Devon Energy Increases Dividend Devon Energy ( NYSE:DVN Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The energy company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.75 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.29 billion. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 52.20% and a net margin of 31.38%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Devon Energy Co. will post 6.5 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently announced a None dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.89 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 9.3%. This is a positive change from Devon Energys previous None dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 14th. Devon Energys payout ratio is 8.77%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Devon Energy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Devon Energy from $82.00 to $75.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Mizuho reissued a buy rating and issued a $71.00 price objective on shares of Devon Energy in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut Devon Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on Devon Energy from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $71.32. Insider Activity at Devon Energy In other Devon Energy news, EVP Dennis C. Cameron sold 7,179 shares of Devon Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.77, for a total value of $393,193.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 262,498 shares of the companys stock, valued at $14,377,015.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Dennis C. Cameron sold 7,179 shares of Devon Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.77, for a total value of $393,193.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 262,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,377,015.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John E. Bethancourt purchased 3,765 shares of Devon Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $53.06 per share, with a total value of $199,770.90. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 94,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,023,137.14. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.80% of the companys stock. About Devon Energy (Get Rating) Devon Energy Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties. It develops and operates Delaware Basin, Eagle Ford, Heavy Oil, Barnett Shale, STACK, and Rockies Oil. The company was founded by J. Larry Nichols and John W. Nichols in 1971 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Devon Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Devon Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:EFA Get Rating) by 19.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,217 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 3,280 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Managements holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE ETF were worth $868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFA. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 72.1% in the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 11,841 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $808,000 after purchasing an additional 4,959 shares during the last quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 83.6% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 23,000 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,693,000 after acquiring an additional 10,470 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 38.1% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 236,500 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $17,406,000 after acquiring an additional 65,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,241,361 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $164,965,000 after acquiring an additional 295,200 shares in the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get iShares MSCI EAFE ETF alerts: iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Price Performance EFA stock opened at $73.88 on Friday. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $71.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.17. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has a 52-week low of $54.61 and a 52-week high of $73.99. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Profile iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, formerly iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (the Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Funds investment objective is to seek investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of its underlying index, MSCI EAFE Index (the Index). The Index has been developed by MSCI Inc as an equity benchmark for its international stock performance. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EFA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:EFA Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Fastly (NYSE:FSLY Get Rating) issued an update on its FY23 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of ($0.27)-($0.21) for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of ($0.26). The company issued revenue guidance of $495-505 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $501.29 million. Fastly also updated its FY 2023 guidance to -$0.27$0.21 EPS. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on shares of Fastly from $9.50 to $11.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Fastly from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. William Blair reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Fastly in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Fastly from $6.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Fastly from $16.00 to $26.50 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $16.00. Get Fastly alerts: Fastly Trading Down 0.6 % NYSE FSLY traded down $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $11.78. The companys stock had a trading volume of 4,265,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,859,567. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $15.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.68. Fastly has a 1-year low of $7.15 and a 1-year high of $18.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 4.18 and a quick ratio of 4.18. Insider Buying and Selling at Fastly Fastly ( NYSE:FSLY Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.09. Fastly had a negative return on equity of 20.15% and a negative net margin of 38.22%. The company had revenue of $119.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.39 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fastly will post -1.43 EPS for the current year. In related news, EVP Brett Shirk sold 3,943 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.93, for a total transaction of $54,925.99. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 224,097 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,121,671.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Fastly news, CFO Ronald W. Kisling sold 7,002 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.93, for a total value of $97,537.86. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 364,686 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,080,075.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Brett Shirk sold 3,943 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.93, for a total value of $54,925.99. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 224,097 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,121,671.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 268,788 shares of company stock worth $4,081,063 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 8.90% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fastly Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Fastly by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 844,668 shares of the companys stock worth $14,681,000 after purchasing an additional 19,042 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fastly by 50.0% during the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 3,072 shares of the companys stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Parkwood LLC increased its stake in Fastly by 204.3% during the first quarter. Parkwood LLC now owns 47,820 shares of the companys stock valued at $831,000 after acquiring an additional 32,107 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Fastly by 65.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,846,587 shares of the companys stock valued at $136,374,000 after acquiring an additional 3,099,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC lifted its position in shares of Fastly by 607.0% in the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 301,893 shares of the companys stock worth $5,247,000 after acquiring an additional 259,191 shares during the period. 60.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About Fastly (Get Rating) Fastly, Inc provides real-time content delivery network services. It offers edge compute, edge delivery, edge security, edge applications like load balancing and image optimization, video on demand, and managed edge delivery. The company was founded by Artur Bergman, Tyler McMullen, Simon Wistow, and Gil Penchina in March 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Fastly Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Fastly and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Garmin (NYSE:GRMN Get Rating) updated its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $5.15-$5.15 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $5.23. The company issued revenue guidance of $5.00 billion-$5.00 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $5.01 billion. Garmin also updated its FY23 guidance to $5.15 EPS. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. TheStreet upgraded Garmin from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Tigress Financial reissued a strong-buy rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Garmin in a report on Friday, March 3rd. KeyCorp began coverage on Garmin in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. They set a sector weight rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Garmin from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $101.00 to $106.00 in a report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $118.80. Get Garmin alerts: Garmin Trading Up 2.2 % NYSE:GRMN traded up $2.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $103.78. 888,483 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 764,561. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $98.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.94. Garmin has a 1-year low of $76.37 and a 1-year high of $108.32. Insider Activity at Garmin Garmin ( NYSE:GRMN Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. Garmin had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 19.94%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. Garmins revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current year. In related news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 3,991 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total value of $393,113.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,634,425. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,216 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.54, for a total transaction of $711,064.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,870,128.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 3,991 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total value of $393,113.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,050 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,634,425. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,610 shares of company stock worth $1,635,921 in the last quarter. 20.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,276,118 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $2,049,121,000 after acquiring an additional 365,713 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Garmin by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,798,228 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $545,971,000 after acquiring an additional 355,087 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Garmin by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,594,281 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $147,136,000 after acquiring an additional 182,957 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $144,641,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Garmin by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,475,149 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $174,989,000 after acquiring an additional 11,011 shares during the period. 63.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Garmin Company Profile (Get Rating) Garmin Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of navigation, communications and information devices, most of which are enabled by Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. It operates through the following segments: Marine, Outdoor, Fitness, Auto OEM, Consumer Auto, and Aviation. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Garmin Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Garmin and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE Get Rating) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,611 shares of the conglomerates stock after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in General Electric were worth $303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. First National Trust Co grew its position in General Electric by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 3,655 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. TFO TDC LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Electric by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,539 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of General Electric by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,297 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.12% of the companys stock. Get General Electric alerts: General Electric Price Performance Shares of GE stock opened at $100.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $109.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.07, a P/E/G ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 1.27. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $93.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.49. General Electric has a one year low of $46.55 and a one year high of $102.95. General Electric Dividend Announcement General Electric ( NYSE:GE Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The conglomerate reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $14.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.46 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 11.85% and a return on equity of 9.45%. General Electrics revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 2.03 EPS for the current year. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. General Electrics dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.17%. Insider Buying and Selling In other news, VP Thomas S. Timko sold 7,254 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.82, for a total transaction of $731,348.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,953 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,112,481.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GE shares. TheStreet raised General Electric from a c rating to a b- rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on General Electric from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on General Electric from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Barclays upped their target price on General Electric from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on General Electric in a report on Friday, March 10th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $103.20. About General Electric (Get Rating) General Electric Co engages in the provision of commercial and military aircraft engines and systems, wind, and other renewable energy generation equipment and grid solutions, and gas, steam, nuclear, and other power generation equipment. It operates through the following segments: Aviation, Healthcare, Renewable Energy, and Power. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for General Electric (NYSE:GE Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for General Electric Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for General Electric and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Genworth Financial (NYSE:GNW Get Rating) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.03), RTT News reports. Genworth Financial had a return on equity of 5.64% and a net margin of 6.99%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. Genworth Financial Price Performance GNW opened at $4.98 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.30. The firm has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.03. Genworth Financial has a twelve month low of $3.43 and a twelve month high of $6.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Get Genworth Financial alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Genworth Financial in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Insider Activity at Genworth Financial Institutional Inflows and Outflows In related news, CFO Daniel J. Iv Sheehan sold 250,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.06, for a total transaction of $1,515,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,132,023 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,860,059.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . Company insiders own 0.99% of the companys stock. Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in Genworth Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $107,000. qPULA Trading Management LP bought a new position in Genworth Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $107,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Genworth Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $103,000. Centiva Capital LP boosted its stake in Genworth Financial by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 14,924 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 2,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new position in Genworth Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $77,000. 75.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Genworth Financial Company Profile (Get Rating) Genworth Financial, Inc is a financial services company, which engages in the provision of insurance, wealth management, investment and financial solutions. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Mortgage Insurance, Australia Mortgage Insurance, U.S. Life Insurance, and Runoff. The U.S. Mortgage Insurance segment offers mortgage insurance products predominantly insuring prime-based, individually underwritten residential mortgage loans. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Genworth Financial Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Genworth Financial and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Greggs (LON:GRG Get Rating) had its target price increased by Berenberg Bank from GBX 3,000 ($37.48) to GBX 3,200 ($39.98) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock. Several other analysts have also issued reports on GRG. Shore Capital restated a hold rating on shares of Greggs in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a buy rating and set a GBX 2,950 ($36.86) price objective on shares of Greggs in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Finally, Peel Hunt reiterated a hold rating and set a GBX 2,000 ($24.99) price objective on shares of Greggs in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Get Greggs alerts: Greggs Stock Performance Shares of GRG opened at GBX 2,902 ($36.26) on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of 2.96 billion, a PE ratio of 2,438.66, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.36. The stocks fifty day moving average price is GBX 2,735.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 2,514.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 67.56, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Greggs has a 1 year low of GBX 1,650 ($20.61) and a 1 year high of GBX 2,902 ($36.26). Greggs Increases Dividend Insiders Place Their Bets The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 27th will be paid a GBX 44 ($0.55) dividend. This is a positive change from Greggss previous dividend of $15.00. This represents a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 27th. Greggss dividend payout ratio is currently 4,957.98%. In other Greggs news, insider Richard Hutton sold 6,080 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 2,792 ($34.88), for a total value of 169,753.60 ($212,085.96). Corporate insiders own 6.22% of the companys stock. About Greggs (Get Rating) Greggs plc operates as a bakery food-on-the-go retailer in the United Kingdom. It offers a range of fresh and frozen bakery products, sandwiches, and drinks. The company sells products to franchise and wholesale partners for sale in their own outlets. It is also involved in the property holding, non-trading, and trustee businesses. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Greggs Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Greggs and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:HHFA Get Rating)s share price traded up 1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as 12.50 ($13.74) and last traded at 12.50 ($13.74). 30,629 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 117,376 shares. The stock had previously closed at 12.38 ($13.60). Analyst Ratings Changes Separately, Warburg Research set a 9.00 ($9.89) target price on shares of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft in a research report on Thursday, March 23rd. Get Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft alerts: Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft Stock Performance The stock has a market capitalization of $916.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 127.58. The stocks 50 day moving average is 11.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is 12.17. About Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft operates as a port and transport logistics company in Germany, rest of European Union, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Container, Intermodal, Logistics, and Real Estate. The company operates three container terminals in Hamburg; and container terminals in Odessa, Ukraine, and Tallinn, Estonia, as well as in Trieste, Italy. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. First version published at 09:34 BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna incorrectly called the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan an "enclave" inside Azerbaijan - "Nagorno-Karabakh", which is disrespectful to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, as well as to the rights of Azerbaijanis subjected to mass ethnic cleansing in this region, Aykhan Hajizada, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, said, Trend reports. He made the remark, commenting upon the statements of Colonna in a recent interview. "We would like to remind the French Minister once again that the Karabakh region is an internationally recognized sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, and an integral part of it. At the same time, the French side's claim that the border checkpoint on the Lachin-Khankendi road, created by Azerbaijan on its sovereign territory and which the Armenian residents are already using in terms of transparency in both directions, allegedly "blocks the road", has no basis," Hajizada said. The spokesperson also added that Azerbaijan protects its borders and their crossing takes place in accordance with the country's legislation and rules adopted at the international level. Hajizada said the French side must put an end to such provocative and inflammatory statements that do not serve peace and stability. Holly Energy Partners (NYSE:HEP Get Rating) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The pipeline company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $143.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.62 million. Holly Energy Partners had a return on equity of 23.88% and a net margin of 39.60%. Holly Energy Partnerss revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Holly Energy Partners Stock Performance HEP traded up $0.36 on Friday, hitting $16.39. The company had a trading volume of 225,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 118,157. The companys fifty day moving average price is $17.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Holly Energy Partners has a 1-year low of $15.12 and a 1-year high of $20.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.26 and a beta of 0.90. Get Holly Energy Partners alerts: Holly Energy Partners Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.54%. Holly Energy Partnerss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.10%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Holly Energy Partners by 25.3% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 167,900 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $2,963,000 after buying an additional 33,900 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV bought a new position in Holly Energy Partners during the first quarter worth about $761,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Holly Energy Partners by 8.9% during the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 942,962 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $16,681,000 after purchasing an additional 77,033 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Holly Energy Partners by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,322,137 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $58,769,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares during the period. Finally, Vident Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Holly Energy Partners by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC now owns 38,915 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $688,000 after buying an additional 2,737 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 25.30% of the companys stock. A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HEP. StockNews.com raised Holly Energy Partners from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, April 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on Holly Energy Partners from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Holly Energy Partners from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Holly Energy Partners Company Profile (Get Rating) Holly Energy Partners LP engages in the business of operating a system of petroleum product and crude pipelines, storage tanks, distribution terminals, and loading rack facilities. It operates through the Pipelines and Terminals, and Refinery Processing Unit segments. The Pipelines and Terminals segment includes petroleum products, crude pipelines and terminal, tankage, and loading rack facilities. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Holly Energy Partners Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Holly Energy Partners and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ingredion (NYSE:INGR Get Rating) updated its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of $8.70-$9.40 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $8.19. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Ingredion also updated its FY23 guidance to $8.70-9.40 EPS. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $110.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday. Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Ingredion from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $118.80. Get Ingredion alerts: Ingredion Stock Down 0.1 % NYSE INGR traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $108.40. 346,530 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 317,260. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 0.76. Ingredion has a 12 month low of $78.81 and a 12 month high of $112.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $101.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Ingredion Dividend Announcement Ingredion ( NYSE:INGR Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.18 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firms revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ingredion will post 9.05 earnings per share for the current year. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 31st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Ingredions dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.34%. Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, EVP Jorgen Kokke sold 7,119 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.21, for a total value of $713,394.99. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,537 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,661,372.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 1,746 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.61, for a total value of $189,633.06. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,246 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,198,918.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jorgen Kokke sold 7,119 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.21, for a total transaction of $713,394.99. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,661,372.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,867 shares of company stock valued at $903,227. Company insiders own 1.68% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Ingredion during the 1st quarter valued at about $57,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Ingredion by 68.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 921 shares of the companys stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Ingredion by 1,760.0% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,581 shares of the companys stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 1,496 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 117.0% during the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,617 shares of the companys stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 426.0% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,536 shares of the companys stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.70% of the companys stock. About Ingredion (Get Rating) Ingredion, Inc engages in the development, production, and sale of food and beverage ingredients, primarily starches and sweeteners. The firm is involved in transforming corn, tapioca, potatoes, plant-based stevia, grains, fruits, gums, and vegetables into value-added ingredients and biomaterials for the food, beverage, brewing, and other industries. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Ingredion Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ingredion and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Invesco (NYSE:IVZ Get Rating) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued on Friday. IVZ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Invesco from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Invesco from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Credit Suisse Group raised Invesco from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and increased their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $15.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Invesco from $18.00 to $18.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Invesco from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $17.72. Get Invesco alerts: Invesco Stock Up 3.3 % NYSE:IVZ traded up $0.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $16.57. 3,009,147 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,001,575. Invesco has a twelve month low of $13.20 and a twelve month high of $20.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 17.95 and a quick ratio of 4.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.50 and a 200 day moving average of $17.59. The stock has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a PE ratio of 12.01, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.34. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Invesco Invesco ( NYSE:IVZ Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. Invesco had a return on equity of 7.12% and a net margin of 14.87%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. The businesss revenue was down 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Invesco will post 1.64 earnings per share for the current year. Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in Invesco by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 135,608 shares of the asset managers stock worth $2,224,000 after buying an additional 2,964 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Invesco by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 23,504 shares of the asset managers stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 3,401 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Invesco during the 1st quarter worth $228,000. Commerce Bank increased its position in Invesco by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 13,686 shares of the asset managers stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 2,194 shares during the period. Finally, Ellevest Inc. increased its position in Invesco by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 5,599 shares of the asset managers stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.42% of the companys stock. Invesco Company Profile (Get Rating) Invesco Ltd. engages in the investment management business. Its product includes mutual funds, unit trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and retirement plans. The company was founded in December 1935 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Invesco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Invesco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lessened its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:EFA Get Rating) by 19.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,217 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 3,280 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Managements holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE ETF were worth $868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VitalStone Financial LLC acquired a new position in iShares MSCI EAFE ETF during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 172.9% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 464 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Field & Main Bank lifted its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 189.7% during the 4th quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 504 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Old North State Trust LLC purchased a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.78% of the companys stock. Get iShares MSCI EAFE ETF alerts: iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Stock Performance Shares of NYSEARCA:EFA opened at $73.88 on Friday. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has a twelve month low of $54.61 and a twelve month high of $73.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.17. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Profile iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, formerly iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (the Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Funds investment objective is to seek investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of its underlying index, MSCI EAFE Index (the Index). The Index has been developed by MSCI Inc as an equity benchmark for its international stock performance. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EFA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:EFA Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV Get Rating)s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $23.90 and last traded at $23.86, with a volume of 23696287 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $23.43. iShares Silver Trust Stock Performance The stock has a 50-day moving average of $21.62 and a 200-day moving average of $20.85. Get iShares Silver Trust alerts: Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares Silver Trust Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in shares of iShares Silver Trust by 65.8% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,494,344 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $201,152,000 after buying an additional 4,560,000 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA grew its position in iShares Silver Trust by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 3,850,025 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $88,089,000 after purchasing an additional 213,612 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in iShares Silver Trust by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,527,902 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $77,684,000 after purchasing an additional 226,510 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in iShares Silver Trust by 48.0% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,711,172 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $62,032,000 after acquiring an additional 879,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in iShares Silver Trust during the 4th quarter worth $29,521,000. iShares Silver Trust Company Profile iShares Silver Trust (the Trust) owns silver transferred to the Trust in exchange for shares issued by the Trust. The Trusts each share represents a fractional undivided beneficial interest in its net assets. The assets of the Trust consist of silver held by the Trusts custodian on behalf of the Trust. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for iShares Silver Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Silver Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ithaca Energy plc (LON:ITH Get Rating)s share price traded down 2.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 152.60 ($1.91) and last traded at GBX 153 ($1.91). 87,042 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 308,511 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 156.80 ($1.96). Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth ITH has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ithaca Energy from GBX 140 ($1.75) to GBX 160 ($2.00) and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Ithaca Energy from GBX 245 ($3.06) to GBX 195 ($2.44) and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Get Ithaca Energy alerts: Ithaca Energy Price Performance The company has a market capitalization of 1.55 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 188.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 160.65. Ithaca Energy Dividend Announcement Ithaca Energy Company Profile The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 23rd. This represents a dividend yield of 5.77%. Ithaca Energys dividend payout ratio is 1,358.02%. (Get Rating) Ithaca Energy plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas in the North Sea. The company own a portfolio of assets located in Northern and Central North Sea and Moray Firth areas. As of December 31, 2021, it had proved and probable reserves, and resources of 5.6 millions of barrels of oil equivalent. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Ithaca Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ithaca Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Fundamental Research set a C$1.18 target price on Kidoz (CVE:KIDZ Get Rating) in a research report released on Tuesday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kidoz Stock Up 29.3 % Shares of CVE:KIDZ opened at C$0.27 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 2.53. The firm has a market capitalization of C$34.79 million, a PE ratio of -26.50 and a beta of -1.39. The firms 50-day moving average is C$0.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$0.30. Kidoz has a 1 year low of C$0.20 and a 1 year high of C$0.55. Get Kidoz alerts: Kidoz Company Profile (Get Rating) See Also Kidoz Inc develops and sells AdTech software products in Western Europe; Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe; North America; and internationally. The company also owns and develops mobile Kidoz safe ad network, the Kidoz kid-mode operating system, the Kidoz publisher SDK, the Rooplay edugames platform, and the Rooplay originals. Receive News & Ratings for Kidoz Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kidoz and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX Get Rating) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The building manufacturing company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.27, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $584.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $618.23 million. Louisiana-Pacific had a return on equity of 37.43% and a net margin of 19.05%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 56.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.08 earnings per share. Louisiana-Pacific Stock Up 2.4 % NYSE LPX traded up $1.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $61.88. 1,074,934 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 947,739. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 3.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Louisiana-Pacific has a 52-week low of $48.20 and a 52-week high of $76.89. The firm has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.64. Get Louisiana-Pacific alerts: Louisiana-Pacific Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. Louisiana-Pacifics dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.06%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Institutional Inflows and Outflows LPX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Louisiana-Pacific from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson upped their price target on Louisiana-Pacific from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Louisiana-Pacific from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded Louisiana-Pacific from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $63.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Louisiana-Pacific currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $61.60. A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,311,921 shares of the building manufacturing companys stock valued at $205,737,000 after acquiring an additional 655,132 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Louisiana-Pacific by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,441,912 shares of the building manufacturing companys stock valued at $151,692,000 after purchasing an additional 50,575 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Louisiana-Pacific by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,016,035 shares of the building manufacturing companys stock worth $63,115,000 after acquiring an additional 18,612 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Louisiana-Pacific by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 798,267 shares of the building manufacturing companys stock worth $41,837,000 after acquiring an additional 7,301 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Louisiana-Pacific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,576,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.23% of the companys stock. About Louisiana-Pacific (Get Rating) Louisiana-Pacific Corp. engages in the provision of building solutions. It operates through the following segments: Siding, Oriented Strand Board (OSB), South America, and Other. The Siding segment offers engineered wood siding under the brands of LP, SmartSide, Trim and Siding LP, SmartSide, ExpertFinish, Trim and Siding, LP BuilderSeries, Lap Siding, and Outdoor Building Solutions. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Louisiana-Pacific Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Louisiana-Pacific and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Madison Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV Get Rating) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 203,849 shares of the insurance providers stock after selling 58,752 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Travelers Companies worth $38,220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRV. US Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Travelers Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Travelers Companies by 203.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 364 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Travelers Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Standard Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Travelers Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc acquired a new position in shares of Travelers Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 81.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Travelers Companies alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research analysts have recently weighed in on TRV shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Travelers Companies in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. They set an outperform rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $181.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, March 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Travelers Companies from $188.00 to $182.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $191.73. Travelers Companies Stock Performance NYSE TRV opened at $182.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $42.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.60. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.65 and a 12-month high of $194.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $174.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.84. Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 19th. The insurance provider reported $4.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.64 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $9.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. Travelers Companies had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 13.41%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.22 EPS. Analysts anticipate that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 14.31 earnings per share for the current year. Travelers Companies Increases Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 9th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 8th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. This is an increase from Travelers Companiess previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Travelers Companiess payout ratio is currently 31.71%. Travelers Companies declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to buy up to 12.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the companys board of directors believes its shares are undervalued. Insider Transactions at Travelers Companies In other news, CEO Alan D. Schnitzer sold 150,829 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.53, for a total transaction of $28,435,791.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 196,914 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $37,124,196.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Daniel S. Frey sold 37,316 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.08, for a total transaction of $6,682,549.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 11,703 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,095,773.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Alan D. Schnitzer sold 150,829 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.53, for a total transaction of $28,435,791.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 196,914 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $37,124,196.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 228,051 shares of company stock valued at $42,423,406. Company insiders own 1.29% of the companys stock. About Travelers Companies (Get Rating) The Travelers Cos., Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services. It operates through the following business segments: Business Insurance, Bond and Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment provides an array of property and casualty insurance, and insurance related services to its customers primarily in the U.S., as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and throughout other parts of the world as a corporate member of Lloyds. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Travelers Companies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Travelers Companies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Manchester Financial Inc. lowered its stake in iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF (BATS:SVAL Get Rating) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,555 shares of the companys stock after selling 1,433 shares during the quarter. iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF comprises 1.4% of Manchester Financial Inc.s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Manchester Financial Inc.s holdings in iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF were worth $4,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG bought a new stake in shares of iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,999 shares of the companys stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 1,676 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 10,035 shares of the companys stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF during the 1st quarter worth approximately $309,000. Get iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF alerts: iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF Trading Up 3.1 % BATS SVAL traded up $0.73 on Friday, reaching $24.74. 20,444 shares of the stock traded hands. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $26.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.28. The company has a market cap of $89.08 million, a P/E ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 0.97. iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF Profile The iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF (SVAL) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the Russell 2000 Focused Value Select index. The fund tracks an equally-weighted index of small-cap value companies selected by multiple factors. SVAL was launched on Oct 27, 2020 and is managed by BlackRock. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SVAL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF (BATS:SVAL Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. NATO supports normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Trend reports via the tweet of the NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs & Security Policy and Special Representative for the Caucasus & Central Asia Javier Colomina. Colomina welcomed tangible progress towards a durable peace agreement in Washington after four days of meeting between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan. On May 1-4, 2023, negotiations were held in Arlington (Virginia) between Bayramov and Mirzoyan. The ministers and the members of the delegation accompanying them reached mutual agreement on some articles of the draft bilateral agreement on peace and the establishment of interstate relations. At the same time they recognized that positions on some key issues still diverge. Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP Get Rating) had its price target raised by UBS Group from $54.00 to $67.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, The Fly reports. A number of other analysts have also commented on TAP. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Molson Coors Beverage in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Molson Coors Beverage from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Molson Coors Beverage from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Wednesday. TheStreet lowered Molson Coors Beverage from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on Molson Coors Beverage from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $56.71. Get Molson Coors Beverage alerts: Molson Coors Beverage Price Performance Shares of TAP stock opened at $64.89 on Wednesday. The stocks fifty day moving average is $54.74 and its 200-day moving average is $52.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.04 billion, a PE ratio of -54.53, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.83. Molson Coors Beverage has a 52 week low of $46.69 and a 52 week high of $66.67. Molson Coors Beverage Increases Dividend Molson Coors Beverage ( NYSE:TAP Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.23 billion. Molson Coors Beverage had a positive return on equity of 7.16% and a negative net margin of 1.97%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Molson Coors Beverage will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 2nd. This is a boost from Molson Coors Beverages previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Molson Coors Beverages payout ratio is -137.81%. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Molson Coors Beverage Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Trustcore Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Molson Coors Beverage in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 2,192.0% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 573 shares of the companys stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 1,781.3% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the companys stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 650 shares of the companys stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.24% of the companys stock. About Molson Coors Beverage (Get Rating) Molson Coors Beverage Co is a holding company, which engages in the production and sale of beer. It operates through the following segments: Americas, and EMEA and APAC. The Americas segment operates in the U.S., Canada and various countries in the Caribbean, Latin, and South America. The EMEA and APAC segment operates in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Serbia, the UK, various other European countries, and certain countries within the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Molson Coors Beverage Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Molson Coors Beverage and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. NatWest Group (LON:NWG Get Rating) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from GBX 340 ($4.25) to GBX 310 ($3.87) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports. Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a GBX 380 ($4.75) target price on shares of NatWest Group in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Credit Suisse Group cut their price target on NatWest Group from GBX 360 ($4.50) to GBX 350 ($4.37) in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a GBX 400 ($5.00) price target on shares of NatWest Group in a report on Friday, April 21st. Bank of America reiterated a buy rating on shares of NatWest Group in a report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a buy rating on shares of NatWest Group in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NatWest Group presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of GBX 340 ($4.25). Get NatWest Group alerts: NatWest Group Stock Performance NWG stock opened at GBX 259.30 ($3.24) on Tuesday. NatWest Group has a 1 year low of GBX 200.13 ($2.50) and a 1 year high of GBX 313.10 ($3.91). The stocks 50 day moving average price is GBX 271.29 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 270.35. The firm has a market cap of 24.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 740.86, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.30. NatWest Group Increases Dividend Insider Transactions at NatWest Group The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 16th were issued a dividend of GBX 10 ($0.12) per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.27%. This is an increase from NatWest Groups previous dividend of $3.50. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 16th. NatWest Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 4,000.00%. In other news, insider Roisin Donnelly acquired 7,318 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 272 ($3.40) per share, for a total transaction of 19,904.96 ($24,868.77). In other news, insider Roisin Donnelly acquired 7,318 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 272 ($3.40) per share, for a total transaction of 19,904.96 ($24,868.77). Also, insider Frank Dangeard acquired 1,014 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 267 ($3.34) per share, with a total value of 2,707.38 ($3,382.53). Insiders own 42.65% of the companys stock. About NatWest Group (Get Rating) NatWest Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services to personal, commercial, corporate, and institutional customers in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Private Banking, RBS International, and NatWest Markets segments. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for NatWest Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for NatWest Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New Zealand Energy Corp. (CVE:NZ Get Rating)s share price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$0.09 and traded as high as C$0.10. New Zealand Energy shares last traded at C$0.10, with a volume of 5,000 shares traded. New Zealand Energy Price Performance The company has a market capitalization of C$2.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.33 and a beta of 2.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of C$0.10 and a 200-day moving average price of C$0.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 182.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.60. About New Zealand Energy (Get Rating) New Zealand Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas in New Zealand. It has interests in Taranaki Basin; Copper Moki/Eltham permits; Alton permits; and TWN licenses. It also operates midstream assets. New Zealand Energy Corp. was incorporated in 2010 and is based in New Plymouth, New Zealand. See Also Receive News & Ratings for New Zealand Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for New Zealand Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. North American Palladium Ltd. (OTCMKTS:PALDF Get Rating)s share price passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.98 and traded as high as $15.01. North American Palladium shares last traded at $14.98, with a volume of 21,600 shares trading hands. North American Palladium Trading Up 0.3 % The company has a market cap of $881.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 2.08. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $14.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.98. About North American Palladium (Get Rating) North American Palladium Ltd. produces precious metals in Canada. It explores for palladium, platinum, gold, nickel, copper, and other metals. It primarily holds interest in the Lac des Iles mine that is located to the northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. See Also Receive News & Ratings for North American Palladium Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for North American Palladium and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Maxim Group downgraded shares of Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday, The Fly reports. Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on NWN. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Northwest Natural in a research note on Friday, March 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Northwest Natural in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Northwest Natural from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $48.25. Get Northwest Natural alerts: Northwest Natural Price Performance Shares of NYSE:NWN opened at $47.05 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.75, a PEG ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Northwest Natural has a twelve month low of $42.37 and a twelve month high of $55.97. Northwest Natural Announces Dividend Northwest Natural ( NYSE:NWN Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $462.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.46 million. Northwest Natural had a net margin of 8.85% and a return on equity of 8.69%. Northwest Naturals quarterly revenue was up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Northwest Natural will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 27th. Northwest Naturals payout ratio is 73.21%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northwest Natural A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Northwest Natural by 83.7% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 652 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Northwest Natural by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 930 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Northwest Natural in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Northwest Natural by 322.0% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,401 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 45.5% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,781 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. 74.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Northwest Natural Company Profile (Get Rating) Northwest Natural Holding Co engages in the local distribution of gas and water through its subsidiaries. It supplies natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. The company founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Portland, OR. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Northwest Natural Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Northwest Natural and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS Get Rating) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $481.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $477.49 million. Nu Skin Enterprises had a net margin of 3.68% and a return on equity of 14.13%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Nu Skin Enterprises Trading Up 1.2 % NYSE NUS opened at $38.87 on Friday. Nu Skin Enterprises has a one year low of $29.95 and a one year high of $47.84. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a PE ratio of 25.24 and a beta of 1.21. Get Nu Skin Enterprises alerts: Nu Skin Enterprises Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 26th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 25th. Nu Skin Enterprisess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.30%. Analysts Set New Price Targets Insider Activity Several brokerages have weighed in on NUS. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, January 30th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a report on Wednesday, March 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $39.33. In other news, Director Andrew D. Lipman sold 2,000 shares of Nu Skin Enterprises stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.75, for a total value of $81,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,393 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,461,014.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Andrew D. Lipman sold 2,000 shares of Nu Skin Enterprises stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.75, for a total value of $81,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,461,014.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Emma S. Battle sold 987 shares of Nu Skin Enterprises stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.70, for a total transaction of $41,157.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,659 shares in the company, valued at $194,280.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 90,115 shares of company stock valued at $3,649,237. Company insiders own 2.00% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Nu Skin Enterprises Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its position in Nu Skin Enterprises by 37.1% in the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 809 shares of the companys stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,205 shares of the companys stock worth $875,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,657 shares of the companys stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 28,472 shares of the companys stock worth $1,363,000 after buying an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 118.2% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,150 shares of the companys stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 623 shares in the last quarter. 93.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About Nu Skin Enterprises (Get Rating) Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the development and distribution of beauty and wellness solutions. It operates through the following segments: Mainland China, Americas, South Korea, Southeast Asia/Pacific, EMEA, Japan, Hong Kong/Taiwan, Nu Skin Other, Manufacturing, and Rhyz Other. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Nu Skin Enterprises Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Nu Skin Enterprises and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Victoria Gold Corp. (TSE:VGC Get Rating) Research analysts at Pi Financial issued their Q1 2023 EPS estimates for Victoria Gold in a research note issued to investors on Monday, May 1st. Pi Financial analyst C. Thompson anticipates that the company will post earnings of $0.16 per share for the quarter. Get Victoria Gold alerts: Victoria Gold (TSE:VGC Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported C$0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of C$0.10 by C$0.06. The company had revenue of C$92.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$98.00 million. Victoria Gold Price Performance Separately, Desjardins restated a buy rating on shares of Victoria Gold in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Victoria Gold Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Victoria Gold and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. PNM Resources (NYSE:PNM Get Rating) posted its earnings results on Friday. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.16, Briefing.com reports. PNM Resources had a net margin of 7.55% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The company had revenue of $544.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $460.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. PNM Resourcess quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. PNM Resources updated its FY23 guidance to $2.65-2.75 EPS. PNM Resources Price Performance Shares of PNM Resources stock traded up $0.57 on Friday, reaching $48.39. 783,598 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 496,089. The firms 50 day moving average is $48.73 and its 200-day moving average is $48.56. PNM Resources has a one year low of $43.43 and a one year high of $49.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.42. Get PNM Resources alerts: PNM Resources Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.368 per share. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th. PNM Resourcess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.62%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Institutional Trading of PNM Resources A number of analysts have issued reports on PNM shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of PNM Resources in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Mizuho downgraded shares of PNM Resources from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $50.30 in a report on Monday, January 9th. A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PNM Resources by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,045,025 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $413,629,000 after acquiring an additional 99,734 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in PNM Resources by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,164,685 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $144,721,000 after purchasing an additional 19,343 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in PNM Resources by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,268,092 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $61,871,000 after purchasing an additional 5,161 shares in the last quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board increased its position in PNM Resources by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board now owns 1,157,541 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $56,476,000 after purchasing an additional 19,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in PNM Resources by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 997,638 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $48,675,000 after purchasing an additional 22,994 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.88% of the companys stock. PNM Resources Company Profile (Get Rating) PNM Resources, Inc operates as an investor-owned holding company, which provides electricity and electric services in New Mexico and Texas. It operates through the following segments: Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), Texas-New Mexico Power Company (TNMP), and Corporate and Other. The PNM segment includes the retail electric utility operations of the company. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for PNM Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for PNM Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. PPL (NYSE:PPL Get Rating) released its earnings results on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04, Briefing.com reports. PPL had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 9.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. PPL updated its FY23 guidance to $1.50-1.65 EPS. PPL Price Performance Shares of PPL traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $28.75. 5,717,271 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,115,545. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.28. The company has a market capitalization of $21.18 billion, a PE ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.77. PPL has a one year low of $23.47 and a one year high of $31.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.63. Get PPL alerts: PPL Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 9th. This is a positive change from PPLs previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. PPLs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.43%. Insider Transactions at PPL Institutional Trading of PPL In other news, insider John R. Crockett III sold 5,500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,161 shares of the companys stock, valued at $256,508. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link . 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its position in shares of PPL by 3.7% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 350,807 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $10,501,000 after buying an additional 12,428 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of PPL by 2.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,292,612 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $65,480,000 after purchasing an additional 50,658 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of PPL by 9.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 341,996 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $9,779,000 after purchasing an additional 29,496 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of PPL by 1.2% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 409,552 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $11,697,000 after purchasing an additional 4,998 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of PPL by 7.7% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 10,764 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.02% of the companys stock. Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PPL shares. TheStreet raised PPL from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on PPL from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Barclays started coverage on PPL in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. They issued an equal weight rating for the company. StockNews.com started coverage on PPL in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on PPL from $32.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $31.00. About PPL (Get Rating) PPL Corp. engages in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. It operates through the two reportable segments: Kentucky Regulated & Pennsylvania Regulated. The Kentucky Regulated segment consists of LKEs regulated electricity generation, transmission and distribution operations of Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company as well as regulated distribution and sale of natural gas of Louisville Gas and Electric Company. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for PPL Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for PPL and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Premier African Minerals Limited (LON:PREM Get Rating)s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 0.64 ($0.01) and traded as high as GBX 0.96 ($0.01). Premier African Minerals shares last traded at GBX 0.94 ($0.01), with a volume of 59,698,542 shares traded. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Separately, Shore Capital reissued a house stock rating on shares of Premier African Minerals in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Get Premier African Minerals alerts: Premier African Minerals Stock Up 1.2 % The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 2.54. The stock has a market capitalization of 222.41 million, a PE ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 0.85 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 0.65. About Premier African Minerals Premier African Minerals Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mining, exploration, evaluation, development, and investment of natural resource properties on the African continent. The company explores for tungsten, lithium, tantalum, fluorspar, potash, and gold deposits. It holds interests in various properties located in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Premier African Minerals Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Premier African Minerals and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. A group of Azerbaijani members of Parliament will pay a visit to France's Strasbourg on May 8, the Press and Public Relations Department of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) told Trend. Head of the delegation to the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee Tural Ganjaliyev, as well as members of the delegation Sevil Mikayilova and Nurlan Hasanov will hold a number of meetings with official representatives of the European Parliament. The meetings will include an exchange of views on strengthening mutual cooperation and other issues of mutual interest. According to the source, the visit will end on May 12. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in Extra Space Storage Inc. (NYSE:EXR Get Rating) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 365,528 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after selling 15,202 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.s holdings in Extra Space Storage were worth $53,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EXR. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Extra Space Storage by 5.6% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,404 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Extra Space Storage by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,502 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Extra Space Storage in the 1st quarter worth approximately $625,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Extra Space Storage by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 2,522 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Extra Space Storage in the 1st quarter worth approximately $332,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.32% of the companys stock. Get Extra Space Storage alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Extra Space Storage In other Extra Space Storage news, CEO Joseph D. Margolis sold 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.07, for a total transaction of $800,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,144 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,424,100.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Samrat Sondhi sold 6,290 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.88, for a total transaction of $1,018,225.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 82,653 shares of the companys stock, valued at $13,379,867.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Joseph D. Margolis sold 5,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.07, for a total value of $800,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,144 shares in the company, valued at $2,424,100.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,440 shares of company stock valued at $2,172,313. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the companys stock. Extra Space Storage Trading Up 2.6 % NYSE:EXR opened at $154.74 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $157.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.91. The stock has a market cap of $20.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. Extra Space Storage Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.97 and a 12 month high of $216.52. Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.08 by ($0.56). Extra Space Storage had a return on equity of 21.62% and a net margin of 43.79%. The company had revenue of $506.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. Extra Space Storages quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Extra Space Storage Inc. will post 8.52 EPS for the current year. Extra Space Storage Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is an increase from Extra Space Storages previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. Extra Space Storages dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.89%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several analysts have issued reports on EXR shares. Wolfe Research cut shares of Extra Space Storage from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Extra Space Storage from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Extra Space Storage from $190.00 to $172.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Extra Space Storage from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Extra Space Storage from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $170.56. Extra Space Storage Profile (Get Rating) Extra Space Storage, Inc is a real estate investment trust. It operates through the following segments: Self-Storage Operations and Tenant Reinsurance. The Self-Storage Operations segment includes rental operations of wholly-owned stores. The Tenant Reinsurance segment includes reinsurance of risks relating to the loss of goods stored by tenants in stores. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EXR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Extra Space Storage Inc. (NYSE:EXR Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Extra Space Storage Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Extra Space Storage and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ryerson Holding Co. (NYSE:RYI Get Rating) Investment analysts at KeyCorp issued their Q2 2023 earnings per share estimates for shares of Ryerson in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, May 2nd. KeyCorp analyst P. Gibbs forecasts that the basic materials company will earn $1.30 per share for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Ryersons current full-year earnings is $3.70 per share. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Ryersons Q3 2023 earnings at $0.72 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $0.39 EPS and FY2023 earnings at $3.70 EPS. Get Ryerson alerts: Several other equities analysts have also commented on RYI. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ryerson from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Ryerson in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Ryerson from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Ryerson Stock Performance Shares of Ryerson stock opened at $34.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Ryerson has a 12 month low of $18.68 and a 12 month high of $41.89. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $36.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.92. Ryerson (NYSE:RYI Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.65) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.35). Ryerson had a net margin of 4.59% and a return on equity of 32.23%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. Institutional Trading of Ryerson A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RYI. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Ryerson by 76.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,748 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new stake in Ryerson in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ryerson in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Ryerson by 166.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,189 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 1,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Ryerson by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,547 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. 92.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Ryerson Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 31st. This is an increase from Ryersons previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Ryersons payout ratio is presently 9.47%. Ryerson Company Profile (Get Rating) Ryerson Holding Corp. engages in the processing and distribution of industrial metals. It processes and distributes products in stainless steel, aluminum carbon steel and alloy steels, and a limited line of nickel and red metals in various shapes and forms. The firm serves end-markets including oil and gas, industrial equipment, transportation equipment, heavy equipment, and electrical machinery. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Ryerson Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ryerson and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV Get Rating) EVP Ryan C. Green sold 4,936 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.94, for a total value of $147,783.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,361 shares of the companys stock, valued at $789,248.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Southwest Airlines Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $29.66 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $28.81 and a twelve month high of $46.80. The firm has a market cap of $17.65 billion, a PE ratio of 29.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.60 and a 200-day moving average of $34.67. Get Southwest Airlines alerts: Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The airline reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.21) by ($0.06). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 2.65% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The business had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.32) earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year. Analysts Set New Price Targets Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines LUV has been the subject of several research reports. Cowen reduced their target price on Southwest Airlines from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Barclays cut Southwest Airlines from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, March 10th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Melius cut Southwest Airlines from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $39.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $45.15. Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Cowa LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 247.5% during the 1st quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 702 shares of the airlines stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, First Community Trust NA bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 74.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. About Southwest Airlines (Get Rating) Southwest Airlines Co engages in the operation and management of a passenger airline. The firm also offers ancillary services such as early bird check-in, upgraded boarding, and transportation of pets and unaccompanied minors. It operates in the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Southwest Airlines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Southwest Airlines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Spirit Airlines, Inc. (NYSE:SAVE Get Rating) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $15.91 and last traded at $15.93, with a volume of 988144 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.68. Analyst Ratings Changes Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Spirit Airlines in a report on Monday, April 3rd. They set a sell rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $26.86. Get Spirit Airlines alerts: Spirit Airlines Stock Up 1.2 % The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. Spirit Airlines Dividend Announcement Spirit Airlines ( NYSE:SAVE Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported ($0.82) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by $0.07. Spirit Airlines had a negative return on equity of 6.24% and a negative net margin of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($1.60) EPS. The firms revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Spirit Airlines, Inc. will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current year. The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 24th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 21st. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spirit Airlines Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC increased its position in Spirit Airlines by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 329,369 shares of the companys stock worth $5,655,000 after purchasing an additional 23,786 shares during the period. CTC Capital Management LLC increased its position in Spirit Airlines by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. CTC Capital Management LLC now owns 20,000 shares of the companys stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Segantii Capital Management Ltd increased its position in Spirit Airlines by 266.6% during the 1st quarter. Segantii Capital Management Ltd now owns 2,034,386 shares of the companys stock worth $34,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,479,386 shares during the period. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Spirit Airlines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $197,000. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC increased its position in Spirit Airlines by 125.2% during the 1st quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 430,975 shares of the companys stock worth $7,400,000 after purchasing an additional 239,584 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.72% of the companys stock. About Spirit Airlines (Get Rating) Spirit Airlines, Inc engages in the provision of air transportation services. Its operations are concentrated in markets such as South Florida, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Northeast and Northern Midwest regions of the United States. The firm offers travel insurance, carry-on and checked baggage, online booking, and other services. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Spirit Airlines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Spirit Airlines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Stevanato Group (NYSE:STVN Get Rating) had its price target raised by UBS Group from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report report published on Friday, The Fly reports. A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Stevanato Group from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Stevanato Group from $27.00 to $30.00 in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Stevanato Group from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Stevanato Group from $22.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Get Stevanato Group alerts: Stevanato Group Stock Performance NYSE:STVN opened at 26.85 ($29.51) on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.83. Stevanato Group has a fifty-two week low of 13.35 ($14.67) and a fifty-two week high of 29.23 ($32.12). The firm has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a PE ratio of 47.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of 25.03 and a 200-day moving average price of 20.37. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Stevanato Group ( NYSE:STVN Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported 0.19 ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of 0.16 ($0.18) by 0.03 ($0.03). The business had revenue of 292.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of 271.89 million. Stevanato Group had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 15.56%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Stevanato Group will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current year. Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Stevanato Group by 79.9% in the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,799 shares of the companys stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Simplex Trading LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stevanato Group in the first quarter worth $44,000. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Stevanato Group by 109.6% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,366 shares of the companys stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 2,806 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Stevanato Group by 166.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,837 shares of the companys stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 3,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada bought a new stake in Stevanato Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $138,000. 10.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Stevanato Group Company Profile (Get Rating) Stevanato Group S.p.A. engages in the design, production, and distribution of products and processes to provide integrated solutions for pharma and healthcare. Its principal products include containment solutions, drug delivery systems, medical devices, diagnostic, analytical services, visual inspection machines, assembling and packaging machines, and glass forming machines. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Stevanato Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Stevanato Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brinker International (NYSE:EAT Get Rating) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday. Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on EAT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Brinker International from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Brinker International from $45.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Brinker International from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Brinker International from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Brinker International from $29.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $37.94. Get Brinker International alerts: Brinker International Stock Down 2.4 % EAT stock traded down $0.95 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.05. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,065,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,057,543. Brinker International has a 52-week low of $21.47 and a 52-week high of $42.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 2.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.92. Insider Transactions at Brinker International Brinker International ( NYSE:EAT Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The restaurant operator reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.07 billion. Brinker International had a net margin of 2.17% and a negative return on equity of 44.32%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brinker International will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. In other news, SVP Wade Allen sold 12,139 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.42, for a total transaction of $490,658.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,647 shares in the company, valued at $1,157,911.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 12,986 shares of company stock worth $525,047 over the last ninety days. 2.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Brinker International by 224.6% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 254,950 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $9,729,000 after buying an additional 176,405 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 74.4% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 58,426 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 24,923 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brinker International in the first quarter valued at about $237,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 53.4% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 24,327 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 8,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 3.1% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 121,256 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $4,627,000 after purchasing an additional 3,610 shares in the last quarter. About Brinker International (Get Rating) Brinker International, Inc engages in owning, developing, and franchising Chilis Grill and Bar and Maggianos Little Italy restaurant brands. It operates through the following segments: Chilis, and Maggianos. The Chilis segment includes the results of company-owned Chilis restaurants in the U.S. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Brinker International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Brinker International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (OTCMKTS:SDCJF Get Rating) shares passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $0.15 and traded as high as $0.15. Sundance Energy Australia shares last traded at $0.15, with a volume of 1,200 shares trading hands. Sundance Energy Australia Stock Performance The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $0.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $0.15. Sundance Energy Australia Company Profile (Get Rating) Sundance Energy Australia Limited operates as an onshore oil and gas company in the United States. The company explores for, develops, and produces oil and natural gas. Its exploration and development activities are focused on the Eagle Ford project in the South-Texas-Gulf Coast Basin. Sundance Energy Australia Limited was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Wayville, Australia. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Sundance Energy Australia Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sundance Energy Australia and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Tianyin Pharmaceutical Inc Co (OTCMKTS:TPIY Get Rating)s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $0.00 and traded as high as $0.00. Tianyin Pharmaceutical shares last traded at $0.00, with a volume of 88,900 shares. Tianyin Pharmaceutical Stock Performance Tianyin Pharmaceutical Company Profile (Get Rating) Tianyin Pharmaceutical Co, Inc is engaged in the development, manufacturing, marketing and sale of modernized traditional Chinese medicines and other pharmaceuticals in China. Its products address significant medical needs in the therapeutic areas spanning internal medicines, gynecology, hepatology, otolaryngology, urology, neurology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, dermatology and pediatrics. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Tianyin Pharmaceutical Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Tianyin Pharmaceutical and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. Sponsored ADR (OTCMKTS:TKOMY Get Rating) crossed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $20.00 and traded as high as $20.33. Tokio Marine shares last traded at $19.95, with a volume of 54,622 shares. Tokio Marine Stock Performance The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.15. Tokio Marine Company Profile (Get Rating) Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in non-life and life insurance, international insurance, and financial and general businesses worldwide. The company provides business, fire, Internet and mobile, rental housing, and natural catastrophe risk insurance services, as well as insurance for retail and corporate fields. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Tokio Marine Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Tokio Marine and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Trinity Industries (NYSE:TRN Get Rating) had its target price reduced by Susquehanna from $26.00 to $22.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, The Fly reports. Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Trinity Industries in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Stephens decreased their price objective on Trinity Industries from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Trinity Industries from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $27.00. Get Trinity Industries alerts: Trinity Industries Trading Up 4.0 % Shares of TRN opened at $21.53 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of -1.15, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.56. Trinity Industries has a 12-month low of $20.07 and a 12-month high of $31.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a PE ratio of 27.60 and a beta of 1.38. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $24.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.97. Trinity Industries Dividend Announcement Trinity Industries ( NYSE:TRN Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The transportation company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $641.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $654.63 million. Trinity Industries had a net margin of 3.04% and a return on equity of 6.61%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 35.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Trinity Industries will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 14th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.83%. Trinity Industriess payout ratio is 133.33%. Insider Activity In other Trinity Industries news, Director Todd Maclin acquired 4,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $21.19 per share, with a total value of $95,355.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,742.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Todd Maclin acquired 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.19 per share, for a total transaction of $95,355.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,548 shares in the company, valued at $583,742.12. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jean Savage acquired 4,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $23.19 per share, for a total transaction of $99,717.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 194,176 shares in the company, valued at $4,502,941.44. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 13,285 shares of company stock valued at $295,043 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.20% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Trinity Industries Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Trinity Industries by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 42,483 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 2,901 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Trinity Industries by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 483,070 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $11,768,000 after buying an additional 59,801 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in Trinity Industries by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 11,548 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 903 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Trinity Industries in the 1st quarter valued at about $223,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in Trinity Industries by 31.2% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 71,689 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $1,746,000 after buying an additional 17,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.23% of the companys stock. About Trinity Industries (Get Rating) Trinity Industries, Inc engages in the provision of rail transportation products and services in North America. It operates through the following segments: Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group, Rail Products Group and All Other. The Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group segment provides railcar industry services. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Trinity Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Trinity Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. People who shot footage in Baku using the emblem of the Armenian Haytarak group have been identified, Trend reports. The State Security Service of Azerbaijan released a video material in connection with this issue. Shares of Wincanton plc (LON:WIN Get Rating) passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 294.75 ($3.68) and traded as low as GBX 204.50 ($2.55). Wincanton shares last traded at GBX 212 ($2.65), with a volume of 1,242,158 shares. Wincanton Stock Performance The company has a market capitalization of 273.99 million, a PE ratio of 564.10 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of GBX 222.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 294.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 317.76, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. About Wincanton (Get Rating) Wincanton plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of outsourced and integrated supply chain solutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It offers business critical services, including storage, handling and distribution, eFulfilment, retailer, home delivery, fleet and transport management, and network optimization. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Wincanton Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Wincanton and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Go First suddenly shutting its operations and approaching the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for bankruptcy protection under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has sent Indian aviation into a tizzy. Go First has also sued engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (P&W) in a court in Delaware, US, for the enforcement of an arbitration award granted by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). Go First says all its misery is because Pratt & Whitney (P&W) has neither repaired nor replaced the faulty engines, leading to 50 percent of its fleet being grounded. But may some introspection also be expected of Go FIRST? Why did it choose to stick with the vendor all these years? The India story With over 80 percent market share, the Indian narrow-body aircraft market is largely dominated by Airbus. Air India, AirAsia India, Vistara, IndiGo, and Go FIRST all of which fly the A320neo. Airbus offers customers two engine options in this: the P&W GTF or the CFM LEAP. The Tata group of airlines opted for the CFM LEAP, while IndiGo and Go FIRST, who had placed their orders much earlier, opted for the P&W-powered planes. From engine shutdown due to problems encountered mid-flight, to erroneous warnings, the engines gave all sorts of trouble. IndiGo opted for the CFM for its follow-on order, while Go FIRST stuck with P&W because it worked out cheaper. Is this where Go FIRST erred? IndiGo is one of the largest customers of Airbus, and suppliers and vendors try their best to be associated with the airline. From seats to engines, to win an IndiGo order is prestigious. CFM managed to woo IndiGo over from P&W with a record-breaking order for 280 engines, deliveries for which started in 2020. While IndiGos planes are also grounded, the diversification helped. Strong contracts to the rescue? IndiGo and Kingfisher Airlines used the same engines in 2010, when Kingfisher was facing engine issues. The difference then was that engines for IndiGo were being replaced at zero or minimal cost, while Kingfisher Airlines was paying through its nose for the same. The difference lay in contract terms. How is it this time around? Contracts are rarely public and IndiGo has shied from sharing the compensation it is getting from P&W for the grounded aircraft. However, while a strong contract may definitely help with the compensation, supply chain issues and shortage of engines would mean that planes would still remain grounded. Go FIRST may or may not fly again, but the case in Delaware may impact P&W significantly. Is this what Go FIRST is banking on to resolve the issue outside the courts and re-start the airline? And if it does restart, can it move to CFM? Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged on Saturday, May 6 across New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. The fuel prices have been steady over the last eleven months. At present, petrol in Delhi is being sold at Rs 96.72 a litre while diesel is being sold at Rs 89.62 a litre. Whereas in Mumbai, petrol is available at Rs 106.31 and diesel at Rs 94.27 per litre. While petrol in Kolkata is Rs 106.03 and diesel is Rs 92.76 per litre. On the other hand, petrol is being sold at Rs 102.63 and diesel at Rs 94.24 per litre in Chennai. Also Read: Oil set for worst run this year as recession fears rattle market In other news, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal expressed confidence that the country will achieve the target of 20 percent blending of ethanol with petrol by 2025 and asserted that maize crops will play an important role in the implementation of this programme. Addressing a national seminar on maize to ethanol, Goyal said ethanol is a "sunrise sector" and asked the industry to set up factories for manufacturing of this green fuel which can operate on dual feed stock (sugarcane and food grains). Also Read: Russia remains top supplier of crude oil to India in April; supplies 1.68 million bpd Russia continued to remain the top supplier of crude oil to India in the month of April as Moscow continues to supply crude at discounted prices. Energy tracker Vortexa showed in its report that the Eurasian country supplied 1.68 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude to India in April. Also Read: Piyush Goyal says India will achieve target of 20% ethanol-blended petrol by 2025; maize to play important role In April 2023, Iraq supplied 812,000 bpd of crude oil to India while Saudi Arabia provided 671,000 bpd. The share of Russian crude in Indias import basket stood at over 36 percent in April, compared to 33.9 percent in the previous month. Kerala-based NBFC Manappuram Finance Ltd, whose assets worth Rs 143 crore were frozen by the Enforcement Directorate recently, has claimed that the "visit" of the agency was based on a "malafide FIR" pertaining to now defunct Manappuram Agro Farms. The ED had on May 4 said that it had frozen assets worth Rs 143 crore of Manappuram Finance Ltd's MD and CEO V P Nandakumar after it conducted raids as part of a money laundering investigation. In a statement issued to the media, Nandakumar claimed that the "ED's visit" to the premises of the company has nothing to do with the business affairs of Manappuram Finance. "It was based on a malafide FIR filed by a person who harbours a personal grudge against him and his family. The case pertains to the now defunct Manappuram Agro Farms (Magro) which was a 10-year-old matter," the statement said on Friday. The non-banking financial company also claimed that the total value of shares attached by ED is worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore and not around Rs 140 crore as stated by the agency. The case pertains to allegations of money laundering through "illegal" collection of deposits from the public, the agency had said in a statement. During the course of searches, the ED said, it was found that the proceeds of crime had been "diverted and invested" by Nandakumar into immovable properties in his name, in the name of his spouse and children and into the shares of Manappuram Finance Ltd. "Hence, ED has freezed the assets of V P Nandakumar under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), totalling Rs 143 crore," it had said. The frozen assets include deposits kept in eight bank accounts, investment in listed shares and shares of Manappuram Finance Limited, the agency had said. Manappuram Finance Ltd offers a string of products like online gold loan, micro-home finance, forex and money transfer, business loan, secured personal loan among others. Loss-making budget airline Go Firsts move on May 2 to file for bankruptcy took the lessors of its aircraft off guard, and they are now caught between a rock and a hard place. If the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) accepts the airlines insolvency plea and request for a moratorium on its financial obligations, they will not be able to take back their aircraft from the airline even if they dont get paid. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) prohibits the recovery of any property by an owner or lessor where such property is occupied by or in the possession of the corporate debtor. This means that if Go First goes into insolvency, lessors of the airline cannot take back the flights. Since Go First went public with its insolvency plans, these lessors have made a dash to get the aircraft back by applying to the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to deregister some of its planes. This is a long-drawn process but even if they get access to the planes, the next challenge would be to get these planes to fly. Most of them are grounded because of faulty engines supplied by US-based Pratt & Whitney (P&W); the issue which is at the core of this crisis faced by Go First. ALSO READ: NCLT to hear two insolvency petitions filed against Go First on May 8 The lessors would rather get possession of the aircraft and then find a way to fly them than have them lie in some hangar in the possession of the airline. If the moratorium starts, the lessors cant get the planes back, and breaching the moratorium has criminal penalties, a lawyer advising one of the stakeholders told Moneycontrol. Thus far, aircraft leasing companies have sought to repossess and deregister 20 aircraft leased to Go First under the provisions of Irrevocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorization (IDERA). SMBC Aviation Capital, GY Aviation Lease, Banas Aviation Leasing Limited, Yamuna Aviation Leasing Limited, Narmada Aviation Leasing Limited, EOS Aviation, and Pembroke Aircraft Leasing, have approached the regulator to deregister 20 Airbus A320 Neo aircraft of the airline. Of the 20 aircraft, 15 were operating till May 2, after which the airline shut operations. Queries sent to lessors and Go First remained unanswered. ALSO READ: Wadias Go First manoeuvre should set the tone for IBC use Masterstroke by Promoters? The IBC states that for a company under insolvency, a moratorium will be placed on the recovery of any property by an owner or lessor where such property is occupied by or in the possession of the corporate debtor. Legal experts said the move by the promoters, the Wadia Group, is a well-planned move aimed at securing the airlines future as well as regaining control of it under Indias bankruptcy law. The lessors were taking control of the fleets. In order to save it, this is the only opportunity left with the promoters. If they dont initiate insolvency at this stage, the lessor may take away the aircraft because they have already applied for de-registering the aircraft, said Sandeep Bajaj, Managing Partner, PSL Advocates & Solicitors. Go First has a fleet of 54 Airbus 320 neos fitted with Raytheon-owned P&W engines, which the airline operates on a sale-and-leaseback model by working with around 11 international lessors. Out of its total fleet of 54 A320 neos, the airline was forced to ground around 26 planes due to engine issues. Go First had in November 2022 reached out to its lessors to discuss a moratorium on the lease rental payment for some of its grounded aircraft, citing non-payment of compensation from Pratt & Whitney for its grounded engines. While the airline sought compensation from Pratt & Whitney for faulty engines, with fewer operating aircraft its market share shrunk, leading to loss of revenue and delayed payments to vendors. Deja Vu The overhang of the Jet Airways experience is driving stakeholders to protect their interest. Majority of Jet Airways lessors moved swiftly and took re-possession of the planes ahead of its insolvency, which led to reduction in the troubled airlines asset value. While the Wadia group is keen to ensure its fleet is protected, the lessors seem to be desperately seeking to re-possess the planes. Unlike Jet Airways, the cash-strapped Go Firsts troubles stem from mounting debt owed to lenders and lessors even as half of its fleet lay grounded due to faulty engines. Kaushik Khona, Chief Executive Officer, exclusively told Moneycontrol that Go First was burning around Rs 200 crore every month since November which it could no longer afford, and had to resort to filing for insolvency. Tight Spot Lessors have few options. "Deregistering Go First aircraft is the first priority for lessors whose planes are ready to fly. If lessors are not able to de-register their airworthy planes they will lose out on revenue until the insolvency case resolves, which they will then look to recover from Go First," said Lokesh Sharma, a defence and aviation expert. He added that lessors may also file a claim with the insolvency court for any unpaid rent or damages incurred due to the insolvency of Go First. "However, the amount of the claim may be limited and there is no guarantee that the lessor will be able to recover their losses," Sharma said. A lawyer close to the development said that there is no recourse available to the lessors once the insolvency process starts. There are only two things lessors can claim. First, they need a proof of claim that states the amount owed, and second is the lease rental which will get aggregated as insolvency resolution process cost. This means that while they will be denied their property, they will be paid its rental for the next 9-12 months or so till the process ends. They will be paid before anybody else, even before lenders make any recovery, the lawyer said. But the long drawn insolvency process of Jet Airways is haunting the lessors. Failure on Take-off Industry players point out that even if the lessors get the planes, the lack of engines to fly them may remain a challenge. "It is in the interest of the lessors to let Go First go through insolvency and resolve the issues so that the aircraft can fly again. Getting a flight deregulated and taking it back is a long-drawn process. And how would they even fly the planes back without engines? P&W is not replacing the engines and if the lessors decide to change engines, they will have to spend a huge sum to make appropriate changes like replacing the pylon on the wings, said Mark D Martin, Chief Executive Officer of aviation consulting and aerosafety firm Martin Consulting. The Go First CEO has said that the airline needs at least 20 aircraft to be back in service and break-even on daily operations. The companys management believes that the airline would be able to return to full-scale operations by September 2023 if Pratt & Whitney provides the airline with the engines as per the arbitral award issued by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) in favour of the airline. An aviation expert from JPMorgan said that given the supply chain issues P&W is currently facing, they are not expected to dedicate resources to supply new engines or repair faulty engines of Go First. "Go First's grounded fleet is unlikely to take to the skies anytime soon, even if they are deregistered by the DGCA on the request of lessors," he added. Experts pointed out that lessors whose planes are grounded will have it tough as they will have to spend significant amounts to repair faulty engines from a third-party source. "The history of the aircraft will reflect that the lessor used a third-party to repair the faulty engine, which might affect its resale value," Sharma said. Martin said, No airline had to shut because of faulty engines before. This is not a Go First vs lessors issue, and they (lessors) need to move carefully in this precarious situation. Globally, incidents have been reported in over 25 airlines and 700 engines due to faulty engines from P&W. Whatever transpires in NCLT will have global ramifications." JSW Renew Energy Three Limited, a subsidiary of JSW Energy Limited, has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) for 300 MW of ISTS-connected wind power projects in Maharashtra. The PPA has been signed for a period of 25 years, and the tariff for the supply of power will be Rs 2.94/KWh. The wind power project is part of SECI Tranche-XII and is expected to be commissioned within the next 24 months. JSW Energy is aiming to reach 20 GW capacity by 2030 and a near-term target of 10 GW by 2025. The company currently has a locked-in capacity of 9.9 GW, which puts it in a good position to achieve its targets well ahead of time. Apart from the wind power project, JSW Energy has also ventured into the energy storage space and has locked in 3.4 GWh of energy storage capacity through battery energy storage systems and hydro-pumped storage projects. Also read: Suzlon bags 69.3MW wind energy project from Juniper Green Energy JSW Energy is targeting to cut its carbon footprint by 50 percent by 2030 and achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2050 through a transition to renewable energy. This project is a significant step in that direction. The wind power project will not only help the company achieve its renewable energy targets but also contribute to the state's energy mix. Maharashtra has been pushing for an increase in its renewable energy capacity, and this project will help the state reach its targets. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Wadias, promoters of the beleaguered carrier Go First, surprised everyone early May when they suspended flights for a couple of days and then filed for bankruptcy at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The play is a well-planned move aimed at securing the airlines future as well as regaining control of it under Indias bankruptcy law, legal experts told Moneycontrol. In fact, this should set the tone for how companies use the bankruptcy law in India, they added. The Wadias have made a smart move. They will initiate insolvency proceedings and then buy it back, a senior corporate lawyer, who is aware of the developments in the case, told Moneycontrol. The only mechanism in the country today to achieve what is called as cross-class cram down is the IBC. If the Wadias are able to use it effectively, this will be a proof of concept of pre-packaged insolvency. A cross-class cram down binds dissenting classes of creditors and stakeholders to a restructuring plan. A pre-packaged insolvency insolvency process allows for an informal understanding between creditors and debtors. On May 2, Go First filed an application for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings before the NCLT due to a "severe fund crunch." Kaushik Khona, Chief Executive Officer of the airline, told Moneycontrol that filing for insolvency was to preserve the company's remaining assets so that it could restart operations soon. Go First has been hit by the double whammy of grounded aircraft due to faulty engines, and mounting dues with vendors and lessors. If the NCLT admits the insolvency plea and grants a moratorium, this will freeze past liabilities and ensure operational continuity for the carrier, allowing it to survive. Moreover, since the companys accounts are not classified as bad loans, the promoters will be allowed to offer a resolution plan in due course. The objective appears to be that the insolvency of the company is resolved by the promoters by submitting their own resolution plan, as disqualifications under section 29 A (of the IBC) are not attracted. Further, on commencement of the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), the servicing of debt will not be there and operations can continue without much difficulty, said Ashish Pyasi, Associate Partner at Dhir & Dhir Associates. Section 29 A of the IBC lists individuals who are not eligible to submit resolution plans. The promoters realised that if the petition is filed swiftly then the value of the company can be protected without disturbing the operations, which will in turn maximise the value. If the operation is shut for long, slots are gone, and the fleet is taken back, then what will remain with the company? Pyasi added. Aircraft leasing companies have sought to repossess and de-register 20 aircraft leased to Go First. The lessors have also opposed Go Firsts insolvency plea and its request for a moratorium on its financial obligations. The NCLT has reserved its order on the Go First plea and is expected to deliver it soon. The lessors were taking control of the fleets. In order to save it, this is the only opportunity left with the promoters. If they dont initiate the insolvency at this stage, the lessor may take away the aircraft because they have already applied for de-registering the aircraft, Sandeep Bajaj, Managing Partner, PSL Advocates & Solicitors, said. The moment it is admitted, the moratorium kicks in, and no creditor can take control of any of the assets. Indeed, the NCLT can grant interim relief even before the Wadias plea is admitted, T Sundar Ramanathan, Co-founder of Sarvada Legal, said. The purpose of the IBC being to rehabilitate and revive the corporate debtor, an interim moratorium / interim stay can be granted to ensure that the corporate debtor "stays alive", or functional, pending its application, he added. The Wadia group-owned airline has liabilities worth Rs 11,463 crore. The Wadias are expected to push for a one-time settlement with banks, under which creditors will take a 'substantial haircut, according to reports. The lawyers pointed out that promoters often dont declare the distress in their companies or apply for voluntary insolvency using section 10 of the IBC as there is stigma around doing so. The use of section 10 has happened, but it is not common, Krishnava Dutt, Managing Partner at Argus Partners, said. It is an option available under law and the company has utilised it. There is nothing illegal about it. If they hadnt, someone else would have filed the petition, he added. As far as the creditors are concerned, if the company hadnt filed for insolvency they wouldve collected even less as the company wouldve gone deeper into debt, Dutt added. As such, the banks are expected not to oppose the admission of the insolvency plea, experts said. At least the public sector lenders are not expected to oppose this. It is likely to go through. Everything is happening at lightning speed, the senior lawyer, who did not wish to be named, said. Obviously if they pay 10 cents to a Dollar, it will create a ruckus in the market. But if they pay 70 cents, then it is going to be fine. One-time settlement is not a bad thing, he explained. Under the IBC, if two-thirds of the lenders agree to restructure debt or take a haircut while the company is under insolvency, it is applicable to all the lenders, lawyers said. If the Wadias move succeeds, it will set a precedent that will ensure that the IBC works as it is meant to. This is how it should be done. Distress is normal in a business, but if one cannot get all the lenders to agree, the account risks becoming an NPA and the company going into liquidation, the senior lawyer said. You should restructure at the point of distress. Not five years later, he added. Most strategic thinkers in the country will agree that currently the relationship with the United States is the most substantive of Indias international relations. Yet, a series of critical articles in American publications has begun to raise questions in the Indian establishment about the reason behind the sudden spurt of anti-Indian essays. Senior Indian diplomats are confident that the US government takes a holistic view and truly appreciates its ties with India, since they benefit both countries and serve their interests substantially. The latest of these commentaries Americas Bad Bet on India in the Foreign Affairs journal by Ashley Tellis, a leading American strategic writer, has evoked a strong reaction and detailed riposte from former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal. Sibal said that India has its own understanding of its national interest, its priorities, its thinking about the kind of relations it wants to build with the US. He pointed out that both sides have expectations from the relationship that will drive the ties. There cannot be one-sided bets and returns the US believes ties with India should yield. "It is not a lottery being played with either a bonanza or a loss at the end, he said. Sibal pointed out that, if, as Tellis says, for the past two decades, Washington has made an enormous bet in the Indo-Pacific that treating India as a key partner will help the United States in its geopolitical rivalry with China, the question arises: why this almost one-dimensional view of India as a partner? Should there not be more to Indo-US ties than dealing with the threats that arise for both countries from China? asked Sibal. Sibal said that India has been a democracy since 1947, but it has not built its ties in Asia, including in its neighbourhood, based on the form of government a particular country follows and the ``freedom its residents enjoy. The US itself has forged close ties with Asian countries not based on their place on the freedom index, but cold geopolitical considerations, he added. India does not believe in spreading democracy by force, said the former Indian foreign secretary. Tellis claimed in his articles that the US administration had launched an ambitious new initiative to expand Indias access to cutting-edge technologies. But Sibal added that in the race to maintain Americas pole position in new technologies, which is being challenged by China, the US needs partners. Indias technological prowess, the role its diaspora plays in boosting Americas technological strengths, and its capacity to scale up production with its vast manpower and talent, is an asset for the US in this race, Sibal explained. Sibal pointed out that if the US has further deepened defence cooperation, it was with the goal of building a defence bridge with India that was hitherto absent and was a chink in its international ties. It was also to displace Russia as Indias biggest defence partner, and ensure that Asias second largest country draws closer to the US in the geopolitical arena. To say that the Biden administration has overlooked Indias democratic erosion and its unhelpful foreign policy choices, such as its refusal to condemn Moscows ongoing aggression in Ukraine, is being presumptuous, he added. The former diplomat wondered whether India should take the high chair and say that it is overlooking the democratic erosion in the US while seeking to develop ties with it? As for not condemning Russias ongoing aggression against Ukraine, it is because that doesnt align with Indias views and interests, and because India doesnt see eye-to-eye the with the US on supporting Ukraine with weapons and finance, rejecting any dialogue, seeking Russias economic isolation and defeat, and trying President Putin as a war criminal. He asked, ``Would the US join India militarily if an India-China conflict erupted? Will the US involve itself in an India-China confrontation if its security is not directly threatened? Similarly, while deterring China is a strategy India shares with the US, that does not mean joining the US war over Taiwan, says the veteran Indian diplomat. Sibal pointed out that the relationship between the two sides is based on a whole gamut of issues like trade, technology, resilient supply chains, climate change, energy transition, education, and more. He said that India believes in acceptance of diversity, more democracy and equity in international relations, more say of developing countries in global governance, reform of international political and financial institutions, and so on. The former foreign secretary stressed that India is not only a functioning democracy but also the largest one. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday said that the BJP has become the party of corrupt people and questioned its devotion to Lord Ram and Hanuman. He was speaking with reporters at Swami Vivekananda airport in Raipur before heading for Ambikapur city in northern Chhattisgarh. To a question about Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming in poll-bound Karnataka that the Congress gets scared even if he says Jai Bajrangbali, Baghel said, No one has a problem in saying Bajrangbali ki Jai. The BJP has been attacking the Congress after the latter's election manifesto for the May 10 Karnataka polls said it was committed to taking firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations such as Bajrang Dal and the Popular Front of India (PFI) spreading hatred. During their (BJP) rule (in Chhattisgarh) did they ever organize Ramayan Mandalis? Did they renovate Kaushilya Mata Mandir? Who established lord Ram's idol in Shivrinarayan, asked the CM of the Congress-governed Chhattisgarh. He said that PM Modi is not speaking about 40% commission, a reference to his party's allegations of corruption against the BJP-ruled Karnataka government. Baghel said the PM has not spoken about the Adani issue. A north-eastern state (Manipur) is burning, shoot-at-site order has been issued for 8 out of 12 districts. They have the double engine government. Why doesn't Modi ji speak about it? he added. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Ukrainian air defences shot down a Russian hypersonic missile for the first time during an attack on the capital Kyiv this week, the Air Force said on Saturday, in a potentially major setback for the Kremlin's campaign of long-range air strikes. The Kinzhal, which means "dagger" in Russian, is one of six "next generation" weapons unveiled by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 when the Russian leader boasted that it cannot be shot down by any of the world's air defence systems. Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 Kinzhal had been shot down on Thursday night over the region outside Kyiv. The Air Force said it had been taken down by a U.S. Patriot air defence system. "I congratulate the Ukrainian people on the historic event. Yes, we shot down the 'unparalleled' Kinzhal," he said on the Telegram app. The U.S. Patriot system is one of an array of sophisticated air defence units supplied by the West to help Ukraine repel a months-long Russian campaign of air strikes that has targeted critical infrastructure, power facilities and other sites. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the attacks that Russia stepped up in October ahead of winter. The strikes failed to cripple the power grid but caused sweeping power cuts and other outages. Russia denies targeting civilians. Russia, which did not immediately comment on Ukraine's statement about the Kinzhal, has in the past boasted that the missile has no equivalent in the West. The air-launched ballistic missile, which can reach speeds of up to Mach 10 (12,350 kilometres per hour), is capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads. It has a reported range of 1,500 to 2,000 km. Ukraine said the missile was fired during a drone attack on Kyiv and other cities in the early hours of Thursday. The Air Force had not previously disclosed that a Kinzhal was used for the attack, although Kyiv officials said immediately that a ballistic missile had been involved. The Thursday air strike came less than a day after Russia accused Ukraine of a failed attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack on the Kremlin citadel in Moscow and threatened to retaliate. Moscow has since accused Washington of involvement in allegations denied by both Ukraine and the United States. Russia has already intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian regions over the past week as Kyiv prepares to launch a counter-offensive against Russian forces who have dug in across swathes of occupied land in the south and east. U.S. Patriot missiles were only delivered to Ukraine last month, officials said. Kinzhal missiles have been used on several occasions in Ukraine. The first known use of the weapon in combat was when Russia said it had fired the missile at a munitions dump in southwestern Ukraine on March 19, 2022. Ukraine's Air Force was previously seen as unable to shoot down ballistic missiles, which Russia used to strike residential areas and Ukraine's power infrastructure. The Air Force on Saturday said it shot down eight Shahed drones launched by Russia on the eastern and south-east Ukrainian regions in an overnight attack. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. Azerbaijan has prevented smuggling of more than 21.5 kilos of drugs from Iran, the State Border Service (SBS) of Azerbaijan told Trend. Within the framework of measures to ensure reliable protection of the state border and the fight against illicit drug trafficking, narcotics and 1,500 drug pills have been seized on the territory of Azerbaijan. As a result of the border search and operational measures carried out on May 4 at 06:30 (GMT+4) at the official territory of the Goytapa border detachment under the SBS, 14.9 kg of marijuana, 676 grams of heroin, 280 grams of methamphetamine and 1,500 tablets of Methadone M-40 were found in two bundles with the total weight of 15.8 kilos. Moreover, as a result of the border-search and operational measures carried out on May 5 at 20:30 (GMT+4) on the official territory of the Horadiz border detachment under the SBS, marijuana was found and seized in one bundle with a total weight of 5.72 kilos. With regards to both facts, operational and investigative measures are underway. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said an investigation would be conducted to find out the authenticity of the audio recording regarding the alleged plot to kill Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. Speaking to reporters here, he said, I do not know about the audio. That will be investigated. We will take it seriously and get it investigated." Bommai was reacting to the charge of the Congress General Secretary and Karnataka in charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, who alleged that an assassination plot has been hatched to wipe out Kharge, his wife and his entire family by a BJP candidate, Surjewala also shared an alleged audio recording of the BJP candidate from Chittapur constituency in Kalaburagi district Manikanta Rathod, in which he is heard purportedly saying in Kannada that he will wipe out Kharge, his wife and children. Rathod rejected the charges outright and said, It is all a lie. They are playing some fake audio. The Congress is leveling baseless allegations fearing defeat. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday accused the Congress of attempting to 'make a mockery' of Hindu faith by proposing to ban Bajrang Dal, which the majority community will not tolerate and accept. He also alleged that those who do not like Ek Bharat, Sreshtha Bharat (One India, Great India) are backing the anti-national organisations like 'Popular Front of India' (PFI). Adityanath, who is also the head priest of Gorakhnath Math, said in a public meeting here in Chikkamagaluru district of poll-bound Karnataka, that he came from the land of Rama in Uttar Pradesh to the land of Hanuman (Karnataka). The bonding between the two states underlines the fact that they are integrally one and "materialise" the concept of Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat, he said. Those who don't like Ek Bharat, Sreshth Bharat somewhere encourage anti-social and anti-national organisations like PFI on the one hand, and on the other, they want to ban organisations which are committed to patriotism and social service.Banning Bajrang Dal means Congress is trying to make a mockery of the Hindu faith. Hindu community will not tolerate and accept it, the BJP leader said. Noting that the Ram temple issue in Ayodhya that was pending for more than 500 years and has been resolved by the "power of a slogan", Adityanath asked the crowd to repeat after him, Jaikaara Veer Bajrangi, Har Har Mahadev. As Adityanath raised the slogan, the crowd followed him. He then appealed to those gathered there to take this slogan to every section of the society, so that those supporters of PFI "bite the dust". "When the Congress and the JD(S) government was in power in Karnataka, the PFI was encouraged," he claimed. But due to the double-engine government (of the BJP) there is peace, harmony and security. Just as Uttar Pradesh has become a peaceful state, the double engine government in Karnataka tried to break the backbone of PFI by banning it. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also invited the people of Karnataka to attend the grand opening of Ram Temple in Ayodhya in January next year. The Congress in its manifesto for the Assembly polls released earlier this week said it was committed to take firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations spreading hatred amongst communities on grounds of caste and religion. The party said: We believe that law and Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities. We will take decisive action as per law including imposing a ban on such organisations". American cybersecurity firm Bishop Fox has laid off 13 percent of its workforce just days after it hosted a lavish party at an international conference. According to a report in TechCruch, around 50 employees will be affected by the layoffs that Bishop Fox announced on Tuesday. The announcement of workforce reduction comes days after the US-based cybersecurity company invited employees, industry colleagues and other attendees at the RSA cybersecurity conference for a lavish party where it served drinks branded with the Bishop Fox logo. I only got one! pic.twitter.com/GzfUQQDcEq Matt Johansen (@mattjay) April 28, 2023 Photos from the party were shared on social media in late April. Barely a week later, however, several former employees of Bishop Fox took to social media again this time to ask for new jobs after having been laid off. Hello Friends! Due to some very unexpected layoffs at Bishop Fox today, I am now looking for a new role. I'd appreciate any signal boosts, connections, advice, or opportunities you could point me in the direction of. Thanks! &Y (@AndyDoering) May 2, 2023 Hi Twitter Fam. Couldnt find the words earlier, but due to unexpected layoffs at Bishop Fox today I am looking for a new opportunity. If you have something you think Id be a great fit for, please send it my way! Much love to my fellow ex foxes in the same boat; 3lyssa | assyl3 (@3lyssa) May 3, 2023 Hello everyone! I have been laid off from Bishop Fox as of today due to internal restructuring. If anyone has any potential jobs they could send my way, please let me know! And to anyone else that is also looking, please feel free to reach out if you need support! Candis Orr (@Candysaur) May 2, 2023 Several former employees agreed the layoffs were unexpected. According to TechCrunch, Bishop Fox refused to disclose the amount it spent on the RSA party. The company did, however, say that its restructuring would allow it to maintain a strong financial position. We proactively made these changes in response to the global economic situation and opportunities we identified to make our business more efficient. While demand for our solutions remains solid and our business is stable, we cant ignore the market uncertainty and investment trends in this very different global economy, Bishop Fox CEO Vinnie Liu said in a statement sent to TechCrunch. Bishop Fox remains healthy, and we continue to be bullish about our growth and technology investments over the coming quarters and years. Our firms cash reserves (including our Series B raise), combined with this restructuring, allow us to maintain a strong financial position that enables scale, innovation, and of course, delivery of the high-quality solutions our customers have come to expect. Police in Canada have arrested a man who opened a store selling cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, among other hard drugs. Jerry Martin, 51, was arrested just a day after the grand opening of his shop in British Columbia, the BBC reported. Martin opened The Drugs Store in Vancouver on Wednesday. The store, running out of a mobile trailer, offered adults the opportunity to purchase illegal drugs by showing their ID cards. Photos of the shop circulating on the internet show cocaine being sold for $90 a gram, while MDMA was listed at $75 for 1 gram. Martin said he opened his mobile shop to offer a safe supply of drugs in a neighbourhood that has been destroyed by the overdose epidemic, Vice News reported. He said his drugs were all tested to ensure they did not contain fentanyl the synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin which contributes to a majority of overdose deaths. The 51-year-old added that the idea of opening a drugs store came to him after Canada decriminalised the possession of small quantities of hard drugs in British Columbia. Vancouver Police confirmed a man was arrested Thursday for drug trafficking in connection with an illicit drug dispensary that began operating yesterday in the Downtown Eastside. We support measures aimed at improving public safety for people who use drugs, including harm reduction services and decriminalization, police said in a press release. However, we remain committed in our position that drug trafficking will continue to be the subject of enforcement. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Many moons ago, my significant other and I were leafing through BabyNames for something suitable for our second daughter and after some back and forth we settled on the name Kamila. Subsequently, a friend who shall remain nameless, congratulated me saying, I heard you have given her a royal name? Somewhat perplexed, I countered weakly with, Er, no, Kamila is supposed to mean perfect Whereupon she let fly with a crisp backhand down the line, Cmon yaar, I also watch BBC, I know you named her after Camilla Parker Bowles. There seemed very little point in debating the matter; after all we had no lofty ambitions of rearing a consort for a future King, but it augurs well for King Charles that his love life is so closely monitored by a young woman from Kodagu in south interior Karnataka. That apart, the man who ascends the throne on May 6, 2023, has several connections with India going back to Emmanuel College in Cambridge where he was tutored by Shomie Ranjan Das, who went on to become a byword in the annals of higher education in India and who was principal of the Holy Trinity of education: Mayo, Lawrence & Doon. A triple crown, so to speak. King Charles has long been a passionate advocate for farmers and the environment; legend has it that he speaks (in English, presumably) to plants while lesser mortals are content to use veganism as a form of virtue-signalling. The King is a firm believer in therapeutic, evidence-informed yoga and has sought the counsel of Dr Issac Mathai in Bangalore who has been the royal couples holistic physician for the past 15 years. He is also a huge fan of the Dabbawallas whom he invited for his second marriage to Camilla; the wedding gift was a rare Paithani saree for the bride while the groom had to make do with a lehenga kurta. The King is a details person who was fascinated by the clockwork precision with which the Dabbawallas ply their craft, especially in a country where chaos is the default setting and jugaad the go-to solution. Given the new Kings deeply ingrained sense of integrity and fair play, this may perhaps be the right moment to seek the return of the Koh-i-Noor, the 106-carat diamond which has been a part of the crown jewels. At the very least Indian tourists should have free entry to the Tower of London based on the reasonable premise that we have paid in advance. Collectors of trivia may be intrigued to know that during his 1980 visit to a Bollywood studio, the Prince got lucky when 16-year-old Padmini Kohlapure planted a demure peck on the royal cheek. Its payback time, Your Highness, hold on to the crown but give us back our diamond. The coronation ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury with a young man of Indian origin who has been chosen to herald the occasion with a resounding God Save the King, after nearly a century of imploring the Almighty to save the Queen. On May 7, for the first time ever, the East Terrace of Windsor Castle will be the setting for a fabulous concert featuring Katy Perry, Take That and our very own Bollywood belle, Sonam Kapoor, who will deliver a spoken word performance. The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, will read from the Book of Colossians, while Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Sikh peers will present the King with items of the coronation regalia. Lord Navnit Dholakia, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, is one of the fortunate peers who will be gracing the coronation with his presence, dressed in a ceremonial ermine robe, while the King will be more austerely outfitted in military uniform. Lord Karan Bilimoria who founded the legendary Cobra beer company was one of the lucky 30 peers who were chosen by ballot to attend, so presumably the bar will be well stocked. Maya Joshi who runs the Peepul Centre Crisis Cafe dedicated to vulnerable elders, people with hearing loss and women facing domestic abuse, is a distinguished invitee as is Jay Patel, who found a job as a chef at CN Tower, one of Canadas most iconic tourist attractions, thanks to the Kings Trust Canada initiative. Anuvab Pal, who has been described as Indias most intelligent comedian, holds the distinction of having performed twice at the Royal Awards ceremony at the Albert Hall - for Queen Elizabeth in 2021 and subsequently for King Charles in 2022. As he wryly observed at the ceremony, to the Kings considerable merriment, Two hundred and fifty years ago some of you British people came to India and taught us to speak English propahly. Then, all of a sudden, back in 1947, you quit India. Worlds first Brexit. The night manager of a hotel in Tennessee has been charged with aggravated burglary and assault after a guest woke up to find him sucking on his toes. David Neal, the night manager at 4th Avenue South Hilton Hotel in Nashville, was found sucking on a guests toes on March 30, according to a report in The New York Post. He reportedly made a key card and entered the male guests room at around 5 am in the morning. The guest, who has not been named in media reports, told Nashville Police Department officials that he woke up to find Neals mouth around his toes. Startled, he confronted the 52-year-old, whom he recognised as an employee of the hotel. The guest realised that Neal had entered his room the day before to fix his TV. David Neal told police that he entered the guests room only because he smelled smoke and wanted to make sure he was okay. However, cops say he never mentioned the smell of smoke to hotel security. None of the other hotel guests or staff reported smelling smoke either. The key card he made to gain access to the hotel room has not been recovered so far. Neal has been charged with aggravated burglary and assault. He was arrested on Friday. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Last month, museums in France, Spain, and other countries organized special events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picassos death. Many people were less than enthused. For them, Picasso doesnt need celebration because his raging misogyny offsets his achievements as an artist. On the other hand, take Louis-Ferdinand Celine, an egregious anti-Semite. Philip Roth openly admitted to being influenced by the French writers exuberant style, going so far as to call him his Proust, even if his anti-Semitism made him an abject, intolerable person. Picasso and Celine are hardly the only creative figures to be pilloried. Directors from Woody Allen to Roman Polanski, musicians from R. Kelly to Michael Jackson, and writers from Hemingway to Bukowski have all been accused of forms of abuse. Some have even been convicted. Abuse apart, there are many instances of artists with execrable opinions. Philip Larkin held bigoted attitudes. T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf expressed anti-Semitic views. Morrissey and Eric Clapton delivered racist rants. Should their work be shunned? Two recent books address this issue: Erich Hatala Matthess Drawing the Line and Claire Dederers Monsters. Matthes, a philosophy professor, takes a reasoned approach, and Dederer, a writer and critic, explores her thoughts in a series of personal essays. As a starting point, Matthes writes, one could ask whether the moral failings of artists make their artworks worse. Its worth keeping in mind that moral complexity is part of what makes art so irresistible by challenging accepted views and offering alternative perspectives. An important consideration is whether the art condones or reflects troublesome predilections. (Those who cant stand Woody Allen often mention that his Manhattan features a 42-year-old writer dating a 17-year-old girl.) However, sorting artists into saintly and sinister and then assuming that their character will influence their art leads to a dead end. We need to explain why what an artist expresses in their work must be linked with specifically good or bad aspects of their character, he writes. Unpicking these strands can be impossible. All the same, especially at a time of the Me-Too movement and cancel culture, carrying on as if nothing has changed can seem like a way of ignoring victims. We need to navigate the gap between what the art means to us and our knowledge of the actions of its creator. Such ambivalence can be a virtue. It forces us to critically examine the effect of art on our lives, which is far better than moral grandstanding. As ethical art consumers, we make our own judgements rather than take a stand because it seems like the right thing to do. While racist, misogynistic, and homophobic views should certainly be objected to, Matthes emphasizes that its an institutional response, not an individual one, that can make a difference. Its easy enough for those in positions of power in the art world to acquiesce to the cancelling of some representative artists, he writes, without making any significant alterations to who wields power in their organisations or how decisions are made. In other words, even when cancel culture chooses the right target, the bigger picture is ignored. The point is to build systems that offer accountability to help prevent future abuse. Ultimately, Matthes concludes, its irrelevant whether we can or should separate the art from the artist. He urges us to engage deeply with the work instead. This can clarify conflicted feelings: you could still find the work compelling, or you could loathe the artist with nostalgia for a work that once inspired but now repulses you. This subjective slant informs Claire Dederers Monsters, a series of interlinked essays. The book grew out of an earlier piece in The Paris Review which posed the question: what do we do with the art of monstrous men? Re-watching films by Woody Allen and Roman Polanski, she says: I wished someone would invent an online calculator [to] assess the heinousness of the crime versus the greatness of the art and spit out a verdict: you could or could not consume the work of this artist. If only it was so simple. Her book unpacks the question of separating the creator from the creation by delving into her own past life and work, and recounting discussions with friends and others. Its part-memoir, part-investigation. Dederer is unconvinced by critics who promote disinterested assessments. Authority says the work shall remain untouched by the life Authority sides with the male maker against the audience. Such criticism believes in the myth of objectivity unshaped by feeling, emotion, subjectivity. In the real world, we are governed by emotion around which we arrange language. Among her useful concepts is that of the stain: a dark aspect of an artists life that spreads to colour their work. When someone says we ought to separate the art from the artist, theyre saying: remove the stain. Let the work be unstained. But thats not how stains work. This is also why we can recoil from work created long before an artists reviled act. Our expectations of how artists should behave have given them much leeway. Dederer explores the shop-worn myth of the genius which owes much to Picasso and Hemingway, characters who were muscular, unfettered, womanising, virile, cruel, sexual. To constrain their actions, some have felt, would be to constrain their art. Instead, we reward this bad behaviour until it becomes synonymous with greatness. Thankfully, such attitudes are coming under increasing scrutiny. Not all of Dederers essays have the same impact; theres a sense of straining to expand her original piece into a book-length work. Passages on Nabokovs Lolita or Sylvia Plath, for example, add little to the debate. Elsewhere, she ventures into the potentially interesting zone of whether women can be seen as art monsters. She notes that some, like Doris Lessing, have been chastised for abandoning their children in pursuit of their work. These and other examples expose sexist attitudes, but hardly fall into the same camp as the others discussed. Why do people have such extreme reactions nowadays? For Matthes, the artists we love embody certain ideals that attract us to them. As fans, our attachment forms part of our identities and reveals something about who we are and what we aspire to. A betrayal of trust runs deep. Dederer also explores this phenomenon. The result of living in a biographical moment is that knowledge about celebrities makes us feel we know them intimately. In an Internet age, this leaves us vulnerable in unfamiliar ways. No wonder we dont know how to behave in this new landscape, or even how to feel. The result: fan obsession and its dark shadow, cancel culture. Both emphasize a response born of thoughtful engagement. While Matthes points to the role of institutions, Dederer highlights a deeper systemic concern. In late-stage capitalism, she writes, individual choice becomes irreparably soldered to consumer choice. Ethical gestures are meaningless because they create the illusion of control which makes us more trapped in the spectacle. Now, theres a lot to be said for investigating how capitalism turns us into collaborators. However, introducing this notion at the tail-end of a book seems unwarranted, if not unearned. Most flawed people artists or otherwise deserve empathy because at some level, were all works in progress. Ultimately, the decision whether to engage with their work or not should be personal, not universal. Much depends on the nature of the transgressions, the art, and our feelings. Its clarity, not certainty, thats worth striving for. A man who went bungee jumping to celebrate his divorce returned with a broken neck after the rope snapped and he plunged 70 feet. The 22-year-old, who was identified as Rafael dos Santos Tosta, went to Campo Magro in Brazil to take part in the bridge swing on February 11, this year and after taking the plunge, suffered from injuries after rope snapped. "I have always been a very calm person, but things changed recently," he told the media after surviving the fall. "On the day, I was really happy, excited. After the divorce, I wanted to enjoy life in every way possible. I was doing a lot of crazy things. I was not valuing my life at all," he added. After taking the plunge, Tosta's next memory was of waking up in the water with a gathering around him asking him to not move and that there was help on the way. "I panicked, and I thought, 'What am I doing lying here? "When I tried to stand up, I remember feeling a very strong pain. I've never felt worse pain in my life," he said. After surviving the jump, however, Tosta said that he was grateful but admitted to have been facing sleeping issues. "You start to see life and be grateful for everything. It's not that I didn't care before, but I didn't look at it with this perspective. My life will never be the same. I don't want to be the Rafael I was before. I have to be thankful for being alive, which is already a very big thing. "My sleep is not the same. I'm not able to sleep. I had to seek help. I started having crises, nightmares, and I'm afraid to go to sleep."We think we are strong, but if you have a specialist or a light, it's much better than trying to get up alone," he said. Following the fall, Tosta was stabilised by a medical team from the Military Police Air Operations Battalion and flown in an helicopter to Rocio Hospital in Campo Largo. He is currently undergoing intensive therapy. Tosta, who works as a production operator in a factory in Araucaria region of Brazil, has remained away from work since the accident. Also read: Caught on camera: Tourists miraculous escape as bungee jumping cord breaks Prince Harry took a commercial American Airlines flight to arrive in the UK on Friday ahead of the coronation of King Charles III. Harry flew in from Los Angeles on American Airlines flight AA136, the Daily Mail reported. Passengers on the flight were surprised to see the British royal in their midst, the report added. The sighting also put to rest speculation that the 38-year-old would take a private flight to London for the coronation a rumour that had led to backlash against the British royal. Harry, the Duke of Sussex, is attending the coronation of his father without his wife, Meghan, or their two children. Harry and his American wife Meghan quit royal duties in 2020 and have since unleashed a string of barbed attacks on the monarchy. While Harry will attend the coronation at Westminster Abbey later today, he is not expected to perform any official duties. He rejoins his family for the first time since subjecting them to a torrent of stinging criticism in his memoir "Spare" and in a series of television interviews. Harry is fifth in line to the throne, following his brother Prince William, and William's three children -- Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis of Wales. Buckingham Palace has not said whether Harry and Prince Andrew will or will not appear on the palace balcony following the ceremony. At Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations last June for her 70 years on the throne, the balcony appearance was restricted to working royals only. But her coronation in 1953 featured multiple balcony appearances, so Harry and Andrew might potentially appear among a wider royal family gathering. (With inputs from AFP) By Sean Lang, Anglia Ruskin University The coronation ceremony Charles III is about to go through reflects how monarchy has developed since Saxon times, but it still carries many vestiges of Britains imperial past. In the 18th century, the royal title changed from King of England to King of the United Kingdom, as successive Acts of Union joined England, Scotland and Ireland into one political unit. However, the biggest change in the royal title came in 1876, when the Royal Titles Act made Queen Victoria Empress of India. This gave her authority even over those areas of India which were not formally subject to British rule. To give this change of title a formal announcement in India, the British authorities staged what became the first of three durbars ceremonial events held in the British Raj to formally proclaim the imperial title. Queen Victorias was held in 1877, the year following the act, but Edward VIIs and George Vs were held in conjunction with their coronations. The viceroy of India in 1877, Lord Lytton, concocted the original durbar from a mixture of Persian, Mughal and English ceremonial traditions, as a formal proclamation of the queens title. When her son became Edward VII in 1901, a bigger durbar was organised to proclaim his imperial title although, like his mother, Edward remained in London. In 1911, George V and Queen Mary travelled to India for an elaborately staged coronation durbar, where they would take centre stage. This raised tricky questions of protocol. Georges coronation in Westminster Abbey invested him with all his imperial titles, so what would be the impact of being crowned in India? Would it mean that his successors would not be emperors unless they held a durbar? And what did it mean for his predecessors who had not attended theirs? The crown of England was not allowed to leave the country, so a special crown was constructed for George V to wear in India, while Queen Mary wore her best diadem a heavily ornamented headband. They sat sweating under the Delhi sun in their heavy coronation robes, furs and all. In the end, the Delhi durbar consisted of Indian princes paying homage to the king-emperor in a ceremony that owed as much to European feudalism as it did to Indian tradition. Plans for George VI to have an Indian durbar were postponed in the post-abdication sense of general exhaustion, and abandoned as war loomed. Coronation and the commonwealth The 1931 Statute of Westminster formalised the evolution of some former colonies into self-governing dominions within a British commonwealth. Both George VI and Elizabeth II were crowned as monarchs over the UK and of territories overseas. The coronation oath, a legal requirement dating back to the Coronation Oath Act of 1688, has been amended on various occasions, taking account of former colonies which have become republics. The oath Charles III will take has been amended slightly to cover his duties to his other kingdoms by agreement with their governments. Even so, for the king of Canada to be crowned in London is a reminder that the modern monarchs title still reflects the old empire. Elements of empire Even the medieval roots of the coronation have elements of empire built into them. The Stone of Scone, which will be placed beneath the coronation chair, was removed from Scotland by Edward I as a symbol of Scotlands subjugation to England. Scottish nationalists demanded the stones return to Scotland for years. When John Major acceded to their wishes in 1996, it was on condition that the stone would return to Westminster for future coronations a gesture some see as an unwelcome remnant of Englands imperial hold over Scotland, though others regard it as a symbol of unity. In a nod to Welsh nationalist feeling, King Charless coronation will also include the kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) performed in Welsh. One item of the crown jewels is a stark reminder of empire but it will notably be missing from the coronation ceremony. The Koh-i-Noor diamond was taken by the British after their wars with the Sikh kingdom of Punjab, and presented to Queen Victoria in 1849. It was reshaped by Prince Albert and fitted into the crown jewels. Both Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary wore it at their coronations, though Queen Mary, tactfully, did not wear it for the 1911 coronation durbar. Seeing the diamond as symbol of British imperial acquisitiveness, the Indian government has demanded its return, though, historically, both Pakistan and Iran could also lay claim to it. Camilla, the Queen Consort, has decided to be crowned in Queen Marys crown, from which the famous diamond has been removed. The controversy about the Koh-i-Noor will doubtless continue, but wont intrude on this coronation ceremony. A new-look guest list The biggest move away from imperial tradition has been in the compilation of the guest list. In the past, the only rulers to receive an invite were those of British overseas territories, such as Queen Salote of Tonga, who delighted the crowds in 1953 by braving the rain in an open-top carriage and scorning an umbrella. Charles III has departed from precedent by issuing invitations to monarchs from Europe and the Middle East, regardless of whether or not they had ties to the British empire. Some other heads of state are also attending, though the US will be represented by the first lady, Jill Biden, rather than the president. At a time when polling suggests declining support for the monarchy, especially among the young, the coronation might seem an irrelevant, if colourful, distraction from more pressing concerns. There has been similar indifference before other royal events. Elizabeth IIs silver jubilee in 1977 was preceded by stuff the jubilee protests, but still proved a popular success. The unexpectedly warm public responses to her subsequent jubilees, and especially to her funeral, might suggest that many British are secretly more royalist than polling would suggest. By inviting representatives of a wide range of ethnic groups and different faiths to participate in the ceremony, the king is turning his coronation into a reflection of his diverse and decidedly post-imperial kingdom. The coronation is still not entirely free of echoes of empire, but it represents an important stage in the modern monarchys move away from its shadow. Sean Lang, Senior Lecturer in History, Anglia Ruskin University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. First version published at 12:11 BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. Azerbaijan has prevented smuggling of more than 21.5 kilos of drugs from Iran, the State Border Service (SBS) of Azerbaijan told Trend. Within the framework of measures to ensure reliable protection of the state border and the fight against illicit drug trafficking, narcotics and 1,500 drug pills have been seized on the territory of Azerbaijan. As a result of the border search and operational measures carried out on May 4 at 06:30 (GMT+4) at the official territory of the Goytapa border detachment under the SBS, 14.9 kg of marijuana, 676 grams of heroin, 280 grams of methamphetamine and 1,500 tablets of Methadone M-40 were found in two bundles with the total weight of 15.8 kilos. Moreover, as a result of the border-search and operational measures carried out on May 5 at 20:30 (GMT+4) on the official territory of the Horadiz border detachment under the SBS, marijuana was found and seized in one bundle with a total weight of 5.72 kilos. With regards to both facts, operational and investigative measures are underway. King Charles succeeded his mother Queen Elizabeth when she died last September and at 74, he became the oldest British monarch in Britain's first coronation in 70 years as the monarchy faces challenges ahead. In front of a congregation of about 100 world leaders and a television audience of millions, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, slowly placed the 360-year-old St Edward's Crown on Charles' head as he sat upon a 14th-century throne in Westminster Abbey. Along with Britain, Charles has become head of the Commonwealth, an association of 56 independent countries and 2.5 billion people. For 14 of these countries, as well as the UK, the King is head of state. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. Azerbaijan's total exports amounted to $12.6 billion, while non-oil exports reached $1.2 billion from January through April of this year, Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications of Azerbaijan told Trend. In the specified period, exports in the non-oil sector grew by 21.2 percent compared to the same period last year. In particular, the export of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages has increased sixfold. At the same time, the value agricultural and agro-industrial products increased by 9.1 percent and amounted to $248.2 million. To compare, according to the center, Azerbaijani exports from January through February 2023 totaled $4.5 billion, $651.4 million of which accounted for non-oil exports, which is 36.6 percent higher than in the same period of 2022. According to the center, in the reporting period, the value of exports of agricultural and agro-industrial products amounted to $124.8 million. The export of beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) from the first two month of 2023 increased 6.6 times, while sugar grew by 78.5 percent, and tea increased by 22.7 percent. Moreover, in 2022, exports from the country totaled $38.1 billion, $3 billion of which accounted for non-oil exports, which is 10.3 percent higher than in the same period of 2021. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 4. Asian Development Bank's (ADB) cumulative commitments in Azerbaijan exceeded $5.27 billion, Trend reports, citing the latest country fact sheet from ADB. According to the report, $5.23 billion of the ADB financing accounted for a total of 84 projects and technical assistance, while $39.8 million fell on the bank's Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program. In terms of sector funding, the largest commitment accounted for energy sector ($1.7 billion spent on 15 projects), followed by transport ($1.4 billion spent on 21 projects), and public sector management (over $1 billion spent on 16 projects). At the same time, only in 2022, ADB's commitments in Azerbaijan totaled $24.4 million, of which $2.6 million accounted for sovereign, and $21.7 million - for non-sovereign loans. "To date, ADB has committed 67 public sector loans, grants, and technical assistance totaling $3.7 billion to Azerbaijan. Cumulative loan disbursements to Azerbaijan amount to $3.96 billion. These were financed by regular and concessional ordinary capital resources. ADBs ongoing sovereign portfolio in Azerbaijan includes 1 loan and 1 sovereign guarantee worth $565.2 million," the report added. After successfully building Midland Basin-focused FireBird Energy and selling it to Diamondback Energy, FireBirds management team decided they werent ready to sit back and enjoy their spoils. Overall, we wanted to build on the momentum we had with FireBird I, Travis Thompson, chief executive officer and co-founder of the new FireBird Energy II, told the Reporter-Telegram. The Fort Worth-based company has secured equity commitments in excess of $500 million anchored by funds managed by Quantum Energy Partners. The founders and employees of FireBird II, along with other strategic partners, are making significant equity commitments as well. We plan to lease, buy, drill and operate this year, Thompson said. We are building FireBird II for the long term. Our vision is to take this large commitment and turn it into a large-scale operation. FireBird I was sold to Diamondback for $1.6 billion in November 2022, offering Diamondback approximately 75,000 gross, 68,000 net acres and 353 estimated gross, 316 net horizontal locations on primary development targets. Estimated production for 2023 is about 19,000 barrels of oil per day or 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent. You will see FireBird II doing many of the things we did at FireBird I, he said. The company will continue its focus on the Midland Basin but will look at anything, even the Delaware Basin if the right opportunity presents itself, Thompson said. We definitely take the never say never approach, he said. FireBirds team will continue its strategy of acquiring and developing assets through the drill bit and through acquisitions. There have been opportunities in the Permian Basin since the Santa Rita No. 1, and we believe the basin is as dynamic as ever, Thompson said. We are looking at deals ranging in size from a section or less to tens of thousands of acres. One of the biggest challenges is volatile commodity prices and how the gap between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are willing to accept affects the acquisition and divestiture market. But Thompson said the companys great relationships with others in the Permian should help meet that challenge. Just as the new iteration of FireBird will continue its focus on acquiring and developing assets in the Midland Basin, he said it will adapt to the changing ESG Environment, Social and Governance landscape. We have always tried to operate at the highest standards of excellence in all regards, he said. That has allowed us to adapt to the changing ESG landscape and be great stewards of the assets we own. We are a fiscally conservative company, which has allowed us to weather the storms, whether thats a product of the economy or a global pandemic. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TOKYO (AP) A strong, shallow earthquake hit central Japan on Friday afternoon, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20 others and disrupting plans for holidaymakers. The magnitude 6.2 quake struck Ishikawa prefecture on the west coast of Japan's main island of Honshu, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The Japan Meteorological Agency measured the quake at 6.5 and said it was centered at a depth of about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles). More than 50 aftershocks strong enough to be felt have been recorded since, including one at 5.8 magnitude on Friday night. Most injuries and damages were reported in Suzu city at the northern tip of Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture. One person died after falling from a ladder, and 22 others were injured in the prefecture, two of them seriously. The rest were mild injuries. Some 100 residents took refuge at evacuation centers Friday night, according to the prefectural crisis management department. One injury was reported in the neighboring prefecture of Toyama, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Several homes were also damaged. On Saturday morning, some residents placed blue plastic tarps over damaged parts of their houses ahead of rain forecasted to begin in the evening. A video broadcast by NHK public television showed a section of a hill that had crumbled and fallen on a house. It also broadcast a video taken by a staff member visiting a relative in Ishikawa prefecture that showed a room shaking for nearly half a minute, with picture frames rattling on the walls. Japan is celebrating several national holidays this week. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who returned from a multinational trip to Africa and Singapore on Friday night, expressed condolences to quake victims and urged residents to use ample caution amid possible strong aftershocks and secondary mudslides. East Japan Railway Co. said bullet trains connecting Tokyo and Kanazawa in Ishikawa prefecture were temporarily halted for safety checks but resumed normal operations, with some delays. There were no abnormalities at nuclear power plants in the area, according to the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone nations. A massive 2011 quake in the country's northeast caused a devastating tsunami and nuclear plant meltdown. ___ This story has been corrected to say the quake did not occur offshore. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. The 330-kV Jabrayil junction substation is not only the largest substation in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan, but also a strategic energy hub, Spokesperson for AzerEnergy OJSC Teymur Abdullayev told Trend. According to Abdullayev, the construction of this substation plays a special role in the energy supply of the liberated territories. He said that the Jabrayil energy hub is also of great importance in terms of transferring the energy generated at the Gunash solar power plant, as well as Khudafarin and Giz Galasi hydroelectric power plants to the common energy system. Besides, according to the spokesperson, this energy hub is a project of international importance, which will provide better access to European energy markets via the Jabrayil-Nakhchivan-Agri route and further through the Turkish energy system. The foundation of the Jabrayil junction substation was laid on May 26, 2022, and on May 4 this year it was inaugurated. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate One of the greatest annual events in American sports is the Kentucky Derby, which will be run Saturday for the 149th time. One past champion was bred in Macoupin County. It's been 134 years since the victory of Spokane, who captured the 1889 Kentucky Derby during the event's infancy. The horse was bred at The Meadows, the farm of Gen. Richard Rowett, 1 mile north of Carlinville. Rowett horses, and their jockey colors orange jacket and blue cap were on tracks throughout the west and south. But Spokane was the greatest production of The Meadows, a nationally recognized breeding ground for thoroughbreds. In 1885, a prized dark brown horse named Hyder Ali was standing at The Meadows when Rowett bred him to one of his top mares, Interpose. This pairing had produced favorable offspring in the past, including Grey Cloud, a fine racer owned by Noah Armstrong of Doncaster Ranch near Twin Bridges in the Montana Territory. Armstrongs famous stable included such horses as Lord Raglan, the third-place finisher in the 1883 Kentucky Derby. When Rowett offered Interpose for sale late in 1885, Armstrong, familiar with the high quality of Rowett stock, purchased the pregnant mare and her suckling filly, Madelin, for the price of $1,000 and shipped the brood to Montana. Doncaster Ranch was known for its spectacular, three-story round barn that featured an indoor track. While in Spokane in the Washington Territory on business, Armstrong received word of the birth of Interposes colt. In honor of the city, he named the colt Spokane. Spokane showed great promise as a 2-year-old, winning two of five starts in 1888, and Armstrong entered him in the 1889 Kentucky Derby. Although a premier race, the derby had not yet achieved the monumental status it enjoys today. The race was run on May 9, 1889 a Thursday in front of a crowd of 25,000, a fraction of the throngs that fill Churchill Downs today. Home state favorite Proctor Knott was the overwhelming favorite at 1-to-2, while the relatively unknown Spokane was listed at 10-to-1 odds. That was enough for Frank James, brother of outlaw Jessie and a regular at countless tracks. James, flush with a windfall of $2,400 from an earlier race that day, asked a bookmaker for the odds on Spokane. The reply was Ten-to-one and the skys the limit. James threw down $5,000 on Spokane, causing the bookmaker to reply, As far as Im concerned, thats the sky! Under jockey Thomas Kiley, Spokane edged Proctor Knott by a head, setting a record at 2:34 over the 1.5-mile layout (it was changed to 1.25 miles in 1896). He remains the only Kentucky Derby winner ever born in Montana. Proving the win was no fluke, Spokane again beat Proctor Knott five days later at the Clark Stakes in Louisville. On June 22, Spokane won another key race of the era, the American Derby at Washington Park in Chicago, to become the first horse to win both races in the same season. Back in Illinois, Rowett did not live to see Spokane's triumph. He died on July 13, 1887. His death was covered on Page 1 of the New York Times the next day. In addition to breeding, Rowett also is remembered as the first to introduce the true-bred beagle hound to this country from his native England. Prior to that, he was a Civil War officer and state politician. The only horse actually born in Illinois to win the Kentucky Derby was the 1970 champion, Dust Commander. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ATLANTA (AP) The suspect in a mass shooting in Atlanta that left one woman dead and four others wounded has been charged with one count of murder and four counts of aggravated assault, Fulton County Jail records show. Deion Patterson waived his first court appearance Thursday, a day after police say he opened fire in the waiting room of an Atlanta medical practice. Authorities swarmed the citys midtown neighborhood shortly after noon Wednesday in search of the shooter. Patterson, 24, was captured hours later in Cobb County, just northwest of Atlanta, after several residents there called 911 to report seeing someone who matched his description. Patterson was being held without bond. Shawn Hoover, an attorney appointed to represent him, said he met with Patterson Thursday morning. He is a veteran and suffers from apparent mental health issues, Hoover wrote in an email. My team is investigating the details and circumstances of the charges to provide him with zealous, effective, and timely representation. Atlanta Police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. declined Wednesday to discuss any details of the investigation or a possible motive, saying, Why he did what he did, all of that is still under investigation. Patterson had an appointment at a Northside Medical building and opened fire shortly after arriving in an attack that lasted about two minutes, law enforcement officials said at a news conference Wednesday night. Patterson then went to a Shell gas station and took a pickup truck that had been left running and unattended, authorities said. Amy St. Pierre, 38, was pronounced dead at the scene. She left behind a husband and two young children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she worked, is deeply saddened by the unexpected loss of a colleague, spokesperson Benjamin Haynes said in a statement. St. Pierre has done research aimed at reducing pregnancy-related deaths, according to a 2021 research report she co-authored. That research involved a CDC program called Enhancing Reviews and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality. A key aim of the initiative is to work toward the elimination of preventable maternal mortality in the United States. She was driven by compassion, both in her work in the field of maternal mortality, and in her everyday life, her family said in a statement issued Thursday. "Amy was selfless always, she wanted more for others but never for herself. Generous supporter of worthy causes, she was the social conscience of our family. Patterson used a semi-automatic handgun to shoot St. Pierre according to arrest warrants released Thursday. He also shot Alesha Hollinger in the face, and fired multiple shots into Jazzmin Daniel's abdomen, the documents state. Another woman, Lisa Glynn, was shot in the abdomen; and Georgette Whitow was shot in the arm, the records show. The four women who survived remained hospitalized Thursday, authorities said. Three of the four were in the intensive care unit, said Dr. Robert Jansen, chief medical officer at Grady Memorial Hospital. Daniel has been able to communicate with her loved ones by using her hands and fingers, her father said Thursday. She just keeps giving us the thumbs-up, Quentin Daniel told The Associated Press. Daniel, 25, is an intake nurse at the midtown clinic, where she is among the first to interact with patients at the clinic, her father said. She was to have been transferred to Northside Hospital just north of the city on Friday. She's also missing her 1-year-old child, who is being cared for by relatives, he said. Jansen said hes been able to speak to two of the women, who told him they are grateful for the care theyre getting, but they realize that this is a horrific event and the fact that they were in a health care facility just makes it worse. Physically, they all have a ways to go, Jansen said. I think psychologically and mentally, we have to also remember that, the impact on them and their families. You know, you cant underestimate how traumatic this is. And they have a long way to go. Patterson was arrested after 911 calls from residents near the Braves' stadium. One man who lives in an apartment complex near there called to say he had been walking his dog when he saw the distinctive footprints from a pair of Nike Air Force 1 sneakers in the mud, according to 911 calls released Thursday. Since he rarely saw any prints other than his own in the mud, he thought it could be related and called 911. After hearing about the shooting, another resident saw a man in a hoodie and carrying a black bag throw something in a pond. Dispatchers worked with her and others to pinpoint the location. The shooting comes as cities around the U.S. have been wracked by gun violence and mass shootings in 2023. Pattersons mother, Minyone Patterson, who police said had accompanied her son to the medical office, told the AP by phone Wednesday evening that her son, a former Coast Guardsman, had some mental instability going on from medication that he began taking Friday. She said her son had wanted Ativan to deal with anxiety and depression but the Veterans Affairs health system would not give it to him because they said it would be too addicting. Shes a nurse and said she told them he would only have taken the proper dosage. Those families, those families, she said, starting to sob. Theyre hurting because they wouldnt give my son his damn Ativan. Those families lost their loved ones because he had a mental break because they wouldnt listen to me. She ended the call without saying what medication her son had been taking. Doctors offices and medical clinics in the U.S. have increasingly become targets of gun violence. And many physicians who prescribe pain medication report being threatened by patients, such as those being given alternatives to opioids or being weaned from addictive painkillers. According to the American Academy of Pain Medicine, more than two-thirds of pain specialists surveyed during a 2019 violence education session reported being threatened by patients at least once per year. And nearly half said they had been threatened over opioid management. ___ This story was first published on May 4, 2023. It was updated on May 5, 2023 to correct the age of the woman killed. Amy St. Pierre was 38, not 39 as police had said. BEARDSTOWN After more than two years of renovations and related projects, reservations now are being accepted for the JBS Beardstown Harbor Campground. The grounds had a soft opening the final week of April before this week's full opening, Mayor Tim Harris said. "We are excited to provide a place for campers in Beardstown," Harris said. "We are now officially taking reservations through an online system." The seven-campsite space has been a years-long project and it took a lot of work to get the campground to where it is today, he said. "Since I took office, this has been one of my goals, and one of the projects that have taken a lot of my time," Harris said. "We just got it opened right before camping season starts." The campground features six regular camping spaces and one space that is Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant. Each campsite rents for $35 a night, while the pavilion is $50 a night. Beardstown received a $400,000 Illinois Department of Natural Resources Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development grant in 2019 to develop a campground with facilities, a handicap-accessible playground, a fishing pier, a walking path and a nature-observation deck. Because the campground is in a floodway, special permits and extra regulations had to be met prior to opening, which is why it took longer, Harris said. A few minor things still remain to be fixed, but nothing that will prevent the campground from opening or the sites from being usable, he said. For example, an electrician still needs to fix a lighting issue in a bath house, because it requires special lighting, Harris said, adding that the electrician is just waiting on the needed parts to arrive. Harris is excited about the new recreational option in Beardstown, he said. "I think it'll be used a lot once it takes off," he said. "This is something else to draw new people to Beardstown and another place for recreation for our residents." Reservations are available through the JBS Beardstown Harbor Campground website at BeardstownHarbor.org. Although some groups have resumed meetings, others schedules may have changed because of pandemic restrictions. It is recommended you contact the group in advance to verify details. Any changes in meeting schedules can be emailed to JJCsocial@myjournalcourier.com. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS 217-370-4002 Jacksonville locations: First Baptist Church, 1701 Mound Ave. Wheelchair-accessible. Club HOW, 638 S. Church St. Monday Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW. Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at First Baptist Church. Bowen Group. Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Tuesday Open discussion, noon at Club HOW. Womens open meeting, 5:30 p.m., First Christian Churchs Fireside Room. VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 7 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, Main and Washington streets. ROODHOUSE: Closed discussion, 12-step/12 traditions, 8 p.m. at Grace Center, 114 W. Palm St. Wednesday Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Thursday Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW. Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Newcomers Group. Friday Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. TGIF Group. Closed discussion, 5:15 p.m., Big Book Study at Club HOW. VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at United Methodist Church, 401 E. Broadway Ave. Saturday Open speaker, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Open meeting, noon at Club HOW. Sunday Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. 12 & 12 Group. Closed discussion, 10 a.m. at Club HOW. (Second Sunday is open) SPRINGFIELD: AA for Women, 10 a.m. at Discovery Club, 313 W. Cook St. AL-ANON Meetings are nonsmoking and open to anyone. The only requirement is that there be a problem of alcohol with a loved one or friend. 217-248-6434. Wednesday Al-Anon, 7:30-8:30 p.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church, 331 E. State St. (use Morgan Street entrance). NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS All meetings are nonsmoking. Not affiliated with any religious organization. Jacksonville location: Christ Lutheran Church for the Deaf, 104 Finley St. (enter through back door). 217-883-1975. Monday Open discussion group, 7 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church for the Deaf. Wednesday Open discussion group, 8 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church for the Deaf. Friday Open discussion group, 7:30 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church for the Deaf. OTHER MEETINGS Monday Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. at Faith Tabernacle, 571 Sandusky St. Use side entrance to church hall. PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. in the basement of Subway in Pittsfield. 1-800-323-1388. Tuesday Jacksonville Sunrise Rotary, 7 a.m. Holiday Inn Express meeting room, South Jacksonville. 217-243-6895. Bereavement support group, 10-11 a.m. Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, Meeting Room 4. Jacksonville Area Landlords Association (JALA), 6 p.m. at the Morgan County Fairgrounds grandstand. Social time at 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 217-243-1409 or 217-248-5416. Wednesday Breastfeeding support group, 6 p.m., Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, Meeting Room 2. ROODHOUSE: Women with Hearts of Love (WWHOL), 6-7 p.m. at House of Restoration, 208 W. Franklin St. 217-602-1670. Thursday Grief support group, 10 a.m., Jacksonville Memorial Hospital. Diabetes support group, 11 a.m., Jacksonville Memorial Hospital. Free | For those with diabetes or prediabetes and caregivers of people with diabetes. Jacksonville Area Chess Club, 6-9 p.m. at Jacksonville Public Library. 217-370-0882. St. Johns UCC Grief Group, 7 p.m., St. Johns UCC, 216 North St., Brighton. Free | Support group for those grieving the loss of a loved one. Jacksonville Kiwanis Club, noon at Hamiltons. WHITE HALL: Addicts Victorious, teens 5:30-6:30 p.m.; adults 7-8 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of New Life Church, 626 Curtis St. Friday Jacksonville Rotary Club, noon at Hamiltons. PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 6 p.m. at Assembly of God, 575 Piper St. 800-323-1388. Saturday Jacksonville Amateur Radio Societys Net, 9 p.m. Transmitted on K9JX repeater. K9JX.com. Next to sunshine and blooming flowers, spring brings out farmers markets. Along with selling fresh produce, farmers markets give people a chance to sell homemade baked goods, though the process comes with regulations. In Illinois, anyone can register with the state to be known as a "cottage food operation," a designation that allows one to legally sell food or drink produced in the kitchen of their own home. Those interested in doing so can reach out to their local county health department. Once a seller has contacted the department, they need to earn certification as a certified food protection manager. Linda Day, health inspector for Morgan County Health Department, said certification involves taking an eight-hour class and passing a test on how to properly handle food. The cost of training ranges anywhere from $100 to $300. After training is completed, vendors then contact their health department again to fill out an application that includes mention of what they intend to sell, Day said. The product has to be labeled with a full list of ingredients, including any allergens, she said. "If they're going to do baked goods, they would have to have a sample of their recipe so we can see their recipe," she said. The application process also typically comes with a fee, which can range from free to $50. In Morgan County, the cost is $25, Day said. If all is approved, the department types up the certificate while the vendor is there, listing the kinds of foods they plan to sell, Day said. Certification must be renewed annually and anytime the vendor wants to sell something new. "Say, two months later, they decided to add a food," Day said. "They would contact their local health department, because then we have to include that on to a permit and reissue that certificate for them." There also are limits to what cottage food operations can offer. Certain items including meat, alcoholic beverages and dairy products or eggs not used as ingredient are not allowed to be sold, per state law. Other items like fermented foods, salad dressings and frostings are subject to additional regulations. Wares from cottage food operations also can only be sold directly to the consumer, whether at a flea market, straight from their home or online, Day said. Vendors cannot ship their products to other states or to restaurants, because health departments do not inspect those foods unless a complaint warrants it, she said. Once everything is in place, a vendor can begin selling their products where they like, such as farmers market. One of Jacksonville's farmers markets is set to start at 7 a.m. Saturday at Pathway Plaza, 1905 W. Morton Ave. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Two drivers of the Jacksonville area's economic engine are celebrating weeks that highlight the essential roles each plays in attracting visitors and potential residents to the region. Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corp. is marking Economic Development Week starting Monday. At the same time, Jacksonville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is recognizing travel's essential contributions during National Travel and Tourism Week. During Economic Development Week, communities will recognize the contributions made by professional economic developers to create more economically vibrant and livable communities. "The Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation continues to play an integral role in encouraging the creation of new industry, retaining existing business and improving the workforce in the region," said Kristin Jamison, JREDC president. "In most cases, our efforts cannot be shared with the public until a project has come to fruition, but it is important for the residents in Morgan and Scott counties to know the JREDC is intently working to strengthen our communities." Established in 1983, National Travel and Tourism Week annually marks the U.S. travel industry's role in stimulating economic growth and business activity, cultivating vibrant communities, and creating quality job opportunities. In the Jacksonville area, the travel industry created almost $68 million in visitor spending and directly supported 393 jobs in 2021. "Travel is at the heart of Jacksonville, powering a strong economy, creating jobs, and strengthening our community's culture and identity," said Brittany Henry, executive director of Jacksonville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We are proud to celebrate all travel does for our community now, and all that it will contribute in the future." Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corp. has celebrated many recent accomplishments, according to Jamison. Through its designation as a Community Navigator, the nonprofit organization has helped facilitate more than $3 million in local, state and federal grants to small businesses throughout the region. The corporation assisted in the addition of properties on the former MacMurray College to the Jacksonville Regional Enterprise Zone. In collaboration with Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce, JREDC worked with Reynolds Consumer Products and Jacksonville School District 117 schools to launch a workforce pilot program to teach and promote manufacturing skills. In addition, JREDC worked with the city of Jacksonville and Illinois Housing Development Authority to complete a community revitalization strategy. It engaged with other community organizations, including Jacksonville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, in unveiling a new brand identity that promotes the Jacksonville region as a top choice to visit, work and live. "There is positive momentum in the Morgan and Scott (counties) region with increases in construction and sales tax receipts," Jamison said. "JREDC is committed to continuing our economic development work critical to achieving greater success." Jacksonville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is recognizing travel's essential contributions Monday at its office at 310 E. State St. A parking lot party to celebrate the week will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Hampton Inn, 1725 W. Morton Ave. MOULTRIE, Ga. (AP) A man in Georgia who, police said, killed his workplace manager, mother and grandmother before taking his own life, had been involved in a gunfight less than 48 hours earlier, law enforcement said Friday. Security video from a McDonalds in the south Georgia town of Moultrie showed Kentavious White, 26, shoot store manager Amia Smith, 41, after getting her to come to the door before dawn on Thursday morning, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. The footage then showed White step inside the restaurant and shoot himself. After finding the shooting at the McDonald's, police found White's mother, 50-year-old Susie Arnold, and grandmother, 74-year-old Hilda Marshall, shot dead in their adjoining homes less than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away. Marshall was dead when police found her, while Arnold died later at a hospital. All three of the slain women appeared to have been shot multiple times, Colquitt County Coroner C. Verlyn Brock told The Associated Press. Moultrie Police investigator Nathan Cato told The Moultrie Observer that White had been involved in a gunfight on Tuesday at the home he shared with Arnold. White had returned home on his lunch break when another man began shooting at him, Cato said. White fired back, but both men missed and no one was hurt, according to police. Moultrie police had no other previous interactions with White, Chief Sean Ladson said. Rahiem Rashad Kinsey, 30, of Moultrie, a former McDonald's employee, shot at White, according to police. Kinsey was charged with aggravated assault and possessing a gun while committing a crime, and remained in jail Friday in Moultrie. It's unclear if he has a lawyer to speak for him. Felicia McGough, Smith's cousin, described the woman's killing as senseless to WALB-TV. And we're still today asking ourselves, why, why her'? McGough said. Arnold and Marshall had worked at a local assisted living home. The McDonald's reopened Friday, with purple ribbons tied to doors and employees wearing purple to honor Smith. The killings in Moultrie, in rural Colquitt County about 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of Tallahassee, Florida, came a day after a gunman in Atlanta killed one person and wounded four others at a medical office. Subscription to paid content Gain access to all that Trend has to offer, as well as to premium, licensed content via subscription or direct purchase through a credit card. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. Projects in the field of mobile communications are being implemented in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan, Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev said at a conference themed "Heydar Aliyev and the independent state-building of Azerbaijan: the history and present of socio-economic transition", Trend reports. According to Nabiyev, the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport is committed to achieving its goals of providing all areas, including the most remote ones, with high-speed internet by the end of 2024. "We are also committed to building a technologically educated society," he noted. Speaking about holding the International Astronautical Congress [on October 2-6, 2023] in the "Year of Heydar Aliyev", the minister pointed out significance of this event for Azerbaijan. Great leader Heydar Aliyev laid the foundations for the development of the information and technology sector in Azerbaijan, Nabiyev stressed. "In 2013, with the launch of the first telecommunications satellite, Azerbaijan became a space country," he reminded. Newton Minow, ex-FCC chief who dubbed TV wasteland, dies View Photo CHICAGO (AP) Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a vast wasteland, died Saturday. He was 97. Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow. He wanted to be at home, she told The Associated Press. He had a good life. Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television. My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be, Minow once said. After all, the airways belong to the people. Minow was appointed as FCC chief by President John F. Kennedy in early 1961. He had initially come to know the Kennedys in the 1950s as an aide to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, the Democrats presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956. Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives on May 9, 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day, without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland, he told them. You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials many screaming, cajoling and offending. As he spoke, the three networks were just about all most viewers had to choose from. Pay television was barely in the planning stage, PBS and Sesame Street were several years away, and HBO and niche channels such as Animal Planet were far in the future. The speech caused a sensation. Vast wasteland became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin da quality of television. At least, Newt, were tryin. Minow became the first government official to get a George Foster Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. The New York Times critic Jack Gould (himself a Peabody winner) wrote, At long last there is a man in Washington who proposes to champion the interests of the public in TV matters and is not timid about ruffling the industrys most august feathers. Tonight some broadcasters were trying to find dark explanations for Mr. Minows attitude. In this matter the viewer possibly can be a little helpful; Mr. Minow has been watching television. CBS President Frank Stanton strongly disagreed, calling Minows comments a sensationalized and oversimplified approach that could lead to ill-advised reforms on the ground that any change is a change for the better. For the criticism over his speech, Minow said he didnt support censorship, preferring exhortation and measures to broaden public choices. But he also said a broadcasting license was an enormous gift from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public. His daughter, Nell Minow, told The Associated Press in 2011 that her father loved television and wished he would have been remembered for championing the public interest in television programming, rather than just a few words in his much broader speech. His No. 1 goal was to give people choice, she said. Among the new laws during his tenure were the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, that required that TV sets pick up UHF as well as VHF broadcasts, which opened up TV channels numbered above 13 for widespread viewing. Congress also passed a bill that provided funds for educational television, and measures to foster communications satellites. In a September 2006 interview on National Public Radio, Minow recalled telling Kennedy that such satellites were more important than sending a man into space. Communications satellites will send ideas into space, and ideas live longer than people. On July 10, 1962, Minow was one of the officials making statements on the first live trans-Atlantic television program, a demonstration of AT&Ts Telstar satellite. Childrens programming was a particular interest of Minow, a father of three, who told broadcasters the few good childrens shows were drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day. Minow resigned in May 1963 to become executive vice president and general counsel for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. in Chicago. Nell Minow said her father also was instrumental in getting presidential debates televised, starting with Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, after watching Stevenson struggle to use the new medium during his 1956 presidential run. Minow was appalled by the whole charade of having to image-make on television, said Craig Allen, a mass communications professor at Arizona State University who wrote a 2001 book about Minow. In 1965, Minow returned to his law practice in Chicago, and later served as board member at PBS, CBS Inc. and the advertising company Foote Cone & Belding Communications Inc. He was director of the Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University. He also gave Barack Obama a summer job at the law firm, where the future president met his wife, Michelle Robinson. Minow also was one of Obamas earliest supporters when the then-Illinois senator considered running for president, Nell Minow said. Television is one of our centurys most important advances and yet, as a nation, we pay no attention to it, Minow said in a 1991 Associated Press interview. He continued to push for reforms such as free airtime for political ads and more quality programming while also praising advances in diversity in U.S. television. In 1961, I worried that my children would not benefit much from television. But in 1991 I worry that my grandchildren will actually be harmed by it, he said. ___ Former Associated Press writer Polly Anderson in New York contributed to this story. By TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press Qatar flies aid into Sudan, airlifts evacuees amid fighting View Photo PORT SUDAN, Sudan (AP) Qatar flew a relief flight into Sudan carrying some 40 tons of food and left with 150 evacuees early Saturday as fighting continued between two generals vying for power in the African nation. The Qatari Emiri Air Force C-17 Globemaster touched down in Port Sudan, some 670 kilometers (415 miles) northeast of Sudans violence-torn capital of Khartoum. The port city has been spared in the fighting and has become one of the few safe transit points out of the country, whether by air or by ships crossing the Red Sea heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Evacuees boarded the C-17 bearing the livery of Qatar Airways, the energy-rich nations long-haul carrier. Those who spoke to The Associated Press described facing very scary, terrifying conditions trying to leave Khartoum for the airfield. We still faced many difficulties because of the lack of security in the country due to the security forces being occupied with the battles. We were faced by mobs on the way, said Nemat Allah Saber Ibrahim, a Sudanese doctor evacuated who lives in Qatar. Other than the burden of travel and the different checkpoints by both security forces and Rapid Support Forces. But thank God we have arrived safely to the Port of Sudan. The conflict started on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and a rival paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The fighting has turned urban areas into battlefields. Foreign governments have rushed to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Despite repeated cease-fires being declared, the warring sides have shown little commitment to even short-term promises to stop the fighting. Qatar in the past has held peace talks between warring parties in Sudans Darfur region, as well as those between Sudan and South Sudan. We are leaving but unfortunately Khartoum is in a dire situation. Khartoum is done, said Aliah Helelo, another Sudanese resident of Qatar being evacuated. We are leaving with our hearts in our hands. We left our families behind and we fear for them. But thank God. I pray that God avenges and punishes whoever caused this. The food carried into Sudan by the Qatari military aircraft included bags of rice, dates, oil, lentils and tomato sauce. Hunger is becoming a problem in Sudan as stores remain closed amid the fighting and food is in scarce supply. Prices across the country are reportedly skyrocketing, making critical goods unaffordable for many people, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. Khaled Mahmoud Osman, the deputy chief of mission at the Sudanese Embassy in Qatar, told journalists gathered at Qatars sprawling Al-Udeid Air Base before the flight that the food aid was of the utmost importance to our people. In Sudan, these are some of the unfortunate events caused by the rebellion of the Rapid Support Forces, which have affected the lives of civilians in all Sudanese cities and Khartoum in particular, in hospitals, neighborhoods, markets and in areas supplying food from villages, he said. We ask Allah almighty for peace to prevail in Sudan soon, to support the Sudanese armed forces, to take care of the rebels or they would surrender. I mean, that they will lay down arms for the mercy of civilians. Separately, the World Health Organization said it and the United Arab Emirates shipped some $444,000 worth of urgent medical supplies Friday into Sudan at Port Sudan International Airport. The WHO said that a shipment brought in just before the start of the fighting was exhausted after a few days given the number of injured. Later Saturday, envoys from the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces, started negotiations in Saudi Arabia, in the city of Jeddah, across the Red Sea from Port Sudan, according to a joint Saudi-American statement. ___ Follow Lujain Jo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lujainjo. By LUJAIN JO Associated Press Sudan envoys begin talks amid pressure to end conflict View Photo ASWAN, Egypt (AP) Sudans warring sides began talks Saturday that aim to firm up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, the United States and Saudi Arabia said. The negotiations, the first between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, since the fighting broke out on April 15, were underway in Saudi Arabias coastal city of Jeddah, on the Red Sea, according to a joint Saudi-American statement. The talks are part of a diplomatic initiative proposed by the kingdom and the U.S. that aims to stop the fighting, which has turned Sudans capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. In their joint statement, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. urged both parties to actively engage in the talks towards a cease-fire and end to the conflict, which will spare the Sudanese peoples suffering. The statement did not offer a timeframe for the talks, though it was expected the initial session could last two-three days. The talks come after concerted efforts by Riyadh and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan welcomed the rival sides to Jeddah, saying on Twitter that he hopes the talks would restore security and stability in Sudan. Since a 2021 coup that upended Sudans transition to democracy, the kingdom has been mediating between the ruling generals and a pro-democracy movement. After Sudans top two generals commanders of the military and the paramilitary turned on each other after months of tensions and the latest fighting broke out in April, Jeddah became a hub for those evacuated by sea from Sudans main sea port of Port Sudan. Officials from the military and the RSF said the talks would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles. They would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities that have been overwhelmed and suffer from dire shortages of both staff and medical supplies, one military official said. An RSF official they would also discuss a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire, which is one of a series of truces that failed to stop the fighting. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks in Jeddah. Meanwhile, Sudans pro-democracy movement said the talks would be a first step to stop the countrys collapse and called on leaders of the military and the RSF to make a bold decision to end the conflict. The movement, which is a coalition of political parties and civil society groups, had negotiated with the military for months to restore the countrys democratic transition after a 2021 military coup led by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who also chairs the ruling sovereign council, and his deputy in the council Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. On Saturday, Dagalo tweeted his first comment on the talks, welcoming the initiative to establish a firm cease-fire and open humanitarian corridors. We remain hopeful that the discussions will achieve their intended goals, he said. At least 550 people have been killed, including civilians, and more than 4,900 have been wounded as of Monday, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Friday that 473 civilians have been killed in the violence and more than 2,450 have been wounded. The fighting capped months of tensions between Burhan and Dagalo. It plunged the country into further chaos and forced foreign governments to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese were displaced inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring countries as the fighting dragged on in urban areas. The U.N. refugee agency estimated that the number of Sudanese fleeing to neighboring countries would reach 860,000, and that aid agencies would need $445 million to assist them. On Saturday, unknown assailants fired on a convoy in Khartoum that included Turkish Ambassador Ismail Cobanoglu, reported Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency, citing diplomatic sources. There were no casualties in the shooting, the report said. The Sudanese military and the RSF traded accusations of attacking the convoy. Also, a bus carrying Sudanese fleeing the fighting, overturned in Egypts southern province of Beni Suef, leaving at least 36 Sudanese, including women and children, and two Egyptians injured, local authorities said. Tens of thousands of Sudanese have crossed into Egypt since the fighting broke out. ___ Associated Press writer Andrew Wilks in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report. By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press Over 200 dead, many more missing after Congo floods View Photo KALEHE, Congo (AP) The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen beyond 200, with many more people still missing, according to local authorities in the province of South Kivu. Thomas Bakenge, administrator of Kalehe, the worst-hit territory, told reporters on the scene Saturday that 203 bodies had been recovered so far, but that efforts to find others were continuing. In the village of Nyamukubi, where hundreds of homes were washed away, rescue workers and survivors dug through the ruins Saturday looking for more bodies in the mud. Villagers wept as they gathered around some of the bodies recovered so far, which lay on the grass covered in muddy cloths near a rescue workers post. Grieving survivor Anuarite Zikujuwa said she had lost her entire family, including her in-laws, as well as many of her neighbors. The whole village has been turned into a wasteland. Theres only stones left and we cant even tell where our land once was, she said. Michake Ntamana, a rescue worker helping look for and bury the dead, said villagers were trying to identify and collect the bodies of loved ones found so far. He said some bodies washed down from villages higher in the hills were being buried shrouded just in leaves off the trees. Its truly sad because we have nothing else here, he said. Rivers broke their banks in villages in the territory of Kalehe, close to the shores of Lake Kivu on Thursday. Authorities have reported scores of people injured. One surivor told AP the flash floods came so fast that they took everyone by surprise. South Kivu Gov. Theo Ngwabidje visited the area to see the destruction for himself. He posted on his Twitter account that the provincial government had dispatched medical, shelter and food supplies. Several main roads to the affected area have been been made impassable by the rains, hampering the relief efforts. President Felix Tshisekedi has declared a national day of mourning on Monday to honor the victims, and the central government is sending a crisis management team to South Kivu to support the provincial government. Heavy rains in recent days have brought misery to thousands in East Africa, with parts of Uganda and Kenya also seeing heavy rainfall. Flooding and landslides in Rwanda, which borders Congo, left 129 people dead earlier this week. Local government official Bakenge told AP, This is the fourth time that such damage has been caused by the same rivers. Not 10 years pass without them causing enormous damage. - Jean Yves Kamale in Kinshasa contributed to this story. By JUSTIN KABUMBA ASSOCIATED PRESS Great Britain to donate $100 million to Brazils Amazon Fund View Photo SAO PAULO (AP) Britain pledged Friday to give about $100 million to the Brazilian governments fund to protect the Amazon rainforest, as the South American country beefs up protection of the environment under its new leadership. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Brazils President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office in January, announced the contribution to the Amazon Fund on Friday after meeting in London ahead of Saturdays coronation of King Charles III. The fund was launched in 2009 to fight against deforestation and build sustainable initiatives in the Brazilian rainforest, a vital natural reserve soaking up fumes from oil, natural gas and coal in South America. The committee that governs it was partially dismantled when rightist President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, and rebooted by the leftist Lula this year. President Lula has exhibited great leadership on climate change, Sunak said on Twitter, adding that he was pleased that Britain would contribute 80 million pounds ($101 million) to the fund, so we can help stop deforestation and protect biodiversity. Earlier this year, U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to join Norway and Germany in resuming donations to the initiative that had been suspended during Bolsonaros presidency. Biden said in April he would seek congressional approval to send $500 million over five years to the Amazon Fund. However, administration officials have been pessimistic about getting congressional approval for climate support abroad, especially with a Republican-controlled House. By MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexicos government said Friday over 2,000 migrants were kidnapped by smuggling gangs and drug cartels last year, as authorities mounted a successful search for 10 Colombians abducted in northern Mexico this week. Mexicos national immigration agency said authorities had freed 2,115 migrants of all nationalities kidnapped by gangs in 2022. Gangs and cartels appear to be increasingly charging migrants fees to cross Mexico, and then kidnapping them for ransom. There have been a string of such mass migrant abductions in Mexico in recent months. Prosecutors in the northern border state of Sonora said late Friday they had found 10 Colombians who went missing Tuesday in the border city of San Luis Rio Colorado, across the border from Arizona. The Colombians were found in good shape at a gasoline station, officials said. A relative of one of the missing Colombians said kidnappers had called to demand thousands of dollars from relatives in the United States. Reached by telephone in Bogota, Colombia, Johan Morales the son of a couple among those who went missing Tuesday said his parents and other relatives had been planning to reach the Arizona border and turn themselves in to U.S. officials to request asylum. He said a cousin who lives in New York received a call from kidnappers Thursday demanding $2,500 apiece to release his relatives. Just a week before, Ecuador had contacted officials in Sonora to complain that 30 Ecuadorans had been abducted in the state. When officials arrived at the safehouse where they were being held in another border town, they found more people than they expected: 43 Ecuadorans and 20 other abducted migrants were being held there. That has not been uncommon in recent months: complaints about a few missing migrants have led police to investigate and find dozens more being held against their will. In April, a reported kidnapping of about 20 people in the north-central state of San Luis Potosi led police to mount a massive search by air and land and they found not only the 20 migrants they were looking for, but about 80 more migrants being held against their will, apparently by the same gang. By MARIA VERZA Associated Press BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. Since one of the factors contributing to deformation of roads is local climate, which is not taken into account, Kazakhstan is developing a report that will include information it, Trend reports via the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of Kazakhstan. The document with all the necessary information will be published online, and will contain data about the climatic conditions of roads in Kazakhstan. Analysts of Kazakhstan Road Research Institute has already installed 28 measurement stations across country to monitor the climate changes and how they affect the roads in a particular area. The stations equipped with tools and sensors to measure various climate parameters such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind speed, etc. Each station provides hourly data on the temperature and humidity of its road section online. The final document will also include identification features for each climatic measurement station, such as the address or geographical coordinates of the location, the road structure in a particular part, changes in the freezing depth and extreme air temperatures, and so on. Paraguay far-right populist presidential candidate arrested View Photo BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) Paraguayan police on Friday detained Paraguayo Cubas, a far-right populist who came in third in Sundays presidential election and encouraged his supporters to protest over his unsubstantiated claims that the vote was marred by fraud. Cubas was being held in preventive detention under an order by the Attorney Generals Office that is accusing him of breach of the peace, Police Commissioner Gilberto Fleitas said in a radio interview. Cubas, the candidate of the National Crusade Party who received 23% of the votes Sunday, was broadcasting live on Facebook when officers detained him outside his hotel in San Lorenzo, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Asuncion. Fleitas said Cubas got into a police vehicle without any difficulty, but he continued streaming live. In his broadcast from inside the police vehicle, Cubas chatted with officers and focused the camera on his handcuffs. You can see now Im being imprisoned, he said. All the criminals in this country should be handcuffed like Paraguayo Cubas. Cubas had been telling supporters since Monday that he was heading to the capital to lead a series of protests that had led to isolated clashes with police, largely outside the electoral court in Asuncion. We will remain on the streets until Paraguayo Cubas is released, said Juan Reyes, one of hundreds of Cubas supporters who took part in demonstrations outside the electoral court. At least 208 people have been detained for disturbance of public peace and other punishable offenses within the framework of the demonstrations taking place in the national territory, police said Thursday. Efrain Alegre, who as the candidate of a broad-based opposition coalition came in second place during Sundays election, demanded Cubas be released along with everyone who has been detained in protests this week. We demand the release of Paraguayo Cubas and all citizens imprisoned for demanding transparency, Alegre wrote on social media. Alegre, who received 27% of the vote Sunday, conceded the race shortly after polls closed, but then on Monday called for a manual count of votes and an international audit of the countrys electronic voting system after Cubas aired his fraud allegations. The Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission for the election, said Tuesday there was no reason to doubt the results of the vote count. Santiago Pena of the long-ruling Colorado Party easily won Sundays presidential election with 43% of the vote. Over the past few days, Cubas has published images of supporters welcoming him in different parts of the country as he made his way toward the capital from Ciudad del Este, a city on the border with Brazil and Argentina. Some 1,500 to 1,800 law enforcement officers were deployed outside the electoral court Friday for the protest staged by Cubas supporters. Authorities also prepared for any demonstration outside the police station where Cubas was taken. ___ Associated Press photo journalist Jorge Saenz in Asuncion contributed to this report. By DANIEL POLITI Associated Press Mexican chef and promoter of local ingredients celebrated View Photo MEXICO CITY (AP) Years ago, chef Elena Reygadas of the restaurant Rosetta wondered why Mexican cuisine was not more popular internationally and concluded it was due to the ingredients. Now a proud defender of those same ingredients, she has been recognized as the Worlds Best Female Chef 2023. Mexican cuisine was added to UNESCOs list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010 and its popularity has only continued to rise. Im thrilled, I feel like it had taken long enough, Reygadas said about the acceptance of her countrys cuisine. Speaking recently inside the mansion that Rosetta inhabits in the capitals Roma neighborhood, Reygadas said: It is so delicious, so vast, I think its really lovely it makes me really happy that you go to other restaurants around the world and they give you tacos and moles, and their versions. The award was announced last month by the list The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants, compiled by the British company William Reed. Rosetta, one of several restaurants opened by Reygadas in the capital, focuses on using seasonal, local ingredients. Reygadas culinary journey started with her family. Honestly, my grandmother was very happy in the kitchen. She put all of her love into it. It was her space, her place, she said. Reygadas studied some philosophy and later English literature at Mexicos National Autonomous University, but also took cooking classes at the same time. I always like to eay I always liked to cook, but I didnt see it as a profession, she said. Later, during summers I went to restaurants to learn, but always with the intention of cooking delicious (food). After finishing her thesis on Virginia Woolf, Reygadas thought about devoting herself to art, but on the verge of starting her professional life she felt like something wasnt quite right. She told her parents her plan to change professions and fortunately they supported her. Days after her final exam she travelled to New York for an eight-month intensive couse at the French Culinary Institute. Later, Reygadas went to London and worked for four years, including with Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli at his Michelin star restaurant, Locanda Locatelli. I feel like I trained a lot working. School can give you the foundation, but cooking is something practical, she said. She returned to Mexico when she had her first daughter, who she wanted to raise around family and friends and to learn Mexican culture. Her second daughter was born a short time later. When I opened Rosetta in 2010, my oldest daughter was 2 years old and the youngest was 6 months. It was a triple birth, Reygadas said. I felt like they gave me strength, they gave me a lot of order, forcing me to be organized. It was intense. I think being a mother and a chef is my greatest challenge, balancing those two sides. But at the same time I feel that thanks to that I have a lot of discipline. Despite cooking still being largely the domestic domain of women, professional kitchens have historically been male dominated. Reygadas is convinced that can change. In the most professional kitchens I am seeing more women all of the time, she said. But I do believe that many times it gets more complicated when women become mothers (H)aving a job, a profession where the schedule doesnt necessarily line up with schedules for daycare or school is a really complicated challenge, but we hope it will become less so. Recognizing that reality and her own experience led her to found the Elena Reygadas Scholarship for female culinary students from rural Mexico. Last year, they started with three and this year with the support of a bank, they plan to expand it to more than two dozen scholarships. A career in gastronomy means extra expenses for ingredients, materials, and almost all of the cooking schools are in cities, she said. I also realized that in the most remote areas families cant send all of their children to school, and normally they send the men. I thought of this scholarship really as my grain of sand, Reygadas said. By BERENICE BAUTISTA Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) Taliban restrictions on Afghan women and girls may amount to femicide if they are not reversed, a team of U.N. experts warned on Friday. Since they seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have barred women from most jobs and workplaces, and girls cant go to school beyond the sixth grade. Woman are also banned from public spaces and must cover themselves from head to toe outside the home. In a statement released Friday, the U.N. experts accused Afghanistans Taliban authorities of the most extreme forms of misogyny and said there could be multiple preventable deaths that may amount to femicide if the restrictions are not reversed. The restrictive measures and bans imposed by the Taliban have caused international condemnation and outrage, but the Taliban have shown no sign of willingness to lift them. The U.N. experts also said the Taliban are imposing their interpretation of Islam, which appear not to be shared by the vast majority of Afghans. They expressed alarm about widespread mental health issues and accounts of escalating suicides among women and girls. As girls and women are prohibited from attending school above grade six, as well as university education, and they can only be provided care by female doctors, unless the restrictions are reversed rapidly, the stage may be set for multiple preventable deaths that could amount to femicide, said the experts, who shared their preliminary observations from an eight-day trip to Afghanistan. The bans have reportedly contributed to an increase in the rates of child marriages and forced marriages, as well as the growth of gender-based violence perpetrated with impunity, the statement said. The U.N. experts noted, however, that gender-based discrimination in Afghanistan precedes the Taliban rule and is engrained in society, and urged the international community not to use Afghan women and girls for political purposes, saying their rights should never be a negotiation tool. The experts, appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, include Richard Bennett, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, and the head of the working group on discrimination against women and girls, Dorothy Estrada-Tanck. Last November, the U.N. experts said the Taliban treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan may amount to a crime against humanity and should be investigated and prosecuted under international law. The Taliban at the time rejected their statement. UN again seeks to reassure Afghans it will deliver aid View Photo UNITED NATIONS (AP) The United Nations sought to reassure the Afghan people yet again Friday that it wont abandon them, though it left in question how it was going deliver desperately needed aid following the Taliban ban on Afghan women working for the world organization. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the ban an unacceptable violation of the Afghan womens human rights. The U.N. announced on April 11 that the head of its political mission in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, would carry out an operational review of its activities in the country until May 5. The mission, known as UNAMA, put out a statement in Kabul on Friday, reiterating its commitment to stay and deliver on behalf of the men, women and children of Afghanistan and appealing to donors to keep funding humanitarian assistance, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. For now, we can only say that U.N. entities on the ground in Afghanistan continue to discuss appropriate working modalities, Haq told reporters at the U.N. headquarters in New York. Meanwhile, humanitarian operations continue to be undertaken. On April 5, Afghanistans Taliban rulers informed the United Nations that Afghan women employed with the U.N. mission could no longer report for work. It was the latest in sweeping restrictions imposed by the Taliban since they seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were withdrawing from the country after 20 years of war. The Taliban previously banned girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade and women from most public life and work. In December, they banned Afghan women from working at local and non-governmental groups a measure that at the time did not extend to U.N. offices. The U.N. said it could not accept the decision, calling it an unparalleled violation of womens rights. The 3,300 Afghans employed by the U.N. 2,700 men and 600 women were ordered to stay home but continue to work and are being paid, The U.N.s 600-strong international staff, including 200 women, is not affected by the Taliban ban. The U.N. mission statement reiterated that lifting restrictions on the U.N., national and international nongovernmental groups involved in delivering humanitarian aid and other programs supporting the Afghan people is essential. It said the U.N. continues to engage with the Taliban to obtain a reversal of the ban and ensure the safety of its staff. It quoted Guterres saying at a closed-door meeting in Qatar in early May that we must remain focused on our objective to support the people of Afghanistan. We cannot disengage despite the challenges, the U.N. chief said and also urged funding for aid operations, saying the ban was exacerbating already low levels of funding. Guterres plans to hold another meeting aimed at unifying the positions of key players on the issues of human rights, governance, counterterrorism and anti-drug efforts related to Afghanistan. Haq, the deputy U.N. spokesman, was pressed on the outcome of the U.N. review but said he had no actual change in our posture on the ground to report. Were working to come to a decision on appropriate working modalities, he said. The needs of the Afghan people are immense, and we intend to fulfill those needs, but at the same time, our operations are clearly impeded and our position on the need to allow all of staff, men and women, to work in communities un Afghanistan remains unchanged, Haq said. U.N. staff in Afghanistan are still working from home aside from critical functions, and humanitarian operations continue to be undertaken, he said. The Taliban have agreed to some carve-outs for Afghan women, including in the health sector, and we will use those, he added. ___ Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez in Islamabad contributed to this report. By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Ex-college student pleads not guilty to CA murder charges View Photo DAVIS, Calif. (AP) A 21-year-old former university student on Friday pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one of attempted murder in connection with a series of stabbings in the college community of Davis. Yolo County Superior Court Judge Daniel Wolk also denied bail to Carlos Dominguez, citing the risk to public safety and the defendants own flight risk given the seriousness of the alleged crimes. Dominguez remained expressionless as the judge read out the complaint filed by prosecutors Friday. He responded in the affirmative several times to questions from the judge but did not speak otherwise. Yolo County prosecutors said Dominguez is eligible for a life prison term without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, given the multiple murders. He is accused of fatally stabbing two people, including a fellow student, and stabbing a third victim who is now recovering. Dominguez was represented by Dan Hutchinson, a deputy public defender. Hutchinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He was picked up for questioning Wednesday near the city park where he was alleged to have killed his second victim and has been in jail since early Thursday. News of his arrest Thursday was a relief to students and residents shocked by the vicious stabbings, which Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel described as particularly brutal and brazen. Dominguez was a student at UC Davis until April 25 two days before the first victim was found when he was let go for academic reasons, the university said. He was a third-year student majoring in biological sciences. On Friday, students headed to class, in contrast to earlier in the week when the campus was practically deserted, some said. Talia Mickelsen, a third-year student studying animal sciences, said she lives across the street from the house in which Dominguez lived. She noticed him a few times, but never interacted with him, she said. Mickelsen said the last week has been scary, and she feels more secure now that he is arrested. It is very eye-opening, but I guess these things can happen anywhere, she said. Now, I just make sure Im vigilant and cautious wherever I go. Coco Yan, a student also majoring in animal sciences, said she and a friend did not leave the house unless they went out together. I have no sympathy for the stabber, said Yan. A lot of people were stressed and scared because of it. Davis police and multiple law enforcement agencies fanned out to investigate after the body of David Breaux, 50, was discovered at a downtown park near the University of California, Davis campus April 27. The second victim, UC Davis senior Karim Abou Najm, 20, was found Saturday night at another city park. On Monday, Kimberlee Guillory was attacked while inside her tent but survived. Both Breaux and Guillory were homeless. Davis police have not provided a motive and it is unclear if he knew the victims. Pytel, the police chief, said 15 people called into the department Wednesday afternoon when they spotted someone matching the stabbing suspects description at Sycamore Park, where Najm was found. Dominguez went voluntarily with police for more questioning, Pytel said. They found a large knife in his backpack. Davis is a city of 67,000, with an additional 13,000 students living on campus. His next court date is May 22. By TRAN NGUYEN Associated Press Mississippi impeding funds for Jacksons water, group says View Photo JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Mississippi has intentionally created hurdles that prevent the majority-Black capital city of Jackson from receiving enough money to repair a long-troubled water system that nearly collapsed last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center said Friday in announcing a new civil rights complaint it filed. The center asked the U.S. Treasury Department to investigate Mississippis rules for distributing $450 million to water systems operated by cities, counties and rural water associations. The funds came from pandemic relief money distributed by the federal government. State officials said in November that Jackson would receive $35.6 million, and that the city would have to match that amount a matching requirement in place for larger communities in the first round of funding. Southern Poverty Law Center said in the complaint, which it filed Tuesday, that the states application for the grant program failed to consider the dire need for costly improvements to the largest water system in the state, and that created a disparate impact on the Black residents who live in the drastically underfunded city of Jackson. The state has been slow in sending money to Jackson, the center said. The people of Jackson are suffering daily. Residents and business owners are paying a costly price for the gross negligence of state leadership, Waikinya Clanton, the centers Mississippi director, said in a statement Friday. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is in charge of distributing the water system improvement money. In response to questions from The Associated Press on Friday, department spokesperson Jan Schaefer said the funding approved for Jackson is for two wastewater projects and five projects to improve the drinking water system. She said the grant program is based on the state reimbursing cities, counties and water associations, and Jackson has not yet submitted requests for reimbursement. The Southern Poverty Law Centers complaint to the Treasury Department is the latest of several efforts to bring federal pressure to force improvements for the Jackson water system. The city has nearly 150,000 residents, with about 25% living in poverty. In August and September, most of Jackson lost water pressure after heavy rainfall exacerbated problems at the main water treatment plant. Thousands of people lined up to get water for drinking, cooking, flushing and bathing. In October, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was investigating whether Mississippi state agencies have discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund water system improvements. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves responded by saying Jackson has received a disproportionate amount of water funding based on the citys size. He also said local officials only have themselves to blame for the water woes. In November, a federal judge approved a Justice Department request for a rare intervention to try to fix the Jackson system. Federal authorities appointed Ted Henifin, a water administrator with decades of experience in other states, to lead the effort. The Republican-controlled Legislature wrote the programs rules to distribute the $450 million and Reeves signed them into law April 2022. Revisions were signed last month. Jackson was awarded its portion of the money during the first round of applications. The revision this year said cities or counties that received money are ineligible to receive more money in the second round. Jackson officials have said the water system repairs could cost up to $2 billion. In December, Congress allocated $600 million for the Jackson water system as part of a $1.7 trillion federal spending bill. By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press Freaky-looking fanged fishes found on Oregon beaches View Photo Several scaleless fish with fanged jaws and huge eyes that can be found more than a mile deep in the ocean have washed up along a roughly 200-mile (322-kilometer) stretch of Oregon coastline, and its unclear why, scientists and experts said. Within the last few weeks, several lancetfish have appeared on beaches from Nehalem, in northern Oregon, to Bandon, which is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) from the California border, Oregon State Parks said on Facebook. The agency asked beachgoers who see the fish to take photos and post them online, tagging the agency and the NOAA Fisheries West Coast region. Lancetfish live mainly in tropical and subtropical waters but travel as far north as areas like Alaskas Bering Sea to feed. Their slinky bodies include a sail-like fin, and their flesh is gelatinous not generally something humans wish to eat, according to NOAA Fisheries. Ben Frable, a fish scientist who manages the Marine Vertebrate Collection at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, said its not uncommon for lancetfish to wash up on beaches, particularly in California and Oregon and in other parts of the north Pacific. Its unclear what might be behind the deep-sea fish washing ashore, Frable said, calling it an area of open research. He added that its not clear if these incidents are happening more frequently or are just noticed more often in the social media age. Reports of finding the freaky looking lancetfish on beaches date back to the 19th century, he said. The collection he manages includes lancetfish from beaches, including one that wound up on the beach near the institution in late 2021. In that case, the lancetfish shot out of the water, where it was mobbed by seagulls, Frable said. Its possible the fish had been chasing prey, such as small fish, and got too close to shore or that it was pursued by a predator, such as a sea lion, he said. Some have also hypothesized that such incidents could be related to weather or climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean, he said. According to NOAA Fisheries, lancetfish can be more than 7 feet (2 meter) long and swim to depths of more than a mile beneath the surface of the sea. Last week, Miranda Crowell happened across a lancetfish on a beach in Lincoln City, Oregon. At first, she thought it might be a barracuda but that didnt seem right, so she posted a photo of it on Twitter and asked what it could be. She quickly got a response. The fish, which she saw April 28, was more than 4 feet (1 meter) long and seemed to have just washed ashore. I have never seen anything like that on that beach, she said. Frable encouraged people to report any sightings, saying it could provide useful information for researchers. He also said that incidents like these provide an opportunity to kind of highlight the true diversity of life on the planet and how there are things that you just dont think about but theyre out there. By BECKY BOHRER and BEATRICE DUPUY Associated Press Burials held in Serbia for some victims of mass shootings View Photo BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) Heart-wrenching cries echoed as funerals were held in Serbia on Saturday for some of the victims of two mass shootings that happened just a day apart this week, leaving 17 people dead and 21 wounded, many of them children. The shootings on Wednesday in a school in Belgrade and on Thursday in a rural area south of the capital city have left the nation stunned with grief and disbelief. Though Serbia is awash with weapons and no stranger to crisis situations following the wars of the 1990s, a school shooting like the one on Wednesday has never happened before. The most recent previous mass shooting was in 2013 when a war veteran killed 13 people. The shooter on Wednesday was a 13-year-old boy who opened fire on his fellow students, killing seven girls, a boy and a school guard. A day later, a 20-year-old man opened fire randomly in two villages in central Serbia, killing eight people. Classmates and hundreds of other people cried inconsolably as one of the girls killed in the school shooting was laid to rest in Belgrade in a small white coffin that was covered with heaps of flowers. Overwhelmed by grief, the girls mother could barely stand. One girl collapsed during the service amid screams and sobbing. While the country struggled to come to terms with what happened, authorities promised a gun crackdown and said they would boost security in schools. Thousands lit candles and left flowers near the shooting site in Belgrade, in an outpouring of sadness and solidarity. My soul aches for them, said Vesna Kostic, who came to pay her respects outside the school on Saturday. I keep looking for a cause, a reason why this has happened to him (the shooter), why this has happened to us. Serbian media reported that four of the eight children killed in the school shooting, as well as the Vladislav Ribnikar school guard, were buried at cemeteries in Belgrade on Saturday, the second day of a three-day mourning period for the victims. Some 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the south, a mass funeral was held in the small village of Malo Orasje for five young men who were gunned down in the shooting rampage on Thursday evening. Sobbing mourners lined up to light candles while waiting for the coffins to be placed on five benches outside the village church for a service. Five graves! He (the killer) shut down five families, one villager told N1 television. How could this happen? Serbian police have said that the suspected shooter stopped a taxi after his rampage and made the driver take him to a village further south, where he was arrested on Friday. Officers later said they found weapons and ammunition in two houses he was using there. The suspect, identified as Uros Blazic, told prosecutors during questioning on Saturday in the central town of Smederevo that he shot people he didnt personally know because he wanted to sow fear among residents, RTS state television reported. He faces charges of first-degree murder and unauthorized possession of guns and ammunition. The motive for both shootings remained unclear. The 13-year-old boy, who is too young to be criminally charged, has been placed in a mental clinic. His father was arrested for allegedly teaching his son to use guns and not securing his weapons well enough. The suspected village shooter wore a pro-Nazi T-shirt, authorities said, and complained of disparagement, though it was unclear what he meant. Serbias populist President Aleksandar Vucic promised the monsters would never see the light of day again. Those wounded in the two shootings have been hospitalized and most have undergone complicated surgical procedures. A girl and a boy from the school shooting remain in serious condition; the village victims are stable but under constant observation. The school shooting left six children and a teacher wounded, while 14 people were wounded in the villages of Malo Orasje and Dubona. The dead in Dubona included a young, off-duty policeman and his sister. Authorities released a photo showing the suspected shooter upon arrest a young man in a police car in a blue T-shirt with the slogan Generation 88 on it. The double eights are often used as shorthand for Heil Hitler since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Apart from the gun crackdown, officials have announced stepped-up monitoring of social networks and the media. Already by Saturday, several people had been questioned for posting threats or videos supporting the killers on social networks, the Tanjug news agency reported. Serbias education ministry outlined a crisis plan for the students of Vladislav Ribnikar school to gradually return to classes next Wednesday. A team of experts, backed by the U.N. childrens agency UNICEF, will offer support and oversee the process, a ministry statement said. Experts have repeatedly warned that decades of crises and economic hardship, coupled with corrupt institutions and a high level of intolerance in public speech and politics, could push some people over the edge. The populist-led Balkan country has refused to fully face its role in the wars of the 1990s, war criminals are largely regarded as heroes and minority groups routinely face harassment and sometimes physical violence. The question now is whether our society is ready to reject the model of violence, psychologist Zarko Korac warned. When you glorify a war criminal you glorify his crimes and you send a message that it is legitimate. By JOVANA GEC Associated Press In London, Brazils Lula calls for efforts to free Assange View Photo RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) After attending the coronation of King Charles III in London, Brazils President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denounced the lack of concerted efforts to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent four years in Britains Belmarsh Prison. It is an embarrassment that a journalist who denounced trickery by one state against another is arrested, condemned to die in jail and we do nothing to free him. Its a crazy thing, Lula told reporters. We talk about freedom of expression; the guy is in prison because he denounced wrongdoing. And the press doesnt do anything in defense of this journalist. I cant understand it. Lula offered the remarks in response to a question about Assange, who is a native Australian. He said he had forgotten to discuss the matter with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but that he would write to him upon returning to Brazil. Assange has been fighting extradition to the United States, and Lulas comments come at a moment that he has shown little reluctance to voice his differences of opinion with Washington regarding geopolitical matters, particularly in his opposition to providing arms to Ukraine for its war against Russia, and accusing the US and Europe of encouraging the fighting. His stance and repeated statements have drawn sharp rebukes from the White House and Europe. For its part, Australia has been stepping up diplomatic pressure on the US government to call off its prosecution of Assange. On Friday, Australias Prime Minister Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview that enough is enough. There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration. Last November, Albanese told Parliament that his position is clear and has been made clear to the U.S. administration: That it is time that this matter be brought to a close. Assange has battled in British courts for years to avoid being sent to the U.S., where he faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse that stem from WikiLeaks publication of a huge trove of classified documents in 2010. American prosecutors allege he helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk. To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think there must be a movement of world press in his defense. Not in regard to his person, but to defend the right to denounce, Lula told reporters. The guy didnt denounce anything vulgar. He denounced that a state was spying on others, and that became a crime against the journalist. The press, which defends freedom of the press, does nothing to free this citizen. Its sad, but its true. Last year, Assanges father John Shipton sought to convince Mexicos President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to address the issue of his sons prosecution with the US top diplomat, and to get Australias Albanese to raise the issue with US President Joe Biden at Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral. In his comments to reporters on Saturday, Lula also noted that Charles III asked him to take care of the Amazon rainforest, and that he responded he needs resources in order to do so. Prime Minister Sunak on Friday pledged to contribute 80 million pounds ($101 million) to Brazils Amazon Fund that aims to stop deforestation, adding to contributions from Norway and Germany, as well as a recent promise from the Biden to seek congressional approval for $500 million. But Lula told reporters that the amount pledged by Britain is not sufficient. ___ Pollastri reported from Sao Paulo By DAVID BILLER and TATIANA POLLASTRI Associated Press This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate "Be their voice! Those three words served as a rallying cry for over 200 protesters that gathered Friday to make voices heard following Plainview ISDs handling of a sexual assault of a first-grade student by her classmates at Plainview South Elementary. The incident happened April 19 and came to light publicly on April 21 when a parent spread the word via social media. The district addressed it publicly a week later after an outcry from families of Plainview South Elementary students. We want to make sure that they dont sweep this under the rug, said Heather Gonzales. Protesters, including Gonzales, met at Broadway Park to send that message to district leaders. Many of them brought along signs that said things like: We will not be silenced, Protect our children, and different variations of a call for justice. Many of the protesters also wore shirts that said, Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves #saveyourchildren. Before they walked, several people took the microphone to share their support for the protests. People traveled from surrounding communities, including Lubbock, to march alongside the Plainview community. Accountability and responsibility were mentioned repeatedly as protesters spoke. They want to see South Elementary Principal Jennifer Hughey and Superintendent H.T. Sanchez fired. The teacher has already been placed on administrative leave, according to the district. Gonzales told the crowd the victims family has hired an attorney as they fight to make their voices heard by district leaders. Following words shared by some of the younger protesters, many of the crowd members took to the street for a police-escorted march north on Broadway. The path led to Millenium Park before marchers head back to where they started. The walk drew attention from a bevy of people at a Cinco De Mayo celebration downtown as well as drivers up and down the street. As they marched, protesters yelled, Be their voice, and We demand change. Fridays demonstration is the second one in five days. Families of students at Plainview South Elementary and members of the community gathered Monday at the PISD administration office to protest after learning of the sexual assault the weekend prior via social media. According to a statement shared with protesters Monday and later released as an official statement from the district, two students were recorded by another on a school-issued device performing sexual acts. The teacher was in the classroom but did not see it. A day after the incident, students watched the video before the teacher took up the device, which a student had locked, and sent it to be unlocked by IT. That was when the teacher allegedly discovered what happened. The district informed just the two parents/guardians whose children were directly involved. One family was informed three days later because they couldnt be reached that day, according to the statement. Protesters claimed the district should have been more transparent as soon as the video was discovered. The victims family noted that they still havent seen the video more than two weeks later. They claim district officials said theres nothing to see but questioned the validity of that response. Protesters also claim the districts statement didnt convey the full truth. They claim the statement did not address the level of severity of the students actions by referring to the sexual assault as an incident. Frustration was also expressed about the victims family learning details of what happened from the victim as opposed to the district. Protesters have taken to social media platforms throughout the week to share criticism of the districts handling of the case and to publicly demand answers from district leaders regarding their lack of immediate response and communication. We want to have open communication, a cousin of one of the victims said at the demonstration Friday. Theres nothing wrong with listening to the parents. Instead, what (Superintendent H.T.) Sanchez did was drive off in his vehicle and did not want to face the families. What happened is real. Since the incident became public, Gonzales said, shes heard from many who have shared similar stories. Its so sad that so many people have reached out to me because the school is not listening to them. They talk about bullies but the administration is the biggest bully, Gonzales said. Sarai Castillo, another protester that attended Friday, told the Herald about how the stories that have been shared over the past week have fueled protesters to seek change. There are statements being written by students that have gone through some similar experiences and werent heard. Hearing those statements has really brought the community together and were wanting change, Castillo said. These stories have been shared with Gonzales who plans to share them with the school board at the next regularly scheduled meeting on May 18. I want them (the school district leaders) to know that even though summer is coming, we are not going to stop. We are not going to let them think they can go into a new year and not think about what is happening here. We will continue to go at this until all three (teacher, principal and superintendent) are fired, Gonzales said. Todays protest isnt going to be a one-and-done thing. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Iran executed an Iranian-Swedish dual national Saturday accused of masterminding a 2018 attack on a military parade that killed at least 25 people, one of several enemies of Tehran seized abroad in recent years amid tensions with the West. Farajollah Chaab, also known as Habib Asyoud, had been a leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, an Arab separatist movement that has conducted oil pipeline bombings and other attacks in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province. That group had claimed the 2018 attack in its immediate aftermath. Cha'ab's execution comes as a Swedish court last year sentenced an Iranian to life in prison over his part in the 1988 mass executions in Iran at the end of its war with Iraq. Tehran, which has used prisoners as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West, reacted angrily to that sentence. Meanwhile, tensions also remain high between Iran and the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as well and at least one more prisoner with Western ties faces a possible execution. The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency confirmed Cha'ab's execution by hanging in a lengthy statement. It identified him as the leader of the militant group and alleged without providing evidence that he had ties to Swedish, Israelis and U.S. intelligence services. It accused his group of killing or wounding 450 people over the years, including multiple attacks on government offices and other sites. It also included state television interviews with Cha'ab, a feature of many Iranian trials that activists long have described as coerced confessions. It also clearly identified Iranian intelligence officers as being behind Cha'ab's abduction, saying that its unknown soldiers captured him in Turkey in November 2019. Iran has used similar ruses to capture its enemies abroad, including the exiled journalist Ruhollah Zam who was executed in 2020. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom condemned Cha'ab's execution. The death penalty is an inhumane and irrevocable punishment, and Sweden, together with the rest of the (European Union), condemns its use under all circumstances, he said in a statement. Swedens Nordic neighbors Finland and Norway also strongly condemned the execution, underlying their stance against the death penalty. I am appalled, said Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights separately condemned the execution, referring to Cha'ab's closed-door trial as grossly unfair. This is an example of the Islamic Republics state terrorism," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the group's director. We expect that the EU and Swedish government show adequate reaction to the murder of their citizen. Killing a hostage must not be tolerated. Tensions already had escalated between Iran and Sweden over the life imprisonment of Hamid Noury, an Iranian convicted in Sweden of committing grave war crimes and murder during the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The end of the war saw mass executions of an estimated 5,000 Iranian prisoners, including those from an exiled opposition group and others. The 2018 attack in Iran targeted a military parade in Ahvaz in Khuzestan, the chaos captured live on state television. Militants disguised as soldiers opened fire, killing at least 25 people and wounding over 60 others in the deadliest attack to strike Iran in years. A spokesman for the separatist group claimed the assault shortly after in a televised interview. The Islamic State group also claimed the attack, though it offered factually incorrect details about the assault. In recent months, Iran has carried out other executions after the months of unrest over the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the country's morality police. In January, Iran executed a former high-ranking defense ministry official and dual Iranian-British national accused of spying. Also facing a possible execution is an Iranian-German national who lived in California, a man Iran describes as planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200 others, as well as other assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing. His family long has said he was captured by Iranian intelligence in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Iran is one of the worlds top executioners. ___ Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Finland, contributed to this report. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukraine's air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow's most modern missiles. Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems. Yes, we shot down the unique Kinzhal, Oleshchuk wrote. It happened during the night-time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region. Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from Russian territory and was shot down with a Patriot missile. The Kinzhal is one of the latest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. A combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets, like underground bunkers or mountain tunnels. The Ukrainian military has previously admitted lacking assets to intercept the Kinzhals. They were saying that the Patriot is an outdated American weapon, and Russian weapons are the best in the world," Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Ukraine's Channel 24 television. "Well, there is confirmation that it effectively works against even a super-hypersonic missile. Ihnat said. He said successfully intercepting the Kinzhal was a slap in the face for Russia. Ukraine took its first delivery of the Patriot missiles in late April. It has not specified how many of the systems it has or where they have been deployed, but they are known to have been provided by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. Germany and the U.S. have acknowledged each sending at least one battery and the Netherlands has said it has provided two launchers, although it is not clear how many are currently in operation. Ukrainian troops have received the extensive training needed to be able to effectively locate a target with the systems, lock on with radar, and fire. Each battery requires up to 90 personnel to operate and maintain. Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the U.S. in August 2021, months before Russias full-scale invasion but seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula. He has described possessing the system as a dream but said he was told in the U.S. at the time that it was impossible. The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, according to analysts. At such a cost, it was widely thought that Ukraine would only use the Patriots against Russian aircraft or hypersonic missiles. In a Telegram post on Saturday, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraines Armed Forces, said he had thanked U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for the ongoing American aid to Ukraine. Zaluzhnyi said he also briefed Milley about the situation at the front and preparations for Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia. Ukraine has not said when it might launch the counteroffensive, but it is widely anticipated this spring. In an interview this week with Foreign Affairs magazine, Milley said he would not speculate on if or when it might come, but that with NATO assistance to help train and equip nine brigades' worth of combined arms, armor and mechanized infantry, the Ukrainians right now have the capability to attack. He also said that their capability to defend was significantly enhanced from what they were just a year ago. I dont want to suggest that they may or may not conduct an offensive operation in the coming weeks, he said. Thatll be up to them. Theyve got a significant amount of planning and coordination and all of that to do, if they were to do an offensive operation. But theyre prepared to do offense or defense. In other developments, officials in both Russia and Ukraine said they had carried out another of their regular exchanges of prisoners of war. The Russian Defense Ministry said it brought three military pilots back to Russia, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said 45 fighters who defended the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol had been returned to Ukraine. Also on Saturday, Ukraines Special Operations Forces accused Russia of using phosphorus munitions in its attempt to wrest control of the eastern city of Bakhmut from Ukrainian forces. Russian troops have been trying to take the city for more than nine months, but Ukrainian forces are still clinging to positions on the western outskirts. On Saturday, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper quoted military officials as saying that the enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut in an attempt to wipe the city off the face of the earth. A photo accompanying the newspaper report showed an urban area lit up with fire in multiple places. The allegations could not be independently verified. Russian forces have not commented on the claim but have rejected previous accusations from Ukraine that they had used phosphorus. International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus or other incendiary weapons munitions designed to set fire to objects or cause burn injuries in areas where there could be concentrations of civilians. White phosphorous can also be used for illumination or to create smoke screens. ___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine MERIDEN Children who were exploited in sexual photos and videos are often haunted by those internet images years later because of shield laws that protect Big Tech. But U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, and U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina, hope to hold them responsible through a bipartsan bill that holds platforms accountable to report and remove such images, or be held accountable in civil courts. The Earn It Act was approved unanimously by the Judiciary Committee Thursday. The photographs and video exhibits were so graphic, lawmakers could not show them during the hearing, Blumenthal said. Blumenthal was joined by members of the state Department of Children and Families and state police to share details of the act Friday at the State Police Division of Scientific Services on Colony Street. This is the third time the Earn It Act has cleared the Judiciary Committee. From 29 to 32 million of these images are on the internet, Blumenthal said. Not only is it a crime against children, but these images stay on the internet haunting children for their whole lives. Thats why its such a horrifying crime. Unfortunately many of our major platforms refuse to report it or remove them. The tech companies are complicit. They should be held accountable by law enforcement and the survivors themselves. Right now there is no law. Technology platforms are shielded by Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which states that No provider of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information by another information content provider. Blumenthal supports a repeal of Section 230, allowing civil action against platforms that dont report and remove abusive content is a start. That legal phrase shields tech companies that can host trillions of messages from being sued by anyone who feels wronged by something someone else has posted whether legitimate or not. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, Youtube and other more obscure sites have abused that protection and should lose immunity or at least have to earn it by satisfying requirements set by the government, Blumenthal said. But the measure faces opposition from technology lawyers and lobbyists, backed by millions of dollars in campaign contributions, Blumenthal said. Parents, victims and 250 advocacy groups, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, back the Earn It Act. Cybersecurity advocates fear that such changes could prompt tech companies to stop offering end-to-end encryption for their users. Such encryption helps protect data from hackers, governments and other snoops. Law enforcement officials have argued that cybercriminals also use end-to-end encryption to share CSAM Child Sexual Abuse Material and plan other crimes, and theyve criticized tech companies efforts to expand their encryption offerings, according to the Washington Post. Encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original version of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decipher a ciphertext back to plaintext and access the original information. The coronavirus pandemic forced millions of children into isolation where they spent increased time in front of computers and tablets and smart phones. Reports of sexual exploitation and abuse, blackmailing and cyberbullying jumped exponentially, experts said. Last year, we received 310 reports of possible sex trafficking, said Tammy Sneed, director of human trafficikng for the state Department of Children and Families. These are the largest numbers weve seen. Bad actors are using these images and are exploiting children and abusing children. We know there has been a 90% increase in actors trying to lure children since the pandemic. DCF and other agencies work closely with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program, which helps state and local law enforcement agencies develop a response to technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and Internet crimes against children. The task force encompasses forensic and investigative components, training and technical assistance, victim services, and community education. We receive 4,500 tips every year, according to Lucinda Lopez Phelan, deputy director of the Identification Section of Scientific Services for Connecticut State Police. We work under the task force to investigate and provide services, offer training assistance, victim services and protect against child enticement, exploitation and abuse against children. The task force prioritizes tips and assigns a top priority when its believed a suspect has imminent plans to harm a child, followed by investigating those who are preplanning an event. The task force also deals with blackmail crimes, where a minor has sent a photo and is being blackmailled over it. The repayment is either cash, or producing more child sexual content. The children are usually afraid to report it to their parents or school. They also address cyberbullying, doxing, or revealing someones wherabouts to harass and intimidate. These tips come in hard and fast, said Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca, a supervisor in the Computer Crimes Unit for the State Police. Its our job to determine where the IP address is coming from. Much of it is peer to peer, like the old music pirating platforms. There are other software used to spread child pornography. Ventresca recalled a case involving a local hotel owner who was actively looking online to purchase a minor for production of child porn. Police staged a sting and arrested the man on site. There were multiple victims with this. In fact, one of them was his own daughter, Ventresca said. Its become a very big issue. We are working tirelessly every day to keep up with the latest technology, But while the predators can be pursued by law enforcement, the tech companies are immune right now, Blumenthal said. We need to eliminate that section of the law that gives them complete immunity, he said, and end this sickening sexual abuse and exploitation. mgodin@record-journal.com203-317-2255Twitter: @Cconnbiz WALLINGFORD Driving down North Colony Street you might get stuck at a red light, look up and see a green-hooded grim reaper enticing you to enter a funky purple door. Through that door is Space Cadet Tattoo, which you can see printed in yellow and orange on the sign next to the hooded reaper. Space Cadet came from the fact that Im a big daydreamer, said owner Birdie Anderson. Throughout school, at any grade level, I always had a teacher say that I was a space cadet because I just spaced out or would like doodle all the time. I always thought it was really rad. And also, in middle school I was talking to my grandma and she said there used to be a radio show called Space Cadet where these cadets would go into space to help capture these guys that got trapped out there and their adventure. Tie together her love of art and horror and you have this grim but colorful tattoo and art studio. There are three of us: myself, Paige [Frisbee] and Ryan [Murphy] and we all kind of do a little bit of everything, Anderson said. Were all basically independent artists and licensed tattoo artists. The artists do a lot of 80s nostalgic horror tattoo work, but also a bit of neo-traditional. The shop also offers print work, t-shirts and other art. As far as t-shirts and prints, I like to do woodcut, carving the design out and then basically stamping it on to whatever material. They used it a lot on protest posters where you see its blocky and chiseled out. I really liked that look, and I wanted to keep that vintage old school look for the shop, Anderson said. Paige makes her own stickers and prints by hand, so thats pretty cool. And Ryan just finished a comic book that were hoping to sell here at the shop. I love the name Space Cadet and I think all of the things they do are positive, said Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. They offer a range of services and products and obviously there is creativity and marketing so we hope that they are able to continue to have a healthy and strong business here in town. Anderson also offers a nonprofit service called Project Atomic. It is a mental health service for people who want to cover up their self harm scars. If you qualify you get (the service) for free, she said. I was taking four people a month but I slowed it down to just one person a month right now. In the future Anderson hopes to sell some of the items on display in the shop, do conventions and offer paint classes and movie nights. Ive always wanted to go into art. Originally, I wanted to go into film, but I decided to go into a regular career to start and went into veterinary, Anderson said. While I was working there I had a coworker who was watching me draw and was like, you should pursue this so thats kind of how that happened. Anderson said it was a bit of a difficult start entering the tattoo world due to it being a male-dominated industry. When I started getting into it, Instagram was just becoming a thing. So I started seeing that there were more artists out there and there were a lot of other styles, not just traditional. I thought that was kind of cool. I'll give it a shot and see how it goes, and it worked out, she said. There was a shop that ended up taking me on and I did an apprenticeship for a while. Opening Space Cadet Tattoo was an unexpected blessing for Anderson. I had been tattooing for a little bit and I ran into some health issues and thought it might be a good idea to have my own space to come and go. It kind of grew and bloomed into what it is now, she said. The business started in a small office space in Winsted, but after driving by 28 North Colony St. last summer and seeing the for rent sign, she had the idea to expand. In July 2022 I applied and got it, said Anderson. Anderson had a lot of work to do to turn the old soap shop into a tattooing space. She sought to expose the old ceilings, open up the space, and add lots of decorations and bright colors. I wanted it to be a little different from your stereotypical tattoo shop, she said. I want it to be more inviting and just let the personality shine through. The biggest hurdle she faced was learning how to become a business owner while battling cervical cancer. It made me feel like I had to pick one or the other. Do I stay home and take care of myself or do I keep pushing through? she said. Anderson persevered and the shop officially opened on Aug. 1, 2022. We always want new businesses to open up in the area and welcome them, said Liz Davis, executive director at Wallingford Center Inc. Im glad theyre here and can add to our business community. Anderson shared that everything has been going well. Weve gotten a decent amount of people coming through; its nice being on this street because people walk by or get stuck at this light, Anderson said. And Im kind of loud and proud with my morals and what I want the shop to stand for and so I feel like we get a good crowd of open-minded, welcoming people. All the horror fans in Connecticut and surrounding areas will come in and kind of creep on the shop, which is cool too. We all kind of vibe with that in common. Anderson grew up in Massachusetts. She moved to Connecticut in her later years of high school. After moving around and traveling she returned to Winsted where she started a family. Its a little bit of a commute, but its worth it, Anderson said. I like the location; I love the landlord, hes awesome; and all my neighbors are pretty nice. Space Cadet Tattoo can be found on their website at https://spacecadettattoo.com or on Instagram @spacecadettattoo. Space Cadet Tattoo can be reached by phone at 203-675-1855 chooks@record-journal.com203-317-2279 Lawyers representing Arosume Property Development (Pvt) Limited, Jiti Law Chambers are demanding that Ms Bona Ouma Nyepudzai Mugabe and Mr Simba Chikore remove all the Carrick Creagh stands totalling 213 794 square metres they listed in their divorce proceedings. A letter dated May 4, 2023 written yesterday by Jiti Law Chambers and directed to Matsikidze Attorneys at Law, who are addressed as Ms Mugabe and Mr Chikores lawyers, threatens legal action if the two fail to remove the properties from their divorce case in 10 working days. We act for Arosume Property Development (Private) Limited, a land development company in partnership with the Government through a public-private-partnership (PPP) tripartite agreement with the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, which agreement is dated June 2007 and still subsists, wrote Jiti Law Chambers. Our client has learnt from the wide media coverage of your respective clients, a Mr Simbarashe Chikore and his wife Bona Chikore (nee Mugabe) matrimonial proceedings that various properties in the Carrick Creagh Estate alone are listed as part of their matrimonial estate and subject to distribution. We are instructed, as we hereby do, to demand that both your clients cause to be removed from their pleadings all Carrick Creagh properties that do not belong to them within the next ten (10) working days, failure which our client will take legal action without further notice to you for the removal of all Carrick Creagh land from their matrimonial proceedings. Arosume Property Developments lawyers said Mr Chikore and Ms Mugabe took vast amounts of land in Carrick Creagh without following procedures, despite Government policy that dictates that one person cannot receive more than one residential stand within the same local authority from the State. They have called for an investigation into the circumstances under which Ms Mugabe and Mr Chikore acquired 213 794 square metres of land in Carrick Creagh in light of the Government policy. We advise that the Carrick Creagh Estate stands are not owned by either of your clients. It is State land, which prior to the cancellation of the fraudulently acquired title deeds, were owned by Navline Investments Private Limited and Montshow Enteprises Private Limited. The consequence of the cancellation is that the land reverted to being State land and as such it cannot be distributed to private individuals via a divorce order, reads the letter. Ms Mugabe is alleged to have been a director of both companies while Mr Chikore does not appear to have been or to be involved with either of the companies. The lawyers believe Mr Chikore deliberately included the Carrick Creagh properties for purposes that have nothing to do with the distribution sought before the court. There is also debate as to who really owns stand number 313 of Carrick Creagh Estate, as it appears that another person is attempting to buy it. Arosume Property Development has reported the ownership of various pieces of land in Carrick Creagh Estate by the couple to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), although not much movement has been recorded in the case. In an interview last night, ZACC Chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo said she had read reports that the Carrick Creagh case was reported to ZACC in 2017. Justice Matanda-Moyo said since she is on leave, she tasked her organisation yesterday to dig for the files and check if indeed such a case was reported. She was only sworn in as ZACC Chairperson in May 2019. However, Justice Matanda-Moyo said ZACC is investigating the Carrick Creagh issues based on the report compiled by Justice Tendai Uchena on the sale of State land around urban areas. We have some cases that have started going to court but from the Uchena Report. Theirs from 2017, I had not seen it but I want to believe that the cases will come together at the end of the day because it is the same case. When we came in, the files were not in order but I have asked them to dig through the files and see if there is such a report, said Justice Matanda-Moyo. Herald Breaking News via Email A Hauna Growth Point self-confessed x worker who gave birth to triplets has been inundated with calls from people who are offering to adopt her four months old children ever since the publication of her story in The Manica Post last week. However, Melody Muponda (30) says although she is struggling to make ends meet, her babies are not up for adoption. She says all she needs is assistance to look after her children, either in cash or kind, not for her children to be taken away from her. Many people have called me offering to adopt the children and they keep calling even after I turn them down. I am now afraid that someone might take my children away because those who want to adopt them seem relentless, Muponda told The Manica Post on Tuesday. What I need is help in looking after my children. The fact that I am now back into x work should be evidence enough that I l0ve them and I am desperate to provide for my bundles of joy. I will not part ways with them. I will never give them up, said the woman. Although I am currently going through hard times right now, one day these children will look after me, she said. To quell Mupondas fears, childrens rights advocates have assured her that the Constitution of Zimbabwe ensures that her children will not be taken from her against her will. Of paramount importance, the best interests of any child include their stay with their biological parents. Legal practitioner, Advocate Pamela Musimwa said according to Zimbabwean law, no one is allowed to take a child from their parent if they have not consented to adoption. The adoption process is simple. You just go to the Department of Social Welfare and make your application. The authorities themselves will connect you to the child when he or she is available, you do not do this on your own, said Advocate Musimwa. She further stated that failure of a parent to provide for their child does not render them incapable of looking after that child. Had it been the case, all our children would have been taken away from us and put up for adoption. It is up to the parent to give up their child. In fact, in some instances, the court or Social Welfare may decline to process an adoption for a child, the reason being if you really want to assist a child in need, you can do so when the child is still with their parents, she said. The Childrens Act (Chapter 5:06) states that the first step when adopting a child is making an application to the Childrens Court at any local Magistrates Court. The court will then refer the application to the district or provincial Social Welfare offices. A probation officer will then be appointed and vetting begins. Prospective parents will be vetted and put on the waiting list before a court hearing is held. After that, the adopted child will be entitled to all the rights a biological child has and bear the surname of the adoptive parents. Advocate Musimwa said the process should lead prospective adoptive parents into obtaining an adoption order. Muponda revealed that before she fell prgnnt, she offered her services in Manicaland and neighbouring Mozambique. As fate would have it, a cond0m burst during a night of passion with one of her clients and that is how Muponda conceived her triplets. However, she has no idea who amongst her clients is the father of the three children. The infants require a lot of milk since her brast milk is inadequate to keep them full. On the other hand, Muponda owes her landlord four months rentals. Muponda says her predicament has forced her to go back into the worlds oldest profession. However, clients are reportedly shunning her as they view her as highly fertile. At the moment I am not the most preferred x worker at Hauna because the clients know that I have three very young babies. They are afraid that I might end up falling prgnnt again, which is why I am appealing for help once again. Please help me so that I start a vending business and be able take care of my children, she said. Manica Post Breaking News via Email (Natural News) Fast food chain Burger King is set to close up to 400 locations across the country this year, with the under-performing ones being the first to go. According to the Daily Mail, Burger King CEO Joshua Kobza confirmed the closures after the company announced its results for the first quarter of 2023. The earnings release noted that from the start of the year until March, Burger King closed 124 locations leaving 6,964 restaurants still operating. This is a historic high, said Kobza, as the fast food chain usually closes a couple of hundred stores annually. However, the CEO clarified that not all of the 300 to 400 locations set to close this year have been revealed. He also admitted that there is a fair degree of uncertainty around the plans. Sales performance can vary greatly between Burger King locations; one poorly-performing location could see things turn out in its favor the next month. The company is seeking additional franchisees with stronger finances this year, according to Burger King Chairman Patrick Doyle. He also hinted at the possibility of under-performing franchisees being axed. There will always be a minority [of franchisees] who arent dedicated, enthusiastic operators. Well work with them to leave the system and move on to do something else, Doyle said. There simply is no room for franchisees who are not willing or able to work hard to operate restaurants that are better than the system average over the long term. (Related: Restaurant industry collapsing across the US, with several popular chains permanently CLOSING DOWN numerous locations.) Established in 1953, Burger King ranked second to McDonalds as Americas largest burger chain for a long time. Wendys took over that spot in 2020, moving Burger King a notch lower. Several Burger King franchisees file for bankruptcy Doyles insinuation that poorly-performing franchisees will be separated from the parent company came amid several Burger King franchisees filing for bankruptcy and closing locations. Back in March, Meridian Restaurants Unlimited (MRU) filed for bankruptcy after reportedly incurring $14 million in debt. It cited rising food costs and poor sales at over 100 locations it operates as a major reason for the filing. MRU will close 27 locations across seven states including Minnesota, Montana and Utah as part of the filing. It said that more store closures were possible, if not likely as it negotiated the rent and operational improvements with landlords. Also in March, Michigan-based franchisee EYM King announced the closure of 26 restaurants across the Great Lakes State. The franchisee said it would lay off 424 staff members as it geared up to close the restaurants through April. In a letter to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, EYM King said it had failed to reach an agreement with the parent company leading to the closures. Other struggling Burger King locations were sold off and acquired by bigger counterparts. Toms King filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January. It was later sold out for $33 million, alongside the 90 restaurants it operates. DC Burger is expected to purchase 37 stores in Virginia for $22 million. Karali Group is reportedly set to pay more than $7 million for 27 spots in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Despite the series of closures, the company reported that its comparable sales rose 8.7 percent in the first quarter of 2023. Burger King also expressed hope that its $400 million Reclaim the Flame turnaround plan may be starting to work. Launched in September 2022, the plan seeks to accelerate sales growth; drive franchisee profitability; revive run-down restaurants and streamline overly complicated menus and operations. Visit EconomicRiot.com for more stories about store closures. Watch this video about Burger King requiring diners to show photo IDs, part of its pandemic-era guidelines. This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Food collapse, labor shortages affecting restaurants all over the country. McDonalds temporarily shuts down U.S. offices, announces impending layoffs. McDonalds begins closing restaurants across U.S. as clean food movement sweeps America. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk Brighteon.com (Natural News) A retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Army has warned that the alleged Ukrainian drone strikes against the Kremlin represent a new level of attack that could dangerously escalate the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis spoke about the possibility of the conflict becoming worse for the people of both Ukraine and Russia during an exclusive interview with Breitbart. (Related: Two drones shot down right above the Kremlin during an alleged Ukrainian attempt to assassinate Putin.) This warning was made after two drones were taken down within the grounds of the Kremlin, with one of them exploding just above the dome of the Senate building. The Russian government in a statement called this a planned terrorist attack by Kyiv. Two uncrewed aerial vehicles were aimed at the Kremlin. As a result of timely actions taken by the military and special services with the use of radar warfare systems, the devices were put out of action, read the governments statement. We regard these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the presidents life The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit. Ukraine has denied any involvement in the incident, suggesting that the attack was either a false flag operation or a sabotage activity by anti-Putin Russian resistance forces. Russia will be forced to respond to drone strike Davis himself is not fully convinced that Ukraine actually did strike the Kremlin in an attempt to assassinate Putin. But he did acknowledge the possibility. Either Ukraine did this and what Russias saying is true and its easy to be true when the truth is in your favor or Ukraine is right and it was a false flag operation and Russia did it for their benefit. Both possibilities have legitimate considerations, said Davis. He added that Kyiv definitely has the motivation and the resources necessary to conduct a drone strike deep within Russian territory. Davis also noted that in the days and weeks leading to the Kremlin attack, there have been a significant number of drone strikes by Ukraine within Russia, including in parts of Russia that Ukraine considers its sovereign territory. But whether it was a false flag or not, the fact remains that this is the first attack to occur against Moscow since Nazi Germany besieged the city more than 80 years ago. Furthermore, Davis pointed out that the attack was directed at the very seat of the Russian government, and such an unprecedented incident warrants a response in the eyes of the Russian military. This is the symbol of Russian military power, and there may be a big push from underneath for the Kremlin to actually take some sort of punitive response, said Davis. He added that the potential risk of escalation has massively increased. Its going to be hard for the Russians to not do anything in response, he added. I just cant imagine them not doing anything and just firing another couple of missiles. They do that every single day practically, so that wouldnt cut it. Based on the statements of some high-ranking Russian officials, Davis speculated that Moscows retaliation could be as grave as a similar attack or an assassination attempt against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Learn more about the escalating conflict in Ukraine at UkraineWitness.com. Watch this episode of TruNews as host Rick Wiles and co-host Dr. Raymond Burkhart discuss the dangerous implications of Ukraines failed assassination attempt against Putin. This video is from the channel TruNews on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warns that the world is on the verge of a NUCLEAR WORLD WAR III. Ukraine may have tried to ASSASSINATE Vladimir Putin using a kamikaze drone. Global military spending hits record-high $2.24 trillion amid ongoing conflict in Ukraine, heightened tension in Taiwan. Ukrainian drones conduct explosive attacks on Russian power stations. Ukrainian drone strikes deep within Russia could spark a bigger war involving the US. Sources include: Breitbart.com Reuters.com Brighteon.com (Natural News) The Climate Shutdowns are here. The European Union is partnering with the Dutch government to permanently shut down dairy, cattle, pig, and poultry farms across the Netherlands. Just a year ago, the Dutch government announced a plan to reduce nitrogen emissions across the country by more than 50 percent by 2030. On May 2, the European Commission approved a plan that would pay livestock farmers to shut down indefinitely in designated conservation areas if they agree to never start the same breeding activity elsewhere. The EUs environmental regulations are a threat to basic economic freedoms and the repercussions will impact human rights and the food supply itself. European Green Deal bribing small farmers to shut down permanently Under the European Green Deal, governments are bribing small and mid-sized farmers to shut down their operations permanently because their facilities produce high levels of nitrogen. The nitrogen is now labeled a pollutant that should be cut by 50% across Europe. Under the Green Deal, it is necessary and appropriate to improve the environmental conditions of the targeted areas and to allow a high quality, sustainable and environmentally friendly production, and that involves shutting down hundreds of small farms. The Dutch government has budgeted roughly 1.47 billion ($1.62 billion) to pay off the farmers and shut them down for good. The funds will be used to compensate the farmers up to 100 percent of the losses they incur after voluntarily agreeing to shutdown dairy, cattle, pig, and poultry breeding sites. The EU Commission is calling these buyouts direct grants. Under the governments plan, these new buy-outs of small and mid-sized farms are called schemes. The Dutch government will keep the schemes running until February of 2028, until most farming operations are consolidated into the hands of the few. The EU Commission claims that the schemes are proportionate and the compensation brings about positive effects that outweigh any potential distortion of competition and trade in the European Union. Farmers are only eligible for the buy-outs if they can prove that they have produced for five consecutive years. The WEF globalists behind the new plan know that the Netherlands is a top exporter of meat and agricultural products around the world. According to the National Statistics Office, Dutch agricultural exports were worth 122.3 billion last year. Farmers are fighting back against the new environmental rules that threaten their very existence, but the Dutch government is conspiring with the WEF. The EU is destroying fundamental freedoms and restricting food production, all for the greater good Robbin Voorend is one such farmer who has spoken out about the European Green Deal. The governments nitrogen emission schemes have already cut his livestock production by 90-95%. Dairy farmer Martin Neppelenbroek attests that the government culled 95% of his herd. These schemes will not be enough to convince every farmer to shut down, so additional bribes and payouts will be included in the bigger plan. Under the 975 million ($1.77 billion) LBV-plus scheme, some farmers who shut down high-level nitrogen operations will receive up to 120% in compensation from the lost production capacity. Under the European Green Deal, member states may grant some farmers an additional 20% green bonus if they shutdown their farms for environmental reasons. Dutch political commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek estimates that the EU buyouts could permanently shutdown 3,000 or more Dutch farms. This is how they do it: they put a knife to the farmers throats. They make sure they dont get their licenses renewed, theyre plaguing them with new rules and restrictions every day and then offer them a bribe, knowing many will take it out of pure desperation. Its all so vile, Vlaardingerbroek wrote, while questioning the legality of the government prohibiting farmers from starting over again. The whole idea of the EU was supposed to be about freedom of movement and freedom of workers. This is some next-level USSR stuff, Vlaardingerbroek warned. Sources include: TheEpochTimes.com Commission.Europa.eu NaturalNews.com (Natural News) The owner of a horse farm in Michigan is being investigated by the office of the states Attorney General (AG) Dana Nessel after she refused to sell her farm to a Chinese company. Lori Brock, the proprietress of Majestic Friesians Horse Farm in Big Rapids, has been targeted by Nessel after she refused to sell her property to the Chinese firm Gotion. It has expressed plans to build its electric vehicle (EV) battery plant near her 15o-acre farm. The company, a subsidiary of Guoxuan High Tech Co. based in Chinas eastern Anhui province, reportedly has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer touted Gotions proposed $951 million EV battery plant in Big Rapids, adding that at least $750 million in tax dollars will subsidize it. The Democratic governors allies in the Michigan Senates Appropriations Committee approved Gotions plan to build its facility on April 20. Whitmer lauded Gotions plant as the biggest-ever economic development project in Northern Michigan in October 2022. However, the governor ignored the potential environmental impact that the project could bring. Gotions battery plant will reportedly consume 715,000 gallons of groundwater per day, more than twice the 360,000 gallons per day used by Nestle in its water bottling plant there. Brock also expressed concern over the plants impact on the environment. But what incensed the farm owner was the fact that Gotion lied about its ties to China, community support of the project and hourly wages. Ultimately, she refused to sell her land to the Chinese company and even held an anti-Gotion rally at her farm. She allowed her horses to roam around, with some of them wearing horse coverings that stated: I say neigh to Gotion. Corrupt Nessel weaponizes state government against Brock Just days after Brocks rally against Gotion, the state government moved in to harass her. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) received a Right to Farm complaint regarding Majestic Friesians Horse Farm. The complaint alleged that there was manure run-off coming from the farm into the tributaries of the Muskegon River. According to the farm owner, she anticipates representatives of the MDARD which is under Nessels control to serve her a copy of the complaint. She believes that the complaint is merely harassment on the part of the AG and the governor for her refusal to yield. Moreover, the harassment leveled against Brock seems to be an expression of frustration on the part of Whitmers government. The Democratic chief executive of the Great Lakes State botched a deal with the Ford Motor Company, which decided to build EV facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky both red states instead of Michigan. It was later revealed that she had no idea of Fords $11.4 billion facilities, amounting to a huge loss for the state. (Related: Fords deal with Chinese EV battery maker sparks security concerns.) Despite the harassment from the state government, Brock has no plans of selling her farm to Gotion. She accused the company of absolutely cannibalizing all the land near us and scaring people into selling their property. My farm is pristine, and Im not worried one bit because were not doing anything to endanger anything. For 20 horses on 150 acres, theres no way Im in violation of anything, she told the Midwesterner. I dont believe in bullies and I will never, ever sell to them. Theyd be the last person in this world that Id ever sell my property to. Head over to NationalSecurity.news for more stories like this. Watch this clip from Maria Bartiromos Wall Street about the Chinese food company Fufeng Group buying land near an Air Force base in North Dakota. This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: China continues to snatch up U.S. farmland, American companies at alarming rates. GOP senator warns Biden admin to take Chinese purchases of U.S. farmland seriously. National security threat: Grand Forks City Council blocks Chinese-owned corn mill near air base. Republican congressman Chip Roy submits bill to ban CCP members from buying land in the USA. Communist China seizing control of American food supply with massive corn processing plant in North Dakota. Sources include: 100PercentFedUp.com Brighteon.com (Natural News) Now that it is clear the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is a sinking ship, major government figures like Tony Fauci, Justin Trudeau, and many others who aggressively pushed and enforced covid tyranny are backtracking and pretending as though they never did anything wrong. In speaking last week to The New York Times, Fauci tried to argue that he never once pushed lockdowns, for instance, even though he is on record time and time again throughout the scamdemic suggesting that Americans needed to be imprisoned in their own homes to stop the spread. Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down, Fauci blathered arrogantly in response to questions. Never. I never did. Fauci instead blamed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the lockdowns, even though it was he who issued the guidance that the CDC used to impose said lockdowns. I gave a public-health recommendation that echoed the CDCs recommendation, and people made a decision based on that, is how Fauci tried to reframe what actually happened, adding that he just so happened to be perceived as the personification of the recommendations. (Related: Remember when Fauci tried to claim that the CDC should be above the law?) The covid tyrannizers cannot be allowed to escape the justice they deserve for their crimes against humanity Perhaps Fauci is just really old and suffering from dementia these days. This could explain why he is having a lot of trouble remembering all the things he said and did over the past three years, and why he is now trying to shift the blame onto others. This is highly unlikely, of course, but it is otherwise inexplicable that this little public health elf expects Americans to just forget all the tyranny he imposed on the country for nearly three years straight. As you may recall, Fauci publicly boasted in October of 2020 that he personally is the reason why President Donald Trump shut the country down, adding that this was way before there were even any major clusters of cases in New York City. American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union head Randi Weingarten is another covid tyrannizer who appeared again and again throughout the plandemic to argue in favor of masking children for many hours every day. Like Fauci, Weingarten is now trying to pretend that she never did any of these things. We spent every day from February [2020] on trying to get schools open, Weingarten recently tried to claim before Congress, lying to our representatives just like Fauci lied to the Times. It turns out that Weingarten stood in the way of schools reopening, insisting that they remain shut down, and that children stay masked, for as long as possible. Who is a worse liar: Weingarten or Fauci? Then we have Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who also lied last week to the public that he never forced anyone to get vaccinated for the Fauci Flu. Somehow, Trudeau has conveniently forgotten about the Trucker Convoys that protested his covid jab mandates. This is precisely why the publics trust in government has fallen off a cliff during the pandemic, maintains Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Publics Trust, a group that pushes for more transparency and impartiality in government. Chamberlain added in a statement to the independent media that Fauci, Weingarten, Trudeau, and the rest of their ilk are now engaged in gaslighting by trying to convince the American public that they did and said exactly the opposite of what they actually did and said. As justice slowly descends on the covid tyrants, we will keep you abreast of the latest at Tyranny.news. Sources for this article include: TheEpochTimes.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) Do you ever get the feeling that the Democrats are trying to make the Nazis look like amateurs? Sadly, it seems like they want to go way beyond the Eight Startling and Uncomfortable Ways the Democrat Party Emulates the Nazi Party. From being worse than the Nazis on gun confiscation to using the nations socialist media as their go-to propaganda organ of choice with a disturbing obsession with Guillotines thrown in just for good measure. (Article by D Parker republished from AllNewsPipeline.com) Naturally, this kind of truth-telling will send the sinister set into spasms of outrage at the challenging of one of their most cherished and biggest lies, promulgated by 80 years of BS. But the facts are the facts, no matter how much they try to bluff their way to silence anyone who dares question their big lie that a National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party wasnt National SOCIALIST German Workers Party Normalcy bias tends to make us think that this cant happen here. That we could lose all of our freedoms in a flash with the passage of this kind of legislation and severe control measures such as a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), but theyre already talking about the latter despite the usual denials whenever the fascist far left is up to something nefarious. But our focus here is the Restrict Act! The Restrict Act! Totalitarianism is Good For You This is supposedly a Tik Tok Ban except that it doesnt mention Tik Tok, it only has reams of vague language that would be perfect fodder for unelected bureaucrats to clamp down on the free speech of their political opponents. This unconstitutional abomination is described as Orwellian in scope as described by Ohio GOP Rep. Warren Davidson interviewed Wednesday on the John Solomon Reports podcast. Beware of Orwellian bill banning TikTok, warns Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson an emerging bipartisan coalition of civil libertarians on the right and the left warns the legislation is a Trojan horse. In empowering the Commerce Department to crack down on TikTok, they fear, the bill would give the federal government sweeping new authority to surveil and punish largely free of public scrutiny or accountability digital communications or transactions posing vaguely defined undue and unacceptable risk to national security or public safety. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, for example, tweeted out an article headlined Prepare for the Patriot Act for the internet. It gives the ability really with almost no due process whatsoever for somebody to be fined a million dollars and imprisoned for 20 years, Davidson said. And thats if they get caught violating things like downloading software that the government doesnt approve of. The RESTRICT Act would, among other things, criminalize the use of virtual private networks, or VPNs, relied on by millions of internet users to protect their data when browsing the internet. So, if you are like many who already use a VPN to work remotely or stay safe on the internet, you are already in violation of the Restrict Act. Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com (Natural News) The Irish government has decided to move forward with the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offenses) Bill 2022, despite the fact that a majority of public consultation responses were against the proposal. The bill, which was initiated in October 2022, aims to address hate speech in the country. (Article by Cindy Harper republished from ReclaimTheNet.org) The public consultation, held in 2019, offered individuals the chance to express their views on the matter through either letter submissions or survey responses. Gript, a news outlet, conducted an analysis of the 3,597 submissions received during the consultation process. The results indicated that 73% of the respondents opposed the implementation of a hate speech law in Ireland. Many respondents felt that free speech should only be restricted in cases involving incitement to violence or credible threats. One individual commented, Im offended by the government quite often but they are entitled to their opinion like I am. Another stressed the importance of free expression over safeguarding the feelings of sensitive individuals. Despite the clear opposition, the Irish government chose to proceed with the bill, citing the sheer number of responses as justification for moving forward. The Justice Department stated, Hate Speech can lead to hate crime, and announced the development of new hate crime laws in Ireland, following the release of the consultation findings. This week, the bill received a significant majority of support in the lower house, with 110 votes in favor and only 14 against. The decision to move forward with the legislation, despite widespread public disapproval, raises questions about the effectiveness of public consultation and the governments commitment to addressing the concerns of its citizens. Read more at: ReclaimTheNet.org (Natural News) Kansas and Colorado will now regulate flashing turbine lights in wind farms after residents complained of light pollution. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provides standards for wind turbine lighting to ensure it is visible to pilots. Under the agencys rules, this includes red flashing lights on top of each turbine, flashing 30 times per minute. But residents of rural areas have complained of these lights as an eyesore and have made them feel like they live on an airport runway. They alleged that these turbine lights have ruined their view of the night sky and disrupted the bucolic stillness that defined their counties. (Related: Can you see stars? Light pollution to blame for hiding wonders in the night sky, warn experts.) Thankfully, the chief executives of the Sunflower State and the Centennial State paid attention to residents complaints about light pollution but only after years of soft policies on the matter. Proposals signed by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis mandate that the appearance of blinking red lights be reduced, and that they only be turned on when a low-flying aircraft is approaching. North Dakota approved similar legislation in 2017. Lawmakers at the Washington State Legislature also passed a bill requiring light-mitigating technology on wind farms. However, the bill still awaits the signature of Gov. Jay Inslee. Officials with Terma and DeTect Inc., the biggest vendors of aircraft-detection lighting systems, said they have seen demand for their technology increase significantly since 2018 when counties and states began to require its use. Both firms use radars to activate red lights if a low-flying aircraft comes within three and a half miles. DeTect Senior Vice President Jesse Lewis said his company has installed or is about to install 100 radars, with one to three used for a typical wind farm depending on its size and the terrain. Former Colorado State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg pointed out that even though the technology isnt cost-prohibitive for most companies, they have not been required to use it. He said: When theyre not forced to spend that money, why would they? Sonnenberg, now a county commissioner, compared the red lights to those on an ambulance and said the flashing is rather annoying. Clean wind turbines causing light pollution According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), wind energy projects in the U.S. largely concentrated in a high-wind-speed corridor stretching from North Dakota to West Texas have been slow to adopt the mitigation solutions. None of the more than 40 wind farms in Kansas, one of the top states for wind-energy producing, use systems that light up only when aircraft are near. Two projects under construction in Kansas have been approved to use the light-minimizing technology, wrote WSJs Shannon Najmabadi. Kimberly Svaty, public policy director of the Kansas Power Alliance (KPA), remarked: Light-mitigation technology is definitely something that can be done to help improve the relationship with the community. KPA represents the interests of wind, solar, battery-storage and advanced-power industries. The WSJ also published testimonies from several residents affected by light pollution from wind farms. Imagine: Red blinking stoplights every night, all night long and not in sync, Marshall County, Kansas resident Gayla Randel told lawmakers. The lights from more than 130 turbines are visible from her home. Nakila Blessing and her husband built a house on his familys farm in Schuyler County, Missouri in 2018. After two years, the 175-turbine High Prairie wind farm project was constructed near the place resulting in 500-foot-tall turbines cluttering their landscape and light polluting the night sky. They like to say: Youll get used to it,' Blessing said of the turbines that surround her home on three sides. You dont get used to it. Visit GreenTyranny.news for more stories like this. Watch this clip of Greta Thunberg and dozens of other activists protesting against the construction of wind farms on land traditionally used by the indigenous Sami people. This video is from the PureTrauma357 channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Wind turbine blades could account for more than 43 million tons of waste each year by 2050. Green energy projects financially COLLAPSING around the world: Siemens wind turbine manufacturer latest casualty. Wind turbine manufacturers losing BILLIONS as orders decline despite turmoil in natural gas markets. High wind hazard: Norway wind farm faces SHUTDOWN as parts of wind turbines fly off due to strong winds. Operators say green energy transition rendered US power grid unreliable, prone to blackouts. Sources include: WSJ.com KansasReflector.com Leg.Colorado.gov Brighteon.com (Natural News) Department store chain Nordstrom has announced that it will leave downtown San Francisco after 35 years in business there due to the citys deteriorating condition. Nordstrom Chief Stores Officer Jamie Nordstrom wrote in a May 2 letter to employees: The dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully. The executives letter also detailed that it will instead focus on its 16 other locations in the Bay Area and its online sales, as per the San Francisco Business Times. Citing the San Francisco Standard, a report by Breitbart said the retailers location at Westfield San Francisco Center will close at the end of August. A nearby Nordstrom Rack, the off-price counterpart to the main department store, will close on July 1. The Standard added that the closures will free up 375,000 square feet of retail space. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the owner of the upscale shopping mall, is aware that the closures are linked to the citys situation. Nordstrom has been one of the malls biggest tenants since it opened in 1988 until its impending closure in August. The planned closure of Nordstrom underscores the deteriorating situation in downtown San Francisco, the mall owner said in a statement. A growing number of retailers and businesses are leaving the area due to the unsafe conditions for customers, retailers and employees coupled with the fact that these significant issues are preventing an economic recovery of the area. Nordstrom had earlier closed its Stonestown Galleria location in 2019. The office of San Francisco Mayor London Breed, meanwhile, said Nordstroms location at the shopping center was a subject of concern way before the City by the Bays recent collapse. Westfield came to us a number of years ago with concerns about the long-term viability of this location for Nordstrom, the mayors office said. The city has been eager to get a concrete plan from them that we could explore. However, [Nordstrom] never brought us anything for review. Nordstrom closure comes amid San Franciscos collapse Breitbart pointed out that Westfields dwindling foot traffic is attributable to the rise of online shopping even before the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, public safety issues have become a great risk for Nordstrom and other stores in the City by the Bay. According to the Standard, the Westfields front entrances located at Stevenson and Fifth Streets are considered hotspots for police data. It added that the intersection is the 21st most dispatched in all of San Francisco, with 586 calls for law enforcement in the area in 2023. The paper also reported that 20 retail stores in the Union Square area where Westfield is located have closed or announced plans to shut down permanently since 2020. Eight store closures have been announced for this year alone. Even the National Retail Federation attested to the collapse of San Francisco. The federations 2022 retail security survey found that the San Francisco/Oakland area was the second most-affected area in the country for theft in 2020 and 2021, second only to Los Angeles. (Related: Businesses continue to shutter in San Francisco due to rampant shoplifting.) California State Sen. Scott Wiener described the Nordstrom closure as horrible and tragic in a tweet. The Democratic senator represents San Francisco in the California State Legislatures upper chamber. Wiener reiterated that current conditions are untenable for San Franciscos future success, and underscored the need to re-imagine downtown San Francisco and address public safety concerns. Visit Collapse.news for more stories about store closures in San Francisco. Watch Gabor Gabe Zolna recounting a November 2021 incident involving looters raiding a Nordstrom store in Walnut Creek, California. This video is from the zolnareport.com channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: San Fran Target store locks products behind glass security cabinets. Flagship Whole Foods Market store in SF closes down due to SAFETY concerns. Whole Foods leaves downtown San Francisco one year after opening due to rampant crime. Walgreens shutters 5 more San Francisco branches due to ongoing organized retail crime. San Francisco retail stores cease operations thanks to new law that decriminalizes shoplifting. Sources include: Bloomberg.com Breitbart.com Brighteon.com Candida auris is a type of yeast that can cause serious infections in humans, especially in hospital and nursing home patients with weakened immune systems. It is also a major public health concern because it is often resistant to multiple antifungal drugs that are commonly used to treat fungal infections. In some cases, Candida auris infections have been resistant to all four classes of antifungal drugs: azoles, polyenes, echinocandins, and flucytosine, as per CNBC. How does this fungus become so strong, and what can researchers and physicians do to combat it? The mechanisms of fungal drug resistance Fungi have evolved various mechanisms to overcome the effects of antifungal drugs. Some of these mechanisms are specific to Candida auris, while others are shared by other fungi. Here are some of the main ways that fungi develop drug resistance: Hiding in biofilms: A biofilm is a complex mixture of sugars, proteins, DNA, and cells that forms on surfaces and protects the cells from environmental stressors, such as drugs and immune system attacks. Candida auris and other fungi can form biofilms on medical devices, such as catheters and artificial joints, and on human tissues, such as skin and mucous membranes. Biofilms make it harder for drugs to reach and kill the fungal cells, and also allow the cells to exchange genetic material that may confer resistance, as per CDC. Building stronger cell walls: The cell wall is a structure that surrounds the fungal cell and helps maintain its shape and integrity. It is composed of several types of polysaccharides, such as chitin and beta-glucan. Some antifungal drugs, such as echinocandins, target the cell wall by inhibiting the synthesis of beta-glucan. However, some fungi can increase the production of chitin or other polysaccharides to compensate for the loss of beta-glucan and strengthen their cell wall, as per Phys.org. Changing drug targets: Antifungal drugs work by binding to specific molecules or structures in the fungal cell that is essential for its survival or growth. For example, azoles inhibit an enzyme called lanosterol 14-alpha-demethylase (ERG11), which is involved in the synthesis of ergosterol, a component of the fungal cell membrane. However, some fungi can mutate or modify their drug targets so that they are less affected by the drugs. For example, Candida auris can alter the structure or expression of ERG11 or increase the production of ergosterol precursors to reduce the impact of azoles. Pumping out drugs: Some fungi have efflux pumps that can expel foreign substances from their cells. These pumps can also remove antifungal drugs before they can exert their effects. For example, Candida auris can overexpress efflux pumps such as CDR1 and CDR2 (candida drug resistance genes) or MDR1 (multidrug resistance gene) to decrease the accumulation of azoles or other drugs inside their cells. Also Read: US Fungus Outbreak: Deadly Candida Auris Fungi Spreads in 28 States [CDC Warns] The strategies to overcome fungal drug resistance Fungal drug resistance poses a serious challenge to the treatment and prevention of Candida auris and other fungal infections. However, there are some strategies that researchers and physicians can use to overcome this problem: Developing new antifungal drugs: One way to combat fungal drug resistance is to discover new compounds or classes of drugs that have novel modes of action or target new pathways in the fungal cell, as per Pubmed. For example, researchers are exploring the potential of peptides, nanoparticles, immunotherapy, or natural products as alternative or complementary antifungal agents. Improving existing antifungal drugs: Another way to combat fungal drug resistance is to optimize the efficacy or safety of existing drugs by modifying their structure, formulation, delivery, or combination. For example, researchers are testing new ways to enhance the penetration or stability of echinocandins in biofilms or to reduce the toxicity or interactions of polyenes. Implementing antifungal stewardship: A third way to combat fungal drug resistance is to improve the appropriate use of antifungal drugs by following evidence-based guidelines and protocols for the diagnosis, selection, dosing, duration, and de-escalation of antifungal therapy. Antifungal stewardship also involves educating healthcare personnel and patients about the appropriate use and potential harms of antifungal drugs. Preventing and controlling fungal infections: A fourth way to combat fungal drug resistance is to reduce the incidence and transmission of fungal infections by implementing infection prevention and control measures, such as screening and isolating high-risk patients, improving hand hygiene and environmental cleaning, and reducing the use of invasive devices and immunosuppressive agents. Related article: Deadly, Drug-Resistant Fungus Arrives in US: Fast Facts About Candida Auris You might think that dust is annoying stuff that makes you sneeze and dirty your furniture. But did you know that dust can also do some good things for the planet? A new study by a scientist from Oregon State University and his colleagues shows how dust from places like deserts and farms can help feed tiny plants in the ocean and keep some carbon dioxide out of the air. Dust gives food to ocean plants The tiny plants in the ocean are called phytoplankton, and they are super important for life on Earth. They make oxygen that we breathe, and they are food for many animals in the sea, as per Phys.org. But phytoplankton need some nutrients to grow, and sometimes they don't have enough of them in the water. That's where dust comes in. Dust is made of tiny bits of rocks, soil, and other stuff that get blown by the wind. Sometimes, dust can travel very far and end up in the ocean. The dust carries some nutrients that phytoplankton need, like iron and zinc. So when dust falls into the ocean, it's like a buffet for phytoplankton. They eat up the nutrients and grow more. The scientists wanted to know how much dust affects phytoplankton around the world. They used data from satellites to see how much dust was falling into the ocean and how much phytoplankton was growing over 20 years. They found that dust makes a big difference for phytoplankton, not only in places where nutrients are low but also in places where nutrients are high. They think that dust gives phytoplankton some extra nutrients that they can't get from other sources. Also Read: Martian Mystery Dust and Aurora Keep Experts Guessing Dust helps store carbon in the deep sea Phytoplankton are not only good for making oxygen and food but also for taking carbon dioxide out of the air. Carbon dioxide is a gas that traps heat and makes the Earth warmer. Phytoplankton use carbon dioxide to make their own food through photosynthesis, as per ScienceDaily. Some of the carbon that they take in gets turned into organic matter, which is like their body parts. Some of this organic matter sinks from the surface of the ocean to the bottom, where it stays for a long time. This is called the biological pump, and it's a way of moving carbon from the air to the deep sea. The biological pump helps keep the Earth cooler by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. The scientists found that dust helps make the biological pump stronger. They estimated that dust supports about 4.5% of the global amount of carbon that sinks to the deep sea every year. In some places, dust can make this amount much higher, up to 20% or 40%. That means that dust helps keep more carbon dioxide out of the air and in the deep sea. The scientists also noticed that dust has a bigger effect on phytoplankton and carbon during La Nina years than during El Nino years. La Nina and El Nino are patterns of weather changes that happen every few years. La Nina makes more dust go from land to ocean and also makes better conditions for phytoplankton to grow. The scientists hope that their study will help us understand and predict how dust affects the ocean and the climate in different places and times. Related article: Diverse Communities of Bacteria Hitching on Airborne Dust can Affect Environment and Health, Scientists Puzzled Irans oil exports has doubled compared to figures reported when President Ebrahim Raisi's government took office in August 2021, according to a senior official in the country's Oil Ministry, Trend reports citing IRNA. Mohsen Khojastemehr, the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), made the remarks on Saturday while touring oil export facilities Iran's Persian Gulf Island of Kharg. Khojastemehr said that all the facilities and logistics at Kharg have been repaired and modernized to help increase Iran's oil exports. He elaborated on measures taken to expand Iran's oil terminals, including among others upgrading fire extinguishing systems, fundamental overhaul of storage tanks and installation of a new storage facility with a capacity of 4 million barrels in Kharg and another one in Jask with 10 million barrels. British police said they had arrested 52 people during its operation for the coronation of King Charles, detaining them for a range of offences including affray, breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance, Trend reports citing Al Arabiya. In a statement, the London police force said all those who had been held remained in custody. Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRI NAGAR: A militant was killed and another injured in an ongoing encounter with security forces on Saturday in the Kandi forest area of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, a day after five soldiers were killed in an explosion during the anti-militancy operation in the forest area. Defence spokesman in Jammu Lt Col Devender Anand said the contact was established with the militants hiding in the Kandi forest area of Rajouri at midnight. The militants fired on the security personnel, who retaliated. In the ensuing gunfight, a militant was killed and another injured, he said. The security men recovered one AK 56 rifle, 4 magazines, 56 rounds, 1 x 9mm Pistol with magazine, three grenades and one ammunition pouch. Army and ammunition recovered by security personnel during an encounter with terrorists in Kandi area of Rajouri district. (Photo | PTI) The identity of the slain militant and the outfit to which he owed allegiance is being ascertained. The cordon and search operation in the forest area is going on, he said. Army is being assisted by specially trained para-troopers, J&K police and paramilitary personnel during the search operation. Five soldiers identified as L/Nk Ruchin Singh Rawat R/o Kunigad, Uttrakhand; Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri R/o Pulbazar, West Bengal; Naik Arvind Kumar R/o Marhoon, Himachal Pradesh; Havaldar Neelam Singh R/o Akhnoor, J&K and paratrooper Pramod Negi R/o Shillai, HP were killed in a powerful explosion triggered by militants in the dense forest area during an encounter yesterday. Army has pressed drones, helicopters and sniffer dogs into service to track down the militants hiding in the forest area. Army has been conducting a relentless cordon and search operation in the forest area of Rajouri and Poonch to track down the militants involved in the April 20 ambush on an army truck in Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Poonch district in which five soldiers were killed. In the April 20 attack, militants had used steel coated bullets to pierce the Bullet Proof (BP) vests of the army men and planted an IED in the army vehicle. The militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammads offshoot Peoples Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) had claimed responsibility for the April 20 attack. LeT militant killed in Baramulla encounter An encounter also broke out between militants and security forces during a search operation in Karahama Kunzer area of North Kashmirs Baramulla district in the early hours today. A police official said a Lashkar militant identified as Abid Wani R/o Kulgam in south Kashmir was killed in the encounter. He said an AK 47 rifle was recovered from possession of the slain militant. The combing operation in the area was going on when reports last poured in. SRI NAGAR: A militant was killed and another injured in an ongoing encounter with security forces on Saturday in the Kandi forest area of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, a day after five soldiers were killed in an explosion during the anti-militancy operation in the forest area. Defence spokesman in Jammu Lt Col Devender Anand said the contact was established with the militants hiding in the Kandi forest area of Rajouri at midnight. The militants fired on the security personnel, who retaliated. In the ensuing gunfight, a militant was killed and another injured, he said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The security men recovered one AK 56 rifle, 4 magazines, 56 rounds, 1 x 9mm Pistol with magazine, three grenades and one ammunition pouch. Army and ammunition recovered by security personnel during an encounter with terrorists in Kandi area of Rajouri district. (Photo | PTI) The identity of the slain militant and the outfit to which he owed allegiance is being ascertained. The cordon and search operation in the forest area is going on, he said. Army is being assisted by specially trained para-troopers, J&K police and paramilitary personnel during the search operation. Five soldiers identified as L/Nk Ruchin Singh Rawat R/o Kunigad, Uttrakhand; Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri R/o Pulbazar, West Bengal; Naik Arvind Kumar R/o Marhoon, Himachal Pradesh; Havaldar Neelam Singh R/o Akhnoor, J&K and paratrooper Pramod Negi R/o Shillai, HP were killed in a powerful explosion triggered by militants in the dense forest area during an encounter yesterday. Army has pressed drones, helicopters and sniffer dogs into service to track down the militants hiding in the forest area. Army has been conducting a relentless cordon and search operation in the forest area of Rajouri and Poonch to track down the militants involved in the April 20 ambush on an army truck in Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Poonch district in which five soldiers were killed. In the April 20 attack, militants had used steel coated bullets to pierce the Bullet Proof (BP) vests of the army men and planted an IED in the army vehicle. The militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammads offshoot Peoples Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) had claimed responsibility for the April 20 attack. LeT militant killed in Baramulla encounter An encounter also broke out between militants and security forces during a search operation in Karahama Kunzer area of North Kashmirs Baramulla district in the early hours today. A police official said a Lashkar militant identified as Abid Wani R/o Kulgam in south Kashmir was killed in the encounter. He said an AK 47 rifle was recovered from possession of the slain militant. The combing operation in the area was going on when reports last poured in. Eight people lost their lives in Yemen on Saturday as torrential rain and flooding caused a vehicle to plunge into a valley in the Raymah governorate, approximately 200 km southwest of the capital Sanaa, Trend reports citing Xinhua. Local authorities reported that the pickup truck was en route to Sanaa when the sudden surge of floodwaters caused it to veer off the road, propelling it from the elevated mountain area into a valley in the Kusmah district. Eight people died in the incident, with five others in the same vehicle sustaining injuries. Local authorities added that immediate rescue efforts were carried out, and the injured were transported to hospitals for medical treatment. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Friday following a meeting with United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Washington will be providing the country with eight AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, Trend reports citing Teletrader. "The US Army will provide us with Apache helicopters from its own stock, even before signing the contract for the purchase of 96 helicopters. This is a very important capability, which is why I am grateful to Secretary Austin for this decision," he noted. The Polish official added that the training of Polish pilots will begin in a few weeks. The US Supreme Court granted a temporary stay of execution on Friday to an Oklahoma man convicted of murder whose case has sparked appeals for clemency from Pope Francis and Hollywood stars, Trend reports citing Al Arabiya. Richard Glossip, 60, had been scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on May 18, but the nations highest court put his execution on hold while it considers the case. The stay came after the Oklahoma attorney general, a Republican, asked the court, in an unusual move, to halt the execution, citing questions about the fairness of his trial. Glossip was convicted of the 1997 fatal beating of an Oklahoma City motel owner but has steadfastly maintained his innocence. Glossip, who worked at the motel, was found guilty of hiring another motel employee, maintenance man Justin Sneed, who was 19 at the time, to carry out the actual murder. Glossip was convicted based on the testimony of Sneed, who pleaded guilty and was able to negotiate a life sentence, claiming that his co-worker had masterminded the plot. Actors Mark Ruffalo and Susan Sarandon and British billionaire Richard Branson have been among the celebrities advocating for Glossips life to be spared. In 2015, when Glossips execution also appeared imminent, the representative of Pope Francis in the United States sent a letter on behalf of the pontiff to the then governor of Oklahoma asking that the execution be called off. His case has also been the subject of a four-episode documentary series titled Killing Richard Glossip. Union Minister Sonowal reviews progress of Indias first international multimodal logistics park in Assam New Delhi, May 4: Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal visited the construction site of India's first International Multi Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) in Jogighopa, Assam to review the progress on Thursday. Union Minister Sonowal reviews progress of India's first international multimodal logistics park in Assam Sonowal said the jetty at the park is likely to be completed within this year. The Union Minister expressed satisfaction at the pace of work as the road and railway connectivity is also aimed at completion by the end of this year.Speaking on the occasion, Sonowal said for the swift development of Northeast India, the central government has been taking many revolutionary steps to revitalise the economy. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of transformation via transportation has enabled the entire region of Northeast to revamp its transportation network.He said, "As the construction of this crucial Multi-Modal Park goes on at a swift pace, it is likely to unlock huge potential for the region along with neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh."According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan has been conceived to revive and rejuvenate transportation to become an efficient and effective agent of change. In order to ensure trickle-down of economic prosperity, the PM Gati Shakti NMP aims at strengthening the coastal regions of both sea and rivers.The park is being developed under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojana of the government. The first such MMLP, it is being made by NHIDCL in Jogighopa of Assam. The park will be connected to road, rail, air and waterways. This is being developed on 317-acre land along the Brahmaputra.The distance of 154 km between Jogighopa and Guwahati will be covered by making a 4-lane road on this stretch, a 3-km rail line will connect Jogighopa station to the MMLP, another 3-km rail link will connect it to the IWT, and the road to newly developed Rupsi airport will be upgraded to 4-lanes for easier connectivity.The MMLP will have all the facilities like warehouse, railway siding, cold storage, custom clearance house, yard facility, workshops, petrol pumps, truck parking, administrative building, boarding lodging, eating joints, water treatment plant, etc., said the Ministry statement.ANI05 May 2023 Shared Recently! President Murmu launches Addiction Free Odisha campaign at Mayurbhanj New Delhi, May 5: President Droupadi Murmu launched the 'Addiction Free Odisha' campaign of Brahma Kumaris Centre at Hatbadra, Mayurbhanj. President Murmu launches 'Addiction Free Odisha' campaign at Mayurbhanj Speaking on the occasion, the President said that addiction is a disorder. It is a social, economic, physical and mental curse."Drug addiction causes tension in family and society. Therefore, there is a need to make people aware of the ill effects of drug abuse," she said.She expressed confidence that when people understand the bad effects of drug abuse, they would definitely try to quit it.Murmu said that addiction is the biggest enemy of society. Therefore, it is a noble deed to make people aware of it.She appreciated Brahma Kumaris Centre for being engaged in building a healthy society through spirituality. She wished for the success of the 'Addiction Free Odisha' campaign.Earlier, the President reached Pahadpur village and paid her respect to her husband, late Shayam Charan Murmu.Subsequently, she laid the foundation stones for the Skill Training Hub and Community Centre in the village and interacted with villagers.Earlier on Thursday, Murmu was accorded a warm reception by people at Badampahar in Odisha's Rairangpur in the Mayurbhanj district as she came home nearly a year after her election as President of India.The President was received by Governor of Odisha Prof. Ganeshi Lal and Union Minister of State Bishweswar Tudu upon her arrival.President is on a 3-day visit to her home state Odisha.ANI05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Manipur: Article 355 invoked, Army flag march on, addtl troops airlifted from Assam Imphal, May 5: In view of the prevailing widespread unrest in Manipur, the Central Government on Friday imposed Article 355 in the state to control the situation, top police officials said on Friday. Manipur: Article 355 invoked, Army flag march on, addtl troops airlifted from Assam Article 355 is a part of emergency provisions contained in the Constitution that empowers the Centre to take all necessary steps to protect a state against internal disturbances and external aggression.Director General of Manipur Police, P. Doungel while talking to the media said that after reviewing the overall situation, Article 355 has been imposed in the entire state allowing the Centre to take all necessary steps to bring the situation under control and protect the lives and properties of the people.The police chief said that some miscreants looted arms from a police station in Bishnupur district and he urged them to return the arms and ammunition failing which stern action would be initiated against them."The situation in Manipur is expected to be brought under control in a day or two," the DGP said. Army and Assam Rifles continued to conduct flag marches in several trouble-torn districts of Manipur for the third day on Friday even as sporadic incidents were reported from different areas.A defence spokesman on Friday said that flag marches were underway in several areas specially in the most volatile Churachandpur district.He claimed that the situation was brought under control in many areas through coordinated actions by all stakeholders."Indian Air Force undertook continuous sorties to carry additional Army and Paramilitary troops from two airfields in Assam employing C17 Globemaster and AN 32 aircrafts. Induction commenced on the night of Thursday and additional columns commenced domination with effect from the wee hours of Friday. Domination and evacuation of civilians of all communities from affected areas continued throughout the night," the Defence PRO said.The Manipur government on Thursday appointed Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Ashutosh Sinha as the overall Operational Commander to control the situation and bring normalcy in the state.Sinha on Friday said that 23 police stations, mostly in mountainous districts of the state, have been identified as most vulnerable and Army and central para-military forces were deployed in these police stations.The ADGP, accompanied by senior other police officials, told the media that over 20,000 affected people of different communities have been evacuated and sheltered in safer places. "We urge the people not to fall prey to any rumour and if they need any assistance contact the nearby police stations and the government authorities," Sinha said.Retired IPS officer Kuldiep Singh, a former CRPF Chief, has been appointed security advisor by the Manipur government.Meanwhile, more than five Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank officers and seven senior superintendents of police (SSP) and SP-rank officers of the CRPF have been tasked to coordinate the deployment of various security forces in violence infested Manipur.A senior official of Manipur Home Department said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah is closely monitoring the situation in Manipur round the clock and he is in constant touch with top functionaries of state and Centre.The Home Minister since Thursday held two video-conference meetings with Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, State Chief Secretary, DGP, Union Home Secretary and other top officials.Shah also spoke to Chief Ministers of several northeastern states and discussed the Manipur situation and about the wellbeing of the students and people living in Manipur.Various state governments of the northeastern states are in touch with the Manipur authorities on the safety and security of the students and people belonging to different northeastern states living in Manipur.Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram governments have set up 24 X 7 help lines for the benefit of the students and people living in Manipur.The situation turned seriously volatile after thousands turned up for the 'Tribal Solidarity March' on Wednesday to oppose the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category.In view of the prevailing situation, the Manipur government on Thursday authorised all District Magistrates, Sub-Divisional Magistrates and all Executive Magistrates to issue "Shoot at sight orders" in extreme cases.A defence spokesman said that Army and Assam Rifles personnel conducted flag marches and aerial reconnaissance in areas of Khuga, Tampa, and Khomaujanbba areas of Churachandpur district, Mantripukhri, Lamphel, and Koeirangi area of Imphal West District, and Sugnu in Kakching districts.In an appeal to the people, the Chief Minister urged them to maintain peace and calm and cooperate with the state government."Wednesday's incidents took place due to misunderstanding between the communities. The government will settle the genuine demands and grievances after talking with all the communities and leaders," Singh said in a video message.Rumours of several deaths are being spread creating problems for the law enforcement agencies. However, authorities have not confirmed any fatalities.Chief Ministers of all the northeastern states and six-time world champion boxer M.C. Mary Kom separately urged the people to maintain ethnic harmony, peace and calm.The situation in Manipur turned volatile as thousands of tribals on Wednesday turned up for the march called by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) in all the 10 hill districts to oppose the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community in the ST category.Acting on a writ petition filed by the Meetei (Meitei) Trade Union, the Manipur High Court on April 19 had directed the state government to consider the case of the petitioners for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe list expeditiously.The valley is dominated by Meitei and they are seeking the ST category status, alleging infiltration from Bangladesh and Myanmar, destroying the demographic pattern in the state.Following the rally, clashes, attacks, counter-attacks among different communities and burning of houses and shops took place in different districts, forcing authorities to suspend mobile internet services for five days, while a night curfew was also imposed in several tension-ridden mountainous districts, including Imphal West, Bishnupur, Jiribam, Tenugopal, and Churachandpur.The state government on Wednesday night requisitioned the Army and Assam Rifles to control the ethnic violence in at least six districts.Tribals - the Nagas and Kukis who are mainly Christians - constitute about 40 per cent of the state's around three million population and inhabit the hill districts which account for much of the state's land.Protesting against the state government's action to evict them from forest lands and destruction of illegal poppy cultivation in the reserve and protected forests, the tribals had on March 10 organised protest rallies in three districts -- Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Tengnoupal, during which five people were injured.Fresh incidents of violence, including arson and vandalisation of government properties, were triggered on April 27 in Churachandpur district after the tribals launched fresh protests against the state government's action against illegal poppy cultivation.IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Jaishankar seeks support to make English 3rd official language of SCO Panaji, May 5: India's External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar on Friday sought the support of members to make English the third official language of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Jaishankar seeks support to make English 3rd official language of SCO Currently, Russian and Mandarin are used as official and working languages. He said that constructive steps are needed in this regard.Jaishankar said that India has initiated an unprecedented engagement with SCO observers and dialogue partners by inviting them to participate in more than 14 social-cultural events.Sources informed that the foreign ministers of the SCO member countries are likely to finalise in the day a set of 15 decisions or proposals for the consideration of the grouping's summit in July.The proposals are aimed at expanding cooperation among the SCO member countries in the areas of trade, technology, commerce, security and socio-cultural ties.Dr. S Jaishankar has appreciated the support of member countries for India's proposal of creation of two new working groups on startups and innovation and traditional medicines.The two-day meeting of Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members began here Thursday, with Jaishankar also holding meetings with his counterparts.Jaishankar also met SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming and appreciated his support for India's SCO Presidency and added that it is driven by a commitment to secure the SCO.He laid down the key focus areas, including startups, traditional medicine, youth empowerment, Buddhist heritage and science iamp; technology.Established in June 15, 2001 in Shanghai, the SCO originally comprised Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became members subsequently.IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Healing Hospital receives award for the Best Hospital in Chandigarh from Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann Chandigarh, May 5: Tribune Employees Union organized an All-India Media Meet and felicitated Healing Hospital, Chandigarh with the esteemed title of Best Hospital in Chandigarh. The Chief Guest, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, expressed his admiration and congratulated the team for their hard work and dedication towards achieving this milestone. Healing Hospital receives award for the Best Hospital in Chandigarh from Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann The Healing Hospital Chandigarh, inaugurated in 2016, is a NABH Accredited Super Specialty Hospital with 100 + beds and over 20 medical services. It caters to a wide range of medical needs, offering services in cardiology, orthopedics and joint replacement, gynecology, pediatrics, intensive care, neurology, gastroenterology, urology, nephrology, and more. With a dedicated team of medical professionals and a commitment to providing quality care and services in a compassionate environment, Healing Hospital is setting a new standard of excellence in patient-focused healthcare.is a mission-driven organization committed for providing excellent, personalized, and affordable healthcare services to patients. At Healing Hospital, they focus on staying up-to-date with the latest innovations in healthcare technology and consistently offers the most comprehensive treatments available. Their goal is to ensure that each patient they serve leaves the hospital with utmost satisfaction.Talking about the award, the team at Healing Hospital is very dedicated. And that is why they are the best healthcare providers in the Tricity. The management team of the Healing Hospital - Drishmeet Singh Buttar, Karanvir Singh Buttar, and Dr Harsimran, received the award from CM Bhagwant Mann. Buttar (Partner - Healing Hospital) has dedicated the award to the talented team of Healing Hospital who have been instrumental in providing outstanding medical care to the people of Chandigarh. "There is no other private hospital in the city that offers such a wide range of services and technology. Our goal is to ensure that all the patients have access to tertiary-level care under one roof!" he adds.The hospital is in the heart of the city, granting easy access to patients from all over the region. With a team specially trained in patient-centered care, Healing Hospital's environment is comfortable and caring, providing a safe, supportive, and healing environment for individuals and families. The hospital proudly announces that it has provided care to more than 300,000 patients in a short span of 6 years. This impressive feat is further bolstered by the fact that they have successfully performed over 15,000 surgeries as well.The hospital routinely engages in unique patient education initiatives and has developed a leading healthcare YouTube channel that showcases the informative videos and compassionate care they provide to their patients with more than 5 million views. There are more than 600 videos that help patients understand more about the diseases and their treatments. Team Healing also organizes camps and workshops to educate patients and their families about various health topics. Their goal is to empower patients to take charge of their health and well-being. This makes the hospital the preferred destination for many individuals for unparalleled healthcare.The hospital had earlier won Best Hospital in Chandigarh at Asia's Biggest Award - Six Sigma Excellence Awards (New Delhi) in 2022 and Times Healthcare Pioneers, in 2021. The current award is another milestone in the unyielding drive to achieve excellence in medical care and patient satisfaction.This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)ANI05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Australia-UK FTA to take effect in May end Canberra, May 5: The free trade agreement (FTA) between Australia and the UK has been fast-tracked to come into effect from the end of May, the government in Canberra said in a statement on Friday. Australia-UK FTA to take effect in May end During his visit to the UK, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced May 31 as the start date for the trade deal, reports Xinhua news agency.Under the agreement, 99 per cent of Australian goods will enter Britain duty free.After five years, all British imports will enter Australia duty free, "helping ease cost-of-living pressures for households and input costs for Australian business", the government statement said.It is expected to deliver a long-term boost to two-way trade between the countries, which was worth A$21.7 billion ($14.5 billion) in 2021.In addition to erasing most tariffs, the FTA will remove red tape and liberalise working visas.The deal also includes commitments on the environment and labour.Digital trade rules under the agreement will "provide greater certainty" and facilitate trade for businesses."This agreement will deliver significant benefits to Australian exporters, consumers, workers, and our economy more broadly," Albanese added.IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! ADS ADS As the resident Brit at WorldTempus and subject to His Majesty King Charles III I could not possibly let the momentous occasion of a coronation slip by without marking the occasion. After much reflection with my colleague Suzanne Wong, who went to university in the UK and is strangely fond of British cuisine, we have devised a little list of how to up your Britishness horologically speaking that is before the big day. His Majesty King Charles III Buckingham Palace The British and the Watch Escapement Back in the mid-18th century, an English watchmaker named Thomas Mudge first invented the lever escapement, bringing a huge improvement to watchmaking precision. I say first invented because over the following century, several Swiss manufacturers continued to work on this type of mechanism and today it is known as the Swiss lever escapement. It is still used in the majority of mechanical watches, but it was all started by a compatriot! The British escapement story doesnt end there as master watchmaker, Georges Daniels, another British horological genius, wasnt content with the Swiss lever escapement and decided to work on a new mechanism. In 1974, he revealed a new, superior type of escapement called the co-axial escapement. It is one of the few watch escapements which has been invented in modern times and its design was purchased by Omega, who industrialised it in 1999 and now use it in the vast majority of their watches today. So, why not tune into the coronation proceedings today with the following: Level 1 Strap on any Omega watch with the Daniels co-axial escapement inside. Level 2 Choose the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition for some James Bond vibes. It doesnt get more British than this! Level 3 Wake up and strap on either of the above watches, make some Marmite on toast for breakfast, and turn on the television to watch the royal proceedings. You will also need a cup of black tea with milk to complete the look. Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition Omega Minute Repeaters Fit for a King The invention of the minute repeater dates back to the 17th century and is a hotly contested debate between two Englishmen: Daniel Quare and Rev. Edward Barlow. We will never really know who to credit, but for the Coronation, it doesnt really matter, as they are both British! Level 1 If you are lucky enough to have a minute repeater in your collection, now is the time to get it out of the safe and wind it up for this important occasion. Level 2 You get bonus points if it has a Westminster chime. Level 3 If you love a good debate, bake some scones this afternoon and start a heated discussion about whether the jam or the cream goes first! (For info: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II spread her jam first, as do I!) His Majesty King Charles III Hello! Magazine A Certified Chronometer The term chronometer was first used by British clockmaker John Arnold to describe his groundbreakingly accurate pocket chronometer called the no. 1/36. But ordinary clocks were of no use at sea due to temperature changes and the ships motion. In the 18th century, John Harrison, a self-taught British carpenter, entered a government competition to invent a device to determine a ships longitude at sea within 30 geographical miles. The prize was 20,000 (around 1.5m in todays money) and Harrison not only got the prize money, but went on to make a series of marine chronometers. Level 1 For you coronation outfit, how about wearing a COSC-certified chronometer? Level 2 You could also wear a chronometer with a fusee and chain, such as a Ferdinand Berthoud, to honour the era of marine chronometers. Admittedly, Berthoud was French, but we will overlook that! Level 3 The British Navy was the first to give its sailors lemon or lime juice to ward off scurvy, a vitamin C deficiency that plagued sailors who were often at sea for months on end without fruits or vegetables. The American sailors thought the British sailors were mad and called them Limeys. So, if you want to really rock your chronometer during the coronation, a gin and tonic with a generous slice of lime would be quite the done thing for this evenings aperitif! Chronometre FB 1L.1 Ferdinand Berthoud A World Time Complication The British Commonwealth of Nations came into being following a conference in 1926 between Britain and the Dominions, where they agreed that they would all be equal members of a community within the British Empire. They agreed to pledge allegiance to the British King or Queen, but that the United Kingdom did not rule over them. The King is the Sovereign of 14 Commonwealth realms in addition to the UK. His Majesty is also Head of the Commonwealth itself, a voluntary association of 56 independent countries. Level 1 To manage all the different time zones, a worldtimer would definitely show your allegiance to the new King! Level 2 And a timepiece featuring a Greenwich Meridien would bring you some serious bonus points. Level 3 And reflecting how Britains domestic identity was forever changed by its colonies, the unofficial national dish of modern Britain is chicken tikka masala, so if you need ideas for a weekend dinner! His Majesty King Charles III and the flags of the Commonwealth The Economist Military Style Timepieces The British Royal Armed Forces are a source of national pride in the UK. All the princes have served their country and even Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II worked as a car mechanic in the Auxiliary Territorial Service in WW2. As for the new king, he served in both the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, where he learned to fly helicopters and parachute. Level 1 Strapping on a military-style timepiece for the coronation would therefore be a very fitting choice. Level 2 If you really want to reinforce the British connection, anything by the British watch brand Bremont would bring you royal approval. Level 3 And to accompany your horological military choice, how about some Eton Mess, a mashed-up version of the famous Swiss dish of meringues, raspberries and cream that was invented by the famous private school of the same name? Broadsword Bremont We hope you have enjoyed this fun piece and will tune in to this weekends celebrations in horological style. If you are planning to watch the coronation this Saturday, do send us your pics on Instagram @worldtempus. We will post the best ones. Jaishankar discusses economy, digital cooperation with Kazakh, Tajik counterparts Panaji, May 5: External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar on Friday discussed economy, energy and digital cooperation with his counterparts from Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Jaishankar discusses economy, digital cooperation with Kazakh, Tajik counterparts In a meeting with Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu, he discussed economic, political cooperation and increasing engagement with the region."Warm conversation with DPM and FM Murat Nurtleu of Kazakhstan after SCO CFM in Goa. Thanked him for supporting our presidency.ADiscussed broad-basing our economic and political cooperation and increase engagement with the region," he tweeted.Jaishankar also discussed the issues of connectivity, energy and digital cooperation with Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin."Good meeting with FM Sirojiddin Muhriddin of Tajikistan. Appreciate his support for the Indian SCO presidency. Agreed on increasing the frequency of meetings of our institutional mechanisms. Discussed connectivity, energy and digital cooperation. Exchanged perspectives on the region," he said.Sources informed that the Foreign Ministers of the SCO member countries are likely to finalise in the day a set of 15 decisions or proposals for the consideration of the grouping's summit in July.The proposals are aimed at expanding cooperation among the SCO member countries in the areas of trade, technology, commerce, security, and socio-cultural ties.Jaishankar has appreciated the support of member countries for India's proposal of creation of two new working groups on startups and innovation and traditional medicines.The two-day meeting of Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members began here Thursday, with Jaishankar also holding meetings with his counterparts.He also met SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming and appreciated his support for India's SCO Presidency and added that it is driven by a commitment to secure the SCO.He laid down the key focus areas, including startups, traditional medicine, youth empowerment, Buddhist heritage and science iamp; technology.IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! US regional bank shares rally in pre-market trade London, May 5: Shares in US regional banks are rising in pre-market trading, amid calls for a ban on short-selling to calm the crisis gripping the sector, media reports said. US regional bank shares rally in pre-market trade PacWest shares are up 9 per cent in pre-market, a small recovery after tumbling 46 per cent on Thursday, while Western Alliance have gained 12.7 per cent after a 38 per cent tumble and First Horizon, which lost 33 per cent, are up 7 per cent, The Guardian reported.The White House vowed to monitor "short-selling pressures on healthy banks", and the American Bankers Association urged federal regulators to investigate a spate of significant short sales of publicly traded banking equities, it said.In a letter to US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, the ABA said it had also observed "extensive social media engagement" about the health of various banks that was out of step with general industry conditions.Short-selling is the practice of borrowing shares, and then selling them, in the hope of buying them back at a cheaper price for a profit.Neil Wilson of Markets.com pointed out that the turmoil has begun at banks who were suffering deposit flight (such as Silicon Valley Bank), but is now spreading to others, The Guardian reported."The thinking is that the regulators ban short-selling to buy time to come up with some kind of plan to rebuild the industry."There may need to be a 'whatever it takes' line in the sand moment A clearly the US authorities haven't done that A it may be that a ban on shorting bank shares forms part of that. Remember this bank stress is just on being the wrong side of rates, we've not even had a recession or full credit cycle."IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! India-Russia reaffirm commitment to strengthen cooperation on counter-terrorism New Delhi, May 5: India and Russia have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation in bilateral as well as other multilateral platforms, during the 12th India-Russia joint working group on counter-terrorism. India-Russia reaffirm commitment to strengthen cooperation on counter-terrorism The 12th round of bilateral consultations of the India-Russia joint working group on counter-terrorism took place between May 3 and 4 in Moscow, which was attended by Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry Sanjay Verma.The bilateral consultations also focussed on UN and multilateral issues, official sources said, adding that both the sides shared their experiences in combating terrorism and extremism and discussed current terrorist threats at the global and regional level."The Russian side expressed appreciation for India's role as Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council in 2022 and welcomed the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration that had focussed on combating the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes," a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry said.The joint working group was co-chaired by Verma and Oleg Syromolotov, Russia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Representatives of respective departments and agencies from both sides also participated in the meeting.The India-Russia bilateral consultations on UN-related issues were held on May 4 between Verma and Rusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Vershinin.Both sides held wide ranging discussions on several issues pertaining to the UN Security Council, including its reform.Russia reiterated its support for India as a permanent member in a reformed UN Security Council, the statement said.IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! PM Modi to be guest of honour at Bastille Day parade this year New Delhi, May 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Bastille Day parade in Paris this year, as he has accepted French President Emmanuel Macron's invitation to be the guest of honour for the annual event, slated to take place on July 14. PM Modi to be guest of honour at Bastille Day parade this year "On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the India-France Strategic Partnership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted President Emmanuel Macron's invitation to attend this year's Bastille Day Parade as Guest of Honour on 14 July 2023 in Paris," a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry on Friday said.It added that to mark this important milestone, an Indian armed forces contingent will participate in the parade alongside their French counterparts. The Prime Minister's visit is expected to herald the next phase in the India-France Strategic Partnership by setting new and ambitious goals for strategic, cultural, scientific, academic, economic cooperation, including in a wide range of industries."This historic visit will also deliver common initiatives in order to respond to the key challenges of our time, including climate change, biodiversity loss and the achievement of sustainable development goals and will be an opportunity for India and France to reaffirm their commitment to multilateralism, including in the context of India's G20 Presidency," the statement added.India and France have a shared vision on peace and security, especially in Europe and the Indo-Pacific and uphold the objectives and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which are also the basis of our cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, it said.Bastille Day is celebrated as the National Day of France and is commemorated as an important milestone in the French Revolution.In 1789, the people of Paris had seized weapons from the armoury, marched towards the Bastille jail and released its prisoners after a fight.IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Telangana implementing action plan to spread Buddhas teachings: KCR Hyderabad, May 5: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has said that the state government is implementing an action plan to spread teachings of Gautam Buddha worldwide from Telangana by reviving the old Buddhist temples spread in different parts of the state. Telangana implementing action plan to spread Buddha's teachings: KCR He said that the propagation of Buddhism on Telangana soil is a matter of pride for all as he noted that the roots of Telangana's social life and culture are deeply embedded in Buddhism.The Buddhist sites (Aramas), erected on the banks of river Krishna and Godavari rivers and dating back thousands of years, are the evidence of the spread of Buddhism in Telangana. The Chief Minister said that the 'Buddhavanam' which has been developed with international standards at NagarjunaSagar by the state government is attracting tourists from all over the world.On the occasion of birth anniversary (Jayanti) of Gautam Buddha, called Buddha Pournima, KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, extended his greetings to the people.He asserted practicing the teachings of Gautama Buddha will help mankind to achieve utopian life and the enlightenment of living in harmony with nature, love, compassion, non-violence taught by Lord Buddha are imperative for today's society.KCR said that it is a proud moment for every Indian to live on the land from where Buddha taught noble principles of peaceful coexistence to the entire world of humanity 2500 years ago. He observed that the social, economic and cultural principles preached by Lord Buddha with great vision and philosophical wisdom against discrimination and hatred based on color, gender, caste, etc. are immortal. Buddha's teachings will remain relevant as long as human society exists.The CM said that the government is making efforts to ensure that the people of Telangana live happily in all fields. The state government is fulfilling Lord Buddha's aspirations by implementing the schemes meant for the development of all sections of people including SC, ST, BC, minority, women, poor etc regardless of caste, colour and religion.IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Operation Kaveri: IAF flight with 47 passengers onboard lands in India New Delhi, May 5: An Indian Air Force flight carrying 47 passengers onboard has landed in India, taking the toll of evacuees to 3862 persons under Operation Kaveri, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday. Operation Kaveri: IAF flight with 47 passengers onboard lands in India "An Indian Air Force C130 J flight carrying 47 passengers has landed in India. With this arrival, 3862 persons have been moved out of Sudan through #OperationKaveri," the EAM tweeted.The EAM said that it was because of the commitment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the safety of all Indians in Sudan that led to this complex exercise.Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar wrote, "Prime Minister @narendramodi's commitment to ensuring the safety and security of all Indians abroad was our inspiration. Moving passengers to Port Sudan from various locations across the country in precarious security circumstances was a complex exercise."The aircraft that brought back 47 Indian evacuees from Jeddah to Delhi took off earlier this morning."IAF C-130J aircraft with 47 evacuees from Sudan is on its way to Delhi from Jeddah Nearly 3800 persons have now been rescued from Sudan under #OperationKaveri," the MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted and informed about the same.Earlier today, a group of 9 stranded Indian evacuees from Sudan landed in Mumbai from Jeddah. After returning from the crisis-hit country, evacuees expressed their happiness.Salim, who returned to India, said, "I went to meet my relatives. I was stuck in Sudan for about 20 days. When I contacted the embassy there, they served me very well and quickly."Meanwhile, Mubarak, another evacuee that returned to Mumbai said that the Indian embassy in Sudan has helped him a lot. "The Indian Embassy arranged food and gave shelter in its office. The Embassy also gave the bus service to go to Port Sudan," he added.The two warring factions in Sudan, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a seven-day ceasefire, according to a statement of the foreign ministry of South Sudan on Tuesday, reported CNN.Previous ceasefires haven't been able to put an end to the violence between the opposing factions across the nation.Nearly nine days have passed since the Government of India launched its ambitious rescue mission, "Operation Kaveri" to evacuate stranded Indians in conflict-ridden Sudan.The operation was carried out using 5 Indian Naval Ships and 16 Indian Air Force aircraft including one from Wadi Sayyidna military airbase.ANI05 May 2023 Shared Recently! PM Modi to be Guest of Honour on Frances National Day on July 14 New Delhi, May 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the Guest of Honour on France's National Day on July 14. PM Modi to be Guest of Honour on France's National Day on July 14 The news was confirmed by French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday. He tweeted both in French and Hindi, expressing his pleasure over PM Modi's visit."Cher Narendra, heureux de t'accueillir a Paris comme invite d'honneur du defile du 14 juillet !," tweeted Macron in French, which translates to, "Dear Narendra, happy to welcome you to Paris as guest of honor on July 14!""priy nreNdr, 14 julaaii kii predd ke smmaanit atithike ruup meN tumhaaraa peris meN svaagt kr ke mujhe bhutkhushii hogii / ," tweeted Macron in Hindi, which translates to, "Dear Narendra, It will be my pleasure to welcome you to Paris as a guest of honor for the 14th of July parade."On the 25th anniversary of the India-France Strategic Partnership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend this year's Bastille Day Parade as Guest of Honour on July 14 in Paris this year.PM Modi was invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to attend the Parade in Paris.According to an official statement, an Indian armed forces contingent will participate in the Parade alongside their French counterparts.PM Modi's visit is expected to herald the next phase in the India-France Strategic Partnership by setting new and ambitious goals for our strategic, cultural, scientific, academic, and economic cooperation, including in a wide range of industries, the official statement read.India and France defend the goals and tenets of the United Nations Charter, which serve as the cornerstone of collaboration between the two nations in the Indo-Pacific region, and share a vision for peace and security, particularly in Europe and the Indo-Pacific"This historic visit of PM Modi will also deliver common initiatives in order to respond to the key challenges of our time, including climate change, biodiversity loss and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and will be an opportunity for India and France to reaffirm their commitment to multilateralism, including in the context of India's G20 Presidency," the official statement added.ANI05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Ktaka Polls: PM Modi rakes up love jihad, refers to The Kerala Story Ballary, May 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday raked up the issue of 'love jihad' in the run up to the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka, as he accused the Congress of siding with the conspirators in this regard. K'taka Polls: PM Modi rakes up 'love jihad', refers to 'The Kerala Story' Indirectly referring to the just-released controversial film 'The Kerala Story' while addressing a massive rally in Ballary, Modi said a film has been made on the new form of terrorism based on incidents in Kerala."The people of the beautiful land of Kerala are hardworking and talented. But a new form of terrorism has been unleashed, and the Congress is siding with the conspirators of this new form of terrorism. Not only this, it is forging political ties behind doors with the conspirators. The people of Karnataka should be careful about the Congress," Modi said."The Congress has always pursued vote-bank politics. As a result, there has been a spurt in terrorism. In the last few years, the forms of terrorism have changed. In present times, acts of terror are not only carried out using guns and bombs. Certain people in the society are quietly pursuing new forms of terrorism. 'The Kerala Story' has a similar storyline and it is being discussed," Modi said."I will share with you a serious matter. Thousands of Indians were stuck in Sudan amid the unrest. The big nations did not initiate any process to bring back their people. However, India has rescued its citizens by launching 'Operation Kaveri'. But the Congress tried to play pilitics with this effort also. It made public the identities of the Indians there. The party was ready to make political gains had there been a tragedy," Modi said.The Prime Minister also said that India will go to any extent to solve the crisis of its people."Indian people have successfully rescued from Sudan. Likewise, thousands of Indians were evacuated before from Yemen, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iraq. When our soldier Abhinandan was captured by Pakistan, we ensured that he returned to India safely," Modi said.IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Infiltration from Myanmar, militancy among issues behind unrest in Manipur Imphal, May 5: Infiltration from Myanmar, illegal poppy cultivation, drugs menace, militant outfits' backing to certain tribal communities, differences in perception between the people living in valleys and mountainous areas besides complex demographic pattern are the offshoots of the prevailing unrest-like situation in Manipur. Infiltration from Myanmar, militancy among issues behind unrest in Manipur The northeastern region, which presents a complex linguistic mosaic and has "jealously" preserved over 200 dialects, is home to 45.58 million people (according to the 2011 Census).The indigenous tribes constitute around 28 per cent of the population and they mostly speak in their native language or their indigenous language.Besides, a large number of non-tribals belonging to Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities, a reasonable portion of indigenous and Hindi-speaking people live in the region with different life-styles, cultures, traditions and languages.The region, comprising 8 states, has some peculiar characteristics which are different from other regions of the country.In Manipur, there are 35 different communities with different lifestyles, cultures, traditions, language and food habits.While the Meitei community mostly lives in the valleys and the tribals - the Nagas and Kukis, who are mainly Christians - constitute about 40 per cent of the state's around three million population and inhabit the hill districts which account for much of the state's land.Tribals have been enjoying the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category status for decades since India's Independence and they have always strongly opposed allowing others ST category status.The prevailing situation in Manipur turned seriously volatile as thousands of tribals on May 3 turned up in the rallies called by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) in all the 10 hill districts to oppose the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community in the ST category.The Meitei community -- mostly Hindu, which dominate the non-tribal population in Manipur, have been demanding ST status for decades, alleging infiltration from Myanmar and Bangladesh, destroying the demographic pattern.Notably, the fertile and resourceful valley areas make up around one tenth of the total land mass of Manipur, while the surrounding mountainous areas, known for militants' hide-outs and home to decades-old insurgency, account for 90 per cent of the state's lands.The government in Manipur, irrespective of which party comes to power in the state, has always been dominated by non-tribal Meiteis, who account for about 53 per cent of the state's population.In the current 60-member Manipur assembly, there are 10 MLAs, including BJP's five legislators belonging to Kuki tribes, while the Kuki People's Alliance (KPA), which is an ally of the ruling BJP, has two MLAs.The Naga People's Front with five legislators is also the partner of the BJP-led government.Around 4.50 lakh people, belonging to Meitei communities, also live in Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland and other states in India.Following the April 3 rally, clashes, attacks, counter-attacks among different communities and burning of houses and shops took place in different districts, forcing authorities to suspend mobile Internet services for five days, while a night curfew was also imposed in several tension-ridden mountainous districts, including Imphal West, Bishnupur, Jiribam, Tenugopal, and Churachandpur.The state government on April 3 night requisitioned the Army and Assam Rifles to control the ethnic violence in at least six districts.Earlier, tribals protested against the state government's action to evict them from forest lands and destruction of illegal poppy cultivation in the reserve and protected forests and organised protest rallies on March 10 in three districts -- Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Tengnoupal, during which five people were injured.Incidents of violence, including arson and vandalisation of government properties, were triggered on April 27 in Churachandpur district after the tribals launched fresh protests against the state government's action against illegal poppy cultivation.Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh cancelled his April 28 visit to Churachandpur district, where prohibitory orders have been clamped and mobile internet services suspended following the April violence in which "miscreants" set afire the venue, burnt chairs and damaged other materials.(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)IANS05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Q&I celebrates success of Kaushik Das and Hasikaa S.V in JEE Main Exam New Delhi, May 5: Thomson Digital's innovative Edtech platform, Q&I (QandItoday.com), is proud to celebrate the success of its students, Kaushik Das and Hasikaa S.V in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2023. Both students utilized Q&I's personalised learning resources and tools, which helped them to prepare effectively for the challenging exam. Q&I celebrates success of Kaushik Das and Hasikaa S.V in JEE Main Exam The JEE Main exam is considered one of the toughest entrance exams in India for admission to prestigious engineering colleges, and attaining success is a remarkable achievement. Q and I's personalized and assessment based learning approach provided Kaushik and Hasikaa with access to a wide range of mock tests, practice papers, and self-driven roadmaps, which helped them to prepare with confidence.Vinay Singh, CEO and Executive Director of Q and I and Thomson Digital, expressed his pride in the students' success, saying, "We are thrilled to see our students achieve such outstanding results in the JEE Main exam. Our mission at Q and I is to offer the best possible learning experience to all its students, and this achievement is a clear reflection of the effectiveness of its personalized and innovative approach. We are proud to be a part of Kaushik and Hasikaa's academic journey and look forward to empowering more students to achieve their academic goals through Q and I (QandItoday.com)."Thomson Digital is a leading digital publishing solutions provider focused on empowering publishers by delivering smart solutions. With five decades of experience, the Group has partnered with customers to provide them with transformative workflow and technology solutions, e-learning, content development, processing, and rich media development to meet their business objectives.This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.ANI05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry said that Egypt and South Sudan bear a special responsibility towards Sudan, stressing that the suffering of the brotherly Sudanese people must be alleviated. AIIMS-Delhi, PGIMER faculty express dissatisfaction over delay in submitting report on rotatory headship New Delhi, May 5: The Faculty Associations of All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh, have issued a statement expressing their anguish over the delay in submission of the report regarding the 'Rotatory Headship'. AIIMS-Delhi, PGIMER faculty express dissatisfaction over delay in submitting report on rotatory headship The Ministry of Health constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Professor Vinod Kumar Paul (member, NITI Aayog) on August 18, 2022, which was to submit its report to the government on the implementation of rotatory headship and other related issues.According to the statement issued by the Faculty Associations of AIIMS and PGIMER Chandigarh, "After the lapse of more than six months, this committee has failed to submit its report to the government. To the best of our knowledge, all the members of the committee have appraised their opinion to the chairman of the committee, Professor Vinod Paul, and this report is inexplicably pending release for several days/weeks.""The implementation and modalities of this administrative reform have been discussed deeply and now it is only left to be implemented. The surprising thing is that no one doubts the importance of this administrative reform and its positive effect in the interest of the country, yet due to the personal biases of certain individuals and the failure to take an administrative decision by the authority entrusted with this task, this administrative reform of great import is delayed time and again." the statement read.The faculty associations further emphasised that rotatory headship will be helpful in progress and transparency in the administration of AIIMS, "We believe that rotatory headship is another one of such an administrative reform, which will have impactful progress and transparency in the administration of AIIMS, New Delhi and PGIMER, Chandigarh," it read."It is pertinent to note that at present a similar system is already in place in many other top medical institutes like IMS, BHU Varanasi, NIMHANS Bengaluru, JIPMER Puducherry and CMC Vellore, and the faculty of these institutes have expressed their satisfaction with this administrative system, which is a valid endorsement of this vital reform," the statement read."In his meeting with the Faculty Association of AIIMS New Delhi on January 31, 2023, Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya also expressed his confidence in this administrative reform and expressed a desire to implement it soon," it further read.The Faculty Association of both institutes are considering a series of protests and alternateactions, in case of further unaccountable delays in implementing the report.ANI05 May 2023 Shared Recently! Global Buddhist Summits objective is to discuss contemporary global issues from a Buddhist perspective Thimphu [Bhutan], May 5: The Global Buddhist Summit's declaration placed a strong emphasis on the necessity of addressing the pressing issues affecting both the human race and the global community in order to provide a viable framework for a better future, Bhutan Live reported. Global Buddhist Summit's objective is to discuss contemporary global issues from a Buddhist perspective Its objective lies in discussing contemporary global issues from a Buddhist perspective.The first Global Buddhist Summit (GBS) was held from April 20 to 21 in New Delhi. The International Buddhist Confederation and the Indian Ministry of Culture jointly organised the inaugural conference.Delegates from 30 nations, including monks, Buddhist scholars, practitioners, and leaders of international Buddhist organisations, attended the conference. A Declaration was approved at the summit's conclusion in front of 170 international delegates, including 150 from India and representatives from Mexico, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Japan, according to Bhutan Live.In his opening remarks at the first GBS on April 20, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi emphasised that despite confronting issues such as violent conflicts and the ecological catastrophe of the modern world, the teachings of Lord Buddha, which date back hundreds of years, continue to be a very helpful way of life and guide.According to Bhutan Live, the declaration has urged the global community to imbibe and follow Buddhist tenets to find answers to the problems today facing the world. The main elements of the Declaration of the GBS included an emphasis on the promotion of peace and harmony, recognition of deterioration of the environment and promotion of sustainable development to diminish carbon emissions.ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Innoviti adds top brands - HP, Bosch, Siemens, Voltas, & Blue Star - to strengthen its collaborative commerce platform Bengaluru, May 5: Innoviti Technologies [formerly Innoviti Payment Solutions] expands its affordability portfolio through the strategic acquisition of key CDIT brands. High-valued brands like HP, BSH Home Appliances, Voltas and BlueStar will further enable the company in its intent to strengthen the merchants to offer more rewarding brand EMI to their end customers. Through a collaboration with Innoviti, high-performing brands benefit from an opportunity to better their brand performance while merchants gain from getting brand offers for their consumers. Innoviti adds top brands - HP, Bosch, Siemens, Voltas, & Blue Star - to strengthen its collaborative commerce platform Innoviti is a forerunner in launching new digital technologies to revolutionize the digital payment industry. Earlier this year through its collaboration with two banks - ICICI and Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Reliance Retail, Innoviti launched India's first acceptance of digital currency at an organised retail point of sale. Its collaborative commerce platform uniquely benefits all partners. While banks can expand their customer base, merchants and brands are able to attract the right consumers, and the end consumers can purchase premium products on easy EMIs. These brand acquisitions for Innoviti underscore the company's commitment to delivering innovative and affordable solutions to its consumers while raising the value proposition for all.Inexperienced technology partners often lack the skill of providing data insights or technology tools that help assess growth opportunities for big brands. This challenge often leads brands to spend more on gaining insights, negatively impacting their profit margins. The Innoviti platform and its intelligent software not only help capture valuable purchase data but through its smart analytical capabilities it can produce razor-sharp consumer insights. These help brands to create better brand offers for consumers and in turn, help them partner more effectively with merchants and banks to build a win-win proposition for all. This uniquely positions Innoviti as a true growth partner for brands like HP, Bosch, Siemens, Voltas and Blue Star.Speaking on the acquisition, Murali Gopalakrishna Rao, Vice President, Partners and Alliance - Innoviti Technologies said, "We are the preferred technology partner for growth-oriented businesses looking to increase their sales rapidly. Conventional payment aggregators lack the capabilities to provide an agile software platform that widens the growth opportunity for merchants, banks, and brands. Innoviti's growth tool has cross-functional and cross-purpose utility and will be particularly useful for brands that seek consumer insights to deploy better offers to improve their ROI. I am excited that Innoviti's unique 'Discoverability tool' and 'Purchase tool' will provide these brands with better insights into the consumer journey, enabling them to create better offers while we help them increase their sales at one-third of the cost."Innovation has led Innoviti to emerge as a leader in the consumer finance industry, and the acquisition of these brands is a significant step towards furthering that status. The brand EMIs offered through the Innoviti platform will empower merchants to make it easier for consumers to buy their aspirational brand products. Consumers across India can buy their desired brands on easy EMI by simply swiping their credit or debit cards on an Innoviti platform at stores across India. No-cost EMIs not only allow consumers to access easy loans but also boost their credit scores and induce financial discipline.The agile and simple Innoviti platform effectually processes digital payments, while enabling businesses to grow better profit margins through the use of its growth tools. These futuristic tools remain way ahead of the conventional solutions available in the market today.Innoviti Technologies (formerly, Innoviti Payment Solutions) is India's largest provider of collaborative commerce solutions to Enterprise merchants with a 79 per cent market share of all purchases being paid for digitally in this segment. Innoviti vision is to help people make better purchase decisions by providing better purchase options. The company processes over 10B USD of purchases from over 2000+ cities with a volume throughput per installation that is 2X of the country's average. Bessemer Venture Partners, USA, FMO, Netherlands, Panthera Growth Partners, Singapore, Alumni Ventures, USA, Catamaran Ventures, and Patni Advisors are investors in the company. The company has 7 patents awarded with 20 more filed. Innoviti is the winner of Mastercard's Innovation Wizards Award, Reliance's Most Promising Growth Consumer Finance Award and Deloitte Fastest Growing Companies in Asia award in 2020.This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Favorites Real Madrid to meet ambitious Osasuna in Spanish Cup final (preview) London, May 5: Manchester City have the chance to move four points clear at the top of the Premier League this weekend in what could be a decisive round of matches at both the top and bottom of the table. Favorites Real Madrid to meet ambitious Osasuna in Spanish Cup final (preview) Pep Guardiola's side host Leeds United, who this week brought in Sam Allardyce to replace Javi Gracia as head coach, following a disastrous April which saw them lose five out of seven matches and concede 23 goals.Allardyce's first job is to stop the flood of goals, but that won't be easy against a rival boasting Erling Haaland in attack. The only good news for Leeds is that City will have to keep one eye on next Tuesday's Champions League visit to Real Madrid and Guardiola will be keen to keep his key players as sharp as possible.Kevin de Bruyne is a doubt after missing City's last two games with an injury and his presence will be a big pointer for next week's huge game in Madrid, a Xinhua report said.Arsenal don't play until Sunday afternoon when Mikel Arteta's men have arguably their toughest match between now and the end of the season, with a visit to St James' Park.Newcastle United are third in the table, with their sights set on a place in next season's Champions League, and strikers Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson in top form.Arsenal showed desire to beat Chelsea in midweek, but will need to dig deep again otherwise the title will be all but gone.Aston Villa and Tottenham have difficult matches to keep their hopes of playing in Europe alive for next season, with Villa making the short trip for a Midlands derby away to Wolverhampton.Wolves are probably one win away from safety, but need to recover after a dreadful 6-0 defeat at Brighton last weekend, while Villa's fine run of form was ended by a narrow defeat away to Manchester United last weekend.Tottenham are at home to Crystal Palace after slipping to eighth and look to have lost confidence - something their rivals seem to be filled with after their recovery under Roy Hodgson.Chelsea visit Bournemouth for what could be a humiliating experience against a team who are level on points and looking to climb above them.Bournemouth's 4-1 win at home to Leeds United means they are virtually safe from relegation and beating a Chelsea side that has lost all six matches since Frank Lampard's return would be the icing on the cake.Five consecutive wins have catapulted Liverpool into the top five and given them a slight chance of catching Manchester United in fourth, with Mohamed Salah seeking his 30th goal of the season in all competitions when they host Brentford, who travel to Anfield after consecutive wins,Manchester United visit relegation-threatened West Ham, although the home side will look at United's poor away form (with one win and three defeats in their last five games away from Old Trafford) and think they have a chance of a vital win.The holiday for the coronation of Charles III means there are three matches played on Monday, with Everton needing something from their visit to an impressive Brighton, while fifth-from-bottom Leicester City visit Fulham, and third-bottom Nottingham Forest are at home to Southampton, who are last in the table and very much in the last-chance saloon.IANS06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Gujarat chamber urges Sitharaman to waive off pending IGST interest Ahmedabad, May 5: The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and amp; Industry (GCCI) on Friday requested Union Finance Nirmala Sitharaman to waive off interest and penalty for Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) payable under notification No. 54/2018 dated October 9, 2018. Gujarat chamber urges Sitharaman to waive off pending IGST interest The GCCI said that it has received representations from its various member units, stating that they have received summons along with interest and penalty in regards to IGST payable under the notification. These companies had imported material under advance license scheme and had missed paying IGST during clearance of the consignment as it was not reflected in the Bill of Exchange (BOE).In a letter to Sitharaman, GCCI President Pathik Patwari said "Many units in Gujarat were not aware of the new notification issued by the GST Council, which stated that IGST had to be paid at the time of clearance of the consignment and then claimed as a refund through Input Tax Credit (ITC), or a Letter of Undertaking (LUT) was required to be submitted for not paying the IGST. As a result, they cleared their consignments without paying IGST, assuming it was not applicable and no LUT was submitted. The Customs Department also cleared their consignments without the LUT or payment of IGST."The GCCI said that it believes that the units in question did not intend to deliberately evade payment of tax, but this was an inadvertent error committed on their part. Furthermore, the GST Department did not incur any revenue loss due to this transaction. As per the revised notification, the units would have paid IGST in advance and then claimed a refund through ITC, resulting in the same outcome for the GST Department in terms of revenue collection.However, due to the accumulated interest and penalty, many of the units are unable to pay the outstanding tax amount. This could have adverse financial consequences for these units, as most of them are MSMEs, it said.IANS06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Manipur violence: Varied reactions, measures in other NE states Imphal, May 5: The violence in Manipur caused reactions in the neighbouring states as thousands of students of different northeastern states are studying in the state while a large number of Manipuris, including those of the Meitei community, are also living in states around. Manipur violence: Varied reactions, measures in other NE states Tribals belonging to Naga and Kuki communities, though mostly inhabiting in Nagaland and Manipur, are also living in other northeastern states.Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, in a letter to his Manipur counterpart N. Biren Singh, said that he is deeply pained by the violence that has flared up in parts of Manipur and the underlying tension between the Meitei community and tribals there."At a time when our two states are already facing issues as a result of the political situation in Myanmar and Bangladesh and the lingering effects of Covid-19, including the prospect of a new wave with more and more cases being detected, such violence only makes things worse," he said.Zoramthanga requested Biren Singh to exercise his leadership that the people of Manipur know he is capable of and reach out to all parties involved to try and bring an end to this senseless violence.He assured the highest cooperation of his government and the people of Mizoram as they pray for reconciliation and healing in the state of Manipur.Meanwhile, hundreds of Meiteis, including a large number of students, held a protest in Guwahati on Friday in the wake of the violence that paralysed Manipur for the past three days.Meanwhile, a section of protesters alleged that the Manipur government's intention to implement National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state is behind the outbreak of the violence.In the wake of the ongoing unrest in Manipur, over 600 people have crossed the border into Assam's Cachar district seeking shelter, officials said."We have arranged temporary shelters at a few government schools in the Lakhipur sub-division area. Food and other necessary commodities have been provided to them," a Cachar district official said.Chief Ministers of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh separately expressed their reactions over the Manipur violence and asked their senior officials to keep in touch with the Manipur authorities to ensure safety and wellbeing of the students studying in medical colleges and agricultural university in Manipur.Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is now in election campaign in Karnataka, said in a tweet "Several families affected by the recent incidents in Manipur have sought refuge in Assam. I have requested the District Administration of Cachar to take care of these families.I am also in constant communication with the HCM N Biren Singh and have pledged the full support of the Assam Government during this hour of crisis".Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, after holding a meeting with senior officials, said that he had tried to contact his Manipur counterpart on Thursday night and even Friday morning but Biren Singh "could not take my call, perhaps he is busy"."However, I have instructed our Chief Secretary (J.K. Sinha) and the Director General of Police (Amitabh Ranjan) to be in touch with the administration in Manipur as around 150 students are studying there in the medical college, dental college and in the agriculture college. Tripura government has also opened a helpline number for proving round the clock support to residents of Tripura with respect to disturbance in Manipur.Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, in a tweet, said "I am deeply disturbed about the unrest in Manipur. I appeal to the people of Manipur for peace and harmony.""We have activated the helpline 1800-345-3644 for students staying in Manipur and for parents in case of emergencies. We are closely monitoring the situation to ensure the safety of our students studying in the state," Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma tweeted."We are bringing back our stranded students and citizens through regular flights and chartered flights. We are closely in touch with the central and state governments, security agencies to ensure that all necessary arrangements are made for the safe return of our students and citizens," Sangma told the media.Taking to Twitter, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said "Deeply pained over the violence in Manipur, which has displaced several families. In this hour of crisis, we are with the people of Manipur and HCM Shri N. Biren Singh ji and extend support to every step aimed restoring peace and bonhomie in the state."Dialogue is the best way to resolve all differences and grievances in a democratic set up. My special thanks and gratitude to HCM Assam Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma ji for his kind interventions in ensuring the affected families are taken care of if they take shelter in the state. I am hopeful the peace will soon return to Manipur, a great land of diversity, fraternity and compassion."The Meghalaya government has started evacuating students and civilians from violence-hit Manipur. State Health and Family Welfare and Law Minister Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh said on Friday that 64 students were evacuated from Manipur to Guwahati airport in Assam and eight more students would be evacuated on Saturday morning, while another 36 more would be shifted on Sunday.The efforts to evacuate the students and civilians of Meghalaya from Manipur would continue till normalcy returns in that state.IANS06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Muraleedharan interacts with Indian community in Bahrain, lauds them for cementing India-Bahrain bonds Manama [Bahrain], May 5: Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Friday interacted with the Indian community in Bahrain and complimented them for the role they play in strengthening the bonds of friendship between India and Bahrain. Muraleedharan interacts with Indian community in Bahrain, lauds them for cementing India-Bahrain bonds The Union Minister also paid a visit to a 200-year-old Lord Sri Krishna (Shreenathji) temple in Bahrain."Glad to interact with Indian Community and Friends of India in Bahrain at the Reception organized by @IndiaInBahrain. Commended them for the dynamic role they play in cementing bonds of friendship between India and Bahrain," MoS Muraleedharan tweeted."Blessed to offer prayers at the 200-year-old Lord Sri Krishna (Shreenathji) temple in Bahrain. The temple is among the oldest in the Gulf region," he said in another tweet.Before this on the same day, the Union Minister also paid a visit to historical buildings Bab al Bahrain and Manama souq.After his visit, Muraleedharan tweeted, "Paid a visit to iconic Bab al Bahrain and Manama souq. Also, nice to get a feel of 'Little India' in the heart of Manama souq. The place reflects rich cultural and people to people connect between our two countries which date back thousands of years."Earlier, the union minister on Thursday held a meeting with Bahraini Minister of Labour Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Humaidan and discussed avenues of future cooperation between the two nations, including on skilling.Taking to his official Twitter handle, Muraleedharan expressed gratitude to Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Humaidan and Bahraini authorities for the welfare of Indian workers and professionals.Muraleedharan tweeted, "Pleased to meet H.E. Mr. Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Humaidan, Bahraini Minister of Labour in Manama. Thanked him and Bahraini authorities for the welfare of Indian workers and professionals. Discussed avenues of future cooperation including on skilling."During his visit, Muraleedharan held a meeting with Bahraini Minister of Social Development Osama Bin Ahmed Khalaf Al Asfoor and discussed matters of common interest.Sharing details of the meeting, Muraleedharan tweeted, "Happy to meet H.E. Mr. Osama Bin Ahmed Khalaf Al Asfoor, Minister of Social Development of Bahrain in Manama. Discussed matters of common interest and thanked the Kingdom's support to Indian community."V Muraleedharan also held a productive meeting with the Undersecretary for Political Affairs of Bahrain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa in Manama. The two sides discussed various aspects of the wide-ranging partnership, regional and multilateral developments.He tweeted, "Had a productive meeting with H.E. Dr. Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Undersecretary for Political Affairs of @bahdiplomatic in Manama, Bahrain Discussed various aspects the wide-ranging bilateral partnership, regional and multilateral developments."The Ministry of External Affairs in a press release said, "MOS (VM)'s visit to Kingdom of Bahrain will be his second visit to the country. He had last visited Bahrain in August 2021."The MoS MEA will hold discussions with various Bahraini dignitaries and meet Indian community organisations and Indians working in different sectors, according to the press release.Muraleedharan will also inaugurate the Indo-Bahrain Dance and Music Festival being organised by Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam and the Embassy of India with the support of Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM), the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release.ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! As OPS weighs heavy on Jharkhand treasury, state govt wants its NPS funds back Ranchi, May 6: The Jharkhand government on September 1, 2022, restored the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for state government employees in its cabinet meeting, following which people in the state expressed their gratitude to Chief Minister Hemant Soren. As OPS weighs heavy on Jharkhand treasury, state govt wants its NPS funds back The members of the Government Employees' Union applauded this decision taken by the Chief Minister and cabinet ministers.Soren's party -- the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) -- had promised to restore the OPS in its election manifesto before the 2018 state Assembly elections and had tweeted "Another poll promise has been fulfilled."Jharkhand is the fourth state which decided to restore the OPS. The Jharkhand government took this decision despite repeated warnings by the Reserve Bank of India, NITI Aayog and economic experts about the dangers of implementing the OPS. Experts say that in implementing this scheme, the state government will have to bear a lot of additional financial burden every year.State Finance Minister and Congress leader Rameshwar Oraon has also conceded the fact that the Jharkhand government will have to bear an additional financial burden every year for implementing the OPS.Oraon says, "The state government will have to bear an additional financial burden but we have to take this decision in the interest of the state government employees."In the budget presented by the Jharkhand government for the financial year 2023-24, it has made a provision of Rs 700 crore for the OPS.The state government had given the option to all its employees coming under the New Pension Scheme (NPS) that they can choose the OPS by December 31, 2022. According to the data of the Jharkhand Provident Fund Directorate, 1,16,303 government employees have given consent for the OPS, which is nearly 98 per cent of the total state government employees.The Jharkhand government has implemented the OPS, but its biggest concern is what will happen to the National Securities Depository Limited's (NSDL) pension fund of former state government employees which is about Rs 17,000 crore before the OPS is implemented? The state finance minister had written a letter to the Central government for the return of the NSDL pension fund, on which no response has been received so far.In response to a query in this regard during the last budget session of the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Finance, Bhagwat Karad, had said that the states including Jharkhand, which have implemented the OPS will not be returned the amount deposited under the NPS.Karad had said that there is no such provision in the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, under which the accumulated amount of subscribers i.e. government and employees' contribution in NPS, can be refunded to the state government.If this amount is not received, the Jharkhand government will face a major financial blow. It is altogether a different matter that despite the burden on the state exchequer, the implementation of the OPS is likely to yield electoral benefits to the other political allies which are part of the Hemant Soren-led government.Nearly 1.25 lakh families will benefit from the OPS scheme implemented by the Jharkhand government. The JMM would capitalise on the announcement of the OPS in the 2024 Assembly elections.IANS06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Uttarakhand: IIT Roorkee bids farewell to youth of Telangana after Yuva Sangam -II Roorkee, May 6: The Government of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi conceptualized the Yuva Sangam-II program. Uttarakhand: IIT Roorkee bids farewell to youth of Telangana after Yuva Sangam -II The Ministry of Education identified the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) and NIT Warangal as pairing institutes to organize the youth exchange between Uttarakhand and Telangana states.The Yuva Sangam-II Telangana contingent reached Roorkee on April 29, 2023, and the extraordinary event lasted till May 4 2023.The participants visited the Ambuja Cement and Everest industries in Bhagwanpur.They were briefed on how cement is manufactured and how the industries are putting various measures in place to reduce the carbon footprint in the manufacturing process.An inauguration event of Yuva Sangam was held in MAC Auditorium, IIT Roorkee, attended by Prof. MK Barua, Dean of Student's Welfare, Prof. Apurbba Sharma, Dean of Academic Affairs, Prof. MV Sunil Krishna, Associate Dean of Student's Welfare, and Prof. B Srinivas, Nodal Officer, Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat, NIT Warangal. The event also witnessed several cultural performances by the incoming Telangana team showcasing the cultural diversity of Telangana.The next day the contingent visited the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences Nainital, a research institute specializing in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Atmospheric Science.Additionally, the Telangana contingent visited various central facilities of IIT Roorkee.These facilities included state-of-the-art laboratories, incubation centres etc.This allowed the students to explore the 175-year-old institute and witness cutting-edge research being carried out at the Institute.The contingent visited the supercomputer PARAM Ganga and interacted with the technical staff.The students were briefed about various problems which the high-performance supercomputer is currently being used to solve.The students had a wonderful discussion with the technical staff and have shown a keen interest in understanding the working of supercomputers and what kind of problems the PARAM Ganga is currently trying to solve.The Telangana contingent visited the TiDES (Technology Innovation and Development of Entrepreneurship Support), an incubation centre at IIT Roorkee. TiDES provides support and resources to innovative start-ups.The students interacted with the start-ups currently being incubated at IIT Roorkee. Additionally, the Telangana contingent explored the Tinkering lab and iHub, which are centres for innovation and creativity aimed at providing students and faculty members with a platform to ideate and develop their ideas.The TINKERING LAB showcased many prototyping and product-building facilities, such as power tools, CNC Lathe, 3D printers and 3D scanners.The Telangana contingent also visited Rishikesh and enjoyed the scenic beauty of nearby places. A visit to a nearby village was arranged for the Telangana contingent to engage them in the Buddy program.The students will be acquainted with the various cultural aspects of village life in Uttarakhand.This provided them a unique opportunity to interact with the rural public of Uttarakhand and learn about their cultural practices, food, way of living, customs etc. The students also witnessed how the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is helping to make the villagers empowered and self-reliant. The Yuva Sangam-II came to a gracious halt on May 4, 2023, and the valedictory ceremony was held at MAC Auditorium, IIT Roorkee, to bid farewell to the youth of Telangana after the successful completion of their trip to Uttarakhand. Yuva Sangam youth from Telangana also visited the Saharanpur campus of IIT Roorkee.On the occasion, Prof K K Pant, Director IIT Roorkee, said, "Such opportunities enable our youth to explore diverse cultures and understand different aspects of India. The 'Yuva Sangam' initiative under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat has been conceptualized as a collaborative effort to strengthen people-to-people connection and build empathy among youth nationwide."Prof K K Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, applauded the spirit of Yuva Sangam youth from Telangana.He further said that the whole idea behind Yuva Sangam was to celebrate India's diversity, rejuvenate the spirit of oneness and highlight the strength of India's democracy and education system.Applauding the spirit of Yuva Sangam, Prof Mukesh Kumar Barua, Dean of Students' Welfare, IIT Roorkee, highlighted, "Through the course of the programme, students interacted with each other in the areas of language, literature, science, tourism, cuisine, festivals, cultural even events and more. It gave them a first-hand experience of living in a completely different geographical and cultural scenario."ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Uttarakhand cabinet expansion likely after Karnataka polls Dehradun, May 6: There are indications of cabinet expansion in Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's Government of Uttarakhand, according to sources. Uttarakhand cabinet expansion likely after Karnataka polls A decision on cabinet expansion is possible after the Karnataka election results, the source added.The Karnataka Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with the counting of votes scheduled for May 13.Regarding the expansion, a round of discussion has been held between CM Dhami and the state in charge. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also stepped up preparations for the Bageshwar by-election.Meanwhile, former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Friday paid a courtesy call to CM Dhami at his residence.Koshiyari discussed various contemporary issues related to the state with the Chief Minister.Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand CM Dhami visited Dol Ashram, Almora and participated in the anniversary program of Shri Kalyanika Himalaya Devasthanam.Along with worshipping 1100 girls, Chief Minister unveiled the Nar-Narayan idols, He also offered prayers at Shreeyantra.Addressing the gathering, he said, "Param Pujya Maharaj Kalyandas ji did continuous spiritual practice for five decades as a seeker and created many such projects in the whole of India, through which the upliftment of people, born in ordinary homes, was done.""The way he has installed Shreeyantra in this ashram, in the coming times not only India but people from all over the world will come to this ashram to know peace, spirituality and culture," he added.The Chief Minister congratulated all those present on Buddha Purnima and asked them to follow the path of religion, peace and non-violence of Mahatma Buddha.The Chief Minister said that while this ashram is promoting religious tourism on the one hand, the great work of educating the youth about Indian culture is also being done through it."To be born in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand is a great fortune in itself. This ashram is a living example of our old civilization and culture. It is a grand and divine centre of meditation and spirituality. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our government is continuously moving ahead with the resolution of the new Uttarakhand," Dhami said.He said that our government is committed to preserving culture in the state, and for this, our government has come up with a strict conversion law.ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Altruism may make job seekers afraid to negotiate salary: Study Texas, May 5: According to a new study from The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business, job searchers who want to work for altruistic organisations may feel too guilty to ask for a raise. Altruism may make job seekers afraid to negotiate salary: Study Both for-profit and nonprofit organizations increasingly employ what has been termed "social impact framing" that emphasizes that their work has welfare benefits for society.Although companies might have entirely noble intentions when using social impact framing, a recent study by Texas McCombs Assistant Professor of Management Insiya Hussain illustrates how it may work against prospective employees during salary negotiations. Specifically, job candidates exposed to such messaging feel it would be against company norms to ask for higher pay."This speaks to a broader social phenomenon about how we view money when it comes to doing good," Hussain said. "There's an implicit assumption that money and altruism don't mix. Money taints attempts to do good. Even if job candidates might not necessarily subscribe to this view, they're assuming that hiring managers will."The research is online in advance in Organization Science.Hussain and co-authors Marko Pitesa and Michael Schaerer of Singapore Management University and Stefan Thau of INSEAD found that job candidates who were exposed to social impact framing refrained from negotiating for higher salaries because they felt uncomfortable with that "ask."They were concerned that asking for a greater material reward when an organization emphasized altruistic goals would be seen as inappropriate by those with hiring power, and they might thus be viewed unfavorably.The researchers describe this attitude as a "self-censoring" effect, which Hussain said is a novel finding for research on social impact framing and wage demands. Prior work assumed that candidates sacrificed pay for meaningful work. Hussain and colleagues show this effect may be driven by job candidates feeling uncomfortable with such negotiation.Whether companies are intentionally using social impact framing to suppress pay is unclear. But, regardless, the researchers suggest managers should be aware of what it may be costing the company in terms of human resources. They suggest that if managers are educated about their motivation purity bias, they can better temper their approach to prospective employees who ask about material rewards.They also recommend managers create greater transparency about company norms and values regarding compensation, and that they offer job rewards based on objective criteria instead of salary negotiations."Job seekers could consider whether companies that stress social impact take care of their own employees -- financially or otherwise," Hussain said. "And companies shouldn't assume that extrinsically motivated workers don't care about the job and aren't willing to work hard to perform well."ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Muraleedharan inaugurates Indo-Bahrain Dance and Music Festival 2023 Manama [Bahrain], May 6: Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan inaugurated the Indo-Bahrain Dance and Music Festival 2023 during his visit to the Middle Eastern country on Saturday and lauded the efforts of the organisers for community welfare. Muraleedharan inaugurates Indo-Bahrain Dance and Music Festival 2023 The Indo-Bahrain Dance and Music Festival 2023 was organised by Bahrain Karaleeya Samajam in association with the Embassy of India, Bahrain and the Authority for Culture and Antiquities.Muraleedharan also extended wishes for a successful festival."Happy to inaugurate Indo-Bahrain Dance and Music Festival 2023 organized by Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam in association with @indiainbahrain and support of @culturebah. Lauded the efforts and dedication of the association for community welfare. Wishes for the successful festival," MoS Muraleedharan tweeted.Earlier on Saturday, Muraleedharan met Indian volunteers and social workers in Manama and lauded them for their contribution to promoting bilateral trade and economic ties with India, and urged them to utilize the growing business opportunities in the country.He stated that Indian volunteers and social workers play a crucial role in helping the Indian community in Bahrain, in close coordination with Indian Embassy."In Manama, Bahrain met the hardworking Indian volunteers and social workers, who play a crucial role in helping Indian community, in close coordination with Indian Embassy. Acknowledge their constant support," Muraleedharan tweeted.He arrived in Bahrain on May 4 for a two-day visit.On May 5, Muraleedharan met several Indian and Bahraini businesses at an event in Bahrain. He thanked them for their contribution to promoting bilateral trade and economic ties.He tweeted, "Glad to meet several Indian and Bahraini businesses at an event organized by @Bis_Society in Manama, Bahrain. Thanked them for their contribution in promoting bilateral trade and economic ties. Urged the businesses to utilize the growing business opportunities in India."The Ministry of External Affairs in a press release said, "MOS (VM)'s visit to Kingdom of Bahrain will be his second visit to the country. He last visited Bahrain in August 2021."ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Renowned Wildlife Biologist and Emmy-Award Winning TV Personality Jeff Corwin to Host Alaska Nature & Adventure Voyage with Princess Cruises SANTA CLARITA, Calif: Princess Cruises' Nature & Adventure Ambassador Jeff Corwin has been to Alaska on more than 150 journeys and considers the Great Land his home away from home. Renowned Wildlife Biologist and Emmy-Award Winning TV Personality Jeff Corwin to Host Alaska Nature & Adventure Voyage with Princess Cruises Now, nature and animal enthusiasts alike have the special opportunity to cruise along with Corwin to Alaska to hear his inspiring stories and experience his compelling passion for wildlife, conservation and exploration firsthand.Jeff Corwin's Nature & Adventure Voyage is scheduled for September 6-13, 2023, sailing northbound on Princess' Voyage of the Glaciers itinerary from Vancouver, B.C to Anchorage (Whittier) aboard Sapphire Princess. Cruise fares and itinerary information for the September 6 voyage can be found here, starting as low as $448 per person*.Corwin is a highly respected wildlife biologist, conservationist, animal enthusiast and recently was named Princess Cruises' Nature & Adventure Ambassador. For nearly three decades, he has been telling stories of wildlife and nature to a global audience through his many celebrated television series, including Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin on ABC, garnering multiple Emmy and top-broadcast industry awards. His Jeff Corwin's Alaska video series can be viewed on Princess You Tube Channel.My most favorite place to explore is Alaska because it's unmatched when it comes to adventure, animals and incredible exploration, said Princess Cruises Nature & Adventure Ambassador Jeff Corwin. I'm beyond excited to be hosting this special cruise so I can personally share my experiences, offer insights on watching out for bald eagles, whales and bears, and meet adventure seekers like me who love new discoveries and also share in my dedication for conservation so Alaska can be enjoyed for generations to come.Corwin will serve as onboard guide and host for this incredible cruise to Alaska, sharing his own personal stories from his 150+ trips to this state that delivers a new and unique experience with every visit. Guests will have the opportunity to interact with Corwin through special events and activities, includingInspirational keynote presentations in the Princess Theater, highlighting his passion for Alaska wildlife and conservation, plus his explorations around the globe.Meet-and-greet photo opportunities.Exclusive shore excursions hosted by Corwin in Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan.Unique dining experiences hosted by Corwin, featuring the cruise line's expanded Wild for Alaska Seafood menu - an industry-first, location-based seafood initiative featuring an extensive offering of fresh Alaska seafood dishes, along with destination-inspired cocktails (limited availability and additional fees apply).Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin was broadcast on ABC for four seasons, taking viewers to worldwide destinations that Princess visits, including the Dominican Republic, Alaska, New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, French Polynesia and more. Through the success of this series, Princess debuted Ocean Treks Conservation Connections, featuring short stories of environmental management, wildlife conversation and sustainability, also hosted by Corwin.Additional information about Princess Cruises is available through a professional travel advisor, by calling 1-800-PRINCESS (1-800-774-6237) or by visiting the company's website at www.princess.com.PRN06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Bloomberg Grows Municipal Indices with Launch of Customized Community Municipal Bond Index NEW YORK: Bloomberg announced the launch of the Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Community Municipal Index (Ticker: I37248), focused on 1-to-15 year maturities within the investment grade municipal bond universe with targeted allocation into municipalities and projects that meet certain classification requirements. Bloomberg Grows Municipal Indices with Launch of Customized Community Municipal Bond Index This launch follows recent Sustainable Index introductions, including the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Green, Social, Sustainability Bond Indices and the Bloomberg U.S. Municipal Impact Index both tracking Green, Social, and Sustainability Bonds and fields that show alignment with International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Principles and Guidelines.The new index is a market-value weighted combination of two components of the intermediate-segment of Bloomberg's flagship Municipal Index. One component includes bonds which are classified as Green, Social or Sustainable by the Bloomberg Sustainable Finance Solutions Group and are in alignment with ICMA Principles, as well as prerefunded bonds. The other component includes bonds whose municipal sources, sectors, purposes or credit enhancements are not associated with negative environmental or social outcomes, such as casinos or lottery.We are glad to announce the Bloomberg Goldman Community Municipal Index created in collaboration with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said Nick Gendron, Global Head of Fixed Income Index Product at Bloomberg. The launch reiterates our commitment to offering best-in-class Municipal Indices through our access to industry standard municipal data sets, sophisticated index construction capabilities, as well as opportunities focused on sustainability in the fixed income space.The index was launched in July 2022, with inception date of January 1, 2019. Bloomberg Terminal clients can access the index using the ticker I37248 Index . The index has been adopted for the recently launched Goldman Sachs Community Municipal Bond ETF (ticker GMUN).Bloomberg provides an independent, transparent approach to indexing for customers across the globe. Bloomberg clients can access available indices on the Bloomberg Terminal and all research and methodology for the indices is available at Bloombergindices.com.About Bloomberg Index Services LimitedBloomberg's index team has a proven track record in creating industry leading and bespoke indices across asset classes, including best in class fixed income and commodity indices. Bloomberg Index Services Limited (BISL) takes an innovative approach to delivering strategic benchmarks that help market participants address their evolving needs. As an integral part of Bloomberg, BISL has access to a comprehensive range of trusted data and reliable technology for calculations, analytics and workflow automation, along with distribution capabilities that can help amplify the visibility of our customers' products.About BloombergBloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.PRN06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Vivek Agnihotri: The Kerala Story team will get unimaginable hate Mumbai, May 6: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri on Saturday told cast and crew of 'The Kerala Story' that their lives will not be the same as they will receive unimaginable hate. Vivek Agnihotri: 'The Kerala Story' team will get 'unimaginable hate' Taking to Twitter, the filmmaker posted a note telling the team of 'The Kerala Story' about the "bad news.""CINEMA AND INDIC RENNIASANCE The Kerala Story. I grew up listening to great filmmakers and cinema critics that the only purpose of art is to provoke people into questioning their own beliefs and biases. I also grew up listening that cinema reflects the reality of a society. I was told that cinema must destroy old Gods and create new Gods," Vivek started the thread on Twitter."I have come to realise that in modern times, cinema has the power to do what media and politics can't do. It can present uncomfortable reality, correct history, fight culture war and also become the soft power of a nation for larger interest. In India, making such cinema is not easy.""I tried it with Buddha in A Traffic Jam, The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files. I have been physically, professionally, socially and psychologically assaulted."He said that his forthcoming film 'The Vaccine War', a positive film, celebrating India's greatest achievement, is constantly being attacked."Mostly by the same people who taught me all the above. When it releases, later this year, I can guarantee they will attack it with a new design because they don't want India to succeed. Because Truth must not be told. Bharat must not be celebrated," added the filmmaker.Lending support, he added "Dear Vipul Shah iamp; @sudiptoSENtlm, @adah_sharma and team of #TheKeralaStory, first let me congratulate you for the brave effort. At the same time, let me also give you the bad news that from here on, your lives will not be the same. You will receive unimaginable hate."Your will feel suffocated. Many times you may get confused and demoralised. But remember, God tests the shoulders on which he can put the responsibility of becoming the change agents," he tweeted."If cinema is a medium to follow your course of Dharma, never stop. Let the community of Indic storytellers grow. Help new, young talented, Indic storytellers. Let this Indic Renaissance become the guiding light of a New Bharat. And whenever you feel nobody is understanding you, remember Gurudev's lines Ekla Chalo Re. Best. Always. With love, VRA," concluded his post.'The Kerala Story' has been written and directed by Sudipto Sen and stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani.It got into controversy after the trailer of the film stated that 32,000 girls from the state went missing and later joined the terrorist group, IS.IANS06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Shivakumar among top 4 re-contesting Ktaka Cong candidates whose assets ballooned, says Report New Delhi, May 6: Of the 189 MLAs who are re-contesting the May 10 Karnataka Assembly polls, state Congress chief D.K Shivakumar has clocked the highest increase in assets in the last five years, revealed the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) report on Saturday. Shivakumar among top 4 re-contesting K'taka Cong candidates whose assets ballooned, says Report As per the ADR report, four of the Congress MLAs re-contesting the Assembly elections this year have recorded massive increase in their assets in the last five years.Shivkumar, who is currently an MLA from Kanakapura Assembly constituency, has declared maximum increase in assets with a rise of Rs 573.78 crore. He had declared assets to the tune of 1,413.80 crores in 2023 as compared to Rs 840.01 crore in 2018. His assets in the last five years increased by 68 per cent.Similarly, assets of the Congress candidate N.A.Haris who is contesting from Shantinagar constituency has increased by Rs 248.96 crore in the last five years.Haris had declared assets worth Rs 190.24 crore in 2018 and in this year he has shown his assets to the tune of Rs 439.20 crore, which is 131 per cent increase.The third spot is taken by BJP's Munirathna who is contesting from Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency. As per the ADR report, his assets in the last five years increased by 229 per cent. His assets have risen by Rs 204.46 crores, from Rs 89.13 crore in 2018 to Rs 293.60 crore in 2023.On the fourth spot is Congress' S.N. Subbareddy, who has been fielded from the Bagepalli Assembly seat and his assets in the last five year rose by 99 per cent. As per the report, his assets have risen by Rs 156 crore, from Rs 157 crore in 2018 to Rs 313 crore in 2023.The fifth spot is also occupied by Congress' Raghunath Deshpande who is contesting once again from the Haliyal assembly seat in the southern state. As per the report, his assets rose by 69 per cent. He had declared assets to the tune of Rs 215 crore in 2018 assembly polls, which now stands at Rs 363 crore, with a whopping increase of Rs 148 crore.The polling for the 224-member Assembly is scheduled on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. The ruling BJP is campaigning aggressively to retain power in the state whereas the Congress and the JD(S) are also campaigning to come back to power in the southern state.IANS06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Ludhiana gas leak: NGT orders Rs 20L compensation for kin of 11 deceased New Delhi, May 6: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the District Magistrate of Ludhiana, Punjab to ensure that the heirs of the 11 people who died in the recent gas leak tragedy receive payments of Rs 20 lakh apiece. Ludhiana gas leak: NGT orders Rs 20L compensation for kin of 11 deceased In order to investigate the claims of hydrogen sulphide leakage, a bench of chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel constituted an eight-person fact-finding joint committee to be led by the chairman of the Punjab State Pollution Control Board.On April 30, 2023, a gas leak in the Giaspura area of the Ludhiana claimed the lives of 11 people, including three minors, and the tribunal had taken up the case on its own will.The green bench, which also included expert member Prof A Senthil Veil and judicial member Sudhir Agarwal, pointed out that an article in a newspaper stated that hydrogen sulphide may have led to the tragedy.The tribunal emphasised that the aforementioned gas could be from industrial waste discharged in the sewerage line.The tribunal opined that in light of such a report, its intervention was called for under Section 15 of the NGT Act."For which it is necessary to ascertain the cause of the incident and remedial action taken and required, including measures to prevent such incidents in future and to compensate the victims by way of adequate compensation," the bench said.Referring to the principles laid down by Supreme Court inter-alia in M.C. Mehta vs Union of India iamp; Ors., (1987) 1 SCC 395, MCD v Uphaar Tragedy Victims Association, (2011) 14 SCC 481 and Sarla Verma, (2009) 6 SCC 12, the tribunal observed that the state has to pay compensation in absence of identified private operators with liberty to recover the same from persons found responsible."The state is under obligation to ensure compliance of environmental norms for safety of citizens. The compensation has to be paid within one month. Reference is made to several other cases where same view has been taken," the tribunal said while referring to the judgment in re Gas Leak at LG Polymershemical Plant in RR Venkatapuram Village Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh (2020).The panel has ordered the fact-finding committee to submit its report by June 30, and the matter will be considered by the tribunal again on July 13.IANS06 May 2023 Shared Recently! ENOC Group celebrates safety and health at work with outstanding 2022 performance Dubai, May 5 (ANI/WAM): In celebration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, ENOC Group reaffirmed its commitment to putting the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees and partners at the forefront of its operations.The Group, which recognised 56 ENOC Segments, business unit and employees for their significant contribution towards health and safety, highlighted its outstanding HSE performance in 2022. ENOC Group celebrates safety and health at work with outstanding 2022 performance The HSE Excellence Awards recognised exceptional performance in health and safety under 11 categories including Best Performing Segment Award, Best Performing Corporate Department Award, Best Performing Business Unit Award, Partner Recognition Award, Best HSE Innovation/ Project, Best OH /Wellness Programme, Best Environment Project, HSE Heroes Award, Best Risk Management Coordinator, Best Business Continuity Management Champion, and HSE Champion Award.Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO at ENOC, said, "We always affirm that our employees are our most important and valuable asset. From this perspective, we prioritise health, safety, and environmental policies in all our business sectors. We are constantly keen to adopt the latest government policies and standards in this regard.""Recognising our teams who scored the highest results in terms of health, safety, and environment is an affirmation of our unremitting efforts to ensure the health and safety of all our employees, customers, and assets, and our commitment to instilling a work culture based on the foundations of safety and efficiency."The Group's Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) reduced from 0.51 in 2016 to 0.05 in 2022, indicating a reduction of 98 per cent same period.The Group also successfully conducted safety cant LTIFR in addition to a 90 per cent reduction in Lost Time Injuries as compared to campaigns for its contractors in five languages, which saw 95 per cent contractors within business units in attendance.Over the course of the year, ENOC's Fire Training and First Aid Centre were recognised as a Government of Dubai-approved First-Aid training facility and 3,682 employees completed various studies on firefighting training.The Group also launched several occupational health and wellbeing campaigns, conducted a safety culture survey with its employees, and completed HSE audits in line with its continued commitment to health and safety. (ANI/WAM)ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Terrorists responsible for killing soldiers in Rajouri will be hunted down: Rajnath Jammu, May 6: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday interacted with deployed soldiers on ground in J and amp;K's Rajouri district sending out a clear message that terrorists involved in killing of soldiers will be hunted down. Terrorists responsible for killing soldiers in Rajouri will be hunted down: Rajnath Rajnath Singh arrived at the Army's division headquarters in Rajouri along with Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha and Army Chief Manoj Pande.General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Northern Command, Lt. general Upendra Dwivedi and field commanders briefed the defence minister on the ongoing operation against the terrorists in the Kandi forest and other areas of Rajouri and Poonch districts.The defence minister gave a clear message during his visit that the terrorists who killed soldiers will be hunted down whatever the cost, sources said."Anybody trying to disturb peace and tranquility in Jiamp;K will not be spared," Singh is reported to have said during his visit.After flying back to Jammu from Rajouri, the defence minister left for New Delhi in the afternoon.Five soldiers, including elite para commandos, were killed by terrorists in Kandi forest area on Friday.In the ongoing operation against the terrorists, the Army killed one terrorist earlier in the day while another is reported to have been injured.IANS06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khans Zara Hatke Zara Bach Ke to release on this date Mumbai, May 6: The official release date of actors Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan's upcoming romantic comedy film is finally out. Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan's 'Zara Hatke Zara Bach Ke' to release on this date Taking to Instagram, trade analyst Taran Adarsh announced the news and wrote, "VICKY KAUSHAL - SARA ALI KHAN 2 JUNE RELEASE... Producer Dinesh Vijan's #VickyKaushal - #SaraAliKhan starrer to release on 2 June 2023... Title will be announced on 16 May, #VickyKaushal's birthday... Directed by Laxman Utekar."The film is all set to hit the theatres on June 2, 2023.Jio Studios announced their upcoming lineup of films and web series. The studio also shared a few glimpses of their upcoming projects including Vicky and Sara's films.In the glimpse, the makers mentioned the film titled as 'Zara Hatke Zara Bachke'. Although an official announcement of the film's title is still awaited.Makers will be officially announcing the title on the occasion of the 'Sanju' actor's birthday May 16.Recently, a few pictures surfaced on social media from the sets of the film in which Sara could be seen donning a beautiful blue and red saree and sporting a mangalsutra and bangles. Vicky, on the other hand, could be seen riding a bike in his casual outfit.After finishing the shoot, Sara penned a heartfelt note in which she expressed her gratitude to her team."Can't believe it's already over! Thank you @laxman.utekar sir for giving me Somya. Thank you for all the guidance, patience and support. Thank you for always being so understanding and always pushing me to do better and better," she wrote.Sara also shared her experience working with Vicky."@vickykaushal09 every day with you on set has been a blast. From enjoying Punjabi songs and bonfires to early morning drives and copious cups of chai. Thank you for making this journey so memorable for me. You're one of the most humble, talented and gifted actors I've met, and I'm so privileged that I got to share screen space with you and learn so much from you," she added.More details regarding the film are awaited.ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! Arab foreign ministers meeting in Amman to discuss Syria's long-running conflict agreed Monday the return of Syrian refugees was a "top priority", according to a communique released after the talks. The talks in Jordan's capital brought together foreign ministers from Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt, in the latest regional engagement with the long isolated government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "The voluntary and safe return of refugees to their country is a top priority, and the necessary steps must be taken immediately to implement it," the closing statement said. According to the United Nations, about 5.5 million Syrian refugees who fled since the conflict began in 2011 are registered in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. The communique called for increased cooperation between Damascus, host countries and the United Nations to organise repatriation operations in a "clear time frame". The ministers also agreed to "support Syria... in any legitimate efforts to extend its control over its territory, impose the rule of law, end the presence of armed and terrorist groups... and stop foreign interference in internal Syrian affairs". The 12-year civil war in Syria has claimed more than half a million lives, and nearly half of its population are now refugees or internally displaced. Although the Assad regime clawed back much ground lost earlier in the war, swathes of territory still remain outside government control. Syria, backed during its war by Iran and Russia, was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 over Assad's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests. But while Assad has been politically isolated since the conflict began, recent weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity after Saudi Arabia and Iran resumed diplomatic ties in March, shifting regional relations. Safe Return Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi noted the talks in Amman followed a "consultative meeting" in Saudi Arabia last month. That meeting saw nine Arab countries including Gulf states meet in Jeddah to discuss ending Syria's long spell in the diplomatic wilderness and its possible return to the 22-member Arab League. Safadi said the Amman meeting "was good and positive", and focused "on humanitarian aspects and on potential steps to alleviate the suffering of the brotherly Syrian people". "We focused on the refugee issue and agreed on mechanisms to start the voluntary return of refugees in coordination with the United Nations," he said. "The current situation in Syria cannot continue, and previous approaches to managing the crisis have not and will not produce anything but more destruction." The communique called on Damascus to "improve public services in the areas" refugees would return to and lay out measures that would ensure their safety, such as an amnesty. Ahead of the talks, held at a hotel in Amman under tight security, Safadi met in private with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, and they discussed Arab involvement in reaching "a political solution to the Syrian crisis", the Jordanian foreign ministry said in a statement. This was the first visit by a Syrian foreign minister to neighbouring Jordan since the war started. Days after the meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan visited Damascus, also a first since 2011. While some Arab nations have moved to re-establish ties with Damascus, the reintegration of Assad's government remains a divisive issue in the region. Assad is hoping full normalisation of ties with wealthy Gulf monarchies and other Arab states will help to finance the reconstruction of the country's war-ravaged infrastructure. Search Keywords: Short link: G7 to discourage Beijing from changing the status quo in Indo-Pacific by force Tokyo, May 6: When leaders from the Group of Seven nations gather for a three-day summit in Hiroshima later this month, they will try to discourage Beijing from changing the status quo by force in the Indo-Pacific region, reported the japan times. G7 to discourage Beijing from changing the status quo in Indo-Pacific by force This comes after the region sees a rapid military build-up amid concerns over a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Moreover, the G7 will be joined by a unique contingent of eight other leaders for an exercise in global diplomacy.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's decision to invite these countries -- including India, South Korea, Brazil and Australia -- will see G7 leaders pushing back against China, reported the japan times.The G7 nations have become increasingly aware of the need to step up cooperation with emerging and developing countries, to forge a united international front on issues such as Beijing's rising assertiveness.G7 leaders understand it is crucial to get as many "Global South" countries on board as possible -- especially India, which currently holds the G20 presidency, and Indonesia, this year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, reported the japan times.The top priority for G7 leaders will be to rally support among the eight invited countries in counterbalancing China, which is increasingly perceived as posing a "strategic challenge" to the region and beyond.Efforts to slow down China's technological rise, deter military aggression and boost support for democratic Taiwan are expected to feature prominently at the summit, reported the japan times.These efforts, including redirecting supply chains via India, Vietnam or Indonesia, are likely to play a key role in discussions about trade, economic security and resilience, trade as well as foreign and security policy.No official explanation has emerged as to why these eight countries were invited and not others, though analysts have offered a few takes.For instance, Australia and South Korea are key US allies in the Asia-Pacific. Although China is their largest trading partner, they are expected to uphold the G7's vision of a rules-based order, reported the japan times.India, a member of both the BRICS and "the Quad" groupings, is a major security and economic player in the Indo-Pacific, and also China's neighbor to the West. Indonesia, meanwhile, is not only Southeast Asia's largest economy but also the world's largest Muslim majority country, whose actions can shape broader regional dynamics and offer a religious-inclusion perspective."Both India and Indonesia are democracies, so the G7 would want to have a good working relationship with them," said Ian Chong, a professor of political science at the National University of Singapore. As chairs of the G20 and ASEAN groupings, respectively, they are also in a unique position to shape and push the Global South agenda, reported the japan times.Vietnam, which also borders China, is a key focus for the G7, as Southeast Asia becomes a key area for Sino-U.S. competition. Hanoi has strong economic ties with China, but it also has a complex political relationship with Beijing.And as tensions with China escalate, "strengthening and diversifying supply chains is key," said Guy Boekenstein, an Indo-Pacific adviser to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. This is particularly important around critical minerals, rare earth elements, critical and emerging technologies and fuel and renewable energy sources, he added.ANI06 May 2023 Shared Recently! 'All participants in the National Dialogue agreed that the dialogue agenda will not include three issues: amending the constitution, Egypt's foreign policy, and national security," explained Diaa Rashwan, general coordinator of the National Dialogue. "We fully support Egypt's current foreign policies and the armed forces' role in preserving national security," said Rashwan. Speaking before the opening session of the National Dialogue, Rashwan pointed out that "none of those who accepted President El-Sisi's invitation to the National Dialogue said that Egypt's 2014 constitution should be amended." "In general, no preconditions were set. The political forces just asked for guarantees that the dialogue's recommendations will be implemented," he added. Rashwan indicated that "as a result, two groups will not be allowed to participate in the national dialogue: those who reject Egypt's 2014 constitution and those who resort to violence to impose their agendas, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood group." "Otherwise, we do not have any red lines as we believe that the participants, who represent all segments of Egyptian society, are keen on reaching a consensus on what best serves the nation and its citizens," he said. Rashwan also noted that "the national dialogue should not be used as an alternative for the Egyptian state's institutions." "This dialogue is the voice of the people, while the government is an authority subject to supervision by constitutional institutions," he said, adding that "the national dialogue will be used as a medium to put forward the people's demands before the concerned authorities and the president." For his part, Hossam Badrawi, the National Dialogue's consultant, also indicated that "the national dialogue will be based on Egypt's 2014 constitution and 2030 vision." "The current national dialogue firmly believes in the current constitution, and any recommendations it comes up with at the end should accord with this constitution," said Badrawi, adding that " the dialogue is harmonious with the spirit of the constitution that calls for turning Egypt into a civilian democratic state and guarantees and protects citizens' freedom of speech and private lives." He argued that "the presidential system prescribed by the 2014 constitution is the best one for Egypt at present." "This system gives the president a lot of power, which is not bad, but we should make sure that this system does not lead to the creation of an autocracy," said Badrawi, adding that "one of the guarantees against such a scenario is that the president should not remain in power after 12 years to open the door for a peaceful rotation of power." He also contended that "the parliamentary system does not suit countries with high poverty and illiteracy rates such as Egypt." "Extremist religious groups can use this system to manipulate the elections," said Badrawi. He noted that Egypt requires a strong leader who will not turn the country into a dictatorship, thus paving the way for a peaceful rotation of power. Badrawi stated that under the presidential system, the role of the armed forces and security forces should be confined to preserving national security. They should not interfere with the civilian and democratic nature of the state, he added. For his part, Amr Moussa, who chaired the 50-member committee which drafted the 2014 constitution, said that the current constitution includes several positive points that we should capitalize on, such as the separation of religion from politics to pave the way for civilian rule. Moussa noted that President El-Sisi respected the constitution by calling for reforming religious discourse and forbidding religion from being exploited for political reasons. He said that the National Dialogue's final recommendations should be presented first to parliament to be discussed. "These recommendations should not be sent to the president first," noted Moussa, adding that "they should be set first before the parliament even if the president takes note of them." "The parliament should then discuss these recommendations and pass them on to the government to convert them to laws and legislations and then return them to the parliament," he explained. Hamdeen Sabahi, Egypt's well-known leftist opposition leader and former presidential candidate, apologized for not attending the opening session of the dialogue because of the sudden death of his sister. The general coordinator delivered a speech on his behalf. Search Keywords: Short link: While she hasnt had time to think about the interior decor, Tonunica Caraway knows it will incorporate her favorite color. Gold. There will be gold everywhere. I just love the color gold, she said. Download Now The News-Gazette mobile app brings you the latest local breaking news, updates, and more. Read the News-Gazette on your mobile device just as it appears in print. This story contains original reporting by News-Gazette staff. If you are not a subscriber, please consider becoming one, because local journalism is only possible with your support. A subscription to The News-Gazette plays a vital role in making this reporting possible. Thank you for your support and helping us continue to connect our community. Sudans warring sides were beginning talks Saturday that aim to firm up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia said. The negotiations, the first between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since the fighting broke out on April 15, were taking place in Saudi Arabias coastal city of Jeddah, according to a joint Saudi-American statement. The talks are part of a diplomatic initiative proposed by Saudi Arabia and the U.S. that aims to stop the fighting, which has turned Sudans capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. In their joint statement, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. urged both parties to actively engage in the talks towards a cease-fire and end to the conflict, which will spare the Sudanese peoples suffering. The statement did not offer a timeframe for the talks, which come after concerted efforts by Riyadh and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. Officials from the military and the RSF said the talks would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles. They would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities that have been overwhelmed and suffer from dire shortages in both staff and medical supplies, one military official said. The RSF official would also discuss a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire, which is one of a series of truces that failed to stop the fighting. The pro-democracy movement said the Jeddah talks would be a first step to stop the countrys collapse and called on leaders of the military and the RSF to make a bold decision to end the conflict. The movement, which is a coalition of political parties and civil society groups, had negotiated with the military for months to restore the countrys democratic transition after a 2021 military takeover led by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who also chairs the ruling sovereign council, and his deputy in the council Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. At least 550 people were killed including civilians and more than 4,900 others were wounded as of Monday, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Friday that 473 civilians have been killed in the violence and more than 2,450 have been wounded. The fighting capped months of tensions between Burhan and Dagalo. It plunged the country into further chaos and forced foreign governments to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals from Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese were displaced inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring countries as the fighting dragged on in urban areas. The U.N. refugee agency estimated that the number of Sudanese fleeing to neighboring countries would reach 860,000, and that aid agencies would need $445 million to assist them. Search Keywords: Short link: Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions have identified a strategy cancerous tumors use to remotely disrupt the development of an immune response that could stop their growth. Published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the study shows in animal models that breast cancer tumors send molecular signals to the bone marrow, the birthplace of immune cells. The signals alter the natural environment of the bone marrow in such a way that it suppresses the response to fight back the tumor. Interestingly, these changes persist long after tumor removal. The researchers also identified ways to accelerate the restoration of the normal conditions in the bone marrow after tumor removal, speeding up the recovery of the immune system. The findings warrant further research that could potentially lead to improved treatments for patients. Research has shown that breast cancer can have a significant impact in the body even before it metastasizes or spreads to other organs. For instance, tumors can remotely disrupt the ecosystem inside the bone marrow, leading to an immune response that does not attack the tumor but favors its growth instead. To understand how this happens, we characterized the organization of the bone marrow in breast cancer animal models before the tumor had metastasized." Dr. Xiang H.-F. Zhang, William T. Butler, M.D., Corresponding Author, Endowed Chair for Distinguished Faculty and interim director of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor The team found that even small tumors can affect the body profoundly as they trigger multiple changes in the bone marrow. "Breast cancer tumors promote the over production of bone marrow cells called osteoprogenitor cells, which will later contribute to the formation of new bone," said first author Dr. Xiaoxin Hao, postdoctoral associate in the Zhang lab. In addition, other cells, the progenitors of cells that give rise to immune cells, also grow in numbers. Importantly, these progenitors also change their typical location within the bone marrow, relocating near the osteoprogenitor cells and establishing a new cell-to-cell communication with these cells, particularly with a subset called granulocyte-monocyte progenitors (GMPs). We think that this osteoprogenitor-GMP communication is key, because GMPs give rise to neutrophils and monocytes, immune cells that have long been known to accumulate in some breast cancer tumors in patients and breast cancer mouse models and help promote tumor growth by suppressing the anti-tumor immune response." Dr. Xiaoxin Hao, First Author The researchers were surprised to find that after they removed the tumor, which they considered the source of the problem, the disruption of the bone marrow did not recover immediately. "We observed this in animal models," Hao said. "In some patients, we have seen that even more than 40 weeks after removing the tumor, increased numbers of neutrophils remain in their blood, which is clinically relevant." In some cases, tumor removal is followed by immunotherapy, which relies on an intact immune system for its success. "Our findings suggest that at least in some patients the immune system is still compromised after removing the tumor, likely reducing the beneficial effects of immunotherapy," Zhang said. In addition, the findings have implications for metastasis. Metastasis may arise years or even decades after the tumor has been surgically removed seeded by residual cancer cells left behind after the surgery. "An immunosuppressive effect lingering after the surgery may create an environment favorable for the residual cancer cells to proliferate and metastasize," Hao said. The researchers also identified protein MMP-13 as an essential mediator of the crosstalk between osteoprogenitor cells and GMPs. "We showed that if we eliminate or inhibit MMP-13, we can accelerate the recovery of the immune system and restore the efficacy of immunotherapies," Hao said. "Our findings suggest a new modality of treatment that is very different from the current strategies. It's not targeting the cancer cells, it's not targeting immune T cells that attack cancer cells, it's targeting the whole organism. It's trying to remove a kind of shadow cast over the entire immune system," Zhang said. "This is just the beginning of a series of studies on how tumors alter the whole body. Our findings support continuing our research on this path, and we hope it will lead to the identification of improved treatments for cancer patients." Other contributors to this work include Yichao Shen, Nan Chen, Weijie Zhang, Elizabeth Valverde, Ling Wu, Hilda L. Chan, Zhan Xu, Liqun Yu, Yang Gao, Igor Bado, Laura Natalee Michie, Charlotte Helena Rivas, Luis Becerra-Dominguez, Sergio Aguirre, Bradley C. Pingel, Yi-Hsuan Wu, Fengshuo Liu, Yunfeng Ding, David G. Edwards, Jun Liu, Angela Alexander, Naoto T. Ueno, Po-Ren Hsueh, Chih-Yen Tu, Liang-Chih Liu, Shu-Hsia Chen, Mien-Chie Hung and Bora Lim. The authors are affiliated with one or more of the following institutions: Baylor College of Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center-Houston, University of Hawai'i Cancer Center, Medical University Hospital and Houston Methodist Research Institute. Myanmar Airways International (MAI) is operating a direct non-stop flight on the Yangon-Chennai route. This flight will enhance the connectivity between India and Myanmar. The inaugural flight on this route started from May 6, i.e. today. Also Read: Agartala Airport - First Ever International Flight Service Starts From Next Month Chennai will be the first south Indian destination for the Myanmar-based airline. Myanmar Airways International also operates flights to Delhi, Kolkata and Gaya. Reportedly, Myanmar Airways International will employ its fleet of Embraer E190 or Airbus A319/A320 aircraft on the Yangon-Chennai route. The flight will be a weekly service, every Saturday. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Myanmar Airways International (@mai8mofficial) Flight 8M630 will depart Yangon at 08:00 AM and land in Chennai at 10:15 AM. In the return journey, Flight 8M631 will depart Chennai at 11:15 AM and arrive at Yangon at 15:15 PM. MAIs flight is targeted at passengers travelling for medical tourism, visiting friends and relatives, and travelling as pilgrims and tourists. The airline also plans to make Chennai as its southern gateway, a transit hub for domestic transfers. The service will be a shot in the arm for MAIs international and domestic network. MAIs non-stop flights offer the fastest reach to popular tourist destinations such as Mandalay, Yangon, Bagan and Thandwe (Ngapali Beach). Myanmars most sacred and famous Buddhist Pagoda, Shwedagon Pagoda, is situated in Yangon. The city is also famous for other religious sites like Bago and Pindaya. As part of their efforts to introduce the new route to the passengers, Myanmar Airways International has introduced fares at a reduced rate and an enhanced baggage allowance per passenger. Myanmar Airways International will offer a special one-way economy fare starting at Rs 22,907. One-way business class fare will be available at Rs 47,840. While economy class passengers will be offered 30 kg free registered baggage allowance, business class passengers will be able to avail 40 kg. It is worth noting that this is in addition to 7 kg hand luggage. top videos The airline also offers Sky Smile, a frequent flyer program where passengers can avail benefits like priority check-in, priority reservation and boarding, preferred seating, lounge, hotels and more. MAI offers up to 40 percent discount for various partners if they present the MAI boarding pass. Read all the Latest Auto News here The leading homegrown car manufacturer Tata announced the achievement of delivering 10,000 units of Tiago EV in less than four months. The announcement by the company comes shortly after the all-electric hatch became the Fastest Booked EV in India, as it received 20,000 bookings by December last year. As per the details shared by the company, Tata Tiago EV has successfully made its journey to 491 cities, traveling a total of 11.2 million km and preventing the emission of 1.6 million grams of CO2 into the environment. Tata Motors said that it has a goal of democratizing the EV driving experience and expanding the search for safe, clean, and green mobility. The Tiago EV is not only a market disruptor with premium-ness, safety, and technological features, as well as an environmentally sustainable footprint, but it is also an exciting electric trendsetter that offers its consumers a superior driving experience, the company said in an official statement. Also Read: Tata Tiago EV Launched in India at Rs 8.49 Lakh, Claims upto 312 Km Range Per Charge Reacting about the achievement, Marketing, Sales and Service Strategy head, Vivek Srivatsa said that The Tiago EV since its launch has been creating milestones. From becoming the Fastest Booked EV in India to becoming the fastest EV in India to achieve the 10,000 delivery mark, this electric hatch has left no stone unturned. Srivatsa said that Tiago EV was launched with the aim to democratize the EV experience. It was a result of the companys ambition to fast forward the ongoing evolution towards the future of mobility by introducing a car that would encourage rapid adoption of EVs. Tata Tiago EV Price The company has launched the Tata Tiago EV at the starting price of Rs. 8.69 lakh, and it goes up to Rs. 12.04 lakh (ex-showroom) for top models. Tata Tiago EV Battery and Power top videos It comes with 3 battery-motor configurations- The 19.2kWh battery pack with 3.3kW AC charging, which churns out a max of 60 bhp and 105Nm of torque. The second configuration features a 24kWh battery pack with 3.3kW AC charging, which provides a max of 69 bhp and 114Nm of torque. The last configuration comes with 24kWh of battery pack, 7.2kW AC charging, and a max power of 74 bhp and 114Nm of torque. Read all the Latest Auto News here 7th Pay Commission: After the central government increased the dearness allowance by 4 per cent in the previous hike in March 2023, the Centre is again likely to hike DA by 3-4 per cent effective July 1, according to media reports. The DA, which is provided to employees and pensioners to compensate them for rising prices, is revised twice a year January and July. The last revision in DA was done in March raising it by 4 per cent, which became effective from January 1, 2023. After the 4 per cent hike, the DA of central government employees increased to 42 per cent. Before this, the DA was hiked in September 2022 by 4 per cent, which became effective from July 2022. Now, for the 7th Pay Commission employees, the DA is expected to hike by another 3-4 per cent, to be effective from July, according to the reports. Currently, as per the latest data, there are 47.58 lakh central government employees and 69.76 lakh pensioners. Dearness allowance (DA) is given to government employees, while dearness relief (DR) is for pensioners. The DA is given to employees based on the basic pay of the employees, while the DR is given on the basis of a basic pension. How DA Hike Is Calculated? The central government revises the DA and DR for employees based on a formula. Following is the formula: Dearness Allowance Percentage = ((Average of All-India Consumer Price Index (Base Year 2001=100) for the past 12 months -115.76)/115.76)x100. For Central public sector employees: Dearness Allowance Percentage = ((Average of All-India Consumer Price Index (Base Year 2001=100) for the past 3 months -126.33)/126.33)x100. Last week, the Jharkhand government increased the dearness allowance for its employees to 42 per cent from 34 per cent. The decision to hike the DA rate was taken in the state cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. top videos Last month, the Himachal Pradesh government hiked the dearness allowance (DA) by 3 per cent for state employees and pensioners. They will now receive a 34 per cent DA, against 31 per cent earlier. Read all the Latest Business News, Tax News and Stock Market Updates here You must have heard of Spains San Fermin Festival where people engage in running with bulls. These bulls are left loose while the people participating in the perilous game, run along with them, with beating hearts, trying to save their lives. Bulls are generally deemed to be quite aggressive beasts. If someone comes in a face-off with an angry bull, they can even throw the person off with their sharp horns, causing immediate death. Recently, a video of a man, trying his best to save his life from the grips of a dangerous bull, has been doing the rounds on the Internet. The now-viral visual footage was shared on Instagram on March 3. It opens with a sturdy-looking bull charging toward a man, trying to attack him. The helpless man to save his precious life swiftly climbs onto a metallic pole, installed at the edge of the street. As soon as the bull darts toward the man, he crawls upward, pulling up his feet, to escape the beast and its deadly-looking horns. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kutty Kalaivanan (@kuttykalaivanan) The raging bull, eyeing the man, walks back and forth around the pole, lest the man makes any mistake and it gets a chance to pounce on him. If you think that the man will be saved once the bull gets tired of waiting for him to come down and go on its own, you are mistaken. Upon closer inspection, you will find that a rope is tied around the bulls neck, which in turn is attached to the pole where the man has climbed. Until a passerby removes the rope, there is no way the man can leave the premises unharmed. But, although there were plenty of onlookers at the spot, no one was brave enough to help the poor man, evidently frightened to risk their own life. The heart-stopping video concludes with the bull sprinting across a nearby field and returning to the pole once again. Netizens were presumably left speechless at the video, filling the comment section with surprised emojis, while others dropped prayer emojis, wishing that the man be saved. top videos So far, the video has collected over 7 million views on Instagram. Read all the Latest Buzz News here Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty has said that Class 11 admissions in the state are expected to start in June, while the session will begin in July. He made this announcement during a meeting with the district education officers on Friday, reported Career360. The meeting was conducted in view of the schools in Kerala reopening on June 1. The education minister has directed authorities to complete the cleaning of school water tanks as well as wells by May 30. He also instructed them to take help from the parents teachers association. The school offices must function till 5 pm and the principals should ensure that all the landlines are working, the minister ordered. Further in the meeting, the General Education Minister stated that the textbooks for schools will be officially distributed on May 25. The textbooks will be available till May 27 with all the district hubs. Giving an update on the development, the education minister said that so far, 82 per cent of the textbooks have been printed. The minister is reportedly working with the local self-government departments to increase the number of schools that are giving breakfast and lunch as part of the mid-day meal scheme. There are around 2,400 schools out of the 12,037 schools that are currently offering breakfast with the midday meal scheme. During the meeting, the minister also informed that the state government is planning a proposal concerning the cost increase in the mid-day meal scheme. Sivankutty asserted that the education department has given the required payment to mid-day meal cooks and helpers till February this year. A partial honorarium has also been released for March. School principals and mid-day meal workers protested in March against the Kerala government for not releasing their funds on time. V Sivankutty has directed all the state education officers to make sure that the files are moved quickly to ensure that the fundamental needs of the people are met. I realise from the complaints I receive that most education offices are riddled with corruption and delays. Many files are stuck in the AEO, DEO, DD offices, the minister said. Files are not moved for petty reasons hence the fundamental rights are denied, he added. The minister said that strict punishment will be given to officers found involved in such activities. top videos Read all the Latest Education News here Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the latters remark in which he accused the party of shielding terrorists for vote bank" politics at an election rally in Karnataka. I have lost my grandmother and father to terrorism, so I know more about its effects than PM Modi," Gandhi said, referring to the assassination of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Addressing a rally in Ballari on Friday, Prime Minister Modi had accused the Congress of shielded terrorism for vote bank, a charge denounced by the Opposition party. According to Congress, the Prime Minister said they are taking part in backdoor political negotiations with those who are linked to this trend of terrorism." He also stated that Congress is aligned with a trend of terrorism that destroys societies." The Congress filed a complaint at Bengalurus High Grounds police station against the Prime Minister on Saturday over the remarks and sought action under relevant sections of the Representation of People Act 1951, the Indian Penal Code and other provisions of law, according to a The Indian Express article. While he couldnt say anything about the 40% commission of the BJP Govt, he speaks of terrorism here," Gandhi said at the rally. The former Congress chief was referring to the controversy over the 40% commission that surfaced in April 2022, following the death of Santosh Patil, a contractor based in Belagavi. Last month, Gandhi had criticised the state government led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, labelling it as a 40% government and accusing it of being deeply corrupt. In response, Chief Minister Bommai hit back at the Wayanad MP, claiming that he had sent a chargesheet to Gandhi concerning the Congress alleged scams, but is yet to receive a response. The 40% commission chargesheet is on him," Bommai stated. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also visited Belagavi on Saturday. The senior BJP leader is aiming to secure the maximum number of seats in the district, which is the second-largest in Karnataka after Bengaluru Urban. With the state going to the polls on May 10, Shah addressed a large gathering in Saundatti town in Belagavi district. He reminded the people that in the 2018 elections, the BJP won 11 seats, but if they had won all 18 seats, there would not have been a JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state. The BJP increased its tally in the district to 13 after Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumatalli were elected in the by-polls. Shah appealed to the crowd to give all 18 seats to the BJP. In his speech, Shah accused Congress of imprisoning Veer Savarkar at Hindalga prison in Belagavi district and said Rahul Gandhi would not see a greater sacrifice than that of Veer Savarkar, even if he were to be reborn 10 times. top videos The Congress had imprisoned our great freedom fighter Veer Savarkar at Hindalga prison in Belagavi district. He was the only freedom fighter who was awarded life imprisonment punishment twice. The Congress repeatedly insults Savarkar. Rahul Gandhi, you will not see a greater sacrifice than that of Veer Savarkar even if you take birth 10 times," the Home Minister said. Read all the Latest Politics News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here Read more state, BJPs star campaigner and UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the people of Karnataka cant accept the ban on Bajrang Dal. Yogi Adityanath, while addressing a rally in Karnatakas Chikkamagaluru, said the Congress party is playing with the Hindu faith. I have come to lord Hanumans land and Congress has said to ban Bajrang Dal but no one can ban Bajrang Dal. People of Karnataka cant accept the ban on Bajrang Dal, the BJP leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a mega 26-km-long roadshow in Bengaluru today. The roadshow will resume on Sunday and will go through 18 Assembly constituencies with the participation of more than 10 lakh people. In the final phase of electioneering, PM Modi is set to participate in over 20 events, while Union Home Minister Amit Shah will attend 25. Shah is also expected to hold a series of meetings of party leaders across the state. While BJP has planned a mega roadshow by PM Modi, Congress is also organising a massive roadshow to counter PM Modis outreach. To counter PM Modis mega campaign, Rahul Gandhi will hold a road show on Sunday, May 7. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address a public meeting with Rahul Gandhi in Karnatakas Hubli on Saturday. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will also take part in 10-15 rallies, public interaction and roadshow campaigns. senior party leader Siddaramaiah will also head 28 public rallies and DK Shivakumar will take part in 19 programmes. JD(S) has also stepped up election campaigns in the state. Former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy will be seen at 50 to 60 events across the state. Kumaraswamy, who has not yet visited his Channapetna and Ramanagar from where his son is contesting, will make it up by holding mega programmes. PM Modi Calls Congress Slave of Appeasement Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said Congress has become a slave of appeasement and vote-bank politics. Addressing a public rally in Karnatakas Tumakuru, he said, Congress is becoming a slave of appeasement, and its vote bank politics. Congress can never work for the welfare of Karnataka. It can never develop Karnataka. The last nine years have witnessed an unprecedented level of development work for the villages, the poor, the farmers, and the youth, which was not done in the last seven decades. On the other hand, the track record of Congress-JDS is such that under their rule, the maximum loot happens with the money meant for the villages. However, when the BJP is in government, the villages and the poor progress rapidly, and this is our commitment, he added. PM Modi further expressed confidence that BJP will come back to power in the state with a thumping majority. BJP is coming (to power) with a thumping majority. There was no pre-planned programme but a mega roadshow happened due to the overwhelming crowd, he said. Read all the Latest Politics News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here The Karnataka Elections are knocking on the doors, scheduled for May 10. Its just a matter of days before we get to see which political party wins the elections this time. With campaigns being organised and prominent leaders embarking on state tours, newer restrictions have been added to some notable public places in poll-bound Karnataka. One such popular tourist destination that has barred visitors from entering its premises on May 10 is Bengalurus Bannerghatta Biological Park. According to an official notice issued on the website of Bannerghatta Biological Park, the place will only remain open on May 9, before closing its gates on May 10. The authorities at the Bannerghatta Biological Park have declared that the tiger, lion, bear, and butterfly parks will remain shut on May 10, along with the safari park and the zoo located within the perimeter of the Park. Under the Animal Exchange Scheme, the new member of the animal kingdom that has been brought to the Biological Park is a white Royal Bengal Tiger. The tiger has been brought from Chennais Arignar Anna Zoological Park. Unfortunately, as the Bannerghatta Biological Park is closed on May 10, neither tourists nor locals will not be able to meet the white Royal Bengal Tiger. The restrictions are imposed to spread the message that no electorates should be out enjoying themselves without casting their votes. But, there is no reason to get disheartened as the Karnataka government has announced another great offer in return. Ahead of the elections, The Election Commission is leaving no stone unturned to create awareness about the importance of voting. Walking along a similar vein, Bangalores bustling amusement park, known as Wonderla, is also giving out impressive offers to visitors to increase the voting count. Wonderla will be providing a 15 percent discount on its entry tickets to every citizen who has cast their votes. The offer is only valid from May 10 to May 12. top videos For citizens wanting to utilise this opportunity, they can visit the online Wonderla booking portal which has already opened its website from May 5. Voters who have booked their tickets online will be checked at the gates of the amusement park for their inked index finger as proof before they are allowed inside the premises. The Managing Director of Wonderla Holidays, Arun Chittilapilli said, Voting is the duty of every citizen. This is our small step towards promoting voting." Read all the Latest News here Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly conveyed the greetings and congratulations of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to King Charles III of the United Kingdom ahead of his coronation on Saturday. During a reception for world leaders at Buckingham Palace in London Friday, Madbouly extended the presidents wishes for the prosperity of the UK during the reign of King Charles, the cabinet said in a statement. Meanwhile, the king thanked Egypt and its leadership for their high-level participation in the coronation and commended the cooperation between the two countries. Madbouly is participating in the coronation ceremony, set to take place at Westminster Abbey, on behalf of President El-Sisi. Charles ascended to the throne on 8 September 2022, following the passing of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. On the sidelines of the reception, the Egyptian premier also met with various heads of state and delegations who will also be attending the ceremony, where they discussed the latest developments in Sudan. Madbouly outlined Egypt's efforts to find a swift resolution to the crisis that would protect Sudan and its people, as well as the countrys efforts to welcome tens of thousands of Sudanese fleeing the violence. They also discussed a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern as well as the awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the cabinet added. Search Keywords: Short link: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday issued a notice to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar for publishing an advertisement titled corruption rate card" in newspapers against the ruling BJP in the state. The advertisement had unsubstantiated information with respect to alleged rates" cited for appointments and transfers, kinds of jobs, and commissions by the saffron party. For this, the grand old party has been asked to show reasons and provide empirical evidence by 7 pm on Sunday. The party has been asked to explain why action shouldnt be initiated against them for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and relevant legal provisions under the RP Act and IPC. The Commission had received a complaint dated May 5 from the BJP that Congress party has published an advertisement with above-mentioned allegations, the ECI notice said. In the notice served to the Congress, the ECI also said that while the general references and allusions to the alleged lack of achievement, misdeeds, not ensuring corruption free governance of political opponents do float in the political campaigns, specific accusations and charges need to be segregated as the same must be backed by verifiable facts. Making specific charges, without any factual basis, is an action proscribed by the penal statutes. Independently, accusations without any corresponding informational verification, vitiates the electoral process by disturbing the level playing field by potentially misleading the elector, marrying the exercise of making informed choices, the notice reads. The Commission also noted that the allegations and imputations made in the particular advertisement are not general. The advertisement, in its very content and format, makes very specific charges, accusing all levels of government machinery (political and bureaucratic) of being compromised and saleable. This brings into disrepute the entire administration, which has the potential of fomenting a feeling of distrust and undermining the legitimacy of the governance system at large, which otherwise, inter-alia, is vital for the smooth conduct of the poll itself, the notice added. Earlier this week, on May 2, the Commission had advised all parties and stakeholders to remain within the confines of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and the legal framework in their utterances while campaigning so as to maintain the dignity of the political discourse and not to vitiate the campaign and election atmosphere. While the Commission notes that criticism of the policy and governance of the opponent parties is a right guaranteed under the constitution as well as an essential function of various political actors under our electoral process, however, while exercising this right and performing this essential function, the various political parties are expected to uphold high standards of public discourse and adhere to the various provisions of MCC and relevant laws, the ECI said. The poll body also said that national parties enjoy special enablement under the R. P. Act 1951 and thus are expected to be most compliant to the MCC and legal framework. It is a fair assumption that INC possesses the material /empirical/ verifiable evidence based on which these specific/explicit facts have been published, an action which can fairly be assessed to embed knowledge, motive and intent to do so by the author, they added. The Commission has directed the Congress party to convey the empirical evidence of the same for example the evidences for rates for kinds of appointments and transfers, kinds of jobs and jobs and kinds of commission mentioned in the advertisement given by them along with if any explanation and also put that in public domain. top videos The ECI also said that if the Congress party did not give any response, it will be assumed that it has nothing to say and the poll body can take appropriate actions. Read all the Latest Politics News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here The Congress on Saturday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a master of distortion", and accused him of caring only for his grand tamasha" and not the inconvenience caused by his 26-km roadshow in Bengaluru. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged ambulances were stuck on roads due to the chaos caused by the roadshow, and said Modi should cancel the second part of the roadshow slated for Sunday. Desperate times for BJP, calls for desperate measures from ModiRead on to know the truth behind Part 1 of the #40km40percent roadshow of the PM today https://t.co/uaVPn3XcXs Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) May 6, 2023 With just four days to go for the Karnataka assembly polls, Modi held a massive roadshow from Someshwar Bhavan RBI Ground in Bengaluru South to Malleshwarams Sankey Tank. The prime minister will hold another roadshow on Sunday morning. The Master Of Distortion and Incitement (Abuse No. 92??) is arriving in Bengaluru today. We already know what hell say to inflame prejudice and bigotry," Ramesh said on Twitter ahead of Modis roadshow. He said the prime minister will stay absolutely silent on the real issues of Karnataka like 40 per cent commission sarkar, intolerable price rise, rising unemployment, and a forever under-construction and dug-up Bengaluru". This time the despair is so high that his #40km40percent roadshow over 2 days is locking up an entire city, creating chaos & uncertainty for students writing crucial exams, and felling a number of trees," the Congress leader said. Have you ever seen a PM this desperate," he asked. After the roadshow, Ramesh said, It appears that PM Modis roadshow in Bengaluru today not only inconvenienced the people but it drew a lukewarm response. Tomorrows tamasha reduced to 6.5 kms now." Writing on the wall is very, very clear. Come May 10th, 40 per cent Bhrashtasura Dahana is Guaranteed," he said in a tweet. Ramesh also said Modi should cancel the second part of the roadshow scheduled for Sunday. Ambulances stuck, chaos on road! If the PM has any shame left or even an iota of concern for the people of Bengaluru, he would immediately cancel part 2 of the #40km40percent roadshow tomorrow. But we all know that all he cares for is his Grand Tamasha," Ramesh tweeted. He also shared a video of a traffic jam. In another tweet, he said, Jawans have been martyred, Wrestlers are protesting, Manipur is burning And all the Prime Minister can think of is rallying to save the BJP from a humiliating defeat in Karnataka. Pathetic priorities!" Modis three-hour roadshow traversed through parts of south and central Bengaluru, touching about a dozen assembly segments. He waved at large crowds that gathered on both sides of the route. Later, he addressed a rally in Badami and said the overwhelming response he received in Bengaluru during the roadshow made him believe that it is the people who are contesting the Karnataka elections on behalf of the BJP. top videos He said that the love and affection he received in Bengaluru was unparalleled". Read all the Latest Politics News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here Days after the Congress released its manifesto for Karnataka elections 2023, hinting at a PFI-like ban on the Bajrang Dal, the states former home minister and current working president of Karnataka Congress Ramalinga Reddy told News18 that the state government does not hold the power to ban any organization, but can send a recommendation to the Centre. Reddy is the second Congress leader after former Union law minister M Veerappa Moily to clarify that the state government cannot actually ban any organisation. While Moily had said that the manifesto mention was a warning to Bajrang Dal so that they play by the rulebook, Reddy said the Congress, if it comes to power, can at least send a recommendation to the Centre. Calling the Bajrang Dal a dominant force in Dakshina Kannada, Reddy said: The Bajrang Dal and PFI are similar kinds of forces with all sorts of fundamental ideas. They are involved in so many hate crime incidents in the region. We have prepared cases and reports. Bajrang Dal members were involved in killing of at least eight to nine SDPI members in the region and PFI members were also accused of killing over half a dozen Bajrang Dal members. This has been a never ending conflict in the area. The state government cannot ban any organization or issue any restraining order. But if the Congress comes to power, we can at least make a case and send recommendation for a ban on Bajrang Dal to the Centre. We are accountable to the people and we will be able to tell them that we tried. We will put things on record," Reddy added. The controversy has raged on since the Congress released its manifesto, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying in his Hosepet campaign speech that the grand old party wants to lock up Bahrangbali. At a public meeting in Dakshina Kannada, the PM also chanted Bajrangbali ki Jai. Coastal Karnataka: The Problem Zone In September, two months after a series of three murders, the Union Home Ministry banned the Popular Front of India. Located around 300km from Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada had long been reeling under a spate of hate crimes and communal clashes. However, the killing of 34-year-old Praveen Nettaru, a BJP youth member, set the ball rolling for the ban. Nettarus murder was linked to two more retaliatory murders in the area. In the last week of July 2022, three youths, including Nettaru, were murdered in the district. During the course of the investigation, police arrested over a dozen men, including Bajrang Dal members. The Nettaru murder case was later handed over to the NIA, and in March, the central investigating agency arrested the prime accused, a member of the PFI. The conflict between the Bajrang Dal and the PFI has wedged a sharp religious divide in the region. The Karnataka Police crime record, last published in 2022, stated that the Dakshina Kannada district saw 32 murders and 76 incidents of rioting between 2019 and 2021. The official records did not mention the nature of these incidents, but Karnataka Police sources claim that most were communal in nature. A total of 4,618 cases of offences against public tranquillity were registered under various sections of IPC during 2021, out of which rioting (4,193 cases) accounted for 90.79%. top videos The BJP is believed to be a dominant force in the region. In the 2018 Karnataka elections, the BJP won 17 out of 19 seats in coastal Karnataka (which includes Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada). Read all the Latest Politics News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here The BJP has posted its full strength of top campaigners in Karnataka in the last three days of the campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is doing two road shows as well as multiple rallies spread over this weekend. PM Modi is doing a road show split over two days on Saturday and Sunday along with multiple rallies. On Saturday, Home Minister Amit Shah is doing six rallies and road shows, BJP president JP Nadda is doing three rallies, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is doing five rallies and road shows and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa is doing four rallies. Apart from this, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union ministers Smriti Irani and Gajendra Shekhawat are doing multiple rallies on Saturday. Chief Minister BS Bommai will do two rallies and road shows. Karnatakas cine star Kicha Sudeep is also campaigning for BJP on Saturday with five rallies. A senior BJP leader looking at Karnataka told News18 that the party feels it has good momentum over the last week with the prime ministers campaign and that it is peaking at the right time. The voters mind gets made up in the last 3-4 days before voting and we are making all efforts to cover the last mile, the BJP leader said. Controversies like the Congress promise on a ban on the Bajrang Dal and personal attacks on the PM have become the theme of the BJPs campaign in the last week, the leader said. There has been great enthusiasm in the PMs rallies this week and a rousing applause to his call on Jai Bajrang Bali and this is a good sign, the senior BJP leader said. Congress Star Rally With Sonia The Congress also has its top leaders in Karnataka this weekend with Sonia Gandhi joining the campaign along with Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. A key rally would be in Hubli at 6pm today where Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge will be present. The two chief ministerial faces of the Congress, Siddaramiamiah and DK Shivakumar and also doing multiple rallies over the weekend before the campaigning ends on Monday. top videos The Congress has been a bit on the back foot after the Bajrang Dal ban controversy but is trying to shift the discourse back to its corruption campaign against the BJP and the five guarantees of Congress. Read all the Latest Politics News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here In a state where caste plays an important role in politics, Lingayats a politically influential community in Karnataka has a pivotal role with a potential to change the fortune of any political party in the state. The BJP headed by Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa from the past two-three decades has taken this community into confidence that spiked the saffron trajectory upwards. Results of previous assembly elections in Mumbai-Karnataka a Lingayat-dominated region comprising seven districts stands as a testament to the communitys support enjoyed by the BJP. The saffron camp won 30 of 50 seats in the region, thereby asserting dominance that took their total tally to 104. But this time around, the party has certain hurdles to overcome to retain this voter base in the upcoming assembly polls which are crucial, taking into consideration the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The Panchamasali hiccup The Panchamasali, a strong sub-sect of the Lingayat community which has been demanding 2A reservation for their community, added velocity to their agitation in the past five months to pressure the government to act swiftly and fulfil their demands with elections around the corner. The community pontiff, who led the agitation, even threatened the Basavaraj Bommai government of political repercussions if the government failed to bring them under the 2A quota. Scared of losing the vote bank and to ensure they do not end up breaching the 50 per cent reservation cap, the Bommai government took a lateral route of scrapping the 4 per cent reservation given to Muslims under 2B and provided 2 per cent of it to Panchamasali and 2 per cent to Vokkaliga community who had the same demand. While the community heads are said to be a tad bit satisfied with the increase, few of the other community leaders who led the movement are upset with 2 per cent negotiation and are planning to take the legal route post assembly elections. What bore fruit for the Panchamsali from their agitation is that the BJP was forced to give tickets to leaders from the community in this election. Of the 67 tickets provided to Lingayats in the BJP, the Panchamasali are more in number, but the quota unrest within the community is yet to be quelled. The S-factor: Shettar-Savadi Another challenge BJP faces in its stronghold of Kittur-Karnataka region is the rebellion of two senior Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi. Even though the BJP refuses to openly accept the damage caused by the departure of the senior Lingayat leaders, their exit has become a matter of concern for the saffron camp. Shettar, who belongs to Banajigas the business class of Lingayats can assert his influence and sway the Lingayat votes towards the Congress but his chances of winning remain debatable as people and local leaders are said to remain loyal to a party rather than an individual. Few members of the Marwadi community, who form a formidable chunk of the population in the Hubbli-Dharwad constituency, feel the leader has betrayed the party. Political analysts opine that Savadi heading out of BJP is a bigger loss for the party than Shettar for two reasons: One is the sub-community Ganiga to which Savadi belongs and second, the influence of Savadi on Marathi voters residing in the bordering region of Karnataka. Groundnut is the primary cash crop that is grown on black soil which is present in Belgaum, Gulbarga, Bagalkot, Bijapur and Bidar and wherever there is groundnut farming, there are Ganigas who take out groundnut oil. So in all 10-12 constituencies from Belagavi to Gulbarga, Savadi, a leader from Ganiga community, can hold sway over votes. That is why his induction into Congress will likely benefit not only leaders in Belgaum but also leaders in Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bagalkot and to an extent Bidar, says Rishikesh Bahaddur, a political analyst. top videos But will the campaign by Ganiga leader Savadi outweigh the campaign by other Lingayat leaders like Yediyurappa, Yatnal, or Ramesh Katti and will this counter the heartburn caused by Savadi will decide the fate of the two parties in the Kittur-Karnataka region. Read all the Latest Politics News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here The late Shammi Kapoor has been one of the most successful actors in the film industry. Living under the shadow of his legendary father and elder brother, Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor, Shammi made his own identity in the industry and carried forward the legacy of the Kapoor clan. He had a major setback in his personal life though when his ladylove and first wife Geeta Bali died suddenly at a fairly young age. Geeta Bali, passed away in 1965, leaving Shammi Kapoor and his children inconsolable. One of the earliest female movie stars in India, Geeta, was having great success until she caught smallpox at the age of 34 and passed away within 15 days. The couple had two children together, daughter Kanchan and son, Aditya. A few years later, Shammi Kapoor got married once again to Neela Devi. Shammi Kapoor and Neela Devi had no children together and it was a conscious decision taken by Neela Devi herself. The reason behind it was that she wanted to treat Shammi Kapoors kids from his previous marriage as her own and was apprehensive that she would start to discriminate if she had her kids. Shammi Kapoors son Aditya, in an interview with The Print, talked about how Neela Devi filled in the void left behind after the death of his mother. That area in our home was created for me by Neela Devi. Because my sister and I were already present, she opted against having any children and devoted her life to my father. No Hindu woman would act in such a way. I used to send my father threatening letters from boarding school. I used to say that I would flee from school. I assured him that he could wed any woman he desired. I yet needed a mother. That void was filled by Neela Devi. She transformed me from a hurt, distressed, defiant, wailing animal into a person. Just goes to demonstrate how important mothers are to families. But my mother Geeta Bali was someone I never stopped missing," he said. top videos In a separate interview, Neela Devi also said that she never regretted not having children of her own. Read all the Latest Bollywood News and Regional Cinema News here With a steady job at an MNC and a comfortable house, Golan Naukal led a pleasant and peaceful life till May 3. On May 4, his house in Imphal was attacked and torched. I have lost everything. My house burnt down completely. My car was destroyed. I dont have enough food at the camp where I am staying now," a distraught Naulak told News18. He originally hails from Churachandpur, epicentre of the violence that unfolded in Manipur this week. I was at home when, around 3pm, the mob attacked our house. We climbed through the fence and reached our neighbours house, and from there, the Manipur Rifles camp, Naulak further said. Nearly 10,000 Army, para-military and central police forces have been deployed in the state where rioting broke out after demonstrations were organised by tribals, including Kukis and Nagas, on Wednesday against a move to give the majority Meitei community Scheduled Tribe status. IIT alumnus and teacher Santosh Akoijam underwent a similar ordeal as Naulak in Imphals Ningthemkol. Situated next to the Kuki-dominated Paiteveng locality, Akoijam told News18 Ningthemkol had seen only harmony for years. All that changed on May 3-4. I finished my tuition classes and returned to see many houses in my locality up in flames. I heard that curfew had been imposed on May 3. Around 8pm, some people came and started burning churches. The police took them away. We sent many Kukis away safely. By the next afternoon, all Kukis were gone from our area, but later their houses were burnt. Tear gas was lobbed by police. My mother couldnt breathe," Akoijam said. The official death toll as announced by Kuldiep Singh, Advisor Security, Manipur government, is around 30. The CRPF lost a soldier, who was on leave, on May 5, while intelligence agencies confirmed three deaths in Churachandpur on the same date. The Trigger It is widely accepted that the Manipur High Court order on ST reservation for Meteis set the ball rolling. On April 28, a mob had vandalised and set on fire the venue of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singhs public event in Churachandpur. The All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) gave a rally call to protest the demand of Meiteis for ST status. This rally in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur attracted thousands. A counter rally was organised by Meteis and an Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate, held in high esteem by Kukis, was damaged. This set off a chain reaction, officials said. Churches Burnt Amid Police Inaction Most Kukis and hill residents follow the Christian faith, while the Meiteis are Vaishnavite and Hindus. In Imphal, three churches were torched, which, observers say, gave a communal twist to the conflict between the tribes. As per the central governments assessment, the local police acted late. The DGP, who failed from the Kuki community, was removed amid fears that police personnel were acting based on personal affiliations rather than the SOP. Conspiracy Theories Officials told News18 that rumours were spread about illegal infiltrators supported by drug smugglers playing a role in the conflict. This worked against the Kukis as many in the community have family in Myanmar. Kuki leaders say the conspiracy theory is often used to paint a negative picture of the tribe. Sharing a story of drug seizure in Churachandpur on his Facebook page four days ago, Chief Minister Biren Singh had said: These are the people who are destroying our generation. They are destroying our natural forests to plant poppy, and further igniting communal issues to carry out the drug smuggling business." Easy Arms According to Manipur DGP P Dongel, armouries were looted by mobs at many places. On May 5, a patrolling party was also looted and their arms taken away. Insurgency groups like KNA and KNO have also made arms and ammunitions easily available," an official told News18. Camp residents in Imphal said they can still hear gunshots in the city at night, making them fear for their safety. top videos CRPF chief and Security Advisor of Manipur Kuldiep Singh said that 84 arms have been recovered so far and 10 people have been arrested, adding that efforts are on to rescue Meiteis who are still stuck Churachandpur. The problem actually still lies in some parts of Imphal, Moreh and Churachandpur (sic), he said. He further said 28 to 30 people have died so far in the violence. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here The seven of us locked ourselves in one room and could hear explosions and tear-gas shelling all night, Manipur resident Thang told News18 over a Zoom call after managing to escape the violence-hit state with his family at a steep financial cost. Thang and his family were in Imphal when, some 63km away, violence broke out in Torbung area of Churachandpur district after the Tribal Solidarity March organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) on Wednesday to protest the demand of Meiteis for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. We heard that some protest was taking place in Churachandpur. We did not foresee it becoming so big. We heard something had happened in Churachandpur and thought things will fall into place soon, he told News18 from an undisclosed location. What happened thereafter was unimaginable. We came to know that houses were torched in Imphal. We thought the police would bring things under control. But things only worsened. Detailing the situation after internet was suspended in the region, Thang said: The next day, it seemed entire Imphal city had been taken over. Our house was close to the thana (police station), but we were not safe. That night, we could only hear explosions and tear gas shelling. We were terrified and the seven of us locked ourselves in one room. Our kids were scared. From our window, we could see fire everywhere. The police were trying but could not do much. It was absolute vandalism. We could hear people screaming and shouting. We were scared to death and did not know what to do. There was a lot of fake news as well. On May 4, we came to know we could seek refuge in a paramilitary camp, he added. At the camp, Thang and his family were met my another alarming situation. A lot of people were brought there and everything had to be arranged suddenly. There was no water, no proper place, no facilities. Our children started falling ill. We had to leave the camp and thought of returning home. But we finally decided to move out. Leaving the state was a tough enough decision but it also cost the family a small fortune. We could not buy tickets as the internet was not working. Despite shoot-at-sight orders, hooligans were roaming free. Our friends from outside the state booked tickets for us. It cost us Rs 16,000 per person instead of the usual Rs 4,000, Thang said, adding that tickets are getting pricier with each passing day. Today, I am trying to book tickets for my relatives. They cost Rs 40,000 today. This is not done. Reaching the airport was another stretch of challenge for the family. There was no arrangement to reach the airport. I requested help from a friend in the security force. My friend said we could tag along with his convoy. In just 30 minutes, we picked up our stuff and left. Most people dont have that privilege. There are people who have bought tickets, but are unable to reach the airport safely, Thang said. Speaking to News18, Thang hoped peace would return to his state. The situation is so tense and volatile I appeal to my brothers and sisters that tit-for-tat is not the solution. This is painful. Violence is never the answer Friends from different communities are helping us. We have co-existed peacefully for long. Asked if he had any appeal for the government, Thang said: My appeal to the central government is please evacuate people who are at threat in Manipur. I had the privilege to contact security persons, but most of the people stuck there dont have contacts. A lot of people are stuck in Manipur. Help them. We need air evacuation. Flight tickets are too high. top videos The family is out of immediate danger but Thang has the toughest task ahead of him: My son is not even 10. I dont know how I will make him understand. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here Two terrorists were killed in separate encounters in Jammu and Kashmirs Baramulla and Rajouri districts on Saturday. As details are awaited on the terrorist killed in Rajouri, the one eliminated in Baramulla had links with terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba. Kashmir police said that two-three terrorists have been trapped as the encounter continues between security force and terrorists in Kunzar area of Baramulla. A joint operation of Army and J&K police was launched based on inputs, an official said. Officials said that the slain terrorist, identified as Kulgam resident Abid Wani, was affiliated with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). An AK-47 rifle was recovered from him. In Rajouri, Armys Northern Command said that its personnel have been conducting relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region last month". In the ongoing operation in Kandi Forest in Rajouri sector, contact was established with terrorists at 0115 hours today (Saturday) and firing was started," PRO Defence Lt Col Devender Anand said. An official said that more teams have joined Operation Trinetra in Rajouri as helicopters and drones are being used for intense search. Three grenades, 56 rounds of AK rifle, four magazines of AK-56 and one each of AK-56 rifle, 9mm Pistol with magazines and ammunition pouch were recovered during Operation Trinetra in Rajouri, even as the identity of the neutralised terrorist is being ascertained. Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Army Commander of Northern Command at Ground Zero, reviewed the operational situation on the ongoing operations at Kandi where contact was re-established with militants. Sources in the defence said that Army chief General Manoj Pande will also be in Jammu along with defence minister Rajnath Singh to review the security situation in the Jammu sector. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha laid wreath and paid tributes to the army personnel who were killed in the ongoing operations against terrorists in Kandi forest. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. Grateful nation will always be indebted to their unparalleled valour, the Sinha said. Five Army personnel were killed and a major was injured on Friday in an explosion triggered by terrorists in the densely forested Kandi area in Rajouri district where an operation was underway to flush out terrorists, officials said. The BJP Yuva Morcha unit in Rajouri held a protest on Saturday in Dhangri area against the killing of jawans. They burnt the effigy of Pakistan and condemned the cowardly act terrorists". The protesters demanded strict action against the neighbouring country. On specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Kandi Forest in the Rajouri Sector, a joint operation was launched on May 3. Around 7.30 am on Friday, a search team established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave," officials said. The area is thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs. Officials said additional troops of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Army were inducted into the area to put it in a tight cordon so that terrorists do not escape from the spot. The forces deployed drones and sniffer dogs and troops hit a cave hideout with heavy fire of mortars and grenades, they said. The terrorists triggered an explosive device in retaliation," it said. On Friday morning, two soldiers belonging to the special forces were killed and four, including the major, were injured during the operation. Later in the day, three died in a hospital in Udhampur. The slain soldiers were lance naik Ruchin Singh Rawat from Gairsain in Uttarakhand, paratrooper Siddhant Chettri from Darjeeling in West Bengal, naik Arvind Kumar from Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh, Havildar Neelam Singh from Jammu and paratrooper Pramod Negi from Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh. (With inputs from PTI) top videos Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here In what marks the latest development, the Indian Army has grounded the entire fleet of Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv following the crash of one of the choppers in Jammu and Kashmir that killed one. On Thursday, an ALH Dhruv with two pilots and one technician on board crashed following a hard landing" in Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir. In the unfortunate incident, a technician was killed while the two pilots were left grievously injured. As a precautionary measure, the Army temporarily grounded the entire ALH Dhruv fleet. The Navy and the Coast Guard had grounded their respective ALH Dhruv fleets in March following two similar incidents involving the platform. According to PTI, ALH Dhruv choppers with the Navy and the Coast Guard are currently undergoing technical checks. Meanwhile, the helicopters that have reportedly been cleared in the scrutiny process are flying now. The Indian Air Force operates around 70 ALH Dhruv. In a similar incident in March, Indian Navy had taken a similar decision. The helicopters in its fleet are awaiting clearance. The Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter is a workhorse for the Indian Armed Forces. As far as its use with the Indian Army is concerned, it flies to extremely high altitudes to serve soldiers in the Siachen glacier and Ladakh and thus holds greater significance in view of the Indo-China border conflict. In recent times, there have been concerns about mechanical defects and reliability in the forces. top videos (With PTI inputs) Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed on Saturday the latest regional developments -- including the situation in the Palestinian territories and Sudan -- with the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the United States Congress, Mike Turner, and a large delegation of both Republican and Democratic members of the committee, the Egyptian Presidency announced. During the meeting, El-Sisi emphasized the importance of resuming negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to reach a fair and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue per international reference points, according to the Egyptian presidency. He also highlighted Egypt's efforts to stabilize the ceasefire between the two sides and rebuild Gaza. The president stressed that a just and comprehensive peace would open new opportunities in the region for the benefit of all people. El-Sisi also confirmed Egypt's position on the ongoing developments in Sudan and emphasized the need for national dialogue to achieve peace, stability, and development there. Ahmed Fahmy, the spokesperson for the Egyptian presidency, noted that the meeting affirmed the strength and durability of the strategic partnership between Egypt and the United States. The American side praised Egypt's pivotal role in achieving regional stability and peace and fighting terrorism. Both sides stressed the importance of continued cooperation and consultation at all levels to face the increasing regional threats and challenges. The meeting also included an open discussion between the president and the members of the US Congress that focused on addressing the crises facing many countries in the region and the deterioration of the humanitarian and economic conditions of millions of their population. The meeting was attended by General Abbas Kamel, the head of the General Intelligence Service, and John Desrocher, the acting US ambassador to Egypt. On Thursday, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with US House of Representatives Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who was visiting Cairo at the head of a high-level US delegation. Search Keywords: Short link: The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that the suggestion of the Centre to form a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary to address human concerns of same-sex couples is a very fair suggestion. The proposal of the Centre is the grant of certain rights at an administrative level, short of marriage equality. The petitioners have been advised to sit with the government and chalk out issues that the committee can look into. This is indeed a climbdown. But as the law presently stands, the ground for marriage equality has not been tilled. With a bigamous relationship of law of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights and archaic personal laws, it was impossible for the Supreme Court to recognise marriage equality or declare marriage as a fundamental right. There is an adage about Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom: If Parliament decided that all blue-eyed babies should be murdered, the preservation of blue-eyed babies would be illegal. About a century later, John Stuart Mill added that despite such absolute powers, the Parliament would always restrain itself from such actions because it was run by gentlemen. Here in India, that supremacy and overriding powers lie with the Supreme Court. Theoretically, the court is empowered to take any action in the interests of justice. Constitutional morality and conventions draw the Lakshman Rekha for Parliament in the UK or the Supreme Court in India. But apart from these dynamic factors of a democracy, the presence of a parallel regime of personal laws is an exceptional factor in India. These personal laws have stood in the way of womens rights, and now their complexity stands in the way of LGBTQ rights. In the last few weeks, the Supreme Court heard the same-sex marriage matter on a priority. Not just the LGBTQ community but the entire nation observed this with curiosity and a certain degree of social anxiety. A close look at the arguments reveals that the bench was wary of personal laws from the beginning. First, it sought to limit the matter to the Special Marriage Act or the Hindu Marriage Act, but the Centre belligerently reminded the bench that the court cannot avoid the question of personal laws and that no adjudication can happen without hearing the various state governments. The complexity was rightly highlighted to the bench by the Centre. The LBTQ community or the petitioners demanded nothing short of marriage equality and sought that the court declare marriage as a fundamental right so that all laws could be harmonised after that declaration. The petitioners took a rights-based approach. They demanded fairness and equality before law. While such demands could have been met by the constitutional law of the country, the unfair and unjust judicial and legislative compromise with personal laws stood in the way. No other democracy has such a parallel regime of personal laws or such diversity. When the activists from the community point to the journey in the UK, USA or any other part of the democratic world, one must pause and ask if any other democratic nation tolerated the absence of civil code in personal laws like India. Across the world for over a century now, the demand for equal rights by the homosexual community has aligned with the left or the socialist ideology. There is a fascinating history and background to how the socialist movements have opposed the Christian conservation or the Church ideology and propelled the social and legal emancipation of the community. But the inherited political alignments are fast changing, and many argue that the community must adopt a pragmatic approach. In India, the left has not rallied for a common civil code in this country. In fact, many liberal intellectuals remain opposed to the scrapping of personal laws in India. The demand for a uniform civil code or the opposition to personal laws has come from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. There is a case for the gay rights movement in India to perhaps realign and join the outcry against personal laws. Till the time India has a uniform civil code, marriage equality shall remain elusive and theoretical. The establishment of a uniform civil code and eventual fading of personal laws shall be the first step for seeking marriage equality in India. top videos The court could have not skirted the issue of personal laws; it cannot uproot them with a stroke of a judgement. In these circumstances, it remains almost impossible for the mighty court to give legal recognition to same-sex marriage in India. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here A large number of policemen have been deployed in and around Barsu village in Maharashtras Ratnagiri district, the site of a proposed refinery, in view of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackerays visit as well as a rally of supporters of the project on Saturday, a senior official has said. Orders prohibiting unlawful assembly too have been imposed under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in the area, he said. Thackeray is going to visit the village in the Rajapur taluka, more than 400 km from Mumbai, and interact with those who are opposing the governments plans to provide land for a mega-oil refinery in the area. Supporters of the refinery project have also organised a rally in the vicinity at the same time, the official said. Thackeray had planned to hold a rally in the Barsu-Solgaon area earlier but was denied permission. Besides district police, additional personnel from Sindhudurg, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Pune and Thane and companies of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) have been deployed in Rajaput taluka, the official said. Protests broke out at Barsu after the work for soil testing began at the site last month, with a section of locals opposing the project on the grounds that it will adversely affect the fragile biodiversity of the coastal Konkan region and also hit their livelihood. The project has also pitted the states Eknath Shinde-BJP government against the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. MVA leaders have demanded sensitive handling of the situation arising out of the agitation. Following the detention of several protesters, including women, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray had asked the government to stop atrocities on people and also the soil survey. Uday Samant, Maharashtra industries minister, had said that the current site for the mega project was suggested by then-CM Thackeray. He alleged that misunderstandings were being deliberately created about the project for political mileage and slammed the politics of double standards. Samant claimed that out of 5,000 acres of land needed for the refinery, people owning 2,900 acres have already given consent letters. Amid the protest, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the proposed refinery project at Barsu wont be implemented without the local peoples consent as he appealed for calm in the area. The project was initially planned at Nanar in Ratnagiri district. Following protests by locals earlier, the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray government had suggested to the Centre an alternative site at Barsu. top videos According to Aaditya Thackeray, the previous MVA government, which collapsed in June 2022 following a rebellion by Shinde, had put some conditions before giving a nod to the project which included taking the locals into confidence and explaining the details of the venture and its benefits. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here Following the death of a CoBRA commando in violence-hit Manipur, the CRPF has asked all its personnel hailing from the state and on leave in their home state to immediately report to their nearest security CRPF or BSF security camp with family members. Forces have also been asked to ensure all possible assistance to such personnel on priority. In an official communication, the CRPF has asked all units, wings and sectors to contact jawans who hail from Manipur to check if they are safe and direct them to reach the nearest force location. The direction came after a commando of the CRPFs CoBRA, who was on leave, was shot dead by armed assailants in his village in Manipurs Churachandpur district on Friday noon. According to a CRPF official, 27-year-old constable, Chongkholen, was killed by a bullet during tensions in Siden village which comes under the police district of Bishnupur. The official added that local-made guns were used to target the CRPF commando. Constable Chongkholen was on leave and was scheduled to rejoin on May 7. The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) is a specialised guerilla warfare commando unit of the Central Reserve Police Force and the toughest and physically fit personnel can join its ranks. Most of its 10 battalions are deployed for anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand apart from some units tasked for counter-insurgency operations in the northeastern part of the country. Violence first erupted in the region in Torbung area in Churachandpur district during the Tribal Solidarity March organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) on Wednesday to protest the demand of Meiteis for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. The march was organised by tribals including Nagas and Kukis after the Manipur High Court asked the state government last month to send a recommendation to the Centre within four weeks on the demand for ST status by the Metei community. During the march in Torbung, an armed mob allegedly attacked people of the Meitei community, leading to retaliatory attacks in the valley districts, which escalated the violence throughout the state, police said. Meiteis account for about 53% of the population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals, who include Nagas and Kukis, account for another 40% of the population and live mostly in the hill districts which surround the Valley. The Imphal Valley, which remained peaceful for most of Friday, witnessed sporadic clashes later in the day as more security forces were rushed in from other states by road and air. The Indian Army has also received flag march orders to maintain law and order. top videos In a separate development, BJP MLA Vungzagin Valte was allegedly attacked by protesters. Valte was airlifted out of the state to a hospital where his condition is stable for now, Manipur DGP P Doungel was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. If someone commits any mistake, they will not be spared, he reportedly said. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here The death toll in the violence-hit Manipur increased to 54, officials said on Saturday as wary normalcy was observed in the Imphal Valley with the opening of shops and markets. Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troops manned all major areas and roads. Out of the 54 dead, 16 bodies were kept in the morgue of the Churachandpur district hospital while 15 bodies were in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal East district, news agency PTI reported quoting officials. Police said that five hill-based militants were killed and two India Reserve Battalion jawans were injured in two separate encounters in Churachandpur district on Friday night. A Defence spokesperson said a total of 13,000 people were rescued to safety from the affected areas in Churachandpur, Moreh, Kakching and Kangpokpi districts. In the past 12 hours, Imphal East and West districts witnessed sporadic incidents of arson and attempts by inimical elements to establish blockades. However, the situation was controlled by a firm and synergised response. A total of approximately 13,000 civilians have been rescued and are currently staying in various ad-hoc boarding facilities specifically created for the purpose within Company Operating Bases & Military Garrisons," the Defence official said on Friday. Prompt response by Security Forces led to rescuing of civilians of all communities from various minority pockets of areas affected by violence. As a result, Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Moreh and Kakching are now under firm control with no major violence reported since yesterday night," the PRO added. Manipur was rocked by clashes that broke out in the state earlier this week on Wednesday between the tribals and the majority Meiei community. The clashes intensified overnight with counter-attacks being mounted by rival communities in retaliation to earlier attacks after Naga and Kuki tribals organised a Tribal Solidarity March to protest moves to give scheduled tribe (ST) status to the Metei community. top videos Union Home Minister Amit Shah took stock of the situation in Manipur with Chief Minister N Biren Singh and top officials on Friday, as the centre deployed 20 fresh companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), including the CRPF and the BSF in violence-hit Manipur to restore peace. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here Amid the ongoing violence in Manipur, Meghalaya police on Friday organised a peace meeting with the community leaders and the student leaders of both Kuki as well as Meitei communities residing in Shillong. The meeting was organised at Nagaland Community Hall at Nongrim Hills, following an altercation between some youths of the two communities in Shillong. Meghalaya Director General of Police (DGP) Dr LR Bishnoi said the meeting is to ensure that there is no misunderstanding among the citizens living in Meghalaya over the violent clashes in Manipur. Read More: From Tribal Protest to Shoot At Sight Order: A Brief Timeline of How Manipur Violence Unfolded Following this peace meeting, the leaders and students of these two communities were seen shaking hands with each other. Speaking to reporters, Dr Bishnoi said, After the unfortunate and tragic incidents in Imphal and other parts of Manipur, we have decided that there should not be any misunderstanding among the citizens of both communities living in Shillong and other parts of Meghalaya. Therefore, we thought it wise as a preventive step to invite the community leaders and student leaders of both communities. The DGP further informed that a small scuffle took place on Friday but fortunately, the police rushed to the spot immediately and prevented the incident from flaring up any further. A total of 16 people were apprehended. On being asked about the detentions, the DGP said that the 16 people were apprehended as preventive detention and that after the execution of the bonds, they were allowed to go back since it was a minor scuffle due to a misunderstanding. Meanwhile, some 66 Meghalayan Students studying in different universities and institutes in Imphal arrived at Guwahati on Friday. The Meghalaya government has started evacuating students and civilians from riot-hit Manipur. DGP Bishnoi on Friday said that the state police are in regular touch with the senior police officers of Manipur. Today I have spoken to the DGP of Manipur and they have assured us to provide full safety to the citizens. He also told me that forces have reached there and within a couple of days the situation will be back to normal. Asked about the safety of the students still residing in riot-hit Manipur, he said, We have spoken to the Assam Rifles officials also in Manipur, and they have assured us to provide security till they depart from the Imphal and I dont visualise any serious problem. Once they come here, we have a plan to interact with them so that they should not feel any kind of trauma after this. He further informed that the police had identified six areas where citizens of both communities are residing in Shillong and regular mobile patrolling by the police will be carried out. We have identified certain areas where people from both communities reside. These include Happy Valley, Nongthymmai, Nongshilliang, Laitumkhrah, Madanrting and a few other scattered settlements. In those areas we have already drawn a plan to strengthen the mobile patrolling, DGP said. top videos Moreover, the Police have also communicated with the administrative officials of various educational institutions like NEHU where students from various Northeastern states are studying. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here As many as 22 families staying in a plush apartment in Lucknow bore the brunt of the UP governments action against mafia brothers Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf when the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) served the residents with a demolition notice, stating that the apartment was illegal and was allegedly constructed by Mohammed Muslim, a close aide of the mafia-turned-politician. Locals, however, say they would approach the court if asked to vacate the flats. We have invested all our hard-earned money to buy this flat. We dont have anything except this flat. We wont let any development authority demolish our houses. It is not our fault that the flat was constructed by Atiq Ahmeds aide. Why are we being subjected to trauma? asked a resident who did not wish to be quoted. The apartment dwellers also said the notice served to them bears a wrong address. Shiv Kumar Srivastava, one of the owners of the land on which Shiva Empire Residency apartments are constructed, said: It was a big surprise for us. It is not a new apartment. The land on which our apartment is constructed belonged to our ancestors who took it on lease in 1928. Elaborating on the history of the land, Srivastava said the land belongs to Kayastha Samaj. Our forefathers bought this land from Lucknow Improvement Trust in 1928 on a 90-year lease. On the completion of lease, we got freehold done and then made an agreement with a builder who eventually got the apartment constructed. We really dont know if the builder has any connection with Mohammed Muslim as back then when the apartment was constructed, people were not aware of Muslim and his connections, pointed out Srivastava. He said people also went to the LDA where they were told that the apartment belonged to Mohammed Muslim and permission was granted to build only two floors while the apartment is of five floors. Officials with the LDA said while scanning the properties belonging to the mafia brothers and their close aides, it was found that the land measuring around 446 square meter belonged to Amir Ali, a relative of Mohammed Muslim, who got a five-storeyed apartment constructed in 2012. This apartment was against the plan that was cleared by the LDA in which permission was given to construct two storeys, the LDA official said. Officials added that the LDA first served notice on December 19, 2012, to Amir Ali over the illegality. It was on July 30, 2013, that LDA ordered demolition of the structure within 25 days but no action was initiated. On the issue, Rama Shanker, zonal officer, LDA, said the apartment was constructed by Muslim. However, we are unaware of the differences in the address of the apartment and that constructed by Mohammed Muslim in LDA records, he said. According to the UP Police, Muslim, who lived in Lucknow, had interests in Prayagraj and was very close to Atiq Ahmed. They worked together for almost 10 years but for the past four years, disputes between the two had increased. Recently, some messages showing how Atiq operated from jail went viral in which Atiq Ahmed had threatened Mohammad Muslim and demanded Rs 5 crore from him. The builder ended up paying Rs 80 lakh to Atiq Ahmeds son Asad. Asad, along with an aide, was killed in a police encounter in Jhansi on April 14. It is being said that the Rs 80 lakh was used to plan Umesh Pals murder, which took place in February. Recently, an audio clip of Atiq Ahmeds son Asad and Mohammed Muslim went viral. Later, Atiq Ahmed sent a threat message to Mohammad Muslim. I am telling you for the last time, you are playing ED-ED with my son. The ED (Enforcement Directorate) has not seized your money yet, it is better that our son Umar has his account. And the money given to Asad, we need it for the election so we dont have any enmity with you..," read the threat message. Atiq Ahmed further told the builder, You have earned your house with luck and intelligence, but give us the money It will be of great use to us at this time Understand more in less words I am not going to die, Inshaallahit is better that you meet us." Atiq Ahmed was shot dead at point-blank range by three people in Prayagraj on April 15. Atiqs brother Ashraf was also killed on the spot. top videos In the backdrop of the confusion over the address, around 100 people who reside in Shiva Empire Residency are having sleepless nights. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here Manipurs fight against narcotics, specifically poppy cultivation, has been hailed by the Centre as pioneering. The state police records suggest that 4,305.1 acres of illegal poppy cultivation were destroyed in 2022-23. 787.3 acres were destroyed between January and March this year. As per the Narcotics Control Bureau, Manipur is one of the success stories in the fight against drugs. Manipur, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana lead the fight against narcotics. Manipur has done a lot of work in destroying poppy cultivation," an NCB officer told News18. But intelligence agencies now suspect that the issue of poppy cultivation has been used to add fuel to the raging fire between the Kukis and the Meiteis. There are several factors. The trigger was the Scheduled Tribe status. But this impression has been given that only hill people and tribes like Kukis are being targeted in the name of destroying poppy cultivation," an intelligence agency official told News18. One of the worst-affected areas in the current spate of violence is Churachandpur. The Kuki-dominated region has seen Meiteis getting targeted. A few days ago, chief minister N Biren Singh on his Facebook page put up a story of drug seizure in Churachandpur and said, These are the people who are destroying our generation. They are destroying our natural forests to plant poppy, and further igniting communal issues to carry out the drug smuggling business." Environmental activist Licypriya Kangujam tweeted a video of the destruction and blamed the poppy cultivators. Thousands of indigenous Meitei people became homeless after illegal immigrants burnt down houses since yesterday. We want to protect our forest, but they want to plant poppy to make Manipur a drug hub of Southeast Asia. Pray for peace," she said. The Kuki community leaders, however, reject the charge. They blame the CM and his supporters for giving this narrative to the violence. A few BJP MLAs from the hills have come to Delhi to meet the union home minister over the alleged mishandling of the situation by the government. Saikot MLA Paolienlal Haokip said, Completely wrong to say Kukis support poppy cultivationKuki groups have issued strict instructions against poppy cultivationSome of the Kuki armed groups have also done the sameBut the problem is since it is very profitablesome defied it.Most, however, are very happy with the steps taken by the government. " Khaitinthanh Haokip, a student leader from Manipur, also rejected the charge that any one community supported the narcotics trade and was responsible for the violence. It is a complex issue. There are several complaints that hill people have. While the government is trying to push one agenda that the tribal people and Kukis plant poppyactual beneficiaries are wealthy and influential peoplesome of whom are from the valley," he said. top videos As fault lines and mistrust between communities deepen, the union home ministry has asked the security adviser to the state government to step in and regain the confidence of the people from both sides to end the violence. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here India is proud of its 32-million-strong worldwide diaspora and it must continue to counter baseless narratives about the country as its ambassadors, said Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar in his address at a community reception here on Friday. Dhankhar, who is in the UK on a two-day visit to attend the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in its capital, focussed his address on the great growth strides being made by India and its success story as a democracy functioning at an unmatched level. He spoke of the countrys Amrit Kaal" achievements under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marking 75 years of Indias independence and highlighted the governments target to become the third-largest economy by the turn of the decade. The moment of glory for India has come and that moment is being reflected by the ground reality. The world is recognising it, said Dhankhar. India is proud of it diaspora. They are 247 ambassadors of Bharat.They remain fully committed to the karam bhumi, and also to their janam bhumi. @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/i3F2XdC9LD Vice President of India (@VPIndia) May 5, 2023 Every one of you has to be a 247 ambassador of Bharat. India is now the hub of manufacturing activity for the globe. I would therefore appeal to all of you to contribute to the growth of the nation, for the rise in its reputation and ensure that untenable, ill-premised, unfounded, baseless narratives do not take strides in the public domain, he urged the gathering. No one is against honest assessment or criticism, that will always help us attain our goals. But malicious, pernicious orchestration is antithetical to good conscience. We must antidote it, he added. Dhankhar went on to speak at length about Indias achievements across various sectors, including digital transformation, healthcare and vaccines, space technology and infrastructure growth. The Vice-President was accompanied by his wife Dr Sudesh Dhankhar at the interaction with community members, representing a range of Indian diaspora organisations at the reception organised by the Indian High Commission in London. Honble Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar addressed the members of the Indian community in United Kingdom today. @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/K7539xAHdm Vice President of India (@VPIndia) May 5, 2023 Ahead of the meeting, he said to have a remarkable and enlightened interaction with Indian-origin members of the House of Lords, including Lord Meghnad Desai, Lord Swraj Paul and Lord Rami Ranger, among others present at the gathering. It came at the end of a packed day of royal engagements for the Vice-President, who had his first audience with King Charles III at a Commonwealth Heads of Government reception hosted by Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland, followed by a reception hosted by the monarch for world leaders and visiting dignitaries at Buckingham Palace. top videos On Saturday, Mr and Mrs Dhankhar will represent India at the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey and fly back to India soon after the ceremony at the conclusion of the short visit. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here MOTILAL NEHRU BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: Pandit Motilal Nehru was a freedom fighter and one of Indias renowned lawyers. May 6 marks the birth anniversary of the prominent leader of the Indian freedom movement. Motilal Nehrus 162nd birth anniversary falls on May 6, 2023. Motilal Nehru was the father of Indias first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. On the birth anniversary of one of the most popular figures of Indias political history, heres a look at interesting facts about his life: top videos Motilal was born on May 6, 1861, to Gangadhar Nehru and his wife Jeorani. Gangadhar had died three months prior to Motilals birth. Motilal Nehru was the topper among the successful candidates who passed Vakils examination in 1883. He started his practice as a lawyer in Kanpur and shifted to Allahabad (now Prayagraj) three years later. Initially he was not an active participant in politics, but then involved himself deeply in it following the tiff between Moderates and Extremists factions of Congress. This dispute deepened after the partition of Bengal in 1905. He also joined the Home Rule Movement in 1917 following the imprisonment of Annie Besant. Motilal also became the president of the Allahabad branch of the Home Rule League. In August 1918 he broke away from the Moderate faction as well and attended the session of the Bombay Congress, which demanded radical changes in the Montagu - Chelmsford Reforms. He launched a national daily named The Independent on February 5, 1919. This newspaper was launched as a competitor to the established local daily paper The Leader. Motilal considered that The Leader was too moderate in approach. Motilal joined Mahatma Gandhis non-cooperation movement at the special session of Congress in Calcutta in September 1920. He decided to support the movement following the killings of Indians in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on April 13, 1919. Motilal founded the Swarajya Party in January 1923 along with Chittaranjan Das and contested the elections at the end of the year. This party was recognised by the Congress as its political wing in 1925. Initially, he was able to secure support from the Moderate and Muslim legislators but then found the task difficult from 1926. Communal and personal rivalries have weakened the Swarajya Party. He also presided over the All Parties Conference in response to the Simon Commission which excluded the Indians. All Parties Conference made the Nehru Report. The report wanted to make a solution to the communal issue, but couldnt receive the support of Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Aga Khan. Motilal Nehru passed away on February 6, 1931. Read all the Latest Lifestyle News here Tale of the Nine-Tailed Season 2: Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 is finally airing tonight! Fans of the hit South Korean TV drama series Tale of the Nine-Tailed have been counting down the days to the series release and the day has finally come. Following the successful premiere of the first season in October 2020 and its subsequent surge in popularity, fans are eager to see Lee Dong-wook and Kim Bum reunite for another round of mystical adventure. Ahead of its release, lets take a look of everything you need to know about the new series and where you could possibly stream it. The release date for Tale of the Nine-Tailed Season 2 Mark your calendars! The much-awaited Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 will release on May 6, 2023, at 9:20 p.m. KST (5:50 pm IST). With its gripping storyline and consistently high-quality episodes, the show has gained a massive following and become a hot topic among viewers. As the premiere date draws closer, fans are eagerly anticipating the next chapter in the tale of the mythical nine-tailed fox and its epic adventures. Where to watch Tale of the Nine-Tailed season 2? It has been reported that Prime Video will be airing Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 internationally. Prime Videos Singapore and the Philippines have already confirmed the news. The first season of Tale of the Nine-Tailed was streamed on Viki. The storyline for Season 2 of Tale of the Nine-Tailed: Lee Dong-Wook is all set to reprise his iconic character of Gumiho, Lee Yeon, in Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938. In the new season, Lee Yeon finds himself in a precarious situation as he gets transported back to the year 1938 due to an unfortunate incident. While the first season gave a fitting conclusion to Lee Yeons journey, the second season promises to introduce a whole new chapter as the Fox god tries to find his way back to his own time. The second season of Tale of the Nine-Tailed will feature Kim Bum returning to the series as the unpredictable half-Gumiho brother, while Kim So Yeon will play Ryu Hong Joo, a former goddess who was rejected by Lee Yeon despite her feelings for him. Ryu Kyung Soo will also have a significant role as the former mountain god Cheon Moo Young, whose personality is expected to add more complexity to the storyline and make it even more interesting for viewers. Tale of the Nine-Tailed Season 1 Ending Explained: top videos Tale of the Nine-Tailed (2020) ended on an emotional note. After Yi Yeons sacrifice, Lee Rang makes a pact with the god of the underworld to revive his brother. However, it comes at a steep price - something Yi Yeon values most. While Ji-ah is also willing to make the sacrifice, Lee Rang ultimately does it himself out of love for his family and concern for his brother. In the epilogue, Yi Yeon and Ji-ah enjoy a happy married life, while Lee Rang mourns his loss. A bonus scene in the seasons conclusion hints at Lee Rangs potential reincarnation and Yi Yeon possessing his gumiho abilities, setting the stage for potential exploration in Season 2. Read all the Latest Movies News and Entertainment News here After little more than a decade of exclusion, Syria is on the brink of being readmitted to the League of Arab States during an extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the organisation's member states on 7 May, officials told Ahram Online. "The decision to restore Syria's membership may be made tomorrow as all Arab League members will take part in the ministerial meeting," Gamal Roshdy, the spokesman for the Arab League, told Ahram Online. A senior diplomatic official requesting anonymity confirmed that the decision shall be made tomorrow with no objections from any of the 22 countries. "There might be some reservations, nothing more, added the source. He indicated how the Cairo meeting, held on Saturday at the level of permanent representatives, had revealed that any objections to Syria's re-inclusion no longer existed. Arab League resolutions usually get adopted after unanimous agreement of all member states, with each country holding the right to submit its reservations. The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in 2011 after the war broke out there following massive protests. Several member states then recalled their ambassadors from Damascus, accusing Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad of cracking down on demonstrators in the country. The reconciliation was initiated by Saudi Arabia, which hosts the annual Arab summit in Jeddah in two weeks and hopes to kick off the meeting on a high note, according to diplomats close to the dossier. There is a strong desire [in Saudi Arabia] for this summit to usher in Syria's return, said the diplomat in Cairo. Some members of the Arab League, especially Qatar and Morocco, have opposed Damascus' return to the organization. Yet, despite the differing opinions among member states, they are becoming more convinced that Syria's exclusion has done little to advance the cause, says an Arab diplomat in Beirut. A different approach towards Damascus was needed, and the Arab countries requested some positive measures from Al-Assad towards the opposition, yet he was very reluctant, added the diplomat who served in Syria. According to two sources who spoke to Ahram online Saturday, the Arab foreign ministers will stress "the need for Syria to take practical and effective steps towards a solution to the crisis per the UN approach of step-by-step and the UN resolution 2254. This approach, which will be included in the final resolution, has been approved by Damascus during the Amman meeting, earlier in May, which brought together the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria, and discussed the issues of refugees and drug trafficking, said the sources. Besides discussing Syrias potential readmission, the Sunday ministerial meeting will also issue a statement on the situation in Palestine, the death of a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli prison, and the increasing repression by the occupation forces, Roshdy explained. He further added that the Arab ministers will discuss the situation in Sudan. Since the conflict erupted, the Arab League held meetings on the level of delegates. Roshdy also noted that "Sunday's meeting will discuss ways for member states to work collectively on ending the crisis". Search Keywords: Short link: Despite ideological differences, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Left parties such as the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) are the only ones in the country that can claim to have been away from dynasty politics and to have followed the letter and spirit of being democratic parties. The Congress, which is the oldest party in our country, has failed the dynastic test, despite making Mallikarjun Kharge the new party president. The test is about who controls the decision-making. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) drama over Sharad Pawars resignation has forced everyone to contemplate the face of dynasty politics. He resigned as president of the NCP on May 2 and took it back on May 5, within three days of his announcement. The reason for the resignation was to give leadership to the younger generation, and the reason to stay is to respect the will of his party workers. From a common mans perspective, they would be more interested in knowing whether the NCP would transform itself into a true democratic party or would just end up like other parties that have relied on dynasty for transition and survival. Those who do not believe in dynasty and want talent and hard work to thrive have very few choices. Since the Left is dying a natural death due to ideological incongruity with the national ethos, the BJP remains the only choice. A hard-working person is likely to gain faster recognition in the BJP than in the Congress or other parties which are state-based parties, confined around the charismatic personality of one leader. People often confront the BJP with dynasty questions, pointing out to sons and daughters of important leaders succeeding in politics because of the influence of their parents. While this may appear to be true in some cases, the decision to nominate them for the party post or elected positions were not taken by their parents. The decision was taken invariably by the leadership taking into account their winning chances. Who decides is important. Also, even the top post in the BJP is open to competition. Nobody knows who would be the next BJP president. The dilemma Pawar faced is faced by all dynasts, who are genuinely guided by the love of their sons and daughters. Such dynasts are not guided by the larger cause but see the party as a vehicle to amass power and stay in prominence. In a democracy, we have accepted that a more competent person having a larger support base should lead the party. But often, dynasts are foisted at the cost of ignoring the more competent ones. Also, these successors have been groomed to take on leadership when the time comes. Sharad Pawars dilemma is whom to choose as the successor. His daughter Supriya Sule or nephew Ajit Pawar, who reportedly knows the nuts and bolts of the party better. Eventually, Sule may win and the party may witness a split. The NCP in that way is going the Shiv Sena way where the late Balasaheb Thackeray allowed Uddhav Thackeray, who was not much interested in politics, to score over nephew Raj Thackeray who was considered the natural choice to succeed Balasaheb. Raj Thackeray later founded the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). The fate of other regional parties is the same. Either there is a smooth dynastic succession or there is a likely conflict. Successful transitions have taken place in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), National Conference (NC), Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). There are other smaller parties as well with limited caste-based influence. Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamul Congress (TMC) appears to have chosen her successor in her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) got the legacy of his father but there may be problems of transition since there is no clear successor. In the RJD, the issue is not settled, though Tejashwi appears to have stolen the march. Unless the transition gets a final stamp within the life-span of Lalu Prasad Yadav, there could be trouble. Nobody knows what will happen to the Bahujan Samaj Party. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is happy with his ruling in Andhra Pradesh under the party YSR Congress. He used his fathers legacy to form a separate party. Prior to him was the rein of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) under the leadership of N Chandrababu Naidu who was the son-in-law of NT Rama Rao and won the battle for control over TDP when NTR was alive. These parties mirror the old system of kings and places where the kings boundary has become co-terminus with the boundary of the respective state of their influence. These parties have no national vision and are happy talking only about their respective areas of influence. At times, regional aspirations often come in conflict with the national aspiration. A party like the BJP is a threat to their existence since a party with a national vision will always have more appeal to an average Indian who wants to see the country strong. This explains why these regional parties, barring some, would prefer to gang up and put a check on the BJP juggernaut. They are happy if they are able to retain their turf. top videos The writer is the convener of the media relations department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson on TV debates. He has authored the book Narendra Modi: The Game Changer. The views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest Opinions here The Congress party began its campaign in Karnataka with the belief that it will win the state polls to be held next week. Historically, Karnataka has voted for alternate governments, boosting Congress confidence in winning the Bhartiya Janata Party-ruled state. Until a couple of weeks ago, several poll estimates were showing that they were neck to neck with the BJP or even ahead in some seats. However, sometime last week, the Congress in Karnataka peaked prematurely and began to make a series of grave mistakes. The most serious one of them all is when they compared the Popular Front of India (PFI) to the Bajrang Dal in their manifesto. The PFI is a banned organisation due to established terror links and anti-national activities. The Centre has not banned it on a whim but after gathering adequate primary-stage evidence. The decision was reviewed by a board constituted under the chairmanship of a High Court judge, which consulted with 12 state governments under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), after which they declared the Centres ban on PFI justified. The Bajrang Dal, on the other hand, is a social organisation working in areas of social welfare and upliftment of the needy in the name of Bajrang Bali. Enough damage was done when the Congress compared the two outfits. The party then went a step further and sought the support of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which is essentially the political front of the PFI. The PFI announced a few days ago that not only will they field their candidates only on 16 seats but also campaign for the Congress candidates on the rest of the seats. They even went ahead and appealed to the Muslim voter base to ensure that they vote for the Congress, versus any other party so as to not split the minority votes. What is even more troubling is that just yesterday, the SDPI announced that they will pick the next Chief Minister of Karnataka. Following these incidents closely, it becomes clear that the Congress, in its desperation to win Karnataka, is willing to go to any lengths to appease the minority voter base. This isnt surprising. If one looks at the history of the Congress party, they have put national interest behind minority interests repeatedly. Take for instance, the party granting weighted electoral rights and separate electorates to Muslims in 1916, protecting the Muslim Leaguers from counter-attacks after the violence of the Direct Action Day in 1946, giving J&K the status of a special state to protect minority interests or more recently, during the Manmohan Singh government, diverting taxpayer money to protect and develop WAQF properties. Several organisations which they shield, repeatedly prove to have links with anti-national, terrorist activities. Now, let us consider a scenario where the Congress manages to win Karnataka with the help of SDPI. The SDPI will get to have a say on the CM candidate of the Congress. After which, several of SDPIs radical activities will automatically have the consent of the Congress. While there may be a section of minorities to whom this strategy may please, the reality is that not only has this angered the majority population but also those minorities who believe themselves to be an integrated part of India. There has been a systemic change that has occurred over the past decade under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India, which was looked at as fragmented, slow-growing and falling behind on developmental goals, is now on an accelerated path of development, has acquired global prestige and dominance in multilateral forums, and is truly the bright spot in the worlds economy. Every Indian (barring anti-national elements), be it the majority or the minority population is eager to partake in this growth story. Everyone is keen to benefit from Indias rise they all seek the prospect of better education for their children, better employment opportunities for the youth and full access to the governments social welfare schemes. The fact that PM Modi is obsessed with deeper penetration of social welfare monies to beneficiaries by introducing Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) payment systems and essentially eliminating the corrupt middlemen, has ensured that the full potential of these schemes reaches the last Indian, regardless of religion. This is what the Congress completely fails to understand. Perhaps they are in denial, perhaps they simply cannot believe that India is capable of achieving these heights for India could never dare to dream this big under their leadership. And it is this failure that compels them, over and over again, to seek backing from radical elements which have truly become numerically insignificant. These elements have been isolated even in their own religious groups and communities in exchange for a bright future and unstoppable growth under the prime ministers vision. And it is this misunderstanding and overreliance on extremist minority forces that has backfired for the Congress party in Karnataka. Several of their state leaders went into damage control mode by announcing that they will build Bajrang Bali temples and arranging photo opportunities of themselves seeking blessings at temples. However, these half-baked efforts are too late. It is difficult for the Congress to dig themselves out of this pit that theyve dug themselves so deep into. top videos The writer is a policy and communications strategist. A Nation to Protect: Leading India Through the Covid Crisis is her third book. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication. Read all the Latest Opinions here Over the last 10 days, Prime Minister Narendra Modis high-voltage campaign in Karnataka has led to a perceptible shift in momentum in favour of the BJP. PM Modis rallies and roadshows have seen massive crowds, underscoring both his popularity and positive impact of his policies implemented successfully by the state government. MODI INSPIRES TRUST AMONG VOTERS After travelling through the Old Mysuru and Kalyan-Karnataka regions for a couple of days, I saw silent voters, no wave for any party and no one coming out openly to support the state government. Anti-incumbency was visible along with the Congress narrative of a corrupt Basavaraj Bommai government. But one thing was common in all the regions, be it rural or urban, or any caste group or age demographic that was PM Modis name and the success of his schemes. Once the prime minister, the star campaigner and one whom the common man in Karnataka admires and trusts the most formally entered the election campaign on April 28, things started changing. MODIS ROAD SHOWS A GAME CHANGER The first road show of the prime minister in Bengaluru South proved to be a game changer. A six-kilometre-long road show that criss-crossed six assembly constituencies started the process of change in the narrative. The Old Mysuru to Bengaluru region has always been dominated by JDS and Deve Gowda. However, this time, the entire stretch of the road show was covered by the aam aadmi. Talking to them made one thing clear to me that trust on PM Modi is the only factor that is consolidating votes for the BJP. The very next day, I was again covering PMs road show in Mysuru where I came across more than 150 musicians who were the traditional court musicians of Maharajas of Mysore. There were old, young and women musicians who had assembled only to take a look at PM Modi. After the road show, I sat with them and talked about their conditions. The musicians came from remote areas but were aware of the schemes of the Centre. For the young musicians, PM Modi is a hero. MODIS DOUBLE ENGINE SARKAR HAS FOUND NEW TAKERS PM Modi, party president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and party leaders are focusing on the double engine government. This has resulted in increased positive traction and amplification of the double engine sarkar narrative. The positive messaging of the prime minister and other national/state leaders has found resonance amongst voters. There seems to exist a quiet wave of support building up amongst voters who are acknowledging that Karnataka has made significant progress on a number of fronts primarily due to the state and central governments working in harmony. Compared to other Opposition-ruled states, Karnataka has seen significantly better implementation of flagship welfare schemes. This has had a large positive impact amongst rural voters in Kalyana and Kittur Karnataka. PM MODIS CENTRAL SCHEMES MAKE POSITIVE IMPACT Rural cohorts acknowledge the electrification of hitherto un-electrified villages. Nearly 3.56 lakh households have been electrified through the Saubhagya Yojana. The unprecedented success of the Jal Jeevan Mission has seen 39 lakh new tap water connections. The provision of 7.37 lakh free LPG connections through the Ujjwala Yojana and 46 lakh new toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission have led to women indicating a marked preference for the BJP. IMPACT OF PM MODIS SCHEMES The presence of a double engine government has also resulted in a big push for infrastructure projects that were stalled under the Congress and the BJP has successfully communicated this to voters. The completion of the Bidar-Kalaburgi railway line, the initiation of the Bengaluru suburban railway project, the completion of the long-pending Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway, expedition of the 411-km Bidar-Kalaburgi-Bellari Highway and construction of more than 6,000 kilometres of rural roads in the state have helped the party garner support from both urban and rural voters. Positive industry sentiment has led to Karnataka attracting FDI worth Rs 3.21 lakh crore and a 221 per cent increase in creation of formal jobs. The contentment amongst farmers is also visible. A total of 54 lakh farmers in the state receive Rs 10,000 annually as part of the PM KISAN Samman Nidhi and the state governments PM-KISAN. The accelerated progress of the Upper Bhadra and Upper Krishna projects has also created a positive sentiment amongst farmers. OTHER THEMES Apart from Brand Modi and its effect, the party has worked tirelessly in the last one month on some major themes. The message of social justice given to Lingayats, Vokkaligas and the Dalit community by giving them reservation after withdrawing the four per cent reservation for Muslims has worked in the partys favour. The BJP manifesto also promised to continue this reservation policy. The social engineering among the Dalit Left and other communities is going to be beneficial for the party. The BJP manifesto also promised a common civil code for the state and constitution of a high-powered committee, utilising Brand Hindutva for votes. The chants of Jai Bajrang Bali have also begun in Karnataka. In some of the rallies around Davangere, when Home Minister Amit Shah talked about Ram Mandir, he received a thunderous applause. Top BJP leaders left no stone unturned to visit different Mutts and seek blessings of seers. top videos This is why the BJP strategists are now confident of crossing 110 seats in the state, riding on the silent wave of Brand Modi. Read all the Latest Opinions here A common minimum programme of the Opposition will be prepared ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar said here on Saturday. He will play a role in bringing opposition parties together, Pawar said in his hometown Baramati in Pune district a day after he withdrew his decision to give up the party post. In the next 10-11 months, elections will be taking place in several places..Leaders like Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, Chandrashekar Rao, Mamata Banerjee are trying to unite the Opposition," he told reporters. I will participate in bringing the Opposition together by creating a common minimum programme," Pawar added. Asked about rumours surrounding the plans of senior NCP leader and his nephew Ajit Pawar, he said, An atmosphere of confusion is being created regarding Ajit Pawar. There was talk that he will join the BJP, but has anything happened?" Ajit Pawar is someone who loves to work on the ground, and there was no truth to the speculation about him, the NCP chief further said. Earlier, Pawar was welcomed by local NCP office-bearers amid slogan-shouting by workers on his arrival here. He would be meeting local NCP leaders and workers before heading to Solapur, party sources said. On Friday, the 82-year-old leader withdrew his decision to step down as NCP president, three days after the surprise announcement that had put a question mark on the opposition unity efforts ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The veteran leader who is known for his deft political manoeuvring said that leaders of various political parties across the country requested him to continue as NCP president. top videos He could not disrespect the sentiments of his colleagues and party workers who insisted that he withdraw his decision, he said. Read all the Latest Politics News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here Artificial intelligence could pose a more urgent" threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday. Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the godfathers of AI", recently announced he had quit Alphabet after a decade at the firm, saying he wanted to speak out on the risks of the technology without it affecting his former employer. Hintons work is considered essential to the development of contemporary AI systems. In 1986, he co-authored the seminal paper Learning representations by back-propagating errors", a milestone in the development of the neural networks undergirding AI technology. In 2018, he was awarded the Turing Award in recognition of his research breakthroughs. But he is now among a growing number of tech leaders publicly espousing concern about the possible threat posed by AI if machines were to achieve greater intelligence than humans and take control of the planet. I wouldnt like to devalue climate change. I wouldnt like to say, You shouldnt worry about climate change. Thats a huge risk too," Hinton said. But I think this might end up being more urgent." He added: With climate change, its very easy to recommend what you should do: you just stop burning carbon. If you do that, eventually things will be okay. For this its not at all clear what you should do." Microsoft-backed OpenAI fired the starting pistol on a technological arms race in November, when it made AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT available to the public. It soon became the fastest-growing app in history, reaching 100 million monthly users in two months. In April, Twitter CEO Elon Musk joined thousands in signing an open letter calling for a six-month pause in the development of systems more powerful than OpenAIs recently-launched GPT-4. Signatories included Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque, researchers at Alphabet-owned DeepMind, and fellow AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell. While Hinton shares signatories concern that AI may prove to be an existential threat to mankind, he disagreed with pausing research. Its utterly unrealistic, he said. Im in the camp that thinks this is an existential risk, and its close enough that we ought to be working very hard right now, and putting a lot of resources into figuring out what we can do about it. In the European Union, a committee of lawmakers responded to the Musk-backed letter, calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to convene a global summit on the future direction of the technology with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Last week, the committee agreed a landmark set of proposals targeting generative AI, which would force companies like OpenAI to disclose any copyright material used to train their models. Meanwhile, Biden held talks with a number of AI company leaders, including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the White House, promising a frank and constructive discussion" on the need for companies to be more transparent about their systems. The tech leaders have the best understanding of it, and the politicians have to be involved, said Hinton. It affects us all, so we all have to think about it. top videos Read all the Latest Tech News here With various cuisines around the world, each countrys food culture offers unique flavours. However, when a particular food culture transcends borders, it undergoes changes to suit the local palate. This is particularly evident in Chinese dishes that are popular around the world but are slightly modified when served outside China. Now, lately, a trend has taken over TikTok where British people share their Chinese takeaway meals in videos. However, this has sparked a debate about the authenticity of these meals, as they are not the same as the traditional Chinese cuisine, but rather a variation known as British Chinese," which differs significantly in both taste and ingredients used. In a viral video, shared on Twitter, a British woman showcases her Chinese food order while describing each dish. Her order includes two curries and a sweet and sour sauce because I cant just have one sauce. She then takes out chicken balls from the bag followed by salt pepper chicken, crispy seaweed, chicken chow mein noodles, crispy beef, egg fried rice, and pepper chips. Following this, the woman loads her plate with the food and begins to relish it. So British Chinese food is trending on TikTok. Ive never been more disgusted in my life. What the fuck is this??? pic.twitter.com/3ibPKCCWKv Keem (@KeemVibes) May 2, 2023 While she may have enjoyed the feast, users did not seem quite happy as many took a dig at her and others following the same trend for taking away the originality of the Chinese food. Not gonna lie the chicken balls slap, but you need to accept up front that youre eating a mockery of Chinese food Seaweed just fried cabbage, still good Anyone who buys chips from a Chinese takeaway here is deranged and needs putting down, a person said. Not gonna lie the chicken balls slap, but you need to accept up front that youre eating a mockery of Chinese foodSeaweed just fried cabbage, still good Anyone who buys chips from a Chinese takeaway here is deranged and needs putting down Four sauces is absolutely haram laurence (@functi0nZer0) May 2, 2023 Another described the food as saucy McDonalds with noodles. Its a saucy McDonalds with noodles Bordier (@MaxBordier) May 3, 2023 Ya lmao this is literally every Chinese food in the UK, a comment read. ya lmao this is literally every chinese food in UK Seranged (@Seranged) May 2, 2023 One user claimed that Chinese food in the UK is not Chinese food. Chinese food in the UK is NOT Chinese food Chained.btc (@CryptoPeaked) May 4, 2023 This person chose to give an explanation Its British Chinese food. Chinese people opened restaurants in the UK and over decades adapted their cooking to locally available produce and British tastes. Its developed in its own way and will not be like food in China. It's British Chinese food. Chinese people opened restaurants in the UK and over decades adapted their cooking to locally available produce and British tastes. It's developed in it's own way and will not be like food in China MisterG (@Blue_Tweedle) May 3, 2023 Another wrote, This happens in every country. Chinese food is different in France, in Italy, in the UK. Have you tried fusion food in the Far East? It is generally rank. This happens in every country. Chinese food is different in France, in Italy, in the UK. Have you tried fusion food in the Far East? It is generally rank. Timothy Smith (@timcliffsmith) May 3, 2023 top videos So, what are your thoughts on British Chinese food and will you be willing to try it? Read all the Latest News here A man who died and then came back to life claims that he met Jesus Christ and saw Adolf Hitler in hell before he was resuscitated. Brian Melvin is making headlines for his bizarre claims about his near-death experience. A militant atheist" until he died due to cholera after drinking some bad water, he claimed that after he took his final breath, he felt he was shot through a black void," as per a report by Daily Star. Melvin said that he felt he was floating above his own body. He said he moved towards a bright light" and met Jesus Christ. Melvin narrated that Jesus told him that he was not hit to enter heaven and sent him to hell. Brian Melvins story gets more bizarre. He narrated that hell was a very hot" and awful" place where everything looked dead." On his trip down to hell, Melvin believed he saw Adolf Hitler in the place. According to him, Hitler was being punished for his action and went through all the torment he had inflicted on millions during the Holocaust. The individual that I saw was Adolf Hitler. He was inside of a fiery furnace, like Auschwitz where they would put the bodies and burn them. He was going through what every single victim went through, from their arrest, from their arrival, from their strip down to where they were gassed. Every single one and every single thing, man, woman and child. That is what I saw. He wasnt reformed. He was getting crazier, Melvin recounted. After his near-death experience, Melvin has become a devout Christian. He has spoken about his experience in gatherings and churches. Melvin has also been featured in shows like Genesis Productions and Stories of the Supernatural. top videos This is not the only near-death experience that has grabbed attention on the internet. A few months ago, a priest, named Gerald Johnson, claimed that his spirit briefly visited hell after a heart attack back in 2016. Before he was resuscitated, he said he witnessed demons in hell tormenting people using songs like Rihannas Umbrella and Bobby McFerrins Dont Worry, Be Happy. "Every lyric to every song is there to torment you as to the fact you didnt worship god through music while you were on the Earth, he said in a TikTok as quoted by Unilad. Read all the Latest News here A war of words on social media has ended in tragedy in rural Missouri, US, after a young man was shot and killed, and a young woman was left with life-threatening injuries. 18-year-old Isiah Craig Fitzgerald lost his life after reacting to a Facebook profile photo with a laughter emoji. Tanner Watkins (20) and Kaleb Ramsey (18), have been arrested and charged with murder, assault, and other offences. According to National Post, the altercation escalated when the victims agreed to meet at a park to fight and shots were fired from both vehicles, resulting in Fitzgeralds death and the womans critical injuries. The incident happened after Watkins posted a profile picture of himself and his girlfriend on Facebook. Fitzgerald reacted to it by posting a laughing emoji. This triggered an aggressive response from Watkins, resulting in a heated exchange that ultimately led to the fatal confrontation in the park. Some dude murdered a guy because the guy laugh reacted a profile picture of him and his girlfriend. pic.twitter.com/IbrV8vFTmS Maw (@TheEbonyMaw) May 2, 2023 Chief Jim McMillen of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety said that rifles and pistols were used in the shooting. Responding to the gunfire, police stopped vehicles leaving the park, arrested Watkins and Ramsey and confiscated their weapons. We had a couple different rifles that were used in this, a few pistols as well, McMillen said. He went on to add, Vehicles leaving, they got those vehicles stopped, addressed the people inside, there were some that were injured and struck by gunfire. Its unusual to have a type of incident like this in this location, so obviously people were very concerned, he added. Police say guns have been taken for evidence. The incident shocked the small Missouri community as well as people worldwide and prompted an outpouring of grief on social media. Many have expressed disbelief that a seemingly trivial social media exchange could lead to such violence. If anyone ever needed a raw definition of relationship insecurity this is it," wrote a user. If anyone ever needed a raw definition of relationship insecurity this is it. Arlong (@ramseyboltin) May 2, 2023 Another tweet read, If anyone ever needed a raw definition of relationship insecurity this is it. If anyone ever needed a raw definition of relationship insecurity this is it. Arlong (@ramseyboltin) May 2, 2023 This uncontrollable rage happened to me too once over Facebook, when I angry-reacted a random persons profile picture. Luckily, it didnt escalate like this another user tweeted. This uncontrollable rage happened to me too once over Facebook, when I angry-reacted a random person's profile picture. Luckily, it didn't escalate like this Frederik (@Frederik_W_L_C) May 2, 2023 top videos National Post also reported that according to legal records obtained by KVFS, a rifle resembling an AK-47 was utilized to shoot multiple rounds toward a Chevy Malibu. Read all the Latest News here The coronation ceremony of King Charles III will follow the pre-1066 norms with highly symbolic but strange elements. Orbs, valuable diamonds, St Edwards Crown and other objects will feature during the ceremony. Here is a list of items which will feature during the ceremony: The St. Edwards Crown: The crown is worn once, during the coronation, and it is highly recognisable as it is an emblem of the British monarchy. The solid gold crown weighs 2.25kg. It is not worn on all occasions like the working crown". A report by the Guardian said that the former monarch and Charles IIIs mother Elizabeth II found it heavy and King George VI once wore it the wrong way as its front and back are identical. The Stone of Scone aka the Stone of Destiny: Originally a symbol of Scottish monarchy, this 150 kg block of red sandstone was seized from the Scone Abbey by the English king Edward I in 1296 and fitted into the coronation chair. In 1950, Scottish nationalists stole it from there and took it to Edinburgh, but it finally took 700 years for the Britishers to return it to Scotland in 1996. It will feature prominently in the coronation. Charles III will sit on it during the coronation ceremony. The Chrism Oil: The anointing of King Charles with chrism oil, a sacred religious tradition, is the one of the most significant aspects of the coronation. This practice dates back more than a thousand years and was inspired by the kings of the Old Testament. The oil is fragranced with sesame, rose, jasmine, cinnamon, neroli, benzoin, amber, and orange blossom and has been blessed in Jerusalem for the first time, in a tribute to the kings paternal grandmother. The Sceptre: The sceptre represents good governance and is a three-sectioned gold rod. However, the fact that the 530-carat Cullinan-I diamond is embedded on one end of it will eclipse its symbolic meaning as they are also a symbol of the horrors of the colonial age. Cullinan and the Kohinoor were taken from South Africa and India, respectively. The Sovereigns Orb: The sovereigns orb is a gold ball decorated with precious gems and a cross, symbolising the Christian world. The Swords: King Charles will need five swords, including the swords of state, mercy, spiritual justice, temporal justice, and the jewelled sword of offering, which will be blessed by the archbishop, during the coronation ceremony. The Bracelets or Armills: The bracelets of sincerity and wisdom will be acknowledged by the King during the coronation ceremony. top videos The Screen: The anointing of the monarch with oil is conducted in private, hidden from the public. The time a newly commissioned screen during the coronation ceremony will be used. The screen, measuring 2.6 by 2.2 metres, features an embroidered tree with leaves, bearing the names of the 56 Commonwealth nations. Read all the Latest News here Leaders in the United States and Europe sent congratulations to Britains King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation on Saturday, while China called for cooperation" and peace". US hails enduring friendship US President Joe Biden, whose country was represented at the lavish ceremony in London by First Lady Jill Biden, paid tribute to the enduring friendship between the US and the UK". He tweeted that the countries relationship was a source of strength for both our peoples" and that he was proud" his wife could be there for the historic occasion". In an interview aired Friday, he said he would meet Charles, 74, in July to talk in particular about environmental issues. China urges cooperation and peace Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the UK to work for a stable and mutually beneficial relationship" with his country after recent strains in their relations. China and Britain, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, should take a long-term and strategic view to jointly promote the historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation," he said. EU sees symbol of stability The head of the European Unions executive, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, called the coronation a testament to the enduring strength of the British monarchy". A symbol of stability and continuity," von der Leyen tweeted, alongside a picture of her at the pageant-filled ceremony in Westminster Abbey. EU Council President Charles Michel said the members of the 27-nation bloc, which the UK voted to leave in 2016, appreciate the kings vast experience to promote understanding and respect" and his tireless efforts to promote the sustainability of our planet". Germany praises climate ally German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is in Kenya for a visit, also welcomed the newly crowned monarchs interest in tackling climate change. (It) is very important that he is someone who is committed to a close cooperation between Great Britain and the European Union, and who also has his own personal agenda to advance climate protection," Scholz said. That will also help us." Friends of France French President Emmanuel Macron, who also attended the London ceremony, sent his congratulations" to Charles and Camilla, calling them friends of France". Proud to be with you on this historic day," he tweeted. Best wishes from Rome Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose country was represented at the coronation by President Sergio Mattarella, sent her best wishes to King Charles III, to Queen Camilla and the entire British people". In a message on social media, she noted the symbolism of the Italian craftsmanship involved in the rare mosaic floor of Westminster Abbey. She said the ancient Cosmati pavement" on which the Coronation Chair was placed was masterfully created" and there to amaze the world and to recall the historic and fruitful cooperation between Italy and the UK, which we are certain will further strengthen with King Charles III". Friend of Greece The foreign ministry in Greece, where Charless father Prince Philip was born in 1921 on the island of Corfu, tweeted in English to warmly congratulate HM King Charles III, a proven friend of Greece, in his Coronation day". top videos It wished him success in his duties" and said it was looking forward to continuing excellent cooperation and further deepening bilateral historic relations". Read all the Latest News here The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its deep condolences to the Democratic Republic of the Congo following devastating floods caused by heavy rains in South Kivu province. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs conveyed its heartfelt sympathies to the families of the victims and wished for a speedy recovery for the injured and quick success in finding the missing. Cairo also expressed solidarity with the government and people of the DR Congo during this difficult time. The floods swept through two villages in South Kivu, leaving a trail of destruction and reportedly claiming the lives of at least 200 people and leading to scenes of aid workers stacking mud-covered bodies of the deceased. The torrential rain also destroyed structures, with rescue teams still searching for survivors who may be trapped under rubble. Search Keywords: Short link: Throughout her reign, which lasted for 70 years, Queen Elizabeth developed strong relationships with her 15 prime ministers. From Winston Churchill in 1952 to Liz Truss in 2022, over the period of seven decades, Elizabeth waited eagerly to meet with her prime ministers for the weekly private audiences. The Queens role in inviting prime ministers to form a government played a crucial constitutional role in the transition of power. Here is a list of prime ministers who served under Queen Elizabeth II, whose son Charles III, will be crowned King of England on Saturday: Winston Churchill - When Englands wartime prime minister retired the queen sent him a handwritten note where she said no successor can ever replace her first prime minister. Sir Tommy Lascelles, top civil servant and the former personal secretary of the Queen, remarked that during the private meetings between Churchill and the Queen one could hear only slight bursts of laughter and many observed that Churchill admired the young monarchs (she was 25 when she became queen) attitude and understanding of how important her role was. Anthony Eden - Even though former prime minister Eden and the Queen had developed a good relationship, his handling of the Suez Crisis, which led to the nationalisation of Suez Canal in 1956, concerned the queen. Harold Macmillan - He was the third prime minister to serve under the queen and the two did not initially hit it off. However, they later grew fond of each other and worked together. Alec Douglas-Home - The fourth prime minister to serve under Elizabeth had a close relationship with the Queen and helped her name royal horses over the years. Harold Wilson - Wilson was the first prime minister from the Labour Party to serve the queen. There were fears that their relationship would be problematic given Wilsons socialist leanings but Ben Pimlott, the British historian, wrote that Wilson treated Elizabeth as an equal and almost as a member of his Cabinet. Edward Heath - The sixth prime minister and the queen did not have a close relationship. Heath made the UK pro-Europe, regarding which the queen had her reservations. James Callaghan - The seventh prime minister to serve the queen was a devoted monarchist and both of them had a strong relationship. Callaghan once remarked that the queen had a good sense of humour and was an attentive listener. Their conversations ranged from politics to social and international matters. Margaret Thatcher - The UKs longest serving prime minister in modern history (11 years) and the longest reigning monarch were reported to have a frosty relationship. They were not close but they respected each other and even clashed over Thatchers handling of certain issues (apartheid and Falklands War). John Major - The ninth prime minister to serve the queen was the first prime minister who was younger than the queen. He was the prime minister who announced to the UK parliament that Prince Charles (now King Charles) and Princess Diana were separating. Tony Blair - The tenth prime minister and the second from the Labour Party, Blair, was known as the great modernizer. Blair and the queen had a good relationship and the former described her as shy but direct. He was, however, not on the guest list for Prince William and Kate Middletons wedding. Gordon Brown - The eleventh prime minister to serve the queen was also not on the guest list for Prince William and Kate Middletons wedding. David Cameron - Cameron and the queen got on well and he was also a distant relative of the queen. His hot mic moment following the Scottish independence referendum may have ruffled some feathers. Theresa May - The thirteenth prime minister to serve the queen and the second female prime minister of the UK remarked how well-versed the queen was with current issues. Boris Johnson - The fourteenth prime minister to serve the queen broke one of the cardinal rules, which was that the details of the conversation between him and the sovereign were to remain a secret. He revealed what the queen had told him during their meeting in a lighthearted moment and created a controversy. He apologised to her regarding this as well as the Covid party scandal. Liz Truss - The fifteenth and final prime minister of the UK to serve the queen and the queen appointing Truss as UK prime minister two days before her death was her last major constitutional action. top videos (with inputs from Town and Village and the Washington Post) Read all the Latest News here Amid the grandeur, processions, and celebrations, the first lady of the US Jill Biden attended Britains first coronation ceremony in 70 years and she was a guest with purpose as the 71-year-old American educator displayed her support to Ukraine through her outfit. Jill and her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden, wore coordinating outfits that displayed blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. This showed their support for the ongoing Russian offensive in Ukraine, that began with Kremlins invasion in February 2022. Arriving at Westminster Abbey the location of British coronations in style, the first lady wore a periwinkle blue jacket and a pencil skirt of the same colour, which were designed by Ralph Lauren. She also wore matching gloves and a bow hat. Finnegan wore a yellow cape dress designed by Markarian. The Ukrainian flag consists of equal-sized horizontal proportions of blue and yellow colour. At the coronation, Jill sat beside Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine. Jill said they talked about Russias invasion of Ukraine and that Zelenska thanked her again for the support from the United States. In fact, Jill has visited the United Kingdom for royal engagements quite a few times. She is representing the US on behalf of her husband Joe Biden, the President. An American president has never attended a British coronation and President Biden asked the first lady to represent the US in his place. The White House said Jills appearance marked the first time that a US first lady was present for a British coronation. And while Jill is in London, she has engaged herself in diplomacy here and there. On Friday, Jill was greeted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks wife Akshata Murty. She was welcomed by Murty as she arrived at 10 Downing Street. We stand with Ukraine. https://t.co/3WAtRNQrQC Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) May 5, 2023 The first lady also visited the US Embassy to greet staff before she ended her day at a reception King Charles III hosted at Buckingham Palace. Jill will also mingle at a luncheon on Sunday hosted by UK PM Rishi Sunak and his wife at their Downing Street residence before the US first lady flies back to the states. top videos (with inputs from Associated Press) Read all the Latest News here Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday said his visit to Goa was a success" as he advocated his countrys case on the soil of India. His remarks came hours after his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar accused him of being a promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terror industry. Addressing a press conference after his return from Goa where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisations (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting, Bhutto Zardari said his trip to India was a success as it helped to negate the view that every Muslim was a terrorist. We made an attempt at breaking this myth, Bhutto-Zardari said. Jaishankar mounted an offensive against Bhutto-Zardari in his address at the SCO meeting, contending Pakistan foreign ministers statement that terrorism shouldnt be weaponised for diplomatic point-scoring, in remarks seen as directed at India. Hours later at a press conference, Jaishankar said Bhutto-Zardaris statement on the weaponisation of terrorism unconsciously revealed a mindset. As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Bhutto-Zardari was treated accordingly. As a promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terrorism industry, which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and they were countered including at the SCO meeting itself, Jaishankar said. Responding to a question about talks with India, Bhutto-Zardari said that Pakistan was clear that India should create a conducive environment for talks by restoring the pre-August 5, 2019 status of Kashmir. He also said that countries from Central Asia were looking forward to becoming part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He said every country except India supported and praised CPEC. top videos Earlier, Bhutto-Zardari returned back on a special Pakistan Air Force plane from India and landed in Karachi where was received by the Sindh chief minister, Murad Ali Shah, and other cabinet members. Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has a special message in celebration of the Coronation of King Charles III, highlighting the central role to be played by all faiths in a religious ceremony over a thousand years old. The Indian-origin leader and the first-ever Hindu incumbent of 10 Downing Street will himself play an active role in the ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, when he reads from the biblical book of Colossians in keeping with the recent tradition of UK Prime Ministers giving readings at State occasions. He and wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, will also be at the head of a procession of flag-bearers as the UKs flag is carried into the Abbey by a high-ranking Royal Air Force (RAF) cadet. Heres what the monarchy means to me #Coronation pic.twitter.com/BUOwhmgSf3 Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) May 5, 2023 In the Abbey where monarchs have been crowned for almost a thousand years, representatives of every faith will play a central role for the first time, said Sunak, in a statement on the eve of the historic event. The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be a moment of extraordinary national pride. Together with friends from across the Commonwealth and beyond, we will celebrate the enduring nature of our great monarchy: its constancy, devotion to duty, and service to others. No other country could put on such a dazzling display the processions, the pageantry, the ceremonies, and street parties, he said. However, he stressed the Coronation the first in 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in June 1953 is not just a spectacle but a proud expression of history, culture, and traditions. He noted: A vivid demonstration of the modern character of our country. And a cherished ritual through which a new era is born And in a fitting tribute to the spirit of service that will define the Carolean Age, people across our country will help their communities with thousands of acts of kindness. top videos So lets celebrate this weekend with pride in who we are and what we stand for. Lets look to the future with hope and optimism. And lets make new memories, so we can tell our grandchildren of the day we came together to sing: God Save The King. Read all the Latest News here A prominent pro-Kremlin writer and Russian nationalist was injured Saturday in a car explosion" and one other person was killed, the interior ministry said, after a string of recent drone attacks in Russia amid the fighting in Ukraine. Russian media: Pro-war Russian writer hospitalized after car explosion.Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin, known for his pro-war views, is hospitalized after his car exploded in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in what appears to be an assassination attempt, Russian media RBC reported. pic.twitter.com/vk5wjMVN4V The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 6, 2023 According to initial reports, one person was killed by the explosion, and the writer Zakhar Prilepin, who was in the car, was injured" in the Nizhny Novgorod region some 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Moscow, the ministry said. The Russian Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said Prilepin was travelling with his family" at the time of the blast. Russian state-run agencies cited sources in the emergency service saying the writer suffered injuries on his legs. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Saturday blamed the West and Ukraine for a car explosion that wounded the pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin and killed another person, without providing any evidence. Washington and NATO fed another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime," Zakharova said on Telegram shortly after the explosion, adding that the blast was the direct responsibility of the United States and Britain. We pray for Zakhar." The 47-year-old writer, one of Russias best known novelists, joined pro-Russian separatists in the east of Ukraine in 2014, and fought by their side. A Chechnya war veteran, he has regularly gone to eastern Ukraine and is a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin and of his February 2022 offensive. The incident comes after a series of apparent attacks and sabotage on Russian territory, sometimes far from the front. In April a blast from a statuette rigged with explosives killed 40-year-old pro-Kremlin military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. top videos And last August Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent ultranationalist intellectual, was killed in a car bombing outside Moscow, which Russia blamed on Ukraine. Kyiv denied the charges. Read all the Latest News here The foreign minister of Afghanistans Taliban government, which is not recognised by any other nation, held talks Saturday with his counterparts from Pakistan and China during a rare visit abroad. Amir Khan Muttaqi is barred by international sanctions from leaving Afghanistan but was granted an exemption for a trip to Islamabad just days after the United Nations secretary-general again condemned the Taliban governments curbs on women. China and Pakistan are Afghanistans most important neighbours, with Beijing eyeing the vast untapped mineral resources that lie across their tiny shared border, and Islamabad wary of huge security risks along their much longer common frontier. With the minister for commerce and industry in tow, the Afghan delegation was one of the most high-profile to travel abroad since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces and collapse of the Western-backed government. The biggest significance of this summit is that at this moment, as we understand it, no regional economic future is possible without the stability of Afghanistan," said Maria Sultan, director general of the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute. It is also important that a formal relationship should be established, and this is only possible if there is working reconstruction of the diplomatic track," she told AFP. Officials said the one-day gathering was focused on how best to help Afghanistan improve security and enhance economic stability. Our message consistently to the Afghan authorities has been help us help you," Pakistans Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told media. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said both Beijing and Islamabad were ready to actively support Afghanistan with its economic reconstruction". We hope that the Taliban will embrace inclusive governance and moderate policies and maintain friendly relations with its neighbours," he told reporters. But, he warned, it is important the Taliban take the security concerns of its neighbours seriously and take stronger measures to counter the various terrorist forces within Afghanistan". Muttaqis visit comes amid a flurry of diplomacy about but not involving Afghanistans new rulers. Counter-productive Earlier this week, UN chief Antonio Guterres told a meeting of envoys from the United States, Russia, China and 20 other countries and organisations that millions of women and girls are being silenced and erased from sight" in the country. Taliban government officials were not invited, however, an omission a representative called counter-productive". Also this week, a meeting in India of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation of which Kabul has observer status discussed Afghanistan without the presence of any representatives. The Afghan government is desperate for international recognition to give it legitimacy and has been lobbying individual nations outside of groups such as the United Nations. These meetings will intensify speculation that China and Pakistan are two of the few countries willing to engage closely with the Taliban, and perhaps even hold open the possibility of recognition down the road," said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at The Wilson Centre. On Friday, the UN reaffirmed its commitment to stay" in Afghanistan following a review in light of the Taliban government banning local women from working for the world body there. In a statement issued from Kabul, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan reiterated its condemnation of the ban, which seriously undermines our work, including our ability to reach all people in need". We cannot disengage despite the challenges," it said. The Taliban government has firmly rejected criticism of the curbs on women, calling them an internal social issue". Afghanistan is facing one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises, international aid agencies say, with its 38 million population hungry and three million children at risk of malnutrition. Since returning to power, the Taliban authorities have imposed an austere version of sharia law that the UN has labelled gender-based apartheid". Teenage girls are barred from secondary school, while women have been pushed out of many government jobs, prevented from travelling without a male relative and ordered to cover up outside the home, ideally with a burqa. Qin, making his first visit to Pakistan since being appointed in December, also held bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart. top videos China has been Pakistans key defensive ally since the Cold War and also its most vital economic partner through loans and infrastructure projects totalling billions of dollars. Read all the Latest News here Egypt welcomes the start of the initial talks between representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Jeddah, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Saturday. The statement, issued on Saturday, commended Saudi, regional and international efforts to encourage the Sudanese parties to engage in dialogue. Egypt stated that it hopes that the talks will result in a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire that protects the lives of the Sudanese people and facilitates the delivery of humanitarian aid to those affected. Saudi Arabia and the United States said the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began talks on Saturday -- the first since the conflict occurred -- in Saudi Arabias coastal city of Jeddah. The talks are part of a diplomatic initiative by Saudi Arabia and the U.S. to stop the fighting that has turned Sudans capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas into battlefields, and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. Egypt has called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan and has held discussions with all the international and regional stakeholders to find the means to overcome the crisis there. Search Keywords: Short link: Activity in dying brains may provide insight into the possibility of brief conscious experiences in the last moments of life, according to research reported by Live Science. The study, published in the journal PNAS, observed electrical activity in the brains of dying patients and found that some individuals exhibited organized-looking electrical surges that resembled patterns seen during both waking and dreamlike states. These surges could correspond to the seemingly "otherworldly" visions sometimes reported by people who have had near-death experiencesobserving their body from an external perspective, traveling down a tunnel with white light, or reliving life's big moments, per Live Science. Led by the University of Michigan Medical School's Dr. Jimo Borjigin, a team of researchers monitored the brains of dying patients in intensive care units. The study involved four comatose patients who had heart attacks. Shortly after patients' ventilators were removed, two of the monitored brains showed surges in gamma waves associated with organized activity patterns in different parts of the brain. In the temporoparietal junction, a region already known to be active in out-of-body experiences and dreams, the gamma wave activity was particularly intense. Unfortunately, since all the patients in the study ultimately died, it's still not clear whether the surges represented truly conscious experience. This study highlights the potential for organized electrical activity in the dying brain, raising intriguing questions about the nature of consciousness and the subjective experiences that may occur during the transition from life to death. It complements previous studies such as this one from 2013, cited by Medical News Today. Researchers found similar gamma waves occurred in rats in the last 30 seconds after cardiac arrest, which hinted at a correlation with memory recall. Near-death experiences and brain activity, however, are complex and individualized phenomena, and more research will be necessary to truly understand the connections between dying brains and consciousness. (Read more discoveries stories.) More than a quarter of Americans drew a blank when asked to name a famous living Asian American, according to a study released by the Asian American Foundation. The nonprofit says it polled more than 5,000 Americans and the top answer was "Don't know," at 26%. The second most common answer, at 12%, was Jackie Chan, who's living and Asian but not American. Third, at 6%, was Bruce Lee, who was Asian American but has been dead for almost 50 years. The fourth most common answer was a correct one: Vice President Kamala Harris was named by 5% of respondents. Other Asian Americans named by 2% or more of those polled included Lucy Liu, Ken Jeong, George Takei, and Connie Chung, while 2% named South Korean boy band BTS. In total, 44% of respondents either couldn't answer the question or gave a wrong answer, NBC News reports. When asked to name a famous Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, the top answer was again "Don't know," at 32%, followed by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, at 23%. Johnson's mother is Samoan. The Asian American Foundation says its survey also found that of all racial groups in the US, Asian Americans, young women in particular, are "the least likely to feel they completely belong and are accepted in the US" due to factors including discrimination and a lack of people like themselves in powerful positions. Asian Americans make up 7.2% of the US population. In the survey, 82% of people overestimated the size of the Asian American population, with many putting the figure at 25% or more of the population. (Read more Asian Americans stories.) Togolese student Sarath Sidibe tried to get her name on the electoral register for three days, hoping to vote in her country's legislative and local elections later this year. But between missing papers, broken registration machines, and above all the crowds, the 22-year-old struggled to get it done. Still, she did not give up. "This is the first time that I want to vote and I want to get my voter card," she said. "I want things to change in this country." After boycotting the last elections, Togo's opposition has called for a registration surge, hoping to challenge President Faure Gnassingbe, who has ruled Togo since 2005 after the death of his father -- who governed before him for nearly four decades. Since coming to office, Gnassingbe has won every election, though the opposition challenged all those results. Starting last week, including in the capital Lome, the voter registration appears to have generated widespread enthusiasm, and the Independent National Electoral Commission said late Friday that it was extending the deadline. Initially set for Saturday, registration will now continue until May 8, the commission's president Dago Yabre said in a statement. Many Togolese were angry over logistical problems and delays in getting their voters card. "The cards are ready and no one is attending to us. It's really unfortunate," said one woman in a group of agitated young people sitting in front of a Lome school set up for voter registration. Opposition leaders have criticized the process and were calling for an extension. "The mess we are seeing is the result of poor preparation and the clear desire to limit as much as possible the registration of the populations of this area," the National Alliance for Change coalition said in a statement. 'I have to vote' No date has been announced for the elections, but they are to be held later this year, Gnassingbe said in December. The main opposition political parties boycotted the 2018 legislative elections and the electoral census, after denouncing "irregularities". But leaders of the main opposition parties have been mobilized for several months, calling on supporters to "massively" get out to sign up. Since Monday, long queues have formed every day at several centers in the capital where voter cards are issued. In front of the public primary school Be-Aklassouou, supermarket worker Evariste Toganou, 38, was losing patience. "I'm going to get my voter card regardless of the hassle. Because this time, I have to vote," said Toganou, who did not vote during the 2018 poll. "The 'real opposition' must regain its place in the National Assembly to properly control those who lead us." In 2018, Gnassingbe's party won a majority of 59 seats out of 91 in the National Assembly, after the leaders of the main coalition of 14 parties did not present any candidates. The opposition coalition decided to boycott after more than a year of political standoff and dozens of violently suppressed protests against a reform authorizing the president to run for re-election in 2020 and 2025. Gnassingbe came to power after the death of his father, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled Togo with an iron fist for 38 years. The West African country of around eight million is ranked among the poorest in the world and is also struggling with attacks from jihadists from across its northern border with Burkina Faso. After the voter registration ends in Lome, it will take place in other parts of the country until June 3. Search Keywords: Short link: Dr. Rochelle Walensky, a leader in the federal government's battle against COVID-19, is leaving her job as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That battle has reached a turning point, Walensky pointed out to President Biden in a letter Friday, now that he's changed the US categorization of the pandemic. "The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC Director," Walensky wrote. The World Health Organization declared a similar change Friday. The director plans to leave her job at the end of June, NBC News reports. Biden said in a statement that Walensky, who has been in the job since he took office, has saved lives. "She led a complex organization on the frontlines of a once-in-a-generation pandemic with honesty and integrity," he said. "She marshalled our finest scientists and public health experts to turn the tide on the urgent crises we've faced." Congressional Republicans critical of the CDC had repeatedly sought Walensky's resignation, per the New York Times. Peers and experts said she faced a steeply uphill battle in the job. And regardless, they said, a change of directors sets back efforts at change. "So much is at stake as C.D.C. seeks to reorganize and modernize," one expert said. "The timing of this leadership transition is very problematic." Walensky told the agency in an email that she'd made improvements, including "reorganizing the agency and embarking on the necessary work to orient the enterprise toward public health action and foster accountability, timeliness and transparency in our work." Another expert called Walensky's departure a loss. "I know that it has not been easy," she said, "not just because of COVID but because of the politicization of science." As director, Walensky faced public harassment and threats. (Read more Rochelle Walensky stories.) King Charles III can breathe a sigh of relief: The most pressure-filled part of his coronation day is over. The newly crowned 74-year-old monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, who was also coronated Saturday at London's Westminster Abbey, headed back in their carriage afterward to Buckingham Palace, where crowds eagerly awaited to see who would come out with them on the royal balcony for their famous wave to the masses. When the king and queen finally emerged to greet fans standing below in the rain, they were accompanied by their pagesincluding Prince George, Prince William's oldest sonand other family members, including William; his wife Kate, Princess of Wales; their other two children, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis; and two of Charles' siblings, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, per the AP. Notably absent from the family gathering on the terrace: Charles' other son, Prince Harry, and the king's brother, Prince Andrew, who's been stripped of his royal duties. More on the big day: All eyes on Harry: The estranged prince was said to be "all smiles" during his short appearance at his father's crowning, arriving at Westminster Abbey with cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and chatting with other family members, such as aunt Princess Anne. But the Daily Beast reports Harry wasn't in the coronation procession, "was seated in the third row with the disgraced Prince Andrew," and "did not make eye contact with his father or brother" William, who's said to still be miffed at his younger sibling for allegations he made about the royals in his memoir Spare. It's not clear if Harry headed back to Buckingham Palace for a scheduled luncheon after the coronation, or to the airport to head back to the States for the birthday of his son, Archie, who turns 4 on Saturday. The estranged prince was said to be "all smiles" during his short appearance at his father's crowning, arriving at Westminster Abbey with cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and chatting with other family members, such as aunt Princess Anne. But the Daily Beast reports Harry wasn't in the coronation procession, "was seated in the third row with the disgraced Prince Andrew," and "did not make eye contact with his father or brother" William, who's said to still be miffed at his younger sibling for allegations he made about the royals in his memoir Spare. It's not clear if Harry headed back to Buckingham Palace for a scheduled luncheon after the coronation, or to the airport to head back to the States for the birthday of his son, Archie, who turns 4 on Saturday. And on Prince Louis: The 5-year-old royal, who earned headlines last year for his antics at the late Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, found himself once more in the spotlight at his grandfather's coronation. Per Page Six, the young prince "let out several yawns" during the formalities (see a photo in our gallery), and at one point was taken out of the service for unknown reasonsthough he did reemerge later on. The royals reportedly had a nanny on standby in case Louis got antsy. The 5-year-old royal, who earned headlines last year for his antics at the late Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, found himself once more in the spotlight at his grandfather's coronation. Per Page Six, the young prince "let out several yawns" during the formalities (see a photo in our gallery), and at one point was taken out of the service for unknown reasonsthough he did reemerge later on. The royals reportedly had a nanny on standby in case Louis got antsy. And on Camilla: The king's 75-year-old wife, who received her own crown, will now simply be called Queen Camilla, as can be seen on her official biography page, per People. Previously, she'd had the designation of "queen consort." The Independent makes sure to point out, however, that should Charles die, Camilla wouldn't become the reigning queen, as she's only queen through marriage. The next person set for the throne in the direct line of succession is Prince William. Stars glammed up: What would a coronation be without comments on who showed up and what they were wearing? E! Online shows off some of the big names who arrived to watch the king's big moment, while the Independent takes on the task of ranking the best- and worst-dressed (make sure you check out Katy Perry's fascinator hat). What would a coronation be without comments on who showed up and what they were wearing? E! Online shows off some of the big names who arrived to watch the king's big moment, while the Independent takes on the task of ranking the best- and worst-dressed (make sure you check out Katy Perry's fascinator hat). Plenty of pics: Fox News presents a gallery of images from Charles' life, stretching all the way back to his christening, while People promises it has "every photo" from the coronation (probably not true, but there are a lot). Fox News presents a gallery of images from Charles' life, stretching all the way back to his christening, while People promises it has "every photo" from the coronation (probably not true, but there are a lot). Arrests: Not everyone was in a celebratory mood. At least six protesters with the anti-monarchy group Republic were arrested before the coronation, with the group telling CNN that no reason was given by police for their detention. London's Metropolitan Police tweeted about some of the arrests they'd made, for such charges as "suspicion of breaching the peace," "suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance," and "suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage." The arrests come just days after the king approved a controversial new law that gives police more powers to "to prevent disruption at major sporting and cultural events." Not everyone was in a celebratory mood. At least six protesters with the anti-monarchy group Republic were arrested before the coronation, with the group telling CNN that no reason was given by police for their detention. London's Metropolitan Police tweeted about some of the arrests they'd made, for such charges as "suspicion of breaching the peace," "suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance," and "suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage." The arrests come just days after the king approved a controversial new law that gives police more powers to "to prevent disruption at major sporting and cultural events." Price tag: So how much did this whole royal shindig cost? Buckingham Palace isn't releasing numbers, but CNBC cites estimates on the "scaled-back" coronation that put the tab at somewhere between $63 million and $125 million. (Read more King Charles III coronation stories.) Georgia prosecutors have reached immunity deals with at least half of the 16 fake electors who tried to keep former President Donald Trump in power in December 2020. Under the agreements, eight Republicans won't be charged with crimes if they provide truthful testimony in the Fulton County investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election, the Washington Post reports. District Attorney Fani Willis has said a meeting of the fake electors that month, which took place after Gov. Brian Kemp had certified President Biden's victory in Georgia, is a focus of the investigation. David Shafer, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, is among the fake electors who could still be charged. Shafer led the meeting and maintains there was nothing wrong with casting electoral votes for Trump, saying the idea was to have the votes in place should Trump win his lawsuit seeking to throw out Georgia's results. At the time of the Dec. 14 meeting, Biden's victory in the state had been confirmed by three vote counts, per the New York Times. The deals were revealed in a court filing Friday by Kimberly Debrow, per Politico, in which she sought to continue representing the full group after Willis said some of the fake electors had accused Debrow of not telling them about the immunity offers. (Read more Election 2020 stories.) Authorities are searching for a suspect after they say "multiple" people were stabbed early Saturday near the University of Iowa campus. Per ABC News, it's not clear what the victims' conditions are. A spokesperson for the Iowa City Police Department wasn't able to verify the victims were students, though he tells ABC they were "about that age." The university's police department has told those on campus that they can "resume normal activity," but should "remain vigilant" during the ongoing investigation. An alert was issued by the university at 2:08am local time about the stabbings, which took place near a gas station and community rec area. Police are said to have arrived on the scene about 10 minutes later, which is where they found the victims, per the Des Moines Register. Police say the incident "appears isolated." Anyone with info about the attack is asked to call the Iowa City PD at 319-356-6800. (Read more University of Iowa stories.) One person is dead and at least six other people were shot during a Cinco de Mayo party at a Mississippi restaurant late Friday night, police said. In a release, Ocean Springs Police Capt. Ryan LeMaire confirmed that seven people were shot at The Scratch Kitchen on Government Street, per the AP. The surviving victims were transported to area hospitals for treatment, LeMaire said. The extent of their injuries wasn't immediately released. He identified the man killed as Chase Harmon, 19, of Pascagoula. No arrests had been made as of Saturday morning, but LeMaire said the investigation is ongoing. "We urge anyone with any information to call the Ocean Springs Police Department," he said. The Scratch Kitchen's owner told the Sun Herald there were about 200 people at the restaurant when the shooter ran past employees who were doing security checks at the entrance to the patio. "The person who did the shooting wasn't a customer," owner Brittany Alexander said. "He didn't get an armband or anything to be out here." Ocean Springs is about 4 miles east of Biloxi. WLOX reports this was the sixth shooting, four of them fatal, in a week's time in South Mississippi. (Read more mass shootings stories.) Ukraine said Saturday it used a US-made Patriot missile to bring down one of Russia's most dangerous weapons for the first timea hypersonic Kinzhal missile. Several US officials confirmed the downing over Kyiv on Thursday night, the New York Times reports, which would indicate that the missile Russian President Vladimir Putin has portrayed as invincible can be defeated by existing Western defense systems. The commander of the Ukrainian air force announced the success as "a historic event" on Telegram. "Yes, we have shot down the 'unparalleled' 'Kinzhal,'" Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk's statement said. The Kinzhal"Dagger" in Russianmoves at a lower elevation that other ballistic missiles at five times the speed of sound, too fast for Ukraine's air defenses to respond. Several have hit targets in Ukraine since Russia began the war last year, per the Washington Post. The Patriot is easily the most expensive single weapon system that Ukraine has received from the US. The system, which arrived last month, cost about $400 million and the missiles $690 million. The Netherlands also agreed to send Ukraine a Patriot system. Ukrainian soldiers traveled for training on the system to Oklahoma. The Patriot could change the dynamics of the air battle, though Western analysts had been skeptical of the Kinzhal all along. "It is invincible against all existing and prospective missile defense and counter-air defense systems," Putin said in 2018. Some analysts said it was just a modified version of conventional munitions"new wine in old bottles." Michael Kofman, an expert based in the US, tweeted in March: "Don't understand the interest in Russian use of Kinzhal. Theres nothing special or particularly exciting about this system." (Read more Russia-Ukraine war stories.) Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a "vast wasteland," died Saturday. He was 97. Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, the AP reports. Though Minow held the FCC post for just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets, and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television. "My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of televisionand that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be," Minow once said. "After all, the airways belong to the people." Minow was appointed by President John F. Kennedy in early 1961. On May 9, Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day "without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you." He told them: "I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland. You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercialsmany screaming, cajoling and offending." As he spoke, the three networks were just about all most viewers had to choose from. Pay television was barely in the planning stage, PBS was several years away, and HBO and niche channels such as Animal Planet were far in the future. The speech caused a sensation. "Vast wasteland" became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, "Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin' da quality of television. ... At least, Newt, we're tryin'." Minow became the first government official to receive a George Foster Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. CBS President Frank Stanton, on the other hand, calling Minow's comments a "sensationalized and oversimplified approach" that could lead to ill-advised reforms "on the ground that any change is a change for the better." Minow said a broadcasting license was "an enormous gift" from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public. His daughter, Nell Minow, told the AP in 2011 that her father loved television and wished he would have been remembered for championing the public interest in programming, rather than just a few words in his much broader speech. "His No. 1 goal was to give people choice," she said. During his tenure, Congress approved funds for educational television and measures to foster communications satellites. Minow recalled telling Kennedy that such satellites were "more important than sending a man into space." In a 1991 interview, Minow said; "In 1961, I worried that my children would not benefit much from television But in 1991 I worry that my grandchildren will actually be harmed by it." (Read more obituary stories.) World War II veteran Harold Williams, a retired U.S. Army technical sergeant turned 100 years old in January 2023. Williams served in seven campaigns during World War II. (Courtesy photo) The death toll from flash floods and landslides in Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to 203, as more bodies are recovered, an administrative official said on Saturday. "Here in Bushushu, 203 bodies have already been removed from the rubble," said Thomas Bakenga, administrator of Kalehe territory, where the affected villages are located. It was not possible to evaluate the full extent of the human losses and material damage, he told local media. Heavy rainfall in the Kalehe region of South Kivu province on Thursday caused rivers to overflow, causing landslides that engulfed the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi. The hillside also gave way at Nyamukubi, where the weekly market was held on Thursday, Bakenga added. In all, several villages were submerged, many houses washed away and fields devastated, when rivers in the region burst their banks due to the heavy rains. Congolese doctor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, whose clinic is located in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, said Saturday he had sent a team of surgeons, anaesthetists and technicians to the area to "provide the population with emergency medical aid". The disaster came two days after floods killed at least 131 people and destroyed thousands of homes in neighbouring Rwanda. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday offered his condolences to the victims of the "catastrophic floods" in Rwanda and DR Congo. "This is yet another illustration of accelerating climate change and its disastrous impact on countries that have done nothing to contribute to global warming," he said during a visit to Burundi. Experts say extreme weather events are happening with increased frequency and intensity due to climate change. Search Keywords: Short link: TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com A man suspected of using fake online transactions to defraud shops and hotels of hundreds of Bahraini dinars has been arrested by the Capital Police. The Capital Governorate Police Directorates stated that the 35-year-old suspect presented a fake payment receipt to the staff, giving them the impression that he had paid through the app. It was later discovered that he had cheated them by sending a payment request for the same amount after leaving the shops. The police received multiple complaints from shops in the area and opened an investigation, leading to the identification and arrest of the suspect. Legal action is being taken to refer the suspect to the Public Prosecution. The car of a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist exploded in Russia on Saturday, injuring him and killing his driver, Russia's state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency and law enforcement officials. The incident involving the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of what the Kremlin calls a special military operation in Ukraine, took place in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. It is the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the war in Ukraine. In August 2022, a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as "Putin's brain. The authorities alleged that Ukraine was behind the blast. Last month, an explosion in a cafe in St. Petersburg killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. Officials once again blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for orchestrating it. Governor of the Niznhy Novgorod region Gleb Nikitin said Prilepin suffered minor bone fractures and was receiving medical help. Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Prilepin was traveling back to Moscow on Saturday from Ukraines partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and stopped in the Nizhny Novgorod region for a meal. Police are investigating the incident, and a criminal probe has been launched on the charge of terrorist acts. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said a suspect has been detained. Prilepin became a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014 after Putin illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula. He was involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of Russia-backed separatists. Last year, he was sanctioned by the European Union for his support of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2020, he founded a political party, For the Truth, which Russian media reported was backed by the Kremlin. A year later, Prilepin's party merged with the nationalist A Just Russia party that has seats in the parliament. A co-chair of the newly formed party, Prilepin won a seat in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, in the 2021 election, but gave it up. Leader of the party Sergei Mironov called the incident on Saturday a terrorist act and blamed Ukraine for it. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed Mironov's sentiment in a post on the messaging app Telegram, adding that the responsibility also lies with the U.S. and NATO. Washington and NATO have nursed yet another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime, Zakharova wrote. Direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain. We're praying for Zakhar. The deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev put the blame on Nazi extremists" in a telegram he sent to Prilepin. Ukrainian officials haven't commented on the incident. Search Keywords: Short link: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BROOKFIELD Local veterans are condemning a Zoning Commission decision that prevents them from adding parking at the towns Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge an expansion they say is needed to keep older members safe. Sokol Lodge #30, which owns the property at 202 Candlewood Lake Road, and its tenant, Jason D. Lewis Brookfield Memorial VFW Post 10201, have been seeking to expand the allowed parking at the site, which is currently limited to 13 cars due to a special permit from 1989. Their efforts so far, however, have been to no avail, and Brookfields VFW commander, Joe Beal, says the safety of the VFW members is a big concern. We usually have 25 members attend our monthly meetings, and it was really getting bad because every time we park 13 cars, we would get a call or letter from the town because the neighbor would call and complain, he said. After numerous parking-related complaints from a Candlewood Lake Road neighbor, Beal said the VFW members began parking across the street and walking over to attend the monthly meetings. Zoning Enforcement Officer Fran Lollie told Hearst Connecticut Media on Thursday that two complaints had been filed in the past month, and there have been numerous complaints about parking on the property over the past 10 years. Theyre complaints from the neighbor, and Ive sent notice of violations to the Sokol Club since theyre the property owner, he said. The complaints are due to too many vehicles on the property in violation of the 13-car limit, Lollie said. There have been no fines issued to this date only notices of violations to the property, and the violations last no more than a few hours, he said. "Most of the complaints come in on a Friday night or over the weekend (and) are cleared by Monday morning. In an effort to address the parking issue, Sokol submitted an application to the Zoning Commission to change the propertys zone from residential to marine commercial. Its not that we wanted to make a restaurant out of the place or anything like that we just want 30 cars so that older people dont have to cross Candlewood Lake Road, Beal said. There wouldnt be parking limitations with marine commercial. The application, however, did not get Zoning Commission approval. A motion to approve the application during the commissions April 27 meeting failed in a 1-4 vote. Commissioner Bishendra Komar voted in favor of the motion, while commissioners Curtis Timmerman, Andy Koehm, Phoebe Holmes and Gwen Arment voted against it. The Zoning Commission chair, Gary Goetz, recused himself from the matter due to a conflict of interest and did not vote. First Selectwoman Tara Carr, who served in the U.S. Army, said shes a member of both the VFW and Sokol and said she trusts the commissions decision. Its unfortunate that the law prohibited the zoning change, but the zoning members have taken an oath to adhere to the law and thats what the board has done, she said Tuesday. All the boards and commissions across town I trust are making the right decisions based on what theyre able to do in their purview according to the law. But Beal said he believes the denial of the zone change application may have to do with misconceptions about how Brookfields VFW operates. We have no open hours, we dont have a liquor license, he said. This is a place where veterans can come and hang out, meet up with each other, have meetings and thats it. Beal said the property isnt located in a quiet residential area noting its proximity to Candlewood East Marina and Echo Bay Marina and said he doesnt understand the pushback on expanding the parking. Weve exhausted a lot of our efforts, and were at our wit's end. It just feels like were not being listened to, he said. We havent asked for anything except for 30 cars being able to park there and not having older veterans walk across Candlewood Lake Road to go to a meeting. I dont think thats too much to ask, but weve been blocked every step of the way. Past attempt This wasnt the first time an attempt to expand parking at 202 Candlewood Lake Road has been turned down. This property has got a somewhat convoluted history, attorney Neil Marcus said, noting that 202 Candlewood Lake Road is a preexisting nonconforming site due to its small size. Marcus, who represents Sokol Lodge, said the organization which owns and uses the property and also allows the VFW to use it as a tenant has been operating the site with an old variance that applied before the property was its current size. The state relocated the road and the site grew from some additional property acquired from the state, he said. In 2019, the town of Brookfield granted a special permit and variance allowing Sokol Lodge to pave and maintain 30 parking spaces. But the permit and variance were overturned after the same neighbor who has complained about parking on the property appealed the ruling and won in state Superior Court in Danbury. Judge Barbara Brazzel-Massaro ruled in the neighbors favor, saying the variance the town granted to permit parking for 30 cars was invalid for several reasons. Not only did Sokol Lodge fail to demonstrate an unusual hardship peculiar to the property, according to Brazzel-Massaros June 2021 opinion, but its claim of need for additional parking was also self-inflicted. That is because the organization knew there was a parking limitation but still enhanced and increased the propertys use, such as by allowing the VFW to establish itself on the property, she said. Brazzel-Massaro also said that in addition to an inadequate definition of the basis of hardship to grant the variance, a deficient letter of approval was sent to the applicants utilizing one word safety without explanation demonstrating the hardship. The Zoning Board of Appeals, Sokol Lodge and VFW filed a motion for the court to reconsider the ruling, but the court affirmed its decision in January 2022. Marcus said the decision to apply for a zone change stemmed from the judges ruling in the appeal. The judges comment was that the property might be better suited for rezoning, so we went with that, he said. Even though we followed the judges recommendation, the Zoning Commission rejected it. Whats next? The Sokol Lodge could appeal the Zoning Commissions rejection of its zone change application to the Zoning Board of Appeals. But Marcus said hell likely take a different approach because this property is uniquely qualified under a different set of regulations. Marcus said he will likely present the new approach in the near future. Before that, though, he said theres a parking-related violation notice that needs to be addressed. When we address that violation, it will potentially present a key to unlock the problem of adequate parking on the site, Marcus said. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media DANBURY Security was heightened at Danbury High School on Friday in response to a social media threat, according to local authorities. Police officers were alerted to the threat Friday morning after a student at the high school reported it to school staff, police said in a Facebook post at about 10:45 a.m. Friday. They described the threat as nonspecific. The Justice Department is seeking 25 years in prison for Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as a violent plot to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House, prosecutors said in court papers filed Friday. A Washington, D.C., jury convicted Rhodes in November in one of the most consequential cases brought in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters assaulted police officers, smashed windows and temporarily halted Congress certification of Bidens victory. Prosecutors described the Oath Keepers' actions as terrorism," and told the judge that a harsh sentence is critical to deter future political violence. They wrote that Rhodes believes he has done nothing wrong and still presents a threat to American democracy and lives." Rhodes used his powers of persuasion and his platform as leader of the Oath Keepers to radicalize more than 20 other American citizens to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States," prosecutors wrote in the nearly 200-page court filing. Those who have studied Rhodes and who know him best suggest that such behavior is completely in character and unlikely to change. Jurors found that Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, plotted an armed rebellion with members of his far-right extremist group to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden. In addition to seditious conspiracy, Rhodes was convicted of obstructing Congress certification of Bidens victory. Both charges calls for up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors asked the judge to go above the standard sentencing guidelines, arguing the crimes deserve a longer sentence for terrorism because the goal was to influence the government through intimidation or coercion. Prosecutors wrote that Rhodes, in media interviews behind bars, portrays himself as a victim of a politically motivated prosecution and continues to invoke the words and deeds of the Founding Fathers in not-so-veiled calls for violent opposition to the government. Rhodes is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25. As of Friday evening, Rhodes attorneys hadnt yet filed papers indicating how much time they will ask the judge to impose. They have vowed to appeal his conviction. Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences ranging from 10 to 21 years for eight other Oath Keepers defendants convicted at trials. The Justice Department asked for 21 years behind bars for Kelly Meggs, the Florida chapter leader convicted of the sedition charge alongside Rhodes. Meggs' attorney urged the judge in court papers filed late Friday to sentence him to no more than 28 months, saying his client did not participate in any violence or destruction at the Capitol. Meggs' lawyer called what happened of Jan. 6 abhorrent," but said the events that day do not reflect Mr. Meggss true character, nor his respect for the law. "Mr. Meggs undoubtedly accepts responsibility for his actions and has spent every day while detained regretting any involvement he had with the Oath Keepers and the events of January 6," his attorney wrote. The sentencing recommendations come a day after jurors in a different case convicted four leaders of another extremist group, the Proud Boys including former national chairman Enrique Tarrio of seditious conspiracy. The Proud Boys were accused of a separate plot to forcibly keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate and former Army paratrooper, didnt go inside the Capitol. Taking the witness stand at trial, he insisted there was no plan to attack the Capitol and said the Oath Keepers who did acted on their own. Rhodes said the Oath Keepers only mission that day was to provide security for Trump ally Roger Stone and other figures at events before the riot. Prosecutors built their case around dozens of encrypted messages and other communications in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 that showed Rhodes rallying his followers to fight to defend Trump and warning they might need to rise up in insurrection" to defeat Biden if Trump didnt act. Hundreds of people have been convicted in the riot, but Rhodes and Meggs were the first Jan. 6 defendants convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy. Three other defendants on trial with them were acquitted of seditious conspiracy, but convicted of obstructing Congress. Another four Oath Keepers were convicted of the sedition charge during a second trial. These defendants were prepared to fight. Not for their country, but against it. In their own words, they were willing to die in a guerilla war to achieve their goal of halting the transfer of power after the 2020 Presidential Election, prosecutors wrote. Jurors in Rhodes case saw video of his followers wearing combat gear and shouldering their way through the crowd in military-style stack formation before forcing their way into the Capitol. Rhodes spent thousands of dollars on an AR-platform rifle, magazines, mounts, sights and other equipment on his way to Washington ahead of the riot, prosecutors told jurors. Prosecutors said Oath Keepers stashed weapons for quick reaction force teams prosecutors said were ready to get weapons into the city quickly if they were needed. The weapons were never deployed. The trial revealed new details about Rhodes efforts to pressure Trump to fight to stay in the White House in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. Shortly after the election, in a group chat that included Stone, Rhodes wrote, So will you step up and push Trump to FINALLY take decisive action? Another man testified that after the riot, Rhodes tried to persuade him to pass along a message to Trump that urged the president not to give up his fight to hold onto power. The intermediary a man who told jurors he had an indirect way to reach the president recorded his meeting with Rhodes and went to the FBI instead of giving the message to Trump. During that meeting, Rhodes said they should have brought rifles on Jan. 6. ____ Associated Press reporter Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Banking giant JPMorgan Chase is aggressively expanding its branch network across Connecticut at a time when many other financial institutions are closing their brick-and-mortar locations and investing more heavily in online and mobile technology platforms. By the end of this year, Chase Bank will have opened 20 new branch locations in Connecticut since it started the expansion program in 2019, according to Andrea Principe, northeast consumer banking divisional director. Chase has opened three new branches this year in East Hartford, Hartford's South Meadows and Storrs, and will soon open a location in Vernon. "Our philosophy is that branches are extremely important to clients," Principe said. "They want to be face-to-face with our people when they are making life decisions. It allows them to fully engage in conversations and build relationships with our people." Chase currently has 57 branches in the state, the most locations it has ever had in Connecticut, she said. The bank also has 144 ATMs and 725 employees in Connect across all of its business lines. "We continue to look at Connecticut as a market we'd like to expand in further," Principe said, adding that Chase currently has the fourth largest share of the state's banking market. But she declined to say how many more new branches Chase might add or where those new branches might be located. "It's not just a matter of picking up new branches. It's about making sure we're in the right location," Principe said. Before the bank's expansion efforts began in 2019, she said, Chase's presence was limited mainly to Fairfield County. "Now we're looking at locations across the entire state," Principe said. Over the past several decades, Chase's presence has "sort of ebbed and flowed," said John Carusone, president of the Bank Analysis Center, a Hartford-based banking consultant. Chase's current expansion effort in Connecticut "is being driven, to some extent, by chasing their clients who migrated out of Manhattan during the pandemic and came to Connecticut," Carusone said. "There is more of an opportunity for Chase to establish a footprint here because there has been consolidations by other banks in the state," he said. Chase's expansion efforts are playing out against an industry trend in the state that has banks closing branches and investing more heavily in banking platforms for online and mobile devices. Connecticut has seen the number of bank branches in the state shrink by 21 locations between June 30, 2021, and June 30, 2022, according to the latest data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Bank branch closing data for the period between July 1, 2022, and June 30 of this year will be released by the FDIC sometime this summer. Between June 2020 and June 2022, the number of bank branches in Connecticut decreased by 82 locations, according to FDIC data and analysis by Carusone, Another reason for Chase's Connecticut expansion, he said, is to win over new customers who had formerly done their banking with Bridgeport-based People's United. That bank was acquired by Buffalo, N.Y.-based M&T Bank, and when the two financial institutions merged their computer systems last September, problems associated with the conversion resulted in more than 400 complaints to Connecticut Attorney General William Tong's office. "They (Chase) wants to take advantage of that dissatisfaction," Carusone said. Principe said Connecticut is "a great market, and we want to continue to be part of the community." While some banks looking to expand will acquire locations of other banks and retrofit them, that's not Chase's style, Carusone said. So the company invests heavily in building new branches to their own specifications. "Their branches have got their own identity, their own look," he said. Briana Curran, a Chase spokeswoman, said that when the bank "enters a community, we immediately contribute to the local economy, through construction, ongoing investments and local hiring." One-time costs for construction activities related to new branches, including labor and materials, are between $2.5 million and $3 million, Curran said. Chase looks to source branch building work and materials purchases locally whenever possible, she said, and looks to devote as much as 35 percent of the construction spending to diverse contractors. Once a new branch is built and operating, Curran said, ongoing compensation expenses for branch staff, operating costs and related services tend to be between $700,000 and $1 million. "When we open a new branch, we look to hire locally, bringing opportunity to thousands of local residents across our footprint," she said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURY As college students tried to focus on final exams last week and not on rumors from Hartford that Western Connecticut State Universitys two campuses in Danbury could close this summer under a worst-case budget scenario, lawmakers insisted no such thing would happen. Western is not closing. Period, said state Rep. Bob Godfrey, a veteran Democrat and the dean of the citys Hartford delegation. The more complicated question is how will (state budget negotiators) make the cuts and where the cuts will be. Godfrey said he was assured that WCSU would not close during a conversation last week with the president of Connecticuts higher education system. He referred to a budget battle in the state capitol led by critics of ever-increasing operating subsidies for state-run universities and community colleges, especially for campuses that are struggling financially with lower enrollment, such as Western Connecticut State University. Meanwhile, some students on campus say they feel caught in the middle. Think about us, said Gabrielle ONeill, 18, a freshman from Wethersfield majoring in allied health who lives on Westerns midtown campus. Think about us trying to get our education here, trying to pursue something for ourselves. ONeill, who was walking across campus to the library Thursday morning to print a presentation for one of her classes, said the rumor felt like a threat to her future. I think its kind of messed up, actually, taking away what we have here, ONeill said. This year has been amazing. I wouldnt want to see that taken away from me. The fact that Paul Beran, the universitys interim president. assured students in an email that WCSU closure rumors came from a "fractured" closed-door conversation that wasnt realistic because it ignored the universitys $300 million impact on the greater Danbury economy resonated with students such as Marchelle Lagueux and Anthony Diorno, both nursing majors. I dont see how they can close this university I mean, were it for this side of Connecticut and New York, said Lagueux, as groups of students walked the X-patterned paths of the midtown campus quad last week. So many people come here and rely on this school. We know enrollment is down, but we havent seen any moves that look like things are (closing). I dont know why theyre picking on Western. Beran, a veteran administrator from Arkansas who was hired to clean up the fiscal mess after the 2022 departure of former president John Clark, told Hearst Connecticut Media on Friday that despite his efforts to knock down the rumor, it has been taken to an extreme level that is not reasonable. This week we have fielded a tremendous number of calls about whether we are going to close, Beran said. But I have never been given a suggestion by the state Board of Regents or the president of the system that I need to put together a plan for the closure of Western Connecticut State University. State Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, agreed, saying that she spoke with Terrence Cheng, president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, and pressed him about WCSU's future. No one in the House or the Senate or the governors office wants to close down Western, and clearly we are not going to leave students hanging in the air, Kushner said. At the same time, we do need to find more money in the budget for the state university system and our community colleges, because I dont want to see the cuts if we dont provide the funding. Defending WCSU Kushner, like other leaders in Danbury who rushed to WCSUs defense last week, said the 120-year-old university is an enormously valuable institution not only providing jobs and resources but (also) providing access to higher education for so many students who would have nowhere else to go. Farley Santos, a freshman member of Danburys state delegation, agreed. There is a need for this school here in Danbury, especially for the demographic we are serving, said Santos, a Democrat. I am a minority and looking at how Danbury is made up. WestConn for many people is the only viable option for economic reasons. The key to Westerns future is financial stability, said state Rep. Rachel Chaleski, a Republican from Danbury. WestConn officials are taking steps to right-size faculty at the school, which has been experiencing declining enrollment, Chaleski said. They are also, appropriately, taking steps to staff those professors and adjunct professors in courses for which there is a demand. Beran on Friday said he was carrying out a plan designed to lower costs through long-term efficiency, and in return was looking for the states investment. Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito said Beran has City Halls support. Since its founding, the university has successfully navigated economic and other obstacles and will continue to weather these challenges as it always has through agility and adaptability, Esposito said. I am confident President Beran will work with all stakeholders to put WCSU on the successful path. Beran said it wouldnt make economic sense or political sense to close Western. If Western suddenly closes and stops pumping $300 (million) or $350 million into the economy, that is going to leave a great hole that no politician wants to see, Beran said. Kushner agreed. (Closing) would be a disaster for Danbury if that happened, Kushner said. My takeaway from my conversation with President Cheng is he recognized how valuable WestConn is to our community. For the next step, budget negotiators in Hartford will fight to reach a compromise, ideally before Memorial Day, Godfrey said. I havent heard from parents, but I have heard from students, and I am telling them I am on their side and working within the House to request adequate funding, Godfrey said. Im optimistic we are going to come up with a solution, but I have no idea what that is going to be or when it is going to happen. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) A Texas legislative committee recommended Saturday that GOP Rep. Bryan Slaton be expelled for inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old intern. Slaton, from Royse City, could face an expulsion vote by the full House as early as Tuesday. Slaton, 45, has declined to comment on the allegations, and did not immediately respond to a phone message left by The Associated Press Saturday afternoon, but his attorney last month called the claims outrageous and false." The House General Investigative Committee's recommendation was first reported by The Texas Tribune. In the written investigation report, the committee said Slaton gave the 19-year-old intern and another young staffer alcohol at his home, that he had sex with the intern after she was intoxicated, and that he later showed the intern a threatening email but said everything would be fine if the incident was kept quiet. Slaton also asked a fellow lawmaker to keep his behavior secret, the committee said. Slaton's misconduct is grave and serious, the committee members wrote in a report, and that he furnished alcohol to a minor, violated employment laws, abused his position of power and engaged in harassment. The fact that Slaton has not expressed regret or remorse for his conduct is also egregious and unwarranted, the committee wrote. "It is the Committees unanimous recommendation that, considering the factors stated above, the only appropriate discipline in this matter is expulsion." Slatons legislative biography describes him as, a proud East Texan with values and principles that represent the great people of East Texas that were formed by his participation in church and family gatherings. It also sites his degrees from a Baptist seminary school and his work serving as a youth minister. Slaton has repeatedly pushed to ban drag shows for kids and has tweeted his support for laws prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare. Children dont need to be focused on sex and sexualization, and we need to let them just grow up to be children and let them do that as theyre getting closer to being an adult, Slaton said in an interview last year. The misconduct investigation began after two 19-year-old legislative aides and a 21-year-old legislative intern filed complaints in April. The committee hired a former state judge to conduct the investigation, which confirmed the complaints, Committee Chairman Andrew Murr, a Republican, told the 150-member House on Saturday. Murr said he expects a resolution calling for Slatons expulsion on Tuesday. Expelling Slaton would require a two-thirds vote from House members. In the complaints, two of the women said they tried to dissuade the intern from spending time with Slaton and suggested that his behavior was inappropriate. But the intern, who one complainant described as naive, was not convinced and so agreed to Slaton's request to visit his apartment on the night of March 31. The other women went with her, according to the report, and the lawmaker served them rum and cokes. One of the young women drank enough to vomit; the intern was really dizzy and had split vision according to the report. The other women eventually left the home but the intern reportedly stayed. She told her friends that Slaton drove her home the next morning, stopping at a drugstore so she could obtain emergency contraception on the way, according to the report. The Associated Press found that between 2017 and 2021, at least 120 state lawmakers in 41 states have faced public allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment. Among those cases was an Idaho lawmaker who was eventually convicted in 2022 of raping a legislative intern. Often, lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct run again for office and are re-elected. Efforts to remove them are rarer. But this year, a handful of lawmakers nationwide have been expelled or barred from Statehouses for simply taking part in protests or violating decorum rules. Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who is transgender, was barred by Republicans from the House floor after she rebuked colleagues supporting a ban on gender-affirming care for children and opposed their efforts to silence her. Two Democratic lawmakers from Tennessee were expelled by Republicans in April for their role in a protest calling for more gun control after a deadly school shooting in Nashville. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ANSONIA Christine Holloways family says her accused killer is a bad liar, but more than three years after his arrest, theyre still hoping hell give them the truth. Holloways daughter, Vanessa Morales, has been missing since her mothers brutal murder inside a Myrtle Avenue apartment in December 2019. A murder charge is pending in Holloways killing against Vanessas father, Jose Morales. The case could go to trial this fall. While the family is still holding out hope for her safe return, what they want more than anything are answers. The only thing we would accept for a plea (deal): produce Vanessa. Bad or good, said Jodi Jacobellis, Holloways sister-in-law. The family still believes Vanessa is alive and well somewhere. But Jacobellis said shes also troubled by certain memories of the couples turbulent relationship, including Morales questioning his paternity. Morales wasnt at the hospital for Vanessas birth, Jacobellis said and while he FaceTimed Christine afterward while claiming he was waiting for his other children to get home from school, He wasnt a very good liar because we were friends on Facebook at the time and he was at a party," she said. Then he proceeded to say, while everybody was in the room, That babys not mine. Shes too white, Jacobellis said. While the thought of Morales killing Vanessa is almost too painful to bear, she said she cant rule it out. It lives in the back of my mind only because he kept on saying she wasnt his, Jacobellis said. And that scares me. And if it is true, then we would like to lay her with her mother. In the immediate aftermath of Holloways December 2019 killing and Vanessas subsequent disappearance, there was widespread public attention on the case and a resultant flood of tips. In the years since, that attention has waned, as have leads as to Vanessas whereabouts. We are continuing to receive tips. They have unfortunately slowed down, Ansonia Police Lt. Patrick Lynch said. Unfortunately, nothing has panned out at this time. We are where we were on Dec. 2, 2019. Vanessa is missing and we dont know where she is. Still, the family has hope. Jacobellis says that despite not having seen her niece for nearly four years, she still re-reads the arrest warrant affidavit against Morales in search of possible clues, and looks out for her wherever she goes. I cant imagine what she looks like now, but when I go out, I always look at childrens eyes, because I know her eyes wont change, she said. Its sad that I have to do that, and I know everyone in my family, when they go out, they look at a little kid and wonder Is that Vanessa? As long as you dont have a body, theres always the possibility that somebody has the child, said retired FBI Special Agent Kenneth Gray, a senior lecturer at the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven. A family member or friend or stranger. She has to be with someone (Morales) trusts, Jacobellis said. I honestly feel shes not in Connecticut. In the weeks following the homicide, some suggested Morales might have had Vanessa taken to Puerto Rico, where he was born Jacobellis said a few weeks after her sister-in-laws killing, a co-worker went to the island with her family and her kids IDs were never checked. Then I heard reports around that time that cameras werent working in the airports. Gray said transporting a child that young so far and not being detected would be next to impossible unless you were wealthy and did it with your own plane or had a boat you could do it without being out in public. As time goes by, it becomes likelier that only Morales will be able to answer the question of what happened. The only other person that were aware of that has information would be Jose, Lynch said. But police cant compel him to talk, especially with the murder charge pending. Its up to him and his attorney to approach us, Lynch said. We cant approach him. That hasnt happened yet, so its unlikely to anytime soon, Gray said. There is no incentive to provide any information, and theres a lot of reasons why not to provide information, he said. Connecticut doesnt have a death penalty anymore. Consequently, that cant be held over him. Hes looking at potentially being convicted and sentenced to the maximum on (Holloways murder) already, so I dont know what the state has to offer him unless they can appeal simply to have him get this off of his chest. Morales lawyer, Edward Gavin, declined to comment, noting that Morales hasnt been charged in connection to Vanessas disappearance. Morales remains jailed in lieu of more than $5 million bond. As the murder case has plodded along, beset by procedural issues and delays, Jacobellis and other members of Holloway's family attend every hearing. "The reason we show up is to show that no matter what, we're going to support Chrissy," Jacobellis said. "We want him to see our faces, to know we're fighting for justice for her. And to find Vanessa." Though leads have slowed, Lynch said the probe into the disappearance is still very much an active investigation. I can tell you its not a cold case right now, Lynch said. Russia said Saturday its forces had downed a Ukrainian missile over the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, amid an expected offensive by Kyiv. "Air defence forces shot down a ballistic missile over the Republic of Crimea. The missile was launched with Ukraine's Grim-2 system. There was no damage or casualties," the Moscow-appointed governor of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov said on social media. His advisor Oleg Kryuchkov later said two such missiles were shot down, Russian news agencies reported. AFP was unable to verify the claims. State-run agency TASS said this was the second official confirmation of a Grim missile being neutralised over Crimea, after a first reported case in April. Russia has in recent weeks seen an uptick in drone incursions and train sabotage, which experts suggest are part of Ukraine's preparations for an expected spring offensive. Moscow has denounced Ukrainian "sabotage" of an "unprecedented momentum", but Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for any of the incidents. Search Keywords: Short link: The third application was a charm for Kai-Yu Wang. But for the Brock University professor, it wasnt simply the end results that mattered just as important were the steps that led him on the path to achieving his final goal. The recognition, however, didnt hurt. The Brock University Goodman School of Business marketing professor was awarded the 2023 3M National Teaching Fellowship, one of 10 given out nationwide each year. The 13th Brock recipient but first from Brocks business school Wang said he was extremely honoured and thrilled to receive one of Canadas most prestigious post-secondary teaching excellence awards. Sponsored by 3M Canada and the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, the fellowship created in 1986 honours exceptional contributions to teaching, learning and leadership at the post-secondary level. To be recognized for teaching innovation and educational leadership, in particular, was special because Wang said those elements werent at the forefront of his professional mind years ago. Wang was born in Taiwan, where he earned his bachelors degree in psychology and business, as well as his masters degree, before moving to the U.S. for his PhD. He came to Brock in 2007, wanting to follow in the footsteps of his own professors who cared not only about his academic performance, but about his life and career. In his first three years on campus, two Brock professors were recipients of the fellowship and Wang said he read their profiles, admiring the work they had done. Every year that followed including after submitting his first two fellowship applications he would read the names of those who did win, thinking what else can I improve in terms of teaching and innovation and leadership so that I could be part of this prestigious group? Thats very beneficial to me personally, for my professional growth. It forced me to think about what are my visions and what do I want to do, said Wang, also chair of the schools marketing, international business and strategy department. He began to think about what he wanted to achieve. Wang turned his attention to experiential education, creating curriculum to allow his digital marketing students to gain real-world experience within the learning environment. In the past decade, Wang developed a unique partnership model, connecting students to community partners, which forced students to apply what they learned in the classroom to solve the real-world problem. Students are trained throughout the year to develop marketing proposals and solutions for local businesses, with hands-on experience and simulations. In the last two weeks of the course, the students run the campaigns themselves. Ensuring all the details are in place within the curriculum and students are equipped with the skills they need to be confident adds to his own workload, but Wang doesnt mind. Sometimes my colleagues will say, Youre too crazy, but when you see the students smile, when they complete the project, they got the job offer, you see the smile from the community partner you feel that I have to do it again, said Wang, whose students have completed projects with 110 local businesses over the past 11 years. As the first business fellow, Wang said his dean has already given him tasks to encourage and promote experiential education, helping develop the second and third teaching fellowships in the near future, which he is happy to do. But he is looking beyond the business department, wanting to assist faculty in every department who are so passionate about teaching. The awards evaluation committed also noted Wangs desire to assist outside the university, launching a eight-week online digital marketing micro-credential program helping train and equip professionals in Niagara looking to enter the industry or enhance their digital marketing skills. Through his years at Brock, Wang has been recognized with the 2020 Brock University Award for Distinguished Teaching, the 2021 Goodman Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2022 Society for Marketing Advanced Distinguished Teaching Award. But the fellowship is something special, now a lifetime member of the national organization working to advance teaching and learning in higher education. International student in the States come here on a work visa, (become) Canadian and then become professor receiving the fellowship, the most prestigious teaching award in Canada I just feel thats quite a journey for me, said Wang. SHARE: Russia's foreign ministry said Saturday the United States was "primarily" to blame for an explosion that killed one person and wounded pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin. "The responsibility for this terrorist act, and for others, does not lie only with Ukraine, but also with its Western minders, primarily the United States," the ministry said. "The lack of condemnation by Washington after another terrorist act... is self-revealing," the statement added. "The silence of the relevant international organisations is unacceptable." The attack against Prilepin, a vocal supporter of the Ukraine offensive, was "another manifestation of (Kyiv's) systemic approach of eliminating ideological opponents" said the ministry. Such methods were "actively implanted in Ukraine since 2014 thanks to Washington's efforts," it said. Moscow sees the 2014 pro-European Union Maidan revolution in Ukraine as a Western-backed coup aimed at weakening Russia in what it considers its sphere of influence. Search Keywords: Short link: Saying theyre underpaid, overworked, and frustrated by a lack of resources to do their jobs, a provincewide poll of registered practical nurses has shown more than 60 per cent of them are considering leaving the profession. I got into nursing because I care about people, said Briar Moore, an RPN and chief steward for SEIU Healthcare at Niagara Health hospitals. It breaks my heart every time I have to say, Im sorry I have to go do something else. Im sorry, I dont have time for this. These patients deserve 100 per cent from us. Nurses, she added, deserve to be paid for what we do. Moore was one of several speakers at media conference held in front of St. Catharines hospital Friday, held to share results of a poll conducted by Nanos Research and commissioned by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The poll, conducted in March, asked 1,000 RPNs about the working conditions they faced, as well as about workplace moral and the burnout that is very real to them, said Sharon Richer, secretary-treasurer for CUPEs Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. Richer said consistent under-staffing and overwork is having a big impact on the RPNs the two unions represent. As a result of that, combined with subpar wages, she said 62 per cent of poll respondents said they were considering leaving the profession at a time when the province is already struggling with severe nursing shortage. This is a large number of RPNs who are thinking they should leave the hospital, she said, adding about 40 per cent of those nurses said the wages they receive do not match the workload they are being asked to do. Richer said RPNs are doing almost 96 per cent of the same work as a registered nurse for much, much lower pay. Despite the similarities in their scope of practice, she said registered practical nurses are paid at least $15 an hour less than registered nurses. Richer said the Ontario government seems to be turning a blind eye to the problems contributing to the increasing shortage of nurses, while other provinces are taking steps to address the issues. RPNs here in Niagara have been effectively rewarded with a drastic cut. As we see the cost of living going up their wages are shrinking by nearly 12 per cent, she said. This is shameful. These people are what brought us through the pandemic. They showed up for work every single day and here we are begging for a wage increase. She said RPNs are poised to fall further behind other health-care staff, including personal support workers who recently were granted a well deserved $2 an hour wage increase. Arbitrators have also awarded registered nurses retroactive wage increases for the past three years while Bill 124 was in place provincial legislation that was deemed unconstitutional in November, limiting public sector salaries to one per cent per year. The increases include additional wage increases of 0.75 per cent for 2020, one per cent in 2021 and two per cent in 2022. These RPNs are feeling like no one cared about them and we need to stop this, Richer said. This is an unsustainable way to deal with health care in Ontario. Jackie Walker can hear the frustration in the voices of the registered practical nurses she works with daily, as president of SEIU Healthcares nursing division. You can hear theres a struggle to go to work, you can hear theyre struggling to pay their bills, theyre struggling to show up everyday and do the best they can with the very little resources that we have, Walker said. When six out of 10 registered practical nurses say theyre considering leaving the profession, we need to acknowledge (Premier Doug) Ford is not doing a good enough job in acknowledging and addressing this crisis. Walker said the solution to the problem is simple. Pay registered practical nurses 70 per cent of the RN salary for doing (more than) 90 per cent of their scope of practice, and increase a minimum universal wage across all sectors thats long-term care, home and community care, the hospital sector, she said. That will keep registered practical nurses, who once loved what they did, had pride in what they did, at the bedside. Richer said that would increase the salaries of RPNs to at least $35 an hour, up from an average of about $31.18. Were not asking for gobs of money, she said. Walker said the unions will enter arbitration for a new contract for RPNs on May 10, in the midst of nursing week May 8 to 14, and they plan to show the province what could be at stake if the concerns are not addressed. She said the poll also found about 82 per cent of RPNs experience high levels of stress, 64 per cent have difficulty sleeping and dread going into work every day, and two in five experience feelings of depression. That is something we should all be concerned about, she said. When I started nursing, I was really proud. When I started working with my union, I was really proud to represent registered practical nurses. But that pride is kind of dwindling when I look around and see nurses are suffering. Gesturing to St. Catharines hospital behind her, she said dreams of working in a hospital like this one or at a nursing home, those dreams are turning into dread and thats not right. SHARE: How is the delivery of health care in Niagara doing? There are two answers to that question, and they vary depending on the angle you look from. Up close, the same frustrations remain most times of day, patients who go to either a hospital emergency department or one of the urgent-care centres face long waits. On Wednesday evening, for example, wait times ranged from two and a half hours at the Niagara Falls hospital ER to three hours everywhere else. That leaves few options for anyone shopping for the shortest stay for treatment, but on the bright side it can get worse and often does. Niagara still needs more doctors, as we heard last week from Niagara Region Public Health physician recruitment and retention specialist Jill Croteau. She said Welland, with about 55,000 residents, needs another 17 family doctors to meet local needs. A year ago, Croteau reported Niagara region as a whole needs 345 family doctors who are taking patients, but it had only 255, a shortfall of 90 MDs. Blame it on a lot of factors: Niagara has a greater share of older people than most other parts of Ontario, including family doctors; the fact every municipality is competing for more doctors; the health system is still recovering from the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. Niagaras not in a bubble, and these issues persist to varying degrees across Ontario. Not to make light of them health care is serious business but thats the way it is, and it will take time to correct the problems. Take a step back, though, to see the bigger picture and there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic that the condition of Niagaras health care is improving. The clearest sign of that is happening at the intersection of Biggar and Montrose roads in Niagara Falls. Finally, the heavy machinery is out and the site is being prepared to house the new south Niagara hospital with a projected 2028 opening date. At about 1.3 million square feet in size and with numerous state-of-the-art features, its expected to provide 469 beds (30 critical care, 170 complex care, and 269 for surgical patients). At the other end of Niagara, construction continues on the new West Niagara hospital for residents in the regions west end. It is expected to be ready for occupancy in two years. This week, a groundbreaking was held to start work on a new 10-bed Hospice Niagara site being built in Welland through an expansion of Foyer Richelieu. Hospice Niagara will also open a 10-bed facility in Fort Erie, at the site of the new Niagara Region nursing home that will replace the aging Gilmore Lodge. When its all done, that will boost Hospice Niagaras complement of beds to 30 from its current 10. Providing a place for terminally ill people to spend their final days in comfort is important; health care is cradle to grave. Also this week, Niagara Health was able to launch a new program that will make it a national leader in hospital-based medical research, led by Dr. Jennifer Tsang and paid for through a $4-million donation by the McCall MacBain Foundation. The idea is to introduce more research programs in local hospitals, where the hard work of health care really happens. As an example, Tsang pointed to the research hospitals carried out on COVID-19 while the virus continued to spread and mutate, resulting in real-time and practice-changing work that led to many high-impact publications. The view of local health care from 30,000 feet looks promising; closer up, many frustrations remain. Thats no consolation to people who need to see a doctor right now, but it does point to a better future. SHARE: When British Columbia school counsellor Tulani Pierce started noticing mental health trouble in some of her students last year, she said it gave her an idea: ban cellphones in the classroom. They were distracted and they had a hard time putting their phones away, she said. Its been five months since students at Chatelech Secondary School on B.C.s Sunshine Coast have been banned from using their cellphones without permission, and Pierce said theyve seen promising results. We are seeing improved mental health, were seeing decreased bullying, were seeing more engagement in class, were seeing more social interaction, kids are playing again instead of being on their phones and were seeing increased academic success. Pierce began lobbying for the policy change, but said it was never meant to be a punishment for students. Now more than ever, I feel like our students, for their mental health, need us to provide boundaries around technology and they will have to learn how to balance that, she said. So, we are trying to be that balance for kids when they come to school. She said when the students were first told about the ban, some were angry and upset, while others were extremely relieved. We care about our kids that much and the reason why we did this was because of the mental health, academic achievement and equity issues, she said, adding that not all families can afford cellphones for their children. Robert Schumann, a physical education teacher at the school, said he has watched the gradual rise of cellphone use in schools for over two decades, and the ban is a turnaround for students. They are joking around and actually engaging in classes, Schumann said, and he attributes the transformation to the schools no-cellphone policy. Hallway posters greet Chatelechs students telling them to turn it off and put it away. The school policy requires all cellphones and electronic devices to be turned off during classroom time and the time before and between classes. Students are asked to keep their phones either in lockers or in backpacks. All teachers are responsible for enforcing the rules, and those who break them are directed to put their devices in a secure location for the rest of the school day. Students and their families were given six weeks notice to prepare for the change. The past several months have been a journey for everyone, but the process was going smoothly with help from colleagues and parents who have been incredibly supportive, she said. Rules for cellphones in schools vary from province to province. Ontario has a blanket ban to restrict students from using mobile devices during instructional time. B.C.s Education Ministry said in a statement that school districts and individual schools are responsible for managing students use of technology, and some have established policies governing the use of phones on school grounds. As one of the latest to adopt a cellphone ban, Chatelech Secondarys policy has received mixed reactions from educators with some applauding the results while others claim an outright ban isnt a solution. Shimi Kang, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, said its an example of how one teacher can start leading a change. In general, its a good idea because if we want to have someones attention whether its in a conversation or in a classroom, you need to have the screens away, said Kang, who wrote a book on the subject, The Tech Solution, Creating Healthy Habits for Kids Growing Up In a Digital World. Although there is never one rule that works for everything, the gesture of moving screens away from students could have many benefits, she said. Teachers satisfaction goes up, students learning goes up, and very importantly, the student community improves because the kids are now looking and talking to each other and making friendships instead of going on their screens. Kangs message to teachers and parents is that they shouldnt be afraid to set limits on cellphone use, she said. However, former Vancouver School Board chair Patti Bacchus disagrees with a ban, saying its a 1960s solution to a 2023 problem. The education commentator said she has no doubt that cellphones could be a distraction in class, but over her last ten years working in many schools, she doesnt see phones as a big problem. I would not want to be a teacher tasked with enforcing this and constantly having to police somebody who brought their phone to school, Bacchus said. Students have lives going on outside of the class, such as taking care of siblings or doing part-time jobs and they may need phones to manage these tasks, she said. Bacchus said people also need to accept the fact that phones are ubiquitous components of modern life, and the technology is not going away. Instead, she said teachers should perhaps take the opportunity to talk about addiction, list the pros and cons of using phones and leave it up to students to decide. I would rather educate and make students become critical thinkers. What are the impacts of screen time? How does that affect you? What does science tell us and learn about it? Learn about it from that perspective, use it as an educational opportunity as opposed to, lets just make rules and hide from it because that is not education, Bacchus said. Pierce said her goal is to see students across Canada taking a break from their phones in school rather than constantly checking social media notifications and responding to texts. I hope to inspire others. Its hard work, but its good work, Pierce said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2023. This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship. SHARE: GRAND FORKS, B.C. - The threat of flooding throughout British Columbias Interior continued to spread Saturday as a combination of warm weather and rain drove higher flows in rivers and streams, putting several communities and their residents in harms way. According to the provinces River Forecast Centre, about half of B.C. is under flood watches, warnings or advisories. Three regions Boundary, Cache Creek and Whiteman Creek in the Okanagans are under active flood warnings. The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary was the busiest region in terms of flood activity Saturday, with the City of Grand Forks declaring a state of local emergency and issuing mandatory evacuation orders for 40 properties in and around the community. Grand Forks, located about 530 kilometres east of Vancouver, has also added 10 properties on the citys waterfront to its evacuation alert list, as the Granby and Kettle rivers are seeing fast-moving waters represent a significant hazard. Grand Forks Mayor Everett Baker said crews have been preparing all week to combat the flooding, deploying 35,000 sandbags to four strategic points within the city to mitigate the effects of high water levels. Not all areas, however, could be protected, Baker said. With the rain overnight, the Kettle has certainly come up, and the Granby is slowly coming up, he said. So weve had to put some evacuation notices in the areas that we cannot protect. Grand Forks mandatory evacuation areas include 34 properties in the Johnson Flats neighbourhood south of the city, as well as six properties to the citys east, near Grand Forks Airport. The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary also has active evacuation alerts for communities such as Fruitvale, Christina Lake and Midway. In the nearby Regional District of Central Kootenay, properties in the community of Vallican, 660 kilometres east of Vancouver, remain under a mix of evacuation orders and alerts. However, threat levels alleviated enough for officials to rescind the evacuation alerts in the village of Salmo, its neighbouring communities of Erie and Ymir, as well as for several properties in Duhamel Creek. In the Okanagan region 390 kilometres east of Vancouver, an evacuation alert remained in place in Okanagan Falls properties adjacent to Shuttleworth Creek, while the Okanagan Indian Band has issued an evacuation order for a small number of homes along Whitemans Creek while at least five other locations nearby are seeing rising levels. The River Forecast Centre has also added new flood watches further north, with the Upper Fraser River and tributaries upstream of Prince George now under flood watch. Heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, following a week of record-setting temperatures that melted the snowpack, has swollen rivers and creeks and set off mudslides. Baker said local forecasts call for more rain in Grand Forks, followed by a stretch of warm weather early next week none of which would alleviate the rising water levels in the region. We will just leave them up for as long as necessary, Baker said of the sandbags and other flood prevention measures put in place. We are just going to leave the work stuff that weve done, continue to support them where we can, and watch the rivers. The province says it has deployed more than 200,000 sandbags to communities including Grand Forks and Cache Creek. Cache Creek has been hit particularly hard in the last week, with water flowing through homes and businesses. The Ministry of Transportation says it is putting equipment and materials at key locations and keeping an eye on infrastructure that may need to be reinforced. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2023. Read more about: SHARE: Sandra Bradley has decided her life is worth $1 million. Its the cold calculation the Minden, Ont. woman is being forced to make in a complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in a bid to halt the closure of her local emergency department (ED). Through her complaint, Bradley, a stroke survivor who suffers from chronic pain, is seeking a moratorium on the closure of the busy Minden emergency department in the heart of Haliburton cottage country, set to shut down on June 1. She is also seeking $1 million an amount she believes to be the value of her life if she were to die due to an unreasonable delay in being transported to the next closest ED in Haliburton. I think this move that theyre making is very ill thought out and I know they can reverse it, said Bradley, 61, who in addition to the chronic pain and the effects of the stroke from several years ago, is also a thyroid-cancer survivor. To get to the Minden ED now, she says, takes about 15 minutes a time that will more than double if she has to go to Haliburton. I dont think theres any need for it. Last month the Haliburton Highlands Health Services Board (HHHS) announced that Minden emergency services will be brought together with those at the Haliburton Hospital on June 1. The difficult decision to consolidate emergency care was based on the significant and persistent physician and nursing staff shortages experienced by HHHS, as a result of the global healthcare staffing crisis, said board president and CEO Carolyn Plummer in a statement to the Star. The staff shortages meant HHHS had to take extraordinary measures to keep both the Minden and Haliburton EDs operating and required significant and professional sacrifices from staff, according to the boards website. By bringing together HHHS emergency services at one site, there will be more staff available to help create a more stable and effective staffing situation overall. No jobs will be lost as a result of this decision, the website reads. The move comes amidst the backdrop of broader public health-care cuts by the provincial government, from slashing fees doctors charge for virtual care to ending medical funding for the uninsured. Hannah Jensen, a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones, claims the move is not a closure, but rather a consolidation that will ensure patients are receiving emergency care in the location that is best equipped to provide urgent acute care as the Minden site was used primarily to stabilize patients before being dispatched to larger centers and did not have any inpatient beds. She noted that the Minden site will continue to offer some services. Bradley and thousands of other locals arent buying it. A week ago, NDP health critic France Gelinas submitted a petition with more than 3,300 resident signatures seeking a one-year moratorium on the Minden closure. In the summer months, this is cottage country, thousands of people go there. More and more people are moving to that area, and it comes down to equity of access, Gelinas told the Star. Minden Hills Mayor Bob Carter says there was a lack of consultation with community stakeholders on the ED closure, which is set to take place just before the area swells with thousands of cottagers and tourists. He says that to change a system that has been working for 30 years and do it all in six weeks seems like such folly. Bradleys human rights complaint claims she is being discriminated against based on her disability and age. As a person with a disability and a complex number of medical issues that does not drive a motor vehicle, I am now located 42 kilometres from an emergency department. I am presently located 18 kilometres from the Minden emergency department, her complaint reads. I feel this is an unreasonable restriction on my access to emergency health-care services. Tanya Walker, a lawyer with the firm Walker Law in Toronto, said Bradleys case could be a challenge because the Minden ED will be closed to everyone, not just to people of a certain race or disability or those experiencing discrimination under any other grounds listed in the Ontario Human Rights Code. She added that it may be difficult for Bradley to receive a $1-million award as the HRTO has historically limited awards for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect to $20,000. Sandras husband, Richard Bradley, acknowledges you cant put a value on a life, but he and his wife picked $1 million in compensation to make a point. Theyve got to know were serious, he says. He notes that Mindens ED was not among those forced to temporarily close due to staffing shortages during the pandemic. A recent Star analysis found that 158 ED closures took place between February 2022 and February 2023, affecting 24 Ontario hospitals serving primarily rural areas. Arguably, with more people moving up since the pandemic and working remotely, we actually need more emergency care. So it just makes no sense to us. And we got six weeks notice I couldnt get a permit to build a deck in six weeks, says Richard, vowing to follow the complaint until the bitter end. If we allow it to close on June 1, we know well never get it back. He adds that having an ED in Minden is crucial for those experiencing time-sensitive, life-threatening medical events. If Im having a heart attack or a stroke, they can do emergency interventions to keep you alive long enough to get you to a more specialized place, he says. Were in a hell of a mess here. SHARE: The Justice Department is seeking 25 years in prison for Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as a violent plot to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House, prosecutors said in court papers filed Friday. A Washington, D.C., jury convicted Rhodes in November in one of the most consequential cases brought in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of then-President Donald Trumps supporters assaulted police officers, smashed windows and temporarily halted Congress certification of Bidens victory. Prosecutors described the Oath Keepers actions as terrorism, and told the judge that a harsh sentence is critical to deter future political violence. They wrote that Rhodes believes he has done nothing wrong and still presents a threat to American democracy and lives. Rhodes used his powers of persuasion and his platform as leader of the Oath Keepers to radicalize more than 20 other American citizens to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States, prosecutors wrote in the nearly 200-page court filing. Those who have studied Rhodes and who know him best suggest that such behavior is completely in character and unlikely to change. Jurors found that Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, plotted an armed rebellion with members of his far-right extremist group to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden. In addition to seditious conspiracy, Rhodes was convicted of obstructing Congress certification of Bidens victory. Both charges calls for up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors asked the judge to go above the standard sentencing guidelines, arguing the crimes deserve a longer sentence for terrorism because the goal was to influence the government through intimidation or coercion. Prosecutors wrote that Rhodes, in media interviews behind bars, portrays himself as a victim of a politically motivated prosecution and continues to invoke the words and deeds of the Founding Fathers in not-so-veiled calls for violent opposition to the government. Rhodes is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25. As of Friday evening, Rhodes attorneys hadnt yet filed papers indicating how much time they will ask the judge to impose. They have vowed to appeal his conviction. Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences ranging from 10 to 21 years for eight other Oath Keepers defendants convicted at trials. The Justice Department asked for 21 years behind bars for Kelly Meggs, the Florida chapter leader convicted of the sedition charge alongside Rhodes. Meggs attorney urged the judge in court papers filed late Friday to sentence him to no more than 28 months, saying his client did not participate in any violence or destruction at the Capitol. Meggs lawyer called what happened of Jan. 6 abhorrent, but said the events that day do not reflect Mr. Meggss true character, nor his respect for the law. Mr. Meggs undoubtedly accepts responsibility for his actions and has spent every day while detained regretting any involvement he had with the Oath Keepers and the events of January 6, his attorney wrote. The sentencing recommendations come a day after jurors in a different case convicted four leaders of another extremist group, the Proud Boys including former national chairman Enrique Tarrio of seditious conspiracy. The Proud Boys were accused of a separate plot to forcibly keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate and former Army paratrooper, didnt go inside the Capitol. Taking the witness stand at trial, he insisted there was no plan to attack the Capitol and said the Oath Keepers who did acted on their own. Rhodes said the Oath Keepers only mission that day was to provide security for Trump ally Roger Stone and other figures at events before the riot. Prosecutors built their case around dozens of encrypted messages and other communications in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 that showed Rhodes rallying his followers to fight to defend Trump and warning they might need to rise up in insurrection to defeat Biden if Trump didnt act. Hundreds of people have been convicted in the riot, but Rhodes and Meggs were the first Jan. 6 defendants convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy. Three other defendants on trial with them were acquitted of seditious conspiracy, but convicted of obstructing Congress. Another four Oath Keepers were convicted of the sedition charge during a second trial. These defendants were prepared to fight. Not for their country, but against it. In their own words, they were willing to die in a guerilla war to achieve their goal of halting the transfer of power after the 2020 Presidential Election, prosecutors wrote. Jurors in Rhodes case saw video of his followers wearing combat gear and shouldering their way through the crowd in military-style stack formation before forcing their way into the Capitol. Rhodes spent thousands of dollars on an AR-platform rifle, magazines, mounts, sights and other equipment on his way to Washington ahead of the riot, prosecutors told jurors. Prosecutors said Oath Keepers stashed weapons for quick reaction force teams prosecutors said were ready to get weapons into the city quickly if they were needed. The weapons were never deployed. The trial revealed new details about Rhodes efforts to pressure Trump to fight to stay in the White House in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. Shortly after the election, in a group chat that included Stone, Rhodes wrote, So will you step up and push Trump to FINALLY take decisive action? Another man testified that after the riot, Rhodes tried to persuade him to pass along a message to Trump that urged the president not to give up his fight to hold onto power. The intermediary a man who told jurors he had an indirect way to reach the president recorded his meeting with Rhodes and went to the FBI instead of giving the message to Trump. During that meeting, Rhodes said they should have brought rifles on Jan. 6. ____ Associated Press reporter Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed. SHARE: TALLINN, Estonia (AP) Russias top investigative agency on Saturday said the suspect in a car bombing that injured a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist and killed his driver has admitted acting at the behest of Ukraines special services. The blast that hit the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of Russias war in Ukraine, was the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the conflict. It took place in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. Prilepin was hospitalized with broken bones, brusied lungs and other injuries; the regional governor daid he had been put into a medical sleep, but did not elaborate. Russias Investigative Committee said the suspect was a Ukrainian native and had admitted under questioning that he was working under orders from Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry in turn blamed not only Ukraine but the United States as well. Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with the Ukrainian authorities, but with their Western patrons, in the first place, the United States, who since the coup detat of February 2014 have painstakingly nurtured the anti-Russian neo-Nazi project in Ukraine, the ministry said, referring to the 2014 uprising in Kyiv that forced the Russia-friendly president to flee. In August 2022, a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as Putins brain. The authorities alleged that Ukraine was behind the blast. Last month, an explosion in a cafe in St. Petersburg killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. Officials once again blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies. Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Prilepin was traveling back to Moscow on Saturday from Ukraines partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and stopped in the Nizhny Novogorod region for a meal. Prilepin became a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, after Putin illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula. He was involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of Russian-backed separatists. Last year, he was sanctioned by the European Union for his support of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2020, he founded a political party, For the Truth, which Russian media reported was backed by the Kremlin. A year later, Prilepins party merged with the nationalist A Just Russia party that has seats in the parliament. A co-chair of the newly formed party, Prilepin won a seat in the State Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, in the 2021 election, but gave it up. Party leader Sergei Mironov called the incident on Saturday a terrorist act and blamed Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed Mironovs sentiment in a post on the messaging app Telegram, adding that responsibility also lay with the U.S. and NATO. Washington and NATO have nursed yet another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime, Zakharova wrote. Direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain. Were praying for Zakhar. The deputy chair of Russias Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev put the blame on Nazi extremists in a telegram he sent to Prilepin. Ukrainian officials havent commented directly on the allegations. However, Ukraines presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, in a tweet on Saturday, appeared to point the finger at the Kremlin, saying that to prolong the agony of Putins clan and maintain the illusionary total control, the Russian repression machine picks up the pace and catches up with everyone, including supporters of the Ukraine war. SHARE: Theres nothing like a royal occasion to get everyone to raise their style game even if the dress code is somewhat tricky, given that its been 70 years since anyone last had to parse the sartorial etiquette of one of these things. In the end, the coronation of King Charles III was a much more sartorially casual event than the ermined-and-bejeweled affairs of centuries past. Fascinators, not tiaras, were the order of the day. While King Charles III dazzled in his regal regalia there were multiple costume changes, including two different velvet robes, and two priceless crowns he had the unfair advantage of several centuries of monarchs doing the thinking on those choices for him. Prince William, who paid formal homage to his father during the service by kneeling and pledging his allegiance, wore similarly formal garb, including the uniform of the Welsh Guards and the robes for the Order of the Garter, the realms most senior knighthood. Almost everyone else, however, was in largely unprecedented territory. Here are the people who managed it the best, emerging as best dressed at the coronation of King Charles III. Left: Queen Camilla, wearing a modified version of Queen Mary's Crown. Right: Kate, Princess of Wales, in Alexander McQueen. Pool photos via AP Catherine, Princess of Wales In the events leading up to the coronation, Kate Middleton slowly ticked off a roll-call of her favourite British designers: Jenny Packham, Self Portrait and Catherine Walker. For the coronation itself, however, the Princess of Wales opted to wear Alexander McQueen, the same fashion house that made the wedding dress she wore in that same abbey 13 years ago. Kates dress was made from ivory silk and embroidered in silver bullion with four flowers symbolizing each country in the United Kingdom: a thistle for Scotland, a shamrock for Northern Ireland, a daffodil for Wales and a rose for England. Over her dress, she wore the purple robes of the Royal Victorian Order, which recognizes personal service to the monarch. Notably, Kate did not wear a tiara, opting instead to wear a head piece, as the palace officially dubbed it. Crafted from crystal and silver thread, Kates head piece was a collaboration between milliner Jess Collett and Alexander McQueen. In the only nod to the late Princess Diana at the coronation, Kate also wore a pair of pearl-and-diamond earrings that belonged to Diana (albeit ones that were gifted to her before she married Charles). The earrings have since become a favourite of Kates; she even wore them in her 40th birthday portrait. Queen Camilla As was widely predicted, Queen Camilla leaned on her go-to couturier, Bruce Oldfield, to create her coronation gown. Made in his atelier in Battersea - an area of London a short jaunt from Buckingham Palace - it's made from Peau de Soie, a lustrous, matte silk, and specifically designed to work with the two robes she'll wear today. In true royal fashion, it's embroidered with symbolic motifs: daisies, forget-me-nots, celadines and scarlet pimpernels that all represent the couple's love of the British countryside, and the four flowers of the four UK nations. For a touch of whimsy - the only thing playful about Camilla on this today, who looked understandably overwhelmed - there was "celebratory bunting" in the mix too. Left: Princess Charlotte in Alexander McQueen. Right: Pippa Middleton in a soft yellow coat dress paired a sculptural hat. Pool photo via AP; WPA/Getty Images Princess Charlotte In a very sweet mother-daughter moment, Princess Charlotte wore a scaled-down version of Kates dress. Also made by Alexander McQueen, Charlottes dress echoed many of the same touches: ivory silk, embroidery, even the cape, although Charlottes was incorporated as a very chic capelet on her dress. Ditto her circlet of silver flowers, which were created by milliner Jess Collett and Alexander McQueen. Pippa Middleton Kates sister who will, one day, attend her siblings coronation as queen wore a custom coat dress by British designer Claire Mischevani. Left: Princess Beatrice in a magenta tea dress. Right: Brigitte Macron in a sharp-shouldered pink coat. WPA/Getty Images; Pool photo via AP Princess Beatrice An underrated style star of the royal family, Princess Beatrice wore a deceptively simple looking ensemble that actually whispered quiet luxury. Beatrices bold pink dress was from Beulah London and she wore a (very large) silk headband by Emily London. Her Garrard earrings, though, were the standout: a casual $50,000 worth of sapphires and opals. Brigitte Macron Unfailingly chic, the French first lady wore a pink suit with her signature mod touch. Left: Queen Letizia of Spain with her meme-able hat. Right: Sophie Gregoire Trudeau in dusty pink. Getty Images Queen Letizia of Spain In the Barbiecore moment every coronation needs, Spains queen looked predictably elegant in hot pink. Her peach hat, covered in pink lace, immediately became a meme, with people saying it looked like an Ikea lampshade, a satellite dish, even the headwear worn by a Mortal Kombat warrior. Sophie Gregoire Trudeau Attending alongside her husband, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau wore a blush pink dress with voluminous but elegant chiffon sleeves. Left: Princess Mary of Denmark in monochromatic purple. Right: Jill Biden in all blue, including gloves. Getty Images; AFP via Getty Images Princess Mary of Denmark Princess Marys resemblance to Kate Middleton has long been noted. At the coronation of King Charles III, Mary looked exceptionally Kate-esque in a vibrant purple coat dress that could have been pulled right from the Princess of Wales closet. Marys dress was a bespoke design by Danish brand Soeren Le Schmidt. First lady Jill Biden Jill Biden, who attended the coronation on behalf of her husband, Joe Biden, wore a Ralph Lauren suit in a joyous shade of periwinkle. Left: Katy Perry in on-trend lavender. Right: Emma Thompsons jaunty floral coat. GETTY IMAGES Katy Perry Katy Perry, who is slated to perform at a coronation concert later this weekend, attended the coronation with British Vogue editor Edward Enninful. She was one of a handful of celebrities among the sea of royals, dignitaries and heads of state. Perry certainly wore the coronations largest hat, an appropriately British creation by Vivienne Westwood. Emma Thompson Emma Thompson wore an exuberant floral coat by British designer Emilia Wickstead. Correction - May 8, 2023: A caption was updated to correct that it is Queen Letizia of Spain in the main photo composite, not singer Katy Perry. Read more about: SHARE: During the past two weeks, music copyright litigation involving Ed Sheeran has drawn a lot of attention on social media. The case is often referred to as Ed Sheeran vs. Marvin Gaye, which is misleading because it is not a battle between two legendary songwriters. The suit, instead, was brought by the heirs to the estate of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the song Lets Get it On with Gaye and passed away in 2003. This is common in music copyright litigation. Disputes between practicing musicians are not the norm, and cases often involve individuals who inherited the rights to a song or firms, such as Structured Asset Sales LLC, which acquire music copyrights and monetize them through licensing and litigation. The copyright owners claimed that the chord progression of Lets Get it On is similar to the one of Thinking Out Loud, a song Sheeran released in 2014. There was substantial disagreement among musicians and commentators about the claim, as the chords used are very common in pop music and the two songs have very different lyrics and melodies. A New York City jury on Thursday sided in favour of Sheeran. Together with these technical issues, the case raised questions related to the costs and benefits of music copyright and on whether there is scope to improve the current intellectual property policy. A striking feature of copyright protection is that it is extremely long. For songs composed after 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. This vastly exceeds the length of intellectual property on products and processes, which are typically protected by patents lasting for 20 years. The long length of copyright protection is the reason why several high-profile cases involve old songs, such as Lets Get it On, which was composed about 50 years ago. Advocates of long copyright protection typically argue that length stimulates creativity and the incentives to compose. The empirical evidence does not provide support for this view. Economists Michela Giorcelli of UCLA and Petra Moser of NYU have conducted a study of the effect of copyright on music composition and creativity exploiting changes in copyright protection and duration within Italy due to Napoleons military victories. Their analysis finds that copyright does indeed incentivize composition. Italian regions that adopted copyright experienced an increase in the quantity and quality of music compositions. At the same time, their study also shows that there were no benefits from extending copyright protection beyond the life of the composer. A second problem with the current copyright system is that, in some cases, U.S. courts have awarded very large damages that appear disconnected from the underlying sales lost by the copyright holder because of the infringement. For example, in a former case Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams had to pay more than $5 million in damages for infringing another song by Marvin Gaye titled Got to Give it Up. Together, litigation risk, long-lasting rights, and high damages have the potential to chill the incentives to compose and distribute new songs. Ed Sheeran himself stated that he would quit music if found guilty. The litigation risk is likely to increase in the future, as new technologies facilitate the creation of remix and mash-up compositions. These issues suggest that there is scope for improvement in the current copyright system. A promising proposal for reform has been put forward by Peter Menell, a law scholar at UC Berkeley. Menell suggests implementing a system of compulsory licenses with mechanical royalties set by law. This is already in place in the U.S. for cover songs, where artists do not need permission from copyright holders to record their own versions of a pre-existing musical composition, as long as they pay a statutory licensing fee to the original composer. Menell proposes to extend this approach beyond covers and to introduce a system of mechanical remix royalties. Implementing such a system would create more clarity in the intellectual property landscape and reduce the pressure on courts. During Sheerans trial, many musicians and songwriters had voiced concerns about the current music copyright regime. At the same time, a number of economic and legal scholars have raised serious doubts about whether long copyright protection actually promotes creativity and innovation. Since the high-profile lawsuit generated significant interest in the subject, this may be the perfect time to initiate a conversation about the current policy framework and exploring options for reform. Alberto Galasso is professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto, where he holds the Rotman Chair in Life Sciences Commercialization. SHARE: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cant seem to shake off his broken promise on electoral reform even with members of his own party. Liberal partisans will vote Saturday on a proposal to create a citizens assembly on electoral reform. The proposal, from the partys British Columbia wing, has already gone through several hoops of the nearly year-long policy process to make it to the floor of the convention. It notes that back in 2015, the Liberals promised to end the first-past-the-post electoral system. Trudeau broke that pledge 16 months later, announcing the government had found no clear consensus on electoral reform. But its clear, many Liberals havent moved on. In an online forum for party supporters to discuss policy ahead of this weekends national convention, several noted the impact of the partys broken promise. Last year, I volunteered at the Liberal party booth at Hamilton Pride, where we had a blank piece of paper out for people to provide the party feedback. The most tangible piece of feedback was, what happened to electoral reform?, wrote Hamiltonian Heino Dssing. I get that so often when I am out and about. People trusted wed get it done. They are disappointed we didnt. I think it will be a huge boost for the party to step back up to the plate on electoral reform and get it done, he said. Dssings comments were echoed by others but still, some felt the issue belonged on the back burner and should stay there. Bahahaha, didnt someone promise this already?, wrote John Zinck. Quit wasting time, as the winning party wont change this. At the Grits convention, Peter Brannen is straddling the door of an organizing workshop titled Winning new seats in non-urban ridings. Hes handing out leaflets and asking for support for the resolution which calls on the party to urge the Government of Canada to establish a non-partisan national citizens assembly on electoral reform to continue the work started in 2014. Hes pretty confident the resolution will pass Saturday but hes not taking it for granted. Brannen, who lives just outside Seeleys Bay, Ont., in the township of Leeds, believes that by promising electoral reform again Liberals can mobilize rural residents who often feel their voices dont count in the electoral process. He says this proposal takes the decision making out of the hands of self-serving politicians and ensures a cross-partisan approach. Although hes now a registered Liberal, Brannen describes himself as swing voter, and says he voted for Stephen Harpers Conservatives back in 2006 on a promise of more open, accountable government. I am a big supporter of electoral reform and Im a big proponent of democracy, he says. Hes even set up a website called swingvoters.ca. Right now, 40 per cent of the vote gets you 60 per cent of the seats. No matter what party, no matter whether youre provincial or federal. That means 20 per cent of the votes dont count. One out of five votes dont count. How is that the best democracy we can have? Nearby, Joan Mercer Fryer is also handing out pamphlets. Shes a member of fair vote Canada, which is pushing this resolution. I want people to think that their vote counts, she says. I strategically vote sometimes instead of with my heart, which I dont want to do anymore. Politicians should be trying to win the hearts and mind of all Canadians, she says, not just those in swing ridings. Mercer Fryer says she was disappointed Trudeau broke his word. I have a son, a grown son who refuses to vote until first-past-the-post is gone. So thats why Im here. Reception to the resolution has been very good, she says. Many have been very supportive, especially the younger caucus. The Liberals have an important and concerning deficit with young people. Earlier Friday, in that same room, the partys previous pollster Dan Arnold noted that in the 2021 election the age group that was least supportive of the party was people under 35. That was the Liberals best age cohort in 2015. While Mercer Fryer would like to see a proportional representation adopted, it is far from certain a system would favour the Liberals. Back in 2019 and 2021, if seats were allocated in per-vote fashion, then Conservative leaders Andrew Scheer and Erin OToole would have had the most seats of any party. Without a deal with the New Democrats arguably, one that gives them much more power than the current confidence agreement the Grits wouldnt have been able to govern. In fact, Trudeau has since said that his enthusiasm for electoral reform is limited to preferential or ranked ballots. And while its clear there is enthusiasm at the Grits convention for a renewed push towards electoral reform, many like British Columbian Gurbux Saini think the grassroots effort wont amount to much even if it becomes party policy. For whatever reason, the government decided not to go forward, he tells me. To re-do it again, I dont think practically the government can go there. Read more about: SHARE: Leaders in the United States and Europe sent congratulations to Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation on Saturday, while China called for "cooperation" and "peace". US hails "enduring friendship" US President Joe Biden, whose country was represented at the lavish ceremony in London by First Lady Jill Biden, paid tribute to the "enduring friendship between the US and the UK". He tweeted that the countries' relationship was "a source of strength for both our peoples" and that he was "proud" his wife could be there for the "historic occasion". In an interview aired Friday, he said he would meet Charles, 74, in July to talk in particular about environmental issues. China urges "cooperation and peace" Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the UK to work for "a stable and mutually beneficial... relationship" with his country after recent strains in their relations. "China and Britain, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, should take a long-term and strategic view to jointly promote the historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation," he said. EU sees "symbol of stability" The head of the European Union's executive, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, called the coronation "a testament to the enduring strength of the British monarchy". "A symbol of stability and continuity," von der Leyen tweeted, alongside a picture of her at the pageant-filled ceremony in Westminster Abbey. EU Council President Charles Michel said the members of the 27-nation bloc, which the UK voted to leave in 2016, "appreciate the king's vast experience to promote understanding and respect" and "his tireless efforts to promote the sustainability of our planet". Germany praises climate "ally" German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is in Kenya for a visit, also welcomed the newly crowned monarch's interest in tackling climate change. "(It) is very important that he is someone who is committed to a close cooperation between Great Britain and the European Union, and who also has his own personal agenda to advance climate protection," Scholz said. "That will also help us." "Friends of France" French President Emmanuel Macron, who also attended the London ceremony, sent his "congratulations" to Charles and Camilla, calling them "friends of France". "Proud to be with you on this historic day," he tweeted. "Best wishes" from Rome Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose country was represented at the coronation by President Sergio Mattarella, sent her "best wishes to King Charles III, to Queen Camilla and the entire British people". In a message on social media, she noted the symbolism of the Italian craftsmanship involved in the rare mosaic floor of Westminster Abbey. She said the ancient "Cosmati pavement" on which the Coronation Chair was placed was "masterfully created" and "there to amaze the world and to recall the historic and fruitful cooperation between Italy and the UK, which we are certain... will further strengthen with King Charles III". "Friend of Greece" The foreign ministry in Greece, where Charles's father Prince Philip was born in 1921 on the island of Corfu, tweeted in English to "warmly congratulate HM King Charles III, a proven friend of Greece, in his Coronation day". It wished him "success in his duties" and said it was "looking forward to continuing excellent cooperation and further deepening bilateral historic relations". Search Keywords: Short link: If Donald Trump loses in court next week to his latest accuser, E. Jean Carroll, he might have been done in by the undeniably devastating testimony of former Toronto Star reporter Natasha Stoynoff. As one U.S. legal expert opined at Trumps trial: Carroll, a quintessentially American woman may ultimately be vindicated thanks to an indefatigable Canadian. That would be Stoynoff, of the Star. The description comes as no surprise to those of us who worked with her in the newsroom at One Yonge St. in the 1990s. Not just indefatigable but fearless. That she came to be in court last week to denounce a former U.S. president, under oath, is a testament to her staying power. Stoynoff blazed a trail at the Star as a tall, tough-talking photojournalist who refused to be intimidated by her subjects or her editors. In between training as a boxer where you learn how to take a punch, get up off the mat and master your fears she wrote about crime and punishment, celebrities and nobodies. After honing her craft at the Star, Stoynoff moved to Manhattan to work for People, writing about more celebrated celebrities. When the editors dispatched her to Mar-a-Lago in 2005 to write about Trumps wedding anniversary, one year after he married Melania, she walked into an entirely different story. While his pregnant wife changed outfits for the next photo shoot, Trump insisted on showing off his favourite room in the estate, but then closed the door behind them and pinned Stoynoffs shoulders to the wall while sticking his tongue down her throat, as she revealed years later. Stoynoff never wrote about it at the time, for it was a different time, when most people and the magazine People behaved and believed differently (about which well know more next week). All that said, the incident did not go unremarked even if unreported. Stoynoff confided in her inner circle, including her immediate supervisor and an old Ryerson journalism school mentor-professor, who could later corroborate her contemporaneous complaints. She was rattled, but the reporter in her didnt want to see the story spiked or her job jeopardized. So she delivered the predictable quotes from the purportedly happy couple on deadline. People published the story but, mercifully, took her off the Trump beat. Stoynoff moved on until, a decade later, the story came back to haunt her if not yet Trump. The infamous Access Hollywood tape came out, with the Republican presidential nominee boasting about his ability as a celebrity to assault women at will, just grab em by the p---y. After he denied ever forcing himself upon women, in a presidential debate days later, Stoynoff broke her silence. She went public in that 2016 election year, only to discover that the power of the pen, or the web, is overrated. She wrote about it in People, but a lot of people didnt believe or perhaps didnt want to believe. When Trump claimed never to have met Stoynoff, People published photos of her interviewing him for the magazine about ten times. The rest is history. As Stoynoff acknowledged in a 2019 op-ed in the Washington Post, Trump supporters were not truly unbelieving, just unwilling to take account: We got hate mail, death threats, she wrote. After the election, I told myself his supporters hadnt believed us. How else could they have voted for such a man? It took months before the cruel truth dawned on me Trump supporters knew we were telling the truth. They just didnt care. It was another powerful piece that apparently persuaded few people. Most of us who write for a living soon realize that the power of persuasion isnt all that powerful much of the time. But as any reporter can tell you, being in the right place at the right time sometimes matters more. Especially under oath. This week, Stoynoff appeared as a similar facts witness to show a pattern of behaviour by Trump, the so-called third woman to testify after another victim, Jessica Leeds, described being groped by Trump on a 1979 flight. Trumps lawyers fought desperately to exclude Stoynoff on the grounds that a forced kiss interrupted by the butler announcing that Melania was ready for their next shared photo shoot cant count as sexual assault, and was thus inadmissible. Its easy to see why they didnt want the jury to see and hear her. Stoynoff is a strong presence but she dissolved in tears. No, she didnt scream when assaulted (Trumps lawyers had demanded to know why Carroll hadnt, as if that is a litmus test akin to a rape kit). Stoynoff recounted feeling ashamed and humiliated, wondering if she was to blame for an interviewing style more Canadian nice than American interrogator, as MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin put it. In the end, Trumps tough-talking lawyer put only one rhetorical question to her in cross-examination: Did she file suit against Trump? (No, she hadnt, as if this devalued her testimony.) Stoynoff was grounded and sure even when she wept, wrote Rubin, the lawyer reporting for MSNBC. She called it a powerful appearance with potential to sway the jury toward Carrolls version of events: If a former American president is held liable for assaulting and defaming a quintessentially American woman, mark my words: An indefatigable Canadian will be one key reason why. Read more about: SHARE: OTTAWAThey laughed with Jean Chretien. They cried with Hillary Clinton. On the second night of their three-day national convention, the federal Liberal party took different kinds of inspiration from two political figures from years past on Friday. And over it all fell the shadow of the partys prime challenger for power: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. At the main stage for a Friday night marquee speakers line-up, former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien regaled a packed auditorium hall with tales from his decades in politics that stretch back to his first election in 1963. As a living link to the eras of Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the 89-year-old Chretien drew laughter and applause with stories about climbing a fence with U.S. President Bill Clinton, and how he wanted to be an architect until his dad pushed him to law school and politics. Chretien also spoke of wrestling with Canadas debt when he was prime minister in the 1990s, and his role in fighting Quebec separatism in the 1995 referendum. Millions of Canadians were giving up on Canada, Chretien said. In this hour of crisis, they turned again to the Liberal party. When he turned to the present moment, Chretien quipped in French that Poilievre is so negative and right-wing that he makes former Prime Minister Stephen Harper look reasonable. No, Mr. Poilievre, Canada is not broken, he said, quoting the Conservative leaders disparaging slogan for Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government. Canada is the land that makes the envy of the world. Canada is still the best. And vive le Canada! Shortly after, former U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took to the stage. She was interviewed by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, whose voice broke with emotion as she spoke about Clintons narrow loss to Donald Trump when she almost became the first woman elected U.S. president. Clinton was quick to return the praise, describing the Liberals as a progressive trailbreaker with policies in government like national child care. In a conversation that touched on subjects like feminist economic policy, the challenge of a more assertive China, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Clinton also spoke of the forces of populism in the United States, embodied in many ways by the man who beat her in the presidential election in 2016, Donald Trump. And in a thinly-veiled reference to Canadas Conservatives, Clinton said there are forces in your own country that are trying to figure out if maybe they can tinker with the clock and maybe turn it back a little. There sure are, Freeland quipped. I think we need to listen very carefully to Secretary Clintons warning. Freeland added later that Canadians should take it seriously when Poilievre promises to abolish the CBC or fire the independent governor of the countrys central bank, people should take that seriously. It could happen here, but were not going to let it happen, Freeland said. Earlier in the day, Poilievres name was being muttered in conversations all around the convention centre in downtown Ottawa. Some admitted he seems a worthy adversary, perhaps the toughest Conservative leader the party has faced since Stephen Harper. Others predicted Canadians will turn away from his argument that Canada is broken under the Liberal government. The Conservative leader responded to such criticism in a video posted on social media Friday. In it, Poilievre argued the Liberal government and Trudeau in particular is out of touch with the Canadian population, and that the country needs a dose of common sense to lower taxes and remove burdensome regulations to create jobs and speed up resource development. He also accused the Liberals of wanting to legalize crack, cocaine and heroin, and of travelling abroad at the taxpayers expense. Canada must feel foreign to you with how much time you spend abroad, Poilievre said. Im here relying on the common sense of the common people, united for our common home. RELATED STORIES Politics Opinion Liberals are lining up behind Justin Trudeau as he takes aim at Pierre Poilievre For Steve MacKinnon, the Liberal governments chief whip in the House of Commons, the next federal election will be a battle of values with the Liberals defending Canadian institutions against what the Liberals argue is Poilievres far right populism. What were seeing is two very starkly different versions of how we build a country, he said. They dont believe in institutions. They dont believe government is there to do good. They dont believe in the tools that governments possess to fill our lives with culture, to seek out new investment, to alter markets such that our climate can repair itself. Those are all beliefs that Liberals hold very closely and hold very dear to their heart. Mr. Poilievre rejects all of it. If it wasnt clear before, by Friday evening it was obvious that the Liberals want to frame the next campaign and their Conservative opponent as a troubling Canadian iteration of the populist right that has appeared in countries around the world in recent years. During a panel discussion on the 2021 federal election campaign, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly accused Poilievre of importing the extremist rhetoric of former U.S. President Donald Trumps Make America Great Again movement. She referred to Poilievres criticism of the World Economic Forum as a summit of global elitists as a dog whistle to conspiracy theorists. And linking the Conservatives to all these far right movements will be vital for the next federal campaign, she said. Its important that we make clear that the choice is stark. With files from Susan Delacourt Read more about: SHARE: A member of the All Progressives Party, Imran Muhammad on Friday via his Twitter handle, revealed that more than 60 per cent of Senators are behind the Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godwill Akpabio, to become Senate President. He said the alliance between Akpabio and Senator Barau Jibrin as Deputy senate president would likely fly. He said Senators supporting Akpabio and Jibrins alliance had already penned down their commitments. Over 65 senators were said to have aligned with the Akpabio/Jibrin alliance and had declared their support for them after signing off their commitment as proof they were in on the project. Ahead of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, the Nations lawmaking institution and its members had continued to jostle for leadership positions. For the presidential race in the Red Chamber, Akpabio, Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia State has been top on the list for Senate Presidency. According to an investigation published on Friday by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, has again been linked to 20 properties his associates bought in the United Kingdom (UK) when he was serving as Lagos governor. Read full Report: Nigeria's president-elect, Bola Tinubu, whose victory in February is being challenged in court, has been keeping part of his wealth in the United Kingdom, where he and his close associates own at least 20 properties that were mostly acquired when Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State. Following the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu is scheduled to succeed Muhammadu Buhari as president on 29 May 2023. His opponents claim the elections have been fixed. The 71-year-old is widely seen as Nigeria's political kingmaker for his role in the elections of several governors in the country's southwest region, as well as the election of Buhari, who defeated the incumbent in 2015. The governors he picked tended to be former directors of companies owned by Tinubu or his son. Bloomberg first reported on Tuesday that Tinubu's son, Oluwaseyi, is the main shareholder of Aranda Overseas Corporation, an offshore company that bought a controversial US$10.8 million U.K. property in 2017. At the time it was bought, Nigeria was trying to confiscate the London house that belonged to a Nigerian oil dealer who was facing corruption charges at home and in the United States, according to OCCRP Nigerian partner Premium Times. However, OCCRP has uncovered more than a dozen other properties with links to Tinubu, mostly acquired while he served as Lagos State's governor from May 1999 to May 2007. Tinubus spokesman did not respond to email and text messages seeking comment. If there are reasonable grounds to suspect these assets were bought with criminal funds then they should be investigated, said Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International U.K. Owning a home via an offshore company has seldom made much sense except for securing secrecy, he added. Tinubus history is not entirely clean. He was forced to forfeit $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993 as proceeds of narcotics trafficking, according to the ruling of a U.S. District Court in Illinois. However, about a year later, Abeeb Holdings Limited, an offshore company registered in Gibraltar with Tinubu as the beneficial owner, bought Flat 9 at 96-100 New Cavendish Street in London. His connection to Abeeb Holdings Limited has been revealed, thanks to the Register of Overseas Entities, a new measure designed by the U.K. to reveal the true owners of offshore firms that hold property in the country. In 2011, his son's Aranda Overseas Corporation bought Flat 10A in the same building. The lease agreement was signed by Tinubu's associate, Oladipo Eludoyin, a director of Aranda Overseas Corporation. Eludoyin is also the founding director of Aranda Resources Limited, a Nigerian registered company whose shares are owned by Aranda Overseas Corporation. OCCRP further found that Eludoyin is the beneficial owner of 17 U.K. properties through three offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. Eludoyin's properties were purchased between 2004 and 2007 when Tinubu was governor of Lagos State. He did not respond to a request for comment. Tinubu was succeeded by Babatunde Fashola, who previously served as his chief of staff. Fashola also had a hand in Aranda Resources Limited. He signed and presented the allotment of shares of Aranda Resources Limited to Nigeria's corporate registry in December 2001. Fasholas spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. Following his term as governor, Tinubu remained an influential politician. Local media reported that he picked Babajide Sanwo-Olu and made him governor of Lagos State in 2019, despite entreaties from his party to allow Sanwo-Olu's predecessor to continue for a second term. Sanwo-Olu was a director in Aranda Resources Limited until 26 days before his first day in office as governor in May 2019. His spokesperson also did not respond to requests for comment. Another director of Aranda Resources Limited and Aranda Overseas Corporation, Adegboyega Oyetola, was elected governor of the Nigerian southwestern state of Osun in 2018, and Tinubu was widely credited for his electoral success. It is not clear when he became the beneficial owner, but when Aranda Overseas Corporation was incorporated in November 1999 in the tax haven British Virgin Islands, the younger Tinubu was 14 and had just been admitted into Milton Abbey School in England for his secondary school education while his father had just spent nearly six months as the governor of Lagos State. culled: occrp US President Joe Biden congratulated King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation Saturday, paying tribute to the enduring friendship between the US and the UK. The US president, who did not attend the ceremony in London, called the countries relationship a source of strength for both our peoples, in a tweet. The United States was represented instead by First Lady Jill Biden, with the president tweeting that he was proud she could be there for this historic occasion. In an interview aired Friday, Biden said he would see the new monarch in July to talk in particular about the environment. Were going to be going to a NATO conference in Europe, and I told (Charles) Id stop either on the way there or the way back, to discuss what he really is passionate about, the environment, Biden told MSNBC. The annual NATO summit is scheduled to take place in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 11 and 12. Biden called Charles in early April to congratulate him on his accession to the throne. AFP Poised to fight cultism to standstill in Ogun State, Governor Dapo Abiodun, has declared the social menace as an act of terrorism, vowing that his administration would henceforth deal suspected cultists as terrorists. The governor, who made the declaration at the Akarigbos Palace in Sagamu during a stakeholders security meeting, held on Friday, said his government has had enough and was ready to deal with the matter once and for all. I am declaring cult members, cult activities here as an act of terrorism, I am taking these as a test of this administrations will. I have sounded a note of warning at times past, I am resounding a fresh note of warning to all cult members, to their parents, to their landlords, to their sponsors. From today, we are considering cult members and other criminals as saboteurs to the economy of not just this local government, this town, but this state. We will consider them as terrorists, I will deal with them as such. I have instructed our law enforcement agencies to smoke these people out, I have told the Commissioner of Police that he has no other job until every single member of this cult is found out. I am still trying to figure out what is the basis, motive and the reason behind these cultist activities in Ogun State, particularly, in Sagamu and Remoland. We will collaborate with our Royal Majesties and Royal Highnesses in our resolve to bring long-lasting peace to this local government, Abiodun stated. He disclosed that his administration would establish a Joint Intervention Squad made of the military, police, the Department of State Security, Civil Defence and local vigilante, to deal with cultism and other related crimes especially in Sagamu and other parts of the state. The squad, the governor explained, would be provided with necessary equipment, while its headquarters would be sited in Sagamu Local Government Area. Reports show that there has been a prevalence of cult activities in Abeokuta North, Abeokuta South, Sagamu, Ikenne, Odogbolu, particularly, we have been dealing with these issues over time, but in the last few weeks, we have begun to see an upsurge in the cases of inter-cultist rivalry that had resulted in clashes and killings of innocent people. The Akarigbo of Remoland and Chairman, Ogun State Council of Obas, Oba Babatunde Ajayi, in his remarks, said people of diverse culture and religion have co-existed in the town for a long time, wondering why few elements in the society should disrupt the peace and progress the town had enjoyed in the past We cannot continue to accommodate violence in this town, it is unacceptable. What is happening now is not in our culture and it is not in our interest. We have co-existed as brothers and sisters for a long time. It is time for parents and guardians to talk to their sons and daughters. Together, we shall overcome these trying times. Speaking, the Seriki Hausawa of Sagamu, Alhaji Garuba Inua, while narrating an incident of a cult clash, disclosed that the clash was between rival cultists and not a case of inter ethnic skirmish, noting that both Hausa and Yoruba communities engage in cultism. While thanking the State government for settling the medical bills of those injured and the security agencies for prompt response in quelling the clash, Inua maintained that his people were ready to work with other stakeholders in restoring peace as they have adopted Sagamu as their own. Also, the Iyaloja of Sagamu, Mrs. Folashade Oduwaye, who expressed her displeasure of the development, said the people are now living in fear and no one is safe due to the nefarious acts of hoodlums calling on all stakeholders to work together to eradicate cultism in the town. Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi has denied calling President-elect Bola Tinubu a drug lord, describing the claim as spurious. The retired General purportedly said: It is an insult to the Military to have a known drug lord as C-in-C of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. A statement on Saturday by his spokesperson Mohammad Abdulkadri said the myopic, diabolic and despotic publication can be traced to anti-democratic forces. Magashi accused disgruntled elements of trying to drag his reputation and that of the nations apolotical military into disparaging Tinubu. The minister recalled he was one of the first members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that congratulated the President-elect. Magashi condemned the concoction of fake news against him at a time he is busy supervising the military in aid of civil authority to defend Nigerias democracy. The Ministers unblemished pedigree speaks volume as a loyal member of APC alongside being a credible elderstateman in the same party with the President-elect, the statement reads. It added that no propaganda or blackmail targeted at Magashi and the military will deter them from dealing with any person or group whose agenda is to disrupt the May 29 inauguration. Reno Omokri, a former media aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to plead with the British monarch, King Charles III for a royal prerogative of mercy for former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu. Recall that a UK Court on Friday sentenced Ekweremadu to 9 years and eight months, while his wife Beatrice and Obinna Obetta got four years and ten years jail terms, respectively. Taking to his Twitter handle, Omokri urged President Buhari to seek for a royal pardon for Ekweremadu as a parting gift to Nigeria. He said if the president accede to the request, history will remember him for good. He wrote, As a parting gift to Nigeria, I appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to use his private audience with King Charles III to appeal for a royal prerogative of mercy for Senator Ike Ekweremadu, which is within the power of the British monarch. The President will forever be appreciated and remembered for this gesture to a man who has served Nigeria loyally and dedicatedly and who only committed the crime he was convicted of because of desperation, as a loving father of a child in dire need of a kidney transplant. The Federal Bureau of Intelligence, FBI, has rejected the application by an American, Jeffrey Guterman, a retired American mental health counsellor, asking it to release a file on Nigerias President-elect Bola Tinubu. Guterman, in a tweet disclosing the development on Friday, said his request was rejected because, according to the FBI, the existence of files on third-party individuals would neither be confirmed nor denied by the FBI due to unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Recall that the retired mental health counsellor had last month filed a request asking the FBI to release records about Tinubus $460,000 forfeiture on drug trafficking in the US. However, the FBI told Guterman that his request submission did not meet their terms of service. He wrote, See below a copy of the letter I received today from the @FBI regarding my request, based on the Freedom of Information Act, for the FBI file on Bola Tinubu. My request was rejected because, according to the FBI, the existence of files on third-party individuals will neither be confirmed nor denied by the FBI due to unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. I found it noteworthy that in my online submission, I referred to Tinubu as Bola Tinubu, but in their letter, the FBI referred to him as TINUBU, BOLA AHMED. How would the FBI access the Ahmed part of his name? Again, I did not provide the Ahmed part of his name in my submission. Moreover, it is public knowledge that the FBI has a file on Tinubu for his $460,000 forfeiture to the US. The letter also states that if I received their response through standard mail (which I did), this is because my online submission did not meet their terms of service. According to the letter, my options are to (1) submit any questions by email or call their office, (2) administratively appeal their decision within 90 days of the date of their letter, and/or (3) seek dispute resolution by email. I will now consider my next plan of action. Some years ago, no one could have imagined that Ike Ekweremadu, a former deputy president of the senate, will be heading to a prison in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023. Not for any other crime but organ trafficking. Many Nigerians were shocked when the federal lawmaker and his wife, Beatrice, were arrested in the UK, last year. After the arrest, Ekweremadu, Beatrice, and a medical doctor were charged to court for organ harvesting. During the trial, political associates and well-wishers appealed to the UK government to temper justice with mercy. But on Friday, the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, UK, sentenced Ekeremadu to nine years and eight months in prison for organ trafficking. His wife was sentenced to four years and six months in jail, while Obinna Obeta, a doctor who acted as the middleman, got 10 years imprisonment. According to the UK police, the Ekweremadus brought an alleged kidney donor to the country in order to harvest his organ for their ailing daughter. Here is a timeline of the issues that surrounded the organ harvesting trial of Ekweremadu. METROPOLITAN POLICE ANNOUNCED ARREST OF EKEWEREMADU On June 23, 2022, the UK metropolitan police announced that Ekweremadu and his wife had been arrested for bringing a child to the country for organ harvesting. The police disclosed that an investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022. EKEWEREMADU CHARGED TO COURT Hours after the arrest, Ekeweremadu and his wife were charged to Uxbridge Magistrates Court for organ harvesting. The couple were, however, denied bail, and the case was adjourned till July 7. MY FAMILY AND I WITH EKWEREMADUS IN THEIR TRAVAIL Offering support for the federal lawmaker, on June 26, 2022, Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), expressed concern over the allegation levelled against Ekweremadu, saying justice should be served on the case. My family and I are with the Ekweremadus over their travail. We join all men of goodwill in praying for the healing of their daughter and commit them into Gods hand for justice to be done, Obi wrote on Twitter. UK SUSPENDED EKWEREMADU AS VISITING PROFESSOR On June 26, 2022, the University of Lincoln, UK, suspended the federal lawmaker as a visiting professor. The UK varsity had appointed Ekweremadu as a visiting professor of corporate and international linkages a week before his arrest. EBONYI DECLARED SUPPORT FOR EKWEREMADU On June 26, 2022, the Ebonyi state government declared support for the Ekweremadus and offered to contact the family of David Nwamini Ukpo, the kidney donor at the centre of the federal lawmaker ordeal, who is from the state. CONTROVERSY TRAILED THE BIODATA OF KIDNEY DONOR On June 26, 2022, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) said the international passport data of David Ukpo shows that he is 21 years old not 15. NIS disclosed that Ukpos date of birth on his birth certificate issued by the National Population Commission (NPC) indicates that he was born on October 12, 2000 which means he would be 22 years old in October 2022. EKWEREMADU SUED NIMC, NIS On June 27, 2022, Ekwerewadu sued the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) over the controversy surrounding the real age of Ukpo. The federal lawmaker sought an order directing NIMC and NIS to supply him with the certified true copy (CTC) of Ukpos biodata. REPS PROMISED TO APPLY DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE On June 28, 2022, the house of representatives resolved to take measures to enable Ekweremadu and his wife get justice in the UK. Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house, said he would try to meet his UK counterpart to ensure the Ekweremadus were given fair treatment. SENATE SENT DELEGATION TO UK On June 29, 2022, the senate dispatched a delegation to the UK to see the Ekweremadus over their trial. EKWEREMADU APPEARED BEFORE UK COURT On June 30, 2022, Ekweremadu appeared before the Uxbridge Magistrate Court, UK, for his trial. During the court proceedings, the prosecutor said bail cannot be applied to Ekweremadu because he is a powerful man who is a flight risk while insisting that the organ donor in question is a 15-year-old boy. The case was again adjourned to July 7 and transferred to the Westminster Magistrate Court to allow Suella Braverman, UK attorney-general, to determine whether the case can be tried in Nigeria or UK. COURT ORDERED NIMC, IMMIGRATION TO RELEASE BIODATA On July 1, 2022, a federal high court in Abuja ordered the NIMC, immigration, and two commercial banks to provide the certified true copy (CTC) of Ukpos biodata. COURT ORDERED NIMC, IMMIGRATION TO RELEASE UKPOS BIODATA TO MALAMI On July 6, 2022, a federal high court in Abuja ordered the NIMC, immigration, and two commercial banks to submit the CTC of Ukpos biodata to the attorney-general of the federation (AGF). UK COURT RULED THAT UKPO IS NOT A MINOR On July 7, 2022, the Westminster magistrate court in the UK ruled that Ukpo, the purported kidney donor for the daughter of Ekweremadu, is not a minor. Prior to the ruling, the prosecutor had insisted that Ukpo was a minor. MEDICAL DOCTOR ARRAIGNED FOR PLOTTING WITH EKWEREMADU On July 13, 2022, Obinna Obeta, a doctor residing in Southwark, South London, was arraigned at Bexley Magistrates court for allegedly plotting with Ekweremadu and his wife to traffic a man into the UK to harvest a kidney for their daughter. EKWEREMADUS WIFE GRANTED BAIL On July 22, 2022, Beatrice was granted bail by the central criminal court in London; but her husband, Ekweremadu, was denied bail. UK ADJOURNED TRIAL TO 2023 On August 4, 2022, the Central Criminal Court in the UK adjourned the case. The pretrial applications were scheduled to be heard on October 31, but the trial would commence fully on May 2, 2023. WHY FG DID NOT INTERVENE IN EKWEREMADUS CASE On August 11, 2022, Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation, said it is not the practice of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to intervene in judicial matters, whether local or international. UKPO ASKED COURT NOT TO RELEASE HIS BIODATA TO EKWEREMADU On August 30, 2022, Ukpo asked the court to set aside an earlier ruling which ordered the release of his bio-data to the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) for transmission to the United Kindom. In an application filed through his team of lawyers led by Bamidele Igbinedion, Ukpo accused Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, of violating his fundamental human rights. EKWEREMADUS DAUGHTER APPEALED FOR KIDNEY On September 12, 2022, Sonia, Ekweremadus daughter, in an Instagram post, appealed for a kidney donation. In a post on Instagram, Sonia said she dropped out of her postgraduate studies at the University of Newcastle in 2019, after she was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) nephrotic syndrome, a rare kidney disease. EKWEREMADU ASKED COURT TO DISMISS UKPOS SUIT On September 11, 2022, Ekweremadu asked a federal high court in Abuja to dismiss the suit filed by Ukpo, seeking to stop NIMC and immigration from releasing his bio-data to the AGF. In a counter affidavit deposed to by his brother, Bright Ekweremadu, the former lawmaker said Ukpo has no basis to fear the release of his information if there is nothing to hide. EKWEREMADU NAMED MEMBER OF PDP PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL On September 15, 2022, the national working committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) named the federal lawmaker as a member of its presidential campaign organisation. LAWYER ASKED COURT TO DECLARE EKWEREMADUS SEAT VACANT On September 22, 2022, Ogochukwu Onyema, a lawyer, asked the federal high court in Abuja to declare the senatorial seat of Ekweremadu vacant amid lawmaker detention in the UK. The lawyer asked the court to direct Iyorchia Ayu, PDP national chairman, to forward his name as a replacement. Onyema had contested the partys ticket for the position in 2019 but lost to the former deputy senate president. OHANAEZE YOUTH CONDEMNED SUIT Reacting to the suit, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council expressed dismay over the suit seeking to declare the seat of Ekweremadu vacant, saying the suit was acidic and satanic. EKWEREMADUS COMMUNITY SHUT MARKETS OVER HIS DETENTION On October 22, 2022, residents of Mpu community in Aninri LGA of Enugu state shut their market in solidarity with Ekweremadu. During a one-day prayer summit organised by the leadership of the community, residents prayed for divine intervention over the federal lawmakers case. EKWEREMADUS DAUGHTER APPEARED IN COURT On November 7, 2022, Sonia appeared before the central criminal court in the UK and the case was brought forward from May 2023 to January 2023. UK COURT DECLINED EKWEREMADUS PLEA FOR BAIL On December 20, 2022, the Central Criminal Court in the UK again refused to grant bail to Ekweremadu, citing that the federal lawmaker was a flight risk. MEDICAL REPORT SHOWED EKWEREMADUS DAUGHTER UNFIT FOR TRIAL On January 30, Sonia was absent from a United Kingdom court where she was facing criminal charges. Sonias defence team told the court she was unable to attend court as she was in hospital with an unspecified condition. I WAS ADVISED TO SEEK KIDNEY DONOR OUTSIDE FAMILY MEMBERS On March 9, Ekweremadu told the court that he opted for a non-family kidney donor for his daughter, Sonia, following advice from Diwe, his brother, who is a medical doctor. EKWEREMADUS WIFE DENIED INVOLVEMENT On March 13, Beatrice told the court that she was not involved in the search for a kidney donor for her daughter. EKWEREMADU, WIFE FOUND GUILTY OF ORGAN TRAFFICKING On March 23, Ekweremadu, Beatrice, and Obeta were found guilty of organ trafficking by the central criminal court in the UK. The conviction is the first verdict of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act. OBASANJO WROTE TO UK COURT On April 3, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in a letter addressed to the chief clerk of central criminal court in the UK, asked the court to temper justice with mercy on Ekweremadu and Beatrice. ECOWAS PARLIAMENT SPEAKER WROTE TO UK COURT On April 6, Sidie Tunis, speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) parliament, in a letter addressed to the chief clerk of central criminal court in UK, pleaded with the court to show mercy on Ekweremadu and Beatrice. REPS SOUGHT CLEMENCY FOR EKWEREMADUS On May 2, the house of representatives asked the UK government and parliament to intervene in the sentencing of Ekweremadu and Beatrice. LIKE REPS, SENATE SOUGHT CLEMENCY FOR EKWEREMADUS On May 3, during plenary, the senate sought leniency for the couple ahead of their sentencing in the UK. NiDCOM SOUGHT CLEMENCY FOR EKWEREMADUS On May 3, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), appealed to the UK government to be lenient with Ekweremadu. THE D-DAY On Friday, Ekeremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison, his wife was sentenced to four years and six months in jail, while Obinna Obeta, a doctor who acted as the middleman, got 10 years imprisonment. culled: The Cable The US and Saudi governments confirmed direct talks between the warring Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces would start in Jeddah on Saturday, even as fighting showed little signs of abating in the Sudanese capital. A joint US-Saudi statement welcomed the "start of pre-negotiation talks" and urged sustained global support to quell fighting. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States urge both parties to take in consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks toward a ceasefire and end to the conflict," the statement said. Hundreds have died in nearly three weeks of fighting between forces aligned with Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the regular army, and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Multiple truces have been reached since the fighting erupted on April 15, but none has been respected. The army confirmed late Friday it had sent envoys to Saudi Arabia to discuss "details of the truce in the process of being extended" with its paramilitary foes. Burhan had given his backing to a seven-day ceasefire announced by South Sudan on Wednesday, but early on Friday the RSF said they were extending by three days a previous truce brokered under US-Saudi mediation. The US-Saudi statement noted the efforts of other countries and organisations behind this weekend's talks, including Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the League of Arab States, the African Union and other groups. In Khartoum, witnesses reported continued air strikes and explosions on Friday, including near the airport. The fighting raged despite a threat of sanctions from US President Joe Biden against those responsible for "threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan" and "undermining Sudan's democratic transition". The north African country suffered decades of sanctions during the rule of autocrat Omar al-Bashir, ousted in a palace coup in 2019 following mass street protests. "The violence taking place in Sudan is a tragedy -- and it is a betrayal of the Sudanese people's clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy. It must end," Biden said. Children at risk The conflict has killed about 700 people so far, mostly in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. The UN children's agency, UNICEF, warned Friday that "the situation in Sudan has become fatal for a frighteningly large number of children". Spokesman James Elder said UNICEF had received reports from a trusted partner -- not yet independently verified by the United Nations -- that 190 children were killed and 1,700 wounded during the conflict's first 11 days. He said the figures had been gathered from health facilities in Khartoum and Darfur since April 15, meaning that they only cover children who actually made it to facilities in those areas. "The reality is likely to be much worse," Elder said. Aid workers have struggled to get much-needed supplies to areas hit by violence. According to the International Medical Corps, at least 18 aid workers have been killed amid the fierce urban fighting. The UN Human Rights Council said it would hold a special session next Thursday "to address the human rights impact of the ongoing conflict". US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Thursday that Washington expected the conflict to continue for a long time. The fighting was "likely to be protracted as both sides believe that they can win militarily, and have few incentives to come to the negotiating table", she told a Senate hearing. Nearly 450,000 civilians have already fled their homes since the fighting began, the International Organization for Migration said, including more than 115,000 who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. International mediation The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said it was preparing for an outflow of 860,000 people, adding that $445 million would be needed to support them just through October. Haines said the conflict had exacerbated already dire humanitarian conditions, "raising the spectre of massive refugee flows and aid needs in the region". The UN warned that if the fighting continued, it could raise the already large number of Sudanese threatened by hunger and malnutrition by as many as 2.5 million. "That raises the number to a total of 19 million people in the next three to six months," said Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres. Mediation efforts have multiplied since the conflict began. Speaking from the Ethiopian capital, Burhan's envoy Dafaallah al-Haj vowed that "shortly the government of Sudan is going to put an end to this rebellion", referring to the RSF. The RSF is descended from the Janjaweed, a militia unleashed by Bashir in Darfur, leading to war crimes charges against the former leader and others. After a joint coup in October 2021 that upended a fragile transition to civilian rule, Burhan and Daglo have engaged in a power struggle -- most recently over the RSF's integration into the regular army -- which has now flared into bloody violence. Search Keywords: Short link: Nollywood actress, Georgina Onuoha has mocked former Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, following their imprisonment in the United Kingdom, UK. Recall that the UK Court sentenced Ekweremadu to 9 years and eight months, while his wife Beatrice and Obinna Obetta got four years and ten years jail terms, respectively. The sentence became the first of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act, following their conviction for organ trafficking in March, which lasted for six weeks. Prior to the sentence, Ekweremadu, Beatrice and Obeta were convicted of conspiracy to arrange the travel of a young Nigerian man who identified as David Nwamini to Britain in order to exploit him for his kidney. The kidney organ was intended for Ekweremadus sick daughter, Sonia. Reacting, Georgina said the sentence serves them right. The actress accused Ekweremadu of embezzling money that was given to him to build hospitals in Nigeria. And let the choir say Amen. Serves them right. Do not take advantage of anyone because you are in a place of power. Dear Nigerian doctors, nurses and caregivers, do not sacrifice your licenses for anyone let alone Nigerian politicians who deliberately neglect our healthcare system back home but can rush overseas to be treated by the same Nigerian clinicians they treat poorly back home. As for the ex-senator, I hope they can extend his imprisonment. This same man was given millions if not billions to build hospitals back home in his state, he embezzled it. As for their daughter, I wish her well and good health. Another batch of Nigerians evacuated from Sudan has arrived at the federal capital territory (FCT). The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) broke the news via its Twitter page on Saturday. The commission said the batch which comprises 131 Nigerians, including 124 adults and seven infants arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja at about 1:45 pm. Another batch of Evacuees: 131 Nigerian nationals (evacuees) 124 Adults, 7 Infants that departed Port Sudan International Airport landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at 1:45 pm via Tarco Airline B737-300 Aircraft today Saturday, 6th May 2023, the statement reads. The development comes days after the first batch of evacuees arrived in the country. NiDCOM had earlier assured that about 1,700 remaining Nigerians in Sudan would be evacuated in a matter of days. Max Air with a capacity of 540 PAX, AZMAN Air with 400 PAX and C130 are on the ground to evacuate others, while Tarco promised to make two more trips as well as Air Peace on standby, the commission said. President Muhammadu Buhari says the conduct of the 2023 general election has shown that a government can be elected peacefully and fairly. Femi Adesina, presidential spokesperson, in a statement, said Buhari spoke on Friday while addressing the Commonwealth leaders summit in London. Buhari is in the European country to attend the coronation of Charles III as king of the United Kingdom and leader of the Commonwealth. Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner of the presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 1 and is expected to be sworn into office on May 29. However, Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi, standard-bearer of the Labour Party (LP) are challenging Tinubus victory in court. Buhari said he was satisfied with the conduct of the elections in Nigeria considering the turnout of voters and the generally peaceful atmosphere under which the polls took place. These elections saw a remarkable turnout of voters and proof that Nigerias democracy is maturing. Despite some pockets of violence, we have demonstrated that a government can be elected peacefully and fairly, Buhari said. Lessons have been learnt and moving forward, we hope to perform even better. Based on this, I am delighted to note that we have taken another step towards deepening our democracy with peaceful, transparent and credible outcomes. Though we are aware that challenges still exist, we are committed to working towards greater participation of all Nigerians in the democratic process, including those in the diaspora. As I come before you today, I am also mindful that this would be my last official engagement with His Majesty The King and some of you as I leave office on 29 May 2023. I, therefore, feel both humble and grateful for this extraordinary and significantly important moment. Over the years, I have worked cordially with the leaders of the Commonwealth to achieve the values and principles of the Commonwealth which are shared by its members the aspirations of the Commonwealth family which include positioning it to be a strong and respected voice in the world and improving the lives of all its citizens are being vigorously pursued. The court of appeal in Abuja has upheld the conviction and eight-year sentence of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), for laundering about N2.1 billion. In a judgment on Friday, a three-member panel of the court unanimously affirmed the November 8, 2021 judgment given by Okon Abang, judge of an Abuja federal high court. In the lead judgment, Elfreda Williams-Daudu, justice of the appellate court, held that the appellant was not denied a fair hearing by the trial court and that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. On October 25, 2019, Maina was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but he pleaded not guilty to a 12-count charge of money laundering brought against him. On November 8, 2021, Okon Abang, the trial judge, sentenced Maina to eight years in prison. The court ordered him and his firm, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, to forfeit about N2.1 billion traced to their bank accounts to the federal government, after which the company should be wound up. Also, the court ordered that Mainas properties at Life Camp and Jabi districts of Abuja should be forfeited to the government. Sonia Ekweremadu, daughter of Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, says her parents sought a kidney donor for her from outside because of the familys health history. Sonia, who spoke in an interview with BBC following the sentencing of Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months in prison by a UK court for organ trafficking, said her fathers family has a history of kidney conditions. Beatrice, Ekweremadus wife, was also sentenced to four years and six months in jail. The couple got entangled in the organ trafficking case while trying to find a donor for Sonia who has been on dialysis. The 25-year-old explained that she had a gene that necessitated her to find a donor outside family members. Ekweremadu had told a UK court in March that he opted for a non-family kidney donor for Sonia following advice from Diwe, his brother who is a medical doctor. Its sad. It has been really hard to really wrap my head around it. I understand the conviction; personally, I disagree with it. However, that is from a very biased perspective. As their daughter, I would obviously always back my parents. However, the law has taken its course and we have to just move forward as a family, BBC quoted Sonia as saying. I had the APO1 gene. To us, that kind of excluded the family, especially on my dads side because they have quite a history of kidney conditions. Asked if she was aware that the donor at the centre of the case was portrayed as her cousin, she replied: Yea, I mean, I cant answer that. She added that she did not feel anything toward him and that she wish him all the best. Sonia said that she felt guilty for the plight that has befallen her family, adding that her lesson from the whole happenstance is that life is dynamic. Life is just so dynamic. One day you are in your house chilling, the next day, your whole life is turned upside down, she said. I dont think it would ever be the same. I feel guilty because I feel that all this has happened because of me. She added that though some persons came forward as donors after the case went public, she is still on dialysis but hopefully, I would be able to get the transplant soon. Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has stated that power was not given freely to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, who he said worked hard to get it. Wike stated this on Wednesday at a banquet in honour of Tinubu who was in Rivers State to commission some of the governors legacy projects. He recounted how Tinubu gifted him a white wine in the early hours of the day when he visited him at his Lagos residence in 2018 to persuade him to support one of the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the 2019 presidential election. He said: I went to him, I said, sir, I heard you cant find your feet in APC. Why not join us and support one of these our candidates to win the 2019 election? He asked me, who are these your candidates? I mentioned them, [and] he said, look, if its these ones youve, Ill support Buhari 200 times. He [Tinubu] gave me white wine that early morning. And I respected him. I know he is prepared. Nobody dash him power. All of us, we saw it. He went and worked for the power, and you will see the benefits of it. When they dash you power, you slack; but when you fight for power, you work. The Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong has said the Northern Governors of the APC did not necessarily want the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to be President of Nigeria when they supported the power shift to the southern part of the country. According to Lalong, who was also the Director General of Tinubus Presidential Campaign organisation, their push for a southern presidency was rather in order to promote the unity, peace and stability of Nigeria within the spirit of fairness, equity and justice which the late Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, stood for. Lalong was speaking at the 9th Annual Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Lecture on Leadership and Good Governance held in Lafia, Nasarawa State, a statement issued by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Macham Makut, said on Saturday The Governor said, When I led my colleagues the Northern Governors to push for power shift to the South, it was not because we wanted Asiwaju to be President. Rather, we wanted to ensure that justice and fairness prevail in our nation for unity, peace and harmony. That is what we believe our revered father of blessed memory, Sir Ahmadu Bello, would do in such circumstances. Fortunately, the party delegates chose Asiwaju who was eventually accepted by Nigerians as he was unanimously elected. Lalong urged all Nigerians, both in the North and across the country, to support Tinubu as he takes on the mantle of leadership. The governor noted that, because the late Sardauna lived a life of accommodation, tolerance, justice and fairness, his legacies have endured long after his demise and continue to inspire leadership in the region and country at large. According to him, the North is an important stakeholder in the Nigerian project and its contributions towards his election cannot be over emphasized. The Northern region needs serious attention in various sectors ranging from security, education, infrastructure, agriculture, economic revival and restoration of law and order in various areas that have been ravaged by insecurity. It is heartening to note that the Northern Governors Forum, under my leadership, has done a great deal of work on bringing our people together as one people with a common destiny, Lalong added. Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, said it was a privilege for his state to host the very important event, which reminds the region and the nation about the values that Sardauna lived and died for. He said, although there have been challenges in the country after the demise of Sir Ahmadu Bello, some progress has been made which can be built upon to make the Northern region and Nigeria a better place. Speaking on the topic 2023 Elections as Panacea for Search for Quality Leadership in Nigeria, Kenyan Law Professor and pan Africanist, Patrick Lumumba, said the late Sardauna left behind several lessons for politicians which include his selflessness and sacrifice for the general good. He said the question of unity and cohesion in Nigeria particularly after the 2023 general elections cannot be over emphasized because Nigeria plays a very key role in the stability of Africa being a giant in all ramifications. Lumumba stressed that the sacrifices of founding fathers like Sardauna, who paid the supreme price, should not be left to go in vain but built upon for a greater Nigeria and Africa. President Muhammadu Buhari in a message delivered by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, said it is important that Nigerians devote more attention to recruiting quality leaders who are capable of steering the nation in the right direction. He also said the process of elections should also be looked at, and continuously improved upon to ensure that those who serve the people have their mandate and also enjoy their support. Emir of Lafia, HRH Sidi Bage, said the lecture series is an opportunity to reflect on the dreams of Sardauna but also a way of putting critical national and regional issues on the front burner. He thanked Governor Lalong, who as Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, worked hard to ensure that the traditional Institution is given a place in the governance of Nigeria much as it was during the time of the Sardauna. The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has deployed 86 Deputy Commissioners of Police DCPs and 206 Assistant Commissioners of Police ACPs to zonal commands. The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba ordered the strategic posting as part of mechanisms towards an improved policing system across the country. A statement on Saturday by Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi said the officers are heading to Zonal Commands, State Commands and Formations. They will deputize other senior ranking officers in the discharge of critical administrative, investigative, and operational duties. The IGP reiterated the commitment of the Forces leadership to continually embark on initiatives to improve internal security in Nigeria. Baba charged the newly posted officers to display experience, commitment to service, respect for fundamental rights, and evolve effective ways for crime control. The police chief further tasked them to ensure the utmost level of professionalism, community-oriented public service, and compliance with the rule of law. The IGP assured the public of unhindered drives in all areas to effectively safeguard the people and strengthen our internal security. No fewer than three persons have been killed as young men suspected to be cultists overran Sagamu, the headquarters of Sagamu Local Government, Ogun State. It was gathered that the young men, who are members of the Eiye and Aiye confraternities, relaunched their usual supremacy battle on Tuesday, shooting at one another. As at Saturday, three persons were said to have been shot dead in the ongoing fracas that has brought commercial activities to a halt in some parts of Sagamu. Locals said several other persons sustained injuries in the attack, sending shivers down the spines of residents. Our correspondent learnt that one of the victims, an attendant at Awabat filling station in Ijokun, was shot dead on Friday night. A reliable source told our correspondent that the man, simply identified as Matey, was shot in the head by some yet-to-be identified persons. We dont know if he was a cultist, we dont know what happened. We just saw that he was shot dead by cultists. Hes a petrol attendant at Awabat in Ijokun, a mother of one, who pleaded anonymity, said. The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed that three persons were killed in the melee. However, Oyeyemi disclosed that many of the cultists have been arrested by the police. Yes, three persons were killed in Sagamu by cultists. But we have arrested many of them. The Commissioner of Police has directed our tactical teams to be on standby. We have started trailing those involved and many are in custody. We are clamping in on them, more will still be arrested, Oyeyemi said. Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, says the victory of Bola Tinubu, president-elect, at the presidential election is a difficult reality for the opposition. Shehu spoke on Thursday when he hosted a group called the Arewa Young Lawyers Forum (AYLF) in his office in Abuja. The presidential spokesperson said under an opposition administration, most of the successes recorded by President Muhammadu Buhari would be reversed. This is a difficult reality for the opposition parties, Patience Tilley-Gyado, the state houses deputy director of information, quoted Shehu as saying. APC victory in the election is a watershed moment for the Buhari government, its orientation, its programmes and projects. In the hands of the opposition, many of the laudable programmes of the Buhari administration would have been sabotaged or unimplemented. An important and overlooked aspect of the Tinubu/Shettima victory is that it ensures, not only an orderly transfer of power from the outgoing administration to the incoming one, but also the safety of policies and programmes of the outgoing government. For this, we remain grateful to the almighty, and to citizens of Nigeria for sticking with our party. On his part, Olayinka Dauda Jimoh, chair of AYLF, said the presidency should support the training of young people to enhance their leadership capacity. Air strikes battered Sudan's capital on Saturday, as fighting entered a fourth week only hours before the warring parties are to meet in Saudi Arabia for their first direct talks. Hundreds of people have been killed since the outbreak of the conflict on April 15 between Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the regular army, and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting has seen warplanes bomb targets in Khartoum and the two rival generals' forces engage in intense street battles in the city of five million inhabitants. Multiple truces have been reached, but none has been respected. In a joint statement, the United States and Saudi Arabia said the army and RSF would hold direct discussions in Jeddah on Saturday, describing them as "pre-negotiation talks". "Saudi Arabia and the United States urge both parties to take into consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks toward a ceasefire and end to the conflict," they said. The army confirmed it had sent envoys to Saudi Arabia to discuss "details of the truce in the process of being extended" with its paramilitary foes. Daglo, commonly known as Hemeti, took to Twitter to welcome the talks and thank the US, Saudi Arabia, and other international players for their efforts. The general, whose RSF descended from the Janjaweed militia accused of war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region, affirmed "the need to reach a civilian transitional government that... achieves the aspirations of our people". Both the army and the RSF have sought to present themselves as protectors of democratic values, despite staging a coup in 2021 that derailed the country's transition to civilian rule. International mediation On Saturday morning, witnesses said warplanes pounded various parts of the capital Khartoum, where telecommunications company MTN said all of its services had been interrupted. Burhan had given his backing to a seven-day ceasefire announced by South Sudan on Wednesday, but early on Friday the RSF said it was extending by three days a previous truce brokered under US-Saudi mediation. The US-Saudi statement noted the efforts of other countries and organizations behind this weekend's talks, including Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the Arab League, the African Union, and other groups. Khalid Omer Yousif, a former minister, expressed hopes the talks would lead to "a complete ceasefire that paves the way for a comprehensive political solution". At least 700 people have been killed and thousands injured in the fighting that has displaced hundreds of thousands either internally or across the border to neighboring countries. Neighboring South Sudan, which had negotiated the seven-day truce extension, said late Friday that its president, Salva Kiir, had spoken to the Sudanese generals about "his concerns and those of the IGAD leaders" from the East African regional grouping. While the army had previously said it favored "African solutions to the continent's issues", it was ultimately the US-Saudi initiative that gained leverage as Sudan had been suspended from the African Union since the 2021 coup. Burhan and Daglo had together orchestrated the coup in October of that year, derailing the democratic transition that had been painstakingly stitched together following the ouster of former autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019. But they later fell out in a bitter power struggle, most recently over the integration of the RSF into the army. Humanitarian crisis The announcement of the direct talks came following warnings from US intelligence chief Avril Haines of a "protracted" conflict that would "create a greater potential for spillover challenges in the region". The fighting persisted despite warnings from US President Joe Biden on Thursday of possible sanctions against those responsible for "threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan" and "undermining Sudan's democratic transition". Sudan suffered decades of sanctions during the rule of Bashir, ousted in a palace coup in 2019 following mass street protests. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has said it is preparing for an outflow of 860,000 people as a result of the conflict. The UN has also warned the fighting could plunge an additional 2.5 million people into food insecurity within months, meaning 19 million people would need aid to stave off famine. Its children's agency, UNICEF, said "The situation in Sudan has become fatal for a frighteningly large number of children". Search Keywords: Short link: David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state, says he has dropped his senate president bid and endorsed Godswill Akpabio, a former minister of Niger Delta affairs. Umahi, who will be a first-time senator when the 10th senate is inaugurated in June, said he met with Bola Tinubu, president-elect, who told him not to run. The senates standing orders favour ranking lawmakers returning senators with legislative experience. Speaking with reporters after a meeting with Akpabio on Friday, Umahi said he was also not considering the post of deputy senate president. My brother (Akpabio) came to consult with me, he said. Yesterday, I saw the president-elect on his invitation and he told me that he is already committed, and that please dont run and I accepted and stepped down for my brother, senator Akpabio. He is my consensus candidate. I also step down for him as the deputy senate president. Also speaking, Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno south, said Akpabio is the presidents preferred choice, but he did not state who he was referring to between President Muhammadu Buhari and the president-elect. As you can see, I am leading the campaign for Akpabio because he is the presidents preferred candidate and we have to put the interest of the country, the party, above any other interest, Ndume said. The development came after Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, said Akpabio would be the next senate president. Orji Uzor Kalu, current chief whip of the senate, indicated an interest to run for the position too. A second man was charged last month with shooting two men to death after a confrontation at a water ice store in 2021 in Burlington County, authorities announced Friday. Yefaan Thompson, of Willingboro, was charged with two counts of murder, conspiracy, aggravated assault and weapons-related offenses, according to a statement from the Burlington County Prosecutors Office. Thompson is the second person to be charged with fatally shooting Sadiel Gonzalez, 25, and Altarrek Bell, 18, as they were parking their car at the Orchard Park Apartments in Edgewater Park with two other people inside on March 27, 2021, the office said. Andre Price, 35, of Willingboro, was arrested in the summer of 2021 in Virginia and charged with two counts of murder and weapons-related offenses and remained in the Burlington County Jail pending trial, officials said. An investigation revealed that the shootings followed a confrontation earlier in the evening at a water ice store in Willingboro, the office said. Price and Thompson were accused of following the victims to the complex, pulling up beside their vehicle, and firing multiple shots before speeding away. Gonzalez, who lived at the complex, was in the drivers seat and Bell, a North Carolina resident, was in the back, investigators said. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. The other occupants were not struck by gunfire. Thompson was taken into custody on April 24 in Westampton by U.S. Marshals, was lodged in the Burlington County Jail and ordered to be held pending trial, the office said. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Two men accused of robbing a Mount Laurel Best Buy at gunpoint last weekend were arrested and also charged with a deadly shooting at a cellphone store in Baltimore, Maryland the same day, investigators said. On Thursday, Arthur McCaden, 18, of Brooklyn, Maryland, was charged by the Mount Laurel Police with armed robbery, theft and weapons related-offenses, authorities said in the announcement. On Friday, a 14-year-old from Maryland was charged with the same crimes, as well as juvenile delinquency, according to a statement from the department. The pairs alleged crime spree started on April 30 when they swiped iPhones after one of the robbers pointed a gun at multiple employees at the electronics store on Nixon Drive at about 1:30 p.m., Mount Laurel police said Monday. They fled in an older silver Acura TSX with a temporary registration and tinted windows and detectives began to search for leads in the area and surrounding states, police said Friday. After consulting with the Baltimore City Police Department in Maryland, detectives learned that on the same day, and after the Best Buy robbery, the same suspects robbed a T-Mobile store at the 2500 block of Boston Street, officials said. During the robbery, 23-year-old Fabian Sanchez Gonzalez was shot and died from his injuries two days later, the department said. The suspects were identified, arrested and Baltimore police shared their investigation Mount Laurel detectives. They were both charged with murder in Maryland and will face those charges before they are extradited to New Jersey, officials said. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. A mother has filed a lawsuit against a cemetery in South Jersey, alleging the memorial park lost track of where they buried her 38-year-old son after he died two years ago. Ruth Lee-Morris, of Philadelphia, claims a headstone was placed on a different plot from where she was originally told Eugene Morris II was laid to rest at Sunset Memorial Park in Pennsauken after he passed away on May 4, 2021, of a blood clot. Not knowing where her son is truly buried has made what is already an incredibly emotionally difficult time significantly harder for plaintiff, said the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Superior Court of Camden County. The suit was filed against Harleigh Cemetery Association, which owns Sunset Memorial Park, and Cemetery Development Company, Inc., which manages the businesses. A representative for Sunset Memorial Park referred calls to Cemetery Development Company. A spokesperson for the company said Friday they had not been served with a copy of the complaint yet and could not comment on the allegations in the suit. Shortly after her son died, Lee-Morris paid $7,073 for three grave plots in Row 12 of the cemetery, located on Union Avenue in Pennsauken, according to a sales contract included with the complaint. The plots were intended for her son and eventually for Lee-Morris and her husband, Eugene Sr., upon their deaths, the lawsuit says. Eugene Morris II, 38, died of a blood clot, his family said.Morris family photo Lee-Morris attended her sons burial and went back on May 25, 2021, with family members to tend to the grave. But when they arrived, landscaping work was underway and all temporary grave markers had been pulled and placed in a pile, the suit states. In addition, Lee-Morris observed a new grave being dug at or around the area where (she) recalled her sons grave to be, the suit states. When she asked a gravedigger where her sons burial spot was located, he had to call the main office for the information, the suit states. Having called the office, this gravedigger went to a specific headstone while on the phone and began counting plots before arriving at a certain plot and claiming that this was the position of (her) sons plot, the suit states. While Lee-Morris was not satisfied with this, nor with the fact that the grave markers had been pulled, she was willing to trust in the cemeterys ability to accurately record the location of a given individuals plot, the suit states. In June 2022, her sons headstone was placed, but on a different plot than Lee-Morris and her family had been directed to by the gravedigger, and away from the grave they had been tending to for more than a year, the suit states. Additionally, the gravestone appeared to be facing the wrong direction, the lawsuit says. When she asked cemetery staff why the headstone had been placed on a different plot, she was told the headstone was placed how it was supposed to be, the lawsuit alleges. The suit says Lee-Morris left a detailed message for the cemeterys main office explaining the situation, but that as of this week she has not heard back from the cemetery, its owners or the parent company. Not knowing where her son is buried has exacerbated her grief tremendously, (leaving Lee-Morris) without the peace of mind of being able to feel confident that when she visits her sons grave, that she is actually there with him, the suit says. The lawsuit alleges several counts of negligence, emotional distress, breach of contract, fraud and unjust enrichment. Grieving families trust cemeteries to care for the remains of their lost loved ones, Lee-Morriss attorney, Samuel D. Jackson, said in a statement to NJ Advance Media. For a cemetery to lose track of a graves location shows a shocking amount of indifference and insensitivity to that sacred obligation, Jackson said. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Ann Wilson is heading out on tour this July. Wilson along with backing band Tripsitter will head out on a 17-city tour on July 7 in Toronto, Ontario and wrap up on Aug. 3 Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The tour will support Wilsons third solo album Fierce Bliss. Tickets to see Ann Wilson this summer are currently available for purchase on Ticketmaster. Fans can also buy tickets on secondary market websites such as StubHub, Vivid Seats, TicketNetwork, TicketCity and MegaSeats. First-time Vivid Seats users can save $20 on ticket orders over $200 by entering promo code NJ20 at checkout. A complete list of Ann Wilsons tour dates is available here. More upcoming tours in 2023 Ann Wilson is not the only artist heading out on tour this year. Here are a few more tours you do not want to miss: RELATED STORIES ABOUT LIVE EVENTS: Queen and Adam Lambert tour 2023: How to buy tickets for 8 new show dates Taylor Swift 2023 tour setlist: All the surprise songs at each concert Andrea Bocelli tour 2023: Dates, schedule, ticket info Sting tour 2023: Dates, schedule, ticket info Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Nicole Iuzzolino can be reached at niuzzolino@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips. A fugitive who authorities say has been on the run since he was charged in a fatal Asbury Park shooting nearly 10 months ago, has been arrested, authorities announced Friday. Cops have been looking for Lydell Brown, a 19-year-old from the seaside city, since identifying him as a suspect in a July 8, 2022 shooting, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said in a release Friday. Hes charged with murder and weapons offenses in the killing of Dariel Vernet, who died at Jersey Shore Medical Center last summer after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds that night, Santiago said. Vernet, who was shot shortly before 5:45 p.m. on the 100 block of Prospect Avenue near the intersection with Atlantic Avenue, was 19 when he died. Police are investigating an early-morning shooting in Paterson on Saturday that left a 34-year-old man dead, authorities said. Around 1:14 a.m., Paterson patrol officers were called to the area around East Main Street and Hillman Street on reports that a man was shot, according to the Passaic County Prosecutors Office. Officers found a 34-year-old Paterson man that had been shot in the chest, authorities said. A man was shot and wounded by a police officer in his hometown of Vineland during an altercation Friday morning, authorities said. An officer was dispatched to the the 500 block of East Birch Street in the South Jersey City at about 11:20 a.m., according to the Cumberland County Prosecutors Office. The officer arrived and found the man armed with a knife, the prosecutors office said. The man allegedly charged toward the officer and a civilian, officials said. The man wounded the civilian shortly before the officer shot him, authorities said. A state budget committee on Friday approved the use of more than $150 million in federal COVID-19 recovery funds for several statewide initiatives, some of which drew the ire of both Democrats and Republicans on the panel. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, asked lawmakers to approve funding for 42 different programs, including $12 million for a new state hall of fame museum and $10 million for an exhibition space in Jersey City. The New Jersey Treasury Department submitted the request in a May 3 memo to the Joint Budget Oversight Committee, a panel of state legislators from both major political parties that oversees the use of federal COVID dollars. A man who was high and speeding when he slammed his car into an oncoming driver and killed a New Jersey high school student in 2021 will spend more than a decade and a half behind bars, authorities announced Friday. Michael Pillarella received two prison sentences Friday that will be served consecutively 17 years on a manslaughter charge and four more years on an assault by auto charge, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. Pillarella must serve at least 85% of his sentence before hes eligible for parole, officials said. Pillarella had three different drugs alprazolam, methadone and fentanyl as well as alcohol, in his system on Jan. 30, 2021 at 9:45 p.m. when he was speeding on Radio Road in Little Egg Harbor Township, authorities have said. Traveling at about 80 mph, he lost control of his 2017 Hyundai Elantra while attempting to navigate around a curve. His car crossed the centerline and slammed into an oncoming 2006 Toyota XB that had two teenage girls inside, the prosecutors office said. Egyptian artist Ibrahim Henetar passed away in early hours of Friday, his son revealed on social media. Born on 26 August 1948, Ibrahim Henetar (also known as Hanteer) contributed significantly to the Egyptian creative scene with his paintings, drawings and cartoons published in various newspapers. A graduate of the Cairo Faculty of Fine Arts Department of Engraving, Print and Graphic, the late artist presented his works in countless local exhibitions as well as internationally, such as at the Roman National Museum, Romania (2006) and during the 18th Gabrovo Biennale in Bulgaria (2007). He was among the founding members of the Syndicate of the Egyptian Fine Artists Graphic Department. Henetar was also a board member of the Egyptian Association of Caricatures and a member of numerous artistic associations such as the Association of Al-Ghury Artists, the Association of Egypt`s Salon of Photography, the National Association of Fine Arts and the Cairo Atelier. Henetar's work was published by several Egyptian and regional newspapers, including Al-Ahram. The prayers for the late artist took place Friday at the El-Rahman El-Rahim Mosque in Cairo, followed by a funeral at the family graves. No information has yet been provided regarding the wake. Search Keywords: Short link: A 70-year-old Toms River man who previously admitted he stole $230,000 from a friend by lying about investing it was sentenced Friday to five years in state prison, authorities said. John Hammond, of the Ortley Beach section of town, pleaded guilty last year to theft by deception in exchange for the reduced sentence, according to a statement from the Ocean County Prosecutors Office. At the time of his guilty plea, prosecutors asked for Hammond to receive seven years in prison but a judge opted for a slightly shorter term. The friend put the money into Hammonds account over a two-year period from May 2017 to February 2019, the office said. Hammond had promised large returns on the funds, claiming the money would be transferred to an investment account in the victims name. Hammond never established the investment account and instead withdrew the money from his own account and spent it how he saw fit, officials said. He added to the illusion that he was investing the money by creating phony financial documents supposedly to from Fidelity Investments, investigators said. After his scheme was discovered, Hammond surrendered himself to police in Toms River where he was charged and released until future court appearances, the office said. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. An Essex County man was convicted Thursday of various sex-related crimes committed against three children in Clifton, officials said. The investigation began on June 12, 2013, after the the Clifton Police Department contacted the Passaic County Prosecutors Office to report that an 11-year-old child had been sexually assaulted in Clifton, the office said. Detectives from the office interviewed the child and several witnesses and learned there were two additional victims, investigators said. The newly-discovered victims told detectives that they were sexually abused by Raelito Palao, 62, of Belleville, several times between September 2005 and August 2007 and between June 2012 and June 2013 at various places throughout Clifton, authorities said. On Thursday, a jury found Palao guilty of sexual assault, two counts of criminal sexual contact and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, the office said. He was ordered to be held in jail until his sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept. 5. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. During his second trial in the last four years, a Union County man was convicted Tuesday of violently stabbing his girlfriend to death in 2011 at his home, the Union County Prosecutors Office announced Friday. Anthony James, 62, was accused of stabbing 48-year-old Audrey Tanksley 94 times with three knives during an act of rage in their Plainfield home around 5 p.m. on Sept. 28, 2011, investigators said. Jones and Tanksley had a tumultuous relationship and argued frequently, court documents said. Tanksley had previously accused James of cheating on her and one night, when James returned home, Tanksley initiated an argument in their kitchen and again accused James of lying about being with other women. It was Tanksley who swung a knife at James, he previously testified, and after grabbing her arm, they somehow wound up in the bathtub in the adjacent bathroom, where Tanksleys body was later found. She attacked him and put the fear of death in him, he testified. After realizing she was dead, James called his family, his pastor, then 911 and surrendered to police on his front porch, the documents said. James himself was an ordained pastor. Durning his first trial in 2019 he was convicted of murder by a jury, but his attorneys argued for a retrial. In New Jersey, one has no responsibility, or duty, to retreat in their own home, if they are not the initial aggressor. A Union County assistant prosecutor who tried James in 2019 got it wrong in the closing argument, saying James had that duty. And the trial judge compounded the error when he instructed the jury as they began deliberating the case. Those errors led an appeals court last year to overturn James murder conviction and ordered a new trial. On Tuesday, after a day and a half of deliberation, the jury in his five-week retrial found him guilty of murder and weapons-related offenses, the office said. James faces up to life in state in prison when he is sentenced on June 23. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. A man who lived in the basement of the Roselle home of his sister-in-law and her 9-year-old daughter shared has been charged with killing both of them last month and fleeing the state, the Union County Prosecutors Office and Roselle Police Department announced Friday. Everoy L. Morrison, 44 of Roselle, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and a number of weapons-related offenses as well as theft of a motor vehicle, which was taken from the home after the homicides, the agencies said. Just before noon on April 18, Roselle Police Officers were called to the home on West 7th Avenue for a report of two missing people and a search of the house uncovered the bodies of 45 year-old Keisha Morrison and her 9-year-old daughter Kelsey Morrison, the office said. While at the home, police determined that Keisha Morrisons car had been taken from the home and detectives were able to track the vehicle to Maryland, police said. Morrison was stopped and arrested for being in possession of the stolen car. Morrison was eventually identified as the alleged killer of Keisha and Kelsey and he was later charged. He was being held in the Baltimore County Detention Center in Maryland awaiting extradition proceedings to New Jersey, the office said. Though authorities in Maryland and other officials had released some information on the case when Morrison was arrested last month, the Union prosecutors office has not said much on the killings before Fridays announcement. We are appreciative of the collaboration with the local and Maryland law enforcement agencies who assisted our Office in locating and apprehending the suspect, Union County Prosecutor William A. Daniel said. And we hope that this arrest can bring some small measure of comfort to all those grieving Keisha and Kelsey. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Six-day (Tuesday through Sunday) print subscribers of the Watertown Daily Times are eligible for full access to NNY360, the NNY360 mobile app, and the Watertown Daily Times e-edition, all at no additional cost. If you have an existing six-day print subscription to the Watertown Daily Times, please make sure your email address on file matches your NNY360 account email. You can sign up or manage your print subscription using the options below. Tourists from Southeast Asia are making up for the shortfall of Chinese visitors in Seoul's shopping district of Myeong-dong. Only around 2 million tourists visited Korea last year, compared to 14.43 million before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, and the proportion of Chinese visitors fell from 33.9 percent to 3.3 percent. But tourists from Southeast Asia increased from 13.1 percent to 26.7 percent over the period as countries there largely returned to normal while China remained in lockdown. One 43-year-old street vendor in Myeong-dong has placed a halal sign on his stall. "I put up the sign because of a sharp increase in the number of visitors from Southeast Asia since there are a lot of Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia," he said. Some stores have even hired Muslim staff. One man from Uzbekistan has been working part-time since last autumn at a street stall selling lamb skewers. "More Muslim customers come if I sell halal food," he said. Signs on other street stalls are in Thai and Vietnamese. The 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will present a little less music than scheduled on its second Saturday, thanks to the morning's thunderstorms. With heavy rain moving through the region, the festival's producers delayed the planned 11 a.m. opening to 12:15 p.m. As a result, the first acts of the day on each stage were canceled. The start times for many of each stage's second acts have been delayed anywhere from five to 25 minutes, and many of the set times have been shortened. China's Foreign Ministry on Friday angrily protested a Canadian intelligence report that asserted Chinese diplomats tried to intimidate a Canadian member of parliament for his criticism of Bejing. China's strong comments come after Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Thursday summoned China's ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, and said she was considering expelling the diplomat. The 2021 report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, first surfaced in an article this week in Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper. The article said that according to the intelligence agency, opposition lawmaker Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong were targeted after Chong criticized China's treatment of its Uyghur minorities. The report identified a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat allegedly responsible for the intimidation. The intelligence agency also said Beijing had tried to influence the outcome of Canada's federal elections in 2019. Speaking Thursday in Parliament, Joly said such interference cannot be tolerated, and she assured lawmakers there would be actions, including the possibility of expulsion of diplomats. During a regular briefing Friday in Beijing, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called the allegations in the intelligence report "totally nonsense," "groundless slander" and "smears." She said the Chinese ambassador, when summoned to the Canadian Foreign Ministry, lodged a strong protest. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday he is frustrated that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange remains in a British prison fighting extradition to the United States. Albanese also said a historic free trade agreement with Britian will come into force within weeks. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in London Friday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared "enough is enough" over the continued imprisonment of Julian Assange. He said the issue could be resolved before U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to Australia later this month for the 2023 Quad Leaders' Summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Japanese leader Kishida Fumio. Speaking in London, where he is for the coronation of British King Charles III, Albanese said he is frustrated a diplomatic solution to Assange's case had not been reached. The Australian-born journalist and publisher is wanted by United States authorities over military records and diplomatic cables leaked in 2010 and 2011, which the U.S. says broke the law and endangered lives. Assange is fighting extradition from Britain and is being held in a high security prison in London. He co-founded WikiLeaks, a website that publishes sensitive and classified information provided by anonymous sources. Vietnamese tourists have overtaken Japanese and Chinese to become the biggest spenders in Korea. According to BC Card earlier this week, Vietnamese tourists topped the list with W197,000 in per-capita card transactions here last year, overtaking Japanese (W188,000), Chinese (W171,000), Taiwanese (W126,000), and Americans (W109,000) (US$1=W1,323). The main reason was that they returned in much greater numbers after the coronavirus pandemic than tourists from East Asian countries, where lockdowns lasted longer. Lopez Obrador talks about fentanyl in one of his morning press conferences at the National Palace. Mario Jasso (Cuartoscuro) A container with 600 bundles of drugs has fully entered the controversy between Mexico, the United States and China over the global trafficking of fentanyl. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador asserted that the shipment, intercepted this week in the port of Lazaro Cardenas, is the latest evidence that the substance is not produced in the country, but arrives as a finished product to be sold on the U.S. market. We already have proof, said the President in his daily press conference this Friday. The president announced that he will send a new letter to request the cooperation of Xi Jinpings government in the anti-narcotics fight to identify suspicious shipments and prevent them from leaving Asia. In a very respectful manner, we are going to send this information to reiterate the request that they help us, said Lopez Obrador. The Secretary of the Navy, Rafael Ojeda, explained that the container detected in Lazaro Cardenas, one of the main ports in the Mexican Pacific, had packages weighing between 34 and 35 kilos, in which traces of fentanyl and methamphetamine were found, camouflaged in a shipment of fuel resin. The cargo departed from the Chinese city of Qingdao and passed through the Busan port terminal in South Korea before reaching Mexican territory, according to authorities. Ojeda said toxicological tests were conducted to determine the presence of the drugs, after an inspection with a team of trained dogs yielded certain doubts. This takes time because a very deep analysis has to be done, the admiral commented, adding that the shipment appeared several weeks ago, without specifying dates. The product was contaminated, the Navy secretary affirmed, after new chemical tests were carried out on Thursday. File image of a fentanyl seizure in Sinaloa. GUARDIA NACIONAL In early April, Lopez Obrador released a letter he sent to his Chinese counterpart asking for support to curb fentanyl trafficking, following weeks of tensions with lawmakers and US government agencies, such as the DEA and the State Department, who criticize his security policy and point to Mexico as the epicenter of the drug supply. Members of Congress from the most hardline wing of the Republican Party are seeking to revive a bill to designate Mexican cartels as terrorist groups, which would allow Washington to launch military operations on Mexican soil to hunt down criminal groups. Lopez Obradors government has said the approach is inadmissible and outside international law. We are not asking you for support in the face of these crude threats, but for humanitarian reasons to control this trafficking, the Mexican president wrote in a two-page document. Chinas response came a couple of days later, through Mao Ning, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. Beijing, a geopolitical and commercial rival of the US, showed empathy and condemned the hegemonic and bullying practices against the Mexican side, but assured that there is no so-called illegal fentanyl trafficking between the two countries. The problem of fentanyl abuse in the US has its roots in itself, and the problem is totally Made in the USA, American-made, Mao, a third-ranking official, countered. After Beijings response on April 8, the government of Lopez Obrador launched a new question a couple of days later: If it is not produced in China, then where? Each side offers completely different versions. Anne Milgram, director of the DEA, claimed this week that Mexican cartels play a preponderant role and control the illegal market. There are two cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation, that are responsible for virtually all the fentanyl and methamphetamine that is consumed in the United States, she said. Milgram said that for years now, Chinese partners of criminal organizations have stopped shipping fentanyl directly to the United States and have moved into the precursor trade, the substances from which the drug is made. DEA Director Anne Milgram during a conference on May 2, in California (USA). MIKE BLAKE (REUTERS) They buy precursor chemicals from China, ship them to Mexico, mass-produce fentanyl, use much of it to make fake pills, and then smuggle it into the United States by land, air and sea, she added. While tensions on both sides of the border soar, Milgram implied that the dialogue between the White House and the Chinese authorities remains deadlocked: We know that China is not going to cooperate with us in the fight against narcotics. At the same time, the sons of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the founder and historic leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, distanced themselves from the accusations of drug trafficking and organized crime against them, announced in the United States on April 14. We have never produced, manufactured or marketed fentanyl, Los Chapitos, as the drug lords heirs are known, said in a letter attributed to them and delivered by one of their fathers lawyers to the media. The kingpins heirs said they were victims of a persecution, although they did assert that there are multiple people in Sinaloa who work with it [fentanyl]. In the midst of the latest chapter of the US crusade against drugs, reproaches, disagreements and irreconcilable versions are surfacing. The United States points to Mexico and China as the world epicenters of fentanyl trafficking, a claim that has intensified with a view to next years presidential elections. The Mexican government refuses to be blamed, accuses a propaganda campaign and demands that its neighbor acknowledge its responsibility as a driver of demand. And the Chinese authorities have marked their distance, while a shipment of 600 packages of resin has once again stirred the waters. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition For more than three decades, beachgoers have had a ritual while visiting West Beach, the biggest and most popular beach in the Indiana Dunes National Park. People in search of some surf and sand along the Lake Michigan lakeshore make a point of stopping by Depot Dogs, the landmark rail-themed hot dog joint with the caboose at the border of Porter and Gary's Miller neighborhood. The outdoor counter-serve restaurant screams summer vacation, with its picnic benches, wooden decks, flowers, birdhouses and bright red-and-yellow umbrellas to shield diners with a cooling shade. Former steelworker Russell and Pamela Bass started Depot Dog in 1989, with its season running from April until around October or November. Depot Dog quickly became a regular stop for many families headed to the Indiana Dunes who relished its Chicago dogs, Maxwell Street Polish and other sausages that come automatically with a scoop of fries fresh out of the fryer. "My wife and I worked very hard to build that business," Russell said. "We were there eight to 10 hours a day seven days a week with our nose to the grindstone. We made good food and served it in a timely fashion so people can get back to their jobs." The restaurant in the red caboose at 5016 Melton Road in Portage has been passed on to the next generation. Their son Derrick and his wife, Amy, are now running the iconic pit stop. "A lot of our clientele comes from the Miller area, and a lot is tourism, especially from Chicago, Illinois and other parts of the country," Derrick said. "People come either before or after they go to the beaches at the Indiana Dunes." Depot Dog serves only Vienna Beef products, including hot dogs with a casing with a snap when you bite into it. It was inducted into the Vienna Beef Hall of Fame in 2010. "The food comes out hot and fresh," Derrick said. "It's all freshly prepared. Nothing is pulled from freezers where it's sitting for days or weeks." The next-generation ownership agreed to keep the hot dog stand the way it has been for the past 33 years. They have been looking to maintain its feel and charm while adding a few menu items, such as a Razo-Do deep-fried Polish, a Ditka Polish and the Sha-Zam Ditka Polish, which stretches 8 inches long and weighs a third of a pound. Derrick Bass had been living in Noblesville working a job in health care when his father told him he planned to retire. He came back up to learn inventory, payroll, scheduling, filling out taxes and running a business. He took the reins last year and just embarked on his second season. "As long as the weather is good, we're successful," he said. "I enjoy it. You're your own boss. There's camaraderie with the employees. You're close with the customers. They ask how your parents are doing, say they're legendary, remember them and share feel-good stories. We're starting new relationships." Bass grew up working in the restaurant, which was originally called West Beach Depot Dogs but changed its name after a year. It was the only listing in the phone book for West Beach, and 20 to 30 people called a day to ask if the beach was open. "I worked at the Bethlehem Steel mill when I started it in Miller during the 1980s," Russell said. "It was desperate times. People working in the mill were getting laid off. I had a mortgage and responsibility. I didn't know if I wanted to stick with the mill." He located the hot dog joint near the then-National Lakeshore to capitalize off the traffic and put it in a caboose at a time when they were being phased out. "I thought it was pretty unique," he said. "It was an attraction." He got advice on how to run the business from legendary hot dog king Chuck Wheeler, whose Chuck Wheeler's Vienna Beef remains a popular draw at Village Mall in Gary long after many of the other storefronts have become vacant. He listened to Wheeler's recommendations about quality, freshness and only serving Vienna Beef with the skin on. Derrick helped out around Depot Dog when he was a kid. The business was his bus stop when he was in elementary and middle school. He got dropped off after school and hung out in the back with his sister, who would draw in coloring books. They would play around, building forts out of bread trays stacked in the woods behind the caboose. He once went with a friend to retrieve a dollar under the wooden patio, braving the spiders, bugs and dank darkness for more than an hour. They found about $80 in change. "We had a pretty good life. We never really hurt for anything," he said. "I wanted to keep it in the family and carry on the tradition." So he moved back home to Northwest Indiana to take over. "I didn't want to see it sold to another individual or conglomerate who would turn it into something my family didn't create," he said. "I didn't want them to level that corner and turn it into something else. You see Luke Gas Stations popping up everywhere in the community. If something like that came in, it would be pretty heartbreaking." He was to carry on the legacy. "That legacy makes me very proud and makes me feel good inside. This is a well-known iconic destination in the Indiana Dunes, somewhere people visit when they come to Northwest Indiana. I'm proud to carry that legacy on." Depot Dog has drawn customers from Poland, England, Australia and all over the country, especially since the Indiana Dunes became a national park. A family with an RV rolled in this week from Arizona. "The national park draws more than 3 million people a year. It's always meant a lot of traffic," Derrick said. The people come to us. It takes care of itself. We just want to be successful for another 33 years." NWI Business Ins and Outs: Buona/Rainbow Cone, Fat Burrito, Pickles Kids and Dear Dani Boutique opening Coming soon Open Coming soon Open Open Open Open Open Open It's as pretty as a postcard. The Porter County Museum is showcasing the history of postcards in its latest exhibit. The museum also known as PoCo Muse at 20 Indiana Ave. in downtown Valparaiso will hang "Ever Yours: Postcards From the Golden Age" in its Montague/Urschel Gallery. It opens on May 12. Postcards from 1907 to 1915 that were donated to the museum provided the inspiration for the exhibit, said Executive Director Kevin Pazour. The postcard concept had its origins in Austria in 1869 as a simple unadorned card with space for address and a short message. The addition of a picture to one side opened floodgates of popularity and created a revolution in communication. Its a fascinating story. The exhibit displays 20th-century postcards collected by local residents, billing it as a "phenomenon that revolutionized personal communication and served as a precursor to the digital social networks of today." Many of the postcards in the PoCo Muse Collection focus on the scenery and attractions of this area at the turn of the 20th century, said Jake Just, the museums Director of Exhibits and Publications. They transport us back in time and offer a glimpse into how Porter County wanted to be perceived. There are lots of scenes of recreation on the lakes, impressive buildings in town and the Valparaiso University campus. The proliferation of images established a narrative about Porter County as a grand, welcoming and idyllic place. The exhibit will feature the interactive online project Postcrossing that lets participants send and receive postcards to and from people around the world. The museum will provide visitors with postcards and postage so they can participate. Postcrossing is a free and easy way to widen personal global perspectives and make contact with people of different cultures, added Pazour. We hope that children will find this feature especially appealing. The exhibit runs through October. PoCou Muse is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, visit pocomuse.org or @pocomuse on social media. GARY Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick promised to fight the divisiveness and distractions she sees happening in the Statehouse. Divisive social issues like banning books, attacking critical race theory and limiting LGBTQ+ rights rile people up, but what do they accomplish, she asked rhetorically. And the answer is nothing other than as a distraction from the real problems because theyre complex and theyre difficult to solve, McCormick said. I really feel like the (Republican) supermajority wants to hover in that because that is a national trend and it keeps that distraction, she said. That's easier to do than to work on the problems. You had a lot of supermajority power, and so someone's got to own it, McCormick said. Instead of owning it, Republican legislators act like, We're going to pretend like it doesn't happen and we're going to focus on these areas, she said. McCormick, a former state superintendent of public instruction, has been on a listening tour of Indiana the last several months. Ive heard about the struggles that Hoosiers are facing, and Ive also heard about the leadership they expect, she said. In Kosciusko County, I heard about the fight for public education. In Bartholomew County, Im hearing about womens rights and making sure that we watch that and making sure we protect it. In Hamilton County, I hear a lot about the desire to return to common sense. Hoosiers do not recognize the out-of-touch divisiveness that is coming out of the Statehouse, McCormick said. They expect a leader who believes in common sense and bipartisanship to solve problems and make Indiana the state that she can be. If elected, McCormick would become Indianas first female governor. She was the states top education official when Republicans in the Legislature decided to turn that position from elected to appointed. She noted legislative action critical of Gov. Eric Holcombs handling of issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. I know what that's like to have authority stripped because what they did to Gov. Holcomb, they did the same thing to me, and they're doing the same thing to a lot of different offices. So I completely understand that, she said. However, it's still the governor of the state of Indiana, and I still know people put that at the top of the pedestal. It's a voice, it's a platform. It appoints a lot of committees. It appoints a lot of boards. It can get a lot of things done, she said. McCormick vowed to work with the General Assembly to address big issues facing the state but said she would expect the legislators to work with her, too. Her campaign is getting support from not just Democrats but also independents, Libertarians and Republicans who are displeased with the actions of the supermajority, she said. It is time to have a champion for a high-quality education system, and that means childcare, universal pre-K, K12 and post high school training and education, McCormick said. It's time for accessible and affordable healthcare, including the freedom for women and families to make their own healthcare decisions. It's time for a strong economy from urban suburban to the rural areas of Indiana. We need good-paying jobs and we need well-educated, highly skilled workers. That means we have to have safe streets, that means we have to have safe communities, that means we have to have safe schools, she said. This is the Indiana that we can build together, but we must build it with common sense, stopping the distractions. State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, offered his endorsement of McCormick in Gary. I believe in her, Smith said. I worked with her for four years. I saw that she was not a politician but a public servant. This woman showed that she cares about people, he said. Close Calumet Township Trustee Kimberly Robinson poses with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick. "Jennifer will protect the taxpayer dollar by demanding transparency and fiscal accountability is everything she does. Jennifer will be that public servant who demands excellence," Robinson said. Calumet Township Trustee introduces Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick Friday in Gary. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick vows to fight divisiveness and "distractions" she sees happening at the Statehouse. Gary resident Emmani Ellis speaks with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick about Ironworkz, a business incubator that supports youth and small business entrepreneurs, following McCormick's news conference in Gary. State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, has endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick vows to fight divisiveness and "distractions" she sees happening at the Statehouse. PHOTOS: Gubernatorial candidate McCormick makes campaign stop in Gary Calumet Township Trustee Kimberly Robinson poses with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick. "Jennifer will protect the taxpayer dollar by demanding transparency and fiscal accountability is everything she does. Jennifer will be that public servant who demands excellence," Robinson said. Calumet Township Trustee introduces Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick Friday in Gary. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick vows to fight divisiveness and "distractions" she sees happening at the Statehouse. Gary resident Emmani Ellis speaks with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick about Ironworkz, a business incubator that supports youth and small business entrepreneurs, following McCormick's news conference in Gary. State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, has endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick vows to fight divisiveness and "distractions" she sees happening at the Statehouse. WESTVILLE A prison officer is accused of trying to bring marijuana hidden in a Cheetos bag to an inmate at Westville Correctional Facility. Adeja Cunningham, 24, of Calumet City, Illinois, is charged with Level 5 felony trafficking with an inmate. According to court documents, authorities at the state prison discovered that Cunningham and the offender had been chatting with each other on Instagram. In one of the messages, prison authorities said, the two talked about picking up something and that it would be in the chips. While Cunningham was reporting for duty April 30, authorities at the prison found her to be in possession of two snack food bags, according to court documents. Marijuana was in one, an 8.5-ounce bag of XXTRA Flamin Hot Cheetos, prison officials said. The alleged marijuana weighed about three-quarters of an ounce. Cunningham offered no response to the drug-related actions. Court records show that she was released Wednesday from the LaPorte County Jail after posting $1,500 bond. A trial date will be set at her next hearing, scheduled for June 30 in LaPorte Superior Court 2. Cunningham could face one to six years in prison if convicted. This article is part of our Design special section about making the environment a creative partner in the design of beautiful homes. Interior design, an art form vulnerable to owners changing tastes and the frailties of fabrics and wallpapers, is often appreciated only fleetingly, or in retrospect. Several recent books capture this evanescence in the ghosts of an abandoned crafts community, the inspirations of a 20th-century maverick decorator, the rocking decks of floating homes and the ever-evolving ambience of plant-filled rooms. The most hilarious anecdote told by Cuban journalist and writer Carlos Manuel Alvarez in his book The Intruders is about the political police in Havana. An officer called him on his mobile phone last year: Carlos Manuel is in a green taxi, driving along the Malecon. How is that possible, he replied, if Im Carlos Manuel? Oh, shit! the informant shouted, before hanging up the phone. He had called the man he was spying on by accident. Such an unavoidable mistake made by countless people on a daily basis reveals the space for error that can be found within the solemnity of the Cuban dictatorship. Notably, such humor is usually fatal for any regime that aims to be feared. In his book, Alvarez, 33, peppers the text with his reflections on Castroism. He also offers biographies of the young artists and academics who, like himself, belong to the San Isidro Movement. In November of 2020 in response to the imprisonment of rapper Denis Solis in Havana they engaged in a hunger strike. This gave rise to a new wave of dissent, with historic street protests breaking out on the island. The police cracked down. A few weeks later, Alvarez ended up being deported from Cuba, where the walls were already closing in on him. He continues to live in exile in New York, but recently, he travelled to Mexico City to promote his book. Despite the repression and humiliation of the regime, he doesnt abhor the word revolution. Rather, he prefers to entrust it to women and Blacks the only groups, he argues, who can get Cuba (and the wider world) out of its overarching problems. Alvarez fears that, one day, Castroism will shed its dictatorial clothing without abandoning the social, administrative and economic organization that has been tattooed by the regime on the skin of Cubans. Thats a real risk, he notes. Meanwhile, a new generation of young writers, rappers, scientists and artists who were born into material and political misery represent todays dissident movement. Carlos Manuel Alvarez in Mexico City, on April 27, 2023. Monica Gonzalez Islas Question. As your book asks, what kind of dissidents are you? And what are your differences from the previous generation? Answer. The San Isidro Movement is inscribed in a tradition of resistance that allows it to have a degree of importance and success in its civic management [it] has an esthetic and a political proposal that have gained traction for two reasons: [firstly, because of] growing access to the internet in Cuba, which establishes communication networks and ways in which public discourse moves beyond state intrusion, [giving] greater visibility to injustices and repression. On the other hand, its an independent movement with a very clear popular substratum, made up, at its heart, by young artists, poor, Black, lower-class people, who are the pulse of the street. [The San Isidro Movement] is an extremely subversive and highly changeable organization, willing to reinvent itself. Q. But didnt these movements also happen in the past? Werent there also artists and intellectuals with different voices who led the resistance in Cuba? A. Yes, all of this took place. Rather, these movements [have culminated] in a process that has not been interrupted in the last 20 years, since the Black Spring, when Fidel Castro imprisoned 75 independent journalists and shot three young men for hijacking a boat to escape to Florida. From then until today, that gesture of disobedience hasnt been interrupted. This is the first political proposal of a generation born or educated after the 1990s. The [change] in Cuba with the collapse of the Soviet Union is fundamental: while formally the political regime continues to be maintained, social life in Cuba has changed drastically. [Theres] openness to tourism, some migrants [who return to visit], theres access to foreign currency. All of this has generated a state of affairs that is just as terrible but much more open than the first 30 years of the regime. We have been formed in a less closed society than those who preceded us. Q. Someone in the book says that the regime knows that creativity melts its power. Is creativity the key element to defeat the dictatorship? A. At least to resist it. If theres something that the totalitarian machine is interested in, its repeating gestures, placing us in a zone of tedium. The machine wins if it bores us. But the individual has to place himself in a very purposeful place. If you only plant your body without offering a transformative [alternative] to power power is going to sweep you away. If they put you in jail, you awaken a wave of solidarity but the 15th day that you are jailed no longer has the same impact [as the first]. Q. In 2020, the San Isidro Movement used a very old tool: the hunger strike. Did it make a difference? A. Its an example of how theres a political response that has worn itself out. I think that [we] resort to hunger strikes because all other spaces of expression have been kidnapped all you have left is your body. The hunger strike is an expression of engulfment; you are eating yourself, because power has brought you to that point. You snatch the body away from power and tell it that the one who is going to do the annihilating is me Im not going to allow you to annihilate me. Its a gesture of death [] the progress of death in real time. However, in recent years, Cuba has resorted to hunger strikes on such a daily basis that I dont know if it has ceased to matter, or if it still has an impact. Q. One of the protagonists in your book wants to be fashionable and famous something that Cuban students are scolded about in schools. But in the dissident movement, these qualities are an expression of political power. A. That expression shows that the perception about the isolation of Cuba is wrong; that the narratives are not connected with what happens in the rest of the West. I see it as a typical sign of a change in discourse that is very recognizable in any context, not just the Cuban one. Theres this idea that pleasure must be disputed with power. [Dissidence isnt only about] direct confrontation [it must] go against all forms of solemnity, against the rigor and formality of the political. Q. The real protagonists of this book not only have political dissidence in common. Most of them come from broken families, or from the poverty that the Cuban Revolution promised to combat. The book raises the question: how do you discipline a boy who has become accustomed to carrying a cell phone, when he doesnt even have proper shoes? A. Maykel Osorbo, for example who was jailed in re-education centers since he was little what can power threaten him with? How can it displace him, if hes already been displaced from everything? How can you banish him, if hes already banished? Hence the title of The Intruders these are people who are intervening in a place where they are not welcome, the institutions of social life, of art, of politics. When someone who has been in prison for half of their life almost without knowing why, in a spiral that criminalized them, or required them to commit acts of that nature suddenly goes to prison for a political cause, the difference is almost [inconsequential]. Carlos Manuel Alvarez in Mexico City, on April 27, 2023. Monica Gonzalez Islas Q. Seen in this way to the extent that the island is impoverishing and repressing generation after generation the dictatorship is wearing itself out, because it can no longer discipline these young boys. It is the beginning of the end? A. From my perspective, yes. Were talking about a state that can no longer welcome the entire population like a herd under its wing. Its a state [that is] incapable of satisfying any material good, a minimum standard of economic stability. Its a parasitic state. I think people know that after having grown accustomed, for decades, to being dependent on state subsidies without any type of individual autonomy to suddenly being given very little [and now being] required to survive on their own. Perhaps the people of my generation can [survive] more easily [in the current structure]... but I dont think my parents generation would know how to manage. Q. And yet, the dictatorship persists with the dictator dead. Why doesnt it fall? A. It happens more often than you think. [Regimes] invent or generate a Frankenstein that has even more power than the actual tyrants themselves. Theres a moment when you realize that, if dictators wanted to overturn that monstrosity they have invented, they wouldnt even be able to. That ideology that bureaucratic, repressive, military structure already generates its own organization and operation, independently of the tyrant. The way of reading totalitarianisms goes through the central figure, through the figure of order what they decide, what they dont decide it may seem like its all pure individual management, or pure arbitrariness, or centralized power. But suddenly, the dictator ends up being subordinate to the structural order that he created. Q. Do people not know how to defeat the Frankenstein that has been created? A. I believe that something changed in the national life with the death of Fidel Castro. The next day, the regime wasnt overthrown but weve witnessed modes of dissident expression that used to be more dangerous, due to [Castros] presence and the way in which the entire country gravitated towards the dictator. His death kind of freed up a place within the same political order everything seems more flexible, or finishable. But, above all, to give a direct example, we understood that although it wasnt said openly the death of the tyrant [saw the end] of the consensus that he generated. Whether this consensus had been generated out of conviction or through terror, it was understood that the punishment that [the regime] can inflict on you now is more restrained. They think about it more. Fidel could capitalize on his name, shoot three people and maintain the system. But now, its more difficult for [the authorities] to shoot you with impunity, because the consequences could be different. I think that the powers that be know it, as do those who protest. Those who have succeeded Fidel dont enjoy anywhere near the level of credibility that the tyrant had within his constructed tyranny. Q. Why then has an implosion not occurred? A. Im not able to say why. Theres no reason to explain why the regime is still standing. Q. Has the nostalgia of the global left resulted in complacency with the Cuban dictatorship? A. Without a doubt. Theres a kind of historical complicity with the Cuban regime by the Western left in general, [revealed by] the tacit ways in which the abuses of the Cuban dictatorship are condemned if theyre even condemned at all! This mildness accompanies the structural injustices that allow the regime to survive. Q. This reluctance to express condemnation doesnt occur when it comes to Nicaragua, for example. A. Gabriel Boric the Chilean president usually condemns the Nicaraguan or Venezuelan dictatorships whenever hes at an international event. But the mother of these authoritarianism regimes Cuba is rarely mentioned. Its evidence of how theres a level of sentimentalism within a certain faction of the left, which maintains some abstract values that are sustained by the concrete sacrifices of Cubans, whose bodies are subjected to constant poverty, misery and repression. Q. Would you dare put a date on the end of the dictatorship? A. The end is coming, the end is coming. But I believe that it will not come with a drastic blow, from one day to the next. The regime is mutating in its ways of survival. If 30 years ago one could speak of a purely Stalinist power, I believe that what exists in Cuba now is a kind of state capitalism that maintains the rhetoric of the Cold War to justify itself but the ways in which the economy is managed responds to another global order. And I dont believe that, when we get out of the current state of affairs, well inevitably be in a more prosperous place. It seems to me that, unfortunately, the future of Cuba is mortgaged. Q. One may think of Mexico. The perfect dictatorship of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (the PRI, which ruled Mexico uninterruptedly from 1930 until 2000) didnt go through a democratic transition, even though regime change technically took place at the turn of this century. In some ways, Mexico maintains the undemocratic structures that were created by the PRI. A. The PRIs structure, yes. Theres also the opposite case of Spain which did well (after Franco) but, for example, while the Pinochet regime gradually dissolved [in Chile], its power remained in some ways. We tend to believe that dictatorships are immovable that they continue as they are because certain structures are maintained but in Cuba, were already dealing with a regime that has inevitably had to cede certain quotas of power. Although theres this terrible evidence that remains proof that we can formally end Castroism, but that the political, administrative, social, and economic structures will remain as they are. Q. What does it mean when Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador awards his countrys most illustrious medal to his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Diaz Canel? A. Its fodder for the Latin American right, while it also discredits the renewal of the left taking place across the continent. What Andres Manuel does and what the [traditional] Latin American left does ends up generating a complicity that doesnt allow a future transformation for the region in general. I believe that Latin America, unfortunately, still carries in its emotions the kind of patriarch that Cuba was. Gestures like that further radicalize the Cuban opposition. [Those who remain on the island] continue to take on a regime that destroys any democratic proposition. Its very harmful, not only for Cuba, but for the region. Its a high price to pay for a gesture of this nature, which has an important symbolic power. But, in the long run for anyone who is on the left of the political spectrum [such actions] are unjustifiable. Q. You live in New York, rather than in Miami. Is there a message in this choice, regarding how you position yourself against both the Castro dictatorship and against capitalism? A. I dont think I have the most harmonious relationship with the Cuban exile institution. I call it an institution because the Cuban exile community is extremely rich and diverse. However, it seems to me that [this communitys] political voice [has been] kidnapped by a sector that capitalizes on the freedom of Cuba, treating it like a business. The way in which they claim to defend it and the rhetoric [they use] is very Castroist in its ways. [It] reminds me that Castroism became a culture, a habit, that always accompanies you. Freeing yourself from [this culture] doesnt happen by moving away or going into exile, but by unlearning and understanding what it means to be a democratic person. I dont like to put myself in the position of the exile who attacks Miami, because Miami is my country, too. But yes, I have a very clear dispute with many exiles, because they believe that the way in which I am interested in managing my own condition of exile is sacrilegious or disrespectful. Because that institution already has a [template] prepared for the duty of the Cuban exile. Those forms of obedience if they didnt interest me in Cuba, they certainly dont interest me abroad. Q. You develop this idea in your book the notion of false solidarity. We want to be free, but we dont want the slave to be freed, because we need martyrs. A. Absolutely. For me, the political discourse on the part of [many] Cuban exiles fails enormously [because] they are thinking of the Cubans in Cuba as cannon fodder they instrumentalize those lives all the time. Its one of the reasons why Im not in favor of the embargo. Because the embargo demands sacrifices from bodies that have been asked all their lives to sacrifice themselves. They think that the restrictions are going to stifle the regime something that has not been proven, [as it] simply ends up having an impact on peoples practical lives. But they believe that [sanctions] are justifiable, because theyre going to eliminate a greater evil. Its the same discourse of Stalinism: sacrifice today, give up your lives today, because tomorrow, were going to reach paradise something that never occurs. Paradise is always one step ahead, [while] the end of the dictatorship is even one step further. Q. There are those who say that the advances of the San Isidro Movement are not as irreversible as you consider them to be. A. Its certainly debatable, but there are facts that could deny that. Theres a change in the political consciousness of Cubans. In July of 2021, there were massive protests tens of thousands of people in the streets throughout Cuba, something that had never happened, not in 60 years. If we do something that has never been done before, but believe that just because we didnt overthrow the dictatorship that [same] day means that it doesnt count, were not understanding the cumulative logic that [these events] have. There is a rupture between citizenship and power between the people and the state that the regime has not managed to heal. The bone is still broken and in full view of everyone. Q. What role is feminism playing in Cuba? And what role could it play in overthrowing the dictatorship? A. A fundamental one. [Feminism] is a revolution everywhere, just like the end of slavery once was. Its becoming more and more articulated in Cuba, more and more a leading civic force. Feminism has been and must be a revolution. I dont know whether to speak of hope or confidence, but if I had to bet my money on someone to get us out of this quagmire and not only in Cuba I would only bet on women and Blacks, because the [difficult] state of affairs that we find ourselves in is the fault of white men. There wont be a democratic solution for Cuba unless its led by women. There cannot [merely] be a patriarchal substitution of power. Women are fundamental they have to lead us. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Geoffrey Hinton was an artificial intelligence pioneer. In 2012, Dr. Hinton and two of his graduate students at the University of Toronto created technology that became the intellectual foundation for the A.I. systems that the tech industrys biggest companies believe is a key to their future. On Monday, however, he officially joined a growing chorus of critics who say those companies are racing toward danger with their aggressive campaign to create products based on generative A.I., the technology that powers popular chatbots like ChatGPT. Dr. Hinton said he quit his job at Google, where he worked for more than a decade and became one of the most respected voices in the field, so he could freely speak out about the risks of A.I. A part of him, he said, now regrets his lifes work. Written and narrated by A.O. Scott Nataki Garrett, the artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, is stepping down after a tumultuous period that concluded with a financial crisis so severe that the nonprofit theater warned that it was unclear whether it would be able to finish this years season. One of the most prominent women of color to lead an American theater, Garrett began her tenure in August 2019. She plans to resign effective May 31; the decision was reported on Friday by American Theater magazine, and then announced by the theater. Garrett has encountered a series of crises during her time at the helm of the organization, which has been one of the nations largest and most prestigious nonprofit theaters. Based in the southern Oregon town of Ashland, it is a destination theater, meaning most of its audience travels to get there, and it stages much of its work during the summer; before the pandemic, it had been attracting 400,000 patrons annually. Garrett faced not only the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the theater, like most others, to shutter in 2020, but also the impact of climate change, which has particularly affected the Oregon Shakespeare Festival because it has repeatedly been forced to cancel performances when smoke from wildfires has worsened air quality. A Pennsylvania welder who attacked police officers at the Capitol with a chair and then chemical spray was sentenced on Friday to slightly more than 14 years in prison, the most severe penalty handed down so far in connection with the events of Jan. 6, 2021. At a hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, the man, Peter Schwartz, 49, joined a growing list of people charged with assaulting the police on that day who have received stiff sentences. Until now, the longest sentence in a Jan. 6 case had been the 10-year term given to Thomas Webster, a former New York City police officer who was found guilty last year of swinging a metal flagpole at an officer at the Capitol. The sentence could presage more long prison terms to come. In a separate case on Friday, prosecutors recommended 25 years in prison for Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November along with one of his lieutenants. The prosecutors said holding Mr. Rhodes accountable at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for May 24, would be essential to preserving American democracy. His punishment, they said, could help decide whether Jan. 6 becomes an outlier or a watershed moment. In the case of Mr. Schwartz, who went to the riot armed with a wooden tire knocker, prosecutors had asked Judge Amit P. Mehta for a sentence of 24 years and six months in prison more than twice Mr. Websters sentence. While Judge Mehta declined to go that high, he said that his decision to issue a term of 170 months was necessary given Mr. Schwartzs substantial history of violent offenses, and lack of remorse for his actions. Hundreds of photographers will spend Saturday trying to capture the perfect image of the coronation. But one faces a tougher task: to turn King Charles III into an icon. Hugo Burnand, 59, is the coronations official portrait photographer and, shortly after the newly crowned Charles returns to Buckingham Palace, will have just minutes to take a historic image of the monarch. Mr. Burnand said in a recent interview that he was trying to treat the job like any other I have to do what I know how to do well and let history take care of itself, he said. But some experts say that he faces a sizable challenge. Paul Moorhouse, a curator who in 2012 oversaw a major British exhibition of portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, said in an email that Mr. Burnand had to capture the glory of monarchy while appealing to younger generations skeptical of the institution. In recent years, weve seen a rapid expansion not only of the audience for chamber music, but of that audiences sophistication and its awareness that the genre also includes sonatas, piano trios, small vocal ensembles, quintets, sextets and indeed all manner of combinations, John Rockwell of The Times wrote in 1979. And for that expansion of awareness, we can partly thank the Beaux Arts Trio. In 2008, when the trio disbanded after 53 years, Mr. Pressler was still its anchor, the last original member still in the group. He was 84, but he continued performing as a soloist and with ensembles. He also continued teaching at Indiana University, where he held the Charles H. Webb chair in Music. Menahem Pressler was born in Magdeburg, Germany, on Dec. 16, 1923, 153 years after what is generally accepted as Beethovens birthday. One of three children of Moshe and Judith (Zavderer) Pressler, he began playing the piano at 6 and was an accomplished performer as a teenager, taught secretly by a church organist after Hitlers persecution of the Jews rose to a fever pitch. He recalled Kristallnacht, in November 1938, when the Nazis orchestrated a nationwide attack on Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues. The thugs broke into our family shop in Magdeburg a gentlemans outfitters, Mr. Pressler told The Guardian in 2008. His English still accented with the German of his childhood, he slipped into the present tense as vivid memories returned: We are hiding in the house, hoping it will go by. In the street, you hear running, yelling, smashing sounds, banging at the door. Menahem, his parents and his siblings, Leo and Selma, escaped to Italy months later and then reached Haifa. His grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all perished in the Holocaust. A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope, edited by Patrice Caldwell I must admit, this recommendation is a bit of a cheat. Instead of a single novel, it is an anthology with 16 different stories from which to choose. Gathered in the spirit of Octavia Butlers expansive body of work, the collection touches on Black culture, folk tales and fantasies, with stories pulling in lived experiences alongside speculative imaginings. What I love most is the concentrated, multivocal assertion that Black women and gender nonconforming folks are so multifaceted that they are, in fact, infinite. Tracy Deonn is the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award-winning author of Legendborn and its sequel, Bloodmarked. It was the most personal story that Maggie Tokuda-Hall had ever written: the tale of how her grandparents met and fell in love at an incarceration camp in Idaho that held Japanese Americans during World War II. The book, called Love in the Library, is aimed at 6- to 9-year-olds. Published last year by a small childrens publisher, Candlewick Press, it drew glowing reviews, but sales were modest. So Tokuda-Hall was thrilled when Scholastic, a publishing giant that distributes books and resources in 90 percent of schools, said last month it wanted to license her book for use in classrooms. When Tokuda-Hall read the details of the offer, she felt deflated then outraged. Scholastic wanted her to delete references to racism in America from her authors note, in which she addresses readers directly. The decision was wrenching, Tokuda-Hall said, but she turned Scholastic down and went public, describing her predicament in a blog post and a Twitter post that drew more than five million views. Tokuda-Halls revelations sparked an outcry among childrens book authors and brought intense scrutiny to the editorial process of the worlds largest childrens publisher. The blowup came at a time when culture wars are fueling efforts to ban books in schools particularly books on race or sexuality and raising questions about whether already published works should be re-edited to remove potentially offensive content. How is the national mood ahead of this coronation? It comes at a very difficult moment for the country, economically and politically. There has also been a huge amount of internal dysfunction with the departure of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, but also a very bitter rift between Harry and both his brother, Prince William, and his father, King Charles. All of that is providing a very cloudy backdrop for this big event. Is this an opportunity for him to bolster his popularity? Charles has already, as Prince of Wales, shown himself to be a more accessible, more democratic figure than the queen ever did. Against that, hes still a king, which is a fairly antiquated concept in todays world. The tension he will face is serving in this age-old role while trying to update the monarchy and make it seem less anachronistic. Whether he pulls that off or not will be the big challenge of his reign. What will you particularly be looking out for today? Charles will be making an effort to make the ceremony seem more relevant to a modern society. Its a Christian service at heart, but he is going to have representatives of Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism and other faiths playing a part in the ceremony itself. Ill also be looking to see how people on the streets receive the king. Will there be a great deal of excitement and a very jubilant mood? Its possible there will be, because its going to be a heck of a show, and if the weathers nice, it will be a chance for people to unify around this tremendous, historic spectacle. Is there any pageant of state more chockablock with symbolism than a royal coronation? Almost every detail, from the crown itself to the bracelets of sincerity and wisdom presented to the new monarch, is redolent of meaning. So it really shouldnt be a surprise that the clothes of the ceremonys stars, as well as many of the guests, were equally considered, down to the tiniest detail. Indeed, a scan through the looks on Saturday was, on one level, like a super fancy fashion Easter egg hunt. It started with the coronation gown worn by Queen Camilla: a white silk dress by Bruce Oldfield, a British designer who has been a favorite dressmaker of not only the new queen, but was also often worn by Princess Diana (he made her silver lame dress for the 1985 premiere of the James Bond film A View to a Kill) and thus a sort of diplomatic family bridge. Lets count off a few of them. First, there are the limits of ideological box-checking in a campaign against Trump. This is my colleague Nate Cohns main point in his assessment of DeSantiss recent struggles, and its a good one: DeSantis has spent the year to date accumulating legislative victories that match up with official right-wing orthodoxy, but we already saw in Ted Cruzs 2016 campaign the limits of ideological correctness. There are Republican primary voters who cast ballots with a matrix of conservative positions in their heads but not enough to overcome the appeal of the Trump persona, and a campaign against him wont prosper if its main selling point is just True Conservatism 2.0. Second, theres the mismatch between cultural conservatism and the anti-Trump donor class. Part of DeSantiss advantage now, compared with Cruzs situation in 2016, is that he has seemed more congenial to the partys bigger-money donors. But many of those donors dont really like the culture war; theyll go along with a generic anti-wokeness, but they hate the Disney battles, and theyre usually pro-choice. So socially conservative moves that DeSantis cant refuse, like signing Floridas six-week abortion ban, yield instant stories about how his potential donors are thinking about closing up their checkbooks, with a palpable undercurrent of Why cant we have Nikki Haley or even Glenn Youngkin instead? This leads to the third dynamic that could repeat itself: The G.O.P coordination problem, a.k.a. the South Carolina pileup. Remember how smoothly all of Joe Bidens rivals suddenly exited the presidential race when it was time to stop Bernie Sanders? Remember how nothing remotely like that happened among Republicans in 2016? Well, if you have an anti-Trump donor base dissatisfied with DeSantis and willing to sustain long-shot rivals, and if two of those rivals, Haley and Senator Tim Scott, hail from the early primary state of South Carolina, its easy enough to see how they talk themselves into hanging around long enough to hand Trump exactly the sort of narrow wins that eventually gave him unstoppable momentum in 2016. But then again, a certain cast of mind has declared Trump to have unstoppable momentum already. This reflects another tendency that helped elect him the first time, the weird fatalism of professional Republicans. In 2016 many of them passed from he cant win to he cant be stopped with barely a way station in between. A rough month for DeSantis has already surfaced the same spirit as in a piece by Politicos Jonathan Martin, which quoted one strategist saying resignedly, Were just going to have to go into the basement, ride out the tornado and come back up when its over to rebuild the neighborhood. Influencing this perspective, again as in 2016, is the assumption that Trump cant win the general election, so if the G.O.P. just lets him lose it will finally be rid of him. Of course, that assumption was completely wrong before, it could be wrong again; and even if its not, how do you know he wont be back in 2028? The international agenda in Latin America has been unusually intense in recent weeks. Brazils President Lula da Silva visited China; Colombias Gustavo Petro met with Joe Biden; Russian leaders met with counterparts in Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba; Iranian officials toured the region, with a special stop in Caracas; and the foreign minister of India traveled to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. To this list we must add the recent change in position of Honduras vis-a-vis Taiwan which is progressively losing allies in the region and, in 2022, Turkeys foreign minister visited six countries in the region. These apparently isolated events actually had a common thread in global politics, there are hardly any coincidences. The activities of China, India, Russia, Iran and Turkey in Latin America are, in fact, part of a comprehensive project meant to strengthen their presence and renew alliances. At the global level, were observing seismic movements that are redefining the concept of power, which generates intense debates for its definition, but consensus regarding its intangibility and difficulty of measurement. Analysts such as Moises Naim, of Venezuela, think that the concept considering the emergence of new actors that that challenge it and make it increasingly weak, transitory and restrictive. Changes in the international economy, politics, population, migration patterns and the emergence of new technologies are also factors that have also contributed to the breakdown in traditional power structures. For his part, Richard Hass president of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York opines that power has spread to a greater number and variety of actors, which has led to changes in global governance. For this reason, he asserts that the question is not whether the world will continue to collapse, but how fast and to what extent. The international system is marked by fragmentation, conflict and polarization. The bipolar scenarios, or the hegemony held by a single power, are in the past. Were facing the emergence of new players, ideas and global interests, in the midst of new competitions and tensions. In other words, we went from the Cold War to the Cold Peace. The correlation of forces on the global chessboard has changed remarkably, according to former Colombian Foreign Minister Guillermo Fernandez de Soto. The new axis of power is leaning from the West to Asia. By 2060, the latter will hold more than 55% of global GDP, 5.3 billion people, an enormous middle class north of 80% of the population and will have gone through an unparalleled process of urbanization and the construction of megacities, with six of the 10 largest metropolises in the world being in Asia. The aforementioned reality will lead to the abrupt movement of geopolitical pieces, which will have profound effects in Latin America a region that was, historically, in the USAs sphere of influence. However, this phase of Washingtons hegemony in Central and South America is coming to an end. A new era is being reconfigured, in which the US will maintain considerable strength at least in economic and military terms but its influence will be greatly diminished. Strategic competition scenario We are now facing a strategic competition between the United States and China, which is accompanied by revisionist actors such as Russia and Iran. This newfound dynamism and competitiveness is transforming the international political economy. Additionally, theres a rivalry between two models: liberal democracy and the market economy, versus illiberal democracy and state capitalism. Its a scenario that presents conflicting views on how to organize society and construct a new order of international relations. For some Latin American countries, this is an opportunity to exercise their sense of agency, marked by the search for greater autonomy in North-South relations, especially in key areas such as diplomacy and trade. For many governments in the region, the so-called Chinese development model has become the way forward, without taking into account its predilection for autocratic regimes and the collateral effects on democracy, institutions, the rule of law and individual liberties. In this new cycle, the Dragon as a new world power and one of the locomotives of economic growth has launched a diplomatic offensive throughout Latin America, in an increasingly open, active and contestatory manner. The stealth and discretion that once characterized it are a thing of the past. China has openly invited strategic partners in Central and South America to join its Belt and Road Initiative, Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative. Chinas new partnership with CELAC the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States has acquired special importance in its relationship with the region. Beijings initial approach has had a particular emphasis on the economy, with the intention of obtaining natural resources and primary goods, as well as opening new markets in the region that are crucial for the growth and stability of the Chinese economy. The result has been that bi-regional relations have deepened. China has become South Americas first trading partner and the largest source of financing in the energy, infrastructure and space industries, with more than 2,700 China-funded companies operating throughout the region. This has contributed to the displacement of the United States and the marginalization of other parties, such as Japan and Europe. The Chinese governments offer of large loans for infrastructure projects has been a constant in the 21st century. The conditions, benefits and long-term impact of these loans are a matter of debate. Currently, however, there is a special emphasis on investments in the fields of innovation, technologies, telecommunications, smart cities, as well as the transfer of ideas and the internationalization of the Chinese yuan. Experts have pointed out that Latin American governments are entering new dependency relationships, which will replicate political, commercial and financial patterns of the past. This could generate development traps, mainly linked to growing external debt. One recalls the experience of African countries, in terms of the de-industrialization processes faced and the damage caused in the realms of social stability, according to the recent book China and Latin America: Development, Agency and Geopolitics by the London School of Economics (LSE).. Beijing has also expanded its diplomatic, cultural, scientific and military presence in the region with great pragmatism, within the framework of so-called South-South cooperation and with an emphasis on the use of soft power. There have been 13 visits by President Xi Jinping to the countries of the region. The Confucius Institute is present in 23 Latin American countries with the aim of bringing language and culture closer together while vaccine diplomacy was launched during the pandemic. Taiwan has also been isolated in the hemisphere thanks to Chinas actions, with the governments of Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Panama breaking relations with the island in favor of Beijing. Arms sales, military exchanges and training programs have all been maintained or bolstered by the Chinese government. Towards a Latin American international option In the new geostrategic dispute between the great powers at the global level, Latin America should bet on a search for balance, greater pragmatism and a multilateral vision of the world, to privilege the option of cooperation over confrontation. As a bloc, the countries must avoid entrapments that put autonomy, principles and interests at risk. The bloc must also take firm positions when required and not fall into the perversity of non-alignment. Latin Americas foreign policy must ensure the defense of peace and unrestricted respect for democracy, fundamental freedoms and international law. This has been a tradition in the region for several decades and must be preserved at all costs. Our community of democracies has not only its own life and identity, but also challenges to face and overcome. Latin America is called upon to apply the principle of Look at the whole, Look at the universe (Respice Omnia) in order to be a player in a multidimensional and realistic manner in all global platforms, to ensure an intelligent international integration, a sustainable and inclusive development, and a growing participation in trade, investment and knowledge flows. There must be a way of harmonizing different national positions to achieve common goals and face global challenges, such as poverty, inequality, climate change, energy and food security, and disarmament. This is essential in order to have a single voice and greater negotiating capacity in the world. In short, the region still has the pending task of charting its own course, offering a bold leadership alternative for the Global South, while actively contributing to the construction of the new international architecture and agenda of this century. Latin America in the words of the poet and Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz deserves its dream. This dream being a fertile land that inspires the ideals of democracy, peace and sustainable development. You may notice that my Now Reading links this week all have to do with homelessness. I made that choice apropos of the killing of Jordan Neely in a subway car in Manhattan on Monday. The 30-year-old Neely was homeless, suffering mental distress and according to video and witnesses acting in a hostile and erratic manner when another passenger, a 24-year-old man, wrapped his arms around Neelys neck and held him in a chokehold until he was limp. Neely died from compression to his neck as a result of the chokehold, according to the medical examiner. The passenger was questioned and then allowed to leave police custody. We do know that Neely had been arrested more than 40 times in recent years, including once for assault. We know of the larger backdrop of visible homelessness in New York and other cities, where among other factors high and rising housing costs have pushed many Americans onto the streets. Most of all, we know how the homeless make many of us feel: anxious, uncomfortable and even afraid. You can sense it in the equivocating reaction to Neelys death from New York Citys mayor, Eric Adams, and New Yorks governor, Kathy Hochul. That was deeply disturbing, and that causes a lot of fear for people, and actually the mayor and I are working so hard to restore that sense of safety, Hochul said. The number of crimes on subways is declining, and I dont want people to feel anxious again when something like that comes to light. This year, Facebook and Twitter allowed a video of a talk to be distributed on their platforms in which Michael J. Knowles, a right-wing pundit, called for transgenderism to be eradicated. The Conservative Political Action Coalition, which hosted the talk, said in its social media posts promoting the video that the talk was all about the lefts attempt to erase biological women from modern society. None of this was censored by the tech platforms because neither Mr. Knowles nor CPAC violated the platforms hate speech rules that prohibit direct attacks against people based on who they are. But by allowing such speech to be disseminated on their platforms, the social media companies were doing something that should perhaps concern us even more: They were stoking fear of a marginalized group. Nearly all of the tech platforms developed extensive and detailed rules banning hate speech after finding that the first thing that happens on a new social network is that users start tossing slurs at one another. The European Union even monitors the speediness with which tech platforms remove hate speech. But fear is weaponized even more than hate by leaders who seek to spark violence. Hate is often part of the equation, of course, but fear is almost always the key ingredient when people feel they must lash out to defend themselves. At his coronation in London on Saturday, King Charles III will assume the ancient responsibilities of the British monarchy. The king is not just a ruler. He is also a fons honorum a fount of honor, charged with preserving the reverence his subjects feel for their governing institutions. One of the ways he does this is by literally ennobling worthy Britons, entitling them to sit in the House of Lords. Historically, membership in the Lords has been hereditary. Today, new members are life peers whose titles cannot be passed on. They are appointed by the king following an honors list of recommendations made up by the prime minister. But the list that the prime minister Boris Johnson compiled as he was being chased from office last summer threatens to become an inconvenience for King Charles perhaps even a scandal. On his way out the door, Mr. Johnson reportedly assembled a list of lords- and ladies-to-be that stretched to almost 100 names a historically large number. While the list has not been published, its contents have been leaked in dribs and drabs since last fall. Readers alarmed at the length of the list were even more bothered by who was on it. The list reportedly included three politicians who had shown unusual loyalty to Mr. Johnson. It included the co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, who is a longtime conservative backer and Johnson friend. The Daily Mails powerful and controversial former editor Paul Dacre was reportedly on the list, as were a former political assistant in her late 20s who would be the youngest life peer ever and a conservative campaign director and Johnson associate in his early 30s. (It was even reported that Stanley Johnson, Boriss father, would receive a knighthood, which is not the same thing as a peerage it would make him a sir, not a lord.) By early this year Mr. Johnson, evidently in response to political pressure, was said to have cut the list roughly in half. The House of Lords is not just a social committee. It has real political power, if not as much as the House of Commons. The Lords can obstruct and delay legislation on weighty matters, as it has managed to do in recent years with Brexit and Northern Ireland policy. So an abuse of the appointments process does not just flatter an unworthy person; it also elevates him to a position of authority at the heart of the British power structure. We invited high school students to write a letter to the editor about a recent Times article. Here are some of our favorite submissions. To the Editor: Re Heavily Armed Assailant Kills 6 at School in Nashville (front page, March 28): I am tired of passing a place where six innocent people died. I am tired of seeing the flowers and bears placed in remembrance of their lives. I am tired of seeing red and black bows tied neatly on the mailboxes throughout Nashville. I am tired of reading about the next protest and its location. I am tired of opening up Twitter to see more people dying in shootings. I am tired of the nightmares that wake me up at night. I am tired of the knots in my stomach whenever I turn on the news. I am tired of the argument over gun control that never seems to have an end. I am tired of feeling scared every time I enter a place that was built for learning, not fear. There has to be a change. I am so tired. Emily Jones 12th grade Ensworth High School Nashville To the Editor: Re Florida Death Penalty Bar to Become Lowest in Nation (news article, April 21): The new law in Florida that allows two-thirds of a jury to decide whether someone deserves the death penalty will hurt Black and Hispanic defendants. Surely, Gov. Ron DeSantis is aware that most juries in Florida already have few jurors of color to provide a jury of ones peers for Black and Hispanic defendants. Legal experts acknowledge that jury pools are predominantly white. OMAHA By nightfall on May 30, 2020, Jake Gardner was inside his nightclub in Omahas Old Market district. He had handguns and a shotgun. Crowds were descending on the citys downtown during a third consecutive night of Black Lives Matter protests. Bricks and Molotov cocktails were being heaved at buildings and at the police, and officers in riot gear had responded with tear gas. Mr. Gardner, a white 38-year-old, had been part of a unit that received a presidential award after being of one of the very first U.S. Marine Corps battalions to invade Iraq in 2003. After service, he eventually returned to Omaha and ran one of the citys popular downtown bars. It had been closed for weeks amid the initial outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, and Mr. Gardner had been bleeding losses. With a reopening imminent, hed stocked the bar full of liquor, some $90,000 in prospective gross income. James Scurlock, 22, was one of the protesters out that night. He was one of two dozen siblings, raised in North Omaha, a largely Black and poor corner of the city. He had endured bouts of homelessness as a child and was put behind bars at 16, denied the chance at any kind of diversion program that might have offered mental health support or educational help. He had a talent for songwriting, and having just become a father for the first time months earlier, he planned on enrolling in community college. Remembering that non-motherhood has been common for some time a minority experience, but hardly a rare one matters not only as a reminder that women without children today are not alone, historically speaking. More critically, it matters because ongoing efforts to limit access to abortion and contraception are at times framed as a necessary reaction to womens decisions to limit the number of children they bear. For instance, Matt Schlapp, the head of the influential Conservative Political Action Coalition, reportedly suggested last May that he supported abortion restrictions not just on moral grounds but also out of concern for Americas population numbers. If you say there is a population problem in a country, but youre killing millions of your own people through legalized abortion every year, if that were to be reduced, some of that problem is solved, he said. (According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, the most recent year for which such data is available, more than 620,000 legal abortions took place in the United States.) So when Senator Vance and the pope among many others, of course express concern about women today not having children, they arent comparing us to a past that actually existed. Theyre really telling us what they want us to do or what they would force us to do in the present. Before women had access to hormonal birth control, Planned Parenthood clinics or the protections that Roe v. Wade offered for nearly half a century, they knew ways to try to limit births, and they used them. In ancient Rome, women used things like beeswax, olive-oil-soaked cloth or even halved lemons to block their cervices before having sex. Members of the modern anti-abortion movement often cite the Hippocratic oath, which in previous versions apparently included a prohibition against abortion, but what they dont mention is that the Greek physician for whom it is named once recommended that an unhappily pregnant woman perform strenuous exercise until she miscarried. From medieval Europe to colonial America, women would have used an array of herbs to attempt to end pregnancies. Across race and class, American women drastically reduced their fertility in the 19th century, with some groups averaging half as many babies at centurys end as their great-grandmothers had at its start. Nearly 16 percent of white women and 13 percent of Black women born in 1870 had no children; of all American women born between 1900 and 1910, 20 percent never did. Some of them may have experienced infertility. Some of them may have avoided heterosexual sex. But not all of them. Some of them, maybe even many of them, were actively avoiding having children. When Afrika Gupton-Jones was on bed rest in the hospital, after developing high blood pressure at 28 weeks of pregnancy, her husband was with her day and night. Yet the nurses often assumed that he was her brother, and that she was a single mother. When the doctors and nurses gave her medications or took her blood, she said, they gave her minimal explanation. Its like they didnt trust me with my own bodily decisions, she said. In the United States, people who have more money generally receive better health care: More expensive insurance plans usually cover more doctors, and well-off patients can afford the increasingly high out-of-pocket costs that come with medical care. But despite being upper-middle-class and privately insured, Ms. Gupton-Jones and her husband felt they were treated insensitively. Her career in marketing didnt make a difference in how doctors and nurses saw them, she said, nor did his doctoral degree. Earning more and being well educated generally doesnt protect Black mothers during childbirth the same way it protects white mothers. A new study of a decade of births in California, published this year, found that the richest Black mothers and their babies were twice as likely to die from childbirth as the richest white mothers and their babies. Missing from mortality statistics are the many stories of mistreatment and negative experiences. In interviews with Black women who responded to a request from The New York Times to share their birth stories, they described having their pain dismissed, concerns ignored and plans disregarded while giving birth. They recalled walking a fine line between speaking up for themselves but feeling nervous to push too hard. Here are the meanings of the least-found words, and how they were used in recent Times articles: 1. lacteal relating to, or consisting of, milk: The standard of identity for milk states right off the bat that milk is the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows. The Fake Meat War (July 25, 2019) 2. nacelle a streamlined enclosure containing an engine or other machinery: In early February, the union produced a draft of a bill that would ask developers like Equinor to buy their wind equipment from manufacturers in New York State to the maximum extent feasible not just towers but other components, like blades and nacelles, which house the mechanical guts of a turbine. For Clean Energy, Buy American or Buy It Quick and Cheap? (May 11, 2021) 3. acetal a type of chemical compound: One recent study from Yale and Duke identified chemicals called acetals in some Juul e-cigarette liquids. Those chemicals, the researchers said, may be especially irritating to the lungs and can cause damage when inhaled. Dozens of Young People Hospitalized for Breathing and Lung Problems After Vaping (Aug. 14, 2019) 4. nuncio a top diplomat for the Pope, similar to an ambassador: Vigano, who is notorious for having called for Francis to resign, is not a U.S. bishop but an Italian-born priest who was Pope Benedict XVIs nuncio to the United States. Is the American Catholic Church Fueling the Far Right? (March 13, 2023) 5. cinquain a five-line poem or stanza, often with a specific pattern: Although she died of tuberculosis at age 36, Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1914) spent her brief life ardently pursuing her art. With her invention of the cinquain, she created an American form similar to the Japanese tanka and haiku, forms that she relied on in her work. Poetry Pairing | The Properly Scholarly Attitude (Sept. 4, 2014) 6. lollop to move in a bounding or ungainly way: They flap and lollop and squawk and scavenge. They hold the future of the realm, some say, in their fearsome beaks. A Raven Queen Vanishes, and Britain Checks a Prophecy (Jan. 14, 2021) 7. cetacean an aquatic mammal, such as whales, dolphins and porpoises: On the other hand, cetaceans a group that includes dolphins and whales have a notably small number of olfactory receptor genes, which makes sense given their watery habitats. From Alpacas to Yaks, Mammal DNA Yields Its Secrets (April 27, 2023) 8. geotag a location added to a digital photo or file: Aside from coffee and a modest spread of doughnuts, the photographers at Sutton Tower received no compensation for their time. They all understood that they were allowed to keep any images they shot, but they were expected to post at least a handful to their social media channels, with hashtags and geotags that identified the building. How Real Estate Developers Are Teaming Up With Social Media Influencers (Jan. 24, 2023) 9. gavage forcing an animal or human to eat, typically through a tube: The farmers have argued that the force-feeding technique that produces foie gras, called gavage, does not amount to animal cruelty, though they changed the methods they used in 2017 to make the process more humane, switching out the metal tubes they once placed inside ducks throats with plastic ones. New York City Banned Foie Gras in 2019. Tell That to the Ducks. (Jan. 27, 2023) 10. catalpa a type of flowering tree or plant: The natural world provides a cast of characters: the catalpa tree, which had giant leaves she often wanted to hide her shy face behind. The peacock she drew in class, earning the irritation of her teacher because it was not an American animal. A Book About Nature That Is So Much More (Sept. 11, 2020) And the list of the weeks easiest words: On the back of a door in a home in Flint, Mich., there hangs a black Trailmaker backpack that belongs to Jaxon Williams, a third grader at Freeman Elementary. It hasnt been moved for nearly a week. Its officially retired, like a jersey, said his mother, Ladel Lewis, a City Council member. Thats because Jaxon and over 2,800 other students across 11 campuses in the Flint Community Schools are subject to a ban on backpacks that began this week after district officials were alarmed by threats to students safety. It will remain in effect at least until the end of the school year in mid-June. After the first week under the ban, Dr. Lewis and other parents in the district expressed frustration and skepticism, saying that determined students would carry weapons under their clothing. Some experts also question the effectiveness of such bans. The ban, which allows bags the size of small purses, came less than two weeks after a security threat led to the closing of a high school in the district for two days. At a special meeting of the Flint Board of Education, educators voiced their growing concerns about school safety after a series of school shootings around the country, including one in Oxford, Mich., a community about 30 miles outside Flint, where a student shot and killed four classmates at a high school in 2021. There were plenty of false leads. One theory about Mr. Arnolds whereabouts was that he had fled to Brazil. That was based on an immigration document with Mr. Arnolds name on it issued to someone in Brazil less than two years after the prison escape. But Mr. Westover said Brazilian officials didnt have any record of Mr. Arnold, and it was unclear why his name was on that document. Mr. Westover tracked down an ex-girlfriend of Mr. Arnold, which led to a trove of letters that he had written to her and her family from prison. But there was no correspondence from after his escape that provided any clues as to where he had ended up. Mr. Westover also found a postcard from Canada and one from California with Mr. Arnolds name. Those leads were also fruitless. In a wanted poster for Mr. Arnold, the U.S. Marshals Service said that he was very musically talented and most likely used these skills to financially survive. That detail of his life also did not yield any leads. It just seemed like everything was working against us, Mr. Westover said. Over time, various leads led investigators to determine that after Mr. Arnold escaped prison, he had fled to Chicago, where he started going by his new name, John Damon, and quickly met and married a woman with children. He then began to move around, living in Cincinnati and Miami, according to The Omaha World-Herald, which has chronicled Mr. Arnolds life through a series of articles and a podcast. Later, he divorced his wife and moved to California, where he remarried and had children, and eventually settled down in Australia. Jerry Martin's makeshift hard drug stand in Vancouver. JENNIFER GAUTHIER (REUTERS) Jerry Martins business venture lasted just 24 hours, but he hopes his gesture will have an impact on his countrys laws. Martin, 51, opened on Wednesday a mobile hard drug store in the Downtown Eastside, a Vancouver neighborhood hit hard by the wave of drug overdoses in Canada. On Thursday, local police announced Martins arrest. His store offered customers heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA. Health Canada launched on January 31 a three-year pilot project decriminalizing the possession of several hard drugs in British Columbia, the first initiative of its kind in the country. Authorities allow a maximum of 2.5 grams of substances for those of legal age. The measure is part of a strategy to reduce overdose deaths. In 2022 alone, this Canadian province had 2,720 such deaths. Regarding Martins arrest, Vancouver police said in a statement, We support measures aimed at improving public safety for people who use drugs, including harm reduction services and decriminalization. However, we remain committed in our position that drug trafficking will continue to be the subject of enforcement. Martin has been released pending the setting of a court date. He is also banned from the Downtown Eastside. In his short-lived mobile store, Jerry Martin sold small bags of drugs whose weight as the project in British Columbia mandates did not exceed 2.5 grams. In addition, these drugs had been tested to rule out the presence of fentanyl, the main cause of the wave of overdoses. In an interview with Global News, Martin said that his initiative seeks to open a reflection on a safer supply of drugs. People dont even know what they are getting (typically). Its very important that people know when they are buying something, they are getting that product. Jerry Martin has indicated that his arrest also part of his plan was meant to launch a serious, nationwide debate on safe and legal access to these substances. For him, the current legislation favors a supply chain with dire consequences. He also said he planned to use the profits from his store for an awareness campaign. Martin himself suffered from drug addiction problems and lost a brother to an overdose. Some Canadian physicians are authorized to prescribe diacetylmorphine (pharmaceutical grade heroin) to addicts. However, federal authorities have indicated that over-the-counter sales of hard drugs are not on the table. In early March, the company Adastra Labs announced that it had obtained permits to produce, sell and distribute cocaine in British Columbia. Health Canada was quick to point out that the company had been authorized to do so for scientific and research purposes only. Adastra Labs had to rectify the information. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Ayla Wings middle school students dont always know what to make of their 26-year-old teachers hearing aids. The most common response she hears: Oh, my grandma has them, too. But grandmas hearing aids were never like this: Bluetooth-enabled and connected to her phone, they allow Ms. Wing to toggle with one touch between custom settings. She can shut out the world during a screeching subway ride, hear her friends in noisy bars during a night out and even understand her students better by switching to mumbly kids. A raft of new hearing aids have hit the market in recent years, offering greater appeal to a generation of young adults that some experts say is both developing hearing problems earlier in life and perhaps paradoxically becoming more comfortable with an expensive piece of technology pumping sound into their ears. Some of the new models, including Ms. Wings, are made by traditional prescription brands, which usually require a visit to a specialist. But the Food and Drug Administration opened up the market last year when it allowed the sale of hearing aids over the counter. In response, brand names like Sony and Jabra began releasing their own products, adding to the new wave of designs and features that appeal to young consumers. Isis was an org started by turkey, israel and the US, he wrote in July. They needed to destabilize the middle east some how and all had enemieshow do you do that? make a terror org and fund the shit out of it. Still, Airman Teixeira appeared to take pride in working at a secure facility on a military base on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, that he called the box, and he loved using jargon that signaled his top secret clearance. So frequent were his leaks of intelligence gathered by government agencies that his Discord friends called him intel man and 3 letter man, and he seemed to revel in their approval. And while he adopted the role of a neutral war analyst with his Discord group meticulously ferreting out casualty numbers and tank losses he frequently parroted pro-Russian reports he found on the popular messaging app Telegram, and consistently minimized Moscows setbacks. Airman Teixeira started posting messages on the server on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and group members were intensely curious about the intelligence he provided. The server has about 600 members from at least 25 countries, according to their online profiles, and remained active as recently as last week. Many of Airman Teixeiras messages were deleted from the server shortly before his arrest in April, including photographs of top secret intelligence documents. But his thousands of posts dating back to 2021 that remained provide a granular view of the airman in his own words. It is hard to pin down Airman Teixeiras ideology from his messages. Many are consistent with someone who is right of center, but he accuses Republicans of funding terrorist organizations and starting 20 year long wars. As King Charles III put on the centuries-old St. Edwards crown on Saturday, Jamaica, a Commonwealth member, continued to move ahead with plans to cut ties with the British monarchy a decision scheduled for a referendum in 2024. Time has come. Jamaica in Jamaican hands, Marlene Malahoo Forte, Jamaicas minister for legal and constitutional affairs, said in an interview with Sky News this week. Time to say goodbye. She is part of a 15-member committee of officials and experts that is laying the groundwork to modify Jamaicas Constitution and remove the British monarch as the Caribbean islands head of state. Jamaica was also represented in a letter to King Charles this week in which campaigners from 12 Commonwealth nations urged him to use his coronation to apologize for the horrific impacts of Britains imperial past, including racism, oppression, colonialism and slavery. The letter called for reparations and the return of all stolen cultural artifacts. Clashes between rival ethnic groups in Manipur, a remote state in Indias northeast, have reportedly killed dozens of people in recent days, and the situation remains volatile, even as the authorities rush troops to the area to quell the disorder and seek to control the flow of information. The unrest, which began Wednesday, arose from a dispute over who gets to claim a special tribal status that grants extra privileges. The largest group in the state, slightly over half the population, is seeking that designation for itself. By Thursday, the violence had reached an extraordinary level, as people set fire to homes and vehicles, churches and temples. There has been no government confirmation of a death toll widely reported in Indian news outlets as more than 50, though one official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to confirm a figure, described it as accurate. In response, the Indian Army has flown nearly 10,000 troops and paramilitary forces to Manipur, a state of less than 3 million people near the borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar, more than 1,000 miles from New Delhi. Officials in the western Canadian province of Alberta declared a provincial state of emergency on Saturday after more than 24,500 people had to evacuate their homes because of rampant wildfires. Premier Danielle Smith, the leader of Albertas government, declared the state of emergency at a news conference on Saturday afternoon. The declaration gives the government greater powers to respond to extreme situations, she said, adding that it would allow the province to access emergency funds and to mobilize additional support. The fires have become an unprecedented crisis, Ms. Smith said at a separate news conference on Saturday afternoon. This is a rapidly evolving situation. Unusually warm and dry weather has mixed with strong winds, sending the number of active fires across Alberta to 110 on Saturday, up from 78 on Friday morning. Christie Tucker, a spokeswoman for the provinces wildfire agency, said 36 fires were still classified as out of control as of Saturday evening. She added that nearly 865,000 acres in the province had burned since the beginning of the year. They said they expected at least 1,000 people to turn up for Saturdays protest, wearing yellow, holding banners and chanting, Not my king. Several anti-coronation parties are also planned around the country, with members eager to use the crowning of King Charles as evidence of the absurdity of having a monarchy in this day and age. They will put a glittery golden crown on his head in a Christian church, said Matt Turnbull, a 35-year-old Republic member who lives in London and planned to attend the protest, in an interview. Look at it, and just accept that something about this feels weird in 2023. Mr. Turnbull said that he expected the coronation to make his stomach turn, but that it also felt good that he would not be alone in having such a feeling. The worse it makes me feel to watch it, he said, the more quickly we will move to abolish it. That Charles appears to be less popular than Elizabeth, his mother, is also rising the hopes of anti-monarchists. Although 58 percent of respondents in a recent poll by YouGov commissioned by the BBC said they still preferred a monarch to an elected head of state, the figures also suggested that a change may be underway, with only 32 percent of people aged 18 to 22 backing the idea. Riz Possnett, 19, a University of Oxford student who uses they/them pronouns, said that the monarchy and its colonial legacy were an outdated symbol for modern, multicultural Britain. Londons Metropolitan Police said they arrested 52 people on Saturday, most for offenses that appeared connected to the coronation of Charles III, including public order offenses, breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. In the afternoon, the police said that all those arrested remained in custody. In advance of the coronation, the police had said that there would be little tolerance for disruptive protests and that they welcomed new legislation that came into force this week giving them more power to crack down on protests that cause serious disruption. On Saturday, some protesters said that the arrests represented a breach of public freedoms. If thats not infringing on protest rights then I dont know what is, said one protester reached by phone, Imogen McBeath. A car bombing on Saturday seriously wounded a prominent Russian nationalist and novelist, while killing his driver, state media reported, one of a series of internal attacks that are spreading a sense of disarray even as the country gears up to celebrate its most important annual military holiday. The writer and Ukraine combat veteran, Zakhar Prilepin, was conscious with a broken leg and a concussion, in serious but not critical condition, according to state media reports. An explosive device was planted under Mr. Prilepins Audi S.U.V. in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, the state news agency Tass reported. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, called it a terrorist bombing in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. It was the second attack within a week that authorities have referred to as a terrorist incident, and it comes amid growing unease among Russias military and political leaders as they brace for a Ukrainian counteroffensive in a war that has dragged on for 14 months. Other recent attacks have included two explosions on Wednesday over the Kremlin, which did little damage but carried heavy symbolic weight, plus blasts that ignited oil storage facilities and derailed at least two trains in Russia. An American-made Patriot air-defense missile successfully intercepted one of the most sophisticated conventional weapons in Russias arsenal for the first time over Kyiv on Thursday night, the Ukrainian air force claimed on Saturday. The downing of a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile by a Patriot missile, confirmed by three senior U.S. officials, appeared to offer the first proof that Russias hypersonic missiles presented as invulnerable by President Vladimir V. Putin could be defeated by current Western missile defense systems. I congratulate the Ukrainian people on a historic event, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian air force, said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app. Yes, we have shot down the unparalleled Kinzhal. The U.S. officials said that they had received information about the strike from the Ukrainian military through classified channels. One official added that U.S. military analysts were able to verify the claim using technical means. Nevertheless, independent analysts were reluctant to confirm the interception until more information was available about the type of missile Russia fired and whether it was hit by a Patriot. Following the announcement that Title 42 is to lapse, Mexico is bracing for an influx of migrants seeking to enter the United States. On 11 May, the U.S. intends to end its Covid-19 public health emergency and, with it, the controversial measure that allowed the country to quickly turn away migrants crossing its southern border illegally. For the past three years, Mexico has been the waiting room for all those ejected by its neighbor in the north. Now, with Title 42 coming to an end, its not as if the gates to the U.S. are suddenly going to spring open yet Mexicos foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, says a sharp rise in the flow of migrants is expected, as they desperately seek to make it into the U.S. The impact of the imminent end to Title 42 has been felt right away in Mexico. In Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala, there has been renewed fighting between migrants eager to push through their paperwork so they can continue their journey towards the U.S. In Mexico City, a regular stop on the way to the States, hostels are emptying as migrants rush to the border. Theyre so desperate to reach [the U.S.] that people who had paperwork in process or were waiting for news on their asylum request have given up on that in a bid to get there as soon as possible, explains Gabriela Hernandez, the manager of the Tochan hostel in the Mexican capital. In Ciudad Juarez, U.S. authorities estimate that around 12,000 people are waiting until Thursday to cross the border into El Paso, whose mayor, Oscar Leeser, has declared a state of emergency. According to Leeser, a further 3,000 migrants could join that group. In recent days, weve seen a major flow of migrants on the back of a lie, Ebrard told a press briefing on Friday. People from Venezuela and Central America are told, Hurry up and get to the United States, because on 11 May theyre going to remove Title 42. Talk of a clear path into the U.S. is false, the minister stresses, because the country also has other legal provisions at its disposal. A border-patrol officer searches a Honduran man caught crossing the border, on 26 April in New Mexico. PAUL RATJE (REUTERS) Title 42 is an old directive resuscitated by the former U.S. president, Donald Trump, to contain illegal immigration under the pretext of the pandemic healthcare crisis. Its end was only a matter of time. Over the past three years, it has operated alongside Title 8. For example, in December last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained 251,487 illegal migrants, of which around 50,000 were sent back to Mexico under Title 42 and some 202,000 were returned to their countries of origin under Title 8. The measure has been in place since 1995, and carries a penalty: for a period of five years, the foreign national is barred from re-entry to the U.S., not even for tourism or for purposes of family reunification. This is the measure that the country will continue using. Theres a misconception among the migrant population that the end of Title 42 is going to pave the way for them to enter the U.S. and begin the process of seeking asylum, but its quite the contrary, says Ines Barrios, the academic coordinator at Mexicos Colegio de la Frontera Norte (College of the Northern Border), which specializes in research on border issues. After 11 May, any person who tries to enter illegally will be deported under Title 8. To illustrate the U.S.s plans, Barrios points to the 1,500 additional soldiers that President Joe Bidens administration has sent to the southern border to contain the arrival of thousands of migrants. In preparation for the new situation, what were seeing is a process of militarization on the part of the United States, says Barrios, who has a doctorate in migration studies. And, when it comes to Mexico, were not seeing any clear action to respond to the arrival of these migrants. Military vehicles parked along the border wall in Brownsville, Texas, on 3 May. MICHAEL GONZALEZ (Getty Images via AFP) The change in the U.S.s immigration policy comes at a delicate time. Mexicos National Institute of Migration (INAMI) is reeling from the fire that ripped through one of its processing centers in Ciudad Juarez at the end of March, leaving 41 migrants dead. The institutes director, Francisco Garduno, is one of a dozen federal civil servants now facing charges over the incident. With INAMI in turmoil, Mexico must adjust to the rising migratory strain within its borders and to pressure from the administration in the U.S., where immigration is now a critical issue for the Democrats. Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors Mexican government has agreed to continue accepting Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, who instead of being deported to their own countries, will be returned to Mexican soil. However, there is one change to this process. Title 42 allowed migrants as many illegal border-crossing attempts as they wanted there were no consequences if they were expelled to Mexico. Now, if migrants of these nationalities are turned away, they cannot seek legal entry for five years. That leaves them with two options, says Barrios. There will be an increase in the processes of irregular and clandestine routes, with migrants forced to hire a trafficker, increasing their vulnerability, she says. Alternatively, they will face a long-term wait in a country that has become a pressure cooker. In 2022, there were a record 120,000 asylum requests in Mexico. The sun offers no let-up in Ciudad Juarez. Someone has spread a rumor that gate 36 of the wall separating Mexico from El Paso is open. Hundreds of migrants set out on the almost two-hour walk that separates the gate from the city center. Among the groups making the journey, there are pregnant women, children and babies in prams. Most dont have water or anything that can protect them from the sun, but the hope of crossing the border beats all that. Theres no way through, though, so the migrants are forced to turn around and carry on waiting, sleeping in hostels, begging for money, cleaning car windows. Thats how thousands of people in Mexico are living, made dizzy by misinformation and uncertainty as they try to get an appointment on the CBP One app, which the U.S. authorities have made available to people seeking asylum in the States. This vulnerable environment, in which even a WhatsApp can provoke a stampede to the border, has been exacerbated by the end of Title 42. Karnataka Elections 2023: Can BJP's Ashoka breach Shivakumar's fortress Kanakapura? Bengaluru oi-Deepika S Karnataka Revenue Minister and senior BJP leader, R Ashoka is facing the toughest political battle of his illustrious four-decade-long political career. The BJP high command has pitted him against Karnataka Congress Chief D.K. Shivakumar from the Kanakapura assembly seat. Photo Credit: Ashok has pitched himself as the messenger of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is striving to get good governance to the Kanakapura assembly seat by ending the political control of the Congress and Shivakumar. Shivakumar, known as 'Kanakapura bande' or rock of Kanakapura is seeking re-election for the fourth time here. DK Shivakumar has been representing the Kanakapura assembly seat since 2008. He had won four consecutive elections from the Sathanur assembly seat till he shifted to Kanakapura. In the previous elections, Shivakumar polled 1,27,552 votes, defeating JDS candidate Narayana Gowda by 79,909 votes. Shivakumar defeated JDS candidate P G R Sindhia in 2013 polls by a margin of 31,424 votes, and in 2008 won against JDS D M Vishwanath by 7,179 votes. Kanakapura, the Vokkaliga bastion is one of the constituencies where the BJP had token presence so far. However, the 2018 polls is said to be BJP's best ever performance in Kanakapura seat. BJP candidate Nandini Gowda polled 6,273 votes and the vote share was about 3.37 per cent. In 2013, the BJP had secured just 1,807 votes. Shivakumar was defeated by JDS patriarch and former prime minister Deve Gowda from Sathanur in 1985. The Kanakapura constituency was a stronghold of JDS, until DK Shivakumar's entry into the segment in 2008, when the delimitation process took place. In a high-stakes battle, Janata Parivar veteran Ramakrishna Hegde had contested a byelection from this constituency, when he became the Chief Minister in 1983. Shivakumar is a Chief Ministerial hopeful in the event of Congress coming to power. His supporters believe that the seven-time MLA will win with a margin of over a lakh votes and will become the Chief Minister this time. The BJP has fielded a formidable candidate against Shivakumar to end his dominance in the seat, often referred to as the "Republic of Kanakapura" by his critics, accusing him of having a stranglehold on the seat without leaving space for the opposition. Political pundits say, for the first time, there is a sense of worry among D.K Shivakumar's camp with BJP's surprise move of fielding Ashoka, the vokkaliga face of BJP. His younger son Ajay Ashoka has been tasked to manage and coordinate the campaign in Kanakapura. While the Kanatapura contest looks smooth sailing for D.K Shivakumar, the BJP hopes to make some inroads and increase its voter base from the seat. The Kanakapura constituency has over 80,000 Vokkaligas, making caste a big factor in Ashoka's candidature. The Nagaraju, Vokkaliga leader is also in the fray. The BJP strongman Ashoka is also seeking re-election from Padmanabhanagara in Bengaluru, for the fourth time here. Fact Check: This image is not from the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Fact Check: This tractor march has nothing to do with ongoing wrestlers protest Fact Check: Is this an image of people looting a shop in violence-hit Manipur Fact Check oi-Vicky Nanjappa Manipur has been on the boil with violence breaking out on May 3 after the Naga and Kuki tribes organised a Tribal Solidarity March against the move to give Schedule Tribe status to the majority Meitei community. According to reports, the protesters vandalised and set ablaze scores of houses, Temples, Churches and vehicles during the protest. Even as the armed forces were rushed to the state, then DGP of Manipur said that protesters looted arms and ammunition from 23 sensitive police stations in the Imphal Valley and other districts. Now some posts have gone viral with the claim that people are looting shops amidst the violent protests in Manipur, Rajesh Sharma, the Aam Aadmi Party's in-charge for northeastern states took to Twitter and shared an image which shows people looting a shop. "BJP is a failed govt in Manipur, its responsibility of govt to save property & lives of people? Shame on BJP," Sharma wrote while captioning the image. Fact Check: NDTV opinion poll giving Congress majority in Karnataka is viral We have learnt that the image is an old one and not related to Manipur, but is from Philippines. A reverse image search led us to a video which was shared by Yahoo News from March 1. As per this report the incidScreenshot 2023-05-06 at 10.23.03 AM.pngent was reported from the secondhand goods store at Lucena City in the Philippines. The crowd acceding to the report entered the shop during a special sale on February 24. The shop had announced new arrivals on February 24, following which a large number of people camped outside the shop even before the doors could open. Mildred Garcia the owner of the shop had said that though she was used to the excitement by the customers, whenever new arrivals were announced, thew wildly excited crowd which appeared outside her store on February 24 came as a surprise to her. Fact Check: This image is not from the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 It is hence clear that the image being shown of a crowd inside a shop is from Philippines and not from Manipur as claimed. Fact Check Claim Image shows people looting a shop at violence-hit Manipur Conclusion The visual is from Philippines and is not related to Manipur Rating False Raise your request for FACT CHECKING. Mail us at [email protected] For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, May 6, 2023, 10:57 [IST] OPINION: New Delhis foreign policy is fiercely independent Feature lekhaka-Jagdish N Singh India is close both to Russia and the US. But it conducts its China policy independent of either. The way our Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hosted his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu during the recent SCO summit is a case in point. One of the apprehensions being voiced in certain sections of the contemporary international public opinion goes that India's foreign policy has, in the recent years, ceased to be independent. Some observers fear India has been too close to Russia to be friendly to the United States. Others assert New Delhi has virtually ganged up with Washington by forging better ties with it and sharing the Quadrilateral Dialogue (QUAD) forum, of which the US is a key member. Impartial observers, however, say there is absolutely no substance in any of such apprehensions. New Delhi's foreign policy is fiercely independent. As in the past, India follows its own national interest and is not under pressure from any foreign power. The way our Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' summit in the national capital last week is a case in point. No justification for terrorism, must be stopped: Jaishankar at SCO meet Russia has been a time-tested friend of India since long. India today is one of the biggest importers of defence equipment from Russia. It has bought nearly half its military supplies fighter jets, tanks, nuclear submarines and an aircraft carrier over the decades. In the wake of Russia's military action in Ukraine in February last year, New Delhi did not condemn Moscow; it just called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. India has also bought Russian oil even though the US and its allies have attempted to isolate Moscow on the issue. During their bilateral talks on the sidelines of the SCO summit, Singh and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu agreed to boost their defence ties. They discussed "wide-ranging issues of bilateral defence cooperation, including military-to-military ties as well as industrial partnership." They also "discussed the Russian defence industry's participation in the 'Make in India' initiative and ways to provide further impetus to it." But India does not follow Russia in its dealing with China. Presently, there is close cooperation between the Russian and Chinese armed forces. They regularly exchange information, cooperate on the military-technology front, as well as conduct joint exercises in the Far East region and in Europe. Recently, the Russian Pacific Fleet was in a massive naval drill with the Chinese. The drill involved sealing off parts of the Sea of Japan. It was focused on responding to a possible attack on a handful of Russian-controlled islands in the area, islands that are also claimed by Japan. During his recent visit to Moscow, Russia gave Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu a high-profile welcome. According to reports, in Moscow, Li had talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Li's itinerary was expected to include discussions only with his Russian counterpart Shoigu and some Russian military academies. In his meeting with Chinese counterpart Li during the SCO summit, the Defence Minister did not extend to him the kind of bonhomie Moscow recently did to him. He did not even handshake with Li. The reasons for his lack of warmth are not far to seek. Only a few days earlier, India and China held 18th round of Corps Commander-level talks to resolve border standoff in the eastern Ladakh area. They did not do enough for the de-escalation of the current tension between India and China. India's foreign policy does not follow the United States either. In his decision to meet his Chinese counterpart Li, Defence Minister Singh did not seem to have cared to go by the wishes of the US administration. General Li has long been an eye sore to Washington D.C. The US Department of Defence's 2022 China Military Report described Gen Li as the general officer who offers "technical expertise on military modernisation on space issues" to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Watch: Pakistans foreign minister Bilwala Bhutto lands in Goa for SCO meet In September 2018, then US President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order for the implementation of certain sanctions in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 (CAATSA) with respect to the Russian Federation. In pursuant to this order, then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo imposed sanctions also on the Chinese entity Equipment Development Department (EDD) and its director Li Shangfu. The US State Department identified the EDD and Shangfu as being engaged in transactions with Russia. It concluded that these transactions involved Russia's transfer to China of Su-35 combat aircraft in 2017 and S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment in 2018. The US administration is not happy with Li in the latter's present capacity either. The other day, some leaked US government documents said that China approved the provision of lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine. (Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York) Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, May 6, 2023, 12:27 [IST] The car of a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist exploded in Russia on Saturday, injuring him and killing his driver, Russias state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency and law enforcement officials. The incident involving the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of what the Kremlin calls a special military operation in Ukraine, took place in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. It is the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the war in Ukraine. In August 2022, a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as Putins brain. The authorities alleged that Ukraine was behind the blast. Last month, an explosion in a cafe in St. Petersburg killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. Officials once again blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for orchestrating it. Governor of the Niznhy Novgorod region Gleb Nikitin said Prilepin suffered minor bone fractures and was receiving medical help. Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Prilepin was traveling back to Moscow on Saturday from Ukraines partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and stopped in the Nizhny Novogorod region for a meal. Police are investigating the incident, and a criminal probe has been launched on the charge of terrorist act. Interiori Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said a suspect has been detained. Prilepin became a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, after Putin illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula. He was involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of Russia-backed separatists. Last year, he was sanctioned by the European Union for his support of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2020, he founded a political party, For the Truth, which Russian media reported was backed by the Kremlin. A year later, Prilepins party merged with the nationalist A Just Russia party that has seats in the parliament. A co-chair of the newly formed party, Prilepin won a seat in the State Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, in the 2021 election, but gave it up. Leader of the party Sergei Mironov called the incident on Saturday a terrorist act and blamed Ukraine for it. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed Mironovs sentiment in a post on the messaging app Telegram, adding that the responsibility also lies with the U.S. and NATO. Washington and NATO have nursed yet another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime, Zakharova wrote. Direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain. Were praying for Zakhar. The deputy chair of Russias Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev put the blame on Nazi extremists in a telegram he sent to Prilepin. Ukrainian officials havent commented on the incident. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition PM flags off Vande Bharat Express from Telangana: Travel time to Tirupati comes down drastically After YS Sharmila, her mother too slaps constable in Hyderabad AP Board SSC 10th result declared: How to check your marks online? Hyderabad oi-Prakash KL Directorate of Government Examinations Andhra Pradesh on Saturday announced the results of the class 10th or the SSC exams. Students can check their scores on the official website of the board. Over 6 lakh students appeared for the Andhra Pradesh SSC board examination which was held from April 3 to 18. It is reported that 3.1 lakh boys took the exam while 2.97 lakh girls wrote the SSC exams this year. Anantapuram, Kurnool and Prakasam districts were the districts with the highest number of candidates whereas Parvatipuram Manyam, Alluri Sitaramaraju and Bapatla sent the lowest numbers. It was held in as many as 3,349 centres in the state. How to check your score online? Go to the official site of BSEAP on https://bse.ap.gov.in/ On the homepage click the text: Individual Student Wise Results of SSC Public Examinations 2023 Fill in the login details and submit. Your AAP SSC examination result will be displayed on the screen. Check the result and save a copy for future reference In 2023, the pass percentage stands at 72.26 per cent. As always, the girls have outperformed the boys in the exams. While 69.27 per cent of boys have passed the exams, 75.38 per cent of girls have cleared it. It is reported that the pass percentage of the English medium schools stands at 80.82 per cent, while it is about 50 per cent in the Telugu schools. Among the districts, Parvathipuram has topped the list when it comes to the pass percentage while Nandyala stands last. It has to be noted that the pass percentage in 2022 was 67.26 per cent. While the pass percentage for boys was 64.02, it stood at 70.07 for girls. Meanwhile, the supplementary exams will be held between April 3 and 18. Candidates who are not happy with their scores can apply for re-counting and verification of results till May 13. Read what Ghulam Nabi Azad said in his notice to Jairam Ramesh after being called Mir Jafar 'Ambulances stuck, chaos on road': Jairam Ramesh slams PM's Bengaluru roadshow India oi-Prakash KL Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday posted an alleged clip from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in which an ambulance is stuck in traffic. He shared the video and wrote, "Ambulances stuck, chaos on road! If the PM has any shame left or even an iota of concern for the people of Bengaluru, he would immediately cancel part 2 of the #40km40percent roadshow tomorrow. But we all know that all he cares for is his Grand Tamasha!" The Prime Minister is holding a 26-km long roadshow in Bengaluru on Saturday, crossing about a dozen assembly segments. However, the authorities had issued an advisory to the public, asking them to avoid roads where the PM takes out the massive roadshow. The entire distance was decked up with saffron hues as BJP flags were seen on either side of the road, and thousands of party workers and supporters too were wearing saffron shawls and caps. Saffron flag, which looked like the 'Bhagwa flag' with lord Hanuman's face on it, was spotted at several places. Earlier, Congress General Secretary Ramesh said the PM's roadshow will block the entire city and create chaos and uncertainty for students writing exams. "The Master Of Distortion and Incitement ('Abuse' No. 92??) is arriving in Bengaluru today. We already know what he'll say to inflame prejudice and bigotry," he wrote on Twitter. Why PM Modi is holding the last leg of his campaign in Bengaluru He claimed that the Prime Minister will stay absolutely silent on the real issues of Karnataka. "This time the despair is so high that his #40km40percent roadshow over 2 days is locking up an entire city, creating chaos & uncertainty for students writing crucial exams, and felling a number of trees ... ," Ramesh said. "Have you ever seen a PM this desperate," he asked. The PM's roadshow from Someshwar Bhavan RBI ground in Bengaluru South to Malleshwaram's Sankey Tank is expected to be covered in about three and half hours. Will Kharges snake jibe come back to bite the Congress in Karnataka? Kharge attacks Modi says only his jacket is famous he changes it four times daily BJP plotting to murder Mallikarjun Kharge and family: Congress India oi-Prakash KL Days before the polling for 224-member Assembly in Karnataka, Congress has made allegations against the BJP of hatching a plot to "kill" its President Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. At a press meet in Bengaluru on Saturday, the grand old party played an audio clip accusing the BJP candidate from Chittapur Manikanth Rathod of using derogatory remarks against Kharge. Photo Credit: "BJP leaders are now hatching a plot to murder Mallikarjun Kharge and his family members. This is now clear from the recording of BJP's candidate from Chittapur who also happens to be the blue-eyed boy of PM Modi and chief minister Bommai," ANI quoted Congress leader Randeep Surjewala as saying. DK Shivakumar is not becoming CM: Smriti Irani on Congress leaders temple promise He then claimed that the Prime Minister would not respond to the incident nor the Karnataka government or the Election Commission of India. "I know the Prime Minister will remain mute, and so will Karnataka police and the Election Commission of India. But people of Karnataka will not remain mute and will give a befitting reply" he stated. Pawan Khera was also present at the press meet. "The brazen hatred of the BJP towards Kannadigas is manifesting itself into a 'Murder Plot' to kill Karnataka's Son of the Soil, Kharge," the statement from the party said. It added: "The Prime Minister and the BJP leadership remain "mute" as "assassination plot" brews". It has to be noted that Manikanth Rathod was arrested last November for allegedly threatening Priyank Kharge with murder and released later on bail. Fact Check: NDTV opinion poll giving Congress majority in Karnataka is viral However, the Kharges were recently in the news over their remarks against the Prime Minister. Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge triggered a controversy after he likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a "poisonous snake". Just days later, his son and former minister Priyank Kharge called Narendra Modi 'nalayak'. Responding to the allegations made by the Congress, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said an investigation would be conducted to find out the authenticity of the audio recording. He said, "I do not know about the audio. That will be investigated. We will take it seriously and get it investigated." With inputs from ANI Manipur violence: No untoward incident reported in last two days, Centre tell SC Centre denied request for flights to evacuate Mizoram residents from Manipur India oi-PTI A senior Mizoram official on Saturday claimed that the Centre has turned down the state's request to provide flights to evacuate its residents stranded in violence-hit Manipur. The Mizoram government has urged both the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to charter flights for the stranded people hailing from the northeastern state, he said. ''The Centre turned down our request, and so has a private airline (to evacuate people of Mizoram stuck in Manipur),'' the official told PTI. The Centre is yet to make a comment on it. Four more dead in Manipur violence; toll up to 54, say reports Hundreds of people, mostly students, were reportedly stranded in Manipur following violent clashes between tribals and people belonging to the majority Meitei community, which has displaced thousands and resulted in the loss of lives of at least 54. Meanwhile, Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamliana convened a meeting with officials on Saturday to review the measures being taken to evacuate people from Manipur. He said the state government is making massive efforts to bring back its residents at the earliest. Tickets of commercial flights have been booked for those stranded in the neighbouring state, and they are expected to return in batches, state government sources said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, May 6, 2023, 23:35 [IST] Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visits J&Ks Rajouri, reviews security situation India oi-PTI Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday took stock of the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir's border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, where terrorists have killed 35 people, including 26 soldiers, in eight attacks since October 2021. The visit of the defence minister to Rajouri comes a day after five elite para commandos of the army were killed during an anti-terrorist operation in the forested Kandi area of the district. Singh, accompanied by Army chief General Manoj Pande and Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, reached Ace of Spades Division headquarters in Rajouri after a brief stopover in Jammu, also interacting with the troops engaged in the ongoing operation against terrorists, the officials said. Five army personnel were killed and a major-rank officer was injured during a combing operation -- 'Operation Trinetra' -- in the Kandi area on Friday. Rajouri, Poonch attacks both handiwork of Lashkar: Intel A holed up terrorist was killed and one more is believed to be injured this morning. Officials said the army chief reached Jammu from Delhi ahead of the defence minister, who followed him minutes later. Lt Governor also joined senior civil and army officers to receive the defence minister. Northern Army commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Corps commander White Knight Corps, and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu are also accompanying Rajnath to Rajouri, the officials said. After getting a brief on the operation in Kandi forest, the defence minister chaired a high-level security meeting to review the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Rajouri and Poonch before returning to Jammu, they said. Earlier in the day, Lt Gen Dwivedi visited the encounter site and was briefed on the developments in the ongoing 'Operation Trinetra' by ground commanders. Recommended Video Rajouri: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh interacts with soldiers at the Army Base Camp| Oneindia News Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu, which were declared terrorism-free more than a decade ago, have been rocked by a series of deadly attacks by terrorists in the past 18 months. The loss of five jawans in Kandi forest is the third major incident this year. It took place at a time when the forces had been engaged in a massive combing operation for the past 15 days following an ambush on an army truck in Bhata Dhurian (Poonch). Five soldiers were killed and another was injured on April 20 when an army truck carrying fruits and vegetables for Iftar was bombed and strafed with bullets by terrorists. More than 250 people were detained for questioning during combing operations in the wake of the incident. Six overground workers who extended full support to terrorists were arrested, they said. According to military officials, terrorists now have adopted a strategy of engaging troops or attacking people and then laying improvised explosive devices to harm security forces engaged in combing operations. This also happened in Dhangri village in Rajouri where terrorists killed seven civilians in two attacks that came on heels of each other on January 1 this year. In two major incidents in Rajouri in 2022, five army personnel and two terrorists were killed in a suicide attack at a security camp at Pargal-Darhal on August 11, while two civilians were killed in a firing incident outside an army camp near Rajouri town. 2 terrorists killed in separate encounters in J&K's Rajouri, Baramulla Four blasts rocked Kotranka in Rajouri district between March and April last year. All these cases were worked out by police with the arrest of the accused. Nine army personnel were killed in two separate encounters with terrorists in Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch districts in October 2021. Two army personnel, one of them a lieutenant, were killed in a mine blast in Nowshera sector of Rajouri on October 30, 2021. Rajouri and Poonch districts have witnessed more killings of Army personnel than the militancy-hit Kashmir Valley. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, May 6, 2023, 14:45 [IST] PM Modi met nearly 3,000 people during 7 days of campaign blitzkrieg in Karnataka Dream of every Kannadiga is my own: PM Modi's message for Karnataka | Video Do laws apply to PM Modi or not? Cong files complaint with EC over poll code violation US President Biden to meet PM Modi in Papua New Guinea later this month Flowers, Jai Bajrangbali greet PM Modi during final leg of Karnataka campaign India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a grand roadshow in Bengaluru today. The rally was attended by lakhs of people. The BJP is making a final push ahead of the May 10 elections, the results of which will be declared on May 13. The PM will hold a mega roadshow in the city on Sunday too. The BJP has been going to town with the manifesto of the Congress which had said that it would ban outfits such as the Bajrang Dal and PFI. The PFI to be sure has already been banned by the centre in September 2022. Seeking blessings of people of Bengaluru based on our track record: PM Modi The BJP sees a lot of relevance of the PM's rallies. He was greeted by flowers and dancing Lord Hanumans as he went about the roadshow. There has been a lot of build up ahead of the PM's rally in Bengaluru. There are 28 seats up for grabs in the state. Ahead of the rally several BJP leaders including Shobha Karandlage recited the 'Hanuman Chalisa' in opposition to the Congress. During the rally the chants of 'Jai Bajrangbali could heard. The people had gathered in large numbers ahead of the PM's rally and when it began there was plenty of enthusiasm among the crowd. Meanwhile ahead of the rally, the PM promised unparalleled momentum of grow under the rule of the BJP. "Be it technology or transportation, we shall work on pioneering solutions that are in line with people's expectations and those which reaffirm Bengaluru's position as a global hub for tech and innovation," the PM wrote on Twitter. Why PM Modi is holding the last leg of his campaign in Bengaluru Ahead of the rally a sea of humanity had descended on the streets of Bengaluru to witness the rally. There were some who were seen on wheelchairs and while spoken to, they said that they had come to bless the PM. Security is at an all-time high and traffic advisories have been issued galore with people being asked to avoid several roads in the city on Saturday and Sunday. The PM's Karnataka rallies would conclude on Sunday. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, May 6, 2023, 13:14 [IST] Indian Army grounds ALH Dhruv chopper fleet after J&K crash India oi-PTI The Army has grounded the entire fleet of Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv following the crash of one of the choppers in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, military sources said. An ALH Dhruv with three people on board crashed following a "hard landing" in Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. A technician was killed and two pilots were injured in the incident. As a precautionary measure, the ALH Dhruv fleet has been temporarily grounded, the sources said. The Navy and the Coast Guard had grounded their respective ALH Dhruv fleets in March following two similar incidents involving the platform. Army chopper crashes in J&K: Pilots safe The sources said the ALH Dhruv choppers with the Navy and the Coast Guard are undergoing technical checks. The helicopters which have been cleared in the scrutiny process are flying now, said a source. The Indian Air Force operates around 70 ALH Dhruv. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, May 6, 2023, 12:39 [IST] Meet the Indians attending King Charles' coronation ceremony India oi-Prakash KL Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and his wife Dr Sudeep Dhankhar are representing India at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III in London on Saturday. He will be seated alongside other Commonwealth Heads of State. Apart from him, several other Indians are attending the event. Photo Credit: Akshata Murty, wife of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and daughter of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, will be attending the event. It has to be noted that her husband will read from the biblical book of Colossians at the Coronation of King Charles III in keeping with the recent tradition of British Prime Ministers giving readings at State occasions. Lord Indarjit Singh to present King Charles with key coronation item Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor and two 'dabbawalas' from Mumbai are among others who are in London to be part of the grand ceremony. She will share the stage with global icons such as Lionel Richie and Katy Perry at the grand Coronation Concert. The Bollywood actress will deliver an exclusive spoken word piece at the highly-anticipated Coronation Concert where she will be introducing Steve Winwood and the exclusive Commonwealth virtual choir on May 7 at Windsor Castle, according to a statement. Also, the famous 'Dabbawalas' are attending the ceremony. During his visit to India in 2013, Charles had met the 'Dabbawalas', who are famous for their lunchbox delivery and return system in the commercial capital of India. Recommended Video King Charles III's coronation in London: These Indians are part of the guest list | Oneindia News In addition to it, several Indian community members have received invitations to attend the event. Sourabh Phadke, a Pune-born architect and teacher, who has been named among the selected charity champions, is taking part in the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. The 38-year-old was chosen for his association and great success through the causes supported by the Prince's Foundation. Among others of Indian heritage in the gathering will be Bansari Ruparelia, a British Empire Medal (BEM) winner in recognition of her services to the community. Gulfsha, winner of the Prince's Trust Global Award, another BEM winner British Indian chef Manju Malhi and Indian-origin Jay Patel of Prince's Trust Canada are also among the selected invitees. King Charles' coronation: Timing, oath, guests, cost of ceremony and more Lord Narendra Babubhai Patel will represent the Hindu faith and is expected to carry the sovereign's ring on the day of the Coronation. With inputs from PTI Opposition unity or rebellion: What weighed on Sharad Pawars mind India oi-Vicky Nanjappa NCP boss, Sharad Pawar decided to withdraw his resignation four days after he made the announcement. Amidst much drama, a committee had been formed to decide on the succession plan within the Maharashtra based party. However on Friday, it was decided that Pawar's resignation was being rejected. They conveyed it to him and Pawar decided to change his decision. Sources tell OneIndia that it was a well-staged move by Pawar. He never had any intention to resign, but had to do so to put an end to rumours that his nephew Ajit Pawar would break away and join the BJP. This move by Pawar has however managed to quell the rebellion in the party, at least for now, the source added. Ajit Pawar following the decision by his uncle said that the decision to withdraw the resignation will energise the party. Sharad Pawar withdraws resignation, to continue as NCP chief While many have in the open have maintained that there was no rebellion in the party, it was clear that Ajit Pawar was going to quit the party. It had become quit clear in political circles that a section of the NCP are with Ajit Pawar and were ready to jump ship with him. A political analyst said that while Pawar has managed to quell the rebellion for now, it may not be exactly smooth sailing in the future. In the political circles of Maharashtra there is quite a bit of buzz of some changes taking place in the days to come. For now the senior Pawar is focusing on keeping his party united. The other point that he tried to make is that the NCP needs to remain united for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Pawar wants to be the face of the opposition unity ahead of the 2024 polls, sources also said. Had there been a full-blown rebellion in the NCP, it would have created problems for the opposition unity ahead of the 2024 polls, the source also added. One report said that Pawar had almost decided that he would not take back his resignation. However he was convinced by Tamil Nadu chief minister, M K Stalin and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, May 6, 2023, 10:18 [IST] Scorpion bites woman passenger on Air India's Nagpur-Mumbai flight India oi-Prakash KL In a rare incident, a woman was reportedly bitten by a scorpion on a Nagpur-Mumbai flight. The incident occurred on April 23 but came to light today, The Times of India reported. The woman was taken to the hospital after the flight landed in Mumbai. A message sent by a flight attendant to the Mumbai Airport to be ready with a doctor in order to treat her immediately. The woman was attended to soon after the flight landed at Mumbai Airport and later taken to a hospital. However, she is doing well. "There was an extremely rare and unfortunate incident involving a scorpion biting a passenger on board our flight AI 630 on April 23, 2023. On landing the said passenger was attended by the doctor at the airport and subsequently was treated at the hospital and discharged. Our officers accompanied the passenger to the hospital and supported the passenger till discharged. Our team followed the protocol and conducted complete inspection of the aircraft and found the scorpion after which due fumigation process was carried out. We sincerely regret the agony and inconvenience caused to the passenger," Air India in a statement said. Fact Check: This image is not from the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 It may be recalled that a snake was found in the cargo hold of an Air India Express plane in December 2022. The senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said a snake was found in the cargo hold of the plane on arrival at the Dubai airport and the airport fire services were also informed. In July 2022, an alive bird was found in the cockpit of Air India Express' Bahrain-Kochi flight. As per the official statement, it was found in the glove compartment on co-pilot's side when the plane was at 37,000 feet altitude. With inputs from agencies. Veronica Lopez was just 15 years old when she experienced the terror of Mexicos torture cells. It was during Mexican president Jose Lopez Portillos administration (1976-1982), and Lopez was a young trans woman who was working as a prostitute due to poverty and hunger. One afternoon, a group of Mexico City police officers captured her and beat her into a patrol car (then referred to as Julia) and transferred her to a prison. Thats when the terror began for me, she says. The agents booked her for moral misconduct. Although she was released, the arrests were systematic: They stripped us naked, poured cold water on us, many of our companions died of pneumonia; others were taken out [of the cells because they were sick] [and] we never saw them again; we could hear innocent people being tortured; we lived through a horrible panic, says Lopez. Her testimony is part of an initiative that seeks to recover the memory of the terror experienced by the so-called dissident collectives, people who were persecuted by the regime during Mexicos so-called Dirty War for belonging to guerrilla groups, social organizations, unions, student groups and minorities, such as LGBT people. The [police and security] agents would kill our friends when they didnt want to get into [patrol cars], and those of us who saw it couldnt say anything, recalls Lopez. Lopez, along with three other trans women comrades, told her story this Wednesday at an emotional meeting organized by the Mechanism for Truth and Historical Clarification (MEH). Their testimony is part of MEHs efforts to rescue the memory of the terror Mexican society experienced between 1965 and 1990. These were infamous decades in which the government silently and systematically hunted any movement that it considered a threat. Guerrilla groups were exterminated in Guerrero, those considered subversives were deliberately eliminated (they were thrown from helicopters in sacks into the sea or burned alive in garbage dumps), students were massacred in Tlatelolco in 1968 and the so-called Falcon Strike (halconazo; named for the state-sponsored paramilitariesknown as falconswho committed the violence). In addition, gays and lesbians were persecuted and trans people were viciously terrorized because they challenged the moral standards of the time. These abuses were done cautiously and with impunity, because Mexico represented itself to the world as a democracy, a far cry from the military dictatorships that terrorized the Americas. Between 1965 and 1990, serious violations took place for which there is no excuse, much less [reason to] forgive and forget, Alan Garcia Campos, a member of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned. The meeting took place at the Tlatelolco University Cultural Center, which was built to commemorate the memory of the students who were murdered and disappeared in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas [Three Cultures Plaza] in 1968. Veronica Lopez, 58 years old, a victim and survivor of the dirty war and a member of the Historical reparation for adult trans women collective. Monica Gonzalez Islas Veronica Lopezs story is one of suffering. She left her home in Tapilula, a small town in Chiapas, at the age of 13 because her very conservative family scorned her. She had moved in with an aunt in Mexico City, but soon had to run away because her cousins raped her. On the street and without any money, she had to turn to prostitution. It was an unknown world for me, but I was hungry and had to eat, she recalls. Police officers made the rounds and raided areas where transgender people waited for their clients. Violence always prevailed. In one such raid, Veronica Lopez was transferred to the dreaded Tlaxcoaque cells, a torture prison located in the center of the capital. She was in cell five in corridor three. They knocked my teeth out and busted my eardrums; it was very painful; it marked my life, she says. The agents killed and left the bodies lying around, they left you stripped [naked] and bloody. They humiliated you, stripped you and put you on display at the Diana the Huntress fountain. I am a survivor of that terror, says Lopez. Denisse Valverde suffered the same contempt from the authorities. She says that trans women were the object of humiliation and pleasure for intelligence agents and the capital police. We never told our stories because we were afraid to talk, she says. Violence against trans populations is ignored, the abuse to which we were subjected is not talked about, but they did what they wanted with us, she explains. Valverde was 16 years old when she first fell victim to violence by the authorities; she was working as a prostitute at the time. We were robbed (now I know that this was a forced disappearance), beaten, raped. It was a time of total impunity, a holocaust against LGBT people, and [it was even] worse for trans women, she says. On many occasions, Valverde experienced the so-called carreterazos, which were raids by police officers, who violently loaded the women into their patrol cars, raped them and left them naked on the side of the highway. If the officers brought in a man accused of a crime when these women were detained, the officers forced them to have sex with him. The police shaved them and shouted that they would never be real women. There were many missing comrades, she says. We didnt know what to do if we saw a patrol car; if we reported it, the police station staff would tell the patrolmen and it was worse, she explains. Denise Valverde, 61 years old. Monica Gonzalez Islas These trans women directly denounce Arturo Durazo Moreno, known as Black Durazo, a notorious character. He was the shadowy, feared chief of the Federal District Police and Transit Department during President Lopez Portillos six-year term. Durazo was a violent and corrupt man, who took hunting dissidents to heart. He is implicated in serious human rights violations and massacres. Durazo had an atrocious iron fist policy, under which crimes were committed in the feared Investigations Division for the Prevention of Crime (DIPD), popularly known as Tlaxcoaque, because the divisions headquarters were located in the city square of the same name. My entire adolescence was spent in those cells, says Gabriela Elliot, 66. She had left home at age 11, because her family would not accept her. My mom was a very difficult woman, she recalls. One night, some friends invited her to a nightclub, where they hung out with customers who bought them drinks. They slept there, and the next morning DIPD agents woke them up by hitting them. A customer at the venue was killed and the officers blamed Elliot and two of her friends. Despite their innocence, they were sentenced to 25 years in prison for manslaughter. She served only five years, but the trauma remains with her. We lived in a system that repressed us, says Emma Yessica Duvali. Her life changed at the age of 13, when she arrived at school with plucked eyebrows. The principal kicked her out and claimed there would be no place for her in the educational system. I was kidnapped at 17, shaved, beaten and raped for the crime of dressing as a woman, she recalls. We were cut off from all possibilities for human growth for falling outside the norm and the patriarchal and macho system, says Duvali. As a survivor of that Dirty War, she remembers other female comrades who did not live to tell their stories. Sulma [was] stuffed into a suitcase; China [was] hanged in a hotel. Emma Yessica Duvali, 62. Monica Gonzalez Islas At the meeting, Duvali listens carefully to Alejandro Encinas, the Undersecretary of Human Rights. He says that the State intends to build a collective truth to rescue the stories of people who were victims of rights violations by an appalling regime. In front of the audience, the official acknowledged the States responsibility during that sinister period, which he described as intolerant and authoritarian. Encinas words resonate with Duvali, who criticizes different administrations for keeping quiet about the horrors suffered by thousands of Mexicans. It is a disgrace for a government that speaks of openness, she says. And then she unleashes her fury: I dont want a high official to ask me for forgiveness. Her voice echoes through the corridors of the cultural center, goes out the windows and reaches the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. All the guilty parties should be here, Lopez Portillo, Durazo Moreno, his officers, the officer who arrested me, all those little [people]. I dont want apologies; I want full reparations for all the harm [they did]. These [incidents] cannot be repeated in this country, whatever government or party it may be, she says. Her indignation bursts forth next to the plaques and sculptures commemorating those murdered in Tlatelolco, one of Mexican historys darkest chapters; they, too, were victims of impunity. This morning, it seems, Duvali also wants to avenge them, to shout that they are not alone. I have no use for a public apology! Gangster Atiq Ahmed, brother shot dead in UP: What we know so far 2 terrorists killed in separate encounters in J&K's Rajouri, Baramulla India oi-Prakash KL Two terrorists were killed in separate encounters with security forces in Rajouri and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, police said. Photo Credit: The police said that incriminating materials, including an AK 47 rifle, were recovered from the terrorists. "Baramulla Encounter Update: Killed terrorist identified as Abid Wani S/O Mohd Rafiq Wani R/O Yarhol Babapora Kulgam, linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT. Incriminating materials, 01 AK 47 rifle recovered," Kashmir Zone Police tweeted today. One of the two slain terrorists is identified as Abid Wani hailing from Kulgam. In a tweet, Kashmir Zone Police said, "#Encounter has started at Karhama Kunzer area of #Baramulla. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow. @JmuKmrPolice." Five jawans killed in encounter with terrorists in Rajouri, J&K "Information was received about some suspicious movement. A cordon and search operation was launched and during that firing was done towards us and in retaliatory firing one terrorist of LeT has been killed. Our forces are alert in view of G20 Summit and we are neutralising the threat & G20 Summit will be organised successfully," ANI quoted SSP Baramulla, Amod Ashok Nagpure, in a tweet. Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivediis is at ground zero, to review the operational situation on the ongoing operations at Kandi in Rajouri where contact was re-established with militants, ANI reported. #WATCH | J&K: Encounter underway between terrorist and security personnel in Karhama Kunzer area of Baramulla (Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/9YvsH1nADA ANI (@ANI) May 6, 2023 He has been briefed on all aspects of the operations by ground commanders. Recommended Video J&K: One terrorist terminated in a fresh encounter with security forces in Rajouri | Oneindia News Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with Army Chief General Manoj Pande is visiting Jammu to review the security situation in the Jammu sector on Saturday, sources informed the news agency. Five soldiers have died in the ongoing anti-terror operation in the Kandi area of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri, officials said on Friday. "Three more soldiers who were injured earlier have unfortunately succumbed to their injuries. A total of five soldiers have lost their lives in the joint operation in Rajouri, J&K," said the officials. Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi is at Ground Zero, to review the operational situation on the ongoing operations at Kandi in Rajouri where contact was re-established with militants. He was briefed on all aspects of the operations by ground commanders. pic.twitter.com/2rQTPLs2fW ANI (@ANI) May 6, 2023 Indian Army is conducting relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in the Jammu region, an official release stated. "On specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Kandi Forest in the Rajouri Sector, a joint operation was launched on May 3, 2023. At about 7:30 am on May 5, 2023, a search team established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave. The area is thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs," the statement stated. Why PM Modi is holding the last leg of his campaign in Bengaluru India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Post the 2018 elections, when the BJP fell short of a majority, a party leader had called and said that the final outcome could not be met because of Bengaluru city. Cut back to 2008, when the BJP had more numbers compared to 2018. The party had won 17 of the 28 seats, while in 2018 it was 11. The party in fact did better in the city in 2013, winning 12 seats. That year the party had put up its worst show owing to B S Yediyurappa quitting the BJP and forming the KJP. Photo Credit: The BJP understands that winning big in Bengaluru is important for its prospects in the state. This is the primary reason why the Prime Minister is undertaking the last leg of his campaign in the city. A BJP source said that the PM has a sway in the city. There are so many undecided voters in the city. In addition to this there is the younger lot and the migrants, all of whom the PM has an appeal with. Hence it only makes sense that the PM ends his campaign here, the party source also told OneIndia. Furthermore Bengaluru is India's Silicon Valley and the home to many startups. The PM holds a sway over this industry and hence the last leg of the campaign being in the capital of Karnataka makes sense for the BJP. PM Modi in Bengaluru: Roads to avoid This is a hotly contested battle and the margins are looking very close now. In 2018 when the Congress lost Karnataka, it had managed to put up a good show in Bengaluru, winning 15 of the 28 seats. In 2013 it won 13, while in 2008, the number was at 10. Both the BJP and Congress are influential in pockets in the city. With the PM's rally, the BJP would look to repeat its performance in the city in the year 2019. In the Lok Sabha elections that year, the BJP won with a vote share of 55 per cent and was ahead in 22 assembly segments. The Congress on the other hand was a distant second with a vote share of 40 per cent. Moreover the Congress could secure a lead only in six assembly segments. The BJP may have not done well in Bengaluru in 2018 when compared to its 2008 tally. However it is taking heart from the fact that the battle in 2018 was a close one in the city. In as many as 13 seats, the victory margin was less than 10 per cent. Three is also pressure on the party to perform in the city as nearly 25 per cent of the ministers are from Bengaluru. It was no different in the case of the Congress when it had formed the government in 2013 when a majority of the ministers were from the city. Khalistan Commando chief Paramjit Panjwar shot dead in Lahore International oi-Prakash KL Chief of the separatist group Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) Paramjit Singh Panjwar was reportedly shot dead in Lahore's Sunflower Society Johar Town in Pakistan on Saturday morning. He was gunned down when was walking near his house around 6 am, according to a report in Hindustan Times. Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who was born in 1960 in Tarn Taran's Panjwar village, was a prominent figure within the KCF, which is designated as a terrorist organization under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). After working at a Central Cooperative Bank in Sohal, he was radicalized by his cousin Labh Singh in 1986 and subsequently became a member of the KCF. After his cousin was killed by the Indian security forces, he took over the reins of the KCF in 1990s and shifted his base to Pakistan. Although the Pakistan government had denied that he was staying in the country, he lived in Lahore while his family settled in Germany, the report said. Sources have informed India Today that his murder might be linked to inter-gang rivalry. "Paramjit Singh Panjwar had been broadcasting highly seditious and separatist programmes on Radio Pakistan, intended to incite the minorities against the Government of India. He also remained active in smuggling of drugs and a major conduit between smugglers and terrorists. Panjwar's complicity in promoting drug trade and Fake Indian Currency Notes operation in Punjab are well documented. Efforts are being made by his organisation i.e. KHALISTAN COMMANDO FORCE, to reactive former militants, sleeper cells and also those on bail and has been in favour of forming nexus with other forces hostile to India," according to the Union Home Ministry. Ben Lamm is the commercial face of de-extinction, a process that seeks to bring animals like the woolly mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger and the dodo bird back to life. Lamm, born in Austin, Texas, describes himself as a serial entrepreneur: just in the last decade, he has founded at least four successful technology startups. So why drop everything to pursue a dream that to some may seem straight out of science fiction? From his home in California, Lamm explains by video call that what drives him the most is the idea of being able to restore ecosystems, discovering new technologies in the process. And he is more than just talk: Colossal, the firm he founded and directs to pursue this goal, has become the first large company in this new sector on a global level. His investors include personalities such as businesswoman Paris Hilton, Thomas Tull (the owner of the company that created the Jurassic Park franchise) and the Winklevoss twins (Facebooks original investors). Thanks to this, he has already raised $75 million. He also counts among his ranks some prestigious geneticists from around the world like George Church and Beth Shapiro. Still, despite the support of these scientists, the million-dollar investments and the clear optimism he shows throughout the interview, many specialists question the viability of his claims. Question. Where did the idea of cloning extinct animals as a business come from? Answer. Ive been really passionate about climate change, synthetic biology and genetic engineering. I think we could use this to solve many problems. So, I reached out to George Church, who is arguably the father of synthetic biology, and I asked him a bunch of questions about AI and computational biology for building software. Then I asked him, George what else are you working on? He said, Im working in de-extinction technology to bring back the mammoth and return it to the Arctic, as well as to apply those technologies to conservation. I was enamored. After that I couldnt stop thinking about it. I was running another company and I had to bring in a new CEO so I could pursue this. Q. How did you convince other people that this was a viable project? A. Whats amazing about what we are building is that when we look at bringing back an extinct animal, its really a systems problem. You have to build a whole system that helps you analyze genomes. You have to build and improve the technology that allows you to edit genes and to actually synthesize genes. And then you have to build assisted reproduction technologies. Its like the Apollo program: going to the Moon. Also crazy and weird, right? So thats the way I took it to our big investors. I explained to them that in the way to de-extinction we were going to innovate in all these other areas that have massive applications. Q. Could we say then that de-extinction is an excuse to look for new technologies? A. I dont know if excuse is the right word. I would say its an opportunity. Just to be clear, if we built all these technologies but we are not successful in the de-extinction effort, I wont consider it successful. We are making tremendous strides. All of the projects that we are working on are on track, but we have to achieve both. Q. What will you do as a company once you achieve de-extinction? A. I think there are massive applications around carbon credits [financial instruments devised to reduce emissions]. Biodiversity is our best combatant against climate change and to protect ecosystems. So with that, I think there will be billions of dollars in opportunities around carbon credits and biodiversity credits in the things that we are building. Ben Lamm (left) and geneticist George Church. Colossal Q. What could go wrong with this technology? A. You need to be thoughtful any time you do anything with new technologies, and when you are doing anything that is big and bold. You need to be transparent. You need to be clear. You need to have the right team around, that knows what they are doing. You have to be ethical. We have a team for that. I think the right use of this is for the conservation of keystone species that mankind had a role in their eradication, like mammoths or elephants. Their reproductive cycle is too long and you have to have a large number of them to keep the population. Just to be clear, you cannot de-extinct a dinosaur like in Jurassic Park [laughs]. It is not possible. There is no DNA. There are amino acids but theres no DNA. Bringing back mammoths is possible; bringing back dinosaurs is not. Q. But you are trying to bring extinct species back into the wild. Dont you think that this can also have negative consequences? A. Thats a really good point. We are actually using these de-extinction projects to help fix and bring back stability to degraded ecosystems. The introduction by humans of invasive species is what caused the extinction of the dodo. We will work with the governments when the moment arrives to rewild them. We promise that these ecosystems can thrive from the reintegration of the species. Q. Do you think that any of the technologies that you are developing could be useful to medicine? A. All of the gene editing tools that we are working with have huge applications for human healthcare, for gene therapy. Also, we are working on artificial wombs. Im very excited by that because I think it is massive for conservation. If you could grow a hundred white rhinos in a lab and then reintroduce them back into the wild, that would be incredible; it could also be great for human embryos and IVF (in vitro fertilization). Q. What is on the horizon for the next few years? A. Hopefully, in some years weve not only successfully brought back the mammoth and the dodo, but weve successfully rewilded them. Maybe we will be working on another species. I hope that weve shown the applications for conservation. Q. So when will we have the first mammoths? A. Our goal, and we feel pretty confident about it, is that we will have our first wooly mammoth by 2028. On an episode of the 12th season of Keeping up with the Kardashians, the familys matriarch started talking to one of her daughters about her latest discovery: reading. Kris Jenner: You know how Im obsessed with books now? Im reading one about Le Courvoisier (sic), an architect. Its really weird and boring, but Im obsessed. Khloe Kardashian: Thats not true. And youre not reading a book. Its not a real book. Kris Jenner: Well, it has words, important words. Khloe Kardashian: Oh, like this building was built in I dont know how many centuries? Jenner: Yeah, its called history. Khloe: Its a coffee table book! Seven years after this memorable scene, it turns out that the last name Kardashian could possibly end up appearing in some of those architectural coffee table books after all. Tadao Ando, the winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995 (and a great admirer of Le Corbusier), has designed a house in Palm Springs for Kim Kardashian, the most famous of these very famous sisters. Kim Kardashian recently posted a photo on Instagram of the great Japanese architect during a meeting in his Osaka office. Another picture shows a drawing of Kim Kardashians future home, an imposing concrete building that meansif Ando sticks with the architectural tradition of naming the houses they design by the last name of their clientswe might see Villa Kardashian in a book about his buildings. Met with the master himself, Tadao Ando to review and discuss a dream project we have been working on for the past two years, Kim Kardashian posted on April 6. I visited his office in Japan so that we could make the finishing touches before we break ground. So deeply honored and incredibly humbled to have the opportunity to work with him and finally see this special project come to life. We know the project in question is a home because Kardashian told us so last year when she first spoke about it. In an interview with Vogue in February 2022, Kardashian said that Tadao Ando was designing her a house [made of] concrete, [in] shades of gray and very zen. Ando, Kardashian added in a subsequent Vogue article, had also been her model in creating her first beauty line: in the first image of the SKKN BY KIM campaign, the brands toner, cleanser and other products appeared among small blocks of concrete, the Japanese architects most iconic material. Ando sure didnt mind. The self-taught architect, who began his career as a boxer, is familiar with the world of fashion and is well liked by lovers of minimalism like Giorgio Armani, for whom he designed the Teatro/Armani in 2001. Kanye West bought a Tadao Ando house and left it in a state of semi-abandonment. Now, his ex-wife and the architect are new best friends. Instagram (@kimkardashian) What we dont know is what Kanye West, aka Ye, thinks of his ex-wifes project with Tadao Ando, but he was the one who discovered Andos work in the first place. In 2018, Kim Kardashian accompanied her then-husband on a trip to the Japanese island of Naoshima, which is famous for the buildings Ando began constructing there in the early 1990s. For West, who has been a fan of design and architecture since he was a child, the trip was a pilgrimage. There, he not only visited Andos concrete architecture but also the installations created especially for the Chichu Art Museum (one of the architects buildings on the island) by the American artist James Turrell, one of the rappers favorites. We have to live in a Turrell, Kanye West told Kim Kardashian during that excursion as he later recounted in an interview. Three years later, in September 2021, Kanye West shelled out nearly $58 million to purchase one of the few Tadao Ando-designed homes in the United States, a 370 m concrete sculpture-house located in the middle of Malibu beach. The house was built in 2013 and commissioned by another great admirer of Ando, American financier and art collector Richard Sachs, known for being the boyfriend of actress and The Row designer Ashley Olsen. This is not just a house. This is like a Picasso Cubist painting, very important and very rare, Sachs said three years ago when he put it up for sale. Image of the house project that Tadao Ando has designed for Kim Kardashian, shared by the 'socialite' on Instagram. Instagram (@kimkardashian) Unfortunately, it would now be more accurate to compare the home to a Dorian Gray-like portrait of Kanye West since it has come to reflect the recent calamities that have ruined the rapper. Its not just that in December of last year someone hung a sign from the driveway wishing him a happy Hanukkah after his anti-Semitic statements, which represented the final nail in the coffin of his successful career. In recent photographs published by multiple media outlets, Tadao Andos building appears pitiful; since the renovation workbegun in 2021was indefinitely suspended, the house has been stripped of its windows and abandoned to Malibus waves, wind and seagulls. Like the man now known as Ye, the Tadao Ando-designed beachside house was once imminently likeable, the epitome of artistic ingenuity, the digital magazine Highsnobiety published a few days ago alongside a series of images of the rappers home. Now, both Ye and his 4,000 square foot Malibu home have rotted from the inside out. Kanye West got the property in his and Kardashians divorce settlement last year. Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian was awarded the family home in Calabasas, California, a mansion valued at $60 million, which Kardashian and West bought shortly after the 2013 birth of their first daughter, North West. We passed by this incredibly extravagant house while strolling through the neighborhood. Id just had North, and we were doing a lot of walking so I could work off some of the baby fat, Kim Kardashian recounted in a 2020 feature about the townhouse in Architectural Digest magazine. I didnt really know Kanyes style at that point, but I thought the house was perfection. Kanye was less enthusiastic. He said, Its workable. Architectural Digest's March 2020 cover dedicated to Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's Calabasas home. Architectural Digest To spruce up the McMansionas West disparagingly called itthe rapper hired prestigious Belgian interior designer and art and antiques dealer Axel Vervoordt, who is famous for his expansive, stripped-down spaces. According to the same Architectural Digest article, West met Vervoordt at antiques fairs in Maastricht and Venice, where the rapper tracked down treasures like the Jean Royere sofa for which he sold one of his Maybach cars after he became rich and famous. Wests infatuation with the Belgians work came when he saw a floating stone table designed by Vervoordt, which now graces Kim Kardashians immaculate living room. When I saw the kind of work he was doing, I thought, This man could design Batmans house. I had to work with him, Kanye West said in 2020. The renovation undertaken by Axel Vervoordt transformed the ostentatious interior of the Calabasas mansion into a sophisticated succession of rooms painted in white, gray and beige. Vervoordt also came up with the idea of converting an old samurai housewhich he purchased and transported from Japaninto the former couples guest house. Other design masters also participated in creating the main mansion, including Italian Claudio Silvestrin, who was responsible for the master bathroom, and Belgian Vincent Van Duysen, who, in addition to helping furnish the living room and the childrens rooms, later designed Kim Kardashians apartment in the same area of California. The result of these luminaries collaboration was a minimalist and futuristic Belgian monastery (as Kanye West described it) in neutral tones. Kim Kardashian, who has said that she became interested in design and architecture during the renovation of this house, was never the same again: both the shapewear she designs for her brand Skims and the luxurious cars she drives have the same shades as the interiors created by Axel Vervoordt. Before I met Kanye I knew nothing about design. Being with him has been an extraordinary education, Kardashian said in the Architectural Digest article. Now, thanks to the Kardashian who can pronounce Le Corbusiers name correctly, Wests snub of Tadao Andos work in Malibu will be compensated. The new Ando building that the businesswoman is about to build in Palm Springs will not be her only contribution to the field of contemporary architecture; last year, she announced that another great Japanese architect was building her yet another house. Kengo Kuma, the designer of Tokyo National Stadium, is creating a house of glass and wood in a secret location to which Kim Kardashian travels every July 4. Actor Tovino Thomas who plays Anoop, one of the heroes in Jude Anthany Joseph's film '2018: Everyone is a Hero', celebrated the movie's opening day success with his family in Finland. The actor cut a cake and also popped a champagne, as part of the celebration. The actor could not be in Kerala with the rest of the cast and crew as the film opened in theatres on May 5. The movie has been receiving a lot of positive response from critics and audiences alike. Tovino, who is spending time with his wife, children and parents in Finland, expressed his sadness on not being in Kerala, to witness the full shows and celebrations in theatres on the first day. This is a huge loss for me. However, I will be returning to Kerala in two days and will be going to the theatres with my family to experience everyones response, he said in another video. The movie features Tovino Thomas, Asif Ali, Lal, Tanvi Ram, Narain, Kunchacko Boban, Aparna Balamurali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Indrans, among others in lead roles and is based on the lives of people who struggled for survival and the heroes who made it possible during the 2018 floods. The new nominee for president of the World Bank announced by the White House is Ajaypal Singh Banga. He was promptly affirmed by 25 members of the bank's board -- Russia abstained. Mr. Banga belongs to a family of high achievers: His father, Harbhajan Singh Banga , retired as a Lt. General in the Indian army, heading the Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and receiving awards for distinguished service in the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971. retired as a Lt. General in the Indian army, heading the Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and receiving awards for distinguished service in the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971. Mr. Banga's elder brother won the gold medal for academic excellence at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He then did the same at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, topping his class. He joined Hindustan Lever and rose to become CEO in India. His services were clearly in demand for he was elected Chairman of parent Unilever in the UK. In 2023, it reported annual revenues of over 52 billion Euros. Aside from soaps and detergents, the company owns familiar brands in the US like Hellmann's for mayonnaise, Ben & Jerry's, Dove soap, Lipton tea and Persil detergent. Ajaypal himself began his career in India working for Nestle and Pepsico. In 1996, he joined Citigroup rising to head the bank's global consumer group including credit card operations. He was chosen to head the bank's Asia-Pacific business, splitting his time between Hong Kong and New York. It was a natural move for him to lead a corporation in its entirety. He became Chief Operating Officer at Mastercard becoming CEO in 2010. During his tenure net income grew by a factor of six and market capitalization rose ten times to $300 billion. As new chief of the World Bank, Mr. Banga heads an organization that fosters long-term growth and development in needy countries. Its projects range widely in scope, and it has been involved in building schools, providing safe drinking water, fighting disease and protecting the environment. The World Bank aims to work towards building stable institutions that will ensure continuity when its own staff and experts depart. If these are clearly positive aspects of the Bank's approach, there are also negatives. Critics point to some of its structural reforms and the push for privatization in the countries where it has operated. The results are mixed because the subsequent decline in social spending means the poor get poorer -- becoming a source for even cheaper labor so that the rich become richer. The bank has also been a traditional source of finance for dams although in recent years Chinese financial institutions have been taking over this role. Dams may bring benefits like low-cost electricity after the dam has been built, but there are negatives like displacement of residents from areas to be flooded. Thus the very large Narmada Dams project has been vigorously opposed by novelist and activist Arundhati Roy. The efforts by her and others delayed the project's completion until 2019 by launching a mass movement, the Narmada Bachao Andolan i.e. save the Narmada river, for the whole project constructed large and small dams along a 1312-km length of the river. It ended up displacing 33 million people from their homes. Such is the way of modern development. One can only hope Mr. Banga, who having spent a large part of his life in a developing country, India, will have greater sympathy for poor farmers. On 3 may, a summit took place between the Nordic countries and Ukraine. It was attended by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Icelandic Prime Minister Katrn Jakobsdottir, as well as Volodymyr Zelensky. The main goal of the President of Ukraine at this summit is to beg for the F-16. However, the outcome of this meeting, as well as other similar ones, did not differ in results: "It is a difficult task, it is a difficult question, but it is still an ongoing discussion. And from today's perspective, we haven't closed it yet," Frederiksen told reporters at a press conference. The United States also does not demonstrate the willingness to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine and, citing various reasons, uses only excuses instead of arguments. On the air of the DW TV channel, this was confirmed by the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, a member of the commission on control over the use of Western weapons, Oleksandra Ustinova, who visited Washington with a parliamentary delegation. "It all comes down to a political decision. We hear not arguments, but excuses why we are not given planes. The war has been going on for more than a year. If they [Western allies] had started talking about training Ukrainian pilots six months ago, we would have already shot down Russian fighters and saved many lives," Ustinova said. She also complained that Ukrainian planes cannot effectively counteract the Russian military aircraft: "We are asking for F-16 fighters because they are part of the air defense system. Unfortunately, now we see how Russian planes take to the air almost on the Ukrainian border and launch missiles on our territory. Their capabilities are much greater because they have newer aircraft. Ukrainian radars have visibility at 60 kilometers, and Russians at 400. We can shoot at 30 kilometers, and they can shoot at more than 200 kilometers. Unfortunately, if we don't have new fighters, it will be difficult for us even to protect the civilian population, as well as the military from the air," Ustinova said. At the same time, according to John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, the United States is making efforts to provide Ukraine with the weapons that it can use during a counteroffensive as quickly as possible, but the F-16 allegedly does not belong to such weapons. "You heard President Biden say that this (the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine - Ed.) is not on the table at this time. What we are focused on now is the capabilities that the Ukrainians themselves say they really need in the coming weeks and months," Kirby said. Reassuring Kyiv, he also recalled that this topic was also discussed at the 11th Ramstein, where attention was focused on strengthening air defense, providing ammunition and weapons. In addition, the most urgent needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were taken into account in the latest US defense assistance packages. In the same context, Kirby noted the conduct of exercises by Ukrainian units on Western equipment. It should also be mentioned that Ukrainian military experts are also not very optimistic about the use of F-16 fighters in Ukraine, which have very sensitive landing gear that are not designed to take off from Ukrainian airfields that have a rough coating. Therefore, the prospect of using these aircraft, taking into account the slowness and double standards of the United States, looks increasingly vague and should force Ukrainian politicians and the military to look for some alternative options. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). A California man accused of selling 80,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills and 66 pounds of methamphetamine in multiple deliveries to a federal informant made his first appearance in federal court Friday. Federal agents seized 70,000 vacuum-packed fentanyl pills stashed in a hidden trap inside a car after the informant arranged to buy the drugs from Oscar Manuel Rosas Gaona, 20, and met up with him in a parking lot in Oregon City last month, according to court records. Rosas Gaona, 20, faces charges of conspiring to possess and possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine. Assistant Federal Public Defender Michelle Sweet did not challenge his continued detention pending trial. The informant first bought 10,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills made of fentanyl from the alleged drug dealer, paying 70 cents per pill, on April 14, a federal affidavit said. The informant continued to negotiate further drug buys and later specifically requested 65 pounds of methamphetamine, federal Homeland Security Investigations agent Nathan Bresee wrote in the affidavit. Federal agents ended up stopping Rosas Gaona on Thursday and seizing a blue suitcase from one of Rosas Gaonas alleged associates filled with the bags of methamphetamine, the affidavit said. The drug seizures are the latest in whats been significant amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine confiscated by state police, county law enforcement and federal agents in separate stops the last couple of weeks. The stops are not part of a coordinated investigation, but narcotics investigators said theyre working to get deadly doses of fentanyl off the street. The cheap, potent drug comes into the state mostly from Mexico, where pills designed to look like legitimate painkillers are pressed with fentanyl made from chemicals produced in China and India. Drug traffickers funnel them north by car, truck, bus, plane and even the mail, investigators say. Chris Gibson, director of the Oregon-Idaho High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, said the substantial amounts of drugs seized are becoming less and less surprising all the time. Everybody is working towards investigating and dismantling drug trafficking organizations, he said. Thats the goal of all of these cases. Homeland Security Investigations agents worked with Clackamas Countys Interagency Task Force on the arranged drug buys from Rosas Gaona, according to prosecutors. The task force includes members of the Clackamas County Sheriffs Office, Canby Police Department, Oregon State Police and the FBI. -- Maxine Bernstein Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212 Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe With an average wait of more than six months for police recruits to attend Oregons 16-week basic training courses, the state academy wants to add evening instruction and increase class sizes. The state Department of Public Safety Standards & Training has proposed expanding its 20 basic police training classes from 40 students each to 60 students, adding two more classes of 40 students and extending training beyond the usual 5:30 p.m. cutoff to 10 p.m. It would cost $23 million for the 2023-25 biennium -- about $10 million more than what Gov. Tina Kotek recommended in her budget, according to Phil Castle, the public safety departments new director. The state agency anticipated having to train more officers as police jumpstarted hiring after the pandemic but didnt expect the continued high rate of officers leaving their jobs early or retiring, leaving more vacancies to fill, Castle told lawmakers this week. While officers a decade ago would typically remain on the job 20 years or more before retiring, many now leave after six to 11 years for a variety of reasons, a national trend that isnt unique to Oregon, he said. The projections and current backlog far exceed what our capacity is currently, he said. Kotek on Friday said she supports the public safety departments proposal and will advocate for it in the budget, said Elisabeth Shepard, her spokesperson. The number of officers hired in the state by quarter from 2015 through 2022.Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards & Training The department historically has run 16 classes of 40 students each during a biennium but early this year bumped that up to 20 courses of 40 students for a total of 800 officers. Thats the maximum it can provide with staffing and hours now, Castle said. But that has still left more than 200 students who are registered for training waiting about six months to get a seat, he said. That burdens police agencies struggling to keep the recruits engaged before they can start instruction, he said. Newly hired officers must complete the basic police academy, then field training before they can be formally certified as a law enforcement officer in the state. Koteks recommended budget, which had set aside $12.8 million to continue the current 20 basic training classes of 40 students each in the next biennium, wouldnt be enough to address the growing backlog, Castle told the Legislatures Joint Ways and Means Committee. If we stay with the current number and size of classes, the backlog is projected to keep growing, he said. When Castle took the helm of the agency just over two months ago, newly hired officers across the state had an average five-month wait to get a seat in basic training, he said. By the end of April, the wait was more than six months. By the end of this year, he projected the wait could extend up to 10 to 12 months. For smaller police agencies with 25 or fewer officers, which make up about two-thirds of the 208 law enforcement agencies in Oregon, such lengthy waits can cripple their departments, he said. They would have to stop hiring because having officers sitting in the department and not actually on the street working, they just will not be able to afford that, Castle said. The public safety departments proposal to boost the class sizes and hold two more classes would allow a total of 1,280 recruits to go through basic training over two years. To do this, the academy proposes offering day and evening courses and partnering with state police instructors who would be trained on the basic police curriculum to teach the two extra classes. Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, a co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, said he likes Castles proposal but asked if the larger classes would be too unwieldy or endanger students safety. Staci Yutzie, manager of the public safety departments Center for Policing Excellence, said the larger classes could be split up into smaller groups of 20 students each to go to the firing range or to practice defense tactics, for example, but come together for classroom instruction. The center works to develop training and provides leadership development courses. The number of officers hired in the state increased from 2015 to 2017, dropped from 2017 to 2019 and then increased in the last two years. Alongside this recent hiring increase, more officers have voluntarily left their agencies, either retiring or resigning, according to a study by the state Department of Public Safety Standards & Training.Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards & Training The public safety department also needs more police trainers. It has traditionally relied on instructors on loan from police agencies across the state (now at 18) to supplement 30 full-time academy trainers. But many instructors on loan are getting pulled back by their respective police agencies because of local staffing shortages, Castle said. A couple of weeks ago, for example, training at the academys gun firing range had to be shut down because not enough instructors were available to make sure it could be run safety, he said. They fire 3,000 rounds each per course and thats several 100 rounds that a group of them did not get to fire, Castle said. Thats a concern for us. The public safety department is asking to hire 37 more full-time instructors and eight support staff and managers for the extra classes and bigger class sizes. Oregon State Police Supt. Casey Codding also has agreed to loan an as-yet-undetermined number of state police instructors to help teach the two additional classes, according to Castle and state police. The public safety department explored holding regional training to meet the demand but concluded its not a feasible immediate solution, Castle said. Among the challenges, he said, would be finding locations for police vehicle and firing range training as well as classroom space. It now costs the public safety department $16,400 per recruit to provide basic police training and it costs a police agency $35,000 to put an officer through the course. The agencys cost includes an officers physical exam and gear. Evans questioned if the public safety department can draw from retired officers to teach the basic academy. Castle said the department would be competing with the Portland Police Bureau, which is already working to rehire retired officers to help with its own advanced training academy. Portland police provide their own advanced training academy to new officers once they complete the basic academy. The public safety department sent a survey to all law enforcement departments in the state to assess their staffing needs and hiring projections. The Portland Police Bureau, which contributes the most officers to the basic training academy at nearly 1-in-5 of total enrollment, didnt respond to the survey, Castle told lawmakers. Portland police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen said police supervisors dont remember getting the survey but will coordinate with state police academy partners to help it plan for the future. Portland police have 808 sworn officers. Of those, 98 are in training or awaiting training, 31 are on leave and 110 dont work patrol, leaving 311 officers split between the three precincts responding to emergency calls, according to the bureau. Portland police have 10 newly hired officers set to start basic training May 15; several have been waiting since they were hired in mid-December and others since January, Allen said. In 2022, Portland police said they hired 80 officers and 63 officers retired or resigned. This year, theyve hired 24 officers so far and about 56 are currently eligible to retire. Eugene Police Chief Patrick Skinner, immediate past president of the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police, said expanding the basic police academy has been the top priority of police chiefs in the state. He praised Castle for working to address the backlog. Its simple economics, supply and demand, he said. Theres a ton of demand right now, so we need to increase the supply. He said he expects police agencies to be in a perpetual state of hiring over the next several years. Eugene police are authorized 230 officers and have 20 vacancies, he said. Chiefs in the state recognize that ensuring our recruits get that foundational training as quickly as possible ends up with better officers for the community, he said. -- Maxine Bernstein Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212 Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe A 36-year-old Portland man known as the TriMet Barber is in jail again after a TriMet employee saw him on the MAX platform by Southwest Portlands Providence Park, in violation of a lifetime ban and probation orders barring him from being within 50 feet of any TriMet stop or station. Jared Walter pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court to second-degree criminal trespass and interfering with public transportation, according to court records. His next court appearance is scheduled for May 26. Walter is being held in the Multnomah County Detention Center on $2,500 bail. If released, he must wear a GPS monitoring device and abide by orders not to go near any TriMet stops or stations, court records show. Walter was arrested and booked on May 2 after a TriMet employee reviewing surveillance footage spotted him walking onto the Southwest 18th Avenue MAX platform on April 26. According to court records, the employee immediately recognized Walter, who in 2017 received a lifetime ban from TriMet after numerous arrests for cutting, touching or masturbating into the hair of unsuspecting female passengers. Walter was released from state prison in February, KATU reported. He was sentenced to 22 months in prison after pleading guilty in July 2021 to trying to take a photo or video of a woman inside a bathroom inside Northeast Portlands Lloyd Center mall. -- Catalina Gaitan, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_ Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe. By Rachael Bayliss-Chan, KYODO NEWS - May 6, 2023 - 20:55 | Feature, All, Japan Australia on Saturday returned to Japan four sets of indigenous Ainu remains, more than 80 years since they were sent to the Pacific nation for research purposes. The Japanese government has been stepping up efforts to bring back the remains of the indigenous ethnic group from Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, which were collected -- sometimes by excavating tombs -- for studies in anthropology and other fields. The remains, all skulls, were handed over to representatives of the Japanese government and Ainu-related groups in a ceremony at Melbourne Museum. Masaru Okawa, who leads the Ainu Association of Hokkaido, told reporters later that he hopes to hold a memorial ceremony for the remains, saying they must have "felt very lonely" after being taken out of Japan for research purposes. Inquiries by both countries found that researchers sent the remains to Australia between 1911 and 1936, including Yoshikiyo Koganei, an anatomist and anthropologist known for his Ainu studies and for being a professor emeritus at Tokyo Imperial University, which is now the University of Tokyo. Three sets of remains were held by Museums Victoria in Melbourne, and one set was held by the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. The remains were kept in storage and never displayed, according to an official of the National Museum of Australia. Addressing the Ainu association representatives present at the ceremony, Tim Goodwin from Museums Victoria expressed the museum's sincere regrets for the "indignities suffered" by the Ainu ancestors. "We apologize for the distress their removal has caused your communities and sincerely hope that their return will help in repairing the damage caused," he said. The remains include one skull found in 1921 in what is now the town of Kyowa in Hokkaido. Another was excavated in 1936 by researchers in the southern part of Sakhalin, north of Japan. The place of origin of the two other sets of remains is unclear. After arriving in Hokkaido on Monday, three sets of remains will be moved to a memorial facility at a major cultural complex dedicated to the Ainu people called Upopoy. The fourth set of remains from Sakhalin Island will be held in temporary storage by a university in Japan while arrangements are finalized for their return to an Ainu organization. Ainu people, who have their own customs and language, have lived for centuries in Hokkaido and nearby areas, including Sakhalin. Remains of Ainu people taken out of Japan for anthropological research since before World War II have also been found in Germany, Britain and the United States. A German academic society returned a set of remains to Japan in 2017. Nearly three years after leadership at Portland Public Schools removed armed city police officers from the hallways of its nine high schools, the district is cracking open the door to a renewed relationship with law enforcement. Under a broad proposal shared with the city, the Portland Police Bureau and school board members this week, armed officers could be back patrolling school grounds and perimeters by the start of the 2023-2024 school year, but those officers wouldnt be stationed inside buildings, except by invitation. The thread-the-needle plan is part of a $3 million proposal to address schools safety and security issues. The plan was put forward by district leadership after months of focus groups with students, educators and families around the city. It comes after a spate of shootings involving teens near the citys high schools this school year, including incidents near Franklin, Cleveland and Jefferson during or just after school hours. Weve heard from our students that they dont necessarily want law enforcement in the schools, they dont want law enforcement to be their hall monitors, said Molly Romay, the districts director of security. But I think we have an opportunity to really find the right balance. Still to be determined: Whether the school district or the city of Portland would bear the cost of stepped-up patrols around high schools, or if each would contribute a portion. Jonathan Garcia, chief of staff to superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero, said Friday that the district hopes to have both City Council and the school board sign off on a pilot program by September. A spokesperson for Mayor Ted Wheeler said that his staff was still reviewing the recommendations and could not offer immediate feedback. Under the pilot, Garcia said specially trained law enforcement officers at a still-unspecified number of schools would be close by and ready to respond to in-school incidents and be able to communicate directly with principals and campus safety officers. Garcia said the plan is also an attempt to try to repair and rebuild the ruptured relationship between law enforcement students, many of whom participated in protests after the murder of George Floyd. Sgt. Kevin Allen, a spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau, said Chief of Police Chuck Lovell and the agency were open to further discussions about the plan and that the safety of youth is among our top priorities. Staffing remains a concern, so part of that conversation includes how we would divert resources, Allen added. The proposal also includes a plan to standardize the number of unarmed security guards assigned to keep the peace in hallways, bathrooms and cafeterias in the districts high schools and middle schools. Currently, high schools have between two and five campus safety patrols assigned to them, Romay said, while only select middle schools have a full-time safety officer. Under the proposal, the district would spent $1.3 million next year to pay for four campus safety officers at every high school, enough to provide coverage from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Garcia said, given that high school extra-curricular activities often stretch well into the evening. In addition, the proposal calls for placing at least one safety officer at every middle school and hiring two more roving officers to elementary schools. The district has 12 K-8 schools, but those schoolswould not receive a dedicated safety officer under the plan, Romay said. Other proposed investments and changes include: $850,000 for an alert system installed in every classroom, so an educator can immediately alert administrators and safety officers to any emergencies. $150,000 for a movable weapons detector system that could be used to screen for guns at big high school events, including sporting events. Romay said $250,000 to hire community members for up to five hours a day who would be stationed on corners considered high-traffic areas of concern as students make their way to and from school. Garcia said the proposal is based on a similar program in Chicago. $250,000 to expand the districts youth violence prevention team, which works to promote alternatives to criminal behavior, from two staffers to four. $200,000 for an outreach campaign to make sure students are aware of their civil rights and of supports provided by the district, including for substance abuse. A requirement that middle and high school students wear school ID badges at all times while on campus. McDaniel and Cleveland high schools have been piloting this system this year, Romay said. A districtwide plan for how to handle the aftermath of traumatic events. An expanded partnership with Lines 4 Life, a suicide and crisis hotline nonprofit that maintains phone and text lines staffed by teens trained to offer support to their peers. Its possible that the organization would have a footprint inside district high schools, though details are still under discussion, Garcia said. Funding for the various initiatives could come from a variety of sources, Garcia said. Guerreros proposed budget for the upcoming school year already earmarked $500,000 for safety and security upgrades, he said, and theres another $1.5 million in federal pandemic relief dollars that had been set aside for air quality improvements, until the Oregon Health Authority took over those costs, freeing up that funding. Funding for the emergency alert system could becovered by the state, he said, if lawmakers pass HB 3101, which would require the installation of mass notification systems in schools. The district also plans to seek grant funding for some of its initiatives, he said. Students have expressed mixed feelings about the idea of law enforcement officers returning to schools, with some telling The Oregonian/OregonLive theyd feel safer on campus with a police presence, and others saying they areconcerned about disproportionate discipline and impacts on students of color. During months of focus groups, parents, too, had mixed feelings. Eric Chambers, the parent of a seventh grader at Lane Elementary and a fifth grader at Whitman Elementary, both in Southeast Portland, said Friday that he was glad that the districts proposals included an section focused on speeding and streamlining communication with families during lockdowns. His middle schooler sent his wife a series of anguished text messages during one such unexpected lockdown earlier this year, he said, including one that read, If I die, here are my last words: I hope the world is better with me in it than without. As it turned out, there was no harmful intruder inside the building, Chambers said, but the principal and the school districts never responded to his repeated requests for more information about the incident that he had hoped might help set his sons mind at ease. We need to have confidence when we drop off our kids for school that it is a safe environment, Chambers said. Right now, I am not sure that is the case. Julia Silverman, @jrlsilverman, jsilverman@oregonian.com Creatures from the Mesozoic Era have taken up the foyer-lobby at Four Rivers Cultural Center for a months-long exhibit that opens to the public on May 6 in Ontario. Fourteen interactive exhibits featuring life-size metal sculptures of dinosaurs are now installed in the foyer-lobby at Four Rivers Cultural Center. If it were any taller, staff would have had to remove part of the roof for a T-Rex, which is part of the traveling Dinosaurs in Motion exhibition. Members of the nonprofit got a sneak peak at the Dinosaur in Motion Exhibit on May 5. The Argus got to take a look at the exhibit earlier this week as people were busy putting together the metal sculptures. This included two engineers, four members of Christiani Construction, two staff members and their supervisor. Cultural Center staff Neil Moses and Torina Burnett were in their element being able to help with the installation. The two, who are engaged to be married, already are familiar with dinosaurs, as their children love them. In addition, they are fossil enthusiasts, having hunted for them in the past. On April 29 the crew began unpacking the sculptures, and by May 1 Moses said, weve really been kicking butt, on the installations. Already that day they had set up the T-Rex, and were just putting the finishing touches on a diplodocus, which at that point appeared exhausted from its long journey west, as its neck and head were laying on the lobby floor. The first exhibit set up on Saturday was the ankylosaurus, an herbivore with a mace-like club on its tail used to ward off predators. The exhibit comes with a host of information about the dinosaurs, as well as their anatomical movement and how the artist John Payne applied those movements to bring his kinetic sculptures to life. HERE IS OREGON: HereisOregon.com | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | TikTok Michael Grossman, one of two engineers who travels with Georgia-based Imagine Exhibitions, is guiding staff at Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario on how to install the cables on a diplodocus on May 1. The creature is part of the Dinosaurs in Motion exhibit that will be at the center through September 10. Pictured, from left, are Torina Burnett, Grossman and Neil Moses.Leslie Thompson | Argus Observer This ankylosaurus was the first exhibit that was put together, which was estimated to take about an hour altogether. an herbivore with a mace-like club on its tail used to ward off predators. The exhibit comes with a host of information about the dinosaurs, as well as their anatomical movement and how the artist applied those movements to bring his kinetic sculptures to life. The creature is part of the Dinosaurs in Motion exhibit that will be at Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario through Sept. 10.Leslie Thompson | Argus Observer There are 14 exhibits, but 16 dinosaurs altogether, said Burnett, explaining that two of them had twins, including the pachycephalosaurus exhibit. Michael Grossman, one of the engineers that works with Georgia-based Imagine Exhibitions, said he has set up a lot of their exhibitions, but has been working with the dinosaur exhibit for about six and a-half years, setting it up around the country about three times a year and then going back to those respective places to break it down, so it can be shipped out for the next show. What does it take to become an engineer for traveling exhibitions? For Grossman, prior to this he had been a stage hand and roadie, touring around and doing setup for corporations and well-known bands, such as The Ramones. Grossman said he was just in town for the setup and to help get the exhibit up and running, before heading out to set up the next one. Imagine Exhibitions has more than 40 such exhibits that are housed in museums, science centers, zoos, integrated resorts, non-traditional venues and department stores. Some of the larger exhibits Grossman has helped set up include Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, which have about 50 trucks full of components and take about a month to set up. The dinosaurs came to southeast Oregon on three trucks after having just been packed up from a stint in Halifax, which is on the east coast of Canada. Grossman is not sure where the dinosaurs will end up next, but says hes sure to soon find out, as they will soon be making logistics regarding that. Ontarios exhibit is here until Sept. 10. Tickets to the exhibit, which is open seven days a week, can be purchased at dinosinmotion.com, which is also accessible from the Cultural Centers website, 4rcc.com. Tickets are $20 for 18+; $18 for 65+ and veterans; $15 for college students; $10 for ages 3-17; and free for children 2 and younger. In conjunction with the grand opening on May 6 and all things lizards, the Cultural Center hosted the Idaho Reptile Zoo. Families attend the no-cost educational outreach program at two different showings in the Meyer McLean Performing Arts Theater. The zoo is home to more than 300 animals at any given time at its rescue and education center, and provides permanent homes to rescues and rehabilitation animals alike, according to information on the centers website. The Cultural Center is at 676 S.W. Fifth Ave. For more information, phone 541-889-8191 or visit www.4rcc.com. Leslie Thompson If you subscribe to the Discovery Plus streaming service, you may have already seen The Bond, a reality TV series featuring episodes devoted to people and the special connection they have with animals. Now, the series is also coming to Animal Planet, so if youre a cable subscriber, heres your chance to watch. (The Bond is streaming on Discovery Plus. If you dont subscribe to that service, Animal Planet shows stream on services including Philo, Fubo and Hulu) Episodes begin airing on Animal Planet at 9 p.m. ET/PT Saturday, May 6. The four-part series, whose executive producers include Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey, features episodes about humans and their special relationships with such creatures as kangaroos, dolphins, cheetahs and, in an episode featuring an Oregon couple, a charismatic goat named Frankie. In that episode, titled Have Goat Will Travel, Chad and Cate Battles, a couple based in Grants Pass, take a road trip in their Airstream trailer. The couple are accompanied by their goat, Frankie, as they travel to such locations as Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and the southern Oregon coast. The Bond premiered in 2022 on Discovery Plus, and is still available on the streaming service. More of our coverage: Oregon artist talks traveling with a pet goat, and starring in Discovery Plus TV show Kristi Turnquist 503-221-8227; kturnquist@oregonian.com; @Kristiturnquist Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe Rodeo will return to Portlands Expo Center this summer, when the Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo presents a competition that emphasizes supporting Black western athletes and the cultural heritage of Black cowboys and cowgirls. Portland photographer Ivan McClellan created the Eight Seconds project in 2015, showcasing stories of Black rodeo athletes and culture across the United States. His work has been featured at Portland Art Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, Buffalo Bill Center of the West and others. The driver in a crash last year in Beaverton that killed two of his Southridge High School friends, critically injured two others in the car and sent a sheriffs deputy to the hospital apologized Friday as he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. We lost two kings, two real friends, people I shared my dreams with, Xavier Denzel Rodriguez said through tears in Washington County Circuit Court. Rodriguez pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of driving under the influence. Rodriguez, now 19, ran a red light and struck the patrol SUV of Washington County sheriffs Deputy Mike Trotter at 99 mph on April 27, 2022, at Southwest Tualatin Valley Highway and Murray Boulevard. The teen had a .18 blood alcohol level and was drinking a Four Loko, an alcoholic beverage, while driving, according to a statement from the Washington County District Attorneys Office. The impact caused seat belts to snap in Rodriguezs Nissan Altima and sent the patrol car spinning with Trotter behind the wheel. Matthew Amaya, 17, and Juan Pacheco Aguilera, 16, were killed. They were among four passengers in Rodriguezs car. Alma Navarro, Amayas mother, said Rodriguez was a teenager who made a mistake. I hold nothing against him, he was my sons friend, she said in court. Pablo Pacheco, Aguileras father, said he hoped Rodriguez could reflect and ask God for forgiveness while hes in prison. Our son is gone and this is due to the irresponsibility of people who sometimes think nothing of drinking and driving, Pacheco said. We cant change the situation and thats why theres the law. When someone makes a mistake there are consequences. James Thompson and Sky Korbut, both 15, the other passengers in Rodriguezs car, sustained severe injuries. Thompson suffered internal organ damage and broken ribs and Korbut underwent several surgeries for intestinal and spinal injuries. In a statement after the sentencing, Trotter said Rodriguezs sentence was reasonable for the damage he caused. A lot of people ask if me and my family forgive him, Trotter said in an interview. I dont think thats for me and my family to decide. Thats between him and God. His apology was great, but his decision led to the loss of lives. Trotter suffered damage to his sciatic nerve and has lost a lot of function in his left leg, he said. Hes on leave for rehabilitation. Rodriguez apologized to each family member of the students who died and to Trotter. He called the fellow students in the car his only friends. Everyday I cant look at myself anymore, theres no need, he said. " I dont know why God saved me. If I had a choice I would give my life for them. Police arrested Rodriguez a month after the crash when he was released from the hospital. He underwent several surgeries for his injuries and had trouble standing in the courtroom. He was indicted on 12 charges, including manslaughter, but most were dropped as part of his plea agreement. Judge Brandon Thompson told Rodriguez to put the rest of his life to good use. You made a comment that you dont know why you were spared. I dont know how you survived frankly, Thompson said. All I can say is when youre released, you need to figure it out. -- Lisa Moreno; lmoreno@oregonian.com In the 10 years since I met Sarah Essie Mathieson at the Al Forthan Memorial Scholarhip dinner, life in these parts has grown more harrowing for those caught in the whirlpool of addiction and recovery. As The Oregonians Shane Dixon Kavanaugh reported last month, 30 blocks of downtown Portland have metastasized into an open-air fentanyl market, where police generally ignore the carnage and despair until an addict collapses in a doorway. The states decriminalization of street drugs in 2020 was designed to treat drug users rather than incarcerate them, but former Gov. Kate Browns administration couldnt be bothered to do either. And when Secretary of State Shemia Fagan went moonlighting, did she lend her consulting skills to a foster-care agency or mental-health provider? No, she sold out to a cannabis company. The folks at Volunteers of America, desperate to stem drug and alcohol addiction rather than profit off it, are swimming against the tide. Which brings or brought me back to Al Forthan and Essie Mathieson. Forthan was a heroin addict and a major player in the Portland crime scene in the 70s and 80s, the first person arrested by former Police Chief Charles Moose when Moose joined the force. After nine stints in prison, Forthan entered a Volunteers of America treatment program at the Mens Residential Center in 1992. He not only completed the program, but spent the last nine years of his life doing heartfelt and life-changing counseling work at the center. His turnaround and recovery so inspired Greg Stone, program director at the Mens Residential Center, that Stone launched the Al Forthan Scholarship in 2006. Since then, college scholarships totaling $876,000 have been awarded to 543 Oregon high-school grads who grew up in families roiled by addiction. Mathieson received a $4,000 scholarship in 2013, which allowed her to attend East West College of the Healing Arts. A year after the dinner, I chanced upon her at a Baskin-Robbins in West Linn, where she was the store manager and cake decorator. She told me much more about growing up with an alcoholic father and an abusive older brother. You dont forget those stories. Not her description of being locked for an hour, at the age of 5, in a dresser drawer by her older brother: I was small and limber, and easy to shove in things. Nor her experience in a kinesiology class at East West. Whenever the other students needed to better understand the difference between scarred and healthy tissue, they would gently lay their hands on Mathieson. I was always the negative example, Mathieson said. I have a lot of past injuries, broken bones. My brother tackled me into a fireplace. My brother pushed me off a bike. She described all that pain with a preternatural calm, and not a trace of self-pity. Nine months ago, Stone invited me back to the Al Forthan dinner, and suggested I track down one of the students I interviewed ten years ago. You arrange such a reunion with unsettled caution. When I wrote about Mathieson in 2014, the column headline was, The relentless quest for a regular life. Small measures of stability and kindness. A family dinner, now and then. What are the odds for anyone who has grown up in the shadow of anger and addiction? Mathieson and I met on the Oregon Coast, where she works as a massage therapist at Salishan Resort and with private clients. When she had her first massage at 15, shed never had an experience of such nurturing, painstaking care. She offers that now to others, particularly those dealing with cancer, aging or disability. I cant think of a person Ive interacted with on chronic pain who hasnt had a form of childhood trauma, Mathieson says. Because shes pushed through hers, she can lend a hand as they work through theirs. She can offer the safe, nurturing space she never had growing up in Canby. She admits to her own addiction: Im addicted to experience. I cant get enough. Art. Fire dancing. Home remodeling. She was in Kelso, Wash., last week, building a greenhouse, and on her drive home, felt some of that old, familiar anxiety coming for her. It may have been the number of the homeless she passed, reminding her, she says, of how quickly any of us could be there if some of the pegs fall out. Then she added this: I couldnt stop thinking about how lucky I am to be where I am. Its easy to be negative. Its similarly easy to be grateful. A lot of people growing up in a situation like I had would have a lot more problems. I feel lucky. I had an example of what not to do. I saw my dad and my brothers. Maybe its coincidence, the grace she brings to conversations with strangers. Whos to say if that Al Forthan scholarship really made that much of a difference? Maybe Mathieson is just, as Bruce Springsteen would say, tougher than the rest. After another emotional night with Greg Stone and the scholarship winners, Im guessing this: The awards cant predict whos going to make the most of this small spoonful of opportunity. But they provide a rewarding embrace for high-school seniors who cant bank on one when they go home at night. And theyre reason to ponder how a young girl who was routinely manhandled shoved into fireplaces and small drawers can grow into a woman who is thoughtful, grateful, reflective and determined to relieve all the pain and trauma she can reach with her own heart and hands. Al Forthan understood the possibility and the power of such transformation and reconciliation. Given half a chance, and a $4,000 scholarship, Essie Mathieson is carrying on his work. And with your gift to the scholarship fund https://www.voaor.org/support-al-forthan-scholarship/ -- or Volunteers of American Oregon (3910 SE Stark St., Portland, OR 97214), you can join them. -- Steve Duin stephen.b.duin@gmail.com For many people who know Kyle Hedquist, its no surprise that hes doing big things in politics. The affable 46-year-old commands deep knowledge of the criminal justice system, especially the Oregon State Penitentiary, which is a mile from his new workplace at the state Capitol. Hedquist works as a policy associate for the Oregon Justice Resource Center, a nonprofit that provides legal services to people in custody and lobbies lawmakers to make prison more humane and rehabilitative. Hedquist deftly advances that mission in talks with politicians and their staffers. Yet he doesnt fit the mold of the typical advocate roving the Legislatures halls. Last year, Hedquist served the 28th year of a life sentence with no possibility of parole for the murder of Roseburg teenager Nikki Thrasher. Hedquist was 18 at the time of his crime and pleaded guilty. He expressed remorse for his crime in his clemency application and in interviews with The Oregonian/OregonLive. He has been free only since last April, when former Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, commuted his sentence in one of her many acts of clemency. Browns decision was divisive and made without the knowledge of Thrashers family, who opposed his release. A member of Thrashers family declined to comment for this story. Hedquists family and friends gathered at the state penitentiary on the sunny day he walked free with his guitar and a plastic bag of possessions. He settled into the home of a former prison chaplain in South Salem. For a few months, Hedquist continued to work at a call center that employs people in custody. Hedquist had a reputation in prison as a problem solver, lawmakers, advocates and prison volunteers told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Bobbin Singh, executive director of the Justice Resource Center, knew of him through mutual connections and, after an interview, created a position for him at the Capitol. Singh also hired Kyle Black, who mentored other women while in prison, as a policy associate when she was released about six months ago. Black, 58, spent 26 years in prison for the aggravated murder of her grandmother in Portland. She pleaded guilty and expresses horror at her actions. The Oregon parole board approved Blacks release and she walked free in October. Kyle Black, 58, attends a meeting of the Senate Committee on Education at the Oregon State Capitol. Black became a policy associate with the Justice Resource Center after she was released following 26 years in prison for the aggravated murder of her grandmother.Beth Nakamura From the outset of this years legislative session, Hedquist and Black established themselves as fixtures in Hearing Room D. The hushed room houses both of the Legislatures judiciary committees, which consider bills governing Oregon courts and the more than 12,000 people incarcerated in state prisons. There, the pair have regularly testified in support of proposals such as Senate Bill 579, which would reinstate the voting rights of people incarcerated for felonies. They work closely with lawmakers, including Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, who is sponsoring the voting rights bill and other consequential policy changes. And despite some setbacks, several of the key bills they are championing to expand the rights of people in custody have notched notable committee wins. Black and Hedquist seem to go everywhere in the Capitol together. To Rep. Lily Morgan, R-Grants Pass, a member of the House Committee on Judiciary, theyre simply The Kyles. On a recent Wednesday, they even wore the same shade of green by accident. The duo strives to show that lifers those sentenced to life in prison can positively contribute to society when given a second chance. They are clearly committed to making up for what they did every day of their lives, Dembrow told The Oregonian/OregonLive. The two of them have become such a good team, he added. Like Dembrow, many legislators have received the pair with civility and respect. But not all lawmakers are receptive to their philosophies of redemption or their political goals. Some Republican lawmakers continue to criticize Hedquists new freedom and question the quick transition to politics. Hedquist and Black are learning to navigate their fast-paced careers as they adjust from decades each of tough living conditions and constant supervision. Both struggle with leaving their friends in prison behind. WHO IS THAT GUY? Hedquist is tall and clean-shaven, having shed the thick goatee he cultivated at the state penitentiary. Hes gregarious and quick to laugh. Black is thin and sported an array of colorful raincoats this spring. She speaks with a quiet intensity and often quotes Nelson Mandela, Benjamin Franklin and the Bible. Black grew up in Portland. In an application for early release, she said a string of deaths in her family catapulted her into drug addiction and violent alcoholism. She fell into debt and embezzled almost $40,000 from her employer in 1995. Seeking an inheritance, she killed her grandmother, Hazel Clemens, 80, with a hammer. Black was 31 years old. She was convicted of theft and murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Black spent most of that time at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville. When I got to prison, I said I wouldnt ever get high again, Black said in an interview. I wouldnt drink again. And I would find out why I ended up in prison and why I ended up killing my grandma and leaving my daughter. Kyle Colleen Black appears in Multnomah County Circuit Court in an archival photo from 1996.Roger Jensen/The Oregonian According to the application, Black enrolled in a laundry list of substance abuse treatment and self-betterment courses. She took decades of Bible studies and was violation-free for more than 20 years. As others served shorter sentences and walked free, Black became an official mentor for women in custody and new arrivals. Karen Campbell met Black at Coffee Creek in 2005. Campbell spent six years there for causing a driving crash that killed her husband and another person. New to custody and in need of guidance, Campbell sought out Black, who was housed in the same unit, on the recommendation of a prison chaplain. They struck up a friendship. Campbell came to admire Blacks introspection and integrity. For the women of Coffee Creek, Kyle was a rare representation of honor, consistency and kindness, Campbell wrote in support of Blacks release. Hedquist has spent more of his life inside prison than out. He says he grew up in an abusive environment. Sent to live with his grandparents, Hedquist enrolled at Roseburg High School and planned to enlist in the Marines, according to his application for clemency. As he tells it, a group of friends including Thrasher introduced him to the thrill of shoplifting. The heists mushroomed into a series of robberies in the fall of 1994, his senior year. Hedquist says he shot Thrasher to death after she threatened to report him to the police. In a scathing letter to Browns office last year, Douglas County District Attorney Rick Wesenberg said Hedquists version of events is self-gratifying and distorts the record. Hedquist stole from his aunt and hid the bounty in a home where Thrasher was living, Wesenberg said, and Thrasher was completely unaware of the burglary. Hedquist killed her because he was worried she would turn him in, according to the letter. A handful of remnants from Kyle Hedquists time in prison fill the corner of a cork board in his home office in Salem.Beth Nakamura Hedquist entered prison full of shame and regret, he wrote in the anthology Prisons Have a Long Memory. He thought he deserved to be executed and felt lost in the violent environment. Inspired by an older lifer, Hedquist came to view his role as a change-maker, combatting what he calls the isolation and backwardness of Oregon prisons that typically fail to prepare people in custody for successful lives on the outside. Most of the men and women spend their days behind bars walking a track like an eerie scene from The Walking Dead, Hedquist testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee. They wait for the gate to one day be opened. While in prison, he enrolled in college courses and became a primary architect of clubs and University of Oregon prison education programming, program director Shaul Cohen, an associate professor of geography, wrote in testimony. Hedquist trained hospice workers in addition to his regular jobs in upholsteries and infirmaries. Danny Wilson first encountered Hedquist on a blistering day in July 2018 when he and the band Luthers Boots performed Johnny Cashs At Folsom Prison at the state penitentiary. Men in custody at the Oregon State Penitentiary watch Luther's Boots perform Johnny Cash's "At Folsom Prison" on July 30, 2018. (Beth Nakamura/Staff) In an interview, Wilson recalled seeing Hedquist gather men around him and encourage them to be on their best behavior. He seemed to command their respect. Who is that guy? Wilson remembers thinking. Wilson and Tracy Schlapp later partnered with Hedquist and other people in custody to create the Ground Beneath Us writing program, which produced the writing anthology. Hedquist submitted his application for clemency with the assistance of attorney Venetia Mayhew. It was his fourth application. Brown expedited his release so Hedquist could attend an Easter service with his grandmother. The Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision granted Black parole for her murder conviction. Black was slated to serve a consecutive sentence for theft but was released early with the support of the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office last year, according to spokesperson Liz Merah. Her sister, Devon Black, welcomed her release. CONSEQUENTIAL BILLS Before the legislative session, Hedquist and Black found themselves accompanying members of the state House and Senate Judiciary committees on tours of Coffee Creek and the Oregon State Penitentiary. The Justice Resource Center and Dembrow organized the tours in part to generate support for Senate Bill 520, which would create an early release process for terminally ill people in custody. The Senate Committee on Health Care passed the bill in March on a party-line vote. Its pending consideration by the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. The tours focused on prison conditions for Oregons rapidly-aging population of incarcerated people, which is likely the oldest prison population in the country, Willamette Week reported. The groups visited the prison infirmaries and some lawmakers spoke with an inmate in hospice. The idea of dying in prison was just terrifying to them, Dembrow said of the person. Thats why the volunteer hospice workers that Kyle was one of Kyle Hedquist are so important. Rep. Farrah Chaichi, D-Beaverton, was disturbed by the many walkers and wheelchairs she saw outside of cells. It was really disappointing and depressing to see, she said. Chaichi said the tour made a strong case for an early release process for terminally ill inmates. She added that it was powerful to see Hedquist reunite with his former colleagues in the infirmary. From left: Randy Shaw, Kyle Hedquist, Gunner Johnson and U.S. Judge Ann Aiken. All testified to the Senate Committee on Education on March 28. In March, Hedquist and Black scheduled meetings with Democrats ahead of a key Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Senate Bill 579, which would reenfranchise people incarcerated for felonies. Democrats advanced the bill March 9 in another party-line vote. Republicans issued a statement that the extreme bill would allow murderers and rapists to vote. Hedquist and Black, who both registered to vote after their releases, fervently support the proposal, which is a priority for the Oregon Justice Resource Center. On March 14, the duo met with Rep. Courtney Neron, D-Wilsonville, and other advocates in her office, where they described the process for voter registration in prisons and explained technical aspects of the bill. Two weeks later, Hedquist coordinated a private meeting between Rep. Court Boice, R-Gold Beach, and three Oregonians two formerly incarcerated men and U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken who crafted Senate Bill 1082. The bill would require Oregon prisons to connect people in custody with higher education opportunities and provide on-campus supports for new releases. Boice was receptive. Everyone deserves a second chance, he said after the meeting. Hedquist and other formerly incarcerated people testified to the Senate Committee on Education later that day. The committee passed the proposal with bipartisan support April 4. Its pending in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. Black and Hedquist have also had to stomach the losses of some beloved bills. Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, introduced a proposal in March forbidding correctional officers from placing inmates in solitary confinement for more than 14 consecutive days, in alignment with the United Nations non-binding Nelson Mandela rules. The limits would have gone into effect in 2027. Marsh has since watered down the proposal to require the Department of Corrections to publish a public dashboard with data about the use of solitary confinement. The House passed the bill April 14. In an interview, Marsh cited resistance from the agency for the change. The Department of Corrections was officially neutral on the bill. Rob Persson, the agencys assistant director of operations, testified that correctional officers have relied less on isolation as a disciplinary and public safety measure in recent years. In January, the agency slashed its rule for the maximum stay in solitary confinement from 180 to 90 days. Thats not enough for Black, who received approval in prison to visit women in solitary confinement every week for more than a decade. In a raw testimony to the House Committee on Judiciary, Black graphically described witnessing the deterioration of women as they spent months and years in solitary confinement. She implored lawmakers to take swift action, to no avail. Other formerly incarcerated people testified in support of the bill, including Anthony Pickens, who tuned in remotely. Pickens, another policy associate at the Oregon Justice Resource Center, was incarcerated for 24 years for the murder of 20-year-old Chad Render in 1997. Pickens was 15 at the time. Brown commuted his sentence in 2021. Marsh said their testimony was tremendously effective. To understand what the mental impact is of being isolated, you really need to hear from the people who have experienced it, Marsh said. MIXED REACTION Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp sits at the state Capitol on Jan. 9. (Beth Nakamura/Staff)The Oregonian Sen. Tim Knopp of Bend, the top Republican in the state Senate, was a leading critic of Hedquists release last year. He keeps on his desk a large stack of paperwork associated with Browns unprecedented use of clemency powers. From time to time, Knopp pulls a document from the stack and reads it publicly on the Senate floor as an act of protest. Brown commuted 104 sentences during her tenure and granted 130 pardons. She also allowed an estimated 73 juvenile offenders convicted in adult court to pursue parole after serving 15 years. Some victims families and their advocates were outraged that Browns office did not consult with them. Knopp remains angered by Hedquists release. Kyle Hedquist may be reformed, but he should still be in prison for the crime he committed against the teen that he executed, Knopp told The Oregonian/OregonLive. And just because youve changed your life doesnt mean that you should be let free or that absolves you of the consequence of killing another human being. Morgan, a Republican member of the House Committee on Judiciary, has regular contact with Black and Hedquist. She even ran into Hedquist at a Salem movie theater. A former parole officer in Josephine County, Morgan empathizes with crime victims. She expressed concern in an interview that Black and Hedquist are helping drive criminal justice reform policies so soon after their releases. But she said theyve exhibited growth. Its hard to see that they havent shown that in some other avenue in life before coming back and advocating, Morgan said. Aliza Kaplan, a law professor and director of the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic at the Lewis & Clark Law School, helped shape Browns views on clemency and established a pipeline of appeals to the former governors office. Kaplan is inspired in general by lifers, whom she said are often well-prepared to contribute to society because of their many years of self-improvement behind bars. That does not take away harm that they caused. But it shows how important it is that we believe in giving people second chances, Kaplan said. Hedquist sometimes struggles with the likelihood that other lifers wont have the same opportunity to apply themselves beyond prison walls. He said it was difficult to tour the state penitentiary and leave them behind. Im having a harder and harder time reconciling this whole mass incarceration, life incarceration model that we have found ourselves in, Hedquist said. In early April, 702 people in Oregon Department of Corrections custody were serving life sentences with the possibility of parole and 232 without parole, according to the agency. Kyle Hedquist and Kate Strathee pose for a photo in their Salem home on April 12.Beth Nakamura When hes not working, Hedquist spends time with his family and his dogs. He is newly married. He discovered a love for swimming when his ankle monitor was removed in the fall and he realized that he hadnt submerged himself in water in 28 years. Black carefully navigates her new life and is searching for a new faith community to join. She keeps busy and works four days a week as a hairdresser. When she was released, one of the first things Black did was apply to keep mentoring women in Coffee Creek this time, through glass in the visitation room. She says the application is pending. -Grant Stringer; gstringer@oregonian.com A top Oregon watchdog issued a forceful defense of an audit examining the states marijuana regulations Friday amid continued fallout from departing Secretary of State Shemia Fagans ties to an embattled cannabis company. Fagan resigned this week after it came to light that she accepted a lucrative consulting contract in February from an affiliate of marijuana chain La Mota. Records show she sought input from Rosa Cazares, La Motas co-owner, on the planned audit in 2021 before agreeing to moonlight for the company this year. Portland police officers used so much tear gas on protesters on June 2, 2020, that local activists referred to the night as tear gas Tuesday. But it wasnt known how much of the dangerous chemical officers deployed. An answer arrived last month with a study by Forensic Architecture, a London-based research group, that used video footage and public records to estimate where and how much tear gas Portland police used to disperse people in under three hours in downtown Portland on that summer night in 2020. The Guardian first reported on the study. Rogue Creamerys Bluehorn Blue was named one of the top 96 cheeses in the world at the 2022 World Cheese Awards held last November in Newport, Wales. How do you improve on a Super Gold medal winner? Just add Oregon wine. Rogue Creamery in Central Point is no stranger to winning major international cheese awards. Its organic Rogue River Blue was crowned World Champion at the 2019/2020 World Cheese Awards. It was the first time an American-made cheese had earned the coveted title. Will the Bluehorn Blue bring the best world cheese title back to Oregon one day? It just might with some help from Troon Vineyard in Grants Pass. Rogue Creamery started making its Bluehorn Blue in small quantities in 2017. According to Rogue Creamerys Marguerite Merritt, who holds the best job title ever of Cheese Emissary, the company spent the past year and a half researching the techniques needed to make the Bluehorn really spectacular. The Bluehorn Blue that earned the Super Gold Medal last year was cave-aged for six months and soaked in an organic red wine made in California. Merritt described the winning cheese in a November press release as having distinctive berry notes, a sweet-and-savory brown butter finish and subtle rose blush coloring on the rind. Rogue Creamery determined the sweet spot for the new limited edition Bluehorn Blue they released this month is still six months of cave aging, but with a soak in Troon Vineyards Block 14 syrah instead of the California wine. We determined there was a huge opportunity to use a better quality wine that was sourced locally and made in a truly sustainable environmentally responsible manner, Merritt said. Merritt said she appreciated that not only was Troon Vineyard farmed organically, which Rogue Creamery needs to make their organic cheese, but they take it a step further by being Biodynamic and now a regenerative certified farm. We know they are best in class when it comes to the treatment of their land, their sustainable techniques and the quality of their wines. On their website, Troon Vineyard describes Regenerative Organic Certified as a revolutionary new certification that champions farmers who go above and beyond in the three pillars of this certification: soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness. Troon is one of the first two wineries in the world to earn this certification. Troon Vineyard also supplies Rogue Creamery with the syrah grape leaves used to wrap their renowned Rogue River Blue. This springs limited release of the new and improved Bluehorn Blue is limited to approximately 1,000 wheels. We wanted to see how the market reacts to the price, which has increased because of the quality of the wine and the extended aging process, Merritt said. This batch of Bluehorn Blue is currently available on Rogue Creamerys website for $25 for a 6.5-ounce wedge and $200 for a five-pound wheel. The Bluehorn Blue is on its way to distributors this week, so Merritt expects it to be available in cheese shops nationwide within the next month or so. Describing the response to the Bluehorn Blue so far as extremely positive, Merritt hopes Rogue Creamery will be able to produce another limited run of the Bluehorn Blue this winter. Merritt said Rogue Creamery also planned to double, if not triple, production for next springs release. Releasing the Bluehorn in May feels right, given it is Oregon Wine Month. We wanted to highlight our regional/local partnership with Troon, Merritt said. And if this new Oregon wine recipe propels the Bluehorn Blue to greater heights? That would be just fine with Craig Camp, the general manager at Troon Vineyard. Wed love to believe that the passion and intentionality we put into our wines will give them an edge in attaining another world title. Its our honor to contribute even a small part to their cheesemaking artistry. Troon and Rogue Creamery share the vision to craft world-class agricultural products in Southern Oregon. It is a natural partnership, Camp said. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, 311 N. Front St., Central Point, roguecreamery.com or 541-200-2353. -- Michael Alberty writes about wine for The Oregonian/OregonLive and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. He can be reached at malberty0@gmail.com. To read more of his coverage, go to oregonlive.com/wine By Magali Beuchat, KYODO NEWS - May 6, 2023 - 07:20 | All, World, Coronavirus The World Health Organization declared on Friday that the COVID-19 pandemic no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, citing a decline of deaths and cases involving serious symptoms. While lifting the emergency for the first time in more than three years, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus asked people to remain cautious about the novel coronavirus, stressing it still represents a global health threat. A key advisory panel had recommended to him on Thursday that the U.N. body announce an end to the public health emergency of international concern, Tedros told a press conference. "I have accepted that advice," he said. "It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency." At the same time, he warned governments not to get complacent, urging every affected country not to "dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that COVID-19 is nothing to worry about." "This virus is here to stay. It is still killing, and it's still changing," Tedros said, adding that new variants could emerge and cause new surges in cases and deaths. He noted that the novel coronavirus has caused almost 7 million recorded deaths worldwide over the three years of the pandemic, with the real toll likely to be far higher as "at least 20 million" people are thought to have died from the disease. The WHO declared the emergency on Jan. 30, 2020. Tedros recently said that the number of deaths reported over the past 10 weeks had fallen to the lowest level since March 2020. According to data provided by the WHO to the advisory panel, there have been declines in deaths, hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions related to COVID-19. Didier Houssin, chair of the advisory panel, said that while the emergency status has been a tool to "generate mobilization and reaction," it should not be overused. Houssin said efforts should now be put into better managing COVID-19-related risks, as well as integrating them into the broader framework of pandemic preparedness and response. The panel of health experts, which gathers every three months to advise the WHO head, held on Thursday its 15th meeting since the emergency was declared. As advised by the panel, Tedros further decided to establish a review committee to develop long-term and nonbinding recommendations for countries on how to manage COVID-19 on an ongoing basis. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's COVID-19 technical lead, said the transition will take some time "because there isn't this automatic switch between everything on and everything off." The WHO released a two-year strategic preparedness and response plan earlier this week to guide countries in their efforts to get out of the pandemic, she said. Among the remaining challenges are uncertainty about the evolution of the novel coronavirus, difficulties in monitoring and detecting new variants due to a decline in surveillance and genetic sequencing, and inequalities in access to vaccines, WHO health experts told Friday's press conference. In December, before the situation worsened due to an explosion of cases in China, Tedros told reporters in Geneva he was "hopeful" that "at some point" in 2023, COVID-19 would not be a global health emergency anymore. The emergency designation is the WHO's highest level of alert associated with a disease outbreak, but each country is responsible for taking appropriate steps to manage a health crisis. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate LONDON (AP) King Charles III was crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony steeped in ancient ritual and brimming with bling at a time when the monarchy is striving to remain relevant in a fractured modern Britain. At a coronation with displays of royal power straight out of the Middle Ages, Charles was given an orb, a sword and scepter and had the solid gold, bejeweled St. Edwards Crown placed atop his head as he sat upon a 700-year-old oak chair. In front of world leaders, foreign royals, dignitaries and a smattering of stars, the monarch declared, I come not to be served but to serve, and was presented as Britains undoubted king." Inside the medieval abbey, trumpets sounded, and the congregation of more than 2,000 shouted God save the king!" Outside, thousands of troops, hundreds of thousands of spectators and scores of protesters converged. It was the culmination of a seven-decade journey for the king from heir to monarch. To the royal family and government, the occasion code-named Operation Golden Orb was a display of heritage, tradition and spectacle unmatched around the world. To the crowds gathered under rainy skies thousands of whom had camped overnight it was a chance to be part of a historic event. Julie Newman, a 77-year-old visitor from Canada, said the royal procession had been "absolutely fabulous. Couldnt ask for anything better. But were ready to go back home and watch it all on the television," she added. But to millions more, the day was greeted with a shrug, the awe and reverence the ceremony was designed to evoke largely gone. And to a few, it was reason to protest. Hundreds who want to see Britain become a republic gathered to holler Not my king. They see the monarchy as an institution that stands for privilege and inequality, in a country of deepening poverty and fraying social ties. A handful were arrested. As the day began, the abbey buzzed with excitement and was abloom with fragrant flowers and colorful hats. Notables streamed in: U.S. first lady Jill Biden, first lady Olena Zelenska of Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron, eight current and former British prime ministers, judges in wigs, soldiers with gleaming medals, and celebrities including Judi Dench, Emma Thompson and Lionel Richie. During the traditional Anglican service slightly tweaked for modern times, Charles, clad in crimson and cream velvet and ermine-trimmed robes, swore on a Bible that he is a true Protestant. But a preface was added to the coronation oath to say the Anglican church will seek to foster an environment where people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely." It was the first ceremony to include representatives of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh faiths, as well as the first in which female clergy took part. Charles was anointed with oil from the Mount of Olives in the Holy Land a part of the ceremony so sacred it was concealed behind screens before being presented with the Sovereign's Orb and other regalia. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby then placed the crown on Charles' head, while he sat in the Coronation Chair once gilded, now worn and etched with graffiti. Underneath the seat was a sacred slab known as the Stone of Scone, on which ancient Scottish kings were crowned. For 1,000 years and more, such grandiose ceremonies have confirmed the right of British kings to rule. Charles was the 40th sovereign to be enthroned in the abbey and, at 74, the oldest. These days, the king no longer has executive or political power, and the service is purely ceremonial since Charles automatically became king upon death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September. The king does remain the U.K.s head of state and a symbol of national identity and Charles will have to work to bring together a multicultural nation and shore up support for the monarchy at at time when it is waning, especially among younger people. While most Britons view the monarchy on a spectrum ranging from apathy to mild interest, some are fervently opposed to it. The anti-monarchy group Republic said several of its members, including its chief executive, were arrested as they arrived at a protest in central London. Police, who'd warned they would have a low tolerance for people seeking to disrupt the day, said they made 52 arrests. Human Rights Watch said arrests of peaceful protesters were something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London. The multimillion-pound cost of the all the pomp the exact figure unknown also rankled some amid a cost-of-living crisis that has meant many Britons are struggling to pay energy bills and buy food. Charles has sought to lead a smaller, less expensive royal machine for the 21st century, and his was a shorter, smaller affair than his mother's coronation. The notoriously feuding royal family put on its own show of unity. Prince William, who is next in line to be king, his wife, Kate, and their three children were all in attendance. Towards the end of the ceremony, William knelt before his father and pledged loyalty to the king before kissing him on the cheek. Then Archbishop Welby invited everyone in the abbey to swear true allegiance to the monarch. He said people watching on television could pay homage, too though that part of the ceremony was toned down after some criticized it as a tone-deaf effort to demand a public oath of allegiance for Charles. Williams younger brother Prince Harry, who has publicly sparred with the family, arrived alone. His wife Meghan and their children remained at home in California, where the couple has lived since quitting as working royals in 2020. As Charles and the key royals joined a magnificent military procession after the ceremony, Harry stood waiting outside the abbey until a car arrived to drive him away. Large crowds cheered as Charles and Queen Camilla, who was also crowned, rode in the Gold State Carriage from the abbey to Buckingham Palace, accompanied by a procession of 4,000 troops and military bands playing jaunty tunes. From the palace balcony, the king and queen waved to a sea of people who cheered and shouted God Save the king!" For many other Britons, the day's events drew mild curiosity, at best. Cherie Duffy, who was visiting London from Anglesey, Wales, on a trip planned before the coronation date was set, watched the ceremony on TV but only because someone else turned it on. Theres a general not-botheredness, she said about how she and her friends felt. ___ Associated Press writers Sylvia Hui and Brian Melley contributed to this report. ___ Follow APs coverage of King Charles III at https://apnews.com/hub/king-charles-iii This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) Paraguayan police on Friday detained Paraguayo Cubas, a far-right populist who came in third in Sundays presidential election and encouraged his supporters to protest over his unsubstantiated claims that the vote was marred by fraud. Cubas was being held in preventive detention under an order by the Attorney Generals Office that is accusing him of breach of the peace, Police Commissioner Gilberto Fleitas said in a radio interview. Cubas, the candidate of the National Crusade Party who received 23% of the votes Sunday, was broadcasting live on Facebook when officers detained him outside his hotel in San Lorenzo, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Asuncion. Fleitas said Cubas got into a police vehicle without any difficulty," but he continued streaming live. In his broadcast from inside the police vehicle, Cubas chatted with officers and focused the camera on his handcuffs. You can see now Im being imprisoned, he said. All the criminals in this country should be handcuffed like Paraguayo Cubas. Cubas had been telling supporters since Monday that he was heading to the capital to lead a series of protests that had led to isolated clashes with police, largely outside the electoral court in Asuncion. We will remain on the streets until Paraguayo Cubas is released, said Juan Reyes, one of hundreds of Cubas supporters who took part in demonstrations outside the electoral court. At least 208 people have been detained for disturbance of public peace and other punishable offenses within the framework of the demonstrations taking place in the national territory, police said Thursday. Efrain Alegre, who as the candidate of a broad-based opposition coalition came in second place during Sundays election, demanded Cubas be released along with everyone who has been detained in protests this week. We demand the release of Paraguayo Cubas and all citizens imprisoned for demanding transparency," Alegre wrote on social media. Alegre, who received 27% of the vote Sunday, conceded the race shortly after polls closed, but then on Monday called for a manual count of votes and an international audit of the countrys electronic voting system after Cubas aired his fraud allegations. The Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission for the election, said Tuesday there was no reason to doubt the results of the vote count. Santiago Pena of the long-ruling Colorado Party easily won Sundays presidential election with 43% of the vote. Over the past few days, Cubas has published images of supporters welcoming him in different parts of the country as he made his way toward the capital from Ciudad del Este, a city on the border with Brazil and Argentina. Some 1,500 to 1,800 law enforcement officers were deployed outside the electoral court Friday for the protest staged by Cubas supporters. Authorities also prepared for any demonstration outside the police station where Cubas was taken. ___ Associated Press photo journalist Jorge Saenz in Asuncion contributed to this report. By Toyohiro Horikoshi, KYODO NEWS - May 6, 2023 - 09:56 | All, World Over the nearly eight decades since the end of World War II, some people in the United States well-versed in the political, economic and social realities of Japan have been involved in efforts to forge closer bilateral relations. The roles of such Americans, known as "Japan hands," can shift depending on the circumstances surrounding the Tokyo-Washington alliance at any given time, with the primary factor in recent years being an increasingly assertive China. "We don't need a figure like Edwin Reischauer today," said Christopher Johnstone, the Japan Chair of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a leading think tank in Washington. Reischauer, regarded as one of the most powerful officials in the "Japan hand" category, served as ambassador to Japan from 1961 to 1966 after a stint as professor of East Asian studies at Harvard University. A native of Japan who married a Japanese woman, Reischauer had deep personal connections in both countries. The decades following Tokyo's surrender in the war were tumultuous for Japan-U.S. relations due to thorny issues such as the revision of the 1960 bilateral security treaty, trade frictions and the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japan. Reischauer and other so-called Japan hands contributed to reducing the impacts on postwar relations. With such issues resolved, the challenges now facing the two governments are more global in nature, including how to broaden and strengthen democracy around the world and how to combat climate change. "(The) U.S.-Japan relationship has really matured and become a normal, healthy and broad-based relationship among two major economies," said Johnstone, who was previously in charge of Japan policy at the National Security Council and the Pentagon, referring to the substantial shift in the bilateral ties. Kent Calder, director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, another think tank in Washington, has a different perception. Although times have changed, Calder noted that dignity and a deep understanding of different cultures are still required. "The role Reischauer contributed, like in mediating across cultures, is still relevant," he said. Reischauer was handpicked as the top U.S. envoy after his thesis analyzing turmoil in Japan over the security treaty drew attention from President John F. Kennedy. His insights into the anti-war sentiment behind the opposition to the treaty as well as the conservative leanings among the silent majority in postwar Japan do not seem obsolete even today. The term "Japan hand," however, is not always welcome as a way to describe the role. Calling the phrase "uncomfortable," a Japanese diplomat said it sounds "as if the United States is manipulating Japan." Dozens of researchers and others called Japan hands are believed to work at U.S. think tanks. "It's like a small club," said James Schoff, an expert on U.S.-Japan relations at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA. Current relations between the two countries cannot be discussed without mentioning the triangular relationship involving China. The trade war with China under the administration of former President Donald Trump reminded us of earlier trade friction between Japan and the United States, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s. But according to James Przystup, another expert on U.S.-Japan relations, "There is a big difference." "In terms of the U.S. and Japan, there was a commitment to solve the problems. In China, that is not necessarily the case," said Przystup, senior fellow of the Hudson Institute's Japan Chair who was involved in bilateral relations under President Ronald Reagan. He also emphasized that, unlike China, Tokyo shares values such as democracy and human rights with the United States. Given the apparent ease and stability of the U.S.-Japan bond, could the United States shift its emphasis to creating closer ties with China at the expense of its alliance with Tokyo? Calder downplayed the view, saying, "China is the primary geopolitical competitor of the United States and I imagine this will continue. So just from a global geopolitics point of view, it seems to me very unlikely." (Toyohiro Horikoshi is chief of Kyodo News Washington bureau) Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on Friday urged States to keep borders open to people fleeing military infighting across Sudan and suspend "negative asylum decisions" for Sudanese nationals outside the country, who cannot return because of the conflict KYODO NEWS - May 6, 2023 - 21:21 | All, Japan The central Japan prefecture of Ishikawa on Saturday remained on high alert for aftershocks and heavy rain after a powerful earthquake hit the region the previous day, leaving at least one person dead and around 35 injured. As rain fell and smaller tremblors continued to shake the prefecture following the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit Suzu on the tip of the Noto Peninsula Friday afternoon, the municipality issued evacuation orders for over 1,600 residents from roughly 740 households in the city and warned of landslides. Six buildings collapsed, and more than 120 households experienced water outages. Landslides and road depressions were confirmed in Suzu following the quake, and an M5.9 aftershock hours later. More than 50 aftershocks had occurred in the area as of 4 p.m. following the initial quake. The Japan Meteorological Agency has warned that strong aftershocks of similar intensity could occur for around a week. Heavy rainfall is forecast for the prefecture over the weekend, which could raise the risk of landslides in areas where the quakes have loosened the ground. The weather agency said the prefecture could see rainfall of up to 30 millimeters per hour through early Sunday. A 65-year-old man in Suzu died Friday after falling from a ladder. The quake occurred during Japan's Golden Week holidays when many people travel for leisure or to visit family. Nobuko Kameda, an 89-year-old resident of Suzu, said she spent the night in the car of her son, who was visiting from Fukui, as she felt she could not stay in her home after the quake and the major aftershock. "I felt temblors this morning too, and I was scared even inside the car," she said. Akio Okuno, a bus driver in his 60s, looked at his home where a refrigerator and a chest had been crushed, saying, "It looks like we're going to get heavy rain, and I'm worried about leaks." The Suzu government set up evacuation centers in the city, while Ishikawa Gov. Hiroshi Hase said he would request the central government to help secure housing for those affected by the quake. Suzu Mayor Masuhiro Izumiya suggested that the city did not require the help of the Self-Defense Forces at this stage. Related coverage: M6.5 quake rocks central Japan amid Golden Week holidays, 1 dies Photo: (Photo : Cindy Ord / Getty Images) The couple cited the anti-transgender laws in Florida as the reason for their relocation. Wade, who played for the Miami Heat, said that while he loves the city and its people, the laws and politics of the state have become a big concern, particularly for his daughter and the trans community. Wade expressed his deep affection for the city but stated that he could not relocate there for the well-being of his family. Despite his emotional connection to the place, he prioritized his family's safety and decided not to return. Florida's Anti-Transgender Laws Florida has been enacting a series of anti-transgender laws that have been criticized by human rights groups and activists. According to the Associated Press, the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, achieved further victories in his efforts to target the LGBTQ+ community. A state board authorized an extension of what has been dubbed the "Don't Say Gay'' laws, which critics have condemned. The House also passed legislation regarding gender-transition treatments and the exclusion of children from drag shows. Furthermore, Florida passed bills that prohibit diversity programs in colleges and prevent students and educators from being required to use pronouns that do not match their biological sex. The Board of Education approved a ban on teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades 4-12, except when mandated by current state standards or as part of voluntary reproductive health education. Furthermore, as per CNN, a bill was passed by the state House that forbids transgender individuals from utilizing government restrooms or changing rooms that correspond with their gender identity. This includes locations such as state universities, prisons, and public schools. Wade and Union's Move to California The couple revealed their decision to relocate to California in an interview with Variety at the 2023 Met Gala. According to TODAY, Wade said that the safety and well-being of their daughter were their top priorities, and they decided to move to California, where they believed Zaya would be in a more supportive and welcoming community. Wade also emphasized that their move was not only for their family's safety but also to raise awareness of the issues facing the trans community. Wade emphasized that their efforts were not solely for their own benefit. They were also acting on behalf of those who lack the means and opportunity to speak out, stating, "We're doing this for the people that don't have the voice and the platform that we have." The couple has been vocal supporters of their daughter's journey and the LGBTQ+ community. Wade wrote a book called "Dwyane Wade: My Life Off the Court," in which he talks about Zaya's coming out and their journey as a family. Union, on the other hand, has been actively advocating for trans rights and speaking out against discrimination. Read Also: Karlie Kloss, Serena Williams Steal The Show at Met Gala 2023 With Pregnancy Reveals! Support for Wade and Union's Decision Wade also mentioned that he relocated from the city to assist his wife's career in Los Angeles. He is the father of two sons, Zaire (21) and Xavier (9), and shares a 4-year-old daughter, Kaavia, with his wife, Union. The couple's move to California has received extensive support from various groups, including celebrities, the LGBTQ+ community, and human rights activists. Equality Florida, a human rights organization, released a statement commending the couple's decision. In 2020, Wade's child, Zaya, publicly came out as transgender. Following a legal dispute between Wade and Zaya's mother, Siohvaughn Funches, the 15-year-old model was granted a legal name and gender change in February. Wade and Union's decision to relocate to California for their daughter's safety highlights the need for better protections for the trans community and the devastating consequences of anti-trans laws and policies. It also serves as a reminder that every individual, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation, deserves to live in a safe and supportive community. Related Articles: Kindergartner's Death Prompts Detroit Officials To Investigate Unidentified Illnesses at Marcus Garvey Academy Photo: (Photo : Brandon Bell /Getty Images) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into the Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin over its gender-affirming care for minors. Paxton has not provided any details on the nature of the alleged potentially illegal activity that he is seeking evidence for, but the investigation follows his previous attempts to designate gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse. Texas is one of several Republican-led states seeking to restrict or ban gender-affirming care for minors, with a bill currently being debated in the state's legislature. The investigation by Paxton is part of a wider effort to clamp down on the medical care and rights of transgender people in the state. Hospital Investigation and Project Veritas Report The Texas Attorney General's office investigation seeks information from Dell Children's Hospital about its policies on puberty blockers and documents identifying patients referred for treatment or counseling, as reported by NBC. The office of the attorney general has made a request to inspect hospital records in order to verify whether any state regulations have been breached or if any false information has been given to patients and their guardians. The investigation by Paxton comes after a report by the right-wing group Project Veritas alleged improper medical practices at the hospital and several others around the country. The report, which bills itself as a news organization, has been criticized for its lack of journalistic integrity and its use of deceptive tactics. However, Project Veritas has a video recording of an alleged Dell Children's employee saying patients there start transitioning at 8 and 9 years old. Dell Children's Medical Center and Gender-Affirming Care Dell Children's Medical Center operates the hospital under the non-profit Catholic health system Ascension and is affiliated with the University of Texas. The medical group has stated that it prohibits surgery and prescribes hormone therapy for the treatment of gender dysphoria in children. According to the Austin American-Statesman, a statement from a hospital representative, Ann Howser, said that the Dell Children's Medical Center would review any allegations of care that may have been inconsistent with those positions. According to the spokesperson, the center regards any accusations about the care offered in their clinics with the utmost seriousness. Their organization forbids performing surgery and recommends hormone therapy for the management of gender dysphoria in minors. Even though their pediatric and adolescent medicine clinics do not offer these forms of treatment, they provide a secure and hospitable environment where children can obtain other types of primary care and treatment, such as medical attention for illnesses, routine check-ups, and injuries. The center also stated that it is carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of this matter. While declining to provide further details on the investigation, Howser emphasized the hospital's commitment to delivering excellent care. It also said it would take appropriate action if any care was found to be inconsistent with hospital policy. Read Also: Safety in Private Spaces Act: Florida Passes Bathroom Bill Targeting Transgender People The Importance of Gender-Affirming Care for Minors According to the Associated Press, at present, Texas law does not prohibit minors from receiving gender-affirming care, however, Attorney General Paxton is attempting to categorize it as a form of child abuse. A minimum of 16 states have implemented legislation that limits or prohibits minors from obtaining gender-affirming healthcare. The investigation by Paxton and the attempts to restrict or ban gender-affirming care for minors in Texas and other states highlight the ongoing debate over the medical care and rights of transgender people. Studies have demonstrated that gender-affirming treatment, which may involve hormone therapy and surgical procedures, can be a valuable and efficient approach to treating gender dysphoria. This condition arises when an individual experiences anguish or discomfort due to a discrepancy between their gender identity and the sex they were assigned at birth. Transgender youth are at a heightened risk of mental health issues and suicide, and access to gender-affirming care can help reduce these risks. Restricting or banning this care can have serious consequences for the health and well-being of transgender minors. Related Article: Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union Relocate to California for Daughter's Safety Due to Florida's Transgender Laws In February, a rumor from Twitter-based leaker ShrimpApplePro claimed that USB-C with MFI. The fear of this has been that Apple could use the MFi program to limit features like fast charging and high-speed data transfer to Apple and MFi-certified cables. This week the EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote in a letter available to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (German Press Agency dpa) that they've already warned Apple against making such a move as to limiting some function. Restrictions in the interaction with chargers are not permitted More specifically, the report by Zeit Online reported that Breton told Apple in a meeting back in March that "Devices that do not meet the requirements for the common charger will not be allowed on the EU market." The Commission reminded Apple of this at a meeting in mid-March. By the third quarter of this year, the Brussels authority intends to publish a guide to ensure a "uniform interpretation of the legislation". The Chairwoman of the Internal Market Committee of the EU Parliament, the Green politician Anna Cavazzini, accused Apple of wanting to evade EU rules. In February, a rumor from Twitter-based leaker ShrimpApplePro claimed that USB-C with MFI. The fear of this has been that Apple could use the MFi program to limit features like fast charging and high-speed data transfer to Apple and MFi-certified cables. This week the EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote in a letter available to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (German Press Agency dpa) that they've already warned Apple against making such a move as to limiting some function. Restrictions in the interaction with chargers are not permitted More specifically, the report by Zeit Online reported that Breton told Apple in a meeting back in March that "Devices that do not meet the requirements for the common charger will not be allowed on the EU market." The Commission reminded Apple of this at a meeting in mid-March. By the third quarter of this year, the Brussels authority intends to publish a guide to ensure a "uniform interpretation of the legislation". The Chairwoman of the Internal Market Committee of the EU Parliament, the Green politician Anna Cavazzini, accused Apple of wanting to evade EU rules. Whether the Apple rumor was to ever come to be is unknown at this time. Yet what is known is that the EU Commissioner wanted to sound tough in the press by warning big bad Apple from California not to thwart his authority and rule in Europe! Vivre France! and all that jazz. Yes, I'm sure that Apple's executives choked on their morning coffee in humor this week when reading about Breton's exagerated bravado. Influential Chief of Agric Nzemaa, Nana Nkansah Boadu Ayeboafo, is among the high-powered delegation of traditional authorities that accompanied the King of the Asante Kingdom, to London for the official coronation ceremony of King Charles III. The Royal Asante King is among a few dignitaries invited by the Royal Family to attend the historic occasion slated for Saturday, May 6, 2023. Nana Nkansah Boadu Ayeboafo, a member of the National Council of the ruling New Patriotic Party and Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Disciplinary Committee, accompanied him on his visit. The entourage will also attend the King's official reception for overseas guests expected to be held today, Friday. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has begun engaging key stakeholders of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to inform them about his intention to run for the presidency, DGN Online can report. He has informed the Majority Caucus in Parliament of his decision to contest the governing partys presidential primaries when nominations are opened later part of May. Dr. Bawumia reportedly made his intention known in a private engagement of a heavily attended Majority Caucus of Parliament meeting held in the evening of Tuesday, May 2, 2023. The Vice Presidents believes that with the current achievement of the party, when members are united and persevered they can break the 8-year cycle of the countrys political cycle with him. He has gone ahead to carve message which reads Unity and perseverance. Together we can succeed. It is possible. Already, over 100 Members of Parliament (MPs) have declared their support for Dr. Bawumia who had been heavily tipped to win the NPP presidential primaries for the 2024 general election. According to him, he is ready to work with all MPs to win majority seats in Parliament and top it up with the presidency. Accompanied by his spokesperson, Dr Gideon Boako, with Nana Akomea, former Communications Director of the party also at the meeting, the Vice President delivered his message after which he took questions from the MPs who appeared satisfied. The MPs believe the second gentleman of the land is the one who can help the governing party achieve its objective of breaking the 8. On Tuesday 4 April 2023, Dr. Bawumia gave the strongest indication yet that he will be contesting the flagbearership race in his bid to lead the NPP for 2024 general elections. In a post he made on Facebook page, Vice President drew a link between what seems to be his presidential ambition with a Biblical verse, Matthew 19:26. Dr Bawumia posted a picture which had the Ghana flag at the left and the NPPs flag at the right with the inscription It Is Possible at the top of the two flags. This attracted several comments and shares on the social media platform with most people asking him to officially declare his intention. NPP has set November 4, 2023, as the date for its presidential primaries to select a flagbearer for the general election in 2024. However, if more than five candidates file to run in the primaries, the party will hold a Special Congress on August 26 to cut the number to five for the main primaries. But about 10 people have so far declared their intention to contest the NPP presidential primaries including former Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen, MP for Assin Central Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, former Minister for Food and Agriculture Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, former Minister for Energy Boakye Agyarko, former Minster for Railway Development Joe Ghartey, former General Secretary, Kwabena Agyei Agyapong and former MP for Mampong, Francis Addai Nimoh. The nomination period for the presidential primaries will begin on May 26 and end on June 24, 2023. The party has also announced that parliamentary primaries will be held in February 2024. Nominations will be accepted between December 20, 2023, and January 4, 2024. This means NPP will choose its Presidential Candidate before its parliamentary candidates. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Joseph Yamin has reportedly escaped assault from some NDC youth in Abura Asebu Kwamankese following his visit to the area. Narrating what happened, one of the youth who spoke to Joynews, said they were in town when they got information that the National Youth Organiser was around. He said they initially thought it was the leaders of the NDC that had come to visit but upon reaching the venue, they saw Joseph Yamin. He further stated that during their engagement, they realized that one of the NDC primaries contenders had allegedly asked Joseph Yamin to convince them to vote for her adding against her opponent Felix Ofosu-Kwakye who is also contesting. Based on this comment, he said the youth became furious and charged at Joseph Yamin who would have been badly injured if he had not escaped. We were in town when we heard that Joseph Yammin had come to town with some pick up, we even mobilized to go and meet him as we thought our party leaders were coming to meet us. When we went, we realized that one Nana Ama had sent one Joseph Yammin to come and lie to us that John Mahama wants us to vote against Felix Ofusu Kwakye. "The things Felix Kwakye has done for us in this constituency are very valuable to us and they are very lucky we did not meet them here, they would have seen what would have happened to them, one of the individuals who spoke to Joynews stated. The unnamed gentleman also warned him not to repeat such actions as it could have ended badly. They advised him to focus on working towards winning seats in Kumasi as the NDC needs more seats in that region. Source: ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video AURORA, Colo. (AP) Six people were hurt -- two critically when part of a heating and ventilation system collapsed at a resort pool in Colorado on Saturday, fire officials said. There were 50 to 100 guests in the pool when the collapse occurred about 9:50 a.m. Saturday at the Gaylord Rockies resort near Denver International Airport, Aurora Fire Rescue said. Large metal ductwork and mechanical parts that were mounted on the ceiling crashed down upon the pool deck and into the water, covering nearly the entire area of the pool, agency spokeswoman Sherri-Jo Stowell said. The victims suffered injuries that ranged from penetrating wounds and cuts to injuries consistent with being crushed, she said. Fire Chief Alec Oughton said crews were already at the resort, running up and down its stairs for physical training, when the collapse happened. An operator who answered the phone at the resort hung up on a reporter who called seeking comment. The resort will be conducting an investigation into the cause of the collapse and will be responsible for keeping guests out of the pool area, Oughton said. The resort and convention center has more than 1,000 rooms, a water park and meeting spaces. More: Generator company to pay $15.8 million fine related to defect that caused finger amputations SUV wouldnt unlock, trapping woman to die in burning vehicle: report By JOVANA GEC and DUSAN STOJANOVIC, The Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) The first shooting left Serbia weeping. The second set off waves of soul-searching in a deeply divided nation, awash in weaponry, where war criminals are glorified and memories run deep of years of civil war. Two mass killings in two days. Nineteen people dead and 21 injured. We walked around like zombies for 24 hours, not believing what has happened and looking for reasons, President Aleksandar Vucic, a populist authoritarian who began his political career as a far-right Serbian nationalist during the Yugoslav civil wars, said Friday in a nationwide TV address. The back-to-back bloodshed sent shockwaves through a Balkan nation scarred by wars, but unused to mass murders. Though Serbia is full of weapons left over from the conflicts of the 1990s, the last mass shooting before this week was in 2013, when a war veteran killed 13 people in a central Serbian village. A police officer stands guard next to the scene of a Thursday night attack in the village of Dubona, Serbia, Friday, May 5, 2023. A shooter killed multiple people and wounded more in a drive-by attack late Thursday in Serbia's second such mass killing in two days, state television reported. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)AP In Thursdays attack, a 20-year-old gunman apparently firing at random killed eight people and wounded 14 in two Serbian villages, authorities said, shaking a nation still grieving over another mass shooting one day earlier. Police arrested a suspect Friday after an all-night search. Vucic called the shootings an attack on the whole nation and said that while the man arrested wore a T-shirt with a pro-Nazi slogan, the motive remained unclear. The slayings came a day after a 13-year-old boy used his fathers guns to kill eight fellow students and a guard at a school in Belgrade, the capital. Public figures, politicians and experts appeared on TV Friday, desperately trying to explain the tragedies. This is a moment when a nation decides whether it will go along a healing path, actor Srdjan Timarov said on N1 television. The only other way is to declare capitulation. As a nationwide period of mourning began, TV screens were filled with people wearing black, and music was banned from the airwaves as well as in cafes and restaurants. People lined up in Belgrade to donate blood, responding to an appeal for supplies needed to treat the wounded. The assailant in Thursdays attack shot people in two villages near Mladenovac, a municipality located about 30 miles south of the capital, police said. Vucic said the gunman targeted people wherever they were. Police said the suspect, identified by the initials U.B., was arrested in Vinjiste, a village 90 miles south of Belgrade. Officers searching a relatives home found a large stash of illegal weapons and ammunition, state broadcaster RTS reported. Authorities released a photo showing a young man in a police car in a blue T-shirt with the slogan Generation 88 on it. The double eights are often used as shorthand for Heil Hitler since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Vucic said the suspect repeated the word disparagement but it wasnt clear what he meant. The president vowed in an address to the nation that the suspect will never again see the light of the day. He also announced tougher gun-control measures, in addition to those proposed by the government a day earlier. He called for a moratorium on new gun licenses for the next two years, a review of all current licenses, longer prison sentences for those who break the rules and fierce punishment for anyone caught with illegal weapons. But first, police will offer an amnesty to encourage people to hand over illegal guns an action that has had limited success in the past. We will disarm Serbia, Vucic promised. More: 13-year-old charged as adult with murder in sleepover shooting of friend Ex-police officers will serve no jail time for fatally shooting girl at Pa. football game KYODO NEWS - May 6, 2023 - 16:50 | All, Japan Police served a fresh arrest warrant Saturday on the suspect in an attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last month alleging he illegally manufactured explosives. Ryuji Kimura, 24, from Hyogo Prefecture was arrested on April 15 at the scene on suspicion of obstruction of business for allegedly throwing an explosive device at Kishida just before the prime minister was about to make a stump speech in Wakayama, western Japan. Kishida was not injured. Investigators said they have determined that a substance confiscated from Kimura's home was gunpowder. The dark gunpowder was found along with metal nuts in one of the two pipe bombs collected at the scene, they said. While Kimura has remained silent since his arrest, court documents show he may have harbored a grudge after he was unable to file for candidacy for a House of Councillors election held last year. Kimura filed a lawsuit with the Kobe District Court in June last year seeking 100,000 yen ($742) in damages for mental distress, while asserting the requirements to be at least 30 years old and pay a 3 million yen deposit to run in the election violated the Constitution, which guarantees equality under the law. Kimura also submitted a document criticizing Kishida's Cabinet for holding a state funeral for the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, saying the event was "forced through with only Cabinet approval" and without parliamentary deliberations, adding "such a challenge to democracy cannot be tolerated." Related coverage: Japan PM attack suspect may have held grudge over electoral system NEW ORLEANS (AP) A 16-year-old high school senior in New Orleans who received scholarship offers from 149 colleges and universities totaling $10 million said Friday that he has chosen to attend Cornell University. Dennis Maliq Barnes will graduate on May 24 from the International High School of New Orleans, where he earned a 4.98 grade point average. He also has 27 college credits through a dual enrollment program with Southern University of New Orleans. Dennis "Maliq" Barnes, 16, announces that he will be attending Cornell University during a news conference at International High School of New Orleans Friday, May 5, 2023. (David Grunfeld, NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)AP He plans to study computer science at Cornell, an Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York. He has also said he is considering law school. Today is an exciting day for me and my family, and I look forward to working with Cornells College of Engineering over the course of my undergraduate education, Barnes said. In an interview las week, Barnes said that a major reason he cranked out applications to close to 200 schools was his desire to have numerous educational and financial options. He ultimately was accepted at 186 colleges and universities. The school said it believes the $10 million in scholarship offers from 149 of them to be a record for U.S. college-bound seniors. More: Meet the 5 female finalists for the 2023 M&T Bank John Travers Scholarship Award Meet the 5 male finalists for the 2023 M&T Bank John Travers Scholarship Award An Easton man is accused of holding a woman at gunpoint in his apartment for hours Thursday and threatening to kill her, city police said. Joshua Clark, 31, of the 700 block of West Lincoln Street, was charged Thursday night with aggravated assault, prohibited possession of a firearm and four misdemeanors including false imprisonment and false restraint. He was sent to Northampton County Prison after failing to post $100,000 bail, records show. City police were called at 3:35 p.m. Thursday to Cheston Elementary School on Coal Street in Easton for a woman seeking refuge in the school. The woman reported Clark, whom she knows, pointed a gun at her head Thursday morning and threatened to kill her, court records say. Clark held with woman at gunpoint in his apartment until about 2:25 p.m., police said. Clark was previously convicted of possession with intent to deliver drugs, and he is prohibited from having a firearm, police said. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. More: Im so sorry, K, 13-year-old said after killing friend during argument: affidavit Trooper kills Pa. boy who refused to drop gun: state police By Mark S. Singel It is a fact that thousands of immigrants risk their lives to enter the United States every day. Why? Because they are scared to death that the drug lords and economic conditions will swallow their children and take away any hope for their futures. On May 11, the coronavirus pandemic-era restrictions known as Title 42 ends. This means that we can expect an increase in the arrivals of migrants from 5,000 to 10,000 per day. Last week, President Biden announced that he would send 1,500 troops to the border to assure that the U.S Customs and Border Protection would have the support they need to deal with this surge in arrivals. In another development, the Biden administration reached a deal with the Mexican government that would allow a speedy deportation of illegal immigrants back to Mexico. In other words, this is an administration that is making informed decisions and mature agreements with our neighbors to deal with an important and difficult issue. This is not about grandstanding and building some kind of wall to keep rapists and murderers out. This is about two nations finding common ground to deal with a problem that has implications for both. The 1,500 troops are an acknowledgement that the bureaucrats might need some help as the new agreements are implemented. This level-headed diplomatic approach to the border crisis was met with a perplexing reaction from Republican opponents. The same people who supported hysterical calls for closing the borders, building walls, sending thousands of troops to deter mothers and children and, yes, building moats with alligators between Texas and Mexico, are nowhere in sight when it comes to fruitful international agreements. For the first time in many years, the US/Mexico collaboration means that we can make intelligent decisions about immigration that are mutually beneficial. Catherine Rampell from the Washington Post wrote a thoughtful article about the reality of immigration and its impact on our economy. Heres a fact: we have an overwhelming need for workers that could be filled by legal immigrants. She points to semiconductor factories, battery plants and infrastructure projects as just three major industries that are crying out for workers that legal immigration can fill. Consider this stark reality: The country is aging, fertility rates are well below replacement level, and we do not have sufficient numbers of working-age people paying into the system to fund all the retirement benefits already promised. The solution? Bring in more immigrants to the American workforce. Lets stop grandstanding on the border crisis and start thinking about how an international solution to the problem could benefit all Americans. If we can stanch the flow of illegal immigration without choking off a pipeline of legal immigrants, we can solve the humanitarian crisis of families facing life and death on our borders and, at the same time, provide opportunities to those who can and will work to succeed in our economic system. Expanding ports of entry like the proposed location at Mexicali would afford those seeking a better life with the possibility of assimilating into the American workforce with dignity. Economists have long projected that the American domestic product depends, to a large extent, on laborers willing to take entry level positions in every sector of our economy. It is time to recognize this potential contribution to our economy and to stop the divisive rhetoric that precludes it. It is just too easy for politicians to demonize immigrants. They are not all rapists and murderers. For the most part, they are families who are willing to risk everything to have a shot at the American dream. The real problem is not the border crisis. It is the ineptitude of the U.S. Congress to enact meaningful immigration reform. Some political factions seem more interested in demonizing all immigrants than recognizing the potential they present for America. They are willing to ignore the role that their own immigrant parents and grandparents made to their personal success. It is time for a level-headed approach to immigration and border reform. The Biden administration has taken the first steps. We could all use some bipartisan support to take the next ones. Mark S. Singel is a former lieutenant governor and acting governor of Pennsylvania. Television host Sara Haines of ABCs The View spoke for many viewers when she celebrated the departure of right-wing television host Tucker Carlson from the Fox News Network. I am happy to know someone like him no longer has the platform he had built, she exclaimed. Similarly, CNN anchor Don Lemons ouster on April 23, 2023 the same day as Carlsons generated an equal amount of celebration from conservatives. One of them was Nikki Haley, the presidential candidate and former governor of South Carolina, whom Lemon had previously described as a woman past her prime when she launched her 2024 campaign. Lemons dismissal is a great day for women everywhere, Haley exclaimed. In this age of hyperpartisan news programming, both Carlson and Lemon proved talented at providing perspectives that confirmed their audiences view of the world. It is not clear why Lemon and Carlson were fired, but in my view as a media scholar, they were removed because they no longer provided the benefits their employers expected. Instead, I believe they had become potential threats to the networks audience shares and advertising revenue. Rather than a victory for women or truth, I view these firings as an effort to sustain and grow corporate profits. Hyperpartisan news media The advent of cable news in the 1980s created more channels for audiences to watch, and thus fractured the audience long dominated by networks NBC, ABC and CBS. The internet, smartphones and social media further fragmented audiences. As journalists and media scholars have noted, the solution for many media companies in the 1990s was to target their programming to a single demographic instead of trying to attract a larger, general audience. Scholars and journalists note that in order to attract a targeted demographic, cable news media relied on hyperpartisan reporting that framed news stories as liberal versus conservative. This approach proved viable, as subsequent studies found that television audiences preferred news outlets that confirmed their political views and attacked their political rivals. Liberal outlets focused on confirming liberals views by introducing caricatures of conservatives who could be easily villainized. The inverse was true at conservative outlets. By 2021, in my view, the unintended result of such partisan programming was that audiences perceived that the No. 1 threat to their lives was other Americans. Carlsons duplicity In this cable news environment, Carlson started working at CNN in 2000, moved to MSNBC in 2005 and arrived at Fox News Channel in 2009, where he became a megastar with his own program, Tucker Carlson Tonight, in 2016. Whether it was accurate or not, Tucker Carlson Tonight provided far-right ideological content that drew an average of 3 million nightly viewers, and Carlson became the highest-rated personality in cable news media. Among Carlsons falsehoods were that immigrants were mostly responsible for polluting a U.S. river; that the U.S. ended slavery around the world; and that more children died from drowning in their bathtub than accidentally from guns. Whether he actually believed any of those falsehoods remains unknown. What is known is that Carlson did not personally believe Donald Trumps claims that he won the 2020 presidential election and yet he publicly echoed rather than challenged Trumps baseless assertions. In a text message to Sidney Powell, one of Trumps most ardent lawyers, Carlson wrote: You keep telling our viewers that millions of votes were changed by the software. I hope you will prove that very soon. Youve convinced them that Trump will win. If you dont have conclusive evidence of fraud at that scale, its a cruel and reckless thing to keep saying. But in a text message to his Fox News colleagues, Carlson was less hopeful: Sidney Powell is lying, he wrote. At the time, nearly 70% of Tuckers target audience believed that the election was stolen. As a result, despite knowing the 2020 election was not stolen, Carlson continued to report the exact opposite of what he knew to be false. A boorish Lemon In stark contrast to Carlson, Lemon positioned himself as CNNs chief liberal scolder of the Trump era. Much like Carlson, Lemon manipulated evidence to create stories that confirmed liberal biases against conservative media personalities, such as falsely reporting that Hurricane Ians size was a result of climate change; that President Joe Biden misspoke rather than lied (which other news outlets claimed was the case) about Georgias voting procedures; that it is plausible that Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared into black hole; and that CNNs reporting on ivermectin and popular podcaster Joe Rogan was accurate. CNNs support for Lemon began to wane after a CNN broadcast on Feb. 16, 2023, when he declared that Haley was past her prime. Feeling the disdain from his two female co-hosts, whom he had a long history of berating on and off camera, Lemon clarified: Thats not according to me. If you Google when is a woman in her prime, itll say 20s, 30s and 40s. Lemon was removed from the air so he could attend sensitivity trainings to address his sexist attitudes. An April 2023 report from Variety appeared to spell the end for Lemon on CNN. The report detailed other incidents of Lemons misogyny that included malicious texts, sexist mocking and vicious tirades aimed at female co-workers. According to the report, Lemon was accused of threatening several female co-workers because they were hired for positions he felt he deserved. In another incident, Lemon claimed during a 2008 editorial call with roughly 30 staffers that Soledad O'Brien should not host Black in America because she is not Black. O'Brien identifies as Afro-Cuban. Credibility gap In this age of hyperpartisanship, the revelations about Carlson and Lemon made it difficult for their networks to sell them as authentic ideological voices. Furthermore, both of these individuals were a hassle for management. At CNN, audience size for the show on which Lemon was co-host was shrinking for quite some time - much like that for the network in general. At Fox News, Carlsons texts revealed his disdain for the networks leadership and streaming platform. Furthermore, since 2021, major companies such as Disney, Papa Johns, Poshmark and T-Mobile had refused to advertise on Carlsons program. Although a YouGov poll found that viewers who cite Fox News as the cable news network they watch most often are more likely to disapprove 50% than approve 29% of Carlson being fired, Fox News Channel had good reason to believe it could replace Tucker and still find success with conservative audiences. For one, an Ipsos poll found that non-Fox News Channel viewers are more likely to consider the channel as a news source now that Carlson has been fired. This means that the absence of Carlson may attract more audiences. Furthermore, Fox News Channel has developed a formula for creating and replacing conservative personalities for decades, such as Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Megyn Kelly. Rather than celebrate the removal of Lemon and Carlson, audiences should be questioning what truths have some of the current on-air personalities had to sacrifice in order to stay employed. For cable news personalities, partisanship not journalism can be a job requirement. Nolan Higdon, Lecturer of History and Media Studies, California State University, East Bay This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The first few months of this legislative year have been contentious. Political power was volleyed back and forth, and very little policy has been made in Harrisburg. Now, leaders on both sides of the aisle are eager to find ways to serve their constituents and the state of Pennsylvania. Fortunately, legislation is ready and waiting to do just that. Its a bill that would simultaneously improve lives, strengthen Pennsylvanias workforce and increase public safety. Even better: its familiar policy for this legislature. Five years ago, Pennsylvania passed the first Clean Slate law in the nation. That bill automated criminal record sealing for low-level, non-violent offenders who remained crime-free for 10 years. These individuals proved they were ready to remain on the right path after being held accountable for their crimes, and the legislature sought to open up opportunities for better-paying jobs and access to better housing. As a result, 1.2 million Pennsyvlanians have had a record sealed, and the state is safer and more prosperous today. But the legislature rightly started small, to ensure the automated mechanisms worked. Now, Pennsylvania is ready to take the next step and double down on those twin goals of safer communities and a stronger economy. This year, Reps. Jordan Harris (D-Phila.) and Sheryl Delozier (R-Cumberland) have co-sponsored House Bill 689, which would expand existing Clean Slate eligibility to include nonviolent, low-level drug felonies, joining thirty-seven other states that already provide some sort of sealing for some felonies. Individuals convicted of these types of offenses are, all too often, mired in their own addictions. So for those who are able to kick their habit and remain crime free for ten years, a sealed criminal record means significantly improved odds of gainful employment and an even further reduced risk of recidivism. For Pennsylvanias businesses it means a critically needed expansion of the workforce. And for Pennsylvanias taxpayers, a reduced budget burden, brighter economic future, and safer communities. The data that grounds this policy is clear: people with criminal records who have remained crime-free for four to seven years are no more likely than the general population to commit a new crime. Meanwhile, record sealing reduces the likelihood of recidivism by improving access to employment, education, and housing. In fact, a recent study in Michigan found that, of those who received an expungement, 99 percent of such individuals are not convicted of any felony, 99.4 percent are not convicted of any violent crime, and 96 percent are not convicted of any crime at all within five years of sealing their criminal records. Importantly, just as with the original Clean Slate law, law enforcement and the courts retain access to these records. And all of the exclusions for crimes of violence, sex crimes, and crimes involving weapons that the Legislature put into place remain intact. Beyond improving public safety, expanding Clean Slate can also shrink Pennsylvanias workforce gap. At last count, 6.7% of jobs in Pennsylvania remained unfilled. Expanding Clean Slate will bring workers off the sidelines, but also substantially improve the economic outlooks for individuals and families. One study found that, in just one year, individuals who received an expungement benefitted from a wage increase of 23%. And just as it was with the original bill, expanding Clean Slate has significant support. From the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, to the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, to bipartisan groups from across the political spectrum, spanning Americans for Prosperity all the way to Community Legal Services this bill enjoys overwhelming support because when Pennsylvanians like Gina Davis get a true second chance, we all benefit from both improved public safety and economic outlook. Over 30 years ago, Davis, then struggling and in her early twenties, was arrested on drug possession charges. Despite serving her time, Davis has been repeatedly stymied due to a decades-old record that came up every time she interviewed for a job. Last year, Gina bravely shared her story with lawmakers in support of expanding Clean Slate, and she still serves as an example of whats possible. As the legislature returns to work, policy with this level of bipartisan support offers an opportunity to make up for lost time and prove to Pennsylvanians that policymakers are in Harrisburg to make a real difference. Making concurrent, bipartisan progress on the economy, public safety, fiscal responsibility and justice isnt just rare, its often impossible in the political landscape today. In that way, House Bill 689 is unique. Clean Slate expansion will reduce crime, improve individual employment prospects, expand the available workforce for businesses of all sizes, and cut taxpayer costs. Lawmakers should consider it their highest priority this session. Jenna Bottler is the President and Executive Director of Justice Action Network, the countrys largest organization focused on bipartisan criminal justice reform advocacy and legislation. She has long worked in Pennsylvania to help unite both parties to pass reform bills Three Republican candidates are vying for the office of magisterial district judge in Magisterial Court 41-3-04, Newport. Fred Cabell and Chrystal Prosser have cross-filed. Pat Corkle will appear on the Republican ballot only. Reporter Paul E. Wyatt compiled their responses to questions submitted. The primary election is Tuesday, May 16. Fred Cabell Fred Cabell is one of three Republican candidates running for the position of magisterial district judge for Magisterial Court 41-3-04 in Newport. Cabell has practiced law for 35 years, getting his start in the Reagan administrations Department of Justice while in law school. Upon graduation, he served as a law clerk to a federal judge before moving to a law firm that represented Boeing and Bell Aerospace. Hes served as Pennsylvanias Deputy Attorney General, where he defended gun rights in front of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He has taught classes to other attorneys, ranging from the First Amendment religious liberty clause to understanding the legislative process. He currently serves as director of legislative affairs for the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Fred Cabell As a deputy attorney general, I also was involved in a variety of cases on behalf of the Commonwealth, Cabell said. My work involved criminal and civil matters. I worked in a private law firm where I was involved in all types of litigation. Everything from contract disputes, landlord-tenant, municipal law, and personal injury law involving environmental damage on a large scale. I also have worked as an attorney to defend the rights of religious schools from interference from the government, protect the rights of parents to direct the education of their children, and to protect the sanctity of life. I have represented clients before every level of state court, including the magistrate district court, the Court of Common Pleas, Superior and Commonwealth courts, and Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Ive also represented clients before federal trial and appellate courts. On his judicial philosophy and how it informs his decision-making process: I am a judicial conservative. I believe that it is the duty of a judge to apply the law as written by the legislature. Any judge that disregards the letter of the law sets themselves up as a dictator who disregards our republican form of government, where the people rule through their elected representatives. When I take the oath of office, I will be pledging to the citizens of Perry County, and even more importantly, to Almighty God, that I will faithfully uphold the laws of our nation and our commonwealth. My faith informs every aspect of my life and a promise I make to God is something I will carry deep in my heart. How would he ensure the court remains impartial and objective? The impartiality of a judge is critical for citizens to respect and trust the law. Since the beginning of my campaign, I have placed on all my campaign literature, my yard signs, and my website a citation to a passage in Leviticus that states how God views the role of a judge: You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor, (Lev. 19:15). I believe that with all my heart and I will strive to live it every day as a judge. Despite my own religious beliefs, people of all faiths or no faith, will be treated fairly and judgments will be based on the law, not my own personal beliefs. How would he approach a case in which the defendant is representing themselves and may not understand the legal process? I believe that the magistrate district court is different in some respects from other courts. It is a neighborhood court and a problem-solving court. It is a court where citizens should feel comfortable presenting their case without legal counsel. Having legal counsel is always in the best interest of a person if they can afford it, but oftentimes people cannot afford an attorney. I believe it is important for a magistrate district judge to explain the law and the legal process in a way that can be understood by a citizen of any background. A judge must stay strictly neutral, but they can ask questions that will help both parties put forth their best evidence. I will not allow an attorney to bully a party without an attorney. Was there a time when he had to make a difficult decision? What were the factors he considered and the outcome? I try to address all difficult decisions in my personal life in the same manner. First, I pray hard! Second, I look to Gods word to see if that provides guidance. Third, I seek the counsel of those wiser than me. I always try to consider how others are affected and the long-term consequences of any decision. On his experience working with Perry County law enforcement and how he will ensure their actions align with the law: While I have never worked with law enforcement officials in Perry County, I have worked with law enforcement around the state, especially in my duties as deputy attorney general. I have represented police officers in excessive force cases. I have defended the constitutionality of the actions of law enforcement officials. Despite having a deep respect for the work of law enforcement officials, I will treat them no differently than anyone who comes into my courtroom. There is no profession or type of person that is not subject to original sin. Whether you believe that as a religious concept or as an observation of the human condition, there are good and bad of every type of profession. I think the vast majority of law enforcement seeks to do good, but corruption is sadly always possible. And, like all of us, sometimes law enforcement can make an error. How would he approach a case that involves a sensitive or controversial issue? A magistrate judge will encounter sensitive issues frequently. It is important to keep proper order in a court room and to not allow emotions to rule the day. The judge must set the example of being even tempered and courteous. Domestic violence is a plague on our society, but a judge must maintain strict neutrality, weighing the evidence carefully and applying the law fairly. I have always said that being unjustly accused of an evil act can be almost as horrible as being the victim of an evil act. To ensure individuals who cannot afford legal representation will have access to justice, and the measures hed take to address the impact of poverty on the court system: A judge is not in a position to handle the root causes of poverty. But, undoubtedly, poverty in a community impacts the types of cases that come before the court. I think this is where the temptation for a judge to seek answers outside the law could be the greatest. I will not succumb to that temptation, but I will make sure that the poor are treated with the same dignity as the rich. Those without legal counsel, or lacking in education, will be given a fair opportunity to present their case, including having the law explained at a level they can understand. Further, I have good relationships with the leaders of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, which provides legal aid to the poor and I can help guide them to clients who need their services. Finally, I am a big proponent of attorneys providing pro bono legal services (as I have during my career) and I will encourage local attorneys to handle their fair share of cases on a low-cost or free basis. On engaging with the community and addressing local concerns: I hope to engage the community as an educator regarding the legal system. The code of judicial ethics encourages judges to be a resource for educating the public on the law and the legal system. My goal would be to address all sorts of civic and religious organizations regarding our governmental system and the role of the courts in that system. I also hope to make myself available to the schools and educators as a resource to their students. Cabell is running against Pat Corkle and Chrystal Prosser for the position on the bench. For more information on Cabell, visit fredforjudge.org. Pat Corkle Pat Corkle is one of three Republican candidates running for the position of Magisterial District Judge for Magisterial Court 41-3-04 in Newport. Corkle has served as a police officer in Dauphin County for 23 years, starting his career at Paxtang Police Department and currently working as a violent crimes detective for the Swatara Twp. Police Department. He completed the required course to be a MDJ in 2021 and was certified by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He has since continued to expand his law knowledge by attending training classes. Pat Corkle I have worked as a police officer for almost 23 years in one of the most active police departments in Dauphin County. My duties have included serving as a patrolman, an undercover narcotics officer, and a detective responsible for investigating violent crimes, such as robberies, assaults and murders. Throughout investigations, I have provided testimony in a variety of court proceedings, ranging from magisterial district court to Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court, as well as grand jury indictments. I worked for the Harrisburg Area Community College Police Academy for 10 years, teaching police cadets courtroom procedures. His judicial philosophy and how it informs his decision-making process is: I strongly believe in our judicial system. For over 250 years, our society has been governed by our laws and court system; while not perfect, it remains the best in the world. Everyone who is charged with a crime is presumed innocent and deserves to be treated as such. Im very aware there is more than one side to every story and every voice needs to be heard before any decision is reached. On how he would ensure the court remains impartial and objective: Every case is unique and the facts need to be heard and applied to the law. My personal opinion will not affect my decisions. In cases where a victim agrees to a reduction or leniency, I will do my best to accommodate that. How would he approach a case where a defendant chooses to represent themself while not necessarily understanding the legal process? Although it is a persons right to represent themselves, I strongly advise against it. Instead, I would thoroughly explain the defendants legal rights and caution them about the risk of self-incrimination, while urging them to seek the advice of an attorney. In the event that they decide to proceed with self-representation, I would provide them with an overview of the legal process and offer guidance and support by answering any questions they may have before and during the hearing. When he had to make a difficult decision, what were the factors he considered and what was the outcome? On a daily basis I am faced with challenging decisions that can significantly impact peoples lives. Its not a simple task to take away someones freedom or separate them from their children. Delivering heartbreaking news, such as the loss of a child, is a difficult and painful experience. Despite these difficulties, its crucial to remember that most of the people I encounter are not having their best day. Nonetheless, its essential to treat everyone with kindness, empathy and respect. Considering his experience working with Perry County law enforcement, how would he will ensure their actions align with the law? Ive earned the endorsement of the Pennsylvania State Police Troopers Association and I have the utmost respect for the men and women who protect Perry County. Police have the burden to prove their case and I will always hold them to this standard. How would he balance the need for justice with the need to show compassion? Victims are my top priority and will always factor into my rulings. There are many diversionary programs that offer alternative punishments and rehabilitation measures. I plan to offer these when it is appropriate and when the victim agrees. How would he ensure those who cannot afford legal representation receive justice, and what measures would he take to reduce the impact of poverty on the court system? In my experience, public defenders are very underrated. They see more cases than many private attorneys and they understand their countys court system better than most. If an individual does not qualify for this service, I know that Dickinson and Widener law schools can assist with legal advice and I will encourage this resource. When the law allows, I will evaluate someones financial situation and offer alternative punishments, such as community service, in lieu of fines. How would he engage with the community and address local concerns? Ive lived here my entire life. I grew up in New Bloomfield, graduated from Newport High School, and then moved to Millerstown. Just like my family and friends throughout the county, I care about our community and will do everything within my power to keep it safe. Corkle is running against Chrystal Prosser and Fred Cabell for the bench. For more information on Corkle, visit patcorkleformdj.com. Chrystal Prosser Chrystal Prosser is one of three Republican candidates running for the position of Magisterial District Judge for Magisterial Court 41-3-04 in Newport. Prosser has been in private practice for 26 years in Perry and Juniata counties and hopes to bring that experience to the bench. Chrystal Prosser I have been the court-appointed custody conciliator in Perry and Juniata County from 2004 to present. I also represented Perry County Children and Youth Services Agency from 1996 to 2014 and Juniata County Children and Youth Social Services Agency from 2014 to present. Ive also served as a guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children. I have appeared in Magisterial district courts in criminal cases, landlord tenant cases and small claims disputes. I regularly appear in the Court of Common Pleas of Perry and Juniata County. I have had cases before the Superior Court and before the Pennsylvania Bureau of Hearings and Appeals. On her judicial philosophy and how it informs her decision-making process: I strongly believe that a district judge must be fair and impartial in every matter. I believe that everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. Each case presents its own unique set of facts and circumstances and it is essential to consider the issue presented. What measures would she take to ensure the court remains impartial and objective? A magisterial district judge is governed by the Rules of Judicial Conduct. I intend to strictly adhere to the judicial canons. To do so, I intend to provide every party with the opportunity to be heard. I intend to uniformly and fairly apply the rule of law. Under no circumstances will my personal views or philosophies be a factor in making any decision. How would she approach a case in which a defendant chooses to represent themself and may not understand the legal process? A magisterial district judge cannot provide legal advice. However, the judicial canons do permit a magisterial district judge to make reasonable accommodations to assure that a self-represented litigant has the matter heard fairly and impartially. I will make any reasonable accommodation that does not unfairly prejudice any other party in the matter. Was there a time when she had to make a difficult decision, what were the factors considered, and what was the outcome? As an attorney, I am regularly faced with difficult decisions on how to proceed in any given case. This is especially true when I am handling Children and Youth matters with the goal of protecting abused and neglected children. While specifics of cases cannot be disclosed, it is essential to listen to the facts of the case, provide full candor to the court and treat every family with dignity and respect. What is her relationship with law enforcement in Perry County and how would she ensure their actions align with the law? I am very fortunate to be able to work with the sheriffs department in Perry County as they provide security for all of my work as a custody conciliator. I am a member of the Multi-Disciplinary Investigative Team (MDIT) in Juniata County. The goal of the team is to coordinate child abuse investigations between county agencies and law enforcement. As a solicitor for Children and Youth, I rely on the thorough investigations done by our local law enforcement to prepare my own cases. I work with them and not against them as witnesses and in their investigations, and I appreciate the candid and thorough exchange of vital information between myself and our police forces. On her approach to a case which involves a sensitive or controversial issue, such as domestic violence or hate crimes: I would approach these matters in the same way as every case I have to handle with impartiality and fairness. If necessary, extra steps will be taken to assure that victims are not made to feel at risk. As a custody conciliator, I often deal with families that are struggling with domestic violence, mental health issues and drug/alcohol abuse. These issues have to be discussed to ensure the health, safety and well-being of the children in the family. How would she address the impact of poverty on the court system and ensure those without the financial means to afford legal representation will be served justly? Access to the courts is governed by the law, as is the right to counsel. To the extent possible, accommodations will be made while assuring compliance with the law. To engage with the community and address their concerns, she would: As a magisterial district judge, I believe that one of my obligations will be to participate in educational programs in the community and to foster a greater understanding of the legal system. When asked to participate at round tables, school events or meetings with the members of our community, I will be ready and willing to do so, keeping in mind the decorum of the office as mandated by law. Prosser is running against Fred Cabell and Pat Corkle for the bench. More information on Prosser can be found at prosserfordistrictjudge.com. By William Hollingworth, KYODO NEWS - May 6, 2023 - 22:39 | All, World Britain's King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla were crowned on Saturday during a religious ceremony stretching back more than one thousand years and steeped in ritual. Around 2,200 guests, including 100 heads of state and members of the Japanese imperial family, crammed into London's Westminster Abbey to witness Britain's first coronation since 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September, was crowned. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed the magnificent solid gold St. Edward's crown, weighing 2.23 kilograms, upon the head of King Charles at noon with the congregation proclaiming, "God Save the King," as trumpets played and guns fired. Minutes earlier, the king was anointed with holy oil in the Christian ceremony, representing God's blessing on the king and queen and stretching back more than a thousand years. The ceremony, full of pomp and pageantry, saw one of the biggest security operations in Britain's capital as police officers were on alert for terrorists and activists. Tens of thousands of people braved the rain to line the procession route to the abbey as the royal couple was transported in a golden horse-drawn carriage. The abbey has played host to coronations since 1066. King Charles was the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned there. Among the chief overseas guests were U.S. first lady Jill Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and, controversially, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, who oversaw a civil liberties crackdown in Hong Kong. Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko represented Japan. Also present was the king's son, Prince Harry, who recently made several damaging claims about the royal family in a book. During the ceremony, the king made a series of oaths, including a pledge to rule according to law in all realms and territories where he is head of state. He also solemnly declared to maintain the Protestant reformed religion, honor the Church of England's legal settlement and exercise justice with mercy. The ceremony, overseen by the Church of England's chief priest Welby, had the theme of "service" at its core, as the king pledged to serve the nation. The king sat upon an ancient coronation chair used for more than 700 years for the anointing and crowning part of the ritual. During the anointing, which took place privately behind a screen, he was divested of his robes and wore a simple white shirt. Following this, the 74-year-old, wearing a gold coat, was presented with several items of regalia, including a sword, bracelets, a ring and an orb, representing his authority and powers. He was then handed two ceremonial staffs, holding one in each hand, before the special St. Edward's crown, dating from 1661 and only used for coronations, was placed on his head by the archbishop. He was led to a ceremonial throne, where his son and heir, Prince William, paid homage to him. This was followed by an invitation to the entire congregation, including those watching at home, to swear allegiance to the king, his heirs and successors. Queen Camilla, 75, was crowned before being enthroned next to the king. Organizers tried to make the Church of England ceremony more accessible to the wider public amid fears that the 1953 coronation format would appear outdated in a more diverse and multifaith nation. The guests included more ordinary members of the public, including those who have served their local communities in various capacities. There were also fewer members of the aristocracy. Another innovation included the presence of leaders from other faiths who took part in the procession. ClubWPT Qualifer Jonathan Powers is a Lifelong World Poker Tour Fan May 06, 2023 Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S. Jonathan Powers "Jpowers1723" won his seat into the World Poker Tour (WPT) Choctaw event, a $3,800 buy-in tournament, on ClubWPT, and now he's off to Day 2 with an impressive stack. The 30-year-old New Englander didn't just make it through Day 1a with about 75 big blinds. He did so in his first major live poker tournament just seven months after joining ClubWPT. Powers, who recently became a father, could conceivably turn that ClubWPT into enough money to cover his four-month old child's college fund already. The payouts at WPT Choctaw aren't yet available and will be figured out at the close of registration on Day 1b (Saturday). But the estimated prize for first place should exceed $300,000. Building a Stack PokerNews caught up with the qualifier at the conclusion of Day 1a to find out his backstory and his experience playing poker. "I'm just super excited to be here, super blessed," Powers said. "I've got 190,000 chips at the end of the day, which ain't too bad because I was down to like 30,000 in chips and couldn't really get anything going." The players began with 50,000 chips, and the first few levels didn't really go his way. Powers had to grind throughout the day and wait for a spot to build his stack. He said the key hand of the day was a massive double-up with ace-king when his opponent jammed preflop with ace-four and the best hand held up. World Poker Tour Dream Come True Jonathan Powers Playing in a World Poker Tour event was something Powers had planned for 20 years. He's been watching the WPT on TV since the tour's early days, long before he was even legally old enough to play poker. On Friday, he had dinner with the WPT staff, including Vince Van Patten, the longtime commentator he's listened to for years. "Watching this for almost 20 years and telling my dad that we were going to win the tournament and a seat when I was 10, and my dad was like 'yeah, maybe one day,' Powers said of watching the WPT for so long. The money bubble hasn't yet burst in the WPT Choctaw tournament, but the prediction he made to his father, who traveled with him to Oklahoma, could come true later this month. First things first though, he must survive the next two days of play to reach the final table, which will be held in Las Vegas at Luxor's HyperX Esports Arena on May 26. But just the fact that he's competing in a WPT event for the first time after watching the tour on TV for so many years is quite the experience for the poker enthusiast. Powers is a recreational poker player competing in his first major tournament. Along with his dad, he works in the assisted living industry helping those with special needs and disabilities. As he explained, he'll bring special needs patients to church and take them to various activities. "It's honestly changed my life a lot," Powers said of his meaningful occupation. Powers is one of two ClubWPT qualifiers competing at WPT Choctaw. Felipe "ChampSome" Diaz, a 36-year-old from Wisconsin, entered Day 1b. *Images courtesy of WPT. Sharelines Read the story about ClubWPT qualifier Jonathan Powers. Dream Crushers: Brutal Elimination Hands from the WPT SHR Poker Showdown May 06, 2023 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S. Over the weekend, the World Poker Tour (WPT) $3,500 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown attracted 2,290 entrants and played down to the final table of six, which will recommence on May 25 in Las Vegas. The $3 million guarantee was obliterated as a $7,328,000 prize pool was created, and the eventual winner will walk away with a $1,128,250 top prize. While the dreams of WPT glory are still alive for the remaining six players, there was heartbreak for many on the playdown days. Live reporters from both the WPT and Seminole Hard Rock captured the action throughout, and we thought wed share some of the more gut-wrenching eliminations hands that likely saw players hitting the rail with a little bit of pain. Bin Weng Leads Remaining Six Players in WPT SHR Poker Showdown Big Slick Does Not Do the Trick for Lagodich Andrew Moreno vs. Frank Lagodich On Day 3 in Level 24 (25,000/50,000/50,000), 54 players remained when a series of preflop raises resulted in Frank Lagodich getting his stack of 3.2 million all in from the cutoff against inaugural Wynn Millions champ Andrew Moreno in late position. Andrew Moreno: A10 Frank Lagodich: AK Lagodich was a big favorite, but not when a ten appeared in the window on the 1052 flop. The A turn paired both, but Moreno was ahead with aces up. Lagodich needed a king on the river, but it was not meant to be as the 3 appeared instead. Just like that, Lagodich was ousted in 54th place for $19,100. Watch how it went down! # World Poker Tour (@WPT) The Ladies Do Not Lover Steve Buckner Steve Buckner Also, on Day 3 in Level 26 (50,000/75,000/75,000), Steve Cuz Buckner moved all in for 1.4 million while saying, Im all in boys. I aint looking for the pay jump. Champie Douglas then called off for 1.15 million from middle position before John Dolan called from the big blind to put both players at risk. Steve Buckner: QQ Champie Douglas: KQ John Dolan: AK Buckner had the best of it and looked good on the 1064 flop. However, the J turn put out a big sweat as Douglas picked up straight and flush draws. Unfortunately for Buckner, the 9 river gave Douglas the straight and a triple up. Buckner won the small side pot of around 500,000, but he was eliminated a short time later in 33rd place for $26,400. Players are now on Dinner Break in our #WPTSHRPS Main Event with just 30 remaining @HardRockHolly! World Poker Tour (@WPT) Madsen Gutshot Through the Heart Jeff Madsen Day 4 saw 16 players return to action looking to make the televised final table of six. Four-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Jeff Madsen was short-stacked in Level 29 (75,000/150,000/150,000) when he raised to 1.05 million from the small blind and Isaac Kempton called from the big to see a flop of K103. Madsen wasted little time in moving all in for his last 600,000 or so and Kempton quickly called with the J9 for a gutshot straight draw and running diamonds. Madsen tabled the K8 for top pair and was a heavy favorite to double up. The 5 turn brought him one step closer to doing so, but then disaster struck when the Q spiked on the river. Kempton made his straight and Madsen became the days first elimination taking 16th place for $56,800. Check out the WPT Hub on PokerNews here! Moreno Gets It in Preflop with Pocket Kings Andrew Moreno Not long after in Level 29 (75,000/150,000/150,000), Rafael Farah Jarufe raised to 400,000 from the cutoff and Moreno three-bet to 1.55 million from the small blind. Jarufe responded by four-bet jamming all in and Moreno called off for 4.8 million. Andrew Moreno: KK Rafael Farah Jarufe: AQ Moreno was primed to win a monster pot, and the 733 flop seemed safe enough. Unfortunately for him, the dealer burned and turned the A to pair Jarufe. The 2 river was a brick and Moreno was eliminated in 15th place for $56,800. Ostapchenko Tries to Set Up Mzareulov Andrew Ostapchenko Also, in Level 29 (75,000/150,000/150,000), there was a flop of 975 when David Mzareulov checked from the small blind and Kempton did the same from the big. Andrew Ostapchenko then bet 200,000 from the hijack and Mzareulov woke up with an all-in check-raise to 2.5 million. Kempton quickly folded, Ostapchenko called off for 2.45 million, and the hands were turned on their backs. David Mzareulov: Q9 Andrew Ostapchenko: 55 Mzareulov had check-jammed with top pair and a heart flush draw, but Ostapchenko was ahead with a set of fives. The 3 turn was of no consequence but the 6 river was as Mzareulov made his flush to dispatch Ostapchenko in 13th place for $70,500. Remember, the final table will be played at the Hyper X ESports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 25th. Action will resume with just over 12 minutes remaining in Level 32 (150,000/300,000/300,000). PokerNews will be on-site and will bring you a winners recap upon the tournaments completion. The World Poker Tour (WPT) will now head to Oklahoma for the WPT Choctaw $3,800 Main Event that will run May 5-8. Click here for more details on that tournament. *Images courtesy of WPT and Seminole Hard Rock. Sharelines Check out some brutal bustouts from the @WPT @SHRHollyPoker Showdown $3,500 Main Event. Bin Weng Continues Dominance on Day 1a at WPT Choctaw May 05, 2023 Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S. Day 1a of the $3,800 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Choctaw event wrapped Friday night with a familiar face Bin Weng bagging a massive stack. Weng has an opportunity to make history this week. If he were to reach the final table, which will take place in Las Vegas May 26 at Luxor's HyperX Esports Arena, it would be one of the most impressive accomplishments in poker history. That's because on May 25, he'll enter the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown final table in Las Vegas with the chip lead playing for $1.1 million. The payouts aren't set at Choctaw just yet as Day 1b will take place at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday. Registration will be closed following the dinner break. Shortly after, the payouts will become available. Through the first of two Day 1 sessions, 312 players have entered and Day 1b figures to be even bigger. Andrew Moreno Was Friday's Top Performer Andrew Moreno While Weng had himself yet another banner session, bagging 435,000 chips (174 big blinds), everyone is chasing Andrew Moreno, who started off hot on Friday, cooled off a bit, and then finished the day with a flurry. The 2021 Wynn Millions $1.4 million winner went back to his hotel room at Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant, Oklahoma with 510,500 chips (204 big blinds). The full list of chip counts will be available early morning on Saturday, but some other big names with big stacks include Ren Lin (367,500), Alex Foxen (358,500), Jared Jaffee (220,000), and Tony Miles (100,000). There are a number of long-time WPT crushers who bagged and tagged, including a pair of three-time champions Anthony Zinno and Eric Afriat along with former Player of the Year winners Art Papazyan and Jacob Ferro. Zinno is also a previous World Poker Tour POY recipient. Top 10 Day 1a Chip Counts Place Player Stack 1 Andrew Moreno 510,500 2 Bin Weng 435,000 3 Lou Barlow 428,000 4 Phu Vo 402,000 5 Ren Lin 367,500 6 Alex Foxen 358,500 7 Albert Calderon 339,000 8 Jeremy Joseph 297,000 9 A.J. Nimer 269,000 10 Josh Reichard 262,000 How Great is Bin Weng? Bin Weng Weng's potential run to World Poker Tour history is objectively impressive. But he's quietly becoming one of the top tournament players in the world, and not just in WPT events. In early January, he took down the 1,142-player No-Limit Hold'em The Return, a $5,300 buy-in event at Borgata in Atlantic City, for a career-best $1 million. He then followed that up with a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) win for $227,344 in February at Horseshoe Las Vegas. Adding on his $238,000 minimum cash in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, the payout for sixth place, he has already cashed for over $1.5 million in live tournaments this year, according to Hendon Mob. And given his chip stack in both the Choctaw and Seminole events, it's likely by the end of the month he will easily surpass that number. Weng will return to Choctaw Casino's Grand Theater on Sunday for Day 2. The tournament will play down to the final table in Oklahoma on Monday and then take a break before returning to action in Las Vegas on May 26. If Weng, who finished ninth at Choctaw last year, is able to reach the final table, he will compete for WPT titles in back-to-back days. *Images courtesy of WPT. Sharelines Find out who is crushing it on Day 1a at @WPT Choctaw. Can Mike Watson win a second EPT Main Event title? Will Leonard Maue or Joachim Haraldstad finally break through? Can Leo Worthington-Leese go coast to coast to finally capture a major title? Or will a Frenchman come from behind and reign supreme in their backyard? Those are the questions that will be answered on Day 6 of the 5,300 EPT Main Event. The 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino is winding down as players return to Sporting Monte Carlo for the final day of the festival. There are just six players remaining with a shot at EPT glory and the first-place prize of 890,000 that goes along with it. Each player has locked up 180,900 but there is still some life-changing money up for grabs. Final Table Payouts and Results Place Player Country Prize (EUR) Prize (USD) 1st 890,000 $978,039 2nd 556,600 $611,659 3rd 397,450 $436,766 4th 305,750 $335,995 5th 235,150 $258,411 6th 180,900 $198,795 7th Jason Wheeler United States 139,150 $152,915 8th Arunas Sapitavicius Lithuania 107,050 $117,639 9th Maduka Meragal Canada 82,350 $90,496 Watson, the Canadian poker pro, is all too familiar with the spotlight on the brightest stage having won the PCA Main Event back in 2016. He will be returning today with a stack of 8,135,000 chips and the hopes of adding another title to his poker resume. The only person Watson will be looking up to is Worthington-Leese who edged him out late on Day 5 with 8,270,000 chips. Worthington-Leese was the man who brought the field down to six players and wrapped things up on Day 5 by eliminating EPT circuit regular Jason Wheeler. The British poker pro is looking for his first major title and will hope to go wire-to-wire on the final day in order to do so. Haraldstad (5,130,000) and Maue (4,305,000) find themselves situated in the middle of the pack and are looking for that breakthrough moment. Each player has been on the circuit for quite some time and have some results to back them up, but an EPT title today would be their biggest accomplishment thus far. Rounding out the bottom of the pack, but certainly not out of contention, are the two Frenchman Samy Boujmala (3,675,000) and Arnaud Enselme (3,415,000). Boujmala won a qualifier for the event and is playing one of the largest buy-in events of his short career while Enselme has already locked up his largest career score already. Each player will be returning with over 30 big blinds but will have their work cut out for them. Final Table Seat Draw Seat Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Samy Boujmala France 3,675,000 37 2 Mike Watson Canada 8,135,000 81 3 Leo Worthington-Leese United Kingdom 8,270,000 83 4 Leonard Maue Austria 4,305,000 43 5 Arnaud Enselme France 3,415,000 34 6 Joachim Haraldstad Norway 5,130,000 51 The cards are scheduled to go in the air at 12:30 p.m. local time with roughly 35 minutes remaining in Level 29 and the blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 100,000 big blind ante. The levels will continue to be 90 minutes long until just three players remain, where they will be cut in half to 45 minutes. The PokerNews updates will be on a 30-minute delay to remain in sync with the PokerStars live stream that can be found on the Twitch and YouTube platforms. Be sure to tune in to find out who will be crowned the 2023 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event champion in just a few hours' time. Some 25,000 Japanese people rallied on Wednesday in Tokyo, calling for peace and protection of Japan's Constitution, including the war-renouncing Article 9, as the country marked the 76th anniversary of its pacifist post-war Constitution. The Constitution's Article 9 renounces war and prohibits Japan from possessing "war potential" such as military forces. The nation's exclusively defense-oriented policy is built on the idea of upholding pacifism embodied in the supreme law. However, as the Japanese government has lifted the ban on the right to collective self-defense, approved revisions to three national security documents for large-scale military expansion and ramped up weapon deployment in its remote southwestern islands, more and more Japanese people feel increasingly uneasy about the situation and the risks. Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, criticized Japan's new security documents during her speech at the rally, pointing out that the documents emphasize that Japan will possess the "ability to counter-strike enemy bases" and will exercise the "right of collective self-defense," which may drag the country back into war. She called on the public to stop the war together. People marched with banners like "No going back to pre-war," "No amendments to the Constitution" and "Now more emphasis on Article 9." A 68-year-old man who came to the rally early in the morning expressed unease about his hometown of Amami Oshima in Kagoshima prefecture. Produced by Xinhua Global Service COLUMBIA A crowd of 75 including nearly a dozen drag performers in foot-tall crowns, full lashes and sparkling body suits protested in front of the S.C. Statehouse against a bill that would restrict drag shows this year. Such efforts have won support in other states. Waving signs reading "My life is not a crime," "Trans lives matter" and "Don't be a drag, just be a queen," the gathering cheered as the performers from South Carolina and Georgia shared the ways drag had brought them community and purpose. "Drag is an art form that celebrates diversity, gender expression, glamour, fantasy and love," Koko Dove, a South Carolina drag queen, told the rally after protestors marched around the Statehouse. "Drag has been on Earth for centuries, and it's not going anywhere. No matter how bad people want to eradicate us. This art form is ancient and beautiful." Republican South Carolina legislators from the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus introduced a bill in January that would designate any venue that hosts drag performances as sexually oriented, limiting a business's access to public funding and ability to serve minors. The bill never advanced to being heard by a subcommittee. The proposal is part of a national trend to legislate against LGBTQ rights, often in the name of protecting children. A record 474 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced on the state level since the start of the year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The bills nationwide include bans or restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare for minors and adults, limits on what information about gender identity and sexual orientation can be taught in schools, restrictions on what bathrooms and locker rooms transgender people can use and even bills designed to remove transgender children from the care of supportive parents. The ACLU identified 19 proposed anti-gay and anti-trans bills in South Carolina, none of which have passed as the session heads into its final week on May 8. But the bills remain active for one more session in 2024. The South Carolina bill generating most concern in the drag community would prohibit drag shows from being supported by public funding, knocking out paid drag performances at universities, libraries or other state-funded institutions, and ban drag from being shown to anyone under the age of 18, also eliminating drag from public spaces like pride parades or restaurants. South Carolina's proposed drag ban, like those across the country, defined drag as anyone using clothing or makeup to exhibit "a gender identity that is different than the performer's gender assigned at birth." Gouda Judy, Columbia drag queen and reigning Miss Outfest in the capital city, feared the definition is open-ended enough that transgender or gender non-conforming performers could be targeted as well, regardless of whether or not they're in drag. The bill also defines drag as "intended to provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification." Supporters of these bills argue that it is designed to protect children from seeing sexual materials. The South Carolina bill was named the Defense of Children's Innocence Act. Drag is a vast art form that can be graphic or child-friendly, Dove said during the rally. "Some paintings are suitable for children, some paintings aren't. Some movies are suitable for children, some aren't. Some drag shows are suitable for children and some aren't," she said. "You don't see legislators banning every movie. You don't see legislators banning every painting." Shye Nee, the reigning Miss Upstate Pride who organized the protest, invited legislators who oppose drag to attend her shows and see that the art form is not sexual or inappropriate. "I do not believe that protecting our children can be done by eliminating drag from a public setting," Nee said. She would rather see legislators focus on healthcare for young people or gun reform. In Tennessee, where a similar bill passed earlier this year, a federal judge halted the restrictions from being enforced until May 26. Columbia venues host a number of drag shows. Downtown gay bars PT's 1109 and Capital Club host nightly drag shows. Restaurants like The Venue in downtown and The Hideout in West Columbia bring in queens to perform at weekly drag brunches. The statewide drag pageant, Miss Outfest, has drawn international drag stars to the streets of Columbia every June. Last year, the Ru Paul's Drag Race winner Willow Pill was a special guest of the pageant. University of South Carolina's annual show, The Birdcage, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last month, is hosted in the Russell House student union. Nee fears that removing drag performers from the public would also take out some of the loudest advocates in the LGBTQ community. "Entertainers in this state have some of the loudest voices because we're the most confident," she said. "We're like the marines of the LGBT community. We can speak for the voices of the unheard and amplify the voices of those who are heard." Dove said she has seen a cultural shift in how drag is perceived in the state. Dove usually brings her two children to every pride parade where she performs. Dove's young daughter helps her pick out drag outfits and songs to lip-sync. "She just wants to be a superstar like her mommy," she said. This year, she told her children they couldn't come to pride with her after a video of Dove performing with her daughter on a pride float was shown on Fox News, she said. Dove said she received threats and was called a pedophile by right-wing organizations around South Carolina. "If you guys could have seen the heartbreak on my daughter's face, I swear it would have broken your heart," Dove said. Michael Ellis bows his head and ties a palm around bulrush and sweetgrass, weaving together a handmade basket that allows him a moment of solitude. The brief time of serenity is interrupted when a woman stops by the booth to purchase a small cross made of palms. The religious symbols are among the most popular of Ellis' collection, especially during the springtime that follows Easter Sunday, the artist said. As she makes her purchase, she inquires about another religious artifact. A large sweetgrass basket sits on the shelf near Ellis. Known as the Moses Basket, named for the biblical character who was placed in a carrier before he was saved by the daughter of a pharaoh, the product costs $2,500, due in part to the length of time it took to make the creation. Sweetgrass basket making is infused with religious symbolism. Not only is the art form used to make spirituals that point to the divine but the materials used in the tradition, which dates back to West Africa, have spiritual significance in and of themselves. Because of the high emphasis placed on sweetgrass, most people dont realize that the basket making practice actually involves three kinds of materials: sweetgrass, bulrush and palms, Ellis said. He referenced the book of Exodus, which explains the story of Moses mother placing him into an "ark made of bulrushes," according to the King James Version of the text. This occurred after the pharaoh of Egypt announced a plan to kill Hebrew infants. Today the bulrush can be used alongside sweetgrass to help the crafted items more sturdy, basket makers said. In that sense, the plant symbolizes strength. In the same way it helped preserve the life of Moses, the baskets point to the continued strength and protection that has been shown by the divine upon people of African descent for centuries, Ells said. The bulrush is also more widely available than sweetgrass, Ellis said. This is especially important since sweetgrass is becoming more difficult for weavers to harvest. Thats because the product is becoming rare, and basket makers are also not able to pick grass on private lands, he said. And then theres the palms, which are mentioned in the Gospels as the branches waved by people as Jesus entered into Jerusalem days before he was killed. Sweetgrass basket makers use palms to tie the bulrush and sweetgrass together. In reference to the Passion story, Ellis said palms symbolize love. The interpretations of the plants might vary depending on the artist. But what remains consistent is that basket making in and of itself can be viewed as a spiritual practice. Lynette Youson, a fifth generation basket maker, said crafting new baskets gives her moments to think and reflect. It also provides room for self-expression, she said. When you weave on a basket, its like youre making no mistakes," she said. "Its your creativity. Theres no right and wrong. The sweetgrass artifact making tradition dates back almost 300 years when enslaved West Africans were forced to come to South Carolina. Several generations later, the art continues to be a staple in the Lowcountry. Basket makers can be seen in the City Market and at wooden stands along U.S. Highway 17 selling their artwork. In the same way that the bulrush basket helped protect the life of Moses who would go on to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian enslavement the tradition of basket making is one of many cultural and spiritual practices that have helped Black people survive and thrive under oppression in America, said Dr. Boykin Sanders, distinguished professor of New Testament and Greek and research scholar in religion and culture at Virginia Union University. "In other words, it is the way we got over," said Sanders, who is from the Charleston area and has taken students on trips to Ghana for the past 20 years. It should also not go unnoticed that the Moses basket in the Bible floats upon water, which is also symbolic in African religious thought. Water represents life. African affinity for water and its symbolism is one of the things that drew Africans to Christianity once they stepped foot on American soil. But perhaps what's most powerful about the artwork is how it brings together different plants to provide universal spiritual meaning that may or may not be Christian, Sanders said. "We are dealing with pieces put together in order to make and save a community from suffering," Sanders said. The basket making tradition has helped provide a place of solace and refuge for African Americans. It contains religious symbols of love and strength, serving as a reminder of the creativity and brilliance of a people. Children with autism see the greatest gains when they get treatment early, while the brain is still developing. But waitlists and bureaucracy make it impossible to get most kids the care they need when they need it most. Read moreSC families forced to wait years to get therapy for children with autism PARRIS ISLAND It was a unit synonymous with history. Almost 75 years ago when the Marine Corps began training women exclusively in South Carolina, a singular recruit battalion became dedicated to training females who longed to join the ranks of the few and the proud. Over time its name would change yet the the 4th Recruit Training Battalion continued to enjoy its distinct place in military history. But times have changed. In a symbolic step illustrating how the service is joining other military branches in training male and female recruits together, the Marine Corps announced it will shut the battalion down. A deactivation ceremony is set for June 15. The final graduation for the battalion is also scheduled for May 12. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger described the disbanding as "a moment to celebrate progress" and honor the unit's legacy. "I'm proud to see our male and female recruits benefit from having access to the quality of all our leaders at Parris Island and San Diego through an unchanging, tough, and realistic recruit training curriculum," Berger said in a May 3 news release. The deactivation comes amid a yearslong push for the Marine Corps to satisfy a congressional mandate to end the practice of separating trainees by gender. The Palmetto State base was given five years to make training equal for men and women with the passage of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, while the California base had eight years to make the change. In announcing the shift, Marine Corps officials said its successful recruit training standardization makes an all-female training battalion unnecessary. Even the battalion itself has since become co-ed, training men alongside women since 2021. The last all-female company to graduate at Parris Island was on Nov. 10, according to military officials. "What matters most is making the very best Marines," said Troy E. Black, 19th sergeant major of the Marine Corps. "It wont be long before there are female drill instructors who as recruits graduated alongside their male counterparts. They will train recruits and make Marines with that experience." The battalion's unique place in history holds a great deal of significance to Marines. Brig. Gen. Walker M. Field, the commanding general for Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, described the unit as having a "glorious tenure" in training both young women and since 2021, young men to win the nation's battles. Historically, Parris Island has been the only Marine boot camp location to receive female recruits. Until recently, the recruit depot in San Diego traditionally only trained men born west of the Mississippi River, while Parris Island trained men and women from all over the Eastern United States. Sign up for our SC Military Digest newsletter Get exclusive military reporting, updates from Palmetto State bases, headlines from around the globe and more delivered to your inbox each Tuesday. Email Sign up! In South Carolina, the female battalion played an influential role in cementing the recruit depot's history of training female Marines. The unit began as the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion in 1949 and later becoming the aptly named Women Recruit Training Battalion in 1954. "It's difficult to take in the true impact that this battalion and its history has had on the Marine Corps," said Maj. Philip Kulczewski, a Parris Island spokesman. "And to us, as Marines, this is a big deal." The end of this era comes years after elected officials in South Carolina panicked after Berger, the Marine commandant, said in a Military.com news story that he would consider closing the branchs two existing training locations Parris Island and San Diego and opening a new base if they cant meet the gender-integration training requirement. In response, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., the senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, would introduce and reintroduce the Parris Island Protection Act, which prohibits federal funds from being used to close or plan the closure of the base. In a statement to The Post and Courier, Wilson praised the move, saying Parris Island has "cultivated a legacy of excellence and faithful service to the defense of the United States for over a century." "Although the battalion is deactivating, the same high quality of instruction will now take place under the same leadership for both men and women, further unifying our servicemembers," Wilson said. U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace also expressed concerns a few years ago about the future of Parris Island. Like Wilson, Mace celebrated the move. "As the first female graduate of The Citadel, we understand and appreciate the progress underway of integrating training units in the Marines. As the original recruit depot for the Marine Corps, Parris Island, S.C. is the best place to make Marines," the Isle of Palms Republican said. "Until recently, every enlisted female recruit became a Marine in the historic 4th Recruit Training Battalion. Although we are sad to see the battalion deactivated, we have full faith in the Corps to continue to produce the best warfighters our nation has to offer, regardless of gender. Today, about 8 percent of Marine recruits are women alongside the 92 percent of men the lowest percentage of females serving in any military branch. In recent years, the little fishing village of Tianxin, next to Riyue Bay in south China's Hainan province, has benefited from the influx of surfers to become a thriving community. HAIKOU, China, May 5 (Xinhua) -- When Li Jing first arrived in Tianxin a decade ago, she never imagined the small fishing village would transform itself into a bustling surfing resort. Located just a few hundred meters from Riyue Bay, a premier surfing spot in Wanning City in southern China's Hainan Province, Tianxin has reaped the benefits of surfing's development and morphed into a surfer's paradise in recent years. Li settled in the village in 2013. "The environment here is perfect for me. I adore living by the sea with my dog, surfing under the blue sky and white clouds every day," she said. Over the past ten years, Li has taken part in surfing competitions and related activities, witnessing the village's remarkable evolution. "In 2013, the village had just one path leading into it, and express delivery services were non-existent. Now, Tianxin boasts five express stations, a gym, and even a skatepark. Life is becoming increasingly convenient," Li explained. Riyue Bay, with its high-quality seawater and comfortable water temperature, has become a world-class surfing destination suitable for year-round enjoyment. The bay is renowned for its long waves and consistent swells. Tianxin has emerged as a preferred choice for surfers seeking accommodation and dining options. Surfing's surge in popularity since 2019 has attracted more surfers and tourists to Riyue Bay, as well as young entrepreneurs looking to start their businesses. Tang Xin first visited Riyue Bay with friends on China's National Day in 2021. Just one month later, he decided to launch a homestay business in Tianxin. "This village is the closest to Riyue Bay surfing base and has experienced rapid development in recent years. The construction of additional parking lots and charging stations has made it even more convenient for tourists," Tang said. "Our rooms get fully booked up before holidays," he added. The growing popularity of surfing has prompted hundreds of young locals to return from big cities to their hometown, seeking new opportunities. Today, Tianxin is home to 35 homestays and 30 surfing clubs. Villagers have shifted away from fishing to make a living, opting instead to engage in surfing-related businesses. Hu Zhigang, a 25-year-old Tianxin native, returned from Shenzhen in 2021. He now operates a surfing club that teaches beginners how to surf, and is currently outfitting a new restaurant to expand his enterprise. "I think I've found my path. My club is thriving, and it generates 200,000 yuan (28,930 U.S. dollars) to 300,000 yuan annually," Hu said. COLUMBIA While it sounds comical, possession of sunscreen on school grounds could get a student in trouble in South Carolina. Legislation seeks to change that. A bill heading to Gov. Henry McMaster's desk requires school districts to let students possess and use non-aerosol sunscreen. His expected signature will make South Carolina the 27th state with such a law. "Currently, no child is allowed to bring your average Coppertone, Neutrogena SPF sunscreen to school without official documentation," said Hunter Gray, a third-year Medical University of South Carolina student representing the S.C. Academy of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery. "It is a counterintuitive, unnecessary and burdensome approach to a beneficial and otherwise ubiquitous product that saves lives," he told a House subcommittee last month, adding that skin cancer is the nation's most prevalent cancer and that people get most of their sun damage before turning 18. The measure, approved unanimously by both chambers, has produced chuckles and quizzical expressions at every step of the legislative process. "So, youre just talking about simple possession sunscreen, not possession with intent to distribute or trafficking sunscreen?" Senate Education Chairman Greg Hembree, a former solicitor from coastal Little River, said in jest as his committee advanced the bill in February. Legislators' initial reaction was usually disbelief any barrier existed. That includes the chief sponsor, Sen. Mike Johnson, who said he introduced the proposal after a constituent told him her daughter's sunscreen was confiscated. "That's silly," the Tega Cay Republican said he told her. The issue is that SPF is regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration, which classifies sunscreen as an over-the-counter medication. At a minimum, school districts are supposed to require parental permission forms to allow "self-administration" of any over-the-counter drug, whether that's Aspirin, Zyrtec, insect repellant, or sunscreen. Districts can go beyond that and require a doctor's permission and any use to be in a school nurse's office, according to the state Department of Education. Across the state, protocols vary widely. It appears some districts already aren't following that minimum established by an advisory from the state's medical boards. Spokespeople for Horry County and Fort Mill schools told The Post and Courier their students can use sunscreen at school without any special permission. Beaufort County schools require parents to sign a letter allowing their child to bring a labeled sunscreen bottle to school that can be applied under supervision, though they're asked to "please apply sunscreen to your child before school on hot days," the permission letter reads. Richland Two in suburban northeast Columbia also requires a consent form and a discussion with parents on their child's ability to apply it. In Richland One, which includes downtown Columbia, sunscreen must be incorporated in students' "individual health care plan" through either doctor's orders or parental consent form and applied in the school nurse office. In Greenville County, the state's largest district, parents must complete a "non-prescription medication form." If the sunscreen will be applied more than 10 consecutive school days, a licensed health care provider whether a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant must give written permission. Charleston County goes a step further in accepting doctor's orders only. Parents must sign the order and supply the prescribed sunscreen, with an individual health care plan specifying whether it can be applied in the classroom or a clinic. The prescription requirement is due to the wide variety of sunscreens and SPF strengths, said Ellen Nitz, the district's director of nursing. She said the district's health advisory board would like to see sunscreen uniformly available in all public settings schools included akin to waterless hand gel sanitizers. "Many cancers would be preventable through early education and better sun safety habits for all our students," Nitz said. That's precisely why the Illinois-based American Society for Dermatologic Surgery launched the SUNucate Coalition to advocate its model legislation nationwide. South Carolina becomes the 27th "SUNucated state," along with the District of Columbia, to allow students, parents and school employees to use FDA-approved sunscreen without a doctor's note or prescription, according to the society. California had the first such law, which took effect in 2003. A 2015 law made Texas the first state in the South, followed by Alabama, Florida and Louisiana in 2017. States without include neighboring Georgia and North Carolina. "This may seem insignificant at first glance, but let me reassure you it will be far reaching," Gray told the House subcommittee. "We live in the Sun Belt. This bill is an opportunity to use your influence to make a positive change with no cost incurred by the state and future reductions in health care costs for preventable skin cancer." Rep. Jeff Bradley, the subcommittee's chairman, thanked him and everybody else involved in removing bureaucratic hurdles for sunscreen that "totally shocked" him. "Make this nonsense go away," said the Hilton Head Island Republican. LANDRUM Downtown Landrum will soon have more food options with the addition of a new coffee and bistro concept opening this summer. Amanda and Victoria Bridgeman are planning to open Cardinal Coffee & Bistro in June. It will be in the former location of The Red Horse Cafe and Southern Delights & More on East Rutherford Street. The mother-daughter duos love for coffee began when they were living at Drayton Mills in Spartanburg while their new home in Landrum was being built. Inside of the Drayton Mills community is a Bella Latte location that the two would often visit. They plan to use Spartanburg-based Mozza Roasters. The roasting company supplies coffee beans to Bella Lattes three Spartanburg locations. Were going to basically have every kind of espresso drink, said Victoria Bridgeman. If someone asks for something and we dont know, well figure out how to make it. Victoria Bridgeman said there wont be any major renovations but she does plan to redecorate. Shes planning to create a modern aesthetic with neutral tones and lots of plants. Some of her artwork will also be on display throughout the space. Amanda Bridgeman said when she had planned to open the business, she wanted the name of it to have a connection to the Landrum community and reflect some of their interests. Both Landrum Middle School and Landrum High School have cardinals as mascots, and both mother and daughter enjoy birdwatching. She wanted to incorporate bistro into her business as a nod to the French students that shes hosted in her home for eight summers. Over the years, the Bridgemans have learned how to make some popular French cuisine. She plans to feature some French pastries as specialty menu items from time to time. In addition to coffee and French pastries, Cardinal Coffee & Bistro will also serve sandwiches, slices of cake, cookies, breakfast pastries and a variety of flavors of ice cream. Two years ago, Amanda Bridgeman started Dray Bakes and Baskets. The business delivers homemade dessert baskets to college students across the Upstate. She still plans to make deliveries to students. The summer hours for Cardinal Coffee & Bistro will be 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The minimum wage is $0.00 for many. It is against our law to hire anyone and pay him less than $9.25 per hour. For the person whose labor is n Read moreThe real minimum wage is $0 Mohamed A. Salama, head of the International Tourism Offices Sector at the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, said that Egypt welcomes the arrival of Chinese tourists and is working on preparation and promotion work to attract more Chinese tourists. As China relaxed travel restrictions earlier this year and resumed group tours to up to 60 countries, many countries are gearing up to welcome Chinese visitors. Produced by Xinhua Global Service PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-06 01:01:08 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 483 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SAN JOSE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 5, 2023 / A disabled Army veteran won a $1.3 Million verdict in federal court in San Jose this week, for a back injury she suffered when a Delta flight attendant refused to place her roller bag suitcase into the overhead storage bin for her. Rena Soverns, a 67-year-old grandmother who volunteered for the Army during the Vietnam War and was rendered disabled by injuries sustained during her service, testified that she boarded a Delta flight in Fargo, North Dakota on July 6, 2019, and requested help from a nearby flight attendant because her disability prevented her from lifting her 19-pound suitcase into the overhead bin. According to her testimony, the female flight attendant responded that she "didn't have to do that." Federal law and Delta's own policies require flight attendants to assist passengers with stowage of hand luggage when they identify as disabled. Soverns said she told the flight attendant again that she was unable to lift objects to such a height, adding that the flight attendant told her to try anyway, and said she would assist in the effort. Soverns testified that she lifted the suitcase as high as she was able to, expecting the flight attendant to lift it the rest of the way into the bin, but the flight attendant then inexplicably removed her hand from the suitcase, and the bag fell down onto Soverns' chest, knocking her backwards into an adjacent seat back. The blow injured her lumbar spine, which has given her daily back pain ever since.Soverns' attorney, John McKay of Park Avenue Law in San Francisco, said, "She's a resilient and kind lady who served our country, and she didn't need to be treated like that. She fully deserves the verdict she obtained." McKay is a pilot and lawyer who devotes his practice to airline and aviation-related matters.McKay is the founder and principal attorney of Park Avenue Law. He served as lead counsel for Soverns in the case. The case is Rena Kay Soverns v. Delta Air Lines Inc., case number 20-cv-06258-BLF, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California presided over the trial.About Park Avenue LawPark Avenue Law focuses on serious injury and wrongful death litigation, primarily relating to aviation. We have been on the front lines litigating airline and private aircraft passenger claims for decades, and have the skills and knowledge necessary to litigate such claims successfully. As a pilot-owned law firm with substantial prior defense and aviation insurance experience, Park Avenue Law stands alone among plaintiffs' firms in the aviation law sphere. For more information, please visit https://flightadvocate.com Contact: John D. McKay, Esquire, (434) 531-9569; johndmckayatty@ gmail.com Contact InformationJohn McKayAttorneyjohndmckayatty@ gmail.com (434) 531-9569SOURCE: Park Avenue Law LLC PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-06 01:15:42 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 535 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / May 5, 2023 / Quebec Precious Metals Corporation ( TSX.V:QPM , FSE:YXEP, OTCQB:CJCFF) ("QPM" or the "Corporation") announces that it has entered into agreements to issue an aggregate of 162,188 common shares in settlement of debts of three current directors of the Corporation in an aggregate amount of $19,462.56 (the "Debt Settlement"). The Debt Settlement is paid in connection with services rendered by the current directors during the first quarter of the financial year ending January 31, 2024.The Board of Directors and Management of QPM believe that the Debt Settlement is in the best interests of QPM as it will help the Corporation preserve its cash position. The common shares to be issued pursuant to the Debt Settlement will be issued at a deemed price of $0.12 per share and will be subject to a four-month hold period pursuant to applicable securities regulations and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV").The Debt Settlement is considered a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Debt Settlement will be exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as QPM's securities are not listed on any stock exchange identified in Section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 and neither the fair market value of the common shares to be issued in the Debt Settlement nor of the services provided in connection with the debts which are the subject of the Debt Settlement exceeds 25% of QPM's market capitalization.The Debt Settlement is subject to regulatory approval, including that of the TSXV.Deferred shares unitsThe Company announces the issuance of 79,167 deferred stock units (the "DSUs") to the Chief Executive Officer pursuant to its Deferred Share Unit Plan (the "DSU Plan"). This follows the decision that from May 1, 2022, the CEO's salary compensation will be paid 80% in cash and the other 20% of compensation will be paid in Differed DSUs quarterly. These DSUs represent the portion for the first quarter of 2024. In accordance with the DSU Plan, the DSUs shall vest in accordance with the terms of agreements granting same and one year from the date of such grant, subject to the provisions of TSXV Policy 4.4 and the Company's security based compensation plan, and are payable in common shares of the Company, or in cash at the sole discretion of the Company, upon the holder ceasing to be an employee of the Company.About Quebec Precious Metals CorporationQPM is a gold explorer with a large land position in the highly prospective Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory, Quebec, near Newmont Corporation's Eleonore gold mine. QPM's flagship project is the Sakami project with significant grades and well-defined drill-ready targets. QPM's goal is to rapidly explore the Sakami project and advance to the mineral resource estimate stage.For more information please contact:Normand ChampignyChief Executive OfficerTel.: 514 979-4746nchampigny@ qpmcorp.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.SOURCE: Quebec Precious Metals Corporation PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-06 13:06:14 Press Information Dhirtek Business Research and Consulting Private Limited +91 7580990088 email www.dhirtekbusinessresearch.com Published by Parmeet Singh 7580990088 e-mail https://www.dhirtekbusinessresearch.com/ # 1136 Words +91 7580990088Parmeet Singh7580990088 Dhirtek Business Research and Consulting recently released their most comprehensive study on the global craniomaxillofacial medical system market. This research report provides a detailed overview of the market's drivers and restraints, as well as a thorough analysis of the current trends that are likely to shape its future. To create this in-depth report, the team of analysts used both primary and secondary research methods. The report offers an unbiased perspective on the craniomaxillofacial medical system industry, allowing clients to make well-informed business decisions. The report reveals key insights about the global craniomaxillofacial medical system industry, such as the market's size and potential for growth. It also examines the impact of technological advancements, regulatory changes, and consumer behaviors on the market's performance. Analysts also take a closer look at the market's competitive landscape, highlighting the strategies used by leading players to gain a competitive edge. Additionally, the report outlines potential threats and opportunities that may arise in the near future.Overall, this comprehensive report offers an invaluable resource for those looking to better understand the global craniomaxillofacial medical system market. With the help of the study's data-driven insights, clients can gain a better understanding of the current market dynamics, allowing them to make informed business decisions.Request a Sample of this Report at: https://www.dhirtekbusinessresearch.com/market-report/Craniomaxillofacial-Medical-System-Market/request-for-sample-report The global craniomaxillofacial medical system market was in a state of flux, and the future direction was uncertain. To gain clarity, a comprehensive research study was conducted to analyze the market using Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis. By combining these two methods of analysis, the research could gain a clear perspective of the global craniomaxillofacial medical system market's expected direction.The SWOT analysis focused on identifying the market's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It was a useful tool in determining the potential of the market to succeed and develop, as well as its potential vulnerabilities. The Porter's five forces analysis, on the other hand, provided a detailed look into the competitive landscape, examining the level of competition, the bargaining power of customers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of new entrants, and the threat of substitute products.The research report delved into the trends that were shaping the market, as well as consumer behavior patterns. It was found that the competition among the existing players in the market was intense, and new entrants posed a major threat. The bargaining power of customers was also strong, and suppliers had to come up with innovative products to keep their customers satisfied. Additionally, the threat of substitute products was also present, and companies had to be prepared to face this competition.Overall, the research study provided a comprehensive understanding of the global craniomaxillofacial medical system market's expected direction. By combining Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis, the research was able to gain a clear picture of the market's future. The report gave readers a better understanding of the trends and consumer behavior patterns that would shape the market's evolution.Highlights of Global Craniomaxillofacial Medical System Market ReportThe global craniomaxillofacial medical system market report is a comprehensive overview of the current state of the industry and provides an in-depth analysis of its future trends and developments.The report details the market size, growth rate, industry trends, and other noteworthy information. It also highlights key products and services that are driving the growth of the market, as well as their respective market shares.One of the most important aspects of the global craniomaxillofacial medical system market report is the analysis of the competitive landscape. The report details the competitive positioning of the leading players in the market and the various strategies they are using to stay ahead of their rivals.The report also examines the recent technological developments that are disrupting the industry and the effect they will have on the market in the long term. It also covers the impact of government regulations and policies on the industry and provides an insight into the future trends in the industry.The global craniomaxillofacial medical system market report provides an insightful look at the current state of the industry and a comprehensive overview of its future prospects. It is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to gain an understanding of the market and its potential.Scope of the ReportCraniomaxillofacial Medical System Market SegmentsThe market by product type is segmented into mf plate and screw fixation system, cranial flap fixation system, temporomandibular joint replacement system, others.The market by application is segmented into hospital, ambulatory surgery center, others.Regions Covered in the Global Craniomaxillofacial Medical System Market:North America (the United States and Canada)Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Rest of Europe)Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Korea, Australia, and Rest of Asia Pacific)The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa and Rest of the Middle East & Africa)Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Rest of Latin America)The craniomaxillofacial medical system market has been under intense scrutiny over the past few years, and the latest report released by the market research division provides a comprehensive overview of the leading players in the industry. The report contains a detailed chapter on company profiles which provides an overview of the strategic objectives of the leading players, their primary products and services, and an in-depth analysis of their strategic initiatives.The report reveals that the leading players in the craniomaxillofacial medical system market are taking aggressive steps to strengthen their position in the industry. Many of the organizations have embarked on R&D activities to stay ahead of the competition and remain competitive. Their strategic initiatives have also been designed to capitalize on the technological advances in the industry.The report also provides an overview of the financial outlooks of the leading players in the industry. An overall analysis of the organizations' financial statuses reveals the current trends in the market. This allows readers to gain a better understanding of the potential of the craniomaxillofacial medical system market and its expected trajectory.It is clear that the craniomaxillofacial medical system market is a highly competitive industry and the leading players have to continuously innovate to keep up with the competition. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the industry and its key players and provides readers with an understanding of the industry's current and future prospects. This research aims to provide readers with an informed assessment of the anticipated trajectory of the craniomaxillofacial medical system market.The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Craniomaxillofacial Medical System Market Research Report:Aesculap Implants Systems (B Braun Melsungen AG), Johnson & Johnson, KLS Martin Group, Medartis AG, Medtronic, Renishaw Plc, Stryker Corporation, Synimed, Xilloc Medical B. V, Zimmer BiometContact UsDhirtek Business Research and Consulting Private LimitedContact No: +91 7580990088Email Id: sales@ dhirtekbusinessresearch.com PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-06 18:31:19 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 953 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2023 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Credit Suisse Group AG ("Credit Suisse" or the "Company") (NYSE:CS), and certain officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and docketed under 23-cv-02246, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Credit Suisse securities, including the Company's AT1 Bonds, in a domestic transaction in the U.S., between February 18, 2021 and March 20, 2023, 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 Credit Suisse securities during the Class Period, you have until May 8, 2023 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@ pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.[Click here for information about joining the class action]Credit Suisse, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services in Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. The Company offers wealth management solutions, including investment advice and discretionary asset management services; risk management solutions, such as managed investment products; and wealth planning, succession planning, and trust services.In October 2022, Credit Suisse began experiencing a sharp increase in customer outflows, or withdrawals of client funds, after a series of quarterly losses and risk and compliance failures significantly decreased the Company's American Depositary Share ("ADS") price.On December 1, 2022, Credit Suisse's Chairman, Defendant Axel P. Lehmann ("Lehmann") stated in an interview with Financial Times that customer outflows had not only "completely flattened out," but had, in fact, "partially reversed." The following day, in an interview with Bloomberg Television, Defendant Lehmann reiterated his previous statements, reassuring investors that as of November 11, 2022, customer outflows had "basically stopped".Following Defendant Lehmann's statements, Credit Suisse's ADS price rose $0.29 per ADS, or 9.36%, to close at $3.38 per ADS on December 2, 2022.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) contrary to Defendant Lehmann's representations in December 2022, the sharp increase in customer outflows Credit Suisse began experiencing in October 2022 remained ongoing; (ii) accordingly, Credit Suisse had downplayed the impact of the Company's recent series of quarterly losses and risk and compliance failures on liquidity and its ability to retain client funds; (iii) in addition, the Company maintained deficient internal disclosure controls and procedures; (iv) as a result, Credit Suisse had overstated the Company's financial position and/or prospects; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.On February 9, 2023, Credit Suisse issued a press release announcing its 2022 financial results. The press release revealed that, contrary to Defendant Lehmann's prior statements, large customer outflows had continued through year-end 2022. Specifically, the press release reported customer outflows of 110.5 billion Swiss francs in the final three months of 2022, a figure which far exceeded market expectations.On this news, Credit Suisse's ADS price fell $0.56 per ADS, or 15.64%, to close at $3.02 per ADS on February 9, 2023.Then, on February 21, 2023, Reuters reported that the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority ("FINMA"), was reviewing Defendant Lehmann's previous comments regarding customer outflows.On this news, Credit Suisse's ADS price fell another $0.10 per ADS, or 3.31%, to close at $2.92 per ADS on February 21, 2023.Then, on March 9, 2023, the Company issued an ad hoc announcement on Form 6-K stating it would delay the publication of its 2022 Annual Report and related Annual Report after a call on March 8, 2023 from the Securities and Exchange Commissionregarding the Company's cash flow statements in the years ended December 31, 2020, and 2019, as well as related controls.On this news, Credit Suisse's ADS price fell another $0.13 per ADS, or 4.48%, to close at $2.77 per ADS on March 9, 2023.Then, on March 14, 2023, the Company filed an Annual Report on Form 20-F with the SEC, reporting the Company's financial and operating results for the year ended December 31, 2022 which identified material weaknesses in the Company's internal controls and procedures.On this news, Credit Suisse's ADS price fell another $0.03 per ADS. or 1.18%, to close at $2.51 per ADS on March 14, 2023.Then, on March 15, 2023, Reuters published an article entitled "Credit Suisse's biggest backer says can't put up more cash; share down by a fifth" citing Saudi National Bank would not buy any more of the Company's shares on regulatory grounds.On this news, Credit Suisse's ADS price fell another $0.35 per ADS, or 13.94%, to close at $2.16 per ADS on March 15, 2023.Finally, on March 20, 2023, before market hours, the Company issued an ad hoc announcement on Form 6-K stating that, following the FINMA investigation, it had entered into a merger agreement with UBS.On this news, Credit Suisse's ADS price fell another $1.07 per ADS, or 52.99%, to close at $0.94 per ADS on March 20, 2023.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 An injured person in a helicopter crash is transferred to a hospital in Lalitpur, Nepal, May 5, 2023. One person was killed and four others were injured after a helicopter crashed in Sankhuwasabha district of east Nepal Friday afternoon. The helicopter hit a tree when it was airlifting goods for the Upper Arun hydropower project and was about to land. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua) KATHMANDU, May 5 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed and four others injured after a helicopter crashed in Sankhuwasabha district of eastern Nepal on Friday afternoon. The helicopter hit a tree when it was airlifting goods for the Upper Arun hydropower project and was approaching landing. "One person working for the hydropower project died while four others were injured in the fatal crash. The person died while being taken to a local hospital," Mohan Mani Ghimire, assistant chief district officer, told Xinhua. "All the injured have been taken to Kathmandu for further treatment," he added. On April 9, a cargo helicopter crashed in Mt. Dhaulagiri area with no casualties. An injured person in a helicopter crash is transferred to a hospital in Lalitpur, Nepal, May 5, 2023. One person was killed and four others were injured after a helicopter crashed in Sankhuwasabha district of east Nepal Friday afternoon. The helicopter hit a tree when it was airlifting goods for the Upper Arun hydropower project and was about to land. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua) An injured person in a helicopter crash is transferred to a hospital in Lalitpur, Nepal, May 5, 2023. One person was killed and four others were injured after a helicopter crashed in Sankhuwasabha district of east Nepal Friday afternoon. The helicopter hit a tree when it was airlifting goods for the Upper Arun hydropower project and was about to land. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua) A helicopter transporting the injured prepares to land at a hospital in Lalitpur, Nepal, May 5, 2023. One person was killed and four others were injured after a helicopter crashed in Sankhuwasabha district of east Nepal Friday afternoon. The helicopter hit a tree when it was airlifting goods for the Upper Arun hydropower project and was about to land. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua) A helicopter transporting the injured prepares to land at a hospital in Lalitpur, Nepal, May 5, 2023. One person was killed and four others were injured after a helicopter crashed in Sankhuwasabha district of east Nepal Friday afternoon. The helicopter hit a tree when it was airlifting goods for the Upper Arun hydropower project and was about to land. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua) An injured person in a helicopter crash is transferred to a hospital in Lalitpur, Nepal, May 5, 2023. One person was killed and four others were injured after a helicopter crashed in Sankhuwasabha district of east Nepal Friday afternoon. The helicopter hit a tree when it was airlifting goods for the Upper Arun hydropower project and was about to land. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua) TAJBank Limited, Nigerias foremost non-interest bank, has announced top Kannywood actress Saratu Daso as brand ambassador. On Friday, a statement by the banks Chief Executive Officer, Hamid Joda, in Abuja said the idea is a marketing strategy to popularise TAJBanks techno-powered innovative products and services at the grassroots. Mr Joda said that it would also deepen financial inclusion in the country. Osita Iheme (Pawpaw), Usman Uzee, Aisha Falke (Northern Hibiscus) and Hauwa Jalilah were also announced as brand influencers of the bank. According to Joda, the emergence of the ambassadors and influencers followed a rigorous selection process by a brand expert team constituted by the management. He said the initiative was based on the customer-oriented business philosophy of TAJBank. It is also aimed at leveraging the brand ambassadors and influencers selfless services and commitment to poverty alleviation in the grassroots, he said. He described the event as epochal in the banks efforts to tell Nigerians and the global community that TAJBank was determined to serve them better by bringing joy to as many ready to bank with it. As you can see, these brand ambassadors and influencers have carved a niche for themselves as highly responsible players in the movie industry over the years. By their actions, they are people-oriented and socially responsible, primarily through their financial and other support to the needy. So, as our partners in the brand and marketing drive for TAJBank, we are optimistic that millions of customers, who are our only interest, will immeasurably benefit from this partnership, he said. In remarks on behalf of the ambassadors, Iheme said that he was proud to be part of TAJBanks commitment to poverty alleviation in the country. Also, Aisha Falke, one of the newly announced influencers, said she was proud to have emerged as one of TAJBanks influencers. After the ceremony, Daso applauded the bank for recognising her as one of their ambassadors. I thank you all for this gesture, and I pray you prosper in all your doings. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print In December 2022, when Olori Tobi Phillips, the youngest wife of the Ooni of Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi, asserted that the relationship between all five of them, her co-wives was very cordial, not a few wondered how practical that would be. The perfect opportunity to put her claim to the test presented itself during the week when the traditional ruler, in the company of three of his wives, appeared all decked up in public. The occasion was the unveiling of the book, Ile-Ife, Cradle of the World, held at Eko Hotel in Lagos and authored by the Nigerian High Commissioner to Jamaica, Maureen Tamuno. It is perhaps the first time the traditional ruler would attend a public function with more than one wife since September 2022, when he had a flurry of weddings. The Ooni of Ife commended the author, noting that the book is necessary to correct any errors being peddled about the black race. For instance, some people who have only got one dynasty are claiming to be older than Ile-Ife, which has three dynasties and is thousands of years old, he said. He described the author as an energetic go-getter who has performed exceptionally as a diplomat in a male-dominated environment. He was accompanied by three of his five wives; Olori Mariam, Olori Ashley Adegoke and Olori Ronke Ademiluyi. However, away from the officialdom, Nigerians were more intrigued by the relationship displayed by the wives of the Ooni. Sideshow In a viral video making the rounds on the internet, the wives of the royal father were perceived to have snubbed each other. A clip drawing reactions from social media shows Oonis first wife, Olori Mariam, attempting to exchange pleasantries with the other two. While Olori Ashley acknowledged her greeting, Olori Ronke adjusted her seat and gave her what seemed like a side-eye. The clip, posted by City People Magazine has since garnered over 20,000 views on Instagram and numerous comments. The makeup factor However, from observation, there may be nothing out of the ordinary to Olori Ronkes gesture. The five seconds clip is not enough to establish any animosity or draw any inference, although all three Oloris did not appear together in any of the photographs posted. The Ooni too didnt appear in any photos with the others except his first wife. Further observations show that Olori Ronkes makeup may be the reason why she appeared to have given her co-wife what critics described as a side-eye. Also, they all kept a straight face which seemed unfriendly, although it could be an attempt not to ruin their makeup. Reactions While some agree that the video does not prove anything, others believe that there is more than meets the eyes. Iamyourlandlady wrote: Why dont you all see it other way round, like Olori Mariam and the other Olori have said hello to each other before she moves to Olori Ashley. Probably the camera didnt capture that part. Owopompin noted: What media would cause, why just clipping a 5sces video and releasing it to the public. People will start making assumptions, accusations etc. Lets all be guided! Damilolabanire wrote: Shey na only me dey see wetin dey happen btw the Queens? Something is not right. Abi naa too much Nollywood. Mhizz_bernice said: Eyin bloggers oran make una dey fear God small small why reading meaning to what is meaningless thats how queen ronkes eye be na haba. Olori2tu__ also noted: Bombastic side eye criminal offensive side eye. Ile-Ife, Cradle of the World The book, Ile-Ife, Cradle of the World, reviewed by Siyan Oyeweso, a professor highlights the importance of Ile-Ife to Yoruba culture. According to the author, upon her appointment as an Ambassador, she conducted research and found some linkages between Ile-Ife and the Caribbean and black people in the Diaspora. I resumed my duty post at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and some Jamaicans came to me saying they wanted to learn the Yoruba Language. I couldnt speak it myself but I was lucky to get a volunteer who taught them for about 180 days. I thought that was all until I saw people trooping in from Dominican Republic, Haiti and other places saying they have traced their roots and found out that they came from Yorubaland, she said.image0.jpeg Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Movie Title: The Two Aishas Runtime: 2 hours Producer: Shareefah Andu Cast: Rahama Sadau, Maryam Booth, Pat Utomi, Akeem Ogara, and Shushu Abubakar Date of release: 24 April 2023 We are barely halfway into this year, and Nollywood consistently serves premium, entertaining content almost every week. While some of these films have won our hearts through their vital concepts, another feature that makes them stand out is their representation. Finally, its great to see Nigerian film producers stepping up their game and acknowledging that our society is not just made up of certain tribal and religious groups but, instead, a diverse range of people who all deserve to be represented on the big screens. Its time to celebrate and showcase the beauty and richness of Nigerias diversity through film. In a bid to improve the cinematic representation of Muslims, Arabel Productions recently released The Two Aishas, a family drama movie that explores the hostility that often comes with friendship and makes you nostalgic for early 2000s home video movies such as Beyonce and Rihanna and Blood Sisters, both focusing on the beef between two friends or sisters. The Tea The Two Aishas revolves around two best friends, Aisha Yusuf (Mariam Booth) and Aisha Jibril (Rahama Sadau). Both ladies have been tight-as-knit sweaters since childhood. However, enmity rears its ugly head when Aisha Jibrils husband, Jamal (Paul Utomi), is replaced by Aisha Yusufs husband, Ibrahim (Akeem Ogara), to be the deputy governor for a gubernatorial election. Due to jealousy and betrayal, Jamal assumes Ibrahim is responsible for ratting out his tax evasion secret, so he pits Aisha Jibril against her best friend. The battle between both couples escalates as Ibrahim is accused of pushing Aisha Jibril at a book launch event. Efforts to mend the couples quarrel are futile for their friends and mentors. When it seems like the friendships between both families will become history, Halimah (Shushu Abubakar), a friend, sends a letter to both Aishas, informing them of the terminal illness. This causes both ladies to put their differences aside and support their sick friend. The Good As mentioned earlier, The Two Aishas provide much-needed screen representation. Going on an emotional journey with the Muslim characters was fun and exciting. The film shies away from the stereotypical portrayal of Muslim characters by adding depth and complexity to each character. For example, we saw that, beyond being a devout Muslim, Aisha Jibiril is an ambitious woman. The choice to name the film Two Aishas is genius, and the actresses performances with the eponymous title make it even more brilliant. Rahama Sadau and Mariam Booth should be national treasures protected at all costs. The way they embodied the characters was a potent reminder of why they are one of the best in Kannywood. Elements in the film, from the cinematography to the location, might earn an average score, but this doesnt take away from the glamorous costumes that dominated the screens. With the several looks worn on set, it wont be surprising if the two Aishas become a guide for slaying in modest Islamic attire. The Bad Despite offering us representation, the two Aishas were embroiled in several flaws. For once, it would have made sense for the plot of a Nollywood film to drag as The Aisha rushed a lot of events. It would have been great to see a lot of encounters between both Aishas. The screenwriter could have included more dramatic events to create a proper beef between the ladies. This keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, wondering if reuniting both parties is possible. Many of the dialogues could have been more active. They felt like a group of fluff words, making them unsuitable for certain scenes. Again, what is Nollywoods obsession with uncomplimentary background music when a character is speaking? Its very distracting, especially in The Two Aishas. Final Verdict 7/10. The Two Aisha portrays friendship from a different angle, one we rarely see on the big screens. So, its a breath of fresh air, thus making it watchable. The Two Aishas is showing at cinemas near you. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Eleven lawmakers have declared interest in the position of Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives. However, those considered front runners in the contest have one major thing in common they worked for the emergence of the current speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila. Mr Gbajabiamilas deputy of four years, Idris Wase (APC, Plateau), is in the race, just as Muktar Betara (APC, Borno), Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau), Ben Kalu (APC, Abia), Miriam Onuoha (APC, Imo) and Tajudeen Abbas (APC, Kaduna). They all played leading roles in the 2019 House leadership campaign. Also, Abdulmumin Jibrin, the director-general of the Gbaja/Wase 2019 campaign, is back in the House, this time as a member of the minority caucus, and has already commenced mobilisation of minority votes. The current Speaker is not just some random Speaker finishing his tenure. He has the ears of the president-elect and is expected to be in his kitchen cabinet. In the past months, there has been a silent war within the 2019 alliance that brought in Mr Gbajabimaila. Although the Speaker has smartly advised the aspirants to wait for the partys decision on zoning, they are directing their attention at those they consider to be Mr Gbajabiamilas proxies for a clue. The situation has become so sensitive that some days back, Mr Gbajabiamila was forced to dispel a rumour that he had resolved to back Mr Abbas from Kaduna State, which would have implied that he was working against the bid of his deputy, Mr Wase. In a statement, the Speaker said, I cannot work against my Partys interest and position. I am a product of APCs zoning in 2019, and I shall adhere to that any time the party comes up with its arrangement. And there is always the fear of one of the candidates taking the path of Yakubu Dogara in 2015, by aligning with opposition lawmakers to defeat the candidate of the ruling party. This fear was expressed by the governors of APC in a memo they sent to the president-elect, Bola Tinubu. Joint Task Apparently, to forestall the 2015 scenario, some loyalists of Mr Gbajabiamila have formed a multi-party coalition called the Joint Task to support the zoning arrangement of the APC. Interestingly, The Joint Task is the theme of Mr Gbajabiamilas Ninth House. Because several loyalists of Mr Gbajabiamila are at the forefront of the coalition, many see it as the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob. Many believe that Mr Gbajabimaila set up the coalition to prevent the 2015 experience where he was the main victim of the open rebellion. Also, it appears the Joint Task is a continuation of the alliance between Mr Tinubu and the G5 governors. Kingsley Chinda, a loyalist of Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, is the co-chairman of the Joint Task and Aliyu Madaki, a member-elect of NNPP, is the secretary. Essentially, the joint task is believed to be the reserve army to fulfil the decision of the president-elect on who becomes the speaker. In essence, the group has infiltrated the opposition, which currently has a combined strength of 180 members, compared to APCs 177 members. Men battling to replace Gbajabiamila Idris Wase (Plateau North-Central) Idris Wase represents Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau State. He was first elected to the House in 2007 under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), a party founded by the president-elect. He was re-elected in 2011 on the same partys platform and was part of the 2015 merger that produced the current APC. Aside from his long journey with the ACN, Mr Wase also has a long relationship with Mr Gbajabiamila. In 2018, Mr Wase was appointed the deputy majority leader following the death of Umar Jibrin from Kogi State. By 2019, the duo decided to run a joint ticket for the speakership and deputy. The choice of Mr Wase as running mate to Mr Gbajabimaila in 2019 was strategic a Fulani from the Northcentral zone. The joint ticket divided proponents of a Northcentral agenda and ultimately helped in defeating the zonal coalition behind Umar Bago, a lawmaker from Niger State. For four years, Mr Wase has been a loyal deputy and played the lead role in passing some of the landmark bills of the administration, including the Electoral Act, Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and others. In terms of experience, as the deputy speaker and statutory chairman of the House Committee of the Whole, there is no higher qualification test for the speakership. However, the task ahead of him is daunting. While experience is a positive factor, it has been a minus for him. None of the other 10 candidates in the race has ever presided over plenary or the Committee of the Whole. In the last four years, Mr Wase has definitely had a few altercations with lawmakers in the course of discharging his duty. In October 2020, he had a face-off with Shina Peller. He also clashed with Mark Gbillah, Dachung Bagos and Segun Odebunmi. Several opposition lawmakers may still hold grudges against the deputy speaker over the way and manner the PIA and the Electoral Act were passed. Despite a walk-out by members of the opposition, Mr Wase forged ahead to pass the bill. To be fair, Mr Wases disagreement often stems from lawmakers not following the rules and procedures of the House. His no-nonsense attitude is in contrast with Mr Gbajabialas, who tries to indulge the lawmakers as much as possible. In the course of the campaign, opponents of Mr Wase have used words like bully and hardliner to describe him. To cross the line, he may have to count on his loyalty to Mr Gbajabiamila in the past four years. There is also the zoning factor. The North-central is well placed in the race because the region has never occupied the position. It also produced a strong performance in the presidential election for the APC. Thus, it is not strange that the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) recommended zoning the position of Speaker to the North-west or North-central. Even in the North-central, Mr Wase will have to battle a young lawmaker from his state, Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau), who is also running for the position. Secondly, he has to persuade opposition lawmakers to back him. Yusuf Gagdi (Plateau, North-central) Mr Gagdi represents Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam federal constituency of Plateau State. The lawmaker, a former Deputy Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly, is the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy. He was first elected to the House in 2019 and has been reelected into the 10th Assembly. He was among the first to declare interest in the race. If the election is zoned to the North-central, it could be an all Plateau affair with Mr Gagdi drawn against his Mr Wase. The duo so far are the strongest aspirants from the zone. Mr Gagdi is one of the arrowheads of the Gbajabiamila/Wase successful campaign of 2019. Although many believe that he was rewarded with the Committee on Navy, by convention, former state assembly presiding officers get preference in the distribution of the positions. Also, he will have to assure his colleagues about his temper, given his history of fighting on the floor of the House. In 2021, during the debate on the Electoral Bill, he fought with Mark Gbillah, the lawmaker from Benue State. In the event the position is zoned to the North-central, those sceptical about Mr Wase may consider Mr Gagdi as a benign alternative. Mr Gagdi also appears to have his eyes on the 36 votes of the Labour Party. In the past couple of weeks, he appeared to be targeting the new opposition partys members-elect. First, he held a meeting with Alex Otti, who is the only governor-elect of the Labour Party, and followed up with another with some LP members-elect in Abuja. His relationship with Governor Simon Lalong may also play a crucial zone in the battle. He is believed to share a close relationship with his home state governor. Therefore, the latter may leverage his influence as the Director-General of the dissolved APC presidential campaign council to sway the pendulum in the direction of Gagdi. While it may be safe to say that his fate is tied to the zoning of the APC, his emergence in 2015 as Deputy Speaker in Plateau State tells a story of a man capable of navigating between parties. In 2015, when he was elected the deputy speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, he was a member of a minority party in the House. Muktar Betara (Borno, Northwest) The media-shy Borno State lawmaker has added a new dimension to the speakership battle. However, for his bid, the elephant in the room is zoning because Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima is from his state. The ruling party and the president-elect now find themselves in a delicate situation. In the past month, Mr Betara has emerged as the candidate to beat. While others are operating in the background, his campaign has been aggressive, cutting across minority parties. But the ruling party may lack the moral right to rule out Mr Betara. One, in 2019, the incumbent speaker was backed by the APC to emerge as the speaker, despite being from the South-west as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The arrangement excluded the South-east from the equation. Although Messrs Osinbajo and Gbabiamila are from Ogun and Lagos states respectively, Mr Osinbajo is more of a Lagos politician, a state he served as attorney-general for eight years. In addition, he voted in Lagos in 2015 and 2019 even as a vice-presidential candidate in the two elections. Therefore, between 2019 and 2023, the number two and four citizens were from Lagos State. Also, in 2011, Mr Gbajabimaila, as Minority Leader, led the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) lawmakers to support Aminu Tambuwal to emerge as Speaker of the Seventh House. This was despite Mr Tambuwal and Vice President Namadi Sambo being from the same North-west. Thus, contemporary history has many facts to support Mr Betaras bid. Secondly, Mr Betara is also believed to have been one of the lawmakers that funded the Gbaja/Wase campaign in 2019. The coveted Committee on Appropriation was believed to have been given to him as compensation. To many in Mr Betaras camp, Mr Gbajabiamila owes the Borno lawmaker a debt of loyalty higher than a juicy committee. His position as the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee also gives him considerable leverage in terms of patronage. Lawmakers depend on the committee to push their projects into the annual budget. However, an estimated over 60 per cent of the current members of the Ninth House did not return, hence the frenetic lobbying of new members. A simple review shows that Mr Betara may not be doing badly in that regard. Nonetheless, Mr Betara faces an uphill battle in his quest for speakership. He will probably be facing strong opponents from North-central and North-west. Some aspirants in the race have been visiting him in the hope of getting his support should he be forced out of the race. The Majority Leader, Alhassan Doguwa and Miriam Onuoha already paid the Borno lawmaker a visit in anticipation that he may drop out. Tajudeen Abbas (Kaduna, Northwest) The lawmaker representing Zaria Federal Constituency of Kaduna State has been very quiet. He is yet to officially join the race. However, his name has been mentioned as one of the favourites in the race. While he has been quiet about the race, lawmakers continue to mention his name. Some weeks back, there was a report by a national daily that Mr Gbajabiamila had backed the Kaduna lawmaker. Despite the swift denial by the Speaker, the speculation has refused to die down. Sources within the National Assembly said that Mr Abbas has been instructed to maintain a low profile while his supporters make the case for zoning of the ticket to the North-west as he is considered the favourite candidate. In the event that the Senate President is zoned to the South based on religious consideration, then the North-west will have a strong case for the speakership. For many, Mr Abbas calmness contrasts with the temperament of many of his rivals from the North, considering that temperament has become a major talking point in the race for who succeeds Mr Gbajabiamila. The North-west is going to ask you, what is going to happen to me? It is up to the leaders of our party. You have got quality candidates from the North-west. We have got Tajudeen Abbas, three times member, PhD holder, current house committee chairman on land transport. You just mentioned, Sada Soli, we have (Ahmed) Jaji too, Akin Alabi, a member of the Joint Task, said during an interview. Mr Alabi, who is the spokesperson of the group, appears to be conveniently slotting in the name of Mr Abbas at every interview, oftentimes dropping the PhD title, while giving the other aspirants little or no mention at all. To many lawmakers, Mr Abbas has two main combinations, soft temperament and competence, with the addition of being from the North-west. There is also the influence of Nasir el-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State. Mr Abbas has impressive legislative experience. He has sponsored the highest number of bills in the current Assembly. According to a report by OrderPaper Initiative, Mr Abbas had sponsored 75 bills as of December 2022. However, there is a big hurdle ahead of him. His silence could be turned against him and made him labelled as the candidate of the establishment. Secondly, in the North-west, there are five candidates, thus, it may be difficult for the zone to produce a united front. And the entry of the majority leader, Alhassan Doguwa, perhaps has changed the outlook of the race. Miriam Onuoha (Imo, South-east) Ms Onuoha, the Chairman of the House Committee on Disabilities, is the only woman in the race thus far. The Okigwe North federal consistency lawmaker said she is not in the race to bargain for another position. It is presiding officer or nothing, she told PREMIUM TIMES. Her candidacy relies heavily on zoning. But the South-east National Assembly delegation in the ruling APC faces scrutiny over the outcome of the presidential election. Mr Tinubu, the president-elect, got a miserable one per cent of the total votes cast in the region. However, Imo State delivered more than half of the entire votes cast for the APC in the zone. The zoning of the Senate President will also have an impact on her aspiration. If the APC zones it to the South, the speakership may be out of her reach. If the party decides to zone the speakership to the South, then she may have a strong claim. Of course, there is the option of deputy speaker an office that may become available to the South-east if the speakership goes to the North and the South-south takes the Senate presidency. This scenario is becoming probable judging by the reality of things in the past few weeks. Deputy Speaker may be an option for her. There is also the possibility some aspirants may consider a joint ticket with her. She offers a unique advantage to anyone seeking a running mate as having her as a speaker or deputy speaker will be considered a win for women. Alhassan Doguwa (Kano, North-west) On Wednesday, the Majority Leader of the House officially joined the race, with a clear message to his party what is good for Gbajabiamila in 2019 is also good for a Doguwa in 2023. The Kano lawmaker is saying as Gbajabiamila made a transition from Leader of the House to Speaker, he should be offered the same privilege. However, he has an albatross on his neck in his ongoing murder trial in Kano State. The lawmaker is accused of involvement in the death of three persons in his constituency and is currently on N500 million bail. To Mr Doguwa, a murder trial is no reason to deter him from the race. There is also the temperament issue, which was also raised during the declaration. His response: For those who refer to me as a high-level temperamental person, they have misperceived Ado Doguwa, the man who has four wives and 28 children. Mr Doguwa sees himself as the closest aspirant to the president-elect. During his declaration, he donned a cap with the Tinubus insignia and even declared the Yoruba slogan popularised by Mr Tinubu, Emi Lokan, meaning it is my turn. Although he survived the NNPP tsunami in Kano, he has lost the numerical strength of the states caucus as NNPP now has 19 out of the 24 lawmakers from the state in the House. But will the NNPP back Mr Doguwa? That is a major poser. As an individual, Mr Doguwa is not as formidable and requires the support of the president-elect and the APC to pull through. Sada Soli (Katsina, North-west) The Katsina lawmaker is a strong voice at plenary and committee meetings. His capacity cannot be doubted. Earlier in the race, his name was mentioned alongside Mr Abbas as a likely candidate from the North-west. However, it seems as though he has not been able to sustain the momentum. Perhaps, if the ticket is zoned to the North-west, Mr Soli may change his approach. Ben Kalu (Abia, South-east) Weeks after he said he would be joining the race, Mr Kalu is yet to officially do so. The reason may not be unconnected to the aspiration of Orji Kalu, who is contesting for Senate President. The duo are not just political associates but also from the same senatorial district of Abia North. In a race where only one option is possible, the two have to decide on what is important. Aside from the tricky regional alignment, Mr Kalus speakership aspiration has exposed him to scrutiny from those that have accused him of betraying the APC during the presidential election. Realistically, Mr Kalu faces a significant obstacle in the battle. Tunji Raheem (Kwara, North-central) Mr Raheem from Kwara State has equally declared interest in running for the position. He represents Isin/Ekiti/Irepodun/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency of Kwara State. The Kwara lawmaker is running under the North-central agenda, but is not considered a serious contender by any yardstick. To some observers, aspirants like Mr Raheem probably declared interest to negotiate for another office. Mr Raheem has been in the House since 2018 but has remained relatively unknown. Makki Yellaman (Jigawa, North-west) The Jigawa lawmaker is one of the first to declare. However, he has been relatively quiet. Unless a last-minute surprise happens, it is not feasible for him to emerge. Jaji Ahmed (Zamfara, North-west) After an eight-year hiatus from the House, Mr Jaji is back and seeking to lead the House. He was in the House from 2011 to 2015. Mr Jajis campaign for the speakership has been more of meeting the lawmakers personally while he has avoided media appearances. Sources within his campaign disclosed that he will only make his campaign public if the ruling party zones the seat to the North-west. Nonetheless, Mr Jaji, like many other candidates from North-west, faces a herculean task because unless they agree to work together, they may lose out to other regions. Mr Jaji also remains relatively unknown. While zoning may provide Mr Gbajabiamila with the needed cover, loyalty will be tested within his alliance, For some of the hopefuls, concession and compromise may work, but for others, it could be the position of speaker or nothing. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, has pulled out from the race for Senate President. Mr Umahi said the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, invited him and pleaded with him to drop his ambition. The governor said he agreed with the pleas of the president-elect and decided to endorse former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, as the next senate president. The governor made the disclosure on Friday night while addressing journalists shortly after he had a meeting with Mr Akpabio. My brother came on consultation with me. By yesterday, I saw the president-elect on his invitation and he told me that he is already committed and he said please dont run and I accepted and I stepped down for my brother, Senator Akpabio, he said. He also said that he is not considering the position of the deputy senate president, noting that he has stepped down the two positions. He is my consensus candidate. I also stepped down for him as the deputy senate president, so I stepped down for two of them. The senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume (APC, Borno) also said Mr Akpabio is the preferred choice of the president. READ ALSO: As you can see, I am leading the campaign for Akpabio because he is the presidents preferred candidate and we have to push for the country and the party above any other interest. Responding, Mr Akpabio said the will of God will be done in the country. I have always said In Sha Allah , the will of God will be done in Nigeria. PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State announced that the inner caucus of the ruling All Progressives Congress resolved to zone the senate president to the South-south in favour of Mr Akpabio. With the pulling out of Mr Umahi from the race, the remaining contenders, apart from Mr Akpabio include Jibrin Barau (Kano), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Osita Izunaso (Imo) and Sani Musa (Niger). The leadership of the party is yet to announce their decision on the zoning of the 10th National Assembly leadership. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Sonia Ekweremadu, daughter of former Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has spoken about her parents conviction in a BBC interview. She said although she understands why her parents were convicted, she disagrees with it albeit from a very biased perspective as their daughter. I will obviously always always back my parents. However, the law has taken its course and we just have to now move forward as a family, Ms Ekweremadu told BBC. In the interview which was conducted before the sentencing, she said it has been hard for her to wrap her head around the conviction. PREMIUM TIMES reported that a UK court Friday sentenced Mr Ekweremadu, to nine years and eight months in prison. The court also sentenced Mr Ekweremadus wife, Beatrice, to four years and six months in prison while a doctor who colluded with them, Obinna Obeta, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The younger Ms Ekweremadu who is still undergoing dialysis blames herself for what has happened to her parents. I feel guilty, I feel like all this has happened because of me. She is suffering from a health condition called Nephrotic Syndrome, where the kidney does not function properly. Her survival depends on continuous dialysis for the rest of her life or a kidney transplant which she hopes to get soon. According to Ms Ekweremadu, her family could not get a donor from within the family because of their own history of kidney conditions which led to searching for one outside. She told the BBC she had no involvement in the search and settlement for David Nwamini (Ukpo), who was trafficked to the UK to donate his kidney to her, as her family handled everything. She added that she feels nothing towards Mr Nwamini and wishes him the best. BBC also notes that Mr Ukpo may not return to Nigeria following his attorneys statement about being scared for the formers life. He may be granted asylum, should his lawyer make a case. I would like to use this opportunity to apologise to them for the way everything has played out, she said, apologising to her parents. She told BBC that her experience has allowed her to understand how dynamic life is and has also given her a new vision to help specifically people with kidney conditions to show that they do not need to be scared. The current woes of the Ekweremadus came to limelight in June 2022 when news of his (Ike Ekweremadu) arrest made the news. PREMIUM TIMES reported how he was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police alongside his wife and charged with conspiracy to traffic a child to the UK in order to harvest organs. This marked the beginning of his troubles which climaxed on Friday with an almost 10-year sentence. At the end of his jail term, Mr Ekweremadu will be near 70. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Military Special Task Force, Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) providing security in Kaduna has dismissed allegations of bias made against the outfit by a Southern Kaduna group, the Zangon Kataf Youth Christian Association of Nigeria, In a statement on Friday, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Oya James, a captain and media information officer of the OPSH, said the military would not be distracted in the quest to protect lives and properties in Southern Kaduna. Our attention has been drawn to a misleading video report that has gone viral on social media captioned Southern Kaduna community protests killings, accuses military of compromise. The allegation was made through one Rev Victor Yahaya, leader of the Youth Christian Association of Nigeria Zango Kataf Local Government Area. The story in its entirety was created to distract the military from carrying out its duties of protecting lives and property. The OPSH is shocked that a cleric who should epitomise leadership and good example in all sense could maliciously accuse the military of compromise. This is most unfortunate, especially when it is glaring that the military has subdued the rate of attacks in the Southern Kaduna area of Kaduna State, he added He called on the public to continue to support the OPSH with necessary information needed to effectively deal with the security concerns in the area. As a noble institution, OPSH is neutral and would not compromise its constitutional roles under any guise. Earlier, the Zangon Kataf Youth Christian Association of Nigeria, accused the military of not promptly responding to attacks by terrorists in the area. The allegation was made through one Victor Yahaya, the leader of the Youth Christian Association of Nigeria Zango Kataf Local Government Area. Zangon Kataf Attacks Two weeks ago PREMIUM TIMES reported an attack on residents of Zangon Kataf by terrorists. Several residents were killed in the attack. The President of Atyap Community Development Association, a community-based organization in the area, Sam Timbuwak, said the initial killings occurred at AtakNjei community. He said the gunmen invaded the community from a nearby bush and began shooting indiscriminately killing eight people in the process. Days later another attack was launched on the people and about 27 residents were killed. Thousands of people have been killed or kidnapped in Zangon Kataf in Southern Kaduna which is experiencing an upsurge of attacks by terrorists Kaduna in recent years has witnessed attacks by various armed groups. The killings have continued despite the efforts of security forces. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print President Muhammadu Buhari has again expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, considering the turnout of voters and the generally peaceful atmosphere under which it took place. The president, who stated this while addressing his colleagues at the Commonwealth Leaders Summit on Friday in London, said the country learnt lessons which would make subsequent polls even better. A statement on Friday in Abuja by Femi Adesina, the presidents spokesperson, said the summit was part of the major events leading to the coronation of His Majesty, King Charles III as King of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Commonwealth. The theme of the event focused on the future of the Commonwealth as a body and the role of the youth. The Nigerian leader said: These elections saw a remarkable turnout of voters and proof that Nigerias democracy is maturing. Despite some pockets of violence, we have demonstrated that a government can be elected peacefully and fairly. Lessons have been learnt and moving forward, we hope to perform even better. Based on this, I am delighted to note that we have taken another step towards deepening our democracy with peaceful, transparent and credible outcomes. Though we are aware that challenges still exist, we are committed to working towards a greater participation of all Nigerians in the democratic process, including those in the diaspora. While thanking the Commonwealth for sending a team to witness the conduct of the elections, he noted that the elections were generally free and fair. According to him, the mood of the nation after the announcement of the winners so far shows that democracy in Nigeria is maturing and can only get better. Mr Buhari highlighted the key role Nigerian youths played during the elections as well as in support of national development. He attributed a great part of the youth participation in the general elections to the assent of Not Too Young To Run Bill signed into law by his administration in 2018. He announced that Nigeria would also host the Commonwealth Youth and Students Summit for African Region, with the theme, Making Change Happen, in Abuja from May 9-11, this year. The Nigerian leader used the opportunity to bid farewell to his colleagues, expressing joy at shared aspirations and values within the period. As I come before you today, I am also mindful that this would be my last official engagement with His Majesty The King and some of you as I leave office on 29 May 2023. I, therefore, feel both humble and grateful for this extraordinary and significantly important moment. Over the years, I have worked cordially with the leaders of Commonwealth to achieve the values and principles of the Commonwealth which are shared by its members. The aspirations of the Commonwealth family, which include positioning it to be a strong and respected voice in the world and improving the lives of all its citizens, are being vigorously pursued, he said. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print A former Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, has advised the incoming administration of President-elect Bola Tinubu to avoid the sharing formula of the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari government. Mr Mimiko, who was governor from 2009 to 2017, said this on Thursday while speaking on good governance and accountability at the Dare Adeboye Foundations Change and Development Forum. The Dare Adeboye Foundation is focused on community development, advocating for good governance and youth empowerment. Dare, the younger son of the general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Enoch Adeboye, is the founder of the foundation. At the event, which was held at the provincial coordination office in the Redemption Camp, the former governor advised the incoming government to unite the nation by focusing on diversity management, consensus building and being deliberately inclusive. The primary goal for the incoming government should be to unite the nation and manage our diversity. The incoming government should avoid the 97 per cent, five per cent sharing formula of the Buhari administration that sidelined particular ethnicity of the country. Every part of this country must be included and given the right to prominent positions in the coming administration. Good governance and accountability bring about economic growth and development must show in the citizens quality of life, he said. Mr Mimiko related economic growth without development to a philosophy of the cancer cell. Secure, Restructure On national security, he advised the incoming government to focus on decentralising the police, rejig Nigerias security architecture and pay significant attention to the herders and farmers crisis. He also advised the government to engage the youth whilst also commissioning an inquiry to the past legislature. Speaking on restructuring, he advised that while the government plans to remove subsidy it should put up cushions for the masses as they consider the downside of subsidy removal. Mr Mimiko, who applauded the merits of the cashless economy, stated that while it tackles corruption and enhances digitisation of the economy, it should be continued and treated with a high level of importance. The former governor raised concerns about the growing rate of youth unemployment. He said we seem to be hoodlumizing our younger generation He urged the government to recognise the trend of deglobalisation and leverage on data to rebuild the economy and create jobs. He highlighted four Ps for the government to focus on which include, planning and targeting, provide power and financial resources, protecting local infant industries including MSMEs and patronise made-in-Nigeria goods Freedom Information Act Speaking on the Freedom of Information Act, Mr Mimiko said as an important instrument of accountability in the country, the media and citizens should take advantage of it. He noted that the act is a foundation of an open system of governance in Nigeria, directly impacting the citizens quality of life and upholding civil rights An organisation that uses good governance is one that always, in words and action, demonstrates accountability, leadership, integrity, stewardship and transparency, he said. Mr Mimiko also urged the government to engage with all agitating forces of this country. The government should engage with all the agitators in this country, they should sit and meet with the likes of Nnamdi Kanu and co, he said. Significant Impact The Senior Personal Assistant to the General Overseer of the RCCG, Leke Adeboye, stated that the foundations objective was to improve the lives of individuals, contribute to the nations growth, and support the advancement of Gods kingdom, which is now aligned with Nigerias vision. Mr Adeboye stated that the foundation has made significant impacts at the individual, community, and national levels through initiatives such as Kingdom advancement, youth empowerment, sanitation projects, leadership and governance. Kola Oyeneyin, CEO of Opportunik Global Funds, who was also in attendance, emphasised the importance of equity and justice in the development of the economy. He stated that the public should get rid of three ideologies which includes, a general misconception that we (Nigeria) are rich, as a nation we have moved from systemic to endemic corruption and we have weak institutions and lack strong governance. He also stressed the need for transparency, technology, inclusiveness and data investments in the new administration. The government should focus on making strategic bets, leverage technology for transparency. The National Bureau of statistics should become the National Bureau of Data, he said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print A Magistrate Court in Imo State, South-east Nigeria, on 26 April, discharged and acquitted a man arraigned for robbery by the police for seizing his debtors phone. The acquitted man, Solomon Ohadoma, a 29-year-old civil engineer, grabbed the phone from his alleged debtor, Chidiebere Ahamefula at about 9 a.m. on 9 March along the road after Mr Ahamefula repeatedly failed to pay for a project he did for him. Mr Ohadoma did not possess any weapon during the incident which happened in Ihiagwa, Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State. He had vowed not to return the phone until he gets his payment from Mr Ahamefula who runs a local brothel and is said to be connected to the police authorities in the area. Mr Ohadoma has been freed after spending several weeks in prison. He is, however, still going to face other charges assault on police officers, conspiracy and disturbance of public peace, the magistrate ruled. Discharged and acquitted The magistrate, Oby Amadi discharged and acquitted Mr Ohadoma of the robbery charge after a letter presented to the court from the Director of Public Prosecution stated that no prima facie case of robbery was established against him from the available evidence. The case was adjourned to 25 May for continuation of hearing. Several lawyers had told PREMIUM TIMES that the robbery charge against Mr Ohadoma was unlikely to fly in court because of lack of evidence. Inibehe Effiong, a Lagos-based human rights lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES that the countrys law insists that for a case of robbery to be established, two elements of the offence of robbery use of force to obtain property and intention of permanent deprivation of the said property must be proved. I am not sure that (snatching of phone) strictly may amount to robbery, even though the person has taken law into his hands, Mr Effiong said. The lawyer argued that it is legally permissible, in some circumstances, to take a debtors property as a lien. If he merely took the property as a lien, for instance because the law actually allows a person, in some limited circumstances, to hold on the property of the person that is owing him or her as a lien, he stated. But that right of lien is not absolute. However, if there was no intention of permanent deprivation thats to either put the phone to personal use or sell it it may be difficult to make a case of robbery. Controversial arrest Mr Ohadomas four sisters, who tried to intervene when his alleged debtor, Mr Ahamefula, called in the police to arrest him, were also arrested, hurriedly arraigned and sent to prison under controversial circumstances. Mr Ohadomas arrest became a topical issue on Twitter when his younger sister, Chiduebube, raised alarm on the microblogging site that the brother was being molested by some police officers. Please, I need help, this police officer is shooting at my brother in broad daylight, she said in the Twitter post, which was accompanied by a clip of the incident. In the 15-second clip, some gun-wielding police officers were seen beating up Mr Ohadoma. While sympathisers attempted to shield the victim from the beating, one of the officers appeared to be threatening them the sympathisers and cocking his rifle. The matter became complicated when Ms Chiduebube and three of her sisters were allegedly assaulted and arrested by five officers while they were on their way to the police station for a possible resolution of the issue that led to the arrest of their brother Mr Ohadoma. A man identified as Onyema Kalu, a student at the Federal University of Technology Owerri, was also arrested for filming the assault incident. The four sisters and Mr Kalu are also facing trial, accused of assaulting the officers who came to arrest Mr Ohadoma. PREMIUM TIMES, which has been following the case, observed that the arrest of the suspects, their arraignment at the court, and their movement to the prison had happened in less than 24 hours. They were not allowed access to a lawyer. Their parents were not aware of their arraignment. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that the COVID-19 pandemic no longer constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the WHO's highest alert level. Produced by Xinhua Global Service President-elect, Bola Tinubu, on Saturday sent a congratulatory message to the newly coronated King of the United Kingdom, King Charles lll, and called for stronger ties between Nigeria and the UK. Mr Tinubu, who will be sworn in as the president of Nigeria on 29 May, in his message to the monarch, said a strong bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Britain is in the interests of the two countries. According to Mr Tinubu, there have been back-channel communications between him and the new monarch through mutual friends. I look forward to further engagements with you and the opportunity of a meeting in the nearest future as both of us had earlier indicated in discussions with mutual friends and associates, Mr Tinubu said while congratulating the new monarch. Charles was proclaimed King in September 2022 upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. He was crowned on Saturday. Read the letter in full: King Charles Your Majesty King Charles III, CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR CORONATION The splendour of British monarchy and the rich tradition came to the fore again on Saturday and the world literally came to a standstill as you are crowned the new British King, with the appellation of King Charles III. By way of this letter, therefore, I convey to you my warmest congratulations on your coronation. It is heartwarming that your accession to the throne is coming after the 70-year-reign of your iconic mother, Queen Elizabeth II, whose death last September left the entire world in grief, given her eventful reign. Bearing your unique place in history as the first King to be inaugurated in Britain since 1937, I trust that you will follow in the glorious footsteps of your late mother and even surpass her achievements in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Particularly remarkable about you is your love for the environment, importantly your lifelong crusade for sustainability and biodiversity. I hope that you will continue to push for these initiatives with kind eyes on the situation and plight of the underprivileged people in Africa and around the world. As the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I also hope that during your reign, the excellent bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Britain will continue and even become stronger in the interests of our two countries. I look forward to further engagements with you and the opportunity of a meeting in the nearest future as both of us had earlier indicated in discussions with mutual friends and associates. Once again, I rejoice with you on your coronation and pray that God Almighty grant you strength and wisdom and make your reign successful for the benefit of not only the people of the Great Britain but for the entire world. Please rest assured of my highest regards always. Sincerely yours, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President-elect, Federal Republic of Nigeria Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Rather than kowtowing to that evil as the new normal and joining them to swim in the filthy lucre, he acted promptly and demanded probity and sanctions. When his directives to rein in the culprits were undermined, he escalated the situation to his superiors in government. When those above him refused to act, he resigned. That was the right thing to do. By that action that was clearly above board, Tai Solarin gave Nigerian corruption an uppercut. He gave corruption a black eye. There is a fable spreading like wildfire on social media to the effect that Dr Tai Solarins acceptance to serve as the chairman of the Peoples Bank of Nigeria (PBN) under the self-styled military president, General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), was an opportunity for the latter to prove to Solarin that it was difficult to govern millions of people. The viral message went as far as indicating that the military dictator, out of his magnanimity, thereafter decided not to prosecute Tai Solarin. Everything written in that piece is however a sheer fable that is concocted to mislead. The piece has no iota of truth. The fact of our history is that IBB appointed Mrs Maria Shokenu as the pioneer managing director of the Peoples Bank. The military president also appointed Dr Tai Solarin as the pioneer chairman of the Governing Board of the Bank, as the sterling reputation of the latter was needed by the military junta to garner credibility for itself and the Bank. The Bank granted loans to over 240,000 customers. The Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada, put this figure at 245,000 (UNHCR, 1996). The Solarin-led Board however discovered that senior officials of the Peoples Bank were gravely implicated in financial malfeasance and corruption scandals (AFP 17 January 1992). Effectively, those officials mismanaged the banks funds, subverted due process, connived with customers to perpetrate fraud, and sabotaged the objective of the Peoples Bank, which was primarily to sustainably cater for the credit needs of the poor and underprivileged, without the stringent conditions and costly red tape associated with traditional banking. Tai Solarins Board identified and indicted culpable officials and took decisive actions to sanction them in order to prevent a slide into the abyss. The Board was however vehemently resisted. Solarin, thereafter, wrote strongly worded recommendations to the IBB-led Federal Government through the Minister of Finance that the culprits should be sanctioned as a way of arresting the drift and restoring administrative discipline and financial probity in the governance of the Bank. Essentially, Solarin wanted the management held to account. The Finance Minister and IBB however ignored the recommendations and the malfeasance continued unabated. The revisionist story being peddled on a listserve in the case of Tai Solarin is meant for only one purpose: to re-cast the roles of the evil locusts that pushed Nigeria down the abyss as nothing more than normal and that redemption is futile. That is, Nigerias problems are insurmountable, and people should stop criticising governments, etc. The fact that it gained traction and is spreading like wildfire, despite the outright falsehood and appalling theme it evokes, speaks to a sinister consensus Following persistent brick walls mounted by the topmost hierarchy of the military government against probity in the Bank and their seeming culpable inaction against the demand for accountability in the Bank, Tai Solarin became frustrated. He subsequently resigned in protest at the governments delay in bringing to book those senior bank officials who aided and abetted the crimes. In retrospect, Tai Solarin was an extraordinary man. People do not usually resign in Nigeria on moral grounds. He did. The reader needs no soothsayer to understand what the fate of Peoples Bank could have been, had probity and accountability been allowed to form the cornerstone of that Bank as the Board under Tai Solarin demanded. Similar circumstances persist today with near similar responses, thereby calling to question the capacity of Nigeria to learn from its past follies. A governing board recently denied any knowledge of a multi-billion dollar railway project being spearheaded by its management. There has been no consequence for this from higher authorities. Even the media response was perfunctory; the result of being numbed to the scandalous alarms that such bizarre actions ought to elicit. The revisionist story being peddled on a listserve in the case of Tai Solarin is meant for only one purpose: to re-cast the roles of the evil locusts that pushed Nigeria down the abyss as nothing more than normal and that redemption is futile. That is, Nigerias problems are insurmountable, and people should stop criticising governments, etc. The fact that it gained traction and is spreading like wildfire, despite the outright falsehood and appalling theme it evokes, speaks to a sinister consensus that a sizable majority appear to be happy with the false ethos that redemption is futile or that everyone should simply understand and accept mediocrity, wanton corruption, etc. as the inevitable fate of Nigeria and end the agitation for excellence and a paradigm shift towards globally acclaimed higher standards. Gbenga Ilugbo appropriately captured the plot when he stated that the people peddling this rumour have their objective. One being to paint a picture of an irredeemable Nigerian state and project a purported fallibility, as well as a supposed futility of upright men who fought with their tooth, nail, skin and blood against corruption. I dare say that this appears to be part of a whole scale mind-conditioning scheme. The subliminal message is being spread subtly and innocently to pollute the hearts and minds of the younger generation: that living above board is not edifying, that expecting national wealth to be prudently targeted at national wellbeing is an unrealistic pursuit, that probity and fidelity to the primary goals of organisations is unrealisable and, dangerously, that criticism is pointless as the black man has a lower standard to aspire to as part of the world experience, when compared to his counterparts elsewhere. The distortion being peddled to make the Babangidas military look good is the kind of thing that stifled our growth and development in Africa the canonisation of evil and denunciation of saints. If you have helped to share the lies, I put it to you that you are an accessory after criminal defamation of a hero and deification of a nefarious villain. The purveyors of the rumours are however wrong. The opposite is true in civilisation: criticism will keep a good government on its toes, make that government accountable and bring the best out of its key players. Even a government with substantial evidence of doing good still requires criticism to do better. After all, the eternal statement of Helmut Schmidt that the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement remains the standard by which great leaders continue to seek improvements through innovations. Criticisms should however be differentiated from the caterwauling belligerency that we see on display among many today. The fabrication of lies and unfounded innuendoes, especially by highly partisan individuals, to damage the reputation of others, is not criticism. Thats vendetta. Thats hate. If it is defamatory or libelous, it should indeed remain a criminal offence. In the case of Tai Solarin, he objectively criticised the governments of his day. He was taunted and offered a position to cater to the poor. He accepted the challenge. The government then employed his very lieutenants to sabotage his work. Rather than kowtowing to that evil as the new normal and joining them to swim in the filthy lucre, he acted promptly and demanded probity and sanctions. When his directives to rein in the culprits were undermined, he escalated the situation to his superiors in government. When those above him refused to act, he resigned. That was the right thing to do. By that action that was clearly above board, Tai Solarin gave Nigerian corruption an uppercut. He gave corruption a black eye. Dr Tai Solari resigned honourably and remained unblemished. His resignation was not because the task was too big for him or because he came to the epiphany that the government should be pitied for dealing with a bigger number of officials than he dealt with at the PBN. No. Rather, his resignation was triggered by the military administrations apparent shielding of looters of the Peoples Bank. Now, that is a historical fact. The distortion being peddled to make the Babangidas military look good is the kind of thing that stifled our growth and development in Africa the canonisation of evil and denunciation of saints. If you have helped to share the lies, I put it to you that you are an accessory after criminal defamation of a hero and deification of a nefarious villain. Tunji Light Ariyomo is an engineer and a development expert. He contributed this piece from Abuja. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Professor Jibrin Ibrahim believes that the 2023 elections were credible. His belief is rooted in the notion that the claims of irregularities and malpractices are insufficient to invalidate the results. Being a seasoned election observer and a Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, a West Africa-focused think-tank, Professor Ibrahim drew on a wealth of experience to establish his claim that the reality of Nigerias elections is being masked by claims of irregularities It was the best of times; it was the worst of times This is the epic opening to Charles Dickenss A Tale of Two Cities, considered one of the worlds literary classics. If this opening were adapted to the reality of Nigerias 2023 elections, the result would be akin to this saying, the presidential election that took place on 25 February was the seventh since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, and depending on who you ask, was the best or worst election the country has had. This latter saying is Dr Chido Onumahs the panel discussion moderator at the last edition of the Toyin Falola Interviews. Dr Onumahs claim that Nigerias recently concluded election could be adjectivised as either the best or the worst lends credence to the belief that in a democratic setting, a confluence of predispositions and outcomes determine peoples conclusions on matters. And given a case where opposing parties are often in a keen contest for power the winners will almost always adjudge the process fairly, while the losers will adjudge it as far from credible. Such is the power of outcomes on human conclusions. Better said, if the election was to have been won by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, would the Tinubu supporters and the All Progressives Congress claim today that the election was free, fair, and credible? Would they accept that the election reflects Nigerians true democratic wish especially as it was the most keenly contested in the countrys recent democracy, with the winner emerging by just about 37% of the total votes cast? This percentage, considered extremely low in the context of other elections since Nigerias return to democracy, is being touted by many especially those on the side of the declared winner as proof of how democratic the process was. To them, the winning candidate would not have scored that low if the election was not fair and credible. However, human perceptions and outcomes determine peoples conclusions. Nigerias 2023 elections will go down in history as part of the most emotionally invested elections in the country. Although the same might be said for the 2015 elections, the difference in the two cases being that the results of the 2015 elections were in favour of the majority of the emotionally invested voters those fed up with the Peoples Democratic Partys one-sided rule of 16 years and the worsening state of security in the country. However, the 2023 elections did not favour the larger percentage of the emotionally invested the third force that had risen in the wake of the multi-dimensional problems of the past eight years, to forge a new alliance and revamp the Nigerian approach to governance. One of the first things that come to mind when considering elections in Nigeria is that no matter how seemingly free, fair, or credible they might have been, the country is known to have pockets of malpractices across its polling units from expected and full-blown bribery to over-voting, voter intimidation, manipulation of results, to the severe cases of maiming and killing. The nonsense surrounding the gubernatorial election in Adamawa State is proof of this. As the elections did not sway in favour of the rising opposition, there have been doubts about the elections credibility, and the doubts that could have been about the 2015 elections pale in comparison to the ones we have had in 2023. Are those doubts valid? Or are they only being voiced because the candidates of the doubters did not emerge as the winners of the elections? This, among other things, served as the foundation of the discourse moderated by Dr Onumah. One of the first things that come to mind when considering elections in Nigeria is that no matter how seemingly free, fair, or credible they might have been, the country is known to have pockets of malpractices across its polling units from expected and full-blown bribery to over-voting, voter intimidation, manipulation of results, to the severe cases of maiming and killing. The nonsense surrounding the gubernatorial election in Adamawa State is proof of this. For days, the Adamawa election result remained inconclusive, and as the Independent National Electoral Commission strove to make things right, the All Progressives Congress candidate, Aishat Binani, alongside the Adamawa State Electoral Commission and the returning officer, announced what they claimed to be election result. In what seemed to have been a calculated move, news media all over reported Aishat Binanis win and emergence as Nigerias history-making female governor. The shenanigans of the Adamawa gubernatorial election are pointers to two things: First, the 2023 elections had their pockets of irregularities and malpractices. Whether these pockets of violence are enough to declare the elections as far from being free, fair, and credible is yet another issue entirely. Second, Nigeria is being ushered into or has already been in a full cruising state, whereby ridiculous and outrageous issues are the order of the day, grabbing the attention of national dailies and the Nigerian populace. Professor Jibrin Ibrahim believes that the 2023 elections were credible. His belief is rooted in the notion that the claims of irregularities and malpractices are insufficient to invalidate the results. Being a seasoned election observer and a Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, a West Africa-focused think-tank, Professor Ibrahim drew on a wealth of experience to establish his claim that the reality of Nigerias elections is being masked by claims of irregularities, which are not substantial in comparison to the largest organised process in other parts of the country. The learned professor based his postulation on the claim that all countries experience electoral irregularities, and that since no country is exempted, emphasis should not be on the irregularities. This begs the question of the degree of gravity. To what extent should irregularities occur in an electoral process before they are considered as process-altering? What percentage of irregularities is allowed in a given election year? There is no doubt that Nigeria has been steadily sliding down a slippery slope in terms of its elections. The larger percentage of the presidential elections in Nigeria, since the return to democracy, were eventually resolved by the judiciary. And given that the judiciary in Nigeria is not as independent and devoid of external influences as it should be, it is dangerous for the democracy of the country There is no denying that media houses deploy the focused reporting approach, where happenings are attacked from all angles and by all media houses, making them trending issues. This is true for malpractices, electoral violence, and irregularities during elections. Professor Ibrahims bone of contention is that if these irregularities and violence happen in possibly less than 10% of all polling units, why do they receive so much attention, to the extent that they become the focal point for defining the state of an election? The question would then be whether irregularities no matter how minute do not automatically mar the sanctity and credibility of the election process. Should we rather play technicality and give a margin of error? Or should we unanimously agree that as long as there is violence even in 10 out of 10,000 total polling units an election is not free and fair? Drawing on what was earlier said about predispositions and election outcomes being the determinants of the conclusions people reach on the credibility of elections in the country, Professor Ibrahim posited that Nigerians approach the matter of elections with an expected outcome in mind and then choose to either positively or negatively react on the basis of the eventual outcome and how it relates to their stance. Thus, if the expected outcome of one Mr Johnson is that the Nigerian elections are always rigged and that 2023 will be no better, and if there were to be reports of violence in some parts of the country during the election, and if, coupled with these two, Mr Johnsons preferred or expected candidate loses the election, then, there will be a positive reaction to the preconceived expected outcome whereby Mr Johnson will go about claiming that the elections were rigged as usual. There is no doubt that Nigeria has been steadily sliding down a slippery slope in terms of its elections. The larger percentage of the presidential elections in Nigeria, since the return to democracy, were eventually resolved by the judiciary. And given that the judiciary in Nigeria is not as independent and devoid of external influences as it should be, it is dangerous for the democracy of the country to keep having elections that are not credible enough to be unanimously agreed as free, fair, and credible. This also raises questions about the motives of the contenders in court are they contending the results because they are aggrieved or because they truly have a case? If it were the former, it would be difficult to have Nigeria reach that state where most stakeholders would agree that elections are free, fair, and devoid of irregularities. However, if it were the latter, Nigeria and all stakeholders in the Nigerian project have to consciously work toward building the country into a truly democratic state where the expected outcomes of a few people are not forced on all through intimidation and electoral malpractices. Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin, is the Bobapitan of Ibadanland. P.S: This is the second part of my reflections on the Panel Discussion on Nigerias 2023 elections by Ayisha Osori, Jibrin Ibrahim, Cynthia Mbamalu, and Chido Onumah. The session, which has received millions of views across different platforms, discussed the various aspects of the elections. My views below are not necessarily those of the four panelists. For the transcripts, see: YouTube and Facebook. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The meeting offered a platform for rethinking migration governance in Europe and argued for the depoliticisation and desecuritisation of migration, and implementation of sustainable policy templates that would address the voices of African migrants. Realistically, border policing does not necessarily reduce migration. It is important to humanise migration policy and partner to build a more developed Africa, through support in human capacity building and other needs as determined by Africans. Between January and March this year, about 441 African migrants died in the Central Mediterranean Sea, while attempting to cross into Europe. Around the same period in 2017, migrants numbering 750 lost their lives in the illegal pathway. Since 2014, more than 20,700 Africans have either died or gone missing in their bid to make it to Europe. Despite the efforts of both African and European actors to address the push factors of migration, thousands of Africans continue to flee the continent due to several reasons, including violent conflict. Many who are forced to flee from conflict are being forced to risk their lives through several illegal routes. The Sahel region has become a theatre of violence, insurgency, and terrorism. The current Sudanese conflict, driven by two antagonistic and power-thirsty army Generals, have led to the death of 528 people, with 4,500 wounded. Thousands of people have been displaced. In Nigeria, Boko Harams reign of terror and the farmers-herders conflict have displaced more than 3.1 million people as of June 2022. In Libya, many migrants have accepted so-called assisted returns to their countries of origin, not voluntarily but by compulsion, due to dehumanising detention conditions, including the threats of torture, extortion, and sexual violence. Others are usually at the mercy of sex and labour traffickers. They are confronted with hardship in African transit countries and uncertainties of what awaits them in Europe. Those who made it to Europe have testified to further ill-treatment in the continent. The wind of anti-migration sentiments (promoted by right-wings political parties) that are being integrated into the policy-space of several countries in Europe have further worsened the conditions of undocumented migrants and exposed them to institutional discriminations. Since the 2015 European migration crisis, migration has been a dominant theme in domestic politics in most European countries. While the European Union (EU) and Africa celebrate their close relations, policymakers from both continents have divergent perspectives on the issue of migration. While African actors see migration as natural, developmental, and mutually beneficial, the EU policymakers conceive it from the standpoints of politicking, security, and control. A lively discussion took place at the recent launch of the edited volume titled, Worlds Apart? Perspectives of Africa-EU Migration, by Adeoye O. Akinola and Jesper Bjarnesen. As the Swedish EU presidency winds up next month, the Swedish Ministry of Justice and Ministry for Foreign Affairs invited policymakers on migration from the 27-EU member states to the launch of the book in Brussels, Belgium, on 2 May, at the premises of the Swedish Permanent Representation to the EU. Both Swedish departments are co-chairing a working group of the European Council, Working party on External Aspects of Asylum and Migration (EMWP), in charge of deliberations on external aspects of EU migration policy. As highlighted in the book, the meeting contended with some of the myths on Africa-EU migration. Indeed, more Africans travel through the legal channels than illegal routes such as the Mediterranean Sea, and intra-African migration exceeds Africas movement to other regions. Data released by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and Africa-Europe Foundation reveals that intra-African migrations since 2010 have increased by around 43.6% compared to 26.0% for Africa-Europe migrations. The launch was co-hosted by the Swedish Government Offices and the Sweden-based Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), in collaboration with the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation (IPATC) at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. The meeting was chaired by the Director of NAI, Therese Sjomander Magnusson. Both editors of the book, including Anna Knoll and Amanda Bisong of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) in Maastricht, the Netherlands, were speakers. As highlighted in the book, the meeting contended with some of the myths on Africa-EU migration. Indeed, more Africans travel through the legal channels than illegal routes such as the Mediterranean Sea, and intra-African migration exceeds Africas movement to other regions. Data released by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and Africa-Europe Foundation reveals that intra-African migrations since 2010 have increased by around 43.6% compared to 26.0% for Africa-Europe migrations. The speakers critically engaged the notion that African and European perspectives on migration governance are Worlds Apart, as reflected on the title of the book. Clearly, discourse on Africa-EU migration is dominated by EU narratives and driven by the asymmetrical power relations between Africa and Europe. As reinforced during the meeting, migration is the means to achieve a goal. Panelists interrogated the weakness of the European emphasis on addressing the root causes of African migration and interrogated EUs attempt to drastically reduce irregular migration through EUs investments in African socio-economic development and peacebuilding. Many of these interventions do not actually reduce migration but enhance movements. People migrate due to several reasons. Migration, which is sometimes forced in Africa, is a significant characteristic of changes in population. It is natural and has nothing to do with social and economic status. Discussions reflected on the role and perspectives of European civil society and noted that European debates about immigration are increasingly state-centric, critical, and sometimes racial. The meeting reinforced the reasons why African migrants continue to move to Europe through illegal routes, such as the Central Mediterranean Sea and argued for the expansion of legal pathways to provide more opportunities for people on the move to use legal routes. Remittance is the most obvious link between migration and development. It enhances Africas quest for economic development and should also be seen as an urgent save-our-soul intervention from the African Diaspora. Remittances should not be merged with capital flight, but funds that are earned through hard labour. Migrants have supported their societies and home governments by constructing schools, hospitals, and stadiums. Remittances, which has dominated the conversation on international migration, was located in proper contexts. In mid-2022, the World Bank and EUROSTAT revealed that the remittance flow from EU to low and middle-income countries was at 64.8 billion, whereas remittance from EU to the world was at 110 billion. Remittances sent from the EU accounted for 11% of the total flows received by low and middle-income countries and benefited about 105 million people in the origin countries. Remittance is the most obvious link between migration and development. It enhances Africas quest for economic development and should also be seen as an urgent save-our-soul intervention from the African Diaspora. Remittances should not be merged with capital flight, but funds that are earned through hard labour. Migrants have supported their societies and home governments by constructing schools, hospitals, and stadiums. African migrants send remittances, not from a standpoint of affluence, but mostly through pains and resilience; thus, a further downward review of charges on money transfer and removal of several gridlocks that impede remittances are desirable. It is also imperative for Africa to explore the use of remittances, not only for family consumption, but the creation of productive opportunities for national and regional economic development. The meeting offered a platform for rethinking migration governance in Europe and argued for the depoliticisation and desecuritisation of migration, and implementation of sustainable policy templates that would address the voices of African migrants. Realistically, border policing does not necessarily reduce migration. It is important to humanise migration policy and partner to build a more developed Africa, through support in human capacity building and other needs as determined by Africans. The meeting advocated for the establishment of an Africa-EU taskforce to implement and promote a mutually beneficial Africa-EU migration governance. Adeoye O. Akinola is a Head of Research and Teaching at the University of Johannesburgs Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation, South Africa. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print DUBLIN, May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Asia Pacific Two-Wheeler Market By Vehicle Type (Scooter/Moped, Motorcycle), By Propulsion (ICE and Electric), By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2017- 2027F" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Asia Pacific two-wheeler market stood at $58.82 million in 2021 and is estimated to reach $95.32 million in 2027, advancing with a CAGR of 9.28%. Companies Mentioned Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Hero MotoCorp Limited Yadea Technology Group Co. Ltd. Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. TVS Motor Company Bajaj Auto Limited Suzuki Motor Corporation Haojue Holdings Company Ltd Kawasaki Motors Corp. Kwang Yang Motor Co. Ltd. An increase in technological development and an upsurge in demand for shared mobility and delivery services are driving the growth of the Asia Pacific two-wheeler market in the forecast years. Growing urbanization in the countries of the region is expected to be the key driver for the growth of the Two-wheeler market in Asia Pacific. Moreover, growing population and increasing demand for transportation are the other factors contributing to the market growth. Also, increasing traffic congestion and environmental pollution are expected to further propel the demand for two wheelers. Inconvenient public transport in the countries is one of the key reasons responsible for the growth of the two-wheeler market. Due to the declaration of lockdown to cope with the spreading infection, almost all the automotive factories, showrooms, and workshops were closed, resulting in a massive sales decline. China and India lead automobile production in the Asia Pacific region. According to ASEAN Statistics Association, shipments from China, which is more dependent on exports to others, fell by 90% in April 2020 as compared to March 2020. Indonesia is expected to witness a production decline of 17% in the fiscal 2020. Due to this slowdown in trade & production in the automotive sector, two-wheeler market is also expected to be negatively affected. The spread of novel COVID-19 pandemic has created both a public health crisis and an economic crisis in the Asia pacific region. In June 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted the regional contraction of 9.4% for the year 2020 with almost every country in recession. Economic recovery may be a protracted process in countries that rely heavily on global trade and investment, which the pandemic has significantly affected. Moreover, about 60% of employees & workers in this region are in the informal sector and many are self-employed in a subsistence & daily living economy and therefore are at the risk of slipping back into poverty and with it the unemployment rate in the region is expected to rise to 13.5% by the end of 2020. Growing Penetration of Chinese Players China is the largest market for two-wheelers globally,Two-wheeler and. Chinese companies have got significant market share in Asia as well. Few of the prominent Chinese companies are Lifan, Loncin, Qingpi, Zongshen, etc. Some of the prominent reasons for the growth of Chinese two-wheeler companies are their extensive distribution channel, product outreach and low-cost of two-wheelers. Moreover, the ease in availability of Chinese two-wheelers has also fueled their demand across the region. Increasing Penetration of Electric two Wheelers Rising fuel prices have a negative impact on the automobile industry, so the automotive industry has started focusing more on electric vehicles. Electric two-wheelers are gaining popularity worldwide as people are becoming more concerned about climate change and electric two-wheelers are environment friendly. All the electric two wheelers come with fewer moving parts so there is no need for the changing of the oil in electric motorcycles. In many countries people are adopting electric two wheelers at a faster rate due to several advantages of electric powered motorcycles over fossil fuel vehicles, electric two wheelers are getting popular year on year, another feature of the electric two wheelers is that it has great break-horse-power braking system. The electric motorcycles are free from gears, meaning the riders can enjoy rides without shifting gears, therefore it will increase the adoption of electric two wheelers and drive the market of Asia Pacific two wheelers. Increasing Online Two-Wheeler Sales Growth in the e-commerce industry in Asia pacific region is increasing at a fast pace, owing to rising internet penetration. Online sales of two-wheelers has increased in Asian countries due to various benefits such as brand and price comparison, fast delivery and high discount offers provided. By offering such a service, buyers can compare brands and prices more easily and rely less on dealers and distributors for information. Thus, many companies across Asia Pacific are now selling two-wheelers via online sales channel, in order to expand their business. Technological Advancement Nowadays as the manufacturers' implementing cutting-edge technologies, two-wheelers now deliver more convenience and increased safety. For instance, anti-lock brake systems (ABS) are indirectly driving sales due to their high performance and quick braking capability. Modern motorcycles frequently have slipper clutches, which are intended to partially disengage acceleration to the rear tire when the engine is operating at a power that is typically greater than its own potential. Due to their advantages for safety, slipper clutches, which were initially developed for high-performance super-sport bikes and racetrack cars, are now more commonly deployed. Manufacturers are introducing two wheelers that are powered by renewable resources like solar energy, water, or electricity. These initiatives are encouraging market expansion during the anticipated term by attracting in customers who care about the environment. Report Scope: In this report, Asia Pacific Two-wheeler market has been segmented into following categories, in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below: Asia Pacific Two-wheeler Market, By Vehicle Type: Scooter/Moped Motorcycle Asia Pacific Two-wheeler Market, By Propulsion: ICE Electric Asia Pacific Two-wheeler Market, By Country: China India Indonesia Vietnam Thailand Pakistan Philippines Taiwan Malaysia Japan Bangladesh For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/sxh03 About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets HANGZHOU, China, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, the 48th Geneva International Invention Exhibition was held at the Palexpo Exhibition Center in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 800 exhibitors from 40 countries displaying more than 1,000 innovative projects. During the exhibition, 165 inventions from Chinese teams attracted attention, and among them, a pair of AR smart glasses from Rokid, a Hangzhou-based technology company, stood out from the competition and won a gold medal. This product is the world's first integrated 5G industrial AR smart glasses called X-Craft. X-Craft is the world's first explosion-proof AR smart head-mounted device equipped with a 5G module. As an industrial-grade product, X-Craft is designed with features such as intrinsically safe zone explosion protection, IP66 dustproof, and waterproof, making it suitable for use in hazardous environments where safety helmets and explosion protection are required. In terms of optical technology, X-Craft uses dual diffractive waveguides and DLP light engines with a light transmission rate of over 80%, a maximum brightness of 1600 nits, and a viewing angle of up to 40. This design not only effectively reduces the likelihood of rainbow effects but also ensures clear imaging in low-light indoor and high-light outdoor industrial environments. Based on Rokid's global first 5G+AR+AI metaverse full-stack ecological system, X-Craft integrates AI, AR, RTC, SLAM, and zero-code configuration capabilities. Through capability modules' combination, it creates an upper-level business management platform, including an RTC communication platform, zero-code deployment platform, and AI application platform. It provides a solution that combines software and hardware to enable industrial enterprises to manage their respective work modules' management businesses. In actual work scenarios, X-Craft has various capabilities, such as voice recognition, environmental noise reduction, and semantic recognition. Its voice interaction can achieve a response in 1 second in a 90dB industrial noise environment and achieve a recognition rate of 98%. Combined with gesture interaction capabilities, it truly frees frontline employees' hands and effectively improves work efficiency. Public information shows that Rokid's technical products have been widely applied in key fields such as power grids, oil and gas, smart manufacturing, and healthcare. Its customers are distributed in more than 70 countries and regions worldwide, providing services for well-known domestic and foreign companies such as China National Petroleum, China National Offshore Oil, State Grid, Southern Grid, Huaneng, China General Nuclear, Wanhua Chemical, Sany, Amazon, General Motors, Siemens, Honeywell, Volkswagen, BASF, and Saudi Aramco. Rokid continues to strengthen modern industrial clusters and become a key force in supporting China's technology going global. Rokid's co-founder, Xiang Wenjie, said: "As a global company, we hope to showcase the strength of China's AR technology to more overseas enterprises through this exhibition. We also look forward to sharing our solutions and practical experiences in China's industrial digitization with partners from all walks of life worldwide, and working together to create an intelligent era and share intelligent achievements." SOURCE Rokid China recorded unprecedented improvement in its API manufacturing score in the 2022 end of year CPHI Survey SHANGHAI, May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CPHI & PMEC China will open in June (19-21st) at the Shanghai New International Expo Center as international audiences return in search of regional ingredient suppliers. In total, over 55,000 attendee visits are expected at an event that has returned to its pre-pandemic scale with over 200,000sqm of exhibition space. China opened-up to international visitors again in March[1] and is expected to see surging demand for domestic-international partnering. One of the primary reasons is that global supply chain considerations are now top of pharma agendas and manufacturers are looking to widen their supply side networks and China remains the world's largest producer of pharmaceutical ingredients and starting materials. Emphasizing this shift, in the most recent CPHI Annual Survey[2] China scored an unprecedented surge in its reputation for API manufacturing, with a massive 25% improvement at the end of 2022. Significantly, this brings the country in line with quality scores of manufacturers in leading European nations Italy and France. Jenny Leung, Regional Manager, Informa Markets, commented that 2023 is on course to be a huge event and not just for domestic companies, but as a hub of global partnering: "We expect executives to attend from more than 110 countries. And, as a consequence of the last few years, there is huge pent-up demand from international companies to diversify their supply chains and for Chinese ingredients suppliers in particular. But what we also see is that CPHI & PMEC China is now essential for networking globally and this year we have international exhibitors from over 20 counties and regions. So it's now very much the international pharma community attending and interacting with the world's second largest pharma market. Trade relationship are being built both ways and far beyond ingredients, not least, because of the massive growth in innovation in China and, of course, its expanding domestic healthcare sector that many companies wish to access". In fact, CPHI & PMEC China will play host to over 3000 exhibitors, 80+ conference sessions and 12th China-World CEO Summit. Exhibitors will span 15 different sectors with the entire supply chain in attendance from ingredients, machinery and finished dosages to nutraceutical extracts, packaging, laboratories and clean rooms. Outside of the show floor the event will also host the InnoPack Awards China, the 12th China-World CEO Summit, the China-World Innovation and Development Forum, and even an International Regulatory Agencies Updates to aid pan-global partnering. To help service the expanding demand for pharmaceutical manufacturing, CPHI is co-located alongside PMEC the largest pharmaceutical machinery event in the world with some 1000+ exhibitors present, 30% of which are new for 2023, emphasizing the growth in the country. Attendees at PMEC are looking to source everything from laboratory and analytical equipment, tablet compressors and filling machines to next generation continuous manufacturing technologies. Another major trend sweeping through pharma in China is the drive toward more sustainable manufacturing and improved process technologies and the 2023 event will host the China Pharma Environmental Forum, the China Biopharmaceutical Summit and the PMEC China Pharmaceutical Engineering Summit. International attendees can register now for CPhI & PMEC China 2023 here. Leung emphasised the continued strength of Chinese Pharmaceutical industry adding: "Demand for regional partners is incredibly competitive, and the event will welcome significant numbers of new exhibitors in 2023. Supply chains are diversifying, and we would encourage all companies that are working in China to attend now, get a head start on growth and further advance their local networks." To help facilitate international partnering at such a large event, the Hosted Buyer Programme returns, providing international attendees a targeted one-to-one matchmaking service for the most appropriate domestic and regional suppliers. [1] https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/03/14/china-relaxes-travel-restrictions-all-you-need-to-know-about-tests-quarantine-and-flights [2] https://www.cphi-online.com/the-sixth-cphi-annual-survey-will-explore-the-file131961.html CONTACT: Jennifer Yang; +86-02133392533; [email protected] SOURCE CPHI and PMEC China 2023 SHENZHEN, China, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Creality brings a striking line-up of high-speed 3D printer flagships to Chicago's McCormick Place from May 2 to 4 for RAPID + TCT 2023, the largest and most influential additive manufacturing (AM) event in North America. Among the dazzling exhibits of Creality, the K1 FDM printers with 600mm/s high speed and HALOT-MAGE resin printers with 10.3in 8K masking LCD take the spotlight and attract a bustling crowd of partners, media, and users. With its unrivaled influence in North America, RAPID + TCT is ideal for manufacturers from industries such as aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, and consumer products to find desired 3D printing technologies and solutions to conceive, test, improve, and manufacture their products. This year, 350+ innovative exhibitors gather in a 20000 area, meeting more than 10,000 visitors. Creality, a world leading brand of 3D printers, has attended RAPID+TCT many times. Like before, it presents the audience with the newest FDM 3D printers, resin 3D printers, and other ecosystem products. But this time, it gets much more attention with K1 series FDM printers and HALOT-MAGE series resin printers. K1 and K1 Max are dual FDM flagships sporting a bold printing speed of up to 600mm/s. Both of them feature a CoreXY structure and a 190g lightweight printhead for swift motion. Data from the Creality Lab reveal that the K1 series ramps up to 600mm/s in only 0.03 seconds at an acceleration of 20000mm/s. K1 Max is larger (300*300*300mm build volume) than K1. It also adds an AI LiDAR for first-layer inspection and million-point precise leveling and also an AI Camera for failure detection and remote monitoring. Another highlight of the show is the twin stars of HALOT-MAGE and HALOT-MAGE PRO. They embody Creality's next-gen solution for smart resin printing. HALOT-MAGE is the basic version bragging a 10.3-inch masking LCD, an 8K high resolution, and an air purifier. Whereas, the HALOT-MAGE PRO excels with a 170mm/h thrilling speed, an innovative resin pump, and the Integral Light Source 3.0. This impressive pair marks a leapfrog of Creality since it released the first resin 3D printer in 2015. Also shown at the booth are Ender-5 S1, Ender-3 S1 Pro, Ender-3 V2 NEO, CR-M4, HALOT-SKY 2022, Sermoon D3, Sermoon V1 Pro, Pionext DJ89, Piocreat G5PRO, CR-Laser Falcon 2 (22W), CR-Scan Ferret, and Sonic pad. Together, they spur people's interest in 3D printing and demonstrate more that 3D printing can do. Each product wins its own fans and followers during the event. "North America has always been the base camp of Creality, and RAPID+TCT is the biggest 3D Printing event attended by Creality since the pandemic outbreak. It is a pleasure to see that our products are still liked by the users in North America. In the future, Creality will provide more and better products and services to global users so that they can enjoy the fun and benefits of 3D printing. We will do our best to bring 3D printing to every household", noted Fred Liu, Co-founder and Executive Director of Creality. About Creality Creality is a global leading brand of consumer-level and professional 3D printers. It has over 3,500,000 users in more than 100 countries and regions. Creality always takes users first and is committed to making 3D printing more accessible to makers, households, schools, and enterprises, so as to empower manufacturing, education, medical care, and architecture. Creality will continue to explore cutting-edge technologies and deliver better products and services to users. For details, please visit: www.creality.com SOURCE CREALITY 3D UNITED NATIONS, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The world body is working toward the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and asks all parties concerned to engage constructively, said a UN spokesman on Friday. The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) has not reached agreement to authorize new vessels to participate in the initiative, which allows the export of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products from Black Sea ports. The JCC continues its daily inspection work on the previously authorized vessels, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The UN chief has communicated to all parties his proposal on the way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion of the initiative, taking into account positions expressed by the parties, said the spokesman. "We urge all parties to continue their discussions, overcome operational challenges and work toward the full implementation and continuation of the initiative." UN representatives will be participating in a technical meeting convened by the Turkish government on the initiative, in preparation for a senior-level meeting taking place next week in Istanbul, said Haq. "So we're looking forward to constructive and frank discussions with all sides, with the aim to overcome challenges and work toward the continuation and full implementation of the initiative." All the parties -- Russia, Ukraine, the United Nations, and Turkiye -- will be represented at next week's senior-level meeting. But the names of the participants are still to be determined, he told a daily press briefing. Head of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, Rebeca Grynspan, traveled to Moscow on Friday as part of the ongoing consultations with senior Russian officials regarding the world body's engagement to facilitate the unimpeded export of Russian food and fertilizer, including ammonia, to global markets, said Haq. The memorandum of understanding between Russia and the United Nations on the facilitation of exports of Russian food and fertilizer is a parallel agreement with the Black Sea Grain Initiative. While the exports of Ukrainian grain have made strides, Russia has constantly expressed displeasure with the lack of progress in the facilitation of exports of Russian food and fertilizer. Grynspan met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, relaying the strong commitment of the UN secretary-general to the full implementation of the memorandum of understanding, said Haq. Last week, Guterres presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, outlining his proposal for the improvement, extension and expansion of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Haq said Friday that Guterres has not received any formal response from Putin. The Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed separately by Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul with Turkiye and the United Nations on July 22, 2022. The deal, initially in effect for 120 days, was extended in mid-November 2022 for another 120 days till March 18, 2023. At that point, Russia only agreed to extend the deal for a further 60 days, till May 18. BOSTON, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Emergentmedtech, founded in 2018 by Rob Salisbury and Angela Lacy Salisbury, provides aesthetic professionals of all types with leading-edge technologies to give their patients consistent and excellent outcomes that are as non-invasive as possible. In alignment with those values, the company is continuously researching and testing the most advanced and effective devices available. Due to the remarkable safety profile and superior results showing the effectiveness of the NeoGen Plasma Skin Regeneration (PSR), Emergentmedtech procured the exclusive distribution rights for the US Market and will formally announce at the upcoming Modern BeautyCon event coming up this weekend at Boston Park Plaza. NeoGen PSR provides the most advanced nonsurgical facial rejuvenation treatment available with award-winning results. Tweet this Emergentmedtech National US Launch as Exclusive NeoGen PSR Distributor, Modern BeautyCon 2023, Boston Park Plaza, May 6, 2023 "We look forward to educating and creating awareness of this technology being the gold standard device for overall dermal correction and health. Moreover, we are also excited to help patients and practices alike achieve incredible success in being a part of the NeoGen journey," said President and Co-Founder Rob Salisbury. - LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE 3:00 PM SATURDAY MAY 6, 2023 AT BOOTH 21 BALLROOM A - Developed in 2010 by Energist Medical Group headquartered in the UK, the NeoGen PSR provides the most advanced nonsurgical facial rejuvenation treatment available with award-winning results that are evidenced by a decade of dramatic and long-lasting improvements. "Everyone at Energist is delighted and excited to appoint Emergentmedtech as our Exclusive USA NeoGen Partner. Working closely with Rob and Angela over the last few years, I have witnessed unbridled passion, integrity, know-how and 24/7 support for every customer. I believe the combination of our amazing NeoGen PSR system in the capable hands of Emergentmedtech will set the bar to a new high level, that meets every Provider's needs," said Simon Jones, President of Energist Limited. Shaun Charles Med Spa in Wakefield, MA has become the top med spa offering NeoGen PSR treatments in the world in just 2 short years, rocketing in patient bookings for the ground-breaking results that changes the lives of patients and restores confidence to people suffering from scarring, pigmentation and more. They have gone on to win The Aesthetic Award in 2022 for Best Nonsurgical Facial Rejuvenation Enhancement. "When we started with NeoGen, we just treated friends and family including Co-owner and NeoGen PSR treatment specialist Shaun Spanos' grandmother. When people saw the great results, word started spreading and without advertising one bit, we had people banging our door down. I was receiving 40 to 50 calls a day for NeoGen and now we are booked out 3 months in advance and growing. I've never seen this level of improvement with any other modality. It's just absolutely unbelievable, " said Jeff Spanos, Owner and Business Manager of Shaun Charles Med Spa The FDA-approved Class II medical device has 6 dermatological indications to treat Acne scarring, Actinic keratosis, Viral papillomata, Wrinkles and Thytides (facial and non-facial), Seborrheic keratosis and Superficial lesions. NeoGen PSR has adjustable energy levels to customize treatments based on all skin types in the Fitzpatrick Scale while offering little to no downtime for recovery, making it a revolutionary skin care treatment designed to help people achieve younger, healthier-looking skin without the need for invasive procedures. Patients can return to their daily activities immediately after the treatment. It is an ideal option for people who want to improve their appearance but don't want to undergo surgery. The NeoGen PSR treatments are distinguished in their ability to stimulate the body's natural healing response promoting triggers in the body to produce collagen and elastin. Patients see an immediate noticeable improvement in the texture, tone, volume and firmness of their skin that continues to increase over a 6-12 month period. "We wanted to create a company with an eco-system to provide Aesthetic Professionals of all types with the very best technologies to give their patients consistent and efficacious outcomes that are minimally to non-invasive. The NeoGen PSR is the most effective non-invasive device for facial rejuvenation in the world," Co-Founder and Global Trainer, Angela Lacy Salisbury says. The treatment itself is simple and fast with the physician applying a numbing cream to the patient's treatment zone, then using the handheld device to deliver thermal plasma energy below the surface of the skin. The treatment usually takes from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the treatment area. "Staying youthful is not a trend. Patients are looking to find noninvasive treatments to reach their skincare goals. Finding where to start is the biggest challenge. The Emergentmedtech marketing and business development team works with our practitioners to create a vision and strategy to build a strong marketing and business development plan to grow market share within the community and help patients with their aesthetic needs," said Dianna Sellers, V.P. Marketing & Practice Integration. Emergentmedtech is building a national network of NeoGen PSR Providers to bring this innovative technology to people all over America. We have a custom marketing and support system to help each new Provider build their business and launch their practice's ability to offer treatments and grow their business. Emergentmedtech carries a constellation of the top skin care medical devices in the world that can work together to achieve desired patient outcomes. www.emergentmedtech.com Contact Information Emergentmedtech Rob Salisbury 781.690.4945 [email protected] SOURCE Emergentmedtech Extensive Search and Recruitment Process Led by Envision Consulting AUGUSTA, Kan., May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mid-Kansas Community Action Program, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting poverty and homelessness, recently announced that Bambi Parker will be their new Executive Director, effective April 24th, 2023. Bambi Parker, Executive Director A Business Administration graduate of Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Ms. Parker has been working in the nonprofit sector for more than 10 years. A passionate advocate for those experiencing poverty and homelessness, she most recently served for 8 years as Executive Director of Stepping Stone Shelter in Southwest Kansas. While there she designed and implemented the Pathway to Success program that better served residents experiencing homelessness in her community, decreasing homeless rates by 25% under her leadership. "Bambi truly believes that the poverty/homeless community is deeply misunderstood by society and works diligently to bring knowledge and understanding to communities in the hopes that each community will become stronger together in fighting against poverty and homelessness," said outgoing Mid-Kansas CAP Executive Director, Joyce Stockham. "Bambi has served on many Boards and volunteered within her community, and I know she is excited to serve the South-Central Kansas area in the same way. And certainly, we are excited to have her join our exceptional team." For over 50 years, The Mid-Kansas Community Action Program, Inc. has helped people move out of poverty by creating and managing programs and services focused on expanding community housing options, education, family development, and economic support. Their mission is: "To provide an outstanding and efficient work environment with professional, well trained and empowered employees; to diversify and expand programs; and to utilize education, passion, integrity, commitment to excellence, and innovative approaches in being responsive to community needs and in delivery of services." The appointment of Bambi Parker comes after an extensive search and recruitment process led by the Mid-KS CAP search committee, in conjunction with Envision Consulting--a nonprofit consulting firm based in Los Angeles, specializing in executive search, organizational strategy, merger exploration and executive leadership transitions. Envision's commitment to DEI is integrated into its practices, including inclusive surveys and stakeholder interviews, focus groups, structured hiring processes, a focus on anti-biased decision making and more. In 2023, Envision was named by the Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy as a Top 10 Search Firm that Works for Women of Color. In 2022, Envision was named a Top 60 Executive search Firms Serving the Nonprofit Sector by Hunt Scanlon. www.envisionnonprofit.com SOURCE Envision Consulting NEW ORLEANS, May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until May 15, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC), if they purchased the Company's shares between October 28, 2020 and March 3, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Get Help Norfolk Southern investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-nsc/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit Norfolk Southern and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that the Company's "Precision Scheduled Railroading" ("PSR") strategy designed to increase revenues and decrease operating costs through fewer personnel, longer trains, and less spending on safety training, technology, and equipment would be likely to result in the Company suffering increased train derailments and a materially increased risk of future derailments, and as a result of the above, the Company's statements regarding the safety of its operations were materially false and/or misleading. The truth began to emerge on February 3, 2023, when a Norfolk Southern freight train, including 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials, derailed in East Palestine, Ohio and subsequently ignited requiring the immediate evacuation of those within a one-two mile area. Then, on March 4, 2023, another Norfolk Southern freight train derailed near Springfield, Ohio. On this news, shares of Norfolk Southern fell on March 6 and March 7, 2023, closing at $215.18 per share, down $13.21 from a closing price of $228.39 on March 3, 2023. The case is Bucks County Employees Retirement System v. Norfolk Southern Corporation, et al., No. 23-cv-00982. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com. SOURCE ClaimsFiler MILAN, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Phemex, a leading crypto exchange platform, is bolstering its exciting plans to transition from centralized to hybrid semi-centralized with the launch of their innovative Phemex Soul Pass. The non-transferable digital token creates massive potential for growth and value by empowering users with full and transparent ownership of their online identities and assets in the growing Web 3.0 space. Trust is imperative for any social environment to thrive, and in a decentralized world without a central authority, the need for it to be cultivated between all participants is vital. In early 2022, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined his vision for a publicly verifiable and non-transferable token on the blockchain in a whitepaper on Soulbound Tokens (SBT). SBTs can create a more extensive Web 3.0 environment by functioning as the building blocks of decentralized credibility and trust-building by permanently binding someone's genuine reputation and credentials to the Soul, a personal crypto wallet, that cannot be sold or transferred. Phemex Soul Passes are non-transferable tokens that have meaningful reputation, relationships, affiliations, and credentials baked in that can secure accounts, verify identity, and reward community participation -- the cornerstones of a thriving decentralized society (DeSoc). By initiating the Phemex Soul Pass, Phemex is setting the standards for the fundamental elements of a decentralized society within an exchange. The Phemex Soul Pass mechanisms will help facilitate a new ownership system that builds authentic trust and cooperation through a bottom-up approach with key incentives aligned. The Soul Pass grants access to pre-mined Phemex Tokens, contains important Phemex account-related credentials, and provides additional potential for users to earn through platform rewards, partnership gifts, and trading accolades, among others. This creates an avenue for experimentation with mechanisms that maximize community engagement and other goals, further enhancing a decentralized society. Phemex Soul Passes will be available through a whitelist invitation system which means they can only be minted after receiving a whitelist invitation through official Phemex social media, communities, platform activities, or through Phemex partners. Whitelisted users will also receive an airdropped reward of 100 Phemex xPT, which can be redeemed for Phemex Token, in the first batch of whitelists that are scheduled to be opened within 1-2 weeks, with less than 500 exclusive spots available. Through the launch of Phemex Soul Pass as a means of decentralizing governance, Phemex seeks to forge an authentic Web 3.0 experience that emphasizes more than just short-term profit by realigning incentives to attract a community of true believers. This initiative, paired with the wholly transparent and self-proving Proof-of-Reserve and Proof-of-Solvency mechanisms Phemex launched in November 2022, provides citizens of the community with the necessary tools to independently verify and participate, rather than passively trust and consume, laying a strong foundation for the future of the Web 3.0 era with credentialed collaboration, transparency, and accountability at its core. For more information about Phemex Web 3.0 White Paper, please visit https://phemex.gitbook.io/phemex-web3-whitepaper/. To learn more, please visit the pages below: Phemex Soul Pass: https://phemex.com/web3/soulpass Phemex Token: https://phemex.com/web3/pt xPT Pre-mining: https://phemex.com/web3/premining. About Phemex Phemex, a certificated crypto exchange providing efficient and transparent trading experience with commitment of an all-rounded asset protection backed by state-of-the-art security technologies and Merkle-Tree Proofs-of-Reserves practice. Founded by a team of industry veterans, Phemex delivers personalized solutions 24/7 that facilitates the building of users' crypto empire through its low latency and scalable environment, as well as a fair matchmaking system ensuring the prices and timing are prioritized. SOURCE Phemex NEW YORK, May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the securities of Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) between April 26, 2018 and March 13, 2023, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important May 19, 2023 lead plaintiff deadline in the securities class action commenced by the Firm. SO WHAT: If you purchased Rite Aid securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Rite Aid class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=9388 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 19, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) until at least June 2019, Rite Aid filled at least hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, including for potentially lethal opioids such as oxycodone and fentanyl; (2) Rite Aid pharmacists filled these prescriptions despite clear "red flags" that indicated that the prescriptions were unlawful; (3) Rite Aid ignored evidence that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions, and intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers written by concerned pharmacists; (4) by knowingly filling unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances, Rite Aid violated the Controlled Substances Act and, where Rite Aid sought reimbursement from federal healthcare programs, also violated the False Claims Act; (5) as a result, it was at risk of prosecution by federal authorities such as the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") and (6) as a result, Defendants' statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the Rite Aid class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=9388 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.rosenlegal.com SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A. NEW YORK, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential claims against Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. ("Spirit" or the "Company") (NYSE: SPR) and reminds investors of the July 3, 2023 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company. If you suffered losses exceeding $100,000 investing in Spirit stock or options between April 8, 2020 and April 13, 2023 and would like to discuss your legal rights, call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310). You may also click here for additional information: www.faruqilaw.com/SPR. There is no cost or obligation to you. Faruqi & Faruqi is a leading minority and Woman-owned national securities law firm with offices in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia. As detailed below, the lawsuit focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) that Spirit lacked effective production quality controls; (2) that, as a result, Spirit incorrectly installed fittings designed to join the aft fuselage to the vertical tail for some Boeing 737 Max airplanes that Spirit sent to Boeing; (3) that, as a result, Spirit would have to develop an inspection and repair procedure for the affected fuselages; (4) that the foregoing would negatively impact Spirit's financial results; and (5) that as a result of the foregoing, Defendant's positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. On April 13, 2023, after the market closed, Boeing announced that it would halt deliveries of its 737 MAX aircraft due to a supplier quality problem. According to an article by Barron's, Boeing issued a statement stating that "the issue will likely affect a significant number of undelivered 737 MAX airplanes." The same day, Bloomberg identified Spirit as the supplier of the faulty part. Several media outlets reported the details of the quality problem. An article by Reuters reported that "[t]he problem involves the installation of two fittings that join the aft fuselage made by Spirit to the vertical tail, which were not attached correctly to the structure of the fuselage before it was sent to Boeing." Reuters also reported that "Spirit said it is working to develop an inspection and repair for the affected fuselages" and that "the problem is believed to date back to 2019." On this news, Spirit's stock price fell $7.38, or 20.7%, to close at $28.22 per share on April 14, 2023. The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding Spirit's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others. Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner. SOURCE Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP NEW ORLEANS, May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until May 23, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE: SWK), if they purchased the Company's shares between October 28, 2021 and July 28, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Get Help Stanley investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-swk/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit Stanley and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. On July 28, 2022, the Company released its Q2 2022 results disclosing that "significantly slower demand in late May and Junedrove the majority of the challenges we faced this quarter" including that net income for the quarter had plummeted from $459.5M in the year-earlier quarter to $87.6M, and that it was cutting its 2022 earnings per share guidance by nearly half. On this news, shares of Stanley plummeted over 16%, from a closing price of $117.45 per share the evening prior, to a closing price of $98.58 per share on July 28, 2022 on heavy trading volume. The case is Rammohan v. Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-00369. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com. SOURCE ClaimsFiler NEW ORLEANS, May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until May 30, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), if they purchased the Company's shares between August 18, 2021 and May 17, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Get Help Target investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-tgt-1/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit Target and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. On May 18, 2022, the Company announced its Q1 2022 financial results, disclosing among other things, a decrease in operating income to $1.3 billion from $2.4 billion in the prior year, a 40% drop in adjusted earnings, and a decrease in gross margin of nearly 4.3%, with approximately 3% of that due to "the combined impact of impairments, markdowns, and other actions taken to rightsize our inventory position in categories that were too heavy," as well as a decrease in full-year 2022 operating margin guidance to "a range centered around 6%" from a margin rate of 8% or higher. On this news, shares of Target plummeted nearly 25% or $53.67 per share, or from a closing price of $215.28 per share on May 17, 2022, to a closing price of $161.61 per share on May 18, 2022. The case is Perez v. Target Corporation, et al., No. 23-cv-00769. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com. SOURCE ClaimsFiler KATHMANDU, Nepal, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Religious Culture Communication Association and the Buddhist Association of China jointly launched a cataract charity program entitled "The 2023 Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action-Into the Hometown of Buddha" at Dr. Iwamura Memorial Hospital in Kathmandu lately. Ram Sahaya Yadav, Vice President of Nepal and Chen Song, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Nepal, attended the launch ceremony of the program. The 2023 Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action program Is Launched in Kathmandu, Nepal The 2023 Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action program Is Launched in Kathmandu, Nepal "For thousands of years, China and Nepal have been engaged in collaborative efforts involving both government and civil affairs," said Ram Sahaya Yadav. "The program has helped restore the sight of over 500 Nepalese patients with eye diseases. Zhong Hua Chinese Buddhist Monastery in Rupandehi District has played a key role in implementing the program. I also want to thank the abbot of the monastery, Buddhist Master Yin Shun, for his ongoing efforts to promote the program in Nepal." "This marks the sixth time that the Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action charity program has been rolled out in Nepal, further strengthening the friendship and civil exchanges between China and Nepal," stated the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Mr. Chen. "In line with 'Good health and Well-being', one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, the campaign series is the latest achievement of the two countries' joint efforts to build an exemplary charity program as well as a health and wellness community with a shared future for mankind." During the event, participants discussed several topics, including how to better integrate the strengths of the UN, Nepal and China; the overall, forward-looking and practical issues around the promotion of exchanges between the Chinese and Nepalese Buddhist communities; further strengthening the role of Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace; increasing participation in the UN Day of Vesak; hosting a variety of Sino-Nepalese Buddhist exchange events; improving the working mechanism, and assisting in the organization of South China Sea Buddhism Shenzhen Roundtable in Nepal. The goal of the discussions is to offer advice and suggestions on how to facilitate international religious exchanges and enhance cultural soft power. "Those who wish to travel ten thousand miles will definitely not stop in the middle of their journey," emphasized Buddhist Master Yin Shun in his speech. "Linked by destiny, China and Nepal share a dream and support each other in fulfilling the dream. The Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action campaign not only reflects the deep friendship between the peoples of China and Nepal, but also demonstrates the Buddhist community's efforts to give back to society and deliver on religious beliefs. The campaign aims to bring light to patients with eye diseases, an action that is aligned with Buddhist teachings." "SZCQ - The Charity and Brightness Action in Nepal, launched in 2014, is the first healthcare-related philanthropic event launched by a Chinese non-governmental organization in Nepal," said Chen Junyao, secretary of the Party Committee of Youth Chawnese Sodality of Shenzhen. "Over the past few years, the event has benefited many cataract patients in multiple countries bordering the South China Sea and beyond with 2,000 free surgeries having been performed, bringing warmth and love from China to local governments and inhabitants. Launched in 2014, the Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action campaign, based on Venerable Yin Shun's compassionate initiative, has been held in Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and other countries in the South China Sea region and beyond. By bringing light and hope to nearly 2,000 local patients with eye diseases, the program has received much acclaim from local governments and inhabitants. SOURCE The Buddhist Association of China KATHMANDU, Nepal, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Religious Culture Communication Association and the Buddhist Association of China jointly launched a cataract charity program entitled "The 2023 Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action-Into the Hometown of Buddha" at Dr. Iwamura Memorial Hospital in Kathmandu lately. Ram Sahaya Yadav, Vice President of Nepal and Chen Song, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Nepal, attended the launch ceremony of the program. The 2023 Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action program Is Launched in Kathmandu, Nepal The 2023 Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action program Is Launched in Kathmandu, Nepal "For thousands of years, China and Nepal have been engaged in collaborative efforts involving both government and civil affairs," said Ram Sahaya Yadav. "The program has helped restore the sight of over 500 Nepalese patients with eye diseases. Zhong Hua Chinese Buddhist Monastery in Rupandehi District has played a key role in implementing the program. I also want to thank the abbot of the monastery, Buddhist Master Yin Shun, for his ongoing efforts to promote the program in Nepal." "This marks the sixth time that the Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action charity program has been rolled out in Nepal, further strengthening the friendship and civil exchanges between China and Nepal," stated the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Mr. Chen. "In line with 'Good health and Well-being', one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, the campaign series is the latest achievement of the two countries' joint efforts to build an exemplary charity program as well as a health and wellness community with a shared future for mankind." During the event, participants discussed several topics, including how to better integrate the strengths of the UN, Nepal and China; the overall, forward-looking and practical issues around the promotion of exchanges between the Chinese and Nepalese Buddhist communities; further strengthening the role of Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace; increasing participation in the UN Day of Vesak; hosting a variety of Sino-Nepalese Buddhist exchange events; improving the working mechanism, and assisting in the organization of South China Sea Buddhism Shenzhen Roundtable in Nepal. The goal of the discussions is to offer advice and suggestions on how to facilitate international religious exchanges and enhance cultural soft power. "Those who wish to travel ten thousand miles will definitely not stop in the middle of their journey," emphasized Buddhist Master Yin Shun in his speech. "Linked by destiny, China and Nepal share a dream and support each other in fulfilling the dream. The Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action campaign not only reflects the deep friendship between the peoples of China and Nepal, but also demonstrates the Buddhist community's efforts to give back to society and deliver on religious beliefs. The campaign aims to bring light to patients with eye diseases, an action that is aligned with Buddhist teachings." "SZCQ - The Charity and Brightness Action in Nepal, launched in 2014, is the first healthcare-related philanthropic event launched by a Chinese non-governmental organization in Nepal," said Chen Junyao, secretary of the Party Committee of Youth Chawnese Sodality of Shenzhen. "Over the past few years, the event has benefited many cataract patients in multiple countries bordering the South China Sea and beyond with 2,000 free surgeries having been performed, bringing warmth and love from China to local governments and inhabitants. Launched in 2014, the Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action campaign, based on Venerable Yin Shun's compassionate initiative, has been held in Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and other countries in the South China Sea region and beyond. By bringing light and hope to nearly 2,000 local patients with eye diseases, the program has received much acclaim from local governments and inhabitants. Photos - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2071196/Photo_1.jpg https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2071197/Photo2.jpg SOURCE The Buddhist Association of China This photo taken on Aug. 4, 2022 shows the White House and a stop sign in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) "It is important, therefore, for the U.S. to find ways to cooperate and manage its differences with China, to avoid a further escalation of tensions and potential economic disruption," said a Pakistani economist. by Ali Jaswal ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's recent layout of the U.S. "geo-economics" strategy has historical roots, which advocates that the United States should achieve its geo-political dominance through military as well as economic means, a Pakistani economist told Xinhua in a recent interview. When the United States had become a global hegemon decades ago, "it is argued that America should pursue its geo-political ends not just militarily but by primarily employing international economic relations, not in cooperative pursuit of mutual advantage but as an adversarial, winner-take-all war," said Arshad Zaman, a former chief economist at the Ministry of Planning in Pakistan. In a recent speech, Yellen -- despite calling for "constructive" engagement between the world's two largest economies -- said national security is "of paramount importance" in the U.S. relationship with China. "China's economic growth need not be incompatible with U.S. economic leadership," she said. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing of Fiscal Year 2022 Budget for the Department of the Treasury on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 23, 2021. (Shawn Thew/Pool via Xinhua) Noting that the U.S. treasury secretary's remarks laid out in public the "geo-economics" strategy of the current administration, Zaman said that U.S. trade restrictions have already exerted a significant impact on U.S.-China trade relations, on the two economies and on global economic recovery. Zaman, who is also a former senior economist with the World Bank, said that this U.S.-imposed trade war did not only raise import costs for American businesses and lowered sales for Chinese exporters, but had also disrupted global supply chains, which led to higher costs for businesses and consumers around the world. Other measures including restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States and the blacklisting of Chinese companies have made it harder for Chinese companies to do business in the United States, and have eventually created uncertainty for American businesses that have relationships with them, he added. Regarding the concerns that Washington's bullying nature would push it towards decoupling with Beijing, he noted that the United States has sought to restrict China's access to advanced technologies like semiconductors and artificial intelligence, pushing for decoupling in some sectors. In the short term, this would likely lead to higher costs for businesses and consumers, reduced efficiency, and slower growth, Zaman said. In the long term, Zaman added, decoupling could lead to the fragmentation of supply chains and standards in the global economy, potentially reducing the benefits of globalization and cooperation. A customer shops at a supermarket in San Mateo, California, the United States, April 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Jianguo) "It is important, therefore, for the U.S. to find ways to cooperate and manage its differences with China, to avoid a further escalation of tensions and potential economic disruption," said the economist. BERLIN, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, the XS, LRS, UHP and UpanelS series products designed originally by Unilumin Group have been chosen and honored by the iF awards among more than 11,000 entries around the world. Unilumin has become the only enterprise in the LED industry to have four products awarded by this international authority award in once. Since the German iF design award was established in 1953, it has been recognized as the one of the most prestigious design prizes in the world, which is the Oscars award of the design world. creative display LRS series product design draft The single cabinet of Unilumin's XS series product has 9 angle adjustment gears, 40 ultra-wide arc range to achieve the "S" shape. The screen is so smooth that it can realize a variety of creative shapes. To create a hoistable product, Unilumin designers considered the left and right pull during installation so that they designed a triangular structure to meet the mechanical need. In addition, the product's arc lock on both sides enables adjustment of arc screen. Combined with the power push-button maintenance design, it is both sophisticated and user-friendly. The LRS series products realize a perfect balance between cost and design. In order to make the power box maintenance efficient and convenient, a modular design is adopted for the product to integrate the power source, receiver card, and HUB card into the power supply box. To realize cost control, the rounded design of the bottom of the cabinet also ensures the comfort of use. The UHP series products have simple and elegant appearances. Through the contrast in color and material, two-color masking and spraying technology is used for the back cover of the cabinet to generate a unique impact. Hidden handle, detachable rear cover design provide clients with the convenience of post-maintenance installation. The UpanelS series which have continuously won Japan Good Design Award, Red Dot Award and iF Design Award, represents the design level of Unilumin's high-end small pitch products. Multilateral folding surfaces and folding lines are extensively used for the products. From the concept of design , the sketch design and review, effect drawing and modelingto the process guidance drawing production and product implementation, Unilumin,the representative brand of Chinese LED industry, has demonstrated the international-level capability in the original design of industrial products. SOURCE Unilumin Group., Ltd. BEIJING, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Weeks ago on April 11, the Cyberspace Administration of China unveiled draft regulations for products and services that use generative artificial intelligence. This software structure, like the one behind ChatGPT, is upgrading the content creation of AI, making it analogous to a human being even more than in any other historical time. Despite the early endeavor to regulate AI, there are debates on the level of capabilities it has reached. ChatGPT can it be counted as a technological revolution? ChatGPT can it be counted as a technological revolution? ChatGPT can it be counted as a technological revolution? In the second episode of Youth on Tech, a digital program produced by Science and Technology Daily, we discuss what ChatGPT-like AI can and cannot do. We start with the fundamental principles current hyped-up AI chatbots stick to, pointing out their edges and also existing problems. Muhammad Arif Mughal, an AI specialist from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, suggests that ChatGPT is revolutionary only in the way that it learns from a large amount of text. Echoing this idea is Li Zhinan, doctoral student in computer-aided design and computer graphics at Zhejiang University, who indicates that ChatGPT's advantage lies in only its unparalleled large scale and effectiveness compared to before, with its fundamental techniques and algorithms created a long time ago. Liu Xiuyun, professor of biomedical engineering from Tianjin University, discusses the current usage and potential of AI in the field of medicine. She also cites a survey conducted by the University of Oxford, which suggests that approximately half of all traditional, repetitive jobs may be replaced by AI in the next 20 years. Social impacts and ethical concerns Despite positive effects, current AI still has limitations. Concerning trustworthiness, we examine the concept of AI hallucination. According to AI associate professor Cam Tu Nguyen, Vietnamese at Nanjing University, the content generated by a ChatGPT-like chatbot may be readily conceived as correct because of its fluency. Over time, this accumulated subtle misinformation could lead to negative social impacts on a large scale. When Open AI released ChatGPT last November, its website acknowledged that ChatGPT sometimes generates plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical responses. Fixing this issue is challenging due to the nature of training data and training methods. Students who are banned from using ChatGPT will find ways to access it, Cam Tu suggests, adding that it is therefore plausible to design a different testing system by contrasting answers provided respectively by students and AI in order to realize educational goals. SOURCE Science and Technology Daily VANCOUVER, BC, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wondershare Filmora, the AI-powered video editing software, has recently announced its Project Go Viral campaign in conjunction with its sponsorship of Vidcon 2023, the mecca for creators around the world. Running from May 3rd to August 3rd, the campaign's goal is to empower those who want to grow professionally as a creator by offering them a Go Viral Kit. Join Wondershare Filmora Project Go Viral Now To participate, creators can simply post their upcoming video content that reflects their creative style on social media with #FilmoraVidCon and tag @Filmora_editor in the caption. Creators who have less than 20k followers are welcome to join in the fun. The Go Viral Kit is designed to help new creators accelerate their content creation journey. Three participants will be selected based on how well the content reflects their creative style by Wondershare Filmora to receive a Go Viral Kit that includes a $1000 gear fund, a Filmora Perpetual License with unlimited access to video effects, and a shoutout from a social media Influencer to their channel. On top of the Go Viral Kit, one of them will receive a trip to Vidcon valued at $3000 which includes a Vidcon ticket, a round-trip flight ticket and 4 nights of accommodation. In total, this prize package is worth up to $5000. "Video creativity has the power to transcend boundaries, connect communities across the globe, and inspire change. As a global corporation, it is our responsibility to nurture and support the growth of rising creators, providing them with the tools and resources they need to share their unique vision with the world, "stated Tobee Wu, CEO of Wondershare. "The Project Go Viral campaign shows how Wondershare Filmora is committed to empowering creators to unleash their full potential. We believe every creator deserves a chance to make their content go viral as long as they have a passion, and we're excited to be a part of that journey." While equipping creators with everything they need to increase their visibility on social media, Wondershare Filmora is also ready to attend VidCon from June 21 to 24 as a sponsor for the fifth time. Visit our event page to learn more as Project Go Viral goes live. About Vidcon Vidcon is an annual convention that celebrates the world of online video content, including YouTube and other social media platforms. It was founded in 2010 by Hank and John Green, who are well-known YouTube creators. The convention brings together creators, fans, and industry professionals from all over the world to network, learn, and have fun. Vidcon features a variety of programming, including panels, workshops, meet-and-greets, concerts, and more. Vidcon has become a significant event in the online video community, with thousands of attendees each year. It has also expanded to different parts of the world, with events held in Australia, Europe, and Mexico. Compatibility and Price Wondershare Filmora 12 is compatible with Windows PC, Mac, Android Phone, iPhone, iPad, and Android Tablet. Pricing starts at $49.99 per year. To get the free trial of Filmora 12, please visit https://filmora.wondershare.com/. Learn more about Filmora on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. About Filmora 12 Filmora 12 has been designed with the user in mind, featuring smoother performance and a new, intuitive UX and UI design. With advanced AI functions, over 2,000 media resources, new royalty-free music, 3D LUTs, effects, and pre-set templates, you will have everything you need to perfect your videos while maintaining your creative vision. About Wondershare Wondershare is globally recognized as a software company that is committed to delivering innovative solutions for personal and professional use. As a leader in creativity and productivity products, Wondershare has received prestigious awards from organizations such as The Shorty Awards, G2, and GetApp. At Wondershare, the mission is to empower individuals to pursue their passions and build a more creative world. With over 100 million users across 150 countries, users can access a wide range of software solutions for video editing, PDF editing, data recovery, diagram and graphics, and more. Together, Wondershare strives to provide high-quality, user-friendly software that enables individuals and businesses to bring their creative ideas to life. Media Contact Iris Liu [email protected] SOURCE Wondershare Khartoum, May 6 : The Sudanese Army said that it has sent negotiators to the Saudi port city of Jeddah to discuss the humanitarian truce as part of a Saudi-American initiative to end the conflict in the African country. As part of the Saudi-American initiative, a delegation of the Sudanese Armed Forces left for Jeddah to discuss the details relating to the truce, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement issued on Friday by the Sudanese army. "This tends to secure and prepare the suitable circumstances to deal with the humanitarian aspects for our citizens under the current conditions," the statement added. Earlier this week, both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to extend the truce for seven days. The RSF has not officially confirmed that it had sent negotiators to Jeddah, though local media reports said so. Sudan has been witnessing deadly armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF in the capital city of Khartoum and other areas since April 15, with the two sides accusing each other of initiating the conflict. According to UN statistics, thousands of Sudanese citizens have been displaced or forced to seek refuge in safe areas in Sudan and neighboring countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia and Chad. So far, the deadly clashes have left 550 people dead and 4,926 others wounded, according to the Sudanese health ministry. Ramallah, May 6 : The Israeli army has handed over the bodies of three Palestinians who were killed by Israeli soldiers more than 50 days ago to the Palestinian side, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement. In coordination with the Palestinian liaison office of security coordination with Israel, the Israeli army on Friday handed the bodies over to the Palestinian side at an Israeli army checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the statement. The Palestinian WAFA news agency identified the victims as Odai Shami, Jihad Shami, and Mohammad Dabik, who were killed by Israeli soldiers on March 12 while they were in a car close to the Israeli military checkpoint of Sarra near Nablus. Their bodies were taken away by the Israeli soldiers ever since. According to statistics released by the Palestinian Authority in November last year, Israel is withholding the bodies of more than 110 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers since 2015, including 10 minors, eight prisoners, and three women. The Palestinian Authority also said 256 Palestinians who have been killed in the conflicts with Israel since 1967 were buried at a cemetery in northern Israel. In the past few months, the Israeli army has carried out daily raids on Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps, mainly in the northern West Bank. Israelis claim that they want to arrest Palestinian militants wanted by Israeli security forces. According to official Palestinian figures, the tension between Israelis and the Palestinians has killed more than 100 Palestinians since January. Meanwhile, Israeli sources said that 19 Israelis were killed in attacks carried out by Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank. Chennai, May 6 : Hansika Motwani has completed shooting for the last schedule of director Igore's Tamil film 'Man' in Chennai. The film is a thriller that talks about violence against women and the difficulties that they have been subjected to. Hansika plays a fashion designer -- a strong, independent and empowered woman. The look is fierce and the shoot was very challenging. Speaking on the wrap of the film, Motwani said: "As the 'Man' shoot comes to an end, I must say this journey wasn't very easy, but it was definitely worth the effort. My character in the movie has many layers and it was an experience to play such a strong woman. I can't wait for the audience to see me play Nirmala. This movie is truly very special to me." Directed by Igore and shot in Chennai, Pollachi and Madurai, the movie's also includes Aari Arjunan, who plays the antagonist, Janani Durga and Soumika. Ghibran has composed the music and Mani has worked the cameras. Jammu, May 6 : Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday laid wreath and paid tributes to the Army personnel, who were killed in the ongoing operations against terrorists in the forests of Kandi in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district. "The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. Grateful nation will always be indebted to their unparalleled valour," the Lt. Governor said. The Army said on Saturday that one terrorist was killed and another terrorist was likely injured in the gunfight that started after a contact was established by the security forces with the terrorists in the Kandi area in Rajouri district. On Friday, terrorists triggered an explosive device that led to the death of five soldiers. Bengaluru, May 6 : With just three days left for the campaigning in Karnataka, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi will be addressing a public meeting in the southern state on Saturday along with her son and party leader Rahul Gandhi. According to Congress, Sonia Gandhi will be addressing a joint rally with her son in Hubli in the evening. The area around Hubli has remained a laboratory for Hindutva politics and the Congress has chosen this region for Sonia Gandhi's public meeting. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi will be addressing two more public meetings -- in Yamakanmardi and Chikodi in Karnataka's Belagavi -- before joining his mother in the third public meeting. This will be the first election public meeting of Sonia Gandhi, who is currently the Chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party after May 2019. Sonia Gandhi addressed the last electoral public meeting in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli on May 2, 2019. Her last speech at a public meeting was on December 14, 2019 in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan where she spoke in Bharat Bachao Rally. However, due to health reasons she had participated in several programmes of the party, but has stayed away from the election campaigning and public meetings. However, Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have been campaigning aggressively in karnataka and both of them have jointly held over 40 public meetings and roadshows in the state. Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, has not raked up the Adani issue in the Karnataka Assembly polls and has kept his campaigning focused on local issues of corruption, unemployment, etc. Besides the Gandhi family, even Congress leadership has been holding aggressive campaigning in the state. The ruling BJP is facing stiff competition from the Congress in the southern state. The Congress has been campaigning aggressively in Karnataka and has cornered the BJP on issues of corruption and several others. The Congress announced several promises for the people of the state in its manifesto. The party also promised to repeal, within one year of coming to power, "all unjust laws and other anti-people laws" passed by the BJP government in the state. To woo the voters in the state, Congress announced Gruha Jyothi (200 units of free electricity), Gruha Lakshmi- Rs 2,000 monthly to every woman head of the family, Anna Bhagya - 10 kg of food grains of their choice (among rice, ragi, jowar, millet) to every person in a BPL family. It also promised that the party is committed to take a firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations spreading hatred amongst communities on grounds of caste or religion. It also said that it will ban any organisation like Bajrang Dal and PFI, if they try to spread hatred. BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have cornered Congress on its decision to ban Bajrang Dal in Karnataka. Elections for the 224-member Assembly is scheduled on May 10 and counting of votes will take place on May 13. New Delhi, May 6 : The new robotic surgery training centre at AIIMS in the Capital will provide much-needed robotic surgery skills to hundreds of surgeons who can deliver better outcomes to patients by increasing access to high-quality medical care and reducing costs, experts said on Saturday. AIIMS New Delhi and India Medtronic Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Medtronic, this week announced the opening of a state-of-the-art surgical robotics training centre at the nation's premier healthcare destination. The centre will provide surgeons with best-in-class training in robotic-assisted surgery. It is the first such centre at AIIMS utilising Medtronic's Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system, which was first introduced in India in September 2021. "Together, we will make training and education on the latest technology more accessible and enhance the skill sets of both current and the next generation of surgeons," said Michael Blackwell, Vice President and Managing Director, Medtronic India. Dr Minu Bajpai, HOD Paediatric Surgery and Dean Academics, AIIMS, said that surgical robotics and artificial intelligence are already changing the way surgical care is delivered. "This initiative will pave the way for surgeons to progress from open and laparoscopic surgery to advanced RAS and will shorten their learning curve to master robotic techniques," Bajpai added. RAS is an emerging medical technology that can help standardise surgical procedures and enable surgeons in performing complex surgeries. The training centre will offer a broad spectrum of training to enhance the knowledge and skill set in RAS, ranging from basic skills training to procedural training to more advanced and specialised areas in soft-tissue surgery. According to Dr Mahendra Bhandari, Director, Robotic Research and Education, Vattikuti Urology Institute, Henry Ford Hospital in the US, the AIIMS New Delhi setting up a training facility for training surgeons to become adept at robotic surgery is indeed heart-warming because the arrival of surgical robots has advanced the practice of surgery significantly in this millennium. "Shorter hospital stays for patients because of robotic surgery will make healthcare facilities accessible to more patients needing life-saving surgery and organ transplant," added Dr Bhandari, also the CEO of Vattikuti Foundation. The Vattikuti Foundation has trained over 500 super-specialist surgeons from all specialties to become accomplished robotic surgeons India in the last decade. The Hugo RAS system is a modular, multi-quadrant platform designed for a broad range of soft-tissue procedures. It is designed to bring the benefits of minimally invasive surgery -- fewer complications, smaller scars, shorter hospital stays, and a faster return to normal activities. Veterinarian Bai Hua sutures the wound of a cow owned by a villager in Yuanzhou District, Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 18, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) YINCHUAN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The 27-year-old, a skilled rural veterinarian based in Guyuan City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, maintains a dual role as vet and internet celebrity who has gained a total of three million followers on multiple video sharing and streaming platforms, like Kuaishou, Bilibili and Douyin. In her short videos, Bai Hua can be seen in dirty cowsheds, but she remains beautiful and fashionable while calmly taking care of bloated sick cattle, delivering baby cows, and giving injections. The stark contrast won her fans' affection. The young female veterinarian, a relative rarity in a dirty, smelly and somewhat risky profession, knew it was not an easy choice for her to embark on such a career. Veterinarian Bai Hua arranges medicines in the trunk of her car in front of her veterinary clinic in Yuanzhou District, Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 18, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) This aerial photo taken on April 18, 2023 shows veterinarian Bai Hua driving her pink car on her way to a farmer's house for treating cattle in Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) Veterinarian Bai Hua looks for medicines from the trunk of her car in Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 18, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) Veterinarian Bai Hua takes out medicines from the trunk of her car in Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 18, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) Despite having been splashed in the face with cow manure while pulling a cow's tail, and being kicked by cows multiple times, the image-conscious woman has never entertained the thought of changing careers. Instead, she remains determined to dive deeply into veterinary science, and dreams of becoming a leading veterinarian. Bai made no bones about her desire for fame, which inspired her to carve out a second career. "I want to help more young people get a close-up view of this profession through my example. I want them to know that veterinarians can also dress in a clean and stylish manner every day, and that the work can be interesting. This will encourage more young people to join me." Veterinarian Bai Hua prepares medicine from the trunk of her car in Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 17, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) A colleague of Veterinarian Bai Hua (C) helps her shoot videos for sharing her work on internet in Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 18, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) Veterinarian Bai Hua gives infusion to a cow owned by a farmer in Yuanzhou District, Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 17, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) Riding on the wave of short videos, Bai has become famous as she wished, and she is occasionally recognized when traveling to other places. But what makes her happiest is that more and more young people are asking her online about how to become a good veterinarian. Even so, Bai still strives for perfection and often spends tens of thousands of yuan out of her own pocket for further study. "I must continue to learn, I can't let my reputation exceed my ability," she quipped. Veterinarian Bai Hua sutures the wound of a cow owned by a villager in Yuanzhou District, Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 18, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) Veterinarian Bai Hua registers information of medicines in her veterinary clinic in Yuanzhou District, Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 18, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) Veterinarian Bai Hua arranges medicines in her veterinary clinic in Yuanzhou District, Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, April 18, 2023.(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua) Seoul, May 6 : South Korea plans to "swiftly" lower its national crisis level for Covid-19, the head of the country's public health agency said on Saturday, after the WHO declared an end to the virus as a global health emergency earlier this week. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Commissioner Jee Young-mee made the announcement in a statement, following WHO's move on Friday to end the public health emergency of international concern that had been in place since January 2020. "By considering the WHO Emergency Committee results, the trend of the virus' spread at home and abroad, domestic antivirus measures, medical response capabilities, policies of major countries, and others, we will swiftly confirm the downgrade plan for the Covid-19 emergency level through an emergency assessment meeting with experts," Jee said. In March, South Korea unveiled a roadmap to eventually redefine Covid-19 as an endemic and ease the remaining virus restrictions after WHO declares an end to the global emergency status for the virus, Yonhap news agency reported. Under the country's first-stage plan, set to be announced sometime this month, the national crisis level for the virus will be lowered to an "alert" level from the current "serious" level among other measures. With the downgrade, the current mandatory seven-day Covid-19 isolation period will be reduced to five days, operations of temporary virus screening centres and the government-wide response from the central disaster and safety headquarters will end, and daily virus tallies will be announced weekly. The government expects to announce its second-stage plan in July. South Korea has so far removed most Covid-19 restrictions, with the mask mandate in high-risk places like hospitals and pharmacies being an exception. Kolkata, May 6 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah's proposed visit to West Bengal next week might be curtailed to a great extent, insiders in the party's state committee said. "Instead of a two-day visit, as originally scheduled, the trip might be curtailed to just a day. At the same, the minister might also limit his movement within the state capital," he added. As per the earlier plan, the minister was to arrive in Kolkata on May 8 and attend a public rally in either of the two adjacent districts -- Nadia and Murshidabad. He was also to attend a cultural function on May 9 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, hold a meeting with top state party leaders and fly back to New Delhi the same day. "However, in the changed schedule, Shah's programme in the state, in all probability, will be curtailed to just May 9. On that day, he will attend the cultural programme, hold a meeting with state leaders and return to the national capital. During this visit, he will not be addressing any public rally like he did at Birbhum last month," the state committee member said. BJP's state president in West Bengal and party Lok Sabha member Sukanta Majumdar also confirmed that the Union minister's state visit has been trimmed to a day (May 9). Now, two different reasons are being floated by two sections of the state leadership as reasons why the Union ministry's trip to West Bengal will be curtailed. Shah's busy schedule elsewhere is the official reason for the rescheduled trip. However, another member of the state committee said that since Bengalis will be in a celebratory mood from May 8 owing to Gurudev's birth anniversary the next day, the party leadership did not think it wise to have a full-fledged public political meeting. Last time, Amit Shah addressed a public meeting in West Bengal was on April 14 at Suri in Birbhum. During the meeting, he claimed that if the BJP manages to win 35 of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the next year's general elections, the Trinamool Congress government will collapse much before its term (till 2026). Los Angeles, May 6 : Hollywood actor Pete Davidson showed his support to the writers who are protesting amid the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. The comedian was spotted handing out pizza to the striking writers outside New York City's Silvercup Studios on Friday, May 5, reports aceshowbiz.com. For the occasion, 'The King of Staten Island' star donned a black hoodie emblazoned with the logo for his new Peacock series 'Bupkis'. He flashed smiles while delivering boxes of pizza for the writers on the chilly streets. "No writers, no shows without the writers," the comedian said in footage that circulated online. The former 'Saturday Night Live' star was also pictured grabbing a sign and picketing. At one point, he gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to the camera. Pete's generous move came after it was revealed that his hosting gig on 'SNL' was canceled due to the strike. 'The Suicide Squad' actor, who left the hit NBC comedy series in 2022, was supposed to make a return as a host in the May 6 episode. Pete was the latest celebrity who voiced his support to the writers amid their salary dispute. 'Yellowjackets' star Sammi Hanratty and 'Abbott Elementary' creator and star Quinta Brunson held picket signs as they joined WGA strikes in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers also help pay their crews while their shows, 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' and 'Late Night with Seth Meyers' respectively, are on production hiatus. Sources claimed that NBC is paying staff members on the shows through the end of next week, while the two late-night talk show hosts will pay for the employees' salary for the third week. Staffers were reportedly informed on Wednesday morning, May 3 during production calls, with the hosts taking part personally to discuss the matter with his staff. Healthcare for the shows' employees reportedly will also be paid through September. Chennai, May 6 : The sovereign rating by a global credit rating agency has a say in currency transactions, and a downgrade will affect the nation's currency, said a senior industry official, indicating the need for a non-western credit rating agency. Speaking to IANS on the condition of anonymity, the official said: "There is a perception that the western credit rating agencies have a slight bias in their sovereign rating of India." According to the official, the credit rating agencies that rate the countries also take into account the per capita income in dollar terms and legal framework -- for commercial transactions, debt resolutions and others -- that exists in the rated countries. While agreeing that these need some improvements in India, the official noted that the sovereign credit raters do not take into account the country's services economy, the economic depth, infrastructure spending, and forex reserves. The official also added that most of India's borrowings are rupee debts, unlike many other countries that have their debts in dollars. This brings to the question is there a need for a non-western credit rating agency? Already an idea has been mooted for a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) credit rating agency. Currently, the sovereign rating market is dominated by three agencies -- Moody's, S&P, and Fitch. Perhaps the smaller credit rating agencies can issue a "shadow sovereign credit rating" factoring the regional factors like the political parties that come out with a shadow budget ahead of the actual budget presented by a state government. Similarly, a common currency for the BRICS nations is a step towards dedollarisation. (Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at v.jagannathan@ians.in) Kochi, May 6 : Mollywood actor Tiny Tom has said that he is scared to allow his son to make a foray into the Malayalam film industry amid reports on "drug influx" in it. While inaugurating the cultural programme of the Kerala University at Alappuzha, Tom said: "I have only one son and recently, he got an offer to act in a film in the role as the son of a superstar. My wife refused to give the permission to act, as we know that the Malayalam film industry is caught in the influx of drugs." Tom, who is also an office bearer of Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), asked the big audience of students who gathered to hear his speech that all of them should turn their addiction to art and cultural forms and not into drugs. "I very well know an actor here, who is addicted to drugs and has started to lose his teeth and very soon his bones will start to crack. But when this is said, people say, but he acts very well," added Tom. He also confirmed that he will appear before agencies to give his statement in the probe about the "influx" of drugs in the industry. Kerala Culture and Films Minister Saji Cherian had expressed deep shock on reports about use of drugs in the Malayalam film industry. The state Excise department has begun the probe into the allegations levelled by the major stakeholders in the Malayalam film industry. Mumbai, May 6 : As King Charles III is coronated on Saturday in London with the famed 362-year-old solid gold 'St. Edwards Crown', another traditional headgear from his humble admirers in Mumbai will vie for attention in the glitter and glamour of the 'Crown Jewels'. Mumbai's world-famous Dabbawalas have sent a gift of a traditional saffron-hued 'Puneri Pagdi' and a pure-white 'Uparne' (stole or shawl) for King Charles III and Queen Camilla for their historic coronation event this afternoon in Great Britain. The coronation gifts were handed over to the British Deputy High Commission officials this week in Mumbai by the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charitable Trust (NMTBSCT) trustees like President Ulhas S. Muke, Ramdas Karvande, Vinod Shette and Sopan Mare. "We have bought these special gifts of the 'Puneri Pagdi' and the traditional shawls made by the Warkari community for King Charles III and Queen Camilla," gushed Muke. However, he said that the Buckingham Palace did not extend an invitation to the Dabbawalas for the crowning glory of the King and Queen on Saturday. "Hence, we attended a pre-coronation function organised by the British Deputy High Commission here this week and handed over the gifts for the King and Queen, which will reach them today," Muke told IANS. The NMTBSCT Spokesperson Ritesh S. Andre said that the 'Puneri Pagdi' symbolised pride and honour, and was worn by the Pune royalty in the 19th century, while the 'Uparne' is an attire for special ceremonial or festive occasions. The Dabbawalas Trustees were felicitated by the British Deputy High Commission authorities and they reciprocated with their best wishes to the King and Queen on their formal coronation on Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, the Dabbawalas gathered at their office, displayed a picture of Prince Charles meeting them in Mumbai, distributed sweets and celebrated his coronation as King Charles III. Some of them recounted cherished anecdotes and vivid memories of their meeting with the Prince, and how he had not forgotten them even after becoming the King. The Dabbawalas shot to global limelight when (the then) Prince Charles met them in Mumbai in 2003 and was impressed by their hard work that had earned them a top Sigma 6 rating in 1998. In 2005, Prince Charles invited the Dabbawalas for his wedding with Camilla Parker-Bowles which was attended by Raghunath Medge and Sopan Mare. At that time, they had presented the newly-wedded royal couple with gifts of a Maharashtrian 'Pheta' and a traditional 'nauvari sari' (nine-yards sari). Later, on other occasions, the Dabbawalas have rallied together to send gifts and blessings to the British Royalty members, like a 'Pheta' and 'Paithani Sari' for the wedding of Prince Harry with Meghan Markle in 2018, and in 2019, a set of Maharashtrian baby silver jewellery for their son Archie. The 2,000-odd tribe of Dabbawalas is globally acclaimed for pursuing the 130-year-old trade of picking up, delivering and returning lunch boxes to more than 200,000 lakh office-goers in Mumbai, though the trade took a severe beating during the three years of Covid-19 pandemic. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in) London, May 6 : The number of Indians illegally crossing over into the UK across the English Channel has increased sharply in the first three months of the year, making them the second biggest cohort after Afghans, according to the latest Home Office statistics. Between January 1 and March 31, 2023, the most common nationality arriving via small boat was Afghans (909, 24 per cent) followed by Indians (675, 18 per cent), the new data revealed. A total of 3,793 people were detected arriving in small boats in the same period, a Home Office statement said, adding that the "crossings are generally higher in better weather." In 2022, almost half of small boat arrivals were Albanians (28 per cent of the total, although these arrivals occurred mostly between July and September 2022) and Afghans (20 per cent, with their numbers greater towards the end of the year). The top five nationalities now illegally crossing the Channel in small boats include, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Iraq and Syria. While the final statistics are due to be published on May 25 this year, a last month Home Office data showed 683 Indians arriving in the country on small boats in 2022, as compared to 67 in 2021. In February this year, Indians allegedly became the third-largest group of migrants entering UK shores illegally after Afghans and Syrians, The Times report said citing Home Office sources. The report had said that about 250 Indian migrants made the perilous crossing in small boats this year alone, outnumbering the 233 who arrived via small boats in the first nine months of last year The Home Office had said a reason for spike in numbers could be Serbia's visa-free travel rules for Indians. Until December last year, all Indian passport holders could enter Serbia without a visa for up to 30 days but this arrangement ended on January 1, resulting in some Indians travelling in small boats into the EU and then to the UK, according to Home Office sources. "We have seen a spike of Indian nationals coming across in small boats over the last few months," the Home Office source had told The Times. Kolkata, May 6 : Besides continuing their ongoing agitations against West Bengal government over their demands for scheduled tribe status, the Kurmi community in West Bengal has opened up a larger movement targeting all political parties. The agitating Kurmi community in the three tribal-dominated Jangalmahal areas scattered over the three districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia have started a unique 'All Wall for Kurmi' campaign. This campaign is to send a message to all political parties in the state that the walls of the residences of the people from the community cannot be used for political campaigns for the forthcoming panchayat polls in the state scheduled this year. According to Birendranath Mahato, their long-standing demand for scheduled tribe status is yet to be fulfilled. "No political party has taken our demands seriously and hence we have decided not to allow any political party to use any wall of any property owned by the people of the Kurmi community for their respective elections graffities and campaigns for the panchayat polls," Mahato said. He also said that they have already started a wall campaign "All wall for Kurmi," to send a message that these walls are not meant for utilisation for campaign purposes by any political party. Local leaders from both Trinamool Congress and BJP have admitted that this stance from the Kurmi community will create some hurdles in the community since in these remote tribal areas, wall- graffities are the principal medium of campaign. The main grievance of the agitators is that the West Bengal Cultural Research Institute, a state government body that works for indigenous tribes, is yet to recognise the Kurmis as representatives of primitive tribes. They also alleged that the reluctance of the institute or the state government to send a comprehensive report in the matter to the Union government is holding back the process of recognition of the Kurmi community under the Scheduled Tribe category. On April 11, there was a bipartite meeting between the leaders of the community and the state government at the state secretariat of Nabanna. However, the meeting failed to evoke any positive result. On that day only, the Kurmi leaders had threatened to go ahead with their agitation. Hyderabad, May 6 : The Telangana government will send a special aircraft to Imphal to evacuate stranded students and citizens from violence-hit Manipur, state police chief said on Saturday. According to Director General of Police Anjani Kumar, the flight is scheduled to arrive in Imphal on the morning of May 7. The special helpline cell at the DGP office is coordinating the evacuation. The DGP earlier announced setting up an emergency helpline for Telangana citizens stranded in Manipur. He said Telangana Police is coordinating with Manipur Police to provide support. Citizens can contact Telangana helpline number 7901643283 -- Sumathi, IPS, DIG for assistance. The phone lines are open round-the-clock and citizens can also email dgp@tspolice.gov.in. Jaipur, May 6 : Former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot has once again targeted Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot without naming him on the issue of paper leak and corruption in the state. Pilot said: "If there is looting and corruption somewhere in the state, we will have to raise our voice against it." "I raised my voice against corruption. May be many people didn't like it, but I don't care. I will continue to fight against corruption," Pilot said after the inauguration of a hostel in Barmer built in the memory of state minister Hemaram Choudhary's son. Speaking on the issue of exam paper leak that rocked the state in recent times, Pilot said, "Our children work hard for years. Despite all the hardships, parents work hard to give their children access to education. But when these children appear for exams, the papers get leaked and the exams get cancelled." "Why does it take so long to act on these issues? Why does it take so much pain to get justice," he asked. "Why do we have to insist on enjoying our constitutional rights? Because the people in the rural areas who understand the pain of the farmers do not sit on chairs of power," he added. "My father used to say that the day the poor farmer's children attain the power of decision-making, all our work would be done automatically. A child in the village knows what are the challenges of farming. However, a person who doesn't know the struggle of the common people cannot solve their problems," Pilot said. BAGHDAD, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Three Islamic State (IS) militants were killed in a raid in Iraq's nothern province of Nineveh on Friday, the government-backed Hashd Shaabi paramilitary force said in a statement. A paramilitary unit stormed an IS hideout near the town of Hatra in the province and killed three IS militants inside, it said. In the northern province of Kirkuk, an army force searched in the morning an IS hideout that was destroyed by an airstrike on Thursday in the rugged Wadi al-Shay area, southwest of the namesake provincial capital Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, according to a statement issued by the Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command. The troops found the bodies of three IS militants, as well as ammunition and hand grenades, the Security Media Cell statement said. The security situation in Iraq has improved since the defeat of the IS in 2017. However, IS militants have since melted into urban centers, deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Hubbali : , May 6 (IANS) Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said that the people of Karnataka are living and leading their life by working hard, and they do not need anyone's blessings. She said this while responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement that if the BJP is not re-elected to power, the state would not get the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress leader addressed a huge public meeting here. Sonia Gandhi said that the BJP was worried and perturbed over the Bharat Jodo Yatra of her son and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi as it was against those who were spreading hate. She said that Karnataka, and even India cannot progress without ending the atmosphere of BJP's loot, lies, ego and hatred, adding that the BJP has turned into an arrogant political party. The senior Congress leader said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to intimidate Congress workers in Karnataka. She said that arm-twisting tactics would not work against Congress. She was referring to the Enforcement and Income Tax raids being carried out in the state against Congress leaders. The Congress leader also recalled that she won from Bellary constituency 24 years ago, and how the people of Karnataka had treated her. She also said that Karnataka had elected former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1978 from Chikmangaluru. Sonia Gandhi said that the people of Karnataka are those who live with pride, and they would not accept corruption by the governments at the Centre and state. She also said that it was the responsibility of people to strengthen their voice against the BJP government's "dark rule". Saying that the BJP was rattled ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections, Sonia Gandhi said the party was using "all tactics and all kinds of repression against political opponents". "Don't you think that dacoity has become the business of those in power? You had not given them power in 2018 but they robbed the government and captured it... and then, their 40 per cent commission," she said. The Congress leader also made indirect reference to the letter written by the contractors association to the Prime Minister on the 40 per cent commission being charged for public works in the state. Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who switched to the Congress from the BJP, was also present at the dais along with Sonia Gandhi. New Delhi, May 6 : Fine fifties by Virat Kohli (55 off 46) and Mahipal Lomror (54 off 29) went in vain as Delhi Capitals beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets in Match No. 50 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, here on Saturday. Half-centuries by Virat and Lomror propelled Royal Challengers Bangalore to 181/4 in 20 overs. Apart from Kohli and Lomror, skipper Faf du Plessis also played a vital knock to contribute to RCB's decent total. On the other hand, Mitchell Marsh was the most successful bowler for Delhi Capitals with his superb 2-21. Chasing a challenging total, openers David Warner and Philip Salt gave Delhi Capitals a flying start. From the very first over, Warner cleared his intent by smashing Siraj for two boundaries while Salt also joined the party and picked crucial boundaries and sixes off Maxwell and Philip to take Delhi to 29/0 after the first three overs. With both Capitals openers batting freely, RCB skipper Du Plessis was forced to bring Wanindu Hasaranga in the 4th over itself but it didn't yield great results as Warner clubbed the spinner for a six and a boundary. His batting partner Salt then took Siraj to the cleaners by hitting 6, 6, and 4 off consecutive deliveries which rattled the pacer. Siraj and Salt had a heated discussion at the pitch and umpires and Warner had to intervene to diffuse the situation. It was Hazlewood, who finally gave RCB the much-needed breakthrough by removing Warner on a slower ball outside off. However, Mitchell Marsh came out swinging hard, picking up a four and a six and taking his to 70/1 -- Delhi Capitals' best Power-play in IPL 2023. Even after the Power-play, Salt showed no signs of slowing down and made a mockery of the pitch and RCB bowling to get fifty off just 28 balls. On the other hand, Marsh was giving him enough support with his timely boundaries as Delhi Capitals were 115/1 after 10 overs. All-rounder Harshal Patel, who came in as Impact Player replacing Kedhar Yadav, finally gave RCB a breakthrough by dismissing Mitchell Marsh. Rilee Rossouw was the new batter, joining Salt as Delhi Capitals needed 59 runs in 54 balls. Meanwhile, Salt was just unstoppable. The England batter was fed some slot balls and he let them go free to carry the momentum before getting out in the 16th over for 87 off 45. From there on, Rilee Rossouw (35 off 22) played an impressive knock and along with Axar Patel (8 off 3) took Delhi Capitals over the victory line in the 17th over. Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 181/4 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 55, Mahipal Lomror 54; Mitchell Marsh 2-21) lost to Delhi Capitals 187/3 in 16.4 Overs (Philip Salt 87, Rilee Rossouw 35; Josh Hazlewood 1-29) by 7 wickets. Latest updates on IPL 2023 Jaipur, May 6 : Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday attacked the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly threatening Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wuth dire consequences. Gehlot said: "The Election Commission should ban Prime Minister Modi from campaigning. If someone talks on religious lines, his propaganda should be banned as per the provisions of law." Gehlot was speaking to mediapersons at his residence on Saturday evening. Gehlot said: "Bhairon Singh Shekhawat once contested elections from Ganganagar and Bali. He lost in Ganganagar but won from Bali. He started talking about Ram Mandir during campaigning. A petition was filed against him with the Election Commission for invoking religion during campaigning. "Shekhawat was saved in that case due to lack of witness. The Prime Minister is speaking openly on the basis of religion. The Election Commission is not even seeking answers from him. That is why the PM should be banned from campaigning. "Kharge is being threatened with dire consequences. Despite the threats, neither the Prime Minister, nor the Home Minister has said anything. The Election Commission is silent even after threat videos surfacing on social media. The agenda of the BJP and the RSS is fixed. They don't care, but people do. Today, democracy is being murdered." On the controversy over Congress' promise to ban Bajrang Dal in the election manifesto for Karnataka, Gehlot said: "Many organisations name themselves after Ram, after Shivji, but what is the role of the organisations? Praveen Togadia was distributing 'trishul', so we stopped him but he did not budge, so we were forced to arrest him. It all depends on the intention of the organisation. The issue of Bajrang Dal did not become an issue in Karnataka, that is why the BJP leaders are fuming." Founder Mark Stevens has announced that Georgia Spa Company has transitioned the business to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The profound news was shared with the new owners, Georgia Spas nearly 90 employees, at a company-wide meeting held Tuesday at The Georgia Club in Statham. Employees were invited to attend the meeting without knowledge of the imminent announcement. Shortly after gathering, Stevens told the group that the company has new ownership. He then asked everyone to look around and congratulate those next to them in the room because they are the new owners. There were a lot of options I had in selling the company, but I had to choose something that was the right fit for myself and the culture of the company, said Stevens, who founded Georgia Spa Company in 2004 and will remain involved as chairman of its new Board of Directors. I started this company 19 years ago from scratch, and I dont want to leave something that doesnt have a legacy and extension of what weve grown. An ESOP enables employees to own part of or all of the company they work for with individuals accumulating shares in their retirement account over time at no cost to them. Research reveals that employee-owned businesses have extraordinary results including boosts in sales and growth, more stable jobs and fewer layoffs, more prosperous employees, and more investment in retirement. I was lucky and blessed to be hired by this company over five years ago, said Larry Cheshier, a Georgia Spa sales professional and one of the new owners. I bought in 100-percent of what they were about, and I knew that if I worked hard, they would indeed take care of me. Today proves no different. Our gracious owner has given this company over to us. A huge gift indeed! Josh Kemerling, who was hired as Georgia Spas first employee by Mark in 2004, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer. Congratulations to each of you, said Kemerling addressing the new employee-owners. This was not an easy process. It was not an easy decision, but having worked through everything, I know this is the direction that Georgia Spa is meant to go. Be proud to know that Mark thought enough of each of us through this. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for all of us. It was also announced that David Baker, a former Georgia Spa Sales Manager, would be returning to fill Kemerlings previous role as Executive Vice President. Human Resources Manager Ashley Steed will also serve in the role as Internal ESOP Administrator. All other members of the companys leadership team will remain in their current roles. Georgia Spa Company was founded in 2004 with the vision to create a better life for everyone through wellness products. It specializes in at-home hot tubs, swim spas, saunas, BULL Grills outdoor kitchens and Big Green Eggs. Watkins Wellness, the parent company of many of the products Georgia Spa carries including Hot Spring Spas, FreeFlow Spas and Endless Pools swim spas, expressed how ecstatic they are for the entire Georgia Spa Company team. Its an honor to be here today on behalf of Watkins to share this special day with all of you, said Steve Stigers, Watkins Wellness Executive Vice President and a guest speaker for Tuesdays announcement. For me, its also personally gratifying as well. I was the first person from Watkins to visit Georgia Spa back in 2009. Here we are 14 years later. Its just been a phenomenal partnership every step of the way. Georgia Spa is literally one of the largest in the entire world. Not in Georgia. Not in the United States. In the entire world. Building and running a business takes a lot of dedication, hard work and a lot of perseverance, added Stigers. It requires a level of commitment and focus that is not easy to maintain, but Mark has done that every step of the way and has built something that is really to be admired. Georgia Spa does a lot of things really, really well well placed, well merchandised showrooms, really great marketing, excellent sales staff, excellent operations, great customer service that has enabled its growth. Reality is, theres a lot of retailers that do those things well. What sets Georgia Spa apart is the vision and strategy that Mark has employed over the years, and thats one of the things Ive respected. His ability to look around the corner, see whats needed for the future and make necessary decisions and not just infrastructure and facilities type of investments Im really referring to the people infrastructure, which is hard to develop, and Marks built an amazing team. I congratulate Mark because it takes a visionary to make those kinds of decisions. Today, the company employs nearly 90 individuals and operates six showrooms in Buford, Alpharetta, Kennesaw, Athens, Newnan and Augusta, in addition to a warehouse, pre-owned and service center in Auburn. Greenberg Traurig, LLP received two awards for pro bono service for separate efforts taken on by attorneys in its Chicago and Salt Lake City offices. The firm received the Award for Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service from the Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association for its work representing a group of transgender women challenging the constitutionality of certain restrictions contained in the Illinois Name Change Statute as applied to them. In coordination with a coalition that included lawyers from the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois and others, the firm took on the litigation in Reyna Angelina Ortiz, et al. v. Kimberly M. Foxx, et al. as part of a larger legislative strategy to effect a change in the law. After nearly four years, the lawsuit was dismissed as moot because amendments to the bill were passed by the state legislature and signed into law by the Illinois governor in February 2023. The Chicago team included Shareholders Martin S. Kedziora and Gregory E. Ostfeld, Associate Brian D. Straw, and Law Clerk Alexandra J. Block. The Utah State Bar presented Greenberg Traurig with its 2023 Pro Bono Publico Law Firm of the Year award. Through a program sponsored by the Utah State Bar, the Greenberg Traurig team volunteered to represent indigent tenants who were being evicted by their landlords in Salt Lake County monthly. The work included helping tenants navigate the legal system, understand their rights, and negotiate settlements tailored to each tenants individual circumstances, oftentimes including negotiating to help them avoid homelessness. The team also represented the tenants at their immediate occupancy hearing, put the settlements on the record, argued in defense of the tenant, or participated in evidentiary hearings. The Salt Lake City team included Shareholder Lauren E. H. DiFrancesco, and Associates Alexander Baker and Carson Heninger About Greenberg Traurigs Pro Bono Program: Greenberg Traurig lawyers across the firms offices provide pro bono legal services to the indigent and working poor, as well as to numerous civic and charitable organizations dedicated to assisting them. The firm focuses its resources on specialized and interrelated issues including civil rights and affirmative action, anti-human trafficking, family law matters, childrens rights, criminal appeals, immigration and political asylum, housing, and homelessness. About Greenberg Traurigs Chicago Office: Greenberg Traurig's Chicago office strives to be as dynamic and diverse as the city it calls home. Since its inception in 1999, it has grown from three attorneys to nearly 200 today. Attorneys in Greenberg Traurigs Chicago office represent a wide range of clients, from Fortune 500 companies to innovative start-ups, and practice in nearly every major practice area and industry. Offering local knowledge and broad experience, Greenberg Traurigs Chicago lawyers work with their colleagues in Greenberg Traurigs other offices in the United States and abroad to help clients achieve their objectives locally, nationally, and globally. About Greenberg Traurigs Salt Lake City Office: Greenberg Traurigs Salt Lake City team works with regional and national companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500 corporations, across multiple industries. The team offers clients a wealth of local experience, backed by Greenberg Traurigs global platform and network of resources. The firms Salt Lake City attorneys are consistently ranked as leaders in their fields by publications such as The Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, Utah Business Magazine, and Utah Law Review. About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2650 attorneys in 45 locations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. The firm is a 2022 BTI Highly Recommended Law Firm for superior client service and is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law Global 100 and NLJ 250. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab. The firm is recognized for powering its U.S. offices with 100% renewable energy as certified by the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e Energy program and is a member of the U.S. EPAs Green Power Partnership Program. The firm is known for its philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari attend a joint press conference after the fourth round of the China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue in Islamabad, Pakistan, May 6, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Saturday that China and Pakistan, as all-weather strategic cooperative partners, are committed to building a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era. At a joint press conference after the fourth round of the China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Qin said that China appreciates Pakistan's political support on issues relating to China's core interests and major concerns. China will, as always, continue to support Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity, finding a development path suited to its own national conditions, and playing its due role in global and regional affairs, Qin said. The two foreign ministers agreed that their countries, in the post-pandemic era, will resume communication at all levels as well as consultation through mechanisms, fully implement the important consensuses reached by leaders of the two countries, and speed up China-Pakistan all-round cooperation. During the meeting, the two sides pledged to accelerate the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and sound planning and operation in industrial cooperation, and extend the frontier of fields including agriculture, technology and new energy, so as to help Pakistan achieve higher-quality and sustainable development. Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of CPEC, the Chinese foreign minister underlined its high-quality development. Qin said that under the joint efforts of both countries, CPEC has become a model of Belt and Road cooperation, bringing about significant improvement in Pakistan's infrastructure, and tangible economic and social benefits from early harvest projects. He pointed out that the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Pakistan aims to help Pakistan develop its economy and improve people's livelihood. "Some forces have fabricated the lie that China is creating a debt trap in Pakistan. I suggest our media friends ask those people what they have done for Pakistan's development and what real money they have invested in the country. I believe the people of Pakistan don't need high-sounding rhetoric, but real help," Qin said. He stressed that stability is a prerequisite for development and security is the foundation of prosperity. China hopes that all political forces in Pakistan will build consensus, maintain stability, respond more effectively to internal and external challenges, focus on economic development and improving people's livelihood, and push the country onto the fast track of development and revitalization. The two sides agreed to track down and severely punish the culprits in Chinese-targeted terrorist attacks, further deepen security and anti-terrorism cooperation, and enhance collaboration in regional anti-terrorism affairs. They also agreed that they will work for Pakistan taking the lead in the implementation of the Global Development Initiative and other major initiatives, strengthen coordination and collaboration at the multilateral level, and oppose Cold War mentality, zero-sum game and bloc confrontation. In addition, the two countries called for resolving differences through dialogue and consultation, safeguarding international fairness and justice, promoting the cause of world peace and development, and jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind. BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chairman of the Central Military Commission and director of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs (CCFEA), presided over the first meeting of the commission under the 20th CPC Central Committee on Friday afternoon. He stressed that the work of the commission should be well carried out and underlined research and efforts on speeding up the building of the country's modern industrial system and advancing Chinese modernization with support from the high-quality development of the population. In his important speech at the meeting, Xi stressed that the newly grouped CCFEA should continue to play its role in formulating major guidelines for economic work and further strengthening and improving the centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee over economic work. A modern industrial system is the material and technological foundation of a modern country, and the focus of the economic development should be placed on the real economy to provide solid material support for China to realize its Second Centenary Goal, Xi said. Population development is of vital importance to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and efforts must be made to improve the overall population quality so as to support Chinese modernization. Li Qiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese premier and deputy director of the CCFEA, Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat and a member of the CCFEA, and Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese vice premier and a member of the CCFEA, attended the meeting. At the meeting, reports on accelerating the building of a modern industrial system were heard from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and so were reports on supporting Chinese modernization with high-quality population development from the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Ministry of Education. It was noted at the meeting that economic development is the Party's central work. To strengthen the Party's leadership over economic work is an integral part of strengthening the overall leadership of the Party. The CCFEA bears heavy responsibilities and plays an important role as an important institutional arrangement of the CPC Central Committee to lead economic work. To do a good job, the CCFEA under the 20th CPC Central Committee must fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, accelerate the creation of a new development pattern and pursue high-quality development. It is imperative to strengthen strategic planning, bolster systems thinking, promote coordinated implementation, and intensify investigations and research to put into good practice the national development strategy in a consistent manner. The meeting examined and approved Work Regulations for the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs and Detailed Regulations for the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs. It was stressed at the meeting that to accelerate modernizing the industrial system with the real economy as the pillar concerns whether China can take the strategic initiative when it comes to its future development and global competition. We must grasp the opportunity of the new scientific and technological revolution which involves artificial intelligence among others, adapt to the requirement for harmony between humanity and nature, maintain and strengthen the advantages of a complete industrial system with strong capabilities of coordination, and effectively accumulate innovation factors worldwide, so as to ensure that the industries are smarter, greener and more integrated, and build a more complete, advanced, safe and modernized industrial system. We must maintain the real economy as the mainstay and prevent it from being sidelined, take steady and incremental steps instead of going after what is big and foreign and maintain an integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries and prevent them from being isolated and opposite to each other. We must also keep promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries rather than eliminating them as "low-end industries," and adhere to openness and cooperation instead of divorcing ourselves from reality. It was noted at the meeting that industrial policies under the new development stage must be improved, top priority must be given to safeguarding industrial security, top-level design for strategic fields must be enhanced, and industrial policies must be more coordinated. Greater efforts should be made to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key areas and strengthen support for strategic resources, and the principal position of enterprises in sci-tech innovation should be ensured with institutional arrangements. Greater attention should be given to enhancing the application of technologies in grain production and breaking through the restrictions of natural conditions such as cultivated land on agricultural production. It is important to make full use of the advantage of the super-sized market, with efforts to integrate the strategies of domestic demand expansion and innovation-driven development, and promote opening up and cooperation of the industrial and supply chains. Vigorous efforts should be made to build world-class enterprises, cherish and care for outstanding entrepreneurs, and train master craftsmen and highly skilled workers. It was pointed out at the meeting that the current population development in China is characterized by the trend of birthrate decline, population aging, and differentiation in regional population growth, so the new situation of population development in China must be fully understood and correctly viewed. We should focus on the strategic arrangement of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation, perfect the strategy for population development in the new era, and understand, adapt to and guide the new normal of population development. Efforts should be made to improve the overall quality of the population, maintain an appropriate birthrate and population size, and speed up the development of modern human resources with good quality, sufficient quantity, optimized structure and reasonable distribution, so that Chinese modernization will be advanced with support from the high-quality development of the population. It is necessary to apply systems thinking in planning the population development, promote high-quality population development through reform and innovation, closely integrate high-quality population development with high quality of life for the people, and promote well-rounded development of individuals and common prosperity for everyone. The meeting stressed the need to deepen the reform and innovation of education and health services, regard the construction of an education power as a strategic project for high-quality population development, and comprehensively improve the scientific and cultural literacy, health, and intellectual and moral level of the population. It is imperative to introduce and improve policies to support childbirth, develop a childcare service system that can benefit all so as to alleviate the burden of raising children on households, and build a society friendly to childbirth and child care to promote steady population growth in the long run. Efforts should be made to develop and make good use of human resources, stabilize labor participation rate, and bolster the efficient use of human resources. It is important to implement proactive national strategies in response to the population aging, promote the building of a basic system for elderly care services, develop silver economy, and accelerate the building of a multi-layered, multi-pillared elderly care insurance system to make sure that the seniors have a sense of security, worthiness and happiness. The relationship between population and economy and society must be well coordinated, and so must be that between population and resources and environment. Work should be done to improve regional economic layout and territorial spatial system, optimize the population structure, and safeguard the population security to promote the high-quality development of the population. Members of the CCFEA were present. Leading officials of relevant central Party and government departments attended the meeting. A servant girl escapes into the woods from the Jamestown colony in 1609, during the starving time, in Lauren Groffs seventh book, The Vaster Wilds (Riverhead, Sept.). The historical novel encompasses all of Groffs favorite themes, or, as she calls them in her author note, obsessionsthe power of women, the environment, community, religion and spiritualityin a gripping story of survival written in gorgeous Elizabethan language. Groff describes the girl slipping into the night and seeing the remains of a soldier who had gone before her, and the fate he encountered at the hands of the fearsomest of the men of this country: The warrior two heads taller than the men of the fort, who made himself yet more terrible by wearing upon his shoulders outstretched a broad dark mantle of turkey feathers. He had lifted with one hand the creeping fearful soldier by his hair and had with a knife cut a long red mouth into the mans throat. Then he dropped him to spill his hearts blood into the frozen earth and there the dead man lay splayed ignoble. The story follows the trials and adventures of the girl as she attempts to survive in the wilderness, hoping to make it north to the French colony. As she travels, she recalls incidents from her past: she was born in an English poor house and given the name Lamentations, to remember the stain of her sin upon her. Sold at four years old as a servant to a mistress who treats her as a pet, she was a replacement for a monkey who had tiptoed out to the street and trembling awaited his trampling by a horse, for he could not take life in such bondage any longer. Later, she was handed over to her mistresss brutal son and his friends as a plaything. Groff has created a formidable character in this girl who braves weather and wild animals and sickness and loneliness; through it all, we are witness to her rich interior life. Groff speaks with me over Zoom from Berlin, where she is a spring fellow at the American Academy. Two things brought me to this book, she says. Robinson Crusoe, a favorite book of minea brilliant sociological project dissecting the English mindset of the time. I love survival stories. Then in college, Groff read early American captivity narratives, citing in particular the work of Mary Rolandson, who was kidnapped in an Indian raid and wrote about her experiences in A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Many of these narratives upheld or justified colonialism, Groff says. They are deeply racist and difficult to read, but the voice of the woman comes out in the story. Likely a man molded and edited the narrative, but I was interested in that glimmer. Groff started The Vaster Wilds in 2018. I wanted to see if I could find a way into the captivity narratives and invert them, she explains, to look at the culture of dominance and ecological collapse. Bill Clegg, Groffs agent from the start, says he knew that one of her upcoming projects was called The Vaster Wilds, a title he loved. As with all her novels, I read this one in a late-stage full draft. She sent it in early March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, just as I was leaving New York City with my family for what would turn out to be 18 months. Lauren tends to give me a day or two warning and then there is an immediate clearing of the decks! When I first read The Vaster Wilds, Clegg continues, I couldnt help but remember the awe and thrill I felt reading My Side of the Mountain. But in this case, the young person was a girl surviving in the wild. Also, shes running from people who want to kill her. What stood out the most to me was the meticulous and gorgeous descriptions of the wilderness the girl has escaped into. And not just the flora and fauna, but the elements themselves. Let it be known that Lauren Groff can write the hell out of a snowstorm. In this novel more than any other, Lauren has made the natural world as rich and complex and engrossing a character as her protagonist. Clegg says he read L. DeBard and Aliette, a story of Groffs that appeared in the Atlantic, in 2006. Its a gothic imagining of a love story set in New York City during the Spanish influenza of 1918. It was a jaw dropper, Clegg recalls, and he quickly reached out to her. She sent him a draft of her debut novel, The Monsters of Templeton. I read it in a gulp and hopped on a plane to Louisville, Ky., where she was teaching, he tells me. I took her to lunch and made as strong a case as I could that we work together. She became his client in 2007. Riverhead editor-in-chief Sarah McGrath became Groffs editor in 2014, but, she says, I had always been reading and loving her books. I was sent Fates and Furies, we had a fantastic meeting, and I remember writing her a long single-spaced letter telling her how I saw the book and how we could publish it. It embarrasses me to think about it now. The Vaster Wilds is the first book in Groffs second three-book deal with Riverheadthe first beginning with Furies, which McGrath won in a competitive auction and published in 2015. McGrath is constantly in touch with Groff, but says Groff doesnt show her work until its baked. She knows what she wants to achieve; my job is to respond. The Vaster Wilds and Groffs previous book, The Matrix, are historical but feel contemporary in their themes, McGrath says. Its the 1600s, but you are that girl in the woods. I go for a hike and think, Could I survive here? Could that tree be hollowed out? The themes shes exploring, she has been exploring in all her worksespecially the place of women in the world, the patriarchy, and our relationship with nature. So while she has tremendous range, the books are all closely related. The violence in the novel is vivid and powerful, as in this passage describing a raid by the Powhatan tribe on a Jesuit mission: The priests lay dead in their cots within with their necks slit open and the blood of their hearts rushing to the ground. The retaliation is also brutally rendered: In vengeance for the massacred priests, their countrymen painted the earth red with the blood of the natives, women and children and old men, and set fire to their buildings. The violence is in the historical record, Groff tells me, and mentions an excerpt she read at the Radcliffe Institute in 2019, in which women kidnap a man who raped one of them, and its a graphic description of them flaying and dismembering him. Every man in the audience almost passed out! With a robust library of riveting real-life mysteries, engrossing historical stories, and moving true crime, the History Press is a treasure trove for readers interested in the human stories that shape us. Acquired in 2014 by Arcadia Publishing, which has been at the forefront of publishing regional history and local nonfiction for more than 20 years, the History Press has focused on true crime as one of its core pillars. Our best true crime titles read like novels, says Arcadias publishing director Adam Ferrell, with dramatic plot twists, vivid detail, and dialogue from court transcripts, witness statements, and police reports. Two books from author Clay Bryant deliver on those promises. Bryant is a Georgia native and veteran criminal investigator whose record in solving cold cases is unparalleled. His latest book, The Cold Case Murder of Fred Wilkerson: Untangling the Black Widows Web in West Georgia, publishes this fall. In the book, Bryant brings what Ferrell calls his preternatural sense for examining long-dormant cases and bringing criminals to justice to the story of a victim who disappeared in 1987 under suspicious circumstances. It would take two decades and Bryants investigational prowess to finally recover Wilkersons remains and find the killer. Readers will relish Bryants intimate, firsthand perspective on investigating cold cases, as well as his compassionate insights into the impact of murder on those left behind. In Solving the West Georgia Murder of Gwendolyn Moore: A Cry from the Well (2021), Bryant recounts his teenage experiences accompanying his father, a police chief, to a crime scene. There, the remains of Gwendolyn Moore, a 30-year-old mother of four children, were recovered from a dry well. Her case would remain in Bryants mindand unsolvedfor years, until Bryant entered the field of law enforcement and subsequently solved the mystery himself. I want readers to become as emotionally invested in the case as I was, Bryant says. I want them to understand the feelings of the loved ones, friends, and family left behind, and ultimately vindication and relief in finding the long-awaited truth and finally, justice. A True Crime Library Grows For unique true crime stories and fascinating regional mysteries, check out these forthcoming titles from the History Press. Condemned for Love in Old Virginia is the story of an 1880s lynching of a Black man, Arthur Jordan, who had a love affair with a white woman, Elvira Corder. Author and journalist Jim Hall does an incredible job drawing together the threads of the tale from primary sources, treating the murder and the romance with sensitivity and academic rigor, says Ferrell. Along with forbidden romance, race, and murder, another evergreen interest of readers is in the long history of crimes associated with illicit Appalachian bootlegging, both during and after the U.S. Prohibition era. Murder and Mountain Justice in the Moonshine Capital of the World offers a stirring perspective on this regional tradition, most recently ending in the nine murders of moonshine and drug-runners in 1978 Franklin County, Tenn. Author Philip Andrew Gibbs recounts the year and the events leading up to it as only a historian canwith insights based on the past, a fascinating time in our countrys history. And finally, a perennial favorite, Jayme Lynn Blaschkes Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse, immortalized in the Dolly Parton film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, gets a remake this year. Releasing in June to mark the 50th anniversary of the brothels closing, the History Press will publish an expanded edition of the 2016 bestseller. Since its founding, Arcadia has grown to include multiple imprints, including the History Press. According to Ferrell, the presss mission is to connect people with their past, with their communities, and with one another. Across all its imprints, Arcadia routinely invests in debut authorsand no agents are required for writers to submit their work. For more information visit arcadiapublishing.com/contactus/makemeanauthor. Despite its diminutive size and remote location in the Arctic Ocean, Iceland has attracted the attention of global readers. Crime novels by Icelandic writersincluding Arnaldur Indriason, Ragnar Jonasson, Yrsa Sigurardottir, and more recently Eva Bjorg gisdottirare popular around the world. At Daunt Books Marylebone in London, where the titles are arranged by country and nationality, Icelandic titles take up nearly as much shelf space as those from all the other Nordic countries combined. This literary community extends well beyond crime fiction and includes a significant number of poets and internationally recognized literary novelists, such as Auur Ava Olafsdottir, who won the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2018 for her novel Or (published in the U.S. by Grove Atlantic as Hotel Silence), and Sigurjon Birgir Sigursson, who writes under the pseudonym Sjon and was awarded the Nordic Prize from the Swedish Academy last month for his significant contributions to Nordic literature. Then there is Halldor Laxness, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1955. In all, the Icelandic Literature Center, which is responsible for the promotion of Icelandic literature at home and abroad, estimates there have been 1,500 translations of Icelandic novels into other languages. Some 100 were published in the U.S. between 2018 and 2022, according to the Translation Database hosted by PW. Still, there are far, far more books to be translated, said Stella Soffia Johannesdottir, director of the Reykjavik International Literary Festival. While the opportunity exists, the challenge is that there are very few people outside Iceland who can read the books in their original language. Its a 1,000 year-old, medieval language, after all. The potential for Icelandic authors to reach a wider market is well-known among editors inside the country and elsewhere. A fellowship program for publishing professionals to attend this years Reykjavik International Literature Festival, held April 1923, included two dozen top acquisitions editors from around the world, including Katrin Ae, acquiring editor from Germanys Hoffman und Campe; Sherif Bakr, publisher of Egypts Al Arabi; Emma Raddatz, editor of Brooklyn-based Archipelago Books; and Paulina Surniak, acquisitions editor from Polands Wydawnictwo Poznanskie. Whats more, a seminar for nearly a dozen Icelandic translators followed the festival. These two events were followed by the Iceland Writers Retreat, which brings scores of aspiring writers to Reykjavik for a week of professional development every year. There are no independent literary agents working in Iceland, so many of the top Icelandic writers have sought representation abroad. In addition, for the past 25 years, Forlagid, the largest publisher in the country, has operated its own literary agency, representing the work of its authors abroad. At the festival, Valgerdur Benediktsdottir, director of the Forlagid Rights Agency, announced that it is rebranding the company as the Reykjavik Literary Agency, and that it will represent authors from a range of Icelandic publishing houses. She will be joined by Johannesdottir, who will serve as a senior agent, and Kolbrun ora Eiriksdottir, who will be an agent. In addition, many of the books with rights available are featured in an online catalog, Books from Iceland, compiled by the Icelandic Literature Center. Were modeling this new agency on the Oslo Literary Agency and the Helsinki Literary Agency, which are also representing authors from different publishing houses, Johannesdottir said. Johannesdottir, whose background includes serving as acquisitions editor at Storytel in Iceland, explained that the face of literary Iceland is changing. She said a new generation of talent is emerging, some of whom have been developed by the creative writing program at the University of Iceland. There is also a new multiculturalism that is evident in Icelandic literature, Johannesdottir said, which puts it in direct conversation with other cultures. For example, one of the titles whose English-language rights are currently on offer is Lungu (Lungs), a magic-realist novel by Pedro Gunnalaugur Garcia, an Icelandic author of Portuguese-descent. The book won the 2023 Icelandic Literature Prize, the top literary prize in the country, and tells the story of a family as it moves from Tuscany to Toronto and Iceland across several generations. The tomorrow of Iceland will become a multicultural place, and far more so than many people think, Garcia said in a talk during the Reykjavik International Literary Festival. Writers Adrift, a new anthology published by Una utafuhus, featured translations of stories by 10 foreign-born writers living in Iceland, including Brazilian translator Francesca Cricelli; Maazen Maarouf, a Palestinian poet who has been longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize; and Ewa Marcinek, who was born in Poland and founded Os Pressan, a publishing house that aims to support marginalized writers in Reykjavik (Poles constitute the largest immigrant group in Iceland). The anthology is introduced by Eliza Reid, the Canadian-born first lady of Iceland, who is the author of Secrets of the Sprakkar: Icelands Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World, which was published last year by Sourcebooks. Referring to the launch of the new agency, Johannesdottir remarked, We think it is a great opportunity for us as publishers and an agency to take the work of some of these new exciting authors abroad and show a side of Iceland that people do not yet know. Who knows how to fix the U.S. healthcare system? According to MIT economist Amy Finkelsteins family, she should. After she spent two decades studying U.S. health policy with Stanford economist Liran Einav, her longtime collaborator, Finkelsteins father-in-law stumped her with a question: Why dont you know what we should do? he asked. Weve Got You Covered (Portfolio, July), coauthored with Einav, is Finkelsteins response. How did the U.S.s healthcare system become so broken? Our healthcare policy has emerged haphazardly over the last 70 years as various issues became salient in the public mind and there was a public policy response to them. These responses were well-intentioned, but inadequate. In the late 1960s, many people were dying of end-stage kidney failure, despite the creation of dialysis machines, because they couldnt afford to access them. Life wrote a story, politicians wheeled end-stage renal disease patients into the halls of Congress, and suddenly Medicare coverage was extended to all end-stage patients, regardless of age. The problem is, none of these programs end up being sufficient. Its a patchwork approach. We never took a step back to look at the whole thing. What have we learned from Covid-19? Theres nothing quite like a public health emergency to make you see the inadequacy of the public healthcare system. A major problem is that about half of Americans get insurance through their employer or a family members employer. When you lose your job and your insurance, you have to pay the whole thing out of your now-diminished money. $140 billion is now held by collection agencies in medical debt. This is as much as collection agencies hold for all other consumer debt combined. Why does the U.S. lag so far in adequate healthcare? When you look at history, we have the same goal as other countries do, and the same long-standing tradition of trying to help people in dire medical straits. Why havent we succeeded? It wasnt the destiny of other countries to have universal coverage, nor was it our destiny not to. In Canada, doctors went on strike when universal coverage was introduced. The short answer is we got unlucky, but we can recover. Now for the trillion-dollar question: How can we fix the U.S. healthcare system? More reform, as well-intentioned as it is, cant work. Rather than patchwork fixes, we need to design basic universal automatic coverage up front, with the option to buy more in a well-functioning private market. And basic means basicnot private hospital rooms, not seeing the doctor of your choice when and where you want. A lot of what weve talked about sounds like a liberal proposal, but our argument has been made by conservatives. Its not a Democratic or a Republican proposalits just good sense. Our intention is to hold to the social contract: not to let people die in the streets. Return to the main feature. For more than 20 years, Judith Van Ginkel, PhD, ran Every Child Succeeds, a regional nonprofit she founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, that focuses on early childhood development by providing home visitation and support for parents. During Van Ginkels tenure at Every Child Succeeds, the nonprofit provided more than 675,000 home visits and served more than 27,450 families. Now Van Ginkel is sharing the secret to her nonprofit success. In Chasing Success: The Challenge for Nonprofits, the author uses her time at Every Child Succeeds as a case study for readers interested in the changing landscape of nonprofit administration. The book includes lessons about developing a new nonprofit, utilizing research and best practices, adaptability, and accountability to stakeholders. Van Ginkel also explores how changing policies and funding priorities, of state and federal governments and of philanthropic organizations, impact nonprofits. Van Ginkel wrote Chasing Success after retiring in 2020 and realizing that the challenges she faced at Every Child Succeeds embodied the challenges that most, if not all, nonprofits face. I knew that delving into how we addressed these challenges at Every Child Succeeds would have relevance to others involved in the nonprofit field, either as a student, an employee, a volunteer, a board member, or, and very importantly, a funder, she says. Even though Every Child Succeeds began with adequate funding, excellent community and business support, and a strong scientific case for our mission, we still encountered roadblocks that ultimately did not allow us to grow to serve the needs of our community. Van Ginkel became president of Every Child Succeeds in 1999, after scientific data revealed just how important and instrumental the first three years of life are to the development and growth of a child. Community and business leaders in greater Cincinnati, cognizant of the new learnings, were eager to create a program that would provide opportunities for parents to understand how to create healthy developmental environments for their children, she says. But despite support from United Way, Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, and the Community Action Agency, opening Every Child Succeeds was not without challenges. In any community, the emergence of a new organization, in this case a nonprofit, creates unrest among existing organizations, Van Ginkel says. Other agencies were skeptical if not uncomfortable about what was going to happen to them and their funding. We worked hard to allay the fears by bringing many people and organizations into the creation of the programholding community meetings, talking with literally hundreds of people, explaining what we were doing, asking for their participation, helping to make them part of the solution. As agencies answered our call for participation, they expressed their fear that they, as a separate entity, would cease to exist. Rather, we explained they would become part of a collaboration with a unified goal and measures to calibrate success. As president of Every Child Succeeds, Van Ginkel was responsible for program administration, fundraising, marketing and public relations, advocacy, and community engagement. The author attributes her multi-titled position to a lack of fundingan issue that, to this day, remains a problem in the nonprofit sector. Needs, if anything, have accelerated, she says. Funding has grown only incrementally. The competition for money among programs serving a variety of needs is fierce. In Ohio, our governor has continued support for early childhood, but early childhood is only one among many issues and programs that need attention. Because nonprofits typically exist on a bare-bones budget, there are not enough people to do the work. The author hopes that Chasing Success will provide readers working in the nonprofit sector with several insights, the first of which is that while nonprofit work is hard, an organizations social mission makes the work imperative. For-profits can measure success with a bottom line, Van Ginkel says. In the case of nonprofits, success is more difficult to define. Funding is episodic, and too often decisions are made for political reasons or to address a trending social issue. Nonprofits need to work toward coordination so that services are better organized for efficient delivery and ease of access by those who need or want the service. Total print unit sales in 10 of the worlds largest book markets outside of the U.S. were flat in 2022 compared to 2021, staying at about 614 million, according to a report issued by Nielsen BookData, the U.K.-based analytics company. (In the U.S., unit sales fell 6.5% last year, to 788.7 million, according to Circana BookScan). Mexico had the best year, with sales up 15.3%, to 20.3 million copies, followed by Australia, where sales increased 8.2%, with 71.0 million copies sold. Other countries where sales increased were Brazil, with sales up 3%; South Africa, where sales rose 2.3%; and Spain, which had a 2.2% increase. Sales in Ireland were flat at 13.4 million. Two of the largest book markets outside of the U.S. had small declines. In the U.K., sales slipped 1.8%, to 209.1 million copies, while sales in Italy fell 2%, to 124.3 million copies. India, where Nielsen counted 36.2 million units sold, had the largest sales drop (6%), followed by New Zealand, which reported a 4% decline. (2022 sales for Poland were 32.2 million, but Nielsen only began collecting data there last year, so it had no comparable sales figure for 2021.) Jackie Swope, senior account manager for book research at Nielsen, delivered the findings at last months London Book Fair. The adult category had the largest share of unit sales in all countries, but in two places, Australia and New Zealand, the childrens and young adult category captured 46% of sales last year. Adult nonfiction outsold fiction in all countries except Spain, and in Brazil, India, and Mexico, nonfiction held a particularly large share of the markets. Though adult nonfiction makes up a larger portion of sales than fiction, adult fiction authors dominated bestseller lists, accounting for 27 of the top 50 bestselling titles across all markets. The childrens and YA category placed 18 authors in the top 50, with nonfiction authors taking only five spots. Across the international markets, books that were popular on TikTok drove sales. Colleen Hoover was the overall bestselling author in Australia, Brazil, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa, and the top fiction author in India and the U.K. Drilling down, the data showed that in the U.K., 80% of her sales were to readers under 35 years old (only 34% of U.K. fiction sales overall went to customers in that age group). In addition, 78% of Hoovers U.K. sales were in print, versus a typical figure of 51%; just 18% of Hoovers sales were e-books, while e-books accounted for 40% of overall fiction sales in the U.K. Like in the U.S., sales of manga have exploded in international markets, doubling in the 10 countries to 26 million copies in 2022, compared to 2019. Two manga authors, Koyoharu Gotouge and Eiichiro Oda, had the majority of their sales coming from Italy45% for Gotouge and 64% for Oda. In the U.K. in 2022, half of graphic novels and 63% of manga were bought by people under 25, Swope said, adding that television adaptations of graphic novels and manga, particularly on Netflix, were a significant sales driver. Among nonfiction books, Swope singled out James Clears Atomic Habits, which sold more copies in 2022 than in the years since its 2018 publication combined. The book has been particularly popular in India, where it sold about 250,000 units total, with roughly 200,000 sold since 2020. The book has also done well in the U.K., selling 150,000 copies total. Swope said interest in Atomic Habits in the U.K. was driven by social media and video sites, with 71% of sales going to those under 35. Swope noted that while fiction authors often sell well in multiple countriesas in the case of Hoovernonfiction authors tend to have more localized sales. Atomic Habits, for example, was the only nonfiction title to be #1 in 2022 in more than one country (India and South Africa). Among childrens books, J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter series sold more than three million units in the territories covered by Nielsen last year, while Julia Donaldsons sales topped more than four million copies, driven primarily by sales in the U.K., making her the top-selling childrens author in the 10 countries. Among U.S. authors, Jeff Kinney was #3 overall, with Rick Riordan coming in at #11. A few other details worth noting include Nielsens tracking of translated fiction, which showed that Japanese fiction is especially popular in Italy, with books by Haruki Murakami selling 234,000 units and books by Tozikazu Kawaguchi, especially Before the Coffee Gets Cold, selling 227,000 copies. In the U.K., Murakami titles sold 133,000 copies and Kawaguchi books sold about 93,000 units. For this year through March 25, Nielsen reported that sales were flat across all reporting countries compared to the similar period last year, with about 140 million copies sold. The bestselling title has been Spare by Prince Harry, with 1.2 million copies sold. It has been the top title in Australia, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Imagine being surrounded by your favorite thriller authors for a week-long extravaganza. ThrillerFest, the annual conference of the International Thriller Writers, is a unique week, jam-packed with workshops, classes, panels, cocktail parties, and interviews with top thriller authors. A friendly, professional atmosphere provides the backdrop for thriller enthusiasts. Whether youre a fan, an aspiring writer, a bestselling author, or an industry professional, there is something for you to enjoy on-site. Held at the Sheraton Times Square in Manhattan May 30June 3, this years conference offers a strong educational component, including an intensive writing workshop called Master Class, a four-track lecture series on best writing practices called CraftFest, and one-on-one sessions focused on creating compelling queries and synopses at QueryFest. At the CraftFest luncheon, the keynote this year will be Steve Feldberg, v-p of Audible Originals, interviewed by bestselling author Joseph Finder. Because the annual celebration is held in New York City, ThrillerFest offers the opportunity to pitch to more than 50 agents and editors during the PitchFest part of the program. Over the years, weve had countless success stories resulting from the magic that happens when talented aspiring authors meet top agents and editors. Once new writers sign contracts for their first novels, they become part of our debut program, and we support these authors through the process of publication. This year, the debut class will be honored during a breakfast hosted by bestselling author Lisa Gardner. Every year, we also feature spotlight guests, and this years lineup includes the ThrillerMaster Lifetime Achievement Awards, showcasing the iconic careers of Charlaine Harris and Walter Mosley. The Silver Bullet Award, bestowed for charitable efforts, will be awarded to Michael Connelly. And rising stars Jack Carr and Oyinkan Braithwaite will have their impressive work featured, as well. The conference closes with a gala banquet on Saturday evening, featuring a star-studded ceremony and announcing the winners of the annual Thriller Awards. Last year, S.A. Cosby made history as the only person to win back-to-back Best Hardcover awards for Blacktop Wasteland and Razor Blade Tears. Were excited to see who will take home the hardware this year. With more than 5,500 members in 52 countries, International Thriller Writers is the worlds leading organization for thriller writers and its members have accounted for sales of more than 3.2 billion books. ITW helps authors hone their craft, learn about the business aspects of publishing, and connect writers with readers. We celebrate our authors accomplishments every year at ThrillerFest, and we expect this years gathering to deliver another memorable week. Kimberley Howe is the executive director of the International Thriller Writers. Read more from our ThrillerFest feature: ThrillerMaster Charlaine Harris The Sookie StackHouse creator discusses some of her influences. ThrillerMaster Walter Mosley The author of the Easy Rawlins series continues to branch out into sci-fi. Silver Bullet Award Winner Michael Connelly The prolific author just cant say goodbye to series lead Harry Bosch. Thrillerfest: PW Talks with Erin Adams About Her Latest Novel 'Jackal' Liz Rocher, the Black narrator of Adamss 'Jackal' (Bantam), returns to her hometown only to discover that a serial killer of Black girls, whose crimes she survived there, is still active Thrillerfest: PW Talks with Bradeigh Godfrey About Her First Solo Novel 'Imposter' Physician Godfrey draws on her experience treating severe neurological injuries in 'Imposter' (Blackstone), her first solo novel. Thrillerfest: PW Talks with Joey Hartstone About His Latest Novel 'The Local' In Hartstones 'The Local' (Doubleday), a small Texas town is the center of a patent litigation trial that turns into a murder case. Thrillerfest: PW Talks with T.R. Hendricks About His Latest Novel 'The Instructor' Hendricks, a former Army intelligence officer, introduces Derek Harrington, a retired Marine, in 'The Instructor' (Forge). Thrillerfest: PW Talks with Ana Reyes About Her Latest Novel 'The House in the Pines' In Reyess 'The House in the Pines' (Dutton), a woman searches for her lost past while attempting to unmask a serial killer. Thrillerfest: PW Talks with Iris Yamashita About Her Novel 'City Under One Roof' In screenwriter Yamashitas whodunit, 'City Under One Roof' (Berkley), the entire population of an Alaska community lives in one building. Between ChatGPT and cryptocurrency, TikTok millionaires and real estate in the metaverse, much about the emerging internet economy seems daunting and new. But two very old forces are driving innovation and competition in the digital landscape: money and power. Forthcoming books look at the lives of content creators, the battle for supremacy between digital platforms, and the cutting-edge technologies that promise to reshape work and money itselfasking who will win in this new business environment, who will lose, and how our lives might change as a result. Under the influence Social media is a central pillar of the internet economy: without images and videos to mindlessly scroll through, a huge swath of the tech industrys revenue would dry up. That state of affairs has put power and money into the hands of content creators, a new class of entrepreneurs who serve as the focus of two forthcoming books. Online influence is the most powerful modern currency, says Taylor Lorenz, a Washington Post technology reporter whose first book, Extremely Online, will be published by Simon & Schuster in October. The book traces the evolution of user-driven web content, from mommy blogs to viral TikTok videos, and examines how creators have shaped digital culture and forged new pathways to success. A career as an influencer, Lorenz adds, provides access to endless power, fame, and moneyyou can use it to launch anything. Whoever wields power on the internet wields political power. Nevertheless, influencers and content creators are often belittled by the culture at large, says Portfolio editor Merry Sun. In June Portfolio will publish Glamour senior editor Stephanie McNeals Swipe up for More!, which PW called an entertaining inquiry into the not-so-secret lives of social media celebrities. So much of the commentary is about how theyre terrible and evil, theyre not doing real work, Sun says. But theyve shifted the way we interact online. How we buy thingshow trust worksin the digital marketplace. Lorenz points out that the media often focuses on the founders of social media platforms, when in reality those founders dont quite know how their platforms will be used. Its the power users, influencers, and content creators, she says, who end up defining both the nature and the long-term fate of a platform. Platform wars The question of who owns and controls digital platformsand how contests for power over them affect our daily livesis taken up in further titles that look at the heavy hitters of the internet economy, and at innovations that promise to reshape it. Despite the outsize influence of content creators, some platforms are still beholden to the larger-than-life personalities at their helms. Breaking Twitter by Ben Mezrich (The Accidental Billionaires) tracks the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, who in his short time as CEO has implemented the tech shibboleth move fast and break things with a particular focus on the second part. Grand Central will release Mezrichs book in November, and executive editor Karyn Marcus says its part of a larger conversation about the tension between the decentralized potential of the internet and the struggle by executives and corporations to maintain control. Were in an interesting moment where the internet is becoming more and more pushed forward by corporations, she explains. What could be a more democratic force than the internetbut can it survive powerful corporate interests? A similar question is taken up by business journalist Jason del Reys Winner Sells All (HarperBusiness, June), which PW calls an impressive account of the retail wars between Walmart, a traditional retailer that had to become an e-tailer, and Amazon, an e-commerce pioneer that has built out a bricks-and-mortar footprint. Del Reys book explores the potential perils of an economy in which Amazon and Walmart are the two go-to suppliers of everything American consumers might buy, he says. No one, he adds, wants to wake up in a world where you have only two options. But in some communities, this is already a reality. At the same time, the postpandemic era has given a boost to some unexpected contenders. In The Phoenix Economy (Harper Business, May), Felix Salmon, Axios chief financial correspondent and host of the Slate Money podcast, examines the new not normal of post-Covid times and looks at platforms that rocketed in popularity during lockdown, including Zoom and Slack, by capitalizing on the sudden ubiquity of remote work. The question of how work and consumer habits will change in the coming yearsand which companies will win and which will lose outis hard to answer, Salmon notes. Shit is really fucking weird right now, he says, and will continue to be really fucking weird for a long time. Adding to the weirdness is the emergence of whats often referred to as Web3, a nascent model of the World Wide Web in which blockchain technologies and digital currencies pave the way for a more distributed, decentralized internet that promises to transfer power from platforms to creators. In September Harper Business will publish Web3 by Alex Tapscott (coauthor of 2016s Blockchain Revolution), which offers a deep dive into this new system and how it might afford users more control. This shift is a challenge to the status quo, says Hollis Heimbouch, publisher of Harper Business. It gives everyone the opportunity to play a role in creation. Show me the tokens Inevitably, contests between platforms and the emergence of new technologies will have profound effects on our financial liveshow we earn money, how we spend it, and even what we consider money in the first place. Web3 promises not only to democratize the internet but to give more ownershipand potentially economic powerto creators. In The Metaverse Economy (Kogan Page, Aug.), fintech experts Arun Krishnakumar and Theodora Lau explore decentralized finance, token-based economies, and the economic principles driving business in Web3. In the new economic model thats emerging, Krishnakumar says, if you create value for the ecosystem, you should accrue value from the ecosystem. Before, when people took your data, you got nothing in return. That wont be the case anymore. Given Web3s association with digital currencies, however, what creators get in return might not look like money as we know it today. Tokens (Verso, Oct.) by Rachel ODwyer, a lecturer at National College of Art and Design (Dublin), looks at digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin and explores the ramifications of an economic system in which technology platforms operate as banks. She cites as an example the Amazon-owned live-streaming service Twitch, on which users can buy bits to tip streamers. $1.40 worth of bits is cashed out by the streamer at $1, with Amazon keeping the rest. Such tokens are money-ish things, ODwyer says, both more or less than money. And platforms can use them to maximize their profits and to keep users in their thrall. Echoing a concern raised by many people interviewed for this article, Metaverse Economy coauthor Lau cautions that human beings, not technology, will need to ensure equitable access to this new, rapidly evolving internet. Web3 allows more people to participate in the new economy, but who is at the table? she asks. Who has a voice to lead it where it needs to go? Liz Scheier is a writer, editor, and product strategist living in Washington, D.C. She is the author of the memoir Never Simple. Read more from our Business & Personal Finance Books feature: When Healthcare Reform Isnt Enough: PW Talks with Amy Finkelstein In "Weve Got You Covered" (Portfolio, July) MIT economist Amy Finkelstein, with collaborator Stanford economist Liran Einav, poses how to reboot the U.S. healthcare system. A Toxic Workplace Made in America: PW Talks with Kate Flannery In "Strip Tees" (Holt, July), Flannery writes about her years as a spokesmodel for American Apparel, and the companys charismatic, problematic founder. Penny for Your Feelings: Business & Personal Finance Books 2023 Making good money decisions takes more than sober calculation and information-gathering, say the authors of these forthcoming personal finance titles. Premium online access is only available tosubscribers. If you have an active subscription and need to set up or change your password, please click here New to PW? To set up immediate access, click here. NOTE: If you had a previous PW subscription, click here to reactivate your immediate access. PW site license members have access to PWs subscriber-only website content. If working at an office location and you are not "logged in", simply close and relaunch your preferred browser. For off-site access, click here. To find out more about PWs site license subscription options, please email Mike Popalardo at: mike@nextstepsmarketing.com. In Hartstones The Local (Doubleday), a small Texas town is the center of a patent litigation trial that turns into a murder case. How did you make intellectual property law suspenseful? A friend of mine who practices in that field had told me about Marshall, Tex.this little corner of the state where there were more patent infringement lawsuits than anywhere else in the country, where hundreds of millions of dollars exchange hands every year in lawsuits. All these big corporate law firms come in from out of town, needing a local attorney to help them communicate to the jurors, who are from that town. And I thought, well, that kind of attorney could be a great character. So I mulled it over for a couple of years, and then realized that, as fascinated as I was with patent law, criminal law was probably going to make for a much more intriguing story. And if I killed a character and then took a patent lawyer and put him in the middle of a murder trial, itd be more interesting than just a patent trial. How did you get help with some of the legal aspects of the story line? I have an aunt, Cathy Cannon, whos a criminal lawyer, and she reads almost everything I write. Early on, I had a problem. This character is accused of murder, but the identity of the victim would make it a federal crime. But I want him to stand trial in this local venue, and I want him to also be subject to the death penalty. At the time, there was no one being executed federally, and so I asked, What possible reason could there be to make a federal crime a state crime? She responded, Well, youre in Texas, he killed a local hero, and they want him executed. So thats your reason, the federal prosecutors could actually say, well give it back to the state, because we all agree that we want to see this person executed. Might this book be adapted for TV? I am adapting this into a TV series with the producers of The Good Fight and Your Honor, Robert and Michelle King. They read this book before it was published, and they loved it. They were very encouraging, and so its set up with their company, at CBS Studios. Return to the main feature. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Islamabad, Pakistan, May 6, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Chao) ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China and Pakistan agreed on Saturday to further promote the all-round cooperation between the two countries. When co-chairing the fourth round of the China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said that as all-weather strategic cooperative partners, China highly appreciates Pakistan's support on issues concerning China's core interests. China will, as always, continue to firmly support Pakistan in safeguarding its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, back Pakistan to fight terrorism, and champion the South Asian country in maintaining unity and stability, achieving development and prosperity, and playing a bigger role in international and regional affairs, he said. China is ready to make joint efforts with Pakistan to fully implement the important consensuses reached between leaders of the two countries, maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges, and strengthen strategic communication, so as to contribute to the development of bilateral relations and bring stability to the region and the world, Qin added. Both sides should push forward the high-quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), explore new areas of cooperation in industry, agriculture, mining, science and technology and information technology, foster new growth points, and deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges, he said. China is willing to enhance cooperation with Pakistan in security capacity building and security system, Qin said. China expects Pakistan to take the strictest measures to ensure the security and safety of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions, he said. The Chinese foreign minister said that China is ready to work with Pakistan to take the lead to implement the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative in Pakistan and strengthen coordination within multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, safeguarding international fairness and justice, as well as common interests of developing countries. For his part, Bilawal said that it is the consensus of various Pakistani political parties and all walks of life to consolidate the traditional friendship between Pakistan and China, and deepening Pakistan-China friendship and cooperation is the cornerstone that remains at the center of Pakistan's foreign policy. The Pakistani side appreciates China's assistance in evacuating Pakistani nationals from Sudan and its fight against floods, Bilawal said. He noted that the Pakistani side firmly opposes any attempt to contain China and will always stand with China. Pakistan remains steadfast in upholding the one-China policy and firmly supports China on all issues related to its core interests. He pointed out that Pakistan expects to closely cooperate with China in jointly advancing the CPEC construction, strengthening bilateral cooperation in agriculture, trade, finance, connectivity, cultural exchanges and counter-terrorism, and promoting a new era of the Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative partnership. The Pakistani side will do its utmost to crack down on terrorist organizations to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan, Bilawal said. He expressed Pakistan's support for the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, pledging to work with China to combat terrorism and address global challenges such as climate change. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang co-chairs the fourth round of the China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Islamabad, Pakistan, May 6, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) In Reyess The House in the Pines (Dutton), a woman searches for her lost past while attempting to unmask a serial killer. What was the spark for the house featured in the novel? The house appeared in the first story I ever wrote. I was 11 and hoping to win a contest hosted by my local library, and as I was reading a lot of Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine at the time, my story took on a similar tone. It was about a girl who gets lost in the woods and comes upon a creepy house with a secret. Years later, while attending Louisiana State Universitys MFA program, I sat down to write what would become The House in the Pines. And again the house appeared. This book is, in many ways, my exploration of that house and what it means to me. What did you learn from the two years you spent rewriting? There was always a mystery at the heart of The House in the Pines, but my agent encouraged me to make the book more suspenseful. I went about this by rereading books by Shirley Jackson, Gillian Flynn, and some of my other favorite authors and analyzing their approach to the thriller genre. What I found was a collection of tropes, including red herrings and cliffhangers. I then found ways to weave those devices into my own work, and I think the book is much stronger for it. What did you feel when you heard that the book had become a bestseller? My editor sent me a Zoom link, so I hopped online and was greeted by not just her but also my publicist, the director of publicity, and the director of marketing at Dutton. The first thing I noticed was the bottle of champagne and the glasses they all held. My editor was the one to say it: Youre #2 on the New York Times bestseller list! It was one of the most exciting moments of my life. Was it hard to keep secret that the book had made it onto the Reeses Book Club 2023 list? It was so hard not to tell anyone! I knew several months in advance and consistently had to remind myself it was a secret. The day the book came out I was glued to my phone, waiting for the moment Reese Witherspoon made her announcement and I was finally free to tell the world. Return to the main feature. SEOUL, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. military fighter jet crashed in South Korea on Saturday, with no casualty reported, Yonhap news agency reported. The F-16 fighter jet crashed into a farmland at 9:31 a.m. local time in Pyeongtaek, about 70 km south of the capital Seoul. The city is where a key military base of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) is located. One pilot on board the ill-fated combat plane escaped before the crash. Most of the fighter jet was burned down. A police official was quoted as saying no other damage was reported as there are no private houses near the scene. Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, who withdrew his decision to quit as party chief on Friday, also refuted speculations of a rift in the party. IMAGE: NCP leader Sharad Pawar addresses the press conference announcing his decision to withdraw his resignation as party president, in Mumbai on Friday. Photograph: ANI Photo However, Pawar also said that if anybody wants to leave, nobody can stop them. "If someone wants to go, irrespective of the party, no one stops him. Leadership is needed for this, there is no need to work yourself to stop it. The leader should take care of how to make the organisation healthy by being on the front foot. But there is nothing like this (possibility of disintegration) in our party," he said. Sharing the anecdotes ahead of his announcement of resigning as party president Pawar recalled how his colleagues were suggesting him to remain on his post and appoint Supriya Sule (Pawar's daughter) as working president. "When I had taken my decision and my party colleagues were coming to me to make me understand but when some of them felt that I won't be taking my decision back, then some of them suggested me to stay on my post and appoint Supriya as working president but this proposal was rejected by my other colleagues and Supriya as well," he said. Pawar has withdrawn his decision to quit as party chief after NCP's committee passed a resolution rejecting his resignation and requested him to continue to lead the party that he founded. Sharad Pawar had on Tuesday announced his resignation from the party president's post. However, Sharad Pawar's nephew and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who was seen backing his uncle's decision to step down when he made the dramatic announcement on May 2, was conspicuous by his absence at the NCP supremo's press conference. Asked about Ajit Pawar's absence at Friday's press briefing, Sharad Pawar said 'not all people can be at all places', and asked media not to read too much in his nephew not being present. "Others are here. Committee took this decision and after their decision, I took my decision back. All are united and discussed this. Senior leaders are there in the committee," Pawar said. On the absence of Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil said, "Ajit Pawar was there to urge him (Sharad Pawar) to withdraw the resignation. He was there even when we visited Pawar saheb's residence after the decision was taken at the party office." Later in the evening, Ajit Pawar, who is eyeing a larger role within the NCP, appeared to downplay his absence and came out with a statement that he welcomed his uncle's 'positive decision', saying it will 'energise' party workers including him and and give 'strength' to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and opposition unity. -- with inputs from PTI An assassination plot has been hatched to wipe out' Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and his entire family by a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, the party general secretary and Karnataka in charge Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged on Saturday. IMAGE: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addresses the public meeting ahead of Karnataka assembly elections, in Yadgiri on Thursday. Photograph: ANI Photo Surjewala also shared an alleged audio recording of the BJP candidate from Chittapur constituency in Kalaburagi district, Manikanta Rathod, in which he is heard purportedly saying in Kannada that he will wipe out Kharge, his wife and children'. Rathod rejected the charges outright and said, It is all a lie. They are playing some fake audio. The Congress is leveling baseless allegations fearing defeat. Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Surjewala said, I am going to play for you an audio recording of an assassination plot to wipe out none less than the All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife, and his entire family as being hatched by the BJP leaders. There can be nothing more serious than that". He added that "the assassination plots have entered the electoral discourse of Karnataka and this was the lowest political discourse anyone can stoop to". Intimidated by the all-round blessings of Kannadigas being showered on the Congress party and facing a complete rout in the ensuing Karnataka election, the BJP leaders are now hatching a plot to murder Sri Mallikarjun Kharge as also his family members, Surjewala alleged. He also alleged the Chittapur candidate is a blue eyed boy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. A day after he decided to stay on at the helm of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar reached his home turf Baramati in Maharashtra's Pune district on Saturday. IMAGE: Sharad Pawar on Friday withdrew his decision to step down as NCP president. Photograph: @PawarSpeaks/Twitter Pawar was welcomed by office-bearers of the party amid slogans like Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Pawar Saheb jaisa ho. The party workers in Baramati also thanked him for deciding to remain as NCP chief. The NCP chief, who hails from Baramati, on Sunday will meet party members before heading to Solapur for various programmes, said party officials. Pawar on Friday withdrew his decision to step down as NCP president after mounting pressure from shocked party leaders and workers, three days after his announcement that had also put a question mark on opposition unity efforts ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The U-turn by the 82-year-old Maratha strongman known for his deft political manoeuvring also came after what he said that leaders from various political parties across Maharashtra and the country requested him to continue as the party president. Pawar, whose 63-year-long political career has been marked by twists and turns, said he could not disrespect the sentiments of his colleagues and party workers who insisted that he withdraw his decision. I cannot disrespect their feelings. I am overwhelmed by the love, trust and faith showered on me. Considering the appeals made by all of you, and honouring the decision of the committee constituted by the party, I am withdrawing my decision to retire, he said hours after the NCP panel selected by him to pick his successor passed a resolution that he continue as the party chief. -- PTI Wanted Khalistani terrorist Paramjit Singh Panjwar was shot dead by unidentified gunmen while he was out for a morning walk on Saturday near his residence in Lahore, the provincial capital of Pakistan's Punjab province, police said. IMAGE: Wanted terrorist and Chief of Khalistan Commando Force Paramjit Singh Panjwar who was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Lahore on Saturday, May 6, 2023. Photograph: PTI Photo Panjwar, 63, was heading the Khalistan Commando Force-Panjwar group and was designated as a terrorist by India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. "The gunmen shot (Panjwar) Singh in his head and he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital," a senior officer of Pakistan's Punjab police told PTI, adding his guard was also injured in the shooting and succumbed later in the day. Panjwar, along with his guard, was walking in the park at Sun Flower Housing Society in Jauhar Town in Lahore, where he was residing, when the two assailants opened fire at them and fled on a motorcycle, the officer said. Pakistan's intelligence agencies including the ISI, Military Intelligence (MI) and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) cordoned off the area and launched an investigation while the media was not allowed at the crime scene. The killing is the latest instance of terror kingpins being targeted outside India. In February this year, Bashir Ahmad Peer, a self-styled commander of the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Pakistan's Rawalpindi. Also in the same month, former commander of Pakistan-based terror outfit Al Badr, Syed Khalid Raza, was killed in a similar manner outside his residence in Karachi while Kashmir-born terrorist Aijaz Ahmad Ahanger alias Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri, who had joined the Islamic State( IS), was reportedly killed in Kunar province of Afghanistan. On the deadly attack on Panjwar on Saturday, an eyewitness told the CTD investigators that Singh along with his guard was in the park at around 6 am Saturday when a gunman came close to them and opened fire. After the firing, the assailant rushed to the gate of the society and fled along with his accomplice who was waiting for him outside, he said. A source in CTD told PTI that after recording statements from a number of people in the housing society, it has been revealed that the assailants had held a recce for a week. We have got an important clue about the killers and a couple of teams of the intelligence agencies have been formed to arrest the assailants and the network behind it, he said. Police in Pakistan's Punjab province have been asked to let the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) lead the whole investigation, sources said. The crime scene was protected by the agencies and the police were asked not to register an FIR till approval from ISI, sources in the Lahore police said. I cannot make a comment on this matter, Lahore police spokesperson Farhan Ali Sheikh said when asked about the incident. Panjwar joined the KCF in 1986. He later headed this outfit and crossed over to Pakistan. In 1986, the KCF was headed by Sukhdev Singh alias Sukha Shapai who was then serving as a police constable in Punjab, India. In 1989, Sukha Shapai was killed in a police encounter at Tanda in Hoshiarpur and thereafter, Kanwarjit Singh of Sultanwind in Amritsar became the chief of KCF while Paramjit Singh Panjwar became its deputy chief. After the death of Kanwarjit Singh Sultanwind, Panjwar became the chief of the KCF. Before he escaped to Pakistan in 1995-96, Panjwar was involved in a number of killings in Punjab, according to official sources. Though he was inactive for the last couple of years, Panjwar had been operating from Lahore and was involved in arranging arms training for youths in Pakistan. He was engaged in supplying arms and ammunition and subsequent infiltration into India for targeting VIPs and economic installations. He was also involved in broadcasting highly seditious and separatist programmes on Radio Pakistan, intended to incite minorities against the Indian government. He was active in the smuggling of drugs and was a major conduit between smugglers and terrorists, India's Ministry of Home Affairs had said in a notification that designated him a terrorist under UAPA. "Panjwar's complicity in promoting drug trade and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) operation in Punjab are well documented. Efforts are being made by his organisation KCF to reactive former militants, sleeper cells and also those on bail and it has been in favour of forming a nexus with other forces hostile to India," the ministry had said. KCF came into existence in February 1986 and the modus-operandi of this organisation was to commit bank robberies and kidnappings for ransom for use to purchase sophisticated weapons for terrorist activities. The banned outfit was involved in various terrorist attacks in India, which include the following a bomb attack in October 1988, killing 10 Rai Sikhs at Firozpur and the killing of Major Gen. B. N. Kumar, according to the ministry. Panjwar was also behind a number of IED explosions in Haryana, Chandigarh and Punjab, said sources. His wife, who along with two sons was staying in Germany, died in September 2022. After 2010, Panjwar had ventured into the business of real estate and heroin smuggling. He had got Pakistan's national ID card in the name of Gulzar Singh. The ISI had planned to re-activate Panjwar by using his old contacts in Punjab in a bid to revive militancy. Panjwar had a large number of contacts in border districts areas especially in Amritsar and Tarn Taran during the militancy period in Punjab. He also had links with drugs and arms smugglers based in Pakistan, they said. According to Pakistan media reports, Hizbul commander Peer alias Imtiyaz Alam and Raza were shot from point-blank range by the assailants, just like Punjwar. Raza had reportedly served as Al Badr's "commander" in Jammu and Kashmir for eight years. Peer, who hailed from Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, had been living in Pakistan for more than 15 years, intelligence officials here said. Peer had participated in a number of online propaganda groups to unite ex-militants and other cadres for the expansion of activities of Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and other terrorist organisations. Kashmir-born terrorist Ahanger was one of the chief recruiters of Islamic State J-K (ISJK) and was designated as an individual terrorist under the UAPA by India. He was a wanted terrorist in Jammu and Kashmir for more than two decades and was "working towards providing traction to militancy in Kashmir", the MHA had said. He was appointed as the head of the Islamic State recruitment cell for India and had been instrumental in initiating an online India-centric ISIS propaganda magazine. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Saturday said live streaming of court proceedings has flipside and judges need to be trained as every word they say is in the public realm in the age of social media. IMAGE: Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud addresses the two-day national conference on digitization, paperless court and e-initiative programme, in Cuttack. Photograph: ANI Photo Addressing the National Conference on Digitisation, Paperless Courts and e-initiatives at the Odisha Judicial Academy in Cuttack, CJI Chandrachud said courts across the country are likely to become paperless soon. "We have been using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for transcription of the proceedings of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court. The transcript is provided to lawyers to clean up any errors," he said. "AI is replete with possibilities. How do you expect a judge to digest the evidence in a statutory appeal in a record involving 15,000 pages? AI can prepare the entire record for you," he said, adding that many courts across the world were experimenting with AI. However, CJI Chandrachud said AI has a flip side as well. "For instance, it would be very difficult in allowing artificial intelligence to tell us what sentence to hand down following a conviction in a criminal case," he said. The CJI said most high courts in the country are live-streaming proceedings. "There are clips on YouTube of a Patna high court judge asking an IAS officer why he was not appropriately dressed, or a Gujarat HC judge asking a lawyer why she was not prepared with her case," he said. In the same vein, he said, "Many funny things are going on in YouTube which need to be controlled, because this is serious stuff and what happens in the court is extremely serious." The CJI said that live streaming has a flipside as well, and judges need to be trained as every word that they say in court is in the public realm in the age of social media. "We realise this when we live stream constitution bench arguments," he said. Very often citizens don't realise that what judges say in the course of a hearing is to open a dialogue, he added. The CJI said the purpose of pitch-forking technology is not to place the justice system away from the people but to reach out to the common citizens of the country. "The digital infrastructure we intend to create is firstly paperless courts. Secondly, virtual courts and Delhi has been leading in virtual courts, particularly in the area of traffic challans," he said. The total outlay for phase 3, 2023-27, for the digitisation process is Rs 7,210 crore, he said. "The outlay for phase 1 and phase 2 was just a fraction of phase 3, and look at the enormity of the fund which the Government of India is now providing," he said. "When we pitched for this budget, not a single rupee was cut by the Union government," he added. BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) will supervise the investigation into the Beijing Changfeng Hospital fire, according to an official statement released by the country's top procuratorate on Saturday. The fire broke out on April 18 at the hospital in Beijing's Fengtai District, killing 29 people, 26 of whom were patients. The police launched an investigation into the fire on the same day. A preliminary investigation showed the fire was caused by sparks from a construction project that ignited volatiles produced by combustible paint. A total of 15 people have been placed in criminal detention. The SPP has urged the procuratorial agencies in Beijing to perform their duties fully and work in coordination with public security organs and other government departments to determine the liabilities of all parties involved, ensure the evidence is solid, punish any crimes identified in accordance with the law, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the victims. It has also called for improved efforts to eliminate workplace safety risks, noting that the hospital fire had revealed the laxity of investigations into potential workplace safety hazards. A terrorist said to be part of the group that attacked civilians at Dhangri village earlier this year was killed during an operation on Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited an army base and took stock of the overall security situation, officials said. IMAGE: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visits the army base camp in Rajouri, J-K. Photograph: @rajnathsingh/Twitter Another terrorist was believed to be injured in the early morning encounter in the Kesari hill of the forested Kandi area during 'Operation Trinetra' which was launched a day after five army personnel were killed and a major-rank officer injured when ultras triggered a blast targeting a search party in Kandi forest. "In the ongoing joint operation in Kandi forest, Rajouri sector, by Indian Army in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF, at around 7 am, the cordon, while closing in, spotted and pinned down the terrorists. "In the ensuing gunbattle one terrorist has been neutralised and one terrorist is likely to be injured," Jammu-based Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand said. He said an AK-56 rifle, four magazines, 56 bullets, one 9-mm pistol, its three magazines and three grenades were seized from the slain terrorist whose identity and group affiliation were not known immediately. The People's Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), a shadow organisation of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, has claimed responsibility for Friday's attack. Officials said the search operation was extended to nearby areas with fresh reinforcements from the army and police moving in to block the escape routes. However, there was no fresh contact with the fleeing terrorist. Despite inclement weather, the operation is on, the officials said, adding the body of the slain terrorist was removed from the scene and his postmortem was also conducted. The officials said some people from Bathuni village, who were called for identification of the slain terrorist, said he was part of the group that was active in the area and believed to be behind the Dhangri attack on January 1, that left seven civilians dead and several others injured. Over the past 18 months, terrorists have killed 35 people, including 26 soldiers, in eight attacks in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch. Defence Minister Singh, accompanied by Army chief General Manoj Pande and Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, reached the Ace of Spades Division headquarters in Rajouri in the afternoon after a brief stopover in Jammu. They also interacted with the troops engaged in the ongoing operation against terrorists, the officials said. IMAGE: An AK-56 rifle, 4 magazines, 56 bullets, one 9 mm pistol, its three magazines and three grenades were seized from the terrorist gunned down in an encounter in Rajouri on Saturday. Photograph: ANI on Twitter Northern Army commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, the Corps Commander of White Knight Corps, and the Jammu Divisional Commissioner are also accompanying Rajnath to Rajouri, the officials said. After getting a brief on the operation in Kandi forest, the defence minister chaired a high-level security meeting to review the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Rajouri and Poonch before returning to Jammu, they said. Earlier in the day, Lt Gen Dwivedi visited the encounter site and was briefed about the developments in the 'Operation Trinetra'. Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu, which were declared terrorism-free more than a decade ago, have been rocked by a series of deadly attacks since October 2021. The loss of five jawans in Kandi forest is the third major incident this year. It took place at a time when the forces are engaged in a massive combing operation for the past 15 days following an ambush on an army truck in Bhata Dhurian (Poonch). Five soldiers were killed and another was injured on April 20 when the army truck carrying fruits and vegetables for Iftar was bombed and strafed with bullets by terrorists. More than 250 people were detained for questioning during combing operations in the wake of the incident. Six overground workers who extended full support to terrorists were arrested, they said. According to military officials, terrorists now have adopted a strategy of engaging troops or attacking people and then laying improvised explosive devices to harm security forces engaged in combing operations. This also happened in Dhangri village in Rajouri where terrorists killed seven civilians in two attacks on January 1 this year. In two major incidents in Rajouri in 2022, five army personnel and two terrorists were killed in a suicide attack at a security camp at Pargal-Darhal on August 11, while two civilians were killed in a firing incident outside an army camp near Rajouri town. Besides the eight major attacks, four minor blasts rocked Kotranka in Rajouri district between March and April last year. All these cases were worked out by police with the arrest of the accused. Nine army personnel were killed in two separate encounters with terrorists in Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch districts in October 2021. Two army personnel, one of them a lieutenant, were killed in a mine blast in Nowshera sector of Rajouri on October 30, 2021. Rajouri and Poonch districts have witnessed more killings of Army personnel than the militancy-hit Kashmir Valley. Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday said his visit to Goa was a 'success' as he advocated his country's case on the soil of India. IMAGE: Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari participates in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers' meeting, on Friday. Photograph: ANI Photo His remarks came hours after his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar accused him of being a 'promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terror industry'. Addressing a press conference after his return from Goa where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting, Bhutto-Zardari said his trip to India was a 'success' as it helped to negate the view that every Muslim was a terrorist. "We made an attempt at breaking this myth," Bhutto-Zardari said. Jaishankar mounted an offensive against Bhutto-Zardari in his address at the SCO meeting, contending Pakistan foreign minister's statement that terrorism shouldn't be 'weaponised for diplomatic point-scoring', in remarks seen as directed at India. Hours later at a press conference, Jaishankar said Bhutto-Zardari's statement on the weaponisation of terrorism unconsciously revealed a mindset. "As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Bhutto-Zardari was treated accordingly. As a promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terrorism industry, which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and they were countered including at the SCO meeting itself," Jaishankar said. Responding to a question about talks with India, Bhutto-Zardari said that Pakistan was clear that India should create a conducive environment for talks by restoring the pre-August 5, 2019 status of Kashmir. He also said that countries from Central Asia were looking forward to becoming part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He said every country except India supported and praised CPEC. Earlier, Bhutto-Zardari returned on a special Pakistan Air Force plane from India and landed in Karachi where was received by the Sindh chief minister, Murad Ali Shah, and other cabinet members. Rishi Sunak on Saturday made history as the first Indian-origin British Prime Minister to perform a reading at the Coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey in London. IMAGE: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty arrive to attend Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, in London, Britain on May 6, 2023. Photograph: Dan Charity/Pool via Reuters The 42-year-old British Hindu leader read from the Epistle to the Colossians from the New Testament reflecting the theme of service to others, in keeping with the recent tradition of UK Prime Ministers giving readings at State occasions. He and his wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, led the procession of flag-bearers as the UK's Union Jack flag was carried into the Abbey by a high-ranking Royal Air Force (RAF) cadet. In the Abbey where monarchs have been crowned for almost a thousand years, representatives of every faith will play a central role for the first time, said Sunak, in a statement on the eve of the historic event. The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be a moment of extraordinary national pride. Together with friends from across the Commonwealth and beyond, we will celebrate the enduring nature of our great monarchy: its constancy, devotion to duty, and service to others. No other country could put on such a dazzling display the processions, the pageantry, the ceremonies, and street parties, he said. However, he stressed the Coronation the first in 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in June 1953 is not just a spectacle but a proud expression of history, culture, and traditions. He noted: A vivid demonstration of the modern character of our country. And a cherished ritual through which a new era is born And in a fitting tribute to the spirit of service that will define the Carolean Age, people across our country will help their communities with thousands of acts of kindness. So let's celebrate this weekend with pride in who we are and what we stand for. Let's look to the future with hope and optimism. And let's make new memories, so we can tell our grandchildren of the day we came together to sing: God Save The King'. The Vishva Hindu Parishad has issued a legal notice to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, accusing him of making defamatory remarks against the Bajrang Dal in his party's Karnataka poll manifesto and demanding a compensation of more than Rs 100 crore. IMAGE: Bajrang Dal supporters protest against the Congress over the party's alleged comparison of Bajrang Dal with banned outfit Popular Front of India. Photograph: ANI Photo The notice was issued by the Chandigarh unit of the VHP and its youth wing Bajrang Dal on May 4, demanding the compensation within 14 days. There was no immediate response from Congress on the queries sent to the party in this regard. In its poll manifesto for May 10 assembly polls in Karnataka, the Congress said it is committed to take firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations such as the Bajrang Dal and the Popular Front of India (PFI) "spreading hatred" among communities on grounds of caste and religion. The action will include a "ban" against such organisations, the party promised. "That in the manifesto at Page 10, you made defamatory statements against the Bajrang Dal, associate body of the Vishva Hindu Parishad by declaring to ban the organisation and comparing it to outlawed terrorist organisations like the Popular Front of India and similar terrorist organisations like Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) which are outlawed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act by the Government of India," VHP's lawyer and co-head of its legal cell Sahil Bansal charged in the legal notice. "The PFI and SIMI are terrorist organisations associated with Al Qaeda and ISIS and other global terrorist organisations proscribed by the United Nations General Assembly and by more than 100 nations as well as proscribed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act," he added. Bansal claimed the Bajrang Dal "believes in universalism, tolerance, dharmic unity, national integrity and service towards Bharat Mata and in doing so seeks inspiration from the reverential example of Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman who are the ideal embodiment of Dharma and Service". The Bajrang Dal is "totally devoted to the service of dharma and in doing so devoted to the service of mankind", the VHP's counsel said, adding, "Unto that end the credentials of the Bajrang Dal are unassailable and unimpeachable." "That the defamatory statement which you made in the election manifesto and it's subsequent release in general public is having a tendency to injure the reputation of my client, lower them in the estimation of others and bring them in obliquity contempt and ridicule," he charged Kharge in the legal notice. "My client demands special damages on account of injury inflicted to their reputation, honour due to the statement/averments, which you have made in the election manifesto," he said. The VHP counsel "advised" Kharge to pay a total of Rs 100.10 crore to the VHP and Bajrang Dal within 14 days of the issuance of the legal notice. When Jaipur's Maharaja Madho Singh was invited to attend King Edward VII's coronation in 1902, he chartered a ship for Rs 15 lakh for the journey. He also carried 27,000 litres of Ganga jal on board. Prakash Bhandari recalls the maharaja's voyage to attend a British monarch's coronation on a day when Charles III will be crowned king at Westminster Abbey. IMAGE: Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh. Photograph: Kind courtesy Wikimedia Commons By the time Queen Victoria became empress of India, most of the Indian rulers had bowed to Great Britain, accepting it as a paramount power. The 500 plus Indian principalities accepted the British monarch's sovereignty unconditionally. So did Sawai Madho Singh of Jaipur. A distant relative of his predecessor Maharaja Ram Singh II, who adopted him, he came to the throne on Ram Singh's death. Born Kaim Singh, he had worked as a cavalry rider in the army of the nawab of Tonk after his exile from the small state of Isarda, where his father had been the thakur. But he was fated to be king and, as luck would have it, inherited Jaipur state instead. Madho Singh stood a little over six feet. He liked the good life and married five times. His numerous mistresses lived too under his roof in the palace. But Madho Singh could not produce a son from his official maharanis and was forced to adopt a son from within his family. The maharaja acknowledged the paramountcy of the British and always strived to keep the viceroy in good humour. He sent his troops and horses to assist the British in the fighting in Chitral (current day Pakistan) in 1894-1895, the Tirah Campaign (now in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province) in 1897-1898, and in the South African War. In the First World War, he again sent his men and guns to assist in the campaign in Mesopotamia at his own expense. Madho Singh was appointed an honorary major general, was made Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India, received the Order of the Indian Empire and was made a Knight of the Grand Cross. IMAGE: Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh. Photograph: Kind courtesy Wikimedia Commons After Queen Victoria died in 1901, the coronation of her eldest son Edward VII was scheduled for 1902 and representatives of Britain's vast empire were expected to be present in London on the grand day. A reluctant Madho Singh wanted to avoid going to England. He was a devout bhakta of Govind Deoji, whom he worshipped every day. Though he was loyal to the British crown, he called the British mleccha or barbarians. The priests of Jaipur state were against their maharaja's vilayat visit. They said the voyage would lead to the ruler losing his varna (caste). The maharaja was afraid to defy the priests, but the British officers he liaised with told him that if he failed to attend the coronation, it would be treated as a violation of protocol. The maharajas of the other states in Rajputana and elsewhere were all going for the coronation. Madho Singh was not literate -- he could barely sign his name in Hindi -- but was gifted with worldly knowledge. He sent his trusted officials to instruct the priests to find a solution. The priests decided that the maharaja could travel by ship to Britain provided he cooked his own food, untouched by meat and beef. He was also asked to take along idols of the family deity on board the ship, but a special cabin, with Jaipur soil in it, should be created for the deity. His meals would have to be offered to the gods before he could partake of them. He was asked to take Ganga jal with him for the trip; he could only eat meals cooked with Ganga jal and drink only Ganga jal. To have enough holy water to last the sea journey and for his two month-long stay in London required packing gallons and gallons and gallons of Ganga jal. A team of silversmiths, headed by Govind Narain and his deputy Mahadev, worked for months to prepare a huge jar that could hold 9,000 litres of water. Three such jars made of pure silver were made. These silver jars -- each weighing 375 kilos and 1.6 metres high with a circumference of 4.5 metres -- were first tested to ensure that they were leakproof and then sent to Haridwar to fill with Ganga jal. Today, you can see these silver urns at Jaipur's City Palace. Today, the silver alone for a similar urn would cost Rs 12 million. Some 27,000 litres of water were estimated to be sufficient for the maharaja's use for two months in England. The SS Olympia was booked for the then whopping fee of Rs 15 lakh for the trip from Bombay to London. The cost, at today's prices, would be 450 million. The ship which was made in France and was fitted with six special suites. The first and most important suite on board the SS Olympia was reserved for the family deity Lord Gopalji, whose idols were to accompany the maharaja. The second suite was occupied by Maharaja Madho Singh. The third was sanctioned for the royal priests. The fourth was meant for the prime minister of Jaipur state, Sansar Chandra Sen. During the voyage, Sansar Sen's son Abinash Chandra Sen worked as the private secretary to the maharaja; his uncle Dr Hem Chandra Sen traveled as the personal physician. Two other suites were reserved for senior members of the maharaja's entourage. 125 nobles, ministers, cooks, personal attendants and two doctors accompanied the maharaja. The ship was washed with Ganga jal that was brought by a special train from Haridwar to Bombay port. The purification of the ship was conducted under the supervision of Raj Acharya Laxmi Narayan Bhatt, the maharaja's chief priest. Twenty-five priests traveled from Jaipur to perform the ship's puja. "My grandfather Raj Acharyaji performed the Sagar Puja (worshipping the sea) which the Kachhawa rulers claimed was similar to the rituals performed by Lord Ram before conquering Ravan's Lanka," says Kailash Bhat, a senior advocate and Raj Acharya Bhatt's grandson. "As the ship started leaving the dock, the priests chanted mantras for the maharaja's safe journey. The maharaja stood on the deck to bid farewell. The ship would chug at a speed of 20 knots covering a distance of 2,000 metres in an hour," adds Bhatt. Two days before the departure, 25 priests from Jaipur performed another puja to propitiate Varuna, the presiding deity of the ocean. Symbolic gifts of gold, silver, pearls, diamonds and gold coins were dropped in the sea as part of the religious ceremonies. "The offerings dropped in the sea in Bombay were worth several lakhs," says Bhatt. Hundreds of fishermen thronged the waters around the ship in Bombay and dove into the sea to fish out these precious offerings of gold, silver, pearls and diamonds. IMAGE: Indian military representatives at King Edward VII's coronation. The maharaja had not seen the ocean before and the journey was quite an experience for him and his traveling party. He was a tad nervous for the first two days, but the ship's captain calmed him and took him up onto the deck to show him the splendour of the sea. When the ship ran into a mild storm which terrified the maharaja, the captain convinced him that such storms are common during a sea journey. Madho Singh instead rushed to the deities' suite to offer prayers. "We heard stories that as the ship was passing through the Red Sea, a huge storm rocked it mercilessly," Dr Gautam Sen, an eminent cardiac surgeon in Jaipur and Sansar Chand Sen's great-grandson, recalls. "The crew and passengers feared the ship would sink. It was proposed that one of the silver urns be thrown overboard to appease the Red Sea. As soon as it was done, the sea quietened, and the journey progressed without any further hindrance," Dr Sen adds. When the ship reached Aden, the first stopover, the maharaja learned that a German ship had been caught in a storm and only 11 out of the 43 crew members survived. This news worried Madho Singh ever more. The captain told him not to worry and convinced him that he would reach England safely. When the ship reached Southampton, the maharaja was received by British officials. Accommodation for Madho Singh had been secured in advance at a huge, comfortable, lodge; members of his entourage were lodged nearby. The maharaja took up residence, along with the deities, in the lodge. It was summer in England and Madho Singh spent his time in the run-up to the coronation on August 9, 1902, visiting different parts of London. On June 3, 1902, the maharaja, accompanied by a procession of Indian gods, were spied on the streets of London. The priests carried the idols on their heads while the maharaja walked barefoot through the city. Madho Singh's sightseeing procession with his deities was the first of its kind in London and much talked about. Londoners were amazed to see the priests chanting mantras as the maharaja of Jaipur, clad in a specially stitched long silky robe, bedecked in the choicest jewellery of his kingdom, walked through the city streets. While in England, Madho Singh took to scrupulously cleaning his hands with soil carried from India and then washing them with Ganga jal each time he shook hands with Englishmen. IMAGE: King Edward VII. Madho Singh presented King Edward VII with a 2,000-carat diamond-encrusted sword made by a famous jeweller of Jaipur, Seth Banji Tholia. This sword was made of steel and gold, enamelled in blue, green and red. The diamonds were set in a lotus shape with green leaves made of emerald. It's said Madho Singh did not attend the coronation dinner as he would not eat the food served there and returned to his lodge to have a quiet dinner amongst his own. After a long and interesting visit to Britain, Madho Singh began his journey home. On the voyage, the SS Olympia sustained damage because of the choppy seas and had to be repaired in Aden before they resumed their journey to Bombay. The maharaja celebrated his birthday on board and presented his family deity with 41 gold coins. On his arrival in Bombay on September 12, 1902, Madho Singh rewarded the crew to thank them for the safe journey. On his return to Jaipur by train, the maharaja was given a big reception by his subjects. His coronation adventures ended up being one of the high point of his royal life. Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Billionaire Warren Buffett said artificial intelligence may change the world but new technology won't take away opportunities for investors and he's confident America will continue to prosper despite its bitter political divisions. Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger spent all day Saturday answering questions at the annual shareholders meeting for his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate inside a packed arena in Omaha. New things coming along doesnt take away the opportunities. What gives you the opportunities is other people doing dumb things, said Buffett, who had a chance to try out ChatGPT with his friend Bill Gates a few months back. The problem now is that partisanship has moved more towards tribalism, and in tribalism you don't even hear the other side, he said. Both Buffett and Munger said the U.S. will benefit from having an open trading relationship with China, Both countries should be careful not to exacerbate tensions the stakes for the world are too high. Everything that increases the tension between these two countries is stupid, stupid, stupid, Munger said. The chance to listen to the legendary investors answer questions about business and life attracts people from all over the world to Buffett's hometown. Some shareholders feel a particular urgency to attend because the two men are both in their 90s. Charlie Munger is 99. I just wanted to see him in person. Its on my bucket list, said Sheraton Wu, 40, from Vancouver. I have to attend while I can. Chloe Lin traveled from Singapore for what she called "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The two capitalists discussed a range of topics, including: Buffett said bank regulators need to find a way to punish executives and board members who make risky decisions that doom a bank. The U.S. is carrying a concerning level of debt but it's hard to know how much the country can take on without devaluing the dollar and jeopardizing the world's reserve currency. Buffett said Apple Berkshire's biggest stock holding is a wonderful business because of how devoted consumers are to their iPhones. "I dont understand the phone at all, Buffett said. But I do understand consumer behavior. Elon Musk is a brilliant man who has taken on impossible tasks and succeeded even if he overestimates himself. Buffett and Munger said, but his approach doesn't appeal to the investors who look for places they can prosper without ridiculous effort. We're different, Munger said. Warren and I are looking for the easy job we can identify. Berkshire isnt a big player in commercial real estate but they predicted problems ahead. Munger said the hollowing out of the downtowns in the United States and elsewhere in the world is going to be quite significant and quite unpleasant. To avoid the biggest mistakes in life, Buffett said, You should write your obituary and figure out how to live up to it. Also avoid debt, and in business try to avoid taking on so much risk that a single mistake can wipe you out. Munger gave similarly simple advice: Spend less than you earn, avoid toxic people and activities, and keep learning throughout your life. In a nod to the longstanding concerns about their age, Berkshire showed video clips of questions about succession from past meetings dating back to the first one they filmed in 1994. Two years ago, Buffett finally said that Greg Abel will replace him as CEO although he has no plans to retire. Abel already oversees all of Berkshire's noninsurance businesses. Greg understands capital allocation as well as I do. He will make these decisions on the same framework that I use, Buffett said. Abel assured the crowd that he knows how Buffett and Munger have handled things for nearly six decades. I dont really see that framework changing. Not everyone in Omaha was a fan. Outside the arena, pilots from Berkshire's NetJets protested over the lack of a new contract and environmental groups questioned why the company's utilities continue to burn coal. Pro-life groups carried signs declaring Buffett's billions kill millions to object to his many charitable donations to abortion rights groups. Berkshire Hathaway said Saturday morning that it made $35.5 billion, or $24,377 per Class A share, in the first quarter. That's more than 6 times last year's $5.58 billion, or $3,784 per A share. Three analysts surveyed by data firm FactSet had expected Berkshire to report operating earnings of $5,370.91 per Class A share. However Buffett has long cautioned that those bottom-line figures can be misleading because of wide swings in the value of Berkshire's investments most of which it rarely sells. Buffett says operating earnings that exclude investments are a better measure of the companys performance. They grew nearly 13% to $8.065 billion, up from $7.16 billion a year ago. Buffett said he expects operating profits to grow this year although the economy is slowing and most of the company's businesses will sell less. He said Berkshire will profit from rising interest rates on its holdings, and the insurance market looks good. This years first quarter was relatively quiet compared to a year ago when Buffett revealed he'd gone on a $51 billion spending spree at the start of 2022, snapping up stocks like Occidental Petroleum, Chevron and HP. Buffetts buying slowed, aside from a number of additional Occidental purchases. Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said the quarterly report suggests Berkshire may have sold about 35 million Chevron shares, but Buffett appears bullish on oil stocks given his recent Occidental purchases. Buffett quashed speculation that Berkshire might buy all of Occidental. He said Berkshire won't bid for control of the oil producer although he may buy more shares, and holds warrants to buy another 83.9 million shares. At the end of this year's first quarter, Berkshire held $130.6 billion cash but spent $4.4 billion during the quarter to repurchase its own shares. Berkshire's insurance unit, which includes Geico and a number of large reinsurers, recorded a $911 million operating profit, up from $167 million last year, driven by a rebound in Geico's results. Geico benefitted from charging higher premiums and a reduction in advertising spending and claims. But Ajit Jain, who oversees all of Berkshire's insurance businesses, said Geico still has a long way to go to upgrade its internal technology. CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert called those comments a pretty candid acknowledgement that Geico has a lot of work to do to catch up to its peers. Berkshire's BNSF railroad and its large utility unit reported lower profits. BNSF earned $1.25 billion, down from $1.37 billion. The number of shipments it handled dropped 10% after it lost a big customer and imports slowed. The utility division added $416 million, down from last year's $775 million. Berkshire owns an eclectic assortment of dozens of other businesses, including retail and manufacturing firms like See's Candy and Precision Castparts. Berkshire shareholders rejected a number of proposals that Buffett opposed. Those would have required the company to disclose more about climate change risks and diversity, split Buffett's job into separate chairman and CEO positions, and silence executives' political views. With Buffett controlling nearly one third of the vote, those proposals never had much chance. Harvesters collect fresh tea leaves at a tea land near Nairobi, the capital of Kenya on May 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) NAIROBI, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is keen to expand its tea export to China in order to boost the sector's revenues, a government official said Friday. "This year, we expect the volume to increase as more Kenyan orthodox and black teas find their way to China," said Peris Mudida, head of the Tea Directorate at the Agriculture and Food Authority of Kenya, the world's top tea exporter. Tea contributes about 23 percent of total foreign exchange earnings in Kenya, according to the Tea Directorate. The country produces more than 450 million kg of tea annually, and the industry supports about 5 million people directly and indirectly in the East African country with a population of 53 million. According to the Tea Industry Committee of the China Association for the Promotion of International Agricultural Cooperation, Kenya exported 1.4 million kg of tea to China in 2022. Mudida said that Kenya recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a Chinese company that will help enhance the manufacturing capacity of tea factories in the country and expand their access to the global market. "This is of significant importance to the tea industry as Kenya can easily meet China's immediate and future tea requirements," Mudida said. Harvesters collect fresh tea leaves at a tea land near Nairobi, the capital of Kenya on May 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) Workers select tea leaves at a tea factory near Nairobi, the capital of Kenya on May 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) A worker selects tea leaves at a tea factory near Nairobi, the capital of Kenya on May 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) A worker performs quality testing at a tea factory near Nairobi, the capital of Kenya on May 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) Harvesters collect fresh tea leaves at a tea land near Nairobi, the capital of Kenya on May 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALLEN, Texas (AP) A gunman stepped out of a silver sedan and started shooting people at a Dallas-area outlet mall Saturday, killing eight and wounding seven others three critically before being killed by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said. Authorities did not immediately provide details about the victims at Allen Premium Outlets, a sprawling outdoor shopping center, but witnesses reported seeing children among them. Some said they also saw what appeared to be a police officer and a mall security guard unconscious on the ground. The shooting, the latest eruption of what has been an unprecedented pace of mass killings in the U.S., sent hundreds fleeing in panic. Barely a week before, authorities say, a man fatally shot five people in Cleveland, Texas, after a neighbor asked him to stop firing his weapon while a baby slept. A 16-year-old pretzel stand employee, Maxwell Gum, described a virtual stampede of shoppers. He and others sheltered in a storage room. We started running. Kids were getting trampled," Gum said. "My co-worker picked up a 4-year-old girl and gave her to her parents. Dashcam video that circulated online showed the gunman getting out of a car and shooting at people on the sidewalk. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle recording the video drove off. Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people including the shooter died at the scene. Nine victims were taken to area hospitals, but two of them died. Three of the wounded were in critical condition in the evening, Boyd said, and four were stable. An Allen Police officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard shots at 3:36 p.m., the police department wrote on Facebook. The officer engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat. He then called for emergency personnel, it added. Mass killings are happening with staggering frequency in the United States this year: an average of about one a week, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. The White House said President Biden had been briefed on the shooting and the administration had offered support to local officials. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has signed laws easing firearms restrictions following past mass shootings, called it an unspeakable tragedy. Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through his headphones. It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside, Payton said. People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said. When they were given the all-clear to leave, Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes lay nearby. Once outside, Payton saw bodies. I pray it wasnt kids, but it looked like kids, he said. The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground. It broke me when I walked out to see that, he said. Further away, he saw the body of a heavyset man wearing all black. He assumed it was the shooter, Payton said, because unlike the other bodies it had not been covered up. Tarakram Nunna, 25, and Ramakrishna Mullapudi, 26, said they saw what appeared to be three people motionless on the ground, including one who appeared to be a police officer and one who appeared to be a mall security guard. Another shopper, Sharkie Mouli, 24, said he hid in a Banana Republic store during the shooting. As he left, he saw what appeared to be an unconscious police officer lying next to another unconscious person outside the outlet store. I have seen his gun lying right next to him and a guy who is like passing out right next to him, Mouli said. Stan and Mary Ann Greene were browsing in the Columbia sportswear store when the shooting started. We had just gotten in, just a couple minutes earlier, and we just heard a lot of loud popping, Mary Ann Greene told The Associated Press. Employees rolled down the security gate and brought everyone to the rear of the store until police arrived and escorted them out, the Greenes said. Eber Romero was at the Under Armour store when a cashier mentioned that there was a shooting. As he left the store, Romero said, the mall appeared empty, and all the shops had their security gates down. That is when he started seeing broken glass and people who had been shot on the floor. Video shared on social media showed people running through a parking lot amid the sound of gunshots. More than 30 police cruisers with lights flashing were blocking an entrance to the mall, with multiple ambulances on the scene. A live aerial broadcast from a news station showed armored trucks and other law enforcement vehicles outside the mall. Ambulances from several neighboring cities responded. The Dallas office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded. Allen, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of downtown Dallas, has roughly 105,000 residents. ___ Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle and Adam Kealoha Causey in Dallas contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ASWAN, Egypt (AP) Sudans two warring generals sent their envoys on Friday to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at firming up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, three Sudanese officials said. The negotiations would be the first between Sudans military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, since clashes broke out on April 15. According to the three two senior military officials and one from their paramilitary rival the talks will begin in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on Saturday, following concerted efforts by Riyad and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. The three officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the upcoming peace talks. No timeframe was given for the length of the talks. The fighting has turned Sudan's capital of Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. There is increasing concern for those trapped and displaced by the fighting, and aid workers and civilians have said there is a dire lack of basic services, medical care, food and water. Foreign governments have rushed to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Saudi warships have been ferrying those fleeing from Port Sudan, on Sudans Red Sea coast, which has now become the entry hub for aid sent to the embattled nation. A series of fragile and often violated cease-fires over the past three weeks has failed to stop the fighting. Fierce battles raged Friday in areas around the militarys headquarters and the international airport in Khartoum, according to residents. https://apnews.com/article/sudan-military-rsf-conflict-civilians-port-sudan-war-bd675f2ce360e7d40f4926c81057cdbf According to the three officials, the talks in Jeddah would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles. One of the military officials said the talks are part of an initiative proposed by Saudi Arabia and the United State. He said they would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities. The RSF official said Saudi and American officials would facilitate the talks. He said they would also discuss a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire and confirmed on Friday that the RSF delegation had left for Jeddah. Sudan's military also later its delegation had departed to Saudi Arabia, saying the talks would discuss details of the truce, without elaborating. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, discussed the initiative in a phone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It said the initiative aims to prepare the ground for dialogue to deescalate tensions in the African country. The statement also did not provide further details. U.S. State department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Blinken expressed his gratitude for Saudi Arabias invaluable assistance in facilitating the safe arrival in Jeddah of U.S. citizens and their family members departing Sudan. The two top diplomats affirmed their countries intensive collaboration on diplomatic work to bring about an end to the fighting in Sudan, Miller said. The U.N. envoy in Sudan, Volker Perthes, lauded the move as a positive sign, but cautioned about high expectations from the meeting. It is a positive sign, a sign of getting more realistic, realizing that there will be no easy or quick win, he told the AP from Port Sudan. We need to realize, however, that this is a first encounter. The meeting may be exploratory rather than concrete, he said and added that achieving a lasting cease-fire would need more than one meeting. The battle for control of Sudan, which capped months of tensions between Burhan and Dagalo, has so far killed at least 550 people, including civilians, and as of Monday wounded more than 4,900, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Friday that 473 civilians have been killed in the violence, and more than 2,450 have been wounded. James Elder, a spokesman for the the U.N. children agency, said at least 190 children have been killed and 1,700 have been wounded in the fighting. This means that every single hour, you have seven boys or girls ... killed or injured, he said at a press conference Friday in Geneva. I think this is underlining the enormity of how violent this is. The power struggle has put millions of Sudanese in the line of gun battles, artillery bombardments and airstrikes. So far, at least 334,000 people have been displaced inside Sudan, and tens of thousands more have crossed to neighboring countries Egypt, Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia, according to U.N. agencies. The U.N. World Food Program projects that the number of acutely food insecure people in Sudan will increase by between 2 million and 2.5 million people raising the number to a total of 19 million people in the next three to six months if the current conflict continues, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. The U.N. refugee agency announced that $445 million will be needed to support an estimated 860,000 Sudanese refugees fleeing Sudan to five countries affected by the emergency. ___ Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report. After more than six years, Manipur is witnessing massive violence. The standoff basically started this time with the state government carrying out a land survey of the forest areas. Tribals living in the hills of Manipur are against the survey. Meanwhile, the Manipur High Court directed the state government to file a status report on giving ST status to the Meitei people, the majority Vaishnavite community in the state. Following this, things went totally out of control. Decoding the chronology of the events, it is easy to understand that the root problem was with the survey of forest land. But why so much resistance to forest land survey? Ever since Chief Minister N Biren Singh and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in Manipur, the government has had zero tolerance towards drug and poppy cultivation, something they promised in their election manifesto as well. It is being implemented in mission mode. Moreover, the Assam Rifles, which guards the Indo-Myanmar Border, has been working round the clock to keep a check on drug trafficking. The drug that passes through Manipur to the rest of India basically gets rotated. First, they are exported to the Golden Triangle region on the borders of Laos, Cambodia and Thailand in the form of poppy and from there it comes back and enters India as finished product, Heroine. The poppy that is exported out of Manipur to the golden triangle region is cultivated in the forest lands basically in the hilly region of the state. Places like Churachandpur are hotbeds. The farmers who are involved in poppy cultivation get up to Rs 8,00,000 (eight lakhs) per hectare every year. The fund comes from internationally connected drug cartels, which operate out of Myanmar. The resistance to the forest land survey by the Manipur government is connected to poppy cultivation. Because over the last six years, poppy and drug worth more than 1000 crore have been damaged by the authorities. The ethnic clashes are just the tip of the iceberg and not the whole story. The drug cartels basically want a disturbed Manipur, to ensure their business keeps thriving. It may be mentioned that many many European countries are funding the farmers in Myanmar as well as the borders of Laos and Combodia to stop poppy cultivation, which basically forced the cartels to move towards Manipur as well as borders of Myanmar, a top security source has confirmed to Republic Media Network. Moreover, the state government in the last week of April carried out an eviction drive in forest lands. This is now being referred to as the trigger point as far as this violence is concerned. The protesters from the Kuki community are now coming out with a long list of demands. These include settlement rights in the forest areas too. However, the government is non committal on it. It may be mentioned that a section of Meitei's, have been voicing for ST status and another section is demanding NRC in Manipur, something that is not being favoured by many in the Kuki belts as many of them migrated from Myanmar. The situation in Manipur continues to remain volatile. Army and Assam Rifles are carrying out flag marches and area domination across the violence-hit areas in the State. But the situation is still far from normal. Border Security Forces (BSF) in Meghalaya rescued 70 cattle that were being smuggled from India to Bangladesh from the international border of West Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, according to the press statement. According to a statement, on May 4, the mobile checkpoint of the 4 Bn BSF Meghalaya saved 70 cattle that were intended for smuggling to Bangladesh from the bordering region of West Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya. Both of the people detained are residents of Assam, according to the statement. The arrested men, along with the cattle, were transported to the Amlarem police station for further processing. "The BSF Mobile Check Post deployed in the Amlarem area intercepted five trucks crammed with 70 cattle that were approaching the bordering area. BSF chased the trucks for about 3 kilometres before impounding them when drivers accelerated even after being signalled by BSF troops to stop for checking", the statement said. "The BSF party managed to seize five trucks and one Bolero pickup and nabbed two helpers on the spot," the statement read. Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday said his visit to Goa was a "success" as he advocated his country's case on the soil of India. His remarks came hours after his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar accused him of being a "promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terror industry." Addressing a press conference after his return from Goa where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisations (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting, Bhutto Zardari said his trip to India was a success as it helped to negate the view that every Muslim was a terrorist. We made an attempt at breaking this myth, Bhutto-Zardari said. Jaishankar mounted an offensive against Bhutto-Zardari in his address at the SCO meeting, contending Pakistan foreign minister's statement that terrorism shouldn't be "weaponised for diplomatic point-scoring", in remarks seen as directed at India. Hours later at a press conference, Jaishankar said Bhutto-Zardari's statement on the weaponisation of terrorism unconsciously revealed a mindset. "As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Bhutto-Zardari was treated accordingly. As a promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terrorism industry, which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and they were countered including at the SCO meeting itself," Jaishankar said. Responding to a question about talks with India, Bhutto-Zardari said that Pakistan was clear that India should create a conducive environment for talks by restoring the pre-August 5, 2019 status of Kashmir. He also said that countries from Central Asia were looking forward to becoming part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He said every country except India supported and praised CPEC. Earlier, Bhutto-Zardari returned back on a special Pakistan Air Force plane from India and landed in Karachi where was received by the Sindh chief minister, Murad Ali Shah, and other cabinet members. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday alleged that at a time when the country's soldiers are getting killed, the government is extending "hospitality" to Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Goa. Five army personnel were killed and a major injured in an explosion triggered by terrorists in the thickly forested Kandi area in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district where an operation is underway to flush out the ultras, according to officials. The Pakistani foreign minister is in India to attend the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting in Goa. There was no bilateral meeting between Bhutto Zardari and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Asked at a press conference whether there could be talks between India and Pakistan on combating terrorism, Jaishankar said, "Victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism." In a tweet in Hindi, Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Kejriwal said," At a time when our soldiers are getting martyred, people of the country are extremely pained and angry with the central government extending hospitality to the Pakistani foreign minister." "Tributes to the brave martyrs," he said. In a hard-hitting attack on Bhutto Zardari, Jaishankar also said as a "promoter, justifier and a spokesperson" of the terrorism industry, his position on the menace was called out at the SCO meeting on Friday. He said Pakistan's credibility in dealing with is depleting even faster than their Forex reserves. Paying tributes to the army personnel killed in the incident, AAP MP Sanjay Singh in a tweet in Hindi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying a tour of Goa had been organised for Bhutto Zaradari on a day when the soldiers made the supreme sacrifice while fighting terrorists. "Modi followers are in shock," he said, adding, "Salute and tribute to the brave martyrs." Besides Bhutto Zardari, the meeting at a luxury hotel in this beach resort was attended by Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang, Russia's Sergey Lavrov and their counterparts from other SCO member nations. NEW YORK, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The recent rise in unauthorized border crossings into the United States isn't limited to any one area, with the number of migrants apprehended and expelled across the entire southern U.S. border skyrocketing: more than 200,000 in November last year alone, reported National Public Radio (NPR) earlier this week. "Numbers that high were seen during the last major wave of immigration, over 20 years ago," said the report. "One major factor for the increase has been the pandemic and it's aftermath," said Raquel Aldana, professor with the UC Davis School of Law. The complexities of immigration, combined with politics, has kept any long-term solutions in limbo, noted the report. "The Biden administration has enacted a number of policies designed to discourage people from going to the border. They've elicited criticism from both immigration advocates and from Republicans. The bottleneck continues." Title 42 -- a pandemic-era policy that allowed border authorities to detain and expel migrants without the traditional legal proceeding -- is set to end in a few weeks. Some Texas cities along the border have declared states of emergency, anticipating more crossings, according to the report. "We just focus on the short term, the wall, the tinkering with asylum policy, and it doesn't really work. There's instability abroad and people are fleeing their countries. And that's not going to stop with a wall," Professor David Hernandez of Mount Holyoke College was quoted as saying. Iran hanged a man who was allegedly behind an attack that killed dozens of people at a military parade in the southern province of Khuzestan in 2018, state media reported on Saturday. The execution was carried out in Tehran after a top court upheld a death sentence for Farajollah Chaab in March, Iran's state TV reported. He was the main person in the terrorist attack at the parade in September 2018, authorities said, and was arrested by Iranian agents in 2020 after he left Sweden for Turkey. He is alleged to be the leader of a separatist group. Chaab, who holds Iranian and Swedish citizenship, disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Turkey in November 2020. In September 2018, militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual military parade in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan. At least 25 people were killed and 70 wounded, including a 4-year-old boy. Iran then claimed that Saudi Arabia and Israeli intelligence services supported what it says was an attack by the separatist group. Former United States (US) President Bill Clinton has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin informed him, three years prior to the 2014 attack on Ukraine, that he did not feel obligated to adhere to the Budapest Memorandum, which guarantees Ukraine's territorial integrity. The disclosure brings into question whether the United States and its European allies were sufficiently prepared for the 2014 assault, during which Russia annexed Crimea and launched an attack on the Donbas region, reported The Guardian. According to Clinton, he had a conversation with the Russian President at the 2011 World Economic Forum in Davos, during which Putin raised the topic of the memorandum. The Budapest Memorandum, signed in 1994 by Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, stipulated that these nations would abandon the nuclear weapons they inherited from the Soviet Union on their territories, in exchange for guarantees that their sovereignty would be honored "within existing borders." The Budapest Memorandum was signed by Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, as well as Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Boris Yeltsin signed on behalf of Russia, while Bill Clinton represented the United States, and John Major acted as the third guarantor on behalf of the United Kingdom. Putin told me in 2011, three years before he took Crimea, that he did not agree with the agreement I made with Boris Yeltsin, that they would respect Ukraines territory if they gave up their nuclear weapons, Clinton said on Thursday at a public discussion at 92nd Street Y, a Jewish cultural and community centre in New York. Putin said to me: I know Boris agreed to go along with you and John Major and Nato, but he never got it through the Duma (Russian parliament). We have our extreme nationalists too. I dont agree with it and I do not support it and Im not bound by it. I knew from that day forward, it was just a matter of time, the former president said of Putin launching an attack. Putin had already launched an invasion of Chechnya in 1999, and Georgia in 2008. Have not signed any obligatory documents: Putin Following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Putin stated that Russia was no longer bound by the Budapest Memorandum, arguing that the Maidan revolution and subsequent change of government in Kyiv had resulted in Ukraine becoming a different state. Putin argued that Russia had not signed any binding agreements with the new government, saying "We have not signed any obligatory documents." However, his conversation with Clinton suggests Putin had decided not to honour the agreement years before the Maidan uprising, reported The Guardian. The Guardian quoted Daniel Fried, a former assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, who said Putins remarks to Clinton were not made widely known among members of the Obama administration, but added he assumed the former president must have told his wife, Hillary, who was secretary of state. Fried, now a fellow at the Atlantic Council, said Putin had threatened Ukrainian territorial integrity three years before the Davos meeting with Clinton, at a Nato-Russia council meeting in April 2008, during the Bush administration. Putin declared that when Crimea had been transferred from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954 not all legal procedures were followed. Fried said: I was present, sitting next to the then Polish national security adviser, Mariusz Handzlik. We both stood up in alarm and turned to each other, saying, Did you just hear what I heard? From that moment, I thought Putin would turn on Ukraine and said so to Condi Rice and Steve Hadley, he added, referring to the secretary of state and national security adviser respectively in the Bush administration. The US government was surprised by the Crimean operation but should not have been, given the warnings, Fried said. Footage showing a senior Cambodian official communicating with smugglers is part of U.S. case against him Hidden camera footage has emerged showing what U.S. prosecutors say is clear involvement by a senior Cambodian official in running a research monkey smuggling operation. In the video, whose existence was first reported by RFA last year, former Cambodian Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity head Kry Masphal is seen facilitating an illicit drop-off of long-tailed macaques at a breeding facility in northern Cambodia, even offering advice on how to move the endangered species more efficiently. Why dont you make another road? Kry is seen asking a worker. If you make another road, this means [its] more safe for your smuggling. The footage was filmed in 2019 by a confidential informant for U.S. investigators and submitted by prosecutors as evidence against Kry in a high-profile U.S. government smuggling case against him and other conspirators. It was obtained from the court by animal rights group PETA, which shared it with RFA. In aviator sunglasses and a buttoned-down blue checkered shirt, Kry carries himself in the video with a swagger a world apart from the nervous figure who sat in a Miami court two weeks ago listening to his lawyers fight to exclude the contents of his mobile phone from his upcoming trial. Kry was director of Wildlife and Biodiversity in Cambodias Forestry Administration at the time of his arrest at New Yorks JFK airport in November 2022, where he was transiting on his way to a conference in Panama on the protection of endangered species. He has been charged with being party to a plot to launder wild-caught long-tailed macaques - a primate prized for medical research - from the jungles of Cambodia and Thailand into U.S. research laboratories. In part to conserve dwindling wild populations, but also to preserve the integrity of scientific findings, only captive-bred monkeys can be used in medical experiments. Also accused are Krys boss, Forestry Administration Director General Keo Omaliss and six individuals involved in the management of the Chinese-owned Vanny Groups monkey farms in Cambodia. Kry has pleaded not guilty, while the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, which oversees the Forestry Administration, and the Vanny Group have both denied any improper activity took place. However, the video that has emerged among a mountainous pile of evidence against Kry contains damning proof of his involvement and acknowledges the illegal nature of the operation. Kry is seen helping to offload crates of monkeys from the back of a pickup truck at what prosecutors say is Vanny Groups monkey farm in Pursat province. The person working with him asks how many monkeys Kry has brought with him this time. Twenty-four, Kry replies. We cannot take more because many observers, we have to do [it] very quick and go very fast. In a last-ditch attempt to avoid a trial, Krys lawyers whose firm has been a registered lobbyist for the Cambodian government since January 2022 have pushed for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that he was acting on orders from his government. For conservationists, the stratagem was a confirmation of their worst fears: that the poaching and laundering of wild-caught macaques from Cambodia was not the behavior of a few rotten apples but the de facto policy of the government. This means that there is no safe, legitimate and legal supply of monkeys, Lisa Jones-Engel, a primatologist with PETA, told RFA. When you have somebody like Kry involved, working so out in the open, saying, This is great for our smuggling. From a government official who signs on the dotted line? Kry is just another run-of-the-mill monkey juggler, there was nothing that distinguished him from every other person on that video, she added. An RFA investigation last month showed the deep penetration of the primate industry into Cambodias ruling elite, from the immediate family of Prime Minister Hun Sen down through the relevant regulatory and enforcement bodies that are supposed to be policing the trade. Agriculture Minister Dith Tina did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why a public official might need to hide their activities from observers. Vanny has denied the U.S. prosecutors central allegation that wild monkeys were laundered through its farm and passed off as captive bred ones for export. However, in conversation with RFA earlier this year an employee at the farm said that in 2022 the practice became almost routine as demand, amped up by spiking prices, vastly outstripped legitimate supply. There werent enough monkeys before because demand was so high, so we bought them from a nearby mountain, the person said, not wanting to be identified for fear of retaliation. If they had good eyes, a good body, good fur, then we exported them, they added. We have a lab to weigh them and do blood tests to see if they have diseases or not. The unsealing of the indictment against Kry, Keo and Vannys management last November halted exports from the farm, the employee said. Prior to that, they added, the farms outbound shipments in 2022 regularly included between 100 and 200 mountain monkeys, in clear violation of international laws and regulations governing trade in the species. The employee was insistent that this was something that only took place in 2022. However, the U.S. prosecutors case alleges illicit activity to have taken place between December 2017 and January 2022. Krys case is due to go to trial in Miami in June. Edited by Boer Deng. Linghu Changbing will be 23 this year. Even before the pandemic hit China, he was already starting to feel that the traditional goals of marriage, a mortgage and kids were beyond his reach. "I had no time to find a girlfriend back in China, because I was working from eight in the morning to 10 at night, sometimes even till 11.00 p.m. or midnight, with very little time off," said Linghu, who joined the "run" movement of people leaving China in 2022. "I didn't earn very much, so I couldn't really afford to go out and spend money having fun with friends, or stuff like that," he says of his life before he left for the United States. "I had very little social interaction, because I didn't have any friends, which meant that I couldn't really pursue a relationship, he said. As for an apartment, I had no desire to buy one at all." The situation he describes is common to many young people in China, yet not all are in a position to leave. They are part of an emerging social phenomenon and social media buzzword: the young refuseniks people who reject the traditional four-fold path to adulthood: finding a mate, marriage, mortgages and raising a family. They are also known as the People Who Say No to the Four Things. Three years of stringently enforced zero-COVID restrictions left China's economic growth at its lowest level in nearly half a century, with record rates of unemployment among urban youth. Refusing to pursue marriage, mortgages and kids emerged from that era as a form of silent protest, with more and more people taking this way out in recent years. Far too high a price Several young people who responded to a brief survey by RFA Mandarin on Twitter admitted to being refuseniks. "I'm a young refusenik: I won't be looking for a partner or getting married, I won't be buying a property and I don't want kids," reads one comment on social media. People use mobile phones in front of a fenced residential area under lockdown due to Covid-19 restrictions in Beijing, May 22, 2022. Credit: Noel Celis/AFP "Finding love comes at far too high a price," says another, while another user comments: "It's all very well having values, or being sincere, but all of that has to be backed up with money." "It's not that I'm lazy," says another. "Even if I were to make the effort, I still wouldn't see any result." Others say they no longer have the bandwidth to try to achieve such milestones. "I've been forced back in on myself to the point where I feel pretty helpless," comments one person. For another, it's more of a moral decision: "I think the best expression I can make of paternal love is not to bring children into this world in the first place." Similar comments have appeared across Chinese social media platforms lately, and have been widely liked and reposted. Marriage rates have been falling in China for the past eight years, with marriages numbering less than eight million by 2021, the lowest point since records began 36 years ago, according to recent figures from the Civil Affairs Ministry. People are also marrying much later, with more than half of newly contracted marriages among the over-30s, the figures show. According to Linghu Changbing, who dropped out of high school at 14 and moved through a number of cities where he supported himself with various jobs, refuseniks are mostly found in the bigger cities with large migrant populations. Young people in smaller cities like his hometown are more likely to be able to afford a home, and will often marry and start families as young as 18. "In my experience, refuseniks seem to cluster mostly in the busier cities," he says. "The more competitive a city, the more you will see this phenomenon." Curling up, lying flat, running away and venting Shengya, a migrant worker in Beijing, has a similarly depressing view. He spent two years doing nothing at his parents' house, a phenomenon that has been dubbed "lying flat" on social media. "I basically lay around at home the whole time," he said. "I couldn't get motivated to do anything. My dad asked me why I didn't go out and get a job, and I told him: 'The only point of a job would be to prevent starvation, but I already get enough to eat here, so what difference would it make?'" An employment agency in Shanghai. Credit: Reuters Linghu Changbing went through a very similar phase, until someone got him a job working overseas. Looking back on that time, he says that China's young refuseniks are similar to the rats in the Universe 25 experiments by ethologist John B. Calhoun in the 1960s, in which rats given everything they needed eventually stopped bearing young, leading the population to collapse. "The marginalized rats gradually gave up competing at all, and suppressed their natural desires, leading to constant personality distortions," he says. "Lying flat" has entered the online lexicon as a way of describing the passive approach adopted by many young people in China, while "curling up," also known as "turning inwards," describes a personality turned in on itself from a lack of external opportunity for change. While those who can join the "run" movement, leaving China to seek better lives overseas, others act out their frustrations in indiscriminate attacks on others, known on social media as "giving it your all," or "venting." For late millennials and Generation Z in China, curling up, lying flat and running away are the main available options, as not many young people have the wherewithal to leave the country and start a new life elsewhere. A very heavy burden A Chengdu-based employee of an architectural firm, who gave only the nickname Mr. J, said he first came to the realization that he would be a refusenik during the rolling lockdowns, mass incarceration in quarantine camps and compulsory daily testing of the zero-COVID policy. Mr. J says he won't be buying a home. "As the zero-COVID measures were stepped up in 2022, I kept seeing these stories online about the terrible situation of homeowners with mortgages," he says. "Some of them were jumping off buildings or refusing to make mortgage payments." "Meanwhile, some of my friends who had bought properties because they thought residential housing prices would rise have been left with mortgages that have become a very heavy burden due to the sharp drop in their incomes in recent years," he says. He is also worried about his parents' retirement, and knows that paying for his wedding and helping him buy an apartment would leave a huge hole in their much-needed savings. "If I can't help them to improve their lives, then the least I can do as their son is to lighten their burden," he says. But he is still very worried about his own future, given the current state of the Chinese economy. His monthly income of a few thousand yuan is only enough to cover his daily expenses, following years of stagnant wages and rising prices. Women dressed in period wedding costumes wait for their turn to have photos taken at the Forbidden City on March 19, 2022, in Beijing. Credit: Ng Han Guan/AP "It's an indisputable fact that China's economy is slowing down," he says. "I can't be sure that incomes will keep on rising, like they did back in the 1970s and 1980s, either." "So, not buying a house, not getting married, not having children, and spending less are the best options for me right now, he says. China's refuseniks seem to come from a variety of social and economic backgrounds, and even include returnees from overseas study, who are typically more highly qualified and better off than most. But the thing they have in common is that they chose this lifestyle due to huge competitive pressures in all areas of their lives. "No room for me" A Generation Z anthem by Chinese rockers New Pants titled "People with no ideals don't get hurt" contains the repeated line: "No room for me." A viral video of a crowd of young people singing and dancing to the song sung by buskers in a metro tunnel in the southwestern province of Guizhou posted to YouTube on March 29 shows them singing out the chorus and the line "No room for me" at the top of their lungs. The line seems to encapsulate the feelings of younger Chinese people in a country where most of the benefits are enjoyed by a super-wealthy elite, or by those who are under their political and economic protection. It's not as if they're not trying to make a go of things. Chinese official figures showed a spike in people returning from overseas after the lifting of the zero-COVID policy. By 2021, more than a million returning students were looking for jobs in China. Huang Yicheng, a graduate student at the University of Hamburg in Germany, says that a lot of his former classmates at Peking University are now living the refusenik life back home, despite having graduated from Ivy League schools in the United States. Their elite education has done little to help them find their niche amid a tanking economy and skyrocketing unemployment. Young people in China have no hope, and no sense of their own future," Huang says. Under Xi Jinping, all of the important political and economic positions in China are already occupied by people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, so there is very little room for anyone younger, he says. "Young people can't find their niche in today's China, so they decide to refuse to do what's expected of them, he says. Even the elite are avoiding marriage A high-earning financial executive working in southern China, who asked to be identified as Mr. V, said he moves in very well-heeled circles indeed. But even there, plenty of people are choosing to stay single and unencumbered by mortgages or children. First off, they feel that they have enough to live a decent life on their own, and their experience has led them to expect little from marriage," Mr. V says. For Mr. V's friends and acquaintances, getting married isn't the same as being happy, he says, adding that fears over where the country is heading also hang over this group. "Most business people in China know what kind of state the country is in," he says. Travelers walk in Beijing West Railway Station in Beijing, Jan. 18, 2023. Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP In major cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, getting married and buying an apartment is a massive expense that has to be carefully weighed, even in the circles that Mr. V moves in. "Even people who have a monthly salary of 10-20 thousand yuan (U.S.$1,500~30,000) have to think twice," he says. "There's no way they're getting married unless they can count on a huge amount of money from their families." Unhappy childhoods Data released in 2022 showed that China's population contracted for the first time in 60 years, with the number of newborns at a record low. Government policies aimed at encouraging couples to have up to three children have largely fallen on deaf ears, with some frustrated young people during the grueling 2022 lockdown in Shanghai styling themselves the last of my line. A final-year student at Shandong University who gave only the surname Cheng for fear of reprisals said it would be cruel to put a child through what he has had to put up with. They should get to grow up in a happier environment, he says. I cant imagine forcing my kids to stay up late doing homework and hot-housing them through exams, which was what happened to me. Mr. J agrees, saying the cut-throat competition in Chinese schools puts far too much pressure on kids. I remember a residential community chief in Beijing in 2022 commenting that a child is a persons weak point, he says. This shocked me at the time, because it showed the Chinese governments total disregard for human rights. I didnt want another human life to become my weak point and be used for official manipulation. The children of peaceful critics of the ruling Communist Party are often collateral damage when their parents run afoul of the authorities. Wang Anni, daughter of dissident Zhang Lin, was dubbed Chinas youngest prisoner of conscience in 2012 after she was denied access to schooling and placed under house arrest alongside her father. For Mr. J, there were also safety concerns about bringing up a child in China following a number of trafficking and child abuse scandals in recent years. There was also the [child abuse case] at the RYB kindergarten and the case of [hanged teenager] Hu Xinyu, all of which made me not want kids, he says. A Guangzhou resident who gave only the surname Tao says she is an older version of refusenik, who decided to remain child-free for political reasons. She chose not to have kids out of concern over the level of political brainwashing they endure, starting in kindergarten. Now they are bringing in so-called national defense education in kindergartens and it would be very hard as a parent to counteract that kind of education, she says. Better not to have kids than to risk raising a mini-wolf warrior, she says in a rueful reference to Chinas territorial expansionism and increasingly aggressive diplomatic style. Love on the barricades For some, the lack of motivation to find a life partner finally found an outlet in the political white heat of the white paper protests of November 2022, according to Huang. I saw that a lot of the protesters at Urumqi Road in Shanghai said they had found a partner at those demonstrations, he says. Taking part in that movement gave people hope that their lives could be better, and its natural to look for love when you have hope for your life, he says, adding that he doesnt think the refusenik approach will last. I don't think it's possible for the Communist Party to allow young people to live this way for long, he says. Im pretty sure its going to find some way to force people to take part as cannon fodder in some kind of Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation project. U.S.-based current affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan said the highly centralized and authoritarian power wielded by the Chinese government is the root cause of the refusenik movement. This has left a huge number of young people at the lower echelons, people with no financial or political backing, who are simply unable to change their own lives or move up a social class through their own efforts, he says. Whether they make an effort or dont, the result will be the same. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster. Francis Fukayama is a U.S. political scientist at Stanford University. He is perhaps best known for his 1992 essay The End of History, in which he argued that the struggle between ideologies was at an end. RFE/RLs Georgian Service interviewed Fukuyama after his recent appearance at the Economic Policy Research Center in Tbilisi. Fukayama talked about the right time for real negotiation between Moscow and Kyiv, what each side stands to lose, and how Georgias neutrality really benefits Russia. The Tavberidze Interviews Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Vazha Tavberidze of RFE/RL's Georgian Service has been interviewing diplomats, military experts, and academics who hold a wide spectrum of opinions about the war's course, causes, and effects. To read all of his interviews, click here. RFE/RL: Lets begin with discussing Russias war on Ukraine. In the grand scheme of things, whats at stake there? Francis Fukuyama: I think that the ground for a massive Russian failure has already been laid by the Ukrainians and their completely heroic ability to defend themselves. We are currently at a stage in the war where there's been a pause; the Russians had been losing a tremendous number of people trying to take this one small town, Bakhmut, in the Donbas. But everybody's awaiting a Ukrainian offensive, and I think that's going to be critical for the way that this war may come to an end. Because if the Ukrainians can liberate these two oblasts in the south, particularly Kherson and Zaporizhzhya, then I think you'd be in a position for a real negotiation. And you could see a kind of cease-fire, armistice, that might have some chance of holding for a while. Right now, I think if you had a peace negotiation, it would be very bad for Ukraine, because it would really give the Russians a good slice of Ukrainian territory. And that would not be a good situation. RFE/RL: What fate do you envision for [Russian-occupied] Crimea in the event of any eventual negotiations? Fukuyama: Well, I think that it could be an actual big point of Russian vulnerability. Because if the Ukrainians are able to liberate Kherson Oblast, they will basically have cut Crimea off [from other Russian-occupied land], you know. There's one rail line that goes from Russia into Crimea, and there's the strait bridge, and they'd be in a position to really cut both of those arteries. And they don't have to invade Crimea at that point, they can simply hold all of the Russian forces there hostage. And that is a big vulnerability that Ukraine would then have over Russia. RFE/RL: From a geopolitical perspective, if Russia in any negotiations has to concede Crimea, can it be called anything but a loser, even by the domestic audience in Russia? It would have been nice if the Georgian government had taken a clear position in support of Ukraine. I think that neutrality really benefits Russia. Fukuyama: Well, if they have to concede Crimea, it's hard to see how Putin survives that, given how much they've invested in taking it back. So yes, I think they will be in a very tough situation. But the thing is that the Ukrainians don't even have to take back Crimea. They can cut it off. And any moment, they can apply a lot of pressure that the Russians will feel. And so it would be a very big, strategic advantage for them to be able to do that. RFE/RL: What I was getting at is, let's take your scenario: They don't take Crimea, but they kind of lay siege to it, then there are negotiations and Russia is asked to give up Crimea. Can Russia agree to that in negotiations? Fukuyama: Politically, it would be quite difficult. There's also a question of whether Ukraine would be willing to concede part of the Donbas [region of eastern Ukraine], because in many respects, it would be a nightmare for them to actually have to govern the Donbas under current circumstances. (Editors note: Russian forces or their separatist Ukrainian proxies since 2014 have controlled wide swaths of the heavily Russian-speaking Luhansk and Donetsk regions, where they have been accused of killing, expelling, and persecuting pro-Kyiv residents.) So both sides at that point have vulnerabilities and things to lose. And that means that you could have a more realistic kind of negotiation at that point. But I don't really see either side formally agreeing either to concede Crimea or to concede the Donbas. And so I think you'd have to have a more informal kind of arrangement. RFE/RL: You wrote more than a year ago that Russia is heading for an outright defeat in Ukraine. So, more than one year on, how has this prediction aged, do you think? Fukuyama: At the time that I wrote that, Russian troops were still trying to besiege Kyiv and bring about the fall of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskiys government. Since that time, [Russian troops] had to withdraw from northern Ukraine; theyve had to withdraw from Kharkiv; they then had to withdraw from [the city of] Kherson, and so they showed incredible weakness. There does appear to be a little bit of a stalemate at the moment, but I think [the Ukrainian military] is going to break out of that. So my general confidence in Ukraines ability to defend itself is still there, but it has taken a longer time than I was hoping for at that point. RFE/RL: Onto Georgia now -- and, to echo the first question, we started with Ukraine, what's at stake for Georgia in the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Fukuyama: Well, everything's at stake for Georgia. There's a fork in the road that Georgia is at right now, where it can continue its effort to become part of Europe, part of the EU, possibly even join NATO, or it can go in the Russian direction. And there are forces in Georgia politically pulling it in both directions. But whether it goes down one path or the other will heavily depend on what happens in Ukraine, because the stronger Russia is, the more the Russian path is determined. And conversely, if Russia is really set back in Ukraine, every time [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is weakened, every country around Russia has more freedom of action. So I think that Georgias fate is bound up in this Ukraine war. RFE/RL: Similar to many others, you're vocally critical about what you call insufficient support from Georgia to Ukraine. And not to play a devil's advocate here, but let me ask you what they could and should have done to, you know, not deserve such criticism? Fukuyama: Well, it would have been nice if the Georgian government had taken a clear position in support of Ukraine. I think that neutrality really benefits Russia. And quite frankly, there are a lot of reports and evidence that Georgia is actually quietly helping Russia evade the sanctions that have been imposed by Europe and by the United States. RFE/RL: Something that the Georgian government vehemently denies. Fukuyama: Well, yeah, that's the problem: that this government is really not transparent about its motives and what it's actually doing. And so it can play a double game where it claims to be neutral but, in fact, is really helping one side rather than the other. And I think that's the consequence of the kind of pro-Russian tilt that this government has. RFE/RL: You said during your speech that as long as [former Prime Minister and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina] Ivanishvili and company stay in power, EU membership for Georgia would be unthinkable. Let me ask you a theoretical question: Had Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream displayed more of a Western bent in foreign policy, say, for example, toward Ukraine, would that have changed things? Would Georgias European future be more realistic then? Fukuyama: I think it would have been more realistic. I think that what they've been doing is everything they can to make sure that they're not taken into the European Union. And so that's why I think they're mistreating [imprisoned ex-President] Misha Saakashvili, because that's something that's going to anger the Europeans. If he dies in their captivity, that's going to be an obstacle. And that's a real problem. Because all the poll data [and other] evidence suggests that an overwhelming number of Georgians are in favor of the European path and not the Russian path; and so the government really needs to figure out how to block that, and I think that's what they're seeking to do. And that means that the policy on the part of Europe and the United States has to be one that's not directed against Georgia as a whole country, but reallyit has to be directed at the government that is causing this shift towards Russia. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Welcome back to the China In Eurasia briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter tracking Chinas resurgent influence from Eastern Europe to Central Asia. To subscribe, click here. Im RFE/RL correspondent Reid Standish and heres what Im following right now. Beijing, Moscow, And Leaked Documents Along with my colleagues at Systema, RFE/RL's Russian investigative unit, we obtained never before reported documents and recordings from closed-door meetings in 2017 and 2019 between Chinese and Russian officials where they share methods and tactics for monitoring dissent and controlling the Internet. Finding Perspective: China and Russias growing ties are no secret, but the documents provide a unique window into the practical level of cooperation under way between China and Russia when it comes to monitoring and restricting their respective Internets. Among some of the key findings, Russian officials are seen asking for advice and practical know-how from their Chinese counterparts on a range of topics, including disrupting circumvention tools like VPNs and Tor, cracking encrypted Internet traffic, and seeking tips from China's experience in regulating messaging platforms. LISTEN: Beijing and Moscows deepening ties are no secret, but what do recently leaked Pentagon documents tell us about where their burgeoning military partnership is headed? Dennis Wilder, former Asia adviser to U.S. President George W. Bush, joins host Reid Standish. In another instance, in July 2017, Aleksandr Zharov, who served as the head of Roskomnadzor until 2020, asks a Chinese delegation to help arrange a visit for Russian specialists to China, where they could study the operations of the Golden Shield Project -- the all-encompassing Internet censorship and surveillance system that helps make up what is colloquially known as Chinas Great Firewall. In turn, Chinese officials sought Russian expertise on regulating media and dealing with popular dissent, including monitoring protests led by opposition figure Aleksei Navalny. In another 2019 exchange, officials from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) also made requests to Roskomnadzor to block a variety of China-related links to news articles and interviews that they had deemed to be of a dangerous nature and harmful to the public interest. Why It Matters: Beijing and Moscow have been deepening their ties for the past decade and controlling the flow of information online has been a focal point of that cooperation since Chinese leader Xi Jinpings first trip to Russia as leader in 2013. The documents shed new light on a pivotal time inside Russia and point to how Russia has sought to emulate China in exerting control over its people in the social media age. For years, the Russian government has been putting in place new measures to smother freedom of speech online, but many have stumbled in practice. But in 2019, those efforts reached a zenith when a controversial sovereign Internet law went into force that allowed Moscow to tighten control over the countrys Internet by routing web traffic through state-controlled infrastructure and creating a national system of domain names. While many of Russia's measures are still a far cry from those inside China, they have continued to be more technologically advanced and restrictive, a process that has accelerated since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Expert Corner: Who Speaks For Europe? Readers asked: French President Emmanuel Macron got into hot water over his comments about Taiwan. Weve also recently seen various other -- sometimes contradictory -- comments coming from European Union and European officials. Why does this seem to happen when it comes to China? To find out more, I asked Rikard Jozwiak, RFE/RLs Europe editor: It happens because there really isnt a coherent policy toward China. It is sometimes a rival, notably when it comes to geopolitics, and sometimes a partner in areas such as climate change mitigation. And then, of course, there is economic dependence on Beijing that leads to some EU member states not wanting to be too harsh on China. EU foreign policy is made up via the lowest common denominator as all the 27 EU capitals need to green-light any move. For China, this means that you have a mishmash of interests, ideas, and fears that makes outsiders unsure about what Europes China policy really is. I also think that the EU has failed to formulate a coherent Taiwan policy and this adds to the mixed messages coming out from Europe. Macron said that Europe should not get caught up in a conflict over the island, but have he and fellow European leaders drawn up any plans on what Brussels will do if China were to attack? Its still unclear what Europes red lines would be and how it would react. Do you have a question about Chinas growing footprint in Eurasia? Send it to me at StandishR@rferl.org or reply directly to this e-mail and Ill get it answered by leading experts and policymakers. Three More Stories From Eurasia 1. The Pentagon Leaks China approved the provision of lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine but wanted any shipments to remain a secret, according to leaked U.S. government documents. What You Need To Know: The recently leaked trove of classified Pentagon documents that contain assessments and reports from Americas intelligence agencies shows that Beijing had approved the incremental provision of weapons to Moscow, which it would disguise as civilian items. That comes from a February 23 top-secret intelligence summary that The Washington Post reported was gathered by U.S. agents eavesdropping on discussions by Russias secret service. The Russians said Chinas central military commission wanted the shipments to remain secret. Among other revelations, a separate file in the trove of leaked documents said Beijing would consider a significant Ukrainian strike with American or NATO weapons on Russian territory as an escalation of the conflict that would merit sending arms to Russia. The timing is notable. A public U.S.-led campaign over a potential Chinese arms transfer accelerated in late February, and shortly after that document circulated within the U.S. government NBC News reported that the U.S. information about the plan to obtain lethal aid from China was gleaned from Russian officials. Whats less clear is if the transfers are taking place or if the public pressure on China has worked. Reports based on trade data show private sales of small-scale weapons from China to Russia, and senior Ukrainian officials have said their forces are finding a growing number of components from China in Russian weapons on the battlefield. Whether Chinese covert efforts are under way or not, defense cooperation between China and Russia is set to grow. A large portion of the Chinese delegation for Xis Moscow summit in March were defense officials, and Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu was in Russia on April 16 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. 2. Lula's 'Peace Club' Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrapped up a state visit to China, where he sought to position himself as a peace broker in the ongoing war in Ukraine while attempting to elevate Brazil's global status and boost economic ties with Beijing. The Details: As I reported here, a key piece of Lula's outreach is courting political backing for his proposal that Brazil and other developing countries, including China, form a peace club to broker a deal to end the war in Ukraine. Analysts, however, remain skeptical about the chances of Lula's peace proposal, which is unlikely to gain support from Kyiv and its backers given China's close ties with Russia and past comments from the Brazilian leader that Ukraine should cede Crimea -- which was forcibly annexed by Moscow in 2014 -- as a means to reach a deal. Beyond the diplomacy push from Lula, the visit allowed him to shore up Brazils economic and political ties with China, as he left Beijing with a slew of new agreements. But as Carlos Solar, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told me, Lula is still hedging his bets, having already made a trip to Washington to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden and made moves to position Brazil to be a regional power in Latin America. [Lula] needs this frenzy of deals in China and talks with Xi in part to show his public that he's still an influential guy around the world, Solar said. But when you look more closely, you can see that he is putting his eggs in different baskets. 3. Frustrated By The Taliban, Interested In Afghanistan Frustrated by the Talibans reluctance to take action against an array of militants, including a strengthening Islamic State group, Afghanistan's neighbors have resolved to come up with a joint strategy to counter security threats emanating from the country. What It Means: Top diplomats from Russia, China, Iran, and Pakistan attended an April 13 conference that focused on ensuring regional security in light of the situation in Afghanistan. Russia and China are among the few countries that have kept their diplomatic missions in Kabul since the Taliban retook power, but lingering frustrations with the group as a partner have been boiling up. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was ready to work more closely with Afghanistans neighbors and the international community, and Beijing also expressed hope that the Taliban would continue working actively to meet Afghans' interests and the international communitys expectations for an open and inclusive political structure. China has a growing interest in the countrys resources -- having secured rights for mining and oil and gas exploration -- but security concerns have kept those projects mostly on paper for the time being. Still, the cash-strapped Taliban is hoping that it can draw in more Chinese interest, recently floating progress on a potential $10 billion investment from the China Petroleum Economics and Information Research Center (CPEIC) in Afghanistans lithium deposits. Few details beyond a Taliban press release were offered, but even if something is inked, realizing the project -- and others with China -- is still a distant prospect due to the countrys tough security situation. Across The Supercontinent A New Case In Pakistan: A Chinese man has been arrested in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province after an angry mob accused him of blasphemy and tried to enter a camp near the construction site of the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan, which involves both Chinese and Pakistani workers. Police filed a blasphemy charge against the Chinese man, RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal reported. Internal Review: Hikvisions human rights investigator admits the company's Chinese police contracts in Xinjiang explicitly target Uyghurs as a group. The Chinese surveillance giant has repeatedly denied reports that the company is complicit in human rights abuses targeting Uyghurs, but documents obtained by technology trade publication IPVM show otherwise. Brussels To Beijing: The EU lodged a protest with China after police detained veteran rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his activist wife, Xu Yan, ahead of an April 13 meeting with its diplomats in China, Radio Free Asia reports. Macron In China: Looking to catch up on Macrons trip to China earlier this month? Listen to the last episode of Talking China In Eurasia, where guest Rikard Jozwiak explained why the French president thinks he can split China and Russia and where he fits among Europes large groups of actors looking to engage and pressure Beijing. One Thing To Watch Chinas economic growth is exceeding expectations. GDP grew 4.5 percent year on year in the first quarter. Strong growth in exports and infrastructure investment, as well as a rebound in retail consumption and property prices, are said to be driving the recovery. That momentum looks set to continue, but economists have warned that consumption and the property sector might struggle to maintain strong growth, while exports could be threatened by weaker demand in developed economies. Thats all from me for now. Dont forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you might have. Until next time, Reid Standish If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every other Wednesday. Iran's clerical leadership has often lauded the impact of sports in rallying the nation, but commendations can quickly turn to condemnation for athletes who dare to step out of line. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, scores of athletes who have shown anything but complete loyalty to the clerical establishment have been barred from competitions, arrested, or even executed. Amid mass anti-government protests that have broken out in recent years, sports figures who raised their voices have again been targeted by the authorities. Revolutionary Change While meeting a group of Iranian athletes in 1979, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini expressed his faith in their ability to use international competition to spread the ideals of the revolution across the globe. "I am not an athlete, but I love athletes. I love the doers of good, although I am not one of them," he said. "I beseech God, the most blessed and exalted, to grant greater success to you young people, who are the assets of this country and the source of hope for the nation and Islam, in doing sports in all human dimensions." But not all of Iran's athletes fit the mold. Among the prominent stars missing from the photo op was soccer star Habib Khabiri, a key factor in Iran's march to its first-ever appearance at the World Cup in 1978. While Khabiri would go on to captain the national squad in 1980, he would eventually pay the ultimate price for his alleged disloyalty to the revolution. While Khabiri initially joined the street protests that ushered in the revolution, he later allegedly joined the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), which itself had participated in the Islamic Revolution that toppled the shah but was soon branded a threat by the new clerical establishment. A team photo taken prior to a game in 1982 in which Khabiri is the only player not holding up a portrait of Khomeini has long been taken as black and white proof of his differences with the authorities. Fellow teammate Ebrahim Kian Tahmasebi, also seen in the photo, explained the backstory. "Habib turned Khomeini's picture upside down in the dressing room," Tahmasebi told RFE/RL's Radio Farda from Sweden. And when other players turned on him, Khabiri didn't budge. "Habib was calm, as always, and said: The revolution will not be overturned by overturning the photo.'" In 1983, as the authorities cracked down on suspected sympathizers and members of the MKO -- which by then openly called for Khomeini's overthrow and had aligned with Baghdad in the Iran-Iraq War -- Khabiri was arrested. After being subjected to torture in prison, according to fellow prisoners and teammates, Khabiri was executed at the age of 29 alongside 40 other alleged dissidents in July 1984. Deadly Trend Recent cases involving prominent sports figures caught up in the crackdown on ongoing antiestablishment protests bear some resemblance to Khabiri's. Two athletes have been executed despite international outcry, while others have been killed during protests, arrested, or pressured to get in line with the authorities' demands. Many have been subjected to sham trials with little or no chance to defend themselves, according to rights groups. And athletes' immediate families have often faced pressure as well. Navid Afkari Navid Afkari, once one of Iran's highest-ranked Greco-Roman wrestlers, was executed at the age of 27 in September 2020 after being convicted of murdering a security guard during antiestablishment protests in the southern city of Shiraz in 2018. There were worldwide calls for Afkari to be pardoned, and his execution was condemned by rights groups who criticized the trial as a "travesty of justice" that denied him legal representation and refused to take into account his testimony that he had been forced to confess under torture. The former wrestling champion's last recorded words were: "If I am executed, I want you to know that an innocent person, even though he tried and fought with all his strength to be heard, was executed." An attorney who advocated for Afkari argued that there was no proof of guilt, and decried that the wrestler's family was not allowed to meet him prior to his execution, a violation of Iranian law. His brothers, Vahid and Habib, were sentenced to 54 and 27 years, respectively, in prison in the same case. Many Iranians condemned his execution on social media, and as other Iranian athletes have been targeted by the authorities, the "United4Navid" hashtag is quickly revived as a reminder of his legacy. In September 2021, Shahin Naseri, a prisoner who claimed he witnessed Afkari being tortured before his execution, was himself executed. Mohammad Mehdi Karami The mass protests that broke out in September over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini soon after she was arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the head-scarf law have also resulted in the arrests and deaths of sports figures who supported her cause. In January, three-time youth karate champion and national team member Mohammad Mehdi Karami was executed after being found guilty of involvement in the death of a member of the Basij paramilitary forces during a demonstration in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran. Karami's execution took place just 65 days after his arrest and following a trial in which he was given just 15 minutes to defend himself in court. The 22-year-old was denied the right to choose his own legal representation, and had begun a dry hunger strike in protest. Activists alleged that Karami was beaten unconscious by prison guards and threatened with rape while incarcerated, and rights groups said that the court relied on forced confessions. Of the 16 people detained in relation to the killing of the Basij officer, Karami and one other were executed, while the others, including minors, received lengthy prison sentences. Keeping Score One of the biggest stars to ever suit up for Iran's national soccer team, Ali Daei, ran into trouble after he voiced support for the protests. In December, the 53-year-old former player and coach was denied the right to leave the country to attend Iran's World Cup appearance in Qatar, and has also had his business shuttered by the authorities owing to his support for the protests. Voria Ghafouri, who was left off the World Cup squad, was arrested in November for "insulting the national soccer team and propagandizing against the government" just days after expressing sympathy for Amini's family and calling for an end to the state crackdown on protesters. And members of the national team reportedly got a talking to from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps after they appeared to support the protests by abstaining from singing Iran's national anthem ahead of their game with England. In January, wrestler Mohammad Namjoo-Motlagh told Radio Farda he was seeking asylum in Germany after facing "constant threats and psychological pressure" from the Iranian Wrestling Federation and other state bodies over his support for the ongoing protests. "It was clear where this was going," said Namjoo-Motlagh, who is believed to have posted social-media posts that were critical of the authorities and supportive of the protests. "I would either lose my life or they would blind me, or in the best-case scenario, I would be sent to prison." The same month came news that a death sentence handed down to Amir Nasr-Azadani, a soccer player who played for a number of clubs in Iran's top domestic league and had campaigned for women's rights, had been overturned. But Nasr-Azadani, who the previous month was found guilty of complicity in the killings of three Basij officers during protests, still faces 16 years in prison. The trend of punishing sports figures who protest has extended to the chessboard and reached great heights. In October, sport-climbing champion Elnaz Rekabi competed in South Korea without her hair covered, a violation of Iran's strict rules during international competition. The act was widely seen as one of support for the protests. When Rekabi returned to Iran, she offered an apology that some fellow athletes said was forced. In April, it was reported that she was not allowed to leave the country to continue her training in Spain. Sara Khadem, a top female Iranian chess player, competed without a head scarf at an international tournament in Kazakhstan in December. Khadem refused to return to Iran for fear of retribution and moved to Spain with her husband. She recently said while competing in a tournament there that she has no regrets for her actions. Soccer player Reza Shekari, meanwhile, has been banned from playing in Irans domestic league and summoned to face a disciplinary committee after he refused to celebrate after scoring a goal. Gone But Not Forgotten To this day, Tehran has given no explanation for the reasons for Khabib's arrest, the charges against him, or details regarding his trial. His reported denunciation of the MKO appears not to have been taken into consideration, and his family members were not allowed to attend his funeral. But his legacy is undeniable, both on and off the pitch. Journalist Faridun Shibani, who traveled with the national team when Khabib played, said that there were some things about the man and player that he could not write at the time. "I fell in love with the morals of this young man," Shibani told Radio Farda. "Habib is one of the leaders in recognizing and opposing the Islamic republic. He opened the eyes of others to the new system." Buried in secret in an unmarked grave, the authorities eventually relented to the public, allowing a simple gravestone bearing the soccer legend's name to mark his plot at Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery. Written by Michael Scollon based on reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda. Six explosives experts with Ukraines emergency services were killed by Russian shelling while conducting a demining operation in the Kherson region, the head of the State Emergency Service (SES) said on May 6, as air-raid sirens blared throughout much of Ukraine, including in the capital, Kyiv. While performing demining tasks in the Kherson region, our pyrotechnicians came under fire. Six of our specialists were killed, SES chief Serhiy Kruk said on Twitter. Terrorists continue to violate all norms of international law.... This is unforgivable!" he added. 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. Kruk also said that two others, including a female paramedic, had been injured and were being treated at a hospital. Photos of the six slain staffers were included with the online post. Further details were not immediately available. Elsewhere, Reuters reported that authorities issued air-raid alerts for much of eastern Ukraine on the evening of May 6. The area affected stretched from Vynnytsya in the west to all eastern regions and south to the Kherson region and Russia-annexed Crimea. Meanwhile, Russian invading forces continued their assault on Bakhmut, the Ukrainian military reported on May 6, a day after the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary force threatened to pull his fighters out of the besieged Ukrainian city in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine that Russia has been trying to seize for months amid reportedly rising casualties. In its daily report on May 6, the General Staff of Ukraines Armed Forces said Ukrainian forces repelled some 50 attacks in Bakhmut and elsewhere in the Donetsk region, including Maryinka and Avdiyivka. Russia also launched seven drone strikes at Ukraine overnight with Ukrainian air defenses destroying all of them, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said early on May 6. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said that Russian troops, spearheaded by mercenaries from the private Wagner group, are making every effort to capture Bakhmut by May 9, the date when Moscow celebrates its World War II Victory Day. "To achieve this, they are bringing in Wagner forces from other battlefields who are being replaced with paratrooper assault units that are currently fighting in the Bakhmut direction," Malyar said on Telegram on May 5. "The Russians are inclined towars symbolism and their key historic myth is May 9 and they really have established the objective of taking control of Bakhmut by this date," Malyar said separately on Ukrainian television. Malyar's statement contradicted an apparent threat by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who earlier on May 5 claimed he would withdraw his fighters from Bakhmut in what looked like an escalation of his ongoing feud with Russian Defense Ministry over supplies and support. In a video posted by his press service on May 5, Prigozhin said he would pull out Wagner forces from Bakhmut by May 10 -- the day after the Kremlins planned World War II Victory Day commemorations. "We were supposed to take Bakhmut by May 9, but pseudo-military bureaucrats, who knew about it, literally cut us off from artillery ammunition," Prigozhin said in the video, as he addressed the camera with a group of apparent Wagner soldiers in the background. AFP reported on May 6 that Prigozhin had asked the Kremlin to allow him to relinquish his positions in Bakhmut to Kremlin-backed authoritarian Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov. "I ask you to issue a combat order before 00:00 on May 10 concerning the transfer of the positions of the Wagner paramilitary units in Bakhmut and its periphery, to the units of the Akhmat battalion," Prigozhin said in a letter to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, referring to Chechen units under Kadyrovs control. Reuters quoted Kimberly Marten, a Russia specialist at Barnard College and Columbia University, as saying Prigozhin and the Wagner mercenaries are "essential elements of Russian military intelligence, so we don't believe anything he says." "This is all smoke and mirrors, so we are just guessing," said Marten, who added that it would be dangerous for a military commander to "broadcast" battlefield moves in advance. Earlier this week, the White House estimated that since December, Russias overall casualty tally in Ukraine --- killed and wounded total at least 100,000. That includes 20,000 Russians killed in action, of which about half of that number were Wagner mercenaries. The majority of [that figure] were Russian convicts fighting in Bakhmut, White House spokesman John Kirby said on May 2. The Kremlin declined to comment on Prigozhin's remarks, as did the Defense Ministry. In another video statement released on May 4, Prigozhin was shown standing next to dozens of corpses-- what he called "freshly killed Wagner fighters. In an expletive-filled rant, he accused Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, the chairman of Russias General Staff, of complicity in their deaths, because he said Wagners forces arent getting enough ammunition. BAKHMUT, Ukraine -- Along the northern flank of Ukrainian-controlled territory on the outskirts of the eastern city of Bakhmut, tank crews from the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade are waiting for the ground to dry up so they can begin a long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces. The tank operators continue to support Ukrainian infantry during battles and provide cover fire from afar, but the muddy roads brought by thawed frozen ground and heavy spring rainfall have left them playing a less forward-leaning role. The Russians still have enough artillery and anti-tank weapons, including ATGMs [anti-tank guided missiles], Mykola, a tank operator, told Current Time, following Ukrainian military protocol of only providing his first name to journalists. We still have far from an easy time here and while its raining like it is now, its difficult to work. The battle for Bakhmut, which Russia sees as a stepping stone to other cities in Ukraines eastern Donbas region, has been the scene of the wars most intense fighting for months, costing thousands of lives on both sides. Ukrainian forces have been pushed back in recent weeks, but have managed to keep some control of the area while inflicting as many losses as possible on regular Russian troops and fighters from the Wagner mercenary group. Despite many military experts disputing its strategic value, Ukrainian officials have underlined the importance that Kyiv attaches to holding Bakhmut as Ukraine makes the final preparations for its expected counteroffensive, which will be backed by thousands of Western-donated armored vehicles including tanks and freshly trained troops. When, where, and how Kyiv launches its push are crucial questions that Ukrainian officials have kept closely guarded. Analysts say the counteroffensive will have far-ranging consequences for the future direction of the war and the degree of its success could impact the level of Western support moving forward. Among the tank crews stationed along the front with Bakhmut, attention remains fixed on the nearby battle that has become the epicenter of the war. Fighting in the area has been divided into two theaters: street combat inside the city and more distanced engagements in fields and villages to the northwest and southwest, where Russian forces are trying to encircle Ukrainian soldiers. Petro, a tank operator in the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade, says that fighting has slowed down in their area in the northwest recently as clashes in the city have intensified with the Ukrainian military reporting the arrival of fresh Russian reinforcements. Fighting in Bakhmut drew away a very huge [Russian] force from [this area], and now its much quieter as the intensity is not the same, Petro told Current Time, a Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. Many of the tank crews say Russian defenses are more dug in than they were during the early stages of the war and Petro says that combat is becoming more and more like trench warfare. Still, the tank operators say they are prepared to break through Russian lines and eagerly awaiting the looming counteroffensive. I would very much like to meet with their tankers, [but] it doesnt matter if the tankers are there or the infantry, said Mykola. They need to be driven out of here! A Victory Day Push In Bakhmut Ukrainian officials have said that the intensified fighting in Bakhmut is part of a Russian effort to capture the city by May 9, the date when Moscow celebrates its World War II Victory Day. Russia is sending in reinforcements, including additional numbers of Wagner mercenaries and Russian paratroopers, according to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar. Ukrainian soldiers have faced a blend of Russian troops and Wagner fighters for some time in Bakhmut, with the mercenary group increasingly turning to prisoners to fill its ranks. Those convicts have suffered heavy casualties and been sent in waves in risky assaults as part of a tactic meant to wear down Ukrainian defenses for subsequent attacks by more skilled Russian forces. The statement from Malyar appears to be at odds with a May 5 announcement by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin that he would withdraw his forces from the city on May 10 because of insufficient ammunition. In a tense and profanity-laced announcement, Prigozhin said his forces had no choice but to withdraw to rear bases to lick the wounds in what appears to be the latest episode in an escalating feud between the mercenary group and the Russian Defense Ministry. In his latest comments on May 7, Prigozhin did not specifically say he was reversing his plans to pull his forces from the city but said he had been given permission to act in Bakhmut as we see fit. It remains to be seen whether Prigozhin actually does withdraw Wagner forces, but the move could jeopardize Moscows push to claim Bakhmut and reshape the battle in the process, even if rotations of regular Russian soldiers replaced Wagner forces on the front lines. The grinding battle in Bakhmut has led to high casualties for both Russian and Ukrainian forces. The White House said on May 1 that Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties since December, including 20,000 troops killed in action. U.S. officials believe that many of those casualties have occurred in Bakhmut. By throwing its own forces into Bakhmut, Ukraine has tied up a large proportion of the Russian military, inflicting heavy losses, Matthew Sussex, a military expert at Australian National University, wrote in a May 3 analysis of the eastern front. Its approach is both a strategy of corrosion -- the gradual attrition of the invader -- and absorption, soaking up repeated Russian assaults while taking the pressure off other parts of the conflict zone. Its unclear how many casualties Ukrainian troops have suffered in that same span. Kyiv keeps those numbers a secret and the U.S. government has refused to disclose similar estimates on Ukraines losses. U.S. intelligence documents from late-February allegedly leaked by National Guard airman Jack Teixeira on the Discord platform indicated that up to 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in action since Russias full-scale invasion in February 2022. The leaked intelligence assessment also said that as many as 42,500 Russian troops had been killed during the wars first year. Waiting For The Counteroffensive While Bakhmut continues to be a focal point of the war, Russian occupation authorities ordered nearly 70,000 civilians living near the front line in southern Ukraines Zaporizhzhya region to leave their homes and businesses on May 5. Ukrainian authorities have also implemented a curfew in the frontline city of Kherson for the long weekends Victory Day holidays, while some residents were seen leaving in cars and buses on May 5. Together, the moves are additional indicators that Ukraines counteroffensive is approaching, analysts and officials say. Strikes on Russian infrastructure, including drone attacks on refineries and train sabotage, have multiplied in recent weeks, and are also seen as part of Ukrainian preparations for a spring offensive intended to target Russian Army supply chains in border regions and in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014. Kyiv has not claimed any of the acts, including a May 3 alleged drone attack on the Kremlin that Russian officials say was meant to target President Vladimir Putin. Russia accused Ukraine and the United States of involvement. Both countries have strongly denied any role in the incident. Aslan Ocherkhadzhiev, a ethnic Chechen volunteer soldier fighting with Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, told RFE/RLs North Caucasus Service that fighting there remains intense, with Russian shelling increasing and their artillery apparently well-stocked in the city. He says that Ukrainian forces will continue to engage with Russian troops in Bakhmut, but that in order to shift momentum, the Ukrainian side needs more long-range artillery in the area. After months of tough winter fighting in Bakhmut, Ocherkhadzhiev adds that many soldiers are talking about Kyivs approaching counteroffensive and that he and others are eagerly watching for the ground to dry up so that Ukraine can begin its push against Russian forces. The ground will dry up and the armored units, along with the infantry, need to go on a counteroffensive, Ocherkhadzhiev said. The whole army must move forward. Based on reporting by Andriy Kuzakov in Bakhmut for Current Time and reporting by Andrei Krasno for RFE/RLs North Caucasus Service. Written, with additional reporting, by Reid Standish in Prague. NEW YORK, May 5 (Xinhua) -- For many New Yorkers, the choking of the 30-year-old homeless man, Jordan Neely, was a heinous act of public violence to be swiftly prosecuted, and represented a failure by the city to care for people with serious mental illness, reported The New York Times on Friday. Many others who lamented the killing nonetheless saw it as a reaction to fears about public safety in New York, the most populous city in the United States, and the subway system in particular, noted the report. As prosecutors continue to investigate the circumstances of Neely's death, the case has become a political Rorschach test, dividing the city along long-simmering fault lines, said the report. Mayor Eric Adams and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two of the city's most prominent Democrats, criticized each other's response in an uncommonly tense exchange, it added. Meanwhile, the debate over how best to help people with mental illness is taking place in cities across the nation and has been particularly vexing in liberal cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, where homelessness and mental illness soared during the pandemic and people in dire need are often in plain sight on park benches and subway trains, according to the report. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he and visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on May 9 discussed Ukraine's progress toward integration into the European Union, European ammunition deliveries for the Ukrainian military, and fresh Russia sanctions. 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. Von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv after Russia overnight launched another missile attack on the Ukrainian capital -- the fifth since the start of the month and the second in as many days. Zelensky said after the talks that he told von der Leyen, he told her that the Ukrainian military needs faster deliveries of artillery shells from the EU. Later on May 9, EU lawmakers on May 9 voted to speed up consideration of a law to boost ammunition production in Europe to the tune of 500 million euros ($550 million), due to efforts to supply Ukraine. The decision should see the new legislation -- termed the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) -- in place by the end of the year, MEPs and European Commission officials said. The spending proposal, initiated by the commission, comes as the bloc seeks to supply one million artillery shells to Ukraine over the next 12 months, adding to a stream of military deliveries. After the meeting with von der Leyen, Zelenskiy also said he criticized the restrictions that some EU nations have imposed on grain exports from Ukraine, saying the measures play to Russia's advantage. The two also talked about a new package of Russia sanctions that the EU is preparing and about Kyiv's progress in EU accession negotiations. Von der Leyen's visit -- her fifth since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine -- takes place on a day full of symbolism as the European Union on May 9 celebrates Europe Day, a nod to the Schuman Declaration presented by French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman on the same day in 1950. The declaration is seen as cornerstone of what was to become the present-day 27-member EU. Zelenskiy submitted a bill to parliament officially marking May 9 as Europe Day in Ukraine, while Victory Day, May 8, is to be celebrated as a "day of remembrance and victory over Nazism." The move was seen as a snub to Russia, which invaded Ukraine to prevent it from integrating with Europe. Zelenskiy said Ukraine would mark May 9 as Europe Day together with all of free Europe, adding that Ukraine has always been, is, and will be a part of [this Europe]." Von der Leyen said on Twitter that she welcomed Zelenskiy's decision to make May 9 Europe Day in Ukraine. Von der Leyen's arrival came hours after Russia launched 25 cruise missiles at Ukraine, 15 of them targeting Kyiv, in a second attack following a wave of drone strikes on May 8. "In total, during two waves of attacks on Ukraine on the night of May 9, the Russian occupiers launched 25 cruise missiles; 23 of them were destroyed by the air defense of Ukraine," the General Staff of Ukraine's military said in a statement early on May 9. The United States on May 9 announced a $1.2 billion security assistance package for Ukraine that includes munitions to boost air defenses and provide Kyiv with additional artillery ammunition, the Defense Department said in a statement. The package provides funding to purchase weapons from the defense industry as opposed to a drawdown from U.S. stocks, but this means the assistance will take longer to reach the battlefield. Earlier on May 9, the head of the capital's military administration, Serhiy Popko, reported that Kyiv's air defenses had detected and destroyed about 15 missiles above the city. No casualties or damages were immediately reported, Popko said. The attack on Kyiv was the second in hours, after Russia on May 8 launched 35 suicide drones and 16 missiles. The missile strikes targeted the regions of Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolayiv, and Odesa, and inflicted human casualties. "Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded civilians, and high-rise buildings, private homes, and other civilian infrastructure were damaged," the General Staff said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that five people were injured overnight on May 8 as a result of a drone strike that damaged buildings and infrastructure. On the battlefield, Ukrainian defenders repelled 42 attacks over the 24-hour period that ended early on May 9 on the Bakhmut-Avdiyivka-Maryinka direction in Donetsk, the military said. The fiercest fighting was taking place in Bakhmut and Maryinka, it added. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin-connected head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, claimed his forces were inching forward in the fiercely contested town of Bakhmut. But later on May 9, he accused the Russian Defense Ministry of failing to supply his mercenary fighters with enough ammunition and accused Russian troops of fleeing the fighting around Bakhmut. Prigozhins comments were the latest in his long-running public feud with top Russian military officials. He blamed a lack of ammunition for his groups inability to capture Bakhmut and just days ago threatened to pull out of the city if a resupply of ammo did not arrive soon. On May 8, he said that his forces had begun to receive more ammunition. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa WUHAN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The flood control and drought relief headquarters of the Yangtze River has launched this year's first level-IV emergency response for flood control starting Saturday afternoon. The emergency response was activated at 5 p.m. Saturday, to cope with rain-triggered flooding in the basin of China's longest river, the Yangtze. Since Wednesday, heavy rainfall has affected the cities of Yichun, Fuzhou, and Ji'an, east China's Jiangxi Province, triggering water level warnings at many small and medium-sized rivers, said the Changjiang Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources. A work team dispatched by the commission has rushed to Jiangxi to guide the rescue and relief work. China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level I representing the most severe response. BRASILIA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday urged people to continue to get COVID-19 vaccines, though the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. "Despite the end of the state of emergency, the pandemic is not over yet. Take the booster doses and make sure your vaccination schedule is always complete," Lula tweeted. "After three years, today we can finally say we have come out of the COVID-19 health emergency. Unfortunately, over 700,000 people died from the virus in Brazil and I believe that at least half of them could have been saved," he said. According to data from the Ministry of Health, Brazil has recorded 37.4 million COVID-19 cases with 701,494 deaths. The current government "will act to preserve lives," the president added. Rajnath Singh Rajnath Singh on Friday visited the Kandi forest area of Rajouri district Rajouri/Jammu: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday reviewed the security situation in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch of Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 35 people, including 26 soldiers, have lost their lives in eight attacks by militants in these districts since October 2021. Rajnath Singh on Friday visited the Kandi forest area of Rajouri district, a day after 5 jawans were martyred in an explosion by terrorists during an anti-terrorist operation by the army. Officials said that Rajnath Singh stayed in Jammu for some time and then reached the 'Ace of Spades Division' headquarters in Rajouri along with Army Chief General Manoj Pandey and Jammu and Kashmir Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha. Meanwhile, he also interacted with the jawans engaged in the campaign against the terrorists. Advertisement Rajnath Singh Five jawans were martyred and a senior officer was injured in an explosion carried out by terrorists during the Army's anti-terrorist operation 'Operation Trinetra' in the Kandi forest area of Rajouri district on Friday. On Saturday morning, the news came out that during the operation, one terrorist was killed and another one was injured. According to officials, General Manoj Pandey had reached Jammu from Delhi shortly before the Defense Minister. Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Corps Commander White Knight Corps and Divisional Commissioner Jammu also visited Rajouri along with Rajnath Singh. Advertisement Rajnath Singh According to officials, before returning to Jammu, the defense minister was briefed about the ongoing operations in the Kandi forest region, after which he chaired a high-level meeting to review the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in Rajouri and Poonch. . Earlier, Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Dwivedi visited the operation venue. Meanwhile, they were briefed by the commanders about the latest developments of 'Operation Trinetra'. Encounter The Killed Terrorist has been identified as Abid Wani SRINAGAR: A Terrorist of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district on Saturday. This information was shared by senior officials. A police officer said that a cordon and search operation was launched in Karahama Kunjar area of Baramulla after receiving information about the presence of terrorists. The Militants opened fire on the security forces, in response to which the security forces also opened fire, leading to an encounter. The official said that one terrorist was killed in the retaliatory firing. The Killed Terrorist has been identified as Abid Wani. Advertisement Taking to Twitter, Kashmir Zone Police wrote, "#BaramullaEncounterUpdate: Killed #terrorist identified as Abid Wani S/O Mohd Rafiq Wani R/O Yarhol Babapora Kulgam, linked with proscribed #terror outfit LeT. Incriminating materials, 01 AK 47 rifle recovered. @JmuKmrPolice." Police Conducts Raid in Amritsar The Police have registered a case against the restaurant owner at Ranjit Avenue Police Station AMRITSAR: The Police conducted raid in a restaurant at Amritsar district, Punjab. A hookah bar has been running under the guise of a disk. The police swung into action and arrested the owner of the disk, while the customers inside managed to escape after hearing the noise. Some objectionable videos have also been recovered. ACP North Varinder Singh Khosa said that the name of the arrested restaurant owner is Nitish and he is a resident of BK Dutt Gate. Sources had informed the police about the hookah bar running in the restaurant. After which a team was formed and action was taken in the matter. Advertisement The police have registered a case against the restaurant owner at Ranjit Avenue police station. At the time of the raid, 5 hookahs were burning in the restaurant and the police has seized them. 10 boxes of flavored tobacco were also seized during the search. A case has been registered against the owner of the restaurant under section 21 and 24 of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco (Tobacco) Products Act. 2023 Honda Brio facelift gets the same 1.2 liter petrol 4 cylinder engine, which was also on offer with the India-spec Brio PT Honda Prospect Motor has facelifted its Brio Satya and Brio RS for MY2023 in Indonesia. There are two trim levels spawning three variants of Brio Satya and one trim level spawning two variants of Brio RS. Honda equipped all five variants with a sole 1.2L NA 4-cylinder petrol motor with a choice between a manual transmission and a CVT. Honda priced 2023 Brio facelift between IDR 191,900,000 (approx Rs. 9.24 lakh) for base E trim and IDR 191,900,000 (approx Rs. 10.69 lakh) for S CVT variant. Whereas Brio RS starts from IDR 233,900,000 (approx Rs. 13.03 lakh) and MT and IDR 243,900,000 (approx Rs. 13.59 lakh) for CVT. 2023 Honda Brio Brio RS Facelifts Electric Lime Metallic, Crystal Black, Meteoride Gray Metallic shades are common between Brio and Brio RS. Exclusive to Brio are Taffeta White and Rallye Red whereas Phoenix Orange Pearl Two Tone and Stellar Diamond Pearl are limited to Brio RS. Honda is known to establish significant iterative differences with minimal changes. 2023 Honda Brio and Brio RS facelifts are no different. Honda has enlarged the front grille, narrowed its thick horizontal bar, and reshaped its headlights with new LED signature lighting and a new bumper. A combination of all these completely transforms the look of Brio Satya and Brio RS radically as opposed to their predecessors. Most of the new additions and features in general, are exclusive to RS trim only. New feature additions with top-spec RS trim are LED headlights, LED fog lights, passive entry with request sensors, ORVMs with LED indicators, an MID in instrument console similar to Jazz and City (4th gen), push-button start, a 7 infotainment screen with smartphone integration, tweeters, 15 alloy wheels and more. Brio 2023 facelift misses out on almost all of these. It lacks fog lamps too. RS gets different front and rear bumpers hence there are differences in dimensions as well. Brio RS measures 3,810 x 1,680 x 1,485 while Brio Satya measures 3,795 x 1,680 x 1,485 (Length x Width x Height in mm). 2,405 mm wheelbase is identical. Interiors carried over With the 2023 Brio, Honda didnt update its interiors. Were talking about the exact same interiors we got with the 2016 update, sans the MY2023 7 infotainment and MID display. The seats are similar too, but Indonesia-spec Brio and Brio RS get rear adjustable headrests, a welcome addition. Speaking of similar stuff, the 1.2L 4-cylinder petrol engine is identical as well. It makes around 90 PS of power and 110 Nm of torque, a similar state of tune and emission standard (EURO4) to what we got in India. In Indonesia, Honda offers a CVT for AT variants as opposed to a 5-speed TC in India. In Indonesia, 2023 Honda Brio lineup rivals Suzuki Celerio, Toyota Wigo and Mitsubishi Mirage. Honda has no plans to launch the facelifted Brio in India. Here, they are getting ready to launch a new compact SUV called Elevate. BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- As of Wednesday, about 2.53 million new jobs had been created for Chinese college graduates this year via an employment promotion campaign, said the Ministry of Education on Saturday. The ministry launched the campaign last November, with 2,415 universities and colleges participating in the initiative. During the campaign, education authorities at the provincial level were required to help bridge higher education institutions with enterprises, taking into consideration the major layouts of the former and the recruitment demands of the latter. Meanwhile, universities and colleges were encouraged to invite employers to recruitment activities on campus and offer them necessary assistance. So far, more than 1.45 million enterprises have provided approximately 35.1 million pieces of job information through 125,000 offline recruitment activities across the country, according to the ministry. The ministry added that it will hold a special week-long employment promotion event in May, with greater efforts to expand channels of employment and provide guidance services for job-hunting graduates. Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla return to Buckingham Palace after coronation service at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) LONDON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. The coronation service lasted about two hours and involved various stages, including recognition, oath, anointing, investiture and crowning, followed by enthronement and homage. At 12:02 p.m. (1102 GMT), Charles III was formally crowned as the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edward's Crown onto the head of the monarch. The congregation sang a hymn; bells at the historic church rang; trumpets sounded, and gun salutes were fired across the country to mark the moment. King Charles III, 74, ascended to the throne in September last year following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Camilla was also coronated on Saturday in a much simpler ceremony, as she was anointed and crowned with Queen Mary's Crown. King Charles III and Queen Camilla will return to Buckingham Palace in procession after the service at Westminster Abbey, using the same route they took this morning in reverse, with thousands of spectators lining the streets. The ceremonial events will conclude with the royal couple and members of the royal family watching a large formation fly-past on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in the afternoon. Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla return to Buckingham Palace after coronation service at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla return to Buckingham Palace after coronation service at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla return to Buckingham Palace after coronation service at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) People gather around Buckingham Palace on the day of Britain's King Charles' coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla travel in a coach as they leave Westminster Abbey after their coronation in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Britain's King Charles III, Queen Camilla and members of the royal family stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Troops march on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) This photo taken on May 6, 2023 shows a flypast over Buckingham Palace on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) This photo taken on May 6, 2023 shows a general view of flypast over the Mall on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) This photo taken on May 6, 2023 shows a flypast over Buckingham Palace on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Troops march on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Troops march on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Troops march on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Britain's Prince William, his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince Louis travel in a carriage as they leave Westminster Abbey after King Charles' coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Troops march on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Troops march on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) People gather around Buckingham Palace on the day of Britain's King Charles III's coronation ceremony in London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (Xinhua/Li Ying) King Charles III receives the St Edward's Crown during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London, Britain, May 6, 2023. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) and 14 other Commonwealth realms in the UK's first coronation since 1953 at Westminster Abbey in central London. (PA Wire/Handout via Xinhua) It cost $20,000 to clean the main house at the former HiCaliber Horse Rescue ranch in Valley Center, seen here in a file photo, after the tenants were evicted last month, the property owners said. HiCaliber Horse Rescue is gone. The controversial operation that earned the wrath of horse lovers, animal rights activists and rival rescues last year amid allegations of fundraising fraud, improper euthanasia of old and crippled horses, and mistreatment of animals ceased operation last month. Michelle Cochran, the brash leader of the rescue, and her supporters were evicted from the property they leased in rural Valley Center and are being sued by the owner, who is seeking $4 million in damages. Advertisement The HiCaliber signs are gone from the 15-acre ranch, replaced only by the name of property owner, Brenda Markstein, on a lone mailbox. According to the lawsuit, filed Nov. 26 in Vista Superior Court, Cochran, who also goes by the last name Knutilla, failed to pay the monthly rent of $6,000 from July to November of last year as well as additional rent for use of a tractor. Cochran, according to the lawsuit, further breached the lease, which was first entered into in 2014, by damaging the property in an abusive vexatious manner including irreparable damage to residential structures, farmlands, barns and ranch buildings, pens, stalls, landscaping trees, drainage and otherwise... wrote attorney G. Richard Green in the complaint. Court files indicate Cochran has yet to responded officially to the allegations. She declined to comment on Friday. Things began to fall apart for HiCaliber in 2017 when online attacks targeted the rescue. Numerous investigations by various local and state agencies began, and HiCalibers extensive online fundraising abilities were crippled. Michelle Cochran and HiCaliber Horse Rescue are at the eye of a gathering storm. Critics, and there are many, contend she is killing horses at far too high a rate and the Internet has been abuzz for months about what many think is animal abuse. Cochran called her detractors haters and said the accusations were borne from jealousy about the success of her operation. She said her personality also made enemies in the horse rescue world. In April, Cochran announced the ranch would shutter by June and the more than 100 horses on the property would be adopted out. By Dec. 13, when sheriffs deputies came to the property to execute the eviction, there were still a couple dozen horses on the property and volunteers said conditions at the ranch had deteriorated dramatically. Cochran and co-defendant Romney Snyder were allowed to take 22 horses to another ranch in Valley Center. The location of that property has not been revealed. Later that day, according to published reports, Markstein and others toured the property and found the main home and other buildings trashed. A spokesman for Markstein and her husband, Travis Fox, said the ranch was filthy. Markstein told the nonprofit news organization inewsource.org the damage to the main house was extensive and included urine-soaked floors. A spokesman said after the eviction the body of a dead baby horse was found buried in a pile of manure. In a statement released to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Fox said when a professional cleaning company came onto the property following the eviction, workers wore hazardous material suits while cleaning the main house. That was $20,000 down the drain just to make the home livable again, Fox said. We have two more units that still need to have the animal and human feces cleaned out. Markstein told inewsource she had been trying to get Cochran and the others out of the house for many months, but the legal process took time. We shared so many beautiful memories on the property prior to renting it out, Markstein said in the statement. Now it brings tears to my eyes when I walk through here. How could someone live like this? How could they treat innocent animals this way? I only hope we can get it back to where it was and put this nightmare behind us. Back in 2014, things were far different. HiCaliber was about to be evicted from a smaller property in northern Escondido where a monastery that had been leasing some of its land to what was then a much smaller rescue operation decided it needed the property for expansion. An article in a horse-related magazine depicting HiCalibers need for a new home came to the attention of Markstein and her husband, at the time Los Angeles residents, who agreed to lease the property. Cochran called it a Godsend at the time and for several years the ranch flourished. Horses came to the ranch in various ways. Some were neglected horses that had been seized by authorities. Some were starving or abandoned horses. Many were purchased by HiCaliber at auctions, outbidding what Cochran called kill buyers who purchased horses with the intent of reselling them to slaughter houses in Mexico. But by early 2018, there were about 150 horses on the property, far more than were permitted by the county. As online criticism increased, and complaints were filed with the county and other agencies, officials began looking closely at the operation. The county noted numerous minor violations of county code, all of which were handled administratively. In March, the state Attorney Generals office suspended the nonprofit rescues ability to raise funds because of improper tax filings. Cochran admitted there had been paperwork issues. Less than two months later, after the proper paperwork had been filed, fundraising efforts were reinstated. But by then, the bad publicity surrounding the rescue had doomed the enterprise. The controversy surrounding Cochran and HiCaliber appears to have been based primarily on a fundamental difference of opinion about what a horse rescue should be. Cochran believes putting a sick horse out of its misery is a viable, even sacred duty. Critics said some of the horses Cochran would kill, usually with a gunshot to the head, could have been saved. They said her euthanasia practices were out of control and her fundraising techniques questionable. Cochran denied all wrongdoing. Various agencies opened investigations, but no charges have been filed and it is unclear if any are still ongoing. In the statement, Fox said he and his wife thought they were doing a public good by giving HiCaliber a discount on rent to help horses in need. Instead, our 15 acres has been reduced to a landfill, he said. At least 30 truck loads of manure are still piled up, the homes are unlivable, and there were animal carcasses all over the property. This place has become a death camp and we are doing everything we can to help heal the land. jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones TEHRAN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The parliament speakers of Iran and Uzbekistan on Saturday stressed the importance of enhancing the economic and transportation cooperation between the two countries, according to the ICANA news agency of the Iranian parliament. In a joint press conference after their meeting in Tehran earlier in the day, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Uzbekistan has the largest population among Central Asian states, and there are very "favorable opportunities" for the two countries to enhance cooperation in the economic and transportation sectors. Qalibaf stressed that the expansion of relations with neighbors, particularly the Muslim states, forms the basis for the Iranian government's foreign policy priority, noting that improving political, economic, and cultural ties with Central Asian states can be an important part of Iran's foreign policy. Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan (the lower house of the parliament) Nurdinjon Ismoilov said the relations between the two countries have improved over the past years, saying Uzbekistan's priority in ties with Iran is expanding economic relations, particularly in the transportation sector. The two speakers also called for greater cooperation between the two parliaments. Bruce Schneiers Plan to Reinvent Democracy I have a confession to make: I am a complete Bruce Schneier fanboy. I have been following the cryptographer, Harvard lecturer and privacy specialist for many years, and was delighted to meet him face-to-face at last weeks RSA Conference in San Francisco, where he gave a keynote (registration required) on how to reinvent democracy using cybersecurity concepts. His oeuvre spans decades with numerous books along with his own blog that publishes interesting links to security-related events, strategies and failures that you should follow. Schneier began his talk by saying that the political systems that were invented in the 18th century are poorly suited for the 21st century. He mentioned how democracy and capitalism are both information systems and should be treated as such and require constant improvement. Democracy is not a static system but an aspirational direction he said. But it hasnt evolved at the same pace as our technology has. It is a radical notion, especially when technology breaks the limitations of geography and filtering of ideas that were part of the early democratic principles. How do we avoid polluting 21st century democracy with prejudice, misinformation and bias? he asks. My reason for being a fan is he is more often right than wrong. Back in 2007, he coined the term security theater to refer to actions that arent really effective at securing systems but are put on display to reassure people that something is being done. In his 2003 book Beyond Fear, he promoted a very cogent checklist of what any security professional needs to do, such as looking at what assets you are trying to protect and how to assess the risks to those assets. His 2012 book Liars and Outliers talks about how our society cant function without trust, and yet must function even when people are untrustworthy. He develops an understanding of trust, cooperation and social stability. He points out that we dont usually do background checks on our plumber or do chemical analysis on our food, but when it comes to our computers and digital applications, we dont have this inherent trust. Ten years later, we are suffering a trust deficit across the board, and the societal cracks are beginning to show. As Schneier said in his keynote, Our formal systems of trust arent inherently scalable anymore. We have replaced an innate interpersonal trust with a trust in processes and institutions. In his 2015 book, Data and Goliath, he showed us exactly what we can do to reform government surveillance programs, shake up surveillance-based business models and protect our individual privacy from social media misuses. He is the master of simple analogies, using the example of the king who builds a secret escape tunnel: What happens to the engineers who know about the tunnel? he asks, making the point that there will always be someone who knows your secrets. His most recent book published earlier this year is A Hackers Mind. In it he asks his Harvard students to memorize the first 100 digits of pi (he expects them to cheat and documents their trials). The book is an appropriate preface to his RSAC keynote, because he puts hacking in the societal context, showing how bad actors can bend our various economic and legal systems, norms and rules. His talk was more of a discussion framework, where we can all come to some agreement about how to evolve democracy and continue to create new policies that can benefit the most individuals preferences. In todays society, the rich and powerful are just too good at hacking, he said. His keynote mentions that misinformation is a feature and not a bug. The problem is the incentive structure that makes misinformation a viable strategy, because misinformation targets fringe ideas and tries to weaponize them, he said. Our systems have misaligned incentives, which has catastrophic consequences for society. I got pushback from several folks at the show, who all agree that we need a common fact base for any successful democratic system, and misinformation throws that off. He spoke during the keynote about the current trend toward zero-sum politicswhere one party wins while the other losesand how that situation isnt optimal. We have an economy where my success depends on your failures, he said. We need to have a game where everyone wins, and it would be unlike anything we have ever seen. We have to harness plurality and embrace conflict and disagreement. To fix this, we have to rethink the nature of growth, which as he says is the fuel that powers the zero-sum world and is relevant only in that world where resources are plentiful. He ended his talk with suggestions on how to change democracy with built-in security, recognizing other tech innovations to make it more efficient. While watching the keynote, I was reminded of Isaac Asimovs 1955 short story Franchise which posits a future electronic democracy where a computer selects a single voter to determine the election results, avoiding the need for any action plebiscite. The year chosen in the story was 2008. Interestingly, the sole voter is asked a series of questions, rather than doing any actual voting for candidates. I asked Schneier if he read the story and he replied via email that he had. I dont think its a serious proposal, although the idea of polling being more accurate than actual elections is something that is discussed a lot in the relevant communities, he said. We have this fiction in our minds that voting is perfectly accurate: that even a differential of a few votes is meaningful. In reality, elections have error rates every step of the way, and a very close election is a statistical tie. But, of course, our system has no ability to deal with ties, so we need to declare a victor. Maybe his suggestions wont come to pass, but his thoughts about how to make our systems work better are interesting and provocative. Knowing when to allow algorithms to make decisions for us, and when not to do so, as he stated in the keynote, will certainly take on increasing importance. Categories: Articles, Text The ability to make inferences based on statistical information has so far been tested only in animals having large brains in relation to their body size, like primates and parrots. In a new study at Barcelona Zoo, researchers tested if giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis), despite having a smaller relative brain size, can rely on relative frequencies to predict sampling outcomes. The ability to make statistical inferences is considered a highly developed cognitive function and has only been tested in large-brained animals such as primates and keas (Nestor notabilis). However, the statistical abilities of animals with proportionally smaller brains, such as giraffes, have not been tested. In a new study, Dr. Federica Amici, a researcher at the University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and her colleagues presented two male and two female giraffes at Barcelona Zoo with a choice between two vegetable sticks held in a closed fist that had been drawn from transparent containers holding different proportions of preferred carrot sticks and less-preferred courgette (zucchini) sticks. While the giraffes could see the amounts of the different vegetables in each container, they could not see which vegetable the authors selected and offered. The different conditions included a container holding 20 carrots plus 100 courgette pieces versus one holding 100 carrots plus 20 courgette pieces, 20 carrots plus 100 courgette pieces versus 20 carrots plus four courgette pieces, and finally 57 carrots plus 63 courgette pieces versus 3 carrots and 63 courgette pieces. The latter two conditions tested whether giraffes could assess the relative frequencies of the vegetables, rather than just the absolute numbers of each. In at least 17 out of 20 trials, the giraffes were reliably able to select the container that was more likely to produce their favoured carrot sticks. The researchers used control conditions to rule out whether the giraffe were using any other information, such as their sense of smell (instead of seeing the containers) or clues from the experimenters, when making their choice. These results demonstrate statistical reasoning akin to that observed in primates and keas. Given the relatively small brain sizes of giraffes, the scientists suggest that a large brain may not be a prerequisite for complex statistical skills, and that the ability to make statistical inferences may be more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously thought. In evolutionary terms, statistical abilities might provide crucial fitness benefits to individuals when making inferences in a situation of uncertainty, and it should, therefore, not be surprising if these abilities are widespread across animal species, they said. In the future, it would be interesting to test more species with these experimental procedures, and use a comparative approach to assess whether the specific socio-ecological challenges faced by different species reliably predict the distribution of statistical skills across animals. Very likely, statistical skills may be present in several other species. The findings appear in the journal Scientific Reports. _____ A.L. Caicoya et al. 2023. Giraffes make decisions based on statistical information. Sci Rep 13, 5558; doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-32615-3 For a long time, scientists assumed that if there was alien life in the Solar System, it would be hidden beneath the surface of Mars, in Venus' clouds, or in the ice oceans of Jupiter and Saturn's moons. However, MailOnline cited a new study that suggests that Uranus' moons Titania and Oberon may also have oceans that are warm enough to sustain life. NASA scientists arrived at this conclusion by re-examining data from Voyager 2's close encounters with Uranus in the 1980s and utilizing computer modeling to search for indications of water on the five largest icy moons orbiting the planet. This finding indicates that scientists should also consider exploring Uranus' moons in the quest for extraterrestrial life nearby. Titania and Oberon Could Probably Support Life In the study, titled "Evidence for Ammonia-bearing Species on the Uranian Satellite Ariel Supports Recent Geologic Activity" published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, NASA scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California found that four of Uranus' moons- Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon - probably have oceans between their cores and icy crusts. These oceans could be so vast that they are each dozens of miles deep. The researchers came to this conclusion after establishing that the moons were insulated enough to retain the internal heat required to host an ocean. Furthermore, the oceans of Titania and Oberon may even be warm enough to potentially support extraterrestrial life. This is because scientists discovered a potential heat source in the moons' rocky mantles, which release hot liquid and would help maintain a warm environment for an ocean. It was previously assumed that Uranus' other massive moons were too tiny to sustain the heat required to keep a subsurface ocean from freezing. However, the new research challenges this belief. It had been assumed that the warmth created by the gravitational pull of Uranus was only a minor source of heat. Unlike other planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus does not have significant tidal heating to warm its moons. Experts have long assumed that Titania, Uranus' biggest moon, would maintain interior heat due to the warmth produced by radioactive decay. The radioactive decay of materials such as uranium and thorium produces 50% of the heat emitted by our planet. READ ALSO: Uranus' Glowing Rings, 27 Moons Captured in First Images Shared by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Digging Into the Composition of Oceans in Uranus' Moons Scientists are studying the composition of the oceans on Uranus's largest moons to learn more about the materials that might be present on the moons' icy surfaces, Phys.org reported. If substances underneath are pushed up from below by geological activity, this could provide evidence of a subsurface ocean. Telescopes have revealed that Ariel has material that may have flowed onto its surface from icy volcanoes, while the surface features on Miranda suggest that it may have held an ocean at some point, although it is now likely frozen. While internal heat is not the only factor contributing to a moon's subsurface ocean, the study found that chlorides and ammonia are likely abundant in the oceans of the icy giant's largest moons. Ammonia has been shown to operate as an antifreeze, and the modeling shows that salts presumably present in the water would be another source of antifreeze to maintain the internal structure of the oceans. Further work is needed to develop new models for different assumptions on the origin of the moons to guide planning for future observations. RELATED ARTICLE: Two Uranus Moons Might Be Harboring Active Oceans That Release Materials to Space, Research Suggests Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times. KHARTOUM, May 5 (Xinhua) -- As the fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) enters the fourth week, the residents of the Sudanese capital Khartoum are confronted with more hardships due to a lack of basic services. Residents in Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri (Khartoum North) are going through a serious crisis that features a short supply of bread, water and electricity as well as the exposure of water and electricity facilities to military strikes. On Friday, people who fled shortly after the fighting are left with no choices but to re-emerge in a number of neighborhoods in the Sudanese capital, where they are seeking to buy some bread and other necessities. Only a few bakeries are still open in the three cities of the capital, but they are unable to supply enough food due to the severe shortage of flour, ongoing power outages, and the lack of cooking gas. To solve the problems, Sudanese Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim announced on Friday the establishment of two committees, one for handling humanitarian emergencies and the other for monitoring the flow of goods and services. "We are making every effort with the parties to provide food and fuel," Ibrahim said in a statement on Friday. "Safe passages must be kept open for medical staff to reach their workplaces, and for engineers to fix electricity and water problems," he said. Several hospitals are out of service due to a shortage in medicines. According to the Sudanese Doctors Union, medical staff are unable to reach hospitals, and health facilities have either been destroyed or seized and turned into military barracks. "We reject any military presence inside medical facilities," the union said in a statement on Friday. The union urged the conflicting parties to "prevent the armed presence in or near medical facilities and medical institutions, stop using them as bombing platforms, and stop turning them into a battlefield." Additionally, Internet services are hardly accessible to the residents of Khartoum, who are also facing difficulties in communicating through the main telecommunications networks. Due to repeated power outages and fuel shortage, the telecommunications sector in Sudan has had a tough time in providing services to subscribers ever since the clashes broke out between the army and the RSF on April 15. MTN Communication Sudan announced on Friday that it had to suspend all services provided to subscribers in Khartoum because of power outages at its facilities. "The generators' fuel could not be transported due to the current circumstances. We appeal to the concerned authorities to find urgent solutions," the company said in a statement on its Facebook account. Meanwhile, the clashes between the army and the RSF continued on Friday despite the two sides earlier this week had agreed to a seven-day truce extension proposed by the regional African bloc Inter-Governmental Authority on Development. The Sudanese Army said on Friday that it has sent negotiators to the Saudi port city of Jeddah to discuss the humanitarian truce as part of a Saudi-American initiative to end the conflict in the African country. Sudan has been witnessing deadly armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF in the capital city of Khartoum and other areas since mid-April, with the two sides accusing each other of initiating the conflict. According to UN statistics, thousands of Sudanese citizens have been displaced or forced to seek refuge in safe areas in Sudan and neighboring countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia and Chad. So far, the deadly clashes have left 550 people dead and 4,926 others wounded, according to the Sudanese health ministry. UNITED NATIONS, May 5 (Xinhua) -- There will be 19 million acutely food-insecure people in Sudan in three to six months if the conflict continues, UN humanitarians warned Friday. The situation in Sudan is increasingly dire, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It relayed the grim prediction from the World Food Programme (WFP), which reported that the number of acutely food insecure people in Sudan would increase between 2 million and 2.5 million people in the next three to six months if the current conflict continues. That would bring the total number of food-insecure people to 19 million. The states expected to see the highest food insecurity in the coming months are North and West Darfur, West Kordofan, Blue Nile and Red Sea, according to the WFP. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the agency and its partners will need 445 million U.S. dollars to support an outflow of refugees from Sudan, now estimated at 860,000 people. The number includes refugees who had fled violence in their countries to safety in Sudan and now are returning to their homelands to escape the fighting in Sudan. The fast movement of people has prompted the UNHCR to set up an online portal to update numbers daily of refugee and returnee arrivals in neighboring countries. The agency asked neighboring countries to keep their borders open to those fleeing the violence and urged all countries to allow civilians fleeing Sudan non-discriminatory access to their territories. It also requested the suspension of forced returns to Sudan, including those who previously had their asylum claims rejected. Sarah Ravani/The Chronicle A 41-year-old San Francisco resident was arrested Friday on suspicion of fatally stabbing a neighbor in San Franciscos Duboce Triangle, police said. Jesus Esparza was booked on charges of murder, illegal entry into an emergency area and resisting arrest, police said Saturday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 San Francisco Police Department Show More Show Less 2 of 3 San Francisco Police Department Show More Show Less 3 of 3 San Francisco Police Department Show More Show Less As Oakland officers investigated reports of several illegal sideshows overnight Friday, San Francisco police released photos of three seized vehicles they said were involved in an earlier stunt-driving event. Oakland officers said they witnessed dozens of vehicles in an illegal sideshow on the 1000 block of Oak Street shortly after 10 p.m. Police said they contained several vehicles in the area as the crowd began to disperse and are investigating the incident. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 1 of 2 Michael Weber/Chico Enterprise-Record Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Michael Weber/Chico Enterprise-Record Show More Show Less Chico police are investigating a mass shooting in which a 17-year-old girl was killed during the communitys third violent incident early Saturday. Six people were shot at a party on the 1000 block of Columbus Avenue just off the campus of California State University Chico, police said. Officers responded to the shooting at 3:26 a.m., about 30 minutes after responding to an altercation at the same address in which they arrested one suspect for brandishing a firearm, police said. Three more women said in court Friday that Bill Gene Hobbs grabbed them on their waist, shoulder and buttocks, adding to the growing list of women who testified this week in the 34-year-old mans trial. Five other women previously testified about chilling encounters with Hobbs, who faces 12 misdemeanor counts of sexual battery, battery and assault as well as one felony count of false imprisonment. Hobbs, who is still in custody but has attended his trial, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Two of the women who testified Friday, identified in court as Prescott D. and Elizabeth G., said their incidents with Hobbs took place in the Marina district. Prescott D. said she was standing outside her apartment talking to someone when Hobbs came up behind her, muttered something unintelligible, and wrapped his arm around her waist. In her state of shock, she said, she quickly wriggled away from him, punched in the code to her apartment, and rushed inside. Elizabeth G. testified that she was walking her dog on Chestnut Street when a person she later identified as Hobbs approached her. Hobbs grabbed her from behind, latched onto her and leaned in, craning his head toward her to look at her face, she said. After that, she said, he pulled her in tighter. Once she told him she didnt know him, she said he started walking away, but proceeded to yell things at her, including the phrase I only grabbed you, Elizabeth G. said. The encounter created enough commotion that passersby stopped to ask her if she was OK, she said. Another one of Hobbs accusers, identified in court as McCall M., said she was newly pregnant and on her morning walk to Starbucks in the Castro district when she realized a man wearing high visibility clothing was following her. Within moments, she said, she felt her buttock grabbed aggressively and soon realized the person was a stranger, she said. McCall M. said she confronted the person, who grinned and said he thought she was someone else before walking away. McCall M. said she contacted her husband, who was nearby, and that her husband later spotted Hobbs not far from where the alleged encounter occurred, after which they called police, she said. At the beginning of McCall M.s testimony, an alternate juror raised his hand and said he worked at that Starbucks and knew the witness, prompting Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman to swiftly excuse all the jurors and discuss how they should proceed with the trial. As it turned out, the alternate juror and McCall M. had spoken regularly some three to four times a week over four years and he was ultimately dismissed from the trial. Throughout Fridays testimony, Hobbs defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender Max Breecker, asked each of the witnesses repeatedly about what consequences they hoped would befall Hobbs. He also probed the victims who reported the incidents months after their encounters with Hobbs about what media coverage they had consumed before making their police reports. Two of the victims on Friday said they filed police reports after being made aware both through Facebook groups and Nextdoor that other women had encounters with a suspect who matched the same description. Breecker has previously said that news reports about Hobbs warped public perception of his client, and that every single woman who accused Hobbs of wrongdoing did so in response to this media coverage, referring to articles by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight and in other media outlets. But before the case gained widespread media coverage, San Francisco police said, they had been investigating multiple reports about a male committing suspicious acts toward females, whom prosecutors later determined was Hobbs. The trial is expected to continue Monday, with more witness statements from police officers set for next week. SFMTA A 30-year-old man was hospitalized Friday evening after being shot outside the Van Ness Muni Station, San Francisco police said. Officers responded around 4:08 p.m. to reports of a shooting at the area of Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue. Upon arriving, police provided aid to the shooting victim, who they said has life-threatening injuries. JOHANNESBURG, May 6 (Xinhua) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has deployed 880 soldiers to protect the power stations of the country's power utility Eskom, said the Presidency Saturday. "Members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) employed will assist the South African Police Service in protecting Eskom power stations around the country where sabotage, theft and other crimes may threaten the functioning of power stations and the supply of electricity," the Presidency said in a statement. The employment of the 880 soldiers started April 17 and will last until Oct. 17, 2023, according to the Presidency. The country employed 2,700 members of the SANDF to assist the police in protecting Eskom power stations from March 17 to April 17. The moves came as Eskom's power stations have been affected by sabotage and theft. South Africa has been experiencing a severe electricity crisis, with current load shedding or power cuts reaching more than 8 hours a day. Charles Sylvester has been a special-education teacher for over 20 years in San Francisco Unified School District. Hes seen plenty of ups and downs during that time, but in 2023 he encountered a career first. The district misreported his taxes. Thousands of dollars of payments were effectively missing. Are you kidding me? Sylvester said was his reaction when he saw his returns. But this was no joke. And it wasnt his first or only issue. Earlier in the year, he noticed that the district hadnt deposited funds into his 403(b) retirement account. For months. To this day, I spend hours poring over paychecks and waking up at 4 a.m. worrying about if I will be paid, Sylvester told me. Its become like an abusive relationship, only with an employer. He isnt alone. Over the past year, over 5,000 school district staff members have reported missing payroll, taxes misreported or delayed 403(b) payments. The cause of this abusive relationship is technical and somewhat obscure. But thats no excuse. In 2022, the school district transitioned from a 17-year-old payroll system to a new system dubbed EMPowerSF. Almost immediately, hundreds of employees reported payroll issues. Over a year later, those issues still persist, despite the district spending over $30 million on the new system. Thats almost $10,000 per teacher. This absurdity piqued my interest, as I worked for nearly a decade in the technology sector and implemented a similar payroll transition project when I led data science at a 400-person tech startup. I used this expertise to investigate the root cause of the San Francisco school districts payroll issues talking to current and former teachers, staff and Board of Education commissioners. To understand how we got here and how to keep problems like this from happening again its important to start at the beginning. 64 software bugs In 2019, the school district approved a $9.5 million contract with the consulting company Infosys to replace the payroll system that had been used for 17 years. The new system was originally set to go live in 2021 but wasnt rolled out until 2022, delays that raised costs by about $7 million. When the EMPowerSF system finally did go live, problems immediately emerged. Hundreds of teachers didnt get their paychecks. Months went by with no resolution. By the end of the summer of 2022, the district finally hired a consulting firm named Alvarez & Marsel to diagnose and audit the issue. Over the course of the year, the firms initial contract of $2.8 million was extended so it could stabilize the problem, costing the district another $8 million. In 2023, an additional $5 million was spent to finally fix the problem. What Alvarez & Marsels audit found was shocking: 64 software bugs had gone undetected in the EMPowerSF system for nearly a year, with 18 of the bugs affecting pay rules management, 12 bugs affecting the user interface, 7 affecting leave management, 7 affecting time management, 5 affecting benefits management and 15 bugs affecting other system protocols. These bugs resulted in employees being paid even after they were terminated, incorrect daily rates being set for paid leave during pregnancy disability and annual salary fields for certificated bi-weekly employees being incorrectly pro-rated. To add insult to injury, the same software underlying the EMPowerSF system had been used once before in a California school district. In 2007, Los Angeles Unified School District also launched a payroll system powered by the same software, and it also failed to pay teachers on time. Compounding matters, the San Francisco school district lacked personnel with the technical experience to support the implementation of the new system. To successfully implement a payroll transition, you need experienced financial operators, technical administrators and, perhaps most important, software engineers to transfer hundreds of thousands of records between systems. High-placed district sources told me there were few software engineers on its permanent staff. The district had to rely on the Infosys consultancy firm instead. SFUSDs job is education, not writing code, said Autumn Looijen, a software engineer and co-founder of the public school advocacy group SF Guardians, which investigated the district payroll debacle on behalf of her organization. The problem is, the school board approved a contract that relied on Infosys to build a software system but left SFUSD on the hook for fixing software bugs. A $15.8 million mistake So, what caused a critical service like a payroll system to fail so spectacularly? Talking to current and former district officials involved with the software implementation, one persistent issue kept emerging a lack of testing. First some technical context: In software engineering, whenever you transition between two software systems, an engineer typically ends the transition with a final step of something called parallel testing. Parallel testing is a standard protocol in which two systems are run simultaneously the old one and its replacement. This is necessary to compare and contrast differences in operations and catch potential discrepancies in the new system while ensuring no disruption of service. For the school district, this would have meant running the original payroll system alongside EMPowerSF before decommissioning the old system. Infosys was the contractor specifically hired to run the technical implementation of this project. According to several district officials who spoke to me anonymously due to the sensitivity of the issue, there was in fact little to no parallel testing performed during the implementation of the EMPowerSF system. The Chronicle is not naming them in accordance with its anonymous sources policy. This is a major engineering faux pas. Without parallel testing, you cant confirm that an individual teacher in one system had the same pay stub in the second. You cant confirm that teachers are still being paid after they change schools within the district. And you cant confirm that paid benefits during pregnancy leave are consistent between systems. It is a standardized practice to run parallel testing before going live on a new payroll system, so not doing so is a major violation of systems implementation methodology, said Jonathan Wen, a business technology consultant at Workday who has been advising and executing payroll implementations for over 15 years. When the payroll transition was occurring, there was no way for the new software system to implement rules or protocols from the old system. They merely lived in some staffers head. Ann Hsu, former Board of Education commissioner Senior school district staff who were present during the payroll transition told me that there were attempts at data quality checks after implementation. But by that point the difficulty of tracking payroll for over 9,000 employees created an unmanageable workload for the limited staff available. When asked why such a crucial step was missed during implementation, district staff I spoke with acknowledged a decision-making error. Operating under the (in hindsight naive) assumption that a modern software system couldnt possibly be worse than a 17-year-old one, the risk of transitioning without high-resolution testing was not fully understood. And even if Infosys warned district officials about the dangers of failing to parallel test, its contractors clearly did not put their foot down over the best practice a damning indictment for a company worth over $60 billion. Instead, they proceeded with only high-level data quality checks for which it charged the district $602,000 in May 2021 and later an additional $253,786. I reached out to Infosys multiple times for comment but did not receive a reply. This corner-cutting induced a much larger engineering faux pas that the school district had to spend an additional $15.8 million to fix. 10,410 support tickets These technical errors were just the tip of the iceberg. San Franciscos outdated bureaucracy and complex protocols gave the payroll transition a good chance of failing even if the engineering had been sound. Thats because the districts payroll protocols are inherently more complex than in the private sector. When I successfully transitioned payroll systems while leading the data team of a tech startup, the employee payroll rules were relatively easy. There was really just one type of employee and rules of compliance were universally standardized. And yet I still found the task daunting. At the San Francisco school district, however, there are two categories of employees: classified employees, including analysts and janitors, and certificated employees, including teachers and principals. These respective employee types demand different payroll rules. For instance, classified employees are paid biweekly while certificated employees are paid monthly. Classified employees also have nearly a dozen different labor agreements governing payroll schedules. The result is a complex series of rules and exceptions that govern employee payroll processes. Adding to this complexity, according to Ann Hsu, former Board of Education commissioner, is the underlying bureaucracy inherent in the school district namely the lack of almost any formal documentation of payroll protocols. One of the most shocking things I discovered while serving on the school board was the fact that many of SFUSDs processes are completely undocumented or nonexistent, she said. So, when the payroll transition was occurring, there was no way for the new software system to implement rules or protocols from the old system. They merely lived in some staffers head. According to Hsu, this lack of digital documentation meant that when a teacher changed position or moved to a different school within the district, there was often only one staffer who knew how to update that teachers record. There was no automated protocol to translate that procedure into EMPowerSF because it never existed in the original system it was all done manually. Another factor that cant be ignored is that this transition occurred at the height of the pandemic from 2020 to 2021. The virtual environment added complexities and contributed to burnout. Trying to virtually transition an offline system with a shortage of documented protocols was a huge bureaucratic bottleneck resulting in 10,410 support tickets requesting assistance in the new software system since it launched in January 2022. The average time to respond to an individual ticket was 102 days, according to the districts data. It was a quagmire where no one person knew whose responsibility it was to solve the crisis at hand. Some improvement Things thankfully started to turn a corner about a year after the launch of EMPowerSF. In the fall of 2022, the district created a 60-person command center that centralized efforts from its staff, Alvarez & Marsel consultants, Infosys personnel and payroll specialists to fix the 64 software bugs as well as manage the backlog of employee complaints. As of this writing, support tickets were down to about 2,500 open tickets from the original 10,410 tickets, and only about 1,900 staff members remain affected, compared to over 5,000 at the beginning of the resolution process. Additional staff hired under new contracts approved by the school board performed manual reconciliation of data systems and updated the payroll systems to accurately pay employees. Importantly, the new contract approved in February 2023 with InfoSys and Alvarez & Marsel ensures payments are made based on performance and completion of objectives rather than time-based milestones. The district is moving toward a resolution, but the question will always remain at what cost? Trust is inherently broken, said Sylvester, the teacher whose taxes were misreported. If SFUSD doesnt make good on this failure, why would a single teacher want to remain in San Francisco? The primary lesson to be taken from the payroll debacle should be the cascading effects of government bureaucracy and the necessity of a comprehensive citywide organizational transformation. Complicated city rules make already complicated projects even more difficult and wind up hurting the very people they were intended to help. If San Franciscos bureaucracy makes it difficult to accomplish something as seemingly simple as paying a teacher on time, imagine what it portends for solving the rest of the challenges we face as a city. In a politically healthy city, Cyn Wang would be embraced by the local Democratic Party. She might even be touted in campaign ads. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she married a woman from Mexico who just got her green card last week. She serves on the entertainment commission promoting nightlife, helps run her familys small insurance business, sends her daughter to her neighborhood public school, and worked in the Obama administration as a diplomat in the foreign service. Shes a registered Democrat and has been active in Democratic politics since high school. She voted for Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 presidential primary and Joe Biden in the general election. She calls herself an intersectional feminist in her Twitter bio and considers todays Republican Party the biggest threat to our democracy. But are she and her political allies really Democrats or are they Republicans playing pretend? This is the ludicrous question that has emerged in San Francisco where many liberal leaders have chosen to embrace zero-sum politics rather than a shared opportunity to fix the citys biggest problems. Wang and other parents living on the citys sleepy, politically moderate west side asked the San Francisco Democratic Party last week to charter their new club, the Westside Family Democratic Club. They want to register more voters in Districts One, Four and Seven in time for next years big elections and persuade families to get involved in civic life rather than bail on our struggling city. But party members rebuffed them over a host of ill-defined concerns: They invited Supervisor Joel Engardio, a leader in last years school board recall movement, to an event! Their members include some well-off families! They say theyre Democrats, but what if theyre actually closeted Republicans? What if Republicans are funneling dark money into their bank accounts? In the most out-of-nowhere chatter of all, some party members speculated that the club co-founders are racist. My mouth was agape, Wang said, expressing a shock shared by many San Franciscans these days over the meanness in local politics and the political orthodoxy in some progressive circles. Those allegations could not be more false. We dont have any funders! We probably have less than $100 in our account, she continued. Fighting systemic racism is one reason Im involved in local Democratic politics. To me, it lifted the veil on how narrow of a definition they have of what being a Democrat means. San Francisco politics have long been toxic, but the blue-vs.-blue infighting has grown particularly nasty in recent years. Too often, debate jumps from what would be a small disagreement anywhere else to, Youre a Republican-backed, Trump-supporting monster! Common ground has been ceded to groundless accusations. And in this case, the rejection matters beyond hurt feelings. San Franciscos Democratic County Central Committee or the D triple-C to local political nerds is a little-known yet powerful group of people elected by party members in both of the citys assembly districts. Democrats elected to office at the state and federal level also get votes on the committee. The committee holds a lot of sway with its endorsements; a seal of approval from the San Francisco Democrats can vault local candidates into office. They also charter local clubs 23 are listed on the partys website that can also endorse candidates, register voters and advocate for issues. Very few clubs exist on the west side or to promote issues important to families, leaving a big hole in a party thats supposed to be inclusive. Wang wanted to create a more welcoming party, including families with young children. She helped form the nonprofit San Francisco Parent Coalition, which supported the recall of two of the three school board members last year, and then teamed up with a few other politically involved parents to launch the new club. Among them are Robin Pam, who started Kid Safe SF and the campaign to make car-free JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park permanently car-free; Parag Gupta, chief program officer at Mercy Housing, a nonprofit that builds affordable units; Sara Barz, a product manager at Apple and a Slow Streets supporter; and Maco Stewart, a privacy lawyer at Salesforce. The club wants to improve the citys public schools, make its streets cleaner and safer, get more housing built and strengthen public transit a platform most Democrats across the political spectrum say they support. They met all the criteria to get chartered, including getting enough registered Democrats to join and filling out the proper paperwork. They figured the Zoom meeting with party leaders would be a breeze. They figured wrong. Some members of the DCCC grilled them intensely, made baseless accusations and then voted to table their chartering request. Janice Li, a DCCC member who voted against tabling the effort, said the outcome reflected the citys intense polarization. Its that You cant sit with us mentality that makes me very uncomfortable with the state of San Francisco politics, Li said. Its very, Youre not even allowed in. Its very Mean Girls. Li was referring to the 2004 comedy starring Lindsay Lohan as a new kid at a high school ruled by a trio of popular girls who cast out anybody whos not exactly like them. Its based on a book about cliques called Queen Bees and Wannabes. In this case, the DCCC Queen Bees told Wang and her fellow Wannabes that the party suspects theyre DINOs (Democrats in Name Only), secretly funded by Republicans and perhaps even racist. Based on what? Turns out, not much. Before the chartering discussion began, the DCCC heard public comment and two people opposed the charter. Brandee Marckmann, who staunchly opposed the school board recall, said DCCC members should think twice because the Westside Family Democratic Club invited Engardio to one of its events. I know a Republican when I see one, Marckmann said of Engardio and the club founders, all Democrats. Tenant activist Jordan Davis also opposed the charter, saying the word family is a common dog whistle on the right, that the club would be a funnel for Republican dark money and that the club wants to turn San Francisco into a bland-ass gated community. F you, Westside Family Democratic Club! Davis shouted into the computer screen. I yield my time! F you! In a normal city, these comments wouldnt be enough to undo a clubs chances. But soon, DCCC members were grilling Gupta, who defended the club over Zoom. The harsh questioning transpired remarkably like the infamous 2021 school board meeting in which the commissioners wouldnt let a gay dad volunteer on a parent council with lots of empty seats and nobody else wanting to fill them because hes white. In this case, the DCCC asked Gupta about the club members income levels, racial backgrounds, sexual orientations and gender identities. They asked for the members positions on the school board recall and building market-rate housing. They asked why they used the word family in their club name. They asked whether the club members are really Democrats, whether theyre secretly taking money from Republicans and whether theyre racist. Gupta, looking shell-shocked, gamely tried to answer their questions, but acknowledged he hadnt quizzed all the clubs members on details like how they voted in a recall 15 months ago. Were just starting out, Gupta told his inquisitors. We seek to be an inclusive club, and we seek to be representative of all demographics, genders, races and inclusive of all families. If someone considers themselves a family, we consider them a family. His admirable attempt to answer these questions wasnt good enough. DCCC member Keith Baraka moved to table the chartering of the club. Honey Mahogany, the DCCC chairperson, stuck up for the group, reminding members that the club met the chartering requirements and had the right to form, but her instructions went unheeded. Most club members abstained from the vote, but six voted with Baraka, enough to kill the clubs chances for now. Baraka told me after the vote his concerns had stemmed purely from the two public commenters, but that he had a fruitful discussion with Wang afterward and will support the club if it comes back for a vote. Its unclear whether others will join him. Peter Gallotta, a DCCC member who voted to table the chartering, told me after the meeting that hes not clear why the group wants to be a chartered club with the Democratic Party rather than an advocacy organization. I think we need to reform our application process so we have more, and better, information as members before we give a stamp of approval, he said. Mahogany said shell schedule another vote on the club soon and thinks the real reason for the pushback was that some DCCC members fear the Westside Family Democratic Club could help get a moderate challenger to Supervisor Connie Chan elected in District One next year. But, she pointed out, thats no reason not to grant a charter. This was really unprecedented, she said of the scrutiny and quashing of the club. The Democratic Party is a big tent, and we have people with different viewpoints. That, she said, is how we have a healthy democracy. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) Two workers were being treated for chemical burns Friday after one fell into a vat at a Grand Rapids electroplating plant, authorities said. The Grand Rapids Fire Department was sent on a hazardous materials call at Advance Plating & Finishing around 1:20 p.m., Capt. Bill Smith said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate CHICAGO (AP) Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a "vast wasteland," died Saturday. He was 97. Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow. He wanted to be at home, she told The Associated Press. He had a good life. Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television. "My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be," Minow once said. "After all, the airways belong to the people." Minow was appointed as FCC chief by President John F. Kennedy in early 1961. He had initially come to know the Kennedys in the 1950s as an aide to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, the Democrats' presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956. Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives on May 9, 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day, "without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you." "I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland," he told them. "You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials many screaming, cajoling and offending." As he spoke, the three networks were just about all most viewers had to choose from. Pay television was barely in the planning stage, PBS and "Sesame Street" were several years away, and HBO and niche channels such as Animal Planet were far in the future. The speech caused a sensation. "Vast wasteland" became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, "Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin' da quality of television. ... At least, Newt, we're tryin'." Minow became the first government official to get a George Foster Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. The New York Times critic Jack Gould (himself a Peabody winner) wrote, "At long last there is a man in Washington who proposes to champion the interests of the public in TV matters and is not timid about ruffling the industry's most august feathers. Tonight some broadcasters were trying to find dark explanations for Mr. Minow's attitude. In this matter the viewer possibly can be a little helpful; Mr. Minow has been watching television." CBS President Frank Stanton strongly disagreed, calling Minow's comments a "sensationalized and oversimplified approach" that could lead to ill-advised reforms "on the ground that any change is a change for the better." For the criticism over his speech, Minow said he didnt support censorship, preferring exhortation and measures to broaden public choices. But he also said a broadcasting license was "an enormous gift" from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public. His daughter, Nell Minow, told The Associated Press in 2011 that her father loved television and wished he would have been remembered for championing the public interest in television programming, rather than just a few words in his much broader speech. His No. 1 goal was to give people choice, she said. Among the new laws during his tenure were the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, that required that TV sets pick up UHF as well as VHF broadcasts, which opened up TV channels numbered above 13 for widespread viewing. Congress also passed a bill that provided funds for educational television, and measures to foster communications satellites. In a September 2006 interview on National Public Radio, Minow recalled telling Kennedy that such satellites were "more important than sending a man into space. ... Communications satellites will send ideas into space, and ideas live longer than people." On July 10, 1962, Minow was one of the officials making statements on the first live trans-Atlantic television program, a demonstration of AT&T's Telstar satellite. Children's programming was a particular interest of Minow, a father of three, who told broadcasters the few good children's shows were "drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. ... Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day." Minow resigned in May 1963 to become executive vice president and general counsel for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. in Chicago. Nell Minow said her father also was instrumental in getting presidential debates televised, starting with Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, after watching Stevenson struggle to use the new medium during his 1956 presidential run. Minow was appalled by ... the whole charade of having to image-make on television, said Craig Allen, a mass communications professor at Arizona State University who wrote a 2001 book about Minow. In 1965, Minow returned to his law practice in Chicago, and later served as board member at PBS, CBS Inc. and the advertising company Foote Cone & Belding Communications Inc. He was director of the Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University. He also gave Barack Obama a summer job at the law firm, where the future president met his wife, Michelle Robinson. Minow also was one of Obamas earliest supporters when the then-Illinois senator considered running for president, Nell Minow said. Television is one of our century's most important advances "and yet, as a nation, we pay no attention to it," Minow said in a 1991 Associated Press interview. He continued to push for reforms such as free airtime for political ads and more quality programming while also praising advances in diversity in U.S. television. "In 1961, I worried that my children would not benefit much from television. But in 1991 I worry that my grandchildren will actually be harmed by it," he said. ___ Former Associated Press writer Polly Anderson in New York contributed to this story. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate LONDON (AP) In the fairy-tale ending to the ancient pageantry in which King Charles III was crowned monarch, he stepped into a gilded horse-drawn carriage with his queen and rode off to his palace. Following closely behind was Prince William, his eldest son and heir, along with his family, including 9-year-old Prince George who is second in line to the throne. The king's youngest son was nowhere to be seen. On his father's biggest day, Prince Harry arrived at Westminster Abbey alone and he left alone. The disgruntled Duke of Sussex was assigned to sit two rows behind his brother. His isolation was likely the result of him quitting his royal duties and, thus, no longer ranking as a senior family member as well as alienating himself from his father and brother by airing grievances and telling palace secrets in his explosive best-selling memoir, Spare. If anyone was hoping the coronation would help break the ice between Harry and his brother, who were once so close, they are sure to have been disappointed. The siblings were not seen speaking or even acknowledging each other during the ceremony. After months of speculation about whether he would attend, it was announced about three weeks ago that Harry would come alone, leaving behind his wife, Meghan, and their two young children at their Southern California home. Harry and Meghan, who is biracial, left royal life and moved to the U.S. in 2020 after complaining about intense scrutiny and racist attitudes from the British press. In a six-part Netflix series, they lobbed other criticisms at the royal family, alleging racial bias. In January, Harry dropped his bombshell book dishing family dirt along with intimate details about losing his virginity behind a pub at 17, taking drugs and killing enemies in Afghanistan. The book was particularly unflattering toward his stepmother, Camilla, who was once blamed for wrecking his father's marriage to his mother, the late Princess Diana. He accused Camilla of leaking private conversations to the media to rehabilitate her own image after marrying Charles. Buckingham Palace had announced before the coronation that Harry and the kings brother, Prince Andrew, would not have any role in the service. Andrew, the Duke of York, relinquished royal duties after revelations about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He was later stripped of his honorary military titles and patronages and settled a lawsuit with a woman who said she was forced to have sex with him when she was a teenager. William played a prominent role, kneeling at his father's feet, pledging his loyalty and then kissing him on the cheek. George served as page boy, helping to carry the train of his grandfather's robes. Harry entered the cavernous church in a black custom Dior three-piece suit with coattails. An honorary cross hung around his neck and military medals were pinned to the left side of his chest. He nodded, waved and spoke a few words to clergy and several guests already seated. He proceeded along behind his cousin, Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, who followed her father, Andrew. They all sat in the same row. During the two-hour spectacle, keen attention was focused on Harry by the media and royal watchers. He appeared to join the congregation in one of many refrains of God save the king during the pomp- and music-filled ceremony. Some British tabloids even consulted professional lip-readers to interpret what Harry was saying. The Daily Mirror revealed that it appeared he said, hello, morning and nice to see you when he entered the church. Harry has vowed to make media reform part of his mission in life. He has filed several lawsuits against the publishers of British tabloids for a phone-hacking scandal dating back more than a decade. His trial against the publisher of the Mirror begins Wednesday in the High Court. Harry is expected to testify in June. After the carriages departed from the church, Harry was seen waiting for a car. He was later seen at Heathrow Airport. His son, Archie, turned 4 on Saturday and it was said he was headed back for his birthday. A short while later, King Charles III and Queen Camilla stepped out onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace to wave to the crowd gathered below. They were joined by William, his wife, Kate, three children and other senior royals. COVID-19 no longer int'l health emergency: WHO Xinhua) 08:19, May 06, 2023 Photo taken on Jan. 30, 2023 shows logos of the World Health Organization (WHO) at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (Xinhua/Lian Yi) As of May 3, 2023, there have been more than 765 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, including over 6.9 million deaths, reported to WHO, according to the UN agency's statistics. GENEVA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that the COVID-19 pandemic no longer constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the WHO's highest alert level. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, made the announcement at a virtual press conference from Geneva. The WHO first gave COVID-19 its highest level of alert on Jan. 30, 2020, and a panel of global health experts has continued to apply the label ever since, at meetings held every three months. The last experts' meeting was held on Thursday. "Yesterday, the Emergency Committee met for the fifteenth time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (for COVID-19)," said Tedros, chief of the global health watchdog. "I have accepted that advice. It's therefore, with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," he added. The number of weekly reported deaths is at its lowest since the pandemic began, and in most countries, life has returned to "normal," said Tedros earlier in a WHO report. In March 2020, WHO characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic while the novel coronavirus continued to spread worldwide. As of May 3, 2023, there have been more than 765 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, including over 6.9 million deaths, reported to WHO, according to the UN agency's statistics. People walk past a memorial installation for those who died of COVID-19 outside Green-Wood Cemetery in New York, the United States, on June 14, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) Tedros said that the true figure was "likely" closer to 20 million deaths -- nearly three times the official estimate -- and he warned that the virus remained a significant threat. The lowering of alert level "does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat," he said at the press conference, alongside senior WHO officials in charge of emergencies program, technical issues on COVID-19, alert and response coordination, immunization vaccines and biologicals, epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention. On Wednesday, in its report on preparedness and response, WHO called on countries to transit from their critical emergency response activities to longer-term sustained COVID-19 disease prevention, control and management. "As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its fourth year, we have every reason for hope," Tedros said in the report. The WHO has outlined three objectives in the report: reduce the circulation of SARS-CoV-2; diagnose and treat COVID-19 to reduce mortality, morbidity and long-term sequelae; support countries as they transition from an emergency response to longer-term sustained COVID-19 disease prevention, control and management. A poster showing measures against the COVID-19 is seen in the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, Dec. 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong) "COVID-19 has changed our world and it has changed us," Tedros said at Friday's press conference, warning that the risk of new variants still remained. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Press Release May 5, 2023 CHIZ SEEKS PAY UPGRADE OF PUBLIC DENTISTS Sen. Chiz Escudero wants an increase in the salary of some 2,000 dentists employed in the public sector to attract more dentists to enter and remain in government service. Escudero made the proposal under Senate Bill 2082 or the Public Dentist Salary Modification Act, after co-authoring a measure that seeks to provide pay hikes to thousands of public-school teachers. Based on Escudero's proposal, he is pushing to increase the entry level salary four notches up to P43,030--which at present is the equivalent of Salary Grade (SG) l7--from the current P31,320 or SG-13. "One of the primary reasons why the government fails in recruiting dentists is the disparity between the authorized remuneration for public dentists and the potential income dentists could earn in private practice," he said. "Private dental practice can potentially earn more than what the government can offer, and without the stringent requirements and restrictions that come with employment in the civil service." Citing a report from the National Database of Selected Human Resources for Health, the veteran legislator said there are only 1,943 dentists employed in the public sector as of December 2022, leaving only one public dentist to cater to the oral health needs of about 57,423 Filipinos. "Kulang na kulang ang bilang ng ating mga dentista na nasa gobyerno. With the proposed salary adjustment, hopefully, we will be able to retain our existing dentists in the public sector and attract new ones as well," the senator from Sorsogon pointed out. SB 2082 seeks to modify the salary grade schedule for dentists employed by all agencies and instrumentalities of government, including national government agencies, government-owned and -controlled corporations, state universities and colleges, and local government units. Aside from putting the Dentist I position to SG-17, the other levels are likewise adjusted to the following: SG-20 for Dentist II (P57,347); SG-23 (P71,511) for Dentist III; SG-25 (P102,690) for Dentist IV; SG-27 (P131,124) for Dentist V; SG-29 (P167,432) for Dentist VI; and SG-30 (P189,199) for Dentist VII. "I am hopeful that through this intervention, more students would be enticed to study dentistry and more qualified dentists will enter and remain in government service," Escudero stressed. Last year, Escudero co-authored with Senator Sonny Angara SB 324 which sought to adjust the SG entry level of public- school teachers from SG-11 (P27,000) to SG-19 (P51,357). The bill is still pending before the following committees: Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation, Basic Education, and Finance. TOKYO, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Japanese police on Saturday served an additional arrest warrant on the suspect in an attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last month, alleging he illegally manufactured explosives. Ryuji Kimura, who allegedly threw an explosive toward Kishida during a campaign event in western Japan's Wakayama City on April 15, was served the fresh warrant on suspicion of making about 530 grams of gunpowder around between November 2022 and April 15 this year without permission in violation of the gunpowder control law. Wakayama prefectural police suspect that Kimura made explosives using gunpowder as metal cylinders and tools were seized from his home. The 24-year-old was arrested on the scene on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business for allegedly throwing an explosive device at Kishida just before the prime minister was about to make a stump speech in Wakayama. A policeman and an audience were slightly injured after the cylinder exploded while Kishida was unhurt. Im standing on the edge of a point on Angel Island, looking out at San Francisco, which is obscured by a cottony layer of fog. The city isnt too far away, and the blue and green bay waters are clearly visible, but here at Point Stuart, Im still finding it easy to imagine the isolation of living in the middle of the bay a hundred or so years ago. Back then, there was a lighthouse just below this spot and a keeper who lived here to maintain it. The ships on the bay brought supplies to San Francisco, and the thick summer fog could mean disaster for boats passing close to the islands rocky shores. It also meant that living in a lighthouse on the island was a relatively solitary experience, despite the fact that today Angel Island is only a 15-minute ferry trip from the city. Once the Point Blunt lighthouse was built in 1960, Angel Island had three lighthouses the only place in the U.S. that could make this claim. But by that time, the island was already on its way to becoming the state park Im visiting today. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE) (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE) Once you leave Angel Islands busy paved perimeter road behind, the life of a lighthouse keeper doesnt feel so far away. This hike to Point Stuart seems a world apart even from the tiny town of Tiburon, which I can see just over my right shoulder. Its so peaceful standing here, with the entire bay in view and all its bustle removed. Its the first time Ive ever hiked this trail, even though Ive been to Angel Island many times. Its nowhere to be found on any island guides; they cover its history as an immigration station and a military installation, mostly. Instead, I was led on this hike via a Google Maps search and a childrens book about Juliet Fish Nichols, a lighthouse keeper who kept a warning fog bell ringing for three days and nights on the island, by hand, after the machinery that operated it unexpectedly broke down. This happened just after the 1906 earthquake, when delivering supplies to the city was crucial, and no one had the capacity to handle an additional disaster, like a shipwreck. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Just like in Nichols day, the area feels secluded, except for my hiking companions a group of families, including the dad responsible for finding this stellar hidden hike. When I hang back from the crowd for a bit, all I can hear is the wind whipping around my head. Im surrounded by tall grasses and clumps of wildflowers. To begin our hike, we started from the ferry terminal and headed up the road past the cafe and tram stop, turning right on the Perimeter Road toward the city. This paved path around the island doesnt have much of an incline and is a good walk by itself, though its well-publicized and well-traversed, both by hikers and the islands frequent tram tours. Along the way, we passed glorious bushes of Pride of Madeira, a spiky purple bloom native to Portugal. For a time, Angel Island was overtaken by nonnative plants like these, especially European grasses, which are annuals that go brown in the summer. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE After about a quarter mile, we turned off the Perimeter Road above Camp Reynolds, where the Coast Miwok once established camps to hunt and fish (they used Point Stuart, too). We picked up the Point Stuart Loop trial near a derelict building, a public restroom and a bike campsite. Its a narrow path through the native plants that are again thriving on the island: brush like manzanita, chamise, sage and toyon. And wildflowers, too, once we wound our way into the open. By the time we reached the point, my iNaturalist app was working overtime. It was a blessing I had cell service, because I could take photos of the flowers I spotted and get instant IDs to please the kids and moms with us, who were full of questions about the bright blooms. (The Angel Island Conservancy also has its own app with photos of area flora, so cell service is less crucial to using it.) Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Blooming flora on Angel Island, clockwise from top left: California Poppies; Japanese bindweed; yellow bush lupine; Morison's spurry wildflowers. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE) Blooming flora on Angel Island, clockwise from top left: California Poppies; Japanese bindweed; yellow bush lupine; Morison's spurry wildflowers. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE) We saw the pale purple blossoms known as blue dicks, a baby pink variety of fluffy lupine Id never seen before, and small, low blue-eyed grass, whose purple petals and yellow middles make them look like they have eyes. The trail meanders along the narrow spine of the point out to the edge of the island, with fantastic views. To our right, white-sailed boats passed back and forth in Raccoon Strait, the narrow waterway that separates Angel Island from Tiburon. Its colors rival the Caribbean on sunny days, with tropical aqua tones close to the shore. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE On the other side was the city, also winding its way precariously along a point above the bay. It wore its white shrug of fog, and then once we departed the point, the clouds had faded away. Ahead of us over the water stood the Golden Gate Bridge, also draped in a foggy cloak. The lighthouse was somewhere below us, out of view (pictures online from locals show it can be spotted from the water, clinging to the island). Joyce Pedersen Shulman via Flickr Creative Commons 2.0 One of us read aloud Caroline Arnolds Keeper of the Light: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog to the kids, who were rapt at the story. I thought about being alone on the island, watching from afar the devastation happening in the city on April 18, 1906, and in the days after. At that time, the lighthouse on Point Stuart hadnt been built yet Nichols was stationed to the south, at Point Knox, the original 1886 lighthouse. We call it a lighthouse, but it doesnt look like a lighthouse we imagine, Arnold, the books author, told SFGATE. Its a fog bell station. The bell was a 3,000-pound bronze bell mounted on a platform. The lighthouse keeper, who in this case was Juliet Nichols, would wind the machine that struck the bell at regular intervals. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE The bell is still there at Point Knox, Arnold said, positing that it was just too heavy to move when the lighthouse closed. With binoculars, and even the naked eye, you can see it from Point Stuart, but you have to know what youre looking for. (You cant get to Point Knox anymore on foot.) In Nichols day, she had to walk 151 steps down a cliff just to get to the fog bell. She was one of three female lighthouse keepers working in California in the early 1900s, according to Arnold. As a job for a woman [at that time], when you think about it, you have to be healthy and strong, you have to be willing to live alone, she said. We have to admire these women. Nichols is remarkable, to be sure. So is the fact that her valiant efforts, memorialized more than a century later, can still capture the attention of modern schoolchildren. And its also remarkable that her story helped us find a hidden hike, to a great view, along a path dotted with wildflowers in our ever-more-bustling Bay Area. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Ferries leave for Angel Island from Tiburon from Wednesday to Sunday and seven days a week from San Franciscos Ferry Terminal. The Point Stuart Loop Trail is reached from the Perimeter Road above Camp Reynolds, about a quarter mile from the ferry landing. The hike is about 2 miles round trip. WALPOLE, Mass. (AP) A Massachusetts school didnt follow its own guidance when a 9-year-old special-needs student who is Black was handcuffed by police at school and then taken to a hospital where he was held in an adult unit until he was released to his mother, a civil rights group says. The group Lawyers for Civil Rights sent a letter to the Walpole public schools and police department asking for an apology for the family and proof of restraint training for school resource officers when dealing with special-needs students. The family is also exploring all legal options to hold the school and police accountable. The boy was having a mental health crisis on Jan. 12, 2023 when, instead of following a prescribed treatment system, staff called the school resource officer who called for police backup, the group said. In a description of the event posted by Lawyers for Civil Rights, Erika Richmond, an attorney with the group, said in a Wednesday news release that the incident exemplifies the adultification of Black children, a form of discrimination where Black children are perceived and treated as older than they are. The boy in this case was described as big for his age and stronger than he looks. "Because of this bias, a situation that could easily have been de-escalated instead led to a young Black boy being handcuffed and held in adult custody, Richmond said. Richmond said the student, who has attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other needs, also has a history of being afraid of police. So when the police began to surround him, he tried to leave the classroom, which was when he was placed in handcuffs. The child was taken to an adult psychiatric ward for an evaluation and was released to his mother after it was determined he was not a danger to himself or others. In a statement distributed to media organizations, Walpole Police Chief Richard M. Kelleher confirmed that his department respond to an elementary school in January to assist staff with a student, but he declined to say more. Walpole school Superintendent Bridget Gough did not address the issue directly, but said, Walpole Schools are committed to the safety and education of all of our students, regardless of race or other protected characteristics. HONOLULU (AP) An investigation found that a spill of about 1,300 gallons of fire suppressant at a fuel facility in Hawaii was caused by a maintenance contractor improperly installing an air vacuum valve, U.S. military officials said Friday. Aqueous Film Forming Foam, which is used to suppress fires caused by flammable liquids, contain PFAS, a class of chemicals that are slow to degrade in the environment. The firefighting foam liquid concentrate was spilled in November at the Red Hill Bulk Storage Facility near Pearl Harbor. The concentrate pooled on the floor inside the facility and then seeped under a door and onto a paved access road and soil, the military said. The contractor improperly installed an air vacuum valve to the foam system in April 2022, the military said in a statement. The individual also failed to disable the foam concentrate pumps from automatically starting prior to conducting fire suppression system testing on Nov. 29, 2022, which cause the uncontrolled discharge. The statement said, stricter safeguards and more assertive Navy oversight should have been in place to reduce the risk of this type of mishap. In 2021, jet fuel spilled from a drain line at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. It flowed into a drinking water well and then into the Navys water system, which serves 93,000 people in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Nearly 6,000 people sought medical attention, complaining of ailments such as nausea, headaches and sores. The military put about 4,000 families in hotels for several months. The spills have contributed to distrust of the military in the community. Navy Vice Adm. John Wade apologized at a news conference announcing the findings of the investigation into the firefighting foam spill, Hawaii News Now reported. Navy groundwater monitoring sample results in the affected area after the November spill showed no exceedances of PFAS based on state and federal screening levels, the military said. PFAS an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances were developed as coatings to protect consumer goods from stains, water and corrosion. Studies of lab animals given large amounts of PFAS have found that some of the chemicals may affect growth and development, reproduction, thyroid function, the immune system and the liver. MILWAUKEE (AP) Police officers trying to disperse a large, late night crowd in Milwaukee shot and wounded two people who were shooting handguns. The crowd was engaged in reckless behavior" and it was during the dispersal attempts about 11 p.m. Friday that several individuals started firing shots, the Milwaukee Police Department said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate KENT State police say a North Carolina psychiatrist who vanished in a hilly wooded area along the Appalachian Trail was found alive Friday "safe and sound," a DEEP spokesperson said. "The missing adult female has been safely located and is being treated by emergency services," Troop L, of Litchfield, said in a Facebook post around 5:10 p.m. Friday. "We thank everyone for the help!" Marta Renee Bowen was located several miles south of her last known location, DEEP spokesperson Paul Copleman said Friday evening. Copleman said Bowen was rescued after she came across other hikers on the trail Friday and was able to call 911 from a cellphone. She is being evaluated at an area hospital, Copleman said. "This is a dynamic incident that is still evolving," Copleman said. Bowen was last seen at her campsite at one of the lean-to structures constructed for hikers when she stopped Tuesday for the night with two friends, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said. Her companions noticed Bowen was missing around 8 or 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to Copleman. State police said Bowen had left behind her hiking gear and cellphone. DEEP officials surmised Bowen may have gotten up in the night and become lost. Records show Bowen holds a medical doctor's license in North Carolina as a psychiatrist with Central Regional Hospital in Butner, N.C. "We recently learned of this concerning news, and hope she is found and brought home safely," the hospital said in a statement before Bowen's rescue was announced. Bowen graduated in 1997 from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine before conducting her residency at St. John's Hospital at Southern Illinois University, records show. She had a fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York. Bowen's group was section-hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail when she went missing, DEEP spokesperson Paul Copleman said Friday. Copleman said the agency's environmental conservation police investigated leads from the public and used ATV and drones in its search. State police also used a helicopter, while a state police dive team was also assisting, Copleman said. During Friday's search effort, ATVs and a helicopter were again deployed, according to Copleman. DEEP and state police were assisted by volunteer firefighters with the Kent, Sherman and Warren departments Friday, he said. Signs were also posted along the Appalachian Trail. Bowen was described as a 60-year-old woman, standing about 5-foot-7. She has shoulder-length salt-and-pepper hair and was last seen wearing a maroon puffer jacket and gray sweat pants. Hikers often trek short portions of the more than 2,000-mile trail. A portion of the trail runs northeast through Kent from the New York state line, passing over Schaghticoke Mountain and the Pond Mountain Natural area. Kent First Selectman Jean Speck said she was concerned for Bowen and said she appreciated the efforts of firefighters, DEEP and state police to try and locate her. Were worried about her and were really hoping that shes OK," Speck said. OSCEOLA, Ind. (AP) Three men have been shot and wounded at a bar in northern Indiana. Officers were called to the business in Osceola about 2:10 a.m. Saturday for reports of multiple shooting victims, the St. Joseph County Police Department said in a news release. SAN DIEGO (AP) A drive-by shooting near a San Diego recreation center killed one person and wounded three others Friday evening, police said. Shots were fired from a car shortly after 7 p.m. at a parking lot near Montgomery-Waller Community Park in the Otay Mesa West neighborhood, police said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians during a military raid in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. A local armed group said the pair were militants. The deadly raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarem was the latest in Israeli-Palestinian violence that has surged since last year. The ministry and Tulkarem's branch of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group with connections to President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, identified the pair as Samer El Shafei and Hamza Kharyoush, both aged 22 years. The Israeli military said the two gunmen were suspected of carrying out a shooting attack at a nearby Israeli settlement earlier this week. An Israeli civilian was injured and vehicles were damaged during the shooting at the Avnei Hefetz Jewish settlement. Videos circulated on social media purportedly showed the lifeless bodies of the two gunmen lying on a tin roof as what appear to be Israeli security forces searched them. At one point, one of the members of the Israeli forces tried to flip one body as he partially took off the dead man's jeans. Palestinian media, citing witnesses, said soldiers left after ensuring the two were dead. The deaths raised to 104 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the start of the year. Israel has been staging near-nightly arrest raids into West Bank villages, towns and cities for more than a year in an operation prompted by a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year. Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the attacks as further entrenchment of Israels 56-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for a future independent state. Some 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the raids were launched. Israel says most have been militants, but stone-throwing youth and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. During that same time, nearly 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. This photo taken on May 4, 2023 shows a polling station for local elections in Manchester, Britain. Britain's ruling Conservative party has lost over 1,000 seats in local elections across England, latest election results showed on Friday. By Friday evening, 222 out of 230 councils had already declared their results, with the Conservatives losing control of 45 city halls and the party's 1,040 councilors lost their jobs in the process. However, the count will not be completed until Tuesday, when the last council, Redcar and Cleveland, announces its results. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua) LONDON, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Britain's ruling Conservative party has lost over 1,000 seats in local elections across England, latest election results showed on Friday. Senior Conservatives had predicted ahead of the elections that major losses were to be expected after 13 years in power. By Friday evening, 222 out of 230 councils had already declared their results, with the Conservatives losing control of 45 city halls and the party's 1,040 councilors lost their jobs in the process. However, the count will not be completed until Tuesday, when the last council, Redcar and Cleveland, announces its results. Labour was the biggest winner on the day, gaining over 518 seats, while the minority Liberal Democrat party won 410 seats and the Green Party got 241 seats. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that his party's losses were disappointing, but he did not believe there had been a massive movement towards the Labour Party. Labour leader Keir Starmer said his party was on course to win a majority at the next general election. Professor John Curtice, a polling expert, said that based on the current results Labour should be the leader in next year's parliamentary election. However, it is uncertain whether they will win an outright majority, he said. Under Britain's electoral rules, a general election must be called before the end of 2024. Professor John Bryson, a political expert from the University of Birmingham, told Xinhua that local elections should not necessarily be seen as indicative of voter behavior in a future general election. No political party in the country currently has a viable strategy to underpin sustainable growth and address the structural fiscal deficit that Britain has been experiencing for "far too long", Bryson said. A woman leaves a polling station for local elections in Manchester, Britain, May 4, 2023. Britain's ruling Conservative party has lost over 1,000 seats in local elections across England, latest election results showed on Friday. By Friday evening, 222 out of 230 councils had already declared their results, with the Conservatives losing control of 45 city halls and the party's 1,040 councilors lost their jobs in the process. However, the count will not be completed until Tuesday, when the last council, Redcar and Cleveland, announces its results. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua) A pedestrian walks past a polling station for local elections in Manchester, Britain, May 4, 2023. Britain's ruling Conservative party has lost over 1,000 seats in local elections across England, latest election results showed on Friday. By Friday evening, 222 out of 230 councils had already declared their results, with the Conservatives losing control of 45 city halls and the party's 1,040 councilors lost their jobs in the process. However, the count will not be completed until Tuesday, when the last council, Redcar and Cleveland, announces its results. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua) A woman leaves a polling station for local elections in Manchester, Britain, May 4, 2023. Britain's ruling Conservative party has lost over 1,000 seats in local elections across England, latest election results showed on Friday. By Friday evening, 222 out of 230 councils had already declared their results, with the Conservatives losing control of 45 city halls and the party's 1,040 councilors lost their jobs in the process. However, the count will not be completed until Tuesday, when the last council, Redcar and Cleveland, announces its results. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua) A man walks past a polling station for local elections in Manchester, Britain, May 4, 2023. Britain's ruling Conservative party has lost over 1,000 seats in local elections across England, latest election results showed on Friday. By Friday evening, 222 out of 230 councils had already declared their results, with the Conservatives losing control of 45 city halls and the party's 1,040 councilors lost their jobs in the process. However, the count will not be completed until Tuesday, when the last council, Redcar and Cleveland, announces its results. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua) LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) A Pakistani Sikh was killed by unknown assailants in a drive-by shooting in the eastern city of Lahore on Saturday, police said. The man, identified as Sardar Singh, was shot by gunmen riding on a motorcycle in Lahores residential neighborhood of Nawab Town. He was on a morning walk accompanied by his bodyguard when the attack happened, police said. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) After attending the coronation of King Charles III in London, Brazils President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denounced the lack of concerted efforts to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent four years in Britains Belmarsh Prison. It is an embarrassment that a journalist who denounced trickery by one state against another is arrested, condemned to die in jail and we do nothing to free him. Its a crazy thing, Lula told reporters. We talk about freedom of expression; the guy is in prison because he denounced wrongdoing. And the press doesn't do anything in defense of this journalist. I can't understand it. Lula offered the remarks in response to a question about Assange, who is a native Australian. He said he had forgotten to discuss the matter with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but that he would write to him upon returning to Brazil. Assange has been fighting extradition to the United States, and Lula's comments come at a moment that he has shown little reluctance to voice his differences of opinion with Washington regarding geopolitical matters, particularly in his opposition to providing arms to Ukraine for its war against Russia, and accusing the US and Europe of encouraging the fighting. His stance and repeated statements have drawn sharp rebukes from the White House and Europe. For its part, Australia has been stepping up diplomatic pressure on the US government to call off its prosecution of Assange. On Friday, Australias Prime Minister Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview that enough is enough. There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration. Last November, Albanese told Parliament that his "position is clear and has been made clear to the U.S. administration: That it is time that this matter be brought to a close. Assange has battled in British courts for years to avoid being sent to the U.S., where he faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse that stem from WikiLeaks publication of a huge trove of classified documents in 2010. American prosecutors allege he helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk. To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think there must be a movement of world press in his defense. Not in regard to his person, but to defend the right to denounce," Lula told reporters. The guy didn't denounce anything vulgar. He denounced that a state was spying on others, and that became a crime against the journalist. The press, which defends freedom of the press, does nothing to free this citizen. It's sad, but it's true." Last year, Assange's father John Shipton sought to convince Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to address the issue of his son's prosecution with the US' top diplomat, and to get Australia's Albanese to raise the issue with US President Joe Biden at Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral. In his comments to reporters on Saturday, Lula also noted that Charles III asked him to take care of the Amazon rainforest, and that he responded he needs resources in order to do so. Prime Minister Sunak on Friday pledged to contribute 80 million pounds ($101 million) to Brazil's Amazon Fund that aims to stop deforestation, adding to contributions from Norway and Germany, as well as a recent promise from the Biden to seek congressional approval for $500 million. But Lula told reporters that the amount pledged by Britain is not sufficient. ___ Pollastri reported from Sao Paulo This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SRINAGAR, India (AP) Indian soldiers killed two suspected militants in ongoing counterinsurgency operations in Kashmir on Saturday, officials said, a day after rebels fighting against Indian rule killed five soldiers in the disputed Himalayan region. Joint army, paramilitary and police teams spotted and pinned down the militants before killing one of them in a forested area in the southern Rajouri sector, an Indian army statement said. It said soldiers recovered an automatic rifle and some ammunition and grenades and noted another militant was likely to be injured. There was no independent confirmation of the incident. Separately on Saturday, government forces killed another militant in a gun battle in western Kunzer area, police said. On Friday, rebels triggered an explosive device during an encounter with the Indian army, killing five soldiers, the military said. That fighting erupted after soldiers tracked a group of militants involved in an ambush of an army vehicle on April 20 that killed five Indian soldiers in the same region, according to the army. The violence comes as Indian authorities are on high alert in Kashmir and have stepped up security in the already highly militarized region ahead of a meeting of officials from the Group of 20 leading industrialized and developing nations on promoting tourism in the region later this month. It will be the first significant international event hosted in Kashmir after India stripped Kashmir of its semiautonomy and took direct control of the territory amid a monthslong security and communications lockdown in 2019. Kashmir has been on edge as authorities also put in place a slew of new laws that critics and many Kashmiris fear could change the regions demographics. Rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmirs independence from India or its merger with neighboring Pakistan. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. New Delhi insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. On a recent Thursday night, SFMOMA buzzed with people huddling around a glittering purple horseshoe-shaped bar, sipping tequila Negronis as Barbara Tuckers mid-1990s house anthem Beautiful People played in the background. The party was one of the many events that have been taking place over the past month at an installation called the New Eagle Creek Saloon, located in a cavernous room on the fourth floor of the museum. Envisioned by 39-year-old Oakland artist Sadie Barnette, the exhibit is a creative re-creation of the first Black gay bar in San Francisco, which was opened by her father, Rodney Barnette, at 1884 Market St., in a building that now houses a medical clinic. In addition to running New Eagle Creek from 1990 to 1993, Barnette was a section leader in the Black Panther party and a close associate of Angela Davis. The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images I always knew that I wanted to pay some type of homage to my father's bar, said Barnette, whose previous work has incorporated the FBIs file on her fathers political activism. I felt that in order to do that properly, I couldn't make an art exhibition that existed on the walls and in frames that told the story of the bar. I had to create something interactive that would literally be the bar and transport you through time. Since the exhibits opening, it has hosted programming ranging from panel discussions to Warriors watch parties and DJ nights that pay homage to the bars original slogan: A friendly place, with a funky bass, for every race." While perched around the bar, which offers batched cocktails and beer during event hours, visitors can browse through a zine that tells the history of the saloon through archival photos and scans of old newspapers. Some of the highlights include an ad for an innovative arcade game at the saloon, which taught safe sex, as well as an op-ed from Rodney Barnette about an article in the Bay Area Reporter that he considered racist. Although she was too young to remember many specific details, Barnette did visit the bar herself once, sipping a Shirley Temple while the bars regulars prepared a float for the 1992 Pride parade. I must have been 6 or 7 years old, and I was kind of dressed like this little Victorian princess. Who knows how much I understood about what was going on, but I definitely left with an impression of seeing the community of people really being themselves and expressing themselves, she said. Courtesy of SFMOMA Rather than build a direct reproduction of the saloon, Barnette decided to create her own interpretation of the space. I don't remember too much, which I think is why the artwork took the shape of this very dream-like mirage, or memory, as opposed to trying to literally re-create any of the physical elements of the bar, Barnette said. She has already displayed the exhibit in several other spaces, including The Lab in San Francisco, The Kitchen in New York City and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. But when asked whether shed ever consider making the space permanent, she expounded on how the museum context is part of what makes the exhibit such a fun experience. My favorite thing so far at SFMOMA is when people say, I cant believe Im at a museum. The best part of the artwork is when people forget that theyre in the artwork. Eagle Creek Saloon is open at SFMOMA Thursday through Sunday. The remaining events include The New Eagle Creek Disco Tech on Saturday, May 6, at 2 p.m.; Happy Hours on Sunday, May 7, 11 a.m.5 p.m.; and a performance by ASTU on Thursday, May 11, at 6 p.m. Advance tickets are recommended. Weekend escapes? Thats the name of our game, and weve found some of the best airfare, hotel, luggage, and cruise deals going on right now. Whether you fancy a last-minute vacation to Hawaii for $309 (you read that right) or a chic new hard-shell suitcase to accompany you on your travels, there are a ton of great savings to take advantage of. Kick off travel season with these top offers. Flight deals Round-trip flights from SFO to Honolulu starting at $309 If youre up for a last-minute trip (use that vacation time, people!), you can snag deals on round-trip flights to Hawaii this month. Fares to Hawaii with United are going for around $320 and will hit as low as $309 on March 23. Also, 18- to 23-year-olds, remember you can get 5% off when you book with the United app and select Discounted travel (ages 18-23) under Book. Cruise deals American Queen Voyages Spring Savings Event If youve been-there-done-that with the usual cruise experience, switch it up by exploring one of the countrys majestic waterways from the comfort of a luxury paddleboat. Head north from the Bay Area to spend nine days exploring the Columbia and Snake Rivers from Portland to Spokane (or vice-versa). Fares are all-inclusive down to your hiking sticks, and currently you can save up to $2,500 per stateroom, plus get airfare included for some bookings. Book by June 30 to save. Luggage deals Delseys Mothers Day Luggage Sale Buying new luggage thatll actually last for more than a couple of flights is not a cheap endeavor, but luckily a selection of Delseys stylish suitcases are 25% off now through May 14. Choose from the chic ST TROPEZ, hard-shell CRUISE 3.0 and soft-sided, business-minded HELIUM DLX lines. Vacation deals United Vacations $150-off code And finally, one more from United: When you book a trip through United Vacations from now through June 1 (for travel by Feb. 24, 2024), you can save $150 when you use the promo code UVMAY23. Its good for flights from SFO for trips to Europe, Mexico, Central America, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. Hotel deals Intercontinental San Diego Traveling south with your family for a sunny weekend but need a little elbow room? Get two rooms to put the fam up in for the price of one with the Intercontinentals San Diego deal. For stays from now through May 25, you can book a double queen bedroom at the propertys Best Flexible Rate for at least two nights, and youll get a connecting King room added for no additional guest room charge (youll still pay taxes and amenity fees, but hey, thats cheaper than a room). Mondrian Los Angeles One of the best parts of living in the Bay Area is the amount of weekend escapes there are easily accessible, and its hard to say no to a weekend in LA. For that, theres this deal on now from the Mondrian on the Sunset Strip: You can take 20% off suites, get a $25 in-room dining credit, and get a guaranteed 1 p.m. late check-out. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images On May 4, a disgruntled JetBlue passenger who missed his flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles allegedly said his luggage contained a possible bomb, a spokesperson for Los Angeles Airport Police told SFGATE. Airport police evacuated passengers and crew members on the flight once it landed in Los Angeles. At approximately 12:57 p.m., the LVMPD was notified of an irate passenger at Harry Reid International Airport. The individual had made some concerning comments about his luggage after missing his flight, a spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told SFGATE in a statement. People gather near the site of a school shooting in Belgrade, Serbia, on May 3, 2023. (Photo by Nemanja Cabric/Xinhua) President Vucic announced increased police presence in streets and schools across the country and stricter procedures related to gun ownership. BELGRADE, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Serbia will implement strict measures to improve general safety and regain the feeling of security after the country saw two shootings, which left 17 dead and over 20 wounded in just 48 hours, the country's President Aleksandar Vucic said at an extraordinary press conference here on Friday. Accompanied by the members of the government, including Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Vucic announced increased police presence in the streets and in schools across the country, and stricter procedures related to gun ownership. "The attack last night was a terrorist attack in which our special counter-terrorist units had the task to arrest or neutralize the terrorist. The villain was arrested, and he will not see the light of day again," Vucic said. People gather near the site of a school shooting in Belgrade, Serbia, on May 3, 2023. (Photo by Nemanja Cabric/Xinhua) Vucic explained that the killer had been located thanks to a kidnapped taxi driver, who gave out his location, and that upon surrendering, the perpetrator briefly explained that he had committed the act because he felt "disregarded." "This is an attack on the whole of our country, and each citizen feels this," Vucic said. The armed 21-year-old attacker, who killed 8 and injured 14 people in the villages of Sepsin, Malo Orasje and Dubona on Thursday night, was arrested after a comprehensive search on Friday morning, the police said. This was the second such incident to occur in Serbia this week. On Wednesday, a 13-year-old boy killed 8 students and a security guard and wounded 7 others in an elementary school shooting in Belgrade. A photographer takes photos of police officers during curfew in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, on March 18, 2020. (Photo by Nemanja Cabric/Xinhua) Vucic said that the police should hire more people and that they should spend more time in schools. He also called for a revision of the existing private gun permits and for a crackdown on illegal arms. He announced a moratorium on all gun permits and said that the police will beef up patrols in the streets in the upcoming weeks to help the public regain the feeling of security. The survivors of the two shootings are still recovering under medical care. Some of them are listed in critical condition. WFO SACRAMENTO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Sacramento has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Central Glenn County in central California... * Until 330 PM PDT. * At 258 PM PDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Fruto, or 8 miles northwest of Willows, moving east at 10 mph. The storm will move to near Interstate 5 over the next hour. HAZARD...Quarter size hail. Funnel clouds. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Damage to vehicles is expected. * Locations impacted include... Orland, Willows, Artois and Bluegum. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Significant hail accumulation is likely with this storm. Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather Storm Prediction Ctr, Norman, OK Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WS 187 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 813 PM CDT FRI MAY 05 2023 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 187 REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS TX . TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE BASTROP BELL BLANCO BOSQUE BROWN BURNET COLEMAN COMANCHE CORYELL ELLIS ERATH FALLS GILLESPIE HAMILTON HAYS HILL HOOD JOHNSON LAMPASAS LEE LLANO MCCULLOCH MCLENNAN MASON MILAM MILLS SAN SABA SOMERVELL TRAVIS WILLIAMSON ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern Zavala County through 845 PM CDT... At 816 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Las Colonias, or 7 miles northeast of Crystal City, moving northeast at 20 mph. HAZARD...Half inch hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible. Locations impacted include... Crystal City, Batesville, Loma Vista, Chula Vista-River Spur and Las Colonias. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio stations and available television stations for additional information and possible warnings from the National Weather Service. LAT...LON 2866 9981 2884 9983 2894 9960 2866 9946 TIME...MOT...LOC 0116Z 243DEG 16KT 2877 9974 MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN MAX WIND GUST...<30 MPH _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Northeastern Llano County in south central Texas... Northwestern Burnet County in south central Texas... * Until 800 PM CDT. * At 703 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Buchanan Dam, moving northeast at 15 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Buchanan Dam, Buchanan Lake Village, Bluffton and Tow. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. If on or near Lake Buchanan, get away from the water and move indoors or inside a vehicle. Remember, lightning can strike out to 15 miles from the parent thunderstorm. If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. Move to safe shelter now! Do not be caught on the water in a thunderstorm. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Northwestern Llano County in south central Texas... * Until 815 PM CDT. * At 713 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Castell, or 15 miles east of Mason, moving northeast at 15 mph. HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Llano, Castell, Field Creek, Baby Head, Valley Spring and State Highway 71. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northeastern Medina and southeastern Bandera Counties through 745 PM CDT... At 715 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 7 miles southeast of Hill Country State Natural Area, or 12 miles south of Bandera, moving east at 45 mph. HAZARD...Half inch hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible. Locations impacted include... Lakehills, Cliff, Pipe Creek, Bandera Falls, Mico, Hill Country State Natural Area, Kronkosky State Natural Area, Government Canyon State Natural Area and Lake Medina Shores. If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio stations and available television stations for additional information and possible warnings from the National Weather Service. If on or near Medina Lake, get out of the water and move indoors or inside a vehicle. Remember, lightning can strike out to 10 miles from the parent thunderstorm. If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. Move to safe shelter now! Do not be caught on the water in a thunderstorm. LAT...LON 2960 9928 2975 9884 2973 9881 2955 9881 2954 9880 2953 9880 2950 9881 2945 9918 TIME...MOT...LOC 0015Z 258DEG 40KT 2954 9911 MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN MAX WIND GUST...<30 MPH _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in Austin/San Antonio has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Northwestern Burnet County in south central Texas... East Central Llano County in south central Texas... * Until 1030 PM CDT. * At 729 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1 and 4 inches of rain have fallen. The expected rainfall rate is 4 to 6 inches in 1 hour. Additional rainfall amounts up to 3 inches are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Burnet, Marble Falls, Buchanan Dam, Buchanan Lake Village, Inks Lake State Park and Longhorn Cavern State Park. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Stay away or be swept away. River banks and culverts can become unstable and unsafe. In hilly terrain there are hundreds of low water crossings which are potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded roads. Find an alternate route. Flooding is occurring or is imminent. It is important to know where you are relative to streams, rivers, or creeks which can become killers in heavy rains. Campers and hikers should avoid streams or creeks. Please report observed flooding to local emergency services or law enforcement and request they pass this information to the National Weather Service when you can do so safely. ...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 930 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected. * WHERE...A portion of west central Texas, including the following county, San Saba. * WHEN...Until 930 PM CDT. * IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas. Water over roadways. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - At 729 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to thunderstorms. Minor flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly in the advisory area. Between 1 and 2.5 inches of rain have fallen. - Additional rainfall amounts of 0.5 to 1 inch are expected over the area. This additional rain will result in minor flooding. - Some locations that will experience flooding include... Cherokee and Chappel. - This includes the following Low Water Crossings... County Road 343 crossing Cherokee Creek. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads. ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 745 PM CDT FOR SOUTHEASTERN SOMERVELL AND NORTHWESTERN BOSQUE COUNTIES... At 730 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Cleburne State Park, or 16 miles southwest of Cleburne, moving east at 30 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and penny size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees. Locations impacted include... Glen Rose, Walnut Springs, Eulogy, Kopperl, Brazos Point, Nemo and Rainbow. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX 742 PM CDT Fri May 5 2023 ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northeastern Medina and southeastern Bandera Counties through 815 PM CDT... At 742 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Mico, or 12 miles south of Bandera, moving east at 20 mph. HAZARD...Half inch hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible. Locations impacted include... Mico, Lakehills and Lake Medina Shores. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio stations and available television stations for additional information and possible warnings from the National Weather Service. If on or near Medina Lake, get out of the water and move indoors or inside a vehicle. Remember, lightning can strike out to 10 miles from the parent thunderstorm. If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. Move to safe shelter now! Do not be caught on the water in a thunderstorm. LAT...LON 2946 9912 2962 9913 2971 9883 2949 9882 TIME...MOT...LOC 0042Z 264DEG 17KT 2955 9904 MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN MAX WIND GUST...<30 MPH The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... West central Williamson County in south central Texas... Northwestern Travis County in south central Texas... Northeastern Blanco County in south central Texas... Southeastern Llano County in south central Texas... Southwestern Burnet County in south central Texas... * Until 845 PM CDT. * At 743 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Marble Falls, moving east at 20 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Burnet, Marble Falls, Round Mountain, Leander, Lakeway, Lago Vista, Granite Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, Meadowlakes, Liberty Hill, Spicewood, Oatmeal, Smithwick, Longhorn Cavern State Park, Jonestown, Briarcliff, Cottonwood Shores, Point Venture and Seward Junction. For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 815 PM CDT FOR NORTHWESTERN LLANO COUNTY... At 746 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Valley Spring, or 8 miles northwest of Llano, moving northeast at 25 mph. HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts. IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. Llano, Castell, Field Creek, Baby Head and Valley Spring. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING Severe Weather Statement National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX 942 PM CDT Fri May 5 2023 ...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHWESTERN HAYS COUNTY IS CANCELLED... The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until midnight CDT for south central Texas. ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT FOR SOUTHWESTERN WILLIAMSON...NORTHWESTERN TRAVIS...NORTHEASTERN BLANCO...SOUTHEASTERN LLANO AND SOUTHWESTERN BURNET COUNTIES... At 942 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Lakeway, or 11 miles north of Dripping Springs, moving southeast at 30 mph. HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings. Locations impacted include... Austin, Cedar Park, Burnet, Marble Falls, Round Mountain, Anderson Mill, Leander, Lakeway, Lago Vista, Bee Cave, Granite Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, Hudson Bend, The Hills, Meadowlakes, Highland Haven, Spicewood, Longhorn Cavern State Park, Smithwick and Mansfield Dam. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside should move to a shelter, inside a strong building and away from windows. Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. The National Weather Service in Austin/San Antonio has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Central Burnet County in south central Texas... Northwestern Travis County in south central Texas... West Central Williamson County in south central Texas... * Until 1245 AM CDT. * At 945 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Up to 5 inches of rain have fallen. The expected rainfall rate is 3 to 4 inches in 1 hour. Additional rainfall amounts up to 3 inches are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Burnet, Marble Falls, Bertram, Meadowlakes, Liberty Hill, Oatmeal, Smithwick and Shady Grove. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads. Flooding is occurring or is imminent. It is important to know where you are relative to streams, rivers, or creeks which can become killers in heavy rains. Campers and hikers should avoid streams or creeks. Please report observed flooding to local emergency services or law enforcement and request they pass this information to the National Weather Service when you can do so safely. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Northwestern Blanco County in south central Texas... Northeastern Gillespie County in south central Texas... Southeastern Llano County in south central Texas... * Until midnight CDT. * At 1052 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Blowout, or 16 miles west of Round Mountain, moving east at 20 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Round Mountain, Johnson City, Sandy, Willow City and Blowout. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside should move immediately to shelter inside a strong building. Stay away from windows. Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. The National Weather Service in League City has issued a North central Burleson County in southeastern Texas... Northern Brazos County in southeastern Texas... * Until 1145 PM CDT. * At 1055 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Bryan Utilities Lake, or near Hearne, moving east at 30 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts. IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees. Northern College Station, Bryan, Kurten, Wixon Valley and Bryan Utilities Lake. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ AREAL FLOOD ADVISORY Flood Advisory National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 757 PM CDT Fri May 5 2023 ...FLOOD ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Urban and small stream flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues. * WHERE...A portion of central Texas, including the following counties, Hamilton and Mills. * WHEN...Until 1000 PM CDT. * IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to thunderstorms. This will likely cause urban and small stream flooding. Low lying and/or poor drainage areas will experience minor flooding in the advisory area. Up to 1.5 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts up to 1 inch are possible. - Some locations that will experience flooding include... Goldthwaite, Evant, Mullin, Pecan Wells, Caradan, Center City, Indian Gap, Star, Pottsville, Shive and Bozar. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. Please report observed flooding to local emergency services or law enforcement and request they pass this information to the National Weather Service when you can do so safely. ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northeastern Llano and northwestern Burnet Counties through 845 PM CDT... At 800 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over Tow, or 10 miles north of Buchanan Dam, moving northeast at 20 mph. HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and nickel size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible. Locations impacted include... Buchanan Lake Village, Lake Victor, Bluffton, Sunnylane and Tow. If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio stations and available television stations for additional information and possible warnings from the National Weather Service. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for south central Texas. LAT...LON 3093 9804 3077 9850 3092 9854 3093 9842 3094 9841 3095 9845 3096 9845 3098 9844 3101 9846 3103 9843 3103 9811 TIME...MOT...LOC 0100Z 241DEG 19KT 3089 9846 MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southeastern Kaufman County in north central Texas... Western Henderson County in central Texas... Southeastern Ellis County in north central Texas... Central Navarro County in north central Texas... * Until 1015 PM CDT. * At 937 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Alma, or 8 miles southeast of Ennis, moving east at 30 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Corsicana, Ennis, Gun Barrel City, Mabank, Tool, Kerens, Seven Points, Trinidad, Blooming Grove, Bardwell, Angus, Alma, Enchanted Oaks, Barry, Bardwell Lake, Flag Lake, Lake Halbert, Cedar Creek Reservoir, Trinidad Lake and Richland-Chambers Reservoir. This includes Interstate 45 between mile markers 226 and 252. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from windows. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather ISTANBUL, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Many Turkish intellectuals believe that the U.S. growing military spending hampers efforts to tackle humanitarian and environmental problems. According to statistics from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a Stockholm-based think tank, U.S. military spending accounted for 39 percent of total global military spending in 2022, and the country's defense budget hits 858 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. "The U.S. spends this huge budget on armament and the arms industry rather than on education, health, infrastructure, public works, transportation, social security, and nutrition for children," Baris Doster, a scholar with the Istanbul-based Marmara University, told Xinhua in a recent interview. "This is about the imperialist character of the United States. It means the country can survive -- economically, politically, industrially, and diplomatically -- only with wars." The scholar also blamed the United States for urging other countries, including NATO members, to arm themselves. "The example of Ukraine, which we all know very well, is in plain sight," he said, adding that the United States deployed arms and heavy armored vehicles to the country. "The U.S. is besieging Russia from its close circle, almost by pushing Ukraine to the front and asking for a continuous prolongation of the war." Doster also emphasized the U.S. arms industry's growing influence and role in the country's economy. Eser Keskin, a journalist covering international relations, said the United States should allocate its military budget to humanitarian and environmental issues. "Many countries, especially in Africa, are currently experiencing vital problems. At this point, the budget allocated to military expenditures should be spent on making investments in these countries," Keskin told Xinhua. "The military budget can also be devoted to discovering renewable energy sources and finding other resources to replace oil and plastic," she added. Echoing Keskin, Mehmet Emre Ozturk, another journalist, urged the United States to bring climate and environmental issues to the fore and invest in the field. "Climate and environmental problems have come to the level where they can create crises and chaos on an enormous scale," Ozturk told Xinhua. Ozturk also believes that there are still countries with underdeveloped infrastructures needing help in meeting their daily needs. "These military expenditures can be fully used for the development of humanity by providing infrastructure projects to achieve a better life, reach prosperous societies and a global peace environment," Ozturk said. WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING Severe Weather Statement National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 1014 PM CDT Fri May 5 2023 ...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN KAUFMAN...WESTERN HENDERSON AND NORTHEASTERN NAVARRO COUNTIES WILL EXPIRE AT 1015 PM CDT... The storm which prompted the warning has weakened below severe limits. Therefore the warning will be allowed to expire. Gusty winds are still possible with this thunderstorm. ...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHEASTERN BLANCO COUNTY IS CANCELLED... The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until midnight CDT for south central Texas. ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1045 PM CDT FOR SOUTHWESTERN WILLIAMSON...NORTHWESTERN TRAVIS AND SOUTH CENTRAL BURNET COUNTIES... At 1015 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Lago Vista, or 10 miles west of Cedar Park, moving east at 15 mph. HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings. Locations impacted include... Austin, Cedar Park, Anderson Mill, Leander, Lakeway, Lago Vista, Bee Cave, Hudson Bend, The Hills, Spicewood, Barton Creek, Mansfield Dam, Jonestown, Briarcliff, Point Venture, Volente, Lost Creek and Brushy Creek. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside should move to a shelter, inside a strong building and away from windows. Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southwestern Robertson County in central Texas... Milam County in central Texas... * Until 1100 PM CDT. * At 1016 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Cameron, moving east at 30 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Rockdale, Cameron, Hearne, Calvert, Buckholts, Milano, Yarrelton, Crossroads, Silver City, Hoyte, Jones Prairie, Elevation, Hanover, Minerva, Ben Arnold, Baileyville, Sharp, Maysfield, Pettibone and Praesel. For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, May 5, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING Severe Weather Statement National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 1043 PM CDT Fri May 5 2023 ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1100 PM CDT FOR SOUTHWESTERN ROBERTSON AND NORTHEASTERN MILAM COUNTIES... At 1043 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Hearne, moving east at 30 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees. Locations impacted include... Cameron, Hearne, Calvert, Milano, Crossroads, Silver City, Hoyte, Jones Prairie, Elevation, Hanover, Maysfield, Branchville, Gause, Baileyville and Minerva. The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southeastern Williamson County in south central Texas... Northeastern Travis County in south central Texas... Northeastern Bastrop County in south central Texas... Central Lee County in south central Texas... * Until 1145 PM CDT. * At 1044 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Windemere, moving east at 45 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Austin, Round Rock, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Taylor, Elgin, Lexington, Windemere, Hutto, Manor, Thrall, Fedor, Paige, Tanglewood, Coupland, Camp Swift, Circle D-KC Estates, Hornsby Bend, Knobb Springs and Wells Branch. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside should move immediately to shelter inside a strong building. Stay away from windows. Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southeastern Henderson County in central Texas... Northern Anderson County in central Texas... * Until 1215 AM CDT. * At 1116 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Coon Creek Lake, or 12 miles south of Athens, moving east at 20 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Frankston, Berryville, Coon Creek Lake, Lake Palestine, Brushy Creek, Poynor, Bradford, Bois D'arc, Blackfoot, LaRue, Pert, Springfield and Todd City. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from windows. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO HOUSTON/GALVESTON Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in League City has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Liberty County in southeastern Texas... * Until 300 AM CDT. * At 218 AM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Plum Grove, or 9 miles northwest of Dayton, moving east at 35 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Liberty, Cleveland, Dayton, Ames, Daisetta, Hardin, Plum Grove, Kenefick, Devers, North Cleveland, Dayton Lakes, Tarkington Prairie, Moss Hill and Rye. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO LAKE CHARLES Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in Lake Charles has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Northwestern Jefferson County in southeastern Texas... Hardin County in southeastern Texas... * Until 330 AM CDT. * At 242 AM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Hardin, or near Liberty, moving east at 40 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Locations impacted include... Kountze, Sour Lake, Nome, Saratoga, Thicket, Bevil Oaks, China, Batson, Votaw, Honey Island and Village Mills. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 300 AM CDT FOR CENTRAL LIBERTY COUNTY... At 246 AM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Hardin, or 12 miles west of Saratoga, moving east at 35 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and nickel size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees. Locations impacted include... Liberty, Ames, Daisetta, Hardin, Kenefick, Dayton Lakes and Moss Hill. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO NORMAN Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING Severe Weather Statement National Weather Service Norman OK 527 PM CDT Sat May 6 2023 ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 545 PM CDT FOR SOUTHEASTERN FOARD...EAST CENTRAL KNOX...SOUTHWESTERN WILBARGER AND NORTHWESTERN BAYLOR COUNTIES... At 527 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 6 miles north of Red Springs, moving northeast at 25 mph. HAZARD...Two inch hail and 70 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect considerable tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings. Locations impacted include... Seymour, Red Springs, and Lake Kemp. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... This is a dangerous storm. Prepare immediately for large destructive hail capable of producing significant damage. People outside should move to a shelter, inside a strong building and away from windows. Continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern Stonewall County through 600 PM CDT... At 527 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 8 miles northwest of Hamlin, moving northeast at 20 mph. HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and nickel size hail. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible. Aspermont and Old Glory. If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. LAT...LON 3296 10038 3324 10025 3315 9999 3296 9999 TIME...MOT...LOC 2227Z 207DEG 19KT 3297 10025 MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southwestern Archer and southeastern Baylor Counties through 600 PM CDT... At 528 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 10 miles east of Millers Creek Reservoir, moving northeast at 15 mph. HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and nickel size hail. Megargel and Westover. This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio stations and available television stations for additional information and possible warnings from the National Weather Service. LAT...LON 3340 9901 3340 9929 3363 9917 3347 9887 3339 9895 TIME...MOT...LOC 2228Z 218DEG 11KT 3335 9922 MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southern Callahan County in west central Texas... Northeastern Coleman County in west central Texas... * Until 630 PM CDT. * At 531 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Silver Valley, moving north at 15 mph. HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * This severe thunderstorm will be near... Rowden around 630 PM CDT. Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Us- 283 Near The Coleman- Callahan County Line, Echo, Admiral and Lake Coleman. For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, May 6, 2023 _____ SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Western Haskell County in west central Texas... Northwestern Jones County in west central Texas... Northeastern Fisher County in west central Texas... * Until 515 PM CDT. * At 418 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Hamlin, moving northeast at 20 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * This severe thunderstorm will be near... Sagerton around 440 PM CDT. Rule around 500 PM CDT. Haskell around 510 PM CDT. Rochester around 515 PM CDT. Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include The Intersection Of Us-180 And Ranch Road 126, Us-380 Near The Haskell- Stonewall County Line, Hitson and Tuxedo. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. _____ Copyright 2023 AccuWeather GENEVA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- United Nations (UN) experts on Friday called on the United States to boost efforts to promote accountability for past and future violations of human rights. After a 12-day visit to the United States, members of the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement, a delegation appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, said they "felt an urgency, and a moral responsibility, to echo the harrowing pain of victims" and their resounding calls for accountability and support, according to a UN statement. Slavery has left a deep and long-lasting entrenched legacy on the country, which can be perceived through generational trauma, the independent experts noted, the statement said. Racial discrimination permeates all contacts with law enforcement, from the first contact -- often during early school years -- by means of racial profiling, arrest, detention, sentencing and disenfranchisement in some U.S. states, UN experts said. "In each of those aspects, available data points to a clear disproportional impact upon people of African descent," and it should be an "imperative priority" to address and unpack the issue of poverty, moving from a criminal justice response to a human rights-centered response to poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness, they added. The Mechanism has shared its preliminary findings with the White House and will draft a full report to be published in the coming months and presented to the Human Rights Council at its next full session. The Mechanism, established in 2021, was aimed at ending systemic racism and human rights violations by law enforcement against Africans and people of African descent. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Discount retailer Christmas Tree Shops -- where you can purchase a myriad of household products, from dishes and pots to holiday decorations -- filed for bankruptcy on Friday, according to published reports. The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the iconic U.S. store that was once owned by Bed, Bath & Beyond, which is shuttering all of its stores after filing its own bankruptcy. Christmas Tree Shops, a long-time New England retailer based in Middleboro, Mass., which has stores across the country -- including one on Staten Island in Charlestons Bricktown Center -- is known for its slogan: Dont you just love a bargain? With about 80 stores across the east coast, last year the retailer rebranded to CTS, due to the fact that some consumers assumed the chain only sold Christmas trees. Its not yet known how the Chapter 11 bankruptcy will affect Christmas Tree Shops stores. The news follows a trend of big box retailers closures and bankruptcy filings first spurred by the popularity of online shopping, and most recently exacerbated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This has led to an abundance of vacant retail locations across the borough including the former Toys R Us in New Springville, and the forer Shop Rite at 2424 Hylan Blvd., which moved to the new Boulevard shopping center. These retailers are also closing Staten Island locations: Bed Bath & Beyond Bed Bath & Beyond, a half-century-old company that once operated 1,500 stores across the United States, including two stores on Staten Island, announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 23. Founded in New Jersey in 1971, the big-box chain quickly became an anchor of suburban shopping centers throughout the nation, but struggled after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Charleston location closed in 2020 as a result. The company announced an aggressive plan of store closures and layoffs in late August -- a business revamp aimed at boosting sales and profits and Staten Islands last remaining store closed in December. Party City After struggling with rising prices and decreased consumer spending, Party City, one of the nations largest suppliers of balloons, decorations and other special-occasion goods, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. The company, which currently has three stores on Staten Island, then began announcing store closures. In April, clearance and store closing signs were posted in the New Dorp store. Staples This office superstore made sweeping cuts to its fleet several years ago, closing more than 200 stores before 2020, including the Forest Avenue location in Port Richmond, which was shuttered in 2017 and replaced by a Target. The Staten Island market slimmed once again in March when the brand announced it would close its New Springville store, which shares a parking lot with Dicks Sporting Goods, Starbucks and the Vitamin Shoppe. MORE NEWS As big box chains continue to close, what will happen to vacant Staten Island storefronts? Staten Islands last remaining Bed Bath & Beyond to close for good Walmart, Target and more: A look at big box store closures and a shrinking retail landscape FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTER Dhaka: While waiting to be evacuated from Sudan, hundreds of Bangladeshis are stuck in a small, makeshift camp and are running out of food and water. They also have no idea when they will be taken to safety. Since deadly fighting broke out on April 15 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, thousands of foreigners have attempted to leave Sudan. The Bangladeshis are among them. On April 24, when the warring parties declared a ceasefire, massive evacuations started. Also Read: Russia imprisons artists while repressing dissatisfaction While some Bangladeshi nationals were saved by Saudi security forces, about 750 of those who had been designated for evacuation by their own government had to wait a week before they could be transferred from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to Port Sudan in order to travel by sea to Saudi Arabia. Since Tuesday, the group has been waiting to board a ship to Jeddah, but as the days go by, it's getting harder to predict when that will happen. Mohammed Bahadur, a Khartoum factory worker who was one of the evacuees, told Arab News over the phone from Port Sudan that supplies were running low and that kids, including his 18-month-old daughter, were already getting sick. There isn't enough water for drinking here. How much water can we reasonably purchase? We don't even have enough to drink, much less take a shower," he claimed. "I'm at a loss for what to do. Given that this is a mosquito-prone area, children are also getting sick from mosquito bites. Also Read: 'Commitment to stay' in Afghanistan is reiterated by the UN The length of time the evacuated people will be stuck in the camp is unknown, according to Bahadur. Every day since we arrived, we have been assured that the ship will arrive soon. But it's not happening," he declared. Anisur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh-Sudan Friendship Council and a former manager in Khartoum, said that everyone was understanding in the early going, but that it was getting harder to put up with the worsening circumstances. "Here, there is a severe food shortage. In the middle of April, the war began. When they were still in Khartoum, people would purchase food and other necessities for prices that were ten times higher, he claimed. They arrived in Port Sudan with no money because they hadn't received their salaries. Even if food were readily available, they could not afford to buy it. Most people arrived here empty-handed because everything in Khartoum had been stolen. Sanitary conditions can be challenging. About 700 men are sharing one lavatory, while women and children have been separated from the main group. Rahman stated that there was only one loo, which was run by a mosque. "There is always a long queue of 50 to 60 people in front of it." The Bangladeshis are staying at a school, where they are sleeping in claustrophobic classrooms on the ground. Also Read: Trump trouncing DeSantis in the 2024 election because of "Don vs. Ron" Rahman told Arab News that some Sudanese have stepped up to help after learning about the situation. One businessman purchased tents for the evacuees, and a local aid organisation delivered additional food. There was no one available to comment from the Bangladeshi mission taking care of the evacuees. The date of the first batch of Bangladeshis' ability to leave Port Sudan, however, has not yet been confirmed, according to Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur, director-general of the Consular and Welfare Wing of the Bangladeshi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The well-being of the evacuees is the top priority, and our ambassador in Sudan has been asked to take all necessary measures, he said. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- When Elvia Iannaccone Gezlev began working as a freelance photographer for Tattoo Review magazine in her hometown of Milan, Italy, photographing conventions and interviewing artists, she immediately fell in love with the intricate world of tattooing. Color is added to a client's tattoo. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) I was fascinated by every part of this industry, Gezlev said. Ive always been into artistic expression, but this was a new level for me. So, I made it my point to get to know the very best in the industry and learn from them. Gezlev scored an apprenticeship with Gian Maurizio Fercioni, who she said is considered a legend in the world of Italian and international tattoo. Gazlev displays some of her sketches throughout her studio. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) He is an icon in the community, and I practiced with him for months, Gezlev said. I was still working as a photographer at that time too, and the magazine sent me to New York to shoot a couple of conventions. Gezlev remained in America and started tattooing at shops in Brooklyn and Manhattan. After meeting her husband and marrying, she moved to Staten Island. In 2020, she opened her own tattoo shop at 4089 Victory Blvd. in Travis. missElvia Tattoo is located at 4089 Victory Blvd. in Travis. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) I loved this space, because it was beautiful, open and had so much natural light, Gezlev said, detailing her colorful hot-pink shop which is aptly named missElvia Tattoo. I was thrilled to open my own business, but three months after I opened, COVID hit, and Im still trying to recover. Gezlev, who described her style as ornamental and illustrative, focuses on old school American work as well as traditional Japanese drawings. The hot pink walls of Gezlev's shop are decorated with black-and-white photos and other memorabilia. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) I did all of my training in street shops, and I can handle anything that comes through the door, she said. But I feel as though people are not spending money on themselves right now. Times are tough, and even something like getting a tattoo has become a luxury. Her private studio, which is open Wednesday to Saturday for both walk-ins and appointments, is active, but not bustling, Gezlev noted. Thats why she said she hopes to soon transform it into a neighborhood culture hub. Artwork is displayed in every corner of the shop. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) Id like to use my downstairs space to promote local artists, she said. Were organizing a photography exhibit this June, inviting local photographers to exhibit their work. I just hope that the amount of work will increase here, because owning a business right now is definitely a struggle. NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Lawyers for the the New York City subway rider questioned in the chokehold death of a homeless man say he was protecting himself and other riders. Daniel J. Penny, 24, a marine, has been identified by authorities as the individual who allegedly put Jordan Neely, 30, in a fatal chokehold, NBCNews reported. Police detailed that the incident occurred following an altercation Monday on a northbound F train, according to the report. When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived, the Raiser and Kenniff law firm said in a statement. Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death. The city chief medical examiners office said Neely died from compression of neck (chokehold) and the manner was homicide, the report said. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is expected to present the case to a grand jury for its consideration of possible charges, sources told NBCNews. Penny was taken into custody Monday, questioned by police and released. No charges have been filed, the report said. Attorneys for Neelys family said the 30-year-old, who performed dance routines in costume as Michael Jackson, suffered from mental illness, the report said. Penny is a Marine, who served between June 2017 and June 2021 in the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, and 2nd Marine Division, NBCNews reported. He graduated from West Islip High School on Long Island in 2016, according to the report. NEW YORK CITY -- Police have taken a 68-year-old male in custody after a person was allegedly stabbed to death inside a Queens deli, according to the NYPD. On Saturday at about 5:24 a.m., police said they responded to a 911 call of male stabbed inside a deli at 214-53 Jamaica Avenue, listed as 7 Star Jamaica Deli Corp. When officers arrived they found a 41-year-old male with a stab wound to the leg, according to police. EMS responded to the location and transported the victim to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said police. QNS reported that police said there was a disagreement between a store clerk and the victim prior to the stabbing. The investigation remains ongoing, and the identification of the victim is pending proper family notification. MORE NEWS: Where do these 3 key crime trends on Staten Island stand? (analysis) NYC congestion pricing gets thumbs up from feds; It may soon cost $23 for motorists to enter Manhattan Staten Island cemetery trashes non-permitted items from gravesites FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTER Malibu Barbie is headed to New York City and Chicago this summer, it was announced on April 6 by Bucket Listers, an experience company. The Malibu Barbie Cafe comes to City Hall Park in NYC, starting May 17 and to the Chicago Loop area of Chicogo, starting June 7. Both end on Sept. 15. Reservations and waitlists are selling out fast. Bucket Listers, which has previously been behind events like the Golden Girls-themed pop-up restaurant, is bringing the iconic doll back to the 70s, complete with groovy, signature clothes and retro glamour. The Malibu Barbie Cafe allows guests to experience the ultimate form of Barbie-inspired dining, according to the website, where you can buy tickets. The Malibu Barbie Cafe will be a casual restaurant emphasizing friendly fare, delicious desserts, and a variety of drinks. The pop-up will also come complete with exclusive merchandise and a variety of signature photo moments for fans to interact with. As soon as you step in to the Malibu Barbie Cafe, there are photo ops aplenty, guaranteed to light up anyones Instagram feed, including a life-sized Barbie Box. The event is appropriate for Barbie fans of all ages, with pricing starting at $35 for children and $50 for adults. Each ticket includes a reserved seating time and choice of entree with a side. According to Food & Wine, the Barbie pop-up restaurant is family-friendly with a nod to 1970s Malibu, replete with beachside energy and more pink than you can handle, all set inside her California dream home. At the restaurant, guests can expect fast-casual food, created by MasterChef semi-finalist Becky Brown, who emphasized all-day brunch favorites on the menu. Bucket Listers is honored to bring The Malibu Barbie Cafe to life, Andy Lederman, the CEO and Founder of Bucket Listers, shared in a statement. We pride ourselves on creating exclusive experiences for our community of 15 million fans, concepts they wont find anywhere else. Barbie has proven to be one of historys ultimate icons, we just couldnt pass up this chance to bring her world to life. Theres something new and exciting at The American Museum of Natural History! The AMNHs highly anticipated Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation opened May 4, featuring spectacular architecture and housing new exhibition galleries, next-generation classrooms, and world-class scientific research and collections facilities. The 230,000-square-foot Gilder Center project includes six floors above ground, four of which are open to the public, and one below. The Gilder Center creates 33 connections among 10 museum buildings that links the entire campus and establishes a new entrance on the Museums west side, at Columbus Avenue and 79th St., in Theodore Roosevelt Park. The new facility reflects the Museums mission of science and education. The new spaces are striking and showcase research collections that reinforce the central role of natural history collections in scientific discovery. The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation is seen during a media preview Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The Gilder Center opens to the public May 4. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)AP The Gilder Center includes the Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium, a five-story-high civic space that serves as a new gateway into the Museum from Columbus Avenue. Also visit the Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium, located on the first floor, which features large-scale models, 18 species of live insects, and digital interactive exhibits. The five-level Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core offers glimpses into working collections behind engaging displays of floor-to-ceiling exhibits on three levels, including the Macaulay Family Foundation Collection Galleries on the first and second floors. The new, year-round Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, a permanent exhibition on the second floor, affords guests the chance to mingle with up to 1,000 free-flying butterflies in a lush, temperature-controlled, habitat. Invisible Worlds, an immersive and interactive 360-degree experience on the third floor that explores networks of life on Earth at all scales, including some too small, too fast, or too slow for the human eye to discern. If youre feeling hungry during your visit, theres the new The Restaurant at Gilder, located on the second floor, which will offer table-service dining with a view overlooking the Griffin Atrium. Visitors take in the butterfly displays during a media preview of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation, Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The Gilder Center opens to the public May 4. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)AP VISITING THE GILDER CENTER Entry to the Gilder Center is available with any admission to the Museum. Ticketed exhibitions include the Invisible Worlds immersive experience and the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium. Tickets are available now at tickets.amnh.org . For more information, please visit amnh.org/GilderCenter . SUPPORT FOR THE GILDER CENTER The American Museum of Natural History gratefully acknowledges Richard Gilder and the Gilder Foundation, Inc., whose leadership support made the construction of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation possible. The Gilder Center is also made possible thanks to the generous support of the City of New York, the Council of the City of New York, the Manhattan Borough President, the State of New York, the New York State Assembly, and the New York State Senate. Butterflies from the museum's collection are on display during a media preview of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation, Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The Gilder Center opens to the public May 4. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)AP ABOUT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869 with a dual mission of scientific research and science education, is one of the worlds preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The museum encompasses more than 40 permanent exhibition halls, galleries for temporary exhibitions, the Rose Center for Earth and Space including the Hayden Planetarium, and the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The Museums scientists draw on a world-class permanent collection of more than 34 million specimens and artifacts, some of which are billions of years old, and on one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Visitors to the media preview of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation have lunch at Restaurant at Gilder, Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The Gilder Center opens to the public May 4. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)AP STATEN ISLAND, N.Y -- Health officials are closely monitoring the newest coronavirus omicron subvariant, XBB.1.16, also dubbed Arcturus, due to the variants high risk of transmission. It is believed that Arcturus will surpass XBB.1.5 by the summer, taking the place of most viral strain in the U.S., according to AL.com, SILive.coms sister site. At the time of publication, the variant accounts for more than 12% of recent COVID cases within the nation, according to data collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Due to the variants high risk of transmission, it is believed that it will surpass XBB.1.5 by the summer, taking the place of most viral strain in the U.S., according to AL.com, SILive.coms sister site. Despite this probability, the World Health Organization (WHO) merely classified the strain as a variant under monitoring, which as noted by AL.com, is a more mild designation, compared to the alternate classifications of variant of interest or variant of concern. While there is no available data to suggest that XBB.1.16 results in more critical illness in comparison to other COVID variants, it is linked with the onset of pink eye. The report indicated that conjunctivitis, better known as pink eye, has been reported in prior COVID cases, but researchers in India suggest that it is more prevalent in XBB.1.16. Alongside this itchy ailment, the new variant is said to result in higher fevers. The variant, and other COVID-19 strains will be monitored by organizations, such as the WHO, even though the coronavirus pandemic is no longer considered a global health emergency. In a press conference on Friday, the WHO formally announced the conclusion of the global health emergency which plagued the world in recent years. Although life continues to reflect times pre-pandemic, the WHO states that it would not hesitate to reconvene should the state of COVID require reassessment. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. In remembrance of those who have died, here is a collection of obituaries posted on SILive.com. Viewing times and guestbooks can be found here. Vincent Pat Imbesi, 91, passed away peacefully on May 5, 2023. At the age of 18, Vincent enlisted in the army, serving in the Korean War from 1951 to 1954. While serving, he rose through the ranks, becoming a sergeant; additionally earning four Bronze Service Stars, the United Nations Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. In 1954, he married Constance Imbesi in Brooklyn. He was a quiet, gentle man. Vincent enjoyed going out to eat, rooting for the Mets, and spending time with his children and grandchildren. For the full obituary, click here. Margaret Rosina Coseglia, 86, of Trumbull, Conn., passed away, surrounded by family, on May 3, 2023. Born on Staten Island, Margaret graduated from P.S. 12, Curtis High School, and the Baker Business School. While working at Moran Towing Corporation in Manhattan, Margaret met her husband of 65 years. The couple spent many of their retirement years lakeside in Maine, hosting family and friends. Margaret was a proud member of St. Vincents Medical Center Breast Cancer Support Group and Sisters in Faith at Our Lady Assumption Church. For the full obituary, click here. YESTERDAYS OBITUARIES Marianne Mezzacappa (nee McCauley), 82, passed away peacefully at her home in Staten Island. Marianne was born on Staten Island and attended Sacred Heart for primary school and St. Joseph Hill Academy for high school. She retired from the College of Staten Island and was a proud recipient of the Presidents Dolphin award in 1999. Marianne was a retired queen of the Red Hat Society for 10 years and a past member of the executive board of Mt. Carmel-St. Benedictas Church. She was also a past president of the Family Association of Mount Carmel Saint Benedicta School. She was an only child and loved having a large family of her own. She enjoyed traveling with family and friends and spending time with her loved ones. For the full obituary, click here. Thank you for visiting the Daily Journal. Please purchase an Enhanced Subscription to continue reading. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! Chicago: Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum introduced legislation on Friday that, if passed, would prohibit Israel's government from using American funds to oppress civilians in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The legislation comes after five months of violence by Israel's military and Israeli settlers, which has claimed the lives of more than 100 civilians. A dozen Israelis have been killed, including soldiers and settlers. The legislation, according to McCollum, "prohibits Israel's government from using US taxpayer dollars in the occupied West Bank for military detention, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention; seizure and destruction of Palestinian property and homes in violation of international humanitarian law." Also Read: Ukrainian MP got angry, attacked Russian leader with bribes The legislation would also forbid the use of US funds to "assist or support" the unilateral annexation of Palestinian lands in violation of international humanitarian law. "No dollar of US aid should be used to commit human rights violations, demolish families' homes, or permanently annexe Palestinian lands," said McCollum in a statement to Arab News. "Every year, the United States provides billions of dollars in assistance to Israel's government and those dollars should go towards Israel's security, not actions that violate international law and cause harm." Peace can be achieved only when everyone's human rights are respected, and Congress must not ignore the well-documented mistreatment of Palestinian children and families living under Israeli military occupation." McCollum cited support from 16 members of Congress as well as 75 Arab, Jewish, and Christian organisations. Also Read: France: PM Modi to be Macron's Guest Of Honour's Bastille Day Parade "Support is rapidly growing for the Palestinian people, who deserve justice, equality, human rights, and the right to self-determination," McCollum said. "Prominent civil society organisations, as well as Christian, Jewish, and Muslim organisations, have signed on to support this bill because we all agree that no Palestinian or Jewish child should go to bed fearing ongoing violence." There is a path to peace, and it requires us to lead with our American values of democracy and equal justice for all." Israeli violence against Palestinians began almost immediately after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed a new ruling coalition with some of the most extreme Israeli groups. During the first four months of 2023, the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem documented a series of assaults that resulted in an excessive number of Palestinian deaths. This B'Tselem report explains how Israeli settlers provoke Palestinians and then justify violence that results in the deaths of Palestinian civilians with the help of Israeli soldiers. "On Saturday, 11 February 2023, at around 4:00 p.m., about 30 settlers arrived on the outskirts of the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, some armed with handguns and rifles." About ten of them entered a still-under-construction house and proceeded to the second floor, where two brothers were working. One of the brothers was punched by the settlers. The other escaped and alerted nearby residents. "Within a few minutes, his brother also managed to flee the settlers," B'Tselem stated in an April 20 report. A few minutes later, dozens of young men from the village arrived and began throwing stones at the settlers in an attempt to drive them away. The settlers opened fire in the air as well as on the young men. From about 30 metres away, one of the settlers fired at a group of young men throwing stones. Mithqal Rayan, 27, was killed when a bullet struck him in the face." The legislation's co-sponsors are significant because they include many mainstream members of Congress, including Reps. Don Beyer (VA-08), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Raul Grijalva (AZ-03), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Cori Bush (MO-01), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Jesus "Chuy" The bill is also co-sponsored by the only Palestinian in Congress, Muslim Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), and McCollum's Minnesota colleague, Somali Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05). Also Read: A better picture of the approaching debt 'X-date' is provided by the IRS more quickly Many mainstream, Christian, and Jewish organisations, including Amnesty International USA, American Friends Service Committee, Human Rights Watch, the pro-peace Jewish American lobby J Street, the Jewish group Americans for Peace Now, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, the feminist rights movement CODEPINK, the United Methodist (Christian) Church, Churches for Middle East Peace, and Churches for Middle East Peace, are among the 75 organisations that support the legislation. All it took was a coronation. After years of being overshadowed by the well-dressed women in his life, people were finally interested in what King Charles III was wearing. In a crimson coronation tunic from Londons oldest tailors Ede & Ravenscroft, it was Charles time to occupy the style spotlight previously directed at Queen Elizabeth, first wife Princess Diana and most recently his daughters-in-law, Princess Catherine and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. King Charles III in a custom tunic and overshirt arrives at his coronation; Queen Camilla in an ivory silk gown with gold and silver embroidery from British designer Bruce Oldfield. Credit: Getty, AP The tunic was worn with a cream silk overshirt from Turnbull & Asser, better-known for their striped business shirts and inspired by the coronation outfits of his predecessors George V and George VI. Ceremonial Royal Naval trousers completed the regal look. On a drizzly Saturday evening in Melbourne, Paul Millwalls heart had never yearned so much to be back home in England. The 53-year-old, who has waited his entire life to see a coronation, settled on the next best thing, opting to watch the historic proceedings unfold at old-fashioned British pub the Charles Dickens Tavern in Melbournes CBD. Kev Baker, Sallyanne Oakley and Paul Millwall settle in at the Charles Dickens Tavern to watch the coronation of King Charles. Credit: Chris Hopkins Well, it is the Charles Dickens pub so where else would you watch it? said Millwall, who dressed for the occasion in a Union Jack shirt, and brought along his matching umbrella and tablecloth. We are living history right now. I bloody wish I was home. Id do anything to be there. An urban legend about jacaranda trees in Sydneys north could soon come true, with a local council considering an innovative plan to increase its tree canopy. Ask why there are so many jacaranda trees around Kirribilli and North Sydney and you will likely hear a story about saplings being given to new parents on their departure from Royal North Shore Hospital. Jacarandas bring tourists to McDougall Street in Kirribilli each year. Credit: Edwina Pickles The tale is not true but it soon could be, with North Sydney Council expected to vote for a trees for newborns program at its meeting on Tuesday evening, amid concerns about a loss of greenery on the citys lower north shore. According to business papers published ahead of the meeting, the councils overall tree canopy has declined by 11.7 per cent since 2008, with the drop mainly due to trees being cut down on private property, as well as state infrastructure projects such as the Warringah Freeway upgrade. A man accused of stabbing a Service NSW employee on Friday will remain in custody for at least eight weeks despite his lawyers attempts to have him transferred to a psychiatric facility. Mahmoud Salhab, 37, did not appear in Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday morning where it was decided he would undergo a mental health assessment. Police at the Haymarket Service NSW branch where an employee was stabbed on Friday. Credit: Rhett Wyman Members of the Salhabs family attended the courthouse but did not sit in on the hearing. Salhabs lawyer, Javid Faiz, initially asked for his client to be transferred to a mental health facility. The magistrate determined there was insufficient evidence for that to occur and instead ordered a mental health assessment be completed in custody, acknowledging this would present a time lag. The family of Sydney woman Jessica Zrinski are in a tense wait for answers as police spend a second day scouring a forest near the Jenolan Caves for the missing 30-year-old. On Saturday afternoon Jessicas father, Dark Zrinski, told this masthead he had given up hope of seeing his daughter alive again as search crews raced to use the last remaining hours of daylight to continue their search through the Hampton State Forest in the states Central Tablelands. It would be so emotionally satisfying to find my daughter remains, he said. I want so much to give Jessy a proper burial. A bushland search will continue on Saturday for missing woman Jessica Zrinski. Search crews were briefed at 8am at a picnic area and campsite known as the Millionth Acre and it is understood the search is concentrated in and around that area. One of the states most controversial figures, former corrupt Queensland police commissioner Terence Murray Lewis, has died. His imprisonment, along with three government ministers, ended an era of widespread official misconduct and corruption in Queensland. Terry Lewis on the day he was released from prison in 1998. Credit: Greg White The states youngest police commissioner was denounced as a traitor to his oath after he was convicted of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Yet Lewis maintained his innocence right up until his death on Friday aged 95. The small aircraft was on fire as it flew low over two children playing in the yard of their familys farm near Kilmore, north of Melbourne. In seconds, the plane clipped trees and a shearing shed in front of them, then smashed into a stockyard, killing two of the three men on board. Don Comans and sister June Ryan at the farm their family owned where they witnessed a fatal plane crash in 1943. Credit: Justin McManus It was January 15, 1943. Don Comans was seven years old and his sister, June Ryan, was four, but theyve never forgotten that day. I can remember it like it was yesterday, said Comans, now 87. Description Princess Ida Comes to East Hampton The battle of the sexes will break out into open warfare when the Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island brings its 2023 production of Gilbert & Sullivans classic Princess Ida to the East Hampton Library on Saturday, May 6, at 2 p.m. Princess Idawhich debuted in 1884 at Londons Savoy opera, with book and lyrics by W.S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivanis a favorite with Gilbert & Sullivan aficionados, with its score in particular regarded as perhaps Sullivans greatest. The current production is the Light Opera Companys first since 2007. More dramatic in tone than any other Gilbert & Sullivan work, the opera is set in Eastern Europe during the 14th or 15th centuries, and its story concerns the dynastic rivalry of two neighboring kingsnotably King Gama of Hungary, whose daughter (the title character) has fled an arranged marriage to the son of King Hildebrand and instead set up a college for women, where she teaches the then-unthinkable principles of womens rights and equality for all, regardless of rank, gender, wealth or nationality. In the end the story boils down to whether the operas young people are doomed to grow into their parents, repeating all their mistakes, or if they can escape the machinations of their parents, move beyond hatred and violence, and forge a new future for themselves. In the new production of the opera, Kara Vertucci of Lindenhurst plays Princess Ida and Joseph Anthony Smith of Freeport plays Prince Hilarion, with Barry Mastellone of Queebs as King Gama and Ben Salers of Northport as King Hildebrand. Lady Psyche is played by Patricia Gallagher of West Hempstead, and Lady Blanche by Terry Hochler of East Meadow, with Cecilia Antonelle of Holtsville as Melissa; Jordan Breslow of Bellmore plays Florian and Richard Risi of Locust Valley plays Cyril. Idas brothers, the formidable Warriors Three, are played by Daniel Barna of Medford (Arac), John Benvenuto of Floral Park (Guron) and Marc Eliot Stein of Brooklyn (Scynthius). Tamara Shyngle of Brentwood plays Sacharissa, Claudia Arroyo of Port Washington is Chloe, and Hanna Roth of Upper Brookville plays Ada. The director is Gayden Wren, and the music director is Leonard Lehrman. Princess Ida is unlike any other Gilbert & Sullivan opera, said Wren, a longtime member of the company and also the author of an acclaimed book about Gilbert & Sullivan. Its Shakespearean in its scope, and its humorwhich combines farce, slapstick, satire and burlesqueis in the service of a story of unique emotional power. Ida and Hilarion are two sides of the same coin, young aristocrats whove been pawns in their fathers rivalry almost since they were born. The story pits them as enemies, but as the opera progresses they begin to see something of themselves in each other, and to sense the outlines of a future different from the one theyve always been told awaits them. Ultimately this is a story of generational conflict, of young people trying to get past the mistakes and hatreds of their parents, trying to forge a new world they might actually live in together. Wren concluded. When people ask me what its about, I say its about a prince, a princess and an arranged marriage ... but also about climate change, racial and ethnic rivalries, inequality, social justice and pretty much anything else thats going on in the world today. Its funny, its beautiful, but theres no Gilbert & Sullivan story thats more directly relevant to the world of today. Princess Ida will be presented on Saturday, May 6, at 2 p.m. at the East Hampton Library, 159 Main Street in East Hampton. Admission is free. For further information, call (631) 324-0222 or visit www.easthamptonlibrary.org. A prominent Melbourne IVF clinic owned by fertility queen Dr Lynn Burmeister has had significant conditions slapped on its registration after allegedly breaching an order not to import sperm and eggs from war-torn Ukraine. A chronic shortage of donor sperm and eggs has led fertility clinics in Australia to increasingly turn to overseas donors and international egg and sperm banks. No.1 Fertility owner Dr Lynn Burmeister is a successful and flamboyant figure in Victorias fertility industry. Credit: Julian Kingma Burmeisters clinic, No.1 Fertility, is listed as one of several Australian partner clinics of CentraLIVF, which provides donor eggs to Australia from women in Ukraine and Georgia. But in March last year, the regulator of the states IVF industry, the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority, suspended the importation of donor material from Ukraine. The evening is still young when night mayors from London, Barcelona, New York, Berlin and Paris arrive at Bomba rooftop bar in the city on Friday. Ariel Palitz, the founding director of New Yorks Office of Nightlife, is drinking a hot toddy. She says shes exhausted. Night mayors at Bomba (from left): Thierry Charlois (Paris), Anna Edwards, University of Melbourne, Lutz Leichsenring (Berlin), Ariel Palitz (New York), Michele Acuto (University of Melbourne), Amy Lame (London) and Penny Miles (Melbourne). Credit: Joe Armao Its not because of the jet lag, she says. Were all just 24-hour people who are just working around the clock. Being a night mayor may sound like a job that is almost too good to be true, but over cocktails and tapas the contingent gathered in Melbourne say its a serious business. A 48-year-old man has been extradited from Queensland to Western Australia after further police investigation into a sexual assault cold case from the early 1990s. Special Crime Squad, Homicide, have alleged the man, who was 17 in 1992 when the alleged offending occurred, entered a home in Embleton some time between 4am and 4.30am on April 17. The man arrived in Perth on Friday. Credit: WA Police The victim, a 23-year-old woman, was asleep in the house at the time, but was woken by the man, who was armed with a knife. She was then allegedly bound and sexually assaulted a number of times. Cheltenham home owners Katie and David Ferraro are searching for a new home with three bedrooms, instead of the four they currently have, in an effort to find a house with more living spaces and a smaller mortgage. [We have] two children now and only one income instead of two, so its kind of two-pronged, Mrs Ferraro said. We need more space and the cost of living has gone up, but my husbands wage hasnt gone up. Katie Ferraro and husband David are looking for a home that better suits their familys needs. Credit: Simon Schluter Were not having any more children so forgoing the fourth bedroom for a second living space is going to suit us financially. Ferraro hoped the premium price their four-bedroom home would fetch would make it easier to find the correct size home for their family three beds, two bathrooms and two living areas but added they may need to look further afield because of low listing levels. Theres not really a lot around that has three bedrooms and what we would consider a smart move, she said. They seem to be places that need a lot of work. [But] in terms of a three-bed place further out, there seems to be quite a bit and some really reasonable places that would be a good buy and save us some money. Ferraro aims to trade their four-bedroom home for a smaller house with two living areas. Credit: Simon Schluter Powell said it was harder to find larger homes in the inner city, and those hoping to find larger floor plans would need to move further out. The other thing to consider is [whether] the size of the dwelling reflects the geographical location of that dwelling, she said. Ray White Cheltenham director Kevin Chokshi will have the listing for the Ferraros home when it comes time to sell. He said there was a clear difference in the prices paid for differently sized homes. Loading Renovated three-beds are performing well, but renovated four-beds are performing better, he said. Its that dream home most people have in their minds. Chokshi said those brave enough to take on a renovation project could also save money by going for a smaller home that needed work and adding more bedrooms as needed. NAB senior economist Matthew Hassan said the rapidly deteriorating affordability of new and existing mortgages would push existing and would-be home owners to look at how they could save on housing. When affordability is stretched you look at ways to compromise, he said. Australians generally preferred larger homes, but the economic pressures could cause another shift in preferences, Hassan said. During COVID there was a big shift in what people were looking for in housing, particularly with the advent of working from home, he said. I think what we also saw was a shift in the premium that people were willing to pay to be close to the city. So I think that for those buyers who have that scope for working flexibly its a combination of what do you compromise on ... the number of bedrooms or the location. Catcha Group chief and co-founder Patrick Grove was not on hand to inspect the Darling Point house he purchased in 2017 for $28 million, but bought it anyway knowing it was to be demolished and rebuilt as his forever home. The newly built house on the Darling Point waterfront is listed for $70 million. Credit: But no sooner have the finishing touches been added to the waterfront house than the internet entrepreneur is still not here to take up residence, and is instead still based in Singapore, where he recently added the role of company chairman to his bow. If six years is a long time in the fortunes of our tech class, its even longer in Sydneys trophy home market where an expensive site acquisition, no-expense-spared build and good dose of inflation have prompted a $70 million guide by exclusive listing agents Michael Pallier and Francis Egan, of Sothebys. Groves purchase of the 669-square metre property in 2017 ended almost 40 years of ownership by the Meagher family, headed by the late hotelier, Alan Meagher. Sydney house hunters who downsize their property expectations as housing affordability declines could save up to $380,000 a bedroom for the typical property. Larger family homes held their values best in the market downturn as buyers paid a premium for space. But with borrowing capacity falling further than property prices, some buyers are re-evaluating how much room they need. The gap between the median three- and four-bedroom home has stretched to $350,000. Credit: Peter Rae The median four-bedroom house in Sydney now costs $350,000 more than the median three-bedroom house, Domain data shows, after the price gap widened almost 20 per cent year-on-year, despite the weaker property market. The price gap between a two- and three-bedroom house widened slightly to $122,500, at the same time as spending capacity for an average income earner dropped about $160,000. A young couple dropped $5.75 million on a four-bedroom, fixer-upper in Coogee, just a short walk from Coogee Beach. They were one of four buyers all young home owners registered to bid on the tightly held home at 8 Arcadia Street, which was initially guided at $4.6 million but revised up to $5 million after a pre-auction offer of the same amount. The run-down home, with much of the original features intact, was on the market for the first time in 43 years. It last sold in 1980 for $160,000. It was one of 554 auctions scheduled across Sydney and by evening, Domain Group reported a preliminary clearance rate of 78 per cent, after 359 results were reported and 51 auctions withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties as part of the clearance rate. Yumi Lee of Blacktown, Sydney, passed through security at Sydney Airports international terminal ahead of a holiday to Malaysia in January, when a security officer ordered her to remove her jacket. The only problem? She wasnt wearing one. I was stunned because I was wearing a blouse. I told him so, and he shouted take off your jacket multiple times, Lee said. He then shouted at me, I can stop you from getting to your plane... I was shaking. To be asked to remove my blouse was completely unthinkable. Some women have complained about their treatment by security staff at Sydney Airport. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone The shirt was a collared pullover blouse with no zip and no buttons. Lee said the staff member didnt relent until she showed him part of her camisole. PHILIPSBURG:--- On Saturday morning, May 6th, 2023, at approximately 06:30 am, police central dispatch received a call regarding a body floating at Guana-Bay Beach. several Police patrols were swiftly dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival, officers observed a female body floating in the sea. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, the Coastguard was immediately summoned to provide assistance. During their search and rescue operation, they discovered the body of a female victim and several personal items floating nearby. The Coastguard successfully retrieved the victim's body from the sea and promptly transported it to the Coastguard Station in Simpson Bay. Simultaneously, detectives and forensic experts were mobilized to initiate an investigation into this tragic event Later in the morning, another call was received by Central Dispatch at approximately 10:30 am. This call alerted police to the presence of a male body lying motionless on the sands of Guana-Bay Beach. Detectives, forensic experts, and personnel from the prosecutor's office were dispatched to the scene to investigate the matter. A male victim's body was located on the beach and subsequently transported to one of the local funeral homes, where it will undergo further examination. Given the sensitive nature of this case and the imperative to respect the privacy and dignity of the victims and their families, additional details are being withheld at this time. KPSM Major Crimes team is appealing to anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious activity or possesses any pertinent information related to the events at Guana-Bay Beach to come forward and assist with this investigation. Persons with knowledge or information are urged to contact Major Crimes Department at +1 721 542 2222, ext. 208, 223 or 214 or call the anonymous tip line 9300. Updates regarding the investigation and any significant developments will be shared through subsequent press releases as they become available. KPSM extends its deepest sympathies to the families and friends affected by this loss. Chesapeake Gold initiates legal proceedings related to San Vicente 3 concession Chesapeake Gold Corp. (TSXV: CKG) (OTCQX: CHPGF) (aChesapeakea or the aCompanya A https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/chesapeake-gold-corp/ ) has initiated legal proceedings against the DirecciAn General de Minas of Mexico (aDGMa) with the Federal Court of Administrative Justice in the state of Durango, Mexico in response to the DGMa?s cancellation of the San Vicente 3 mineral concession.A The San Vicente 3 mineral concession is one of 12 mineral concessions comprising the Metates property, representing 700 hectares of the 4,260 hectares in the Metates project, and encompasses a portion of the Metates mineral resource.A The Company has recently become aware that the DGM has cancelled the San Vicente 3 mineral concession on the basis that the Company did not provide adequate evidence to support the Companya?s performance of the exploration work required to maintain the concession.A The Companya?s legal position, approved by external Mexican legal counsel, is that the work required to maintain the concession was conducted on the property and appropriate evidence was submitted to the DGM to substantiate the work.A The Companya?s Mexican legal counsel has initiated legal proceedings against the DGM with the Federal Court of Administrative Justice in the state of Durango to contest the legality of the cancellation of the San Vicente 3 mineral concession on the grounds that (1) the DGM failed to comply with mandated cancellation procedures in accordance with applicable legislation, and (2) the DGM determined, erroneously, that evidence submitted in support of the exploration work was insufficient. The Company intends to vigorously defend its position with respect to the San Vicente 3 mineral concession.A About Chesapeake Chesapeake Gold Corp. is focused on the discovery, acquisition, and development of major gold-silver deposits in North and South America. Chesapeake\-s flagship asset is the Metates project (aMetatesa) located in Durango State, Mexico. Metates hosts one of the largest undeveloped gold-silver deposits in the Americas.[1] For Further Information: For more information on Chesapeake and its Metates project, please visit our website at www.chesapeakegold.com or contact Alan Pangbourne at invest@chesapeakegold.com or +1 778 731 1362. In Europe: Swiss Resource Capital AG Jochen Staiger info@resource-capital.ch www.resource-capital.ch 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 news release. Forward-looking Statements This news release contains aforward-looking informationa which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Companya?s legal proceedings against the DGM to contest the cancellation of the San Vicente 3 mineral concession, the outcome of the legal proceedings against the DGM and other matters.A Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are based on various assumptions. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, whether the Company is successful in its proceedings against the DGM; the accuracy of the Companya?s mineral resource estimates; the impact of the cancellation of the San Vicente 3 mineral concession on Metates; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, and political instability. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, 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. [1] Mexicoa?s biggest undeveloped gold deposits as published by Bnamericas, Tuesday, November 24, 2020. Description The North Fork Reform Synagogue is very excited that our former Student Rabbi, Shoshana Nambi, has won The National Jewish Book Award for 2023 in the Children's Picture Book category for The Very Best Sukkah, a Story from Uganda. Come meet Rabbi Shoshana and talk to her about her award-winning book and ask questions. Her presentation and reading of the book will be followed by a Q and A. Inaugurated in 1950, the National Jewish Book Awards is the longest-running North American awards program of its kind and is recognized as the most prestigious. The Awards are intended to recognize authors, and encourage reading, of outstanding English-language books of Jewish interest. Bring your children for a wonderful afternoon at the library. PreIPO.com Unveils Cutting-Edge Fintech Tools at Pro Panama Inaugural Sustainable Investment Summit Panama City, Republic of Panama, May 2, 2023 (ACN Newswire) Leading global fintech brand PreIPO has successfully participated in the First Sustainable Investment Forum of Panama, organized by PROPANAMA and held earlier this month at the Panama Convention Center in Amador, which is the biggest convention center in Central America. The disruptive private equity platform joined the event to demonstrate its innovative approach to optimizing distribution, maximizing liquidity, and democratizing the capital formation process for issuers, intermediaries, and investors. \We are excited to explore the investment opportunities in Panama\-s thriving economy and contribute to its sustainable development through our innovative fintech solutions,\ said Harold Alvarez, Chief Syndicate Officer PreIPO.com. The Panama Sustainable Investment Forum is a prestigious event that brings together international investors and businesses interested in exploring the sustainable investment opportunities offered by Panama\-s dynamic and growing economy. The event highlights Panama\-s unique advantages, including incomparable connectivity, a safe environment, and the benefits of various special regimes for foreign investment. Participants are introduced to the competitive, business-friendly, and transparent tax, labor, and migration legal tools available in the country. PreIPO showcased its cutting-edge fintech solutions at the forum, highlighting the transformative potential of its platform for sustainable investments in Panama. By offering an accessible and efficient capital formation process, PreIPO aims to support the growth of sustainable businesses and contribute to the long-term economic development of the country. \Participating in PROPANAMA\-s Sustainable Investment Forum has been a remarkable experience for PreIPO,\ said Harold Alvarez, Chief Syndication Officer at PreIPO. \We are excited to explore the investment opportunities in Panama\-s thriving economy and contribute to its sustainable development through our innovative fintech solutions.\ PreIPO.com\-s presence at the Panama Sustainable Investment Forum reinforces its commitment to promoting sustainable investments and fostering economic growth in emerging markets. The company\-s platform aims to empower businesses and investors worldwide, driving positive social and environmental impacts through smart and responsible investments. About PreIPO.com The event took place on the cusp of PreIPO launching its $128M Series A Round to scale globally in a rapid manner. Currently, PreIPO.com currently features over $1B in deal flow Available in the Deal Room (www.preipo.com/deal-room-preipo). PreIPO is an innovative global fintech brand that has revolutionized the private equity industry with its disruptive platform. The company\-s unique approach optimizes distribution, maximizes liquidity, and democratizes the capital formation process for issuers, intermediaries, and investors. PreIPO is dedicated to empowering businesses and investors with efficient, transparent, and accessible solutions that drive sustainable growth and create lasting value. To Learn More about how you can participate in the PreIPO Ecosystem, please visit www.preipo.com or contact info@preipo.com. Harold Alvarez PreIPO +1 888-863-1582 info@preipo.com Key Insights Institutions' substantial holdings in Capital implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price The top 7 shareholders own 51% of the company Insider ownership in Capital is 20% A look at the shareholders of Capital Limited (LON:CAPD) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 48% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk). Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investing decisions tend to carry a great deal of weight, especially with individual investors. As a result, a sizeable amount of institutional money invested in a firm is generally viewed as a positive attribute. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Capital, beginning with the chart below. View our latest analysis for Capital What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Capital? Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index. As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Capital. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Capital's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. Capital is not owned by hedge funds. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In Capital's case, its Top Key Executive, Jamie Boyton, is the largest shareholder, holding 13% of shares outstanding. Aberforth Partners LLP is the second largest shareholder owning 10% of common stock, and Allianz Asset Management AG holds about 7.0% of the company stock. Story continues We did some more digging and found that 7 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat. While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily. Insider Ownership Of Capital The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO. Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances. Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Capital Limited. Insiders own UK38m worth of shares in the UK187m company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently. General Public Ownership The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 31% stake in Capital. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders. Next Steps: I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Capital that you should be aware of. If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Toll from DR Congo floods rises above 200 Bukavu, DR Congo, May 6 (AFP) May 06, 2023 The toll from floods and landslides in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has risen to 203 people dead as more bodies are recovered, an administrative official said Saturday. The provisional death toll, announced late on Friday by the provincial governor, was at least 176 dead. "Here in Bushushu, 203 bodies have already been removed from the rubble," said Thomas Bakenga, administrator of Kalehe territory, where the affected villages are located. It was not possible to evaluate the full extent of the human losses and material damage, he told local media. Heavy rainfall in the Kalehe region of South Kivu province on Thursday caused rivers to overflow, causing landslides that engulfed the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi. The hillside also gave way at Nyamukubi, where the weekly market was held on Thursday, Bakenga added. In all, several villages were submerged, many houses washed away and fields devastated, when rivers in the region burst their banks due to the heavy rains. Congolese doctor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, whose clinic is located in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, said Saturday he had sent a team of surgeons, anaesthetists and technicians to the area to "provide the population with emergency medical aid". The disaster came two days after floods killed at least 131 people and destroyed thousands of homes in neighbouring Rwanda. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday offered his condolences to the victims of the "catastrophic floods" in Rwanda and DR Congo. "This is yet another illustration of accelerating climate change and its disastrous impact on countries that have done nothing to contribute to global warming," he said during a visit to Burundi. Experts say extreme weather events are happening with increased frequency and intensity due to climate change. SHELTON A local man accused of making a death threat against a Florida sheriff was extradited to the Florida on Thursday, according to the Volusia County Sheriffs Office. Cristhian Zapata, 23, was charged with making a written threat to kill, a felony. Two other men, New Jersey resident Richard Golden and California resident Tyler Meyer, have also been accused of the same offense, the sheriff's office said. Shelton police arrested Zapata on April 19, the office said. The target of the threat was Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, according to authorities. Chitwood faced hate after he spoke out in February against an organization responsible for distributing antisemitic literature and displaying antisemitic banners over a pedestrian bridge. "You came to the wrong county. I stand with my Jewish friends, and I'm honored to be on your hit list. It's an honor to be sought after by a bunch of punk thugs like you," Chitwood said at a news conference. His remarks were captured in a viral video. In an April 7 post on anonymous image board site 4chan, authorities said, Zapata wrote "I WILL KILL CHITWOOD, MARK MY WORDS." The post was flagged by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange for further investigation, the sheriff's office said. Investigators obtained the IP address of the person responsible for the post from 4chan, according to the Florida warrant for Zapata's arrest. Using that information, they were able to identify Zapatas home address with the help of an internet service provider, the warrant said. When interviewed by police, Zapatas sister described her brother as a strange person who is harmless but reported he was fascinated by Adolf Hitler and hung out in chat rooms discussing conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideology, the warrant said. Zapata, who identified himself as a nationalist and Trump supporter, denied that he belonged to any hate groups or other organizations but admitted to making the 4chan post, according to the warrant. He was held on a $100,000 bond ahead of his extradition to Florida after his April 19 arrest, the sheriff's office said. Sharing a photo of Zapata standing in an airport, the office announced in a Facebook post at 11:08 p.m. Thursday that Zapata had officially landed in Daytona Beach. Guests have flocked into Westminster Abbey this morning, ahead of King Charles IIIs Coronation . Two thousand guests are set to gather, and a host of British and international leaders and stars have been spotted as they take their seats. Dame Emma Thompson in Emilia Wickstead / Getty Images Early to arrive, just before 8:30am, were Dame Emma Thompson and Nick Cave, the former in a 1,800 Emilia Wickstead coat, the later in typical vampiric style, with black slicked back tresses. Katy Perry in Viveinne Westwood / Getty Images Next, Katy Perry turned heads in a candy-floss pink Vivienne Westwood look, which looked to pay homage to her Califorina Gurls music video, before world leaders began making their way. First Lady Jill Biden / Getty Images Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States, opted for a powder blue power suit, with matching gloves and ribbonned headpiece nestled in blonde hair. It comes after her shocking hot pink statement as she met with the UK Prime Minsters wife Akshata Murty at No.10 Downing Street yesterday. Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska / REUTERS First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made an inspiring appearance alongside Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in a monochromatic, pale-teal look. Her smart overcoat featured smart side pleats, worn over a coordinating slip dress and finished with drop pearl jewellery and white heels. Dame Joanna Lumley / Getty Images Also making there way into proceedings was Dame Joanna Lumley, who is infamously fond of the royal family, and looked thrilled to be in attendance wearing her 60s style navy dress with a contrast white collar and white bowler hat. King Felipe and Queen Letizia / REUTERS Dubbed the Kate Middleton of Spain, Queen Letizia did not dissapoint in a hot pink skirt suit with wide brimmed hat as she made her way into the Abbey with husband, King Felipe. Queen Rania, who arrived with King Abdullah II of Jordan, looked similarly chic in a pale yellow frock, not of a dissimilar shade to that chosen by Pippa Middleton, Catherine, Princess of Wales sister. Pippa and James Middleton / PA Zara Phillips looked smart in pale blue, which looks to have been the most popular colourchoice of the day, while the likes of Samantha Cameron and Theresa May were more adventurous, adding shots of red and orange, respectively. Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty / POOL/AFP via Getty Images Meanwhile Akshata Murty, wife of Rishi Sunak, wore a 945 blue dress by Claire Mischevani, the British based designer who says making women look and feel amazing is one of the main reasons why I truly love what I do. Scroll the gallery above for the best dressed arrivals at King Charles IIIs Coronation Between the Royal Family, A-listers and the international elite, the Coronation of King Charles III was always going to be a fashion spectacle for the ages. The pomp and pageantry of the ceremony lived up to expectation, and while spouts of protest accounted for moments of ruckus outside, guests making their way to the 2000-strong congregation did so in spectacular style. The family The Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace / Getty Images Inevitably, it was The Firms chief-of-glamour, the Princess of Wales, who won hearts with the most fashionable look from the family - this time, with the added presence of her mini-me. Catherine enlisted the help of Alexander McQueens creative director Sarah Burton, her longtime trusted designer who was behind her 2011 lace wedding dress, to craft the ivory crepe gown, embroidered with roses, thistles, daffodils, and shamrocks she wore under her blue state robe. Importantly, McQueen worked with London based milliner Jess Collett to make Greek-like, silver floral headbands in the place of a tiara squashing months of speculation over whether she would be borrowing from the Royal collection, and fears of a flower crown more suited to Glastonbury. Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte / WireImage Making headlines, however, was her daughter Princess Charlotte, who at 8 years old won hearts in her matching McQueen white cape, sparkling headpiece, and white ballet pumps, alongside her brother Prince Louis who, though restless in ceremony, looked smart in navy. Ranking high in grandeur was Princess Anne, who wore her her Blues and Royals uniform and the green velvet Thisle cloak complete with a red feathered, bicorne hat. Her daughter, Zara Phillips, was less stoic but still elegant in a baby blue dress coat, matching Strathberry bag and diamond brooch last worn by Princess Anne in 2017. Prince Harry arrives with Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi / Getty Images Sisters Princess Eugenie and Beatrice took opposing routes, the former in subdued navy Fendi and the later a hot pink Beluah dress, a label whose tagline is fighting slavery through fashion. Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh was respectful in her Suzannah London white gown which, designer Suzannah Crabb told The Standard, features a beautiful hand embroidered train inspired by gowns and regalia from the Queens Coronation in 1953. The celebrities Dame Emma Thompson in Emilia Wickstead / Getty Images While not heaving with Hollywood superstars like a Royal Wedding, a number of famous faces did pull focus. Dame Emma Thomspon was an early arriver, doing so in a flamboyant red and black rose woven opera coat by Emilia Wickstead. She was joined by Lionel Richie, who was dapper in a top hat and Garrad diamond brooch, Ant and Dec, in three-piece morning suits and Nick Cave who was ever the vamp in a black suit with dark hair slicked back. Also outside the Abbey was Dame Joanna Lumley , who is infamously fond of the royal family, and looked thrilled to be in attendance wearing her 60s style navy dress with a contrast white collar and white bowler hat. Katy Perry in Vivienne Westwood / Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Stealing focus, though, was a sugar-pink Katy Perry who wore a bespoke suit from Vivienne Westwood, UK fashions late Queen of Punk, as she arrived with British Vogues editor in chief Edward Enninful. The politicians Penny Mordaunt, Lord President of the Council / Getty Images Left and right came together as streams of UK politicians made their way into the Abbey for the ceremony. It was Penny Mordaunt, the Tory MP who is the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Privy Council, who stole the spotlight as she demonstrated impeccable upper body strength holding up the mighty 17th-century Sword of State for the duration of the service. Her outfit, a teal caped dress with golden fern embroidery from Hand and Lock, was more controversial, giving way to a string of less favourable memes. Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty / Getty Images UK Prime Minster Rishi Sunak arrived with wife Akshata Murty, who opted for a soft blue, jacquard dress by London based designer Claire Mischevani. It was an absolute pleasure to dress Mrs Murty, for such a momentous, British occasion, the designer told The Standard. As an independent British brand, it means so much to see our pieces worn to such occasions. Carrie Johnson, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Hugh OLeary, Philip May and Theresa May / Getty Images Former Prime Ministers included David Cameron and his wife Samantha, who wore a floral red frock with scarlet hat, Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie, who opted for a blue dress and navy tweed jacket, as well as Liz Truss and Thersea May who both braved shots of orange in their looks. And with no fear of controversy, it was Suella Braverman who won prize for most outlandish head piece as she demanded attention wearing an huge, cream organza fascinator and grey suit. The international dignitaries Felipe VI of Spain and Queen Letizia of Spain / Getty Images The Coronation would not have been complete without a helping of international razz-matazz - and there was no shortage of that. Led by the woman dubbed Spains answer to Kate Middleton, Queen Letizia did not disappoint in a hot pink peplum skirt suit by Carolina Herrera, complemented by a wide brimmed hat as she made her way into the Abbey with husband, King Felipe. Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece was another adopter of the popular powder blue in her custom look by Mary Katrantzou, which she finished with an unconventional clutch - a model of Marcel Prousts novel In Search of Lost Time. Rounding off the best dressed European royals was Princess Charlene of Monaco, who was ever-striking but understated in a pale beige, button-up skirt and blazer complete with sash-style drape. Albert II, Prince of Monaco and Charlene, Princess of Monaco / Getty Images Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States, opted for a periwinkle power suit, with matching gloves and ribbonned headpiece nestled in blonde hair. It comes after her shocking hot pink statement as she met with Akshata Murty at No.10 Downing Street yesterday. First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska , wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also made an inspiring appearance alongside Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in a monochromatic, pale-teal look. Her smart overcoat featured side pleats, worn over a coordinating slip dress and finished with drop pearl earrings and white heels. Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron / via REUTERS French president Emmanuel Macron wore an all black suit and tie as he was joined by his wife Brigitte, who channelled quiet luxury in an uber-chic pastel pink dress and matching coat designed by Nicolas Ghesquiere for Louis Vuitton. Crown Prince Fumihito of Japan and Crown Princess Kiko / Getty Images Elsewhere, looking resplendent in their respective national dress, were King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan, Queen Nanasipauu Tukuaho of Tonga, and Crown Princess Kiko of Japan. Click through the gallery above for the best looks from the Coronation T wo men have been jailed after Met detectives seized cocaine with an estimated street value of more than 14 million in west London. Richard Johnson, 47, from Sheffield, was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison for conspiracy to supply cocaine at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday. Polish national Kamil Sokolowski, 33, pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court to conspiracy to import cocaine. He was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison. Richard Johnson has been jailed for six years and nine months / Met Police The pair were arrested after officers witnessed a box containing some of the drugs being transferred between a lorry and a van in a slip-road near Target Roundabout in Northolt just after midnight on November 25, 2022. The box was found to contain 20 kilograms of cocaine. Another six boxes were found in the lorry, which had arrived in the UK through the Channel Tunnel around three hours earlier. A total of 141 kilograms were recovered. Kamil Sokolowski / Met Police Johnson and Sokolowski attempted to run away but were chased by officers on foot and arrested nearby. They were found to have been messaging on encrypted devices which they had used to arrange the handover. Johnson has travelled to London from the north of England. Detective Constable Leon Ure, from the Mets Specialist Crime Command, said:"I am certain these drugs would have ended up in the hands of dangerous criminal gangs and would have resulted in violent crime and anti-social behaviour. "These men thought they have covered their tracks by using an encrypted device and by meeting at a secluded location, however we still caught them, and I hope this acts as a warning to anyone else involved in transporting and selling drugs." T housands of Britons braving rainy weather and grey skies over London to witness the coronation pomp and pageantry were warned to wear raincoats and expect puddles. The Met Office said many southern parts of the UK are likely to be cloudy with some outbreaks of rain throughout Saturday afternoon. This raised fears a planned military flypast of more than 60 aircraft over Buckingham Palace at 2.30pm on Saturday could be called off. But the Ministry of Defence (MoD) instead announced it would be scaled down. An MoD statement said: Due to unsuitable weather conditions, the coronation flypast will now be formed of helicopters and the Royal Air Force aerobatic team The Red Arrows. The flypast will last for two minutes and 30 seconds. The Met Office said temperatures could could get to 22C in the South East on Sunday. This would be the highest temperature recorded in the UK in 2023 so far, exceeding the 21.2C in Kinlochewe, Scotland, on April 17. On Saturday, Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna told the PA news agency it is definitely wet weather gear weather, adding Its not going to be very nice this afternoon. A lot of standing water around, puddles. Things could be a lot better, to be honest, not looking nice at all. He said Saturdays conditions were certainly good for reservoirs but not particularly good if you are doing events out and about as many people are. Mr Petagna added: For the South East its not looking great to be honest from now onwards through the day we are going to see cloudy skies, outbreaks of rain. So across the South East, some of the rain could be on the heavy side turning a bit more showery into the afternoon. He said temperatures in the capital could peak at 16C or 17C on Saturday afternoon, with 17C expected in Belfast and 15C in Glasgow. Mr Petagna stressed that it was not his place to decide whether the conditions were appropriate for the military flypast. But he added: Theres going to be low cloud around so its not going to be the of best conditions. Certainly not good conditions for flying. Aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force had been set to take part in the display. Elsewhere on Saturday, he said north-east England and eastern parts of Scotland could see some low cloud, with some brighter spells developing in places such as Northern Ireland and western Scotland. He added: Some brighter skies also a scatter of heavy showers and one or two of the showers could be thundery, so, essentially, cloudy and wet across central and south-east England. Elsewhere brighter later with some showers. On Sunday, he said, Britons can expect a bit more of an east/west split of weather conditions. He added: In the east tomorrow we will see further heavy showers, particularly across eastern England whereas out towards the west its drier and brighter and a bit warmer tomorrow as well, temperatures tomorrow could get to 22C in the South East. That would make it the warmest day of the year so far. He said these highs could be enjoyed in the London area. He added: Wet and fairly windy weather moving across from the west, sweeping eastwards across all areas Sunday night into Monday. Followed by sunshine and showers in the west late on Monday. Its going to vary day to day. This (Saturday) afternoon the showers could be particularly heavy across the west of Northern Ireland, southern Scotland and later parts of the Midlands as well could see some quite heavy showers. Whereas tomorrow, its more east and south-east England and then on Monday the rain coming in will be heaviest on hills in the west and north west. He said areas in south-east England and potentially in Northern Ireland could get highs of 18C or 19C on Monday. T he countdown to the coronation of the King has begun but the controversial Homage of the People element of the service has been toned down. Charles reportedly approved the change which came after a string of commentators criticised the new addition as divisive. Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, a friend of Charles who wrote the Kings authorised biography, said the monarch would find the Homage of the People abhorrent. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will now invite a show of support from the congregation rather than a call to those in the Abbey and elsewhere to swear allegiance to the King. Build up to the big day has already begun with workers sweeping sand onto roads, police officers arriving and a rain shelter is being set up outside the Abbey entrance. Metropolitan police and military police officers patrolled the route from Victoria to Westminster from the early hours on Saturday. Cleaning crews at work in front of Westminster Abbey (Toby Melville/PA) / PA Wire Royal fans with Union flags and crowns could be seen on trains and in Tube stations from just after 4.30am. The King will be crowned at Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury during a coronation ceremony dating back centuries. Cries of God Save the King will ring out around the abbey after St Edwards Crown is placed on Charles head by Mr Welby. The senior cleric said in a statement issued on the eve of the coronation that the ceremony served as a powerful reflection and celebration of who we are today, in all our wonderful diversity. He said people will be struck by the majesty and sacred wonder of the service, but also hoped they would find ancient wisdom and new hope. The event will bring together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple, with Charles estranged son the Duke of Sussex expected to attend. Getty Images Invited guests include David and Victoria Beckham, musician Lionel Richie, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US First Lady Jill Biden but her husband President Joe Biden will not be attending. The day will be a display of pomp and pageantry, with the nations Armed Forces promising a spectacular event when the King and Queen process through the streets of the capital. The event is the militarys largest ceremonial operation since Queen Elizabeth IIs 1953 coronation, with 9,000 servicemen and women deployed and 7,000 of these performing ceremonial and supporting roles. HM King Charles III with Prince and Princess of Wales greet royal fans ahead of the Coronation 1 / 26 HM King Charles III with Prince and Princess of Wales greet royal fans ahead of the Coronation Getty Images AP REUTERS REUTERS AFP via Getty Images REUTERS REUTERS PA PA REUTERS REUTERS AFP via Getty Images PA Wire REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS AFP via Getty Images Getty Images AP REUTERS Mr Welby followed the longstanding tradition of commissioning new coronation liturgy the prayers and actions of the coronation service which has the theme Called To Serve. He chaired an advisory group of theology, constitutional history and inter-faith relationships experts to draft the liturgy, produced in close consultation with the King and the Government. The Homage of the People replaced the homage of peers, and Lambeth Palace described it as an invitation to the estimated global television audience of tens of millions to make a a great cry around the nation and around the world in support for the King. Mr Welby was to say: I call upon all persons of goodwill in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other realms and the territories to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted King, defender of all. All those interested would be invited to say: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to your majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God. But now he will say: I now invite those who wish to offer their support to do so, with a moment of private reflection, by joining in saying God save King Charles at the end or, for those with the words before them, to recite them in full. Press Release May 5, 2023 Tulfo seeks probe into LTO process of obtaining driver's license Senator Idol Raffy Tulfo is calling for a Senate investigation into what he considers as anti-poor process of obtaining driver's licenses in the Philippines to streamline and make the process accessible to the marginalized sector. Tulfo filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 577 to also address the current issue of shortage of plastic cards for license issuance. "There have been issues with the process of obtaining driver's licenses particularly the requirement to a take a Theoretical Driving Course and Practical Driving Course with an LTO-accredited driving school, to undergo a costly medical exam and obtain a medical certificate from an LTO-accredited clinic," the Resolution read. "There is a need to ensure that the process of obtaining a driver's license is streamlined, affordable, cost-efficient, and impenetrable by fixers," it added. It can be recalled that Tulfo recently made an ocular visit at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Diliman Quezon City amid rampant corruption issues, which also prompted him to file SR No. 577 Currently, all new driver's license applicants are required to enroll in an LTO-accredit driving school that charges 5,000 pesos and above. All new and for renewal driver's license applicants are likewise required to pay P500 fee for vision test. He is also concerned about reports of a shortage of plastic cards for the printing of driver's license because of the rebidding that happened which has resulted in the printing of driver's license on paper. Tulfo underscored the need to investigate the incidents surrounding the bidding of said plastic cards as well as license plates to prevent the repeated problems of shortage of these crucial regulatory tools that secure our land traffic The Senator from Isabela and Davao also wants to investigate issues with the process of registering motor vehicles, particularly the requirement of Compulsory Third-Party Liability (CTPL) insurance which is a mandatory requirement for all motor vehicle owners in the Philippines. According to him, many motor vehicle owners already have comprehensive motor vehicle insurance providing a more comprehensive coverage that includes protection for the vehicle owner and other third-party individuals which render the CTPL requirement redundant, and that the payment of both the CTPL and comprehensive motor vehicle insurance can be burdensome for them. Tulfo, pinaiimbestigahan ang proseso ng LTO sa pag-i-isyu ng driver's license Naghain si Senator Idol Raffy Tulfo ng resolusyon sa Senado para imbestigahan ang anti-poor na proseso ng pagkuha ng driver's license sa Pilipinas para maging mas accessible ito sa mga mahihirap at mga limitado ang budget. Inihain din ni Tulfo ang Senate Resolution (SR) No. 577 para matugunan ang kasalukuyang isyu ng shortage ng mga plastic card para sa pagi-issue ng lisensya. "There have been issues with the process of obtaining driver's licenses particularly the requirement to a take a Theoretical Driving Course and Practical Driving Course with an LTO-accredited driving school, to undergo a costly medical exam and obtain a medical certificate from an LTO-accredited clinic," nakasaad sa resolusyon. "There is a need to ensure that the process of obtaining a driver's license is streamlined, affordable, cost-efficient, and impenetrable by fixers," dagdag dito. Maaalalang nagsagawa ng ocular inspection noong April 13 sa Land Transportation Office (LTO) si Tulfo matapos siyang makatanggap ng sunod-sunod na mga reklamo tungkol sa diumano'y korapsyon at katiwalian sa ahensya. Sa kasalukuyan, lahat ng bagong driver's license applicants ay kinakailangang mag-enroll sa LTO-accredit driving school sa halagang 5,000 pesos pataas. Lahat ng bago at for renewal ng driver's license applicants ay kinakailangang magbayad ng P500 fee para sa vision test. Nababahala din ang mambabatas sa mga ulat tungkol sa kakulangan ng mga plastic card para sa pag-imprenta ng driver's license dahil sa nangyaring rebidding kaya ang kasalukuyang driver's license ay naka-imprenta sa papel. Binigyang-diin ni Tulfo ang pangangailangang imbestigahan ang mga insidenteng nakapaligid sa bidding ng nasabing mga plastic card gayundin ang mga plaka para maiwasan na maulit ang nasabing problema. Nais ding imbestigahan ng Senador mula sa Isabela at Davao ang mga isyu sa proseso ng pagpaparehistro ng mga motor, partikular na ang requirement ng Compulsory Third-Party Liability (CTPL) insurance na mandatory requirement para sa lahat ng may-ari ng motor vehicle sa Pilipinas. Key Insights Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions 46% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company If you want to know who really controls Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited (NZSE:FPH), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 51% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn). Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait. In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. See our latest analysis for Fisher & Paykel Healthcare What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Fisher & Paykel Healthcare? Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Fisher & Paykel Healthcare's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. Story continues Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is JPMorgan Chase & Co, Private Banking and Investment Banking Investments with 7.9% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 6.5% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.2% by the third-largest shareholder. On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest. While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily. Insider Ownership Of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO. I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions. Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own NZ$56m worth of shares (at current prices). It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling. General Public Ownership With a 49% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders. Next Steps: It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Fisher & Paykel Healthcare better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Fisher & Paykel Healthcare that you should be aware of before investing here. Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here R ail bosses and military officers managing the arrival and departure of 5,000 armed forces personnel and members of the public at Londons Waterloo station for the coronation have described the huge logistical operation as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Troops involved in the coronation arrived at the UKs busiest station on Saturday morning before marching off to take part in the procession, in the biggest movement of military personnel on Britains railways since Sir Winston Churchills funeral in 1965. Members of the Royal Navy, Army, RAF and Commonwealth forces arrived on seven South Western Railway trains and two chartered West Coast Railways trains, before marching over Westminster Bridge to assemble ahead of the coronation. Royalists arriving in central London to see the ceremony waved flags as the soldiers marched into the station, which was draped with Union Flag bunting and signs featuring coronation emblems. 5,000 troops arrive at Waterloo by train for Coronation of HM King Charles 1 / 10 5,000 troops arrive at Waterloo by train for Coronation of HM King Charles REUTERS PA PA REUTERS PA PA PA PA Sergeant Richard Flattery, of the Royal Logistics Corps, is working alongside police and railway security teams to manage the flow at Waterloo. He said: Its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in my career. Weve got the military police with us as well on standby and theyre lining the route as well to make sure nobody is encroaching on the parade. South Western Railway managing director Claire Mann said: Its an amazing opportunity, the planning thats gone into this. Its been years in the making, and were hoping for a really successful delivery today. Its a real honour to be part of this. As well as the delivery of troops into Waterloo, Ms Mann has also overseen the presentation of station staff and management of different teams across the station. She said: Theres the security piece around ensuring personnel are trained, and in presentation, making sure theyre smart, the engineering, so its been lots of teams coming together to ensure its as smooth as it can be. Asked how she felt about facilitating such a significant logistical event, Ms Mann said: Its absolutely phenomenal. Im just so proud of the trust that has been placed in us to move the personnel here today, but also to be at the heart of whats happening in London and the whole of the country and the world actually celebrating such an amazing event today. PA Network Rail route manager Mark Killick said: Its fantastic for us as the rail industry to be involved in this great coordination celebration. This is a huge thing for rail, so for colleagues across the industry and network around South Western Railway, its just a massive privilege to be involved to be able to support the great coronation today. Its been a huge amount of planning, weve had to reschedule big engineering work that was planned for this weekend to make sure that the railways open and the trains can run. Weve worked closely with South Western Railway, with the Ministry of Defence, with the British Transport Police, to make sure those arrangements run smoothly. Key for me today is making sure that those trains depart on time and we get those armed services personnel into London bang on time so they can get off and do what they need to do. T he London Fire Brigade (LFB) were called to a large fire at an industrial estate in east London on Saturday morning. Eight fire engines and approximately 60 firefighters attended the blaze at the estate on Marsh Way, Rainham which was reported about 8.20am on Saturday. The LFB said that half of the first floor of the two storey building had caught fire and was billowiong large amounts of smoke into the sky. Station Commander Alan Bendell advised all local residents to close windows and doors such was the amount of heavy smoke billowing from the building. The fire was brought under control at 10.35am, the LFB said. The cause of the fire is unknown but crews from Wennington, Dagenham, Barking, East Ham and surrounding fire stations were in attendance. M ore than 20 anti-monarchist protesters are believed to have been arrested during demonstrations in central London ahead of the Kings coronation. Activists from the group Republic massed along the London route taken by the King and Queen Consort, with hundreds of demonstrators rallying in Trafalgar Square and chanting Not My King as the royal procession passed. Pictures from the scene show a huge swarm of protesters huddled in yellow T-shirts. Several activists can be seen holding placards saying Abolish the Monarchy and #GreedyRoyals. Activists in Trafalgar Square / ES Anti-monarchist demonstrations in central London / ES I made a pledge of allegiance to demoncract! Not Charles! He is not my King!, another sign reads. It comes just after Republic CEO Graham Smith was pictured being apprehended by police on St Martins Lane in Westminster. At least five other members of the group were arrested at around 7am as they brought placards to the demonstration from nearby St Martin-in-the-Fields. Meanwhile, Just Stop Oil has claimed 20 of its members were arrested while protesting ahead of the coronation. HM King Charles III Coronation Day: Protestors 1 / 16 HM King Charles III Coronation Day: Protestors Activist and doctor Kush, 33, arrested while protesting Reuters Activists in Trafalgar Square ES Protesters at the Coronation REUTERS A protester is lead away by police REUTERS Police approach a Just Stop Oil protester AFP via Getty Images An Abolish The Monarchy flag being erected in the crowds POOL/AFP via Getty Images Police confiscate Just Stop Oil placards PA Not My King protesters POOL/AFP via Getty Images Protesters at the Coronation AFP via Getty Images Anti-Royal protesters AFP via Getty Images Anti-Royal Protesters AFP via Getty Images Anti-Royal protesters POOL/AFP via Getty Images The eco-activists say several members were handcuffed by The Mall on Saturday morning. A spokesperson for the organisation said a further five demonstrators were arrested at Downing Street. The group representative said their plan was only to display T-shirts and flags, adding: This is a dystopian nightmare. Republic activist Luke Whiting, 26, told the PA news agency: Six Republic members have been arrested including the CEO as the demonstration was starting at the edge of Trafalgar Square. It is unclear why, potentially it is because one of them was carrying a megaphone. It is unclear exactly whether the police are using these new powers and whether they are misusing them to stop protest happening. Activist Shelly Asquith posted pictures on Twitter of demonstrators being questioned by officers. She wrote: Outrageous scenes of cops arresting anti-monarchy protestors and stealing their placards So we are not allowed to show public opposition to a bloke being crowned head of state for having been born into unimaginable wealth while ppl line up at food banks and schools fall apart. The Met warned demonstrators it had an extremely low threshold for anyone disrupting, with offenders facing very swift action. In recent weeks, Just Stop Oil and animal-rights activists have stormed central London and the Grand National, causing widespread disruption. R ishi Sunak hailed the friendship between the UK and Canada, as well as between himself and Justin Trudeau as he welcomed the Canadian premier to Downing Street. The pair met over tea, as part of a series of bilateral meetings the Prime Minister was holding around the Kings coronation. Mr Trudeau was one of the world leaders who watched the royal event at Westminster Abbey earlier. The two leaders hugged when Mr Trudeau arrived at No 10. Speaking in front of the media ahead of their private talks, Mr Sunak said: Weve seen each other a lot over the past few months, but I think that speaks to the friendship between our two countries and between you and I. Were members of all the same clubs, whether thats the G7, the Commonwealth obviously important at the moment, Nato. He thanked Mr Trudeau for his support in the UKs accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and said they would continue to work together to support Ukraine. The Canadian leader stressed the two countries shared values. We are aligned on how were going to move forward, standing strong for our values, making sure theres opportunities for jobs and growth for citizens across our countries and around the world as we work together. He noted the pair would meet again at the upcoming G7 summit in Japan, saying there would be lots of opportunities for us to make sure that as we always are, were aligning in our values, in our approach. The duo then admired coronation teacups made by Emma Bridgewater, a pottery with strong royal connections. According to a read-out of their meeting, Mr Sunak and Mr Trudeau remarked on how special the occasion had been and reflected on their conversations with counterparts from across the world. The leaders also discussed how Canada and the UK could deepen collaboration on defence and security technology, including in cyber security and quantum. They agreed on the importance of ensuring Ukraine continues to get the support it needs for its defence and reconstruction, now and for years to come. At the coronation, Mr Trudeau was joined by his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, governor general Mary Simon and several other dignitaries. Canadas premier tweeted: Today, we celebrated the Coronation of King Charles III and reaffirmed Canadas enduring commitment to the Commonwealth. Canada is one of the 14 Commonwealth realms where the British monarch is head of state. Mr Trudeau had a video call with the King as part of a busy run of diplomatic duties for Charles ahead of the coronation. The King also met with Canadian indigenous leaders, Chief Roseanne Archibald, Natan Obed and Cassidy Caron. Mr Sunaks calendar of pre-coronation diplomacy, which came amid a difficult set of local election results for him, also featured meetings with the Australian and New Zealand prime ministers, the Emir of Qatar and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday. L abour said the Tories dire local election results marked a clear rejection of Rishi Sunak in his first electoral test as Prime Minister. Sir Keir Starmer was celebrating wins in key battlegrounds as an indication his party was on course to win the next general election. Mr Sunak was under pressure as Conservative losses neared the 1,000 worst-case prediction senior Tories had floated to manage expectations ahead of the poll. The British public has sent a clear rejection of a prime minister who never had a mandate to begin with With almost all authorities having declared, Mr Sunaks party shed 48 local authorities and 962 councillors. Labour gained 632 seats and seized 22 councils, including ones that would be hotly contested at a general election such as Swindon, Medway, Stoke-on-Trent, Dover and East Staffordshire. The Liberal Democrats had what Sir Ed Davey hailed as the best result in decades, taking 12 local authorities and 417 seats. They particularly celebrated gains in Surrey Heath, where senior Cabinet minister Michael Gove is the MP, and in former prime minister Theresa Mays backyard of Windsor & Maidenhead. Its little wonder Rishi Sunak is running scared of a general election, because he knows the Liberal Democrats are set to take swathes of seats across the Conservative Partys former heartlands, Sir Ed said. The Greens made a record 199 gains, the partys best-ever result at a local election, and gained control of their first English local authority, in Mid-Suffolk. Sir Keirs party was projected to have won a nine-point lead over the Conservatives if all of Britain had gone to the polls, as the Tories slid backwards. Vote share analysis by the BBC put Labour on 35%, the Tories on 26% and the Lib Dems on 20%. That was the same for Labour last year, but the Conservatives had sunk from 30%. The broadcaster said the projection would make Labour by far the largest party but it would fall 14 seats of an outright majority, though voters are likely to act differently in a general election. Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, warned against drawing conclusions about what this might mean for national politics. These were local elections with substantive local outcomes, he said. Voters decisions in this context do not map neatly on to a general election more than a year away. Sir Keir said the fantastic results combined with a hoped-for recovery in Scotland would give him a majority in Westminster after a national poll. Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election, the Labour leader told activists in Medway. His party will run the Kent authority for the first time since 1998, with the outgoing Conservative council leader telling No 10 to get their act together on several fronts. Both Swindon in Wiltshire and Erewash Council in Derbyshire had been controlled by the Conservatives for 20 years until the results of Thursdays local elections. Dover had been controlled by the Tories since 2007. A Labour spokesperson said: The British public has sent a clear rejection of a prime minister who never had a mandate to begin with. Mr Sunak remained defiant despite heavy losses. He conceded the results were disappointing, but said he was not detecting any massive groundswell of movement towards the Labour Party or excitement for its agenda. But as the day went on, his partys losses crept towards the 1,000 pre-election forecast used by Tory chairman Greg Hands in the hope of being able to portray a defeat below that scale as better than expected. Some broadcasters including the BBC said the Tory councillor losses surpassed that, but PA news agency data which does not count those who defected or left the party since being elected as Conservatives put it at 959. North Swindon Tory MP Justin Tomlinson said the Conservatives had to take the dreadful results as a wake-up call. The council elections will not finish until Tuesday, after Redcar & Cleveland stopped counting with just two results to come. The elections were described as a dark day for British democracy by campaigners opposed to the introduction of photo ID, who claimed thousands of people were denied their right to vote. The contests were the first to be held under new rules requiring voters to carry photographic ID and the elections watchdog said some people were turned away from polling stations. An Electoral Commission spokesman said: We already know from our research that the ID requirement posed a greater challenge for some groups in society and that some people were regrettably unable to vote as a result. It will be essential to understand the extent of this impact, and the reasons behind it, before a final view can be taken on how the policy has worked in practice and what can be learned for future elections. T he King and Queen set the seal on their coronation day by twice appearing on Buckingham Palaces balcony to acknowledge the nation. Charles and Camilla, in lavish robes and wearing their crowns, returned with a wave the cheers of the crowds who braved downpours during a ceremonial military celebration not seen for 70 years. The Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, joined the monarch and his wife and then well-wishers were treated to an encore with just the King and Queen. Making their first balcony appearance of the Kings reign, the couple looked relaxed after the momentous coronation, watched around the globe. It was the fulfilment of Charles destiny, but followed the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, after a 70-year reign. The event brought together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple. Global popstars Lionel Riche and Katy Perry were part of the 2,300-strong congregation, as was French President Emmanuel Macron, actresses Dame Judi Dench and Oscar-winner Dame Emma Thompson, presenters Ant and Dec and King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. Pomp and pageantry were to the fore, with the Armed Forces staging the biggest ceremonial military operation since Queen Elizabeths 1953 coronation, culminating in a 4,000-strong coronation procession of servicemen and women from across the globe, that wound its way through the heart of the capital. Charles grandson Louis, who turned five a few weeks ago, lighted the mood as he yawned and fidgeted during the ceremony, while big brother George was a page of honour helping to hold the long train of the Kings robe. The historic moment came a few minutes past midday, when the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edwards Crown on Charles head and he became the 40th reigning sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, the nations coronation church since 1066. The coronation was a spiritual and deeply personal event for the King, a committed Anglican Christian, who was anointed, seen kneeling at the abbeys high altar and received homage from his son and heir, the Prince of Wales. Williams interaction with his father, where he touched St Edwards Crown then kissed the King on the right cheek, appeared a poignant moment for the head of state. As William knelt before Charles, who held his sons hand between his palms, the future monarch said: I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God. The Kings estranged son the Duke of Sussex was among the congregation, sitting two rows behind his brother with the Duke of Yorks family, and he was seen intently watching the crowning. And when a few minutes later the congregation was invited pay homage to the new monarch, Harry spoke, along with the other royals around him, the words: God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the King live forever. Charles delivered a Kings Prayer, the first time a monarch has spoken words to God aloud during a coronation, and he prayed to be a blessing to people of every faith and conviction. In his sermon the archbishop told the nations new monarch we crown a King to serve. Mr Welby spoke of how Jesus Christ was anointed not to be served, but to serve adding: The weight of the task given you today, Your Majesties, is only bearable by the spirit of God. The ceremony had five main elements: the Recognition; the Oath; the Anointing; the Investiture and Crowning; and the Enthronement and Homage, as well as the Queens coronation. Tracing it roots back to the medieval period the Christian ceremony, not witnessed for 70 years when Queen Elizabeth was crowned, saw the King dressed in a series of garments signifying a symbolic journey which concluded with him anointed with holy oil during its most sacred moment and crowned. It reflected the diversity of the of UK, with representatives from the nations faith communities playing an active role in the coronation of a monarch for the first in history. But in a change, the controversial Homage of the People element of the service was toned down after there was widespread criticism. Mr Welby invited a show of support from the congregation rather than a call to those in the abbey and elsewhere to swear allegiance to the King. At the end of the day unsuitable weather conditions meant the planned flypast was curtailed to just the Red Arrows and a helicopter display which still enthralled the royals, who included the Princess Royal, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and their children and the King and Queens pages of honour. Charles who wore the Imperial State Crown and Camilla Queen Marys Crown, were among the last to leave the balcony during an appearance which lasted almost 10 minutes and saw the crowd sing along when the national anthem was played. But they were back a few minutes later by themselves and received a cheer from the crowds as they waved. Away from the pageantry the Met Police were heavily criticised over the incredibly alarming arrests of Republican protesters ahead of the coronation. Campaign groups said Saturdays arrests, including that of the chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, were something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London. It said 52 people had been arrested for affray, public order offences, breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance around the coronation. Metropolitan Police Commander Karen Findlay acknowledged concerns about the arrest of protesters but defended Scotland Yards actions, saying: Our duty is to do so in a proportionate manner in line with relevant legislation. J ust Stop Oil has claimed 13 of its members have been arrested while protesting ahead of the coronation. The eco-activists say the members were handcuffed by The Mall on Saturday morning. A spokesperson for the organisation said a further five demonstrators were arrested at Downing Street. The group representative said their plan was only to display T-shirts and flags, adding: This is a dystopian nightmare. Just Stop Oil have caused mayhem in recent months by blocking roads and disrupting sporting events. It comes after protestors from anti-monarchist group Republic were also arrested during demonstrations on Saturday. Footage on social media appeared to show Republic CEO Graham Smith being apprehended by police on St Martins Lane in Westminster. Police and the intelligence services are on red alert to prevent disruption from protesters, with more than 11,500 officers deployed to ensure a spectacular celebration. Armed police, sniffer dogs, mounted units and marine officers on the River Thames are among the specialist teams that are being deployed. Around 100 heads of states are expected to be among the 2,200 guests at Westminster Abbey. Scotland Yard warned those who break the law should expect very swift action from officers who will have an extremely low threshold to intervene. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: What we will not stand for is anyone committing criminal acts in the name of protest. We will come down very swiftly to make sure people going about their normal business, who just want to enjoy the Coronation, are not interfered with. DAC Adelekan confirmed that holding a placard up during the procession does not constitute serious disruption. But if holding up a sign was to cause a disturbance in the crowd, it could lead to police intervening, he said. A ring of steel has been formed around Westminster Abbey with roads closed off to counter threats. A postbox in Wales decorated in celebration of the Kings Coronation has once again been vandalised. The Royal Mail postbox outside the Owain Glyndwr pub in Cardiff was covered with pro-republican stickers, graffiti and eggs on Saturday morning. Welsh independence stickers, including from campaign group Yes Cymru, and graffiti reading Cymru were on the box on Saturday morning. Other stickers reading Ble maer Gymraeg? meaning Wheres the Welsh? are from Cymdeithas Yr Iaeth Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) which is a direct action pressure group founded in the 1960s. Getty Images Earlier this week, the postbox was covered with stickers just hours after it was unveiled to commemorate the Kings Coronation. The box was one of four across the UK to be repainted ahead of the Kings crowning. Its location outside the historic pub in St John Street has attracted criticism from some members of the public and campaign groups. The pub is named after the Welsh hero who led a 15-year revolt against English rule in the late Middle Ages. Glyndwr is often referred to as the last Prince of Wales and is seen as a symbol of Welsh nationalism. It was among the groups that protested against Charless investiture as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in 1969. The box is a short distance from Cardiff Castle where a public screening of the Coronation ceremony and a military gun salute is taking place to mark the occasion. A Not My King protest held by Cymru Republic will take place in the Welsh capital from 12.30pm followed by a Big Republican Lunch in Bute Park. It will coincide with similar anti-monarchy protests expected to take place across the UK during the Coronation. T aoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he looks forward to hosting the King in Ireland. Mr Varadkar and Irish president Michael D Higgins attended the coronation service in Westminster Abbey in London. They were also present at a reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday and spoke to Charles and members of the UK Government. The Taoiseach said: King Charles and Queen Camilla are long-standing friends of Ireland and King Charles has visited regularly in the past two decades, supporting good bilateral relations, co-operation, peace and reconciliation. I expressed my hope that his regular visits will continue into his reign. I was pleased to accept the invitation to attend the coronation, alongside President Higgins, symbolising the close neighbourly relations between our two countries. This is a historic moment for the British people, for the realm, and for their friends around the world. Mr Varadkar added: We have deep political, economic, cultural, and personal links with Britain, which provided a welcome home to so many of our citizens for generations. A vibrant British community actively contributes to life in Ireland in so many ways. And, of course, there are many people, in the north especially, who are both British and Irish. As we mark the coronation of King Charles III, I look forward to further strengthening British-Irish relations and the friendship between our peoples and look forward to welcoming the royal couple to Ireland in due course. Mr Higgins is the first Irish head of state to attend a coronation. To mark the event, Mr Higgins and and his wife Sabina requested the Tree Council of Ireland plant a native Irish oak tree in the woodland forest of Aurora in Co Wicklow. The gesture was to acknowledge the Kings commitment to environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, the Speakers of the Dail, Sean O Fearghail, and of the Senate, Jerry Buttimer, have offered their congratulations to Charles and Camilla following the coronation. In a joint statement the Ceann Comhairle and Cathaoirleach said: On behalf of the Houses of the Oireachtas, we congratulate King Charles and Queen Camilla on this auspicious day and wish them well in their endeavours for the British people. As the late Queen Elizabeth herself acknowledged during her landmark visit to Ireland in 2011, the history between these islands is long and complex, but at the same time the family, cultural and economic ties that bind the people of Ireland and the United Kingdom make us firm friends. Like his late parents, King Charles has worked over the decades to build and nurture peace and reconciliation between the communities in Northern Ireland, across this island and between Ireland and Britain. Throughout her long reign, his late mother was the embodiment of public service, dedicated to performing her duties for her people at home and committed to representing her nation abroad. We know King Charles will continue in that tradition to build his own relations and legacy as monarch. S enior Tory MP Lee Anderson has drawn ire for telling anti-monarchy activists to emigrate rather than exercise their right to protest. The deputy chairman of the Conservative Party was commenting on dozens of arrests of protesters throughout the Kings coronation day. The Metropolitan Police have faced criticism after more than 50 people were arrested for alleged affray, public nuisance and breach-of-the-peace offences, a move described by human rights organisations as a dangerous precedent for us as a democratic nation. But Mr Anderson appeared to side with the police, especially against protesters who were holding up signs reading Not My King near Buckingham Palace. Sharing an article on the arrests on Twitter, Mr Anderson wrote: Not My King? If you do not wish to live in a country that has a monarchy the solution is not to turn up with your silly boards. The solution is to emigrate. Critics on social media condemned his anti-democratic remarks and pointed out the right to protest peacefully, while others expressed support for his opinion. Jonathan Harris, a Lib Dem councillor in West Northamptonshire, tweeted: 30 p Lee Idiot on display. You took the rights away for British people to live and work across the EU, and forget that great democracies are built on and absolutely allow the right to peaceful protest. Home Secretary Suella Braverman later praised the police. She tweeted: Im incredibly grateful to the police for all their hard work at todays Coronation celebration to ensure it was safe & passed without incident. But Labours Jess Phillips, who is a shadow home office minister, wrote: Our nation and our King is not so fragile as to not be able to take harmless protest of a different view. Labour former minister Sir Chris Bryant said: Freedom of speech is the silver thread that runs through a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. It is not the first time Mr Anderson, the MP for Ashfield, has proved controversial, having previously called for the return of the death penalty and claiming people on Universal Credit were not in poverty. He has been dubbed 30p Lee for claiming that meals could be prepared for that sum and suggesting people using food banks could not budget. Mr Anderson recently clashed with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley over the forces handling of protests, telling him to leave his ivory tower to deal with demonstrators in Westminster. Under the controversial new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to lock on are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. We'll use ROE to examine Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), 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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits. See our latest analysis for Ford Motor How Is ROE Calculated? 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 Ford Motor is: 6.2% = US$2.6b US$42b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023). The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.06. Does Ford Motor Have A Good ROE? Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. If you look at the image below, you can see Ford Motor has a lower ROE than the average (23%) in the Auto 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. A company with high debt levels and low ROE is a combination we like to avoid given the risk involved. To know the 4 risks we have identified for Ford Motor visit our risks dashboard for free. Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At ROE Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their 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 use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same. Story continues Combining Ford Motor's Debt And Its 6.2% Return On Equity It seems that Ford Motor uses a huge volume of debt to fund the business, since it has an extremely high debt to equity ratio of 3.30. The combination of a rather low ROE and high debt to equity is a negative, in our book. Conclusion Return on equity is one way we can compare its business quality of different companies. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better. But ROE is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, since high quality businesses often trade on high multiples of earnings. 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 you might want to check this FREE visualization of analyst forecasts for the company. Of course Ford Motor 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. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Q ueen Letizia of Spain and Queen Rania of Jordan were among foreign royals wearing bright colours to the Kings coronation. The weather might have been dreary in London, but foreign royals were out in force for the event with many wearing bright, springtime hues. Queen Letizia wore a custom pink suit by American-based brand Carolina Herrera for the coronation, with peplum detailing and embroidery around the collar. The look was designed for her by the fashion houses creative director, Wes Gordon. Monochromatic looks were a major trend of the day, and she paired her pink suit with matching shoes and a clutch. Queen Rania of Jordan wore a couture creation by Paris-based brand Tamara Ralph. The pastel yellow midi dress was expertly tailored, with sheer sleeves and an off-shoulder bow collar. She accessorised with a matching hat and white heels and bag. In one of the more muted outfits of the day, Princess Charlene of Monaco wore a neutral two-piece skirt suit with an attached scarf trailing behind one shoulder. She topped off the look with an elegant hat over her signature cropped hair. Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, was regal in a deep purple coat dress. The outfit was from Copenhagen-based fashion brand Soeren Le Schmidt, which is known for its commitment to tailoring and sustainability. Crown Princess of Greece Marie-Chantal wore a pale cornflower blue crepe dress with asymmetric bow detailing on the shoulder. The outfit was midi length, with fitted sleeves and was worn with a matching hat, from Greek designer Mary Katrantzou, who is based in the UK and regularly shows at London Fashion Week. It was the second outfit Marie-Chantal wore by Katrantzou she wore a white dress from the designer at the Buckingham Palace dinner on Friday. Queen Mathilde of Belgium wore a pastel pink caped dress, teamed with a Philip Treacy hat the OC 928 in white, price available on inquiry. Treacy has long been the go-to milliner for royals he created Princess Beatrices memorable so-called pretzel hat for the Prince and Princess of Waless wedding in 2011, and the Queen wore two hats by the designer for her wedding to the King in 2005. Dressed head-to-toe in royal blue, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wore an elegant structured dress with matching heels and headband. The Netherlands Queen Maxima championed a design by Dutch designer Jan Taminiau. The white midi-length dress had intricate embroidery along the neckline and was worn with beige pumps and a clutch. A day of pomp and pageantry culminated with the new King and Queen joined by their family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to mark the coronation. Charles and Camilla, wearing their crowns, shared the adulation of the crowd with the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, before reappearing on their own one more time. The couple looked relaxed after their momentous day, watched around the globe by millions, as Charles followed his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, to the throne. The ceremony at Westminster Abbey brought together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens from across the globe, celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of the couple. HM King Charles III Coronation Day: Best Pictures 1 / 26 HM King Charles III Coronation Day: Best Pictures King Charles and Queen Camilla, Annabel Elliot, sister of Queen Camilla, and Fiona Mary Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marchioness of Lansdowne, stand on the Buckingham Palace balcony following their coronation ceremony in London REUTERS Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey PA King Charles and Queen Camilla travel in the Gold State Coach following their coronation, REUTERS Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, James, Earl of Wessex, Lady Louise Windsor, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Anne, Princess Royal, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince Louis of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, guest and Prince George of Wales gather on the Buckingham Palace central balcony after the Coronation service of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty Images King Charles III with the St Edwards Crown on his head attends the Coronation Ceremony inside Westminster Abbey POOL/AFP via Getty Images The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team otherwise known as The Red Arrows fly over The Mall during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty Images King Charles departs following his coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, REUTERS King Charles III receives The St Edwards Crown during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey via REUTERS King Charles and Queen Camilla travel from Westminster Abbey in the Gold State Coach, following their coronation ceremony REUTERS Queen Camilla is crowned with Queen Marys Crown during her coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey AP Prince William, Prince of Wales kisses his father, King Charles III, wearing St Edwards Crown, during the Kings Coronation Ceremony inside Westminster Abbe Getty Images Prince William, Prince of Wales touches St Edwards Crown on the head of his father, King Charles III, during the Kings Coronation Ceremony inside Westminster Abbey POOL/AFP via Getty Images People on The Mall listen to the service in the rain on loudspeakers REUTERS Prince George of Wales stands at Westminster Abbey POOL/AFP via Getty Images Princess Charlotte and Prince George return to Buckingham Palace by coach following the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex leaves Westminster Abbey Getty Images A bandsman is taken ill while taking part in the Kings Procession, a journey of two kilometres from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey AFP via Getty Images Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty arrive to attend Britains King Charles III and Queen Consort Camillas coronation ceremony AP Katy Perry takes selfies with guests during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images King Charles III wearing the Imperial state Crown and carrying the Sovereigns Orb and Sceptre leaves Westminster Abbey after coronation AP Global popstars Lionel Richie and Katy Perry were part of the 2,300-strong congregation, as was French President Emmanuel Macron, actresses Dame Judi Dench and Oscar-winner Dame Emma Thompson, presenters Ant and Dec and King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. American singer-songwriter Katy Perry takes selfie photos with guests at Westminster Abbey in central London on May 6, 2023, during the coronations of King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort. / POOL/AFP via Getty Images Also in the congregation was Prince Harry who, after months of tension in the royal family sparked by his tell-all memoir, had travelled alone from the US to attend his fathers coronation leaving his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children at home. He sat two rows behind his brother with the Duke of Yorks family and when the congregation was invited to pay homage to the new monarch, he joined other royals to proclaim: God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the King live forever. Prince Harry, center, speaks with Anne, the Princess Royal in Westminster Abbey, ahead of the coronation of King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort. / AP Charles grandson Louis, who turned five a few weeks ago, lightened the mood as he yawned and fidgeted during the ceremony, while big brother George was a page of honour helping to hold the long train of the Kings robe. The historic moment came at a few minutes past midday, when the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed St Edwards Crown on Charles head and he became the 40th reigning sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, the nations coronation church since 1066. The King then knelt at the abbeys high altar and received homage from his son and heir, the Prince of Wales. Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla / PA Williams interaction with his father, where he touched St Edwards Crown then kissed the King on the right cheek, appeared a poignant moment for the head of state. As William knelt before Charles, who held his sons hand between his palms, the future monarch said: I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God. Charles delivered a Kings Prayer, the first time a monarch has spoken words to God aloud during a coronation, and he prayed to be a blessing to people of every faith and conviction. In his sermon the archbishop told the nations new monarch we crown a King to serve. Mr Welby spoke of how Jesus Christ was anointed not to be served, but to serve adding: The weight of the task given you today, Your Majesties, is only bearable by the spirit of God. The event also saw the role of the Armed Forces brought to the fore as they staged the biggest ceremonial military operation since Queen Elizabeths 1953 coronation, culminating in a 4,000-strong procession of servicemen and women from across the globe, that wound its way through the heart of the capital. Troops march on the procession on the day of King Charles' coronation ceremony, in London. / via REUTERS The ceremony, which traces it roots back to the medieval period, saw the King dressed in a series of garments signifying a symbolic journey which concluded with him anointed with holy oil during its most sacred moment and crowned. But in a change, the controversial Homage of the People element of the service was toned down after widespread criticism. Instead Mr Welby invited a show of support from the congregation rather than a call to those in the abbey and elsewhere to swear allegiance to the King. At the end of the day unsuitable weather conditions meant a planned flypast was curtailed to just the Red Arrows and a helicopter display which still enthralled the royals, who included the Princess Royal, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and their children and the King and Queens pages of honour. Charles who wore the Imperial State Crown and Camilla, in Queen Marys Crown, were among the last to leave the balcony during an appearance which lasted almost 10 minutes and saw the crowd sing along when the national anthem was played. But they were back a few minutes later by themselves and received a cheer from the crowds as they waved. Away from the pageantry the Met Police were heavily criticised over the incredibly alarming arrests of Republican protesters ahead of the coronation. It said 52 people had been arrested for affray, public order offences, breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance around the coronation. Metropolitan Police Commander Karen Findlay acknowledged concerns about the arrest of protesters but defended Scotland Yards actions, saying: Our duty is to do so in a proportionate manner in line with relevant legislation. T he Met Police said they understand public concern after officers made 52 arrests on the Kings coronation day including alleged affray, public nuisance and breach-of-the-peace offences. The Metropolitan Police was criticised after what campaign groups described as incredibly alarming detentions during republican protests. Protesters from the anti-monarchy group Republic, including its chief executive Graham Smith, were apprehended during the day as well as demonstrators from Just Stop Oil and Animal Rising. Police gather up placards intended to be used by Republican protestors / PA Commander Karen Findlay, who led the policing operation, said: We absolutely understand public concern following the arrests we made this morning. Protest is lawful and it can be disruptive. We also have a duty to intervene when protest becomes criminal and may cause serious disruption. The Metropolitan Police said 14 people were arrested on The Mall, 13 to prevent a breach of the peace and one for possession of drugs and a knife. Another 14 people were arrested in east London on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Six people were arrested at St Martins Lane, Westminster, on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Six people were arrested on Whitehall, five of whom were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance and the sixth was arrested for religiously aggravated behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress. Three people arrested at Wellington Arch, Westminster, on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance, while another three were detained in Soho for the same reason. Two people were arrested at St James Park, Westminster, to prevent a breach of the peace. One person was arrested on Charing Cross Road on suspicion of affray, another was near Green Park Station on suspicion of racially aggravated behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress. One person was arrested at Leicester Square on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. One person was arrested at Trafalgar Square on suspicion of sexual assault. T he police reportedly arrested council workers handing out rape alarms in the West End as part of their crackdown on crime ahead of the coronation. The Met said that among the arrests made today were three people suspected of planning to set off rape alarms in an attempt to disrupt the coronation procession. A Scotland Yard spokesman said they received intelligence on Friday that indicated groups and individuals seeking to disrupt todays Coronation proceedings were planning to use and throw rape alarms to disrupt the procession. He added: There was particular concern from military colleagues that this would scare their horses involved in the procession and, as a result, cause significant risk to the safety of the public and the riders. Officers arrested three people in Soho at 2am on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance. Among items seized were a number of rape alarms. The three people a 37-year-old woman, a 59-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man were taken to a south London police station, where they were questioned. The 47-year-old man was also further arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods. All three have since been bailed pending further enquiries. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: The intelligence we received led us to be extremely worried about the potential risk to public safety. We are aware of and understand there is public concern over these arrests. However, the matter is still under investigation. But the Mets actions were questioned by Westminster councillor Aicha Less, responsible for public protection in the borough, who said she was concerned the people arrested may have been members of its Night Stars volunteers group. She said: This service has been a familiar and welcome sight in the West End for a long time and have extensive training so they can assist the most vulnerable on the streets late at night. We are working with the Metropolitan Police to establish exactly what happened, and in the meantime, we are in touch with our volunteers to ensure they are receiving the support they need. Night Stars is a part of the councils night safety campaign. According to the councils website, Night Star volunteers are focused on working with the West Ends evening and night-time economy businesses to promote womens safety and reduce violence against women and girls. It adds: The team will provide wider support to anyone who becomes vulnerable due to intoxication to reduce the risk to their safety or prevent them from becoming victims of crime. The Night Safety volunteers aim to make Londons nightlife safer for everyone. They provide a welcoming place for all and collaborate to ensure that Westminsters nightlife remains a safe, inclusive and enjoyable experience for residents and visitors alike. C elebrations took place in Sunderland as crowds gathered in Keel Square to watch the Kings coronation. A big screen was set up in the city centre with picnic benches and chairs for viewers, while activities including face painting, a Punch and Judy show and crown-making went on throughout the day. Plenty arrived to watch the event on a warm morning in Sunderland, including Kath Stark, 67, from Washington, who was with clients she supports who have learning difficulties. Wearing a white T-shirt with a picture of the King and the Union flag, she told the PA news agency: Watching the coronation, I just like history and have come to see the King crowned. Its just a joyous day out for the customers, just everyones in a party mood, everyones happy so were going to stay quite a few hours if the weather holds. The history (of the coronation) is massive. Im a royalist, I think they do very well for the country. I know not everybody thinks the same, but I think they do. The history, weve had them for over one thousand years, I just enjoy it. I enjoy watching things like this, like the jubilee, even the Queens funeral, the big processions, nobody does it like we do. As St Edwards Crown was placed on the Kings head, the crowd at Keel Square cheered and there was a gentle patter of applause. Victoria Mills, 45, is a housing support officer from South Shields and watched with friends from work and her children. (The coronation has) been brilliant, Ive really enjoyed it, she said. I think it just brings the community together, the whole countrys going to be watching, its just a real British and patriotic thing. Hilary Buttigieg, 56, was also among the revellers. Originally from the city, she now lives in Luton, but returned for a visit and expressed her excitement at watching a moment in history. She told PA: Its a moment in history, the last time was with the Queen many years ago. I think weve got some people who are for it, some who are against it. Whether youre pro-monarchy or not, it is a moment in history, this will go in the history books, youll remember where you were at that time. Thats why I thought it would be nice to come out to be with my community. At the end of the day hes been in training for this all of his life and hes now going to get his chance to be King. I think hes going to be a modern person, I loved the Queen, I dont think anyones got a bad thing to say about the Queen, she was brilliant, but I think hes going to try and bring it into modern times. Hes done all of his work for The Princes Trust, hes always been about climate change so I think thatll be good, thats a hot topic at the minute. C hina could invade Taiwan within two years, a former US national security adviser has warned. Despite repeated fears over the future of Taiwan, Robert OBrien, a former US national security adviser has warned the window for a full scale invasion of the island from the mainland had now shortened even more so. In 2021, then commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Philip Davidson, warned at a US Senate hearing that the Chinese Peoples Liberation Armys (PLA) attack on Taiwan may occur within the next six years or by 2027. Amid escalated tensions between the two states, Mr OBrien told the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun: I believe that window has gotten smaller, I think its down to a year or two. Due to the fears of an impending invasion, he called on the US and its allies to give Taiwan the arms and diplomatic ability to defend itself, otherwise we could be in a very dangerous situation in Taiwan. This comes after two Chinese drones were seen over Taiwan in the last week. One TB-001 armed reconnaissance drone was seen flying counter clockwise around the islands southwest. A second was seen moving clockwise from north to east and then to the southwest on Wednesday. The reality is that Xi Jinping has directed his military to provide him with the military option essentially to be able to take it without concern of our intervention, US Senate armed services committee, Avril Haines, director of national intelligence said before a US Senate committee. And that is something that will have a meaningful impact on his capacity to do so and also his decision-making presumably. China views Taiwan as part of its own territory and Xi has vowed to reclaim it. Last month, the Chinese military began rehearsing the encirclement of Taiwan as part of the armys military drills. The Taiwanese Defence Ministry said 71 Chinese military planes and nine ships crossed the Taiwan Strait median line an unofficial dividing line between Chinese and Taiwanese territory at around 9am UK time. Chinese state media said the military drills would simultaneously organise patrols and advances around Taiwan, shaping an all-round encirclement and deterrence posture. Also last month, China announced sanctions against the US in retaliation for House speaker Kevin McCarthys meeting with the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen. The measures announced apply to Taiwans de facto ambassador to the US, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank that hosted Ms Tsai in New York and presented her with a leadership award. While the US has no official relations with Taiwan, Washington maintains informal and commercial ties with the island and has agreed multiple arms deals to supply Taipei. A former Marine who choked a man to death on a New York subway train has said he was acting in self-defence. Jordan Neely, 30, was tackled by fellow passengers after he screamed at them and paced back and forth on board a train on Monday night. Passenger Daniel Penny, 24, a US Marine Corps veteran, wrapped his arms around Mr Neelys neck and head and held him for several minutes in a chokehold until he went limp. Mr Penny was taken into custody but released without charge, pending further investigation. Mr Neelys death has now been ruled a homicide caused by compression of the neck. The incident has sparked outrage in New York, where Mr Neely was a Michael Jackson impersonator who regularly danced in Times Square. In a statement issued by his lawyers on Friday, Mr Penny expressed condolences to Mr Neelys family. "We would first, like to express, on behalf Daniel Penny, our condolences to those close to Mr Neely," his lawyers said in a statement issued to US media. The statement adds that Mr Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behaviour which was the apparent result of ongoing, and untreated, mental illness. The lawyers added that he had been aggressively threatening their client and other passengers, and that Mr Penny and others acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death. Penny was a sergeant in the US Marines based at Camp Lejune, North Carolina. He served until 2021. A journalist on the train, Juan Alberto Vazquez, filmed the harrowing scenes and said Mr Neely had not attacked anyone. Mr Neely reportedly shouted: I dont have food, I dont have a drink, Im fed up. Mr Penny approached him after he threw his jacket to the floor. Activists have drawn parallels between Mr Neelys death and the passing of George Floyd. Floyd died when police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2020. Footage of 46-year-olds murder, in which he pleaded "I cant breathe" sparked global protests. A group of Pacific Islanders who worshipped Prince Philip as a god have celebrated the coronation of King Charles. Members of one tribe on the island of Vanuatu declared Charles as the son of our power as they celebrated with a portrait of the new king. The Kastom people belive the late Duke of Edinburgh was the son of a mountain spirit, after an ancient legend which said the spirits son would travel to a distant land to marry a powerful woman before returning home. Villagers from Iaohnanen and Yakel on Vanuatu's Tanna island pose with portraits of Britain's King Charles III and his late father Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. / AFP via Getty Images That belief was strengthened when the Duke visited the island in 1974 - a journey repeated in 2018 by the then Prince Charles. Villagers were given a portrait of the new king by Britains Acting High Commissioner Michael Watters and Chief Johnson Iakapass said islanders would hold a flag-raising ceremony and take part in ceremonial dances and drink a traditional drink from a yellow coconut shell. Villagers from Iaohnanen and Yakel on Vanuatu's Tanna island pose with a portrait of Britain's King Charles III. / AFP via Getty Images The Chief told ABC: It will be a big celebration. Were talking about 5,000 to 6,000 people gathering together to celebrate the crowning of this king. This person is really meaningful to the people of Tanna. its another thing that will bring back the history of England and Tanna and keep remembering the friendship on this island. The tribe believe Tanna and England were once the same island. U kraine has accused Russian troops of using phosphorus munitions on the besieged city of Bakhmut. Drone footage released by the Ukrainian military shows what is reported to be white phosphorous raining down on the city. Bakhmut. Phosphorus munitions. Miserable ba*tards. The same situation was in Mariupol. When they cant do anything, phosphorus munitions are fired, Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to Mariupol mayor, posted on Telegram. Writing on Twitter, Ukraines defence ministry said the phosphorus attack targeted unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition. Kyivs special forces command added that Moscows forces continued to destroy the city. It is not clear when the attack took place. The footage shows a number of high-rise buildings engulfed in flames. It is not the first time Russia has been accused of using chemical weapons. Western intelligence analysts are reportedly examining claims Kremlin forces used such weapons on the besieged port city of Mariupol. Experts were probing reports that three people were showing symptoms of chemical poisoning, including dizziness and breathing problems, after a drone dropped an unknown substance earlier this year. White phosphorus ignites instantly when it comes into contact with oxygen, and its primary function in weaponry is to burn, fast and bright. It is used in incendiary munitions by militaries around the world, including the United States, often to illuminate targets as part of tracer munitions at night. White phosphorus is also used to create smokescreens during the day, as it puts off a huge amount of smoke when it burns. A prominent Russian nationalist has been left wounded in a car bombing that killed his driver. Zakhar Prilepin has been rushed to hospital after his Audi Q7 became engulfed in flames on Saturday in a village in the Nizny Novgorod region, about 250 miles east of Moscow. Russia has blamed the attack on both Ukraine and the West. The countrys state Investigative Committee is treating the explosion as an act of terrorism. Russian nationalist Zakhar Prilepin / Reuters The committee released a photograph showing the white vehicle lying overturned on a track next to a wood, with a deep crater beside it and fragments of metal strewn nearby. An interior ministry spokeswoman said a suspect had been arrested. Security sources told state news agency TASS that they had found an apartment in the Moscow region where they believe the bomb was assembled. Prilepin, a novelist who is an outspoken champion of Russias war in Ukraine and has boasted of taking part in military combat there, was the third prominent pro-war figure to be targeted by a bomb since Moscows full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the deaths of journalist Darya Dugina and war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in two previous attacks, but Kyiv has denied involvement. There was no immediate word from Ukraine on the latest incident. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram: The fact has come true: Washington and NATO fed another international terrorist cell - the Kyiv regime. She said it was the direct responsibility of the US and Britain, but provided no evidence to support the accusation. American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AAT) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Chairman & CEO, Ernest Rady, recently bought a whopping US$5.7m worth of stock, at a price of US$17.78. There's no denying a buy of that magnitude suggests conviction in a brighter future, although we do note that proportionally it only increased their holding by 3.9%. See our latest analysis for American Assets Trust The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At American Assets Trust In fact, the recent purchase by Ernest Rady was the biggest purchase of American Assets Trust shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of US$18.91. 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. Happily, the American Assets Trust insider decided to buy shares at close to current prices. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Ernest Rady. Ernest Rady purchased 767.07k shares over the year. The average price per share was US$23.85. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! American Assets Trust 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 American Assets Trust For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. American Assets Trust insiders own about US$164m worth of shares (which is 11% of the company). I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders. Story continues What Might The Insider Transactions At American Assets Trust Tell Us? It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. Along with the high insider ownership, this analysis suggests that insiders are quite bullish about American Assets Trust. That's what I like to see! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing American Assets Trust. For example, American Assets Trust has 3 warning signs (and 2 which are concerning) we think 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. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here F rench president Emmanuel Macron is one of the many heads of state to have arrived at Westminster Abbey for King Charles IIIs coronation, alongside his wife Brigitte Macron. The couple are among a star-studded list of around 2000 foreign dignataries, celebrities, heads of state and members of the public to be attended the historic event today (Saturday, May 6). Also in attendance is First Lady Jill Biden, representing her husband President Joe Biden, as well as Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine. Brigitte Macron has been First Lady of France since 2017, following her husbands election as president. But who is Brigitte Macron and why is the pairs relationship controversial? Who is Brigitte Macron? Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron is a former school teacher and wife of the French President, Emmanuel Macron. The couple, both from Amiens in northern France, have been married since 2007. They live together at Elysee Palace, the official presidential residence. Brigitte has an MA degree and a teaching qualification in French language and literature. She worked in Paris and Strasbourg, before returning to Amiens in 1991. She began teaching at Lycee Saint-Louis de Gonzague, a prestigious private school in Paris, in 2007, before retiring in 2015. Brigitte is chair of the LIVE association, which supports people over 25 who are not in employment or education, and she is also the chair of the Hospitals of Paris-Hospitals of France Foundation. How old is Brigitte Macron? Brigitte Macron was born on April 13, 1953, making her 70 years old. Her husband, Emmanuel Macron, is 44 years old, as he was born on December 21, 1977. There is a 24 year age gap between Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron. Did Macron marry his teacher? Macron met his future wife when he was just 15 years old, as a student at La Providence High School, where Brigitte Trogneux, then 39, worked as a teacher. Although Macron was not in her class, they met while working on a school play together. Does Emmanuel Macron have children? Emmanuel has three step-children through his marriage to Brigitte, though they do not have children together. Brigitte was once married to Andre-Louis Auzier, with whom she shares three children: Sebastien Auziere (born 1975), Laurence Auziere-Jourdan (born 1977), and Tiphaine Auziere (born 1984). Laurence was a classmate of her now-stepfather, Emmanuel. T he Queen of Spain wore a Victoria Beckham dress, a design previously worn by reality TV star and model Kendall Jenner, to a reception at Buckingham Palace on the eve of the coronation. Showing her support for British design talent, Letizia teamed the green gathered-waist midi dress with a black clutch bag and court heels. Accompanying her husband, King Felipe, at the event for overseas coronation guests, Letizia, 50, added a glittering bow-shaped brooch and drop earrings. Her Majesty the Queen of Spain looks incredible!!! Wearing one of my dresses!! Beckham wrote on Instagram. The dress, in parrot green, costing 850, is sold out on the Victoria Beckham website. From the designers SS23 collection, it was previously worn by US star Jenner during a visit to Dubai, where she teamed it with long black latex gloves and knee-high boots. The cap-sleeved dress debuted on the SS23 runway in Paris, modelled by Bella Hadid and paired with a tasselled clutch bag. Pop star-turned-fashion designer Beckham, 49, launched her eponymous fashion label in 2008. The former Spice Girls designs have recently been worn by celebrities including Michelle Obama, Florence Pugh and the Princess of Wales. (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. rallied Friday after an iPhone rebound helped quarterly earnings beat estimates, even as overall sales at the worlds most valuable company remain in decline. Most Read from Bloomberg The results suggest that Apple is beginning to recover from a slump thats plagued both the computer and smartphone industries. It was a particular relief for investors after Qualcomm Inc., a key supplier, raised fresh concerns about phone demand earlier this week. Apples sales in China a weak spot for other tech companies also came in a bit better than feared. As expected, Apple announced plans for $90 billion in stock repurchases the same as last years plan. The company also raised its quarterly dividend 4% to 24 cents a share. The shares jumped 4.7% to $173.57, the biggest single-day increase since Nov. 30. That added $107 billion to Apples market value and brings its year-to-date gain to 34%. Overall revenue amounted to $94.8 billion in the fiscal second quarter, exceeding the $92.6 billion analysts predicted. Though the sales fell 2.5% in the period, the company had warned investors to expect a drop of roughly twice that. Though the performance was better than expected, it marked two straight quarters of sales declines a first for Apple since the pandemic began. Earnings, meanwhile, were unchanged from a year earlier, at $1.52 a share. That compared with an average estimate of $1.43 a share. On a conference call with analysts, Apple said that revenue in the current period would drop by a similar amount as in the past quarter, which ended April 1. That suggests a dip of about 3%. The company also said it would continue to see a negative impact from foreign exchange rates. Story continues The prospect of Apple suffering a third consecutive sales drop raises questions about its growth prospects. I think growth has to be on the mind of Apple investors today, Scott Kessler, an analyst at Third Bridge, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. People have to wonder about whether or not this is a double-digit grower in revenues in the foreseeable future or at any point in the future. Apple generated $51.3 billion in sales from the iPhone its flagship product in the second quarter, topping analyst predictions of $49 billion. Thats just a 1.5% rise from a year ago but marked a record performance for a March quarter, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said. The increase came despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, he said in the statement. Like many tech CEOs delivering earnings reports, Cook also discussed artificial intelligence. He said it had enormous potential and that Apple would continue weaving it into products in a very thoughtful way. Read More: Apples Tim Cook Says AI Concerns Still Need to Be Sorted Out From a supply perspective, the second quarter was an opportunity for the iPhone 14 to rebound. The device had suffered from constraints during the previous period due to Covid policies in China. The iPad saw revenue fall 13% to $6.67 billion, roughly in line with estimates of $6.7 billion. New models, which included a revamped entry-level version and Pro models with M2 chips, didnt do much to spur purchases in the quarter. Likewise, revenue in the Mac division dropped 31% to $7.17 billion. That trailed forecasts of $7.7 billion. Research firms already warned that it was a bleak quarter for the lineup, with IDC estimating that Mac shipments fell about 40% in the quarter. Apple had updated the MacBook Pro and Mac mini, adding faster processors, but they failed to reignite the units sales. The home, wearables and accessories division, which includes AirPods, the Apple Watch and the TV set-top box fell less than 1% to $8.76 billion. That beat estimates of $8.5 billion. The company added a faster processor to the Apple TV during the holiday quarter and updated its HomePod speaker during the March quarter. The services business, which includes iCloud, Apple Music, the App Store and the TV+ streaming service, brought in $20.91 billion, missing estimates of $21.1 billion. Still, it was a 5.5% gain from a year earlier. Last quarter, Apple promised that services revenue alongside the iPhone would accelerate. The company did particularly well in emerging markets, Cook said, pointing to record quarterly sales in Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. He also called out growth in India, where Apple recently opened its first retail outlets. Read More: Apple CEO Sees India at Tipping Point as China Pivot Quickens The companys overall sales would have been up last quarter if you held currencies constant, Cook said. For Apple and other US companies with a global footprint, a strong dollar has decreased the value of revenue generated in other parts of the world. Despite these challenges, we continue to manage for the long term, Cook said. --With assistance from Ed Ludlow and Caroline Hyde. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. David Kurth has launched The Sporing Company, a line of natural health products that uses mushrooms and other ingredients that's supposed to increase energy, cognition, immunity and aid with sleep. From bad trips to zombies, the mushroom has long been under attack from certain segments of the population who see fungi as no fun at all. But a West Lincoln man is betting against those stereotypes, and instead throwing his support behind the magic of the mushroom. But hold up, its not that kind of magic. David Kurth has founded The Sporing Company, which is gearing up production for four supplements he says can increase energy, cognition, immunity and improve sleep. With his products, Kurth said he tries to straddle the line between ancient wisdom and science. I'm a huge fan and proponent of science, so I don't want to say that we shouldn't be doing that. We should be doing that, he said. But usually if someone's been doing something for a thousand years, there's something to it. A longtime interest in mushrooms and a growing body of scientific evidence convinced him to create the company. Initially, he focused on psilocybin mushrooms. There has been a growing interest in the therapeutic benefits of that type of fungus, also known as magic mushrooms and used recreationally. However, he said that market got flooded well beyond what he believes demand will ever reach in Canada, so he turned his attention. Using mushroom varieties such as lions mane and turkey tail, along with ingredients long prized in Ayurveda an ancient medical system from India the company believes it can provide significant health benefits. In some cases, those benefits arrive in seconds. During the lockdowns in the early days of COVID-19, Kurth spent time learning how to grow his own mushrooms. The entrepreneur had previously launched U-Bud, a service that helped people set up their own home cannabis grows after it became legal. He used some of the leftover equipment from that venture, a pressure cooker and some items he bought from the local Minor Bros. to set up his mushroom production. With a lot of trial and error, and a year-long process to get licensed by Health Canada as a natural health product, The Sporing Company is now ready to ramp things up and send capsules and strips to consumers across the continent. Leading the way is the energy product, which he believes can serve anyone looking for a boost. Chief among them would be gym rats. Kurth said the energy strip can be a quicker, healthier and more effective alternative to caffeine pills or energy drinks. The strips, or capsules if people prefer that method, include cordyceps, guarana and ashwagandha. Kurth said it provides a boost of energy, an anti-fatigue effect as well as a post-workout recovery benefit. Long term, he said the cordyceps can increase a persons VO2 max, which is a measure of how much oxygen a person uses during exercise and a useful indicator of fitness levels. Coincidentally, cordyceps has had a moment in the limelight for a completely different reason. The real-life fungus is the basis of the "Last of Us" video game and TV series, in which spores can turn people into zombielike creatures. Fortunately theres no risk of a zombification side effect with any of Kurths products. The Health Canada licensing process was intensive, he said, and the company hired consultants to help navigate the process. Health Canada standards are higher than anything hed face in the United States, he said, but regardless he plans to hold his product to those Canadian standards. Kurth encourages anyone interested in products like his to do their research, and if they decide to try it, they should start small. He plans to mostly sell online, but have also partnered with some places that will carry it. For more information visit sporingcompany.com. SHARE: Julian Simmonds - Julian Simmonds/Daily Telegraph Artificial intelligence may pose a more urgent threat to humanity than climate change, according to one of Googles former top computer scientists. Geoffrey Hinton, known as the Godfather of AI, resigned from Google earlier this year to speak freely about the risks posed by increasingly intelligent machines. Mr Hinton, 75, has now warned powerful AI poses a more immediate to humanity risk than global warming. The computer science professor said: I wouldnt like to devalue climate change. I wouldnt like to say, you shouldnt worry about climate change. Thats a huge risk too. But I think this might end up being more urgent. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Mr Hinton said: With climate change, its very easy to recommend what you should do: you just stop burning carbon. If you do that, eventually things will be okay. For this its not at all clear what you should do. It comes after technology leaders including Sam Altman, the boss of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, as well as the chief executives of Google and Microsoft were summoned to the White House to discuss the risks of AI on Thursday. The London-born computing expert helped pioneer so-called machine learning techniques in the 1980s and won the prestigious Turing Award in 2018. These techniques underpin a powerful new wave of AI bots, such as ChatGPT, a chatbot that can provide convincingly-human sounding responses. Google is also building its own powerful bots, as are tech giants Facebook and Microsoft. Computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton poses at Google's Mountain View, Calif, headquarters - Noah Berger/AP The hope is these machines could accelerate the work of millions of people and eliminate menial office tasks. These digital agents are trained on millions of pages of text from the whole internet and hundreds of thousands of books. The models can also absorb millions of pictures and videos to generate lifelike, but fake, images, films and music. Technologists are increasingly wary these new bots could give rise to the emergence of a so-called artificial general intelligence that can surpass human intellect. There are also fears they could unleash a new wave of digitally created disinformation. In an interview with the New York Times earlier this week, Mr Hinton warned that there was a risk that bad actors could use such powerful AI for bad things, and that machines that can improve themselves or set their own goals without human supervision pose an existential risk. Story continues He has cautioned of the catastrophic impact such technology could have uncontrolled in the hands of world leaders such as Vladimir Putin and warned it may replace vast numbers of jobs. Mr Hinton studied at Kings College, Cambridge in the 1970s before securing a PhD from Edinburgh University for his work on artificial intelligence. He is currently a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto. He joined Google in 2013, helping design algorithms for increasingly intelligent machines. The scientist predicted this week machines would surpass humans in intelligence within five to 20 years. Writing in an open letter in March, more than a thousand technologists, including the worlds second richest man Elon Musk, demanded a pause to the most advanced AI research over claims ever more advanced tools could outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us. Elon Musk - Reuters The letter warned AI labs were locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds. Mr Hinton said pausing AI research was "unrealistic", but said the emerging technology posed "existential risk". He said: "Its close enough that we ought to be working very hard right now, and putting a lot of resources into figuring out what we can do about it. Other AI experts, however, have questioned the likelihood of an all-powerful AI emerging soon. Speaking to the Telegraph this week, Jerome Pesenti, the former head of artificial intelligence at Facebook-owner Meta, said doomsday scenarios were based on lazy reasoning. He added there were still real problems with AI today, such as copyright and privacy breaches and racial bias in algorithms. Mr Pesenti said: Instead of warning everybody on Twitter or signing letters telling everybody else to stop working on AI, why dont these people stop what they are currently doing and start addressing these issues? He added: What's sure is that the best way to influence what AI will do to humanity in the distant future is to make sure we fix the known problems of today. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer. The nachos at 11th Post in Niagara-on-the-Lake. If you are looking to try something new that reminds you of an old classic there is a new restaurant on Queen Street to explore. 11th POST on Queen, located at 135 Queen St. near the post office, opened on April 12 and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 24. The restaurant is owned by the Two Sisters, Angela Marotta and Melissa Marotta-Paolicelli. Marotta-Paolicelli said the restaurant serves elevated comfort food with more healthy options or for people who want to indulge a bit. She said the focus was comfort food such as a great burger and fries or a delicious roasted chicken that reminds you of food you had growing up. 11th POST is not the pairs first try at the restaurant industry, also owning Kitchen76 at Two Sisters Vineyards. Marotta said they wanted to try something different with 11th Post to set it apart. Marotta-Paolicelli said when they decided to dive in and create the restaurant, we wanted it to be different. We wanted more comfort food and not Italian like at Kitchens. Though it is intended to be different, Justin Lesso once the chef at Kitchen76 is the executive chef at 11th POST. Marotta said they chose the name 11th Post as a nod to the Two Sisters wine called Eleventh Post. Melissa Marotta-Paolicelli said she was looking forward to being welcomed by our friends and neighbours. President and CEO of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce and Tourism NOTL Minerva Ward attended the ribbon-cutting along with Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa and Deputy Mayor and Councillor Erwin Wiens. Zalepa said the development done was just splendid. Its wonderful, said Zalepa. You did it really well. He added that the premises was spectacular. Wiens said "his hat was off" to the sisters, noting many people would have walked away after dealing with so many archeological delays. We are very excited to be part of the incredible landscape of different restaurants and different options in the area, said Marotta-Paolicelli. We want to do things with an elevated service and attention to quality and detail. Marotta added that there is also a late-night menu. RELATED STORIES Four Niagara restaurants included in OpenTables Top 100 Restaurants in Canada 11TH POST ON QUEEN 135 Queen St, Niagara-on-the-Lake (289) 646-7678 11thpostonqueen.ca Wednesday and Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. SHARE: Doreen Hounsham still has the bible she was given at her school in Aberdeen, Scotland, when she 11 years old to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953. She recalled watching Elizabeth as she was crowned that day, while enjoying Victoria sponge cake. My mother and father didnt have a TV, so we had to go to our neighbours house. They had a black and white little screen, she recalled. While fondly remembering that day 70 years ago, Hounsham said she was up at 5 a.m. Saturday to watch the crowning of King Charles III. It was an event she said she could not miss. The Welland resident brought that bible its stamped with the Queens royal cipher with her as she joined a celebration at Simcoe Park in Niagara-on-the-Lake, organized by business owner Simon Bentall. Im really proud to be a Canadian and take part in this, said Hounsham, a retired nurse who moved to Canada when she was about 30 years old. Considering NOTLs history as the original capital of Upper Canada, Bentall said there needed to be an event to commemorate it. Rather than wait for someone else to organize an event, Bentall took on the job himself. The owner of the Scottish Loft a shop on Queen Street that specializes in merchandise imported from England and Scotland said he, too, was up at 5 a.m. to watch the coronation, adding hes enthusiastic about the new monarch. People dont realize how much hes done everywhere, and even in Canada as well, said Bentall, originally from Sheffield. Like him or hate him, give him a chance. I think hes going to be good for this country. The Simcoe Park celebration was one of several events held throughout Niagara to commemorate the coronation that also included tea parties fit for a king, organized by Niagara Falls History Museum. The Ferry Street museum offered two coronation teas featuring a menu of savouries and sweets, including sandwiches, scones and desserts. Visitors, decked out in their finest royal attire with elaborate hats and fascinators watched coverage of the coronation, which was broadcast on a large screen. I love royalty, said Sharon Curtis, wearing a flowing yellow dress and hat to match. Curtis watched the live television coverage starting at 7 a.m. before heading to the museum with friend Linda Pearl to take in the pomp and pageantry. My sweetheart and I believe in the monarchy and I believe we should support them no matter who they are, said retired lieutenant colonel Bernard Nehring, who attended the morning tea with his wife Marlayne, Lori Verdon and Janet Lacasse. Every military man or woman pledges allegiance to the monarchy and that has to be repeated every time there is a new sovereign, and that applies to us older ones like us as well, he said. Nehring said the event was also a good occasion to have a bit of get together and party. The museum hosted an afternoon tea in June 2022 to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. It was a great hit with the community so we wanted to bring it back with King Charles coronation, said Sylvia Beben, cultural development co-ordinator with the City of Niagara Falls. As the Queens Jubilee tea sold out so quickly, the museum offered two coronation teas Saturday. Forty people attended the morning tea and 50 attended the afternoon sitting. Also on Saturday, Niagara Parks marked the historic occasion by offering free admission to the Floral Showhouse and the butterfly conservatory. King Charles III acceded to the throne Sept. 8, 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The Kings coronation marks the first coronation of a Canadian Head of State in seven decades. Niagara Parks is proud to join the Ontario government and other cultural attractions by taking part in this provincial initiative to help Ontarians commemorate this historic event, Niagara Parks chair April Jeffs said in a release. SHARE: HALIFAXThey silenced the Citadel noon gun in Halifax on March 27, 2020. In light of all else that was happening, the firing of the gun like clockwork at noon, from the fort overlooking the harbour, every day barring Christmas since 1857 seemed somewhat trivial at the time. But its silencing was a symbol of the disruption of normalcy, both ominous and portentous. It came with the ubiquitous handmade paper signs in the doors of businesses, announcing their closure. It came with deserted streets, empty arenas, vacant workplaces. It came with a new-found realization of your fellow humans as a potential threat and the fear that came along with that. Sixteen days earlier, on March 11, the World Health Organization had announced a global COVID pandemic. Already there were 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people dead. At the time it seemed like the beginning of a siege. But no one expected the death toll to multiply by a thousandfold, no one expected that siege to go on for another three years. On Friday, the WHO called an end to the global COVID emergency; by its count, 1,221 days after first learning of a cluster of cases of a pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China. That were seven million deaths ago. Those are reported deaths WHO estimates the actual figure at closer to 20 million. In Canada, the toll now stands at 50,292. It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency, said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday morning. However, that does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat. With that statement, Ghebreyesus closed one chapter of the global COVID story and opened the next. For though the numbers of COVID deaths are declining though it still claims a life every three minutes, according to the WHO the scars of that pandemic go far beyond the tragic losses of the millions of lives it has taken. It shone a light into some of the ugly cracks in our societal facade, and what we saw there, it seems, may remain etched into our memories as long as those images of our elderly looking through the windows of their long-term-care homes at family they might never again embrace. Coping with the pandemic especially in terms of restrictions, border closures and vaccine mandates exposed and encouraged polarization. There were those willing to make sacrifices for the greater good, and there were those that believed that what they, individually, wanted was the greater good. Worse, there was no shortage of politicians willing to capitalize on those divides for their own gain. COVID exposed some of the vast inequities globally, nationwide and on a regional level. Poorer, disadvantaged communities and nations were most often the hardest hit by the disease and the last to receive help, whether that be a supply of vaccines or tools to track and combat the disease. And that situation was exacerbated as many richer countries battling the epidemic fended for themselves first, in blithe denial of the concept that led to the formation of the WHO in the first place that diseases recognize neither borders nor socio-economic strata. And yet The soils of tragedy sometimes grow valuable fruit. In battling this pandemic, we now have a plan, both on a global and national scale, to fight the next inevitable one. And, knowing the consequences for failure, the worlds leaders can ignore that plan at their own peril. COVID exposed many countries lack of preparedness in terms of development, supply and logistics of critical elements need to battle the disease. Canada, as an example, learning from its scramble to locate ventilators, personal protective equipment and vaccine supplies, has ramped up its efforts in vaccine research and the creation of vaccine production facilities to ensure when the next pandemic comes along whatever it may be that the possibility of homegrown development and production of vaccines will mitigate future scrambles. And that research has payoffs. Unprecedented billions of dollars were poured into COVID research over the past three years in the scramble to find vaccines and treatments. And in finding the tools to battle the pandemic, researchers also saw the potential for those tools to be used to battle other diseases as well. They see promise in using the mRNA vaccines developed for COVID against a host of others: influenza, HIV, rabies, Zika and RSV, to name a few. They see possibilities in using mRNA therapy to treat cancers and cystic fibrosis and some genetic disorders. And importantly, the urgency for COVID research set a standard for further medical research less bureaucracy, more focused goals and improved funding. Whether that standard is maintained absent a pandemic remains to be seen. Possibly the most prominent change that came about as a result of the pandemic, and the one that could potentially have the longest-lasting impact, is the heightened public awareness of what health-care workers do, the conditions in which they do it and the sacrifices they make to do their job. Early in the pandemic, while people faced newly enforced lockdowns with their families, they were reading stories about health-care workers who spent weeks living apart from theirs both so they wouldnt bring home the disease to their families and so they wouldnt bring an infection from their families into the hospitals. In Vancouver, early on in the lockdown, there was a nightly round of applause from downtown balconies in appreciation of health-care workers. Thats translated into an appreciation of what nurses and doctors, especially the former, have been saying well before the pandemic: that they are overworked and understaffed. And that, in turn, has translated into action at a governmental level. Currently, every province and territory in this country is offering incentives for the recruitment, training and retention of more nurses. But perhaps the most important fruit of the pandemic is this: It exposed the frailty of our collective emotional and mental health. And it showed us how dependent we are on the fragile bond between us and our neighbours for that health. There is scarcely a person whose life was not touched by the death of someone close to them in the past three years; scarcer than that is the person who did not find themselves frustrated and isolated over that time, who did not long for some greater form of human contact. The noon gun has long since resumed its daily firing over Halifax harbour. The WHO tells us the pandemic is over. That doesnt mean everything returns to what used to be normal. It never can. There are too many dead and too much has changed, within and without ourselves. Frank Herbert wrote a litany against fear in his book Dune: I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Fear changes everyone. So, too, has the pandemic. The scars of the past three years are too prominent and too widespread to ever ignore. But if part of the result of what we collectively have experienced is that there are those among us who have a new appreciation for the people closest to them, who no longer take for granted their connection to their family and neighbours, then, like a favoured scar weighted by painful memory, perhaps some portion of that change is to be welcomed. Read more about: SHARE: ASWAN, Egypt (AP) Sudans warring sides began talks Saturday that aim to firm up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, the United States and Saudi Arabia said. The negotiations, the first between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, since the fighting broke out on April 15, were underway in Saudi Arabias coastal city of Jeddah, on the Red Sea, according to a joint Saudi-American statement. The talks are part of a diplomatic initiative proposed by the kingdom and the U.S. that aims to stop the fighting, which has turned Sudans capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. In their joint statement, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. urged both parties to actively engage in the talks towards a cease-fire and end to the conflict, which will spare the Sudanese peoples suffering. The statement did not offer a timeframe for the talks, though it was expected the initial session could last two-three days. The talks come after concerted efforts by Riyadh and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan welcomed the rival sides to Jeddah, saying on Twitter that he hopes the talks would restore security and stability in Sudan. Since a 2021 coup that upended Sudans transition to democracy, the kingdom has been mediating between the ruling generals and a pro-democracy movement. After Sudans top two generals commanders of the military and the paramilitary turned on each other after months of tensions and the latest fighting broke out in April, Jeddah became a hub for those evacuated by sea from Sudans main sea port of Port Sudan. Officials from the military and the RSF said the talks would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles. They would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities that have been overwhelmed and suffer from dire shortages of both staff and medical supplies, one military official said. An RSF official they would also discuss a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire, which is one of a series of truces that failed to stop the fighting. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks in Jeddah. Meanwhile, Sudans pro-democracy movement said the talks would be a first step to stop the countrys collapse and called on leaders of the military and the RSF to make a bold decision to end the conflict. The movement, which is a coalition of political parties and civil society groups, had negotiated with the military for months to restore the countrys democratic transition after a 2021 military coup led by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who also chairs the ruling sovereign council, and his deputy in the council Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. On Saturday, Dagalo tweeted his first comment on the talks, welcoming the initiative to establish a firm cease-fire and open humanitarian corridors. We remain hopeful that the discussions will achieve their intended goals, he said. At least 550 people have been killed, including civilians, and more than 4,900 have been wounded as of Monday, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Friday that 473 civilians have been killed in the violence and more than 2,450 have been wounded. The fighting capped months of tensions between Burhan and Dagalo. It plunged the country into further chaos and forced foreign governments to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese were displaced inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring countries as the fighting dragged on in urban areas. The U.N. refugee agency estimated that the number of Sudanese fleeing to neighboring countries would reach 860,000, and that aid agencies would need $445 million to assist them. On Saturday, unknown assailants fired on a convoy in Khartoum that included Turkish Ambassador Ismail Cobanoglu, reported Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency, citing diplomatic sources. There were no casualties in the shooting, the report said. The Sudanese military and the RSF traded accusations of attacking the convoy. Also, a bus carrying Sudanese fleeing the fighting, overturned in Egypts southern province of Beni Suef, leaving at least 36 Sudanese, including women and children, and two Egyptians injured, local authorities said. Tens of thousands of Sudanese have crossed into Egypt since the fighting broke out. ___ Associated Press writer Andrew Wilks in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report. Read more about: SHARE: What Kate would wear to the coronation of King Charles III had been the subject of nearly as much speculation as whether Harry and Meghan would RSVP yes or no to the new monarchs big day (yes and no, as we now know). Given the millennia of history and tradition this event is steeped in, youd think the well-established protocol would have spelled the answer out for us. But were over a century out from the last time a Princess of Wales attended a coronation and, well, Kate would not have been likely to take too many style cues from the bustled, corseted, extravagantly bejewelled Princess Mary, who didnt think twice about layering a diamond-and-pearl choker with the Lovers Knot tiara converted into its necklace form, topped with the pearl-and-diamond Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. (Fun fact: This would go on to be the tiara Queen Elizabeth II wears on coins and notes.) If Marys goal with her coronation outfit was stupefy them with bling, Kates sartorial task was much more complicated. Its a different world entirely, and what was an expected display of royal splendour would now read as insufferable insensitivity when the world is gripped by a cost-of-living crisis and republican spirit is in the ascendant. Its also not her coronation, which required a delicate dance between looking nice but not in a Main Character sort of wayeven though its inevitable that most people will be much more interested in what Kate wears than, say, Queen Camilla, the woman of the hour and the second-most-important person there after Charles. Kate chose a gown by Alexander McQueen, the same British designer who made her wedding dress. The ivory silk crepe gown is embroidered with symbolic motifs that represent the United Kingdom: The thistle for Scotland, the shamrock for Ireland, the rose for England, the daffodil for Wales, all in silver bullion thread, topped with the robe for the Royal Victorian Order, to which the late Queen appointed her in 2019. Kate's also wearing what the palace calls a "headpiece" (so not a tiara!) made by milliner Jess Collet and Alexander McQueen, made from silver bullion and crystal. In a nod to the late Princess Diana, Kate is wearing what look to be her "Collingwood" pearl and diamond earrings. And its not just the big ceremony Kates had to dress for. In the run-up to the coronation, shes been busy on a wide-ranging royal goodwill tour. On the way, her outfit choices have been straight from her long-standing fashion playbook: British designers, mixing new and old and luxe with high street, and one-by-one ticking off the colours of the Union Jack. Lets get into it! Heirloom earrings (but no tiara!) to greet international guests This event was pegged as one of our best chances to see Kate sport a tiara, a Friday-night reception welcoming visiting royalty and guests attending the coronation including Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco, King Felipe and the ultra-chic Queen Letizia of Spain, U.S. First Lady Jill Biden and Ukraine First Lady Olena Zelenska. Alas, it was not to be, but she did wheel an interesting piece of Windsor bling out of the vault for the occasion: a pair of sapphire-and-diamond Deco-style fringe earrings that belonged to the late Queen Mother. Weve seen Kate wear these several times before, and its a clear nod to dynastic continuity. They also match her new blue draped dress from Self-Portrait, the contemporary London brand helmed by designer Han Chong. This completes her red-white-and-blue triple score: shes effectively worn all the colours of the Union Jack within a 24-hour period. A patriotic (if impractical) ensemble to ride the Tube On the Thursday before the coronation, Kate and William headed to a Soho pub to see how locals were prepping for the festivities. To get there, they rode the Tube, riding a few stops on the new Queen Elizabeth line. For this appearance, Kate wore a pair of white Jimmy Choo stilettos that demonstrate shes definitely not a real commuter. Strictly adhering to her patriotic colour palette, she paired a scarlet coat from Eponine London with a white dress from Suzannah. Three things those items have in common? Theyre all British designers and theyre all eye-wateringly expensive. The dress alone costs around $4,000! That said: Sustainability has been a theme of this coronation, and Kate has worn these items at least three times before. A familiar name and knockout heels for a reception and walkabout Inevitably, comparisons were made with a similar white and black Givenchy sheath worn by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, during her royal days. It probably didnt help that Kate paired this dress with a new pair of Aquazzura Bow heels, a knockout style her sister-in-law has long favoured. An LK Bennett moment for the coronation rehearsal On Thursday, Kate was snapped heading into Westminster Abbey for a rehearsal alongside the other royals. For this occasion, she wore an LK Bennett dress with a print you could argue featured shamrocks (hello, nod to Northern Ireland, another United Kingdom country). While this dress itself is new, she already owns this exact style in green and white polka dots. The choice to wear LK Bennett, an upper-end of high street British retailer, is a nostalgic one for Kate as she wore their dresses frequently in her early years as a duchess. And if youve been following for a while, youll know how often she wore her LK Bennett nude heels. A bit of fast-fashion in Wales Yes, the coronation is about King Charles, but its also about celebrating the unbroken continuity of the monarchy. Hence the Prince and Princess of Walesthe titles historically held by the heir apparent and his or her spousemaking a pre-coronation visit to, well, Wales. It was also a chance for Kate to demonstrate a bit of thriftiness before the real pomp and pageantry begins. Attending a ceremony to commemorate a tragic coal mining disaster, she re-wore a Zara dress first debuted in 2020 and seen again in 2021. While the fast fashion retailer is Spanish, the houndstooth pattern has a British origin, originating over 2,000 years ago in Scotland, which ticks off a nod to another country in the United Kingdom. She topped it with a much spendier Catherine Walker coat, also a re-wear, albeit one that costs thousands of pounds. This choice nodded to Diana, the previous princess of Wales, and a fan of the British designer. Burgundy in Birmingham Just before we hit coronation week proper, Will and Kate visited Birmingham, in order to give a little bit of love to the parts of England outside London before all the attention zooms in on whats happening in the capital. The burgundy colour of her trench dress could be a nod to England, traditionally represented by the red St Georges cross, and it hit an accessible note as its from British high street brand Karen Millen. Ditto her Sezane earrings, a gold-plated rewear. SHARE: If you felt a gust of wind around noon British time on Saturday, that may have been Prince Harry, breathing a massive sigh of relief that attending his fathers coronation was finally over. We speculate, of course, but it doesnt feel like a stretch to imagine that this was an occasion Harry was eager to have behind him. A brief refresher on the facts that support this, just from the past few days. Speculation was rife if Harry would even attend the coronation, as he delayed confirming his attendance until just three weeks ago. (Ladbrokes put the odds at 4/5 that Harry and Meghan would attend and 6/4 that they wouldnt.) Harry flew in only yesterday, the day before the event, (commercial, reportedly on an American Airlines flight), and spent the night at Frogmore Cottage. Hes jetting back to Montecito today to celebrate his son Archies fourth birthday the ostensible reason that Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, stayed behind in California. It's not surprising that Harry likely felt a bit squirrelly. The coronation marks the first time he has seen his family since publishing Spare, his bombshell memoir that painted a less than flattering portrait of the royal family, both as an institution and as individuals. Certainly, Harry was noticeably uncomfortable as he arrived at Westminster Abbey for the coronation service. Walking into the church, he was seen joking with his cousins, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands, although it felt more awkward laughter than easy, breezy mirth. (According to a lip reader enlisted by Hello!, he told Jack Brooksbank, Eugenies husband, I will be straight to the airport.) As Harry walked up the aisle at Westminister Abbey, he cut a solitary figure between the two couples. Meghans absence was palpable. He sat in the third row alongside his cousins. It wasnt quite social Siberia he had a better seat than many of the attending foreign royals but he certainly wasnt seated in the front row alongside his brother, Prince William, occupying prime position alongside Kate, the Princess of Wales, and their children. Technically, Harrys spot at the coronation was less a snub, more an egalitarian adhering to protocol: working royals got the best seats, and then everyone else (including the retired Prince Andrew) were seated behind them in a rough order of seniority. Its still a far cry from where Harry, in an alternate universe where he didnt break from his family quite so acrimoniously, may have been sitting. He may have even joined his brother in paying formal homage to their father during the coronation ceremony. Theres something else that speaks to Harrys effective demotion: He was wearing a somber morning suit rather than a military uniform. If youve been following this saga, youll know this has been a past bone of contention. When he quit his job as a royal, Harry also lost the various honorary military titles which entitled him to wear a uniform at official events like this. (His brother William, for example, was wearing a Welsh Guards uniform because he is their Colonel.) For Harry, who served on active military duty, this has been a particularly painful and, in his view unjust consequence of his choice to leave royal life behind. As the service continued, Harry looked very much like a person going through the motions. (To be fair, so did everyone else. Emoting in public is not very Windsor.) He sang the hymns, he said the pledge of allegiance to Charles, he moved his lips during God Save The King but he never cracked a smile. Alas, any reaction he might have had was also largely blocked, thanks to a rather majestic feather on Princess Annes hat. We certainly didnt see any interaction between him and any of his immediate family, although it did seem like he was looking Williams way every now and again, even once the action had processed past to the other side of the abbey. Before Harry returns to California today, he may have one, possibly two, hurdles: The balcony appearance, if he makes the cut, and a lunch with the family. Then, its back to Frogmore Cottage likely for the final time, since hes been asked to give up his UK base by King Charles and back home to Meghan and California. When will he be back in England? Not soon, we think. Read more about: SHARE: CALGARY - Alberta declared a state of emergency Saturday due to the growing threat of wildfires that have forced more than 24,000 people from their homes. Premier Danielle Smith said the safety of Albertans is a priority, and the emergency status gives the government greater power to access emergency funds and mobilize additional support. This is not a step that we took lightly, Smith told a news conference following a meeting of her emergency management cabinet committee. But its one that will allow the quickest and most effective response. More than a dozen communities and rural areas have been evacuated in recent days. Officials said there were 110 wildfires burning in the province, with about three dozen considered out of control, as of late Saturday afternoon. Some buildings have been destroyed, including 20 homes, a police station and a store in Fox Lake in northern Alberta. The Municipality of Jasper in Jasper National Park also warned that wildfires burning in Yellowhead County could cause a power failure in the town. Smith said provincial money will be available to help those affected and that Ottawa is ready to help. She said Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis had spoken with federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair and Ottawa is on standby to provide assistance if the province requests it. Im hoping to be able to schedule a call with the prime minister in the next day or so and Im building a list of things that well be able to ask for. Ill take them seriously when they say that theyre prepared to give help, Smith said, while also praising the City of Edmonton for providing an evacuation centre on short notice. Smith said the province could ask the prime minister for firefighting expertise from national parks, as well as military help. Ottawa would also have to help with the emergency response for First Nations, she said. Temperatures remained high, humidity stayed low and forecasts continued to call for gusting winds. But there was a ray of hope. We are looking forward to a brief reprieve, possibly in the next few days, as cooler weather comes up through the province, that may give firefighters a chance to catch their breath, said Christie Tucker, an information unit manager with Alberta Wildfire. Tucker added that Alberta had welcomed additional firefighters Saturday from Ontario and Quebec. NDP Leader Rachel Notley said she had extended an offer to the United Conservative Party government to take part in meetings about the wildfire response. Alberta is currently in the middle of an election campaign, with the vote scheduled for May 29. Im willing to provide any insights from past experiences that might be helpful in this situation, Notley said. Notley was premier during the May 2016 wildfires that forced tens of thousands of people from Fort McMurray, Alta., and levelled many parts of the city. Its very rare that you have a former premier running in a campaign. Its even more rare that that former premier has experience with this kind of public emergency, said Notley. There is an opportunity for us to depoliticize this and to work together on doing everything we can to focus on public safety, ensure the resources are corralled appropriately to the people who need it and make sure its not an election issue. And one way to do that is to bring people together. Smith said the government is ensuring the leader of the Opposition receives information as the fire situation continues to unfold. She said shell be meeting with Notley in the coming days and looks forward to getting her advice on how she would like to be able to feed into our process. The premier also said she had spoken with Elections Alberta for advice and, if its required by the end of the month, accommodations for voting could be made for affected areas. As of now, people should be anticipating that election day will go ahead as planned on May 29, Smith said. Notley said its too soon to say whether the election should be delayed. NDP candidates in six constituencies affected by evacuation orders suspended their campaigns Saturday. Smith said two UCP candidates had also stepped away from campaigning. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2023. Read more about: SHARE: LONDON - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen Mary Simon were among the dignitaries on hand as King Charles III was crowned at Londons Westminster Abbey on Saturday, marking the formal celebration of the start of his reign as King and his role as Canadas head of state. The coronation was a two-hour traditional Anglican ceremony that combined ancient traditions and pomp and pageantry with a few modern touches. More than a dozen Canadians were among the ceremonys guests of about 2,000. People in the crowd ranged from world leaders and aristocrats to community workers and first responders. A drizzle fell as the Canadian delegation entered the church, led by flag-bearer and astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Indigenous leaders were also on the Canadian guest list, including Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Natan Obed and President of the Metis National Council Cassidy Caron. Trumpets sounded as King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, entered the church, where monarchs have been crowned since 1066. They were preceded by a procession of dignitaries who earned national honours from their countries, including historian Margaret MacMillan, who is a companion of the Order of Canada, and Cross of Valour recipient Leslie Arthur Palmer. Charles is the 40th sovereign to be crowned in the abbey. At 74, he is also the oldest. He no longer has executive or political power, and the service was purely ceremonial. Charles automatically became King when his mother, Queen Elizabeth, died in September. For the first time, female clergy took part in the ceremony. It was also the first to include representatives of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths. Thousands of people from around the world camped overnight along a two kilometre route travelled by the procession. Canadian flags were on display amid the sea of Union Jacks. After the ceremony, large crowds cheered as five RCMP officers rode ahead of the gold state coach carrying King Charles and Queen Camilla, who was also crowned, as they returned from the abbey to Buckingham Palace in a military procession. Back in Canada, some royal watchers set their alarm clocks to watch the proceedings in London, though polls have suggested many are lukewarm about the event and the new monarch himself. That sentiment was on display on the ground in London as well. The anti-monarchy group Republic said six of its members, including its chief executive, were arrested as they arrived at a protest. Trudeau issued a statement shortly after the ceremony. Today, we ring in the reign of His Majesty King Charles III and reaffirm Canadas enduring commitment to the Commonwealth, he said. As we celebrate this momentous occasion, let us be reminded of our shared values of inclusivity, diversity, and respect for human rights as we work together to build a better future for all members of the Commonwealth. Trudeaus whirlwind trip to the United Kingdom, which ends Sunday, also included separate meetings Saturday with his British counterpart, Rishi Sunak, as well as New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. In an interview ahead of the coronation, Ralph Goodale, High Commissioner for Canada in the United Kingdom, stressed the strong ties between the two countries. He cited the RCMPs prominent position in the procession, and the fact that Charles met with Canadian Indigenous leaders right before the coronation. As the senior member in the Commonwealth that Canada is acknowledged to be, as a country that has a very close, long lasting relationship with the U.K. and the monarchy, Canadas participation in these activities is very important, said Goodale. If you look down the Mall, amidst all the Union Jacks, the first non-British flag you will see is the Canadian flag. Canada has that distinction within the Commonwealth and its one thats important to us and important to the palace. Goodale said a Canadian tour for King Charles is very much in the planning process. The options are being very actively considered now as to what time of year. Then there will be the difficult questions of where they would go. It will be a tough choice of where the itinerary will be. With files from The Associated Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2023. SHARE: Justin Trudeau was forced to miss half of his own Liberal partys convention this weekend to attend the coronation ceremony in London. Conservatives found this scandalous, even rolling out an attack ad to slam Trudeau as out of touch and out of the country. Liberals did not. Trudeau may not have been physically present among the thousands of partisans milling around the Ottawa convention centre, but he was everywhere photos of the prime minister rolling across big screens in the halls, his name evoked over and over again in the multitude of panel discussions on stage. This much is clear Trudeau still owns the party he brought back from near extinction a decade ago. For a governing party that is enduring daily bashing in Parliament and on the pundit circuit, led by a man who is more unpopular now than hes ever been since taking power in 2015, the mood at this weekends Liberal party convention was remarkably upbeat. We needed this, one MP said to me as we made our way through a buoyant crowd exiting Friday nights double-bill show of former prime minister Jean Chretien and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. It was the first time the Liberals have held an in-person convention since 2018, which is a lifetime ago for this government before a global pandemic, before two elections that kept them to minority rule, before the wear and tear of everything from the SNC-Lavalin controversy to a war in Ukraine. All of that has left its mark on Liberals, without question. They talked openly in the corridors of the often-tense political discussions they have with friends and family back home. They talked about it in organizational sessions; what theyre up against as they dare to contemplate winning a fourth term in government. In one discussion, featuring Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, one delegate put the question: What are you going to do to overcome the perception that youre stale, youve been there a long time, youre not the new idea guys? Joly replied: Yes indeed, weve been in power for eight years. So the world has a perception that we have been in power for a long time. However, she said, that makes it all the more important to frame the next election as a choice between Liberals and the alternative Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. I think its important that the choice be stark. On this point, the Conservatives would likely agree. Their new ad against Trudeaus travelling ways is ample evidence that they regard the prime minister as not only their main rival, but their major asset. Justin Trudeau: hes taken five lavish foreign trips this year alone, the ad narrator says against a backdrop of photos of planes taking off, passports being stamped and champagne glasses clinking. Now hes taking off again, when his government cant deliver basic services, the streets are unsafe and the costs of housing and groceries keeps spiralling out of control. I did see the ad run on TV during the past few days while the Liberal convention was underway, but its not clear how it fits into any overall ad strategy by the Conservatives whether this is the first of many to be sent into wider circulation, for instance. What is clear is that Conservatives were no doubt cheering on Thursday night, when Trudeau told his party faithful that it would be his honour to lead them into the next election battle. But Liberals were cheering too. As many others have been observing, this is not a party that seems in any mood to send Trudeau packing, if only because there is no one, clear alternative leader certainly not anyone they could present as the stark choice against Poilievre. Many of the names on the list of would-be successors to Trudeau got to strut their stuff on stage at the convention a sign, if nothing else, that the prime minister and his team dont see any of them as rearguard threats. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland did the interview with Clinton; Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne did a highly entertaining one-on-one with Chretien. Joly was the warm-up speech for Trudeau on Thursday night; Defence Minister Anita Anand had multiple turns at the microphone throughout the weekend. Each one of them, unfailingly, went out of their way to talk up Trudeau and how they worked together as a team with him at the helm. At the risk of dating myself, I have to note here that I have been to many, many Liberal conventions over the past four decades. I have seen more than my share of Liberal gatherings where the hallways were buzzing with factional dissent and sparring leadership struggles. In fact, for most of the years between 1980 and 2015, this was the rule, not the exception. This was not that type of Liberal convention. Ten years ago, Trudeau vowed in his Liberal leadership victory speech that the days of hyphenated Liberals was over. By this, he meant the partys tendency to divide among leadership loyalists: Chretien Liberals versus Paul Martin Liberals, for instance, during the 1990s and early 2000s. On Friday night, as the nearly 90-year-old Chretien gave a trademark, fiery, often hilarious speech, there werent any hyphenated Liberals in the room. One cabinet minister said he was sitting with people who would once have been Martin Liberals and they were applauding with everyone else. Another minister told me Saturday how one of the younger delegates to the convention earnestly informed him that Chretien was very popular with young Liberals. Now, its entirely possible that a Liberal convention isnt a representative slice of the Liberal voting public. Anyone willing to cough up the convention fees (ranging from roughly $200 to $600) and the cost of travel to Ottawa for a weekend is probably someone whos been sticking by Trudeau and his team through the roller coaster of the past few years. Nor was the convention configured in any way to allow for much dissent. As the New Democrats national director Anne McGrath observed, her party would kill her if she held a convention where delegates jobs were mainly to listen to panels. She marvelled that for many plenary sessions, there were no microphones set up for comments from the floor. But this is a Liberal convention. They have always been known for conducting the real business in the corridors, where gossip, rumours and even grudges are shared. Trudeau made a point of roaming those hallways on Thursday and again on Friday before his plane left late in the day for a red-eye flight to the coronation. In another time, facing another type of opposition leader, perhaps, Trudeaus departure from the convention might have been seen as a momentary chance to glimpse what the Liberal party looks like without him, even for a day or two. But the Liberal party that gathered in Ottawa this past weekend is still Trudeaus party; the one created out of the depths of its existential despair a decade ago. Maybe the memory of those days is still raw for many Liberals; maybe its the lack of an obvious alternative. Whatever the reason, the Conservatives dearly hoping that Trudeau is sticking around to fight Poilievre in the next election are looking like theyll get their wish. Susan Delacourt is an Ottawa-based columnist covering national politics for the Star. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt Read more about: SHARE: DUBLIN, May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Asia Pacific Two-Wheeler Market By Vehicle Type (Scooter/Moped, Motorcycle), By Propulsion (ICE and Electric), By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2017- 2027F" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Research and Markets Logo The Asia Pacific two-wheeler market stood at $58.82 million in 2021 and is estimated to reach $95.32 million in 2027, advancing with a CAGR of 9.28%. Companies Mentioned Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Hero MotoCorp Limited Yadea Technology Group Co. Ltd. Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. TVS Motor Company Bajaj Auto Limited Suzuki Motor Corporation Haojue Holdings Company Ltd Kawasaki Motors Corp. Kwang Yang Motor Co. Ltd. An increase in technological development and an upsurge in demand for shared mobility and delivery services are driving the growth of the Asia Pacific two-wheeler market in the forecast years. Growing urbanization in the countries of the region is expected to be the key driver for the growth of the Two-wheeler market in Asia Pacific. Moreover, growing population and increasing demand for transportation are the other factors contributing to the market growth. Also, increasing traffic congestion and environmental pollution are expected to further propel the demand for two wheelers. Inconvenient public transport in the countries is one of the key reasons responsible for the growth of the two-wheeler market. Due to the declaration of lockdown to cope with the spreading infection, almost all the automotive factories, showrooms, and workshops were closed, resulting in a massive sales decline. China and India lead automobile production in the Asia Pacific region. According to ASEAN Statistics Association, shipments from China, which is more dependent on exports to others, fell by 90% in April 2020 as compared to March 2020. Indonesia is expected to witness a production decline of 17% in the fiscal 2020. Due to this slowdown in trade & production in the automotive sector, two-wheeler market is also expected to be negatively affected. The spread of novel COVID-19 pandemic has created both a public health crisis and an economic crisis in the Asia pacific region. In June 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted the regional contraction of 9.4% for the year 2020 with almost every country in recession. Story continues Economic recovery may be a protracted process in countries that rely heavily on global trade and investment, which the pandemic has significantly affected. Moreover, about 60% of employees & workers in this region are in the informal sector and many are self-employed in a subsistence & daily living economy and therefore are at the risk of slipping back into poverty and with it the unemployment rate in the region is expected to rise to 13.5% by the end of 2020. Growing Penetration of Chinese Players China is the largest market for two-wheelers globally,Two-wheeler and. Chinese companies have got significant market share in Asia as well. Few of the prominent Chinese companies are Lifan, Loncin, Qingpi, Zongshen, etc. Some of the prominent reasons for the growth of Chinese two-wheeler companies are their extensive distribution channel, product outreach and low-cost of two-wheelers. Moreover, the ease in availability of Chinese two-wheelers has also fueled their demand across the region. Increasing Penetration of Electric two Wheelers Rising fuel prices have a negative impact on the automobile industry, so the automotive industry has started focusing more on electric vehicles. Electric two-wheelers are gaining popularity worldwide as people are becoming more concerned about climate change and electric two-wheelers are environment friendly. All the electric two wheelers come with fewer moving parts so there is no need for the changing of the oil in electric motorcycles. In many countries people are adopting electric two wheelers at a faster rate due to several advantages of electric powered motorcycles over fossil fuel vehicles, electric two wheelers are getting popular year on year, another feature of the electric two wheelers is that it has great break-horse-power braking system. The electric motorcycles are free from gears, meaning the riders can enjoy rides without shifting gears, therefore it will increase the adoption of electric two wheelers and drive the market of Asia Pacific two wheelers. Increasing Online Two-Wheeler Sales Growth in the e-commerce industry in Asia pacific region is increasing at a fast pace, owing to rising internet penetration. Online sales of two-wheelers has increased in Asian countries due to various benefits such as brand and price comparison, fast delivery and high discount offers provided. By offering such a service, buyers can compare brands and prices more easily and rely less on dealers and distributors for information. Thus, many companies across Asia Pacific are now selling two-wheelers via online sales channel, in order to expand their business. Technological Advancement Nowadays as the manufacturers' implementing cutting-edge technologies, two-wheelers now deliver more convenience and increased safety. For instance, anti-lock brake systems (ABS) are indirectly driving sales due to their high performance and quick braking capability. Modern motorcycles frequently have slipper clutches, which are intended to partially disengage acceleration to the rear tire when the engine is operating at a power that is typically greater than its own potential. Due to their advantages for safety, slipper clutches, which were initially developed for high-performance super-sport bikes and racetrack cars, are now more commonly deployed. Manufacturers are introducing two wheelers that are powered by renewable resources like solar energy, water, or electricity. These initiatives are encouraging market expansion during the anticipated term by attracting in customers who care about the environment. Report Scope: In this report, Asia Pacific Two-wheeler market has been segmented into following categories, in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below: Asia Pacific Two-wheeler Market, By Vehicle Type: Scooter/Moped Motorcycle Asia Pacific Two-wheeler Market, By Propulsion: ICE Electric Asia Pacific Two-wheeler Market, By Country: China India Indonesia Vietnam Thailand Pakistan Philippines Taiwan Malaysia Japan Bangladesh For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/sxh03 About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager 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 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg Cision View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/asia-pacific-two-wheeler-market-report-2023-sector-is-expected-to-reach-95-32-million-in-2027-at-a-cagr-of-9-28-301817186.html SOURCE Research and Markets Approximately 187,300 people, Romanian and foreign nationals, and over 50,400 means of transport underwent border checks at all of Romania's crossing points on Friday, on both the inbound and the outbound, the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) reports. As many as 86,716 travelers, of whom 8,920 Ukrainian nationals, entered Romania on May 5, the IGPF said. The number of Ukrainians who crossed into Romania since the pre-war date of February 10 is 4,155,112, the IGPF reports. As part of the specific activities at crossing points and the green border, the border police found 65 illegal acts (44 crimes and 21 misdemeanors) committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens. The value of the seized undeclared goods amounts to more than RON 3,170,000. Fines worth approximately RON 9,500 were also issued. 19 foreign citizens who did not meet the legal requirements were denied entry to the country, and 16 Romanian citizens were also not allowed to leave the country for various legal reasons. AGERPRES Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca congratulated on Friday all those involved in the management of the Chiajna child hostage case. "I am very glad that they successfully handled this situation and saved both lives, and I congratulate all those involved there," Ciuca said as he attended the meeting of the PNL Neamt County Ruling Council. A man from Chiajna - Ilfov County assaulted his wife on Thursday and then barricaded himself in the house with his five-year-old daughter. There were two gas cylinders in the building. After 28 hours of negotiations - the longest such standoff in the history of the Romanian Police - the man surrendered and was taken over by the police who put him in custody for 24 hours. The girl was released unharmed. AGERPRES ST. LOUIS After more than a year of negotiation, the union that represents St. Louis-area nursing home workers said it has reached a labor agreement for three local facilities. The union said the agreement covers about 270 workers at Hillside Manor Healthcare in St. Louis Baden neighborhood; Beauvais Rehab and Healthcare Center in the Shaw neighborhood; and Rancho Rehab and Healthcare Center in Florissant. The union said the agreement is with New Jersey-based Luxor Healthcare. Luxors attorney described Luxors relationship to the nursing homes as a consultant. The union had a contract in place with the previous owners, but since a new group took ownership in late 2021, had not been able to reach a new agreement. In the months that followed, workers held protests over working conditions. At Hillside Manor workers claimed in 2021 that multiple longtime employees were fired, and in 2023 they went on a one-day strike over issues with unequal pay, bedbugs and alleged union-busting tactics. The union has filed multiple unfair labor practice charges against the owners. Workers recently filed a 10-day strike notice with the National Labor Relations Board. Lenny Jones, state director for SEIU Healthcare Missouri, said that action prompted the owners to negotiate. A new contract was ratified Monday. As part of the new agreement, the union asked the federal labor board to drop several of the unfair labor practice charges against the owners, though some of the charges over workers who were terminated will remain. In a statement to the Post-Dispatch, Luxor said it is committed to working together and providing a caring environment for residents and workers. Luxor said the contract includes significant wage increases and other benefits. Jones said the agreement requires meetings between workers and administrators to discuss ways to improve their working relationships. It locks in pay increases that had been paid to certain employees as hiring bonuses, and raises pay for other workers. Jones said the starting, minimum pay for certified nursing assistants rose to $17 an hour, from $14. Starting pay for certified medication technicians rose to $18, from $15. The union insisted on a one-year agreement, rather than the standard three. Its kind of like were calling a truce here and saying, Weve got a year now to prove that they can be a better employer, Jones said. If not, were back to fighting. KIRKWOOD Vianney nurse charged with sex crimes: A former nurse at St. John Vianney High School here has been charged with felony sex crimes after admitting to sexual contact with an underage student. Erin Foerstel, 43, of Kirkwood, faces charges of statutory sodomy in the second degree and sexual contact with a student younger than 17, the age of consent in Missouri. Foerstel confessed to police that she performed a sexual act on a student at Vianney last month while employed at the school as a nurse, Kirkwood detective Donald Douglas wrote in a probable cause statement. Foerstel worked at Vianney from August 2020 until April 24, when administrators fired her after receiving a report of the alleged sex incident last month, Vianney President Rick Davis and Principal Ian Mulligan said in an email Thursday to parents with students at the all-male, Catholic private school. Foerstel had also had inappropriate contact with students through social media, they said. The administrators immediately contacted the Missouri Department of Social Services and Kirkwood Police after receiving the report, and contacted families with students enrolled at the school between August 2020 and April of this year to inform them of the allegation. "They have been asked to notify us if they are aware of inappropriate behavior while attending Vianney," Davis and Mulligan said in an email. "Please continue to respect the privacy of our students and their families as we keep them in our prayers." Foerstel was in custody on Friday in St. Louis County jail with her bond set at $75,000, according to online court records. FLORDELL HILLS Man killed on West Florissant: A man was shot and killed Friday morning in a parking lot here. Country Club Hills officers were called to the 7000 block of West Florissant Avenue just before noon on a report of a shooting, police said. They found a man who had been shot several times. He was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said. Police did not specify in which business' parking lot the shooting happened. Country Club Hills police requested the St. Louis County police to lead the investigation. One of St. Louis most architecturally diverse and pedigreed historic neighborhoods, Compton Heights, will invite the community in for its first house tour since 2019 this Mothers Day weekend. A National Historic District and one of Americas earliest planned residential developments, Compton Heights represented the apex of luxury and taste of its time, and the 1895-built home of Paul and Patty Midden is a pure example. Designed by Union Station architect Theodore Link for Otto Bollman, president of the Bollman Piano Co., and his wife, Emily, the Richardsonian Romanesque style home is rumored to have been built from leftover limestone blocks used in Union Stations construction the year before. With its red tile roof and stone facade, the resemblance is clear. When the Middens purchased the home in 1995, they were already living in Compton Heights. They were looking to move but wanted to stay in the neighborhood they so loved. We decided to approach the owners of our current home. Our son, Chris, was a friend of a girl who lived here. We approached her parents, and they agreed to sell the house, remembers Paul. While many of the homes original details were still present, including the hardwood floors, ornate molding in the foyer, stained glass windows and millwork in a variety of wood, the house had fallen into an overall state of disrepair. We were looking to redo a house and this one cried out for being redone, so we cried back, Paul says. It was a very unique house. The Middens moved into an apartment for a year while they restored the home to its original splendor. They replastered the entire house, refinished the hardwood floors, replaced decayed molding and updated all of its systems. Once the house was livable, they set to furnishing and decorating it. When we moved in, we realized that we didnt have nearly enough furniture to fill the house, Paul says. Fortunately, we had friends who were in the antique business. Between them and Selkirks Auction house, we were able over time to fill it reasonably well. The heart of the home is a majestic music room. Built for sound and custom-designed for music man Bollman, it was at the time of its construction the largest known music room outside of New York. Originally, the room also featured a 5,000 pipe organ, one of the largest in St. Louis. Eventually, the organ was removed and replaced by a charming Inglenook with a cozy stone fireplace flanked by built-in benches. The music rooms vaulted, cove ceiling makes for perfect acoustics. The Middens painted the names of classical composers in gold around its perimeter. On a railing that sits above the names, a model train on a track pays homage to the homes Union Station connection. The Middens love to entertain in the room hosting numerous parties throughout the years, and once even an intimate concert organized by a neighbor who played in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Outside the music room, a grand foyer features symmetric dual staircases with stained glass windows on their shared landing. Built in benches at the foot of each staircase add to its elegance. The foyer also leads to a light-filled formal parlor, and hunter green painted study with a striking mahogany-framed fireplace. Hanging above the mantle, a drawing of Union Station once again nods to the homes roots. The formal dining room, paneled in quarter-sawn oak, has hosted many a dinner party. In 2011, the Middens added a kidney-shaped swimming pool to the yard between the home and the detached carriage house. One of their favorite spots to relax is the original stone-covered side porch, where they love to enjoy a drink in the summer months. This house was built before air conditioning, so the way this porch was built, if theres a breeze, it will catch it Paul notes. While the Middens love their historic home, the time has come for them to move on they will soon downsize to a home in another historic neighborhood, Lafayette Square. Like the owners before them, they are selling the house to neighbors who are longtime admirers. John Mason and Rich Chapman have lived in a home they rehabbed in the neighborhood since 2003. As soon as we found this neighborhood, we noticed this house it caught our eye and we fell in love with it. Then we coveted it for 20 years, Chapman says of the Middens home. Over the years, Chapman and Mason teased Paul and Patty, asking them when they might sell them their house, and vice versa. Finally one day, Paul asked if we were serious, and we said absolutely. So we talked and made an agreement and were really excited, Chapman says. He and Mason plan to move sometime over the summer. In the meantime, their current home will also be featured on the house tour. Though the Middens will miss their neighborhood of 30 years, they know they are leaving the house in good hands, and can always visit. Chapman and Mason look forward to continuing the tradition of entertaining in the house, as well as relaxing and enjoying its beauty. We never get tired of being here, Mason says. I just love it so much. Paul and Patty Midden Ages Paul is 73, and Patty is 71. Occupations Paul is a psychologist, and Patty is a retired special education teacher. Home Historic Compton Heights neighborhood Family The Middens have two grown children. The Compton Heights House Tour What Tours of 12 homes in Compton Heights and Compton Hill. Included on this years tour is the Magic Chef Mansion, a 12,000-square-foot St. Louis landmark that its owner has spent 30 years painstakingly restoring to its former glory. When 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 13-14 Tickets Available at Eventbrite ($35 online, and $45 in person/day of the event. Ticket includes entrance to all 12 houses, a program and free shuttle service between homes. A biergarten at the Magic Chef Mansion offers light refreshments, beer, wine and soft drinks to participants. Whose woods these are I think I know. Robert Frost The road to Adjunct Hell is paved with high hopes. Ruth Marner wanted to be a writer, possibly a poet. She graduated from Parkway Central High School in 1982 and headed to Grinnell College in Iowa. She graduated with a degree in English. She went to the West Coast Seattle and bummed around a bit. After experiencing life, she returned to St. Louis and earned a masters degree in English at Washington University but did not finish the doctoral program. Instead, she enrolled in a creative writing program at Kansas State where she unknowingly peeked into her future. She taught a freshman class in composition. She enjoyed it. She urged the students to read Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes. Ruth did not complete the program at Kansas State. Does a writer really need the imprimatur of a writing program? She came back to St. Louis. She lived with her aging parents. She worked for the Gay News Telegraph, and she did some freelance work for this newspaper. The journalism gigs didnt pay much. To supplement her writing income, she became an adjunct professor. Adjuncts live on the underbelly of the higher education scene in America. They are non-tenured. They are paid often poorly per class. Ruths first gig was at the community college level. She taught four classes a semester and was paid $2,000 per class. Each class met two or three times a week. So she made $8,000 each semester. Sixteen grand for the year. She liked the work. It was in her field, after all. The problem with teaching composition is, you have to read a lot of compositions. If you do the job right, if you try to gently help people without the writing gene write, its time-consuming. Dont even think about how much youre making an hour. Ruth stuck with it for years. She taught at different schools. Sometimes she would teach at two different schools the same semester. One night at this place, and the next day somewhere else. It sounds more the life of a musician than a professor. But the gigs were steady. Somebody has to teach composition. Society has not yet reached the point of decline at which a college or university doesnt at least hope that its graduates are proficient in the written language. Eloquence is not required. An educated person should be able to write a three-sentence message on a Christmas card. So there was always work. For the past three years, Ruth has been teaching at one of the small liberal arts universities in the area. She taught three classes per semester and she was paid $3,000 per class. Her first couple of semesters were remote. Even when on-campus classes resumed, there wasnt much of a social aspect to the job. No informal gatherings within the English department where literature was discussed. It was business. Show up and teach. Ruth and I have communicated over time. Neither of us has asked the other for advice until about two weeks ago. Ruth wrote me that some of students had complained to the department head about her. She said the complaints, as relayed to her, were vague. She said she thought the students were unhappy that she had forced poetry on them. Its not part of the course. Also, she said she thought some students were unhappy about her grading. I already inflate grades, she wrote. It is the trend. But I cannot in good conscience give everyone an A. What would you advise? As regular readers know, I love to give advice. We should meet, I responded. We did. It was already too late. Ive been fired, she said. She showed me an email from the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. I have tried to call and tried to leave a message, but your mailbox is full. Therefore, I am using email to inform you that your services are no longer needed. Your contract will be paid out in full, but there is no need for you to return to campus. Your teaching obligations are waived. Thank you for your contributions here and good luck in future endeavors. Very professional, I thought, but it had a definite ring of finality. Her future endeavors would be some place else. What had happened? Ruth said the meeting with her department head had gone fine. Maybe not fine, but survivable. He was intentionally vague about the complaints in order to protect the identity of the complainers. He seemed sympathetic to Ruth, but also surprised that she was surprised. She said he asked, Havent you sensed any hostility? Of course she had. She is an adjunct professor who teaches composition. Plus, shes a member of the LGBT community for whom hostility is like background noise. There may be a ringleader, the department head suggested. The worst soldiers are the ones with imagination. Ruth wondered about the ringleader. She wondered if she were in danger. This is 2023. She did something rash. She sent an email to her students asking anybody with problems about her to please contact her directly. Perhaps that went against the spirit of her discussion with the department head. Maybe the students felt betrayed. At any rate, her email seems to have been the final straw. Ruth is 59 and fit and smart. She said she might look for work as a lifeguard this summer. I must have given her a quizzical look because she quickly said, You dont have to be a teenager to be a lifeguard. I asked her what poems she had pushed on to her students. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owens. The Bean Eaters by Gwendolyn Brooks. Aunt Jennifers Tigers by Adrienne Rich. None of them is long. All of them are accessible and thoughtful. Perhaps Ruth can regroup and find a new adjunct position this fall. Or maybe its time to move on and find something new. Its too late to become a nurse, but maybe she could find something else in the health care field. Thats a booming industry. Also, people have to eat. The grocery stores seem always to be hiring and while that involves being on your feet all day, the pay is pretty good and you have a union behind you. Certainly, somebody like Ruth can find something. Maybe Ill finally write a book, she said. She said her working title would be Adjunct Hell. I liked the idea. Highly educated people living on the edge. Under-appreciated cogs in the great wheel of education. It will officially be a work of fiction and will not cast shade on any particular institution, but the heroine, I suspect, will have a passion for poetry. NORWOOD COURT LaTonya Brown knew the issues in her relationship could turn violent. One day last month, the 21-year-old mother texted a friend. She had told her boyfriend she was moving out. I honestly dont feel safe anymore, she wrote to India Henry. Too many of my family members have died from domestic violence and Ill be damned if I be next. But the couple did not break up that day her friends and family said they arent sure why. Just over a week later, police said, boyfriend Justin Taylor shot and killed Brown before turning the gun on himself in his St. Louis County apartment. Brown was one of two St. Louis County women killed in recent days in apparent murder-suicides. Police said Cheryl Washington, 60, was shot and killed on Monday by 61-year-old Dana Haney, who then killed himself. County police investigated five murder-suicides last year. In both cases this year, its not clear exactly what led to the deaths. But experts caution that it is extraordinarily hard for women to leave abusive partners. It takes, on average, five to seven attempts before they leave for good, said Emma Bell, hotline coordinator for the Womens Safe House in St. Louis. Some fear retaliation. Others cant find housing. Many remain emotionally attached. On Thursday night, dozens gathered at an apartment complex in this small north St. Louis County village to celebrate Browns life. Her fraternal twin sister, Joelanda Brown, said Brown was smart as hell, funny, friendly and caring. A cousin described her as sugar, spice and everything nice. She was a hard worker, they said, who held down a job as a manager at Dominos while raising her young son. Her family and friends also spoke about her relationship with Taylor. Brown, a St. Louis native, was a quiet child who was close with her grandmother, Salonia Black. Her grandmother told the Post-Dispatch her granddaughter mostly kept to herself and didnt really drink or do drugs. She had a beautiful personality, Black said. She was a good mother. Her family said Brown had been dating Taylor for about six months. Henry thought the two met on Facebook. And, for awhile, they seemed like a normal, happy couple who had an occasional argument. But her twin sister always felt uneasy about Taylor and their relationship. I kept saying there was something about him, Joelanda Brown said. Browns mother, Latonya Black-Brown, thought Taylor seemed like a nice, quiet, polite young man who said he was searching for a job to help support Brown and her 3-year-old son, Makai Brown. But Henry said red flags began to pop up as her friend confided in her about their relationship. Her grandmother and mother said they last saw Brown on Friday, April 28. The three women spent the morning running errands and relaxing Browns hair. Brown usually worked at Dominos until 2 a.m. on Saturdays, so Makai would stay overnight with Black-Brown. When Saturday morning rolled around and Brown wasnt answering her moms calls, Black-Brown said she tried not to worry. But, deep down, she felt like something wasnt right. Around 7:30 p.m. that Saturday, she took Makai and went to Taylors apartment, where Brown often stayed. They knocked on the apartment door for some time. No one answered. At this point, Im like, Something aint right, Black-Brown said. Sunday morning came. I had the worst feeling in the world. I didnt go to church. She called St. Louis County police that morning and asked an officer to meet her at the apartment, in the 5300 block of Gladstone Place, in unincorporated St. Louis County near Norwood Court, for a welfare check. After several family members struggled with the door, they were able to bust it open. The officer went in alone and found the couples bodies. Investigators believe Taylor shot Brown, then himself, according to a preliminary investigation by St. Louis County police. Neighbors in the apartment complex heard shots fired around 5 a.m. Saturday, Browns family said. Just 30 minutes prior, Brown had texted her best friend, Henry, for the last time. Browns service will be held May 12 in Bellefontaine Neighbors. In hindsight, Browns text to Henry in mid-April was an ominous sign. Taylor had hit her the day before. I told him, If you would do what you did to me yesterday with no problem then you have no problem with hitting me, Brown wrote to Henry. If you have no problem hitting me, then you dont have a problem with beating me. And if you dont have a problem with beating me, then you dont have a problem with killing me. Those who are experiencing domestic violence and need help can call Safe Connections 24-Hour crisis helpline at 314-531-2003 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233. Updated at 8:16 p.m. with news of an unrelated, nonfatal shooting on Cherokee Street. ST. LOUIS Two men were shot and killed at a bar on Cherokee Street Friday night just as weekend Cinco de Mayo celebrations were beginning in the popular business district known for its Mexican restaurants. The shooting occurred at the Exotic Bar and Grill at 2837 Cherokee Street. The bar had been advertising a Cinco de Mayo party on its Facebook page. Police said they arrived at 10 p.m. and found a 34-year-old man with gunshot wounds to his thigh and elbow. Officers applied a tourniquet and he was taken to the hospital, where he was in serious but stable condition. People told police that two other shooting victims had already been taken to the hospital. Both men, one in his 20s and one in his 40s, were later pronounced dead at the hospital. A 24-year-old woman who told police she was in the area of Cherokee street was also grazed by a gunshot in the foot. Police said Saturday they had no suspects and were still piecing together what led up to the shooting. Exotic Bar opened in the summer of 2021. In January, the business said on their Facebook page it would stop allowing anyone under 24 years old into the bar to order food or drinks. In a separate incident, two people were shot and injured Saturday during the Cherokee Street Cinco De Mayo festival. Police said the shooting happened around 7:30 p.m. in the 2700 block of Cherokee Street. Police said a woman was shot in the leg and a man was grazed in the thigh. Both were conscious and breathing. BRUKINSA is approved for first-line treatment for CLL/SLL and WM in China and has multiple approved indications in more than 65 markets worldwide BASEL, Switzerland & BEIJING & CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 06, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BeiGene (NASDAQ: BGNE; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global biotechnology company, today announced the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved four applications for BRUKINSA (zanubrutinib), the companys Brutons tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi), including two Supplemental New Drug Applications for treatment-naive adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) and Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM), and two Supplemental Applications for conversions from conditional approval to regular approval. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230506005006/en/ BeiGene BeiGene Receives New Approvals for BRUKINSA (zanubrutinib) in China (Photo: Business Wire) "These approvals further support BRUKINSA as the BTKi of choice in China for the treatment of B-cell malignancies such as CLL and WM," said Lai Wang, Ph.D., Global Head of R&D at BeiGene. "We look forward to bringing people living with CLL and WM a new first-line treatment option as we work to support the Healthy China initiative and reduce global health inequity." BRUKINSA previously received conditional approvals from NMPA for the treatment of adult patients with CLL/SLL and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one prior therapy (R/R CLL/SLL and R/R MCL) in June 2020, and conditional approval for the treatment of adult patients with WM who have received at least one prior therapy (R/R WM) in June 2021. NMPA converted these conditional approvals to regular approvals for R/R CLL/SLL and R/R WM in April 2023. "CLL/SLL and WM patients are predominantly populated in the elderly, and there are increasing needs for improved efficacy and safety in CLL/SLL and WM treatments," said Professor Ma Jun, Director of the Harbin Institute of Hematology & Oncology, Chief Supervisor of Supervisory Committee at the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology. "BRUKINSA has been recommended as the preferred regimen of multiple subtypes of lymphoma in both national and international guidelinesi,ii,iii,iv,v. With these important approvals, BRUKINSA now becomes the only approved new-generation BTK inhibitor in China for the first-line treatment of adult CLL/SLL and WM patients, bringing healthcare providers in China with a new standard of care for their patients." Story continues The new approvals of BRUKINSA for CLL/SLL are supported by data from SEQUOIA (NCT03336333), in patients with previously untreated CLL/SLL. The new approvals of BRUKINSA for WM are based on data from ASPEN (NCT03053440), the first and only global Phase 3 head-to-head clinical trial of BTK inhibitors in WM. About Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) / Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma (SLL) A slow-growing, life-threatening and incurable cancer of adults, CLL is a type of mature B-cell malignancy in which abnormal leukemic B lymphocytes (a type of white blood cells) arise from the bone marrow and flood peripheral blood, bone marrow, and lymphoid tissuesvi,vii ,viii. CLL is one of the most common types of leukemia, accounting for about one-quarter of new cases of leukemiaix. CLL and SLL are considered different manifestations of the same disease. Approximately 180 of every 100,000 people in China have CLL/SLL, accounting for 1% to 3% of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma casesx. About Waldenstroms Macroglobulinemia (WM) WM is a rare, slow-growing lymphoma that occurs in less than two percent of patients with non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL)xi. The disease usually affects older adults and is primarily found in the bone marrow, although it may also impact lymph nodes and the spleenxii. In China, there are an estimated 88,200 patients diagnosed with lymphoma each year. Approximately 91% of these cases are classified as NHL, amounting to ~1,000 newly diagnosed WM patients per year in Chinaxiii, viii. About BRUKINSA (zanubrutinib) BRUKINSA is a small molecule inhibitor of Brutons tyrosine kinase (BTK) discovered by BeiGene scientists that is currently being evaluated globally in a broad clinical program as a monotherapy and in combination with other therapies to treat various B-cell malignancies. Because new BTK is continuously synthesized, BRUKINSA was specifically designed to deliver complete and sustained inhibition of the BTK protein by optimizing bioavailability, half-life, and selectivity. With differentiated pharmacokinetics compared to other approved BTK inhibitors, BRUKINSA has been demonstrated to inhibit the proliferation of malignant B cells within a number of disease relevant tissues. About BeiGene BeiGene is a global biotechnology company that is discovering and developing innovative oncology treatments that are more affordable and accessible to cancer patients worldwide. With a broad portfolio, we are expediting development of our diverse pipeline of novel therapeutics through our internal capabilities and collaborations. We are committed to radically improving access to medicines for far more patients who need them. Our growing global team of more than 9,400 colleagues spans five continents, with administrative offices in Basel; Beijing; and Cambridge, U.S. To learn more about BeiGene, please visit www.beigene.com and follow us on Twitter at @BeiGeneGlobal. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws, including statements regarding the potential for BRUKINSA to become the BTKi of choice in China for patients with CLL or WM, and the benefits of such treatment for those patients; BeiGenes efforts to make BRUKINSA more broadly available to patients in China and to reduce global health inequities;the future development and regulatory filing and approval of BRUKINSA in other markets; and BeiGenes plans, commitments, aspirations, and goals under the heading "About BeiGene." Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including BeiGene's ability to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of its drug candidates; the clinical results for its drug candidates, which may not support further development or marketing approval; actions of regulatory agencies, which may affect the initiation, timing, and progress of clinical trials and marketing approval; BeiGene's ability to achieve commercial success for its marketed medicines and drug candidates, if approved; BeiGene's ability to obtain and maintain protection of intellectual property for its medicines and technology; BeiGene's reliance on third parties to conduct drug development, manufacturing, and other services; BeiGenes limited experience in obtaining regulatory approvals and commercializing pharmaceutical products and its ability to obtain additional funding for operations and to complete the development and commercialization of its drug candidates and achieve and maintain profitability; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on BeiGenes clinical development, regulatory, commercial, manufacturing, and other operations, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in BeiGenes most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in BeiGene's subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and BeiGene undertakes no duty to update such information unless required by law. References i NCCN Guidelines. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/ Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma. V2.2023. ii NCCN Guidelines. B-Cell Lymphomas.V2.2023. iii NCCN Guidelines. Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia / Lymphoplasmacytic Lymphoma.V1.2023. iv CSCO 2023. v CSCO 2023 vi National Cancer Institute. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. Cancer Stat Facts: Leukemia Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). Accessed October 4,2021. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/clyl.html vii Aster JC, Freedman A. Non-Hodgkin lymphomas and chronic lymphocytic leukemias. In: Aster JC, Bunn HF (eds.). Pathophysiology of Blood Disorders. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill Education; 2017:chap 22. viii American Cancer Society. What is chronic lymphocytic leukemia? Updated May 10, 2018. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia/about/what-is-cll.html ix Yao Y, Lin X, Li F, Jin J, Wang H. The global burden and attributable risk factors of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019: analysis based on the global burden of disease study 2019. Biomed Eng Online. 2022 Jan 11;21(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s12938-021-00973-6. PMID: 35016695; PMCID: PMC8753864. xhttps://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzA4ODQxMjgzNw==&mid=2654028680&idx=1&sn=af420ac7e860be0b26463c2e71c6e3f4&chksm=8bef6442bc98ed5477c5b17bb4973baa552611206f55c8c4b11ba9e7d7f032389914c3dcb45a&scene=27 xi Tam, et al. A randomized phase 3 trial of zanubrutinib vs ibrutinib in symptomatic Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia: the ASPEN study. Blood. October 2020. 136(18): 2038-2050. xii Lymphoma Research Foundation. Available at https://lymphoma.org/aboutlymphoma/nhl/wm/. Accessed December 2020. xiii Chen, et al. Cancer statistics in China, 2015 [J]. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 2016, 66(2):115-132. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230506005006/en/ Contacts Investor Contact: ir@beigene.com Gabrielle Zhou +86 10 5895 8058 Kevin Mannix +1 240-410-0129 Media Contact: media@beigene.com Edith Tan +86 10 6844 5311 Kathleen Cuca + 1 551-222-6790 "Ms. Bounds was a beacon of light that shined extremely bright for those who were blessed to know her," said Culver. "Our fervent prayers are with Ms. Bounds family, friends, students and colleagues." Culver also added the district would make crisis support teams available for faculty, staff and students. NEW YORK Fox News on Friday asked lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems to investigate whether they leaked controversial internal messages from ousted Fox host Tucker Carlson that were provided in evidence for their recent defamation lawsuit. The requests, which were made in letters released by Fox, came after multiple news outlets published racist and sexist remarks by Carlson contained in leaked internal messages and recordings. Fox News and its parent company Fox Corp. said those were given to Dominion as part of the lawsuit, which claimed Fox defamed Dominion by airing false election-rigging claims. The material was to remain confidential per court orders and the terms of the networks $787.5 million settlement with the Denver-based voting technology company last month. Fox requested that Dominions lawyers at Farnan LLP immediately make an investigation into the circumstances surrounding this inexcusable release of confidential discovery material and report the findings by the end of Monday. Dominion denied the materials came from the company or any of its lawyers. Nobody associated with Dominion shared these confidential materials with the press, the company said. In a separate letter to Dominion lawyers at Susman Godfrey LLP and Clare Locke LLP, Fox said the disclosures violate the text and spirit of the settlement agreement, which requires return or destruction of all confidential discovery materials. Fox is seeking to contain the public relations fallout from the leaks. The network on Friday sent a letter to the left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters demanding that it cease publishing leaked footage of Carlson on set. Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said in a statement that reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism and that it was absurd for Fox to argue otherwise. Dominion alleged in its lawsuit that Fox knowingly spread false claims that its ballot-counting machines were used to rig the 2020 U.S. election against former Republican President Donald Trump and in favor of Joe Biden, a Democrat. Fox denied the claims but settled the case in Delaware Superior Court. The deal came just before opening statements were set to begin in what promised to be the most closely watched media trial in decades, featuring testimony from Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch. Carlson, a staple of primetime cable news and Foxs biggest star, was abruptly fired just days later. Media outlets including the New York Times reported that the decision came after Foxs board saw Carlsons internal messages. The Times reported on Tuesday that Fox was particularly concerned by a Carlson message which was redacted in public versions of court filings in which he criticized Trump supporters for beating up an outnumbered leftist demonstrator because that was not how white men fight. The Daily Beast reported on Friday on a text message in which Carlson used a misogynistic slur, the second publicly reported instance of him doing so. Additional reporting by Helen Coster. WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, an ally of Donald Trump, bought as much as $50,000 worth of shares in the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that has agreed to merge with the former presidents new social media venture. Greene bought shares worth between $15,001 and $50,000 on Oct. 22, the day they rose in value by as much as 1,650% from what they were worth before the deal, as amateur traders and Trump supporters snapped them up, according to a regulatory filing published on Wednesday. The shares of the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp., have given up most of their gains since Greene invested on Friday. Greenes representatives did not respond to a request for comment on how her investment has fared so far. There is no suggestion that Greene broke any rules with her investment. Members of Congress are allowed to trade shares as long as they are not using non-public information. A firebrand Republican, Greene has often been criticized for provocative comments and Twitter Inc. has on occasions blocked her social media account. In June, the 47-year-old congresswoman from Georgia publicly apologized for comparing COVID-19 mask requirements and vaccinations to the Nazi Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews. Digital World shares were up 73% on Thursday afternoon since the deal announcement, giving Trumps company, Trump Media & Technology Group, a valuation of about $6.3 billion. The companys social media app has not yet launched even on a trial basis, yet it has big ambitions given Trumps previous social media following. He had 89 million followers on Twitter, 33 million on Facebook and 24.5 million on Instagram, before he was banned for encouraging his supporters to participate in the U.S. Capital attack on Jan. 6. Trump and other Trump Media & Technology Group shareholders will initially own 69% of the combined company after the merger with the SPAC, a regulatory filing showed this week. Their ownership could reach 77% if the companys stock meets certain price milestones. Had Mylissa Farmer died and she very well could have her blood would have been on the hands of the Missouri General Assembly. The Joplin woman was 17 weeks pregnant last year when her water broke, ending any chance she could carry the fetus to term and creating the real possibility that life-threatening complications would soon develop if the pregnancy wasnt terminated. But there was some question about whether her condition in that moment met the vague criterion for a legal abortion in Missouri: medical emergency. So doctors here refused to help her, as did those in neighboring Kansas, forcing her finally to make the much longer journey to Illinois for the procedure. The delay unquestionably endangered her health and possibly her life. Now, a first-of-its-kind federal investigation of Farmers case has concluded that the two hospitals in Missouri and Kansas violated federal laws that require doctors to take immediate action to protect the health of pregnant women in distress. Essentially, their violation was adhering to state statutes that intrinsically endanger womens health. This is the dilemma that red states like Missouri have created in their zeal to control what happens in womens bodies and in their doctors offices. Missouris abortion ban, enacted literally minutes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, is as strict as any in the nation. It prohibits all abortions from the moment of conception, even for rape or incest victims, except in cases of medical emergency. And what does medical emergency mean, exactly? According to the law, its a condition which, based on reasonable medical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert the death of the pregnant woman or for which a delay will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman. Defenders of the law would no doubt argue that that definition was enough to allow Missouri doctors to legally terminate Farmers doomed pregnancy. The doctors clearly thought otherwise. That hesitancy is understandable. Doctors can face 15 years in prison if they perform an abortion later deemed to be illegal. How sure would they have to be, in the midst of an immediate medical decision, that they could later convince a jury that a delay would have caused serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function? Suppose some zealous prosecutor argues it was only a moderate risk? Or that any impairment might have been reversible? Or that only minor bodily functions might have been affected? Statutory wording like that, pliable as noodles, requires trust that Missouris political system will endorse good-faith restraint on how its abortion ban is applied. Have you met Missouris political system? Its dominated by forced-birth zealots whose proposals have included tracking Missouri women when they leave the state to ensure they dont obtain abortions in jurisdictions where its legal, and suggestions that maybe abortion should be a death-penalty offense. In this surreal political environment, any doctor would be wise to err on the side of legal (as opposed to medical) caution. No wonder Farmers doctors told her, essentially, that shed have to wait until her health became more imperiled an inevitability in her case before they could provide the only possible treatment. If that sounds like a potential violation of doctors duty not to harm patients, they might have a reasonable defense in that the state of Missouri legally mandates risk of harm to women. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services conclusion that the two hospitals broke federal law by denying Farmer a medically necessary abortion draws what could become the next battle line in the abortion wars: federal requirements that doctors prioritize the safety of women in pregnancy-related medical decisions, versus state laws that undermine that safety. Federal law supersedes state law when theyre in conflict. Constitutionally, this isnt debatable. Yet Missouris Republican-led Legislature has already asserted the right to unilaterally nullify federal gun laws within the state. The courts will ultimately end their little Fort Sumter schtick, but its instructive: These folks are willing to scuttle the principles of constitutional federalism when it comes to signaling their extremism on guns. And their extremism on abortion is at least as fervent. The only reason we know of Mylissa Farmers story is because she chose to publicize it. There are, undoubtedly, others out there who have faced the same health dangers at the hands of Missouris extremists. Some will inevitably die, if it hasnt happened already. These are your state tax dollars at work. Kevin McDermott is a Post-Dispatch columnist and Editorial Board member. On Twitter: @kevinmcdermott. Email: kmcdermott@post-dispatch.com DUBAI, UAE, May 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FinXCoin Project, initiated by Transborder Logistics, has announced its plans to provide Web3 solutions for supply chain and various industries using blockchain technology. The blockchain-based Web3 solution, has received high praise from industry experts for its innovative approach to revolutionizing traditional business processes. The FinXCoin team has devised a distinctive strategy to build its Web3 solutions, collaborating with accomplished professionals and firms from each sector. This collaborative approach empowers the team to identify the specific pain points of each industry and customize solutions that address them with utmost efficacy and efficiency. By closely working with these experts, FinXCoin demonstrates its unwavering dedication to innovation and agility in adapting to the evolving needs of its clients. Leveraging their experience of more than eight years in freight management, FinXCoin is creating applications that overcome all the prevalent issues in the current scenario. Their areas of focus include Management: Capacity planning, Quality control, Cost management and reduction, Risk Management, Sustainability, Compliances Data: Data management, Inventory Management, Demand Forecasting, Technology Integration Communication: Collaboration, Cultural Differences, Communication Gap, Transportation, Supplier Relationship Management Enhancements: Lead Time, Capacity Constraints, Order Fulfillment, Reverse Logistics, Ethical Sourcing The company is collaborating with healthcare and educational institutions to develop Web3-enabled solutions to impact these sectors positively. Aamir Khan, the CEO, and Co-Founder of the FinXCoin Project, expressed his excitement at the project's presale launch, offering investors a chance to participate in the project at a 25% reduced rate. He also thanked the community for its support and interest in the project. With over 25 global partnerships, FinXCoin has expanded its reach and expertise, creating a network of collaborators that helps the company understand the platform better and collaborate with other industry leaders, exchange ideas, and share resources, all aimed at providing the best possible service to their clients. The company official, Natali Nadoevi explained that this growing network is key to expanding revenue streams, which include transaction fees over each platform in the FinXCoin Ecosystem, subscriptions, premium feature sales, and a growing number of FinXCoin token adoptions. Each new partnership acquisition exponentially increases the number of users. With its versatility and unwavering commitment to innovation, FinXCoin is set to become a trailblazer in the Web3 space. Investors are urged to refer to the whitepaper and roadmap on the FinXCoin website to understand better the project's vision, goals, and technical specifications for its blockchain-based solutions. The FinXCoin token price is estimated to grow from $0.20 to $5.00, making it a potentially profitable investment opportunity. Social Links Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fixcoin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/finxbit/ LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fixcoin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/finxbit Discord: https://discord.gg/vDnMKUuG Telegram Channel: https://t.me/finxbitoken Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/fixcoin-revolution YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCerCM4WUWDrqYk9pwIwtxGg Media Contacts Brand: FinXCoin Contact: Aamir Khan E-mail: [email protected] Website: https://www.finxbit.com SOURCE: FinXCoin Source: FinXCoin TORONTO, May 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sprott Inc. (Sprott) (NYSE/TSX: SII) announced today the results of its Annual and Special Meeting of shareholders held on May 5, 2023 (the Meeting). Sprott is pleased to announce that all resolutions put forward in the Management Information Circular dated March 21, 2023 (the Circular) to its shareholders were approved. Results of the matters voted on at the Meeting are set out below. Election of Directors Sprotts six (6) director nominees were elected: Nominee Votes For (percent) Votes Withheld (percent) Ronald Dewhurst 98.427% 1.573% Graham Birch 93.087% 6.913% Whitney George 99.008% 0.992% Barbara Connolly Keady 93.704% 6.296% Judith OConnell 94.289% 5.711% Catherine Raw 98.677% 1.323% Appointment of Auditors KPMG LLP, Chartered Accountants, was re-appointed as auditor of Sprott and the board of directors of Sprott was authorized to fix the auditors remuneration and terms of engagement. Votes For (percent): 99.630% Votes Withheld (percent): 0.370% Unallocated Awards Under the Employee Profit Sharing Plan for Non-U.S. Employees The unallocated awards under the employee profit sharing plan for non-U.S. employees as more particularly described in the Circular were approved. Votes For (percent): 58.197% Votes Against (percent): 41.803% Unallocated Awards Under the Equity Incentive Plan for U.S. Service Providers The unallocated awards under the equity incentive plan for U.S. service providers as more particularly described in the Circular were approved. Votes For (percent): 72.794% Votes Against (percent): 27.206% For further details on each of the above matters, please refer to the Circular available under Sprotts profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com. Final voting results on all matters voted on at the Meeting will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. About Sprott Sprott is a global leader in precious metal and energy transition investments. We are specialists. Our in-depth knowledge, experience and relationships separate us from the generalists. Our investment strategies include Exchange Listed Products, Managed Equities and Private Strategies. Sprott has offices in Toronto, New York and Connecticut and the companys common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol (SII). For more information, please visit www.sprott.com. Investor contact information: Glen WilliamsManaging PartnerInvestor and Institutional Client Relations;Head of Corporate Communications(416) 943-4394[email protected] Source: Sprott Inc. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 5, 2023) - Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc. (CSE: VEGI) (OTCQB: VGGIF) (FSE: 77i) ("Boosh" or the "Company") a premier plant-based brand in the "better for you" food sector announced today that it had entered into, and that it had finalized a secondary set of debt settlement agreements with the purpose to both satisfy and to extinguish an aggregate total of C$722,710 of secured debts. A combined total of 16,060,207 common shares were issued at a deemed price of C$0.045 per common share. The Company decided to satisfy the indebtedness with common shares to preserve its cash for the development of its business. No new control person of the Company will be created pursuant to the settlement of the debt settlement agreements. Connie Marples Founder/CEO [email protected] Telephone: 778 840 1700 www.Booshfood.com About Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc.: Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary, Boosh Food (www.booshfood.com) offers high quality, non-GMO, gluten free, 100% plant-based nutritional comfort foods for the whole family. Through a separate subsidiary, Beautiful Beanfields, (www.beanfields.com) the Company owns Beanfields, a plant-based chip brand sold in over 7,000 stores throughout North America. Boosh, good for you and good for planet earth. The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements. These 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. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, the Company's expectations concerning the size of the Financing, its ability to close the Financing in whole or in part or at all and its plan for the proceeds of the Financing. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company 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, the Company 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 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. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165079 North Charleston, South Carolina--(Newsfile Corp. - May 6, 2023) - Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) today celebrated with Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United States, during an event at Boeing South Carolina to mark the order of up to 49 787 Dreamliners. Figure 1 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9108/165059_915a9869e42be9c3_001full.jpg Princess Reema was joined at the event by Captain Ibrahim Koshy, SAUDIA CEO; Dave Calhoun, President and CEO of The Boeing Company; Stan Deal, President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; and, Tony Douglas, CEO of Riyadh Air. Speaking on the event, Captain Ibrahim Koshy, SAUDIA CEO commented: "Today's event is in recognition of the strong and enduring ties that bind Saudi Arabia and the U.S. a relationship that has been forged over many years and across the generations. We are dedicated to working with our long-standing partners, Boeing, to realise our vision to advance the region's aviation sector with sustainability at its core. Our recent order of up to 49 fuel-efficient Dreamliners is also testament to our unwavering commitment to further grow our network in support of Saudi Arabia's ambitious plans to transform the Kingdom into a world-class tourism destination." Figure 2 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9108/165059_figure2.jpg -Ends- About Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA): Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) is the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Established in 1945, the company is one of the Middle East's largest airlines. SAUDIA is a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO). It has been one of the 19 member airlines of the SkyTeam alliance since 2012. SAUDIA has received many prestigious industry awards and recognitions. Most recently, it was ranked a Global Five-Star Major Airline by the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX), and the carrier was awarded the Diamond status by APEX Health Safety. For further information on Saudi Arabian Airlines, please visit www.saudia.com. Media Office: Saudi Arabian Airlines Headquarters Jeddah 21231, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Email: [email protected] To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165059 Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation. Dr. Barbara Wright's DIY grant writing digital workbooks offer tailored guidance for 25 grant program priorities for nonprofit leaders & fund developers. Dr. Barbara Wright, the innovative woman behind the revolutionary grant writing support apps, has launched a new series of 'Instant Download' Grant Writing Readiness workbooks. These workbooks are designed to help your organization get ready to raise thousands to millions in grants by providing the tools, tips, and techniques for writing grants for various programs, from visual and performing arts to human trafficking prevention and affordable housing. Each of the 25 distinct workbooks provides comprehensive guidance and support for grant writing, tailored specifically to the needs of the program in question. By using Dr. Wright's grant writing readiness workbooks, organizations can save time and money while still developing compelling grant proposals that are more likely to secure funding or preparing the information needed for the right grant writing professional. "We are thrilled to be launching these new grant writing readiness workbooks, which are the perfect complement to our existing grant writing template development apps," said Dr. Wright. "Our goal is to make access to grant opportunities more accessible to small and underserved organizations. These workbooks are a great way to empower organizations to understand the grant writing process and develop proposals that reflect the alignment of their mission and goals to the funders request." The grant writing readiness workbooks cover various programs, including domestic violence, veterans, workforce development, equity and inclusion, community planning and development, and many more. Each workbook is affordable, making it a cost-effective solution for organizations of all sizes. These grant writing readiness workbooks are a game-changer for organizations seeking funding, providing tailored guidance and empowering them to feel more confident in participating in grant writing competitions. "We have already received incredible feedback from organizations who have used our grant writing readiness workbooks to develop successful grant proposals," said Dr. Wright. "Our approach is unique in that we provide customized guidance that considers the specific needs and goals of each program. This allows organizations to develop proposals that are not only compelling but also authentic and meaningful." Certified Dream Builder, Inc., Dr. Wright's company, is dedicated to making funding and technology accessible to small to medium non-profits, startups, and scaling businesses focusing on women, minorities, and rural underserved organizations. The launch of these new grant writing readiness workbooks is a testament to the company's commitment to innovation and its mission to positively impact people's lives. Users can visit Certified Dream Builder, Inc.'s website to purchase Dr. Barbara Wright's grant writing readiness workbooks and empower their organization to take control of the grant-writing process. About the Company: Certified Dream Builder, Inc. is committed to making funding and technology accessible to small and medium nonprofits, startups, and scaling businesses focusing on women, minorities, and rural underserved organizations. The company has previously launched two revolutionary grant-writing support apps and is now adding 25 distinct Instant Download Grant Writing Workbooks to its portfolio. Contact Info: Name: Dr. Barbara Wright Email: Send Email Organization: Certified Dream Builder, Inc. Website: https://www.certifieddreambuilder.com Release ID: 89096894 If you detect any issues, problems, or errors in this press release content, kindly contact [email protected] to notify us. We will respond and rectify the situation in the next 8 hours. Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation. EPIC Clinics Pompano Beach, FL (754) 432-3653 - now open and serving Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Coral Springs. Their advanced EPIC sound wave technology offers no neck twisting, cracking, or guessing for migraines, sleep apnea, back pain, neck pain, sciatica, and disc problems. EPIC Clinics Pompano Beach https://epicclinics.com/locations/pompano-beach/, is proud to announce the opening of its new center in Pompano Beach, Florida, where patients can receive advanced chiropractic treatment for various conditions, including migraines, headaches, TMJ, back pain, neck pain, sciatica, and disc problems. The clinic, conveniently located near Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Coral Springs, offers customized care that utilizes EPIC's Evolutionary Percussive Instrument Corrections (EPIC) technology. This advanced method employs a percussive sound wave treatment, with coordinates gained from spinal engineering software accurate down to the 1/00th of a degree. This procedure helps correct the root cause of dysfunction, delivering measurable and dependable results. There are more videos on their channel at https://www.youtube.com/@EPICPompanoBeach/about The clinic's team of specialists, led by Dr. Daniel Hulsey (Dan) and Dr. Samantha Carney (Sam), offers personalized care that addresses the unique needs of each patient. Dan, a former U.S. Army Infantry Reconnaissance Sniper, knows firsthand the value of precision and chiropractic care. He discovered the importance of customization and specificity in analysis and correction after seeking treatment for injuries sustained during his deployment in Afghanistan. Sam, a graduate of Miami University, experienced chronic headaches before discovering chiropractic care. After receiving traditional chiropractic treatment without relief, she found a solution with EPIC's method and pursued further studies in chiropractic neurology. At EPIC Clinics, chiropractic patients can expect a crack-free, pain-free, low force, and gentle approach to treating the body, with no touch or twisting involved. The clinic specializes in treating various conditions, such as backache, low back pain (lumbago), middle back pain (thoracic), strained back, put my back out, cervicalgia, atlas upper cervical, neck strain, stiff neck, torticollis, wry neck, pinched nerve, Sciatic neuritis, piriformis syndrome, Lumbar radiculopathy, slipped, bulging, ruptured, prolapsed discs, and spinal decompression. Dr Sam says, "One of the most common things we hear from patients is, 'I put my back out.' It's a phrase that's used to describe sudden pain or discomfort that can leave them feeling helpless. That's where EPIC comes in - we use non-invasive, gentle techniques to help them feel relief and get back to their lives." Dr Dan adds, "Patients often come to us complaining of back pain, and they'll say things like, 'I've got a strained back', 'My middle back is killing me', or 'I have a pinched nerve.' We understand how debilitating this can be, and that's why we use advanced imaging and patented adjusting technology to provide personalized care that delivers predictable and measurable results." EPIC Clinics is committed to providing accessible care to patients, with evening hours and open weekends available. The clinic also welcomes emergency cases and provides patients with a comfortable and modern office setting. The clinic's reviews and testimonials attest to its high level of care and dedication to patients' well-being. With the opening of the new location in Pompano Beach, EPIC Clinics continues to expand its mission to provide customized and life-changing care to patients, utilizing the most advanced and innovative chiropractic techniques available. Patients looking for a chiropractor near me can trust EPIC Clinics to provide the best care possible. EPIC Clinics Pompano Beach, FL also serves Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, and surrounding areas. About Us: EPIC Clinics, led by Dr. Daniel Hulsey and Dr. Samantha Carney, offers advanced chiropractic care utilizing patented Evolutionary Percussive Instrument Corrections (EPIC) technology. The clinic provides personalized, pain-free treatment for various conditions, with a commitment to accessibility and patient well-being. EPIC Clinics is dedicated to changing lives through innovative chiropractic techniques. Contact Info: Name: Dr. Daniel Hulsey, Dr. Samantha Carney Email: Send Email Organization: EPIC Clinics Pompano Beach Address: 41 N Federal Hwy Suite D, Pompano Beach, FL 33062, United States Phone: (754) 432-3653 Website: https://epicclinics.com/locations/pompano-beach/ Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/@EPICPompanoBeach Release ID: 89096858 If you detect any issues, problems, or errors in this press release content, kindly contact [email protected] to notify us. We will respond and rectify the situation in the next 8 hours. (Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. wont make an offer for full control of Occidental Petroleum Corp., Warren Buffett said Saturday, tempering speculation he was seeking to own the energy producer after spending months snapping up its shares. Most Read from Bloomberg Berkshire didnt rule out buying more stock of the Houston-based firm, adding it may or may not seek further purchases. The Berkshire chief executive officer also praised its CEO, Vicki Hollub, at Berkshires annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Berkshire is Occidentals largest shareholder, owning a 23.6% stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Berkshire has boosted its wagers on the company under Hollub, who has made aggressive moves to boost returns to shareholders by reining in capital-intensive production growth in favor of dividends and share buybacks for investors. Berkshire won approval from US regulators last year to acquire as much as 50% of the firm, prompting further speculation Berkshire would seek full control. In 2019, Buffett aided Hollubs pursuit of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. by agreeing to invest $10 billion in Occidental, a pact that included both preferred shares and warrants. Those warrants allow Berkshire to buy as many as 83.86 million shares in Occidental at a price of $59.62. Buffett has frequently praised Hollubs leadership, a sign he was all-in on the firm. Occidentals share price is down about 3.7% year to date. (Updates with more detail from first paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. HANGZHOU, China , May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, the 48th Geneva International Invention Exhibition was held at the Palexpo Exhibition Center in Geneva, Switzerland , with over 800 exhibitors from 40 countries displaying more than 1,000 innovative projects. During the exhibition, 165 inventions from Chinese teams attracted attention, and among them, a pair of AR smart glasses from Rokid, a Hangzhou -based technology company, stood out from the competition and won a gold medal. This product is the world's first integrated 5G industrial AR smart glasses called X-Craft. X-Craft is the world's first explosion-proof AR smart head-mounted device equipped with a 5G module. As an industrial-grade product, X-Craft is designed with features such as intrinsically safe zone explosion protection, IP66 dustproof, and waterproof, making it suitable for use in hazardous environments where safety helmets and explosion protection are required. In terms of optical technology, X-Craft uses dual diffractive waveguides and DLP light engines with a light transmission rate of over 80%, a maximum brightness of 1600 nits, and a viewing angle of up to 40. This design not only effectively reduces the likelihood of rainbow effects but also ensures clear imaging in low-light indoor and high-light outdoor industrial environments. Based on Rokid's global first 5G+AR+AI metaverse full-stack ecological system, X-Craft integrates AI, AR, RTC, SLAM, and zero-code configuration capabilities. Through capability modules' combination, it creates an upper-level business management platform, including an RTC communication platform, zero-code deployment platform, and AI application platform. It provides a solution that combines software and hardware to enable industrial enterprises to manage their respective work modules' management businesses. In actual work scenarios, X-Craft has various capabilities, such as voice recognition, environmental noise reduction, and semantic recognition. Its voice interaction can achieve a response in 1 second in a 90dB industrial noise environment and achieve a recognition rate of 98%. Combined with gesture interaction capabilities, it truly frees frontline employees' hands and effectively improves work efficiency. Public information shows that Rokid's technical products have been widely applied in key fields such as power grids, oil and gas, smart manufacturing, and healthcare. Its customers are distributed in more than 70 countries and regions worldwide, providing services for well-known domestic and foreign companies such as China National Petroleum, China National Offshore Oil, State Grid, Southern Grid, Huaneng, China General Nuclear, Wanhua Chemical, Sany, Amazon, General Motors, Siemens, Honeywell, Volkswagen, BASF, and Saudi Aramco. Rokid continues to strengthen modern industrial clusters and become a key force in supporting China's technology going global. Rokid's co-founder, Xiang Wenjie , said: "As a global company, we hope to showcase the strength of China's AR technology to more overseas enterprises through this exhibition. We also look forward to sharing our solutions and practical experiences in China's industrial digitization with partners from all walks of life worldwide, and working together to create an intelligent era and share intelligent achievements." View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chinas-self-developed-ar-glasses-x-craft-won-the-gold-medal-at-the-geneva-international-invention-exhibition-301817704.html SOURCE Rokid KATHMANDU, Nepal , May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Religious Culture Communication Association and the Buddhist Association of China jointly launched a cataract charity program entitled "The 2023 Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action-Into the Hometown of Buddha" at Dr. Iwamura Memorial Hospital in Kathmandu lately. Ram Sahaya Yadav , Vice President of Nepal and Chen Song , Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Nepal , attended the launch ceremony of the program. "For thousands of years, China and Nepal have been engaged in collaborative efforts involving both government and civil affairs," said Ram Sahaya Yadav . "The program has helped restore the sight of over 500 Nepalese patients with eye diseases. Zhong Hua Chinese Buddhist Monastery in Rupandehi District has played a key role in implementing the program. I also want to thank the abbot of the monastery, Buddhist Master Yin Shun , for his ongoing efforts to promote the program in Nepal ." "This marks the sixth time that the Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action charity program has been rolled out in Nepal , further strengthening the friendship and civil exchanges between China and Nepal ," stated the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal , Mr. Chen . "In line with 'Good health and Well-being', one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, the campaign series is the latest achievement of the two countries' joint efforts to build an exemplary charity program as well as a health and wellness community with a shared future for mankind." During the event, participants discussed several topics, including how to better integrate the strengths of the UN, Nepal and China ; the overall, forward-looking and practical issues around the promotion of exchanges between the Chinese and Nepalese Buddhist communities; further strengthening the role of Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace; increasing participation in the UN Day of Vesak; hosting a variety of Sino-Nepalese Buddhist exchange events; improving the working mechanism, and assisting in the organization of South China Sea Buddhism Shenzhen Roundtable in Nepal . The goal of the discussions is to offer advice and suggestions on how to facilitate international religious exchanges and enhance cultural soft power. "Those who wish to travel ten thousand miles will definitely not stop in the middle of their journey," emphasized Buddhist Master Yin Shun in his speech. "Linked by destiny, China and Nepal share a dream and support each other in fulfilling the dream. The Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action campaign not only reflects the deep friendship between the peoples of China and Nepal , but also demonstrates the Buddhist community's efforts to give back to society and deliver on religious beliefs. The campaign aims to bring light to patients with eye diseases, an action that is aligned with Buddhist teachings." "SZCQ - The Charity and Brightness Action in Nepal , launched in 2014, is the first healthcare-related philanthropic event launched by a Chinese non-governmental organization in Nepal ," said Chen Junyao, secretary of the Party Committee of Youth Chawnese Sodality of Shenzhen. "Over the past few years, the event has benefited many cataract patients in multiple countries bordering the South China Sea and beyond with 2,000 free surgeries having been performed, bringing warmth and love from China to local governments and inhabitants. Launched in 2014, the Silk Road Charity and Brightness Action campaign, based on Venerable Yin Shun's compassionate initiative, has been held in Cambodia , Nepal , Sri Lanka and other countries in the South China Sea region and beyond. By bringing light and hope to nearly 2,000 local patients with eye diseases, the program has received much acclaim from local governments and inhabitants. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-2023-silk-road-charity-and-brightness-action-program-is-launched-in-kathmandu-nepal-301817683.html SOURCE The Buddhist Association of China SANTA FE, N.M. , May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Thornburg Investment Management ("Thornburg"), a global investment firm that oversees $42 billion in assets1, today announced that Jason Brady intends to step down later this year from his role as president & CEO and portfolio manager, as well as from the Board of Directors of Thornburg, and depart the firm. Mr. Brady will continue in his role to allow for a smooth transition while Thornburg's Board of Directors undertakes a search for his successor. "Since joining Thornburg in 2006, I am proud of what we have achieved, particularly the strength of the team we have developed, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve as the firm's president and CEO for nearly eight years," said Mr. Brady . "This is the appropriate time for a new leader to step in and I remain fully involved and engaged while the Board searches for a successor." "I thank Jason for delivering strong results across our business and notably assembling an experienced group of world-class leaders at the organization," said Chairman Garrett Thornburg . "Our 41-year foundation leaves us well positioned to make the next phase of our growth the most exciting in our company's history." About Thornburg Thornburg is a global investment firm delivering on strategy for institutions, financial professionals and investors worldwide. The privately held firm, founded in 1982, is an active, high-conviction manager of fixed income, equities, multi-asset solutions and sustainable investments. With $42 billion in client assets1 as of April 30, 2023 , the firm offers mutual funds, closed-end funds, institutional accounts, separate accounts for high-net-worth investors and UCITS funds for non-U.S. investors. As an independent firm, Thornburg can take on a wide range of opportunities, explore ideas thoroughly and work across strategies to deliver consistent risk-adjusted outperformance over the long term. The firm attracts free-thinking professionals who are eager to pursue investment outcomes beyond the confines of popular wisdom. From nimble operational capabilities to principles and actions fitting of a global citizen, Thornburg's world-class investment platform and team are aligned on strategy to serve investors. Thornburg's U.S. headquarters is in Santa Fe, New Mexico with offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai . For more information, visit www.thornburg.com or call (877) 215-1330. Media Inquiries Michael Corrao Director of Global Communications Thornburg Investment Management Tel: +1 (505) 467-5345 Email: [email protected] 1 Includes $41 billion in assets under management and $1 billion in assets under advisement as of April 30, 2023 . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thornburg-plans-leadership-transition-301817555.html SOURCE Thornburg Investment Management VANCOUVER, BC , May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wondershare Filmora, the AI-powered video editing software, has recently announced its Project Go Viral campaign in conjunction with its sponsorship of Vidcon 2023, the mecca for creators around the world. Running from May 3rd to August 3rd , the campaign's goal is to empower those who want to grow professionally as a creator by offering them a Go Viral Kit . To participate, creators can simply post their upcoming video content that reflects their creative style on social media with #FilmoraVidCon and tag @Filmora_editor in the caption. Creators who have less than 20k followers are welcome to join in the fun. The Go Viral Kit is designed to help new creators accelerate their content creation journey. Three participants will be selected based on how well the content reflects their creative style by Wondershare Filmora to receive a Go Viral Kit that includes a $1000 gear fund, a Filmora Perpetual License with unlimited access to video effects, and a shoutout from a social media Influencer to their channel. On top of the Go Viral Kit , one of them will receive a trip to Vidcon valued at $3000 which includes a Vidcon ticket, a round-trip flight ticket and 4 nights of accommodation. In total, this prize package is worth up to $5000 . "Video creativity has the power to transcend boundaries, connect communities across the globe, and inspire change. As a global corporation, it is our responsibility to nurture and support the growth of rising creators, providing them with the tools and resources they need to share their unique vision with the world, "stated Tobee Wu , CEO of Wondershare. "The Project Go Viral campaign shows how Wondershare Filmora is committed to empowering creators to unleash their full potential. We believe every creator deserves a chance to make their content go viral as long as they have a passion, and we're excited to be a part of that journey." While equipping creators with everything they need to increase their visibility on social media, Wondershare Filmora is also ready to attend VidCon from June 21 to 24 as a sponsor for the fifth time. Visit our event page to learn more as Project Go Viral goes live. About Vidcon Vidcon is an annual convention that celebrates the world of online video content, including YouTube and other social media platforms. It was founded in 2010 by Hank and John Green , who are well-known YouTube creators. The convention brings together creators, fans, and industry professionals from all over the world to network, learn, and have fun. Vidcon features a variety of programming, including panels, workshops, meet-and-greets, concerts, and more. Vidcon has become a significant event in the online video community, with thousands of attendees each year. It has also expanded to different parts of the world, with events held in Australia , Europe , and Mexico . Compatibility and Price Wondershare Filmora 12 is compatible with Windows PC, Mac, Android Phone, iPhone, iPad, and Android Tablet. Pricing starts at $49.99 per year. To get the free trial of Filmora 12, please visit https://filmora.wondershare.com/. Learn more about Filmora on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. About Filmora 12 Filmora 12 has been designed with the user in mind, featuring smoother performance and a new, intuitive UX and UI design. With advanced AI functions, over 2,000 media resources, new royalty-free music, 3D LUTs, effects, and pre-set templates, you will have everything you need to perfect your videos while maintaining your creative vision. About Wondershare Wondershare is globally recognized as a software company that is committed to delivering innovative solutions for personal and professional use. As a leader in creativity and productivity products, Wondershare has received prestigious awards from organizations such as The Shorty Awards, G2, and GetApp. At Wondershare, the mission is to empower individuals to pursue their passions and build a more creative world. With over 100 million users across 150 countries, users can access a wide range of software solutions for video editing, PDF editing, data recovery, diagram and graphics, and more. Together, Wondershare strives to provide high-quality, user-friendly software that enables individuals and businesses to bring their creative ideas to life. Media Contact Iris Liu [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wondershare-filmora-launches-project-go-viral-campaign-to-send-aspiring-creators-to-vidcon-2023-301817627.html SOURCE Wondershare FILE PHOTO: An Assa Abloy lock is displayed in a shop in Riga, Latvia September 19, 2013. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo (Reuters) -Sweden's Assa Abloy AB, the world's No. 1 lock maker, and U.S.-based Spectrum Brands Holdings said on Friday they have reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department regarding Assa's $4.3 billion proposed deal to buy Spectrum's hardware and home improvement (HHI) division. The Justice Department last year sued to block the proposed deal by Assa Abloy to buy the Spectrum Brands HHI division, which makes residential door hardware, saying the deal could lead to higher prices. Assa Abloy makes Yale, August and EMTEK brands, while Spectrum's division makes the Baldwin and Kwikset brands. Under the settlement disclosed on Friday, Assa Abloy will proceed with the divestment of its Emtek and the Smart Residential business in the United States and Canada to Fortune Brands, the company said in a statement. In a separate statement, Fortune said it will go ahead with the purchase of businesses from Assa Abloy for $800 million. Assa Abloy agreed in December to sell the businesses to Fortune in a bid to resolve the U.S. antitrust issues. Both Assa and Spectrum said they expect the deal to close by the end of June. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Will Dunham and Sandra Maler) Congolese women react after the death of their family members following rains that destroyed buildings and forced aid workers to gather mud-clad corpses into piles in the village of Nyamukubi, Kalehe territory in South Kivu province of the Democratic Repu By Crispin Kyala BUSHUSHU, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -At least 176 people have died in flash floods in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a regional governor said on Friday, as heavy rain destroyed buildings and forced aid workers to gather mud-clad corpses into piles. The rainfall in Kalehe territory in South Kivu province caused rivers to overflow on Thursday, inundating the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi. South Kivu governor Theo Ngwabidje Kasi put the death toll at 176 and said that others were still missing. A local civil society member, Kasole Martin, said 227 bodies had been found. "People are sleeping out in the open, schools and hospitals have been swept away," Martin said. On Friday, haggard-looking survivors stood outside a wooden shed in which Red Cross workers in blue scrubs placed bodies on top of each other. Many had lost clothing and were covered in dirt. A Reuters reporter counted 72 corpses. The corrugated iron roofs of flattened houses jutted out from beneath thick layers of mud, photos showed. A doctor in Kalehe territory's main hospital, Robert Masamba, said injured survivors had been streaming in since Thursday evening. "My team and I have not slept. We have received 56 patients, 80% of which have fractures," he said. Floods and landslides are not uncommon in South Kivu, which shares a border with Rwanda. Heavy rains also triggered flooding and landslides in Rwanda this week, killing 130 people and destroying more than 5,000 homes. The last incident of a similar scale in Congo occurred in October 2014, when heavy rainfall destroyed over 700 homes. More than 130 people were reported missing at the time, according to the United Nations. (Reporting by Crispin Kyala; Additional reporting by Sonia Rolley; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Alexander Winning, Bhargav Acharya and Susan Fenton) FILE PHOTO: Former Fox personality Tucker Carlson speaks at the 2017 Business Insider Ignition: Future of Media conference in New York, U.S., November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo By Jack Queen (Reuters) - Fox News on Friday asked lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems to investigate whether they leaked controversial internal messages from ousted Fox host Tucker Carlson that were provided in evidence for their recent defamation lawsuit. The requests, which were made in letters released by Fox, came after multiple news outlets published racist and sexist remarks by Carlson contained in leaked internal messages and recordings. Fox News and its parent company Fox Corp said those were given to Dominion as part of the lawsuit, which claimed Fox defamed Dominion by airing false election-rigging claims. The material was to remain confidential per court orders and the terms of the network's $787.5 million settlement with the Denver-based voting technology company last month. Fox requested that Dominion's lawyers at Farnan LLP "immediately make an investigation into the circumstances surrounding this inexcusable release of confidential discovery material" and report the findings by the end of Monday. Dominion denied the materials came from the company or any of its lawyers. "Nobody associated with Dominion shared these confidential materials with the press," the company said. In a separate letter to Dominion lawyers at Susman Godfrey LLP and Clare Locke LLP, Fox said the disclosures "violate the text and spirit" of the settlement agreement, which "requires return or destruction" of all confidential discovery materials. Fox is seeking to contain the public relations fallout from the leaks. The network on Friday sent a letter to the left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters demanding that it cease publishing leaked footage of Carlson on set. Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said in a statement that "reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism" and that it was "absurd" for Fox to argue otherwise. Dominion alleged in its lawsuit that Fox knowingly spread false claims that its ballot-counting machines were used to rig the 2020 U.S. election against former Republican President Donald Trump and in favor of Joe Biden, a Democrat. Fox denied the claims but settled the case in Delaware Superior Court. The deal came just before opening statements were set to begin in what promised to be the most closely watched media trial in decades, featuring testimony from Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch. Carlson, a staple of primetime cable news and Fox's biggest star, was abruptly fired just days later. Media outlets including the New York Times reported that the decision came after Fox's board saw Carlson's internal messages. The Times reported on Tuesday that Fox was particularly concerned by a Carlson message - which was redacted in public versions of court filings - in which he criticized Trump supporters for beating up an outnumbered leftist demonstrator because that was "not how white men fight." The Daily Beast reported on Friday on a text message in which Carlson used a misogynistic slur, the second publicly reported instance of him doing so. (Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Additional reporting by Helen Coster; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) FILE PHOTO: The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, February 3, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran on Saturday executed a Swedish-Iranian dissident convicted of leading an Arab separatist group accused of attacks including one on a military parade in 2018 that killed 25 people, the Iranian judiciary said. The Swedish foreign ministry said it had summoned Iran's deputy ambassador to protest the execution of Habib Farajollah Chaab, which it confirmed took place earlier in the day. Chaab had been sentenced to death for being "corrupt on earth", a capital offence under Iran's strict Islamic laws. Iran brought him to trial in 2022 on charges of leading the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, which seeks a separate state in the oil-rich Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran, and plotting and carrying out "numerous bombings and terrorist operations". In a statement announcing the execution, the judiciary accused the security agencies of Sweden, Israel and regional countries of backing Chaab and his group, which it said had killed or injured 450 Iranians over several years. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom reacted with "dismay" to Chaab's execution, saying Sweden had pleaded with Iran not to carry it out. "The death penalty is an inhuman and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its application under all circumstances," he said. Iran said in 2020 that its security forces detained Chaab in neighbouring Turkey and took him to Tehran, without giving details of his capture. Sweden had voiced concern over Chaab's case, and ties with Iran had also been soured over a Swedish court's life-time prison sentence for a former Iranian official for involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988 in the Islamic Republic. Iran has had tense relations with its ethnic minorities, which include Arabs, Kurds, Azeris and Baluch, and has accused them of aligning with neighbouring countries. Arabs and other minorities have long complained of facing discrimination in Iran, an accusation Tehran denies. (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Additional reporting by Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm; Editing by Stephen Coates, Frances Kerry and Mike Harrison) FILE PHOTO: New cars are seen parked at the plant of Volkswagen Group Rus in Kaluga, Russia March 30, 2022. Picture taken March 30, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo (Reuters) - Russian carmaker GAZ has filed a lawsuit worth 15.6 billion roubles ($200.5 million) against Volkswagen, court records show, adding to two others filed earlier this year. The lawsuit, details of which have not been published, was filed with the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Arbitration Court on Friday. GAZ did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Volkswagen declined to comment. Earlier this year, GAZ filed two lawsuits against the German carmaker seeking a total of around $545 million in losses and damages, saying VW's moves to exit the Russian market had put its interests at risk. It initially persuaded a court to freeze Volkswagen's assets in Russia pending court proceedings - a decision the court reversed in April. Volkswagen is preparing to sell its Russian assets, including its flagship plant in the city of Kaluga that has annual production capacity of 225,000 vehicles, but no decision has been made and Russian government approval is pending. ($1 = 77.8055 roubles) (Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Barbara Lewis) FILE PHOTO: Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin poses for a picture in his flat in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, December 6, 2008. REUTERS/Mikhail Beznosov/File Photo By Mark Trevelyan (Reuters) -A prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was wounded in a car bombing that killed his driver on Saturday and investigators said a detained suspect admitted acting on behalf of Ukraine. The attack took place three days after the Kremlin said Ukraine attempted to hit the Kremlin with drones - Ukraine denied it had anything to do with the attack. Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine and the Western states backing it, particularly the United States, for the latest attack on the writer, an ardent proponent of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine. Ukraine's security services, in its standard response, refused to confirm or deny involvement. A senior Ukrainian official accused Russia of staging the incident. Russia's state Investigative Committee said Prilepin's Audi Q7 was blown up in a village in Nizny Novgorod region, about 400 km (250 miles) east of Moscow, which it was treating as an act of terrorism. It said Prilepin had been taken to hospital. The committee released a photograph showing the white vehicle lying overturned on a track next to a wood, with a deep crater beside it and pieces of metal strewn nearby. The committee later issued a statement saying investigators were questioning a suspect identified as Alexander Permyakov. "The suspect was detained and, in the course of questioning, he provided testimony that he acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services," said the statement, read by a woman in uniform. The governor of Nizhny Novgorod region, Gleb Nikitin, said on Telegram that doctors had successfully operated on Prilepin and that he was now under sedation to help his recovery. Russia's Foreign Ministry, in a statement on its website said: "Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with Ukrainian authorities, but also their Western patrons, the United States in the first instance...". It said Washington's failure to denounce this and other attacks was "self-revealing" for the U.S. administration. State news agency TASS quoted security sources as saying the suspect was a "native of Ukraine" with a past conviction for robbery with violence. Ukraine's SBU Security Service issued its standard response of declining to confirm or deny involvement in the bombing. Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he believed Russian authorities had staged the attack. "Everyone understands that this is all a staged performance," Podolyak told Ukrainian television. "This is staged and the bombings at the Kremlin are aimed at domestic audiences." The novelist was the third prominent pro-war figure to be targeted by a bomb since Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the deaths of journalist Darya Dugina and war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in the two previous attacks, and Kyiv has denied involvement. Ukrainian news site UNIAN ran an online poll asking readers who "in the pantheon of Russian scum propagandists" should be targeted next after Dugina, Tatarsky and Prilepin. Officials at the White House, Pentagon and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. No comment was immediately available from Britain's Foreign Office. MOSCOW SAYS UKRAINE ACTING ON WEST'S BEHALF It was the second time this week that Moscow has accused Ukraine of carrying out terrorist attacks on behalf of the West, a narrative it appears to be pushing with increasing urgency but which Kyiv and Washington reject as baseless. On Wednesday, Russia accused Ukraine of trying to kill President Vladimir Putin with a night-time drone attack on the Kremlin. Ukraine denied that too, and the White House said accusations that Washington had a hand in it were "lies". Prilepin often speaks out in support of the Ukraine war on social media, with more than 300,000 followers on Telegram and his own website and YouTube channel. He fought for Russian proxy forces in eastern Ukraines Donbas region before last year's invasion and led a military unit there, boasting in a 2019 YouTube interview that his unit "killed people in big numbers". "These people are dead, they are buried and ... there are many of them," he said. "Not a single unit among the Donetsk battalions had such results. It was outrageous chaos what we did there ... Not a single field commander had such results as I had." (Additional reporting by Olena Harmash in Kyiv; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Ron Popeski and Daniel Wallis) President Biden on Thursday called for an end to the violence among warring factions in Sudan and expanded his administrations ability to sanction individuals who undermine peace and stability in the war-torn nation. The violence taking place in Sudan is a tragedy and it is a betrayal of the Sudanese peoples clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy, Biden said in a statement. I join the peace-loving people of Sudan and leaders around the world in calling for a durable cease-fire between the belligerent parties, he continued. This violence, which has already stolen the lives of hundreds of civilians and began during the holy month of Ramadan, is unconscionable. It must end. Biden issued an executive order that expands the United States ability to sanction individuals or groups that are responsible for threatening security and peace in Sudan, as well as those who undermine a civilian democratic government or commit human rights abuses. The Sudanese people suffered 30 years under an authoritarian regime but they never gave up on their commitment to democracy or their hope for a better future, Biden said. Their dedication brought down a dictator, only to endure a military takeover in October 2021, and now more violence among factions fighting for control. More from The Hill: Die trying, or just die at home: Civilians fleeing Sudan face impossible choice Smoke is seen amid fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 19. AP Photo/Marwan Ali John Kirby, a White House spokesperson on national security issues, told reporters the administration did not have any specific sanctions to announce on Tuesday. Bidens order would authorize the Treasury Department to look at potential sanctions and see whats appropriate, he added. Fighting among warring generals in Sudan over the last several weeks has left hundreds dead and sent thousands fleeing the country. The U.S. late last month conducted an airlift to evacuate staffers at the U.S. Embassy in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. Thousands of U.S. citizens remain in the country, however. Story continues Last week, U.S. drones provided cover for a bus convoy carrying hundreds of Americans to Port Sudan, where they could be evacuated from the country. Our diplomatic efforts to urge all parties to end the military conflict and allow unhindered humanitarian access continue, as do our efforts to assist those remaining Americans, including by providing them information on exit options, Biden said Thursday. Updated at 1:31 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. FILE PHOTO: The dome of the U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington, U.S., April 17, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades (Reuters) -Scope Ratings on Friday placed the United States of America's AA long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings in local and foreign currency under review for a possible downgrade due to longer run risks associated with the misuse of the debt ceiling instrument. Scope, which is seen as the leading European credit rating agency, said that recurrent debt-ceiling crises have resulted in phases of debt repayment distress for the U.S government, adding that the government is dependent on last-minute congressional action to ensure repayment of its debt in full and on time. A rise in political polarisation, divided government since November 2022 congressional elections and more elevated federal deficits over the forthcoming years are the other reasons Scope cited for the ratings review. The U.S. government hit its $31.4 trillion borrowing limit in January, amid a standoff between the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and President Joe Biden's Democrats. The United States could run out of money to pay its bills as soon as June 1 if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Last week, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that pairs $4.8 trillion of spending cuts with an increase in the ceiling. But Biden and his fellow Democrats insist Congress should raise the cap without conditions. Scope also placed United States' S-1+ short-term issuer ratings in local and foreign currency under review for downgrade. Rating agencies Moody's and Fitch both have a triple-A rating for the United States - the highest credit quality status they can assign to a borrower. S&P Global's sovereign rating for the United States is 'AA+', the second highest rating by the agency. In its published report from March last, S&P expected Congress to continue to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, despite "political brinkmanship" between the executive and legislative branches of government. Scope Ratings has been in talks with the European Central Bank to become one of its recognized agencies, joining Standard and Poor's, Moody's, Fitch and DBRS. (Reporting by Jose Joseph in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Kim Coghill) FILE PHOTO: A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah RIYADH (Reuters) - Sudan's warring parties were set to meet on Saturday in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah for talks, Riyadh and Washington said, as international mediators pressed to end a conflict that has killed hundreds of people and sent tens of thousands of refugees fleeing abroad. Saudi Arabia and the United States welcomed the start of the "pre-negotiation talks" between the Sudanese army and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and urged both sides to actively engage and come to a ceasefire, a joint statement said. Sudan's Forces of Freedom and Change, a political grouping leading an internationally backed plan to transfer to civilian rule, also welcomed the Jeddah talks on Saturday. The Jeddah initiative is the first serious attempt to end the fighting that has crippled the Sudanese government and endangered the country's political transition following years of unrest and uprisings. The conflict erupted on April 15 between the army of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF of commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a former militia leader known as Hemedti, following the collapse of an internationally-backed plan for a new transition with civilian parties. Sudan's armed forces said it sent a delegation to Jeddah on Friday evening as part of the initiative. The RSF did not immediately confirm its attendance, but both forces have said they will only discuss a humanitarian truce and not an end of the war. Despite multiple ceasefire declarations, the fighting has showed no sign of abating. However, Sudanese broadcasters said there was no exchange of gunfire in and around Khartoum in the early hours of Saturday. Saudi Arabia has had close ties to Burhan and Hemedti, both of whom sent troops to help the Saudi-led coalition in its war against the Houthi group in Yemen. The kingdom is also focused on security in the Red Sea - which it shares with Sudan - and which has been part of a vast economic plan for tourism called Saudi Vision 2030 and a strategic shipping lane for its oil exports. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday discussed a plan for the warring parties to reduce tensions, the kingdom said. A group of countries led by Britain, the United States, Germany and Norway is set to request an urgent meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council on the Sudan crisis next week, a document showed on Friday. (Reporting by Moaz Ab-Alaziz, writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) An aerial view shows protesters holding a sign with the silhouette of the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as they take part in a demonstration against Israel's nationalist coalition government's judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, Israel Ma By Rami Amichai TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests across the country on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bitterly disputed plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court. The planned overhaul, which would give the government control over naming judges to the Supreme Court and let parliament override many rulings, was paused after opponents organised some of the biggest street protests ever seen in Israel, now in their 18th consecutive week. The government accuses activist judges of increasingly usurping the role of parliament, and says the overhaul is needed to restore balance between the judiciary and elected politicians. Critics say it will remove vital checks and balances underpinning a democratic state and hand unchecked power to the government. Five months into the far-right coalition's term, 74% of Israelis think the government is functioning poorly, according to a poll released by the Israeli public broadcaster on Friday. Crowds gathered in central Tel Aviv on Saturday in a show of defiance against plans which they see as an existential threat to Israeli democracy. Israel's Channel 12 estimated 110,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv alone, with other demonstrations held in cities across the country. "I'm very worried for my country," protester Bental Shamir, a 60-year old teacher told Reuters in Tel Aviv. "I don't want a corrupted country." The planned overhaul has been put on hold in an attempt to give time for Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who plays a largely ceremonial role, to broker a compromise between the coalition and opposition which could see the legislation softened, but so far compromise talks have not born fruit. "I'm sure that we are closer than we can imagine," lawyer Dor Lasker, 35, told Reuters regarding the compromise talks. "I'm positive that it could happen." Protesters waved the blue and white Israeli flags that have become a hallmark of the protests over the past three months. A statement from the Israeli president's office said King Charles III greeted Herzog after the coronation ceremony in London and commended him for his mediation efforts. (Reporting by Emily Rose; Editing by Mike Harrison) FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives to deliver a speech titled "No Peace Without Justice for Ukraine", in the Hague, Netherlands May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/Pool GENEVA (Reuters) - Switzerland's parliament has approved a request from Ukrainian authorities for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address it. The invitation, announced in a statement late on Friday, comes amid pressure on Switzerland's government to break with a centuries-old tradition of neutrality and end a ban of exports of Swiss weapons to conflict zones such as Ukraine. So far, the government has refused to change this policy. The subject of Zelenskiy's address, which will the first by video by a foreign leader to the legislature, is unknown. It is scheduled for the summer session beginning on May 30. During that session, lawmakers are also set to weigh a motion to provide 5 billion Swiss Francs ($5.6 billion) of support to Ukraine over 5-10 years. ($1 = 0.8910 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Emma Farge) PORT SUDAN, Sudan Qatar flew a relief flight into Sudan carrying some 40 tons of food and left with 150 evacuees early Saturday as fighting continued between two generals vying for power in the African nation. The Qatari Emiri Air Force C-17 Globemaster touched down in Port Sudan, some 670 kilometers (415 miles) northeast of Sudan's violence-torn capital of Khartoum. The port city has been spared in the fighting and has become one of the few safe transit points out of the country, whether by air or by ships crossing the Red Sea heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Evacuees boarded the C-17 bearing the livery of Qatar Airways, the energy-rich nation's long-haul carrier. Those who spoke to The Associated Press described facing "very scary, terrifying" conditions trying to leave Khartoum for the airfield. "We still faced many difficulties because of the lack of security in the country due to the security forces being occupied with the battles. We were faced by mobs on the way," said Nemat Allah Saber Ibrahim, a Sudanese doctor evacuated who lives in Qatar. "Other than the burden of travel and the different checkpoints by both security forces and Rapid Support Forces. But thank God we have arrived safely to the Port of Sudan." The conflict started on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and a rival paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The fighting has turned urban areas into battlefields. Foreign governments have rushed to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Despite repeated cease-fires being declared, the warring sides have shown little commitment to even short-term promises to stop the fighting. Qatar in the past has held peace talks between warring parties in Sudan's Darfur region, as well as those between Sudan and South Sudan. "We are leaving but unfortunately Khartoum is in a dire situation. Khartoum is done," said Aliah Helelo, another Sudanese resident of Qatar being evacuated. "We are leaving with our hearts in our hands. We left our families behind and we fear for them. But thank God. I pray that God avenges and punishes whoever caused this." The food carried into Sudan by the Qatari military aircraft included bags of rice, dates, oil, lentils and tomato sauce. Hunger is becoming a problem in Sudan as stores remain closed amid the fighting and food is in scarce supply. Prices across the country "are reportedly skyrocketing, making critical goods unaffordable for many people," the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. Khaled Mahmoud Osman, the deputy chief of mission at the Sudanese Embassy in Qatar, told journalists gathered at Qatar's sprawling Al-Udeid Air Base before the flight that the food aid was "of the utmost importance to our people." "In Sudan, these are some of the unfortunate events caused by the rebellion of the Rapid Support Forces, which have affected the lives of civilians in all Sudanese cities and Khartoum in particular, in hospitals, neighborhoods, markets and in areas supplying food from villages," he said. "We ask Allah almighty for peace to prevail in Sudan soon, to support the Sudanese armed forces, to take care of the rebels or they would surrender. I mean, that they will lay down arms for the mercy of civilians." Separately, the World Health Organization said it and the United Arab Emirates shipped some $444,000 worth of urgent medical supplies Friday into Sudan at Port Sudan International Airport. The WHO said that a shipment brought in just before the start of the fighting was "exhausted after a few days given the number of injured." Later Saturday, envoys from the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces, started negotiations in Saudi Arabia, in the city of Jeddah, across the Red Sea from Port Sudan, according to a joint Saudi-American statement. TALLINN, Estonia The car of a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist exploded in Russia on Saturday, injuring him and killing his driver, Russia's state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency and law enforcement officials. The incident involving the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, took place in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. It is the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the war in Ukraine. In August 2022, a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as "Putin's brain." The authorities alleged that Ukraine was behind the blast. Last month, an explosion in a cafe in St. Petersburg killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. Officials once again blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies. The regional governor of Niznhy Novgorod, Gleb Nikitin, said Prilepin suffered minor bone fractures and was receiving medical help. Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Prilepin was traveling back to Moscow on Saturday from Ukraine's partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and stopped in the Nizhny Novogorod region for a meal. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said a suspect had been detained. Russian news reports identified him as a native of Ukraine who earlier had been convicted of robbery. Prilepin became a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, after Putin illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula. He was involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of Russian-backed separatists. Last year, he was sanctioned by the European Union for his support of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2020, he founded a political party, For the Truth, which Russian media reported was backed by the Kremlin. A year later, Prilepin's party merged with the nationalist A Just Russia party that has seats in the parliament. A co-chair of the newly formed party, Prilepin won a seat in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, in the 2021 election, but gave it up. Party leader Sergei Mironov called the incident on Saturday "a terrorist act" and blamed Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed Mironov's sentiment in a post on the messaging app Telegram, adding that responsibility also lay with the U.S. and NATO. "Washington and NATO have nursed yet another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime," Zakharova wrote. "Direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain. We're praying for Zakhar." The deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev put the blame on "Nazi extremists" in a telegram he sent to Prilepin. Ukrainian officials haven't commented directly on the allegations. However, Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, in a tweet on Saturday, appeared to point the finger at the Kremlin, saying that "to prolong the agony of Putin's clan and maintain the illusionary 'total control,' the Russian repression machine picks up the pace and catches up with everyone," including supporters of the Ukraine war. ASWAN, Egypt Sudan's two warring generals sent their envoys on Friday to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at firming up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, three Sudanese officials said. The negotiations would be the first between Sudan's military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, since clashes broke out on April 15. According to the three two senior military officials and one from their paramilitary rival the talks will begin in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on Saturday, following concerted efforts by Riyad and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. The three officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the upcoming peace talks. No timeframe was given for the length of the talks. The fighting has turned Sudan's capital of Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. There is increasing concern for those trapped and displaced by the fighting, and aid workers and civilians have said there is a dire lack of basic services, medical care, food and water. Foreign governments have rushed to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Saudi warships have been ferrying those fleeing from Port Sudan, on Sudan's Red Sea coast, which has now become the entry hub for aid sent to the embattled nation. A series of fragile and often violated cease-fires over the past three weeks has failed to stop the fighting. Fierce battles raged Friday in areas around the military's headquarters and the international airport in Khartoum, according to residents. https://apnews.com/article/sudan-military-rsf-conflict-civilians-port-sudan-war-bd675f2ce360e7d40f4926c81057cdbf According to the three officials, the talks in Jeddah would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles. One of the military officials said the talks are part of an initiative proposed by Saudi Arabia and the United State. He said they would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities. The RSF official said Saudi and American officials would facilitate the talks. He said they would also discuss a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire and confirmed on Friday that the RSF delegation had left for Jeddah. Sudan's military also later its delegation had departed to Saudi Arabia, saying the talks would discuss "details of the truce," without elaborating. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, discussed the initiative in a phone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It said the initiative aims to "prepare the ground" for dialogue to deescalate tensions in the African country. The statement also did not provide further details. U.S. State department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Blinken expressed his "gratitude for Saudi Arabia's invaluable assistance in facilitating the safe arrival in Jeddah of U.S. citizens and their family members departing Sudan." The two top diplomats "affirmed their countries' intensive collaboration on diplomatic work to bring about an end to the fighting in Sudan," Miller said. The U.N. envoy in Sudan, Volker Perthes, lauded the move as "a positive sign," but cautioned about high expectations from the meeting. "It is a positive sign, a sign of getting more realistic, realizing that there will be no easy or quick win," he told the AP from Port Sudan. "We need to realize, however, that this is a first encounter." The meeting may be "exploratory rather than concrete," he said and added that achieving a "lasting cease-fire" would need more than one meeting. The battle for control of Sudan, which capped months of tensions between Burhan and Dagalo, has so far killed at least 550 people, including civilians, and as of Monday wounded more than 4,900, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Sudanese Doctors' Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Friday that 473 civilians have been killed in the violence, and more than 2,450 have been wounded. James Elder, a spokesman for the the U.N. children agency, said at least 190 children have been killed and 1,700 have been wounded in the fighting. "This means that every single hour, you have seven boys or girls ... killed or injured," he said at a press conference Friday in Geneva. "I think this is underlining the enormity of how violent this is." The power struggle has put millions of Sudanese in the line of gun battles, artillery bombardments and airstrikes. So far, at least 334,000 people have been displaced inside Sudan, and tens of thousands more have crossed to neighboring countries Egypt, Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia, according to U.N. agencies. The U.N. World Food Program projects that the number of acutely food insecure people in Sudan will increase by between 2 million and 2.5 million people raising the number to a total of 19 million people in the next three to six months if the current conflict continues, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. The U.N. refugee agency announced that $445 million will be needed to support an estimated 860,000 Sudanese refugees fleeing Sudan to five countries affected by the emergency. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report. BROWNSVILLE, Texas U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday that authorities faced "extremely challenging" circumstances along the border with Mexico days before pandemic-related asylum restrictions end. A surge of Venezuelan migrants through South Texas, particularly in and around Brownsville, has occurred over the last two weeks for reasons that Mayorkas said were unclear. On Thursday, 4,000 of about 6,000 migrants in Border Patrol custody in Texas' Rio Grande Valley were Venezuelan. Mayorkas noted that Mexico agreed this week to continue taking back Venezuelans who enter the U.S. illegally after asylum restrictions end Thursday, along with Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans. Migrants have been expelled from the U.S. more than 2.8 million times since March 2020 under what is known as Title 42 authority. The secretary reaffirmed plans to finalize a new policy by Thursday that will make it extremely difficult for migrants to seek asylum if they pass through another country, like Mexico, on their way to the U.S. border. "The situation at the border is a very serious one, a very challenging one and a very difficult one," Mayorkas said. Illegal crossings tumbled after President Joe Biden announced asylum restrictions in January, but they have risen since mid-April. Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said this week they have been hovering around 7,200 daily, up from about 5,200 in March. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said 1,500 active-duty troops will be dispatched to El Paso, Texas, adding to 2,500 National Guard troops already positioned across the border. Ortiz said El Paso was chosen because it has been a busy corridor for illegal crossings over the last six months. The troop deployment was announced this week but not the location. Mayorkas, on his second day of a visit to the Rio Grande Valley, said smugglers were deceiving migrants and luring them on a dangerous journey. "The border is not open, it has not been open, and it will not be open subsequent to May 11," he said. Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard echoed Mayorkas' sentiment about smugglers spreading misinformation. "We're seeing a very significant flow (of migrants) in recent days on the basis of a hoax," Ebrard said at a news conference. He said smugglers are saying, "'Hurry up to get to the United States by crossing Mexico because on May 11 they're going to end Title 42.'" "It's a trick and they're at risk," Ebrard said. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged those who want to migrate to follow legal pathways, such as applying in U.S. processing centers scheduled to open in Guatemala and Colombia. He said Mexico was not making special preparations for the end of Title 42 because he didn't expect a surge. "A lot of people won't let themselves be tricked," the president said. Mayorkas touted new legal pathways, which include parole for up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans a month who apply online with a financial sponsor. But he said the Biden administration could only do so much without Congress. "We have a plan, we are executing on that plan," Mayorkas said. "Fundamentally, however, we are working within a broken immigration system that for decades has been in dire need of reform." U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday that it is raising the number of people admitted to the country at land crossings with Mexico to 1,000 a day from 740 using a mobile app called CBPOne that was extended in January to asylum-seekers. Demand has far outweighed available slots. The administration faced a setback, at least a temporary one, when Colombia said Thursday that it suspended deportation flights from the U.S. due to "cruel and degrading" treatment of migrants. Colombia's immigration agency said it canceled returns of 1,200 Colombians after complaints about conditions in U.S. detention centers and on the flights. Associated Press writer Christopher Sherman in Mexico City contributed. "As Vice President Joe Biden sold his influence to the highest bidder. He is unfit to be President of the United States." Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), in a tweet, May 4 ___ "It is a very serious allegation. I wish I could say that I knew it was true or untrue." Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, in an interview on Newsmax, May 3 ___ A vague request by GOP lawmakers for the FBI to make public a document allegedly about President Biden has led to feverish speculation in the right-wing media and innuendo by some members of Congress, such as Stefanik. The White House has dismissed the report as yet another in a long line of failed efforts by Republicans to implicate Biden in illegal activity. Here's a guide to the story as it now stands, based on interviews with congressional staff members. What's been requested? Grassley, ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, on May 3 sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland saying that they had obtained information through "whistleblower disclosures" that somewhere in the bowels of bureaucracy exists "an unclassified FD-1023 form" that alleges Biden, as vice president, received money from a foreign national in exchange for favorable policy decisions. They said the document included "a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose." Comer's committee issued a subpoena for the document with unusual specificity - indicating that the document was created in June 2020 - which suggests the lawmakers are certain the form exists. But neither the letter nor the subpoena reveals the country or policies in question. "The FBI needs to explain whether it's accurate or not," Grassley said in a May 3 interview on Fox News. "But this is based upon information that we get from what I think are very credible sources within the department." The FBI has not commented on the letter. What is an FD-1023 form? An FD-1023 form is used to record information from a person the FBI considers a "confidential human source" (CHS). That means it would not be a tip from an unknown walk-in - that would result in an internal summary known as an FD-302 form - but someone who had been vetted and assessed by the FBI as potentially helpful for investigations. Still, such sources can be unreliable and any such statements are basically unverified tips. Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele was a CHS during the FBI's investigation of possible links between the Trump administration and Russian operatives; he even received payments for his information. He was fired for cause after talking to the media - and many of the allegations he made turned out to be wrong. At this point, the claim about Biden can only be labeled as unsubstantiated - though that hasn't stopped some Republicans from suggesting Biden is all but convicted. Was the claim investigated? That is unclear. The Grassley-Comer letter notes that the allegation is so specific that the Justice Department and FBI should have had enough information "to determine the truth and accuracy of the information" contained in the document. The subpoena requests forms that might be in open or closed files, as well as "restricted access case files." That suggests that lawmakers wonder whether the report, once received, had been stored in a way that would make it more difficult for investigators working on other cases to access it. The date of the report, June 2020, suggests it was received during the Trump administration, just months before the presidential election. Given Donald Trump's continuing efforts to tag Biden with criminal activity, it might be surprising if Justice Department officials had decided not to pursue it. Do we know the country involved? The letter does not name the country. In a May 4 interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Comer said: "I know the country and I know the policy decisions but I am not at liberty to say." John Solomon, a onetime Washington Post reporter who now runs the conservative news site Just the News and is a Trump ally, reported that "multiple officials" said the matter "involves transactions and policy tied to Ukraine that date to when Biden was Barack Obama's vice president." As vice president, Biden was tasked with managing relations with Ukraine, but he was carrying out policies developed at the State Department and coordinated with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Interestingly, in June 2020, hacked conversations of Biden speaking with Ukrainian officials when he was vice president appeared on the conservative network One America News - tapes that the New York Times said "had been edited in misleading ways" to make the conversations appear nefarious. In 2020, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani actively sought information in Ukraine to discredit Biden, with a particular focus on any connections between Biden's public anticorruption efforts in the country and his son Hunter Biden's lucrative service on the board of a gas company owned by an oligarch who had been the target of anticorruption probes. U.S. intelligence agencies had warned the Trump White House that Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence, The Washington Post reported. It's worth recalling that Trump's first impeachment concerned his effort to link more aid for the country to having the Ukrainian government investigate Biden's actions in the country as vice president. Republicans have never given up trying to prove Trump had a reason for doing so. A Fairfax County man who professed his support for violent jihad in online posts secretly wired thousands of dollars to Islamic State women overseas, hoping to smuggle them out of a Syrian refugee camp, the FBI alleged in a filing unsealed Friday. Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa, 33, was charged with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted. Chhipa was being held in jail after making an initial appearance in Alexandria federal court Friday, records show. The FBI said financial records obtained with grand jury subpoenas show that from late 2019 to summer 2022, Chhipa purchased $172,000 in virtual currency and also collected $15,000 in digital funds from others. An FBI agent alleged in a court filing that more than $18,000 went to wallets known to be used by ISIS women located in Syria, but that the total funds Chhipa sent to smuggle Islamic State women out of the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria could be much higher. The agent said $60,000 remained unaccounted for as of Friday. Chhipa communicated frequently with a British-born woman and member of the Islamic State who was living in Syria and remains at large in that country, and the two appeared to discuss moving money overseas in a way that might avoid detection, U.S. officials said. The woman, who was not identified by name in court papers, told Chhipa over social media that any funds sent to her were never sent directly to me but to accounts in Turkey and then secretly sent to me with no tracks, according to an FBI affidavit. Chhipa responded, I know how it works, according to the filing. Court records did not list an attorney for Chhipa. A public defender who was on duty for his initial appearance Friday did not respond to a request for comment. Many of the women held in the al-Hol refugee camp were married to Islamic State fighters who were killed or captured on the battlefield as the terrorist organization fought U.S.-backed forces for control of Syrian territory, and the FBI said the camp is assessed to be a stronghold of ISIS ideology. U.S. officials said Chhipa, who was born in India and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, began using social media to fundraise for sisters in the al-Hol camp beginning in 2019, claiming the money was for shelter. PayPal blocked an account he had been using to receive funds in March 2021, the FBI said. In August 2021, Chhipa met with an undercover FBI employee, collected $300, and wired it to his female Islamic State contact in Syria, according to the FBI affidavit. He collected another $120 in October 2021, $260 in November 2021, and $160 in January 2022 from the same undercover FBI employee. On those three occasions, he remained in his vehicle while his mother retrieved the cash, and then he transmitted it to his female contact in Syria, the filing says. An FBI search of Chhipas home in 2019 turned up thousands of videos, pictures, essays, books, notes, and search histories about extremist ideology, jihad, ISIS, and violent propaganda on multiple devices, including instructions on how to build explosive devices and images depicting what appears to be a beheading of an ISIS prisoner, the FBI said. According to media reports, Chhipa was the subject of an Interpol blue notice which is used so authorities can collection more information about a person for a criminal investigation that had been submitted by the FBI in 2019 because he was suspected of publishing support for violent jihad and radical Islam. Chhipa was taken into custody at a migrant detention center near the Mexican-Guatemalan border and deported to Washington, D.C., on Aug. 16, 2019, Mexican officials said in the media reports. In its affidavit unsealed Friday, the FBI made no mention of Chhipa having been deported back to the United States. But the filing says that in March 2019, Chhipa stated online: Ive already planted the seeds and realized that I only have 3-4 destinations in life, including Hijrah/Jihaad, which the FBI said likely refers to his desire to travel outside of the United States to fight in defense of Muslim lands. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorneys office in Alexandria declined to comment Friday. The court scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to determine whether Chhipa should be held in jail pending trial. The Washington Posts Devlin Barrett contributed to this report. FILE PHOTO: women uses her iPhone mobile device as she passes a lighted Apple logo at the Apple store in New York OMAHA/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett said on Saturday that Apple Inc is a better business than any other in Berkshire Hathaway Inc's portfolio. "Apple is different than the other businesses we own. It just happens to be a better business," said Buffett during Berkshire's annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Berkshire revealed a $1 billion stake in Apple in May 2016, and by March 2023 had boosted that stake to $151 billion, accounting for 46% of its $328 billion equity portfolio, Buffett has long praised Apple CEO Tim Cook, and viewed Apple less as a technology company and more as a consumer products company with a dominant product, the iPhone, that people want and need. Berkshire has recently held a 5.6% stake in Apple, and Buffett said it could buy more. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in Omaha, Nebraska and Carolina Mandl in New York; editing by Diane Craft) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is in London, has emphasized for re-energizing Commonwealth with a focus on youth empowerment. In a tweet on Saturday, the Prime Minister said that he made a case in this regard whilst addressing the Commonwealth Leaders' meeting. The Prime Minister said that he also shared with the world leaders the details of Youth Programme that is based on Education, Employment, Engagement and Environment. He said women and members of minority communities are special focus of the loan scheme. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has regretted the controversy tried to generate by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf around Pakistan's participation in the SCO's meeting in India. In a tweet today, he said it should not be surprising though PTI Chairman Imran Khan has had no qualms about imperiling the country's vital foreign policy interests in the past too. This is what they did when they were in power. He said everything including the conduct of interstate relations is a plaything for the PTI. Derek Cooling (29) was arrested after a search when gardai saw him removing a package from his trousers. A father-of-two was caught with five deals of crack cocaine after gardai saw him in a hand-to-hand transaction on a city street. Derek Cooling (29) was arrested after a search when gardai saw him removing a package from his trousers. Judge Treasa Kelly gave him a four-month suspended sentence. Cooling, with an address at Old Church Crescent, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to sell or supply. Dublin District Court heard gardai saw the accused and another man in a suspicious hand-to-hand transaction at ODonovan Rossa Bridge, Dublin 7 on February 1 last year. Cooling was seen removing a white package from the back of his trousers. A garda approached and searched the accused, finding five individual deals of crack cocaine. The accused had 49 previous convictions for offences including possession of drugs. He was homeless and using drugs at the time of the latest incident, his solicitor John Shanley said. Cooling was significantly unwell and attending hospitals at the moment. Judge Kelly said it was a serious matter. She suspended the sentence for 18 months. Approximately 7,300 in cash was seized by gardai, along with a number of ziplock bags containing green herb and suspected cocaine. A judge has returned over 7,000 in seized cash to a convicted drug dealer and another man after the State failed to provide sufficient proof that suspected cocaine and cannabis seized during a garda raid almost 12 months ago were illegal drugs. Judge John Brennan affirmed the order at a sitting of Athlone District Court yesterday on foot of an application by Joe Doyle, Darren Doyle and Joe Mears of Richmond Court, Longford. The latter is to be sentenced at a sitting of Longford Circuit Criminal Court next week after pleading guilty last year to the possession of drugs for the purposes of sale and supply at Danestown, Balrath, Navan, Co Meath in September 2017. Mears also has two previous convictions, one for violent disorder and the other for possession of a firearm. Joe Doyle, the court heard, had passed away since the matter was first listed, while Darren Doyle is not before the courts. Approximately 7,300 in cash was seized by gardai, along with a number of ziplock bags containing green herb and suspected cocaine. The court had heard previously of concerns over the validity of a search warrant used during the planned operation when it emerged how one of the garda officers entered a property for which there was no warrant. The court has previously heard that a search was carried out by gardai in numbers 1 to 5, Richmond Court, Longford, on foot of a warrant with the State accepting that Gardai did not have a warrant to search number 7, where the alleged drugs were found. Sgt Eoin Fox said he entered the dwelling after noticing a young male suddenly make off, resulting in an ensuing chase. Judge John Brennan said while he could not foresee any breach in the Constitution as gardai were dealing with a "fluid situation", the case had been adjourned on a number of occasions to allow for a forensic analysis to be carried out on the alleged drugs that were seized. Niall Flynn BL, instructed by Baxter Mimnagh Solicitors for the applicants, argued the State was fully aware of the ramifications if there were any further delays. "This case has been marked peremptory against the state four times, this time with a capital P," he said, stating also how notification of chief garda witness in the case would be unable to attend owing to sickness. "We (defence) were only informed yesterday evening. We received a sheet of paper stating he was unfit for work but it was sparse on information and did not state when he presented to a doctor and what his complaint was. "Further there were 5 or 6 other garda involved in this search, some gave evidence previously, and none of them turned up to court today." Inspector Dave Jordan replied, saying the garda concerned had been suffering from a bout of food poisoning, a claim Mr Flynn expressed his surprise at in it being absent from the doctors certificate. Judge Brennan consequently found in favour of the application applicants and ordered the return of the monies to both parties. Charlotte OBrien said Mr X had been making comments on her appearance and weight for several months before the incident. An office worker who suffered extreme distress and trauma when her male colleague came from behind and tried to pull down her trousers in front of other staff has been awarded over 50,000 compensation. The Workplace Relations Commission ordered the maximum sum it could to the worker having found that her employer, Deadline Direct Ltd trading as Deadline Couriers failed in its duty to put harassment prevention measures in place before the sexual assault and that its handling of the affair afterwards did not mitigate [this] in any way. The complainant, Charlotte OBrien had been accused by the firm of failing to engage with its appointed investigator, the company accountant who left a WRC hearing in February early, before he could give evidence to back up that claim. Mr ONeill noted that he had watched the CCTV footage of the attack on 27 May 2021 himself and witnessed a male colleague named only as Mr X both placing his hands on [Ms OBrien] and making an attempt to pull her trousers down. Ms OBrien said she was leaning against a wall in an open-plan office, with her hands full with rolls of shrink-wrap and sellotape, when Mr X carried out the assault. It was done in front of a room full of male colleagues while her hands were occupied, she said. Mr X then proceeded to joke and mimic what he had just done to other female workers. "None of the numerous male colleagues who witnessed this said anything or assisted [her], said her barrister Mary Fay BL, who appeared instructed by solicitor Walter Mee. Ms OBrien said she left the room and reported the matter to a duty manager, who didnt tell her to go home and didnt do anything adding that when she went back to the office, Mr X was still in his seat and had not been told to leave. The Workplace Relations Commission. Photo: Stock image She said Mr X had been making comments on her appearance and weight for several months before this. The tribunal heard that the company began an investigation in June 2021, with the companys accountant, Austin Bergin, formally interviewing her on 2 July. Ms OBrien took sick leave seven days later, and the firm stopped her pay a week later, she said, leaving her to use her annual leave entitlement and then take up a social welfare payment. The complainant reported the matter to the gardai, was attending a counsellor and remained unfit to work, but despite this the respondent continued to put pressure on her to return to work, her solicitor said. Mr X resigned without being interviewed and Ms OBrien was not given any investigation report. The investigator appointed by the firm, Mr Bergin, left the hearing before he gave evidence, stating he did not think the matter would take so long, the tribunal noted. Solicitor Sean Foley of Century Law, appearing for the company, said none of its staff had ever made a complaint against Mr X prior to 27 May 2021 and that it was so unique that it could not have been reasonably foreseen. He submitted that the companys procedures were effective but that Ms OBrien did not fully engage with the grievance process and failed to invoke its grievance procedure arguing the firm was prevented from taking steps to address the matter in accordance with their legislative requirements because of her alleged refusal to use its grievance process. The companys chief executive, David McCann, said in evidence that these had been provided to the complainant in a company handbook. However, in his decision, the adjudicator, Mr ONeill, wrote that there was no documentary evidence supporting that contention, which was disputed by the complainant, who said she did not receive the handbook. He found the employee handbook did not contain a clear and distinct policy on sexual harassment had not been provided to the complainant and no evidence of training having been provided to employees prior to the date of the sexual assault, he wrote. There were no preventative measures taken whatsoever taken by the respondent, he wrote, adding that the alleged investigation by the accountant, Mr Bergin, did not mitigate this in any way. Mr Bergin is the respondents accountant and there was no evidence presented to suggest that he had any expertise in these... If he had, I believe that he would have produced a report with findings, Mr ONeill wrote. I noted the extreme distress and trauma that she displayed when giving her direct evidence, almost two years after the assault, as well as the apparent and understandable breakdown of her trust in the respondent given their actions after she made her complaint. "In particular, it is scarcely credible that she has still not received an outcome of the very serious complaint that she made, he added. Mr ONeill said a complete investigation report could have reversed some of the effects of the discriminatory treatment. He said a new dignity at work policy since brought in by the company will be of little benefit to Ms OBrien, who Mr ONeill noted was still an employee but unlikely to get back to work soon. He ordered the firm to pay the maximum compensation in the matter, two years pay, to Ms OBrien, a sum of 50,440. The man in his 50s was arrested following an Operation Tara search Some of the drugs seized in Waterford A man has been charged after more than 141,000 worth of suspected drugs were seized in Waterford City on Friday. The man in his 50s was arrested following an Operation Tara search. He appeared before a special sitting of Gorey District Court at 5pm this evening. It follows the Garda seizure of 141,000 of suspected cannabis, cocaine and tablets along with over 10,000 in cash during a raid at 7.45am yesterday morning at a property in Ferrybank. Gardai from the Waterford Divisional Drugs Unit carried out the raid as part of a probe into the sale and supply of drugs in Waterford city. The Garda Dog Unit was also involved in the search. During the course of this search, gardai seized approximately 89,320 of suspected cannabis, 20,700 of suspected cocaine, 24,000 of suspected Alprazolam tablets and 7,000 of suspected Zopiclone tablets. 10,540 in cash was also seized, gardai said in a statement. "All of the drugs seized will be sent to Forensic Science Ireland for analysis. Stephen Penrose,40, was caught on camera committing the sex act as the warder went by his open cell door. A notorious killer is under investigation for exposing himself behind bars to a female member of prison staff. Evil Stephen Penrose, 40, was caught on camera committing the sex act as the warder went by his open cell door. It is understood the officer made a formal complaint to Gardai and now a full investigation is underway. Penrose, the wayward son of a garda, is regarded as one of the most violent and difficult prisoners being held in Mountjoy Prison. He was convicted of murder two years ago and is serving a life sentence for the brutal killing of his friend Philip Finnegan,24, in August, 2016. Murder victim Philip Finnegan Read more State drops car-jacking charges against double killer Stephen Penrose He abducted Finnegan and stabbed him to death several times in a row over drugs before burying him in a shallow grave in Rahin Woods, outside Naas, Co Kildare. The body was found by a man out walking his dog three weeks later. During his time in custody, Penrose has attacked and threatened to kill a number of prison staff. He was also kept in isolation for a long period after receiving death threats from other inmates namely Kinahan cartel members and the Dundon brothers . A senior Mountjoy source said the latest incident occurred three weeks ago. He said: "A female warder was passing his cell and he exposed himself to her. He didn't realise but the whole incident was caught on camera. "He committed a sex act in front of her and she has rightly now reported the incident to the Gardai. "A full investigation is now underway and hopefully he will be charged. "If he is convicted of committing a lewd sex act he will be regarded as a sex offender and then probably transferred to the sex offenders unit of the Midlands Prison. They are welcome to him "This guy is nothing but trouble and everyone hates him from the staff to other prisoners." It is believed the warder involved was angry and upset by the incident. The source added: "She is a very strong woman and is determined not to let a thug like Penrose get away with this type of behavior. Everyone here is supporting her. "Some of these criminals think they can do whatever they like." The Irish Prison Service does not comment on individual prisoners. A Revenue spokesman said the seizure was made as part of an intelligence lead operation targeting drug importation. Gardai arrested two men and seized cannabis worth 750k yesterday in an operation targeting organised crime gangs. The drugs were discovered following a search operation in the Dublin 13 area yesterday by gardai and the Revenue Customs Service. During the search, Revenue officers seized approximately 35 kilograms of herbal cannabis with an estimated value of 750,000. Gardai arrested two men, one in his 40s and the other in his 30s. They are both currently detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 at a Garda Station in North Dublin. A garda spokesman said the searches were carried out as part of an ongoing operation targeting organised crime gangs. As part of an operation targeting persons suspected of involvement with organised crime, a search operation was carried out in Dublin 13 on Friday, 5th May 2023. "The joint operation was conducted by personnel attached to the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), Raheny and Coolock District Drug Units, the Raheny District Crime Unit and Revenue Customs Service. A Revenue spokesman said the seizure was made as part of an intelligence lead operation targeting drug importation. "Yesterday (05/05/2023), as part of an intelligence-led operation, Revenue officers seized approximately 35kgs of herbal cannabis with an estimated value of 750,000 in Dublin 13. "This operation was part of Revenues ongoing joint investigations targeting organised crime groups and the importation, sale and supply of illegal drugs. " If businesses, or members of the public, have any information regarding drug smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on phone number 1800 295 295. Press Release May 6, 2023 Villar joins life-changing medical mission NOTING that cleft lip and palate remain to be a common birth defect in the Philippines, affecting one (1) in every 1,000 children, Sen. Cynthia Villar hailed a medical mission to address this concern. She specifically acknowledged the 'Operation Restore Hope' on its 30th anniversary of bringing this life-changing medical mission to underprivileged children with these deformities. "The condition can have a significant impact on a child's ability to eat, speak, hear, and socialize normally, leading to low self-esteem and social isolation. That's why this medical mission, which provides free lip and cleft palate surgeries to underprivileged children, is so important," related the senator. This surgery to repair cleft lip and palate, Villar said, can significantly improve a child's quality of life and self-esteem. "It can restore normal function and achieve a more normal appearance with minimal scarring. By providing these surgeries for free, we are giving hope and transforming lives," she emphasized. Through her Villar SIPAG Foundation, the senator joined Ben Mead, founder of Mead Foundation, who brought the "Operation Restore Hope Australia" medical mission, in her home city of Las Pinas. She also showed appreciation to the Las Pinas City Medical Center for their invaluable partnership in providing the venue and support of its medical practitioners and workers in this mission- the "Libreng Operasyon Para Sa Bingot." "Let us all strive to make a positive difference in the lives of these children," she added. Villar, lumahok sa life-changing medical mission Sa pahayag na karaniwang birth defect ang 'cleft lip at palate' sa Pilipinas kung saan apektado ang isa sa kada 1,000 bata, pinuri ni Sen. Cynthia Villar ang isang medical mission para tugunan ito. Partikular na tinukoy niya ang 'Operation Restore Hope' na nagdiriwang ng kanilang 30th anibersaryo sa paghahatid ng 'life-changing medical mission' sa mga kapus-palad nating mga batang may ganitong kapansanan. "The condition can have a significant impact on a child's ability to eat, speak, hear, and socialize normally, leading to low self-esteem and social isolation. That's why this medical mission, which provides free lip and cleft palate surgeries to underprivileged children, is so important," ayon kay Villar. Ang operasyon para ayusin ang cleft lip at palate, ani Villar, ay malaking tulong na iangat ang kalidad ng buhay ng may ganitong kapansanan. "It can restore normal function and achieve a more normal appearance with minimal scarring. By providing these surgeries for free, we are giving hope and transforming lives," gift niya. Sa pamamagitan ng kanyang Villar SIPAG Foundation, nakiisa ang senador kay Ben Mead, founder ng Mead Foundation na nagdala ng "Operation Restore Hope Australia" medical mission sa Las Pinas. Ikinagalak din niya ang Las Pinas City Medical Center sa sa pagsuporta ng kanilang medical practitioners at iba pang tauhan sa misyong ito-"Libreng Operasyon Para Sa Bingot." "Let us all strive to make a positive difference in the lives of these children'" dagdag pa niya. By Jonathan Stempel and John McCrank OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffet on Saturday said he is more comfortable with Berkshire Hathaway Inc deploying capital in Japan than Taiwan, reflecting the growing tensions between the United States and China. The billionaire investor contrasted Berkshire's recently increased investments in five Japanese trading houses with its recent U-turn on a multi-billion dollar investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, or TSMC. "It's a marvelous company," Buffett said at Berkshires annual meeting, referring to Taiwan Semiconductor. But "I would feel better about capital that we've got deployed in Japan than in Taiwan.... That's the reality." Berkshire invested more than $4 billion in TSMC last year, only to sell most of it within three months. Tensions between the U.S. and China have simmered in recent months, with some investors worried that China might invade Taiwan. Meanwhile, Berkshire revealed last month it had increased its stakes in Itochu Corp, Marubeni Corp, Mitsubishi Corp, Mitsui & Co and Sumitomo Corp to 7.4%, and Buffett said his company might buy more. Berkshire in August 2020 had first disclosed owning 5% stakes in each, in investments then worth more than $6 billion, and reported increasing the stakes to more than 6% in November. Buffett said the investment reflected their similarities to his own conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc. "The Japanese thing was simple," Buffett said. "There were five very very substantial companies, understandable companies" paying decent dividends and repurchasing their shares, and where Berkshire could manage the currency risk by selling yen-denominated debt to finance the sale, he added. "They're doing intelligent things, and they're sizable, so we just started buying them," and have been "more than pleasantly surprised" at their progress, he said. Berkshire does not pay a dividend. Story continues Buffett's longtime business partner Charlie Munger took a different view, pointing to Apple Inc's success in using China as a major supplier, which he said has been good for both the company and the country. "I think we're equally guilty of being stupid," Munger said, referring to the U.S. and China. "If there's one thing we should do it's get along with China and we should have a lot of free trade with China, in our mutual interest," he said. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in Omaha, Nebraska and John McCrank in New York; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Chizu Nomiyama) Seema Banu and her children Asfira Riza (11) and Faizan Syed (6) passed away tragically as the victims of domestic abuse in October 2020 A touching fundraiser has been launched to erect a fitting gravestone for the beautiful family who died at the hands of killer husband and father, Sameer Syed three years ago. So far, 4,117 has been raised of the 4,000 goal on the GoFundMe page for Seema Banu and her children Asfira Riza (11) and Faizan Syed (6) who passed away tragically as the victims of domestic abuse in October 2020. (They) were a beautiful family, the appeal reads. Seema doted on her children and loved them with all her heart. Asfira was super smart, a great talker, artistic and a real beauty. Faizan was full of energy and had a cute, cheeky smile. He loved to play games and make friends in school. They passed away tragically as the victims of domestic abuse in October 2020. The appeal adds: Now, after the inquest into their deaths has passed, and at their family's request, we would like to erect a fitting gravestone for Seema, Asfira and Faizan. Please help if you are in a position to do so. A former neighbour of Seema is raising the funds to get the headstone made, with the permission of the Banu family. She told how the young mother loved her kids who were strangled to death at their home in Rathfarnham, Dublin with all her heart." Their bodies were discovered in their home at Llewellyn Court, Ballinteer in south Dublin in 2020. Sameer (37), who had roamed free for some weeks before being arrested for the triple murder, had insisted that the bodies be buried in Dublin, which was against Seema's family's wishes in India. The mum and kids' grave in Newcastle Cemetery in North Dublin has remained bare for over two years as Seema's family could not afford to travel over to visit it. Vivienne Bwalya, Seema's neighbour in Rathfarnham, who set up the GoFundMe to raise money to get a gravestone erected in their memory told the Irish Mirror: "We were thinking of it. But I couldn't do it on my own. And when we were in Ireland we just discussed and decided. "It's very important for our family to remember Seema, Asfira and Faizan. And this is another way of doing that." Sameer Syed was found dead in his prison cell in June 2022, just days before he was due to go on trial for the murders of Seema, Asfira and Faizan. The murder charges were formally dropped after Syed was found dead in the Midlands Prison. It later emerged that Syed had previously been arrested and was charged with seriously assaulting his wife five months before her murder. Just weeks after the murder Mr Syed gave a number of newspaper interviews. Speaking to the Sunday World, Syed broke down several times as he told of wishing he could turn back time before the murders. If God gave me one wish only one wish in my life I want to go back and be with my family happy," Sameer Syed said just a week after the murders he was suspected of carrying out. Im a human being who has no power to do that thing to make everything like it was. If God could give me one wish and go back and be happy with my family. I wish it would go away like a bad nightmare. Has the man never heard of a handkerchief, scarlet for his ma This is the awkward moment Leo Varadkar was caught on camera picking his nose while attending the Coronation of King Charles. A BBC clip showing the Taoiseach walking with his partner Matt as he clearly explores his nostril with his finger went viral within moments of it being shared online. Ya just cant keep your finger outta anything, one person who shared the video exclaimed. The footage quickly garnered hundreds of comments highlighting what is undoubtedly a cringy moment for the Taoiseach. Surely he knew cameras were going to be everywhere! one suggested, while another added: Oh my god, has he never not embarrassed Ireland on the global stage. One typical Irish response was: Has the man never heard of a handkerchief, scarlet for his ma. Jesus wept we can't send him anywhere, another added. Unfortunately for Leo, this is not the first time he has been caught in the act after he got involved in a row with Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty in the Dail in December 2018. A massive fight broke out after Leo had said that when it comes to law and order, Doherty's party weren't long letting "the balaclava slip." It took some effort for the Ceann-Comhairle to calm proceedings in the Dail but in the meantime eagle-eyed viewers spotted Leo picking his nose live-on-air before he realised he was on camera. It was an embarrassing blip for Mr Varadkar who had attended the glittering coronation service in Westminster Abbey in London with President Michael D Higgins. They had also been present at a reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday when they spoke to Charles and members of the UK Government. The Taoiseach said: King Charles and Queen Camilla are long-standing friends of Ireland and King Charles has visited regularly in the past two decades, supporting good bilateral relations, co-operation, peace and reconciliation. I expressed my hope that his regular visits will continue into his reign. I was pleased to accept the invitation to attend the coronation, alongside President Higgins, symbolising the close neighbourly relations between our two countries. This is a historic moment for the British people, for the realm, and for their friends around the world. Wright was vehemently anti-peace process, a view which saw him oversee a bitter sectarian murder campaign for the UVF and then LVF. The ghost of loyalist mass killer Billy Wright is casting a shadow over the future of Northern Irelands peace process. Disgruntled UVF members have hailed the memory of the loyalist martyr, who was murdered in jail in 1997. Posters have appeared at locations across the Shankill estate lauding the former terror chief believed to have been one of the most prolific sectarian killers in the history of the Troubles. The Billy Was Right No Irish Sea Border posters have appeared in recent days but there has been much discussion in UVF circles about the legacy of the man dubbed King Rat, and in particular his opposition to the peace process. Wright was vehemently anti-peace process, a view which saw him oversee a bitter sectarian murder campaign for the UVF and then LVF. There remains significant anger in loyalist communities that they were sold a pup when convinced to back the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), which they believe has led to the position today where an Irish Sea border has been imposed as part of the Brexit agreement. The appearance of the posters is in stark contrast to the glittering celebration of the GFA in Belfast last month. Architects of the peace deal including former US President Bill Clinton, Senator George Mitchell and ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair gathered Queens University to celebrate a quarter of century of the process. Billy Wright poster Polling has suggested that were the Agreement set before the voting public today it would not pass because of a collapse in support within loyalism. Earlier this year paramilitary umbrella group the Loyalist Communities Council which represents the UVF, Red Hand Commando and UDA withdrew its support of the GFA. Insiders say there is still a simmering anger and, with the marching season round the corner, there are concerns over the potential for trouble. The loyalist community has had enough of getting the thin edge of the wedge, a UVF source told us. We forced the GFA through, without loyalism there would be no peace process. Billy Wright in his coffin We [UVF] pressured our members to cast their vote in favour, people were beaten and in some cases forced out of the country because of their refusal to back GFA. We now know that was very badly wrong. If we knew then what was coming down the road Northern Irelands position in the UK at risk, European laws still being forced on us, placing us outside the UK there is no chance we would have backed the deal. Billy was right. In 1994, the UVF and other paramilitary groups had called ceasefires, something Wright vehemently argued against, stating it was a sell-out to Irish nationalists and republicans. Police believe Billy Wright murdered by the INLA in the Maze prison was involved in at least 20 sectarian killings, but was never convicted for any. Two men, aged 33 and 44, have been arrested Suspected drugs seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim. Suspected firearms seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim. Suspected firearm seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim. Police have seized a suspected firearm, ammunition and over 50,000 worth of suspected drugs in Co Antrim. Two men, aged 33 and 44, have been arrested. Searches were carried out in Belfast and Carrickfergus. District Commander for Mid & East Antrim, Superintendent Gillian Kearney said: Local officers stopped a vehicle in the North Road area of Carrickfergus on Friday, 5th May when they saw what they believed to be suspicious activity. A small quantity of suspected Class B controlled drugs were located on a 33-year-old man and searches were subsequently carried out at a nearby property. A number of items were seized, including a suspected assault weapon, magazine and ammunition, a large quantity of suspected Class A controlled drugs, a further amount of suspected Class B controlled drugs and drug-related paraphernalia, she added. Additional searches were conducted at a second property in Carrickfergus and a property in central Belfast. During these searches, a number of items were seized including a quantity of suspected Class B and Class C controlled drugs and drug-related paraphernalia. Suspected firearms seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim. The 33-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of multiple offences including possessing a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possessing prohibited weapons and possession of Class A and Class B drugs with intent to supply. The second man, aged 44, has been arrested on suspicion of multiple offences including possessing a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possessing prohibited weapons and possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply. Both remain in police custody at this time. Detective Inspector McCamley of Organised Crime Branch said: Yesterdays operation is part of an investigation into the activity of a criminal gang and the activities of those who we suspect have been engaged in organised crime throughout Northern Ireland. Suspected drugs seized as part of the PSNI operation in Co Antrim. The suspected firearm is a highly significant find. We are investigating how the weapon was obtained, and how the suspects intended to use it. This could have been used to threaten, intimidate and ultimately kill, and the removal of this weapon along with a large amount of drugs intended for our streets, has made our community safer, he continued. The people who are involved in this type of dangerous and life-threatening criminality put entire communities at risk. The Police Service of Northern Ireland will continue to work with communities across Northern Ireland to relentlessly tackle the scourge of criminals who use the threat of violence in an attempt to coercively take control of peoples lives. Together we can tackle this. Police have asked that anyone with information contact them via 101. The lawn will host a garden party on Saturday. King Charles III on a walkabout outside Buckingham Palace, London, to meet wellwishers ahead of the coronation on Saturday. Photo: PA PA Tricksters have mown a giant penis into a famous 'perfect lawn' on one of Britain's most exclusive streets - just days before a coronation party. Residents of the exclusive Royal Crescent in Bath were stunned to wake up to the large image on the grass outside their homes this week. The Royal Crescent is hosting a Georgian-themed Grand Coronation Party at the weekend. A flyer for the party says says: "Celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Georgian era. "Decorate your own regal crown, watch demonstrations on royal fashion and visit the Georgian Cook cooking up delicious recipes in the kitchen." The Royal Crescent will be familiar to Netflix viewers as the location of the smash-hit Regency era drama Bridgerton. Tweet Meanwhile a People Before Profit TD has said that RTE's planned broadcast of King Charles coronation this weekend is quite inappropriate. Paul Murphy said the state broadcaster should rethink their coverage of the event, which he believes is simply an attempt to launder the reputation of the monarchy. People are going to be asked on Saturday, through their TV screens, to swear allegiance to Charles, a man who nobody has cast a single vote for, a man who was titular head of the parachute regiment responsible for Bloody Sunday, a man who received suitcases full of cash from the Qatari prime minister. The idea that RTE - a public service broadcaster in a republic, which was colonised by the British empire - should be showing this as some major item, as opposed to featuring it for a couple of minutes in a news piece, seems to me to be quite inappropriate. RTE will televise the event from 10am on Saturday and while Murphy explained that he wasnt trying to police public service broadcasting, he believes the coronation has no place on Irish television screens. Another tweet The British monarchy is not some benign tourist attraction. It is built on racism, on slavery, on empire, he said. They're going to spend something like 250m, they're going to give an additional 400m to do a full renovation of the palaces for Charles and Camilla. This isnt some kind of neutral thing. Even the idea that the history of racism for the monarchy is something in the distant past... Camillas crown is being refurbished with 60m of Star of Africa diamonds. They were taken from South Africa in 1907. Theres going to be 6,000 British troops (and) 60 fighter jets. Its going to be a display of obscene militarism and imperialism. Lets see if people want to watch it. Even in Britain 70pc of the public say they don't care very much, or they don't care at all, about the coronation. In Ireland, I suspect the numbers who care are going to be substantially less, Mr Murphy said. The semifinal today will feature plenty of action from Bay of Plenty surfers at the Sequence Surf Shop Gisborne Junior Pro. On the first day of the event on Saturday Taranaki surfer Spencer Rowson continued his exceptional form. Spencer surfed to the days highest heat score of 16.34 points out of a possible 20 with explosive surfing in the average conditions that were on offer. The surf was small all day with swell under the 1.0m mark and moderate northerly cross shore winds. Conditions improved slightly for the Under 18 Boys Division that was contested at the end of the day as the sun dipped behind the hills to the west. I was just trying to have fun. It actually looked terrible from the beach but when you are out there, there are actually a couple of good ones with right hand bowls, says Spencer. I know there is the prize for best turn but I didnt really think about it out there, I was just trying to have fun and I had two good scores already and took off on that last right and got a good air rev he added of his 8.67 point ride. Spencer has led the rankings for the past two months and has spent considerable time in the South Island competing in Dunedin, Christchurch and Kaikoura. I am looking forward to the end of this event, I have been enjoying it but also I am looking forward to being at home and getting a few winter tubes after this event." Spencer was joined by several of the top seeds in the Under 18 Boys Division including Kalani Louis (Tara) who finished the day with a win to advance through to the quarterfinals. Other winners in the first round included Beau Woods (Mnt), Nate Florence (Tara), Tyler Perry (Kaik) and Will Hardie (Piha). Leia Millar. Image courtesy of Cory / NZ Surfing Magazine. The cream of the Under 16 Girls Division are set for two huge semifinals on Sunday. Current rankings leader Leia Millar (Piha) goes up against the Groube sisters Chloe and Lola, alongside Sage Fritchley (Mnt). The second semifinal sees Raglan surfers Maya Mateja, Lani Frazerhurst and Alani Morse battle it out with Christchurch surfer Poppy Entwisle. Tao Mouldey shone above his opponents in the Under 16 Boys Division with a 14.40 point heat total to advance through to the quarterfinals. The small conditions were no hinderance for Tao as he took to the air on his backhand to post a 7.40 on his best scoring ride. Tao will be joined by Tava Santorik (Mnt) in his quarterfinal along with Hawkes Bay surfers Patrick Burbury and Beck Allen. Theo Morse (Rag) and Ezekiel Wyper (Tairua) will be another good match up in the quarters after both surfers won their heats today. Other heat winners on day one include Taj Millar Dal Bosco (WGM), Manu Roberts (Tairua), Soren Bucka Christensen (Tara) and Sam Frazerhurst (Auck). The Under 14 Boys had to battle through two rounds on the opening day with the final eight surfers confirmed. Current rankings leader Sol Fritchley (Mnt) impressed with his smooth surfing yet again as he advanced through two rounds, his highest scoring heat totalling 13.60 points. Sol has a big semifinal match up ahead with fellow Mount surfers Remy Sale and Vitor Bauermann and Ahiparas Kentaro Mitchell. The second semifinal sees another three Bay of Plenty surfers in action with Lennox Holdaway, Zen Mouldey and Eli Beer going up against Raglans Luca Thompson. The groms were going all out on Saturday chasing the biggest manoeuvre award, supplied by Sequence Surf Shop. $100 is on offer in each division for the surfer that impresses the judges with the most explosive manoeuvre. The Volkswagen Highest Heat Score Award went to Spencer Rowson on day one with a 16.34 point heat total in the first round of the Under 16 Boys Division. The Sequence Surf Shop Gisborne Junior Pro is part of the wider New Zealand Grom Series which includes the Billabong Grom Series, the Connect Group South Island Grom Series and a number of other individual junior events that concludes with the ONeill Taranaki Grom Comp in October. Surfers from Ahipara down to Christchurch are taking part on the weekend in Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18 divisions with finals day action taking place from 8am 3pm. This years event would not be possible without the support of Sequence Surf Shop Gisborne, Gisborne Boardriders, Creatures of Leisure and Sex Wax. For full results from the first day of the Sequence Surf Shop Gisborne Junior Pro, including the day two schedule, please visit https://liveheats.com/events/115156. National Rankings: NZ Surf Series - Open Men, Open Women NZ Grom Series - U18 Boys, U18 Girls, U16 Boys, U16 Girls, U14 Boys, U14 Girls NZ Longboard and SUP Series - Men's, Women's, Over 40s, Over 50s, U18 Boys, U18 Girls New definitive stamp continues more than 170 years of historic tradition OTTAWA, ON, May 6, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, Canada Post unveiled Canada's first definitive stamp featuring His Majesty King Charles III at the Canadian ceremony marking the Coronation of the new monarch, hosted by Canadian Heritage.This is the first time His Majesty King Charles III has appeared on the Canadian stamp. King Charles III Stamp (CNW Group/Canada Post) The stamp continues Canada Post's long-standing tradition of issuing definitive stamps depicting the Canadian sovereign, dating back more than 170 years. This tradition first begun in 1851 with a pre-Confederation stamp featuring Queen Victoria, the King's great-great-great grandmother. On September 8, 2022, His Majesty ascended the throne upon the passing of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. The King has been the heir apparent since 1951, and was created Prince of Wales by Queen Elizabeth II when he was nine years old. Since His Majesty's first official tour of Canada in 1970, he has returned numerous times with his most recent trip in 2022 as part of Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations. The definitive stamp was designed by Paprika, and features a portrait of His Majesty King Charles III, then The Prince of Wales, by photographer Alan Shawcross. Printed by Lowe-Martin, the issue includes a booklet of 10 Permanent domestic rate stamps and an Official First Day Cover. The Official First Day Cover features a photograph of His Majesty in Ottawa during the 2022 Royal Tour, when he was The Prince of Wales. The photo on the Official First Day Cover was taken by Canadian photographer Justin Tang. The cancel site is Ottawa, Ontario. The stamp will be issued on Monday, May 8, 2023. A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of a regular issue of stamps, designed to serve the everyday needs and issued in indefinite quantities. A commemorative stamp celebrates a special place, event, person, theme or theme, often issued on a significant date. Unlike a definitive stamp which is reprinted for general usage, a commemorative stamp is printed in a limited quantities and is available until stamps run out. Story continues The new stamp and collectibles will be available at canadapost.ca and postal outlets across Canada. For links to images of the stamp and other products, and other resources: TM Trademark of Canada Post Corporation SOURCE Canada Post Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2023/06/c2085.html Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. New Hartford, N.Y. A person died Friday evening in a house fire in New Hartford, police said. Emergency crews were called around 6:30 p.m. to the fire on Willowtree Circle, New Hartford Police Chief Ronald Fontaine said in a news release. A person who lived in the home died in the fire, Fontaine said. Investigators are working to determine what caused the fire, he said. Police are withholding the persons name until next of kin are notified, Fontaine said. Staff writer Fernando Alba covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, question or comment? Reach him: Email | Twitter or at 315-690-6950. Salina, N.Y. A man arrested after a standoff with sheriffs deputies in Salina overnight had fired gunshots in the neighborhood before, neighbors told deputies. This time some of the bullets hit a nearby home, according to court documents. After making waves in April with a prediction that Bitcoin would surge to US$100,000 by the end of 2024, Geoff Kendrick, crypto research chief at Standard Chartered Bank, insists theres more to crypto than its most dominant digital asset. But after the turmoil of the past year the high profile collapse of stablecoin TerraUSD, the centralized exchange FTX and a trio of crypto-friendly banks investors need reassurance that their digital assets wont fall foul of any further meltdowns. For Kendrick, thats where greater regulation and the involvement of central banks come in. He talked to Forkasts Jenny Ortiz-Bolivar about the crypto industry beyond Bitcoin, his hopes for greater transparency in the industry and the acceleration of central bank digital currencies worldwide. The Q&A has been edited for clarity and length. Jenny Ortiz-Bolivar: Youve predicted a surge in the price of Bitcoin. But beyond that, which of the altcoins are you keeping a close eye on? Geoff Kendrick: Ethereums upgrades to proof-of-stake in September and, more recently, the Shanghai upgrade, mean that investors can remove coins that have been staked previously. Then theres the addition of layer 2 solutions, meaning that speed and other concerns around Ethereum are basically a thing of the past. So Id say Ethereum will continue to dominate. In terms of the other altcoins, I like Solana. It had concerns linked to the FTX collapse in November, but its bounced back a bit since then. Some of the staking solutions like Lido are set to trade relatively well, particularly since the removal of some of those coins staked in Ethereum. Well probably see the likes of Lido continue to do well given what is a relatively low staked market at the moment in Ethereum versus its smart contract competitors. That will likely pick up over time. Then, in terms of decentralized exchanges, the various concerns beginning in November mean that centralized exchanges are now marginally less trustworthy than they were before. As a result, Id say decentralized exchanges like Uniswap should also trade well. So, big picture, I like Bitcoin, I like Ethereum, I like Lido on the staking point and I also like Uniswap to continue trading relatively well. Story continues Ortiz-Bolivar: Theres a growing conversation, both positive and negative, around central bank digital assets. Where do you stand on this issue? Where will these assets fit in among stablecoins issued by private players? Kendrick: Central bank digital assets are becoming really important for the crypto ecosystem. There are now a number of central banks around the world that are looking into them. The Bank of England in the U.K., for example, where I myself have been doing a lot of consultation work, expects to roll out its own digital asset within around two years from now. If and when we have, for example, a Bank of England digital asset, that will legitimize some of the private sector stablecoins, working to then legitimize the broader risk space within crypto. That will probably also help lower volatility in the likes of Ethereum and Bitcoin as well. Id like to see central bank digital asset solutions arrive at the same time as regulatory solutions as this would then bring institutional money into the crypto space. If we then fast forward a couple of years from now, itll be much more normal for global investors to have part of their pension invested not only in bonds and stocks and commodities, but also in crypto markets, and the most liquid assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum in particular. Ortiz-Bolivar: How do you view the privately-issued stablecoins that already feature in the digital asset market? Kendrick: There have obviously been a number of concerns over the last 12 months or so, starting with the Terra-Luna collapse in May 2022. At that time, people started to question just how much cash was actually backing the other stablecoins, with investors becoming particularly concerned about Tether. More recently, the concern has been the US$3.3 billion held by Circle and USDC with Silicon Valley Bank. In that sense, it took concerns in the traditional financial sector itself to bring down, at least temporarily, USDC. But the question going forward still remains how many dollars are actually backing these stablecoins. Essentially, we need more transparency, which would be fantastic for investor confidence. Youll probably get regulations specifically around stablecoins soon as well, because even the U.S. Treasury has acknowledged that its needed. I actually suspect thats where the first chunk of U.S. regulation is likely headed. Ortiz-Bolivar: On the subject of regulation, we are now seeing the U.S. seem to throw away its position of relative advantage in the digital asset world. What do you make of U.S. crypto policy and the apparently adversarial nature of the Securities and Exchange Commission? Kendrick: The U.S. response has been very, very slow. Unfortunately, the SEC has failed to take a proactive stance in terms of deciding what type of assets stablecoins are, among various other issues. In other countries, the U.K. for example, we have the Bank of England being relatively pragmatic in terms of talking to crypto users. In the EU too, weve had the MiCA regulation come through, which is great. I would say over the next couple of years its more likely that crypto flows and companies move out of the U.S. to Europe given some of those regulatory positives weve got coming through. But, ultimately, the size and depth of the market in the U.S. means that if and when regulation comes, some of those European gains could be short lived. NY Cannabis Insider is hosting a full-day problems and solutions summit at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany on May 18. Learn more and buy tickets here. Jeffrey Hoffman is a New York City-based attorney who hosts Ask Me Anything about Cannabis Legalization in New York each week on LinkedIn. Hoffman and NY Cannabis Insider have partnered to bring those sessions into print in a Q&A format. Sign up for the NY Cannabis Insider Newsletter Enter your email address to get exclusive reporting on NY's cannabis market delivered to your inbox: Hoffmans practice focuses on cannabis industry clients, including licensees in the adult-use market, practitioners in the medical cannabis space, and cannabis adjacent product and service providers. He has a particular interest in social and economic equity cannabis license applicants, and he also informs and assists those convicted of cannabis offenses in getting such convictions expunged from their record. He can be reached at info@420jurist.com. Do you have any idea of revenue numbers for current operating dispensaries in New York? Yes, I believe that they got a Housing Works number that they were somewhere in the neighborhood of a half million dollars a week. I thought Id seen that number from Brad Racino, or somebody had released that number. That puts it about $26 million a year, and its not even summer yet. They do have a big first-mover advantage. I mean, they were the one that got all the press, they are there on Broadway and Eighth, their location is on a corner which is a spectacular location, and in just a very high traffic area. Theyre literally across the street, and have literally in front of the store subway entrances, its just a brilliant location. When will we start to hear about ventilation regulations for lounges? You will start to hear about that when they release the proposed regulations for on-site consumption. There are nine standard license types in the cannabis law here in New York, we have proposed regulations for seven of them although we do have a sprinkling of delivery. So the two we dont have full regs for are delivery and on-site consumption. Even though technically, youre only supposed to be able to get one kind of license even in the supply tier lets say you get a cultivation license; you can also get one processing license and one distribution license for the cannabis that you grew. So that is sort of half collapsing, or quasi collapsing. Theyre not fully collapsing the way they are in retail, but they are saying that if you do get a cultivation license, you can get one processing and distribution license of the cannabis youve cultivated. Similarly, if you have a processing license, you can get one distribution license for the goods that you processed. That the way its going to work. If you have a dispensary license, you are going to be able to do delivery and on-site consumption as of right now. And that may change in future regs. In fact, the point I was getting to here is that on May 11, theyre going to release the putative final regs of the seven, but were still not going to have full delivery or on-site consumption. So the actual question was, when do we start to hear about these ventilation requirements, and the ventilation requirements are going to be when the OCM decides to start moving on those regulations. Whats the deal with zoning in the NIMBY areas, or industrial parks, particularly on Long Island and other parts of the state that are not super in favor of cannabis legalization? Youre seeing some fairly draconian zoning, and I do think OCM is going to probably hack down on this a bit in the regs on May 11. I was talking with [OCM Chief of Staff] Axel Bernabe, and he thought us lawyers should start suing municipalities over these types of things. I think wed have to wait until the regs are final, but state law preempts local law. The open question is: how much can the localities actually do? So, who knows? Maybe thats a good idea. Maybe we ought to start forcing the hands of some of these places that are not allowing cannabis companies to open like normal businesses. Everyone knows that I dont think the cannabis rules should be any more stringent than alcohol rules. I dont have anything against alcohol I like to have a fine adult beverage every now and then but theres no question that alcohol is probably an order of magnitude more destructive in our society, maybe two orders of magnitude more destructive in our society. I guess I do understand from the perspective of, alcohol has been legal in the US for 90 years again now, but we do have a relationship with cannabis here in the United States. I mean, everybody knows who Snoop Dogg is, and I guess some people dont like it. Theres plenty of people that dont like alcohol. But why should the cannabis laws be more stringent than the alcohol laws? It doesnt make a lot of sense. There ought to be able to be cannabis dispensaries anywhere that there are liquor stores, and I think there ought to be on-site consumption anywhere that there are bars. The alcohol rules should not be any less stringent or any more stringent. Cannabis rules should not be any more stringent than alcohol rules. Will you be participating in the NY Cannabis Insider Problems and Solutions event May 18 in Albany? Ill be there, absolutely. Im going to do a lot of listening that day, and I would really like to hear what other people think. I think this is going to be a great event to do that. It would be great if it was a constitutional convention of cannabis, and like we were going to be able to decide in that room what was going to happen for cannabis for the state, because I think we could come up with some good ideas. Hopefully there will be some legislators there because it is in Albany, so maybe theyll come hang out with us, and contribute. But yes, I will be there up in Albany. Im going to head up there the night before. I think the event is the 18th, so Im going to head up there on the 17th stay overnight at the venue. So if youre in Albany, or if youre going to Albany are going to be staying there, were going to party hard. What are your thoughts on the lawsuit filed by Coalition for Access to Regulated & Safe Cannabis against the social equity program? The lawsuit is not against the equity program, per se. Its against the justice-involved program again, and in fact, what the lawsuit is saying is get on with the social equity program, get on with the standard licensing, which is where the equity program is. You will apply as an equity applicant as part of the standard licensing, which is coming later this year. CAURD was not a social equity license, it was a justice-involved license. To be eligible, you had to have a cannabis-related conviction and a two year profitable business. It is not a social equity license. This is a big misconception that folks have had, and I get people that are like, Well, isnt justice-involved also equity? The point is, is that were lawyers, and words matter; when we talk about things, these words really matter. So this license was the justice-involved license. If you mean the group going after the justice-involved license, I hope that its moot. That ultimately, what happens is the court is like, yeah, youre right, but this is all moot. What theyre going on here, is that theres a section in the enumerated powers of the Cannabis Control Board that says yes, the board can do pretty much whatever it wants, including creating new licenses and opening licensing periods. But it says, however, the first retail dispensary licensing application period has to be open to everyone at the same time. Ive had a lot of people I respect tell me that means 10 different things, and none of them agree with each other. I think what it means is the plain letter language of it, which is that when you open the application period for retail dispensary licenses, that has to be open to everyone at the same time. And the question is, did CAURD violate that? I dont want to weigh in on that, because Im not a judge and who knows, a judge will weigh in on it but what Im hoping is that its moot. Can licensed delivery businesses deliver anywhere in your state they want? I believe the answer is yes. I dont believe there are geographic limitations. The opt in and opt out areas were able to opt out physical dispensaries and a physical on-site consumption lounges; they were not able to opt out of delivery. Lets say you have a dispensary in Queens, you could deliver to parts just across the border in Nassau County that have opted out of dispensaries but could not opt out of delivery. I dont think that there is a geographic limit that Im aware of, and if somebody is aware of it, please post but I dont think there is. NY Cannabis Insider is hosting a full-day problems and solutions summit at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany on May 18. Learn more and buy tickets here. Happy weekend everyone, I hope everyone had a wonderful Cinco de Mayo yesterday. We had another busy week at NY Cannabis Insider, lets take a look at what we covered. First, NY Cannabis Insider has a really exciting event coming up in Albany this month, and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. Weve received great feedback about the conferences weve hosted in the past, but were trying something different for this one. Sign up for the NY Cannabis Insider Newsletter Enter your email address to get exclusive reporting on NY's cannabis market delivered to your inbox: The conference will be the states first cannabis summit of 2023, where industry professionals from growers, processors and retailers to attorneys, consultants and politicians will gather for a day of venting and problem-solving. The event will be organized such that the morning session will be dedicated to airing grievances from all angles of the industry, while the afternoon session will be focused on proposed solutions. There will be panel discussions ongoing throughout the day in a second room focused on the states timelines, True Parties of Interest rules, the medical cannabis program, compliance and more. Also, like all our conferences in the past, well be hosting free business consultations, a lunch, networking and a happy hour. But on to the news. I wrote a story Thursday evening about some new details that came out of accounting firm Citrin Coopermans CannaEvolution Summit in Manhattan that day. OCM Director of Business Development James Rogers told an audience that the agencys social equity plan and finalized regulations could create a direct path from the Cannabis Compliance Training and Mentorship Program which is partly geared toward legacy growers to receiving a license. Additionally, Rogers said New York State is building 10 centers across New York State one for each economic development region where prospective cannabis entrepreneurs can receive help planning their businesses and applying for a license. We ran a guest column by cannabis tax attorney Paula Collins about the recently passed Education, Labor and Family Assistance Article VII Legislation or ELFA which includes enforcement against unlicensed sales of cannabis products in the State of New York. Collins writes that, with the fines of $10,000 a day (or is it $20,000 a day as the governors site now claims; will it be $30,000 next time I look?), it seems like the intent of the state government is to lock the largely Black- and brown- and immigrant-owned shop owners into a lifetime of poverty. Earlier in the week, Collins and several other professionals who provide services for weed companies in New York spoke with me about how the states slow rollout of its legal weed program is hurting ancillary service businesses. The conventional wisdom was that ancillary service providers stood to gain a massive amount of business without taking on the same risks as plant-touching companies as the old adage goes: during a gold rush, sell shovels. But a little over two years after the Empire State passed the MRTA, that consensus is changing. Syracuse University journalist Marnie Munoz contributed a piece profiling SUNY Empires online course on medical cannabis. SUNY Empire has offered the online course every spring semester since 2018. Its intended for students pursuing human services careers, jobs that include a range of advocates, from social workers and counselors to government workers and nonprofit employees. Reporter Taylor Huang wrote two stories about cannabis education: one story covered the Cannabis Workforce Initiative launching its first partially in-person certificate program in partnership with Lehman College. Forty-five of the 450 program participants are taking the class in-person at CUNY on the Concourse, which Program Manager David Serrano says is extremely beneficial when learning material, such as analyzing terpenes by smell. Taylors other weed education story looks at Cornell Universitys recently-published manual for growing cannabis, which provides readers with everything theyd need to know about plant breeding, certification, and farming in 2023. This was Taylors last week as an intern for NY Cannabis Insider. Over the past semester, shes done a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes to keep our publication running at top speed, and we wish her all the best moving forward. NY Cannabis Insider Editor/Publisher Brad Racino did a Q&A with state Sen. Jeremy Cooney, who said among other things that he wants more transparency and accountability for cannabis regulators when it comes to timelines. Cooney was recently named chairman of a new Senate Subcommittee on Cannabis. I wrote a small profile on Upstate Canna Co. The Schenectady store was one of the first businesses to receive a CAURD license and is prioritizing one-on-one experiences with customers. Jeffrey Hoffmans newest Ask me anything is up on our site. This week, the cannabis attorney answered questions about consumption lounges, dispensary revenue figures, delivery and more. Continuing our NYs women in cannabis series, we ran a profile on Kassia Graham, director of community and strategy at Cannaclusive. We also added a new entry to our People to know in NY cannabis series: Julia Evans, a cannabis and litigation associate at The Long Law Firm, PLLC. Have a great weekend, everyone, well have plenty more next week. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. BANGKOK (Reuters) - China's Hozon New Energy Automobile will make electric vehicles in Thailand for the Southeast Asian market, a Thai official said on Saturday, as it follows others in building facilities in the region's major auto production hub. Hozon signed an agreement with Thailand's Bangchan General Assembly this week to start production of its NETA V model, expected in 2024, Thai government spokesperson Tipanan Sirichana said in a statement. The EV maker launched its NETA V model in the Thai market last year and planned to start offering its NETA U and NETA S models in the near future, Tipanan said. Other Chinese EV makers like BYD have also invested in Thai plants as demand heats up among domestic consumers choosing from brands like Great Wall Motors and Tesla. Last month, a Thai official said China's Changan Auto would invest $285 million in a facility in Thailand. Thailand is Asia's fourth-largest autos assembly and export hub for carmakers like Toyota and Honda. The country aims to become a key player in the global EV supply chain outside of China by offering tax cuts and subsidies to drive EV adoption and production. It has set a target that 30% of domestic auto production be EVs by 2030. (Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Conor Humphries) Jeroen Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Delhi Posts: 7,249 Thanked: 40,054 Times View My Garage Visit to Hanover | Germany Aviation Museum I had booked a small hotel near the Central Station, right smack in the centre and adjacent to the old city. I wondered around the old town in the evening and had a nice dinner. In all honesty, Hannover is not that great a town. There is not an awful lot to see and do, but I found two interesting museums. There is a general aviation museum (this thread) and not too far away from Hannover is also a Helicopter museum. I managed to visit both. Helicopter thread will follow shortly. The Hannover Aviation museum is on the outskirts of town. Too far to walk from the city centre. It is not particular big, but it has an interesting collection spread over two halls. Here goes: This is an overview of the first hall as you enter. Mostly WW1 and very early days of military aviation here. Most of these aircrafts are replicas. Here a favourite of me and Snoopy, the Sopwith Camel. From 2017 onwards this British fighter dominated the skies above Europe. It was superior to what the Germans had, e.g. the Albatros. Only the Fokker DI and subsequent models had similar agility. The Fokker Triplane was designed to match the Sopwith Camel with agility and climbing speed. Its one downside was its lower air speed. The Fokker D1 is made famous by Snoopys adversary the Red Baron. It was actually a guy called Manfred from Richthofen. He managed 80 air victories, before he got hit by ground fire and crashed. There are no original Fokker DRI anymore. But there are plenty of airworthy replicas about. I have seen the odd one at some airshow la ong time ago. The museum had an interesting video playing were 7 of these Fokker replicas fly in formation! Of course, Anthony Fokker was a brilliant (Dutch) airplane designer and accomplished pilot. However, he was also very much a ruthless business man who sold his planes to anybody that came up with the goodies. After a British and a Dutch design time for a French WW1 Fighter. the Nieuport 17. A relative small, but very agile. It was flown by many, obviously, French squadrons, but also by the some British and American squadrons. Initially its machine gun was mounted over and above the propellor arc, so did not need to be synchronised with the propellor. Unfortunately, the early Lewis machine guns came with only 47 rounds, so the pilot had to replace the magazine in the air! The museum has hundreds and hundreds of models as well. Pretty good quality in terms of build and painting overall. I have taken quite a few snaps of various models that for some reason or the other caught my eye. Not only did they have this Junker model, they also had a very nice real one! This is the Junker F13 and it is considered the very first real commercial transport aircraft. It was one of the earliest aircraft designed specifically for civil purposes in 1919 (end of WW1). It was even exported to the USA as well. The Lufthansa used the F13 as the backbone of its fleet up to WW2. Huge Graf Zeppelin model hanging from the ceiling. The model is huge, but this thing was huge in real life too. You get a feeling for the size, when you start looking at some of the details. Eg. laddersleading to each engine/propellor. They would actually, in flight, go down those ladders to check and even fix an engine! Most people, even if they dont know anything about airplanes, will recognise this particular one; The Spirit of St Louis. Although that is not its type or Manufacturer. Lindbergh named it in honour of the St. Louis Raquettes club who supported him. It was purpose build by Ryan airlines at the time. It had a for those days phenomenal range of 4000 nautical miles. Charles Lindbergh crossed, single handed the Atlantic ocean, from New York to Paris in 33,5 hours. An absolute first! The original Spirit of St. Louis is hanging from the ceiling in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Here a German design, the Focke Wulf Fw44. It was used as an initial and aerobatic trainer aircraft. It proved to be an extremely successful design. It was built under license in several countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Finland, Sweden and Turkey. The museum has quite a number of gliders as well. Here is an unusual powered glider that is being restored. It was designed and built in the 50s. The engine is located in the middle of the fuselage. The propellor sits in the middle of the rudder! A few other things on display. Airplane toys! Boy would I have liked to have this model kit. Eat your heart out Airfix!! Finally, for this hall at least, another Fokker, the EIII. These were the first fighter that could fire a machine gun through the propellor arc, due to clever synchronisation mechanism. (Initially they just put little armour plates on the inside of the propellor where the bullets might hit, did not last very long!) As some of you will know Mrs. D is into costuming. She makes her own and loves showing them off with her friends. The other day she and her friends got invited by an event organisation in Bad Nenndorf, Germany. They were hosting a Napoleon type of event and they needed extras. All meals and hotel would be provided free of charge! They only needed to travel to and from Bad Nenndorf, which is about 450 kilometers from where we live in the Netherlands. No problem, Mrs. D told her friends. Jeroen loves to drive, he will take us. So me and my Jaguar got roped in. The free meals and hotel only applied to the extras in period costume. So I dropped Mrs D and party at the hotel on Friday afternoon and drove on for another 25 minutes or so to Hannover. Had not been to Hannover for decades. But I figured, it would be a better place to amuse myself for two days than picturesque, but tiny Bad Nenndorf.I had booked a small hotel near the Central Station, right smack in the centre and adjacent to the old city. I wondered around the old town in the evening and had a nice dinner. In all honesty, Hannover is not that great a town. There is not an awful lot to see and do, but I found two interesting museums. There is a general aviation museum (this thread) and not too far away from Hannover is also a Helicopter museum. I managed to visit both. Helicopter thread will follow shortly.The Hannover Aviation museum is on the outskirts of town. Too far to walk from the city centre. https://www.luftfahrtmuseum-hannover.de/index.php/en/ It is not particular big, but it has an interesting collection spread over two halls.Here goes:This is an overview of the first hall as you enter.Mostly WW1 and very early days of military aviation here. Most of these aircrafts are replicas.Here a favourite of me and Snoopy, the Sopwith Camel. From 2017 onwards this British fighter dominated the skies above Europe. It was superior to what the Germans had, e.g. the Albatros. Only the Fokker DI and subsequent models had similar agility.The Fokker Triplane was designed to match the Sopwith Camel with agility and climbing speed. Its one downside was its lower air speed. The Fokker D1 is made famous by Snoopys adversary the Red Baron. It was actually a guy called Manfred from Richthofen. He managed 80 air victories, before he got hit by ground fire and crashed.There are no original Fokker DRI anymore. But there are plenty of airworthy replicas about. I have seen the odd one at some airshow la ong time ago. The museum had an interesting video playing were 7 of these Fokker replicas fly in formation!Of course, Anthony Fokker was a brilliant (Dutch) airplane designer and accomplished pilot. However, he was also very much a ruthless business man who sold his planes to anybody that came up with the goodies.After a British and a Dutch design time for a French WW1 Fighter. the Nieuport 17. A relative small, but very agile. It was flown by many, obviously, French squadrons, but also by the some British and American squadrons.Initially its machine gun was mounted over and above the propellor arc, so did not need to be synchronised with the propellor. Unfortunately, the early Lewis machine guns came with only 47 rounds, so the pilot had to replace the magazine in the air!The museum has hundreds and hundreds of models as well. Pretty good quality in terms of build and painting overall. I have taken quite a few snaps of various models that for some reason or the other caught my eye.Not only did they have this Junker model, they also had a very nice real one! This is the Junker F13 and it is considered the very first real commercial transport aircraft. It was one of the earliest aircraft designed specifically for civil purposes in 1919 (end of WW1). It was even exported to the USA as well. The Lufthansa used the F13 as the backbone of its fleet up to WW2.Huge Graf Zeppelin model hanging from the ceiling. The model is huge, but this thing was huge in real life too. You get a feeling for the size, when you start looking at some of the details. Eg. laddersleading to each engine/propellor. They would actually, in flight, go down those ladders to check and even fix an engine!Most people, even if they dont know anything about airplanes, will recognise this particular one; The Spirit of St Louis. Although that is not its type or Manufacturer. Lindbergh named it in honour of the St. Louis Raquettes club who supported him.It was purpose build by Ryan airlines at the time. It had a for those days phenomenal range of 4000 nautical miles.Charles Lindbergh crossed, single handed the Atlantic ocean, from New York to Paris in 33,5 hours. An absolute first!The original Spirit of St. Louis is hanging from the ceiling in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.Here a German design, the Focke Wulf Fw44. It was used as an initial and aerobatic trainer aircraft. It proved to be an extremely successful design. It was built under license in several countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Finland, Sweden and Turkey.The museum has quite a number of gliders as well. Here is an unusual powered glider that is being restored. It was designed and built in the 50s. The engine is located in the middle of the fuselage. The propellor sits in the middle of the rudder!A few other things on display. Airplane toys! Boy would I have liked to have this model kit. Eat your heart out Airfix!!Finally, for this hall at least, another Fokker, the EIII. These were the first fighter that could fire a machine gun through the propellor arc, due to clever synchronisation mechanism. (Initially they just put little armour plates on the inside of the propellor where the bullets might hit, did not last very long!) Last edited by Jeroen : 5th May 2023 at 20:16 . anu21v BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Noida, Gurgaon Posts: 473 Thanked: 216 Times Re: MG Comet EV Review Quote: SoumenD Originally Posted by Not sure if the youth MG targets will like this, but then maybe I am too old to relate to their taste. IMHO this one will probably appeal only to folks who want a 2nd car strictly for city/office commute. S Wonder what was the sample size and demographic for this survey. Infact 70% or even more car owning households in India usually have a 1 car garage and boot space is as important as seating space for 4/5 adults. But yeah if this is going to be only a 2nd car, boot space is not primary requirement. My take is 1. Ladies in NCR prefer to have SUVs for obvious reasons of safety and security. If not they would rather go for a tried and tested second-hand car instead of splurging 8.0 lakh in the name of practicality but in reality a compromise of a car. 2. 18-26 Age group : this demographic segment may not be want to seen with a cheap car. A proper car is bottom line for this segment, a high end big brand car is the car of choice though. Since this segment doesn't have excess money, not sure whether they will add to sales-numbers. 3. for 40-55 age Office-Goers group: most likely this is the age group which will find merit with this type of car (after having run with a stick-car in city traffic) but splurging 8.0 lakh for this compromise will be difficult to digest with their family members. This group would not make a decision on their Own and family members would weigh in as well so again no addition to sales numbers. For me this looks like either just a technology-demonstrator (not needed as they already have ZS) or a product launch for Pure-publicity purposes and I suspect it is later to attract more customers to SR and sell them ZS-Petrol which is much better value for money. I am in Market for a second Car for my better-half, but she wouldn't even consider this.My take is1. Ladies in NCR prefer to have SUVs for obvious reasons of safety and security. If not they would rather go for a tried and tested second-hand car instead of splurging 8.0 lakh in the name of practicality but in reality a compromise of a car.2. 18-26 Age group : this demographic segment may not be want to seen with a cheap car. A proper car is bottom line for this segment, a high end big brand car is the car of choice though. Since this segment doesn't have excess money, not sure whether they will add to sales-numbers.3. for 40-55 age Office-Goers group: most likely this is the age group which will find merit with this type of car (after having run with a stick-car in city traffic) but splurging 8.0 lakh for this compromise will be difficult to digest with their family members. This group would not make a decision on their Own and family members would weigh in as well so again no addition to sales numbers.For me this looks like either just a technology-demonstrator (not needed as they already have ZS) or a product launch for Pure-publicity purposes and I suspect it is later to attract more customers to SR and sell them ZS-Petrol which is much better value for money. RahulNagaraj Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,368 Thanked: 13,924 Times USA: Toyota is the most traded-in brand for EVs according to a new study More and more people are said to be trading in their ICE cars to buy either a new or used EV. Now, a new study by CarMax reveals that most of the vehicle owners who want to shift to an EV mostly own a Toyota model. The study mentioned that Toyota is the most traded-in brand, accounting for 12% of the total ICE to EV trades. The second position is tied between Ford & BMW at 8%, while Honda is third with 7%. This is also the second year in a row that Toyota has become the most traded-in brand for EVs, as per the study. The study also looked at trends in segments and vehicle types and found that SUVs were the most common trade-ins for EVs, accounting for 40% of the total ICE-to-EV trades. Sedans and coupes made up 29%, while luxury vehicles accounted for 17% of the trade-ins. Also, with the most popular EV being the Tesla Model 3, it seems ICE owners are trading in their SUVs for EV sedans or crossovers. Reports also state that the most common trade-in for the Model 3 was the Honda Civic, with the Toyota Tacoma being second. Also, most shoppers buying the Nissan Leaf traded in a Toyota Prius. Source: Link to Team-BHP news With Americans showcasing a growing interest to shift from ICE vehicles to EVs, search volumes for electric cars are said to have doubled over the last year.More and more people are said to be trading in their ICE cars to buy either a new or used EV. Now, a new study by CarMax reveals that most of the vehicle owners who want to shift to an EV mostly own a Toyota model. The study mentioned that Toyota is the most traded-in brand, accounting for 12% of the total ICE to EV trades. The second position is tied between Ford & BMW at 8%, while Honda is third with 7%. This is also the second year in a row that Toyota has become the most traded-in brand for EVs, as per the study.The study also looked at trends in segments and vehicle types and found that SUVs were the most common trade-ins for EVs, accounting for 40% of the total ICE-to-EV trades. Sedans and coupes made up 29%, while luxury vehicles accounted for 17% of the trade-ins. Also, with the most popular EV being the Tesla Model 3, it seems ICE owners are trading in their SUVs for EV sedans or crossovers.Reports also state that the most common trade-in for the Model 3 was the Honda Civic, with the Toyota Tacoma being second. Also, most shoppers buying the Nissan Leaf traded in a Toyota Prius.Source: Jalopnik Last edited by RahulNagaraj : 4th May 2023 at 15:15 . sirjokhi BHPian Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Surat Posts: 42 Thanked: 222 Times Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee vs Volvo XC60 | For long drives & the hills As a XC60 owner, I would suggest not going for one. I have a Xc60 D5 which I bought in 2018. One of the first cars in India I'm guessing. I have driven it for more than 109XXX kms and the car has had some troubles. It hasn't been the most reliable. Have had issues with the suspension since it has air springs. Recently, we have discovered an oil leak from the gearbox. The interiors rattle a bit. We've spent a lot of money on repairs and mind you the car has always been serviced at volvo service centers. Also, the ASS isn't great and Volvo isn't much inclined to help either. Additionally, I feel my car was a CBU and it has all the gizmos like air suspension, massaging seats, ventilated seats and a lot more which doesn't come in the new car. I wouldn't want to pay the same amount or more after price hikes for a car with less features. Hope you can get the idea. I have nothing against the brand. I own 2 of their cars but i just feel the ASS could be better and the cars more reliable. In terms of safety, there is none to compete honestly. IMO the safest cars in the world are Volvos. Hope you find the right car soon. Why don't you check out new BMW X5. It will be launched soon if you can wait. Last edited by sirjokhi : 6th May 2023 at 14:48 . Reason: Typo Advanced gaming phones are rampant this 2023. This is why it is hard to choose the best gaming phone that will effectively suit your needs. There are brands that promise a very long battery life span so you can enjoy your favorite games throughout the day. Meanwhile, others offer high-resolution gaming experiences, which clearly attract players who love HD online titles. But these are not the only factors you need to be checking when buying the best gaming phone this 2023. Best Gaming Phones 2023: Factors to Consider There are lots of factors you must consider before buying a gaming phone. Here are some of them: Also Read: Honor MagicOS Will Be Better Than iOS, Claims CEO-Communication, Comprehensive Experience, & More Processor: Always check the size of the transistors; 5nm, 7nm, etc. The smaller the transistor, the better. Memory, Storage: The best storage for gaming phones is at least 128GB of internal memory. If the gaming device only has 64GB of internal storage or less, then it's no longer a good option. Display: OLED and AMOLED are the best displays when it comes to gaming phones. But IPS LCD is still a great option. Battery and Charging: Gaming phones consume lots of energy. This is why a 4500mAh battery or higher should be your option. Also, try getting a gaming smartphone with a fast charging feature. Best Gaming Phones This 2023 There's no denying that gaming smartphones this 2023 are very hard to choose from. If you are still having a hard time, here are the top gaming phones this 2023 based on reports: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Toms Guide's list claims that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the best gaming phone this 2023. Although the manufacturer touts it as the best camera smartphone, many tech enthusiasts claim that it is a better gaming smartphone compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Asus ROG Phone 6D TechRadar considers Asus ROG Phone 6D as the top gaming phone this 2023. With its 165Hz refresh rate, 6.78-inch HD OLED screen, and Dimensity 9000 Plus chipset, gamers will definitely have a great gaming experience. Black Shark 5 Pro Black Shark 5 Pro tops the list of Game Radar when it comes to being the best gaming phone this 2023. It relies on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, one of the best chipsets for mobile gaming, and a 6.67-inch OLED. One of its best features is its physical pop-up trigger, which will ensure that the gaming movements of the users are precise. These are just some of the gaming phones you need to try this 2023. Below are other great gaming smartphone options you can choose from: Asus ROG Phone 5 iPhone 14 Pro Max Nubia RedMagic 7 Pro Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate Sony Xperia 1 IV Aside from the mentioned smartphones above, there are also other upcoming handsets that could be great for mobile gaming. These include the LAVA Blaze 1X 5G and the Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G. For more news updates about new gaming smartphones, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: Motorola Razr+ 2023 Confirmed to Launch Soon, But Chinese Version Will Feature Different Name 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Chinese President Xi Jinping is reportedly urging his country to seize opportunities in artificial intelligence and those presented by other new breakthroughs. In an economic meeting on Friday, the leader said China should do so to aid the modernization of the country's industrial system, according to the South China Morning Post. The outlet, citing state news Xinhua, said the remarks were made during a meeting of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs. "Accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system bolstered by the real economy is crucial for us to gain strategic initiative in future development and international competition," the president stressed. TECH COMPANIES SILENT ON DETAILS OF AI MEETING WITH BIDEN, HARRIS China's President Xi Jinping waves as he arrives for the official welcoming ceremony for his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Beijing on April 6, 2023. The Post noted that this is the second time Xi discussed AI in recent weeks. READ ON THE FOX BUSINESS APP In a separate April meeting, Chinese leaders concluded that China must "pay attention to the development of artificial general intelligence," emphasizing the need to "create an ecosystem for innovation but at the same time take risk prevention into account." Earlier last month, China's cyberspace regulator released draft measures for managing services like ChatGPT and Bard and Chinese companies have launched their own models. Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 6, 2023. The Cyberspace Administration of China regulations said that firms must submit security assessments to authorities prior to public launches. This past week, the Biden administration met with CEOs of top artificial intelligence companies. The White House also announced new actions that it said would "further promote responsible American innovation in artificial intelligence and protect peoples rights and safety." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS The U.S. has moved to slow China's AI development by restricting exports of advanced semiconductors that are vital for training AI models. However, such rules have only had minimal effects on China's tech sector. Reuters contributed to this report. You are most likely scrolling your iPhone the wrong way. As the world continues to become more reliant on the internet, people will spend more time doomscrolling. Of course, if you have an iPhone, you will definitely be tempted to scroll on your device. You are either doom-scrolling on social media apps or just reading very long email messages. There are some instances when you will be needing to scroll back up. However, it would take a lot of time to do so. Luckily, iOS has one solution for this, which is its screen gesture. You're Probably Scrolling Your iPhone the Wrong Way CNET said that scrolling back up is not really the right way to do so. Instead, you can return to the top section with just a tap on the screen. Also Read: iPhone App 'Glucomate' Enables Glucose Monitoring Trend Analyzation: Here's What You Need to Know This iOS gesture can be accessed in numerous methods; depending on the iPhone model you own. To help you further, here are the right screen spots you need to tap on to activate the feature: iPhone 14 : You must tap on either side of the Dynamic Island feature. : You must tap on either side of the Dynamic Island feature. iPhone X, other iPhone models with a notch : You must tap on either side of the notch. : You must tap on either side of the notch. Older iPhone models without Dynamic Island or a notch: You must tap on the spot where the clock is located; on the status bar. Other Useful iOS Gestures to Try The scroll-up iOS gesture is just among the secret features that can be used through tapping. Aside from this, Tom's Guide provided other iOS gestures that you conduct in-phone activities: Swiping along the bottom edge of the screen will allow users to easily swipe between any app without the need of opening the app tray. To quickly scroll through pages, you need to tap the screen until the scroll bar pops up on the right. After that, quickly tap and hold the scroll bar with one finger. Then drag it up and down using your other finger to navigate the page. Dragging across the screen using two fingers will allow you to select multiple contacts. If you want to learn more about hidden iOS gestures, you can click here. Here are other stories we recently wrote about iPhones: Rumors claimed that the standard iPhone models could have 120Hz ProMotion displays in the future. Security experts claimed that people should use the iPhone Face ID when accessing their devices in public. For more news updates about iPhones and other Apple gadgets, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: Lost Your iPhone, Forgot Your Passcode? Here's How to Protect Yourself 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Apple CEO Tim Cook recognized how AI has huge potential as other companies races to develop a perfect version of their own chat-friendly artificial intelligence like Google and Microsoft. (Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 07: Apple CEO Tim Cook walks through a crowd during an Apple special event on September 07, 2022 in Cupertino, California. Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the new iPhone 14 as well as new versions of the Apple Watch, including the Apple Watch SE, a low-cost version of the popular timepiece that will start at $249. Addressing AI Growth When he was asked to share his take on Artificial Intelligence, Apple's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook addressed it as huge and the topic of the year. In fact, he stated that Apple is also considering to maker inroads into it. Interesting Engineering reported that Cook remains interested in the technology but cautioned to be thoughtful in approaching it. Since there is a flood of new artificial intelligence services and big tech companies started investing in these, Cook noted that there is a number of issues that are needed to be sorted in different places. His comments regarding the technology can be interpreted as critical of Microsoft and Google, which incorporated AI into their search engines. Incorporating AI into Apple Products Cook was also asked of incorporating AI into future Apple products but he did not give any comment on future product roadmaps as per the company's policy. He even barely mentioned the subject when the company was compared with other competitors in the tech industry. However, he hinted at weaving AI into future products on a very thoughtful basis. As he views AI as huge and continues to weave the technology into its products, Business Insider reported that he clarified that Apple already has folded machine learning and AI into some of its products. This includes features like Fall Detection and ECG which can be found on some Apple Watch models, and Crash Detection which can also be found on iPhone models. "These things are not only great features, but they're also saving people's lives," he stated. Aside from this, Apple technically deployed already a generative AI to a lot of its products as they introduced the AI-based assistant Siri in February 2010. But compared to other companies, Apple does not seem to be in a rush to integrate the technology, similar to ChatGPT into its products. The company relied on AI instead of very specific features. Also Read: Apple's Tim Cook Claims that Mass Layoffs are Not In its Plans, Only a 'Last Resort' Throughout that, The Independent reported that Apple remained largely quiet regarding its plans for artificial intelligence. The company has given no real indication of whether it will embrace the technology in the future and dive into it much deeper compared to what they are offering now. Previous reports have claimed that a relative lack of progress with Siri is enough verification that Apple failed to make the most of artificial intelligence. But critics and its fans were not the only ones frustrated about this as Apple employees themselves are frustrated with the shortcoming of the virtual assistant. Hopefully, Apple will address this with new changes and much improved Siri this year. Related Article: Apple CEO Tim Cook Urged by China to Strengthen Security, Privacy Protection 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Space exploration has long been a human fascination. The mere thought of visiting other planets sparks excitement in our minds. But, as we consider the possibilities of life beyond Earth, we are faced with a choice: travel to another solar system that could take tens of thousands of years or embark on a mission to Mars. The crimson planet presents a myriad of benefits, such as its close proximity to Earth which eradicates the need for spacewalk shoving matches when the spacecraft reaches capacity. Moreover, it provides the perfect opportunity for a vanguard team to establish crucial infrastructure. And, if a new study from the European Space Agency in Germany is anything to go by, the most efficient way to do it would be with an all-female crew. All-Female Crew for Future Space Missions? The research found that female astronauts have lower water requirements, total energy expenditure, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, and metabolic heat production in space exploration missions than their male counterparts. The study employed a method developed to gauge the impact of body "size" on life support necessities in male astronauts. The findings showed that for all variables across all statures, estimates for female astronauts were lower than those for comparable males. When factoring in the confined quarters, limited resources, and life support systems in a spacecraft on an extended mission, the female physique is the most efficient body type for space exploration. This revelation could have a substantial influence on the future of space travel. Applying NASA's cost of delivering payloads to the International Space Station (ISS), which amounts to $93,400 per kilogram, to a 1080-day mission, a four-person all-female crew would require 1695 kg less food weight. This could lead to a massive cost-saving of more than $158 million and create an additional 2.3 cubic meters of space. To put it into perspective, this extra space is equivalent to approximately 4% of the livable area in a "Gateway" HALO module, which is part of NASA's proposed lunar orbit space station. Read Also: Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity is Back, Another Test with Humans Soon Before Commercial Flight Offers More "Space" for Women But there is more. On the ISS, astronauts have just enough space to stand and work closely together when needed. Despite the proposed NASA Gateway craft having tighter spaces, which could create a less comfortable environment for multiple crew members to work in, an all-female crew could help alleviate this issue, especially when several astronauts need to work in the same confined space. The study findings, along with the trend towards smaller living spaces in proposed mission modules, suggest that there are potential operational advantages to using all-female crews in upcoming space exploration missions. The benefits are especially pronounced in shorter females. The study titled, "Effects of body size and countermeasure exercise on estimates of life support resources during all-female crewed exploration missions," was published in the journal Scientific Reports. Related Article: NASA Will Land On The Moon For The First Time in 50 Years l Here's Everything You Need To Know About Artemis 1 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. According to OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman, the company will no longer use paying customer data to train its AI large-language models, including GPT. Altman revealed in an interview with CNBC on Friday that OpenAI had not used customer data to train its AI models for some time, as customers had expressed concerns about privacy and data protection. Privacy Concerns OpenAI quietly updated its terms of service on March 1 to reflect this change. However, the company's updated terms of use note that they may use content from services other than its API, which could include text that employees enter into the popular chatbot ChatGPT. Experts have already raised concerns about the use of AI chatbots, warning users about what they share with these tools. They claim that AI chatbots may be able to gather large amounts of data for targeted advertising. Ali Vaziri, a legal director on the data and privacy team of the law firm Lewis Silkin, said that the human-like capabilities of AI tools can be disarming to users. Read Also: Microsoft Introduces Bing Chat, Features More than AI Text Generation, Available for Open Preview The White House Addresses AI Risks The rise of AI tools like ChatGPT has raised concerns in various fields, particularly on how it could impact jobs, security, and privacy. This has prompted officials from the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris to meet with CEOs of four leading tech companies, including OpenAI, to discuss the risks associated with AI on Friday. The first key area discussed was transparency. It is essential to ensure that individuals understand how AI systems work and how they are being used. The second area was the ability to evaluate and verify the safety, security, and efficacy of AI systems. This underscores that there is a need to establish standards to evaluate AI systems, such as audits, testing, and certification processes. The third area discussed was the need for AI systems to be safe from malicious actors and attacks. The CEOs made a commitment to collaborate with the administration to ensure that the American people can benefit from AI innovation while their safety and rights are protected. The White House also issued a statement outlining additional actions aimed at promoting responsible innovation and risk mitigation in AI. These actions include the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, executive actions, the AI Risk Management Framework, and a plan to establish a National AI Research Resource. OpenAI's decision not to use customer data for training its AI models is a step in the right direction toward data privacy and protection. However, the use of text from services like ChatGPT remains a concern for some. The meeting between the White House officials and tech company CEOs also shows the importance of addressing the potential risks associated with AI while promoting innovation. Related Article: Snapchat to Feature Ads on My AI Powered by ChatGPT, But It Is Not What You Think (Thankfully) 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Amazon Music Podcasts is slated to receive a significant upgrade, as the platform will soon include AI-generated episode highlights and chapters. CNET details in a report that this development follows Amazon's acquisition of Snackable AI, an audio intelligence startup specializing in creating structures for lengthy video and audio snippets. The acquisition occurred at the end of the previous year, and the Snackable AI website now redirects to Amazon Music. What Snackable AI Does The technology of Snackable AI enables the automatic generation of highlights and chapters in audio and video segments, delivering insights that engage audiences and align teams more quickly. Mari Joller, the founder and CEO of Snackable AI, is now the AI and machine learning product leader for Amazon Music Podcasts. Incorporating AI-generated episode excerpts and chapters could revolutionize the podcast-listening experience on Amazon Music, as listeners can locate specific information or segments without having to listen to the entire episode. Read Also: Microsoft Partners with Another Company, AMD, to Boost its AI Tech to Rival NVIDIA AI is becoming more pervasive as it becomes more sophisticated, and Amazon is just one of many tech companies investing in AI, alongside Microsoft, Google, and Tesla. Taking a Look at Some Notable Risks Significant hazards are associated with using AI, despite its immense potential. In a recent meeting with the CEOs of Google, Microsoft, and ChatGPT, US Vice President Kamala Harris discussed the dangers posed by AI. Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and others have implored labs to put artificial intelligence development on hold for at least six months due to its grave dangers to society. The Latest AI Technologies from Amazon The launch of Amazon Bedrock, a new cloud service designed to help companies and developers enhance their software with artificial intelligence, is evidence of the retail giant's expanding interest in AI. In addition, AWS made Amazon CodeWhisperer, an AI-powered coding companion, generally available. CodeWhisperer is the quickest, most accurate, and safest method to generate code for Amazon services, and it is available for no cost. More Amazon News Amazon has recently introduced Inspire, a shopping feed similar to TikTok, to all consumers in the United States, TechCrunch reports. The feature, which was handed out to select customers in December 2020, enables consumers to browse products and make purchases based on content created by influencers, brands, and other users. Customers can get started by opening the Amazon Shopping app, logging in, and tapping the Inspire icon on the bottom navigation bar. They will then be prompted to personalize their Inspire feed by selecting from over 20 interests, such as cosmetics, pets, and travel. The scrolling experience resembles TikTok's vertical video feed, and interaction options are on the screen's right side. Amazon Influencer Program participants can publish content to Inspire, and customers can submit product reviews. Brands, including vendors and merchants enrolled in Brand Registry with an active Brand Store, can also post to Inspire. Stay posted here at TechTimes. Related Article: ChatGPT Trained on Copyrighted Books! Memorized Harry Potter, Other Novels, New Study Claims 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, is reportedly under investigation by the US Justice Department for potential violations of Russian sanctions, according to a report by Bloomberg. The national security division of the Justice Department is investigating whether Binance or its officials enabled Russians to bypass US sanctions imposed due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine by using the exchange to move money. This inquiry adds to Binance's existing legal problems, which include allegations of regulatory violations and money laundering. Binance's Response In response, a spokesperson for Binance stated that the company had launched an initiative to transform its corporate governance structure in 2021 and had implemented strict know-your-customer protocols comparable to those employed by traditional banks. The spokesperson also noted that the company had a zero-tolerance policy for double registrations, anonymous identities, and obscure sources of money. Although not addressing the allegations directly, the statement implies that Binance is refuting any wrongdoing. "In 2021, Binance launched an initiative to completely overhaul its corporate governance structure, including bringing in a world-class bench of seasoned executives to fundamentally change how Binance operates globally," the company's spokesperson told Bloomberg. The investigation into Binance's activities related to Russian sanctions comes at a time when the company is already facing multiple legal challenges. In 2021, the US Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service began investigating allegations that the exchange was being used for money laundering schemes. Furthermore, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission accused Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, of providing unregistered crypto derivatives and implementing strategies to evade US regulations. Read Also: Binance Faces Charges from CFTC for Crypto Derivatives, Promotes VPN Use to Avoid Detection in the US Political Tensions Given the political tensions between the US and Russia, the accusations of violating sanctions are especially delicate. Sanctions against Russian financial institutions were imposed by both the US and the European Union after the invasion of Ukraine. Mykhailo Federov, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister, even urged major crypto exchanges to freeze all Russian and Belarusian accounts, but Binance declined, claiming that it would negatively impact average users as well as Russian oligarchs. Should the DOJ's investigation find proof of Binance's violation of sanctions, it may result in severe repercussions not only for the exchange but for the entire cryptocurrency sector. Regulators worldwide have already increased their scrutiny of crypto exchanges, and any illegal activities discovered could prompt more calls for regulation or even a clampdown on the industry. Moreover, Binance's legal challenges may adversely affect investor trust in the exchange and the broader cryptocurrency market. As the inquiry progresses, the industry will closely monitor its findings to determine their implications. Related Article: Binance to Help Regulate Crypto with Chamber of Digital Commerce-Is It Following FTX's Footsteps? 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. China claims it conducted the world's first brain-computer interface experiment on a monkey. This new achievement is expected to encourage the use of brain science research. Aside from this, reports stated that the BCI experiment of China is allegedly the "leading" technology of the tech war between the United States and the Chinese government. China Completes World's First Brain-Computer Interface Experiment on Monkey! According to Interesting Engineering's latest report, there are three main categories of BCI that are under development. Also Read: Neuralink Faces US Federal Probe; Animal Deaths Higher Than Needs To Be, Employees Claim These are invasive BCI, interventional BCI, and non-invasive BCI. The 2nd one is what China is focusing on. During their recent experiment, involved Chinese researchers collected and identified EEG (electroencephalograph) signals after an interventional EGG was placed on the monkey's brain. They used a minimally invasive surgery to put the EGG on the primate's cerebrovascular wall. This allowed the animal to control a robotic arm using only their thoughts. China's BCI Experiment Vs. Neuralink In 2021, Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain chip company, also did a similar experiment using an implanted device to allow a monkey to play a video game. However, a Chinese BCI device company manager said that Neuralink relies on invasive technology. Numerous industry experts warned that invasive BCI methods could harm the human body; leading to inflammatory response and rejection. When Will China's Human Trials Begin? As of writing, the interventional BCI tech of China still has a long way to go before it can be used on humans. Ma Yongjie, a neurosurgeon at Beijing-based Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University, said that the first animal BCI trial success of China is a breakthrough from zero to one. "But getting the success to the clinic is a process from 1 to 100, so we still have a long way to go," he added via China Daily. You can click this link to learn more about China's latest interventional BCI experiment. Here are other stories we recently wrote about animals: Previously, dead bird drones were created by some researchers. We also reported about a new tracking technology for desert ants. For more news updates about animal experiments, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: Elon Musk's Brain Implant Company is Looking for Clinical Trials Partner to Test Devices on Humans 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Norwegian marine archaeologists from several institutions have recently dived into Lake Mjsa in search of shipwrecks. During this dive, they inspected five known wrecks in the lake, with one wreck in particular, the Storfjord wreck, attracting much attention, reported first by Sciencenorway. Using the underwater robot Hugin, which was originally mapping ammunition dumped on the lake's floor, the wreck was discovered. The ship is found 400 meters below the surface in the middle of the lake, making it too deep for archaeologists to reach by diving. Instead, they employed a remote-controlled underwater vehicle to explore it. The researchers hypothesize that the shipwreck, which could date back to the 1300s, may be the oldest ever discovered in Lake Mjsa, and possibly in Norway. Oldest Known Shipwreck in Norway The Storfjord wreck is a wooden vessel built using the clinker method, which is typical of Nordic construction techniques dating back to the Iron Age. The ship is 10 meters long and 2.5 meters wide, with overlapping wooden planks being a distinctive feature of clinker-built boats. Some of the planks on the vessel were observed to be loosened, implying that it had been in the lake for a significant amount of time. Based on sonar images, the researchers have generated a 3D model that exposes some noteworthy attributes of the shipwreck. The vessel has protrusions called stems on both ends, with one stem being more erect, suggesting it was probably a steering oar. This feature is rare in Norwegian boats predating the 14th century. Hence, the archaeologists speculate that the ship could have been constructed between the 1300s and 1850. A steering oar is a pivoting rudder attached to a boat's stern that controls its direction. The earliest known archaeological evidence of a boat with a steering oar differs substantially from the Storfjord wreck. Read Also: 2,000-Year-Old Cave Art May Suggest that Ice Age Hunter-Gatherers Were the First to Use a Calendar - New Study Mysteries in Abundance This discovery could have implications beyond the realm of local maritime history. The researchers have not yet sighted the rudder because it is not visible in the video footage, but the shipwreck remains an exciting find and abundant with mysteries. During Ocean Week at NTNU in Gjvik, the researchers showcased a brief video of the wreck, which offered fresh insights into its features. However, due to the limited duration of the footage, only a glimpse of the wreck was captured. The researchers remain enthusiastic about the prospect of delving deeper into the vessel's mysteries and aspire to uncover more about its origins. Despite the ship resting at the bottom of the lake for an extended period, it is believed to hold many secrets yet to be unearthed. Related Article: Archaeologists May Have Discovered the Earliest Known Narrative Scene Carved in an 11,000-year-old Neolithic Bench 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. If you own a Google Pixel device launched in 2022 onwards, then you will notice that its wallpapers are bird feathers. In older Google Pixel models, you will have geometric shapes and colors as your wallpapers. There are some instances when artist renderings or landscape views are offered. But, newer Pixel models are now focusing on bird feathers as their screen displays. Of course, many consumers will start wondering why the search engine giant is doing this. If you are one of them, here's what the Google art director explained. Fun Fact: Here's Why Google Pixel Wallpapers are Bird Feathers According to Android Police's latest report, Google's design team decided to try something different for Google Pixel wallpapers. Also Read: Google's Pixel Fold is Here, Officially Announces the Device-Here's What to Know 9To5Mac reported that the transition of Android wallpapers to bird feathers is a part of the relaunched Google Design. Google explained that they are aiming for authenticity in their wallpaper designs; choosing subjects that are inspiring and relatable at the same time. Because of this, the company decided to focus on birds. "We were attracted to the birds' liveliness, positivity, and daring because those are all qualities we associate with the Pixel brand itself," said Google Art Director Eunyoung Park and Google Writing & Content Design, Android Bronwyn Jones. They think that bird feathers are a natural progression from the recent flower wallpapers, which Google introduced in its older Pixel devices. 30 Bird Species Were Photographed! Google's design team photographed 30 bird species to make the bird feather wallpapers for 2022-2023 Google Pixel smartphones. Of course, the tech firm said that they strictly followed the American Humane Society's protocols while taking the photos. Thanks to the efforts of Google's design team, 12 wallpaper images of bird wings are included in the final result. These include feathers of the Pied Crow, King Vulture, Black Swan, etc. You can click here to see the actual images. In other stories, the release date for the new Huawei P60 series was revealed. Meanwhile, older Samsung Galaxy smartphone models finally received S23's advanced Astrophoto mode. For more news updates about Google Pixel and other Android smartphones, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: Google Confirms First 'Pixel Fold' Is Coming Soon 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. China is ready to work with Britain to enhance their friendship, President Xi Jinping has said in a message of congratulation to the newly crowned King Charles. The message, sent by Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan, also said China is ready to work with Britain to develop a stable and mutually beneficial bilateral relationship. Britain's current government is seeking to reset the relationship with China after years of growing tensions. 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. A few years ago, then British prime minister David Cameron hailed a "golden era" in relations between the two countries, but since then disagreements on issues such as human rights, security and the crackdown on the Hong Kong protest movement have brought the relationship to the lowest point in decades. Xi's message said the world is undergoing "profound and complex transformations", and the international community is faced with many unprecedented challenges, according to state news agency Xinhua. Xi also noted that the two countries, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, should "take a long-term and strategic view to jointly promote the historical trend of peace, development, cooperation and win-win situations". Chinese vice-president Han Zheng arrives at Westminster Abbey ahead of Saturday's coronation service. Photo: AP alt=Chinese vice-president Han Zheng arrives at Westminster Abbey ahead of Saturday's coronation service. Photo: AP> "China is willing to work with the British side to enhance people-to-people friendship, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and deepen humanistic exchanges, so that a stable and mutually beneficial China-UK relations can better benefit both countries and the world," it reads. Story continues Earlier, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met vice-president Han Zheng, who attended Saturday's coronation service on behalf of Xi. "Today with VP Han Zheng, I made plain the UK's views on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan," Cleverly wrote on Twitter after Friday's meeting "We also discussed working together on climate change, economic ties and people-to-people links." Cleverly, who is trying to arrange a visit to China, said earlier this week he would like to discuss a range of subjects with Han, including areas where Britain has "points of criticism". The meeting on the sidelines might send a sign about a possible reset of the relationship between the two countries, according to Yu Jie, a senior China research fellow at the Chatham House think tank. "Yet the fundamental challenges within UK-China relations remain unchanged; issues over Hong Kong, technology and security and sanctions imposed by both sides," she said. While the leaders of France, Germany and Spain have visited China in recent months and called for more engagement, senior British leaders have not met their Chinese counterparts in person since 2018 and aligned themselves with the United States in taking a tough stance on China. When asked at a regular press conference on Thursday whether Cleverly would be invited to visit in the near future, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning did not answer the question, only saying China was always open to dialogue and exchange. "However, to have any dialogue there must be mutual respect," Mao said, adding that the two sides must be willing to meet each other halfway. According to Yu, "Beijing is firmly convinced that the UK is in close coordination on its China position with Washington and in no hurry to invite a senior Tory minister to visit until US-China tension begins to ease." Han, in the largely ceremonial role of vice-president, is not a bad choice for Beijing to send to this event given the state of the relationship, said Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute and professor of Chinese studies at King's College London. "The simple geopolitical reality is that Britain is a much smaller and weaker interlocutor with China than even a few years ago. It needs to work in alliance in order to have any chance of properly influencing China," said Brown. "Britain, despite the shrill voices of the hawks, needs to have workable relations with China." Then prime minister David Cameron spoke of a golden era in relations between the two countries when he hosted Xi Jinping in Britain in 2015. Photo: AFP alt=Then prime minister David Cameron spoke of a golden era in relations between the two countries when he hosted Xi Jinping in Britain in 2015. Photo: AFP> However, some members of the ruling Conservative Party have criticised Han's attendance because of his previous role as head of the central leading group on Hong Kong and Macau affairs during the 2019 protests and imposition of the national security law. At a welcome dinner hosted by members of the Chinese and British business community in London on Thursday, Han issued a goodwill message calling for a joint effort to improve relations. "China views Britain's international role and influence from a positive perspective and always treats the country as a strategic partner," he said. Cui Hongjian, a specialist in European studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said there are two preconditions before Beijing extends an invitation to senior members of the British government: reaching a consensus on some issues and working out a list of substantial areas for cooperation. "It is pointless to arrange a visit just for the sake of visiting if it can be predicted that it will be unproductive," Cui said. "When the two conditions are met, the resumption of high-level exchanges is just a matter of time." In an annual review of Britain's national security strategy published in March, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defined China as an "epoch-defining and systemic challenge" rather than a "threat" - despite calls for a tougher stance from the more hawkish members of his Conservative Party. Echoing that, Cleverly in a speech to business leaders last week said it would be a "betrayal" of Britain's national interest to "declare some kind of new cold war and say that our goal is to isolate China", adding that the country "must engage with China where necessary and be unflinchingly realistic about its authoritarianism". Yu said judging from the softer tone of both speeches, Sunak and Cleverly were on track to reset the country's China policy agenda and reduce the influence of their hawkish backbenchers. Cui agreed, saying: "Cleverly's speech demonstrated both that he has the intention to increase exchanges with China and that there are still obstacles within Britain to doing so". Brian Davidson, British consul general to Hong Kong and Macau, said this week that London hoped for a new chapter in ties with Hong Kong, especially regarding trade and investment, and for difficult issues to be tackled through more honest behind-the-scenes discussions rather than megaphone diplomacy. Then Chinese vice-president Wang Qishan arrives at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth last year. Photo: AFP alt=Then Chinese vice-president Wang Qishan arrives at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth last year. Photo: AFP> "Obviously, we have been through some difficult headwinds in the relationship over the past four or five years. I think we are looking to lean back into a constructive engagement to see where we can collaborate," Davidson said. Wang Yiwei, a Renmin University professor specialising in European studies, said Han's visit might be different from his predecessor Wang Qishan's visit to Britain for Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September, where he had little contact with the short-serving prime minister Liz Truss, who had advocated a tough stance against China. Wang noted that Britain's economic performance was worse than that of other major Western countries, which had prompted a push - especially within the financial and business sectors - to fix the relationship with China. "Britain's competitiveness has been weakened the most by the impact of the Ukraine war, so they are more anxious than before to seize development opportunities in China to make up for it. China should take this chance, too." Additional reporting by Vanessa Cai 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. 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 SAF-Holland SE (ETR:SFQ), by way of a worked example. ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits. Check out our latest analysis for SAF-Holland How Do You Calculate Return On Equity? The formula for return on equity is: Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) Shareholders' Equity So, based on the above formula, the ROE for SAF-Holland is: 14% = 61m 441m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022). The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every 1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn 0.14 in profit. Does SAF-Holland 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. You can see in the graphic below that SAF-Holland has an ROE that is fairly close to the average for the Auto Components industry (14%). roe So while the ROE is not exceptional, at least its acceptable. While at least the ROE is not lower than the industry, its still worth checking what role the company's debt plays as high debt levels relative to equity may also make the ROE appear high. If true, then it is more an indication of risk than the potential. You can see the 2 risks we have identified for SAF-Holland by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here. Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At ROE Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. 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 used for growth will improve returns, but won't affect the total equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking. Story continues SAF-Holland's Debt And Its 14% ROE SAF-Holland clearly uses a high amount of debt to boost returns, as it has a debt to equity ratio of 1.66. While its ROE is respectable, it is worth keeping in mind that there is usually a limit as to how much debt a company can use. Debt does bring extra risk, so it's only really worthwhile when a company generates some decent returns from it. Conclusion 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 around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I'd generally prefer the one with higher ROE. Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, you'll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. 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 you might want to take a peek at this data-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company. Of course SAF-Holland 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. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here "Ten different manners of painting": an archaeologist on the search for pre-Mongol frescoes of St. George's Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod Pas-de-Calais: five people indicted after the discovery of the body of an infant in a can Six historic squares to go for an aperitif with (good) views in Madrid The week of god tweeter: the semen of puffer fish, the poor tresmileuristas and the end of the trash TV Raquel Merono: "I have been very noviera and very faithful and that now I would change it" The Indian of Madrid who is giving to talk for his star dish: suckling lamb from Segovia covered with 24 carat gold INFO EUROPE 1 - A drone intercepted just before flying over the Lantern where Emmanuel Macron was "Cannot be compared with an animated masterpiece": the film "The Little Mermaid" was shown in the USA So are the honest and cheap alternatives to mixed olive and sunflower oil 70 years of the machine that revolutionized cardiac surgery: from the heart being an unexplored territory, to entering the organ and doing transplants "Tea and the World" Yaji helps Sino-foreign exchanges, and the aroma of tea spreads across the ocean A Tunisian farmer discovers a gas well by accident. Tweeters are asking: Is the government seizing his land? They were expelled because of the veil. Restaurant bans girls from partying, sparks controversy among Egyptians Hanshin Murakami Equals the league record without conceding consecutive goals, but does not break the record Champions League: on which channel and at what time to follow Real Madrid-Manchester City and AC-Milan Inter? "You are a champion and you will definitely cope": Kostomarov was supported after the first post on social networks since hospitalization They ask for 18 months in prison for Darwin Machis (Valladolid) for beating the boyfriend of his ex-wife with the help of "three Colombian hitmen" Madrid's historic calendar: 304 days, all possible matches and "no questions or help" Watch- He asked for a selfie and paid it. This is what happened between Ronaldo and a member of the technical staff of the Gulf team Ligue 1: Antoine Kombouare replaced by Pierre Aristouy for the end of the season with FC Nantes Kolisi summoned for Springboks training camp a few months before the Rugby World Cup despite his serious injury OL: "We will keep and support Laurent Blanc," says John Textor, new boss of the club Reideborn's departure from CSKA, the restructuring of SKA and the strengthening of Dynamo: how the offseason began in the KHL In the first quarter, the revenue of the A-share new energy vehicle sector increased by 40% year-on-year Impact of the wage agreement: will companies raise wages, does it affect all workers? Wallapop apologizes for its Mother's Day campaign: "We did not take into account all the realities" France: trade deficit at "its least deteriorated level for more than a year and a half" Gao Jian, Deputy Director General of the International Department of the National Development and Reform Commission: Cultivate more Chinese brands that go to the world and enjoy a world-renowned reputation The ICO guarantees for the purchase of housing may reach 25% and the operation for the Defense land will cost 620 million Zheng Wei, Secretary-General of the SCO Harmony Committee: We are willing to work closely with all parties to make Chinese brands go global Last year, the per capita wage of China's urban units maintained growth, and the highest wages in service industries such as information and software Sri Lanka in the midst of a serious economic crisis: creditor countries meet for the first time to solve debt problems Waking up overnight and owing more than 600 million to the subway? Guangzhou Metro responded Average salary in 2022 is out! IT is the highest, real estate is down Pan Haifeng, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Consumer Association: Consumers are the voters of whether the brand power has achieved its goals Blinken said that the United States and Britain are in favor of an immediate extension of the grain deal Ultra-right: why it will be difficult for Darmanin to ban all demonstrations Presidential election in Turkey: in power for 20 years, can Erdogan really lose his crown? They denounce the death of a minor of 14 years after a "diagnostic error" with meningitis in Sanlucar (Cadiz) Sanchez dodges Puig's controversy over payments to his brother four days after underlining his honesty The 'crooked' Movida of designer Francis Montesinos: "He told me he was 18 years old. I've fallen into the trap again." Qin Gang: In the name of "de-risk", the reality of de-Sinicization is to go to opportunities, to cooperation, to stability and to development Two military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be tried in the DPR for the shooting of civilians in Mariupol Met Gala 2023: Angele and Marion Cotillard were present (and one of them was totally unrecognizable) Two people killed after being shot by three hooded men on the run in Salou US politicians suggest blowing up TSMC Netizens on the island: Do not doubt the determination of the United States to destroy Taiwan Dozens dead, churches burned and the army in the streets: northeast India burns due to a conflict between ethnic groups Dies during a flight in the Pyrenees the specialist in paragliding and base jumping Alex Villar Express route through Malagadir, the megacity in southern Spain that has it all Malagadir, the European California where we all want to live: "It doesn't make you feel like a tacky nouveau riche" Russia returned to the top ten largest world economies for the first time since 2014 In addition to launching large models, what else should AI development do Jack Grealish, the villain who vindicates George Best and seeks revenge at the Bernabeu Haaretz: This is the story of the spy who was tasked by the Mossad to infiltrate Egypt The ICO guarantees for the purchase of housing may reach 25% and the operation for the Defense land will cost 620 million Flood disaster caused 53,6 people in Jiangxi to be affected The production and life of the affected people in various localities were restored in an orderly manner Taiwan's Hualien County Agricultural Business Delegation Visited Liuzhou, Guangxi Province, and lamented that "there are many stories in small towns" Communities 2019 - Privacy The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them. Market Research Future Reliance on Coal-Fired Power Plants for Generation of Electricity to Boost Emission Monitoring System Market Growth Tokyo, Japan, May 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a comprehensive research report by Market Research Future (MRFR), Emission Monitoring System Market Research Report: By Component, System Type, Vertical, and Region- Forecast Till 2030, the market is anticipated to acquire a valuation of approximately USD 5.21 billion by 2030. The reports further predict the market to flourish at a robust CAGR of over 6.30% during the assessment timeframe. Emission Monitoring System Market Key Players Eminent industry players profiled in the global emission monitoring system market report include. AMETEK Inc Emerson Electric Co General Electric Siemens PARKER HANNIFIN CORP Rockwell Automation Inc ABB Ltd Thermo Fisher Scientific CMC Solutions Fuji Electric Co. Ltd. Get Free Sample PDF Brochure: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/7710 Emission Monitoring System Market Report Scope: Report Metric Details Revenue forecast in 2030 USD 5.21 Billion Growth Rate CAGR of 6.30% from 2022 to 2030 Base Year 2021 Study Period 2022-2030 Key Market Opportunities The increased number of factories established across the globe Key Market Drivers The stringent regulations from the government. Concerned authorities to monitor and control carbon emissions. A rapid increase in environmental pollution and declining air quality. Buy Premium Research Report Now: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=7710 Emission Monitoring System Market Drivers Reliance on Coal-Fired Power Plants for Generation of Electricity to Boost Market Growth During the projected period, rising reliance on the coal-fired power plants for producing energy is anticipated to fuel market growth for worldwide emission monitoring systems. Many nations still rely heavily on coal-fired power plants to produce their electricity. Numerous airborne pollutants, including sulphur dioxide, lead, mercury, nitrogen oxides, particulates, & other heavy metals, are released when coal is burned. Injurious health effects from prolonged exposure to these contaminants include breathing problems, asthma, brain damage, heart issues, cancer, and early demise. Since it measures the concentration of harmful gases or particulate matter generated from the plant & other industrial operations, the emission monitoring system is vital in lowering carbon emissions. In turn, this guarantees that emission is constrained to allowed standards. Story continues Emission Monitoring System Market Opportunities Growing Need from Oil & Gas Industries to offer Robust Opportunities A significant growth driver is expected to arise from the expanding demand from the oil and gas & power production industries. Global demand is being driven by strict government restrictions surrounding the installation of Emission Monitoring Systems (EMS) in upstream & downstream oil & gas sector segments to monitor air quality and analyze dangerous gas emissions. Restraints and Challenges High Cost to act as Market Restraint The high emission monitoring system cost and increasing focus on clean energy may act as market restraints over the forecast period. Emission Monitoring System Market Segmentation The global emission monitoring system market is bifurcated based on vertical, system type, and components. By components, hardware will lead the market over the forecast period. By system type, CEMS will domineer the market over the forecast period. By vertical, oil and gas will spearhead the market over the forecast period. Check for Discount: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/7710 COVID-19 Analysis The market for emission monitoring systems has been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak in many ways. On the one side, the epidemic has caused a decline in traffic and industrial activity, which has reduced greenhouse gas emissions & other pollutants. As a result, several businesses are experiencing a decline in the need for pollution monitoring equipment. However, the pandemic has also brought attention to the value of good air quality and the necessity of efficient emission monitoring system in a variety of locations, particularly in hospitals and other indoor settings. As a result, there is now more need for emission monitoring systems which can support ensuring the security of personnel and customers in a variety of circumstances. Emission Monitoring System Market Regional Analysis APAC to Command Emission Monitoring System Market Power generating and coal-powered businesses are widely spread throughout Asia Pacific. Power from coal-powered businesses is readily produced in nations like China and India. The primary end-users of the Emission Monitoring system are the coal-powered industries since they release a significant amount of substrate matter & dust in the environment. Europe is regarded as the largest IT vendor and a key industrial region for establishing factories and data centre facilities, on the other hand. The market for emission monitoring systems is expanding in those nations thanks to the rising construction activity and energy consumption. In recent years, the governments of China and India have put increasingly strict rules on their respective manufacturing sectors. The major market participants in these nations have been driven by such circumstances to install Emission Monitoring system in their plants. Additionally, the market for emission monitoring systems is expanding due to the rising environmental pollution and deteriorating air quality in emerging regions. The main consumers of pollution monitoring systems in the region are the expanding chemical and energy sectors. Additionally, the market need for emission systems is increasing due to the increase of coal-fired power plants. Lockdowns were implemented across the region by COVID-19. Asian nations lost a substantial quantity of market and money as a result of the lockdown's forced closure of numerous manufacturing facilities. The main consumers of the coal-fired power generation are emerging economies like China and India. As a result, leading companies in the market for pollution monitoring systems are given lucrative prospects. A number of laws are in place to limit air pollution, and they are getting stricter every year. Market participants can provide innovative items at affordable pricing and earn a considerable competitive edge. The oil & gas industry emits a great deal of dangerous gases, including sulphur dioxide and methane. The government can control the release of dangerous gases by collecting the necessary data from emissions through the emission monitoring system. To achieve a competitive edge in the market, key organizations might concentrate on these chances and offer distinctive products. Browse In-depth Market Research Report (100 Pages) on Emission Monitoring System Market: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/emission-monitoring-system-market-7710 North America to Have Admirable Growth in Emission Monitoring System Market By enhancing air quality and reducing air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency in the US is dedicated to safeguarding public health. As cleaner air has so many positive effects on public health, the Clean Air Act's adoption in the US and subsequent technological developments from numerous inventors have significantly improved the country's air quality. Demand on the market is rising as a result of government measures to lessen energy emissions from different outdated and public buildings. The area is growing as a result of its set and precise emission-control measures. For instance, "The Clean Air Act" as per the EPA outlines the U.S. government's shift towards reducing air pollution. This bill approved the development of national and state regulations to control the amount of emissions produced by both stationary (industrial) & mobile sources. North America held the top spot in the market in 2018 as a result of its established and precise emission control rules. There have been the most EMS deployments in North America. However, due to market saturation, it is anticipated that the percentage of novel deployments within the region will somewhat decrease throughout the projected period. The CEMS are anticipated to be employed as upgrades or replacements because North America is a mature market. Related Reports: Vertical Farming Market Research Report: By Technology, Structure, Crop Type and Region- Forecast Till 2030 Ethernet Switch Market Research Report: By Type, Switching Ports, and Region- Forecast Till 2030 Robotics Market Research Report: By Type, Mobility, End-Users, and Region- Forecast Till 2030 About Market Research Future: Market Research Future (MRFR) is a global market research company that takes pride in its services, offering a complete and accurate analysis regarding diverse markets and consumers worldwide. Market Research Future has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions. Contact Market Research Future (Part of Wantstats Research and Media Private Limited) 99 Hudson Street, 5Th Floor New York, NY 10013 United States of America +1 628 258 0071 (US) +44 2035 002 764 (UK) Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Website: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter Press Release: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/press-release/emission-monitoring-system-market Ocean Springs police arrested a suspect Saturday in a mass shooting at a Cinco de Mayo party at an Ocean Springs restaurant that resulted in the death of a teenager and injuries to six others, Ocean Springs police said in a press release. Key Insights Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, DFCITY Group Berhad fair value estimate is RM0.37 DFCITY Group Berhad's RM0.45 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate When compared to theindustry average discount of -13%, DFCITY Group Berhad's competitors seem to be trading at a lesser premium to fair value In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of DFCITY Group Berhad (KLSE:DFCITY) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. One way to achieve this is by employing 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 still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. See our latest analysis for DFCITY Group Berhad Crunching The Numbers We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. 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 need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM3.58m RM3.54m RM3.56m RM3.61m RM3.68m RM3.77m RM3.88m RM4.00m RM4.13m RM4.26m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ -2.84% Est @ -0.92% Est @ 0.43% Est @ 1.37% Est @ 2.03% Est @ 2.49% Est @ 2.82% Est @ 3.04% Est @ 3.20% Est @ 3.31% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 12% RM3.2 RM2.8 RM2.6 RM2.3 RM2.1 RM1.9 RM1.8 RM1.6 RM1.5 RM1.4 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM21m Story continues After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (3.6%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 12%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032 (1 + g) (r g) = RM4.3m (1 + 3.6%) (12% 3.6%) = RM54m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM54m ( 1 + 12%)10= RM18m The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM39m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of RM0.4, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. dcf The Assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at DFCITY Group Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 12%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.018. 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 DFCITY Group Berhad Strength Net debt to equity ratio below 40%. Weakness Current share price is above our estimate of fair value. Opportunity DFCITY's financial characteristics indicate limited near-term opportunities for shareholders. Lack of analyst coverage makes it difficult to determine DFCITY's earnings prospects. Threat Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow. Looking Ahead: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and 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. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For DFCITY Group Berhad, there are three further factors you should explore: Risks: Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with DFCITY Group Berhad (at least 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! Other 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 Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Living with Poison: The Aftermath of Toxic Waste Dumping. Only after thousands of African people with shortness of breath, burns, and diarrhoea flooded local hospitals, a true investigation began into the Probo Koala toxic waste dumping. African communities living with toxic waste posioning effects the soil, air, water and people for multi-generations. Trafigura chartered a ship, the Probo Koala to transport toxic waste to Cote d'Ivoire in Africa. A lawsuit and a settlement of $160-200 million raised concerns about the disposal of toxic waste in developing countries and led to calls for stricter regulations on the transportation and disposal of hazardous materials. But only after thousands of African people with burns, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties presented at local hospitals, a true investigation began. The incident led to the hospitalization of over 100,000 people and the death of seventeen. Founded in 1993, Trafigura is one of the largest supply chains of base metals, energy and raw materials in the global supply economy. In 2006, a toxic waste dumping scandal occurred in present day Cote d'Ivoire former Ivory Coast, which caused widespread health and environmental damage. Trafigura chartered a ship to transport toxic waste from Amsterdam to West Africa for disposal. The ship ended up in Cote d'Ivoire and dumped the waste at 15 locations around Abidjan, the largest city in Cote d'Ivoire. The toxic waste contained a mixture of chemicals, including hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans, and sodium hydroxide, which caused vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, and breathing difficulties in people who came into contact with it. After thousands of people with burns, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties presented at local hospitals, a true investigation begain.Thousands of Ivorians were affected by the dumping, and at least 17 people died as a result. Among the side effects of the toxic waste dumping were death as well as severe burns to the skin and lungs, vomiting and diarrhoea. The dumping also had a severe impact on the environment, as it contaminated soil and water sources. The Cote d'Ivoire government had to spend millions of dollars to clean up the waste and provide medical assistance to affected communities. Trafigura later agreed to pay a settlement of $160-200 million to compensate the victims of the dumping. In 2008, a court in Cote d'Ivoire found two non-Trafigura employees guilty of illegally dumping the waste. A Nigerian national named Salomon Ugborugbo was sentenced to 20 years in jail. He was the head of an Abidjan firm, Tommy, which Trafigura said it contracted in good faith to handle the waste from the Probo Koala. Essoin Kouao, who worked as a shipping agent at the Port of Abidjan and had recommended Tommy to Trafigura, received a five-year prison term. Trafigura employee Naeem Ahmed, who was involved in the ship's operation in Amsterdam, was fined 27,000 US dollars or around 25,000 euros and the captain of the ship Probo Koala, Sergiy Chertov, was sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term. A Dutch court in 2010 found Trafigura guilty of illegally exporting toxic waste from Amsterdam and concealing the nature of the cargo. Trafigura initially tried to clean up low-grade oil by tipping lye into the cargo storage area of the Probo Koala. The company tried to unload the waste in Amsterdam for treatment, declaring it as harmless. When the treatment company came back with a higher price for cleaning the waste, the cargo was shipped to Africa where it ended up in Abidjan to be handled at a much lower rate. Greenpeace, which brought this case says it was a warning to firms not to export waste to developing countries. Trafigura executives allegedly captured and imprisoned in Cote d'Ivoire. Because of the toxic waste dumping incident by Trafigura, in 2006, two executives were allegedly captured and imprisoned in Cote d'Ivoire while visiting for the purpose of determining the companys next steps to address an environmental issue caused by the leakage of toxic waste material from Trafigura vessels in an Cote d'Ivoire port. London-based law firm Waterson Hicks hired Red Defence International (RDI), a security consulting and crisis management firm in October 2006 to help secure the release of two Trafigura executives who were allegedly arrested and detained in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. However, Kevin Richard Halligen while employed by Trafigura, Halligen claimed to have incurred $2.1 million in expenses related to pursuing a strategy in the United States aimed at convincing the United States to assist in securing the release of the Trafigura executives. In reality, Halligen spent the money on a home in Great Falls, Virginia, which was to be his personal residence, as well as other personal expenses, according to the governments evidence from May 2013 plea deal. In total, Halligen received close to $12 million under this contract. According to the Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maia L. Miller and Matt Graves, who prosecuted the case, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Vasu Muthyala who investigated the matter, the Trafigura executives ultimately were released in February 2007. Did you know? The Probo Koala was a chemical waste tanker that caused an environmental and humanitarian disaster in Cote d'Ivoire in 2006. The ship, chartered by a Dutch company named Trafigura, was carrying toxic waste which was illegally dumped in and around the city of Abidjan, causing widespread pollution and health problems. The high cost of toxic waste mismanagement; the Probo Koala. More links to articles you will find thought provoking. As one of Sydneys most recognisable faces, Luna Park has had some facelifts over the years. There have been eight faces gracing the entrance of the harbourside amusement park since its 1935 opening. From the first scary-looking Art Deco facade, made from chicken wire, plaster and canvas, through to the current 1995 fibreglass face which was manufactured in Brisbane and assembled in Homebush before it was floated by barge to Milsons Point. But since it was added to the NSW State Heritage Register in 2010, other than a few licks of paint, touch-ups of the eyelashes and tooth replacements, there have been no additions or alterations to the parks famous face. Sam Marshall, founding member of the Friends of Luna Park. Luna Park is celebrating 50 years since artists and architects banded together to save Luna Park. Credit: James Brickwood That was until this week, when a mural of two clowns pulling open a cracker and a plaque honouring the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Friends of Luna Park was unveiled on the famous face. 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 Toby Francis has been singing Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy for about four years now, but somehow he does not sing it every time he cleans the house. I cant vacuum at the best of times, he says, laughing. Francis is sitting with his co-star Stefanie Caccamo and director Richard Carroll ahead of rehearsals for the Broadway musical Once, which is returning to Melbourne for the first time since 2014. However, it is not a reboot of the Melbourne Theatre Company production. Its from Sydneys Darlinghurst Theatre Company, where it has played three sold-out seasons over three years, plus a stop in Perth. Stefanie Caccamo and Toby Francis have spent four years playing the leads in the musical version of the Oscar-winning film Once. Credit:Eddie Jim It was such a labour of love for us all, says Carroll. We would never have thought that we would be doing it again, four years later. And thank goodness, because it is such a good show. Its such a rich show in terms of the script and the story and the characters. And the music is so beautiful. Every time we get back in the room, I never think, Oh, god, these songs again. I am always so excited to hear them. The musical is based on the 2007 Oscar-winning film of the same name by John Carney that starred Irish musician Glen Hansard (one-time Commitments star, long-time frontman of the Frames) and Czech musician Marketa Irglova. At its simplest, its about the Guy (no names are ever used) who meets the Girl, a Czech immigrant and a single mother, while he is busking in Dublin. He is a hopeless romantic, while she is a pragmatist who manages to talk him into repairing her vacuum cleaner. Advertisement Its the kind of meet-cute that drives a thousand romcoms, but in Once the pair find a connection thats deeper than anything purely romantic: music. And its the music that sets Once apart not only for its Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly, but for the fact all the music is played live on stage by the cast. Theres something really special about being in a band and playing with everyone jamming, and its not perfect, says Caccamo. The show features an ensemble all playing a variety of instruments live on stage Credit:Robert Catto Francis and Caccamo play the guitar and piano, while the ensemble whirl around them playing yet more guitar, plus the accordion, banjo, violins and fiddle (to up the difficulty factor, one cast member does all this while roller skating as well.) The Broadway production even had a real Irish bar on stage, where audience could order a drink before the show began and be served by the cast. One of the lines [in the show] is You cant have a city without music, says Francis. And it feels very true. When you finish the show, you come out of the stage door and the comments are always about how we played together as a band, 13 of us on stage playing together at this time. Francis and Caccamo as Guy and Girl on stage in Once. Credit:Robert Catto And thats one of the major things that differentiates the show and playing music that is legitimately award-winning not none of these underhanded award-winning shows. Im calling it the OGOT because its the Oscar, Grammy [best musical theatre album], Olivier [outstanding achievement in music] and the Tony [eight awards, including best musical] and Im really trying to get it to catch on. Advertisement For Caccamo, the chance to return to a character she has played four times has allowed her to see the Girl in a new light. I had the biggest shift between season one and season two, she says. I was a bit naive and I thought that to portray a mother, Ive got to shut off parts of who I am as a person. And it was a little more serious than who I am as a person. And then my sister had a baby, the first baby in our family, and I was like, Shes not different. So for the second season, I was like, well, Im just going to bring more of myself to it. And Ive found so much more humour and fun with the role. Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard in the 2007 film Once. I find she allows me as a person who does have a filter and she doesnt to be myself without a filter and tell people what I want them to do. I love it. Francis, meanwhile, has found a richness in the relationship between the Guy and Girl that has grown over the four years he has stood in Guys shoes. They start in this place where they dont know each other, he says. But within the period of a week, they become incredibly close and almost like theyve known each other forever. Advertisement I wrote this. Obviously? Not since the fashion business fell in love with ChatGPT-3. You feed a range of simple word prompts into the language-processing chatbot, which is capable of generating text in a human tone, and voila! Those e-commerce product paragraphs youve been paying a freelance writer $40 an hour to create are done. Fashion columnists are surely on borrowed time. Goldman Sachs is predicting the loss or degradation of 300 million jobs. Credit: Getty Images Can AI generate my column? Over the four decades in which Ive churned out a gazillion words, there have been times Ive wished I could subcontract to a robot. For all I know, ChatGPT may already be familiar with my work, as its human minders have fed it 300 billion words. My saving grace (for now) is a broad scope, from book essays to long-form profiles, such that I dont have an easily identifiable style the chatbot can learn, then use to outdo me (yet). But it can outpace me on the fashion fodder in which we try, every season, to make a combination of shape, fabric and colour sound like it might be new. Writing captions and short fashion text is how young journalists, as I once was, get their entry point in to the profession. Fashion behemoths like Gucci and Prada are already finding multiple uses for AI. ChatGPT (created by leading AI lab OpenAI) differs in that its easy for small businesses to use and its free. GPT stands for Generative Pretrained Transformer technology. Feed it prompts and it can create your social media content in your brand style. The actor Ryan Reynolds proved it can also write a passible TV ad for Mint Mobile, the telecom company he owns. All of which means significant savings on a bottom line. In determining answers to those questions, we better check the record of decades of federal governments, including Abbotts own. There was something charmingly vintage about Abbott showing up in Canberra last week, all fired up to shoot something down. He may no longer be part of the parliamentary Liberal party, but his spirit lives on therein. It is evident in the extraordinary decision of current Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on the Voice. He has not just denied Liberal MPs freedom on their Voice position, nor has he merely formalised a No position for his party. Dutton has gone as far out as is possible to go to Abbottonian lengths of opposition to say he will actively campaign for a No Vote. Loading Just on a resources level, this seems irrational. The opposition is committing its finite capital both financial and social into turning people off something they are inclined to support. There is a not-so-secret underground of pro-Voice Liberals who feel they have been dragooned into a war they have no interest in fighting. Several frontbenchers will avoid actively campaigning for No. This network of pro-Voice Liberals will launch a public campaign in coming weeks, but even now, there are plenty of high-profile Liberals involved in the Yes campaign. John Howards former chief of staff Tony Nutt is on the board of Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, the fundraising body for Yes23. So is the Liberal partys pollster Mark Textor. At a state and territory level, Liberal leaders are either pro, or have declared a free vote (so far). Berowra MP Julian Leeser recently stood down from the opposition frontbench, where he held the Indigenous portfolio because he supports the Voice (although he would like the wording of the amendment changed to exclude representations to executive government, to make it easier for undecided voters to support the change). Leeser tells me he has been overwhelmed and humbled by the public reaction to his standing down. He has been hugged at train stations, and inundated with mail. These people fall into two categories, Leeser says: those who say thanks for standing up for the Voice and those who say Im not sure I agree with you but good on you for taking a stand. This is an issue where many Liberals would like to try to find a way to say yes, says Julian Leeser. Credit: Brook Mitchell Our party has a strong tradition of protecting the constitution. I associate myself with that school of thought, Leeser says. But this is an issue where many Liberals would like to try to find a way to say yes. Leeser also says that within his electorate people are speaking to him about their anxieties over cost of living, not the Voice. Liberal party member and former staffer Cameron Hawker is COO of the not-for-profit Killara Foundation, which works with young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on housing, employment and mentorship (Marcia Langton is on the board). Loading Hawker said he came to the Voice as a sceptic, and educated himself on it. I have come to the conclusion that it can make real tangible outcomes, he says. I dont see it as overly symbolic, I see it in practical terms. Itll advance reconciliation. This is a minimal adjustment to the constitution. Its not a chamber of parliament, its not a radical alteration, its not a threat. I understand it in a conservative tradition. Conservatism doesnt mean not doing things. Hawker says he is disappointed the Liberal party is opposing it and that he profoundly disagrees with the decision not to offer a free vote. He says there is a split [in the party] from my point of view. Moderates are profoundly disappointed with the situation. Hawker believes there is no good outcome for the Liberals whatever the referendum result. If it succeeds we will look like the Grinch at Christmas we are not part of the celebration and the goodwill, he says. If it fails, its a very hollow victory. Do they celebrate that? Where do they go from there? I have not written on the Voice before because I preferred not to contribute to what Noel Pearson calls the white versus white over black problem when white people have political debates about Aboriginal people. But its now over to us, and (again, per Pearson) one of the barriers to reconciliation, and the success of the Voice, is that unlike with the same-sex marriage cause, most Australians dont know and love an Indigenous person. Loading It is understandable people approach constitutional changes with caution. But while we consider the case against the Voice, lets also factor in the post-referendum scenario where the No case is successful. For the Libs, there would be no upside. For the rest of us we will be left with desperate questions, and no answers to them. What will a No victory do to the cause of reconciliation? How will we have a hope of closing the gap? How can Australia fashion its contemporary national identity if we cant face the violence of our origin story? How will any of us ever be able to sit through a Welcome to Country again? How will we respond to the almost endless protest Pearson has warned of? How much more despair can we heap on the heads of Aboriginal Australians? A crowdfunding campaign to save live music venue The Tote has hit its $3 million target as negotiations for the sale of the legendary Collingwood hotel enter the final stages. The successful Pozible campaign organised by Shane Hilton and his partner Leanne Chance, who run the Last Chance Rock & Roll Bar on the Melbourne CBDs northern edge hit the goal on Saturday afternoon, two months after The Tote was put up for sale. Co-owner of The Tote, Jon Perring, says negotiations for the sale of the venue are ongoing, after a crowdfunding campaign raised $3 million towards the sale price. Credit: Paul Jeffers At the time, The Tote co-owners Jon Perring and Sam Crupi said they had no petrol left in the tank following the stresses and strains of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, there has been angst among The Totes regulars that the music venue might get turned into a hotel development or apartment block. Russias main mercenary group announced plans to withdraw from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but Ukraine said the fighters were reinforcing positions to try to seize it before Russia marks World War Two Victory Day next week. Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday (local time) his men had been starved of ammunition and would expect the army to take their place in Bakhmut next Wednesday, jeopardising what has long been Russias main target in its attempt to carve up its neighbour. Head of Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin has recorded a video saying he will pull forces out of Bakhmut. Credit: AP My lads will not suffer useless and unjustified losses in Bakhmut without ammunition, Prigozhin said in a video accompanying a written withdrawal announcement addressed to military leaders including President Vladimir Putin. The announcement said bureaucrats had held back supplies despite knowing that Wagners target date to capture the city was May 9, the day of the World War Two commemoration. BREAKING MUSE: What The Chinese Spy Balloons Tell Us About The Chinese Covid Virus and Its Variants By Marc J. Rauch Exec. Vice President/Co-Publisher THE AUTO CHANNEL Would the Commie Chinese government really have authorized the development and spread of a deadly virus as many have suspected over the last 3 years? Are they really that insidious, evil, and dastard? Well, it appears we have the answer to that question. Bill Gertz, writing for The Washington Times has written an article in which he says: "Chinas Peoples Liberation Army plans to use high-altitude balloons to counter long-range U.S. drones, launch psychological warfare operations and gather intelligence, a review of Chinese military and technical writings reveals. "Beijing also reportedly test-fired a hypersonic missile from an airship in 2018, highlighting the militarys interest in multiple uses for lighter-than-air aircraft." These actions sure seem like an overture to the commies' attempt to start a war and kill a whole lot of people around the world. To read the entire story on The Washinton Times CLICK HERE. ABOUT BILL GERTZ Bill Gertz is a national security correspondent for The Washington Times. He has been with The Times since 1985. He is the author of eight books, four of them national best-sellers. His latest book, "Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China's Drive for Global Supremacy," reveals details about the growing threat posed by the People's Republic of China. He is also the author of the ebook "How China's Communist Party Made the World Sick." BREAKING MUSE is copyright and trademark of The Auto Channel LLC 2023. Breaking Muse represents personal positions that may be possible. When a single insider purchases stock, it is typically not a major deal. However, when multiple insiders purchase stock, like in Redcentric plc's (LON:RCN) instance, it's good news for shareholders. While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. See our latest analysis for Redcentric The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Redcentric The Independent Non-Executive Chairman Nicholas Bate made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for UK50k worth of shares at a price of UK1.24 each. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of UK1.29. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. If someone buys shares at well below current prices, it's a good sign on balance, but keep in mind they may no longer see value. Happily, the Redcentric insiders decided to buy shares at close to current prices. Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK99k for 80.24k shares. But insiders sold 41.67k shares worth UK49k. In total, Redcentric insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! Redcentric 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 Redcentric For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. From looking at our data, insiders own UK816k worth of Redcentric stock, about 0.4% of the company. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. We consider this fairly low insider ownership. Story continues So What Does This Data Suggest About Redcentric Insiders? The fact that there have been no Redcentric insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. The transactions are fine but it'd be more encouraging if Redcentric insiders bought more shares in the company. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Redcentric you should be aware of, and 1 of them makes us a bit uncomfortable. 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. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Chairman of Azerbaijans State Customs Committee, Customs Service Lieutenant General Shahin Baghirov has met with a delegation led by Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoshikawa Yuumi. Touching upon the economic and trade relations between the two countries, the sides stressed the importance of further strengthening of cooperation in the field of customs, Azernews reports. The meeting focused on preparation of the draft "Agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of Japan", exchange of information and experience, creation of a "unified transit portal" of the countries along the Trans-Caspian International East-West Middle Corridor as well as prospects for cooperation in the field of information technologies. If youre an American and are keeping an eye on whos representing the country in King Charles coronation, you might be wondering: Who is Finnegan Biden? Moments after the Queens death on September 8, 2022, Charles was proclaimed King. Due to royal tradition, days later on September 10, 2022, the Privy Council proclaimed the sovereign. The clerk of the council said, Charles III, by the grace of god of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of his other realms and territory, King, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith, to whom we do acknowledge all faith and obedience with humble affection, beseeching god by whom kings and queens do reign to bless his majesty with long and happy years to reign over us. God Save the King. More from StyleCaster In a statement from The White House, President Biden announced that he will not attend King Charles coronation ceremony on May 6, 2023. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with King Charles III, underscoring the strength of the relationship between our countries and the friendship between our people. The President congratulated the King on his upcoming Coronation and informed him that First Lady Jill Biden looks forward to attending on behalf of the United States. The statement also confirmed that the president wants to plan another visit to the U.K. at a later date. The President also conveyed his desire to meet with the King in the United Kingdom at a future date, the readout stated. The First Lady and her granddaughter went to the Coronation with Jill wearing a clean blue dress while Finnegan wore a lovely yellow dress and headband. Click here to read the full article. So in lieu of the President, his granddaughter went in his place instead. So who is Finnegan Biden? Read more below to find out. Story continues Who is Finnegan Biden? Image: Andrew Matthews WPA Pool/Getty Images Who is Finnegan Biden? Finnegan Biden is one of Joe Bidens six grandchildren. She is Hunter Bidens second oldest child and was born in 2000 with his ex-wife Buhle. She was named after Joe Bidens mother Catherine Eugenia Finnegan who died in 2010. She attended the University of Pennsylvania (like her sister Naomi) and graduated in 2021 with a degree in American Studies. She led a campaign to extend UPenns pass/fail system in 2020 and was documented by the schools newspaper the 34th Street Magazine. I was thinking of ways to enact change and to talk about it productively [so] the school might respond, and [the petition] seemed like the most productive [way] to show the school that the students really did care about this, she told the publication. She also stated that she was inspired by her earlier endeavors in high school to create change. I started this campaign where all the girls came into school and surprised the faculty, which they hated, wearing tshirts saying, Im not the distraction. That was the first time I actually saw sincere impact [from] something I did because we got rid of the dress code and had a forum at our school about it. She continued, I think its amazing the way we came together as a student body even in times of so much separation and loneliness for a lot of people, so I hope theres some comfort in the fact that the faculty heard us and recognized our voices because we really did come together and support one another. She talked about how its necessary to make a change. You have to be the change you want to see. Anything as little as just writing a petition. I hope everyone else can realize that its not that hard. But you have to do it. Her sister Naomi was super proud of her sister graduating and posted on her Instagram, BURSTING WITH PRIDE AND PERPETUALLY IN AWE OF MY FIRST LOVE AND LITTLE SIS @finneganbiden ilysmsmsmsm The White House also clarified that Finnegan is just a guest for First Lady Jill and did not have any duties alongside attending the Royal event. There is no official US delegation. Finnegan is a plus one, the White House said in a statement. As weve noted before with other family travel, historically, family members of Presidents have frequently joined them during travel. Current practices are consistent with those used by prior Administrations. Finnegan also accompanied her grandfather Joe on a trip to Beijing while he was still Vice President. She also accompanied her grandparents on a trip to Spain with her sister Maisie to attend a NATO dinner. The President told then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson that he had a Great time with my granddaughters before the NATO summit. I brought my two granddaughters, the first lady told Queen Letizia as they chatted at the palace via the Associated Press. We stayed up and, you know, had a glass of wine. On the day before the coronation, Finnegan attended a pre-coronation dinner with her grandmother, Princess Kate Middleton and First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska. We stand with Ukraine, Jill Biden tweeted. In his absence, Joe Biden tweeted his congratulations to the newly crowned King Charles and Camilla. Congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their Coronation. The enduring friendship between the U.S. and the U.K. is a source of strength for both our peoples. I am proud the First Lady is representing the United States for this historic occasion. Jill Biden then quote tweeted, The United States and the United Kingdom have a special relationship. Its an honor to represent the United States on this historic day at Westminster Abbey. Image: Amazon With exclusive interviews and extensive research, King Charles delivers definitive insight into the extraordinary life of His Royal Highness, former Prince of Wales, as he takes the throne, a watershed moment in modern history and in the British monarchy. New York Times bestselling author Robert Jobson debunks the myths about the man who became king, going beyond banal, bogus media caricatures of Charles to tell his true story. Jobsonwho has spent nearly thirty years chronicling the House of Windsor, and has met Charles on countless occasionsreceived unprecedented cooperation from Clarence House, what was the Princes office, in writing this illuminating biography. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale. StyleCaster Shopping Newsletter Sign Up Best of StyleCaster Provided Photograph Participants in the Holley Faith Sharing and Discussion Community are shown during a recent gathering. COURTESY OF THE WYOMING COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICESgt. Aaron Chase and Deputy Justin Bliss received awards for DWI enforcement last year. Exterior of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters is seen on Oct. 13, 2014, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Jessica McGowan/Getty Images/TNS) (Reuters) -Google is planning to make its search engine more "visual, snackable, personal, and human," with a focus on serving young people globally, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing documents. The move comes as artificial intelligence (AI) applications such as ChatGPT are rapidly gaining in popularity, highlighting a technology that could upend the way businesses and society operate. The tech giant will nudge its service further away from "10 blue links," which is a traditional format of presenting search results and plans to incorporate more human voices as part of the shift, the report said. At its annual I/O developer conference in the coming week, Google is expected to debut new features that allow users to carry out conversations with an AI program, a project code-named "Magi," WSJ added, citing people familiar with the matter. Generative AI has become a buzzword this year, with applications capturing the public's fancy and sparking a rush among companies to launch similar products they believe will change the nature of work. Google, part of Alphabet Inc., did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. (Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill) It's common for many investors, especially those who are inexperienced, to buy shares in companies with a good story even if these companies are loss-making. 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. If this kind of company isn't your style, you like companies that generate revenue, and even earn profits, then you may well be interested in Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY). Even if this company is fairly valued by the market, investors would agree that generating consistent profits will continue to provide Lloyds Banking Group with the means to add long-term value to shareholders. See our latest analysis for Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group's Earnings Per Share Are Growing If a company can keep growing earnings per share (EPS) long enough, its share price should eventually follow. So it makes sense that experienced investors pay close attention to company EPS when undertaking investment research. Recognition must be given to the that Lloyds Banking Group has grown EPS by 54% per year, over the last three years. That sort of growth rarely ever lasts long, but it is well worth paying attention to when it happens. 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. It's noted that Lloyds Banking Group's revenue from operations was lower than its revenue in the last twelve months, so that could distort our analysis of its margins. While we note Lloyds Banking Group achieved similar EBIT margins to last year, revenue grew by a solid 6.9% to UK18b. That's encouraging news for the company! In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings and revenue, over time. For finer detail, click on the image. Story continues You don't drive with your eyes on the rear-view mirror, so you might be more interested in this free report showing analyst forecasts for Lloyds Banking Group's future profits. Are Lloyds Banking Group Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders? Owing to the size of Lloyds Banking Group, we wouldn't expect insiders to hold a significant proportion of the company. But we do take comfort from the fact that they are investors in the company. Indeed, they hold UK25m worth of its stock. That shows significant buy-in, and may indicate conviction in the business strategy. Despite being just 0.08% of the company, the value of that investment is enough to show insiders have plenty riding on the venture. It's good to see that insiders are invested in the company, but are remuneration levels reasonable? Our quick analysis into CEO remuneration would seem to indicate they are. The median total compensation for CEOs of companies similar in size to Lloyds Banking Group, with market caps over UK6.3b, is around UK4.5m. Lloyds Banking Group's CEO took home a total compensation package worth UK3.8m in the year leading up to December 2022. That seems pretty reasonable, especially given it's below the median for similar sized companies. CEO remuneration levels are not the most important metric for investors, but when the pay is modest, that does support enhanced alignment between the CEO and the ordinary shareholders. Generally, arguments can be made that reasonable pay levels attest to good decision-making. Should You Add Lloyds Banking Group To Your Watchlist? Lloyds Banking Group's earnings have taken off in quite an impressive fashion. The sweetener is that insiders have a mountain of stock, and the CEO remuneration is quite reasonable. The drastic earnings growth indicates the business is going from strength to strength. Hopefully a trend that continues well into the future. Lloyds Banking Group is certainly doing some things right and is well worth investigating. What about risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Lloyds Banking Group you should know about. There's always the possibility of doing well buying stocks that are not growing earnings and do not have insiders buying shares. But for those who consider these important metrics, we encourage you to check out companies that do have those features. You can access a free list of them here. 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. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Anti-Monarchy Group Says Its Leader Arrested Ahead of King Charles Coronation Graham Smith, leader of campaign group Republic, attends an anti-monarchy protest prior to the Commonwealth Service, outside Westminster Abbey in London, on March 13, 2023. (May James/Reuters) The leader of anti-monarchy campaign group Republic has been arrested along with five of his team members in the run-up to the coronation of King Charles III, the group said. Tens of thousands of people have gathered to cheer the royal procession and military parade for the coronation at Londons Westminster Abbey on Saturday, the biggest ceremonial event staged in the British capital for 70 years. Well-wishers line the route of the Kings Procession, a two-kilometre stretch from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, in central London, on May 6, 2023. (Sebastien Bozon/pool via Reuters) London Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley had warned on Friday that there would be a very low tolerance for disruption. There are more than 11,000 police officers on patrol in central London. Footage posted on Twitter seems to show Republics chief executive Graham Smith being apprehended by police in St Martins Lane, near Trafalgar Square, on Saturday morning. Pictures appear to show demonstrators in yellow Not My King T-shirts, including Smith, having their details taken by officers. In one video, an officer says: Im not going to get into a conversation about thatthey are under arrest, end of. Writing on Twitter on Saturday morning, the group said: This morning, Graham Smith and 5 members of our team were arrested. Hundreds of placards were seized. Is this democracy? Soon afterwards, a large group of activists from the climate group Just Stop Oil were seen in handcuffs on the Mall, near Buckingham Palace. The Metropolitan Police later confirmed that several people had been arrested on suspicion of offences including breaching the peace and conspiracy to cause public nuisance. Significant Police Operation In a statement on Twitter, the force said: A significant police operation is under way in central London. We have made a number of arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace. The individuals have been held on suspicion of breaching the peace. Earlier today we arrested four people in the area of St Martins Lane. They were held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance. We seized lock-on devices. A further three people were arrested in the area of Wellington Arch. They were held on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. There will be further updates later today. After the apparent arrests, Republic activist Luke Whiting, 26, said it was unclear why the arrests had been made. It is unclear whypotentially it is because one of them was carrying a megaphone, he said, adding, It is unclear exactly whether the police are using these new powers and whether they are misusing them to stop protest happening. One woman in a Republic T-shirt who was arrested said: We had a delivery of placards ready for the protest and then the tactical support unit questioned us as to how we had got through the road closures. They questioned whether what we were doing was a delivery. They then said they found evidence of means of locking on, of items that could be used to lock on, and they arrested us. Under the new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to lock on are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Critics previously hit out at plans from the Met to use facial recognition software on crowds to assist their policing operations. Climate Protests Just Stop Oil said approximately 13 demonstrators have been arrested on The Mall ahead of the coronation. Footage from the Mall showed about 15 protesters being handcuffed and taken away by police. A spokeswoman for the campaign group said five demonstrators were also arrested at Downing Street. She said the groups plan was only to display T-shirts and flags, adding: This is a dystopian nightmare. Just Stop Oil protester Ben Larsen said: I wanted to see the coronation and peacefully protest on the sidelines, in a respectful manner. All we had was a Just Stop Oil T-shirt and an orange flag and thats enough to be detained by the police and searched. He claimed that police found him using AI facial recognition cameras that they were trialling at the coronation. Incredibly Alarming Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UKs chief executive, said the human rights group had been concerned about Metropolitan Police statements about its low tolerance of protests ahead of the coronation arrests. He said in a statement: We need to see what details emerge around these incidents but merely being in possession of a megaphone or carrying placards should never be grounds for a police arrest. Peaceful protest is clearly protected under international human rights law and its been worrying to see the police this week making numerous statements about their low tolerance for disruption at the coronation. He added that the coronation shouldnt become yet another excuse for undermining peoples basic human rights in this country. Human Rights Watch said the coronation arrests were incredibly alarming and something you would expect to see in Moscow not London. Its UK director Yasmine Ahmed said in a statement: Peaceful protests allow individuals to hold those in power to account, something the UK government seems increasingly averse to. PA Media and Reuters contributed to this report. Vanguard founder Jack Bogle helped spearhead the low-cost index fund, putting average returns within reach of every investor. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. For example, the Hill & Smith PLC (LON:HILS) share price is up 21% in the last three years, slightly above the market return. The stock price is up 3.7%: that's not amazing, but it's better than a kick in the teeth. So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 3 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns. View our latest analysis for Hill & Smith In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement. Hill & Smith was able to grow its EPS at 2.9% per year over three years, sending the share price higher. In comparison, the 7% per year gain in the share price outpaces the EPS growth. This indicates that the market is feeling more optimistic on the stock, after the last few years of progress. It's not unusual to see the market 're-rate' a stock, after a few years of growth. You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values). It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. This free interactive report on Hill & Smith's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further. What About Dividends? As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Hill & Smith the TSR over the last 3 years was 28%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence! Story continues A Different Perspective It's nice to see that Hill & Smith shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 6.2% over the last year. That's including the dividend. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 0.4%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Hill & Smith better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Hill & Smith , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. Hill & Smith 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. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on British exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Australian Universities Call out Record Low Research Funding A woman walks past signage for Australian universities in Melbourne, Australia, on June 10, 2020. (William West/AFP via Getty Images) Government spending on research has dropped to its lowest on record, triggering a warning from universities. New forecasts show spending is on track to be 0.49 percent of GDP in 2022/23, having never dropped below 0.5 percent since records began in 1978. Universities Australia chief Catriona Jackson told the Australian Higher Education Industrial Associations annual conference in Hobart on May 5 the federal budget is an opportunity fix the nations research problem. In tough fiscal circumstances, we recognise government cant fund everything, Jackson said. Tough decisions must be made at a time that calls for less public spending. But we know that research makes the nation stronger and wealthier. Australia has about 81,000 researchers working in universities, undertaking 45 percent of all applied research and 87 percent of basic research. Universities are increasingly reliant on international student fees to pay for research activities, which the sector argues is vulnerable to shocks such as when the borders closed because of COVID. Its unfathomable that our ability to continue performing fundamentally important research for the good of the nation hinges on people choosing to study in Australia, Jackson said. No other nation funds their research effort quite like this. The sector estimates every dollar invested in research returns $5 (US$3.35) to the economy. A one percent lift in spending on research would expand the economy by $24 billion (US$16.1 billion) over a decade, Jackson said. Australian researchers were behind the development of Wi-Fi, the bionic ear, penicillin and printable solar cell technology. A panel of experts is consulting with the sector on a new Universities Accorda long-term plan for the higher education systemwhich will report to Education Minister Jason Clare by the end of this year. One of the key areas for review is a new support system for university research that, according to the terms of reference, delivers for Australia, securing the future of the Australian research pipeline, from basic and translational research to commercialisation. Group of Eight chief Vicki Thomson, whose members do 70 percent of all university-based research in Australia, said it was hoped the new free trade agreement between Australia and the UK would drive investment in innovation and research collaboration. The agreement is the first trade deal to include an innovation chapter. The inclusion of the chapter is the first step in examining how our two nations utilise our research universities to drive innovation and commercialisation, with flow-on benefits to increased productivity and growth, Thomson said. Biden Admin Building Lawful Pathways for Immigrants After Title 42 Ends: Mayorkas The Biden administration is encouraging immigrants to take up more legal pathways to enter the country, or face new and expedited deportation processes, as the end of Title 42 nears. Such deportation processes are set to come with the implementation of a new rule the administration is set to finalize soon. The rule would deny asylum to many immigrants who are caught crossing the southern border illegally. The new regulation provides that individuals who do not access our lawful pathways will be presumed ineligible for asylum and will have a higher burden of proof, to overcome that assumption of ineligibility, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a news conference on May 5. The move is part of the Biden administrations plan to curb an anticipated rise in illegal immigrants at the U.S.Mexico border starting on May 11, when Title 42 will be lifted. The date also marks the end of the U.S. COVID-19 public health emergency. Title 42, part of the Public Health Service Act of 1944, was implemented under the Trump administration in March 2020. It allows for blocking asylum claims and swift expulsion of most unauthorized border crossers under the grounds of keeping contagious diseases out of the United States. Under Title 42, border agents were able to rapidly send back many illegal immigrants to Mexico, which helped stem the spread of COVID-19 in crowded detention settings. When Title 42 is lifted, all illegal immigrants will be processed under the Title 8 immigration law. From Title 42 to Title 8 In a post-Title 42 environment, we will be using our expedited removal authorities under Title 8 of the United States Code. That allows us to remove individuals very quickly, Mayorkas said on May 5. The United States will double or triple the number of deportation flights to some countries and aim to process migrants crossing the border illegally in a matter of days, the State Department and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a fact sheet last week. Title 8 is a federal law that allows expulsions if illegal immigrants dont qualify for asylum. The process to remove an illegal immigrant under Title 8 currently takes longer than Title 42. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a Democrat, recently told The Epoch Times that under Title 42, illegal immigrants can come right back to the United States, because there are no repercussions after they are expelled. But under Title 8, there are some teeth, which means if someone is deported, there will be a five-year, 10-year, 15-year, 20-year ban or more, which means they cannot come back into the country, he said. Separately, the Mexican government will step up border security in southern Mexico as part of an agreement reached last week, Mayorkas said. Mexicos Defense Ministry said it didnt have information on the matter. Also ahead of Title 42s end, the Biden administration is expanding access to CBP One, an app that allows migrants to schedule an appointment to approach a border port of entry. Beginning May 12, roughly 1,000 appointments will be available each day, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). A Safe and Orderly Way The administration is building lawful pathways to provide a safe and orderly way for individuals who qualify for relief under U.S. law to reach the United States safely, Mayorkas said. We are building on the success of our parole processes that we announced on Jan. 5 for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. We saw a 95 percent drop in the number of encounters of those individuals at our southern border because we built lawful pathways for them to access, he said. That is the model we are building upon. Mayorkass remarks refer to the Biden administrations recent border changes, which include a parole program to focus on Venezuelans that was begun in October 2022. The program allows up to 24,000 Venezuelans to enter the United States under parole authority, which grants them entry and work authorization for a year but isnt a legal status. A Venezuelan national must meet certain criteria to be eligible, including having a sponsor in the United States to provide financial and other support. In early January, the administration expanded the parole program to nationals of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti, which means they can apply for parole, and if they meet eligibility criteria, they can receive a two-year permit to work in the United States. Regional Processing Centers The Biden administration will be encouraging migrants to apply for refugee resettlement or other forms of entry at two new processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia without having to travel to the U.S.Mexico border. The processing centers will enable individuals to access lawful pathways from those regional processing centerswhether they qualify for refugee processing, whether they qualify for our existing and expanding family reunification programs, whether they present acute vulnerabilities that make qualify them for humanitarian parole on a case-by-case basis, Mayorkas said on May 5. We are reaching the people where they are. It is not only our security obligation, it is our humanitarian responsibility to cut the smugglers out, and that is indeed what we are doing. The centers, with the support of the United Nations, aim to screen 5,000 to 6,000 migrants each month as the United States has pledged to accept more refugees from within the Western Hemisphere. Canada and Spain have also said they would accept migrants through the centers, U.S. officials said. The centers will also process family reunification applications, a program already available to Cubans and Haitians that will now be expanded to nationals of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, U.S. officials said. The program allows certain migrants with U.S. relatives to enter and work legally while they await their U.S. visas. The Border Is Not Open Migrant arrests at the U.S.Mexico border have risen in recent weeks, which Mayorkas attributed to a spike in illegal immigrants from Venezuela. Mayorkas last week issued a warning directed at migrants who plan to cross the southern border illegally, amid the perception among them that they will be allowed in upon the end of Title 42. We are building lawful pathways and we are delivering consequences for those who do not use those meaningfully accessible pathways. The message is very clear. We are coming with the relief that our laws provide to the individuals in need, he said. The border is not open, it has not been open, and it will not be open, subsequent to May 11. And the smugglers who exploit vulnerable migrants are spreading misinformation. They are spreading false information, lies, in a way to lure vulnerable people to the southern border, and those individuals will only be returned. To the individuals themselves, who are thinking of migrating: Do not believe the smugglers, please access the official government publications, please access the official government information on the DHS website for accurate information, because you are being deceived and you are risking your lives and your life savings only to meet a consequence that you do not expect at our southern border. Reuters contributed to this report. Biden Says Son Hunter Has Done Nothing Wrong Amid Rumors of Federal Charges President Joe Biden with son Hunter Biden arrives at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, N.Y., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images) President Joe Biden said Friday that his son Hunter Biden has done nothing wrong as rumors swirl that the presidents son could soon face federal charges. Biden made the remarks during an interview on MSNBC on Friday, which came days after the Washington Post cited anonymous people familiar as saying that Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors were nearing a decision on whether to charge Hunter Biden with tax- and gun-related violations. First of all, my son has done nothing wrong, the president said in the interview. I trust him. I have faith in him. The U.S. attorneys office in Delaware has been investigating Hunter Bidens tax affairs. The presidents son said in 2020 that he was taking the investigation seriously but was confident of a favorable outcome. I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors, Hunter Biden said in a statement issued by the Biden-Harris transition team in December 2020. At the time, the transition team issued a statement describing the president-elect as deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges from which he has emerged stronger. Hunter Biden has acknowledged in the past that he made mistakes, but hes insisted that he did not commit any crimes. In the interview on Friday, the president reiterated that he was proud of his son when asked how charges being brought against him might impact his presidency. It impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him, the president said in the interview. The Epoch Times has reached out to Hunter Bidens attorney with a request for comment. A separate report by the Washington Post in October that cited anonymous sources indicated that prosecutors believed there was enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and allegations that the presidents son put false information on paperwork relating to his purchase of a handgun. Charges against Hunter Biden would bring national attention to a sensitive topic for the president, one that Republicans have sought to highlight amid the presidents recent launch of his reelection campaign. Senators Share Documents With Prosecutors In October of last year, two Republican senators said they shared documents with the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Delaware that they had obtained while conducting their own probe into Hunter Biden. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) sent the documents, including banking records, to prosecutors after the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Delaware and the DOJ declined to ensure that the federal probe would be both thorough and free from interference. Today, in light of your and DOJs failure to respond to our legitimate congressional oversight requests and as part of our ongoing congressional investigation, we are transmitting to you over two hundred pages of records relating to the Biden familys connections to the Chinese regime and persons connected to its military and intelligence elements, Johnson and Grassley wrote in a letter (pdf) to U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee. If you are conducting a full and complete investigation, you should already possess these records. In the case that you are not and do not possess these records, we suggest that you review them in detail. The documents include records showing a business relationship between Hunter Biden and CEFC China Energy, a firm that was one of the largest energy companies in China before it later went defunct, including while Joe Biden was vice president. Hunter Biden also faces a case involving child support payments. Child Support Dispute On May 1, Hunter Biden appeared in an Arkansas court in a dispute over child support payments for his four-year-old daughter. Initially, Hunter Biden denied that the child was his, but a DNA test confirmed he is the father. The childs mother, Lunden Roberts, sued for child support in 2019, and a year later, she and Hunter Biden agreed to an undisclosed amount. Hunter Biden asked the court to review the child support arrangements, leading to the case being considered before the court. He appeared before Independence County Circuit Court in Batesville, Arkansas, on May 1. His attorney, Abbe David Lowell, said during proceedings that Biden had been paying $20,000 per month in child support, for a total of over $700,000 since the support order was signed. Michael Clements and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report. California Defaults on $18.6 Billion Debt, Now Businesses Have to Pay California borrowed approximately $20 billion from the federal government to cover unemployment benefits during the pandemic, and with Gov. Gavin Newsoms recent decision to not pay it back, employers are now saddled with the expense, according to experts. The state should have taken care of the loans with the COVID money it received from the government in 2021, Marc Joffe, policy analyst at the Cato Institutea public policy think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.told The Epoch Times. In the proposed 20232024 budget, $750 million was allocated to start paying down the loan, but Newsom made changes to the plan in January and withdrew the funding. Newsoms office didnt respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. The decision leaves businesses in the state responsible for the loansas mandated by federal regulationsso the federal unemployment tax rate of 0.6 percent is set to increase by 0.3 percent annually, starting in 2023, until the loan is extinguished. California is just not really an employer-friendly state, Joffe said. This one thing will not be a difference between a business remaining open or closing, but its just another burden on top of the many burdens the state puts on employers. Twenty-two states borrowed money for unemployment insurance from the federal government during the pandemic, with all but fourCalifornia, Colorado, Connecticut, and New Yorkpaying back their debts. California owes the most, by far, with approximately $18.6 billion outstanding as of May 2, followed by New Yorks $8 billion, Connecticuts $187 million, and Colorados $77 million, according to U.S. Treasury Department data. The discrepancy in amounts borrowed and owed by states lies in the different approaches to managing the pandemic, with Californias stricter lockdown causing unemployment to remain higher for longer, according to experts. Initially, the state borrowed from its reserves to pay the benefits, but after exhausting its coffers, it borrowed to cover expenses, analysts said. Exacerbating the situation were unprecedented levels of fraud occurring across the state because of limited oversight and antiquated computer systems, according to Lee Ohanian, professor of economics at the University of CaliforniaLos Angeles. Analytics firm LexisNexis estimated the total cost of the fraud at $32.6 billion. Investigations have since uncovered that illegitimate unemployment benefits payments were paid to convicted felons, with one address receiving 60 separate fraudulent payments. Fraud is a persistent issue historically with the program, and a $2 million federal grant in 2013 sought to address the issue with new computer software systems. The upgrade successfully stopped instances of fraud, but further improvements stopped with the end of the grant in 2016, reportedly because of the agencys reluctance to take on the annual expense for the third-party service. They were penny wise and pound foolish, Ohanian told The Epoch Times. At a cost of $2 million annually, the program would have cost $14 million to operate over the period since it was terminated. Sadly, this is just a trifecta of bad decisions, Ohanian said. The [Employment Development Department] made a bad decision to not renew its lease for the fraud detection software, the state government took out a loan and chose to welch on the debtwhich is outrageousand now businesses are repaying more in taxes for the incredibly unwise decisions and mistakes of the state government. Reports that the state is seeking forgiveness from the federal government were met with resistance by policy experts, including Ohanian. Weve made a lot of bad decisions and we expect the rest of the country to pay for it, he said. It also raises questions about the future: If the state is going to default on the $20 billion federal loans, how safe are municipal bonds from California? Clinton, Freeland, Chretien Address Liberal Convention Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland take part in a keynote address during the second day of the Liberal Convention in Ottawa, on May 5, 2023. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press) Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the Liberal government as a trailbreaker as she addressed the partys national convention on May 5, urging for more feminist economic policies, and keeping up support for Ukraine. Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who also delivered his keynote address, took shots at opposition Conservatives. The former U.S. presidential candidate was on stage alongside Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland where she praised the federal Liberals as an optimistic, progressive, forward-looking party. In many ways, the Liberal Party of Canada is a trailbreaker, Clinton said in front of 3,500 attendees at the Shaw Centre in downtown Ottawa. She was referring to the national child care policy launched by the minority government that set the cost of child care to $10 a day. Its important in todays political world to get out there and make sure people know what youve done. Ten dollars a day for childcare? Thats extraordinary, she said. I think the idea of a feminist set of policies, a feminist economic policy, is exactly where you need to be if you want to increase economic opportunity and economic output. Clintons comment was welcomed by Freeland, who stressed that Justin Trudeau is a truly feminist prime minister and that his government believes that feminist policy is economic policy. As Much Military Support The conversation shifted to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine when the minister asked Clinton what it means to support the latter. We have to continue to provide as much military support to Ukraine, Clinton replied. I wish we would speed up the delivery of everything that they need. Clinton said the best way to end Putins aggression is for Ukraine to win. Foreign Interference Prior to Clintons keynote address, Chretien took the stage and dismissed the foreign interference controversy dogging the Trudeau government in recent times. Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien delivers remarks during a keynote address during the second day of the Liberal Convention in Ottawa on May 5, 2023. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press) In February, the Globe and Mail published a series of reports with allegations that China had interfered in the past two federal elections, including channeling donations to the Trudeau Foundation. On May 1, the media outlet stated that, based on national security leaks, the Chinese regime sought to target Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family following a 2021 Commons vote declaring the treatment of Uyghurs in China a genocide. The Conservatives immediately raised concerns about the allegations, but the Liberal government has struggled to provide satisfactory answers to the opposition party. Chretien made light of the controversy and instead told attendees that, considering the Globes coverage, he was preoccupied to see Clinton attending the convention. The Globe and Mail will get crazy, he said. Shes an American meddling in Canadian politics. We need a royal commission. He also dismissed calls for public inquiries. My friends, who are lawyers in Ottawa, like the Globe and Mail because if we have all the commissions that they want us to have, they will become very rich. Chretien, who was first elected in 1963, and became prime minister in 1993, took aim at Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre who is critical of the Trudeau government. Speaking in French, he said Poilievres outlook is negative. No, Mr. Poilievre, Canada is not broken, said the former prime minister. Canada is the land that makes the envy of the world. Canada is still the best. And vive le Canada! The 89-year-old recounted tales of his time in office and the legacies various Liberal governments have left behind. He listed medicare, official language rights, gun control laws, and the legalization of same-sex marriage among several more. We did these because of our values, Chretien said. Noe Chartier and The Canadian Press contributed to this report. Colorado Man Pleads Guilty for Setting Fire to Church in Hate Crime Case A 22-year-old man has pled guilty in a Colorado federal court for setting fire to a church in Loveland in January. Darion Ray Sexton entered a guilty plea on Thursday, admitting fault for setting fire to the Abiding Love Lutheran Church on Jan. 19. Sexton was arrested and charged on Jan. 23 with causing damage to real property with fire or explosives. As part of his plea, Sexton admitted to throwing two Molotov cocktail incendiary devices at the church, including one at the front door and the other at the basement. Sexton further admitted that he intended to destroy the church and was motivated to set fire to the building because of its religious character, making the offense a hate crime. According to charging documents in the case, Sexton messaged a friend on the Snapchat social media app, saying yeah, I might go set a church on fire. This friend, referred to in court documents as Witness 1, replied: Isnt that a hate crime? before falling asleep. Sexton will again appear in federal court on July 21 for a sentencing hearing. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Plea Agreement The plea agreement (pdf) Sexton signed recommends a prison term of between 51 months (just over four years) and 125 months (almost 10 and a half years) and a restitution period of no more than three years. The agreement also recommends a fine of between $20,000 and $200,000 and restitution for damages. A judge may determine a sentence that is either greater or less than those recommended in the plea agreement. We all have a right to feel safe and secure in our houses of worshipno matter our religion or belief, U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan for the District of Colorado said following Sextons guilty plea on Thursday. An act of violence in one of our sacred places is especially serious, and we will work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously prosecute all such offenses. NTD News reached out to the Abiding Love Lutheran Church for comment but did not receive a response by the time this article was published. Churches Under Attack Numerous churches across the United States have been targeted with vandalism and arson in recent months. The uptick in attacks targeting churches comes after the U.S. Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization in which the court ruled that the individual states could regulate aspects of abortion not already covered by federal law. Several Christian faiths, including the Lutheran Church, oppose abortion. In some instances, churches and other pro-life organizations have been targeted with graffiti messages specifically referencing their pro-life views. Charging documents in Sextons case do not elaborate further on his motives for targeting the Abiding Love Lutheran Church beyond an unspecified animus toward its religious character. During a March Senate hearing, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department is investigating and prosecuting cases of suspects targeting both sides of the abortion debate but admitted there had been fewer prosecutions for attacks on pro-life churches and offices because suspects in those cases tend to act at night when there are fewer witnesses or cameras present. Following Sextons guilty plea, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division said, We will continue to vigorously prosecute those who attack houses of worship and target religious communities. Mark Michalek, the Special Agent of the FBI Denver Field Office, said: The FBI treats hate crimes as the highest priority of our civil rights program because everyone deserves to feel safe to exercise their religion without fear of violence from others. FBI Denver is committed to protecting those rights, and we will continue to aggressively work with our law enforcement partners to bring justice to all communities that have been targeted. From NTD News. Country Roads Lead to Australias Technology Revolution Over rolling hills past vineyards, wineries, and paddocks filled with newborn lambs sits a narrow country lane scarred with potholes. A factory stands at the end of the bumpy road in Borenore, a village in central western New South Wales (NSW), where signs warn of snakes, and sleek silver fermenters loom large. This is the home of Cauldron, a high-tech start-up that raised $10.5 million (US$7.1 million) in seed funding from the CSIROs venture capital firm, Main Sequence, and Horizons Ventures, the private investing arm of Hong Kong magnate Li Ka-Shing. Cauldron uses precision fermentation to create molecules for animal-free food, fibres and biodegradable plastic, the same well-established process that replaced the need for animal products in insulin. Were trying to supplement conventional agriculture as food scarcity or fibre scarcity becomes apparent from climate change, CEO Michele Stansfield tells AAP. Were moving into a sustainable industry to help the population. The Queensland government has also backed the company to the tune of $500,000 (US$338,000) as a test case for a future food manufacturing facility in Mackay, the centre of sugarcane country. A new offshoot of a decades-old local business, Cauldron is shaping up to be a major player in synthetic biologyan industry the CSIRO estimates will be worth $700 billion (US$473 billion) globally by 2040. Despite the hype, the money and the big names, the company will always work best on a patch of land in regional Australia, far from tight-knit start-up communities in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Its expanding labs need to be close to sources of sugar and starch for fermentation and will work hand-in-hand with agriculture, Stansfield said. Our heart is in the regions. Theres absolutely no reason for us to be in cities. With these large facilities, were going to look like a winery and you dont see wineries popping up in (Sydneys) Petersham. Cauldron is one of several ambitious tech start-ups outside the capitals alongside Gilmour Space, on Queenslands Gold Coast, carbon sequestration company Loam Bio, in Orange, NSW, and Newcastle renewable energy innovators MGA Thermal. Main Sequence partner Phil Morle said his quest to find the most valuable investment opportunities in Australia often leads him to the regions. The landmass and long history of highly-skilled industries like energy, engineering, mining and agriculture lend to a new era of manufacturing that looks to biology and nature for solutions. These times are exciting. I cant remember another time when theres been these forces lined up, Morle said. More people have moved to the regions, so theres more people available to work, theres more natural production that can happen and there is government policy and intent to bring more sovereign capability back to Australia. Gilmour Space, which is developing hybrid-engine rockets, could never be based in a city, Morle points out. You cant launch rockets from Circular Quay, he said with a laugh. Referencing US entrepreneur Peter Thiels joke about technology promising flying cars but delivering 140-character tweets, Morle said: These big flying car-type companies are appearing in the regions. But the nation must act quickly if it is to become a leader in the opportunities offered by country Australia. Morle said high-profile Silicon Valley companies are already scouting Australian start-ups to help make their alternative food, fibre, and fuel products. Weve got hundreds of years of working with the land on a massive scale in a climate-challenged environment. Weve been practising for 100 years about what to do about climate change. Today there is as good as nowhere to get these products built, so the first country that breaks ground will have an incredible advantage. Australia will be the first in the worldor one of the first in the worldand people will have to go where the solution is. Across the road from Tomago Aluminium, the countrys largest smelter, Newcastle-based MGA Thermal is developing energy storage blocks that may be used to retrofit power stations. Last year, AGL and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency announced the start-up would be part of a $1 million (US$0.68 million) feasibility study into a thermal battery powering a steam turbine at the energy giants gas-fired Torrens Island Power Station in South Australia. MGA Thermal chief technology officer Alex Post said its critical to be based near the Hunter region, and next to its customers in the core of the east coasts energy supply. Renewable energy is really linked with regional development, Post said. Our whole grid is transitioning from a centralised model where you have big power plants spreading out this spindly network to reach everywhere to distributed solar farms and wind farms across the entire country. If we do this right Australia could reclaim a position of a real industrial powerhouse because we have some of the best wind and solar in the world. Back in Borenore, Stansfield sits in a small meeting room freshly painted Cauldron green ahead of an expansion after its recent funding. Stansfield hopes the federal government will pay more attention to country-based innovators. All the funding goes to Sydney so its come down to the people in the regions to find their own money and do it themselves. I always say: this is Australias opportunity to lose. Denver City Councilmember Wants to Tax White-Owned Businesses An open sign sits outside The Bar.Ber.Shop in Greeley Colo. in an April 2020 file photograph. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images) Denver City Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca (D) spoke out and called on the Colorado government to increase taxes on white-owned businesses and give that money to black- and brown-owned businesses as a form of reparations. CdeBaca attended the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance Forum on Thursday and believes that capitalism was built on stolen land, stolen labor, and stolen resources. And a check today could not undo the cumulative impact of generations of that stolen wealth in all of those categories, CdeBaca said during the forum. And so I think it has to come in the form of land, labor, and resources in an ongoing fashion. And there are structures that we have that could be flipped to begin to do that reparation. The Bar.Ber.Shop stylist Brenda Escobedo gives Alan Gomez a haircut in Greeley, Colo., on April 28, 2020. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images) Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) has shown his support for all businesses and announced Capital grants for 56 grant recipients to support small businesses in Colorado through the Small Business Accelerated Growth Program, partnering with the Business Support division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade earlier this year. I understand what its like to start and grow a business, and we are thrilled to be able to provide this grant to small business owners, entrepreneurs, and veterans across Colorado, Polis said in a statement. These exciting grants build upon our work boosting Colorados strong economy and supporting small businesses. CdeBaca claimed that an economic development plan for the Five Points neighborhood was stealing from the businesses there because it would increase taxes. Instead of a bid collecting extra taxation from the black and brown businesses that are struggling, you could be collecting those extra taxes from white-led businesses all over the city and redistributing them to black and brown-owned businesses, who are not part of the bid, or who are simply just black or brown owned, CdeBaca said. And thats one way to give back in the business form fashion. I think when we talk about resources being returned, this is where consumer-owned or municipally-owned resources are important. Charlie Kirk shared CdeBacas speech on his Twitter and said: This is evil. This is wrong. This is racist. Despite the backlash, state Sen. Jeff Bridges (D) said providing funding to small businesses is what keeps the states economy thriving. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and critical drivers for our communities, Bridges said in a statement. By helping folks access the capital they need, were planting seeds that will help these small business owners expand their operations, grow our economy, and create good-paying jobs so that more Colorado families can thrive. China Califf, executive director of the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center, helped implement the Capital training program and says business owners from all backgrounds can get access to funding. The funding from SB21-241 is an incredible opportunity for the Small Business Development Center Network to address one of the greatest barriers small businesses face, accessing capital. Our entrepreneurs are developing the knowledge and confidence needed to become lender-ready, Califf said in a statement. CdeBaca also pushed for providing minority business owners with more money to become successful and not only feel the need to survive. And we need to go far beyond welfare wages and go to prosperous wages because we dont want to just survive anymore, and reparations goal should not be survival. It should be repairing the harm, which is this entire economy, CdeBaca concluded. State Sen. Rhonda Fields (D) says business owners are what makes Colorado a great state, and all business owners will be supported. Small businesses represent the heart and soul of Colorado, Fields said in a statement. After a challenging few years, small business owners have certainly earned a helping hand when it comes to accessing resources and capital. Im so pleased that the Small Business Accelerated Growth Program is up and running and that these critical resources are getting out the door and into our communities. DeSantis Signs Bill Canceling Disneys Deal to Evade State Oversight Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed (pdf) a bill that gives a new state-appointed board the power to void an agreement that Walt Disney Co. had signed to maintain control over developments in the special tax district where Walt Disney World is located. The bill, SB 1604 (pdf) lets the Central Tourism Oversight District Board cancel deals signed up to three months before the board was created. Make no mistake about it, the reason why the legislature had to act was not because of anything we did, DeSantis said at a news conference Friday. It was basically born out of Disneys arrogance that they would be able to subcontract around the duly enacted laws of the state of Florida. Thats wrong. The bill reads: An independent special district is precluded from complying with the terms of any development agreement, or any other agreement for which the development agreement serves in whole or part as consideration, which is executed within 3 months preceding the effective date of a law modifying the manner of selecting members of the governing body of the independent special district from election to appointment or from appointment to election. The move marks the latest in an apparent feud between the Republican governor and Disney. It was sparked last year when Disney publicly opposed Floridas Parental Rights in Education Act (HB 1557), which DeSantis signed into law in March 2022. The bill prohibits sex education in public schools for kindergarten through the third grade. It has been inaccurately dubbed by opponents as the Dont Say Gay bill. Protestors rally in opposition to The Walt Disney Companys stance against a recently passed Florida law outside of the companys headquarters in Burbank Calif., on April 6, 2022. (Jill McLaughlin/The Epoch Times) Special Status In retaliation, DeSantis moved to strip Disneys special status it had enjoyed since 1967 due to a legislative decision. The special status of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, located in Osceola and Orange counties, gave Disney near total operational autonomy over the 25,000 acres surrounding the Walt Disney World resort, which opened in 1971. Specifically, it gave Disney self-governance powers unlike those granted to any other business in the state. These include the power to create and enforce its own building codes and zoning laws, as well as to levy taxes and operate its own utility services. The Reedy Creek Improvement District board, controlled and hand-picked by Disney, administered the special districts roads, utilities, and other essential services. The Florida legislature in December 2022 passed a bill to create the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, to replace the Reedy Creek Improvement District. The new board would have five members appointed by the governor. DeSantis signed the bill on Feb. 27, 2023. But less than three weeks before the bills signing, the old board transferred most of its power to Disney itself. The last-minute deal would, in part, give Disney 30-year control over all development rights. A family walks past Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Dec. 21, 2020. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP) Disney told The Epoch Times in an email in late March that the deal was legal and appropriate and conducted in compliance with the states laws regarding open public records and public meetings. But the new boards lawyers have said the new agreement was unlawful. Central Florida Tourism Oversight District on April 26 said Disneys plans for potential expansion of Disney World did not comply with state law and declared that agreement void. This prompted Disney to file a lawsuit in federal court the same day, accusing DeSantis of illegally engaging in a targeted campaign of government retaliation as punishment for Disney exercising its free speech rights. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board responded with its own lawsuit in a state court, saying it sought to void backroom deals favorable to Disney. Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the latest move from DeSantis. Dan M. Berger, Tom Ozimek, and Reuters contributed to this report. English Key to Integrating Taiwanese and US Military Cooperation Commentary The Taiwan governments desire for greater integration with the U.S. military is supported by its goal of making the country bilingual by 2030. Taiwans President, Tsai Ing-wen told ex-U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, during his visit to Taipei on May 3, that she hopes to increase U.S. security exchanges, in the face of increasing aggression from China. During annual military drills, held in April and May, the Taiwanese military is focusing on opposing a PLA blockade, coordinating with the United States through a Five Eyes intelligence link. Increasing integration between Taiwan and the United States both militarily and economically is the key to the continued existence of the democratic island nation. And improving the English language capabilities of the population is a tremendous step towards achieving that goal. As defense and trade ties strengthen, the government is pushing for Taiwan to become bilingual by 2030. Taiwanese and U.S. defense firms are set to resume talks next month regarding co-production of weapons. The Taiwan-U.S. Defense Industry Forum set for May 3 in Taipei will discuss increased collaboration between U.S. and Taiwanese arms makers as well as the future possibility of manufacturing U.S. arms on the island. Beginning on April 6, China ran multi-day military drills near Taiwan simulating capturing the democratic island nation. The exercises were held in response to Taiwan President Tsai Ying-Wens visit to the United States. Two weeks later, the United States ran war games simulations of the United States and Japan defending Taiwan from a Chinese invasion. Although the simulation resulted in victory and maintaining an independent Taiwan, U.S. military officials concluded that the United States had to provide Taiwan with more and better weapons. Lawmakers in a new House select committee on China gather for a tabletop war game exercise in the House Ways and Means Committee room in Washington on April 19, 2023. (Ellen Knickmeyer/AP Photo) Beyond strengthening its national security, Taiwan is also increasing its relevance as a global nation by establishing itself as a major technology and trading hub within the U.S. and western sphere. Taiwanese companies are decreasing their China exposure as tensions increase between the United States and China. At the same time, the United States can benefit from having a richer and more heavily armed ally in the Asia-Pacific region. This situation creates an opportunity for Taipei to intensify its economic relations with Washington. As the islands geopolitical significance grows, it is becoming more essential for the two nations to establish institutionalized economic links which play a part in the U.S. strategy to counterbalance China. Aside from its military and economic development, a major key to Taiwans integration with the United States and the West, and perhaps its overall survival, is the ability to speak English. Taking Singapore and Hong Kong as models, having English as the first or second official language has allowed these countries to develop much faster than the rest of Asia and achieve income levels on par with the United States and well above those of other Asian nations or even most of Europe. Malaysia has also benefitted from its high use of English. While not as rich as Singapore, Malaysia is significantly wealthier than other Southeast Asian nations. The Philippines is another example. Again, not one of the richest nations, but the knowledge of English has allowed Filipinos to work abroad and send back remittances crucial to the countrys development. Additionally, English has facilitated the integration of the Philippines Armed Forces with the U.S. military, defending the nation from a possible China threat. In 2018, the Executive Yuan, which is the highest administrative branch of government in Taiwan, approved plans to develop Taiwan into a bilingual nation by 2030. This move is seen not only as an attempt to increase economic and security development but also as a shift away from Beijings orbit. More than 63 percent of Taiwanese people identify as Taiwanese rather than Chinese. About 31.4 percent see themselves as both Taiwanese and Chinese while only 2.7 percent identify as solely Chinese. The official language of Taiwan is Mandarin Chinese although Taiwan uses traditional Chinese characters which differ from the simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China. The use of traditional characters shows that any connection with mainland China predates the formation of the communist regime in 1949. Another linguistic difference is the use of the Taiwanese language. According to the Ministry of Education, about 64 percent of Taiwanese people spoke Taiwanese as a second language while about 14 percent spoke it as a first language in 2020. Although the Taiwanese language is an important cultural identifier separating Taiwan from China, it is not the official second language of the country. And while most of the population embraces the move toward English, there is some internal opposition from those who wish to promote the use of traditional and indigenous languages. It is feared that intensifying English requirements in a curriculum that is already Mandarin-heavy would accelerate the demise of the Taiwanese Hokkien language Hoklo or minor Chinese dialects like Hakka and Mindong. Additionally, there are 16 officially recognized tribes in Taiwan each with their own languages, and most of which are already endangered. Despite the possible loss of indigenous languages, Taipei is moving forward with its English program. According to the Chief Executive Officer of the European Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan Freddie Hoeglund, English will make the country more attractive to foreign investors and increase Taiwans competitiveness in global markets. As foreign supply chains and trade networks become more dependent on Taiwan, diplomatic support for the island will increase. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 4 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. This means that investors who purchase HSBC Holdings' shares on or after the 11th of May will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 23rd of June. The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.10 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.32 per share to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that HSBC Holdings has a trailing yield of 4.2% on the current share price of 5.998. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing. See our latest analysis for HSBC Holdings Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. HSBC Holdings paid out a comfortable 43% of its profit last year. Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is. Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends. Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing? Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. For this reason, we're glad to see HSBC Holdings's earnings per share have risen 19% per annum over the last five years. Story continues Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. HSBC Holdings has seen its dividend decline 7.5% per annum on average over the past six years, which is not great to see. It's unusual to see earnings per share increasing at the same time as dividends per share have been in decline. We'd hope it's because the company is reinvesting heavily in its business, but it could also suggest business is lumpy. The Bottom Line Is HSBC Holdings worth buying for its dividend? Companies like HSBC Holdings that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. This strategy can add significant value to shareholders over the long term - as long as it's done without issuing too many new shares. HSBC Holdings ticks a lot of boxes for us from a dividend perspective, and we think these characteristics should mark the company as deserving of further attention. While it's tempting to invest in HSBC Holdings for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. For example, we've found 3 warning signs for HSBC Holdings (1 is concerning!) that deserve your attention before investing in the shares. A common investing mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a full list of high-yield dividend stocks. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Evacuation Alerts Expanded as Floodwaters Rise on Some BC Rivers, Creeks The village of Cache Creek, shown in a handout photo, is maintaining a state of local emergency due to flooding. (The Canadian Press/HO-Sheila Olson) Hundreds of residents in British Columbias southern and central Interior have been warned they may have to leave quickly if floodwaters move in. Flood warnings, watches and advisories cover about half of the province, although the areas most under threat are the Boundary and Thompson regions. Heavy rain on Friday and today following a week of record-setting temperatures that melted the snowpack has swollen rivers and creeks and set off mudslides. Evacuation alerts have been issued for almost 900 properties in the village of Salmo and its neighbouring communities of Erie and Ymir, as well as properties in Grand Forks and in the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary. The Okanagan Indian Band has issued an evacuation order for a small number of homes along Whitemans Creek, where fast-moving water is undercutting the bank. The province says it has deployed more than 200,000 sandbags to communities including Grand Forks and Cache Creek, which has been hit particularly hard, with water flowing through homes and businesses. The Ministry of Transportation says its staging equipment and materials at key locations and keeping an eye on infrastructure that may need to be reinforced. Former College Student Pleads Not Guilty to California Murder Charges DAVIS, Calif.A 21-year-old former university student on Friday pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one of attempted murder in connection with a series of stabbings in the college community of Davis. Yolo County Superior Court Judge Daniel Wolk also denied bail to Carlos Dominguez, citing the risk to public safety and the defendants own flight risk given the seriousness of the alleged crimes. Dominguez remained expressionless as the judge read out the complaint filed by prosecutors Friday. He responded in the affirmative several times to questions from the judge but did not speak otherwise. Yolo County prosecutors said Dominguez is eligible for a life prison term without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, given the multiple murders. He is accused of fatally stabbing two people, including a fellow student, and stabbing a third victim who is now recovering. Dominguez was represented by Dan Hutchinson, a deputy public defender. Hutchinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He was picked up for questioning Wednesday near the city park where he was alleged to have killed his second victim and has been in jail since early Thursday. News of his arrest Thursday was a relief to students and residents shocked by the vicious stabbings, which Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel described as particularly brutal and brazen. Police Chief Darren Pytel and Mayor Will Arnold (R) make an arrest announcement at police headquarters in Davis, Calif., on May 4, 2023. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP) Dominguez was a student at UC Davis until April 25two days before the first victim was foundwhen he was let go for academic reasons, the university said. He was a third-year student majoring in biological sciences. On Friday, students headed to class, in contrast to earlier in the week when the campus was practically deserted, some said. Talia Mickelsen, a third-year student studying animal sciences, said she lives across the street from the house in which Dominguez lived. She noticed him a few times, but never interacted with him, she said. Mickelsen said the last week has been scary, and she feels more secure now that he is arrested. It is very eye-opening, but I guess these things can happen anywhere, she said. Now, I just make sure Im vigilant and cautious wherever I go. Coco Yan, a student also majoring in animal sciences, said she and a friend did not leave the house unless they went out together. I have no sympathy for the stabber, said Yan. A lot of people were stressed and scared because of it. Davis police and multiple law enforcement agencies fanned out to investigate after the body of David Breaux, 50, was discovered at a downtown park near the University of California, Davis campus April 27. The second victim, UC Davis senior Karim Abou Najm, 20, was found Saturday night at another city park. On Monday, Kimberlee Guillory was attacked while inside her tent but survived. Both Breaux and Guillory were homeless. Davis police have not provided a motive and it is unclear if he knew the victims. Pytel, the police chief, said 15 people called into the department Wednesday afternoon when they spotted someone matching the stabbing suspects description at Sycamore Park, where Najm was found. Dominguez went voluntarily with police for more questioning, Pytel said. They found a large knife in his backpack. Davis is a city of 67,000, with an additional 13,000 students living on campus. His next court date is May 22. By Tran Nguyen Foxs Gutfeld Goes Viral for Defending Tucker Carlsons Backstage Comments Tucker Carlson (L) in Esztergom, Hungary, on Aug. 7, 2021. (Janos Kummer/Getty Images); Greg Gutfeld (R) at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood in Fla., on Nov. 17, 2022. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images) For a second time this week, Fox News host Greg Gutfeld has come to the defense of his former colleague Tucker Carlson after a series of videos featuring Carlsons backstage comments were leaked this week. Imagine having to tell your parents that your job is narcing on the casual comments of other people while they, happily unaware, make a living, Gutfeld, host of late-night comedy The Greg Gutfeld Show, wrote in a post on Twitter Thursday. Your parents would be so embarrassed and ashamed theyd rather tell their friends you died in a fire. The comedy show anchors latest remark was in response to a leaked clip posted on Twitter by a Media Matters for America (MMFA) employee, showing an off-camera makeup artist preparing Carlson for his 8 p.m. ET show, Tucker Carlson Tonight. In the 50-second video, Carlson asks the makeup artist if nose-powdering and pillow fighting goes on in the womens bathroom, MMFA employee Matthew Gertz said in a Twitter post this week along with a clip of the exchange between the two people working together. Not in the bathroom, the beauty specialist tells Carlson, to which the former host responds, OK. Thatd be more a dorm activity, prompting laughter from the cosmetic artist. Im sorry. You are such a good sport, a good person. Thank you, Carlson went on to say after the makeup artist finished applying his makeup. At the time of this publication, Gutfelds reaction to Gertzs video has been viewed more than three million times. Gutfeld is the only public figure at Fox who has defended Carlson after the cable channel announced in late April that it had parted ways with him, whereas neither the media company nor Carlson has spoken about the incident. This wasnt the first time Gutfeld defended Carlson since Gertz published a number of leaked videos featuring his former colleagues backstage comments. Apparently everyone understands nonsense banter between segments except for hall monitor failures bitterly chronicling the lives of the far more successful, Gutfeld wrote in a post on Twitter Tuesday, responding to another post by Gertz saying MMFA obtained several clips featuring what he called Carlsons creepy on-set comments. Leaks Backfire Fox News sent a cease-and-desist letter on Friday to MMFA CEO Angelo Carusone, threatening legal action if the left-leaning publication does not take down off-camera clips of Carlson joking with other staff members. That unaired footage is FOXs confidential intellectual property; FOX did not consent to its distribution or publication; and FOX does not consent to its further distribution or publication, attorneys for the networks parent company, Fox Corporation, wrote in the letter. This proprietary material was given to you without FOXs authorization, the letter continues. FOX demands that Media Matters cease and desist from distribution, publication, and misuse of Foxs misappropriated proprietary footage, which you are now on notice was unlawfully obtained. In response, Carusone mockingly suggested in a statement on Twitter that the cable channel would be less concerned if the leaked videos had involved Julian Assanges WikiLeaks or the laptop of President Joe Bidens son, Hunter. A statement from @GoAngelo on Foxs attempt to silence free speech: pic.twitter.com/ky6bcvynNu Media Matters (@mmfa) May 5, 2023 Reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism, Carusone said. For Fox to argue otherwise is absurd and further dispels any pretense that theyre a news operation. Carusone has not commented on how MMFA acquired the material. Fox News, meanwhile, declined to comment on how the material on Carlson had surfaced. Some right-wing commentators and former Fox News personalitiesnamely Megyn Kellyhave claimed that those videos are being leaked from staff who still work at Fox News in a bid to denigrate Carlson after his departure. Megyn Kelly speaks onstage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2018 at Ritz Carlton Hotel in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on Oct. 2, 2018. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Fortune) Its not enough to fire you. You must be destroyed, and it doesnt matter how nice a guy you were, how many points you put on the board for the channel, that you brought us through the Trump years, that you were No. 1 in your time slot, that you havent said one negative word about us, she said on The Megyn Kelly Show on Monday. The host said Fox executive Irena Briganti is behind the leaks. She didnt provide evidence to support her claims. When reached for comment, a Fox News spokesman told The Epoch Times that Kellys allegations have no merit. This is completely false and an outright lie, a spokesman said on Wednesday. Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of investigative journalism company The Intercept and host of the daily live show System Update, alleged Wednesday that Fox News is intentionally undermining Carlsons character. Since Tuckers show was taken off the air, there has been what could reasonably be called a collapse in ratingsespecially among young viewerson Foxs other shows. I dont know if this is a strategy to win back viewers or what but it seems odd, Greenwald wrote in a Twitter post, responding to the critical pieces against Carlson. Three times in the past week, the anti-Fox watchdog has released hot mic moments of Carlson speaking while on Fox sets, material that was never included on broadcasts. In one, Carlson is seen speaking to someone offscreen disparaging Foxs streaming service, Fox Nation. In another, he shares offscreen banter with Piers Morgan before an interview, commenting to someone that a persons girlfriend was kind of good-looking. He is also heard saying how he waits for his post-menopausal fans to make comments about his appearance. Prior to his ouster, Carlson was Fox Newss top-rated host, averaging above 3 million viewers per program. The Tucker Carlson Tonight frontman drew controversy for supporting theories such as the idea that illegal immigrants are being admitted to the United States to replace people born here. Carlson also advocated for a negotiated surrender in Ukraine that would require the country to surrender most of the territory seized by Russia, making him a star on Russian state TV as well. Gary Bai and The Associated Press contributed to this report. From NTD News Georgia Adopts Law to Crack Down on Far-Left Prosecutors Who Are Soft on Crime Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp delivers the State of the State address on the House floor of the state Capitol in Atlanta, Ga., on Jan. 25, 2023. (Alex Slitz, File/AP Photo) Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill into law on Friday creating a new commission with the power to discipline and remove wayward prosecutors, saying it will curb far-left prosecutors who are making communities less safe by being soft on crime. Kemp, a Republican, made the remarks at the Chatham County Sheriffs Office in Savannah, where he signed the measure establishing the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission (PACQ), part of a broader GOP thrust to get tougher on crime and make communities safer. My No. 1 priority is public safety across our state, Kemp said, with a statement from his office describing the new commission as a valuable oversight mechanism that ensures state officials fulfill their statutory and constitutional duties. The eight-member commission, which will include six current or former prosecutors and two other lawyers, will oversee district attorneys and solicitors general. The creation of the PACQ will help hold prosecutors driven by out-of-touch politics than commitment to their responsibilities accountable and make our communities safer, Kemp said. The new commission has the authority to investigate alleged misconduct by district attorneys and solicitors-general and discipline or remove them entirely if they meet the conditions for removal, which include willful and persistent failure to carry out statutory duties and conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice. Republicans across the country have pushed measures to rein in progressive prosecutors who they see as being soft on criminals by declining to prosecute certain crimes. Georgia law mandates that a prosecutor must consider every case for which probable cause exists and cant exclude categories of casessuch as marijuana possession or abortion-related offensesfrom prosecution. As hardworking law enforcement officers routinely put their lives on the line to investigate, confront, and arrest criminal offenders, I wont stand idly by as theyre met with resistance from rogue or incompetent prosecutors who refuse to uphold the law, Kemp said. The law establishing the new commission was opposed by Georgia Democrats, who argued that the Republican legislative majority was looking for a way to impose its will on Democratic voters. I strongly oppose an excessive and unnecessary commission as district attorneys are already held accountable under existing laws and through the current democratic process of holding election, said Deborah Gonzalez, Democratic district attorney for Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties. Gonzalez, who has declined to prosecute marijuana crimes, has been cited by Republicans as one of the laws top targets. The law could also target prosecutors who declared before Roe v. Wade was overturned last year that they would refuse to prosecute abortion-related crimes. A half dozen or so Georgia district attorneys have made statements to that effect. GOP Fight Against Rogue Prosecutors The establishment of the new commission comes as Republicans fight against what they describe as leftist rogue district attorneys who refuse to prosecute certain crimes. The inability to ensure public safety and protect communities is occurring at every level of state government, Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) wrote in an op-ed. By cracking down on rogue prosecutors who favor criminals over victims, we can ensure that no one else is put in harms way as a result of Democrats negligence, they wrote. In much the same vein, former President Donald Trump has vowed to target prosecutors who are lax on crime if elected to the White House in 2024. The former commander-in-chief vowed to overhaul the Department of Justice if he wins another term. Soros prosecutors appear to be engaging in selective enforcement based on illegal racial discrimination in places like Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, Trump said in a video in a video posted to his YouTube page. He was referring to left-wing billionaire financier George Soros, who has provided millions of dollars in campaign contributions to leftist district attorneys. They are Marxist in many cases, he said while pledging to appoint about 100 U.S. attorneys who are the polar opposite of the Soros district attorneys and others being appointed around the United States. Trump said that those officials will be the most ferocious legal warriors who will target the worst communist corruption this country has ever seen. Soros Fights Back Rising crime around the United States can be attributed to the soft-on-crime policies of Democrat district attorneys funded by Soros, according to Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. Soros has provided millions of dollars in campaign contributions to leftist district attorneys. In June 2022, the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund reported (pdf) that at least 75 district attorneys in the United States had been elected with Soross backing. In an op-ed titled Why I Support Reform Prosecutors, Soros has defended his approach. Some politicians and pundits have tried to blame recent spikes in crime on the policies of reform-minded prosecutors. The research Ive seen says otherwise, he wrote. The most rigorous academic study, analyzing data across 35 jurisdictions, shows no connection between the election of reform-minded prosecutors and local crime rates, he added. The rigor of the study is in question, however, with its authors even acknowledging that their estimates are imprecise. While our estimates are imprecisely estimated, we find no significant effects of these reforms on local crime rates, the studys authors wrote. Some experts say that dozens of soft-on-crime prosecutors have been elected since 2014 and they have become a major power bloc within the country. They believe that the criminal justice system is excessively punitive and racially biased and that it is irredeemable, Sean Kennedy, a criminal justice expert at the Maryland Public Policy Institute, told The Epoch Times last year. So theyre trying to undermine it from the inside. The most common tactics of such prosecutors include establishing policies not to prosecute entire segments of crimes, such as theft under a certain threshold and nonviolent offenses more generally. Another tactic is to undercharge crimes to avoid mandatory minimum sentences. Such prosecutors also tend to avoid charges that would lead to immigration consequences, meaning serious charges that could trigger the deportation of a criminal alien, according to Kennedy. Efforts of such prosecutors are sometimes amplified by state or local legislation that make it more difficult to put a criminal behind bars, such as by preventing judges from setting bail. Victims are particularly ignored and disregarded by these offices, Kennedy said. The Associated Press and Petr Svab contributed to this report. The pandemic has ended, but the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccines which use mRNA technology, signifies the start of a new era in modern medicine. The lagging regulatory framework which the FDA cobbled together specifically for mRNA vaccine approval has set the stage for adverse events related to genetic therapies using this new technology. In this series, we will reveal emerging concerns about mRNA injections related to the lipid nanoparticles, spike protein, and vaccine contamination as public documents are released. Summary of Series Key Facts According to a Moderna Securities and Exchange Commission filing in June 2020, Currently, mRNA is considered a gene therapy product by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA created new guidance, released in June 2020, for gene therapy products to be marketed as vaccines against COVID-19. They were not put through the same testing requirements as other RNA therapeutics. The new vaccines were also not required to go through human biodistribution studies. Had mRNA vaccines been held to the same regulatory standards required for novel therapeutics, the following three issues would likely have been identified prior to authorization for human use: The lipid nanoparticle (LNP) shell used to deliver the mRNA has inflammatory potential and can cluster with other LNPs or fall apart, allowing the mRNA inside to fall out and circulate freely in the bloodstream. The spike protein coded by the mRNA and its S1 subunit has been found in the blood following vaccination. Both the spike protein and the S1 subunit are associated with inflammation and clotting. Contamination during the manufacturing process can cause impurities in the vaccine, such as mRNA fragments and bacterial plasmids. Testing by pharma before authorization found impuritieshave these issues been fixed? Despite the promising potential of mRNA therapeutics, did the pandemic emergency provide reasonable justification for the suspension of typical regulatory requirements? Should these vaccines have been recommended only for the highest-risk individuals pending further human testing? Should vaccine information sheets have included all known risks to allow for full and complete informed consent? Were mandates unethical given the lack of standard pre-authorization safety testing? All of these questions are relevant given the development of new mRNA vaccines against influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). What regulatory framework will apply going forward? Will these newer mRNA vaccines be subject to stricter oversight aligned with, to borrow Modernas wording, genetic therapy or the lagging framework used for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines? When a new vaccine is developed for humans, it is subject to rigorous safety testingfirst in animals, then in humans. To illustrate what actually happened with the mRNA vaccines, lets say the COVID-19 vaccine was the first bioengineered egg to be tested by the FDA for safe human consumption. The egg shell is the lipid nanoparticle (LNP) capsule that carries the genetically modified contents, the mRNA and spike protein. The FDA decided to relax their regulations and only test the LNP shell in animals and bypassed testing of the contents (mRNA and spike protein) in animals or humans. This testing would have determined how the body responds to the new technology (biodistribution study). In other words, the FDA approved the first mRNA vaccine injected into the human body without checking the biodistribution of the contents (the mRNA and spike protein) for human safety. They only checked the LNP shell on animals before giving their stamp of approval. Even the limited LNP testing data is alarming. Despite this lack of adequate safety testing for the first mRNA vaccine used in humans, the FDA granted authorization and assured the public with authoritative certainty that the entire product was safe. As serious adverse events unfolded at an unprecedented rate, the FDA doubled down on its safety claims, requiring no additional studies. The limited data we do have is concerning because it shows that the LNP spreads throughout the body instead of just staying in one place. This limited level of testing is not permitted for the approval of other drugs. The European version of the U.S. FDAthe European Medicines Agency (EMA), was more open than the FDA regarding the limited data available. The EMA shared many details about how the LNP (the shell) spreads throughout the body. It also expressed concerns about impurities in the vaccines during manufacturing. We will discuss these issues thoroughly in this series, including excerpts from EMA reports. The Pfizer report submitted to the FDA, which we will also cover next, is only available via a Freedom of Information Request. Why is there such reluctance to share testing data? Relaxed Regulations for COVID mRNA Vaccines Before a new drug or vaccine is approved by a health authority, they must understand how the body will process the drug. Typically, a non-clinical pharmacokinetics (PK) study report is submitted to the FDA to explain how the drug is released, absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted from the body. This is called a biodistribution study. However, during the COVID pandemic, the FDA modified its typical approval process for new vaccines in response to the public health emergency. The new non-binding recommendations for the pharmaceutical industry issued in June 2020 relaxed the rules for mRNA vaccine approval compared to what is typically required for gene therapy. The new FDA guidance allowed companies to present data collected from other development platforms. In other words, studies that were conducted on other products were permitted to support the application for emergency use of the mRNA vaccines. COVID-19 vaccine development may be accelerated based on knowledge gained from similar products manufactured with the same well-characterized platform technology, to the extent legally and scientifically permissible. (page 3) In some cases, it may not be necessary to perform nonclinical safety studies prior to [first in human] FIH clinical trials because adequate information to characterize product safety may be available from other sources. For example, if the COVID-19 vaccine candidate is made using a platform technology utilized to manufacture a licensed vaccine or other previously studied investigational vaccines and is sufficiently characterized, it may be possible to use toxicology data (e.g., data from repeat dose toxicity studies, biodistribution studies) and clinical data accrued with other products using the same platform to support FIH clinical trials for that COVID-19 vaccine candidate. (page 7) The request for biodistribution studies is written in very general terms, without sufficient specificity for a novel therapeutic like the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines: Biodistribution studies in an animal species should be considered if the vaccine construct is novel in nature and there are no existing biodistribution data from the platform technology. These studies should be conducted if there is a likelihood of altered infectivity and tissue tropism or if a novel route of administration and formulation is to be used. (page 7) While the FDA authorized these products under these relaxed rules, other scientists have suggested more specificity was needed. For example, a review by Vervaeke and colleagues stated: The rapid rise of mRNA therapeutics has resulted in a regulatory framework that is somewhat lagging. They explain further in the abstract that a multi-layered approach should be used to understand what the new products do in vivo (in the human body). One specific guideline proposed by the authors states: Biodistribution studies for RNA therapeutics should encompass both the RNA molecule(s), the individual components of the carrier, the combined RNA-carrier drug, and the produced protein. In other words, test the shell of the egg and the contents. As we will demonstrate, adhering to such guidelines would have been very helpful prior to authorization for human use. However, to our knowledge, none of the current COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have ever been through such biodistribution studies to evaluate the RNA molecule and its encoded spike protein. Only the LNP carrier capsule has been studied in this manner, and only in animals, not humans. FDA Review of Pfizer Biodistribution Study Based on the FDAs modified rules for mRNA vaccines, the agency reviewed Pfizers BNT162b2 LNP carrier biodistribution study report in November 2020 to understand how the mRNA vaccine would work. The report was marked as approved on Nov. 9, 2020, on the left side of the (pdf). As will be presented here and in Part 2, this report was widely adopted by the European Medicines Agency, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Association, and the Japanese government. However, the LNP is only the carrier of the vaccine mRNA (the shell of the egg); it is not the key active ingredient of the mRNA vaccine (the contents of the egg). Further, the inside of the egg was replaced with a substitutethe mRNA carried in the LNP study coded for (luciferase), not the same spike-protein encoding mRNA used in the vaccine. Finally, two of the lipids used in the LNP molecule had not previously been authorized for use in humans. Thus, novel lipids were being developed to carry a novel vaccine for a mass vaccination campaign, yet no human biodistribution studies were solicited. The FDA typically requires human studies early in drug development and as few as six healthy volunteers would have been required. Given that our bodies manufacture the spike protein once the vaccine is injected, human studies should have been done to evaluate the production, distribution, and metabolism of the mRNA and spike protein throughout the body. While not ideal, animal studies do reveal helpful information. The biodistribution study report submitted by Pfizer used radioactive labeling to tag the LNPs in the vaccine administered to 21 male and 21 female rats (page 9). This allowed the scientists to track and quantify the amount of vaccine reaching various organs over 48 hours following injection. The rats were injected with 50 micrograms of mRNA vaccine. After 15 minutes, in addition to having a relatively high mRNA concentration at the injection site, the vaccine began to disperse to different organs throughout the body, reaching the liver and spleen first. After an hour, the concentration of the vaccine in the liver and spleen increased further and it reached the adrenal glands and bone marrow. After 24 hours, the researchers examined the distribution of the mRNA vaccine in the rats and found that in addition to the highest level being at the injection site, the next highest levels were in the spleen, liver, adrenal glands, ovaries, bone marrow, lymph nodes, kidneys, muscles, and heart, in order of the concentration. Find the number 24.288 below for the liver reading at 48 hours. This number can be found in both the Australian and Japanese reports which will be discussed in Part 2 of this series. Figure 1: Rat Biodistribution Study Data in an FDA Report Rat biodistribution study data in FDA report, Nov. 2020. (Source: FDA-CBER-2021-5683-0013976) CDCs Silent Removal of Reassuring Message After issuing authorization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sought to calm fears about toxicity and claimed that the mRNA is broken down and removed from the body quickly, while the spike protein may take longer to clear. (Figure 2a) Yet the claim below in the red box, which was stated on the CDC website on July 15, 2022, has been quietly removed. In so doing, does the CDC acknowledge that evidence is lacking to support these claims? Figure 2a: CDC Reassurance That mRNA and Spike Protein Disintegrate Quickly CDC provides reassurance that mRNA and spike protein disintegrate quickly in the body, on July 15, 2022. (Source: cdc.gov web archive) Sometime after July 2022, the CDC updated this web page to reassure the public that the mRNA vaccines do not integrate into the human genome, with no mention of how long the spike protein and mRNA will last in the body. (Figure 2b) Figure 2b: CDC Reassurance That mRNA Does Not Enter the Cell Nucleus Understanding How COVID-19 Vaccines Work (cdc.gov) Why did the CDC change the messaging on its website to focus on DNA integration instead of how long mRNA and spike protein last in the body? Next: A closer look at the reports from health authorities in Australia, Japan, and Europe provide insight into why the CDC may have withdrawn this claim that the mRNA is broken down quickly and that spike protein does not linger in the body. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) reports show where the LNP shell and mRNA travel throughout the body. References Addgene. Molecular Biology Reference. Alana F Ogata, Chi-An Cheng, Michael Desjardins, Yasmeen Senussi, Amy C Sherman, Megan Powell, Lewis Novack, Salena Von, Xiaofang Li, Lindsey R Baden, David R Walt, Circulating Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Vaccine Antigen Detected in the Plasma of mRNA-1273 Vaccine Recipients, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 74, Issue 4, 15 February 2022, Pages 715718. Alden M, Olofsson Falla F, Yang D, Barghouth M, Luan C, Rasmussen M, De Marinis Y. Intracellular Reverse Transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 In Vitro in Human Liver Cell Line. 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The Merchant in the Canterbury Tales: Not All That He Seems A 19th century homestead survives a war and becomes living history Since the mid-19th century, Cravens House has been prominently visible on Lookout Mountain, Tenn., from the city of Chattanooga in the valley below. In fact, a December 26, 1863, Harpers Weekly etching depicting a noteworthy Civil War battle that occurred there is on display at the Lookout Mountain Battle Visitor Center, and the white house is the only obvious structure on one side of the rocky mountainside. While it can be driven to, the National Park Service (NPS) preserved and protected Cravens House is actually most accessible via an off-the-beaten-path trail, which winds down from an imposing boulder that jets out of Lookout Mountain from Point Park. It behooves visitors to first find the free parking at Point Park, glean historical information from exhibits and rangers at the Center, and then pay a small fee (or show an America the Beautiful Access Pass) to enter through the parks 1903-constructed, castle-like entryway. Once inside, Point Park features educational monuments and interpretative signage, overlooks of the Tennessee Rivers dramatic Moccasin Bend, and Ochs Memorial Observatory, a mini-museum with historic photography and artifacts. From there is Lookout Mountain Battlefield, encompassing 3,000 acres of land including the peak, point, and ridges of Lookout Mountain. The trail system includes hours of hiking opportunities, but a moderately difficult, approximately two-mile, round-trip trail affords history adventurers an opportunity to take a reflective jaunt to Cravens House. Along the way are massive stone overhangs and shallow caves where one can imagine that Civil War soldiers on both sides took shelter. And then the trail opens to the plateau where the white-washed, wood-frame-and-board Cravens House has been a fixture since 1856, when industrialist Robert Cravens constructed it for his family. An engraving of the Battle of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tenn. on Nov. 24, 1863. (Archive Photos/Getty Images) Although Cravens opposed secessionas tensions between northern and southern states escalated prior to 1861he consented to the Confederacy of Tennessee. After the Confederates claimed victory in the September 1863 Battle of Chickamauga (just a few miles southeast of Chattanooga), close to 50,000 Confederate forces converged on and around his home and farm to establish a military position, and he and his family lived under their siege. According to the NPS, the family members would take turns watching for Union cannon blasts from the valley below so they would know when to take cover in the stone basement. When the Union launched an all-out assault on Lookout Mountain on Nov. 24, 1863, the 58-year-old Cravens fled with his family to Ringgold, Georgia, just 18 miles away. Caught up in the fog-shrouded skirmish that became known as the Battle Above the Clouds was the Cravens homestead, due to its location on a plateau on the eastern side of Lookout Mountain, facing Chattanooga. In fact, Cravens House figured conspicuously not only in news publications of the time, but was also the backdrop in various Civil War-era artist sketches. One American artist at the time, Theodore Russel Davis (18401894), depicted a Union soldier firing on one side of the house while Confederate soldiers retreat on the opposite side. During the battle, Cravens House also factored into battlefield maps, and it is still cited today in depictions of educational battlefield strategy. After fierce fighting around Cravens House, the family returned to find that their beloved home had been shelled beyond recognition. Plus, soldiers and journalists had stripped much of the property to take home souvenirs of the battle site. However, the homes skeletal structure, its chimney, and its foundation were intact. And the Cravens, when they returned at the wars end, rebuilt the home, this time adding a second story. The family persisted living post-war in their home on the site until Robert Cravens death in 1886 and the death of his wife, Caroline Cravens, in 1896. In decades afterwards, the Chattanooga Chapter of the Association of Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities maintained Cravens House until it became part of the NPS. Today, it is a worthwhile example of 19th-century civilian fortitude despite a bloody battle waged at their home. Hundreds Rally in Toronto to Mark 31st Anniversary of World Falun Dafa Day Falun Dafa adherents participate in a parade in downtown Toronto on May 6, 2023, marking the 31st anniversary of the public introduction of the spiritual practice in China on May 13, 1992. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times) A grand parade, band performances, and traditional Chinese dance and music to mark the 31st anniversary of World Falun Dafa Day regaled onlookers in downtown Toronto on May 6. The event also included a flag-raising ceremony. Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a spiritual practice rooted in Buddhist traditions that involves meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, forbearance. After it was introduced in China on May 13, 1992, the practice grew rapidly in popularity largely due to its health benefits, and by 1999 it had an estimated 70 million to 100 million adherents. But the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) viewed Falun Gongs popularity a threat to the regimes rule, and in July 1992 launched a persecution campaign with the intention of eradicating the practice. The campaign, which continues today, involves the arbitrary incarceration, torture, brainwashing, and sexual abuse of Falun Gong adherents, as well as the live harvesting of their organs to supply Chinas lucrative transplant industry. Falun Dafa adherents participate in a parade in downtown Toronto on May 6, 2023, marking the 31st anniversary of the public introduction of the spiritual practice in China on May 13, 1992. (Allen Zhou/The Epoch Times) A Falun Gong adherent introduces the spiritual practice to people in downtown Toronto on May 6, 2023. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times) In a speech at the rally, Brad Butt, a former Conservative MP and now city councillor for Mississaugas Ward 11, applauded Falun Dafa adherents for their adamant defence of religious freedom, and condemned the Chinese regimes persecution. Movements like Falun Dafa are so important for the vibrancy of our communities, and in making sure that, as Canadians, we can have the opportunity to practise and profess our faith, he said. We know the terrible, horrific situation that Falun Dafa members are putting up with in China, and thank God, in a country like Canada, we dont operate like that we allow people that freedom of expression and freedom of association. Mississauga city councillor Brad Butt speaks during a rally at Toronto City Hall on May 6, 2023, marking the 31st anniversary of the public introduction of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times) Former Conservative MP Wladyslaw Lizon, who was grew up in former Soviet-controlled Poland, highlighted the importance of uniting people who live in free societies against authoritarian regimes like the CCP. Fortunately, here in Canada we can celebrate, but we cannot forget about those people in China, he said. Theyre not only discriminated against, but jailed by the communist government that does everything to stop the movement [of Falun Gong], he said. Pointing to Polands experience in successfully pushing back against the oppressive Soviet regime, he said that China will also see change for the better one day. Im sure that by working together, by remembering those in China, we also will be successful, and the change in China will come, Lizon said. We will prevail. Former Conservative MP Wladyslaw Lizon speaks at a rally at Toronto City Hall on May 6, 2023, to mark the 31st anniversary of the public introduction of Falun Dafa. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times) Toronto resident Sheng Xue, a Chinese Canadian and longtime democracy advocate, said she has witnessed the perseverance of Falun Gong practitioners over the past 24 years. I was here in May 1999, right here on this square [at Toronto City Hall] for the first World Falun Dafa Day. I have been in solidarity with the practitioners since that day on. And after 24 years of resisting persecution, Falun Gong practitioners have become a role model of resistance [against tyranny] in human history, Sheng said in Mandarin. Falun Gong group has endured the most severe persecutionwe know that organ harvesting is the most cruel, brutal, inhumane, and shameless crime in human historyand Falun Gong practitioners have been the main victims of this atrocity committed by the Chinese Communist Party. Dean Baxendale, president and CEO of Optimum Publishing International, said the event corroborates the struggles of many who have arrived here as refugees fleeing persecution in China in the hands of a brutal and soulless communist regime, a criminal regime. Here in Canada, we can be who we want to be, strive for what we want and what we need, while living with our fellow citizens in peace and harmony, he said. But as you all know, the CCP has a different planusing the United Front Work Department and the network of Chinese friendship associations that seek to engage and control all members of the [Chinese] community. Dean Baxendale, president and CEO of Optimum Publishing International, speaks at a rally outside Toronto City Hall on May 6, 2023, to mark the 31st anniversary of the public introduction of Falun Dafa. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times) Falun Dafa adherents demonstrate the practices meditation during a rally at Toronto City Hall on May 6, 2023. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times) Falun Gong practitioners demonstrate meditative exercises during a rally at Toronto City Hall on May 6, 2023. Hundreds of people attended the event to mark the 31st anniversary of the public introduction of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times) IN-DEPTH: China Wants Killer Robots to Fight the Next War A Chinese soldier salutes in front of a military drone during a parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese communist regime at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2019. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) War grips the world and the most powerful nations on earth go to battle once more. This time, however, it is machines that do the killing, operating free from all human oversight and accountability. Its a grim picture of future conflicts, but one that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is nevertheless working to make a reality. The CCP is investing in artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled platforms that it hopes will one day conduct lethal missions in wartime, wholly without human input or control. Gregory Allen, director of the Wadhwani Center for AI and Advanced Technologies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the regime is moving well beyond any attempt to keep a human in the AI decision-making loop. China is pursuing development of AI-enabled lethal autonomous weapons, Allen wrote in a prepared testimony for an April 13 hearing of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The best available indications suggest that Chinas strategy is ambitious, moving beyond any sort of on-the-battlefield human supervision into increasingly autonomous AI-enabled warfare. Though the CCP is investing heavily in a broad array of new technologies, Allen says, AI is foremost among them. The regimes capacity to build AI-driven machines of war is quickly reaching parity with that of the United States, and may even exceed it soon. U.S. leadership in the realm of military AI is not at all guaranteed, Allen says. While the United States has important advantages, China may be able to quickly take the lead in government and military adoption of AI capabilities. This is an outcome that the United States should seek to prevent. Autonomous AI Platforms Inevitable The CCPs pursuit of AI-driven weapons and other military platforms, though not well understood by many Americans, has been ongoing for years. Allen notes that he first realized the remarkable ambition of such goals back in 2018. At that time, he attended a conference where he transcribed a speech made by Zeng Yi, a senior executive at Chinas state-owned military company Norinco. There, Zeng described Norincos ambitionsand the CCPs expectationsfor future implementation of AI weapons by saying that, In future battlegrounds, there will be no people fighting. Zeng predicted that by 2025, lethal autonomous weapons would be commonplace, Allen said, adding that Zeng had described the mass adoption of autonomous AI platforms as inevitable. Allen also noted that CCP censors removed Zengs comments and even his participation from the official readout of the conference shortly thereafter. It was not in Chinas interest to have that information in the open, Allen said. Not long after that, however, the CCP-affiliated military company Ziyan began exporting its Blowfish A2 and A3 drones to the Middle East. The Blowfish, a helicopter-style drone capable of autonomously engaging with targets, using machine guns and missiles, was just the first realization of the regimes ambition to transform war from a human domain into a robotic one. Military Decision-Making Without Humanity The regimes ambitions for AI go beyond killer robots. The CCP is also investing to develop AI capabilities related to military decision-making and command and control. At the heart of the effort is the CCPs goal of intelligentization, a transformation of warfare through the mass integration of AI, automation, and big data. Zeng posited that intelligence supremacy will be the core of future warfare and that AI may completely change the current command structure, which is dominated by humans to one that is dominated by an AI cluster that operates just like the brain of the human body. Building on that vision are Chinese companies like 4Paradigm, which was contracted by the CCPs military wing to develop AI decision-making models and human-machine teaming software for use at the company and battalion levels. Such programs essentially aim toward one end: the restructuring of the Chinese military into an increasingly centralized cadre of officers who direct swarms of AI-enabled autonomous systems to do the actual fighting. Sam Kessler, an analyst for the North Star Support Group risk advisory firm, believes that the regimes focus on shifting the burden of warfighting from humans to AI-enabled systems is indicative of a broader recognition among CCP leadership about the revolutionary nature of intelligent autonomous systems. The [Chinese military] places a great deal of emphasis on disruptive technologies like autonomous systems, Kessler said in an email to The Epoch Times. Unmanned combat systems with digitized decision-making programs can potentially speed up the process of performing tasks on the battlefield, Kessler added. [These include] precision strikes, accurate reconnaissance, resupplying forces, and performing field modifications more precisely and effectively. Such capabilities, Kessler said, could provide even a meager military with a profound force multiplier, and could shift the balance of power in future conflicts. Whoever possesses this kind of technology can help make even the weakest or average conventional military power have an edge in a field of battle, or prolonging it, Kessler said. Future of War Is Robotic The CCP is not alone in its ambition to lead a new revolution in military affairs. Many U.S. military leaders believe the dawn of AI-enabled lethal autonomous systems is near. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley shares a similar vision to that of Chinas Zeng. He believes that the worlds most powerful militaries will be primarily robotic in 10-15 years. Over the next 10 to 15 years, youll see large portions of advanced countries militaries become robotic, Milley said. If you add robotics with artificial intelligence and precision munitions and the ability to see at range, youve got the mix of a real fundamental change. Thats coming. Those changes, that technology we are looking at inside of 10 years. Lt. Gen. Ross Coffman, head of the Army Futures Command, believes that the United States will enter an age characterized by artificially intelligent killing machines by 2040. Coffman described the partnership between soldiers and AI as that between a dog and its master during a March 28 summit of Department of Defense leaders and technology experts. In a future war, however, it will be soldiers helping AI get into the fight rather than the other way around. I think were going to see a flip in 2040 where humans are doing those functions that allow the machine to get into a position of relative advantage, not the machine getting humans into a position of relative advantage, Coffman said. That aim is likely to face a bumpy path forward as the United States contends with Chinas embrace of lethal AI systems, according to Kessler. The DoD recently announced they intend to continue developing AI and autonomous lethal systems that will enable them to keep an edge in the changing global security environment, Kessler said. However, keeping a human element involved in the operation of AI autonomous and semi-autonomous lethal systems also remains a priority. Since the [Chinese military] is not committed to this DoD strategy and belief system, it will force the U.S. to invest heavily into it. It will also require the U.S. to ensure that the balance between being ethical and conducting oversight does not get in the way of being lethal and operational at the same time. Chinese Robots, American Research As the CCP continues its quest for intelligentized warfare, Allen believes that a critical weakness the United States must overcome is its indirect support of Chinas AI industry. Because the United States considers AI to be a discrete technology rather than a category of general-purpose technology like electricity or computers, the CCP is able to inadvertently develop its military capabilities through otherwise mundane research and development partnerships with the U.S. The linkages between Chinas AI sector and the United States AI sector are extraordinarily deep, Allen said. There really isnt a part of the Chinese AI ecosystem that isnt in some way drawing upon the U.S. AI ecosystem. Allen noted that half of all Chinese academic papers published on the subject of AI feature American co-authors. Some of those research endeavors even include collaborations between major U.S. corporations and the companies responsible for pioneering Chinas military AI development. In one example, Intel conducted research with 4Paradigm, even at the same time the company was contracted to develop AI decision-making models for the Chinese military. Google, meanwhile, has collaborated extensively with military-linked entities in China through its China-based AI centers. That research and any subsequent technological development based on it in China is then able to be effectively co-opted by the CCP through its strategy of Military-Civil Fusion (MCF), which mandates that all research and technologies serve national security needs in addition to civil needs. The sheer volume of AI research and development being compiled by the regime through MCF is allowing the CCP to effectively catch up with the United States technologically, according to Elsa Kania, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank. We have to recognize [MCF] as an incredibly consequential component of Chinas goal to catch up with or supersede the United States, Kania said. At a certain point, the quantity and the amount of resources put into these efforts do start to produce quality. Kania added that a key goal of MCF was to realize the regimes desire to become a pioneer at the forefront of technologies defining a new revolution in military affairs, and to access and exploit dual use technologies, including artificial intelligence and robotics. The writing has been on the wall for a while, Kania said. Intelligentization is what the PLA regards as the future of warfare. As such, Kania warned that, without adequate oversight measures, the regimes development of AI-enabled weapons would continue at the expense of American national security. Theres a risk that any investment in China [without oversight] has a risk of inadvertently contributing to military modernization, Kania said. There is a need for increased oversight and screening for outbound investments in those technologies [to ensure that] U.S. flows of funding are not inadvertently undermining U.S. interests. Its 2023 and Patients Are Still Being Denied Medical Treatment Because of COVID-19 Vaccines Commentary The Epoch Times reported on April 23 the appalling case of a 41-year-old Georgia woman who has been rejected a kidney transplant, even though she is on dialysis and potentially facing death. The seriousness of her condition necessitates her undergoing dialysis three times per week to keep her life. The reason for such a rejection? The woman, who has already had COVID-19, refuses to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on religious and medical grounds. Regardless of her acquired natural immunity, Doe, a mother of seven young children, has not obtained an exemption from the COVID-19 vaccinations, although serious issues associated with vaccinating someone with mRNA inoculation was one of the primary bases of her medical objections. Similarly, here in Australia another mother has been denied the opportunity to receive a lifesaving organ transplant. Vicki Derdarian, a mother of three, suffered from heart failure in 2020 and is now in desperate need of a lifesaving heart transplant. And yet, she has been turned away by Alfred Hospital in Melbourne because of vaccine mandates that are still enforced by the government of Victoria. Believe it or not, the Australian mother actually has a permanent vaccine exemption provided by the Australian Technical Advisory Group (ATAGI), which the hospital is choosing to deny. Were being pushed in the corner and coerced to take something that goes against what we believe in or not receive lifesaving treatment, she says. Derdarian is concerned that her medical condition makes her unsuitable to receive such a vaccination. A surgery is performed in the operating room in Torontos Hospital for Sick Children on Nov. 30, 2022. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press) Dr Peter McCullough, one of the worlds most renowned cardiologists, agrees with her that under no circumstances should any heart transplant patient receive a COVID-19 vaccine because of the damage it can do to the heart. If Vickys heart sustains any more damage, it is almost certainly going to be lethal, he says. Questions Surrounding COVID Vaccines Are No Secret Anymore There is now enough evidence to show that the vaccinated can still catch and transmit the virus, and once infected, they are as likely to infect others as those who are unvaccinated. This is not necessarily an unexpected outcome because while conventional vaccines may take about 10 years to be available in the market, these vaccines were rushed through clinical trial testing in less than a year. Not only do these experimental vaccines not stop transmission, but also the protection provided against COVID-19 at best is considerably limited. Therefore, according to Jayanta Bhattcharya, a professor of medicine, economics and health research and policy at Stanford University, from a medical perspective, all the necessary conditions for vaccine mandates are simply not present. If a vaccine fails to stop disease transmission, the idea that you need to vaccinate other people so that Im protected is just false, he says. To make it worse, scientists have now discovered that mRNA vaccines, not COVID-19 infection itself, may cause brain and heart damage. Chest pain and tight chest are the most common symptoms of long COVID. (Shutterstock) A study published in October 2022 in the journal Vaccines reports the results of the autopsy of a vaccinated person who had no history of a COVID-19 infection. The article provides compelling evidence that the patients death was caused by the experimental vaccine. Although this patient was never infected, in the heart, signs of chronic cardiomyopathy as well as mild acute lympho-histiocytic myocarditis and vasculitis were present. Over the last two years, there has been a sudden and unexplained surge of age-inappropriate deaths in at least 30 countries across the industrialized world, including Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In his book, Cause Unknown: The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths, Ed Dowd hypothesizes that the sudden deaths in young people in industrialized countries are due to mRNA vaccines. Relevantly, Dowd argues that the number of excess deaths in America attributed to COVID-19 in 2020 was actually much lower than the huge spike in sudden deaths that began in 2021 after the COVID-19 vaccines started being widely distributed. Take, for instance, the example of my country Australia. By the end of 2021, Australia reached an impressive vaccination rate of 80 percent of the population. Last year, however, more than 174,000 deaths were registered, which is 20,000 more than projections estimated. This represents the highest number of excess deaths on record since the end of World War II. These excess deaths are apparently related to the increase in cancer and heart conditions, including heart failure, stroke, atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, and heart disease. Given that these known health issues are seemingly caused by the mRNA vaccines, the decision to force those in need to undergo lifesaving organ transplants to receive such experimental vaccination is scientifically wrong and deeply immoral. Let These Patients Get the Treatment They Need Dr Young Dong, who has more than 20 years of experience in virological and immunological research, is fully convinced that, at the general population level, the risks of imposing vaccine mandates substantially exceed the benefits. A man walks past signage at a COVID-19 vaccination hub at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Australia, on Aug. 17, 2021. (Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images) In this sense, Dr Kenji Yamamoto, a cardiovascular surgeon who works at Okamura Memorial Hospital in Shizuoka, Japan, has recently called for the entire discontinuation of COVID booster shots. In a letter to the peer-reviewed journal Virology, he explains that he and his colleagues have encountered cases of infections that are difficult to control, including some that occurred after open-heart surgery and were still not under control after several weeks of treatment with multiple antibiotics. As a safety measure, further booster vaccinations should be discontinued, Yamamoto wrote. As can be seen, the denial of medical treatment to these two women in desperate need of lifesaving organ transplants is absolutely outrageous. It is an egregious violation of fundamental human rights. Indeed, it is entirely unconscionable to deny any person a medical accommodation from an experimental vaccination, especially those who desperately need a lifesaving medical procedure. Lets hope that justice ultimately prevails and these women are not forced to receive a vaccination that has quite notorious medical side effects in order to get a desperately needed medical treatment! Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. In the last year, multiple insiders have substantially increased their holdings of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) stock, indicating that insiders' optimism about the company's prospects has increased. Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. See our latest analysis for CME Group The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At CME Group Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Director William Shepard for US$8.3m worth of shares, at about US$170 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price, which is US$185. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. Happily, the CME Group insiders decided to buy shares at close to current prices. In the last twelve months insiders purchased 52.45k shares for US$8.9m. But they sold 10.15k shares for US$2.1m. In total, CME Group insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Insiders At CME Group Have Bought Stock Recently Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider buying at CME Group. Independent Director William Shepard spent US$94k on stock, and there wasn't any selling. This could be interpreted as suggesting a positive outlook. Insider Ownership Of CME Group Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. CME Group insiders own 0.3% of the company, currently worth about US$232m based on the recent share price. I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders. Story continues What Might The Insider Transactions At CME Group Tell Us? The recent insider purchase is heartening. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. Along with the high insider ownership, this analysis suggests that insiders are quite bullish about CME Group. That's what I like to see! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing CME Group. For example - CME Group has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of 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. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here A man who worked in the software development industry for 20 years made his dream a reality by buying a plot of land at an airport and building his ideal home from two retired jet planes. The $250,000 project has taken a decade of perseverance and a firm belief that the fun is in the journey, not the destination. Captain Joe Axline, 61, lives in Berkshire, Texas. At the age of 50, he got divorced and with few precious possessions but a buoyant savings account to facilitate his dream, he knew the time was right. All my friends said, You should buy a house and be done with it. Dont do this, this is a waste of time and effort!' Axline told The Epoch Times. I was like, Well, you know what, Ive had five new homes Ive built from the ground up, I dont need to go through that experience. I want to do something fun.' Joe Axline building his own airplane at the age of 14 (Courtesy of Captain Joe Axline) Project Freedom Axline bought two acres of land at Sport Flyers Airport. With the help of a man named Dave Trimmer, who built his own unique cosmic muffin home from a Howard Hughes airplane, Axline found a retired plane at a mall in Sawgrass Mills, Florida, which he bought and nicknamed Spirit. He later bought a second plane out of Arkansas that he nicknamed, Freedom, in December 2011. Axline named his special endeavor Project Freedom since it represents his free exploration of a long-held dream. He had both planes, an SEDDT and a McDonnell Douglas N813ME, by January 2012 and started the renovation. Describing his 600-square-foot cabin, Axline said he has the cockpit in the front, which is followed by an 18-square-foot master bedroom that has a queen size bed and a couple of televisions. The passage that follows has a bathroom with a shower, toilet, and sink. Axline also has two twin-size beds of which one is functional and the other is converted into a fish hatchery. The layout of Project Freedom. (Courtesy of Captain Joe Axline) From there, I have the refrigerator and then a kitchen countertop. Across from that is the dining room, then the living room. Across from that is my office, he said. The planes interior space is absolutely more space than I need, Axline said. Expanding into the second plane, which is 1,200 square feet, he plans to build a theater, an arts and crafts space, and a music room to keep him occupied after he retires from his current job in reputation management. The Inspiration Joe Axline on his land. (Courtesy of Captain Joe Axline) The inspiration for Project Freedom actually came in 1973, when Axline was a teenager. There was a show called The Magician with Bill Bixby, he said. In this show, [Bill] would use his magical skills to solve crimes, and then he would drive his Corvette into the back of his airplane and fly to the next city. That is exactly what I wanted to do. As a teenager, Axline had no idea when and how he could make this possible but he for sure knew why he wanted to do it. Soon, Axline solicited the help of his father to build an airplane called The Skycycle. We got measurements and stuff, we got the wings, but it never got off the ground. But it was a lot of fun to do, he said. At the age of 16, Axline received the medical certificate he needed to start flying planes. He had accumulated almost 100 hours by the time he got his license at the age of 18. Axline later redesigned The Skycycle, one of only a few precious belongings he took with him to Texas after his divorce. In 2011, coming out of 23 years of marriage, Axline began looking for properties to make Project Freedom a reality. After he found a loophole in the stipulations of the Texas Homeowners Association, he bought a piece of property at Sport Flyersan aviation community where people live on each side of the property. He moved the first plane to his new plot with the help of a courier experienced in moving large boats, making it his main living quarters They also chopped the $10,000 transport fee in half by cutting 5 feet from the end of the 65-foot plane. The planes being delivered to the site. (Courtesy of Captain Joe Axline) Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Backward The plane was totally a mess at the outset, Axline said, comparing it to a car where you roll the windows down, and let it sit there for five years. The interior of Joe Axlines dream project. (Courtesy of Captain Joe Axline) For the duration of the ambitious project, he was supported by his siblings. One of his brothers, an electrical engineer who built a unique 5,000-square-foot home comprising six domes, helped Axline install the electricity. Axline installed the water and sewer plumbing himself. He built stairs out of railroad ties to reach the planes door 7 feet above ground level. He raised the ceiling and replaced the insulation to avoid a claustrophobic feeling, but kept some of the overhead bins to remind himself that he still lived in an airplane. The interior of the planes before the transformation began. (Courtesy of Captain Joe Axline) Reflecting on the projects success, he said a written plan kept him on track. Every day, there was something that had to happen, Axline said. He broke it down to the simplest things, which were getting water, sewer, and electricity. Nonetheless, the first two years, he said, felt like he was moving two steps forward, three steps backward. A stressed-out Axline even fell ill with shingles. Money was never a major concern, but from his $250,000 starting budget, he says theres nothing left. His son and daughter were regular visitors to the site as the dream home came to fruition. Each has their own bed inside the finished home but when they were younger, it was a challenge for Axline to navigate their needs while working on the plane. I had them on weekends, and Thursdays and Fridays, he said. Every time they were hungry, every two minutes, I had to take them over to a restaurant, which is not close, and go to the restroom and eat lunch and dinner and whatever. So it seemed like on the weekends I really didnt get much done! Then during the week, I was working. A Home for Life It wasnt until November 2012 that Axline officially moved in. Since then, he has been working on expanding and finessing his home. He told Insider that his monthly operating costs are only around $200 for electricity, water, and land taxes. The value of the home is inconsequential to Axline since he plans to live there until he dies. Axline told The Epoch Times, A lot of things will happen in the future. He aims to put in a hangar so that when he walks on the patio he will be able to look down and see the airplane. The way that its designed is the ceiling or the roof will be solar panels. And so when you drive by, youll be able to see the plane, itll look like its coming out of that hangar, he said. Meanwhile, for the current 20-foot patio, Axline plans to expand and build a greenhouse. I do hydroponics, microgreens, as well as potted plants, he said. Ill have 1,200 plants growing in the process so that Ill be able to eat the plants. This will include avocados, lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, hatch peppers, and myriad other edible vegetables. Axline also plans to farm tilapia fish, quails, and rabbits in the future. Meanwhile, for the other plane, he said the wings wont exactly be attached. Theyll have three posts on them, so youll be able to walk out on them to get to the airplane, he said. In response to people driving by with their thumbs up, or exclaiming how cool Axlines home is, the 61-year-old ran Airbnb experience tours for a while to show off his renovation. Over the years, he has welcomed guests from as far away as the UK, Australia, and New Zealand and loves to share his story to inspire creativity in others. The purpose of this is to let them see how they could change their life by doing what they want, Axline said. The thrill of life is not reaching the dream, it is the journey to get to the dream! 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 Man Gets 105 Years to Life for Molesting 2 Girls in Anaheim SANTA ANA, Calif.A 42-year-old man was sentenced May 5 to 105 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting two young relatives, including one when she was about 4 years old, in Anaheim. Cesar Alexander Machuca was convicted March 28, 2022, of a dozen felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor younger than 14. Machuca faced up to 180 years to life in prison. Machuca was given credit for 1,936 days in jail and was ordered to register as a sex offender. Machucas attorney, Randall Bethune, argued for 15 or 30 years to life in prison for his client. His prior criminal history was insignificant, Bethune said. Prior to his arrest, Machuca was gainfully employed at Cabinets Plus in Irvine for over 17 years, Bethune said. Both girls said they did not immediately come forward to authorities because they feared the defendant was a gang member who would attack them and their family, according to a trial brief from prosecutors. The sexual assaults date back to 2010 for one victim and 2016 for the other, according to court records. One girl came forward in September 2018 saying Machuca had sexually assaulted her two years prior to that when he lived with her extended family, according to prosecutors. The first assault occurred when he was supposed to be helping her to learn how to swim, prosecutors said. She told police she didnt say anything because she thought he was in a street gang and had killed someone in El Salvador, prosecutors said. The abuse ended when her family moved into a new home away from Machuca, prosecutors said. The girls troubles came to light because she became a cutter and was getting psychological counseling for it at school, prosecutors said. The second girl said the abuse began when she was about 4 years old and that her family also feared the defendant so they did not immediately come forward and instead opted to move away, prosecutors said. Man on Murder Charge After Foreign Student Dies in Australia A 29-year-old man has been charged with the murder of a Bangladeshi student during a break-in at a Darwin property, with the death prompting an outpouring of condolences as it shocked the university and wider communities. Md Ishaqur Rahman Sifat, 23, who was enrolled in a masters of engineering course at Charles Darwin University, was left in a critical condition after the early morning attack on May 3. Northern Territory Police said a man entered the home at Millner, in Darwins north, about 4.25 am and allegedly assaulted the resident before fleeing the scene. The accused was detained in a vehicle a short time later while the injured student was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital. Rahman died on May 4 as a result of a traumatic brain injury. On May 5 the man detained was charged with murder, aggravated burglary and theft. He was refused police bail to appear in Darwin Local Court on May 8. Northern Territory Acting Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said the alleged attack was a serious, senseless, heartbreaking act of violence and he offered his heartfelt condolences to the Bangladeshi community, including the students family who were in Darwin. Its just not the Darwin that we know and I can reassure the Northern Territory community that the police are doing everything we can to ensure that these senseless acts of violence cease, Murphy told Sky News on May 5. The university said the incident had devastated the community, with students and staff holding rallies in support. We open our city and university to international students with the promise of a safe and supportive environment characterised by enduring friendships, meaningful education and training and prosperous careers, the university said in a statement. To know that these opportunities have been senselessly ripped away from one of our students is deeply distressing. The universitys Bangladeshi Student Association said Rahman fought bravely but sadly succumbed to his injuries. Our whole community is shaken by this tragic loss, the association said in a statement. Let us come together in love and support for his family and friends during this time of grief. Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said she extended her deepest condolences to all who knew and loved Rahman. Our thoughts are with his family, the Bangladeshi community, and all our international students, Fyles said. We are here for you. And we stand with you, unequivocally. This is not the Northern Territory we know and love. Police said they would speak with students at the university and were contacting the dead mans family in Bangladesh. Acting Assistant Commissioner Sachin Sharma said he felt quite touched by the incident as he had also come to Australia as an international student. The impact is quite deep. I dont think it will go away for those family members and friends of the deceased, Sharma said. Marine Involved in Fatal NYC Subway Headlock Acted in Self Defense, His Lawyers Say New York police officers respond to the scene where a fight was reported on a subway train in N.Y.C., on May 1, 2023. (Paul Martinka via AP) The U.S. Marine veteran who put Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold aboard a subway in New York City earlier this week has been identified through his lawyers as Daniel Penny. In a statement issued by Pennys criminal defense attorneys on Friday, the lawyers said their 24-year-old client expresses condolences to Neelys relatives, arguing Penny and other passengers were acting in self-defense. His lawyers, Thomas Kenniff and Steven Raiser, said Neely had been aggressively threatening their client and other passengers on an F train in Lower Manhattan Monday afternoon, noting Penny and others acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel [Penny] never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death, the lawyers said. The two lawyers from the firm Raiser & Kenniff did not provide other details of what exactly happened, other than to say Neely aggressively threatened passengers on the subway. Neely died on Monday when Penny pulled him to the floorwhich was captured on cameraand pinned him with a hold he learned during combat training. Juan Alberto Vazquez, a freelance journalist who recorded the clip, told the New York Post that Neely had been threatening and screaming at other passengers in an aggressive manner while also complaining of hunger and thirst, but he had not physically attacked anyone. According to authorities and eyewitnesses, Neely started to scream at one point indicating he was fed up and doesnt care anymore whether he would go to jail and be sentenced to life imprisonment. Vazquez told the paper that the Marine veteran approached Neely after he threw his jacket to the ground. In the freelance journalists video, two other riders are also seen restraining Neelys arms as Penny holds him in a headlock. After they let go of the man, he is seen lying motionless on the floor. New York police officers administer CPR to Jordan Neely on a subway train in N.Y.C., on May 1, 2023. (Paul Martinka via AP) No arrests were made by police, prompting outrage from some who demanded criminal charges for Neelys death. Meanwhile, several sources citing law enforcement say Penny was briefly taken into custody after the deadly encounter and then released again without criminal charges. Lengthy Rap Sheet The 30-year-old homeless man whose friends say suffered from worsening mental health had a lengthy criminal record including more than 40 prior arrests ranging from disorderly conduct to assault and an active warrant out for his arrest from a felony assault. Most recently, he was charged with assaulting a 67-year-old woman leaving a subway station. After pleading guilty, he missed a court date, leading to the warrant for his arrest that was still active at the time of his death. Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness, Pennys lawyers said Friday, blaming elected officials for turning a blind eye to mental illness in the state. We hope that out of this awful tragedy will come a new commitment by our elected officials to address the mental health crisis on our streets and subways, they said. The Manhattan District Attorneys Office is currently investigating the incident. If a case does go forward, an argument of self-defense would likely brush up against a tricky legal requirement, according to Mark Bederow, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan. Under New Yorks penal code, a person who uses deadly force must not only prove that they feared for their own life or someone elses, but that any reasonable person would have felt the same way. Bederow predicted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg may choose to bring the case before a grand jury, a process sometimes used in controversial or complex cases. A charge of second-degree manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide was most likely, he said. Walter Signorelli, a former New York Police Department inspector, said he was uncertain charges would be filed, given the apparent fear among riders in response to Neelys behavior. If the case went to trial, he said a jury could empathize with the defendant. Its not like hes a villain, Signorelli said. He did what he thought was right and what seemed reasonable to him. Hes stepping up where most people turn away. The Associated Press contributed to this report. From NTD News Maryland Police: Attackers Tried to Shoot Boy on School Bus A person with a gun in Oxon Hill, Md., on May 1, 2023. (Prince George's County Police Department via AP) OXON HILL, Md.Three masked attackers boarded a school bus in Maryland earlier this week and tried multiple times to shoot a boy, but the attack was foiled by a malfunctioning gun, police said. The bus stopped in Oxon Hill, a suburb of the nations capital, to drop off students just before 5 p.m. Monday, when three people believed to be juveniles got on and began to attack the boy, who had remained on the bus, Prince Georges County Police said in a news release. One attacker tried multiple times to shoot the boy, but detectives believe the gun malfunctioned, police said. The boy suffered minor injuries in the assault. A bus driver and bus aide were on the bus at the time and werent injured, police said. Its unknown if any other students were on the bus. Police found ammunition on the bus. Police said theyre investigating the attackers motives. No suspects were in custody Friday and a reward of up to $2,500 is being offered in the case, police spokesperson Lt. Shaniece Singh said by telephone. Images from the attack on the bus released by police show three people dressed in black hoodies with their faces covered attacking the boy, who is covering his head with his hands. Prince Georges County Public Schools spokesperson Meghan Gebreselassie said in a statement that officials are horrified by this incident and grateful that no lives were lost. Keeping people safe in classrooms and on school grounds and buses is their highest priority and theyll continue working with law enforcement, she said. Martin Diggs, president of ACE-AFSCME Local 2250, a union representing school support staff, said the driver is totally terrified by what happened. Fights and incidents involving weapons at schools have left drivers alarmed, Diggs said. There was a small amount of people on this bus, he said. What if there was a busload of kids? Minnesotas New Election Legislation Criminalizes What Officials Deem Misinformation Among the changes found in Minnesotas new election legislation package signed into law on Friday by Democrat Gov. Tim Walz is a gross misdemeanor penalty for those who spread what officials can deem misinformation about elections. Gross misdemeanors are considered harsher than regular misdemeanors and carry jail time of up to one year and fines. According to the bill, civil action can be brought against anyone who violates this law within 60 days of an election. Under subhead two of the section titled Intimidation and interference with the voting process; penalties, the law is called Deceptive practices, which prohibits information to be transmitted that (1)intends to impede or prevent another person from exercising the right to vote; and (2) knows to be materially false. The law also holds anyone accountable who is found to have assisted one who engages in what the bill calls election interference. The law alludes to those who contend that the 2020 election between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden was compromised by a variety of methods that included mail-in voting. Historically, American citizens have frequently questioned the results of the election; however, the intent of this legislation potentially criminalizes that speech. A man who posted memes about the Hillary Clinton campaign during the 2016 presidential election was found guilty in March of one charge of conspiring against the right to vote. Progressive groups have long advocated for House File 3, called the Democracy for the People Act, which also makes mail-in voting more accessible by removing the process of mailing a request form for a ballot, instead allowing voters to get a ballot sent to their home before each election without having to apply by mail. Minnesota consistently leads the nation in voter turnout, and we plan to keep it that way, said Walz in a press release. We know that the more people vote, the more representative our state government can be. This bill will strengthen our democracy, allow future voters to get engaged early, and keep our campaigns honest and fair. The bill also gives convicted felons the right to vote unless incarcerated. If the individual is later incarcerated for the same offense, the individuals civil right to vote is lost only during the period of incarceration, the bill states. Automatic Voter Registration The bill also implements automatic voter registration (AVR) that registers voters not only when they renew their drivers licenses but also when they submit an application for state health insurance. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, AVR is the process by which people are automatically registered to vote as a result of interacting with participating government agencies who transfer information on submitted applications to election officials for them to create or update ones voter registration. Since Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) in 1993 which initiated AVR through the process of applying for a new or renewing a drivers license, 22 states have been categorized as NVRA states, beginning with Oregon in January 2016. The bill also allows for 16- and 17-year-old people to pre-register to vote through an application process that would have them eligible to vote when they turn 18. In addition, the bill lays strict ground rules for disclosure in campaign finance to create a checks and balance system for corporate influence on elections, according to the language of the bill. The fact that Minnesota has some of the highest voter turnout in America year after year after year is not an accident, said Secretary of State Steve Simon. Its not a coincidence. Its not something in the water. Minnesotans value voting. Period. That is a fact. And that shows up in the laws that we pass and in the reforms that we embrace. The bill passed the House 70-75 and the Senate 34-33, both on party lines. Public Confidence The Republican Party of Minnesota shared a 2019 interview in which Walz stated he wouldnt sign an election-related bill unless it were bipartisan. That should be the bar, Walz said. According to CBS News, Republican state Rep. Paul Torkelson said Walzs signing violates the state tradition of governors only signing bipartisan election bills, adding that the legislation itself misses the mark in assuring election integrity. We know that many of our citizens are questioning the validity and the authenticity of our elections, Torkelson said. The work we do here should increase their confidence that our elections are being run fairly. And we dont believe that anything in this bill increases that public confidence. SYDNEY, AustraliaDavid Saddle, a retired missionary, said Shen Yun Performing Arts, through its mission to revive traditional Chinese culture before communism, has so much to teach us about universal values when he attended the matinee at Sydney Lyric Theatre on May 6. The dances were just absolutely amazing, the costumes were amazing. The choreography really was absolutely superb, said Elder Saddle, who was particularly impressed by the companys mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. We need to hold on to those values, said Elder Saddle. And I think its important that the Chinese culture, like many other cultures today, can teach us so much from the past. Shen Yun was founded in New York in 2006 by artists from all over the world. The companys and artists mission is to revive Chinas traditional culture, which was almost lost under communism. Shen Yun declares that it presents China before communism. Elder Saddle was happy knowing that the culture is not only being preserved [by Shen Yun] but also perpetuated for future generations. Considered to span at least 5,000 years, Chinas cultural heritage and spiritual civilisation include the belief that its culture is divinely inspired and that all of humanity originated from the Creator. The divine is important, said Elder Saddle, who felt Shen Yun portrayed this belief well. He added that our Creator is important. Shen Yun presents classical Chinese and ethnic folk dances, as well as mini-dramas and soloists performing traditional bel canto singing. Elder Saddle described it as an incredible, wonderful expression of culture and of art. Especially at the end of the program, he added, referring to a piece depicting modern-day China amidst the clamour of digital devices. Elder Saddle noted that the piece shows how its our culture and language that really binds our generations together. Shen Yun, which depicts scenes from bygone dynasties right up to 21st-century China, left Elder Saddle with a great appreciation for the lifestyle and culture of our ancestors. So many people think that the past is gone and forgotten, but we can learn so much from the past to help us in our present day and our future, he said. Shen Yuns 2023 performance opens with a piece titled From Heaven to Save All, which depicts divine beings leaving their lofty realms, led by the Creator, to descend to the human world and perform the grand saga of history and fulfill their sacred vows. This piece struck Elder Saddle, who was inspired to offer reflections on what he described as the importance of holding onto and learning from the spiritual civilisation of the past. We have much to gain from the past, he said. And that together, if we go in the future, that we can learn from each other, be stronger from each other, and that we have something to hold on to, he added. Elder Saddle added that the basis of our life now is generated from the past, which he said could be helpful in the future if people remember it. Reporting by NTD and Caden Pearson. The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006. Norway Climber Aims to Be Fastest to Scale 14 Tallest Peaks KATHMANDU, NepalA Norwegian who just became the fastest female to climb the worlds 14 highest mountains is now aiming to become the fastest person to complete the feat by beating the record set by a male climber in 2019. Kristin Harila, 37, successfully scaled Mount Cho Oyu and Mount Shishapangma in China and arrived in Kathmandu, Nepals capital, on Thursday, announcing that she will begin climbing in Nepal this month. Thats the plan, Harila said when asked if she is aiming to set a new record for scaling the highest peaks. She hopes to climb the seven highest peaks in Nepal, including Mount Everest, during the current spring climbing season that ends in May, and then complete the remaining peaks in Pakistan within the next four months. We have to sit down and have a meeting and discuss if we can do all seven mountains in Nepal in the spring. We have to look at the [weather] forecast and see how it goes, she said. Norwegian climber Kristin Harila, 37 (R), speaks to her guide Tenjen Sherpa after arriving in Kathmandu, Nepal, on May 4, 2023. (Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo) She has roughly four weeks to climb the seven highest mountains in Nepal. Most climbers take the entire climbing season to scale just one peak. Now we are going to rest some days and then we will see if we go to Annapurna and Dhaulagiri, depending on the weather and conditions, she said. Harila began her attempt to climb all 14 peaks in April 2022 and completed 12 by September. She then had to pause because Chinese authorities did not allow her to climb last year. The Chinese regime restricted access by foreign climbers amid the coronavirus pandemic. She was able to obtain a permit from China this year and scaled Shishapangma last week and Cho Oyu earlier this week. The current record is held by Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born British citizen who scaled the 14 highest peaks in 189 days in 2019, beating the previous record of more than seven years set by a South Korean climber. Purjas climbs were later made into a popular Netflix documentary, 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible. By Binaj Gurubacharya Orange County Man Gets 20 Years in Prison for Selling Fentanyl That Killed 2 LOS ANGELESAn Orange County man was sentenced May 5 to 20 years in federal prison for distributing fentanyl that resulted in the overdose deaths of two victimsone in Aliso Viejo, the other in Utahwithin six weeks of each other. Jason Soheili, 28, of Laguna Hills, pleaded guilty in December in Los Angeles to two counts of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. He has been in federal custody since May 2021, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. In January and February of 2021, Soheili exchanged text messages with a Utah-based victimidentified in court papers as J.N.regarding the shipment of fentanyl pills. J.N. instructed Soheili to address the package containing the pills to an alias at an address in Fillmore, Utah. On Feb. 15, 2021, Soheili shipped via U.S. mail a parcel containing at least two counterfeit oxycodone pills that were laced with fentanyl. The parcel arrived in Utah three days later. On Feb. 21, 2021, J.N. ingested at least one of the pills and died of fentanyl toxicity, according to federal prosecutors. On April 1, 2021, Soheili exchanged text messages with another victimidentified as J.M.involving Soheili selling cocaine and alprazolamcommonly referred to by its brand name, Xanaxto the victim. That evening, Soheili and J.M. met at a 7-Eleven store in Laguna Hills to make the deal. After the meeting, J.M. accompanied Soheili to his home in Laguna Hills, where Soheili supplied the victim with additional drugs. At some point late that evening, the victim ingested the narcotics that Soheili had given him. J.M. died on April 2, 2021 from acute fentanyl, alprazolam, and cocaine intoxication, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. In a letter to the court, Soheili apologized to the families of the victims for his selfishness and irresponsibility Ive made huge mistakes. Pandemic Leaves Australian Medicos With Burnout Pains of Their Own India Wells, RN and Emergency Department OPNUM, RN Danielle Callaghan and RN James Shattock consult about a patient transfer in the COVID-19 Red Zone at the St Vincent's Hospital Emergency Department in Sydney, Australia on Dec. 4, 2021. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images) Two out of three pain specialists experience severe burnout, in some cases compromising the treatment of patients. Australian social psychologist Claire Ashton-James said chronic patient pain was increasing and so too the prevalence among their specialists of burnouta prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, burnout levels worsened. Speaking to the Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, Ashton-James quoted a U.S. study from 2021 that reflected Australian trends. Anaesthetistsspecialising in airways and breathinghave the highest levels of burnout at 63 percent, whereas sub-specialities are lower, Ashton-James said in Sydney on May 5. Anaesthetists were relied on heavily to treat patients during COVID, they were at the front line. The costs of burnout were cognitive impairment, diagnostic inaccuracy, anxiety, low patient treatment expectations, lack of self-value, substance abuse and leaving the profession. Ashton-James cited studies highlighting physicians lack of self-worth. If you cant make their symptoms better, then what are you there for? I was feeling really, totally incompetent. The part of it that was challenging was the feeling of futility that I wasnt really contributing to anything. The symptoms came on insidiously, Ashton-James said. Its a chronic and long-term exposure to emotional and interpersonal stress. Its not an acute episode where you know what the causes are, its a slow burn and it gets to a point where your resources for coping get drained. The consequence is that you might become more irritable and hostile towards others. Or you might withdraw. Some doctors turned to drugs and alcohol, leaving patients in the hands of multidisciplinary team members, while private patients generally opted to change doctors. When patients experienced a lack of empathy they usually went elsewhere. Disgruntled patients could also rate doctors on social media, often destroying reputations. Pain specialists are rare and vital to patient outcomes and recovery, Ashton-James said. It was a myth that burnout was caused by a large workload or physical fatigue. Burnout is an emotional fatigue, Ashton-James said. They (pain specialists) are exposed to trauma, complexity, uncertainty, patient dissatisfaction. Anyone living with chronic pain expects a lot. Pressure was also exacerbated by opioid-dependent patients requesting prescriptions. Bemoaning the lack of research, Ashton-James said strategies to prevent burnout included peer and group support but more was needed. We must raise awareness of the risks for burnout, and find a way to fend it off and help our small but mighty pain specialist workforce to thrive. There are 560 specialist pain medicine physicians in Australia who are fellows of the faculty, including anaesthetists. They were vital to patient outcomes and recovery, faculty dean Kieran Davis said. The burden of pain in the community is significant, Davis said. Chronic pain affects about one in five people so it is vital that we not only work with our patients to help them manage their pain but also help educate the community about pain and how it is treated. Pain medicine specialists serve as consultants to other physicians and are often the principal treating physician. The spectrum of care provided by a pain medicine specialist includes coordinating rehabilitation services, counselling patients and their families, directing multi-disciplinary teams, liaising with other healthcare professionals and reviewing and adjusting medication. Key Insights The projected fair value for H2O Innovation is CA$3.87 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity H2O Innovation's CA$2.74 share price signals that it might be 29% undervalued The CA$3.59 analyst price target for HEO is 7.2% less than our estimate of fair value How far off is H2O Innovation Inc. (TSE:HEO) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine. We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you. Check out our latest analysis for H2O Innovation The Calculation We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: Story continues 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (CA$, Millions) CA$9.07m CA$13.6m CA$17.1m CA$21.7m CA$24.2m CA$26.0m CA$27.5m CA$28.8m CA$29.9m CA$30.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 7.56% Est @ 5.83% Est @ 4.62% Est @ 3.78% Est @ 3.18% Present Value (CA$, Millions) Discounted @ 8.5% CA$8.4 CA$11.6 CA$13.4 CA$15.7 CA$16.1 CA$16.0 CA$15.6 CA$15.0 CA$14.4 CA$13.7 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = CA$140m 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 1.8%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.5%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032 (1 + g) (r g) = CA$31m (1 + 1.8%) (8.5% 1.8%) = CA$471m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= CA$471m ( 1 + 8.5%)10= CA$209m 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 CA$349m. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of CA$2.7, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 29% 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 H2O Innovation as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.123. 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 H2O Innovation Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Weakness Earnings growth over the past year is below its 5-year average. Interest payments on debt are not well covered. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Canadian market. Trading below our estimate of fair value by more than 20%. Threat Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow. Revenue is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For H2O Innovation, there are three important aspects you should look at: Risks: Be aware that H2O Innovation is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those can't be ignored... Future Earnings: How does HEO's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Canadian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Reporter Charged for Using South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noems Cellphone Number for Prank Call A South Dakota reporter is facing charges for using Gov. Kristi Noems personal cellphone number to conduct a prank call. KOTA Territory News and Dakota News Now reporter Austin Goss was arrested and charged with making threatening, harassing, or misleading calls and appeared in court on May 4. An individual identified as D.L. told police he received a call from a number that appeared to be Noems personal cellphone, according to court documents (pdf). South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem speaks at the National Rifle Association annual convention in Indianapolis, Ind., on April 14, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times) In January, Noems office revealed that the Republican governors personal cellphone number had been leaked and was being used to make prank calls. Callous mishandling of personal information has real-world consequences, Noem said in the Jan. 23 statement. If you get such a phone call from my number, know that I had no involvement. I have urged both the United States Attorney General and multiple congressional committees to investigate the leaking of my familys personal information, and I look forward to whatever resolution they can provide. The Epoch Times reached out to Noems office for comment but has not yet received a response. Gross apparently used a recording called Mafia Guy Got Vaccines to conduct the prank, according to the documents. In the recording, a man bombards the listener with questions about the whereabouts of COVID-19 vaccines, then accuses the listener of conspiring to move the three boxes of that AstraZeneca outside this family. The recording ends by revealing that the call is a prank. So now, you answer me this Between the hours of midnight yesterday, and right now, where they disappear to? Did you check your basement? How many boxes of the Moderna were there? Oh you think this is funny? Yo! Youre making me say way too much on this line already Marculos on the line here too. You best quit messing with me! You know what? Im going to tell you, I know what you said the other day You telling me, you didnt tell Vito, that you were going to try to move the three boxes of that AstraZeneca outside this family? You saying you aint said that?! Oh, Im getting so angry You saying, you aint said that?! You come here. Say it to my face Yeah, yeah I want you to say it to my face! Hahahahahaha! Youve just been pranked by PrankDial.com, the recording said, according to court documents. The Stanley County Sheriffs Department confirmed that Goss had been released on a personal recognizance bond. Goss Employer Speaks Out Dakota News Now and KOTA Territory News, which employed Goss, issued a joint statement and announced the termination of the reporter on May 4. Goss image and name have also been removed from the news outlets staff directory online. We learned of the incident involving Austin Goss late last night. Once we gathered the facts, we decided to terminate his employment with our stations, the statement read. Dakota News Now and KOTA Territory were unaware of Mr. Goss activities and deeply regret the lack of judgment he showed, which violated our policies and is contrary to our commitment to the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Authorities traced the call through Midcontinent Communications to Goss Fort Pierre address and found that Goss had multiple personal and professional communications with the governor. Because Goss is a journalist, it would stand to reason that Austin may have come in possession of Governor Noems personal phone number during one of these contacts, the court documents said. Dan Lederman, the former chair of the South Dakota Republican Party, confirmed to the Argus Leader that he was the recipient of the call, but said he had no further comment. Lederman told the investigator that Goss would occasionally text him snide or rude remarks, and said the audio recording caused him concern for his safety. Russias Lavrov Says Kremlin Drone Incident Was Hostile Act Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Wednesdays drone incident at the Kremlin was a hostile act and Russia would respond with concrete actions. Russia has accused Ukraine of firing drones at the Kremlin in an attempt to kill President Vladimir Putin, and said the United States was behind the purported attack. Ukraine has denied that, and the White House has dismissed Russian lies. It was clearly a hostile act, it is clear that the Kyiv terrorists could not have committed it without the knowledge of their masters, Lavrov told a press conference in India. We will not respond by talking about casus belli or not, we will respond with concrete actions, he said. Casus belli is a Latin term for an action that provides justification for war. Russias war in Ukraine is now in its 15th month, though Moscow continues to describe it as a special military operation. PARIS, FranceGilbert Moracchini came all the way from Corsica to Paris to attend Shen Yun Performing Arts on Sunday, April 30, with his wife and mother-in-law who love this kind of show, his wife having practiced dance. I am astounded by the artistic quality of the dancers, said the former company director enthusiastically. You can see they are at the top of their game. You can feel that it comes from deep inside them and I think the audience must feel it as well! We feel this energy they want to convey, added Mr. Moracchini, explaining that he felt the values of serenity, consistency and courage, because each vignette shows this profound value of facing difficulty to make truth triumph. New York-based Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance company, each season performing an all-new production of music and dance. Among all the performances, Gilbert Moracchini really liked the tenor and the songs lyrics. I happen to be Corsican, I sing a lot and I admit that it is good to hear this kind of lyrics in the times we live in. Not only do I think it is very important, but I defend the same culture as Shen Yun. As a Corsican, you have to know that our hymn is a hymn to the Mother of God, the Dio vi salvi Regina that every Corsican sings and that I sing regularly, including in countries where I have been, such as Russia for example, and even in South Korea. I had the chance to go there and I could sing the prayer to the Mother of God which is the hymn of Corsica par excellence. That is why I am very happy to have been able to hear and see this show! He saw that the traditional culture brought to life by Shen Yun shared the same, universal values. For the former director, Shen Yun can bring a lot of serenity, peace, and understanding, and I invite them to continue on this path, because this is what is cruelly lacking in our world today, when the devil tries to divide people since the word devil means division. And when we see what is happening not far from us, we understand how much our own brothers can be divided. And it is time for God to come back to the center of the world. Reporting by NTD and Sarita Modmesaib. The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006. Journalist Fred Pawle attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in Sydney, Australia, on May 5, 2023. (NTD) SYDNEY, AustraliaAustralian journalist Fred Pawle said from the Lyric Theatre on Friday night that Shen Yun Performing Arts showcases another side of the Chinese story. The show reveals a gentler side of China that we are less aware of, he said. From ethnic dances from the snow-capped mountains of Tibet to bel canto singing about values that are universal across humankind, New York-based Shen Yun is on a mission to share with the world the rich culture of Chinas 5,000-year history. Mr. Pawle said Shen Yun communicated the diversity of Chinese culture in a beautiful production. I think the way they tell the story is really innovative, he said, noting the Mongolian Chopsticks dance piece that showcased the Mongolian culture of hospitality and Shen Yuns dramatic scenes from famous battle scenes, like the piece Riding Alone to the Rescue, which tells the story of the selfless rescue of Liu Beis son from behind enemy lines during Chinas Three Kingdoms era. The ideas of truth and forbearance and indeed justice there were little stories where the good guys won in the end, Mr. Pawle said. Shen Yun Is Keeping Culture Alive Mother and daughter solicitor team Halina and Christine Hanna (R) attend Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in Sydney, Australia, on May 5, 2023. (Julia Ye/The Epoch Times) Mother and daughter solicitor team Halina and Christine Hanna said Shen Yun was absolutely magnificent. It really was an eye-opener, Halina said. It gave us a whole new perspective as well, so it was really beautiful, so were very lucky to have this experience and very grateful to be able to see it. Christine said, Its nice that theyre keeping their cultural experience alive. Halina said she really liked the dance about drunk Monk Lu from the Chinese classic Outlaws of the Marsh. That was very funny, a really entertaining one. Christine enjoyed Water Sleeves, a dance from Chinas imperial courts where the dancers express themselves with long, flowing sleeves that flow like water. Christine added, Even though the ancient dance and the ancient stories [are] the ones that everyone comes to watch and [are] so beautiful, a lot of the modern stories just remind you of the heartbreak thats happening in China at the moment. She was referring to the stories of oppression of the Chinese people under the communist regime in modern China, like the extreme COVID-19 lockdowns and the persecution of the faith group Falun Gong, which teaches its adherents to live by the universal tenants of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. The modern ones are reminding us or telling us this is what its like now in China. Theres a lot of hidden [issues], like people arent allowed to have their faith, their expression, their forced to conform, and theyre not happy to conform. Halina agreed. Like you said the ancient stories that theyre keeping alive thats very important as well, so you can reflect on history. Its very important we dont forget history so we dont repeat it, of course, and that we continue to preserve history to keep it alive. But it was very interesting as well how they tied that in with today and whats happening today, and you can really reflect upon it. Shen Yun Is Very Family Orientated Emma Vulic (L) and Hayley Deguara attend Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in Sydney, Australia, on May 5, 2023. (JuliaYe/The Epoch Times) Emma Vulic, a director of the construction company, and Hayley Deguara, a director of a truck company, said they absolutely loved Shen Yun. I loved the dancing, I loved how it is vibrant. I love the culture behind it and the musicthe music is really amazing, Ms. Vulic said. Shen Yun yours with its own live orchestra, which uniquely and harmoniously combines traditional Chinese instruments with a traditional Western orchestra. Ms. Deguara said that she will bring her four-year-old daughter with her to see the performance next year, as she knows now its something her daughter can thoroughly enjoy. Shed be able to watch it without having me explain to her whats going on. She would watch it and enjoy it on her own, Ms. Deguara said. Its very family-orientated. Both said that Shen Yun should be celebrated. 100 percent. Theyre doing an incredible job. Dont stop spreading that because its so beautifulits such beautiful art. It really is, and it should be shared with everyone, Ms. Vulic said. A Way of Celebrating Also in the audience on Friday night was Ms. Julia Padginton, a software engineer and consultant who attended Shen Yun with her daughter Emma. The pair said they thoroughly enjoyed Shen Yun. Everything about it is beautiful, Julia said. And its very, very interesting to watch the people dance and the culture Culture brings people togethera way of celebrating. She added she would definitely recommend Shen Yun. Its an experience. Its beautiful. But its also humbling, she said. Her daughter Emma added, And education. Its lyrical theatrebeautiful. Reporting by Julia Ye, Michelle Li, NTD, and Melanie Sun. The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006. Southern California Republicans Method to Win Latino Votes Looks to Expand Statewide Volunteers at BASTA!, a voter nonprofit based in Santa Ana with a mission to register minority voters, pose for a photo in Santa Ana, Calif. (Courtesy of Ron Flores) A grassroots nonprofit formed during the pandemic to encourage voter participation in minority communitiesespecially Hispanicsin Orange County, California, is now gaining some recognition from Republicans across the state. Established in 2021, leaders of the Santa Ana-based organization chose the name BASTA!, which means enough in Spanish, because, they said, it has been used historically for Latinos seeking revolutionary change in governance. President of the group Ron Flores told The Epoch Times he has always questioned why most Latinos vote liberal, when, he said, their culture is naturally one with conservative roots. They go to Church, theyre concerned about crime and education. Theyre conservative, he said. So why do they always vote Democrat? He said he started BASTA! after he had enough of the Republican Party growing weaker in Orange County. Nothing was happening, so I got some friends together and the rest is history, he said. Today the organization has 85 volunteers, with about 25 the most active. According to Flores, getting support from the Latino community isnt difficult, but the GOP has failed to win over Latino voters because he believes they never try. Why dont [Hispanics] vote? Well, nobody talks to us. I want to change that, he said. A representative from the California GOP says otherwise. We have always taken a personalized approach, connecting with [Hispanic] voters by utilizing Spanish-language advertising to foster cultural resonance, Hector Barajas, Latino Engagement and Media Advisor for the CAGOP told The Epoch Times. He said more outreach will continue for the next election cycle. Latino community engagement will continue to be a vital component of our infrastructure as we aim to elect more Republicans up and down the ticket, Barajas said. But Flores said from his experience working with candidates and GOP representatives, their campaigns look to target high propensity votersor those most likely to vote redand miss a pool of Hispanics who dont vote and are waiting to be approached. After successfully winning over some Latino voters in the 2022 elections through candidate forums, canvassing, and community events, members of the California Republican Assembly say theyve taken notice of and hope to expand their methodology statewide with groups like Floress. BASTA! has demonstrated the capability to increase the number of Latinos that we have in the Republican Party, Johnnie Morgan, the California Republican Assemblys Immediate Past President, told The Epoch Times. According to Morgan, voter registration in Santa Ana specifically increased more than any other region in the state during the last election cycle because of BASTA!. In recognition, Flores was elected last April as vice senate director for the groups Santa Ana division. In the coming weeks, California Republican Assembly leaders plan to meet with Flores to discuss how to replicate BASTA!s success statewide. Other chapters have already been made aware of how significant his participation is, Morgan said. Morgan additionally said hes feeling hopeful for the Republican Party in California. The future is bright, he said. The reason I say that is because a lot of folks are becoming quite disenchanted with the current administration. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike. He said the Republican Assembly is the last line of defense, and is looking to bring back order to Californias government. The liberals, Marxists, communists, or whatever you want to call them are trying to destroy the state, and causing people to flee, he said. According to a recent BASTA! report, during the 2022 primary and general elections the nonprofit used a $40,000 donation to support 25 candidates, and canvassed Santa Ana, Anaheim, Westminster, and Pico Rivera. Twelve of the candidates they sponsored, or nearly 50 percent, were successfully elected. Our hypothesis proved to be correct. Talk to registered Hispanic voters, and they will vote, the report reads. The funds were additionally used for printing materials, and feeding and equipping volunteers. According to Flores, some candidates BASTA! supported also were on standby to speak to residents during canvassing. If a potential voter wanted to talk to them, a quick phone call and short drive later the candidate would appear at their door. Flores said Santa Ana had some of the funniest voters youll ever see. When we walked in Santa Ana, we only had one dog bite and we were chased by roosters twice, he said. The only places we saw chickens and roosters were in Santa Ana. One thing that caught the nonprofit by surprise was the turnout of Gen Z voters this last election, which outperformed millennials and baby boomers. Gen Zwhich are those born between 1997 and 2012will be one of the groups focus during the 2024 election cycle. Flores said he and BASTA! volunteers noticed while canvassing that some locations, especially Santa Ana, had already been heavily saturated with a Democratic ground game, including with fliers and voter registration signups. If the Republican Party wants to compete with the Democrats, they need to match their outreach efforts, Flores said. Why are so many people registered in Santa Ana now? Why are the Democrats spending so much money and were not? he said. When it comes to radio and TV ads, Democrats outspent Republicans five to one statewide in the last election, according to a data analysis from the nonprofit. Saturation of materials is one of the key methods that led to the nonprofits recent success, according to the BASTA! report. Of the cities targeted, 50,000 homes were saturated three to four times each with flyers and door hangers, with volunteers walking over 200 collective miles. They also sponsored two town halls, hosted a bilingual TV and radio show interviewing candidates, held bilingual candidate forums, and designed a Spanish voter guide in Santa Ana. Despite their success, officials from the Republican Party in California wont donate to the group, according to Flores. According to Fred Whitaker, the chair of the Orange County GOP, thats because sometimes BASTA! supports Democrat candidates when a Republican isnt on the ballot. I cant give checks to an entity thats going to support Democrats and No Party Preference, he said. Ive got a fiduciary responsibility to elect Republicans. BASTA! supported four Democrats in 2022 in races where no Republican opponent was available, choosing, according to Flores, those they thought would best represent their constituents. Thats why [the Republican Party] keeps losing. They wont even dialogue with Democrats, Flores said. He said through BASTA!s support of certain moderate Democrats, or what he calls Blue Dogs, they were able to help eliminate some progressives. Before BASTA!, a movement called Keep Orange Red, began in 2020 led by Orange County resident Jon Paul White. That group also holds events with Latinos, politicians, and Republicans alike seeking to strengthen the Republican Party in Orange County. Flores said BASTA! began thanks to White, who is one of the groups key members, advisors, and one of its hardest working volunteers. A lot of what were doing now is because of his help and knowledge, he said. Strong American Action Needed to Eliminate CCP Threat: Heritage President Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, is warning about the growing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in the United States and insists on a robust reaction from the American administration and leaders to confront and defeat it. In an April 29 interview with Jan Jekielek, host of EpochTVs American Thought Leaders program, Roberts talked about the Chinese threat facing the United States, which the nonprofit addressed in its Winning the New Cold War: A Plan for Countering China report (pdf). The CCP has infiltrated nearly every country in the world, said Roberts. The report highlights how dependent the United States is on China in critical mineral supply and pharma products and the steps Beijing has taken to influence America. The report recommends various measures to counter Chinese influence and protect American interests. According to Roberts, their efforts to make people aware of the Chinese threat are already paying off because you see a shift in the rhetoric. Lets hope that on January 20, 2025, we replace the very CCP-friendly president of the United States with a man or a woman who knows what time it is, and that its time to confront them [the CCP], to defeat them, and to eliminate them, he said. Related Coverage Kevin Roberts: A Roadmap to Defeating the Deep State and Winning the New Cold War With Communist China Regarding the importance of the China Paper, Roberts said that it would act as a foundation for subsequent assessments by The Heritage Foundation on how the CCP must be confronted. Were more than cautiously optimistic that we have made some progress here. Were really confident that we have helped to change the debate. The Heritage Foundation advocates stopping all CCP-lobbying dollars in the United States. And theres a lot of people that like those dollars, Jekielek observed. Roberts thinks it is outrageous that there would be any American citizen within blocks of where you and I are sitting having this conversation who would take $1 from a CCP-interest. An American who loves his country and understands the evil that the CCP and its advocates represent wouldnt do that, he said. If it takes legislation to correct that, then Heritage is very happy to lead the way. Were not going to stop working on that issue until there is a bill that bans lobbyists in this town from representing the Chinese Communist Party. Out of the many dozen recommendations made in the China report, blocking CCP investment in the American military industry is right at the top of the list, Roberts notes. What the United States needs to focus on is reinstilling in the CEOs and corporate boards of American businesses a desire not to invest in CCP-owned interests in China and elsewhere. The takeover of American education by the CCP is also a danger, he said. We have to be really cognizant of the influence the CCP has in education, with the formerly named Confucius Institutes that have already been renamed something else. We should not be allowing the CCP to infiltrate our major research universities. Manufacturing in China Roberts stressed the need to reshore and friendshore jobs that are offshore in China, saying, Americans should be benefiting by any additional military production that were going to be engaged in order to defend Taiwan, who we will defend. Jekielek asked about a bill to stop buying drones from China that had passed the House and the Senate. However, the bill disappeared when the National Defense Authorization Act was passed. Citing industry sources, Jekielek raised the issue of a lack of alternative options regarding reshoring and friendshoring. Thats true. There arent a lot of options for drones, and yet thats a result of our own choices, Roberts said. Its a much more important matter and a greater obligation for individual Americans, especially those who have capital to invest, to stop being so significantly worried about a few pennies of difference in investment. That is, its more important to have an American-made drone or a drone made in a country thats a real ally of ours than it is to save a few dollars on a drone made in China. This is the kind of thing that must change in the United States. In other words, were not going to defeat the CCP simply by passing legislation. We need American entrepreneurs to worry about the United States first, American workers first, and the future of American freedom first before they worry about, as they would tell you and me, their bottom line. When talking about the threat posed by the CCP, The Heritage Foundation is not only focused on the military posture alone but also the economic and social posture as well. Heritage is trying to remind people that the reason you want to endorse the China Paper and the reason you want to pass those bills isnt just to defeat the CCP. It isnt just to say that conservatives in America have to win, but its for every American and every human being on earth to live a good life. Thats what conservatives care about the most, Roberts stated. Confronting the CCP Threat The March 28 Winning The New Cold War report calls CCP-controlled China the greatest existential threat facing the United Statesan adversary even more capable and dangerous than the Soviet Union was at the height of its power. Instead of adapting to the threat, multiple Administrations pursued closer engagement with the PRC, all assuming that they could guide China on a path to greater economic openness and, ultimately, more political freedom. That gambit failed disastrously. Under [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping, the PRC has grown more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad, the report said. The United States now relies on the Chinese economy, with critical supply chains from vital rare-earth elements to key pharmaceutical products being largely or wholly dependent on China. The CCP has also established a presence in U.S. college campuses, operates secret police stations in American cities, and bled the U.S. economy of trillions of dollars through the theft of intellectual property, the report stated. To counter the Chinese influence, the report recommends several steps, including stopping CCP activities in higher education, banning dangerous Chinese apps, cracking down on illegal Chinese police operations in the United States, banning CCP lobbying, prohibiting the import and sale of Chinese manufactured drones, and securing critical mineral supplies among others. As for the current state of affairs, the deep state, the administrative state more broadly, is the rotten fruit of our individual members of Congress not having the courage to pass bills or kill bills on behalf of self-governance, said Roberts. The Israeli Left Is Doomed 75 years after Israels founding, the country is turning increasingly conservative, permanently ending the dominance of the socialist ruling class Commentary Israels left-wing opposition triumphed in March by forcing Benjamin Netanyahus governing right-wing coalition to suspend its plans to reform the judicial system. The left wing may next succeed in derailing the reform plans altogether, in forcing new elections, and evenits ultimate prizein banishing Likud-leader Netanyahu altogether from politics. These successes, if they occur, will merely be last gasps in the decades-long weakening of the lefts grip on power. All trends in the Israeli mosaicwhere the right-wing coalitions 64 seats already represent an 18-seat advantage over the opposition parties 46 seatspoint to an ever-eroding left, and an ever-enlarging right. Demographic trends are telling (pdf), with the often-cited Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) birthratean average of 6.9 childrenbut one important factor. Now representing 17 percent of Israeli Jews and 13 percent of all Israelis, in 10 years the Haredis are projected to account for 20 percent of Israeli Jews and 16 percent of all Israelis. Moreover, Haredis are a young population60 percent of its members are under the age of 20, almost twice the general populations 31 percentleading to a disproportionately large Haredi influx into the voting-age pool. An analysis of the birthrates of the 83 percent of Jews who arent Haredi also points to an erosion of the lefts electoral share. As might be expected, the greater the adherence to Judaisms teachings, the greater the birthrate. Religious Zionistsrepresented by the largest party in the coalition after Likudaverage 4.3 children, more than twice the 2.1 fertility rate that leads to zero population growth. Tradition-minded religious Jews average three, while tradition-minded non-religious Jews average 2.4. These religious and/or tradition-minded sectors of Israeli society all tend to vote for the parties of the right, and all boost Israels population. Secular Jews, the sector that the left most depends upon, average 2.1 children per woman, providing no boost to Israels population or to its voting pool. Migration patterns further doom the lefts chances of regaining its hold on power. Jews from abroad who decide to make Israel their home by making Aliya, i.e., ascending to Israel, are predominantly religious and nationalistic, adding to the voting rolls of the right. Jews who emigrate abroad by making Yerida, a pejorative term meaning descending from Israel, tend to be less likely to be nationalistic and religious, diminishing the lefts voter pool. These emigrants, who tended to be well educated and upwardly mobile, left in droves over the decades, chiefly for the economic opportunities in the West. The scorn that often accompanied their departureformer Labor Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin termed them fall-outs of weaklingsmattered less than the prospects of a better life. Some 1 million Israelis now live abroad, 800,000 of them in the United States. Had they chosen Israels relative hardships over comforts abroad, Israel might well have remained a left-of-center, socialist-led country1 million rivals the 1.1 million votes received by Likud, the leading party. According to a recent poll, many of the Israeli leftists who remain have little reason to do so: Just 22 percent of left-wing voters are very proud to be an Israeli, and just 8 percent think its very good to live in Israel. With many on the Israeli left now more fearful than ever of rule by the religious right, their interest in leaving Israel for the West has increased four-fold. Their departure would fuel an inexorable cycle where the more that leftists leave, the more that the Israeli electorate would tilt right, the more that leftists would want out. Those on the rightincluding Haredis, descendants of immigrants expelled from Arab countries, and immigrants drawn to Israel for religious reasonsare staying put. Even the lefts single biggest goalto see Netanyahu exit politicswould only speed the lefts collapse. For one thing, the likeliest successor to Netanyahu should he retire from politics would be Yariv Levin, the deputy prime minister and Minister of Justice who proposed the judicial reforms that have enraged the left. For another, many in the opposition parties are really of the right, in opposition only out of a personal animus for Netanyahu. This includes Gideon Saar and other former right-wing ministers in Netanyahus Likud-led governments, who split off from Likud to form rival parties, and Avigdor Libermans nationalistic Yisrael Beytenu party, which has vowed to never join a Netanyahu-led government. Without the benefit of the anyone-but-Netanyahu voter, the lefts current 18-seat Knesset disadvantage might well balloon to 25 or more. The Israel that was once the darling of the Socialist Internationale is a thing of the past, as is the once-dominant Labor Party, which in the last election barely passed the 3.25 percent vote threshold needed to place members in the Israeli Knesset. The battleground has now shifted to the streets, where the lefts protesters are pitted against those of the right in the fight over judicial reforms. The outcome of that battle may be in doubt. But the war, for the left, is lost. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. FORT WORTH, TEXASA top U.S. hospital has a study in pre-print that shows the more COVID-19 shots their employees get, the higher their chance is of catching COVID-19 itself. The Cleveland Clinic is the worlds largest network of hospitals and outpatient facilities. When a study comes out of Cleveland Clinic, people take it very seriously, said Steve Kirsch on Frontline Health. Kirsch is a tech entrepreneur, inventor of the optical mouse and founder of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation. The bottom line here is that if the medical community was honest, they need to now reverse the mandates, he said. And by reverse mandates, I mean that every hospital in the world should now say, if you got the vaccine, youre fired. The logic here is that if the vaccinated healthcare workers are more vulnerable to catching COVID-19, they pose a greater risk to patients. And since the U.S. is still in a state of emergency, Kirsch says that the hospitals need to stay consistent and protect their patients. They need to then rehire the [unvaccinated] people that they fired, he said. We spoke with Kirsch at the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) second Education Conference. Support The Epoch Times: get the best coffee roasted in America at 15% off with code Health15 at DayesCoffee.com INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT: Coming soon. Medical Disclaimer: Frontline Health (the Show), its guests, and contributors provide the latest news on health and medical discoveries and it is meant for informational purposes only. The Show does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, cures, mitigation, or prevention for any type of disease or medical condition. Similarly, it is not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treating of any health-related condition. The information on the Show is gathered from reputable sources; however, neither Frontline Health nor The Epoch Times Association Inc. are responsible for errors or omissions in reporting or explanation and will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary, or other damages arising therefrom. Patients should always consult with a doctor or other health care professional for medical advice or information about diagnosis and treatment. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here. Trump Pleased With Ramaswamys Jump in GOP Primary Polls After gaining some ground in the polls, Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is receiving encouragement from an unlikely sourcehis competition. In a CBS YouGov poll (pdf) published May 1, Ramaswamyregarded by many as an underdogpulled in 5 percent of the vote, tying for third place with former Vice President Mike Pence. And although there was a wide margin between the entrepreneur and the leading candidate, former President Donald Trump, who received 58 percent of the vote, that didnt stop the latter from taking notice. I am pleased to see that Vivek Ramaswamy is doing so well in the most recent Republican Primary Poll, CBS YouGov, Trump said May 5 via Truth Social. He is tied with Mike Pence and seems to be on his way to catching Ron DeSanctimonious. Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., on March 3, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis placed second in the poll at 22 percent. And although he has yet to officially declare his candidacy, the former congressman has emerged as a frontrunner in the Republican primary fieldanother fact that has not escaped Trumps notice. The thing I like about Vivek is that he only has good things to say about President Trump, and all that the Trump Administration has so successfully doneThis is the reason he is doing so well, Trump continued. In any event, good luck to all of them, they will need it! Name Recognition As Pence has not declared his candidacy either, that puts Ramaswamy in second place among the declared Republican hopefuls, which also include former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, talk radio host Larry Elder, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and former Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton. Given that Ramaswamy does not have the name recognition of some of the other candidates, his rise in popularity is worthy of note. It is also true that he has made a point not to criticize Trump. For instance, when the former president was indicted in March on falsification of business records charges, Ramaswamy forcefully defended his opponent in a video statement. If this had been anybody else other than Donald Trump, on this set of facts, it would have been charged as a misdemeanor at most, if at all, he said. Yet what we see right now in our country is a ruling party that will stop at nothing, even using police force, to arrest its political opponents. Ramaswamy has also likened himself to Trump as a political outsider who supports the same policies. In a recent interview with Newsmax, the entrepreneur noted: Theres two outsiders in this race, thats Donald Trump and me. I think by the end of this calendar year, itll be down to the two of us, and part of what Im doing is Im taking Trumps America First agenda even further than Donald Trump did. Given their similar stances on policy, some have already floated Ramaswamy as a potential running mate for Trump. Now, with his latest comments, the 45th president may be adding fuel to that fire. UC Berkeley Professor Apologizes for False Indigenous Identity In this 2020 image taken from video, Elizabeth Hoover, UC Berkeley associate professor of environmental science, policy and management, conducts an interview with Indian Country Today. Hoover whose identity as Native American had been questioned apologized for falsely identifying as Indigenous, saying she is "a white person" who lived an identity based on family lore. Hoover posted her apology online on Monday, May 1, 2023. (Indian Country Today via AP) SAN FRANCISCOAn anthropology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, whose identity as Native American had been questioned for years apologized this week for falsely identifying as Indigenous, saying she is a white person who lived an identity based on family lore. Elizabeth Hoover, associate professor of environmental science, policy and management, said in an apology posted Monday on her website that she claimed an identity as a woman of Mohawk and Mikmaq descent but never confirmed that identity with those communities or researched her ancestry until recently. I caused harm, Hoover wrote. I hurt Native people who have been my friends, colleagues, students, and family, both directly through fractured trust and through activating historical harms. This hurt has also interrupted student and faculty life and careers. I acknowledge that I could have prevented all of this hurt by investigating and confirming my family stories sooner. For this, I am deeply sorry. Hoovers alleged Indigenous roots came into question in 2021 after her name appeared on an Alleged Pretendian List. The list compiled by Jacqueline Keeler, a Native American writer and activist, includes more than 200 names of people Keeler says are falsely claiming Native heritage. Hoover first addressed doubts about her ethnic identity last year when she said in an October post on her website that she had conducted genealogical research and found no records of tribal citizenship for any of my family members in the tribal databases that were accessed. Her statement caused an uproar, and some of her former students authored a letter in November demanding her resignation. The letter was signed by hundreds of students and scholars from UC Berkeley and other universities along with members of Native American communities. It also called for her to apologize, stop identifying as Indigenous and acknowledge she had caused harm, among other demands. As scholars embedded in the kinship networks of our communities, we find Hoovers repeated attempts to differentiate herself from settlers with similar stories and her claims of having lived experience as an Indigenous person by dancing at powwows absolutely appalling, the letter reads. Janet Gilmore, a UC Berkeley spokesperson, said in a statement she couldnt comment on whether Hoover faces disciplinary action, saying discussing it would violate personnel matters and/or violate privacy rights, both of which are protected by law. However, we are aware of and support ongoing efforts to achieve restorative justice in a way that acknowledges and addresses the extent to which this matter has caused harm and upset among members of our community, Gilmore added. Hoover is the latest person to apologize for falsely claiming a racial or ethnic identity. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren angered many Native Americans during her presidential campaign in 2018 when she used the results of a DNA test to try and rebut the ridicule of then-President Donald Trump, who had derisively referred to her as fake Pocahontas. Despite the DNA results, which showed some evidence of a Native American in Warrens lineage, probably six to 10 generations ago, Warren is not a member of any tribe, and DNA tests are not typically used as evidence to determine tribal citizenship. Warren later offered a public apology at a forum on Native American issues, saying she was sorry for the harm I have caused. In 2015, Rachel Dolezal was fired as head of the Spokane, Washington, chapter of the NAACP and was kicked off a police ombudsman commission after her parent told local media their daughter was born white but was presenting herself as Black. She also lost her job teaching African studies at Eastern Washington University in nearby Cheney. Hoover said her identity was challenged after she began her first assistant professor job. She began teaching at UC Berkeley in the Fall of 2020. At the time, I interpreted inquiries into the validity of my Native identity as petty jealousy or people just looking to interfere in my life, she wrote. Hoover said that she grew up in rural upstate New York thinking she was someone of mixed Mohawk, Mikmaq, French, English, Irish and German descent, and attending food summits and powwows. Her mother shared stories about her grandmother being a Mohawk woman who married an abusive French-Canadian man and who committed suicide, leaving her children behind to be raised by someone else. She said she would no longer identify as Indigenous but would continue to help with food sovereignty and environmental justice movements in Native communities that ask her for her support. In her apology issued Monday, Hoover acknowledged she benefited from programs and funding that were geared toward Native scholars and said she is committed to engaging in the restorative justice process taking place on campus, as well as supporting restorative justice processes in other circles I have been involved with, where my participation is invited. By Olga R. Rodriguez If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. So on that note, Lotus KFM Berhad (KLSE:LOTUS) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital. Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Lotus KFM Berhad, this is the formula: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 0.022 = RM1.9m (RM93m - RM9.1m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022). Therefore, Lotus KFM Berhad has an ROCE of 2.2%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Food industry average of 11%. See our latest analysis for Lotus KFM Berhad roce While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you'd like to look at how Lotus KFM Berhad has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow. The Trend Of ROCE Lotus KFM Berhad has recently broken into profitability so their prior investments seem to be paying off. Shareholders would no doubt be pleased with this because the business was loss-making three years ago but is is now generating 2.2% on its capital. In addition to that, Lotus KFM Berhad is employing 55% more capital than previously which is expected of a company that's trying to break into profitability. We like this trend, because it tells us the company has profitable reinvestment opportunities available to it, and if it continues going forward that can lead to a multi-bagger performance. Story continues On a related note, the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets has decreased to 9.7%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. Therefore we can rest assured that the growth in ROCE is a result of the business' fundamental improvements, rather than a cooking class featuring this company's books. The Key Takeaway Long story short, we're delighted to see that Lotus KFM Berhad's reinvestment activities have paid off and the company is now profitable. Since the stock has returned a solid 51% to shareholders over the last five years, it's fair to say investors are beginning to recognize these changes. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue. One more thing to note, we've identified 2 warning signs with Lotus KFM Berhad and understanding these should be part of your investment process. While Lotus KFM Berhad isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here UK Government Criticised for Inviting Chinese Vice President to Coronation Han Zheng takes an oath after being named China's vice-president during the third plenary session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, on March 10, 2023. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images) The UK government has been criticised for inviting a senior Chinese official responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong to the coronation of King Charles III. Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng was among the dignitaries from around the world invited to Westminster Abbey for the coronation on Saturday. Han led Hong Kong affairs for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime between 2018 and March this year, during which time it imposed the national security law after mass protests in the city, stifling opposition and criminalising dissent. Riot police detain people after they cleared protesters taking part in a rally against a new national security law in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020. (Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images) The decision to invite Han has been strongly criticised by China hawks in the Conservative Party and Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong. But the UK government has insisted that it wants to maintain engagement with the Asian superpower despite political differences. Outrageous Following reports late last month that Han would get an invite to the coronation, former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: This is the man responsible for trashing the international treatythe Sino-British accordin the course of which the Hong Kong authorities have persecuted peaceful democracy campaigners. Having this man here given his role is outrageous. Conservative Party MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith speaks in the chamber of the House of Commons, Westminster, London on Oct. 18, 2021. (House of Commons/PA Media) Tim Loughton, another Conservative MP, said Hans presence would be an insult to the freedom-loving people of Hong Kong. Serious concerns were previously raised when an invitation to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II was extended to representatives from the Chinese regime last September. Beijing was ultimately represented by Hans predecessor, Wang Qishan, at the state funeral, while a delegation from the country also attended the Queens lying in state in Westminster Hall. A Stick in the Eye Lord Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, said Beijings decision to send Han to the coronation was a sign that the regime treats the UK with contempt. He told BBC Radio 4s World At One programme on Thursday that Han was actually the guy responsible for policy on Hong Kong. Chris Patten, Hong Kongs last British governor speaks at The Foreign Correspondents Club to promote his new book in Hong Kong, on Sept. 19, 2017. (Vincent Yu/AP Photo) You cant ignore the fact that hes there, and its a stick in the eye for 140,000 or more Hongkongers who are in exile here with the help of the BNO passport scheme. And also I think its an indication of the fact that, however much you grovel to China, however much you try to give them face, they dont give a toss about giving us face. He added: If it wasnt deliberate, then it shows how casually they actually treat us anyway. So, however hard we try to lean over backwards, horizontally sometimes, to accommodate their own political narrative, I dont think they really give two hoots about us. Dangerous Message Protocol for the coronation results in invites issued to almost every head of state with whom the UK enjoys full diplomatic relations. But Russia, which invaded Ukraine last year, was not represented at the ceremony, nor was its ally Belarus. Other countries not invited to send representatives to the ceremony include Iran, Burma, Afghanistan, Syria, and Venezuela. Invitations to North Korea and Nicaragua followed the same approach as those to the funeral of the Queen, with heads of mission offered the chance to attend. Human rights charity Amnesty International UK questioned the decision to invite representatives of the Chinese regime. Polly Truscott, the organisations foreign policy adviser, said: If not inviting certain countries is an expression of the UKs diplomatic disapproval, then you have to ask: why is Chinas Han Zheng attending the coronation? The invitation to Han Zheng sends the dangerous message that the UK government is prepared to ignore Chinas appalling human rights record in exchange for influence and trade. Deep Disagreement Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he broached areas of deep disagreement during a meeting with Han on Friday. Cleverly wrote on Twitter: Engagement with China means discussing areas of deep disagreement and vital co-operation. Today with VP Han Zheng, I made plain the UKs views on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan. We also discussed working together on climate change, economic ties and people-to-people links. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly delivers a speech during the Easter Banquet at Mansion House in London on April 25, 2023. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) In response to criticisms of the decision to invite Han, Cleverly told BBC Radio 4s Today programme on Tuesday: With the relationship with China, it is incredibly important that we continue to have conversations. To basically gag ourselves, to limit our own ability to exert influence, would be counterproductive. Downing Street acknowledged there were strong feelings from MPs about the Beijing government but Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks official spokesman told reporters in Westminster: As the foreign secretary has said, we need to be clear-eyed about how we approach China. It would be wrong to exclude them completely given their significance to the global economy and on things like tackling climate change. PA Media contributed to this report. With a Secure Border, We Wouldnt Have to Worry About the End of Title 42 A U.S. flag flies near the U.S.-Mexico border fence in an area where they search for border crossers near Campo, Calif., on Oct. 8, 2006. (David McNew/Getty Images) Commentary In a recent op-ed for the Orange County Register, Congressional Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) praised the fact that President Joe Biden is going to overturn Title 42, which was reactivated in 2020 by President Donald Trump during the pandemic. Trump reinforced the mandate in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19 into the U.S. by unvetted migrants. The policy is set to end May 11. Correa asks, But are we prepared? Many anticipate a border rush when Title 42 ends. Title 42 dates back to 1944 when the federal government was given the authority to expel asylum seekers without a hearing to reduce the risk of transmission of a communicable disease. The enforcement of this edict has ebbed and flowed over the past 80 years hinging upon immigration priorities and which political parties were in power. Some analysts believe that Title 42 practices will continue to be used minus the infectious disease component. While the impact of the pandemic has vastly declined in the last year or so, is this a valid reason to lift Title 42? It could be an open invitation for opportunists to take advantage of Americas generosity. In the coming weeks, the administration claims that migrants will be allowed to enter the United States for processing only at border entry points. In the article, Correa tends to conflate the vastly different concepts of illegal migration and legal immigration. Legal immigrants adhere to the rule of law and must jump through numerous bureaucratic hoops to obtain visas and enter at the front door. Illegal migrants bypass the process, barge in through the back door, and expect to be rewarded with social services despite flouting immigration laws. These social services ought to be directed toward legal residents. Why is Biden taking this action now after a two-year porous border policy wherein countless numbers of illegal got-aways have snuck into the country? Perhaps its due to incredible blowback from border governors, the GOP, and a looming general election in 18 months. Border czar Kamala Harris and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have done little to stem the tide of illegal migration. Biden wouldnt have to be concerned with Title 42 if he had completed the border barrier, hired more Border Patrol agents, and streamlined the legal immigration process. It doesnt take a brain surgeon to fix the border crisis. Border Patrol agents have been overworked and spread thin. They have to work as babysitters and processing agents due to the vast numbers of illegal entrants. Correa lauds the lifting of Title 42, yet it likely wont impact the current policy of lawlessness at our Southern border. We can expect a surge of asylum seekers attempting to flood the border in the coming weeks at checkpoints and unpatrolled areas. Biden is sending a total of 4,000 active duty and National Guard troops to manage the large crowds of alleged refugees. The armed forces arent meant to be immigration processing agents. The military is supposed to be a capable and ready deterrent force that defends America and its allies. A fully staffed Border Patrol can handle the job if the Biden administration would actually enforce laws already on the books. Lifting the health mandate wont alleviate the situation of migrants slipping through without proper health and security vetting. Far too many got-aways have found their way into the country, and DHS has no idea where they are or who they are. One wonders how many terrorists have slipped in. Its common knowledge that a criminal increase in firearms, illicit drugs, and human trafficking has flowed into America over the past two plus years. Halting Title 42 will not alleviate that crisis, because smugglers find weak points at the Mexican border, as well as at the coasts and at the Canada-USA border. Moreover, most of the asylum seekers are motivated by economic opportunity and come from many countries around the world. Why doesnt the Biden administration address the genuine refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine? These folks are at the mercy of brutal tyrants in regions of conflict. Indeed, when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan and Iraq, thousands of interpreters and translators were left behind. Many are either in hiding or have been killed. These are the high-value folks that helped our armed forces beat back al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban. These people should have a high visa priority instead of the majority of migrants who seek economic opportunities. Immigration to America is not a right or a sales transaction, but rather a hard-won privilege for those who understand responsible liberty and the rule of law. A nation that loses control of its border sovereignty can hardly be considered a country anymore. While borders in a free society arent meant to keep people in or out, they must be regulated with an orderly process at transit points for residents and travelers. Our national security depends on it. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. World Food Prices Rise for First Time in a Year: FAO Fresh produce are displayed at a fruit and vegetable stall at Portobello Road in London, on March 31, 2023. (Toby Melville/Reuters) The world price index of the United Nations food agency increased in April this year for the first time since April 2022, but it is still 20 percent lower than a March 2022 peak after the war in Ukraine started. The Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 127.2 points last month against 126.5 points for March, the agency said on Friday. The March reading was originally given as 126.9 points. The agency said it reflects higher prices of rice, meat, and sugar. Declines were observed in the cereals, dairy, and vegetable oil price indices. As economies recover from significant slowdowns, demand will increase, exerting upward pressure on food prices, said FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero. The sugar price index increased 17.6 percent from March, reaching its highest point since October 2011. This was due to concerns about tight supplies from India and China and lower-than-expected outputs in Thailand and the European Union, according to FAO. While the meat index rose 1.3 percent month-on-month, dairy prices dipped 1.7 percent, vegetable oil prices fell 1.3 percent, and the cereal price index shed 1.7 percent, with a decline in world prices of all major grains outweighing an increase in rice prices. The increase in rice prices is extremely worrisome, and it is essential that the Black Sea initiative is renewed to avoid any other spikes in wheat and maize, said Torero, referring to a deal to allow the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea. [The] 2023/24 prospects for rice production along and south of the equator are mixed, largely due to the regionally varied impact of the La Nina event, FAO also said. Black Sea Grain Deal On Friday, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the United Nations failed to authorize any new ships under a deal allowing safe Black Sea exports of Ukraine grain. Daily inspections of previously authorized ships continue, deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters. Officials from the four parties make up a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul, which implements the Black Sea deal agreed in July. Ukraine has been putting forward daily a list of ships to be authorized. Once approved, those ships are then inspected by the JCC officials near Turkey before traveling to a Ukrainian Black Sea port via a maritime humanitarian corridor to collect their cargo and return to Turkish waters for a final inspection. According to JCC data, there is currently one ship authorized for inbound inspection and 25 ships awaiting an outbound inspectionall in Turkish waters; there are 13 ships in Ukrainian ports, and there are five ships in transit toward Ukraine and two vessels in transit heading back to Turkey. There are eight vessels seeking authorization from the JCC, according to the Ukrainian sea ports website. Russias foreign ministry said on April 27 that only a full implementation of the Black Sea grain deal could save the deal from collapse, reaffirming Moscows dissatisfaction with an accord that aims to prevent a global food crisis. Russia has repeatedly said it will not allow the deal to be extended beyond May 18 unless the West removes obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports. [The deal] is not a buffet you can pick and choose from, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a regular news conference in Moscow, adding that implementation of the deal so far had been unsatisfactory. Although Russias agricultural exports have not been explicitly targeted by Western sanctions, Moscow says restrictions on its payments, logistics, and insurance industriesimposed over its military actions in Ukrainehave created a barrier to the export of its grains and fertilizers. One of Russias main demands in negotiations is the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT payments system. Export Grain Remains in Transit Countries On April 18, Polish and Ukrainian officials said convoys of Ukrainian grain transiting Poland for export abroad would be sealed, guarded, and monitored to ensure the produce stops flooding the Polish market and playing havoc with prices. The announcement came after two days of intensive talks following protests by Polish farmers, who said much of the Ukrainian grain was staying in Poland and creating a glut that caused them huge losses. Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus told a press conference that day that Warsaw and Kyiv have worked out mechanisms that mean that not a single ton of [Ukraine] grain will remain in Poland, that it will all be passing in transit. After Russia blocked traditional export sea passages amid the war in Ukraine, the European Union lifted duties on Ukrainian grain to facilitate its transport to Africa and the Middle East and offered to pay some compensation, which the farmers said was insufficient. Much of the grain ends up staying in transit countries, and some Polish unions and opposition politicians accuse government-linked companies of causing the problem by buying up cheap, low-quality Ukrainian grain and then selling it to bread and pasta plants as high-quality Polish produce. Chinas Production Remains Low Chinas rural grain yields are still low, and land rents and labor prices remain high. Meanwhile, food production costs continue to increase due to the impact of rising international energy and fertilizer prices. A farmer seeding winter wheat with a grain drill in Bozhou in Chinas eastern Anhui Province, on Oct. 15, 2019. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) According to a research report by China Agricultural University published in July of 2022, the average net profit of Chinas three major grains, rice, wheat, and corn, for 2020 was $6.8 per 0.165 acres. The average net profit increased from $28.6 per 0.165 acres in 2004 to $36.5 per 0.165 acres in 2011. From 2016 to 2019, the average net profits of the three main grains were all negative. In 2020, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, grain prices rose rapidly, and the average net profit of Chinas three main grains recovered to $6.8 per 0.165 acres. The boost was only temporary, however, and soaring costs since that time have heavily impacted farming returns. According to the report, from 2004 to 2020, the average input costs of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides for Chinas three main grains increased by 1.35 times. Land and labor costs increased even more, by 3.42 times and by 1.92 times respectively, and mechanical operation costs increased by 3.88 times to 13.8 percent of total costs in 2020. Drainage and irrigation fees also increased. All of these factors contributed to the squeezing of farmers profits. Planting costs have soared, making it unprofitable for small farmers to farm. Small farmers make up the main body of rural production in China. Anne Zhang, Reuters, and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Kerala Story brings out terror conspiracies, happening in State: PM BALLARI/NEW DELHI, THE Kerala Story, the hotly debated film on conversion, was at the centre of national discourse on Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi crediting it for bringing out terror conspiracies and using it to attack the Congress during a rally in Karnataka. As the multilingual film premiered across theatres to mixed reviews, polarising audience reactions and protests in some places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Kerala High Court refused to stay the release and said the trailer does not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole. In a rally in Ballari in poll-bound Karnataka, the Prime Minister said, Such a beautiful State of the country, where people are hardworking and talented. The Kerala Story film brings out terror conspiracies happening in that State. It is unfortunate that Congress can be seen standing with this terror trend that is seeking to ruin the country. Congress is even indulging in backdoor political bargaining with people having terror inclinations. People of Karnataka should be cautious about Congress, Modi added about the Opposition party in Karnataka that votes for a new Assembly on May 10. The film, which revolves around a group of women in Kerala who are forced to convert and join the ISIS, was in the news for much of the day -- as it has been since its trailer released about a week ago. The film, starring Adah Sharma, written and directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Shah, was screened in theatres across the State on the first day of its release. The filmmakers claim it is a compilation of the true stories of 3 young women from the State. Keralas ruling CPI(M) and Opposition Congress have said the film falsely claims that 32,000 women got converted and radicalised and were deployed in terror missions both in India and the world. According to the Kerala High Court, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has examined the movie and found it suitable for public exhibition. A bench of Justices N Nagaresh and Sophy Thomas noted the submission made by the producers that they do not intend to retain an offending teaser which contained a statement that 32,000 women from Kerala were converted and joined a terrorist organisation. The court also noted that the producers have published a disclaimer along with the movie that the film is a dramatised version of events and doesnt claim accuracy or factuality of historic events. AIR POCKET EVEN as the aviation sector in India was coming out of the turbulence caused by the coronavirus pandemic-induced lockdown, the fresh crisis in Go First airlines has put another hurdle in a smooth take-off. The airliner has suspended its flights till May 15 amid severe funds crunch and has moved a plea for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings. While the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will deal with the application, the entire episode points towards an imbalance in financial management of low-cost airliners. Go First has been an integral player in the Indian aviation industry dominated by Indigo and Air India, the two big players. It had some significant routes offering budget travel to a large section of flyers. The airlines raising of white flag has now raised a spectre of massive job loss and a possibility of a two-way race in the Indian skies. It is something that does not augur well for a growing economy. Go Firsts filing for insolvency has come at a real bad time. It is the summer holiday season and flight carriers are entering into a high-demand phase. The sudden stop on operation by Go First has upset the entire balance with the consumers staring at burning a hole in their pockets even for a one-hour journey. The crisis has also put the jobs of around 8000 people, including pilots, and other crew members, on line. In hard numbers, it would affect the entire sector pretty hard. In case the NCLT order goes against the Go First plea, then the airliners 56-aircraft fleet will be rendered useless thus dwindling the already less aircraft register in the country. Halt in operations would also mean a revenue loss for the Government of India through Goods and Services Tax (GST), Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise. Further, it would press the panic button for other affordable airliners. The crisis is another wake-up call for the Government, after the Jet Airways debacle, and all the stakeholders now need to deliberate deeply to stop its cascading effect on every walk of the economy. The Indian aviation sector has always been a tricky ride for airliners, especially no-frills airline operators. The recent past has seen many players jumping the bandwagon with full throttle only to fizzle out after a pretty short flight. The automatic culling has left the skies open for only two big names. While Indigo is a clear winner in the race, so far, the handing over of Air India to the Tata Group has opened up a new possibility in the sector. The two rivals have jumped on the opportunity by swiftly ramping up capacity to capitalise on the reduction of flights. Air India and Vistara have fastened recruitment processes to pick up best available talent in the market after the suspension of flights by the Wadia group airlines. India certainly cannot afford such a small size of its aviation sector if it wishes to attract investments and tourism. Also, it would be another spanner in the Centres UDAN scheme aiming to connect smaller cities. The trouble with Go First has also brought up a critical point to ponder by the entire industry. The airline had been blaming American manufacturers Pratt & Whitney (PW) for its delay in providing engines. Almost every airline has reported flaws in the PW engines. Indigo has managed the engine problem due to its large fleet size but for Go First it was getting impossible to fly its limited fleet due to faulty engines. The PW must get its act together and withdraw its faulty products. Continuation of the flawed engines can easily lead to a major mishap. Airlines cannot take such a huge risk and also cannot keep its fleet grounded for a long time. Go First crisis has indicated that commercial operations cannot be sustained with perpetually failing engines. There are too many angles to probe for the Government. Congress vents ire against vandalism by staging massive protests across city Staff Reporter To vent ire against vandalism done by Bajrang Dal activists at Congress party office, Congress leaders and workers staged massive protest in 13 mandals of the city, on Friday. Senior party leaders, office bearers of all wings and blocks of the party burnt effigy of BJP at important places in the city. During the protest, Congress leaders criticised the BJP and its allied organisations for violating the law and hampering peace in the country, including Madhya Pradesh. They said seeing their possible defeat in ensuing elections in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, the BJP and its wings have started doing such cheap activities. They said people of the country, including Madhya Pradesh, are watching miscreant nature of organisations like Bajrang Dal. Congress leaders also denounced harshly the local administration for allegedly not taking concrete steps to prevent the incident despite being aware of intentions of Bajrang Dal activists. Congressmen stated that their protest will continue until all those involved in the procession of Bajrang Dal are arrested. IThe incident occurred on Thursday when Bajrang Dal activists vandalised Congress Party office at Baldevbagh. They were protesting against Congress manifesto promises of banning Bajrang Dal in Karnataka. The activists caused significant damage by tearing down banners, posters and breaking window panels, plastic sheets and other materials kept outside the office. However, the Bajrang Dal spokesperson denied involvement of any of their workers and alleged that Congress party workers caused destruction while wearing saffron clothes. After the incident, the Congress leaders filed an FIR at Kotwali Police Station and requested stern action against the guilty people. Police took swift action and arrested several Bajrang Dal activists while conducting an intense search to nab all those involved. Senior party leaders, including MLA Tarun Bhanot, Lakhan Ghanghoria, Vinay Saxena, Mayor Jagat Bahadur Singh, Manoj Seth, State executive members, Congress coordination committee members, members of Youth Congress, Seva Dal, NSUI, Mahila Congress participated in the protest. Day after violence Imphal Valley in Manipur peaceful but tense IMPHAL, Imphal Valley in Manipur remained peaceful but tense on Friday, as more forces were brought in from neighbouring States by road and air to bolster efforts to keep the peace in the State which had witnessed bloody rioting over the last 48 hours. Intermittent gunfights between militant groups and security forces were also reported in the morning hours from various hill districts surrounding the valley, but a wary peace seems to be reigning there since. The exchanges of fire between militant groups, who have involved themselves in the ethnic clashes in the State, and security forces were reported at Kangvai in Churachandpur district, western hill range of Phougakchao in adjoining Bishnupur district and Dolaithabi and Pukhao in Imphal East district, a senior police officer said. However, it was not immediately known whether there was any casualty on either side. Nearly 10,000 soldiers from the Army and the Assam Rifles have been deployed in the State which was rocked by clashes since Wednesday between the Meitei community, which mainly live in Imphal Valley, and Naga and Kuki tribals who are inhabitants of the hill districts. At least five Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank officers and seven senior superintendents of police (SSP) and SP rank officers of the CRPF have been tasked to coordinate the deployment of various security forces in violence-hit Manipur, official sources said in New Delhi. The Centre has rushed in about 20 fresh companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), including the CRPF and the BSF, in the wake of the spiralling violence between tribals and the majority Meitei community leading to the displacement of more than 9,000 people from their villages. Multiple sources said the fighting between communities had left several scores of people dead and nearly a hundred injured. However, the police were unwilling to confirm this. Officials said the Armys Sikh regiment is currently carrying out rescue operations in Langol in Imphal West district, shifting over 500 people to safe shelters in the Leimakhong Army camp. Trains to Manipur have been cancelled with immediate effect on Friday due to the prevailing in the state, a Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spokesperson said. The Defence PRO, in a statement, said, The Indian Air Force (IAF) undertook continuous sorties from two airfields in Assam employing C17 Globemaster and AN 32 aircraft. Induction commenced on the night of May 4 and additional columns commenced domination with effect from the wee hours of May 5. Domination & evacuation of civilians of all communities from affected areas continued throughout the night. Flag march in Churachandpur and other sensitive areas are underway, it added. Violence first erupted in Torbung area in Churachandpur district during the Tribal Solidarity March organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur on Wednesday to protest the demand of Meiteis for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. EVANSVILLE A judge sentenced an Evansville man Thursday to undergo supervision through a Vanderburgh County substance abuse program after he pleaded guilty in March to charges stemming from the overdose death of 3-year-old Kamari Opperman. Brandon Opperman, 40, who was among six people charged in connection with Kamari Opperman's death in 2021, pleaded guilty to four charges in March across two separate criminal cases, including charges of neglect of a dependent and possession of methamphetamine, court records show. On Thursday, Vanderburgh County Circuit Court Magistrate Celia Pauli sentenced Opperman in both cases to serve a pair of one-year prison sentences. But according to court records, the sentences will be suspended in favor of Opperman enrolling in the Vanderburgh County Drug Abuse Probation Service, or DAPS. More: 3 other young children also exposed to fentanyl in incident that killed Evansville girl Brandon Opperman's plea agreement resulted in prosecutors dismissing the most serious charge he faced: neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony. In December, a Vanderburgh County judge sentenced 21-year-old Makaylee Jade Opperman, the toddler's mother, to serve 25 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent resulting in death. According to the Evansville Police Department, officers found Kamari Opperman dead inside an Evansville home Oct. 27, 2021, after she ingested fentanyl pills left inside a nightstand at a different home. Two other children, a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, received Narcan treatment after they were also exposed to fentanyl, police said. No one took the children to the hospital, even though police said their caregivers knew they had been exposed to the drug. Emergency responders found Kamari lying on a couch, unresponsive. (The child) was under a cover as if sleeping, authorities wrote. But she had been dead for some time. That same day, officers arrested six people in connection with the incident, including Makaylee and Brandon Opperman. Story continues More: They were small-town Indiana friends. Fentanyl killed them both. Kamari Opperman's death also led to a federal indictment being levied against 33-year-old Arcinial Watt and 24-year-old Alaina Brown, both of whom stand accused of selling the pills which led to Kamari Opperman's death. Federal prosecutors accuse Watt and Brown of trafficking thousands of fentanyl-laced pills an operation that reportedly netted tens of thousands of dollars in cash. According to federal court records, both are charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl resulting in death, among other charges. Trial dates have yet to be set in either case. More: As fentanyl deaths soar, providers push new treatments, harm reduction Public officials have described Kamari Opperman's death as "heartbreaking." Zach Meyers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, previously said her death "did not need to happen." Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin said the department's "hearts go out to the loved ones that are left picking up the pieces of this destruction." Houston Harwood can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Judge sentences Evansville man charged in overdose death of 3-year-old girl Dhankhar meets UKs King Charles III ahead of Coronation By Aditi Khanna LONDON, VICE-PRESIDENT Jagdeep Dhankhar interacted with King Charles III at a reception soon after his arrival here on Friday to attend the majestic Coronation ceremony of the UKs monarch at Westminster Abbey on Saturday. Dhankhar, accompanied by his wife Dr Sudesh Dhankhar, will join an estimated 100 Heads of State and Government from around the world invited to the historic crowning of Britains new monarch. Honble Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar & Dr Sudesh Dhankhar arrived to a warm welcome in London to attend the Coronation Ceremony of H M King Charles III, the Vice Presidents Office tweeted. Honble Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar interacted with King Charles III during reception hosted by him for Commonwealth leaders at Marlborough House, London, it said in another tweet. VP Jagdeep Dhankhar @VPIndia joined leaders of the Commonwealth countries at a special event hosted by H M King Charles III at the Marlborough House, London. Exchanged views with Commonwealth leaders on making the institution of the Commonwealth stronger and more focused, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted. Soon after his arrival, the Vice-President joined other Commonwealth leaders for discussions hosted by Commonwealth General Secretary Baroness Patricia Scotland at Marlborough House in London. This was the first opportunity for Dhankhar to meet the 74-year-old monarch ahead of the ceremony at the Abbey. He is also invited to Buckingham Palace for a reception hosted by King Charles for the Heads of State, world leaders and other official guests on Friday evening. India and UK have a historic relationship and share values of democracy, rule of law and many complementarities and convergences. Digital Currency In India By Arun Kumar Shrivastav THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched a pilot programme to test its digital currency, the digital rupee, in Indias four largest cities. The programme is intended to assess the feasibility of a digital currency in India and to better understand its potential use cases. The pilot will initially be available to a small number of users in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar. Users who are interested in participating in the programme can sign up through a mobile app that has been developed by the RBI. Once signed up, they will be able to use the digital rupee to make purchases and transactions with participating merchants and retailers. One of the key features of the digital rupee is that it will be issued and maintained by the RBI. This will allow the central bank to have greater control over the currency and its circulation. The digital rupee will also be backed by the RBI, providing users with greater confidence in its value and stability. Insurance companies are starting to warm up to the digital currency. For instance Reliance General Insurance has become the first general insurance company in India to accept the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) digital currency. In collaboration with YES BANK, the company will facilitate the collection of premiums through the banks eRupee platform. Customers with an active e? wallet with any bank can make immediate payments by scanning Reliance General Insurances eRupee QR code. This launch is aimed at providing customers with a simple, secure, instant, and eco-friendly payment solution, while fulfilling the companys promise of providing excellent customer experience. The eRupee is a digital token that is equivalent to legal tender and is a sovereign currency backed by the RBI. Since it is digital, eRupee removes the issues of handling physical cash and offers the same anonymity as a banknote. Additionally, eRupee transactions are conducted through an RBI-regulated entity, reducing banknote-related risks such as Anti-Money Laundering and Counterfeit Currency. Reliance General Insurance is providing customers with eRupee as a form of digital currency transaction option, promoting safe financial transactions. Rakesh Jain, CEO of Reliance General Insurance, expressed his excitement about the launch and association with YES BANK, stating that the company aims to provide customers with greater ease, higher safety, and greener payment options. This launch is also in line with the companys commitment to fulfilling the Indian governments vision of Digital India. Currently, Reliance General Insurances physical eRupee QR code is available at select branches for walk-in customers to scan and make instant payments. The company plans to make it available at all branches across the country, on its website, and on the Reliance Self-i app in the coming months. Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, the digital rupee will not be decentralised. It will be a centralised digital currency, which means that it will be regulated and maintained by the RBI. This will help to reduce the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, such as volatility and lack of regulation. One potential advantage of the digital rupee is its ability to promote financial inclusion. Currently, a large portion of Indias population does not have access to traditional banking services, such as checking and savings accounts. The digital rupee could potentially provide these individuals with a low-cost and accessible alternative to traditional banking services. Another potential use case for the digital rupee is in cross-border transactions. Currently, cross-border transactions can be expensive and time-consuming due to the involvement of multiple intermediaries. The digital rupee could potentially streamline these transactions and make them faster and more cost-effective. The RBI has been studying the potential use cases for a digital currency for several years. In 2021, the central bank released a report on the potential benefits and risks of a digital currency. The report suggested that a digital currency could help to reduce the cost of financial transactions, increase financial inclusion, and promote the use of digital payments. There are several issues that the RBI needs to address in order to make the digital currency safe and accessible to everyone. One of the key issues that the RBI needs to address is the validation mechanism. While account-based CBDC may be suitable for wholesale CBDC applications, the token-based approach would be better suited for the retail needs of the Indian market. Overall, the launch of the digital rupee pilot represents an important milestone in the development of digital currencies in India. While it is still in the early stages of development, the pilot programme will provide valuable insights into the potential use cases and risks associated with a digital currency. If successful, the digital rupee could potentially revolutionise the way that Indians transact and interact with money. Experts raise question over space for cheetahs in Kuno Park By Ankita Garg After death of two cheetahs at Kuno National Park, a debate triggered among wildlife experts and enthusiasts over space availability for the cat in the park. While some wildlife experts proposed to shift a bunch of cheetahs in Rajasthans Mukundara Tiger Hills Reserve, others demanded to review the cheetah project. Centre has also tightened the noose around forest officials and directed to take earliest action to secure cheetah. Citing example of space crunch, some senior officials of the Forest Department are demanding to shift cheetah to Mukundara. Experts said that it would be significant step to shift the cheetah for success of this project and their survival. Wildlife experts from Namibia and South Africa have also raised objection over capacity of Kuno National Park in terms of cheetah. In a survey jointly conducted by National Tiger Conservation Authority of India (NTCA) and African wildlife team, it has been found that Mukundara Hills National Park is best suitable place for the cat. In a recent meeting with Cheetah Task Force, officials discussed over the option of Mukundara Hills. A meeting was also conducted by NTCA in New Delhi where proposal to shift the cheetah in Rajasthan was placed but no decision could be taken by officials yet. Officials of Mukundara Hills Reserve said that they have done all preparation to welcome the cat. According to wildlife experts, a cheetah require 100 sqkm of area in open jungle. Officials said that 20 cheetahs have been put in 750 sqkm of area together which is wrong step. They said this space crunch promotes territorial fight and food crux in the park. Experts said that after breeding process, population of cheetah will be increasing and they will eat each other in lack of space. Concerned over the space crunch issues, forest officers are demanding to shift few cheetah in Mukundara Reserve. Mukundara Hill is spread over 760 sqkm of area in four districts including Kota, Jhalwada, Bundi and Chittorgarh. This area includes 417 sqkm of core and 342 sqkm buffer zone. 82 sqkm of area is fenced with wire and there are sufficient food for cheetah like cheetal, chinkara, sambhar, wild boar, etc. Kuno park was earlier developed for the Asiatic Lion. Barasingha, Nilgay and Sambhar were released in the park. Cheetah cannot kill these animals without group. Black bug, chinkara, rabbit and other few animals are still being provided in the park. By Manash Pratim Bhuyan BENAULIM (Goa), THE channel of finances for terrorist activities must be blocked without any distinction and terrorism in all its forms, including cross-border terrorism, must be stopped, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday at a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) here in presence of his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. In his address at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting, Jaishankar said taking the eyes off terrorism would be detrimental to the security interests of the grouping and that when the world was engaged in facing COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, the menace of terrorism continued unabated, in an apparent reference to Pakistan. The External Affairs Minister, chairing the conclave, said India firmly believes that there can be no justification for terrorism and noted that combating the menace is one of the original mandates of the SCO. We must not allow anybody -- individual or State -- to hide behind non-State actors, he said. Jaishankar also underlined that while connectivity is key to progress, it must come with respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member states. The meeting at a luxury hotel in this beach resort was attended by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Russias Sergey Lavrov and their counterparts from other SCO member nations. Jaishankar also delved into the situation in Afghanistan and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the consequences of geo-political upheavals that impacted supplies of energy, food and fertilisers. Taking our eyes off the menace would be detrimental to our security interests. We firmly believe that there can be no justification for terrorism and it must be stopped in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism, Jaishankar said. The channel of finances for terrorist activities must be seized and blocked without distinction. Members need not be reminded that combating terrorism is one of the original mandates of the SCO, he added. On Afghanistan, he said the unfolding situation in that country remains at centre of our attention. Our efforts should be directed towards the welfare of the Afghan people. Our immediate priorities include providing humanitarian assistance, ensuring a truly inclusive and representative government, combating terrorism and drug trafficking and preserving the rights of women, children and minorities, he said. In his remarks, Bhutto-Zardari said the collective security of our peoples is our joint responsibility. Terrorism continues to threaten global security, he said. Lets not get caught up in weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring, he said, in remarks that appeared to take a pot-shot at the Indian side. When I speak on this topic, I do so not only as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan whose people have suffered the most in terms of number of attacks and number of casualties. I also speak as the son whose mother was assassinated at the hands of terrorists, the Pakistan Foreign Minister said. Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber in Rawalpindi in 2007. Bhutto-Zardari said he and his country are firmly committed to be part of regional and global efforts for eradicating terrorism. This requires not only a comprehensive approach but also a collective approach. It demands we address the root causes as well as the threats posed by specific groups. It requires that we let this challenge unite us to fight it rather than divide us to become its victim. Our success requires us to isolate this issue from geo-political partisanship, he added. In his address, Jaishankar noted that current crises facing the world have exposed a credibility and trust deficit in the ability of global institutions to manage challenges in a timely and effective manner. He said reform and modernisation of the SCO will aid a more contemporary outlook which India will actively support. The External Affairs Minister also noted the progress for the admission of Iran and Belarus as full member states of the SCO. He also said that constructive steps are being taken to make English the third official language of SCO. Currently, Chinese and Russian are the two official languages of the SCO. Jaishankar also appreciated the support of member countries for Indias proposal of creation of two new working groups on startups and innovation and traditional medicine. In his address, the Pakistan Foreign Minister, talking about the challenge of terrorism, also said that practical and pragmatic solutions exist to put an end to this chapter once and for all. We must stop conflating non-state actors with state actors. Condemn all forms of terrorism including state sponsored terrorism, he added. Bhutto-Zardari also called upon interim Afghan authorities to uphold their commitments on not allowing the use of Afghan soil for terrorism. The Pakistan Foreign Minister also made a special mention of the commendable role China has recently played in bridging differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran. We must ensure respect for these universally recognised principles within the SCO. Unilateral and illegal measures by States in violation of international law and Security Council resolutions run counter to the SCO objectives, he said. We need to be unambiguous in keeping our commitments and charting out a new future for our people. One that is not based on conflict preservation but on conflict resolution, he said. Nagpur Timber Merchants Association celebrates 75 years of its existence Business Bureau The Nagpur Timber Merchants Association, Lakadganj organised a programme to commemorate the completion of 75 years of its existence, recently. To celebrate the occasion, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari was present as the chief guest. MLA Krishna Khopde and Maharashtra Timber Laghu Udyog Mahasangh President Prabhudas Patel and Manoj Chaple were also present. The programme began by felicitating all the former presidents and secretaries for their immense contribution towards the development of the association by presenting them shawl, shrifal and momento. The Nagpur Timber Merchants Association President Dinesh Patel, Vice President Idrish Nagani, Vice President Shankar Patel, Secretary Natwarlal Patel, Joint Secretary Vinod Patel, Treasurer Dayalal Patel and executive members Brujratan Agrawal, Laxmidas Patel, Hasmukh Patel, Pawan Goenka, Rajesh Denge, Kishore Patel, Dinesh Patel, Shanti Patel, Hirendra Nimkar, Ashfaq Hussain, Karsan Patel, Sajjid Malani, Mahendra Patel, Dipesh Patel, Ashok Patel, Jetalal Patel, Rashiklal Patel, Pradip Chouhan and others were present in large numbers. No handshake, Jaishankar greets Bilawal, Qin, other SCO counterparts with namaste BENAULIM (Goa), EXTERNAL Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday greeted his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Chinas Qin Gang and other Foreign Ministers with a namaste on their arrival at the venue of the India-hosted conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Though the two-day SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting began at the Taj Exotica Resort here on Thursday evening with a reception hosted by Jaishankar, the main deliberations took place on Friday. The External Affairs Minister greeted each visiting Foreign Minister with a namaste and there was no handshake. Jaishankars traditional Namaste was reciprocated with a traditional fist and palm salute by Qin Gang. At Thursday evenings reception, Jaishankar shook hands with his Pakistani counterpart like he did with others, according to a few people who are part of Bhtutto-Zardaris entourage. Bhutto-Zardari landed in Goa on Thursday, becoming 1st Pakistani Foreign Minister to visit India in almost 12 years. In 2011, Pakistans then Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India and held talks with her then counterpart SM Krishna. India hosted the SCO Foreign Ministers conclave in its capacity as the current chair of the grouping. The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017. India was made an observer at the SCO in 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping, which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. Pawar not to step down as NCP chief MUMBAI, SHARAD Pawar on Friday said he has decided to rescind his decision to step down as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President, owing to pressure from party leaders and workers. I cant disrespect your sentiments. Due to your love, I am accepting the demand that was made to me to withdraw my resignation, Pawar, 82, told reporters, hours after the NCP panel selected by him to pick his successor passed a resolution that he continue as the party president. Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who was seen backing his uncles decision to step down when he made that announcement on May 2, was not seen at the NCP chiefs press conference. Police arrest man forduping sr citizen ofRs 1.52 cr in land deal Staff Reporter SAKKARDARA Police, on Friday, arrested a middle-aged man and booked two of his accomplices for allegedly duping a senior citizen of Rs 1.52 crore on the pretext of allotting a plot of Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) by preparing fake documents. The accused have been identified as Anil Ajabrao Thakre (55), a resident of Plot No 114, Old Subhedar Layout, Mukhtar Alam Mohammad Ali, a resident of Om Sainath Nagar, and Nazim Ali Sayyed Ali, a resident of 431, Ashirvad Nagar. Cops took Thakre into custody. A resident of Sneha Nagar, Sewagram, district Wardha, Gajanan Anandrao Deolikar (70) in his complaint alleged that Thakre, Mukhtar Alam, and Nazim Ali prepared bogus documents of a plot adjacent to Jafari Hospital on Umrer Road. Masquerading as an employee of NIT, Thakre told him that the plot was being sold for Rs 1.52 crore by the authorities. Presuming that the NIT was selling the plot, he showed interest in buying the property and gave the entire amount to the accused trio between December 12, 2018 and April 3, 2023. Later, he came to know that they defrauded him on the basis of forged documents. Priyanka Vadra to visit city to kickoff Congs election campaign on June 12 Staff Reporter Congress party is gearing up for upcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, with more serious approach this time. General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be visiting the city to start partys election campaign on June 12. Mayor and President, City Congress Committee, Jagat Bahadur Singh, on Friday informed that Priyanka Gandhi will participate in a number of programmes to be organised in the city. He said she will lead a 2-km-long roadshow to be taken out from important throughfares of the city. Likewise, she will also address a public meeting. Mayor Singh said party leaders have been making arrangements to ensure a gathering of over one lakh people in the public meeting. The Mayor said till the day, venue for the programme has not been finalized. Soon the party will declare detailed programme of Gandhis visit to city. He said the party has been focusing on the Mahakoshal area, which has been marginalized by the Bharatiya Janata Party over the last five years. The City President of Congress Committee further said the Congress hopes to maintain its lead from the last assembly elections in Jabalpur and possibly increase the number of seats here. He said Priyanka Gandhis visit is to kick start preparations and Congress campaign for the Assembly elections 2023 in Madhya Pradesh. Relaxed norms ease farmers hardships in State in market season By Bhavana Aparajita Shukla As against apprehension of a dismal market trend for this years rabi crop due to erratic weather conditions and delayed procurement process, farmers in most of the parts of the State are having a sigh of relief due to the Central Governments decision. Central Government decision to ease norms for procurement has given a reason to wheat growers to cheer. Talking to The Hitavada, farmers from different divisions of the State expressed pleasure as the rate of rejection at most of the mandis have been reduced phenomenally on quality issues. A farmer Satish Modi of Bicholi village told The Hitavada initially things were tough at Government centres when the procurement process was started. But it was for only 8-10 days. Some of my colleagues had to face difficulty as their large chunk of their crop produce was not accepted on quality ground. But now things have changed. We are able to sell to private traders as well as to government centres as luster and moisture like issues have now been relaxed. Growers from Ratlam, a place situated in western region of the state and are bestowed with rich horticulture and agriculture conditions, welcome new norms. Farmer Dharmesh Patidar says We came to know that even after compromised quality up to a certain level are granted, e.g. Lenience on level of moisture and residuals like issues. It has made our task easy. Now we can get MSP up to 12 per cent of moisture level. He further said that a large chunk of crop produce of other farmers have also been sold to private traders despite facing untimely rain. Wheat crop in Malwa remained not much affected. Officials from various districts have admitted that although the number of registrations have been reduced this time as compared to last year as farmers are able to sell to private traders more. It is favourable for farmers that they are getting better prices despite untimely rain. Ratlam Collector Narendra Suryawanshi, who has grabbed limelight for challenging history sheeters and playing an exemplary role in the direction of good governance, himself makes phone calls to beneficiaries of various Government schemes. He has earned the title of Singham in view of his tough image among law breakers. He was an efficient member of Shri Mahakal Lok phase I projects team. Collector Suryawanshi spoke to The Hitavada about the agriculture scenario of the district. According to him, the overall situation is not distressing. He said Impact of hailstorm is not much in the region. Even this time, the quality of wheat arriving at the centres is good. For 2023, the rabi market season, we kept a high projection of registration at Government centres in the district. It was around one lakh as against 30-40 thousand in previous year. So far, around 28,900 farmers have registered in this season. It is a good sign. Since the market rate is high, the number of registration at centres is lesser. Even the quality of produce arriving at centres is good. Of course! Relaxed norms are an add-on cushion for them, he added. Key Insights The projected fair value for ADM Hamburg is 286 based on Dividend Discount Model ADM Hamburg's 320 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate ADM Hamburg's peers are currently trading at a discount of 19% on average In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of ADM Hamburg Aktiengesellschaft (FRA:OEL) by taking the expected 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. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex. 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. See our latest analysis for ADM Hamburg The Model As ADM Hamburg operates in the food sector, we need to calculate the intrinsic value slightly differently. Instead of using free cash flows, which are hard to estimate and often not reported by analysts in this industry, dividends per share (DPS) payments are used. Unless a company pays out the majority of its FCF as a dividend, this method will typically underestimate the value of the stock. The 'Gordon Growth Model' is used, which simply assumes that dividend payments will continue to increase at a sustainable growth rate forever. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a company's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In this case we used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (0.2%). The expected dividend per share is then discounted to today's value at a cost of equity of 5.0%. Compared to the current share price of 320, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. Story continues Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate) = 13.6 / (5.0% 0.2%) = 286 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. 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 ADM Hamburg as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 5.0%, 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. Moving On: Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For ADM Hamburg, there are three further aspects you should further research: Risks: For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for ADM Hamburg (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable) you should be aware of. 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. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the DB every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here NORWALK Shangri-La CT Inc. says it would like to be the first recreational cannabis dispensary to operate in the city, with a hope of opening in about three months. Its cannabis dispensary special permit was approved by Norwalks Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday the second recreational cannabis dispensary approved by the commission. Shangri-Las attorney Elizabeth Suchy said they were ready to move forward immediately upon approval. We would like to be the first one to open. ... We were the first one to submit, the second one to be heard at a hearing but we would like to be the first ones to open, Suchy said. The Shangri-La dispensary will occupy a portion of the existing three-story building at 430 Main Ave. During the meeting, Shangri-La CT Inc. CEO Nevil Patel outline the dispensary's security measures. Cannabis facilities, in general, when it comes to retail are probably some of the most secure facilities located within that city, Patel said. There will be about 40 to 60 camera in the business and all the doors will have locks, he said. Customers will enter a waiting room with a security check-in counter to be processed before they are shown any products in the back room, Patel said. The vault where the cannabis is kept will be made with 8 inches of reinforced concrete and will have at least six security cameras, he said. Customers will have the option of ordering online or receiving help by staff in person. At the public hearing, some residents who live in condos at 442 Main Ave. expressed concerns about traffic, parking, property values and noise in what they said is a "quiet community." Patel and Suchy addressed their concerns and said since the location is zoned for retail, their concerns about traffic, parking and noise are not unique to a cannabis retail store. Surprisingly enough, the property value goes up on average by about $22,888 in the cities where cannabis is legal and the dispensary are located versus cities where cannabis is illegal and dispensaries are not located," Patel said. Commission Chair Louis Schulman said that he is happy that Connecticut decriminalized cannabis but expressed some reservations. I am not a user of marijuana," Schulman said. "I do not, frankly, support the use of marijuana, but I was part of this commission when we approved regulations for these shops. Having voted in favor of that I feel that, this evening, I feel obligated to do the same for this application. The Planning and Zoning Commission passed Shangri-La's special permit with a vote of 6-1, with two members abstaining. In April, the commission approved Fine Fettle's proposal to open and operate a dispensary in South Norwalk at 191 Main St. Fine Fettle opened a dispensary in Stamford in January, which was among the first in Connecticut. Shangri-La CT Inc. has active dispensaries in Ohio and Missouri and is expanding to three more states, including Connecticut. In Connecticut, Patel said they plan to have six dispensaries and one grow center. Lewis and Clark departure weekend celebration set The historical milestone of Lewis and Clark departing on their expedition across the country will... First time homeowner finds snakes living in her walls Hall told Denver's ABC affiliate that she's spent about $1000 on a snake wrangler Father McGivney, Metro-East Lutheran track head south The Father McGivney and Metro-East Lutheran girls track and field teams are heading south for the... Illinois State Police EDWARDSVILLE Two men were charged Thursday with felonies related to their status as sex offenders by the Madison County States Attorneys Office. Payton L. Gray, 61, listed as homeless out of Alton, was charged May 4 with unlawful residing of a child sex offender, a Class 4 felony. News recently that Tucker Carlson, one of the networks stars and ratings leader, has left. "FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways," the network said, in a statement released by a spokesperson. "We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor." Carlsons exit is related to the discrimination lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg, the producer fired by the network last month. Carlsons senior executive producer Justin Wells has also been terminated, according to insiders, according to the Los Angeles Times. Carlsons departure follows Chris Wallace, Dan Bongino, Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg leaving the network recently. Rumors about Maria Bartiromo leaving soon also are swirling in TV land. And those are just the on-air personnel changes. Behind the scenes it must be madness. Dont cry too hard, their salaries are in the millions of dollars, including Carlson, who is said to make $30 million per year (as if he needed it) and Bartiromo who earns $6 million annually. As most people (except for Fox viewers) know, Fox News Channel agreed to pay $787 million in damages for defaming Dominion Voting Systems by repeatedly claiming that the machines were responsible for altering vote outcomes. Whats left? Hannity is still on the air, last time I checked. Not much else for a network that has to fill the air 24/7 with something. Perhaps some former Trump Administration staffers who cant find work will fill the time slots left by the departing conservative pundits. Where will they go? Many will no doubt join the chattering podcast channels. Some, like Megan Kelly will stay in network television. Heres a link to a Variety.com article about the status of those who have left Fox recently: https://variety.com/gallery/everyone-who-left-fox-news-bill-oreilly-megyn-kelly/fox-news-logo-3/ What does all this mean for American politics? For one thing, conservatives are losing their darlings who told them what to believe and how to think since 1996. Fox was clearly instrumental in Trumps 2016 presidential campaign victory and rode that horse for six years until Trump was indicted. There are allegations that Russia had a hand in that election, too, according to the U.S.Senate Intelligence committee and the Mueller investigation. What this means for Fox News Channel viewers is culture shock. If they turn on mainstream media, they will learn that Fox settled with Dominion, Trump was arrested and awaits trial, Democrats are not monsters, the revolution is not coming, and all is not doom and gloom. This is new information because Fox never reported it. As of this writing, I am not sure how they are spinning the Swanson heirs swan song but I am certain he will be missed in his time slot. Carlson will not be welcome at Mar-a-Lago either after privately saying he hates Trump with a passion. He said the quiet part out loud! In addition to the carnage among Fox staff and viewers, politics wont be the same. Will Tucker Carlson run for president? Where will conservatives and seditionist wannabes turn to find out who to hate? Who will Putin turn to? Where will future culture wars be launched? Where are Republicans daily talking points going to come from? I cannot imagine how helpless they will feel as Fox News Channel crumbles. Sending thoughts and prayers. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Aditya Hadi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, May 6, 2023 The State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry is in the process of consolidating the infrastructure sector to reduce their number from nine to four. The plan was in line with a recommendation made by the Boston Consulting Group two years ago to keep a small number of firms with specialized segmentation, SOEs Minister Erick Thohir said on Wednesday, as quoted by Kontan. Smaller infrastructure firms would be merged into the National Asset Management Company (PPA) and state-owned holding company Danareksa. Meanwhile, the process for bigger SOEs, such as Waskita Karya, PP, Wijaya Karya, Adhi Karya and Hutama Karya, is still being studied. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, May 6, 2023 President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo arrived in Lampung on Friday for a brief inspection of infrastructure in Sumatras southernmost province after a viral TikTok video lamenting local administration inaction over damaged roads grabbed national attention. "This morning, I arrived at Radin Inten II [airport] for a working visit in Lampung, together with the Public Works and Housing Minister, State-owned Enterprises Minister and the Trade Minister," he posted on his Twitter account @jokowi. The President said that he specifically planned to visit South Lampung regency, where local residents said they had suffered the most from worsening road conditions. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Elnur Enveroglu The 4th International Conference Shapping the geopolitics of the greater Eurasia: from past to present to future dedicated to 100th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev took place in Shusha on Wednesday. On the special invitation of the ADA University there were also heads of organisations, media representatives and very influential guests attending the event. Following the address of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev some senior officials of organisations across European and eastern countries extended questions to the Azerbaijani President. One of the guests among the participating organisation heads was Dr Mehmood ul Hassan Khan, Executive Director of the Centre for South Asia & International Studies, who shared his impressions as the participant of the event, speaking also to AZERNEWS. It has been wonderful and learning experience to attend, interact and participate in this event. It is well organised in term of selection of speakers, panellist and representatives of prominent think tanks, media, policy makers from the more than 38 countries around the globe which vividly reflects Azerbaijans worldwide peaceful diplomacy. It is timely because it caters all aspects of geopolitics from past to present to future. It is result oriented. It suggests numerous workable plans to achieve durable peace, stability and harmony in the region and beyond, the Pakistani pundit said. Khan also pointed out his discussion with the rector of ADA University esteemed Hafiz Pashayev. During the first session, while intervening I requested H.E. Hafiz Pashayev the Rector of ADA University to add the fourth G I.e. Geography, Geology, Geopolitics and Great Statesmanship attributes to the immense socioeconomic growth of Azerbaijan which he agreed to do so. I also requested to add another fourth D I.e. Diplomacy, Dialogue, Development and Determination of visionary leadership to build a progressive, prosperous and positive country which was again accepted, which is indeed a great honour for me, he said. Dr Mehmood ul Hassan Khan emphasized that he has met with political figures of Azerbaijan during his participation in the event. He notes that later he had discussions with those persons about the political and economic relations of Azerbaijan in and outside the region. At the end, I purposely suggested to policy makers of Azerbaijan to think about initiation of rigorous diplomatic drive of connectivity, political consultations and economic cooperation in the GCC, Middle East and MENA after the Chinese facilitated Saudi-Iran peace agreement to rescuer the vested interests of Azerbaijan. It should be noted that Dr Mehmood ul Hassan Khan, representing his country Pakistan and the organization he heads, also addressed questions to the President of Azerbaijan during the event. Interestingly during the conference live interaction with H.E. Ilham Aliyev President of Azerbaijan I expressed my and my countrys special respect, love, passion and connection with him and of course the people of Azerbaijan. I was honoured to ask two questions pertaining to strategic importance of Geoeconomics in the region and beyond. Further, the Pakistani pundit, who visited Shusha for the first time, expressed his impression that he enjoyed the charming scenery of the place and that after the 44-day war, thanks to the decisive and far-sighted policy of the country's president, those places have flourished rapidly. While visiting the Shusha the Cultural Capital I lost in the natural beauty and biodiversity of it. It is full of history, culture, Center of multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, positive energy, life, color and last but not least life. I must say Shusha represents fascinating struggle of armed forces of Azerbaijan which successfully changed the history of modern war theatre with its zeal & zest, bravery and determination in which the strategic vision of the President Ilham Aliyev also played the most decisive role. I found Shusha like a newly married couple, full of love, intimacy, integrity, integration, holy connection, trust, and true passions, promises and pledges to jointly move forward to achieve dreams of a qualitative life in the days to come, Khan added. For the quarter ended March 2023, Monster Beverage (MNST) reported revenue of $1.7 billion, up 11.9% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $0.38, compared to $0.28 in the year-ago quarter. The reported revenue represents a surprise of +0.61% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.69 billion. With the consensus EPS estimate being $0.34, the EPS surprise was +11.76%. While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health. Since these metrics play a crucial role in driving the top- and bottom-line numbers, comparing them with the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated about them helps investors better project a stock's price performance. Here is how Monster Beverage performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts: Revenue- Outside United States : $583.66 million compared to the $632.54 million average estimate based on four analysts. The reported number represents a change of +5.5% year over year. Geographic Revenue- United States and Canada : $1.12 billion versus $1.07 billion estimated by three analysts on average. Net Sales- Alcohol Brands : $46.29 million compared to the $24.28 million average estimate based on three analysts. Net Sales- Strategic Brands : $86.36 million compared to the $105.28 million average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of -6.7% year over year. Net Sales- Monster Energy Drinks : $1.56 billion versus the three-analyst average estimate of $1.58 billion. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +11.6%. Net Sales- Other: $4.61 million versus $6.12 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -21.8% change. View all Key Company Metrics for Monster Beverage here>>> Shares of Monster Beverage have returned +10% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -0.9% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term. Story continues Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Monster Beverage Corporation (MNST) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin I Dewa Made Agung KN and Wida Reza Hardiyanti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, May 6, 2023 In Sukadami village in Cikarang, West Java, just 50 kilometers from Jakarta, Karimah, a vegetable seller, struggles to provide enough food for her children. Despite her best efforts, her youngest daughter Najwa Syaqila is affected by stunting. Sukadami has the highest level of stunting in the greater metropolitan area. There are children like Najwa all over Indonesia. At the beginning of 2020, an estimated 7 million children under five years old were stunted. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, May 6, 2023 08:00 3 96f72165d1db80845b6b1c241c32cf98 1 Editorial evacuation,Indonesian,Sudan,Syria,Ukraine,safety,conflict,disaster,gotong-royong Free For what it is worth, the government deserves accolades for its swift repatriation of nearly 1,000 Indonesians from Sudan in the face of grave danger and adversity, just as other countries were still caught up in a high-risk rush to evacuate their citizens. In all fairness, there is hardly any merit to commenting on one countrys ability to facilitate an exit from another country when millions of people are still trapped in the violent conflict, with little choice but to endure the extremities of war. Our thoughts and prayers go to the people who have to wake up every day to the sights of a war-torn country and to those whose lives and homes have been lost. We hope that the two generals who instigated this civil war will soon stop all this mindless violence. Coming back to the topic of rescue, the success of the secret extraction operation is a testament to the resilience and resourcefulness of the Indonesian authorities. On Friday, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi reported to the press that a total of 955 citizens had been evacuated from Sudan through four escape corridors. Of this figure, 934 people have been airlifted home to Indonesia. Just as a number of countries were still trying to figure out how to extract their citizens from Sudan, alhamdulillah [thank God], we have been able to evacuate most of our people, she said. Sixty-four Indonesians still remain in Sudan, including 13 who make up the skeleton team of the Indonesian Embassy in Khartoum. Most of the people from this group have willingly stayed behind for their families. Retno also revealed that the extraction was carefully planned and that everything was done silently and swiftly. The rationale behind this, she said, was to ensure the safety and security of the citizens throughout the entirety of a repatriation process. What matters in the end is that the government was able to extract its citizens and bring them home safely. The challenges of repatriating people from war zones are significant and well-documented. Countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine have all faced similar situations, and the lessons learned from these experiences have helped to inform Indonesias repatriation efforts in Sudan. The strength of such rescue operations has hinged on the close coordination of state agencies and among Indonesias many overseas missions, especially those operating in and around the nation in conflict. While it may be common for nations to take a similar approach in most extraordinary situations, there is rarely any other time when Indonesias gotong royong (communal effort) culture shines so brightly. Through a combination of careful planning, unwavering commitment and close cooperation with local and foreign organizations and officials, Indonesia was able to safely and effectively extract its citizens from Sudan. These aspects were all lessons learned from previous attempts to evacuate citizens from conflict or disaster. From the evacuation of citizens from Ukraine, for instance, which was carried out in the aftermath of the Russian invasion in February 2022, many bore witness to the story of the late Indonesian ambassador Ghafur Dharmaputra, who selflessly traveled overland to accompany evacuating citizens for days at a time, despite being terminally ill. In the 2017 extraction of Indonesian nationals from Islamic State-ruled Syria, Jakarta tapped into its vast network of partnerships to ensure safe passage for its citizens out of a country that had been carved out and ruled by opposing factions. The same strategy was used again in Sudan to get our citizens quickly out of harms way. We applaud the Indonesian authorities for their tireless efforts in ensuring the safety of citizens abroad and bringing them home. This commitment to protecting our citizens is a model for other countries to follow. We encourage other governments to prioritize the safety and well-being of their citizens abroad and to work together to provide support and assistance in times of crisis. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar Sat, May 6 2023 The Bali immigration authorities have deported a total of 101 foreigners from 31 countries in the last four months. The largest number are Russian nationals with 27 people deported, followed by eight British nationals, seven Americans, seven Nigerians and six Australians. Most overstayed their visa or abused the visa or stay permit, Bali Law and Human Rights office chief Anggiat Napitupulu said on Thursday. All the foreigners were deported in the period of Jan. 2 to April 30. Anggiat also said there had been several foreigners deported for violating Balinese community norms. In the Indonesian legal concept, customary law is still applied in the form of the norms. And in our criminal code, it is known as a living law, Anggiat said. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sam Reeves (The Jakarta Post) Agence France-Presse/Frankfurt, Germany Sat, May 6 2023 Industrial orders at German factories saw their biggest fall in March since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, data showed on Friday, the latest sign that Europe's biggest economy is facing a steep downturn. New orders, which give a foretaste of industrial output, dropped a surprising 10.7 percent from the previous month, according to provisional figures from federal statistics authority Destatis. It was the biggest decline since April 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic snarled the global economy amid lockdowns and border closures. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Reuters Reuters Sat, May 6, 2023 16:13 3 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b0560738a 2 Asia and Pacific defense,Military-Procurement,Australia,UK,US,AUKUS,submarine,military,Asia-Pacific,China Free Thousands of people rallied on Saturday against a future nuclear-powered submarine base at Port Kembla in eastern Australia as part of the A$368 billion ($244.1 billion) AUKUS defence pact with the United States and Britain. The second-largest coal export port in New South Wales state is the Defence Departments preferred site for a new east-coast submarine base, according to state broadcaster ABC. Protesters carrying trade union banners and flags marched down the main street to voice their opposition to a base in the town of around 5,000 people 102 kms (63 miles) south of Sydney. "I'm getting the sense of the renewable energy that's in this community to keep coming out on the streets," Greens Senator David Shoebridge, a prominent critic of AUKUS, told the crowd. Estimates of the crowd ranged from 2,000 to 5,000, according to participants. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said last month no decision had been made on a site for a new east coast submarine base. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the submarine project after two former leaders criticised the deal over its cost, complexity and potential sovereignty issues. The deal unveiled in March will see Australia purchase U.S. Virginia-class submarines before joint British and Australian production of a new submarine class to be built in Australia by the early 2040s. Actual Experience plc (LON:ACT Get Rating) insider Steve Bennetts acquired 210,005 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 1 ($0.01) per share, for a total transaction of 2,100.05 ($2,623.75). Actual Experience Price Performance LON:ACT opened at GBX 0.95 ($0.01) on Friday. Actual Experience plc has a 52-week low of GBX 0.90 ($0.01) and a 52-week high of GBX 12 ($0.15). The company has a quick ratio of 6.81, a current ratio of 3.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.37. The firm has a market cap of 2.06 million, a P/E ratio of -10.56 and a beta of 1.82. The businesss 50-day moving average price is GBX 1.10 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 1.37. Get Actual Experience alerts: About Actual Experience (Get Rating) Featured Stories Actual Experience plc, an analytics-as-a-service company, provides human experience management and associated consultancy services in the United Kingdom and the United States. It offers Analytics Cloud that receives data from digital users, applies algorithms to the data, and produces an objective score of digital experience quality and supply chain diagnostics; business impact assessment that helps its customer to understand the impact on top-level business metrics; and continuous improvement service to optimize the digital business over time. Receive News & Ratings for Actual Experience Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Actual Experience and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Agnico Eagle Mines (TSE:AEM Get Rating) (NYSE:AEM) had its price target hoisted by National Bankshares from C$95.00 to C$98.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock. Several other research firms also recently issued reports on AEM. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from C$89.00 to C$91.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Agnico Eagle Mines from C$65.00 to C$66.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. National Bank Financial upped their target price on Agnico Eagle Mines from C$76.00 to C$95.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from C$90.00 to C$84.00 in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Agnico Eagle Mines in a report on Friday, February 17th. They set a buy rating and a C$62.00 target price on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agnico Eagle Mines currently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of C$79.31. Get Agnico Eagle Mines alerts: Agnico Eagle Mines Trading Down 2.1 % Shares of AEM stock opened at C$80.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$36.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of -1.52 and a beta of 0.80. Agnico Eagle Mines has a fifty-two week low of C$48.88 and a fifty-two week high of C$82.90. The stocks fifty day moving average is C$71.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$69.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.19, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 2.30. Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend Agnico Eagle Mines ( TSE:AEM Get Rating ) (NYSE:AEM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The company reported C$0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of C$0.53 by C$0.02. The firm had revenue of C$1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of C$1.91 billion. Research analysts expect that Agnico Eagle Mines will post 2.1903676 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a $0.541 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. This is an increase from Agnico Eagle Miness previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 31st. Agnico Eagle Miness dividend payout ratio is presently 102.88%. Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, Senior Officer Ammar Al-Joundi purchased 8,200 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$62.17 per share, with a total value of C$509,822.70. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the companys stock. About Agnico Eagle Mines (Get Rating) Agnico Eagle Mines Limited engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral properties in Canada, Mexico, and Finland. It operates through Northern Business and Southern Business segments. The company primarily produces and sells gold deposits, as well as explores for silver, zinc, and copper deposits. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Agnico Eagle Mines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Agnico Eagle Mines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Alpha Pro Tech, Ltd. (NYSEAMERICAN:APT Get Rating)s stock price crossed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $4.15 and traded as low as $4.00. Alpha Pro Tech shares last traded at $4.00, with a volume of 38,100 shares trading hands. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Alpha Pro Tech in a report on Saturday, April 22nd. They set a strong-buy rating for the company. Get Alpha Pro Tech alerts: Alpha Pro Tech Trading Down 1.0 % The company has a market cap of $48.55 million, a PE ratio of 15.23 and a beta of -0.77. The firms fifty day moving average is $4.15 and its 200 day moving average is $4.19. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alpha Pro Tech About Alpha Pro Tech Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APT. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Alpha Pro Tech by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,028 shares of the companys stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 3,487 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Alpha Pro Tech by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,000 shares of the companys stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alpha Pro Tech by 48.7% during the 2nd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 20,918 shares of the companys stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 6,850 shares during the last quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alpha Pro Tech during the 4th quarter worth $67,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Alpha Pro Tech during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.55% of the companys stock. (Get Rating) Alpha Pro Tech Ltd. engages in the business of protecting people, products and environment. It develops, manufactures and markets disposable and limited use protective apparel products for the industries, clean room, medical and dental markets. The company operates through the Disposable Protective Apparel and Building Supply segments. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Alpha Pro Tech Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alpha Pro Tech and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AEMB Get Rating)s stock price shot up 0.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $37.75 and last traded at $37.75. 41 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 98% from the average session volume of 2,395 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.59. American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF Trading Up 0.1 % The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.61. Get American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF alerts: Institutional Inflows and Outflows Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stewardship Advisors LLC increased its position in American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF by 1,269.9% in the 1st quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC now owns 181,856 shares of the companys stock worth $6,896,000 after purchasing an additional 168,581 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,110,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 644,237 shares of the companys stock worth $24,162,000 after acquiring an additional 21,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flow Traders U.S. LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF by 145.6% during the 1st quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC now owns 29,689 shares of the companys stock worth $1,288,000 after acquiring an additional 17,602 shares in the last quarter. About American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF The American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF (AEMB) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in broad credit fixed income. The fund is an actively managed fund that invests in both investment- and non-investment grade government and corporate bonds from emerging market countries denominated predominately in US dollar but also local currencies. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for American Century Emerging Markets Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Avient (NYSE:AVNT Get Rating) updated its FY23 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of $2.40 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $2.41. Avient also updated its FY 2023 guidance to $2.40-$2.40 EPS. Avient Stock Performance AVNT traded up $1.49 on Friday, hitting $38.49. The company had a trading volume of 413,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 476,329. The companys fifty day moving average price is $39.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.18. Avient has a 1-year low of $27.65 and a 1-year high of $52.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 1.53. Get Avient alerts: Avient (NYSE:AVNT Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $845.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $843.16 million. Avient had a return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 16.98%. The companys quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Avient will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Avient Increases Dividend Analysts Set New Price Targets The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Avients previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Avients dividend payout ratio is 12.86%. AVNT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Avient from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Oppenheimer raised Avient from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Avient from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Avient from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avient currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $48.00. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AVNT. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Avient by 22.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 29,947 shares of the companys stock worth $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 5,546 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Avient by 2.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,341 shares of the companys stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Avient by 3.5% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,862 shares of the companys stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in Avient in the first quarter worth about $110,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Avient by 9.4% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,146 shares of the companys stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 1,296 shares during the period. 93.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Avient Company Profile (Get Rating) Avient Corp. engages in the business of thermoplastic compounds. It specializes in polymer materials, services, and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, plastic sheet and packaging solutions and polymer distribution. The firm is also involved in the development and manufacturing of performance enhancing additives, liquid colorants, fluoropolymers, and silicone colorants. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Avient Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Avient and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Felix Cesare/Getty Images An India oil firm that's become the top shipper of Russian crude is likely tied to Rosneft, the FT reported. The company has grown its fleet of vessels from two ships to 58 ships over the past year. That comes amid India's growing appetite for deeply discounted Russian crude. There is a mysterious Indian oil shipping firm that's likely tied to the Russian energy giant Rosneft and it's amassed an enormous tanker fleet over the past 18 months and has become one of the top haulers of Russian crude, according to a Financial Times report. India's Gatik Ship Management is a small Indian shipping firm that has boomed to become one of the largest Russian oil transporters over the past year, the FT said. According to data from commodities data service Kpler, the firm has shipped at least 83 million barrels of Russian oil and oil products, roughly the amount of oil to meet two months of UK demand. Meanwhile, the company amassed more oil tankers than any other known shipping firm, growing its fleet from just two tankers to 58 over the past two years, according to data from Vessels Value. It's unclear who owns Gatik, though industry experts have suggested the company is likely tied to Rosneft, Russia's largest state-run oil firm. Over half Gatik's oil exports come from Rosneft. Gatik's offices, which are located in a Mumbai shopping mall, are shared with the equally mysterious Buena Vista Shipping, the FT said, suggesting that both companies could be tied to Gatik's owner. Gatik happens to own a vessel called Buena Vista, which is registered under the owner Social Club Inc. That name alludes to the Cuban band Buena Vista Social Club, which Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin has publicly admired. Gatik and Buena Vista's shared office space is seemingly abandoned, with mail for Gatik piling up outside of its doors, the FT report said. Gatik's peculiar presence in the global energy market has risen alongside India's growing demand for crude, which is now largely supplied by Russia. Russian oil makes up 30% of India's crude consumption, up from the 1% prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to official trade statistics. Story continues Russia has handed off much of its crude to allies like China and India at hefty discounts, as it's struggled to sell oil to western customers amid sanctions. Russian oil is currently banned in the EU, and Russia is unable to sell its oil using western shipping and insurance services unless it's sold below the $60 price cap. Russia, in response, has built up its fleet of shadow ships, which are believed to transport Russian crude to the west via uninsured and under the radar vessels. Read the original article on Business Insider Avista (NYSE:AVA Get Rating) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.43), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $474.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.37 million. Avista had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 6.10%. Avistas revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. Avista updated its FY23 guidance to $2.27-2.47 EPS and its FY 2023 guidance to $2.27-$2.47 EPS. Avista Stock Performance AVA stock traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $44.52. The stock had a trading volume of 499,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 830,972. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.56. Avista has a 52-week low of $35.72 and a 52-week high of $45.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. Get Avista alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Avista In other news, VP Bryan Alden Cox sold 2,542 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.30, for a total value of $104,984.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,698 shares in the company, valued at $194,027.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Avista Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Avista by 80.0% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,191 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 5,864 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 14.2% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 21,371 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $965,000 after buying an additional 2,657 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Avista by 27.6% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 37,592 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,714,000 after acquiring an additional 8,137 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in Avista by 3.8% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 6,983 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Avista in the first quarter valued at approximately $754,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.92% of the companys stock. A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AVA. StockNews.com cut Avista from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho downgraded Avista from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Avista from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Avista Company Profile (Get Rating) Avista Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of electric and natural gas utility business. It operates through the Avista Utilities, and Alaska Electric Light and Power Company (AEL&P) segments. The Avista Utilities segment includes electric distribution and transmission, and natural gas distribution services in parts of eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, and Northeastern and Southwestern Oregon. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Avista Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Avista and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Barratt Developments plc (OTCMKTS:BTDPY Get Rating) has received an average rating of Moderate Buy from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $487.00. Several brokerages have weighed in on BTDPY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Barratt Developments from GBX 400 ($5.00) to GBX 430 ($5.37) in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Barratt Developments from GBX 388 ($4.85) to GBX 461 ($5.76) in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Barclays raised their target price on Barratt Developments from GBX 509 ($6.36) to GBX 570 ($7.12) in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Peel Hunt cut Barratt Developments to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, HSBC raised Barratt Developments from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Get Barratt Developments alerts: Barratt Developments Trading Up 2.5 % Barratt Developments stock opened at $12.69 on Friday. Barratt Developments has a 52 week low of $7.00 and a 52 week high of $14.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.55 and a 200-day moving average of $10.62. Barratt Developments Cuts Dividend Barratt Developments Company Profile The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 11th will be paid a $0.2169 dividend. This represents a yield of 7.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 10th. (Get Rating) Barratt Developments Plc engages in the development of residential and non-residential properties mainly in the United Kingdom. It offers services in land, design, construction, and sales and marketing. The company was founded by Lawrence Arthur Barratt in 1958 and is headquartered in Coalville, the United Kingdom. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Barratt Developments Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Barratt Developments and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE Get Rating) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,137 shares of the industrial products companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,877 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $24,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Paragon Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new stake in Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Deere & Company in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. increased its stake in Deere & Company by 411.8% in the 3rd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 87 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors own 75.72% of the companys stock. Get Deere & Company alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of research analysts have recently commented on DE shares. Daiwa Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Wednesday, March 29th. They issued an outperform rating and a $440.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $485.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $364.00 to $398.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Deere & Company from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $459.86. Deere & Company Stock Up 2.0 % Shares of NYSE DE opened at $381.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $112.92 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.03. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $283.81 and a 12-month high of $448.40. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $394.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $410.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. Deere & Company (NYSE:DE Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 17th. The industrial products company reported $6.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.53 by $1.02. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.71% and a return on equity of 41.17%. The business had revenue of $11.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.92 earnings per share. Deere & Companys revenue was up 33.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 30.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Deere & Company Increases Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is an increase from Deere & Companys previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Deere & Companys dividend payout ratio is presently 18.55%. Deere & Company Profile (Get Rating) Deere & Co engages in the manufacture and distribution of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, and turf care. It operates through the following segments: Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Agriculture and Turf segment focuses on the distribution and manufacture of a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Deere & Company Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Deere & Company and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Clearwater Paper (NYSE:CLW Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday. Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Clearwater Paper from a b rating to a c rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Clearwater Paper from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price target for the company from $38.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. Get Clearwater Paper alerts: Clearwater Paper Trading Up 1.3 % NYSE CLW opened at $32.13 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $34.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.75. The stock has a market cap of $543.64 million, a P/E ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 0.80. Clearwater Paper has a 52 week low of $29.92 and a 52 week high of $46.48. Insider Transactions at Clearwater Paper Clearwater Paper ( NYSE:CLW Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $526.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $518.00 million. Clearwater Paper had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 12.27%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. In related news, CFO Michael John Murphy sold 5,041 shares of Clearwater Paper stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.33, for a total value of $193,221.53. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 60,355 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,313,407.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael S. Gadd sold 8,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.63, for a total value of $326,816.55. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 52,313 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,968,538.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael John Murphy sold 5,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.33, for a total transaction of $193,221.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 60,355 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,313,407.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,371 shares of company stock valued at $721,829 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.30% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Clearwater Paper Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in Clearwater Paper by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 5,553 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA boosted its position in shares of Clearwater Paper by 5.4% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 7,479 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Clearwater Paper by 80.9% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Biltmore Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Clearwater Paper in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $445,672,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Clearwater Paper by 35.0% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,877 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.77% of the companys stock. Clearwater Paper Company Profile (Get Rating) Clearwater Paper Corp. engages in the manufacturing and selling of private label tissue, paperboard, and pulp-based products. It operates through the Consumer Products and Pulp and Paperboard segments. The Consumer Products segment manufactures and sells a complete line of at-home tissue products. The Pulp and Paperboard segment produces and markets solid bleached sulfate paperboard for the high-end segment of the packaging industry and offers custom sheeting, slitting, and cutting of paperboard. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Clearwater Paper Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Clearwater Paper and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL Get Rating) and Nanophase Technologies (OTCMKTS:NANX Get Rating) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, earnings and valuation. Earnings and Valuation This table compares Estee Lauder Companies and Nanophase Technologies revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Get Estee Lauder Companies alerts: Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Estee Lauder Companies $17.74 billion 4.10 $2.39 billion $3.01 67.62 Nanophase Technologies $37.32 million 1.06 -$2.62 million ($0.06) -13.37 Estee Lauder Companies has higher revenue and earnings than Nanophase Technologies. Nanophase Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Estee Lauder Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Volatility & Risk Insider & Institutional Ownership Estee Lauder Companies has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nanophase Technologies has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. 55.7% of Estee Lauder Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of Estee Lauder Companies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Nanophase Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term. Profitability This table compares Estee Lauder Companies and Nanophase Technologies net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Estee Lauder Companies 6.88% 23.99% 6.51% Nanophase Technologies -7.03% -36.43% -7.80% Analyst Ratings This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Estee Lauder Companies and Nanophase Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Estee Lauder Companies 1 5 18 1 2.76 Nanophase Technologies 0 0 0 0 N/A Estee Lauder Companies presently has a consensus price target of $264.21, suggesting a potential upside of 29.81%. Given Estee Lauder Companies higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Estee Lauder Companies is more favorable than Nanophase Technologies. Summary Estee Lauder Companies beats Nanophase Technologies on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks. About Estee Lauder Companies (Get Rating) The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. engages in the manufacture of skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. It sells products under the following brand names: Estee Lauder, Clinique, Origins, MAC, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Aveda and Too Faced. Its channels consist of department stores, multi-brand retailers, upscale perfumeries and pharmacies, and prestige salons and spas. The company was founded by Estee Lauder and Joseph Lauder in 1946 and is headquartered in New York, NY. About Nanophase Technologies (Get Rating) Nanophase Technologies Corp. engages in the development and provision of engineered nanomaterial solutions. The firms products include antimony tin oxide, bismuth oxide, cerium oxide, iron oxide, and zinc oxide. It serves the personal care, plastics, textiles, exterior coatings, integrated circuit and data storage, optical surface polishing, and energy markets. The company was founded by Richard W. Siegel on November 25, 1989 and is headquartered in Romeoville, IL. Receive News & Ratings for Estee Lauder Companies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Estee Lauder Companies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC Get Rating) had its price objective raised by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $174.00 to $182.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, The Fly reports. ABC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Argus increased their target price on AmerisourceBergen from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Barclays increased their target price on AmerisourceBergen from $182.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI restated an outperform rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of AmerisourceBergen in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. StockNews.com started coverage on AmerisourceBergen in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on AmerisourceBergen from $170.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AmerisourceBergen currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $181.62. Get AmerisourceBergen alerts: AmerisourceBergen Trading Up 0.8 % Shares of ABC opened at $167.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.13, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.53. AmerisourceBergen has a 1 year low of $135.14 and a 1 year high of $174.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.35. The firm has a market cap of $33.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.52. AmerisourceBergen Dividend Announcement AmerisourceBergen ( NYSE:ABC Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $63.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.40 billion. AmerisourceBergen had a return on equity of 809.53% and a net margin of 0.65%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.22 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that AmerisourceBergen will post 11.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be paid a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. AmerisourceBergens dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.94%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,924 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.22, for a total transaction of $300,567.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,733 shares in the company, valued at $4,176,229.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,924 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.22, for a total value of $300,567.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,733 shares in the company, valued at $4,176,229.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lazarus Krikorian sold 5,711 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.82, for a total value of $889,888.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 18,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,918,820.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,633 shares of company stock valued at $4,522,208. 20.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On AmerisourceBergen Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. RFP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in AmerisourceBergen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH purchased a new stake in AmerisourceBergen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its position in AmerisourceBergen by 73.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the companys stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in AmerisourceBergen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AmerisourceBergen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.79% of the companys stock. About AmerisourceBergen (Get Rating) AmerisourceBergen Corp. engages in the provision of pharmaceutical products and business solutions that improve access to care. It operates through the Pharmaceutical Distribution Services and Other segments. The Pharmaceutical Distribution Services segment distributes an offering of brand-name, specialty brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to healthcare providers, including acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, and long-term care and alternate site pharmacies. See Also Receive News & Ratings for AmerisourceBergen Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AmerisourceBergen and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach (OTCMKTS:FMBL Get Rating) and National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability. Volatility and Risk Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Bank of Canada has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Get Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach alerts: Institutional & Insider Ownership 8.0% of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of National Bank of Canada shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.8% of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of National Bank of Canada shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth. Dividends Profitability Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach pays an annual dividend of $112.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. National Bank of Canada pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach pays out 13.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. National Bank of Canada pays out 39.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and National Bank of Canadas net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach 27.08% 7.94% 0.86% National Bank of Canada 20.66% 18.28% 0.87% Analyst Ratings This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and National Bank of Canada, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach 0 0 0 0 N/A National Bank of Canada 0 1 3 0 2.75 National Bank of Canada has a consensus price target of $114.30, indicating a potential upside of 50.65%. Given National Bank of Canadas higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe National Bank of Canada is more favorable than Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach. Valuation and Earnings This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and National Bank of Canadas gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach $358.80 million 1.84 $109.00 million $809.87 6.79 National Bank of Canada $10.82 billion 2.37 $2.63 billion $7.22 10.51 National Bank of Canada has higher revenue and earnings than Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Bank of Canada, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Summary National Bank of Canada beats Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks. About Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach (Get Rating) Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach engages in the provision of personal and business banking services. The firm offers business checking, money market, and investment accounts, merchant card services, and small business, real estate, construction, commercial, church, and nonprofit loans. It also provides personal checking, personal money market, and personal savings accounts, as well as personal and home loans. The company was founded by Charles J. Walker on October 12, 1907 and is headquartered in Long Beach, CA. About National Bank of Canada (Get Rating) National Bank of Canada engages in the provision of commercial banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, US Specialty Finance and International (USSF&I), and Other. The Personal and Commercial segment is involved in banking, financing, and investing services offered to individuals and businesses as well as insurance operations. The Wealth Management segment focuses on the investment solutions, trust and lending services, and other wealth management solutions offered through internal and third-party distribution networks. The Financial Markets segment includes banking and investment banking services and financial solutions for large and mid-size corporations, public sector organizations, and institutional investors. The USSF&I segment consists of specialty finance expertise activities of subsidiary ABA Bank, which offers financial products and services to individuals and businesses, and activities of targeted investments in certain emerging markets. The Other segment encompasses treasury activities such as asset and liability management, liquidity management and funding operations, certa Receive News & Ratings for Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. GoldMining Inc. (NYSEMKT:GLDG Get Rating) major shareholder Goldmining Inc. bought 4,783 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.60 per share, with a total value of $45,916.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 9,796,589 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $94,047,254.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a companys shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC. Goldmining Inc. also recently made the following trade(s): Get GoldMining alerts: On Friday, May 5th, Goldmining Inc. bought 4,300 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.00 per share, with a total value of $43,000.00. On Monday, May 1st, Goldmining Inc. bought 4,822 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.61 per share, with a total value of $46,339.42. On Thursday, April 27th, Goldmining Inc. purchased 11,503 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $9.01 per share, for a total transaction of $103,642.03. On Tuesday, April 25th, Goldmining Inc. bought 25,001 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.04 per share, for a total transaction of $226,009.04. On Friday, April 21st, Goldmining Inc. bought 44,136 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.98 per share, for a total transaction of $396,341.28. On Wednesday, April 19th, Goldmining Inc. bought 122,490 shares of GoldMining stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.00 per share, for a total transaction of $1,224,900.00. GoldMining Stock Performance Shares of NYSEMKT GLDG traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $1.10. 2,054,126 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 529,244. The stocks 50 day moving average is $1.09 and its 200 day moving average is $1.11. The stock has a market cap of $185.05 million, a P/E ratio of -15.71 and a beta of 1.10. Institutional Investors Weigh In On GoldMining About GoldMining Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citigroup Inc. purchased a new position in GoldMining in the first quarter worth approximately $74,000. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in GoldMining by 37.3% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 48,716 shares of the companys stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 13,241 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in GoldMining by 765.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 710,475 shares of the companys stock worth $1,214,000 after acquiring an additional 628,376 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of GoldMining by 65.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 90,315 shares of the companys stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 35,815 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of GoldMining during the first quarter worth $77,000. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. (Get Rating) GoldMining Inc, a mineral exploration company, focuses on the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold assets in the Americas. It also operates a diversified portfolio of resource-stage gold and gold-copper projects in Canada, the United States, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. The company's principal projects include La Mina Gold Project and Titiribi Gold-Copper Project located in Colombia; Whistler Gold-Copper Project located in Alaska, United States; and Sao Jorge Gold Project located in the State of Para, northeastern Brazil. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for GoldMining Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for GoldMining and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Lithium Chile Inc. (OTCMKTS:LTMCF Get Rating) shares were up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $0.53 and last traded at $0.53. Approximately 38,895 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 62,805 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.52. Lithium Chile Trading Up 1.3 % The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $0.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $0.52. Lithium Chile Company Profile (Get Rating) Lithium Chile, Inc engages in the acquisition and development of lithium properties in Chile. Its projects include: Salar de Coipasa, Salar de Turi, Salar de Atacama, Salar de Helados, Salar de Talar and Salar de Ollage. The company was founded on October 18, 2010 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Lithium Chile Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Lithium Chile and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Macerich (NYSE:MAC Get Rating) had its price target reduced by Piper Sandler from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, The Fly reports. Several other analysts have also recently commented on MAC. StockNews.com cut shares of Macerich from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Saturday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Macerich in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. They set a sell rating and a $8.50 price objective for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $12.00. Get Macerich alerts: Macerich Price Performance MAC stock opened at $10.01 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Macerich has a 12-month low of $7.40 and a 12-month high of $14.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.30 and a 200-day moving average of $11.55. Macerich Announces Dividend Hedge Funds Weigh In On Macerich The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.79%. Macerichs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -226.66%. A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in Macerich in the 1st quarter worth $517,000. MQS Management LLC lifted its holdings in Macerich by 243.3% in the 1st quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 35,343 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $375,000 after buying an additional 25,048 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Macerich by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 102,484 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,086,000 after buying an additional 3,679 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Macerich by 1,056.9% in the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 305,018 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $3,233,000 after buying an additional 278,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Macerich by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 23,556 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the companys stock. Macerich Company Profile (Get Rating) Macerich Co operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the acquisition, ownership, development, redevelopment, management, and leasing of regional and community shopping centers located throughout the United States. The company was founded by Mace Siegel Dana K. Anderson, Arthur M. Coppola and Edward C. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Macerich Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Macerich and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. (Bloomberg) -- Fridays staggering rally in the shares of beleaguered regional banks may have a simple explanation: short-covering. Most Read from Bloomberg The $2.7 billion SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (ticker KRE) soared as much as 6.6% on Friday, fueled by a record surge of around 80% in PacWest Bancorp. The rebound follows several days of brutal selling and a surge in bearish positioning in regional banks, with PacWest saying this week that its exploring strategic options. The driving force behind the rally may boil down to short-sellers booking profits heading into the weekend with lingering questions around what other steps regulators might take. Most recently, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced that it had accepted JPMorgan Chase & Co.s bid for failed First Republic Bank in the early hours of Monday morning echoing Marchs weekend bombshells that the government was closing Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. With that kind of event risk in mind, combined with the fact that short sellers have likely made a tidy profit already, it makes sense to see bearish wagers roll off. Even with Fridays surge, PacWest is still down about 40% this week. No one wants to be short when weve seen so many announcements come out over the weekend, said Max Gokhman, head of MosaiQ Investment Strategy at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions. No one wants to be holding one of those names. If youve been short, you probably made a decent return it makes sense to clear your books and not be caught holding something thats going to be rescued. The S&P 500 has risen on six of the last seven Monday trading sessions, data compiled by Bloomberg show. While those rallies didnt include the specific banks that were rescued, the pattern underscores the risk for bears. The benchmark index climbed about 2% on Friday, while a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. basket of the most-shorted stocks jumped 3% its biggest rally in over a month. Story continues Fridays abrupt reversal comes after bearish sentiment on KRE reached extreme levels amid a roughly 40% drawdown since early March. Short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding in the ETF surged above 90% this week, from 74% a week earlier, according to data compiled by S3 Partners. The heavy shorting in banks led to some calls this week for short-selling to be restricted a possibility that the White House batted away on Friday. Still, that chatter combined with the magnitude of the selloff is likely spurring profit-taking among the bears, according to Miller Tabak + Co.s Matt Maley. The group had become very oversold again on a technical basis and with the talk about restricting short sales that we heard yesterday, these players had no choice but to take some profits and cover their positions, said Maley, the firms chief market strategist. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Paycom Software (NYSE:PAYC Get Rating) had its price target reduced by Mizuho from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, The Fly reports. Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Credit Suisse Group cut their price target on shares of Paycom Software from $430.00 to $375.00 in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Paycom Software in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Paycom Software from $395.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Paycom Software from $432.00 to $405.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson began coverage on shares of Paycom Software in a research report on Monday, January 9th. They issued an underperform rating and a $310.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $368.53. Get Paycom Software alerts: Paycom Software Price Performance Paycom Software stock opened at $272.63 on Wednesday. Paycom Software has a 52 week low of $255.82 and a 52 week high of $402.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $288.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $307.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a market cap of $16.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.15, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.41. Insiders Place Their Bets Paycom Software ( NYSE:PAYC Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.24. Paycom Software had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 20.96%. The business had revenue of $370.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $366.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Paycom Software will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. In other Paycom Software news, Director Jason D. Clark sold 1,070 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.33, for a total value of $297,813.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,741 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,319,562.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 14.50% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Paycom Software A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Paycom Software by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,672,472 shares of the software makers stock worth $1,871,858,000 after buying an additional 61,819 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Paycom Software by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,849,465 shares of the software makers stock valued at $610,305,000 after buying an additional 23,413 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Paycom Software by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,359,073 shares of the software makers stock valued at $470,756,000 after buying an additional 108,505 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Paycom Software by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,091,975 shares of the software makers stock valued at $338,274,000 after buying an additional 27,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Paycom Software by 147.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,084,991 shares of the software makers stock valued at $336,684,000 after buying an additional 646,679 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.58% of the companys stock. Paycom Software Company Profile (Get Rating) Paycom Software, Inc engages in the provision of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software solutions delivered as Software-as-a-Service. It offers functionality and data analytics that businesses need to manage the complete employment life cycle from recruitment to retirement. Its solutions include talent acquisition, time and labor management, payroll, talent management, and human resource management. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Paycom Software Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Paycom Software and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Pernod Ricard SA (OTCMKTS:PDRDY Get Rating) has been assigned a consensus rating of Moderate Buy from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $219.33. Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Pernod Ricard from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Get Pernod Ricard alerts: Pernod Ricard Price Performance Shares of PDRDY opened at $47.12 on Monday. Pernod Ricard has a 52-week low of $34.68 and a 52-week high of $47.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.12. About Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard SA engages in the manufacture of wines, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages. The firm offers products under the brands Absolut Vodka, Chivas Regal, Ballantines, Beefeater, Jameson, Kahlua, Malibu, Ricard, Havana Club, Martell, Cognac, The Glenlivet, G.H. Mumm, Perrier-Jouet, Royal Salute, Brancott Estate, Graffigna, Campo Viejo, Jacobs Creek, Kenwood, Pastis 51, 100 Pipers, ArArAt, Becherovka, Blenders Pride, Clan Campbell, Imperial, Seagrams Imperial Blue, Olmeca, Passport Scotch, Amaro Ramazzotti, Ruavieja, Royal Stag, Seagrams Gin, Something Special, Suze, Wisers, and Wyborowa. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Pernod Ricard Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pernod Ricard and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE Get Rating) had its price target decreased by UBS Group from $41.00 to $39.00 in a research report released on Friday, The Fly reports. Several other brokerages have also issued reports on PFE. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Pfizer from $50.00 to $44.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Pfizer from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday, March 6th. They set a hold rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $48.20. Get Pfizer alerts: Pfizer Price Performance PFE stock opened at $38.49 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.26 and a 200-day moving average of $44.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Pfizer has a 12 month low of $38.02 and a 12 month high of $54.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63. Pfizer Dividend Announcement Pfizer ( NYSE:PFE Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.23. Pfizer had a net margin of 31.25% and a return on equity of 38.46%. The company had revenue of $18.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. Pfizers revenue was down 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. Pfizers payout ratio is currently 32.28%. Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer In related news, major shareholder Pfizer Inc acquired 1,811,594 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.76 per share, with a total value of $4,999,999.44. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,952,263 shares in the company, valued at $16,428,245.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.05% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 89,592.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 161,143,638 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $8,257,000,000 after buying an additional 160,963,976 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at $3,150,472,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 528.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 12,401,164 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $542,675,000 after buying an additional 10,429,412 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 79,499,361 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $4,073,547,000 after buying an additional 7,419,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,828,849 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $3,097,341,000 after buying an additional 6,972,650 shares in the last quarter. 67.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Pfizer (Get Rating) Pfizer Inc is a research-based global biopharmaceutical company. It engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of biopharmaceutical products worldwide. The firm works across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Pfizer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pfizer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Teradata Co. (NYSE:TDC Get Rating) Stock analysts at Northland Capmk issued their Q1 2023 earnings per share estimates for Teradata in a report released on Tuesday, May 2nd. Northland Capmk analyst N. Chokshi forecasts that the technology company will post earnings per share of $0.37 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Teradatas current full-year earnings is $0.97 per share. Northland Capmk also issued estimates for Teradatas Q2 2023 earnings at $0.08 EPS, Q3 2023 earnings at $0.20 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $0.31 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $0.95 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $0.53 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $0.23 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.35 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.45 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $1.56 EPS. Get Teradata alerts: Teradata (NYSE:TDC Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $435.63 million. Teradata had a net margin of 1.84% and a return on equity of 28.46%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. Teradata Stock Performance Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on TDC. 92 Resources reissued a maintains rating on shares of Teradata in a report on Friday, April 28th. Guggenheim raised Teradata from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $62.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Teradata from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Teradata from $37.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Teradata from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $47.44. NYSE TDC opened at $44.55 on Thursday. The firms fifty day moving average price is $39.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.96. The stock has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 148.50, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. Teradata has a fifty-two week low of $28.65 and a fifty-two week high of $45.39. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Teradata during the first quarter worth approximately $231,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in Teradata by 46.7% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 21,282 shares of the technology companys stock worth $1,049,000 after buying an additional 6,779 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Teradata by 21.1% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 10,977 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 1,916 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Teradata by 0.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 302,170 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $14,894,000 after buying an additional 947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in shares of Teradata by 10.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 39,764 shares of the technology companys stock worth $1,960,000 after acquiring an additional 3,791 shares in the last quarter. 90.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Teradata news, CFO Claire Bramley sold 5,000 shares of Teradata stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,100 shares in the company, valued at $3,324,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Kathleen R. Cullen-Cote sold 24,400 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $995,032.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 121,489 shares in the company, valued at $4,954,321.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Claire Bramley sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,324,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.92% of the companys stock. Teradata Company Profile (Get Rating) Teradata Corp. is a cloud data analytics company which is built for a multi-cloud reality and solving data challenges at scale. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, EMEA, and APJ. The company was founded on July 13, 1979, and is headquartered in San Diego, CA. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Teradata Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Teradata and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. REV Group, Inc. (NYSE:REVG Get Rating) has received a consensus rating of Hold from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.17. REVG has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on REV Group from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday, January 13th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of REV Group from $12.00 to $13.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on shares of REV Group from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Thursday, March 9th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of REV Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded REV Group from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Get REV Group alerts: REV Group Price Performance REVG opened at $10.61 on Friday. REV Group has a 52-week low of $9.50 and a 52-week high of $16.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.61. The company has a market cap of $630.83 million, a P/E ratio of 265.25 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. REV Group Announces Dividend REV Group ( NYSE:REVG Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 8th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.06. REV Group had a net margin of 0.10% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The firm had revenue of $583.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $504.73 million. On average, analysts expect that REV Group will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Investors of record on Friday, March 31st were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. REV Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 500.00%. Institutional Trading of REV Group Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of REVG. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of REV Group by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 68,900 shares of the companys stock valued at $923,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of REV Group by 7.4% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 258,422 shares of the companys stock worth $3,463,000 after purchasing an additional 17,750 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of REV Group by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 112,712 shares of the companys stock worth $1,510,000 after buying an additional 31,403 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of REV Group by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 34,948 shares of the companys stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 2,566 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of REV Group by 55.4% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 15,792 shares of the companys stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 5,631 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.92% of the companys stock. About REV Group (Get Rating) REV Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the design, manufacture, and distribution of specialty vehicles and related aftermarket parts and services. The company sells its products to municipalities, government agencies, private contractors, and industrial and commercial end users. It operates through the following segments: Fire and Emergency, Commercial, and Recreation. Read More Receive News & Ratings for REV Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for REV Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE Get Rating) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.16, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $6.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.04 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 14.47% and a return on equity of 10.20%. Sempra Energys quarterly revenue was up 71.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.91 earnings per share. Sempra Energy Stock Up 0.9 % NYSE SRE traded up $1.43 on Friday, reaching $154.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,293,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,166,953. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.73. The companys fifty day moving average is $151.01 and its 200 day moving average is $154.87. Sempra Energy has a 52-week low of $136.54 and a 52-week high of $176.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Get Sempra Energy alerts: Sempra Energy Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 22nd were issued a $1.19 dividend. This is a boost from Sempra Energys previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 21st. Sempra Energys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.90%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Insider Activity at Sempra Energy Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SRE shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $150.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Sempra Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Sempra Energy from $169.00 to $166.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Sempra Energy from $180.00 to $174.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $173.00 to $165.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $167.25. In related news, CFO Trevor I. Mihalik sold 2,306 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.50, for a total value of $342,441.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,362 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,172,257. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 10,413 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.99, for a total value of $1,572,258.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 19,261 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,908,218.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Trevor I. Mihalik sold 2,306 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.50, for a total value of $342,441.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,362 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,172,257. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 31,979 shares of company stock valued at $4,728,393. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra Energy Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Trust purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $207,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $116,000. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Sempra Energy by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC now owns 14,271 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, CI Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $14,394,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.75% of the companys stock. About Sempra Energy (Get Rating) Sempra Energy is an energy-service holding company, which engages in the development and operation of energy infrastructure, and provision of electric and gas services. It operates through the following segments: San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E), Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Sempra Texas Utilities, Sempra Mexico, and Sempra LNG. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Sempra Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sempra Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shore Capital reiterated their buy rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY Get Rating) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. LLOY has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a buy rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Barclays upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group to an overweight rating and upped their price target for the stock from GBX 55 ($0.69) to GBX 75 ($0.94) in a report on Monday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a GBX 70 ($0.87) price target on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Citigroup reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reaffirmed a top pick rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of GBX 68.88 ($0.86). Get Lloyds Banking Group alerts: Lloyds Banking Group Trading Up 1.0 % Shares of LLOY opened at GBX 45.81 ($0.57) on Wednesday. Lloyds Banking Group has a twelve month low of GBX 38.51 ($0.48) and a twelve month high of GBX 54.33 ($0.68). The company has a market cap of 30.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 654.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.22. The companys fifty day simple moving average is GBX 48.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 47.70. Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend Insider Buying and Selling at Lloyds Banking Group The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 13th will be given a dividend of GBX 1.60 ($0.02) per share. This is an increase from Lloyds Banking Groups previous dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a yield of 3.14%. Lloyds Banking Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,857.14%. In other Lloyds Banking Group news, insider Charlie Nunn bought 285,316 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 48 ($0.60) per share, with a total value of 136,951.68 ($171,104.05). Insiders own 0.31% of the companys stock. About Lloyds Banking Group (Get Rating) Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal and small business customers. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Lloyds Banking Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Lloyds Banking Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW Get Rating) had its price target decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $240.00 to $236.00 in a report published on Wednesday, The Fly reports. A number of other brokerages have also commented on ITW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $183.00 to $181.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $250.00 to $227.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $213.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $174.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $259.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $228.21. Get Illinois Tool Works alerts: Illinois Tool Works Stock Performance Illinois Tool Works stock opened at $230.31 on Wednesday. Illinois Tool Works has a 12-month low of $173.52 and a 12-month high of $253.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $234.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $227.78. The stock has a market cap of $70.20 billion, a PE ratio of 23.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.10. Illinois Tool Works Dividend Announcement Illinois Tool Works ( NYSE:ITW Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.10. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 92.13% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.11 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Illinois Tool Works will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 13th. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Illinois Tool Workss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.40%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Illinois Tool Works by 6.2% in the first quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 78,465 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $19,102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,556 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Illinois Tool Works by 249.4% in the first quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,660 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 4,754 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Illinois Tool Works by 3.5% in the first quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,423 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 8,215 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $2,000,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NTV Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.83% of the companys stock. About Illinois Tool Works (Get Rating) Illinois Tool Works, Inc engages in the manufacture of industrial products and equipment. It operates through the following segments: Automotive OEM, Test and Measurement and Electronics, Food Equipment, Polymers and Fluids, Welding, Construction Products, and Specialty Products. The Automotive OEM segment produces components and fasteners for automotive-related applications. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Illinois Tool Works Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Illinois Tool Works and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Telstra Co. Limited (OTCMKTS:TLSYY Get Rating)s share price passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.48 and traded as high as $12.65. Telstra shares last traded at $12.48, with a volume of 63,400 shares. Telstra Price Performance The companys fifty day moving average price is $12.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Get Telstra alerts: Telstra Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.5949 per share. This is a positive change from Telstras previous dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 1st. This represents a yield of 6.13%. Telstra Company Profile Telstra Corporation Limited provides telecommunications and information services to businesses, governments, and individuals in Australia and internationally. It operates in four segments: Telstra Consumer and Small Business, Telstra Enterprise, Networks and IT, and Telstra InfraCo The company offers telecommunication, media and technology products and services in Australia using mobile and fixed network technologies, as well as operates call centers, retail stores, a dealership network, digital channels, distribution systems and Telstra Plus customer loyalty program. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Telstra Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Telstra and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Trane Technologies (NYSE:TT Get Rating) updated its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $8.30-$8.50 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.40. The company issued revenue guidance of $17.43 billion-$17.59 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $17.23 billion. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TT. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Trane Technologies from $200.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Trane Technologies from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Trane Technologies from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. 92 Resources reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Trane Technologies in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Trane Technologies in a research report on Monday, March 27th. They set a market perform rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $182.58. Get Trane Technologies alerts: Trane Technologies Trading Up 0.5 % TT stock traded up $0.81 during trading on Friday, hitting $176.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,705,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,602,139. The business has a 50-day moving average of $181.12 and a 200-day moving average of $175.95. Trane Technologies has a one year low of $120.64 and a one year high of $196.22. The stock has a market cap of $40.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Trane Technologies Dividend Announcement Trane Technologies ( NYSE:TT Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.64 billion. Trane Technologies had a return on equity of 30.11% and a net margin of 11.06%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. Research analysts predict that Trane Technologies will post 8.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 1st. Trane Technologiess payout ratio is 38.86%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, EVP Paul A. Camuti sold 690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.64, for a total value of $124,641.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,871,933.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Paul A. Camuti sold 536 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total value of $97,546.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 89,021 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $16,200,931.79. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Paul A. Camuti sold 690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.64, for a total value of $124,641.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,865 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,871,933.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,071 shares of company stock worth $2,841,093 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.74% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Trane Technologies A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TT. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Trane Technologies by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 14,181 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Trane Technologies by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,398 shares of the companys stock valued at $572,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Trane Technologies by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 367,117 shares of the companys stock valued at $61,709,000 after purchasing an additional 5,543 shares during the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Trane Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $118,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Trane Technologies by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,964 shares of the companys stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 81.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Trane Technologies Company Profile (Get Rating) Trane Technologies Plc engages in providing solutions to buildings, homes, and transportation. It operates through the following business segments: Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. The Americas segment encompasses commercial heating and cooling systems, building controls, and energy services and solutions, residential heating and cooling, and transport refrigeration systems, and solutions in North America and Latin America regions. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Trane Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Trane Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. It's possible to achieve returns close to the market-weighted average return by buying an index fund. But even in a market-beating portfolio, some stocks will lag the market. The Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (SGX:Y92) stock price is down 22% over five years, but the total shareholder return is -11% once you include the dividend. And that total return actually beats the market decline of 11%. Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business. See our latest analysis for Thai Beverage There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement. Looking back five years, both Thai Beverage's share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 2.7% per year. This reduction in EPS is less than the 5% annual reduction in the share price. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, in the past. You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image). We know that Thai Beverage has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? This free report showing analyst revenue forecasts should help you figure out if the EPS growth can be sustained. What About Dividends? When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. We note that for Thai Beverage the TSR over the last 5 years was -11%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence! Story continues A Different Perspective While the broader market lost about 0.5% in the twelve months, Thai Beverage shareholders did even worse, losing 4.8% (even including dividends). However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 2% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Thai Beverage you should be aware of. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Singaporean exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here The Nigerian Navy on Friday expressed great concern over the alarming increase in the number of illegal maritime security outfits in the country set out to deceive unsuspecting Nigerians. These were contained in a statement by the spokesperson for the service, Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, on Friday. The statement partly read, We note with dismay the unscrupulous activities of some impostors and self-acclaimed maritime security outfits who make use of naval uniforms and accoutrements including uniforms that resemble naval uniforms to deceive, harass, intimidate, and defraud unsuspecting members of the public. Some of these outfits go as far as selling recruitment forms to the public and even conduct secret recruitment exercises and training. The activities of these impostors and miscreants are observed to be on the rise notwithstanding the proscription order of the Federal Government of Nigeria official Gazette No. 58 Vol 100 titled The Dissolution and Proscription of Certain Associations Order, 2013 banning all such firms/outfits. Pertinently, the proliferation of illegal maritime security outfits is worrisome and may worsen the scourge of insecurity in the country with likely grave impact on national security. He, however, warned those behind these outfits to desist, vowing that the service would leave no stone unturned in her bid to secure the maritime environment for enhanced security of lives and properties and for the conduct of legitimate maritime commerce. It is misleading and falsehood of an aide in the President Buhari government, Femi Adesina, to express in a public presentation that government itself doesn't create jobs for the citizens but however establishes an empowering environment that leaves the private sector with job creation, ODIMEGWU ONWUMERE examines President Muhammadu Buhari, who had less than 23 days to leave office, pleaded with the unsuspecting public for forgiveness in a well-publicized speech on April 21, 2023, noting that his government from 2015 to 2023 fell short of the expectations of Nigerians who once regarded him as Mr. Integrity and believed he would lead the country well. Many Nigerians, who had proverbially consumedashes for bread and tears for tea, were moved by his plea. Since then, his assistants have been looking for ways to shift responsibility for their appalling government disappointment. On May 2, 2023, the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, stated that it is not the government's responsibilityto create jobs. Talking about the accomplishments of President Buhari over the most recent eight years, Adesina noticed that all that the government does is establish an empowering environment for creating jobs while the private sector creates jobs. There was a guarantee of President Buhari to create 3million jobs yearly in 2015, but Adesina argued, "Did you say 3 million was the commitment? He did not, in my opinion, put a figure on it. I recall President Buhari providing the percentage of the nation's unemployed. Regard as it may, it is the job and the duty of the government to create an enabling environment for jobs in the country. It is not the government itself that creates jobs. All it does is to create an enabling environment, Adesina was quoted to have said. Adesinas Statement was misleading: (1) #Truth On Governments Stance on Job Creation Verification: In Nigerian Youth Employment Action Plan, Abuja 2021-2024, Nigerian government stays focused on guaranteeing fair and useful employment for youths, making Adesina's position unfounded. The National Employment Policy, the National Youth Policy, and the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy accentuate the centrality and capability of job creationfor youngsters. At the global level, not the Private Sector, but Nigerian government supports the implementation of the 2030 Plan for Sustainable Development. Furthermore, Nigeria turned into the primary government accomplice from Africa to earnestly commit to a responsibility towards the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth. In August 2019, Nigeria facilitated the Global Youth Employment Forum, organized by the International Labour Organization. The discussion brought about the Abuja Youth Proclamation, a solid call by youths for expanded and groundbreaking action on youth employment. Adesinas Statement was misleading: (2) #Truth On What Govt Over The Years Recorded In Its 2021-2024 Action Agenda Verification: If employment was not government's priority as Adesina claimed, the Youth Employment Action Plan would not have been of great concern to the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria over the years recorded in its 2021-2024 Action Agenda. According to the source, "It was for this reason that the NigerianYouth Employment Action Plan (NIYEAP) for the period 2009 to 2011 was initiated with a view to enable Nigeria to respond more effectively to the challenge of youth employment confronting the country. "The urgent need to mobilize the full energy and capacity of the youth to achieve the national development goals, and to minimize the risks to national security and development posed by rising youth unemployment and underemployment, were also part of the reasons for the development of the NIYEAP (2009-2011). The NIYEAP (2009-2011) supported efforts of the Government of Nigeria aimed at creating an enabling environment for youth employment. Facts to take home: Adesinas position has outlived its existence In his shallow explanation, perhaps, Adesina taking a leaf from the abovementioned, he failed to remember that specialists and informed public experts say that this 2009-2011 Action Plan, which had unassuming accomplishments, has outlasted its importance considering current real factors. Besides, the issues of human resources development and work age have been focused on by the Public authority in the EconomicRecovery and Growth Plan(ERGP), the National Youth Policy (2019) and the National Employment Policy (2017). "This Action Plan, which had modest achievements, has outlived its relevance in view of current realities. Moreover, the issues of human capital development and employment generation have been prioritized by the Government in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the National Youth Policy (2019) and the National Employment Policy (2017), the sourcesaid. Adesinas Statement was misleading: (3) #Truth On The Main Function Of Nigerian Government: A Legal Analysis Verification: According to skeptics, social contract theorists generally advocate the notion that the state or, more specifically, civil society is the result of a contract, covenant, agreement, or compact. The aforementioned contract, covenant, agreement, or compact, as well as its fundamental terms and conditions, may be codified in the Constitution or any other legally binding document. As a result, this suggests that the Nigerian people, or the various indigenous peoples that make up Nigeria's population, and the Nigerian government can argue that the 1999Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria serves as the legally binding contract. #Facts: Binding Agreement That Govt Must Provide Security, Welfare, Experts Posit It is through a purposeful retreat to this kind of authoritative agreement, pledge, understanding, or reduced that different [indigenous] people groups may willfully meet up to stay together and share in the advantages and laws of the local area. The provision of essential public services and security for citizens is the most fundamental function of government. By and large talking, under the common agreement, individuals intentionally give their freedoms of self-insurance over to the public authority (not private sector); in this manner approving the public authority to some degree partake in an imposing business model of power. The law states in a paper by NAUJILJ 13 (2) 2022, "Section 14(2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 declares that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purposes of government. "In this declaration, the security and welfare of the people are jointly presented as a sole purpose. Accordingly, the primary purpose of government is seen as one, but it has two interwoven limbs, namely: the security of the people and the welfare of the people. "Notably, the deployment of the adjective "primary" in the said constitutional declaration suggests that the security and welfare of the people shall be the main or principal purpose of government in Nigeria . "Failure of the government in this primary purpose will give birth to, if not tantamount to failure of the government in every other purpose because without the accomplishment of the primary purpose, the accomplishment of every other purpose of government shall be baseless, meaningless, hindered, or frustrated." Conclusion: What Adesina May Not Like To Hear In the event that it isn't the priority of government to create jobs for the citizens, as Femi Adesina guaranteed, Abdulkhalid Anda Salihu in "Rethinking Economics The Uploaders (RETU), 2021" could never have contended in Exploring Economics, saying a few changes, strategies, and techniques have been set up to resolve the issue of joblessness in Nigeria of which some were centered exclusively by the government to handle the issue head-around, several of them were circuitous through destitution mitigation projects, and others were imbued into national development plans. According to the source, a portion of the new projects by the government incorporate SubsidyReinvestment Program (SURE P), which was presented in 2012 towards reinvesting reserve funds gathered from fuel endowment on basic foundation undertakings and social security programs. "The major objective of this program was to employ graduates through internship programs to reduce social vulnerability," the source said. Later in 2013, there was another drive by government called UniversityEntrepreneurship Development Programs (UNEDEP) to handle graduate joblessness. It was started by the Service of Exchange and Speculation pointed toward advancing independent work among youth before their graduation from higher foundations of learning, the data revealed. Youth Enterprisewith Innovation in Nigeria (YOU WIN), also, by government, started in 2011, organized to fund remarkable strategies for youthful hopeful employment visionaries in Nigeria. And afterward, "the National Social Investment Program (NSIP) in 2017 is infused in the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the recent trader money and N-power initiative." Notwithstanding these changes, Nigerians still witness skyrocketing joblessness and underemployment in the country to which President Buhari was angling for forgiveness at the expiration of his tenure and he is faulted generally for absence of a specialized structure to accomplish these changes and besides absence of progression. With the above proofs, its pertinent to state that Femi Adesina has communicated falsehoods about job creation in Nigeria. Odimegwu Onwumere is Director, Advocacy Network on Religious and Cultural Coexistence (ANORACC). He contributed this piece via: [email protected] Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, has dismissed claim that he called the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a drug lord, describing the claim as spurious. The retired General was purportedly quoted saying: It is an insult to the Military to have a known drug lord as C-in-C of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Reacting in a statement on Saturday by his spokesperson Mohammad Abdulkadri, the Minister said the myopic, diabolic and despotic publication can be traced to anti-democratic forces. Magashi accused disgruntled elements of trying to drag his reputation and that of the nations apolotical military into disparaging Tinubu. The minister recalled he was one of the first members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that congratulated the President-elect. Magashi condemned the concoction of fake news against him at a time he is busy supervising the military in aid of civil authority to defend Nigerias democracy. The Ministers unblemished pedigree speaks volume as a loyal member of APC alongside being a credible elderstateman in the same party with the president-elect, the statement reads. It added that no propaganda or blackmail targeted at Magashi and the military will deter them from dealing with any person or group whose agenda is to disrupt the May 29 inauguration. Kaduna State chapter of the Labour Party has suspended three of its card-carrying members for attending a NEC meeting that took place in Bauchi in Bauchi State on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Among those suspended include Bashir Idris Aliyu, Alhaji Ibrahim Sidi Bamali and Engr Michael Ayuba Auta and the decision of their suspension were said to soon be forwarded to the National Working Committee of the Labour Party and other relevant bodies for further actions. While speaking with newsmen in Kaduna on Saturday, Idris Yusuf, the party's state Public Relations Officer, explained that the party dissociated itself from the illegal and counterfeit group of the party led by one Lamidi Apapa. He said, We hereby affirm and assert our loyalty, support and commitment to the National Working Committee of our great Party led by our lawfully recongnised National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure. He called on the members and the general public to disregard anyone or group parading themselves as state officials of the party in Kaduna outside the duly constituted and recognized state exco led by Hon Auwal Tafoki. He stated that Kaduna State Labour Party was committed to ensuring that the party remains united and becomes the most formidable political platform in the state and in Nigeria that will produce visionary and transformational leaders. He added that members of the party cannot be distracted by a few disgruntled elements whose major aim is to service their greed to the detriment of the party and the country. The party's spokesperson explained that members of the party in the state affirmed and assert their loyalty, support and commitment to the National Working Committee led by the lawfully recongnised National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure. He stated that following the sudden emergence of a renegade faction in the Labour Party led by one Lamidi Apapa, the party is being assaulted by agents of destabilisation and commotion, stressing that millions of supporters are watching the shameful drama carried out by these enemies of democracy with disdain. He implored the public to note that the entire drama of indignity going on was being sponsored by an electoral bandit whose main aim is to use a fake Labour Party NWC to scuttle the weighty petition the party and their Presidential candidate, Peter Obi tabled before the Presidential Election Tribunal. He added that the intention was to create parallel structures at the national level and over the states to lend support to the dirty agenda of scuttling the mandate of Mr Peter Obi and Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed in the 2023 Presidential elections. The President-elect, Bola Tinubu; Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; a former Osun State governor, Gboyega Oyetola, and an associate, Oladipo Eludoyin, have been allegedly linked to 20 properties bought in the United Kingdom when he (Tinubu) was serving as Lagos State governor. According to an investigative report published on Friday, May 5, by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, 17 of the properties were bought by Eludoyin, Tinubus long-term associate and a director of Aranda Overseas Corp., between 2004 and 2007. The OCCRP is a global network of investigative journalists with staff members on six continents, Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, North America, and Australia, whose main agenda is exposing corruption and preventing crime. A Bloomberg investigation had on Tuesday reported that Seyi, Tinubus son, is the main shareholder of Aranda Overseas Corp. an offshore company he used in purchasing a $10.8 million property under probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Concerning the recent expose, the OCCRPs Friday report read, Tinubu, whose victory in February is being challenged in court, has been keeping part of his wealth in the United Kingdom, where he and his close associates own at least 20 properties that were mostly acquired when Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State. OCCRP has uncovered more than a dozen other properties with links to Tinubu. Tinubus spokesman did not respond to email and text messages seeking comment, the investigation reads. Tinubu was forced to forfeit $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993 as proceeds of narcotics trafficking, according to the ruling of a U.S. District Court in Illinois. However, about a year later, Abeeb Holdings Limited, an offshore company registered in Gibraltar with Tinubu as the beneficial owner, bought Flat 9 at 96-100 New Cavendish Street in London. His connection to Abeeb Holdings Limited has been revealed, thanks to the Register of Overseas Entities, a new measure designed by the UK to reveal the true owners of offshore firms that hold property in the country, OCCRP reports. The OCCRP said it later found that Eludoyin is also the beneficial owner of 17 UK properties through three offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. The organisation added that Fashola, Tinubus former aide and successor, and Sanwo-Olu, Tinubus former aide and incumbent governor of Lagos State, also had a hand in controlling Aranda Overseas Corp. internal affairs. Fashola also signed and presented the allotment of shares of Aranda Resources Limited to Nigerias corporate registry in December 2001. Fasholas spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. Sanwo-Olu was a director in Aranda Resources Limited until 26 days before his first day in office as governor in May 2019. His spokesperson also did not respond to requests for comment, the report said. The OCCRP report further noted that Eludoyins properties were purchased between 2004 and 2007 when Tinubu was governor of Lagos State, adding that he also did not respond to a request for comment. The report added, Another director of Aranda Resources Limited and Aranda Overseas Corporation, Adegboyega Oyetola, was elected governor of the Nigerian southwestern state of Osun in 2018, and Tinubu was widely credited for his electoral success. It is not clear when he became the beneficial owner, but when Aranda Overseas Corporation was incorporated in November 1999 in the tax haven British Virgin Islands, the younger Tinubu (Seyi) was 14 and had just been admitted into Milton Abbey School in England for his secondary school education while his father (Bola Tinubu) had just spent nearly six months as the governor of Lagos State. Report Credit: The Punch Individuals must understand the potential consequences of their arrest and take proactive steps to protect their rights and interests. Dallas, TX --News Direct-- Prodigy Press Wire Many people are concerned about how an arrest will affect their future and whether they will lose their job. Individuals should seek the advice of a Texas criminal defense attorney to understand the potential consequences of their arrest. Although the American criminal justice system presumes that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, public perception frequently convicts someone before they have their day in court. Employers are protected under federal law from refusing to hire someone because of an arrest or criminal record. In contrast, Texas state law limits employer background checks for individuals with a criminal record. A skilled Texas criminal defense attorney can assist individuals in understanding the laws and regulations governing employment and arrests and advise them on the best course of action. Individuals must understand the potential consequences of their arrest and take proactive steps to protect their rights and interests. Having an arrest record can make it challenging to find work, but it's important to remember that an arrest does not automatically mean you'll lose your job. Communicating with your employer is essential because some are more understanding and supportive than others. To summarize, an arrest can have serious consequences for an individual, including losing their job. Individuals should seek the counsel of a criminal defense attorney to understand their rights and the potential consequences of their arrest. A legal professional can assist individuals in navigating the legal process and protecting their rights and interests. Call us at 214-974-3335 or send us a message here so that we can review your case with you. Media contact: Rene William for Plano and Dallas TX Criminal Defense Lawyer John Helms Phone: 214-666-8010 Release ID: 603366 View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/plano-and-dallas-tx-criminal-defense-lawyer-explains-how-an-arrest-can-significantly-impact-a-persons-life-including-their-job-382599200 Adele Weders biography of Ron Thom is a very important study. Subtitled The Life of a Creative Modernist (2022), it details the career of one of Canadas outstanding 20th-century architects and offers a sensitive interpretation of Ron Thoms many relationships and the nature of his personal demons. It is a page-turner that dramatizes the vulnerabilities of a man who devoted his career to the artistic dimension of architecture during a period of increasing corporatism, administrative penny-pinching, and public fascination with the construction of tall buildings in Vancouver and Toronto. Such has been the tenor of Canadian architecture for the last half-century. It is possible to see Thom as its victim, brought down by its conflicting demands and his own addiction to alcohol. Or as a modernist hero of our time. Ronald James Thom (1923-1986) was born in Penticton, B.C. and died in Toronto. Sadly, by the mid-1980s he was deeply at odds with the architectural firm, R.J. Thom & Associates, that he had founded. But he left behind a rich legacy of buildings and personally-designed houses in British Columbia and Ontario; his architectural achievements remind us of the enduring value of buildings lovingly created with attention to spatial beauty, cultural comforts, and environmental harmony. I have personally experienced aspects of that legacy. Ron Thom came of age as a student at the Vancouver School of Art. He shifted from an early commitment to the piano (encouraged by his mother) to the drafting table and painting in high school, and that self-propelled change became his destiny. He had from the outset extraordinary determination and intense focus. His watercolour architectural drawings, which tended to emphasize landscape vistas, impressed both architects and friends alike. However, he quickly learned the importance of giving each building its due prominence over landscape, and was taken on as an apprentice by the Vancouver firm of Sharp & Thompson, Berwick, Pratt. Ned Pratt was then emerging as the firms leader; though older than Ron, their careers would run in parallel for several decades; Pratt saw in Thom both a very talented practitioner and a potential rival. In 1953 Ron was one of several young B.C. architects who worked on the path-breaking B.C. Electric Building; he was the lead designer on this much-praised, highrise project. By then he had also become a leader in promoting the arts and artists in Vancouver. Wood was his favourite building material and he advocated for the increased use of plywood. He put his intricate wood designs to vivid use in several houses he designed for friends in the Vancouver area. Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, he experimented with the hexagonal grid that created attractive angularities much different from the conventional grid. His inventiveness is evident in his designs for such impressive residences as Southworth House, Carmichael House, and Dodek House. By 1961 his work had become so prominent in British Columbia that the Vancouver Art Gallery mounted a one-man show in his honour. By then eastern Canadians were awakening to his skills as a designer. In 1960, alerted by Geoff Massey (the nephew of Vincent Massey who was then working in Vancouver), he was invited by the Massey family to submit designs for their new residence for graduate students at the University of Toronto. The Masseys subsequently chose his design and the college was built in the early 1960s, following the familys wishes for a design concept that showed less Frank Lloyd Wright and more of Canadian modernity. Vincent Massey urged Thom to create a form that should possess certain qualities dignity, grace, beauty and warmth. Underlining warmth, Thom succeeded brilliantly, despite the concerns of the colleges first Master, Robertson Davies. By Thoms own estimate, This building should be capable of unfolding itself by degrees probably never completely. It represents to the student within, a condensed piece of the world that must accommodate all his changing moods and attitudes. A tall order, that, but one that Ron Thom, artist and architect, successfully met. It was not an easy go for him. In their pursuit of academic grandeur the Masseys were penny-pinchers and imposed limits on Thoms vision even as they supported it in principle. But, with all the excitement on Devonshire Place as one of Canadas most striking university buildings arose across the street, T.H.B. Symons, then the head of Devonshire House, saw in Ron Thom the man he wanted to oversee his new project, Trent University in Peterborough. Trent is often seen as Thoms greatest set of buildings (with Champlain College as his showpiece), but his firm would go on to create many more including the Shaw Festivals main theatre, Pearson College, and the Metropolitan Zoo in Toronto. After 1966 I was privileged to experience two of Ron Thoms path-breaking Ontario achievements, though it took time for me to appreciate their full significance and to understand their place in Ron Thoms life. In 1966, while beginning graduate studies in English Literature at the University of Toronto, I was made a Junior Fellow of Massey College. I spent many comfortable hours there as a day-student, enjoying the ambience and centrality of my academic base. Then in 1970, returning to work on my doctorate, I again made Massey College my campus home. My study carrel was a refuge from the bigness of the campus, the competitive atmosphere of graduate studies, and the grit of downtown Toronto, even as it provided me with a quiet place to study and to grow there I eased into the world of serious academic endeavour working with the college librarian Desmond Neill and Canadian poet Douglas Lochhead who supervised the Colleges collection of rare printing machines. And the College itself was a joy to inhabit there was the capacious common room on the ground floor for reading and meeting friends, the well-appointed reference library downstairs, the quiet of my own carrell, and the dining room upstairs where I made so many interesting acquaintances all these were warm and thoughtful aspects of Ron Thoms vision. During those years of graduate study, Massey College was my comfort zone, as it was for many other graduate students. Fast forward to 1972 when I received an offer from Trent University to join the English department as a fill-in for a year. I found myself in another attractive, but much larger, Ron Thom environment. My assigned office was in Lady Eaton College, not the celebrated Champlain College. Nevertheless, I found myself once again enjoying the working and social conditions that were essential aspects of Ron Thoms vision. Most of the offices at Lady Eaton looked out on the impressive campus drumlin that changed its colours with each passing season. All the offices were book-lined, had specially designed furniture, and could seat 7 to 10 students comfortably. There were few square lines therein. What a gift that was to be able to discuss books and aspects of education together with my tutorial students in a comfortable, wood-trimmed space. I also found the Thom-designed Bata Library, gracefully overlooking the Otonabee River, an excellent place to do research. Fortunately, my one-year appointment was renewed, especially as I had come to realize that small-scale tutorials were my preferred method of teaching. I enjoyed my Lady Eaton office for 27 years, then spent another decade in Wallis Hall at Catharine Parr College, another of Ron Thoms well-designed academic buildings. I see now that those experiences made a tremendous contribution to my academic life. The visionary stamp of Ron Thom impressed itself profoundly upon both my teaching career and my love of literature. I realize now how very lucky I was to have experienced Massey College and Trent University. Reach Michael Peterman , professor emeritus of English literature at Trent University, at mpeterman@trentu.ca SHARE: Trinity-St. Andrew's United Church on Prince Edward Street is currently preparing for Pride-related activities in Brighton. When Pat Archer and Amy Zierler moved to Brighton, the municipalitys vibrant rainbow bench and colourful crosswalk caught the attention of the same-sex couple in their seventies. Settling into Brighton has been an inclusive experience in a few ways for Zierler and Archer. When we moved to Brighton about a-year-and-a-half ago, we happily noted signs of a welcoming community such as the Pride bench and crosswalks downtown, Zierler said, upon reflection with Archer. Then, in our first June here, we joined the Pride walk, found friends with and within Trinity-St. Andrews (United Church), and were really heartened by this welcome. As a retirement-age couple, we may not need affirmation of our identities the way younger people do, but everyone benefits from feeling seen and supported, and Trinity-St. Andrews has given us that, Zierler said. With June recognized as Pride Month in Canada, Trinity-St. Andrew's United Church is currently preparing for Pride-related activities here. The Prince Edward Street church is hosting its second annual Pride walk and worship service on Sunday, June 4. The walk will begin at the church, carry on to the rainbow crosswalk on Terry Fox Drive, wind back to the rainbow bench on Main Street, and conclude with the service in Memorial Park on Main Street. We invite everyone in the community to come out and share in celebrating joy and love for all, Jeanette Cournoyer, chair of the affirm committee at Trinity-St. Andrews, told the Brighton Independent. Later during Pride Month, a group of Brightonians, spearheaded by resident Amy McQuaid-England, is working in collaboration with PARN-Your Community AIDS Resource Network in Peterborough to host another event in Memorial Park. The inaugural Pop Up Pride in Brighton takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 11. Supported by PARN and organized by local volunteers, this event is a celebration of love, acceptance, and inclusivity for all members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and their allies, and a fun day for chosen families to come together, PARN said, in a social media post about the event. Enjoy a lip sync contest, arts and crafts, face painting, and more. We encourage everyone to come out and show their support for the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Brighton. Let's come together to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all. Creating a safe space in Brighton for the 2SLGBTQ+ community in general, and for those who may not feel comfortable in a church environment, is important to Municipality of Brighton Coun. Bobbi Wright. Wright seconded a motion introduced by Coun. Anne Butwell during a recent council meeting that included calling on the municipality to recognize June as Pride Month, to fly the rainbow flag at the Alice Street municipal centre, and to acknowledge June 11 as the official Pride pop-up day at Memorial Park. Brighton has flown the Pride flag for a period in June for the past few years and the municipality painted the rainbow crosswalk in 2021. The rainbow bench was introduced downtown in 2020, as an initiative of G. Boyd Boutique business owner Gina Boyd and the Brighton Downtown Business Improvement Area. At the council meeting, Wright spoke passionately about inclusion of the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Brighton. I have family and friends I adore who are part of this community and I want to see them safe and loved and heard, Wright later told the Brighton Independent. Inclusivity of LGBTQ+ individuals is important at all levels, but especially at leadership, because it promotes equality, respect, and acceptance for all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression. LGBTQ+ individuals have historically faced discrimination, harassment, and marginalization in various aspects of their lives, including employment, housing, healthcare, and education, Wright noted. The Trinity-St. Andrew's United Church congregation started its journey of supporting and welcoming members of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities more than 11 years ago, Cournoyer said. The impetus was the congregation's desire to perform same-sex marriages in the church, Cournoyer explained. This led to discussions about the congregation's desire to openly welcome members of the LGBTQ2S+ communities into the congregation. Trinity-St. Andrews congregation then began the United Church's "Affirm United/S'Affirmer Ensemble" structured process for becoming an affirming congregation. In 2012, the local church formally became an "affirming congregation" that publicly and intentionally affirms its commitment to inclusion for all people regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disabilities, ethnic background, or economic circumstances. Over the years, the congregation has actively supported members of the LGBTQ2S+ communities in Brighton and beyond through programming for youth, supporting parents and families, attending local Pride events, and leading community events, Cournoyer said. In 2021, in response to the defacing of the Pride crosswalk, Trinity-St. Andrews organized Brightons first Pride walk. More than 75 people turned up to take steps and show their support for 2SLGBTQ+ community members. Also in 2021, Trinity-St. Andrews painted the main steps into the church in bright rainbow colours and recently added bands of pink, blue and white on the side steps in support of the transgender community. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With June recognized as Pride Month, we looked at activities being planned in Brighton, and explored their significance to 2SLGBTQ+ Brightonians and their allies. SHARE: People gathered outside the U.K. Shoppe at Market Plaza Saturday to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. The monarch was formally crowned in London Saturday. He takes the throne after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last fall. Saturdays gathering in Peterborough included members of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment Pipe Band. SHARE: Coercion and intimidation as policy forcing people into nursing homes then taking credit for that? The Ontario government is clueless if it believe this is success. The government could be funding the alternatives intensive in-home supports, staffed, non-profit small community residences in every community, paid family caregivers so people can take a leave of absence to care for loved ones. This government could be tying funding they give to nursing homes to the person instead of the facility to allow individuals and families to organize their own supports at home but it won't. Instead it rewards nursing home corporations with some of the worst track records in failure to comply with legislation and high death rates during the pandemic some the subjects of the military report. They give them even more beds. The government apparently believes that people having no choice but to be institutionalized is a success. A success for whom? The government, their wealthy friends who own long-term care companies, and hospital CEOs who are making a fortune? It is certainly not a success for the people forced into institutions against their will under threat of being fined. Mass institutionalization is a human rights issue. And the only people it is still happening to in this province are elders and prisoners. The orphanages, residential schools, institutions for people with developmental disabilities have all been closed. But we still herd elders by the thousands into big institutions. That is not a success. That is a human tragedy. And a massive failure of public policy. Dr. Patricia Spindel, chair, Seniors for Social Action Ontario SHARE: ROME (AP) The Italian tourism ministry thought it had a sure-fire way to bring travelers into the country: turning a 15th century art icon into a 21st century virtual influencer. The digital rendition of Venus, goddess of love, based on Sandro Botticellis Renaissance masterpiece Birth of Venus, can be seen noshing on pizza and snapping selfies for her Instagram page. Unlike the original, this Venus is fully clothed. The influencer claims to be 30, or maybe just a wee bit (older) than that. But the new ad campaign is facing significant backlash with critics calling it a new Barbie that trashes Italys cultural heritage. The tourist campaign trivializes our heritage in the most vulgar way, transforming Botticellis Venus into yet another stereotyped female beauty, Livia Garomersini, an art historian and activist with Mi Riconosci, an art and heritage campaign organization, said in a response to the project last month. The yearlong campaign, produced by national tourism agency ENIT and advertising group Armando Testa, is estimated to have cost 9 million euros (about $9.9 million), according to ENIT CEO Ivana Jelinic. Jelinic said that the campaign was designed for overseas markets to attract younger tourists. The online Venus launched in Italy on April 20 and made her international debut in Dubai at the Arabian Travel Market earlier this week. We liked the idea that it would be a work of art that is timeless, Jelinic told The Associated Press, adding that Botticellis Venus seemed to us like a immortal icon who could represent Italy well. Already the new Venus has been memed mercilessly online, appearing among trash bins, alongside Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, and in other less-than godly places. The criticism extends beyond the use of a masterpiece to the manner in which the campaign was orchestrated, including its use of stock images and other gaffes like a promotional video featuring a winery in Slovenia, used as a stand-in for Italy. An even greater sin for many is the campaigns slogan, Open to Meraviglia (Open to Wonder), because it mixes English into an Italian tourist campaign even as the countrys government seeks to protect the Italian language as a pillar of its culture. There are other language faux pas. On the campaigns website, an automatic translator turned Brindisi, a southern Italian port town, into its literal English definition: Toast, according to Matteo Flora, a professor at the University of Pavia. That part of the website has now been obscured. Lets not talk about the creativity point of view, said Flora, You may like (the campaign) or not, but on a technical point of view, it has been... a sort of avalanche of problems. That includes a failure to secure domains, allowing anyone to snatch the material and mock the project with it. Flora said the campaign also wasted money. The campaigns creative team chose to use the intelligence of human creativity, rather than artificial intelligence, to build the virtual Venus but Flora showed how he could quickly come up with a similar campaign using AI at a cost of 20 euros. His social media posts have been shared by thousands of people. The use of a likeness of Botticellis masterpiece has been lambasted by art historians as well, who say it vastly diminishes the beauty and mystery of the 15th century original. Perhaps Botticelli would not be happy about this, said Massimo Moretti, a professor of art history at the University of Rome, Sapienza. Any use of an iconic image like the Birth of Venus risks striking a cultural nerve, marketing experts say. The more you try to alter something thats historic, probably the greater the outcry, said Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace Universitys Lubin School of Business. People are going to say, Youre changing the culture. Youre changing who we are, because its part of our history, Chiagouris added. I didnt like the fact that they used the Botticelli Venus like that, since it is a piece of art, Riccardo Rodrigo, a high school student in Rome, said. They made it something social friendly to amuse Gen Z, I think it was unnecessary since it can be used just like it is and not modified like they did. The Uffizi Galleries, which houses Botticellis Birth of Venus in Florence, declined to comment on the campaign. For the creators of the campaign, however, any press is good press. It has become so viral, said Jelinic of ENIT, adding that web users have made her come alive even when placing the new Venus in unglamorous places. I find (it) interesting in terms of social communication, Jelinic said. Our campaign is more appealing than (critics) want to admit. Tourism officials plan to expand the campaign through the use of billboards as well as video screens in airports and railways. ____ Grantham-Philips reported from Washington, D.C. SHARE: A coronation is, by its nature, a celebration of hierarchy. Its entire point is to appoint one person supreme above all others in the country, however symbolic that power might be in the case of King Charles III. It only follows, then, that the seating chart for an event like this would be an intricate exercise in power dynamics, particularly when youre figuring out where to put the kinds of people royals, politicians, church leaders, celebrities who would usually be placed in prime position at any other event they attend. Throw interpersonal undercurrents into the mix (yes, were looking at you, Prince William and Prince Harry), and getting this right must have been a nightmare exercise for the coronations organizers. Earl Marshall, who also organized the late Queens funeral in September, had that honour. When it came to the VIP seats, however, there was only one place to be: the so-called Coronation Theatre, the coronation equivalent of being in the pit at a concert, feet away from where the action is taking place. To make the cut for these exclusive rows of seats is a big deal, but even within this ticket block, as it were, theres a pecking order and its fascinating to look into whos in (and whos out) of the royal books right now. Lets delve into some of the more interesting seat placements. Prince Harry Where would Prince Harry sit at the coronation? This was the question that everyone especially anyone who read the explosive Spare was waiting to see. In the end, the Duke of Sussex was seated in the third row, right next to other non-working royals like his cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Harry was separated from his brother, Prince William, by a row that included the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, one of Queen Elizabeths cousins. If were judging this purely by the standards of protocol, Harrys placement is unremarkable. Hes not a senior royal anymore, so he doesnt sit with the other senior royals. His status as the kings son in this equation is irrelevant. Of course and heres where things get juicy theres so much more to this saga than bloodless protocol. While its entirely possible that there was some precoronation meeting that we, the public, arent privy to, this is almost certainly Harrys first public encounter with his family since he published a memoir that, well, took no prisoners amongst his family members. Even before Spare was published in January, though, relations had been frosty (to put it mildly) between Harry and his family. Seating has also been a bone of contention before. In fact, part of Harrys reluctance to RSVP yes to the coronation was apparently due to the fact that negotiations over where he and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, might sit (and whether they would ride in any procession) didnt go his way. According to royal biographer Robert Lacey, he hadnt been happy with where they were seated at last years Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which they equated to social Siberia. Looked at in that light, not only was Harry seated three rows back at the coronation, he was also several people down from his brother William and his family. This gave him a vantage point to watch his brother, and he seemed like he took advantage of that, frequently glancing his way during the coronation service. Otherwise, he was stone-faced. Lip readers, however, did catch him saying the odd thing to his fellow guests. Delightful, hello, and look at that are among the anodyne things he seems to have murmured. The most revealing, however? What he (apparently) said to his seating chart neighbour, Princess Eugenies husband Jack Brooksbank: I will be straight to the airport. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex While there wasnt technically an empty seat beside Prince Harry, his wifes absence was palpable at the coronation. Meghan declined to attend, with the generally accepted official reason being that May 6 is also their son Archies 4th birthday, and they wanted at least one of his parents there in California to celebrate with him. (Hence, in part, Harrys eagerness to get out of town on the next flight out.) Its far more likely, however, that Meghans decision not to attend was spurred by some combination of unwillingness to submit herself to yet another feeding frenzy by the British tabloid press and a general move to distance herself from the royal family. Prince William, Princess Kate and family Prince William, Kate, and their children were the VVIPS, barring King Charles and Queen Camilla themselves. William and Kate, wearing the formal best, were seated in not just the front row, but the end of the row closest to where the actual coronating occurred. (William played a significant part in the ceremony, as he knelt and pledged allegiance to his father, the king. Charles displayed a brief flutter of emotion as his son kissed his cheek.) Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis were seated between their parents. Louis was discreetly whisked away for a large chunk of the ceremony because, well, hes five. Very sweetly, Louis fumbled the national anthem at the end, singing God save the Queen instead of king. Prince George The second-in-line to the throne had more important things to do than sit with his parents. He served as a page of honour, carrying the kings train alongside other aristocratic lads that include several of Camillas grandsons. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh Interestingly, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie made the front row. The couple were recently elevated to the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh the Duke title had previously belonged to Prince Philip, and was recently given by Charles to his youngest brother on his birthday. Edward and Sophies prime position at the coronation plus, the fact that they were also in the full regalia, one of the few other royals to be so permitted is surely a signal that they will play an increasingly prominent part in the royal family going forward. Queen Camillas family One of the overlooked details about this coronation tends to be its significance as a blended family event, the first to ever involve a monarch with stepchildren, a.k.a. Camillas kids with her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. Camillas son Tom and Laura were there albeit not in prominent seats and her three grandsons served as pages of honour, right alongside Prince George. After the coronation, Camillas grandsons appeared right next to King Charles on the balcony. The Middletons After Prince Harrys third-row placement, where the Middletons sat has to be the most interesting placement of them all. Princess Kates whole family father, Michael; mother, Carole; sister, Pippa; brother, James were seated in the same section of the abbey as other royalty, albeit in one of the very back rows. Its a foreshadowing of the future, when one day the Middletons will be watching Kates own coronation, likely in even better seats. (And with their spouses, one would hope! Like many other guests, they didnt get to bring them this time.) Prince Andrew The question of where to put Prince Andrew forced to take early retirement from working royal duties after sexual assault allegations that were later settled out of court was another tricky one for organizers. As with Harry, protocol came in to assist: He was seated on the end of that same third row, next to his daughters and their spouses. What was striking, however, was that Prince Andrew was wearing full regalia, including a blue robe and a red sash. As a duke, thats his due, but it was a fascinating contrast to Prince Harry, also a duke, who apparently specifically asked the king if he could wear a suit like the other male guests. Prince Andrews ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, was not in attendance. Read more about: SHARE: I taste wine for a living, and I cant turn the critic in me off. That means certain vacations will never happen. Mornings met with mountains of mediocre melon, sloppy eggs piled into chafing dishes and coffee that tastes like dirty dishwater will never cut it. So I head to Paris regularly where they nail the food and wine thing at every turn, live well and make it look easy. Here, people eat outdoors at cafes where lovers kiss, friends lean into each other rapt with quiet conversation and families share proper midday meals. The city buzzes quietly with stylish locals going about their day. This is Paris. Its my favourite place, hands down. I recently returned for a holiday, visiting old favourite spots and discovering new ones. Here are a few of my Paris must-visits. For a touch of glamorous history: Les Deux Magots The big criticism of Les Deux Magots is that its touristy. And it is. After all, who wouldnt want to visit that famous cafe at 6 Pl. Saint-Germain des Pres once frequented by Simone de Beauvoir, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and their contemporaries? But its also loved by Parisians because the food and service rise to a very high standard. And its a bit of a scene. I was having a morning cafe there one Sunday years ago when the late Karl Lagerfeld pulled up in a black car wearing his trademark dark shades and starched, white-collared shirt. He was with a chic, middle-aged woman in fishnets and a mini skirt. They paused at the boulevard then sauntered in to eat. Today, the place still buzzes with well-heeled locals. I like to go in the morning for the very good coffee and tartine served with the impossibly good butter beurre Poitou-Charentes AOP. I also go for lunch for a glass of the consistently excellent Domaine de la Perriere Sancerre and the salade Deux Magots, comprised of lettuce, chicken breast, ham, Comte cheese, tomato and boiled egg. For an excellent meal: Brasserie Le Nesle Brasserie Le Nesle at 22 Rue Dauphine serves the most effortlessly superb food. I fell in love with the Salade Detox when I was there in February. Half an avocado, a pile of cubed feta, wedges of tomato, sliced cucumber, lima beans and a scoop of quinoa perched on top of a shallow bowl of mixed greens, all drizzled with a delicious Dijon-scented dressing. Even the bread served with it is first-rate and mops up the last bit of dressing once the salad is gone. Ive been recreating that dish ever since. Also outstanding is the Coeur de Faux-Filet a pan-seared steak with mashed potatoes, peppercorn sauce and salad. This dish works well with the brasseries house Brouilly a quenching red from Beaujolais. And the creme brulee is very good. Creme brulee is difficult to get right: The custard should be cold and rich but not too dense, and the brulee should be warm and shatter with the tap of a spoon. When properly prepared, its a dish of delectable contrasts, which Le Nesles version achieves. For an authentic feel: Rue Mouffetard When in Paris, I always wander about Rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter. Lined with small shops selling cheese, wine, chocolate, bread and pastries as well as meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, it epitomizes French living. And its not very touristy relatively speaking. I always stop at Cave La Bourgogne at 144 Rue Mouffetard at around 5 or 6 oclock for a kir, that French cocktail made with Creme de Cassis topped up with crisp, unwooded white wine from Burgundy usually Aligote but occasionally Chablis. Parisians tend to pause late afternoon for a Perrier, Coca-Cola or aperitif. Then, theyll dine at around 8 or 9 oclock so its a good time to refresh. Paris is a city of rituals that structure the day. Its one of their secrets of good living. For an elegant stay: Hotel dAubusson I recently discovered the Holy Grail of Parisian accommodations Hotel dAubusson at 33 Rue Dauphine in Saint-Germain-des-Pres. Originally a townhouse dating back to the 17th century, its like staying at a posh friends place with extras. The beds are dreamy. The hotel jazz bar comes alive every evening. And the pool area with private enclaves is the perfect place to bliss out. Treats magically appeared each afternoon in my room: The first day, a bottle of Deutz Champagne on ice; the next, a box of chocolates; then a tray of fresh fruit.; and so on. And turndown service turned up more little delights bonbons, bite-sized sable cookies and perfect madeleines. Hotel dAubusson is not inexpensive, but it earns every one of its five stars and costs less than other luxury places in Paris. Im back in Toronto now. Eating detox salads, buying a baguette daily at my local French bakery and inviting friends around for apero. Apero is a French occasion that involves pre-dinner drinks and snacks with no real Canadian counterpart. And it's pure Paris to me. Carolyn Evans Hammond is a Toronto-based wine writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. She travelled independently for this story. SHARE: Below is the Stars live coverage of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey in London. Follow our Royal Family hub for more coverage. 6:20 p.m. The King spoke his first prayer and the gravity of coronation swept through Westminster Abbey: I come not to be served but to serve. That was what Charles III chose to avow at his coronation Saturday, an echo down through the years of the troth which his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, gave when she was enthroned seven decades ago, pledging a lifetime of fidelity to her subjects. Even stony hearts should have softened, writes the Stars Rosie DiManno. Then there is Harry. Harry came and within 24 hours was gone. Read more about the coronation of King Charles III, a rich spectacle of regalia and fraught family relations. 5 p.m. Love the monarchy or not, they put on a heckuva show. The coronation of King Charles III was a grand display of maximum pomp that was enough to lure many of us out of bed at 5 a.m. The dress code was daytime formal, also observed by heads of state and foreign royals. Kate and Camilla looked great. King Charles changed his coronation outfits like he was in a rom-com montage. The Stars Leanne Delap decodes secret coronation fashion messages in our full analysis here. 3:30 p.m. It was a historic day that may be forgotten tomorrow. The Kings biggest challenge will be his restless young subjects, writes the Stars Vinay Menon. Scanning the crowds that came out in patriotic, Union Jack force on Saturday, you didnt see many 20-somethings. A recent survey found nearly 40 per cent of Gen Z across the pond want to abolish the monarchy. Read more about how to Gen Z, King Charles is Gen ZZZ. 2 p.m. Not even the steady showers could dampen the pomp and fanfare Saturday as King Charles III and Queen Camilla were crowned at Londons Westminster Abbey. As coronation day in the UK draws to a close, heres a look at memorable moments from the event, as captured in seven photos. Read more: The coronation of King Charles III in beautiful photos 11:34 a.m. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has issued a statement marking the coronation. Today, people across the country and around the world are celebrating the coronation of King Charles III, the first coronation of a Canadian head-of-state in over seven decades, reads the statement sent by Fords office. King Charles III and Queen were crowned on Saturday at Westminster Abbey. Here in Ontario, people are marking this historic event with special ceremonies, concerts, and free admission to attractions and parks across the province. As the King officially takes on his new role, I have no doubt that hell build on his mothers legacy of duty, service and dedication to his people. On behalf of all Ontarians, I wish King Charles III and The Queen every success in their reign. Long live the King! the statement concludes. 11 a.m. A future king watched on as his father was crowned monarch. Prince William, the heir apparent to the British throne, caught a glimpse of what his future crowning could look like as he honoured his father, King Charles III, on his coronation day Saturday. The eldest child of the King and the late Princess Diana, William, 40, played a key role in the coronation service at Londons Westminster Abbey. Read more: Prince Louis steals the show (again) at the coronation After Charles III was anointed and received the bejeweled crown of St. Edward, William paid homage to his father. 10:34 a.m. Ralph Goodale, Canadas high commissioner to the UK, told BBC News that Canadian officials and Buckingham Palace are working to arrange a royal visit from the King. Though an official date has yet to be set, Goodale said: Were looking forward to it within the course of the next several months. King Charles III last visited Canada in May 2022 with Queen Camilla, as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the late Queen Elizabeth II. 10:20 a.m. The government has tasked the Royal Canadian Mint to design and place an effigy of His Majesty King Charles III on Canadian circulation coins. An effigy of the reigning monarch has appeared on Canadian coins since the Mint started production in 1908. The government confirmed with the Bank of Canada that the late Queen Elizabeth IIs portrait on the $20 bank note will be replaced by that of His Majesty King Charles III during the next design process. The reigning monarch has appeared on Canadian bank notes since the Bank of Canada began production in 1935. 10:15 a.m. If you felt a gust of wind around noon British time on Saturday, that may have been Prince Harry, breathing a massive sigh of relief that attending his fathers coronation was finally over. We speculate, of course, but it doesnt feel like a stretch to imagine that this was an occasion Harry was eager to have behind him. A brief refresher on the facts that support this, just from the past few days. 9:55 a.m. Toronto's CN Tower will be lit in green for the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III Saturday night. 9:50 a.m. King Charles III was officially crowned on Saturday at Westminster Abbey during an hour-long ceremony amongst the British Royals, politicians and international dignitaries. Read the full text of the Oath that King Charles took during the ceremony 9:42 a.m. King Charles III and Queen Camilla greeted crowds of well-wishers from Buckingham Palace balcony. 9:17 a.m. What Kate would wear to the coronation of King Charles III had been the subject of nearly as much speculation as whether Harry and Meghan would RSVP yes or no to the new monarchs big day (yes and no, as we now know). Given the millennia of history and tradition this event is steeped in, youd think the well-established protocol would have spelled the answer out for us. But were over a century out from the last time a Princess of Wales attended a coronation and, well, Kate would not have been likely to take too many style cues from the bustled, corseted, extravagantly bejewelled Princess Mary, who didnt think twice about layering a diamond-and-pearl choker with the Lovers Knot tiara converted into its necklace form, topped with the pearl-and-diamond Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. (Fun fact: This would go on to be the tiara Queen Elizabeth II wears on coins and notes.) Everything the Princess of Wales wore during coronation week 9:03 a.m. Post-coronation, safe from the rain in the lobby of a London hotel, a few Brits pondered the future of the monarchy. I think it will just go away, said John Hunter of Whitby, North Yorkshire. He said he likes William, but that the last 15-odd years of scandal have irreparably damaged the throne. If theyre not true to themselves, they cant be a monarchy. " "I think youre being too harsh, chided his partner, Val Trueman. She said she's more optimistic about the monarchy because William and then George will ascend the throne. For her, the fights within the royal family, including the fissure between Prince William and PrinceHarry, proves theyre only human. 8:30 a.m. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have been a hallmark of European aristocracy and nobility for centuries, often featured in portraits along with members of British aristocrats and European nobility. Its believed the dog breed dates back to at least the Renaissance. On the day of the coronation of King Charles III, search interest in the breed has spiked on Google search. Here are five things to know about Cavalier King Charles Spaniels 8:15 a.m. The King and Queen have departed Westminster Abbey. 7:45 a.m. In Hyde Park, everyone sat politely while Charles was crowned so as to not obstruct views. Then, in response to the Archbishop of Canterbury's exhortation, the crowd shouted God save the King! and leapt to their feet. Loud applause. There was also big applause for Camilla when she was crowned earlier in the service, she looked quite overwhelmed. Lots of Champagne being imbibed here in Hyde Park serious amounts. 7:30 a.m. Prince William is wearing the ceremonial uniform of the Welsh Guards, which makes sense since he is a) their colonel b) the Prince of Wales. Among various other medals, celebrating various jubilees, he's also wearing his Pilot Wings badge, which he earned for flying helicopters in the Royal Air Force not that we're able to see it, as it's mostly hidden by the velvet robes William wears as a member of the Order of the Garter, the most senior knighthood in the realm. 7:18 a.m. King Charles and Queen Camilla are now sitting in Westminster Abbey with the crowns on their heads, as the choir sings a new composition by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the celebrated musical theatre composer of works like Phantom of the Opera and Cats. The piece is one of several new works commissioned specifically for this service. 7:18 a.m. Queen Camilla has been crowned. Camilla, King Charless wife of 18 years, received the crown of Queen Mary. 7:17 a.m. The anti-monarchy group Republic said six of its members, including its chief executive, were arrested as they arrived at the protest. Police have said they will have have a low tolerance for people seeking to disrupt the day, sparking criticism that they are clamping down on free speech. 7:15 a.m. The crown atop King Charless head is incredibly heavy, weighing in at five pounds. Made in 1661, St. Edwards Crown is solid gold and set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmaline gems.The no doubt the King practiced wearing the crown before the ceremony. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, wore the iconic symbol around Buckingham Palace ahead of her coronation to get a feel for its weight. King Charles is the seventh monarch to wear the crown in the past 360 years. Some monarchs have crowns specifically made for them. George IV, for instance, commissioned an extravagant diamond crown. But given the financial turmoil around the world, it would perhaps be unfavourable for King Charles III to have commissioned a crown of his own. 7:04 a.m. King Charles III has officially been crowned as King. St Edwards Crown was placed on the Kings anointed head, as members of the congregation cry God save the King. With the solemn portion of the service complete, theres now much fanfare. The Abbey bells are ringing and theres a ceremonial gun salute. The crowning comes after the King received the orb and sceptre with the cross, symbols of secular and spiritual power. 7:01 a.m. A message has just come onto the top of the screen at Hyde Park. TRIGGER WARNING: A gun salute will occur at 12:05. 6:58 a.m. Various pieces of regalia are being handed to the King, as he sits of the chair of St. Edward, which was made in the 14th century and has been used in coronation ceremonies since. First, there are spurs and armills, which would have been worn by a medieval knight. The King then received a sword, which Charles wore before offering in service of God. 6:47 a.m. King Charles has had several costume changes throughout the ceremony: He arrived in the Robe of State, the same one worn by his grandfather George VI in 1937. Underneath that, he wore a custom "Coronation tunic," echoing a similar style worn by previous male monarchs. Under that, he wore a cream shirt, made from silk spun in England; the shirt cuffs are embroidered with acorns, a symbol of hope and strength.During the anointing, Charles stripped down to a simple linen shirt, meant to symbolize humility and purity. He then added the "Supertunica," a glitzy golden robe. When it's time for him to exit the abbey, he'll don his Robe of Estate, also worn by George VI. 6:53 a.m. In Hyde Park, as Handel's "Zadok the Priest" blares from the loudspeakers, Jen and Scott Maslin from Liverpool confirm that they made the right decision to brave the weather. "It's a lot of pomp," said Scott. "But it's worth it." Right on cue, the rain intensifies. 6:52 a.m. After his anointing, the King is now vested with two priestly garments that represent the two natures of Jesus Christ: the Colobium Sindonis, representing humility, and Supertunica, reflecting splendour. 6:48 a.m. King Charles III is being disrobed. He is preparing for the most sacred part of the coronation service, his anointing with holy oil. Three screens have been brought out. The anointing, an incredibly solemn and personal moment, will be conducted out of view of the public. 6:47 a.m. As was widely predicted, Queen Camilla leaned on her go-to couturier, Bruce Oldfield, to create her coronation gown. Made in his atelier in Battersea an area of London a short jaunt from Buckingham Palace Camilla's gown is made from Peau de Soie, a lustrous, matte silk, and specifically designed to work with the two robes she'll wear today. In true royal fashion, it's embroidered with symbolic motifs: daisies, forget-me-nots, celadines and scarlet pimpernels that all represent the couple's love of the British countryside, and the four flowers of the four UK nations. See if you can spot the "celebratory bunting" in the mix too. 6:46 a.m. Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, is now delivering his sermon. He talks about how a Kings duty is to serve. He mentions King Charless commitment to the preservation of nature, and acknowledges community members in the congregation and across the UK who have dedicated their lives to the service of others. The archbishop of Canterbury has conducted the coronation service since the Norman Conquest in 1066. He is the first archbishop to lead a coronation in seven decades, since Queen Elizabeth IIs service in 1953.Welby, who previously worked in the oil industry for 11 years, was ordained in 1992. As part of the Church of England, he was worked extensively in Africa and the Middle East, promoting reconciliation and peace-making. 6:44 a.m. St. Edwards Crown is the official coronation crown place upon a monarch during a coronation ceremony. The crown was made in 1661, to Charles IIs coronation, as a replacement for the medieval crown which had been melted down in 1649. St. Edwards Crown is solid gold and set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmaline gems, along with a velvet cap and an ermine band. According to the Royal Collection Trust, six monarchs have worn the five-pound crown in the past 360 years, making King Charles III the seventh to wear it. (The sixth was Queen Elizabeth II, who wore it during her coronation in 1953.) Read more from the Stars Alessia Passafiume to find out why some of these symbols of power and royal regalia are so important in the crowing of a monarch. 6:41 a.m. In likely the only nod to the late Princess Diana we'll see at this ceremony, Kate, the Princess of Wales, is wearing what look to be her "Collingwood" pearl and diamond earrings. As gems that pay tribute to her late mother-in-law, they're a diplomatic choice: While Diana wore these frequently during her time as a royal, they actually pre-date her marriage to Charles, having been gifted to her by a firm of jewelers favoured by her family, the Spencers. 6:34 a.m. Princess Charlotte is wearing a custom Alexander McQueen cape dress. Like her mother, the Princess of Wales, Charlotte's dress is embroidered with four flowers that represent each of the UK's four nations, and she has a mini-me version of her mother's Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen headpiece. 6:29 a.m. In Hyde Park, Shirley McMorran and her daughter Colleen McMorran, both from Sherwood Park, Alberta, and their group of six have just finished their third bottle of Champagne. Theyve saved one for when they get back to their hotel later. There are scattered boos as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared on the screen to read a passage from the Bible. 6:30 a.m. King Charless coronation oath is slightly different than those that have come before. He pledged, for the first time at a coronation, to be a blessing to all of every faith and belief. The change reportedly comes at the behest of the King, who wanted to acknowledge that the UK is a diverse, multifaith nation. 6:27 a.m. Kate is wearing a gown by Alexander McQueen, the same British designer who made the wedding dress she wore to get married in Westminister Abbey 12 years ago. Kate's ivory silk crepe gown is embroidered with symbolic motifs that represent the United Kingdom: the thistle for Scotland, the shamrock for Ireland, the rose for England, the daffodil for Wales, all in silver bullion thread, topped with the robe for the Royal Victorian Order, to which the late Queen appointed her in 2019. Kate is also wearing what the palace calls a "headpiece" (so, not a tiara!) made by milliner Jess Collet and Alexander McQueen, crafted from silver bullion and crystal. 6:26 a.m. In Hyde Park, a spectator called out, Dont mess this up, Charles, as the new king signed his oath with a fountain pen. That moment of irritation with a faulty pen after the late Queen's death was almost certainly on the monarch's mind. 6:22 a.m. While the choir sings, the King has signed a copy of the coronation oaths, presented by Lord Chamberlain. The oath is a crucial part of the service and was enshrined in law by the parliament of England in the 17th century. 6:21 a.m. In Hyde Park, the rain is intensifying but no one is moving. Laurie Gomes from Florida sits spellbound with her husband: "We can't leave." Among this crowd of hundreds, there was complete silence as King Charles took his oath. 6:20 a.m. Now that everyone is in their seats, a few notes on the royal seating chart: As expected, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their kids (with the exception of Prince George, who is serving as a page carrying his grandfathers train) are in the front row, as close to where Charles is being coronated without actually being part of the ceremony themselves. Prince Harry, by contrast, is seated in the third row, next to Jack Brooksbank, his cousin Princess Eugenie's husband, a reflection of his demotion in the official pecking order since he stepped down as a working royal. Read more about Jack Brooksbank, the only person who made Prince Harry smile at the coronation. Read about who sat where at the coronation and what it means. The Stars Sarah Laing decoded the psychology of the worlds most contentious seating chart 6:18 a.m. Like the monarchs that have come before him, King Charles III has taken the coronation oath. He placed his hand on the Bible, while the archbishop of Canterbury administers the oath. 6:16 a.m. Watching the coronation in Hyde Park, Maryanne Corrado, of Innisfil, Ont., said of King Charles, Hes worthy of the throne now. She also praised Prince George. He looks like a future king. 6:15 a.m. Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, has started the coronation service. I here present unto you King Charles, your undoubted King. Wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service, are you willing to do the same?, he said to those in attendance.God save King Charles, the crowd responds. 6:07 a.m. Queen Camillas coronation necklace and earrings have been worn by queens since 1902. Queen Victoria had them made during her reign to replace the Hanoverian jewels that had to be handed over to her uncle; as a woman monarch, she couldnt inherit the throne of Hanover. 6:06 a.m. Princess Charlotte, in white, is wearing a circlet of silver flowers a regal flower crown, if you will that echoes the one worn by her mother, Kate, the Princess of Wales. 6:05 a.m. The Princess of Wales is in full formal regalia, apparently at King Charles's request. She's wearing a velvet robe over a long dress with silver embroidery and a jewelled head piece, although it's not clear whether we can quite call it a tiara yet. 6:02 a.m. The crowd at Westminster Abbey is standing as the King and Queen proceed down the church, while the choir sings a psalm composed by Hubert Parry for the coronation of Edward VII. Guests are bowing their heads to the King as he slowly walks to the theatre of coronation at the front of the Abbey. 5:58 a.m. King Charles is wearing his ceremonial robe and preparing to enter the Abbey. Behind him, and holding the Kings robe, is Prince George, the Kings grandson. Also behind the King are Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales. Both are wearing their formal robes. 5:56 a.m. Roughly 2,000 people have been invited to the coronation service and are currently inside Westminster Abbey. Attendees include special dignitaries, Royal Family members and politicians from countries around the world. Canadas delegations includes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon. Also in attendance is U.S. first lady Jill Biden and Prince Harry. Perhaps the most notable absence, however, is Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, who has elected to remain at home in California with her and Prince Harrys two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Read more: King Charless coronation guest list: Whos attending and who will be notably absent 5:52 a.m. As guests take their seats in Westminister Abbey, were getting a sense of how theyre interpreting the dress code. It's far less formal than previous coronations, and much more like what we'd expect to see at a royal wedding. Fascinators, rather than tiaras, are the order of the day. Princess Beatrice is wearing a fuchsia tea dress, while her sister Princess Eugenie is in a minimalist navy coat and dress. Princess Anne is one of the few royals in full military regalia. 5:50 a.m. The King and Queen Consort have arrived at Westminster Abbey. The royal church is a historic landmark in more ways than one. It has hosted every coronation ceremony for the last nine centuries, been the setting for 16 royal weddings and is the final resting place of 30 kings and queens.The site of the current church was home to a Benedictine monastery, established around AD 960 under the patronage of King Edgar and St. Dunstan. In the 11th century, King Edward greatly enlarged the site, building a large stone church in honour of St. Peter the Apostle. Edwards church survived until the middle of the 13th century, when King Henry III rebuilt the house of worship in the Gothic style of architecture. The Abbey is still used for regular worship in addition to special royal events, like todays coronation. 5:49 a.m. Prince Harry, arriving alone at the coronation, is fifth in line to the throne. The line of succession is regulated not only through descent, but also by Parliamentary statute. The order of succession is the sequence of members of the Royal Family in the order they stand in line to inherit the throne. Ahead of Harry are the children of his older brother. Second in line to the throne is Harrys older brother, Prince William. Next to inherit the throne is 9-year-old Prince George, the eldest son of Prince William and Kate Middleton, followed by Princess Charlotte who just turned 8 and William and Kates daughter, and then little Prince Louis at just five years old, the youngest son of the Prince of Wales. 5:47 a.m. Camilla is wearing the "Coronation necklace," a 25 diamond piece first made for Queen Victoria in 1858. It's been worn by several queens on their coronation days, including Queen Mary, Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the late Queen Elizabeth II. 5:46 a.m. Some of the horses in the procession appear to have difficulty staying in formation. The horses are being ridden by members of The Sovereigns Escort of the Household Cavalry. They would have had a dress rehearsal earlier this week, marking out the procession route, but the sights and sounds from the event itself can be overwhelming. 5:44 a.m. Members of the Royal Family, including Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, have arrived at Westminster Abbey. Hes here without Meghan Markle, who has elected to remain in California with their two children. Also arriving at the Abbey are the Kings siblings, Prince Edward and Princess Anne. Harry is at the coronation alone, after his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex's decided to stay home in California to be with their son Archie, whose fourth birthday also happens to be today. Read more 5:42 a.m. After travelling through The Mall, the procession is now passing through Trafalgar Square. There are several iconic monuments in the public square. To the southwest is Admiralty Arch, a landmark curved building commissioned by King Edward VII to commemorate his mother, Queen Victoria. At the centre of the square is Nelsons Column, meant to mark Admiral Horatio Nelsons victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. And just south of the square is the statue of King Charles I, with whom the current monarch shares a name. Of note, Charles I was infamously convicted of high treason and beheaded in 1649. Read more: Whats in a name? King Charles IIIs name has loaded history 5:40 a.m. Even though the coronation service at Westminster Abbey is still roughly half an hour away, the ceremony has already started with a program of music performed by the Coronation Orchestra, Monteverdi Choir and various other musicians. Among those set to perform include Canadian cellist Marion Portelance. Its surreal: Canadian to play King Charless former cello in coronation concert When Marion Portelance plays in King Charless coronation concert on Sunday, shell be playing a cello with a special connection to the monarch. 5:33 a.m. Sarah Laing reports on the significance and symbolism of what the royals and other power players are wearing today. Weve had our first glimpse of Camillas coronation outfit. As expected, it appears to be a white, heavily embroidered gown, which is worn underneath the ermine-trimmed Robe of State made for Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation in 1953. This isnt to be confused with the Robe of Estate, which is worn to leave the ceremony. 5:32 a.m. The head of an anti-monarchist group called Republic was arrested at a protest in Trafalgar Square on coronation day, reports the BBC. Protesters in "Not My King" t-shirts appear to be detained by officials in footage shared online, including the groups CEO Graham Smith. The BBC reports six demonstrators, including Mr Smith, were arrested by police while unloading placards near the Coronation procession route, according to the group. Photos shared by the group on Twitter show police officers interacting with protestors wearing bright yellow shirts. So much for the right to peaceful protest, reads the tweet. Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Police announced they would have an "extremely low threshold" for protests during coronation events. 5:31 a.m. A huge cheer from the Hyde Park crowd as we see King Charles and Camilla in the carriage. Everyone scrambles to their feet from their wet grass and mud to lustily sing God Save The King. 5:30 a.m. There are seven official coronation viewing sites around London. The organization at the Hyde Park one is impressive: there are accessibility areas for those with mobility issues, a large water bottle refill area and a quiet space, run by a charity, for neurodiverse people, with music, headphones, fidget toys, weighted blankets and 10 large bean bags. 5:28 a.m. The are two processions on coronation day. This one, the first, is called the Kings Procession. Its smaller than the one planned after the coronation service, though both travel along the same two-kilometre route. Accompanying the King and Queen Consort are The Sovereigns Escort of the Household Cavalry. Read more: King Charless coronation: 3 crowns, 2 carriages, an emoji and a shorter route 5:23 a.m.: The coach that King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, are riding may look old, but it is actually very modern. Theyre travelling in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, drawn by six Windsor Grey horses. The vehicle, built in Australia, was made to honour the late Queen Elizabeth II on the 60th anniversary of her reign in 2012. Though traditional in design, its equipped with all the modern technology needed to make for a comfortable ride, including air conditioning, an aluminum body and six hydraulic stabilizers. On the way back from the service, however, the King and Queen Consort will forgo their 21st-century coach for the notoriously uncomfortable, but blindingly opulent, Gold State Coach, pulled by eight Windsor Grey Horses. The iconic carriage, built in 1762 and used for every coronation since 1831, features painted panels of Roman deities and an interior lined with velvet and satin. But its also been criticized for its lack of comfort. The late Queen Elizabeth II once described her coronation journey in that carriage as horrible and not very comfortable. 5:22 a.m. Its a once in a lifetime experience, said Rebecca Mersin, a London-based Australian teacher, who is watching the coronation celebration in Hyde Park with 11 of her colleagues. Most are agnostic on the monarchy, but say they couldnt miss the coronation. Theyve brought homemade pastries and classic Aussie food, including fairy bread. A crow just grabbed their bag of crisps. 5:21 a.m.: King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, have left Buckingham Palace and are heading to Westminster Abbey, where the coronation service will occur. The two-kilometre procession will take roughly 30 minutes. The royal couple will travel east along The Mall before entering Trafalgar Square. After passing through the iconic Admiralty Arch, a curved stone building commissioned by King Edward VII to commemorate Queen Victoria, the royal carriage will turn onto Whitehall, a road that passes Parliament Square and leads to Westminster Abbey. Read more: Coronation of King Charles: Details about the procession, the air-conditioned carriage and Canadian participants 5:21 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has arrived at Westminster Abbey, along with flagbearers and other leaders from various Commonwealth realms. Trudeau, with his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, is accompanied by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and her husband, Whit Fraser. Carrying Canadas flag is astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who was recently selected as a mission specialist on the Artemis 2 flight to the moon. 5:15 a.m. Former British prime ministers, including Boris Johnson, Tony Blair and Liz Truss, have arrived at Westminster Abbey. 5:13 a.m. Royal writer Patricia Treble is on the ground in Hyde Park, London to report on the coronation festivities: Wearing a Union Jack bucket hat and a blue poncho, Maryanne Corrado, of Innisfil, Ont., is sitting on a black plastic collapsible stool that she packed in her luggage.Why did she come? Coronation, coronation, coronation, said Corrado, who is on a seven-day coronation bus tour of all the big royal sites in the country. Like many, she thought of lining the procession route but decided to watch in Hyde Park with friends she made in the tour group. 5:11 a.m. Royal writer Patricia Treble is on the ground in Hyde Park, London to report on the coronation festivities: A scene from early morning in Londons Hyde Park, where about 100 people had gathered at dawn to start the celebrations. The ground is wet but people are prepared. Jen and Scott Maslin of Liverpool have a Union Jack plastic table cloth covering the damp ground, while Jen wears a Union Jack scarf in her hair. The couple planned a weeks vacation in London to culminate with todays coronation.We might not get another chance, said Jen. When William is on the throne, well be too old to sit in a field. 5:10 a.m. The Diamond Jubilee State Coach, which will transport King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, to Westminster Abbey, has arrived at Buckingham Palace. They are set to depart the palace at around 5:20 a.m. 5:09 a.m. Faith leaders from various communities have entered Buckingham Palace. Prior to coronation day, Buckingham Palace had hinted that faith leaders will have a significant role to play in the service. Since the queens coronation in 1953, the UK is more diverse than ever. 5:04 a.m. The Diamond Jubilee State Coach, which will transport King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, to Westminster Abbey, has arrived at Buckingham Palace. They are set to depart the palace at around 5:20 a.m. 4:52 a.m. The weather today in London is roughly 15C with some light rain showers not unlike that for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II some seven decades ago, which saw temperatures around 12C and light rain throughout the day. 4:50 a.m. Emmanuel Macron, president of France, has arrived at Westminster Abbey with his wife, Brigitte Macron. 4:50 am. Hundreds of anti-monarchy protesters have gathered in Trafalgar Square. 4:42 a.m. Jill Biden, first lady of the U.S., has arrived at Westminster Abbey with her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden. 4:40 a.m. King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, have arrived in a motorcade at Buckingham Palace ahead of their coronation. 4:37 a.m. Singer Katy Perry has arrived at Westminster Abbey. 4:30 a.m. Crowds are growing outside Buckingham Palace and guests are arriving at Westminster Abbey for the coronation. The anti-monarchy group Republic says several of its members have been arrested as they prepared to protest the coronation. 4:25 a.m.: The are two processions on coronation day. This one, the first, is called the Kings Procession. Its smaller than the one planned after the coronation service, though both travel along the same two-kilometre route. Accompanying the King and Queen Consort are The Sovereigns Escort of the Household Cavalry. Read more: King Charless coronation: 3 crowns, 2 carriages, an emoji and a shorter route When is the coronation of King Charles III? The coronation will be held May 6. This is the first British royal coronation since the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, which officially marked the start of her record-breaking reign. The event, scaled-down compared to that of the Kings mother, is expected to hearken back to the monarchys storied traditions while highlighting the royal familys place in the world today. Read the full story Is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau going to the coronation? Trudeau is expected to attend the coronation alongside dignitaries from around the world. Read the full story Are Harry and Meghan going to the coronation? Harry will be there, but Meghan (and the kids) are sitting this one out. The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation service at Westminster Abbey on May 6th. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet," said a spokesperson for Meghan and Harry. Coronation Day also happens to be Archies birthday. Read the full story Where do Harry and Meghan stand with the royals after their coronation decisions? While many of the undercurrents, rivalries and animosities long pre-date Harry and Meghan, they are the couple at the nexus of much of this simmering tension, especially since their RSVP journey played out with more manufactured jeopardy than a reality show finale episode. Did Meghan and Harry both want to attend but were negotiated into a less circus-like compromise by the palace? Or was the palace desperate for them to come for the sake of repairing the family's reputation (and to entice more people to watch the proceedings), but Meghan and Harry chose to honour his family while preserving her peace? Read the full story Who is performing at the coronation? International superstars Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Andrea Bocelli, along with the mega pop group Take That, will all perform at the coronation concert at Windsor Castle The concert is expected to draw a crowd of 20,000 public and invited guests and will be broadcast to millions more around the world. The concert will celebrate a new chapter in the nations history, with themes of love, respect and optimism, celebrating the four nations, their communities and the Commonwealth, the public broadcaster said in a statement. Read the full story Where can you watch the coronation in Toronto? As King Charles IIIs and Queen Consort Camillas coronation day nears, you may looking for places to mark the historic, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime event from a spot that isnt your living room couch. Heres whats happening in Toronto for the coronation, where you can watch and how you can take part in the events. King Charless coronation: A timeline of the procession and events Ahead of the event, heres an hour-by-hour rundown of how coronation day will unfold. How will the royals reckon with Dianas memory at the coronation? The ghost of Diana who she was and what she stood for definitely looms large over this coronation. No one can change the fact that she was the wife of one king as well as the mother and grandmother to two future monarchs, says Christopher Andersen, an American journalist whose most recent book, The King, is a biography of King Charles III. She continues to cast a huge shadow. In a parallel universe, this could have been Dianas coronation day too. In this timeline, Queen Diana would be a relatively youthful 62-year-old anointed alongside Charles. Read the full story What role will Will and Kate play at the coronation? Leaked rehearsal documents obtained by the Times show that William and Kate, along with their children, will be part of a celebratory procession through the streets. But while the palace has treated us to an official Coronation quiche recipe, its still keeping plans for the couples other duties on the day under wraps. Their son Prince George is, in fact, the only Wales with a confirmed role in the proceedings. The palace has announced that he, along with Camillas grandsons and a few other aristocratic lads, will be a page of honour, a job that seems to mostly involve carrying the ancient regalia, like coronets and robes, of various folk involved in the ceremony. In Georges case, that will likely mean helping his dad, William, navigate Westminster Abbey in his finery. Read the full story What will the royals wear to the coronation? There remains quite the shroud around what fashion we will see at the coronation of King Charles III this Saturday. The palace offered a peek of the embroidery on Queen Camillas robe of estate on social media. Then Catherine, Princess of Wales, let it slip to an ITV reporter that there is a hint of blue in her outfit. Its hardly a big giveaway since blue is by far the most prevalent of HRH colours, but its a morsel nonetheless. There are more clues to be gleaned from the dress code. Coronations of the past have been lavish affairs, with their anointed majesties in ermine robes and crown jewels; princesses in coronets and purple velvet mantles; peers of the realm in their own ermine robes; royal dukes busting out the full regalia of the Order of the Garter. Read the full story King Charles IIIs most memorable scandals so far Charles Mountbatten-Windsor waited 73 years to become king. Hes filled the time productively founding the Princes Trust, a charity that has helped created career opportunities for over a million young people from underserved communities; championing the environment long before it was cool; even writing a childrens book. But its also meant hes had seven decades to get into trouble in the unforgiving glare of the public eye. As his coronation approaches, and with it the cementing of his status as head of Britains armed forces and the Anglican church, and king of Canada and 14 other countries, among other things, its as good a time as any to reflect on the missteps that have made the man whom divine right has finally put on the throne. Read the full story Read more about: SHARE: WASHINGTON (AP) First lady Jill Biden, who represented the United States at Saturdays coronation of Britains King Charles III, said there was such beauty in the pageantry of the ceremony and it was just amazing to see. You cant imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on the head of the king and then on the head on the queen, she said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press after the ceremony in London. Its really surreal to see and experience that moment. Charles wife, Camilla, also was crowned queen during Britains first coronation in 70 years. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last September after a seven-decade reign. An American president has never attended a British coronation and President Joe Biden asked the first lady to represent the U.S. in his place. The White House said Jill Bidens appearance marked the first time that a U.S. first lady was present for a British coronation. She brought one of her granddaughters, Finnegan Biden, 24, on the trip. Its my honor to represent the people of the United States and I wanted to be here, Jill Biden said. It was so meaningful to me that I could bring Finnegan here, that we could travel together and experience this together and its meant a lot to both of us. The first lady spoke as she and Finnegan headed to afternoon tea following the coronation at Westminster Abbey. We thought that was something that was so British, she said of their tea time. It was something we really wanted to do together. She said sitting and watching the ceremony led her to think about the importance of traditions. I felt as I sat there, I felt this sense of decorum and civility that binds together people of all nations, she said. At the coronation, Jill Biden sat beside Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine. Jill Biden said they talked about Russias invasion of Ukraine and that Zelenska thanked her again for the support from the United States. Jill Biden said she paid close attention to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welbys message that people everywhere seek hope and joy. And I thought that was such strong message because I think that is true, she said. And its true for all people everywhere, but I think it was important at this moment that the clergy brought that in to this moment in history. The first lady attended a Buckingham Palace reception Friday that was hosted by Charles. She said Charles recounted to her his most recent telephone conversation with President Biden and asked her to give my best to your husband. She said she and Princess Kate chatted as mothers about the lengths to which they go to keep their children quiet in church, feeding them pieces of candy and such. She said she didnt know if her son could sit still for two hours and we just had a good laugh over it, Jill Biden said. Its just something, I think, thats common to a lot of us. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Finnegan Biden is 24, not 23. SHARE: Key Insights The projected fair value for PostNL is 1.25 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Current share price of 1.52 suggests PostNL is potentially 21% overvalued Our fair value estimate is 19% lower than PostNL's analyst price target of 1.54 How far off is PostNL N.V. (AMS:PNL) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple! Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. See our latest analysis for PostNL Crunching The Numbers We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (, Millions) 71.5m 62.1m 77.9m 68.1m 62.3m 58.6m 56.2m 54.7m 53.7m 53.1m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Est @ -12.52% Est @ -8.64% Est @ -5.93% Est @ -4.02% Est @ -2.69% Est @ -1.76% Est @ -1.11% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 9.9% 65.1 51.4 58.7 46.7 38.8 33.2 29.0 25.7 23.0 20.7 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 392m Story continues After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 0.4%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 9.9%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032 (1 + g) (r g) = 53m (1 + 0.4%) (9.9% 0.4%) = 562m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 562m ( 1 + 9.9%)10= 219m 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 611m. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of 1.5, the company appears slightly overvalued at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. dcf Important Assumptions 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 PostNL 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 9.9%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.599. 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 PostNL Strength Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows. Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market. Weakness Current share price is above our estimate of fair value. Opportunity Expected to breakeven next year. Has sufficient cash runway for more than 3 years based on current free cash flows. Threat Paying a dividend but company is unprofitable. Looking Ahead: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and 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. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. Can we work out why the company is trading at a premium to intrinsic value? For PostNL, we've compiled three important aspects you should further research: Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for PostNL you should know about. Future Earnings: How does PNL'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 Dutch 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. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here The coronation of King Charles III took place early Saturday morning in Londons historic Westminster Abbey, prompting well-wishes from across Canada. Heres what people had to say: Today, we ring in the reign of His Majesty King Charles III and reaffirm Canadas enduring commitment to the Commonwealth. As we celebrate this momentous occasion, let us be reminded of our shared values of inclusivity, diversity, and respect for human rights as we work together to build a better future for all members of the Commonwealth. - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ___ It is my great honour and pleasure to congratulate His Majesty King Charles III, King of Canada, on the historic occasion of his Coronation. Seventy years have passed since the last Coronation, offering us an opportunity to reflect on all that has changed in our country, the Commonwealth and the world around us. And so much has changed. The evolution of technology, society and economics is happening at a quickening pace. And while the Crown has also evolved during this time, it continues to be an anchor for our robust and stable democracy and our diverse country. His Majesty has great admiration and affection for Canada, having conducted a number of Royal Tours and visits many times over the years. And I have seen first-hand his dedication to walking the path of reconciliation. His meeting with national Indigenous leaders this week reinforces his interest in renewing the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous peoples. We also welcome His Majestys continued work in advancing issues of global concern and in bringing about positive change, notably through his commitment to encouraging volunteerism, to promoting environmental sustainability and to empowering youth. These interests are reflected in the Coronation itself, as well as in the selection of invited delegates. In fact, I am inspired by all the delegates from Canada and the Commonwealth nationsextraordinary people who are making change happen in their communities every day. Thank you for all that you do and for representing your country at this historic event. As we mark this wonderful occasion, I invite all Canadians to look back on the country we were, celebrate the country we have become, and engage in conversations about the country we want to be. On behalf of all Canadians, I would like to congratulate Their Majesties on this auspicious occasion. I look forward to continuing to support our Sovereign in his important work. - Gov. Gen. Mary Simon ___ We support His Majestys focus on issues relevant to Nunavut, including reconciliation and climate change. The Government of Nunavut is a responsible government with a role for the Crown. We fully support our friend, Governor General Mary Simon, as the Kings representative in Canada. - Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeegok ___ Its the first time our constitutional monarchy will recognize a new Sovereign in 70 years, and it is both a historic and significant moment in our history. I wish King Charles III health and prosperity during his reign and look forward to welcoming His Majesty and Queen Camilla on a visit to P.E.I. at some time in the future. - P.E.I. Premier Dennis King ___ We look forward to witnessing the accomplishments that will come during His Majestys time on the throne, including work on The Kings commitment to reconciliation and continuing to improve the relationship with Indigenous peoples. - Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai ___ The coronation is a triumph of optimism and hope, and a source of inspiration and pride for Albertans, Canadians and people around the world ... Loyal Albertans look forward to a continuing positive relationship with His Majesty as King of Canada, and in whose name the Alberta government performs its duties. - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith ___ This occasion provides an important opportunity to reaffirm our citys commitment to our shared interests with the King, including fighting climate change, advancing Indigenous truth and reconciliation, and honouring religious diversity and multiculturalism. - Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek ___ This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2023. SHARE: B1,000 departure tax proposed for Thais, expats flying abroad BANGKOK: Thai outbound travellers and foreign permanent residents in Thailand have been asked for their opinion on a government departure tax of B1,000 in an attempt to prevent locals from spending excessively abroad, with the Revenue Department announcing online public hearings this week. tourismtransporteconomics By Bangkok Post Saturday 6 May 2023, 02:26PM Travellers crowd the departures hall at Suvarnabhumi airport during the Songkran festival in 2023. A proposed departure tax aims to generate revenue for the government. Photo: Bangkok Post The department posted the public hearing questionnaire on its website, saying it wants to listen to public opinion about an emergency decree on a departure levy, based on a law passed in 1983, in order to assess its impact. The hearings have been scheduled for May 3-17, reports Bangkok Post. According to the questionnaire, Thai citizens and foreign permanent residents would be required to pay a departure tax of B1,000 for air travel and B500 for land and sea travel. The information attached to the poll said the tax aimed to generate revenue for the government and prevent Thais from excessive overseas spending, with a focus on reducing the trade deficit. Charoen Wangananont, president of the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), said the questionnaire came as a surprise when it was posted earlier this week, even though the public hearing process meant it was supposed to be shared as widely as possible to assess the impact on local residents and tour operators. "The principle and the levy rate make no sense at all, as Thailand has never had a problem related to a trade deficit in tourism, with inbound income making up 70% of the total, compared with 30% outbound expenditure. In addition, B1,000 is too expensive amid current economic conditions," said Mr Charoen. He said the levy collection should not happen and is unrealistic. If the government wanted to propose such a tax, it should carefully assess the consequences because it could have a major effect on tourism, exceeding whatever revenue the state estimates it could earn, said Mr Charoen. "We thought this was fake news the first time we saw the poll because it is not the right time to do such a move. If the government really thinks it needs to collect a departure tax, it should have done so before the pandemic, when the tourism industry was on an upward trend. The levy rate should also be more appropriate," he said. Chotechuang Soorangura, vice-president of TTAA, said a development plan should be included with any departure tax so the people who pay it are aware of how the government will spend the revenue. He said while some countries apply a departure tax, such as Japan, the price is only 1,000 yen per person, or around B250. "In addition to being a very expensive tax rate, there is a lack of transparency as the government could not clarify how it will use that money, which would help prevent corruption. Another concern is the 300- baht tourist tax expected to be charged to foreigners in the near future," said Mr Chotechuang. He said if this levy is implemented, the tourism industry would be affected as a number of outbound tourists would refrain from travel, resulting in imbalanced flows of people, causing difficulties for airlines planning flights to Thailand. Drug dealers girlfriend arrested in Phuket after months on the run PHUKET: The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Royal Thai Police has confirmed the arrest of Jaruwan Sriwilas, 24, in connection with the illicit drug business of her boyfriend busted one year ago with 4 kg of crystal methamphetamine (ya ice) and over 400,000 meth pills (ya bah). A warrant for Ms Jaruwans arrest was issued in September. drugscrimepolice By The Phuket News Saturday 6 May 2023, 11:33AM Ms Jaruwan was arrested in Phuket Town on May 5, eight months after Nakhon Sri Thammarat Provincial Court issued an arrest warrant for her. Photo: CIB Ms Jaruwan was arrested in Phuket Town yesterday (May 5) in a joint operation involving the CIB and the Crime Suppression Division (CSD). Both branches of the Royal Thai Police are known for investigating mostly high profile cases. The CIB named the place of the arrest as next to a convenience store in the area of Talad Yai Subdistrict, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket Province. No further information was provided by the CIB. Nothing has been reported in connection with the arrest by Phuket Provincial Police or Mueang Phuket Police. Mr Jaruwans arrest came a year after her boyfriend, still named in the reports only by his first name Pornchai and nickname Jod Tha Sala, was apprehended in Nakhon Sri Thammarat with 4 kg of ya ice and over 400,000 ya bah pills. The suspect was arrested on May 7, 2022, but it took the investigators several months to get enough proof of Ms Jaruwans involvement in her boyfriends illegal business, reports MGR Online. Having received an arrest warrant from Nakhon Sri Thammarat Provincial Court on Sept 7, 2022, police officers started searching for Ms Jaruwan and finally learned about her hiding in Phuket where she was arrested on May 5, 2023. Ms Jaruwan was then transferred to Nakhon Sri Thammarat and handed over to Tha Sala Police. According to the CIB, the woman was arrested on charges of conspiring with two or more people to commit a serious drug-related offense and committing serious offenses related to narcotics. MGR Online clearly says she was involved in the business of her boyfriend, whom the website calls a large drug agent in Tha Sala District of Nakhon Sri Thammarat Province. Monkey neutering campaign gains momentum in Phuket PHUKET: Wildlife officials in Phuket are continuing their efforts to control the population of macaques on the island. Dozens of monkeys have already been caught and taken to the Nature and Wildlife Education Centre at Khao Phra Thaew Wildlife Sanctuary since the campaign began in April, the overall target is set at 500 animals. By The Phuket News Saturday 6 May 2023, 03:10PM The current round of the monkey neutering campaign is set to run from Apr 21 through May 16, with officials aiming to catch and neuter 500 wild monkeys, according to the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation (PPAO, or Phuket OrBorJor), which announced the news yesterday (May 5). The campaigns duration and target number of monkeys to be neutered had not been disclosed before this announcement. The information was finally revealed in a publication covering the visit of PPAO Vice President Anupap Vejvanichsanong to the Nature and Wildlife Education Centre at Khao Phra Thaew where the monkeys are neutered before being released back into the wild. Accompanying Mr Anupap were Suthat Niyomthai, Chief of the Phuket Livestock Office, and Pongchart Chouehom, Chief of the Nature and Wildlife Education Centre at Khao Phra Thaew. Mr Pongchart marked the visit on his personal Facebook page, which remains the main source of information about the monkey sterilisation effort in Phuket. Earlier this week, Mr Pongchart made a series of announcements through his page regarding the campaign. In a publication on May 4, the wildlife official revealed that the campaign is not limited to Soi Kingkaew 9, the initial location where the cages were installed to catch macaques on April 20. Since then, monkey catching has been organised at Khao Toh Sae (Phuket Towns renowned Monkey Hill), the Monkey Viewpoint at the entrance to Koh Siray (another popular tourist attraction), and Soi Thachin. All these locations are known for large groups of monkeys, which frequently disturb local residents. In another publication on May 3rd, Mr Pongchart announced that wildlife officials are also conducting proactive work to educate local people and tourists about their efforts to control monkey populations. As part of this, officials installed banners on Khao Toh Sae, asking people not to feed monkeys there as this disrupts the catch-and-neuter campaign. In two separate publications on May 1 and May 4, Mr Pongchart spoke about two monkeys that were delivered to his centre without any connection to the campaign. The first one was found injured in Rawai, and the second one was disturbing people in Koh Kaew, so they asked wildlife specialists to come and catch the animal. Both monkeys are believed to have been neutered and released into the wild, just like the 500 others which the officials aim to catch as part of the campaign. Finally, Mr. Pongchart posted pictures from several visits to Koh Payu, an uninhabited island off Phukets eastern coast that was chosen as the new home for monkeys relocated from Phuket in the first stage of the cage-and-neuter program in 2018. The monkeys are healthy, their fur is shiny, and they do not exhibit any aggressive behavior, Mr Pongchart said in a post, published on Apr 23, when the new round of the campaign had just started. Shop owner stabbed to death in Phuket PHUKET: Police are hunting for a Phatthalung man wanted for stabbing 35-year-old Phuket resident Wanchai Butdee in front of his shop in Phuket Town today (May 6). crimedeathmurderpolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Saturday 6 May 2023, 06:50PM Lt Col Wichit Nokkaew, Deputy Chief of Phuket City Police, was notified of a stabbing incident on Anupasphuketkarn Rd around 1.30am today (May 6). According to the report, a man was badly injured during a street altercation and later died at the Phuket Provincial Hospital, locally known as the "OrBorJor Hospital." Upon arrival at the hospital, officers learned that the deceased was Wanchai Butdee, 35, the owner of the "Kinnaree Nam" ice cream shop located across the road from the Phuket Provincial Hospital. Mr Wanchai was attacked by a male suspect armed with a knife who arrived at the scene in a white Mitsubishi Triton truck. The suspect approached Mr Wanchai and immediately started stabbing him in the face and neck. The culprit then fled the scene in the same pickup truck. Police identified the suspect as Tharapong Nabbua, 34, originally from Phatthalung. As of the time of the report, the suspect remained at large. Following their preliminary investigation, Phuket City Police officers learned that Mr. Wanchai had a conflict with Mr Tharapong three days before the attack. According to witnesses, Mr Tharapong was drinking beer in front of the "Kinnaree Nam" shop while waiting for his motorcycle to be repaired in a neighboring shop. The man didnt like how Mr Wanchai looked at him, and a heated verbal argument followed. Further escalation was prevented at that time by some people who intervened and did not let a fight break out. However, three days later, Mr Tharapong returned to "Kinnaree Nam" and attacked Mr Wanchai upon seeing him. Waterloo Catholic District School Board in Kitchener. There have been calls for the resignation of a Catholic school board trustee in Waterloo Region after a series of social media posts drew the ire of some in the community. Trustee Wendy Ashby tweeted that the most dangerous creature on the planet is the white Christian male. Theyre a threat to anyone who is not them. A second post suggested that white women make obedient soldiers for the christofascist patriarchy. While Ashbys Twitter account has been deleted, the controversy over her remarks has not ended. Police had to be called to keep the peace at a Catholic school board meeting recently, and fellow trustee Marisa Phillips, in a statement, said these comments deeply hurt members of our Catholic school community and are entirely inappropriate, unacceptable, and should be condemned without hesitation. A petition calling for Ashbys resignation has gathered more than 3,000 signatures, though its unclear (and unlikely) whether each of those online signatories lives in Waterloo Region. For her part, Ashby has issued a written apology for my tweets that offended people, though it should be noted the statement makes no attempt to retract the content of those tweets. In calling out an individual based on their gender, ethnicity, and religion and suggesting that individual poses a threat to anyone who is not them, Ashby has clearly sown division. Sadly, this is not an isolated recent occurrence. In nearby Norwich Township, just this side of London, council has voted to exclude Pride flags and all other non-civic flags on municipal property. Norwich will instead allow only the flags that represent the federal, provincial, or municipal government. Meantime, in York Region, just north of Toronto, a mob of angry parents disrupted a Catholic school board meeting during which the issue of whether the board should raise the Pride flag this June was discussed. A teacher, advocating for the Pride flag to be raised, was called the devil incarnate by angry parents. And, for the third meeting in a row, police were called to maintain order. Its a lot of anger in a rather small geographic area of southern Ontario, with York and Norwich about two hours apart, and Waterloo Region nestled in the middle. Perhaps its just the latest expression of our growing malaise in an increasingly polarized world where youre either with us, or against us. But maybe theres a glimmer of hope. In York Region, two students who admitted to being shaken after the recent school board meeting have vowed to keep up their fight. Theyve amassed more than 1,100 signatures on a petition in support of flying the Pride flag in June, and both remain hopeful this will be the year that the Catholic school board in York Region votes to get it done. Making sure that happens is something that I think we have to do, and I definitely want to leave behind for students in the years to come, says one of the determined students. Since the adults in the room are clearly setting a terrible example, maybe its time we let the kids lead the way. Columnist Mike Farwell is a broadcaster, MC and advocate. Follow him on Twitter at @farwell_WR, or connect with him via Mike.Farwell@rci.rogers.com. SHARE: WATERLOO REGION Negotiations between the Region of Waterloo and the union representing Grand River Transit employees will continue throughout the weekend, the region announced Friday in a news release. The region remains committed to reaching an agreement that is competitive for GRT employees and is affordable for residents, the region said. Transit workers walked off the job Monday after rejecting a tentative agreement reached by its union, UNIFOR Local 4304, on the weekend. The union says wages and scheduling are the major issues. The strike has shut down conventional buses, as well as Mobility Plus buses. Ion trains are still running in Kitchener and Waterloo because rail transit is operated by another company. Bus riders can check the GRT site here for updates. SHARE: CAMBRIDGE People across Waterloo Region gathered at various sacred fires Friday to mourn the loss of and draw attention to the estimated more than 1,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people across the nation. In Cambridge, about 80 people gathered for a fire lit at city hall in a Red Dress Day ceremony that included drumming and singing and addresses by people in the Indigenous community. Kellie Grace from southern Ontario Aboriginal Health Access told the crowd that a national RCMP report on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and two-spirited people is estimated to have vastly undercounted by categorizing some deaths as accidents and failing to identify many women and girls as Indigenous in police reports. We need to press forward to address the alarmingly high numbers of missing and murdered First Nation, Metis and Inuit women, girls and two-spirit individuals in Canada, Grace said. As a society we need to use our voice to put an end to this genocide. The crimes against Indigenous women that continues to take place and destroy many others from the loss, trauma and grief needs to be brought forward. The ripple effect on these families, children and communities is not going to go away. The statistics are stark. Grace said in Canada: The homicide rate for Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited individuals is four times higher than all other women; Indigenous women face a homicide rate 12 times higher than any other female/two-spirited racialized group; According to Statistics Canada, in 2019, police records failed to record whether a person was Indigenous in 384 out of 610 homicides, which can skew data on the actual rate of murder; The RCMPs report on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls counted 1,017 cases of murder between 1980 and 2012, but those stats only included cases where police concluded it was a murder; Sixty-three per cent of Indigenous women have reported being sexually or physically assaulted by the age of 15, compared to 45 per cent of non-Indigenous women. Others reminded the crowd gathered that this is not just a Winnipeg or a Toronto problem, but that its happening right here in Waterloo Region. Human trafficking in particular is an issue locally because of the regions Highway 401 access. That means many families are left to assume their family member is dead, when really they might have been trafficked to elsewhere in the country. Staff Supt. John Goodman from Waterloo Regional Police spoke briefly at the ceremony. It is important for us as police to stand up here and recognize the harm that we have caused, the suffering, the disproportionate amount of investigations that were not completed successfully, he said. But we stand here to take an oath and a promise that things are changing. The Red Dress Project was created by Manitobas Jamie Black in 2010. It is a countrywide project in public spaces to recognize the women lost and create public awareness. Red was chosen because it is the only colour spirits can see and also because its symbolic of the lifeblood and connection between us all, Grace said. Its meant to call back the spirits of the women lost to allow their voices to be heard through family. A similar ceremony was held Friday at the University of Waterloo and another ceremony was planned in Kitcheners Victoria Park. Paige Desmond is a Waterloo Region-based reporter focusing on municipal issues for The Record. Reach her via email: pdesmond@therecord.com SHARE: OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Billionaire Warren Buffett said artificial intelligence may change the world but new technology won't take away opportunities for investors and he's confident America will continue to prosper despite its bitter political divisions. Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger spent all day Saturday answering questions at the annual shareholders meeting for his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate inside a packed arena in Omaha. New things coming along doesnt take away the opportunities. What gives you the opportunities is other people doing dumb things, said Buffett, who had a chance to try out ChatGPT with his friend Bill Gates a few months back. The problem now is that partisanship has moved more towards tribalism, and in tribalism you don't even hear the other side, he said. Both Buffett and Munger said the U.S. will benefit from having an open trading relationship with China, Both countries should be careful not to exacerbate tensions the stakes for the world are too high. Everything that increases the tension between these two countries is stupid, stupid, stupid, Munger said. The chance to listen to the legendary investors answer questions about business and life attracts people from all over the world to Buffett's hometown. Some shareholders feel a particular urgency to attend because the two men are both in their 90s. Charlie Munger is 99. I just wanted to see him in person. Its on my bucket list, said Sheraton Wu, 40, from Vancouver. I have to attend while I can. Chloe Lin traveled from Singapore for what she called "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The two capitalists discussed a range of topics, including: Buffett said bank regulators need to find a way to punish executives and board members who make risky decisions that doom a bank. The U.S. is carrying a concerning level of debt but it's hard to know how much the country can take on without devaluing the dollar and jeopardizing the world's reserve currency. Story continues Buffett said Apple Berkshire's biggest stock holding is a wonderful business because of how devoted consumers are to their iPhones. "I dont understand the phone at all, Buffett said. But I do understand consumer behavior. Elon Musk is a brilliant man who has taken on impossible tasks and succeeded even if he overestimates himself. Buffett and Munger said, but his approach doesn't appeal to the investors who look for places they can prosper without ridiculous effort. We're different, Munger said. Warren and I are looking for the easy job we can identify. Berkshire isnt a big player in commercial real estate but they predicted problems ahead. Munger said the hollowing out of the downtowns in the United States and elsewhere in the world is going to be quite significant and quite unpleasant. To avoid the biggest mistakes in life, Buffett said, You should write your obituary and figure out how to live up to it. Also avoid debt, and in business try to avoid taking on so much risk that a single mistake can wipe you out. Munger gave similarly simple advice: Spend less than you earn, avoid toxic people and activities, and keep learning throughout your life. In a nod to the longstanding concerns about their age, Berkshire showed video clips of questions about succession from past meetings dating back to the first one they filmed in 1994. Two years ago, Buffett finally said that Greg Abel will replace him as CEO although he has no plans to retire. Abel already oversees all of Berkshire's noninsurance businesses. Greg understands capital allocation as well as I do. He will make these decisions on the same framework that I use, Buffett said. Abel assured the crowd that he knows how Buffett and Munger have handled things for nearly six decades. I dont really see that framework changing. Not everyone in Omaha was a fan. Outside the arena, pilots from Berkshire's NetJets protested over the lack of a new contract and environmental groups questioned why the company's utilities continue to burn coal. Pro-life groups carried signs declaring Buffett's billions kill millions to object to his many charitable donations to abortion rights groups. Berkshire Hathaway said Saturday morning that it made $35.5 billion, or $24,377 per Class A share, in the first quarter. That's more than 6 times last year's $5.58 billion, or $3,784 per A share. Three analysts surveyed by data firm FactSet had expected Berkshire to report operating earnings of $5,370.91 per Class A share. However Buffett has long cautioned that those bottom-line figures can be misleading because of wide swings in the value of Berkshire's investments most of which it rarely sells. Buffett says operating earnings that exclude investments are a better measure of the companys performance. They grew nearly 13% to $8.065 billion, up from $7.16 billion a year ago. Buffett said he expects operating profits to grow this year although the economy is slowing and most of the company's businesses will sell less. He said Berkshire will profit from rising interest rates on its holdings, and the insurance market looks good. This years first quarter was relatively quiet compared to a year ago when Buffett revealed he'd gone on a $51 billion spending spree at the start of 2022, snapping up stocks like Occidental Petroleum, Chevron and HP. Buffetts buying slowed, aside from a number of additional Occidental purchases. Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said the quarterly report suggests Berkshire may have sold about 35 million Chevron shares, but Buffett appears bullish on oil stocks given his recent Occidental purchases. Buffett quashed speculation that Berkshire might buy all of Occidental. He said Berkshire won't bid for control of the oil producer although he may buy more shares, and holds warrants to buy another 83.9 million shares. At the end of this year's first quarter, Berkshire held $130.6 billion cash but spent $4.4 billion during the quarter to repurchase its own shares. Berkshire's insurance unit, which includes Geico and a number of large reinsurers, recorded a $911 million operating profit, up from $167 million last year, driven by a rebound in Geico's results. Geico benefitted from charging higher premiums and a reduction in advertising spending and claims. But Ajit Jain, who oversees all of Berkshire's insurance businesses, said Geico still has a long way to go to upgrade its internal technology. CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert called those comments a pretty candid acknowledgement that Geico has a lot of work to do to catch up to its peers. Berkshire's BNSF railroad and its large utility unit reported lower profits. BNSF earned $1.25 billion, down from $1.37 billion. The number of shipments it handled dropped 10% after it lost a big customer and imports slowed. The utility division added $416 million, down from last year's $775 million. Berkshire owns an eclectic assortment of dozens of other businesses, including retail and manufacturing firms like See's Candy and Precision Castparts. Berkshire shareholders rejected a number of proposals that Buffett opposed. Those would have required the company to disclose more about climate change risks and diversity, split Buffett's job into separate chairman and CEO positions, and silence executives' political views. With Buffett controlling nearly one third of the vote, those proposals never had much chance. KITCHENER You could say Norman (Eric) Peasley is a storyteller. Lying face down in the middle of a Kitchener road on a cold February afternoon, it seemed all but certain Peasleys last great story was going to end in mystery. The 82-year-old hadnt told anyone where he was going that day. And, if he had, he would never have told them about the intersection of Ottawa Street South and Fischer-Hallman Road North. But there he was: face down in the middle of the road, unconscious, neck fractured, nose broken, mouth cut, face bruised, and tooth chipped. He was one bystander away from it all ending. On Feb. 9, someone saved Peasleys life. And now, he wants to thank them. Im still shaking my head, because I just cant believe that I wasnt run over, he said. Theres no question in my mind, thats what should have happened that day. The details initially murky have come back to him in the months after the incident. Peasley lives by himself in a third-floor apartment in Kitchener. The COVID-19 pandemic was long, and much of his day-to-day interactions come in the form of personal support workers. Its not all its cracked up to be, this getting old thing, he said. When you spend a life living like every day can be a new adventure, I dont think you ever quite adjust to the limitations of age. He uses a cane now but is still mobile and independent. On Feb. 9, he decided he was going to do some errands. He set off for downtown, and by the time he was ready for a meal, he reckons he had walked about five kilometres a fine days walk for a young Peasley, but an unfortunate overestimation of what hes capable of now. He found his way to a bus stop and headed in the direction of the Halibut House on Highland Road West. It was cold, it was raining, Peasley was exhausted, and he mistakenly got off the bus early somewhere on Fischer-Hallman Road North. With the wind blowing and the rain pouring down, he started walking. The last thing he remembers is an embankment, two sets of lights that were in sync, and thinking he could make it across the road. Then it goes black. The next thing he knew he was waking up in Grand River Hospital with a face he hardly recognized from the cuts and bruises. Peasleys medical records, released through Grand River, indicate the fall could have been onset by a stroke. Its not conclusive. Already living with a number of medical conditions, a five-kilometre walk in the cold rain could have just as easily led to him collapsing from fatigue, with the trauma to his face knocking him unconscious. His ambulance call report indicates that a bystander called emergency services. It says Peasley was walking on the sidewalk before he fell onto the road and struck his face. Due to the busy intersection, Peasley thinks the bystander likely had to stop traffic, divert it around his unconscious body, and wait for the ambulance to arrive. Ive had a lot of close calls in my life and more than a handful of moments where I probably shouldnt have made it, said Peasley. But how someone didnt hit me is beyond me. I would say it was a 10-to-1 shot that someone would have hit me and that would have been it. His bystander had other plans. Someone saved me. I have no idea who it was, and I would very much like to track them down and thank them, he said. Peasley is a man whose currency is stories. His hospital report, which includes notes from medical specialists, specifically refers to him as a pleasant man in three different sections, from three different specialists. An afternoon with him is a whirlwind into a life of chance interactions with musicians, mafia bosses and members of academic and business high society. He claims to have driven and flown more than 12 million kilometres during his time as a businessperson, salesperson and Kitchener limousine driver. Thats on top of roughly 8,000 nights he says he spent in hotels, the equivalent of roughly 20 years of his life. Give him an afternoon, and hell tell you a story or two about driving around Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie, and even more about a slew of University of Waterloo professors who became dear friends over his years behind the wheel. Thats after decades of sales work, with his great claim to fame coming from introducing WD-40 lubricants to the Canadian market in 1971, when he said he helped open the companys first international office in Toronto. Ive had a life that amazes me, and its all just luck, he said. You stumble into things, and it doesnt surprise me anymore. With age, stumbling sometimes turns into falling, and Peasley knows he might not have too many falls left in him. Its been a few years since many of his lifes great adventures. A growing number of medical conditions, and a life of caution during the COVID-19 pandemic, has limited his travel into the world. Much of his focus now is on his four children, and his stories often lead to new tales about his kids and their own children. You cant get into too much trouble these days sitting still, he said. Peasley didnt sit still on Feb. 9. On the one day he decided it was time to stretch his legs and hit the city, adventure came calling again, and he stumbled and fell into another great story. Now, hes looking to solve the mystery, and get to the closing page where he shakes his saviours hand. He has one question: Are you the bystander? SHARE: Archbishop appeals for peace, calm | IMPHAL, May 6 : Archbishop of Imphal Dominic Lumon has appealed to all the parties involved in the unrest to maintain peace and harmony and proceed for peaceful resolution amid the unprecedented upsurge of communal clashes in the past few days. The Archbishop in a statement expressed concern on the volatile nature of the unrest which has instilled fear and tension among many people forcing them to leave their homes, their assets and their belongings thereby severely affecting their lives. 'Places of worship are not spared, they are burnt. People take shelter in camps protected by the security forces. It is heartbreaking to see homes, institutions and Churches being set ablaze' added the Archbishop. He appealed to the Government of Manipur to take every step to protect all sections of the people and their property, to protect places of worship, to contain the unrest immediately and to prevent further escalation. Further he urged people of every faith to continue to pray for peace and restoration of normalcy. Ontarios police watchdog is investigating after a man received a serious injury during a downtown arrest by Hamilton police Friday night. Little information about either the nature of the injury or the reason for the arrest was immediately available Saturday. Hamilton police briefly taped off an apparent incident scene near Bay Street and King Street Friday night, but the service referred Spectator questions about the episode to the Special Investigations Unit. The civilian oversight agency is mandated by law to investigate any interaction involving police where there has been a death, serious injury, gun fired at someone or allegation of sexual assault. Monica Hudon, SIU spokesperson, confirmed by email the agency was investigating after a 37-year-old man received an unspecified but serious injury during his arrest. She also confirmed the interaction took place near Bay and King streets, but did not provide any details about what prompted the arrest. SHARE: Retired Spectator reporter Steve Buist picked up some more hardware for his swan song investigative journalism on Friday. Buist, along with the Toronto Stars Rachel Mendleson, shared the John Honderich Award for Project of the Year at the National Newspaper Awards for Unchartered, their national investigation into Charter of Rights violations by police. The award is named in honour of longtime Star publisher and chair John Honderich, who died in 2022. Earlier this week, Unchartered was also nominated at the Digital Publishing Awards. The series won the 2023 Canadian Hillman Prize in March and was nominated for the 2022 Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism in April. Buist wrapped up a prestigious 36-year career at The Hamilton Spectator in October. He was crowned Canadas Investigative Journalist of the Year three times and Ontarios Journalist of the Year five times. The nod for Unchartered is his fifth win at the National Newspaper Awards and he has been the recipient of the worlds top cancer-reporting prize handed out by the European School of Oncology. Both Buist and Mendleson investigated more than 600 Charter cases and found that only a small number of officers faced serious professional consequences. They looked for cases where judges found that police had breached the rights of the accused, and created a database that spanned from 2011 to 2021. The Spec was also nominated for two other awards at the National Newspaper Awards (NNA) ceremony. Susan Clairmonts feature on the tragic suicide of 12-year-old Grace McSweeney after years of bullying was nominated for the William Southam Award for Long Feature. Sebastian Bron and Katrina Clarke (now a reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press) were finalists in the Sustained News Coverage category for a series of stories that examined a privacy breach at St. Josephs Healthcare Hamilton. The Globe and Mail won nine of the 23 available NNAs. The award for Journalist of the Year went to Isabelle Hachey, of La Presse, who also won in the International Reporting category. The NNAs honour the best journalists and their work in Canadas daily and community newspapers. Digital organizations that publish at least five days a week are also recognized. Judges this year considered a total of 923 entries, all published in 2022, from 76 news organizations. Reach The Spectator newsroom at 905-526-3420 or news@thespec.com SHARE: There are going to be plenty of people around here tuning in to watch the coronation of King Charles early on Saturday. But heres betting there are a few who might not know you can draw a straight line from the intersection of York Boulevard and Dundurn Street to Buckingham Palace. Mike Tabone didnt. And hes pretty good at his history. I had no idea, he says. If his name sounds familiar, you mightve read about him in these pages for his hobby of writing to the famous and the accidentally famous to see if theyll write back. This has led to a magnificent collection of autographs ranging from the Dallas sheriff with the white Stetson handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when he was shot to the Secret Service agent who jumped on John F. Kennedys limo during the assassination to the man who played Big Bird on Sesame Street. But the Hamilton-Royal Family connection? No clue. It goes like this. Back in the early 1830s when Sir Allan MacNab was building Dundurn Castle, his wife, Mary, gave birth to a girl. They called her Sophia. Pronounced So-fye-ah. You can still find a portrait of her as a child on one of the walls. Dundurn Castle's then-curator Ken Heaman shows off the site's portrait of Sophia, Camilla's great-great grandmother, prior to a visit by the royal couple in 2009. Ron Albertson/The Hamilton Spectator file photo While the site supervisor for the castle says its unclear where exactly she was born, the author of a book about the history of the place says it was in the castle itself. Even though it was still under construction. They were living in part of it while the rest was being done, says Ted Smith, the man behind Dundurn Castle: Sir Allan MacNab and his Hamilton Home. When she was 23, she married William Keppel who carried the fancy title of seventh earl of Albemarle in the castles drawing room. The portico on the York Boulevard side of the castle (the darker columns with a roof) is evidence of that. That was built specifically for the wedding, Smith says. Together they had 10 children. One of them was named George. He and his wife begat Sonia who begat Rosalind who begat ready for this Camilla. As in, King Charles wife. In other words, the great-great grandmother of the queen consort who will become queen during Saturdays events in England was born here. I have no idea why the city would not even mention this with the coronation coming up on the weekend, says local historian Robin McKee, whos sure many locals have no idea. Then-Prince Charles triumphantly hoists a shovel at a tree planting during a visit to Dundurn Castle in 2009. Ron Albertson/The Hamilton Spectator file photo The castles website does mention the connection. But its hardly been shouted from the municipal rooftops. In fact, type Camilla into the search portal on the citys website and the only result is a link to the Coffee Lovers Guide to Hamilton. Its a bit odd considering whats coming up on Saturday. But whatever. As he mentioned, Tabone had no idea of the connection until he visited the castle a year or so ago. He heard the tour guide say something about it, made a mental note and was then reminded of this nugget back in March when his granddaughter told him her class at school was making a trip to the museum. That prompted him to type out a letter to Camilla. In it, he explained hed been born just a block from her ancestral home and his family used to have Sunday picnics on the lawn. He also mentioned a number of other local connections. He added he was writing it on behalf of his granddaughter hes been building his collection to give to his grandchildren someday and fired it off. As he did, he assumed this was basically a waste of time. Not everyone he writes to responds even when he pens the most complimentary prose to elicit a return note. The royals would surely be one step too far, he figured. Especially with everything going on these days. Yet when he got home from vacation a few weeks ago, a letter was waiting. Registered mail. From Buckingham Palace, he says. It had the royal seal on the back. As someone who doesnt typically receive letters from the Royal Family, he knew what it had to be. And when he opened it, sure enough, it was what he thought. Mike Tabone's autographed letter from Camilla, the queen consort. Provided by Mike Tabone Your grandfather wrote to me recently, to tell me about your visit to Dundurn Castle, which is a place that is very special to me. I do hope you enjoyed your time there and hearing about your grandfathers childhood memories. I am quite envious of you and do hope to visit Dundurn again before too long ! Then in her handwriting, With best wishes, Camilla R. Crazy, eh? Tabone says. Indeed. A rare tie joining England to Hamilton. In his hands. Wonder if he can now get one from the king? SHARE: Several thousand people have been ordered to leave their homes as more than 100 wildfires burn across Alberta. Everybodys out, everybodys alive, nobodys injured, said Steven Lacroix, managing director of Alberta Emergency Management Agency. As of early Saturday morning, there were 103 active wildfires in the province, with 37 listed as out of control. An evacuation order was issued for the town of Edson and Yellowhead County Friday evening. Edson, about 215 kilometres west of Edmonton, has a population of more than 8,000. You need to evacuate immediately, the town said on its website. An evacuation was ordered Thursday night for Drayton Valley, a town of around 7,000 people about 140 kilometres west of Edmonton. Tyson Pietsch, president of the Drayton Valley Pro Rodeo, said his crew was able to herd more than 100 horses and cattle into trailers to be moved out of the area as the wildfire caused the rodeo to shut down. Literally the ash was falling on us while we were loading out rodeo stock, said Pietsch, adding all animals and crew members are safe. Pietsch said it took him nearly three hours to drive to his home in Buck Lake, which should normally take 35 minutes. It was manic. Awesome Pawsome ranch, just outside of Spruce Grove near Edmonton, was offering five days of free boarding for the pets of wildfire evacuees. During the Fort McMurray fires in 2016, business owner Shanin Neff said the ranch was completely full. We have definitely been through this before with Fort McMurray, so were were getting prepared today, said Neff. We all got up at 5 oclock this morning to hear the news and weve been going ever since. Parts of northern and central Alberta are under fire bans after a period of windy and unseasonably hot weather. This is a rapidly changing situation, said Christie Tucker with Alberta Wildfire, noting more heat and extremely strong winds were expected later Friday, particularly in the north. In Fox Lake, about 550 kilometres north of Edmonton, the province said a 4,400-hectare wildfire destroyed 20 homes, an RCMP detachment, a store and the communitys water treatment plant. RCMP spokesman Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said in addition to losing the Fox Lake detachment and compound, including a residence, two homes that also housed officers were damaged. He said RCMP successfully removed all firearms and exhibits from the detachment and members families and pets got out safely. Mounties, including officers from other detachments, remain in the community. Well have to determine ways to work remotely, Savinkoff said. And then well work with the community and government to try to come up with temporary arrangements and then some more permanent arrangements down the line. The Northern Store in Fox Lake was significantly damaged. The North West Company, which owns the store, said all staff are safe. We are currently planning support for our staff and a donation of essential products for community members displaced by the fires, said CEO Dan McConnell. We extend our condolences to everyone impacted by the fires and especially to those families who have lost their homes. In a video posted to Facebook on Thursday night, Chief Conroy Sewepagaham of Little Red River Cree Nation near Fox Lake said he believes everyone got out. Residents were taken out by boats and a barge. Tucker said the province also assisted with the evacuation of 115 people by helicopter. Residents in Rainbow Lake were also under an evacuation notice, but not required to leave. Tucker said a 400-hectare wildfire was moving away from that town but remained a significant priority. RCMP said a helicopter that was fighting wildfires in western Alberta crash-landed at the Edson airport Thursday night. The pilot was able to walk away and was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith activated cabinets emergency management committee Friday and said there would be daily media briefings on the wildfire situation. This is a very serious ongoing situation, and Albertas government will continue to monitor and provide Albertans with the most up-to-date information, said a statement from the premiers office. NDP Leader Rachel Notley, who was campaigning Friday ahead of the May 29 provincial election, took a moment out of an education announcement in Calgary to share sympathies with those affected by the fires. Our hearts go out to you in this very, very difficult time, she said. Tucker said firefighters were expected to arrive from Ontario and Quebec to help. So far this year, she said 348 wildfires have burned more than 25,000 hectares across the province. Thats significantly more wildfire activity for this time of year than weve certainly seen any time in the recent past. With files from Colette Derworiz in Calgary This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2023. ___ This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship. SHARE: It feels like not an hour went by this week without an announcement from a mayoral candidate (and there are now more than 70 running, blowing past the 2014 record of 65). And with just under two months left to go, policy announcements big and small are piling up, though the underpinning details are often vague This week appears to have had an unofficial transportation theme. Suffering in Scarborough The SRT is being decommissioned at the end of the year and the earliest the subway extension replacement will be running is 2030. (This week Star columnist Matt Elliott traced the history of how we got to this point.) Meanwhile, plans for a dedicated busway have stalled for lack of funding, leaving Scarborough residents furious and facing (even more) hellish commutes. But fear not: the mayoral hopefuls have plans (or plans for plans). Mitzie Hunter would pay for the busway from an as-yet unspecific transit reserve fund. Ana Bailao would immediately fund the preliminary work while continuing efforts to secure funding from the province. Josh Matlow has said he will soon be releasing a plan for Scarborough transit, and Brad Bradford has said Scarborough deserves a fair deal. Olivia Chow said shed fund the busway with the money saved by doing something Matlow has also announced hed do rebuilding the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway as a ground level boulevard. The constant Gardiner Yes, the billion-dollars-and-counting project to restore the east section of the crumbling highway in the sky continues to loom over the mayoral race. Chow and Matlow would cancel the current plan to rebuild the eastern elevated section, including a ramp that connected to the Don Valley Parkway between Cherry Street and Logan Avenue. But exactly how much that could save and how long it would take are unknown just like the true cost of rebuilding it, since the cost estimates were done way back in 2016. The city has already flagged likely knock-on delays and a possible $340 million in throwaway costs if the plan was to change now. Next week, Matlow will be asking city council to approve a formal cost assessment. Bradford, meanwhile, announced a concrete plan to speed up the eastern Gardiner rebuild by allowing 24/7 construction which he claims would cut the timeline by two years. (Under the current plan, no new construction is set to start until 2026 and to end in 2030). He also attacked noted NDP activist Chow for caving to the demands of NDP activists by vowing to reopen decisions made in 2015 and 2016. Subways, subways and more subways? Hunter made some massive transit promises this week. Shed revive plans for an unfunded Sheppard subway east extension but also extend it west. Her subway line would connect Line 4 to the new Scarborough Subway Extension in the east and to Sheppard West/Downsview on Line 1. The plan includes extending past Don Mills station for four new stops (Consumers, Victoria Park, Warden, Birchmount) and a transfer point at Agincourt GO Station. Agincourt GO Station would be connected with two stops to Scarborough Town Centre. The line would connect to the Richmond Hill GO line at Leslie & Sheppard. And finally, it would extend west from Sheppard-Yonge station to Sheppard West/Downsview. She estimates the eastern section would cost $5 billion and the western section $2 billion. The city would pay for the preliminary design and engineering from existing transit reserves, she said, but that amount and the rest of her detailed funding plan has yet to be revealed. Torontonians weary from decades of unfulfilled subway promises (remember the mayoral election debut of SmartTrack in 2014?) will rightly be skeptical. Especially when the province liable to jump in at any time. Hunter would also somehow spend $650 million from transit reserves on the $2-billion Waterfront LRT, another unfunded transit line. The province and federal government would, of course, have to agree to kick in the rest adding to a long, long, long list of Toronto financial asks. Not to mention, the TTC is currently cutting service (which several candidates have vowed to reverse). The agency is also allowing a state-of-good-repair backlog to balloon by several billions and needs more than $11 billion for unfunded capital projects over the next 10 years, begging the question of how this will all work. Wrangling the roads Matlow would fund a redesign of the most dangerous intersections in Toronto to improve road safety and prevent deaths. Other candidates also have road changes in mind as the downtown core faces years of congestion during the construction of the Ontario line stations. Mark Saunders would re-evaluate the bike lanes on Adelaide and Richmond, and scrap the King Street priority streetcar corridor. Bradford responded with the King Street Express Zone. Instead of diverting Queen streetcars onto Adelaide and Richmond to avoid the Yonge and Queen Ontario Line closure, hed have the streetcars run along King as well from Spadina to Church. This would free up Adelaide and Richmond for car and bike traffic. A small wrench: city council just approved a $40-million contract to speed up the installing the streetcar tracks on Adelaide to be ready in 10 months, and that work is underway. In the meantime, the Queen streetcars will run on Dundas. Bradford has also focused on battling gridlock with a plan to appoint a congestion relief commissioner to co-ordinate all construction projects and increase traffic co-ordination. Alyshah Hasham is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Reach her via email: ahasham@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @alysanmati Read more about: SHARE: It was a Saturday in September when a school custodian witnessed something horrifying. She was attending an after-hours union meeting when she happened to glance over at a colleague. His cellphone was out and he was busy showing something to a friend: child pornography. Appalled, the custodian formally reported the incident to her superiors. What followed was an onslaught of vile abuse, both at work and home, in which she was harassed, threatened and stalked by her male colleague. The situation became so dire that the courts issued a protection order to keep her safe. But when she sought compensation from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board for chronic mental stress, her claim was denied. It took nearly three years of appeals for the worker to be granted benefits, after an independent tribunal finally ruled the WSIBs decision was wrong, and workplace harassment had indeed caused her diagnosed mental health condition. Claims like the school custodians were made possible by a significant piece of reform in 2018 rectifying decades of exclusion for workers who experienced excessive, long-term stress on the job. Workers had long been eligible for compensation for sudden, traumatic events, such as witnessing a horrific accident. But the new reforms allowed them to file claims for a different type of stressor: chronic workplace harassment, abuse and extreme pressure. The shift was a landmark victory that advocates hoped would reflect a growing body of empirical evidence: just as work can sometimes result in physical injuries, so too can it also damage our mental health. Over the past five years, however, new data shows the board has systematically denied thousands of these claims at rates that far exceed other kinds of workplace injuries. Far from providing a safety net to vulnerable workers, the boards approach to chronic stress has turned into a get-out-of-compensation-free card for both the WSIB and employers, said Chris Grawey of Injured Workers Consultants (IWC), a non-profit community legal clinic. WSIB denies most chronic stress claimants Overall, the WSIB accepts more than three quarters of injury claims made by Ontario workers, according to board data. The picture is inverted when it comes to chronic mental stress claims: the board has routinely denied more than 90 per cent of applicants, the data shows. That is a significant difference, said Grawey. Its not even close. The school custodian is among a small number of people who challenged the WSIBs denial of their chronic stress claim all the way to the provincial worker compensation tribunal. Tribunal decisions do not name the workers who appeal. In a statement, WSIB spokesperson Christine Arnott called mental health a very important aspect of health and wellness. We are one of only five Canadian provinces or territories to offer coverage for chronic mental stress injuries stemming from work, like bullying or harassment. The boards goal, said Arnott, is to move quickly to get people the benefits, services and support they need within the eligibility rules set out in law. That can be challenging and complex with mental stress injuries, she said. Our experience has been that the vast majority of claims submitted do not meet the eligibility criteria. Critics call the criteria discriminatory and overly restrictive. Im expecting that at some point, somebodys going to challenge the constitutionality of the policy, said Michelle Zare, who runs a Hamilton-based paralegal firm specializing in workers compensation and particularly chronic stress. Legal experts, as well as the independent workers compensation tribunal, have long held that employees with mental stress injuries are entitled to the same treatment under the law as those with physical injuries. But the WSIB subjects chronic stress claims to a stricter legal test than all other kinds of injuries, a feature that was introduced after employer lobbying, documents obtained by the Star reveal. Critics now believe the boards policy, which was intended to correct the unconstitutional exclusion of mentally ill workers from benefits, in fact entrenches discrimination against them. They replaced a discriminatory law with a discriminatory policy, said Grawey. Business groups lobbied for stricter legal test Of the 7,300 Ontario workers who filed for chronic stress benefits since 2017, fewer than 600 have been successful. That is around eight per cent, according to the WSIBs data obtained by the IWC and shared with the Star. Its a significantly lower acceptance rate than for traumatic mental stress claims, which are the closest equivalent injury. While 2022 was one of the most successful years to date for chronic stress claims 12 per cent were accepted in some years as little as five per cent of claimants were awarded compensation. To get compensation for an injury, workers generally have to demonstrate that their job was a significant contributing factor but not necessarily the main factor. That is the legal test the WSIB had originally contemplated applying to chronic mental stress injuries, according to a draft version of its policy obtained by the Star, dated May 4, 2017. The proposal, however, prompted a wave of outcry from employer groups. In a series of submissions made to the board that summer, some of the provinces largest employers and lobby groups claimed the draft policy would invite a flood of claims and impose significant new costs on businesses. These groups demanded a different approach, one that would require claimants to show the workplace was the predominant cause of their chronic stress injury. That is a significantly higher bar than the one required of workers with all other types of injuries. The difference was justified because mental injuries werent like physical ones, employers argued. Mental stress was more complex and multi-factorial, employers said, echoing a finding made in the 1999 British Columbia Royal Commission on Workers Compensation. Several other compensation boards with chronic stress policies had already adopted the stricter legal test, including Alberta, which introduced a chronic stress policy in 2000. By the time the WSIB was considering its own approach, the Royal Commission report was almost two decades old. Its findings had also been debunked by Ontarios own compensation tribunal, notes Maryth Yachnin, a lawyer with Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario (IAVGO). The tribunal had found that physical and mental injuries are not substantially different and should not be treated as such. Both can be complicated and both can have multiple causes, the tribunal noted: the boards job in both scenarios is to follow the evidence and arrive at a fair decision. Despite opposition from labour advocates, the WSIB adopted the predominant cause test. It stems from old fashioned and discriminatory attitudes toward mental health, said Yachnin. Its the idea that mental health injuries are essentially too hard to understand or that the things that caused them are unable to be identified. Its just not true. Why the WSIB says claims were denied While the WSIB says it has engaged with advocates about work-related stress, it calls critics focus on the predominant cause test misplaced. The board says the stricter legal standard has little to no impact on the eligibility of most claims it receives, and says most claims are denied for other reasons. Workers can only make chronic stress claims under specific circumstances. They cannot make claims for stress caused by employment related decisions, including changes in productivity requirements, scheduling, disciplinary action or demotions. Workers also cannot make stress claims for interpersonal conflict. Those exclusions are set out in provincial legislation guiding the WSIB, and account for 63 per cent of denied chronic stress claims, Arnott said. Workers must also prove the stressors they experience are substantial and more intense than general pressures on the job. A further 37 per cent of denied claims were ineligible because workers could not meet that bar, said Arnott. Critics take issue with these exclusions, too. Problems like workload and burnout can have very real consequences for mental health, said Zare. Meanwhile, workers with physical injuries dont need to show the stressors they experienced on the job were more excessive than those faced by other employees, said Grawey. In response to questions from the Star about possible reform to address those concerns, the labour ministrys acting press secretary Sydney Dubin said the provincial workers compensation system needed to improve. That is why our government launched a review of the WSIB and installed new leadership at the agency last year. Over the coming months, we will continue to make changes that put injured workers and their families first. What constitutes excessive workplace stress? In the meantime, defining what constitutes excessive workplace stress is fraught. Over the past two years, around 87 chronic stress appeals have reached the provincial workers compensation tribunal, according to the data obtained by IWC. In at least 15 of these cases, the tribunal overturned the boards decisions, highlighting sometimes egregious workplace abuse that the WSIB had said wasnt eligible for compensation. In one such case, a worker filed a chronic mental stress claim after her male colleague began surreptitiously surveilling her, creating a computer log with as many as 20 entries a day documenting everything from her arrival times to when she went to the washroom. The worker, who was a business manager for a police force, was subsequently diagnosed with a general anxiety disorder. But the WSIB ruled that she was not entitled to benefits because while her colleagues behaviour was not acceptable, it did not constitute abusive conduct. The tribunal slapped down the boards decision, noting that a man obsessively surveilling a woman at work is conduct that a reasonable person would find both egregious and vexatious. In another ruling reviewed by the Star, a warehouse worker with a hearing impairment was told by the WSIB that taunting, harassment and discrimination on the job, including being labelled a Deaf f k by a colleague, did not amount to a substantial workplace stressor. In another case, a personal support worker subjected to unwanted touching, sexualized comments and explosive outbursts on the job was told her chronic stress claim did not meet board requirements. In all of these cases, the tribunal overturned the WSIBs decisions to deny workers benefits. The 15 WSIB decisions that have been overturned by the tribunal account for just 0.2 per cent of the 7,300 decisions made by the board, Arnott said. (That) does indicate our decision-making system is working well within the rules established by the legislation and policy, she said, adding that people often present new information or evidence that can result in a ruling to overturn the boards original decision. The problem, said Zare, is that most workers choose not to challenge the boards decisions because the process is onerous. After internal appeals are exhausted, it takes, on average, over a year to get a tribunal hearing and decision issued, forcing workers to relive traumatic experiences and sometimes incur a mountain of legal fees. During that entire time, how do you even begin to deal with your mental health and your trauma, if you dont have access to health care? said Zare. Workers making stress claims often already work in precarious jobs where toxic environments are more common, said Yachnin. But without compensation, seeking treatment can be difficult given the lack of publicly funded resources. Instead, many end up on social programs like Ontario Works, said Grawey. That puts many workers in a more precarious financial situation, and often, in poverty. While a steady stream of Ontario workers have applied for chronic stress benefits, the overall number of claimants is small and on par with smaller provinces like Alberta, data obtained by the Star shows. The flood of stress claims employers once predicted has yet to materialize. Sara Mojtehedzadeh is a Toronto-based reporter covering work and wealth on the Stars investigations team. Follow her on Twitter: @saramojtehedz SHARE: What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Perak Corporation Berhad's (KLSE:PRKCORP) returns on capital, so let's have a look. What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)? If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Perak Corporation Berhad is: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 0.17 = RM53m (RM518m - RM208m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022). Therefore, Perak Corporation Berhad has an ROCE of 17%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Infrastructure industry average of 13% it's much better. View our latest analysis for Perak Corporation Berhad roce While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you're interested in investigating Perak Corporation Berhad's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow. How Are Returns Trending? We're delighted to see that Perak Corporation Berhad is reaping rewards from its investments and has now broken into profitability. While the business is profitable now, it used to be incurring losses on invested capital five years ago. At first glance, it seems the business is getting more proficient at generating returns, because over the same period, the amount of capital employed has reduced by 31%. This could potentially mean that the company is selling some of its assets. Story continues On a related note, the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets has decreased to 40%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. Therefore we can rest assured that the growth in ROCE is a result of the business' fundamental improvements, rather than a cooking class featuring this company's books. However, current liabilities are still at a pretty high level, so just be aware that this can bring with it some risks. The Key Takeaway In the end, Perak Corporation Berhad has proven it's capital allocation skills are good with those higher returns from less amount of capital. And since the stock has fallen 65% over the last five years, there might be an opportunity here. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation. Perak Corporation Berhad does have some risks though, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Perak Corporation Berhad that you might be interested in. For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) A Pakistani Sikh was killed by unknown assailants in a drive-by shooting in the eastern city of Lahore on Saturday, police said. The man, identified as Sardar Singh, was shot by gunmen riding on a motorcycle in Lahores residential neighborhood of Nawab Town. He was on a morning walk accompanied by his bodyguard when the attack happened, police said. Singh received a fatal gunshot to the head. Officer Asad Abbas said the bodyguard was wounded in the attack. The police declined to explain why Singh had a bodyguard or provide further details. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Religious minorities often face violence in Muslim-majority Pakistan, even though the countrys Constitution guarantees them equal rights and the freedom to practice their faith. Last month, a Pakistani Sikh businessman and a Christian cleaner were shot and killed by gunmen in separate incidents in the northwestern city of Peshawar. A day earlier, a prominent Hindu doctor and eye surgeon was gunned down in the port city of Karachi. Read more about: SHARE: OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) One person is dead and at least six other people were shot during a Cinco de Mayo party at a Mississippi restaurant late Friday night, police said. Ocean Springs Police Capt. Ryan LeMaire, in a news release, confirmed that seven people were shot at The Scratch Kitchen on Government Street. The surviving victims were transported to area hospitals for treatment, LeMaire said. The extent of their injuries was not immediately released. He identified the man killed as Chase Harmon, 19, of Pascagoula. No arrests had been made as of Saturday morning, but Lemaire said the investigation is ongoing. We urge anyone with any information to call the Ocean Springs Police Department, he said. The Scratch Kitchens owner told the Sun Herald there were about 200 people at the restaurant when the shooter ran past employees who were doing security checks at the entrance to the patio. The person who did the shooting wasnt a customer, owner Brittany Alexander said. He didnt get an arm band or anything to be out here. Ocean Springs is about 4 miles (6 kilometers) east of Biloxi, Mississippi. SHARE: CHICAGO (AP) An off-duty Chicago police officer was shot and killed early Saturday as she headed home on the citys Southside after her shift. The officer was shot about 1:42 a.m. in the citys Avalon Park neighborhood, police said. She was found wounded by another officer who responded to an alert from the citys gunshot detection system, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The second officer rushed her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. The slain officer had been with Chicago police about three years. No arrests have been made. Relatives identified the slain officer to the Chicago Sun-Times as Areanah Preston, 24. She was trying to make a change on this Earth, her father, Allen Preston, told the newspaper. Preston, who lives in Los Angeles, described his daughter as a beautiful soul who always saw the best in people. This was my baby. Everything I did was for her, he said. I dont know what to do, right now. Ill be dealing with this for the rest of my life. Late Saturday morning, more than a dozen family members gathered outside Areanah Prestons home. She was a definite role model with a career path that just didnt stop, said her aunt, Sonia Rawsk. Areanah Preston earned a bachelors degree in criminal justice and law enforcement administration from Illinois State University. Professor Charles Bell told the Sun-Times that she was very passionate about making a difference and showing young people that policing is a profession that can make a difference in the community. She was very aware of a lot of the problems that in her opinion had manifested in the Chicago community, Bell added. She was a reformer. She saw a problem and she was dedicated to making a difference. SHARE: Its time to split from the monarchy, April 30 The amending formula for changing the role of the King is not the usual formula of seven provinces comprising at least 50 per cent of the population, but Article 41 (a) of The Charter, which requires consent of the Senate, House of Commons, and each of the provincial legislatures. The same unanimity amongst the legislatures is required for changing the amending formula (41 (e)). Anyone who has lived through the constitutional debates of the 1980s and 1990s must be filled with horror at the prospect of every province and group in Canada with real or perceived grievances seizing this rare opportunity to advance their causes. One thing that unites Canadians is their ability to feel aggrieved. Steven Ketola, London SHARE: If youre wondering in what direction Torontos crowded mayoral byelection is headed, its back in time: specifically, back to high school. There is no word more fitting than adolescent to describe mayoral candidate Ana Bailaos recent attempt to paint her opponent Josh Matlow as a plagiarist. Last week, amid an avalanche of real problems overwhelming the City of Toronto, Bailaos team thought it prudent to release a statement informing the public that Matlow, a city councillor and former trustee of the Toronto District School Board, appeared to have borrowed some of his policy ideas from the urbanist Gil Penalosa, who ran for mayor and lost against John Tory in 2022. As a former school trustee Josh Matlow should know that plagiarism is wrong, reads the statement from Bailaos team. Regardless, many of his policies and news releases on issues like Ontario Place, tenant protection, libraries, schools and affordable housing are plagiarized from former candidate Gil Penalosas 2022 mayoral campaign. Indeed, Bailaos team notes that some of Matlows policy proposals are, down to their exact wording, very similar to past policies proposed by Penalosa. Among them is Matlows plan to introduce colour coded RentSafe signs similar to the citys DineSafe program; a means to crack down on landlords who let their buildings fall into disrepair. Penalosa campaigned on a near identical promise in 2022. Bailao strongly disapproves of the likeness. From her release: Josh Matlow is not the policy wiz he claims he is. Perhaps shes right; perhaps Matlow isnt a policy wiz. If so, its a very good thing that he has decided to surround himself with bona fide policy wizzes. It turns out there is a straightforward explanation for the similarities between the Matlow/Penalosa campaigns: several of Penalosas former campaign staffers now work on Matlows campaign. Toronto politics is a small world; progressive Toronto politics is an even smaller one. Unless one can plagiarize oneself, it appears that no great idea theft took place on the part of Matlows team. But lets say it had. Lets imagine for a moment that Matlow had a policy team full of duds who came across Penalosas 2022 platform while googling one day and simply fell in love with the thing. How exactly would that be a bad outcome? On the contrary, dont we want leaders to use the best ideas available? Penalosa certainly seems to think so. The former candidate tweeted the following recently: All my ideas from the 2022 campaign are available for any candidate interested in #cities4everyone, anywhere hopefully many will copy, adapt, improve, anything from the campaign or from my work in over 350 cities, in all continents. Bailao believes shes tattling on Matlow with a plagiarism charge, but shes tattling on herself. Are we to infer from her statement that she wouldnt use a policy idea that comes from outside her own camp? After all, the candidate has a friend in Premier Doug Ford when it comes to moving the Science Centre to Ontario place. Its perfectly reasonable, if not helpful to voters, for candidates to point out flaws in their opponents platforms. But this brand of finger pointing is petty and useless. It doesnt help refine Bailaos platform and it doesnt even scrutinize Matlows. In the end, well be lucky if whoever wins the mayoral campaign immediately embarks on a plagiarism campaign to mine every failed platform for its best ideas. Toronto faces an enormous budget shortfall, a housing and homelessness crisis, and never-ending transit woes. When a ship is sinking its passengers dont care that the captain who rights it borrowed his rescue plan from another crew member. They care that the ship is righted. Steal away, Matlow. Steal away, everyone. Correction May 6, 2023: This column has been updated after a previous version misstated where the Science Centre would be moving to. SHARE: Justin Trudeaus government must expel a Chinese diplomat who the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service blamed for targeting a Conservative politician who urged parliamentarians to recognize the genocide of Uyghurs in China. This week, Canadians learned that two years ago the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) warned senior bureaucrats, including the prime ministers acting national security adviser, that a Chinese diplomat working out of the Toronto consulate was targeting a Conservative MPs family. The MP in question is Michael Chong, the Conservatives foreign affairs critic, and the member for WellingtonHalton Hills since 2004. Government officials, including CSIS officials who met with Chong in 2021, never told him his family was being targeted. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists officials never told him that a Chinese diplomat was attempting to threaten Chong or that other MPs were targets. Its unclear what exactly happened and, Friday, Trudeau declined to place the blame on anyone in particular. But now, the Liberal government is seized with the issue. Chong wants the consular official, Zhao Wei one of 178 Chinese diplomats working in Canada expelled. Hes right to demand it. The wrong message If we do not take that course of action, Chong told Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Thursday, we are basically putting up a giant billboard for all authoritarian states around the world that says we are open for foreign interference threat activities on Canadian soil targeting Canadian citizens and you can conduct these activities with zero consequences. This is especially concerning for Canadian politicians. If foreign agents are tacitly allowed to intimidate and threaten MPs relatives, the government, as Chong notes, is opening the door to more of these threats. Elected officials are expected to speak for Canadas interest but if they feel speaking out and condemning the country of their birth or their heritage will place a target on family members without any repercussions, these politicians may feel less inclined to speak out. Canada is changing. Soon, we will be a country of 40 million inhabitants. According to data from the last Census, nearly a quarter of Canadians were or had been a landed immigrant or permanent resident, and just over 17 per cent had at least one foreign-born parent. We are a country of immigrants. These Canadians are getting involved in their communities, they are running for office. In the House of Commons, they serve as MPs, as parliamentary secretaries, as cabinet ministers, and even as a party leader. If the government doesnt protect their right to act independently, it is letting us all down. It is not inconceivable that foreign states may feel the most effective way to change Canadian policy is to threaten members of Parliament. Joly has pledged to take action. All options are on the table, she said, but added the government needed to act thoughtfully. There will be consequences We are assessing the consequences that we will be facing in case of diplomatic expulsion, because there will be consequences, she explained. I think its important for Canadians to know what weve learned from the Two Michaels experience is that, of course, China and the PRC will take actions. She listed economic, consular and diplomatic consequences. Joly is not wrong to want to know the consequences of her actions, but in order to safeguard Canadas democracy, to allow MPs to do their work without fear, she must take a tough stance. The Trudeau government has expelled diplomats before for less critical reasons. Back in 2018, for example, four Russian diplomats were shown the door and the credentials of three others were rejected as retaliation for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury, in the United Kingdom. At the time, the then-foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland, said the move was designed to show solidarity with the U.K. Pointing to the Vienna Conventions, governing consular and diplomatic relations, she said all steps were taken in accordance with the rules that allow diplomats to be expelled at any moment without reason. Russia fired back The four diplomats, she said, in a statement, have been identified as intelligence officers or individuals who have used their diplomatic status to undermine Canadas security or interfere in our democracy. The Russian embassy replied that the accusations were outrageous and pledged the unfriendly move would be met with reciprocity. In 2017, Freeland expelled a Venezuelan diplomat and barred that countrys ambassador from returning to Canada after Venezuela booted a senior Canadian diplomat who chastised that countrys human rights record. Chong is asking for one diplomat to be expelled. In March, Joly told MPs: If we have any form of clear evidence of any wrongdoing we will send diplomats packing very, very, very quickly. Its time she acts on that pledge. SHARE: Mother Teresa, who attained sainthood for her work for the downtrodden and the marginalized sections of the city, is the subject of a film, where the lead character takes inspiration to find real love and empathy. Set in contemporary times, Mother Teresa & Me shows two women, Teresa and Kavita, whose lives are interwoven in two parallel stories across generations. Swiss-India writer and filmmaker Kamal Musale, said the topic of Mother Teresa was proposed to him by Jacqueline Fritschi-Cornaz, who is playing her character. That is how I got involved with the project. Mothers loss of faith made her a lot more interesting character than the iconic superhero image that is portrayed. When you see people like Mother in more human way, then you start realising her troubles, her loss of faith and the feeling of being abandoned. You get inspired by thinking that despite all her troubles she continued, said Musale. The Indo-Swiss filmmaker, who has been making trips to the city since 1984, said the city has changed a lot. It is not a city for filmmakers from outside because of the unions. They make it very difficult for producers from outside to shoot, said the writer-director. That is the reason why he only shot only the exteriors of the film in Kolkata. May be 10 per cent of the film is shot in Kolkata, the rest I shot in the studios in Mumbai, he added. Essaying the role of Mother Teresa, Jacqueline FritschiCornaz said she did not keep in mind Mothers sainthood as I was diving into the character of a living person. And she attained sainthood after her death. Im privileged and honoured to play Teresa. Her journey is very inspiring. I learnt a lot about her personality, character and accent and the human behind the saint. The Swiss actress was also fascinated to be in the city of joy. It was incredible to be in the city of joy. I was thrilled to hear from the people who knew her well that they are seeing the Mother again through the film, she added. The war of words between the ruling and Opposition leaders in Bihar is getting murkier by by day over the scheduled visit of the self styled godman 26-year-old Dhirendra Krishna Shastri (Garg), popularly known as Bageshwar Dham Sarkar, in Bihar next week. Shashtri is scheduled to reach Patna on May 12. He will be leaving for his venue at Naubatpur, barely 20 km from Patna. The event will be held in an area spread over 200 acres to accommodate lakhs of crowd that are expected to attend the pravachan (sermons) of Shashtri from May 13-17. Bihar officials and the ruling seven-party alliance members are apprehensive about the danger of spreading communal tension. We have crossed our fingers. Bihars two districts Nalanda and Rohtas are yet to recover from the communal violence that took place during the recently concluded Ramnavami festival, they said. The Opposition BJP leaders, on the other hand, are already accusing the ruling Mahagathbandhan of Muslim appeasement policy. A graduate, Shashtri is said to be the peethadhish of the Bageshwardham Sarkar, a religious pilgrimage site in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. According to his followers, he organises Divya Durbar where it is believed that he heals all physical, mental, economic and social sufferings of common people with his divine powers which he got from Lord Hanuman. Laloos elder son Taj Pratap Yadav, who is also minister of forest, environment and climate change has threatened to stage a protest if Shashtris aim is to spread communal tension in Bihar. I will stage a protest at the airport itself. Shashtri can enter Bihar only if he sends across the message of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian brotherhood, he said. Recently, Tej has launched an outfit called dharmanirpeksha (Secular) Sevak Sangh (DSS) a youth organisation, to counter the RSS in Bihar. He has been made the president of the DSS. Tej Pratap is not alone, RJDs state president Jagdanand said that the people like Shastri should be put behind bars. Shashtri is a hooligan and accused the BJP of destroying the faith of the people of the country, he said. Bihar Education Minister Chandrashekhar recently told the media, If this so-called baba says anything that spoils the communal harmony, I would like to remind him that even BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani was arrested here. Last night, the state Cooperative Minister Surendra Prasad Yadav accused Shashtri of promoting witchcraft in the guise of Divya durbar in which young girls used to perform dance in a vulgar way which is not acceptable in our society. Yadav, while addressing a rally at Fatehpur block in the Gaya district, pointed out that ordinary people, young poor girls are being cheated, looted and exploited in the name of religion. To counter the leaders of Mahagathbandhan, Union minister Giriraj Singh dared the leaders to stop him from coming to Patna. The organisers had applied for a space for him in Patnas Gandhi Maidan, which the administration has refused. Bihar government may have denied space in Gandhi maidan, but no one can dare to stop him landing in Patna for a religious programme, the minister said. BJP MP from Pataliputra parliamentary constituency Ram Kripal Yadav, one of the main organizers of the event, said. We are strong sipahi of Sanatan dharma. Those who will try to obstruct his event will vanish. The tent management has been done by a local Muslim family. Another Muslim, Ansar Ahmad, who is engaged in the flower business, has been assigned to do the florist arrangement during his five day stay in Naubatpur. I am feeling proud that Shashtriji is addressing sermons at Naubatpur which falls under my Parliamentary constituency. We all are feeling blessed, Yadav told a group of the media. People feel that the main reason for Shashtrijis popularity is said to be videos of his kathas (stories) on social media. His impending Bihar visit has gone viral on social media by his scores of followers in and around the country. A worker at a fuel station checks a 500 Indian rupee note after filing a vehicle with fuel in Kolkata February 3, 2011. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri Russia has accumulated billions of rupees that are sitting in Indian banks. But Moscow acknowledged that it's a problem and is looking to convert the rupees to another currency. Russia has a trade imbalance with India, which has been a top buyer of Russian energy. Russia has billions of rupees sitting in Indian banks but acknowledged there's a problem as it looks for ways to convert that currency. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted the widening trade deficit with India, which has been a top buyer of Russian oil since Moscow launched its war on Ukraine last year. "As for rupees, this is a problem because there are billions of rupees accumulated in accounts at Indian banks and we need to use this money," Lavrov told reporters in India on Friday. "For this, rupees should be converted into other currencies. This is being discussed." The comments come a day after Reuters reported that Russia and India have suspended negotiations over using rupees for trade between the two countries. Russia prefers to be paid in Chinese yuan, which has become the most-used foreign currency in Russia. Meanwhile, Moscow has reportedly been hesitant about using the rupee due to exchange-rate volatility. After Russia invaded Ukraine and was essentially ousted from the global financial system, Russia initially encouraged the use of national currencies instead of the US dollar, which is the primary currency for commodities and trade. Some Indian importers of Russian oil have tried using the UAE's dirhams and rubles to facilitate transactions. Still, Russia and India remain deadlocked in a currency dispute that has also frozen weapons sales between the two countries. India won't pay Russia in US dollars over concerns that it may face secondary sanctions and won't pay in rubles because of worries about obtaining Russia's currency on global markets at a fair rate, sources told Bloomberg last month. Meanwhile, Russia won't take Indian rupees because of exchange-rate volatility, the report added. Moscow has also rejected an idea from New Delhi for the Kremlin to invest rupees from arms payments back into Indian capital markets so the currency doesn't pile up. Currency concerns with Russia's currency have also plagued its other trade relations. Recently, it agreed to use the yuan to for payments on a nuclear-power plant deal with Bangladesh, after previously insisting on using its ruble. Read the original article on Business Insider The Chandigarh Press Club has on Saturday condemned the arrest of a TV news journalist Bhawna Kumari in Ludhiana. Bhawana, along with two others, was arrested during the inauguration of Aam Aadmi Clinics in Ludhiana on Friday on the charge of hitting a woman with a speeding car, resulting in injury on her right hand and also using derogatory language. In a statement on behalf of the Clubs Governing Council, Chandigarh Press Club president Saurabh Duggal said the journalist was on a professional duty to cover the inauguration of the clinics by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal when she was arrested, by a male police officer. No woman police officer was seen there. For hours her family was not informed. Her colleagues tried to contact but to no avail, he said. In a press release issued yesterday evening, it was confirmed that Commissionerate Police Ludhiana on Friday arrested three persons for hitting a woman with a speeding car, resulting in injury on her right hand and also using derogatory language. The three arrested were Bhawna Kumari, Mrityunjay Kumar and their driver Parminder Singh. As per the press release, the said persons used derogatory language against the caste of the complainant due to which The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was slapped against them. Now, this Press release in itself raises questions. If a person is hit by a car, under which law the passengers have been booked? How would one know the caste of the complainant to use derogatory language against their caste? Who among the three used such language to be specific, Duggal asked. It is a blatant attack on the freedom of Press and the Chandigarh Press Club condemns the action of the Punjab Police and is taking up the matter with Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, so that guilty official could be brought to the book and directions to be issued so that no such incidence to take place in future, he added. Duggal had complained earlier too that there has been an attack on the freedom of press and the authorities were involved in arbitrary suspension of social media accounts of several Punjab-based journalists and media organisations. Meanwhile, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit reportedly spoke to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today to express concern over the arrest of journalist Bhawna Kumari who . The TV channel alleged their journalist has been arrested as revenge for the news they carried on the renovation of the house of Aam Aadmi Party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The AAP government, however, maintains the case was registered against the journalist for making casteist remarks against a woman. Delhi Jal Board (DJB) vice-chairman Somnath Bharti on Saturday inspected the Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant (WTP). During the inspection, Bharti took stock of the treatment area of the plant, barrage and laboratory in the presence of senior officials of the Delhi Jal Board. The DJB vice-chairman said in the guidance of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a decision has been taken to set up an ammonia control plant at the Wazirabad WTP and in-principle approval has been given for the same. Bharti said that after completing all the necessary formalities, the construction work of the ammonia control plant will start in September. He also directed the officials to replace and upgrade the filters of Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant. Upgrading the filters is expected to increase the production capacity of the Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant by up to 25 per cent. Bharti said it will not take long to realize the vision of the Chief Minister to supply 24-hour clean water to all residents of Delhi. The Wazirabad WTP will play an important role in realizing the Chief Ministers dream of round the clock supply of clean drinking water to every household of Delhi. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was honoured with Bharat Ratna Dr. Ambedkar Award in Mumbai on Friday by former president of India Ram Nath Kovind at Shri Shanmukhananda Auditorium in Mumbai. UP Legislative Council Member (MLC) Dr. Lalji Prasad Nirmal received the prestigious award on behalf of Yogi Adityanath . Delivering his speech at a programme organised by Budhanjali Research Foundation as chief guest, Kovind said that Yogi Adityanath has done a commendable job by making the state of Uttar Pradesh free from fear. He achieved this goal by acting tough on criminal elements and mafias. Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale called Yogi a friend whose name is enough to send shivers down the spine of mafias. Lalji Prasad Nirmal lauded Yogi Adityanaths initiative to ensure that Dr. Ambedkars photograph is installed in government departments of the state. He said the chief minister has fulfilled the dreams of Savita Ambedkar by opening Dr. Ambedkar Memorial and Cultural Center in Lucknow. Besides, he has become the messiah of the downtrodden today. President of Budhanjali Foundation and organiser of the programme Kailash Masoom said,We are proud to give Bharat Ratna Dr Ambedkar Award to Yogi Adityanath. The Yogi Government is working keeping in mind the interests of the Dalits, the backward and the underprivileged, taking everyone along. On the occasion, film actors, Prem Chopra, Udit Narayan and Rajpal Yadav, along with dignitaries from other regions of the country were also felicitated by 13th Bharat Ratna Dr Ambedkar Award. Odisha government bagged the State Leadership Award in Skill Development at the IESA Industry Excellence Awards held in New Delhi on Friday. India Energy Storage Alliance ( IESA) celebrated the spirit of innovation and excellence at its Industry Excellence Awards 2023, honouring the trailblazers who have made significant contributions to Indias energy storage industry. Suresh Prabhu, former Union Minister presented the awards. The award recognises Odisha governments efforts in building a skilled workforce that can drive the growth of the energy storage industry in the country. Congratulating the awardees, Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, President, India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA)said It was a privilege to get an opportunity to honour the tremendous behind the scene work done by various policymakers and bureaucrats from various ministries and acknowledge their achievements. I would also like to congratulate the start-ups, world-class organisations and energy leaders on their win in this prestigious award programme. The Governments of Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Telangana were honoured with the State Leadership Awards for their significant contributions to the energy storage industry in India. Hailing from Rangareddy district of Telangana, Gangapuram Kishan Reddy started his political career as a youth leader of the Janata Party in 1977. He is currently the Union minister for Tourism & Culture. Reddy joined the BJP after the formation of the party in 1980. He served the BJP in various capacities before being unanimously elected as the Telangana BJP president. He served the BJP as an MLA twice. Since 2019, he is the Lok Sabha MP from Secunderabad. As tourism minister, Reddy has taken several initiatives to promote India as a global tourist destination. With a target to attract foreign tourists to India and improve the countrys ranking in the World Tourism Index, he took several steps to explore the untapped tourism potential of the country, especially of the lesser-known destinations in the country. In an interview with Anjali Bhatia of The Statesman, Reddy talked about the measures his ministry is initiating to achieve the tourism goals. Excerpts: Q: What initiatives are being taken by the government to promote tourism in lesser-known destinations in India? A: The Central government is taking several initiatives to promote tourism in lesser-known destinations. The Ministry of Tourism is working with states and industry stakeholders to promote such destinations through social media and trade promotion events. Specialised circuits like rural tourism, eco-tourism, tribal tourism, and spiritual heritage circuits are being developed as part of the Swadesh Darshan scheme. The government is also focusing on initiatives like border tourism and showcasing aspects of rural tourism and adventure tourism through events like G-20. Recently, a Chintan Shivir was conducted to promote tourism in a mission mode where stakeholders emphasised the need for a larger geographical spread and the promotion of Northeast Indian destinations. Q: What is the governments plan to attract more foreign tourists to India and improve the countrys ranking in the World Tourism Index? A: The Ministry of Tourism has formulated country-specific strategies to attract foreign tourists through partnerships with Indian missions abroad. Tourism officers in 20 Indian missions are working on plans to promote inbound tourism in the country and engage the Indian Diaspora abroad. In this direction, India has extended e-tourist visas to 166 countries and is focusing on improving its ranking in the travel and tourism index. The government is also investing in training programmes for tourist guides, taxi drivers, street vendors, temple priests, and others to deliver an exceptional experience to tourists. Apart from these, India offers a wide range of tourism activities such as agri-tourism, green tourism, wildlife tourism, culture tourism, cuisine tourism, and festival tourism. The countrys rich cultural diversity, spiritual heritage, and natural beauty make it a perfect destination for tourists. The government is also taking steps to promote spiritual tourism in the country under various schemes. India has a tremendous opportunity to improve its rank in the Travel and Tourism Sustainability Subindex by focusing on renewable energy, the global climate risk index, forest cover loss, and wastewater treatment. Q: How is the government planning to address the challenges faced by the tourism industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic? A: The Covid-19 pandemic had affected the well-being of individuals, but now people are confidently planning to travel to rejuvenate themselves. Domestic travel is resuming in India, and tourist destinations are receiving a large number of visitors. There is a pent-up demand that can be tapped. The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) has been enhanced by Rs 50,000 crore and earmarked exclusively for enterprises in hospitality and related sectors. The Ministry of Tourism has organised various initiatives, such as the Dekho Apna Desh Webinar series, to create awareness of the unique tourist locations of India. Unsecured loans have been provided to tour operators and tourist guides affected by the pandemic. Digitalisation, sustainability, trust, and safety in tourism have become key focus areas post-pandemic. Q: What steps are being taken to promote sustainable tourism in India and minimize its impact on the environment? A: The pandemic has led to a change in consumer preferences toward wellness and nature-centric travel, and sustainability has become an important element in tourism. The government is formulating a new National Tourism Policy with sustainability as an integral part, and initiatives that promote sustainable and green tourism will resonate positively with tourists. The focus is on putting people and the planet first, decarbonising destinations, and empowering entrepreneurs. The government has also set up resource centres for villages to learn global best practices and is implementing Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India guidelines. Green Tourism will be one of the key priorities during Indias G-20 Presidency. The government aims to encourage NRIs and People of Indian Origin to bring at least five foreign tourists to India by promoting sustainable tourism. Q: Can you tell us about any upcoming festivals or events that are being organised to promote tourism in India? A: The Ministry of Tourism is participating in various national and international events to promote tourism in India. In addition, more than 200 G20 meetings are being organised across 55 cities, which get promoted at the global level. Various festivals and events are organised by States to promote tourism in India. The Utsav portal has been developed to showcase more than 50 live darshans and 1,000 fairs and festivals across India. The Ministry of Tourism is also organising a Global Tourism Investors Summit (GTIS) in New Delhi, from May 17 to 19, 2023. The summit will witness the Central ministries of the government of India and the state governments showcase, investable projects, highlight policy reforms, and attract investments in tourism and hospitality sectors. The summit will help align our aspiration and execution to develop tourism in mission mode. Q: How is the government addressing the issue of tourist harassment, particularly with female tourists, and what measures are being taken to ensure their safety? A: The Indian government has made safety and security of all tourists a special focus area with 360-degree sensitization campaigns for all stakeholders in the ecosystem, such as hawkers, vendors, shop owners, and guides. The Ministry of Tourism has been working with the Ministry of Home Affairs and states/Union Territories (UTs) for the deployment of Tourist Police, which have been implemented in many states and UTs. A 247 helpline is also available in various foreign languages. The Bureau of Police Research and Development has prepared a detailed report on developing the scheme for tourists, which may act as a template for states and UTs for setting up their tourist police. In October 2022, the National Conference on Tourist Police was held to steer the implementation of The Uniform Tourist Police Scheme at a pan-India level. Q: What role do you see technology playing in promoting tou rism in India, and what steps is the government taking to leverage it? A: The government has recognised the importance of technology in promoting tourism and improving the quality of services. Post-pandemic, digitalisation, sustainability, trust, and safety in tourism have become key focus areas. To promote digitalisation in the tourism sector, the government is proposing to set up the National Digital Tourism Mission (NDTM), which will bridge the information gap among different stakeholders in the tourism ecosystem. The revamped NIDHI+ portal will be launched to register certified tourism stakeholders, including accommodation units, travel agents, tour operators, tourist transport operators, food and beverage units, online travel aggregators, convention centres, and tourist facilitators. The Incredible India portal will also be revamped to provide tourists with a one-stop digital platform that covers various cultures, geographies, and experience categories like adventure, heritage, MICE, spiritual, gastronomy, shopping, and more. Q: What is being done to improve the infrastructure and facilities at various destinations? A: The government is focused on improving infrastructure and facilities at various tourist destinations through a whole-of-government approach. This includes collaboration with various central ministries such as the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, and Department of Telecom. The government has added 66 new airports since 2014 and aims to reach 220 by 2025, with 51 new tourism routes operationalised under RCS UDAN3 Scheme. It has also constructed new railway stations and launched various tourist trains such as the Ramayan Circuit Train and Buddhist Circuit Train. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is building amenities such as toilets on highways and other locations, and the Department of Telecom is working to provide mobile services in uncovered areas. Through the Prashad and Swadesh Darshan schemes, funds have been provided to various states and UTs to improve infrastructure facilities at prominent destinations. As many as 85,294 persons have been screened in the Active Case Finding (ACF) for tuberculosis in the district Kinnaur of Himachal Pradesh. An official spokesperson said here on Saturday that the state government is determined to eradicate tuberculosis from Himachal Pradesh by the year 2025, and to achieve this target, the District Health Department Kinnaur is effectively implementing TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan in the district. The District Health Department has implemented an ACF campaign in all three blocks of district Kinnaur to achieve TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan. Regional Hospital Kinnaur has initiated an ACF campaign to identify TB cases and to ensure their healthy well-being. There are 89,271 persons in all three blocks of district Kinnaur and 85,294 persons have been screened in the ACF campaign for TB, out of which 546 presumptive cases have been identified and about 7 cases have been diagnosed, he said. Sangla Block has a total population of 33,529 persons and 31,119 persons have been screened in the ACF campaign, resulting in 93 percent of screened persons in the block. Out of 31,119 screened persons about 167 cases have been identified as presumptive cases for TB and 4 TB cases have been diagnosed. Whereas out of 27,657 persons in Pooh Block, 24,204 persons have been screened, which is 88 percent of the screened population for TB in the block and about 190 cases have been identified and 2 cases have been diagnosed. Nichar Block, having a total population of 28,085 persons, had 29,971 persons screened, resulting in 106 percent of screened persons in the block. Out of 29,971 screened persons about 189 presumptive cases have been identified and 1 case of TB has been diagnosed. In the year 2020, about 183 tuberculosis patients were registered out of which 174 persons have been cured, whereas in the year 2021 about 194 patients were registered out of which 186 persons were cured and in the year 2022 about 201 patients were registered out of which 158 persons have been cured, informed the spokesperson. According to the Health indicators, there are 196 TB patients per one lakh population in India and 211 TB patients per one lakh population in Himachal Pradesh. Whereas, in the Kinnaur district, there are 120 TB patients against one lakh population. Lashing out at the Congress party over corruption, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that since Bharatiya Janata Partys double-engine government has put a stop to Congress partys corruption, they have resorted to abusing him. He said that BJP has ended corruption by bringing Jan Dhan Aadhar Mobile (JAM) and sending money directly to peoples accounts. Addressing a public meeting in Badami, PM Modi said, BJP has come with a road map to make Karnataka, the Number-1 state in the country. But, Congress has decided that it will not brush off its old habits, and will make appeasement, foul language and taalabandi as their election agenda. They are doing vote bank politics, promising to stop BJPs welfare schemes and are abusing OBC and Lingayat community and even me, he added. Hitting out at former CM Siddaramaiah, the Prime Minister said that the basic facilities had not reached out to the poor in the Bagalkote region. Siddaramaiah has stopped campaigning in this constituency because he has understood the wave. But, people should ask him, why the poor people in the Bagalkote region were deprived of all the basic facilities. More than 3 lakh people received tap water from our government. Houses were sanctioned for more than 25000 people. More than 6 lakh people received health cover under Ayushman Bharat. 7 lakh people received benefits of Mudra Yojana, he said. He further took a jibe at the Congress party using the 1 Rupee, 85 paise reference for former PM Rajiv Gandhi. All this shows that only a double-engine government can work for the people. Congress party which has an 85 per cent record in taking commission can never work for the people. Former PM Rajiv Gandhi himself accepted that if the centre sanctions Rs 1 for the poor, only 15 paise reach them. It clearly means that the remaining 85 paise was taken off by some people. It was because of this corruption only, that country remained backward for so long. PM Modi added, Today, BJP has brought a Trishul with Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile. This has destroyed all the old habits of the Congress party. In the last nine years, Rs 29 lakh crore has been transferred in the accounts of medium to small accounts in the country without any corruption. If this would have happened under Congress, as per Rajiv Gandhis calculations, Rs 24 lakh crore would have gone in the hands of Congress leaders only. Today, people get impatient incurring a loss of Rs 24,000. Here I have given Congress a loss of Rs 24 lakh crore. So, isnt it obvious that they would abuse me? The Prime Minister further said that the party has been receiving a great response in the state and affirmed confidence in BJp securing the mandate in the upcoming state elections. BJP has been receiving a tremendous response from the people of Karnataka. They are turning out in large numbers. Bestowing so much affection is a speciality of the state. It seems people are themselves fighting the election for BJP in the state. This clearly shows that a double-engine government will be formed in the state, he added. Earlier in the day, PM Modi also held a mega roadshow in Bengaluru during the last leg of the campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly polls. He is scheduled to hold two mega road shows and four public meetings this weekend, as per the party sources. Karnataka will go to polls on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has lodged an FIR against an Under Secretary in the Ministry of Health for allegedly demanding bribe from a US-based Indian person for issuing a Statement of Need from the ministry. The individual wanted the Statement of Need for official purposes. A senior CBI official said that they got a complaint in this regard on April 4 from one Ram Gulam, a resident of Ballabhgarh in Faridabad. Gulam alleged that his friend Yashpal Chokkers son Aditya Chokker, who lives in the US, had applied for a Statement of Need from the Ministry of Health. Sonu Kumar, an Under Secretary, Ministry of Health, demanded a bribe from him in exchange for issuing the Statement of Need. The complainant has enclosed the printout of the said certificate which was sent by Sonu Kumar to Yashpal Chokker through e-mail, which Yashpal then forwarded to the complainant on WhatApp. Chokker did not want to pay the demanded bribe, the CBI said. The official said that the FIR was lodged under Section 7 of the PC Act. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the Congress was abusing him, the OBCs and the Lingayat community in Karnataka, because peoples enthusiasm at his poll rallies showed a BJP government was returning to power with a clear majority in the State. Addressing a rally in Badami after an unprecedented 25-km road show in Bengaluru, he said people had crowded on both sides of the road-show with families, and their affection confirmed that the double-engine Government of the state would return to power. Modi said while the BJP was getting peoples support because it had come up with a road-map to make Karnataka No 1 State in the country, the Congress poll talk was restricted to appeasement of its vote-bank, closure of BJPs welfare schemes and abusing OBCs and the Lingayats. If all this did not appear sufficient, the Congress turned to abusing him too, he said. The whole of Karnataka is angry over this strategy of the Congress and one can hear from every corner people have made up their mind to bring back the BJP Government to power again, the Prime Minister said. Hitting out at former state chief minister Siddaramaiah, the prime minister said that basic facilities had not reached the poor in the Bagalkote region. Siddaramaiah has stopped campaigning in this constituency because he has understood the wave. But, people should ask him, why the poor people in the Bagalkote region were deprived of all the basic facilities, he said. More than three lakh people received tap water from the BJP government. Houses were sanctioned for more than 25000 people. More than six lakh people received health cover under Ayushman Bharat, eight lakh got jan dhan accounts and seven lakh people received benefits of Mudra Yojana, he said. I heard Siddaramaiah said development in the past three and a half years was done by him. This proves only a double-engine government is effective in ensuring development, and without any discrimination. The BJP Government ensured improvement in roads, highways, railway projects, he said. This could not be ensured by a party like Congress with a track record of consuming 85 per cent commission, the Prime Minister said. The Congress can never work with a sense of service. This was publicly admitted by Rajiv Gandhi when he said only 15 paise reached people when the Central Government sent 100 paise, Modi said. You can assess yourself, 85 per cent was looted which was that hand which took away the 85 per cent commission. This was the way of working of the Congress and kept India backward. All those infirmities are being ended by the BJP Government, the Prime Minister said. The BJP Government brought Aadhaar, Mobile and Jan Dhan Accounts trishul to end all those evils. In the last nine years, the BJP Government directly transferred Rs 29 lakh crore in the accounts of people of poor and middle income groups without theft of even a single paise, he said. If this was to be done under a Congress-ruled Government, Rs 24 lakh crore would have been looted by Congress leaders, as per the arithmetic given by Rajiv Gandhi himself. Modi has caused a loss of Rs 24 lakh crore to the Congress. This is being spent on the countrys development. In such a situation, it is not surprising the Congress is abusing Modi, he said. The BJP Government helped people get their rightful dues, and save money in amenities like electricity through LED bulbs. People save Rs 20,000 crore every year through this measure. The Ayushman scheme saved Rs 80,000 crores of people in medical treatment, cheap medicines through Jan Aushadi stores helped people save Rs 20,000 crore, cheaper stents for heart and cheaper knee implants saved Rs 15,000 crore. BJP and BJP policies have helped you save money in mobile data. At one time mobiles were mostly imported. Today India is one of the largest mobile manufacturers in the world. At one time there were just two factories, today there are 200 factories, he said. Data is much cheaper during the BJP Government. Before 2014, one GB data cost Rs 300. Under the BJP government it is only Rs 10. As a result people are now saving Rs 4,000 to 5,000 per month. India was rich not just in gold but art and literature too. Karnataka has rich traditions but the Congress did not respect this. The Congress does not call India the mother of democracy but prefers to attack Indias democracy. The Congress is still suffering from the slave mentality, he said. BJP has honoured the states old traditional crafts and helped in tourism potential. Seven new mega textile parks are being set up, one in Kalaburagi in Karnataka. The Congress neglected all this, he said. Pulses production had fallen during the Congress rule because it was interested in imports and procured a small quantity. Congress paid in five years Rs 600 crores in MSP for pulses. The BJP government has given Rs 80,000 crores in MSP for pulses. This has increased pulses production in the country and in Karnataka. Similar initiatives have been taken to raise edible oil production. A government which fights among itself, or with the Central government for five years, will be no good for Karnataka, the prime minister said. Thats why a double-engine Government was needed in the State. The Congress is only interested in its vote bank but the BJP is integrating all sections, he said. The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP of hatching a sinister and ugly plot to assassinate Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and his entire family, saying this was the lowest the political discourse in the country could stoop to. At a media briefing, senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said, Intimidated by the all-round blessings of Kannadigas being showered on the party and facing a complete rout in the ensuing Assembly elections, BJP leaders are now hatching a plot to murder Kharge and his family members. This, he said, was clear from a audio recording of BJPs candidate from Chittapur who also happens to be the blue-eyed boy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Bommai. We will take the matter seriously. We will inquire into the whole thing and the law will take its action, said Karnataka CM when asked for his reaction to the BJP allegation. The Congress leader sought immediate action against the BJP candidate and said the voters would give a befitting reply to the BJP in the elections on 10 May. Male boss - Portra/Digital Vision Selfish male bosses are to blame for bad business performance while their female counterparts are perceived to be just victims of bad luck, according to a new academic study of gender stereotypes. A joint study by the University of East Anglia, University of Melbourne and Monash University in Australia found that benevolent sexism where women are seen as affectionate and delicate individuals who need to be protected was widespread in the workplace. Researchers added that men were more likely to give women the benefit of the doubt than their own female colleagues. Participants in the study were divided into groups where one member was designated team leader and asked to make investment decisions. The remainder were then asked to evaluate their performance based only on the outcome of the leaders choices and their gender. While men were blamed for risky behaviour and poor returns, women were more likely to be viewed as unlucky. Dr Boon Han Koh, of UEAs School of Economics and Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science, said that in the case of failure, men are assigned more blame than women and perceived as being selfish. He added that the study of 350 people also found that positive outcomes of male and female leaders are not treated differently, suggesting that men and women are deemed to be equally altruistic after being seen to achieve positive results. Lata Gangadharan, of Monash University and co-author of the research, said that even though the outcomes seemed to favour women, gender biases may still lead to adverse outcomes. She added: For example, gender biases in evaluations that favour women may hinder the development of their careers and increase the possibility of backlash against female leaders in the long run. They may also lead to distortions in the incentives provided to all decision makers in positions of power, male and female, and harm the future actions taken by them. Gender stereotypes have long dominated the workplace. Sharon White, the chairman of John Lewis, complained earlier this year that she struggled to find men who would work for women. Dame Sharon said she found it quite hard to recruit men as she attempts to shift the retailer away from what she called a masculine command and control culture. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer. Alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement on Bajrangbali is creating communal tension, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot tonight demanded that the Election Commission should ban the PMs poll campaign in Karnataka. PM Modi is openly taking the name of Bajrangbali. Religious frenzy and controversy are being created in Karnataka elections. A ban on him is needed. This is the need of the hour, Gehlot told an official press conference at his residence. Whether the Congress will ensure any action against Bajrang Dal in Rajasthan, Gehlot said, There can be any organisation after the name of the God like Ram, Vishnu, Bajrangbali. The important thing is to notice its role and working in the society. Replying to a question, the CM said the Bajrangbali propaganda raised by the PM and the BJP would not be an election issue in Karnataka and the BJP had failed to polarise voters on such religious issues. Political parties in Karnataka are all set to cash in on the exasperation and disappointment of the government employees demanding the scrapping of National Pension Scheme (NPS) and re-introduction of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) ahead of the May 10 Assembly polls. The ruling BJP formed a committee on reintroducing OPS by studying states that have scrapped the market-linked NPS. It assured of a suitable action after the report gets submitted to the government. Understandably, the party took the step at the fag end of its tenure to avoid inviting any wrath of government employees during elections. The government employees and pensioners form a large group of voters in the state. The protests have been staged for the re-introduction of the OPS. However, the issue cropped up as pensions under the OPS for government employees became one of the top promises made by the Congress in its manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. To sympathetically consider extension of OPS to the pensionable government employees who joined service since 2006, the manifesto reads. It is one of top promises made in the beginning of the Congress manifesto after the five guarantees. State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar stated that his party is sympathetic towards those who want to join the OPS. The Congress has given the commitment and it would implement it without fail. Meanwhile, JD(S) had promised in its election manifesto that the New Pension Scheme (NPS) will be reviewed. The party has proposed a new pension scheme which will comprise the good aspects of both NPS and OPS schemes. Government sources claim that of the 7.41 lakh government employees in the state, 2.97 lakh are covered under NPS. The NPS was introduced to all government employees who were recruited to the government services after April 1, 2006. These employees are not happy with the NPS which is a market linked retired pension scheme. Talking to IANS, Mohan Dasari, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Bengaluru City President explained that his party has already implemented OPS in the state of Punjab. We have a clear vision to bring back the OPS and we are completely against the NPS, he said. We have been telling everyone in the country that we want to bring back the OPS. The new scheme which is being promoted is being brought in to help the bigger corporations in the country. The Adanis, Ambanis and Tatas and others, he said. The money is invested in stocks and mutual funds. The stocks are nothing but the bigger company stocks. With the peoples money, they want to increase the wealth of corporates. But, the earlier pension scheme was completely for the people, he said. Mohan Dasari explained that these people were getting a bulk amount at the time of retirement. Since it is a market linked scheme, they dont get a big amount at the time of retirement. Normally, all middle class government employees wait for their retirement to build the house, get the children married. They literally waited. Now with the market scheme, how are they going to wait for anything? It also means that the government employees are not even going to get a good pension. This is a survival thing for middle class government employees. They struggle their entire life to get that amount, he explained. This is purely to help the corporates, this is what BJP and Congress governments are doing. We are completely against it and are determined to bring back the OPS, Mohan Dasari stated. Asked about the declaration in the manifesto by the Congress, Mohan Dasari questioned why the Congress government did not bring the OPS in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where it is ruling? Why are they not doing it now? If Congress has a vision for OPS, it should have done it in both the states. Since they have not done it there, they will not do it here either. Notably, BJP legislators had staged a walkout in the session demanding scrapping of NPS. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs J. Madhu Swamy had stated that under the OPS there was a huge financial burden of salaries and pensions. The salary outgo exceeds Rs 90,000 crore, while it was Rs 20,000 to Rs 24,000 crore for pensions. The BJP government even stated that it had informed in advance about NPS to all those who were recruited post 2006 and they cant demand OPS. However, considering the setback in polls, the saffron party had mellowed down. It is to be seen whether the political parties are using the issue for election or concerned about government employees. Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday hit out at Congress while highlighting the achievements of the Bharatiya Janata Party and said that the double-engine government in Karnataka has worked for the benefit of the people. The final leg of campaigning for the May 10 Assembly elections have intensified in the State. Addressing an election rally in Belagavi, Amit Shah said PM Modi fulfilled the dreams of Lord Ram devotees by constructing the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. BJP has worked for the farmers here. We have given several benefits to the farmers. Congress insulted Savarkar. But BJP developed the Marathas and respected themPM Modi fulfilled the dreams of Lord Ram devotees by constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Shah said that the Congress party insulted Lord Bajrang Bali. Congress faced a major backlash from Hindu organisations after it announced a ban on Bajrang Dal in its manifesto for the Karnataka assembly elections. We believe that law and Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and Organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities, read the Congress manifesto. Shah said that no one has trust in Rahul Gandhis guarantees, adding they (Congress) were defeated in states like Tripura, Assam, and Nagaland. Its BJP who banned Popular Front of India, Shah said. Previously this April, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said each vote to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will protect the State from the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). Notably, the PFI and its many affiliates were declared unlawful association by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in September last year after its involvement in violent activities came to light during investigations carried out by various state police units and national agencies. The BJP gave ration to the public, gave water facilities and health facilities. The double-engine government has worked for the benefit of the people, Shah said. Karnataka will go to Assembly polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. Aam Aadmi Party national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said despite fulfilling partys poll promises, there is no cash crunch in Punjab as the money that earlier used to go into the pockets of the corrupt and the mafia is being utilised for public welfare judiciously. Addressing a gathering at a roadshow during the campaign of the high-stake bypoll to the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat scheduled for May 10, Kejriwal said when AAP announced free 300 units of electricity, the Opposition parties had said its not possible as Punjab doesnt have the money. But our government has proved that everything is possible if the intention is clear and the chief minister is honest. He said, We made electricity free, yet the revenue of the government is increasing because there is no dearth of money in Punjab. Earlier, the money from the government treasury used to go into the pockets of the corrupt and the mafia. Now, the same money is being used to give facilities to the common people of the state. He further said, Many people came and told us that only three months have passed since the formation of the government. Dont make the electricity free in a hurry. Fulfill these guarantees in the fifth year of your government. But we have come to work for the people, not to do politics. So, we completed our guarantee just after three months and people are getting 600 units of free electricity per bill. The Delhi CM said the AAP government is the first government in Punjab which has taken so many big decisions and done so much work in just one year. He said now the youth of Punjab are getting jobs and temporary employees are being regularised. Electricity bills of common people are zero. Farmers are being compensated for their crop losses on time. The compensation amount for the loss of crops has also increased and the families of the martyrs are now getting one crore ex gratia. All this has been made possible by an honest government in Punjab, the AAP leader said. Making an appeal to the people of Jalandhar to ensure the victory of AAP candidate Sushil Rinku, Kejriwal said, We have come to you asking for one year. You gave 60 years to Congress. Now, give us 11 months and if you dont like our work then dont vote for us in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday departed from the national capital for Jammu to review the situation in the ongoing encounter between security forces and terrorists in Rajouris Kandi area. This comes a day after five soldiers were killed during the anti-terror Operation Trinetra of the Indian Army with Jammu and Kashmir Police and the CRPF. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha this morning paid tribute to the five Army personnel who lost their lives on Friday when terrorists triggered an explosive device during the Rajouri encounter. The deceased soldiers are Lance Naik Ruchin Singh Rawat, Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri, Naik Arvind Kumar, Hav Neelam Singh, and Paratrooper Pramod Negi. The Indian Army is conducting operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in the Jammu region about a fortnight ago, where another five soldiers lost lives. Meanwhile, according to recent updates, Army officials said that one terrorist was neutralised and one likely injured in a fresh exchange of fire in Kandi in the early hours of Saturday. The first contact was established with the terrorists at around 1.15am, resulting in an exchange of fire when terrorists attempted to escape the cordon. At around 5am, the cordon was readjusted and the gunbattle continued, Army officials said. Northern army commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi also participated in a solemn wreath-laying ceremony on behalf of all ranks of the Northern Command of the Indian Army and paid homage to the five Army personnel who lost their lives on Friday. In a double blow to the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh, former minister Deepak Joshi and another leader, Radhelal Baghel, dumped the party and shook hands with the Opposition Congress. Both the leaders joined the Congress at the MP Congress Committee Headquarters at Bhopal in the presence of MP Congress Chief Kamal Nath and other Congress leaders. Many supporters of both the former BJP leaders also followed in their leaders footsteps and came into the Congress fold. Deepak Joshi (60) is the son of one of the Jansanghs founder members and BJP stalwart late Kailash Joshi, who was also the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Deepak Joshi joined the Congress holding a photograph of his late father in his hand. Talking to media persons after joining the Congress, Deepak Joshi accused MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the BJP of not honouring late Kailash Joshis legacy. He alleged that CM Chouhan took more than 30 months in merely giving permission to build the late Kailash Joshis memorial at Hatpipliya in Dewas district, from where Deepak Joshi won the assembly seat two times and became a minister in the Shivraj cabinet. Deepak Joshi averred that Shivraj Chouhan might consider him a younger brother but he did not reciprocate the feeling. Mr Joshi asserted that late PM Atal Behari Vajpayee was like God for him and would always remain so. Mr Joshi charged that the BJP has ruined the ideology of the Jansangh. He said his intention to join the Congress is not to contest from any assembly seat, but still if the Congress fields him from the Budhni seat, which is CM Shivraj Chouhans seat, then he would happily contest from there. Along with Joshi, Radhelal Baghel also joined the Congress. Mr Baghel is a former MLA of the Sewda constituency in Datia district from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He had joined the BJP some years ago. After joining the BJP, he was made chairman of the state backward classes commission and was also a member of the BJP state working committee. Baghel was, however, expelled from the BJP on 18 January 2022, after a video went viral in which he was allegedly making derogatory comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Baghel had refuted the allegations claiming the video was fake and it was not his voice in the recording. The state assembly elections in MP are due at the end of this year. A new study from the University of East Anglia explains why some youngsters learn words more slowly than others. A study investigates where toddlers look when they learn new words. It finds that children with larger vocabularies looked quickly towards objects when learning new words. Meanwhile, children who knew fewer words looked back and forth between objects and took more time. The research team say that their findings could help identify children with delays in language development at an earlier stage. Importantly, it means these children could be given earlier support to build their best vocabulary before starting school. Lead researcher Dr Larissa Samuelson, from UEAs School of Psychology, said: At around two years of age, children start to be quicker to decide what a new word means. We think this is because many of the first words children learn are names for sets of things that are similar in shape balls are round, cups are cup-shaped. Children learn that if you hear a new word, other objects that are the same shape can also most likely be called by this name. This helps them learn new words quickly because they have an idea what a new word means right away. But there may be differences in the way that children who struggle with language learn new words and understand what new words mean. We wanted to better understand this phenomenon to see how it could support early word learning. The research team studied how 66 children aged between 17 and 31 months learn new words in a simple game. They showed the toddlers new objects made from clay, plaster, Styrofoam, yarn and plastic mesh. The researchers then told the children the names of the new objects and asked them what other things can also be called by that name. Crucially, the team filmed where the children were looking throughout the task. They were then able to watch it back frame-by-frame to see where the toddlers were looking before and after they were presented with a new object. We know that when adults and children hear a word they know, they look towards things in the world that match the words they hear. We wanted to see if this was different depending on how many words you know, said Dr Samuelson. So the researchers also asked parents how many words their children can say. Dr Samuelson said: We found that children who can say more words quickly looked towards objects that were the same shape as a named object. Children who knew fewer words looked back and forth between the objects and took more time. Other research has shown that children with Developmental Language Disorder do not pay attention to the same things when learning new words as children with typical language development. At the moment you cant diagnose children with Developmental Language Disorder until they are three or four. But we hope that our findings could help determine which children are at risk for language delay at an earlier stage so that they can get better support. Our research has previously shown that we can boost word learning in children by helping them learn what to pay attention to when they hear a new word. If we can figure out which children need this support earlier, we can help them build their best vocabulary and be more ready to enter school with the language skills they need. This research was led by the University of East Anglia in collaboration with Augustana College, Illinois (US) and Durham University. King Charles IIIs coronation ceremony commences today. Several Indians will be part of the coronation ceremony to represent the nation at the royal event in London. Vice President Jaideep Dhankar along with his wife Sudesh Dhankar will represent India at the royal spectacle among numerous celebrities and heads of government from across the world. Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor will also be performing spoken word at Kings enthronement ceremony as earlier reported by US-based media house Variety. Two Dabbawalas from Mumbais Dabbawalas, famous worldwide for their lunchbox delivery in the metropolitan city are also invited to the royal ceremony. The Dabbawalas bought Puneri Pagadi and a shawl of the Warkari community. Puner Pagadi is a unique style of turban and is considered a symbol of pride and honour in Pune. It was granted the Geographical Indication status in the year 2009. Numerous community workers connected to King Charless charity work will also attend the royal extravaganza. Architect Sourabh Phadke, alumnus of Charles Foundations Building Craft Programme and the Princes Foundation School of Traditional Arts, with Gulfsa, 33, a Delhi resident who won the Princes Trust Globe Award will be attending the event. Jay Patel who resides in Canada is also invited as he completed Princes Trust Canadas Youth Employment programme last year. Indian-origin British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will recite from the biblical book of Colossians at the coronation ceremony. Sunak with his wife Akshata Murty will lead the procession of delegates. To mark the representation of different faiths at the enthronement ceremony peers of Rishi Sunak, Lord Indrajit Singh and Lord Syed Kamall of Indo-Guyanese heritage will attend the ceremony. Lord Indrajit will stand in for the Sikh faith and Lord Syed Kamali for Muslim belief. The Australian government will establish the National Net Zero Authority (NNZA), a new body to support fossil fuel-dependent communities in the net zero transition, Minister for Climate Change & Energy Chris Bowen announced on Friday. The authority will start work on July 1 to steer private investment into clean energy opportunities and ensure that workers, industries and communities that have relied on emissions-intensive industries are not left behind in the transition, reports Xinhua news agency. Australia has set an emissions reduction target of 43 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 and a net zero target by 2050. The global transformation to a net zero economy is a massive source of economic opportunity for Australia, its regions, industries and workers, Bowen said in a joint statement with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers. They said the authority will work with state, territory and local governments, existing regional bodies, unions, industry, investors, First Nations groups and others to help key regions, industries, employers and others proactively manage the transformation to a clean energy economy. The NNZA can support workers in emissions-intensive sectors to access new employment, skills and support as the net zero transformation continues. Some business and environmental groups supported creating the new body. Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the Business Council of Australia (BCA) said it would play a crucial role in keeping manufacturing jobs onshore. Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday met his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on the sidelines of the Shangai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)- Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting in Goa. The Pakistan foreign minister said Pakistan and China will continue to work together on regional peace and prosperity of their people. Delighted to meet Chinese State Councilor & FM Qin Gang @AmbQinGang on the sidelines of SCO-CFM at Goa. Pakistan & China are iron brothers & will continue to work together for regional peace & prosperity of our peoples. Looking forward to welcoming him in Islamabad, Bilawal tweeted on Friday. Bilawal visited Goa to attend the SCO CFM meeting. With this, he becomes the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in almost 12 years. Bilawal on Friday called the SCO a platform of mutual understanding and security. He said that the potential for peace can be unlocked when great powers play the role of peacemakers. The Pakistan foreign minister was addressing the SCO-Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa. In his keynote address at SCO Foreign Ministers meeting, Zardari urged to collectively eradicate the menace of terrorism. Lets not get caught up in weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring, he said. This comes after Jaishankar talked about cross-border terrorism in his opening address at the SCO meet and underlined how it continues unabated. He added by saying that the terrorism must be stopped in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism. Reiterating Pakistans commitment to multilateralism, Bilawal further added Unilateral and illegal measures by States in violation of international law and Security Council resolutions run counter to the SCO objectives. Relations between India and Pakistan have been precarious for many years with regard to issues of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, even as Islamabad has been seeking the restoration of Article 370 for the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir for any talks. By Azernews As part of a working visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan`s Speaker of Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has met with countrys Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Leo Docherty. UK Under Secretary of State Leo Docherty expressed gratitude to Speaker Sahiba Gafarova for her participation in the coronation of King Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Leo Docherty hailed the high level of relations between the UK and Azerbaijan, noting the increasing role of Azerbaijan as a supplier of energy resources to Europe as well as an essential trading and energy partner of Europe. Docherty also pointed out Azerbaijans stabilizing role in the region before fondly recalling his visit to Baku in February this year. He underscored the significance of the conversations held with Azerbaijani officials held during his visit, Azernews reports. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova highlighted the mutual trust and support between Azerbaijan and the UK and noted the dynamic development of bilateral cooperation in political, economic, humanitarian and other fields. Sahiba Gafarova also provided an insight into the activities of Milli Mejlis. The speaker praised the development of inter-parliamentary ties between the two countries. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova informed Leo Docherty on the current situation in the region. During the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest. When a single insider purchases stock, it is typically not a major deal. However, when multiple insiders purchase stock, like in Premier Miton Group plc's (LON:PMI) instance, it's good news for shareholders. Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. Check out our latest analysis for Premier Miton Group The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Premier Miton Group Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Executive Director Michael O'Shea for UK44k worth of shares, at about UK0.87 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of UK0.93. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. 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. In this case we're pleased to report that the insider purchases were made at close to current prices. Notably Michael O'Shea was also the biggest seller. Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK87k for 89.57k shares. But insiders sold 43.93k shares worth UK45k. In total, Premier Miton Group insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. They paid about UK0.97 on average. These transactions suggest that insiders have considered the current price attractive. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! Premier Miton Group is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying. Story continues Premier Miton Group Insiders Are Selling The Stock Over the last three months, we've seen a bit of insider selling at Premier Miton Group. CEO & Executive Director Michael O'Shea divested only UK20k worth of shares in that time. It's not great to see insider selling, nor the lack of recent buyers. But the selling simply isn't sufficiently substantial to be of much use as a signal. Insider Ownership I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 9.2% of Premier Miton Group shares, worth about UK13m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment. What Might The Insider Transactions At Premier Miton Group Tell Us? While there has not been any insider buying in the last three months, there has been selling. But given the selling was modest, we're not worried. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Insiders own shares in Premier Miton Group and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Premier Miton Group. In terms of investment risks, we've identified 1 warning sign with Premier Miton Group and understanding this should be part of your investment process. Of course Premier Miton Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Todd Vandermyde CHICAGO A preliminary injunction against Illinois gun and magazine ban has been reversed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, meaning the ban again be enforced by the state. On April 28, Southern District of Illinois Judge Stephen McGlynn issued a preliminary injunction against the state, preventing it from enforcing the ban while the case continues. The ban on more than 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines over a certain capacity was enacted by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Jan. 10. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SPRINGFIELD Schools across the state may soon start observing Constitution Day in Illinois through newly passed legislation on its way to Gov. J.B. Pritzker. House Bill 1273, carried by state Sen. Erica Harriss, R-Glen Carbon, and state Rep. Amy Elik, R-Alton, passed the Senate on May 4 and represents Harriss first bill to make it through the legislative process. Currently, Constitution Day is recognized federally but not by our state and so this legislation ensures that our schools are honoring this commemorative holiday and providing our students with an educational opportunity to learn more about their fundamental rights and our government, said Harriss. The bill was brought to Harriss and Elik by Madison County Regional Superintendent Rob Werden. This bill will bring Illinois into compliance with federal law and ensure that our schools are recognizing the importance of our United States Constitution, said Werden. Our students will now have an additional reminder of how important our constitution is to guaranteeing our rights and freedoms. House Bill 1273 would not give students the day off but would rather require schools to recognize Sept. 17 as a commemorative holiday. Not all Illinois schools celebrate or recognize Constitution Day, said Elik. This legislation if signed by the Governor will ensure schools are celebrating and honoring the Constitution by recognizing the holiday under Illinois law. State Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, signed on as a chief co-sponsor of the bill. If signed into law, the bill will go into effect July 1, 2023. CHICAGO (AP) An off-duty Chicago police officer was shot and killed early Saturday as she headed home on the city's Southside after her shift. The officer was shot about 1:42 a.m. in the city's Avalon Park neighborhood, police said. She was found wounded by another officer who responded to an alert from the citys gunshot detection system, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The second officer rushed her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. The slain officer had been with Chicago police about three years. No arrests have been made. Relatives identified the slain officer to the Chicago Sun-Times as Areanah Preston, 24. She was trying to make a change on this Earth, her father, Allen Preston, told the newspaper. Preston, who lives in Los Angeles, described his daughter as a beautiful soul who always saw the best in people. This was my baby. Everything I did was for her, he said. I dont know what to do, right now. Ill be dealing with this for the rest of my life. Late Saturday morning, more than a dozen family members gathered outside Areanah Prestons home. She was a definite role model with a career path that just didnt stop, said her aunt, Sonia Rawsk. Areanah Preston earned a bachelors degree in criminal justice and law enforcement administration from Illinois State University. Professor Charles Bell told the Sun-Times that she was very passionate about making a difference and showing young people that policing is a profession that can make a difference in the community. She was very aware of a lot of the problems that in her opinion had manifested in the Chicago community, Bell added. She was a reformer. She saw a problem and she was dedicated to making a difference. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON (AP) First lady Jill Biden, who represented the United States at Saturday's coronation of Britain's King Charles III, said there was such beauty in the pageantry of the ceremony and it was just amazing to see. You can't imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on the head of the king and then on the head on the queen, she said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press after the ceremony in London. It's really surreal to see and experience that moment. Charles' wife, Camilla, also was crowned queen during Britain's first coronation in 70 years. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last September after a seven-decade reign. An American president has never attended a British coronation and President Joe Biden asked the first lady to represent the U.S. in his place. The White House said Jill Biden's appearance marked the first time that a U.S. first lady was present for a British coronation. She brought one of her granddaughters, Finnegan Biden, 24, on the trip. It's my honor to represent the people of the United States and I wanted to be here, Jill Biden said. It was so meaningful to me that I could bring Finnegan here, that we could travel together and experience this together and it's meant a lot to both of us. The first lady spoke as she and Finnegan headed to afternoon tea following the coronation at Westminster Abbey. We thought that was something that was so British, she said of their tea time. It was something we really wanted to do together. She said sitting and watching the ceremony led her to think about the importance of traditions. I felt as I sat there, I felt this sense of decorum and civility that binds together people of all nations, she said. At the coronation, Jill Biden sat beside Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine. Jill Biden said they talked about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that Zelenska thanked her again for the support from the United States. Jill Biden said she paid close attention to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby's message that people everywhere seek hope and joy. And I thought that was such strong message because I think that is true, she said. "And it's true for all people everywhere, but I think it was important at this moment that the clergy brought that in to this moment in history. The first lady attended a Buckingham Palace reception Friday that was hosted by Charles. She said Charles recounted to her his most recent telephone conversation with President Biden and asked her to give my best to your husband. She said she and Princess Kate chatted as mothers about the lengths to which they go to keep their children quiet in church, feeding them pieces of candy and such. She said she didn't know if her son could sit still for two hours and we just had a good laugh over it, Jill Biden said. It's just something, I think, that's common to a lot of us. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Finnegan Biden is 24, not 23. WASHINGTON (AP) A Kentucky man with a long criminal record was sentenced Friday to a record-setting 14 years in prison for attacking police officers with pepper spray and a chair as he stormed the U.S. Capitol with his wife. Peter Schwartzs prison sentence is the longest so far among hundreds of Capitol riot cases. The judge who sentenced Schwartz also handed down the previous longest sentence 10 years to a retired New York Police Department officer who assaulted a police officer outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 24 years and 6 months for Schwartz, a welder. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Schwartz to 14 years and two months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Mehta said Schwartz was a soldier against democracy who participated in the kind of mayhem, chaos that had never been seen in the country's history. You are not a political prisoner, the judge told him. You're not somebody who is standing up against injustice or fighting against an autocratic regime. Schwartz briefly addressed the judge before learning his sentence, saying, I do sincerely regret the damage that Jan. 6 has caused to so many people and their lives. The judge said he didn't believe Schwartz's statement, noting his lack of remorse. You took it upon yourself to try and injure multiple police officers that day, Mehta said. Schwartz was armed with a wooden tire knocker when he and his then-wife, Shelly Stallings, joined other rioters in overwhelming a line of police officers on the Capitols Lower West Terrace, where he threw a folding chair at officers. By throwing that chair, Schwartz directly contributed to the fall of the police line that enabled rioters to flood forward and take over the entire terrace, prosecutor Jocelyn Bond wrote in a court filing. Schwartz, 49, also armed himself with a police-issued super soaker canister of pepper spray and sprayed it at retreating officers. Advancing to a tunnel entrance, Schwartz coordinated with two other rioters, Markus Maly and Jeffrey Brown, to spray an orange liquid toward officers clashing with the mob. While the stream of liquid did not directly hit any officer, its effect was to heighten the danger to the officers in that tunnel, Bond wrote. Before leaving, Schwartz joined a heave ho push against police in the tunnel. Stallings pleaded guilty last year to riot-related charges and was sentenced last month to two years of incarceration. Schwartz was tried with co-defendants Maly and Brown. In December, a jury convicted all three of assault charges and other felony offenses. Mehta sentenced Brown last Friday to four years and six months in prison. Maly is scheduled to be sentenced June 9. Schwartzs attorneys requested a prison sentence of four years and six months. They said his actions on Jan. 6 were motivated by a misunderstanding about the 2020 presidential election. Then-President Donald Trump and his allies spread baseless conspiracy theories that Democrats stole the election from the Republican incumbent. There remain many grifters out there who remain free to continue propagating the great lie that Trump won the election, Donald Trump being among the most prominent. Mr. Schwartz is not one of these individuals; he knows he was wrong, his defense lawyers wrote. Prosecutors said Schwartz has bragged about his participation in the riot, shown no remorse and claimed that his prosecution was politically motivated. He referred to the Capitol attack as the opening of a war in a Facebook post a day after the riot. I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war, Schwartz wrote. Schwartz has raised over $71,000 from an online campaign entitled Patriot Pete Political Prisoner in DC. Prosecutors asked Mehta to order Schwartz to pay a fine equaling the amount raised by his campaign, arguing that he shouldnt profit from participating in the riot. Schwartz was on probation when he joined the Jan. 6 riot. His criminal record includes a jaw-dropping 38 prior convictions since 1991, several of which involved assaulting or threatening officers or other authority figures, Bond wrote. Schwartz was working as a welder in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, before his arrest in February 2021, but he considers his home to be in Owensboro, Kentucky, according to his attorneys. More than 100 police officers were injured during the riot. More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to Jan. 6. Nearly 500 of them have been sentenced, with over half getting terms of imprisonment. The 10-year prison sentence that Mehta handed down in September to retired NYPD officer Thomas Webster had remained the longest until Friday. Webster had used a metal flagpole to assault an officer and then tackled the same officer as the mob advanced toward the Capitol. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate KALEHE, Congo (AP) The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen beyond 200, with many more people still missing, according to local authorities in the province of South Kivu. Thomas Bakenge, administrator of Kalehe, the worst-hit territory, told reporters on the scene Saturday that 203 bodies had been recovered so far, but that efforts to find others were continuing. In the village of Nyamukubi, where hundreds of homes were washed away, rescue workers and survivors dug through the ruins Saturday looking for more bodies in the mud. Villagers wept as they gathered around some of the bodies recovered so far, which lay on the grass covered in muddy cloths near a rescue workers post. Grieving survivor Anuarite Zikujuwa said she had lost her entire family, including her in-laws, as well as many of her neighbors. The whole village has been turned into a wasteland. There's only stones left and we can't even tell where our land once was, she said. Michake Ntamana, a rescue worker helping look for and bury the dead, said villagers were trying to identify and collect the bodies of loved ones found so far. He said some bodies washed down from villages higher in the hills were being buried shrouded just in leaves off the trees. It's truly sad because we have nothing else here, he said. Rivers broke their banks in villages in the territory of Kalehe, close to the shores of Lake Kivu on Thursday. Authorities have reported scores of people injured. One surivor told AP the flash floods came so fast that they took everyone by surprise. South Kivu Gov. Theo Ngwabidje visited the area to see the destruction for himself. He posted on his Twitter account that the provincial government had dispatched medical, shelter and food supplies. Several main roads to the affected area have been been made impassable by the rains, hampering the relief efforts. President Felix Tshisekedi has declared a national day of mourning on Monday to honor the victims, and the central government is sending a crisis management team to South Kivu to support the provincial government. Heavy rains in recent days have brought misery to thousands in East Africa, with parts of Uganda and Kenya also seeing heavy rainfall. Flooding and landslides in Rwanda, which borders Congo, left 129 people dead earlier this week. Local government official Bakenge told AP, This is the fourth time that such damage has been caused by the same rivers. Not 10 years pass without them causing enormous damage. - Jean Yves Kamale in Kinshasa contributed to this story. The main aim of stock picking is to find the market-beating stocks. But in any portfolio, there will be mixed results between individual stocks. At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment in Ibraco Berhad (KLSE:IBRACO), since the last five years saw the share price fall 20%. Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business. See our latest analysis for Ibraco Berhad There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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. While the share price declined over five years, Ibraco Berhad actually managed to increase EPS by an average of 14% per year. Given the share price reaction, one might suspect that EPS is not a good guide to the business performance during the period (perhaps due to a one-off loss or gain). Alternatively, growth expectations may have been unreasonable in the past. Generally speaking we'd expect to see stronger share price increases on the back of sustained EPS growth, but other metrics may hold a clue to why the share price performance is relatively modest. Revenue is actually up 7.8% over the time period. A more detailed examination of the revenue and earnings may or may not explain why the share price languishes; there could be an opportunity. You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values). We know that Ibraco Berhad has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think Ibraco Berhad will earn in the future (free profit forecasts). 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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Ibraco Berhad the TSR over the last 5 years was -6.3%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return. Story continues A Different Perspective While it's certainly disappointing to see that Ibraco Berhad shares lost 0.8% throughout the year, that wasn't as bad as the market loss of 3.5%. Of far more concern is the 1.2% p.a. loss served to shareholders over the last five years. While the losses are slowing we doubt many shareholders are happy with the stock. 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. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Ibraco Berhad (including 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) . But note: Ibraco Berhad may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast). Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Malaysian exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Last week I wrote about a brief article in the April 30, 1934 edition of this newspaper that noted the death of a Black man who came to Alton during the Civil War to seek refuge from the Confederate army in Missouri. I just came upon another Telegraph article in my cluttered files that demands to be reintroduced to modern readers. Published in the Aug. 19, 1908 edition, it consists of just a single, unusually long paragraph. The all-caps headline reads: A NEAR RACE RIOT AT ALTON. The sub-headline informed those long-ago subscribers, Negro Throws Stones at White Man and Gang Pursues Him in the East End. The year 1908 immediately caught my eye. It was a year marked by racial tension in Alton as well as throughout Illinois. The Alton story began in 1897 when Mayor Henry Brueggman and the city council, as well as Alton Public School Superintendent Robert Haight and the school board, decided that our city would have segregated schools. The U.S. Supreme Court had legalized segregation the previous year in its Plessy v. Ferguson decision. Scott Bibb, a Black parent whose children had been barred from resuming their studies at Washington School that autumn, and other Black parents took legal action. The case went to trial seven times in the Madison County Circuit Court. Five times the juries ruled for the mayor and city council, thereby upholding Altons segregated schools. The other two cases resulted in hung juries. The Bibb case went to the Illinois Supreme Court five times, which ruled in four instances that the circuit court had been unfair to Bibb and returned the case to the lower court for a ruling consistent with the evidence. When the case reached the Supreme Court for the fifth time, the justices decided that they must render a judgment since Madison county juries were so obviously biased. Bibb and Altons other Black parents were elated when the Supreme Court ruled in 1908 that Ambrose and Minnie Bibb should be admitted to Washington School or the most convenient school near their home. Altons politicians and school board, however, argued that the Illinois Supreme Court ruling applied only to Minnie and Ambrose Bibb, since they were the only Alton schoolchildren included in the lawsuit. Ambrose, now 19, no longer lived in Alton. To make matters even worse, the school board said that Minnie, now 18, would have to enroll in the third grade at Washington because she hadnt attended school since the second grade. Minnie had been home-schooled by tutors, and her family argued that she could do high school work. The school board remained firm, so Minnie returned to Washington and sat in a classroom with third-graders. After two weeks of enduring this humiliation, she left. Altons Black community admitted defeat and accepted the indignity of a segregated school system. Racist residents now felt empowered to assert their dominance over Black Altonians. The Telegraph article begins There was a near race riot in the East End Tuesday afternoon just before 6 oclock when a negro (sic) threw stones at a white man connected with the Lachmann carnival. No explanation is given as to why this unidentified Black man threw stones as the carnival employee. Carnivals in those days often featured rigged games of chance. Perhaps the Black man was swindled. In an instant, the article continues, a gang was on the spot. Someone yelled to Springfield him and a crowd of a dozen men went in pursuit. Ordinarily, Springfield is a proper noun since its the name of our states capitol. This anonymous white man turned it into a verb. In this context, Springfield him meant kill him. Springfield had been the scene of a race riot from August 16-18, 1908. At least eight Black residents were murdered and thousands left homeless. In his book Sundown Towns, James Loewen wrote that Indeed, the Springfield riot itself spawned a host of imitators: whites shouted Give em Springfield! during attacks on African Americans. The Telegraph article concluded, The negro (sic) got busy with his feet and took to flight and by the time he had gone a half block a half hundred men had joined the chase. The negro (sic) thought he had to run and he had the ability, too, so he easily outran his pursuers and made his escape. I wonder whether the pursuit of this Black man occurred in the vicinity of the Lovejoy Monument. Eva-Katalin / iStock.com Many millennials know a few things about Social Security. They have an understanding that Social Security means more than just retirement benefits and includes disability benefits. They are aware their benefits will go up each year they are in the workforce, and that Social Security alone cannot cover all of their finances during retirement. Read More: 6 Big Shakeups to Social Security in 2023 Related: 3 Ways to Recession Proof Your Retirement Basic understanding of Social Security aside, what can this generation expect from the program? Here is what millennials can expect from Social Security. Social Security Will Be a Big Part of Retirement Planning Millennials should expect Social Security will be a large part of their retirement planning process. Martha Shedden president and co-founder of the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts said Social Security is a retirement program millennials, and their employers, contribute to with every paycheck through the FICA deduction. Essentially, its like how millennials contribute to their Roth or traditional IRA accounts and employer sponsored retirement plans. Take Our Poll: Do You Think the US Should Raise the Medicare Tax on High Earners To Help Save the Program? While most millennials still have between 25 to 30 more years before they retire, there may be changes to Social Security in the coming years. Jennifer Li, CFP and director of financial planning at EP Wealth Advisors, said millennials will need to pay attention to their eligibility date, the payroll tax, decreasing benefits and age of correction rules to understand how these may affect them in the long run. There Will Be Social Security Reform, so Pay Attention Its a bit difficult to fully determine what will happen to the Social Security trust fund. There is speculation funds will be depleted in the 2030s. If something like this should happen and nothing is done to make changes, Shedden said it would put the program back on a pay-as-you-go system. Story continues By pay-as-you-go, we mean that those who are working will be paying for those who are retired, said Shedden. In a pay-as-you-go system, Shedden said there would be no more reserves to make up the difference and not enough workers per retiree to pay the full 100% benefits as they are currently prescribed by law. As it stands now, millennials are well-advised to pay attention to the changes being proposed to Social Security and the effect these changes could have on their future benefits. Saving More Money It would be easy for millennials to panic and assume the worst-case scenario with Social Security. However, nothing is certain yet, and this generation has some time left before retirement. Li recommends millennials focus on current retirement savings, specifically targeting a net 20% take home (after-tax) pay rate. Additionally, millennials should take advantage of all saving opportunities available to them. This includes maxing out contributions in a company retirement plan, an IRA or Roth IRA or a taxable account. Prioritizing Investment Diversification Millennials will also want to prioritize saving as much as investing for retirement. Steve Sexton, CEO of Sexton Advisory Group, recommends diversifying your investments and maintaining a diversified investment portfolio to weather the ups and downs of the stock market over the next 25 to 30 years. Sexton recommends that those nervous about investing look into low-risk investment options, such as money market funds or fixed annuities. Working With a Financial Advisor and a Social Security Expert Social Security is only one aspect of a millennials financial picture. Li said millennials should consider working with a financial planner or advisor. They can help address other aspects of their personal finances where they may have more control. When possible, Shedden recommends millennials also work with an expert on Social Security to ensure their financial health in retirement. Social Security will be a major part of their retirement planning, said Shedden. Those who understand this and seek out professionals who will keep them informed on the topic and count on it as part of their retirement planning, will be rewarded when they retire. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Social Security 2023: 5 Things Millennials Should Be Focusing on for Retirement A study has found that spending 30 minutes or more on a mobile phone per week is linked to a 12% increased risk of developing high blood pressure or hypertension. The study, published in the European Heart Journal - Digital Health, used data from the UK Biobank to examine the relationship between talking on mobile phones and new-onset hypertension. A total of 212,046 adults aged 37 to 73 years without hypertension were engaged in the study. Participants were asked to report their mobile phone usage, including years of use, hours per week, and whether they used a hands-free device or speakerphone. Over a median follow-up of 12 years, 13,984 participants (7%) developed hypertension. Mobile phone users who used a mobile phone at least once a week for making and receiving phone calls were found to have a 7% higher risk of hypertension compared to non-users. Those who talked on their mobile for 30 minutes or more per week had a 12% greater likelihood of new-onset high blood pressure than participants who spent less than 30 minutes on phone calls. The results were similar for women and men. Weekly usage time of 30-59 minutes, 1-3 hours, 4-6 hours, and more than 6 hours was associated with an 8%, 13%, 16%, and 25% raised risk of high blood pressure, respectively. The study found that it was the number of minutes people spent talking on a mobile phone that mattered for heart health, with more minutes meaning greater risk. However, years of use and employing a hands-free device or speakerphone had no influence on the likelihood of developing high blood pressure. A genetic risk analysis showed that the likelihood of developing high blood pressure was 33% higher in those with high genetic risk and spending at least 30 minutes talking over the phone compared to those with low genetic risk and talking over the phone for less than 30 minutes. Mobile phones emit low levels of radiofrequency energy, which has been linked with rises in blood pressure after short-term exposure, according to the study. Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke and a leading cause of premature death globally. "More research is required to replicate the results, but until then it seems prudent to keep mobile phone calls to a minimum to preserve heart health," said Xianhui Qin of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China, who is the lead author of the study. The findings suggest that almost three-quarters of the global population aged 10 and over who own a mobile phone should consider the amount of time they spend talking on it, to reduce the risk of developing hypertension Congress on Saturday alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was plotting to kill its party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. While addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said that BJP candidate from Chittapur Manikanta Rathod threatened Kharge and used abusive language. Rathod's audio clip 'threatening' Kharge and his family was played at the press conference. "Plotting to kill the president of Congress Shri Mallikarjun Kharge his wife and children is not something that anybody should brush aside," said Surjewala. It should be taken very seriously, added Surjewala. Launching an attack at Rathod, Surjewala said that "And it's not an ordinary person. It is the blue-eyed boy, the Chittapur BJP candidate whose track record you know better than me, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Basavaraj Bommai." Meet Manikant Rathod, the BJP candidate from Chittapur constituency, who has over 40 criminal cases against him. He also happens to be the "blue-eyed boy" of PM Modi & CM Bommai. In this viral audio, the BJP leader can be heard saying- *"Will wipe off Kharge's family"* Here's pic.twitter.com/NIcBMkgDhD Congress (@INCIndia) May 6, 2023 Rathod is contesting against Congress president Kharge's son Priyank Kharge in Chittapur constituency. He is facing over 30 criminal charges. On November 13, 2022, Rathod was arrested for allegedly threatening Priyank Kharge. He was later released on bail. He also added that the prime minister, Karnataka police and the Election Commission of India will remain mute to the issue and won't take any necessary action against him. Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera was also present at the conference. The audio clip was later shared on social media. After the allegations were raised by Congress, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said that an inquiry will be launched into the allegations. "We have taken the matter seriously. We will inquire into the whole thing and the law will take its action," Bommai told ANI. Meanwhile, Rathod denied the accusations against him and said that the audio was fake and fabricated by the Congress. As PM Modi embarked on a grand roadshow in Bengaluru, Congress called Modi a "master of distortion". "The Master Of Distortion & Incitement (Abuse No. 92??) is arriving in Bengaluru today. We already know what hell say to inflame prejudice & bigotry. He will of course stay absolutely silent on the real issues of Karnataka," tweeted Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh. The challenges facing the security forces in detecting, establishing contact and mounting operations to neutralize them, especially in the Poonch and Rajouri sectors are considerable this time. The reason: Besides the difficult terrain and thick forests in the sectors near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, it is the lack of chatter or telephonic or electronic conversations between the militants, their network of overground supporters, and with their Pakistan-based handlers. The militants are changing their strategy in the sense that they are trying to leave no footprints. That is why there has been no chatter on phones or on electronic mediums. That is why there are no footprints thereby making it difficult for the government agencies to zero in on their locations, a top government official familiar with the counter-insurgency operation told THE WEEK on condition of anonymity. Moreover, there is a network of natural caves in the area which the militants may be using. The use of caves for shelter is advantageous for militants as it does away with the need for support from the local overground supporters network which considerably decreases chances of their detection, the official said. The ongoing operation codenamed Trinetra, has been mounted by the Indian Army, the state police and the CRPF to detect and counter the militants involved in the ambush in the Kandi forest area under Rajouri sector on Friday. Five Indian Army soldiers lost their lives in the militant attack that began with an IED explosion. Army sources said on Saturday morning that a terrorist was shot dead in the Kandi forest area while another one is likely to have been injured in a gunfight. The swathe near the LoC south of the Pirpanjal Range is a contiguous one of very thick forests, that stretch from the LoC leading to the mountains, which make it extremely difficult for the forces to effectively cordon off the area. In 2021, the Indian Army conducted a nearly three-week long operation to hunt terrorists hiding in the forested swath near the Bhatta Durian region after nine Indian Army soldiers lost their lives in a terrorist attack. Acting on specific intelligence, since May 3, the troops have been on the trail of a group of an unspecified number of terrorists who had reportedly blown up an army truck on April 20 and killed five soldiers near Bhatta Durian on the Bhimber Gali-Surankote highway, just about 8-9 km aerial distance away from the LoC. Almost four decades after Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) terrorists wreaked havoc in Punjab carrying out horrific killings, including the assassination of General Arun Vaidya, then army chief during Operation Bluestar, the most wanted KCF chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar alias Malik Sardar Singh was eliminated by two unidentified gunmen at Johar town in Lahore in Pakistan on Saturday morning. Panjwar, 59, took charge of KCF in the 1990s and crossed over to Pakistan at a time when the outfit had already gained notoriety as one of the most dreaded terrorist organisations. But the wheel has come full circle with the killing of Panjwar, which comes exactly a month ahead of the 39th anniversary of Operation Bluestar. Pro-Khalistan terror groups haunted Punjab in coming years and successive governments have battled the cross border threats posed by them . One of the biggest among them has been to crack down on the terrorist network of Panjwar to bring justice to victims of the several terror activities carried out by KCF. Panjwar had been staying in a safe house in Pakistan where the ISI was keeping a close watch on him, said security sources adding that his killing is yet another proof of Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence giving shelter to terrorists despite repeated denials by Islamabad. Panjwar was walking near his house in Sunflower Society in Johar Town in the wee hours on Saturday morning along with his gunmen when he was attacked by two unidentified men on a motorcycle, said security sources. The attackers fled but one of his gunmen got injured in the shootout and was shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. While Panjwar stayed in Lahore, his wife and children had relocated to Germany. Latest inputs reveal his wife Paljit Kaur died in Frankfurt in September 2022 while the two sons continue to enjoy asylum there. Panjawar is also learnt to have carried out the last rites of his wife in Pakistan. Born in Panjwar village near Taran Taran, Panjwar has been accused of drug and weapon smuggling through drones into Punjab besides enjoying close links to radical outfits abroad and guiding them in pro-Khalistan and anti-India activities. He joined the KCF after being radicalized by his cousin Labh Singh in 1986, prior to which he was working in a Central Cooperative Bank in Sohal village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. Following the elimination of Labh Singh by Indian security forces, Panjwar took charge of KCF and crossed over to Pakistan. He kept the KCF alive by raising funds through cross- border weapons smuggling and heroin trafficking. Panjwar is the second top Khalistani extremist among the five operating out of Pakistan to be eliminated within three years. Khalistan Liberation Force leader Harmeet Singh alias Happy PhD was killed in Lahore in 2020. He was a headache for Indian security agencies for more than a decade involved in several terror acts in Punjab and accused of radicalising youth and smuggling drugs into the border state. Happy PhD was accused of carrying out targeted killings of right wing leaders and was a key link between Khalistani operatives and militants in Kashmir, making him an important link in the Pakistan ISIs K2 operation. Three Khalistani leadersGajinder Singh, Lakhbir Singh Rode and BKI chief Wadhwa Singhcontinue to take shelter in Pakistan, even as Indian agencies are tightening the noose on Khalistani extremists operating on foreign soils. Gajinder Singh, one of the five accused in hijacking an Indian Airlines plane to Lahore in 1981, has been on the most wanted list along with Lakhbir Singh Rode, declared terrorist by the government recently. Rode is chief of the proscribed International Sikh Youth Federation and has been working in collusion with the ISI to supply weapons and drugs into Punjab besides supporting Canada-based gangsters to carry out terror acts, latest being the Rocket Propelled Grenade attack at the intelligence headquarters in Mohali in 2022. The other big headache for the government is Babbar Khalsa International chief Wadhwa Singh. Based in Pakistan, Singh's links cropped up in the recent investigation against Waris Punjab De, the outfit led by arrested radical leader Amirtpal Singh. Civil rights activist Irom Sharmila Chanu Saturday appealed to Manipur's women, irrespective of their ethnic identity to act in concert to bring peace to the strife-torn state. She also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to visit her home state "to understand the problem" and "address them". Irom Sharmila also known as the 'Iron lady' told PTI in a telephonic interview, "Manipur is burning and I am deeply saddened seeing the sufferings of our people.I appeal to all, Meteis and tribals, to unite and end violence. Women must act like Mother Nature' and use their power to bring back peace". The activist who had been on hunger strike for a record 16 years during which she was force-fed by food tubes, had been the face of a women's movement in the state working for peace in the state, which had sought repeal of the Armed Forces Special Power Act which gave security forces the power to arrest without warrants and shoot without magisterial oversight. There have been media reports of Kuki women forming a human chain in Churachandpur town to protect people of the Meitei community from a riotous mob to help them escape on board army vehicles as well as of similar incidents in Imphal town where Meitei women have helpoed tribal students to safety. She also said sending in more troops to the state which has been witnessing ethnic rioting between majority Meities and trbails including Kukis and Nagas will not help the situation and urged PM Modi, Home Minister or the Chief Justice of India to visit Manipur and understand the problems, to find out the root cause and then address them". Nearly 10,000 army, para-military and central police forces have been deployed in the state where rioting broke out after demonstrations were organized by tribals including Kukis and Nagas - on Wednesday against a move to give the majority Meitei community, scheduled tribe status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of the population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals, who include Nagas and Kukis, account for another 40 per cent of the population and live mostly in the hill districts which surround the Valley. Irom Sharmila also said that the Central government should try bridge the gap between people from the rest of India and the northeastern states. "If the Centre wants India's real integrity and wants an united India, they must bridge the gap between people from the rest of India and the northeastern states. There is still discrimination, and looking down on the people from northeastern states," she said. PTI Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Rajouri in Jammu on Saturday, where five special force personnel (Paras) of the Army were killed on Friday during an operation at Kandi forests at Trinetra. The militants against whom the operation was launched are believed to be involved in the April 20 ambush on an Army truck killing five soldiers(Rashtriya Rifles) at Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian, Rajouri, Jammu. After the Tota Gali attack, the militants fled into the forests in the area. After landing in Jammu, Singh was received by Army Chief Manoj Pande and Lt Governor Manoj Sinha. In Rajouri, Singh will meet senior Army and officers of Police and para-military forces, who are monitoring the operation against militants in the Trinetra forests. The officials will brief him about the latest on the operation against militants. This morning, one militant was killed while another is likely to have suffered injuries on Saturday. Army in coordination with J&K Police and CRPF, closed in on at around 7 am and pinned down the militants, said the defence spokesperson in Jammu. In the ensuing gunbattle, one terrorist has been neutralised and another is likely injured, the spokesman said. Indian Army in its statement said that they had recovered one AK-56 rifle, four magazines of AK-56, 56 rounds of AK, 1x9mm Pistol with magazine, 3 grenades and 1 ammunition pouch from the site of encounter so far. The identity of the neutralised militant is being ascertained. Operation Trinetra continues, said the Army. In the final, hectic leg of campaigning ahead of the May 10 assembly polls, the BJP and the Congress are leaving no stone unturned to emerge victorious in Karnataka. While the BJP packed in multiple rallies by its top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress has roped in its stalwart Sonia Gandhi to address a rally in Hubbali on Saturday. The high-stakes Karnataka polls is a prestige issue for the Congress, which is also evident from the fact that the Hubbali rally will be Sonia's first poll rally in four years. The former Congress chief last addressed a rally during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Sonia will be accompanied by her son and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been relentlessly campaigning in the south state along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Rahul has so far addressed 17 rallies and roadshows in Karnataka, while Priyanka has addressed 19. On May 8, the last day of campaigning, Rahul is expected to hold a press meet. The Congress's campaign is expected to pick up momentum with Sonia's presence. In Hubbali-Dharwad Central, the Congress has fielded Jagdish Shettar, former Karnataka CM who quit the BJP after he was denied a ticket. With Shetttar, a prominent Lingayat leader on their team, the Congress hopes to cash in on the community's votes. The BJP has fielded Mahesh Tenginkai in this segment. With all hopes pinned on Karnataka, the Congress needs a victory to stay relevant as the opposition join together to tackle the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from the state, has also been campaigning extensively as the party seeks to wrest power from the BJP. The Congress campaign took an unexpected hit when the party, in its manifesto, proposed banning the Bajrang Dal if it came to power. As the BJP wasted no time in turning it into a poll issue and targetting the Congress, the party went into damage control mode. Karnataka party chief D.K. Shivakumar took up a temple run and promised to build more Hanuman temples and renovate existing ones, while senior leader Veerappa Moily turmed defensive and said there was no such decision. Modi's rally today PM Modi, who has already squeezed in six rallies and two roadshows over the last week, will hold another roadshow in Bengaluru on Saturday. The roadshow would pass through the city's 17 Assembly constituencies. The Prime Minister will cover a distance of 10.1 km from 11 am to 1 pm, and 26.5 km from 4 pm to 10 pm, BJP leaders said. Modi has been stressing on the BJP's 'double-engine' sarkar and highlighting the government's strengths, while also targetting the Congress. At the Tumakuru rally on Friday, Modi predicted a thumping victory for the BJP in Karnataka. (Bloomberg) -- South Africas president has ordered army personnel to be stationed at power stations as theft and sabotage adds to the inability of state-owned utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. to meet electricity demand. Most Read from Bloomberg A total of 880 members of the South African National Defence Force will be deployed at stations around the country until Oct. 17, presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said in a statement on Saturday. Some 2,700 members were previously deployed March 17 through April 17. Andre de Ruyter, the former head of South Africas state power utility, estimated the amount of money thats being stolen from Eskom at 1 billion rand ($55 million) a month. Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa in April announced plans, to be implemented over the next six months, to limit power cuts that have crippled South Africa included addressing criminality and reducing infrastructure sabotage at Eskom. Read more: Why Blackouts Are Still Crippling South Africa: QuickTake Eskom is cutting 4,000 megawatts of power generating capacity from the nations grid on Saturday due to the further breakdown of generating units, the company said in a tweet. The latest reduction was implemented at 5 a.m. and is planned to run through 4 p.m. local time on May 6. On Friday, South Africas High Court ruled that all government hospitals and clinics, state schools and the countrys police buildings should be spared from power cuts. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan must take all reasonable steps within 60 days to prevent interruption of electricity supply due to rotational blackouts implemented by state-owned utility Eskom, according to a ruling by three judges from the court in Pretoria. Story continues Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Alleging disrespect to memory of father late Kailash Joshi former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and a founder member of BJP ex-minister Deepak Joshi on Saturday joined Congress in presence of the partys state chief Kamal Nath. Joshis joining the Congress six months ahead of assembly polls in the state is being seen as a big setback for ruling BJP especially because his father was an extremely revered politician cutting across party lines and was known as rajnitik sant (political saint) due to his honest and clean image. Late Kailash Joshi wielded great respect among BJP cadre and his mere presence in party office even at very old age would be enough to make any disgruntled cadre fall in line. Deepak Joshi himself has been three-times MLA and was member of Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet in 2013-18 tenure. He however lost to Manoj Choudhary who was in Congress in 2018 and once Choudhary switched over to BJP along with Jyotiraditya Scindia supporters in 2020, Joshi got quite sidelined in the party. He had been giving indications of his discontent and anger, especially on the issue of failure of the BJP government to construct a memorial to late Kailash Joshi despite Kamal Nath sanctioning land for the purpose in the familys hometown Hatpipliya during his tenure as CM. Even as news that Joshi might join the Congress had spread last week, state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and home minister Narottam Mishra had tried to project that it was an internal matter of the party that will be easily resolved and insisted that Joshi wont shift sides. However, Deepak Joshi reached the Congress state headquarters on Saturday along with a portrait of his father and joined formally. Another BJP ex-MLA Radhelal Baghel also joined Congress on the occasion. I was hero, Shivraj was zero On this occasion, Joshi said that if the Congress would want, he was ready to contest Assembly polls against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as he knew tricks to defeat him (Chouhan). Mentioning that he was college union president when Chouhan was nothing (both studied in same college in Bhopal), Joshi said that if his new party so indicates, he will start preparing to contest from Budhni (Chouhans constituency) within two-three days. I was a hero, Shivraj was zero, Joshi said in context of college politics. Kamal Nath however refrained from making any commitment in this regard, mentioning that the ticket distribution will be decided by the local party workers for every seat. Joshi, clearly offended by his disregard by BJP, made a number of allegations saying that the party had moved away from its culture and uprightness and had turned into a party of corruption and atrocities. We talk about 40 per cent (commission taken by BJP government representatives) in Karnataka, but I think it is 80 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, such is the situation here. He also directly attacked CM Chouhan mentioning that while they made arrangements for even his basic needs during student days, now Chouhan has property worth Rs 9.5 crores as per his election affidavits. Our father left only a three-room house and some ancestral agricultural land for us, which I could not add to in any manner despite being a three-time MLA and minister. But Shivrajs property grew to 9.5 crores. There is something amiss about this, he said. Joshi also said that he heard that Chouhan had referred to him as a brother, but he did not consider the CM as his brother because brothers should have the same ideology and then Chouhan would have to prove uprightness and cleanliness of politics. Kamal Nath said that he did not know with what expectations Deepak Joshi had joined Congress as he did not seek any post or ticket, but the Congress had an expectation of him that he would take the message of importance of social values in politics protected by the Joshi family to the entire state. Referring to his decision of immediately allotting land to construct Kailash Joshis memorial when Deepak asked for it, Nath said that he did it out of respect for the senior Joshi who was one of those who preserved values in politics and social life. This is a historic day not only for Congress but for Madhya Pradesh politics as Deepak Joshi who came from a family that protected social values had decided to join Congress to support truth. I invite all others who want to support the truth to join us, he said. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will kickstart the Congress's campaign for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections from Jabalpur city in June, a party functionary said on Saturday. Jabalpur is the centre of Mahakoshal region which has a sizable tribal presence. Assembly elections are due in the BJP-ruled state by year-end. In the last elections, the Congress had won 11 out of 13 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes in the Jabalpur division. Priyanka Gandhi will launch the party's campaign and `Sankalp 2023' on June 12 in Jabalpur, Jabalpur mayor and city Congress chief Jagat Bahadur Singh told PTI. The Congress general secretary will hold a two-km roadshow in the city and address a rally, Singh said. People in Mahakoshal area feel neglected by the BJP, he claimed, adding, "We did well (last time) in the area. This time around we are going to sweep elections in the region." Asked why Priyanka Gandhi particularly chose Jabalpur to launch the party's campaign, Congress Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha said Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra had not passed through this region though it covered Malwa and Central India. A rally in Mahakoshal region would help the Congress in neighbouring Vindh and Bundelkhand regions, he said. There is a strong anti-incumbency sentiment in the region where a large number of tribals, traditional Congress voters, live, Tankha added. Mahakoshal or Jabalpur division has eight districts -- Jabalpur, Katni, Seoni, Narsinghpur, Balaghat, Mandla, Dindori and Chhindwara. In the 2018 Assembly polls, the Congress had won 24 seats while the BJP had won 13 out of 38 Assembly segments in the region. One seat was won by an independent candidate who was close to the Congress. In 2013, the Congress had fared badly in the region, winning 13 seats to the BJP's 24. The saffron party had come to power in the state then. Manish Gupta, senior journalist and resident editor of Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar's Jabalpur edition, said the party which performs well in at least three out of the six divisions of MP would come to power. It is a challenge for the Congress to keep its seats intact in the coming elections in Mahakoshal, he said. He recalled that in the Vindh region, the BJP won 24 seats while the Congress managed to win only six seats last time. The 2018 polls threw up a hung Assembly though the Congress emerged as the largest party with 114 seats in the 230-member House. The BJP won 109 seats. The Congress formed a coalition government led by Kamal Nath, but it fell in March 2020 after several MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia rebelled. The Vishva Hindu Parishad has sent a legal notice to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over the party's promise of banning the Bajrang Dal in its Karnataka elections manifesto. The notice, issued by the Chandigarh unit of the VHP on May 4, accused Kharge of making defamatory remarks against its yand demanded a compensation of Rs 100 crore. "That in the manifesto at Page 10, you made defamatory statements against the Bajrang Dal, associate body of the Vishva Hindu Parishad by declaring to ban the organisation and comparing it to outlawed terrorist organisations like the Popular Front of India and similar terrorist organisations like Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) which are outlawed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act by the Government of India," the notice said. "The PFI and SIMI are terrorist organisations associated with Al Qaeda and ISIS and other global terrorist organisations proscribed by the United Nations General Assembly and by more than 100 nations as well as proscribed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act," it said, adding that Bajrang Dal believes in universalism, tolerance, dharmic unity, national integrity and service towards Bharat Mata and in doing so seeks inspiration from the reverential example of Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman who are the ideal embodiment of Dharma and Service". The notice demanded Kharge to pay a total of Rs 100 crore to the VHP and Bajrang Dal within 14 days after the issuance of the legal notice. The Congress in manifesto had said that the party was committed to take firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations such as Bajrang Dal and the Popular Front of India (PFI) "spreading hatred" amongst communities on grounds of caste and religion. The action would include a 'ban' against such organisations, it had said. Hours after the manifesto came out, the Bajrang Dal workers staged protests across the state, and warned to spread their agitation to other states, too. The issue resonated in the BJP campaigning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself leading the offensive on Congress' anti-Bajrang Dal stance. "It is the misfortune of the country that the Congress had a problem with Prabhu Shri Ram and now it has a problem with the people who say 'Jai Bajrang Bali'," Modi said. On May 2, Sharad Pawar shocked party leaders and supporters by announcing he was stepping down as the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party. However, four days later, he had a change of mind and decided to continue as the party chief. His decision to step down was met by protests by hundreds of party workers upset over the move. A few leaders present at the announcement even cried. A spate of resignations followed, including by party general secretary Jitendra Awhad. Pawar's nephew Ajit was perhaps the only leader not in shock. He even urged leaders not to be emotional about it and said the decision should be in the light of his age and health also. Following his decision to step down, the veteran leader set up a committee to choose the next party chief. The committee rejected his decision to step down. "I can't disrespect your sentiments. Due to your love, I am respecting the demand that was made to me to withdraw my resignation and the resolution that was passed by senior NCP leaders," he said announcing his change of mind in a press conference at the YB Chavan Centre on Friday. Party workers were in a jubilant mood outside the office their 'saheb' would continue to remain the party chief. The NCP leaders would have also heaved a sigh of relief. However, Ajit Pawar was conspicuously missing during Friday's conference when his uncle announced his decision to withdraw his resignation. The NCP chief tried to brush his absence away stating "everyone can't be present in one press conference" and that the leaders had unanimously taken the decision to reject his resignation. Ajit himself released a statement hours later stating Pawar's decision to remain the NCP's national president would energise party workers, including him, and that it would strengthen the unity of the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) and opposition parties. Was Pawar's decision to stay on as the chief perhaps to ensure that the party remained united and there was no rebellion? There were rumours a few days ago that Ajit was planning to join hands with the BJP, something that the Maharashtra leader of opposition had himself denied. What will be his next move, no one knows. Many believe that Pawar's resignation masterstroke will strengthen the position of his daughter Supriya Sule, who is likely to be his political heir. Insiders suggest, it is possible that responsibilities could be divided. While, Supriya, a Member of Parliament, could be made the national face of the party, Ajit could get to manage the party affairs in the state. For now, it's anybody's guess. Pawar agreed that there must be a succession plan in the NCP and his focus will be on making organisational changes in the party. But, will the patriarch indeed go ahead and carry out major changes in the party organisation and key roles, is something everyone, especially Ajit would be closely watching. There are several key elections in several states in 2023, starting with Karnataka this month and then Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan later this year. There has been a debate within certain sections of the party whether it would be better off going with the BJP. But, Ajit and his supporters may not take any decision in haste. Rather, he may want to see, which way the wind is blowing in these various elections, before planning any move. What if Pawar senior does indeed rollout big organisational changes and perhaps make Jayant Patil the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra assembly sidelining Ajit? In such a scenario, Ajit could make his move, perhaps closer to the LokSabha elections in 2024. Ever since Supriya entered politics by contesting a by-election to the parliament in 2006, there has been a buzz on who--the daughter or nephew--will eventually be Pawar's successor. But, matters never escalated, until in 2019, when Ajit even joined hands with the BJP and formed a government. It barely lasted 72 hours as the NCP leaders returned back to the party fold. Ajit was forgiven and even made the deputy chief minister in the MVA government. The cousins are known to have a lot of respect for each other. But Ajit, who still enjoys the support of 20-odd legislators from the party, may not let Supriya be the chief minister candidate in Maharashtra easily if matters come to that in future. With Pawar deciding to stay on as the NCP chief, a status quo will be ensured for now. But, it may not remain so for long. What changes, if any, the veteran brings about in the party leadership and structure, and what roles will Supriya and Ajit get could yet determine the future course. In the run-up to the upcoming elections in Karnataka, prominent figures in the Kannada film industry have become actively involved in political campaigns. Kiccha Sudeep has thrown his support behind Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and has been designated the BJP's official star campaigner. Meanwhile, Darshan has been campaigning for his associates regardless of party affiliation, and Shiva Rajkumar has expressed his support for his family member, Madhu Bangarappa. Political experts with whom THE WEEK spoke to feel that all the stars have different level of pull factor and have the capability of influencing different castes in the state. Sudeep, for instance, is a known face across India. However, it is not widely known that he hails from the Nayaka community. The Nayaka community has traditionally been a strong supporter of the BJP in the past elections, and Sudeep's affiliation with the community is expected to be a significant advantage for the party in the upcoming elections. It is not limited to the Nayaka community alone, as it is also expected to benefit the BJP among other communities residing in rural areas of central Karnataka, says political expert Ravikiran V. On the other hand, Darshan, a popular superstar in Karnataka, has a significant fan base, particularly among the youth. Darshan is capable of generating enthusiasm and energy around a political campaign, and his presence at rallies can draw large crowds. Compared to Sudeep and Shiva Rajkumar, Darshan's strength lies in his ability to mobilise people to attend rallies and events. However, it is unclear how much of this support will translate into actual votes due to the high number of young voters in his base. Nonetheless, his political influence among the youth cannot be ignored, and he can play a significant role in energising political campaigns, adds Ravikiran. Experts point out that Shiva Rajkumar's case is unique as he is endorsing his relative Madhu Bangarappa, who was previously associated with the JD(S) and is now contesting in the upcoming elections. Based on the ground reports, Madhu Bangarappa is considered a strong contender. Shiva Rajkumar's campaign support for a family member is expected to be a crucial factor in boosting his chances of success, says Ravikiran. On the other hand, Shiva Rajkumar's campaign efforts for his family member may not have a polarising effect across Karnataka. Unlike other celebrities, Shiva Rajkumar's political influence is not limited to any specific group or community. Political analysts do point out that the involvement of film stars in politics is not a new phenomenon in the state, but this year's election has seen an unprecedented level of celebrity participation. While the involvement of film stars in politics can bring much-needed attention to important issues, it is also argued that their influence is limited and that they can only bring crowds, not change the voting preferences of the electorate. The argument is not entirely without merit. It is true that the majority of voters in Karnataka, like in any other state, have their political preferences and are unlikely to change their minds based on a film star's endorsement. In fact, studies have shown that while film stars may have the ability to draw large crowds, their endorsement may not necessarily translate into votes for their preferred candidate, Kiran Konkipudi, a political consultant, says. This consultant, however, points out that the impact of film stars on political campaigns cannot be completely dismissed. Film stars have a massive fan following, and their endorsement of a political candidate can sway some of their fans towards that candidate, remarks Konkipudi. Many film stars in Karnataka are also associated with particular regional identities, which can help political parties tap into local sentiments and build support in specific regions. For example, Yash, the star of the blockbuster film 'KGF', is a native of Hassan district in Karnataka and has been campaigning for the ruling BJP in the region. Similarly, Darshan, who hails from Mysuru, has been campaigning in the region. Film stars have the ability to raise awareness about important issues, inspire citizens to participate in the democratic process, and help political parties mobilise support in specific regions, says Konkipudi. As the Karnataka elections approach, it will be interesting to see how the involvement of film stars shapes the political landscape and whether their impact on the election results will be significant. King Charles III's coronation invites were released on April 4. The invite marks Camilla's transition from Queen consort to Queen. The invitation sent out to 2,000 guests is from "King Charles III and Queen Camilla". Tumultuous as it may be, Camilla's rise and rise from 'other woman' to Queen is an interesting tale. So, where did it all begin? Camilla Shand was born to Rosalind Cubitt and Bruce Shand. A little-known fact: Camilla is related to Alice Keppel, a mistress of Edward VII. She is also related to Thomas Cubitt, the master builder after whom so many pubs are named. The Shads were wealthy, with homes in East Sussex and South Kensington. Camilla was educated at Queens Gate School in South Kensington, and then at Mon Fertile, a finishing school. Her family already had connections with the Royal family. She met Charles at a polo match in 1970, when she was 23. The duo quickly became close and a romance blossomed. But, it was interrupted when Charles went on naval duty. In his absence, Camilla started dating and finally married army officer Andrew Parker-Bowles, in 1973. Reportedly, her marriage with Parker-Bowles wasn't a happy one. After her marriage, Camilla moved to Bolehyde in Wiltshire and had two children. She and Charles remained friends, though. Charles and Camilla got back together in 1979, but Charles married Diana in 1981. He chose Highgrove as his residence, which is about 10 miles away from Bolehyde. Then came the infamous Camillagate tapes, in which, Prince Charles expressed he wished to be a 'Tampax' and 'live in her pants'! The British press transcribed the tapes in 1993 and soon after, Diana blew the lid off the thing by quoting in an interview with BBC journalist Martin Basheer that 'there were three of us in this marriage'. Camilla and her husband divorced in 1995, and Charles and Diana divorced in 1996. In 1997, Diana died in a car crash, and a global outpouring of grief followed. Camilla and Charles waited until 2005 to marry in a private civil ceremony. Thanks to the public adoration Diana garnered, Camilla was mercilessly torn apart by British tabloids for years. It will be difficult for her to fully shake off her reputation as the third person in the marriage between Charles and Diana. Especially, since Prince Harry, in his biography titled 'Spare', recalled how he and William urged their father not to marry Camilla and accused her of trading private information about him and others to the media as part of a drive to forge friendly relationships with journalists and improve her reputation. While it isn't clear whether these accusations are true, Camilla surely has over the years, has earned respect by keeping her head down and continuing to perfom her duties. She seems to have abided by the 'keep calm, carry on' mantra. She's won over much of the British public with her down-to-earth personality and her charitable work, notably against domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse causes. She says she will continue to support them as queen, too. (With PTI inputs) Amid international calls for mediation to end the conflict in Sudan that has killed hundreds, Saudi Arabia has stepped in to host peace talks. After several ceasefires were violated, the army factions will engage in face-to-face-talks for the first time in Jeddah on Saturday, according to reports. In a joint statement, Saudi Arabia and the US welcomed the 'pre-negotiation' talks between the Sudanese army and its rivalthe paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF). Saudi Arabia's initiative is first such attempt at ending the month-long conflict that has crippled the Sudanese government, and caused thousands of refugees to seek shelter abroad. Reuters reported that though the Sudan army, headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has sent their delegates to Jeddah, militia leader Hemedti's RSF has offered no confirmation. White House security adviser Jake Sullivan will also be present at the talks, along with Saudi leaders. Warring factions have agreed to discuss a 'humanitarian truce' and not an end to the war. According to the figures from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, the fighting in the capital of Khartoum has killed over 700 people. The International Organisation for Migration says, more than 115,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Saudi Arabia's role Ever since the conflict suddenly broke out, Saudi Arabia, geographically positioned across the Red Sea from Sudan, has been at the heart of efforts to evacuate foreign citizens. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has had close ties to Burhan and Hemedti, both of whom sent troops to help the Saudi-led coalition in its war against the Houthi group in Yemen, Reuters stated. With the help of the US, Saudi had mediated a brief truce between the warring armies recently. As it takes on the role of a mediator, the diplomatic effort is one among Saudi's multiple moves to revamp its global image of being conservative and combative player. It started with the recent mending of ties with long-time rival Iran. And now in a peacemaking role, Riyadh aims to secure regional stability in the region, which in turn is pivotal for the country's economic growth and security. Saudi Arabia is seeking to assert itself more and more on the international stage through mediation and raising its diplomatic profile, Anna Jacobs, senior analyst with International Crisis Group think tank, told CNN. With spring heat reaching its peak, thousands of people are forced to evacuate their homes in western Canada as wildfires devastate parts of Alberta on Friday. The wildfires are making the snow melt raising alarms of flooding across interior British Columbia including Cache Creek and Grand Forks. As wildfires intensifies and ravages through, over 13,000 people residing in Alberta were placed under evacuation orders. Reportedly, Little Red River Cree Nation, in northern Alberta is the worst-hit area. Including a police station, the fires destroyed over 20 homes. Drayton Valley, 140km west of the provincial capital Edmonton was also ordered to evacuate on Thursday night. This year alone there have been 348 wildfires and over 25,000 hectares of land was burned, said Christie Tucker, an information unit manager for Alberta Wildfire, reported Reuters. "This is significantly more wildfire activity for this time of year than we have seen any time in the recent past," said Tucker in a press conference. "It's getting to get hotter, it's going to get windier and we are expecting some extreme wildfire behaviour. Firefighters are at the ready today for what could be an extremely challenging day," she added. Due to high risks of floods, highways in the interiors of British Columbia were closed. Adding to further woes, heavy rain has been predicted in British Columbia and the authorities have urged the communities to be prepared for more flooding. "Warm temperatures in the Interior have accelerated snowmelt and caused increased pressure on rivers and creeks," the Ministry of Emergency Management said in a statement. HYDERABAD, India, May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IIITH Smart City Living Lab in partnership with Silicon Labs, a leader in secure, intelligent wireless technologies, today launched a campus-wide Wi-SUN backbone Mesh network at IIITH Living Lab supporting Field Area Network (FAN) 1.1 Specification as a continuation to Phase 1 launch supporting FAN 1.0 back in Sept 2022, to establish a reliable, reachable communication network to enable research and solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities easier. Wi-SUN is an open-standard protocol enabling interoperable solutions through open-source software with multi-layer security. Wi-SUN will enable utilities, municipalities, and other enterprises to deploy long-range, low-power wireless mesh networks connecting thousands of IoT nodes. The Wi-SUN network uses the unlicensed band with no additional network infra adds to the existing modes of sensor communications including Wi-Fi and LORA which allows sensors to connect easily to the cloud. In Phase 2, 30 more Wi-SUN router nodes have been deployed in the campus with nodes containing Silicon Labs' radio - EFR32FG25 modules. All these nodes are interconnected through a self-healing mesh network and connected to a Border Router (BR) for backhauling the data to cloud. These nodes support Wi-SUN FAN1.1 specification (both OFDM & FSK modulation) that includes support of battery powered Limited Function Nodes (LFN) and backward compatibility to previously deployed FAN 1.0 nodes. OFDM support enhances robust connectivity as well as higher bit rates. With the present deployment, more than 100 streetlights on campus are being controlled and a dense and steady Wi-SUN network is built covering more than 80% of the campus. The FAN 1.1 extension to the Wi-SUN network at IIITH provides the ideal infrastructure to build and validate a multitude of Smart City solutions including water management, air quality monitoring, smart lighting, traffic management, energy management, waste management and many others. The launch of Phase 2 of the network is a significant step in enabling innovators to address the key issues in sustainable urbanization. Mr.V.L.Praveen Kumar, Director, Hyderabad Metro Water Supply Board (HMWSSB) also mentioned that the HMWSSB would be interested to try the feasibility of the Wi-SUN network deployment for water utilities in Hyderabad. "The phase two launch of India's first campus-wide Wi-SUN network at the IIITH Smart City Living Lab is a crucial milestone towards enabling the development of an array of smart city solutions. This innovative street-lighting application, with thirty built-in FAN 1.1 network nodes connecting the campus street lamps for remote monitoring and control along with the thirty FAN 1.0 nodes deployed earlier in the last year, establishes a Wi-SUN backbone mesh network for future smart city applications. This demonstrates Silicon Labs' commitment to contributing to the technology ecosystem in India and industry-academia partnerships. These smart city solutions hold the potential to contribute to the Indian government's Smart City Mission," said Daniel Cooley, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Senior Vice President, Technology and Product Development at Silicon Labs. The success in this implementation becomes a boon to many utility companies to try for extensive deployment with reliable and efficient connectivity using Wi-SUN, academia for future research study into the Wi-SUN network and startups and government to use this as a testbed to build and validate solutions for smart cities using the Wi-SUN network. IIITH Smart City Living Lab is setup as an initiative of MeitY (Ministry of Electronics & IT), National Cities Mission, and Gov of Telangana, with knowledge support from EBTC (European Business Technology Council). Silicon Labs, Intel, and Saint Gobain are the other three founding corporate partners who joined hands with IIITH in building up smart city solutions. About IIIT-Hyderabad: The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) is an autonomous research university founded in 1998 that focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communications, and their applications in other domains through inter-disciplinary research that has a greater social impact. Some of its research domains include Visual Information Technologies, Human Language Technologies, Data Engineering, VLSI and Embedded Systems, Computer Architecture, Wireless Communications, Algorithms and Information Security, Robotics, Building Science, Earthquake Engineering, Cognitive Science, Computational Natural Sciences and Bioinformatics, Education Technologies, Power Systems, IT in Agriculture and e-Governance. Website: www.iiit.ac.in About Silicon Labs: Silicon Labs is a leader in secure, intelligent wireless technology for a more connected world. Their integrated hardware and software platform, intuitive development tools, thriving ecosystem, and robust support make them an ideal long-term partner in building advanced industrial, commercial, home, and life applications. Silicon Labs makes it easy for developers to solve complex wireless challenges throughout the product lifecycle and get to market quickly with innovative solutions that transform industries, grow economies, and improve lives. Silicon Labs is headquartered in Austin, Texas with its largest wireless development centre in Hyderabad, India. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1900509/IIITH_Logo.jpg (Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR PWR Islamabad, May 6 (PTI) A day after India criticised the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China on Saturday expressed their firm commitment to continue their cooperation on the multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects. This came at the 4th edition of the Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue in Islamabad co-chaired by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang here. Pakistan and China have reiterated their abiding commitment to the high-quality development of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Earlier, speaking at a press conference after the SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Goa, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said: "On the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, I think it was made very clear, not once but twice in the SCO meeting, that connectivity is good for progress, but connectivity cannot violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity." Later, Bilawal addressing a joint press conference with Qin said this year marked the completion of a decade of CPEC, which has accelerated socio-economic development, job creation, and improvement of people's livelihoods in Pakistan. The CPEC Corridor is a USD 60 billion corridor being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with China's assistance. India is opposed to the CPEC as it passes through the PoK, giving China access to the Arabian Sea through the Gwadar port in Pakistan's Balochistan province. This corridor project remains a win-win economic initiative opened to all investors around the world, Bilawal said, adding that Pakistan reiterated its abiding commitment to its [CPECs] high-quality development. CPEC remains a shining example of the Belt and Road Cooperation, which is accelerated socio-economic development, job creation and improvement of the peoples livelihoods in Pakistan, he said. Bilawal also said Pakistan was profoundly grateful to China for its generous and timely assistance as we continue to grapple with the headwinds in the global economy. He said Pakistan and China always supported each other on issues of core national interests in both bilateral engagements and multilateral forums. We appreciate China's steadfast support on all our issues including its principled position on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. We deeply appreciate Chinas firm support for Pakistans territorial integrity, sovereignty and national development as well as Chinas principled and just stance on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. India has previously criticised statements by Pakistani and Chinese leaders on the Kashmir issue, saying that New Delhi rejected their unwarranted references to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. "We have consistently rejected such statements and all parties concerned are well aware of our clear position on these matters. The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh are and always will be integral and inalienable parts of India. No other country has locus standi to comment on the same," a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson had said earlier in response to comments by China and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. The Chinese foreign minister said China stood ready to work with Pakistan to promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), accelerate the CPEC construction, deepen cooperation in fields such as industry, agriculture, information technology, and disaster prevention and mitigation, and help Pakistan restore its economy and improve people's livelihood. At the press conference, Bilawal said Pakistan and China have stood with each other for decades and will continue to do so in the decades to come. He said Pakistan will continue to firmly support China on all core issues of its national interests. He reiterated Pakistans firm support for China on all its core issues, including One-China policy, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the South China Sea. Bilawal said the partnership between the two countries has grown over the years and enjoys consensus across generations and political divides. We had an in-depth exchange of views on the entire spectrum of bilateral cooperation. We agreed to the significance of this partnership for the mutual benefit of our two nations in the face of new developments," he said. The minister said Pakistan-China friendship is irreversible and the mutual warmth and trust between the peoples of the two countries is a shining example of multi-cultural cooperation. China can always count on Pakistan as its most reliable partner and trusted friend. Friendship with China is the cornerstone of Pakistans foreign policy. The centrality and criticality of Pakistans all-weather partnership with China cannot be overstated, Bilawal said. He also said that Pakistan was against bloc politics or greater power competition of any kind and looked forward to working together with all countries to address common challenges of development and connectivity. After experiencing severe burnout during the pandemic and being diagnosed with PTSD and ADHD, 34-year-old Caitlin Gibson knew she had to make some changes. 'I realized I wasnt taking good care of myself and was stressed out both personally and professionally," said the former healthcare worker turned wellness blogger. "Self-care and self-love are now a priority." As Gibsons priorities changed, so did her summer vacation plans. "Usually Im running around doing what the kids want to do Disney, Universal. But this summer, Im planning on taking a self-care trip." On her agenda: a two-week stay in Phoenix, Ariz., with her best friend. "Were going to relax with some drinks by the pool, get pedicures, talk about life, make dinners together, brainstorm ideas to take over the world and make all of our dreams come true." Amid all the chaos the world is facing, this type of trip as well as spiritual retreats and outdoor and adventure travel is gaining momentum, said Ben Harrell, US managing director at Booking.com. This summer is going to be 'the summer of escape.'" "Its an escape that we need physically, emotionally, and mentally," Harrell said. "For some people, an 'escape' means going to a new place for a new kind of experience; for others, it's a place thats old and familiar." (Photo: Getty Creative) While Orlando, Fla., Myrtle Beach, S.C., Las Vegas, New York and Ocean City, Md., are among this summers most popular destinations, Harrell said the mission is to have a break from the "everyday doldrums." For 38-year old Kristen Valenti, an 'escape' means staying close to home and keeping things simple. She and her fiance (along with their dog), who live in the West Hartford, Connecticut area, recently bought a trailer and are planning on taking a 3-week road trip through New England this summer. "Were going to head up to Vermont first and spend a week hiking there, followed by Maine, and then New Hampshire." Story continues Others, such as 27-year old musician Alissa Musto, have more elaborate plans. "I'll be spending two weeks in Santa Barbara California and two weeks in Wisconsin Dells before flying to Europe where I'll be spending two weekends in the south of Germany, performing in Waldshut, and exploring nearby Switzerland and Liechtenstein. From there, I plan on going to the Netherlands and Austria (which have been on my bucket list) and then Poland." Like many travelers, Musto is mixing business with leisure ("bleisure") and is particularly excited about traveling internationally again now that things have opened up. An airplane takes off from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw Pauline Frommer, Co-President of frommers.com, concurs. "I think were going to see more international travel this summer than perhaps ever before. Just look at the incredible surge of people getting passports." During a recent House Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the demand was unprecedented. The State Department is getting half a million passport applications a week, which is "30 to 40% above last year," Blinken said. Rome, Paris, London, Athens and even Tokyo, which was closed last summer, top the list of popular international destinations, Harrell said. "Bucket list travel is huge," said Frommer. People are saying, This is the summer Im going to go to India or Mexico or take that African safari that theyve always wanted to do. Theyre biting the bullet and going for it." Personal finance journalist Vera Gibbons is a former staff writer for SmartMoney magazine and a former correspondent for Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Vera, who spent over a decade as an on-air financial analyst for MSNBC, currently serves as co-host of the weekly nonpolitical news podcast she founded, NoPo. Click here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Kolkata, May 6 (PTI) With the improvement in covid situation, 100 Bengali films were released in theatres since January 2022 and seven of them were hits, showing a satisfactory success rate, an industry official said. Besides these seven, four-five others did decent business, said an official of the Eastern India Motion Picture Association (EIMPA), an association of various stakeholders of the Bengali film industry. "The success rate of six-seven per cent for a cinema hall release is satisfactory considering the limited market for Bengali films. We have to compete mainly with Hindi films and that has a bigger distribution chain," the EIMPA official told PTI. Five films with varied contents became hits Aparajito (Undefeated), Karnasubarner Guptodhan (Treasure of Karnasubarna), Ballabhpurer Roopkotha (Fairytale of Ballabhpur), Kishmish (Raisin) and Dostojee (Two friends) in 2022. Two others - Projapati (Search for a Friend) and The Eken Ruddhaswas Rajasthan (The Eken Suspense in Rajasthan) were major grossers this year. While Aparajito, Ballabhpurer Roopkatha, Karnasubarner Guptadhan ran for around two months in more than 30 theatres with full houses on weekends, Karnasubarner Guptodhan and Dostojee ran for one and half months recording a steady turnout of audiences in weekly evening shows and weekend noon, evening shows," said the official. Films like The Eken, X=Prem and Belashuru (The Beginning), Hatyapuri (Murder in Puri) and Hami 2 (Kiss 2) received decent responses in 2022 with over 60 per cent occupancy in some theatres for three weeks, he said. Superstar Jeet's Chengiz, which was released both in Bengali and Hindi languages on this year's Eid, did have 40-50 per cent occupancy on average in theatres in the Bengal territory and around 10 per cent at all India level. The EIMPA official said that from March to December 2020, only 11 films were released - but with a 50 per cent cap on occupancy in theatres and fear of infection from coronavirus, many people stayed away and settled for OTT. Projapoti starring Mithun Chakraborty and Dev went on to become the biggest blockbuster in 2023 running houseful in theatres for over 100 days till March, the official who is also the owner of a single-screen theatre in Kolkata said. Dev said, "The success of Projapoti should not be celebrated in isolation. If a film becomes a blockbuster or even becomes a hit, there is a trickle-down effect for the entire Bengali film industry. The feel-good factor has to be important. I wish all other films do well." The co-producer of Projapoti, Atanu Roy Choudhury said the coming back of audiences to the theatres is a good sign for the entire industry. Director Anik Dutta said the success of his Aparajito, which re-traced the making of Satyajit Rays iconic film Pather Panchali in the early 1950s, reaffirmed the confidence about good response by audiences if they are provided with rich content after the Covid-19 disruption. "The theatres were closed due to covid for the major part of 2020-21 and the situation went for change only in 2022 and as the audiences went for revenge viewing flocking multiplexes and single screens. The content on offer has to be important. All of us must remember that," Dev said. London, May 6 (PTI) A 79-year-old Indian-origin man has been charged with murder after he surrendered and admitted to assaulting and killing his wife in east London, media reports and police said. Tarsame Singh appeared in court on Thursday for the charge of murdering his 77-year-old wife Maya Devi at their residence, a Met police release said on Thursday. Maya Devi was found battered to death at her residence, the BBC reported. Singh handed himself into a police station near the couple's home in Hornchurch, East London on Tuesday evening after which the officers rushed with paramedics where Maya Devi was found with severe head injuries, the report said. Although a person is in custody, this is still an active investigation and we are gathering as much information as possible," Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rogers was quoted as saying. The police have asked the local people for any information they might have regarding the crime to help them solve the case. "We have a family desperately trying to understand what has happened - your information could give them the answers they need and deserve," Rogers said. Washington, May 6 (PTI) Describing Buddhism as amongst India's greatest gifts to the world, Indian ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Friday said New Delhi is keen to strengthen the bond people share through this religion. He was speaking at an event on the occasion of Buddha Purnima. "Buddhism is amongst the greatest gifts, from India to the world with more than 2,500 years of history. Today it is practised in more than 100 countries. It is a strong unifying factor. I have, in my previous assignments in Sri Lanka, witnessed how strong our shared Buddhist heritage is," Sandhu said. "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, Government of India, is keen to strengthen the people-to-people linkages, weaved through the common thread of Buddhism," he said. The event was attended by eminent Buddhist monks from the Greater Washington DC area. Referring to Modi's 2017 visit to Sri Lanka on International Vesak Day, he said several initiatives, like the development of the Buddha Circuit in India and Nepal, the rejuvenation of pilgrimage centres, like Sarnath and Kushinagar, the inauguration of the Kushinagar International Airport, the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage in Lumbini and International Buddhist Confederation are a few examples of India's efforts. Sandhu also mentioned India's assistance to its neighbouring countries and Southeast Asia for the construction and renovation of Buddhist monasteries and joint projects to set up international centres and museums for Buddhist culture and heritage as some other examples. The first Global Buddhist Summit was organised by India last month, where scholars from across the world participated, he added. "Today, the world is facing multiple challenges in the form of pandemics, terrorism, and environmental degradation. And yet, there is no problem for which solutions could not be found in the teachings of the Buddha, who said, 'be your own light' and showed us the path which he himself lived," he said. Sandhu said India has been deeply influenced by Buddhist philosophy and working with like-minded partners, including the United States, in addressing the diverse headwinds that we face. "This is manifested in many ways as one of the first responders, during disasters, or as an exporter of vaccines, to more than 100 countries, to fight Covid-19 pandemic, or by driving sustainability through Mission LiFE, promotion of Millets and Yoga, or the unifying spirit, in the theme of India's G20 Presidency, Vasu-dhaiva-kutum-bakam One Earth, One Family, One Future!" Sandhu said. London, May 6 (PTI) Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party has lost 48 councils and more than 1,000 councillors across England in the local polls, with the Opposition Labour Party terming it a "clear rejection" of the incumbent British Prime Minister. Voters went to the polls on Thursday to elect local representatives in 230 of England's 317 councils in what marked Sunaks first electoral test at the ballot box since the British Indian leader took charge at 10 Downing Street in October 2022. Labour is now the largest party in local government - overtaking the Conservatives for the first time since 2002. The Tories lost 48 councils and more than 1,000 councillors across England in Thursday's polls, exceeding their worst predictions, BBC reported. Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party, claimed his party was on course to win the next general election, expected next year. Many Tories were angry at the scale of the losses, with some blaming Sunak. "The British public has sent a clear rejection of a prime minister who never had the mandate to begin with," a Labour spokesperson said. The Liberal Democrats had what their leader Sir Ed Davey said was their "best result in decades", taking control of 12 councils, mostly in Tory heartlands. The party gained 405 new councillors, compared with Labour's 536 gains. The Green Party gained 241 seats - their best-ever result in local elections - and gained its first majority on an English council, in Mid-Suffolk, although they were overtaken as the biggest party by Labour in Brighton and Hove. Sunak admitted the results were "disappointing", but said he did not detect "a massive groundswell of movement towards the Labour Party or excitement for its agenda". Starmer claimed the "fantastic" results showed his party was well placed to oust the Tories from government in a general election, expected next year. "Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election," he told cheering activists in Medway in Kent, one of the councils his party has wrested from the Tories. Labour won control of councils in areas that will be crucial battlegrounds in the general election, including Medway, Swindon, Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent, and East Staffordshire. The BBC's projected national vote share put Labour on 35 per cent, the Tories on 26 per cent and the Lib Dems on 20 per cent. Labour's projected nine-point lead represents its largest over the Conservatives on this measure since the party lost power in 2010. While Labour has made some gains in areas that it will need to win back at a general election, doubts remain whether the party has done enough to be on the cusp of a return to government. While poll experts are striking a note of caution to say that local elections have never proven to be very reliable indicators for a general election, the mood music around Sunak having taken over a deeply divided party without the backing of the wider British electorate has only got louder. The term for Parliament is five years. As the current Parliament first met on December 17, 2019, it will be automatically dissolved on December 17, 2024. Thus, the next UK general election is not due until January 2025. Washington, May 6 (AP) First lady Jill Biden, who represented the United States at Saturday's coronation of Britain's King Charles III, said there was such beauty in the pageantry of the ceremony and it was just amazing to see. You can't imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on the head of the king and then on the head on the queen, she said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press after the ceremony in London. It's really surreal to see and experience that moment. Charles' wife, Camilla, also was crowned queen during Britain's first coronation in 70 years. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last September after a seven-decade reign. An American president has never attended a British coronation and President Joe Biden asked the first lady to represent the U.S. in his place. The White House said Jill Biden's appearance marked the first time that a U.S. first lady was present for a British coronation. She brought one of her granddaughters, Finnegan Biden, 23, on the trip. It's my honor to represent the people of the United States and I wanted to be here, Jill Biden said. It was so meaningful to me that I could bring Finnegan here, that we could travel together and experience this together and it's meant a lot to both of us. The first lady spoke as she and Finnegan headed to afternoon tea following the coronation at Westminster Abbey. We thought that was something that was so British, she said of their tea time. It was something we really wanted to do together. She said sitting and watching the ceremony led her to think about the importance of traditions. I felt as I sat there, I felt this sense of decorum and civility that binds together people of all nations, she said. At the coronation, Jill Biden sat beside Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine. Jill Biden said they talked about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that Zelenska thanked her again for the support from the United States. Jill Biden said she paid close attention to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby's message that people everywhere seek hope and joy. And I thought that was such strong message because I think that is true, she said. "And it's true for all people everywhere, but I think it was important at this moment that the clergy brought that in to this moment in history. The first lady attended a Buckingham Palace reception Friday that was hosted by Charles. She said Charles recounted to his most recent telephone conversation with President Biden and he asked her to give my best to your husband. She said she and Princess Kate chatted as mothers about the lengths to which they go to keep their children quiet in church, feeding them pieces of candy and such. She said she didn't know if her son could sit still for two hours and we just had a good laugh over it, Jill Biden said. It's just something, I think, that's common to a lot of us. (AP) MRJ Kathmandu, May 6 (PTI) Nepal's top political leaders said on Saturday that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' needs to seek another vote of confidence in the House of Representatives after a party in the ruling alliance withdrew support to the government. The decision was taken by the top leaders of the ruling coalition at a meeting held at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar, said Hitraj Pandey, the chief whip of the CPN-Maoist Centre. The meeting was attended by top leaders of the five-party alliance, including Prime Minister Prachanda, Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-Unified Socialist president Madhav Kumar Nepal and Janata Samajwadi Party president Upendra Yadav. The Prachanda-led government enjoys a comfortable majority in the 275-member House of Representatives (HoR) even after the Rastriya Swatantra Party led by Ravi Lamichhane withdrew its support to the government, Pandey told PTI. Therefore, the prime minister needs to again seek a vote of confidence in the HoR, he added. The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which won two seats out of three in the recently-concluded by-elections, withdrew support to the government on Friday after it failed to reach a power-sharing deal with Prime Minister Prachanda. The RSP alleged that the Prachanda government has failed to address corruption issue. The RSP, the fourth-largest party in Nepal's Parliament, has 22 lawmakers in the lower house. Even though the RSP, which participated in the Prachanda-led government formed in December last year, left the government in February, it did not withdraw its support 'for the sake of stability'. Prachanda, who was appointed prime minister in December, took the vote of confidence for the first time in January and again in March this year. Palghar, May 6 (PTI) A 23-year-old man from Maharashtras Palghar district has been arrested on the charge of killing his mothers live-in partner, an official said on Saturday. The murder took place at Virendra Nagar locality in Palghar on Thursday night, the official said. According to Sachin Navadkar, the public relations officer of the Palghar district rural police, the woman, who sells vegetables, had been living with a man for the past four years. On many occasions, the woman was thrashed by her live-in partner over petty fights which upset her son, said the official. During one such fight on Thursday night, the son reached the spot and smashed a stone on the head of his mothers live-in partner, killing him, he said. On a complaint by the woman, the son was arrested for murder under Indian Penal Code section 302, he added. Satna (MP), May 6 (PTI) A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by six persons on a boat in the pilgrimage town of Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh's Satna district, police said on Saturday. The police have arrested an acquaintance of the victim and five boatmen for the attack that took place in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, Chitrakoot sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Ashish Jain told PTI. The arrested boatmen allegedly saw the other accused, a resident of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, raping the girl near Mandakini river on Friday midnight, and they dragged the victim into the boat and raped her, he said. The accused worked with the victim's parents in Hyderabad. The victim's parents had called him to their Satna house and asked him to get their daughter treated for colic, he said. However, instead of taking the minor girl to a doctor, the accused raped her, the SDOP said. The victim with her mother lodged a police complaint in the early hours of the day, following which the accused were apprehended and a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act was registered, he said. After their DNA and other formalities, the accused will be produced in a court on Sunday, he said, adding that the youngest of the accused was 18 years old. Half of Chitrakoot falls in Madhya Pradesh, while the rest comes under Karwi tehsil of Chitrakoot district in Uttar Pradesh. Mandakini river originates from Satna district and flows into Yamuna in UP's Chitrakoot district. PTI LAL ARU ARU Mumbai, May 6 (PTI) Workers and leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday staged a protest here demanding strict legal action against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh over the allegations of sexual harassment by women grapplers. AAP leaders Ruben Mascarenhas, Pius Varghese, Sanjay Bedia and Neeta Sukhtankar, party workers and activists raised slogans against the BJP-led Central government during the protest held at Kadam Nagar in suburban Versova. Speaking at the protest, the party's Mumbai region president Preeti Sharma Menon said girls of the country who shine in various sporting arenas have been protesting for justice for the past few days, but leaders in power at the Centre are trying to protect the oppressors. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not even made a simple comment on this. He is hesitant to get justice for girls who have made our country's name shine all over the world and made our tricolour proud. A person who cannot give them justice cannot be the prime minister. We demand that this person who has committed the crime be arrested," the AAP leader said. The wrestlers have been staging a sit-in at Jantar Mantar since April 23. The protesters have been demanding criminal action against Singh for the alleged sexual harassment and intimidation of seven female wrestlers, one of whom is a minor. PTI AG ARU ARU ARU Pune, May 6 (PTI) Three workers were killed after a fire broke out at a godown of a mandap decorator here, fire brigade officials said on Saturday. The incident took place at 11.30 pm on Friday night at Wagholi in Ubale Nagar of Pune city. A fire official said the blaze tore through the godown of Shubh Sajavat. Four cylinders exploded there, he said. While a total of 9 fire engines were pressed into service, the bodies of three workers were found at the scene, the official said. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be determined as cooling operations are underway, the official said, adding that they shifted 400 gas cylinders from a godown in the vicinity to safety. A cardboard cutout of Warren Buffett. Markets Insider. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is holding its annual shareholder meeting this weekend. Stockholders lined up to buy Buffett-themed rubber ducks, plush toys, candy, and kitchen utensils. Take a peek inside the shareholder shopping event known as the "Berkshire Bazaar of Bargains." Tens of thousands of people have journeyed to Nebraska this weekend to attend the annual shareholder meeting of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, and listen to the "Oracle of Omaha" speak. Stockholders flocked on Friday to a shopping event called the "Berkshire Bazaar of Bargains, "which gathered dozens of Buffett's best-known businesses under one roof. See's Candies, Brooks Running, Jazwares, Pampered Chef, and others capitalized on Buffett's worldwide fame. They used the investor's likeness to sell everything from rubber ducks and squishy toys to kitchen utensils and boxes of chocolate. Here's a peek inside Berkshire's shareholder shopping day: Berkshire shareholders gathered in force outside the CHI Health Center on Friday. Markets Insider A giant meeting pass greeted shareholders when they entered the exhibition hall. Markets Insider Pampered Chef welcomed customers with a cardboard cutout of Warren Buffett, complete with special-edition scrapers. Markets Insider See's Candies went with a "Warren Buffett meets Saturday Night Fever" theme this year. A cardboard cutout of Warren Buffett. Markets Insider. There were long lines to snag Jazwares' Buffett-themed Squishmallow. Markets Insider Charlie Munger, Buffett's 99-year-old business partner, also had his own squishy toy. Markets Insider Buffett and Munger made an appearance as rubber ducks too. Markets Insider Borsheims' booth also featured cardboard cutouts of the two investors. Markets Insider Brooks Running took a similar tack. Markets Insider Geico's booth featured a massive inflatable gecko. Markets Insider BNSF Railway's model railroad featured loads of Berkshire businesses, including Pilot Flying J, a recent acquisition. Markets Insider Garanimals, a Berkshire-owned children's clothing company, was also on the side of the tracks. Story continues Markets Insider A bunch of Buffett and Munger's recommended books were on sale. Markets Insider Duracell's booth featured a battery-powered supercar. Markets Insider Shaw Carpets' doghouse was a hit among shareholders. Markets Insider Buffett showcased a bunch of other subsidiaries including Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices, a residential real estate business. Markets Insider Berkshire also showcased a full-sized manufactured house from Clayton Homes. Markets Insider Shareholders were able to try a flight simulator at FlightSafety International. Markets Insider Nebraska Furniture Mart was jammed with people buying home goods. Markets Insider Fruit of the Loom also attracted a lot of attention. Markets Insider Dairy Queen's sweet treats drew big crowds as well. Markets Insider Read the original article on Business Insider Patna, May 6 (PTI) The Bihar government will highlight the rise of rural women entrepreneurs breaking all barriers and the success of the World Bank-backed village livelihood programme Jeevika among several other socio-economic programmes during G-20 events to be held here in June, an official said on Saturday. The G20 meetings in Patna are expected to be held on themes such as women and future of work and upskilling of the women workforce in tech-intensive work environment. During two-day G-20 programmes on June 22 and 23, the Bihar government will showcase women's upliftment and development in the rural sector, besides the state's rich cultural heritage. How rural women are defying odds to become entrepreneurs in Bihar through different initiatives taken by the state government, how Jeevika has become a revolution and changed the lives of rural women and their families will be presented before G20 delegates, Art and Culture department secretary Bandana Preyashi said. She also said how women in Bihar are interested in joining the police, and their success stories in different fields, the states soft power and its varied history will also be showcased through cultural programmes and exhibitions during the G-20 events. At least five success stories of Bihars women, their struggle in a patriarchal society and how they have helped transform the lives of other women with the support of several initiatives by the state government, including Jeevika, will be highlighted through cultural events and displays during the visit of the G20 engagement groups, Preyashi said. Delegates will also be able to learn about Bihar's "one-district-one-product" scheme to boost local entrepreneurs, she said. The state government has also planned several cultural events to give delegates a glimpse of the amazing history of Bihar. We have listed some iconic monuments from the state so that delegates can learn about the history of Bihar through cultural events and exhibitions. They will also be able to know about Vaishali, an archaeological site located around 45 km away from the state capital, at the exhibitions," the official said. The cultural events will elaborate the history and heritage of Bihar through musical gigs, display of archival photographs, live performances by traditional artists and also through displays of work by state artisans, she said. Bihar Museum, Patna Sahib Gurudwara, and two world heritage sites in Gaya and Rajgir are on the list for sightseeing for G20 delegates. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on several occasions in the past praised the work being done by rural women associated with JEEVIKA, a part of his government's rural livelihoods project, to improve the economic status of their families. The number of 'Jeevika didis, the self-help group women, has increased to 1.30 crore in the state. They are doing splendid jobs, and this model (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project) has ensured women's empowerment in a big way. Their work is earning appreciation from different parts of the world, the CM had told media persons in Katihar in February. The two-day events in June are part of India's G20 Presidency. The G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom and the US and the European Union. Agartala, May 6 (PTI) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Saturday said that all students from the state, who are stranded in violence-hit Manipur, will be brought back by two special flights. The announcement came hours after the chief minister held a meeting with the parents of the students stuck in the trouble-torn state. "The first flight with 37 students studying at Central Agriculture University in Imphal is expected to reach Guwahati on Saturday night, and they will return to Tripura on Sunday," Saha said, addressing a press conference at the Civil Secretariat. The students who are studying at the Regional Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) will be boarding an Imphal-Agartala flight at 12.15 am on Sunday, he said. As many as 208 students of the state, who are stuck in violence-hit Manipur, are scheduled to return home, he said, adding that the figure may rise. "A team of the state government has already reached Imphal to handle the evacuation process. If any student or person from the state is left out, he or she will also be brought back. The government will reimburse the price of their air tickets," Saha said. Chief Secretary JK Sinha and Director-General of Police (DGP) Amitabh Ranjan were also present in the meeting, chaired by the chief minister. Ranjan said vigil has been stepped up in localities where Kuki tribals and Meiteis live to prevent any kind of violence. "We have already alerted the police. The police stations concerned have been asked to monitor the areas where people of these two communities live. Besides, the cyber wing has been told to keep a close watch on social media to prevent any propaganda," he said. In Tripura, around 70,000 Meiteis and Bishnupriya Meteis live. The population of Kukis is about 16,000. Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition Animesh Debbarma sought the chief minister's intervention to bring back the students of Tripura stranded in violence-hit Manipur. "Students of the state are facing safety and security threats in Manipur, and in some hostels, food scarcity is also reported due to disruptions. I heard that there is no air ticket available on the Agartala-Imphal route till May 10. This is a serious problem," he said. "If air tickets are not available, the state government should talk to airlines to make necessary arrangements to bring back all the students. I hope the chief minister will take proper steps till the situation becomes normal in Manipur," he added. Violent clashes broke out between tribals and people belonging to the majority Meitei community in Manipur on Wednesday, displacing thousands of people and killing at least 54. The clashes broke out after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the ten hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 percent of the population and live mostly in the hill districts. Shillong, May 6 (PTI) Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Saturday reviewed the rescue of students of his state from violence-hit Manipur. So far, 83 students of Meghalaya were rescued from Manipur by air, a senior state Home Department official told PTI. At the review meeting, Sangma was told that 66 students reached the Guwahati airport by an Alliance Air flight on Friday. On arrival, they were provided with food, and transportation was arranged for their return by buses to Meghalaya, officials said. On Saturday, 17 students were rescued and brought to Guwahati, they said. Fifty students will arrive in Guwahati on Sunday, 70 students on Monday and 30 students on Tuesday, they added. On Wednesday, the travel for the remaining 15 students will be facilitated, officials said. The state government has deputed two officers to oversee the evacuation from Manipur, they said. Darjeeling (WB), May 6 (PTI) The death of Army jawan Siddhant Chettri in the anti-terrorist operation at Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir brought down the curtains abruptly on his two-month-long marriage. The slain jawan hailed from Bijanbari area in Darjeeling district of West Bengal. His elder brother Om Prakash Chettri, who recently retired from the Army, Saturday said Siddhant was passionate only about serving the nation. My brother was very passionate about serving the country. Hence, he joined the Army in 2020. Due to his good performance, he was assigned to Para (Special Forces). He got married only two months ago and returned to his duty in Jammu and Kashmir. He was martyred within 15 days of his return," Om Prakash Chettri told PTI over phone while he was on his way to Bagdogra airport to receive the body of his younger brother. Siddhant was among the five Army jawans killed in an explosion triggered by terrorists in the thickly forested Kandi area in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir during an operation to flush them out on Friday. A major was injured in the incident. The Para(SF), to which he belonged, is a group of special forces battalions of the Parachute Regiment in the Indian Army. These units specialise in various roles like counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, counter-insurgency and special reconnaisance. He was so young - only 24. His wife is only 22 and also hails from Darjeeling. Since hearing the news of Siddhant's death, she is repeatedly losing her consciousness. Our parents are mum and not saying a word, he said. Chettri said Siddhant's body will be kept at their home on Saturday night for the family to mourn and the last rites will be performed on Sunday. The operation, which took the young jawan's life, was launched following inputs about the presence of a group of terrorists which was involved in an ambush on an Army truck at Bhata Dhurian in Poonch district in April in which five security personnel were killed. Before Fridays attack the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed seven major terrorist incidents since October 2021 in which 29 people, including 22 Army personnel, have been killed. Aizawl, May 6 (PTI) Mizoram Law Minister TJ Lalnuntluanga is likely to visit violence-hit Manipur where hundreds of people from his state were stranded, officials said on Saturday. The ruling MNF's youth wing president L Thangmawia, an MLA, and a leader of the Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA) are expected to accompany him, they said. Meanwhile, the CYMA organised a meeting on the situation in Manipur, and it was attended by representatives of all NGOs, political parties and churches. In the meeting, it was decided that representatives will be sent to New Delhi to meet Union ministers over the plight of Kukis in the violence-hit state, a leader said. The meeting urged the Centre, and governments of Manipur and Mizoram to take stringent actions to restore peace and harmony in the violence-hit state, he said. It further urged the people of Mizoram to extend assistance to the people of Manipur seeking refuge in the state. The Kukis share ethnic and cultural ties with the Mizos. Violent clashes broke out between tribals and people belonging to the majority Meitei community in Manipur on Wednesday, displacing thousands of people and killing at least 54. The clashes broke out after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the ten hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 percent of the population and live mostly in the hill districts. New Delhi/Jammu, May 6 (PTI) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Jammu & Kashmir's Rajouri on Saturday where five Army personnel were killed and one major-rank officer was wounded in a blast triggered by terrorists. The defence minister will visit Rajouri today, official sources said. According to officials, Rajnath is likely to reach Jammu by 11 am and visit Rajouri accompanied by Army chief General Manoj Pande and briefed on the operation underway in Kandi forest area. The five soldiers were killed in an explosion triggered by terrorists during an anti-terror operation by the Army on Friday in the Kandi forest area of Rajouri district. Earlier in the day, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi visited the encounter site and was briefed on the developments in the ongoing 'Operation Trinetra' by ground commanders. Chandigarh, May 6 (PTI) A close aide of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was arrested by Punjab Police, state's top cop Gaurav Yadav said on Saturday. Harwinder Singh alias Jugnu Wala was a wanted criminal and the Uttar Pradesh police had announced a reward of Rs one lakh on his arrest. He was apprehended by a team of the anti-gangster task force (AGTF) of the Punjab Police. A pistol and six cartridges were seized from him, police said. "In a major breakthrough, AGTF arrested Harwinder S@ Jugnu Walia, a close aide of Mukhtar Ansari. He was linked in a number of criminal cases including murder, attempt to murder, extortion, etc." Yadav, the Punjab Director General of Police, said in a tweet. "He is a wanted criminal & UP Police had kept a reward of Rs. 1 lakh on his arrest. Recovered: 1 Pistol with 6 live cartridges, Foreign currency, and a car from his possession, FIR is registered and further Investigation is ongoing," he said. New Delhi, May 6 (PTI) Priests of some churches in Delhi have decided to join hands to aid the efforts towards rejuvenation of the Yamuna river, following an appeal by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, officials said on Saturday. This will prove to be a shot in the arm for the mission to clean the Yamuna as priests of several temples and imams of mosques in the city have already joined the initiative by the LG to help clean the river and remove garbage dumps in Delhi, they said. The Church of North India (CNI) diocese of Delhi on Saturday issued an appeal asking all the presbyters, deacons, evangelists and ordinands to spread the message of Yamuna rejuvenation and solid waste management during the Sunday service at the churches. "Committed and concerted goal-oriented efforts made by Lt Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena show positive results. He has appealed to the people of Delhi as indeed the Church to support the efforts being undertaken in rejuvenating the Yamuna and flattening the shameful mountains of waste situated in the Capital," read the appeal issued by the bishop of the diocese of Delhi Paul Swarup. Saxena heads the high-level committees formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to deal with the issues of Yamuna pollution and solid waste management in the city. The churches will appeal to the people to segregate dry and wet garbage, not throw waste in the Yamuna, recycle and reuse, and avoid dumping garbage in drains. Following concerted and targeted efforts by the Delhi LG and his appeal to the people of Delhi to proactively participate in these efforts, varied groups and organisations have begun to rise to the occasion. Imams of several mosques made similar appeals to the people during the Friday prayers. In April, a training session chaired by the LG was conducted in which 500 temple priests were urged to act as change makers to educate people to stop dumping puja materials and other such items like idols and calendars into the Yamuna. New Delhi, May 6 (PTI) The Editors Guild of India on Saturday voiced concern over the detention of a news channel's woman reporter by the Punjab Police and demanded her immediate release. Bhavana Kishore of Times Now, who was on a reporting assignment in Punjab, was reportedly involved in an accident and detained by police. She was taken away in a car by a policeman without the presence of women personnel, which is against well-established procedures, the guild said in a statement. The FIR registered against the reporter at a Ludhiana police station "appears excessive and with undue haste", it said. "EGI urges the Punjab government to release the journalist from detention and direct its police to follow the established procedures," the guild said. It said given that the reporter was on an assignment, law enforcement agencies should have exercised due restraint with respect to detention and subsequent filing of FIR. The Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC), the National Union of Journalists (India) and the Press Club of India (PCI) condemned the arrest of the reporter, her cameraperson and their car's driver. "The IWPC demands immediate relief to the young reporter, cameraperson and the driver," it said in a statement. "As women police personnel were not present when the reporters were detained, we urge the authorities to take strict action against the erring police personnel for not following police norms required to be observed while arresting a woman," the IWPC said. The PCI termed the reporter's arrest as a "blatant attack on the rights of a journalist". "We demand immediate withdrawal of fake and lopsided charges made against her by Punjab Police and seek Punjab chief ministers intervention in this matter," it said. Chennai, May 6 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi's allegation of a two-finger test on minor girls in Chidambaram is false and the health department, upon verification, found no such test was done, State Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Saturday. Accusing the Governor of being vindictive towards the State government, Subramanian claimed Ravi attempted to portray something that had never happened. "He had accused the police of booking cases against the Dikshitars (priests of renowned Nataraja temple in Chidambaram) for performing child marriages and claimed two underage girls were subjected to a two-finger test, which is not true," the Minister said. Speaking to reporters here Subramanian said, despite the state police issuing a rebuttal on the issue on May 5, it has become necessary for him to clarify the subject. Dismissing an allegation that the police booked cases against the Dikshitars after the Social Welfare department complained out of vengeance, as untrue, a release from the DGP office had said the Chidambaram town All Women Police station registered four cases under various sections of the IPC including child marriage and arrested 8 men and 3 women in this regard. The police had also denied that two girls studying in class VI and VII were forcibly subjected to a two-finger test and the charge that they later attempted to commit suicide as contrary to truth. "The Governor is trying to find fault through a magnifying glass hoping to target the State government and has levelled allegations against the government on May 4," Subramanian said. Ravi spoke something which has not happened and this was unbefitting the position he holds, the Minister claimed. "His allegation is utterly false. The health department, which looked into the case history and treatment given, also scrutinised the records. The records clearly state that the two-finger test has not been performed on the girls," Subramanian claimed. Roschetzky Photography / Shutterstock.com While some borrowers are still waiting on updates on the Biden Administrations student loan forgiveness plan, others are beginning to take action with their debt. Aside from using popular repayment strategies and resources available from their employers, borrowers are tapping into federal student loan forgiveness programs available in their states of residence. Student Loans: Court Allows $6 Billion in Forgiveness Funds To Proceed for 200,000 Borrowers See: How Many Americans Have $100,000 Saved for Retirement? Some states will pay off student loans if you decide to move there. However, most states and Washington, D.C., offer student loan forgiveness programs to existing residents. Borrowers may be eligible for these plans without having to move. Here are the various student loans that each state offers payoff for. Alabama Alabama offers the Alabama Math and Science Teacher Education Program (AMSTEP). This is a federal loan repayment program available for qualifying math or science public high school teachers. The program includes a base program ($2,500 per semester worked or $5,000 per year) and supplemental program, where the recipient teaches math or science, or both, in a geographic area in Alabama that has a teacher shortage in math and/or science. Take Our Poll: Do You Think Bankruptcy Is an Acceptable Way To Escape Student Loan Debt? Alaska Alaska offers the SHARP Program. This is a statewide support-for-service effort that provides partial financial support to healthcare practitioners in medical, dental and behavioral health fields. SHARP offers either education loan repayment or direct incentive. Arizona Arizona offers two plans under the Arizona State Loan Repayment Programs (SLRP). These include the Primary Care Provider Loan Repayment Program (PCPLRP) and the Rural Private Primary Care Provider Loan Repayment Program (RPPCPLRP). The PCPLRP is for public, non-profit providers. The RPPCPLRP is for providers in rural private practice sites. Both programs repay the qualifying educational loans of healthcare professionals in exchange for their two-year commitment to provide primary care services in federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) or Arizona Medically Underserved Areas (AzMUA). Story continues Arkansas Arkansas offers the State Teacher Education Program (STEP), a loan repayment program that offers yearly loan repayment grants to current educators teaching in a subject or geographic shortage area in an Arkansas public school. Teachers must reapply each year. They are eligible for up to three years. California California offers two plans: the State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) and the CDA Foundation Student Loan Repayment Grant. The SLRP increases the number of primary care physicians, dentists, dental hygienists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, pharmacists and mental/behavioral health providers practicing in federally designated California HPSAs. The CDA Foundation awards grants to select recent dental school or specialty graduates. Colorado Colorado offers three plans. These include the Colorado Health Service Corps, Colorado Laws Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) and the DU Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). Those applying for the Colorado Health Service Corps may be eligible for repayment of qualified student loans if they practice in an HPSA and deliver healthcare services to patients who are underserved. Colorado Laws LRAP provides partial loan repayment awards to alumni who perform qualifying work in the public interest. The DU LRAP is available through the University of Denver Sturm College of Law to benefit alumni who make a commitment to work in the public interest. Connecticut Connecticut offers the CHESLA Alliance District Teacher Loan Subsidy Program. Borrowers with at least $5,000 in private student loans may qualify for ADTLS if they meet eligibility requirements and teach in one of Connecticuts 33 highest-need school districts. Delaware Delaware offers a State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP), which provides financial assistance up to $100,000 for verifiable educational loans to qualified dental, behavioral/mental health and primary care professionals for a minimum of two consecutive years of full-time or half-time service in shortage areas across the state. Florida Florida offers two plans: the Florida Bar Foundation Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) and the Nursing Student Loan Forgiveness Program (NSLFP). The LRAP supports the recruitment and retention of qualified civil legal aid staff attorneys who are employed by legal assistance organizations that receive grant funding from The Florida Bar Foundation. Staff attorneys participating in LRAP are expected to use the funds to pay down their student loan debt. The NSLFP provides funds to assist in the repayment of nursing education loans. Georgia Georgia offers five plans: the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Loan Repayment Program (APRNLRP), Dentists for Rural Areas Assistance Program (DRAA), Georgia Physician Loan Repayment Program (GPLRP), Physician Assistant Loan Repayment Program (PALRP) and Physicians for Rural Areas Assistance Program (PRAAP). These five programs are administered by the GBHCW for physicians, dentists, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses. They assist in paying debt incurred for tuition, fees and other expenses associated with the completion of degrees for practitioners who practice full time in underserved, rural counties in Georgia with populations of 50,000 or less. Hawaii Hawaii offers the Hawaii State Loan Repayment Program (HSLRP). This federal grant pays off educational loans for primary care and behavioral health providers who care for patients at nonprofit organizations in designated Health Professional Shortage Areas of Hawaii. Idaho Idaho offers two plans: the State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) and the Rural Physician Incentive Program (RPIP). The SLRP is a state-based loan repayment program for nurses, clinicians and physicians working in federally designated HPSAs. The RPIP provides loan repayment for qualifying physicians serving HPSAs in Idaho. Illinois Illinois offers six plans: the Community Behavioral Health Care Professional Loan Repayment Program, Illinois Teachers Loan Repayment Program, John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program, Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program, School and Municipal Social Work, Shortage Loan Repayment Program and the Veterans Home Medical Providers Loan Repayment Program. Indiana The Indiana State Loan Repayment Program (IN-SLRP) is a workforce retention program that provides student loan repayment to health professionals to encourage the full-time delivery of primary care, mental and dental healthcare services at practices located in federally designated HPSAs in Indiana. In exchange for a two-year service deal, IN-SLRP recipients can get up to $20,000 toward student loans. Iowa Iowa offers four plans: the Health Care Award Program, Health Professional Recruitment Program (HPRP), Rural Iowa Primary Care Loan Repayment Program (RIPCLRP) and Teach Iowa Scholar (TIS) program. The Health Care Award Program provides financial awards to nurse educators teaching full time at eligible Iowa colleges and universities. The HPRP provides loan repayment benefits to individuals who practice in specific locations for up to four years. The RIPCLRP provides loan repayment incentives to individuals who practice in specific locations for up to five years, with a maximum $200,000 award. The TIS program provides qualified Iowa teachers with awards of up to $4,000 a year, for a maximum of five years, for teaching in Iowa schools in designated shortage areas. Kansas Kansas offers the Kansas Bridging Plan (KBP), Kansas State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) and Rural Opportunity Zones (ROZ) Student Loan Reimbursement Assistance. The KBP is a loan forgiveness program for primary care and psychiatry resident physicians created to encourage physicians to practice in Kansas upon completion of their residency training. The SLRP offers eligible healthcare professionals an opportunity to receive assistance with the repayment of qualifying educational loans in exchange for minimum two-year service commitments at eligible practice sites. If you have a college degree and outstanding student loans and recently moved to an ROZ county, you may be eligible for ROZ Student Loan Reimbursement Assistance. Kentucky Kentucky offers the SLRP. Participants receive tax-free student loan repayment in exchange for their service commitments. Louisiana Louisiana offers an SLRP as well. Healthcare professionals serving in HPSAs across the state may be eligible for Louisianas SLRP, which repays government or commercial educational loans to people who serve in rural and underserved areas. Maine Maine offers Educators for Maine Program (EMP), Maine Dental Education Loan Program, Maine Health Professions Loan Program and Maine Veterinary Medicine Loan Program. The EMP is a merit-based, forgivable loan for Maine students enrolling in or pursuing undergraduate or graduate education degrees. The Maine Dental Education Loan Program is a forgivable loan program for Maine students pursuing careers as dentists and planning to work in Maine after graduation. The Maine Health Professions Loan Program is a need-based loan for Maine students pursuing postgraduate medical, dental and veterinary education. The Maine Veterinary Medicine Loan is a need-based, forgivable loan for Maine students pursuing careers as veterinarians. Maryland Maryland offers the Janet L. Hoffman Loan Assistance Repayment Program (LARP), Maryland Dent-Care Loan Assistance Repayment Program (MDC-LARP) and Maryland SmartBuy Program. The Hoffman LARP provides state assistance in the repayment of educational loans to individuals providing public service in eligible employment fields, serving Marylands low-income or underserved residents. The MDC-LARP is a student loan assistance repayment program for dentists who treat Marylands most vulnerable populations. Maryland SmartBuy 3.0 gives homebuyers an opportunity to purchase any home in Maryland that meets Maryland Mortgage Program guidelines while paying off student debt. Massachusetts Massachusetts offers the Massachusetts Loan Repayment Program (MLRP) for Health Professionals. This offers loan repayment programs for primary health care professionals in a variety of disciplines including dental, medical and mental health professionals. Michigan Michigan offers the Michigan State Loan Repayment Program (MSLRP). This helps employers recruit and retain primary medical, dental and mental healthcare providers by providing loan repayment to those entering into service obligations. Minnesota Minnesota offers 17 plans. These include Loan Repayment Assistance Program of Minnesota (LRAP Minnesota), Minnesota Rural Dental Therapists Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Dentist Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Rural Mental Health Professional Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Urban Mental Health Professional Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Rural Advanced Practice Provider Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Urban Advanced Practice Provider Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Nurse Faculty Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Long Term Care Nurses Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Rural Pharmacist Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Rural Physician Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Urban Physician Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Rural Public Health Nurse Loan Forgiveness, Minnesota Teacher Shortage Loan Repayment Program, Minnesota Agricultural Education Loan Repayment Program, Minnesota Aviation Degree Loan Repayment Program and Minnesota Rural Veterinarian Loan Repayment Program. Mississippi Mississippi offers the Winter-Reed Teacher Loan Repayment. This program is designed to help new traditional route teachers repay their undergraduate student loans. Missouri Missouri offers the Health Professional Student Loan Repayment Program (HPSLRP), Health Professional Nursing Student Loans and PRIMO Student Loan Program. The SLRP is a competitive federal grant program that allocates funds to states to award funding for educational loan repayment to Missouri licensed practicing psychiatry, medical and dental health professionals in exchange for services in Missouri areas with a shortage of mental health, medical and dental professionals. The NSL Program is a competitive state program that awards funding to Missouri residents attending institutions pursuing education leading to careers as licensed practical nurses or professional nurses. The PRIMO program is a competitive state program that awards funding to Missouri residents attending Missouri institutions pursuing training leading to Missouri licensure as primary care physicians, dentists, dental hygienists, psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners. Montana Montana offers two plans: Montana Rural Physician Incentive Program (MRPIP) and Montana Agriculture Student Loan Assistance Program. The MRPIP fund is appropriated to pay the educational debts of physicians who practice in rural or medically underserved areas of the state. Successful applicants from the Montana Agriculture Student Loan Assistance Program may receive loan assistance for up to five years for qualified education loans. Nebraska Nebraska offers Nebraska Student Loan Repayment Programs. These loan repayment awards are available to primary care, mental, dental and certain allied health professionals practicing in shortage areas in Nebraska. Nevada Nevada offers the NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program. The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) funds loan repayment and scholarship programs to assist states with recruitment and retention of healthcare providers, based on federally designated HPSAs. New Hampshire The New Hampshire SLRP provides funds to healthcare professionals working in areas designated as medically underserved and who are willing to commit and contract with the state for three years (or two if part time). New Jersey New Jersey offers five plans: the John R. Justice Federal Student Loan Redemption Program, Behavioral Health Loan Redemption Program, New Jersey STEM Loan Redemption Program, Nursing Faculty Loan Redemption Program and Primary Care Practitioner Loan Redemption Program. New Mexico New Mexico offers a Health Professional Loan Repayment Program (HPLRP) and Public Service Law LRAP. The HPLRP provides repayment for outstanding student loans of practicing health professionals. The New Mexico Public Service Law LRAP offers legal education loan repayment awards to attorneys that provide legal services to low income or underserved residents of New Mexico. New York New York offers 10 plans: the Albany Law School Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), NYS Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, NYS Young Farmers Loan Forgiveness Incentive Program, NYS Child Welfare Worker Loan Forgiveness Incentive Program, NYS District Attorney and Indigent Legal Services Attorney Loan Forgiveness (DALF) Program, NYS Get on Your Feet Loan Forgiveness Program, NYS Licensed Social Worker Loan Forgiveness (LSWLF) Program, NYS Nursing Faculty Loan Forgiveness (NFLF) Incentive Program, Physician Loan Repayment and Regents Physician Loan Forgiveness. North Carolina North Carolina offers three plans: Forgivable Education Loans for Service (FELS), NC LEAF Loan Assistance Repayment Program and North Carolina State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP). The FELS provides financial assistance to qualified students enrolled in an approved education program and committed to working in critical employment shortage professions in North Carolina. NC LEAF is committed to providing forgivable loans to public interest attorneys with the least ability to repay their law school debt. Based on the amount of relevant educational loans, hours worked per week, and working at an integrated care site, North Carolina SLRP offers educational loan repayment awards up to $50,000. North Dakota North Dakota offers four plans: the Federal Loan Repayment Program, Healthcare Professional Loan Repayment Program, Dental Loan Repayment Program and Veterinary Loan Repayment Program. Ohio Ohio has two plans: Ohio Dentist Loan Repayment Program and Ohio Department of Health Programs. Ohio dentists practicing in dental shortage communities may be eligible to participate in the Ohio Dentist Loan Repayment Program. The Primary Care Office (PCO) coordinates various workforce programs to develop, recruit and retain primary care, oral health and behavioral health providers for underserved communities. These include the National Health Service Corps scholarship and loan repayment programs; state loan repayment programs for primary care physicians, dentists, dental hygienists, advanced practice nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physician assistants and substance use disorder professionals. Oklahoma Oklahoma offers four the Physician/Community Match Program, Oklahoma Dental Loan Repayment Program (ODLRP), Oklahoma Physician Assistant Loan Repayment Program and Oklahoma Physician Loan Repayment Program. Oregon Oregon has two plans: Health Care Provider Incentive Program and OSB LRAP. The Health Care Provider Incentive Program offers various incentives, which include loan repayment, loan forgiveness and insurance subsidies to both students and providers who commit to serving patients in underserved areas of the state. The mission of the OSB LRAP is to attract and retain public service lawyers by helping them pay their educational debts. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania has two plans: PA IOLTA LRAP and Pennsylvania Primary Care LRP. The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA IOLTA LRAP helps attorneys employed at IOLTA-funded legal organizations across the state better manage undergraduate and law school debt so they can afford to remain in public service. The Department of Health provides loan repayment opportunities as incentives to recruit and retain primary care practitioners willing to serve underserved Pennsylvania residents and to make a commitment to practicing in federally designated HPSAs. Rhode Island Rhode Island offers the Health Professionals Loan Repayment Program, Nursing Reward Program, Providence Public Schools Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program and Wavemaker Fellowship. South Carolina South Carolina offers the Public Interest Law Loan Forgiveness Fund (PILLFF), which provides financial assistance to graduates of the School of Law who obtain employment in public interest law and who need assistance in repaying loans used to fund their legal education. South Dakota South Dakota offers two plans: Dentist Loan Repayment for Service Program and South Dakota SLRP. The Dentist Loan Repayment for Service Program provides financial assistance for student loan repayment to new dentists who agree to serve a selected percentage of Medicaid-insured patients in their practice. South Dakotas SLRP purpose is to improve access to primary care by assisting underserved communities with recruitment and retention of primary care providers. Tennessee Tennessee offers the Graduate Nursing Loan Forgiveness Program (GNLFP) and Minority Teaching Fellows Program. The GNLFP is designed to encourage Tennessee residents who are registered nurses to become teachers and administrators in Tennessee nursing education programs. The Minority Teaching Fellows Program encourages talented minority Tennesseans to enter the teaching field in Tennessee. Texas Texas offers Nursing Faculty Loan Repayment Assistance Program, Loan Repayment Program for Mental Health Professionals, Math and Science Scholars Loan Repayment Program, Peace Officer Loan Repayment Assistance Program, Physician Education Loan Repayment Program (PELRP), Teach for Texas Loan Repayment Assistance Program (TFTLRAP) and Texas Student Loan Repayment Assistance Program (SLRAP). Utah Utah offers the Health Care Workforce Financial Assistance Program (HCWFAP) and Rural Physician Loan Repayment Program (RPLRP). Vermont Vermont offers three plans: the Dental Educational Loan Repayment, Nursing Educational Loan Repayment and Physicians, Nurse Practitioners & Physician Assistants Educational Loan Repayment. Virginia Virginia offers the Virginia Loan Forgiveness Program (VLFP) and Virginia State Loan Repayment Program (VA-SLRP). Graduates from The University of Virginia School of Law who enter qualifying employment within two years of graduation or within two years of completing a judicial clerkship are eligible to receive loan repayment assistance from the Law School. The Commonwealth of Virginia (the Commonwealth) currently participates in The Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Service (BCRS) Grants to States for Loan Repayment. Washington The Washington Health Corps Programs support licensed health professionals in providing care at approved sites in critical shortage areas. In exchange for loan repayment, participants commit to serving in certain communities for a set period of time. West Virginia The West Virginia State Loan Repayment Program is designed to assist medical professionals with the high costs of education debt through provision of healthcare services in an HPSA. Wisconsin The Wisconsin Office of Rural Health administers two loan assistance programs: the Health Professions Loan Assistance Program and the Rural Provider Loan Assistance Program. Wyoming Wyoming offers the Veterinary Loan Repayment and Wyoming SLRP. District of Columbia The District of Columbia offers two plans: DCBF LRAP and DC HPLRP. DCBF provides loan repayment assistance to qualified attorneys working for an eligible employer in D.C. The Districts HPLRP provides loan repayment to eligible health professionals practicing full time at HPLRP-certified sites in HPS and medically underserved areas in D.C. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: All of the States That Will Pay Off Your Student Loans Hyderabad, May 6 (PTI) In the wake of prevailing law and order situation in Manipur, the Telangana Government has decided to immediately airlift its students and citizens from Imphal to Hyderabad by a special flight on Sunday. A press release from Telangana Government said, it is taking all measures to ensure the safety of its students and people residing in the northeastern state. As per information available, about 250 students belonging to Telangana are studying in various educational institutions in Imphal and surrounding areas, it further said. The release said a special cell has been opened to monitor the situation in Manipur to protect the interests of Telangana people in that State. "Government of Telangana has decided to immediately airlift the Telangana students from Imphal to Hyderabad. For this purpose a special flight has been arranged from Imphal to Hyderabad on 07-05-2023 forenoon," it said. Riots broke out in Manipur between the Meitei community, which mainly live in Imphal Valley, and Naga and Kuki tribals who are inhabitants of the hill districts over the demand of the former for ST status. Telangana Chief Secretary Shanti Kumari has contacted her Mainpur counterpart to facilitate the safe transit of Telangana students from Imphal to Hyderabad. The Chief Secretary and Director General of Police of Telangana are closely in touch with the Manipur State government officials to ensure the safety of Telangana people/students in Manipur, the release said. Latur, May 6 (PTI) More than 4,000 roads have been cleared of encroachments in villages of Maharashtra's Latur district, an official said on Saturday. Farmers were inconvenienced while travelling to their fields and transporting produce due to encroachments. Hence, 4,585 roads were cleared under 'Maharajswa Abhiyan launched by collector Prithviraj BP, the official said. Encroachments were recorded on at least 4,980 farm roads and as on April 30, 4,585 roads have been cleared, he said, adding that the work on remaining roads is underway. FILE - Voters mark their ballots at First Presbyterian Church on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020, in Stamford, Conn. Connecticut voters will have 14 days to vote early in general elections under a bill expected to clear the House of Representatives on Thursday, May 4, 2023, moving the state closer to ending its reputation of having some of the strictest voting rules in the U.S. Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. Scam: The Upvehicle site is backed by Quotient Int whose fake address is above a Dublin shop S.W. writes: After reading your recent article about Car Rate's valuation scam, I am sending you a copy of an email I received from another scam merchant's website, upvehicle.co.uk. I did not realise any payment was due, and now they are demanding money and adding a fine. Tony Hetherington replies: It is no coincidence that Upvehicle and Car Rate are operating the same scam. This is not some back-bedroom online rip-off. It is an organised international fraud. Car owners are invited to give their vehicle registration number and get a valuation. What they don't see unless they scroll down the website is small print that says they will be charged 99 for this service, which many motoring websites offer for free. The email you have received threatens that if you do not pay, Upvehicle will add penalties and call in debt collectors. My advice: don't pay. Call their bluff. They will never take you to court, because if they do, they will be exposed as crooks. And you can call me as a defence witness. Behind both Car Rate and Upvehicle is just one company, Quotient Int Limited. My enquiries show it was registered in the Republic of Ireland in May last year by a woman who gave her name as Irma Rangkuti and an address in Polegate in East Sussex. The name may be false or a case of impersonation. The address belongs to a company formation agency called I-Support-Business. The company's Nic Carnell told me he does not know Ms Rangkuti, adding: 'All our clients must provide proof of identity before they can use our address. 'Our address is being used without our approval.' Upvehicle's website gives an address above a shop in Lucan, on the outskirts of Dublin, but there is no trace of the business there. Much of the address is occupied by a tattoo parlour called Guns N' Tattoos which has no connection to Upvehicle or its owner Quotient Int. Quotient has also used two addresses in London, but is not at either of them. I have passed The Mail on Sunday's evidence on to the Corporate Enforcement Authority, the Irish government agency which investigates false details provided by anyone setting up or running a company in the Republic. Meanwhile, car owners in Finland have also been ripped off by yet another website. Consumer protection officials in Helsinki say: 'This service, Autoarviointi.fi, is operated by a company called Quotient Int Ltd, which states that it is located in Ireland. Its invoicing details, on the other hand, are in Belgium.' More evidence of international organised crime. So where is Quotient really based? Following the money provides clues pointing towards Lithuania. But wherever the crooks are, nobody should pay them a penny, let alone 99. Unisys pension stalls A.P. writes: I have a pension with Unisys of 119 a month. This is a multi-million pound company which last year announced a profit increase of 77 per cent, but it has refused me even a cost-of-living pension rise for the past ten years. My wife has a pension with Unisys as well, but she gets increases. They have given no reason for failing to pay an increase. Scrutiny: Unisys has refused A.P. even a cost-of-living pension rise for the past ten years Tony Hetherington replies: Unisys is an American-owned multinational technology giant, with about 16,000 employees and annual revenue of almost 2billion. Your pension is administered by a UK company, Mercer, which issued an unhelpful seven-page document aimed at professional financial advisers. This was still better than the response from Unisys itself. It simply refused to comment. When your wife worked for Unisys, the rules were different. According to Mercer, the rules of the pension scheme at the time you worked for Unisys were that increases were only applied at the discretion of the pension fund trustees. And every year for the past decade, Mercer says, the Unisys trustees have decided not to exercise that discretion in favour of you or any other retired employee whose pension falls under the same rules. Current employees might like to check the small print in their own Unisys pension cover. WE'RE WATCHING YOU Two months ago I reported how a reader Mr M had been electrocuted while carrying out a simple DIY task in his home, even though he had turned off the power. He later found Scottish Power had sent a contractor to install a smart meter for a neighbour in his block of flats. The contractor had wrongly connected the meter to Mr M's supply, leaving it in 'hot neutral reversed', which meant the supply was live even when switched off. Mr M was lucky to survive. But his flat was without power and he lost two days of work. He even had to pay to have the electricity reconnected. He appealed to Ombudsman Services, the private company which is paid by Scottish Power to referee complaints. It described the whole affair as just a 'shortfall in service', and recommended Scottish Power offer a 'goodwill payment' of 100. Mr M was told that if he expected anything more, he would have to sue the contractor, but Ombudsman Services and Scottish Power could not even name the right firm. Well, the right firm is now known to be Lowri Beck. And when I approached it, Lowri Beck told me neither the Ombudsman nor Scottish Power had been in touch about the affair until just before The Mail on Sunday published its report. The firm says it has installed meters safely all over the country. A spokesman told me: 'Lowri Beck has communicated with the customer and addressed the issues, and the customer has been compensated accordingly.' Mr M has accepted 720 and called on Lowri Beck to review the meters it has installed. He told me without the MoS's pressure, 'I would not have had any semblance of a satisfactory outcome.' If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (OTCMKTS:PBNNF Get Rating) in a report published on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports. The firm issued a buy rating on the stock. PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Price Performance OTCMKTS PBNNF opened at $0.66 on Tuesday. PT Bank Negara Indonesia has a 12-month low of $0.50 and a 12-month high of $0.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $0.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $0.59. Get PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk alerts: About PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (Get Rating) Recommended Stories PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk engages in the provision of general banking services. It operates through the following segments: Corporate, Commercial and Small, Consumer and Retail, Treasury and Financial Institution, Head Office, and Subsidiaries. The Corporate segment comprises loans, deposits, and other transactions and balances with corporate customers. Receive News & Ratings for PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Tri Pointe Homes, Inc. (NYSE:TPH Get Rating) CEO Douglas F. Bauer sold 19,076 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total transaction of $557,782.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 423,514 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $12,383,549.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Tri Pointe Homes Price Performance Shares of NYSE:TPH opened at $29.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 5.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.45. Tri Pointe Homes, Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.59 and a twelve month high of $29.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.45. Get Tri Pointe Homes alerts: Tri Pointe Homes (NYSE:TPH Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The construction company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $768.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $586.76 million. Tri Pointe Homes had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Tri Pointe Homes, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tri Pointe Homes Analyst Ratings Changes A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TPH. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Tri Pointe Homes by 951.4% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,819 shares of the construction companys stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,646 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Tri Pointe Homes by 107.6% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,485 shares of the construction companys stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Tri Pointe Homes in the first quarter worth about $45,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Tri Pointe Homes by 30.4% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,275 shares of the construction companys stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tri Pointe Homes by 500.9% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,209 shares of the construction companys stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 2,675 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.41% of the companys stock. TPH has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Tri Pointe Homes in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. They set a market perform rating for the company. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Tri Pointe Homes from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Tri Pointe Homes in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tri Pointe Homes currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $22.00. Tri Pointe Homes Company Profile (Get Rating) Tri Pointe Homes, Inc designs, constructs, and sells single-family homes and condominiums. It operates through the Homebuilding and Financial Services segments. The Homebuilding segment consists of six reportable segments: Maracay Homes, consisting of operations in Arizona, Pardee Homes, consisting of operations in California and Nevada, Quadrant Homes, consisting of operations in Washington, Trendmaker Homes, consisting of operations in Texas, TRI Pointe Homes, consisting of operations in California and Colorado, and Winchester Homes, consisting of operations in Maryland and Virginia. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Tri Pointe Homes Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Tri Pointe Homes and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. PagerDuty, Inc. (NYSE:PD Get Rating) SVP Shelley Webb sold 2,082 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.04, for a total transaction of $62,543.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 227,158 shares in the company, valued at $6,823,826.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Shelley Webb also recently made the following trade(s): Get PagerDuty alerts: On Monday, April 3rd, Shelley Webb sold 1,983 shares of PagerDuty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.62, for a total transaction of $66,668.46. On Friday, March 3rd, Shelley Webb sold 582 shares of PagerDuty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.04, for a total transaction of $17,483.28. On Wednesday, March 1st, Shelley Webb sold 1,401 shares of PagerDuty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.06, for a total transaction of $42,114.06. PagerDuty Stock Up 2.5 % Shares of PD stock opened at $28.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 2.21. PagerDuty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.51 and a 1-year high of $35.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.71. Analysts Set New Price Targets PagerDuty ( NYSE:PD Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 15th. The company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.05. PagerDuty had a negative net margin of 34.63% and a negative return on equity of 43.39%. The business had revenue of $100.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.89 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PagerDuty, Inc. will post -0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year. A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price target on shares of PagerDuty from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of PagerDuty from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of PagerDuty from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, March 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of PagerDuty from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, March 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $34.73. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of PagerDuty by 102.5% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 263,244 shares of the companys stock valued at $9,000,000 after buying an additional 133,253 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in PagerDuty by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 48,652 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,663,000 after purchasing an additional 7,659 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in PagerDuty by 270.8% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,572 shares of the companys stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in PagerDuty by 53.8% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 44,055 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 15,413 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in PagerDuty by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 104,689 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,579,000 after purchasing an additional 15,422 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. PagerDuty Company Profile (Get Rating) PagerDuty, Inc operates a digital operations management platform. It provides incident management solution that integrates with information technology Ops and DevOps monitoring stacks to improve operational reliability and agility. The firm collect machine generated data from virtually any software-enabled system or device, combine it with human response data, correlating and interpreting this data to understand issues and opportunities that need to be addressed in real-time. See Also Receive News & Ratings for PagerDuty Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for PagerDuty and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. trimmed its position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES Get Rating) by 64.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,085 shares of the oil and gas producers stock after selling 24,006 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.s holdings in Hess were worth $1,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Hess by 63.4% in the 4th quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 214 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Hess by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 223 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its stake in Hess by 92.3% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 300 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Hess in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new position in Hess in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 86.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get Hess alerts: Hess Trading Up 4.1 % NYSE:HES opened at $136.30 on Friday. Hess Co. has a 12 month low of $90.34 and a 12 month high of $160.52. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $41.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.53 and a beta of 1.57. Hess Increases Dividend Hess ( NYSE:HES Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 26th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.10. Hess had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 25.85%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.438 per share. This is an increase from Hesss previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 10th. Hesss payout ratio is presently 25.07%. Insider Transactions at Hess In other news, SVP Richard D. Lynch sold 33,191 shares of Hess stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.84, for a total transaction of $4,608,238.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,622 shares in the company, valued at $3,279,678.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO John P. Rielly sold 3,380 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.41, for a total transaction of $464,445.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 309,841 shares of the companys stock, valued at $42,575,251.81. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard D. Lynch sold 33,191 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.84, for a total transaction of $4,608,238.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,622 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,279,678.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,721 shares of company stock worth $7,391,691. Company insiders own 9.93% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hess from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Hess from $139.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Hess from $160.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Hess from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $168.94. Hess Company Profile (Get Rating) Hess Corp is an exploration and production company, which engages in exploration, development, production, transportation, purchase & sale of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas with production operations. It operates through the following segments: Exploration and Production and Midstream. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HES? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Hess Co. (NYSE:HES Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Hess Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hess and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Gripas Yuri/ABACA/Shutterstock / Gripas Yuri/ABACA/Shutterstock After more than three years of having their payments paused as part of COVID-19 relief efforts, federal student loan borrowers will soon have to resume payments. Exactly when remains unknown, even though the official date that sticks in everyones mind is June 30, 2023. Student Loans: Court Allows $6 Billion in Forgiveness Funds To Proceed for 200,000 Borrowers Discover: How To Build Your Savings From Scratch The way things look now, you almost certainly wont have to begin repaying your loans on June 30. Thats the deadline the U.S. Department of Education set in a November 2022 press release but with stipulations. Payments are due to resume on June 30 only if the Biden administrations federal student loan forgiveness program has been implemented and litigation involving it has not been resolved, according to the Education Department. Of course, those two things havent happened. The forgiveness plan, announced in August 2022, has not been implemented. And litigation is far from being resolved. The case is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court and many experts believe the court will rule against the forgiveness plan. A decision is expected in June, Forbes reported. The latest extension of the payment pause the eighth so far is set to expire 60 days after either June 30, or whenever the Supreme Court decides on the loan forgiveness plan. Based on that deadline, payments are likely to resume sometime in late August 2023. The wild card is what the Biden administration will do in case the forgiveness plan is killed. As previously reported by GOBankingRates, President Joe Biden could decide to extend the payment pause a ninth time or even pause payments indefinitely. If he chooses that route, hell probably face a huge pushback from lawmakers, mainly Republicans, who oppose both the forgiveness plan and any attempts to further delay the resumption of payments. Bidens forgiveness plan uses the Heroes Act of 2003 enacted in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks as the authority granting student loan relief. The act grants certain powers in the event of war or national emergency. In this case, the national emergency was the COVID-19 pandemic. But with the COVID emergency due to end on May 11, 2023, the authority to cancel student loan debt under the Heroes Act also ends. Story continues This authority is intended to be temporary and is in effect only for as long as the national emergency is in effect, student loan expert Mark Kantrowitz wrote in a January blog on The College Investor site. As soon as the President rescinds the national emergency declaration, the authority for a payment pause and interest waiver will end. Take Our Poll: Who Has Given You the Best Money Advice You Have Ever Received? See: Student Loan Forgiveness Rule Quietly Changes How It Affects Borrowers Debt Even so, the Education Department is considering a transition period that would push the payment pause at least into the fall, Politico reported. Documents obtained by Politico show that department officials have told loan servicers to prepare to begin charging interest on federal loans in September. The documents also show that officials are eyeing October as the first month in which any borrower will be required to make a payment. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Student Loan Pause Ends June 30 Heres Why You May Not Have to Start Paying Immediately Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,097 shares of the utilities providers stock, valued at approximately $788,000. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 1,546 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 4,310 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 9,339 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 4,677 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 129,129 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $19,956,000 after purchasing an additional 12,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 275.1% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 8,863 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. 84.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Sempra Energy alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $150.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $173.00 to $165.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $180.00 to $174.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $169.00 to $166.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $167.25. Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy Sempra Energy Stock Performance In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 19,260 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.09, for a total transaction of $2,813,693.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $146.09. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink . In other news, CFO Trevor I. Mihalik sold 2,306 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.50, for a total transaction of $342,441.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 21,362 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,172,257. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink . Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 19,260 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.09, for a total transaction of $2,813,693.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1 shares of the companys stock, valued at $146.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold 31,979 shares of company stock valued at $4,728,393 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.24% of the companys stock. NYSE SRE opened at $154.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $48.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.73. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $136.54 and a 12-month high of $176.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $151.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.87. Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $6.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 14.47% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 71.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 8.96 earnings per share for the current year. Sempra Energy Increases Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 22nd were issued a $1.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 21st. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. This is an increase from Sempra Energys previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. Sempra Energys payout ratio is currently 71.90%. Sempra Energy Company Profile (Get Rating) Sempra Energy is an energy-service holding company, which engages in the development and operation of energy infrastructure, and provision of electric and gas services. It operates through the following segments: San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E), Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Sempra Texas Utilities, Sempra Mexico, and Sempra LNG. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Sempra Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sempra Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,774 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $767,000. Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TTC. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Toro by 1.2% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 49,173 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,262,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in shares of Toro by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 15,500 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,191,000 after purchasing an additional 4,200 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its stake in Toro by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 60,366 shares of the companys stock worth $5,309,000 after purchasing an additional 4,269 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Toro by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 883,779 shares of the companys stock worth $75,558,000 after purchasing an additional 23,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Toro by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 37,193 shares of the companys stock worth $3,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,144 shares in the last quarter. 85.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Toro alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In TTC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Northland Securities initiated coverage on shares of Toro in a research note on Monday, April 17th. They issued a market perform rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $118.67. Toro Stock Performance TTC opened at $105.91 on Friday. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $71.86 and a 12-month high of $117.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.23 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $107.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.17. Toro (NYSE:TTC Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 9th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.07. Toro had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 36.04%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Toros revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that The Toro Company will post 4.83 EPS for the current year. Toro Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 6th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 5th. Toros dividend payout ratio is presently 29.82%. Insider Activity In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,104 shares of Toro stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.52, for a total transaction of $564,094.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,108 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,548,576.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Daryn A. Walters bought 910 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $110.05 per share, with a total value of $100,145.50. Following the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 1,740 shares in the company, valued at $191,487. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,104 shares of Toro stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.52, for a total transaction of $564,094.08. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,108 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,548,576.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,634 shares of company stock valued at $6,516,758 in the last three months. 2.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. About Toro (Get Rating) The Toro Co is in the business of designing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling professional turf maintenance equipment and services. It operates through the following segments: Professional and Residential. The Professional segment consists of turf and landscape equipment, rental, specialty, and underground construction equipment, snow & ice management equipment, and irrigation and lighting products. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TTC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Toro Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Toro and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Metis Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,654 shares of the pipeline companys stock, valued at approximately $342,000. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in Targa Resources by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 5,676 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $343,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Targa Resources by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,125 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Ellevest Inc. grew its stake in Targa Resources by 122.9% during the 4th quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 350 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems grew its stake in Targa Resources by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 40,330 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $2,433,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.29% of the companys stock. Get Targa Resources alerts: Targa Resources Stock Up 3.6 % Shares of TRGP stock opened at $71.88 on Friday. Targa Resources Corp. has a 12 month low of $55.56 and a 12 month high of $80.40. The firm has a market cap of $16.27 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 2.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $73.70 and a 200-day moving average of $72.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. Targa Resources Increases Dividend Targa Resources ( NYSE:TRGP Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The pipeline company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.09. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 5.43%. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.38 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Targa Resources Corp. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th. This is a positive change from Targa Resourcess previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Targa Resourcess payout ratio is 51.41%. Analyst Ratings Changes Several research firms have weighed in on TRGP. Mizuho lifted their target price on Targa Resources from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Capital One Financial reissued an overweight rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Targa Resources presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $99.45. Targa Resources Profile (Get Rating) Targa Resources Corp. provides midstream natural gas and natural gas liquids services. It also provides gathering, storing, and terminaling crude oil, and storing, terminaling, and selling refined petroleum products. It operates through the following business segments: Gathering and Processing, and Logistics and Transportation. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TRGP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Targa Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Targa Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO Get Rating) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 819,239 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 5,174 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.08% of Southern worth $58,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VitalStone Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Miller Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. Miller Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 192.0% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 511 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. My Personal CFO LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. 61.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Southern alerts: Southern Trading Up 0.9 % Shares of Southern stock opened at $74.94 on Friday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $58.85 and a fifty-two week high of $80.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $69.50 and a 200 day moving average of $68.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.17, a PEG ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.69. Southern Increases Dividend Southern ( NYSE:SO Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.08. Southern had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 11.53%. The business had revenue of $6.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Southerns previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. Southerns dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.74%. Insider Activity at Southern In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.89, for a total value of $359,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 146,284 shares in the company, valued at $10,516,356.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total value of $85,381.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,512 shares in the company, valued at $1,832,299.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.89, for a total value of $359,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 146,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,516,356.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 7,134 shares of company stock worth $502,179. Company insiders own 0.28% of the companys stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 17th. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM reissued a maintains rating on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, VNET Group reiterated a maintains rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $73.14. About Southern (Get Rating) The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Southern Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Southern and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWO Get Rating) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,818 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADVs holdings in iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF were worth $390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of IWO. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF by 2.6% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 33,931 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $8,678,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF by 1.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,286 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $3,654,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF by 13.8% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF by 22.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,581 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF in the first quarter worth about $1,253,000. Get iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF alerts: iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF Stock Up 2.3 % NYSEARCA IWO opened at $224.77 on Friday. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $224.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.85. iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF has a 52 week low of $192.88 and a 52 week high of $248.98. The company has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.55 and a beta of 1.15. About iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Russell 2000 Growth Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the small-capitalization growth sector of the United States equity market. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lessened its stake in shares of Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS Get Rating) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,775 shares of the companys stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADVs holdings in Pinterest were worth $286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cohanzick Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pinterest during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Pinterest by 2,668.9% in the 3rd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the companys stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Pinterest by 5,138.9% in the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,886 shares of the companys stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new position in Pinterest in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in Pinterest in the 4th quarter valued at about $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.95% of the companys stock. Get Pinterest alerts: Insider Activity In other news, CFO Todd R. Morgenfeld sold 60,537 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.32, for a total value of $1,714,407.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 512,820 shares of the companys stock, valued at $14,523,062.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Naveen Gavini sold 11,185 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.95, for a total transaction of $312,620.75. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 350,507 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,796,670.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd R. Morgenfeld sold 60,537 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.32, for a total value of $1,714,407.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 512,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,523,062.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 139,463 shares of company stock valued at $3,844,970. Company insiders own 6.85% of the companys stock. Analyst Ratings Changes Pinterest Trading Up 1.1 % Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on Pinterest from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Pinterest from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Pinterest from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Pinterest from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Pinterest from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $28.40. Shares of NYSE PINS opened at $21.01 on Friday. Pinterest, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.14 and a twelve month high of $29.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.22. Pinterest (NYSE:PINS Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 6th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $877.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $886.78 million. Pinterest had a negative return on equity of 4.83% and a negative net margin of 10.58%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pinterest, Inc. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. About Pinterest (Get Rating) Pinterest, Inc engages in the operation of a pinboard-style photo-sharing website. It allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, and hobbies. The company was founded by Benjamin Silbermann, Paul C. Sciarra, and Evan Sharp in October 2008 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Pinterest Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pinterest and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Connectus Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in iShares MSCI France ETF (NYSEARCA:EWQ Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 6,058 shares of the exchange traded funds stock, valued at approximately $201,000. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in iShares MSCI France ETF by 2,553.2% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 89,545 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $3,164,000 after purchasing an additional 86,170 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in iShares MSCI France ETF by 5,098.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,868,322 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $66,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832,385 shares in the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC lifted its holdings in iShares MSCI France ETF by 285.8% in the 1st quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC now owns 48,664 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $1,719,000 after acquiring an additional 36,051 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of iShares MSCI France ETF by 53.9% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 37,700 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI France ETF by 211.9% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 101,825 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $3,597,000 after purchasing an additional 69,183 shares in the last quarter. Get iShares MSCI France ETF alerts: iShares MSCI France ETF Stock Performance Shares of NYSEARCA:EWQ opened at $39.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 1.03. iShares MSCI France ETF has a 1-year low of $26.26 and a 1-year high of $39.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.26. iShares MSCI France ETF Company Profile iShares MSCI France ETF, formerly iShares MSCI France Index Fund, seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the French market, as measured by the MSCI France Index (the Index). The Index seeks to measure the performance of the French equity market. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI France ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI France ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI Get Rating) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,810 shares of the construction companys stock after buying an additional 148 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement Systems holdings in United Rentals were worth $7,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp lifted its holdings in shares of United Rentals by 1,900.0% in the 3rd quarter. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp now owns 100 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of United Rentals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Trustcore Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of United Rentals by 1,237.5% in the 3rd quarter. Trustcore Financial Services LLC now owns 107 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of United Rentals by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 86 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of United Rentals by 185.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 134 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get United Rentals alerts: Insider Activity In other news, CFO William E. Grace sold 725 shares of United Rentals stock in a transaction on Friday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.63, for a total value of $260,731.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,520 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,344,787.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other United Rentals news, CFO William E. Grace sold 725 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.63, for a total transaction of $260,731.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,520 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,344,787.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew John Flannery sold 12,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.99, for a total value of $5,735,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 101,276 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $48,408,915.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.53% of the companys stock. United Rentals Stock Performance NYSE URI opened at $342.05 on Friday. United Rentals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.54 and a fifty-two week high of $481.99. The stock has a market cap of $23.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $392.84 and a 200-day moving average of $379.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. United Rentals (NYSE:URI Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The construction company reported $7.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $8.12 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. United Rentals had a return on equity of 36.77% and a net margin of 17.65%. The businesss revenue was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that United Rentals, Inc. will post 39.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. United Rentals Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 9th. United Rentalss dividend payout ratio is currently 18.99%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research firms have recently commented on URI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on United Rentals from $399.00 to $406.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on United Rentals from $441.00 to $435.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Argus lifted their price objective on United Rentals from $360.00 to $475.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird cut United Rentals from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, March 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on United Rentals from $380.00 to $436.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $421.08. About United Rentals (Get Rating) United Rentals, Inc engages in the equipment rental business. It operates through the General Rentals and Specialty segments. The General Rentals segment includes the rental of construction, aerial and industrial equipment, general tools and light equipment, and related services and activities. The Specialty segment focuses on the rental of specialty construction products such as trench safety equipment, power and HVAC equipment, fluid solutions equipment, mobile storage equipment and modular office space. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding URI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for United Rentals Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for United Rentals and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Texas Permanent School Fund grew its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG Get Rating) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,891 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Funds holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $4,343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group by 5.0% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 54,426,510 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $3,060,399,000 after acquiring an additional 2,576,034 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,333,301 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,492,861,000 after buying an additional 534,812 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,594,778 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,776,574,000 after purchasing an additional 368,768 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,032,006 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $422,240,000 after purchasing an additional 72,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,409,603 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $247,952,000 after buying an additional 213,138 shares in the last quarter. 70.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get Public Service Enterprise Group alerts: Insider Activity at Public Service Enterprise Group In related news, COO Eric Carr sold 7,105 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.63, for a total transaction of $409,461.15. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,482 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $373,557.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Public Service Enterprise Group Price Performance Several brokerages recently issued reports on PEG. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Public Service Enterprise Group from $68.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. TheStreet raised Public Service Enterprise Group from a c rating to a b rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on Public Service Enterprise Group in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on Public Service Enterprise Group in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. They issued a neutral rating and a $60.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on Public Service Enterprise Group from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Public Service Enterprise Group presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $67.25. Shares of PEG stock opened at $63.82 on Friday. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $52.51 and a twelve month high of $70.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.89 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 20.64%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 62.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year. Public Service Enterprise Group Announces Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 8th. Public Service Enterprise Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 49.14%. Public Service Enterprise Group Profile (Get Rating) Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc is an energy company, which engages in the business of regulated electric and gas utility, and nuclear generation. Its products and services include energy, capacity, ancillary services, and emissions allowances and congestion credits. The firm operates through the Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) and PSEG Power segments. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PEG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Public Service Enterprise Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Public Service Enterprise Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. (Bloomberg) -- Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who scored a resounding reelection victory last month, is coming under pressure as critics say she broke a promise not to raise taxes. Most Read from Bloomberg The premier met a clutch of protesters led by her predecessor, Juri Ratas, as she arrived for the first meeting of her new government in Tallinn on Thursday. Kallass Reform Party dropped 2 percentage points to 24%, according to a Norstat poll published Tuesday, after unveiling an increase in income and sales taxes this month. Her party was a champion of fiscal austerity after the 2008 global financial crisis as the nation sought to join Europes single currency. Kallas has similarly styled herself a fiscal hawk, including in the run-up to the March 5 election. Read my lips: taxes will not rise. Period, she told parliament in October, parroting a famous line from former President George H. W. Bush. Bush served one term as US leader. His 1992 defeat by Bill Clinton was attributed by many to his break with the tax pledge. Also echoing the 41st US president, Kallas said Thursday she had to make unpopular decisions to bring to heel a budget deficit that stands at 4.3% of gross domestic product and has prompted unease at the countrys central bank as well as Fitch Ratings. In the shadow of the war in Ukraine, Kallas cited Estonias ambition to ramp up defense spending to 3% of GDP. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Nazi Gold - Bettmann Archive/Getty Images In a storage room in Buenos Aires, an Argentinian investigator made a discovery that would reverberate through a boardroom more than 7,000 miles away. Pedro Filipuzzi unearthed what researchers claimed were files that revealed the names of 12,000 undercover Nazis who lived in the Latin American country during the 1940s and had bank accounts at a Swiss lender: Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, later to be renamed Credit Suisse. Filipuzzi passed the documents, which ran to more than 500 pages, to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre (SWC), a human rights organisation known for tracking down Nazis. The group went public with the material in early 2020. The SWCs accusation was explosive: that the Swiss bank was still harbouring previously undisclosed dormant accounts that held assets looted from victims of the Holocaust. Credit Suisse launched an investigation in response and last month said it had found no evidence to support SWCs allegations that many individuals on the list had accounts at Credit Suisse during Adolf Hitlers reign. However, a US senate committee rejected Credit Suisses position and instead accused the lender of stymying its own investigation. After using its powers of subpoena, the committee obtained a scathing internal bank report claiming Credit Suisse maintained more than 100 previously unknown Nazi accounts. Credit Suisse has subsequently sought to discredit the report, claiming it has numerous factual errors and was based on an incomplete understanding of the facts. The row begs the question: are Swiss banks still failing to come clean about their Nazi ties? Nazi Gold - National Archives/Hulton Archive Switzerlands banking system is well known for its high levels of discretion owing to its bank secrecy laws. In 1934, the Swiss government passed a new Banking Act, making it illegal to disclose account information to third parties without a client's consent and allowing for the creation of anonymous bank accounts. This allowed persecuted Jews to open accounts in a bid to hide their assets, but also opened the door for Nazis to become customers thanks to the country's neutral status in World War II. Story continues Swiss lenders ended up playing a central role in bankrolling the Third Reich at a time when it faced heavy sanctions from Allied powers. During the war, the Swiss were content to exchange gold plundered from Jews in exchange for Swiss francs, which, at the time, was the only transferable currency apart from the US greenback. Mark Pieth, a professor of criminal law at the University of Basel, says around 80pc of gold held by the Nazis was transferred to Switzerland during the war years, while the rest went to Italy, Portugal and Turkey. He adds that about 90pc of the gold that was shipped to Switzerland was deposited in the Swiss National Bank. After the war, the Allied powers pushed for an investigation into bank accounts held by German citizens in the Alpine nation. Ultimately, though, the Swiss failed to agree to liquidate all accounts and pay the assets as reparations. It was only after international counterparts threatened sanctions in the 1990s that the countrys financial industry started properly reckoning with its Nazi past. In 1998, two Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS pledged to settle lawsuits with Holocaust victims and their relatives for $1.25bn (990m), seemingly drawing a line under the saga. That was until the apparent discovery of the 12,000 new accounts belonging to Nazi emigres. The contested files threaten to reopen a dark period in Switzerlands banking history. Credit Suisse brought in forensic research firm AlixPartners to lead the new investigation, while Neil Barofsky, a partner at law firm Jenner & Block, was hired as an independent ombudsman. Last month, the Budget Committee of the US Senate accused Credit Suisse of hampering the investigation by inexplicably removing Barofsky in November. US Senator Chuck Grassley - Carolyn Kaster/AP However, the committee obtained Barofskys 205-page report, dated 15 February 2023, after issuing a subpoena. The report is scathing and claims that Credit Suisse appears to have maintained accounts the vast majority of which have not previously been disclosed for nearly 100 people who were either senior Nazi officials in Germany or members of Nazi-affiliated groups in Argentina. It alleges that 70 Argentine accounts with plausible links to Argentina-based Nazis were opened with the bank after 1945, and at least 14 of those accounts remained open into the 21st century some even as recently as 2020. Meanwhile, investigators identified 21 accounts from a list of notorious high-level Nazis provided by SWC, including one that belonged to a Nazi commander who was sentenced at Nuremberg and another belonging to an SS commander who was convicted. The sentenced commanders account remained open until 2002, but the bank has not yet provided asset information from this account or for 85 other identified accounts, the report claims. The report also claims that Credit Suisses willingness to cooperate with the investigation abruptly changed last summer amid a management overhaul. Republican senator Chuck Grassley, who sits on the committee, said Credit Suisse which was recently rescued by its biggest rival UBS in a humiliating state-engineered takeover has left stones unturned in investigating its Nazi ties. He said: While Credit Suisse initially agreed to investigate evidence of previously unidentified Nazi-linked accounts as a result of the Simon Wiesenthal Centers relentless pursuit of justice, the information weve obtained shows the bank established an unnecessarily rigid and narrow scope, and refused to follow new leads uncovered during the course of the review. A historian brought in by Barofsky said SWCs discoveries identified new and important facts that contribute to the historical knowledge of the relations of the CS banks with the Nazi regime. However, Credit Suisse attempted to discredit the report, saying it contained numerous factual errors, misleading and gratuitous statements and unsupported allegations that are based on an incomplete understanding of the facts. The bank said: Investigators found no evidence to support SWCs allegations that many individuals on an Argentine list of 12,000 names had accounts at Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA), Credit Suisses predecessor bank, during the Nazi period. The investigation also found no evidence that eight long closed accounts identified in this period contained assets from any Holocaust victims. SWC has pledged to continue its investigation into whether Swiss banks have concealed information about their Nazi holdings. As Credit Suisse prepares to be integrated into its fiercest rival, Nazi gold will be one issue on a long list of problems that UBS will be forced to contend with. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer. Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday evening, the fourth assault in as many days subjecting residents to spasms of gunfire and explosions, and at least one drone was shot down. City authorities had declared an alert for Kyiv and the surrounding area. Residents who had gone to air raid shelters said the drones arrived more quickly than usual after the alerts were declared. Reuters witnesses heard gunfire and repeated heavier explosions near the city centre. The attacks started just after 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) and lasted around 20 minutes. Ukraines air force said in a statement that it had destroyed one of its own drones after the drone lost control over Kyiv region, probably because of a technical failure. It wasnt clear how many drones in total were destroyed. Russia said on Thursday that the United States was behind a purported drone attack on the Kremlin aiming to kill President Vladimir Putin. Washington and Kyiv denied involvement. Putin will head a scheduled meeting of Russias Security Council on Friday and the Kremlin incident could be on the agenda, TASS news agency reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in The Hague after visiting the International Court of Justice, said Putin must be brought to justice over the war and that Kyiv would work to create a new tribunal for this purpose. In other diplomacy, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on a visit to Brazil that she encouraged the government to include Ukraine in any attempt to negotiate an end to the war. She was referring to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas comments calling on the West to stop arming Ukraine to allow peace talks to start. There are currently no peace talks to end the war, which has devastated Ukrainian towns and cities, killed thousands of people and driven millions from their homes. FRONTLINE ACTION Nearly 50 Russian attacks were repelled along the main sectors of the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Thursday evening. The heaviest fighting is still in Bakhmut and in Maryinka, further south in Donetsk region, it said. Russian forces also launched 66 air raids and engaged in 33 shelling episodes on Ukrainian positions and on towns and villages, causing casualties and damaging infrastructure, the report said. Reuters was not able to verify the battlefield accounts. MOSCOW CITES US ORDERS Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov, without providing evidence, said Ukraine had acted on U.S. orders to attack the Kremlin citadel in the early hours of Wednesday. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby dismissed Russian lies and said there still was no conclusive evidence as to the authenticity of a video showing the drone at the Kremlin. Attempts to disown this (attack on the Kremlin), both in Kyiv and in Washington, are, of course, absolutely ridiculous. We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are made not in Kyiv but in Washington, Peskov told reporters. Peskov said an urgent investigation was under way and that any response would be carefully considered and balanced. Russia has increasingly accused the United States of being a direct participant in the war, intent on inflicting a strategic defeat on Moscow. Washington denies this, saying it is arming Kyiv to defend itself and retake illegally seized land. KYIV, ODESA TARGETED Earlier on Thursday, Russia fired two dozen combat drones at Ukraine, hitting Kyiv and also striking a university campus in the Black Sea city of Odesa. There were no reports of casualties. Russia denies targeting civilians in Ukraine. Diplomats, meanwhile, are still working to keep a package deal for Ukrainian and Russian agricultural exports alive beyond May 18. Technical personnel from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations will meet on Friday to discuss the deal, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said. Russia has a list of demands it wants met for continuation of the Black Sea grains pact, which the U.N. said helps tackle a global food crisis aggravated by Russian forces invading neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022. Zelenskiy has vowed to drive all invading Russian forces back to the borders set in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He said on Thursday the whole of Ukrainian society was preparing for a counteroffensive, which he said would be successful against what he called a demotivated Russia. SOURCE: REUTERS Heavy gunfire echoed around Khartoum on Friday as civilians trapped in the Sudanese capital said the army and rival paramilitary were fighting without regard to their plight. Battles since mid-April have killed hundreds and wounded thousands, disrupted aid supplies, sent 100,000 refugees fleeing abroad and turned residential areas of Khartoum into war zones. Its been four days without electricity and our situation is difficult, said 48-year-old Othman Hassan from the southern outskirts of the city. We are the victims of a war that we arent a part of. No one cares about the citizen. Smoke rose into the air in an area outside Khartoums presidential palace and across the River Nile in the adjoining city of Bahri, live footage on broadcaster Al Jazeera showed. Despite multiple ceasefire declarations, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) appeared to be fighting for territory ahead of proposed talks. So far, army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, a career military officer, and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a former militia leader known as Hemedti who comes from the strife-torn western region of Darfur, have shown little public willingness to negotiate. Saudi Arabias foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday discussed a plan for the warring parties to meet in Jeddah in a bid to reduce tensions, Saudi Arabia said. Sudans armed forces said it sent a delegation to Jeddah on Friday evening as part of the initiative. The RSF did not immediately comment, but both forces have said they will only discuss humanitarian ceasefires and not ending the war. Their power struggle risks dragging in outside countries, further destabilising an already restive region. A group of countries led by Britain, the United States, Germany and Norway is set to request an urgent meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council on the Sudan crisis next week, a document showed on Friday. Across swathes of Khartoum, factories, banks and shops have been looted or damaged, power and water supplies have been failing and residents have reported steep price rises and shortages of basic goods. Whole neighbourhoods have emptied, leading people to fear for the houses they left behind. Aya Eltahir said she fled with her family to the northern outskirts of the capital after bullets hit their roof. I make plans to return every day, even just to grab more essential items, but the situation is too unsafe, she said. The World Health Organization (WHO) said at least 551 civilians had died and 4,926 been wounded, based on data from Sudan, but real tolls were likely much higher due to the difficulty of accessing medical facilities. RECKLESS DISREGARD FOR CIVILIANS The Sudanese Doctors Union said one of the countrys main maternity hospitals, Aldayat, in the city of Omdurman that adjoins Khartoum, and the central medical supply warehouse had been looted and occupied by forces on Thursday. In total, it said 17 hospitals had been damaged by fighting and 20 forcibly evacuated since the start of the violence. Sixty of the 88 hospitals in Khartoum are out of service, it said, with many of the rest only offering partial service. Sudans warring armies are showing reckless disregard for civilian lives by using inaccurate weapons in populated urban areas, Human Rights Watch Sudan researcher Mohamed Osman said in a report. The army and RSF, which had shared power after a coup in 2021, have accused each other of breaching a string of truces. Their conflict has derailed an internationally backed plan to usher in democracy and civilian rule after a 2019 popular uprising that unseated Islamist strongman Omar al-Bashir. The U.N. has pressed the warring sides to guarantee safe passage of aid after six of its trucks were looted. The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said some $14 million worth of food for the needy has been plundered, while U.N. childrens agency UNICEF said more than 1 million polio vaccines were destroyed when cold storages were looted. Fighting has spread across the country, including the western region of Darfur. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR is estimating an exodus of 860,000 people from Sudan and called on governments to look kindly on fleeing civilians. The agency is calling on countries not to return people to Sudan. The humanitarian situation in and around Sudan is tragic there are food, water and fuel shortages, limited access to transport, communications and electricity, and sky-rocketing prices of basic items, said Raouf Mazou, UNHCRs assistant high commissioner for operations. SOURCE: REUTERS This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate From a business standpoint, one might think that an increase in the minimum wage was the biggest news to come out of the states $229 billion 2023-24 budget passed last week. Upstate, the rate will go to $15 from $14.20 in 2024 and will continue to rise in the years ahead. But many of those in the business community said that was expected. Besides, the pandemic-era shortage of workers has meant that fewer and fewer, if any, employers pay the minimum anyway, at least if they want to keep and retain people. You show me anybody who is working for $15 an hour, said Art Van Buren, a small-business operator in Altamont who sells and services pressure washing machines across the Capital Region. He runs the company with his wife and son. Fast food restaurants pay well above the minimum these days, and the kind of industries that Van Buren services construction and trucking companies as well as highway barns and school maintenance departments all pay considerably more. As is the case for many small businesses, completion of the annual state budget is almost a non-event. Moreover, business advocates and lobbyists say they watch the budget for things that didnt happen, be they increased regulations and mandates, or relief they were hoping for. This year, business leaders were disappointed to see no relief for the COVID-19 costs they are still incurring, such as higher unemployment insurance premiums and mandated sick leave policies. Those expenses have been particularly hard to swallow, they say, given that the federal government is rapidly moving beyond the pandemic. President Joe Biden in a 60 Minutes interview last fall declared that the pandemic is over. And vaccine mandates for federal employees will be lifted on May 11. But in New York, pandemic costs remain in place. Employers, for example, must still continue paying for extra weeks of sick leave if an employee has COVID-19. While no one would argue that people struck by the virus shouldn't have to come to work, having the employer bear that cost adds up, said Frank Kerbein, director of the Business Councils Human Resources Center. Initially, the federal government reimbursed the cost of those extra sick days but that has ended. But the mandate to give more sick days remains in place in New York, with the cost being shifted to employers. In addition to their normal sick leave, either in union contracts or company policies, employees can take an extra three weeks for COVID-19 leave during their lifetimes. Companies with fewer than 100 employees pay for the first five days of this COVID-19 leave. Those with 100 or more pay for 14 days. That can add up to thousands of dollars a year for some businesses. Employers are being asked to pay for the cost of COVID. Its the cumulative effect, Kerbein said. Those costs come atop extra unemployment insurance premium surcharges that employers have to pay, also thanks to COVID-19. Because New Yorks unemployment insurance fund ran out of money during the height of the pandemic, the state borrowed $9.3 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The state fund is now paying that back through a surcharge on unemployment insurance premiums that all businesses pay. New York, Kerbein noted, is the only state that didnt use some of Bidens American Rescue Plan money, dedicated to COVID-19 expenses, to help repay some of that money. New York has done absolutely nothing to help with that, added Ashley Ranslow, New York Director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses. Other states have addressed this problem. New York state continues to ignore it. Businesses might pay attention if a budget brought them some tax relief but that hasnt been the case lately. Business operators like Van Buren realize that they benefit from state spending, such as bridge and highway work. Businesses in the civil engineering field that work on those projects use pressure washers. But he believes that New Yorks high income and property taxes, as well as regulations, more than cancel out the spending. Its that taxation that affects us all, Van Buren said. In fairness, there are programs that are supposed to help foster new and small businesses. The 2023-24 budget contains $725 million in loan, grant, and assistance programs through the Empire State Development program. And ESD officials note that $800 million went out to businesses during the pandemic. But the smorgasbord of programs always seems to be outweighed by the new regulations and costs that come along each year. Watervliet-based Passonno Paints recently shifted its focus from manufacturing to distributing paints and industrial coatings as tighter environmental rules and the rise of Big Box stores made it harder to operate in the consumer retail world. The family-run company now operates a small but thriving business based on specialty products and paints from PPG, a national manufacturer. President and CEO Dick Cunningham has seen a number of state assistance programs come and go over the years. Often, they dont work out in the long run. State agencies, he explained, tend to be one step behind what the rapidly evolving marketplace is doing. Our economy is so complex. The government tries to do a program that is well-intentioned but by the time you deal it out, it doesnt work for people, he said. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518-454-5758 @RickKarlinTU Albany Medical College awarded 224 degrees Friday during the 185th commencement ceremonies at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Speakers included Alan Boulos, MD 94, The Lynne and Mark D. Groban, MD 67 Distinguished Dean of Albany Medical College; Maggie Gillis, vice chair of the Albany Med Health System Board of Directors, and student representatives of the Class of 2023. Barney S. Graham, MD, PhD, a 2021 recipient of the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, delivered the keynote address. He received an honorary degree. John Simon, MD, who served as chair of the department of ophthalmology at Albany Medical College for 28 years, and Ursula A. Matulonis, MD 87, chief of the division of gynecologic oncology and Susan F. Smith Center for Womens Cancers, Brock-Wilson Family Chair at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, also received honorary degrees. SARATOGA SPRINGS Mayor Ron Kim apologized for his role in a profanity-laced exchange he had Thursday with city Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety Jason Tetu in which Tetu threatened to have Kim arrested. The argument started after the mayor said he had received an email on Monday from a resident that he perceived as threatening. It read: Ron, just resign. It will be better for you in the end. Kim said he emailed Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino and Tetu about the email, but never heard back. On Thursday, a Kim family member allegedly received what they perceived to be a threat from the same person. Kim said he marched over to Tetus office and banged on the door. When Tetu answered, Kim said he asked What the f__ is going on? Why hasnt anything been done about this? The mayor said Tetu slammed the door in his face. Kim said he started to walk away when Tetu opened the door to tell him hed have him arrested if he ever did that again. I said, 'F__ you, and you are endangering my family,' Kim said. Jason said I was trying to force his door open. After that, Kim went to the police department to file a complaint against the resident, whom he would not name. He said the person is known to police and has had his weapons taken away in the past for threatening former Mayor Joanne Yepsen and former City Attorney Sarah Burger. I signed on for this job, (but) my family and their safety are not part of the deal," Kim said. " I felt that I hadnt gotten any response in three days. I would think that they would be concerned for my safety and the safety of our infrastructure. I will issue an apology today. The Times Union could not immediately reach Tetu on Friday afternoon. Montagnino said that Kims email about the threat allegation had received a response from police Chief Shane Crooks; Montagnino felt nothing more needed to be done to resolve the issue. The encounter between Kim and Tetu was caught on City Halls surveillance video and in police body cam footage captured by an officer who happened to be in the hallway as it was happening. Later Friday, the police department issued a news release saying it had decided to release video of the incident on the department's Facebook page. There are no criminal charges pending related to the any aspect of the dispute and the investigation has been closed, police said. On Saturday, Kim said the posting of the video violates the police department's policy and that the city attorney is asking that it be taken off the police website and all social media. Kim said he gets nasty emails all the time. Also on Monday, he got one that directed a racial epithet at him for his effort to form a restorative justice panel. But he said the one that drew his complaint to Tetu, from a resident who has come to council meetings, gave him special concern. I am sorry about how I reacted, Kim said. Its the safety of my family that is a huge concern, especially nowadays. But I dont think it should take as much time to react to a mayors statement (that) his personal safety is an issue. On Friday, Montagnino, who oversees Tetu, said the deputy commissioner had not received an apology. Amanda Loman/AP SALEM, Ore. (AP) A walkout by most Republican members of the Oregon Senate reached a fourth straight day Saturday, delaying action by the majority Democrats on bills on gun safety, abortion rights and gender-affirming health care. The GOP's boycott prevented a quorum, and Senate President Rob Wagner adjourned the body until Sunday morning. By Azernews By News Centre Russia confirmed May 10 for a quadrilateral meeting between Turkiye, Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime, the Turkish foreign minister said Friday. It is not clear who will attend from Iran if that countrys foreign minister decides to embark on an Africa tour, Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcaster TV24. Regarding Turkish troops in northern Syria, he said if forces withdraw from the area, terror groups will fill the space. Terrorist organizations persecute everyone and exile anyone who does not obey them. It means a wave of immigration towards our door. More importantly, it would be a very serious threat to our national security, he said. Noting that Turkiye has engaged with the Syrian regime and its administration, he said a joint statement may be issued after the meeting. It is not possible to say clearly in advance what we will agree on in our talks that day, he added. Turkish, Russian and Syrian regime defense ministers and intelligence chiefs met last December in Moscow and agreed to continue tripartite meetings to ensure stability in Syria and the wider region. Map of Togo Togo, a narrow strip of land on Africa's west coast, has for years been the target of criticism over its human rights record and political governance. Gaining independence from France in 1960, Togo has struggled to build a stable economy. It is one of the world's top five producers of phosphates, which are used in fertilisers, but remains poor and dependent on foreign aid. Read more country profiles - Profiles by BBC Monitoring TOGOLESE REPUBLIC: FACTS Capital: Lome Area: 56,785 sq km Population: 8.4 million Languages: French, Ewe, Kabiye Life expectancy: 60 years (men) 62 years (women) LEADER President: Faure Gnassingbe Eyadema Togolese president Faure Gnassingbe Eyadema Faure Gnassingbe Eyadema succeeded his father, who died in 2005 after ruling the country with an iron fist for 38 years. The military installed Faure Gnassingbe as president, but following intense domestic and international pressure he called elections. Hundreds died challenging his victory in those polls. Gnassingbe has won three more elections, in 2010, 2015 and 2020. All of the elections have been criticised by the opposition, who have alleged instances of widespread fraud. Constitutional changes in 2019 allowed President Gnassingbe to seek re-election and potentially stay in office until 2030 - an issue that sparked huge protests in 2017-18. MEDIA Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba in north-eastern Togo, is listed as a World Heritage Site Togo has a varied media landscape. However, press freedom depends on the political environment. During election campaigns media outlets come under pressure. "The state and political figures exert strong influence on how news is handled", says the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF). TIMELINE Gnassingbe Eyadema seized power in 1967 and ruled for almost four decades Some key events in Togo's history: 15-17th Centuries - Ewe clans from Nigeria and the Ane from Ghana and Ivory Coast settle in region already occupied by Kwa and Voltaic peoples. 16th-19th Centuries - Atlantic slave trade begins in 1500s and the coastal region becomes a trading centre for Europeans in search of slaves. 1884 - German protectorate of Togoland established. Story continues 1914-18 - World War One. 1914 - German Togoland is occupied by British and French forces. 1916 - Joint rule by UK and France collapses and Togoland is partitioned into British and French zones, creating the colonies of British Togoland and French Togoland. 1922 - League of Nations confirms this division, the mandate to govern the western part of the country is handed to Britain, while France is given the eastern area. 1957 - British Togoland votes to join the Gold Coast as part of the independent nation of Ghana. 1959 - French Togoland becomes an autonomous republic within the French Union. 1960 - Togolese Republic becomes independent. 1961 - Sylvanus Olympio becomes first president in elections boycotted by the opposition. Opposition parties are dissolved. Country brecomes one-party state. 1963 - Olympio is assassinated in an army coup. One of the leaders is Gnassingbe Eyadema. The military hands over power to an interim government led by Nicolas Grunitzky who initiates political reforms. 1967 - Gnassingbe Eyadema seizes power, political parties are dissolved. 1992 - New constitution approved. 1993 - President Eyadema dissolves government, sparking protests and fatal clashes with police. Thousands flee to neighbouring countries. 2005 - President Eyadema dies. The military appoints his son Faure as president He goes on to win elections that year and subsequently. Opposition parties denounce the results as fraudulent. 2022 - Togo joins the Commonwealth. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A threat by the owner of private Russian military company Wagner on Friday to withdraw his fighters from the battle to seize an eastern Ukrainian city is another flareup in his dispute with Russia's regular military over credit and tactics in the war. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy entrepreneur with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has led the push to jump-start Russias stalemated offensive in eastern Ukraines Donetsk province. He threatened to pull out his soldiers from the city of Bakhmut next week, citing high casualties and ammunition shortages. Russia's nine-month campaign to take Bakhmut has made the city the focus of the war's longest battle. Ferocious house-to house fighting there has produced some of the bloodiest encounters since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Here is a look at Wagners history and its role in the fighting. WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND OF WAGNER'S LEADER? Prigozhin, who received a 12-year prison term in 1981 on charges of robbery and assault, started a restaurant business in St. Petersburg in the early 1990s following his release from prison. It was in this capacity that he got to know Putin, the citys deputy mayor at the time. Prigozhin used his connection with Putin to develop a catering business and won lucrative Russian government contracts that earned him the nickname Putins chef. He later expanded into other areas, including media outlets and an infamous troll factory that led to his indictment in the U.S. for meddling in the 2016 presidential election. In January, Prigozhin, 61, acknowledged founding, leading and financing the shadowy Wagner company. WHERE HAS WAGNER WORKED? Wagner was first spotted in action in eastern Ukraine soon after a separatist conflict erupted there in April 2014, weeks after Russias annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. While backing the separatist insurgency in the Donbas, Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, Russia denied sending its own weapons and troops there despite ample evidence to the contrary. Engaging private contractors in the fighting allowed Moscow to maintain a degree of deniability. Prigozhins company was called Wagner after the nickname of its first commander, Dmitry Utkin, a retired lieutenant colonel of the Russian militarys special forces. It soon established a reputation for its extreme brutality and ruthlessness. Wagner personnel also deployed to Syria, where Russia supported President Bashar Assads government in a civil war. In Libya, they fought alongside forces of commander Khalifa Hifter. The group has also operated in the Central African Republic and Mali. Prigozhin has reportedly used Wagners deployment to Syria and African countries to secure lucrative mining contracts. U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January that the company was using its access to gold and other resources in Africa to fund its operations in Ukraine. Some Russian media have alleged that Wagner was involved in the July 2018 killings of three Russian journalists in the Central African Republic who were investigating the groups activities. The slayings remain unsolved. WHAT IS THE GROUPS REPUTATION? Western countries and U.N. experts have accused Wagner mercenaries of committing human rights abuses throughout Africa, including in the Central African Republic, Libya and Mali. In December 2021, the European Union accused the group of serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, and of carrying out destabilizing activities in the Central African Republic, Libya, Syria and Ukraine. Video footage has surfaced that purported to show some of the activities that have contributed to Wagner's fearsome reputation. A 2017 video posted online showed a group of armed people, reported to be Wagner contractors, torturing a Syrian man, beating him to death with a sledgehammer and cutting his head before mutilating and burning his body. Russian authorities ignored requests by the media and rights activists to investigate. In November 2022, another video showed a former Wagner contractor beaten to death with a sledgehammer after he allegedly fled to the Ukrainian side and was recaptured. Despite public outrage and demands for an investigation, the Kremlin turned a blind eye. WHAT IS WAGNERS ROLE IN UKRAINE? Wagner has taken an increasingly visible role in the war in Ukraine as regular Russian troops have suffered heavy attrition and lost control over territory in humiliating setbacks. Prigozhin claimed full credit in January for capturing the Donetsk region salt-mining town of Soledar and accused the Russian Defense Ministry of trying to steal Wagners glory. He has repeatedly complained that the Russian military failed to supply Wagner with sufficient ammunition to capture Bakhmut, the reason he cited Friday for his withdrawal threat. Prigozhin has toured Russian prisons to recruit fighters, promising inmates pardons if they survived a half-year tour of front-line duty with Wagner. The U.S. estimates Wagner has about 50,000 personnel fighting in Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 of the convicts the company enlisted. A U.S. official says nearly half of the 20,000 Russian forces killed in Ukraine since December have been Wagners troops in Bakhmut. The U.S. assesses that Wagner is spending about $100 million a month in the fight .In December, the United States accused North Korea of supplying weapons, including rockets and missiles, to the Russian company in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Both Wagner and North Korea denied the reports. HOW HAS WAGNER'S LEADER CRITICIZED RUSSIAS MILITARY? If the U.S. accusation is true, Wagners reach for North Korean weapons may reflect its long-running dispute with the Russian military leadership, which dates back to the companys creation. Troops purported to be Wagner contractors on the front line in Ukraine recorded a video in which they showered the chief of the Russian militarys General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, with curses for the alleged failure to provide ammunition. Prigozhin himself accuses top-ranking Russian military officers of incompetence. His frequent complaints are unprecedented for Russias tightly controlled political system, in which only Putin could air such criticism. Prigozhin has increasingly raised his public profile, issuing daily messaging app statements to boast about Wagners purported victories, sardonically mock his enemies and make complaints about Russia's military brass. Asked recently about a media comparison of him with Grigory Rasputin, a mystic who gained fatal influence over Russias last czar by claiming to have the power to cure his sons hemophilia, Prigozhin snapped: I dont stop blood, but I spill blood of the enemies of our Motherland. WILL WAGNER REALLY WITHDRAW FROM BAKHMUT? Yohann Michel, a research analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank, took Prigozhins threat with a shovel of salt, at least, or maybe a truck. Michel said Prigozhin might want to regroup without being accused of retreating; he may worry about being fired for not taking the city and prefer to say he left on his own; or he could genuinely need more ammunition. The only thing I am taking seriously from that declaration is that Bakhmut is probably not ready to fall, Michel, who is based in Berlin, said. If Prigozhin did pull Wagners troops out of Bakhmut, it would have serious implications, according to Michel said. If hes removed from the front line except if Russia surprisingly has reserves that they did not want to use before I think we can say it is the end of this phase of the offensive for Russia, he said. ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine-war [May 05, 2023] The Future of Sustainability, Now: Siemens and Infinite Acres' Ambitious Vertical Farming Plans TMCnet News Siemens (News - Alert) Netherlands and Infinite Acres, the latter being a technology company that is part of 80 Acres Farms, have taken a major step toward establishing a cutting-edge vertical farming Field-Lab and Experience Center in The Hague. The two companies recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), formalizing their intentions to collaborate on the creation of a multi-part research center at Infinite (News - Alert) Acres' headquarters. By integrating Siemens' advanced hardware and software with Infinite Acres' operating platform and controlled environment growing technology, the partnership aims to further develop the vertical farming industry and promote sustainable, eco-friendly, and healthy food cultivation solutions across the globe. Vertical farming, for those in need of a refresher, is a highly innovative form of food cultivation, utilizing high-tech controlled-environment facilities to grow produce. This method of agriculture can help address many of the issues commonly associated with traditional farming, such as excessive water consumption, soil degradation, and unpredictable weather conditions. By allowing for enhanced traceability from seed to shelf, vertical farming can contribute to more reliable supply chains. Indoor farms can be also constructed in virtually any location, resulting in fresher food, longer shelf life, and reduced waste. According to John Parrott, Vice President and Food and Beverage at Siemens Digital Industries US, vertical farming offers "a sustainable, yet high-tech solution that requires both experts in agriculture and technology to work together to scale new solutions quickly. The result will be nutritious food - easily accessible to everyone globally." Imagine that. The Field-Lab will serve as a hub for innovation in vertical farming, as Siemens and Infinite Acres join forces to explore new solutions in the space. Furthermore, the Experience Center will provide potential customers with an opportunity to witness vertical farming in action, offering a tangible example of the process. Tisha Livingston, CEO of Infinite Acres, believes that the partnership with Siemens will "help solve the diverse challenges surrounding agriculture." By combining Siemens' technological expertise and Infinite Acres' growing know-how, the collaboration aims to standardize, industrialize, and scale vertical farming technology in order to meet the food needs of future generations. This partnership between Siemens Netherlands and Infinite Acres has the potential to drive significant advancements in the vertical farming industry. As the companies work together to develop new, sustainable, and efficient food cultivation solutions, they will be contributing to a healthier and more eco-conscious future for people worldwide. Edited by Alex Passett [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 05, 2023] Eye Level Indonesia Introduces Global Education Franchise at FLEI Expo 2023 in Jakarta SEOUL, South Korea, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Eye Level Indonesia announced they would showcase their after-school Maths and English learning programs for students aged 4 to 15 at the FLEI Expo 2023 in Jakarta, providing individuals a unique education franchise opportunity from South Korea. At the event, potential franchise partners will learn about the brand identity, business plans, cooperation agreements, learning systems, and other benefits. Plus, they're offering exclusive discounts of u to 50% and a Free VIP Invitation for those who attend the event and join the Eye Level franchise family. Potential franchisees can join them at Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran, Hall D2 on May 5-7 to discover the many advantages of becoming an Eye Level franchisee in Indonesia. For more information, contact them at 081211735909 or follow them on Instagram @eyelevel.indonesia. Invest in your future and that of young learners by partnering with Eye Level - a global education franchise with over 1,300 franchisors in 22 countries worldwide. About Eye Level Eye Level is a global education franchise that offers after-school math and English learning programs for students aged 4 to 15. We provide competitive franchise opportunities for individuals looking to help develop children's academic achievements. At Eye Level, we believe that our franchisees are part of a larger family, with approximately 1,300 families worldwide working together to guide the way to success. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/eye-level-indonesia-introduces-global-education-franchise-at-flei-expo-2023-in-jakarta-301817577.html SOURCE Eye Level [May 05, 2023] Sftimo Exchange: How to Prevent Cryptocurrency Scams? SINGAPORE, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Here is a report from Sftimo Exchange: The cryptocurrency market, embracing a great number of newcomers every day, is one of the most concerned areas of investment at the moment. However, there remain general investment risks as well as various scams in this market. In response to increasingly pressing challenges posed by cryptocurrency scams, Sftimo Exchange recently launched an educational campaign called "Cryptocurrency Scam Prevention Pioneers" to help the public improve their ability to identify and prevent cryptocurrency scams through online courses, seminars, and webcasts. In addition, Sftimo Exchange initiated the establishment of a cryptocurrency security community called "CryptoSafe", which raises users' security awareness during transactions by collecting and sharing information, tips, and best practices concerning cryptocurrency security. To further raise public awareness of cybersecurity, Sftimo Exchange collaborates with a number of well-known financial institutions and holds regular cybersecurity forums, to which industry experts are invited to share the latest cybersecurity trends and prevention strategies. Why are there so many scams in the cryptocurrency market? Why are there so many pitfalls in the cryptocurrency market? According to Sftimo Exchange, scams stem from the most obvious feature of cryptocurrencies: decentralization. Banks are regulated by the Financial Supervisory Commission or government agencies to ensure that depositors' money is not misappropriated. However, there is no regulator in the blockchain world. Records of transactions on the blockchain are open, stored on different clouds and maintained by different people. In order to prevent blockchain data from being tampered with, the blockchain adopts a way that does not rely on a central point. Decentralization benefits from available information, private transactions and no third-party intervention, it suffers from the absence of regulation and irrevocable transactions. The relevant person in charge of Sftimo Exchange says that a novice is likely to get taken in by a scam group because of insufficient information collection in the early stage, only to surrender to twinges of regret when the money is swindled out of him. What are common cryptocurrency scams? It may take a year to earn NT$10,000 through investment, but it only takes a moment to lose them in the virtual world. To stay away from endless pitfalls in the blockchain, Sftimo Exchange compiles five common cryptocurrency scams. Please pay special attention when investing. 1. Rug Pull Rug pull usually means that the project founder suddenly abandons by the project and runs away with investors' funds. This also exists in traditional markets, but nine times out of ten, founders are subject to legal sanctions. In contrast, in the cryptocurrency market, we may not even know who the founding team is. Many investors favor such mysterious projects because they deem them lucrative, without realizing they are involved in this type of scam. 2. ICO (Initial Coin Offering) ICO stands for nitial public offering of new cryptocurrency, similar to the IPO of shares. The company goes public to raise funds, and retail investors invest in their favorite new projects in the hope of hitting a cash bonanza. Of course, the premise is that the project is "a chicken that lays golden eggs", otherwise the future is unpredictable. Since anyone can launch an ICO in the cryptocurrency market, we never know who is on the other side. If someone launches an ICO just to raise a sum of money and then leaves, he only needs to hype up the project, and there will be investors scrambling to exchange. Then their money is like spending on lotto. Buy it and have fun. Therefore, choosing a team with real-name authentication is recommended, and having a specific plan and a feasible business model. Sftimo Exchange points out that ICO is also a double-edged sword. Some people can make money on some intricate projects if they are willing to take risks. 3. OTC (Over the Counter) There are numerous exchanges to choose from in the cryptocurrency market, and they usually charge fees. Some people transfer money privately to save money, which is the most common over-the-counter transaction. Delivery versus Payment eliminates the involvement of an exchange, but the investor may be pulled into the blacklist after payment. This is also common in traditional markets, where police officers often advise middle-aged women not to transfer money to scam groups at ATMs. But no one is to stop you from being cheated in the unregulated cryptocurrency market. Therefore, the only way out is to stay alert and try to conduct over-the-counter transactions between acquaintances. 4. Airdrop (Initial Airdrop Offering) This scam emerged with cryptocurrencies and required special attention. When an airdrop is a new cryptocurrency or NFT, the developer will give some cryptocurrencies to investors to attract more users. Generally, this only needs the location of a personal wallet, and then investors can receive cryptocurrencies as a gift. This a normal behavior, but the trick is in the act of "drop". Fake wallet: Guide investors to install a fake wallet, inform them of the need to increase funds, and quickly transfer the funds in the fake wallet once they arrive. Fake links: This is the most difficult to guard against, as cryptocurrencies are virtual and often require clicking on unknown links. The scam happens when you click on the link and open your wallet authorization. Scammers transfer cryptocurrencies in the wallet after getting the authorization, and many people still do not know this after being looted. To guard against airdrop scams, Sftimo Exchange offers two tips to investors. Prepare several wallets: Prepare one specifically for airdrop, and store large funds in a separate cold wallet. Check wallet authorization: There are some online software that checks wallet authorization, which can be used to check whether the wallet has been properly authorized, and to confirm whether it has been obtained by unknown units or IP. 5. Fake exchanges Guarding against fake exchanges is as simple as choosing from the top 10 exchanges through CoinMarketCap. Exchanges that cannot be found in the top 1,000 have very limited trading volumes, and they are usually fake exchanges. It is easy to identify scams of fake exchanges. They will first add investor friends in various communities to gain trust, release some "grapevine news", such as one certain exchange helps you to earn more profits, and another does not allow withdrawal after investment. The smarter ones will let you taste the sweetness first, and prohibit withdrawal after you increase the investment. Another obvious feature is that fake exchanges often use instant messaging. Because of the large number of users, well-known exchanges will mostly choose email as an authentication method. Sftimo Exchange reminds that exchanges are just platforms, and it is the investment strategy that determines whether investors can make money. How to reduce investment risks? After understanding the above scams, how to stay away from these pitfalls? Here are a few suggestions from Sftimo Exchange: 1. Don't invest in things you don't understand: Don't follow the trend. Learn more about the basics of cryptocurrencies, and avoid making wrong judgments when investing. 2. Asset allocation: Not putting all your eggs in one basket is an important investment criterion. Make sure that you plan your asset allocation before investment, in case you make a mistake and lose all your money. 3. Choose a credible exchange: No matter how correct your investment method is and how profitable the target is, once you put your money in the wrong place, you will inevitably lose everything. Therefore, screening exchanges is a very important piece of homework before investing in cryptocurrencies. 4. Don't invest rashly if you find similar scams: Scams are changing with each passing day, but they remain essentially the same despite all apparent changes. Once you find a similar scenario, do not rash to invest no matter how extravagantly the other side depicts. Sftimo Exchange's "Cryptocurrency Scam Prevention Pioneers" educational campaign has yielded remarkable results, demonstrating that the risk of cryptocurrency scams can be significantly reduced by popularizing security knowledge and raising public awareness. The methods may vary, but the essence is the same. Once a similar scenario appears, everyone should be cautious to avoid losses. Sftimo Exchange reminds that the exact way to make money is often very boring, because we just need to keep repeating the right investment strategy. We should choose to earn in a boring way rather than lose in a miserable way. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/sftimo-exchange-how-to-prevent-cryptocurrency-scams-301817608.html SOURCE Sftimo Blockchain Markets Limited [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 06, 2023] IIT Kanpur's eMasters Degree in Communication Systems to diversify domain expertise ~ Applications for 4th cohort is open till May 12, 2023 KANPUR, India, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern digital communication systems have created a dire need for a highly skilled workforce. With many countries successfully using 5G and preparing for 6G - the next big telecom wave - India still needs to catch up with better-equipped industry talent, and advancement roadmaps. India's requirement for skilled professionals well-versed in communication and allied technologies, is set to grow manifold as India expands 5G and prepares for the 6G revolution. To address the talent crunch the industry is facing, IIT Kanpur offers a one-of-a-kind eMasters degree in Communication Systems. The comprehensive program will train professionals in technologies to deliver voice, data, and multimedia information expertise. Professionals will also be trained in designing, and practicing on communication systems to meet various industry needs. An in-depth program with necessary components are in store for professionals with this eMasters degree. Designed by the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, this executive-friendly program does not require a GATE score to apply for the progam. Besides that, it offers a flexible completion timeline between 1-3 years. The program is taught by world-class faculty and researchers from IIT Kanpur through weekend-only live interactive classes and self-paced learning. The program has a 60-credit, 12-module industry-focused curriculum. It offers access to IIT Kanpur placement cell, incubation cell, and alumni network, leading to successful career advancement and networking experience. The immersive learning format also allows professionals to visit the IIT Kanpur campus to meet the eminent faculty and network with experienced professionals. Professionals signing up for the eMasters degree are set to gain multidimensional expertise to shape and make the country future-ready in communication systems. Following the completion of three successful enrolment cycles, applications for Batch 4 are open till May 12, 2023. To learn more about the program and apply, click here: https://emasters.iitk.ac.in/communicationsystems About IIT Kanpur: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur was established on 2nd November 1959 by an Act of Parliament. The institute has a sprawling campus spread over 1055 acres with large pool of academic and research resources spanning across 19 departments, 22 centres, and 3 Interdisciplinary programs in engineering, science, design, humanities, and management disciplines with 540 full-time faculty members and approximately 9000 students. In addition to formal undergraduate and postgraduate courses, the institute has been active in research and development in areas of value to both industry and government. For more information, visit www.iitk.ac.in . View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/iit-kanpurs-emasters-degree-in-communication-systems-to-diversify-domain-expertise-301817241.html [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 06, 2023] ASSA ABLOY and the DOJ reach a settlement regarding the HHI acquisition STOCKHOLM, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, ASSA ABLOY and the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") have reached a settlement agreement related to ASSA ABLOY's acquisition of Spectrum Brands' Hardware and Home Improvement division ("HHI"). The settlement will put an end to the trial proceedings of the District Court for the District of Columbia. In connection with the settlement and pursuant to the Proposed Final Judgment filed with the court today, ASSA ABLOY will proceed with the divestment of Emtek and the Smart Residential business in the U.S. and Canada to Fortune Brands. Following this settlement, the HHI acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of the Mexican competition authority, which is the only outstanding regulatory condition. Closing of the transaction is expected by the end of June 2023 at the latest. "The settlement with DOJ is an important milestone towards closing of the HHI acquisition, which will empower us to increase investments in the residential segments, realize the synergies of MUSD 100 and strengthen our product offering for the benefit of consumers," says Nico Delvaux, President and CEO of ASSA ABLOY. Background On September 8, 2021, ASSA ABLOY announced it had signed an agreement to acquire the HHI division of Spectrum Brands (NYSE:SPB) for a purchase price of MUSD 4,300 on a cash and debt free basis. On September 15, 2022, the DOJ announced that it will seek to block the proposed acquisition of HHI. On December 1, 2022, ASSA ABLOY announced that it had entered into binding agreements with Fortune Brands for the divestment of Emtek and the Smart Residential business in the U.S. and Canada to fully resolve all the alleged competitive concerns surrounding the proposed acquisition of HHI. For more information, please contact: Nico Delvaux, President and CEO, tel. no: +46 8 506 485 82 Erik Pieder, CFO and Executive Vice President, tel. no: +46 8 506 485 72 Bjorn Tibell, Head of Investor Relations, tel. no: +46 70 275 67 68, e-mail: [email protected] This information is information that ASSA ABLOY AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 01.32 CET on 6 May 2023. About ASSA ABLOY The ASSA ABLOY Group is the global leader in access solutions. The Group operates worldwide with 52,000 employees and sales of SEK 121 billion. The Group has leading positions in areas such as efficient door openings, trusted identities and entrance automation. ASSA ABLOY's innovations enable safe, secure and convenient access to physical and digital places. Every day, we help billions of people experience a more open world. The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/7333/3765108/2038859.pdf Press release (PDF) View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/assa-abloy-and-the-doj-reach-a-settlement-regarding-the-hhi-acquisition-301817694.html [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 06, 2023] Creality Shows an Array of Hyper-speed 3D Printers at RAPID+TCT 2023 SHENZHEN, China, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Creality brings a striking line-up of high-speed 3D printer flagships to Chicago's McCormick Place from May 2 to 4 for RAPID + TCT 2023, the largest and most influential additive manufacturing (AM) event in North America. Among the dazzling exhibits of Creality, the K1 FDM printers with 600mm/s high speed and HALOT-MAGE resin printers with 10.3in 8K masking LCD take the spotlight and attract a bustling crowd of partners, media, and users. With its unrivaled influence in North America, RAPID + TCT is ideal for manufacturers from industries such as aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, and consumer products to find desired 3D printing technologies and solutions to conceive, test, improve, and manufacture their products. This year, 350+ innovative exhibitors gather in a 20000? area, meeting more than 10,000 visitors. Creality, a world leading brand of 3D printers, has attended RAPID+TCT many times. Like before, it presents the audience with the newest FDM 3D printers, resin 3D printers, and other ecosystem products. But this time, it gets much more attention with K1 series FDM printers and HALOT-MAGE series resin printers. K1 and K1 Max are dual FDM flagships sporting a bold printing speed of up to 600mm/s. Both of them feature a CoreXY structure and a 190g lightweight printhead for swift motion. Data from the Creality Lab reveal that the K1 series ramps up to 600mm/s in only 0.03 seconds at an acceleration of 20000mm/s. K1 Max is larger (300*300*300mm build volume than K1. It also adds an AI LiDAR for first-layer inspection and million-point precise leveling and also an AI Camera for failure detection and remote monitoring. Another highlight of the show is the twin stars of HALOT-MAGE and HALOT-MAGE PRO. They embody Creality's next-gen solution for smart resin printing. HALOT-MAGE is the basic version bragging a 10.3-inch masking LCD, an 8K high resolution, and an air purifier. Whereas, the HALOT-MAGE PRO excels with a 170mm/h thrilling speed, an innovative resin pump, and the Integral Light Source 3.0. This impressive pair marks a leapfrog of Creality since it released the first resin 3D printer in 2015. Also shown at the booth are Ender-5 S1, Ender-3 S1 Pro, Ender-3 V2 NEO, CR-M4, HALOT-SKY 2022, Sermoon D3, Sermoon V1 Pro, Pionext DJ89, Piocreat G5PRO, CR-Laser Falcon 2 (22W), CR-Scan Ferret, and Sonic pad. Together, they spur people's interest in 3D printing and demonstrate more that 3D printing can do. Each product wins its own fans and followers during the event. "North America has always been the base camp of Creality, and RAPID+TCT is the biggest 3D Printing event attended by Creality since the pandemic outbreak. It is a pleasure to see that our products are still liked by the users in North America. In the future, Creality will provide more and better products and services to global users so that they can enjoy the fun and benefits of 3D printing. We will do our best to bring 3D printing to every household", noted Fred Liu, Co-founder and Executive Director of Creality. About Creality Creality is a global leading brand of consumer-level and professional 3D printers. It has over 3,500,000 users in more than 100 countries and regions. Creality always takes users first and is committed to making 3D printing more accessible to makers, households, schools, and enterprises, so as to empower manufacturing, education, medical care, and architecture. Creality will continue to explore cutting-edge technologies and deliver better products and services to users. For details, please visit: www.creality.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/creality-shows-an-array-of-hyper-speed-3d-printers-at-rapidtct-2023-301816185.html SOURCE CREALITY 3D [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Another quick roundup of local crime news, alleged misdeeds and bittersweet news . . . Check TKC news gathering . . . Extra staff, technology helps KCPD Crime Lab drop case backlog by half KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department Crime Laboratory is catching up on a years-long case backlog. "We always let survivors know when they're making the decision that's best for them, that the criminal justice process is not a quick process," said Victoria Pickering, director of advocacy for the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assaul t (MOCSA). Olathe man now facing murder charge after medical examiner declares death homicide KANSAS CITY, Mo. - An Olathe man is charged with the murder of his stepson after the county's medical examiner declared the victim's death a homicide. Christopher Barwick, 51, had been charged in Johnson County District Court with attempted murder in the shooting of Bryson Smith, 26. Undercover officers arrest 22 in human trafficking sting INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - Twenty-two people have been arrested as a result of a human trafficking sting operation that took place April 25-26. The operation initiated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City focused on "identifying and rescuing victims who were being trafficked for sexual exploitation". KCK crews working to recover body found in Kansas River near GM plant KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Police are investigating after a body was located in the Kansas River Friday night in Kansas City, Kansas. Police received the report around 6 p.m. after a group of fishermen discovered the body in the area of the Fairfax General Motors plant and the 7th Street Trafficway bridge. KC Criminal Task Force honored with award Kansas City Police Department Chief Stacey Graves was the keynote speaker at the free luncheon, which was held at First Baptist Church of Platte City and was attended by more than 100 people. Fundraiser started to bury 6-year-old fatally shot while playing outside house in KCK Family members of the 6-year-old boy fatally shot while playing outside of his Kansas City, Kansas, home have started a fundraiser to help with burial costs. On Wednesday evening, the child, Sir'Antonio Brown, was killed, according to witnesses, when three masked gunmen exited a car in the 3100 block of Greeley Avenue and a volley of gunfire followed. KC advocacy group makes Mother's Day cards for families of homicide victims KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Holidays like Mother's Day can be a painful time for some families. Every year the day reminds Rosilyn Temple of the loss she suffered more than a decade ago. Temple lost her son, Antonio Thompson, 11 years ago. He was killed in a shooting in Kansas City. Developing . . . Right now hottie Sydney inspires another peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines. Check TKC news gathering . . . Sound Of Suds Missouri's First Black-owned Brewery Is Opening in Kansas City's Jazz Neighborhood - Just in Time for Summer Just as certain states dominate the craft beer industry - think Vermont and Maine, which have the most breweries per capita - so do certain people. According to a 2021 survey conducted by the Brewers Association, which represents small and independent craft brewers in the U.S., 93.5 percent of the craft brewery owners surveyed were white and 75.6 percent were male. Golden Ghetto Road Work Shawnee company brings paving technique to residential streets LENEXA, Kan. - The city of Lenexa, Kansas, hasn't used chip seal to resurface asphalt roads since 2016. Residents in municipalities across the Kansas City area have complained about chip seal leaving behind loose pebbles or gravel on recently refinished roads. Lenexa now uses a process called ultrathin bonded asphalt surface (UBAS). Working Life Inside The Loop Industrial coworking space eyes downtown KC; plans mix office, warehouse amenities A Northwest Arkansas-based startup plans to bring a new coworking concept to Kansas City this year - one that combines office and warehouse solutions, said CEO Brendan Howell. "We call it industrial coworking," explained Howell, co-founder and CEO of Loloft . "That's kind of a term that we've coined." Local Connection To King Chuck Flashback: That glittery night then-Prince Charles helped open a Kansas City landmark On a festive Friday night in September 2011, the man now known as King Charles III helped usher in a new era for the arts in Kansas City. It was a bit of a shock for the nearly 2,000 people who witnessed it. Hope Springs Eternal How the Kansas City weather might be helping the Royals' bats as of late The Royals can thank the sunny Kansas City weather for helping them score 23 runs in their three-game home stand against the Baltimore Orioles. Or so says Royals third baseman Matt Duffy ... at least partially. KC was ranked 29th in MLB with runs scored and dead last in team batting average before their series against the Orioles. Hottie Has Her Way With Hatch Sydney Sweeney makes out with a glass door in sexy Met Gala photo shoot Sydney Sweeney got hot and heavy with a glass door after the 2023 Met Gala Monday night. The "Euphoria" star, 25, ended her evening with a hotel suite photo shoot following her second appearance on the Met Gala carpet, which honored the late Karl Lagerfeld this year. White House Blame Game Amid Bad Numbers Biden complains about 'negative' press coverage to MSNBC, suggests it's to blame for bad polling President Biden complained about "negative" news coverage, suggesting it's to blame for his bad polling during an interview on MSNBC. "You're talking about real, practical solutions... Why do you think you don't get more credit for it? Why do you think your polling is where it is?" MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle asked on Friday. MAGA On Trail Trump's E. Jean Carroll deposition video shown at trial released Attorneys for the writer E. Jean Carroll released about 48 minutes of deposition video shown at trial in which former President Donald Trump was pressed about Carroll's claim that he raped her in the 1990s. The video was released after media organizations, including CBS News, asked the judge in the case to make it public. Tech Fights Vlad Ukraine downs Russian hypersonic missile with US Patriot KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow's most modern missiles. Insurrection Crackdown Cont'd Prosecutors seek 25-year prison sentence for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes The Justice Department is seeking 25 years in prison for Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as a violent plot to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House, according to court papers filed Friday. Skyfall By Way Of Servers AI pioneer says its threat to world may be 'more urgent' than climate change LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence could pose a "more urgent" threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday. Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the "godfathers of AI", recently announced he had quit Alphabet (GOOGL.O) after a decade at the firm, saying he wanted to speak out on the risks of the technology without it affecting his former employer. Stormy Hope To Confront MAGA Stormy Daniels 'Absolutely' Wants to Testify in Trump Trial Stormy Daniels is eagerly anticipating Donald Trump's criminal trial, even if it's still months away from kicking off. In an interview published Monday, the adult film actor told a reporter for Law & Crime that "absolutely" wants to testify in the case. "I'm the only one who hasn't lied, who hasn't changed my story," she said. Here's Waldo Party Time Waldo Spring Fling gives shoppers a festive pop-up experience Creating a place for vendors and artists to showcase and sell their work, the Waldo Area Business Association is hosting the 2nd Waldo Spring Fling on Saturday, May 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The outdoor festival will be focused on supporting the local community with a pop-up experience in the parking lot off... Warmup Starts Today FORECAST: Near record heat this weekend, slight chances for rain and thunderstorms It's all about the heat as we head into the weekend. Temperatures by Saturday morning will bottom out near 60 degrees before those numbers skyrocket into the upper 80s close to 90 degrees. The warm front responsible for bringing all of this warmth will be the focal point for showers and a few storms to form on Saturday. Ed Sheeran - Curtains is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now. Today Americans are FINALLY allowed to scoff at a fanciful public event because the traditions of pasty white people across the pond aren't at all sacred in this cowtown. Nevertheless . . . There's no denying that it's a great show and more than a few ladies are waking up early to watch it all go down. Take a peek . . . "Live coverage of the coronation of King Charles III begins Saturday morning at 5 a.m." Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . . Brits in Kansas City prepare to welcome first new monarch in 70 years For the first time in 70 years, the United Kingdom will crown a new monarch. Local Brits in Kansas City are planning to celebrate the occasion and for some, it's a weekend long event. It began Friday night as parishioners gathered at Saint Mary's Episcopal Church for a concert celebrating the new king's coronation. Children drinking PINTS! This is what AI thinks the coronation will be EXCLUSIVE: Glimpse the King's big day with these brilliant and bizarre images created by MidJourney AI AI artist David Lloyd-Jones reveals it took a lot of trial and error to create the pics... and many were unusable The upcoming coronation of King Charles III is the most hotly anticipated event of this year - so MailOnline asked an AI bot to provide a sneak peek... What to expect at the coronation of King Charles III - and how to watch it Royal fans and heads of state alike are arriving in London for the first British coronation in 70 years. On Saturday, King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, are expected to be crowned at Westminster Abbey - continuing a tradition that dates back more than 1,000 years. Church of England changes wording of public declaration in King Charles III's coronation, following backlash | CNN The Church of England has changed the wording of its invitation to the public to pledge allegiance to King Charles during his coronation, following a public backlash. The Archbishop of Canterbury will now give people the option of saying just "God save King Charles" rather than making the full pledge of allegiance. Among the Anti-Monarchists Republic, the group that wants to abolish the British monarchy, meets in a modern church in an ugly suburb of London, as if to make a point. Two weeks before the coronation of Charles III, 70 people gather to listen to Graham Smith, the CEO of Republic, and the progressive journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. Developing . . . The simplest way to benefit from a rising market is to buy an index fund. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. Investors in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) have tasted that bitter downside in the last year, as the share price dropped 23%. That's well below the market decline of 0.3%. Longer term shareholders haven't suffered as badly, since the stock is down a comparatively less painful 18% in three years. Since TransUnion has shed US$796m from its value in the past 7 days, let's see if the longer term decline has been driven by the business' economics. View our latest analysis for TransUnion To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Unfortunately TransUnion reported an EPS drop of 12% for the last year. This reduction in EPS is not as bad as the 23% share price fall. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, a year ago. You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values). We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of TransUnion's earnings, revenue and cash flow. A Different Perspective TransUnion shareholders are down 23% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 0.3%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 1.0% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Even so, be aware that TransUnion is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is a bit concerning... Story continues If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Here's the big problem . . . RESIDENTS DON'T HAVE MUCH TRUST OR FAITH IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ON THIS TOPIC AND KCMO HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF RIGGING THIS DECISION!!! Check the update and a preview of the garbage fire in action . . . Any landfill discussion needs to be regional. As a result, I will put forward a bill next week to ban the approval of any requests to build a landfill within Kansas City, Mayor Luca said. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Mayor Lucas to propose bill banning landfill approvals within Kansas City KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The City of Raymore, along with hundreds of community members in the area, had spoken against the idea of a landfill in south Kansas City that would be nearby its city limits. Mayor Quinton Lucas tweeted a statement Friday afternoon that may put some of their fears to rest, at least for now. The exhibit The Last Day of Work can be viewed on the exterior of the Mount Dennis Library for the month of May. Alderson says that this is the first step to bring photography back home to Kodak building. Venture Corporation Limited (SGX:V03) will pay a dividend of SGD0.50 on the 23rd of May. This payment means that the dividend yield will be 4.4%, which is around the industry average. View our latest analysis for Venture Venture's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions We like a dividend to be consistent over the long term, so checking whether it is sustainable is important. Venture was earning enough to cover the previous dividend, but it was paying out quite a large proportion of its free cash flows. The company is clearly earning enough to pay this type of dividend, but it is definitely focused on returning cash to shareholders, rather than growing the business. The next year is set to see EPS grow by 10.0%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 57%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend. Dividend Volatility The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least one cut in the last 10 years. The dividend has gone from an annual total of SGD0.50 in 2013 to the most recent total annual payment of SGD0.75. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 4.1% per annum over that time. The dividend has seen some fluctuations in the past, so even though the dividend was raised this year, we should remember that it has been cut in the past. The Dividend's Growth Prospects Are Limited With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share is growing. Unfortunately, Venture's earnings per share has been essentially flat over the past five years, which means the dividend may not be increased each year. In Summary Overall, it's nice to see a consistent dividend payment, but we think that longer term, the current level of payment might be unsustainable. While Venture is earning enough to cover the dividend, we are generally unimpressed with its future prospects. Overall, we don't think this company has the makings of a good income stock. Story continues It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Venture that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Is Venture 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. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here The United Arab Emirates has dispatched 30 tonnes of urgent food supplies to war-torn Sudan to support families affected by the ongoing conflict. Read More: A Third Evacuation Plane From Sudan Lands in the United Arab Emirates Read More: Sheikh Mohammed Provides Support for Sudanese People Stranded in UAE This move comes under the directives of the Gulf nation's leadership as part of the UAE's commitments to humanitarian assistance and strengthening global cooperation and solidarity. The initiative will contribute to international relief efforts and help ease the humanitarian suffering caused by the conflict in Sudan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC) previously highlighted its partnership with other nations to advance the interests of the Sudanese people in a statement that emphasized the UAE's commitment to offering aid and support to nations in need. The UAE has been working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to dispatch medical supplies from the International Humanitarian City in Dubai to Sudan. Germany and Denmark intend to transfer 80 Leopard I battle tanks to Ukraine as early as this month. Thats according to Radio Poland citing Acting the Minister of Defense of Denmark, Troels Lund Poulsen, as saying, Ukrinform reports. "The delivery, the first batch of which will be made now, is very large," Poulsen said. It is noted that all transferred tanks will be ready for use by Ukrainian defenders by June 1. "Leopard I tanks have really good fire and transport features," said the acting minister of defense of Denmark. Radio Poland explains that Denmark's Leopard I tanks were decommissioned in 2005, being replaced by the more modern Leopard II model. Since then, they have been stored in hangars. "In addition to the tanks, spare parts and ammunition will also be handed over," the article says. It should be noted that Ukrainian tank crews are already training on these vehicles abroad so they will be able to man them immediately. After a bomb set off in a car in the Russian regional center of Nizhny Novgorod, reports say Zakhar Prilepin, an avid supporter of aggression against Ukraine since 2014, was left gravely injured. Thats according to the 112 Telegram channel, Ukrinform reports "The writer is being provided with medical assistance. Emergency services are working at the scene," the report says. Prilepin was reportedly on the passenger seat when the bomb exploded, while the driver was killed. Russian media specify that the explosive device was planted under one of the car seats. Roadblocks have been set up in the region following the incident as law enforcers are on a hunt for those complicit in the bomb attack. Russias award-winning writer Zakhar Prilepin is a long-time active supporter of aggression against Ukraine. He also took direct part in creating, training, and supporting terrorist armed groups in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. Prilepin is also known for his militaristic, anti-Ukrainian propaganda spun across Russian televised media. On the Day of the Infantry of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated the infantry soldiers and presented them with state awards and honorary decorations. "Today, Ukraine celebrates the bravery and strength of its infantry soldiers - the very thing that gives our country the most significant results and the invincibility of our defense. Today it is a great honor for me to congratulate you on Infantry Day, it is an honor for me to daily represent in relations with the world, in particular, our service members, such as our infantry soldiers exemplary Ukrainian bravery, exemplary Ukrainian resilience" Zelensky said, the Presidents Office reports. The President noted that it is not easy for the world to get rid of the long-standing illusions about the allegedly invincible Russia, but Ukrainian soldiers, in particular infantry soldiers, are overcoming this seemingly invincible evil and are changing history with their resilience and courage, uniting the world around Ukraine. Zelensky noted that great warriors gave their lives for Ukraine to live and win. He wished the infantry soldiers to continue to be a reliable, unbreakable foundation of the heroic defense of Ukraine, and also presented state awards on the occasion of the holiday. "The state stands strong because you fight with dignity together with all Ukrainian defense and security forces! I thank you for this! Zelensky added. The Head of State presented the infantry soldiers with state awards and awarded honorary decorations to three military units. On May 6, Ukrainian infantry soldiers celebrate their professional holiday the Day of the Infantry of the Armed Forces of Ukraine which was established in 2019 by fifth president Petro Poroshenko. Photo: president.gov.ua Video: Zelenskiy/official The Cabinet of Ministers has invited Bahrain to take part in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine and offered Bahraini business representatives to invest in the Ukrainian economy and implement joint projects. According to Ukrinform, this issue was discussed at a meeting between Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, the Ukrainian Economy Ministry reported. "Although the war is still going on, the government is focused on post-war reconstruction. In particular, the focus is on the development of the energy sector, agriculture, the defense industry and digitalization," Svyrydenko said. She invited Bahraini business representatives to consider participating in investment projects, including in the large-scale privatization that will begin in Ukraine in the near future. Aluminum production is a promising sector for Bahrain. The Ukrainian side presented the possibilities of the Diia state digital services website and offered the Bahraini government cooperation in the development of a similar digital service and further cooperation in the field of IT. In addition, the Bahraini side was invited to participate in the Ukraine Recovery Conference that will be held in London in June 2023. Bahrain's foreign minister, in turn, praised the prospects for the development of mutual relations between the two countries. He recognized the potential for cooperation in the field of digital technologies, especially in the creation and use of artificial intelligence, both at the government level and in the business sphere, as well as the establishment of cultural ties between the citizens of both countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has held a meeting with the delegation of the American state of Utah, led by President of the State Senate Stuart Adams. The delegation also included representatives of business and charitable organizations. The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. Such visits are signals of support for our country not only at the national level, but also at the regional level, the President of Ukraine noted. On behalf of the Ukrainian people, the Head of State thanked the United States for the support provided to Ukraine. I would like to thank you on behalf of the Ukrainian people, because our society, we all feel and rely on your support the support of the United States from the very beginning of the full-scale war, from the very beginning of the Russian aggression, Zelensky emphasized. According to the Office of the President of Ukraine, Zelensky mentioned that the United States helps Ukraine not only at the federal government level but also at the level of individual states. This includes, among other things, housing reconstruction projects, assistance to internally displaced persons, and humanitarian support. Addressing the delegation, the Head of State urged American businesses to actively invest in Ukraine and create new jobs as soon as now. It is important for us to create new jobs. If you can help with this, please do so. This is also a contribution to our victory, Zelensky said. In his words, Ukraine needs the support of private businesses to rebuild homes, schools and universities destroyed by the aggressor, as well as the energy infrastructure ruined due to Russian missile terror. I urge you to invest in the Ukrainian agricultural industry and the IT sector. Such cooperation will be mutually beneficial, Zelensky stressed. Among other things, President Zelensky briefed the representatives of Utah on the situation in Ukraine. The parties exchanged views on the steps that the representatives of Utah could take to help Ukraine defeat the aggressor. Additionally, Zelensky emphasized that he would welcome the deepening of bilateral cooperation with American businesses in the field of arms production and development of new defense technologies. We are open to this. We invite you, the President of Ukraine added. Following the meeting, the Head of State concluded that Ukraine has enough opportunities humanitarian support, assistance in reconstruction, political cooperation to work together for the common interests of Ukrainians and Americans. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Sauli Niinisto of Finland have held a joint press conference in Helsinki. The event was broadcast by the Office of the President of Ukraine, according to Ukrinform. Zelensky arrived in Finland on Wednesday to hold talks with his Finnish counterpart and take part in a daylong Nordic summit. On the sidelines of the summit, the Ukrainian leader will hold bilateral meetings with the prime ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Photo: Twitter TORONTO, May 5, 2023 /CNW/ - Voltage Metals Corp. ("Voltage" or the "Company") (CSE: VOLT) (OTC: VLTMF) announces that its application for a temporary management cease trade order ("MCTO") under National Policy 12-203 Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203") was granted by the Ontario Securities Commission effective May 2, 2023. Voltage Metals Logo (CNW Group/Voltage Metals Corp.) As previously announced on April 18, 2023, the Company applied for the MCTO on the basis that it would be unable to file its annual financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and the required certifications (the "Issuer Statements") on or before the prescribed filing deadline of May 1, 2023. The Company underwent a business combination transaction in its last financial year (the completion of which was previously announced on March 11, 2022), adding to the complexity of the audit of the Issuer Statements and contributing to the filing delay. The Company's recent change of auditors has also contributed to the delay. The MCTO prohibits trading in securities of the Company by its CEO and CFO until the Issuer Statements are filed and the MCTO is lifted. While the MCTO remains in effect, the general public will continue to be able to trade in the Company's listed securities. The Company expects to have the audit of the Issuer Statements completed no later than June 30, 2023. The Company confirms that it will satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines set out under Sections 9 and 10 of NP 12-203 until the Issuer Statements are filed. About Voltage Metals Voltage is a critical metals exploration and development company focused on Canadian projects near existing or past-producing mines. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by management. Although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information. There can be no assurance that they will prove to be correct. By its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause the actual results and expectations to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date hereof, and to not use such forward- looking information for anything other than its intended purpose. Management of the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Story continues SOURCE Voltage Metals Corp. Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2023/05/c0450.html The Kingdom of Bahrain believes that the ideas of Pope Francis, the peace plan of President Volodymyr Zelensky and China's proposals can be used as a basis for negotiations to reach a settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and is ready to play its mediation role in them Al Zayani, Bahrain's foreign minister, said this during a joint press statement with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "During the talks, we discussed international efforts to end the war, in particular the efforts of His Holiness the Pope, the recent proposals of President Zelensky of Ukraine and the proposals made by the People's Republic of China. We believe that all these efforts deserve attention and can serve as a basis for negotiations to reach a settlement that respects the rights and interests of all parties and restores security and stability in Europe. Bahrain is ready to play a role in this area," said Al Zayani. Read also: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain is on first visit to Ukraine He added that he reaffirmed the importance of continuing efforts to support humanitarian operations related to refugees and the protection of civilians, as well as the importance of expanding and extending the agreement on grain exports "from Russia and Ukraine," which is important for global food security. According to the Bahraini Foreign Minister, during the talks with the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, they also discussed the development of the global political and security situation, ongoing wars and conflicts and their devastating economic, social and humanitarian consequences, especially in the Middle East. In this context, he emphasized the importance of concerted international efforts to promote peace and security in the region. As Ukrinform reported earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky received Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, who arrived on a visit to Ukraine. This is the first visit of the Bahraini foreign minister to Ukraine since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in July 1992. The West is entering an era of strategic competition between democratic nations on the one hand and autocratic rulers on the other. This was stated by the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, during a lecture at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, where he studied years ago, Ukrinform reports with reference to CTK. As an example, the head of state cited Russia, which is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine, and China, which is economically strengthening its influence around the world. Democratic-minded countries must cooperate in order to successfully oppose the two powers, Pavel is convinced. He recalled that, when he studied there in 2005, international terrorism was discussed a lot after the collapse of the bipolar world, Soviet Union, and Warsaw Pact. Most believed that only rosy times, full of cooperation and understanding, await the world. At that time, no one had any idea that another confrontation at the level of major powers was going to unfold, especially between nuclear powers. Russia is interested not only in Ukraine, the Czech leader is convinced. He noted that Russian officials make no secret of their intentions to restore the greatness of the former USSR. Moscow is also increasing its influence in Africa through their Wagner Group mercenaries. China, in turn, uses not military, but economic instruments. As an example, the president cited the fact that Beijing partially or fully owns a number of critical infrastructure facilities in Europe, including sea ports. If democracies want to preserve the current world order with international legal norms, human rights and the methods and procedures of cooperation, they will have to unite and create a sufficient counterweight to China, Russia, and other countries that are now forming an anti-western block, Pavel explained. According to him, it is not only about Europe or North America, but also about other countries, for example, those in the Indo-Pacific region. These countries, Pavel noted, are interested in developing cooperation with Europe to create a balance in their region in relation to China. While they are unwilling to create a conflict or confrontation with China, they understand that more trade and contacts with the countries of Europe and North America will be mutually beneficial, said the politician. Wrapping up his lecture, he added that he sees competition in the field of trade and taxes between Europe and the U.S. as counterproductive. The European Union and the United States must overcome "minor issues" in order to create a sufficient economic counterweight to China, otherwise Beijing will use this split to successfully advance its interests, Pavel is convinced. The president of the Czech Republic is in London to take part in the ceremonies on the occasion of the coronation of King Charles III. Earlier, the president of the Czech Republic, who is a former NATO general, paid a visit to Ukraine. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Szijarto, accused the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, of efforts to promote war. This was reported by the Hungarian publication Telex, Ukrinform saw. "The United States is clearly trying to push Hungary into the war camp but Hungary belongs to the global pro-peace majority," Szijjarto told a press conference on Friday. According to him, Pressman is famous for war propaganda. It is noted that the U.S. ambassador met with refugees and humanitarian volunteers near the Ukrainian border. Since the beginning of the war, Szijarto has visited Russia five times to discuss energy issues but not once has he met with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba. While other countries are making a choice in favor of independence from Russian energy, Hungary is strengthening its ties with Russias energy giant Gazprom. Szijarto responded by saying that he sends ambassadors to other countries "to improve bilateral relations, not to consider them smarter than the locals." "We understand that Ambassador Pressman believes we should deal with the war," said the head of the Foreign Ministry. That is why he is engaged in war propaganda. You can see it on his posters, you can see it in his statements, he is an expert in war propaganda. But we don't want any of that because we don't want to deal with war, we want to deal with peace." It should be recalled that Ambassador Pressman, who has been in the position since September 2022, has repeatedly criticized the Hungarian government and Foreign Minister Szijjarto for their openly pro-Russia stance. Russian aggression bears the signs of ecocide, which threatens not only Ukraine but the biological diversity and healthy environment of the whole of Europe, for which the aggressor must be held accountable at the international level. Thats according to a conclusion passed at the plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). While the war in Ukraine is dragging on, concerns are mounting about the transboundary environmental damage it has caused. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted an own-initiative opinion at its April plenary on the right to a healthy environment in the European Union especially in the context of the war in Ukraine calling for criminalisation of Russia's actions under European law as well as environmental protection to safeguard fundamental rights, says the relevant press release. As noted, the criminal war waged by Russia against Ukraine is taking a severe toll on Ukraines ecosystems, with reports indicating that large areas of forest have been destroyed and air and water pollution has been widespread. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat, Ukraine is home to 35% of Europe's biodiversity despite only occupying 6% of its territory. However, the war is threatening this rich natural heritage, with environmental damage causing harm to ecosystems and human health and endangering agricultural production. "The European Economic and Social Committee, together with the European Parliament, calls for the recognition of ecocide as a criminal offence under EU law. The EESC believes that this would help hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine and prevent similar environmental disasters from happening in the future," the document says. The members of the Committee urged the EU to also document the crimes committed by the Russians against the environment, which will become not only the basis for bringing criminals to justice but also a reference point for post-war reconstruction efforts in Ukraine. "[T]he right to a healthy environment is essential to the social and economic wellbeing of people in Europe and worldwide..... The EESC calls on all EU Member States and institutions to improve the effectiveness of existing legal tools and deepen their efforts to ensure respect for the right to a healthy environment. With the ongoing conflict in Ukraine highlighting the fragility of our ecosystems, it is more important than ever to protect our natural heritage and safeguard the health and wellbeing of our citizens," emphasized the participants in the plenary session. The European Economic and Social Committee is an EU advisory body comprised of representatives of various social and professional groups from across the EU. Its main task is to generalize the opinions and initiatives put forward by citizens of EU countries, and defend their interests before key European institutions, including the Council of the EU, European Commission, and European Parliament. Photo: Getty Images President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated King Charles III on his coronation and wished him many years of successful reign. On behalf of the entire Ukrainian people, I congratulate Their Majesties, true friends of Ukraine, on this historic event that begins a new era of the British monarchy. I wish King Charles III many years of successful reign, and the people of the United Kingdom prosperity and joint victories with us, Zelensky said in his evening address. He noted that the Prime Minister of Ukraine and the First Lady of Ukraine are representing our country in the United Kingdom today, where the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla took place. The President also thanked all the Britons for their support. It was an honor for me to meet His Majesty in person in London, I remember our conversation, I remember the sincere emotion for Ukraine and Ukrainians, the President said. As reported, King Charles III was crowned at Westminster Abbey today. Few nonagenarians would have people clamoring for their take on artificial intelligence. But Warren Buffett, 92, and Charlie Munger, 99, provided their insights on todays hottest technology at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on Saturday, with a rapt audience looking on. More from Fortune: 5 side hustles where you may earn over $20,000 per yearall while working from home Looking to make extra cash? This CD has a 5.15% APY right now Buying a house? Here's how much to save This is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home Buffett acknowledged A.I.s "amazing" capabilities. He played around with OpenAI's ChatGPT when ex-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates showed it to him three months ago. (Microsoft has invested heavily in OpenAI.) But, the Berkshire CEO added: When something can do all kinds of things I get a little bit worried, because I know we wont be able to un-invent it. We did inventfor very, very good reasonthe atom bomb in World War II, and it was enormously important that we did so. But is it good for the next 200 years of the world that the ability....has been unleashed?" He noted that Albert Einstein said the atomic bomb changes everything but how men think. (The exact quote was, The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.) Similarly with A.I., Buffett said, "it can change everything in the world except how men think and behave." As for Munger, the Berkshire vice chairman expressed his characteristic skepticism toward the technology. "I am personally skeptical of some of the hype that has gone into artificial intelligence," he said. "I think old-fashioned intelligence works pretty well. (That line drew applause from the audience.) There wont be anything in A.I. that replaces the G, Buffett added. Ill state that unqualifiedly. AGI, or artificial general intelligence, refers to A.I. getting to a point (eventually) where it can figure out a solution to an unfamiliar task. OpenAI defines it as highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work. Story continues Theres little doubt about the A.I. hype that Munger referred to. In first-quarter earnings calls so far this year, A.I. has been mentioned more than 1,070 times, according to Bloomberg, more than doubling from a year ago, as companies attempt to associate themselves with the technology. One exception has been Apple, which addressed A.I. in its earning call only once, when CEO Tim Cook briefly answered a question about it in the Q&A session. Cook said A.I. is huge but cautioned its very important to be deliberate and thoughtful about deploying the technology. Buffett, as it happens, heaped praise upon Apple at todays conference, calling it better than any other company in Berkshire Hathaways portfolio. Buffett also shared his thoughts about A.I. this week with local station WOWT in Omaha, Nebraska, where the conference is held. Its not going to tell me which stocks to buy or anything of the sort," Buffett said. "It can tell me every stock that meets a certain criteria, or a criteria, in three seconds or something. But its got decided limitations in some ways. Its very interesting, he continued. It can translate the Constitution into Spanish in one second. But the computer could not tell jokesI told Bill to bring it back when I can ask it, How are you going to get rid of the human race? I want to see what it saysand pull the plug out before it does it. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com More from Fortune: 5 side hustles where you may earn over $20,000 per yearall while working from home Looking to make extra cash? This CD has a 5.15% APY right now Buying a house? Here's how much to save This is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home (@FahadShabbir) ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 06th May, 2023) An evacuation plane has arrived in the United Arab Emirates this afternoon, carrying 176 nationals from seven countries and a number of international media professionals out of Sudan, which has seen violent clashes since the middle of last month. The UAE continues the process of prioritising the evacuation of the most vulnerable groups, including the sick, children, the elderly and women. The UAE will host evacuees and provide them with all necessary support and assistance prior to their safe transfer to their home countries. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC) confirmed the success of the evacuation operation, which has been carried out by the UAE as part of its humanitarian efforts and commitment to strengthening global cooperation and solidarity, and in continuation of its humanitarian approach based on providing protection for civilians and facilitating aid and assistance to countries in times of need. The Ministry stressed the UAE's commitment to work with its partners and the international community to serve the interests of the Sudanese people, stressing the importance of intensifying efforts to secure a ceasefire and to return to the political process and dialogue to achieve progress in the transitional phase, in order to reach the desired political stability and security in Sudan. The UAE continues to provide hosting and care services for the evacuees after their evacuation to the city of Port Sudan. Moreover, the UAE has sent two relief planes to Sudan on Friday; the first, in cooperation with the World Health Organisation, carrying 30 tonnes of urgent medical supplies, and the second carrying 30 tonnes of food and relief supplies. Madrid, May 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th May, 2023 ) :Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz celebrated his 20th birthday on Friday by reaching the Madrid Open final, likening himself to "a bull" in his straight sets win over Borna Coric. The world number two was at his best to defeat the Croatian 6-4, 6-3. He will face Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff, the world number 65, who had originally been knocked out in the qualifying round last weekend before winning a reprieve, in Sunday's final. "The truth is it's incredible to turn 20 with you, every year it's my birthday here," said Alcaraz after his 28th win in 30 matches this year and 18th on clay. "I turned 18 against Rafa (Nadal), my 19th birthday I won an incredible match against (Cameron) Norrie, and 20 here, getting to the final, each year is so special." Alcaraz said he called upon some of the inner motivation which helped him triumph at the US Open in New York last year when he captured his maiden Grand Slam crown. "There was a moment when I repeated what I repeated at the US Open, that I'm a bull, and that I could do it, and it helped me," he explained. Alcaraz, reaching his fourth Masters 1000 final, broke for a 3-2 lead in a tight first set and served it out. The US Open champion broke for 2-1 in the second set and after world number 20 Coric immediately hit back, did so again for a 3-2 lead, which he consolidated. Alcaraz sealed the match with another break when Coric went long, ensuring he reached the final only dropping one set en route, against Emil Ruusuvuori. "The truth is that Coric is such a tough player, you could see that during the whole match, but especially at the start of the first set," said Alcaraz. "It was 2-2 after almost 40 minutes, really long rallies, high intensity. " The top seed was able to celebrate with a birthday cake, offered to him by the tournament organisers after his victory. The only dampener for Alcaraz was news that Spanish compatriot and 22-time major winner Rafael Nadal would miss next week's Italian Open through injury. Nadal hasn't played since the Australian Open in January due to a hip injury and is now a serious doubt for the French Open in three weeks' time and where the 36-year-old has been champion on 14 occasions. - 'World wants Nadal' - "I hope to see him at Roland Garros 100 percent. The world wants to see him at 100 percent," said Alcaraz. Struff, 33, made only his second career final by defeating Russia's Aslan Karatsev who had beaten him in qualifying in the Spanish capital. However, having been allocated a place in the main draw after injury pull-outs, Struff avenged that loss in Friday's semi-final. He came from a set down to see off 121st-ranked Karatsev 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and become the first 'lucky loser' to go all the way to a Masters final. Struff, whose only other final appearance resulted in a runner-up finish in Munich in 2021, claimed victory on a fifth match point. He fired 37 winners including 15 aces in his two-hour 19-minute win over the Russian. Struff is aiming to become the second lucky loser to win an ATP title this season after Kwon Soon-woo in Adelaide in January. The German, who upset fifth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals, was the third lucky loser to reach the semi-finals at a Masters 1000 event, joining Thomas Johansson in Toronto in 2004 and Lucas Pouille in Rome in 2016. The Madrid women's final between the world number one Iga Swiatek and number two, Aryna Sabalenka, takes place on Saturday. (@FahadShabbir) ISLAMABAD, May 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th May, 2023 ) :Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that during his address at the Commonwealth Leaders' Meeting yesterday, he made a case for re-energizing Commonwealth with a focus on youth empowerment. "I shared with the world leaders the details of our Youth Programme that is based on four Es: education, Employment, Engagement & Environment. Women & members of minority communities are special focus of the loan scheme," the prime minister posted on his Twitter handle. (@Abdulla99267510) Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has pointed out that this year marks the completion of a decade of CPEC which has accelerated socio economic development, job creation and improvement of people's livelihoods in Pakistan. ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-May 6th, 2023) Pakistan and China have reiterated their abiding commitment to the high quality development of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. This came at the fourth round of Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue in Islamabad on Saturday which was co chaired by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. Later speaking at a joint press stakeout along with the Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari pointed out that this year marks the completion of a decade of CPEC which has accelerated socio economic development, job creation and improvement of people's livelihoods in Pakistan. He said this corridor project remains a win win economic initiative opened to all investors around the world. He said Pakistan remains profoundly grateful to China for its generous and timely assistance as we continue to grapple with the headwinds in the global economy. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Pakistan and China have always supported each other on issues of core national interests in both bilateral engagements and at multilateral forums. He said we appreciate China's steadfast support on all our issues including its principled position on Jammu and Kashmir dispute. . The Foreign Minister said the partnership between the two countries has grown over the years and enjoys consensus across generations and political divide. He said we have had an in-depth exchange of views on the entire spectrum of bilateral cooperation. We agreed to the significance of this partnership for the mutual benefit of our two nations in the face of new developments. He said both the countries have stood with each other for decades and will continue to stand with each other in the decades to come. He said Pakistan will continue to firmly support China on all core issues of its national interests. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Pakistan China friendship is irreversible. The mutual warmth and trust between the peoples of two countries is a shining example of multi-cultural cooperation. This friendship is a historic reality and consensus choice of two nations. The Foreign Minister emphatically stated that Pakistan is against bloc politics or greater power competition of any kind. He said Pakistan looks forward to working together with all countries to address common challenges of development and connectivity. He said we are committed to remaining engaged with China to promote cooperation in the light of emerging global concerns like human induced climate change. He said both the countries during dialogue today also noted that peace and stability in Afghanistan remains vital for socio economic development, connectivity and prosperity in the region. He said we will continue to work together with all stakeholders for a peaceful, stable , prosperous and unitedAfghanistan. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The decision on Syria's readmission to the League of Arab States (LAS) may be made at an extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the organization's member states on May 7, Jamal Rushdie, a spokesman for the LAS secretary general, told Sputnik TUNIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2023) The decision on Syria's readmission to the League of Arab States (LAS) may be made at an extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the organization's member states on May 7, Jamal Rushdie, a spokesman for the LAS secretary general, told Sputnik. "The decision (on Syria's readmission to the LAS) may be made. This matter is under consideration. The decision may be made tomorrow ... all members (of the organization) will be taking part in the ministerial meeting," Rushdie said, when asked if the meeting might decide on the restoration of Syria's membership. On Friday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told CNN that there were enough votes among Arab League members to bring Syria back into the organization. The 22-nation Arab League suspended Syria's membership in 2011 after a war broke out in the country. Several member states then recalled their ambassadors from Syria in protest against Syrian President Bashar Assad's policies, accusing his government of cracking down on demonstrators in the country. Years later, some of the nations have begun taking steps to reengage with Damascus and reopen embassies. (@FahadShabbir) Leaders in the United States and Europe sent congratulations to Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation on Saturday, while China called for "cooperation" and "peace" Paris, France, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th May, 2023 ) :Leaders in the United States and Europe sent congratulations to Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation on Saturday, while China called for "cooperation" and "peace". - US hails 'enduring friendship' - US President Joe Biden, whose country was represented at the lavish ceremony in London by First Lady Jill Biden, paid tribute to the "enduring friendship between the US and the UK". He tweeted that the countries' relationship was "a source of strength for both our peoples" and that he was "proud" his wife could be there for the "historic occasion". In an interview aired Friday, he said he would meet Charles, 74, in July to talk in particular about environmental issues. - China urges ' Cooperation and peace' - Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the UK to work for "a stable and mutually beneficial... relationship" with his country after recent strains in their relations. "China and Britain, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, should take a long-term and strategic view to jointly promote the historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation," he said. - EU sees 'symbol of stability - The head of the European Union's executive, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, called the coronation "a testament to the enduring strength of the British monarchy". "A symbol of stability and continuity," von der Leyen tweeted, alongside a picture of her at the pageant-filled ceremony in Westminster Abbey. EU Council President Charles Michel said the members of the 27-nation bloc, which the UK voted to leave in 2016, "appreciate the king's vast experience to promote understanding and respect" and "his tireless efforts to promote the sustainability of our planet". - Germany praises climate 'ally' - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is in Kenya for a visit, also welcomed the newly crowned monarch's interest in tackling climate change. "(It) is very important that he is someone who is committed to a close cooperation between Great Britain and the European Union, and who also has his own personal agenda to advance climate protection," Scholz said. "That will also help us." - 'Friends of France' - French President Emmanuel Macron, who also attended the London ceremony, sent his "congratulations" to Charles and Camilla, calling them "friends of France". "Proud to be with you on this historic day," he tweeted. - 'Best wishes' from Rome - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose country was represented at the coronation by President Sergio Mattarella, sent her "best wishes to King Charles III, to Queen Camilla and the entire British people". In a message on social media, she noted the symbolism of the Italian craftsmanship involved in the rare mosaic floor of Westminster Abbey. She said the ancient "Cosmati pavement" on which the Coronation Chair was placed was "masterfully created" and "there to amaze the world and to recall the historic and fruitful cooperation between Italy and the UK, which we are certain... will further strengthen with King Charles III". - Friend of Greece -The foreign ministry in Greece, where Charles's father Prince Philip was born in 1921 on the island of Corfu, tweeted in English to "warmly congratulate HM King Charles III, a proven friend of Greece, in his Coronation day". It wished him "success in his duties" and said it was "looking forward to continuing excellent cooperation and further deepening bilateral historic relations". If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing amount of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. With that in mind, the ROCE of Teck Guan Perdana Berhad (KLSE:TECGUAN) looks great, so lets see what the trend can tell us. What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)? Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. To calculate this metric for Teck Guan Perdana Berhad, this is the formula: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 0.33 = RM43m (RM174m - RM46m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to January 2023). So, Teck Guan Perdana Berhad has an ROCE of 33%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 11% earned by companies in a similar industry. Check out our latest analysis for Teck Guan Perdana Berhad roce Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Teck Guan Perdana Berhad's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Teck Guan Perdana Berhad has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow. What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us The trends we've noticed at Teck Guan Perdana Berhad are quite reassuring. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 33%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 165%. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Teck Guan Perdana Berhad thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital. Story continues In another part of our analysis, we noticed that the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets decreased to 26%, which broadly means the business is relying less on its suppliers or short-term creditors to fund its operations. Therefore we can rest assured that the growth in ROCE is a result of the business' fundamental improvements, rather than a cooking class featuring this company's books. The Bottom Line A company that is growing its returns on capital and can consistently reinvest in itself is a highly sought after trait, and that's what Teck Guan Perdana Berhad has. And with a respectable 61% awarded to those who held the stock over the last five years, you could argue that these developments are starting to get the attention they deserve. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if Teck Guan Perdana Berhad can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead. If you want to continue researching Teck Guan Perdana Berhad, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered. If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning high returns on equity. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here PHNOM PENH Cambodias succession wont be rushed. When speculation swirled a couple years ago that the prime ministers eldest son would take over in this summers election, the premier slapped it down in a speech from Prey Veng. I am still standing, so whats the point of my son being the prime minister, Hun Sen said in late 2021. So, his possible [premiership] is not before 2028. It is more likely to take place between 2028 and even 2030. He must wait. Yet the national election this July will mark another major step in that process. Lt. Gen. Hun Manet, a career military man, will for the first time officially step into the political arena, as the top candidate on the Cambodian Peoples Party parliamentary ticket for Phnom Penh. Its not the end of the Hun Sen era. But to many, the lights are dimming as the prime minister approaches 40 years in power. And as Hun Manet seeks to build support inside and outside the ruling party, the spotlight is moving to the 46-year-old West Point graduate as he steps out from his fathers imposing shadow. I can say that we are impressed with his educational background and other qualities, Son Chhay, a longtime opposition figure now among the Candlelight Partys deputy presidents, told VOA Khmer in early February. But we will have to wait and see how he seeks to resolve the countrys pressing issues including corruption, judicial independence to name a few. Hun Manet is among a new crop of CPP leaders mostly children of the old guard that must execute a delicate balancing act in the years ahead. Convince the public that they have a modern vision for Cambodia, without making changes that undermine the patronage network propping up the ruling party. [U]ntil Hun Sen dies and passes from the scene permanently, he will have a dominant role in Cambodian politics. Even if he is not formally serving as prime minister anymore, he will still be working behind the scenes to ensure a stable balance of power within the CPP, Sebastian Strangio, author of Hun Sens Cambodia, told VOA Khmer from Australia. So, I do think that change, if the transition of power is carried out smoothly without opposition from within the CPP, I predict that it probably won't change a lot, Strangio said. Succession Planning Manet officially became a four-star general in April, placing him alongside military leaders who are mostly his father's age, many of which cut their teeth as young Khmer Rouge fighters before joining the Vietnamese forces who fought against Pol Pots regime in the 1980s. Any internal angst over his meteoric rise in the armed forces has remained private, while Manet has also taken on a growing political portfolio. He is a member of the ruling partys powerful permanent committee. And for the past decade, Hun Manet, along with his youngest brother Hun Many, has been in charge of efforts to expand the CPPs support among Cambodian youth, both at home and abroad. Young Cambodians were a driving force behind the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Partys success in 2013, both inside Cambodia and in countries such as Thailand and South Korea with large populations of Cambodian migrant workers. As the CPP systematically crushed dissent in the ensuing years, Hun Manet and Many ramped up activities and incentives for youth to connect with the ruling party and its new generation of leaders. As Hun Manet has been tapped to replace his father, dozens of CPP progeny are moving into positions of power. Among the most notable recent examples, Dith Tina, the 44-year-old French educated son of the Supreme Court president, was appointed to lead the Agriculture Ministry late last year. And Thong Rothasak, the son of the tourism minister, was appointed in early April to be secretary of state of that ministry. The change of guard, after more than 40 years, is a monumental event. With the coming to power of a new generation of PhD holders, we can expect the incoming government to relate in new ways to society compared to their parents generation, and for power to speak in new ways, said Astrid Noren-Nilsson, an associate senior lecturer at the Center for East and Southeast Asian Studies, at Lund University in Sweden. The new guard, that does not have the historical association with the period of civil war and competing factions, has new possibilities to project themselves as representatives of the nation as a whole which is exactly what they have set out to do, she added. However, the backdrop of this years election underscores that challenge. In early March, opposition leader Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years under house arrest. Later that month, opposition activists were arrested for social media posts criticizing the prime minister. And in February, Hun Sen shut down Voice of Democracy, with the Information Ministry retracting its license to operate as an independent news outlet. VOD was one of the countrys last independent media outlets. Strangio agreed the ascension of younger CPP leaders represents an important generational change that gives a certain optimism for a change in world views and attitude, but he said the maintenance of the CPP-decade-old patronage system is going to foreclose any major degree of reform. I think that these young individuals, even if their outlooks are different in some respects from those of their parents and grandparents, I do think that they will continue to have to work within the logic of the system, which in many ways has been designed to resist political reform. Like Father, Like Son Over the past two years, Hun Manets public appearances have skyrocketed. He regularly speaks at inaugurations for hospitals, schools, Buddhist temples, factories, and even hotels a role dutifully carried out by his father for decades. As part of his official duties, ostensibly as commander of the Royal Cambodian Army, he also met and spoke with 29 senior defense officials and at least 10 world leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Even Hun Manet's social media platforms look like his fathers, with a news feed filled with video clips and commentary boasting of the CPPs legacy of peace and economic development. The images and messages share with his 1.1 million Facebook followers painted a picture of an energetic leader, a fearless army commander, a loving father, and a grateful son. War and internal conflict are the greatest enemy to our nation. Dont let this enemy happen to us again. We must work together to protect peace and our national unity at all costs. What allowed us to attain and maintain peace is the prime minister Hun Sens and CPP-led Win Win policy, Hun Manet said in a video snippet released on Facebook in late February. Often dressed in his military uniform, Hun Manets public speeches often sound like hes been studying his fathers oratory playbook. Hun Manet frequently points and gestures while driving home a point, only to pause mid-speech, awaiting a round of applause. Hell often begin with a formal speech, then segue into political commentary or respond to media reports that angered him. Ever since I was endorsed as the CPP prime ministerial candidate, I have been relentlessly attacked by him [Sam Rainsy], Hun Manet fumed, referring to the exiled opposition leader. He has made up all sorts of things to attack me, and I have no time to respond. If these things are important to him at his age, let him do that. I have other important things to do for the wellbeing of the country.'' A video of the speech was posted on his social media and shared with Hun Sens 14 million Facebook followers. The message is clear: Hun Manet is primed to take over. But what happens after that is less clear, said Ear Sophal, a senior associate dean and an associate professor in the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. It's clear the father wants the son to take over; the scenario in which something happens has already been anticipated and prepared for. Hun Manet takes over, period. There is no if, and, or but. However, he still has to maintain power. That depends on how he rules and whether anyone dares to question his rule after the fact, added Ear Sophal. New Vision vs. Fathers Legacy Born in 1977 during the Khmer Rouges reign, and raised amid the civil war of the 1980s, Hun Manet is part of a post-war generation that knows the struggles of wartime well. Yet most of his life has been lived in extreme privilege. At the age of 18, he went to the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1998. He then pursued and attained master's and PhD degrees in economics at the New York University in 2002 and University of Bristol in the United Kingdom in 2008. His military background, amplified by his economic background, makes him the ideal candidate for the countrys future leader. Its rare to have someone who has the best knowledge of these key areas, said Chhay Sophal, a media professor and author of The Prime Minister's Eldest Son: Journey Towards Turn, released in August 2022. Thousands of Britons were clamoring Saturday for a glimpse of Britains newly crowned King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The royal couple greeted the jubilant crowds. The royal couple was joined on the balcony by senior royals, Charles son and first in line to the throne, Prince William, his wife, Kate, and their children. Charles siblings, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, also were there. Prince Harry, the younger son of King Charles III, a non-working royal, did not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony, though he attended his fathers coronation. Despite a pouring rain, the Red Arrows the Royal Air Forces aerobatic team flew over Buckingham Palace, leaving red, white and blue trails in the sky. The impressive military fly-past was scaled down because of wet weather. Thousands of marching military troops saluted their commander in chief on the lawn of Buckingham Palace. Among the foreign dignitaries who attended the coronation in Westminster Abbey were U.S. first lady Jill Biden, leading the U.S. delegation. In a phone interview with the Associated Press, she described as really surreal the moment when King Charles III and Queen Camilla were crowned. You know, you cant imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on their heads, the U.S. first lady said. Protesters gathered on Trafalgar Square, holding placards and wearing yellow t-shirts to stand out, saying, Not My King. According to polls, support for the monarchy is waning. "It is disgusting and massively over the top," said Kevin John, 57, a salesman from Devon who was among the protesters. "It basically symbolizes the inequality of wealth and power in our society," said lawmaker Clive Lewis, who was among the anti-monarchy protesters. The coronation is a weekend-long affair with many activities planned. While it is reported to be a scaled back version of what was originally planned, it is still believed to carry a multimillion-dollar price tag for British taxpayers. The lavish affair in Westminster Abbey featured robed clergy, prayers, majestic music and the high-pitched singing voices of young boys and girls. Photo Gallery: King Charles III's Coronation Saturday is coronation day for Britains King Charles III and his second wife, Queen Consort Camilla. It is the first British coronation spectacular in 70 years. Queen Elizabeth II was the last British monarch to be crowned. Charles, 74, became king the moment his mother died in September. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email to a Friend Britains King Charles III was crowned Saturday, like so many of the countrys monarchs before him. The last coronation was 70 years ago when Charles mother, Elizabeth, was crowned. William, the Prince of Wales and the heir to the throne, participated in the ceremony. After Charles was crowned, William knelt before his father and pledged his loyalty to him. Charles crown weighed 2.2kg and was decorated with precious jewels. The crown was first used at the coronation of King Charles II in 1661. Charles III wore another crown by the end of the coronation, which has been regularly worn by his predecessors for official occasions. Camilla also was crowned at the ceremony. She curtsied before the king after being crowned. Charles was the first monarch to pray aloud at his coronation. His prayer said in part: Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and belief, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness and be led into the paths of peace. Millions of people around the world were able to witness the coronation on television and the internet. One of the questions on many minds was the role Charles son Harry, the Duke of Sussex, would have in the ceremony. He attended the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey alone without his American wife Meghan Markle and sat two rows behind his brother, the Prince of Wales. Harry left immediately afterwards, planning a same day return to the U.S. to join his wife and attend his sons 4th birthday. Harry and the royal family have been on shaky ground since Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down from their royal duties in 2020 and have revealed uncomfortable details about tensions within the royal family in a documentary and Harrys best-selling book Spare. Pakistan on Saturday hosted top diplomats from neighboring China and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan for a trilateral dialogue that seeks to promote regional security, trade, transit, and counterterrorism collaboration. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who faces United Nations travel restrictions, was granted a waiver to attend the meeting in Islamabad. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, led their respective delegations at the fifth round of the trilateral framework. The participants held "productive discussions on political engagement, counterterrorism, trade, and connectivity," said the Pakistani Foreign Ministry in a brief post-meeting statement without elaborating. Official sources said Pakistani and Chinese delegates had shared with Taliban representatives the security concerns stemming from a growing threat of terrorism in Afghanistan and the challenges it poses to neighboring countries. The delegates exchanged views about how to support the de facto Afghan authorities in the economic reconstruction of the conflict-ravaged impoverished South Asian nation. Terror concerns Qin said before the trilateral meeting that China and Pakistan were ready to support "actively" the Afghan reconstruction efforts, but he pressed the Taliban to deliver on their regional and international commitments. "We hope that Taliban would embrace inclusive government and moderate policies and maintain friendly relations with its neighbors," the top Chinese diplomat told reporters after bilateral talks with Zardari. Qin spoke through his official interpreter. "It is important that [the] Taliban take the security concerns of its neighbors seriously and take stronger measures to counter various terrorist forces within Afghanistan," he noted. Qin said that China was ready to step up counterterrorism and security cooperation with Afghanistan and Pakistan to jointly fight terrorist threats such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Beijing has long alleged ETIM militants use Afghan soil to wage cross-border attacks against China. An Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist group, known as IS-Khorasan, lately has also increased attacks in Afghanistan, targeting civilians, Taliban members and even Chinese nationals. Speaking alongside his Chinese counterpart, Zardari also underscored Islamabad's worries stemming from a spike in terrorist attacks in his country since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan nearly two years ago. "For us in Pakistan, our core issue, our red line is the issue of terrorism, which poses a serious threat to our regional stability, regional peace and is a real stumbling block in the way of the progress of the Afghan people," Zardari said. Pakistan says fugitive leaders and members of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, use Afghan sanctuaries to plot cross-border terrorism. Officials in Islamabad maintain that terrorist activities have increased since the Taliban reclaimed power in Kabul in August 2021, killing hundreds of Pakistanis, mostly security forces. TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, is an offshoot and close ally of the Afghan Taliban and played an instrumental role in their 20 years long insurgency against U.S.-led NATO forces that brought them to power nearly two years ago when the international forces left Afghanistan. The Taliban deny they are allowing anyone to use Afghan soil to threaten Pakistan or other countries. Critics question those claims, citing the presence of fugitive TTP chief in last year's failed peace talks with Pakistani officials that were brokered and hosted by the Taliban in Kabul. Taliban leaders pledged they would respect the rights of all Afghans, including women. Instead, the hardline de facto authorities have gradually imposed their strict interpretation of Islamic law or Sharia. They have stopped most women from working and banned teenage girls' from receiving an education beyond the sixth grade. The restrictions have outraged the international community and deterred it from recognizing the Taliban as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan. Afghanistan-CPEC Qin said Saturday that his government also was determined to link landlocked Afghanistan to a multibillion-dollar infrastructure development project in Pakistan with Chinese investment under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, is building new road networks, power plants, and ports to link the two countries and help Islamabad improve its economic productivity. "We will help extend the CPEC toward Afghanistan, promote our exchanges on cooperation in trade, investment, and interactions, and enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges between our three countries," Qin said. China initiated the trilateral dialogue with Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2017 to help ease tensions between its two uneasy neighbors, which share a 2,600-kilometer border. The Taliban were at the time waging a deadly insurgency against the then-U.S.-backed Afghan government, though Beijing and Islamabad maintained contacts with insurgent leaders. The U.S. and other Western governments had moved their diplomatic missions out of Kabul to Qatar when the Taliban seized power. But China, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Russia are among around 20 neighboring and regional countries that have kept their embassies open or returned to Afghanistan. While Western nations have suspended their economic cooperation with Kabul since withdrawing their troops, Beijing, Moscow, and Islamabad have increased engagement with the new Afghan authorities. China recently secured a 25-year contract to extract oil from the Afghan Amu Darya Basin and are actively negotiating other investments with the Taliban. Russian exports to Afghanistan reportedly have increased to more than $10 million monthly. The trade balance between the Taliban government and Pakistan has tilted in favor of Kabul for the first time in the history of bilateral ties. Taliban Commerce Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi, accompanying Muttaqi on his Islamabad visit, met Saturday with his Pakistani counterpart, Syed Naveed Qamar. An official statement said the two sides agreed to enhance trade volumes and streamline procedures to ensure "efficient border management" to improve bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Expressing concern about Pakistan's increasing instability, the visiting Chinese foreign minister told the host nation to overcome political differences to pave the way for economic progress. China's foreign minister, Qin Gang, was in Pakistan on Saturday for the fourth Pakistan-China Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue held in Islamabad. It was Qin's maiden visit to the country since becoming Beijing's top diplomat. "We sincerely hope the political forces in Pakistan will build consensus, uphold stability and more effectively address domestic and external challenges so it can focus on growing the economy," Qin said, addressing a press briefing alongside his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, after the closed-door strategic talks. Pakistan is facing intense political turmoil since former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted a year ago in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. A lack of consensus between Khan's party and the 13-party ruling alliance led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif regarding the election schedule has plunged the country into a political and constitutional crisis. The country also is mired in a crippling financial crisis. To help Pakistan revive a stalled bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund and avoid default, China has provided relief by rolling over debt and parking funds there to boost dangerously low foreign exchange reserves. Qin said his country will "continue to do our best to support Pakistan's foreign exchange and financial stability." Pakistan's former envoy to the U.K., U.S. and U.N., Maleeha Lodhi, told VOA her country would have defaulted without China coming to the rescue. "It was the Chinese decision to roll over even commercial loans to Pakistan that has helped keep Pakistan financially afloat. So, China's help has been extremely vital to help Pakistan, at least keep its [foreign exchange] reserves," said Lodhi. China is also Pakistan's single biggest lender, though, with the South Asian nation owing one-third of its external debt to Beijing. That debt has skyrocketed since the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor 10 years ago. Known as CPEC, the multi-billion-dollar infrastructure and development project is part of China's global Belt and Road Initiative. By not providing large-scale debt forgiveness to Pakistan, policy expert and former adviser to the Pakistani government Mosharraf Zaidi said Beijing is telling Pakistan to manage its affairs better. "[The] Chinese, I think, will keep insisting that we will not let you fail completely, but we will not support mismanagement and misgovernance, which is really what Pakistan over the last year-and-a-half in particular has done," Zaidi told VOA. Both foreign ministers rejected the perception that Pakistan is a victim of "debt-trap diplomacy" and the assertions that China targets struggling economies through unsustainable loans to pursue its geo-strategic goals. "There is no basis whatsoever in the so-called debt sustainability, debt trap concerns that are propagated. Chinese investment and financial support ... is in keeping with the traditions of our unique, time-tested friendship" Bhutto Zardari told journalists. "For those who make false suggestions about debt trap," Qin said in a veiled reference to Washington's criticism of China's investment pattern, "I suggest that you ask those people, 'what have they done for the national development and well-being of the Pakistani people?'" The U.S. is Pakistan's biggest export market, followed by China. Along with Pakistan's economic and political instability, the safety of its citizens is a major concern for China. Despite multi-layered security guarding Chinese projects in Pakistan, including a special military unit, Chinese workers have faced lethal attacks from militant groups that oppose the Pakistani state or see Chinese projects as an extension of what they regard as the state's encroachment of their resources. Qin said his Pakistani counterpart had shared "the meticulous arrangements by Pakistan to protect China's citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan. Our two sides agreed to hunt down and bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorist attacks targeting Chinese." Last November, a Pakistani counterterrorism court gave death sentences to two men accused of killing 13 people, including nine Chinese engineers working on a hydropower project, in a suicide attack in July 2021. During his brief stay in Pakistan, China's top diplomat took part in trilateral talks with his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts. The Afghan Taliban's interim foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, who faces travel restrictions by the United Nations, was granted a waiver to come to Islamabad. Bhutto Zardari noted that for Pakistan, the core issue with Afghanistan is terrorism, which he called a "red line." Pakistan blames Kabul for not reining in terrorists present on its soil who have been mounting near-daily attacks on Pakistani security personnel. As China deepens its interests in Afghanistan, Qin said before the trilateral talks, he hoped that "Pakistan and Afghanistan will bear in mind the larger picture and try to work out the issues between them through dialogue and consultation." Qin's visit to Pakistan comes on the heels of the Pakistani army chief's visit to Beijing just over a week ago and a bilateral political consultation there in March. The two heads of state met in China last November. A recent Washington Post report on U.S. intelligence leaks revealed Pakistani officials sought to distance the country from the U.S. on key issues to avoid hurting its relationship with China. Standing with the Pakistani foreign minister, China's top diplomat took swipes at the U.S., at one point saying Beijing and Islamabad will keep working together to "oppose the cold war mentality, zero-sum game." On the challenges of balancing relations with two competing global powers, former Pakistani envoy Lodhi told VOA, "Pakistan has made it clear it will not be part of any anti-China coalition that the United States is trying its best to mobilize across the world." In policy expert Zaidi's opinion, however, Islamabad's compulsion is to maintain strategic ties with China and strengthen its weak relationship with the U.S. because Pakistan is "too big to choose a side, but it's also too small to choose a side successfully." At least 13 people were killed in a displacement camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday night, officials said, in the latest violence to hit the conflict-torn region. The bloodshed occurred in a camp in Kisimba, in North Kivu province's Masisi territory, said a local administrator who requested anonymity. Five people were also wounded, he told Agence France-Presse, adding that pro-Hutu Nyatura militiamen were the suspected perpetrators. A Red Cross official provided the same casualty toll. Armed groups have plagued much of eastern DRC for three decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s. One militia, the M23, has captured swaths of territory in North Kivu since taking up arms again in late 2021 after years of dormancy. The rebel campaign has displaced more than 1 million people, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A rights activist in Kisimba, who asked not to be named, said the M23 was initially assumed to be behind the attack but that the perpetrators were members of a Nyatura group. AFP was unable to independently verify either the death toll or the motive behind the attack. An East African regional military force has taken over some areas previously occupied by the M23 since December. But the Tutsi-led rebels are still present in North Kivu and still occasionally clash with rival militias. The DRC accuses its smaller central African neighbor Rwanda of backing the M23, something Rwanda has repeatedly denied. But United States and French officials, as well as United Nations experts, agree with the assessment. In late March, Taiwans former president, Ma Ying-jeou, made a historic trip to China, becoming the first former or serving Taiwan leader to visit the mainland since 1949. Ma, who served from 2008-16, said he wished to visit his ancestral homeland in Hunan province and several Chinese cities. The photo ops were many, but most attention was paid to his remarks on Taiwans and Chinas unique relationship and how they are both part of one China. Not so long ago, his comments might have had little traction. Taiwan is formally the Republic of China, named for the government that fled to the island, a former Japanese colony, at the end of the Chinese Civil War in the late 1940s. For many Chinese families who left with the government led by the nationalist Kuomintang, or KMT, party, seeing the two sides become one country was a lifelong dream barred by the politics of the Cold War. This time, however, a former president was lambasted by Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council and largely seemed out of touch. In contemporary Taiwan, the dream of a united China has all but vanished except among a small minority of Taiwan's residents, most of whom are older or contemporaries of the 72-year-old Ma. The change has been relatively swift. As late as 1992, as many as a quarter of Taiwan residents still saw themselves as Chinese and another 46% as both Taiwanese and Chinese, according to a long-running identity poll by Taiwans National Chengchi University, but those numbers have dropped sharply in the past 30 years to just 2.7% and 32.9%, respectively. Instead, more than 60% of respondents identified as Taiwanese in 2022 up from just 17.6% in 1992, as a new nationalism has gained ground following democratization in 1996. The KMT and Taiwans other major political party, the Democratic Progressive Party, have followed suit and now either see unification with China as a distant goal or one that is wholly unwanted. If reunification is on the right, and de jure independence on the left, then the KMT is on the center-right, and the DPP is on the center-left, said Kwei-bo Huang, vice dean and associate professor of diplomacy at National Chengchi University College of International Affairs. Even as Taiwan finds its new identity, its political parties are still being shaped by a century-old historical legacy based in China. The Republic of China was founded in 1912, after the collapse of the Qing Empire. That government led China during the turbulent decades preceding World War II before fleeing the victorious Chinese Communist Party to Taiwan. From Taipei, the KMT-led government claimed to still represent China as it ruled Taiwan under an authoritarian grip until democratization in the 1990s. It is still shaped by this legacy, even as it has evolved into a modern political party. The party, for example, still adheres to the republics constitutions claim to be the sole legitimate government over mainland China and Taiwan, said Chih-Yung Ho, deputy dean of the KMTs Institute of Revolutionary Practice, which advocates reunification with China under the premise of freedom democracy, and an equitable distribution of wealth. In practice, however, it has had to change with the times, given that Chinas current government is unpalatable to most Taiwan residents. Support for moving towards unification from the current status quo has dropped from a peak of 19.5% of respondents in 1996 to just 6% in 2022, according to NCCUs survey, so the KMT has pivoted to pursuing peaceful development of the Taiwan Strait. Unification, said Ho, is a distant question for future generations to come for most KMT supporters. Within the party itself, some conservative factions remain, such as those led by Ma that seek reunification in the near future, but they are still in a small minority. Party members such as 84-year-old hardliner Wang Chien-shein who announced plans to run for president in March under a banner of peaceful unification by 2025 are also considered fringe elements. For Taiwans other major political party, the DPP, these are all issues that belong in the past, along with the KMT-led authoritarian martial law that defined Taiwanese life from 1945-87. Founded in the 1986 as decades of martial law were winding down, the DPP offers a very different approach to Taiwan politics that emphasizes Taiwan as a distinct political identity that is neither defined by the Republic of China nor the Peoples Republic in Beijing. It has also come to champion Taiwan nationalism, which draws on Taiwans pre-1945 history and the contributions of Japanese and indigenous Taiwanese culture, as well as that of earlier Chinese groups who immigrated to Taiwan hundreds of years ago. The DPP stops short of publicly advocating for independence meaning for a Taiwan separate from both the Republic of China and the Peoples Republic of China because it would trigger an attack by Beijing. Instead, leaders such as President Tsai Ing-wen have taken the approach that Taiwan is de facto an independent country and steadily dropped most references to the ROC on diplomatic offices, passports, and in the media. Their policy mirrors widely held feelings of many Taiwan citizens more than half of whom want to maintain the status quo indefinitely or decide at a later date, according to NCCU polls. Nearly a third of respondents also said that they would like to maintain the status quo and move towards independence, although it was not defined when. This could change soon with next years presidential election. DPP presidential candidate William Lai Ching-tee, the current vice president, is far more outspoken than Tsai on issues such as independence while the party is also in the midst of a transition, said Lev Nachman, an assistant professor at NCCU who studies Taiwanese party politics. It is unclear whether more pro-independence or more status quo forces will take the helm of the party, he said. A similar struggle is likely happening inside the KMT, Nachman said, as that party has yet to select its candidate. Frontrunners include New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yih, who has stayed quiet on issues such as unification, and billionaire Foxconn founder Terry Gou, who has criticized the DPPs more open pro-Taiwan independence stance. The thing to keep in mind is all parties are run by factions, Taiwan is no exception. The status of factions is now in flux because all the parties are trying to figure out what their next presidential campaign will look like, Nachman said. Hong Kong police seized an exhibit Friday in connection with what they said was an attempt to incite subversion, with media reporting it was a statue commemorating Beijing's Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy protesters in 1989. Media reported the exhibit was the "Pillar of Shame," an 8-meter-tall statue depicting dozens of torn and twisted bodies that commemorates protesters killed in the crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square more than three decades ago. Police did not give details of the exhibit they said they had seized in the Yuen Long district of the former British colony. "The National Security Department ... conducted searches with a warrant this morning. An exhibit related to an 'incitement to subversion' case was seized," police said in a statement. They did not say who was suspected of wanting to use the statue, which was being kept in storage, to incite subversion. Tiananmen anniversary looming The seizure came weeks ahead of the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Hong Kong had traditionally held the largest annual vigils in the world to commemorate the crackdown. The crackdown is taboo in the rest of China, and Hong Kong's vigil, traditionally in a city park, was banned beginning in 2020, ostensibly because of coronavirus restrictions. Statue first exhibited in 1997 The two-ton copper "Pillar of Shame" was first exhibited at a Tiananmen Square commemoration in Hong Kong in 1997, the same year Britain handed the city back to China. In 2021, the University of Hong Kong dismantled and removed the statue "based on external legal advice and risk assessment for the best interest of the university." It has since been kept in a cargo container on university-owned land. Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, who created the work, said he had not been informed about its seizure by police. "This is outrageous. This is my sculpture, and nobody has consulted or informed me about anything," he said in email response to Reuters. It is not clear if the Tiananmen Square vigil will take place this year. The city government said this week that sections of Victoria Park, where the rally is usually held, would be closed for maintenance. The vigil organizer, the Hong Kong Alliance, was disbanded in 2021 after its leaders were arrested and charged with inciting subversion under a national security law imposed by China in 2020 after anti-government protests. Authorities have been using the law to clamp down on pro-democracy activity in Hong Kong, and about 250 people, including opposition politicians, lawyers and journalists, have been arrested for suspected national security offenses. Authorities say they are maintaining order necessary for the financial hub's prosperity. BEIJING, May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- An international development cooperation and exchange conference between sister cities of China's Wuxi and Singapore was held Friday, witnessing signing of multiple cooperation projects in various fields, according to Wuxi Municipal People's Government. Photo provided to Xinhua shows the opening ceremony of Wuxi Singapore Cooperation and Development Conference on Urban Internationalization Over the past 30 years, Wuxi and Singapore have conducted close exchanges, and achieved fruitful cooperation results in the fields of science and technology, economy and trade, and culture, said Wuxi Mayor Zhao Jianjun at Wuxi Singapore Cooperation and Development Conference on Urban Internationalization. Relying on the existing foundation of Wuxi-Singapore Industrial Park, Wuxi looks forward to accelerating the expansion and construction of Wuxi Singapore Science and Technology Innovation City, so as to promote mutually beneficial cooperation in industrial science and technology innovation at a higher level, said Zhao. Besides, Wuxi will further support and promote more local enterprises to list in Singapore or set up regional headquarters. Taking advantage of Singapore's status as an international financial, trade and shipping center, the two cities can expand markets for the Belt and Road countries and RCEP member countries, added Zhao. During the event, relevant sector units introduced Wuxi Singapore Science and Technology Innovation City and etc. projects, sincerely inviting people from all walks of life at home and abroad to invest in Wuxi and share development opportunities. Up to now, more than 700 Singaporean enterprises have invested in Wuxi, with a cumulative investment of 16.4 billion U.S. dollars. At this exchange conference, 3 strategic cooperation projects and 10 industrial cooperation projects were signed. Nearly 200 guests attended the event, including senior executives from well-known enterprises, institutions and universities in Singapore, such as Singapore Changi Airport Group, Singapore Exchange(SGX), DHL Asia Pacific Headquarters. Story continues See the original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/333910.html Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/xinhua-silk-road-e-china-jiangsus-wuxi-to-strengthen-cooperation-and-exchanges-with-singapore-301817677.html SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road Iran said Saturday that it had executed a Swedish Iranian dissident. Habib Farajollah Chaab was convicted of the charge of being corrupt on Earth for his activities with Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, an Arab separatist group in Iran. State television said the group launched an attack on a military parade in 2018 that killed 25. Chaab was detained in Turkey in 2020 by Iranian security forces. The details of his arrest in Turkey by Iranian forces were not immediately clear. Sweden had expressed concerns about Chaabs Iranian arrest and conviction. However, relations between Iran and Sweden were already tense, because Sweden handed down a life prison sentence to a former Iranian official for his part in the mass executions of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse. Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians during a military raid in the occupied West Bank Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. A local armed group said the pair were militants. The deadly raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarem was the latest in Israeli-Palestinian violence that has surged since last year. The ministry and Tulkarem's branch of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group with connections to President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, identified the pair as Samer El Shafei and Hamza Kharyoush, both aged 22 years. The Israeli military said the two gunmen were suspected of carrying out a shooting attack at a nearby Israeli settlement earlier this week. An Israeli civilian was injured and vehicles were damaged during the shooting at the Avnei Hefetz Jewish settlement. Videos circulated on social media purportedly showed the lifeless bodies of the two gunmen lying on a tin roof as what appear to be Israeli security forces searched them. At one point, one of the members of the Israeli forces tried to flip one body as he partially took off the dead man's jeans. Palestinian media, citing witnesses, said soldiers left after ensuring the two were dead. The deaths raised to 104 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the start of the year. Israel has been staging near-nightly arrest raids into West Bank villages, towns and cities for more than a year in an operation prompted by a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year. Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the attacks as further entrenchment of Israels 56-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for a future independent state. Some 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the raids were launched. Israel says most have been militants, but stone-throwing youth and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. During that same time, nearly 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Two Nigerian women abducted as schoolgirls by a jihadi militant group nine years ago have been rescued, the West African nation's military has said. One has a year-old baby while the second gave birth to her second child days after her freedom. Hauwa Maltha and Esther Marcus were among 276 schoolgirls abducted in April 2014 from the Government Girls Secondary School in the village of Chibok by Boko Haram militants. They were rescued in April by Nigerian soldiers and reunited with their families in the northeastern Borno state, according to Major General Ibrahim Ali, who leads the Nigerian military operation against the extremist violence experienced in the northeast region for more than a decade. Boko Haram fighters stormed the school in Borno nine years ago as the girls were preparing for exams. The mass kidnap sparked global outrage and led to the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign. More than 20 of the girls have regained their freedom in the past year, but nearly 100 are still missing. Maltha and Marcus, both 26, were forcibly married to extremists while in captivity, Ali told journalists Thursday in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. His comments echoed concerns of parents and activists about the maltreatment of the girls by Boko Haram, whose name in the local Hausa language means "Western education is forbidden." Both girls were married three times as one husband after another was killed during clashes with the Nigerian military. "Hauwa was about eight months and two weeks pregnant during her rescue [and] delivered a bouncing baby boy on April 28 while undergoing thorough medical examination along with her baby, Fatima," said the military commander. The girls' return brought excitement to many in the Chibok community, but also sadness. "It has made the memories fresh for the parents that their children are still missing," said Hassan Chibok, a local leader. Several girls have returned home in recent months, mostly after escaping the Sambisa Forest, a known hideout for the extremists. Most of those who returned had babies after either being forced into marriage or after losing hope that they would ever regain their freedom, their parents and the freed girls have said. Since the abduction in 2014, Boko Haram has grown in reach and influence. Most of its members now operate as a more brutal faction backed by the Islamic State group. More than 35,000 people have died and over 2 million have been displaced by the extremist violence in Nigeria, according to the U.N. Development Program. Mali's military government has lashed out at the Economic Community of West African States chairman for calling an April massacre in neighboring Burkina Faso part of a genocide. Burkina Fasos military leader has said militants who stole military equipment could be responsible. In a statement Thursday on Malis state TV, ORTM, the government rejected the West African blocs chairmans calling civilian killings genocide. Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who is also president of Guinea Bissau, used the term in a tweet April 27 in which he condemned the April 20 mass killing of more than 100 civilians, allegedly by Burkina Fasos army. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) released a statement the same day stating that targeting civilians can be characterized as genocide by the International Criminal Court. An ORTM presenter read the Malian military governments response. The statement said the ECOWAS chairmans statements qualified the incident as genocide without any proof and that Embalo had imposed his will on the commission. The governments statement went on to say the accusations against Burkina Fasos army reminded it of what it called, desperate attempts to exploit human rights in order to accuse the authorities in Mali. More than 100 civilians were killed in the massacre in Karma, Burkina Faso, with survivors in an April 29 televised briefing blaming the army for the attack. Human Rights Watch said 156 people were killed in the massacre. Burkina Fasos military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore pointed the finger Thursday at the Islamist militants theyve been fighting. He told state television RTB militants had seized military equipment and carried out attacks. In the televised report, Traore said the defense and security forces should not be immediately accused and that waiting on the results of an investigation was necessary. Traore questioned the motive of accusations against the defense and security forces, and said it might be an effort to damage their morale. Traore complained that many countries refuse to sell Burkina Faso weapons to fight the militants, so the country has had to turn to countries like Russia. But, he said, his country has many allies. He included France, which has an embassy there though its army had left the country. Burkina Faso also has strategic allies, Traore said, and described Russia as one. Rights groups have accused Malis army of killing civilians, including working with Russias Wagner Group mercenaries. In April 2022, several media outlets as well as Human Rights Watch reported a massacre of 300 civilians in central Mali, allegedly by Wagner and Malian troops. Malis military denied the allegation, and said it works with Russian instructors, and that it killed more than 200 terrorists in the incident. Critics have raised concerns that Burkina Faso may also turn to the Wagner Group, which has been accused of rights abuses in other countries, including the Central African Republic and Russias war in Ukraine. Malis military has ruled since a 2020 coup. Burkina Fasos military seized control of the government in 2022. Burkina Fasos prime minister, in a visit to Mali in February, suggested the two countries form a federation to boost their economic power. Tensions between ECOWAS, Burkina Faso and Mali rose sharply due to the regional blocs sanctions over the coups and their delaying a return to elections. Some sanctions were lifted after military leaders agreed to a transition period and timeline for elections. But individual sanctions remain against members of the military. Both Burkina Faso and Mali, along with Guinea, which had a coup in 2021, are suspended from ECOWAS and the African Union until the return of constitutional rule. Malis military government announced Friday it would hold a referendum on a new constitution June 18, one of the steps toward elections next year. This report includes information from Agence France-Presse. Hong Kong registered a slight improvement in media freedom rankings out this week, though experts underscore the environment remains restrictive for journalism. In its annual World Press Freedom Index, the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, ranked Hong Kong 140 out of 180 countries, where 1 indicates the best environment. The ranking is an eight-place improvement of the regions score from 2022, but RSF notes that Hong Kong is facing an unprecedented setback since the introduction of a national security law in 2020. Introduced following widespread anti-government protests, the security law prohibits acts that include secession, subversion and foreign collusion, none of which is clearly defined. Hong Kong authorities have used that and a colonial-era sedition law to arrest and jail anti-government dissidents, including journalists. Beijing says the law was necessary to stabilize the city. Cedric Alviani, RSF director for East Asia, told VOA that Hong Kongs new ranking doesnt mean its media environment has improved. In our evaluation of the media, it is not only the respect of editorial independence but there are other criteria like the economy, the environment [which] still allow journalists to report in Hong Kong, Alviani said. Hong Kong had the biggest downfall ever last year, falling from 80 rank to the 148 rank. The problem is there is a list of topics, which are strongly not recommended to cover, and journalists know that the risks are much harsher punishments than before. It is impossible to report in Hong Kong, he noted. Asia accounts for the three worst countries globally, with North Korea, China and Vietnam at the bottom of the index. But when press freedom declines even more elsewhere, sometimes the figures can bounce, Alviani said. There are sometimes some results that may look to go against reality, but it is just a question of which other countries go before and after. In no way the fact that Hong Kong has risen slightly in the index this year reflects any improvement of the freedom of the press in Hong Kong, he said. The Hong Kong Security Bureau responded to VOAs request with comments from a government spokesperson. The allegations by the organization concerned when publishing the index are totally groundless, the email reads. Hong Kong residents enjoy the freedoms of the press and speech, both of which are protected under the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights. Article 4 of the National Security Law also stipulates that such freedoms enjoyed by the residents of the HKSAR shall be protected in accordance with the law in safeguarding national security in the HKSAR. However, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are not absolute, and can be restricted for reasons including protection of national security in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Journalists, like everyone else, have an obligation to abide by all the laws, the Hong Kongs Security Bureau email stated. Previously, officials have defended the ability of media to operate and denied in comments to VOA that laws are used to target journalists or critics. Hong Kong was once a model for press freedom in the Asia region, but since the security law came into force, at least 12 media outlets have closed, including pro-democracy outlets like Apple Daily and Stand News, according to a report by International Federation for Journalists. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the founder of Apple Daily, has been in jail since the end of 2020 following a string of charges in relation to Hong Kongs political unrest and could face life imprisonment this year. Lai, 75, is set to go on trial in September on charges of foreign collusion. Media experts have said the trial will indicate the level of Hong Kongs press freedom. Content rules and regulations are also affecting how media outlets report. In February, the government adopted a measure under which five free-to-air broadcasters, three television and two radio stations must transmit 30 minutes of national security programming per week. The stations include TVB, ViuTV and HOY TV, Commercial Radio and Metro Broadcast, which all must include content of relating to national education, national identity and national security law under the news current affairs category. Hong Kongs Communications Authority recommended the implementation, local media reported. Nicholas Cull, a professor of public diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, says the regulation appears aimed at making Hong Kong outlets more like the tightly controlled media in mainland China. I see this new move as part of a tightening on Beijing's control over Hong Kong media and a shift in the balance between formal oversight and the leverage through self-censorship, which had been a feature of the past, he told VOA via email. It is clearly part of a 'long game' to align Hong Kong media with the mainland. I would certainly assume that at some point all Hong Kong's media will indeed be shaped by [Chinas] central government. Alviani echoed what Cull said and indicated that more media outlets in Hong Kong could be affected. Over the past years the Hong Kong government has consistently borrowed from the Chinese toolbox in a softer way, but how long will it be that soft? Alviani asked. When you start violating press freedom in that kind of way, first its five media, then its 10, then you add media that are public, then private media, this is how things can go. Its a true concern because even if its only five media so far, we do not know how this could extend in the future, he said. RSF issued a statement urging the Hong Kong government to withdraw the regulation. Rose Luqiu Luwei, a television journalist and associate head and professor of journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University, said the regulation serves a purpose for the government. The government's new regulation is not unique in Hong Kong. Depending on the country, particular missions may be entrusted to public broadcasting. One such mission, fairly frequent, is to strengthen national identity, Luqiu told VOA by email. The professor said the government is using free-to-air media outlets so they can act as a public broadcaster, like Hong Kong's sole public broadcaster, Radio Television Hong Kong, or RTHK. To obtain a free-to-air media license, one has to meet some pre-requirements set by the government to fulfill a certain degree of role as a public broadcaster. The fundamental principle for the government to make the new regulation is that free-to-air media has some responsibility for acting like public broadcasters, Luqiu said. RTHK is changing its role as a public service broadcaster toward state media, which acts as the propaganda tool of the government to disseminate official messages and strengthen national identity. It is not surprising to require free-to-air media to play the same role, she said. Media analysts have highlighted concerns at RTHK, which is government funded, over its editorial independence after undergoing changes including staff departures, and the airing of government-directed content. Under a new director of broadcasting, archived content was removed online, and long-lasting programs were canceled. Here are some of Native American-related news stories that made headlines this week: Oklahomas Cherokee governor vetoes Native regalia bill Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt this week vetoed a bill that would have allowed Native American students to wear tribal regalia during graduation ceremonies. Senate Bill 429, which passed both the Oklahoma House and Senate, defined regalia as clothing, jewelry, feathers, stoles and similar objects of cultural and religious significance. Stitt, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation whose ancestry has been previously challenged, vetoed the bill on Monday, saying schools had the right to determine their own dress codes. In other words, if schools want to allow their students to wear tribal regalia at graduation, good on them; but if schools prefer for their students to wear only traditional cap and gown, the Legislature shouldnt stand in their way, he said in his veto message. Native American Rights Fund Deputy Director Matthew Campbell said that wearing feathers and regalia is already a protected religious freedom for Native students. He added, Unfortunately, Governor Stitts veto sends a message to Native students that in Oklahoma, Native students must choose between their culture and religious freedoms and celebrating their achievements. Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskins joined Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton in urging lawmakers to quickly override the veto. Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 included a provision allowing special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction (SDVCJ) over non-Indian offenders committing domestic violence or dating violence on tribal land. Prior to this, tribes did not have jurisdiction over non-Native offenders on tribal lands. Currently, more than 30 tribes exercise SDVCJ, and under the 2022 reauthorization of the act, can now be reimbursed for the costs involved in prosecuting these cases. That reauthorization, also known as VAWA 2022, expanded the types of cases these tribes may prosecute to include sexual violence, sex trafficking, stalking, child violence, assault of tribal justice personnel and obstruction of justice. Tribes know best what their communities need, so I encourage tribal leaders, community members, and survivors to review this regulation for the Tribal Jurisdiction Reimbursement Program. It is critical that programs serving tribal communities are informed by tribal voices, said Allison Randall, acting director of the Justice Departments Office of Violence Against Women We are dedicated to removing barriers to access, and it is a victory that VAWA 2022 allows us to continue the Tribal Jurisdiction Program, as well as reimburse expenses incurred as a result of implementation. The interim final rule on reimbursements was published April 11. The public has until June 12 to comment. Read more: Navajo Nation rejects Biden proposed ban on mineral leasing near Chaco The Navajo Nation this week approved a resolution opposing the Biden administrations proposed ban on oil and gas drilling on federal lands in and around New Mexicos Chaco Canyon. U.S. Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland announced in November 2022 a 20-year moratorium on mineral leasing within a 16-kilometer buffer zone around the site. Chaco Canyon is a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors lived, worked and thrived in that high desert community, Haaland said at the time. Now is the time to consider more enduring protections so that we can pass on this rich cultural legacy to future generations. Navajo leadership opposes the plan, cautioning President Biden that it could have a devastating impact on thousands of Navajo land allottees who depend on oil and gas royalties for their livelihoods. At the time, the Nation suggested reducing the buffer zone around the canyon to 8 kilometers. The resolution signed this week opposes any buffer zone whatsoever. Quannah Chasinghorse at 2023 Met Gala Han Gwichin and Oglala Lakota activist and model Quannah Chasinghorse was among the celebrities wearing pink at this years Metropolitan Museum of Art gala on Monday, which honored controversial fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld who died in 2019. Many media outlets were quick to interpret this as a subtle jab at the designer, who notoriously hated pink. Think pink, he is quoted as saying, but never wear it. Lagerfeld was famous for his scathing remarks against overweight people, ugly people, the #MeToo movement and Syrian immigrants. He appropriated Native American imagery and stereotypes in a 2013 fashion show. Whether Chasinghorse wore pink to mock the designer is unclear, especially considering remarks she made ahead of the event. "I feel that Karl Lagerfeld was really good at bringing people in and showing the beauty within them," she told Bazaar magazine. "I think it is beautiful to see that throughout his legacy, he has been able to uplift people and where they come from." Native American photographer tells Indigenous tribes' stories Ten years ago, Native American photographer and documentarian Matika Wilbur, a member of the Swinomish and Tulalip tribes in the State of Washington, set off to photograph what were at the time 562 federally recognized Indigenous tribes in the U.S. VOA reporter Natasha Mozgovaya caught up with Wilbur in Seattle to discuss her new book, "Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America." Five Indian Army soldiers were killed and one wounded Friday during an operation against militants in Kashmir, the army said. Indian defense forces have launched several operations in the Rajouri sector of the Himalayan region since unidentified attackers opened fire on an Indian army vehicle last month. A military search team came across a group of militants in an area "thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs," the army said in a statement. "The terrorists triggered an explosive device in retaliation," the army said. Two soldiers died in the attack and another three succumbed to their injuries later in the day, it added. Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled in part by nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan. New Delhi has accused Pakistan of stoking a decadeslong insurgency in Kashmir. Islamabad denies that, saying it provides only diplomatic and moral support for Kashmiris seeking self-determination. Paraguayan police on Friday detained Paraguayo Cubas, a far-right populist who came in third in Sunday's presidential election and encouraged his supporters to protest over his unsubstantiated claims that the vote was marred by fraud. Cubas was being held in preventive detention under an order by the attorney general's office that is accusing him of breach of the peace, Police Commissioner Gilberto Fleitas said in a radio interview. Cubas, the candidate of the National Crusade Party who received 23% of the vote Sunday, was broadcasting live on Facebook when officers detained him outside his hotel in San Lorenzo, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Asuncion. Fleitas said Cubas got into a police vehicle "without any difficulty," but he continued streaming live. In his broadcast from inside the police vehicle, Cubas chatted with officers and focused the camera on his handcuffs. "You can see now I'm being imprisoned," he said. "All the criminals in this country should be handcuffed like Paraguayo Cubas." Cubas had been telling supporters since Monday that he was heading to the capital to lead a series of protests that had led to isolated clashes with police, largely outside the electoral court in Asuncion. At least 208 people have been detained "for disturbance of public peace and other punishable offenses within the framework of the demonstrations taking place in the national territory," police said Thursday. Efrain Alegre, who as the candidate of a broad-based opposition coalition came in second place during Sunday's election, demanded Cubas be released along with everyone who has been detained in protests this week. "We demand the release of Paraguayo Cubas and all citizens imprisoned for demanding transparency," Alegre wrote on social media. Alegre, who received 27% of the vote Sunday, conceded the race shortly after polls closed, but then on Monday called for a manual count of votes and an international audit of the country's electronic voting system after Cubas aired his fraud allegations. The Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission for the election, said Tuesday there was "no reason to doubt the results" of the vote count. Santiago Pena of the long-ruling Colorado Party easily won Sunday's presidential election with 43% of the vote. Over the past few days, Cubas has published images of supporters welcoming him in different parts of the country as he made his way toward the capital from Ciudad del Este, a city on the border with Brazil and Argentina. Some 1,500 to 1,800 law enforcement officers were deployed outside the electoral court Friday, waiting for a planned demonstration of Cubas supporters, Fleitas said. But his supporters were expected to shift their demonstration to outside the police station where Cubas was taken. The car of a prominent pro-Kremlin novelist exploded Saturday in Russia, injuring him and killing his driver, Russia's state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency and law enforcement officials. The incident involving the car of Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist writer and an ardent supporter of what the Kremlin calls a special military operation in Ukraine, took place in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. It is the third explosion involving prominent pro-Kremlin figures since the start of the war in Ukraine. In August 2022, a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as "Putin's brain. The authorities alleged that Ukraine was behind the blast. Last month, an explosion in a cafe in St. Petersburg killed a popular military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. Officials once again blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies. The regional governor of Niznhy Novgorod, Gleb Nikitin, said Prilepin suffered minor bone fractures and was receiving medical help. Russian news outlet RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Prilepin was traveling back to Moscow Saturday from Ukraines partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and stopped in the Nizhny Novogorod region for a meal. Interior Ministry spokesperson Irina Volk said a suspect had been detained. Russian news reports identified him as a native of Ukraine who earlier had been convicted of robbery. Prilepin became a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, after Putin illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula. He was involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of Russian-backed separatists. Last year, he was sanctioned by the European Union for his support of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2020, he founded a political party, For the Truth, which Russian media reported was backed by the Kremlin. A year later, Prilepin's party merged with the nationalist A Just Russia party that has seats in the parliament. A co-chair of the newly formed party, Prilepin won a seat in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, in the 2021 election, but gave it up. Party leader Sergei Mironov called the incident Saturday a terrorist act and blamed Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova echoed Mironov's sentiment in a post on the messaging app Telegram, adding that responsibility also lay with the U.S. and NATO. Washington and NATO have nursed yet another international terrorist cell the Kyiv regime, Zakharova wrote. Direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain. We're praying for Zakhar. The deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev put the blame on Nazi extremists" in a telegram he sent to Prilepin. Ukrainian officials haven't commented directly on the allegations. However, Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, in a tweet Saturday, appeared to point the finger at the Kremlin, saying that "to prolong the agony of Putins clan and maintain the illusionary total control, the Russian repression machine picks up the pace and catches up with everyone, including supporters of the Ukraine war. Delegations from the two warring factions in the conflict in Sudan have arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks. The talks in Jeddah between the African nations military and rival paramilitary group are expected to focus on opening humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and Omdurman, the locations of the harshest battles, so far. The two sides Sudans military, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo have not met since the fighting erupted April 15. The fighting has killed hundreds, forced hundreds of thousands to flee and has brought Sudan to the brink of collapse. Fragile cease-fire agreements have failed to end the conflict. The United Nations migration agency said last week that at least 334,000 people have been internally displaced by the fighting, in addition to the 100,000 who have fled the country. The U.N. refugee agency has warned the fighting could cause more than 800,000 to flee Sudan. Many are going to the seven countries bordering Sudan, including Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Egypt and Ethiopia. Most aid operations have been suspended or severely scaled back due to the lack of security. Several aid workers have been killed in the fighting. Looting also has hampered aid operations. The World Food Program said nearly 17,000 tons of food worth between $13 million and $14 million have been stolen from its warehouses across Sudan. WFP has said it is working to determine what supplies remain. Before the fighting, WFP had more than 80,000 tons of stocks in the country. The agency still plans to provide food assistance for 384,000 people in coming days. The U.N. refugee agencys Darfur coordinator said looting has long been a problem in Darfur, and many of their facilities have been robbed since April 15. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said recently it has launched an emergency appeal to support the Sudanese Red Crescent Society to deliver assistance to 200,000 people. Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. As a funeral home director, Jon Milton is used to dealing with death, but the issue he recently discussed with legislators on Capitol Hill delves into the realm of horror movies. Milton and about 200 other members of the National Funeral Directors Association painted macabre images of body brokers, individuals or companies that target those who may want to donate their loved ones body to science or may not be able to afford funeral expenses. The next-of-kin signs over rights to the body, believing the donation will help others. Instead, they may unwittingly be contributing to a money-making industry in which brokers trade bodies as raw material in a largely unregulated national market, according to the NFDA. Or, as Milton, the manager of Laurel Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Spotsylvania County put it, body brokers are selling what should have been for medical research to the highest bidder. A broker can get up to $10,000 or more for a body, according to the NFDA. Bodies can be sold or leased more than once, and Milton said brokers typically will make the most money by selling off six separate pieces: head, arms, legs and torso. As a result, it can be difficult to track what becomes of donors bodies or body parts, ensure they are handled with dignity and returned to their loved ones after cremation, according to the NFDA. Grisly practices A 2017 investigation by Reuters news agency called The Body Trade brought to light many of the grisly practices of body brokers. A reporter contacted a Tennessee brokerage firm and, after a few emails, procured a cervical spine and two human heads, according to the Reuters story. The cost was $300 per item, plus shipping. Other news outlets occasionally report on equally bizarre incidents, from people buying parts online and reselling them on Facebook to a November 2021 incident in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that seems particularly disturbing, even in the context of body brokers. A World War II veteran wanted to donate his body to science as an act of patriotism, according to a story in The Advocate. His widow carried out his wishes, only to discover that his body was used during a public autopsy at an event known as the Oddities and Curiosities Expo. A touring group in Portland, Oregon, charged up to $500 per ticket for people to watch the public dissection, advertising there will be several opportunities to get an up close and personal look at the cadaver, according to The Advocate story. Brokers deal with whole-body donations because, as the NFDA reports, its legal in almost every state for anyone to sell the human remains of adults. Virginia may be one of the few states that has a law on the books. Its a Class 1 misdemeanor to be involved in the trafficking of human dead bodies, according to state code. Virginia also is one of the few states that requires authorization to have any anatomical material imported into the state, said Rick Sikon, operational director of the Virginia State Anatomical Program. Shipments must be tracked through the Virginia Department of Health. Sikon said he knows body brokers are out there, but because of the ways laws are written, they cant operate in Virginia. Then, he amended his statement to say: They cant operate legally. Wrong and immoral The funeral home directors point out that donations of organs and other tissues such as skin, eyes and bones are handled in a hospital setting under practices that are heavily regulated by the federal government. No such regulations exist with donations of whole bodies, and thats what Milton and others are asking Congress to consider. They believe a federal agency should register, track and regulate the work of facilities that receive donated bodies for education and research to make sure those who handle the deceased are trained, licensed and use the proper tools. From what I learned, said Milton, who started researching the issue four years ago, I could literally (work) in my garage with a cooler and be a body broker. When people first hear about the issue, as some members of Congress or their legislative staffs did last month, they often have the same reaction, said Lesley Witter, a lobbyist with the NFDA. People think theres no way thats happening in America, she said. This is 2023 and we dont allow those things to happen. Rep. Abigail Spanberger said in a statement that no Virginia family should have to go through such heartbreak after losing a loved one. She said she supports stronger measures to crack down on body brokers and prevent the trafficking of human remains. Sen. Mark Warner said the horrific process of body brokering is wrong and immoral. Its paramount that the wishes of the deceased are respected. Both said they will review the NFDAs recommendation, the Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act of 2023, when it is introduced on the Hill. Noble and selfless As for the prevalence of body brokers in the Fredericksburg area, thats difficult to gauge for the same reason Witter mentioned: theres no tracking or regulation. Milton has learned from funeral directors in other states that people in his own profession sometimes partner with body brokers by placing pamphlets in their lobbies, aimed at those who perhaps cant afford the cost of a funeral or want to donate to science. Milton said he hasnt seen any such pamphlets at local funeral homes and hes looked. But then, in the last month alone, Milton has scheduled memorial services for three families who donated their loved ones bodies to science. It is a noble and selfless act, he said, hoping the bodies went to legitimate sources, but my heart breaks understanding what is most likely taking place. Ernie Johnson, owner of Johnson Funeral Home in Locust Grove, said he doesnt know if body brokers are looking for business locally. I have no idea if its taking place, he said. But it would not surprise me in todays world. Read the fine print How does a family respect the wishes of a loved one who wants to contribute to science or medical research? How can people know if theyre dealing with reputable representatives or body brokers? In many cases, universities and state-run anatomy programs arent allowed to solicit donations of bodies; people have to come to them, according to the NFDA. Theres a vital need for donated bodies, according to those interviewed, in medical studies, for surgeons learning new techniques or forensic students tracking the way bodies decompose under certain conditions. No models, films or books can substitute for the actual study of the human body itself, according to the Virginia State Anatomical Program website. Hundreds of doctors, nurses and other health professionals studying in Virginia medical schools, colleges and universities must learn how the human body is constructed before they can successfully treat living patients. The VSAP is the only agency in Virginia authorized to receive donations of human bodies for scientific studies. It provides donors, which is how the program refers to donated bodies, to six Virginia medical schools, 17 colleges and universities, five community colleges, and two biomechanical research facilities, according to its website. Even before COVID-19 changed practically every aspect of health care, the VSAP didnt have enough donors to meet the needs, said Sikon, the director. It couldnt accept bodies of those who died of COVID, for fear of contaminating researchers, and thats impacted donations which had numbered about 450 bodies a year, he said. For many students in health care fields including those learning the mortuary trade as Milton did a donated body often is the persons first patient, Sikon said. In those settings, he said bodies are treated with respect and dignity, and he described moving memorial services, held at universities and medical schools, to honor those who donated their own bodies or their loved ones bodies to research. The Virginia program takes in whole bodies only, Sikon said. It doesnt buy bodies from other places or get paid for what it provides to teaching facilities, except for a fee to cover operational expenses to get and prepare the bodies. That cost averages about $2,300 per body, he said. However, there are times when researchers need specific parts, such as knees or shoulders for surgeons being trained on joint replacements. Nobody wants to waste a donation and use only one piece, so there may be times when segmented parts are sent to various places, Sikon said. In those cases, next-of-kin have to give their permission for that type of usage, Sikon said. He offered the same advice as Milton and others in the funeral business: Look into the donation, well ahead of time if possible, and know what youre signing. Read the fine print, which should indicate if the donation will stay whole or be segmented. Ask about possible uses and dont authorize unwanted ones, Milton said. Thats really what it comes down to, being informed and doing a little research and understanding what is going to take place, Sikon said, adding his agency stresses transparency with potential donors and their families. They appreciate that and it leaves nothing to the imagination. Ukraine hailed the return Saturday of 45 Azov battalion fighters captured during the battle for Mariupol last year while Russia said three of its pilots had been released by Kyiv. The exact details of the apparent prisoner swap remained unclear. A video and still photographs, released Saturday (May 6) by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War on the telegram app showed what is said to be Ukrainian POWs after the swap. The freed Ukrainian prisoners included 42 men and three women from the Azov battalion, said Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office. The Azov unit, which did much of the fighting in the failed defense of the port city of Mariupol, has been lionized as heroes by many Ukrainians but is widely vilified in Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that three pilots had been returned and were being provided with medical and psychological assistance. Moscow and Kyiv have undertaken regular prisoner exchanges since Russia's full-scale invasion in February last year. Russia says it launched its "special military operation" to counter a threat from Kyiv's relations with the West, while Ukraine and its Western partners say it was an unprovoked land grab. The Polish ban on Ukrainian agricultural products last month sent a shock wave across Ukraine, which lost $143 million in a month, Deputy Minister of Economy Taras Kachka told an audience at the Brussels Economic Forum on Friday. Shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's early April visit to Poland, Polish officials, under pressure from local producers, suspended the import of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine. Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania followed suit because of concerns about a flood of Ukrainian grain that, before the war, would have been shipped farther afield through Black Sea ports. The Ukrainian minister of agriculture, who is traveling for negotiations through neighboring states, told VOA that the decision of the Polish government was unexpected. Ukrainians were informed about it a day before, and the restriction hit almost all Ukrainian agricultural production. "We learned about the decision on Friday night, and it was imposed on Saturday morning," said Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solskyi of Polands April 15 ban. The EU had earlier liberalized all imports from Ukraine to help the country maintain its economy in the face of the Russian invasion. Ukrainian agricultural businesses were shocked, said Oleksyi Mushak, a former Ukrainian MP and co-founder of ReGenerative Agro, an agriculture company. "It's like a missile hit you, but in this situation, it was a Polish ban unexpected," Mushak told VOA. "This brings us long-term problems. Now no one will have confidence, and no one will work on the long-term, only short-term contracts, making it difficult for Ukraine to access the money. After lengthy negotiations with the European Union, Poland agreed to cancel the unilateral restrictions. The European Commission agreed to allocate 100 million euros ($110.1 million USD) as compensation to farmers adversely affected by the glut of Ukrainian grain. According to the agreement, Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed can be sold to any country in the EU except to the five countries that had complained that the cheaper Ukrainian agricultural product was making their domestic production unprofitable. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, welcomed the agreement as "a deal that preserves both Ukraine's exports capacity, so it continues feeding the world and our farmers' livelihoods." "We hope to continue to talk to our Polish partners. We hope that the transit routes will start working again and the relationship between Polish and Ukrainian businesses will continue, including the products that are not restricted, Solskyi told VOA. The European Commission has had to negotiate hard with the five so-called frontline states neighboring Ukraine to ensure grain can be exported from Ukraine. Brussels realized that new ways of exporting Ukrainian agricultural products must be found. In the last 10 years, Ukraine has become an agricultural powerhouse. According to the European Commission, as reported by Deutsche Welle, Ukraine accounts for 10% of the world wheat market, 15% of the corn and 13% of the barley market. Ukraine is also a significant player in the sunflower oil market. The war on Ukrainian soil reduced the ability to produce and export. However, even in the current situation, Ukraine is creating market competition. "We have been present in the European market for a long time. We have competed with different countries and local producers for 10 to 15 years," said Solskyi. "The key is the war that created this situation. Ukrainian farmers and traders looked at the western borders because the sea routes were blocked, and the amount of product that went to the European direction rose. That is why solidarity lanes were created. So, it is good there is competition; healthy competition is a key for development." However, the latest crisis is a sign of possible future obstacles to Ukraine's EU membership. Poland will assume the EU presidency in the first half of 2025. Ukrainian membership in the EU will be a priority for Poland, Polish President Andrzej Duda said this week. But experts and officials are pointing out that the agricultural talks, particularly, can become very difficult because of Ukraine's huge agricultural potential. "It is in the general interest of Poland that Ukraine will be a member of the EU. We have a common security issue," said Mushak of ReGenerative Agro. "However, we have to separate security and economic issues. Unfortunately, now we mix these two things." But Solskyi offered a reassuring message. "Even before this current situation, we understood and Europeans understood, our partners understood, we all understood that the negotiations could be the most difficult regarding agriculture, the Ukrainian minister told VOA. But Ukraine is not unique. Most countries that joined the European Union had the most prolonged and difficult negotiations. However, I am confident there are solutions and ways that we can take that will work for Ukraine and be comfortable for EU countries. A weeklong special U.N. mission on human rights in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has found an unprecedented level of "systemic gender-based" discrimination that severely threatens the impoverished country's future. The United Nations released preliminary findings of the two-member mission Friday, saying the study concluded Thursday and took place amid a long-standing humanitarian crisis and profound turmoil caused by the latest Taliban edict banning Afghan women from working for the U.N. and local NGOs. The Taliban have banned girls from receiving an education beyond the sixth grade and women from most government jobs and public places since seizing power in Afghanistan nearly two years ago. "During our mission, we have documented how women and girls' lives in Afghanistan are being devastated by the crackdown on their human rights," the U.N. quoted its investigating team. "They have imposed extreme modesty rules and detained women and girls for alleged 'moral crimes.'" The mission comprised Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on Afghan human rights, and Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, the chair of its working group on discrimination against women and girls. They met with Taliban representatives, civil society, women groups, entrepreneurs, religious leaders, teachers, journalists and victims of human rights violations, among others, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and northern Balkh province. 'Unparalleled' situation "This extreme situation of institutionalized gender-based discrimination in Afghanistan is unparalleled anywhere in the world," the statement warned. While talking to the U.N. experts, numerous women shared "their feelings of fear and extreme anxiety, describing their situation as a life under house arrest." Taliban authorities were quoted as telling the mission that women were working in the health, education, and business sectors and that efforts were underway to ensure that "women could work according to Sharia, separated from men." The de facto authorities reiterated that they were working on the reopening of schools but did not provide a clear timeline. However, they indicated that the international community should not interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs, the U.N. experts said. "We are deeply concerned about the apparent perpetration in Afghanistan of gender persecution a systematic and grave human rights violation and a crime against humanity," they added. The findings were released on the same day that the U.N. office in Kabul concluded a nearly monthlong review of Afghan operations in the aftermath of the Taliban ban on its female staff. The review renewed the global organizations condemnation of the ban and demanded its urgent removal, saying it is unlawful and "seriously undermines" the U.N. work in Afghanistan. The U.N. office reiterated its commitment to stay and deliver on behalf of the people of Afghanistan, saying it "cannot disengage despite the challenges." The Taliban reclaimed control of the country in August 2021 when the United States and NATO troops withdrew after almost 20 years of involvement in the war with the former insurgent group. The hard-line Afghan authorities have imposed their own interpretation of Sharia, effectively barring most women from public life. 'Internal matters' The international community has refused to recognize the Taliban government, in part because of its bans on women's access to work and education and its refusal to govern the country through a politically inclusive system. However, the reclusive Taliban chief, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has ruled out any compromise on what he says is his "Sharia-based governance" and vowed not to allow foreign interference in "internal matters" of Afghanistan. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hosted a two-day international dialogue in Qatar earlier this week on how to engage with the Taliban and develop "a common international approach" to multiple challenges facing Afghanistan. The conference brought together the envoys of about two dozen countries, including the United States, China and Russia, and major international donors and representatives of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. But the U.N. did not invite the Taliban. Guterres told a post-meeting news conference in Doha, Qatar, that the participants had agreed on the "need for a strategy of engagement that allows for the stabilization of Afghanistan but also allows for addressing important concerns." U.S. director Damien Chazelle, best known for the Oscar-winning La La Land, will lead the jury of the upcoming Venice Film Festival, organizers announced Friday. The 80th edition of the prestigious festival will take place from Aug. 30-Sept. 9 on the swanky, beach-lined Lido island. "For 10 days each year this city of the arts, of Tintoretto and Titian and Veronese, becomes a city of cinema, and I am humbled and delighted to be invited to lead this years jury," said Chazelle, 38, whose most recent film is Babylon. Chazelle's musical about making it in Hollywood, La La Land, opened the Venice festival in 2016, and went on to win six Academy Awards, including for its director, the youngest ever to win the prize. Heading the jury for Venice's parallel competition, Orizzonti, will be Italy's Jonas Carpignano, director of a trilogy (Mediterranea, A Ciambra, A Chiara) based in the Calabrian port city of Gioia Tauro. Last year, the festival's top Golden Lion prize went to U.S. director Laura Poitras for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. The documentary traced the campaign by photographer and activist Nan Goldin to hold the rich Sackler family accountable for the U.S. opioid crisis. U.S. actress Julianne Moore headed last year's jury, with Spanish director Isabel Coixet at the helm of Orizzonti. VOA Burmese's research data indicate there are still about 40 journalists locked up in prisons across Myanmar, even after this weeks mass pardon of thousands of prisoners by the military junta. On Wednesday, about 10 journalists were among the 2,153 political prisoners released to celebrate Buddha Day, also known as Kasone Full Moon Day. A statement from the junta said it was done "on humanitarian grounds. The statement said the freed prisoners were serving time for breaking section 505(a) of the penal code, which makes it illegal to propagate fake news or statements that incite public disorder or fear. Many people arrested following the military coup in February 2021 faced this charge, which carried a maximum sentence of three years in jail. Freelance journalist Ah Hla Lay Thuzar told VOA by phone the junta appears to be releasing people with less than a year left on their sentences. The junta is trying to repair its reputation as a major human rights abuser by releasing prisoners, she said. Thuzar was released from Insein prison in early January after serving 16 months for inciting national unrest under Section 505(a). She was arrested while covering protests in the capital, Yangon, in September 2021. After her release, she said, she lived in fear. I was afraid that the junta could put me in jail again at any time. There is no law there. Fear of being caught again won out. I can see that those who have now been set free also feel this way, Thuzar told VOA. She fled to the Thai-Myanmar border after being released from prison. Challenges of reporting under military rule The journalists still being held in Myanmar prisons, according to VOA Burmese's research data, include VOA Burmese contributor Sithu Aung Myint. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the junta, his daughter told VOA. Sithu Aung Myint contributed fact-based news analysis to a VOA Burmese weekly program from 2014 until his arrest in August 2021. Since the coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said, the military has cracked down on the media to muzzle journalists and limit people's access to information. According to its report released earlier this year, journalists in Myanmar face death threats and have been compelled to abandon the country because of their work. Arrests and interrogation are other forms of harassment that journalists commonly face. As reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Myanmar has risen to the position of third-worst nation for imprisoning journalists, after Iran and China. According to the International Press Institute's (IPI) Database of Killed Journalists, four journalists have been slain in Myanmar since February 2021; all were likely killed by the junta. Despite the criticism, the military junta maintains the international press has been allowed to report freely in Myanmar. Danny Fenster, an American journalist imprisoned in Myanmar for six months in 2021, however, said his arrest was likely meant to frighten other journalists away. At the time, he was managing editor of the English-language news magazine Frontier Myanmar. "They had, I think, found that they could send a statement to international journalists 'Don't come here, dont pay attention to this," Fenster remarked at Washington Post-sponsored Press Freedom Day event in Washington on Wednesday. Swe Win, editor-in-chief of the Myanmar Now news agency, told VOA in a Zoom interview for World Press Freedom Day coverage that "not being able to access news sources freely" was one of the major challenges journalists faced under the junta. Shortly after the coup, the junta cracked down on independent media outlets, forcing Myanmar Now and other independent media to relocate their activities outside the country. He added, There are a lot of off-limits spots. Some regions were completely destroyed by the fighting. No one is allowed to openly pose questions, but "our correspondents in the field are surprisingly resilient. There are those who are making contact with locals in Myanmar from outside the country for the purposes of reporting. Our commitment to journalistic integrity is equally robust, said Swe Win. Unity among journalists Myanmars coup came nearly 10 years after a period of more political openness, and in those years the countrys media underwent rapid growth. In the years before the coup, a wide variety of private and publicly funded media organizations grew and connected with audiences, which had an impact on the country, Swe Win said. The advantages of the internet era have allowed Burmese [Myanmar] people of all ages to see the dangers posed by the military rule," he said. American journalist Nathan Maung worked as a journalist in Myanmar under both the semicivilian regime of former General Thein Sein (201015) as well as the National League for Democracy (NLD) government led by Aung San Suu Kyi (2015-20). During that time, he said, Myanmars news outlets rapidly multiplied. One bright spot is the expansion of local, grassroots news sources," Maung told VOA, noting that while local media had risen in significance, "so has the focus of investigating by national media. He said those news organizations were more divided over how to cover the countrys Rohingya crisis in years past, but the 2020 coup led to more unity among journalists. The Voice of America and the other major foreign-based media outlets covered the genocide committed by the Myanmar army against Rohingya minority openly and correctly, but most of the local media outlets refused to accept this," he said. "[The] coup altered that gap. We suddenly agreed. All of Myanmar's independent media outlets saw the same atrocities and war crimes committed against the Rohingya and came to the same conclusion. Maung, who was the executive producer of Kamaryut Online News Media, founded in 2012, was arrested by the military junta in March 2021, released from prison in June and deported to the United States after the charges against him were dropped. International support for media For Sonny Swe, CEO of Frontier Myanmar, the obligation of the international community to help Myanmar's independent media is critical "in light of the recent military coup and the COVID-19 outbreak." "The international community can support us by providing financial assistance, technical support, advocacy, solidarity and recognition," but "the international support has been limited and insufficient, and more urgent and coordinated action is needed," Swe said in a statement to VOA. Swe Win of Myanmar Now said, "We fear the media may not survive the next five to 10 years, since its future is unknown and there is a cap on international aid. We need strong and effective support." CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA With 12 storeys, a breathtaking view of Cape Town's imposing Table Mountain and a minimal ecological footprint, the world's tallest building made with industrial hemp is soon to open its doors in South Africa. Workers in central Cape Town are putting the finishing touches on the 54-room Hemp Hotel, which is due to be completed in June. "Hempcrete" blocks derived from the cannabis plant have been used to fill the building's walls, supported by a concrete and cement structure. Hemp bricks are becoming increasingly popular in the construction world thanks to their insulating, fire-resistant and climate-friendly properties. Used notably in Europe for thermal renovation of existing buildings, the blocks are carbon negative -- meaning their production sucks more planet-warming gases out of the atmosphere than it puts in. "The plant absorbs the carbon, it gets put into a block and is then stored into a building for 50 years or longer," explains Boshoff Muller, director of Afrimat Hemp, a subsidiary of South African construction group Afrimat, which produced the bricks for the hotel. "What you see here is a whole bag full of carbon, quite literally," Muller says as he pats a bag of mulch at a brick factory on the outskirts of Cape Town, where hemp hurds, water and lime are mixed together to make the blocks. The industrial hemp used for the Hemp Hotel had to be imported from Britain as South Africa banned local production up to last year, when the government started issuing cultivation permits. President Cyril Ramaphosa has made developing the country's hemp and cannabis sector an economic priority, saying it could create more than 130,000 jobs. Carbon credits Afrimat Hemp is now preparing to produce its first blocks made only with South African hemp. Hemp Hotel architect Wolf Wolf, 52, sees this as a game changer to make hemp buildings more widespread in this corner of the world. "It shouldn't be just a high-end product," says Wolf, whose firm is involved in several social housing projects in South Africa and neighboring Mozambique. Yet cost remains an issue. "Hemp is 20 percent more expensive to build with" compared to conventional materials, says Afrimat Hemp's carbon consultant Wihan Bekker. But as the world races to lower carbon emissions, the firm sees "huge opportunities" for its green bricks, says Bekker. Carbon credits -- permits normally related to the planting of trees to safeguard tropical rainforests that companies buy to offset their emissions -- could help make hempcrete blocks more financially palatable, he says. "We can fund forests, or we can fund someone to live in a hemp house. It's the same principle," Bekker says. The carbon footprint of a 40 square meter (430 square foot) house built with hemp is three tons of CO2 lower than that of a conventional building, according to Afrimat Hemp. In the wake of three of the biggest bank failures in U.S. history over the past two months, Americans are increasingly jittery about the safety of their money, worried about instability in the banking sector and concerned that fear, whether justified or not, could result in additional collapses. Over the past week, multiple midsize U.S. banks have watched their share prices fluctuate wildly some losing nearly 90% of their value as investors and depositors struggled to ascertain whether the same problems that affected First Republic Bank, shuttered on Monday, and Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, both shut down in March, were widespread. On Friday, investors seemed to regain some of their confidence in the sector, sending the share prices of many midsize banks back up. However, the broader environment of concern persists. So far, investors' unease does not seem to have prompted significant deposit flight when customers transfer funds from a bank they fear might be unsafe to an institution considered less risky. However, the rush to the exits that preceded the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank transpired in under 48 hours, leaving some experts nervous about a repeat. A broad market The United States, unlike many countries, has an extremely diverse banking system, with thousands of companies holding bank charters. In 2022, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which insures individual bank accounts, covered deposits at 4,135 individual banks. The U.S. also is home to a significant number of credit unions, which are tax-exempt not-for-profit organizations that, like banks, accept deposits, provide transaction services and make loans. The vast majority of U.S. banks are relatively small "community" banks that serve a limited geographic area and have at most a few branches. However, sitting atop the U.S. banking industry are the four institutions JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all of which have assets of more than $1 trillion. Those four banks are widely assumed to be "too big to fail," meaning that the federal government would intervene to prevent them from collapsing to prevent widespread damage to the banking system and the U.S. and global economies. Who is 'too big to fail'? While there is general agreement that the four largest banks are too big to fail, there has long been debate about whether that label should apply to the banks in the next tier, about 20 institutions with $100 billion to $600 billion in assets. Regulators muddied the water significantly with the failures of Silicon Valley, Signature, and First Republic banks, all of which had fallen into that second tier. In the case of Silicon Valley and Signature banks, the FDIC announced that deposit insurance would be extended to 100% of deposits. Technically, the agency is obligated to cover only the first $250,000 in any individual's or company's accounts. However, FDIC leadership invoked an exception that allowed it to expand coverage when failing to do so might cause a systemic crisis. When First Republic failed on Monday, the agency negotiated a deal with JPMorgan Chase, under which the larger bank assumed all deposits of First Republic at face value, completely protecting depositors from losses, at an estimated cost of $13 million to the FDIC's deposit insurance fund. The agency faced considerable criticism for its actions, with some speculating that a precedent had been set under which depositors at any failed bank could expect to be fully insured. The agency pushed back, saying that was not the case. In the aftermath, many depositors at midsize banks began to wonder whether the problems that had brought down Silicon Valley, Signature and First Republic were present at their banks. They also worried whether the institutions holding their money were considered big enough to rate a federal rescue. Regional banks in focus Most of the concern has been focused on banks considered "regional" second-tier institutions that are neither community banks nor trillion-dollar banks. PacWest Bancorp, another California-based lender, was among the banks hit hardest by the stock market sell-off. The bank has a large concentration of customers in the venture capital space, many of whom keep deposits that are orders of magnitude larger than the deposit insurance cap. A similar customer base led the flight from Silicon Valley Bank. PacWest, however, said that it did not experience heavier-than-usual deposit loss in the wake of the First Republic failure, though it did admit that it was in talks with potential acquirers. Other banks whose share prices have been hammered include Western Alliance Bancorp, Zions Bancorp, and Comerica. 'Disturbing trend' If bank customers lose faith in the safety and soundness of small and midsize banks, experts said, it will be bad for the banking system and the broader U.S. economy. "It's a very disturbing trend, because of its impact on smaller banks not just community banks, but even some of the smaller regionals," said Bert Ely, principal of the banking consultancy Ely & Co. "Once people make that shift, not everybody's going to come back to smaller banks." Ely told VOA that in his view, the investor concern is overblown. "All this nervousness, I think, is really misplaced, given the state of the economy," he said, pointing out that U.S. markets remain strong and are not suffering from significant problems such as the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, which presaged the last major banking crisis. Deciding where to go college is the first major life decision many Americans make. And while there are many factors to weigh when selecting a school - including cost and distance from home - many of the 16.6 million American college students today chose to enroll in the best school they could get into. It is generally believed that graduates of elite colleges and universities are better positioned for higher-paying careers later in life. And there is plenty of evidence to back this claim. According to one study conducted between 1996 and 2014, about 38% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 45% of billionaires attended elite post-secondary schools. (This is where the 25 richest American billionaires went to college.) Because elite colleges and universities offer high quality and rigorous academic programs, they receive far more applications each year than they can accept. As a result, many of the best schools in the country are also the most selective. It is worth noting that those who graduate from top-tier institutions are high achievers to begin with, and therefore, any career success cannot be attributed to their college education alone. Based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, of the 20 colleges or universities in Iowa with available data, Grinnell College, located in Grinnell, ranks as the hardest school to get into. Only 10.5% of applicants for the fall 2021 semester were admitted, and the median SAT score among enrolled students in the 2020-2021 academic year was 1446 out of a possible 1600. The average cost of attending Grinnell College as a full-time student is $70,346 for one academic year. Average annual cost of attendance is only for full-time, first-time, undergraduates who receive Title IV aid. All schools within each state with at least 1,000 applicants in fall 2021 were ranked based on an index score of median SAT scores, from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard and admissions rates, from the National Center for Education Statistics. Average annual cost of attendance is also from the College Scorecard. About Spirits Restaurant Operating since: 1992 Price range: $11-$30 The Local cheers bar Fredericksburg! We will not disappoint you with affordable food, great times and Greek and American traditional Flair! Swing into Today TFW you have a similar posture to the royal family. Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage Its official. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, has been crowned King Charles III alongside his wife, now Queen Camilla. During his coronation on Saturday morning at Westminster Abbey in London, ending this season of Keeping Up With the Royal Family, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby crowned the St. Edwards Crown on King Charless head, making him the king of the United Kingdom. However, his coronation did not come without drama. Leading up to the ceremony, there were discussions of whether or not Prince Harry would attend the ceremony, after his wife Meghan Markle confirmed she would stay home with their two children in California. On the day of the coronation, several protesters were reportedly arrested, including Graham Smith, the leader of the Republic, a political organization dedicated to the replacement of the monarchy. There is still more coronation to come; Windsor Castles East Lawn will hold a concert on Sunday to celebrate the new king. Lionel Richie, Andrea Bocelli, Take That, and Katy Perry are set to perform tomorrow hopefully, the latter will be able to find her way to the castle. Below are the royal highlights from King Charles IIIs coronation. The royal audience was the best part While there has still been no Nicki Minaj or Tom Cruise sighting, Katy Perry made her way to the palace, but not without struggling to find her seat. Perry, wearing a lilac dress with a giant hat to match, asked other guests where her seat was before eventually finding it. Katy, you just have to remember to look right and mind the gap! Thankfully, she made it to her spot and served Well, until all eyes were on Prince Louis. Katy Perry spotted looking for her seat at the #Coronation of King Charles III. pic.twitter.com/m2JmrCtNIg Pop Base (@PopBase) May 6, 2023 dont worry guys i found my seat KATY PERRY (@katyperry) May 6, 2023 Katy Perry eating up Charles at his own coronation. #Coronation pic.twitter.com/lQvHJ8AiN9 z (@bazienka) May 6, 2023 Prince Louis crowned Prince of Memes Prince Louis was spotted yawning multiple times throughout the ceremony, and who could blame him? The ceremony was during ungodly hours in the States, and who knows how early he had to be awake to get ready in his Jedi outfit. Yawning is contagious, so its shocking that the rest of the royals werent stretching with a nice siesta on the mind to end the afternoon. Eventually, they all get to mimis, but for now, the show must go on! Very much here for Prince Louis waving style #Coronation pic.twitter.com/rxtisW6xRn Louise Quarmby (@LoulaQ) May 6, 2023 Nice of them to let Prince Louis come in his Return of the Jedi fancy dress #Coronation pic.twitter.com/ddDGhcKsq5 Timothy Saxby (@TimxSaxby) May 6, 2023 Uh, Prince Andrew was also there Despite not being a working member of the royal family since he was stripped from his titles in 2022, Prince Andrew, who was accused of sexual assault, wore full royal regalia to the coronation. He was not present alongside the rest of the royal family on the balcony. Interesting to see Prince Andrew in his Garter robes, two weeks after Buckingham Palace told @DailyMirror that he would not. Big decision from the King considering the Duke of York was banned by the late Queen from wearing them in public for her last Garter Day at Windsor Castle pic.twitter.com/kD55Z8NAhy Russell Myers (@rjmyers) May 6, 2023 Prince Harry dipped the minute it was over Prince Harry was spotted at the coronation wearing a suit decorated with his medals, seated next to Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank. People reported that Prince Harry requested to wear a morning suit instead of regalia to the ceremony. He didnt kneel in allegiance to his father, like his brother Prince William did, as he did not play an official role in the ceremony. Prince Harry was not on the balcony alongside the rest of the royal family, missing the flypast gender reveal soaring above the palace (spoiler: Its a monarchy). However, being left out of the balcony means he can beat the traffic and head back home to sunny California. Looks like Prince Harry is travelling alone as he leaves Westminster Abbey after his fathers #coronation pic.twitter.com/b7ZOvupYvt Ricky Boleto (@rickyboleto) May 6, 2023 From left: Jake Nordwind, Andrew Dismukes, Bryan Tucker, Alison Gates, Kent Sublette, Ben Silva, Michael Longfellow, Streeter Seidell, Vannessa Jackson, Devon Walker, Alex English, Celeste Yim, Martin Herlihy, and Bowen Yang. Photo: Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures On a recent Wednesday, live from New York, it was the Writers Guild of America strike. Following the breakdown of contract negotiations with the major Hollywood studios and streamers, a picket line had formed outside Netflixs 888 Broadway headquarters some thousand people strong, among them writers of late-night TV, streaming sitcoms, and, in a thick clump, the writers of Saturday Night Live and their friends. These being writers, the placards and chants were a little more clever than usual. Dont Uber Writing, one read. Dont Piss on My Leg and Tell Me Its Streaming, read another. Were Netflix execs cowed into skipping their usual Sweetgreen lunch runs? I hope so, said Streeter Seidell, one of the head writers of SNL. Or at least they sent their assistant out to get it? The strike, WGA brass say, is the only workable response to an existential threat to writers, whose livelihoods have been compromised by diminished residuals, nefarious gig-work mini-rooms, shrunken TV-season orders, and the looming specter of scripts by AI. Stories of writers forced to return to nannying or barista service between plum writing jobs have become worryingly common. The union, which represents 11,500 writers of mostly film and TV between its East and West divisions, had voted for the strike by a margin of 97.9 percent. The cause is just, but a bare sliver of silver lining also just a little bit fun. Im going to get a new Raya profile pic, a striking writer told me before disappearing into the crowd. All our co-workers are now no-workers, said Josh Gondelman, a former head writer of of Desus and Mero and a union council member. The protest had the feel of an alfresco office party: People were running into friends, former colleagues, and Ilana Glazer. Its starting to feel like a gay club, Alex English, an SNL writer told me with a laugh. I didnt come yesterday because I didnt have a haircut. Yall not about to have me on the news looking crazy. Its bad enough I dont got a job. I dont want to look broke, unemployed, and dusty. SNL is one of the last remaining holy-grail shows, one with a long season and reliable residuals, but even so, its writing staff was out on the march; theyd been nearing the end of their season when the strike was called, and the final planned episodes, like the one hosted by Pete Davidson scheduled for May 6, canceled. I wish that I was at the office writing jokes for Pete Davidson where he plays, like, a big chicken or something, Englishs colleague Celeste Yim said. But I cant be doing that. I have to be here. Industry stalwarts have been here before. Its great to see such energy, such great turn out, said Cynthia Nixon, as marchers processed in two parallel lines east and west on 19th Street, around the corner of Broadway, down to 18th, east to Park, and back around. Right here in the middle of Manhattan. If people walking by didnt know there was a writers strike, they know it now. A city bus honked its support. Nixon has been working long enough that she remembers the 20078 strike, which continued for 100 days, and the 153-day 1988 strike before that. We were very aware of how long those strikes went on for, she said. And writers and their allies want to be sure that it doesnt take that long. But if the process repeats from generation to generation, so too does the righteous agitation. Zoe Kazan, an actress and screenwriter whose screenplays include Ruby Sparks and, with her husband, Paul Dano, Wildlife, appeared with her baby in a Snugli at her chest: advocacy starts early. My parents took me when I was a kid, she said. (Her mother, Robin Swicord, adapted Little Women and Memoirs of a Geisha for the screen; her father, Nicholas Kazan, Reversal of Fortune.) My dads strike shirt was my sleep T-shirt for years. Eat up. Photo: Matt Dinerstein/FX The Beef is dead; long live the Bear. The Bears second season will have its grand opening on June 22. And this time around, it will feature a new recurring character played by Shiva Babys Molly Gordon as well as Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk, who is reserved for a guest role, though details on his character remain similarly undisclosed. So what do we know? Well, FX previously snuck a teensy little teaser for season two of The Bear into the 2023 Oscars broadcast. Right after Naatu Naatu tore the roof off the Dolby Theatre, and right before some spon-con for the Academy Museum, we got the saddest character shots of a comedy youve ever seen with everyone mopey, in slow motion, and tinted green like it was an anti-drug PSA. Which in a way, The Bear kinda is. Its not a reopening, its a rebirth. FX's The Bear returns this June. Only on Hulu. pic.twitter.com/S2PHlKLRzy The Bear (@TheBearFX) March 13, 2023 When last we left our heroic chefs, theyd just come into a ton of tomato-soaked money and were beginning to blue-sky a new restaurant. Now the kids are getting ready to remodel. Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) even has a sledgehammer, presumably to do the funnest part of any renovation (demo) but possibly also to bash Carmy (Jeremy Allen White)s face in. Find out which she gets to first when The Bear comes roaring back in June. This post has been updated. Make Hollywood Horny Again A celebration of erotic thrillers. Sydney Sweeney and Justice Smith in The Voyeurs. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photo by Amazon Prime Video We all feel it, that emptiness in our souls where the erotic thriller should be. A subgenre that wasnt necessarily invented but flew its closest to the sun in the 1990s is the grand unifying experience of cinema in so many ways. It is the bridge between the high and the low. It is the handshake between film snobs and trash collectors. Its the movie theater in old Times Square where any shade of person could go to watch something sexy, transgressive, and built for pure satisfaction. (Trust me: Im on the asexual spectrum, and even I cant resist this hot and bothered section at the video store.) The notion of guilty pleasures is a waste of time love what you love and shout it out loud but if theres one class of movies that easily slides into that folder, wrapped in black paper to protect the sensitive eyes of passersby, its this one. And while we may not get as many new erotic thrillers as wed like (or deserve!), theres a lurid and sweaty archive waiting for you to access it at any time. Weve compiled a list of 21 movies you can watch right now with various streaming subscriptions, plus four more bonus entries at the end for the ones you shouldnt need anyone to tell you about. So whether youre an experienced collector in the field of film erotics or youre just now starting to dip your toe in the water, light a candle for Linda Fiorentino and burn a small offering for Adrian Lyne: Its time to watch some movies that require you to close the shades. Sliver (1993) Watch out, world. Its a Sharon Stone movie from the 1990s, which means there is plenty more eroticism on the horizon. In Sliver, Stone stars as Carly Norris, a New York City woman who works in the erotic-thriller genres favorite chic profession: book publishing. Carly moves into a new apartment building shortly after one of its tenants, who looks shockingly like her, falls to her death from a high-rise balcony, and immediately catches the attention of several male residents in the building. One of them is the handsome Zeke Hawkins (William Baldwin), who starts to fervently pursue Carly as more tenants end up dead. Sliver has lots of voyeurism and Tom Berenger being a total grease ball. Directed by Phillip Noyce, this is a real genre journeymans movie. It might not get the headlines the way some of Stones other work does, but its well worth the time. Sliver Body of Evidence (1993) If you want some gorgeous garbage, look no further than Body of Evidence. Starring transgressive queen Julianne Moore and Madonna in the lead up to her Erotica era, Body of Evidence really gives you the goods. A rich old man is found dead, and wouldnt you know it? Hes left his millions to the woman he was having an affair with (Madonnas Rebecca Carlson). These circumstances dont sit right with district attorney Joe Mantegna, who accuses Rebecca of intentionally banging the man to death so she could get to his money. Oldest trick in the book! Also, Madonnas lawyer is Willem Dafoe, and the two engage in a dangerous romance. Its like an erotic thriller bingo board. Body of Evidence Traces of Red (1992) Traces of Red exists at the intersection of two of the sweatiest categories of film: erotic thrillers and Florida crime. In it, James Belushi plays a homicide detective who finds himself in a surprising position; hes the one looking more and more like the prime suspect in a string of murders, as women are turning up dead with lipstick traces left on them by the killer. This movie has dark and lurid reveals, and a supporting cast that boasts the likes of Lorraine Bracco and Tony Goldwyn. Traces of Red Devil in the Flesh (1998) Have you ever wanted to see Rose McGowan handling a shotgun while asking, Why wont you love me?? Well, congratulations, because the wait for such specific delights is over. Devil in the Flesh stars a Jawbreaker era McGowan who is wearing that bad-bitch Courtney Shayne vibe like a tight-fitting dress. She plays Debbie, a teenager who is of course beautiful and troubled, and has been turned over to the care of her fundamentalist Christian grandma after her mom dies in a fire. (Suspicious?!) As the body count increases around Debbie, she becomes infatuated with an English teacher at her new school. So weve got parents dead under suspicious circumstances, a tyrant grandma who stands in the way of our unstable main character, and an inappropriate schoolteacher crush. Are you not entertained? Devil in the Flesh Benedetta (2021) Is there anyone out there who does eroticism like Paul Verhoeven? The man makes trash cinema for the thinking film fan, and its a delight that his two main modes are basically lustful cinema that indulges in psychosexual thrills or satirizing extreme violence for American audiences. Benedetta is mostly the former, and Verhoeven is taking us all to church. Literally. The movie focuses on a 17th-century nun (the titular character) who runs afoul of the Catholics when she starts having sex with another nun in her convent. Thats a big problem, but where Benedetta really causes a stir is when she starts showing signs of the stigmata and having provocative visions that inflame basically all of society around the church. The film is based on a book by Judith C. Brown that has a very made-for-TV erotic-thriller title, Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy, and even incorporates a sex toy carved from a wooden Virgin Mary statue. Lets see more sweaty movies based on real-life gay nuns! Benedetta Eyes Wide Shut (1999) If an epic erotic thriller is what you seek, then the master Stanley Kubrick is here to fulfill your desires. Eyes Wide Shut is nearly three hours long and a stunning cultural artifact. It is the final film directed by Kubrick, one of the last films Tom Cruise would make that had anything remotely sexual in it, and a sordid team-up for one of Hollywoods most high-powered (former) couples of the late 20th century. Cruise and his ex Nicole Kidman star as a married couple on the rocks, with husband Cruise driven to dark obsession after he learns his wife has been fantasizing about another man. Eyes Wide Shut came out in 1999, a time when big stars still made bawdy erotica, and when the idea of an orgy onscreen was still worth clutching your pearls over and not something you couldnt accidentally catch around once a week on whatever is new to streaming TV. Were we ever so young? Eyes Wide Shut The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) Based on the 1934 novel of the same name by James M. Cain and written by David Mamet, The Postman Always Rings Twice stars two actors famous for their ferocity: Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. Hes a drifter who happens into a diner, and she is the wife of its owner. When he agrees to come on as a hired hand, the two obviously fall into a torrid affair that will lead to sex, murder plotting, and Lange becoming increasingly unhinged and screaming at Nicholson until her voice trembles and breaks in that singularly Jessica Lange way! The Postman Always Rings Twice Disclosure (1994) The erotic thriller was riding high in the 1990s, and almost no single person capitalized on that era of abundance more than Michael Douglas, a man born to do wrong onscreen and have no choice but to succumb to the sexual rabidity of cunning women around him! Before Hollywood was gender flipping stories with abandon, Disclosure dared to ask: But what if a woman was the aggressor, and this good family man was only trying his best when a stunning she-devil showed up to ruin his life? What if?! Fortunately, that stone-cold lying girlboss is Demi Moore, whose distinct smokey voice is soaking with condescension and contempt as she descends like a missile onto Douglass life. First she takes his job. Then she tries to take his whole life. And you are left to ask yourself: Good for her ? Disclosure Deep Water (2022) Few filmmakers have staked their claim to eroticism more fully than Adrian Lyne. From the sexy thrillers (Fatal Attraction, Unfaithful) to the smoldering dramas (Indecent Proposal, 9 1/2 Weeks), this man has one mode, and that mode is getting people to undress for the camera. (Flashdance may not be an erotic thriller, but think about what scene(s) you remember most from it!) Thankfully for Lyne, he has stayed making movies long enough to work in the era of Ana de Armas, who simply loves to accept sexually audacious roles. While Deep Water was advertised as a down-the-middle piece of thrilling erotica (a trailer promising murder! and handjobs!), its possible this is the weirdest movie Lyne has ever made. With de Armas and Ben Affleck starring as an on-the-rocks married couple, Lyne blended so many elements of his long career into one genre-defying tone milkshake that constantly teases suspense while delivering straight-faced acerbic comedy and features Affleck hanging out with snails in one scene and debating the ethics of making tech for military drones with Tracy Letts in another. None of the adults in this movie seem to have jobs, so what else would they get up to but snails and adultery and riding bikes that are too small for them? Also, shouts out to the most surprising car chase of 2022. Deep Water The In Crowd (2000) You might know the name Mary Lambert because she directed the horror classic Pet Sematary, but take a moment for her entry into aughts genre fare. The In Crowd plays like a nighttime soap in line with the coming era of The O.C. and Gossip Girl while piggybacking on the dead (and sexy) teenagers craze ushered in by Scream. This movie masquerades as a slasher given its context and marketing, but what youll find if you open the hood is actually a lightweight erotic thriller set in the environs of the rich and entitled at some country club during summer break. The college kids are moneyed and bored, and they take a shine to Lori Heurings Adrien, who is at the club doing their laundry but is hot enough to make it past the velvet rope. And, of course, controlling access from on high is Brittany, the fairest and deadliest of them and played to evil brunette perfection by Susan Ward. This entry is really a tribute to Ward, who should have been feasting on fuck your husband and your son Lifetime movies for years, but our world is not a just one. Ward is the Denise Richards of Kari Wuhrers (watch Wild Things 2 if you need proof), and her sexually opportunistic femme fatale makes this underseen 2000s treasure sing. The In Crowd Color of Night (1994) Trying to explain Color of Night would do a disservice to you the reader as well as the movie itself. Night sits in the Venn diagram center of two genres: erotic thriller and YES! Yes to what, you ask? Yes to it all. And while you can stream the theatrical version, we highly, highly recommend you seek out the fully restored directors cut that runs two hours and 40 minutes, because it is worth it. Here are as many details as youll need. Bruce Willis plays a therapist who comes to visit a group session lead by another therapist friend, played by Scott Bakula. When Bakula is taken off the board, Willis steps right in and takes over care for all of his group patients one of whom might be a murderer. Look out for hitters in this one. Leslie Ann Warren going full bimbo Susan Sarandon is here, along with Brad Dourif, Lance Henriksen, Kevin J. OConnor, and more. But the real star isnt even Willis. Its Jane March in a role she couldnt possibly have been paid enough for. Word has it that the producers ripped the movie away from the director and made savage cuts before releasing it theatrically. The directors cut has about 20 minutes of additional footage, and its fair to assume thats most of the good stuff. Show up for the nude cooking, stay for the nude Willis. Color of Night American Gigolo (1980) Richard Gere had already been cutting a handsome figure in crime thrillers for years before 1980, but American Gigolo helped cement him as a sex symbol for erotic-thriller connoisseur. In this film written and directed by Paul Schrader, Gere plays a sex worker named Julian who is generally enjoying the high life thanks to the compensation from his very satisfied clients. But one day he gets called to service a rich man (Tom Stewart) and his wife (Patricia Carr), and the husbands requests are far kinkier and more violent than Julian is comfortable carrying out. After the bad job, the wife turns up dead, and Julian ends up the prime suspect in her murder. Since no one is springing to the rescue of an escort they could more easily discard, its up to him to clear his own name but can he do it before the hammer of justice comes down? Pull up this classic and find out! American Gigolo Dream Lover (1993) When you think of erotic thrillers, you probably think of the 1990s. What you might not think of but should is Madchen Amick, who should have been devouring the screen in a dozen entries for the subgenre in its most abundant decade. Instead, we got precious few starring thriller vehicles from Amick in her 90s zenith, and one of those is a true hidden treasure. Amick stars alongside James Spader as a beguiling beauty whom Spader is helpless before. She warns him that she isnt simply a pretty vessel in which to pour his fantasies, and old James insists he sees the truth of her beyond her good looks. Would you guess that hes calamitously wrong? The special thing about Dream Lover is that it plays out like a traditional erotic thriller until the halfway mark, leaving you to careen through unexpected twists and turns for its back half. Amick seethes sensuality and menace, and Spader is excellent as the hot idiot thinking with the wrong part of himself. And because this is from the 90s, there are entire extended dream sequences dedicated to Spader fantasizing about being in a circus. Okat! Dream Lover The Crush (1993) There are three magic words that open the movie The Crush: Introducing Alicia Silverstone. One of the defining big-screen figures of the 1990s, she made her film debut in this erotic thriller about a teen girl pining after the boarder, Nick Eliot (Cary Elwes), who lives in her parents guest house. Everything about this movie is unhinged. It was written and directed by Alan Shapiro, who based the story on events from his own life. And the fact of a man making a movie that basically shouts, No, your honor, the 14-year-old seduced me! is, at the very least, a fascinating circumstance to ponder. Nonetheless, Silverstone sets the celluloid on fire as the sinister, scheming teen, giving a performance that shows the meaning of star power. She had herself legally emancipated to be able to work on the film as a 15-year-old (she turned 16 during shooting), and its unreal that a brand-new kid can have this much presence in front of a camera. The real heads out there know why it sounds so weird whenever anyone in the movie says Adrian, and thats because the real girl whom Silverstones character was based on sued the production for illegally using her actual name, Darian, in the script. She won, so the movie had to be dubbed over following release. Watch this movie and behold the preeminent case study in how obsessed with Lolita films were in the 90s. Much to unpack there! The Crush Jade (1995) Whenever anyone starts talking erotic thrillers, the conversation will almost inevitably veer into someone shouting The Last Seduction! And, listen, the movie is great; its a classic. But the lack of respect for Linda Fiorentinos other contributions to the erotic thriller by constantly listing that one movie first is frankly disrespectful to her legacy. Consider instead a movie that is decidedly more thrilling (Seduction is more of a dark comedy if youre really being honest with yourself) than her most-cited sexy hit. Consider: Jade. This movie has a weirdly tepid reputation despite starring a hard-boiled David Caruso simply oozing Caruso as a detective trying to solve a string of high-profile murders related to kinky sex. Fiorentino becomes the prime suspect in it all, and she reminds you here why people have been mourning her absence from the screen for years. Jade also makes excellent use of one of the eras most stunning cinematic treasures: the city of San Francisco. Jade Bound (1996) Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon star in this all-time sexy crime thriller about two women finding a steamy connection with one another and planning to do away with the violent man keeping them apart. Gershon plays Corky, a freshly out of prison construction lesbian who catches the eye of Violet (Tilly) in an elevator one day, and Joe Pantoliano co-stars as Caesar, the criminal and abusive boyfriend of Violet who needs to go. Bound is the directorial debut of Lilly and Lana Wachowski, and its truly a beautiful thing that before they took us into The Matrix and before they cast Channing Tatum as a human dog in Jupiter Ascending, they made a hall of fame Be Gay Do Crime film. Bound Wild Things (1998) If youre a geriatric millennial, theres a good chance you have a formative relationship with Wild Things, which surely has the distinction of being the first screen threesome and/or first screen penis for so many. Not only is Wild Things a top-tier erotic thriller, its also an aces Florida crime movie, and theres nothing sweatier than Florida crime. Neve Campbell and Denise Richards star as the most grown-looking teens youve ever seen in this story of two high schoolers who accuse their guidance counselor, played by Matt Dillon, of a heinous crime. The entire sordid affair upends the posh seaside city of Blue Bay, and it puts surly detective Kevin Bacon on their tails as he tries to figure out who is lying about what. For all the sensation, it shouldnt be looked over that Campbell and Richards are both chewing up these roles and turning some delicious trash into a fine five-course meal of sexy thrills. Shouts out, too, to composer George S. Clinton, who did the score for both this movie and Red Shoe Diaries which makes a hilarious amount of sense. Wild Things Cruel Intentions 2 (2002) The thing about Cruel Intentions 2 is that it wont surprise you with how good it is, but if you havent seen it before, it will surprise you to see Amy Adams succeed Sarah Michelle Gellar as the pretty rich girl with bad intentions Kathryn Merteuil. And somewhat unexpected: CI2 is actually a prequel! That means we get to see Adamss Merteuil antagonize Robin Dunnes Sebastian Valmont in this origin story of their psychosexual step-sibling relationship. We all know Adams should have at least two Oscars to her name by now, and while a direct-to-video YA erotic thriller may not be the most prestigious affair, she is still serving bad bitch like her life depends on it to fill Gellars formidable designer shoes. There are no small parts, only small actors! And even in this sequel-prequel from the early days of her career, Adams is a giant. Watch and pay your respects. Cruel Intentions 2 Swimfan (2002) Congratulations, aughts teens, your savior is here to represent you. If youre in the market for teens with secrets and lies, either relive your sleepover days or enjoy for the first time this nasty little number about an all-star swimmer who gives in to the temptation of a new girl with a dangerous crush. This movie is so aughts it stars Jesse Bradford as the heartthrob athlete. This movie is so aughts its about a champion high-school swimmer. This movie is so aughts it features Erika Christensen going totally feral and laying emotional waste to people. Swimfan is deluxe Friday-night popcorn fare. Swimfan Unfaithful (2002) There are few people who have done more for the erotic thriller than writer and director Adrian Lyne, who made everyone clutch their pearls with 9 Weeks before mastering the form with Fatal Attraction. Next came Indecent Proposal and a dip into even more taboo waters with Lolita before he delivered 2002s Unfaithful. Diane Lane earned an Oscar nomination for her turn as a wife who throws her marriage vows to the wind when she embars on an affair with Olivier Martinez. Richard Gere is a sexy movie icon in his own right, but here he is the cuckolded husband unaware that his wife is having sex everywhere with the confoundingly attractive Martinez. This is paperback sleaze with a prestige sheen. Unfaithful Chloe (2009) When we think of erotic thrillers, the first women that come to mind are titans of the genre such as Glenn Close, Sharon Stone, and Linda Fiorentino, but dont let the name Julianne Moore stay too far from your heart either. Moore is one of our most fearless performers, giving her all over and over in films that luxuriate in the taboo and the transgressive, from Boogie Nights to Body of Evidence to Maps to the Stars to Savage Grace and then some. Now, is Chloe the apex of her career when it comes to dark sexy material? No. But sometimes its just fun to play around in the mud. In this 2009 pulp drama, Moore plays Catherine, a woman so certain her husband (Liam Neeson) is cheating on her that she hires a sex worker (Amanda Seyfried) to tempt him for proof that hes a two-timing bastard. But soon enough, the business arrangement between Catherine and Seyfrieds Chloe turns into its own kind of affair with the wife asking her spy to recount every sexual encounter with the husband in lurid detail. Does this movie play into the sticky history of queerphobia thats rampant throughout the history of erotic thrillers? It sure does! But the gays deserve to have fun, too, so put your judgments aside and give yourself over to the charms of Chloe. Chloe The Housemaid (2010) If youre looking to discover some international erotic thrills, consider dabbling in this domestic story of sex and betrayal and bourgeoisie malaise. The Housemaid follows a young woman (Jeon Do-yeon) whos hired as a nanny for a pregnant housewife (Seo Woo) and becomes the object of desire for the man of the house (Lee Jung-jae). As you can imagine, this goes wrong for everyone involved. When the nanny and the husband engage in an affair, the pregnant wife gets wise, and everything starts coming apart at the seams for all involved. All of this builds up to a shocking climax that just doesnt feel like anything youd get from an American film of the same class. If you like it, seek out the 1960 film of the same name this one is based on. The Housemaid Stranger by the Lake (2013) What would a list of erotic thrillers be without something French? This simmering drama set at a cruising beach drips with longing, lust, and the breezy freedom of a warm and sunny day spent by the water watching bodies glisten. Alain Guiraudie wrote and directed this story of murder and desire, and it stars Pierre Deladonchamps as Franck, a handsome 30-something looking to indulge in the delights of this gay gathering spot. Franck connects with Henri (Patrick DAssumcao), but hes truly smitten with Michel, the mustached hunk of everyones dreams played by Christophe Paou. The whole movie takes place within the snow globe of the beach, and the suspense comes thanks to a discovered body and the downward spiral of Franck as he pines for the magnetic Michel. Stranger by the Lake is for those who want the French art-house experience: male bodies dazzlingly on display and sex scenes that dont hold back. Expand your cinematic palette and check out this critical darling. Stranger by the Lake The Handmaiden (2016) Erotic thrillers are famously lowbrow fare thats just so tantalizing it draws in even the highest-minded movie watchers. Of course, some of them are legitimately great classics of cinema! while still satisfying the viewers basest desires. The Handmaiden might be the highest-level work of them all. Park Chan-wooks sensual, stunning masterpiece collected accolades from film-awards bodies the world over before being blanked by the idiot Oscars, but every frame is a painting and every plot twist is a pearl clutcher in this thrilling amalgamation of drama, suspense, dark comedy, and eroticism out of South Korea. The plot concerns three main players: a suave con man (Ha Jung-woo), the low-level grifter hes conscripted into a scheme (Kim Tae-ri), and a housebound heiress (Kim Min-hee), all locked in a duplicitous love triangle. The two crooks are after the pretty rich girls fortune, but everything gets complicated when the women start developing feelings for one another. Or are they? Is this a burgeoning love affair or just another con job stacked on top of a labyrinth of deceptions? The performances are engrossing, the art direction is breathtaking, the sex scenes are eye-widening, and the betrayals are heart-racing. The Handmaiden Double Lover (2017) If you know anything about director Francois Ozon (See the Sea, Swimming Pool), you should know that he revels in the carnal and the transgressive. If theres one thing to know about Double Lover going in, its that the movie basically opens with gyno-POV and a speculum entering a vagina. The story centers on Chloe (Marine Vacth), who starts seeing a therapist named Paul (Jeremie Renier), and before long, the pair become romantically involved. But after a time, Chloe meets another analyst who is a dead ringer (hint hint!) for her boyfriend. Hes Pauls twin brother, you see, and he thinks he can cure Chloe of what ails her via treatments that involve sex. There are secrets about her lovers that Chloe must uncover, and this loose adaptation of Joyce Carol Oatess Lives of the Twins should set off bells for fans of David Cronenbergs own erotic doppleganger thriller Dead Ringers, which is a wonderfully twisted tradition to follow in. Double Lover The Voyeurs (2021) If youre out there bemoaning the loss of the erotic thriller but youre not watching The Voyuers from 2021, are you even for real? If youre out here watching Euphoria and tweeting Sydney Sweeney ate that! but not seeking out her work as a sexy optometrist in this twisty thriller, do you even care about her or are you just riding the Zeitgeist wave? Michael Mohan wrote and directed this steamy little number about a couple (Sweeney and Justice Smith) who get approved for a stunning new apartment that comes with one very specific stipulation: You cant put any curtains up. Ever. This leads them to building weird little parasocial relationships with all the people they can snoop on across the way particularly the incredibly attractive couple (Natasha Liu Bordizzo and Ben Hardy) with the sexually and emotionally explosive relationship right in their eyeline. Our hero couple, Pippa (Sweeney) and Seb (Smith), start overindulging in the voyeuristic delights of watching their hot neighbors with Pippas interest sliding into a full-blown obsession. The real suspense kicks in when something terrible happens across the way, and Pippa in particular is conflicted about what her duty is to the other woman, who might not know all her husbands extracurricular activities. The Voyeurs builds toward a truly bugfuck final act. If you really do miss the erotic thriller, you simply cannot miss this movie. The Voyeurs Plus: Some more essentials And finally, we shouldnt need to tell you to watch these erotic thrillers, but if youve got a hankering: Fatal Attraction (1987), Paramount+ or Amazon Prime Video Glenn Close as the bunny boiler. Basic Instinct (1992), Paramount+ or Amazon Prime Video Sharon Stone as the erotic-thriller femme fatale. Single White Female (1992), Amazon Prime Rental Jennifer Jason Leigh as the blueprint for modern-day toxic female friendship villains. The Last Seduction (1994), Tubi and Peacock Linda Fiorentino as the seductress who can bring any man to his knees. Citadel Infinite Shadows Season 1 Episode 3 Editors Rating 3 stars * * * Previous Next Previous Episode Next Episode Photo: Paul Abell/Prime Video/Paul Abell/Prime Video If you were a former superspy unable to access memories of everything youve done, said, and experienced prior to eight years ago, how likely would you be to trust other spies? If your long-lost colleague asks you to fill in massive blanks, how much do you tell him? Is it better to know it all, or can ignorance be bliss when your job used to be not-quite-state-sanctioned murder in glamorous locales? If youre torturing intel out of another operative, how do you verify the information they share? If the zip ties were on the other wrists and you were being held captive, what would you do? What lies would you tell to escape being tortured? In one way or another, everyone is grappling with these questions in Infinite Shadows. Espionage is built on an odd little paradox: Spies have no choice but to trust others while doing trust-ruining things to them. Agents are in the field seeking out information others want to keep from them while hoarding information others want to extract. No wonder the opening and closing moments of each episode take us on a little visual spin wheel the moment any of them thinks theyve got a handle on whats happening in their strand of the plot, everything gets thrown into chaos once more. At the heart of this cognitive dissonance is the issue of trust, and moving from memory-wiped cluelessness to anything more knowledgeable must be quite a daunting process. Mason and Nadia are on the run, hunkered down in a safe house elsewhere in Spain after narrowly escaping Dahlia Archers Manticore henchmen in Valencia, and hes wondering whom he can trust to guide him through this weird, in-between phase of his life. Right now, the only two candidates are Bernard and Nadia. Mason thinks Bernard is dead, but before Manticore kidnapped him, Bernard had some very indignant words for Mason on the subject of trust: Why would you trust me? I gassed you and your family in a fucking car! Im exceedingly untrustworthy. Im a spy! In both the past and the present, Mason asks Nadia if he can trust her. In the past, in the context of pillow talk, Nadias answer was Always. In the present, its Thats not the first time youve asked me that. Thats a response, but its not an answer to Masons question. Its also not a lie. I continue to think Nadia is walking a very fine and tricky line with him. Its not just Nadias weird rhetorical tap dance making me think shes had her memories all along (or had them restored earlier than what was shown). At one point, she contacts a person as yet unknown to us using the encrypted Gchat at the safe house. When she inquires about the status of the package, the other person responds that its waiting for you. Why do I get the feeling that said package is a child? Whatever or whoever the package turns out to be, Nadia is up to something, and it seems to involve choosing to tell less-harmful lies of omission in response to questions she has resolved not to answer honestly. The contrast between Nadia and Masons current dynamic and their rapport pre-backstop is equally significant. Now shes keeping him at arms length and even tries to shoo him away entirely with repeated brush-offs of his questions about their past. But ten years ago, immediately after their first mission together, the competitive flirtatiousness that marked their interactions in the premieres opening set piece is already there in abundance. Citadels idea of a meet-cute is an undercover Nadia holding a gun to Masons head, and from Nadias perspective, Mason nearly ruined their first mission (date?) entirely. If anything, she rescued him and prevented the release of a worse-than-Ebola virus. That moment also establishes Nadias bona fides; shes not a rookie agent, her mom was a Citadel agent, and she came up through Bravo Team before being begged to join First Tier, thank you very much. Cheeky banter and professional competence? Who could resist? Two weeks after that meet-cute, theyre falling into bed together in Paris, no less! Its good to be reminded that subtlety is not really a spy thrillers forte. Compartmentalizing feelings and moving heaven and earth to rescue a colleague is just the ticket for squashing down inconveniently mixed feelings, so its time to embark on a dangerous plan to save Agent Carter Spence from Manticore! If that name sounds familiar, it should: Dahlia mentioned him to Bernard as a Citadel agent she broke some time ago. She could be lying to get under Bernards skin, but if she did break Carter, Nadia and Mason are walking into an even more dangerous situation than they realize, which is saying something because Nadia has already recognized where hes being held as a black site outside of Fes, Morocco. In pursuit of the information he and Nadia need to gain access to the black site, Mason is once again on the trustworthiness roller coaster. He must trust her to get him out of his meeting with a dangerous source, but said source taunts him about continuing to ally himself with the memory of a woman who sold you out. Word on the bad-guy grapevine is that she was working for Manticore before the train derailment. With truth or expedience, Nadia bats away Masons concerns, noting that she would hardly be likely to try to rescue Carter or keep Mason alive if she were a double agent. But wouldnt both of those things be tactically and temporarily advantageous to her if she were? No matter. When Mason presses her on why she lied about their past relationship, Nadia refuses to discuss it further because what happened between me and Mason is between me and Mason. Oh sure, end the conversation with rambling nonsense; hell definitely never ask about it again. Thats not to say Citadel has left its snappy banter aside. Like James Bond before him, Bernard does the logical thing while being held captive and tortured at Dahlia Archers, looking for ways to entertain himself and needle his captors during what could be his final, agonizing moments of existence. Dahlias choice to enjoy a nice slice of cake and glass of wine while one of her henchmen repeatedly gets this close to choking Bernard to death conveys both cool nonchalance at the prospect of dinner-table murder and an understanding that its her responsibility to provide Bernard with quip fodder once he regains his ability to speak. From Bernards rejection of her note of welcome (Its horrifically fucking terrible to see you, Dahlia!) to his mocking fake capitulation when she again demands the password to the nuclear codes she wants, this immediate blue material is a funny act of defiance. Theyre nowhere close to breaking him until hes threatened with a nasty little brain-invading drill, prompting him to reveal to Anders that his long-lost love, Brielle, is alive and well and married to Mason Kane?! At first, Anders refuses to believe this potentially life-changing piece of information, but when Bernard shows him a photo of Brielle with the Conroy family, we have to wonder what this means for the mission, for Mason, and for Brielle herself. Masons entire life since being backstopped is based on trust with Abby. If she really is Brielle, what effect will that have on Mr. I Need to Know I Can Trust People? As for Brielle, does she know she is Brielle? Is she a Citadel contractor wife-for-hire for Mason, who reports periodically to Bernard? Or has she too been backstopped and now genuinely believes shes Abby Conroy? Who knows? But we wont be getting answers this week! Fun With Bullet Points Whats the biggest reveal of the episode: Brielle/Abby or Dahlia and Bernard having been co-workers at the U.N.?! I would absolutely watch a three-episode arc about that chapter of their lives. Nadias mother was a Citadel agent too. Could she be any of the following: the person Nadia surreptitiously gets in touch with at the Spain safe house, another double or triple agent working with Manticore, or dead owing to something Citadel did or failed to do? Leave it to Bernard to find a way to turn a torture session into a moment to cement a bond between himself and Anders. Is he playing Anders in some way? Quite possibly, and alls fair in spy vs. spy. But if hes telling the truth, Anders owes him an enormous favor, and Bernard will make the most of it. No Hendrix needle-drops yet, but its worth noting that the breezy, chipper song playing under Bernards first torture session is Everythings Alright from Jesus Christ Superstar. A twisted choice that would also find a happy home on a compilation titled Songs to Dissociate To. Dubai-based flydubai records another exceptional first quarter carrying more than 3.37 million passengers in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, an increase of 50% compared to the same period in 2022. The carrier plans to ramp up operations for the busy summer travel period between July 1 and September 30, increasing its capacity by 20% across the network. Since the start of 2023, flydubai has further expanded its network with the start of operations to St Petersburg in Russia, Pattaya and Krabi in Thailand, Al Qaisumah, Al Ula, Gizan, Nejran and Neom in Saudi Arabia, Shymkent in Kazakhstan, Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, Mogadishu in Somalia and Milan-Bergamo in Italy. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said: we continue to grow our network, launching operations to new underserved routes and adding capacity on existing routes. We have seen a very strong performance since the start of the year, which is a clear reflection of Dubai's position as a global hub for trade and travel and resilience in the face of economic challenges. flydubais role in supporting the growing economy and strengthening airlinks to the UAE and Dubai continues to grow as we take delivery of more aircraft, create more job opportunities and contribute to Dubai Internationals (DXB) position as the worlds busiest airport for international passengers for years to come. We look forward to our busiest summer on record yet with added capacity and new routes joining the network from June, we are well positioned to cater to the surge in demand for travel and are committed to offering our passengers more options and reliable services. We also expect good inbound traffic to Dubai as our city has long moved away from its seasonal offering to being an attractive year-round destination, added Al Ghaith. Strong performance and growing fleet flydubai operated more than 25,800 flights between 01 January and 31 March 2023 and carried 3.37 million passengers, an increase of 50% in passenger numbers compared to 2022. flydubai will grow its capacity across the network by 20% between 01 July and 30 September 2023, compared to the same period in 2022. flydubai has grown its fleet of Boeing 737s to 76 aircraft serving its expanding network with two more aircraft entering service later in May. To support this growth trajectory, flydubai is currently undergoing a recruitment drive to add more talented professionals to its workforce and this includes pilots, cabin crew and various positions across the business. Growing network flydubai has built an expanding network of 120 destinations in 52 countries, more than 75 of these routes did not previously have direct air links to Dubai or were not served by a UAE national carrier from Dubai. Hamad Obaidalla, Chief Commercial Officer at flydubai, said: we are pleased to see our operations reach new heights with nine destinations joining our network this summer. This includes popular destinations such as Bodrum, Dubrovnik, Mykonos, Santorini and Tivat as well as new destinations including Corfu in Greece and Cagliari in Sicily. We will also increase the flight frequency on a number of routes including Krabi, Milan-Bergamo, Pattaya and Pisa to name a few which have proven very popular for travellers from the UAE and across our network. Passengers continue to enjoy seamless connections on the flydubai network or through our codeshare partnership with Emirates whether they are travelling in business or economy. flydubai grows its network in Italy to five points with the launch of flights to Cagliari on 22 June 2023, serving Catania (CTA), Cagliari (CAG), Naples (NAP), Milan-Bergamo (BGY) and Pisa (PSA) with 24 weekly flights. NAP from four to seven flights a week from 19 June and to continue after summer as a daily operation PSA from three to four flights per week from 20 June BGY has already increased from five flights a week to a daily service since April flydubai will double its operation to Krabi and Pattaya in Thailand to a double daily service from October 13, 2023. The carrier has seen growing demand for connecting travel to Thailand from Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Warsaw as well as from across the GCC. TradeArabia News Service The more than 12-year-long contractual relationship between the City of Fremont and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach could come to an end next week. Sally Ganem, the Ward 4 member of the Fremont City Council, has placed an item on the agenda for the May 9 Fremont City Council meeting seeking to cancel the contract between the city and Kobach, which dates to 2010, and requires the city to pay Kobach $10,000 a year. Ganem did not elaborate on reasons for ending the contract in her resolution request, and did not comment on the item during an interview on May 2. Fremont hired Kobach when he was a private practice attorney in 2010, agreeing to pay him the rate of at least $10,000 a year to defend the city from any past or future legal challenges to Fremonts controversial Ordinance 5165, a local law that prohibits renting residential dwellings to undocumented or illegal immigrants. The contract between the city and Kobach was renewed in 2016, but no payments have been made to Kobach since he was paid $10,000 in December 2020. Under the terms of the contract, the arrangement can be ended at any time by either party for no reason. As of March 6, 2023, requests from the Fremont Tribune for statements, communications or any documentation made to either the City of Fremont or Kobach indicating an ending or termination of the contract have resulted in no response or records. On Tuesday, Feb. 28, after a city council meeting, both Fremont City Administrator Jody Sanders and Fremont City Attorney Travis Jacott refused to comment to the Tribune on the status of the arrangement between the city and Kobach. Multiple requests made to Kobach via his official spokesperson at the Kansas Attorney General Office John P. Milburn, Public Information Officer for the Office of Attorney General have resulted in no response from Kobach. From 2011-2019, Kobach was the Kansas Secretary of State, during which time he developed a reputation for challenging the administration of former President Barack Obama. He was elected as the Kansas Attorney General in 2022. When asked about the contracts status on Feb. 28, Fremont City Council President Mark Jensen said he did not know the answer to the question. I cant answer that, Jensen said in response to a question from the Fremont Tribune about whether or not the city is still actively in a contract with Kobach. (The annual payment) has not come up this year. The issue of Kobachs contract with the city has been the subject of repeated questioning by former city council member Brad Yerger, who has hounded the city council about the contract during several meetings since January. In response to questions from Yerger during a Feb. 28 council meeting, there was confusion amongst the city council members about whether or not Kobach had been paid or was still in a contract with the city. Sanders eventually told council members during the Feb. 28 meeting that she would contact Kobach and consult with him about the contract. In answer to the question, it has not been paid. I am not aware if anyone has been in contact with him. The council would decide if they wanted to continue the contract, Sanders said in February. I dont know that anyone has been in contact with him. I can bring that to the next council meeting after consulting with him. Since that statement, there has been no official discussion at any council meeting about the contract with Kobach. According to City of Fremont billing records, the city has paid Kobach $121,817.26 since the contract began in 2010. That total includes $11,817.26 in associated expenses such as research work by legal aides, airplane travel, hotels or other miscellaneous expenses. Jensen has said in past council meetings that he did not believe the city needed to continue to retain Kobach as a legal counsel for the ordinance. Were spent more than $100,000 on his services, Jensen said at a February council meeting. I think if there was going to be a challenge to the immigrant ordinance, it would have happened already. I dont think him being on retainer affected that. Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share JAKARTA, Indonesia Indonesian officials said Friday they were working to rescue dozens of their nationals who were trafficked to Myanmar to work as cyber scammers, amid an increase in human trafficking cases in Southeast Asia. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. ArrowRight At least 20 Indonesian job seekers are trapped in Myawaddy township, the site of an armed conflict between Myanmars military and ethnic Karen rebels, said Judha Nugraha, an official in Indonesias Foreign Affairs Ministry. Myawaddy is in eastern Kayin state along the Thai border. According to Nugraha, fake recruiters offered the victims high-paying jobs in Thailand but instead trafficked them to Myawaddy, about 567 kilometers (352 miles) south of Naypyidaw, the capital, to perform cyber scams for crypto websites or apps. The Indonesian Migrant Worker Union, a nonprofit group, said some victims were tortured when they failed to reach certain targets and forced to pay more than $10,000 in travel costs. Authorities said the victims were likely trafficked to Myanmar by illegal means since no records can be found of their arrival in Myanmars immigration system. Advertisement The challenges on the ground are indeed high as authorities in Myanmar face difficulties entering Myawaddy since rebels have taken over the region, Nugraha said. Indonesian officials are working with authorities in Naypyidaw, Myawaddy and Thailand, and have asked for assistance from other organizations to help get the victims out of the area safely, he said. Indonesias Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a news conference on Friday that the government has worked on 1,841 human trafficking cases in the past three years where victims are Indonesians who were duped into online scams. That number includes 1,138 Indonesians who were repatriated from Cambodia last year, Marsudi said. From this number, you can see the magnitude of human trafficking related to online scams whose victims are ASEAN citizens, she said, adding that victims from several nations are involved in the latest case. Advertisement Marsudi said the government is also working to help Indonesian victims of online scams in Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines. She said the Indonesian Embassy in Manila said Friday that Philippine authorities have rescued more than 1,000 trafficking victims from 10 countries, including 143 Indonesians, who will be repatriated to their countries of origin. As the chair of ASEAN this year, Indonesia is trying to raise this issue at the 42nd ASEAN Summit, Marsudi said. ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippine, Singapore and Thailand. Indonesia will host the blocs leaders meeting in May 10-11 in Labuan Bajo on Flores island. GiftOutline Gift Article The Immanuel-Midland Nursing Alumni Association hosted the annual alumni nursing reunion celebration and luncheon on Saturday, April 15. The event was held on the Midland University campus. Nearly 70 nursing alumni and guests attended. The association provides an opportunity for nursing alumni from Immanuel Hospital School of Nursing, Midland Lutheran College, and Midland University to celebrate their heritage, get together, reconnect, and recognize and honor members of anniversary classes. Immanuel Hospital School of Nursing, a three-year diploma program was founded in 1922. It was the forerunner of the nursing program which began at Midland Lutheran College in 1974 and also the nursing alumni association. The day began with Midland University President Jody Horner welcoming the nursing alumni to campus. Dr. Linda Quinn, Dean of the College of Health Professionals at Midland University, shared information regarding the School of Nursing. The Midland University Nursing Department was visited the last month by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing by three surveyors. The preliminary report indicated No Recommendations. The final report will arrive in September. Nursing alumni are proud of the continued excellence of the nursing program. Lisa Kramme, Director for Campus Ministry and Spiritual Wellness, offered the invocation and led prayer. Nursing alumni members from the 45, 50, 55, and 60-year classes were recognized and presented with a small gift from the association. The 45- year class was the first class to graduate from Midland Lutheran College of Nursing. Memories were shared by alumni from the honored classes. Dr. Nancy Harms, retired chair of Midland Lutheran Colleges Nursing Department, now Midland University, and former instructor at Immanuel Hospital School of Nursing, presided at the Nightingale Ceremony. The ceremony honored the legacy and offered a tribute to the 16n known nursing alumni who died within the past year. Six junior nursing students were each awarded $550 scholarships by the Nursing Alumni Association for the 2023-2024 academic year. Those receiving the scholarships included junior nursing students Zoey Carrico, Xacaria Clark, Natalie Hammer, Keyana Hastings, Jace Mahoney and Lauryn Samuelson. Graduating nursing seniors were introduced and welcomed as nursing alumni and colleagues. Carol Bohling, president, presided at the annual business meeting. Elected to serve on the executive board include Bohling, Sherri Adams, Jan Jordan and Jan Madsen. Other members of the executive board are Joan Wellensiek, Jan Ostransky, Shelli Panning, and Deborah Brester. Ex-officio members of the board include Quinn, Diana Moxness, Midland University Associate Professor in the School of Nursing, and Evan Hunt, Midland University Alumni Relations Manager. The Immanuel-Midland Nursing Alumni Association will be celebrating its 100th anniversary April 12, 2025. Lois Linden, a graduate of Immanuel Hospital School of Nursing and Midland Lutheran College, was appointed chairman of the 100th anniversary celebration. Linden also served as an instructor at Immanuel Hospital School of Nursing and Midland Lutheran College Department of Nursing. Next years annual nursing alumni reunion is scheduled for April 13, 2024, on the Midland University campus. The seventh is Mahlers least-known symphony (apart, perhaps from the eighth), but it provides ample opportunity for an orchestra to display its brilliance. All the virtues of Friday were present, but they were even more impressive in a far more profound work. Power, clarity, unity and balance were all evident, with the inner workings of the massive architecture laid bare and a lovely tenderness and delicacy in the two Night Music movements. On Saturday there were three encores, Faures Pavane, a Dvorak Slavonic Dance and a lovely touch Stravinskys one-minute take on happy birthday in honour of a New Zealander who told Rattle he decided not to have a 21st birthday party but to spend the money on a trip to Melbourne to hear the LSO. Rattle clearly enjoys great rapport with the orchestra, and was also warm and amusing in talking to the audience. Reviewed by Barney Zwartz DANCE Culture Evolves + Kisiskaciwan Arts House, North Melbourne, until May 6 Dance enthusiasts rejoice: Yirramboi is back. This years program launches with a fine double bill featuring works by Gunai Kurnai man Brent Watkins and the Vancouver-based choreographer Jeanette Kotowich. Watkins presents Culture Evolves, part of an ongoing project to revive the bogong moth ceremonies that were once performed to celebrate the arrival of the moths and express gratitude for their role in sustaining life. The performance of the reconstruction by an ensemble of four male dancers, even though it remains a work in progress, has considerable vitality and boldness. The work of dancer Phillip Egan is a particular highlight. Culture Evolves is a work in progress filled with boldness and vitality. Credit: TJ Garvie In the second half, Watkins incorporates contemporary hip-hop material. This section could, I think, be further developed to bring out more nuanced local resonances, rather than relying on slogans and gimmicky mime. Nonetheless, Culture Evolves is project worth following as Watkins attempts to grow it over the coming years. The title of the Jeanette Kotowichs piece, Kisiskaciwan, means fast-flowing river, but its also where the name Saskatchewan comes from: the prairie region in western Canada where Kotowich spent her childhood. The show begins with Kotowich under a large silver sheet moving back and across the stage. Its not much to describe, but its an effective evocation of the towering storm clouds that pass over the plains in the summer. Culture Evolves is project worth following. Credit: T J Garvie This is typical of Kotowichs method, which is to represent her memories of growing up with the simplest theatrical devices. Thus, her transformation into a prancing pony not only gets a laugh but also suggests the joys of romping over the flat, fertile lands. A recording of the old folk tune Buffalo Gals leads into the sort of cheeky routine that kids sometimes choreograph with their friends. This then becomes a brisk exhibition of Metis-style jigging with its happy, galloping cadences. Yes, its all very playful and a lot of fun. And yet there are also quiet moments: reflections on a land that is alive and dreaming, which lend this solo piece its unexpected solemnity. Reviewed by Andrew Fuhrmann THEATRE small metal objects Back to Back Theatre, Federation Square, until May 7 In 2022, Back to Back Theatre took out the International Ibsen Award regarded as the Nobel Prize for theatre. It was a huge coup for the Geelong-based company, and a well-deserved recognition of decades of ground-breaking work which has not only refuted every kind of prejudice about performers with disability but challenged audiences to see the possibilities of theatre anew. Melburnians can catch small metal objects one of Back to Backs earliest and most subversive works at Federation Square until this weekend and should jump at the chance. It remains as wry and current a social satire as it was when I saw it in 2005 because the dehumanising forces it critiques the exploitative nature of neoliberal capitalism, and the marginalisation of people living with disability are still with us. Actors blend into the city crowd in Back to Back Theatres production, small metal objects. Credit: Jeff Busby Radically for the time and still unusual in theatre, the stage is a public square, a supposedly democratic civic space. The audience sits on bleachers and don headphones, the actors blend into the city crowd, and we must scan the streetscape to discover where the voices speaking to us through the headset are located. Just how democratic is the real world, really? Were confronted with the question in a surprising story it would do the art a disservice to reveal. small metal objects is a subversive work by Back to Back Theatre. Credit: Jeff Busby Loading Public schools are not funded enough. Thats the truth of it, Car said, adding the government will bring NSW public schools to 100 per cent of the School Resourcing Standard during the next five-year funding agreement with the federal government. Ive already had a conversation with [federal education minister] Jason Clare about that, she said. As one of the biggest providers of public education in the world we have to lead the way. Her son attends a private school. It was a decision she said she made because we were in one of the suburbs where the government didnt build a school. President of the NSW Secondary Principals Council, Craig Petersen, said while dealing with school staffing was the obvious, immediate challenge, changing the damaged culture of public education was the bigger fight ahead. We need to rebuild confidence in NSW public schools, and trust in the quality of the profession. One of the first moves the new government made was to sack NSW Education Department boss Georgina Harrisson, a career bureaucrat who was head of NSWs 2200 public school for two years. Her replacement is acting secretary Murat Dizdar, a former garbageman, then school teacher, who was one of the most senior officials in the Department before stepping into his current role. It was a symbolic step to place a former public school teacher and principal in the acting role after seven years under Harrisson and her predecessor former ABC boss Mark Scott. Weve been elected, I think clearly, to make systemic change for most teachers across the board, Car said. That is in terms of their pay and conditions. This is a big change, to have a government that admits to teachers you are not paid enough. That is the truth. State school teachers walked off the job in support of better pay and conditions last May. Credit: Getty The NSW Education Department and the Teachers Federation have begun negotiation on lifting teachers pay, but Car would not be drawn further on the issue. She also confirmed the new government would dump the previous Coalitions rewarding excellence program, led by education academic John Hattie, which planned to give a selection of top teachers super-salaries. We are not about paying a very small percentage of certain teachers significantly more than others. We will be negotiating to provide greater opportunities for all teachers across the board in salaries, conditions and workload, Car said. Car grew up near Penrith. Her father, Noel Guillaume, who has French and Indian heritage, met her mother Ann when they were working for a bank. Prue Cars year 12 year book; Car and her three-unit English teacher Michele Elborough. She spent her schooling life in the Catholic system, attending Our Lady of the Sacred Way in Emu Plains, and then Caroline Chisholm College in Glenmore Park, where she was school captain and dux. In an interview with The Catholic Weekly, she said the faith she was brought up on influences me in everything I do, including politics. Her three-unit English teacher, Michele Elborough recalled there were early signs she would be drawn to a political career. Wed be in class discussing Jane Eyre, or Yeats, and conversations would steer towards politics or political ideas. It was quite unusual. Id drive her and her classmates to so many random debating and public speaking competitions around western Sydney on Friday nights God, thinking about it, Im sure these are things you couldnt do now as a teacher. Elborough said as a student Car was diligent, hard-working. She put a lot of pressure on herself. One day, she hands me this picture of Keating, and Ive kept it ever since. Car, 40, has been in parliament eight years, and in the shadow education portfolio since 2019. Car on the campaign trail with former NSW Labor leader John Robertson in 2011. Credit: Peter Rae After dropping out of an arts degree at the University of Sydney (she ditched the course after becoming swept up in NSW Young Labor), Car took a job in 2003 at then-NSW premier Bob Carrs office, where he remembers her as a lively, self-motivated recruit. She handled liaison with the backbench, and that was more important than it sounds. I got the impression that her attention to detail would see her rise in the party ranks, he recalls. A stint as a Penrith city councillor was followed by her election to the NSW legislative assembly as the member for Londonderry in 2015. Four years later, she replaced Jihad Dib, a former principal of Punchbowl Boys High, who became famous for turning around the turbulent school, as shadow education minister. In winter last year, in the lead up to the campaign, she was diagnosed with cancer after doctors discovered a rapidly growing tumour in her kidney. After immediate surgery she took two months leave during her recovery, returning in September. One of the key election pledges by the new Minns government was to build a suite of new high schools spanning from Gregory Hills to Schofields. She blamed previous governments failure to build public high schools in high-growth parts of western Sydney, as one reason parents have abandoned the sector. In my community, where I grew up, governments havent built enough schools. And then parents have often felt forced to send their children to non-government schools because there are precious little options. Around Marsden Park there is no public high school, but there will be now. Loading In opposition Car was also a vocal supporter of the non-government system, declaring herself a big fan of private schools in a meeting of school heads two weeks before the election. One policy idea borrowed from independent schools that the new government took to the election was the promise to make the International Baccalaureate available in state schools, an idea criticised by experts who believe it will undermine the HSC and deepen an already alarming education divide. Its that divide, and arresting the slump in academic performance in international tests, that is another colossal task for the new government. The incontestable data is that we have gone backwards in results, former premier Bob Carr said, emphasising that turning around academic performance was the main functional policy challenge for Car. You cant persuade me that we cant do better in maths and science and that we are doomed to be outperformed by Singapore. Given the extra resources [governments have] invested we should be busting through any benchmarks. I dont think new programs will excite the interest of the public as much as the demonstrable turn around in school performance, he said. In the past two weeks, Car has announced a number of initiatives including reducing the administration workload on teachers, and starting a review of a controversial behaviour policy brought in during term 4 last year that restricted the length and number of suspensions schools could issue. Were not giving our schools the tools to deal with behaviour, she said. And the implementation of the behaviour policy made it worse. One of the biggest things that teachers do is manage behaviour in a classroom. And the government has to make sure that it doesnt make it more difficult for them to do that. Loading It is understood Donna Cross, appointed as NSWs behaviour advisor under the Coalition, will stay on, but it is unclear in what capacity. As the Herald revealed this week, the government is also pausing the release of almost 30 syllabuses to allow teachers to focus on the new maths and English curriculum. Car said the government was pressing ahead with a review of almost 200 NSW Education Department policies and programs, from school report cards to excursion forms. There will be no changes to NAPLAN, she confirmed. Our priority at the moment is improving outcomes by getting more teachers in classrooms. From pretty much anywhere on the mainland in Krabi province Krabi town, Ao Nang, Koh Lanta its possible to do a day-trip, or even a half-day trip, to the Phi Phi islands via traditional longtail boat or fancy modern speedboat. Most trips call into Koh Phi Phi Leh to see famous Maya Bay, before allowing time to hike to the viewpoint on Koh Phi Phi Don, and maybe snorkel at Bamboo Island. THE RESTAURANT The Banyan Tree breakfast buffet is outstanding. Though it features plenty of Western staples, its the Thai specialties (mostly there for domestic visitors) that you should be heading for. Get the khanom jeen, fermented rice noodles, with a rich curry of minced fish. Try the moo yang, charcoal-grilled pork neck with chilli sambal and sticky rice. Or sample guay tiew nam sai, a clear noodle soup with fish balls and pork. What a start to the day. THE CAFE Australian travellers arent the easiest to please when it comes to coffee. That said, Thailand has a burgeoning coffee culture, and in Krabi there are several cafes that do a great flat white, as well as local-style drip coffee on ice. The best of those is probably May and Marks House (no website), a friendly and popular spot in the middle of Krabi town that serves Australian-style espresso, as well and Thai and international food. THE NATIONAL PARK Though Hat Nopparat Thara National Park tends to attract the most visitors it encompasses Railay Beach, Ao Nang, and more than 80 islands Krabis sleeper hit has to be Khao Ngon Nak, in the provinces north. The key experience here is the hike to the top of Khao Ngon Nak, otherwise known as Dragon Crest, a three-hour climb that takes in plenty of spectacular viewpoints, not to mention the summit, which has amazing views over the sparkling, island-dotted Andaman. THE VIEWPOINT Dragon Crest is obviously a great option if youre looking for views. However, theres another famous lookout in Krabi: the Phi Phi viewpoint. Positioned on a hilltop on Koh Phi Phi Don, accessible via a steep climb, the Phi Phi lookout commands spectacular views via three separate points over the narrow isthmus connected the two main sections of the island, with plenty of cliffs and forests in the background. Dawn and dusk are the best times to visit. THE TEMPLE King Charles III is crowned with St Edwards Crown by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. King Charles III sits as he receives The St Edwards Crown during the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Credit: AP God save the King, shouted the Archbishop to the congregation, prompting the musical Wiener Philharmoniker Fanfare. The St Edwards Crown was made for the last King Charles - King Charles II in 1661. The St Edwards Crown carried into the abbey. Credit: AP The crown is topped with an orb and a cross, symbolising the Christian world, and is made up of a solid gold frame set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmalines. The crown has a velvet cap with an ermine band. St Edwards Crown was worn by Queen Elizabeth II at the coronation in 1953. It is normally on show at the Tower of London. One of Nebraska's most high-profile Democrats has left the party. Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt, who has attracted national attention from media and Democratic Party leadership for her efforts to stop bills banning abortion and prohibiting transgender youth from seeking gender-affirming care, is now registered nonpartisan. The transition isn't surprising for those who have listened to Hunt, 36, speak frequently about her shifting politics from her youth growing up conservative in Blair to winning two elections as a Democrat representing District 8 in the Nebraska Legislature. "I have been a Republican, an independent, a Libertarian, a Democrat, back to Republican to vote in the primary, back to Democrat," Hunt said. The intensity of the legislative fights in Nebraska, the focus on party affiliation in media and the lack of support from national groups for liberal candidates in conservative-dominated states led Hunt to make the jump. "The parties are not the future," she said. "The political dysfunction is extreme and at the national level, the parties are ideologically bankrupt." Hunt said Democratic-linked groups have sought to highlight the efforts she and fellow Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, as well as others, have gone through fighting a ban (LB574) on gender-affirming care for minors in Nebraska, as well as the work to block a six-week abortion ban (LB626) this year. But the show of support came after the fact, she said. Organizations like the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee or Emily's List, which helps fund liberal candidates' campaigns, have ignored races in deep-red Nebraska, she said. "We have scrapped and fought and won against a lot of odds in a system that funds Republicans with a blank check but abandons progressives, and they want to share the credit for it?" Hunt said. "Go away." She also said national media, print and television in particular, also misunderstand or misstate the role political parties play in Nebraska's officially nonpartisan Legislature, despite the lengths she goes to in explaining the history and culture of the unicameral system. While the Nebraska GOP and the Nebraska Democratic Party support and help fund candidates, leadership positions are not doled out by party leaders, but by a vote of state senators. Similarly, committee membership is often divided evenly among Nebraska's three congressional districts rather than by which party is in the majority -- though Hunt has raised concerns about the integrity of the process this year. In some media reports, however, the conflict is often framed as "Megan Hunt, a Democrat, clapped back against Republican leadership," which she said doesn't accurately reflect the situation and actually poisons the discussion further. "That totally misrepresents who I am, what I believe, who my colleagues are, and how things work here, and I don't want my name to be used to contribute to the problem, to continue a narrative that is lazy and inaccurate," Hunt said. The second-term state senator said she didn't intend her switch to be a reflection on local political leadership -- she said she remains on the left of the political spectrum and will continue advocating for those positions -- nor did she plan to make a show about it. Rather, it was just about doing "what feels right to me," she said. "It's been a weight off my conscience to go back to being registered nonpartisan," she added. "I just feel better personally." State senators switching their party affiliations while still in office is not common, but it has precedent. In 2016, former Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete ditched the Republican Party and registered with the Libertarian Party after she was called out by Gov. Pete Ricketts for diverging from the GOP on contentious legislative issues. Ebke, who represented District 32 until she was defeated by Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth in 2018, told the Journal Star that she was "not willing to bend my principles to go along or cast a vote just for the sake of party unity." Top Journal Star photos for May 2023 Our nations government was founded on a system of checks and balances. We have three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. After escaping from a tyrannical monarchy, our founders were concerned that one branch might become more powerful than the others, focused on accomplishing its own goals rather than those of the American people. As a member of the U.S. Senate, I am working to fulfill a purpose of the legislative branch by curbing the excesses of the executive branch the Biden administration. The administration recently issued new regulations cracking down on vehicle emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls these regulations an emissions plan, but this plan is really a pipe dream. The administration wants 67% of the cars in the country to be electric by 2032, just nine years from now. Last year, electric vehicles (EVs) accounted for 6% of new automobile sales. The International Energy Agency predicts that by 2030, EVs will only make up 15% of the vehicles in our country. The administrations new emissions standards are essentially an EV mandate. These standards make it harder for people to drive gas-powered cars, in an attempt to coerce Americans into purchasing electric vehicles that cost about as much as the average family makes in a year. The Biden administration is ignoring the many complexities at play when it comes to EVs. Electric vehicles rely on the electric power grid, and a massive increase in EV use due to a mandate could cause serious issues with the grid. During a heat wave last September, power authorities in California asked residents to avoid charging electric cars in the evenings, for fear that the power grid would malfunction from being overwhelmed. EVs also have a strong impact on our roads. Right now, only gas-powered cars pay into the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which provides 90 percent of federal highway assistance. Electric vehicles do not. This fund repairs wear and tear from vehicles on the highway. Electric vehicles can weigh up to three times as much as gas-powered cars because of their heavy batteries. That weight pulverizes the road bed, causing more maintenance and more costs. The HTF exists to fix exactly the type of damage that heavy EVs can cause so its only fair that both types of vehicles pay into the fund. I plan to introduce a bill soon that will fix this discrepancy. The repercussions of an EV mandate go beyond Americas borders. Sixty to 100% of battery minerals are processed in China, according to SAFE, an energy think tank. Our domestic supply is nowhere near meeting the demand that would result from this regulation. A push for EVs is a push for energy dependence on China and China is not our friend. Studies also show that Americans arent even that interested in EVs. A Gallup poll found that 4% of Americans own an EV, and only 12% are seriously considering getting one. Forty-one percent claimed they will never buy an EV. A Pew Research poll found that the majority of Americans oppose the Biden administrations plan to phase out gasoline-powered cars and trucks by 2035. I support Americans right to buy electric vehicles if they so choose but they should also have the right not to buy one. Our government is supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. This federal mandate is of the EPA, by the EPA, and for the EPA. Its not based on the interests of the people, but the interests of a power-hungry White House. The Biden administrations plan for a utopia of green vehicles is a cute idea, but its completely out of touch with reality. Its also out of touch with Americans real needs and desires. This administration must stop with top-down mandates that force Americans into outcomes they wouldnt choose themselves. As your senator, I will continue to oppose this administrations overreach. Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week. Wayne Bergers pre-pandemic commute, on any given week, usually meant a trip to the airport. As the CEO of IWGs Americas portfolio, flying all over Canada, the U.S. and Latin America was simply part of the job. Today, Bergers usual commute is pedal-powered, not jet-powered a seven-minute ride from High Park. Ive never biked more to any destination since I was a teenager, he says. Unsurprisingly, Berger rides to one of IWGs Toronto co-working spaces most days. Established in 1989, the company now known as International Working Group took advantage of the rise in remote and hybrid work to aggressively expand its Canadian footprint. Over the next three years, IWG plans to double its network to 250 locations across the country. The company itself includes 13 different brands, from Regus (the companys founding brand) to Spaces, HQ, and Signature. To Berger, IWGs biggest pitch is convenience. Why not commute to an office in your neighbourhood instead of wasting hours on the Don Valley Parkway, Line 1, or the Lakeshore East line? With flexible workspaces spread across Canada, companies can set up tiny branch offices, or simply rent a full location for an all-hands gathering. But Berger isnt just interested in the ongoing war between full-remote and in-office companies. Hes also a big believer in the 15-minute city, an urban planning concept that would place all of a city dwellers daily essentials from work to parks within a 15-minute walk or bike ride. All of these buzzy future of work ideas, of course, fall perfectly into IWGs wheelhouse as a purveyor of flexible workspaces. Yet hybrid work may be too much for workers keen on independence, flexible schedules and the ability to work from absolutely anywhere be that a seaside villa or the nearest Starbucks. Berger spoke to the Star from a co-working space in Toronto: You started working out of a co-working space during the pandemic. How did that change your commute? When I was in Toronto, I would be at my office at Yonge and Dundas. To give you an idea, Im a two-minute and 32-second walk from the High Park subway station. Although I lived seven minutes away from one of our flexible workplace locations, in the Junction, I used to arbitrarily either go to the airport or downtown because thats what I did. And then the pandemic happened. I shifted my mindset, and I shifted my habits, and I started walking and biking every day, including in the winter as long as it was safe to do so. I would bike to the office, because I really value the ability to leave my home and go to work. It is incredibly convenient, and it was also a really wonderful way for me to start my day and finish my day. I would never trade it in now. If I transitioned away from working for IWG and went to a different company, one of my number one factors would be the ability to work flexibly. Im still at my downtown office two to three times a week, but my schedule is full of in-person meetings with people I need to meet with. The days are valuable. Theyre incredibly dynamic. Theyre incredibly busy. But I book them specifically because Im going to be downtown. Do you miss flying the way you used to? No. Theres always a romantic notion of business travel. The reality is there are so many steps and inconveniences in just reaching the destination. I still greatly value when I am on a plane, heading to a new city. I actually find more value in my business travel now, and I very much enjoy it. Would I miss travel if it was fully eradicated from my calendar? Yes, I would, because theres still real value meeting in person. Whats interesting is that I spend most of my day on Google Teams calls or Zoom calls, like you and I are doing right now. What feels dystopian is not being on video any longer. I cant imagine what its like to do a conference call that is only audio. Technology is really a wonderful bridge in helping us accomplish certain tasks and objectives. When you overlay that on top of physical travel, it just becomes more valuable. IWG started offering flexible workspace in 1989. Theres a lot of pessimism still about remote work today. What was it like trying to convince executives that it was worthwhile back then? Back in 1989, it was incredibly challenging to convince a landlord that they should offer us a conventional lease, and then we would invest millions of dollars of capital to build a space. It was very difficult to convince the landlord that this would be a sensible leasing arrangement for the landlord. A landlord, pre-1989, was used to entering a conventional lease with a primary occupier tenant who was providing space for their employees. We were monetizing the space and renting it out, in a very flexible way, to multiple tenants. I think landlords wondered what kind of vagrants were going to be using their amenities. Fast forward 33 years, and IWG has more than 4,000 locations and growing. Back in 2014, when I would have a conversation with a landlord, with a business owner, with a friend or family member, or a journalist like yourself, the first question was always the same: What is this co-working thing? Nowadays, it has completely shifted. We went from this tertiary concept and business model that was a fraction of the overall real-estate world to something that became very sexy in the mid-2000s, and is becoming more and more mainstream. Some co-working spaces provide amenities especially for parents, like child care. What is IWG doing on that front? I think whats happening now is that hybrid work is just going to be known as work, and with that, there is a greater consensus around employees needing health and wellness support. Were really expanding the network to make sure there is a flexible workspace location whether it is a Spaces, a Regus, an HQ, a Signature in every neighbourhood, on every subway line, in every suburban neighbourhood, every city, every town. On top of that, were investigating bringing in child-care facilities to have those in partnership with our flexible-workplace locations so we can support that need for parents. IWG is expanding to about 250 locations in Canada over the next three years. What are your priority regions? We are absolutely focused on suburbs and rural communities, as well as small towns and, on top of that, the neighbourhoods of large cities. We just opened a new HQ location in Truro, Nova Scotia. Its a town of 14,000 people. You would think that, fundamentally, it wouldnt make sense to have a co-working location there. Whats interesting, though, is that a very large percentage of the residents of Truro get in their cars and drive 91 kilometres each way to Halifax and Dartmouth, every single day, to go to work. The reality now is that technology has become so powerful, people have become more untethered, and work has become more ubiquitous with place. Now, downtown Truro is a great place to give people to leave their house or their condo and make a short commute to work. Weve invested in this new location through one of our strategic partners, who owns the building. It launched last week, and its already been incredibly successful, because the demand is there. In Toronto, we have well over 50 locations downtown, but the reality is that weve always been strong in the suburbs because the commute from the suburbs to major cities is long and unproductive. And frankly, people want to eradicate the commute. Theyre done with it. Youre a fan of the 15-minute city, but no city in Canada is anywhere close to practising the concept. What happens if we dont keep up? Is that going to hurt IWGs business model? If we as a country do not embrace the policies and the investments needed to move to the 15-minute city concept, it wont impact our business. Our business is continuing to accelerate in demand. Ninety per cent of Canadians are demanding that the companies they work for embrace hybrid. Fifty per cent of Canadians will either leave their current company or join a new company if theyre able to work in a hybrid way. And 88 per cent of organizations have instituted hybrid working practices and policies for their team members and their employees because they need to. There is a dramatic cost savings through rationalizing their lease portfolio. So the reality is the demand for great, flexible workspace located close to where people live is only going to continue to accelerate. Itll be one of those elements that will naturally drive the benefit of the 15-minute city, versus any type of bureaucratic process or guideline or regulation put into place. One of the appeals of remote work isnt just the convenience, it is not having a boss breathing down your neck every day. Are you trying to appeal more to workers looking for a greater sense of independence? How do you think about this situation? What were trying to do is provide to workers the convenience they need in order to have the best day of work. I think its less about the idea that your boss isnt there to breathe down their neck, and more so the fact that people are looking for the independence to achieve the goals that have been laid out by the company they work for and have more autonomy in where they get that done. People want to be treated like adults versus kids. And companies need to become more results-based than ever before. They have to make sure that just because people arent in one physical location doesnt mean theyre not going to achieve or, frankly, exceed the goals laid out before them. What people really want is the ability to have the flexibility to work from somewhere that makes the most sense for them, based on whats required throughout the day. And theyll overachieve in productivity. Its been proven. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Brennan Doherty is a former staff reporter for Star Calgary and the Stars 24-hour radio room in Toronto. He is now a freelance contributor. SHARE: CHICO, Calif. (AP) A 17-year-old girl was killed and five other people were wounded in a shooting early Saturday at a party near a college campus in Northern California, police said. Officers responding around 3:30 a.m. to reports of gunfire found six people shot at an apartment building in Chico, police Chief Billy Aldridge said. All the victims were taken to hospitals, and the teenager died at a hospital, he said. Two men, ages 21 and 19, and a 17-year-old girl remained hospitalized in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, the chief said. Two other men, ages 18 and 20, were treated at the hospital and released, Aldridge said. The shooting appeared to be an isolated incident, and there was no ongoing threat to the community, police said. They released no information on the shooter. Police had been called to the same address about 30 minutes before the shooting and arrested a man on suspicion of brandishing a firearm, Aldridge said. That suspect matched the description of a man who was asked to leave a separate party about a mile away around 12:30 a.m., Aldridge said. A fight broke out at the earlier party, and two people were hospitalized after being struck in the head, one with a bottle and one with a firearm, the chief said. Several streets were closed Saturday as investigators combed the area for evidence. At least three parked cars had bullet holes and shattered windows, according to the Chico Enterprise-Record. Both parties were in neighborhoods near California State University in Chico, a city with about 101,000 residents 90 miles (145 km) north of Sacramento. Lt. Brian Miller called the area a hot spot for police service calls. SHARE: OTTAWA - The government is still investigating why warnings that a Conservative member of Parliament was being threatened by the Chinese government never made it to the desk of any cabinet minister, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Saturday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Liberal policy convention in Ottawa, he said the possibility of holding someone accountable for that decision remains under consideration. Its important that we unearth their reasons as to why this was not brought directly to the attention of the public safety minister at the time, as well as the prime minister because we take these issues seriously, he said. The government has now made clear to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that any intelligence related to parliamentarians must be passed on to both the prime minister and the minister of public safety, regardless of how confident the spy agency is in the information. Michael Chong discovered only last week after a report in the Globe and Mail that CSIS had information in 2021 that the Chinese government was looking at ways to intimidate him, and his extended family in Hong Kong. Chong had sponsored a motion in the House of Commons labelling Beijings treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Chinas Xinjiang province a genocide, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said CSIS did not tell anyone outside the spy agency about information it had about the threats, but Chong was told the national security adviser was told about it two years ago. Trudeau and Bill Blair, who was the public safety minister in 2021, say they were never told. The revelation about Chong is the latest in a string of foreign interference attempts allegedly made by the Chinese government in Canada in recent years, including efforts to influence the results of the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. All political parties have agreed any attempted interference did not affect the final outcome of those elections, but Trudeau has appointed a special rapporteur to dig into what has happened and how Canada has and should respond. Former governor general David Johnston, who was appointed to that role, is to decide in about three weeks if a public inquiry is necessary and report back on all his findings by the fall. The Conservatives and NDP want to go right to a public inquiry. China denies all of it, including the allegations that one of its Toronto-based diplomats tried to start an intimidation campaign against Chong and his family. We deplore and reject the Canadian sides groundless smear of the Chinese diplomatic and consular mission in Canada, which is merely fulfilling its duties, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, according to a Chinese government translation. Mendicino said Canadas priority is determining what consequences should befall Chinas mission in Canada, including the possibility of expelling diplomats. But no decision has yet been made as Canada weighs its abilities under international conventions and the possible consequences of expelling diplomats. At the very top of that hierarchy of priorities is the need to hold those who are animating and orchestrating foreign interference accountable for those actions, he said. On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly summoned the Chinese ambassador to discuss the allegations. Mendicino said he rejects any accusations from the Conservatives that the government is not taking this issue seriously, and said keeping the political rhetoric around foreign interference low is critical to ensuring China or any other foreign actors do not think attempts to interfere in Canada are going to work. The whole point of foreign interference is to undermine our democracy, and if you politicize that debate and suggest or impugn some kind of ill motive, you are feeding into that, he said. Foreign interference is not working now and it wont work, Mendicino said. And those who are orchestrating these foreign interference activities need to know that they are not going to succeed. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2023. Read more about: SHARE: Kainna Gray wants to combine two of her passions as she moves to college and later into a career law and sign language to become a lawyer and a legal interpreter for non-hearing clients. Gray was inspired as a teen to learn American Sign Language while becoming a fan of deaf actor Marlee Matlin after seeing her in the TV series Switched at Birth and the 1986 film Children of a Lesser God, for which Matlin won the Oscar for best actress. The Air Academy High School student started taking sign language classes as a freshman and credits the teacher for three of the four years she took the class, Natalie Thomas, for helping her pursue that career path. I strive to dually become a legal interpreter for the deaf and a lawyer because the Deaf community inspires me to remember that a voice can come in many forms, whether visual or auditory, but all that matters is deciding to use it, Gray said in her application for The Gazettes Best and Brightest scholarship. I hope to use my voice to fight for justice in court, and currently I use it by involving myself wherever I can. That includes heading her school's sign language honor society and serving as vice president of the sign language club at Pikes Peak State College, where she takes some courses. Gray calls herself a NERRDA (Not Even Remotely Related to a Deaf Adult), an acronym she made up as a play on words based on Matlins role in last years Oscar-winning film CODA, an acronym for Children of Deaf Adults. Neither of Grays parents is deaf. Gray will receive an associate's degree in political science in June from Pikes Peak State (she also took some online classes at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) and hopes to attend either American or George Washington university to earn a bachelors degree in political science, while also taking classes at Gallaudet University. She is awaiting admission to American and George Washington, but has already been accepted by Gallaudet. She plans to continue to law school. While in high school, Gray has been a volunteer with Forge Evolution, a restorative justice nonprofit program for minors who have committed misdemeanor crimes and are seen by a jury of their peers in Colorado Springs Teen Court. She became involved as way to fulfill her civic responsibility and has served as both a juror and student attorney, finding she had a passion for supporting their (clients) progress away from poor decision making into healthy involvement with supportive peers. She also has been involved in student council but not in the way she had hoped. She ran for student body president but found out she finished third and was offered the participation trophy of secretary of communications. Her disappointment at losing turned to enthusiasm when she learned the job put her in charge of student government social media, events marketing and school communication, which she used as an opportunity to learn more about marketing. Grays high school counselor, Sean Brotherton, said she is one of the most charismatic personalities in his 16 years as a counselor. He cited a story of Grays visit to Washington, D.C., as part of a scholarship program where she asked an unnamed member of Colorado's congressional delegation how they work with those on the other side of the aisle and remained poised and respectful as the Congress member yelled at her on the steps of the Capitol. Attorneys for a Republican prosecutor are urging a judge to toss out a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin state's 174-year-old abortion ban. The ban was voided for almost 50 years after the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide. When the high court struck down Roe v. Wade last year, the ban reactivated. The state attorney general filed a lawsuit in June arguing that a Wisconsin law from 1985 is actually the one that should govern the state. That statute allows abortion up until a fetus is viable. Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski has filed a motion to dismiss the case. His attorneys argued during a hearing Thursday that other statutes limiting abortion complement the ban rather than supersede it. READING, Pa. - Hundreds of thousands in grant money is being used to fight gun violence in the city of Reading. "Gun violence in our community destroys lives and families," said Chief Richard Tornielli, of the Reading Police Department. "It causes fear in our neighborhoods and subjects our residents to unnecessary trauma." Reading was recently awarded a grant of nearly $700,000 from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to fight the problem. "On April 27th of this year, the Reading Police Department and assisting agencies conducted an operation ceasefire detail, targeting known violent offenders and locations associated with gun violence. During that single-day operation, 15 arrests were made, removing several violent offenders from our streets," said Tornielli. Reading Police say gun violence is the number one priority they focus on. "This grant provided funding for the police department to develop and field a neighborhood gun violence unit and provide investigative support for firearms-related crimes and firearms trafficking investigations," said Tornielli. "I have gone after every possible grant opportunity to make sure that men and women of the police department have all the tools necessary to combat crime," said Mayor Eddie Moran. The money will also go toward continuing the ceasefire operation details, which have been taking place in the city since 2021. Chief Tornielli says, so far this year, crime stats show both fatal and non-fatal shootings are down more than 60 percent from the same period last year. ALLENTOWN, Pa. - "It's a little chilly today so people may think it's perfect for penguins but they're actually from South Africa and it's chilly for them as well," said Lehigh Valley Zoo's Cher Valataro, in front of the zoo's penguin exhibit. "Have you ever seen a penguin before?," I asked 12-year-old Zaya. Her smile could have lit up a room and she squealed in delight. "She's so happy. She greets every day with joy. No questions she wants to have adventures with you. Wants to give you her love," said nurse Robin Coccagna. Which the 12-year-old quickly showed by taking my and Valararo's hand as we started our walk through the zoo. Valataro gave us a special tour of the zoo's family. Which included a face-to-face encounter with a curious giraffe and a sushi date throwing over food to their North American river otters. "She likes to smile, she gets her whole body excited. She likes to hold hands and stuffed animals," Coccagna said. She's one of three thousand Pennsylvania kids in foster care looking to be a part of a permanent pack. Zaya does have medical needs. She doesn't talk, uses a feeding tube and wheelchair but nurse Coccagna says it doesn't define Zaya. Families can be trained to handle those challenges, she added. "Zaya is very stable and will have a long and wonderful life with lots of fun in it and we want to find someone to do that with," Coccagna said. After the tour, the zoo presented Zaya with a stuffed animal otter. Her own adoption. Now Zaya needs a lucky family to follow the same path. To learn more about Zaya you can contact the Salvation Army Foster care and adoption. Cori Schiffert is her case worker. cschiffert@northernchildren.org BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Antique Treasure Show is returning to Historic Bethlehem. It's from noon to 2 p.m. at the Moravian Museum. Appraisers will be on site to conduct walk-in and in-depth analyses of your hidden treasures. Even if you don't have items to appraise, visitors are welcome to enjoy the event. MACUNGIE, Pa. - It was a whodunnit in Macungie, Lehigh County Friday night. "This is a mystery theater dinner, so people have come to support us and watch our alumni act," said Elisabeth Barshinger. Alumni of the Players of the Stage acting troop, which Barshinger created 23-year- ago for kids to get involved in theater. "We've had hundreds of kids go through our program over the years," she explained. Elijah McCready is one of her alumni, "back when I as 13 years old, I was a little roly-poly Tom Sar." McCready was back Friday night playing a detective, helping to raise money for the future of the Players of the Stage. He told 69 News, "they have a heart set on it, rich in the Lehigh Valley through charity." The troop not only gives all kids a chance to learn acting and theater, the productions raise money for charities in the Valley. Barshinger said, "we give 100 percent of what we have made. When people come, they come for free and then they donate." People have certainly donated; Barshinger says they've raised over a quarter of a million dollars over the past 15 years. Sharon Noel is Barshinger's daughter and following in her mother's footsteps as the artistic director for the Players of the Stage. "It's just been really cool to see how a small organization can be used by the Lord to make a huge impact," said Noel. She hopes to expand, get more kids involved and more productions which means more charitable contributions. Friday night's Mystery theater fundraiser will help them do just that. MOSCOW, Id. - We're learning new details in the investigation into Idaho killings suspect Bryan Kohberger. Newly released police body cam footage shows a search of his apartment in Washington State, as well as a traffic stop a month before the grisly killings. On the night of December 30th, Washington State University Police searched Bryan Kohberger's apartment in Pullman, Washington. Only hours earlier, Kohberger had been arrested across the country in the Poconos. According to documents obtained by CNN through a public records request, police found 60 reddish-brown stains, two of which were found on a pillow and a mattress, and tested positive for blood. Defense attorney John Waldron, who is not affiliated with the case said, even if the blood does not belong to the four college students killed in Idaho, it could be useful to the prosecution. "If it's [Kohberger's] blood, was it a result of the victims struggling with him, should he have committed these homicides?" said Waldron. Other than the stains, police found barely anything in the apartment. Even the trash cans were empty. Waldron said even the lack of evidence left behind could be incriminating. "It could be argued by a prosecutor that he fled Washington. In essence, he had a consciousness of guilt," said Waldron. A second new body cam video takes us back a month before Kohberger is accused of killing those four students, when he got pulled over on the campus of Washington State University in his White Hyundai Elantra. He was accused of blocking a crosswalk at an intersection, but he references his upbringing in Pennsylvania. "I'm actually from a very rural area, so we just don't have crosswalks, unless I visit an area where there are crosswalks," said Kohberger in the video. An Elantra was spotted on security footage outside the apartment where the killings happened. "It just further strengthens the fact that that was his vehicle, he drove it often, he was the sole possessor of that vehicle," said Waldron. Little bits of information have been dripping out in the case bit by bit because a gag order is still in place for the attorneys involved. The Associated Press challenged that order, but at the end of last month the Supreme Court of Idaho upheld it. So we'll have to wait until the preliminary hearing next month for new details from the courtroom. SOUDERTON, Pa. - The Souderton Borough Police Department is attempting to locate Christi Troiano who was reported missing on April 25. According to family, Christi left her home in the early morning hours and indicated that she may intend to harm herself. Christi is a 56-year-old white female with blonde hair and blue eyes. She is 58 tall and weighs approximately 130 pounds. It is unknown what clothing she was wearing. She owns and operates a black, 2009 Acura TL bearing Pennsylvania registration GJN7484. Christi is known to visit the New Jersey Shore and casinos in Atlantic City, as well as parks in Bucks County. All possible attempts have been made to locate Christi and her vehicle including the use of cell phone pings. Police say they have reason to believe Christi was in the Hatfield area Friday afternoon and said they will send out an update as soon as more information becomes available. At this time, no evidence has been found to indicate that anything of a criminal nature has occurred, police say. If anyone sees Christi or her vehicle, we ask that they call 9-1-1 immediately. For additional information, contact Chief Brian Newhall at bnewhall@soudertonpolice.org, or by calling 215-723-6500. ASWAN, Egypt (AP) Sudans warring sides began talks Saturday that aim to firm up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, the United States and Saudi Arabia said. The negotiations, the first between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, since the fighting broke out on April 15, were underway in Saudi Arabia's coastal city of Jeddah, on the Red Sea, according to a joint Saudi-American statement. The talks are part of a diplomatic initiative proposed by the kingdom and the U.S. that aims to stop the fighting, which has turned Sudans capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes. In their joint statement, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. urged both parties to actively engage in the talks towards a cease-fire and end to the conflict, which will spare the Sudanese peoples suffering. The statement did not offer a timeframe for the talks, though it was expected the initial session could last two-three days. The talks come after concerted efforts by Riyadh and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan welcomed the rival sides to Jeddah, saying on Twitter that he hopes the talks would restore security and stability in Sudan. Since a 2021 coup that upended Sudan's transition to democracy, the kingdom has been mediating between the ruling generals and a pro-democracy movement. After Sudan's top two generals commanders of the military and the paramilitary turned on each other after months of tensions and the latest fighting broke out in April, Jeddah became a hub for those evacuated by sea from Sudans main sea port of Port Sudan. Officials from the military and the RSF said the talks would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles. They would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities that have been overwhelmed and suffer from dire shortages of both staff and medical supplies, one military official said. An RSF official they would also discuss a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire, which is one of a series of truces that failed to stop the fighting. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks in Jeddah. Meanwhile, Sudan's pro-democracy movement said the talks would be a first step to stop the countrys collapse and called on leaders of the military and the RSF to make a bold decision to end the conflict. The movement, which is a coalition of political parties and civil society groups, had negotiated with the military for months to restore the countrys democratic transition after a 2021 military coup led by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who also chairs the ruling sovereign council, and his deputy in the council Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. On Saturday, Dagalo tweeted his first comment on the talks, welcoming the initiative to establish a firm cease-fire and open humanitarian corridors. We remain hopeful that the discussions will achieve their intended goals, he said. At least 550 people have been killed, including civilians, and more than 4,900 have been wounded as of Monday, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Friday that 473 civilians have been killed in the violence and more than 2,450 have been wounded. The fighting capped months of tensions between Burhan and Dagalo. It plunged the country into further chaos and forced foreign governments to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese were displaced inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring countries as the fighting dragged on in urban areas. The U.N. refugee agency estimated that the number of Sudanese fleeing to neighboring countries would reach 860,000, and that aid agencies would need $445 million to assist them. On Saturday, unknown assailants fired on a convoy in Khartoum that included Turkish Ambassador Ismail Cobanoglu, reported Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency, citing diplomatic sources. There were no casualties in the shooting, the report said. The Sudanese military and the RSF traded accusations of attacking the convoy. Also, a bus carrying Sudanese fleeing the fighting, overturned in Egypts southern province of Beni Suef, leaving at least 36 Sudanese, including women and children, and two Egyptians injured, local authorities said. Tens of thousands of Sudanese have crossed into Egypt since the fighting broke out. Associated Press writer Andrew Wilks in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report. Indecent exposure is the only child sex crime in Colorado classified as a misdemeanor, instead of a felony. But that will soon change if Gov. Jared Polis signs a new bill into law. House Bill 1135 would make it a felony crime if a person over the age of 18 exposes or touches their genitals for sexual gratification while they know they are in the view of a person under the age of 15. Under current law, an offender must commit indecent exposure three times before they are charged with a class 6 felony. The bill passed its last vote in the state legislature on Saturday. "We are here to protect children," said bill sponsor Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster. "If an adult does the same behavior to a child online, that's already a felony. Yet, when an adult has a child in person, somehow that's only a misdemeanor. That's not right. It's inconsistent and it's unjust." The Senate unanimously approved HB 1135 without discussion on Saturday, but the bill did not clear the House so easily. Late week, House lawmakers passed the bill in a relatively close 37-27 vote, following hours of debate and filibustering. The bill sponsored by three Democrats and one Republican received bipartisan support, but was only opposed by Democrats. In the House, 27 Democrats voted against the bill and only 18 voted in favor of it. Critics argued that the bill would disproportionately harm people with mental or behavioral health disorders. Advocates with Mental Health Colorado said people who experience mania and psychosis, particularly homeless people, often take their clothes off in public spaces. Rep. Mary Young, a psychologist, spoke of working with a 17-year-old with autism who frequently undressed in public, including on playgrounds. "Unfortunately, many times when you have an untreated serious mental illness, you express over-sexualized behavior, because that is a symptom," said Young, D-Greeley, while voting against the bill. "Too often we are inadvertently criminalizing those with serious mental illness and neurodevelopmental issues." Opponents tried three times to limit the scope of the bill to only make indecent exposure in front of children a felony if it occurs in an isolated place with no other adults around. They argued this would address offenders, such as groomers and family members, while sparing people who are homeless or who have a mental health crisis in public. Those proposed amendments were rejected by lawmakers on the House floor and in committee. Proponents of the bill said the felony classification requires the offender to knowingly expose themselves in front of a child for sexual gratification, arguing that this would disqualify the bulk of incidents involving people with mental health issues. They also emphasized the frequency of these acts by knowing, intentional, repeat offenders. In the past four years, 90 cases of indecent exposure in front of children have been filed statewide, according to the Colorado District Attorneys' Council. The average age of the child victims is 11 year old. These numbers are also low estimates, as child victims are significantly less likely to report the crimes. During a public hearing on HB 1135, Tyler Bandemer said his two daughters, ages 14 and 16, were sitting in a parking lot eating a snack after school when a strange man drove up to them. The man raised his pelvis to his window and exposed his genitals to the girls, masturbating in front of them. The man was immediately apprehended by police, who were in the area for an unrelated incident. But after issuing him a summons, the man was released within 15 minutes, before Bandemer could even make it to the scene. "This guy just exposed himself to two minors and he's driving down the street now," Bandemer said while testifying in support of the bill. "People should not just be able to go on their merry way. ... It's just a matter of time before they do it again." Before the offender was even sentenced, he was caught masturbating in front of minors again, this time targeting two teen girls working in a drive-thru, said District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin, who represents the Larimer County district where the incidents occurred in 2020. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. During the hearing, many district attorneys and parents of victims detailed incidents of extended family members exposing themselves to young relatives: A man caught masturbating in front of children at a playground in Denver, and then in Adams County two months later; and, a person committing multiple offenses in one day, searching the stairwells and windows of apartment complexes for child victims. Bill sponsor Bird said one of her constituents came to her with their own experience. Bird said a mother and her 7-year-old daughter were shopping in a Westminster Walmart when a man followed the child through the aisles, masturbating behind her. Police later discovered that the man had victimized another young girl in the store earlier that same day. Bird said the 7-year-old girl suffers from night terrors over the incident, having to go to counseling, sleep with her parents and avoid even driving by the Walmart because of the emotional trauma she's suffered. "Should we have to wait for three children to be victimized before we recognize the severity of this behavior? No," Bird said during the hearing. "Our state has a responsibility to stop people from harming others and, importantly, to hold people appropriately accountable for their actions when they hurt someone else." By upgrading the crime to a class 6 ,felony instead of a class 1 misdemeanor, the penalty raises from up to 364 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000, to up to 18 months in prison and/or a fine of up to $100,000. District attorneys said the felony classification would also mean the offender would get more intensive supervision during probation, there would be more resources dedicated to investigations, and there would be more resources for the treatment of victims. However, opponents of the bill said the felony status would, in many ways, make it more difficult for offenders to be rehabilitated. Felony sex offenders are barred from housing assistance programs, can't seal their records, have their photos on the state's sex offender registration website and can't request to be removed from the registry for an additional five years compared to misdemeanor offenders, according to the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender. "The penalty for the misdemeanor crime is at least 10 years of registering on the sex offender registry," said Rep. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder, who voted against the bill. "That means you can't live in most places, you cannot live in any kind of public housing and you cannot work. These are dire consequences that are already part of the statute." Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver, argued that the misdemeanor penalties are already harsh enough. She said increased criminal penalties will not prevent these kinds of crimes or make children any safer. Epps single-handedly filibustered the bill for around 3 1/5 hours during the House floor debate, speaking about her opposition at length to delay the vote and encourage lawmakers to pass the failed amendments. Epps has described herself as a prison abolitionist, a movement seeking to ultimately eliminate imprisonment and policing, and instead offer alternatives to punishing people for crimes "This isn't going to be the year that increasing a criminal penalty keeps us safer," Epps said. "We're defending a wildly naive belief in a system that has done a terrible job of keeping victims safe, of preventing harm. ... (HB) 1135 is not a reflection of the direction that Colorado needs to go." Proponents countered that making the crime a felony is intended to send a moral message that this behavior will not be tolerated a message intended for victims, as well as perpetrators. Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Littleton, said when she was 10 years old, she was at a church playing with her sister when a truck pulled into the parking lot and the driver called Bradley over. She said the driver held her hand on the windowsill and gratified himself in front of her. Through tears, Bradley said she is "sick of talking about what penalties do" for rehabilitating offenders, instead emphasizing the impact the crimes have on victims. "I was so ashamed of what I saw and what I experienced that I never even told my parents," Bradley said. "I've lived with shame for 37 years to the point where I just, as a 47-year-old, told my mom. ... I should've been protected and I am here to protect the rest of the community from people like that." The bill will be sent to Polis in the coming days. If signed, it will take effect immediately. There's nothing like a convert. On April 7, a virtual concert will be held in honor of Charlotte Figi, the Colorado Springs girl who suffered from Dravet syndrome and who became the inspiration behind "Charlotte's Web." Not the book, the CBD oil that is now used to treat children with Dravet's, a severe epilepsy condition that affects children. Figi died last year at 13. Among the converts: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, medical contributor to CNN. Prior to meeting Charlotte, Gupta was about as much anti-cannabis as anyone could be. Gupta will host the April 7 event. Then he met Figi, and others who were using cannabis to treat life-threatening conditions. That, and learning about the science around the use of medical marijuana, changed his mind. "I apologize," Gupta wrote in a 2013 opinion piece. "I was too dismissive of the loud chorus of legitimate patients whose symptoms improved on cannabis." He's not alone. Take Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert, R-Douglas County. On Tuesday, the Senate debated Senate Bill 56, sponsored by Holbert and Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver. Under current law, which came from a 2015 bill that Holbert also sponsored, school principals have the discretion on whether to permit students to receive cannabis-based medicine from their parents or other primary caregivers during the school day and on school grounds. SB56 removes that discretion, and requires school boards to develop policies to allow storage, possession and administration of cannabis-based medicine by school personnel, including nurses. Parents would have to have a doctor's recommendation and precise dosage instructions that list the product, amount and the time when it should be administered. School personnel can opt out of administering if they object to doing so, Holbert explained. Holbert explained his Damoscene conversion on the issue of medical marijuana during the second reading debate. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. "I was wrong," he said. Initially, he said he was frustrated because he didn't believe the amendment putting medical marijuana into the state Constitution was appropriate and that it should be a statute. But that's not where he was wrong. Where Holbert was wrong, he said, was in not believing that "real life-changing symptom-curing medicine" could be made from the cannabis plant. Then he met Ben and Ben's parents, Amber and Brad. Ben's family lives in Holbert's district. In 2014, Ben's family began pleading with Holbert to find a way to get the sheriff, child protective services, the school district and the district attorney off their backs. The problem? One day, Amber took Ben to school. The school nurse asked Amber why Ben, an epileptic, was no longer suffering from seizures, something she was familiar with since she had helped Ben through the seizures in the past. Amber took from her pocket a vial of Charlotte's Web. She explained to the nurse that so long as Ben got a consistent dosage of CBD oil, he did not have seizures. That was six years ago, and Ben is still seizure-free. But the nurse reported the family to Child Protective Services for child endangerment, and the family was investigated by CPS, the sheriff and the DA. Holbert, who was then a state representative, was running for the state Senate at the time, and had to tell the family, however frustrating, that he had no authority to tell law enforcement or anyone else to leave the family alone. But as a state senator, he could change the law. "This bill is a milestone in this effort," Holbert said. "This is a great bill for parents and students who have struggled unnecessarily." Holbert called the bill the most significant piece of legislation he's ever sponsored. "I think that this effort has helped people in a more significant way than anything else I've worked on in 10 years at the legislature." "We're providing school nurses with the fundamentals of a prescription," Holbert told the Senate. The bill does not apply to private schools and schools on federal lands can be exempted, such as on military installations. As amended, the Department of Education cannot discipline licensed personnel, including teachers, for administering the medicine, an amendment sought by the Colorado Education Association. In addition, the bill exempts school personnel from civil or criminal liability. Holbert quipped that he would never work with the CEA, the state's largest teachers union. The bill is also backed by the Colorado School Nurses Association. Senate Bill 56 is up for a final Senate vote on Wednesday, and should it pass, heads to the House. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in McDonalds Co. (NYSE:MCD Get Rating) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,376 shares of the fast-food giants stock after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the quarter. McDonalds makes up about 1.0% of Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in McDonalds were worth $2,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of McDonalds by 0.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,570,353 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $15,591,183,000 after buying an additional 333,884 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of McDonalds by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,704,308 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $8,007,672,000 after buying an additional 365,601 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of McDonalds by 16.3% during the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,869,149 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $1,816,219,000 after buying an additional 1,105,231 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of McDonalds by 2.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,117,531 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $1,265,463,000 after buying an additional 108,282 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of McDonalds by 44.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,531,400 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $625,965,000 after buying an additional 776,419 shares during the period. 66.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get McDonald's alerts: McDonalds Price Performance Shares of MCD traded up $1.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $296.18. The companys stock had a trading volume of 310,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,671,509. The company has a market cap of $216.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $278.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.87. McDonalds Co. has a 52-week low of $228.34 and a 52-week high of $298.80. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In McDonalds ( NYSE:MCD Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The fast-food giant reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. McDonalds had a net margin of 29.36% and a negative return on equity of 122.21%. The companys revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that McDonalds Co. will post 10.97 earnings per share for the current year. Several research firms have recently weighed in on MCD. Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on shares of McDonalds from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of McDonalds from $300.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of McDonalds from $328.00 to $346.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of McDonalds from $262.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM restated a reiterates rating on shares of McDonalds in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $306.83. Insider Transactions at McDonalds In other news, SVP Catherine A. Hoovel sold 840 shares of McDonalds stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.77, for a total value of $250,966.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 891 shares in the company, valued at $266,204.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Catherine A. Hoovel sold 2,876 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $776,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,184 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $319,680. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Catherine A. Hoovel sold 840 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.77, for a total transaction of $250,966.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $266,204.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,566 shares of company stock worth $2,058,093 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the companys stock. McDonalds Profile (Get Rating) McDonalds Corp. engages in the operation and franchising of restaurants. It operates through the following segments: U.S., International Operated Markets, and International Developmental Licensed Markets and Corporate. The U.S. segment focuses its operations on the United States. The International Operated Markets segment consists of operations and the franchising of restaurants in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, and the U.K. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MCD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for McDonalds Co. (NYSE:MCD Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for McDonald's Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for McDonald's and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Suncrest Bank (OTCMKTS:SBKK Get Rating)s stock price shot up 1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $18.58 and last traded at $18.58. 19,000 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 6% from the average session volume of 17,940 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.39. Suncrest Bank Price Performance The firm has a market cap of $229.95 million, a PE ratio of 13.56 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $18.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.58. Suncrest Bank Company Profile (Get Rating) Suncrest Bank engages in the provision of personal and commercial banking services. It provides checking, savings and certificates of deposits, lending, cash management, online and mobile banking, e-statements, remote deposit capture, financial calculators, and customer service center. It also offers agricultural real estate loans, production finance, equipment financing and leasing, development loans, long-term fixed rate, SBA and USDA loans, valley small business guaranteed loans, USDA B&I loans, farmer mac loans, and cal-cap loans. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Suncrest Bank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Suncrest Bank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. (NYSE:ACR Get Rating) major shareholder Eagle Point Credit Management purchased 548 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $19.22 per share, with a total value of $10,532.56. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 948,364 shares in the company, valued at $18,227,556.08. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a companys shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC. Eagle Point Credit Management also recently made the following trade(s): Get ACRES Commercial Realty alerts: On Wednesday, May 3rd, Eagle Point Credit Management purchased 1,000 shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $19.99 per share, with a total value of $19,990.00. On Thursday, April 27th, Eagle Point Credit Management purchased 245 shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $18.00 per share, with a total value of $4,410.00. On Wednesday, April 19th, Eagle Point Credit Management purchased 133 shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $18.00 per share, with a total value of $2,394.00. On Monday, April 17th, Eagle Point Credit Management purchased 1,549 shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $19.30 per share, with a total value of $29,895.70. On Thursday, April 6th, Eagle Point Credit Management purchased 1,466 shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $29,320.00. On Friday, March 24th, Eagle Point Credit Management purchased 445 shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.14 per share, with a total value of $8,962.30. ACRES Commercial Realty Stock Up 1.1 % Shares of NYSE:ACR opened at $8.13 on Friday. The companys fifty day moving average price is $9.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.37. ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. has a 12 month low of $7.23 and a 12 month high of $12.51. The company has a current ratio of 118.26, a quick ratio of 118.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.23. Institutional Investors Weigh In On ACRES Commercial Realty Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its stake in ACRES Commercial Realty by 2,942.3% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 19,471 shares of the companys stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 18,831 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in ACRES Commercial Realty during the 2nd quarter worth $162,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in ACRES Commercial Realty by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,209 shares of the companys stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in ACRES Commercial Realty by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 87,617 shares of the companys stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 6,864 shares in the last quarter. 23.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ACR shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of ACRES Commercial Realty in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of ACRES Commercial Realty from $13.00 to $13.50 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, March 13th. About ACRES Commercial Realty (Get Rating) ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the origination, holding, and management of commercial mortgage loans, and commercial real estate related debt investments. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for ACRES Commercial Realty Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for ACRES Commercial Realty and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL Get Rating) by 18.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,713 shares of the technology companys stock after acquiring an additional 5,558 shares during the quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLCs holdings in Dell Technologies were worth $1,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DELL. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Dell Technologies by 80.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,976,265 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $249,759,000 after buying an additional 2,222,995 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Dell Technologies by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,567,318 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $156,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394,376 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Dell Technologies by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,019,506 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $161,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,913 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Dell Technologies by 78.1% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,424,666 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $71,566,000 after purchasing an additional 624,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new position in Dell Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $19,938,000. 26.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Dell Technologies alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets Several brokerages recently commented on DELL. Credit Suisse Group reiterated an outperform rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Dell Technologies in a report on Monday, March 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Dell Technologies from $60.00 to $51.00 in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Dell Technologies from $53.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Dell Technologies from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded shares of Dell Technologies from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $48.13. Insider Activity at Dell Technologies Dell Technologies Stock Performance In other Dell Technologies news, General Counsel Richard J. Rothberg sold 200,958 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.36, for a total value of $9,115,454.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 149,379 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,775,831.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link . In other Dell Technologies news, CAO Brunilda Rios sold 22,042 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.78, for a total value of $964,998.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 18,647 shares of the companys stock, valued at $816,365.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link . Also, General Counsel Richard J. Rothberg sold 200,958 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.36, for a total transaction of $9,115,454.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 149,379 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,775,831.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold 522,371 shares of company stock valued at $22,038,868 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 47.30% of the companys stock. NYSE DELL opened at $45.39 on Friday. Dell Technologies Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.90 and a 52-week high of $52.60. The firms 50 day moving average price is $40.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.80. The company has a market cap of $33.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.03. Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The technology company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.17. Dell Technologies had a net margin of 2.39% and a negative return on equity of 173.72%. The company had revenue of $25.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $22.82 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Dell Technologies Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Dell Technologies Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 25th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is a boost from Dell Technologiess previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 24th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. Dell Technologiess dividend payout ratio is presently 45.96%. About Dell Technologies (Get Rating) Dell Technologies, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of information technology hardware, software, and service solutions through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), Client Solutions Group (CSG), and VMware. The ISG segment includes servers, networking, and storage, as well as services and third-party software and peripherals that are closely tied to the sale of ISG hardware. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DELL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Dell Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dell Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Does it take previous political experience to effectively run the mayor's office? According to Colorado Springs mayoral candidate Yemi Mobolade, not necessarily. Mobolade, a political newcomer, has run his campaign largely on his business experience, promising to use his background as an entrepreneur, business leader and nonprofit founder to tackle some of the most pressing issues the city faces from home affordability and housing availability to crime, public safety, homelessness, infrastructure, water availability and sustaining a thriving local economy. Although his entrepreneurial career has not been without its challenges, business associates and employees of Mobolade said this past week the candidate's "unique" ability to bring people of varied backgrounds together to problem-solve, and his willingness to listen to their concerns over the years, make him the right man to lead the city. "He has the ability to bring together a team of leaders from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. That's a unique gift of his that I think would be well suited to being the mayor," said Stu Davis, the executive director of COSILoveYou, who co-founded the faith-based nonprofit with Mobolade that brings people together to do service projects. "Being the mayor isn't about being the expert in everything. It's about bringing people together and making a decision, and that's what Yemi does really well." Mobolade faces opponent Wayne Williams in the May 16 mayoral runoff election. Williams served most recently as a member of the Colorado Springs City Council and is a former Colorado secretary of state, El Paso County commissioner and El Paso County clerk and recorder. He has advanced his political resume and experience throughout his campaign. Ballots for the May 16 all-mail runoff election were mailed to active registered city voters last week. Voters can return their ballots at any of the 26 secure drop-off locations throughout the city through 7 p.m. on Election Day. Postmarks will not count. 'A fresh point of view' Heather Moake, general manager for The Wild Goose Meeting House and Good Neighbors Meeting House, eateries co-founded by Mobolade, said she believes Mobolade can bring a new perspective to the mayor's office. "I think he has a fresh point of view that is really valuable. Since he isn't a politician or hasn't really been in that world a lot, I feel like he has the ability to look at things from the everyday person's perspective," said Moake, who has worked for the companies nearly nine years. "The changes he could make as mayor, or even the things he takes from (outgoing Mayor John Suthers) and keeps going, he'll have the perspective of how that'll affect everyday people in the Springs. " Throughout his campaign, Mobolade has highlighted his lack of political experience as a way to break the status quo in city leadership. A West African immigrant, he first came to Colorado Springs in 2010 and founded a church with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Later, he served as a ministry leader at First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs from 2015-2017, where he mainly focused on forging partnerships with local mission organizations, said Dave Steane, First Presbyterian's executive pastor. While he was with First Presbyterian, Mobolade worked with Davis to co-found COSILoveYou and the CityServe Day movement that united more than 100 churches in service to the community. Mobolade left the church to become the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC's vice president of business retention, a role he held from 2017-2019. There, he promoted the growth of the city's employers, implemented the chamber's business retention and expansion program, worked with industry-specific employer groups and partnered with economic development staff on projects that would attract new businesses, Mobolade said in an email. Tammy Fields, a real estate broker, was previously Mobolade's supervisor for about 16 months during his time at the chamber. Fields worked for the chamber in various roles, including as senior vice president of economic development, according to her LinkedIn page. . She declined to comment for this story. While at the chamber, Mobolade said, he "saw an opportunity to mitigate the challenges that many small businesses face in trying to start and run their companies," the same challenges he faced when co-founding The Wild Goose Meeting House and Good Neighbors Meeting House. To that end, he left the chamber to become Colorado Springs' small business development administrator from 2019-2022, where he supported small businesses and startup companies and promoted local economic development, according to his campaign website. Colorado Springs Economic Development Manager Bob Cope, who was Mobolade's supervisor when he worked for the city, also declined through city spokeswoman Vanessa Zink to comment for this story. The city's policy and procedures manual limits information regarding employee references to dates of employment, classification history and salary information, Zink ` City records obtained by The Gazette through the Colorado Open Records Act show Cope gave Mobolade a total weighted performance evaluation score of 2.3 out of 3 in 2019 and 2020. A 2 rating means "successful" and a 2.5 rating means "exceeds expectations," according to city performance evaluations. A score of 3 means "exceptional performance." Cope's commentary is redacted from the evaluations according to Colorado statute, city officials said. Mobolade was not formally evaluated in 2021 and 2022 because he left the job in early March 2022, officials said. Business challenges Mobolade's experience as an entrepreneur and business owner has not come without challenges. In the fall of 2020, about 19 staff members from The Wild Goose and Good Neighbors Meeting House signed onto a list of grievances they distributed to Mobolade and his then business partner Russ Ware, disputing in part the dispersal of tips among the whole staff, including servers, bartenders and the kitchen staff. At the time, former Wild Goose bartender Michael Smith told The Gazette that before the tips were distributed many employees, including servers and kitchen staff, earned $9 an hour, which was 2 cents above Colorado's minimum wage in 2020 for tipped employees. Colorado's minimum wage in 2020 was $12 an hour for nontipped workers. Sonia Riggs, CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association, said previously that if a restaurant is sharing tips with kitchen staff it legally must pay the entire staff participating in the tip pool a base wage $12 an hour in 2020 and must notify customers tips will be shared. Managers and supervisors can't participate in the tip pool, she previously told The Gazette. Smith told The Gazette at the time he wanted ownership to make equitable changes. After taxes his annual pay of $19,500 in 2020, including tips, was "not enough," he previously said. In February 2021, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment's Division of Labor Standards and Statistics ruled against The Wild Goose Meeting House after Smith brought forth a wage complaint, finding the business failed to pay Smith earned wages as required, the Colorado Springs Independent reported. Prior to the ruling, Mobolade and Ware in January 2021 had shifted to a "hospitality included" pay structure, a model that "eliminates tipping and builds an employee's full compensation into the pricing of the menu," Mobolade said this week. In the summer of 2022, the companies shifted the pay structure again "to pay employees the full minimum wage in addition to tips. Employees now have the benefit of higher wages than are found in many similar service industry businesses, and the work environment is healthy and positive," he said. Colorado's 2023 state minimum wage is $13.65 per hour for nontipped employees, or $10.63 an hour for tipped workers. The Gazette's attempts to reach members of that group of about 19 employees who might be willing to speak on the record for this story via email were unsuccessful. Current longtime employees like Moake and Schaeffer Ware, now a part owner of both The Wild Goose and Good Neighbors Meeting House and the son of Russ Ware, said while the transitions between pay structures weren't without their hiccups including some employees who left because of the changes Mobolade's focus on open communication with his staff made the shifts smoother. "Yemi's push at the time was, 'How is this going to affect the (companies') culture?'," Schaeffer Ware said. Moake said Mobolade prioritized hearing his staff's perspective on the changes. "There was a lot of communication and a lot of trying to hear everybody's perspective on it, which I think we really needed." Another controversy reared its head in June 2022, when a Latin-American fusion restaurant in downtown called Epiphany closed its doors amid allegations that Russ Ware, a part owner, "misused" funds related to it and several other local restaurants, including The Wild Goose Meeting House and Good Neighbors Meeting House, a spokeswoman for the businesses said in a statement to The Gazette at the time. Mobolade told The Gazette in an email this week his general manager discovered financial discrepancies and through his own investigation Mobolade discovered Russ Ware, who at the time served as president of The Wild Goose and Good Neighbors, moved funds from those businesses and from another restaurant called The Well to fund Epiphany's operations. Mobolade said he had no role with nor ownership in Epiphany, and subsequently removed Russ Ware from his management positions at The Wild Goose and Good Neighbors. The Wild Goose Meeting House and Good Neighbors Meeting House filed police reports in the matter, The Gazette previously reported. The Colorado Springs Police Department this week declined to share those records because it is "still an open and active investigation," department spokesman Robert Tornabene said. Reached by phone this week, Russ Ware, who no longer lives in Colorado, declined to comment on the matter, but said briefly he "speaks highly of Yemi, his work and his business." Schaeffer Ware said the situation involving his father was difficult. "It was hard," he said. "Through that whole process last year, I was working very closely with Yemi on a lot of that stuff. I would say, if anything, that situation brought Yemi and I a little bit closer and helped us kind of reinforce the already good bond our professional and personal relationship had." Mobolade said this week the business challenges he faced in recent years have allowed him to learn and grow as a leader. "Leadership is about growing, adapting and responding productively to the challenges you face. Every business leader and business owner faces challenges; it's how they respond that separates true leaders from the rest," he said. "... My leadership has been tested in many different ways and I am proud that I have overcome and succeeded through these challenges. Readers can take comfort in a leader who has been tried, tested, learned from his mistakes and challenges, and emerged even more successful." StockNews.com cut shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE Get Rating) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Wednesday. A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on ARE. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $162.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a buy rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Mizuho cut their target price on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $180.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $155.00 to $144.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $176.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alexandria Real Estate Equities presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $164.00. Get Alexandria Real Estate Equities alerts: Alexandria Real Estate Equities Stock Up 1.7 % Shares of NYSE ARE opened at $123.64 on Wednesday. Alexandria Real Estate Equities has a 12 month low of $114.94 and a 12 month high of $178.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $126.56 and a 200-day moving average of $142.66. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Announces Dividend Alexandria Real Estate Equities ( NYSE:ARE Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.15 by ($1.71). The company had revenue of $700.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $686.70 million. Alexandria Real Estate Equities had a net margin of 28.01% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alexandria Real Estate Equities will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st were given a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. Alexandria Real Estate Equitiess payout ratio is 106.84%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, EVP Marc E. Binda sold 3,298 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.21, for a total value of $551,458.58. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 67,005 shares of the companys stock, valued at $11,203,906.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Hunter Kass sold 3,803 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.45, for a total value of $636,812.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 87,850 shares of the companys stock, valued at $14,710,482.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Marc E. Binda sold 3,298 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.21, for a total value of $551,458.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,203,906.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,101 shares of company stock valued at $2,700,271. Insiders own 1.60% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,512 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 1,841 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,083 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,730 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Seaport Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Seaport Global Advisors LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the companys stock. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Company Profile (Get Rating) Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc engages in the business of providing space for lease. The firm is also an owner, operator, and developer of life science, agrotechnology, and technology campuses in Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Alexandria Real Estate Equities Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alexandria Real Estate Equities and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC decreased its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN Get Rating) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 40,158 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock after selling 7,938 shares during the quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLCs holdings in Garmin were worth $3,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 14,700 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock valued at $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Garmin by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,224 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $1,867,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its holdings in Garmin by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 23,402 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $2,159,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Garmin by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 238,797 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $22,040,000 after buying an additional 42,261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.29% of the companys stock. Get Garmin alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades GRMN has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Garmin from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. TheStreet upgraded Garmin from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Monday, March 13th. VNET Group reiterated a maintains rating on shares of Garmin in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Garmin from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. They set a sector weight rating on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $118.80. Insider Activity Garmin Trading Up 2.2 % In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,216 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.54, for a total value of $711,064.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,460 shares of the companys stock, valued at $11,870,128.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,216 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.54, for a total transaction of $711,064.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,460 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $11,870,128.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link . Also, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,536 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.36, for a total value of $446,160.96. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,023 shares in the company, valued at $887,502.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,610 shares of company stock valued at $1,635,921. 20.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. GRMN stock opened at $103.78 on Friday. The companys 50 day moving average is $98.30 and its 200 day moving average is $96.64. The stock has a market cap of $19.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.94. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $76.37 and a 1-year high of $108.32. Garmin (NYSE:GRMN Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 19.94%. Garmins revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.2 EPS for the current fiscal year. Garmin Company Profile (Get Rating) Garmin Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of navigation, communications and information devices, most of which are enabled by Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. It operates through the following segments: Marine, Outdoor, Fitness, Auto OEM, Consumer Auto, and Aviation. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GRMN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Garmin Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Garmin and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Associated British Foods plc (LON:ABF Get Rating) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 1,765.26 ($22.05) and traded as high as GBX 1,978 ($24.71). Associated British Foods shares last traded at GBX 1,925.50 ($24.06), with a volume of 1,062,845 shares trading hands. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ABF shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Associated British Foods from GBX 1,680 ($20.99) to GBX 1,760 ($21.99) and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Associated British Foods from GBX 1,400 ($17.49) to GBX 1,900 ($23.74) and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a hold rating and set a GBX 1,750 ($21.86) target price on shares of Associated British Foods in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. Shore Capital reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Associated British Foods in a report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Associated British Foods from GBX 2,000 ($24.99) to GBX 2,300 ($28.74) and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Associated British Foods has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of GBX 1,976.67 ($24.70). Get Associated British Foods alerts: Associated British Foods Stock Up 0.8 % The business has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 1,977.35 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 1,766.25. The stock has a market cap of 14.98 billion, a PE ratio of 2,270.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.66. Associated British Foods Cuts Dividend About Associated British Foods The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of GBX 14.20 ($0.18) per share. This represents a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 1st. Associated British Foodss payout ratio is 5,238.10%. (Get Rating) Associated British Foods plc operates as a diversified food, ingredients, and retail company worldwide. It operates through five segments: Grocery, Sugar, Agriculture, Ingredients, and Retail. The Grocery segment manufactures and sells grocery products, including hot beverages, sugar and sweeteners, vegetable oils, balsamic vinegars, bread and baked goods, cereals, ethnic foods, and meat products to retail, wholesale, and foodservice businesses. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Associated British Foods Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Associated British Foods and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bahamas Petroleum Company plc (LON:BPC Get Rating) passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 0.33 ($0.00) and traded as low as GBX 0.31 ($0.00). Bahamas Petroleum shares last traded at GBX 0.33 ($0.00), with a volume of 182,969,264 shares traded. Bahamas Petroleum Stock Down 8.5 % The company has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 0.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 0.33. The company has a quick ratio of 3.82, a current ratio of 3.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of 16.21 million and a P/E ratio of -1.63. About Bahamas Petroleum (Get Rating) Bahamas Petroleum Company plc engages in the oil and gas exploration activities in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Bahamas Petroleum Company plc was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Douglas, the United Kingdom. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Bahamas Petroleum Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bahamas Petroleum and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Bangkok Bank Public (OTCMKTS:BKKLY Get Rating) in a research note released on Tuesday, The Fly reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating on the stock. Bangkok Bank Public Price Performance OTCMKTS BKKLY opened at $24.08 on Tuesday. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $22.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.16. Bangkok Bank Public has a 52 week low of $17.17 and a 52 week high of $24.86. Get Bangkok Bank Public alerts: Bangkok Bank Public Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 21st will be given a dividend of $0.3404 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 20th. This represents a yield of 2.08%. This is a positive change from Bangkok Bank Publics previous dividend of $0.16. Bangkok Bank Publics payout ratio is currently 28.51%. Bangkok Bank Public Company Profile Bangkok Bank Public Co Ltd. engages in the provision of commercial banking services. It operates through the following business segments: Domestic Banking, International Banking, Investment Banking, and Others. The Domestic Banking segment provides loans, deposits, trade finance, remittances and payments, electronic services, credit cards, debit cards, and related other financial services. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Bangkok Bank Public Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bangkok Bank Public and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Base Resources Limited (LON:BSE Get Rating)s stock price passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 12.73 ($0.16) and traded as low as GBX 10.03 ($0.13). Base Resources shares last traded at GBX 10.15 ($0.13), with a volume of 248,764 shares. Analyst Ratings Changes BSE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a buy rating and issued a GBX 50 ($0.62) price objective on shares of Base Resources in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Peel Hunt reiterated a buy rating and set a GBX 24 ($0.30) price target on shares of Base Resources in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. Finally, Berenberg Bank restated a buy rating and issued a GBX 37 ($0.46) price objective on shares of Base Resources in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Get Base Resources alerts: Base Resources Price Performance The company has a quick ratio of 3.81, a current ratio of 4.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of 119.18 million, a P/E ratio of 202.00 and a beta of 0.84. The companys 50 day moving average price is GBX 11.68 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 12.68. Base Resources Company Profile Base Resources Limited operates as mineral sand developer and producer in Africa. It operates through Kwale Operation, Toliara Project, and Other segments. The company produces mineral sands, such as rutile, ilmenite, and zircon. It primarily owns a 100% interest in the Kwale Mineral Sands project located in Kenya; and develops the Toliara project located in Madagascar. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Base Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Base Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of BlackRock Emerging Europe plc (LON:BEEP Get Rating) crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 318.50 ($3.98) and traded as low as GBX 318.50 ($3.98). BlackRock Emerging Europe shares last traded at GBX 318.50 ($3.98), with a volume of 1,038 shares. BlackRock Emerging Europe Trading Down 0.2 % The businesss 50 day moving average is GBX 318.50 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 318.50. About BlackRock Emerging Europe (Get Rating) BlackRock Emerging Europe plc, formerly Eastern European Trust PLC, is a United Kingdom-based investment trust company. The Company conducts its business as an investment trust and its principal activity is portfolio investment. The Companys objective is to achieve long-term capital growth, principally by investing in companies that do business primarily in Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia and Turkey. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for BlackRock Emerging Europe Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BlackRock Emerging Europe and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Blackrock Silver Corp. (CVE:BRC Get Rating)s share price traded up 2.9% on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$0.36 and last traded at C$0.36. 268,203 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 299,338 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.35. Analyst Ratings Changes Separately, Pi Financial lifted their target price on Blackrock Silver from C$0.70 to C$0.75 in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Get Blackrock Silver alerts: Blackrock Silver Stock Performance The companys 50 day moving average price is C$0.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$0.43. The firm has a market cap of C$67.65 million, a PE ratio of -3.55 and a beta of 2.23. The company has a quick ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. About Blackrock Silver Blackrock Silver ( CVE:BRC Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 24th. The company reported C($0.03) EPS for the quarter. (Get Rating) Blackrock Silver Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties located in the United States. It primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. The company's flagship property is the Tonopah West silver-gold project that consists of 100 patented and 279 unpatented claims covering approximately 25.5 square kilometers located in the Walker Lane trend of western Nevada. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Blackrock Silver Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Blackrock Silver and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bluebird Merchant Ventures Limited (LON:BMV Get Rating) shares fell 3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 1.42 ($0.02) and last traded at GBX 1.60 ($0.02). 1,490,754 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 2,602,946 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1.65 ($0.02). Bluebird Merchant Ventures Price Performance The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.70. The company has a market cap of 11.04 million, a P/E ratio of 215.00 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a fifty day moving average of GBX 1.78 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 1.76. About Bluebird Merchant Ventures (Get Rating) Bluebird Merchant Ventures Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and developing of gold properties. It holds interests in the Gubong project and Kochang project located in South Korea. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Road Town, the British Virgin Islands. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Bluebird Merchant Ventures Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bluebird Merchant Ventures and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Boston Partners decreased its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG Get Rating) by 27.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 252,455 shares of the insurance providers stock after selling 96,338 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $33,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in THG. Riverview Trust Co grew its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 48.2% in the 3rd quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 338 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 40.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 343 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 35.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 520 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 45.7% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 542 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 61.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 702 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.39% of the companys stock. Get The Hanover Insurance Group alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, SVP Warren E. Barnes sold 862 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.51, for a total transaction of $119,395.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,075 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $564,428.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.40% of the companys stock. The Hanover Insurance Group Price Performance Shares of NYSE THG opened at $119.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of -3,966.68, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $126.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.92. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.26 and a twelve month high of $149.91. The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The insurance provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. The Hanover Insurance Group had a positive return on equity of 3.62% and a negative net margin of 0.01%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 6.96 EPS for the current year. The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The Hanover Insurance Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -10,796.40%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $148.00 to $141.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. They set a market perform rating and a $141.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $153.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on The Hanover Insurance Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Finally, JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Hanover Insurance Group has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $154.17. The Hanover Insurance Group Profile (Get Rating) The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc is a holding company that engages in the provision of property and casualty products and services. It operates through the following segments: Core Commercial, Specialty, Personal Lines and Other. The Core Commercial segment includes commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile, workers compensation and other core commercial coverage, such as general liability, commercial umbrella and monoline property. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding THG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for The Hanover Insurance Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for The Hanover Insurance Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. What could be better than flowers for Mothers Day? The Colorado Springs Horticultural Art Society will host its annual Gigantic Plant Sale on Mothers Day weekend, where people can browse a diverse selection of plants that thrive in the Pikes Peak region. We try to bring in plants that work in Colorado Springs, said volunteer Pam Hamamoto, former president of the Colorado Springs Horticultural Art Society. When we do our plant list, we actually list altitudes, which is unusual. The sale at Monument Valley Park kicks off Friday and will held on two consecutive weekends on Friday and Saturday. The organization will sell everything from flowers to herbs to veggies, including roses, tomatoes, fruit bushes and even cacti. There will also be a selection of native pollinators. Its a fun event, Hamamoto said. We bring in plants almost exclusively from Colorado. The sale started more than four decades ago and is the largest source of funds for the nonprofit. More than 70 volunteers will help run the event. A full list of plants can be found at the organizations website. Shares of Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund (TSE:BPF.UN Get Rating) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$15.56 and traded as high as C$15.85. Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund shares last traded at C$15.80, with a volume of 20,821 shares trading hands. Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund Stock Performance The company has a quick ratio of 17.13, a current ratio of 3.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$15.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$15.56. The stock has a market capitalization of C$339.37 million, a P/E ratio of 12.04 and a beta of 1.67. Get Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund alerts: Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.107 per share. This is an increase from Boston Pizza Royalties Income Funds previous monthly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 20th. Boston Pizza Royalties Income Funds payout ratio is currently 97.71%. About Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund operates as a limited purpose open-ended trust. The company, indirectly through Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership, owns trademarks and trade names used by Boston Pizza International Inc It operates as a franchisor of casual dining pizza and pasta restaurants. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS Get Rating) have earned an average rating of Hold from the eighteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $84.76. A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on General Mills in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on General Mills from $81.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Monday, March 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on General Mills from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Get General Mills alerts: General Mills Stock Performance Shares of GIS stock opened at $89.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $52.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.27. General Mills has a 12 month low of $64.94 and a 12 month high of $89.95. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $84.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Insiders Place Their Bets General Mills ( NYSE:GIS Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 23rd. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.97 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.51% and a net margin of 14.04%. General Millss revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year. In other news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 8,030 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.33, for a total transaction of $685,199.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 83,049 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,086,571.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 8,030 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.33, for a total value of $685,199.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 83,049 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,086,571.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bethany C. Quam sold 21,734 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.86, for a total value of $1,866,081.24. Following the sale, the insider now owns 47,560 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,083,501.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.67% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Clarius Group LLC grew its position in General Mills by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 7,437 shares of the companys stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC increased its position in General Mills by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 6,579 shares of the companys stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.5% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. now owns 27,800 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,129,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.3% during the first quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC now owns 3,159 shares of the companys stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 3.5% in the third quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the companys stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. 74.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. General Mills Company Profile (Get Rating) General Mills, Inc engages in the manufacture and marketing of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The firm operates through the following segments: North America Retail, Europe & Australia, Convenience Stores & Foodservice, Pet, and Asia & Latin America. The North America Retail segment includes grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains and e-commerce grocery providers. See Also Receive News & Ratings for General Mills Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for General Mills and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brookfield Renewable Co. (NYSE:BEPC Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 5th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be given a dividend of 0.338 per share on Friday, June 30th. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th. Brookfield Renewable has a payout ratio of -562.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Get Brookfield Renewable alerts: Brookfield Renewable Price Performance Shares of BEPC stock opened at $35.08 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.47 and a beta of 1.09. Brookfield Renewable has a 12 month low of $27.19 and a 12 month high of $42.97. Institutional Trading of Brookfield Renewable Brookfield Renewable ( NYSE:BEPC Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Brookfield Renewable had a return on equity of 0.19% and a net margin of 0.57%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.16) earnings per share. Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Brookfield Renewable by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,433,864 shares of the companys stock worth $144,899,000 after buying an additional 116,408 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Brookfield Renewable by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,830,035 shares of the companys stock worth $167,754,000 after buying an additional 168,284 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Brookfield Renewable by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,795,460 shares of the companys stock worth $78,640,000 after buying an additional 88,743 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Brookfield Renewable by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,425,801 shares of the companys stock worth $39,226,000 after buying an additional 144,692 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Renewable during the 4th quarter worth about $37,752,000. 68.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About Brookfield Renewable (Get Rating) Brookfield Renewable Corporation owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy power generating facilities primarily in the United States, Europe, Colombia, and Brazil. It operates hydroelectric, wind, and solar power plants with an installed capacity of approximately 12,723 megawatts. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Brookfield Renewable Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Brookfield Renewable and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:NUBD Get Rating) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,259,966 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 35,101 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. owned 0.11% of Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF worth $27,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NUBD. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its position in shares of Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 16,047 shares of the companys stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 0.5% in the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 131,262 shares of the companys stock worth $2,842,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 2.0% in the third quarter. Evolution Advisers Inc. now owns 37,333 shares of the companys stock valued at $808,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 1.2% during the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 64,363 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,394,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 0.5% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 177,797 shares of the companys stock worth $3,849,000 after buying an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. Get Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF alerts: Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Stock Down 0.4 % Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF stock opened at $22.33 on Friday. The firms fifty day moving average price is $22.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.04. Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF has a 1-year low of $20.99 and a 1-year high of $23.48. Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Company Profile The Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NUBD) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in investment grade fixed income. The fund tracks an index of US investment-grade bonds selected for exhibiting certain environmental, social, and governance criteria. NUBD was launched on Sep 29, 2017 and is managed by Nuveen. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NUBD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:NUBD Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CC Japan Income & Growth Trust plc (LON:CCJI Get Rating) crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 152.66 ($1.91) and traded as low as GBX 151.95 ($1.90). CC Japan Income & Growth Trust shares last traded at GBX 154 ($1.92), with a volume of 68,813 shares traded. CC Japan Income & Growth Trust Trading Up 0.3 % The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 152.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 150.92. The firm has a market cap of 208.16 million and a PE ratio of -1,716.67. Get CC Japan Income & Growth Trust alerts: Insider Transactions at CC Japan Income & Growth Trust In other news, insider June Aitken bought 879 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 160 ($2.00) per share, with a total value of 1,406.40 ($1,757.12). Corporate insiders own 2.84% of the companys stock. About CC Japan Income & Growth Trust CC Japan Income & Growth Trust plc is an equity mutual fund launched and managed by Coupland Cardiff Asset Management LLP. It invests in the equity markets of Japan. The fund invests in stocks of companies operating across the diversified sectors. CC Japan Income & Growth Trust plc was formed in 2013 and is domiciled in the United Kingdom. Read More Receive News & Ratings for CC Japan Income & Growth Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CC Japan Income & Growth Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Westpac Banking (OTCMKTS:WEBNF Get Rating) and Agricultural Bank of China (OTCMKTS:ACGBF Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and institutional ownership. Analyst Recommendations This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Westpac Banking and Agricultural Bank of China, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Get Westpac Banking alerts: Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Westpac Banking 0 0 0 1 4.00 Agricultural Bank of China 0 0 1 0 3.00 Profitability Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Westpac Banking N/A N/A N/A Agricultural Bank of China N/A N/A N/A Valuation and Earnings This table compares Westpac Banking and Agricultural Bank of Chinas net margins, return on equity and return on assets. This table compares Westpac Banking and Agricultural Bank of Chinas revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Westpac Banking N/A N/A N/A C$2.39 6.00 Agricultural Bank of China N/A N/A N/A $0.56 0.67 Agricultural Bank of China is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Westpac Banking, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Dividends Westpac Banking pays an annual dividend of C$1.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.4%. Agricultural Bank of China pays an annual dividend of $0.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 47.5%. Westpac Banking pays out 74.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Agricultural Bank of China pays out 32.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Agricultural Bank of China is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio. Insider & Institutional Ownership 13.9% of Westpac Banking shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of Agricultural Bank of China shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth. Summary Westpac Banking beats Agricultural Bank of China on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks. About Westpac Banking (Get Rating) Westpac Banking Corp. engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer, Business, Westpac Institutional Bank, Westpac New Zealand, Specialist and Group. The Consumer segment provides banking products, including mortgages, credit cards, personal loans, and savings and deposit products. The Business segment serves the banking needs of SME and commercial customers, including agribusiness and provides banking and advisory services to high net worth individuals through private wealth. The Westpac Institutional Bank segment provides a broad range of financial products and services to corporate, institutional and government customers. The Westpac New Zealand segment provides banking, wealth and insurance products and services for consumer, business and institutional customers in New Zealand. The Specialist segment comprises the operations that Westpac ultimately plans to exit with agreements in place for the sale of Westpac Life Insurance and motor vehicle dealer finance and notated leasing businesses. The Group segment includes the results of unallocated support functions such as treasury, chief operating office and core sup Receive News & Ratings for Westpac Banking Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Westpac Banking and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Fresnillo (OTCMKTS:FNLPF Get Rating) and Centerra Gold (NYSE:CGAU Get Rating) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings and risk. Valuation and Earnings This table compares Fresnillo and Centerra Golds top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Get Fresnillo alerts: Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Fresnillo $2.43 billion 2.83 $271.90 million N/A N/A Centerra Gold $850.19 million 1.76 -$77.21 million ($0.45) -15.24 Fresnillo has higher revenue and earnings than Centerra Gold. Volatility & Risk Dividends Fresnillo has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Centerra Gold has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Fresnillo pays an annual dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Centerra Gold pays an annual dividend of $0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Centerra Gold pays out -46.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Insider and Institutional Ownership 51.6% of Centerra Gold shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Centerra Gold shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term. Analyst Recommendations This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Fresnillo and Centerra Gold, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Fresnillo 1 4 0 0 1.80 Centerra Gold 0 1 1 0 2.50 Centerra Gold has a consensus target price of $9.50, indicating a potential upside of 38.48%. Given Centerra Golds stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Centerra Gold is more favorable than Fresnillo. Profitability This table compares Fresnillo and Centerra Golds net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Fresnillo N/A N/A N/A Centerra Gold -9.08% -0.47% -0.37% Summary Centerra Gold beats Fresnillo on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks. About Fresnillo (Get Rating) Fresnillo Plc is a holding company, which engages in the production of gold and silver. It operates through the following segments: Fresnillo, Saucito, Cienaga, Herradura, Noche Buena, and San Julian. The Fresnillo, and Saucito segments are located in the state of Zacatecas, an underground silver mine. The Cienega segment includes San Ramon satellite mine which are both located in the state of Durango, an underground gold mine. The Herradura, and Noche Buena segments are located in the state of Sonora, a surface gold mine. The San Julian segment operates on the border of Chihuahua/Durango states, an underground silver-gold mine. The company was founded on August 15, 2007 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. About Centerra Gold (Get Rating) Centerra Gold, Inc. engages in the operation, development, exploration and acquisition of gold and copper properties. It operates through the following segments: Kumtor, Mount Milligan, and Oksut. The company was founded on November 7, 2002 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Receive News & Ratings for Fresnillo Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Fresnillo and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB Get Rating) in a report issued on Wednesday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the oil and gas companys stock. Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CLB. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Core Laboratories from $24.00 to $25.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. Bank of America cut Core Laboratories from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $21.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Core Laboratories from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Get Core Laboratories alerts: Core Laboratories Trading Up 2.1 % Shares of NYSE:CLB opened at $21.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.37 and a 200 day moving average of $21.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Core Laboratories has a 12-month low of $13.19 and a 12-month high of $31.42. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 43.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 2.67. Core Laboratories Announces Dividend Core Laboratories ( NYSE:CLB Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.01. Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.23% and a net margin of 4.72%. The company had revenue of $127.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $130.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. The firms revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Core Laboratories will post 0.8 EPS for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 5th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. Core Laboratoriess payout ratio is presently 8.00%. Institutional Trading of Core Laboratories Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisors Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Core Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at $5,037,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Core Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at $212,000. Advisors Preferred LLC grew its position in Core Laboratories by 48.2% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC now owns 139,289 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $3,283,000 after acquiring an additional 45,282 shares during the last quarter. Beck Bode LLC bought a new position in Core Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at $4,840,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Core Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at $235,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.44% of the companys stock. About Core Laboratories (Get Rating) Core Laboratories NV engages in the provision of proprietary and patented reservoir description, production enhancement, and reservoir management services to the oil and gas industry. It operates through the Reservoir Description segment and Production Enhancement segment. The Reservoir Description segment encompasses the characterization of petroleum reservoir rock, fluid, and gas samples and provides analytical and field services to characterize properties of crude oil and petroleum products. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Core Laboratories Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Core Laboratories and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Moodys Co. (NYSE:MCO Get Rating) by 14.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,420 shares of the business services providers stock after selling 420 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.s holdings in Moodys were worth $674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP grew its holdings in Moodys by 137.1% during the third quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 1,308,435 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $318,094,000 after purchasing an additional 756,663 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Moodys by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,148,302 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $765,385,000 after acquiring an additional 249,312 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Moodys by 243.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 316,281 shares of the business services providers stock worth $76,891,000 after acquiring an additional 224,279 shares in the last quarter. Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY bought a new stake in Moodys during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,430,000. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in Moodys during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,495,000. Institutional investors own 90.84% of the companys stock. Get Moody's alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moodys from $308.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Raymond James cut Moodys from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Moodys from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Moodys from $289.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Moodys from $293.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $308.00. Moodys Stock Performance NYSE MCO opened at $304.64 on Friday. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $298.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $293.80. Moodys Co. has a fifty-two week low of $230.16 and a fifty-two week high of $335.91. The company has a market cap of $55.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. Moodys (NYSE:MCO Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.43 billion. Moodys had a net margin of 25.42% and a return on equity of 59.87%. The businesss revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Moodys Co. will post 9.79 earnings per share for the current year. Moodys Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 19th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 18th. Moodyss payout ratio is currently 41.18%. Insider Buying and Selling at Moodys In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.15, for a total transaction of $570,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,838 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $19,344,005.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Moodys news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.15, for a total value of $570,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,838 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $19,344,005.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 483 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $146,580.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $452,488.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,701 shares of company stock worth $7,046,117 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.42% of the companys stock. About Moodys (Get Rating) Moodys Corp. engages in the provision of credit ratings, research, tools and analysis to the global capital markets. It operates through the Moodys Investors Service (MIS) and Moodys Analytics (MA) segments. The MIS segment is a credit rating agency, which publishes credit ratings on debt obligations and the entities, including various corporate and governmental obligations, structured finance securities, and commercial paper programs. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MCO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Moodys Co. (NYSE:MCO Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Moody's Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Moody's and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CTT Correios De Portugal, S.A. (OTCMKTS:CTTPY Get Rating)s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $7.61 and last traded at $7.61, with a volume of 0 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $7.61. CTT Correios De Portugal Price Performance The businesss 50-day moving average price is $7.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.29. About CTT Correios De Portugal (Get Rating) CTT Correios De Portugal, SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides postal and financial services worldwide. It operates through Mail, Express & Parcels, Financial Services & Retail, and Bank segments. The company offers courier and urgent mail transport services; postal financial services; and banking services. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for CTT - Correios De Portugal Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CTT - Correios De Portugal and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Courage. Honor. Bravery. Those are just a few of the descriptors bestowed upon Maj. Paul J. Weaver, an Air Force Academy graduate and member of the Spirit 03 aircrew killed during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. On Friday, Weaver's sacrifice became part of academy legacy when a memorial statue was dedicated during a ceremony at the honor court on campus. Weaver, who was a native of Alamosa, is the first academy graduate to be remembered on its honor court. The academy's class of 1979, Weaver's graduating class, funded the memorial a project costing over half a million dollars. Our prime directive at the Air Force Academy is to develop leaders of character and this is the bond that is the long blue line," said Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen Richard M. Clark. "Major Weaver understood what it meant to be a part of that legacy. He led Spirit 03 with honor and courage as an example of our great institution. Fridays ceremony included a flyover of the modern-day AC-130H . Weaver was the acting aircraft commander of AC-130H Spectra gunship Spirit 03 of the 16th Special Operations Squadron, a part of the Air Force Special Operations Command. In the early morning hours of Jan. 31, 1991, Weaver alongside 13 members of his crew, answered a call to service after completing an overnight mission. The current commander of the 16th Special Operation Squadron, Lt. Col. Colin LeFavor, recounted on Friday the events leading to the attack of Spirit 03. These brave men flew past their station time into the early morning hours, just after daylight broke, to provide lifesaving close air support to Marines taking heavy fire during the earliest days of Desert Storm, LeFavor said. Weaver was flying in support of the Marines operations in action near the Kuwaiti border . Sign Up for free: Military Brief Your weekly local update on local military news and events, sent straight to your inbox. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. As they were en route to base, Spirit 03s radios lit up, requesting immediate air support to save a platoon of Marines overwhelmed by enemy fire. With ammunition and gas to spare, these brave air commanders returned to the fight at great risk to themselves to protect the endangered Marines, LeFavor said. Returning to battle to meet the enemy, the mighty warriors of Spirit 03 made the ultimate sacrifice when the enemy surfaced air fire came up to meet them. The attack on Spirit 03 was the largest single loss of life by an Air Force unit during Operation Desert Storm. The class of 79 supported the creation and placement of the Spirit 03 memorial, raising more than $2 million, a quarter of the proceeds went to funding this project. The memorial, a replica of the AC-130H aircraft, was created by sculptor Jim Vance, a member of the academys class of 1971. In attendance at Fridays ceremony were Karen Roberts and Jennifer Lavery, sisters of Weaver. Paul was proud to have graduated from the Air Force Academy, and very proud of the work he did while serving in the Air Force, and of the men and woman with whom he served, Roberts said. I can say with certainty Paul would have been most honored and deeply, deeply moved that you chose to remember Spirit 03 in this manner. He made the comment one time that he was worried he would never do anything hed be remembered for. Now hell be remembered here forever. Lavery said she remembers her brother as a humble and kind individual. Its crazy what these guys did for him, and they did it themselves its not an easy feat to say lets raise a million dollars, Lavery said, I appreciate them. Im always in awe of the work these guys do. CVS Health (NYSE:CVS Get Rating) had its target price reduced by UBS Group from $102.00 to $94.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, The Fly reports. A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CVS. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of CVS Health in a report on Thursday, April 20th. They issued an overweight rating and a $87.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of CVS Health in a report on Monday, April 10th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of CVS Health in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $106.00 to $101.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $112.84. Get CVS Health alerts: CVS Health Price Performance Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $70.68 on Tuesday. CVS Health has a twelve month low of $68.10 and a twelve month high of $107.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $75.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.35. CVS Health Dividend Announcement CVS Health ( NYSE:CVS Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The pharmacy operator reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.13. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.75% and a net margin of 1.20%. The firm had revenue of $85.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.22 EPS. The firms quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CVS Health will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 21st were issued a $0.605 dividend. This represents a $2.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 20th. CVS Healths payout ratio is currently 77.56%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, CEO Karen S. Lynch acquired 14,000 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $69.75 per share, with a total value of $976,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 431,392 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $30,089,592. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in CVS Health by 18.5% during the first quarter. Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 51,016 shares of the pharmacy operators stock worth $3,791,000 after acquiring an additional 7,970 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 2.8% during the first quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 83,339 shares of the pharmacy operators stock valued at $6,193,000 after purchasing an additional 2,265 shares during the last quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 1.0% during the first quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp now owns 30,902 shares of the pharmacy operators stock valued at $2,296,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Kraft Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the first quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 1.5% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,798,304 shares of the pharmacy operators stock valued at $133,632,000 after purchasing an additional 25,893 shares during the last quarter. 77.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. CVS Health Company Profile (Get Rating) CVS Health Corp. is a health solutions company, which engages in the provision of healthcare services. It operates through the following segments: Pharmacy Services, Retail or Long-Term Care, Health Care Benefits, and Corporate and Other. The Pharmacy Services segment focuses on the pharmacy benefit management solutions. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for CVS Health Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CVS Health and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Endeavour Mining plc (LON:EDV Get Rating) shares were up 1.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as GBX 2,084 ($26.04) and last traded at GBX 2,082 ($26.01). Approximately 413,220 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 8% from the average daily volume of 450,082 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 2,054 ($25.66). Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research analysts recently commented on EDV shares. Berenberg Bank restated a buy rating and set a GBX 3,100 ($38.73) price objective on shares of Endeavour Mining in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Barclays restated an overweight rating and issued a GBX 2,875 ($35.92) price objective on shares of Endeavour Mining in a report on Monday, March 20th. Get Endeavour Mining alerts: Endeavour Mining Price Performance The stock has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 1,933.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 1,815.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 21.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market capitalization of 5.07 billion, a PE ratio of -9,911.51 and a beta of 0.57. Insider Transactions at Endeavour Mining About Endeavour Mining In related news, insider Sebastien de Montessus sold 175,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 2,166 ($27.06), for a total value of 3,790,500 ($4,735,757.12). Company insiders own 19.47% of the companys stock. (Get Rating) Endeavour Mining plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a gold mining company in West Africa. It has six operating assets, including the Boungou, Hounde, Mana, and Wahgnion mines in Burkina Faso; the Ity mine in Cote d'Ivoire; the Sabodala-Massawa mine in Senegal; Lafigue and Kalana development projects in Cote d'Ivoire and Mali; and a portfolio of exploration assets on the Birimian Greenstone Belt across Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, and Guinea. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Endeavour Mining Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Endeavour Mining and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT Get Rating) issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The financial services provider reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.16, Briefing.com reports. Essent Group had a net margin of 83.07% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The firm had revenue of $256.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $250.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. Essent Groups revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Essent Group Stock Up 3.9 % Shares of ESNT traded up $1.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $42.62. The companys stock had a trading volume of 592,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 330,122. The firm has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.16. Essent Group has a 1-year low of $34.27 and a 1-year high of $45.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.13. Get Essent Group alerts: Essent Group Announces Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Essent Groups dividend payout ratio is 12.97%. Insider Activity Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group In other news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.49, for a total value of $108,725.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,155,746.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website . 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 56,139 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,958,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in Essent Group by 5.3% during the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,589 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Essent Group by 1.0% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 41,000 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP boosted its position in Essent Group by 4.7% during the second quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 10,441 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Essent Group by 43.9% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.07% of the companys stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Essent Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Essent Group from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 17th. Roth Capital restated a buy rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Essent Group from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $43.00 in a report on Friday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $45.80. About Essent Group (Get Rating) Essent Group Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services. It offers mortgage insurance, reinsurance, and risk management products. The company was founded by Mark A. Casale on July 1, 2008 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Essent Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Essent Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN.A Get Rating)s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $7.76 and last traded at $7.76, with a volume of 544 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $8.00. Gray Television Price Performance The businesss 50 day moving average is $8.77 and its 200-day moving average is $10.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $696.23 million, a P/E ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04. Get Gray Television alerts: Gray Television (NYSE:GTN.A Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 24th. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter. Gray Television had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 23.67%. Gray Television Dividend Announcement About Gray Television The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. Gray Televisions dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.37%. (Get Rating) Gray Television, Inc, a television broadcast company, owns and operates television stations and digital assets in the United States. As of February 28, 2019, it owned and operated television stations in 91 television markets broadcasting approximately 400 program streams, including approximately 150 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, the NBC Network, the ABC Network, and the FOX Network. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Gray Television Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Gray Television and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY Get Rating) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 146,943 shares of the oil and gas producers stock after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Gulf International Bank UK Ltds holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $9,255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 10,622 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 5,532 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,816 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Smith Moore & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 3,789 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1.5% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,920 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $676,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. 78.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Occidental Petroleum alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In OXY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $84.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 10th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from an in-line rating to an underperform rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $72.89. Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 3.4 % NYSE OXY opened at $60.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $54.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.78. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $54.30 and a twelve month high of $77.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The businesss fifty day moving average is $61.25 and its 200 day moving average is $64.53. Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.22). Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 52.68% and a net margin of 35.87%. The business had revenue of $8.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.48 EPS. Occidental Petroleums revenue for the quarter was up 97.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 5.81 EPS for the current fiscal year. Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 9th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 8th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Occidental Petroleums dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.82%. Insider Activity In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,145,896 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.17 per share, for a total transaction of $186,142,666.32. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 203,299,337 shares in the company, valued at $12,029,221,770.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have bought 12,371,716 shares of company stock valued at $735,557,715. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. About Occidental Petroleum (Get Rating) Occidental Petroleum Corp. engages in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids and natural gas. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Occidental Petroleum Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Occidental Petroleum and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hanesbrands (NYSE:HBI Get Rating) updated its second quarter 2023 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of -$0.05-0 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $0.04. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.42 billion-$1.47 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.47 billion. Hanesbrands also updated its FY 2023 guidance to $0.31-$0.42 EPS. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Hanesbrands to a sell rating in a report on Friday, April 28th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Hanesbrands from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on Hanesbrands from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 3rd. SpectralCast reiterated a maintains rating on shares of Hanesbrands in a report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Hanesbrands from $7.00 to $6.00 in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $8.60. Get Hanesbrands alerts: Hanesbrands Stock Performance HBI stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $4.42. The stock had a trading volume of 8,445,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,141,711. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of -5.53 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.57, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.22. Hanesbrands has a 52-week low of $4.31 and a 52-week high of $13.28. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hanesbrands Hanesbrands ( NYSE:HBI Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The textile maker reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. Hanesbrands had a positive return on equity of 38.23% and a negative net margin of 4.64%. The firms quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Hanesbrands will post 0.35 EPS for the current year. Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Hanesbrands by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 27,976 shares of the textile makers stock valued at $178,000 after acquiring an additional 4,221 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Hanesbrands by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 477,420 shares of the textile makers stock valued at $3,036,000 after acquiring an additional 2,048 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its position in shares of Hanesbrands by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 18,972 shares of the textile makers stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,744 shares during the period. Point72 Middle East FZE acquired a new stake in shares of Hanesbrands during the 4th quarter valued at about $458,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Hanesbrands by 63.2% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 6,020 shares of the textile makers stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 2,332 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.87% of the companys stock. Hanesbrands Company Profile (Get Rating) Hanesbrands, Inc engages in the business of designing, manufacturing, sourcing, and selling basic apparel such as T-shirts, bras, panties, shape wear, underwear, socks, and activewear. It operates through the following segments: Innerwear, Activewear, and International. The Innerwear segment includes basic apparel including mens underwear, womens panties, childrens underwear, and socks, and intimate apparel such as bras, and shape wear. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Hanesbrands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hanesbrands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:INSP Get Rating) VP Steven Jandrich sold 8,000 shares of Inspire Medical Systems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total value of $2,168,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,371 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,184,628.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Inspire Medical Systems Price Performance NYSE:INSP opened at $277.19 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $251.76 and a 200 day moving average of $241.85. The company has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -177.69 and a beta of 1.44. Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.74 and a 1-year high of $282.31. Get Inspire Medical Systems alerts: Inspire Medical Systems (NYSE:INSP Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.53) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.70) by $0.17. Inspire Medical Systems had a negative return on equity of 10.27% and a negative net margin of 9.35%. The company had revenue of $127.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.61) EPS. Inspire Medical Systemss quarterly revenue was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. will post -1.32 EPS for the current year. Institutional Trading of Inspire Medical Systems Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Inspire Medical Systems by 11.3% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,284 shares of the companys stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in Inspire Medical Systems in the first quarter valued at about $452,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Inspire Medical Systems in the first quarter valued at about $203,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Inspire Medical Systems by 668.6% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,422 shares of the companys stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Inspire Medical Systems by 4.0% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,694 shares of the companys stock worth $3,838,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.04% of the companys stock. Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on INSP shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Inspire Medical Systems from $305.00 to $315.00 in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Inspire Medical Systems from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Inspire Medical Systems from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Inspire Medical Systems from $271.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on Inspire Medical Systems from $250.00 to $305.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Inspire Medical Systems currently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $309.22. About Inspire Medical Systems (Get Rating) Inspire Medical Systems, Inc engages in the development and commercialization of minimally invasive solutions for patients with obstructive sleep apnea. It offers inspire therapy, which consists of a remote control and implantable components that includes pressure sensing lead, a neurostimulator, and a stimulation lead. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Inspire Medical Systems Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Inspire Medical Systems and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF (NYSEARCA:IRBO Get Rating) rose 1.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $29.31 and last traded at $29.24. Approximately 45,534 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 83,996 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.69. iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF Stock Up 1.9 % The company has a market capitalization of $304.10 million, a P/E ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 1.13. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $29.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.99. Get iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF alerts: Institutional Trading of iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sandy Spring Bank bought a new stake in iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF in the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF in the 1st quarter worth $95,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC acquired a new stake in iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF in the 4th quarter worth $1,955,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its position in iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 9,691 shares of the companys stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flow Traders U.S. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF by 174.6% during the 4th quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC now owns 80,283 shares of the companys stock worth $2,050,000 after acquiring an additional 51,047 shares during the period. About iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF The iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF (IRBO) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in stocks based on a particular theme. The fund tracks an equal-weighted index of global equities involved in robotics and artificial intelligence. IRBO was launched on Jun 26, 2018 and is managed by BlackRock. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Kanabo Group Plc (LON:KNB Get Rating) shares traded down 4.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as GBX 3.20 ($0.04) and last traded at GBX 3.35 ($0.04). 268,517 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 1,064,668 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 3.52 ($0.04). Kanabo Group Price Performance The stock has a market capitalization of 13.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -175.00 and a beta of 3.14. The company has a quick ratio of 24.36, a current ratio of 3.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 3.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 2.73. Kanabo Group Company Profile (Get Rating) Kanabo Group Plc develops and distributes cannabis-derived products for medical patients. It also offers non- tetrahydrocannabinol products for cannabidiol consumers. The company offers its products under the Kanabo brand name. Kanabo Group Plc was founded in 2016 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Kanabo Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kanabo Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW Get Rating) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 514 shares of the industrial products companys stock after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLCs holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in W.W. Grainger by 220.0% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 48 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Almanack Investment Partners LLC. purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 71.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get W.W. Grainger alerts: Insider Activity at W.W. Grainger In related news, SVP Kathleen S. Carroll sold 1,690 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $671.56, for a total value of $1,134,936.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,199,359. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other W.W. Grainger news, CEO Donald G. Macpherson sold 49,121 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $694.36, for a total value of $34,107,657.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 80,240 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $55,715,446.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathleen S. Carroll sold 1,690 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.56, for a total value of $1,134,936.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,199,359. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,910 shares of company stock worth $38,640,777 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.90% of the companys stock. Analyst Ratings Changes W.W. Grainger Stock Up 1.5 % A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $750.00 to $800.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $730.00 to $760.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $785.00 to $800.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $800.00 to $815.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, 92 Resources reissued a maintains rating on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research report on Friday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $704.88. GWW opened at $675.51 on Friday. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $672.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $618.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.70. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a one year low of $440.48 and a one year high of $709.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.19. W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The industrial products company reported $9.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.57 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $4.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.08 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 61.00% and a net margin of 10.65%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.07 EPS. Analysts anticipate that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 35.89 EPS for the current year. W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 8th will be given a $1.86 dividend. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 5th. This is a boost from W.W. Graingers previous quarterly dividend of $1.72. W.W. Graingers payout ratio is 21.10%. W.W. Grainger Company Profile (Get Rating) W.W. Grainger, Inc is a supplier of maintenance, repair, and operating products, with operations in North America, Japan, and the United Kingdom. It operates through the following segments: High-Touch Solutions N.A., Endless Assortment, and Other. The High-Touch Solutions N.A. segment is involved in value-added MRO solutions that are rooted in deep product knowledge and customer expertise. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GWW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for W.W. Grainger Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for W.W. Grainger and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The jury started deliberations Friday afternoon in the trial against Letecia Stauch, who is accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson, Gannon Stauch, more than three years ago. After five weeks of trial the attorneys in the case gave their closing arguments, where the key focus for both the prosecution and the defense was the sanity of Stauch. Following the end of rebuttal 12 jurors were sent to begin deliberations, and after four hours of deliberation the jury was sent home for the day at around 5 p.m. Deliberations will resume on Monday morning. Prosecutors Dave Young and Michael Allen spoke heavily about how Stauch's actions weren't those of someone suffering from psychosis, but rather those of a manipulative person who did not suffer from any severe mental illness. Its not psychotic, its strategic," Young said. "If you lose your temper, you dont get to claim insanity ... were humans, we have emotions." Stauch is accused of killing Gannon on Jan. 27, 2020, at their home in the Lorson Ranch neighborhood southeast of Colorado Springs in unincorporated El Paso County. Stauch faces four charges: - two counts of first-degree murder - one count of tampering with a deceased human body - one count of tampering with physical evidence "Everything this woman did in her life was manipulation, to cause chaos and make herself the victim," Allen said during the prosecution's rebuttal. Thats who she is, shes a story teller. Telling stories is not a sign of psychosis, its who she is." Defense attorney Josh Tolini argued the opposite, that the actions taken by Stauch weren't those of a manipulative liar, but rather a very mentally ill woman who was suffering psychoses and had a "psychotic break." "These are not the actions of a sane, rational person," Tolini said. "She is freaking out, and she is delusional." Tolini started his closing arguments by stating that the prosecution never proved a motive, which opens the door to only "two explanations" of the crime that Stauch was suffering from dissociative identity disorder, or she has anti-social personality disorder, something Young claimed Stauch may have several times during the prosecution's closing arguments. Heres what Mr. Young is trying to do, he is trying to introduce antisocial personality disorder into this, Tolini said. Tolini argued that the prosecution's approach was tied to Colorado law, in which a person can't be found legally insane if the only disorder they suffer from is that of an antisocial personality disorder. Tolini added that Dr. Loandra Torres, one of the state forensic psychologists who conducted Stauch's sanity examination, testified that she did not believe Stauch suffered from antisocial personality disorder. During Allen's rebuttal, he argued the prosecution actually had proved the motive behind Gannon's killing, even though the prosecution isn't obligated to do so for a conviction under Colorado law. "She hated Gannon," Allen said. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Allen also alleged that maybe the reason Stauch hated Gannon so much was because of how much he loved his mother, Landen Hiott. She knew she could never replace the love Gannon had for Landen, Allen said. Tolini at one point referenced that perhaps the biggest evidence to prove Stauch's insanity, aside from the testimony of Dr. Dorothy Lewis, was the brutality of Gannon's death. In the first week of the trial, Susan Ignacio, a medical examiner from Florida, testified that Gannon was stabbed 18 times and suffered four blunt-force trauma injuries and one gunshot to the head. The brutality of the attack is the strongest evidence in this entire case of a psychotic break, Tolini said. That is the only thing that makes sense." During rebuttal Allen heavily disputed that claim from Tolini, stating the brutality from the attack showed only one thing: how much the defendant hated Gannon, Al Stauch and Hiott. Does the brutality itself prove psychosis from the defendant?" Allen asked the jury. The brutality speaks to the abject hatred she had for Gannon, and the pure determination she had to kill Gannon. Both attorneys also spent a substantial portion of closing arguments discussing the sanity reports, and the experts themselves who conducted them. Young spent almost half of his closing argument discussing Dr. Lewis, who testified on Tuesday and Wednesday, in an attempt to hurt her credibility. Young pointed out how Lewis didn't know the legal definition of insanity in Colorado, how she struggled to answer Young's questions during cross-examination and made the claim that Lewis only concluded Stauch was insane for a paycheck. Money is a strong motivator, having shows on HBO is a strong motivator, having your son film the interview possibly for another documentary, thats a strong motivator, Young said referencing Dr. Lewis and her credibility as a witness in the case. Tolini in turn spent time defending Lewis, by reinforcing her "groundbreaking" work in the field of psychiatry and claiming that it was "insulting" to insinuate that Lewis only concluded she was insane for a paycheck. Tolini would go on to speak about the experts who testified on behalf of the prosecution, pointing out that none of them claimed that Stauch didn't suffer abuse as a child, and how Torres specifically concluded Stauch had borderline personality disorder and narcistic personality disorder. None of the experts you have heard from think that there is no mental illness going on here, Tolini said. All of that (Stauchs actions) points to mental illness, and in no way, shape or form have they proved otherwise." At no point in Tolini's closing argument did he argue that Stauch didn't kill Gannon. Allen ended the prosecution's rebuttal by playing the audio of Stauch calling 911 to report Gannon missing on the evening of Jan. 27, 2020, just hours after the prosecution alleges she killed Gannon. "Who was the last person to see him (Gannon)?" the operator asks. "Uhh. I guess me?" Stauch can he heard responding. "Gannon deserves it (a guilty verdict), he deserves all of the justice you can give him," Allen said to end the prosecution's rebuttal. Manchester Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA Get Rating) by 42.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,470 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Manchester Financial Inc.s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 7.2% in the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,305,424 shares of the companys stock worth $975,198,000 after acquiring an additional 354,202 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,800,847 shares of the companys stock worth $701,948,000 after purchasing an additional 347,177 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,637,826 shares of the companys stock valued at $393,013,000 after acquiring an additional 14,538 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 3.8% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,635,588 shares of the companys stock valued at $300,710,000 after buying an additional 60,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.3% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,313,003 shares of the companys stock valued at $241,317,000 after purchasing an additional 16,871 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.60% of the companys stock. Get HCA Healthcare alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $265.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and set a $283.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Friday, April 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $270.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $310.00 to $345.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $280.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $296.83. Insiders Place Their Bets HCA Healthcare Price Performance In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 4,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.23, for a total value of $1,020,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,392 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,886,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link . In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 4,473 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.38, for a total value of $1,289,923.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,243 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,414,436.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website . Also, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.23, for a total value of $1,020,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,886,660.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold 18,467 shares of company stock worth $4,996,408 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.60% of the companys stock. HCA traded up $0.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $278.06. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,247,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,484,569. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.47 and a 1 year high of $294.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 157.23. The company has a market cap of $76.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $263.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.39. HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 21st. The company reported $4.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.99 by $0.94. The firm had revenue of $15.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.26 billion. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 1,157.58% and a net margin of 9.42%. The firms revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 18.15 EPS for the current year. HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 16th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 15th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcares dividend payout ratio is presently 12.04%. HCA Healthcare announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, January 27th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the companys leadership believes its shares are undervalued. HCA Healthcare Profile (Get Rating) HCA Healthcare, Inc is a health care services company engaged in operating hospitals, freestanding surgery centers and emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities, walk-in clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, comprehensive rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, physician practices, home health, hospice, outpatient physical therapy home and community-based services providers, and various other facilities. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HCA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for HCA Healthcare Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for HCA Healthcare and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC Get Rating) had its price objective boosted by Mizuho from $170.00 to $174.00 in a report released on Wednesday, The Fly reports. ABC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Argus boosted their target price on shares of AmerisourceBergen from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of AmerisourceBergen in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a strong-buy rating for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AmerisourceBergen from $184.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on AmerisourceBergen from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on AmerisourceBergen from $182.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AmerisourceBergen currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $181.62. Get AmerisourceBergen alerts: AmerisourceBergen Price Performance Shares of NYSE:ABC opened at $167.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $160.38 and a 200-day moving average of $161.35. AmerisourceBergen has a 12 month low of $135.14 and a 12 month high of $174.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.52. AmerisourceBergen Announces Dividend AmerisourceBergen ( NYSE:ABC Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.21. AmerisourceBergen had a return on equity of 809.53% and a net margin of 0.65%. The firm had revenue of $63.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.22 EPS. The companys revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that AmerisourceBergen will post 11.8 EPS for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. AmerisourceBergens payout ratio is currently 24.94%. Insider Activity at AmerisourceBergen In other AmerisourceBergen news, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,924 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.22, for a total value of $300,567.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,733 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,176,229.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,924 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.22, for a total transaction of $300,567.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,176,229.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Steven H. Collis sold 10,499 shares of AmerisourceBergen stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $1,574,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 257,967 shares in the company, valued at $38,695,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,633 shares of company stock worth $4,522,208. Corporate insiders own 20.10% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AmerisourceBergen by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,220,144 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,601,062,000 after buying an additional 292,173 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in AmerisourceBergen by 2.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,990,466 shares of the companys stock valued at $946,020,000 after buying an additional 165,682 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in AmerisourceBergen by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,201,488 shares of the companys stock valued at $861,279,000 after purchasing an additional 159,849 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in AmerisourceBergen by 2,004.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,171,292 shares of the companys stock valued at $691,225,000 after purchasing an additional 3,973,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AmerisourceBergen by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,256,549 shares of the companys stock valued at $538,664,000 after purchasing an additional 169,980 shares during the last quarter. 84.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. AmerisourceBergen Company Profile (Get Rating) AmerisourceBergen Corp. engages in the provision of pharmaceutical products and business solutions that improve access to care. It operates through the Pharmaceutical Distribution Services and Other segments. The Pharmaceutical Distribution Services segment distributes an offering of brand-name, specialty brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to healthcare providers, including acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, and long-term care and alternate site pharmacies. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for AmerisourceBergen Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AmerisourceBergen and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS Get Rating) Director Thomas H. Glocer sold 4,535 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.11, for a total value of $395,043.85. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 98,110 shares of the companys stock, valued at $8,546,362.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.7 % Shares of MS stock opened at $84.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $141.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $88.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $72.05 and a 12-month high of $100.99. Get Morgan Stanley alerts: Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.96 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 14.12%. The companys quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.06 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year. Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend Institutional Inflows and Outflows The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 1st will be issued a $0.775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 28th. This represents a $3.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Morgan Stanleys dividend payout ratio is currently 53.26%. Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.2% in the third quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 315 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Arlington Partners LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1,611.8% during the 1st quarter. Arlington Partners LLC now owns 291 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.48% of the companys stock. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Morgan Stanley from $92.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, January 6th. Barclays cut their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $112.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $95.34. Morgan Stanley Company Profile (Get Rating) Morgan Stanley operates as a global financial services company. The firm provides investment banking products and services to its clients and customers including corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. It operates through the following segments: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Morgan Stanley Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Morgan Stanley and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Newmont (NYSE:NEM Get Rating) had its target price boosted by National Bank Financial from C$91.00 to C$94.00 in a report released on Tuesday, The Fly reports. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Newmonts FY2023 earnings at $3.05 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $3.39 EPS. Several other equities analysts also recently commented on NEM. UBS Group downgraded shares of Newmont from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Newmont from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, March 13th. Citigroup cut their price target on Newmont from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Newmont from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, TD Securities upgraded Newmont from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $55.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $60.61. Get Newmont alerts: Newmont Trading Down 1.4 % NEM opened at $48.72 on Tuesday. Newmont has a 52 week low of $37.45 and a 52 week high of $73.18. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.35. The firm has a market cap of $38.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.82 and a beta of 0.33. Newmont Dividend Announcement Newmont ( NYSE:NEM Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Newmont had a positive return on equity of 6.05% and a negative net margin of 4.55%. Newmonts revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Newmont will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Newmonts payout ratio is currently -242.42%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, CEO Thomas Ronald Palmer sold 11,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.76, for a total value of $525,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 300,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,329,862.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Thomas Ronald Palmer sold 11,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.76, for a total value of $525,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 300,039 shares in the company, valued at $14,329,862.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert D. Atkinson sold 3,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.76, for a total value of $143,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 81,751 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,904,427.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,000 shares of company stock worth $1,973,020 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Newmont by 0.7% during the first quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 115,894 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $5,681,000 after buying an additional 831 shares during the period. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Newmont by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 40,652 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $1,993,000 after acquiring an additional 4,994 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Newmont in the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,885,000. Bcwm LLC grew its position in Newmont by 36.4% in the first quarter. Bcwm LLC now owns 95,948 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $4,703,000 after acquiring an additional 25,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pettee Investors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Newmont by 2.0% during the first quarter. Pettee Investors Inc. now owns 33,291 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $1,632,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the companys stock. About Newmont (Get Rating) Newmont Corp. is a gold producer, engages in the exploration and acquisition of gold properties, contains copper, silver, lead, zinc or other metals. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, South America, Nevada, Australia, and Africa. The North America segment consists primarily of carlin, phoenix, twin creeks and long canyon in the state of Nevada and Cripple Creek and Victor in the state of Colorado, in the United States. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Newmont Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Newmont and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Thomson Reuters (TSE:TRI Get Rating) (NYSE:TRI) had its target price upped by National Bankshares from C$170.00 to C$184.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. TRI has been the topic of several other reports. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from an outperfrom under weight rating to a sector perform under weight rating in a report on Monday, February 27th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from C$175.00 to C$185.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from C$182.00 to C$184.00 in a report on Wednesday. Get Thomson Reuters alerts: Thomson Reuters Price Performance Shares of TSE:TRI opened at C$160.37 on Wednesday. The companys 50-day moving average is C$172.35 and its 200 day moving average is C$160.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 42.04, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of C$75.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.27. Thomson Reuters has a fifty-two week low of C$119.23 and a fifty-two week high of C$180.93. Thomson Reuters Cuts Dividend Thomson Reuters ( TSE:TRI Get Rating ) (NYSE:TRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported C$0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of C$0.86 by C$0.13. The company had revenue of C$2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$2.36 billion. Thomson Reuters had a net margin of 20.19% and a return on equity of 10.82%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters will post 4.5787715 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Thomson Reuterss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.41%. Thomson Reuters Company Profile (Get Rating) Thomson Reuters Corporation provides business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Thomson Reuters Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Thomson Reuters and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. NatWest Group (LON:NWG Get Rating) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from GBX 400 ($5.00) to GBX 380 ($4.75) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports. Several other brokerages have also weighed in on NWG. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a buy rating on shares of NatWest Group in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank restated a buy rating and issued a GBX 380 ($4.75) price objective on shares of NatWest Group in a report on Monday, February 13th. Bank of America restated a buy rating on shares of NatWest Group in a report on Monday, January 30th. Citigroup restated a buy rating on shares of NatWest Group in a report on Friday, March 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of NatWest Group from GBX 340 ($4.25) to GBX 310 ($3.87) in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of GBX 340 ($4.25). Get NatWest Group alerts: NatWest Group Price Performance NWG opened at GBX 259.30 ($3.24) on Tuesday. NatWest Group has a one year low of GBX 200.13 ($2.50) and a one year high of GBX 313.10 ($3.91). The companys 50 day simple moving average is GBX 271.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 270.35. The stock has a market capitalization of 24.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 740.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.30. NatWest Group Increases Dividend Insider Transactions at NatWest Group The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 16th were given a dividend of GBX 10 ($0.12) per share. This is an increase from NatWest Groups previous dividend of $3.50. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.27%. NatWest Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 4,000.00%. In related news, insider Frank Dangeard acquired 1,014 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 267 ($3.34) per share, with a total value of 2,707.38 ($3,382.53). In other NatWest Group news, insider Frank Dangeard bought 1,014 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 267 ($3.34) per share, with a total value of 2,707.38 ($3,382.53). Also, insider Roisin Donnelly bought 7,318 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 272 ($3.40) per share, with a total value of 19,904.96 ($24,868.77). 42.65% of the stock is owned by insiders. About NatWest Group (Get Rating) NatWest Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services to personal, commercial, corporate, and institutional customers in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Private Banking, RBS International, and NatWest Markets segments. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for NatWest Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for NatWest Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com upgraded shares of New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB Get Rating) to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning. NYCB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised New York Community Bancorp from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Wedbush upgraded New York Community Bancorp from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report on Monday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on New York Community Bancorp from $10.50 to $9.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Raymond James assumed coverage on New York Community Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. They set a strong-buy rating and a $13.00 target price for the company. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded New York Community Bancorp from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $11.50 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $10.54. Get New York Community Bancorp alerts: New York Community Bancorp Stock Performance Shares of NYCB stock opened at $10.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.26 billion, a PE ratio of 2.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.06. New York Community Bancorp has a 52-week low of $5.81 and a 52-week high of $11.02. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $8.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. New York Community Bancorp Announces Dividend New York Community Bancorp ( NYSE:NYCB Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.23. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $623.11 million. New York Community Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 49.74%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 666.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that New York Community Bancorp will post 1.27 EPS for the current year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.76%. New York Community Bancorps dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.85%. Insider Activity at New York Community Bancorp In related news, EVP Reginald E. Davis sold 4,600 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.97, for a total transaction of $45,862.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 123,033 shares in the company, valued at $1,226,639.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other New York Community Bancorp news, EVP Reginald E. Davis sold 4,600 shares of New York Community Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.97, for a total value of $45,862.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 123,033 shares in the company, valued at $1,226,639.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ronald A. Rosenfeld acquired 30,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.57 per share, for a total transaction of $756,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $756,756. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.58% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On New York Community Bancorp A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new position in New York Community Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in New York Community Bancorp by 71.5% during the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,984 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in New York Community Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in New York Community Bancorp by 181.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in New York Community Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.17% of the companys stock. About New York Community Bancorp (Get Rating) New York Community Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of multi-family loans on non-luxury rent-regulated buildings that feature below-market rents. It also offers financial products and services to individuals and businesses. The company was founded on July 20, 1993 and is headquartered in Westbury, NY. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for New York Community Bancorp Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for New York Community Bancorp and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com lowered shares of Olin (NYSE:OLN Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning. Several other research firms also recently weighed in on OLN. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Olin from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Olin from $89.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Olin from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on shares of Olin from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Olin from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $67.67. Get Olin alerts: Olin Stock Performance Shares of OLN opened at $55.00 on Wednesday. Olin has a 1 year low of $41.33 and a 1 year high of $67.25. The company has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $55.19 and a 200-day moving average of $55.95. Olin Dividend Announcement Olin ( NYSE:OLN Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Olin had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.45%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 25.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Olin will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Olins payout ratio is presently 10.62%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, VP Damian Gumpel sold 13,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.65, for a total value of $814,450.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,074,760.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Olin Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Olin in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $299,000. First Hawaiian Bank grew its stake in shares of Olin by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 16,275 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $862,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Olin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Olin by 74.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,788 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 2,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Olin in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.77% of the companys stock. Olin Company Profile (Get Rating) Olin Corp. engages in manufacturing of chemicals products. It operates through the following segments: Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls, Epoxy, and Winchester. The Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls segment manufactures and sells chlorine and caustic soda, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride monomer, methyl chloride, methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene and vinylidene chloride, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen, bleach products and potassium hydroxide. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Olin Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Olin and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Owens & Minor (NYSE:OMI Get Rating) posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.14, Briefing.com reports. Owens & Minor had a return on equity of 19.29% and a net margin of 0.22%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Owens & Minor updated its FY23 guidance to $1.30-1.65 EPS. Owens & Minor Trading Up 37.5 % Shares of NYSE OMI traded up $5.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $18.63. The company had a trading volume of 2,961,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 691,683. The firms fifty day moving average price is $14.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.94. The stock has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 66.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63. Owens & Minor has a one year low of $11.79 and a one year high of $38.25. Get Owens & Minor alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Owens & Minor In other Owens & Minor news, SVP Jonathan A. Leon sold 6,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.50, for a total transaction of $81,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 106,723 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,440,760.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.59% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Trading of Owens & Minor Analysts Set New Price Targets Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Owens & Minor by 67.4% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,145 shares of the companys stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in Owens & Minor by 80.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 8,564 shares of the companys stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 3,807 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Owens & Minor during the 3rd quarter valued at $200,000. Pathstone Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Owens & Minor by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 8,436 shares of the companys stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in Owens & Minor by 241.0% during the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 4,712 shares of the companys stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330 shares during the last quarter. OMI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Owens & Minor from $23.00 to $18.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Citigroup cut their price objective on Owens & Minor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Credit Suisse Group cut their price objective on Owens & Minor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Owens & Minor from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $17.20. Owens & Minor Company Profile (Get Rating) Owens & Minor, Inc is a healthcare solutions company, which engages in the product manufacturing and delivery, home health supply, and perioperative services to support care through the hospital and into the home. It operates through the Products and Healthcare Services, and Patient Direct segments. The Products and Healthcare Services segment includes medical distribution, the outsourced logistics and value-added services business, and global products, which manufacture and source medical surgical products through the production and kitting operations. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Owens & Minor Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Owens & Minor and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Phoenix Group Holdings plc (LON:PHNX Get Rating) has earned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the six analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is GBX 713.33 ($8.91). A number of brokerages have recently commented on PHNX. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on Phoenix Group from GBX 815 ($10.18) to GBX 820 ($10.24) and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Phoenix Group from GBX 665 ($8.31) to GBX 655 ($8.18) and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. Barclays cut their price target on Phoenix Group from GBX 790 ($9.87) to GBX 765 ($9.56) and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an underweight rating and issued a GBX 650 ($8.12) price target on shares of Phoenix Group in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Get Phoenix Group alerts: Phoenix Group Stock Up 2.0 % LON:PHNX opened at GBX 577.60 ($7.22) on Friday. The stock has a market cap of 5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -305.61, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 580 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 593.39. Phoenix Group has a 1 year low of GBX 501 ($6.26) and a 1 year high of GBX 690.40 ($8.63). The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 161.58. Phoenix Group Increases Dividend Insiders Place Their Bets The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 30th will be issued a GBX 26 ($0.32) dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This is an increase from Phoenix Groups previous dividend of $24.80. Phoenix Groups dividend payout ratio is presently -2,751.32%. In other news, insider Rakesh Thakrar sold 8,878 shares of Phoenix Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 547 ($6.83), for a total value of 48,562.66 ($60,672.99). In other Phoenix Group news, insider Rakesh Thakrar sold 8,878 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 547 ($6.83), for a total value of 48,562.66 ($60,672.99). Also, insider Nicholas Shott bought 107,427 shares of Phoenix Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 602 ($7.52) per share, with a total value of 646,710.54 ($807,984.18). Over the last three months, insiders have bought 107,474 shares of company stock valued at $64,700,898. 14.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. About Phoenix Group (Get Rating) Phoenix Group Holdings plc operates in the long-term savings and retirement business in Europe. The company operates through four segments: UK Heritage, UK Open, Europe, and Management Services. It provides a range of pensions and savings products to support people across various stages of the savings life cycle. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Phoenix Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Phoenix Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. A Fort Carson soldier was arrested Thursday in connection to three robberies at Family Dollar stores across Colorado Springs in the past month, according to police. Over $2,000 was taken during the alleged robberies on April 8, April 9 and May 3. During the robberies, one of which was Wednesday at the Family Dollar at 3335 N. Academy Blvd., the suspect demanded cash, displayed a handgun and made off with money before law enforcement arrived. No one was injured during these incidents. William Marshall, 20, was identified as the suspect after an investigation by the Police Department's robbery unit and arrested while trying to enter Fort Carson Gate 20 Thursday afternoon. Marshall is an active-duty Fort Carson soldier assigned to the 4th Infantry Division, who has been enlisted for two years and nine months. "Allegations of this nature are taken very seriously," a spokesperson for Fort Carson wrote in a statement. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. "It is important to remember that individuals are considered innocent unless proven guilty. Fort Carson will continue working closely with the Colorado Springs Police Department in support of this investigation." Court records show Marshall is facing six counts of second-degree kidnapping and three counts of aggravated robbery with a weapon. Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (OTCMKTS:PNGAY Get Rating) passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.51 and traded as high as $15.17. Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China shares last traded at $15.11, with a volume of 110,830 shares traded. Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Stock Up 2.2 % The firms 50 day simple moving average is $13.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.04. About Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China (Get Rating) Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. provides financial products and services for insurance, banking, asset management, and fintech and healthtech businesses in the People's Republic of China. The company's Life and Health Insurance segment offers term, whole-life, endowment, annuity, investment-linked, universal life, and health care and medical insurance to individual and corporate customers. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Pioneer Energy Services Corp. (OTCMKTS:PESXQ Get Rating) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $0.03 and traded as high as $0.03. Pioneer Energy Services shares last traded at $0.03, with a volume of 464,700 shares. Pioneer Energy Services Stock Up 5.6 % The firms fifty day moving average is $0.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $0.03. About Pioneer Energy Services (Get Rating) Pioneer Energy Services Corp. provides land-based drilling and production services to oil and gas exploration and production companies. It provides contract land drilling services in the Marcellus/Utica, Permian Basin and Eagle Ford, and Bakken regions, as well as in Colombia. The company operates 16 AC rigs in the United States and 8 SCR rigs in Colombia. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Pioneer Energy Services Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pioneer Energy Services and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT Get Rating) had its target price reduced by Piper Sandler from $8.50 to $7.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, The Fly reports. Several other brokerages also recently commented on RWT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $7.50 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Redwood Trust from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $9.00 to $9.50 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research note on Sunday, March 5th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Thursday, March 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Redwood Trust currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $8.83. Get Redwood Trust alerts: Redwood Trust Stock Up 2.3 % RWT stock opened at $5.68 on Wednesday. Redwood Trust has a one year low of $5.47 and a one year high of $10.44. The companys 50 day moving average price is $6.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.95, a current ratio of 7.23 and a quick ratio of 5.29. Redwood Trust Dividend Announcement Institutional Investors Weigh In On Redwood Trust The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 24th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 16.20%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 23rd. Redwood Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -55.09%. Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Truist Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust during the 1st quarter valued at about $253,000. Sculati Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 147,273 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $993,000 after purchasing an additional 11,669 shares during the last quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust during the 1st quarter valued at about $147,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 60.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,103,503 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $7,438,000 after purchasing an additional 416,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust during the 1st quarter valued at about $658,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.73% of the companys stock. Redwood Trust Company Profile (Get Rating) Redwood Trust, Inc is a financial company, which focuses on several distinct areas of housing credit. It operates through the following segments: Residential Mortgage Banking, Business Purpose Mortgage Banking, and Investment Portfolio. The Residential Mortgage Banking segment consists of a mortgage loan conduit that acquires residential loans from third-party originators for subsequent sale, securitization, or transfer into the investment portfolio. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Redwood Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Redwood Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Radisson Mining Resources Inc. (CVE:RDS Get Rating)s stock price fell 6.8% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as C$0.20 and last traded at C$0.21. 175,450 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 26% from the average session volume of 139,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.22. Radisson Mining Resources Price Performance The companys 50 day moving average price is C$0.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of C$59.84 million, a PE ratio of -21.00 and a beta of 1.38. About Radisson Mining Resources (Get Rating) Radisson Mining Resources Inc, a gold exploration company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mining properties in Canada. Its flagship project is the 100% owned O'Brien gold project that comprise 120 claims covering a total area of 5,839 hectares located in the Abitibi Temiscamingue region of Quebec. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Radisson Mining Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Radisson Mining Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK Get Rating) had its price target raised by Raymond James from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, The Fly reports. Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Graphic Packaging from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Graphic Packaging from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $28.27. Get Graphic Packaging alerts: Graphic Packaging Price Performance Shares of GPK opened at $25.70 on Wednesday. Graphic Packaging has a twelve month low of $19.08 and a twelve month high of $26.11. The stocks 50 day moving average is $24.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement Graphic Packaging ( NYSE:GPK Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 6.46%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.48 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Graphic Packagings payout ratio is 20.00%. Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging In other news, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 60,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.99, for a total transaction of $1,439,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 209,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,019,907.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.20% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Graphic Packaging A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,127,808 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $574,983,000 after buying an additional 566,205 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,310,833 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $341,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,577,742 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 70.0% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,911,606 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $218,669,000 after purchasing an additional 4,493,702 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the 4th quarter worth $216,432,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,479,320 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $169,934,000 after purchasing an additional 132,255 shares during the period. 94.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About Graphic Packaging (Get Rating) Graphic Packaging Holding Co engages in the provision of paper-based packaging solutions for a variety of products to food, beverage and other consumer products companies. It operates through the following business segments: Paperboard Mills, Americas Paperboard Packaging, Europe Paperboard Packaging, and Corporate and Other. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Graphic Packaging Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Graphic Packaging and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV boosted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG Get Rating) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 472 shares of the restaurant operators stock after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADVs holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill were worth $655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 185,417.0% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 306,103 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $1,645,000 after buying an additional 305,938 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,620,725 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $3,938,320,000 after acquiring an additional 114,699 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 505,220 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $759,224,000 after acquiring an additional 48,865 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 106.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 79,607 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $119,630,000 after purchasing an additional 41,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 2,342.9% during the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 34,200 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $51,394,000 after purchasing an additional 32,800 shares in the last quarter. 93.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Chipotle Mexican Grill alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets CMG has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,800.00 to $1,950.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,750.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $2,000.00 to $2,100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,960.00 to $2,270.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,800.00 to $1,900.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $2,021.37. Insider Transactions at Chipotle Mexican Grill Chipotle Mexican Grill Trading Down 0.3 % In other Chipotle Mexican Grill news, Director Robin S. Hickenlooper sold 74 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,056.73, for a total value of $152,198.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 853 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,754,390.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink . In other Chipotle Mexican Grill news, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 5,636 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,646.82, for a total value of $9,281,477.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 23,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,448,306.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link . Also, Director Robin S. Hickenlooper sold 74 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,056.73, for a total value of $152,198.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,754,390.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last quarter, insiders sold 19,983 shares of company stock worth $36,654,485. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Shares of NYSE:CMG opened at $2,028.21 on Friday. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $1,710.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,585.19. The firm has a market cap of $55.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.86, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.34. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. has a 12-month low of $1,196.28 and a 12-month high of $2,077.29. Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The restaurant operator reported $10.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $8.89 by $1.61. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a return on equity of 45.01% and a net margin of 11.49%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.70 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 43.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Chipotle Mexican Grill Company Profile (Get Rating) Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc engages in the development and operation of classically-cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. It offers a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads prepared using classic cooking methods. The company was founded by Steve Ells in 1993 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CMG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Chipotle Mexican Grill Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chipotle Mexican Grill and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Restaurant Brands International (NYSE:QSR Get Rating) (TSE:QSR) had its target price upped by UBS Group from $75.00 to $82.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, The Fly reports. Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Restaurant Brands International in a research note on Tuesday, March 28th. They set a sector outperform rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Restaurant Brands International from $66.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Restaurant Brands International from $78.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Restaurant Brands International in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. They set an equal weight rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on shares of Restaurant Brands International from $74.00 to $79.00 in a report on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $72.13. Get Restaurant Brands International alerts: Restaurant Brands International Stock Up 1.1 % Restaurant Brands International stock opened at $71.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firms 50 day moving average price is $65.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.04. Restaurant Brands International has a twelve month low of $46.68 and a twelve month high of $73.24. Restaurant Brands International Dividend Announcement Restaurant Brands International ( NYSE:QSR Get Rating ) (TSE:QSR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Restaurant Brands International had a net margin of 15.26% and a return on equity of 35.70%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Restaurant Brands International will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 22nd will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 21st. Restaurant Brands Internationals dividend payout ratio is 67.07%. Insider Activity In other news, CEO Jose E. Cil sold 264,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.64, for a total value of $17,359,220.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 187,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,301,854.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.25% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Restaurant Brands International A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in QSR. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of Restaurant Brands International during the 1st quarter worth about $139,145,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Restaurant Brands International by 351.6% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,297,288 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $148,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788,595 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Restaurant Brands International during the 3rd quarter worth about $76,003,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Restaurant Brands International during the 4th quarter worth about $91,144,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Restaurant Brands International by 222.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,957,325 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $126,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349,590 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.87% of the companys stock. Restaurant Brands International Company Profile (Get Rating) Restaurant Brands International, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the operation of quick service restaurants. It operates through the following segments: Tim Hortons, Burger King, and Popeyes. The Tim Hortons segment provides donut, coffee, and tea restaurant services. The Burger King segment manages fast food hamburger restaurant. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Restaurant Brands International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Restaurant Brands International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO Get Rating) has been given an average recommendation of Moderate Buy by the fifteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $5,790.00. Several brokerages have recently commented on RIO. StockNews.com lowered Rio Tinto Group from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Rio Tinto Group from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Rio Tinto Group from GBX 5,800 ($72.46) to GBX 6,200 ($77.46) in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. CLSA upgraded Rio Tinto Group from an underperform rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded Rio Tinto Group from a sell rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. Get Rio Tinto Group alerts: Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rio Tinto Group A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cowa LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rio Tinto Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rio Tinto Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Twin Lakes Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rio Tinto Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. CNB Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Rio Tinto Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, First Manhattan Co. grew its position in shares of Rio Tinto Group by 555.4% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 426 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 10.43% of the companys stock. Rio Tinto Group Stock Performance Rio Tinto Group Cuts Dividend Shares of NYSE RIO opened at $63.67 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Rio Tinto Group has a one year low of $50.92 and a one year high of $80.51. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $67.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.36. The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th were paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 9th. This represents a yield of 9.8%. About Rio Tinto Group (Get Rating) Rio Tinto Plc engages in the exploration, mining, and processing of mineral resources. It operates through the following business segments: Iron Ore, Aluminium, Copper and Diamonds, Energy and Minerals, and Other Operations. The Iron Ore segment supplies global seaborne iron ore trade. The Aluminium segment produces bauxite, alumina and primary aluminum. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Rio Tinto Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Rio Tinto Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH Get Rating) had its price objective decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from $11.00 to $7.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning, The Fly reports. CYH has been the subject of several other research reports. Credit Suisse Group raised their target price on Community Health Systems from $3.30 to $8.50 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Community Health Systems from $4.75 to $8.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Community Health Systems from $5.00 to $5.50 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Community Health Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Community Health Systems from $3.00 to $4.50 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Community Health Systems has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $6.25. Get Community Health Systems alerts: Community Health Systems Stock Up 1.9 % CYH opened at $3.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $500.48 million, a PE ratio of -61.00 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.50. Community Health Systems has a fifty-two week low of $1.88 and a fifty-two week high of $8.01. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Community Health Systems Community Health Systems ( NYSE:CYH Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 1st. The company reported ($0.43) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. The firms quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Community Health Systems will post -0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year. A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CYH. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Community Health Systems by 10.8% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 106,728 shares of the companys stock worth $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 10,384 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Community Health Systems by 53.3% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 69,279 shares of the companys stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 24,099 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Community Health Systems by 4.5% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 238,443 shares of the companys stock worth $2,830,000 after acquiring an additional 10,302 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in Community Health Systems by 14.1% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 107,056 shares of the companys stock worth $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 13,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Community Health Systems by 0.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 19,414,591 shares of the companys stock worth $230,450,000 after acquiring an additional 93,270 shares in the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Community Health Systems Company Profile (Get Rating) Community Health Systems, Inc engages in the provision of general and specialized healthcare services and outpatient services. The company was founded in March 1985 and is headquartered in Franklin, TN. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Community Health Systems Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Community Health Systems and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sally Beauty (NYSE:SBH Get Rating) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The specialty retailer reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.04, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $919.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $889.00 million. Sally Beauty had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 62.12%. The businesss revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. Sally Beauty Price Performance SBH opened at $11.67 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $14.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 7.73 and a beta of 1.29. Sally Beauty has a 1 year low of $10.95 and a 1 year high of $18.42. Get Sally Beauty alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In SBH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Sally Beauty from $11.50 to $17.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Sally Beauty from $14.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sally Beauty from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Sally Beauty from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sally Beauty has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $16.00. Insider Transactions at Sally Beauty Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sally Beauty In other Sally Beauty news, insider Mark Gregory Spinks sold 35,456 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total value of $609,134.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,313 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $658,217.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link . 1.97% of the stock is owned by insiders. A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky purchased a new stake in shares of Sally Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $426,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC increased its position in shares of Sally Beauty by 161.7% during the 4th quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 30,688 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 18,962 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Sally Beauty by 74.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,518 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 10,885 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sally Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at about $236,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Sally Beauty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $235,000. Sally Beauty Company Profile (Get Rating) Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc is an international retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies. It operates through the Sally Beauty Supply (SBS) and Beauty Systems Group (BSG) segments. The SBS segment offers domestic and international chain of retail stores and a consumer-facing e-commerce website that offers professional beauty supplies to both salon professionals and retail customers primarily in North America, Puerto Rico, and parts of Europe and South America. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Sally Beauty Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sally Beauty and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. For 72 hours at the end of April, people on or around Glen Canyon Dam say they could feel it shaking, hear it roaring. "Intense" and "awesome" went some descriptions. Turbines and bypass tubes blasted water at such a volume and such a rate 39,500 cubic feet per second that Larry Stevens observed a hurricane-sounding wind below. The mightiest of boaters would not dare approach. It was "like a lot of elephants stampeding by every second," recalled Stevens, who since the 1970s has frequented the water the dam keeps, Lake Powell, and the wonder of the world downstream: the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Known as "Mr. Grand Canyon" by some associates, Stevens has been among scientists and environmentalists who for years have called on the event they finally saw happen as April turned to May. Water rocketed from Glen Canyon Dam as part of what regulators call a high-flow experiment. These experiments simulate floods from snowmelt in Colorado's mountains and ranges down the watershed that naturally, beneficially flowed through the Grand Canyon before the dam's 1963 construction. The Bureau of Reclamation last oversaw a high-flow experiment in the fall of 2018. This more natural version, one in the spring, had not been seen since 2008. The releases have been hard to come by while the focus has been on keeping Lake Powell up during an all-time drop. The Grand Canyon separates Powell and Lake Mead, two reservoirs responsible for giving water and hydropower to more than 40 million people in seven states. And so Stevens cherished those 72 hours the water gushed. He thought back to the '80s, the last time he was boating through the Grand Canyon under such rollicking circumstances. He thought of rapids returning, sandy beaches restored and invasive vegetation cut back the river alive and loud again in what has been a quiet, parched age of climate change and a broken system of management on the Colorado River. The high-flow experiment was celebrated by Stevens and others for only so long; the Grand Canyon would not be saved in those three days, they knew. Larger questions loomed. Virtual meetings continue this week and next over the Bureau of Reclamation's Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The stage is to be set for operations across the Colorado River Basin at a crucial time of lower supply and higher demand. It's a crucial time, too, for one of the seven natural wonders of the world. At least for the Grand Canyon, there has been "a wonderful day," as Lynn Hamilton called it. "It can't be gloom and doom all the time," said the executive director of Grand Canyon River Guides. "It's nice to have a bright spot." Her nonprofit comprises advocates inside and outside the recreation industry. After the high-flow experiment, those inside the industry are celebrating the restoration of beaches historically used for launching and docking boats and camping. A primary aim of the experiments is to rebuild those shorelines with sand and sediment pushed from the Paria River, less than 20 miles from Glen Canyon Dam's turbines and bypass tubes. The Paria was identified in the years following the dam's construction, as observers found silt rushing down with snowmelt was getting trapped in Lake Powell. Water coming down through the Grand Canyon was coming out clear unnatural to the river called Colorado, derived from Spanish for "colored red." "And so for decades, that sediment-starved water has eroded a lot of the beaches and sandbars all the way through the canyon," said Durango-based Sinjin Eberle, a southwest point person for advocacy group American Rivers. Without the sandy, cobbly surges of spring, the river floor has not been naturally scoured, allowing algae to proliferate. Native plant life has struggled against invasive species, altering insect life and the food chain. Native fish populations have vanished, including the pikeminnow, gone in the '70s, hardly 10 years after the dam. Also in the absence of sand, tribes have expressed worry over cultural sites being degraded, exposed and put at risk of pilfering across the canyon. "There has been evidence of some becoming uncovered because there's less windborn sand blowing" to protect them, Eberle said. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. It has all contributed to his organization recently declaring perhaps America's most iconic river as also the most endangered. That's on the heels of increased concern regarding smallmouth bass, which were stocked in Lake Powell in the '80s. They swim toward the warm, top part of the lake. The top has plunged to never-before-seen levels during this megadrought, down to where the notoriously hungry predators can exit for the warming river. It's believed they would wreak havoc on the native populations remaining. "Smallmouth bass can start spawning certainly by 60 degrees," said Jim Strogen, a Grand Canyon lead with Trout Unlimited. "We're well within the tolerance of them spawning and, the way it is right now, for them to take off." Also amid Powell's historic drop, onlookers have eyed the position of those bypass tubes that blasted last months release, below the powerful turbines. There's a scenario where those tubes could be primarily relied upon, should Powell's level continue to fall, to pass water downstream to Lake Mead. But, given the tubes' lower capacity, that would mean less water traveling through the Grand Canyon. "That's pretty scary when you're talking about an ecosystem as important as this," Eberle said. In the face of several competing interests farming and urban life as we know it the importance of that ecosystem is tested when high-flow experiments are decided. Central to this latest decision was the projected boosts to lakes Powell and Mead, which have both hovered around a quarter full as of late. Recent forecasts have called for Powell to be 50 feet higher year-to-year by October and a 22-foot rise for Mead by the same time still far from capacity. While environmentalists have pushed for high-flow experiments, power distributors have warned of water leaving without generating electricity. That can mean higher expenses to harness it in other ways, hence higher costs to consumers. "This particular (high-flow experiment), we modeled and projected to cost us $1.4 million in lost energy," said Brian Sadler with Western Area Power Administration, one of the four power marketing administrations under the U.S. Department of Energy. The company's customers are spread across 15 states over the plains and mountains. Hydropower is increasingly precious, Sadler said. "But as far as this experiment and the environment, that's really important to us, too. Even though this has an impact financially and operationally and somewhat indirectly to our customers, we're on board with this." That, he said, was in accordance with the 2016 Long Term Experimental and Management Plan, a federal guideline on when and how high-flow experiments can be greenlit. That plan sprung from the 1992 Grand Canyon Protection Act, which dictated Glen Canyon Dam be operated to "mitigate adverse impacts" and "improve the values" of the Grand Canyon. "That's what we keep pointing to," said Hamilton, with Grand Canyon River Guides. That's what she'll keep pointing to as talks continue over the Bureau of Reclamation's Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The question of Stevens, or Mr. Grand Canyon as Hamilton knows him: "Do we want to try to manage the Grand Canyon in a natural, hydrological fashion? Is that something we value? What's the value of that to each of these stakeholders?" After seeing that joyous sight last month, he can only speak for himself and others who've spent much of their lives in the canyon. "It's our home," he said. "That wild nature and awe and wonder It's an amazing experience." Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V Get Rating) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,378,722 shares of the credit-card processors stock after purchasing an additional 270,347 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 2.2% of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publs portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ owned approximately 0.07% of Visa worth $286,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of V. Founders Financial Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 10,190 shares of the credit-card processors stock valued at $2,117,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $208,000. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Visa by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 62,110 shares of the credit-card processors stock worth $12,903,000 after buying an additional 8,230 shares during the period. Glenview Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Glenview Trust Co now owns 70,382 shares of the credit-card processors stock valued at $14,623,000 after purchasing an additional 6,250 shares during the period. Finally, Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,285,000. Institutional investors own 81.87% of the companys stock. Get Visa alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Visa from $253.00 to $263.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Visa from $270.00 to $273.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Visa from $262.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Credit Suisse Group raised their target price on Visa from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Visa from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $260.96. Insider Activity at Visa Visa Stock Up 2.7 % In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 13,394 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.00, for a total value of $2,933,286.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 4,583 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,003,677. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link . In other Visa news, CFO Vasant M. Prabhu sold 13,343 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.26, for a total transaction of $3,125,731.18. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,638 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $17,250,437.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website . Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 13,394 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.00, for a total value of $2,933,286.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 4,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,003,677. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last quarter, insiders have sold 187,671 shares of company stock valued at $42,943,080. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders. Shares of NYSE:V traded up $6.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $231.78. 6,237,483 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,917,107. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.60 and a 52 week high of $235.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $435.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $225.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $217.43. Visa (NYSE:V Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. Visa had a return on equity of 50.21% and a net margin of 50.95%. The business had revenue of $7.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $7.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.79 EPS. Visas revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year. Visa Announces Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 12th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. Visas dividend payout ratio is presently 24.06%. Visa Profile (Get Rating) Visa, Inc engages in the provision of digital payment services. It also facilitates global commerce through the transfer of value and information among a global network of consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, strategic partners, and government entities. It offers debit cards, credit cards, prepaid products, commercial payment solutions, and global automated teller machines (ATMs). Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding V? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Visa Inc. (NYSE:V Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Visa Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Visa and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Smart Employee Benefits Inc. (CVE:SEB Get Rating) crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$0.30 and traded as high as C$0.30. Smart Employee Benefits shares last traded at C$0.30, with a volume of 11,100 shares traded. Smart Employee Benefits Stock Up 1.7 % The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1,180.39, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firms 50-day moving average is C$0.30 and its 200 day moving average is C$0.25. The stock has a market cap of C$52.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.00 and a beta of 1.66. About Smart Employee Benefits (Get Rating) Smart Employee Benefits Inc, a technology company, provides business process automation and software solutions, and professional services in Canada and internationally. It operates through Benefits and Technology segments. The Benefits segment offers software solutions, services, and products that focuses on managing group benefit and wellness plans for corporate and government clients. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Smart Employee Benefits Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Smart Employee Benefits and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Spirit Realty Capital (NYSE:SRC Get Rating) issued an update on its FY23 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $3.54-$3.60 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $3.63. Spirit Realty Capital Stock Performance Shares of NYSE SRC traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.16. 461,509 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 641,180. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $39.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.24. Spirit Realty Capital has a 52 week low of $34.31 and a 52 week high of $44.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a P/E/G ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 1.27. Get Spirit Realty Capital alerts: Spirit Realty Capital (NYSE:SRC Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $183.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.95 million. Spirit Realty Capital had a net margin of 44.28% and a return on equity of 7.42%. Sell-side analysts predict that Spirit Realty Capital will post 3.44 EPS for the current year. Spirit Realty Capital Dividend Announcement Analyst Ratings Changes The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 30th will be issued a $0.663 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 29th. This represents a $2.65 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.77%. Spirit Realty Capitals dividend payout ratio is presently 116.23%. Several equities analysts have weighed in on SRC shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Spirit Realty Capital from $48.00 to $45.50 in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Spirit Realty Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Spirit Realty Capital in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Raymond James cut Spirit Realty Capital from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, JMP Securities lowered their price target on Spirit Realty Capital from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a market outperform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $43.15. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spirit Realty Capital A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SRC. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Spirit Realty Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Spirit Realty Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Spirit Realty Capital by 255.6% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,330 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Spirit Realty Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spirit Realty Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $90,000. Institutional investors own 93.01% of the companys stock. Spirit Realty Capital Company Profile (Get Rating) Spirit Realty Capital, Inc operates as a holding company, which engages in investments in real estate. Its in-house capabilities include acquisition, portfolio management, asset management, credit research, real estate research, legal, finance, accounting, and capital markets. The company was founded on August 14, 2003, and is headquartered in Dallas, TX. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Spirit Realty Capital Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Spirit Realty Capital and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sylvania Platinum Limited (LON:SLP Get Rating)s stock price crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 98.68 ($1.23) and traded as low as GBX 90 ($1.12). Sylvania Platinum shares last traded at GBX 90.50 ($1.13), with a volume of 419,517 shares changing hands. Sylvania Platinum Stock Down 0.6 % The businesss 50 day simple moving average is GBX 94.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 98.61. The company has a market cap of 236.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 468.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.05 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 15.92 and a current ratio of 11.05. Get Sylvania Platinum alerts: Sylvania Platinum Cuts Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 2nd were paid a GBX 3 ($0.04) dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 2nd. Sylvania Platinums payout ratio is presently 5,789.47%. Insider Activity at Sylvania Platinum About Sylvania Platinum In other Sylvania Platinum news, insider Eileen Carr sold 13,811 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 89 ($1.11), for a total transaction of 12,291.79 ($15,357.06). 11.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders. (Get Rating) Sylvania Platinum Limited primarily engages in the retreatment of platinum group metals (PGM) bearing chrome tailings materials in South Africa and Mauritius. The company produces PGMs, including platinum, palladium, and rhodium. It holds interests in the Sylvania dump operations that comprise six chrome beneficiation and PGM processing plants located in the Eastern and Western Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex; and various mineral asset development projects, including Volspruit and Northern Limb projects located on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex located in South Africa. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Sylvania Platinum Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sylvania Platinum and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. TELUS Co. (TSE:T Get Rating) (NYSE:TU) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 4th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 9th will be given a dividend of 0.364 per share on Tuesday, July 4th. This represents a $1.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 8th. This is a boost from TELUSs previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. TELUS Price Performance TELUS stock opened at C$28.13 on Friday. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is C$27.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$27.87. The stock has a market cap of C$40.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.66. TELUS has a 12-month low of C$25.94 and a 12-month high of C$32.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.59. Get TELUS alerts: TELUS (TSE:T Get Rating) (NYSE:TU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported C$0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C$0.28 by C($0.05). TELUS had a return on equity of 10.19% and a net margin of 8.83%. The company had revenue of C$5.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$4.98 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TELUS will post 1.1201248 earnings per share for the current year. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In TELUS Company Profile A number of equities analysts have issued reports on T shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on TELUS from C$34.00 to C$33.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on TELUS from C$32.00 to C$33.00 in a report on Friday. CIBC upgraded TELUS to a buy rating and set a C$31.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on TELUS from C$36.00 to C$33.00 in a report on Monday, February 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on TELUS from C$33.00 to C$32.00 in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of C$31.82. (Get Rating) TELUS Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of telecommunications and information technology products and services in Canada. It operates through Technology Solutions and Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segments. The Technology Solutions segment offers a range of telecommunications products and services; network revenue; mobile technologies equipment sale; data revenues, such as internet protocol; television; hosting, managed information technology, and cloud-based services; software, data management, and data analytics-driven smart food-chain technologies; home and business security; healthcare software and technology solutions; and voice and other telecommunications services. See Also Receive News & Ratings for TELUS Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TELUS and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Theratechnologies Inc. (TSE:TH Get Rating) shares passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$1.19 and traded as high as C$1.25. Theratechnologies shares last traded at C$1.22, with a volume of 14,291 shares traded. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades TH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. National Bankshares cut their price objective on Theratechnologies from C$3.25 to C$2.25 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Leede Jones Gab upgraded shares of Theratechnologies from a hold rating to a speculative buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. Get Theratechnologies alerts: Theratechnologies Price Performance The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$1.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$1.60. The firm has a market cap of C$126.82 million, a P/E ratio of -1.83, a PEG ratio of -8.50 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 562.07. Theratechnologies Company Profile Theratechnologies Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of various therapies to address the unmet medical needs in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The company offers EGRIFTA and EGRIFTA SV, for the reduction of excess abdominal fat in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with lipodystrophy; and Trogarzo, an injection refers to ibalizumab for the treatment of multidrug resistant HIV-1 infected patients. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Theratechnologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Theratechnologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Torray Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN Get Rating) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,761 shares of the information technology services providers stock after buying an additional 468 shares during the quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLCs holdings in Accenture were worth $3,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 502.3% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,191,413 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $563,851,000 after buying an additional 1,827,551 shares in the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 41.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 5,457,405 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,404,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,603,071 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $318,306,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,473,666 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $15,045,274,000 after purchasing an additional 816,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2,831.4% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 747,761 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $192,399,000 after purchasing an additional 722,252 shares during the last quarter. 73.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Accenture alerts: Insider Transactions at Accenture In other Accenture news, insider Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $1,750,375.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 174,084 shares of the companys stock, valued at $48,753,965.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.82, for a total value of $153,911.92. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 42,739 shares in the company, valued at $11,831,009.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $1,750,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 174,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,753,965.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,010 shares of company stock worth $4,180,030 over the last three months. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Analyst Ratings Changes Accenture Stock Performance ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 15th. Edward Jones raised Accenture from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $314.00. Shares of Accenture stock traded down $0.85 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $265.65. 2,592,691 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,073,950. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $242.80 and a 12 month high of $322.88. The stock has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.25. The firms fifty day moving average price is $271.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $276.40. Accenture (NYSE:ACN Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.20. Accenture had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.54 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.57 earnings per share for the current year. Accenture Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 13th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 12th. Accentures dividend payout ratio is currently 41.25%. Accenture Profile (Get Rating) Accenture Plc engages in the provision of management consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Europe and Growth Markets. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ACN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Accenture Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Accenture and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. A Canon City man was arrested for the second time in three weeks in connection with fentanyl possession and distribution, and two of his associates, also from Canon City, were arrested in Kansas with over 2,000 fentanyl pills in their possession, according the Canon City Police Department. Robert Broman, 36, was arrested on May 1 after an investigation into alleged illicit narcotics trafficking, specifically "very large quantities" of fentanyl, police said. In this case, he faces charges of fentanyl possession with intent to distribute over 50 grams, methamphetamine possession with intent to distribute, controlled substance special offender and criminal conspiracy, court records show. Two other Canon City men believed to be involved in the case were arrested around a week ago in Hays, Kan. They were stopped by police and found to be in possession of approximately 2,000 fentanyl pills and a firearm, according to Canon City police. Jamey Lafoe, 31, and Andre Deanda, 35, remain in custody in Kansas. Broman, who is being held in Fremont County on a $250,000 bond, was arrested just three weeks before his arrest on Monday. The arrest in April stemmed suspicion of distribution of over 50 grams of fentanyl, and he posted $10,000 bail to get out of custody on April 26. Court records show Broman was on probation for a 2021 controlled substance conviction. He was also convicted of third-degree assault in 2021 and theft between $750 and $2,000, illegal weapon possession and unlawful use of a controlled substance in separate 2020 cases. He has also faced other drug-related charges dating back to 2020. Tourists visit Xi'an Bell and Drum Towers Museum in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 1, 2023. [Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua] BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) During this year's May Day holiday, more and more Chinese tourists are adding destinations such as museums and art galleries to their itinerary, suggesting an upward trend in China's domestic cultural tourism sector. A woman surnamed Dong is among the country's traditional culture fanatics. She was in charge of arranging her family's tour from Langfang, north China's Hebei Province, to the Chinese capital of Beijing during the five-day holiday. The tour's highlights included visiting the signature Palace Museum dressed in ancient costumes and seeing the national treasures at the National Museum of China with their own eyes. On the last day of the May Day holiday, Dong took her child to a niche museum in Beijing, the eastern suburbs exhibition hall of China Railway Museum. They took photos with the abandoned station platforms and all kinds of locomotives, and her child enjoyed a small steam train ride while learning more about the history of China's railway development. Cuddling his favourite toy, a Transformer-like train man, the young boy felt fully satisfied by the time they departed for their journey home. As the first May Day holiday after the country optimized its epidemic response measures, cultural tourist attractions, especially museums and art galleries, have become a hot new trend. Local residents and tourists from afar shuttled between all kinds of museums, wandering in various exhibitions, busy watching rarities from all over the world and experiencing tangible and intangible cultural exchanges in ancient and modern times between home and abroad. Data collected by multiple museums show that the number of visitors during the holiday rebounded above the pre-COVID level recorded during the same period of 2019. On the first day of the May Day holiday, the top 10 scenic spots in Beijing in terms of the visitor numbers included several cultural tourist attractions: Qianmen Street, the Summer Palace, Nanluogu Lane, the Temple of Heaven, the Beihai Park and the Old Summer Palace, or "Yuanmingyuan." Tourists watch a performance at the National Maritime Museum of China in north China's Tianjin, May 3, 2023. [Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo] Cultural institutions were also a preferred choice for those seeking a relaxed and enjoyable holiday experience. During the just-concluded May Day holiday, museums and art galleries all over China teamed up with foreign counterparts to make their exhibits more innovative and attractive, with almost a panoramic view of the worldwide cultural treasures on offer. Digital technologies also helped give visitors a more immersive experience, adding a strong impetus to the cultural and art craze in China. A retrospective exhibition named "Parallel Space Meet the Terracotta Warriors in Greece" digitally presents the past archaeological achievements collected and preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the archaeological sites of Terracotta Warriors, and a relevant cultural relics protection laboratory of China. With the help of digital technologies, visitors in Shougang Park in western Beijing can see the ancient warriors stand face to face with the statue of Kroisos Kouros, seemingly having a "dialogue" across time and space. As China's night economy continues to heat up, some museums extended their opening hours and even remained open at night during the holiday. More than 30 museums in Beijing alone, such as the Capital Museum and China Railway Museum, stayed open late during the holiday. Many famous architectures in the city held related nighttime activities, allowing visitors to appreciate the ancient buildings' special beauty against the night sky. A child experiences VR devices at the Nanjing Science and Technology Museum in Nanjing City, east China's Jiangsu Province, May 1, 2023. [Photo by Fang Dongxu/Xinhua] From Monday to Wednesday, Beijing held a bazaar selling all kinds of cultural and creative products from over 40 museums in the city, highlighting a collaboration between time-honored brands and new fashion forms. "Beijing is rich in museum resources, so I choose to visit the bazaar during the holiday with my classmates. I've collected multiple museum seals today. Each of the seals is a cultural imprint for me," said Ma Hualin, a graduate student in Beijing University of Chemical Technology, who participated in the event on Monday. A visitor surnamed Zheng traveled from south China's metropolis of Guangzhou all the way to Beijing. After a one-day tour at the Civil Aviation Museum, Zheng took his family to the bazaar on Monday. Luckily, he guessed correctly about an aircraft model on display according to rough descriptions during an on-site interactive activity, winning a comic postcard of the plane. "My son likes to study all kinds of planes and thus I took him to the bazaar, hoping to help broaden his horizons," Zheng said. "Now, the society pays great attention to museums, and the number of people who like to visit museums is expanding. People of different ages visit museums for diversified purposes, such as viewing exhibitions, listening to lectures, participating in social and educational activities or simply shopping," said Gu Ying, deputy director with the White Pagoda Temple administrative office. Gu added that the cultural and creative products have also prompted Chinese youngsters to favor museums. "Museums are an important force to inspire wisdom for a better life, promote social well-being and build a sustainable future. Behind the cultural tourism craze is the public's discovery and recognition of the historical and cultural value of the museums," said Bai Chong, director of the museum division of Beijing municipal bureau of cultural heritage. (Source: Xinhua) A smoke column rises from wildfire near Lodgepole, Alberta, Canada on May 4. More than 13,000 people who live in the Canadian province of Alberta have been evacuated as wildfires rage across the region A nonprofit that helps improve the lives of intellectually and developmentally disabled kids and grownups in Colorado Springs and Denver turns 50 this year with an eye toward expansion as its candle-blowing wish. Following years of leadership turnover and organizational restructuring, Roundup Fellowship wants to whittle its waiting list by adding space for its Colorado Springs programs and spending more on employee recruitment and retention. To do that, it needs $50,000 and is looking for community assistance to raise the money, says CEO Donna Thurston. The vision is the same, but we keep adapting to what the community need is, and were trying to match up with that now, especially in Colorado Springs, she said. Roundup Fellowship Food Truck Rally and 50th Anniversary Celebration 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday, May 23, 2115 E. La Salle St., Colorado Springs Rally in partnership with 719 Food Truck Fest, lunch at Roundup headquarters from a variety of food trucks offering signature dishes, from savory to sweet. With 68 employees, the Colorado Springs office is larger than Denver's, which has 31 staff members, Thurston said. The Colorado Springs location includes a school for disabled and severely disabled children through age 21, many whose lives are "highly impacted" by their condition, said Principal Kathy Stults. Students are usually recommended by traditional public schools, Thurston said, because Roundup School specializes in working with behavior problems associated with intellectual and developmental disabilities in an individualized therapeutic setting and a team approach. We have limited space right now, and part of the expansion would be to remodel the school and move and expand adult programs, she said. We want to improve what we have going and also offer advancement opportunities within the agency. Currently, Roundup School and Day Treatment accommodates up to 30 children. A day program for 25 adults shares the same building as the school at 2115 E. LaSalle St. Most children are autistic and have low cognitive function, Stults said. Some are nonverbal, some have violent tendencies and others are high functioning. On Friday in the "Swing Room," named for two giant swings suspended from the ceiling, whimsical songs played loudly while kids worked on sensory exercises, took the microphone for karaoke, moved their bodies to the beat and played with tambourines and drums. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. All students learn academic standards-based curriculum, whether it's during a trip to the zoo, through music or on a computer in class. Jacob Thompson, 19, was excited after finding out he had just been offered his first paying job as a park trail greeter and walker, which he starts later this month. He's in the school's transition program for graduates ages 18 through 21, which teaches life skills. He said he's enjoyed the school because "the staff are really good and help you when you need it." Roundup School opened in 1995 inside a local church and in 1996 moved to the second floor of Poor Richard's restaurant downtown before relocating to its current location in 2008. Today, the office fields four to five requests for new placements each week, Thurston said, and cannot meet the high demand with its existing facilities. The Colorado Springs site also runs a group home for 10 children, a program for family caregivers who are paid to support their loved ones and receive training and guidance from Roundup on how to do that, and a residential companion program, an adult foster care model in which mature clients live with providers in their homes in the community. After lengthy discussion and research, a small group of Dutch Reformed Church members started Roundup Fellowship in 1973 in Denver. Although the nonprofit organization was founded on Christian principles, it is no longer affiliated with the church and does not profess any specific faith, Thurston said. You dont have to be a Christian to work here or participate in the programs, she said. While the agency receives funding from Medicaid, county and state governments, Community Centered Boards, school districts and private insurance, the 50th anniversary fundraising campaign is a departure from the norm and necessary to meet increased requests for assistance, Thurston said. Weve done no fundraising recently, she said. Were trying to rejuvenate this small nonprofit and build awareness that weve been around for a long time, but people still seem to not know about us. The campaign kicked off this week and runs through the end of the year. Donations may be made at http://www.rup.org/donate. On March 21, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)-Green Party coalition in the state of Hesse passed a new assembly law to replace the federal law previously in force. Hesse now joins other German states with similar laws, which represent a major attack on the basic right of freedom of assembly. In future, a demonstration in Hesse can be restricted, i.e., subject to all kinds of conditions and limitations, if, in the opinion of the authorities, it endangers public order. The vague nature of this term, which should not to be confused with the legal term public safety, is clear from its definition in the case law issued by Germanys highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court. According to the latter, the concept of public order includes the totality of unwritten [!] rules, the observance of which is regarded as an indispensable prerequisite for orderly human coexistence within a certain area according to prevailing social and ethical views compatible with the values laid down in the Basic Law. Such a vague definition leaves the door wide open to arbitrary action by the stateand this is exactly what is intended. The explanatory memorandum to the law explicitly emphasises this point, stating: The protection of public order is an important catch-all provision, aimed at enabling intervention against new or atypical dangerous situations that do not (yet) affect public safety. Catch-all, new, atypical dangers that do not yet affect public safety ... It becomes clear that the state has been given a wide open field to freely interpret the law. The law contains provisions which are both far-reaching and novel. For example, in future, assemblies must be registered 48 hours in advance, instead of the 24 hours stipulated previously. According to the explanatory memorandum to the law, a deadline can be extended in view of the daily work of administrative authorities, i.e., to also include Sundays and public holidays. This is not only an additional hurdle for those registering a demonstration, but is also intended to give the authorities more time to ascertain actual or alleged imminent dangers to public safety or order. Under section 12 (7), assembly leaders can be rejected as unsuitable. According to paragraph 12 (8), the authorities may in certain cases require the organiser to disclose personal data of those persons intending to act as stewards. Subsequently, those persons can also be rejected as unsuitable. In its statement at the expert hearing in the legislative procedure, the Committee for Fundamental Rights and Democracy wrote: This is the introduction of a kind of reliability check under assembly law. It remains unclear in which form and on the basis of which criteria this would take place; there is no information provided in the explanatory memorandum. However, in order to be able to determine unsuitability in the first place, a data basis of some kind is needed. Accordingly, the authorities would have to create lists with personal data and criteria regarding unsuitability, or access already existing databases in the context of assessing suitability. ...) The rule will have a considerable deterrent effect due to the threat of being investigated by state agencies, which in turn has a direct impact on guaranteeing the freedom of assembly. There are also practical problems: organisers often select stewards spontaneously, so they usually do not have their data before the meeting. In addition, those volunteering as stewards are frequently close to the organiser or direct members of the organisations involved. Especially in the case of politically controversial issues, those involved can then reasonably fear being registered by the police or other state authorities. According to the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court, it is primarily up to participants to organise their assembly. In this context, the visual component of a protest can play a particularly important role, for example by wearing clothing with a uniform colour in order to express a common position and convey unity and determination. Doctors' warning strike in white coats, Frankfurt am Main, March 31, 2022 [Photo: WSWS] One only has to recall the yellow vest protests in France, or the white coats of doctors and nurses worn at recent demonstrations in Germany. At large demonstrations, it is common for different blocs to physically distinguish themselves according to political orientation or the particular theme they seek to stress. The new Hessian Assembly Act, however, stipulates a ban on uniforms, militancy and intimidation, which forbids, among other things, the wearing of uniforms, parts of uniforms or uniform-like items of clothing if this conveys the impression of a willingness to use violence and create an intimidating effect. What allegedly conveys the impression and creates an intimidating effect is in practice to be decided by the police. In fact, the new law gives the police practically unlimited powers. Section 10 refers to the HSOG (Hessian Law on Security and Order), which gives the police the right to implement all the measures included under police law. According to paragraph 11, the police can attend demonstrations at their own discretion to the extent they deem appropriate. This applies to civilian police or undercover agents as well as to police in uniform with all of their protective equipment. According to the laws explanatory memorandum, only plainclothes police officers have to account for their presence, and in the case of demonstrations, only to the person in charge of the assembly. In addition, the justification for the law emphasises that members of Germanys domestic intelligence service, the Verfassungsschutz, and undercover agents do not have to identify themselves at all. One provision that was hotly contested in the run-up to the law is the far-reaching authorisation for the authorities to intimidate and investigate by means of video surveillance. So-called overview recordings can already be made by police if this is necessary in individual cases due to the size or lack of clarity of the assembly. It is plain to see that for larger demonstrations the individual case will become the rule. The video recordings can be stored for up to two months. Law professor Clemens Arzt, who testified at the hearing on the new law in the states Interior Committee, quite rightly pointed out that today, technically such pure overview recordings no longer exist: all recordings can be zoomed in and distilled out. Such overview recordings are therefore a serious encroachment on the fundamental right to the individuals right to protection of information. Video surveillance at demonstrations no longer guarantees this right. The consequence is a very high deterrent effect, according to the law professor. The CDU-Green Assembly Act resembles the type of measure favoured by right-wing dictatorships and has been welcomed by representatives of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The state governments plan was well-intentioned, declared AfD state deputy, Dirk Gaw. It had been merely poorly crafted. The Hessian Assembly Act is one of numerous attacks on basic democratic rights taking place in Germany. In practice it is modelled on the assembly law of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), which has been in force since the start of last year and is considered one of the most repressive in Germany. The CDU-Green Party coalition which took over the state government of NRW in July of last year has praised and retained the law. In Berlin, on May 8 last year, the day of the liberation of Germany from fascism, the display on memorials of the Soviet flagunder which the Auschwitz concentration camp was also liberatedwas banned by police. This was followed shortly afterwards by a ban on all Palestinian demonstrations on Nakba Day, and a few months later the Bundestag tightened up the countrys law relating to popular incitement. Now anyone who questions the alleged war crimes of a country (e.g., Russia) is threatened with punishment. In January, peace activist Heinrich Bucker was convicted for speaking out in public against Germanys war policy in Ukraine. Against the background of a growing popular mobilisation worldwide against exploitation, inequality, oppression and war, the ruling class is developing its range of repressive instruments to criminalise and suppress protests. Do you work at Norfolk Southern or another Class I railway? Do you live in East Palestine or a neighboring community? Tell us what you know about the Norfolk Southern disaster by filling out the form at the bottom of this article. All submissions will be kept anonymous. A man takes photos as a black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern train, Feb. 6, 2023. [AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar] According to a new report, the federal Environmental Protection Agency was not consulted when Norfolk Southern made the decision to burn five tanker cars of vinyl chloride following the catastrophic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio in February. The revelation, initially released Wednesday by News Nation Now, indicates the degree to which the railroad industry has been given a blank check on safety by the federal government, which also banned a strike by 120,000 railroaders last December. The completely preventable February 3rd derailment of the Norfolk Southern train sent 38 cars flying off the tracks. Eleven of the derailed cars contained hazardous chemicalsseveral of which caught fire. Three days later, on February 6th, Norfolk Southern and government officials made the decision to conduct what they described as a controlled burn of five tanker cars that contained 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride. Vinyl chloride is used in the production of various plastic materials, including PVC pipes. It is a known carcinogen responsible for liver and brain damage as well as causing damage to the neurological and immune systems and most other organs in the body. The controlled burn amounted to rupturing the five tanker cars and allowing the contents to drain onto the ground and into a nearby ditch, which was then set on fire. The flames shot up hundreds of feet into the air and could be seen for more than 20 miles away. The plume of smoke traveled hundreds of miles. Detectable levels of ash and other burn products have been found in soil samples over 20 miles from the crash site. In addition, an unknown quantity of the vinyl chloride which was not burned seeped into the ground and ran off into the nearby streams. Two days after the controlled burn, residents were told that it was safe for them to return to their homes while many got sick. Since the derailment and controlled burn, residents of east Palestine and the surrounding communities have suffered headaches, burning eyes, nose and throats, vomiting and a high level of anxiety. Also this past week, test results from 2 independent laboratories have confirmed what many residents have known for monthsthat they have been exposed to highly toxic carcinogens, in spite of the railroads and governments claims that residents are safe. However, they also contradict EPA testing which claim a far lower level of exposure. One set of testing was conducted on samples taken in mid-April by Justin Johnston, who runs Big Pine Consulting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They found 11 substances in the water, six of which were created from incomplete burns of vinyl chloride. Five of the six are known carcinogens. A second set of testing was done by Scott Smith, chief sustainability officer at ECO Integrated Technologies. They conducted tests of ground and water, as well as of air filters in home furnaces to see what chemicals were circulating in the air. Smith found 11 different kinds of dioxins that were not present in a controlled sample taken from an unaffected stream. Dioxins are a group of highly dangerous chemicals which last in the environment for a very long time and accumulate in a person's body. The World Health Organization classifies dioxins as a carcinogen and says there is no level that is safe for humans or other life. The testing that was done by Johnson and Smith confirms what residents already knewthat they were being systematically poisoned while being lied to by railroad and government officials. Johnston paid for the testing himself, which costs thousands of dollars because he wanted to know for sure that the area was safe. Most of them are carcinogens so we really need to pay attention to them because even in small amounts, they can be dangerous, Johnston told Pittsburgh-based KDKA-TV a CBS affiliate. Johnston was surprised by the results. I thought mine would look exactly the same (as those conducted by the EPA) but they didn't, he told KDKA. Johnston attributed the fact that different labs test for different levels of toxins. The reason is simply, detection levels, he said. Johnston believes that the laboratories being used by the EPA were not checking at a sensitive enough level to pick up the carcinogens that he found. KDKA and Johnston later took a second set of samples and those came back undetectable. Johnston says that is good news, but is concerned about what happened to them. Where did it go? Is it locked in vegetation? Has it sunk into the soil below run-off? Is it going to be in the crops now? Another series of testing was done by ECO Integrated Technologies which found dioxins and other carcinogens in the water and soil samples. You cant find what you dont look for,' Scott Smith told News Nation Now. 'So were looking in furnace filters for the broad spectrum of dioxins and other semi-volatile organic compounds, and in soil and in water. For the first month after the derailment, the EPA refused to test for dioxins claiming that because they are created anytime there is a burn, including from backyard barbecues, one could not distinguish which dioxins were produced from the burn-off. Smith told News Nation NowThere hasnt been anything like the Iraq war until East Palestine, referring to the burn pits during the Iraq War, which poisoned thousands of soldiers who have become ill with cancer, bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses. At the time of the burn, many residents and hazmat material experts questioned the EPAs downplaying of the danger posed by the burn. The World Socialist Web Site spoke with hazardous material expert Sil Caggiano, who in his 39 years of responding to train accidents and derailments, Caggiano said he had never heard of a railroad company actually detonating their own containers. Caggiano continued, I question why there is such a rush to get everything open, everyones saying everything is fine, the water is okay to drink, and everything has been mitigatedand now were starting to hear, Well, you might want to drink bottled water. We may have found that Norfolk Southern swept some contaminated soil underneath the railroad tracks. East Palestine and surrounding area residents who spoke with the WSWS at the time also felt that the decision to burn the vinyl chloride was made so that Norfolk Southern could reopen the track and begin running freight. I think that [the controlled burn] a mistake, former EPA administrator Judith Enck told News Nation Now. Im looking very closely at who made the decision to set the vinyl chloride on fire. I think that decision will be a major factor in the lives of many communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio. I was on a meeting with the EPA recently and asked them why they signed off on the decision to do the open burn, Enck continued. They told me they did not sign off. The EPA told me that they were not asked about whether or not to do the open burn of vinyl chloride, and that they were not part of that decision. The EPA has since confirmed with that they were not part of the decision-making process. Do you work at Norfolk Southern or another Class I railway? Do you live in East Palestine or a neighboring community? Tell us what you know about the Norfolk Southern disaster by filling out the form at the bottom of this article. All submissions will be kept anonymous. US Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas arrived in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas on Thursday to reinforce the Biden administrations plans to expand the assault on immigrant rights at the US Southern border before the lifting of Title 42 on May 11. The Title 42 immigration rules that end May 11 were originally instituted by the Trump administration in March 2020. The fascistic president brazenly sought to exploit the coronavirus pandemic to declare migrants seeking asylum in the US ineligible to enter because they posed a public health risk. Under Title 42, all asylum seekers were subject to summary expulsion. Trump did this while telling the American public that the pandemic posed no threat and would go away on its own. On Wednesday, Mayorkas office released a statement saying the purpose of his trip was to review CBP [Customs and Border Protection] and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] planning and response operations ahead of the lifting of the Title 42 public health order. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill, Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Washington. [AP Photo/Evan Vucci] The fact that Mayorkas set as his top priority strengthening the two Homeland Security agencies that are notorious for their brutal treatment of immigrants is an indication of what is being prepared at the border with Mexico. Mayorkas message was clear, and he repeated it time and again during his trip: The border is not open. It has not been open, and it will not be open subsequent to May 11th. The administration also announced on Wednesday a new immigration agreement with Mexico aimed at deterring border crossings as Title 42 ends. A central element of the new agreement is that Mexico will continue to accept migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua who are turned away at the US border. Another part of the deal is that up to 100,000 individuals from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who are denied entry to the US but have family there will be eligible to live and work in Mexico. Under the Title 42 rules, mass expulsions of migrants have been carried out over the last three years with President Biden outstripping former President Trump in the number of people returned to their country of origin or back to Mexico. There have been a total of 2.5 million Title 42 deportations carried out by both administrations over the past 38 months. The anti-immigrant rules were declared unconstitutional by a federal judge last November, and after numerous legal challenges and attempts to keep them in place, including by the Biden White House, they are now being lifted. The expectation of the Biden administration is that this will result in a surge of migrants seeking to enter the US, and new and more effective measures must be put in place as a substitute for Title 42. Mayorkass two-day trip to the border was, in part, aimed at communicating just what these more effective anti-immigrant policies are. On Thursday, he visited McAllen, Texas, where he met with and rode with Border Patrol agents and encountered migrants with makeshift ladders made to climb the border wall. He also visited a processing center, where migrants are being detained, and held meetings with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staff and local law enforcement. A section of the militarized US-Mexico border. [Photo: US Customs and Border Protection] In the Rio Grande Valley region of southeast Texas that Mayorkas visited, there are more than 2,000 migrants apprehended each day, according to CPB officials. News reports of conditions on both sides of the US-Mexico border reveal an extreme and dire humanitarian crisis. In El Paso, for example, local officials say that more than 1,000 migrants are sleeping on the streets because they have no place to go and have no food. It is not to this social disaster that the Biden administration is turning its attention, but instead it is focusing on its border control and enforcement operations. On Tuesday, the White House announced plans to send 1,500 active duty troops to the border to back up the border patrol and law enforcement, including what the Department of Defense called ground-based detection and monitoring duties. On Friday afternoon, Mayorkas traveled to Brownsville, Texas, where he gave a press conference. The DHS director elaborated on another prong of the border enforcement strategy, the implementation of regional processing centers. He said that these centers were being set up in Central and South America, adding, A regional challenge requires a regional solution. He continued to emphasize so-called lawful pathways that will provide a way for individuals who qualify for relief under United States law to reach the United States safely. In other words, immigration authorities will be qualifying who will get into the US and who will not. He went on, At the same time, we will deliver consequences for individuals who arrive at our southern border irregularly. Then Mayorkas attempted to cover the anti-asylum policy with phony sympathy for migrants and claims that the US government is committed to cutting the smuggler out. Mayorkas then explained how the DHS is going to use US laws to continue with mass expulsions. In a post-Title 42 environment, he said, we will be using our expedited removal authorities under Title 8 of the United States code. That allows us to remove individuals very quickly. We will by May 11 finalize the rule that we published in a proposed format that provides that individuals who do not access our lawful pathways will be presumed to be ineligible for asylum and will have a higher burden of proof to overcome that ineligibility. When asked how the administration is going to deal with the surge of migrants, Mayorkas boasted of how the administration has continued to expel Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Haitians, adding that in a post-Title 42 environment, those expulsions will continue. The developments of the past week show that President Bidens border policy is as ruthless as that of the Trump administration in 2017-2020. Instead of building an iron border wall, Bidens program is to use advanced technologies for finding, detaining and processing migrants. Since 2022, the Biden administration has added 81 autonomous surveillance towers that use artificial intelligence technology to track individuals and know the difference between a person and a deer crossing through the brush. During meetings with Biden last July, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador agreed to purchase $1.5 billion in smart border technology. This is a more sophisticated approach to the same policy pursued by Trump in his effort to build a wall and force Mexico to pay for it. Among the technologies being implemented are tower cameras that can see for seven miles at night and ground-sweeping radar that operates in a 13-mile radius, deemed to be more effective than dozens of border agents. Contract negotiations between Colorado Springs School District 11 and the teachers union remain unresolved after a bargaining session ran late into the night Thursday. The two parties will reconvene Monday at the Tesla Educational Opportunity Center, where the union is expected to make a counteroffer to the district's latest proposal. A tentative agreement has already been reached on most of the master contract, with salary serving as the point of contention. The districts current offer would separate teacher pay into three tiers, provide a 3% cost-of-living adjustment and increase starting salary windows to $50,000 and $55,000, according to master bargaining union Colorado Springs Education Associations social media. CSEA says the two sides are still VERY FAR APART heading into the next round of bargaining. It is unusual. Its not unheard of, Keller Elementary School teacher and CSEA director Carmen Moyer said. We have had contentious bargaining before, and obviously weve come through them. The union and the district annually engage in master negotiations of teacher contracts. The district has an idea of what its budget will look like in the 2023-2024 school year. Discussions are based off projected, not final, budget expectations. The current salary schedule uses lanes and steps for teacher pay. Lanes consider education credentials, such as degrees and hours of graduate studies completed. Steps consider longevity, or how many years a teacher has been teaching. Teachers say D-11's newly proposed salary schedule follows a pay for performance structure similar to what theyve previously seen at other districts. Under the proposed schedule, which would split pay into three tiers, education and longevity would no longer serve as the primary factors in determining pay. It remains unclear what performance indicators would instead be used as the district continues to define the tiers. Current teachers would be grandfathered into the new schedule and could choose to stay off the tiered scale, Moyer said, but all will feel an impact regardless since it would separate them into haves and have-nots. This creates a divisive culture and weakens the teaching staff as a whole, Moyer said. New teachers will avoid joining a district like that. Harrison School District 2 was among the first in Colorado to implement a pay-for-performance system in 2010. At the time, the state was reforming its teacher effectiveness and evaluation methodology, and academic achievement in D-2, the most socioeconomically diverse district in the region, was so low that it had been flagged as near failing under the state's grading system and placed on probation. Harrisons Effectiveness and Results program grew out of former Superintendent Mike Miles' intense efforts to boost student performance, under the premise that regardless of family circumstances and other life challenges, all students can succeed in school. Many employees initially liked the idea, which replaced the traditional salary increases with a merit system that placed high expectations on teachers, administrators and students, and required frequent testing. Employees who met effectiveness benchmarks were rewarded with higher salaries. However, by 2019, the system had not been upgraded and D-2s raises and salaries were lagging other districts in the area. The district suspended the compensation model for the 2019-2020 school year to study its effectiveness. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. D-2 has since eliminated the pay-for-performance system because it "did not take into consideration the changing and evolving landscape of education," said spokeswoman Christine O'Brien. People are coming to us really concerned, some in a panic, saying, If its going to be a tiered system, Im going to leave. Im not going to do that again, said Moyer, a former D-2 employee of two years. Theres a lot of what we call D-2 survivors in this district, and theyre the ones that are panicking the most. Sixty percent of D-11 teachers are represented by the union, according to a district spokesperson. Contract details negotiated by the union will apply to all district teachers, regardless of membership status. CSEA represents more than 1,500 public school educators in D-11, according to its website. This year's process began on a sour note when closed-door conversations resulted in a new salary schedule without teacher input, according to CSEA board director and Mark Twain Elementary teacher Kevin Coughlin. The schedule should have been developed through bargaining and stake holder outreach before it was brought to Thursdays negotiations, he said. The fact that it was a non-collaborative issue is part of the problem, Coughlin said. No one here wants pay for performance. No one here wants a dictator to tell them what to do, when to do, how to do. We want to be part of a well-working team thats focused on students goals and interests and needs. Teachers learned of the proposal just days before Thursday's negotiations, Coughlin said, motivating them to attend the bargaining session in large numbers. Several teachers said there was no organized movement to call out of work, but Doherty High School was forced to close Thursday when enough individual teachers used personal days to attend bargaining. In a message issued by Superintendent Michael Gaal to Doherty families early Thursday, teachers were said to have taken the day off en masse in protest of various initiatives that we believe will increase student achievement, which have not been finalized. With abnormally high and significant absence rates, we cannot properly fill enough positions at Doherty with guest staff to provide a safe and conducive instructional environment, Gaals message read. sadly, teachers are making conscious decisions that impact our first and most critical obligation to be in school and provide an excellent education. Gaal said the teachers' reaction to the proposal is the kind of noise that comes with change. You set those people on fire because they are now upset because you didnt hear them, you didnt listen to them, you treated them with what they felt was disrespect by not having a collaborative conversation, not asking what do you need. You came in and put down your plan, your rules, Coughlin said. If you dont hear us, you should, because theres a lot of us, and without us you cant do your job. D-11 employees will continue to operate under their current contract until a resolution is decided upon, Coughlin said. The contract is set to expire in 2025. District 11 is unable to provide comment while negotiations are ongoing, a spokesperson said. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) this week, Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave his most extensive comments on the plight of Julian Assange since coming to office in May 2022. Albanese feigned concern for the WikiLeaks publisher, but defended the entire anti-democratic framework of national security secrecy under which he is being persecuted. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media after meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in London, Friday, May, 5, 2023. [AP Photo/Frank Augstein] Albanese is in London for the coronation of King Charles. He is also holding discussions with the British government, centring on AUKUS, the aggressive militarist pact between the two countries and the US, aimed at preparing for war against China. In the same city, Assange has been incarcerated in the maximum-security Belmarsh Prison for more than four years, most of that time on remand. The sole purpose of his detention is to facilitate a US extradition request. The American government is seeking to imprison Assange for up to 175 years for exposing its war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and its global diplomatic conspiracies. Albaneses comments have been presented widely as his strongest in defence of Assange. Throughout his prime ministership, Albanese has sought to avoid even mentioning the WikiLeaks publisher, even though Assange is an Australian citizen and the worlds most significant political prisoner. Albaneses long silence, which included his tenure as opposition leader, was clearly a product of political hostility to Assange and WikiLeaks. But as demands for the Labor government to defend Assange grew, Albanese and his colleagues changed tack. They could not speak openly about Assange, supposedly because that would compromise unspecified quiet diplomacy they were conducting on his behalf. Documents obtained via freedom of information requests by lawyer Kellie Tranter have not turned up a single trace of this quiet diplomacy. That includes correspondence between the relevant Australian government bodies and its counterparts in the US and Britain. In the ABC interview, Albanese repeated his refrain that enough is enough in relation to the Assange case and this matter needs to be brought to a close. These formulations are deliberately ambiguous. They do not even indicate how the case should be brought to a close, much less demand that the Biden administration drop the prosecution. Albanese added: It needs to be worked through, were working through diplomatic channels, were making very clear what our position is on Mr Assanges case. But again, it is not at all clear what the Labor governments position actually is. Moreover, almost a year of purported quiet diplomacy has not altered the course of Assanges persecution by one iota. Asked about this, Albanese replied: I know its frustrating. I share the frustration. I cant do more than make very clear what my position is. He claimed that the US government was clear on Labors position, but would not even commit to raising Assange when Biden visits Australia later this month. Albanese expressed concern for Assanges health, but did not indicate he would do anything about it. It is over three years since hundreds of doctors first warned that the deterioration of Assanges medical condition could result in his death behind bars, and demanded he be released from Belmarsh Prison. In the comments that some Assange supporters have presented as most hopeful, Albanese stated: I think that when Australians look at the circumstances, look at the fact that the person who released the information [Chelsea Manning] is walking freely now, having served some time in incarceration but is now released for a long period of time, then theyll see that there is a disconnect there. Again, this is miles away from a demand that the Biden administration end its prosecution, or a defence of a persecuted Australian journalist. It is more in the manner of, it is unfortunate that this is occurring, but what can one do? That was, in fact, the entire thrust of Albaneses remarks. Labor had raised the issue, he claimed, made its position clear and Assanges fate was in the hands of Britain and the US. That is diametrically opposed to the repeated aggressive diplomatic and legal interventions Australian governments have previously mounted to free citizens imprisoned abroad. The fraudulent character of Albaneses purported defence of Assange was underscored by the fact that his comments were immediately endorsed by opposition Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton. Dutton, a former policeman, is an extreme right-wing figure, who speaks most openly for the repressive state forces that are seeking Assanges destruction. Above all, Albaneses remarks were aimed at placating the growing public support for the WikiLeaks founder and subordinating it to a quiet diplomacy that could not be any quieter. Among some prominent Assange supporters, Albaneses remarks have had their desired effect. They have proclaimed that the Labor government has now demonstrated its commitment to Assanges freedom, presenting this as a fact to be celebrated. Such positions, it must be stated, are a self-deluding fantasy that obstructs a genuine fight for Assanges freedom, lets those involved in his persecution off the hook and creates favourable conditions for a US extradition. Unfortunately, it is not hard to envisage such individuals proclaiming one victory after another, right up until Assange is dispatched to his US persecutors. Several questions must be posed: If Albanese were waging a determined struggle for Assanges freedom, would he be fawning over King Charles and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the figures who hold the key to Assanges cell? Would he be preparing to roll out the red carpet for Biden when the US president visits Australia in several weeks? Would he not make demands of the British and US governments, as Australian administrations have when defending other persecuted citizens? Those who promote the illusion that Assanges freedom will be granted by one or another benevolent faction of the establishment, without any genuine political struggle, invariably detach the attempted US extradition from its broader political context. As the WSWS has explained, the US is pursuing Assange, not only as an act of retribution. It is seeking to establish a precedent for the suppression of social and political opposition, especially opposition to war. This forms part of a broader turn to authoritarianism by governments around the world, amid the deepest crisis of the capitalist system since the 1930s. The imperialist powers are preparing for another catastrophic world war. That is the significance of the US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, along with Washingtons confrontation with China, which is viewed as the chief threat to American imperialist hegemony. Australia, under Albanese, is on the frontlines of these war preparations. Last month, Labor endorsed a Defence Strategic Review, calling for Australias largest military build-up since World War II. The review is explicit that this is in preparation for a US-led war against China. As in the last century, war is incompatible with democratic rights. It requires the suppression of anti-war opposition, because governments are aware that workers and young people are hostile to militarism, and that the program of war will intensify a resurgence of the class struggle that is already well underway. This basic point was essentially made by Albanese himself. He stated: Im not going to sit here as someone who chairs our National Security Committee and say its fine if you publish all of the details about our National Security Committee deliberations because if you did that Australian lives would be put in danger. There are real consequences for that Im a big supporter of freedom of the press, but with that also comes a responsibility to take into account the consequences of whether information which is not available to the public, what the consequences would be if we had just a free for all. That is precisely the position of the Biden administration. Such national security limitations on press freedom are determined, not democratically, but by governments and the intelligence agencies themselves. Albaneses comments thus legitimised the attempt to prosecute Assange. They also signalled that there will be many more Assanges, in Australia and internationally. The Labor government is currently presiding over several frame-up national security cases, including the prosecution of whistleblower David McBride, who exposed Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. All this again underscores the fact that Assanges freedom, and the broader defence of democratic rights, depends on the mobilisation of the working class against the capitalist governments and their program of war and authoritarianism. Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) paramedics are speaking up again against their management and departments due to the shortage of rescue ambulances to cover emergencies, the local Los Angeles Fox News affiliate reports. The whistleblower paramedics are discussing the ongoing shortage of rescue ambulances in the city after an incident that occurred on April 21, when twin 4-year-old brothers from Porter Ranch drowned in the family pool. The boys were found to be in cardiac arrest upon the arrival of LAFD personnel to the scene. According to the timeline provided by anonymous LAFD paramedics to Fox 11 News, Engine 8 from Station 8 arrived at the scene within four minutes of the 911 call, but Station 8 does not have a rescue ambulance, one of eight LAFD stations does not have an ambulance assigned to it, the paramedics said. The next closest fire station with a rescue ambulance was Station 107, located in the San Fernando Valley. Fire personnel from Station 107 were on the scene within six minutes, but their rescue ambulance was unavailable because paramedics were handling an emergency in a different district. LAFD personnel continued cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until the rescue ambulance arrived 10 minutes later. LAFD rescue ambulance 11888 on Alvarado Street near MacArthur Park, Los Angeles. [Photo: Junkyardsparkle] Paramedics stated that all rescue ambulances in that area were busy and unavailable. It took 14 minutes for the first ambulance and 15 minutes for the second ambulance to arrive to one of the most high-level emergency calls: children in cardiac arrest. One of the 4-year-old twins died at the hospital and the other twin is in critical condition, fighting for his life. On April 25, a few days after the tragic drownings, a mother was killed and her 6-year-old daughter critically injured when a pick-up truck slammed into them as the mother walked her daughter to school in the Los Angeles Mid-Wilshire neighborhood. Several LAFD personnel arrived at the scene, but the first rescue ambulance did not arrive until 16 minutes later; the second arrived 17 minutes later. LAFD paramedics told Fox 11 News that, tragically, this is the norm. LAFD paramedics reported to the Fox channel last February about the need for more fire stations, ambulances, medical supplies and more personnel. Freddy Escobar, president of the United Firefighters of LA City (UFLAC), said that the department has not kept up with the population growth of the city. In May of 1989, the department was averaging 500 calls per day; today that average is approximately 2,000 calls per day. There are fewer fire stations and firefighters today than there were 33-plus years ago. Increasing emergency medical service (EMS) response times are an alarming indicator of deteriorating pre-hospital emergency services. In the most urgent of cases, such as cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, strokes and major trauma, an average response time of less than 7 minutes is a critical factor in patient outcomes, with deleterious consequences when exceeded. Yet response times have increased dramatically in major cities across the US. According to a recent Boston Globe report, the city of Boston has seen the slowest response times since 2014, with certain neighborhoods such as Hyde Park reaching 11 minutes, while West Roxbury averaged 9.5 minutes. According to New York Citys most recent management report, the average response time was 9 minutes 30 seconds in 2022 compared to 8 minutes 28 seconds in 2019. A major factor in the crisis facing emergency medical services (EMS) is a historically high turnover rate, which reached 20 to 36 percent for EMTs and paramedics, an increase of 6 percent in 2022, according to a report from the American Ambulance Association (AAA). Such a high turnover rate represents a critical loss in experience and knowledge and is also manifested in chronic understaffing. With the collusion of the unions, the response of all municipalities and employers to this disastrous situation is to further intensify the hours and workload of the remaining EMS workers in a vicious cycle, making conditions intolerable and putting workers and the public in increasing danger. The UFLAC, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, has done nothing to oppose cuts to LAFD resources other than to maintain a close relationship with LA City Council members, such as newly elected councilwoman Traci Park, a Republican turned Democrat. There is no opposition being mounted by the UFLAC executive board to cuts in emergency services and the shortage of rescue ambulances. Newly-elected Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, has pledged a full commitment to address LAFD response times, according to the Fox 11 report. But for the last 30-plus years the mayorship has been controlled by California Democratic Party politicians, with the exception of Republican Mayor Richard Riordan, who held office from 1993 to 2001. One has only to look at the homeless crisis in the City of Los Angeles to understand the attack on the living standards being carried out in the state by politicians of both big-business parties. Mayor Bass takes in a salary of $300,526 and her 12 deputy mayors each collect six figure salaries. While there are 178 billionaires residing in California, the claim is made that there is not enough money to fund basic services and social programs. The unions representing Los Angeles teachers and school workers have worked to push through sellout contracts with unacceptable staffing ratios and wages. But teachers, health care and other workers are fighting back. The working class must break free of the stranglehold of the union apparatus and form their own independent organizations to take forward a fight against cuts to emergency response and other vital services relied upon by the population. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has written an open letter to King Charles III on the day of his coronation, calling attention to the appalling conditions in which he is being held in His Majesty's Prison Belmarsh. Assange has been detained in the maximum security prison for over four years, the vast majority of that without charge, as the UK courts decided on his extradition to the United States. There he faces charges under the Espionage Act for publishing leaked material exposing US war crimes, human rights abuses, anti-democratic conspiracies and diplomatic intrigues. Julian Assange [AP Photo/Matt Dunham] Under threat of this fate, he spent seven years prior to his detention in Belmarsh effectively imprisoned in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, claiming political asylum. On June 17, 2022, then Home Secretary Priti Patel gave the final approval for his transfer to America, but nothing has been heard since. Assange's letter was originally published by Declassified UK. *** Julian Assange To His Majesty King Charles III, On the coronation of my liege, I thought it only fitting to extend a heartfelt invitation to you to commemorate this momentous occasion by visiting your very own kingdom within a kingdom: His Majestys Prison Belmarsh. You will no doubt recall the wise words of a renowned playwright: The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. Ah, but what would that bard know of mercy faced with the reckoning at the dawn of your historic reign? After all, one can truly know the measure of a society by how it treats its prisoners, and your kingdom has surely excelled in that regard. Your Majestys Prison Belmarsh is located at the prestigious address of One Western Way, London, just a short foxhunt from the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. How delightful it must be to have such an esteemed establishment bear your name. It is here that 687 of your loyal subjects are held, supporting the United Kingdoms record as the nation with the largest prison population in Western Europe. As your noble government has recently declared, your kingdom is currently undergoing the biggest expansion of prison places in over a century, with its ambitious projections showing an increase of the prison population from 82,000 to 106,000 within the next four years. Quite the legacy, indeed. As a political prisoner, held at Your Majestys pleasure on behalf of an embarrassed foreign sovereign, I am honoured to reside within the walls of this world class institution. Truly, your kingdom knows no bounds. During your visit, you will have the opportunity to feast upon the culinary delights prepared for your loyal subjects on a generous budget of two pounds per day. Savour the blended tuna heads and the ubiquitous reconstituted forms that are purportedly made from chicken. And worry not, for unlike lesser institutions such as Alcatraz or San Quentin, there is no communal dining in a mess hall. At Belmarsh, prisoners dine alone in their cells, ensuring the utmost intimacy with their meal. Beyond the gustatory pleasures, I can assure you that Belmarsh provides ample educational opportunities for your subjects. As Proverbs 22:6 has it: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Observe the shuffling queues at the medicine hatch, where inmates gather their prescriptions, not for daily use, but for the horizon-expanding experience of a big day outall at once. You will also have the opportunity to pay your respects to my late friend Manoel Santos, a gay man facing deportation to Bolsonaros Brazil, who took his own life just eight yards from my cell using a crude rope fashioned from his bedsheets. His exquisite tenor voice now silenced forever. Venture further into the depths of Belmarsh and you will find the most isolated place within its walls: Healthcare, or Hellcare as its inhabitants lovingly call it. Here, you will marvel at sensible rules designed for everyones safety, such as the prohibition of chess, whilst permitting the far less dangerous game of checkers. Deep within Hellcare lies the most gloriously uplifting place in all of Belmarsh, nay, the whole of the United Kingdom: the sublimely named Belmarsh End of Life Suite. Listen closely, and you may hear the prisoners cries of Brother, Im going to die in here, a testament to the quality of both life and death within your prison. But fear not, for there is beauty to be found within these walls. Feast your eyes upon the picturesque crows nesting in the razor wire and the hundreds of hungry rats that call Belmarsh home. And if you come in the spring, you may even catch a glimpse of the ducklings laid by wayward mallards within the prison grounds. But dont delay, for the ravenous rats ensure their lives are fleeting. I implore you, King Charles, to visit His Majestys Prison Belmarsh, for it is an honour befitting a king. As you embark upon your reign, may you always remember the words of the King James Bible: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7). And may mercy be the guiding light of your kingdom, both within and without the walls of Belmarsh. Your most devoted subject, Julian Assange A9379AY This week, the Mississippi River crested in the upper Midwest states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin after days of rapid overflow and flooding from the end of April to the first week of May. Although the floods did not top the record-setting disaster of 2019, which saw water levels peak at 98.2 feet, millions of residents were affected and nearly completely devastated. The threat is not over, with meteorologists predicting major floods in the region through mid-May. P.D. Pappy's Music Bar and Grill is flooded by the rising St. Croix River in Stillwater, Minn., Tuesday, April 18, 2023. [AP Photo/Abbie Parr] Most areas saw peaks in the top five flood levels for the area, and the peak of the river crest hit 22.8 feet, less than three feet below the record. Around Dubuque, Iowa, the river reached one of its top three flood levels ever recorded since the nineteenth century. Floodwaters spilled into basements and submerged backyards in Iowa before the flooding peaked. On April 27, the National Weather Service issues 58 flood warnings across Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. But many residents had to deal with problems before that, and with some who have lived along the riverfront for years, the floods have become a chaotic and more regular feature of life as flood planning still remains disorganized and decentralized after decades of near-record and record crests amid the growing impact of the man-made climate change. Residents who lived along the riverfront and whose homes were not protected from the flooding were evacuating as early as the beginning of April in Davenport, Iowa. To mitigate damage to property, many Iowans and others along the flooded riverfront have been left on their own to place sandbags around their homes or find shelter elsewhere. Janine Buckley, a Buffalo, Iowa, resident described the threat she and many working class people in the area faced to AccuWeather News: Were on our own little island, but its not fun. First, it was a little scary. Now, Im just ready for it to be over...The biggest challenge is just getting out to the car and getting groceries. Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for Allamakee, Clayton, Clinton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jackson, Lee, Louisa, Muscatine and Scott counties in late April, which allows state resources to be utilized for response and recovery from flood impacts. Another proclamation issued activated the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program and the Disaster Case Management Program for Clayton, Clinton, Dubuque, Jackson and Scott counties. These measures amount to too little, too late. One of the main reasons that the flood did not surpass record levels was last years drought in Iowa, which nearly set a record and scorched crops in the state whose economy is heavily dependent on industrialized production of corn and soy. The dryer grounds soaked up much of the moisture caused by the record snow melt, highlighting the extent of the overall infrastructure crisis and how much more devastating it could have been. The immediate cause of the flooding was the annual snow melt at the Mississippi Rivers upper basin, which causes it to rise each year as air temperature warms. But this year, Minnesota and Wisconsin experienced record-setting snowfalls. The snow on the ground was especially heavy and wet, combined with a rash of unusually warm days in April that led to a faster and more intense melt than the affected areas were prepared to handle. Parts of the upper Mississippi also recorded up to four inches above average rainfall this season, exacerbating the overflow. The more general causes of the devastating Mississippi River floods in the US Midwest over the past several decadesthe record-breaking flood in 1993, and floods in 2011, 2019 and now 2023include climate change. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the Earths temperature has risen by an average of 0.14 Fahrenheit (0.08 Celsius) per decade since 1880, or about 2 F in total. The rate of warming since 1981 is more than twice as fast: 0.32 F (0.18 C) per decade. The US Environmental Protection Agency has long made the connection between rising global temperatures and the way in which these conditions increase the intensity and frequency of floods. It states, As warmer temperatures cause more water to evaporate from the land and oceans, changes in the size and frequency of heavy precipitation events may in turn affect the size and frequency of river flooding. Another important factor behind the cause of major flooding is human activity, including a lack of centralized planning and organization to mitigate damage from floods and for resident safety. The city of Davenport only has temporary flood barriers and does not have a permanent flood wall or levee system, unlike the neighboring cities of Bettendorf and Rock Island, despite having nine miles of riverfront prone to flooding. Davenport Mayor Mike Matson summed up the attitude of the ruling class in the area, stating to the Quad City Times, It isnt a cost-effective solution now ... Where would you like us to get this money? Davenports website states that it received about $41 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding through the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021, which was stated to be used to improve quality of life for Davenport residents, to provide for immediate recovery needs, and to create a long-term investment for Davenports future. Even with the disastrous impact of the 2019 floods fresh in the memories of residents, little to none of this money appears to have been devoted to protecting them from environmental disasters. According to the Quad City Times, a survey conducted by the city showed that a majority of residents desire a permanent solution to the more frequent flooding along the Mississippi. The refusal to provide flood protection for Davenports mainly working class residents is part of a decades-long process of deliberate assault on social programs and infrastructure by the US ruling class. In Davenport alone, the US Army Corps of Engineers first proposed a flood control plan in 1969 after the devastating 1965 flood. The plan was reported to cost $16.5 million, with the citys share at $3 million, according to the Quad City Times archives, but it was not implemented. The city decided against subsequent proposals in the following decade. In 1984, a proposal was made to build a $34-million floodwall between the Government Bridge and Interstate 280 with the support of the Army Corps of Engineers. The permanent floodwall would have protected the city from floods up to 26.9 feet, higher than the recent crest, but it was withdrawn from the City Council and never funded. For decades, Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike have given tax breaks to major corporations and stripped away regulations and social infrastructure spending to satisfy the private profit needs of corporate management and financiers, all at the expense of the working class. This has not only resulted in environmental damage produced by carbon emissions and rapacious business practices which have led to the rise in global temperature, but lifted any responsibility from the ruling class to take adequate measures to protect the population from natural disasters. According to the 2021 Infrastructure Report Card issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers, US infrastructure for levees and stormwater management received a D grade, the second-lowest possible, which indicates poor, at risk. Drinking water, wastewater and stormwater needs for the US as a whole require over $1 trillion, and levees alone require $80 billion. Appealing to the capitalist class and its politicians for funding for critical infrastructure to prevent devastation from floods and their root causes is not the solution for the working class, forced to bear the brunt of record floods around the world, from Asia to Germany to the US. The cause is the global capitalist system, that places the lives and needs of the working class and the planet at risk in order to secure ever greater profits and pile up personal wealth for a relative handful of the super-rich. The working class must have an understanding of the political and economic roots of the environmental catastrophes they face, and place them in a global context. An organized fight to place the working class in control of the wealth of society, in a revolutionary struggle for socialism, organized and led by the international working class against the capitalist class on a global scale, is the only way to prevent and reverse the devastating impacts of floods and other natural disasters that are the result of the profit system. A worker delivers Coca Cola products. [AP Photo/Mark Humphrey] A strike by over 400 workers at the Liberty Coca-Cola bottling plant in Philadelphia enters its fourth week on Sunday as workers there fight for better pay and benefits. On April 30, workers overwhelmingly rejected the companys second contract offer by a four-to-one margin. In statement following the second defeat of a tentative agreemen,t Local 830 Secretary-Treasurer Daniel Grace wrote, Despite a brief resumption of contractual negotiations with Liberty Coca-Cola ... a resolution is still not at hand. Teamsters Local 830 members remain committed to negotiating with Liberty Coca-Cola on a fair new contract. Until that happens, however, we will remain on the picket line as our strike enters its third week. The Local 830 bargaining unit includes drivers, warehouse workers, and production staff. Details of the first and second contract votes are not publicly available. The company originally said the first offer was its best and final one. Liberty Coca-Cola claimed both contracts had the highest wage increases in Coca-Cola/Teamsters Local 830s history, plus a generous benefits package. According to the company, the average employee makes $79,000 currently and the first offer included a 17 percent wage increase over five years. Local 830, however, called the companys claim a flat-out lie. Grace said in a statement that as for the claim that workers at Liberty Coca-Cola make $79,000 on average, thats simply not true. Our members would have to work a minimum of 20 hours of overtime a week to reach those compensation levels. Rania Major, a local attorney who is running for a municipal court judge position, posted on Facebook the company offered only a $0.05 cent raise over 5 years, took away the signing bonus and said they would hire non-union. The strike began on April 16, the day after their last contract expired. Local members had decisively voted down the first tentative agreement and authorized the union to call a strike by a resounding margin. Workers are unhappy with the private health plan offered through Aetna and want higher employer contributions to 401(k) retirement plans, in addition to wage gains to keep pace with rising living costs. The company has brought in scabs and rented Penske trucks to continue deliveries. This was part of what it calls its active contingency plan. The company has also been paying to have local sheriffs onsite to ensure picket lines do not obstruct operations at the facility and that business continues uninterrupted out of the plant in Juniata Park. While Liberty Coca-Cola, the largest bottling plant and distributor of Coca-Cola beverages in the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, has resorted to strong-arming its workers, the Teamsters have largely isolated their own members, sabotaging an effective fight for a decent contract. Rather than seek to mobilize the broader working class to back the strike, Local 830 has issued impotent appeals to Democratic Party officials and local businesses. In the second week of the strike, the local initiated a leafleting campaign at Wawa and Penn Relay convenience stores in the Philadelphia area, encouraging customers to boycott Coca-Cola products in solidarity with striking workers. Last week, Philadelphia mayoral candidate Jeff Brown, who owns over a dozen ShopRite grocery stores in Philadelphia, declared at a campaign rally his stores will stop carrying Coca-Cola products for the duration of the strike. In a revealing statement demonstrating the incestuous relations that exist between the Democratic Party, big business and the union apparatus, Brown declared last week that he and the Teamsters leaders at Local 830 worked side by side for a long time, usually side by side with the owners of the beverage businesses. Brown referred to Local 830s secretary-treasurer Grace as his longtime friend, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. For his part, Grace has said he is stunned and incredibly disappointed in the anti-union stance taken by Liberty Coca-Cola co-owner Fran McGorry, a man Ive known since childhood and considered a friend. Grace was one of the first people McGorry called to help lead a joint effort by the entire regional beverage industry against Philadelphias soda tax, implemented in 2017, which led to job cuts at Liberty Coca-Cola. While the trio of good friends in the offices of Local 830, Liberty Coke and ShopRite have been getting along famously, conditions at the beverage distributor have sharply deteriorated. One review featured on Indeed.com by a driver-merchandiser says, Theyll give you a workload with 14 stops to deliver to all these customer stores by yourself and expect you to finish everything. Terrible equipment. On Glassdoor, one driver-merchandiser wrote, Hard work. Mandatory overtime. Routes that are supposed to be a 2-man route by yourself. Trucks are old. Still another states: Long hours, union sucks, management is the worse [sic] its been [in] years. A lot of employees have FMLA over 50%. No overall retirement. Instead of mobilizing other Teamsters members, the union is shutting down strikes in the same industry. A potential strike among about 100 workers in West Virginia at Coca-Cola Consolidated, the largest bottler in the country, was blocked by Teamsters Local 175. The local has kept workers on the job without a contract despite a unanimous strike authorization by members. The locals president, Ken Hall, said the threatened strike in West Virginia could have become something very large and it is not something that I want to happen. The isolation of the Philadelphia Coca Cola strike is not simply a local union policy but reflects the policy of the Teamsters union more broadly. Teamster President Sean OBrien has met regularly with the White House to update President Biden about the progress of negotiations for the nearly 350,000 Teamsters working at the United Parcel Service whose contract ends in July. OBrien is continuing the role he played in selling out the railroad workers late last year and collaborating with the White House in imposing a management-dictated agreement stripping workers of their right to strike. To win their demands, workers at Liberty Coke must organize independently of the pro-management Teamsters apparatus by organizing a rank-and-file committee to conduct their strike. This committee, democratically run by workers themselves can formulate demands, inform rank-and-file workers and reach out to other Teamster drivers as well as other sections of workers to engage in coordinated struggles. Workers who want more information or would like to share their experiences should contact the World Socialist Web Site. Socialist Equality Group - New Zealand Facebook page. [Photo: WSWS] In a thoroughly anti-democratic decision, Facebook has blocked the ability of the Socialist Equality Group (SEG) in New Zealand to run any ads. The SEG is fighting to build a section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) in New Zealand. Like other political parties and organisations, the SEG has run dozens of paid advertisements for more than seven years via Facebook, to promote public meetings and boost important articles and statements published on the World Socialist Web Site. On April 26, however, Meta Business Suite informed the SEG Facebook page administrator that they are no longer allowed to place advertisements because you didnt comply with one or more of our Advertising policies affecting business assets or other standards, such as having too many ads rejected, attempting to circumvent our ad review process, participating in fraudulent behaviour or associating with untrustworthy accounts. No justification for the ban was given beyond this extremely vague statement. The claims of fraudulent behaviour or failure to comply with Facebooks policies are totally unsubstantiated. The SEGs page quality status shows that there have been zero violations of Facebooks Community Standards by the page. SEG account restricted. [Photo: Facebook] In an apparent attempt to give itself some semblance of justification, Facebook has retrospectively labelled as rejected a number of ads that it, in fact, approved at the time. These include five advertisements during 2021 that were part of the SEGs campaign for justice for the families of the 2010 Pike River mine disaster victims; and two event notices that were boosted before and after the 2020 election, for public meetings that sought to mobilise socialist opposition to the Ardern Labour government. The SEG page administrator requested a review of the decision, and the following day received a new message: After a requested review of your Facebook account, we confirmed that it didnt comply with our Advertising Policies or other standards. You can no longer advertise using Facebook Products. This is our final decision. Asked to clarify the reason for the ban, a Meta Business Support employee informed the administrator (via Messenger): I see that the account is disabled but we do not have [a] specific reason. They added: my hands are tied and I have no option to file an appeal since our system is blocking me [from doing] so for your account since our Specialized Team has made their final decision. It is impossible to contact this Specialized Team. Facebooks action against the SEG is blatant political censorship against the Trotskyist movement in New Zealand. It comes at a time when there is growing opposition to capitalism and imperialist war and increasing interest and support for socialism among workers and young people. It is obvious who stands to benefit. With an election scheduled for October 14, every capitalist party will be advertising heavily on Facebook and other social media. The last thing they want is anything resembling a level playing field in which socialists can make their material widely available to the public. The Labour Party-Greens government is increasingly unpopular and particularly vulnerable to political exposures from the SEGthe only organisation that has consistently opposed Labour from the socialist left. The government has no fundamental differences with the right-wing National Party; Labour is imposing drastic austerity measures in health and education while aligning New Zealand with the US-NATO imperialist war against Russia and the war drive against China. The timing of Facebooks advertising ban suggests that it might have been prompted by the SEGs campaign against the war in Ukraine. The most recent advertisement run by the SEG was for a public meeting held in Wellington on April 4 by its youth organisation, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, titled The War in Ukraine and How to Stop It. Facebook allowed the SEG page to run advertisements for the meeting, but on April 8 suspended its ability to run any more ads. After the pages administrator requested a review of the decision, their ability to advertise was quickly reinstated. Meta for Business said in an email: This review has determined that access to advertising features was incorrectly disabled. Eighteen days later, however, the ban was reimposed without explanation. In the lead-up to the April 4 meeting, the right-wing NAFO (North Atlantic Fellas Organisation) launched a campaign to try to get it cancelled (along with an anti-war meeting held by the IYSSE in Sydney on the same day). This mostly anonymous internet-based group is heavily promoted by the corporate media in the US and Europe. NAFO members agitate on Twitter against anti-war groups and spread propaganda on behalf of the Ukrainian regime and military. NAFO supporters made hundreds of fake online bookings for the New Zealand meeting, and at least one individual contacted Victoria University of Wellington to try to get it cancelled. This raises the question: did Facebook receive any messages from supporters of the US-NATO war demanding that it take action against the SEG? This is not the first time the social media giant has targeted the ICFI. In January 2021, Facebook carried out a sweeping purge of left-wing, anti-war and progressive pages and accounts, including leading members of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States, and the page of the University of Michigan chapter of the IYSSE (UM IYSSE). Facebook reinstated the UM IYSSE account, without explanation, following widespread protests on social media. In March last year, Facebook took down a popular video created by the Socialist Equality Party in Germany, titled No Third World War! Against the Ukraine war, NATO aggression and German rearmament! After thousands of people protested against the videos deletion, it was restored by Facebook a week later. Twitter has engaged in similar actions, last year blocking the account of the SEP in Australia. The ban was reversed after a week, following a campaign by the party and its supporters. The censorship of social media has been heavily promoted by the New Zealand government, especially former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, supposedly to stop violent extremism and hate speech. Arderns Christchurch Call initiative was set up in 2019 to coordinate online censorship efforts internationally with governments and companies, including Meta/Facebook and Twitter. In reality, as the repeated moves against the Trotskyist movement show, the main target of online censorship is socialist and anti-war views. At the United Nations last year, Ardern advocated censoring mis- and disinformation about the war with Russia, i.e., anyone who opposes the US-NATO propaganda campaign aimed at escalating the war. The Socialist Equality Group demands that Facebook immediately lift its unjustified ban on the administrators advertising account. We urge readers to: 1. Send statements demanding an immediate reversal of Facebooks actions against the Socialist Equality Group to info@support.facebook.com and zuckerberg@fb.com. Send copies of your letters to sep.wellington@gmail.com for publication on the World Socialist Web Site. 2. Share this statement as widely as possible with your friends and co-workers and on social media, including Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. Include the hashtag #StopCensoringSocialism. 3. Send us any information that you have on the censorship of left-wing individuals and publications by Facebook or other social media companies so that we can publicise and oppose these attacks. Chicago taxpayers could end up feeling the burn of having to pay for a pair of pension plans that will cost $3 billion if passed by the legislature. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett warned about the expensive price tag on the same day Lightfoot released a "mid-year" budget forecast claiming her administration is leaving Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson with a budget shortfall of $85 million. Bennett, meanwhile, called the companion bills "among the largest pension sweeteners in the history of Illinois," according to the Chicago Sun-Times. ILLINOIS FEDERAL APPEALS JUDGE REVERSES LOWER COURT'S HALT ON WEAPONS BAN "We don't need a bunch of unfunded mandates for pensions," Lightfoot said. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot pauses during her concession speech as her spouse Amy Eshleman applauds during an election night party for the mayoral election, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) Charles Rex Arbogast/AP In one of the bills, the benefits for Chicago firefighters hired after Jan. 1, 2011, would be increased, making the annual cost of living adjustment for those hired in 2011 and onward equal to the full annual increase in the consumer price index. The second bill, meanwhile, would change the final average salary used in calculating a Chicago firefighter's pension. The bills would cost Chicago taxpayers roughly $3 billion through 2055, when a Chicago Firefighters Pension Fund is required to meet a funding ratio of 90%. The two bills are co-sponsored by state Sen. Robert Martwick (D) and state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas (D), the latter of whom will serve as Johnson's deputy chief of staff. Both bills appear to be set to head to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk soon. The Civic Federation, a non-partisan government research organization, has warned the two bills would "jeopardize the hard-won financial stability attained over the last several years" by both the state and city, and that the bills "could potentially result in the reversal of recent bond rating upgrades for both governments," according to a statement from the organization. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER "For the city of Chicago and other local governments, this could lead to large property tax increases, further burdening homeowners and businesses as Illinois enters into a recession," the organization's statement read. Lightfoot's warning on the two bills comes a little more than a week before she will leave the office of mayor after losing reelection in February. Johnson's inauguration is scheduled for May 15, according to ABC7. Original Location: Chicago officials slam firefighter pension plan they say will cost $3 billion Washington Examiner Videos Canada's Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre responded Friday to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accusing him of not being "woke" enough. Trudeau made the comment not in Poilievre's presence but at the Liberal Party convention in Ottowa Thursday. The prime minister promised to run in the next election in front of 3,500 party members. Speaking to an audience that included former United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Trudeau poked fun at Poilievre's dislike of the network CBC and support of cryptocurrency. JUSTIN TRUDEAU IS TRYING TO CONTROL WHAT CANADIANS SEE ON THE INTERNET "Pierre Poilievre's populism, his slogans, and buzzwords are not serious solutions to the serious challenges we're facing," Trudeau said. "Too woke? Hey, Pierre Poilievre, it's time for you to wake up." "Justin, you're right: I'm not woke," Poilievre responded in a Twitter video. "But I am common sense, and I will bring home a country that works for the people who actually do the work." Poilievre criticized Trudeau for preaching about climate change while flying private jets, refusing to debate him, and wanting to ban hunting rifles while legalizing drugs such as cocaine and heroin. The conservative parliamentarian recited the list off of the top of his head while riding in a car on his way to Newfoundland. He went on to promise that his own party will provide lower costs by abolishing the carbon tax, more domestic jobs over outsourcing, more jail time over bail options for criminals, and removing censorship laws. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER "Justin, I know that all of these ideas are foreign to you. In fact, Canada must feel foreign to you with all the time you spend abroad," Poilievre said. "I understand you're once again wheels up far away while I'm on the ground here in Newfoundland, about to meet with some loggers." Trudeau governs with a Parliament that includes 158 liberal parliamentarians, just short of the 170-member majority, while 119 seats have gone to the opposition party. Original Location: Conservative Party leader blasts Trudeau for saying he's not 'woke enough' Washington Examiner Videos A professor of environmental science specializing in Native American issues apologized this week for "incorrectly identifying" as Native American for years, joining a list of white women who have feigned membership in a different racial or ethnic group. The fringe trend has, in some cases, appeared to be attempts to take advantage of affirmative action, while others have used their adopted ethnicity to achieve certain social statuses. WHITE UC BERKELEY PROFESSOR ADMITS SHE 'INCORRECTLY IDENTIFIED' AS NATIVE AMERICAN Here are five white women who have claimed to belong to a different ethnic group: Rachel Dolezal In this March 20, 2017 photo, Nkechi Diallo, then known as Rachel Dolezal, poses for a photo in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios) In 2015, Rachel Dolezal was forced to resign from her position as the president of the Spokane, Washington, chapter of the NAACP. Her resignation came after media outlets reported that, while she presented herself as a black woman, Dolezal was in fact born to two white parents. Dolezal, who has since changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo, claimed that she identified as black and has defended herself since her high-profile fall from grace. In a 2017 interview with the Guardian, Dolezal said she believed racial identity was more fluid than gender identity. "I feel that I was born with the essential essence of who I am, whether it matches my anatomy and complexion or not," Dolezal told the outlet. "I've never questioned being a girl or woman, for example, but whiteness has always felt foreign to me for as long as I can remember. I didn't choose to feel this way or be this way; I just am. What other choice is there than to be exactly who we are?" Elizabeth Warren Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs hearing on oversight of the credit reporting agencies at Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 27, 2023, (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Jose Luis Magana/AP Massachusetts's Democratic senior senator, Elizabeth Warren, was dogged by accusations that her claims of Cherokee ancestry were fraudulent. For nearly 10 years, Warren was identified as Native American in a directory for the Association of American Law Schools while a professor at Harvard Law School. Warren repeatedly defended her claims of Native American ancestry but eventually apologized in 2019 after a DNA test revealed she had little, if any, Native American blood. The controversy prompted then-President Donald Trump to tab her with the nickname "Pocahontas" as Warren sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Hillary 'Hilaria' Baldwin West Side Story Spielberg Greg Allen/Greg Allen/Invision/AP The wife of actor Alec Baldwin employed a Spanish accent for years, claiming that the Iberian nation was her native home before it was revealed that she was actually from Boston and that she had been faking the accent. Hilaria Baldwin defended herself, saying she would not apologize and that she "grew up with two cultures" and spoke two languages. "I care because my thing is about being authentic and then if people say I'm not being authentic, it hurts my feelings. I don't really understand why it's turning into such a big thing," she said in 2020 when her true background was revealed. "I'm getting attacked for being who I am people wanting to label me Spanish or American. Can't it be both?" Carrie Bourassa A professor of community health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, Carrie Bourassa resigned from her position last year after a 2021 report from CBC revealed that she was likely 100% European despite claiming indigenous ancestry. Bourassa had claimed to be a member of the Metis, Anishinaabe, and Tlingit peoples, three indigenous groups from Canada. She used the name "Morning Star Bear" when introducing herself at a 2019 TEDx talk. Elizabeth Hoover The newest member of the misrepresented ethnicity club, University of California, Berkeley environmental science professor Elizabeth Hoover issued a lengthy apology this week for "incorrectly identifying" as Native American. Hoover's research at the California university centered on "Native American environmental health." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Hoover said she "uncritically" accepted as fact stories she was told by her family that she had Native American ancestry and that she should have properly researched her ancestors and confirmed the stories she had been told. "I have brought hurt, harm, and broken trust to the Native community at large, and to specific Native communities I have worked with and lived alongside, and for that, I am deeply sorry," Hoover wrote in a lengthy apology statement posted on her website. Original Location: Five white women who lied about their ancestry Washington Examiner Videos Former North Carolina GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn pleaded guilty to taking a loaded handgun through the Transportation Security Agency's checkpoint at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, his attorney said Friday. Cawthorn, who was expected to start trial for the third-degree misdemeanor charge on Friday, was fined $250. The firearm will be returned to him, his attorney, Missy Owens, told CNN. The charge was possession of a dangerous weapon on city property. ILLINOIS FEDERAL APPEALS JUDGE REVERSES LOWER COURT'S HALT ON WEAPONS BAN Madison Cawthorn. Nell Redmond/AP "Mr. Cawthorn accepted responsibility for this mistake. Law enforcement noted his cooperative attitude at every step," Owens said. "He chose to resolve this case in a manner that would ensure his uninterrupted right to possess a firearm. He remains staunchly committed to responsible gun ownership." The incident occurred last year. Airport security detected a handgun in Cawthorn's carry-on luggage. It was the second gun-related incident at an airport for Cawthorn, who also brought an empty handgun to an airport in February 2021. However, he claimed the first incident was a mistake and was never charged. Prosecutors wanted Cawthorn's gun permanently confiscated over last year's incident, but Mecklenburg County District Court Judge Cecilia Oseguera said she did not see a reason for the confiscation or anything in the charge that would require him to lose the 9 mm handgun. "I'm very happy and thankful that the judge gave a really clear ruling that sides with the law," Cawthorn told reporters. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Cawthorn was first elected to Congress in 2020 to represent North Carolina's 10th Congressional District, but he lost his bid for reelection during the 2022 midterm elections. Cawthorn was seen as a controversial congressman who was a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Cawthorn. During his term in office, he faced an ethics investigation and was rebuked for claiming he was invited to an orgy in the nation's capital. He also claimed to have witnessed some lawmakers snorting cocaine. Original Location: Former GOP congressman Madison Cawthorn pleads guilty to gun charge Washington Examiner Videos Cryptocurrency company Binance is undergoing an investigation from the Department of Justice over possible transactions in Russia. The investigation, reported by Bloomberg, cited five sources close to the situation. Its scope includes Russian transactions that may have skirted U.S. sanctions that came about amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There is also a possibility, per the report, that Binance did not facilitate the transactions, but an employee assisted Russia in avoiding sanctions. BITCOIN POPS AND CONTINUES 2023 GAINS AS BANKING SECTOR STRUGGLES WITH SVB FAILURE "In 2021, Binance launched an initiative to completely overhaul its corporate governance structure, including bringing in a world-class bench of seasoned executives to fundamentally change how Binance operates globally," Binance said in a statement to the outlet. "Our policy imposes a zero-tolerance approach to double registrations, anonymous identities, and obscure sources of money." FILE - Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao answers a question during a Zoom meeting interview with The Associated Press on Nov. 16, 2021. AP CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The FBI completed "very significant seizures" of Russian cryptocurrency in March 2022 after the country "overestimated" its ability to circumvent sanctions, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray at the time. Binance did not respond to the Washington Examiner's request for comment. Original Location: Justice Department to probe Binance over alleged ties to Russia: Report Washington Examiner Videos So cute! Meghan Markle and Prince Harry welcomed their first royal baby, a son named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, in May 2019. We are pleased to announce that Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their firstborn child in the early morning on May 6th, 2019, the pair wrote on Instagram. Their Royal Highnesses son weighs 7lbs. 3oz. The duchess and baby are both healthy and well, and the couple thank members of the public for their shared excitement and support during this very special time in their lives. More details will be shared in the forthcoming days. That same day, the Duke of Sussex spoke to members of the press outside of Windsor Castle about his wife and newborn. Meghan and myself had a baby boy early this morning a very healthy boy, Harry said. Mother and baby are doing incredibly well. This has been the most amazing experience I could possibly imagine. How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension. But we are both absolutely thrilled and so grateful for all the love and support from everyone out there. Its been amazing. So we just wanted to share this with everybody. He added: I havent been in many births. This is definitely my first birth. It was amazing, absolutely incredible. As I said, I am so incredibly proud of my wife and as every father and parent would ever say, your baby is absolutely amazing, but this little thing is absolutely to die for, so Im just over the moon. When he and the Suits alum brought their baby out for his royal debut that same month the former actress gushed about their son. He has the sweetest temperament, she told members of the press inside Windsor Castle. Hes really calm. Hes been the dream, so its been a special couple of days. The Los Angeles native called motherhood magic and went on to say, Its pretty amazing and I have the two best guys in the world, so Im really happy. In January 2020, the couple announced their decision to step back from their senior duties as members of the royal family. They moved to Los Angeles after spending some time with their son in Canada. The couple welcomed their second child, daughter Lili, in June 2021. Story continues In April 2022, the Duke of Sussex called his growing toddler cheeky in a Today interview, adding, I always try and keep that. I think that the cheekiness is something that keeps you alive. The former military pilot went on to joke about the challenges of raising a family amid a pandemic, explaining, "Its really hard to separate the work from [the kids] because they kind of overlap. Its really hard, I mean, Archie spends more time interrupting our Zoom calls. But he gets us off them, as well, so thats a nice thing. The parents also said they make sure to keep Grandma Dianas memory alive as a constant presence in their son's life. [We] very much so [talk about her], Harry said at the time. I dont tell him all the stuff that happened but certainly, This is Grandma Diana. Weve got pictures up in the house. After King Charles III ascended the throne upon Queen Elizabeth IIs death in September 2022, Archie and his little sister, Lilibet, became eligible to use the titles of the Prince and Princess of Sussex, respectively. In March 2023, Us confirmed that their new titles would be reflected on the official royal website. As Charles geared up for his coronation in May 2023, his youngest grandson was celebrating his birthday at home. (Archie turned 4 on the day of Charles and Queen Camillas big event.) As much as Meghan appreciates the invite to the coronation, she wouldnt miss her sons birthday for the world, an insider exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2023. Despite being the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan is a mom first. 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! Keep scrolling to see sweet pics of Archie: May 5 has been nationally recognized as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons and holds a significant focus on violence against Indigenous women and girls. Every year since 2021, President Joe Biden has signed a proclamation acknowledging this day, but getting recognition on a national scale has taken Indigenous communities years of awareness efforts and constant pressure for change. The U.S. Senate signed a resolution in 2017 that designated this day as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. This significant day spreads awareness about the epidemic of violence facing Indigenous persons in Canada and the United States with countless stories of missing women and underreported numbers. The Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates there are approximately 4,200 missing and murdered cases that have gone unsolved across the U.S., but data from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System only shows that 793 unsolved cases of missing Native American people have been recorded as of December 2022. When it comes to the numbers of those missing and murdered within the state, Arizona State University data shows the killing of Indigenous women and girls has been increasing over the past 40 years. At least 160 Indigenous females were known to police to be murdered between 1976 and 2018 in Arizona, according to previous reporting from The Arizona Republic. Here are some resources to learn more about these missing individuals on this nationally recognized day. The FBI's master list of individuals who are missing or wanted individuals in Indian Country dates back to the 1980s up to present day. The FBI asks that if you have any information concerning any of these cases, to contact your local FBI office, or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. In April, the Navajo Police Department updated the Navajo Nation missing persons poster. Approximately 82 people are missing in the Navajo Nation, including 24 women and 58 men dating back to the 1970s. Story continues In 2022, the FBI in New Mexico released the names of 170 missing Indigenous people in an attempt to locate them and to encourage families to report their missing loved ones. Missing & Murdered Dine Relatives Facebook group serves as a public forum to post updates regarding ongoing cases and functions as a task force to raise awareness. The Navajo Nation Missing Persons Updates Facebook group is a volunteer grassroots group that spreads awareness about new and ongoing cases of missing individuals from the Navajo Nation. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA Facebook group is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping with cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and providing support for families nationwide. The group focuses on bringing missing people home, but also aims to support and help the families of those murdered cope. In a broader sense, the group hopes to raise awareness and eradicate this issue from future Indigenous generations. 'We need allies': More than 500 walk through Phoenix to remember missing Indigenous people This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Resources for open cases on missing, murdered Indigenous people day Nearly a year and a half after we lost the great David Surette, his storied annual mandolin festival has been newly minted the David Surette Mandolin Festival in its 20th year of existence. Split between two locations, Concord and Kittery, this years festivities which take place May 5-7 will include four performer/instructors (Steve Roy, Marla Fibish, Skip Gorman, and Keith Murphy), along with Surettes widow, Susie Burke, and daughters Isa and Julianna. Seacoastonline sat down with Susie Burke to talk about the importance of keeping Davids spirit (and festival) alive and all the emotions that went in to planning this 20th annual celebration. Seacoastonline: The Mandolin Festival is back! This year marks the 20th annual rendition of the fest. To mark the occasion, youve rebranded it slightly. Tell us about the new name. Burke: My husband David Surette started this festival in 2003. We lost him on December 18, 2021, after six years with cancer. Our daughter Isa suggested we rename it the David Surette Mandolin Festival to honor her dad. Our daughter Julianna and I loved the idea, as did the folks at Concord (New Hampshire) Community Music School, the main venue for the event and where David taught for 30 years. David Surette, who died in 2021, started the festival named in 2023 in his honor: David Surette Mandolin Festival, Seacoastonline: What was Davids goal for this festival at the outset? Do you remember? What was your initial reaction? An entire fest built around the mandolin seems crazy, but here we are, 20 years later Burke: It was his love of the mandolin that drove the idea for the festival. When he was in college, David lived with his good friends John and Eric, and they all played guitar. David picked up the mandolin so they could expand their musical sound and groove, and he just took to it like crazy. With the festival, he wanted to bring folks together to celebrate this fantastic, versatile instrument. He loved the mandolin, loved all the things you can do with it, all the places you find it in music. I was all for the idea, as I recall! David always included me, and I performed at the festivals with him. There are other mandolin festivals around the country, too. Like so many things in life, when you dig into something, you find that there's a whole world devoted to it. Story continues Seacoastonline: Tell us about the emotion(s) that go into planning this event without the guise of David seeing things through? Is it challenging? Fun? Maddening? Draining? All of the above? Burke: Well, as you know, Chris, David and I were together for 35 years (it may be more, our daughters were asking me for an exact date recently!). We played music together, lived together, had two babies together. And he was my best pal, and I miss him so much. Working on this project means I am digging into music, photos, hundreds of files of his notes and feedback on the festivals, so it brings up so many points at which I miss David, and I am reminded of what we all lost. But that also means I am appreciating even more all that went into putting this gathering on, and how much hard work and love and good energy David poured into it. He had so much music in him and so much yet to give. So, there's been a lot of tears. But it is all being done with great love. An ode to late David Surette from 2021: Seacoast music scene mourns one of its biggest inspirations Seacoastonline: Why is it important to you to keep the festival going? How did you come to the decision to plod forward with it? Burke: It really is one of those things where there wasn't a decision-making process it just had to happen. We just could not let this festival burn out. Out of David's many musical endeavors, the festival was one of his favorite things. No sooner was the festival over, he would be thinking about the next year. the next roster of teachers, etc. David started a beautiful, meaningful gathering, and it is important to us to keep his musical accomplishments and gifts alive. I and the girls, and all of us involved, really, feel a responsibility to do this as well as we can without him, which is no easy feat. It will be very emotional for everyone to be there without David. He built a great community of players and teachers who all just loved him. As Will Patton, a great player from Vermont, said, David was the Zen shepherd of the mandolin festival and it is true calm, steady, encouraging, kind, and full of great humor. We will all do our best to fill his shoes. And something really lovely about this event is that we all create it together organizers, teacher/performers, and festival goers. Mandolin Fest Instructors Steve Roy, Marla Fibish, Skip Gorman, and Keith Murphy Seacoastonline: Has anything changed about the format or are things relatively the same? Fill folks in on what this festival entails. Burke: It really is a pretty smooth format at this point, so it will be as it has been; a Seacoast concert in Kittery, and then two days of workshops and a Saturday night concert at the school in Concord. And I want to give a shout-out to Peggy Senter, now-retired, who founded the school and hired David back in '92, and to all the folks at CCMS who work on this event and are carrying it forward. It is a beautiful thing, too, that some of David's former students and mentees are now teachers at the school Liz and Dan Faiella, Audrey Budington, Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki mentoring others. Seacoastonline: Who is contributing/performing this year? What were their reactions/responses in being asked to help carry Davids spirit along by participating? Burke: The four musicians immediately said yes, and I think they were pleased to be asked. It is a group of fabulous players who are also great teachers, which is really key. And they are great folks, too! We have Marla Fibish coming in from California. She is a beautiful player, of Irish music and her own lush original pieces. Vermonter Keith Murphy, originally from Newfoundland, has a lot of traditional songs and tunes of Eastern Canada and gorgeous originals. Skip Gorman of New Hampshire is one of the best Bill Monroe-style bluegrass mandolinists around and is a great fiddler as well. He recently did a double CD project, Celtic Fiddle Rambles, that he dedicated to David. Seacoast folks know local hero Steve Roy and his bluegrass and old-time playing, and from Old Hat String Band and from Steve and Dave Play Dead, the duo he had with David. Isa and Julianna and I will play at both concerts. And doing music with my girls is something I absolutely cherish. Seacoastonline: I love that you, Julianna, and Isa are all involved in this. Im sure it helps to have the family in tow to help navigate this thing. Burke: Isa and Jules were all in from the beginning, wanting to honor their dad and keep Mando Fest going. We have worked right alongside each other on this, and emotionally, it is so meaningful for us. Can't imagine doing it without them, especially this first year. And for me, having their technical skills has been a huge help, as it is not my forte! Seacoastonline: Ive always wondered why the festival occurs in both Concord and Kittery (the latter has been interchangeable with other towns in years past). Is this by design? Do you recall what Davids thinking was when he initially went this route? Burke: I think because we live here and are part of the Seacoast community, David wanted to have a local piece to the event. Also, when you get people coming from various places Colorado, Mississippi, Italy, wherever you want to make the most of it and play! It also gets those performers in front of a different audience. We are excited to be doing it at The Dance Hall in Kittery, a great venue. Seacoastonline: What excites you about this years festivities? What can folks expect? Im sure David is super excited, looking down and eagerly awaiting the dates! Burke: I think so, too, I think David is with us and is delighted and humbled at us carrying on. The David Surette Mandolin Festival will take place May 5-7, 2023. Folks can expect a great showcase of the mandolin's diversity. There will be some collaborations among the musicians which is always a big treat. People can expect to feel good, which we all need! I am excited just at the prospect of this continuing, of seeing folks who have come to so many past festival events and of welcoming in new folks and coming together to honor our beloved David and the small but mighty instrument he loved so much. For more information visit: www.thedancehallkittery.org and/or ccmusicschool.org. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: David Surette Mandolin Festival will be emotional [Source] A Florida bill banning Chinese citizens from owning land in the state has passed the Florida Legislature and will head to Gov. Ron Desantis to be signed into law. Bill SB 264, titled "SB 264: Interests of Foreign Countries," prohibits Chinese citizens from purchasing or acquiring real property in Florida or having more than a small indirect interest in such real property. The priority bill had bipartisan support from the state's legislators, who cited national security concerns for its passage. The bill passed the House with a 95-17 vote and the Senate with a 31-8 vote. A previous version of bill SB 264, which was filed in March and then amended by the House, restricted citizens from foreign adversaries from purchasing land. Foreign adversaries were defined as China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria. More from NextShark: S. Korean President Yoon proposes new ministry to protect Korean Americans from hate crimes One part of the amendment included an exception for Chinese visa holders, who are permitted to be in ownership of one home as long as they are registered with a state agency. DeSantis has expressed opposition to Chinese purchases of state land. Last year, he described residential real estate ownership by Chinese entities as a "huge problem" in an appearance on Fox News. More from NextShark: Sisters Visiting Parents in Illinois Pass Away After Car Crash At an unrelated press conference in January, DeSantis said, "If you look at the Chinese Communist Party, they've been very active throughout the Western Hemisphere in gobbling up land. That is not in the best interests of Florida to have the Chinese Communist Party owning farmland, owning land close to military bases." However, the bill has been met with opposition, with Chinese Americans gathering outside the Florida Capital to chant "Florida is our home" in protest of the bill on Saturday. And during a committee last month, over 100 people spoke out against the bill, expressing concern that the legislation would lead to racial profiling and discrimination. If passed, the bill would see realtors be subject to civil or criminal liability if they have "actual knowledge" of a transaction's illegality. Story continues More from NextShark: School district in Wisconsin to make Hmong, AAPI history part of curriculum Opponents have also argued that the bill violates the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home or engaging in other housing-related activities. The act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex and more. Florida is not the first state to pass a bill that bars Chinese ownership of land. In late March, South Carolinas senate passed a bill preventing alien land ownership. More from NextShark: Rosalyn Tang becomes first Asian American, youngest woman appointed to Maryland Court of Special Appeals Eleven other states have also considered legislation or taken legislative action regarding Chinese land ownership. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Courtesy of the Andrews Family Former U.S. Marine Cooper Harris Andrews, 26, died trying to help Ukrainians save their countrya final act of a life laser-focused on helping people, according to his family. He was a see something do something person, his mother, Willow Andrews, told The Daily Beast. His motivation to fight with Ukraine through the Foreign Legion was no different, she said. Cooper did what Cooper thought was the status quo in treating each other and people well, his mother told The Daily Beast. We look at it like Cooper went above and beyond. But in Coopers eyes, Cooper did what Cooper did because this was what we all should be doing. This is like the bare minimum that we should be doing. Cooper was killed by a mortar attack in April near Bakhmut, his mother said. Russian forces have been trying and failing for months to seize Bakhmut, while Ukrainian forces prepare for a spring or summer counteroffensive, according to U.S. intelligence. When reached for comment about his death, the State Department confirmed his death, but declined to elaborate on the circumstances. Two American Citizens Killed Fighting in Ukraine As his family works to piece together what happened to him in the war-torn country, already, Willow has been able to video call some of his colleagues in Ukraine to sort through his personal effects from afar. Social media posts indicate that Cooper was a member of Popular Front, a grassroots organization. He joined forces with the Foreign Legion in Ukraine, a group of foreign nationals helping Ukrainians fight, and decided to stay in Ukraine after his contract ended, according to his mother. She told The Daily Beast that Andrews was killed on The Road of Life, a key route Ukrainians have used to evacuate civilians, roughly a month after his 26th birthday. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Courtesy of the Andrews Family He was supposed to be home by the end of March, Willow said. They were trying to get people to safety and they were under fire. And he did not survive. Looking through his personal belongings has provided some emotional moments, with some tearsand even some moments of light-heartednessshe told The Daily Beast. Story continues Peanut butter, for example, is one thing she never expected to bawl over. Cooper never liked peanut butter. They found a packet of peanut butter in his backpack, Willow Andrews said. I just laughed and started crying my eyes out that Cooper had peanut butter, which I understandprotein and everythingbut Im like, oh, Cooper had peanut butter. His mother has decided to donate some of his other belongings left behind to the Foreign Legion, including a small stove and a raincoat, she said. As anyone who has lost a loved one will understand, his mother is hoping to bring his other clothes home to smell him and remember him by. Americans have been jumping into Ukraine to try to help Ukrainian fighters defend their territory against Russian takeover since the beginning of the war. Several other Americans have died trying, including another former Marine, Grady Kurpasi. Cooper originally went to Ukraine in November in the hopes of fighting off Russian fascism, his mother said. What really motivated Cooper to try and help Ukraine was the stories he heard about what Russians were doing to upend Ukrainian childrens lives, his mother said, recalling numerous conversations with Cooper about the impact of war on children. The news coming out of Ukraine wasnt just about operational or battlefield updates, like where battles were happening or which country sent which arms, but about the real atrocities being committed in Russia, she said. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Courtesy of the Andrews Family The stories we were getting werent just based on war, they were based on actual people, she said. He found that disturbing because he wanted to help the peoplenot fight in a war, but help the people and do his part any way he could. We would have conversations like, Did you see what happened to the kids? Can you believe, this is whats happening to the kids? Willow said. He was really disturbed what was happening to the children in Ukraine especially. Coopy His desire to jump in the fray in Ukraine reflects the same sense of urgency he applied to his work as a Marine and in volunteering throughout his life. He joined the Marines because he wanted to be involved in humanitarian relief efforts, Andrews said. He volunteered in Ohio, working to provide kids food in the summertime when school meals dried up, his mom said. He just thought the Marines was more people-oriented I think part of it is they send the marines in for humanitarian efforts. He was very much into humanitarian things, she said. He looked at it in terms of, he could go someplace [and] show America doing humanitarian things. Its one of the reasons he chose the Marine Corps. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Courtesy of the Andrews Family Cooper maintained his sense of humor throughout his time in Ukraine, his family told The Daily Beast. His cousin, who is also named Willow, said Cooper was constantly sending memes to a group chat she was in with other cousins. While volunteering in the war, he adopted the nickname Harris, which his colleagues began calling him since he used to use Harris communications systems that he didnt have in Ukraine. His mother said she never really adopted the nickname, but continued to call him Coopy. As for the road ahead, his family is working with his friends and fellow volunteers in Ohio to raise funds to keep his volunteer work going in his absence. In the meantime, the family is still working to get Coopers belongings to the embassy in Kyiv, his mother said. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv did not respond to a request for comment. 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. As Britain prepares to officially crown its first monarch over 70 years in a lavish ceremony Saturday, some citizens in its former and current territories are calling on King Charles III to publicly acknowledge the United Kingdoms role in the atrocities against enslaved Africans and its oppression of indigenous people. The push for what has been called reparative justice, including an apology for slavery, comes as several British descendants of slaveowners, including a cousin of the monarch, also call on the U.K. to atone over its involvement in the slave trade and as yet another former colony, Belize, signals its intentions to sever ties with the royal family. In 2021 Barbados dropped Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state, and shortly after Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced plans to cut ties and become a republic. In March, Holness, who wont be attending Saturdays coronation at Westminster Abbey, unveiled a 14-member Constitutional Reform Committee that will be guiding the Caribbean nation through its transition. Marlene Malahoo Forte, the minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs who is co-chair of the committee, said on radio this week that the move from a constitutional monarchy to a republic is to make sure that whoever ultimately exercises the highest authority in Jamaica is a Jamaican person, loyal to no other country but Jamaica. Now as Charles prepares to preside even if only in ceremonial fashion over a small number of realms than his late mother did, he is facing increased calls to repair relations and acknowledge the past. There is no honor in this crown. It is tainted with the blood of indigenous nations on which he now sits upon, Rawiri Waititi, co-leader of the Te Pati Maori (Maori Party) in New Zealand said. The harm caused by the crown is now inter-generational and irreparable. Waititi, speaking at a press conference by Zoom on Thursday, is among several activists representing a dozen countries where the British monarch is head of state. They came together ahead of Saturdays coronation to express their dismay over Britains refusal to apologize for slavery and compensate its former colonies. Story continues Britain abolished slavery in 1833, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in its colonies in Africa and the Caribbean. But under the Slavery Compensation Act of 1837, the formerly enslaved themselves received nothing. Former slave owners, however, were compensated for their loss of human property. The advocates on Thursdays call, hailed from Antigua and Barbuda, New Zealand, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They have begun a Change.org petition demanding that King Charles III formally apologize for acts of genocide and colonization by the royal family. By late Friday afternoon, the petition had already amassed more than 2,000 of the 2,500 signatures it seeks. The petition also asks for the return of cultural treasure and artifacts that were stolen and are currently housed in European museums and institutions. King Charles III (centre) poses with commonwealth leaders attending his coronation during a reception at Marlborough House, London. Picture date: Friday May 5, 2023. Terry Teegee of Canada, who was on the call, said the coronation presents a historical opportunity for King Charles to reset the relationships with the indigenous people within the commonwealth and acknowledge this long terrible history of genocide, genocide that weve all experienced within many of our respective countries. Teegee said he and others want to compel the king to state that he wants to be on the right side of history; to repatriate our ancient artifacts, to repatriate our people, to denounce the old doctrines and perhaps repatriations to our indigenous people in our respective countries. Niambi Hall Campbell-Dean, chair of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee, said the horrors began with the transAtlantic slave trade and continued with the underdevelopment of colonization. And although we will celebrate our 50th year of independence in July, the vestiges of this history continue to display its dire consequences, she said. Invoking the words of the late Bahamian musician and playwright Tony Exuma McKay, she said: We demand that King Charles, now, pay me for my blood in the water; pay me for my son and my daughter; pay me for my brothers and sisters; pay me for all of my dead; pay me for the blood that you shed; pay me what you owe me. I come to collect everything that you owe me. Reparations now. Rosalea Hamilton, who is co-chair of the Jamaica-based Advocates Network and helped organized the conference, said that the groups work, which focuses on governance and human rights, is steeped in the institutional legacies of slavery and colonization. We grapple today with gender-base violence and child abuse. Legacies of decades of inhumane treatment, of our people. We inherited an unequal education system... poverty, landlessness, 20% of our population living in squatting communities. We still struggle today with rights to our beach because of colonial laws. A number of issues are coming to a head as we move toward a republic, added Hamilton, a huge advocate for cutting ties with the monarch and one of the organizers of the press conference. Hamilton noted that the people of the Caribbean, as well as those in indigenous communities across the globe, have a shared experience of exploitation and crimes against humanity. Last month, British Labour Party politicians Clive Lewis and Dawn Butler called on the U.K. to enter meaningful negotiations with the realms former Caribbean colonies and pay reparations to mitigate the impact of slavery. However, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has dismissed the calls for an apology. He addressed the issue last week after he was challenged by Labour Party lawmaker Bell Ribeiro-Addy. Ribeiro-Addy, whose parents are from Ghana, said that it had been 23 years since the late British politician Bernie Grant asked for an apology over slavery. Since then, she said, former prime ministers and heads of state had only ever expressed sorrow or deep regret. There has been no acknowledgment of the wealth that has been amassed or the fact that our country took out the largest loan it ever has, to pay off the slave owners, and not the enslaved, Ribeiro-Addy said. Sunak, whose parents are from India, another former British colony, responded that trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward. Following Sunaks declaration, Belize Prime Minister Johnny Briceno announced that his Central American nation, which is part of the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc known as CARICOM, will quite likely cut ties to the United Kingdom and become a republic. Briceno has a constitutional commission which is providing feedback on a number of reforms, including becoming a republic. In an interview with The Guardian, Briceno said the British government has a moral responsibility to apologize for slavery and that Sunak has should have a better appreciation for the need to do so given his ancestry. When you read and hear about the plundering that took place in the land of his ancestors, Briceno said, I do believe that he should have offered an apology. [Source] Yong Hye-in, a member of South Koreas Basic Income Party, held a press conference on the eve of Childrens Day with her 2-year-old son in her arms to denounce "no kids" policies in the country. During her speech at the National Assembly in Seoul, Yong commented on the need for a society where children and parents do not feel alienated in public facilities. Everyday life with children is not easy, she confessed. Even so, our society must be reborn into one where children are included. What a photo. In S.Korea, a growing number of venues like cafes, casual bistros, or even public libraries ban children under the "no kids" banner, supposedly not to inconvenience other patrons. One MP criticized the "exclusionary" practice in a presser, with her toddler in tow. pic.twitter.com/NB0Ate088Y More from NextShark: Why Chess Genius Wesley So is Representing the US and Not the Philippines Hawon Jung (@allyjung) May 4, 2023 Around a decade ago in South Korea, banners and signs bearing the message No Kids began to appear in various public places, such as restaurants, cafes and libraries. More from NextShark: 71-Year-Old Man Targeted for Carjacking in Chicago's Chinatown This was reportedly in response to complaints posted in online forums regarding noisy and disruptive children. According to The National Library of Koreas official website, visitors under the age of 16 are not allowed to enter the premises unless they have obtained permission through an application. This rule was reportedly implemented to protect materials from damage or theft. In response to such measures, Yong explained, All of us were children at one point, and in the first moments of our lives, we were slow and clumsy. Lets create a society where the slow, clumsy, and immature are accepted. Story continues More from NextShark: Thai man arrested after promoting crystal meth as skin brightener on TikTok Prior to having a child, Yong explained she was not able to recognize the prevalence of the no kids zones. However, once she became a mother, she realized that all of the cafes and restaurants she wanted to go to were off-limits to her and her son, she said. Yong also mentioned Japans fast-track policy, which gives priority to children and parents for entry into public museums, galleries and parks. Unlike Korea, Japan has implemented measures to make it easier for families with children to access places of learning. More from NextShark: Hybe issues statement on who will front the bill for upcoming free BTS concert in Busan We need to make 'No Kids Korea' into 'First Kids Korea', she asserted. During the press conference, Yongs son often moved around and pulled the camera and microphone, causing some delays in the event. Although I have been to numerous press conferences, today I was more nervous than ever, Yong shared on Facebook after the event. Because being accompanied by a child always requires a lot of courage. She also added, I hope that todays somewhat uncomfortable and noisy press conference can help us recognize that we can live a life where children can be included. By Mark Trevelyan (Reuters) -A prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was wounded in a car bombing that killed his driver on Saturday and investigators said a detained suspect admitted acting on behalf of Ukraine. The attack took place three days after the Kremlin said Ukraine attempted to hit the Kremlin with drones - Ukraine denied it had anything to do with the attack. Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine and the Western states backing it, particularly the United States, for the latest attack on the writer, an ardent proponent of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine. Ukraine's security services, in its standard response, refused to confirm or deny involvement. A senior Ukrainian official accused Russia of staging the incident. Russia's state Investigative Committee said Prilepin's Audi Q7 was blown up in a village in Nizny Novgorod region, about 400 km (250 miles) east of Moscow, which it was treating as an act of terrorism. It said Prilepin had been taken to hospital. The committee released a photograph showing the white vehicle lying overturned on a track next to a wood, with a deep crater beside it and pieces of metal strewn nearby. The committee later issued a statement saying investigators were questioning a suspect identified as Alexander Permyakov. "The suspect was detained and, in the course of questioning, he provided testimony that he acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services," said the statement, read by a woman in uniform. The governor of Nizhny Novgorod region, Gleb Nikitin, said on Telegram that doctors had successfully operated on Prilepin and that he was now under sedation to help his recovery. Russia's Foreign Ministry, in a statement on its website said: "Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with Ukrainian authorities, but also their Western patrons, the United States in the first instance...". It said Washington's failure to denounce this and other attacks was "self-revealing" for the U.S. administration. State news agency TASS quoted security sources as saying the suspect was a "native of Ukraine" with a past conviction for robbery with violence. Ukraine's SBU Security Service issued its standard response of declining to confirm or deny involvement in the bombing. Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he believed Russian authorities had staged the attack. "Everyone understands that this is all a staged performance," Podolyak told Ukrainian television. "This is staged and the bombings at the Kremlin are aimed at domestic audiences." The novelist was the third prominent pro-war figure to be targeted by a bomb since Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the deaths of journalist Darya Dugina and war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in the two previous attacks, and Kyiv has denied involvement. Ukrainian news site UNIAN ran an online poll asking readers who "in the pantheon of Russian scum propagandists" should be targeted next after Dugina, Tatarsky and Prilepin. Officials at the White House, Pentagon and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. No comment was immediately available from Britain's Foreign Office. MOSCOW SAYS UKRAINE ACTING ON WEST'S BEHALF It was the second time this week that Moscow has accused Ukraine of carrying out terrorist attacks on behalf of the West, a narrative it appears to be pushing with increasing urgency but which Kyiv and Washington reject as baseless. On Wednesday, Russia accused Ukraine of trying to kill President Vladimir Putin with a night-time drone attack on the Kremlin. Ukraine denied that too, and the White House said accusations that Washington had a hand in it were "lies". Prilepin often speaks out in support of the Ukraine war on social media, with more than 300,000 followers on Telegram and his own website and YouTube channel. He fought for Russian proxy forces in eastern Ukraines Donbas region before last year's invasion and led a military unit there, boasting in a 2019 YouTube interview that his unit "killed people in big numbers". "These people are dead, they are buried and ... there are many of them," he said. "Not a single unit among the Donetsk battalions had such results. It was outrageous chaos what we did there ... Not a single field commander had such results as I had." (Additional reporting by Olena Harmash in Kyiv; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Ron Popeski and Daniel Wallis) Rebelde reboot In 2022, Netflix rebooted Rebelde as a new and more modern TV series adaptation of the hit Mexican telenovela. This new Rebelde reboot featured a queer character, Luka Colucci, played by actor Franco Masini. In the story, Luka was showcased as a snobby high schooler from Argentina who was outed as gay by Jana Gandia Cohen (played by Azul Guaita). Unfortunately, this new Rebelde series has now been canceled by Netflix after just two seasons. Sergio Mayer Mori, who played Esteban Torres on the show, revealed this cancelation news during an interview with Hola Mexico. It would be an honor for me to be able to do a third, fourth, and fifth [season of Rebelde], but that was no longer possible, Mori told the publication. It was Netflix. The producers told us, Thanks for everything, guys. But a third season is no longer happening. When asked to elaborate on the reasons why Rebelde had been canceled, Mori replied: I have no idea why. It was definitely not my decision. Rebelde is the second cancelation of a Spanish-speaking LGBTQ+ show on Netflix this week alone, following the cancelation of Smiley earlier in the week. With that said, it should be noted that Rebelde was a Mexican production, whereas Smiley was a Spanish production, so they arent connected by country of origin. In the meantime, certain Spanish-speaking LGBTQ+ shows continue to thrive on Netflix, with a seventh season of Elite currently on the way. The two first seasons of Rebelde are available for streaming on Netflix. A teacher walks through the rubble of a school bombed by the Russian army in Bakhmut, Ukraine, 24 July 2022. Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was bombed in an apparent incendiary attack on Friday. Video shows the city ablaze with a bright glow, demonstrating Russia's "scorched earth" tactics. The attack began after news broke that Wagner mercenaries aiding Russia would withdraw from the region. The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, already the site of heavy fighting, was bombed in an apparent incendiary attack on Friday, highlighting Russia's brutal "scorched earth" tactics in the war just hours after news broke that Wagner Group mercenaries aiding Putin would be withdrawn from the region. "The fires came hours after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin threatened to withdraw Wagner forces from Bakhmut," William Courtney, a retired US Ambassador and a senior fellow at the nonprofit defense think tank RAND Corporation, told Insider in an emailed statement. "The Kremlin or Prigozhin might have decided to resort to incendiary weapons as a last roll of the dice to force out Ukrainian troops." Videos circulated on social media early Friday, showing the Ukrainian city ablaze with a glow that prompted military analysts to suggest chemical weapons had been used. White phosphorous weapons have been deployed by Russians against Ukrainian targets since shortly after the invasion began. "The use of these horrific arms may violate the 1983 Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons. But this would not be Russia's first war crime," Courtney told Insider, referencing shocking incidents at Bucha, near Kyiv, adding that resorting to incendiary weapons will "further diminish international respect for Russia," and could provide an additional reason for the establishment of an international war crimes tribunal. SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES OF UKRAINE (@SOF_UKR) May 5, 2023 Rob Lee, a senior fellow for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, tweeted alongside video of the attack that "Russia has been using incendiary munitions in Bakhmut for months." Story continues The FPRI did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. "It's just hell," a telegram account for the city of Bakhmut posted of the situation in the region, which has been the site of bloody battles as Ukrainians fight to keep Wagner mercenaries from taking control of the eastern city. "Our soldiers are keeping the situation under control as best they can." Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine's commander of ground forces, said Russia's "scorched earth" tactics in Bakhmut have pushed Ukrainian troops out of the city center and have forced them to rely on precarious supply routes to deliver arms and personnel, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. However, as one of the longest and bloodiest battles in the war, Russian forces have lost at least five soldiers for every Ukrainian soldier killed while defending Bakhmut, a military official with NATO told CNN. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, has compared the ongoing Bakhmut battle to a "meat grinder," Insider previously reported, with the mercenary leader acknowledging that his men were dying at extremely high rates as they dealt with ammunition shortages. He suggested in March that Russia's entire front line would collapse if his fighters fail to secure Bakhmut. The Friday bombings on the city began just hours after Prigozhin announced plans to withdraw his army-for-hire from the front lines by May 10, blaming Russian leader Vladimir Putin for starving his men and forcing them to fight with insufficient munitions. In a video posted to Telegram, Prigozhin launched a tirade against Putin, who he called an "animal," and said military leaders who wouldn't give his troops ammunition would "have their insides eaten in hell." Representatives for the Pentagon, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, and the Government of the Russian Federation did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider If you really help women get to their rightful place in society, I don't think, I know it will change society, Melinda French Gates tells PEOPLE Jason Bell Melinda French Gates For Melinda French Gates, reading has been a way to learn about different cultures and ideas. Now, the philanthropist hopes that through her book imprint, Moment of Lift Books, she can help others gain a new perspective on gender equity and "what it's really going to take" to get there. The imprint's first release, Radical Inclusion by David Moinina Sengeh, felt like the "perfect place to start," French Gates tells PEOPLE. When French Gates, 58, first met Sengeh, the minister of basic and senior secondary education and chief innovation officer for Sierra Leone, she knew right away that he had "a story that needs to be told." After his appointment, Sengeh was "shocked to learn" how many people were "against lifting a long-standing policy banning pregnant girls from school," according to the book's description. "It was just completely against David's values," says French Gates. Sengeh advocated for their right to education, and when the ban was overturned in 2020, it was replaced with policies of "radical inclusion and comprehensive safety." "Changing norms is not easy, but he actually gives steps from his own learning about how you do that," French Gates says. Flatiron Book Radical Inclusion: Seven Steps to Help You Create a More Just Workplace, Home, and World by David Moinina Sengeh French Gates has always had a love of books "I was a pretty big nerd in high school," she says, adding that when she wasn't coding she "would sit in my room and read" but a new world opened up for her when she began traveling around the world for work. "if I read something from a local author," she says, "it just filled in so much for me." "Books have been a way of opening cultures to me that I otherwise probably wouldn't have experienced in the same way," she explains. Story continues 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 celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. As she started to "really reflect on how much I had learned through books," the philanthropist and global advocate found herself thinking about the power of creating change through community. "So often my friends or my mom and I, or now my daughters and I would share books with each other and discuss them," says French Gates. "It opens you to new ideas." "That's what has led me to say, 'I want to see far more books about gender equity,'" she adds. Frederic Courbet Melinda French Gates visit Patricia in her ground nuts fields in Dimi village, Malawi on June 22, 2015 The imprint, which she created in partnership with Flatiron Books, shares a name with her own book, Moment of Lift, which was published in 2019. "I was lucky enough to travel the world and decided at some point, there were stories of the women I had met that I really wanted to tell," she says. "But there are authors who I knew weren't able to bring their stories or the stories of their communities forward." Related:Journalist Honored by Gates Foundation for Telling Stories of Women in Afghanistan: 'It's a Critical Time' When it comes to her work whether through the Gates Foundation or Pivotal Ventures French Gates says that gender equity is at the center of her efforts. "If you really help women get to their rightful place, I don't think, I know it will change society," she says. And one of the things she hopes readers discover after reading Radical Inclusion is that "equality's in our reach." "It's not as difficult as we sometimes think. It's a big topic, but it's totally within our reach," she says. "And I'm excited for readers to understand that they can take steps themselves." Mike Lawrence David Moinina Sengeh speaks during The Goalkeepers 2018 event at Jazz at Lincoln Center Of course, after announcing her imprint back in 2021, it's also been exciting to finally see the project come to life. And when she "got to hold" Radical Inclusion in her hands for the first time, French Gates recalls thinking to herself, 'Wow, this is really happening.'" Related:Jennifer and Phoebe Gates Wish 'Incredible' Mom Melinda Happy Birthday: 'To Know You Is to Love You' Now that her three kids daughters Jennifer, 27, and Phoebe, 20, and son Rory, 23 "are all out of the house," French Gates says she has "so much more time" for reading. In addition to rediscovering her love for authors she's enjoyed for years, such as Jodi Picoult and Barbara Kingsolver, there are sure to be a few new exciting covers added to her bookshelf in the coming year or so. Her imprint's second book, The Worlds I Seeby Dr. Fei-Fei Li, comes out in the fall and there are two more releases coming from Jina Krause-Vilmar and Joanne N. Smith slated for 2024. But for now, French Gates can't wait for readers to get their hands on Radical Inclusion. "I hope people like this book as much as I do," she says. For more information on Moment of Lift Books or Radical Inclusion, out now, click here. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio meets in December 2021. Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday replaced Wade Steen on the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio board with real estate investor G. Brent Bishop but Steen said the governor lacks the authority to remove him. The governor's office said Steen was informed that DeWine needs an appointee on the pension board who can dedicate the necessary time and attention to the task. Steen's board meeting attendance record was not immediately available. DeWine's move came a day before votes were tallied for another seat on the 11-member board, which oversees $95 billion invested for 500,000 teachers and retirees. Berea teacher Pat Davidson easily ousted incumbent board member Arthur Lard, a Portsmouth teacher. Davidson, whose four-year term begins Sept. 1, received 20,140 votes to Lard's 8,853 votes. The STRS Ohio board has faced infighting and turmoil over the past few years. Retirees are angry over the elimination of cost-of-living allowances, a perceived lack of transparency and the payment of bonuses to pension investment staff despite investment losses. Those retirees, who are active in Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association and STRS Watchdogs, have the ear of a growing faction on the board. They've called for a change in the pension leadership, more transparency in investment fees and consideration of an investment strategy pitched by a start-up company. Steen had expressed support for the start-up company and its approach. Former Republican Gov. John Kasich first appointed Steen to the board in 2016 and DeWine reappointed him in 2020. "I am also the board member who began asking hard questions which uncovered that STRS staff are getting paid bonuses on questionable performance benchmarks. I have spoken out for more transparency and accountability. This is what I have been fighting for and will continue to fight for until my term ends on September 27, 2024," Steen said in a written statement. Story continues Robin Rayfield, executive director of Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association, said in a statement that DeWine's "attempt to manipulate" the board make-up hours before election results "only reinforces the broken trust that educators have with their pension system. To say this pours jet fuel on the fire is an understatement." Bishop, of suburban Columbus, has experience in insurance, securities, software and real estate investments. He also worked as a page in the Ohio General Assembly more than 50 years ago as a college student. What's going on at STRS Ohio? Discontent has been building for a decade. In 2012, legislators approved a pension reform package that required public employees to work longer for fewer benefits. Starting in 2013, STRS retirees received lower cost-of-living allowances. Then in 2017, the cost-of-living allowances stopped. The cuts were made to help shore up the pension fund. A one-time cost-of-living allowance of 3% was restored beginning in July 2022, but it's still not back to what retirees want. In February, the board deadlocked 5-5 over a no-confidence vote in STRS Ohio Executive Director Bill Neville. And in April, as STRS members began voting in the board election, a new group Save Ohio STRS sent mailers to pension fund members urging them to vote for Davidson over Lard. It is unclear who is funding the group. Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio. This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mike DeWine replaced his appointee to the STRS Ohio pension board Newton Minow, the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in the 1960s who said network television was a vast wasteland, died Saturday in his Chicagoland, Illinois, home surrounded by loved ones. He was 97. He wanted to be at home, Nell Minow, his daughter, told the Associated Press. He had a good life. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Minow as FCC chief. Minow and Kennedys history dated back to the 1950s, when Minow was an aide to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, the Democrats presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956. Also Read: Tori Bowie, Olympic Gold-Medal-Winning Track Star, Dies at Age 32 As the chief, Minow spoke to the National Association of Broadcasters and challenge them to watch television. [Watch] without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you, Minow said. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland. Minow added, You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials many screaming, cajoling and offending. When Minow gave his speech, there were only three networks for people who owned a television. His speech received a lot of criticism, like from CBS President Frank Stanton who called Minows comments a sensationalized and oversimplified approach. Though Minow was the FCC chief for only a couple of years, under his leadership new laws kicked in, like the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, which required that TV sets pick up UHF as well as VHF broadcasts, which opened up TV channels numbered above 13 for widespread viewing. Additionally, Congress passed bills that funded educational television. My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be, Minow once said. After all, the airways belong to the people. Erika Wright, founder of Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board is set to vote on a first-ever, publicly funded, religious charter school in its next meeting to be held sometime before the end of June. The Oklahoma City and Tulsa Catholic dioceses are asking the Board to sponsor a charter school that will be religious in all respects. The decision has national implications that challenge the constitutional separation of church and state. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Schools application states that it will be Catholic in teaching, Catholic in employment and Catholic in every way. The Board declined to vote on the application in their meeting on April 11th, noting nine deficiencies. The applicants were given 30 days to address these concerns before a vote of the Board which could happen sometime in May or June. We agree that the Catholic Church should be able to have a virtual school but not financed with public money. Religious virtual schools should be financed just like religious brick-and-mortar schoolswith private money, said Misty Bradley, public school parent and president of the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee. According to Oklahoma law, charter schools are subject to state regulations and are by law public schools. Public schools are required to be non-sectarian and open to all students regardless of faith affiliation, social status, economic capability, ethnicity, or disability. Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond told the Virtual School Board in a February 23, 2023, formal opinion letter that approving St. Isidore or any other religious charter school would violate the Oklahoma Constitution and state law. I doubt most Oklahomans would want their tax dollars to fund a religious school whose tenets are diametrically opposed to their faith. Unfortunately, the approval of a charter school by one faith will compel the approval of charter schools by ALL faiths, even those most Oklahomans would consider reprehensible and unworthy of public funding, Drummond stated in his letter. Story continues If approved, the St. Isidore Virtual Charter School would be open to all students across the state. Catholic leaders spoke plainly about focusing recruiting efforts on rural students. Lara Schuler, director of Catholic education for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, told media earlier this year that the school would particularly serve students living in rural areas of the state. Rural parents have expressed concern regarding the states ability to properly fund existing public schools as well as a new virtual charter school. Many rural public schools in Oklahoma struggle financially already. Diverting more funds to an unconstitutional, religious virtual school would only cause our public schools to suffer more, said Meegan Holman, a public school parent from Noble. The religious aspect of the Catholic virtual school has raised concerns from faith leaders. Should the application be approved, Oklahoma would be the first state to send public dollars to a religious school. We believe that all persons should be able to worship and support their own faithsbut not with taxpayer dollars. We believe that no person should be forced by the government to finance faiths that are not their own, said Rev. Todd Littleton, pastor of Snow Hill Baptist Church of Tuttle. Oklahomans may contact the following Statewide Virtual Charter School Board Members to share their thoughts on this matter: William Pearson: william.pearson@ok.gov Dr. Scott Strawn: scott.strawn@ok.gov Nellie Tayloe Sanders: nellie.sanders@ok.gov Barry Beauchamp: barry.beauchamp@ok.gov Dr. Robert Franklin (Chair): robert.franklin@ok.gov Dr. Rebecca Wilkinson (Ex Dir): rebecca.wilkinson@svcsb.ok.gov Erika Wright founded the grassroots organization, Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, and serves as president of the Noble Public Schools Foundation. This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board faces historic decision Prince Harry speaking with Princess Anne at King Charles' coronation ceremony on May 6. RICHARD POHLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry publicly reunited with the royal family for the first time since releasing "Spare." His memoir had surprising details and criticism about royal relatives such as Prince William. Nonetheless, Harry flew to the UK in honor of King Charles' coronation on Saturday. Take a look. The Duke of Sussex has publicly reunited with the royal family for the first time since releasing his bombshell memoir "Spare" in January, which was weeks after the debut of his and Meghan Markle's Netflix docuseries. Prince Harry, 38, was pictured at King Charles' coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday morning. He traveled from California to attend a royal event solo, as Buckingham Palace previously told Insider in an official statement that Meghan, 41, was remaining in the US with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Harry, who did not have an official role in the ceremony unlike his older brother Prince William, joined roughly 2,200 other guests who had been specially invited to attend the coronation inside Westminster Abbey. The ceremony marked the formal start of Charles' reign, who is now officially the oldest royal to become a monarch. Prince Harry walks behind members of the royal family to his seat at King Charles' coronation. AARON CHOWN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Photographs of the Duke of Sussex showed him arriving at Westminster Abbey with his cousins, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, and their husbands Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Harry was pictured laughing and speaking with his cousins as they entered the abbey, and he walked alone to his seat behind them. Prince Harry walks with Princess Beatrice's husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, to Westminster Abbey for King Charles' coronation on May 6. TOBY MELVILLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Since the duke is no longer a working royal, he wore a morning suit with military medals, rather than military uniform, to the event. Harry was seated next to Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. The royal appeared to be on good terms with his royal relatives, as he was photographed chatting with Mapelli Mozzi before taking his seat and was also photographed smiling and chatting with his aunt, Princess Anne, while inside the abbey. Story continues Prince Harry and Princess Anne at King Charles' coronation on May 6. RICHARD POHLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Harry's royal reunion with his relatives comes months after he made several surprising allegations about William, Charles, Kate Middleton, and Queen Camilla in "Spare." If anything, the memoir appeared to cement rumors of a rift between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the rest of the royal family. One of the most talked-about encounters Harry described in the book was a physical altercation with his brother William in 2019. "He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog's bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me," Harry wrote. "I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out." The royal family has not publicly commented on the contents of Harry's memoir. Another surprising moment in the memoir was Harry claiming he and William once asked Charles not to marry Camilla. They eventually did get married in 2005. Read the original article on Insider The Sedgwick County Health Department is providing free pneumonia vaccines for adults who have medical conditions that put them at high risk for illness. This comes as a response to a rising number of young smokers being hospitalized for pneumonia. The health department received 300 doses of the vaccine from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and will offer the free doses until they are gone, according to Beverly Bruce, the preventative health associate director for the main clinic. She is unsure if more vaccines will be provided. Pneumococcal pneumonia is a lung infection that hospitalizes about 150,000 people every year in the United States. Last year in Kansas, the rate of cases was six out of every 100,000 people, according to the Sedgwick County Health Department. In Sedgwick County this rate was doubled. The case rate per 100,000 people in Sedgwick County went from nine in 2021 to 12 in 2022. The county has especially seen a rise in hospitalizations for smokers under 65 years old. During the first three months of this year, 29 people were hospitalized with pneumococcal pneumonia, and 62% had a history of smoking. Fifty-nine percent of patients were younger than 65, according to a press release from Sedgwick County. People dont realize that they dont have to be old to qualify for the pneumococcal vaccines, Bruce said. Its not that we dont want the elderly people to be immunized because we definitely do, but we really are targeting those 19-64 with risk factors. People with alcoholism or who smoke cigarettes have a higher chance of infection. Some medical conditions, including diabetes and chronic heart, liver or lung disease, can also put people at a higher risk. Anyone 19-64 with an illness that is on the CDCs list of qualifying conditions is eligible for the free pneumonia vaccine. Everyone 65 or older automatically qualifies. A nurse will ask questions at the vaccine appointment to ensure patients qualify for the free vaccine. Since the state-funded vaccines are intended to provide relief to people who cant always afford medical help, the health department will file a claim if the patient has health insurance. A patient who does not have health insurance or a qualifying condition can still receive a vaccine, but will be charged $302.84 out of pocket, according to Bruce. Story continues Free walk-up vaccinations will be available this Sunday, May 7, from noon to 4 p.m. at Oaklawn Activity Center, 4904 S. Clifton Ave. The vaccine clinic will be part of the centers free summer kickoff event, Family Fest. Scheduled appointments will be at the Sedgwick County Health Department Main Clinic, 2716 W. Central. You can call 316-660-7300 to find out what time slots are available. Every patient should bring their ID and a copy of their shot records. For mobile clinic appointments they should be able to find shot records in the state database if people do not have them when they arrive. A low-key royal couple. Prince Edward and Duchess Sophie had a traditional royal wedding in 1999, but the early days of their romance were decidedly less formal. Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son first met his future bride in 1987 when she was working as a press officer at Capital Radio. At the time, the Earl of Wessex was dating Sophie's friend, but when the duo reconnected in 1993, they were both single. After dating for six years, Edward popped the question in December 1998 while the pair were on vacation in the Bahamas. When they publicly announced their engagement the following month, Sophie had a simple explanation for why the two hit it off. "I think we share a number of interests, we laugh a lot and we have a great friendship," she explained in an interview. Edward, for his part, added: "We are the very best of friends and that's essential, but it also helps that we also love each other very much." The University of Cambridge graduate and the former publicist tied the knot in June 1999 at St George's Chapel, which would later host the nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as well as Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. For the event, Sophie was given the queen's "Anthemion" tiara, which some observers believe was constructed from elements originally used in Queen Victoria's Regal Circlet. Three years after the wedding, Sophie who was raised in an upper middle-class family in Kent, England ceased working in public relations and became a full-time working royal. She has since become a patron of numerous charities, including her and Edward's foundation, The Earl and Countess of Wessex Trust, which they established in 1999. Sophie also became close with the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, over the years, and has praised the late Duke of Edinburgh for being so supportive throughout his 73-year marriage to Elizabeth. "Hes always there for her," Sophie said during a 2016 interview with ITV. "I think it must be a fairly lonely place being the queen. As a female in the top job, its important I think to have somebody that you can lean on, that you can discuss things with, that she can be open and honest with behind closed doors. For her to have found somebody like him, I dont think she could have chosen better. And they make each other laugh, which I think is a half of a battle, isnt it?'" Story continues When Philip died at age 99 in April 2021, his daughter-in-law opened up about how much the royal family missed their patriarch. Hes left a giant-sized hole in our lives, she said during a June 2021 appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live. Its only when you would do the normal things that you would have done with them and you suddenly realize that they are not there, that you really start to have a, Oh, my goodness moment. 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! Keep scrolling for a look back at Edward and Sophie's complete relationship timeline. As preparations were underway for Queen Elizabeth IIs coronation in 1953, Her Majesty only had one couturier in mind to design her gown for the historic occasion: Norman Hartnell. The British dressmaker had of course created her beautifully embroidered wedding dressmade from duchesse satin that the Queen famously purchased with ration couponsfor her marriage to Prince Philip in 1947. One October afternoon in 1952, Her Majesty the Queen desired me to make for her the dress to be worn at her Coronation, Hartnell recalled in his 1955 autobiography, Silver and Gold. I can scarcely remember what I murmured in reply. In simple conversational tones, the Queen went on to express her wishes. Her Majesty required that the dress should conform in line to that of her wedding dress and that the material should be white satin. Soon afterwards, Hartnell submitted eight designs to fulfill the brief, the first of which was based on Queen Victorias coronation gowna white satin dress with gold embroidery. Other sketches featured the Tudor rose and oak leaves, alongside one design based around the Madonna. Elizabeth opted for the eighth design, which incorporated the national emblems of the United Kingdom: the rose (England), thistle (Scotland), shamrock (Northern Ireland), and daffodil (Wales)although the latter was changed to the leek, the official national emblem of Wales. The Queen requested several other modifications to the design, including that the embroidery be done using pastel-colored silks, rather than just silver. Her Majesty also asked for national symbols of Commonwealth countries to be added, including the acacia (Australia), fern (New Zealand), maple leaf (Canada), protea (South Africa), lotus (India), and wheat, cotton, and jute (Pakistan). The finished coronation gown featured a sweetheart neckline and a delicate lattice design, with the emblemsdecorated with seed pearls, sequins, and crystalsseparated by heavily embellished scalloped borders comprising gold bugle beads, diamantes, and pearls. Hartnell also included a surprise for Her Majesty: a four-leafed shamrock on the left side of the skirt as a symbol of good luck. Story continues All in all, the coronation dress weighed a hefty 30 pounds, or 13 kilograms, which combined with the Robe of Estatewhich was made of deep purple velvet and an ermine trim, and took 3,500 hours to makeand St Edwards Crown, was quite the weight for Her Majesty to bear. To finish off her historic outfit, the Queen asked French shoemaker Roger Vivier to create a pair of gold pumps featuring a jewel-encrusted heel and fleurs-de-lis pattern on the upper that matched the motif on both St Edwards Crown and the Imperial State Crown (worn at the end of the ceremony). When it came to her jewelry, Elizabeth wore a dazzling diamond necklace and earrings that were originally made for Queen Victoria. A long-time repeat wearer, the Queen actually went on to wear the Coronation gown a further six times, including at the opening of parliament in New Zealand and Australia in 1954. Its an attitude towards fashion that the late monarch has certainly passed down to her son, King Charles III, as he is crowned at Westminster Abbey on Saturday. Originally Appeared on Vogue More Coronation Coverage from Vogue By Aziz El Yaakoubi and Nafisa Eltahir RIYADH (Reuters) -Envoys from Sudan's warring military factions - the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces - were in Jeddah for talks on Saturday, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said, as international mediators pressed for an end to the three-week old conflict. The U.S.-Saudi initiative is the first serious attempt to end fighting that has turned parts of the Sudanese capital Khartoum into war zones and derailed an internationally backed plan to usher in civilian rule following years of unrest and uprisings. Riyadh and Washington earlier welcomed the "pre-negotiation talks" between the army and the RSF, and urged them to actively engage following numerous violated ceasefires. But both sides have made it clear they would only discuss a humanitarian truce, not negotiate an end to the war. Confirming his group's attendance, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, said he hoped the talks would achieve their intended aim of securing safe passage for civilians. Sudan's armed forces said they sent a delegation to the Red Sea city on Friday evening, but special envoy Dafallah Alhaj said the army would not sit down directly with any delegation that the "rebellious" RSF might send. Hemedti has meanwhile vowed to either capture or kill army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and there was also evidence on the ground that both sides remain unwilling to make compromises to end the bloodshed. Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan said in a tweet he hoped both sides would "engage in dialogue that we hope will lead to the end of the conflict". In the city of Bahri across the Nile from Khartoum, warplanes were heard overnight and explosions startled residents. "We don't leave the house because we're scared of stray bullets," said a resident who gave his name as Ahmed. An eyewitness in Eastern Khartoum reported gun clashes and air strikes over residential areas on Saturday. Other witnesses said later in the day that they heard a large explosion and saw a plume of smoke that appeared to be coming from the industrial zone in Bahri. The Turkish ambassador's car also came under fire from unknown assailants, a Turkish diplomatic source said. The envoy was safe inside the embassy. Turkey's foreign minister said Turkey would move its embassy from Khartoum to Port Sudan following the attack. Both the RSF and army accused each other of being behind the attack. The conflict erupted on April 15, following the collapse of an internationally backed plan for a transition to democracy. Burhan, a career army officer, heads a ruling council installed after the 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir and a 2021 military coup, while Hemedti, a former militia leader who made his name in the Darfur conflict, is his deputy. Prior to the fighting, Hemedti had been taking steps like moving closer to a civilian coalition that indicated he had political plans. Burhan has blamed the war on his "ambitions." HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE Western powers have backed the transition to a civilian government in a country that sits at a strategic crossroads between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Africa's volatile Sahel region. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was travelling to Saudi Arabia at the weekend for talks with Saudi leaders. Saudi Arabia has had close ties to Burhan and Hemedti, both of whom sent troops to help the Saudi-led coalition in its war against the Houthi group in Yemen. The kingdom is also focused on security in the Red Sea, which it shares with Sudan. The U.N. has significantly cut back its operations in Sudan after three of its employees were killed and its warehouses were looted, and sought guarantees of safe passage of humanitarian aid. The fighting has also impacted vital infrastructure and caused the closure of most hospitals in conflict areas. U.N. agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if clashes continue. The World Health Organisation said on Saturday it had delivered medical aid to Port Sudan, but was awaiting security and access clearances that have prevented several such shipments from reaching Khartoum, where the few hospitals that are functioning are running out of supplies. (Reporting by Moaz Abd-Alaziz and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo and Emma Farge in Geneva and Huseyin Hayatsever in Istanbul; Writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi and Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, John Stonestreet, Frances Kerry and Alexander Smith) Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images WrestleMania 43 may be taking place in Nashville. Tennessee Titans President and CEO Burke Nihill recently appeared on 104-5 The Zone to discuss the new Titans Stadium that will open in Nashville in 2027. While on the topic of events that will take place at the stadium, he stated that WWE has agreed to bring WrestleMania to Music City shortly after the venue opens. WrestleMania isnt hypothetical. WrestleMania has already committed to 2027, Nihill said. (Transcription credit of Fightful). WWE has yet to confirm the location for WrestleMania 43. SummerSlam 2022 was held at the Titans current home at Nissan Stadium, but WWEs biggest show of the year has never taken place in Tennessee. WrestleMania 40 is confirmed to take place in Philadelphia, while WrestleMania 41 has been rumored for Minneapolis. WrestleZone will continue to provide updates as details become available. RELATED: Report: Update On WWE WrestleMania/Minneapolis Rumors The post Tennessee Titans CEO: WWE Has Committed To Holding WrestleMania 43 In Nashville appeared first on Wrestlezone. "One student has confessed, and we anticipate others may be identified through our ongoing investigation, the Caney Creek High School principal said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE Caney Creek High School A student at a Texas high school has confessed to using a "stink spray" in a prank that sent six students to the hospital and canceled classes on Friday. Caney Creek High School Principal Jeff Stichler told parents the investigation by police and campus administration led them to believe the odor was introduced by students "using a highly concentrated, prank, stink spray called Hensgaukt Fart Spray." "One student has confessed, and we anticipate others may be identified through our ongoing investigation," according to a memo obtained by PEOPLE. Stichler said the school district is working with the District Attorney's Office and "will address it to the fullest extent of the Student Code of Conduct and the laws of the State of Texas." Related:2 Elementary School Students Hospitalized After Eating Gummies Containing 'Unidentified' Substance The "gas smell" began on Wednesday near the cafeteria, reported CBS affiliate KHOU-11. After evacuating the school, the Caney Creek Fire Department and Conroe ISD maintenance staff were called to investigate where it was coming from but were unsuccessful. While at the school, firefighters "checked the entire building with gas detection equipment and were not able to locate any signs of gas," Caney Creek Fire Chief Raymond Flannelly wrote in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. A decision was made to resume classes on Thursday but again, crews were called to investigate the smell. That day, Flannelly said that 14 students in total reported feeling ill on Thursday, and six of them were taken to the nearest hospital. They are in stable condition, per KHOU-11 and NBC affiliate KPRC-TV. Related:New Jersey School Children Hospitalized After Drinking Milk Contaminated with Sanitizer Story continues On Thursday, additional teams were brought in to "determine the cause of the odor in the building," Flannelly wrote in the statement obtained by PEOPLE. "Both Hazardous Materials Response Teams obtained air samples, and used gas monitoring equipment and were unable to detect anything of suspicion," the chief wrote, sharing that the teams "have confirmed the safety of the air quality in Caney Creek High School." 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 celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. According to school administration, on Friday, "there have been no unordinary odors," the fire official wrote. "It is concerning that with the school not occupied there have been no reports of any odors," added Flannelly. Related:Girl, 11, Gets Stuck Head-First in Storm Drain Trying to Retrieve Grandma's Apron at Texas School In a previous statement, Conroe ISD said that although "there were no findings with the smoke test," the decision to cancel school was made "to allow the contractors to continue their investigation into the source, according to KHOU-11 and KPRC-TV. Principal Stichler concluded in a statement, "We appreciate everyone's help and support over the last few days and look forward to school resuming on Monday." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Tony Valdez, a reporter and anchor at KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles for more than 35 years, has died. He was 78. Valdez had been battling end-stage kidney failure and died at home, his son, Steve Valdez, told the station on Friday. More from The Hollywood Reporter A native of East Los Angeles, Valdez attended L.A. City College and served with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He worked at the local TV stations KCET and KTLA and the La Opinion newspaper before joining KTTV in 1981 when it was owned by Metromedia. You could look around the TV stations and youd see one or two Black anchors, a handful of Black reporters, but no brown ones, no Asians, he said when he retired in 2016. I was fortunate to be one of the people who, to put it bluntly, broke the color barrier. Whether its murder, mayhem, death or disaster, he added, those are the things that I feel a sense of responsibility to report. As a host, Valdez presided over Midday Sunday for more than three decades and L.A.s Most Wanted, a crime series, for 27 years. He also co-anchored weekend newscasts in the 1990s alongside Christine Devine. Anyone who worked with Tony can tell you of his complete dedication to the truth in journalism. He knew this city inside and out, Devine said. Added Pete Wilgoren, acting news director at the Fox O&O: Tony Valdez was a trailblazing reporter, advocate and mentor. He was one of the first Latino journalists to break the color barrier in Los Angeles. And with pride, Tony said he spent 35 years, five months and four days covering the stories of this city on KTTV. We are better journalists and a better community because of the coverage and compassion of Tony Valdez. The stations union shop steward, Valdez chaired the 8 Ball Emergency Fund, which helps local journalists in need and grants scholarships, and spent years as a docent for the Los Angeles Conservancy, leading tours of downtown. Story continues In addition to his son, survivors include his three grandchildren. Donations in his name can be made to the L.A. Conservancy or 8 Ball fund. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Click here to read the full article. Reporter Julia Coin this week took her spot in line with other Charlotte Observer writers who have had one or two run-ins with UFO tales, alien worries and strange lights in the sky. (Turns out the mysterious flickering lights on Thursday night belong to Elon not E.T.). Her report made me wonder what Retro Charlotte might find in the archives. Behold, George Fawcett. Photo from 1998: George Fawcett looks through his extensive files in the garage of his Lincolnton home. Shipping his UFO collection off to the museum in New Mexico will leave Fawcett with a cleaner garage, attic and living room. Article on George Fawcett, published March 20, 1998. Fawcett was the dean of North Carolina UFOnauts, according to The Observers Joe DePriest in 1998. He tried for years to raise millions of dollars for a UFO museum in North Carolina. In 1981, the Observer directed readers to contact Fawcett if they spotted an unidentified flying objects. Fawcett died in 2013. His obituary says he investigated more than 1,200 UFO sightings. Can you imagine if hed had Twitter? Newark residents should be prepared for an abundance of cars on the road, foot traffic and crowded restaurants during the University of Delawares graduation weekend at the end of this month. Whether youre gearing up to celebrate a graduate in your life in a few short weeks, or want to steer clear of the university area until the celebrations die down, heres what you need to know about the momentous weekend: When is the University of Delawares graduation? Former Newark High School classmates Cassie O'Quinn (left) of Newark (receiving a quantitative biology degreee) and Oluwaseyi Osinubi of Bear (engineering) grab a selfie before the University of Delaware's 2022 Commencement at Delaware Stadium, Saturday, May 28, 2022. UDs commencement ceremony for the class of 2023 is scheduled for Saturday, May 27, at 9:30 a.m. at Delaware Stadium. Who is able to attend the University of Delawares graduation ceremony? Graduates mingle under a strong sun during the hours-long wait for the start of the University of Delaware's 2022 Commencement at Delaware Stadium, Saturday, May 28, 2022. Admission to the event requires a ticket and is only open to graduating students and up to four guests. Approximately 4,000 graduates are expected to attend, along with nearly 16,000 guests, the school said in UDaily post. The university offers a livestream of the ceremony for those who are unable to attend in person. Information about the livestream will be shared by the school at a later date. New in Newark: First look: The newest Grain restaurant has Newark's only outdoor bar, opening soon Who will be the guest speaker at commencement? Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to go to space, will be the speaker at the University of Delawares commencement ceremony this year, announced UD President Dennis Assanis in a UDaily post. Jemison holds many titles given her six years as a NASA astronaut, seven years as an environmental studies professor at Dartmouth College, time spent as the Area Peace Corps Medical Officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia, and as a general practice physician in Los Angeles. Mae Jemison Jemison also leads 100 Year Starship (100YSS), a nonprofit created to assure the capabilities exist for human travel beyond our solar system to another star within the next 100 years. She founded The Jemison Group, Inc. (JG), a technology consulting firm that integrates critical socio-cultural issues into the design of science and engineering projects. And, in 1994, she founded the international science camp The Earth We Share (TEWS) for 12 to 16-year-old students worldwide under the nonprofit Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence (DJF). Story continues Real-life education: New plan promises experience outside the classroom will earn college credit in Delaware We are delighted to host Dr. Jemison to deliver this years Commencement address to our graduates and their families and friends, Assanis said in the UDaily post. She is an exemplar of someone dedicated to exploring endless possibilities and infinite frontiers always finding meaningful ways to make a difference in the world. This commitment is one we strive to instill in our graduates. President Joe Biden (left) and University President Dennis Assanis take selfies - one with the crowd behind them, one the other direction - during the University of Delaware's 2022 Commencement at Delaware Stadium, Saturday, May 28, 2022. Last year, President Joe Biden became the first sitting president to speak at a UD graduation ceremony when he visited his alma mater to give the commencement speech. The occasion marked his fifth time speaking at UDs commencement, and his first time doing so since 2014 when he served as vice president. Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys'tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com. A night out in Newark: UD's 'mega pints': Personal pitchers of mixed drinks make splash on Main Street This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: What to know about University of Delaware graduation 2023 weekend Eight alleged fake electors who in 2020 sought to cast Georgia's electoral votes for former President Donald Trump instead of Joe Biden agreed to immunity deals with prosecutors investigating the scheme, according to a Friday court filing. The Georgia investigation development comes as local prosecutors continue to pursue a wide-ranging inquiry involving the former president and his allies, election fraud and the electors' roles in casting fake Trump ballots. Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis said possible criminal indictments from the investigation could come between July 11 and Sept. 1; whether the grand jury will decide to indict is still unknown, but she asked for heightened security and preparedness during that period, regardless. Here's what experts say that means for the Georgia probe and Trump. Alleged fake electors scheme What we know Former President Donald Trump announces he is running for president for the third time at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 15, 2022. What was the 2020 elector scheme? After the 2020 presidential election, when it became clear Trump had lost the election and Joe Biden would become president, the now-ex-president and his allies allegedly devised a plan to use slates of alleged fake electors in battleground states to overturn the 2020 election. The plan, based on a debunked legal theory, relied on key states to find Trump-supporting electors and on former Vice President Mike Pence to toss out the real electors. Pence penned a letter Jan. 6 on the debate over the objections, which said his "oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not." The failure to overturn the election was a motivator for pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. How does it relate to the Georgia probe? On Dec. 14, 2020, alleged fake electors met in seven states Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin and signed documents falsely claiming they were the "duly elected" electors from their state, at the Trump campaign's request, USA TODAY previously reported. Story continues "The fake electors in Georgia were supposed to throw confusion into the Electoral College vote count on January 6 by suggesting there were two competing slates of electors, with the Trump slate purporting to represent the legitimate electors," said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University. Why did eight electors receive immunity? Kay Levine, a law professor at Emory University in Georgia, told USA TODAY that without an official indictment and without knowledge of specific alleged crimes the role the electors who received immunity deals are playing in the Georgia investigation is speculative. But the basics of immunity deals can offer some answers. "Without knowing the details, it suggests to me that there are eight people who the office at one point considered would be targets of this investigation and has decided that they would be more useful to this investigation as witnesses, rather than targets," she said. "That's the reason for an immunity deal." Looking at the broader context of the investigation, it's possible that conspiracy charges related to election fraud could be on the table, both Kreis and Levine said. Why have two electors not received immunity? The Friday court filing revealed that two of the alleged fake electors represented by lawyer Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow have not received immunity deals. That could be because prosecutors believe those electors were more central to the organizing and planning of the elector scheme, Kreis said. "So the DA wants to either prosecute them because of their role, or prospectuses are slowly working up the food chain and using additional information uncovered through immunity deals as leverage in future negotiations," he said. The 10 electors represented by Debrow make up just over half of the 16 people who met at Georgia's state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won the presidential election, declaring themselves the states duly elected and qualified electors. More: Eight alleged fake Trump electors in Georgia accept immunity deals in grand jury probe What does that mean for Trump? The disclosure that the eight alleged fake electors received immunity deals doesn't shed any additional light on the specific charges Trump or his allies might face as a result of the Georgia probe, Levine said. But the immunity deals may indicate that Willis' probe could lead to charges for more central players in the 2020 electors scheme, like Trump, Rudy Giuliani or lawyer John Eastman, according to Kreis. Trump and his allies could face charges for fomenting a broad conspiracy to overturn the election or having engaged in a criminal racketeering scheme, though at this point, the extent to which the former president played a role in directing the scheme is unclear, he said. "The fake electors scheme was central to that conspiracy to solicit election fraud, which is why their actions could put Trump in serious legal jeopardy," Kreis said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GA probe: What 8 alleged fake electors' immunity deals mean for Trump Taylor Swift has announced her next re-recorded album. On the first night of her three-night stop in Nashville for her Eras Tour, the award-winning singer told concertgoers that her next "Taylor's Version" re-recording will be her third studio album, "Speak Now." It will be released on July 7. MORE: Taylor Swift announces re-recorded version of 'Love Story' to drop at midnight PHOTO: In this March 17, 2023, file photo, Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of 'Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour' at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management, FILE) "Speak Now" was released on October 25, 2010, through Big Machine Records. The upcoming album will be the third of her past albums that she's re-recorded. She released "Fearless (Taylor's Version)," which is a re-recording of her second studio 2008 album, "Fearless," in April 2021. And in November 2021, she released her second re-recorded album "Red (Taylor's Version)," which was originally released in 2012. PHOTO: In this March 31, 2023, file photo, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs on her 'The Eras Tour' in Arlington, Texas. (NurPhoto via AP, FILE) Last year, Swift made history as the first artist to claim the entire top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with songs from her latest album, "Midnights." She beat out previous record-holder Drake, who sent nine songs into the top 10 in 2021. MORE: Taylor Swift drops 4 previously unreleased songs In March, she kicked off her Eras Tour in Glendale, Arizona. She's currently on the North American leg of the tour, which will end with a grand finale at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in August. The next city she will perform in following Nashville is Philadelphia. Taylor Swift announces 'Speak Now (Taylor's Version)' originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com Winnie Harlow was photographed by Laretta Houston in Great Exuma, Bahamas. Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated Winnie Harlow, born Chantelle Whitney Brown-Young, has been a trailblazer since she entered the modeling industry in 2014 as a contestant on Americas Next Top Model. Since then, the Canadian model has been a longtime ambassador for major brands like Puma. The 28-year-old has also been featured on the cover of Womens Health, Vogue Arabia and Elle Canada. Harlow is also the successful founder of SPF and beauty brand Cay Skin. The former Victorias Secret model, who was diagnosed at the age of 4 with a skin condition called vitiligo, made her SI Swimsuit debut in 2019 in Great Exuma, Bahamas. There are certain milestones in a models career that just make you feel like you have truly succeeded when they happen, and making my [SI Swimsuit] debut is one of those huge moments, Harlow told People at the time. Its a complete honor not just as a model, but as a woman of color with vitiligo. Below are seven of our favorite pics from Harlows 2019 photo shoot with Laretta Houston. Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated Get ready for the hottest event of the year! The 2023 SI Swimsuit Issue release is just around the corner, and you wont want to miss the Swimsuit Issue Launch Party. Secure your tickets now and join us for an unforgettable weekend of glamour, beauty and fun. Make sure to follow SI Swimsuit on YouTube! It had been rumored since February that Queen Consort Camilla had commissioned Bruce Oldfield, British couturier and longtime friend of the royal family, to design her coronation dress. It isnt surprising that Queen Camilla turned to someone she already trusts, having worked with Oldfield to design pieces for other landmark moments, from the 2016 State Opening of Parliament to the 2021 premiere of No Time to Die. Even in her shoot for the July 2022 issue of British Vogueher first solo appearance in the magazineCamilla opted to wear a Bruce Oldfield design, a lace evening gown in royal blue selected from her personal wardrobe. "No Time To Die" World Premiere - Red Carpet Arrivals Getty Images The embellishment of the Coronation dress features delicate garlands of abstract wildflowers from fields and hedgerows: daisy chains, forget-me-nots, celandine, and scarlet pimpernel, representing The King and The Queen Consorts affection for nature and the British countryside, Buckingham Palace revealed in a statement. It continued, Celebratory bunting, in antique gold and silver thread, intertwine amongst the swathes of wildflowers. Embellishing the front hem area of the underskirt and the cuffs of each sleeve are the flower emblems of the four nations of the United Kingdoma rose, a thistle, a daffodil and a shamrock. In designing the garment, Bruce Oldfields vision was to create a sophisticated and modern dress that showcases Her Majestys style and personality in its details. Her Majestys shoes were made by British designer Elliot Zed and are made of the same silk fabric as the dress. Their Majesties King Charles III And Queen Camilla - Coronation Day Getty Images While Oldfield of course kept silent about the exact nature of his creation in the run up to May 6, he did recently share details about the first time that he met Camilla during an event at Clarence House with The Guardian. It was the time when shed fallen down in Scotland and sprained her ankle, he recalled. So because she couldnt walk around, she sat in a chair, and they put half a dozen chairs around her, and her stewards brought five or six people at a time to sit and talk to her. But they brought me on my own. And she said: Now, Bruce, I think its time that we actually made a few dresses, dont you? And make a few dresses they did. Story continues Diana In Bruce Oldfield Design Getty Images Oldfield graduated from Central Saint Martins in 1973, and, after working with Henri Bendel in New York, he launched his eponymous label in 1975. His brand has always had a strong connection with high-profile clients: His first celebrity commission came courtesy of Bianca Jagger, who tasked him with altering a suit that once belonged to Rita Hayworth. Its Diana, Princess of Wales, though, that made Bruce Oldfield a favorite of the 80s, with the designer working closely with British Vogues Anna Harvey to put together a wardrobe befitting a modern royal for the young princess. Anwar Hussein Archive Getty Images I met the princess a few weeks after her wedding, Oldfield told British Vogue in the 90s. I think for all of us there was always this problem that there wasnt a clear idea of how she should dress. She was aware that even in some far-flung part of the world she was representing Britain, and she couldnt be a glamorous clotheshorse. I remember one occasion where I urged her to shorten her skirt. But she still resisted going too far. I said, You should look at the miniskirts Princess Margaret wore in the 60s. At the very beginning she didnt care about clothes, but gradually she grew to enjoy fashion. One thing I noticed was that shed lock her knees backwards. She wore her skirts below the knee at that time and Id look at pictures of her and think, What the hell is she doing? Then I realised that she was pushing those knees backwards, Id tell her not to and shed say, Stop nagging. The State Opening Of Parliament Getty Images Perhaps their greatest triumph together? When Diana encouraged Bruce to stage a fundraising gala for Barnardos at Grosvenor House in 1985, with the Princess of Wales attending as the guest of honor in a silver gown of his creation. Not only did the event sell out (despite the exorbitant ticket prices) thanks to Dianas star power, but the young royal sat next to Oldfield throughout the nightsomething the designer would later recall as an extraordinary moment. There was the future Queen of England and there was me, he told Tina Brown in The Diana Chronicles. I certainly cant imagine a scenario where Norman Hartnell would have sat next to the Queen. The fact it was allowed to happen marked a new age. This post was originally published in British Vogue. Originally Appeared on Glamour Dana White revealed that Raquel Pennington will serve as an alternate for the UFC 289 title fight. Pennington (15-8 MMA, 12-7 UFC) originally was scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night 224 against Irene Aldana on May 20, but Aldana was pulled from the fight and given a title shot against Amanda Nunes when the bantamweight champion needed a new opponent for UFC 289. Aldana (14-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) will replace an injured Julianna Pena against Nunes (22-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) on June 10, and White said Pennington will be the backup. The card takes place at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. First of all, I love the Irene Aldana fight, White told The Schmo. For us to be able to move so quickly and get another fight in there, press conference (Friday), and shell be here. Raquel Pennington will be the backup on that card. So shell train, cut and make weight, and if anything happens to either (Nunes or Alanda), shell step in. Pennington fell short in her title pursuit against Nunes in 2018 when she lost by Round 5 TKO at UFC 224. She since has won six of her past eight including a win over Aldana in 2019. Rocky currently is on a five-fight winning streak. Related Raquel Pennington believes she deserves Amanda Nunes title rematch after UFC Fight Night 217 UFC Fight Night 217 results: Raquel Pennington takes split decision over Ketlen Vieira, wants title shot Raquel Pennington def. Irene Aldana at UFC on ESPN 4: Best photos Aldana is coming off two straight TKO wins over Yana Santos and Macy Chiasson. The 35-year-old Mexican fighter has won four of her past five fights. Dual-champion Nunes regained the bantamweight title when she battered Pena in their rematch at UFC 277 in July 2022. For more on the card, visit MMA Junkies event hub for UFC 289. Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie Republican gubernatorial candidate for Florida Ron DeSantis with his wife Casey DeSantis and children Madison, Mason and Mamie, waves to the crowd during an election night watch party at the Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, on November 8, 2022. Giorgio Viera/ AFP via Getty Images Florida lawmakers sent DeSantis a bill that would let him stay governor while running for president. Some ex-governors say that's a bad plan because Florida needs a full-time leader. Others said it was up to voters to decide. As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appears likely to mount a presidential campaign, he's contending with a reality that most other Republicans in the contest don't have to worry about: staying engaged with his already demanding job. To some former governors, that reads like a recipe for failure. Running for president involves tons of travel outside the state for rallies and fundraisers, rolling out policy promises, responding to incoming attacks, and preparing for debates with, in DeSantis' case, the added burden of governing the third most-populous state in the US. The topic has come to a head in recent weeks, after the legislature sent DeSantis a bill to change Florida's so-called "Resign to Run" law. The change, part of a broader elections reforms package, is awaiting the governor's signature. It would allow DeSantis to remain governor while running for president or vice president, and has the added benefit of permitting him to keep his job just in case he loses the nomination race or the presidency. The prospect of doing both jobs raised eyebrows among some former governors who are now serving in the US Senate. Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who was governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010 and was Hillary Clinton's running mate in 2016, told Insider that White House runs don't leave a lot of room for much else. "I think it would be impossible to do it and be a good governor," Kaine told Insider while rushing to a Senate vote. Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper, who was governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019, stressed that being governor was taxing on its own. "It's a 70-hour-a-week job in the best of times," he said. "And when you've got a wildfire or tropical storm or something, it can easily turn into 100 hours a week." Story continues The pile-on against DeSantis' attempt at multitasking as already begun. DeSantis received some criticism from Florida Democrats following flooding in Fort Lauderdale, which occurred while he was out of state on his book tour. The Trump campaign similarly seized on the argument in an email circulated to reporters, which contained an image that read, "Never in Town." Scrutiny aside, the legislature moved rapidly to tee-up wins on DeSantis' agenda across a range of policy issues, from public safety to tax cuts and illegal immigration. All of this happened as DeSantis was stopping in numerous states for the book tour and then on an international trade mission. "I don't think we have seen a six-month stretch that has ever been this productive in the history of our state," DeSantis said at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee on Friday. "And I would put us up against any state in the modern history of our country." Should DeSantis be successful in a presidential run, he would follow in the footsteps of Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush. Both were sitting governors in Arkansas and Texas, respectively, when they were elected president. Republican Sen. John Hoeven, who was governor of North Dakota from 2001 to 2011, described the gubernatorial post as "a very demanding job," but also a very good one. "Serving your constituents as governor of the state is a tremendous job," Hoeven told Insider between votes at the US Capitol. "And that needs to be his priority working hard for the citizens of Florida." Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida holds a copy of his new book as he speaks to a crowd at the Adventure Outdoors gun store in Smyrna, Ga., on March 30, 2023. AP Photo/John Bazemore Other governors have stayed on while running for president For this story, Insider spoke to two-thirds of the dozen-plus former governors currently serving in the US Senate about how DeSantis' anticipated next move would affect Sunshine State residents. Some, like Kaine and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, who served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, had first-hand experience with presidential campaigning via their involvement in the 2016 and 2012 contests, respectively. Others, like Democratic Sen. Tom Carper, who was governor of Delaware from 1993 to 2001, and Republican Rep. James Risch, who was governor of Idaho from 2006 to 2007, shied away from passing judgment on DeSantis for the possibility that he'll be seeking a promotion. When asked whether juggling a 2024 presidential run and fulfilling his day-to-day duties as governor was feasible, Romney bristled a bit and said history was on DeSantis' side. "There've been a number of governors who've done the same thing. Mike Dukakis comes to mind," Romney said, citing the two-term Democratic governor of Massachusetts who flamed out rather spectacularly during the 1988 presidential race. But other governors struggled. One example was Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts, the former governor of Nebraska, said when asked to comment on DeSantis. "I don't know if it's easy to do both at the same time might want to ask Scott Walker," Ricketts said. "I think he found it was challenging to run for president and be governor at the same time." Walker did receive backlash even before making a run official as did then-Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. Republican primary challengers even attacked GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for missing votes in the upper chamber. The 2016 GOP presidential candidates John Kasich of Ohio and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana both kept their jobs as governor and returned to them after losing the nomination to Trump. Frustration about gubernatorial job performance can often come more from home states than from outside observers. Ben Wilcox, research director and co-founder of the government ethics organization Integrity Florida, said the intent of the "Resign to Run" law was to ensure a governor "is fully focused on the job he was elected to do, and not the job he aspires to." "I would argue he owes that to the people who elected him," Wilcox told Insider. "He was asked repeatedly during the 2022 campaign for governor if he was going to run for president and his answer was evasive in that he said he was running to be governor. He should be held to that and resign if he's changed his mind." Republican Sen. Rick Scott, who was governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019, clasped together his hands and took a beat before weighing in on what the "Resign to Run" law change meant for the state's residents. He didn't resign as governor during his Senate race. "Well, the legislature made that decision," he told Insider. "Now the voters will get to decide." Ron DeSantis speaks during an election night watch party at the Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, on November 8, 2022. GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images DeSantis continues to play coy on 2024 decision Should DeSantis enter the presidential race, he'd face off mostly against Republicans who aren't officeholders, including Trump, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Vice President Mike Pence is also expected to enter the contest. Sen. Tim Scott, who himself just won reelection in South Carolina, recently announced an exploratory committee. It's not yet clear whether he'd resign his seat or juggle both, as Rubio, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky did in the 2016 primary. DeSantis has not definitively said whether he'll run for president, but is widely expected to do so sometime after Florida's lawmaking session, which closed out Friday, though an announcement may not come until June or even later. During a press conference in Panama City, Florida, on Thursday, DeSantis continued to play coy about his intentions. "You'll get there, one way or another, very soon," he said when a reporter asked him about the 2024 race. The governor stressed that he was focused on "making good" on promises he made during his gubernatorial reelection campaign while the legislature was in session. He still has to review Florida's budget and sign bills into law. "I'm not going to short-circuit any of the work that we have done," he said. "We want to make sure we're thorough." DeSantis has acknowledged the challenges of running for president while also leading the third-largest state in the US, along with being a spouse to Florida first lady Casey DeSantis and parent to three children ages 6 and younger. He alluded to the difficulty in an interview with British TV personality Piers Morgan in March. "I've got different obligations and it's not the easiest thing in the world to go through and I also want to make sure that I have a very clear rationale for doing what I'm doing," DeSantis said. DeSantis resigned from the US House when he ran for governor. If he were to resign the governorship then Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez would replace him, becoming the first woman to become governor of Florida. Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, who served as governor of South Dakota from 2003 to 2011, concluded that presidential bids were political leaps of faith. "Every governor has to decide for themselves how much they can do themselves and still do their job," Rounds told Insider while riding the elevator to Senate votes. Read the original article on Business Insider President Joe Biden is expected to name Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown as the nations next militarys next top officer but first the Senate must sign off. If confirmed, the current Air Force chief of staff would succeed Army Gen. Mark Milley, who retires in the fall, as the presidents military adviser. A low-key fighter pilot who commanded forces in the Pacific and the Middle East, Brown found a deep well of support on Capitol Hill and was confirmed 98-0 to the Air Forces top job in 2020, becoming the first Black officer to lead a military branch. Brown, who POLITICO first reported is Bidens choice to succeed Milley, is likely to survive his confirmation battle in the Democratic-led Senate. But the process probably wont go as smoothly as it did three years ago, with the four-star general potentially facing tough questions about Chinas possible invasion of Taiwan, the future of Ukraines fight to repel Russia and diversity policies conservatives have derided as distracting the military from its main missions. Previous hearing room exchanges offer clues about how Brown will perform at his confirmation. By all accounts, hes a cool customer: even-tempered, serious, succinct and direct. But the questions he faced were about the Air Force, well within his comfort zone. Heres a breakdown of some of the issues you can expect senators to focus on, and how Brown might answer: Diversity and other Biden policies Brown could see harsh questions by conservative senators on a variety of Pentagon policies they regard as a distraction from the militarys mission of fighting the nations wars. Republicans have largely opposed efforts by the Biden administration to promote diversity and root out extremism in the ranks as well as combat the effects of climate change. Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are routinely pressed on those and other personnel issues in their appearances on Capitol Hill. Milley made waves in the House for his defense against criticism that the military is distracted by those programs. Story continues Brown, who is the highest-ranking Black military leader since Colin Powell chaired the Joint Chiefs in the early 1990s, spoke out about his own experience as one of the few Black pilots following the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. In an emotional video , Brown reflected on "my own experiences that didnt always sing of liberty and equality." Brown could also face pressure from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) or others over policies implemented by Austin to shore up troops access to abortion following the Supreme Courts reversal of Roe v. Wade. Democrats have praised the move, but Republicans want it reversed, arguing it politicizes the military and undercuts laws that bar taxpayer funding for abortions. After the ruling in 2022, Brown was asked in an interview at the Aspen Security Forum how it would affect the Air Force. We have a responsibility to comply with the law. But we also have an obligation to take care of our airmen and their families, Brown said. Russia and Ukraine While Milley has weighed in extensively on the Ukraine war, Browns views have been aired far less frequently and when they have, theyve made headlines. Brown has Europe experience: Just before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, he was headquartered in Germany as the lead for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration at U.S. Air Forces in Europe. At the Aspen Security Forum last summer, Milley said no decisions had been made to offer Ukraine Western fighter jets and pilot training, a hot-button issue rippling through Washington and the NATO alliance. But Brown who has a history in the cockpits of the F-16, B-1 and B-52 offered some much-discussed speculation that such training was a possibility, and he riffed on what types of aircraft Ukraine might eventually receive. I cant speculate what aircraft they may go to, Brown said, but the U.S. has a responsibility to train its allies and, when it comes to Ukraines needs, meet them where they are. There's U.S. [aircraft], there's Gripen out of Sweden, there's the Eurofighter, there's [the French] Rafale. So there's a number of different platforms that could go to Ukraine, Brown said, adding with a smile: Maybe not MiGs. Itll be a lot tougher to get parts from the Russians in the future. Two Ukrainian pilots came to the U.S. in March for a fighter skills assessment at Tucsons Morris Air National Guard Base. Senate Armed Services members Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Tuberville, may push Brown for his views about sending F-16 jets to Ukraine, after they queried the Pentagon on the topic . And what about an Air Force plan to send uncrewed aircraft? Top civilians have said fighters would take too long to deliver and that the emphasis should be on ground-based air defenses such as Ukraines S-300s, German IRIS-Ts or newly arrived Patriots. Months earlier, Brown credited Russias lack of dominance over Ukraines skies to Kyivs use of those defenses, both donated and indigenous. Air superiority cannot be assumed, and one of the things that the Ukrainians have been able to do based on their air defense capability is actually threaten Russian air power, he told Senate Armed Services member Joe Manchin at a hearing last year. China and Taiwan Brown will meet a Senate thats grown more hawkish on China and hell face questions about what more the U.S. must do to deter Beijing from launching an invasion of Taiwan in the coming years. Democrats and Republicans have pushed for more funding to better position the military in the Indo-Pacific region as well as to pump up arms sales to Taiwan. But lawmakers are also concerned the Pentagon isnt moving fast enough to arm the self-governing island. Top Senate Armed Services Republican Roger Wicker of Mississippi has argued the window is closing for the U.S. to buy the weapons and equipment that might be needed if a conflict breaks out before the end of the decade. Browns main competition for the top job, Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger, is hailed for retooling the Corps to focus on a Pacific fight. Brown, meanwhile, commanded Pacific Air Forces before taking over as the services top officer. Hell likely draw on that experience in his pitch to senators. "He is literally on the front lines in implementing the National Defense Strategy, which has a focus on great power competition, particularly China as the pacing threat to our nation for the next 50 to 100 years," Sen. Dan Sullivan, (R-Alaska) who previously delayed a vote on Brown over a decision on basing aerial tankers, said before his confirmation as Air Force chief of staff in June 2020. "Gen. Brown is in that battle right now, front-lines every day." Arnold Punaro, a former staff director for the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Brown's experience will give him "credibility" to spur the military to adapt to the Pacific. "We have not yet made the needed adjustments to deal with the threat posed by China," he said. "As chairman, General Brown will be in a position to drive the joint force and joint operations to deal with the threats posed not only by China, but also Russia, Iran, and North Korea." But will China invade? Top leaders testifying before Congress have given a broad range of answers when asked if, and when, China might invade Taiwan. But Browns response to one particularly fiery prediction offers clues as to how soon he thinks the threat may actually come. Gen. Mike Minihan, Air Mobility Command head, made waves in January following news reports of a memo showing he predicted war with China in two years. In the memo, he told the officers in his command that I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025. He added that his leaders should aim for the head. Brown, when asked about the memo, told reporters there were aspects of the missive that disappointed him. It detracted from the key message of the sense of urgency that is required, he said. Caught in a promotions logjam? Regardless of how he does before the committee, Browns nomination will land in a Senate thats mired in a partisan deadlock over confirming military promotions, which have typically been approved with little opposition. Tuberville has blocked the speedy confirmation of all senior military officer picks over policies implemented by the Pentagon in February that allow troops to be reimbursed for travel expenses and take leave to obtain abortions or other reproductive care. The resulting standoff has meant that no nominees for general or admiral ranks have been confirmed in months. Its a stalemate that Pentagon leaders say will hurt military readiness as commanders leave their posts or retire and arent replaced by permanent leaders even uniting nearly all living U.S. defense secretaries this week in opposition to the blockade. The backlog is building and could ensnare Bidens picks for the Joint Chiefs if it drags on. There are ways to slip through the blockade and ensure there are no vacancies at the most senior military posts. Once Brown clears the Armed Services Committee, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could hold a cloture vote on Browns nomination, a procedural tactic to escape holds in the Senate. Its a road Democrats may not want to wait to take until its absolutely necessary. Tuberville has argued that he isnt preventing anyones confirmation, only forcing the Senate to take time to vote on nominees. Evan Funkes name has long been synonymous with pasta in the L.A. dining scene, but now hes taking that association a tad more literally. On Friday, the lauded chef opened Funke, a namesake restaurant in Beverly Hills where hes churning out stand-by faves from his other restaurants, Felix and Mother Wolf, alongside fresh dishes inspired by regional Italian classics. In the center of it all is a pasta lab where Funke and his team are creating a dozen different shapes, six hand-rolled and six extruded, according to Eater L.A. More from Robb Report This theatrical environment of pasta-making provides the guests with this transportive experience, Funke told Eater. I dont think its good enough to just have good food or a good wine list or a nice ambience. Guests are looking to be transported to another place, and storytelling is the biggest component of that for me. Cannoli Siciliana Alongside the pastasincluding tagliatelle Bolognese, cacio e pepe, and a new agnolotti dal plinFunke is serving Felixs signature sfincione, here with a new variation including tomato, anchovy, caciocavallo cheese, and onion. Theres also cipollina (a savory puff pastry stuffed with onions, provolone, and tomato); loads of seasonal vegetables like artichokes, asparagus, and fava beans; and larger plates including whole-roasted fish, steak, and the ribeye cap that Funke offers at all his restaurants. The desserts, spearheaded by Shannon Swindlewhos also making the bread and Neapolitan-style pizzasdraw a lot of their influence from Sicily, the Italian region most inspiring Funke right now. You can expect granita with brioche a tete, gelato and sorbet, and cannoli, among other sweet treats. Similarly, seasonal cocktails will be takes on Italian classics, and the wine list is composed of labels only from Italy (except for the Champagne, which understandably comes from France). Story continues An array of cocktails While many guests will certainly be stopping by for Funkes cuisine, the chef and his team spent just as much timeif not moreworking on the design of the restaurant. Over three years, Funke teamed up with the real-estate expert Kurt Rappaport, the architect Dan Brunn, and the designer Clint Nicholas to build out a massive, 10,000-square-foot space that still feels homey. We wanted to create a restaurant that felt like a residence; its on three levels that all feel interconnected, Rappaport told Eater. Up on the rooftop, youll find Bar Funke, decked out with a pink onyx bar almost as stunning as the views out toward the Hollywood Hills. Here, a separate menu of small plates is available, including crudo, Petrossian caviar service, and desserts. The striking outdoor spotfor walk-ins onlyis simply the jewel atop Funkes new pasta palace. Click here to see all the images of Funke. Food from Funks Best of Robb Report Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. The coronation ceremony for King Charles was held in London on May 6, 2023. (Photo: Getty Images) Less than eight months after ascending the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles and his wife Camilla celebrated their coronation. The May 6 ceremony at Westminster Abbey was the second of the United Kingdoms coronations to be televised following King Charles own mothers in 1953 and while it was a religious and secular ceremony, it was also a pop culture spectacle. Crowds of supporters waited for hours for a glimpse of the days proceedings, with many more chatting (and sharing memes) about the big day on social media. Heres what you need to know about the United Kingdoms big day. The young royals stole the show Prince Louis and Page of Honour Prince George depart the Coronation service of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. (Photo: Rob Pinney/Pool Photo via AP) Prince William and Kate Middleton were joined by their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The ceremony was particularly unique for Prince George, as he was the first future king to have a role in the coronation ceremony he was a Page of Honor at the event. Princess Charlotte matched with mom Kate both wore Alexander McQueen flower crown headbands. The headpieces featured the four flowers of the United Kingdom The young royal children of Prince William and Kate Middleton join Queen Camilla and King Charles on the balcony. (Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images) The young royals joined their grandfather on the Buckingham Palace balcony to wave at onlookers following the ceremony, as they did during the Queens Jubilee, where Prince Louis famously covered his ears to block out the sounds of airplanes How Prince Harry fit into the coronation Prince Harry did attend the coronation ceremony, though it was a quick trip he headed back to California to celebrate his son Archies fourth birthday with wife Meghan Markle, who was not in attendance. Prince Harry sits third row, behind other royals, at the coronation. (Photo: TOBY MELVILLE / POOL / AFP) According to reports, the Duke of Sussex flew commercial to the event Prince Harry sat in the third row, behind the other members of the royal family. He wasnt the only royal relegated to this seating arrangement: Prince Andrew, who stepped down from his royal duties following his Jeffrey Epstein controversy, also sat in the third row Though Prince Harry and Prince Andrew sat together, there was a distinct difference in their attire. While Prince Andrew wore his formal Order of the Garter robes, Prince Harry who served two tours in Afghanistan was in a suit. (He did, however, wear his medals.) Story continues Which celebrities attended the coronation and what they wore First Lady Jill Biden and granddaughter Finnegan Biden appear at the coronation. (Photo: Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Only a small selection of celebrities made the cut for the May 6 event. Dame Emma Thompson was one of them she was joined by husband Greg Wise at the coronation, wearing a red floral coat over a black dress Katy Perry, who will also be performing at the May 7 coronation concert, wore a lilac outfit, complete with an oversized hat, to attend the coronation. She was accompanied by British Vogue editor Edward Enninful. Noticeably absent was longtime partner Orlando Bloom. Katy Perry and Vogue editor Edward Enninful appear at the coronation. (Photo: Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Lionel Richie, Perrys American Idol co-host who will also perform Sunday, also attended the event, wearing a black suit and white tie. He told Sky News that it was a once in a lifetime event and that to be a part of it is everything. Both he and Perry are taking a brief leave from their American Idol duties in order to perform at Sundays event Lionel Richie says he feels like 'kid at Christmas time' ahead of the coronation concert, adding that the performance will be 'a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' Latest: https://t.co/gELyhGXZyw pic.twitter.com/0Rk8jPEdWZ Sky News (@SkyNews) May 3, 2023 Viral moments from the coronation Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles sister, was the Gold-Stick-in-Waiting at the ceremony, a role she has held since 1955. It was her green outfit that went viral on Twitter. Has Princess Anne been the cool one all along? one Twitter user posed alongside a photo of her in uniform. She is actually pulling this look off. Others compared Princess Anne's look to Robin Hood Princess Anne has a Robin Hood vibe, as if she's going to saunter off with a few tiaras under her robes. She's also clearly taken with her security guard, telling him, "I've married commoners, you know" pic.twitter.com/mgc9QE5Yl5 Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) May 6, 2023 Prince Louis stole the show by yawning during the ceremony, making him once again the most memeable of the young royals Lots of Monty Python and the Holy Grail jokes were made on Twitter, thanks to King Charles receiving a gold orb that many likened to the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch The most historic aspect of King Charles III's coronation is that, for the first time *EVER*, Monty Python fans are able to make Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch jokes as this thing is brought out... pic.twitter.com/j1kFvyVIMK (@btrain16) May 6, 2023 Outside of the ceremony, the village of Bramhall found their own way to honor the coronation: by putting up life-size cut-outs of the King and Queen all over town, as part of a royal trail people can follow Perry seemingly struggled to find her seat inside the more than 2,000 person coronation. The "Firework" singer responded to the seat misplacement on Twitter, assuring her fans, "dont worry guys i found my seat." Katy Perry looking for her seat at the #Coronation pic.twitter.com/XimkW5Nv7L Kandy (@zourkandy) May 6, 2023 Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here. The excitement is palpable as King Charles III and his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, prepare to be crowned as the new monarchs of the United Kingdom. Enter: news of gilded chariots, bejeweled crowns, and a priceless 700-year-old throne. Saturday is going to be expensive. WPA Pool The coronation ceremony has been years in the making, and according to ABC News, it comes with a staggering price tag of $125 million. While some have criticized the expense, it is clear that this will be a once-in-a-lifetime event for the royal family and the country as a whole. As the world eagerly anticipates the coronation, many high-profile guests are expected to attend, including the First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden. Although Prince Harry will be present to support his father's ascension to the throne, his wife, Meghan Markle, and their children will not be in attendance. According to Time Magazine, this month's coronation is set to be a "more scaled-back affair" than previous ones, with fewer guests and a shorter time frame. However, despite the comments around conservatism, security concerns have driven up the cost. The New York Times notes that the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which was the most expensive ceremony of its time, cost $2 million (equivalent to $70 million today). Charles's coronation, on the other hand, is costing almost double that of his mother's. Some have criticized the cost of the coronation, set against the backdrop of an ongoing cost of living living crisis in London. But even with cost-saving measures, a slimmed-down coronation promises to be a multi-million dollar affair. You Might Also Like Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, arrives for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6, 2023, in London, England. Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Image Prince Harry arrived at King Charles' coronation service solo on Saturday. He was dressed in a morning suit with military medals pinned to his jacket. Harry's wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, stayed at home in California. Prince Harry arrived at the coronation service of his father, King Charles III, alone on Saturday, as his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, were at home in California. Ahead of the historic service, Harry, 38, arrived at Westminster Abbey in London wearing a simple morning suit as requested by Buckingham Palace, rather than a military uniform. Prince Harry. Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Images Photos of the Duke of Sussex showed military medals pinned to his suit, however, in a nod to his military service. Prince Harry, who served in the British Army for 10 years, including two tours of Afghanistan, has four medals: an Afghanistan Service Medal and Golden, Diamond, and Platinum Jubilee medals, which represent his service. He entered Westminster Abbey alongside his cousins, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, and their husbands Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and appeared "relaxed," the BBC reported. The coronation is the first time Harry has publicly been seen with the royal family since releasing his bombshell memoir "Spare" in January, Insider's Mikhaila Friel reported. Harry is not playing a formal role in the service, as he is no longer a working member of the royal family. Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank (front), Harry (center), and Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi arrive at the coronation. Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and Prince Andrew appeared to be seated in the third row at the abbey as they waited for Charles to be crowned monarch. Prince Harry arrived in London on Friday, but he will return to Los Angeles only a few hours after the coronation ceremony, the BBC reports, for his son Archie's 4th birthday. The coronation ceremony on Saturday marks the formal start of King Charles' reign, the oldest royal to become a monarch. Read the original article on Insider Prince Harry confirmed that he will attend King Charles III's coronation solo, leaving Meghan Markle, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet statesidebut it hasn't been confirmed whether the Duke of Sussex will rock military garb for the event. The Telegraph reported on Friday that Harry will not be permitted to wear a military uniform to Saturday's festivities because he is no longer a working royal. Related: How To Throw the Classiest Coronation Party Ever in Honor of King Charles Sources told the outlet that Harry will wear a morning suit to the events. They also claimed that Harry didn't make any requests regarding his attire and was happy to wear whatever was requested. Prince Harry will reportedly leave the festivities shortly after their conclusion to get home in time to celebrate Prince Archie's fourth birthday in California. Prince Harry's coronation attire has been a hot subject of speculation since it was announced he'd attend. Related: How Kate Middleton Really Felt About Reuniting With Harry and Meghan There was a slew of controversy over whether Harry would be able to wear his military regalia to Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September 2022. It was initially ruled that he wouldn't be allowed to wear his uniform, despite serving a decade in the military, since he wasn't a working royal. (You'll remember the infamous Sussexit of early 2020, when he and wife Duchess Meghan stepped down and moved to Canada, then eventually settled in Montecito, California.) At the time, a Sussex spokesperson said, [Prince Harry] will wear a morning suit throughout events honouring [sic] his grandmother. His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears and we respectfully ask that focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Related: Why Prince Harry Made a Surprise Visit to the U.K. However, Charles reportedly had an about-face in the 11th hour and granted him and Prince Andrewwho was stripped of his military titles after allegations of sexually abusing a 17-year-old Jeffrey Epstein trafficking victim special permission to wear their regalia "as a special mark of respect" to the late Queen, The Telegraph reported. It is expected that Prince Harry's "archenemy" brother and heir apparent Prince William will likely wear a military uniform and that Charles may wear one under his coronation robes. Next, How to Watch King Charles' Coronation On Saturday morning, the spectacle of King Charles IIIs coronation will begin in London, marking a new chapter in royal history. And on hand to witness it will be Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, who has been making the rounds in the days preceding the ceremonyboth to kick off the celebrations that will run all through the long weekend, and to greet the influx of esteemed international guests who have descended on the city. King Charles Hosts Reception At Buckingham Palace Ahead Of Coronation Day Photo: Getty Images On Friday, at a reception held at Buckingham Palace to welcome those who had traveled to attend the coronation, Middleton shook hands with foreign dignitaries and royalsincluding King Felipe VI of Spain, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, and the U.S. First Lady Dr. Jill Bidenwhile wearing a very appropriate shade for the weekends festivities: royal blue. BRITAIN-ROYALS-CORONATION Photo: Getty Images It follows a subtly patriotic style streak for the Princess of Wales, who also paid a surprise visit to the Dog & Duck pub in Londons Soho on Thursday in red, white, and blue: the colors of the Union Jack flag. (For the low-key occasion, she wore a tailored bright red coat by Eponine London that revealed a blue lining as she walked the city streets, and a white shirt dress by Suzannah.) The Prince And Princess Of Wales Visit Soho Photo: Getty Images While greeting international guests on Friday, she wore a dress by Self-Portrait along with a pair of sapphire and diamond fringe earrings that once belonged to the Queen Mother and a sparkly silver clutch by Jenny Packham. May it be the first of many stand-out style moments to come from Middleton this coronation weekend. Originally Appeared on Vogue More Coronation Coverage from Vogue The eyes of much of the world will turn to London on Saturday for the coronation of Britains King Charles III. It is the first coronation since Queen Elizabeth IIs in 1953 back when President Eisenhower was in the White House. Eisenhower did not attend Elizabeths coronation, and President Biden will not attend Saturdays event. The United States will be represented by first lady Jill Biden. Beyond Saturdays pomp and ceremony, however, Charles and the Royal Family face real challenges and big questions including doubts that hover around the existence of monarchy itself. Here are five awkward questions that loom over the coronation. Will Charles apologize for colonialism? Britains King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, are on the way to the coronation ceremony in London Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) The British monarchy is having to reckon with a changing world one much different than it was when Elizabeth took the throne just shy of 70 years ago. Calls from Indigenous leaders have intensified on the eve of Charless coronation, with many demanding the new king apologize and make amends for what the genocide they say the British Empire carried out. In a letter made public May 4, organizations from Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines called on the British monarch to immediately commit to starting discussions about reparations, repatriation of remains and returning cultural artifacts. Whether Charles becomes the first British monarch to apologize for his nations bloody imperial history is far from certain. Professor Sanjoy Bhattacharya, head of the School of History at the University of Leeds, predicted there wont be a direct apology from Charles. If any further apology comes, it may be via William and Kate, as roving ambassadors of the family firm, as well as much of the country, he said. He suggested that apologizing for past injustices is not seen as a pressing need by the Royal Family right now, noting that the royal honours the medals given out by the Crown to Britons who are deemed to have distinguished themselves in various fields still have the word empire in many of their titles. Story continues Will the United Kingdom break apart during his reign? King Charles III sits as he is crowned with St Edwards Crown by The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby during the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP) The state of the kingdom is far from united. There have always been tensions between the constituent nations of the U.K. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But recent years have exacerbated the frictions. The Scottish National Party (SNP), which favors independence, has transformed from a marginal force to a political powerhouse within the past generation. The party has had problems in the very recent past including the February resignation of its leader of almost a decade, Nicola Sturgeon but Scottish independence could yet happen. On the other side of the Irish Sea, nationalists who want Northern Ireland to be absorbed into an all-Ireland state independent from Britain believe a referendum will come there sooner or later, too. Its an understatement to say the status of Northern Ireland is contentious. The territory went through three decades of armed conflict known as The Troubles before a peace agreement was signed in 1998. But more change may be on the horizon. The latest census results, released last year, showed more people identifying as Catholic than as Protestant for the first time in Northern Irelands 100-year history. Northern Irish Catholics have traditionally identified as Irish, whereas Protestants have usually identified as British. Colin Harvey, a professor at Queens University Belfast, told The Hill: It is at least possible that the new King will see a transition to a new and united Ireland during his reign. How significant is it that Charles is less popular than his mother? Britains King Charles III, left, stands next to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP) Elizabeth was such a fixture on the world stage that even occasional turmoil the most notable example being in the immediate aftermath of Princess Dianas 1997 death failed to significantly dent her popularity with the British public. Britons who opposed the monarchy had to reconcile themselves to the fact that as long as she was on the throne, change was unlikely. A polling average maintained by YouGov showed public approval of Elizabeth consistently above 70 percent in the final years of her life. By contrast, the same polling company showed Charless average popularity across the first quarter of this year at 55 percent. There are all kinds of reasons for the tepid view of Charles. Virtually any British person in middle-age or beyond remembers the tawdry dramas as his marriage to Diana came apart. During his long wait for the crown, there were some suggestions that it would be better for the family to skip him and instead have Prince William succeed Elizabeth. And, in comparison to his mother, Charles likely suffers the effects of a more generalized loss of reverence for institutional authority. The British publics lukewarm attitude toward him could become a real problem if his time on the throne hits choppy waters. How will he deal with Royal Family Drama? Britains King Charles III waves to the gathering as he travels in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach towards Westminster Abbey to his coronation ceremony, in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Mosaab Elshamy) With the coronation, the spotlight is also on both sons of King Charles the heir and spare. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markles 2021 breakaway from the royal firm has resulted in two House of Windsor courts one very much in the U.K., and the other in the heart of Hollywood. The break in the familial relations following the release of Harry and Meghans Netflix documentary, the formers tell-all autobiography and their scores of media interviews will ensure the relations of the warring sides will be on full display. Following the wall of silence from the royal family in the wake of Harry and Meghans documentary, Evan Nierman, CEO of crisis public relations firm Red Banyan, wrote in an opinion for The Hill that If the House of Windsor continues to remain mute, it will continue to be on the losing end of this ugly PR face-off, which is not a good look. He added that by refusing to counter punch, the Royals are feeding into the narrative that the palace is out of touch. Will the monarchy end with Charles? Britains King Charles III, center, and Camilla, the Queen Consort, top center, arrive during the coronation ceremony of Britains King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool) The fundamental question faced by the monarchy is whether it is an anachronism in the modern world. Part of the skepticism toward the British monarchy, in particular, clearly relates to its colonial history and the racism interwoven therein. But on top of that is another question: Do 21st-century citizens of the U.K. really want to acquiesce in the idea that some people are, literally, born to rule over others? For the millions of people who were subjects of the British Empire, the coronation is a reminder of an often-oppressive past. Many Britons also see the monarchy as an inherently undemocratic institution with no place in the modern era. Among a large segment of the British population, the monarchy continues to represent tradition, stability, and Britishness itself, but younger Britons seem markedly cooler toward the institution. A CNN/Savanta poll released Friday asked British respondents whether they considered the Royal Family a good source of leadership and guidance. Among the over-65s, a plurality 45 percent to 34 percent answered yes. But, in a worrying sign for Charles and his heirs, just 31 percent of those aged 18-24 said yes, while 55 percent disagreed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) challenger in the upcoming 2024 election, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), once said that it would have been "better" if the Second Amendment "had not been written." The statement that Allred made was during a campaign event in 2018 when he was discussing the interpretation and viability of the Second Amendment. During this discussion, Allred said that the Second Amendment states that "the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," adding that there are "two ideas" to this, according to video journalists dug up. TED CRUZ: A DOJ INDICTMENT OF HUNTER BIDEN IS LIKELY, BUT COMES WITH THIS CATCH "The recent trend has only been to focus on the right to bear arms instead of the well-regulated militia part," said Allred. "So I just think we have to accurately apply it. Would it be better if it had not been written? Of course. But there's no chance that we're going to repeal any of the Bill of Rights amendments." In 2021, Allred co-sponsored a bill on universal background check legislation, with the bill criminalizing private gun sales conducted without an FBI background check. Outside of Allred, the other co-sponsors of this bill included Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib Rashida (D-MI), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). When asked about Allred's past statement on the Second Amendment, his campaign manager Paige Hutchinson claimed that Allred "supports common-sense reforms and respects the rights of law-abiding gun owners." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER "He proudly supported Sen. Cornyn's bipartisan bill to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, which Ted Cruz voted against," Hutchinson told Fox News Digital. "A highly edited clip from six years ago is not in any way an accurate reflection of Allred's position." Allred, who has widely been seen as a rising star within the House Democratic Caucus, announced his run against Cruz on Wednesday. Cruz has indicated he is running for reelection. Original Location: Ted Cruz's challenger once claimed it would have been better if Second Amendment 'had not been written' Washington Examiner Videos Kasandra Noel, 31, is the coordinator of the food program for Central Florida Health, a nonprofit that has served Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties for more than 50 years. In this land of plenty, there are plenty who are hungry. A little known but highly effective nonprofit in Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties Central Florida Health Care seeks to address this crisis as well as many other needs. Started on a small scale just over 50 years ago to help fill health care gaps in the migrant worker and agricultural community, the organization now staffs 15 sites and employs almost 500 people in an ever-increasing effort to address medical, dental and related needs among a broad swath of the rural population. When COVID hit, they realized how a bump in unemployment had exacerbated ongoing shortages of food in many low-income households. While food distribution is a relatively small part of what they do, its a big deal to recipients who are struggling just to get by and who have seen food prices soar in the past year. And its central to the organizations core mission nutrition being a rather significant component of good health. Last year alone, CFHC distributed 1.8 million pounds of food to thousands of families exactly 39,953 families by their count. Thats a lot of parents and kids who didnt go hungry at least for a spell. Heading the food program is Kasandra Noel, 31, a Pennsylvania transplant with a masters degree in public health whose passion for service matches the mission of her organization. 'Where Im supposed to be' Prosecutor Ashley McCarthy tiptoes between peace and horror The best carillon in the world? Ahead of Easter service, carillonneur says Bok Tower is the 'holy grail' of carillons Despite sad memories Lakeland Green Beret Kenneth Conklin 'would do it all again' Q. How and why did you happen to come here to work with Central Florida Health Care? A. I came here in 2021 when I got married. Formerly I was an executive assistant in a hospital. But I wanted to find a job in public health where I could see the work and know it was making a difference in the community Im living in. I wanted to find a role where I could actually touch the community to find what their needs and wants were. Finding this role was phenomenal. When I found what Central Health Care does, it just aligned perfectly with my mission and future goals. Story continues Q. Lets talk about the overall mission of your organization, a nonprofit founded over a half century ago. What different services does CFHC offer and who are your clients? A. We are federally financed and a federally qualified health center. We have 15 clinics offering various health care services. The food distribution program, started about three years ago, is an awesome addition to the services we provide. Q. And you were hired specifically for that role? A. Yes, I was hired strictly for food distribution, which started during the pandemic when we saw growing food scarcity. We understand there are food deserts in the area basically areas where there isnt access to healthy food within a walking distance, or at least not walkable for many community members. We have 10 sites where we distribute food nine in Polk County, one in Hardee County. We meet them where they are. We do it twice a month at each location, so one every day somewhere. Q. What sort of food? A. A variety of groceries, but we also focus on fresh produce, so it can be items like cabbage, potatoes, all sorts of produce. It can be in a bag, it can be in a box, depending on what items I receive that day on the truck. The typical content of a box might be a meat, a dairy product such as yogurt or milk, definitely a bakery item such as bread and a dessert, just a variety of things because we dont have the same things every time, so there are some special surprises every visit. At each location, we distribute food to between 150 and 250 families. At certain sites theres simply more need so we see more families. Q. How many people are involved in this program? A. Im the only coordinator, but we have about 200 volunteers who are awesome and enthusiastic who come out to assist us. Q. Is there a qualification for the food or do distribute to anyone who shows up? A. No qualification is necessary they just get in line. We only ask two questions their zip code and how many people are in their household. Thats all we need. Q. Do your recipients tend to not be homeless, theyre just short of food, or are homeless included? A. It depends on the location. We service people in vehicles but we also have people who dont have a car, who are homeless since there are no qualifications and it really doesnt matter to us. Of course if youre homeless and dont have a stove, well take out that item and put it in the next box. Q. What are you seeing in terms of need now versus when you started? A. The need has grown. During the pandemic, a lot of people were in need because of jobs but now, with the increase in food prices, it has caused an increase in families in need were seeing this year. We are definitely up. Q. Is the food purchased, donated or some combination thereof? A. Through the grant, basically, we pay the two providers and what we get depends on what they have. Kasandra Noel moved here in 2021 when she got married. The former executive assistant at a hospital said, "When I found what Central Health Care does, it just aligned perfectly with my mission and future goals." Q. Who are your main partners in this effort? A. United Way of Central Florida, Feeding Tampa Bay and the George W. Jenkins End Hunger Initiative. We also receive help from other organizations and businesses, including Publix and Kroger. Q. Do you have any way of knowing if the folks who receive food are employed and simply dont have enough money? A. Its a big mix. Theres really no way of telling because there are no qualifications connected to income, but we do learn a little in conversations with people who may be willing to chat. We see families where theres five kids, or a single parent, or homeless we really cant pinpoint what the majority of what we see is. Q. Do you have other members of Central Florida Health Care that accompany you on these distribution visits and talk about other services you offer? A. Yes, we have people who give out take-home COVID test kits, toothbrushes and things like that and they talk about other health care services. Whatever resources we have were willing to give out. We also have navigators who can talk to patients about their questions. Q. Navigators? A. Yes! We have one navigator at each clinic and they are there to share our other services, sort of like a social worker, to let them know what other help is available. Q. If someone wanted to find out where the distribution points are and when to show up, how would they do that? A. Its on our website www.cfhc.org and just go to resources and click the calendar. Its updated every month. If theyre not in need, they can refer someone who is. Thomas R. Oldt Q. And how do volunteers find their way to you? A. We are always looking for volunteers, and there are always students looking for volunteer hours. We have two sites that are staffed mostly by students because they are evening sites. Let us know your schedule and well accommodate. All they need to do is send me an email to knoel@cfhc.org. This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Head of Central Florida Health Care's food program says need has grown CHARLOTTE - A former Western North Carolina congressman who brought a gun to an international airport said that he sees no connection between the proliferation of mass shootings and the abundance of firearms in the United States, just after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge. Former 11th District Rep. Madison Cawthorn used a recent mass shooting in Serbia to illustrate his point, saying that Serbia has strict gun control laws. "You just look recently, there was a 13-year-old who had shot up a school in Serbia unfortunately. There was a terrible loss of life," he said. "It is incredibly difficult to own a firearm there. And so proponents of gun control in the United States of America, that is the road they want to lead us down to, where Serbia is. And obviously, that does not seem to help things," he said. While Serbia does have stronger gun ownership regulations than some parts of the United States, in the 1990s, Serbia was flooded with hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons from wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, and tens of thousands of people own legal firearms for hunting, Reuters reported. According to the same report, Serbia ranks third behind the United States and Yemen with an estimated 39 firearms per 100 people, but mass shootings are relatively rare there. More: Madison Cawthorn, former WNC congressman and gun advocate, pleads guilty to firearms charge More: Cawthorn moves to Florida; fails to hand over constituent casework, Edwards says Cawthorn, who moved from his Henderson County home earlier this year to Florida, was speaking in an interview May 5 after pleading guilty to a gun-related charge in Mecklenburg County District Court. "When we're moving that fast up from district to D.C., oftentimes our bags are packed by staffers just grabbing things from the house if we don't have time to go ourselves," he said. "And so, I just happened not to look inside that bag. I had my bag that I had packed for the events I was doing that day, and the next day, I grabbed my backpack for the airport. Unfortunately, I was in such a rush, I didn't take the time to sit down and look through it." Story continues Former Congressman Madison Cawthorn pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor firearms charge on Friday, May 5. He was cited on April 26, 2022 for bringing a gun to the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. He pleaded guilty to violating a Charlotte city ordinance by possessing a dangerous weapon on city property. He was fined $250. He will not be required to forfeit the gun. In the interview immediately after his plea hearing, Cawthorn said that he was unaware he had a gun in his backpack when he went to the airport. He said that he supports the prohibition of guns at airports, and he is now far more careful. "I practiced on my way up here from Florida just yesterday, emptied my entire bag out into my trunk and just went through every single nook and cranny, made sure there was nothing that was inappropriate to go through TSA security," he said. More: Cawthorn hints at political comeback, says he wants to enjoy life first Cawthorn pleaded guilty roughly four months after leaving office. He lost the Republican 11th U.S. House District primary to state Sen. Chuck Edwards, who went on to win the general election. Cawthorn said that he hopes to return to politics, but when asked exactly what his plans are, he wasn't specific. "I leave that up to just whatever God has intended for me. I'm an ardent follower of Christ. So wherever he leads me, I'm happy to go. I'm ready to answer the call whenever," he said. "Right now I'm really enjoying being out of politics. It's a good time to just kind of refresh and observe from the sidelines." Kara Fohner is a reporter with the Gaston Gazette, part of the USA TODAY Network. Email her at KFohner@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Madison Cawthorn says strict gun control laws won't stop mass shootings A slate of major labels represented by the Recording Industry Association of Americaincluding Atlantic, Sony, Warner, Roc-A-Fella, and othershave won a $50 million judgement in a copyright infringement case against the mixtape hosting platform Spinrilla. Judge Amy Totenberg, of the Northern District Court of Georgia handed down the ruling, viewed by Pitchfork, which further dictated that the site must shut down on Monday, May 8, at 12 a.m. Spinrilla was launched as an iOS app in 2013, expanding to Android the next year. The platform was primarily used by independent rappers to distribute their mixtapes, some of which used sampled material that had not been cleared with copyright holders. The RIAA filed a lawsuit on behalf of labels in 2017, claiming that Spinrilla had illegally hosted copyrighted material, advertised the infringed material on the site, and that it continued to host the content even after being alerted to violations. Nearly 4,100 recordings were ultimately determined eligible for consideration in the case. Judge Totenberg ruled in 2020 that Spinrilla was liable for direct copyright infringement on those recordings. What to Know About Musics Copyright Gold Rush Neil Young, Lindsey Buckingham, Shakira, and others recently sold their song catalogs to the flashy music publishing upstart Hipgnosis, in deals that have implications for the future of the recording industry. Originally Appeared on Pitchfork Missouri lawmakers on Friday approved a roughly $50 billion budget for the next fiscal year that funds a massive expansion of Interstate 70 across nearly the entire state from Blue Springs to Wentzville near St. Louis. The $2.8 billion plan would extend the highway that connects the states two largest cities from two lanes each way to three to curtail traffic jams and congestion. Its substantially more ambitious than Gov. Mike Parsons $859 million proposal earlier this year to extend the highway in three specific spots near Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis. This is probably a six, maybe seven-year-long project, said state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican who chaired the budget committee in the Senate. So, maybe I should apologize up front for the traffic, but I think the end result is going to be something that, quite frankly, generationally will transform that artery across the state. The entire spending plan headed to Parsons desk comes as the state is flush with cash, propped up by a record $5 billion surplus. It includes several key items including $3.6 billion in state aid to K-12 schools and $78 million to boost rates for child care providers. It also includes several one-time costs such as $300 million to build a new psychiatric hospital in Kansas City. The states fiscal year begins July 1. Lawmakers, with little discussion, also agreed to strip two culture war-focused provisions passed by the House that had threatened to derail the budget process. The budget approved Friday rejected Republican-backed plans to cut funding from every state agency associated with diversity initiatives. It also restores $4.5 million in state aid for libraries that the House had cut in retaliation for a lawsuit on behalf of two library groups challenging a new state law that bans certain materials in school libraries. I mean, yeah, Im relieved they werent insane, Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat, said Friday. This session, over and over, its been like the war on acronyms. Story continues The state budget also for the third year in a row blocks Medicaid patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood. Fridays approval comes less than a year after a Cole County judge ruled that lawmakers could not use budget bills to limit the list of eligible Medicaid providers. The Missouri Supreme Court found in 2020 that lawmakers violated the state constitution when they attempted to end all funding of Planned Parenthood. In a state that consistently ranks among the worst for health care access, coupled with a high uninsured population, you would think conservative politicians would expand access to life-saving preventative care, said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes. Hough rejected this criticism Friday, telling reporters that the language in the budget doesnt really have, in my opinion, a lot of practical implications. Lawmakers were able to approve Fridays budget ahead of a 6 p.m. constitutional deadline, avoiding a filibuster over legislation aimed at killing a landfill proposed in Kansas City. A fight over the landfill legislation had blocked Senate action for nearly all of Thursdays session and threatened to upend the budget process. State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, ultimately agreed to end his filibuster over the legislation after negotiations among senators and phone calls between Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Senate leadership. After Brattins filibuster, senators, in a last-minute addition, added $100,000 for an environmental study near the proposed site to study the impacts of a landfill on nearby schools, homes and the environment. Lucas also said on Twitter that he would be filing a city ordinance that would ban the approval of landfills in the city through next June. Were extremely pleased with Mayor Lucas, Brattin told reporters. What we were able to get...was an environmental study for one year and it will be a moratorium of any permits issued to anyone to try to put in a landfill while this study goes on. Parson and lawmakers have framed the I-70 expansion as necessary to combat high levels of congestion on the major highway that slices through the state. However, researchers have disputed the idea that highway expansions are a long-lasting solution. While the Missouri House had approved the governors proposal, Hough pushed for a full expansion of the highway. The final $2.8 billion plan would fund half of the project through general revenue and half through bonds that would be repaid over 15 years. We are pleased with the efforts to make transformative, generational investments in infrastructure here in MO, said Tom Crawford, president and CEO of the Missouri Trucking Association. We have been advocating for these investments for decades and are pleased to see progress made in this budget. Spectators in the gallery react as senators speak in favor of SB20, the Care for Women, Children, and Families Act, at the North Carolina Legislature in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, May 4, 2023. | Ethan Hyman, The News & Observer via Associated Press North Carolina passed a new law May 4 restricting abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The ban has more regulations than the states previous 20-week ban that was enacted after the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Previously recognized as a less restrictive state when it came to abortion rights, North Carolina had many women from out of state travel to obtain the procedure. Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Abortions in North Carolina rose by 37%, more than any other state, in the first two months after the ruling. ... In the six months afterward, North Carolina saw an average of 3,978 abortions a month, up 788 from the figure of two months prior, per Reuters. The debate over the bill on Thursday ended in a total 29-20 vote. Republican state Sen. Phil Berger posted to Twitter that it was the longest debate a bill has seen in the last decade. Following the longest debate to take place on the NC Senate floor in the last decade, the Upper Chamber has passed the Care for Women, Children, and Families Act. The bill will now go to the Governor. #ncpol #ncga Senator Berger Press Shop (@SenBergerPress) May 4, 2023 Many protesters were heard outside the Senate chamber screaming, Abortion rights now, and Shame! the article said. North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said he would veto the bill. The New York Times said Cooper urged residents to help uphold his veto by pressuring four Republicans who had campaigned to protect womens reproductive health to break from their party. The GOP majority can almost guarantee the governors veto will be overridden. According to CBS News, Republican Sen. Joyce Krawiec said, Many of us who have worked for decades to save unborn babies for the sanctity of human life; we saw it as an opportunity to put forth a very pro-life, pro-woman legislation. Story continues This is a pro-life plan, not an abortion ban, she added. Related The 46-page bill explains that abortion will be reduced to 12 weeks. There will also be new laws making abortions at 20 weeks available in circumstances of rape or incest and 24 weeks for life-limiting fetal anomalies that can be diagnosed in the baby during pregnancy. The exception for endangerment of the mother remains. GOP lawmakers also are promoting at least $160 million for such services as maternal health, adoption care, contraceptive services and paid leave for teachers and state employees after the birth of a child, per AP. The controversial bill will be effective beginning July 1. Rockland County Executive Ed Day on Friday warned New York City Mayor Eric Adams not to bus migrants here, calling any plan to do so absurd and saying the county will not stand for it. Adams' office confirmed the city will temporarily house asylum seekers at hotels in Rockland and Orange counties due to the huge influx New York City has been struggling to manage. He said they were all single men, and said the placements were the start of a program that the city could expand. Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenny said Friday that Adams had called her that morning to tell her for the first time that the city was considering placing some of the asylum seekers in its care in a hotel in her town. What are the plans? Day said the City of New York planned to house about 340 adult men in Armoni Inn and Suites in Orangeburg for four months with plans to secure them work permits to integrate into the community. New mattresses were stacked on Friday outside the entrance of Armoni Inn & Suites in Orangeburg, where New York City planned to place asylum seekers who had been transported to the city from the southern border. Pointing to Adams' own Road Forward Plan, which calls on a federal government strategy to prepare for immigrants' arrival in advance, Day called any NYC scheme to bus immigrants to Rockland "duplicitous." 'Influx of migrants': Day and Lawler say immigrant swell strains Rockland; protesters say they contribute "This screams out for solutions on the federal level pertaining to our broken immigration system," said Day, a Republican, citing the Democratic Biden administration. Day said the city plan included short-term funding and services for individuals, but with no details. No realistic plans had been communicated as to who will house, feed, and support these individuals in the long term, Day said in a statement. U.S. Rep Michael Lawler, D-Pearl River, center, and Rockland County Executive Ed Day discuss the impact of immigration on county services and nonprofits March 2. Rockland County Human Rights Commissioner Spencer Chiimbwe is at left. "Rockland is not immigrant-ready," said Renold Julien, executive director of Konbit Neg Lakay, a Spring Valley-based nonprofit that has been serving the county's immigrant population for more than 35 years. It is a struggle to arrange services for immigrants coming to the small county now, Julien said. Story continues Who will pay? He said there are many questions about who will provide funding to aid the county nonprofits. Konbit is experiencing an increase in people coming with special I-134 visas that help those from Ukraine, Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Julien said the group who could be sent to the county would qualify for work permits, and that his agency is adept at helping facilitate them. But Day said the permits can take months to obtain, questioning the four-month timetable he said NYC officials had cited. Kenny said Adams had told her the city would cover all food, medicine, laundry and other expenses, but gave no details about how many people were coming and made the arrangement sound tentative. Kenny said she soon realized the plans were fairly solid when someone sent her photos of new beds waiting outside the Armoni entrance. "It all sounded like this is something that would happen in the next month," the Republican said. "For me to get a picture of beds was a little disturbing." She said she was still awaiting answers about whether criminal background checks had been conducted on the visitors and other details, such as where they are from, how long they may stay and whether they are authorized to work. The Armoni is a 171-room hotel off Route 303 that was a Holiday Inn franchise for decades, until new owners bought it in 2021. 'Additional housing options' for asylum seekers The release from Adams' office said, without identifying the hotels, that it would place asylum seekers in Orangeburg and Orange Lake, a hamlet in the town of Newburgh in Orange County. The Democrat said the city will provide shelter there for up to four months, with the same city-funded services given at the city's Humanitarian Emergency Relief and Response Centers. Staff at the hotels will connect the visitors with community-based organizations and faith groups to support their transition, Adams' office said. This new program provides additional housing options in neighboring counties for asylum seekers arriving in New York City," Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom said in the statement. "This is an issue we must all work together to address, as we have a shared responsibility in managing the influx of over 60,000 asylum seekers arriving to our city. Adams' office pointed to the looming expiration of a Trump-era immigration policy, known as Title 42, that made it easier to expel migrants from U.S. borders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy, which allowed Customs and Border Protection to turn migrants away in an effort to prevent the virus from spreading in holding facilities, is set to end next week. "With the number of asylum seekers arriving in New York City rapidly accelerating ahead of Title 42s lifting next week, and what is expected to be an even larger influx after May 11, the hotels in Orange Lake and Orangeburg will free up additional space in New York City for the hundreds of asylum seekers continuing to arrive in the five boroughs every day," Adams' office stated. "Since last spring, over 60,800 asylum seekers have come through New York City and been offered a place to stay and over 37,500 asylum seekers are currently in the citys care." In March, Day and U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-Pearl River, held a press conference warning that a wave of immigration to Rockland had strained the county Department of Social Services, particularly the foster care system; nonprofit food pantries; and the East Ramapo school district. "Rockland County is not a sanctuary county, unlike New York City and its boroughs," Lawler said Friday, "and should not bear the costs associated with the Biden administration's abject failure on border security and immigration policy." USA TODAY contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Immigrant relocation to Rockland, Orange planned by NYC. What we know In November, Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat, celebrated as she coasted to a 12-percentage point victory over Republican challenger Amanda Adkins. Less than a year later, shes one of the most vulnerable Democratic members of Congress, according to her own political party. People need to realize that at every point in time politics are changing, voter coalitions are changing, said Patrick Miller, a political science professor at the University of Kansas. Certain communities are changing while others are not. A Democratic analysis of the district obtained by The Star found that Davids margin of victory was misleading. While she outperformed President Joe Bidens 2020 margin in the district, she underperformed in areas where the old district and new district overlapped. Democratic concerns may be strategic messaging to maintain a sense of urgency with Davids base. In 2022, when New York Times polling showed Davids up by double digits, the Davids campaign and the party were quick to dismiss it as inaccurate. She went on to win by about the margin the poll had predicted. But according to the memo, Democrats are worried that in 2024 the electorate is likely to be less Democratic, creating a challenge for Davids to hold on to her seat. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last month put Davids on their list of 29 members who are most at risk of losing their seats in 2024, a way of raising money for the members who are in the most competitive districts in the country. Days later, the National Republican Congressional Committee listed Davids as one of their top targets in 2024. The attacks followed. As House Republicans push through bills that touch on the cultural issues of the day but have little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate like a bill blocking the federal government from banning gas stoves they began criticizing Davids as too liberal, an attempt to undercut her moderate image back home. Story continues Sharice Davids has always been a liberal at heart but in the last several months she has veered to the extreme: backing lower penalties for violent crime, supporting a ban on gas stoves and voting against unleashing American energy production, said Delanie Bomar, a spokeswoman for the NRCC. In 2024 voters will be evaluating these hard-left votes for the first time and they will hold her accountable. Republicans largely hold out hope for the district because of numbers. There are more registered Republicans than registered Democrats in the district though party registration does not always align with how people vote. Under the current boundaries, the district went for Republican Mitt Romney in 2012 and Republican Donald Trump in 2016 before flipping to Biden in 2020. And Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican who handily won reelection last year, won the district. No Republican candidate has filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission to challenge Davids as of mid-April. Still, Davids campaign announced this week that she raised more than $500,000, matching a similar haul from the final stretch of the 2022 campaign, in which she raised a total of around $7.9 million. My job is to represent this community, and now more than ever, our district needs someone in Congress who is going to stand up for what we believe in, Davids said. Whether thats bringing good-paying jobs back home to Kansas or protecting our rights, Im proud to have the trust and support of so many in the Kansas Third District. This isnt the first time Davids has been a target. There was a wave of concern among some Democrats in 2022 after the Republican-controlled Legislature redrew the congressional boundaries, turning her district from the most racially diverse in the state to the least. The new district lost Democratic-leaning voters in Wyandotte County and added Republican-leaning voters in Miami, Anderson and Franklin counties. The changes made the politics of Johnson County the most important for determining which political party wins the congressional seat. That means it handed over power to white suburban voters. Really, if you want to talk about this district intelligently, we need to talk beyond is it a good year for Democrats or not, Miller said. We need to talk about what is the data, what is the trend of the white suburban voter. Across the country, white suburban voters are increasingly voting for Democrats. Many suburban voters rejected Trump in 2020, a trend that was accelerated by the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion. The shift comes at a time when rural voters are increasingly voting for Republican candidates, fundamentally changing the two political partys coalitions. Suburban America really for 20 plus years, but especially since 2016 has been getting bluer, Miller said. Its a trend were in the middle of. And we dont know from one election to the next whether that trend is going to continue, or how much bluer. Some of that trend depends on candidates. Twice, Republicans nominated Amanda Adkins, who managed Sam Brownbacks 2004 Senate campaign and chaired the state party when he was elected governor in 2010, to go up against Davids. Both cycles, Democrats were able to easily tie Adkins, a former Cerner executive, to the widely unpopular Brownback. Last year, they tied her to conservative abortion policies in an election year when abortion rights were one of the top issues for Democratic voters. And in a relatively moderate district, Adkins campaigned with conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz, who objected to the certification of the 2020 presidential election. State Rep. Stephanie Clayton, a Johnson County Democrat, called Adkins too Brownback-y for the district. I wouldnt say that its because of the district, Clayton said, of Davids victory. I would say it was probably because of the opponent and the solid campaign. Clayton, a former moderate Republican who switched over to the Democratic Party, said she believes Republicans have a messaging problem in the district. The conservative wing of the Republican Party has emphasized cultural issues, like opposition to transgender rights, to spur their base voters. Clayton said the use of the word woke and the focus on cultural issues alienates the type of moderate voter who sways elections in Johnson County. If they can just act like someone that we would feel comfortable inviting to the dinner table, someone who wouldnt put their elbows on it, or their feet, someone who would chew with their mouths closed instead of yelling, Clayton said. Congressional, state and university leaders gathered Friday to celebrate a recertification of OU Health's Stephenson Cancer Center as a National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center. Stephenson's recertification "absolutely is cause for celebration," University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr. told hundreds of guests who attended. At the cancer center, research-based care enables more Oklahomans diagnosed with the deadly disease to survive and thrive. Odds of surviving a first year after being diagnosed with cancer increase by 25% for patients who are cared for at a certified center, Harroz said. Plus, access to top-level clinical trials not only improves outcomes for today's patients, but for those who can expect to be diagnosed with the disease in coming years. "It is state-of-the-art care not just for you, but care that takes you on a journey that can help eliminate this disease one day. What takes place in here every day is sacred it is absolutely extraordinary," he said. More: Check out renderings and other details surrounding Norman's newly announced cancer center Stephenson Cancer Center offerings OU Health's Stephenson Cancer Center: Conducts scientific, clinical, translational and population-based health research and currently participates in about 300 active clinical trials helping to find new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat numerous stages and types of cancer. Helps obtain federal approval of drugs to fight cancer through those clinical trials. Trials involving 11 such drugs received approval within the past year. One of the drugs being tested now, called OK-1, is the first developed and created entirely in Oklahoma a first for OU Health and the state. Hosts Oklahoma's only CAR-T program, where immune cells called T cells are genetically altered to enable them to locate and destroy cancer cells more effectively, a bone marrow transplant program and the Varian Edge Linear Accelerator for precise radiation therapy. Story continues Certification as a National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center only happens for rigorously reviewed institutions demonstrating innovative and significant research to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer and successfully serving people who live within their reach. Only 2% of cancer centers across the U.S. achieve a NCI designation, which must be renewed every five years, and nearly all of those are part of academic health care systems like OU Health, officials said. OU Health's Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City. Vital signs: Oklahoma's health care industry growing, providing thousands of jobs Stephenson, which opened in 2011, received its initial NCI designation in 2018. Over the past decade, more than 100 highly skilled clinicians and researchers have joined its staff, while OU has boosted associated research funding to $65 million annually. Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City is the only NCI-designated cancer center in Oklahoma and one of only 71 such centers nationwide, officials said. More needs to be done, Harroz says Amid Friday's celebration, Harroz and other speakers emphasized they still have more to do before they can complete their mission to bring institutional and research-based cancer treatment options to people across Oklahoma. One out of every two men and one out of every three women who live in Oklahoma can expect to be diagnosed with cancer during the lives, with 35% of those receiving that news being told there no cure exists for their illness, he said. "We can try to hide from it. But the reality is, it will find us," Harroz said. "We have to address it, squarely and directly." Next steps for the cancer center include making the services it provides available outside the Oklahoma City area so it can be certified as a comprehensive center for people across the state, Harroz said. More: Oklahoma achievers: OU Cancer Center doctor awarded; Meals on Wheels; 2022 Visions Awards Stephenson already has opened a facility at the Norman Regional Hospital, broadening its impact to caring for one out of five Oklahomans diagnosed with cancer. "That's an amazing mark after 22 years of work ... but is that good enough? It is not, because there are so many and the state who don't have access because they can't come here," Harroz said. It will take the support of Oklahoma's congressional, legislative, tribal and local elected and appointed educational and health-related leaders to broaden the cancer center's reach further, he said. "We are going to bring Stephenson across the state so no Oklahoman has to compromise on the quality of health care they receive because of their geography," Harroz said. Others event speakers included U.S. Reps. Tom Cole, R-Moore, and Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City; Dr. Richard P. Lofgren, president and CEO of OU Health; Dr. Robert Mannel, the cancer center's director; and Julie Bisbee, executive director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. University Hospital Authority and Trust executives, board members and University of Oklahoma regents also attended Friday's event. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Stephenson Cancer Center at OU recertified as designated cancer center The University of Kentucky will award more than 5,800 degrees this weekend, with graduates walking across the stage on Friday and Saturday. Three ceremonies were scheduled for Friday and one for Saturday. More than 3,700 undergraduate students, 1,400 graduate students and 600 professional degree candidates are part of the ceremonies. Here are the stories of three UK students who drew on motivation from their families to graduate. Mom and veteran graduates this weekend For Elizabeth Akers Buckles, her road to graduation has not been conventional. She first enrolled at Morehead State University in 2016, but felt that her degree in agricultural exonomics was not her passion. She ended up joining the U.S. Army, where she met her now-husband, Tylor Buckles. Elizabeth Buckles graduates from the University of Kentucky this weekend. In 2019, they returned to Kentucky and got married, while she enrolled at UK for a community and leadership development degree. While attending UK, the couple welcomed their son T.J. in 2021. T.J. was born 16 weeks premature, and would spend 250 days in the Kentucky Childrens Hospital NICU while Buckles was still enrolled at UK. I remember every single day, Buckles said. I had a routine where I would wake up and drive the 30-40 minutes to the hospital in the morning to be there before he woke up. I would lay him down for a nap and hook my computer up to do homework and work on classes while hooked to a breast pump. T.J. needed around-the-clock care when he came home from the NICU. Inspired by her family, Buckles continued pursuing her degree, at times bringing her son to campus. She will graduate this weekend, but a degree from UK has now become a family affair: her husband will enroll in the College of Nursing this fall, with the goal of working at Kentucky Childrens Hospital to care for babies needing long-term critical care. Even though my experience was not traditional, I always felt UK was home, Buckles said. No matter my circumstances, there were people there who wanted to help me succeed. I want my experience to serve as a reminder to anyone that no matter where you are in your life, if you desire to start, resume or finish your degree it is possible. Story continues Audiology student looks to doctorate degree As a child, Moncerrat Bravo Alvarez frequently found herself acting as a translator for her parents, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico. She would help her mother in doctors offices, which taught her medical terminology, but she didnt think about pursuing a career in the medical field. Moncerrat Bravo Alvarez graduates from the University of Kentucky this weekend. Being the daughter of immigrant parents, I never knew what was in store for me because my parents didnt go to college, Bravo said. But Im forever grateful for the sacrifices my family made to provide my brother and I with different opportunities than they had growing up. But after arriving at UK, she began a degree in communication sciences and disorders, with a focus in audiology. She hopes to use her familys background as she pursues a doctor of audiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I am first-gen, and I am a daughter of immigrants. I am proud of these things, but I didnt get here without help from others, Bravo said. With my degree, my main goal is to help as many people as possible, especially knowing Spanish. Im going in with an open mind, and who knows, I might end up with my Ph.D., one day too. But my first and foremost focus is clinically, to help as many people as I can. She hopes her ability to speak both Spanish and English will allow her to help even more people, and advocate for her patients. I want to always do whats right, she said. Im going to become one of the very few bilingual audiologists in the country, and just being a bilingual health care professional in general, I want to advocate for those who cant advocate for themselves clearly. First-generation student in public health Ashley Wright is a first-generation college student with a passion for helping others. Her father passed away when she was young, which set her on a course for a career that would allow her to fulfill that passion. I came from humbling beginnings, Wright said. Losing my father helped shape me. It is one of the main reasons why I am here and pursued an education at the University of Kentucky. Ashley Wright, left, graduates from the University of Kentucky this weekend. She originally planned to become a pharmacist, but after talking with her academic advisor, decided to change her major to public health. She enrolled in the University Scholars Program, which will allow her to graduate with a bachelors degree and masters degree in public health in five years. She hopes to work for a government agency after graduation. She will graduate with her bachelors this weekend, and plans to complete her masters degree next year. All my life, Ive had to fight harder than most, Wright said. I am doing this for my family and want to be able to take care of them one day. My drive and my background are what separates me from most. I am willing to do what it takes. California remains the undisputed leader in electric vehicle sales, with 2022 reports pointing to over 1.5 million sold in the past decade. This trend is expected to continue as the state has made recent ambitious regulations for promoting clean energy. However, many are unconvinced that electric vehicles are the solution to our environmental crisis, pointing to possible economic and environmental challenges that come with strict mandates. ELECTRIC VEHICLE DRIVER IS SHOCKED BY $42,000 BILL AFTER MINOR FENDER BENDER Here's a breakdown of California's role in influencing the rest of the nation concerning EV regulations and a look at the states pushing back against the ever-changing updates to green transportation. California hits EV sale goals two years early California has been working to promote electric vehicles to improve their air quality, which has a history of falling below standards. "Zero emissions is a really big part of our strategy because without reducing those final amounts of emissions from the individual vehicles, we're not going to improve the air quality that we have," John Swanton, from the Office of the Chair for California Air Resources Board, told the Washington Examiner. Like many states, California offers incentives to those who purchase electric vehicles, specifically through the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project. It offers rebates from $1,000 to $7,500 for those who buy or lease new zero-emission, electric, fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. These efforts have resulted in the Golden State achieving its goal of selling 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles in the state by 2025, signed in 2012 by former Gov. Jerry Brown two years early. As of March, there have been 1,523,966 electric vehicles sold since 2011, according to California Energy Commission data. California's history as a clean energy vehicle leader California has set precedents for the nation to move toward greener energy, starting with pushing for zero-emission mandates and similar policies that paved a path for electric vehicle plans. However, experts believe the state still has a long way to go to achieve healthier air quality for residents. "I mean, we've made great progress, but the recent American Lung Association report card pointed to California, and it's still the worst air quality in the nation," Swanton said. "So we have some of the worst areas. We have some of the largest populations that are breathing unhealthy air." Swanton, who has been with CARB for around three decades, pointed to the lung association's "State of the Air" 2023 report card, which showed that California and other Western states have unhealthy air quality due to climate change, finding that 9 in 10 Californians live with polluted air. California passed the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate in 1990. It was the first of its kind in the world to demand automakers to manufacture a specific percentage of zero-emission vehicles in the state. In 2004, California implemented the Clean Car Standards, which set emission standards for passenger cars and light trucks. The legislation was the first in the nation to adopt standards for automakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon dioxide produced by vehicles. The regulation was phased out over the years until reaching the full goal by 2016. In 2012, the Golden State introduced amendments to these Low-Emission Vehicle policies, known as LEV III, which is part of CARB's Advanced Clean Cars program, marking the most stringent update since 2004. This was the first legislation to require automakers to produce a certain number of electric vehicles, with the projection of 15.4% of new sales in California to be electric vehicles. In 2018 the Innovative Clean Transit program was adopted, mandating that all public transit agencies transition to 100% zero-emission bus fleets by 2040. The Advanced Clean Trucks rule was introduced in 2020, requiring all manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to sell an increasing number of zero-emission trucks, with the goal of reaching 100% by 2045. Advanced Clean Cars II was proposed by CARB in 2022. It is considered to be the most ambitious regulation to date because it is the first time new vehicle sales will be required to be 100% zero emission. The goal for full compliance is set for 2035, and it includes fuel cell electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles. The regulation was fully passed by CARB in August 2022, and it was approved by California's Office of Administrative Law in November 2022. However, the regulation is not enforceable until the state receives a waiver from the Environment Protection Agency, but that is expected to be sent shortly. The Environmental Protection Agency's role The Biden administration has proposed demanding regulation with the EPA following California's clean cars II rule. The plan, released April 12, would require automakers to lower emissions from cars and light trucks by 10% per year through 2026. The proposal differs from California's mandate by not requiring zero-emission vehicles to make up a percentage of sales, but the total amount of cars that an automaker sells each year would have to be in line with the emission standard. This compels automakers to produce enough electric vehicles to stay under the emission standard limit. David Stevenson, Director of the Center for Energy Competitiveness for the Caesar Rodney Institute, a conservative Delaware-based think tank, told the Washington Examiner, "I certainly don't think the EPA should be supporting that, although they are. They actually kind of kick-started Delaware's efforts by requiring a new state implementation plan of how they were going to make air pollution standards, and that's what started our air quality division looking at this in the first place." Other states to follow suit Fourteen states have adopted California's vehicle standards as of 2022 under Section 177 of the federal Clean Air Act. Those states are New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado, and Minnesota. Minnesota is among the most recent to uphold California's rule, becoming the first Midwestern state to do so. A Minnesota appeals court upheld the state's commitment to following the West Coast regulations in January of this year. Many of the states that have adopted the 2012 clean car rule are also paving the way to follow the most ambitious regulations from the state, from Advanced Clean Cars II, setting 2035 as a target date for a full transition to zero-emission vehicles. Some of these states include New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington. Delaware is among the most recent states pushing to follow the 2035 standard proposed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Resources in 2022. "Since 2015, Delaware has managed several successful incentive programs to encourage residents and businesses to switch to clean transportation alternatives," DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin said in a press release. "In tandem with the electric transportation infrastructure investments being made by the state, ZEV will help provide momentum to our transition to an electric transportation future." The opposing side Red states and Republican leaders have advocated against electric vehicle mandates for several reasons. Some are skeptical of the environmental benefits, while others believe the benefits outweigh the high costs to consumers and destruction to the economy. Many states have been less supportive of electric vehicles as some lawmakers push to create restrictive measures for electric vehicles. GOP leaders from Delaware have made headlines for pushing back against the Democrats and the DNREC move to follow California's newest regulations. "We did a formal survey; we had a scientific survey done of people who had voted in the last two elections," Stevenson said, referring to a phone survey done by Ragnar Research. "And it mirrors the Delaware population by county, income, sex, race, all of that, and we got back that 73% of Delaware voters do not want this regulation." Stevenson said the comments from the survey confirmed that people did not want the EV regulation due to the high price of the cars and limited charging stations. "You could have gasoline vehicles that are very inexpensive to get into on the front end, and over their lifetime, they can be rather expensive to maintain," Swanton said when asked what the rebuttal is to those arguing costs are too high for electric vehicles. "Electric and hydrogen types of vehicles, you can have those that have a higher upfront cost, and then you have a very good maintenance profile going out for the rest of the vehicle's lifetime. Some states, like Oklahoma. have opted to lower incentives for electric vehicles for consumers. Senate Bill 1267 was introduced in 2021. It aimed to stop a 50% tax credit on electric vehicles and failed in the committee. Wyoming state legislators proposed a ban on the future sales of new electric vehicles in a bill titled "Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035," but the resolution halted in the committee at the beginning of February. "I don't like to look at this as a political issue," Swanton said. "This is really an issue of there is an environmental problem and a health problem associated with what vehicles do or combustion vehicles do. There's cost problems with all types of vehicles right now." Looking to the future "In California, it's something that we are making a lot of effort to accelerate the market, but the market is also accelerating on its own, just by people looking at this technology and seeing what the positive parts of it are," Swanton said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular as states move toward environmental consciousness and the Biden administration pushes for green transportation. As technology advances, the rest of the nation watches as California continues to expand regulations. "And that's something that is happening across the country," Swanton added. "There are areas that have less drivers than we do here in California, and acceptance or adoption of technology is also something that's growing. And a lot of that's due to the positive attributes of the vehicle." Original Location: The electric vehicle policies sweeping the nation and the states pushing back Washington Examiner Videos COVID-19 still around, but some WA programs tied to pandemic relief coming to an end Features/The Vanished Editor Tammy Ayer has worked at the Yakima Herald-Republic since 2015. This is her fourth newspaper gig. Alongside general assignment reporting and profiles, she writes about the centuries-long crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, focusing on those who have gone missing, been murdered and have died mysteriously on and around the Yakama Reservation. Ayer grew up in Indiana, lived in Florida for 13 years and has a masters degree in history. Nearly one year ago, 17-year-old Riley Whitelaw was killed in the break room of the Colorado Springs Walgreens where she worked. The horrific details of the crime, allegedly committed by an adult co-worker who Riley had previously complained against, quickly consumed state and national news. In a matter of days, many of Rileys relatives, friends and classmates heard about her death from the news before Rileys family had the chance to reach out themselves. My family and I had no time to grieve in private, said Courtenay Whitelaw, Rileys mother, while testifying to the state legislature. The children didnt deserve to find out such horrors from news or social media. ... Riley preferred to stay out of the limelight. Yet, here we are after her death. Overexposed in headline news, not for the human she is, but for the crime against her. On Friday, Colorado lawmakers unanimously passed Senate Bill 75 in an attempt to prevent this situation from happening again. If signed into law, the bill would remove identifying information of victims and witnesses who are minors from criminal justice records released to the public, replacing names with child victim or child witness. This would make it so that children and teenagers who are victims or witnesses of crimes cannot be identified by public records. Lawmakers named the bill "Riley's Law" during the final vote on Friday. "This bill is about a mom who is fighting for her daughter and her friends," said bill sponsor Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada, through tears during the vote. "We thought it would be fitting that, she's worked so hard for this bill, that we name it after her daughter." During a public hearing on the bill, Rileys family, friends and classmates from Air Academy High School said they cannot escape the gruesome details of her death even months later, still coming across articles and true crime TikToks rehashing descriptions of what happened. The friends also spoke of their high school classmate, who was identified as a witness to Riley's murder in public records, saying she is frequently shamed by their peers for not doing something to save Riley. Im trying to protect the safety, welfare and emotional and mental health of minors, said bill sponsor Sen. Tony Exum, D-Colorado Springs. Putting childrens privacy at risk is unacceptable. ... Tell your story, but redact the names. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Under current law, the names of victims who are minors are only redacted in public records in the cases of certain sexual crimes. However, when minors commit crimes, their identities are not released in public records unless they are charged as adults. Perpetrators are protected more than victims, Exum said. Thats not right. Thats not fair. In addition to protecting mental health, proponents of the bill argued it would protect minors physical health, saying releasing the names of minors who witnessed crimes can put them in danger of retaliation. In November 2021, a mass shooting occurred at Hinkley High School in Aurora. Mayor Mike Coffman said the names and addresses of teenage witnesses to the shooting were inadvertently released in an arrest affidavit published in the local newspaper. Coffman said this led to the witnesses being bullied at school and one being placed in protective custody after his house was shot up. The bills other sponsor Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, has been personally affected by this kind of witness retaliation. In 2005, Fields' son, Javad Marshall-Fields, and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, were murdered in Aurora the day after Marshall-Fields was threatened for being a witness in an upcoming murder trial. Im seeking justice on behalf of kids that are involved in being a witness, Fields said during the bill's committee hearing. It puts them at risk. ... We are responsible for protecting kids. The bill includes a good cause exception, meaning someone could petition the court to release the identity of minor victims or witnesses if there is public interest in accessing their identity. The petitioner would have to prove that the good to the public from releasing the identity would outweigh potential harm to the privacy of the minor and their family. The House passed the bill in a 63-0 vote on Friday, following the Senate's 34-0 passage last month. The bill will next be sent back to the Senate to approve the name change to "Riley's Law." Then, it will go to Gov. Jared Polis for final consideration. If signed by the governor, the bill would take effect in 2024. The bill would only redact minors names and identifying information from records going forward, not retroactively applying to past criminal justice records. It would not apply to records for traffic violations. Today Sunny skies. High 92F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Tonight Clear. Becoming windy late. Low around 60F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Tomorrow Mainly sunny. High 83F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible. New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday announced to give tax-free status to 'The Kerala Story' in the state, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi credited the movie for bringing out terror conspiracies and used it to attack the Congress during a rally in Karnataka. We have already made a law against religious conversion in Madhya Pradesh. Since this film creates awareness, everyone should watch this film. Parents, children and daughters should watch it. That's why the Madhya Pradesh government is giving tax-free status to the movie The Kerala Story," Chouhan said. The CM said that the film exposes the conspiracies of love jihad, religious conversion and terrorism and its hideous" face. #WATCH | 'The Kerala Story' movie has been declared tax-free in the state by the government says Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Video source: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Twitter handle) pic.twitter.com/V36DpeOD3s May 6, 2023 Love jihad' is a term often used by right-wing activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage. This film tells how the daughters ruin their lives after getting entangled in the web of love jihad due to momentary sentimentality, said Chouhan and added, This film also exposes the design of terrorism." In a rally in Ballari in poll-bound Karnataka, PM Modi said on Friday, Such a beautiful state of the country, where people are hardworking and talented. The Kerala Story film brings out terror conspiracies happening in that state." It is unfortunate that Congress can be seen standing with this terror trend that is seeking to ruin the country. Congress is even indulging in backdoor political bargaining with people having terror inclinations. People of Karnataka should be cautious about Congress," added Modi. Karnataka votes for a new assembly on May 10. The results will be announced on May 13. New Delhi: The popular fast-food chain McDonald's was fined approximately over Rs 5 crore (475,000 plus 22,000) after a rodent infestation was discovered. The case came to light after a London-based customer reported a mouse dropping in his cheeseburger from a McDonald's restaurant. Following an investigation by officers, the Thames Magistrates Court found the fast-food chain to be unhygienic and ordered it to pay the fine. ALSO READ | Elon Musk Considers Gifting Free Twitter Subscriptions To Select Users District Judge Susan Holdham said: When customers go to McDonalds, they expect and have the right to expect the highest standards in food hygiene. This is not some backstreet burger or kebab bar children go to McDonalds as a treat. According to the reports, the customer had eaten half of his cheeseburger when he noticed a mouse dropping on the inside of the wrapper. The Waltham Forest Council started the investigation after the customer complaint and found the mouse droppings and the decomposing remains of a mouse. It said, Officers investigated and found a dirty kitchen with mouse droppings and even the decomposing remains of one of the rodents the restaurant was immediately closed. BIG MUCK: McDonalds was fined 475,000 plus 22,000 costs at Thames Magistrates Court yesterday after a customer reported finding mouse droppings at the Leytonstone branch to #WalthamForest council in 2021. pic.twitter.com/wtATz8zfQR Waltham Forest Council (@wfcouncil) May 3, 2023 Cllr Khevyn Limbajee, Waltham Forest Councils Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said We are grateful for the quick thinking of the customer in this case for reporting the matter to the Council for investigation. There was a significant risk posed to the health of residents and visitors to Waltham Forest and as such the Council had no option but to take formal action in this case. He said: McDonalds is a large and well experienced food business operator in the fast-food sector who serves thousands of meals per week to its customers, therefore the risk presented at the Leytonstone store was significant. It was appreciated that McDonalds pleaded guilty and admitted wrongdoing at the first opportunity, however as a Council we take food hygiene seriously and wont hesitate to follow up complaints and take action where appropriate, irrespective of who operates the food business. Residents and visitors should feel confident and assured that when they check a premises food hygiene rating in Waltham Forest, they know their food has been cooked in a clean and safe environment and that we take a zero-tolerance approach to serious hygiene contraventions. Based on new research published by Oxford University Press in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, a key component of the wage disparity between men and women is due to how they conduct job searches, with women are more likely to accept job offers early while men tend to hang out for greater income. As of 2020, women in the United States earn 84 per cent of what males earn. This inequality is well documented, and economists and the general public have been aware of it for decades. The explanations for this phenomenon are still being debated. The initial labour market circumstances are long-lasting. Young people who start their careers during a recession will have lower pay for at least ten years compared to cohorts who start during a more substantial economic period. Because workers typically change jobs several times throughout their careers, personal characteristics that matter in early-career job searches (for example, risk aversion and biased beliefs about their earning potential) are likely to matter in subsequent job searches. Since looking for a job is a complicated process that involves considerable uncertainty, differences in preferences and beliefs by gender are likely to lead to different job search behaviour and outcomes. Nevertheless, economists know surprisingly little about how these attributes contribute to gender differences in early-career gender pay gaps. A likely reason for this is that researchers usually have limited information on job search behaviour throughout the job search process, the offers that people receive, and measures of risk aversion and biased beliefs. Even in cases where such information is available, the focus is typically on unemployed workers in general and not on the gender dimension. But the evidence here comes from surveys on job offers and acceptances from recent undergraduate alumni of Boston University's business school, where one of the study's authors teaches. Researchers asked graduates from the 2013-2019 graduating classes details about the job search process that led to their first job after graduating, such as the characteristics of their accepted and rejected offers, including salary components, job characteristics, job offer timing, and when the offer was accepted or not. In addition, for the 2018 and 2019 cohorts, researchers also surveyed students before the start of the job search process. They collected data on students' subjective beliefs regarding the number of offers and wage offers, etc. The study's authors found that women, on average, accepted positions about one month earlier than their male counterparts (60 per cent of women accepted a job before graduation, compared to 52 per cent of males). There was a clear, large gender gap in accepted offers, and the gap narrowed in favour of women over the course of the job search. The average gender gap (i.e., male-female difference) across all accepted offers started at around 16 per cent in August of the senior year and declined to about 10 per cent eight months after graduation. The researchers here believe that this gender difference can be partially accounted for by men's greater risk tolerance and overconfidence in their salary potential. In fact, they find systematic patterns between these traits and search outcomes. For example, more risk-averse individuals reported lower reservation wages and accepted offers earlier. The findings echo a similar observation in the field where, relative to women, men are more likely to have rejected an offer that is higher than the one that they end up accepting, are less satisfied with the job search process, and regret some aspect of their job search. Also Read: World Laughter Day: 7 Best Bollywood Comedy Movies That You Must Watch At Least Once Taken together, risk tolerance and salary expectations may explain a sizable proportion of the observed gender difference in earnings. Overall, risk preferences account for about 20 per cent of the gender gap in job search timing. Empirically, the net effect of wage and search timing results in a positive association between risk tolerance/overconfidence and the timing of job acceptance Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday took stock of the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir's border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, where terrorists have killed 35 people, including 26 soldiers, in eight attacks since October 2021. The visit of the defence minister to Rajouri comes a day after five elite para commandos of the army were killed during an anti-terrorist operation in the forested Kandi area of the district. Singh, accompanied by Army chief General Manoj Pande and Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, reached Ace of Spades Division headquarters in Rajouri after a brief stopover in Jammu, also interacting with the troops engaged in the ongoing operation against terrorists, the officials said. Five army personnel were killed and a major-rank officer was injured during a combing operation -- 'Operation Trinetra' -- in the Kandi area on Friday. A holed up terrorist was killed and one more is believed to be injured this morning. Officials said the army chief reached Jammu from Delhi ahead of the defence minister, who followed him minutes later. Lt Governor also joined senior civil and army officers to receive the defence minister. Northern Army commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Corps commander White Knight Corps, and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu are also accompanying Rajnath to Rajouri, the officials said. After getting a brief on the operation in Kandi forest, the defence minister chaired a high-level security meeting to review the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Rajouri and Poonch before returning to Jammu, they said. Earlier in the day, Lt Gen Dwivedi visited the encounter site and was briefed on the developments in the ongoing 'Operation Trinetra' by ground commanders. Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu, which were declared terrorism-free more than a decade ago, have been rocked by a series of deadly attacks by terrorists in the past 18 months. The loss of five jawans in Kandi forest is the third major incident this year. It took place at a time when the forces had been engaged in a massive combing operation for the past 15 days following an ambush on an army truck in Bhata Dhurian (Poonch). Five soldiers were killed and another was injured on April 20 when an army truck carrying fruits and vegetables for Iftar was bombed and strafed with bullets by terrorists. More than 250 people were detained for questioning during combing operations in the wake of the incident. Six overground workers who extended full support to terrorists were arrested, they said. According to military officials, terrorists now have adopted a strategy of engaging troops or attacking people and then laying improvised explosive devices to harm security forces engaged in combing operations. This also happened in Dhangri village in Rajouri where terrorists killed seven civilians in two attacks that came on heels of each other on January 1 this year. In two major incidents in Rajouri in 2022, five army personnel and two terrorists were killed in a suicide attack at a security camp at Pargal-Darhal on August 11, while two civilians were killed in a firing incident outside an army camp near Rajouri town. Four blasts rocked Kotranka in Rajouri district between March and April last year. All these cases were worked out by police with the arrest of the accused. Nine army personnel were killed in two separate encounters with terrorists in Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch districts in October 2021. Two army personnel, one of them a lieutenant, were killed in a mine blast in Nowshera sector of Rajouri on October 30, 2021. Rajouri and Poonch districts have witnessed more killings of Army personnel than the militancy-hit Kashmir Valley. New Delhi: Security forces killed one terrorist in a gunfight, while another was most likely injured on Saturday in an ongoing operation in the densely forested area of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, news agency PTI quoted Indian Army as saying. The terrorist had a large cache of weapons and ammunition, including one AK56, four AK magazines, 56 AK rounds, a 1x9mm Pistol with Magazine, three grenades and one ammunition pouch, PTI quoted a defence spokesperson as saying. The terrorists identity is being verified. Five army personnel were killed and a major-rank officer was injured on Friday in an explosion triggered by the militants during the ongoing operation to flush out the terrorists. Recoveries made so far include 1 AK56, 4 Mags of AK, 56 rounds of AK, 1 x 9mm Pistol with Mag, 3 grenades & 1 ammunition Pouch. Identity of the neutralised terrorist is being ascertained. Op Trinetra continues. pic.twitter.com/QByK0mlt1A White Knight Corps (@Whiteknight_IA) May 6, 2023 Army Kills LeT Terrorist In Baramulla Earlier, an anti-terror operation in the wee hours of Saturday in the Baramulla district in North Kashmir resulted in the killing of one LeT terrorist. This was the fourth encounter in J&K in the past 96 hours, in which five terrorists were killed and five soldiers were martyred. Also Read: Indian Defence Forces Ground ALH Dhruv Helicopter In View Of Recent Crashes According to a police official, the operation was launched at Karhama village of Kunzer area after receiving information about the presence of a terrorist. As the forces approached the suspected spot, the terrorist opened fire and a gunfight ensued. The terrorist, who was a resident of Kulgam and affiliated with LeT, was neutralized in the exchange of fire. SSP Baramulla Amod Ashok Nagpuri said, Our forces are alert and any such attempt will be met with a strong response. We hope the G20 Summit will be organized successfully. As per our enquiry, there was only one terrorist. He added that the search operation was still going on to ensure that no other terrorist or weapon was left behind. Jammu and Kashmir is on high alert in view of the G20 meeting starting on the 22nd of May in Kashmir. LoC (line of control) and international borders are being patrolled day and night to ensure that no terrorists can infiltrate or terrorists across the border cant push any kind of arms and ammunition to Indian territory. A 24 Hour Fitness in northern Colorado Springs, which withstood the companys bankruptcy three years ago and the demolition and rebuilding of a shopping center where the gym has operated for a quarter century, is shutting its doors. The location at 3650 Austin Bluffs Parkway, in the Marketplace at Austin Bluffs northwest of Austin Bluffs and Academy Boulevard, will close May 15, according to a sign posted on its door. 24 Hour Fitness representatives did not respond to calls to the companys California corporate headquarters seeking comment about why the location was closing. A call to a media hotline number also didnt produce a response. Representatives of AmCap, a Connecticut-based real estate company that owns the Marketplace at Austin Bluffs, also didnt respond to calls. Were sad to say that, due to a combination of circumstances, our Colorado Springs club will be permanently closing on May 15, 2023, the sign on the door of 24 Hour Fitness said. We love serving you and want to keep you as a member! The sign advised members to speak with employees about our latest offers and membership options. We can restart your membership at any 24 Hour Fitness location that may be convenient to work or home. 24 Hour Fitness continues to operate at 1892 Southgate Road in the Broadmoor Towne Center on Colorado Springs south side. Whether members are eligible for refunds because of the closing of the Austin Bluff Parkway location wasnt known. Also unknown was how many employees work at the location and their status. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. In June 2020, the 24 Hour Fitness chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed more than 130 gyms nationwide. Those closings included one at 7720 N. Academy Blvd. in Colorado Springs and a dozen in the Denver area, Fort Collins and Greeley. The bankruptcy and closings took place three months into the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 24 Hour Fitness cited financial fallout from the pandemic for its bankruptcy filing. During those initial months, gyms were among nonessential businesses, along with restaurants and bars, that were ordered temporarily closed in Colorado. 24 Hour Fitness wasnt the only chain that closed locations at the time; Golds Gym shuttered all three of its Springs-area centers in April 2020, also citing financial troubles because of the pandemic. The 24 Hour Fitness location at the Marketplace at Austin Bluffs opened in August 1998 and occupied a roughly 44,000-square-foot space, according to Gazette archives. At the time, the shopping center was a mini indoor mall known as Mall of the Bluffs, and later was rebranded as the Shops at the Bluffs. In 2006, new owners embarked on a makeover of the dying retail center, which had lost many of its tenants. Most of it was torn down and rebuilt; 24 Hour Fitness, however, remained in its original building on the shopping centers north side. On the tenth day of the planned two-month "Trinamool-e Naba Jowar" grass roots campaign, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee lent her support to what has largely been Abhishek Banerjee's show and praised her nephew's efforts to reach out to the populace. She said the program has her approval because "it enjoys the people's support." Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee lauded her nephew's efforts to reach out to the masses. "I had advised Abhishek to pause before attempting the difficult task of living on the streets for two months. But young people have a way of rising to the occasion." At the Naba Jowar's English Bazaar session in Malda on Thursday, Banerjee also stated, "I attach a lot of importance to this movement by Abhishek and his team of Trinamool youngsters because it is aimed at reaching out to the people and is already enjoying the support of the people." Abhishek Banerjee: Trinamool 2.0 Abhishek, the party's national general secretary, began his public relations outreach from Dinhata in Cooch Behar on April 25 in the lead-up to the scheduled panchayat elections. The party is facing an uphill perception battle in Bengal as a result of accusations of widespread corruption in recruitment at public offices and schools as well as political violence throughout the state. In Malda, where he was joined by the chief minister who was in the area for a district-level administrative meeting, his juggernaut arrived after nine days and a few internal party disputes over the election of preferred panchayat candidates. Abhishek planned the proposed reform within the tumultuous ruling regime, a sort of Trinamool 2.0, along corporate lines where revived grassroots public relations would be combined with a daily end-of-day schedule of people voting to choose candidates for their local panchayats. Party's Next Generation On Thursday, Mamata put an end to any potential concerns within the party about whether the program truly possessed the supremo's genuine authority given that it wasn't being led by her. "I am preparing the party's next generation of leaders to not just face the BJP but to stop them long after I am gone. The likes of Abhishek and Bobby (Firhad Hakim) would carry out that mission. Rani Rashmoni came to take a bath at the Aadi Ganga near where I live in Kolkata. I am aware of the water's gushing entrance at jowar (high tide). The party's naba jowar will inundate the organisation with energy and passion rather than just acting as a high tide to keep it from ebbing away." The Trinamool supremo reiterated her former stance towards having the proper mixture of old and young faces within the party leadership. "I welcome the rush of youth within the party while retaining due respect and position for the experienced members," she said. Mamata Attacks BJP Mamata underlined her promise to thwart any efforts by the Centre to impose CAA or NRC in a district where minority community votes have significant impact. "I've already stopped it once. I'll halt it once more," she declared. "A footwear works best when it is on foot," the chief minister added, referring to the BJP as a party that "both visual and sound pollution, "The head shouldn't be the place for it." Mamata On Karnataka Election Regarding the upcoming Assembly elections in the southern state of Karnataka, Mamata Banerjee said, "The BJP will eventually fall. I will be happy if it starts from Karnataka. In that state, we are not contesting. I just ask that they abstain from voting for the BJP. There, voters may choose any party other than the BJP. Can the same be said for the states where we are contesting the elections by other Opposition parties?" She said, making a veiled allusion to the political stance of the Left and Congress, which have been tenaciously opposing the Trinamool in Bengal. New Delhi [India], May 6 (ANI): Even with tension reportedly deescalating in Manipur, violence reached Delhi with a group of Kuki students residing in Delhi University North Campus area alleging that they were attacked by a group of Meiteis on Thursday night. The following day, on Friday, the students claimed they tried to register an FIR at the Maurice Nagar Police Station and when the police refused to file the complaint, the students staged a protest outside the police station. Police said that the situation is now under control and action has been initiated and a few students have been detained in this connection. The incident follows the violence that gripped the State in the immediate aftermath of inter-community clashes which erupted in a few districts of the northeastern State amid protests against the inclusion of the majority Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. Manipur Government had requisitioned Army and Assam Rifles on May 3 and 4. Also Read: Key Reasons Why Manipur Is Buring State's Director General of Police P Doungel has said that the situation the State has improved after the intervention of security forces. Forces including RAF, BSF, CRPF have been deployed in Manipur, he said and that the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Kuldiep Singh, has been appointed as the security advisor. The State government has also appointed Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence), Ashutosh Sinha as the overall operational commander to control the situation in Manipur, the State DGP said. "As a result of the proactive and timely response, Churachandpur, KPI, Moreh and Kakching are now under firm control with no major violence since last night", the Indian Army had said in a statement on May 5 evening. Also Read: Manipur Violence: 54 Dead; Most Shops Open As Army Takes Control The Army said that situation in Manipur has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. "The situation has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. IAF undertook continuous sorties from two airfields in Assam employing C17 Globemaster and AN 32 aircraft," Indian Army had stated. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the situation in Manipur through a video conference meeting with state Chief Minister N Biren Singh and top officials in the state as well as the Centre. A total of 10 more companies (nearly 1,000 personnel) of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were also dispatched to the violence-hit state earlier in the day on Friday following orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). (ANI) New Delhi: Actor Naga Chaitanya is gearing up for the release of his upcoming action-thriller Custody. The film has been written and directed by Venkat Prabhu, marking his Telugu directorial debut. Besides his professional front, Naga's personal life has often been in the news. In his recent interview, for the first time, he opened up on his divorce from ex-wife Samantha Ruth Prabhu. In his latest interview with ETimes, Naga Chaitanya confirmed that his divorce has been granted. When asked about whether the duo has moved on in life post-separation, the actor said, "Yes. Its been more than two years since we separated and a year since we were formally divorced. The court has granted us a divorce. Both of us have moved on with our lives. I have tremendous respect for that phase of my life." Adding more, he said, "She is a lovely person and deserves all happiness. It is only when the media speculates that things get awkward between us. In the public eye, that mutual respect is taken away. Thats what I feel bad about. And do you know what is worse? They bring in a third party, someone who is not connected to my past to create headlines out of that. It is very disrespectful to the third party whom they are unnecessarily involving with my past. Talking about his personal space, Naga said, "I am very very happy. Life has been very kind to me. Every phase had been a learning curve. I look at my past, my present and future with positivity. I am very thankful for everything." Naga Chaitanya's 'Custody' is set for release in theatres on May 12. It also stars Krithi Shetty, Arvind Swamy, Priyamani and Sarath Kumar in pivotal roles. Veteran composer Ilayaraja and his son Yuvan Shankar Raja have given the music for the movie. The project is produced by Srinivasaa Chitturi under the Srinivasaa Silver Screen banner. New Delhi: ATM/debit cards are an essential part of modern-day banking, allowing easy access to funds and cash withdrawals. ATM/debit cards provide us with the convenience of banking without physically visiting a branch. However, they are a risky financial instrument as they can get lost or stolen. In such a situation, it is essential to block the ATM/debit card to prevent any unauthorized access to your account. How To Block ATM/Debit Card? You just need to follow these five steps to block your ATM/Debit card. Step 1: Call 18001234 or 18002100 from your registered mobile number. Step 2: You need to press 0 to block your ATM card, UPI, and Internet Banking. Step 3: Then you have to press 1 to select the option card block. Step 4: You need to enter the last 4 digits of your card or account number, if asked. Step 5: You need to again press 1 for confirmation. You card will be blocked then and an SMS will be sent to your registered mobile number. Protect Your ATM/Debit Card The use of ATM/debit cards has become increasingly popular in recent years, as they offer more convenience and flexibility than traditional banking methods. With the rise of digital banking, ATM/debit cards have become an essential tool for managing finances, allowing customers to access their accounts, check balances, and perform transactions from anywhere in the world. However, it is important to note that ATM/debit cards also come with certain risks, such as the possibility of fraud and theft. It is important to take necessary precautions, such as not sharing the PIN with anyone and being vigilant while using the card in public places. In conclusion, ATM/debit cards are a valuable tool for managing finances, but it is important to use them responsibly and take necessary safety measures LONDON: The United Kingdom's royal family turns the page on a new chapter Saturday with the coronation of King Charles III a spectacle that echoes medieval times but features modern flourishes. The pomp, pageantry and symbolism date back more than 1,000 years, but the crowning of this king will feature new twists on the tradition and changes from the coronation of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, 70 years ago. Plans for the ceremony at Westminster Abbey call for a more toned-down affair than the last one, even though royals from other nations, heads of state and most of Charles' family will be there, and the monarch plans to wear the same vestments as Elizabeth did. Here are some things to know about the coronation: WHY HAVE THE CORONATION IF CHARLES IS ALREADY KING? Charles automatically ascended to the throne when Elizabeth died Sept. 8, and he was officially proclaimed the United Kingdom's monarch two days later in an ascension ceremony broadcast for the first time on television. Charles said he was deeply aware of this great inheritance and of the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty which have now passed to me. There is no legal requirement for a coronation, and other European monarchies have done away with the ceremonies. But the deeply religious and regalia-heavy event is a more formal confirmation of his role as head of state and titular head of the Church of England and was intended to show the king's authority was derived from God. During the service conducted by the church's spiritual leader, the archbishop of Canterbury, Charles will be anointed with oil, receive the traditional symbols of the monarch including the orb and scepter and have the St. Edwards Crown placed on his head for the first time. Charles wife, Camilla, will be crowned as queen consort. WHAT WILL BE DIFFERENT FROM THE LAST CORONATION? The coronation ceremony dates back to the medieval period, and much of it remains unchanged. Westminster Abbey has been the setting of the ritual since William the Conqueror was crowned in 1066. Elizabeth II's coronation in June 1953 was the first to be televised live. The broadcast in black and white drew an audience of tens of millions in the U.K. and was later played to a worldwide audience. In the age of streaming and social media, people will be able to watch Charles' crowning live and in vivid reds, blues and golds from virtually anywhere on the planet and post their hot takes with a crown emoji created for the occasion. Charles has said he plans to slim down the monarchy. His coronation is expected to reflect that with a ceremony shorter than his mother's three-hour extravaganza and no more than 2,800 guests in the audience far fewer than the 8,000 who assembled to see Elizabeth crowned. In a nod to the change in the religious makeup of the United Kingdom, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh religious leaders will play a role at the coronation. That reflects Charles' vow to be the defender of faiths, as opposed to the defender of the faith. The procession after the ceremony also will be decidedly shorter than the 5-mile (8 kilometer) route that Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, took around London in 1953. Charles and Camilla plan to take a more modern set of horse-drawn wheels for the 1.3-mile (2-kilometer) route from Buckingham Palace to the abbey. Once crowned, they will step back in time and retrace the journey in the 260-year-old carriage notorious for its rough ride used in every coronation since William IVs in 1831. WHOS ON THE GUEST LIST? A hundred heads of state are expected to attend along with royalty ranging from Japan's Crown Prince Akishino and his wife, Kiko, to Spains King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. The U.S. will keep alive its streak of a president never attending a British royal coronation, although first lady Jill Biden is set to attend. William, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, is expected to kneel before his father and pledge his loyalty in what's known as the Homage of Royal Blood. His younger brother, Prince Harry, the disgruntled Duke of Sussex, is not expected to take part in the service. His explosive memoir Spare, which became a bestseller early this year, made unflattering claims about the royal family. Until three weeks ago, there was a question of whether Harry and his wife, Meghan, would attend the crowning after leveling charges of racism and media manipulation at the royal family. While Harry will be there, the duchess is to remain at the couple's Southern California home with their two young children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The coronation is just a few days before the first of Harry's lawsuits against the British tabloid press goes to trial. The case could reveal more family secrets. During a hearing in a similar case last week, Harry said in court papers that Buckingham Palace, with the approval of the queen, had an agreement with Rupert Murdoch's English newspapers to settle phone hacking allegations without a lawsuit. Harry said he was directed by palace staff to drop his litigation because his father wanted to curry favor with the press. The family drama doesn't end there. Charles' brother, Prince Andrew, is also not expected to play any role in the ceremony. Andrew gave up royal duties and was stripped of military titles and patronages after revelations of his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew settled a lawsuit with a woman who said she was forced to have sex with him when she was a teenager. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CORONATION? With opinion polls showing support for the monarchy has weakened in recent years, this is the chance for Charles to seek and showcase the public's embrace. Crowds are expected to line the streets to cheer the new king, and throngs will stand outside Buckingham Palace waiting for him to appear on the balcony after the procession. While criticism of the crown was relatively muted in recent years out of respect for the queen and her decades of service to the country, there is likely to be much more discussion of whether the United Kingdom still needs this antiquated institution or if it should become a republic with an elected head of state. The leader of the anti-monarchist group Republic said it plans to have more than 1,000 protesters clad in yellow chanting, Not my king as the royal procession passes by. For the vast majority, though, it will be an opportunity to celebrate being British or show their support for an institution that is the subject of fascination for so many around the world. Streets will be lined with union flags, spectators will dress in red, white and blue, and military jets will fly overhead streaming plumes of smoke in the national colors. The pomp and circumstance of the ceremony itself is also a reminder of a time when Britain was the most powerful nation in the world. WHO IS PICKING UP THE TAB FOR THE CELEBRATION? The public is footing the bill for the coronation. There is no official estimate yet of what it might cost. Some reports estimate it could top 100 million pounds ($125 million). A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Tuesday that some estimates were more fanciful than others and that the true cost would be shared later. The celebration comes as the U.K. weathers a bruising cost-of-living crisis that left many struggling to heat their homes this winter and put food on their tables. But plenty of people stand to profit from the hoopla. Officials are expecting to see a tourism boost and there is no shortage of coronation-themed events and commemorative products that could ring up additional sales taxes. Fans looking to remember the historic event can find everything from fine china to souvenir coins or even cardboard masks of Charles and Camilla. Coronation themed biscuits, chocolates and beers are likely to be quickly forgotten. ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday said his visit to Goa was a "success" as he advocated his country's case on the soil of India. His remarks came hours after his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar accused him of being a "promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terror industry." Addressing a press conference after his return from Goa where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting, Bhutto Zardari said his trip to India was a 'success' as it helped to negate the view that every Muslim was a terrorist. "We made an attempt at breaking this myth," Bhutto-Zardari said. Jaishankar mounted an offensive against Bhutto-Zardari in his address at the SCO meeting, contending Pakistan foreign minister's statement that terrorism shouldn't be "weaponised for diplomatic point-scoring", in remarks seen as directed at India. Hours later at a press conference, Jaishankar said Bhutto-Zardari's statement on the weaponisation of terrorism unconsciously revealed a mindset. "As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Bhutto-Zardari was treated accordingly. As a promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terrorism industry, which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and they were countered including at the SCO meeting itself," Jaishankar said. Responding to a question about talks with India, Bhutto-Zardari said that Pakistan was clear that India should create a conducive environment for talks by restoring the pre-August 5, 2019 status of Kashmir. He also said that countries from Central Asia were looking forward to becoming part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He said every country except India supported and praised CPEC. Earlier, Bhutto-Zardari returned back on a special Pakistan Air Force plane from India and landed in Karachi where was received by the Sindh chief minister, Murad Ali Shah, and other cabinet members. The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, took a commercial flight to attend the coronation of King Charles III. Daily Mail report suggests that the Prince took an American Airlines Flight AA136 for his journey from Los Angeles to London Heathrow Airport. The Prince, son of King Charles III is attending the coronation without his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children. As per Daily Mail's report, the British Royal's presence in the flight surprised the passengers. The sighting also dispelled rumours that the 38-year-old would board a private jet to travel to London for the coronation, which had caused the British royal to face criticism. Also read: IndiGo Takes Delivery Of First Aircraft With More Comfortable Recaro Seats Following weeks of rumours over his and the duchess' attendance at the coronation, Buckingham Palace announced last month that the duke will be there. The King was "pleased" to confirm that his youngest son would be at Westminster Abbey to see his coronation later today, according to a statement. As his father is crowned, Prince Harry marked his presence at Westminster Abbey. The Duke of Sussex was decked up in a three-piece black suit with chest-mounted medals from the military. After harshly criticising them in his memoir "Spare" and in media interviews, he reunites with his family for the first time criticising them in his memoir "Spare" and in media interviews. Following his brother Prince William, William's three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis of Wales, Harry is the fifth in line to the throne. New Delhi: The wait for the trailer of Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan-starrer 'Adipurush' is almost over now. The makers on Saturday dropped a new poster featuring pan-India star Prabhas announcing the mega launch. Directed by Om Raut and produced by Bhushan Kumar, this magnum opus has already achieved a major milestone by being selected for an an international premiere at the Tribeca Festival in New York. After making a huge feat amongst the audience with every glimpse released, the team now gears up for a magnificent trailer launch that will be watched globally as it'd not just be launched in India, but across 70 countries globally, truly marking to be a global event! The film which is one of the most highly anticipated films of 2023, will have it trailer launch not just in India, but in territories across USA, Canada, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Asian and South Asian including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Japan; Africa, UK and Europe, Russia and Egypt. This epic tale will captivate audiences and transport them into a world of adventure, drama, and action. The film has been directed by Om Raut, depicts the Indian epic of 'The Ramayana' with Prabhas essaying the role of lord Ram, Kriti Sanon as Sita and Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh. The film will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. The makers shared a new poster of Adipurush announcing the news and the caption on it read, "Looking forward to Adipurush being premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 13th.". It is scheduled to release in IMAX and 3D worldwide on June 16, 2023. 'Adipurush' will release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam in theatres. The film was initially slated to release on August 11 last year. However, the makers shifted its release date to avoid clash with Aamir Khan's Laal Singh Chaddha, for which the actor thanked the makers of Adipurush. The teaser of Adipurush released last year and the VFX of the film was widely criticised. After the CGI-heavy teaser received major flak last year, NY VFXwala, a studio founded by Ajay Devgn, had released a statement disassociating itself from the film. "Leading VFX studio, NY VFXwala has clarified that they have not worked/are not working on the CG/special effects of Adipurush. An official note on their behalf clarified, 'we are putting this on record because we have been asked by a few media people,'" read the statement tweeted by Taran Adarsh. Congress today claimed that BJP leaders are hatching a plot to murder Mallikarjun Kharge and his family members. Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the conspiracy is clear from the audio recording of a BJP candidate from Chittapur who also 'happens to be the blue-eyed boy of PM Narendra Modi and CM BS Bommai'. "The sinister and ugly plot to kill Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and his entire family by Bharatiya Janata Party is the lowest the political discourse can stoop to. Intimidated by the all-round blessing of Kannadigas being showered on the Congress Party and facing a complete rout in the ensuing Karnataka assembly elections, the BJP and its leadership are now resorting to hatching a 'murder plot' to kill AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and the entire family," said Surjewala. Surjewala claimed that the BJP is unable to digest the rise of Kharge. "There is a designed hatred towards Karnataka's son of the soil Shri Mallikarjun Kharge on parts of the central and state BJP leadership. BJP is unable to digest the fact that having been born in a Dalit family of a factory labourer, Shri Kharge has risen from the post of block Congress president to the post of president of the Indian National Congress," he said. Surjewala said that PM Modi on February 27 ridiculed Kharge who is the tallest leader of social justice. "This month on 2nd May 2023, BJP MLA and BJP General Secretary Madan Dilawar wished death for Mallikarjun Kharge and said the Congress president is 80 years old, god can take him anytime. Now BJP leaders are openly planning to assassinate Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife and his entire family. The frustration and the desperation of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its leadership has now reached dangerous proportions," he alleged. A day before, the Congress has shared the audito clip where the BJP leader allegedly said to 'wipe-off' Kharge family. The said audio clip has not been verified independently by the Zee News. Warning: Abusive Language Meet Manikant Rathod, the BJP candidate from Chittapur constituency, who has over 40 criminal cases against him. He also happens to be the "blue-eyed boy" of PM Modi & CM Bommai. In this viral audio, the BJP leader can be heard saying- *"Will wipe off Kharge's family"* Here's pic.twitter.com/NIcBMkgDhD Congress (@INCIndia) May 6, 2023 Surjewala said that instead of presenting a vision of development for Karnataka, the BJP is coming out with a new polarising issue every day. Reacting to the claim made by the Congress party, Chief Minsiter BS Bommai said that the BJP government has taken the issue very seriously and will a probe will be done in the matter. "We will take the matter seriously. We will inquire into the whole thing and the law will take its action," said Bommai. Haveri: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday came out hard against the Congress party and said that all the party's lies have been lost in the wave of Bharatiya Janata Party. Addressing a public meeting in Haveri, PM Modi said, "The people of Congress who were trying to make their party's wave through lies in Karnataka, their lies are now lost in the BJP wave. Those who think Congress still has something left in Karnataka must come and see here." He further attacked the Congress party over "appeasement politics" and "corruption". "Congress' appeasement, and 'talaabandi' have been very well realised by each and every person. Congress means total corruption, 85 per cent commission, appeasement politics, bowing before the terrorists and working on a 'Divide and Rule' formula. The OBC and Lingayat community are very sad and angry with the abuse by senior leaders of Congress," he said. PM Modi added, "The people of the state and the whole nation have become completely aware of them. Now, there is only one voice coming from each and every house in the state, 'Ee Baria Nirdhara, Bahumatada BJP Sarkara'!" The Prime Minister said that the region has received a lot of development projects under the BJP double engine-government. "Today Haveri is moving ahead to write a story of development. The Yediyurappa and Bommai-led double-engine government is filling the gaps in Congress tenure in all these years. It has brought new medical and engineering colleges and a new milk plant in Haveri. The BJP government is investing in road, rail and connectivity infrastructure. People of Haveri, Karnataka and the whole country are being benefited from these works," PM Modi further said. Earlier in the day, PM Modi also held a mega roadshow in Bengaluru during the last leg of the campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly polls. He is scheduled to hold two mega road shows and four public meetings this weekend, as per the party sources. Karnataka will go to polls on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13. In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court gave its approval to a special type of guilty plea, one in which a criminal defendant maintains his innocence while, at the same time, accepting a plea deal from the prosecution. Those "Alford pleas," named after the case North Carolina v. Alford, are permissible when a defendant believes it is in his best interest and, the Supreme Court added, when there is "a factual basis for the plea." On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court placed Alford pleas under a microscope to answer a question that has divided other state and federal courts. Is an Alford plea constitutional when a defendant pleads guilty, insists he is innocent, but there is not, in fact, strong evidence he is guilty of the charge? "Alarming rates of people are pleading to things they didnt actually do," argued attorney Krista A. Schelhaas, representing Delano Marco Medina in his challenge to his own Alford plea in Lake County. "These are the people who are continuing to say, 'Im innocent.' And its not that we would never accept that plea. Its that we would verify. The Constitution requires theres a verification process." But some justices observed during oral arguments that defendants may have good reason to plead guilty to an offense they did not commit if it helps them avoid a likely guilty verdict on other, potentially more serious charges. "I think this case seems to have a be-careful-what-you-wish-for quality when it comes to criminal defendants," said Justice William W. Hood III. Medina pleaded guilty to a felony menacing charge, in which the prosecution claimed he held a knife to his victim's throat. In exchange for a one-year prison sentence, the prosecution dismissed five other traffic and criminal cases against Medina in a "global disposition." Medina's attorney told the trial judge that, in Medina's "heart of hearts, he does not believe he's guilty" of menacing, but he was pleading guilty to take advantage of the deal. The defense waived the procedural requirement that there be evidence of guilt, known as a factual basis. The trial judge proceeded with the understanding that Medina had entered an Alford plea and told him he "cannot come back" and change his mind. Later, Medina attempted to withdraw his plea, claiming he had not understood it and that new evidence would show he did not commit menacing after all. At the same time, Medina admitted he was guilty in his other dismissed cases. The Court of Appeals examined whether Medina's plea was knowing, voluntary and intelligent, which is a requirement of due process. A three-judge panel looked to the Alford decision, which involved a defendant who pleaded guilty to murder while maintaining his innocence because a guilty verdict at trial could have resulted in the death penalty. The panel determined Alford did not contain a constitutional requirement for strong evidence of guilt. While other courts have found that a factual basis for guilt is intertwined with the knowing, voluntary and intelligent requirement, the Court of Appeals opted against placing Colorado in that cohort. "Given the benefit of the bargain of a 'very generous' deal as described by the prosecutor, and Medinas acknowledgment that he was guilty of some but not all charges in his six criminal cases, this is a situation where competing interests were contemplated and served by a global disposition," wrote Judge Sueanna P. Johnson in finding Medina's plea constitutional. On appeal to the state Supreme Court, the justices acknowledged the safeguard that comes from convicting defendants only when there are facts suggesting their guilt. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. "The defendant doesnt have to admit guilt, but the whole point of saying theres some factual basis is to ensure we dont enter a judgment of conviction against an innocent person," said Justice Richard L. Gabriel. However, countered Justice Monica M. Marquez, sometimes prosecutors will add a charge for a defendant to plead guilty to, in exchange for dismissing the original charges that were supported by evidence. "Its set up in a way to benefit the defendant for potentially other reasons. It seems that your rule requiring a factual basis would prohibit those kinds of plea agreements," she told Schelhaas. Schelhaas responded that she was asking the court to resolve a narrow problem: Defendants who believe they are innocent and do not fully understand the consequences of pleading guilty. She referred to the "innocence problem," a term used by scholars to describe the act of pleading guilty because of a favorable offer from the prosecution, despite a defendant's plausible or actual innocence. Belmont University professor Lucian E. Dervan has written that plea bargaining became commonplace during the Prohibition era, and now roughly nine in 10 defendants plead guilty. "Today, defendants whose guilt is uncertain are offered plea bargains as often, if not more often, than those for whom the evidence is particularly strong," Dervan wrote in 2012. "Not only are these defendants of questionable guilt offered plea bargains, their bargains are often more generous and, therefore, more irresistible than those offered to defendants against whom the government believes it has a strong chance of success at trial." The Colorado Attorney General's Office argued there is nothing special about Alford pleas, and warned the justices away from imposing any additional requirements to assist defendants who happen to believe they are innocent. "Doing so would provide a defendant who says the magic words of Im guilty, but Im also innocent with more rights than any other defendant entering into a guilty plea," said Assistant Attorney General Grant R. Fevurly. "Should we just ignore the innocence problem?" Hood asked him. Yes, Fevurly responded, because Medina was not innocent. Ultimately, some members of the Supreme Court were receptive to the notion that trial judges should independently verify there is strong evidence of guilt before accepting a guilty plea from a defendant who maintains his innocence. "What I infer from Alford," said Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr., "in order to protect the defendant's rights, the court has to satisfy itself that there's some evidence of guilt. That this person the court is allowing to plead guilty ... should be allowed to continue with his plea because there is strong evidence of guilt in the record." The case is Medina v. People. Shivanahalli (KTK), May 6 (PTI) Senior BJP leader and Karnataka Minister R Ashoka, who is pitted against state Congress president D K Shivakumar in the latter's home bastion of Kanakapura for the May 10 Assembly polls, said his candidacy has resulted in an election contest, in its true sense, taking place for the first time in the region after nearly two decades. In an interview to PTI, Ashoka, who was campaigning in this village that comes under Kanakapura Assembly segment, said he feels he is a "trigger" for public anger against the rule that existed in the region for long to come out in the open. In a surprise move, the BJP has taken the battle to the opposition camp by fielding Ashoka, who is considered to be the Vokkaliga face of the party, against Congress' Vokkaliga strongman Shivakumar in his home turf, which is the community's stronghold. Ashoka said he is in the fray from Kanakapura on the directions of the party, and his task was to win the seat, along with building the party in the constituency, where it has virtually no presence. Excerpts from the interview: Question: You appeared to be hesitant to contest from Kanakapura. Why was it so? Answer: Not at all. I was not contacted in advance, to discuss whether I'm interested or not. Directly, I got a call. I was told that the party has decided and I should go and contest (from Kanakapura). Whether me or V Somanna (fellow minister who is contesting against Siddaramaiah in Varuna constituency). We did not take a minute to accept the party's decision. We said we were ready. Also Read: 'Sardar Patel Banned RSS As Well': Akhilesh Yadav Amid Bajrang Dal Row Q. Are you contesting because it is a party decision or are you really interested in standing here? A. As a leader, I'm contesting. I should be prepared for such challenges or else I would have been limited only to Bengaluru. By contesting from other seats, my charisma also will increase. Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi (who quit BJP and joined Congress) were not given one seat despite requests. I'm given two seats (Padmanabhanagar also). I'm happy about the respect given to me. I'm given the ticket considering that I will give strength to the party and its workers here. Q. Does BJP, as an organisation, have a presence in Kanakapura? A. No. In the 2013 election, we secured only about 1,600-odd votes. In the previous election (2018), it was about 6,000 votes. I have to make "treasure out of trash". That's the challenge. Q. Are you contesting from Kanakapura to win or to give a fight? A. To win....First fight and then win. Earlier, when a BJP candidate used to file his nomination, only 10 people used to go along with him. This time, I had 5,000 people with me. Our national leaders like General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka (Arun Singh) had come. I have been sent here to win along with building the party. Q. What is giving you the confidence in the constituency? A. People have given me unprecedented response and support so far. What is important is that this is the first time in about 20 years, an election (contest) is actually taking place in Kanakapura, people are happy about it. They are confident and happy that there won't be any poll-related bogus or 'dadagiri' (intimidation) during the election. People are happy that they can vote freely. There is Narendra Modi government at the Centre, BJP government in the state, and 'goondagiri' (hooliganism) won't be allowed this time here. My first priority is to assure people about free and fair elections. I'm the trigger for the people to vent out the anger they had bottled up in them for nearly 20 years, through votes. Q. What are the main issues people are facing in Kanakapura? A. People here feel that they don't have much freedom because of the local system that exists here. Freedom is their first priority. Then comes roads. All major connecting roads to Bengaluru have been completed, but only Kanakapura road has not been completed for the last 20 years. Also, there is not much development here, despite him (D K Shivakumar) being a powerful minister in the past. Also Read: Karnataka Election: PM Modi's 26-Km Mega Roadshow Today; Senior BJP Leaders In State Q. With Shivakumar projecting himself as the Chief Ministerial aspirant in case Congress comes to power, won't Vokkaliga votes consolidate in his favour? A. If that is the case, Kurubas and other backward communities, also SC/STs should turn against you (Shivakumar), as they too are in good numbers here. Q. What is the winning margin you are looking at? A. For me, margin is not important now. Winning is important. If I win by one vote also it's a win, by 10,000 votes also is a win. There is "short time, make it sweet". You may not be confident about my victory this time, it's natural, but don't forget that Deve Gowda lost the election after becoming PM. Didn't (former PM) Indira Gandhi lose against Raj Narain, didn't (former CMs) B S Yediyurappa and Siddaramaiah lose? Rahul Gandhi lost in his family's traditional constituency Amethi to Smriti Irani, who was an outsider. If you touch the hearts of the people, they don't care about anyone else. Q. Where does the BJP stand in Karnataka, with less than a week to go for polls? A. In the last one-and-half months, things have drastically improved for BJP stage by stage. After PM Modi's campaigning and rallies began, it has boosted (the prospects). Also, Congress' mistakes have increased. The Bajrang Dal issue is being taken up seriously. New Delhi:All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday alleged that PM Narendra Modi waded into the 'The Kerala Story' controversy for electoral gains in Karnataka. In a tweet, Owaisi said, PM Narendra Modi had to rely on The Kerala Story, a movie based on 'Lies and Propoganda' to win the Karnataka Assembly election." The Hyderabad MP attacked PM Modi over raking up the Kerala Story row at a time when five Indian Army personnel have been killed in J&K and widespread violence has gripped Manipur. Wading into the controversy surrounding the movie 'The Kerala Story', PM Narendra Modi in Karnataka said the film is said to be a work based on the terrorists' deceitful policies and conspiracies in just one state, and accused the Congress of indulging in backdoor political bargaining with people having terror inclinations. Ek Election jeetne ke liye PM @narendramodi ko Jhoot aur Propaganda par mabni Movie 'The Kerala Story' ka Sahara lena pad raha haipic.twitter.com/ikSfGpgxIx Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) May 6, 2023 'Congress Standing With Terror Trend': PM Modi "Even courts have expressed worry on this nature of terror, he said. The film made on such a terror conspiracy 'The Kerala Story' is under discussion. "It is said the film is based on the terrorists' deceitful policies and conspiracies in just one state," Modi charged. Also Read: Karnataka: PM Narendra Modi Backs 'The Kerala Story' In Bellari Speech, Attacks Congress "Such a beautiful state of the country, where people are hardworking and talented. This 'Kerala Story' film brings out terror conspiracies happening in that state," he said. "It is unfortunate that Congress can be seen standing with this terror trend that is seeking to ruin the country. Congress is even indulging in backdoor political bargaining with people having terror inclinations. People of Karnataka should be cautious about Congress," the PM added. Earlier on Thursday, Asaduddin said that Congress and BJP are demanding votes on the basis of the majority religion in the upcoming Karnataka elections. In this regard, Asaduddin Owaisi took to Twitter and said, "Congress and BJP are openly demanding votes on the basis of majority religion. Will Congress promise reconstruction of a demolished dargah in Hubli? It has surrendered its ideological battle with BJP. Will Modi be ok if I asked people to raise TAKBIR? The skies would fall". A security guard allegedly set ablaze the manager of a nationalised bank at Dharchula in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district, police said on Saturday. The accused, identified as Deepak Kshetri, has been arrested, Superintendent of Police (Pithoragarh) Lokeshwar Singh said. Muhammad Owais, the manager of a State Bank of India branch, suffered 36 per cent burns and has been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh, after first aid at a nearby hospital, he said. The pair had fought earlier as well, the police said. On Saturday, when Kshetri did not turn up for duty, Owais marked him absent. Following this action, Kshetri allegedly poured petrol on the bank manager and set him on fire, they added. Kshetri, a resident of Dehradun, retired from the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles and was working as a security guard at the bank for the past two years. New Delhi: One of the most eagerly awaited events for fans of Google and Android is approaching: Google I/O. The forthcoming Google I/O event promises to be an exciting one, with Android 14 improvements, the introduction of the Google Pixel 7a and the Pixel Fold, and interesting AI announcements. The Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro debut later this year is also keenly anticipated. Google I/O Event 2023: Date Google I/O will take place on May 10th after a worldwide collaborative effort to solve this year's riddle. Like Google I/O from the previous year, the event will be held in person, but it will only be open to those in attendance in person. Google is urging the majority of attendees to watch the event online. This year's Google I/O will only last one day, as compared to the three days it has in previous years. It looks that the firm will shift its attention away from a single event and instead focus on offering continuing support to web and Android developers through other channels, such as more Google I/O Connect events that are scheduled to take place all over the world in the upcoming months. The COVID-19 pandemic forced Google I/O 2020 to be postponed, and Google I/O 2021 was held exclusively online. The opening keynote speaker for this year and many of the anticipated panels, like in previous years, will be accessible online. Google I/O Event 2023: How To Watch On Google's website, registration for the event is now available, but participation requires a Google account. However, if all you want to do is watch the main keynote, it's possible that it will be accessible on YouTube without requiring you to sign up. On May 10, at 10 a.m. PT and 1 p.m. ET, the keynote is set to begin. A link to watch it will be made available closer to the event. Google I/O Event 2023: What To Expect Google has unveiled the schedule for Google I/O 2023 on April 27, 2023. The itinerary for this year's conference is shorter than normal because it only lasts one day. The conference's primary themesmobile, web, AI, and cloudare highlighted in each of the four separate sections that make up the programme. New Delhi: After teasing the handset earlier this year, OnePlus may release its first folding smartphone in the following two months. According to a report on Twitter, the phone, rumoured to be called the OnePlus Fold, may debut in August. The timing is intriguing because Google has also announced that the first Pixel Fold smartphone will be released the following week, on May 10. There are no other details in the tweet from tipper Max Jambor, and there haven't been any new disclosures of information. CEO Pete Lau will be in charge of the OnePlus Fold's development, and the Oppo Find N folding phones are likely to serve as inspiration. (Also Read: Why Smartphones Have Non-Removable Batteries? Know Here) OnePlus' foldable phone is launching in... August! pic.twitter.com/cg3oWe83sQ Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) May 4, 2023 OnePlus COO and President Kinder Liu said that the company's first foldable will guarantee a seamless performance while maintaining its folding form when the OnePlus Fold was teased at MWC in February. (Also Read: Deals On iPhone 14: Amazon vs Flipkart vs Vijay Sales - Check Where It Is Available At Lowest) "Our first foldable phone will have the signature OnePlus fast and smooth experience," Liu stated during the unveiling in February. Because of its folding form, it must be a flagship phone that doesn't compromise on industrial design, mechanical technology, or other factors. We want to introduce a product that will represent the top of the foldable market right now. Most likely, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, which also powers its most recent flagship, the OnePlus 11 5G, will power the device. To provide a top-notch camera experience on the OnePlus Fold, the business may continue its cooperation with Hasselblad. 5G, wireless charging, and lightning-fast wired charging are possible additional features. Given that it will be a foldable smartphone, it is reasonable to predict that the price may increase significantly. Over time, OnePlus' numbered series has become more expensive, and the majority of their high-end products cost more than Rs 60,000. An effort to regulate intoxicating hemp could have had detrimental effects for thousands of Colorado kids who suffer from epilepsy and other debilitating conditions. But the bipartisan group of lawmakers who sponsored Senate Bill 271 found a way to address those concerns and still put a stop to a product that many claim is dangerous, especially to kids. Senate Bill 271 is the outgrowth of 2022 legislation that set up a task force to look at intoxicating hemp products and make legislative and rule recommendations. The difference between hemp and marijuana, which come from the same plant, is in the Delta-THC level. In order to be classified as hemp under federal law, the plant cannot have more than 0.3% delta-9 THC, marijuana's psychoactive ingredient. The underlying presumption is that some in the hemp industry have found a work-around in Delta-8 THC, which is made by concentrating hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) from the hemp plant. It's not quite as intoxicating as delta-9 THC, with estimates pegging it at anywhere between 50% to 75% of the potency. Under Senate Bill 271 any hemp product with more than 1.75 mg of Delta-8 THC per serving would be regulated, meaning it will require a legal ID to purchase and would be sold at a dispensary rather than online or at a convenience store. But the folks at Charlotte's Web got nervous. The company was started in 2013 by Jared and Joel Stanley, along with other family members, on a farm near Boulder. Initially, they were working on medical cannabis, which was used by people with cancer and who held state medical marijuana licenses. It didn't start as a company, Jared Stanley told Colorado Politics recently. It started as a mission. Two things changed the landscape for the use of CBD: the 2014 farm bill, and a CNN documentary in 2013 with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who had been a very vocal opponent of medical marijuana. Gupta changed his views after meeting Charlotte Figi and her mom, Paige. Charlotte was having 300 seizures a week, but after using a CBD tincture her seizures dropped to less than one a week. The farm bill allowed the Stanleys to take the same plant that was less than 0.3% delta-9 THC and grow enough of it to make the CBD tincture available to 15,000 kids on a waiting list with the Realm of Caring Foundation. Since then, Realm of Caring data says CBD has been used by people with epilepsy, autism, anxiety, PTSD, depression, pain, cancer, fibromyalgia and with sleep problems. But SB 271 could have put Charlotte's Web out of business, Stanley said. Part of that, he indicated, is because of fights between the cannabis and hemp industries. Charlotte's story changed cannabis laws in 22 states that had no laws on CBD only, or medical cannabis laws, and some laws that would become recreational laws, Stanley said. "Today, it's crazy to think that here we are 10 years later, where we were cheered on and we were cannabis' biggest supporter, and now they're the lobby that is trying to take these products back into their market and restrict consumer access to these products," he said According to Stanley, the problem stems from lack of Food and Drug Administration oversight, which is forcing regulation on a state-by-state basis to protect both consumers and the CBD market. The 2023 draft bill would define intoxicating hemp products as having more than 2.5 milligrams of THC per serving, and with a ratio of CBD to THC less than 15:1. Stanley said that ensured safe, highly therapeutic, non-intoxicating, full spectrum CBD products would remain accessible to consumers, while regulating out intoxicating cannabinoids. It also defined non-intoxicating cannabinoids versus intoxicating cannabinoids. But an amendment to SB 271 came along shortly before the bill's first hearing that would limit hemp products to no more than five servings per container. No full spectrum CBD company could comply with that restriction, Stanley said. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. The compromise was a carefully-crafted one from the sponsors, Sens. Dylan Roberts, D-Vail and Kevin Van Winkle, R-Highlands Ranch. For products with a ratio of CBD to THC greater to or equal to 20:1, there would be no limit on the number of servings per package, at least for now. That also would apply to tinctures such as Charlotte's Web's main product. Both would be subject to rulemaking that will take place later in the year. The compromise came following the hearing in the Senate Finance Committee, which drew more than a dozen witnesses from the Charlotte's Web community, including families with kids with disabilities. "What we saw was a beautiful demonstration of democracy," Stanley said. The sponsors listened to the voices of the constituents and amended the package limit serving restrictions on products like his, he said. Still, outstanding issues remain for some stakeholders, Truman Bradley of the Marijuana Industry Group told Colorado Politics. He said the legislation is critical to protect public health, to ban synthetics and to make sure the products that are intoxicating - or have the potential to be intoxicating - are tested and labeled. He also favors language allowing the regulatory bodies to have the authority to make any changes they see fit. His organization has advocated for "tight" package limits, noting that serving limits are not helpful without package limits. Full spectrum hemp products do have THC in them, but the question becomes how much is too much? That's difficult to answer, Bradley said, because of something known as the "entourage" effect, the belief that CBD works better when it has a little THC in it. Hemp naturally has a little THC, he said. The issue then becomes a matter of how easy it is for someone who is underage to get it, and potentially to abuse it. If either are easy, that's a problem, he explained. Take a package of CBD gummies, for example. His partner's kids are four and seven, and if they saw a package of gummies, they might eat the whole thing because they taste good. The Marijuana Industry Group supported the amendment to exempt tinctures - such as Charlotte's Web - because tinctures don't taste good, he said. But containers that have a lot of THC in them should have a maximum limit, Bradley added. If something has a lot of THC in it, and there's no age limit or thought to restricting access to youth, and there's not a package limit on the total amount of THC, that's concerning and they will be "loud" about that. At the end of the day, however, they support the bill and efforts for regulators to do what they need to do, he said. "We don't want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good because this needs to pass," he said. For his part, Stanley acknowledged there are some in the hemp industry who want THC limits higher than 1.75 mg. He said there are products with those higher limits that are considered safe and non-intoxicating. He stands with the industry on this. "We don't want to recommend a bill that is specifically only good for Charlotte's Web," he said. The biggest remaining issue with the bill is on the rulemaking. Stanley would prefer that THC limits not be subject to rulemaking and instead defined in statute. As of Friday, the bill is awaiting another series of amendments as it heads to the House floor. U.S. is turning Taiwan into "powder keg": FM spokesperson Xinhua) 08:20, May 06, 2023 BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Friday expressed opposition on the strengthening military collusion between the United States and the Taiwan authorities, saying that the U.S. is turning Taiwan into a "powder keg." Mao made the remarks at a regular press briefing when asked to comment on a delegation of 25 U.S. arms dealers swarming to the island and holding the "defense forum" with Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities. Mao said U.S. arms sales to the Taiwan region seriously violate the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, especially the August 17 Communique. China firmly opposes them. Noting that lately the U.S. and the Taiwan authorities have been stepping up military collusion, Mao said the visit of arms dealers and the so-called "defense forum" is further proof that the U.S. is turning Taiwan into a "powder keg," which only spells trouble for our Taiwan compatriots. As the "forum" was being held, people from all walks of life of Taiwan gathered nearby to protest the warmongers peddling conflict, oppose those soliciting U.S. support for independence and opening the door to the devil, call on young people in Taiwan to refuse to be enlisted, and voice support for one China on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and cross-Strait peace. "The DPP authorities need to hear these voices and immediately stop trading our Taiwan compatriots' fundamental interests for selfish gains," said the spokesperson. "We once again urge the U.S. to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, stop arms sales to and military contact with Taiwan, and stop creating factors that could cause tensions in the Taiwan Strait," Mao said. She stressed that the Chinese side will take strong and resolute measures to firmly defend our sovereignty and security interests. Any external forces that interfere in China's internal affairs and undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait shall bear the consequences and pay for their erroneous acts. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) An effort to add non-gendered bathrooms and baby changing stations to Colorados public buildings passed its last major legislative hurdle on Friday. House Bill 1057 requires newly constructed public buildings owned or operated by the government to provide non-gendered bathrooms on each floor where gendered bathrooms are available, beginning in 2024. The buildings would also need to provide baby diaper changing stations, either in the non-gendered bathroom or in both the mens and womens bathrooms. The Senate passed the bill on Friday, following the House's approval last month. The bill will next go back to the House to approve minor changes by the Senate, and then to Gov. Jared Polis for final consideration. "This bill is really about access for everybody," said bill sponsor Rep. Karen McCormick, D-Longmont. "For everyone to feel comfortable going to a restroom." Proponents of the bill said gendered bathrooms are inaccessible for many groups, including transgender or nonbinary people, disabled people with caregivers of a different gender, and men with young children who can't access baby changing stations in women's bathrooms. Some critics, meanwhile, indicated they oppose it because it is framed as accommodating transgender and nonbinary people. Multiple lawmakers, including McCormick and Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, spoke of their nonbinary children and the difficulties of finding public restrooms they can use. Bill sponsor Rep. Stephanie Vigil said she has faced these challenges firsthand. Vigil, D-Colorado Springs, is gender fluid and uses she/they pronouns. While she doesnt mind using womens bathrooms, Vigil said other people have taken issue with her since she presents androgynously. When she was around 16 years old, a stranger yelled at Vigil and tried to prevent her from entering a womens bathroom at a shopping mall, she said. Thats a deeply embarrassing thing for any young person to go through, Vigil said during the bill's committee hearing. This bill is a way to move our great state towards a model that removes any of those remaining barriers. Senators passed the bill in a 26-9 vote on Friday. House lawmakers voted 44-19. All Democrats supported the bill, while only three Republicans voted "yes": Sens. Jim Smallwood, Barbara Kirkmeyer and Cleave Simpson. Sen. Mark Baisley, the only lawmaker to speak against the bill during floor debates, said he's concerned about people who are uncomfortable with using a non-gendered bathroom. "The bill, while it is seeking to accommodate those who have been left out, it does so at the expense of others," Baisley, R-Woodland Park, said. "The discomfort transfers to folks who are not comfortable in sharing a bathroom with someone of an opposite gender. ... I'd appreciate some accommodation for those folks." Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. The bill would not remove gendered bathrooms from public buildings, only require that a non-gendered option also be available for those who want it. In a House committee, Republican opponents said they are not against the concept of providing non-gendered bathrooms in public buildings, but suggested their objection is due to the bill being framed as accommodating transgender and nonbinary people. Im not opposed to family restrooms. I think theyre very handy. This bill has a lot of changes. Its a lot of political hot-button wording, said Rep. Ken DeGraaf, R-Colorado Springs, while voting against the bill. I would have preferred it if it was a clean bill saying, We think you ought to build a handicapped accessible family restroom and left it at that. Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, echoed this sentiment: The verbiage used in (the bill) goes against everything in my values. Proponents said being unable to find a non-gendered bathroom can be a safety issue for transgender and nonbinary people. Nearly 60% of transgender Americans say they avoid using public bathrooms for fear of confrontation, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. The survey also found that 12% had recently been verbally harassed in a public bathroom, 1% had been physically attacked and 9% had been denied access. This bill comes as other states, such as Alabama, have passed bills to prevent transgender people from using bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, instead making them use bathrooms corresponding with their sex assigned at birth. Smallwood, one of the only Republicans who supported the bill, said he "doesn't understand" the controversy around providing non-gendered bathrooms. Smallwood, R-Parker, championed the portion of the bill that would allow people of all genders to access baby changing stations, saying it is "just good policy." "In the late '90s and early 2000s, I found myself far too frequently looking desperately for a place to change my little baby boy's diaper and ending up placing him on a passenger seat of a vehicle in a parking lot or something along those lines, praying that he doesn't roll out," Smallwood said. Under the bill, the bathroom requirements would not apply to K-12 schools or historic buildings, though they would apply to higher education institutions. The bill would also apply to existing public government buildings already undergoing significant bathroom renovations, and, in 2025, they would extend to all government buildings even if theyre not open to the public. Employees who work in public buildings could file a complaint for discrimination or unfair practices with the Colorado civil rights division if the building fails to provide non-gendered bathrooms. "This is not controversial. This is basic human nature, this is basic human respect and dignity," said bill sponsor Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont. "This is about us as Coloradans respecting all of us, because we all have to use the restroom." The bill is expected to be sent to Polis in the coming days. Corvallis police have arrested a 12-year-old Linus Pauling Middle School student following an altercation that left a staff member injured. The arrest comes after teachers at the middle school walked out during the school day in February to express their frustrations about student behavior in and outside of the classroom. Corvallis police Lt. Ben Harvey said officers responded to the school at around 12:32 p.m. Thursday, May 4 after receiving reports of a fight involving juveniles. The student was taken into custody on suspicion of undisclosed charges and transported to Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility, Harvey said. Medics transported the injured staff member to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, according to Harvey. Although an arrest was made, Corvallis schools spokesperson Kelly Locey said the staff member was injured from a fall. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Corvallis Gazette-Times. During lunch outside yesterday at Linus Pauling, there was a fight between two students," Locey said by email. "A staff member who tried to break up the fight fell backward and hit their head. They were transported to the hospital for medical attention and released the same day. Locey did not indicate the position of the injured staff member. She added that the school notified staff and families of the incident, and the district provided extra counseling staff at Linus Pauling to support students and staff. "I know this is hard information to hear," Principal Alicia Ward-Satey said in an email to parents. "I am committed to ensuring safety for all of our students and staff. We know these situations can be upsetting and scary." Corvallis middle schools have grappled with student behavior more than usual this school year, Mid-Valley Media previously reported. At the same time, 50 behavioral and support staff may be laid off from the district due to statewide budget cuts. School board member Terese Jones took six kids to the Capitol on Wednesday to advocate for a fully funded K-12 budget. While nobody is happy about the proposed budget, she said, the districts most vulnerable students and staff will bear the brunt of the loss. The loss of resources, when you can already barely get by, is going to be a crisis for them, she said. Related stories: Its officially paddlefishing season, and so far things are looking up for fishing upstream from Fort Peck to Fort Benton. Compared to last year, our flows are way better than they were all last season, said Region 6 Fisheries Biologist Cody Nagel. The fish are moving up into the river from Fort Peck. The fish typically begin moving upstream to spawn as flows approach 10,000 cfs, which Nagel said was the case at the Fred Robinson bridge last week. As of late last week, Nagel said the majority of fish were downstream from Rock Creek, though he observed some between the Fred Robinson bridge and Rock Creek. Not many, but mostly males there, Nagel noted. The bulk of the run is still below the Rock Creek boat ramp. As the temperature warms and flows increase toward 15,000 cfs, fish will push further upstream. As soon as we get some warmer days, itll start bumping flows up, said Nagel. One thing to note is the recruitment from 2011, a high-water year that was particularly productive for paddlefish reproduction. In 2011, we did document a good class of juveniles that are now starting to show up on the river; young males between 14 and 20 pounds, said Nagel. It will still be five years before the females start entering the river. Males will begin to travel upstream to spawn between eight and ten years old, while females will first spawn between 14 and 16. Nagel was out on the river tagging fish last week, which helps determine population estimates. If an angler catches a tagged fish, they should report it to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. There is also a mandatory reporting requirement for those snagging and keeping fish with a valid tag. This year, there are four self-check stations, located at James Kipp campground, Jones Island, Slippery Ann, and Rock Creek. Those keeping paddlefish can choose to report their catch at one of the stations, or call it in to FWP. Anglers can submit sections of the lower jaw for aging and can qualify for a free paddle fishing hat, said Nagel of the self-check stations. Theyll also get an age letter which tells how old the fish is. Last year, only 280 paddlefish were harvested, which was a particularly bad year due to low flows. On average, 350-450 are harvested each year, said Nagel. Based on historical catch data and angler behavior, FWP looks to hit about 500 harvested each year of the 1,000 tags issued. Anglers might be on track for that target with high flows this year. Conditions are really nice, said Nagel. Millikin's nursing program recognized DECATUR U.S. News & World Report has recognized Millikin University's master of science in nursing and doctor of nursing practice programs as among the best in the country. "The Millikin University School of Nursing continues its long history of excellence in nursing education and its reputation is reflected in the recognition received in these rankings," said Dr. Elizabeth Gephart, director of the Millikin School of Nursing. "Through our performance learning opportunities and partnerships with local healthcare providers, our graduates are prepared and highly sought after for either entry or advanced practice roles. The faculty and staff are to be praised for their commitment to providing quality programs that deliver on the promise of education to our students. Millikin's master of science in nursing program was ninth in Illinois and among the top 184 programs nationally, while the doctor of nursing practice program was ranked seventh in the state and among the top 169 nationally. The annual report on graduate programs is designed to assist students interested in furthering their education as they decide which program might best suit their needs. Hughes named chief marketing, deposit officer MATTOON First Mid Bank & Trust has announced Laura Hughes as its chief marketing and deposit officer. Hughes will be responsible for leading First Mids marketing and deposit strategy, as well as overseeing its performance, culture, and overall customer experience. We are thrilled to have Laura join our executive team, says Joe Dively, chairman and chief executive officer at First Mid. I am confident she will have a direct impact on our digital strategy and execution." I am delighted and honored to join the strong leadership team at First Mid, Hughes said. I look forward to leveraging my experience and expertise to help drive the bank's growth." Hughes most recently served as chief marketing officer at HTLF, Heartland Financial, Inc., headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Smith honored for service to townships Bryan E. Smith of Long Creek Township was recently honored with a plaque of Appreciation from the National Association of Towns and Townships in Washington, D.C. for 35 years of dedicated service, vision and commitment to townships in the state of Illinois and the National Association of Towns and Townships (NATaT). Smith served as executive director/CEO of the Township Officials of Illinois for 25 years, the associations second longest serving CEO in the associations 116 year history. Smith worked for the association for 35 years retiring in August 2021. Smith served as NATaTs secretary/treasurer, vice president, and president of the NATaT Board of Directors twice. The National Association of Towns and Townships is the voice for more than 10,000 towns and townships across the country. Best places for college grads to start their careers Best places for college grads to start their careers #15. Omaha, Nebraska #14. Lincoln, Nebraska #13. Fort Collins, Colorado #12. Rochester, New York #11. Virginia Beach, Virginia #10. Charlotte, North Carolina #9. Indianapolis #8. San Jose, California #7. Jacksonville, Florida #6. Des Moines, Iowa #5. Sioux Falls, South Dakota #4. Boise, Idaho #3. Honolulu #2. Crestview, Florida #1. Savannah, Georgia CHICAGO A federal judge set sentencing dates in January for the ComEd Four, a group of utility executives and lobbyists convicted by a jury earlier this week in a yearslong scheme to bribe then-powerful Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. Convicted on Tuesday were former ComEd contract lobbyist Michael McClain, Madigans longtime confidant; former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore; former ComEd executive John Hooker, the utilitys top lobbyist for years; and ComEd contract lobbyist Jay Doherty, the ex-president of the City Club, a civic forum for Chicagos elite. In an order posted Friday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber set the first sentencing for Jan. 11 for McClain, followed by Pramaggiore on Jan. 16, Hooker on Jan. 25 and finally Doherty on Jan. 30. If the date holds McClains sentencing hearing will come three months before hes set to go on trial along with Madigan on a separate indictment charging them with racketeering conspiracy. Typically, federal defendants are required to report to prison within a couple of months of being sentenced, but McClains attorneys could ask Leinenweber to extend that date so he wont have to prepare for his second trial from behind bars. After deliberating for about 27 hours over five days, the jury of seven women and five men found that the ComEd Four conspired to funnel $1.3 million in payments to ghost subcontractors, largely through Dohertys company, who were actually Madigans cronies. The utility also hired a clout-heavy law firm run by political operative Victor Reyes, distributed numerous college internships within Madigans 13th Ward fiefdom and blatantly backed former McPier boss Juan Ochoa, the friend of a Madigan ally, for an $80,000-a-year seat on the utilitys board of directors. The most serious charges carry up to 20 years in prison, though all four defendants would likely face far less given their lack of criminal history and other mitigating factors. Madigan and McClain are set to go to trial in April 2024 on the separate racketeering charges that allege an array of corrupt acts, including the ComEd scheme as well as a similar but smaller set of allegations involving AT&Ts Illinois affiliate. Meanwhile, state pension officials suspended the $1,686 monthly benefit for McClains decade in the Illinois House that ended in 1983. His friendship and political alliance with Madigan dates to their time together in the House starting in the 1970s. Over the years, McClain has received $313,693 in pension payments, according to pension authorities. State policies require the suspension of a legislative pension following a felony conviction. The issue now goes to Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who will review the matter after sentencing and issue an opinion on whether McClain should lose his pension permanently. A legislative pension panel will then review the attorney general opinion and make a final decision on whether to cut off McClains pension payments completely. In general, decisions are based on whether the crime can be directly tied to an officials conduct in office. Given McClain left the House more than 40 years ago, a direct tie to his legislative duties may be difficult to prove despite working on legislative matters as a lobbyist. PHOTOS: The career of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan December 2013 March 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 December 2013 January 2015 January 2015 February 2015 August 2015 October 2015 April 2016 May 2016 November 2016 July 2017 July 2017 August 2017 August 2018 January 2019 January 2019 2019 June 2019 May 2020 January 2021 If there was ever any doubt about the Biden administrations stance on liquid fuels, consumer choice and Americas energy security, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just put those questions to bed. The Biden EPA is proposing that In less than 10 years, roughly 70% of new vehicle sales must be electric, up from about 6% this year. What that means for consumers is that our days of being able to purchase whatever gas or diesel vehicle we prefer are numbered. It also means the Biden administration is looking to sunset home-grown biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel fuels we built a market around in the Midwest on the basis of earlier promises from Washington. Now the rug is being pulled. There is one clear winner from EPAs latest proposals: China. Where the United States has liquid fuel and biofuel superiority, China controls the EV battery and mineral game. In fact, their dominance in this space is even more unmatched than ours is in fuels. By effectively outlawing the majority of vehicles that run on American-made and American-grown fuels, EPAs proposal would leave us more dependent on China and exposed should China ever seek to extract concessions from us by withholding its supply chains. While this proposal is certainly extreme and exceeds, to my knowledge, any authority Congress ever explicitly gave EPA, the Agency at least deserves credit for its forthrightness. The point is to get rid of gas and diesel vehicles, and EPA is certainly not hiding that. Thats not the case with other policies. In a rather unheralded move, EPA earlier proposed a fundamental transformation of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) away from the hallmark Midwest policy Congress created to support biofuels and U.S. energy security into yet another electric vehicle subsidy program that will go so far as to cannibalize market share for U.S. ethanol and advanced biofuels. Both this and EPAs swipe at gasoline and diesel vehicles will only serve to make our nation less energy secure and push the economic burden for EV adoption onto the American consumer. The RFS requires biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel to be blended into gasoline and other transportation fuel products. The whole point of RFS was, and is, to boost Americas Heartland and leverage the strength of our homegrown fuel sector for the sake of American energy independence. As long as cars run on liquid fuels, there will be a market for Midwest biofuel producers to compete. Congress was clear about these dual goals when it created the RFS in 2005 and expanded the program in 2007, and it has remained clear in its direction ever since. Forcing EVs into the RFS does not square with Congress. In the 2007 RFS text, Congress explicitly directed EPA to complete some basic homework a study of any potential plans to electrify the RFS before it would ever consider transforming the program in that direction. EPA blew through the deadline to complete this study years ago and it remains outstanding today. In spite of this, EPA is proposing a new way to comply with the RFS that will empower EV manufacturers like Tesla, Ford, and GM to generate credits eRINs, where e is for electric that refiners will be compelled to purchase to fulfill their RFS obligations. If EPA succeeds, eRINs will represent a new multi-billion-dollar annual revenue stream for EV manufacturers and will make EVs the primary beneficiaries of future RFS growth, allowing them to siphon market share away from farmers and the biofuel industry. EPAs justification is that some portion of EV charging draws on electricity generated from biogas. But they concede there is no way to distinguish electricity generated from biogas and electricity from coal, wind, solar or any other source. All told, this eRIN scheme would put EV makers on the honor system for determining how many credits they generate, and who wouldnt pad their stats with billions to be gained? The Biden administration is holding nothing back in its efforts to electrify the vehicle fleet and send cash directly into the pockets of giant automakers. Both its manipulation of the RFS and its proposal to eliminate gasoline and diesel vehicles fly in the face of Congress explicit direction and should be an outrage to every consumer and stakeholder in the biofuel industry. It was the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007 that expanded the RFS and made irrefutably clear Congresss commitment to American-grown biofuels. Sadly, it could be the Biden EPA circa 2023 that sounds the death knell for liquid fuels by effectively banning gasoline and diesel vehicles and inserting China-dependent EVs into the RFS. I urge my former colleagues in Congress to wake up to whats happening and hold this EPA to account. Politics as usual. Thats how defense lawyers in the corruption trial of the so-called ComEd Four tried to explain away their clients conduct. Nothing to see here, in other words, its just the way things get done in Springfield. Thankfully, a jury of seven women and five men said no, the actions of the four defendants former ComEd contract lobbyist Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd executive John Hooker and Jay Doherty, another ComEd lobbyist werent politics as usual. Their conduct, jurors concluded, was criminal, corrupt and inextricably tethered to the powerful demands of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. In her post-verdict comments to reporters, juror Amanda Schnitker Sayers made that clear, calling Madigans role in the case key, and our perception was that he really did cause this all to happen. If it wouldnt have been for him, then these people would not be in the positionto commit the crimes in the first place. Sayers frank, eloquent remarks should be music to the ears of Illinoisans numbed by decades of political corruption at every echelon of government in this state. They should also send a shudder through Madigan, who faces his own criminal trial in April on racketeering charges in part linked to the bribery allegations in the ComEd Four case. Madigan has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and will get his day in court. Nevertheless, Sayers comments affirm what we have been saying for years that Madigans corrosive, self-serving leadership inflicted enduring damage to the trust and confidence that Illinoisans have in state government. The ComEd Four trial gave Illinoisans a lens into Madigans brand of governance. The case against the four included allegations that they conspired to channel $1.3 million in payments to ghost subcontractors who in reality were Madigans allies. During the trial, prosecutors cited a comment McClain had made on tape about the subcontractors: We had to hire these guys because Mike Madigan came to us. Thats how simple it is. Politics as usual? More like the Chicago Way. As usual. In exchange for heeding his demands, Madigan rewarded ComEd by using his clout to steward legislation that translated into billion-dollar profits for the utility. In 2020, ComEd signed a deferred prosecution agreement in which the utility acknowledged its actions and agreed to pay a $200 million fine. After Tuesdays verdict, ComEd issued a statement that it has now put in place lobbying, contracting and compliance reforms to ensure that the conduct at issue in the trial does not happen again. ComEd, Illinois will hold you to that pledge. Well also be watching closely how Springfield reforms, following the ComEd Four verdicts. For years, candidates have campaigned on promises to enact stronger ethics reform, only to craft halfhearted measures once in office. Tuesdays convictions should send a chill through the General Assembly, and serve as a warning to both lawmakers and lobbyists alike that ethics reform shouldnt be seen solely as a campaign pamphlet bullet item, but as a mandate from voters demanding earnest, meaningful change. We can understand if Illinoisans express skepticism about Springfields desire to reform. After all, the states history of corrupt pols is long and storied. The Wall of Shame includes Republican Gov. George Ryan, imprisoned on federal corruption charges, and of course Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was serving a 14-year prison term when then-President Donald Trump commuted his sentence. Then theres former Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell, who stashed in a shoe box wads of cash amassed from bribes he received in exchange for doling out sweetheart contracts to cronies. Powells credo: Theres only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and thats a broke politician. The profound frustration that Illinoisans harbor with Springfields legacy of corruption came through in Sayers post-verdict remarks. These verdicts represented more than convictions of lobbyists and executives. Sayers made it abundantly clear that they also were a message to politicians across the state, from Chicago to Carbondale, that citizens understand the toll political corruption takes on their state, and they wont tolerate it. There are big reasons why this state and this city are deeply in debt, Sayers told reporters. And this should be a landmark where we start to do better for ourselves, for our children, and have pride in our city and our state and not make any shady dealings to get stuff done. Because we dont need to. Were amazing people. We can all do amazing things. We dont need to do things (in) a corrupt way to get things done in the proper fashion. We find that statement to carry more heft than anything coming from a prosecutor, judge, politician, academic or editorial board member. Why? Because Sayers, a veterinarian from Chicago, gives voice to the millions of Illinois taxpayers and voters fed up with lawmakers, officeholders and their allies guided solely by self-interest and a ceaseless thirst for wealth and power. Chicago Tribune New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 75F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low 66F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. BRISTOL, Tenn. Tennessee High School and Seaman Corporation have entered partnership agreement and Friday hosted a signing ceremony for students entering a pre-apprenticeship program with Northeast State Community College. The agreement ensures students who meet the requirements of the course standards and have successful attendance and discipline records will be guaranteed an interview with the partnering company, according to a written statement. Seaman Corporation is the third company in Northeast Tennessee to take advantage of a pre-apprenticeship pipeline with Tennessee High School to meet their growing workforce needs. J.A. Street and The Robinette Company also signed agreements with THS over the past two years. The second part of Fridays event celebrated a signing ceremony for Seaman Corporations new THS pre-apprentice students: Mica Hall, Brantley Henard and Faith Thacker. Steve Anderson, THS manufacturing teacher and Deidre Pendley, director of career and technical education for Bristol Tennessee City Schools, recommended the three manufacturing students for the program. Following successful interviews with Seamans human resources officials, the students were offered the opportunity to enter the pre-apprenticeship program where they may earn hours toward the four-year apprenticeship program. The three are currently working after school for Seaman Corporation. Next school year, a work-based learning course will allow them to work at the company for a period of time each school day and on weekends. Seaman Corporation is very excited to have Mica, Brantley and Faith sign as our first pre-apprentice students, said Donna Tate, senior human resources manager for Seaman Corporation. We appreciate the efforts of Jessica Barnett with Apprenticeship Tennessee; Deidre Pendley, director of career and technical education; and the CTE teachers. Our goal is to provide high-quality CTE programs in a variety of high-wage, in-demand and/or growing careers available in the Bristol area, Pendley said. This pre-apprenticeship partnership aligns with this goal for students. Seaman Corporation is setting an admirable precedent by hiring students even as young as 16 years of age ... Our hope is for this program to continue to be the catalyst for other industries to join our commitment to achieving sustainable careers for our students and a sustainable workforce for our community. HICKORY Redhawk Publications announced the publication of "Like Doves of the Valleys," by Durham resident David Herington. This full-length novel is a first for this retired North Carolina-based doctor. Herington practiced for 37 years in family medicine in Winston-Salem, Morganton and Rutherfordton. I started writing the novel about two years ago, explained Herington. I really started writing it as a learning experience for myself. I was hoping to pull together some of the different threads of our national story, especially as that story is told in North Carolina. I wanted to dig down, beneath the dates and places, try to dig deeper into the characters and the motivations of our forebears, why they did the things they did. This historical fiction starts out as a Southern romance where we find the two main characters as newlyweds, living in Richmond, Virginia, in 1817. Carrie Adams comes from a rich family, brought up in a mansion. Her husband, George Adams, is an orphan who is serving as an apprentice. They meet by accident and fall in love, and marry over the objections of her family. But they both have dark secrets from their past, and so they decide to leave Richmond, starting their new life in a new place, new lands in North Carolina, hoping to leave their painful memories behind. I want to be clear, this book deals with a difficult subject, namely slavery, so it contains imagery that some people may find disturbing, Herington emphasized. This book is not for everyone. Having said that, I hope the book will attract readers who are looking to peel back the layers of our history here in North Carolina. I hope it appeals to readers who are not put off by having their views of the past challenged a bit. When we received this manuscript, right away we knew two things. It was very well written, but it was also jolting, Redhawk Publications Executive Director Richard Eller explains. From a historic perspective, much of what Dr. Herington states is fact. And while it is a work of fiction, the sobering realities of enslaved people and their treatment as economic property is simply a truth. Our professional readers felt there was no choice but to let this thought-provoking work be published. We know there are readers that dont shy away from hard truths. To purchase Like Doves of the Valleys, visit https://tinyurl.com/LikeDovesOfTheValleys Redhawk Publications is an artistic initiative of the Catawba Valley Community College, publishing written works of interest for the local community, the state of North Carolina as well the entire United States. Established in 2017, CVCC is the only state community college with a publishing press and has over 100 unique titles. For additional information on Redhawk Publications, contact Patty Thompson at pthompson994@cvcc.edu. Voltaire's motto was "Ecrasez l'infame!" which roughly translates to "Crush the infamy!" The "infamy" in Voltaire's eyes was everything that was wrong with European society, from priests telling people what to believe and how to live, to royal dynasties sending countless men to their death in meaningless wars. It was the role of the philosophe to rail against the old regime and expose its dangerous absurdities. "The idea was to mobilize intellectuals to call out the outrages of society and to marshal true thought, reason and sanity in the name of progress and improvement," says Shank. "The spirit of this motto is a shout through the bullhorn of 'We need to defeat the idiots!'" Advertisement Think of Voltaire as an 18th-century John Stewart, John Oliver or Trevor Noah. The material may be biting and sarcastic, but the underlying passions are dead serious. Voltaire used his celebrity persona as the brash, aggressive, provocateur to call out real violations of public trust by established institutions, particularly the Catholic Church and its undo influence on the state. A great example was the Calas Affair, when a wealthy Protestant merchant was sentenced to death by Catholic judges in the city of Toulouse for the alleged murder of his son, supposedly because the son wished to convert to Catholicism. Not only was the father, named Calas, brutally torn limb from limb by teams of horses, but his widow and surviving children were cut off from his inheritance. Voltaire launched a public campaign to get justice for Calas, whom Voltaire believed was convicted out of blind prejudice without a shred of evidence. With a lawyer's mind (Voltaire trained in the law in his youth) and his trademark wit, Voltaire wrote a series of unflinching pamphlets and letters that were published throughout France and even made their way to England in translation. In them, he brilliantly ridiculed the state's case and appealed to a higher court for a retrial, in which Calas was eventually exonerated posthumously and his family's fortune restored. Concrete Genies developers, PixelOpus, a first-party developer for PlayStation Studios, announced in a tweet that it was shutting down, with Sony confirming that the team will be disbanding on June 2nd. PixelOpus was never a particularly large developer within Sony in terms of headcount, yet Concrete Genie was one of the PS4s most unique experiences. In June 2021, a new PS5 game was hired for Unreal Engine 5 in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation, but we dont know what it was. Sony had this to say about the closure: CONCORD Captain Larry Hubbard exemplifies what it means to serve others. His leadership, valor and dedication to protecting the community is a model to his fellow officers. Concord Police Chief Gary Gacek spoke those words Friday in front of the Peace Officers Memorial, where Hubbard was named the 2023 recipient of the Robert J. Eury Memorial Award. He always steps up, and goes above and beyond to help others, no matter the circumstances, Gacek told the crowds. There is no one more deserving of this prestigious honor. Local officers and the community gather annually for the Law Enforcement Day and Peace Officers Memorial ceremony, where the community pays tribute to an outstanding veteran officer and memorializes local officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. The event is held on Corban Avenue between the sheriffs office and government center. Hubbards dedication to service started early in his nearly 30-year law enforcement career. After joining the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in 1994, he entered a house fire to rescue a disabled, bedridden homeowner. The act earned him a Medal of Merit. Four years later, he joined the city of Concord, becoming a sergeant in 2014 and a lieutenant in 2019. In 2022, he became a captain over Concords Criminal Investigations Division. Hubbard served in community programs, educating inexperienced teen drivers about the risks of aggressive and impaired driving. He volunteered on the departments Use of Force Committee, Commendations Committee and the firearms program. Since 2003, he has been an instructor of Basic Law Enforcement Training at various community colleges. Beaming with gratitude, Hubbard stood at the podium and recognized those who contributed to his career success. My sweet wife you got me, he said with a smile. To Sheriff (Van) Shaw, Chief (Terry) Spry and Gacek, thank you all very much for this amazing recognition. Thank you for everyone here that Ive served under for teaching me and helping me accomplish all my goals. The prestigious Eury Award is presented annually to an officer with at least 20 years of experience who demonstrates true commitment to law enforcement and service to the community. Eury, a Cabarrus County Sheriffs Deputy, was killed in the line of duty on May 5, 1972. There is no greater duty of government than keeping the public safe, Sen. Paul Newton said in his keynote address. Everything else is second to that. A fallen officer identified Chief Gacek also recognized a recently identified officer killed in the line of duty over 100 years ago. A researcher looking into local military veterans came across the name of Ralph Chandler Kennerly. The researcher learned that Kennerly had served with the Concord Police Department following World War I. In 1920 less than a year after joining the force Kennerly was killed while trying to apprehend a suspect. A plaque with Kennerlys name was added to the Concord Police Departments Fallen Officer Memorial. Fridays event concluded with a white rose ceremony paying tribute to the names listed on the memorial, followed by a 21-gun salute by the Kannapolis Police Rifle Team and Taps performed by Cory Kluttz of the Kannapolis Police Department. Cabarrus County Emergency Management Operations Chief Drew Barkley and officer Dallas Hurley of the Concord Police Department played a bagpipe recessional of Amazing Grace. Those who gave all Since 1899, eight law enforcement officers have lost their lives serving Cabarrus residents in the line of duty: William J. Kearns: Concord Police Department, Sept. 2, 1899 Ralph Chandler Kennerly: Concord Police Department, Oct. 20, 1920 William F. Propst: Cabarrus County Sheriffs Office, Nov. 17, 1922 Martin R. Kiser: Cabarrus County Sheriffs Office, March 3, 1931 Robert J. Eury: Cabarrus County Sheriffs Office, May 5, 1972 Roger D. Carter: Kannapolis Police Department, Dec. 31, 1993 Jackie L. Daniel: NC DMV, July 28, 1994 Jason N. Shuping: Concord, Police Department, Dec. 16, 2020 Watch the program The 2023 Law Enforcement Day and Peace Officers Memorial event will air on Cabarrus County Television, Spectrum Cable Channel 22, every day of May at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. beginning Saturday, May 6. The public can watch on demand at YouTube.com/cabarruscounty or Facebook.com/CabarrusCounty. SALISBURY Stephanie Hoffman-Wedding, star of the Netflix show Metal Shop Masters, visited Rowan-Cabarrus Community Colleges North Campus recently, talking to students about her career as a welder-fabricator and demonstrating her skills in the Colleges welding lab. In addition to her work on Metal Shop Masters, a reality show inviting welders to compete for prize money, Hoffman-Wedding works with the American Welding Society to enhance awareness of welding and increase workforce development initiatives. She has worked as a heavy pipe welder, taught welding, and owned her own business, UnderGround Metal Works. Hoffman-Wedding, a self-described tomboy, fell in love with welding as a pre-teen, first learning from her father in his workshop. As a high school student, she took elective welding classes and earned multiple certifications. I love the opportunity to encourage future welders, especially women, said Hoffman-Wedding, who began her career when the industry sported few female faces. As a woman starting out in a historically male-dominated field, I experienced added pressure and was determined to succeed. Today, the field is welcoming women and recognizing them as excellent welders and has expanded from strictly structural and construction-oriented to a creative, artistic medium. Hoffman-Wedding, who has more than 20 years of experience in the business, visited Rowan-Cabarrus thanks to the Colleges Women in Engineering and Industrial Technology National Science Foundation Grant. We were honored to welcome Stephanie as our guest for the day as we celebrated National Welding Month, said Zackary Hubbard, Rowan-Cabarrus dean of Technical Programs. Students were inspired by her skill and her impressive career, and she challenged them to become the next generation of expert welders. For more information about the Rowan-Cabarrus welding program, contact Brandon Hoffner, program chair, at brandon.hoffner@rccc.edu or 704-216-3922. For more information about Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, visit www.rccc.edu or call 704-216-RCCC (7222). Reflecting real world events and geopolitical tensions, the PwC Cyber Threats report is a deep dive analysis by PwCs Global Threat Intelligence (GTI) team of cyber incidents, cybercriminal ecosystem shifts, attack insights and trends, and how to use this knowledge to support cyber resilience. The report provides key insights into the motivations and methods of cyber threat actors globally, both state and non-state sponsored, and reiterates that, as cyber threats become more dynamic and persistent, the attack vectors used by threat actors continue to grow in sophistication. Their motivations, however, remain unchanged - they want information, money and disruption. A compelling key theme from the report is Cloud and Identity targeting where threat actors continued to target identity and privileged access, as well as cloud environments, to gain entry into networks. More threat actors are targeting cloud environments to compromise victims, likely in response to organisations increasingly integrating the technology, with threat actors preying on vulnerabilities or misconfigurations to unlock troves of data. Basically this means, more and more organisations are moving their business to the cloud, yet securing their cloud services has been a low priority for many as they think its safe or its someone elses problem which leaves them highly exposed. And, cybercriminals are rerouting their focus and attack methods to exploit vulnerabilities in these environments (primarily cloud). Another key theme was around ransomware, which continued to drive threat activity across the cybercriminal ecosystem. In 2022, 63% of the incident response cases analysed resulted from attacks by financially motivated threat actors, and nearly half of these cases involved ransomware attacks (this aligns with the ACSCs findings). The number of leak site victims for 2021 and 2022 likely represents a high water mark for this activity, with 2022 having posed significant challenges to the ransomware ecosystem. As the complexity of the global cyber threat environment continues to evolve, Australia remains an attractive target for threat actors of all ilk. In particular, espionage, ransomware and attacks on critical infrastructure continue to present significant threats to Australian organisations and institutions. Espionage and foreign interference As the report highlights, state-sponsored cyber espionage was a key threat to Australian institutions and organisations in 2022. In particular, the report explores sophisticated phishing campaigns focused on last years federal election, which were aimed at gaining access to targets systems. Ransomware In 2022, there were 2,462 total global victims posted to ransomware leak sites tracked by the GTI team, slightly fewer compared to the 2,471 posted in 2021 but almost double the 1,330 posted in 2020. Domestically, the top targets were professional services organisations, healthcare and construction. The report observes this may represent a high water mark for ransomware activity, with 2022 presenting a challenging year for the ransomware ecosystem. Critical Infrastructure While threat actors have targeted telecommunications providers for a number of years, the reports 2022 insights are sobering. The GTI team observed an increased focus on telecommunications exploitation by several threat actors, with supply chain targets and high technology compromises in the frame. At a more global level, the key trends observed were: Vulnerability and threat actor agility In 2022: The Log4Shell vulnerability in Apaches Log4j Java logging framework is thought to have affected 93% of business cloud environments and hundreds of millions of machines. A range of cyber threats jumped on the opportunity to exploit this vulnerability as organisations worked to identify impacted instances in their environments. Looking ahead: Attackers will continue scouring unpatched systems for Log4Shell and other vulnerabilities and will exploit where they can. Software library vulnerabilities are also likely to be an exploitation focus for threat actors in the year ahead. Geopolitical issues and the threat landscape In 2022: Espionage and sabotage motivated threat actors used their offensive cyber capabilities to complement traditional warfare approaches. They used these against countries and private entities seen to be supporting their perceived enemies. They sought to gain strategic advantage by weakening digital and physical infrastructure. Looking ahead: Security and law enforcement agencies, along with the commercial security industry, will continue to use public disclosures to counter the activities of APTs and thwart their operations. Cloud service, managed service and identity and access management (IAM) providers with privileged access to client networks will increasingly become targets of choice for the most sophisticated actors to achieve the scaled access they need to compromise the targets of their espionage and intellectual property theft operations. Evolving cyber crime In 2022: Ransomware continued to be a major threat to industries around the world, as threat actors were able to circumvent security measures and successfully infect networks, from manufacturing to retail and beyond, and extort high ransoms from their victims. Looking ahead: Governments will also explore the continued use of sanctions as a way of hamstringing ransomware and other threat actors, as well as their access to and use of extorted and stolen funds. Organisations will increasingly be required to build their defence efforts and security strategies to account for more frequent attacks powered by an increasingly commoditised -as-a-Service cybercriminal ecosystem. The Australian report is available here and the global report here. Noticia E o fato ou acontecimento de interesse jornalistico. Pode ser uma informacao nova ou recente. Tambem diz respeito a uma novidade de uma situacao ja conhecida. Artigo Texto predominantemente opinativo. Expressa a visao do autor, mas nao necessariamente a opiniao do jornal. Pode ser escrito por jornalistas ou especialistas de areas diversas. Investigativa Reportagem que traz a tona fatos ou episodios desconhecidos, com forte teor de denuncia. Exige tecnicas e recursos especificos. Content Commerce Conteudo editorial que oferece ao leitor ambiente de compras. Analise E a interpretacao da noticia, levando em consideracao informacoes que vao alem dos fatos narrados. Faz uso de dados, traz desdobramentos e projecoes de cenario, assim como contextos passados. Editorial Texto analitico que traduz a posicao oficial do veiculo em relacao aos fatos abordados. Patrocinada E a materia institucional, que aborda assunto de interesse da empresa que patrocina a reportagem. Checagem de fatos Conteudo que faz a verificacao da veracidade e da autencidade de uma informacao ou fato divulgado. Contexto E a materia que traz subsidios, dados historicos e informacoes relevantes para ajudar a entender um fato ou noticia. Especial Reportagem de folego, que aborda, de forma aprofundada, varios aspectos e desdobramentos de um determinado assunto. Traz dados, estatisticas, contexto historico, alem de historias de personagens que sao afetados ou tem relacao direta com o tema abordado. Entrevista Abordagem sobre determinado assunto, em que o tema e apresentado em formato de perguntas e respostas. Outra forma de publicar a entrevista e por meio de topicos, com a resposta do entrevistado reproduzida entre aspas. Jonas Langford hit a few local rummage sales to find cooking utensils and other gear. The six-year-old is an aspiring chef and walked away from a Moweaqua sale with a small skillet. Im going to make a little omelet, he said. Weve got a donut maker, too, said his grandmother, Angela Langford. Langford traveled from LaPlace to take her grandchildren to the Moweaqua sales. Everybody loves a bargain, she said. And it gives us something to do. With spring cleaning underway, and cabin fever about to break, now is the time for sellers and customers to come together during rummage sales, garage sales and yard sales. People Gather Together The bargains, as well as the opportunity to make a little extra cash, are only part of the draw. For years, Renae Trimble, 64, has participated in the Blue Mound rummage sales. Trimble said she takes the opportunity to get rid of a few things. But I also enjoy seeing the people that I sometimes only see once a year, she said. They know who I am and what Ill have. The community rummage sales are more enticing for shopper Sheri Engle. I do it when theres a lot together, instead of running around all over, she said. According to Blue Mound rummager Bethany Dowdy, the more sales on a weekend, the better for business. People are more apt to get out, she said. They can go right down the road to another one. Finding clothing for young children is a draw for many shoppers, including grandparents. Especially shoes, Langford said. In three months, theyre feet were huge. Also a grandmother, Engle shops rummage sales for childrens clothing to store at her home. If they have an accident or get sick, I can clean what they came in, she said. Along with childrens clothing, toys and other items, another popular draw is home decor. Dowdy said she is surprised to find half-used bottles of lotion and soaps can go quickly. People snatch that up, she said. Organization is Key Sellers agree organization is the key to setting up a rummage sale. From pricing to arranging, its important to know the plan before the items are placed on tables or racks. Ellen Gibson has helped organize the annual Moweaqua Rummage Sales, complete with a map of the sales. We also list what everybodys got, she said. I dont know if thats the reason why people come here, but we get a lot of compliments for that. Gibson utilizes Facebook to correspond with customers as well as those selling. Youll see comments on there, she said. Theres a lot of sales here, and theyre nice sales. Gibson has her own rules about the items placed in her rummage sales. If you have a rummage sale, it goes out and it doesn't come back in, she said. Its a lot of work. Holding a rummage sale has been a springtime tradition for Renee Polston of Mattoon, her extended family and friends since at least 2000. They hold their sale every year in her detached garage, where the clothes hanging rods remain in place year round, near the busy intersection of Marshall Avenue and 14th Street. Polston said location, location, location is one of the keys to a successful sale. Polston said they plan their rummage sale for the spring to help with closet cleaning and serve as a raffle ticket fundraiser for the annual St. Jude Mattoon to Peoria Run, set for Aug. 4-5 this year. We price it to get rid of it, Polston said of another key. She added that they also make sure their cash drawer is fully ready for sale day. You have got to have lots of $1 bills and quarters. Polstons daughter, Rebecca Kimball, who handles the pricing, said they see many of the same customers every year. The Polston family and friends sale starts on a Friday afternoon to cater to parents picking up their children after school and then continues to the next day to draw regular Saturday morning rummage sale fans. April 28 and 29 were the dates of their rummage sale this year. Polston said the sale was scheduled to open at 3 p.m. that Friday, but got an early start as usual. Within three minutes of putting our tables out, people were here. We didnt even have stuff on the tables, Polston said. Kimball and Polston, like their regular customers, are also rummage sale fans. Polston said they apply lessons learned at other sales to their own. You have got to have plenty of tables. You have got to spread that stuff out, Polston said of presenting merchandise in an appealing way. Cris Burge recently helped organize a multi-family sale with six other families. Its a lot of work, but Ive gotten my use out of everything, she said. Six families living in rural areas rented an empty retail building in Moweaqua for their sale. To our house, its about six miles, said Terri Townsend. So this is ideal, Burge said about the location. The bargains found at garage sales were beneficial for Burge when she was raising her children years ago. Rummage sales is where I got all my kids clothes, and I myself clothes as well, she said. So if you can give back, give back. The retired women of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Decatur can be considered pros in organizing rummage sales. They will host this years annual sale May 5 and 6 in the church basement. Its always the first Friday and Saturday of May, said Barbara Phillips. Since its the start of the rummage sale season. The first church sales were organized in the 1980s. All of us had parents before us that did all this work, said Nancy Minks. Through the years, the women have learned a few tricks to make the process easier. We dont price everything now, said Diana Rinchiuso. Now we ask for a donation, Phillips said. The proceeds will go toward the Presbyterian Womens Association. The group will provide donations to local organizations and mission trips. With the amount of items on display in the church, the women understand they may not know the true value of some pieces. So an appraiser views the merchandise before they open to the public. We dont want something thats $50 to go out for $2, said Susie Moore. When it's all over Once the fun is over, the sellers have to pack up the items that werent sold. The leftovers are often sent to missionary groups, homeless shelters, or thrift stores, or they save it again for next year. All the baby clothes, we thought we might donate to Northeast (Community Fund) or BabyTALK, Burge said. Somebody could use it, Townsend said. Springtime is a popular time for thrift stores as well. However, the businesses and organizations ready to accept the rummage sale leftovers have stipulations. No winter items, said Lillie Rainey, Northeast Community Funds director of housewares and clothing. We dont have the room for it. For those donating to shelters and thrift stores, check the facilities websites or Facebook page for donations hours. Blessingdales Thrift Store, 345 W. Eldorado St., Decatur, will take nearly all items. If you can buy it at a store, well take it, said Carolann Carara, director of retail operations. However, the local thrift store is not a drop off for toys, outdated electronics, mattresses nor paint. I just have to pay to get it hauled away, Carara said. Northeast Community Fund, located at 839 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Decatur, is often in need of mens, womens and childrens clothing and shoes. If you have sandals, we could always use those, Rainey said. Infant clothing and diapers continue to be a need for the social service agency. We really dont want toys, unless they are in a box and all the pieces are together, Rainey said. Because we have small children running around. Household items, such as ironing boards, furniture, draperies and televisions are not needed. But we can always use sheets, pots, pans, skillets, towels or those types of things, Rainey said. For the items Northeast Community Fund are not able to distribute among the community, they pass them on to missionary organizations outside of Illinois. None of the thrift stores and donation locations will accept soiled or destroyed items. If they are damaged or have a bad odor, we dont put them out, Rainey said. Blessingdales has often been a dumping location during the spring season. It is a trend the staff wants to stop. I have to have extra dumpster pickups in the rummage sale season, Carara said. I cant sell someones used cottage cheese containers, or somebodys underwear. For furniture donations, Carara suggests donors call first for information. We dont take it into this building, she said. 20 tips for hosting a successful yard sale Pick the right date for your yard sale. Shop your house for items to sell. Give yourself at least two weeks to gather and clean items. Arrange like items together. Tag your yard sale items right. Gear up. Be an attention grabber. Post signs in your neighborhood. Advertise in multiple ways. Get an extra set of hands. Make carryout easy. Stock your register. Fill a $1 basket to position near checkout. Place large eye-catching items close to the road. Group things as they are in department stores. Hang clothes. Cover tables with colorful plastic. Display jewelry nicely. Put baby clothes and toys near the back of the sale. Use vertical space. Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is one of the best-known artworks in the world, famous for its beauty as well as the mystery surrounding the identity of the model and the location painted behind her. A source of debate for centuries, the town of Buriano, in the Tuscany region of Italy, is so convinced the bridge behind Mona Lisa is the Ponte Buriano that they've made it a key feature of their local tourism campaign, even laying claim to the bridge on the town's welcome sign. But now, historian Silvano Vinceti says that the bridge behind Mona Lisa is actually the Romito Bridge in the nearby Tuscan town of Laterina. "The distinctive form of the Arno [River] along that stretch of territory corresponds to what Leonardo portrayed in the landscape to the left of the woman depicted in the famous painting," Vinceti said at a media conference at the Foreign Press Association in Rome on Wednesday. Vinceti also made a virtual reconstruction of the bridge to show the similarities, and drew on documents from the state archives in Florence. The "Mona Lisa" was painted in the early 16th century. Between 1501 and 1503 Da Vinci lived with Cardinal Cesare Borgia near Laterina, Vinceti found. The bridge was in use and had four arches as depicted in the artwork. On the other hand, the Buriano bridge has six arches, Vinceti said, and Ponte Bobbio, a bridge in Piacenza that some say features in the painting, has more than six arches. The Romito bridge linked Arezzo, Fiesole and Florence but is now in ruins. Vinceti said he studied drone images of the river banks, the ruins and photographs over the years to determine that the "Etruscan-Roman Romito bridge is unmistakably" the one in the background. Laterina mayor Simona Neri was also in attendance at the press conference and is excited about the prospect of claiming the bridge to bring tourists to her town of 3,500 people. "We really hope that this wonderful news will intrigue and fascinate local and foreign tourists, with the knowledge that it will be a great opportunity to relaunch the tourism of our territory on which we can work a lot starting from naturalistic, cultural and monumental valuation," she said. "We need to try to protect what's left of the bridge, which will require funding," Neri said, noting that there are funds available for most areas tied to Da Vinci and other masters. "There'll be some rivalry; we'll need to put a poster up, too," she added. Da Vinci's 16th century masterpiece is now housed at the Louvre in the Paris, where it is seen by millions of visitors each year. But experts say it owes its global fame to the fact that it was stolen from the gallery by Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia in 1911, rather than any artistic singularity. "If a different one of Leonardo's works had been stolen, then that would have been the most famous work in the world not the 'Mona Lisa,'" Noah Charney, professor of art history and author of "The Thefts of the Mona Lisa," said in 2013, which marked the 100-year anniversary of when the painting was recovered. "There was nothing that really distinguished it per se, other than it was a very good work by a very famous artist that's until it was stolen," he added. "The theft is what really skyrocketed its appeal and made it a household name." 50 famous paintings and the stories behind them 50 famous paintings and the stories behind them Christinas World Arnolfini Portrait American Gothic Cyclops Death of Marat Frescoes, Villa of the Mysteries Girl with a Pearl Earring Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe Ophelia The Gross Clinic Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee Jack the Rippers Bedroom Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear Guernica The Scream Two Tahitian Women Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer Lascaux Cave Paintings Primavera Portrait of Madame X Untitled Flaming June At the Moulin Rouge The Ambassadors Girl With Balloon Judith Slaying Holofernes Myra Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket Salvator Mundi The Two Fridas The Ghent Altarpiece Juan de Pareja Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga Demoiselles dAvignon The Persistence of Memory Young Sick Bacchus Dancer Making Points Portrait of the Boy Eutyches A Sunday on La Grande Jatte The Son of Man The Nude Maja Tennis at Newport Bride of the Wind Liberty Leading the People The Sleepers Washington Crossing the Delaware I and the Village The Blue Boy Campbell's Soup Cans Mona Lisa A prevailing economic theory is that the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a surge of business startups in North Carolina as employees opted to work for themselves or pursue an entrepreneurial dream. For example, there were between 60,000 and 61,000 new businesses established during the period of January through April in both 2021 and 2022, according to the state. By comparison, there were 39,000 business created between January and April 2020 the latter two months likely affected significantly by the unnerving first six weeks of the pandemic. However, as the pandemic has evolved into a public-health endemic in recent months, two questions arose. First, would there be the same startup interest? Or would uncertainty about job security, particularly in the banking, manufacturing and technology sectors amid sluggish consumer demand, stoke increased willingness to carve a new path? The preliminary answer from the N.C. Secretary of States office is that about the same number of North Carolinians are still scratching that startup itch. North Carolinas entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well as new business creation filings remain historically high compared to pre-COVID creations, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall said. We recognize that small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities and the foundation of a strong North Carolina economy. Marshall said her office is aggressively looking for ways to help these business owners get across to available resources to help their new ventures become successful. Taking the plunge Much of the pandemics impact on local and state economies has been focused on the overall decline of available workers, particularly those in minimum- to low-wage jobs. These business owners are telling us in surveys that they see new opportunities to put money in their pockets and jobs in their communities, Marshall said. These are not folks who lost their jobs and have nowhere else to turn. A year ago when the Secretary of States office released the 2022 business filings, N.C. State economics professor Michael Walden questioned whether the interest in startups was at a peak. Fast forward to May 2023 and Walden says startups remain an attractive alternative. Walden explained that because of North Carolinas strong economic growth and nationally recognized business climate, the state is a natural for people who want to start new businesses. Winston-Salem, in particular, is at a near record pace for business startups. Thats not surprising to Mark Owens, president and chief executive of Greater Winston-Salem Inc., which promotes economic development in the city. We consistently see Winston-Salem ranking among the best places in the country to start and grow a business, Owens said. Owens cited that Wallethub, a national economic research group, determined Winston-Salem to be the best large city for business costs and 13th overall for new businesses. We are intentional in creating a collaborative ecosystem that supports small businesses and startups, and this is a key strategy for our economic growth, Owens said. Our low barriers to entry and affordable cost-of-living are drawing emerging companies from other U.S. cities and internationally, with particularly strong interest from tech-based businesses and biotech and life science companies. Our record new business filings are evidence this strategy is working. Mark Vitner, a retired senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities, speaks from experience when it comes to startups during the pandemic. Vitner founded Piedmont Crescent Capital, which provides economic consulting services to businesses, trade groups and municipalities across the country. I personally feel it is a great time to go out on your own, Vitner said. The U.S. has the most dynamic economy in the world. It does not simply grow, but is constantly evolving, which creates enormous opportunity for startups. There are always niches that small companies will be able to more quickly fill than larger firms. Different paths The Secretary of States report is only one glimpse into the startup picture, said John Quinterno, principal with South by North Strategies Ltd., a Chapel Hill research company specializing in economic and social policy. Businesses that wish to take advantage of the legal form of a corporation or a limited liability entity must register, but sole proprietorships or general partnerships do not, he explained. The vast majority of small businesses in the United States, however, are sole proprietorships. This means that the Secretary of States estimates only capture a subset of new business formation. Quinterno said businesses that choose the corporate or limited liability structures tend to be entities that have more factors correlated with longer-term success. Shutdowns likely gave people opportunities to reflect on what they want from a job, develop their business ideas and to set aside some potential seed capital from things like economic assistance payments. Quinterno stressed that launching a startup remains not for the faint of heart. Most new businesses in the United States do fail within several years, and the challenges associated in running a new venture are often much greater than imagined, he said. North Carolina is fortunate that it has so many resources and entities that exist to help people launch and grow businesses, but even then, success can be difficult to realize. An uptick in business creation filings during an economic downturn or a major employer shakeup is not unusual. For example, when First Union Corp. bought Wachovia Corp. in 2001, about 1,300 local jobs either were transferred to Charlotte or eliminated over the next 24 months. Some left the area in pursuit of similar skilled and paying employment. Small businesses, particularly community banks, gained access to former Wachovia employees who chose to stay. Others formed small businesses or went in a new direction altogether. This time around, the availability of federal pandemic relief compensation gave the unemployed or furloughed more time to plot their next move, including a business startup. But there is also a component of many individuals becoming fed up with the corporate atmosphere at the top end, especially those in tech and other fields that have come to desire remote work during a time when firms in these sectors are retrenching or are mandating that workers return to the office, said Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, an economics professor at Winston-Salem State University. Everything Went Fine opens with a phone call that sends novelist Emmanuelle scrambling to the hospital to find her father, Andre, who has had a stroke, and connect with her sister Pascale, who made the call. That passage, which sees Emmanuelle forgetting her contact lenses and having to go back inside her apartment and put them in, feels very real as does the rest of the film that is based on the autobiographical 2013 book by the late Emmanuele Bernheim about her fathers stroke and desire to end his life. Bernheim, who died in 2017, is credited with being a writer of the film, having been a longtime collaborator with director Francois Ozon, providing the screenplays for, among other films, Under the Sand and the award-winning Swimming Pool. In Everything is Fine, she's played with great effect by Sophie Marceau, part of a powerhouse of European actors who were cast in the film, a group that includes Germanys Hanna Shygulla and the great Charlotte Rampling, who delivers one of the films most powerful performances as Emmanuelle's mother Claude. A sculptor now crippled by arthritis and Parkinsons disease, Claude is depressed, withdrawn, living in near silent pain in the family home. She appears from time to time. Andre is played by Andre Dussollier, a French critical and commercial star since the 70s, who delivers superb work, playing the successful factory owner and art connoisseur as he works his way back to health from the stroke, but insists to Emmanuelle that he wants to die, asking her to arrange that process. Thats where Shygulla comes in. She plays a Swiss lady who works with a death-with-dignity group, who provides the information about how Andre can end his life. Illegal in France, he would have to travel by ambulance to Switzerland for what would be an assisted suicide. The film follows the family from the stroke in September through the spring, going from Andres hospital rooms to Emmanuelle's apartment, art galleries, a grandsons clarinet recital and a favorite restaurant as life goes on as Andres condition and desire to end it all takes its toll on all those around him. Its also something of a procedural, following Andre through the steps of his recovery and the legal machinations that would allow him to end his life there are plenty of conversations with doctors, lawyers and police. But it also flashes back a few times to Emmanuelles childhood, revealing that Andre was a horrible parent and Claude was a talented artist. Ozon presents all of it in rather matter-of-fact style, keeping things realistic rather than overly dramatic. That requires some patience from the audience, which gets to see little details of life that, in the end, mean very little. But as Emmanuelle, Andre, Claude and the rest of the family and a mysterious friend of Andres are seen through the months, Everything Went Fine becomes engrossing and, by the end, a compelling near thriller thats literally confronting life and death. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states filed legislation this year to outlaw the declawing of cats, which many animal advocates and some veterinarians say is a cruel deforming of felines bodies and impedes their natural instincts to climb and scratch. Maryland last year joined New York, which prohibited declawing in 2019, as the only states that bar the practice. Some U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh and Allentown, Pennsylvania; Austin, Texas; Denver; Madison, Wisconsin; St. Louis; and eight cities in California have their own bans, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Nearly 40 foreign countries do, too. Opponents of the bans, including groups representing other veterinarians, argue that sometimes declawing is appropriate for cats and their owners. In the latter group are people for whom deep cat scratches might hamper their ability to work, such as infectious-disease lab workers. They also say blanket bans undermine veterinarians ability to make medical decisions based on a pets needs. Declawing opponents point to a seminal study published in 2018 in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery on the procedure. It found that declawing cats resulted in a significant increase in the odds of developing adverse behaviors, such as biting, licking the fur and skin raw, displaying aggression, urinating and defecating in inappropriate places and showing signs of back pain. Its a needless and painful mutilation that results in decreased mobility, chronic pain, and mental anguish that can manifest as avoidance of a litterbox and hiding due to a feeling of vulnerability, PETA spokesperson Catie Cryar wrote in an email to Stateline. Cryar said the term declawing is a misnomer because the procedure involves the removal of tendon, bone and muscle, not just nails. She said it is akin to removing a persons finger at the first knuckle. The American Association of Feline Practitioners agrees. That groups policy says scratching is a normal feline behavior and most declawing is not medically necessary. The cat vets group said owners should be instructed on safe ways for cats to scratch, such as training them to use designated scratching posts instead of furniture. In some states, veterinarians helped defeat proposed bans. In Virginia, for example, a bill that would have prohibited declawing of cats was, as the committee chair put it, laid gently on the table, on a 6-4 vote after testimony against it from Susan Seward, representing the Virginia Veterinary Medical Association. Seward said veterinarians often are asked to declaw a cat because of the medical needs of the owner, citing two HIV-positive clients who wanted to minimize their risk of bleeding from cat scratches. She said another vet in the Fairfax County area, near Washington, D.C., works in a biohazard area and any animal bites or scratches could keep them out of work for two weeks or until their wounds healed. We simply ask the committee to trust Virginias veterinarians to do the right thing and give the animal doctors discretion, she said. We ask that you not, in effect, criminalize veterinarians for performing a procedure. Last month, the Illinois House approved a bill to prohibit declawing; Senate committees are now considering it. State Rep. Barbara Hernandez, the Democrat sponsoring the ban in the Illinois House, said her intent is not to challenge vets or experts. I do not see how this would hurt the relationship-building of the vets and the owner, she said in an email to Stateline. There are other ways to build relationships, not by hurting the animal. Hernandez said she is hopeful the Senate will act swiftly, arguing that people who decide to declaw their cats are more concerned about their furniture than their animals welfare. The New Hampshire House also approved a bill last month that would bar declawing. Republican state Rep. Mike Bordes, the primary sponsor, made a similar argument in a hearing last month, arguing the majority of people get their cats declawed to save their furniture. Its used for convenience, not medical purposes. Bordes called the procedure an old barbaric treatment for cats. Under questioning from committee members, Bordes said he did not have statistics on how often the procedure is performed in New Hampshire but said some veterinarians urged him to sponsor a ban because they dont want to perform it. Dr. Jane Barlow Roy, a New Hampshire veterinarian representing the American Veterinary Medical Association with 400 members in the state, said the groups membership is divided evenly on the issue. Passing a law, she said, takes away the ability for us to make decisions on medical care that we have worked so hard to build. This would circumvent our professional judgment. Beyond catnip: 7 safe, cat-friendly plants to have at home Cat-friendly plants to have at home Alyssum Cat grass Valerian Spider plants Silver vine Hoyas Honorable Mention: Tatarian honeysuckle 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: FedNow won't give agency power to seize bank accounts for political beliefs CLAIM: The Federal Reserve is launching a new program that will give it the power to monitor, freeze and even seize private bank accounts based on a person's behavior or political beliefs. THE FACTS: Fed officials and banking experts say the new FedNow service does not give the agency additional surveillance and enforcement authorities. They say the service simply replaces the agency's outdated system for banks to process checks and electronic payments. Yet social media posts are sharing a lengthy blog piece with the headline "U.S. Government Docket No. OP-1670 Exposes New Fed Power to Seize Control of U.S. Bank Accounts." The blog item claims a secretive government initiative "gives unelected officials the power to closely monitor or even freeze your account based on your behavior, and potentially even based on your political views." It also claims the system would give government officials the power to monitor a person's investments, restricting how much they can invest or contribute to certain companies, causes and political parties. But the government document referenced by the post Docket No. OP-1670 suggests nothing of the sort, Fed officials and banking experts say. Instead, they say, it details the creation of FedNow, a new service set to launch this summer that will allow banks and credit unions to speed up the dayslong process of clearing checks and electronic payments. "The Fed and FedNow cannot access individuals' bank accounts or control how they choose to spend their money," the agency said in an emailed statement. Aaron Klein, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, D.C., concurred. He said the Fed is simply revamping its outdated Automated Clearinghouse system, which is the network financial institutions use to send each other electronic credit and debit transfers such as payroll direct deposits, social security benefits and tax refunds. "They are upgrading their current system that runs on 1950s tech to one that's modern," Klein explained in an email. "It's like changing from Blockbuster to Netflix." Nicholas Anthony, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, another Washington-based research group, noted that banking institutions are already required to report suspicious financial behavior and other potential threats under the federal Bank Secrecy Act, which was enacted in 1970 to crack down on money laundering and the financing of terrorism. There isn't anything secretive about the planned system, either, as the blog post claims, Anthony noted. The Fed has provided regular updates on the process, launched a frequently asked questions page and even published a notice in the Federal Registe r early in the process in order to solicit public feedback. The blog post appears to wrongly conflate the forthcoming FedNow system with digital currency, commonly referred to as a " central bank digital currency," or CBDC, which the Fed has also said it is exploring, Anthony and other experts say. Fed officials have stressed FedNow is unrelated to the notion of a government-run digital currency, which social media users also falsely claim would lead to the elimination of cash. Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report. ___ Video of Kamala Harris saying 'today is today' was altered CLAIM: A video shows Vice President Kamala Harris saying in a speech: "Today is today. And yesterday was today yesterday. Tomorrow will be today tomorrow. So live today, so the future today will be as the past today as it is tomorrow." THE FACTS: The original footage, from a rally on reproductive rights at Howard University last week, does not contain this quote. In the days after Harris headlined the rally in Washington, D.C., a real clip of her speech was mocked by Republicans, with one critic dubbing it a "word salad." In the real footage, Harris says: "So I think it's very important as you have heard from so many incredible leaders for us, at every moment in time, and certainly this one, to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past, but the future." But over the weekend, social media users began sharing a version of the video that had been altered to change the audio so that Harris appears to be rambling incoherently. "Today is today. And yesterday was today yesterday. Tomorrow will be today tomorrow. So live today, so the future today will be as the past today as it is tomorrow," Harris appears to say in the 22-second clip. The altered clip was first posted by an account that frequently posts footage of politicians that have been edited for comedic effect. While many users shared their video as a joke, others suggested it was real. The original footage was live streamed by NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights nonprofit. The White House's transcript of Harris' remarks also does not include the statement from the altered video. Associated Press writer Karena Phan in Los Angeles contributed this report. __ Video spreads false notion of unlimited oil supply CLAIM: The planet has an unlimited supply of oil. THE FACTS: Crude oil supplies are not unlimited, experts say. Crude oil is not a renewable resource. Those facts are contrary to a video claiming that oil is an "unlimited" resource, which has spread widely among social media users in recent days. The video features the text, "Oil is unlimited" while a man says, "There is an unlimited amount of oil." He goes on to suggest that the public is being misled into thinking the oil and other resources are scarce. But the notion is false, according to experts and government agencies. Crude oil is not a renewable resource and takes millions of years to form. While crude oil resources are thought to be abundant, humans are consuming oil much faster than it takes to form, and current technological and financial limitations prevent humans from extracting all potential oil resources. "Oil is not a renewable resource," Marianne Kah, an adjunct senior research scholar at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy, wrote in an email to the AP. Kah added that oil supplies are limited by current technology, the financial viability of what can be produced, and other constraints, like resource access, permitting and geopolitics. "We're depleting a fossil resource base that doesn't get replenished, except on 100 million year time scales," Carey King, an energy researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a phone interview. "And we're depleting it on 100 year time scales." Humans won't be able to extract all of the world's oil resources because it won't be cost effective or technology limitations will still exist, King said. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the global supply of crude oil, other liquid carbons, and biofuels is expected to meet global demand through 2050. "The world's underground oil and natural gas accumulations are limited and non-renewable," Energy Information Administration spokesperson Chris Higginbotham wrote in an email to the AP. Mark Finley, a fellow in energy and global oil at Rice University's Baker Institute, wrote in an email that according to a BP report, there were 1.7 trillion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, or oil that is currently technically and economically viable to recover, at the end of 2020, which was enough to cover more than 50 years of that year's global production. Proven oil reserves have increased as technological developments make more resources accessible and financially viable. He added that while it's "doubtful" that the world will run out of proven oil reserves or supplies, this will be due to decreasing demand for oil and increasing demand for cheaper sustainable energy sources. Associated Press writer Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed this report. __ No, MH370 hasn't been found, underwater photo is a different plane CLAIM: A photo of a plane underwater shows the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has finally been found. THE FACTS: The photo shows an old Lockheed Martin L1011 Tristar airplane in the Red Sea. The image comes from a video posted online by the Deep Blue Dive Center, a scuba diving company in Aqaba, Jordan. Social media users are falsely claiming the photo shows the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which has been missing since it went down in 2014 with 239 people aboard. That Boeing 777 that vanished in 2014 remains missing. The photo circulating with the erroneous claim shows the front of a rusty airplane covered in algae. The image actually shows an abandoned plane that was sunk off the coast of Jordan to create an artificial reef. The photo comes from an Instagram video posted on April 6 by the Deep Blue Dive Center, a company that offers scuba diving lessons and other underwater activities in the Gulf of Aqaba. The original video also matches the other shots of the plane that were in the Facebook post. "Tristar Airplane Wreck Red Sea, Aqaba JO," reads the caption. The company noted on the post that the plane was scuttled, or deliberately sunk, in 2019, and has become an artificial reef. Deep Blue Dive Center did not immediately respond to the AP's request for comment. The plane is an old Lockheed Martin L1011 Tristar plane, according to Aqaba's official tourism page. The plane was out of service and parked at nearby King Hussein International Airport for several years before the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority purchased the aircraft and sank it to become a destination for divers. Brett Hoelzer, who works with Deep Blue Dive Center as a photographer and a dive master, confirmed to the AP over Instagram that the image shared online was the Tristar. Hoelzer had taken similar photos of the same plane for his Instagram page. The Malaysian Airlines flight vanished on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. An official search by Malaysia, Australia and China was suspended in 2016 and the countries agreed that an official search would only resume if there was credible evidence that identified a location, according to AP reporting. Karena Phan ___ OMAHA A decisive win by Democrats in hotly-contested local races in Lincoln could be indicative of the partys chances next year, including in a presidential election where Nebraskas Omaha-centered 2nd Congressional District has twice given an electoral vote to Democratic presidential candidates. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that allow their electoral votes to be split in presidential elections. That system has confounded Nebraska Republicans, who have been unable to force the state into a winner-take-all system since Barack Obama became the first presidential contender to shave off one of Nebraska's five electoral votes in 2008. It happened again in 2020, when President Joe Biden captured Nebraska's 2nd District electoral vote. Democratic Party leaders see an opportunity to capitalize on Republicans' hard shift to the right, particularly on religious and culture war issues issues including the recent push across red states to target the transgender and LGBTQ+ community members, ban books from schools and libraries and vastly restrict abortion access. Those efforts are unpopular with the majority of voters, Nebraska Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb said Wednesday. Womens reproductive freedom will continue to be a key issue that voters want a clear answer from candidates on where they stand, and Republicans are simply out of step with the majority of Nebraskans," Kleeb said. Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird, a Democrat, handily won a second term Tuesday, despite an aggressive push by Republicans to oust her in favor of former Lincoln state Sen. Suzanne Geist, who saw more than $1.5 million pumped into her campaign by GOP donors. That included hundreds of thousands of dollars each by the family of former Gov. Pete Ricketts and the Peed family that owns publishing company Sandhills Global, based in Lincoln. Geist had stepped down from her legislative seat last month to focus on the mayor's race. Campaign ads supporting her painted Lincoln as an unsafe, crime-ridden city under Baird and blanketed airways for weeks before Tuesday's election. Lincoln, Nebraska's capital and home of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is one of the few communities in the conservative state where Democrats can claim regular election victories. But Tuesday's win stood out for the number wins Democrats scored, including 3 of 4 contested City Council seats, giving Democrats a dominant 6-1 advantage. And Republicans lost all three of the contested local school board seats. The only other area of the state where Democrats have seen some success in the last three decades is in Omaha, the state's largest city with more than 850,000 in the city and surrounding suburbs. Weve learned many lessons over the last few cycles of what works and what we need to improve on, Kleeb said. As the Democratic Party, we are going to continue to build in the blue dots of Lincoln and Omaha while making sure we invest in rural towns that deeply care about public schools, access to abortion and protecting our democracy. The Nebraska Republican Party didn't address its Lincoln losses on its Twitter or Facebook pages, and state party chairman Eric Underwood did not immediately return a message Wednesday seeking comment. But the party has made no secret of its frustration over losing Omaha's electoral vote to Democrats in recent presidential elections. Republicans tried for nine years after first splitting the state's electoral votes to revert to a winner-take-all system, but those proposals failed year after year. The effort was resurrected after Biden won the Omaha vote in 2020, but it has gained little traction. A bill introduced this year has been stuck in committee. Republicans have instead relied on redistricting to curtail Democrats' progress in the 2nd District, having twice redrawn the district's boundaries since 2008 to favor Republican candidates. But even some Republicans have said that might not be enough to overcome a turnout of voters soured on the hot-button issues targeted by GOP-led legislatures this year. Nebraska Sen. Merv Riepe publicly warned his fellow Republican colleagues last week that efforts to ban abortion will cost them at the polls next year. Riepe, an 80-year-old former hospital administrator, had initially signed on as a cosponsor to a Nebraska bill that would effectively ban abortions as six weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. But he later refused to give the measure the final vote it needed to survive a filibuster over concerns the ban was too strict. Riepe pointed to his own election last year against a Democrat who made abortion rights central to her campaign, noting that his margin of victory dropped from 27 percentage points in the May primary election, which occurred before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, to under 5 percentage points in the general election after the fall of Roe. This made the message clear to me how critical abortion will be in 2024, he said. We must embrace the future of reproductive rights. Londons police force says officers made a total of 52 arrests on coronation day, with people being detained for alleged offenses including disrupting public order and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. The Metropolitan Police has come under criticism for the arrests and for being too draconian with peaceful protesters. The police force has said that its tolerance for any disruption would be low, and that it would deal robustly with anyone trying to undermine the celebration. Commander Karen Findlay acknowledged the concerns, but defended the forces actions. She said the coronation was a once-in-a-generation event and that was a key consideration in the force's assessment. RACINE Face front, true believers. Today is Free Comic Book Day. The first Saturday in May is known nationwide as Free Comic Book Day, an event used to promote independent comic book stores in North America. The event was conceived in 2001 by Joe Field, a columnist for the now defunct Comics & Games Retailer magazine. The first Free Comic Book Day was held across the country on May 4, 2002, coinciding with the Sam Raimi Spider-Man film that was released the same week. As the name suggests, comic publishers release free variant editions of certain issues that are currently running as a way to entice readers. This method has worked in promoting comics shops in the past, including Legendary Comics, 5200 Washington Ave. No. 113., in Racine. Felix Guerrero, owner of Legendary, said that the first Saturday in May is the busiest day at the shop, sometimes seeing lines of patrons extending outside. This place will be packed, he said. Most comic book stores do participate, and this the biggest day of the year for us. We have other sales, but this is the big one. Legendary will have sales on most comics and merchandise throughout the store. Guerrero also will open the store early Saturday, at 10 a.m. instead of noon, and close the shop at 5 p.m., an hour later than most Saturdays. Free Comic Book Day usually coincides with the release of a comic book film. This years Free Comic Book Day coincides with Marvel Studios Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Legendary Comics will be raffling tickets for the movie, as well as a marquee poster provided by Marcus Renaissance, 10411 Washington Ave., in Sturtevant. Legendary Comics When Guerrero opened his business in October 1992, Racine County had five other comic shops. Now, 31 years later, Legendary is the only one remaining. Guerrero has loved comics since he was a kid, when his interests focused on issues featuring Marvel Comics Spider-Man and DC Comics Batman. He said that one of his favorite aspects of the comics business is how it encourages reading. For the last three decades, Guerrero has seen many repeat customers at his shop, watching some grow up and then bring in their children. Youll get somebody who starts coming in here at 10 or 12 years old. Then for a while they will lose interest, girls or car or whatever they are interested in, Guerrero said. They will come back, all of a sudden in their later years, they come back. They are getting back to their roots. Its kind of nice, and theyre introducing their kids to comics. Legendary Comic has stood the test of time in the age of the internet and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Guerrero said that while his shop, and comic book businesses as a whole, took a big hit during the pandemic, his shop adapted by delivering comics to customers during the quarantines. We survived by doing everything we could, Guerrero said. We made it, and thats a good thing. The pandemic wasnt the first time comic shops were faced with mass closure. Many comics store owners, including Guerrero, felt threatened when big box retailers, such as Blockbuster and Best Buy, considered selling comic books in their stores after 1992s The Death of Superman garnered mass popularity for comics and nationwide interest. Guerrero said that while its easy to order physical comics on the internet, there will always be a spot for a local comic shop in the market. He said thats because comics are more appealing as a tangible objects, and its faster to get your comics on Wednesday, the day new comics are released weekly, than waiting for them to ship from an online retailer. You can get your comics on the internet, but youre not going to get them on Wednesday, Guerrero said. Thats the good thing about comic stores. You get that weekly fix. Pat Sliwinski, who has taken on a second-in-command role at Legendary since the pandemic, said that younger kids often get interested in comics just by seeing the cover artwork. They want to come in here and be enveloped in this kind of realm, Sliwinski said. They really enjoy all the different imagery, and its just a really great place to be. Silwinski and Guerrero both agree that having physical copies of comics provides a wow factor over digital because patrons can experience that artwork while holding the books in their hands. While most comics from larger publishers are released both digitally and physically, many readers still prefer physical editions because of the collector value they have. But Guerrero has another reason behind his love for printed works: He enjoys reading them. Collect what you like, Guerrero said. If it goes up in value, thats the extra gravy, but collect what you like. Im buying comics because I like to read them. Buy comics because you love reading them, or collecting them. Thats my philosophy. Photos: Comic-Con returns in full force WATERFORD A business setback in another part of the country is teaching MobCraft Beer Inc. a valuable lesson, while reinforcing the companys plan for a new brewery in Waterford. The Milwaukee-based beer maker has closed a brewery in Denver after less than a year in business because of a dispute with the landlord of the property. MobCraft President Henry Schwartz said he learned an important lesson in Denver: Do not try to build a brewery business on property owned by someone else. With that in mind, the company is restarting its planned Waterford brewery inside a former firehouse that MobCraft purchased a year ago with designs on creating a new beer-based attraction. If the project continues as planned, transformation of the old firehouse at 122 Second St. could be completed by the end of the year, with the opening of a new brewery/restaurant complex overlooking the Fox River. Schwartz said he is optimistic about the Waterford projects future. It has always been our plan to keep things rolling, he said. Cost overruns earlier this year prompted MobCraft to declare its Waterford expansion on pause, casting doubt about whether the long-awaited firehouse conversion would take place. Village President Don Houston said he is encouraged to hear that the Denver episode is behind MobCraft and that the company is recommitting to its Waterford endeavor. Thats great news, Houston said. Im glad to hear that. The village has been working years to spur development of the old Waterford Fire Department station, which has been vacant since a new firehouse was built across town five years ago. MobCraft stepped forward in 2021 after village officials severed ties with a previous development group that had shown interest in converting the property into a brewery. Village officials agreed to sell the firehouse to MobCraft for $400,000 in a deal that called for the village to rebate the sale price back to MobCraft over a period of three years, starting when the beer maker had occupied the site for a full year. The company also deposited $10,000 with the village as a show of good faith. MobCraft, which was founded in 2013, is working simultaneously to launch a brewery in an old courthouse in Woodstock, Illinois. Woodstock City Manager Roscoe Stelford said the project has been in the works for three years, and it has been slowed only by the citys ongoing efforts to remodel the old courthouse. Mobcraft is scheduled to move into the property this summer, creating a two-story brewery that city officials hope will become a significant new attraction in Downtown Woodstock. The Milwaukee company has been a good partner in the development, Stelford said. Theyve been great, he said. Were excited to have them down here. MobCraft last year opened its second brewery in Denver, but that endeavor was shut down at the end of April in what Schwartz called a dispute with the property owner. The landlord wanted MobCraft to take responsibility for a needed roof replacement costing $500,000, he said. The experience convinced Schwartz that he should operate only in facilities that he owns, like the Waterford firehouse. Youre in control of everything, he said. When the Waterford project jumped from $1.3 million to $2.1 million in remodeling costs, Schwartz put the firehouse project on hold temporarily. He has since gotten the costs under control, partly by switching from structural steel to wood on an outdoor pergola and some other fixtures. Crews recently completed an electrical service upgrade that took more than six months to ensure the new brewery has enough power. MobCraft will submit updated plans to Waterford village officials within a few weeks. Some of the furniture from the shuttered Denver brewery will be repurposed in Waterford at the converted firehouse. Schwartz said he was disappointed to close the Denver brewery, but he said the result is a refreshed approach to the Waterford development. That gave us more time to be focused on this project, he said. The worst beers in the world, according to Beer Advocate The worst beers in the world, according to Beer Advocate #25. Old Milwaukee Beer #24. Heineken Premium Light Lager #23. Corona Extra #22. Desperados #21. Black Label Beer #20. Tecate Light #19. Kirin Light Beer #18. Colt 45 Malt Liquor #17. Labatt Blue Light #16. Beck's Premier Light #15. St. Ides High Gravity Malt Liquor #14. Coors Light #13. Red Dog #12. Corona Light #11. Keystone Lager #10. Bud Light #9. Keystone Premium #8. Busch Ice #7. Natural Ice #6. Keystone Light #5. Milwaukee's Best Light #4. Miller 64 #3. Natural Light #2. Sharp's #1. Budweiser Select 55 Most people in the Philippines are members of the Social Security System, which acts like an insurance company for Filipino employees. If you are a member of this scheme, you need an ID that helps you access your benefits. If you do not have one, you need to understand all the SSS ID requirements before applying. How to get SSS ID 2023. Photo: pexels.com, @Andrea Piacquadio Source: UGC Your SSS ID number helps you access your benefits, which are numerous and far-reaching. They include maternity, retirement, sickness, and disability benefits. A death and a funeral grant are also part of the benefits enjoyed by members. This is why everyone, employed or not, is encouraged to join this insurance scheme. The SSS ID requirements What are the requirements to get SSS ID? Before applying for this ID, you need to prepare all the required documents. They include: At least one monthly contribution to the scheme An accurately filled E-6 form A primary ID Your passport, Seaman's book, and a professional regulation commission ID are the accepted primary IDs. If you do not have either of these, you can present any two secondary IDs from this list below during your application, together with a recent photo. Voters ID Drivers license Postal ID School ID for students Company ID for employees Senior citizen ID Taxpayer identification number (TIN) ID Passbook of savings account How to get your SSS ID for the first time Despite the existence of an online registration system for this ID, many Philippine nationals still prefer visiting Social Security System offices to apply for their IDs. If you are one of them, you will follow these steps to get your digitized SSS ID. Fill out a personal record form, also known as an E-1 form. You can easily find it through official SSS resources alongside its requirements. Submit the E-1 form to a Social Security System office together with photocopies and certified copies of a primary ID or two secondary ones. Get clearance for your ID. This clearance document shows that you are waiting for your ID photo to be captured. How to get SSS ID online SSS online registration portal. Photo: sss.gov.ph Source: UGC Can you apply for SSS ID online? Yes, the online application process for this identification document is uncomplicated and involves these steps: Visit the official SSS website and open the registration tab. Fill in the required details on the online form accurately and submit. A link will be sent to your email once you have filled out the form. Click on the link and fill in every detail on the next form. Once complete, click the "Generate SS Number" button to view your SS number. A personal record form, a confirmation statement, and a number slip will be sent to your email. Check your email for your account activation link and the required supporting documents for your SSS number. Print the documents received in your email. Visit your chosen Social Security System branch and present these documents alongside a primary ID to get your card. How to replace lost SSS ID When replacing your lost card, you will need to have the following: A filled E-6 form An affidavit of loss A valid primary ID or two secondary IDs A filled R-6 form A cash fee of 300 PHP Follow these steps to replace your ID: Download, fill and print out the E-6 form. Go to a Social Security System branch and present your documents at the right counter. Fill out the R-6 form that you will receive at this window in four copies and proceed to the payments desk. Return to the previous counter and present the R-6 form once you have paid. Have your picture, fingerprints, and signature taken in the ID capture room. Ensure you leave with an acknowledgement slip informing you when the new ID will be delivered to your preferred address. How can I get my SSS online registration user ID and password? If you have forgotten your user ID or password, you can retrieve it through your email or a security question you filled out while registering. If you are not yet a member, you can easily register an account by visiting the SSS online registration page. For online registration, you must have an SSS number, and at least one posted SSS contribution. After registering, you can access various online services, such as checking and updating your SSS membership information, verifying your SSS contributions, generating your payment reference number, and more. Where to get SSS UMID ID SSS online registration user ID and password. Photo: pexels.com, @Karolina Grabowska Source: UGC The application process, as stipulated, is completed at your chosen Social Security System branch. The ID will be mailed to your home address when it is ready. Therefore, you must write this address correctly. You can request for SSS ID sample in the SSS branch to have a picture of what yours will look like. How many days does it take to get an SSS ID? It takes approximately 30 days for you to receive this identification document after you have applied for it. The officer serving you will mention when you will receive yours. How much is SSS ID? There is no requirement for an SSS ID payment as long as you have fulfilled the obligation of a one-month premium contribution. What is the preferred user ID in SSS? This is the username by which you will be identified in the Social Security System network. It is a requirement for any member to register their information on the SSS website. The preferred user ID in this network must be between eight and 20 characters long. Its first character must also be alphabetic and must not include special characters other than an underscore. What is employer ID in SSS? It is a form of identification by which employers that submit their employees' contributions to the Social Security System or engage in any other SSS transactions are identified. Getting a Social Security System identification card is an easy process. If you have not applied for one yet, it is time to take a shot at it, as long as you have all the SSS ID requirements. Kami.com.ph recently shared a guide on how to get TIN ID in 2023. A Tax Identification Number is an important document that every Filipino taxpayer should aim for. It acts as proof of membership in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and as a legal identification document. Everyone must learn how to obtain TIN ID now that it is a mandatory requirement for government-related transactions. Source: KAMI.com.gh 1. Yes. Keep Fort Hood Street in recognition of the citys historic connections to the post. 2. Yes. Businesses should keep their current name if its familiar to their customers. 3. No. It would be confusing, especially to newcomers, to have two post names being used. 4. No. It is disrespectful to the memory of Gen. Cavazos to keep using the name Hood. 5. Unsure. It might make sense in some instances, but it could be confusing as well . Vote View Results Kelsey Proskocil's love for her home community of Kearney has influenced her work as she works with others to make sure all families are healthy and well supported. Kelsey has spent 14 years in the mental health field as an outpatient mental health therapist. In 2018 she started providing clinical supervision for both mental health and substance use disorders, while two years ago she also took on the role of compliance officer and outpatient clinician for Live Well Counseling. Kelsey was chosen as the People's Choice winner for the 2023 Health Care Heroes. She received her bachelor's degree in social work from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2005, followed by her master's degree in community counseling in 2009. From there, she opened her practice, but overtime decided to switch a group practice setting. "The group practice setting has supported my professional growth and allowed me to focus on the clinical work with individuals and families," she said. "I have specialized training in trauma and youth with training in specific modalities." Prior to graduation, Kelsey worked several years as a direct support staff in a residential setting and as an office manager in an outpatient mental health clinic. She's served clients as a clinical therapist in Kearney, Grand Island, Loup City, North Platte and Ogallala. Despite the challenges she faces in her job, Kelsey said she finds it "extremely rewarding." She said that the hope of making a difference, helping clients heal and feeling honored by the trust clients place in her keeps her coming back every day. "I find it an honor and a privilege to be able to play a part in the stories of my clients. I enjoy being able to celebrate the moments where I see them find hope or a recognition of their own greatness. I feel blessed to be able to just be present with individuals during their brightest and darkest days to support them and listen," she said. "Hope is what keeps me coming back every day. The hope to make a difference, the hope that today will be the day that healing occurs for someone and the hope that today will be the day that someone will feel heard and validated. I come back every day because I am honored when someone shares that special moment of healing. I get to see a side of people that not everyone gets the privilege of seeing and to me that has a lasting impact." A coworker nominated Kelsey, noting, "she is one of the most dedicated providers I have had the pleasure to know." "She brings heart and compassion to all that she works with. Her passion to help others shows in all aspects of her life. Kelsey is a highly skilled mental health therapist who has made a difference in so many lives. She has a passion to work with kids, teens and adults and takes a collaborative approach engaging caregivers, school supports and community supports," the nominator wrote. "Kelsey is always going above and beyond to support the mental health needs of our community. She has a responsive and caring approach to assist those in a mental health crisis and ensures that her clients always have the follow up care and resources they need. She works tirelessly with caregivers and schools to support them while simultaneously providing care to her clients." One of the biggest obstacles Kelsey faces in her job is financial support, as navigating insurance companies and finding financial options for clients can be challenging. Engagement is also a challenge, as not everyone is ready to start the healing process, and self-care can be difficult. "Self care can also be difficult. As a counselor we give our emotional presence for hours a day. We listen to stories of trauma and the difficulties others face. This can become emotionally overwhelming at times. The families I work with have needs that require my support at odd hours and in the moment," she said. "I am fortunate to work in a setting that promotes self-care and have the support of other providers to consult with on a regular basis." Proskocil emphasized that the job requires dedication and heart, but it is highly rewarding. She considers her co-workers at Live Well Counseling Center part of her family, and they all work together to provide collaborative care to their clients. They share a commitment to providing patient-centered care, protecting the integrity of the client-clinician relationship, communicating effectively, sharing accountability and responsibility and upholding common ethical values as team members. "Working in a group practice setting allows me to feel supported. The support is shared and echoed by all my colleagues and the leadership. As a team we are dedicated to provide collaborative care," she said. "Additionally, our group practice allows us to match individuals and families with the best fit of a counselor. We all have different knowledge bases, training and expertise that allow us to provide valuable consultation to one another but also to refer to one another to ensure that our families are getting the best care." Outside of work Kelsey enjoys spending time with her significant other, Grant, and his three children, Kruz, Kayn and Jett. She has two fur babies of her own, Maximus and Jack. "You can normally find us at a sporting event or on the water at the lake. We enjoy the outdoors and vacations. Going to Mexico yearly is a must," she said. The National Fire Heritage Center was established to preserve the history of Americas fire service and is pleased to announce the induction of Robert A. Burke of Fairmont into the Hall of Legends, Legacies and Leaders (HILL) Class of 2023. With more than 40 years of public safety service, Burke has served in a number of positions within the fire protection and hazardous materials preparedness communities. Burkes first spark of interest in firefighting began when he was a fifth grader at Belmont Elementary School in Lincoln. Burke said, My best friends dad from elementary school was a firefighter in Lincoln. He drove engine two out of Fire Station 2 in Lincoln and one day, there was fire at the house next door to us. The first engine that got there was the one my friends dad was driving. I saw him hook the hose to the fire hydrant at the top of the street, and I knew at that point, that was it. I wanted to be a firefighter. Burke's family moved to Illinois, where he graduated from Dundee High School. Burke said, I had to finish high school in Illinois and I was heartbroken. I had been with the same kids from elementary school to junior high and some of high school. When I look back on it, had we not made that move, I wouldnt be where I am today. Burkes experience with a volunteer fire department began when he was filling a dunk tank for a high school celebration. He spotted a fire hydrant several feet away and saw it as an opportunity to ask the West Dundee Fire Department if he could borrow a fire hose and a hydrant wrench to fill the tank. Burke said, That rekindled that fire of the desire of wanting to be a firefighter. While he could not become a firefighter due to his age, Burke still spent time volunteering in other ways, such as painting, cleaning and getting familiar with the equipment. Burke earned an associates in fire protection technology from Catonsville Community College in Baltimore County, Maryland and a bachelors in fire science from the University of Maryland. He has completed graduate work at the University of Baltimore in public administration. Burke has served as a fire marshal with the University of Maryland, has command experience as chief officer and worked as company officer in both the career and volunteer fire service. He has served as a Lieutenant for the Anne Arundel County, Maryland Fire Department; an assistant fire chief for the Verdigris Fire Protection District in Claremore, Oklahoma; deputy state fire marshal in the state of Nebraska; a private fire protection and hazardous materials consultant; an exercise and training officer for the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency; served as a HazMat Response Technician and HazMat Response Team member; and has been an educator and instructor for many years. Burke was contracted for 30 years with the National Fire Academy to teach the Chemistry of Hazardous Materials, Hazardous Material Incident Management, the Initial Response to Hazardous Material Incidents Hazmat programs and Emergency Response to Terrorism: Basic Concepts. Burke has taught both on and off the campus of University of Maryland. Hes taught classes in 42 different states. As he traveled the United States for both teaching and writing, he said the people who he had never met were already familiar with him through his writing in magazines and books. For 35 years, Burke has written for Firehouse Magazine, where he researched historical incidents, wrote about leaders in hazmat, sought out human interest stories and put a spotlight on hazmat teams from around the United States and one hazmat department in Canada. When writing about historical incidents or hazmat teams, Burke made it a practice to visit the locations and talk with people involved in person if available and visited teams that were spotlighted. Burke is the author of 13 books that have been published and sold around the U.S. and other parts of the world, including "Hazardous Materials Chemistry for Emergency Responders" (three editions), "Counter-Terrorism for Emergency Responders" (three editions), "Fire Protection: Systems and Response, Hazmat Teams Across America" and "Hazmatology: The Science of Hazardous Materials" (five-volume set). Burke dedicated "Hazmatology: The Science of Hazardous Materials" to Kevin Saunders, a motivational author, speaker and medalist of the 1988 Paralympic Games. Burke said, My first volume of the book was a history of hazardous material incidents that have occurred around the country. Theres no such book that exists anywhere else. Its a one of a kind book. I called a friend of mine in Corpus Christi, Texas and I asked Have you had any incidents in the past that were impactful that would be a good addition to my book of hazmat history. He gave me the website of Kevin Saunders that had written the history of a grain elevator explosion in Corpus Christi. He was injured by the explosion when it happened, was paralyzed from the chest down and is now confined to a wheelchair. Burke had the opportunity to meet with Saunders in person and chat with him over the phone about his experience. Burke's efforts of writing for Firehouse have taken him to 36 states with multiple teams covered in some states. He said he received mail, email and phone calls with questions and comments to him from readers across the country and from other countries, including England, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia. In 2018, Burke was recognized for his accomplishments and contributions to the fire protection community, as he was inducted into the Firehouse Hall of Fame. All nominees for National Fire Heritage Center Hall of Legends, Legacies and Leaders are evaluated upon the following professional accomplishments, distinguished service and related factors: Level of national impact upon the fire community and area of expertise (30%). Level of candidate's impact and influence upon the national/international fire protection community and area of expertise. In short, how did the individual "make a difference" within the fire serve/fire protection community? Leadership roles in professional, standards and related organizations (20%). Leadership roles and positions of influence at a state, national or international level. This would include participation in consensus standards activities and fire protection community professional organizations (e.g. NFPA, IAFC, NVFC, IAFF, UL, etc.). Development of fire service and/or fire protection research, equipment, standards or processes (15%). These accomplishments should have a substantial impact upon the fire protection community, as applicable. Development of textbooks, articles and related writings and/or digital products authored by or participated in by the candidate (10%). This would include products produced or adopted by fire service and related organizations. Education, training and/or professional certification (10%) achievements accomplished by the nominee and/or their organization during their period of service. Professional honors and awards received, including those both within (10%) and outside (5%) of the fire protection community. A recent press release by the National Fire Heritage Center read, We are honored to have Robert Burke join the distinguished class of inductees into the National Fire Heritage Center Hall of Legends, Legacies and Leaders of 2023. Now in retirement, Burke loves to do yardwork, spend time with his wife Claire and spoil his many great grandchildren and children. A Kimball woman faces charges after a high-speed chase on Interstate 80. The Nebraska State Patrol said troopers arrested Rebecca Brown, 46, following a pursuit on Interstate 80 Thursday night in Dawson County. At approximately 9:10 p.m., a trooper observed an westbound Infiniti G37 traveling at 117 miles per hour on I-80 near mile marker 264, the patrol said. The trooper attempted a traffic stop, but Brown refused to yield and accelerated. The trooper initiated a pursuit. The patrol said Brown's vehicle reached speeds above 140 miles per hour as it fled westbound. Another trooper was able to successfully deploy stop sticks to slow the vehicle. It then drove into the north ditch and came to a stop near mile marker 237. The patrol said Brown refused to exit the vehicle for several minutes before eventually exiting and being taken into custody. Brown was arrested on suspicion of flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving, obstructing a peace officer, possession of drug paraphernalia, and several traffic violations. She was lodged in Dawson County Jail. The Lexington Police Department and Dawson County Sheriffs Office assisted in this incident. What does it mean to learn and teach local history? Ask John Kinville. The American government and social studies teacher from Chippewa Falls High School has been doing both for two decades. Now hes written a book about Chippewa Falls first World War II casualty. In his second book, Kinville writes the true story of Chippewa Falls Harry Wellington Kramer, who was just 22 when he died in the attack on Pearl Harbor while aboard the USS California. Kramer was a Chippewa Falls graduate, class of 1938, and Kinville tells the story of a life cut short, but well lived. Kinvilles job, aside from documenting Kramers life and death aboard the USS California, is to teach students their local history; to connect them to alumni who have served with honor and dignity. He does so by taking students on trips across the country and Europe to see locations where Chi-Hi alumni have fought and died for their country. Kinvilles family moved to Chippewa Falls when he was an infant. He graduated from Chippewa Falls High School in 1997 the school where he now teaches social studies. Its been his only teaching job since 2003. During his first year of teaching, principals James Sauter and Rebecca Davis invited him to be part of a committee charged with designing a military tribute to honor the schools fallen soldiers. By the end of that work a memorial consisting of 40 engraved names was erected to honor the identified alumni who had died while serving their country. Each time Kinville stopped to read their names he wanted to know more about the fallen. So in 2009, Kinville, along with Amanda Hill-Halle, founded Flags 4 the Fallen, a school club that encouraged students to connect with the schools military past by researching the details of the fallen soldiers from Chippewa Falls High School. Over the years Kinville and other teachers planned site visits for students who wanted to learn about these soldiers. The goal was to take the soldiers from our high school who have died, research who they are, and then try to visit places associated with their service and sacrifice, Kinville said. David Martineau, retired history teacher from Chippewa Falls High School said he and Kinville worked closely together for two decades. Were a couple of history geeks, Martineau said. Together Martineau and Kinville went on several trips with Flags 4 the Fallen where they had students do research on alumni that are veterans. We visited places like Washington, the cemeteries there. Hes gone to Philadelphia. We have gone to Hawaii to the Punchbowl, and right before COVID we took a group of students to Europe and we visited several cemeteries in connection with D-Day. So we did some military museums and visited Normandy, Martineau said. In 2012, the Flags 4 the Fallen club was trying to figure out where to go on a trip and who to honor, and one student said, Well, this Harry W. Kramer was killed at Pearl Harbor. We can go to Pearl Harbor. Kinville and the club decided to learn more about Kramer through genealogy. We found out that he had some surviving descendants, Kinville said. Kinville and his students reached out to Kramers surviving nieces and nephews. One of them got back to us. Her name was Evelyne and she was born just a couple of weeks after Harry died in 1941, Kinville said. She drove up to her old hometown of Chippewa Falls with a box full of stuff about her uncle Harry. The box included baby pictures, report cards, handwritten letters, Navy photographs, Hawaiian momentos, the Asiatic and Pacific Defense medal, the American Defense medal, the Victory in World War medal and the Purple Heart. After that, the Flags 4 the Fallen group was off and running researching the role Kramer played in World War II. In 2013, Kramer became the focus of the Flags 4 the Fallen trip to Hawaii, where Kramer is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific informally known as Punchbowl Cemetery is a national cemetery located at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu. It serves as a memorial to honor those men and women who served in the US Armed Forces, and those who gave their lives doing so. In 2017, Kinville took a second group of students to Hawaii. On that trip one of the students was his great-great nephew Michael, Kinville said. It almost seemed eerie that Michael and Harry were related, kind of distantly at this point, but boy, they seem like they would be really close. Kramers story became personal to Kinville, he said. While standing at Kramers grave in Hawaii in 2017, Kinville said he made a promise to Harry Kramer. I looked down at the headstone. I said, OK, Harry, I dont know if you can hear this, but Ive got two things I have to do. No. 1, I have to make a display case to you at the high school because your memory is nowhere really to be seen. And no. 2, Im going to write a book. Im going to tell your story. That was just a promise I made. Eventually Kinville erected a memorializing display case to Kramer at Chippewa Falls High School and he wrote a book about him. Though Kramer died at the age of 22, he lived a full life. He was an old soul, Kinville said. Kramer wanted to see the world. He wasnt interested in partying. He enjoyed his church activities. He enjoyed food and took in everything the U.S. Navy had to offer. But he never forgot his roots in Chippewa Falls. In his letters home, Kramer talks about swimming in the Mill Pond right across the street from Leinenkugels brewery. He talks about missing the Northern Wisconsin State Fair and his friends from high school. Hes a Chippewa kid through and through, Kinville said. Kramer joined the Navy to escape the Great Depression and shared his adventures in over thirty letters which Kinville shares in his book. On December 7, 1941, everything changed and Kramer and his family would never be the same. Kramer died on the USS California. He was the first Chippewa County boy killed in World War II, Kinville said. Through a series of letters, telegrams and newspaper clippings, Kinville captures what it was like to live through that era of US history, both from Kramers perspective and his parents and loved ones. What I take away from the book is three words: context, connections and honor, Martineau said. History is about context, perspective, putting Harry right in focus to what was not only December 7, but what was going on before and certainly what happened afterwards. And when we teach history, thats what you try to do. Martineau said that what Kinville elevates is connections, not just context. He spoke with a lot of family members, spoke with a lot of community members. Kids did research not only on Harry but other alumni. So when kids can make a personal connection, or people in the community can say, Hey, this young man from Chippewa Falls really meant a lot to history, you make connections, Martineau said. The last component Martineau highlights when talking about Kinvilles book is honor. Honoring the sacrifice of the men and women in the armed forces. John was enthusiastic and passionate about all three, Martineau said. To learn more about Kinvilles book on Harry Kramer, go to www.johnkinville.com. Kinville photo collection John Kinville 2 John Kinville Kinville and students trip to Hawaii Kinville and Kramer family Harry Kramer Laile Vang Sister Clarone Brill, Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA), 93 years old, died Thursday, May 4, 2023, at St. Rose Convent, La Crosse, WI. She was in the 74th year of her religious profession. Elsie Rose was the fifth of eight children born to Theodore and Magdalena (Hoffmann) Brill on December 4, 1929 in Colby, WI. Elsie and her two brothers and four sisters grew up on the family dairy farm. In 1947. Elsie was received into the novitiate of the FSPA and was given the name, Sister Clarone. She professed first vows on August 12, 1949. For the first 32 years of her religious profession, Sister Clarone ministered in the field of education. She received a BS in Elementary Education from Viterbo College (University) in La Crosse and an MS in Elementary Education from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She began her ministry in education as a primary school teacher in Edgar, Fountain City, Menomonie, Plum City and Pewaukee, WI and in West Point, Milford and Lansing, IA. In Pewaukee she served as principal of St. Anthony School, a position she held from 1985 to 1992. Upon retiring from the field of education, Sister Clarone moved into CPE ministry and served at St. Lukes Hospital in Milwaukee until called to pastor care at Villa St. Joseph, La Crosse from 1995 to 2006. In 2007 she took a sabbatical before moving to St. Rose Convent, where she currently resides, witnessing through prayer and hospitality. Sister Clarone is survived by her Franciscan community, her sister, Rita Sweet of South Milwaukee and her sister-in-law, Louise Brill of Colby. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers: Edward and Joseph and her sisters: Sister Clara Brill, FSPA, Sister Jolita Brill, FSPA, Theresa Bergs and Agnes Bergs. Friends may call after 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, 2023, when the body will arrive at St. Rose Convent. A wake service will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Mary of the Angels Chapel. A virtual sharing will take place at 6:30 p.m. the evening of May 11. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, May 12 at 10 a.m. in Mary of the Angels Chapel. Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, La Crosse next to her sisters, Sister Clara and Sister Jolita. Jandt-Fredrickson Funeral Home is assisting with the arrangements. Memorials may be sent to Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 912 Market Street, La Crosse, WI 54601-8800. Officials are encouraging veterans with potential brain injuries who may have been misdiagnosed at the Tomah Veterans Administration Medical Center to return for a second exam. The Veterans Administration issued a press release in the wake of a report from Minneapolis television station KARE that neurology exams conducted by a Tomah VA provider were incomplete or inaccurate. The examinations determine whether a veteran is eligible for compensation through the VA. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said up to 1,000 veterans at the Tomah VA may have been affected. Were trying to get the word out, Baldwin said. Its unclear how many were misdiagnosed. Getting in touch with them all will be a long process. KARE identified the provider as Dr. Mary Jo Lanska. The Tomah VA said Thursday in a written statement that Lanska is no longer seeing patients. Dr. Lanska no longer conducts C&P exams and is not seeing patients at VA currently, the statement said. Our top priority remains the delivery of world-class care and timely access to benefits to the veterans we serve. Plans are in place to ensure that Dr. Lanskas reassignment does not impact or interrupt this mission. Baldwin said her office was alerted to the issue by veterans and county veterans service officers. I began hearing from veterans in Wisconsin who had been denied benefits or misdiagnosed by the Tomah VA, Baldwin said. We noticed a pattern right away and have been fighting on behalf of these veterans ever since. My VA casework staff has been in near constant contact with the Tomah VA. Baldwin said she also brought the issue to the attention of Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough. She and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, sent a letter to McDonough in August 2022. KARE reported the problem dates back a decade and that the VA offered new traumatic brain injury reviews to 25,000 veterans nationwide in 2016. Any veteran who believes he or she is eligible for a re-examination at the Tomah VA should call 608-372-3971, ext. 64775. LONG BEACH, Calif. Atop a 100-foot barge tied up at the Port of Los Angeles, engineers have built a kind of floating laboratory to answer a simple question: Is there a way to cleanse seawater of carbon dioxide and then return it to the ocean so it can suck more of the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere to slow global warming? Called the lungs of the planet, the ocean, whose plants and currents take in carbon dioxide, has already helped the Earth tremendously by absorbing 30 percent of carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution and capturing 90 percent of the excess heat from those emissions. Acting as a giant carbon sink, it has been a crucial buffer in protecting people from even worse effects of early climate change. Seawater can store 150 times more carbon dioxide per unit volume than air, roughly. But absorbing the greenhouse gas has come at a cost, causing oceans to become more acidic, destroying coral reefs and harming marine species, including impeding shellfish from building their skeletons. The technology, dubbed SeaChange, developed by the University of California Los Angeles engineering faculty, is meant to seize on the ocean's natural abilities, said Gaurav Sant, director of UCLA's Institute for Carbon Management. The process sends an electrical charge through seawater flowing through tanks on the barge. That then sets off a series of chemical reactions that trap the greenhouse gas into a solid mineral that includes calcium carbonate the same thing seashells are made of. The seawater is then returned to the ocean and can pull more carbon dioxide out of the air. The calcium carbonate settles to the sea floor. Plans are now underway to scale up the idea with another demonstration site in Singapore. Data collected there and at the Port of Los Angeles will help in the design of larger test plants. Those facilities are expected to be running by 2025 and be able to remove thousands of tons of CO2 per year. If they are successful, the plan is to build commercial facilities to remove millions of tons of carbon annually, Sant said. But even if the project is able to remove millions of tons, that is still thousands of times less than what will be needed to meaningfully address climate change. "I'm not saying this won't work, but the ultimate thing is how much CO2 will it actually draw down on a scale of decades?" said Margaret Leinen, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Sant doesn't disagree. Scientists estimate at least 10 billion metric tons of carbon will need to be removed from the air annually beginning in 2050, and the pace will need to continue over the next century. "That really is the fundamental metric that you've got to keep in mind," he said. That's why the success of any of the technologies will rely on "how fast you can build them out," he added. According to the UCLA team, at least 1,800 industrial-scale facilities would be needed to capture 10 billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year, but fewer could still make a dent. The project is among a host of ideas being explored by scientists who warn that cutting emissions will not be enough to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) and avert catastrophic changes to ecosystems. Much of the attention until recently has been on land-based initiatives such as planting trees or building factories to capture carbon from emitters, but they have limitations including costs and how much land they would cover. So scientists have increasingly turned to help from the ocean, which covers 70 percent of the Earth's surface. Among the ideas researchers are looking at is fertilizing the surface of the ocean to cause a proliferation of tiny carbon-absorbing phytoplankton. Another would sprinkle beaches with minerals that could be slowly swept in with the tides or deposited on coast beds to increase seawater's alkalinity so it can pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. None of the projects have been tested on a global scale, and there is concern about tampering with the ocean. Aleck Wang, a marine carbon chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said with the number of ocean-based carbon dioxide removal research projects "booming," there will likely not be one single solution. "I think we need all of the methods, at least somewhat, so that we can really get to the target, which is the removal of a huge amount of carbon," he said. Researchers from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering built the demonstration system in two years. One thing that distinguishes the process is that it produces hydrogen. To remove a metric ton of carbon dioxide, about 220 metric tons of water needs to flow through the system. That produces 35 kilograms of hydrogen, Sant said. Sant founded the Los Angeles-based startup Equatic to scale up the project. It would generate revenue from selling the hydrogen, as well as carbon credits that companies, like those in the airline industry, can claim to balance out their pollution, he said. The aim is to remove the carbon at a cost well below $100 a metric ton. The hydrogen would be produced at less than $1 per kilogram, which would be substantially less than the current cost of cleanly-produced hydrogen. The project has received tens of millions of dollars from supporters including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the U.S. Department of Energy. 25 terms you should know to understand the climate change conversation 25 terms you should know to understand the climate change conversation Weather Climate Ice sheet Global warming Carbon dioxide PPM Methane Emissions COP and UNFCCC Tillage Fossil fuels Ocean acidification Particulate matter INDC Sea ice IPCC Greenhouse gas Global average temperature Biofuels Pre-industrial levels of CO2 Ozone Sea level rise Algal bloom Renewable energy Mitigation WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) A dog has fatally attacked a 9-month-old baby and seriously injured the child's grandmother at an Iowa home, authorities say. Waterloo police Capt. Jason Feaker said that the 49-year-old grandmother was watching the baby at the child's home Thursday morning when the family pet, a neutered boxer/hound mix, attacked. He said the grandmother was hurt trying to intervene. Patrol officers and other emergency responders went to the home, where the baby was declared dead. The grandmother was rushed to a local hospital and then flown to the larger University of Iowa Hospital, police said. Neither of their names have been released. Feaker said the dog has been euthanized, and its remains sent to Iowa State University for further testing. For nearly two months, then-president Donald Trump tried to bribe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate his political opponent, Joe Biden. He even withheld $400 million in promised military aid to Ukraine, which was desperately trying to fend off the Russian invasion. Had U.S. weapons arrived on time, could that have made a difference for Ukraine? Fast forward to today. The war has gone badly for Ukraine, and, by extension, the U.S. Unfortunately, Ukraine will probably not be able to regain territory it lost to Russia unless we get more directly involved. What are our options? Hand-to-hand combat by American boots on the ground? Or, we could aim for an all-out, deadly air war by giving Ukraine what it has been begging for a no-fly zone, with the U.S. having to shoot down violating Russian aircraft. Weve been through hell with Trump. He thumbs his nose at the country he says he wants to lead. Unfortunately, he still has the support of a fair number of Americans. How can this be? Have the American people learned anything? A lot of people had been buffaloed by Trump early on, but after all the disaster he has wrought upon America, how in the world can anyone in his or her right mind seriously consider re-electing someone so frightfully selfish and dangerously incompetent? Rose White La Crosse About 300 community members gathered in prayer and solidarity Friday for missing Winona resident Madeline Kingsbury. Rev. Danielle Bartz of First Congregational led the group in prayer and a candle lighting Friday, as speakers one after another said they would not give up in their search to find Madeline. Megan Kingsbury spoke to the crowd about her sister, Madeline, and her accomplishments. Megan said Madeline had graduated from Winona State University, was working at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and had started a masters degree program at the University of Minnesota. In addition to all of that, she was a devoted mother to her two children, Megan said. Its been 36 long days without Madeline, 36 long days of turmoil as we continue to search for her, she said. My family and I can never say thank you enough or express our gratitude fully to everyone thats taken part in trying to find her. Megan said the time since Madelines disappearance has felt like years, but her family and friends will remain loud and will not give up. Madeline was last seen March 31 when she and the father of her children took their two children to day care shortly after 8 a.m. After returning to her Kerry Drive residence in Winona around 8:15 a.m., she did not show up to work at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, authorities said. Authorities have led large, organized searches since Madelines disappearance. Madelines father, David, surrounded by the rest of the Kingsbury family, said Madeline chose to stay in Winona after college because she loved the bluff country but, more importantly, was surrounded by love. We are anxious, but we have faith in the men and women tirelessly looking for her, David said. Take what you heard about Madeline here tonight as a call to arms. Before lighting candles, a slideshow projected photos of Madeline throughout her life, from a child herself to an adult mother. Songs were played along with the photos, including a recording of Madeline singing Lana Del Reys Young and Beautiful. It was a beautiful service and it was well attended, said Winona resident Barb Weaver, who was at the event Friday. I think, maybe with the moral support shown, someone will say something or the guilty will speak up. The Shining a Light for Madeline event was originally set to be at the band shell at Veterans Memorial Park in Winona but moved to First Congregational Church due to inclement weather. Winona County Emergency Management Director Ben Klinger said since the search began, over 50 volunteer organizations have assisted. Everybody just wants to help out, Klinger said. Being a resident of the area my whole life, I cant say Im surprised by the outpouring of support and everyone wanting to help. It is heartwarming and humbling to see every day. Mayor Scott Sherman shared letters from Minnesotas two U.S. senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith. Madelines favorite color is blue the color associated with healing, courage and tranquility. Gathering tonight, with everyone wearing blue and lighting candles, is a beautiful illustration of how the community has come together with hopes and prayers that Madeline will be found, Klobuchar said in a letter read by Sherman. Madeline has shown people another community, Sherman said, that stretches beyond the borders of Winona. First Congregational member Mike Kartsen helped run the event and said about 300 community members attended in person and the Facebook livestream peaked at 620 viewers. This is Winona theyre going to support. Whatever the family needed it was going to happen, Kartsen said. We are very, very much focused on supporting your neighbor. Rodney Williams asked to take his candle home with him as the event came to a close. I took a candle, so when they find her, Ill be sure to light it again, Williams said. Royal Prisoner Assange Speaks in Dishonor of Balmy Prince Charlies Coronation May 5, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Stella Assange, Julian Assanges wife, posted a tweet containing the contents of a letter written on Declassified UK by Julian Assange, titled A Kingly Proposal: Letter from Julian Assange to King Charles III: To His Majesty King Charles III, On the coronation of my liege, I thought it only fitting to extend a heartfelt invitation to you to commemorate this momentous occasion by visiting your very own kingdom within a kingdom: His Majestys Prison Belmarsh. You will no doubt recall the wise words of a renowned playwright: The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. Ah, but what would that bard know of mercy faced with the reckoning at the dawn of your historic reign? After all, one can truly know the measure of a society by how it treats its prisoners, and your kingdom has surely excelled in that regard. Your Majestys Prison Belmarsh is located at the prestigious address of One Western Way, London, just a short foxhunt from the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. How delightful it must be to have such an esteemed establishment bear your name. It is here that 687 of your loyal subjects are held, supporting the United Kingdoms record as the nation with the largest prison population in Western Europe. As your noble government has recently declared, your kingdom is currently undergoing the biggest expansion of prison places in over a century, with its ambitious projections showing an increase of the prison population from 82,000 to 106,000 within the next four years. Quite the legacy, indeed. As a political prisoner, held at Your Majestys pleasure on behalf of an embarrassed foreign sovereign, I am honoured to reside within the walls of this world class institution. Truly, your kingdom knows no bounds. During your visit, you will have the opportunity to feast upon the culinary delights prepared for your loyal subjects on a generous budget of two pounds per day. Savour the blended tuna heads and the ubiquitous reconstituted forms that are purportedly made from chicken. And worry not, for unlike lesser institutions such as Alcatraz or San Quentin, there is no communal dining in a mess hall. At Belmarsh, prisoners dine alone in their cells, ensuring the utmost intimacy with their meal. Beyond the gustatory pleasures, I can assure you that Belmarsh provides ample educational opportunities for your subjects. As Proverbs 22:6 has it: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Observe the shuffling queues at the medicine hatch, where inmates gather their prescriptions, not for daily use, but for the horizon-expanding experience of a big day outall at once. You will also have the opportunity to pay your respects to my late friend Manoel Santos, a gay man facing deportation to Bolsonaros Brazil, who took his own life just eight yards from my cell using a crude rope fashioned from his bedsheets. His exquisite tenor voice now silenced forever. Venture further into the depths of Belmarsh and you will find the most isolated place within its walls: Healthcare, or Hellcare as its inhabitants lovingly call it. Here, you will marvel at sensible rules designed for everyones safety, such as the prohibition of chess, whilst permitting the far less dangerous game of checkers. Deep within Hellcare lies the most gloriously uplifting place in all of Belmarsh, nay, the whole of the United Kingdom: the sublimely named Belmarsh End of Life Suite. Listen closely, and you may hear the prisoners cries of Brother, Im going to die in here, a testament to the quality of both life and death within your prison. But fear not, for there is beauty to be found within these walls. Feast your eyes upon the picturesque crows nesting in the razor wire and the hundreds of hungry rats that call Belmarsh home. And if you come in the spring, you may even catch a glimpse of the ducklings laid by wayward mallards within the prison grounds. But dont delay, for the ravenous rats ensure their lives are fleeting. I implore you, King Charles, to visit His Majestys Prison Belmarsh, for it is an honour befitting a king. As you embark upon your reign, may you always remember the words of the King James Bible: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7). And may mercy be the guiding light of your kingdom, both within and without the walls of Belmarsh. Your most devoted subject, Julian Assange A9379AY Dearlove Reiterates British Empire Ukraine Policy: No Peace Negotiations Under Any Circumstances May 5, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Yesterday, the One Decision Podcast released an interview with former MI6 Chief Sir Richard Dearlove, hosted by journalist Julia Macfarlane. The interview focused on Dearloves visit to Ukraine on April 27, which happened the day after Chinese President Xi Jinpings phone call with Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Dearlove made clear his commitment to NATOs policy of fighting to the last Ukrainian whatever the cost, whether the tragic loss of Ukrainian and Russian troops, the continued destruction of buildings and infrastructure, or the possibility of all-out thermonuclear conflict between the worlds largest nuclear weapons powers. Asked by Macfarlane about the recent leaks of classified documents from the Pentagon, which revealed the actual assessment that Kiev isnt heading towards a victory in their much-talked-about Spring Offensive, and that there are gaping vulnerabilities in the Ukrainian air defenses, Dearlove reassured Macfarlane, saying that the Ukrainians are not too worried about the leaks, and that they might actually present an advantage in the long term, given the urgency of meeting the Ukraine militarys needs. (One might question Dearloves assumption that people of the U.S. and Europe will bend over backwards to support the demands for endless weapons supplies.) Addressing Kievs shortage of S-300 and BUK missiles, which make up 90% of their air defense against Russian bombers, Dearlove stressed that there was no panic from the Ukrainian leadership. The recent Pentagon leaks have sorely misled the media, Dearlove said, and the Ukrainians see the war in a much more multi-dimensional fashion. Interestingly, Dearlove recognized certain realities of the situation on the ground that have previously been omitted or outright denied by the mainstream press, such as the proportion of artillery shells fired from Russia (7 Russian shells for every Ukrainian shell), Ukraines significant losses in the city of Bakhmut, and the lack of experienced troops. Despite these recognitions, Dearlove insisted that there would be no negotiations, unless Ukraine reclaimed the territory it had lost throughout the course of the war. Responding to a question by Macfarlane on the anticipation of a much-vaunted spring offensive, Dearlove replied, All I would say is I think that what is happening militarily on the ground in the lead-up to the [July 11-12 NATO] Vilnius Summit is going to be important because it will influence the discussion.... The other thing I would say, which is absolutely crystal clear, the Ukrainians will not under any circumstances at the moment accept a ceasefire. They will not under any circumstances accept a negotiation which does not meet the terms already laid down publicly by Zelenskyy, which, if you read them, the Russians are not about to agree to. So this talk of peace negotiations, as far as the Ukrainians go, is completely irrelevant at the moment. They are suffering naked aggression on their territory; they didnt cause the war. And they see that they have the military capability at the moment to regain territory, so their focus is on doing that. In other words, the war is in no way being directed by the Ukrainians, but by their masters in London. If Dearlove and company have to go so far as to trigger a Crimean missile crisis to make Russia blink, they will surely do so, or the Ukrainians will die trying. EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR SATURDAY MAY 5 , 2023 Free Women and Men Speak a Different Language Than That of Slavish Tyrants! May 5, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)On May 3, on a day dedicated worldwide to the freedom of speech, the freedom of thought, and the freedom of journalist Julian Assange, Helga Zepp-LaRouche issued a statement, The Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Julian Assange Are Identical! The statement concluded: The heads of state who assemble this weekend for the coronation of King Charles can prove their commitment to freedom and democracy by congratulating the newly crowned King for making his first act the freedom of Julian Assange! Was Zepp-LaRouche, in her statement, intentionally insulting the morality of world heads of state, by implying that they were capable of committing an unnatural actof real leadershipeven King Charles? Two days later, Julian Assange himself took spiritual leadership of the rallies that had been held in his name, with a defiantly polemical Jonathan Swift-like excoriation of the unjust, mad, old, diseased and dying system of injustice against which he stands. He, too, addressed the King of England, extending to Charles an invitation that, while different than that proposed by Zepp-LaRouche, was complementary to hers. On the coronation of my liege, I thought it only fitting to extend a heartfelt invitation to you to commemorate this momentous occasion by visiting your very own kingdom within a kingdom: His Majestys Prison Belmarsh. For those that have wondered how to gain the strength to resist and overcome oppression, how to refute the rule of law, a language of coercion which is the language of brutes, these two statements illustrate what Lyndon LaRouche called the Florestan principle in art, as well as the art of statecraft. It could also be called the Think Like Beethoven principle, because of Beethovens opera Fidelio, whose two leading characters, Florestan and his wife Leonore, also called Fidelio, defeat political tyranny in the form of the tyrannical Pizarro, who represents the real-life William Pitts and Britains imprisonment and treatment of the Marquis de Lafayette and his wife Adrienne, the real-life Leonore. Zepp-LaRouche, the 2022 winner of the Freedom of Expression Award of the Journalists Club of Mexico, also pointed out that In reality there is a brutal fight for control of the narrative of the rules-based-order, where journalism has been degraded to serve as the executioner on behalf of the ruling elites. If this were an exaggeration, Seymour Hersh would have received a newly created Nobel Prize for Excellence in Journalism in Norway, and all the Norwegian media would have excelled in reporting about the role of Norway in the sabotage of the Nord Stream Pipelines. Julian Assange was a recipient of that same award in 2019. Such ideas demonstrate that while statecraft may arguably not be an art-form as such, the deft application of the irony of harsh, but undeniable truth, through a well-written story or a well-delivered speech, can be as aesthetically satisfying and clarifying as a portrait by Velazquez, or Goyas Los Caprichos pictorial commentary on the follies of Spain. In contrast, Ukraines Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is no artist, but merely an entertainer, a runaway human drone dominated by an ungrateful British intelligence Mother, recently told the Washington Post, when asked about reports that the U.S. was spying on him and other Ukrainian officials: Where I can speak frankly, I do it. But there are high risks, and so he wont. When pretend President Zelenskyy speaks with Chinas President Xi Jinping, the next day, Sir Richard Dearlove, former Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) comes to Ukraine to tell him what he is going to say and think. That is Anglo-American democracy at work in the doomed nation that was once Ukraine. There will be no exit, Zelenskyy is told. London has decreed it. In the words of Dearlove, in an interview upon his return from Ukraine, The other thing I would say, which is absolutely crystal clear, [is] the Ukrainians will not under any circumstances at the moment accept a ceasefire. They will not under any circumstances accept a negotiation which does not meet the terms already laid down publicly by Zelenskyy, which, if you read them, the Russians are not about to agree to. So this talk of peace negotiations, as far as the Ukrainians go, is completely irrelevant at the moment, whatever Zelenskyy may have momentarily thought he could say or think, in speaking with China. Zelenskyy is not a free man, but a slave in the ill-fitting garb of a tyrant, barely a step ahead of the Azov hangmen of his own regime, themselves a doomed lot. This is not to say that real adversity does not threaten and afflict real freedom-fighters. There is a price for making policy, and even for free thought. In his 2004 essay, The Night They Came To Kill Me, Lyndon LaRouche recalled: On Oct. 12, 1988, I delivered a memorable address in Berlin, which was taped there for later broadcast, that same month, on a nationwide TV campaign feature. I forecast the imminent collapse of the Soviet alliance, beginning probably soon in Poland, and spreading into other parts of Eastern Europe and the Soviet economy itself. I proposed a course of U.S. action to deal, through affirmative economic action, with the opportunity to uproot the embedded institutions of major military conflict throughout the world. I was soon hustled off to the hoosegow by the fastest, if perhaps the most crooked railroad in the U.S.A., the Alexandria Federal Courthouse in the Eastern District of Virginia. I spoke the truth, and chains were my reward, says the political prisoner Florestan in Ludwig van Beethovens opera Fidelio. But is it worth it? Julian Assange spoke the truth. Seymour Hersh has spoken the truth. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, #1 on the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation Kill List, along with Scott Ritter, Ray McGovern, and Independent United States Senate candidate Diane Sare, have all spoken the truth. The Founding Fathers of the United States spoke the truth, and admonished all of the citizens of the United States, that it was not only their right, but also their duty to throw off tyranny, should it re-emerge in their newly-formed nation. On the verge of the possible annihilation of the human race, speaking the truth boldly without artifice, is the only way to win against the nihilists and cultural Malthusians for whom killing the mind, through what is called cognitive warfare rather than what it ismenticideis the primary objective in war. As the January 2021 NATO Report, Cognitive Warfare, said: The brain will be the battlefield of the 21st century. Humans are the contested domain. Cognitive warfares objective is to make everyone a weapon. Therefore, let us joyously respond to the human drones of the State Department, Pentagon, British Intelligence and their various world minions, by thinking and acting with and on behalf of the Global Majority now emerging, whose desire for a new security and development architecture provides the optimism by means of which the cognitive war will be won by those who dare to speak the truth. Our power is their Love and Reason. Hand-woven baskets. Vibrant beadwork. Portraits made out of porcupine quills. Those are just a few of the items that will be available for purchase at Madison's first Native Art Market this weekend. The market, at the Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston St., provides a space for 15 Indigenous artists from various tribes across Wisconsin to showcase their work. A preview of the market took place Friday as part of "Gallery Night," but the full market runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. This is something that I've always really been interested in supporting and creating for the community here in Madison, said Dakota Mace, a local Dine artist and curator of the Native Art Market. Mace, who comes from a family of artists, has seen the power that art holds throughout her life. It was always a source of income for my family, Mace said. Our artistic expression is directly connected to not only our family traditions and our culture and our language, but it's also part of the future in terms of maintaining those cultural traditions. Mace often attended art markets when she was younger. As she got older, Mace noticed that the markets had barriers to entry, such as vendor fees, and felt that media coverage didn't include Native voices. So for the Native Art Market, Mace wanted to make the market not just accessible but also centered around the artists' identities and cultural backgrounds. Along with not charging an application or vendor fee, all the featured artists received a stipend and help with lodging, if needed. We really just want to focus on supporting our artists and being in the community, said Paige Skenandore, a local Oneida artist, who worked with Mace to organize the market. Artists are coming from all throughout Wisconsin. Besides making the market accessible, another motivation of Mace was prioritizing the needs of Indigenous artists following allegations in January that a Madison artist, Kathryn "Kay" Le Claire, had pretended to be Native American, benefitting professionally and financially. Unfortunately, what had happened was that the conversation that was created was more focused on singling out Indigenous representatives throughout our community and having them speak for the entirety of our people, Mace said. I wanted this market to re-center the narrative of supporting Indigenous artists. Meet the artists Skenandore, who owns the small business Moody NDN, will be selling a mix of beadwork, quillwork and apparel at the market. Skenandore, who didnt consider herself an artist until later in life, often hosts beading circles at her home. I think beadwork, or just Indigenous art in general, is really connected to my Native identity because its one way we stay in our communities, and its also really beautiful, Skenandore said. I just love the network that Ive found in Madison Native artists. Melanie Sainz, a Ho-Chunk artist based in the Wisconsin Dells, specializes in the use of porcupine quills in portrait, floral and geometric objects. Since retiring and founding the nonprofit Little Eagle Arts Foundation, which provides entrepreneurial support for Indigenous artists, Sainz doesnt participate in art markets as often as she used to. But she didn't want to miss this one. I really wanted to be there as an elder to support this effort in whatever way I can, Sainz said. Along with showcasing her work, Sainz will be leading a quillwork workshop on Saturday. Were not just showing art, were engaging with the public and were really sharing our stories, whether its the historic trauma that our people have endured or personal experiences, Sainz said. I often thank the people who adopt my pieces. Theyre giving them a new home. Practicing respect For local artists, exposure is often everything, making this weekend all the more important. Organizers ask that those attending the market refrain from touching the artwork and sharing pictures on social media. When in doubt, they said, ask the artist. Were seeing a lot of non-Native artists or businesses that are stealing Indigenous designs and even language to boost their profits or make money on them, Skenandore said. So I think its really important to just talk to the artists and really connect. In addition to this weekends market, Mace and the Arts + Literature Laboratory hope to host similar events, including an exhibition and a second Native Art Market in October. Its really exciting to see all these different types of artists explore their own stories, whether that's their family histories or their culture and language, Mace said. Its all about creating this idea of a new way of appreciating Indigenous art from an Indigenous perspective and really independent from that Western gaze. Madison is exploring a first-ever, youth-centered, new-construction housing project on vacant city-owned property on the South Side that would deliver units and support services for young people exiting the foster care system. The citys Community Development Division is poised to release a request for developer proposals for the project at 1202 S. Park St. The site previously was cleared in anticipation of a controversial, $11 million four-story project with 58 units of permanent housing with support services for homeless individual adults and some couples, a project that was dropped. Now, the city is looking to make available $2 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and possibly a transfer or lease of the property for a project intended to: Increase the supply of safe, quality, affordable rental housing, especially for households making up to 30% of the Dane County median income, or $31,150 for a household of three. Set aside a specific number of units to serve young adults ages 18 to 24 exiting the foster care system or other specialized care systems. Provide sufficient support services to help those young adults transition into independent living. Young people who age out of the foster care system are abruptly transitioned into adulthood and face significant challenges in securing housing, often with limited resources and support from family members, said Jim OKeefe, the citys community development director. The National Foster Youth Institute estimates that nationwide, after reaching age 18, 20% of children who were in foster care immediately become homeless, OKeefe said. The National Youth in Transition Database Wisconsin snapshot for 2017 to 2021 reports that for youth who age out of foster care, nearly 40% of those who were contacted at age 21 had experienced homelessness at some point within the last two years, he said. Periodically, the city does community engagement to get feedback on needs, OKeefe said. One issue that has arisen on multiple occasions is the lack of housing options for youth, 18-24, especially those who are aging out of the foster care system, he said. It is a population rarely targeted for housing assistance so there are limited resources available. A proposal to try to address the issue by supporting a development to serve this population emerged as a potential use of ARPA funds back in 2021, he said. Since then, our community has been awarded federal funds to focus on ending youth homelessness. Those funds will be used to focus on the systems that serve this population. Together, we think these efforts will significantly improve housing prospects for youth. Mixed ages, wages The city, however, is looking to support a development that serves a variety of ages and incomes, OKeefe said. To get funding, a development must designate at least eight units of housing as supportive units that will serve youths whove been involved in the foster care system. Further, the city will favor proposals that create additional units affordable to households earning no more than 60% of the countys median income, or $62,280 for a household of three, he said. We envision, either through direct service or through coordination with other service providers, an array of services that are responsive to the unique needs and circumstances of each (youth) tenant, he said. It is likely they will include some combination of case management, educational advancement, employment/career exploration, financial literacy, social/emotional health, drivers license attainment, credit history repair, child care and more. The city will leave the scale and dimensions of the project to prospective developers to propose, understanding that any project must be financially feasible and conform with the current zoning, urban design guidelines and neighborhood plans, OKeefe said. The project has been received favorably by Bay Creek neighbors, said Ald. Tag Evers, 13th District, who represents the area. There were concerns regarding the previous proposal due to the problems inherent to having all residents in a project being those who were recently homeless. This project, in contrast, meets a clear need to provide stable housing for young people transitioning out of foster care without the negatives of increased police calls and other neighborhood burdens, he said. The Bay Creek Neighborhood Association received a presentation by the city earlier this year but does not have a formal opinion regarding the proposal at this time, association contact Cindy McCallum said. The city expects to issue the request for proposals next week and will accept responses until June 23. After a review process, a resolution with staff recommendations will be introduced to the City Council on Sept. 5, with final council action expected on Sept. 19. Under city rules, a variety of uses in buildings up to five stories would be allowable as a permitted use, and a conditional use approval by the Plan Commission would be required for any taller project. Also, the Urban Design Commission would do a review because the property lies within an Urban Design District. The chosen for-profit or nonprofit developer would be expected to start construction about early 2024 to mid-2025, depending on financing. Came up short The citys last attempt to redevelop the property for housing proved controversial and unsuccessful. In the mid-2010s, nonprofit Heartland Housing of Chicago opened the citys initial big attempts at Housing First on the East and Far West sides but dropped a third project at 1202 S. Park St. amid high numbers of police calls at the first two projects and a looming deadline to use critical federal tax credits it had secured to finance the latter redevelopment. The city had approved providing up to $2 million for Heartlands South Park Street project. But Heartland failed to secure Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority tax credits in 2017, and the city moved to save the project by buying the site, which would have been placed on the market. The city then demolished a vacant, two-story structure there. On a second try, Heartland secured $8.1 million in federal tax credits from WHEDA in February 2018. But Heartland paused the land use approval process as it sought to help manage requests for police service and support services demands at the first two projects. The neighborhood had questioned Heartlands plans for the tight South Park Street site, contending there were better locations in the area for such a project. The city then paused its pursuit of Housing First projects, which emphasize getting the chronically homeless into housing and then offering mental health, substance abuse and other services, as it reexamined the best way to provide the units. No large-scale Housing First projects have been built since then. Housing First works, but not when 100% of the residents are fresh off the streets, Evers said. A mixed-income approach, laddering up from no income to fully employed, is a better way to go. Here are the plans of the 3 finalists looking to redesign the Lake Monona waterfront Madison has invited three finalists for its Lake Monona Waterfront design challenge to present their vision for the future of the shoreline from Williamson Street to Olin Park. Here are their concepts. Galleries Agency Landscape + Planning 'Reviving Lake Monona' Galleries James Corner Field Operations 'The Wild Lakeshore: Monona Lakefront Park' Galleries Sasaki Voices of the Lake: Mononas Waterfront. Everybody remembers their first bicycle, and thanks to a Dane County nonprofit, 400 children got to start making those memories on Saturday. Free Bikes 4 Kidz, a Madison-area organization that fixes up and donates old bicycles, donated 400 bicycles from noon to 3 p.m. in the parking lot of the organizations workshop, where youngsters could test their wheels. At its helm is executive director Kristie GoForth, who was at the Coyier Lane event Saturday with encouraging words and helmet pats for the young bike recipients, many of whom were just learning to ride. Being in a community like Madison and Dane County where people love bicycles, people thoroughly understand what a bicycle can mean to a person, said GoForth. Its more than a toy, its transportation, its access to opportunities. This year hasnt been without its problems for the program. In February, it faced a deficit of more than 1,000 bicycles. By Saturday, more than 100 youngsters were still on the waiting list for bikes. Bicycles have been trickling in, said GoForth, but the need continues to grow. Free Bikes 4 Kidz is scouring Madison for at least 1,100 more bikes Free Bikes 4 Kidz accepts all bikes as long as they're rideable, and no biking or mechanical experience is needed to volunteer. Theres need everywhere, and were seeing more need this year than ever before, said GoForth. If your kid has outgrown their bikes, this is a great opportunity to bring it in. Wed love to find new homes for them. GoForth alone accounts for nearly half of the full-time Free Bikes 4 Kidz staff members. Through a constant barrage of Facebook messages and emails, she, the other staff members and volunteers coordinate donations, set up bicycle collections, and make repairs. Any bike the team deems unsafe for riding is recycled, parts stripped and reassigned for other repairs. A lot of these bikes would end up being scrapped, she said. Most of these could be reused. In bringing the more well-loved models back to life, GoForth relies on a network of volunteers, who partake in the wrench turning, chain greasing and tassel detangling year-round. Among the volunteers is Jane Scott, a longtime bicycle enthusiast whos hoping to pass on her love of riding to the younger generations. Safety first Jane Scott shows Juan Florez how to maneuver his new bicycle. She didn't go far without her helmet. Scott spent much of her Saturday afternoon riding child-size bikes around a parking lot, demonstrating how to stop and when to pedal. To some, its an act of pure kindness. For Scott, though, its also a good bit of fun. Its hard to find people my own age to bike, she joked. People let me borrow their kids. Away we go Jane Scott follows closely behind Amaya Patton as she tests her new bike. Scott has taught many of her neighbors' children to ride, taking the So she was happy to balance herself on the little bikes, flanked by nervous first-time riders and their smiling parents. Ive taught most of my neighbors kids to ride bikes, and I just, its something thats important to me, she said. Its just a lot of fun. Scott has been with the program for more than half a decade, while GoForth recently celebrated her third year. Last weekend, GoForth rang in her third year with several first-generation bike owners, helping them choose their freshly refurbished wheels. Among them was a 12-year-old girl who had arrived just weeks prior from Nicaragua. It was the first time shed ever laid hands on a bike, said GoForth. She Facetimed her grandma in Nicaragua right from the parking lot. We were all crying, everyone was like, it was just a beautiful experience. The moment, she said, was a shining reminder of why she and others with the program do what they do year-round. Every flat tire, every broken pedal, standing as a symbol of opportunity for children like that little girl. It was just a beautiful view and vision of what America is for people, GoForth said. Many other such stories have come out of Free Bikes 4 Kidz, where 154 schools, social workers, youth organizations and other groups identify and refer children in need of bicycles. In matching bikes to youngsters, the program considers factors such as age, gender, height and need. A social worker is telling me, you know, we have a kid who is really struggling with truancy, he doesnt have parents who can drive him to school, theres not a bus route, so theyll reach out to us for a bicycle, said GoForth. Really, you know, at least its a means to access. Anyone interested in donating a bicycle or learning more about the program can visit the Free Bikes 4 Kidz website at FB4KMadison.org. SERBIAMASS SHOOTINGS BELGRADE, Serbia A gunman killed eight people and wounded 14 in two villages in Serbia, authorities said, shaking a nation still in the throes of grief over a mass shooting at a school a day earlier. Police arrested a 20-year-old suspect, identified by the initials U.B.,on Friday after an all-night search. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the shootings late Thursday an attack on the whole nation. He said the suspect wore a T-shirt bearing a Nazi slogan, but he did not speculate about the motive. The slayings came a day after a 13-year-old boy used his father's guns to kill eight fellow students and a guard at a school in Belgrade, the capital. The back-to-back bloodshed sent shockwaves through a Balkan nation unused to mass murders. Public figures, politicians and experts appeared successively on TV Friday, trying to explain the tragedies. As a nationwide period of mourning began, TV screens showed people wearing black and music was banned from the airwaves as well as in cafes and restaurants. People lined up in Belgrade to donate blood, responding to an appeal for supplies needed to treat the wounded. TV stations featured experts offering coping advice and strategies for discussing the tragedies with children. Thursday's attack unfolded near Mladenovac, a municipality about 30miles south of the capital,where the assailant first killed five people and wounded six in one village before killing three more and wounded eight in the other, according to police. Vucic said the gunman targeted people "wherever they were." In the village of Dubona, blood stained a schoolyard and a piece of ground by a bench where residents often sit to share a beer and chat. After the shootings, the suspect hijacked a taxi and forced the driver to take him more than 100 kilometers south to Vinjiste, the village where he was eventually arrested, police said. Officers found a large stash of ammunition and illegal weapons, including hand grenades, an automatic rifle and hand guns,while searching a relative's home and a cottage in yet another village. Authorities released a photo of a young man in a police car in a blue T-shirt with the slogan "Generation 88" on it. The double eights are often used as shorthand for "Heil Hitler"since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Vucic referred to the attack as an act of terror and announced tougher gun-control measures, on top of those put forward by the government a day earlier. WAR INUKRAINE KYIV, Ukraine The owner of Russia's Wagner military contractor threatened Friday to with draw his troops next week from the protracted battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, accusing Moscow's military command of starving his forces of ammunition. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy entrepreneur with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed Wagner fighters planned to capture Bakhmut by May 9, Russia's Victory Day holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. But they were undersupplied and suffering heavy losses, he said, and would hand over operations to the regular army on May 10. It's not the first time he raged about ammunition shortages and blamed Russia's military, with which he has long been in conflict. Known for bluster, he previously made unverifiable claims and threats he didn't carry out. Prigozhin's spokespeople also published a video of him Friday shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground. He said they are Wagner fighters who died on Thursday alone, and demanded ammunition from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov. Yohann Michel, a Berlinre search analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank, said Prigozhin's comments should usually be taken with a grain of salt,but"this time I would take a shovel of salt, at least, or maybe a truck." Why Prigozhin is threatening to pull his forces out is an open question, Michel said. He might want to regroup without being accused of retreating; he may worry about being fired for not taking the city and prefer to say he left on his own; or he could genuinely need more ammunition. "The only thing I am taking seriously from that declaration is that Bakhmut is probably not ready to fall,"Michel said. Wagner spearheaded the struggle for Bakhmut, the war's longest battle. U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday the U.S. estimates nearly half of the 20,000 Russian troops killed in Ukraine since December were Wagner fighters in Bakhmut. Like Michel, Ukrainian officials were skeptical about Prigozhin's claims of ammunition shortages. Military intelligence representative Andrii Cherniak said Prigozhin was trying to"justify their unsuccessful actions." A Wagner pullout would be a huge blow to Russia's campaign. Shoigu didn't immediately respond to Prigozhin but his ministry reported Friday that he ordered a top official to ensure a "continuous supply" of all necessary weapons and military equipment to Russian troops. A proposal for Idaho Power to transfer an acre of land on Ritter Island to the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation will be the subject of a Thursday hearing in which the public can provide testimony via telephone. Idaho Powers application asks for approval from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to transfer 1.09 acres of land on the island, which is located along the Snake River and is part of the Thousand Springs State Park. The proposed asset transfer is part of negotiations that ultimately led to the relicensing of Idaho Power Co.s mid-Snake hydro facilities. This proposal arose, in part, due to the understanding that the asset transfer would assist with aquatic habitat mitigation requirements, according to an IPUC news release. Those interested in submitting testimony for the record are asked to call 415-655-0001 and enter meeting number 2451 727 1983 when prompted shortly before 11 a.m. on Thursday. Location is a key to Thousand Springs Festival of the Arts Crystal-clear water and creative crafts make a great setting each year on Ritter Island. Idaho Power purchased the property in 1989, and there was some intent to use it for employee housing, Idaho Power spokesperson Brad Bowlin in an email to the Times-News. Bowlin said the land transfer would create a win-win for Idaho Power and the people in Idaho. The transfer is in the public interest because (Idaho Power) will retain the ability to utilize the existing conservation easements to satisfy aquatic habitat mitigation requirements, he wrote. Additionally, IDPR would become the sole owner of Ritter Island allowing the agency to obtain additional funding to expand its efforts on the island. Idaho Power also owns and manages several properties in the Hagerman Valley, including the Banbury Springs and Brigg Creek properties, for the benefit of wildlife, Bowlin said. This home has an open concept single-level floor plan with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, covering 1545 square feet. The flooring is luxury vinyl plank with low pile carpet in the bedrooms, Stainless Steel Appliances and quartz countertops. The home will have modern farmhouse accents such as cabinet door pulls and lighting, as well as vaulted ceilings. The kitchen features a four-burner gas cooktop and electric oven, and there is plenty of storage throughout the home. The property is light and bright, and the 2-car garage is finished. The location of the property is convenient, being close to shopping, restaurants, and the South Hills. Please note that the picture is a rendering and will be updated as work is completed. This is a newly constructed home that is in the process of being built. Buyers will have an opportunity to choose some of the finishes per builder. Front and rear sod with sprinkler. Fencing will be included. Completion date July 2023 or sooner per builder. View More TWIN FALLS On Friday, more than 1,000 students took part in graduation ceremonies at the College of Southern Idaho. To allow seating for graduates and families in the Fine Arts Auditorium, the ceremonies were split into four different groups. Matt Freeman, executive director for the Idaho State Board of Education, gave an address to the graduates at the 2 p.m. ceremony. In his address, Freeman offered his congratulations to the class of 2023 and said that the state needed more graduates like them. This is a life-changing milestone you have achieved, Freeman said. And we desperately need more of you. Freeman told the audience that Idaho has seen a six-year decline in the number of high school graduates that went on to some kind of post-secondary education. In 2017, 50% of high school graduates went on to college. By 2022, he said, that figure had plummeted to 37%. Just over one-third of high school graduates are choosing to take the time and effort to invest in education or training after high school, Freeman said. The drop in numbers of people pursuing secondary education or training, when combined with massive population growth in the state and a disappearance of workers, he said, posed an existential threat to Idahos economy and communities. Businesses right here in the Magic Valley and throughout our state are desperate for employees who have critical thinking skills, a strong work ethic, and other durable skills that you developed as a student right here at CSI. According to CSIs office of Marketing and Communications, the top five majors for graduates this year were liberal arts, health science, nursing, education and criminal justice. CSI Graduation, 2023 CSI Graduation, 2023 CSI Graduation 2023 CSI Graduation, 2023 CSI graduation 2023 CSI graduation 2023 CSI graduation 2023 GSI graduation, 2023 CSI graduation, 2023 CSI graduation 2023 CSI Graduation, 2023 CSI graduation 2023 High fashion designer Ivan Raborar of Ivan Raborar Couture expanded his brand of artistry to interior and handicraft designing. Collaborating with the government is a new thing for the 39-year-old designer. The Department of Tourism was the first to notice that his talent is not limited to creating beautiful gowns and wearables. He was tapped by the agency to redecorate its regional office in Koronadal City. That was a surprise. I never thought I would be seen in a different light. But I took the offer as a challenge, not only to test my limits, but also to expand my boundaries as an artist. I believe we can still grow and develop new capacities no matter what age we are and how far we have journeyed in our careers. Theres so much I still want to discover for myself and with myself, he said. Ivan Raborar with models donning his creations They [DOT] have given me a big taskto create iconic pieces showing the Mindanaoan culture. I have never before created useful things except for clothes and fashion accents. Going beyond what I usually do is kind of exciting because you get to meet normal people who depend on you and look up to you as a mentor, he added, referring to a group of handicraft women he met through the Department of Trade and Industry. In his search for suppliers, Raborar bumped into the DTI looking for materials for the first few handicrafts he intended to use to adorn the receiving area of the DOT regional office. This marked the start of another engagement with a government office, this time creating a lasting heritage of designs and helping the women of Lake Sebu, through the intervention of DTI Region 12, innovate and keep abreast of local and global trends. ADVERTISEMENT Raborar intends to create a chandelier made of woven bamboo in the shape of small tuna-like fishes, one of the iconic pieces he has initially set to create with the Kestubong Womens Association Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (KeWARB)a group of amazing women handicraft weavers based in Lake Sebu. The engagement with the DTI involves a marketing partnership agreement with KeWARB, forged under the DTI Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program where Raborar will be providing KeWARB with exclusive product designs for mass production. He will buy the finished products at fair market price, and these products will be incorporated in his couture and creative works. The renowned local couturier and creative design consultant of the province has many affiliations that can get him to supply a string of local hotels in South Cotabato, as he also seeks to expand his footprint to the rest of the country. Export is an ambitious goal he plans for the long term. Raborar intends to focus his handicraft designs to everyday details seen in South Cotabatothings that are taken for granted but are part of and dominate the daily scene in the streets, at home and other familiar places from where he grew up. He started redesigning KeWARBs lampshades with a fresh look, incorporating daily facets of life in the otherwise humdrum and age-old blueprint the group has been repeatedly doing for ages. Product designing was an alien concept to Rabonar until KeWARB. It has taken a whole new experience on how the designer sees artistry and aesthetics in everyday living. This coming July, Rabonar plans to join the Tnalak Festival to showcase the collaborative pieces he created with the amazing skills of KeWARB weavers. I am raring for the public launch of this collaboration with KeWARB and the DTI. In the upcoming Tnalak Festival we will show how Lake Cebu handicraft weavers have innovated as they have now the means to transform native handicrafts into modern utilitarian pieces but keeping attuned to the cultural ethnicity of Mindanaoan art, he said. His work will also benefit a host of indigenous women who are members of KeWARB. Raborar said the indigenous people have a special spot in his heart as they are the weavers of native fabrics he used for his couture collection. He uses indigenous fabrics like Tnalak, Tboli, Maguindanaoan and Blaan textiles, and does the bead working and ethnic embroideries as well. Raborar has been designing clothes since he was in high school. For somebody who has not had any formal education in sewing clothes, Ragonar considered his talent innate. His exposure to the craft began at an early age. His father was a known seamster in their municipality in Koronadal, South Cotabato and his mother was an equally competent seamstress. Everyone else in his family knows how to sew but it was only him who seriously considered sewing as a profession, making use of the talent that was passed on by his parents. What sets him apart from other designers is that he is a hands-on designer who does his own pattern, cuts fabric and sews the pieces together to create fabulous dresses and gowns with the help of his crew. With the other designers, they draft the designs but stay clear from the diligent processes of creation. As an active member of the Fashion Designs Alliance Philippines, Raborar makes sure that he gives time for events and engagements the group is passionately working on. Despite his being as a stalwart in the local fashion scene, he intimated that his first love is actually dancing. He dreamt of becoming a ballet dancer but opportunities in the province were scarce and with six siblings in the family, money was also an issue. It took him many twists and turns before he finally found his real calling. Without an opportunity to go to a ballet school, Rabonar enrolled into a two-year hotel and restaurant management degree at Notre Dame of Marbel University in Koronadal City. But fashion gigs, which were aplenty that time, swayed him to focus on designing instead. In over a decade of creating wearable masterpieces, Raborar has clothed the likes of Senator Loren Legarda for whom he crafted a Tboli ensemble. Miss Earth 2008 Karla Paula Henry donned his gowns during the competition, so as fellow candidates Miss Earth Honduras and Miss Earth Venezuela, as well as Miss Earth-Water 2011 Athena Imperial, who is now co-hosting in GMA 7 shows. He also won the Grand Prix Award for the best eco-designed gown during the 2008 pageant, using his signature Tnalak-based creations. Rabonar is also hailed as the countrys Prince of Tnalak Couture. He pivoted into celebrity status when he became one of the 14 finalists of Project Runway Philippines, a reality television adaptation of the Project Runway in America that documents the journey of fashion upstarts and established designers and the rigorous process of creating fashionable pieces from draft designs to the actual finished product. Despite his growing network of connections, family will always be an integral part of his person, which is why he always goes back to his roots in Mindanao after a gig or an engagement. I have a very supportive family. My mother passed on in 2007 but my father and brothers have been constantly beside me, egging me on to pursue my diverse pursuits as an artist. I have eclectic pursuits that I want to nurture as each of them forms part of who I am, completing me as an individual and an artist, Raborar said. Apart from being a designer, he is also a good cook, a better dancer and, at his best, a remarkable plantito. His romance with plants started during the pandemic. From growing small ornamental plants, he now propagates big and expensive plants the likes of Monstera. He even rubbed elbows with actress and self-professed plantita Aubrey Miles in one of the plant shows in Manila. He admitted that while age is just a number, as many claims it is, he has reached a maturity level that prefers a life of quiet and solitude with plants as his companion. So, whenever he is at home, caring for his plants takes up most of his time. Lately, he never leaves home unless there is an important engagement such as product development trainings at the DTI or fashion gigs. Just recently, he was called for a lock-in shooting for another movie by Direk Lav Diaz starting May until July 2023. Raborar teaches product design to bamboo weavers. A new movie with Piolo Pascual as lead is a timely distraction from his very cerebral duties as product design consultant. Raborar has lent his couture skills to several of Diazs movies as wardrobe consultant featuring his stylish creations and did some bit of acting in a movie top billed by John Lloyd Cruz which is intended for international screening this 2023. I will also do the wardrobe ensemble for the new movie and a bit of acting, as well. In fact, my elder brother who is a director of a theater group in our place was ecstatic about the opportunities I have been given. And I am truly thankful for everything that is handed to me, he said. Diazs assistant director Hazel Orencio was instrumental to having Raborar on board as wardrobe consultant as the designers ethnic impressions works best for Orencios official outfits in international film events like the Cannes Film Festival. For fashion upstarts who want to flourish in the industry, Raborar is generous enough to share his insights. As a designer, just be yourself, find your own aesthetics. If copying other designers works make you feel inspired, do it discreetly but do not copy everything. Continue to create something new, innovate. And for the plantitas and plantitos out there, just continue planting. It helps keep our minds sane and helps the environmental, as well, he said. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Cargill Philippines along with the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc (NatFed) and Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (ProPork) band together to deliver new animal nutrition solutions in a summit held recently at Solaire Resort and Casino. Given the ongoing outbreak of African swine fever (ASF), the summit, aptly themed Feeding the Future, focused on animal nutrition, disease management, and digital technologies. At the heart of Cargills efforts is the goal to help farmers thrive amidst challenges like ASF. We empower Filipino farmers with tailored solutions and knowledge to raise pigs because healthy animals perform better, said Cargill Philippines country president Sonny Catacutan. It is our belief that the nutrition provided to animals during the early stages of their life significantly impacts their health, growth, and viability. As a growth partner, we are committed to enabling farmers and providing them with the tools to get the foundation right to improve animal well-being and farm productivity, he added. Among the solutions highlighted at the summit is Neopigg, a Cargill global brand for young animal nutrition, which incorporates Cargill technologies that ensure 80 percent Class AB piglets at 70 days, resulting in increased profitability. Neopigg nutrition solutions are designed to help piglets start strong, power through weaning, and transition smoothly into the grower-finisher phase. ADVERTISEMENT Cargill, along with its industry partners, remains committed to fostering a sustainable future for Filipino livestock and poultry raisers by providing the right feed for the right animal at the right time. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe ordered the early release of nearly 1,000 prisoners to mark the islands main Buddhist holiday, the prisons chief said Saturday. The pardons on Vesak Day, which commemorates the Buddhas birth, enlightenment and death, applied only to those convicted of minor offences, said Commissioner-General Thushara Upuldeniya. We released these inmates from 28 prisons across the country, Upuldeniya told AFP of the Friday evening releases. There were 982 men and six women who walked free. The cash-strapped South Asian nation is holding official Vesak celebrations for the first time in five years. Festivities were cancelled in 2019 after Islamic extremists carried out Easter Sunday suicide bombings that claimed 279 lives at churches and hotels in the capital Colombo. ADVERTISEMENT Official events marking the holiday were then put on hold by the COVID-19 pandemic and last years economic crisis, the worst since independence from Britain in 1948. The island defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022 one of a chain of events that led to the ouster of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa but secured a $3.0 billion IMF bailout in March this year. Sri Lanka has declared a week of celebrations to mark Vesak, which fell on Friday, the first full moon of May, and banned the sale of alcohol over the weekend. The islands jails are overcrowded. There were nearly 27,000 inmates at the start of May in facilities designed to hold 11,000, according to official data. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Queen Camilla also gets crown in historic first coronation since 1953 Charles III was crowned monarch of the United Kingdom and 14 Commonwealth realms on Saturday at Britains first coronation for 70 years, during a ceremony steeped in a millennium of ritual and spectacle. After a lifetime as heir to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II, Charles, 74, became the oldest sovereign yet to be crowned at Londons Westminster Abbey. At 12:02 pm (1102 GMT), Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed the solid-gold St Edwards Crown on Charless head as a sacred and ancient symbol of the monarchs authority. GOD SAVE THE KING. Britains King Charles III wearing the Imperial state Crown, and Britains Queen Camilla wearing a modified version of Queen Marys Crown wave from the Buckingham Palace balcony after viewing the Royal Air Force fly-past in central London on May 6, 2023, after their coronations. Welby also crowned Charless wife, Queen Camilla, 75. Cries of God Save the King rang out from the 2,300-member congregation, which included foreign royalty and political leaders. ADVERTISEMENT US President Joe Biden, represented at the abbey by First Lady Jill Biden, tweeted his congratulations and paid tribute to the enduring friendship between the United States and Britain. Several world leaders, including Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., attended the ceremony. We underscore the thriving relationship between the Philippines and the United Kingdom, which has been promising in increasing trade, investment, and cultural exchanges for the Filipino people, Mr. Marcos said after a royal reception hosted by King Charles Friday evening. Trumpet fanfares sounded along with gun salutes across Britain and beyond. Returning to Buckingham Palace in the days second horse-drawn parade, the royal family appeared on the balcony to applause and more chants of approbation from tens of thousands of well-wishers braving a spring downpour. Members of the royal family pose on the balcony, but noticeably without Price Harry and his uncle, Prince Andrew. Some had camped out for days. A ceremonial fly-past was scaled down due to the weather. Much of the Anglican service, in which Charles pledged I come not to be served but to serve, would have been recognizable to the 39 other monarchs crowned at Westminster Abbey since William the Conqueror in 1066. But while many of the intricate rituals and ceremonies to recognize Charles as his peoples undoubted king remained, the sovereign sought to bring other aspects of the service up to date. Female bishops and choristers participated for the first time, as did leaders of Britains non-Christian faiths, while its Celtic languages Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic featured prominently. A gospel choir sang for the first time at a coronation while a Greek choir intoned a psalm in tribute to Charless late father, Prince Philip, who was born on the island of Corfu. As king, Charles is supreme governor of the Protestant Church of England and has described himself as a committed Anglican Christian. But he heads a more religiously and ethnically diverse country than the one his mother inherited in the shadow of World War II. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos share a light moment with King Charles during Friday nights reception at Westminster Hall. As such, he sought to make the congregation more reflective of British society, inviting ordinary members of the public to sit alongside the VIPs. In another change, the coronation themes mirrored his lifelong interest in biodiversity and sustainability. Seasonal flowers and foliage were brought from the wind-battered Isle of Skye in northwest Scotland to Cornwall at the tip of Englands southwest coast to fill the abbey. Ceremonial vestments from previous coronations were reused, and the anointing oil created from olives on groves on the Mount of Olives and perfumed with essential oils was vegan. Charles was anointed out of sight of the congregation behind a three-sided screen in front of the abbeys High Altar, to the strains of Handels soaring anthem Zadok the Priest, sung at every coronation since 1727. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Saturday hailed President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.s successful five-day official visit to the United States that generated, among others, billions of dollars in investment pledges seen to create thousands of jobs for Filipinos. In his post-visit report, the President said he will return to the Philippines with over US 1.3 billion in investment pledges that have the potentials to create around 6,700 new jobs for Filipinos who need not find employment abroad. I have personally witnessed how the President tirelessly pursued his mission to promote the interest of the Philippines. He wasted no time and seized all opportunities to engage with US government officials and key business leaders to secure meaningful benefits for our people, Romualdez said. Romualdez was among the Filipino delegation that accompanied President Marcos in his various engagements during the five-day official visit to the US. I am confident the lives of many of our Filipino brothers would soon be touched and transformed by the fruits of his official visit to the US, Romualdez said. ADVERTISEMENT These tangible benefits are won by our Presidents indefatigable work coupled with his honesty and the sincerity of his intention to enhance Philippine-US relations for the good of both countries, he added. President Marcos noted that during his engagements with numerous American business groups, he was able to entice many of them to expand their operations or create new ventures in the Philippines. He said that when realized, these investments from the US will support our countrys economic recovery efforts and further strengthen the foundations of our economic environment. We expect even more investment that will materialize once these companies firm up their plans, President Marcos added. According to the President, these pledges from American investors are a sign of the trust and confidence in doing business in the Philippines, as many of them see the country as an ideal investment destination. Among the key areas of focus of the Presidents official visit to the US include enhancing cooperation on addressing some of the key economic challenges, particularly food, energy, and health security, digital connectivity, and the cross-cutting issues of climate change and pandemic preparedness. The Chief Executive said his discussions with the U.S. business community also affirmed the optimism of international investors in the Philippines, particularly their praises for the talent, ingenuity, and work ethics of the Filipinos. Romualdez reiterated the full support of the House of Representatives for the initiatives of President Marcos meant to realize his vision of a better future for all Filipinos. To this end, the House of Representatives is committed to pass measures to improve existing legal framework to facilitate the entry of foreign investments, thus enhancing our countrys competitive advantage in attracting foreign capital and businesses to create better-paying jobs for our people and sustain our economic growth, Romualdez said. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to provide easier and more hassle-free payment options to the public with the expansion of both its online and over-the-counter payment network, through a partnership with leading e-payment processing provider MyEG Philippines, Inc. Starting today, the public can now pay registration and other transaction fees including Articles of Partnership, Articles of Incorporation, Annual Fee for Financing/Lending Companies, Exchanges, Registration as Investment Company, Application for Accreditation, General Certifications, Certification on Corporate Filing/Information, on the eSPAYSEC using MyEGs online payment network, which includes e-wallets such as GCash, Maya, GrabPay, and ShopeePay, credit/debit cards, as well as online bank transfers from BDO, BPI, RCBC, UnionBank, Maybank, Metrobank, among others. The public may also settle payments to the SEC through MyEGs over-the-counter payment centers located in convenience stores, malls, pawnshops, and other establishments across the country such as 7-Eleven, Cebuana Lhuillier, Palawan Pawnshop, Tambunting Pawnshop, Bayad Center, The SM Stores, Robinsons Department Stores, DA5, Posible, Pay&Go, USSC, and more. Shown here are (from left) Eduardo Anthony Marino III, Bureau of Treasurys Deputy Treasurer; Atty. Emilio Aquino, SECs Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer; Ann Margaret Saldana, MyEG PHs Chief Executive Officer; and Manny Dimalaluan, LANDBANKs AVP GSIS Branch As we expand the payment options available on the SEC eSPAYSEC, we hope to encourage more businesses and stakeholders to do their transactions online as it is easier, safer and more convenient, SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino said. This is just among the many initiatives under the Commissions ongoing digital transformation aimed further improving the ease of doing business in the country. ADVERTISEMENT MyEG Philippines CEO Ann Margaret Saldana said: MyEGs goal and mission has always been to support the government in the ease of doing business may it be with our automation expertise or our payment gateway channels. We are delighted to extend all our more than 90,000 channels to the SEC so corporations can have more options to pay their SEC fees online or payment centers near their homes or offices. Now that we have activated MYEG on the SEC payment portal, businesses can just log in online from the eSPAYSEC and pay through all our payment channels. It will be easier, faster, safer and more convenient way with numerous payment options. The transacting public may access the eSPAYSEC at https://espaysec.sec.gov.ph/. To proceed, clients only need to enter the reference number provided in the Payment Assessment Form (PAF) issued by the SEC, select their preferred payment option, and pay. To ensure payments made through the eSPAYSEC are secure, clients will receive a one-time pin in the mobile phone numbers linked to their bank accounts or digital wallets. Once payment goes through, the system will generate an electronic official receipt, which clients will likewise receive through email. The SEC shifted its payment channels online and offsite starting February 1, in line with its zero face-to-face transaction policy. Accordingly, all payments to the Commission have since been accepted only through the eSPAYSEC and at any branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines nationwide. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Shreds, meds and treds The Patrick County Chamber of Commerce said the April 29 paper-shredding event started with thunderstorms, but by the day's end, close to 6,000 pounds of documents had been shredded. Unused prescription medications were received by the Patrick County Sheriff's Department for disposal and 23,540 pounds of tires, filling an entire 74-foot trailer, were collected. Farmers market rules A representative with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will speak at a Patrick County Chamber of Commerce luncheon on May 25 explaining what is allowed at farmer markets in reference to food products and proper labeling. The event is free, but registration is required. To register, visit the Chamber's website a patrickchamber.com or call 276-694-6012. Pool rates The Fieldale Recreation Center is now accepting summer memberships for the pool. One-person membership is $200, two-people $250, three-people $300 and four to five people $350. Daily rates are $10 Monday through Saturday and $5 on Sundays. Altrusa attends conference Altrusa International of Martinsville and Henry County recently attended the 67th Altrusa District Two Conference in Virginia Beach, April 27-29. Seven members of the local chapter attended the conference. The chapter received first place for the Betty S. Brooks/Letha H. Brown Literacy Award, second place for the Nina Fay Calhoun International Relations Award and second place for the Irene Mardis District Two Newsletter Award. Local chapter president Nancy Bryant received the Betty C. Schwartz Presidential Excellence Award. Linda Dorr was elected governor of District 2 for 2023-25. Lillian Holland was installed as secretary, and Martha Woody was installed as director of District Two, both for 2023-25. Talley meets new state superintendent Martinsville School Superintendent Dr. Zeb Talley travelled to Richmond this past week where he met with the new state superintendent Dr. Lisa Coons and her Chief of Staff Jeremy Raley. A release stated that Talley, immediate past president of the Virginia Association of Superintendents (VASS), was among a group of VASS leaders who discussed with Coons a number of topics including teacher licensure and school accreditation. The leadership team also had an introductory meeting with Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, during which they spoke about chronic absenteeism, cyber security, and mental health. A massive fire has resulted in the death of one person and destroyed a Collinsville home. Henry County officials are investigating the cause of a fatal fire that occurred around 1 p.m. on Friday at 180 Haverline Hill Road. When first responders arrived, they reported flames coming from the roof of a single-story brick house. When authorities made contact with the homeowner, they were told there was a possibility of another family member that could still be inside them home. Once it was safe enough to get inside, we were able to locate a body in the bedroom; we think its a female, but the burns were extensive so were not sure, Henry County Assistant Fire Marshall Kiah Cooper told the Bulletin Friday evening. The body has been sent to the medical examiners office in Roanoke for positive identification and an autopsy. Crews from fire departments in Collinsville, Fieldale, Bassett, Patrick Henry, Horsepasture and Ridgeway responded as well as the Fieldale-Collinsville Volunteer Rescue Squad, Henry County Public Safety and the Henry County Sheriffs Department, Cooper said. We dont have a cause [of the fire] yet, said Cooper. The home has insurance, so we will work with the insurance company and try to determine how this happened. Cooper said the fire was fully-involved when the first firefighters arrived and a water source was not easily accessible so water tankers began rotating shuttled water to the fire. It was a heavily-involved fire and the damage is extensive, Cooper said. The one-story brick home was at the end of a long driveway that was at the end of the road. The Henry County Geographic Information System shows the house to be owned by Virginia Carlton Gilley and was valued at $324,300. The 911 Communications Center received a call from someone in Collinsville and another person in Fieldale, about the same time, reporting a large plume of black smoke that could be seen rising high into the air, said Cooper. Firefighters remained on the scene into the evening on Friday, continuing to add water to hotspots and Cooper said his investigation would be ongoing as it became safe to do so. 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 For 60 years, doctors and scientists searched for a vaccine against a common virus that, while sometimes deadly, is little known to the public. The hunt is over. The U.S Food and Drug Administration cleared GSK Plc's shot against respiratory syncytial virus on Wednesday. The product will go on sale in the coming weeks for older adults. Medical breakthroughs rarely come alone, and this one is no exception. GSK, seeking to reassert its role as a key vaccine industry player after falling behind in COVID-19, will likely be forced to battle it out with one of the biggest pandemic winners, Pfizer Inc., within weeks. "This is certainly a revolution in preventative care," said Emily Field, head of European pharmaceutical research at Barclays Plc. GSK already sells a blockbuster vaccine to protect older adults from shingles, and if they can repeat that success in RSV, "then they'll be in a very good position," Field said. Being first to market will allow GSK to get a head start on discussing its shot with doctors and insurers. AstraZeneca Plc and Sanofi are also preparing a long-acting antibody for RSV this year. And another pandemic hero, Moderna Inc., is working on a messenger RNA shot for the respiratory disease. RSV proved "one of the more elusive vaccine targets," Luke Miels, GSK's chief commercial officer, said in an interview. "The world is fortunate that a number of innovations have enabled this." GSK called its shot Arexvy so it would sound like RSV. Discovered in 1956, the virus quickly became recognized as one of the most common causes of childhood illness. In the 1960s, an experimental vaccine was tested in babies. But instead of protecting the infants, the shot turned out to exacerbate the disease, resulting in more hospitalizations and two deaths. Chilling effect The outcome had a chilling effect on the scientific community, damping research efforts for at least another decade. RSV, characterized by an acute respiratory illness, affects an estimated 64 million people globally and causes 160,000 deaths each year, according to the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The virus causes mild respiratory symptoms in healthy adults and older children. Yet for the elderly and babies, it can trigger severe infection and become life-threatening. It's the leading cause of hospitalization for young kids in America. For severely ill patients, the only option is an approach reminiscent of the pandemic's early days: to place them on a ventilator to help them breathe. With four products likely reaching pharmacy shelves in the U.S. this year, drugmakers will be racing to quickly establish dominance. Two markets are emerging: people who are older or have weak immunity and pregnant women and babies. Young and old GSK has estimated peak sales at more then 3 billion ($3.7 billion) for its vaccine for adults 60 and above, and analysts see a potential market worth $10 billion by 2032. One of the two vaccines Pfizer plans to introduce targets the same group, as does Moderna's experimental product. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel will meet next month to discuss both GSK and Pfizer's shots and make recommendations, which could be key to how they're marketed. Both vaccines have shown high efficacy in clinical trialsroughly 94% against severe disease for GSK and about 86% for Pfizerand both can be given alongside annual influenza shots. "This is meaningful innovation," GSK's Miels said. "We plan to do it justice." One potentially distinguishing factor could be durability. Both companies are expected to soon present data showing whether protection extended over two seasons, which normally occur during colder winter months, similar to flu. Pfizer has another vaccine in the works that targets pregnant women, extending protection to their babies for about six months months thanks to antibodies transferred from the mother. Astra and Sanofi, meantime, will offer a passive immunization aimed at children through their first RSV season. It will be called Beyfortus, a name chosen to sound like baby fortress. Long road "The world's waited for something like this for 60 years," said Tonya Villafana, global head of infectious diseases at Astra, who has shepherded the product's development. She hailed the impact "it could have on babies, their families and health-care systems over the next decade." After the 1960s research scare, scientists didn't really advance on RSV until the late 1970s. That's when Pfizer's Bill Gruber, then a medical student, recalls working with a team led by a doctor named Paul Glezen on a new approach. Glezen wondered why some babies who got RSV developed bronchiolitis and others didn't, prompting him to study the amount of antibodies passed by their mothers via the umbilical cord. Gruber, a student and then a resident at Baylor College of Medicine, was in charge of tracking babies showing up at the hospital with bronchiolitis so that Glezen could match them to the cord blood and its antibody content. The idea was to duplicate the levels of maternal antibodies that reduced infection. Reaching meaningful progress took many more years, in part because of the multiple mechanisms RSV uses to evade immunity. The breakthrough came about a decade ago with a better understanding of the structure of the preF protein that the RSV virus uses to attack human cells. But when Pfizer showed its maternal shot worked to protect babies after birth last year, Gruber, who is the company's head of vaccines, knew there was one person he had to share the good news with. On a video call with Glezen, Gruber thanked his 92-year-old former mentor for his years of research, which helped make a sometimes fatal illness a less-threatening prospect for future generations. 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Skyler Mendell came to Missoula in fall 2021, a pandemic still lingering. Hes leaving with a masters degree in music, and a book of original tunes composed for his group, the Skyler Mendell Sextet, complete with a studio album. Writing that much of his own music wasnt something hed planned, yet its grown rapidly in his time here. I never really thought that I would lead my own group with my own tunes I didn't have any, he said. One thing led to another, and suddenly I've got 30 tunes and my group that really seems to enjoy playing my music, which is super lucky, and we all love playing. If you go Mendells album release show is Sunday, May 7, at the ZACC Show Room, with the Connor Racicot Trio. Doors at 7 p.m., show at 7:30. Cover is $10, or $15 for an artist supporter ticket, $5 for students. The album will be released on Sunday attheskylermendellsextet.bandcamp.com. Mendell enrolled in the University of Montana School of Music for his masters in trumpet performance. He thought COVID was a chance to advance his education, yet the atmosphere was clearing up for gigs when he arrived. Not long after, he formed a band. They were all UM music students, some of whom have graduated, others who are graduating and some who have some time left. It features Mendell on trumpet, Aidan Robinson on saxophone, Sean Stineford on trombone, Dylan Bautista on piano, Connor Racicot on bass and Llwyn Clark-Gaynor on drums. The album, Points in Time, will be out digitally on Sunday, the day of his album release show at the ZACC Show Room (see info box). Head to BandCamp.com, an artist-friendly digital platform, to find it. While it sounds uniformly contemporary, the styles might shift from classic fast swing to a New Orleans or electronic influence. They're melodic and change up styles, often within a single tune. The band stretches out, led by his technically sharp but tastefully restrained playing. I want to keep people listening and keep them on their toes a little bit, he said. Washington to Montana Mendell hails from the Tri-Cities in Washington. After starting out on trumpet in elementary school, he practiced obsessively. He studied at the University of Idaho for a music education and performance degree, and then taught high school music for five years. When the pandemic hit, he decided hed rather learn remotely instead of teaching that way. It felt like the right time, he said, and now wants to pursue a doctorate in jazz studies with a goal of teaching at the college level. He started the group in the fall of 2021, based around musicians he wanted to play with rather than a specific combination of instruments. An avid collector of records both classic and underacknowledged, he pointed out that the definitive jazz group of all time was a sextet with a three-horn front line: the iteration of Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers with Curtis Fuller, Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter. With three horns, Mendell said his writing opportunities become way more interesting and involved. Some of the tunes were written during the quarantine phase of 2020. Another is a sketch from high school. As an undergraduate, hed been reluctant to write. Others had made the process seem more daunting than he found it to be. Some of his inspiration from writing sprang from Ben Macy, a friend and pianist who hed played with. Listening to Macys music, he was struck by chord progressions that sounded out of the norm from the standards, yet worked harmonically. The way that he shapes his melodies has nothing to do with the common, standard language of jazz, which I found really interesting, he said. It turns out Macy had been listening to contemporary classical music. Diving into his own writing, the group developed a full set of originals, which is somewhat rare in Missoula. They also work in transitions, another feature that sets them apart. The musics evolved over time, too. Weve been playing the music for a year and half together, Mendell said. "Weve all discovered our own ways of playing each of the tunes." Robinson, the saxophone player, who graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in music performance, said the chance to work on originals with a jazz group doesnt pop up very often in western Montana. Given Mendells writing skills, you cant help but jump at the opportunity. He said Mendell brings in charts that gain their own life in rehearsal, and he makes changes off what specific players have done. It makes it feel like the music is growing with the entire group, he said. In contrast, he said standards come with expectations and a deep history. A particular audience might expect them to be played a certain way. (He added that bar gigs are different, and you can get away with being super-creative in your soloing.) Changing it up Mendell doesnt stick to a single feel through the tunes, which encompass fast swing, heavy swing in 3/4 time, mixed-meter, funk, Afro-Cuban, rock and funk in changing tempos, gospel in 6/8 time. To Robinson, the compositions have a style of their own but the diversity means youre never bored. They might be playing a groovy blues rhythm, then immediately go into an EDM-inspired music thats more about being low-key, hitting a vibe versus a groove, he said. The compositions have shifting dynamics, and he keeps the arrangements spacious despite the potentially crowded sound of a six-piece. One tune, Lament for Don, is based on a sketch he wrote in high school in honor of Don Paul, one of his trumpet teachers. Paul started the Columbia Basin College Jazz Festival, where Mendell first saw famous jazz musicians playing live. I tried to capture his spirit in it, especially in the solo, he said. While its a ballad with a mournful, melodic arrangement for the horns, Mendell plays a bebop line in Paul's honor, since hes one of the big reasons why I still play and why I got into jazz. One composition, Question/Answer, points back to the collaborative nature of the group. Every time I bring a new tune into the band, somebody always makes it better, he said. Its structured as a conversational piece for the horns. Racicot, the bass player, suggested they change the tempo for each solo on the spot to keep everyone, audience included, engaged. Every single one of these tunes has a little thing that the band has suggested, he said. While Mendell has recorded with other artists who needed a trumpet line filled, this was his first full-length of his own music. They recorded in three long days at the end of March at Mat Baintons studio. He said it was a blur, in which the level of energy was differently calibrated, since risks are different on the clock than at a gig he wanted it to be a clean demonstration of what they can do. Regarding stretching out and risks, two of the tunes are over 10 minutes. Live, they might extend to 15. With Mendell and others graduating, this summer is the groups last run, including several Missoula gigs and some out of town shows. To Robinson, playing regularly in a combo like this has been an engaging learning experience. I really love how its pushed me, and changed how I thought about music, he said. James Banister grew up in Missoula, but there wasnt anyone with a medical background in his family. I like to take care of people, he said. It was just something I decided I was going to do. The crux of his interest in nursing came from Banisters desire to pursue human interaction in his field. He started off in a medical technician program, then worked as an orderly at St. Patrick Hospital. Eventually, he went to Montana State University for nursing school and graduated in 1994. Banister got his professional start in the Intensive Care Unit in Idaho Falls, but he soon returned to Missoula when he found an opening back in his hometown. Aside from his year in Idaho, Banister has worked at St. Patrick Hospital continually since the early 1990s. Its a wonderful facility, he said. Now, Banister still commits to a few shifts at St. Pats while also working full-time at Bitterroot Health in Hamilton. Banister eventually transitioned from ICU work to the operating room, a change he welcomed. Banister said he grew weary of the trauma associated with the ICU, but the OR brings him a more positive outlook. For the most part, he said, patients in the OR go on and lead a happy healthy life. Our job is to see them through and I love it, he stressed. With his long local career, Banister has perpetually maintained his philosophy of quality care. What would I do if it was my mother? he asks himself with every patient. Every day that I go to work, I enjoy what I do, I think, that patient Im going to take care of, they have value because theyre a human being. How would they like to be treated? Lana Partain was first interested in a career in early childhood education, but then she decided that she wanted something that offered opportunities all over Montana and all over the world. So, she attended Missoula College's nursing program and is now a pediatric nurse at the Providence Medical Group in Missoula. "I knew I wanted to support families," she said. Now, she helps kids get back on their feet and back to being able to attend school. Although there are challenges, Partain said she would certainly recommend a nursing career to anyone who is considering it. Partain was nominated by one of her peers, who remained anonymous. "Lana is one of the most amazing pediatric nurses I have ever seen in action," the nomination stated. "She is humble, kind, caring, compassionate and practices excellence in pediatric nursing. She always has a warm smile to give the children and families of those who walk through the doors of our pediatric clinic." An important but often overlooked part of the job is helping colleagues. "Additionally, Lana trains, teaches and mentors other nurses so that they can become more skilled in caring for the vulnerable pediatric population," the nomination stated. "Lana never complains and cares for others with love." Rachel Jaquith has only been a nurse for two years, but shes already chosen to work with one of the most vulnerable populations needing care. As a Registered Nurse with Partnership Health Centers Community Care Team, Jaquith provides care for Missoulas houseless and housing-insecure population, often outside of a hospital setting. Its about meeting people where theyre at, specifically folks that are really vulnerable, Jaquith said of her work which often takes her to the Poverello Center and Authorized Camping Site. She provides wound care, administers medication and injections, helps connect patients with primary-care doctors, and follows up with them after appointments. Throughout nursing school, Jaquith said she had a lot of patients in clinicals who were unhoused and seeing how they were treated in the hospital was pretty tough. Her first job in a hospital setting was in a psychiatric unit, and she saw first-hand how mental health impacts every aspect of one's life. I learned about how trauma affects your ability to function and your adult health, she said. The care we can provide is pretty limited in a hospital, and if they dont have support after, its pretty ineffective. Working with the team is a way to help stop the cycle of houseless folks ending up back in the hospital over and over again, she said. The Community Care Team also includes an outreach coordinator and two housing support specialists. Nursing is a hard profession right now, she said. I want nurses to know that theyre worth a lot. Shawna Tatum didn't want to take general studies courses when she started attending college in 1997, so she chose nursing classes. "I never changed my major," she said. "It worked out really well for me." Tatum, currently a surgical nurse at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, has seen it all in her two decades in the industry. She's worked in small towns in Montana, including Anaconda and Plains and has spent time as a travel nurse. She said the biggest change that's occurred over the last 20 years is the focus on technology. "You see the benefit of being able to better diagnose patients and being able to more quickly diagnose more people," she said. "That leads to better treatments and better outcomes. But technology can sometimes take away from bedside patient care." At any hospital, the patient care is better when there are more nurses to take care of any given number of patients, she added. "It's good where the nurse/patient ratio is good," she said. Tatum said there was a lot of unrest in nursing during the pandemic and a lot of people got burned out. But, she said, there have been great rewards for people who stuck it out and she would recommend the career to anyone. "It's rewarding and humbling to be a part of someone's life when they're at their most vulnerable," Tatum said. The anonymous coworker who nominated Tatum said she deserves the recognition. "I have had the pleasure of being both her friend and coworker and have seen her show the most amazing traits both on and off the clock," the nomination read. "She is dedicated, professional, caring and has an endless supply of compassion for patients, coworkers, friends and family. She is a shining example of every wonderful thing you think of when it comes to nurses. She never does it looking for recognition, but I think she should get some anyway because she very much deserves it." Human remains, suspected to be those of a missing Missoula woman, and clothing were found in the Gold Creek area on Thursday. And on Friday, Mineral County Sheriff's investigators identified a body found in the Clark Fork River to tentatively close a second missing person case. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks employees were conducting research in the Gold Creek area when they stumbled on several pieces of womens clothing. They flagged the location and called 911, according to a press release from the Missoula County Sheriffs Office. The researchers knew that Nefataree Bartell, 26, was last seen in the Gold Creek area on Feb. 21, 2023. Bartell was pregnant when she disappeared, according to her friends and family. Missoula Search and Rescue, which was already in the area looking for Bartell, responded to the flagged location. They found human remains after a short search, according to the press release. The remains and clothing were taken to the state medical examiners office for an autopsy to determine the persons official identity and cause of death. Missoula County Sheriff Jeremiah Petersen thanked the county's search and rescue team, who in the last few weeks has been looking for both Bartell and a missing Missoula 18-year-old in the Southside Road area. Also on Wednesday, Mineral County Sheriff Ryan Funke identified a body found in the Clark Fork River earlier this week as Joseph Thompson, who had been missing since April 11. "These folks are volunteers who give their time, not only to conduct search and rescue missions, but to continually train to provide the highest level of service to Missoula County and surrounding areas," Petersen said in the press release. "We also greatly appreciate the attention to detail by Montana FWP employees and their immediate conveyance of information. NEW ORLEANS A 16-year-old high school senior in New Orleans who received scholarship offers from 149 colleges and universities totaling $10 million said Friday that he has chosen to attend Cornell University. Dennis "Maliq" Barnes will graduate on May 24 from the International High School of New Orleans, where he earned a 4.98 grade point average. He also has 27 college credits through a dual enrollment program with Southern University of New Orleans. He plans to study computer science at Cornell, an Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York. He has also said he is considering law school. "Today is an exciting day for me and my family, and I look forward to working with Cornell's College of Engineering over the course of my undergraduate education," Barnes said. In an interview las week, Barnes said that a major reason he cranked out applications to close to 200 schools was his desire to have numerous educational and financial options. He ultimately was accepted at 186 colleges and universities. The school said it believes the $10 million in scholarship offers from 149 of them to be a record for U.S. college-bound seniors. 50 most selective colleges in America America's most competitive colleges, ranked by acceptance rates #50. Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus, Georgia #49. University of Notre Dame, Indiana #48. Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York #47. University of California-Berkeley, California #46. Colorado College, Colorado #45. Hamilton College, New York #44. Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania #43. Middlebury College, Vermont #42. Emory University, Georgia #41. Washington University in St Louis, Missouri #40. New York University, New York #39. University of Southern California, California #38. United States Air Force Academy, Colorado #37. St. Andrews University, North Carolina #36. Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. #35. Barnard College, New York #34. Tufts University, Massachusetts #33. Claremont McKenna College, California #32. University of California-Los Angeles, California #31. United States Military Academy, New York #30. Grinnell College, Iowa #29. Stanbridge University, California #28. Harvey Mudd College, California #27. Tulane University of Louisiana, Louisiana #26. Rice University, Texas #25. Colby College, Maine #24. Williams College, Massachusetts #23. Bowdoin College, Maine #22. Amherst College, Massachusetts #21. Cornell University, New York #20. United States Naval Academy, Maryland #19. Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania #18. Johns Hopkins University, Maryland #17. The Juilliard School, New York #16. Vanderbilt University, Tennessee #15. Northwestern University, Illinois #14. Pomona College, California #13. University of Chicago, Illinois #12. Dartmouth College, New Hampshire #11. Duke University, North Carolina #10. University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania #9. Brown University, Rhode Island #8. Yale University, Connecticut #7. Princeton University, New Jersey #6. Columbia University in the City of New York, New York #5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts #4. Harvard University, Massachusetts #3. Stanford University, California #2. California Institute of Technology, California #1. Minerva University, California Having delivered hundreds of babies in her 23 years as a nurse, Casey Houk is described by her co-workers as someone physicians consistently rely on to provide excellent patient care to everyone she works with at a Ronan health center. Houk, who trained at the Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, now works at St. Lukes Community Hospital. Shes stationed in the labor and delivery department, the kind of nursing work Houk describes as her passion. She first got into nursing after she had her first child. I had a lot of respect for nurses and everything they did during my labor with him, Houk said. Shes been a nurse in labor and delivery for about 14 years, and estimated that shes been part of delivery teams for hundreds of newborns. I have the best job because I deliver babies, she said. Its a monumental moment in their life. Casey always has a smile on her face and a cheerful, can-do attitude no matter the circumstances, a co-worker of Houks wrote. She stays calm in crisis situations and is great at problem solving, an amazing attribute to have on both the med/surg floor and OB department. "As a physician I know I can count on her to provide excellent patient care and keep me in the loop of any concerns or changes," they added. "Casey is a pleasure to work with and be around, and her patients love her!" Houk has lived in western Montana since she was 11, and now lives in Ronan. She joined St. Lukes in 2000, where started as a certified nursing aide. She briefly also worked at St. Josephs Medical Center in Polson from 2005 to 2007 (while still working part-time at St. Lukes), but since 2007 has been a full-time nurse at the Ronan medical center. Sydney Helveston has been part of the Village Health and Rehabilitation Team since 2007. Sydney specializes in nursing in our memory care unit and is gifted when it comes to caring for this population she has a gentle demeanor and meets the residents in their reality, one of her co-workers wrote in nominating her for Nurses Week recognition. Helveston said she got into the field to help people feel better. For her, building relationships and being part of a team has been one of the most rewarding parts of the job. I have been given the opportunity to care for people at a very important time in their lives, and I feel grateful that I get to do that everyday, she said. Helvestons first nursing job was at Village Health, when she joined as a certified nursing aide 16 years ago. She became a nurse four years later. She now works as a charge nurse at the rehabilitation center, where her job duties include overseeing medication management, administering treatments, coordinating resident care with physicians and mid-level providers and updating resident families on any changes in condition, according to her co-workers. Sydney would do almost anything to help out thats within her power, Kathleen Ryan, whose mother resides in the memory care unit, said. We love Sydney. China's private entrepreneurs confident in achieving high-quality development Xinhua) 08:27, May 06, 2023 BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The confidence of China's private entrepreneurs in pursuing high-quality development is picking up, buoyed by new orders, enhanced competitiveness and an improving business environment. The revival of private companies and the improvement of private entrepreneur sentiment are crucial for the country's continued growth, as the private sector has been a key pillar sustaining China's economic expansion. Economic experts and the media frequently use a combination of the numbers 50, 60, 70 and 80 to describe the private sector's contributions to the Chinese economy. The sector contributes approximately 50 percent of China's tax revenue, 60 percent of its GDP, 70 percent of its technological innovation, and accounts for 80 percent of its urban employment. Development optimism in the private sector mirrors China's strong growth momentum in the first quarter of this year. A seller promotes snacks via livestreaming at a health industry company in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, March 23, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Han) MORE ORDERS, RECOVERING EXPECTATIONS Visiting customers, negotiating orders and participating in exhibitions have been daily tasks since the start of 2023 for Wang Xincheng, chairman of Changjiang Electric, a Hubei-based company specializing in intelligent energy construction and services. The company's orders totaled 810 million yuan (about 117 million U.S. dollars) in January, and logged a year-on-year increase of 15 percent in the first quarter. "The growth momentum is good, with new orders continuing to come in," Wang said, noting that the company is running at full capacity. Changjiang Electric's experience echoes the broader recovery of the world's second-largest economy. The Chinese economy registered better-than-expected 4.5 percent growth in the first quarter of this year, with factory output and household consumption both bouncing back. China's private sector, in particular, posted a highly anticipated recovery. Despite weak global growth, the foreign trade of China's private firms jumped 14.4 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, accounting for 52.4 percent of the country's total. The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Index, based on a survey of 3,000 small and medium enterprises in China, rebounded to 89.3 in the first quarter of 2023, up from 88 in the previous quarter. Its sub-indexes for all eight major sectors, including construction, transport, and accommodation and catering, rose across the board. "The overall economy is recovering. More importantly, central and local governments have sent a clear signal of support for the development of the private sector," said Wu Xiaoquan, COO of Nanjing TICA Climate Solutions Co., Ltd. "We are confident in our future." TICA's business performance rose 10 percent to 15 percent in the first three months of this year, with orders for industrial manufacturing projects and overseas markets increasing significantly. This photo taken on April 3, 2023 shows circuit boards produced by Traffic Control Technology Equipment Co., Ltd. in Wuqing District, north China's Tianjin. (Xinhua/Li Ran) SHARPENING NEW EDGES Despite China's sound growth momentum, many private entrepreneurs have said that more time is needed for a full market recovery from the COVID-induced economic fallout, citing challenges such as rising costs, difficulties in financing and recruitment, as well as weak global demand. Tang Fangming, assistant general manager of Jiangsu Hengli Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd., said that despite an uptick in order numbers, companies in the sector are "just getting back on their feet," and the foundation for recovery has not yet solidified. In an effort to seize the initiative for development, the company has doubled down on its efforts in research and development (R&D), seeking to explore its development space by tapping into new materials and new energy. Shenghong Group, a textile industry leader in east China's Jiangsu Province, has accelerated its presence in the emerging new energy, new materials, and green and low-carbon development sectors. The company's capacity to produce regenerated fibers made from waste plastic bottles now accounts for more than 50 percent of the global market share. Wuhan Jingce Electronic Group Co., Ltd., a high-tech enterprise that provides products and services for testing in fields such as semiconductors, displays and new energy, has more than doubled its R&D spending from 288 million yuan in 2019 to 589 million yuan in 2022. This emphasis on R&D led to the rollout of several pieces of high-end testing equipment, which later translated into three years of revenue growth for the company. "Our business has been under pressure in recent years, but this also gives us an opportunity to improve our own capabilities and competitiveness," said Shen Yafei, the company's vice general manager. A visitor looks at bicycles displayed during the 31st China International Bicycle Fair in east China's Shanghai, May 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Cai Yang) CONDUCIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT While private enterprises make efforts to thrive, their business environment is also improving, with a slew of conducive measures and pledges made by governments at different levels. Proper guidance should be given to the private sector for its healthy and high-quality development, and private firms should take the initiative to pursue high-quality development. These are messages delivered at the annual "two sessions" held in March this year. On April 21, the first meeting of the commission for deepening overall reform of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee noted that supporting the private economy is a consistent principle of the CPC Central Committee. It is also vital to help private enterprises find their right position in high-quality development and improve their development quality via self-reform and development, business compliance, as well as transformation and upgrading, said the meeting, which urged efforts to ensure precise implementation of preferential policies to effectively address the enterprises' difficulties. In terms of policy implementation, in the past five years, private enterprises have enjoyed a total of more than 8 trillion yuan in new tax and fee cuts and tax deferrals as well as exemptions, accounting for about 70 percent of the total number, said Wang Jun, head of the State Taxation Administration, last month. Of self-employed households in the private economy, 80 percent no longer pay taxes after the government implemented a series of support policies, according to Wang. A staff member works at a workshop in a textile enterprise in Zhijiang, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo by Liu Weidong/Xinhua) Since the beginning of this year, many localities across the country have introduced special policies and measures to support the private sector. These policies and measures involve fields such as financing, talent, technology and land use, and are expected to boost the confidence of private enterprises in development. "Only when all parties work together to help ease the pressures and burdens of private firms can entrepreneurs feel relaxed, travel light and aim high," said Zhang Qing, deputy head of the Wuhan Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Association. Hu Yufang, chairman of Suzhou Taihu Snow Silk Co., Ltd., knew that embracing new opportunities would bring brighter prospects. "In the face of various uncertainties, we did not sit back and wait, but chose to face them head-on," Hu said. The company, listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange, has used online livestreaming to expand its sales and managed to attract more offline customers by opening new outlets at sites popular online. Liu Cong, chairman of the provincial federation of industry and commerce of Jiangsu, said that the overall market situation has been improving since the beginning of the year, and private entrepreneurs are becoming more confident, more energetic and more ambitious. "As the supporting policies continue to sink in, we have the confidence to consolidate the momentum," Liu said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) A consensus bill to expand habitat conservation funding from cannabis tax revenues surely had the votes to override a governor's veto during the session, but whether it'll get the chance after the Legislature adjourned appears to be on unstable ground. Senate Bill 442 from Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, passed the Legislature with 130 out of 150 lawmakers voting in support. Along with expanding habitat conservation project funding, it also set aside millions of dollars for county road repairs. Gov. Greg Gianforte, also a Republican, vetoed the bill on Tuesday, writing to lawmakers that the bill "creates a slippery slope" for the state in paying for local costs. A veto override would require two-thirds of both chambers of the Legislature, or 100 votes. On Tuesday, the Senate adjourned after Gianforte signed the veto, but before the Senate was officially notified he had rejected SB 442. By the end of the day, multiple officials had different interpretations of whether the bill was dead. By one understanding, the Senate never acted on the veto, so the veto stands. By another, the Senate never heard the veto read across the rostrum, so the upper chamber never got a chance to act on it. In an email to Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen on Friday, Lang requested she begin the process of polling lawmakers for a possible veto override. Doing so, in effect, would settle the question. "As an independently elected official with your own statutory authority, it is of utmost importance that you protect the Legislature's ability to review and evaluate the Executive's veto action," Lang wrote to Jacobsen, also a Republican. "I look forward to receiving a copy of the bill, veto message and a ballot with a return envelope so we can perform our duties as well." A spokesperson for the Secretary of State's Office was not available to clarify Jacobsen's position on the request. Further complicating the matter is the stagger-step at which the Legislature adjourned this session. The Senate called for sine die hours before the House adjourned; during that gap, Gianforte's veto was read across the rostrum in the House, potentially giving the House a chance to override the veto, but whether it could do so without the Senate was unclear. Along with the reasons laid out in his veto letter, SB 442 was also at odds with Gianforte's own vision for rearranging the existing distribution model for Montana's growing marijuana tax revenues. Before the session got underway, he began a campaign to see those revenues spent on public safety resources, although the Legislature turned that option down twice during the session. Some of the beneficiaries of SB 442 sounded off in support of Lang's call to begin the override process Friday. From veterans to public land advocates to farmers trying to get their goods to market, SB 442 carved out limited marijuana tax resources exactly where the public wanted them spent, Eric Bryson, executive director of the Montana Association of Counties, said in a press release Friday. We believe that this was the wrong choice for Montana and encourage the Secretary of State to follow the law and conduct a veto-override poll. Earlier in the session, a humongous coalition of 93 organizations co-signed a letter supporting SB 442. Monday, Lang had gathered a group of about two dozen lawmakers from both parties and advocacy outfits to make a final showing of support for the bill. For months, the administration told us that if we got good bipartisan bills on the governors desk, hed sign them, Noah Marion, state policy director at Wild Montana, added in Friday's press release. We all held up our end of the deal, but the governor didnt. SB 442 is bipartisan. Its popular. Its got something for everyone. It should be law and the Montana legislature has the right to take another look at this. Fish experts said at a meeting last week that juvenile fish likely died at the highest rates, compared with adult fish and fish eggs, after a malfunction at Hebgen Dam triggered an abrupt drop in flows along the upper Madison River in the fall of 2021. Based on the initial results from electrofishing surveys and a literature review, biologists inferred that because the dewatering of the upper Madison River on Nov. 30, 2021 was a one-time event, it likely didnt do catastrophic damage to the fishery. However, they believe juvenile fish probably suffered the greatest impacts, since they are smaller, less mobile and tend to congregate in the side channels that dried out fastest, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Fisheries Technician Jenna Dukovcic. Biologists presented their initial conclusions about how the Hebgen Dam malfunction likely impacted fish survival in the upper Madison River during a public meeting hosted by NorthWestern Energy near Ennis on Wednesday evening. When the dam gate failed, it was kind of everybodys Oh crap moment. It was kind of the perfect storm, said FWP Conservation Technician Travis Lohrenz. We had brown trout eggs in the gravel. We had stranding of juvenile fish because the dewatering was so precipitous. It will take years of monitoring to determine the extent of the events impacts on the fishery, but so far, surveys in 2022 showed that about 92% of brown trout redds were located within side channel habitats, according to Lorhenz. That could have been a problem, but the surveys of the side channels also showed that young-of-year brown trout were still present, which suggests that the dam malfunction didnt result in a complete, catastrophic loss of the cohort the group of fish that share the same age, he said. As you move further down the age continuum to these juvenile fish, the big result was that these fish were still here, occupying these habitats that were dewatered, Lorhenz said. They were pushed down, then they moved back in. Dukovcic pointed out that the dam malfunction occurred in late November, at the end of the spawning season for brown trout and mountain whitefish. At that time of the year, fish eggs have just been laid in the gravel, and theyre on track to incubate throughout the winter. Based on a review of the literature, biologists learned that salmonid eggs tend to be fairly tolerant to dewatering, especially when they are early in their development, Dukovcic said. At that early stage, the eggs can still diffuse oxygen through the air and moisture in the gravel. Because the redds were in the early stages of their development, because the gravel stayed moist and because temperatures didnt drop below freezing overnight, they suspect the impact of the dam malfunction on fish eggs was relatively low. The experts also concluded that the impacts of the event on adult fish are also relatively low, since adult fish typically occupy deeper habitats and are more mobile, meaning they can better respond to a sudden drop in flows. Lohrenz emphasized that while the first year of electrofishing surveys gave biologists a sense of the relative abundance of fish between Ennis and Hebgen lakes, they still dont know what the numbers were prior to the dam failure, and we cant hang our hat on one year of data. Thats why theyre planning to conduct long-term monitoring through 2025, where theyll track the cohorts that were affected by the dam malfunction as they age. Theyll compare the numbers they have now with numbers they mark down in subsequent years. Two years ago in late November, a bronze coupler that was attached to a gate stem on Hebgen Dam broke overnight, causing the dams gate to fall. That limited flows in the upper Madison River. The effects were more abrupt further upstream. Brown trout redds the gravel where female fish lay their eggs were exposed to the elements. Locals rushed to save fish that were stranded within side channels. NorthWestern Energy controls flows from Hebgen Dam, and the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) later found that the utility violated two requirements from its operating license when the gate stem broke. The utility has since agreed to fund monitoring of fish populations in the river, and it is compiling a report to identify mitigation projects that will improve fish embryo survival, gravel recruitment and spawning habitat. As if Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' complicated system to apply for special hunting permits wasnt confusing enough, a new wrinkle was added last year without public notification. The agency has allowed hunters to purchase bonus points for 20 years to increase their odds of drawing hard-to-get permits. The points accrue over time and are awarded after the hunter failed to draw one of their first-choice tags. In theory then, a hunter who is repeatedly denied a tag and purchases a bonus point should eventually have greater odds of drawing in a specific region. The regs say As noted in FWPs regulations, Bonus points essentially offer you additional drawing chances and are used for first-choice drawings only. Existing bonus points will be mathematically 'squared' prior to the drawing. That means if you already have three 'base' bonus points, those will be 'squared and youll then have nine points going into the drawing. If youre unsuccessful, youll be awarded an additional base bonus point for next years drawing, the regulations continue. The fee for a bonus point is $2 for residents, $20 for nonresidents when applying for a license. Hunters can also purchase bonus points for other species between July 1 and Sept. 30 at a cost of $15 for residents, $25 for nonresidents. The exception is moose, sheep and goats, which cost $75 each for nonresidents. Change Last year, FWP began using the bonus point awarded to a hunter right away, instead of waiting a year as it had done in the past. A review from 2021 prompted the question internally as to the definition of accumulated bonus point (term used in MCA 87-2-117), Greg Lemon, FWP spokesperson explained in an email. We concluded that a newly purchased bonus point should be considered an accumulated point. This means the purchased bonus point will apply to that years drawing, which is different than in years past. So if a hunter came into the 2023 drawing with 3 bonus points, buys a point, and participates in the drawing, that hunters 4 total bonus points will be applied to the drawing. If unsuccessful, the hunter will carry over 4 bonus points. Drawings were conducted this way for the last two hunting seasons. This change does not apply to nonresident preference points. Preference points are used to prioritize nonresident combination applications. This concerned Tim Griffiths, a Montana hunter, who reached out to the Billings Gazette. In an email, Griffiths wrote, After applying for my permits, I noticed on the receipt emailed to me that my bonus points listed were incorrect. For example, it read for my deer permit, Bonus point accumulated through 2022: 11. I knew that was incorrect as I had only 9 points going into the draw in 2022 and was unsuccessful. I should now have 10 bonus points for the 2023 draw. Likewise, I drew my elk permit last year and should have 0 going into the draw but my receipt indicated I had 1." When Griffiths contacted FWP to report what he thought was an error the agency could correct before the first spring drawing, he instead found out FWP employees were aware of the issue but told him the old system was still being used, and that the point was just showing up early. Following the drawing, however, Griffiths again noted a discrepancy in the draw results posted online. From the results it was evident that bonus points purchased in 2023 were in fact used to gain advantage in the 2023 draw. For 2023, the max point pool from the draw results was listed at 21, when it was only 19 for 2022. Unknowingly adding a bonus point is unfair, Griffiths contended, using this example: Imagine if you paid $100 for a raffle ticket to win a new truck. The organizers advertised the raffle as having 300 total tickets available, and that detail was clearly printed on the tickets and embedded on their advertisements. After the drawing you learned that instead of 300, they actually sold 600 tickets and your chances were reduced nearly by half. Lemon said thats not a fair analogy because FWPs bonus point change applied the same to everyone in the drawings. When Griffiths contacted the agency the second time, he was told FWP was complying with the law. FWP did note the change in its frequently asked questions section on its website where people could have learned of the alteration, Griffiths was told. Law The law referenced was last updated in 2021. So why wasnt the change reflected in the agencys regulations and its online video tutorial, Griffiths questioned. Its not fair, its not transparent and its unacceptable, he said. They conducted the draw but not like they publicly advertised." This is a positive change for hunters, allowing them to use the bonus point in the year they purchased it, Lemon wrote. If they're unsuccessful, they keep it for next year. The department is taking steps to make this positive change in methodology clear for the 2024 regulations. Hunters contacted for this story who utilize bonus points were unaware of the change. Lewistown archer Doug Krings said he noticed the extra point popping up right away, but didnt give it a second thought. That is a screwy deal, said Thomas Baumeister, a former FWP employee and hunter who uses bonus points. I have been on the other side of that system, and there is a complexity to it, so its not surprising they get it wrong. Lemon said many hunters were aware of the change and the department will make it clear in next year's regulations. Montana hunter Randy Newberg, whose Fresh Tracks online show videos hunts in several states, said people on his Hunt Talk forum noticed the bonus point change late last year. Newberg reached out to FWP and was told nothing could be changed with the licensing system because it was undergoing a legislative audit. The Legislative Audit Division conducted a study, "Analyzing bonus point accuracy," from Sept. 2022 to March 2023. The results will be presented to the Legislative Audit Committee on June 8, which can be viewed on the state's website. A few days prior to the meeting an electronic version of the report will be available at leg.mt.gov/lad/. FWP's Lemon said such audits are routine. Newberg said hes been pushing FWP to outsource the licensing process for years, partly because of cybersecurity risks, partly because keeping up with such a complicated computer system takes a lot of time and manpower. He said thats what Nevada has done, and its licensing system is now seen as a gold standard for hunting applicants. Concerned In an email to FWP, Griffiths voiced his frustration over the situation: It is unconscionable for a public agency to advertise one method of distributing a public resource and then quietly implementing another, he wrote. Especially problematic when the other method disproportionately impacts a certain class of people, in this case all but the highest point holders in each hunt code and especially those who choose not to participate in the bonus point system. In an email from Joy Ross, acting Licensing Bureau chief, Griffiths was told, You are right, we do need to clarify the explanation of bonus points in the regulations. We are working to do so. As far as any current or past drawings, the bonus point rules were applied consistently and fairly to all individuals in those drawings. No foolin Although many Montana hunters may not have noticed the change, Huntin Fool did. The Utah-based company fills out permit applications for hunters for a fee, helping them navigate confusing state regulations. License application manager Shandi Martinez said she heard about the FWP change in passing but received no official notice regarding the alteration. Montana is kind of a mess overall, she said. And they seem to change it every year. This also isnt the first flaw when it comes to FWPs Licensing Bureau. Last year, the bureau incorrectly eliminated almost 2,500 hunters who applied for certain elk permits through the agencys lottery system. Krings, the Lewistown hunter, was one of them. After realizing the error, the bureau conducted a second drawing for the disenfranchised hunters. I wish they could get this right, Krings said. I was rooting for them. A man convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend is requesting post-conviction relief, according to court documents. David Hatfield filed on Feb. 28 for relief, asking for his sentence to be vacated or for a new trial. He is serving a term of mandatory life in prison in the Iowa State Penitentiary for the Oct. 16, 2019, death of Kaitlyn Palmer. A recasted application is due to the court by May 29, stating specific claims for relief. The state must then file an answer within 30 days. In the original application, Hatfield argues the existence of material facts not previously presented and that the conviction or sentence was in violation of the Constitution. The petition argues that the trial counsel failed to conduct an investigation into Hatfields background and failed to fight statements made to police officers. The counsel had failed to address mental issues Hatfield had been treated for. In 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction, ruling that several statements the defense challenged as relevant. He had argued ineffective assistance of counsel and district court error in overruling a hearsay objection. During the trial the prosecution stated on Oct. 16, 2019, Hatfield shot Palmer once in the left side of the head/temple area with a .22-caliber handgun at Saulsbury Recreation Area in rural Muscatine County. The reason the prosecution believes Hatfield shot Palmer was an unwanted pregnancy. The prosecution stated that physical evidence indicates the shot was fired by someone other than Palmer. During interrogation, Hatfield said that Palmer had committed suicide and had shot herself in the head. The story later changed and Hatfield said that he had gotten the gun from his vehicle, fired a test shot and then shot her with it. He claimed she had begged him to kill her. The defense also said the confession Hatfield made was given under duress by the police, who interrogated him while he was still in shock from the incident. He relied on the defense that the incident was a case of assisted suicide. Before the trial, the prosecution moved to exclude photos of Palmer showing cuts on her body, saying there was no evidence of suicidal behavior before the evening of the incident. The state also sought to exclude evidence of a suicide note claiming that there is no authentication that it came from Palmer. Jurors saw video from two deputies who responded to the scene after Hatfield had called the Muscatine County Communications Center to report Palmer had shot herself. Palmer was still alive when a deputy arrived and first aid was given. The deputy testified getting blood on his clothing while attempting to stop the bleeding. Hatfield had no blood on his body or clothes. Palmer was transported to University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City where she died at 3:26 p.m. Oct. 17, 2019. MINERAL WELLS, Texas Desperate to fill open positions amid a statewide teacher shortage, school officials in this rural North Texas city of about 15,000 chose to follow the lead of neighboring districts by converting to a four-day school week at the start of the current student year. We decided if we cant beat them, join them, Superintendent John Kuhn said. As the school year nears a close next month, Kuhn proclaimed the four-day week a really good success, which, among other positives, produced a surge of qualified teacher applicants that helped the district fill its vacancies. The seven-member school board has unanimously authorized the four-day schedule for the new school year that starts in August. Nationwide, the number of four-day schools has increased by 600% over the past two decades, now numbering more than 1,600 in 24 states, according to research published in 2021. The schedule is most popular in small, rural districts. In Colorado, which has the largest percentage, 124 of the states 178 districts (70%) follow a four-day schedule. Many four-day schools report higher test scores, fewer discipline problems and strong support from parents, teachers and staff. But amid the success stories, the idea is facing headwinds as emerging research points to academic declines and other problems. School districts that go from five days to four typically make up at least some of the missing hours by adding time to the other days or extending the school year. But four-day schedules average only 148 school days per year, resulting in less time in school than the national average of 180 days per year for five-day schools. Several states have imposed restrictions or bans on four-day schools. In Oklahoma, for example, a 2019 law requires school districts to seek waivers for four-day schools. Lawmakers in Missouri and Texas are pushing legislation to block the practice. In another part of North Texas, the suburban Mesquite Independent School District, just east of Dallas, three months ago pulled back from what had seemed to be almost certain implementation of a four-day school week, after a comprehensive study raised fears of academic setbacks among fragile student populations. The six-state analysis, published last summer by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, found lower student achievement in four-day schools, with larger negative effects among Hispanic students, as well as in those in towns and the suburbs, as compared to rural areas. Reviewing the relatively new findings at a board meeting in February, Mesquite officials dropped the four-day concept out of fear it would result in harmful consequences for students, 61% of whom are Hispanic. I took it off the table as the administration recommendation, Superintendent Angel Rivera told Stateline. Im not going to experiment on kids. Lawmakers push back Over the past several years, school districts in many states have rushed to embrace the four-day school week in hopes of easing a variety of problems, from staff vacancies to budget pressures, including those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the analysis published by the Annenberg Institute. In some states, lawmakers are pushing back. In Missouri, where more than 160 school districts (out of 518) will follow four-day schedules next year, a Senate-passed education bill carries an amendment by Democratic state Sen. Doug Beck that would prohibit four-day school weeks in cities with more than 30,000 residents, unless approved by district voters. Beck, whose district includes the St. Louis area, said he believes Missouri should mandate five-day school weeks, calling the reduced schedule a bad idea and a push to the bottom. In Texas, state Sen. Donna Campbell, Republican vice chair of the Senate Education Committee, also is pushing a bill that would require five-day weeks. Campbell said in a statement that her bill has spurred a robust public discussion regarding the relationship between students instructional time and academic achievement. In the future, I would like to see Texas collect data on student achievement comparing the various school week models. At a committee hearing on her bill, Campbell said the four-day schedule has unintentionally caused hardships on working families and does not seem to improve student outcomes. Research also suggests that it seems to have some negative effects on children, she said. But school district officials who testified during the hearing were unanimous in their opposition to the bill, saying it would override local decision-making. We know what works for us, said Paula Patterson, superintendent of the Houston-area Crosby Independent School District, which serves more than 6,000 students. When Crosby switches to a four-day schedule next fall, it will be the largest Texas district to do so. Four days with an exceptional teacher is much more effective and productive than five days with a less effective teacher. Recent research Scholarly research on four-day school weeks has been slow to emerge, leaving school districts to rely heavily on anecdotal conclusions. All of the research we have today is almost exclusively from the last three to four years, said Emily Morton of Portland, Oregon-based NWEA, a nonprofit educational research organization formerly known as the Northwest Evaluation Association. Morton was one of the authors of the study published by the Annenberg Institute. In addition to that analysis, there have been at least seven other major studies, including a 2021 study by the RAND Corporation and an Oregon analysis led by Paul Thompson, another coauthor of the analysis published by the Annenberg Institute. Thompsons Oregon study found that 11th graders on a four-day schedule performed worse on math tests than five-day students. The findings, Morton said, are largely a story of trade-offs, showing an overall small to medium negative effect on achievement, though close to zero in rural districts, along with positives such as downturns in fighting and bullying. Morton acknowledged, however, that the shortened week has been a morale booster in many districts, reducing time pressures, adding to family togetherness and softening academic stress. School district leaders say the reduced schedule has curtailed or eradicated vacancies and eased the workload on staff. The folks who do this schedule, they love it, Morton said. The communities are really positive about it. Though some schools have chosen Monday as the off-day, Friday is the new Saturday in most districts. However, many schools remain open on the expanded weekend for optional extra instruction or catch-up days for teachers. How K-12 public school funding has changed over the past decade How K-12 public school funding has changed over the past decade Education revenue has increased overall since 2012 For the last decade, education expenditures have been greater than education revenue The percentage of education revenue coming from federal sources has decreased in most states CHICAGO (AP) Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a "vast wasteland," died Saturday. He was 97. Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow. He wanted to be at home, she told The Associated Press. He had a good life. Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television. "My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be," Minow once said. "After all, the airways belong to the people." Minow was appointed as FCC chief by President John F. Kennedy in early 1961. He had initially come to know the Kennedys in the 1950s as an aide to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, the Democrats' presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956. Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives on May 9, 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day, "without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you." "I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland," he told them. "You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials many screaming, cajoling and offending." As he spoke, the three networks were just about all most viewers had to choose from. Pay television was barely in the planning stage, PBS and "Sesame Street" were several years away, and HBO and niche channels such as Animal Planet were far in the future. The speech caused a sensation. "Vast wasteland" became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, "Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin' da quality of television. ... At least, Newt, we're tryin'." Minow became the first government official to get a George Foster Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. The New York Times critic Jack Gould (himself a Peabody winner) wrote, "At long last there is a man in Washington who proposes to champion the interests of the public in TV matters and is not timid about ruffling the industry's most august feathers. Tonight some broadcasters were trying to find dark explanations for Mr. Minow's attitude. In this matter the viewer possibly can be a little helpful; Mr. Minow has been watching television." CBS President Frank Stanton strongly disagreed, calling Minow's comments a "sensationalized and oversimplified approach" that could lead to ill-advised reforms "on the ground that any change is a change for the better." For the criticism over his speech, Minow said he didnt support censorship, preferring exhortation and measures to broaden public choices. But he also said a broadcasting license was "an enormous gift" from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public. His daughter, Nell Minow, told The Associated Press in 2011 that her father loved television and wished he would have been remembered for championing the public interest in television programming, rather than just a few words in his much broader speech. His No. 1 goal was to give people choice, she said. Among the new laws during his tenure were the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, that required that TV sets pick up UHF as well as VHF broadcasts, which opened up TV channels numbered above 13 for widespread viewing. Congress also passed a bill that provided funds for educational television, and measures to foster communications satellites. In a September 2006 interview on National Public Radio, Minow recalled telling Kennedy that such satellites were "more important than sending a man into space. ... Communications satellites will send ideas into space, and ideas live longer than people." On July 10, 1962, Minow was one of the officials making statements on the first live trans-Atlantic television program, a demonstration of AT&T's Telstar satellite. Children's programming was a particular interest of Minow, a father of three, who told broadcasters the few good children's shows were "drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. ... Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day." Minow resigned in May 1963 to become executive vice president and general counsel for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. in Chicago. Nell Minow said her father also was instrumental in getting presidential debates televised, starting with Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, after watching Stevenson struggle to use the new medium during his 1956 presidential run. Minow was appalled by ... the whole charade of having to image-make on television, said Craig Allen, a mass communications professor at Arizona State University who wrote a 2001 book about Minow. In 1965, Minow returned to his law practice in Chicago, and later served as board member at PBS, CBS Inc. and the advertising company Foote Cone & Belding Communications Inc. He was director of the Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University. He also gave Barack Obama a summer job at the law firm, where the future president met his wife, Michelle Robinson. Minow also was one of Obamas earliest supporters when the then-Illinois senator considered running for president, Nell Minow said. Television is one of our century's most important advances "and yet, as a nation, we pay no attention to it," Minow said in a 1991 Associated Press interview. He continued to push for reforms such as free airtime for political ads and more quality programming while also praising advances in diversity in U.S. television. "In 1961, I worried that my children would not benefit much from television. But in 1991 I worry that my grandchildren will actually be harmed by it," he said. Former Associated Press writer Polly Anderson in New York contributed to this story. In military lingo a stand down means when all service members pause their normal duties and gather for one specific, concentrated task or event, or other important matter. One local group recently hosted their own version of a stand down right here in Napa. More than a dozen nonprofits and other organizations participated on Wednesday in a veterans Stand Down resource fair at Napas American Legion Hall Post 113. It's located at 1240 Pearl St. This is what the American Legion is all about, said post Commander Robin Mueller. By hosting the Stand Down We're trying to offer everything that a veteran needs, especially those who are homeless or disadvantaged. Veterans who visited the Legion Hall on Wednesday could find information about housing, medical care, wellness, legal aid, education, job training, employment, counseling and other services. Oh, and there was a free lunch. Plus, free haircuts. Accompanied by a black golden retriever/Labrador service dog named Gabriel, Napa Valley College Veterans Services Specialist Lynette Cortes attended the Stand Down event. A veteran herself, Cortes said that its important to participate in these kinds of events to give support and information, to any veteran that needs it including those who dont even realize they are eligible. Theres a lot of times where you meet with people that don't think they're a veteran, for example, those that have served in the Reserves. Yes, you do have these benefits, she finds herself explaining to them. This is whats available to you. Margaret Beaubien and several other volunteers at the Stand Down staffed a table hosted by the Vineyard Trails chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It's important for us to be here in order to honor our Vietnam veterans who never got the welcome home that they deserved when they came back from the war, Beaubien said. It's really to say thank you to that specific group. The DAR chapter was giving out Vietnam veteran stickers, magnets and pins along with personal care items such as socks and backpacks. Beaubien also explained that many veterans leave the service without knowing the full scope of their benefits. She specifically mentioned the PACT Act, a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for veterans and survivors exposed to Agent Orange, burn pits and other toxic substances. For many of those who might benefit from the act, its been 20, 30 or 40 years since their military service. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. After so many decades as civilians, How are they supposed to know what their benefits are? Thomas Hildreth, a retired physician, and a veteran, was one of the first visitors to the Stand Down. My barber belongs (to the American Legion) and he suggested I come down here to see what goes on and what services are available for veterans, said Hildreth. Hed never been to the Napa American Legion, he said. Nor has he ever used the Veterans Administration (VA) medical system. However, even with private insurance, hes finding that his costs for prescription drugs have increased dramatically, to as much as $500 per month and higher. Hildreth wondered if as a veteran he might receive better benefits through the VA. Matt Decker, the executive director of E5 Therapy of Suisun City, attended the Stand Down with a friendly golden retriever service dog named Larson. His nonprofit provides mental health services to veterans, active duty and their families, all over California, said Decker. The group specializes in canine-assisted therapy. He explained that when it comes to veterans and mental health, a certain stigma remains. For many veterans, if you seek mental health treatment, there's a perceived weakness, said Decker. But what we are looking to do is to help people understand that it's not weakness to go get the tools you need to stay in the fight of life, that only the bravest can walk through our doors and get the help they need. So sometimes that can be a hard message to hear, but we've got good people that can help deliver. If veterans need emotional assistance, we're here to do the work. A veteran himself, Decker said that one thing that veterans miss when they leave military service is that built-in community and camaraderie. A Stand Down brings vets back together, even if just for one day. "That's why these are so important. Dell Pratt, Napa County Veteran's Service Officer (VSO) was also at the American Legion Stand Down. Pratt explained that the VSO exists to connect any veteran or a family member to all benefits provided by the Veterans Administration from compensation to health care, housing and education. We are the ultimate advocate for veterans benefits, he said. For example, say a service member was exposed to noise while in the military. That could lead to a claim for hearing loss or tinnitus, Pratt explained. We would develop the claim, and help see it through the claims process. Pratt said that most of the veterans he meets served in the military 40 to 50 years ago, then left the service and went on to other careers. For some they never considered themselves veterans because they maybe never went to war or they figured that they had served their country and the country didn't owe them anything else. They just went on about their lives, he explained. They Served With Honor: Napa Air Force veteran continues service with American Legion Post Napa Air Force veteran Robin Mueller is retired but she continues serving others at the Napa's American Legion Post. We meet them and we connect them the benefits that quite frankly they earned 50 years ago, and that they 100% deserve. Denise Lincoln, a Navy veteran, and retired Napa hair stylist, came to the Stand Down to offer free haircuts to veterans. This is what I do, said Lincoln, who is a member of the American Legion Post 113. This is my community service. We want to keep (the Legion post) going for future veterans because this is a place for them to find out what exactly they're entitled to. That includes Lincoln. When she first left the Navy, I didn't know about all these benefits, benefits that she has now qualified for. Yes, some service members who have recently left the military are ready to move on, she acknowledged. You know, if the word veteran is in it, they don't want it, she said. But there might be something that the American Legion can help them with, such as physical or mental health care. We understand, Lincoln emphasized. American Legion Post Commander Mueller said that by the end of the day, she has one goal for the Stand Down. I'd like to be able to say that we help somebody. I don't care if it's one. I want to be able to say we help somebody. That's all. That's all I want out of this. Photos: Napa American Legion hosts Stand Down resource fair for veterans Stand Down 6 Stand Down 7 Stand Down 1 Stand Down 2 Stand Down 3 Stand Down 4 Stand Down 5 Napa's American Legion Post #113: Robin Mueller Photos: Faces and Places, December 26 Napa's American Legion Post #113 Napa's American Legion Post #113 Napa's American Legion Post #113 Napa's American Legion Post #113 Napa's American Legion Post #113 Theres been a common scene at city of Napa Planning Commission meetings for the past year or so. When residential project proposals come up, at least a few commissioners typically note that they dont like the architectural designs of the homes. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Commission attempts to improve those designs have occasionally proceeded; an ad-hoc subcommittee of the commission met with developer Edenbridge Homes explicitly for that purpose late last year to discuss proposed designs for a subdivision on Lone Oak Avenue. The designs when they came back before the commission the following month, which is when the commission voted in support of the project had been tweaked as a result. But, for the most part, the commissioners havent been able to do much. Thats because the projects meet Napas Residential Design Guidelines a set of design-related standards from 2004 that serve as recommendations to developers as determined by city staff. As such, the commissioners, with the full projects in mind, have generally gone along with the staff recommendations to approve the projects despite complaining about the home designs. The commissions' stated dislike of the proposed home designs did, however, spur the commissioners to repeatedly request that a discussion about the citys design guidelines be scheduled so that they could potentially be updated. That discussion finally happened Thursday night. But the commissioners were disappointed to learn that California is requiring local municipalities to put in place objective design standards standards that cut down on the discretion cities have historically had over projects as defined by state law, with that process starting in Napa by the end of year. At the meeting, Ricky Caperton, the citys planning manager, noted that the citys current set of guidelines were put in place off the heels of the citys 1998 general plan because of a string of projects that commissioners had disliked the design of. Its almost like weve come full circle, where it seems like with the last several subdivisions its kind of hit some speed bumps in terms of design, Caperton said. Caperton said theres currently several competing factors the citys planning department has to review projects in the context of including the citys general plan, development standards, the design standards and state laws, among others. The design guidelines, he added, are meant to inform projects, but developers arent technically required to follow the guidelines. So, the main problem with attempting to update the guidelines now to spur improved home designs in proposed developments is that recent state housing laws have aimed to streamline the local approval process for housing projects, Caperton noted. Really what that means is the standards have to be quantitative, prescriptive, and really with no discretion, Caperton said. Caperton said the objective standards create a bit more certainty for developers, as such standards are more of a checklist that they need to hit for the project to be approved. Thats meant to substantially cut down on the time it takes for a city to review and approve a proposed plan, he said. The purpose of the state's push is to speed up Californias production of housing amid the severe housing crisis. Caperton included examples of such standards for Sunnyvale, Temecula, Santa Rosa and Monte Sereno in the agenda packet as examples of what the state is looking for, and what Napas standards will be required to look like in the future. Theyre very quantifiable, Caperton said. Almost if anybody were to read them from anywhere, theres almost no question about what the standard is that that particular community is looking for. Some of them even have actual check lists in there. Caperton added that the city currently attempts to work with developers to get the best product we can get, but theres a tricky balance there of knowing how hard they can push because of the states requirement for objective standards. With the understanding of state laws, sometimes its difficult because its like, how far can we push before they start pushing back, Caperton said. Commissioner Ricky Hurtado asked what pushback the city might get from the state should the city, in some way, go against the states wishes. Deputy city attorney Sabrina Wolfson noted that if a project complies with the standards, the city essentially has no basis for denial outside of specific health or safety impacts. She added that if the city choses to deny a project anyway, they could face subsequent legal action. The Housing Accountability Act says essentially that if a project complies with objective general plan and zoning standards, including design standards, that the city cannot disapprove the project or reduce the density unless the project would have a specific adverse impact on public health and safety and the only way to mitigate those impacts is through denial or reduction in density, Wolfson said. And so if a city were to deny a project in violation of the Housing Accountability Act, there are rights of the state and the Attorney General to bring suit or take other actions. Vin Smith, the citys community development director, said that the citys planning department is currently in a place where they can influence good design, but cant require specific actions from a developer. We do the best we can to get that architecture in the best shape possible so that when its presented to you its as good as possible, Smith told the commission. There could be a moment in time when a developer says no, Im not going to do that.' And we cant force them, at this moment. Commissioners said they werent happy about the situation, with several stating they felt the state was working against their ability to provide design review. Unfortunately, I feel like the state legislature really is working against us, commissioner Beverly Shotwell said. Its just a very disconcerting situation. Commissioner Gordon Huether referred to the incoming objective standards as depressing, and said he might have not reapplied to the commission late last year had he known the objective standards were coming. I mean, doing something really high quality and meaningful is hard, Huether said. And what the lobbyists for the commercial builders got done in Sacramento, its just designed to make it easier for them, and harder for us to do anything meaningful up here. On the other hand, commission chair Bob Massaro said that though he disagreed with the states action to eliminate subjective design guidelines, he saw the development of the new objective guidelines as an opportunity to set in place a roadmap that will bring beautiful commercial and residential developments to Napa. I think even though this is painful from what the state has essentially done to the local communities, it can be a blessing in that we can set the bar to the point where we get good design thats going to last beyond all of us, Massaro said. Photos: Earth Day cleanup, celebration in Napa Earth Day cleanup 3 Earth Day cleanup 2 Earth Day cleanup 1 Earth Day cleanup 4 Earth Day cleanup 5 Earth Day cleanup 6 Earth Day cleanup 7 Earth Day cleanup 8 Earth Day cleanup 9 Earth Day cleanup 10 Earth Day cleanup Earth Day cleanup Earth Day cleanup Earth Day cleanup Earth Day cleanup Earth Day cleanup Earth Day Celebration 1 Earth Day Celebration 2 Earth Day Celebration 3 Earth Day Celebration 4 Earth Day Celebration 6 Earth Day Celebration 5 Earth Day Celebration 7 Earth Day Celebration 8 Earth Day Celebration 9 Earth Day Celebration 10 Earth Day Celebration 11 Earth Day Celebration 12 Earth Day Celebration 13 On May 5, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Russia Vagharshak Harutyunyan met with newly appointed US Ambassador to Russia Lynne M. Tracy. During the meeting, the interlocutors exchanged views on the establishment of stability in the South Caucasus, relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the settlement of the Artsakh conflict, emphasizing the unconditional implementation of the provisions of the Tripartite Statement of November 9, 2020. Press Service of the Armenian Embassy in Russia told Armenian News-NEWS.am. The ambassadors stressed the importance of the trilateral talks held in the United States from May 1 to 4. The Armenian Ambassador drew his colleague's attention to the situation created in the region as a result of Azerbaijan's aggression against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, as well as to the crisis situation in Artsakh, emphasizing that the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor grossly violates paragraph 6 of the Tripartite Statement. Daily Mail: Greece, Italy, France, Hungary, Sweden may leave EU in the foreseeable future Armenian Minister of Economy presented Armenia's investment environment in Abu Dhabi Large-scale fires in the Urals destroyed almost 5.7 thousand buildings Participants of rally in Yerevan's Freedom Square demand freedom of self-determination for Artsakh Russia, Turkey, Iran, Syria FMs meeting to be held tomorrow in Moscow Car crashes into bank branch in Yerevan Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard: Iran army has worlds top missile, radar systems UK charge d'affaires in Armenia lays wreath at Eternal Flame at Victory Park in Yerevan US ambassador to Armenia lays wreath at Eternal Flame in Yerevans Victory Park Catholicos of All Armenians visits Victory Park in Yerevan Tens of thousands of Karabakh residents came out to capital Stepanakert main square (PHOTOS) Armenia opposition party leader does not believe that any document will be signed with Azerbaijan at this phase Sudan clash civilian death toll reaches 604 European Commission chief: Russia sanctions 11th package focuses on cracking down on restrictions circumvention City hall: Yerevan authorities have no intention of dismantling Operation Nemesis monument Pakistan arrests former PM Khan Hurriyet: Turkey presidential election will end with incumbent Erdogan's victory in 1st round Karabakh ex-minister of state: Azerbaijan will not be able to remove Russian peacekeepers from here Karabakh ex-state minister: There can be no question of reintegration in this way, this is reoccupation Armenias Pashinyan in Moscow, attends Victory Day anniversary military parade (PHOTOS) Armenia ex-President Robert Kocharyan: Impossible to defeat united, organized Armenian people shamshyan.com: There are injured after drunken prosecutor causes major accident near Armenia government building NO to the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh rally kicks off in Stepanakert Putin: War unleashed against Russia again but we will ensure our security Armenia official: Operation Nemesis monument removal demand should be viewed from Turkey internal politics too Armenia ex-President Armen Sarkissian: Freedom and victory are not gifts but are obtained through will and effort Armenia deputy FM: Brussels meeting will be followed by Moscow meeting in trilateral format Karabakh President visits Stepanakert Memorial Armenia Security Council secretary: We have no progress on most important issues in peace treaty talks with Azerbaijan Russia ambassador to Armenia: Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh are resolving issues facing us Armenia official: Normalization of relations with Turkey should be without preconditions Sergey Kopyrkin: Russia takes its allied obligations towards Armenia very seriously Armenia official: Not decided yet whether peace treaty with Azerbaijan will be signed under West or Russia auspices Armenia Security Council head: There will be Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting in Brussels Armenia army General Staff chief: Situation at Azerbaijan border relatively stable Armenia PM: Our greatest obligation to martyrs who gave their lives for Motherland is strengthening of our statehood Armenia senior officials visiting Victory Park Armenia ex-President Serzh Sargsyan: Under these circumstances it is only struggle that must be glorified Karabakh President: Artsakh has been, is, shall be Armenian European Council: Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders will meet in Brussels on May 14 US State Dept.: Armenia, Azerbaijan have agreed in principle to certain terms Russian peacekeepers record 1 ceasefire violation in Karabakh Baku demands from Armenia to immediately release convicted Azerbaijani soldiers Statement of Artsakh Foreign Ministry on the Impending Environmental Disaster Provoked by Azerbaijan Armenia PM arrives in Moscow on working visit (PHOTOS) Deputy Foreign Ministers meet with French Ambassador RA Deputy Foreign Ministers and Russian ambassador discussed relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan RA Deputy Foreign Ministers and U.S. Ambassador touched upon the Mirzoyan-Bayramov negotiations Dollar, euro gain value in Armenia Ex-PM: There is Azerbaijani-Turkish demand that Armenia be deprived of army Sarsang Reservoir of Karabakh virtually empty (PHOTOS) One of 2 Azerbaijanis who crossed into Armenia is sentenced to 11 years, 6 months, 15 days in prison FlyOne Armenia: Dubai air traffic controllers did not allow aircraft to enter Dubai airspace airBaltic to resume Riga-Yerevan-Riga flights after 12-year break Iran MFA spox: Azerbaijani diplomats expelled in response to expulsion of Iranian diplomats Cavusoglu: We are discussing steps to be taken against Armenia with president of Turkey Opposition MP: Karabakh is just gateway for Azerbaijan toward Armenia 5G technology network to be launched in Armenia Number of tourists visiting Armenia up more than 80% in 2023 first quarter Bayramov: Progress of preparation of peace treaty with Armenia not met expectations yet Turkey FM announces possible Erdogan-Assad meeting this year Armenia PM Pashinyan to head for Moscow on working visit Tatoyan Foundation: Checkpoint is mean by which Azerbaijan isolates Karabakh from outside world (PHOTOS) Ex-governor of Armenias Syunik: Russian peacekeepers went out on 5km section, Azerbaijanis came and drove into US Embassy in Armenia on winning green card lottery: Scam alert Armen Khachatryan: Azerbaijan has recognized Armenia territorial integrity Armenia ruling force MP: Premier goes to Moscow regularly, yes, maybe he did, I don't know Armenia government has no information about possible Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting Yerevan-Dubai flight lands in Iran Financial Times: Armenia, Azerbaijan to resume peace talks in Brussels India tourist boat capsize incident death toll rises to 21 South Korea woman holds press conference with her 2-year-old Car falls into ravine in Armenias Kotayk Province, child among injured Passenger sent 1,000km from destination due to airport error 2 women tear Karabakh flag in downtown Yerevan (VIDEO) Truck carrying Azerbaijanis overturns in Karabakh, there are dead Serbia education minister resigns over school shooting Kishida sympathizes with South Korean victims of Japanese occupation Russian peacekeepers deliver over 30 tons of humanitarian cargo to Artsakh LAS members to vote on Syrias return British anti-monarchists released from custody 'Dangerous manoeuvres' of Russian jet around Polish plane Accused in a Tbilisi Hotel arson case sent into forced treatment Iran plans development of Aravandkenar oilfield "Armenia" opposition party members visit Tavush Province Kyrgyz President pays official visit to Russia Suspected fire kills gold miners in Peru Japan PM makes historic visit to South Korea Sevastopol Governor: Attack of over ten drones repelled Iranologist: Turkish regime is well aware of the importance of Nemesis monuments symbolism Talks held in Baku by Russian peacekeepers yielded no results Newly adopted Codes discussed in RA Parliament Thailand votes a week before parliamentary election Tehran commemorates Armenian Genocide victims Congo floods: death toll hits 176 13-year-old boy hit by car All units stopped at Zaporizhzhia NPP Man hit by car dies in hospital US F-16 fighter jet crashes in South Korea Artsakh State Minister: Azerbaijan disrupts electricity supply from Armenia to Artsakh Kwai Chung murder suspect dies in Japan Police say the murder suspect was found dead in Japan. File photo: RTHK A man suspected of bludgeoning a female neighbour to death with a crowbar while he burgled her Kwai Chung flat in March has died after fleeing to Japan, Hong Kong police said on Saturday. Police were called to the property at 15 Kwai Yi Road on March 14 after the 63-year-old victim's partner returned home to find her dead from head injuries and the flat ransacked. Detectives identified a man who lived on the same floor as their suspect, finding a pair of blood-stained sneakers in his home. They also discovered that he had taken a flight to Japan at 5pm the same day, before the case was reported. Officers said five diamond rings, a mobile phone, a watch, five bank cards and a small amount of cash were missing from the flat. The stolen goods are worth $130,000. The police say they believe the killer stole the spare key to the flat and attacked the woman after being caught while committing the burglary. A bloodied crowbar, thought to be the murder weapon, was found at the scene. The force says it's been co-operating with Japanese law enforcement and was notified on April 6 that the body of a man had been found in the suburbs of Yamanashi Prefecture, near Tokyo, alongside a suicide note. "Japan's law enforcement agency has recently confirmed the identity of the deceased and handed over the body to his family, Hong Kong police said in a statement. "Police have been following up on the developments and investigation is still under way." The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) on Friday requested Union Finance Nirmala Sitharaman to waive off interest and penalty for Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) payable under notification No. 54/2018 dated October 9, 2018. The GCCI said that it has received representations from its various member units, stating that they have received summons along with interest and penalty in regards to IGST payable under the notification. These companies had imported material under advance license scheme and had missed paying IGST during clearance of the consignment as it was not reflected in the Bill of Exchange (BOE). In a letter to Sitharaman, GCCI President Pathik Patwari said: "Many units in Gujarat were not aware of the new notification issued by the GST Council, which stated that IGST had to be paid at the time of clearance of the consignment and then claimed as a refund through Input Tax Credit (ITC), or a Letter of Undertaking (LUT) was required to be submitted for not paying the IGST. As a result, they cleared their consignments without paying IGST, assuming it was not applicable and no LUT was submitted. The Customs Department also cleared their consignments without the LUT or payment of IGST." The GCCI said that it believes that the units in question did not intend to deliberately evade payment of tax, but this was an inadvertent error committed on their part. Furthermore, the GST Department did not incur any revenue loss due to this transaction. As per the revised notification, the units would have paid IGST in advance and then claimed a refund through ITC, resulting in the same outcome for the GST Department in terms of revenue collection. However, due to the accumulated interest and penalty, many of the units are unable to pay the outstanding tax amount. This could have adverse financial consequences for these units, as most of them are MSMEs, it said. --IANS janvi/vd ( 331 Words) 2023-05-05-22:42:04 (IANS) New Delhi [India], May 6 (ANI/NewsReach): linkedcare.com, the revolutionary new platform for medical doctors, developed by experts in India and Europe is now available for use in India. With its state-of-the-art technology and user-friendly interface, linkedcare.com is the perfect platform for doctors in India who want to manage their practice more efficiently and connect with patients. Medical doctors in India can simplify their practice management tasks by signing up for linkedcare.com. This platform offers various tools such as appointment scheduling, electronic medical records, electronic prescriptions, and more, to streamline their workflow. In addition to this, linkedcare.com enables doctors to connect with their patients in real-time using secure messaging and video conferencing tools. With access to the most comprehensive database of approved allopathic medication in India, doctors can easily find the right medication for their patients and classify health conditions according to the latest ICD-11 standards. This ensures accurate diagnoses and optimal patient care. The platform also allows doctors to print or send prescriptions to patients, making it easier for them to obtain necessary medications. With intuitive scheduling tools, doctors can manage their agenda even if they are practicing in multiple locations, while patients can schedule appointments online, reducing administrative workload and saving time. Furthermore, linkedcare.com provides access to a wealth of clinical resources and patient education materials, all in one place. linkedcare.com is committed to making it easy for doctors in India to provide the highest quality of care to their patients, without sacrificing their own work-life balance. That's why the platform is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, with features that help doctors work more efficiently and effectively Said Hans Erhard Reiter the founder of linkedcare India. It's important to note that linkedcare.com does not commercially intermediate between doctors and patients, and does not take a percentage of the revenue that doctors receive from their patients. The platform is designed solely to help doctors connect with patients and manage their practice. Patients, in turn, have access to their doctors and their health information via their own web portal, mylinkedcare.in. Here, patients can access all relevant information like prescriptions, booked consultations, and more. Patients will also receive reminders when it's time to take their medication, ensuring they stay on track with their treatment plan. Whether you're a primary care physician, a specialist, or a healthcare provider in any other field, linkedcare.com is the ideal platform for everyone. linkedcare already had close to 40 per cent of practicing private doctors registered in Portugal and is hoping to revolutionizing the way medicine is practiced in India. Contact: Abhinav Sharma - Shweta Sharaf shwetasaraf4@gmail.com +91 97110 00222, +91 98703 05022 This story has been provided by NewsReach. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsReach) Amit Sadh is back to play a cop in his next 'Main'. He had wrapped up the first schedule of the film last year. Since then Amit was busy completing his other work commitments. After taking a break to rejuvenate last month, the actor is back on the sets. He has started shooting for the second schedule of 'Main' in Mumbai. Taking to Instagram, the actor shared his look from the film and wrote in the caption, "Back to work !!! Photography by my favourite human @nikhil.nagzarkar.photography" https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr2lKdPJraQ/ The actor was seen posing with a gun on the set of the film. Clad in a blue denim shirt and black jeans, the actor exuded swag in his black shades. Actor Esha Deol commented on Amit's picture "Yeah. @theamitsadh". Ujjwala Raut wrote, "Wah wah!!! U are an ACP." A fan wrote, "The Handsome cop." Amit will share the screen space with actors like Seema Biswas, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Milind Gunaji in 'Main'. The actor was fascinated when the debutant filmmaker Sachin Saraf initially shared his vision for the film. The cop drama is said to be socially relevant with a powerful message. The 'Breathe' actor had already left everyone stunned with his portrayal of an unconventional crime branch officer in 'Breathe' and now he is excited to impress his fans with his performance as a cop once again. (ANI) Taking to Instagram, he shared the announcement video which he captioned, "It will be BIG! EXPLOSIVE & EPIC! #SPYJoin us on a mission to unravel India's best kept secret the Great Subhash Chandra Bose. Get ready for an action-adventure on a world of secrets. A Stunning subject which I Truly believe in #SPY Logo & Release date Announcement." https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cr5iupJMkvj/ The film is all set to hit the theatres on June 29, 2023. Soon after he shared the announcement video, fans and followers swamped the comment section with red hearts and fire emoticons. "Very interesting anna," a fan commented." Another fan wrote, "Yet another power pack content from beloved pan India star" What's the best-kept secret of the country? It's about Subhash Chandrabose who gave the slogan- Tum Mujhe Khoon Do, Main Tumhe Azadi Doonga (You give me blood I will give you freedom). Subhash Chandrabose's death is still a mystery. A movie based on this hidden story is sure to thrill the audience. Well, SPY is not a regular movie in the spy genre. The film marks the directorial debut of editor Garry BH and also stars Iswarya Menon and Sanya Thakur in pivotal roles. The makers will be unveiling the teaser of the film on May 12. (ANI) After the nationwide success of 'Karthikeya 2', Tollywood star Nikhil Siddhartha is back in the news with the pan-India thriller, 'Spy'. The makers unveiled a short video on Saturday to reveal Nikhil's association with the movie and create a buzz about "India's Best Kept Secret". So, what's the best-kept secret of the country? It's about the freedom fighter and founder of the Indian National Army (INA), Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who gave the nation the slogan: 'Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azadi doonga' (You give me blood, I will give you freedom). Netaji's death is still a mystery. A movie based on this hidden story is sure to amp up curiosity levels. So, 'Spy' clearly is not a regular movie in the espionage genre. The film sees the editor, Garry BH, making his debut as director with the movie, which is being produced on a grand scale. The makers announced that 'Spy' will be released on June 29. The teaser will be out on May 12. Iswarya Menon is the leading lady opposite Nikhil. Sanya Thakur will be seen as the second lead in the movie and Aryan Rajesh makes his comeback in a special role. Producer K. Rajashekhar Reddy billed the film as "a complete action-packed spy thriller" that will be released in five languages -- Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. --IANS srb/ ( 239 Words) 2023-05-06-20:00:04 (IANS) Listening to music might help reduce the dizziness, nausea, and headaches that virtual reality users may suffer after using digital gadgets, as per a study. Cybersickness - a type of motion sickness from virtual reality experiences such as computer games - significantly reduces when joyful music is part of the immersive experience, the study found. The intensity of the nausea-related symptoms of cybersickness was also found to substantially decrease with both joyful and calming music. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh assessed the effects of music in a virtual reality environment among 39 people aged between 22 and 36. They conducted a series of tests to assess the effect cybersickness had on a participant's memory skills reading speed and reaction times. Participants were immersed in a virtual environment, where they experienced three roller coaster rides aimed at inducing cybersickness. Two of the three rides were accompanied by electronic music with no lyrics by artists or from music streams that people might listen to which had been selected as being calming or joyful in a previous study. One ride was completed in silence and the order of the rides was randomised across participants. After each ride, participants rated their cybersickness symptoms and performed some memory and reaction time tests. Eye-tracking tests were also conducted to measure their reading speed and pupil size. For comparison purposes the participants had completed the same tests before the rides. The study found that joyful music significantly decreased the overall cybersickness intensity. Joyful and calming music substantially decreased the intensity of nausea-related symptoms. Cybersickness among the participants was associated with a temporary reduction in verbal working memory test scores, and a decrease in pupil size. It also significantly slowed reaction times and reading speed. The researchers also found higher levels of gaming experience were associated with lower cybersickness. There was no difference in the intensity of the cybersickness between female and male participants with comparable gaming experiences. Researchers say the findings show the potential of music in lessening cybersickness, understanding how gaming experience is linked to cybersickness levels, and the significant effects of cybersickness on thinking skills, reaction times, reading ability and pupil size, Dr Sarah E MacPherson, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, said: "Our study suggests calming or joyful music as a solution for cybersickness in immersive virtual reality. Virtual reality has been used in educational and clinical settings but the experience of cybersickness can temporarily impair someone's thinking skills as well as slowing down their reaction times. The development of music as an intervention could encourage virtual reality to be used more extensively within educational and clinical settings." (ANI) Days after he surprised political circles by announcing his decision to resign as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief, Sharad Pawar on Friday said he was revoking the move in deference to the wishes of party workers. A key opposition leader, Sharad Pawar is expected to continue his efforts to bring opposition parties together for the 2024 Lok Sabha battle. Apart from his party workers, some opposition leaders including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had also urged Pawar to reconsider his decision due to his role in forging opposition unity. Sharad Pawar, known for making deft political moves, said told the media that he was respecting the wishes of NCP workers. "Because of your love and respect, I am taking back my decision to step down as party chief. I can't disrespect your sentiments. Due to your love, I am respecting the demand that was made to me to withdraw my resignation and the resolution that was passed by senior NCP leaders. I withdraw my decision to step down as the national president of Nationalist Congress Party," Sharad Pawar said. "After my 63 years of public life, I felt I was relieved from my post, but after this, there was a strong reaction from the workers of NCP...office bearers expressed sadness over this decision and urged me to reconsider. Innumerable well-wishers, all of them called me, my party colleagues from all over the country and especially from Maharashtra and others urged me to take over the responsibility of the post of president again," he added. Earlier, Nationalist Congress Party passed a resolution rejecting Pawar's resignation as party chief and has requested him to continue to lead the party that he founded. The decision was taken after the party's core committee met in the morning. NCP workers were seen raising slogans in support of Sharad Pawar, urging him to reconsider his decision. Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar was not present at the press conference but the NCP chief said no meaning should be read into it. "Others are here. Committee took this decision and after their decision, I took my decision back. All are united and discussed this. Senior leaders are there in the committee," Sharad Pawar said. "Everyone can't be present in one press conference. Some of the people are here and some others are not. But this morning, senior leaders of the party, took a decision unanimously and made me aware of it. Everyone expressed their sentiments through that decision. So, raising a question as to who is present here and who isn't or looking for meaning into this, is not correct," he added. Sharad Pawar also refuted speculations of a rift in the NCP. "If someone wants to go, irrespective of the party, no one stops him....The leader should take care of how to make the organization healthy by being on the front foot," he said. Sharad Pawar said there were suggestions that he remains in the post and appoints his daughter and party MP Supriya Sule as working president. He said the suggestion was not accepted and did not find favour with Supriya Sule as well. Ajit Pawar also later welcomed Sharad Pawar's decision to withdraw his resignation from the post of party president. A statement from Ajit Pawar's office said the decision of the NCP chief will boost the enthusiasm of every party worker. "Sharad Pawar's decision to continue as National President of NCP by agreeing to the request of all party leaders and workers across the state and country will boost the enthusiasm of every worker of NCP including me," he said. He said Sharad Pawar had agreed to the request of workers and it was the responsibility of party workers to take care of his health. He urged party workers to dd more strength to NCP with their work. Sharad Pawar, who founded the NCP in 1999, has held the post of party chief for the past 24 years. The 82-year-old leader became an MLA for the first time at the young age of 27, before becoming the youngest Chief Minister of the state, at the age of 38, in 1978. A four-time chief minister of Maharashtra, he has also served as Defence Minister. He was Agriculture Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He was the first and former president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which was founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress. Sharad Pawar had founded NCP after his ouster from Congress. He, Tariq Anwar and PA Sangma had raised a revolt in the Congress Working Committee on the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin leading to a split in the party. NCP soon earned the recognition of a national party, after registering its presence in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Meghalaya and Manipur. However, it lost the tag this year. Sharad Pawar belongs to rural Maharashtra and is sometimes referred to as 'Chanakya' in political circles. He played a crucial role in the formation of Maha Vikas Aghadi, the alliance between Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP. Sharad Pawar had announced his decision to step down as party chief on Tuesday, He recommended a committee of senior NCP leaders to decide on the future course of action. "Since the formation of the Nationalist Congress Party in 1999, I have had the privilege of being elected as its President, which today is in its 24th year. This entire journey of being in public life, which began on May 1, 1960, has continued unabated for the past 63 years, having served Maharashtra and India in various capacities during this period," Pawar had said. "I have three-year tenure remaining in Rajya Sabha. I will not contest elections henceforth. In these three years, I will concentrate more on issues concerning to state and the country. I will not take any additional responsibilities. I started my political career on May 1, 1960. Yesterday we celebrated May Day. After this prolonged political career, one must think about stopping somewhere. One must not be greedy. I will never take the position of sticking to a post after so many years. Therefore, you might feel uneasy. But I have decided to retire from the post of the NCP chief, " Pawar had added. Speaking after the release of his autobiography, Pawar had also said that it was time for a new generation to guide the party and the direction it intends to take. The NCP leader, however, had said that he would not take retirement from public life even after resigning from the party post. Stalin had on Friday appealed to veteran leader Sharad Pawar to reconsider his decision to quit as the president of the NCP "With national politics centred around upcoming 2024 General Elections, I request Thiru. @PawarSpeaks, one of the tallest leaders, crucial in strengthening secular alliance across India, to reconsider his decision to relinquish the President post of @NCPspeaks and continue to lead NCP," he said in a tweet. Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut said leaders of opposition parties have conveyed their feelings to Sharad Pawar that his leadership is necessary for opposition unity "Uddhav Thackeray and other opposition parties have conveyed their feelings to Sharad Pawar that his leadership is necessary for opposition unity & the country considering the current political environment in country," he said. (ANI) Ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday appealed voters to show that money power is defeated in front of the people's power. "The people of Kalghatgi will not sell their votes for money; for this reason, there has been a confirmation between the people's power and the money power. The voters must show that the money power is defeated in front of the people's power on May 10," said CM Bommai on Friday. Speaking after campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Nagaraj Chabbi here, the CM said that he has travelled across the state and the election has now reached the final stage. "The people of this constituency must be protected and the BJP MLA has done this in the last five years. This segment has to face development in the coming days and for this reason, the national leaders have given a ticket to a person from another party. After finalising Chabbi's name, all other ticket aspirants are working unitedly," Bommai remarked. Bommai said the reason behind a tremendous response for the BJP was due to the appeasement, corruption, farmers' suicide, travails of farmers and neglect of the working class by the previous Congress Government. "The rice given by the Siddaramaiah government was supplied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The ration has been given since independence but Siddaramaiah was claiming of giving it to the poor for the first time," Bommai said. Bommai also stated the Congress manifesto spoke about banning Bajrang Dal along with PFI but the state has no right to ban it as the organisation is all India. The Congress manifesto said the party is committed to taking firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations spreading hatred among communities on grounds of caste and religion. "We believe that law and Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities. We will take decisive action as per law including imposing a ban on any such organisations," the manifesto said. Meanwhile, CM Bommai on Friday held a road show and public meeting in the Varuna constituency of Mysore district. Bommai campaigned for BJP candidate V Somanna. Speaking after holding the roadshow in support of Varuna BJP candidate V Somanna and T Narasipur candidate Dr Revanna on Friday, Chief Minister Bommai said the atmosphere in Varuna constituency is quite colourful as farmers, youths and women have decided to elect Somamna as their representative. Notably, Varuna's seat is represented by Congress MLA Yathindra Siddaramaiah, son of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Further, T Narasipur assembly constituency is represented by Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) MLA Ashvin Kumar M. The Karnataka Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with the counting of votes are scheduled for May 13. (ANI) The deceased, identified as Vikas alias Akash, a resident of Kirari Suleman Nagar, was found lying in a pool of blood, with his throat slit, near the railway station park in Nangloi. According to police, a PCR call was received at 1.30 p.m. regarding the murder of a man. "Upon arrival at the scene, the police found the body of 20-year-old Vikas, with his throat slit with a sharp-edged weapon. The caller was identified as Bimlesh Rana, the brother of the accused Pankaj," Deputy Commissioner of Police, Outer, Harendra Singh said. "The Forensic Science Laboratory and crime teams were called to the scene, and the body was shifted to the mortuary. The investigation is currently ongoing, and several teams have been constituted to nab the accused," he said. During investigation, it was revealed that Pankaj had married Geeta Kumari, the sister of Vikas, in 2016. The police have not yet disclosed any possible motive for the murder. --IANS ssh/vd ( 191 Words) 2023-05-05-20:46:06 (IANS) President Droupadi Murmu on Friday visited Similipal Tiger Reserve and undertook a safari ride to see wild animals and the flora and fauna of the national park. Murmu, who is on a three-day visit to home district Mayurbhanj in Odisha, stayed at her house in Rairangpur on Thursday night. Though she was scheduled to stay at a government bungalow at Rairangpur, she did not miss the chance to stay with her family members and relatives at her own house. She started the second day of her visit by paying floral tributes to former President Giani Zail Singh on his birth anniversary at Rairangpur. She also paid tributes to Pandit Raghunath Murmu, the inventor of the Ol Chiki script of Santhali language, at his birthplace Dandabosh village on the occasion of his birth anniversary. Later, she visited Similipal Tiger Reserve. She visited Chahala in the core area, where local tribal food was served to her and then undertook safari to see deer, sambhar and elephants. The President also visited the waterfalls at Barehipani and Joranda. After her return from Similipal, she is now at Baripada, where she will spend the night. The President will attend the convocation of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University on Saturday before flying back to Delhi. --IANS bbm/vd ( 221 Words) 2023-05-05-20:48:04 (IANS) Three days after the brutal murder of gangster Tillu Tajpuriya a.k.a Sunil Maan inside the high-security Tihar Jail, the Director-General (Prison) has suspended three assistant superintendents, four wardens and another staff member, sources said on Friday. Department inquiries have also been initiated against three wardens even as DG Sanjay Baniwal instructed action to be taken against the commander of the Tamil Nadu Special Police Force under whose command nine personnel served, who were in the prison ward at the time of incident. "The prison department has initiated action in the matter of Tillu Tajpuria's killing in which eight staff, including three assistant supritendents, of the prison department has been suspended," confirmed a prison spokesperson. Recently, chilling CCTV footages surfaced showing the murder of Tajpuriya allegedly by the members of the notorious Jitender Gogi gang inside the high-security Tihar Jail on May 2 in the presence of prison officials, who appeared to be standing by without even intervening. The incident took place within the sight of Tihar Jail officials, who seemed to be standing idle as mere spectators. A new 2.36-minute-long video shows the attackers forcefully entering a separate area where prison officials were in the process of taking Tajpuriya to the hospital after the attack on him. However, the assailants proceeded to viciously stab, kick, and punch Tajpuriya in a brutal attack aimed at ensuring his death, in front of a number of prison officials. The disturbing footage has sparked significant concerns about the level of security within Tihar and the apparent lack of action on the part of the officials to quell the violence. As per reports, Tajpuriya was stabbed over 90 times by the assailants. Tajpuriya (33), a resident of Tajpur Kalan on the outskirts of Delhi, was lodged in Tihar Jail under tight security measures on the ground-floor of Jail No. 8. "The prison staff revealed that Deepak a.k.a. Titar (31), Yogesh a.k.a. Gainda (30), Rajesh a.k.a. Tunda (42), and Riyaz Khan (39) had attacked Tajpuriya with improvised knives. When another inmate, Rohit, tried to intervene, he was also attacked and injured," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Akshat Kaushal said. Tajpuriya was an accused in the 2021 Rohini court shootout in which gangster Jitender Gogi was killed. --IANS ssh/arm ( 388 Words) 2023-05-05-22:32:03 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Rajasthan on May 10 where he will offer his prayers at the Shrinathji temple in Nathdwara in Rajsamand district. State BJP President C.P. Joshi said that the Prime Minister will kick-start his programme in Rajasthan on May 10 with a 'darshan' of Aaradhya Shrinathji. After this, he will lay the foundation stone for various development works in the state. The Prime Minister Modi will also address a public meeting at the Brahma Kumari Ishwariya Vishwavidyalaya in Mount Abu. --IANS arc/arm ( 103 Words) 2023-05-05-22:42:03 (IANS) In a spillover of the ethnic violence in Manipur, members of Kuki and Meitei communities clashed in the Meghalaya capital and police have arrested 16 people in connection with the incident, officials said on Friday. Police said that the clashes occurred at Nongrim Hills near the Mizo Morden School on Thursday evening, and a police team immediately rushed to the area and apprehended 16 persons of both the two communities. Senior police officials warned both the communities of stringent actions against those try to vitiate the peace in the city. --IANS sc/vd ( 104 Words) 2023-05-05-22:48:01 (IANS) Over eight lakh kendu leaf workers of Odisha will benefit from the second phase assistance announced by the Chief Minister. Kendu leaves are being collected in 22 districts. However, financial assistance will not be distributed to the workers of Jharsuguda as the model code of conduct is in force in view of by-poll. The workers of Jharsuguda will get assistance after completion of the poll, officials said. In the first phase, the government transferred assistance worth Rs 83 crore directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. In total, a record amount of Rs 194 crore has been sanctioned for the kendu leaf beneficiaries for the crop season 2022. The announcement by the government will benefit 7.75 lakh Kendu leaf pluckers, 40,000 binders and the remaining are seasonal staff. The officials further said that each kendu leaf plucker would get financial assistance of Rs 1,000 along with Rs 200 and Rs 160 for water bottles and sandals, respectively. Similarly, Rs 1,500 will be given as financial assistance to each kendu leaf binder and seasonal worker. --IANS bbm/pgh ( 212 Words) 2023-05-05-22:54:03 (IANS) There are indications of cabinet expansion in Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's Government of Uttarakhand, according to sources. A decision on cabinet expansion is possible after the Karnataka election results, the source added. The Karnataka Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with the counting of votes scheduled for May 13. Regarding the expansion, a round of discussion has been held between CM Dhami and the state in charge. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also stepped up preparations for the Bageshwar by-election. Meanwhile, former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Friday paid a courtesy call to CM Dhami at his residence. Koshiyari discussed various contemporary issues related to the state with the Chief Minister. Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand CM Dhami visited Dol Ashram, Almora and participated in the anniversary program of Shri Kalyanika Himalaya Devasthanam. Along with worshipping 1100 girls, Chief Minister unveiled the Nar-Narayan idols, He also offered prayers at Shreeyantra. Addressing the gathering, he said, "Param Pujya Maharaj Kalyandas ji did continuous spiritual practice for five decades as a seeker and created many such projects in the whole of India, through which the upliftment of people, born in ordinary homes, was done." "The way he has installed Shreeyantra in this ashram, in the coming times not only India but people from all over the world will come to this ashram to know peace, spirituality and culture," he added. The Chief Minister congratulated all those present on Buddha Purnima and asked them to follow the path of religion, peace and non-violence of Mahatma Buddha. The Chief Minister said that while this ashram is promoting religious tourism on the one hand, the great work of educating the youth about Indian culture is also being done through it. "To be born in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand is a great fortune in itself. This ashram is a living example of our old civilization and culture. It is a grand and divine centre of meditation and spirituality. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our government is continuously moving ahead with the resolution of the new Uttarakhand," Dhami said. He said that our government is committed to preserving culture in the state, and for this, our government has come up with a strict conversion law. (ANI) BJP MP from Aurangabad Sushil Kumar Singh and his security personnel chased down and managed to capture three armed motorcycle-borne snatchers after a long chase on Friday afternoon. Returning from Sasaram district prison after meeting former MLA Jawahar Prasad, who was lodged in jail on the charge of communal violence Ram Navami, the MP noticed a woman pillion rider crying for help on Sone river bridge under Barun police station in Aurangabad, saying three snatchers had snatched here gold chain and sped away towards Aurangabad city on NH 19 GT road. Singh directed his driver to chase the accused and managed to intercept the criminals after 8 km but they brandished weapons at the MP and threatened him and his bodyguards to dire consequences if they don't stay away but he did not let them scot free. Eventually, snatchers took an exit from NH 19 at Madhupur village to escape the MP and his bodyguards, but their motorcycle disbalanced on the muddy road and they fell down. Leaving the bike, they ran away towards an agricultural field, while pursued by the MP's security men who managed to nab all three. "We have nabbed three snatchers after a long chase and recovered the gold chain from their possession. We have also handed over them to district police," Singh said. "This incident was an indication of the falling law and order situation in Bihar. Criminals are committing crime in daylight. They are fearless under the Nitish Kumar government. It was a coincidence that I met the victim and helped her as a brother," Singh said. During the chase, Bihar Police constables Rupam Singh, Suman Singh and CRPF trooper Rajesh Kumar played crucial roles in nabbing the accused. Singh employees Suvendu Shekher, Vinay Singh, Mitendra Kumar Singh and Upendra Singh also helped them in nabbing the accused. The accused are identified as Tinku Kumar, Anand Kumar Thakur and Bittu Yadav, all residents of Rohtas district. Local police also recovered a pistol, a country made 'Katta', 7 live cartridges and a mobile phone from their possession. The victim is identified as Sarita Gupta. She was returning with her husband Rajesh Gupta from Jamuhar medical college in Rohtas where her aunt was admitted. --IANS ajk/vd ( 387 Words) 2023-05-05-23:04:02 (IANS) The Government of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi conceptualized the Yuva Sangam-II program. The Ministry of Education identified the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) and NIT Warangal as pairing institutes to organize the youth exchange between Uttarakhand and Telangana states. The Yuva Sangam-II Telangana contingent reached Roorkee on April 29, 2023, and the extraordinary event lasted till May 4 2023. The participants visited the Ambuja Cement and Everest industries in Bhagwanpur. They were briefed on how cement is manufactured and how the industries are putting various measures in place to reduce the carbon footprint in the manufacturing process. An inauguration event of Yuva Sangam was held in MAC Auditorium, IIT Roorkee, attended by Prof. MK Barua, Dean of Student's Welfare, Prof. Apurbba Sharma, Dean of Academic Affairs, Prof. MV Sunil Krishna, Associate Dean of Student's Welfare, and Prof. B Srinivas, Nodal Officer, Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat, NIT Warangal. The event also witnessed several cultural performances by the incoming Telangana team showcasing the cultural diversity of Telangana. The next day the contingent visited the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences Nainital, a research institute specializing in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Atmospheric Science. Additionally, the Telangana contingent visited various central facilities of IIT Roorkee. These facilities included state-of-the-art laboratories, incubation centres etc. This allowed the students to explore the 175-year-old institute and witness cutting-edge research being carried out at the Institute. The contingent visited the supercomputer PARAM Ganga and interacted with the technical staff. The students were briefed about various problems which the high-performance supercomputer is currently being used to solve. The students had a wonderful discussion with the technical staff and have shown a keen interest in understanding the working of supercomputers and what kind of problems the PARAM Ganga is currently trying to solve. The Telangana contingent visited the TiDES (Technology Innovation and Development of Entrepreneurship Support), an incubation centre at IIT Roorkee. TiDES provides support and resources to innovative start-ups. The students interacted with the start-ups currently being incubated at IIT Roorkee. Additionally, the Telangana contingent explored the Tinkering lab and iHub, which are centres for innovation and creativity aimed at providing students and faculty members with a platform to ideate and develop their ideas. The TINKERING LAB showcased many prototyping and product-building facilities, such as power tools, CNC Lathe, 3D printers and 3D scanners. The Telangana contingent also visited Rishikesh and enjoyed the scenic beauty of nearby places. A visit to a nearby village was arranged for the Telangana contingent to engage them in the Buddy program. The students will be acquainted with the various cultural aspects of village life in Uttarakhand. This provided them a unique opportunity to interact with the rural public of Uttarakhand and learn about their cultural practices, food, way of living, customs etc. The students also witnessed how the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is helping to make the villagers empowered and self-reliant. The Yuva Sangam-II came to a gracious halt on May 4, 2023, and the valedictory ceremony was held at MAC Auditorium, IIT Roorkee, to bid farewell to the youth of Telangana after the successful completion of their trip to Uttarakhand. Yuva Sangam youth from Telangana also visited the Saharanpur campus of IIT Roorkee. On the occasion, Prof K K Pant, Director IIT Roorkee, said, "Such opportunities enable our youth to explore diverse cultures and understand different aspects of India. The 'Yuva Sangam' initiative under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat has been conceptualized as a collaborative effort to strengthen people-to-people connection and build empathy among youth nationwide." Prof K K Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, applauded the spirit of Yuva Sangam youth from Telangana. He further said that the whole idea behind Yuva Sangam was to celebrate India's diversity, rejuvenate the spirit of oneness and highlight the strength of India's democracy and education system. Applauding the spirit of Yuva Sangam, Prof Mukesh Kumar Barua, Dean of Students' Welfare, IIT Roorkee, highlighted, "Through the course of the programme, students interacted with each other in the areas of language, literature, science, tourism, cuisine, festivals, cultural even events and more. It gave them a first-hand experience of living in a completely different geographical and cultural scenario." (ANI) The situation in violence-hit Manipur has improved after the intervention of security forces, according to the State's Director General of Police P Doungel. While talking to ANI, Doungel said, "Because of the security forces, the situation has improved and we have received strict orders that must not spare those who contribute to violence and strict action must be taken against them." "Various kinds of forces have been deployed in Manipur including RAF, BSF, CRPF etc. To manage all the forces Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Kuldiep Singh, has been appointed as the security advisor. While the State government appointed Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence), Ashutosh Sinha as the overall operational commander to control the situation in Manipur, the State DGP said. Meanwhile, Assam Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi on Friday said, "The government both at the Centre and in Manipur should be more proactive they should put down this mindless violence in an impartial manner and culprits should be brought to justice." Manipur Government requisitioned Army and Assam Rifles on May 3 and 4 in the immediate aftermath of inter-community clashes which erupted in a few districts of the northeastern State. "As a result of the proactive and timely response, Churachandpur, KPI, Moreh and Kakching are now under firm control with no major violence since last night", the Indian Army had said in a statement on May 5 evening. The Army said that situation in Manipur has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. "The situation has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. IAF undertook continuous sorties from two airfields in Assam employing C17 Globemaster and AN 32 aircraft," Indian Army had stated. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the situation in Manipur through a video conference meeting with state Chief Minister N Biren Singh and top officials in the state as well as the Centre. A total of 10 more companies (nearly 1,000 personnel) of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were also dispatched to the violence-hit state earlier in the day on Friday following orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). On Thursday, Shah had held two meetings via video-conferencing and spoke with the CMs of Manipur and neighbouring states including that of Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam. To keep the situation in control, five Rapid Action Force (RAF) companies of the Central Reserve Police Force along with other CAPF companies were dispatched to Manipur on Thursday. According to the Army statement, in the past 12 hours, Imphal East and West districts witnessed sporadic incidents of arson and attempts by inimical elements to establish a blockade, towards which a firm and synergized response coupled with the induction of additional columns ensured control of Security Forces over the situation. Proactive rescue operations, the conduct of flag marches, area domination, and interaction with locals/ influencers to reassure them of their personal safety were some of the major activities that were and are being undertaken, it said. According to the Army statement, a total of approximately 13,000 civilians have been rescued and are currently staying in various ad-hoc boarding facilities specifically created for the purpose of Company Operating Bases and Military Garrisons. As of date, more than 100 columns are working tirelessly towards restoring law and order in Manipur at the earliest. Indian Army remains committed to restoring law and order and appeals for peace and urges all communities to shun the path of violence, the statement added. As Indian Army and the Assam Rifles continue their efforts to evacuate and provide assistance to affected people in violence-hit Manipur, locals praised the efforts of security forces and thanked them for providing a "security blanket". A video shared by Indian Army shows glimpses of families rescued from violence-hit areas and their stay within Army and Assam Rifles premises. As per the army a total of about 13,000 people have been provided accommodation within their campus. The Indian Army also urged the citizens to rely only on content from official and verified sources. (ANI) Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday hit out at Congress while highlighting the achievements of the Bharatiya Janata Party and said that the double-engine government in Karnataka has worked for the benefit of the people. The final leg of campaigning for the May 10 Assembly elections have intensified in the State. Addressing an election rally in Belagavi, Amit Shah said PM Modi fulfilled the dreams of Lord Ram devotees by constructing the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. "BJP has worked for the farmers here. We have given several benefits to the farmers. Congress insulted Savarkar. But BJP developed the Marathas and respected them...PM Modi fulfilled the dreams of Lord Ram devotees by constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya". Shah said that the Congress party insulted Lord Bajrang Bali. Congress faced a major backlash from Hindu organisations after it announced a ban on Bajrang Dal in its manifesto for the Karnataka assembly elections. "We believe that law and Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and Organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities," read the Congress manifesto. Shah said that no one has trust in Rahul Gandhi's guarantees, adding they (Congress) were defeated in states like Tripura, Assam, and Nagaland. "It's BJP who banned Popular Front of India," Shah said. Previously this April, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said each vote to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will protect the State from the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). Notably, the PFI and its many affiliates were declared 'unlawful association' by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in September last year after its involvement in violent activities came to light during investigations carried out by various state police units and national agencies. "The BJP gave ration to the public, gave water facilities and health facilities. The double-engine government has worked for the benefit of the people," Shah said. Karnataka will go to Assembly polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. (ANI) Union law minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said that the Centre is taking all possible steps to reduce the violence in Manipur and bring the state back to normalcy. The law minister urged the people of Manipur to maintain peace. While talking to reporters, Rijiju said, "Unfortunately there is violence happening in Manipur. The centre and Home Minister steps are taking steps to end the violence. Home Minister is continuously monitoring the situation in Manipur." He added that he had received several phone calls from Chief Ministers and other leaders regarding the Manipur violence. He said, "The Centre is taking all possible actions. It is very unfortunate. Many people have died and losses have been incurred. We are all brothers. People should live in unity. People in Manipur should maintain brotherhood. Issues can be solved through dialogue. Under the Modi regime, the northeast has gone very far in terms of development." He further said, "Through this violence, the most significant loss is made to youth, women and development. Development in the beautiful northeast can be made successful only if peace strives." He stated, "As Union minister from the northeastern community, I urge the people of Manipur to maintain peace. Everyone should contribute to bringing back peace in Manipur. Meanwhile, internet services remain suspended and curfew imposed in violence-affected regions and security forces deployed in Manipur after clashes between communities residing in hills and plains districts. This comes after a Scheduled Tribes reservation was demanded by the plains dwellers, who are predominantly Meiteis and are the majority in number. Against those demands, a rally was organised by the All Tribals Students Union (ATSU) Manipur on Wednesday, which later turned violent. (ANI) Amid the violence in Manipur, the National People's Party-led Meghalaya government on Saturday held a meeting to review the status of the ongoing evacuation process of its students from the violence-hit State. The meeting was chaired by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma. Taking to Twitter, CM Sangma said, "Held meeting with officials to check on the status of the evacuation process of students from Meghalaya in Manipur. The team is working round the clock to ensure our students from the state are back home safe." Earlier in the day, a senior official of the Indian army told ANI that with the joint efforts of Assam Rifles, we have so far evacuated more than 16,000 persons from the violence-hit areas of the North Eastern state. He said that efforts are on to bring the overall situation under control and for normalcy to be returned. "So far, the Indian army and Assam Rifles have evacuated more than 16,000 people from different parts of the state. Flag marches are being held to control the situation," the army official said. On the other hand, defence sources said that as many as 120 columns of the Indian army and Assam Rifles have deployed in the violence-hit areas of the state and 10 CRPF companies are on their way to Manipur. On the other hand, several violent incidents took place in Churachandpur district on Friday night. Churachandpur has witnessed a fresh round of violence after remaining peaceful for 18 hours. In the Changpikot area in the Churachandpur district, a clash between two groups occured on May 5 night. Meanwhile, Internet services remain suspended and curfew imposed in violence-affected regions and security forces deployed in Manipur to avert crisis after clashes began between communities residing in hills and plains districts. This comes after a Scheduled Tribes reservation was demanded by the plains dwellers, who are predominantly Meiteis and are the majority in numbers. Against those demands, a rally was organised by the All Tribals Students Union (ATSU) Manipur on Wednesday, which later turned violent. Several state governments, including those in the country's northeastern part, are working on plans to evacuate their citizens out of the violence-hit Manipur. (ANI) The political mercury has shot up in Madhya Pradesh after a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat claimed that Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia supporters who joined the party have been openly looting the state. The ex-MLA from Badnawar constituency Shekhawat made the remark while talking to reporters at his Indore residence on Friday. "When Scindia and his supporters joined the BJP, the party workers and leaders welcomed them. They (party workers) also made them win in the bypolls. But after that, the conditions that have been created inside the party are painful. Today, the ground of our party became hollow after their (Scindia supporters) arrival. The principles on which the party was built have left away," Shekhawat said. The former MLA further said, "Never heard so many allegations of corruption on the ministers of BJP which are being levelled today. The leaders who came with Jyotiraditya Scindia have been openly looting." Shekhawat alleged, "At present, state minister Rajyavardhan Singh Dattigaon started taking over all the lands, taking over the mines, conducting illegal mining and running gambling openly in Badnawar." The party has been defaming since the arrival of Scindia supporters. Leaders associated with the basic concept of the party are suffering. This is what he is telling the organisation. The party worker is telling his point to the organisation that they should listen to them, the BJP leader added. Those (referring to Scindia supporters) who worked to topple the BJP government, those who worked against the party last time (referring to 2018 assembly polls), the party is rewarding them. And people, who invested their lives in building this party, were made to sit in the corner by humiliation, Shekhawat said. The party should learn to respect elderly leaders, they (elderly leaders) are not demanding tickets for election. This is not a fight for a ticket, it is a struggle to keep the party alive and against those who are trying to destroy the party, he added. On the other hand, responding to the allegation, Industry Policy and Investment Promotion Minister Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon said, "No one can prove any link of gambling with me. There is no encroachment on any land by me and my family. Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat himself had a case of gambling, one can check his 2013 assembly elections affidavit. It is written in the FIR that there was a raid on Hotel Masal and Shekhawat was caught with cash." "A case of corruption is registered against Shekhawat in Lokayukta in connection with Apex bank scam. Which case is on me? The allegations are baseless," Dattigaon added. (ANI) A total of 10,000 Yaba tablets (a combination of methamphetamine, an addictive stimulant) were seized from the possession of those arrested, police said. Diganta Borah, Commissioner of Police, Guwahati said that based on source information on suspected drug traffickers an operation was launched leading to the arrests and seizure of contraband drugs. Yaba is a psychotropic drug containing a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine and it is produced largely in Myanmar. Police seized Rs 38,020 cash, mobile phones, and one four-wheeler vehicle besides Yaba tablets. The arrested persons were identified as Hamidullah, Nazer Hussain, Abdul Haque, Motibur Bhuyan, Ebad Hussain, Abdul Adut and Mistan Hoque. Further investigation is going on in this matter, said police. In another unrelated incident, four people including a Nigerian national were on May 4 arrested in Mumbai for allegedly selling drugs. Police said that narcotics with an estimated value of Rs 32 lakh in the international market were seized from their possession. The arrested persons were identified as Suraj Habib Sheikh, Zaheer Wahabuddin Qureshi, Riyaz Nasir Ali Sayyad and Sunday John Ambaze, a Nigerian national, the police said. A case was registered against them under the NDPS Act after which all of them were sent to police custody till May 6. (ANI) Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday lashed out at the Congress over its criticism of the film 'The Kerala Story' and said that the opposition party could stoop to any level for vote bank and appeasement politics. Stating that the film exposes the design of terrorists, Thakur questioned Congress' motive behind opposing the film that was released in theatres on Friday. Speaking to ANI, Thakur said, "Congress can stoop to any level for vote bank and appeasement politics. 'The Kerala Story' is based on a terror conspiracy. It shows the ugly truth of terrorism and exposes terrorists' design. But why is the Congress opposing the film and trying to hide the truth." Congress and other opposition parties like the CPI (M) have come down heavily on the movie alleging that it intends to create a communal divide in society. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took to Twitter and posted "It may be your Kerala story. It is not our Kerala story' along with a poster of the movie." Leader of the Opposition in Kerala legislative assembly V D Satheesan said the film was part of a vicious agenda to sow seeds of hatred and religious animosity but the people will stand united to defeat such forces. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a poll rally in Karnataka also accused the Congress and said that "The Kerala Story" film, exposed the consequences of terrorism. "'The Kerala Story' film is based on a terror conspiracy. It shows the ugly truth of terrorism and exposes the design of terrorists", the PM said adding that Congress is standing with terrorists who are trying to ban the film. Helmed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the film has triggered a massive political row with various leaders reacting to the upcoming movie. The film stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani in the lead roles. The trailer of Sen's film 'The Kerala Story' came under fire as it claimed that 32,000 girls from the state went missing and later joined the terrorist group, ISIS. Faced with backlash the makers then withdrew the figure and called the movie the story of three women from Kerala, in its trailer description. (ANI) Delhi's Rouse Avenue court on Saturday listed the supplementary charge sheet filed against AAP leader Manish Sisodia for consideration on May 10. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) apprised the Delhi Court that a proceed of a crime of Rs 622 crore was generated due to the activities of the accused as Excise Minister. The submission was filed before the court by the special public prosecutor for ED during a hearing on a charge sheet against former deputy CM Manish Sisodia. Special judge M K Nagpal has listed the matter for consideration on May 10. ED apprised the court that the hard copy of the supplementary charge sheet has been filed. Thereafter, the court directed the ED to file the soft copies of the charge sheet by May 8. Advocate Irshad Khan requested the court to provide a copy of the charge sheet as the bail in this matter is pending before the High Court. Manish Sisodia is to be produced after judicial custody on Monday. His bail is listed in the high court on May 11. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed a Supplementary charge sheet against Manish Sisodia in the Delhi Excise policy case. The supplementary charge sheet was filed by special public prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta. The supplementary charge sheet has more than 2100 pages. The operating part has 271 pages. The charge has been filed within the stipulated period of 60 days. Sisodia was arrested by the ED in this case on March 9. Earlier he was arrested by the CBI on February 26. He is the 29th accused arrested in this case. The CBI has already filed the charge sheet in the matter. The Delhi High Court issued notice to ED on Sisodia's bail petition in a money laundering case. Sisodia has moved both regular and interim bail pleas in the high court. He has moved interim bail plea citing his wife's illness and seeks six weeks' bail in that. Earlier Trial Court dismissed Manish Sisodia's bail plea in the money laundering case. "This case of economic offences having serious repercussions upon the general public and society at large as the evidence collected during investigation speaks volumes of his involvement in the commission of the said offence", stated the Rouse Avenue Court last week while dismissing Sisodia's bail plea in the money laundering case related to the Excise scam. Court also noted that some evidence is also alleged to have surfaced during the investigation to show that some part of the kickback or bribe amount received from South lobby was spent or utilized in connection with AAP's election campaign in Goa and some cash payments through Hawala channels are alleged to have been sent to Goa for bearing the said expenses and even some fake invoices are alleged to have been created as a cover-up for the cash amounts transferred through hawala channels. It is stated that the above cash transfers were made as per instructions of the co-accused Vijay Nair, who was the representative of the applicant and the AAP and also the Media Incharge of AAP and looking after the work related to said elections. He also roped in a company named Chariot Productions Media Pvt. Ltd. owned by the co-accused Rajesh Joshi to do the election-related advertising work and other jobs for the party during said elections, noted the court. "Thus, in view of the above background, the serious nature of the allegations made and the role played by the applicant in the above criminal conspiracy, his connection with the activities relating to the generation or acquisition and use etc. of the above proceeds of crime within the meaning of Section 3 of the PMLA and the oral and documentary evidence collected in support of the same and as placed for the perusal of the court", the order stated. The order further said, "This court is of the considered opinion that even if the rigours and restrictions contained U/S 45 of the PMLA are viewed and construed reasonably, the prosecution has still been able to show a genuine and prima facie case for the involvement of the applicant in the commission of the alleged offence of money laundering." The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 9 arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail. Sisodia was arrested by the CBI earlier in its ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD). (ANI) Lashing out at the Congress party over corruption, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that since Bharatiya Janata Party's double-engine government has put a stop to Congress party's corruption, they have resorted to abusing him. He said that BJP has ended corruption by bringing Jan Dhan Aadhar Mobile (JAM) and sending money directly to people's accounts. Addressing a public meeting in Badami, PM Modi said, "BJP has come with a road map to make Karnataka, the Number-1 state in the country. But, Congress has decided that it will not brush off its old habits, and will make appeasement, foul language and 'taalabandi' as their election agenda". "They are doing vote bank politics, promising to stop BJP's welfare schemes and are abusing OBC and Lingayat community and even me," he added. Hitting out at former CM Siddaramaiah, the Prime Minister said that the basic facilities had not reached out to the poor in the Bagalkote region. "Siddaramaiah has stopped campaigning in this constituency because he has understood the wave. But, people should ask him, why the poor people in the Bagalkote region were deprived of all the basic facilities. More than 3 lakh people received tap water from our government. Houses were sanctioned for more than 25000 people. More than 6 lakh people received health cover under Ayushman Bharat. 7 lakh people received benefits of Mudra Yojana," he said. He further took a jibe at the Congress party using the "1 Rupee, 85 paise" reference for former PM Rajiv Gandhi. "All this shows that only a double-engine government can work for the people. Congress party which has an 85 per cent record in taking commission can never work for the people. Former PM Rajiv Gandhi himself accepted that if the centre sanctions Rs 1 for the poor, only 15 paise reach them. It clearly means that the remaining 85 paise was taken off by some people. It was because of this corruption only, that country remained backward for so long. PM Modi added, "Today, BJP has brought a 'Trishul' with Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile. This has destroyed all the old habits of the Congress party. In the last nine years, Rs 29 lakh crore has been transferred in the accounts of medium to small accounts in the country without any corruption. If this would have happened under Congress, as per Rajiv Gandhi's calculations, Rs 24 lakh crore would have gone in the hands of Congress leaders only. Today, people get impatient incurring a loss of Rs 24,000. Here I have given Congress a loss of Rs 24 lakh crore. So, isn't it obvious that they would abuse me?" The Prime Minister further said that the party has been receiving a great response in the state and affirmed confidence in BJp securing the mandate in the upcoming state elections. "BJP has been receiving a tremendous response from the people of Karnataka. They are turning out in large numbers. Bestowing so much affection is a speciality of the state. It seems people are themselves fighting the election for BJP in the state. This clearly shows that a double-engine government will be formed in the state," he added. Earlier in the day, PM Modi also held a mega roadshow in Bengaluru during the last leg of the campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly polls. He is scheduled to hold two mega road shows and four public meetings this weekend, as per the party sources. Karnataka will go to polls on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13. (ANI) Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh is holding an all-party meeting on Saturday in the wake of the violence in the State. Political parties including Congress, NPF, NPP, CPI (M), Aam Aadmi Party and Shiv Sena are attending the meeting chaired by Biren Singh himself. The meeting follows violence that erupted in the immediate aftermath of inter-community clashes in a few districts of the northeastern State amid protests against the inclusion of the majority Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. Manipur Government had requisitioned Army and Assam Rifles on May 3 and 4. State's Director General of Police P Doungel has said that the situation in the State has improved after the intervention of security forces. Forces including RAF, BSF, CRPF have been deployed in Manipur, he said and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Kuldiep Singh, has been appointed as the security advisor. The State government has also appointed Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence), Ashutosh Sinha as the overall operational commander to control the situation in Manipur, the State DGP said. "As a result of the proactive and timely response, Churachandpur, KPI, Moreh and Kakching are now under firm control with no major violence since last night", the Indian Army had said in a statement on May 5 evening. The Army said that situation in Manipur had been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. "The situation has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. IAF undertook continuous sorties from two airfields in Assam employing C17 Globemaster and AN 32 aircraft," Indian Army had stated. (ANI) The Delhi High Court has summoned the Secretary of the Union Health Ministry over noncompliance of its directing the release of Rs 5 crore for the treatment of children suffering from rare diseases. The court said it cannot turn a blind eye to the plight of the children. Justice Prathiba M Singh said in the order issued on May 3, "On 15th February 2023, a further amount of Rs 5 crore was directed to be released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The said direction was reiterated in an order dated 6th March 2023. However, the said amount has not been released to date." The bench was hearing a batch of petitions by children suffering from rare diseases seeking free treatment. Justice Singh expressed her displeasure and said, " Under such circumstances, the court cannot turn a blind eye to the medical condition of 40 children who are Petitioners before the court." The judge noted that the children have started medication but if a further course of medication is not forthcoming the effectiveness of the previous doses will be lost. Under these circumstances, the Secretary, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shall physically remain present in Court on the next date of hearing, Justice Singh directed. The court also said that It has been noticed in orders of 23rd March 2021 and 30th January 2023 that a large number of funds were, in fact, allocated for rare diseases. However, the budgets lapsed and the amounts were not released. "Repeated orders of this Court for release of further amounts have not been acceded to by the Ministry," the bench expressed its displeasure. The court observed that the lapse of budget has also been confirmed in the affidavit by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Union of India to the tune of almost Rs 193 crore. The said affidavit also demonstrated that as against the elapsed budget, only a sum of Rs.7 crore was spent between 2018 till 2021, Justice Singh pointed out. The bench also noted that The Union of India challenged the two orders. This Court was informed that no stay on the said two orders has been granted and the Division Bench has also clarified that the pendency of the LPA would not come in the way of this Court hearing the matters further. Under these circumstances, the health ministry Secretary shall physically remain present in Court on the next date of hearing, the judge said. (ANI). The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) in Tamil Nadu on Saturday staged a protest against the release of the controversial film 'The Kerala Story' in Chennai. The Naam Tamilar Party cadres headed by its organiser, actor and director Seeman started protests in the Chennai Anna Nagar Arch near Skywalk Mall in Chennai against the movie, which was released in the cinema halls on May 5. Protesters of the NTK party raised slogans and held placards demanding a ban on the film. The actor, director and head of the NTK party, Seeman said that if the movie is screened in cinemas despite the protests, they would break the screens and theatres. Seeman also appealed to the theatre owners not to run the film 'The Kerala Story' and urged people not to watch the movie. He claimed that if the movie is not banned, the NTK cadres would buy the tickets for the movie and start protesting inside the theatre. Earlier on Thursday, two theatres in Kochi city cancelled the screening of the controversial film. PVR Cinemas in Lulu Mall and Oberon Mall, and Cinepolis in Centre Square Mall had cancelled the screening, with no reasons stated for the decision. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, recently said in a statement that the movie was deliberately made with the aim of communal polarisation and to spread hate propaganda against Kerala. centre of religious extremism in the land of secularism, Kerala. "Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday tweeted, "It may be *your* Kerala-story">Kerala story. It is not *our* Kerala-story">Kerala story." The trailer of Sen's film 'The Kerala Story' which stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani in the lead roles came under fire as it claimed that 32,000 girls from the state went missing and later joined the terrorist group, ISIS. Leader of Opposition in Kerala Legislative Assembly VD Satheesan recently said that the film 'The Kerala Story' should not be granted permission for screening."The film 'The Kerala Story' which falsely claims that 32,000 women in Kerala converted and became members of the Islamic State, should not be granted permission for screening. The trailer clearly shows what the film intends to say", Satheesan said in a Facebook post. (ANI) Delhi's Rouse Avenue court on Saturday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a bail plea of Sukanya Mondal. She was arrested on April 26 and was remanded to judicial custody after ED's interrogation in a cattle smuggling case. Special judge Raghubeer Singh issued notice to ED and listed the matter for hearing on May 12. Mondal is to be produced before the court after the expiry of judicial custody on May 12. The bail application has been moved by advocate Amit Kumar on behalf of Sukanya Mondal. Earlier on April 27, she was remanded to three days of custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to interrogate her in the cattle smuggling case. Her father is a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and is in custody in this case. ED was granted custody to trace the proceed of the crime, trace the money trail and identify the modus operandi. She has to be confronted with Anubrata Mondal also. The SPP Nitesh Rana submitted that accused Sukanya is the daughter of accused Anubrata Mondal accused in the matter. Her custody was sought to interrogate her to trace the proceed of the crime, trace the money trail and identify the modus operandi adopted by the accused, the SPP argued. ED said that the custody of the accused was required to ascertain her complicity with other accused persons to trace the proceeds of crime siphoned off through various transactions of sale and purchase of immovable properties. It is also alleged that the accused is a teacher in the West Bengal government and is actively involved in business activities as per data collected so far. The total cash proceeds of crime deposited in her various bank account and her business entities are worth several crores. Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mandal's default bail plea was recently dismissed by the trial Court and is presently being examined by the Delhi High Court. Anubrata Mondal, Trinamool Congress party's president of Birbhum district is said to be a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and was earlier arrested by the CBI in connection with the same case in July last year. ED arrested him in the alleged multi-crore cattle smuggling scam after questioning him inside the Asansol jail where he was lodged. In the case, the court earlier noted that this case of ED is based upon the Scheduled Offence (CBI case), the proceedings of which are going on there at Asansol, West Bengal in a CBI Court and some accused have been running into Judicial custody in connection with those proceedings of the CBI case. (ANI) On his visit to the Army Base Camp in Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, the Defence Minister reviewed the operational capabilities and security situation along the border. Appreciating the valour of Army troops, Singh said, "Keep your spirits up, you will definitely get success." During his visit, he was briefed on the security situation by senior Army officers for around 40 minutes. He also interacted with troops and appreciated their efforts in securing borders. "India salutes their devotion towards protecting our motherland", the Defence Minister said. He was accompanied by Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha, Army Chief General Manoj Pande, Northern Army commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi and other senior Army officers. A total of five soldiers lost their lives in the anti-terror operation in the Kandi area of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri on May 5. The five soldiers were killed during the anti-terror 'Operation Trinetra' of the Indian Army with Jammu and Kashmir Police and the CRPF. Meanwhile, according to recent updates, Army officials said that "one terrorist was neutralised and one likely injured" in a fresh exchange of fire in Kandi in the early hours of Saturday. (ANI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a roadshow in Belagavi's Chikkodi area on Saturday. Amit Shah was seated in a specially designed vehicle and he greeted the people who had gathered there. During the roadshow, the BJP supporters and party workers were queued up throughout the road from where the cavalcade was passing. The Home Minister also launched an attack on the Congress party over the '4 per cent Muslim reservation' issue and urged the people to vote for a double-engine government in the state, if they want to "BJP had removed 4 per cent Muslim reservation, and increased reservation of Lingayats, SC and ST community. Congress party says that if they come to power they will bring back 6 per cent reservation for Muslims. This will decrease reservation of Lingayats and SC, if Karnataka doesn't want this they must vote for the BJP government," he said. Earlier in the day, during an election rally in Belagavi, Amit Shah said that PM Modi has fulfilled the dreams of Lord Ram devotees by constructing the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. "BJP has worked for the farmers here. We have given several benefits to the farmers. Congress insulted Savarkar. But BJP developed the Marathas and respected them...PM Modi fulfilled the dreams of Lord Ram devotees by constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya". The final leg of campaigning for the May 10 Assembly elections have intensified in the State. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held a roadshow in Bengaluru. He is scheduled to hold two mega road shows and four public meetings this weekend, as per the party sources. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a roadshow in Karnataka's Udupi district. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma held a roadshow in Shanivarasanthe Madikeri in the Kodagu district. Karnataka will go to Assembly polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. (ANI) Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has conducted a meeting with the representatives of the 'Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI)' in the wake of the violence in the State, informed CM in a tweet. Political parties including Congress, NPF, NPP, CPI (M), Aam Aadmi Party and Shiv Sena attended the meeting chaired by Biren Singh himself. Taking to Twitter CM N Biren Singh wrote "In light of the prevailing situation in Manipur, held a meeting with the representatives of 'Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI)' to highlight the crucial role of civil society organisations in bringing peace in the state at this hour." The meeting follows violence that erupted in the immediate aftermath of inter-community clashes in a few districts of the northeastern State amid protests against the inclusion of the majority Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. Manipur Government had requisitioned Army and Assam Rifles on May 3 and 4. State's Director General of Police P Doungel has said that the situation in the State has improved after the intervention of security forces. Forces including RAF, BSF and CRPF have been deployed in Manipur, he said and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Kuldiep Singh, has been appointed as the security advisor. The State government has also appointed Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence), Ashutosh Sinha as the overall operational commander to control the situation in Manipur, the State DGP said. "As a result of the proactive and timely response, Churachandpur, KPI, Moreh and Kakching are now under firm control with no major violence since last night", the Indian Army had said in a statement on May 5 evening. The Army said that situation in Manipur had been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. "The situation has been brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders. IAF undertook continuous sorties from two airfields in Assam employing C17 Globemaster and AN 32 aircraft," Indian Army had stated. (ANI) Taking a jibe at the Congress party, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday, said that in whichever state the party has offered guarantees, it has lost the elections miserably. He added that Congress has done "half" of the Bharatiya Janata Party's job by "giving guarantees" in Karnataka as well. Addressing a public meeting in Belagavi, Amit Shah said, "In whichever state, Congress party offered 'Guarantees', it failed miserably. In Uttar Pradesh, it won just one out of 425 seats. It lost elections in Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Assam. Now, they have again offered these guarantees. So half of BJP's work has been done by them only. Congress forget that Kannadigas are the most intelligent people, they know well what Congress is doing!" The former BJP president further hit out at Congress accusing it of "not focussing" on the welfare of the Tribal community. "Under Congress tenure, the budget for ST was only Rs 24,000 crore, while it has been increased to Rs 90,000 crore under BJP. Under BJP,1.10 lakh Adivasi people received drinking water, 50 lakh Adviasis got houses, 1 crore adivasis received Kisan Samman Nidhi and four times as many Eklavya schools have been created for the Adivasi students," Shah said. He added, "BJP has also raised the reservation for ST from 3 to 7 per cent. On the other hand, Congress talks about restoring the reservation for Muslims, which was ended by BJP. Modi Ji made Droupadi Murmu the President of the nation, and celebrated 'Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas' on November 15 giving a tribute to Bhagwan Birsa Munda". He also slammed Congress over its promise of "decisive action" against organisations like Bajrang Dal if voted to power. "Congress, for years kept Lord Ram locked. While, PM Modi laid the foundation stone of Ram Temple. Now, a massive Ram Temple is being constructed in Ayodhya. Today the party (Congress) is insulting Bajrang Bali as well. They are forgetting that Karnataka happens to be the birthplace of Lord Hanuman. People will not accept this at all," Amit Shah added. Earlier in the day, Amit Shah held a roadshow in Belagavi's Chikkodi area. The Home Minister also launched an attack on the Congress party over the '4 per cent Muslim reservation' issue and urged the people to vote for a double-engine government in the state, if they want to "BJP had removed 4 per cent Muslim reservation, and increased reservation of Lingayats, SC and ST community. Congress party says that if they come to power they will bring back 6 per cent reservation for Muslims. This will decrease reservation of Lingayats and SC, if Karnataka doesn't want this they must vote for the BJP government," he said. The final leg of campaigning for the May 10 Assembly elections has intensified in the State. Karnataka will go to Assembly polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. (ANI) In a big relief for Times Now's journalist Bhawana Kishore who was arrested by Punjab Police on Friday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted the network's reporter interim bail in a special hearing on Saturday. Times Now termed the HC's order as a big win. "Big win for TIMES NETWORK! High Court grants interim bail to @BhawanaKishore," the media house said in a tweet after HC's order. Bhawana Kishore was arrested by Punjab Police on Friday for allegedly hitting a woman with a speeding car and also hurling casteist slurs at her. The HC's order came after a plea was moved seeking the quashing of the FIR lodged against her under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Advocate Pawan Narang represented the media group. The Advocate General of Punjab was also present in the court. The Court will now hear her plea for regular bail on Monday. "Bhawana Kishore was getting panic attacks. We insisted that she should be granted bail...The regular bail plea will be heard on Monday," Times Now said while quoting Chetan Mittal (Bhawana's lawyer). "The court agreed prima facie that this case is false... Whatever objection the state is having, that case will be heard on Monday," it said as quoting the lawyer. According to the Punjab Police, Ludhiana Commissionerate Police on Friday arrested three persons, including Bhawana Kishore for hitting a woman with a speeding car and also hurling casteist slurs at her. However, the media house claimed that the detention was a part of the vindictive politics of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab Government, who were enraged since they conducted sting operations which it called "OperationSheeshMahal", against the party's national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Notably, before getting interim bail, Kishore was also sent to judicial custody till May 19. Reacting to the arrest and subsequent custody, Times Network's Editor-in-Chief, Navika Kumar said, "We will not back down or be silenced." Taking note of this high drama, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Delhi minister Atishi backed the Punjab government and alleged that the news channel is 'anti-Dalit'. "The court prima facie found the TV reporter guilty and sent her to custody till May 19. BJP and Times Now channels are anti-Dalit. Do they not trust the court?" Atishi said in tweet. Many people, cutting across party lines, came in support of Kishore, including Congress leader Pawan Khera asking the Bhagwant Mann government to come clean over the issue. "Arresting a journalist and putting serious charges against her raises several questions. Is #BhawanaKishore being harassed because the channel she works for has done an expose' on #AAP? why was there no woman constable when she was being arrested? on what grounds have serious charges been imposed on her?" Pawan Khera tweeted. Earlier in the day, National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma took cognizance of the matter and sought a detailed action taken report in connection with the matter within four days from the State DGP. In a letter, dated May 6, the NCW chief has also asked the DGP to present a copy of the FIR before the commission. The commission, citing media reports, said that the journalist, identified as Bhavana Kishore, was recently illegally detained by the Punjab Police in Ludhiana. Besides this, the Editors Guild of India (EGI) also urged the Punjab government to release the journalist from detention and direct its police to follow the established procedures. "The Guild also notes that given that the reporter was on a journalistic assignment, the law enforcement agencies should have exercised due restraint with respect to detention and subsequent filing of FIR," the EGI said in a letter. (ANI) The Election Commission on Saturday issued notice to Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar in connection with BJP's complaint over a newspaper advertisement alleging "unsubstantiated but specific information". It comes after Congress published an advertisement titled 'Corruption rate card' in newspapers in the state of Karnataka alleging corruption by the ruling BJP. ECI stated in the notice, "While the general references and allusions to the alleged lack of achievement, misdeeds, not ensuring corruption-free governance of political opponents do float in the political campaigns, specific accusations and charges need to be segregated as the same must be backed by verifiable facts. Making specific charges, without any factual basis, is an action proscribed by the penal statutes". "The allegations and imputations made in the said advertisement are not general. The advertisement, in its very content & format, makes very specific charges, accusing all levels of government machinery (political & bureaucratic) of being, compromised and saleable. This brings into disrepute the entire administration, which has the potential of fomenting a feeling of distrust and undermining the legitimacy of the governance system at large, which otherwise, inter-alia, is vital for the smooth conduct of the poll itself," the notice added. The ECI has given Congress time till 7 pm on May 7 to provide empirical evidence for the alleged rates cited in the advertisement for appointments and transfers, kinds of jobs and commissions thereof. "Failing the above, you are directed to show reasons for why action shouldn't be initiated against you for violating the MCC and relevant legal provisions under the R P Act and IPC, by 19.00 hrs of 7th May 2023," the notice stated. It also added that in case the party fails to give any response, it will be considered that the party has "nothing" to say in the matter, and 'appropriate action' can be taken against it. Meanwhile, the final leg of campaigning for the May 10 Assembly elections have intensified in the State. Karnataka will go to Assembly polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. (ANI) The director of Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) on Saturday presided over a one-day Entrepreneurship Awareness Program (EAP) and said that women entrepreneurs can bring positive change in society. The one-day EAP was organized by Government Degree College for Women (GDCW), Pulwama in collaboration with JKEDI, said an official release. According to the release, the program is a part of the ongoing efforts of the Institute to create mass awareness among the educated youth of UT. The theme of the program revolved around women entrepreneurs and their contribution to the overall startup ecosystem of Jammu and Kashmir. "JKEDI intends to reach every corner of J-K and create awareness about entrepreneurship. With the potential to change the economic landscape of the UT, it can be a game changer. There are a lot of government initiatives to aid and support startups and aspiring entrepreneurs and one must avail such incentives to push their businesses. Women entrepreneurs can bring positive change and create an all-inclusive and balanced society," said Ajaz Ahmad Bhat, Director of JKEDI. "I request the youth who are the future of J-K to think in terms of making a new beginning by taking the reins of the nation and become role models and capitalize their skills and available resources for a better tomorrow," he added. Principal GDCW, Pulwama, Prof. Yasmeen Farooq Khan also highlighted various issues concerning women entrepreneurs and motivated the young students to choose entrepreneurship as a first career option. Hundreds of students participated in the program. Senior faculty members of JKEDI also participated in the program and spoke about various activities and programs of the Institute. District Nodal Officer, JKEDI Pulwama also gave a presentation highlighting the achievements of the Institute. To motivate the young students, a number of inspiring success stories of women entrepreneurs from Pulwama and other parts of the UT were also showcased at the event. (ANI) A special court in Mumbai on Saturday granted bail to Arman Khatri, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay student who was arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of fellow student Darshan Solanki. Khatri has been granted bail on a bond of Rs 25,000. Earlier in April, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Mumbai Crime Branch police arrested Arman Iqbal Khatri on the basis of a suicide note recovered from the hostel room of the deceased, Darshan Solanki, in which he blamed Arman for him taking the extreme step of ending his life. "Arman has killed me", the suicide note read. Mumbai Police's SIT officers said that during interrogation accused Arman was not answering the questions properly and wasn't telling much. Arman will be presented before the court today. Darshan Solanki allegedly died by suicide at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay by jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building located on the campus on February 12 this year, a day after his semester exams ended. On March 3, a special investigation team (SIT) formed by Mumbai Police stumbled upon a "suicide note" in his hostel room in which the deceased had accused one student of harassing and threatening him. According to the police, "The handwriting expert said in his report that the suicide note recovered by the police is written by Darshan Solanki. The expert sent the report to the police on Thursday night." On March 29, the father of Solanki wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM-Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar alleging that his family is facing harassment from the police for registering an FIR into the death of his son. Solanki was originally from Ahmedabad and was pursuing B Tech at IIT Bombay. Solanki's family earlier alleged foul play in his death and claimed that he faced discrimination at the IITB for belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community. Darshan's father, Ramesh Solanki, further requested the authorities to take action against the police. Following demands for a detailed probe by his parents, on February 28, the case was transferred to the city crime branch SIT. (ANI) A day after withdrawing his decision to resign as the Nationalist Congress Party chief, Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that the u-turn was due to requests from "national-level leaders" and that it was not the right time to step aside. "I didn't realise that my party would react so strongly to my resignation. Many national-level leaders also requested me to take my decision back. General elections are due within a year. So, it will not be right to step aside. We are working on uniting the opposition," NCP chief Sharad Pawar said. Earlier on Friday, Pawar said he is withdrawing his resignation as NCP chief. The key opposition leader, Sharad Pawar is expected to continue his efforts to bring opposition parties together for the 2024 Lok Sabha battle. Apart from his party workers, some opposition leaders including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had also urged Pawar to reconsider his decision due to his role in forging opposition unity. Sharad Pawar, known for making deft political moves, told the media that he was respecting the wishes of NCP workers. "Because of your love and respect, I am taking back my decision to step down as party chief. I can't disrespect your sentiments. Due to your love, I am respecting the demand that was made to me to withdraw my resignation and the resolution that was passed by senior NCP leaders. I withdraw my decision to step down as the national president of Nationalist Congress Party," Sharad Pawar had said. "After my 63 years of public life, I felt I was relieved from my post, but after this, there was a strong reaction from the workers of NCP...office bearers expressed sadness over this decision and urged me to reconsider. Innumerable well-wishers, all of them called me, my party colleagues from all over the country and especially from Maharashtra and others urged me to take over the responsibility of the post of president again," he added. Earlier, Nationalist Congress Party passed a resolution rejecting Pawar's resignation as party chief and has requested him to continue to lead the party that he founded. The decision was taken after the party's core committee met in the morning. NCP workers were seen raising slogans in support of Sharad Pawar, urging him to reconsider his decision. Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar was not present at the press conference but the NCP chief said no meaning should be read into it. "Others are here. Committee took this decision and after their decision, I took my decision back. All are united and discussed this. Senior leaders are there in the committee," Sharad Pawar said. "Everyone can't be present in one press conference. Some of the people are here and some others are not. But this morning, senior leaders of the party, took a decision unanimously and made me aware of it. Everyone expressed their sentiments through that decision. So, raising a question as to who is present here and who isn't or looking for meaning into this, is not correct," he added. Sharad Pawar also refuted speculations of a rift in the NCP. "If someone wants to go, irrespective of the party, no one stops him....The leader should take care of how to make the organization healthy by being on the front foot," he said. Sharad Pawar said there were suggestions that he remains in the post and appoints his daughter and party MP Supriya Sule as working president. He said the suggestion was not accepted and did not find favour with Supriya Sule as well. Ajit Pawar also later welcomed Sharad Pawar's decision to withdraw his resignation from the post of party president. A statement from Ajit Pawar's office said the decision of the NCP chief will boost the enthusiasm of every party worker. "Sharad Pawar's decision to continue as National President of NCP by agreeing to the request of all party leaders and workers across the state and country will boost the enthusiasm of every worker of NCP including me," he said. He said Sharad Pawar had agreed to the request of workers and it was the responsibility of party workers to take care of his health. (ANI) A total of 78 recoveries were made in the past 24 hours. "No death was reported in the past 24 hours and the active cases in the state stand at 535," the bulletin said. "A total of 2114 tests were conducted out of which 221 were RT-PCR tests," it mentioned. Earlier today, India reported 2,961 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, witnessing a fall from Friday's tally of 3,611 cases, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. According to the Ministry, the country's active caseload currently stands at 30,041. The country reported 6,135 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,44,05,550. The present recovery rate stands at 98.75 per cent. The daily positivity rate of the country is 2.12 per cent while the weekly positivity rate stood at 2.63 per cent. Earlier on April 20, in the wake of the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases across the country, Dr PK Mishra, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting to assess the situation. During the meeting, a comprehensive presentation was made by Rajesh Bhushan, the Secretary of Health and Family Welfare providing an overview of the global COVID-19 situation. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that the Covid-19 pandemic is over as a global health emergency. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, made the announcement while addressing a media briefing on Covid-19 and global health issues. (ANI) The police seized nearly 60,000 Yaba tablets at Churai Bari Gate (CBG) at the Assam-Tripura border. "The consignment was meant to be smuggled from Assam to Agartala, capital of Tripura," the police said. Yaba is psychotropic a drug containing a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine and it is produced largely in Myanmar. The three accused were booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act). As per the sources, this is the highest amount of drug seizures in a single incident. Earlier in 2022, the police had seized around 5500 kilograms of Ganja (weed) at Mungiakami in the Khowai district in Tripura which was the highest in a single incident. (ANI) The state government in a statement said that Chhavi Ranjan, IAS, presently posted as Director of the Social Welfare Department, Jharkhand has been suspended following his arrest by ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). "In the light of being arrested under Section-19 of Anti Money Laundering by Government of India, Directorate of Enforcement, Ranchi Regional Office, Ranchi Act (PMLA), 2002, Chhavi Ranjan IAS, Director, Social Welfare, Jharkhand (Additional Charge - Director, Social Security, Jharkhand, Ranchi and State Disability Commissioner, Jharkhand, Ranchi) is suspended with immediate effect under Rule-3(3) of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969", the statement read. Earlier today, Chhavi Ranjan IAS, arrested in an alleged land scam case, was sent to 6-day Enforcement Directorate custody in Jharkhand's Ranchi on Saturday. Ranchi's Special PMLA court sent the IAS officer to the ED custody after the end of one-day judicial custody. ED on Thursday arrested IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan in a land scam case related to illegally grabbing and selling land in Ranchi. Chhavi Ranjan had appeared before the ED) multiple times for questioning in connection with alleged land scam cases earlier. In this regard, ED had also conducted raids at multiple locations in West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand, including his residence in Ranchi. According to sources, the IAS officer, while serving as the deputy commissioner of Ranchi, allegedly used the Kolkata registry office for forgery in the Army land case. So far, seven accused persons have been arrested in the land scam case of the ED. They were produced in court and sentenced to judicial custody. These scams were allegedly done during his tenure as deputy commissioner of Ranchi.According to ED, there is a nexus operating in this case that had allegedly sold multiple plots by forging documents. Even the rightful owners are unaware that their plots have been sold, ED sources said. (ANI) Tripura government on Saturday arranged a special flight to bring back stranded students of the state from violence-affected Manipur. The development came after Chief Minister Prof Dr Manik Saha on Saturday spoke to the Union Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia and requested special aircraft arrangements. Following the request, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced the decision to operate an additional commercial flight from Imphal to Agartala. The flight will reach Agartala from Imphal on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. During a press conference at Civil Secretariat here in Agartala on Saturday afternoon, CM Dr Saha said, "the government had arranged three commercial flights for bringing back students of Tripura from Manipur. Among these three flights, two flights will reach MBB Airport, Agartala from Imphal at 12.15 AM and 1.40 AM while another flight will take off from Imphal tonight and leave for Guwahati. Those students will have free accommodation and food at Guwahati and will be brought back to Agartala by Sunday noon." The government also announced a helpline number (0381-241-6045/241-6241 and WhatsApp number 8787676210) in this regard. On the other hand, a special team has to be sent to Manipur today by the state government to bring and coordinate the students studying in Manipur. While the neighbouring state of Meghalaya is also arranging special flights to bring back their stranded students from Manipur. Special flights from Imphal to Shillong are being arranged by the authorities to bring students back at the earliest. Travel arrangements will be made on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of May, said an official statement. (ANI) Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) West Bengal state president Tayidul Islam on Saturday said that the recent movie 'The Kerala Story' which has sparked controversies, will disturb the communal harmony in India. Tayidul Islam told ANI that the intention of the movie is very obvious that it is trying to create a communal divide in the country and added that every citizen of India should raise their voice against the movie. "The intention of this movie is very clear, they are trying to divide two particular communities. 'The Kerala Story' will disturb communal harmony in India. They are trying to disturb the Hindu-Muslim harmony. I think every citizen of India must raise their voice against this movie", he said. The SDPI chief alleged that the movie is created on false propaganda like the movie 'The Kashmir Files'. "This is totally fabricated and created to propagate a false narrative. We won't support it here in Bengal. 'The Kerela Story' should be banned because the movie intends to divide Hindus and Muslims in the country. I must say this is totally BJP propaganda just like 'The Kashmir Files'. That was also propaganda in the form of a movie. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says about 'The Kerela Story', but ignores the developmental and other major issues in the country", he said. Talking about protests against the movie, Tayidul Islam said, "We are considering it. We will decide on it in the next two or three days. And we are talking about this with different political parties like CPM, Congress, Trinamool Congress and also Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and different communities to raise their voice against this movie." Earlier, while addressing a rally in poll-bound Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that 'The Kerala Story' movie is based on a terror conspiracy. The Prime Minister said that the film 'The Kerala Story' shows the ugly truth of terrorism and exposes terrorists' design. He added that the film is based on a terror conspiracy. "'The Kerala Story' film is based on a terror conspiracy. It shows the ugly truth of terrorism and exposes terrorists' design", the PM said. He also hit out at the Congress party and said that Congress has shielded terrorism for the vote bank. "Congress is opposing the film made on terrorism and standing with terror tendencies. Congress has shielded terrorism for the vote bank", PM Modi said. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently said in a statement that the movie was deliberately made with the aim of communal polarisation and to spread hate propaganda against Kerala. Earlier on the day, the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) in Tamil Nadu staged a protest against the release of the controversial film 'The Kerala Story' in Chennai. The Naam Tamilar Party cadres headed by its organiser, actor and director Seeman started protests from the Chennai Anna Nagar Arch near Skywalk Mall in Chennai against the movie. Helmed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the film has triggered a massive political row with various leaders reacting to the upcoming movie. 'The Kerala Story' stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani in the lead roles. The trailer of Sen's film 'The Kerala Story' came under fire as it claimed that 32,000 girls from the state went missing and later joined the terrorist group, ISIS. Faced with backlash the makers then withdrew the figure and called the movie the story of three women from Kerala, in its trailer description. (ANI) Addressing a large gathering in Saundatti town in Belagavi district, Shah said that in the 2018, people gave 11 seats to the BJP. "Had you given all the 18 seats to the BJP, there wouldn't have been a JD (S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka," he said. The BJP increased its tally in the district to 13 through Ooperation Lotus after senior leaders Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumatalli got elected in the by-polls. "You must put all the 18 seats into BJP's 'jholi' (kitty)," Shah appealed to the crowd. "The Congress had imprisoned our great freedom fighter Veer Savarkar at Hindalga prison in Belagavi district. He was the only freedom fighter who was awarded life imprisonment punishment twice. The Congress repeatedly insults Savarkar. Rahul Gandhi, you will not see a greater sacrifice than that of Veer Savarkar even if you take birth 10 times," the Home Minister said. Shah also said that the photo of Veer Savarkar is installed in the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi. "I am taking up campaigning in six seats in Belagavi district. I am staying back here. On May 13, a majority BJP government will come to power in Karnataka," he said. --IANS mka/arm ( 254 Words) 2023-05-06-19:10:03 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) joint candidate Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi on Saturday said the family of late Santokh Singh Choudhary had failed the people of the constituency by not taking any effort to convert the district hospital into a medical college. "I am a doctor. I know that the central government has a scheme under which it gives grants to convert district hospitals into medical colleges. The Choudhary family has been representing this constituency for the last nine years but has not done anything to seek a central grant to convert the district hospital into a medical college," he said. Asserting that he had witnessed a picture of neglect in the constituency both on the medical and education sphere besides breakdown of road infrastructure, Sukhi said "people have high aspirations from their elected representatives. It is unfortunate that the Choudhary family, which had a strong hold in this constituency for nearly 30 years, has done nothing for the people. People are telling me that the family is not approachable with many saying they have never seen the late leader whose death has necessitated this by-election." Sukhi, who was talking to newsmen here after addressing public meetings, said, "I am committed to follow the ideals of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal who not only brought governance to the people through Sangat Darshan programmes, but took everybody along in the path of progress. SAD has a strong history of pro-farmer and pro-poor policies and is committed to enlarging on them. "The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the other hand have a history of promising the moon but cheating and betraying people. Former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh cheated you by vowing on the holy Gutka Sahib that he would waive off your loans but did nothing. "Similarly this gang of outsiders led by Arvind Kejriwal promised government jobs for your children and Rs 1,000 per month to all adult women. It also has not done anything." Urging the people to vote for the SAD-BSP, Sukhi said "doing so will send a clear signal that you want the state to be run on the principles founded by Parkash Singh Badal. Doing so will also send a clear signal to the AAP government that its days are numbered in Punjab and that Punjabis will never entrust their future in the hands of outsiders again." --IANS vg/uk/ ( 412 Words) 2023-05-06-19:20:05 (IANS) A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA of Manipur challenging the Manipur High Court order in relation to Scheduled Tribe status for the Meitei community as a tribe of Manipur. The petition filed by the Chairman of the Hill Areas Committe (HAC) of the Manipur Legislative Assembly, Dinganglung Gangmei, said that the Meitei community is not a tribe and has never been recognised as such. The petition further stated that the order directing the state government to recommend a tribe for the Scheduled Tribes List falls solely within the jurisdiction of the State, and not the High Court. On March 27, the High Court directed the State to consider the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes list. The appeal filed against the High Court order stated that the order is entirely illegal and ought to be quashed. "The High Court ought to have realised that it was a political problem in which the High Court had no role to play and the political disputes had to be resolved politically. By getting into the political area and making a categorical order that the State government is directed to submit a recommendation for the inclusion of the Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribe list to the Central government, the High Court ambiguously and in all probability inadvertently gave rise to strong misgivings and worries and tensions among the tribals," the appeal stated. The appeal also sought a stay on the High Court's order. The violence in Manipur between the Hindu Meiteis and the tribal Kuki, who are Christians, erupted after a rally by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) on May 3. Violence has gripped the entire state for several days and the Central government had to deploy paramilitary forces to bring the situation under control. (ANI) The accused had confessed to raping and murdering around 30 children. Additional CP, Vikramjit Singh, the then DCP Outer, told ANI, "Justice delivered finally. So many innocent young souls can rest in peace now. This reaffirms our faith in the criminal justice system." The accused hails from Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh. He allegedly committed the crimes in the areas of Delhi-NCR and Western Uttar Pradesh. As per the allegations, the accused is addicted to alcohol and drugs and used to commit crimes in an inebriated state. He used to lure children with sweet treats, and then rape and murder them. (ANI) Special judge of the Rouse Avenue Court, Raghubeer Singh, issued the notice to the probe agency and posted the matter for hearing on May 12, also the day Sukanya Mondal's judicial custody ends. On April 27, a day after her arrest, the court had sent Mondal to three-day ED custody. The ED had arrested Sukanya, a primary school teacher in West Bengal's Birbhum district, after quizzing her for her alleged involvement in the case. Her father Anubrata Mondal is also in judicial custody for his alleged involvement in the same case. Special public prosecutor Nitesh Rana had sought Sukanya Mondal's custody, saying that she was required to be confronted with evidence and the co-accused, including her father. Her custody was also required to trace the proceeds of crime, establish the money trail and the modus operandi, the ED had said. On April 26, the Delhi High Court had posted for June 1 Anubrata Mondal's plea challenging a trial court order denying him bail in the same case. Earlier, Rana had said that Anubrata Mondal's bail application lacked merit. The ED had arrested Anubrata Mondal based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Kolkata against Satish Kumar, the then Commandant of Border Security Force (BSF). --IANS spr/arm ( 268 Words) 2023-05-06-20:38:04 (IANS) According to Director General of Police Anjani Kumar, the flight is scheduled to arrive in Imphal on the morning of May 7. The special helpline cell at the DGP office is coordinating the evacuation. The DGP earlier announced setting up an emergency helpline for Telangana citizens stranded in Manipur. He said Telangana Police is coordinating with Manipur Police to provide support. Citizens can contact Telangana helpline number 7901643283 -- Sumathi, IPS, DIG for assistance. The phone lines are open round-the-clock and citizens can also email dgp@tspolice.gov.in. --IANS ms/pgh ( 126 Words) 2023-05-06-20:40:02 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will question the top officials of the district primary education councils in West Bengal through the entire month of the May in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers in 2016. At the beginning, officials of the district primary education councils in north Bengal will be questioned. The CBI has fixed separate dates for questioning the officials of different district primary education councils at its Nizam Palace office in Kolkata. The process will start from May 11 with the questioning of officials from Malda district, sources said. On May 16, their counterparts from Cooch Behar district have been summoned. On May 17, the CBI will question officials from Alipurduar district. In the next few days, officials from Darjeeling, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur districts have been summoned for questioning. On May 22, officials from Jalpaiguri will be questioned. "After completing the districts in north Bengal, we will summon officials from south Bengal districts," a CBI insider said. The CBI has also asked all the district primary education councils to immediately forward to the central agency all the documents related to primary teachers' recruitment in 2016. --IANS src/arm ( 214 Words) 2023-05-06-20:56:03 (IANS) The victim has been identified as Rajender, reportedly an alcoholic who was residing in Gurgaon village in a rented accommodation. According to the police, the landlord, who has been identified as Suresh, had gone to Rajender's rented accommodation to collect rent on May 1. There the duo consumed alcohol following which an argument broke out between the two. In a fit of rage, Suresh then strangled Rajender to death. The accused then threw the body inside a water booster station in the village and fled from the spot. On May 2, the sanitation workers had informed the police that a naked body of a man was spotted inside a water booster station with injury marks on body. A case of murder was registered at the Sector 5 police station. --IANS str/arm ( 164 Words) 2023-05-06-21:06:03 (IANS) Adopting a significant stance, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray on Saturday batted for tourism while opposing the proposed Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) project coming up in this picturesque region where prehistoric Petroglyphs were discovered. Addressing a public meeting here, Raj Thackeray said the Petroglyphs found here are still being studied and analysed and as per international norms, no development activities can be carried out in its vicinity. The astounding Petroglyphs in and around Barsu were discovered in 2012 and have already made it to the Unesco's tentative list of World Heritage Sites and locals now fear that if the RRPCL comes up here, this pre-historic site would be lost forever, he said as a caution to the Central and state governments. Interestingly, former Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray went around the Petroglyphs site along with the Barsu villagers who are opposing the refinery project. "When the RRPCL project was announced for Barsu, I was very upset. Why can't such big projects go to Goa or Kerala? The beautiful Konkan is intended only for tourism. Only Konkan tourism is sufficient to support the entire (economy) of Maharashtra," Raj Thackeray said. He warned the people of Konkan against selling off their valuable land at cheap rates "to politicians and businessmen who are aware of big projects coming up all around and then make huge profits from your land". The MNS chief strongly advised Konkanis that henceforth, if anybody wants to buy out their beautiful and fertile lands, "first ask them what's the purpose" before parting with it, otherwise "you will have nothing but regrets". Raj's unexpected stance -- which could be music to the locals and the Shiv Sena (UBT) -- may prove to be jarring for the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party which has been hoping for a partnership with the MNS. Ironically, during the day, former Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray, visited Barsu where he threw his full lot with the people opposing the refinery project, even as the BJP launched a sharp attack on him. Referring to the proposed sea-memorial of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj off the Mumbai coast, the MNS chief -- estranged cousin of Uddhav Thackeray -- also questioned the need to spend over Rs 10,000 crore on the monument planned for the great Maratha warrior-king in the Arabian Sea. "Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj constructed several sea-forts dotting the Konkan coast. Why can't the memorial funds be diverted for their upkeep and renovation? That's our real legacy. Will you leave statues for the future generations to view?" Raj Thackeray demanded. He also expressed his ire over the long delays for the upcoming Mumbai-Goa highway which has been pending proper completion since 2007 and is a road traveller's nightmare. "Why such a long delay? Have you ever questioned your elected representatives? What's taking so many years for the project to come up? Today, someone told me that the contractors for one of the sections has abandoned it," Raj Thackerary said in an incredulous tone. The MNS leader also took potshots at his cousin Uddhav Thackeray, asking why there are differences in his party - Shiv Sena (UBT) - with some opposing and others supporting the refinery plans. He also accused Uddhav Thackeray of allegedly 'usurping' the sprawling former Mayor Bungalow at Dadar west (Mumbai) in the name of the late Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial, and asked whom he had asked for it. This was Raj Thackeray's first foray into the Konkan region in several years and he conceded that he "was keen since long to come and discuss the problems of the people here". (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in) --IANS qn/pgh ( 622 Words) 2023-05-06-21:38:03 (IANS) The Global Buddhist Summit's declaration placed a strong emphasis on the necessity of addressing the pressing issues affecting both the human race and the global community in order to provide a viable framework for a better future, Bhutan Live reported. Its objective lies in discussing contemporary global issues from a Buddhist perspective. The first Global Buddhist Summit (GBS) was held from April 20 to 21 in New Delhi. The International Buddhist Confederation and the Indian Ministry of Culture jointly organised the inaugural conference. Delegates from 30 nations, including monks, Buddhist scholars, practitioners, and leaders of international Buddhist organisations, attended the conference. A Declaration was approved at the summit's conclusion in front of 170 international delegates, including 150 from India and representatives from Mexico, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Japan, according to Bhutan Live. In his opening remarks at the first GBS on April 20, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi emphasised that despite confronting issues such as violent conflicts and the ecological catastrophe of the modern world, the teachings of Lord Buddha, which date back hundreds of years, continue to be a very helpful way of life and guide. According to Bhutan Live, the declaration has urged the global community to imbibe and follow Buddhist tenets to find answers to the problems today facing the world. The main elements of the Declaration of the GBS included an emphasis on the promotion of peace and harmony, recognition of deterioration of the environment and promotion of sustainable development to diminish carbon emissions. (ANI) Hours after being named and shamed by External Affairs Minister Jaishankar as "as a promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry which is the mainstay of Pakistan", Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari termed his visit to India to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers' summit a "success." Addressing a press conference on Friday after the summit, Jaishankar hit out at Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's 'weaponising terrorism" remarks at the SCO meeting and said that the victims of terrorism and perpetrators of terrorism cannot sit together to discuss terrorism. "I want no citizen to be a victim of terrorism, we all have to fight terrorism as one, if we remain separate, we will continue to be victims of it," Bilawal said in a video shared by the Secretariat of Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman on Twitter. Soon after his return to Pakistan from India, where he spoke at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hailed his trip to India as a "success", the Dawn reported. He termed Jaishankar's comments about him being a perpetrator of terrorism as a "joke", the Dawn reported. "This country knows me, have I once even in my political history accidentally sat down with a terrorist?," Dawn quoted Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as saying. "They don't see that even in our country we (PPP) perform a role in the first ranks against appeasing terrorists," he added. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said he did not want any Pakistani, Indian or citizen of any other country to fall victim to terrorism, adding that people would continue dying "until we keep politicising this issue and become part of the geopolitical game being played in the world and this region, " the Dawn reported. "A false narrative is being propagated by the Indian Foreign Minister.. and this narrative has been damaged by my visit to India, my speaking and my stand," The Secretariat of Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman shared a video of Bilawal as saying. He said that a "bipartisan approach across the geopolitical divide" was needed to address terrorism. He added, "We will have to combat it together as one and will keep being victims to it if we remain divided." Addressing a press conference after the SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting held here on Friday, Jaishankar called out Bilawal Bhutto over Pakistan's double standards on terrorism. At the SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting, Jaishankar said taking the eyes off terrorism would be detrimental to the security interests of the grouping. Jaishankar said on terrorism, Pakistan's credibility is depleting faster than even its Forex reserves."They are committing acts of terrorism. I don't want to jump the gun on what happened today but we are all feeling equally outraged. On this matter, the terrorism matter, I would say that Pakistan's credibility is depleting faster than even its Forex reserves," he said. Ruling out bilateral talks till Pakistan addresses India's concerns on cross-border terrorism, Jaishankar said, "Victims of terrorism defend themselves, counter acts of terrorism, they call it out, they legitimise it and that is exactly what is happening. To come here and preach these hypocritical words as though we are on the same boat." "He came here as the Foreign Minister of an SCO Member State. That is part of multilateral diplomacy. Don't see it as anything more than that. I think that nothing from what he said or what I heard he said deserves for this to be treated more than that," Jaishankar said.(ANI) Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, while interacting with the Indian community in the United Kingdom on Saturday, said that India at the moment is the "democracy which is most functional on any global parameters" and appreciated the community members for their contributions to the society and lending strength to India-Britain relationship. He said, "India is proud of its diaspora. They are 24X7 ambassadors of Bharat - 1.7 million here and 32 million all over the world. They can be complemented for exemplifying and that exemplification is considered by every quarter that they remain fully committed to their karmabhoomi and also to janmabhoomi. This wholesome balance they strike with amazing capability." "India at the moment is the democracy that is most functional on any global parameters, if you look at the three wings of the state - the legislature, the judiciary and the executive, you will find that executive, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has transformed one-sixth of humanity to unimaginable level of all societal parameters and elements that go to alleviate the suffering of the people. Empowering the common man is taking place. Infrastructure growth, which could never be dreamt earlier, is a ground reality. You see it in road, rail, air or technological connectivity," Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said. [{71ad863a-ec6b-4651-8e7a-591b13e15f34:intradmin/ANI-20230505212937.jpg}] He stated that digital payment transactions amounted to 1.5 trillion in India in 2022. He said that India has 700 million Internet users and stressed that they have transformed India's service delivery system to a level which could not be imagined earlier. "I had indicated to the Honourable members of Parliament and just to give an illustration, digital payment transactions amounted to 1.5 trillion in 2022 in India. 1.5 trillion in 2022, if I take these statistics in relation to US, UK, France and Germany taken together, it is four times," Dhankhar said. "We have 700 million internet users and not just users, they have transformed India's service delivery system to a level which could never be imagined earlier. A sense of transparency, accountability and delivery system is the new mantra," he added. He said that 110,000,000 farmers getting three times a year an amount so far equivalent to two lakh 20,000 crores directly into their account and without any middleman. He further said, "Look at the kind of transformation, revolutionary change that has taken place. Power corridors have been sanitized of power brokers." Jagdeep Dhankhar said that there is the evolution of an ecosystem that enables every youth to fully unleash his or her energy and potential. He stated that skill development and capacity building is the new norm at every stage. He said that Education policy has been evolved after 34 years. " There is evolution of an ecosystem and that enables every youth to fully unleash his or her energy and potential. And there are no fiscal constraints. If I look at mudra loans, look at the amount that has been distributed and each loane, most of them are women, has turned out to be job creator," Jagdeep Dhankhar said. "Skill development and capacity building is the new norm at every stage. National education policy has been evolved after 34 years. I am a product of education. If I had not got a scholarship, I would not have been what I am today. Education is the most effective, potent transformational mechanism. It is education alone that takes care of inequities in society, brings about emancipation of the vulnerable and empowerment of youth. That is something which is happening in this country," he added. Lauding the Indian judiciary, Jagdeep Dhankhar said that the judiciary in the country is "strong" from the apex court to down the line. He stressed that the reach of Indian judiciary for the common man has no parallel. "We have at the moment one of the most enlightened souls as Chief Justice of India, a man who brings on the table huge experience, commitment, passion, mission, enormously talented. But look at the orders. It takes him no time to grant relief to an ordinary man," he said. "There shall always be issues in dynamics of governance. There will not be a day that henceforth, there will be no issues, there will be. To examine our judiciary is spinally strong from the apex court down the line.Look around the reach of Indian judiciary for the common man has no parallel. Imagine how outstanding achievement it is," he added. He said that Indian democracy at the moment is functioning at a level which is unmatched anywhere around the world. He praised the Election Commission of India and stressed that it can be a "lighthouse for rest of the world on how to conduct elections fairly efficiently in the shortest time." "Look at our parliamentarians. Those who get elected to the House of the People. It's a toughest test. Those who are in the upper house, very talented. We are proud of our parliamentarians. In the process, if we examine a brief limited area and be judgmental about it will not be appropriate. So, I have no difficulty in saying that Indian democracy is functioning at the moment at a level which is unmatched anywhere in the world. Can you name any other democracy on earth where in where the Constitution provides constitutional mechanism at village level, at municipal level, at state level, at central level, at cooperative level, in Bharat all this is structured. Our institutions are spinally independent," Dhankhar said. Dhankhar said that Indians should take pride in their historic accomplishments. Praising India for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic successfully, Dhankhar said that the vaccine dose was provided to people in a calibrated manner and the certification is available on the smartphone. While interacting with Indian community in UK, Dhankhar said, "The moment of glory for India has come. The moment of glory of India is being reflected by ground reality. The world is recognizing it by all standards. Bharat is a land of opportunity, a favoured destination of investment and amongst the large economies even in a stressful period, fastest growing and that is being seen on the ground. And the reason for this is affirmative governance." He stressed that there is new mantra in India which is more governance. He said that the world is feeling positive about the rise of India. "A new mantra was minimum government, more governance. We are in times in Bharat now where an idea is not parked. There is no parking space for an idea. If the idea is good, it has to be executed fast. And that execution is taking place with big ticket investments in infrastructure, airports, ports and village development. Therefore, every one of you has to be 24X7 an ambassador of Bharat," Jagdeep Dhankhar said. "A thought was indicated. Do we approve everything? We don't approve everything in the family. We don't approve everything with our progeny, our children. But it has to be collaborative. It has to be cooperative. It has to be with a mindset so that things look up. There is no scope for humanity if it has to develop in a peaceful environment and bring about global order to be in a state of confrontation. The world is feeling positive with the rise of Bharat at the moment. It will be a positive factor for stability of the world. 75th year of independence of Bharat "amritkaal" has been fully used. Every nook and corner has been subsidized. Heroes, unsung heroes of our freedom fight have been identified and honoured ," he added. He said that India at the moment is the fifth largest economy and stressed that the credit goes to every hard-working Indian workers, farmer and effective policies of government. "India has been rediscovered in an authentic manner. Firm foundation has been laid for what India will be in 2047 when centenary of its independence is to be celebrated. I said we are the fifth largest economy at the moment. By turn of the decade will be third. This achievement was beyond our dreams a few years ago. Credit goes to every hard-working Indian worker, farmer and effective governmental policies. Their honest execution in transparent and accountable manner. And look at our historical perspective in the world economy there was a time when India's share was more than that of any other country and that lasted for a fairly long period. We are retrieving it. Our development trajectory is geometrical, unstoppable. All these factors will tell you where India is heading," Jagdeep Dhankhar said. Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a tweet wrote, "Connecting with the living bridge between India and the UK! VP Jagdeep Dhankhar @VPIndia interacted with members of the Indian Community in London, UK. VP appreciated the community members for their contributions to the society and lending strength to India Britain relationship." He also interacted with former and current Members of Parliament of Indian origin in London. Dhankhar along with his wife Sudesh Dhankhar arrived in London on Friday for a two-day visit to attend the coronation ceremony of King Charles lll. Bagchi tweeted, "VP Jagdeep Dhankhar @VPIndia had engaging conversations with Indian-origin Members of the UK Parliament belonging to various parties. Discussions touched upon multiple aspects of bilateral ties. VP lauded the support extended by the MPs in bringing the two countries closer." Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday interacted with Israel President Isaac Herzog, Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Italian President Sergio Mattarella during King Charles III's reception at Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom. He also interacted with King Charles III. Dhankhar also joined leaders of the Commonwealth countries at a special event hosted by King Charles III at the Marlborough House in London. He also met US First Lady Jill Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's wife Akshata Murty during King Charles III's reception at Buckingham Palace. Jagdeep Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh Dhankhar arrived in London on Friday to attend the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. The coronation of King Charles III is scheduled to take place on May 6, eight months after he ascended to the throne. (ANI) Former US President Donald Trump has praised Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy for doing well in the recent Republican Primary poll, CBS YouGov. Vivek Ramaswamy has announced his 2024 presidential bid. In a statement, Trump stated he likes Ramaswamy as he has only nice things to say about him and all the work carried out by the Trump administration. "I am pleased to see that Vivek Ramaswamy is doing so well in the most recent Republican Primary Poll, CBS YouGov," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. "He is tied with Mike Pence, and seems to be on his way to catching Ron DeSanctimonious. The thing I like about Vivek is that he only has good things to say about "President Trump," and all that the Trump Administration has so successfully done - This is the reason he is doing so well. In any event, good luck to all of them, they will need it!," he added. Earlier in February, healthcare and tech sector entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced his 2024 US Presidential election bid. "We've celebrated our "diversity" so much that we forgot all the ways we're really the same as Americans, bound by ideals that united a divided, headstrong group of people 250 years ago. I believe deep in my bones those ideals still exist. I'm running for President to revive them," tweeted Ramaswamy in a video announcing his intention to run for president. He reiterated that this was not just a political campaign, "but a cultural movement". "Faith, patriotism and hard work have disappeared. Wokeism, climatism and gender ideology have replaced them. We hunger for purpose yet cannot answer what it means to be an American. We long for that answer," he added. In CBS News/YouGov survey of likely Republican primary voters, Ramaswamy was slightly ahead of former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. 37-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy is a native of southwest Ohio. His mother was a geriatric psychiatrist and his father worked as an engineer at General Electric. Ramaswamy said, "Diversity" is not our strength. Our strength is the set of ideals that unify us across our differences. Without that, "diversity" is meaningless." He added, "We live in a culture that rejects truth & embraces relativism; that rejects equality and embraces "equity"; that rejects excellence and embraces victimhood. I'm all-in for America First, but we must first rediscover what America is." Vivek Ramaswamy is the second Indian-American to enter the 2024 Republican presidential primary after Nikki Haley. (ANI) The Texas Senate has passed a bill putting restrictions on land purchases by citizens of China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, The Intercept reported. This raises alarms among civil liberties advocates who fear it is the first step toward legally enshrining discrimination based on national origin in the state. According to The Intercept, the bill, Senate Bill 147, would ban the purchase of "real property" by citizens from China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, even if they are in the country legally on certain visas. The bill defines "real property" as "agricultural land, an improvement located on agricultural land, a mine or quarry, a mineral in place, or a standing timber." Republican Governor Greg Abbott who was awaiting review by the Texas House of Representatives, has publicly vowed that he will sign it into law if it reaches his desk. Legal and advocacy director for the civil rights group Project South, Azadeh Shahshahani, said: "The bill perpetuates anti-immigrant bias and racism by unconstitutionally encouraging discrimination on the basis of immigration or citizenship status and national origin. Discrimination against certain groups has often been justified by invoking national security concerns. This bill and others like it echo this shameful history." The bill which has gone through multiple revisions, is a watered-down version of a far more draconian proposal that would have completely banned all property sales, including home purchases, to citizens and dual nationals of the four targeted countries, according to The Intercept. The announcement of the original measure last year triggered widespread protests by Chinese and Iranian American activist groups in Texas. In response to the pressure, the bill was narrowed to focus on purchases of farmland by individuals deemed to be foreign citizens but created exemptions for citizens and permanent residents of the US, as per The Intercept. (ANI) The United Nations on Friday said it will continue to keep Afghan staff working from home as the Taliban regime had put a ban on women working for the UN a month ago, Afghanistan-based Pajhwok Afghan News reported. Deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq on Friday said there had been no change to "our posture on the ground." Earlier, the UN had said it would review its operations and keep Afghan staff home until May 5. "We're working to come to decisions on appropriate working modalities. Obviously, we have a challenge because the needs of the Afghan people are immense, and we intend to fulfil those needs, but at the same time, our operations are clearly impeded," Haq told reporters in New York. The Afghan people are in for a "very difficult year ahead", Haq said. The UN has 3,300 Afghan staff, of whom about 400 are female, while about 600 international staff in the country are not affected by the ban. Haq said aid work continued in areas like health and education where the UN had been able to get some limited exemptions to the ban on Afghan women. He indicated, however, that some UN agencies may be taking a different approach. "I believe that different agencies have different mandates about the provision of aid and so they have had different ways of handling the situation as I characterized it," Haq said, according to Pajhwok Afghan News. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently said that funding for aid operations remains at worryingly low levels and the ban is exacerbating this trend. Guterres reiterated the UN's commitment to stay and deliver on behalf of the men, women and children of Afghanistan. To achieve this efficiently and effectively, the UN needs all its personnel, women and men, to work in communities and UN offices unimpeded, the statement added. (ANI) Joly said she instructed her deputy to summon Cong to "convey to him directly that we will not tolerate any form of foreign interference". She also explained "all options, including expulsion of diplomats, remain on the table as we consider the consequences for this behaviour", Al Jazeera reported. During a parliamentary committee hearing, Joly said: "What has happened is completely unacceptable. I cannot imagine the shock and concern of learning that your loved ones have been targeted in this way." Beijing denounced the accusations on Friday. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said: "China is strongly dissatisfied with Canada's groundless slander and defamation of the normal performance of duties by the Chinese embassy and consulates in Canada and firmly opposes it." Citing a classified report from Canada's spy agency, The Globe and Mail newspaper recently sought information about any relatives of a Canadian legislator "who may be located" within its borders, in a likely effort to "make an example of this MP and deter others" from taking anti-China positions, according to Al Jazeera. (ANI) Mai Bhago was undoubtedly a warrior and was well-regarded both within and outside of the Sikh community. Hers is a tale of the shining armoured knight who made her sword the symbol of her undying love for her faith and her country, as per Khalsa Vox. The lioness of Punjab, Mai Bhago, was born as Mata Bhag Kaur. The zealous and harsh rule of the Mughals caused great suffering on the Indian subcontinent in the 17th century. Sikhism, which had carved out a safe place where multitudes believed in equality and were free to practise a faith of their choosing, provided a silver lining to these terrible times. Let's back up a bit more and peek through the windows of history. Aurangzeb, a brutal despot, governed the Mughals at this time. He reinstated strict Sharia laws and levied discriminatory taxes on Hindus. He was particularly hostile to the Sikhs, mostly because he disagreed with their egalitarian norms that treated women and men equally, Khalsa Vox reported. Thus starts the story of Mai Bhago's bravery in the battle of Kidhrana, fought on December 29, 1705, between Sikhs headed by Guru Gobind Singhji and the powerful Mughal army, which arrived to capture the Guru and put an end to Sikhism. Although Mai Bhago's early years are not fully documented, it is known that she was born in the Punjabi village of Jhabal Kalan in the Amritsar area. She was Bhai Malo Shah's only daughter and Bhai Piro Shah's granddaughter. Since the time of Guru Arjan Dev, the family has been devoted to Sikhism. She was married to Sardar Nidhan Singh Warraich. A massive military campaign was organised by Aurangzeb against Guru Gobind Singh, and he dispatched thousands of soldiers to battle a much smaller Sikh force. As the Sikh warriors gradually killed or deserted, Guru Gobind Singhji was forced to seek refuge in hiding, as per Khalsa Vox. In the meantime, Mai Bhago was receiving military training from her father. Being a staunch 'Sikhni', she was devastated to learn that some of the troops from her own town had betrayed their Guru. Then she decided to take matters into her own hands and convinced them to go back to the Khalsa. The Mughal battalion of hundreds of troops attacked these forty fighters and Mai Bhago as they travelled to the Guru in the vicinity of Anandpur Sahib. Under Mai Bhago's leadership, the Sikhs battled bravely as she charged into the fray wearing a full Khalsa costume, a 'Keski' tied around her head, and a 'kirpan' in her hand. Her war cry was "Waheguruji Da Khalsa, Waheguruji Di Fateh." In the true sense of the word, she was Punjab's lioness. Despite losing 39 soldiers in the battle, she and her army were successful in driving the Mughals from their territory, Khalsa Vox report further read. Only Mahan Singh Brar was barely alive when Guru Gobind Singh arrived on the battlefield. The Khalsa was so moved by their bravery when they had earlier deserted him and renounced their religion, that he tore the paper that he had asked them to sign. He blessed them as "Challi Mukte," or the forty pearls. Later, Mahan Singh died, leaving Mai Bhago with severe injuries. The Khalsa himself took care of her recovery. As she had lost both her husband and brother in the war, the guru later urged her to return to her village. However, she pleaded with the Khalsa to restore her as a saint-solider so that she may stay with the guru, according to Khalsa Vox. Her wish was granted, and she continued to serve as one of his bodyguards. Mai Bhago travelled with Guru Gobind Singhji to Nanded and served him until his death in 1708. She then moved to Jinvara in Karnataka, close to Bidar, where she preached Sikhism till she passed away at a ripe old age. The former location of her hut in Jinvara is now home to Gurudwara Tap Asthan Mai Bhago. A hall inside the grounds of Takt Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib in Nanded has also been identified as the location of Bunga Mai Bhago. Mai Bhago's legacy continues to this day as a representation of Sikh courage and pride. Although she is frequently referred to as a "little-known legend," many strong Sikh women continue to be motivated by her example to accept death bravely, Khalsa Vox reported. (ANI) Ahead of King Charles III's coronation ceremony in the United Kingdom on Saturday, Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar and his wife met the King during a reception hosted by the monarch for world leaders at the Buckingham Palace. Dhankar also interacted with Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States of America and other leaders during the reception. Heir to the throne for 70 years, King Charles is set to be officially crowned in a magnificent and deeply religious ceremony today. Thousands of people have gathered at Westminster Abbey and the surrounding streets of central London to participate in the glorious display of British pageantry. Vice President Dhankar also joined leaders of Commonwealth countries at a special event hosted by King Charles III at the Marlborough House in London. Dhankhar also greeted Commonwealth leaders and exchanged views on making the institution of the Commonwealth stronger and more focused. At Buckingham Palace, Dhankhar also interacted with Isaac Herzog, President of Israel and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil. Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and his spouse, Sudesh Dhankhar had arrived at the Stansted Airport in London for a two-day visit to attend the Coronation ceremony. The United Kingdom (UK) extended an invitation recently to the international community, including India to attend the coronation ceremony. In the UK, Unitary democracy is governed within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, the Monarch (now King) is the head of State and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of the Government. The coronation of Elizabeth II as queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms took place on June 2, 1953, at Westminster Abbey. India and the UK have a historic relationship and share values of democracy, the rule of law and many complementarities and convergences. The relationship was elevated to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021 with the adoption of Roadmap 2030 for Future Relations. In September, last year, President Droupadi Murmu visited London to attend the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and offered condolences. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in November 2022 met UK's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Bali on the sidelines of the G20 Summit and carried out discussions to boost trade between the two countries. (ANI) Singapore's High Commissioner to India, Simon Wong on Saturday thanked Delhi Police and Delhi Fire Service for containing a fire in the colony next to its embassy. "Thanks to the quick action from @DelhiPolice and @DelFireService, the fire in the colony next to our Embassy is quickly contained. Thank you - HC Wong," tweeted the Singapore Embassy. Delhi Fire Service came into existence in the year 1942 with the sole motto "We Serve to Save." Recently on May 4 International Fire Fighters Day was celebrated. "Today Let's remember & honour those colleagues & friends that have lost their lives in the line of duty, & acknowledge with immense pride the dedication, commitment & courage of Fire & Rescue colleagues," tweeted Delhi Fire Service. India was among the first countries to set up diplomatic relations after the independence of Singapore on 24 August 1965. The close relationship shared by India and Singapore is based on convergence of economic and political interests. The process of economic reforms in India since the early 1990s created a strong basis for cooperation with Singapore, opening up possibilities for significant presence in each other's economies. Singapore has played an important role in reconnecting us to the countries of South East Asia since the inception of our Look East Policy in the early 1990s. Singapore has been ranked 2nd in the most powerful passport report 'Henley Passport Index 2021'. Singapore is the only country in Asia with an AAA sovereign credit rating from all major rating agencies. India-Singapore relations are based on shared values and approaches, economic opportunities and convergence of interests on key issues. Political engagement is regular. Defence relations are particularly strong. Economic and technological ties are extensive and growing. Cultural and human links are very vibrant. There are more than 20 regular bilateral mechanisms, dialogues and exercises. There is great convergence on a broad range of international issues and both are members of a number of forums, including East Asia Summit, G20, Commonwealth, IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association) and IONS (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium). Singapore is an important investment source as well as a destination for Indians. Singapore was the first country with which India signed a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, which is currently being upgraded. Singapore has been influential in speaking her opinion in ASEAN, which has resulted in India getting the dialogue partnership in ASEAN in 1995 before India was only a sectoral conversation partner. Singapore was also instrumental in bringing India and the ASEAN countries together. (ANI) "Ambassador of India along with Mr. Mingma Chhiri Sherpa, Chairman of Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality, Solukhumbu laid the Foundation Stone for Khumjung Khunde Waste Water Management Project today being built through Indian grant assistance under India- Nepal Development cooperation," the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu tweeted. Home to the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, the Solukhumbu district welcomes hundreds of climbers and trekkers on an annual basis. "The project reflects continued support provided under Indian grant assistance for providing community services in the remote areas of Solukhumbu district," the Embassy said in a series of tweets. Prior to the water treatment plant, the Indian embassy on January 2017 had funded to upgrade of the Thame Khola Small Hydropower Plant in Solukhumbu to provide electricity to more than 1200 households in Khumjung, Khunde, Namche Bazar and Thame Valley. Further, provisions for drinking water services were made through the implementation of the Khumjung Khunde Drinking Water Project in March 2022 benefiting the people of Khumjung, Khunde and Namche Bazar. (ANI) The Islamabad Police summoned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to the city's Police Lines Headquarters on May 10 and 11 to record his statement on four terror cases pertaining to unrest outside the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) and the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Dawn reported. According to the notices issued on Friday, the Islamabad police summoned Imran Khan on May 10 at 2 pm in two cases whereas, in two other cases, he was summoned on May 11 at 2 pm. The notices warn of appropriate legal action to be taken in case Imran fails to appear. Following Imran Khan's appearance at the Federal Judicial Complex on February 28, two terror cases were filed at Islamabad's Ramna police station, one stating that Imran had led a mob to the FJC and the other alleging the same regarding the IHC. Separately, following the PTI chief's appearance at the FJC on March 18, when the police and PTI workers had clashed, Imran was booked in two more terror cases by the Counter-Terrorism Department's police station and Golra police station for allegedly attacking police and causing unrest outside the court. Subsequently, on March 23, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was formed to carry out a "quick" probe into terrorism cases registered against the PTI chief and other "miscreants" relating to the above incidents. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said the JIT had been tasked to complete the investigation into all the cases and submit a charge sheet before the courts within 14 days. He had further said Additional Inspector General of Special Branch (Punjab) Zulfiqar Hameed was to head the JIT. Islamabad Police's deputy inspector general (headquarters) and one official, not below grade 18, each from the Inter-Services Intelligence, MIilitary Intelligence, and the Intelligence Bureau were its members, he noted. On April 20, the Lahore High Court observed that the investigation could not be suspended, however, the proceedings of the JIT would be subject to the decision on the PTI's petitions challenging the JIT, on which a verdict was reserved on Friday. During the hearing, Punjab Additional Advocate General Ghulam Sarwar Nehang had said the JIT formed by the government in at least ten cases against the PTI leadership and workers could not be barred from doing its job. The former premier has also been summoned by the IHC before his 10-day protective bail in seven cases, granted on May 4, expires. (ANI) Seven People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, one anti-submarine helicopter (Ka-28) entered Taiwan's southwest air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Friday, according to the Ministry of National Defense MND, reported Taiwan News. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked them around Taiwan between 6 am on Friday (May 5) and 6 am on Saturday (May 6). In response, Taiwan sent aircraft and naval ships and used land-based missiles to monitor the PLA aircraft and vessels, reported Taiwan News. So far this month, Beijing has sent 74 military aircraft and 27 naval vessels around Taiwan. Since September 2020, China has increased its use of grey zone tactics by routinely sending aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ. Grey zone tactics are "an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one's security objectives without resorting to direct and sizable use of force." In response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's stopover in California and meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on 5 April, China upped the ante with a series of military aircraft manoeuvres designed to psychologically intimidate Taiwan. At first, Beijing's response to the meeting was muted, promising "joint inspection patrols" by a Maritime Safety Administration vessel. This was followed by two live-fire exercises off the coast of Pingtan and Fuzhou. Salami slicing and grey-zone tactics are China's regular modus operandi, but its actions are becoming ever more robust and blatant as China narrows Taiwan's room for manoeuvre and psychologically bludgeons it. There are more overt measures in its toolkit that China has not yet taken. Seizing outlying islands such as the Pratas would enable China to extend control over territory held by Taiwan. Yet this would be a higher risk than what China did in the South China Sea when it militarized unoccupied low-lying reefs and turned them into bases. Other potential actions include cyberattacks and targeting civilian infrastructure. Far more violent would be missile bombardments or maritime, air and information blockades. Beijing could use them to force Taiwanese leaders to the negotiating table, or to set conditions for a military invasion. The ultimate military option for China would be a full-scale amphibious invasion. However, there are only a few beaches in Taiwan where such landings are possible, and only certain times of the year when the waters of the Taiwan Strait are sufficiently calm. (ANI) The Islamic State, also known as Daesh, with its roots in Iraq and Syria was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1999. The terrorist Islamist group, which follows the Salafi jihadist branch of Sunni Islam, gained global prominence in 2014 and rapidly spread its footprints in South Asia - the region with a large Muslim population. A recent leaked document has revealed Islamic State using Afghanistan as its safe haven to operate and target important installations in Europe, Asia and the United States. On April 21, 2019, when the people in Sri Lanka were celebrating Easter, a series of terrorist suicide bombings by the Islamic State shook the nation. The coordinated attack at three churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo city killed a total of 269 people, including 45 foreign nationals. On the 4th anniversary of the attack, Sri Lankans are still demanding justice and answers for the deadly Easter bombings. Chandima Jayamali a widow who lost her husband in the attack while explaining her grief over the attacks that happened in Sri Lanka said that "god can hear our curses. Our cardinal and our priests are working to get justice, but it is sad to say that up to this date we have not received justice". In the recent past, deadly attacks by the Islamic State in South Asia, including Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, indicate the growing presence of ISIS in the region. According to leaked Pentagon memos, ISIS is re-emerging in Afghanistan and plotting attacks across Europe, Asia and "aspirational plots" against the United States. Memos cited included specific targets that include churches, embassies and business centres. Deepankar Sengupta an expert on South Asian Affairs while explaining the stability of the Taliban government said that "We may talk about ISIS's targets in Afghanistan but when it comes to state stability, especially the stability of Taliban government, the Taliban government believes that these attacks do not disturb it at all. Yes, when they do attempt to attack the Taliban or the state of Afghanistan then the Taliban does take action and it takes severe action. So far what we have seen is a Jugalbandi (entwined twins) of sorts where ISIS keeps on targeting Shias largely and the Taliban is more or less comfortable with it." According to the Washington Post, which was the first to report, ISIS coordinated 15 specific plots from Afghanistan since the US withdrawal in 2021. The deadly suicide bomb at Kabul International Airport in August 2021 that killed 13 US Service members was set off by an ISIS member. Abhijit Iyer Mitra an expert on South Asian Geopolitics while talking about ISIS said that "all power vacuums will always lead to this kind of terrorist organisation coming up, irrespective of where it is. America went in to block that power vacuum. After twenty years you know, losing the war, I mean what were they realistically men to do? They just can't keep throwing troops and money into a war which is not going anywhere. So they had to kind of move out. I don't think the power vacuum this time is as big as it was the last time. The last time, the Taliban literally allowed things to happen and that is why they lost their state". Experts believe that the withdrawal of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan provided enough space for Islamic State to strengthen its footprints in the war-torn nation. According to Stanford University, the Islamic State seeks to create a global Salafi-Jihadist movement, a religious political Sunni Islamist ideology. For the past few years, it has strengthened its footprints in South Asia and carried out several deadly attacks to register its presence. Newlines Institute, a US-based think-tank says that ISIS in South Asia is concerned with recruiting for the Khorasan branch and thus seeks to leverage online networks and local politics to form cells and conduct sporadic attacks. The group poses the greatest threat in Afghanistan and Pakistan, countries reeling from decades of wars, insurgency, weak governance, and political instability complicated by difficult topography. Sengupta while commenting on the terror bombing said that "there is no doubt that poor governance in these two countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan) have created the necessary vacuums for not just ISIS but any fundamentalist groups basically to form and preach their version of a perfect world to disillusioned masses. But the centrality of Pakistan's role in all this cannot be taken away. No matter which period, from the sixty's to the ninety's to the current page, Pakistan has been instrumental in creating disorder in Afghanistan.'" The Islamic State has a massive presence in Pakistan's Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as they share borders with Afghanistan. These provinces have witnessed frequent terror attacks by ISIS, as the outfit wants to establish its prominence in the region. In March, a suicide bombing by the Islamic State in the Sibbi area of Balochistan killed nine policemen. Commenting on ISIS Iyer Mitra while commenting on the reason for the formation of terrorist organisations like ISIS said, "ISIS today, the way it stands is, anybody can start it up, anybody can claim to be ISIS. If you are violent enough and you are disruptive enough, you will get a sort of ISIS stamp of approval. This has been the pattern for quite some time now. Here of course we know that some of the elements are kind of independent radicals in Afghanistan but largely we have been able to trace a very significant Pakistani hand in this." According to Newlines Institute, the Islamic State Province of Pakistan (ISPP) was formed in May 2019 with the apparent goal of providing operational autonomy from the Khorasan branch and gathering various factions of Pakistan-based militant groups such as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-ul-Adl, Jundullah, and Jaish-ul Islam, thereby attracting recruits by channelling local interests. The outfit is also found involved in carrying out terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, especially targeting the security forces. The existence of the Islamic State in the region is a wake-up call as the outfit has already announced the Islamic State of Hind Province in May 2019. It indicates that the Islamist group may aim to launch a violent campaign when conditions are suitable. (ANI) Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh Dhankhar emplaned for Delhi after attending King Charles III's coronation ceremony in the United Kingdom. Dhankhar congratulated King Charles III on his coronation. He tweeted, "Happy to be present at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla today. On behalf of the people of India, I extend my warmest congratulations to the newly crowned King and Queen of the UK. May India-UK ties grow stronger in the years ahead." Jagdeep Dhankhar and his wife on Friday landed at Stansted Airport in London on a two-day visit to attend the Coronation ceremony of King Charles III. On the second day of his visit to London, Dhankhar interacted with Indian students and said that the DNA of Indians is so strong that there is no challenge to their intellect and they perform amazingly well wherever they go. "If we examine the situation from a global perspective, our DNA is so strong that there is no challenge to our intellect. Wherever we go, we perform amazingly well...But one thing which we suffer in our country is a lack of system," Dhankhar said. "Several developed countries thrive on mediocrity because there is a system. In the last 8 years, in the system also, we are making great advances. Our Bharat, at the moment, is on the rise as never before and the rise of Bharat is unstoppable...", he said. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar urged students to strive towards excellence and appreciated their role in advancing India-Britain relations. On day 1 of his visit, Jagdeep Dhankhar met with King Charles III, the United States First Lady Jill Biden and other world leaders during the reception at Buckingham Palace. He also addressed the members of the Indian community in the United Kingdom and said, Indian democracy is functioning at the moment at a level which is unmatched anywhere in the world. "I would therefore make an appeal, 32 million Indian diaspora is a formidable demographic component and this demographic component is highly qualified, empowered and vigilant, making the nation proud in every way. It must be reflective on several issues; no one is above criticism, scrutiny and probe. Everyone is subject to these elements if we have to register progress, but then we can't be swayed," said the Vice President. Vice President also joined leaders of the Commonwealth countries at a special event hosted by King Charles III at the Marlborough House, London and exchanged views with Commonwealth leaders on making the institution of the Commonwealth stronger and more focused. Dhankhar interacted with Israel President Isaac Herzog, President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Italian President Sergio Mattarella. The United Kingdom recently extended an invitation to the international community, including India to attend the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. (ANI) Just a day after Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was rebuked by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting, China and Pakistan mentioned Kashmir in their joint statement. The joint statement was issued after the fourth round of the Pakistan-China Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue led by Bilawal and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. "Both sides underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability in South Asia, and the need for resolution of all outstanding disputes. The Pakistani side briefed the Chinese side on the latest developments of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir," read the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release. However, the Chinese side reiterated that the Kashmir dispute was left over from history between India and Pakistan and should be properly and peacefully resolved in accordance with the UN Charter, relevant Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements. "Both sides opposed any unilateral actions that further complicate the already volatile situation," added the release. This comes after Jaishankar slammed Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's "weaponising terrorism" remarks. "Victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism. Victims of terrorism defend themselves, counter acts of terrorism, they call it out, they legitimise it and that is exactly what is happening. To come here and preach these hypocritical words as though we are on the same boat," he said while addressing a press conference by the Presidency after SCO Council of Foreign Ministers. He was answering questions on India-Pakistan ties including a question from a Pakistani journalist. Answering a question about the terror incident in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, where five soldiers lost their lives, Jaishankar said there was a shared feeling of outrage, Jaishankar said, "They are committing acts of terrorism. I don't want to jump the gun on what happened today but we are all feeling equally outraged. On this matter, the terrorism matter, I would say that Pakistan's credibility is depleting faster than even its Forex reserves." "As a promoter, justifier and I am sorry to say, spokesperson of a terrorism industry which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and they were countered, including at the SCO meeting," he said. India has consistently raised the issue of Pakistan's continued support to cross-border terrorism and terrorist infiltration. It has said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have borne the brunt of this terrorism campaign for decades and continue to do so. He also brushed aside Pakistan's objections to India hosting G20 tourism working group meeting in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir in May. "I don't think there is a G20 issue to debate with anybody, certainly not with a country which is nothing to do with G20. Jammu and Kashmir was, is, will always be a part of India. The G20 meetings are held in all the Indian states and Union Territories, so it is completely natural that it is held there," Jaishankar said. (ANI) Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday announced that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will hold rallies every day starting next week till May 14, Geo News reported. PTI chairman Imran Khan made the announcement while addressing workers at a rally at Lakshmi Chowk metro station in Lahore held to "support the Constitution, Supreme Court, and the chief justice of Pakistan". Imran Khan's party PTI carried out rallies in four cities - Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Peshawar, as per the news report. While referring to the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N)-led government, Imran Khan said, "It is the entire nation's decision to stand with the Constitution and [against] the way this mafia is putting pressure on and doing propaganda against the chief justice and [other] judges," according to Geo News report. Imran Khan announced that he would come out and prepare the people to protest if the elections were not held. He said, "When a country's Constitution is violated, it means the justice system and the rule of law have ended. Most of all, it means that the nation has lost its freedom and become slaves." He further said that they will not rest until the elections are conducted and "Pakistan is free." Speaking about Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's visit to India to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers meeting, Khan said that the way he was treated by his Indian counterpart was a "matter of shame for all of us," as per the news report. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said the "victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism". Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers, Jaishankar slammed Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's "weaponising terrorism" remarks. The PTI rallies come amid a standoff between the government and the judiciary regarding the date of elections in Punjab. Pakistan Supreme Court has ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold polls for the Punjab Assembly on May 14 and the government to release Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 21 billion in this regard. However, the Pakistan government has failed to release the money despite repeated directives from the apex court. Earlier this week, talks were held between the PTI and the Pakistan government regarding the election date, as per the Geo News report. However, the negotiations concluded without a consensus being reached. After the end of negotiations, the PTI submitted a report to the apex court requesting it to ensure the implementation of its April 4 verdict to hold polls in Punjab on May 14. (ANI) One person was killed and six others were injured in a shooting at a restaurant in Mississippi on Friday. The Ocean Springs Police Department said in a release that officers responded to a shooting at The Scratch Kitchen shortly before 11 p.m. and found seven people shot, including one person who was killed. The department said the deceased victim was identified as 19-year-old Chase Harmon. The others who survived were transported to local hospitals. The release states that the department does not currently have any suspects and an investigation is ongoing. Officials are urging anyone with information to call authorities. Brittany Alexander, the owner of the restaurant, told the Sun Herald, a Mississippi newspaper, that she was at the door of the party when the shots rang out. She said staff told her the gunman ran past security without being patted down or his drivers license being checked, but he began firing before she could get to him. She said the area where the party was happening on a patio was only for people 21 and older. Security was checking everyone who entered the area and customers were given an arm band to confirm they are at least 21. Alexander said about 200 people were at the restaurant when the shooting happened. The Herald reported that a 22-year-old man was shot in the leg in the restaurants parking lot last month in what police have said might have been an accidental shooting. Updated at 1:05 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Ukrainian military Additionally, Ukraine shot down five enemy Shahed-136/131 drones, two Zala UAVs, one Orlan-10, one Kub, and one Lancet UAV. Read also: Air Force confirms first ever interception of Kinzhal ballistic missile by Ukrainian Air Defense Missile and artillery units struck five clusters of Russian weapons and military equipment, three ammunition and fuel and lubricant depots, one air defense system, and five other strategic targets, the military said. Meanwhile, Russian invasion forces launched eight missile attacks, 49 air strikes, and fired 82 times from multiple launch rocket systems over the same period. Read also: Russia attacks Bakhmut with phosphorous munitions video The enemy continued to focus its main efforts on conducting offensive actions on the Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and Mariinka axes, the ZSU stated, adding that Ukrainian defenders repelled about 50 attacks. The towns of Bakhmut and Mariinka remain at the epicenter of the fighting. 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 Two mass shootings in six days have claimed the lives of three people all of them teenagers on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The shootings, one in Bay St. Louis and the other in Ocean Springs, also left multiple people injured or hospitalized. One of the shootings was at an after-prom party, and the other at a Cinco de Mayo party at an Ocean Springs restaurant. Heres a look at both shootings: Bay St. Louis mass shooting Haeleigh Stamper, 16, and DeArreis DD Smith, 18, died after being shot multiple times at a house party on Old Blue Meadow Road in Bay St. Louis last Saturday. Four other teenagers, ages 15 to 18, were also shot and are recovering in area hospitals. Police arrested the suspected shooter, 19-year-old Cameron Brand of Pass Christian, hours after the killings. Haeleigh and DD were both Hancock High students and were loved by all that knew them. Bay St. Louis police are asking for teens who attended the party to come forward with any information related to the killings. Haeleigh Stamper, 16, and DeArreis DD Smith, 18, , both died of gunshot wounds in a April 30, 2023, mass shooting at an after-prom party at a Hancock County home. Ocean Springs mass shooting One person is dead and seven others were shot in a mass shooting late Friday night at The Scratch Kitchen restaurant in Ocean Springs. About 200 people were at the restaurants Cinco de Mayo party when the shots rang out, owner Brittany Alexander told the Sun Herald. One of the patrons at the Scratch Kitchen saw the victim who died fall to the ground and try to wrap his wounds in a T-shirt and perform CPR. Jackson County Deputy Coroner Jason Prisock identified the deceased victim as Chase Harmon, 19, of Pascagoula. Police arrived and taped off the Government Street restaurant around 11 p.m. and the Jackson County deputy coroner arrived just after 1 a.m. Alexander said the suspected shooter bypassed security and was not a patron. Police had not released information on arrests or the condition of the other victims at 2 a.m. Saturday. This shooting is the fourth at a nightlife spot in the city since November. A law enforcement officer enters crime scene tape surrounding The Scratch Kitchen restaurant in Ocean Springs after a shooting left 1 dead and several injured on Friday, May 5, 2023. A Carroll County man has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two women. Prosecutors say two women were walking home from a school trip with the University of West Georgia when Brandon Rounsaville, 29, came up to them and told them he had a gun and would kill them if they didnt do what he said. When they got to the back of the building, he forced the women to undress and perform oral sex on him. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] One was able to run to the front of the building and shout for help. Testimony at trial showed that Rounsaville chased and tackled her before dragging her to the parking lot and putting his fingers in her private area. As she screamed, Rounsaville ran from the scene and the women called 911. He was found less than half an hour later hiding under a bridge. This case was the nightmare that every female college student and her parents fear. A stranger, with no association with their university, kidnapped them and sexually assaulted them under threat of death. I cannot find the words to convey my reaction to this crime, District Attorney Herb Cranford said. TRENDING STORIES: Both women testified at trial and confirmed Rounsaville was their attacker. Prosecutors also brought forth evidence that both victims DNA was found on Rounsaville. Earlier this week, a Carroll County jury convicted him of kidnapping with bodily injury, kidnapping, two counts of aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, two counts of robbery by intimidation and two counts of terroristic threats. Judge Michael Hubbard sentenced Rounsaville to life in prison without the possibility of parole. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Two Irving ISD students were arrested Friday and accused of making a threat of violence toward a student and bringing weapons to MacArthur High School, according to the Irving Police Department an incident separate from a hoax threat of school violence that has been concerning parents across the state. A hoax threat that originated out of Florida and circulated across Texas on social media caused confusion for worried parents, Irving police told the Star-Telegram. We realized that the person that posted it and shared it was actually trying to bring awareness, not make a threat, police said as some viewed it as a threat to Nimitz High School, also in Irving ISD. Parents from numerous schools throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area began calling police Friday morning due to concerns regarding the social media hoax threat, Irving police spokesman Robert Reeves told the Star-Telegram. The district sent out a notice via phone call and email addressing the hoax and told parents there were no known credible threats being made toward any schools or students in the area. Shortly after the district notified parents of the hoax, Irving police received a tip regarding two male students who each had a handgun on their person at MacArthur High School. The two students were not threatening anyone or the school with the weapons, according to police. Although district officials said Irving ISD administration received a tip indicating a threat of violence was made against a student from MacArthur High School. Based on the tip, it appears the threat stemmed from a personal argument between students, district officials said in a statement. School resource officers and school administrators responded accordingly and put the school on hold for about 10 minutes, police said. Irving ISD officials notified parents about the students who were armed. Police found and isolated the two students who were armed and conducted a search on each. One of the students is 15 years old. The other student is 16. Story continues Police confirmed both had guns and were arrested for possessing a firearm in a prohibited place. We were able to determine the threat was credible and two prohibited weapons were confiscated. The threat has been resolved. The campus has been secured, and the school day resumed as normal, district officials said. Police also said there were never any threats toward the campus and that the hoax threat was not connected to the two armed students. The two male students were transported to a juvenile detention center in Dallas. Their names have not been released due to their age. The district said it would have increased security measures in place for the remainder of Friday and additional safety screening will be implemented for the remainder of the school year. Irving ISD is proud of how our team responded to the threat to quickly ensure the safety of our students and staff to prevent harm against any individual, the district said Friday. We would like to thank the community members who reported their concerns to the district. As always, the district is committed to a partnership with our students, families, and community to ensure that all threats of violence affecting our schools are addressed immediately. Other North Texas schools respond to threats On Friday morning, Azle High School went on lockdown after a school employee received a phone call from someone claiming to be at the school with weapons, according to a news release from the Azle Police Department. Police searched the school but did not find any danger. They are investigating the source of the threat. Officials with other North Texas school districts issued statements saying they are aware of the unsubstantiated threats spreading across social media. The Fort Worth school district said in a tweet Friday afternoon: FWISD is aware of a concerning social media message initiated out of state and now circulating various District campuses today. District officials have taken action to address the concern with each affected campus and remain vigilant in an abundance of caution. Please know that the safety of all students is our top priority, and we work closely with authorities to ensure the necessary measures are taken. Remember that social media threats have serious consequences. Lake Worth ISD posted a similar statement. An investigation is underway following an early morning shooting that happened after a fight broke out in Brevard County, police said. Melbourne police responded to a shooting call on the 800 block of East New Haven Avenue around 1:25 a.m. Police said a fight broke out in the street which led to people shooting at each other. >>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<< When police arrived, a large crowd had gathered, but no victims were located at the scene. While at the original scene, officers were dispatched to the hospital after three males were dropped off with gunshot wounds. Upon arriving at the hospital, officers stopped a car dropping off one of the victims. Read: King Charles III coronation live updates: King, queen arrive at Buckingham Palace Two men, who were not injured, ran from police, and were eventually caught and arrested for resisting an officer. Other than dropping off a victim at the hospital, it is unclear at this time as to the extent of their involvement in the shooting, investigators said. Two of the victims remain in critical condition at the hospital. Read: Scattered showers move in across Central Florida on Saturday Police have not identified a suspected shooter or shooters. If you have any information on this shooting, call Melbourne Police at (321) 608-6731 or call the Central Florida Crime Line at 800-423-TIPS (8477). Read: Volusia Sheriff enacts zero-tolerance special event zone for unpermitted Orange Crush event 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. Burnt out vehicles on the streets of Imphal, the capital of India's Manipur state The death toll after ethnic clashes in India's remote northeast rose to 54 on Saturday, with fresh violence overnight despite authorities rushing in troops to restore order. Thousands of soldiers were sent to Manipur state after a protest march by a tribal group turned violent on Wednesday. Authorities imposed an internet blackout and issued shoot-at-sight orders in "extreme cases" in an effort to contain the unrest. The situation remained tense after a fresh bout of violence on Friday night, hours after the state's top police officer warned that rioters had stolen arms and ammunition from police stations. Hospital morgues in the state capital Imphal and Churachandpur district further south had reported a combined total of 54 dead, according to local media. "16 bodies were kept in the morgue of the Churachandpur district hospital while 15 bodies were in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal East district," Press Trust of India news agency reported, citing an unnamed local official. "The Regional Institute of Medical Sciences at Lamphel in Imphal West district reported 23 dead." Manipur director general of police P. Doungel told reporters Friday that security forces were bringing the situation under control. Army patrols had "gone a long way to quell the thing off", he said. But he added that some police stations had been overrun by "miscreants" who stole arms and ammunition, and issued a public appeal for their return. Security forces and the Manipur government have yet to issue an official death toll for this week's violence. India's law minister Kiren Rijiju told reporters Saturday that "many lives have been lost" after days of clashes alongside damage to property. The internet blackout has impeded the flow of information from Manipur and details of the latest clashes remain sparse. An Indian army unit based in neighbouring Nagaland state said 13,000 people had sought shelter from the violence. Story continues - 'Fled for our lives' - "My sons convinced me to escape to safety," Pishakmacha Thokchom, 53, told AFP from one of the relief centres set up in Imphal East district. "But they stayed behind and I'm now deeply worried for them," she added. Vijaya Thingaijam, 47, sheltering at the same centre, told AFP he had fled in a panic after a group began firing guns. "We abandoned all our belongings and fled for our lives," he said. On Thursday, security forces fired tear gas in Imphal to disperse protesters, some of whom had set alight vehicles and houses in parts of the city. Burnt out vehicles were seen on streets otherwise empty due to the imposition of a round-the-clock curfew. Defence officials said Friday that additional troops had been brought into the state by road and air. Tribal groups were protesting against demands by the state's majority Meitei community to be recognised under the government's "Scheduled Tribe" category. Indian law gives tribes falling under that designation reserved quotas for government jobs and college admissions as a form of affirmative action to address structural inequality and discrimination. Manipur is part of India's remote northeast, a region linked to the rest of the country by a narrow land corridor that has seen decades of unrest among ethnic and separatist groups. The northeast is home to dozens of tribal groups and small guerrilla armies whose demands range from greater autonomy to secession from India. At least 50,000 people have lost their lives in the conflicts since the first insurgency broke out in Manipur in the early 1950s. Over the years these conflicts have waned, with many groups striking deals with New Delhi for more powers. str/gle/mtp Queen Camilla wore the same necklace that Queen Elizabeth II wore to her coronation. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images ; Christopher Furlong/Getty Images King Charles III was crowned at his coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday. Queen Camilla wore the same diamond necklace that Queen Elizabeth II wore to her coronation. Kate Middleton honored Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth with her jewelry. Queen Camilla's coronation dress featured embroidery meant to evoke the British countryside. Queen Camilla is crowned during the coronation ceremony. Jonathan Brady - WPA Pool/Getty Images Designed by Bruce Oldfield, Camilla's white silk dress included embroidery with flowers such as daisy chains, forget-me-nots, celandine, and scarlet pimpernel, "representing the King and Queen Consort's affection for nature and the British countryside," a palace statement read, per CNN. The front hem also featured a rose, thistle, daffodil, and shamrock to represent England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland respectively, according to Women's Wear Daily. Camilla wore the same Garrard diamond necklace that Queen Elizabeth II wore to her coronation in 1953. Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Camilla wearing the same necklace. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images ; Christopher Furlong/Getty Images The necklace, dubbed the Coronation Necklace, was originally gifted to Queen Victoria in 1858, according to the Royal Collection Trust. It is comprised of 25 cushion diamonds and a 22-carat diamond pendant. Like Camilla's gown, Kate Middleton's coronation dress also featured symbolic embroidery. Kate Middleton's dress featured symbolic embroidery. Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images The Princess of Wales wore a custom Alexander McQueen dress that was embroidered with the national flowers of the United Kingdom: roses for England, thistles for Scotland, shamrocks for Northern Ireland, and daffodils for Wales, the Daily Mail reported. The Princess of Wales also honored Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth with her jewelry. Kate Middleton arrives at the coronation. Dan Charity - WPA Pool/Getty Images At the coronation, Kate wore a pair of pearl-and-diamond earrings that belonged to Diana. Kate previously wore them to the 2019 BAFTAs. She also wore a three-strand diamond necklace that belonged to Queen Elizabeth. Prince Harry wore a simple morning suit rather than a military uniform, but pinned military medals to his jacket. Prince Harry arrives at the coronation. Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Image Harry served in the British Army for 10 years, including two tours of Afghanistan, and has four medals: an Afghanistan Service Medal and Golden, Diamond, and Platinum Jubilee medals, which represent his service, Insider's Isobel van Hagen reported. Story continues Harry also did not wear a military uniform at Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September 2022. He did not play a formal role in the coronation ceremony since he is no longer a working member of the royal family. Princess Beatrice wore a Beulah dress named "Sienna" in a likely nod to her daughter, Sienna Elizabeth. Princess Beatrice arrives at the coronation. Karwai Tang/WireImage/Getty Images A granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Beatrice's hot pink Sienna dress retails for 695 ($878.41) on Beulah's website. Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi welcomed their daughter Sienna Elizabeth, who is 10th in line to the throne, on September 18, 2021. Read the original article on Insider Six State Emergency Service workers were killed and two injured in a Russian attack on Kherson Oblast on Saturday, 6 May. Source: Serhii Kruk, Head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, on Facebook Quote from Kruk: "Today, the State Emergency Service lost part of its family. Our explosives experts were shelled while out clearing an area in Kherson Oblast from mines. Six of our experts were killed. Another two, including a female paramedic, sustained injuries and were hospitalised. Some of their equipment was destroyed." Details: Kruk stressed that Russian forces continue to violate the norms of international law by shelling workers who have spent months clearing the territory that Russian occupation forces littered with ammunition and explosive devices. He also shared the names of all six SES workers who were killed on Saturday, and posted their photographs: Ihor Soloviov, Oleksandr Khodakovskyi, Andrii Orlov, Volodymyr Pohorielyi, Mykola Sholokh, Roman Kalenyk. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! The Hollywood writers strike is highlighting AIs growing prominence as a labor issue and Washingtons dithering over addressing concerns about the technology. The roughly 11,500 television and movie screenwriters unionized under the Writers Guild of America went on strike this week, in part over their concerns about studios potentially using AI to generate scripts and threaten jobs in an already precarious industry. It is one of the first high-profile labor standoffs to feature a dispute between workers and management over the issue, which is rippling across the economy. Really, what we're coming down to is saying that all writing has to have a writer, and that writer needs to be a human being, John August, part of the WGA bargaining committee and a former board member, said in an interview. The union pushback is an effort to rein in the adoption of technology that is proliferating with few regulatory constraints, as attempts to regulate the wide-ranging field in the U.S. and Europe struggle to keep up with the pace of developments. If regulators don't act, workers' advocates fear, AI could pose threats to privacy, organizing and even entire jobs. Much of the recent focus has been on advances in so-called generative AI, which offers tantalizing prospects of efficiency for employers but also the threat of upheaval for certain white-collar and creative industries, where unions have significant sway. The technology is based on machine learning models, through which it can produce something new, including lucid text, based on patterns drawn from a pool of existing information. AI, algorithms and other automated tools are being used in everything from screening job applicants and evaluating employee performance to tracking workers movements even their keystrokes. Recent innovations in the technology, most notably ChatGPT, may have marked a tipping point in its spread to the workplace, with implications for a much broader set of workers. Story continues With this latest iteration of AI, obviously, a whole lot of additional folks are starting to think it could impact them, said Beth Allen, a spokesperson for the Communications Workers of America. It's hard to think of an area of our membership that it might not end up touching down the road. Organized labor has long fretted about the threat of technology displacing workers. Automation has been one of the major sticking points, for instance, in the ongoing contract negotiations between unionized dockworkers and West Coast port operators, an impasse thats gone on for nearly a year. But newer tools fueled by AI have many on edge because of the threat they pose to industries previously considered secure from such forces including some where unions had been making inroads in recent years. Advances in generative AI could eventually expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation, economists at Goldman Sachs estimated last month, with two-thirds of all occupations affected in some fashion. Office and administrative tasks, as well as legal work, would be most vulnerable to automation, with around 45 percent of work potentially exposed; arts and media could have more than a quarter of current work automated close to the share for all industries overall, the report said. There was an assumption in the past that if you were a professional your skills were always going to be needed, said Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of Cornell Universitys Worker Institute. Now were starting to see the same level of insecurity other workers have had to deal with since the Industrial Revolution. In the WGAs case, the union is demanding that AI wont be used to write or rewrite material covered by the contract and that guild members' work wont be used to train AI. The industry has balked at those terms, as well as other planks of WGAs proposal. Writers find themselves in the middle of a forest fire where our compensation has been driven down, our working conditions are being driven down, and writing as a career is under attack, August said. AI feels like an asteroid that's headed towards us. You can't put one over the other; you have to deal with both. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers did not return a request to comment Thursday afternoon. In another example of the conflict, the actors union SAG-AFTRA, which is scheduled to start its own negotiations with TV and movie studios next month, has drawn a line against allowing AI developers to use digital voice simulations or likenesses without negotiation. We think AI, and generative AI in particular, is probably one of the most consequential new technological developments weve ever seen for our members, and we want to be on top of it, said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRAs national executive director and chief negotiator. The union pushback is a concerted effort to constrain the adoption of technology that is proliferating with few regulatory constraints, as attempts to regulate the wide-ranging field in the U.S. and Europe struggle to keep up with the pace of developments. The issue is thorny across the board it spans ethics, intellectual property rights, computer science and classroom education leaving the dizzying task of dealing with the fast-developing technology to regulators and lawmakers whose operative speed is nowhere near as fast. There's a bevy of proposals circulating in Congress, but little consensus as of yet . Surveillance technology and artificial intelligence are becoming more pervasive by the day and right now, there are no guardrails in place to prevent employers from misusing and abusing them. That needs to change, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who has introduced a bill to restrict use of AI and other surveillance tools in the workplace, said in a statement to POLITICO. The Biden administration has sought to fill that void, announcing plans to look into how companies are using AI and other automated tools on their employees. On Thursday, the White House pledged to formulate draft guidelines regarding federal agencies use of AI, building upon its Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights released last year. However, regulatory efforts to date have been rather scattershot due in part to the complexity of the issue and the overlapping agencies tasked with policing the workplace, let alone society writ large. For instance, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo in October set her sights on uses of electronic monitoring that may interfere with employees rights to organize and discuss work conditions. Abruzzo told POLITICO that employers use of algorithmic tools on workers risks significantly impairing or negating their ability to engage with one another, and that the NLRB is investigating several cases involving potential unlawful conduct. Meanwhile, a cavalcade of federal agencies, including the Justice Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, issued a warning in April against using AI to discriminate or otherwise violate civil rights laws such as by algorithmically screening out certain racial groups or older job applicants. However, officials made clear they were relying on existing authority to do so, rather than creating AI-specific policies. Even with the rapid developments of technology our statutes that we enforce still apply. There's no sort of carve out or anything for use of AI in the workplace, said Eunice Ikene, an attorney adviser to EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows. Theres broad, bipartisan interest in tackling AI at the EEOC, according to Ikene and Victoria Lipnic, a former GOP commissioner. But specific rules on the technology appear years away, particularly as President Joe Bidens appointees remain unable to act without buy-in from Republicans. Absent commissioners formal authorization, the EEOC, which is tasked with enforcing workplace anti-discrimination laws, can issue interpretive guidance and other memos on the subject though the effect of such moves is limited and susceptible to legal challenges. Another option could be to harness the governments influence by tweaking the federal guidelines on the hiring process, in conjunction with other agencies, Lipnic said. In the meantime, while Washington tries to get its arms around the issue, fissures between workers and management are likely to proliferate as AI technology proliferates and evolves. Should government officials be looking at it? Absolutely, August said. Things are just moving so quickly that we have to be addressing this now in our contract. Four decades of protection of east China bay ecosystem pays off Xinhua) 08:29, May 06, 2023 This aerial photo taken on April 14, 2023 shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng) JINAN, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Jiaozhou Bay in east China's Shandong Province is among the country's first to carry out comprehensive and systematic marine ecological surveys. "We've observed the bay's environment since the 1980s and set up 14 long-term monitoring spots here. Starting from 2003, our monitoring frequency has increased to once a month, covering the major ecological areas of Jiaozhou Bay," said Sun Xiaoxia, a researcher at the Institute of Oceanography under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Over the past four decades, the bay, in the coastal city of Qingdao, has witnessed tremendous progress in its ecological environment preservation. Thanks to a series of eco-friendly policies and restoration efforts, the local government has continuously improved the bay's environmental health and recovered the aquatic plant population. "The health of the bay's ecosystem has been steadily recovering since 2003, reaching its historical best over the past two decades in 2021," Sun said. Liu Song, born in 1990, has lived at the bay since her childhood. She has taken over a family seafood business, farming clams and sea cucumbers. Hailing from a family that relies on the local marine ecosystem, Liu knows better than many others about the ecological changes of Jiaozhou Bay over the years. "The quality of our local specialty, Hongdao clams, is good nowadays, but back in 2000, due to poor water quality, clam quality was far inferior to what it is now," Liu recalled. "Sea cucumber farming has also benefited from the improving water quality in Jiaozhou Bay," Liu added. According to the Qingdao municipal ecology and environment bureau, the proportion of waters with excellent quality in Qingdao's offshore areas has come in at 99 percent, indicating continuous improvement of the local marine environment. Such ecological progress is hard-won. In the 1990s, as Qingdao was accelerating its urbanization, the amount of wastewater discharge ballooned, worsening Jiaozhou Bay's pollution situation. Fortunately, the municipal government took timely environmental protection measures including building sewage treatment plants, riverway dredging and remediation, and wetland restoration, while also strengthening their law enforcement efforts to ensure orderly marine resource exploitation and proper pollution treatment. Zhao Mei, head of a local sewage treatment company, said that her company has spent more than 10 million yuan (about 1.44 million U.S. dollars) on upgrading its equipment. Currently, the treated wastewater is used for landscaping irrigation and road cleaning. Sun Xiaoxia said that since the beginning of the 21st century, the biomass of plankton in Jiaozhou Bay has posted an obvious increase, multiplying 2.54 times compared to that of the 1990s. Li Xinzheng, a researcher at the Institute of Oceanography, also attributed the rising average biomass and density of large benthic organisms in or near the bay to the complete ban on all forms of trawling and the implementation of relevant fishing moratorium policies in Jiaozhou Bay. "The successful governance of Jiaozhou Bay's ecological environment has become a model for China's marine ecological governance and a typical achievement of the country's sustainable development and utilization of its coastal waters," said Sun. Tourists have fun at a park in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, April 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng) This photo taken on April 14, 2023 shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Its better than brilliant. Its mega brill. Its double fab, yeah. It is very strange, but after I work on a character, I feel like they are a friend of mine. Perhaps it is because when I am rehearsing, I spend so much time with them-researching, moving, talking, dressing and thinking like them. When a play is over, I usually dont want to leave the character, so I think of them fondly as a long lost friend. In my next show, I think I have found my theatre bestie, Shirley Valentine. Shirley Valentine was a hit one-woman play written by Willy Russell, a lad from Liverpool who got frustrated with school when he was 15, dropped out and became a hairdresser. His time spent with women and the secrets they revealed to him in his chair inspired him to go back to school and later on to college, where he studied drama and writing. His time as a teenage hairdresser also shaped the characters he wrote, most notably Rita from Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine. Both were icons of the late 1980s and inspired other strong female-driven movies, like Thelma and Louise. Willy Russell and Pauline Collins, who originated the role on stage and in the movie, were nominated for, and won, multiple awards, including Oliviers, Tonys and Drama Desk Awards. Collins brilliant characterization in the 1989 film also saw her nominated for an Oscar as Best Actress and won her a Golden Globe for Best Comedy performance. To know Shirley Valentine is truly to love her. She is a middle-aged housewife in Liverpool who spends her days in a lonely existence but dreams of a life outside the wall that she talks to all day long. Photo: Contributed Bonnie Gratz as Shirley Valentine When the opportunity to travel to Greece is offered to her, she is reluctant to go at first, but then has the adventure of a lifetime. First Greece, Shirley, then the world! Strange as it seems, I am constantly laughing about the things Shirley says in her scouser blunt but beautiful way of seeing the world. I am a woman who is happy in her marriage, is very close to my sons and has a rich work life, but even so, I can really relate to Shirley in so many ways, especially her feelings about aging and loneliness. I spent much of this year recovering from a car accident I had last summer and, honestly, never felt so left out and lonely. Shirley inspired me to make the most of my unused life, to not take myself too seriously, to be like Shirley the Brave and just go. Where am I going next? You can catch me onstage as Shirley Valentine in Studio 100 at the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna from May 11 to 13. Tickets are almost sold out, so get yours at https://www.showpass.com/shirley-valentine/. I do think, however, you will likely see me play this role again. Its going to be too hard to leave this friend behind. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Alexej Savreux, a 34-year-old in Kansas City, says hes done all kinds of work over the years. Hes made fast-food sandwiches. Hes been a custodian and a junk-hauler. And hes done technical sound work for live theater. These days, though, his work is less hands-on: Hes an artificial intelligence trainer. Savreux is part of a hidden army of contract workers who have been doing the behind-the-scenes labor of teaching AI systems how to analyze data so they can generate the kinds of text and images that have wowed the people using newly popular products like ChatGPT. To improve the accuracy of AI, he has labeled photos and made predictions about what text the apps should generate next. The pay: $15 an hour and up, with no benefits. Out of the limelight, Savreux and other contractors have spent countless hours in the past few years teaching OpenAIs systems to give better responses in ChatGPT. Their feedback fills an urgent and endless need for the company and its AI competitors: providing streams of sentences, labels and other information that serve as training data. We are grunt workers, but there would be no AI language systems without it, said Savreux, whos done work for tech startups including OpenAI, the San Francisco company that released ChatGPT in November and set off a wave of hype around generative AI. You can design all the neural networks you want, you can get all the researchers involved you want, but without labelers, you have no ChatGPT. You have nothing, Savreux said. Its not a job that will give Savreux fame or riches, but its an essential and often overlooked one in the field of AI, where the seeming magic of a new technological frontier can overshadow the labor of contract workers. A lot of the discourse around AI is very congratulatory, said Sonam Jindal, the program lead for AI, labor and the economy at the Partnership on AI, a nonprofit based in San Francisco that promotes research and education around artificial intelligence. Story continues But were missing a big part of the story: that this is still hugely reliant on a large human workforce, she said. The tech industry has for decades relied on the labor of thousands of lower-skilled, lower-paid workers to build its computer empires: from punch-card operators in the 1950s to more recent Google contractors whove complained about second-class status, including yellow badges that set them apart from full-time employees. Online gig work through sites like Amazon Mechanical Turk grew even more popular early in the pandemic. Now, the burgeoning AI industry is following a similar playbook. The work is defined by its unsteady, on-demand nature, with people employed by written contracts either directly by a company or through a third-party vendor that specializes in temp work or outsourcing. Benefits such as health insurance are rare or nonexistent which translates to lower costs for tech companies and the work is usually anonymous, with all the credit going to tech startup executives and researchers. The Partnership on AI warned in a 2021 report that a spike in demand was coming for what it called data enrichment work. It recommended that the industry commit to fair compensation and other improved practices, and last year it published voluntary guidelines for companies to follow. DeepMind, an AI subsidiary of Google, is so far the only tech company to publicly commit to those guidelines. A lot of people have recognized that this is important to do. The challenge now is to get companies to do it, Jindal said. This is a new job thats being created by AI, she added. We have the potential for this to be a high-quality job and for workers who are doing this work to be respected and valued for their contributions to enabling this advancement. A spike in demand has arrived, and some AI contract workers are asking for more. In Nairobi, Kenya, more than 150 people whove worked on AI for Facebook, TikTok and ChatGPT voted Monday to form a union, citing low pay and the mental toll of the work, Time magazine reported. Facebook and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the vote. OpenAI declined to comment. So far, AI contract work hasnt inspired a similar movement in the U.S. among the Americans quietly building AI systems word-by-word. Savreux, who works from home on a laptop, got into AI contracting after seeing an online job posting. He credits the AI gig work along with a previous job at the sandwich chain Jimmy Johns with helping to pull him out of homelessness. People sometimes minimize these necessary, laborious jobs, he said. Its the necessary, entry-level area of machine learning. The $15 an hour is more than the minimum wage in Kansas City. Job postings for AI contractors refer to both the allure of working in a cutting-edge industry as well as the sometimes-grinding nature of the work. An advertisement from Invisible Technologies, a temp agency, for an Advanced AI Data Trainer notes that the job would be entry level with pay starting at $15 an hour, but also that it could be beneficial to humanity. Think of it like being a language arts teacher or a personal tutor for some of the worlds most influential technology, the job posting says. It doesnt name Invisibles client, but it says the new hire would work within protocols developed by the worlds leading AI researchers. Invisible did not immediately respond to a request for more information on its listings. Theres no definitive tally of how many contractors work for AI companies, but its an increasingly common form of work around the world. Time magazine reported in January that OpenAI relied on low-wage Kenyan laborers to label text that included hate speech or sexually abusive language so that its apps could do better at recognizing toxic content on their own. OpenAI has hired about 1,000 remote contractors in places such as Eastern Europe and Latin America to label data or train company software on computer engineering tasks, the online news outlet Semafor reported in January. OpenAI is still a small company, with some 375 employees as of January, CEO Sam Altman said on Twitter, but that number doesnt include contractors and doesnt reflect the full scale of the operation or its ambitions. A spokesperson for OpenAI said no one was available to answer questions about its use of AI contractors. The work of creating data to train AI models isnt always simple to do, and sometimes its complex enough to attract would-be AI entrepreneurs. Jatin Kumar, a 22-year-old in Austin, Texas, said hes been doing AI work on contract for a year since he graduated college with a degree in computer science, and he said it gives him a sneak peak into where generative AI technology is headed in the near-term. What it allows you to do is start thinking about ways to use this technology before it hits public markets, Kumar said. Hes also working on his own tech startup, Bonsai, which is making software to help with hospital billing. A conversational trainer, Kumar said his main work has been generating prompts: participating in a back-and-forth conversation with chatbot technology thats part of the long process of training AI systems. The tasks have grown more complex with experience, he said, but they started off very simple. Every 45 or 30 minutes, youd get a new task, generating new prompts, he said. The prompts might be as simple as, What is the capital of France? he said. Kumar said he worked with about 100 other contractors on tasks to generate training data, correct answers and fine-tune the model by giving feedback on answers. He said other workers handled flagged conversations: reading over examples submitted by ChatGPT users who, for one reason or another, reported the chatbots answer back to the company for review. When a flagged conversation comes in, he said, its sorted based on the type of error involved and then used in further training of the AI models. Initially, it started off as a way for me to help out at OpenAI and learn about existing technologies, Kumar said. But now, I cant see myself stepping away from this role. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Taylor Rains/Insider A New Jersey woman was flown from Philadelphia to Jamaica instead of to Jacksonville, Florida. She landed on the Caribbean island of Jamaica without a passport. Beverly Ellis-Hebard says was not informed her gate had changed when she boarded in Philadelphia. A New Jersey woman has described the shocking airport mistake that saw her flown from Philadelphia to Jamaica, in the Caribbean, instead of to Jacksonville, Florida. Beverly Ellis-Hebard told ABC7 news that she was directed to the wrong plane and didn't have a passport with her. Ellis-Hebard, who travels often between her home state of Pennsylvania and her second home in Florida, was taking a regular flight with Frontier Airlines to go for a break in the sunshine state. Everything was going smoothly until she needed to use the restroom shortly before the flight was due to take off. She was told by the agent she had 20 minutes, said Ellis-Hebard. When she returned, the flight appeared to have almost completely boarded, and she was hurried aboard the plane after the agent checked her boarding pass. In the confusion, Ellis-Hebard had also cut her hand when she loaded her hand luggage, she told ABC7 News. Once aboard the plane, a flight attendant tended her wound and said she would be able to relax when the plane landed in Jamaica. Ellis-Hebard told ABC7, "I laughed. I said, 'I would love to be going there, but I have a beach where I live.'" "She said, 'Look at me. This plane is going to Jamaica.' And I knew by the look on her face she wasn't joking." It transpired that in the stress of her injury and having to swiftly board her on the flight, Ellis-Hebard was not informed that her flight to Jacksonville had changed the gates. The attendant told Ellis-Hebard, "You're entering a different country without a passport. That's bad," per ABC7. Luckily, Jamaican authorities allowed Ellis-Hebard to remain in the jetway, the bridge between the plane and the airport when she landed, and it meant she had not officially left soil, she was told, said Ellis-Hebard. Story continues She was then put on the next flight back to Philadelphia several hours later. "It should have never have happened because I did not have a passport. The woman at the gate did not do her job," Ellis-Hebard told ABC7. Frontier Airlines told the news outlet that they had refunded her original ticket and given her a $600 voucher as a gesture of goodwill. Frontier Airlines told ABC7: "We extend our utmost apologies to Beverly Ellis-Hebard for this unfortunate experience. We sincerely regret that Ms. Ellis-Hebard was able to board the wrong flight." The airline did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider On a warm day on Sept. 22, 1990, a 14-year-old boy walking near a creek bed in Opelika, Alabama, discovered the dead body of a young Black man with a single gunshot wound to his head, Opelika Police Department said. On Sept. 22, 1990, the body of a young Black man was recovered from a creek bed off Anderson Road, approximately one-tenth of a mile from Interstate 85 in Opelika, Alabama. / Credit: Opelika Police Department For 33 years, investigators have been trying to learn the victim's identity, and are hoping that with new DNA advances, and the public's help, the time has come to solve this cold case mystery, Sgt. Alfred White with the Opelika Police Department told CBS News. The victim was wearing six pairs of socks on each foot, a detail which White, an investigations supervisor, said seemed strange considering "it's not very cold here that time of year." He was wearing size eight black Ellesse shoes, a white St. Louis Cardinals jersey-type shirt with red pinstripes, and Jordache blue jeans, police said. The man could have been wearing the six pairs of socks because his shoes were much larger than his feet, White said. The man, believed to be between 18 and 25 years old, had no tattoos and a piercing in his left ear, police said. An autopsy conducted in Montgomery concluded the cause of death was homicide from a single gunshot wound, police said. Ballistics for the bullet, which is from a small-caliber gun, have not been matched because the gun used in the killing has not been recovered, White said. No missing person reports matching his description were filed at the time, police said. Investigators at the time followed up on a number of leads but soon the case went cold, said White. "He doesn't appear to be from the local area," said White, adding that the body was found not far from Interstate 85. Opelika, a mid-size city in the Eastern part of the state, is a 30-minute drive from the Georgia border, and around two hours from Florida. White added that Opelika was a small town, and even smaller in 1990, and said that while it sees its fair share of murders, "it is rare when we can't identify that person." Story continues A composite drawing of a young man unidentified for 33 years in Opelika Alabama. He was found fatally shot on Sept. 22, 1990. / Credit: Opelika Police Department Investigators are currently working to enter identifying details into NamUS, the national clearinghouse for missing and unclaimed persons, White said. Currently, investigators are working to solve three cold cases in Opelika, he added. Police are hoping to employ similar techniques they used to solve the cold case of "Opelika Jane Doe," who was believed to be a Black girl between 4 and 7 years old whose body was found in January of 2012 in Opelika, according to a news release on DNAsolves.com. Investigators used DNA testing and genetic genealogy to identify her last year as Amore Joveah Wiggins, the release read. This past January, the girl's father and stepmother, Lamar and Ruth Vickerstaff, were arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, the release said. Lamar Vickerstaff was charged with murder, while Ruth was charged with failure to report a missing child. Investigators discovered that Wiggins was never enrolled in school or reported missing, the release read, and they believe she was killed in 2010 or 2011. For people with any information on this case or the identity of the victim, please contact the Opelika Police Department Detective Division at 334-705-5220, or the Secret Witness Hotline at 334-745-8665. Historic Campaign Moments: Jimmy Carter, the Wisconsin primary and the headlines that got it wrong Horses to look out for at 2023 Kentucky Derby Sen. Mark Kelly on sending humans to Mars and joining Astronaut Hall of Fame AI Books Books almost entirely generated by AI are flooding Amazon's marketplace, The Washington Post reports, a trend that's turning out to be a huge headache for human authors. It's a growing problem, making it more difficult to distinguish real authors from AI-generated bylines of non-existent writers. One publisher identified by the WaPo lists dozens of books on Amazon on surprisingly niche topics, with suspicious five-star reviews propping up the operation. And AI-generated books on Amazon are only the tip of the iceberg, with other AI content flooding the rest of the internet with dubiously sourced material as well, which could easily trigger a pandemic of misinformation. New Reality Worse yet, these misleading signals could end up triggering a feedback loop, with AI text generators regurgitating each other's content. NewsGuard, a firm that measures the credibility of online news sources, identified a whopping 49 websites producing content that appeared to be either mostly or entirely AI-generated in the month of April alone. It's a new reality companies behind some of the biggest publishers are now grappling with. Some are hiding the fact that they're making use of AI, while others are advertising that fact out in the open. "Theres nothing to be ashamed of," Josh Jaffe, president of San Francisco-based online publisher Ingenio, told the WaPo. "Were actually doing people a favor by leveraging generative AI tools" to create content that wouldn't otherwise exist. Online publications like CNET and BuzzFeed are already making ample use of the technology to generate often dubiously-sourced and redundant content. Even AI-generated images are starting to flood the internet, with the top Google result of American artist Edward Hopper showing an AI-generated knockoff this week. As for authors trying to sell their books online, it's a sobering new reality. It doesn't help to know that "any text I write will inevitably be fed into an AI system that will generate even more competition," Chris Cowell, a Portland-based software developer, who had one of his books ripped off by an AI on Amazon, told the WaPo. And what comes out of these algorithms could lead to mass confusion or worse yet, rip the rug out from under us. "The main issue is losing track of what truth is," Margaret Mitchell, chief ethics scientist at the AI start-up Hugging Face, told the newspaper. "Without grounding, the system can make stuff up. And if its that same made-up thing all over the world, how do you trace it back to what reality is?" More on AI content: Online Tutoring Company Stock Crashes as ChatGPT Steamrolls Its Business FILE: Burial at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, with coffin carried on horse drawn caisson. / Credit: Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images The horses that lead the caissons holding caskets of fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery are taking a 45-day break over concerns for their health. The Army in a statement said the suspension of the horses in the caisson platoon is meant to "prioritize the health of the herd." The pause comes after four horses of the unit died in the past two years. The horses' living conditions have undergone recent scrutiny. "We look forward to the return of the U.S. Army caisson horses performing their sacred duty of escorting our nation's heroes to their final resting place," Army spokesman Lt. Col. Terence Kelley said in a statement. The suspension, which began on May 1, is a "conditions-based" pause and won't impact military funerals. The Army is looking at temporary solutions like contracted services to provide funeral escorts while the military working horses take a break. During the pause, horses with foot, joint or muscle issues will have a "more deliberate and adequate rest and rehabilitation cycle," according to a spokesperson for the Army's Military District of Washington. The command will also take the time to procure additional youthful horses and modernize equipment needed to decrease potential future injuries. "Unsatisfactory conditions" for horses managed by infantry regiment Last year, an Army inspection first reviewed by CNN found that the more than 60 horses managed by the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Old Guard," were living in "unsatisfactory conditions" at Fort Myer Caisson Barns and Fort Belvoir Caisson Pasture facility. The inspection requested by the unit's commander was prompted by the death of two horses within 96 hours of each other in February 2022. Both horses died as a result of severe gravel and sand impaction in their digestive systems. Tony, one of the horses that died, had 44 pounds of gravel and sand in his system, according to CNN. Story continues Trainer suspended after 2 horses mysteriously die during Kentucky Derby Week Subsequent tests included in the inspection showed 80% of all of the horses managed at the facilities had high or moderate levels of sediment in their systems. Sediment could be found in their digestive system if horses are eating hay off the ground, rather than off a feeding mat. The Army's Military District of Washington and the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment have made several changes to the care of the horses, as a result of recommendations made after the inspection, like buying more feeding mats, hay quality testing kits and a more nutrient-balanced feed. The command has also hired several equine experts to help manage the health of the herd. The deaths of two other horses in the unit over the past year were unrelated to the living conditions described in the inspection, according to an Army official. One of the horses died after an injury sustained at rest, after likely being kicked by another horse, and another horse was euthanized because of an intestinal issue. The inspection last year also noted the horses' insufficient living space. The horses of "The Old Guard" rotate between Fort Myer and Fort Belvoir. The recommended acreage for healthy horses is one to two acres per horse, however, the pasture facility at Belvoir only consists of six acres for the more than 60 horses in "The Old Guard." To give the horses more space, the Army Military District of Washington announced a partnership last year with the Bureau of Land Management to house some of the horses at the Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area in Lorton, Virginia, about 20 miles outside of Washington, D.C. The Army plans to use approximately 14 acres to house and graze 12 horses on a rotational basis through December 2027. Congress included an amendment from Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, in last year's defense legislation that required the Army to submit a briefing to Congress on the care of the horses within "The Old Guard." An Army official confirmed the Army completed that briefing earlier this year. "The Old Guard" horses In the hundreds of funerals at Arlington National Cemetery a year, six horses pull a flag-draped casket on a black artillery caisson. The caissons, built in 1918, originally carried ammunition chests and tools for cannons but now have a flat deck for caskets to rest on. The Army will provide updates for the public on the health of the horses and the interim solutions to their absence on the Arlington National Cemetery website. The sights and sounds of coronation day Biden administration prepares for expiration of Title 42 Ukraine accuses Russia of using phosphorous munitions in Bakhmut As the formal trial in the enormous defamation suit of Dominion Voting Systems against FOX News was about to begin, plaintiff Dominion agreed to end their suit for $787.5 million, about half the total amount the voting machines company was seeking. Settlements in civil lawsuits are common, but the scale of money and the principle involved make this case especially newsworthy and important. The total amount may well be the largest ever awarded in such a case. Why should we care? Conceivably, the result of a trial might have resulted in a verdict that set a precedent limiting the firm freedom of speech protections of our Constitution, especially in the First Amendment. That provides the key cornerstone of our political system. Arthur I. Cyr Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis deserves great credit. He subtly facilitated settlement, and the judge also criticized Fox News over delay in providing important evidence that showed company executives knew accusations of vote fraud were erroneous. Nonetheless, they knowingly decided to air these false accusations. Judge Davis highlighted facts that removed the case from being a straightforward matter of protecting freedom of speech of FOX News. Decades ago, the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, my employer, experienced pressure to cancel an event featuring a Palestine Liberation Organization official. We did not. Council Chairman John D. Gray, head of Hart, Schaffner & Marx, provided crucial support. Over time, we faced various efforts to suppress speakers. A telephoned bomb threat disrupted a lecture by Congressman Paul Findley, critic of Israel. We continued in a stairwell. Followers of extremist Lyndon LaRouche tried to break up a meeting. They were removed. Winston Churchill evolved into a genius at collecting information, and people. One of the most pivotal of the latter was Frederick Lindemann, a brilliant Oxford don in physics and philosophy. Despite his academic success, he remained a social outcast. No doubt, anti-Semitism was one factor in 1930s Britain. Story continues However, Lindemann was his own worst problem, a know-it-all and generally obnoxious. Churchills granddaughter Celia Sandys politely described him as anti-social. Even Churchills patient wife Clementine resisted having the Oxford don as a guest, but Winston insisted. He clearly regarded his friend as possessing special talent. When Churchill returned to government as head of the Admiralty at the start of World War II in Europe, he immediately recruited Lindemann and gave him freedom in selecting his staff and generally in choosing his myriad projects. The scholar, who was particularly talented at statistical analysis, had one mission: to undermine the conventional wisdom of the Navy and related government projects. Churchill became Prime Minister with the fall of France, and Lindemanns role expanded, but his basic mission remained continuous. He was to analyze and criticize proposals by the officials of the government: admirals and generals, civil servants and politicians, and members of the Cabinet especially the Prime Minister. Lindemann was not always right. In fact, some of his ideas and criticisms were bizarre. However, he was a great catalyst for open debate, thorough analysis, and reconsideration of conventional wisdom. That was the point. Churchill possessed a sizable ego, but also enough long hard experience to be well aware of his own fallibility. He assumed Lindemann would enjoy his role but also expected him to excel, and he did. Imagination and innovation were crucial to Allied success; so was reliability of information. Lindemann helped drive these dimensions. Storms pass. Our Constitution continues, even in our acrimonious time. Arthur I. Cyr is author of After the Cold War (Palgrave/Macmillan and NYU Press). Contact acyr@carthage.edu. This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Arthur Cyr: Dominion-FOX settlement is a big win for everyone New York City Since he started using artificial intelligence, copywriter Guillermo Rubio estimates his productivity has increased by as much as 20%. "It just makes certain things go a bit faster, like research or brainstorming ideas," Rubio told CBS News. "It's really useful for coming up with those things. Not necessarily writing them, but just generating the ideas when you're stuck." That innovation also means change. A report released by Goldman Sachs in March found that AI services could automate as many as 300 million full-time jobs worldwide. Many are calling it a new age in the way we work. "It's very powerful," said Daniel Keum, an assistant professor of management at Columbia Business School. "AI is able to actually outperform us in learning and adapting. So that we have not seen before in any technologies." Keum believes the impact of AI will stretch across industries. The issue has already taken center stage in Hollywood, where Writers Guild of America members went on strike this week for the first time in 16 years. Among the demands from the more than 11,000 WGA writers to the studios is a ban on the use of AI to create feature and television scripts. "These more very physical and labor-intensive jobs won't be replaced," Keum said. "But I think ... thinking, analytical, creative skills, these things are actually most exposed to AI at the moment." The spike in the popularity of AI has raised alarm among some in the tech world, who say that there are ethical issues that still need to be fleshed out. In March, a group of about 1,000 tech leaders, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, signed a letter calling for a pause on AI development because they believe it poses "profound risks to society and humanity." "ChatGPT came on the scene in November, and it's been like a wildfire ever since," said Margaret Lilani, vice president of talent solutions at the job search site Upwork. Story continues "You have to be smart about it and really look at it as this opportunity," Lilani added. "It is not an 'or' between ChatGPT and humans. It's an 'and.' And when you combine those two together and really harness that potential of utilizing technology to increase your productivity, and really showcase your creativity, it's going to take you that much further." That is a mindset that Rubio has embraced, saying it's not just about adapting in order to survive. "Survive and even thrive, I would say," Rubio said. Historic Campaign Moments: Jimmy Carter, the Wisconsin primary and the headlines that got it wrong Horses to look out for at 2023 Kentucky Derby Sen. Mark Kelly on sending humans to Mars and joining Astronaut Hall of Fame MAKE ROOM: Creating a space for whats important, as the owner of this music collection has done, is one of the secrets to creating a feeling of belonging at home, says Edward Leaman of California Closets. What I love about writing this home and lifestyle column is not having the chance to tell you what I know, which wouldnt take us very far, but rather the chance to learn and share what I didnt know I didnt know. While most of my interviews with experts start with my having a grasp of my columns direction and a relevant list of questions, my favorite interviews jettison off to lands unimagined, unexpected, and as yet unexplored. Such was my conversation with Edward Leaman, chief brand officer for California Closets, and a continuing studies instructor of brand building at Stanford University. Here I thought Leaman and I would talk generally about, oh, the ways the world of organizing have changed since California Closets came on the scene in the late 1970s, and a bit about the brands five-year-old annual magazine Ideas of Order, which just published The Belonging Issue. Instead, Leaman, opened the interview with a monologue about, what else? Love. Do you know what standing in love means? he asks, dumbfounding me. We all know what falling in love means and what being in love means, but standing in love is when you stand with the person, for them, as they go through their life. I have no earthly notion what this has to do with home organizing, but Im interested, so I let Leaman take the reins. Somehow his commentary on love segues to a discussion of the feeling of belonging, how we are supposed to feel at home. And that morphs imperceptibly into our relationship with our belongings, what we surround ourselves with, which loosely, though not overtly, ties to systems to store and display these belongings. Ahh, I get it. That feeling of belonging starts with making sure you live with loved ones who make you feel seen and heard, Leaman says, getting back to love, and a realm well outside the scope of this column. If you dont feel seen and heard, you dont belong. Or they dont. Next, it involves making space for our stories, which we share through our belongings, he said. Story continues At this point, my eyes must have been making little pinwheels, because the publicist who had coordinated the Zoom call for the three of us, said: He speaks in fortune cookie. The fundamental question, he continued, is how do you make space for what belongs? When you ask that societal question, you open up the deeper feeling of belonging and the important emotions you feel with your belongings. These are the treasures of your life. Here I thought I gave the concept of home a lot of contemplation. This guy makes me feel like Im in the kiddie pool, while hes on the Olympic swim team. We dont define ourselves as a brand about organization and storage, he says, referring to California Closets, where he's played a leading role since 1994, but rather as helping customers increase their feeling of belonging. Well, when you put it that way. So just how can we create that longed-for feeling of greater belonging at home? Heres how, according to Leaman: Honor the rituals of self-care. Everyone has small daily rituals, such as making the bed, brewing coffee or tea in the morning, walking the dog, getting the kids to school or to bed. You cant live an ideal life if youre not connected to your rhythms, Leaman says. Its these little habits that make a home home. Practice gratitude. Leaman and I have both gone through divorces and know the foundation-shaking loss that comes with that, as well as the subsequent appreciation for having another chance. The deep gratitude I know I feel for my life and home today, he correctly points out, comes from humility. Make sense. Beauty and order in a home lie in the way it makes sense to you, said Leaman, who finds beauty in the relationship of objects. Why did you place this here, next to this? he wonders. I put my dog-treat jar next to the tea kettle, he said, because, when Im making hot tea, a treat for me, as I stand there, I give the dogs a treat for them. Thats intentional. It makes sense to me. Create room for what you care about. Look around and ask what matters, what makes you feel at home in your home, what defines you? Maybe its your books, your tie collection, your vintage record albums, your artwork, your car, or your assorted sunhats. Note this distinction: When you look at an item or collection do you say, thats mine, or, more deeply, thats me? Those belongings you most closely identify with are often the ones that tell your story. Create a beautiful space for them. Note where you feel most at home in your home. For some its the bath, for others its the kitchen or their studio. Figure where and when you feel most connected with your home, where it fills you with the most meaning, figure out why and try make more places in your home conjure that feeling. Just show up. Home is where we celebrate love, and where we celebrate the journey of our lives, Leaman said, speaking more fortune cookie. The secret of parenting is to just show up every day. Isnt having a long-term relationship with another human being most important? What means more than saying I love you and I wont turn my back? That, I learned, is standing in love. Thats all. Marni Jameson is the author of six home and lifestyle books, including What to Do With Everything You Own to Leave the Legacy You Want, Downsizing the Family Home What to Save, What to Let Go, and Downsizing the Blended Home When Two Households Become One. You may reach her at marnijameson.com. This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: MARNI JAMESON: Some words about the meaning of home and belonging SYDNEY (Reuters) - A decision not to light up the sails of the Sydney Opera House to mark the coronation of King Charles was a cost saving measure, a spokesperson for the state government of New South Wales said on Saturday. Across Australia, where King Charles is head of state, the role of the monarchy is controversial. The country held a referendum in 1999 on becoming a republic with 55% of voters opposed, while more recent polls have shown varying levels of support. While many public buildings and monuments, including Parliament House in the capital Canberra, will be illuminated in royal purple on Saturday night to mark the coronation, the Sydney Opera House, lit up last year to commemorate the death of Queen Elizabeth II, will not be among them. "The New South Wales Government believe it has struck the right balance in terms of meeting community expectations on commemorating the occasion while being mindful of public expense," the government spokesperson said. On Sunday, celebrations at Parliament House are set to include Australian military personnel firing off a 21-gun salute, and an Australian air force fly-past. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in London for the coronation, has said he will take the oath of allegiance to King Charles at the ceremony, despite being a republican. "I want to see an Australian as Australia's head of state ... That doesn't mean that you can not have respect for the institution, which is the system of government that we have", Albanese told state broadcaster ABC on Friday. In addition to Australia, King Charles is head of state in New Zealand and 12 other Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom, although the role is largely ceremonial. (Reporting by Sam McKeith; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) Authorities are investigating a Friday night shooting in Camarillo that seriously injured a victim. A shooting that seriously injured a 19-year-old man in Camarillo Friday night remained under investigation Saturday. Ventura County Sheriff's officials said deputies responded to the 400 block of Fulton Street around 8:30 p.m. regarding a disturbance and subsequent reports of gunshots. The block is generally east of Arneill Road, north of Daily Drive, in a mostly residential area. The sheriff's office is contracted to provide police services in Camarillo. Deputies later found evidence of a shooting and learned a Camarillo man had been shot and was at a local hospital. He was transferred by ambulance to another hospital for more advanced care, the agency said in a release. Capt. Cameron Henderson, a sheriff's spokesman, declined to say Saturday which hospital the victim had been transferred to, saying the information would jeopardize the investigation. There was also no update on the victim's condition. The man was still alive as of 11:30 a.m., he said. The shooting appears to be an isolated event with no remaining threat to the general public, authorities said in the release. Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Albert Ramirez at 805-384-4761. No other details were immediately available. This story may be updated. This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Shooting in Camarillo hospitalizes man, 19, Friday night Photo: Andrea De Santis/Unsplash. Artificial intelligence can help students learn, but experts say it can replace teaching In late January, ChatGPT creator OpenAI addressed criticism from schools that the text generated from its AI-powered chatbot encouraged student plagiarism and cheating. The company responded by releasing a software tool to help teachers detect whether the author of an assignment was a student, or artificial intelligence. This is not the first time an online or digital tool has been accused of potentially destroying education. In 1998, The New York Times published an article titled, The Trouble with Cheating in the Digital Age one many stories published by various media outlets that warned about the dangers posed by the internet (library closures and increased plagiarism, among them). Today, computer science educators say such concerns over AI are likely overblown. Steve DiPaola is a professor in Simon Fraser Universitys cognitive science program, and leads the schools iVizLab, which focuses on AI-based computational models of human characteristics. He expects AI will come to be used by students as a tool for gathering information, or to work through and consider an assignment. It wont be used to create essays or answers that are fully copied and pasted. What you get cheaply out of these systems is going to be really obvious, really templatized, said DiPaola. And were all going to notice it, and were not going to care about it. After all, ChatGPT isnt always accurate. Beyond referencing wrong information, it can hallucinate by providing a convincing but made-up answer. For example, DiPaola asked a Vincent van Gogh chatbot how the artists friend Paul Gauguin helped him heal spiritually. The program responded randomly with: I have a friend in Jesus. When asked how it would disrupt education, ChatGPT didnt focus on cheating. Rather, the chatbot highlighted that AI could offer personalized learning by analyzing a students learning habits and shaping a curriculum to meet their specific needs. The program also responded that ChatGPT could enhance student engagement by providing immediate feedback, personalized recommendations and interactive discussions. Though useful, Vered Shwartz, a University of British Columbia assistant professor of computer science, said ChatGPTs inaccuracies could create problems. ChatGPT also said it could introduce automatic assignment grading, but Shwartz is skeptical. The industry has had automatic grading for questions with non-written answers for decades. And, with so much variation in written responses, Shwartz said she doubts that a program would be able to correctly grade written responses that vary too much from the template answer. Another potential consequence of AI adoption in education, according to ChatGPT, is job losses. Shwartz, however, was unconvinced. Jobs will definitely change, she said, but she added that it would be difficult for an AI to replace educators altogether. Even if the process of building a syllabus or a lesson plan could be automated, it would still have to be reviewed and likely taught by a person, she said. A Friday night shooting in the village of Monticello left a baby boy in critical but stable condition and sent a man and woman to a hospital. Monticello police said the shooting happened just after 10 p.m. Friday at a house on Holmes Street. According to police, officers who responded to a 911 report of shots fired arrived to find a 27-year-old man, a 20-year-old woman and a 15-month-old baby boy had been shot. The baby was flown to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where he was listed in critical but stable condition as of Saturday morning. The man and woman were taken by ambulance to Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown, where the woman was treated and released and the man was listed in stable condition as of Saturday morning. Police did not identify the shooting victims or say what their relationships to one another are. Police said a preliminary investigation showed that multiple rounds appeared to have been intentionally fired into the residence from outside. New service: Stewart Airport to offer nation's first nonstop service to the Faroe Islands Cold case: Police make arrest in 20-year-old Megan McDonald case after DNA links suspect to her death No suspects have been identified. State police are working in conjunction with Monticello police on the investigation. Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to call Monticello police at 845-794-4422. All calls will be kept confidential. Sullivan County's District Attorney's and Sheriff's Offices are assisting with the investigation. Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845. This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Monticello police investigate shooting of baby, two adults BUDAPEST Its springtime here for illiberal democracy. Once the country that opened its border with Austria in August 1989, a move that led directly to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Hungary has since made something of a U-turn. Come back, Mr. President, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared on Thursday. Make America Great Again and bring us peace. I came to Hungary to witness the not new, yet still astonishing enmeshing of the populist-nationalist American right and its European counterpart, and I didnt have to wait long. There was Orban endorsing Donald Trumps 2024 bid on the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference taking place here. Some in the audience wore T-shirts depicting Orban and Trump as saviors of the world. I was supposed to be watching all this from inside the conference, within the gleaming Balna, or whale center, along the Danube. Instead, I was livestreaming it from my hotel room barred from entry as a member of the media. When I tried to attend the event earlier that day, I ran into a barrier that seemed almost as formidable as the old Berlin Wall. Two security guards loomed large before a gateway arch in front of the center entrance, which was festooned with the slogan Woke Free Zone. More guards and metal detectors were downstairs in the registration area. I was surprised but not shocked by my travails. I knew that CPAC had banned many journalists, including the New Yorkers Andrew Marantz the previous year, so last month I made sure to reach out to the Hungarian Center for Fundamental Rights, which was co-hosting the conference, to avoid precisely this scenario. I received a friendly email from Dora Gulyas, the centers director for communication and public relations. She declared, We are happy to provide you with a press pass consider it done. A few days before the event, however, I received an email from the center indicating that I should watch it on the web, complete with the Kafkaesque instruction, There is nothing further to do. When I went to the Balna center in a last-ditch attempt to cross the border, I was treated like an invader: We are full. Story continues Once upon a time CPAC, which hosted its annual flagship event just outside Washington two months ago, was eager for media attention. But lately, CPAC officials have developed an aversion to the press, restricting many reporters and denouncing its critics as fake journalists. That seems particularly true as the MAGA movement has embraced Orban and his agenda. Hungary is now the global epicenter of the new rights crusade against liberal democracy. It serves as an alluring model for many conservatives a country thats successfully neutered the media and the judiciary as well as passed an anti-LGBTQ law thats supposed to protect the traditional family. And dont forget Orbans reluctance to support Ukraine in its fight against Russias brutal invasion. This is the second year in a row that CPAC came to Budapest, and Trump and his allies rejoiced in the blossoming relationship. In a Friday video address to the conference, Trump hailed the freedom-loving patriots at the conference and declared that it was imperative to stand together to defend our borders, our Judeo-Christian values, our identity and our way of life. Our ties have never been closer, Balazs Orban, the affable political director for Viktor Orban (no relation), told me about Hungarys relations with the Republican Party. It was Thursday afternoon, and we were meeting at an outdoor bistro next to the conference center. No sooner did Balazs Orban finish that thought than an elegantly attired Michael Anton the former Trump administration national security council official and author of the Flight 93 Election essay that famously made the apocalyptic case for Trump in 2016 stopped by to introduce himself. With his references to Renaissance paintings and classical architecture, the bespectacled Balazs Orban can give off an academic air, but if anyone has been working to bolster the practical political links between American and Hungarian conservatives, its him. He had recently returned from a trip to America, where he spoke at the Heritage Foundations 50th anniversary celebration, appeared on Fox News and addressed the hard-line New York Young Republican Club. As Balazs Orban turned me into his own disciple by demonstrating how to make a Froccs, the popular wine and soda-water drink, he explained, Its in Hungarys interest to have a Republican president. The drink was nifty enough, but it didnt mix entirely well with the conference itself. As I livestreamed the event, it quickly became clear that the Balna center was functioning as a kind of mega-church for the Trumpian right. There were sermons and homilies and exhortations. There were warnings about satanic forces. And there were promises of redemption and salvation. One speaker talked about being crucified for politically incorrect views; others worshipped at the altar of Orbanism, praising Hungary as an outpost of Christianity that was beating back the infidels and heretics. I stand in awe, declared Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts. GOP Rep. Paul Gosar, who has appeared at white nationalist events in the past, agreed. Hungary, he said, is a beacon. In fact, the MAGA faithful flocked to the event to profess their admiration for the Hungarian miracle. Former Arizona candidate for governor Kari Lake recently declared on Steve Bannons show that Hungary is doing things right. One thing Orban is apparently doing right is cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Friday morning, Lake announced at the conference that there was a simple solution to ending the Ukraine conflict sellout Kyiv to the Russians. The only way to stop this war, she said, is to turn off the money spigot. I say we should invest in protecting our borders, not Ukraines. In a video message presumably taped before his abrupt ouster, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson told the Americans who were in Budapest that they were very brave as the State Department was keeping track, you went to a forbidden country. Later that day Orban hosted Lake, Gosar and more than a dozen other American conservative activists and politicians for a photo-op at his office, including the Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec and former Sen. Rick Santorum. Hungary, Orban said, has become an incubator where the conservative policies of the future are being tested. Despite the democratic erosion in Hungary and on the American right, the theme of freedom was omnipresent as various speakers denounced the European Union, among other things, as a totalitarian organization intent on inflicting gender policies on Hungary that would endanger the traditional family. Croatian parliamentarian Stephen Bartulica decried the anti-Christian elites in Brussels, while Roger Koppel of the far-right Swiss Peoples Party likened the ideology of woke culture to National Socialism. The Hungarian historian Maria Schmidt stated, We want to preserve our own culture, we want to hold on to our language, our roots, our traditions, our identity. We dont tolerate people crawling under our duvets and interfering in our private lives. Throughout, the idea was clear: Liberalism is synonymous with tyranny. Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga, who spoke on Thursday, congratulated the delegates for successfully completing a dangerous journey flying over authoritarian countries to reach Hungary, the only truly free country in Europe. The fealty that leading American politicians are paying to Orban as they troop to Budapest allows him to fortify his image in Hungary as an international statesman. Fully embracing the Republican Party is a gamble that will likely antagonize President Joe Biden, but its also one that could elevate Orban should Trump return to the White House allowing him to bypass his European detractors and exercise outsized influence. The Biden administration, by contrast, has taken a fairly hostile approach to Orbans Hungary, including terminating a Hungarian-American tax agreement in retaliation for Budapest preventing the EU from adopting a global minimum tax. Its also gone to war with Bidens ambassador, David Pressman, who regularly trolls the regime. CPAC has been good for Orban. A return by Trump would be even better. A Republican president, Balazs Orban said, is in Hungarys interest. People near the Brandenburg Gate during the Freedom Parade on Ukraine's Independence Day in Berlin According to the group, they won a court hearing on the matter, lifting the ban on Ukrainian flags and songs. At the same time, the ban on displaying Russian flags remains in place, according to German public broadcaster rbb. Read also: Berlin decides to expel Russian diplomats en masse, Russia sends huge plane for them The court called the Berlin police's decision to outlaw Ukrainian flags "clearly illegal" because they did not provide "any evidence to suggest a threat to public safety. "Anyone who exercises their fundamental right to publicly express support for the Ukrainian people and their historical victims in the defeat of National Socialism does not pose a threat to public safety," said Vitsche's lawyer, Patrick Heinemann. The Berlin police said on Twitter that there are no plans to appeal the court's decision. Read also: Zelenskyy to visit Berlin on May 13 to visit Chancellor and receive Charlemagne Prize Earlier, Berlin law enforcement banned the display of Russian and Ukrainian flags near Soviet memorials on May 8 and 9, V-E Day, in the city. They also prohibited "slogans that, due to the current situation, may be taken as approval, glorification or heroification of the war in Ukraine." Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine The right credit card can make traveling more comfortable. Chase Sapphire Credit cards are more than just a way to pay for your everyday expenses. These days, they offer lots of benefits that make traveling more comfortable. One of those perks is airport lounge access. 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United Club Infinite Card United Airlines The United Club Infinite Card comes with complimentary United Club membership and access to participating Star Alliance partner lounges when flying on United Airlines, a Star Alliance member, or a partner airline. This membership usually costs $650 per year, so its a huge benefit to get it with a credit card. United Clubs offer an escape from crowded airport terminals as well as complimentary snacks, drinks, and high-speed Wi-Fi. Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card American Express The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is packed with benefits, like a $250 airline fee credit, an annual Hilton free night, and even top-tier Hilton Diamond status, which includes free Wi-Fi, executive lounge access, and room upgrades at Hilton hotels. It also comes with lounge access in the form of a Priority Pass membership. Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card American Express The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express card is one of the best hotel credit cards available right now. This premium card costs $650 per year, but it comes with an impressive suite of benefits including a $300 dining statement credit, a free Marriott night each year, and a complimentary Priority Pass membership. It also includes Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status, which includes bonus points on stays, extended checkout, a welcome amenity, room upgrades, and more. For more Travel & Leisure news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Travel & Leisure. Despite their young ages, eight-year-old Princess Charlotte and five-year-old Prince Louis joined their parents Kate Middleton and Prince William and older brother Prince George, 9, for their grandfather King Charles' coronation. And of course, Charlotte and Louis were well-dressed and not without their own charming and candid, honest-kid moments caught on camera, from Charlotte holding Louis' hand when they entered to Louis looking up at the ceiling during the service. ANDREW MILLIGAN - Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Charlotte wore a flower crown and white dress to the coronation, complementing her mother's look. Louis was in navy. Their older brother George is playing a role in the ceremony as Page of Honour, meaning he has a set uniform. YUI MOK - Getty Images Charlotte, Louis, and George attended rehearsal for the coronation on Wednesday. The day after, Kate spoke about her children's feelings about the coronation versus her own. During Kate and William's visit to Dog & Duck Pub in London's Soho, Kate discussed the matter with Mandy Leifheit of Seattle, Washington, who shared the conversation with People. I asked if the kids were excited about the coronation, and she said, They're very excited. They had their rehearsal yesterday [Wednesday] so they knew what they'd expect, Leifheit said. She said she's more nervous than the kids are since it's such a big event for the kids to be part of. She said Louis will be there and that he'll remember it, Leifheit continued. She had generally glowing things to say about Kate and the impression she took away from their conversation: It was a dream. She's amazing. She's so real and so naturaland this would be overwhelming but it's not and she's here. You Might Also Like US President Joe Biden, pictured in April 2023, plans to see King Charles III in July US President Joe Biden congratulated King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation Saturday, paying tribute to the "enduring friendship between the U.S. and the U.K." The US president, who did not attend the ceremony in London, called the countries' relationship "a source of strength for both our peoples," in a tweet. The United States was represented instead by First Lady Jill Biden, with the president tweeting that he was "proud" she could be there "for this historic occasion." In an interview aired Friday, Biden said he would see the new monarch in July to talk in particular about the environment. "We're going to be going to a NATO conference in Europe, and I told (Charles) I'd stop either on the way there or the way back, to discuss what he really is passionate about, the environment," Biden told MSNBC. The annual NATO summit is scheduled to take place in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 11 and 12. Biden called Charles in early April to congratulate him on his accession to the throne. bfm/sco President Biden on Saturday congratulated King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their coronation, saying he is pleased that first lady Jill Biden could be present in the United Kingdom to join them for the ceremony. Congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their Coronation. The enduring friendship between the U.S. and the U.K. is a source of strength for both our peoples. I am proud the First Lady is representing the United States for this historic occasion, Biden tweeted. The president did not attend the event as U.S. presidents have traditionally not attended the coronations of British monarchs, but the first lady led the U.S. delegation. Its an honor to represent the United States for this historic moment and celebrate the special relationship between our countries, she said in an Instagram post on Thursday upon arriving in the country. Buckingham Palace had said international representatives from 203 countries, including about 100 heads of state, were expected to attend. The president spoke with Charles last month to congratulate him on the upcoming coronation and emphasize the relationship between the United States and United Kingdom. He also told the king that he wants to meet in person at a future date. Jill Biden met and took a picture with Kate, Princess of Wales, and Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska after she arrived. President Dwight Eisenhower did not attend the coronation of Charles mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953 but also sent a delegation to represent the U.S. Elizabeth died after a 70-year rule in September, ending the longest reign in British history. The president and first lady attended her funeral. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. President Joe Biden described House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as an honest man before acknowledging what he sold away to some Republicans in order to gain the speakership earlier this year. Biden, in an interview Friday with MSNBCs Stephanie Ruhle, weighed in on whether McCarthy is an honest broker when it comes to negotiations as he prepares to meet with the speaker and other congressional leaders to discuss the debt ceiling on Thursday. Well, I think hes an honest man. I think hes in a position, though, he had to make a deal that was pretty, you know, 15 votes ... , said Biden, who let out a slight laugh as he referred to the California Republicans lengthy speaker election in January. Fifteen votes where he just about sold away everything that the far, far right... theres a Republican Party and theres the MAGA Republicans, and the MAGA Republicans really have put him in a position where in order to stay speaker he has to agree. Hes agreed to things that maybe he believes but are just extreme. Biden, who on Friday praised the gain of 253,000 new jobs last month, warned that the failure to raise the debt ceiling could wipe that economic progress away and lead to what he referred to as a manufactured crisis orchestrated by MAGA Republicans. A White House spokesperson told NBC News earlier this week that a self-inflicted default from the GOP could lead to higher costs for families and businesses while also increasing the risk of recession. (H/T Mediaite) Related... President Biden dismissed the notion that his son Hunter Biden's possible indictment by the Justice Department for tax- and gun-related violations will have any impact on his presidency. "My son has done nothing wrong," Biden declared in a rare sit-down interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle that aired at 10 p.m. Friday. "I trust him. I have faith in him, and it impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him," Biden said. The president's comments come as federal prosecutors are reportedly close to deciding whether to indict Hunter Biden following a four-year investigation. FEDERAL PROSECUTORS NEAR DECISION ON HUNTER BIDEN PROBE: REPORT President Biden complained about the "negative" press coverage he's received during an interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle Hunter's attorneys met with DOJ officials at Main Justice last week. Several of the younger Bide's attorneys were present at DOJ headquarters with tax division career attorneys, including longtime attorney Chris Clark. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP The First Son has been under federal investigation since 2018. U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a prosecutor appointed by former President Donald Trump, is leading the investigation. Fox News first reported in December 2020 that Hunter Biden was the target of a grand jury investigation prompted, in part, by Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) regarding suspicious foreign transactions. Fox has also learned that Biden was being investigated for two misdemeanor tax filing charges, a felony tax evasion charge, and a false statement charge over a gun purchase. HUNTER BIDEN ATTORNEYS MEET WITH DOJ OFICIALS AMID ONGOING FEDERAL PROBE President Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 10, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Before last week's meeting, a career IRS employee sought whistleblower protections in alleging that the investigation into the younger Biden was being mishandled . Attorney General Merrick Garland has insisted that his office would never interfere in the Hunter Biden investigation. The looming charges have reportedly caused "tensions" between President Biden and his son. Axios reported Friday that Hunter has hired a new lawyer, Abbe Lowell, seeking a more "combative approach" to his defense without consulting with the president's aides. Lowell is noteworthy for having recently represented Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Story continues Additionally, the White House is wincing as Hunter Bidens team is "moving toward creating a legal defense fund, and hiring ethics advisers for it," according to Axios. WHITE HOUSE REPORTEDLY WORRIED OVER HUNTER BIDEN GOING ROGUE WITH LEGAL DEFENSE PLAN: LEGITIMATE HEADACHE The report added, "High-level Democrats and others are worried about the idea of the president's son soliciting money to pay for his legal troubles." Former Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley told the outlet, "For this fund to work, it must be extraordinarily transparent and even restrictive by prohibiting foreign citizens and registered lobbyists from contributing." However, the White House is reportedly worried Hunter Bidens team will not be careful enough. Coley, who was senior adviser to Attorney General Merrick Garland, added, "Without these type of guardrails, the fund will be a legitimate headache for the White House." Fox News' Bradford Betz and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris smile during a meeting with his "Investing in America Cabinet" in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on May 5, 2023. AP Photo/Evan Vucci President Biden said on MSNBC that VP Harris "hasn't gotten the credit she deserves" in her role. The president pointed to Harris' tenure as California AG and a US senator in boosting her background. "With everything going on, she hasn't gotten the attention that she deserves," he said. President Joe Biden, in an interview that aired on Friday, praised Vice President Kamala Harris' record and said that she "hasn't gotten the credit she deserves." Biden, while speaking with the MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle for a segment that aired on "The 11th Hour," spoke highly of Harris, who will run alongside him once again next year but who also faces questions about her political viability as a future standard-bearer of the Democratic Party. "I just think that Vice President Harris hasn't gotten the credit that she deserves," he told Ruhle. "She was attorney general of the state of California. She has been a United States senator. She is really very, very good." "With everything going on, she hasn't gotten the attention that she deserves," he added. Ruhle then told Biden that some critics have said that he's "elevating" Harris because he may not serve a full term if he's reelected in 2024, a prospect that some Republicans have already raised in making the case for why voters shouldn't cast their ballots for the president next year. Biden grinned at Ruhle's statement and then pivoted to defending his reelection bid, where he argued that he was "more experienced than anybody that's ever run for the office." Harris, who ran against Biden in pursuit of the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, left that contest after her campaign stumbled in advance of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. Biden, who had committed to selecting a woman as his running mate, chose Harris as his No. 2 after he had wrapped up the Democratic nomination, and the pair went on to win the November 2020 general election against then-President Donald Trump and then-Vice President Mike Pence. Story continues But months after Biden and Harris took office in 2021, the vice president's office began experiencing some turnover, and while the vice president was focusing on voting rights and addressing the root causes of migration to the southern border from Northern Triangle countries, she was roundly criticized by Republicans over what they saw as continued immigration problems at the US-Mexico border. Last year, Harris reportedly began a political reboot of sorts, making new hires in her office as she entered a midterm election year where her advocacy for abortion rights would eventually become a key part of her agenda as she traveled across the country speaking with an array of voters and women's groups. But even with Biden seeking reelection next year, 2028 also looms ahead, and Harris if she chooses to run for president that year will almost certainly find herself competing with a swath of ambitious Democrats who will also be seeking to capture the Democratic presidential nomination and assume the mantle of party leader. Read the original article on Business Insider Photo: The Canadian Press The Justice Department is seeking 25 years in prison for Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as a violent plot to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House, according to court papers filed Friday. A Washington, D.C., jury convicted Rhodes in November in one of the most consequential cases brought in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters assaulted police officers, smashed windows and temporarily halted Congress certification of Bidens victory. Rhodes was convicted of plotting an armed rebellion with members of his far-right extremist group to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden. The sentencing recommendation comes a day after jurors in a different case convicted four leaders of another extremist group, the Proud Boys including former national chairman Enrique Tarrio of seditious conspiracy. The Proud Boys were accused of a separate plot to forcibly keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. Rhodes is scheduled to be sentenced later this month. Rhodes' attorneys haven't yet filed papers indicating how much time they will ask the judge to impose. They have vowed to appeal his conviction. Prosecutors built their case around dozens of encrypted messages and other communications in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 that showed Rhodes rallying his followers to fight to defend Trump and warning they might need to rise up in insurrection" to defeat Biden if Trump didnt act. Hundreds of people have been convicted in the attack that left dozens of officers injured and sent lawmakers running for their lives. But Rhodes and a co-defendant Florida Oath Keepers chapter leader Kelly Meggs were the first Jan. 6 defendants to be convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy. Rhodes, who didn't go inside the Capitol, was cleared of two other conspiracy charges, but found guilty of obstructing Congress certification of Bidens electoral victory. The Yale Law School graduate and former Army paratrooper, who took the witness stand at trial, insisted there was no plan to attack the Capitol and said the Oath Keepers who did acted on their own. Rhodes said the Oath Keepers only mission that day was to provide security for Trump ally Roger Stone and other figures at events before the riot. We are excited to receive the President as this years distinguished guest and recognize him for his relentless work uplifting our communities that have been historically left behind. said Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick. President Joe Biden will deliver the keynote address at Howard Universitys 155th commencement ceremony on May 13. The White House confirmed Saturday that Biden would also deliver a keynote speech at the United States Air Force Academys commencement in June. WASHINGTON, DC MARCH 23: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at an event marking the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House on March 23, 023 in Washington, DC. During President Bidens remarks he spoke on the history of the legislation, also termed Obamacare, and how his administration plans to continue promoting affordable healthcare for people in the United States. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Howard University president Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a statement that its an honor and privilege to welcome President Biden to celebrate the graduating class of 2023. Biden will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters from the university, which Frederick said is much deserved for his years of transformational service as U.S. Senator, Vice President, and now as President of the United States. We are excited to receive the President as this years distinguished guest and recognize him for his relentless work uplifting our communities that have been historically left behind, read the statement. As theGrio previously reported, Biden has pushed for funding for the countrys 100-plus HBCUs during his presidency. In 2021, the president gave a speech at the commencement ceremony at another HBCU, South Carolina State University, and lauded historically Black institutions. The reason I got elected in 1972 was because of an HBCU called Delaware State University. They organized for me, Biden said during the speech to applause. So, folks, youre inheriting an incredible tradition [of] graduating from this university. In addition to being the alma mater of Vice President Kamala Harris, the nations first Black and first woman president and Bidens running mate for 2024 Howard produced countless Black history makers. The university is also the alma mater of the first Black Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall, and the first black Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ralph Bunche, served as a professor and the founding leader of Howards political science department. Story continues WASHINGTON, DC MAY 07: Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick (L) helps to adjust the hood after U.S. President Barack Obama (C) was presented with a Doctor of Science honorary degree by member of Howard University Board of Trustees Vernon (R) Jordan during the 2016 commencement ceremony at Howard University May 7, 2016 in Washington, DC. President Obama is the sixth sitting U.S. president to deliver the commencement speech at Howard University. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) In 2016, then-President Barack Obama delivered the keynote address at Howard Universitys commencement ceremony. The generations of men and women who walked through this yard helped reform our government, cure disease, grow a Black middle class, advance civil rights, shape our culture, said Obama. The seeds of change for all Americans were sown here. TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today! The post Biden to give speech at Howard Universitys commencement appeared first on TheGrio. Black holes are some of the most mystifying and terrifying objects in the universe. They have a gravitational pull that is so strong that nothing not even light, the fastest object can escape it. So, do these enigmas of space pose any danger to us on Earth? A black hole is a spot that contains a great amount of matter in a very small area. According to NASA, the amount of mass a black hole can contain is likened to a star 10 times more massive than our sun squeezed into a sphere about as wide as New York City. Scientists cannot directly see inside a black hole, but they can observe the impact of its incredible mass on its surroundings. PASS THE BIB: WATCH AS STUDY SIMULATES BLACK HOLES EATING GALAXIES LIKE MESSY TODDLERS Remnants of a wayward star, circling around a black hole. For example, NASA said black holes can devour stars, tearing the celestial objects apart as their powerful gravitational field pulls the stars closer. On the flip side, scientists have also observed that black holes can help spur the growth of new stars. Hypothetically, if a person were to fall inside a black hole, NASA said the individual's perception of space and time would change. Plus, the immense gravity of the black hole would compress you horizontally and stretch you vertically like a noodle, in a phenomenon known as "spaghettification." The universe is spoiled for choice when it comes to black holes. In our Milky Way galaxy, NASA said there are as many as 10 million to one billion stellar black holes. Remnants of massive stars, these stellar black holes are about 10 to 24 times as massive as our sun. Much larger than stellar black holes are supermassive black holes. Most galaxies have supermassive black holes at their center. According to the Space Telescope Science Institute, scientists estimate there may be about 100 billion supermassive black holes in our region of the Universe. At the center of our Milky Way galaxy is a supermassive black hole. Called Sagittarius A*, the black hole has a mass of about 4 million sun, according to NASA. Story continues HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER Sagittarius A* is more than 26,000 light years, or 152 quadrillion miles, away from Earth. For context, the entire Milky Way galaxy is about 100,000 light-years across. NASA said Sagittarius A* is our closest supermassive black hole. Astronomers recently discovered the closest black hole to our home planet. About 10 times more massive than the sun, the black hole is only about 1,600 light-years away. Located in the constellation Ophiuchus, the black hole is three times closer to Earth than the previous record holder, according to the National Science Foundation. Scientists said the nearby black hole is a dormant black hole, meaning that it is not actively feeding. So, can this or any other black hole pose a threat to Earth? Not really. According to NASA, no black hole is close enough to be a danger to us. Plus, the sun is not massive enough to explode to form a black hole. Initial analysis showed blood on two items that police seized during their search of Moscow homicides suspect Bryan Kohbergers Washington State University housing, documents the university released Thursday revealed. Testing of 50 items found in Kohbergers student apartment in Pullman, Washington, came back with at least trace amounts of blood on brown- or reddish-stained bedding, according to an inventory list obtained by the Idaho Statesman through a public records request. A mattress cover and an uncased pillow each were positive for blood in the presumptive chemical tests. A dark red spot on the kitchen counter near the sink could not be tested but was collected, the records showed. Kohberger, 28, a former WSU graduate student, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November. The victims were seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, each 21, junior Xana Kernodle, 20, and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20. The newly released WSU records do not indicate whose blood may have been present on the bedding. Among a list of other items police sought, the search warrant directed them to seize evidence of blood, or bodily fluid or human tissue or skin cells, or any items that contained them as part of their investigation into the Moscow homicides. The other 48 tested items, including stains on towels, swabs of bathroom sinks and the shower drain, and a microwave and pizza cutter in Kohbergers kitchen, each came back without the presence of blood. Not all tested items were seized by police. Police took the two pieces of bedding, plus the red spot that flaked off the kitchen counter, as part of more than a dozen items seized in the search, as the Statesman previously reported. Campus police executed the search warrant on Kohbergers WSU housing and office Dec. 30 the same day he was arrested in eastern Pennsylvania. Upon discovery of a storage closet assigned to Kohbergers apartment, the documents showed police sought from a judge and received an amended search warrant for the closet, which was located in the same building as the student housing complexs laundry area. Story continues Moscow homicides suspect Bryan Kohbergers Washington State University housing complex, in Pullman, Washington. Kevin Fixler/kfixler@idahostatesman.com Police suspected Kohberger used the storage closet between the Nov. 13 homicides and his trip to Pennsylvania in mid-December to visit his parents during WSUs winter break, they wrote. Kohbergers storage closet had cobwebs leading up to its door, which was found ajar, and with dust on the floor, the documents showed. It did not appear the closet had been used recently, wrote Dawn Daniels, WSUs assistant police chief, in a post-search warrant narrative included in the records. Like Kohbergers campus office, nothing was seized or collected from his storage closet, she wrote. Kohberger banned from WSU campus The WSU records also include a Dec. 30 letter to Kohberger threatening him with criminal trespassing if he again set foot on the WSU campus, signed by WSU Police Chief Gary Jenkins. Kohberger was served with the document the next day while he was held in jail in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, and includes his signature. While still enrolled in WSUs criminal justice and criminology Ph.D. program, Kohberger previously interviewed with Jenkins, then-chief of the Pullman Police Department, for a doctoral-level graduate research assistantship for public safety, prior public records obtained by the Statesman showed. In email correspondence from April 2022, Kohberger thanked Jenkins for his interview for the position. Bryan, Great to meet and talk with you as well, Jenkins responded the same day. It remains unclear if Kohberger, one of four finalists from his Ph.D. program according to records, received the role. Pullman police and a WSU spokesperson have declined to answer questions or provide documents related to whether Kohberger got the research position. Also, attorneys for Kohberger this past week formally asked in court for all genetic and forensic laboratory information that investigators used to identify and justify the arrest of their client on suspicion of the Moscow homicides. The discovery request, filed by Kohbergers public defender, Anne Taylor, Wednesday in 2nd Judicial District Court in Latah County, seeks a series of DNA-related evidence. Information about all involved labs, profile databases, lab technicians and chain-of-custody details is included in the filing. On Thursday, Taylor also asked for all Pennsylvania police video and audio recordings from Kohbergers arrest, notes and recordings from an interrogation of her client by Moscow police and the training records of specific officers. The defense has not received the pieces of evidence some of which may contain information that negate Kohbergers guilt in prior discovery requests, she wrote. Kansas City, Kansas, police detectives were investigating the discovery of a dead body in the Missouri River on Friday. Shortly after 6:15 p.m., police officers were dispatched to the area of the 7th Street Bridge for an emergency call, officer Jovanna Cheatum, of KCKPD, said in a statement. A fisherman reported that he thought someone was in the river, she said. Arriving officers found a deceased male there, Cheatum said. Fire rescue assisted with the recovery of the body. Further information was not immediately available from police. Kansas City, Kansas police were asking that anyone with information regarding the investigation call the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS. ROME (AP) The Italian tourism ministry thought it had a sure-fire way to bring travelers into the country: turning a 15th century art icon into a 21st century virtual influencer. The digital rendition of Venus, goddess of love, based on Sandro Botticellis Renaissance masterpiece Birth of Venus, can be seen noshing on pizza and snapping selfies for her Instagram page. Unlike the original, this Venus is fully clothed. The influencer claims to be 30, or maybe just a wee bit (older) than that. But the new ad campaign is facing significant backlash with critics calling it a new Barbie that trashes Italys cultural heritage. The tourist campaign trivializes our heritage in the most vulgar way, transforming Botticellis Venus into yet another stereotyped female beauty, Livia Garomersini, an art historian and activist with Mi Riconosci, an art and heritage campaign organization, said in a response to the project last month. The yearlong campaign, produced by national tourism agency ENIT and advertising group Armando Testa, is estimated to have cost 9 million euros (about $9.9 million), according to ENIT CEO Ivana Jelinic. Jelinic said that the campaign was designed for overseas markets to attract younger tourists. The online Venus launched in Italy on April 20 and made her international debut in Dubai at the Arabian Travel Market earlier this week. We liked the idea that it would be a work of art that is timeless, Jelinic told The Associated Press, adding that Botticellis Venus seemed to us like a immortal icon who could represent Italy well. Already the new Venus has been memed mercilessly online, appearing among trash bins, alongside Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, and in other less-than godly places. The criticism extends beyond the use of a masterpiece to the manner in which the campaign was orchestrated, including its use of stock images and other gaffes like a promotional video featuring a winery in Slovenia, used as a stand-in for Italy. Story continues An even greater sin for many is the campaigns slogan, Open to Meraviglia (Open to Wonder), because it mixes English into an Italian tourist campaign even as the countrys government seeks to protect the Italian language as a pillar of its culture. There are other language faux pas. On the campaign's website, an automatic translator turned Brindisi, a southern Italian port town, into its literal English definition: Toast," according to Matteo Flora, a professor at the University of Pavia. That part of the website has now been obscured. Lets not talk about the creativity point of view, said Flora, You may like (the campaign) or not, but on a technical point of view, it has been... a sort of avalanche of problems. That includes a failure to secure domains, allowing anyone to snatch the material and mock the project with it. Flora said the campaign also wasted money. The campaign's creative team chose to use the intelligence of human creativity, rather than artificial intelligence, to build the virtual Venus but Flora showed how he could quickly come up with a similar campaign using AI at a cost of 20 euros. His social media posts have been shared by thousands of people. The use of a likeness of Botticellis masterpiece has been lambasted by art historians as well, who say it vastly diminishes the beauty and mystery of the 15th century original. Perhaps Botticelli would not be happy about this," said Massimo Moretti, a professor of art history at the University of Rome, Sapienza. Any use of an iconic image like the Birth of Venus risks striking a cultural nerve, marketing experts say. The more you try to alter something thats historic, probably the greater the outcry, said Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace Universitys Lubin School of Business. People are going to say, Youre changing the culture. Youre changing who we are, because its part of our history,'" Chiagouris added. I didnt like the fact that they used the Botticelli Venus like that, since it is a piece of art, Riccardo Rodrigo, a high school student in Rome, said. They made it something social friendly to amuse Gen Z, I think it was unnecessary since it can be used just like it is and not modified like they did. The Uffizi Galleries, which houses Botticellis Birth of Venus in Florence, declined to comment on the campaign. For the creators of the campaign, however, any press is good press. It has become so viral, said Jelinic of ENIT, adding that "web users have made her come alive even when placing the new Venus in unglamorous places. I find (it) interesting in terms of social communication," Jelinic said. Our campaign is more appealing than (critics) want to admit. Tourism officials plan to expand the campaign through the use of billboards as well as video screens in airports and railways. ____ Grantham-Philips reported from Washington, D.C. A man suffered life-threatening injuries after being stabbed in Roxbury early Saturday morning, according to Boston Police. Officers received a call for a stabbing in the area of Bradston Street and Atkinson Streets just before 2:00 a.m., according to a BPD spokesperson. The victim was transported to the hospital. There have been no arrests at this time. The incident is under active investigation. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW The White House is bracing for the political fallout from the charging decision in the Hunter Biden case. And theyve concluded that Republicans will attack them over it whether President Joe Bidens son is criminally indicted or not. In conversations, Democrats and senior West Wing aides are downplaying the potential impact, arguing Hunter Biden was a factor in the 2020 election and voters elected his father anyway. They point out the presidents top rival, Donald Trump, was just indicted himself. But people close to Biden still worry about the personal toll it will take on a father who has already felt anguish about a sons struggles amid a long history of family tragedy. And they wonder how long he can compartmentalize personal anger with the attacks on Hunter and the political calculation that hes better off not responding to it. Biden has long agonized over the fate of his surviving son, expressing that worry in phone calls with longtime friends and to Hunter himself. Attorneys for Hunter Biden met at Justice Department headquarters in Washington last week to discuss the tax- and gun-related case with prosecutors, according to a person familiar with the matter. Often a signal that an investigation is concluding, such meetings are used by defense lawyers to urge prosecutors to refrain from seeking an indictment or to consider reduced charges. The probe has centered on whether Biden failed to report all of his income and whether he lied on a form for buying a gun. His attorneys declined comment. Obviously, the Biden team would hope that this investigation does not result in an indictment for a multitude of reasons, said Jennifer Palmieri, who served as President Barack Obamas communications director. But the Republicans have failed both in the 2020 campaign and in their 2023 congressional hearings to have questions about Hunter Biden impact public opinion and I dont think they will succeed now, regardless of what DOJ decides. Story continues There is no Hunter Biden war room at the White House, according to four people familiar granted anonymity to speak freely. Defense for the presidents son is being handled by his personal attorneys and the White House is not involved with legal matters. The campaign and the Democratic National Committee officials will likely take the lead in responding to political inquiries, while White House staffers will respond if the accusations touch on official government business. No matter what DOJ decides at the end of its six-year investigation, the decision could have significant implications for the presidents just-announced reelection bid, giving fodder to Republicans as they seek to paint the Biden family as corrupt. There is a sense among Biden allies that hell face some blowback either way. If Hunter Biden is charged with a crime, Trump and Republicans will try to link his behavior to his fathers conduct and fitness for office. And if charges are not brought, Republicans have telegraphed that they will claim that the Department of Justice was biased and that Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee, rigged the decision. The Biden administration is the most corrupt administration in American history. Hunter Biden is a criminal, and nothing happened to him, nothing happened, said Trump at a recent rally. Joe Biden is a criminal and nothing ever seems to happen to him because you know, say what you want, but the Democrats stick together. Largely, aides said, the Biden campaign will continue to move forward and focus on other issues that they believe are more pertinent to voters. The White House believes that many Americans, especially those with addictions in their own family, are, and will be, sympathetic to the Bidens. First of all, my son has done nothing wrong. I trust him. I have faith in him, Biden said in an interview Friday with MSNBC. It impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him. Aides to the president stress that the White House is not involved with the Department of Justices decision. The matter is being investigated by U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware, a Trump appointee. The probe into Hunter Biden began in 2018 and initially centered on his finances related to overseas business ties and consulting work. Investigators later shifted their focus to whether he failed to report all of his income and whether he lied on a form for buying a gun by denying that he was a drug abuser. Hunter Biden has spoken openly about his crack addiction and other drug problems. The investigation into Hunter was discussed prior to launching the 2024 campaign. First lady Jill Biden made clear last year that it would not play a decisive role in whether or not the president would run for reelection. But the impact that the scrutiny of another campaign might have on Hunter Biden was weighed, according to three people not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. Biden advisers acknowledge Republicans will revive the issue for the 2024 campaign, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions. But they also point out that Trump made many of these allegations during the 2020 campaign, even springing one of Hunters ex-business partners, a man named Tony Bobulinski, as a surprise guest at the last 2020 general election debate. It had little impact. But the claims about Hunter Biden have continued to flourish in conservative media, which has grown convinced that the 2020 attacks would have landed harder if the press corps and social media companies had not been initially skeptical of the provenance of his former laptop. POLITICO has not authenticated the hard drive files that underpinned a New York Post story about the laptop, but POLITICO confirmed the authenticity of some emails on the drive in a 2021 book. Republicans assert that the content of the laptop offers evidence of corrupt dealings, which has fueled investigations from the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Thursday deemed the allegations against the younger Biden as very serious. I just hope that he is being treated like everybody else, Hawley said. There [are] various whistleblower allegations that there's been interference, that people have tried to stymie the investigation. That better not have happened. Biden advisers believe the focus on Hunter could backfire on Republicans and serve as another sign the GOP is out of step with normal Americans, much as polling suggests the party is on issues like abortion and guns. Moreover, they suggest GOP attacks could very well divert attention to Trumps own legal peril. The former president has already been indicted in New York for falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment to a porn star and is the subject of several other probes. Moreover, Democrats have claimed that Trumps own family benefited financially from their access to his political power and are quick to point out that Trump himself was impeached in 2019 for pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Biden familys business dealings there. A Trump spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did bolster its team ahead of the 2022 midterms to prepare for a more hostile environment and a GOP House. It brought on communications specialist Ian Sams as a spokesperson and several lawyers to handle personal investigations into the president, including Dick Sauber, a longtime Washington defense attorney in investigations. And Hunter Biden has taken a more aggressive tack in recent months, bringing on longtime D.C. lawyer Abbe Lowell and pushing back more forcefully against Republican attacks on his personal history and how his personal effects ended up in the hands of GOP operatives like Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani. But some Democrats are anxious about talk that Hunter Biden may create a legal defense fund, which would raise scrutiny about the presidents son raising money to pay for his legal woes. The president loves his son and is proud that he has overcome his addiction and is moving forward with his life, said Sams. Republican officials' politically motivated, partisan attacks on the president and his family are rooted in nonsensical conspiracy theories and do nothing to address the real issues Americans care about. Hunter Biden has written extensively about the challenges in his life, including his addictions and struggle to cope with the 1972 car accident that killed his mother and sister and critically injured him and his brother, Beau. He also lived much of his life in the shadow of Beau Biden, the former Delaware attorney general who died of brain cancer in 2015, at the age of 46. The president, some of his friends say, checks on his son nearly every day. Hunter kept a low profile during the 2020 presidential campaign but has recently taken on a more public role. He appeared with his father at events including the state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron in December. And he was a nearly constant presence at the presidents side at nearly every stop during last months trip to Ireland, their ancestral homeland. But there have been recent sightings that serve as a reminder of the unfortunate headlines that he can sometimes create. Hunter Biden appeared in an Arkansas courtroom this week as part of a bitter dispute with the mother of his 4-year-old child over reducing his child support payments. The mother of the child, Lunden Roberts, has accused the younger Biden of ignoring court orders to provide information about his finances and has asked a judge to declare him in contempt and have him jailed until he complies. The president and first lady have yet to publicly acknowledge the existence of the child, who is their seventh grandchild. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre this week declined to discuss the subject during her briefing. The Biden campaign declined to comment. Democratic lawmakers, many close to Biden personally, often decline to weigh in on the ongoing probe. There's an investigation. Its up to the prosecutors to decide what action to take, said Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). Whatever is appropriate, that's the action that should be taken independent of what the political consequences are. It's not our business and Congress to interfere with the prosecution. Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has rejected calls from the opposition party to issue an apology for the United Kingdoms role in slave trading or to discuss reparations. "What I think our focus should now be on doing is, of course, understanding our history and all its parts, not running away from it, but right now making sure that we have a society which is inclusive and tolerant of people from all backgrounds," Sunak said last week. "Thats something that we on this side of the house are committed to doing and will continue to deliver, but trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward, and its not something that we will focus our energies on." Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy had challenged Sunak to take a more aggressive stance on the issue, noting that past prime ministers and heads of state had only "expressed sorrow or deep regret" on the issue, The Guardian reported. UK PUBLISHERS, BROADCASTERS BLAST BBC BLACKOUT OF CORONATION OF KING CHARLES: WE ARE DEEPLY CONCERNED' Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, March 15, 2023. Her query follows a recent call from the descendants of some of Britains wealthiest slave traders to begin a reparations program to make up for the "ongoing consequences of this crime against humanity." READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP A Labour spokesperson said Ribeiro-Addys call was not a party policy, but party leader Sir Keir Starmer did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by time of publication. Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital this is only a recent issue of discussion for the U.K,. and the idea that the British government might pay reparations is "utterly ridiculous." "The British government has no intention of going down that path, and rightly so," Gardiner said. BRITAIN'S COMPETITION WATCHDOG OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MARKET "The reality is that Britain was the world's leader in stamping out slavery and fighting it across the world, including on the high seas, and invested a huge amount of money, manpower and military might in suppressing the slave trade. So, this idea of in the U.K. paying reparations is utterly ridiculous. Story continues "Britain's role in defeating the slave trade is something for the British people to be incredibly proud of." The statue of Colston is pushed into the river Avon June 7, 2020. Edward Colston was a slave trader of the late 17th century who played a major role in the development of the city of Bristol, England. The slave trade started in 1526 with Portugals purchase of slaves from West Africa to transport across the Atlantic, kicking off the Transatlantic or Triangle Slave Trade. The first British citizen on record to buy and sell slaves was John Lok in 1555, followed by William Towerson in 1556. Britain outright abolished slavery in the colonies and bought out slaves from their owners across the empire in 1833 with the introduction of the Slavery Abolition Act. Some exceptions and delays occurred during the process. UK UNIVERSITY CUTS WOMAN FROM MENOPAUSE AND MATERNITY POLICY DESCRIPTIONS Protesters in 2020 during the global Black Lives Matter protests tore down or defaced the statues of famous men who had engaged in slave trading, such as Edward Colston of Bristol, whose statue protesters threw into the nearby harbor after dragging it through the streets. Bernie Grant, a Labour Party politician from Tottenham, London, in his final session of Prime Ministers Questions asked if former Prime Minister Tony Blair would issue an apology for slavery to the people of African descent, living or dead. Blair said he expressed "deep sorrow," later saying, "I have said we are sorry, and I say it again." Labour MP for Streatham Bell Ribeiro-Addy was out and about Dec. 3, 2022, in London. Labour MPs Clive Lewis and Dawn Butler in March renewed calls for the government to enter "meaningful negotiations" with former Caribbean colonies and pay for reparations. Gardiner labeled such arguments as "wrong-headed" and driven by "far-left ideology" that has "very little public support." "Its going to go nowhere," he said, adding that reparations were "completely unrealistic," laying blame on similar calls and discussions in the U.S. for stirring up the idea. "These kinds of calls have accelerated significantly in the last couple of years, and I think much of this is coming from across the Atlantic in the United States, really," Gardiner said. "I think this is a relatively new development, but there is zero chance of a Conservative government ever agreeing to pay reparations, and I think its unlikely that a Labour government would agree as well. "No country did more in the world to fight slavery than the United Kingdom." BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) Heart-wrenching cries echoed as funerals were held in Serbia on Saturday for some of the victims of two mass shootings that happened just a day apart this week, leaving 17 people dead and 21 wounded, many of them children. The shootings on Wednesday in a school in Belgrade and on Thursday in a rural area south of the capital city have left the nation stunned with grief and disbelief. Though Serbia is awash with weapons and no stranger to crisis situations following the wars of the 1990s, a school shooting like the one on Wednesday has never happened before. The most recent previous mass shooting was in 2013 when a war veteran killed 13 people. The shooter on Wednesday was a 13-year-old boy who opened fire on his fellow students, killing seven girls, a boy and a school guard. A day later, a 20-year-old man fired randomly in two villages in central Serbia, killing eight people. Classmates and hundreds of other people cried unconsolably as one of the girls killed in the school shooting was laid to rest in Belgrade in a small white coffin that was covered with heaps of flowers. Overwhelmed by grief, the girl's mother could barely stand on her feet. One girl collapsed during the service amid screams and sobbing. While the country struggled to come to terms with what happened, authorities promised a gun crackdown and said they would boost security in schools. Thousands lit candles and left flowers near the shooting site in Belgrade, in an outpouring of sadness and solidarity. My soul aches for them, said Vesna Kostic, who came to pay respect outside the school on Saturday. I keep looking for a cause, a reason why this has happened to him (the shooter), why this has happened to us. Serbian media reported that four of the eight children killed in the school shooting, as well as the Vladislav Ribnikar school guard, would be buried at cemeteries in Belgrade on Saturday, the second day of a three-day mourning period for the victims. Story continues Some 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the south, a mass funeral service was being held in the small village of Malo Orasje for five young men who were gunned down in the shooting rampage on Thursday evening. Sobbing mourners lined up to light candles while waiting for the coffins to be placed on five benches outside the village church for a service. Five graves! He (the killer) shut down five families, one villager told N1 television. How could this happen? Serbian police have said that the suspected shooter stopped a taxi after his rampage and made the driver to take him to a village further south, where he was arrested on Friday. Officers later said they found weapons and ammunition in two houses he was using there. The suspect, identified as Uros Blazic, was questioned by prosecutors in the central town of Smederevo on Saturday, state media reported. He faces charges of first-degree murder and unauthorized possession of guns and ammunition. The motive for both shootings remained unclear. The 13-year-old boy, who is too young to be criminally charged, has been placed in a mental clinic. His father was arrested for allegedly teaching his son to use guns and not securing his weapons well enough. The suspected village shooter wore a pro-Nazi T-shirt, authorities said, and complained of disparagement, though it was unclear what he meant. Populist leader Aleksandar Vucic promised the monsters will never see the light of day again. The wounded in the two shootings have been hospitalized and most have undergone complicated surgical procedures. A girl and a boy from the school shootings remain in serious condition, and the village victims are stable but under constant observation. The school shooting left six children and a teacher wounded, while 14 people were wounded in the villages of Malo Orasje and Dubona. The dead in Dubona included a young, off-duty policeman and his sister. Authorities released a photo showing the suspected shooter upon arrest a young man in a police car in a blue T-shirt with the slogan Generation 88 on it. The double eights are often used as shorthand for Heil Hitler since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Apart from the gun crackdown, officials have announced stepped-up monitoring of social networks and the media. Already by Saturday, several people had been questioned for posting threats or videos supporting the killers on social networks, the Tanjug news agency reported. Serbia's education ministry outlined a crisis plan for the students of Vladislav Ribnikar school to gradually return to classes next Wednesday. A team of experts, backed the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, will offer support and oversee the process, a ministry statement said. Experts have repeatedly warned that decades of crises and economic hardship, coupled with corrupt institutions and a high level of intolerance in public speech and politics, could push some people over the edge. The populist-led Balkan country has refused to fully face its role in the wars of the 1990s, war criminals are largely regarded as heroes and minority groups routinely face harassment and sometimes physical violence. The question now is whether our society is ready to reject the model of violence, psychologist Zarko Korac warned. When you glorify a war criminal you glorify his crimes and you send a message that it is legitimate. Cal Poly dedicated the William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation on Friday, four years after the project broke ground. Construction began in May 2019 and finished in May 2022, according to the Cal Poly construction website. The building was open to the public in April at the start of spring quarter. This cutting-edge facility is an investment in the education and future successes of our students, Bill Frost said. I look forward to this space being used to further enhance the Learn by Doing experiences that define Cal Poly for generations to come. The $133 million project was funded primarily by William and Linda Frost, who donated $110 million in 2017 to the College of Science and Mathematics. The Frosts gift was a part of a larger fundraising campaign, bringing in more than $832 million from about 75,000 alumni, parents and community members according to a news release from Cal Poly. The Frosts funding was used for a portion of the building, research equipment, the rooftop garden and atrium wood. The funding also contributes to yearly scholarships and research stipends as well as funding for new faculty members. Cal Poly dedicated the William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation on Friday, May 5, 2023. Brittany App Additional donors for the Frost Center include the California State University, Cal Poly Corporation and dozens of other donors, the news release said. The center is open for the college and used for general education classes and faculty offices. Bill Frost graduated from Cal Poly in 1972 with a degree in biochemistry, according to the release. There are three classrooms in the building, seating 180, 100 and 60 students. College of Science and Mathematics pending new name During the ceremony on Friday, the university announced the College of Science and Mathematics would be renamed as the Philip and Christina Bailey College of Science and Mathematics. Philip Bailey, who retired as the dean of the college in 2017, serves as director of the Frost Fund. Its an incredible honor and it particularly means a lot since Ive been here so long, Phil Bailey said. I dont think I could have had the career I had without Tina. I would suspect that she would have said the same about me, though her career was a lot harder to navigate because she was a woman entering STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in the 70s, but she absolutely excelled. Photo: Contributed The Creston RCMP is working to track down a 38-year-old man wanted for 32 charges. Police said Chad Meszarosi is facing charges of breach of release order, aggravated assault, assault, firearms offences, uttering threats, driving while prohibited, escape from lawful custody, possessing weapons for dangerous purpose, mischief, forcible confinement, break and enter, and theft. "The arrest of Chad Meszarosi is a top priority for the Creston RCMP. We have received reports that Meszarosi is frequenting the West Kootenays, including Salmo, Nelway, Fruitvale, Trail, and Nelson. We have received information that he may be seeking out medical assistance," the RCMP said in the release. Creston RCMP are asking the public to contact them or your local detachment immediately if he is spotted, or his whereabouts are known. "Should you see Meszarosi, do not approach him as he is considered very dangerous to the public," Creston RCMP Detachment Commander S/Sgt. Brandon Buliziuk said. Chad Meszarosi is described as white male, standing roughly 59" with a stocky build weighing approximately 180lbs (82 kg). He has brown hair and is often seen unshaven. Police said Meszarosi was last spotted in the Fruitvale and Nelway areas. "Meszarosi is known to travel throughout the BC Interior, but has been most active in the Kootenays." If he is observed, do not approach and call 911 immediately. COSHOCTON Up to 200 students in Coshocton County will have the opportunity this summer to attend Camp Invention programs through the commitment of the areas many community leaders. Laura Skjold shows youth a flamingo that grew in water during an experiment as part of Camp Invention at Coshocton Elementary School. The program expanded to all three school districts in Coshocton County last year and served about 225 youth. Camps will be held via local financial support at Ridgewood Middle School the week of June 12, Warsaw Elementary School the week of June 19 and Coshocton Elementary School the week of June 26. While the local programs are open to all children, any youth living in Coshocton County or attending a Coshocton County school can register for $40. Camp Invention, the nations premier summer enrichment program for children entering kindergarten through sixth grade, is a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Using hands-on activities, the camps promote STEM learning and build confidence, leadership, perseverance, resourcefulness and problem-solving skills in a fun and engaging environment. Supporting the camps locally are the Coshocton Foundation, which includes the Blessings Fund, Edwin F. Mulligan Endowed Fund, Simpson Family Donor Advised Fund, Pierce Family Fund and the Ralph D. and Judy P. Wisenburg Fund. Also providing support are local organizations including Coshocton Kiwanis Club, Coshocton Rotary Club, McWane Ductile and The Montgomery Foundation. Its remarkable how Coshocton County pulls together, year after year, to encourage and support our students in learning and experiencing critical STEM disciplines, said Bob Pell, executive director of the Coshocton Foundation. The best part of the Camp Invention experience is to visit our local sites and see what our young innovators come up with this year. To register for a local Camp Invention, visit invent.org/camp. It is the only nationally recognized summer program focused on creativity, innovation, real world problem solving and the spirit of invention. Since 1990, its education programs have served more than 2.2 million children and 229,000 teachers and leadership interns. Information submitted by National Inventors Hall of Fame. This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Camp Invention promotes STEM learning, resourcefulness Prilepin is known for novels drawing on his experiences of serving with Russian forces in Chechnya Investigators said Ukraine was behind a car explosion on Saturday that killed one person and wounded pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin, one of Russia's best-known novelists. Investigators said they "are probing Alexander Permyakov's involvement in the assassination attempt on Zakhar Prilepin". "During the interrogation (the suspect) testified that he acted on the instructions from the Ukrainian special services," said Russia's investigative committee, which looks into major crimes. Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak reacted by likening Putin's regime to a god that "devours his enemies... and finally devours his own", which implied the blast was due to Russian infighting. This is the latest in a series of apparent attacks and sabotage operations that Russia has blamed on Ukraine, ahead the popular May 9 celebrations of the Soviet victory over the Nazis. No-one has claimed responsibility for most of the alleged attacks but the Kremlin has generally blamed Ukraine or the West, rarely providing evidence. Saturday's blast took place at around 11:00 am (0800 GMT) in Nizhny Novgorod region, where nationalist writer Prilepin is from, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Moscow. The investigative committee published images of a partly destroyed, overturned car and said the writer had been taken to a medical facility. - 'Terrorist cell' - Prilepin is a vocal supporter of Moscow's offensive in Ukraine, where he fought alongside pro-Russian separatists in 2014. Regional governor Gleb Nikitin said he visited Prilepin in hospital and "the operation was successful". The governor sent his condolences to the relatives of Prilepin's assistant, who died in the blast. Investigators said the suspect admitted to planting an explosive device on the road ahead of Prilepin's car and denotated it remotely. He was detained on the edge of a forest, they said. A video released by the interior ministry earlier showed the suspect in handcuffs, wearing a khaki cap and a black hoodie. Story continues Shortly after the blast, and without providing evidence, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine and the West. "Washington and NATO fed another international terrorist cell -- the Kyiv regime," Zakharova said on Telegram. She said the blast was the "direct responsibility of the United States and Britain". - Nationalist writer - Russian state-run news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying he was waiting for information from law enforcement services before commenting. Prilepin is known for novels drawing on his experiences of serving with Russian forces in Chechnya and as a member of a banned radical nationalist group. The shaven-headed writer has been a frequent visitor to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since the start of the conflict in April 2014. After the start of the full-scale offensive in 2022, he was in a group of pro-Kremlin figures that launched what they dubbed a fight against the "anti-state position" of Russia's cultural elite. They demanded the resignation of some cultural figures over what they said were unpatriotic positions. There were two previous killings of nationalists which Russia has blamed on Ukraine. In April, a blast from a statuette rigged with explosives killed 40-year-old pro-Kremlin military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. The Kremlin said the attack had been orchestrated by Ukraine with the help of supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. But observers said the bombing attack could be used to justify a further crackdown on critics. And last August Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent ultranationalist intellectual, was killed in a car bombing outside Moscow, which Russia blamed on Ukraine. Kyiv denied the charges. - Increasing sabotage - The blast that wounded Prilepin followsr a series of apparent attacks on Russian territory, sometimes far from the front. Experts say they could be in preparation for a Ukrainian offensive. In the most spectacular incidents, Russian authorities claim to have thwarted a drone attack on the Kremlin this week. Russia claims the United States masterminded that alleged attack and that Ukraine carried it out with two drones, aiming to kill President Vladimir Putin. Both denied the charges. On Thursday, a drone was shot down near an airbase in Sevastopol in the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. The same day, Russia's southern regions of Krasnodar and Rostov, both near Ukraine, reported drone strikes that caused fires. On Friday, another fire broke out at the same Krasnodar oil refinery. On Saturday, the Moscow-appointed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said Russian forces had downed a Ukrainian missile over the peninsula, amid speculations of a counter-offensive. On the Ukrainian side, six Ukrainian emergency workers were killed by Russian fire while demining in the southern region of Kherson on Saturday. bur/gil An Audi car carrying Zakhar Prilepin, a Ukrainophobic writer and member of the political party A Just Russia For Truth, has been blown up in Russias Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Source: RBC Details: According to media reports, Prilepin was seriously injured and the driver was killed. Prilepins press service, however, reported that "he is fine". According to RBC, Prilepin was on his way back to Moscow from occupied Donbas. On 6 May, he crossed the Russian border. It is known that on the way, he stopped to eat in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. As soon as he continued on his journey, there was an explosion. The blast was "quite powerful", forming a crater at the site of the explosion. As a result of the explosion, Prilepin received "leg injuries". The Atesh resistance movement has claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt on Prilepin. Reference: Prilepin is a well-known Russian writer and propagandist who has supported Russian-backed separatists in the occupied territories of Donbas since 2014 and actively advocates the war. Previously: In January, it was reported that Prilepin had "signed a contract with the National Guard of Russia" and "gone to fight in Ukraine". Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! SheKnows One of the most curious moments during King Charles IIIs coronation came just moments before the ceremony started. There seemed to be some sort of snafu in the scheduling when King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived ahead of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Were they late? Or were the king and queen early? The timing [] Zephyr was recently barred from the house floor after she voiced her concerns about a bill banning transgender healthcare treatments Zooey Zephyr/Instagram Montana House Rep. Zooey Zephyr will soon be walking down the aisle! The representative, 34, who was barred from the house floor last week, shared some positive news on Twitter on Saturday revealing that she proposed to her girlfriend Erin Reed. "Tonight I asked Erin to marry me," Zephyr wrote on Twitter. "A year ago, I told Erin that I was looking for a love that felt like home," she continued. "I have found that and so much more. I have found my future, my family, and my forever." Zooey Zephyr/Instagram Related:Judge Rejects Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr's Effort to Return to State House Alongside the post, she shared three photos, including one where she got down on one knee and slipped the ring on her surprised girlfriend's finger at an event. Zephyr was photographed wearing an orange, purple, black and white dress, while Reed wore a red short-sleeved dress and boots. Additional shots showed the two smiling as Zephyr waved to the crowd at the event, as well as the two happily smiling at each other holding hands. Last week, the Montana House of Representatives voted to block Zephyr from the house floor for the remainder of the legislative session after she voiced her concerns about SB 99, a bill which bans transgender healthcare treatments, during a debate on Apr. 18. Related:Montana Republicans Ban State's Only Trans Lawmaker Rep. Zooey Zephyr from House Floor "The only thing I will say is if you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there's an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands," Zephyr said during the debate. "Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debates while following the House rules," House Speaker Matt Regier said in a statement shared on Twitter following the protest. "The choice to not follow the House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will not be bullied." Story continues Zephyr tried to appeal the decision, but a Montana judge denied Zephyr's return to the state's house floor earlier this week, saying in a court filing that the Montana House of Representatives retains "exclusive constitutional authority" to discipline its own members, according to CBS News. 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 celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Zephyr, who has been allowed to work remotely, defended her actions. "I was speaking to the real consequences of the votes that we as legislators take in this body," she said. "And when the speaker asks me to apologize on behalf of decorum, what he is really asking me to do is be silent when my community is facing bills that get us killed." She added, "He's asking me to be complicit in this legislature's eradication of our community, and I refuse to do so, and I will always refuse to do so." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Central Valley legislators are asking for millions of dollars from the state of California to fund outstanding disaster response needs in Planada, a Merced County unincorporated town that flooded during Januarys atmospheric river. State Sen. Anna Caballero, a Democrat from Merced, supported by Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, a Democrat from Fresno, have submitted a request for $20 million to fund repairs for flood-damaged households, rental assistance, infrastructure needs, vehicle needs and more. The funding is critical, Planada residents and community members said, because federal relief funds didnt cover the entire scope of the damage and some residents were ineligible for aid. Caballero is currently making a budget request specific to the needs of residents in Planada and will continue to work to ensure that they are able to recover, Elisa Rivera, communications director for Caballero, said in a statement to The Bee/Fresnoland. Soria also confirmed in an email statement that she supports the request. During the Jan. 9 storm, large swaths of the majority Latino, unincorporated town of 4,000 residents was submerged under water, forcing residents to evacuate their water-logged homes. Since then, Planada residents, many of whom are agricultural workers, have been grappling with job and economic loss and mold-infested living conditions, as they try to rebuild their homes, community and elementary school. In late January, the Biden administration approved Merced County for a Major Disaster Declaration, which made the county eligible for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And while eligible residents did receive some federal relief, residents and Central Valley legislators say many community members were left out. New research from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center backs that up. A report released earlier this week finds that 83% of Planada households experienced at least one form of economic loss following the flood. The survey of 236 households found that 57% of Planada households with one or more workers who experienced job loss were ineligible for unemployment insurance, and 64% of households with flood-damaged property were ineligible for federal disaster aid. Story continues The funding request is a drop in the bucket of what the community still needs, Sol Rivas, executive director of Valley Onward, said in an interview with The Bee/Fresnoland. Community advocates, Rivas said, are trying to ensure the county, state and federal governments dont forget about Planada. Theres a long-term recovery process, Rivas said, Our hope is that legislators see that and advocate for Planada, and move this ask forward. An aerial photo of flooding in Planadas Houlihan Park in Merced County is shown here. Lawmakers request $11 million for home remediation in Planada The lawmakers request aims to fill huge gaps in funding for home repair, infrastructure and transportation needs. The bulk of the budget request, or $11.7 million, would be for home remediation costs for flood-affected households. Researchers found that of the 461 households that experienced flooding, 74% lost property inside their home such as furniture and beds. Meanwhile, 56% of the homes have issues with mold, most of which is a result of the flood. Federal funds didnt cover the total costs of damage to Planada households. Of the 164 Planada homeowners that received inspections, the average estimated remediation cost was $34,518 per home, according to the report. Yet the average amount of aid was only $11,628 for the 133 aid-qualifying households. Another big chunk of the funding request, or $5 million, would be for Planadas infrastructure needs. Olivia Gomez, a Planada resident and community liaison for Planada Elementary School District, said the biggest need is fixing the canal infrastructure and other mitigation efforts in order to prevent a future flood, and pointed out that the region experienced similar flood damage five years ago. How do we really invest the money where it needs to be invested in order for this not to happen again? she said. Madeline Harris, a regional policy manager for Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, agreed. She said state help is crucial given the additional hurdles that rural, unincorporated farmworker communities face. Not only are disadvantaged communities and frontline communities more vulnerable to climate change and disasters, Harris said, but they also are behind on investments to infrastructure to prevent this from happening, and to recover. Another chunk of funding, or $1.1 million, would be for vehicles. For a rural agricultural workforce with few public transportation options, cars are essential to drive to work. UC Merced researchers found that 46% of flood-affected households lost at least one vehicle that was used to drive to work. Meanwhile, 30 households lost more than one car. Edward Flores, faculty director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, said in an interview with The Bee/Fresnoland on Friday that it was a privilege to work on this research on one of the biggest climate disasters that happened in our state right here in our backyard. He said this type of effort that engages public officials, community organizations on the ground, and research to inform policy decisions could be a model for other communities in flood-impacted areas. Will the governor fund Planadas outstanding needs? Its not immediately clear if the state will fund Planadas outstanding disaster needs, especially as California is expected to have an ongoing budget deficit and lower than expected revenues into the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Less than a year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom boasted the state had a $97 billion dollar budget surplus. Central Valley legislators and community groups are hopeful and say the state needs to step up. We do know that were in a deficit year, Harris of Leadership Counsel said. We know that the governor is essentially asking legislators not to make budget requests. But when theres an emergency, Harris said, you have to respond to it. Planada isnt the only community asking for state assistance. Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo said in a tweet Thursday that it has been over a month since he met with state emergency response officials to seek rapid response assistance for undocumented residents who dont qualify for federal assistance, but there is still no such assistance on the ground. California must do better for its flood victims, Alejo said, especially in disadvantaged communities. The principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has vetoed spending a final $64 million to open the tribes long-anticipated medical cannabis dispensary in Western North Carolina. In a Facebook message to tribal members Friday, Richard Sneed said he vetoed the Tribal Councils recent approval of the final $64 million for the project because the original proposal said the entire project would be completed for $50 million. Sneed attached a copy of a letter he sent to Tribal Council Chairman Richard French informing him of his veto and his reason. The fact that this projects original cost for an outdoor grow, an indoor grow and an indoor dispensary was $50m, and we are now being told it is $95m, demonstrates that there is an immediate need for a full accounting of the money that has been expended to date, Sneed wrote. Sneed told French he fully supports cannabis, both medical and adult use. He also is encouraged and inspired by tribal workers at the growing operation at Coopers Creek on the tribes Qualla Boundary in Cherokee, he added. The operation is run by Qualla Enterprises LLC, the tribes for-profit medical cannabis arm. Yet, Sneed told French, I am very troubled by the lack of accountability for the managing of the business side of the operation. The current projected cost is almost 100% over budget as compared to the original RFP projected cost. RFP stands for request for proposals. It wasnt immediately clear Saturday how Sneeds veto will affect the opening of the dispensary on U.S. 19 South near Harrahs Cherokee Casino Resort. Forrest Parker, Qualla Enterprises general manager, planned to give a statement to The Charlotte Observer Saturday afternoon, Qualla Enterprises executive assistant Kara Howard said. On an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the growing operation in late March, Parker told the Observer he expects the mega dispensary to open in a limited capacity in late summer or fall. Story continues The Cherokee are converting their massive old bingo hall into the dispensary that is a first of its kind in North Carolina the only location that would be in a three-hours drive from Charlotte where weed is sold legally. The Cherokees 57,000-acre territory is a sovereign nation outside the bounds of North Carolinas prohibition on marijuana. The EBCI Tribal Council first voted about two years ago to legalize controlled use of marijuana on Cherokee land and to grow and sell it. On April 6, the council approved backing a loan of about $64 million to complete the medical marijuana project, lifting EBCIs total investment to about $95 million, the Observer previously reported. Non-gaming tribal revenues will fund the investment, Parker said. We just want to get funded, because were under-capitalized, Parker told the council before its 6-to-3 vote in favor of backing the loan. In 2022, Parker said, North Carolina had the second highest illicit cannabis market in the United States at $3.2 billion, behind only Texas. It is past time that some portion of those folks, and many others, get the chance to buy medical cannabis that is tested, regulated and safe, Parker said. Five separate lawsuits were filed against a former Fort Collins police officer and the city this week accusing the former officer of making repeated wrongful arrests for driving under the influence and accusing the police department of failing to properly supervise him. Each lawsuit details an incident involving the former officer, Jason Haferman. The lawsuits accuse him of falsely arresting people on suspicion of driving under the influence in five separate incidents from June 2021 through April 2022, while Haferman was Fort Collins polices DUI officer. They also include a timeline of a total of 17 alleged false DUI arrests Haferman made from November 2020 through April 2022. Allegations against Haferman include that he made false claims that people showed signs of impairment, improperly administered the roadside sobriety tests and violated Colorado law and Fort Collins police policy by deactivating or muting his body-worn camera during portions of some of these interactions. In all five cases, blood tests results from the people accused of DUI came back as none detected," according to the lawsuits. Haferman's DUI cases came under scrutiny about a year ago after Derrick Groves publicly accused Haferman of falsely arresting him for DUI and announced his intent to sue Haferman. Groves is one of the five people who filed a lawsuit this week. "Mr. Groves is not just a statistic or one of many victims his life was upended by Officer Haferman and Fort Collins Police," Matthew Haltzman, an attorney representing Groves in this case, said in a statement to the Coloradoan. "It is our hope that this lawsuit, which seeks to hold those accountable for the harm they caused to so many Larimer County residents, sets a new tone and direction for police accountability in Fort Collins." Haferman resigned from Fort Collins Police Services in December following an internal investigation into his repeated DUI arrests of individuals whose blood test results came back negative, according to the internal investigation report obtained by the Coloradoan. If he had not resigned, he would have been terminated, Chief Jeff Swoboda wrote in his discipline decision. Story continues Fort Collins police said in a statement Friday that no one with the City of Fort Collins or Fort Collins (Police) Services has been served (with any lawsuits) at this time. Online court records show all five lawsuits were filed in Larimer County district court Wednesday. The lawsuits filed this week also list Sgt. Allen Heaton and an unnamed corporal as defendants, accusing them of insufficiently supervising Haferman and not thoroughly reviewing Haferman's DUI cases where blood test results came back negative for drugs and alcohol. The supervising corporals name is not known publicly because it was redacted from Hafermans internal investigation report, according to Sarah Schielke, the attorney representing the individuals in all five cases. Heres more about each incident referenced in each of the five lawsuits, according to the complaints: Cody Erbacher was arrested by Haferman on June 11, 2021. This lawsuit alleges Haferman lied about Erbacher showing signs of impairment, improperly administered the roadside sobriety test, erroneously told Erbacher he needed to take a blood test instead of a breath test because he was on antibiotics and deactivated his body-worn camera during parts of their interaction. Erbacher admitted to having one beer earlier that day. He told Haferman he had multiple traumatic brain injuries, which Haferman did not include in his report, according to the lawsuit. Carl Sever , 74, was arrested by Haferman on July 23, 2021. This lawsuit alleges Haferman wrongfully pulled Sever over for going under the speed limit, falsely cited normal human behavior including slow speech and movement as signs of impairment, failed to properly administer the roadside sobriety test and violated state law and department policy by muting his body-worn camera during their interaction. Sever told Haferman he had not had an alcoholic beverage in 10 years, according to the lawsuit, which alleged Haferman also failed to include in his report that Sever had a traumatic brain injury. Jesse Cunningham was on vacation in the area with his family when he was arrested by Haferman on July 29, 2021. Haferman is accused of forcing Cunningham to take a blood test instead of a breath test, failing to properly administer the roadside test and lying in his report in ways that were obviously contradicted by his (body camera) video. Cunningham was also charged with child abuse at the time because his children were in the car with him. Harris Elias was arrested by Haferman on Dec. 3, 2021. The lawsuit alleges that Haferman made false claims that Elias had indications of impairment, including Eliass driving; that Elias had constricted pupils and a faint odor of alcohol coming from his breath"; and that Haferman closed the patrol car door on Eliass leg so he would have to go to the hospital for a blood test instead of taking a breath test. Elias was also charged with child abuse because one of his children was in the car with him. Derrick Groves was arrested by Haferman on April 7, 2022. Groves had driven off the road because his Teslas Autosteer feature overcorrected, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges Haferman incorrectly administered the roadside sobriety test and made false claims about observing signs of impairment that were not present. The lawsuits allege that, in all five cases, the blood tests came back with results of none detected, meaning the individuals did not have detectable levels or drugs or alcohol in their systems. The district attorney's office dismissed all of these cases once the blood test results came back several months later. These cases are 'illustrative of a major problem' For Elias, this was not the first time he says he was falsely accused of driving under the influence. Elias has another pending lawsuit this one against Loveland police officer William Gates alleging Gates wrongfully arrested him on suspicion of DUI while Gates was working in Fort Collins as a member of the Reduce All Impaired Driving task force in January 2020. That case is still pending, Schielke said. When this happened to him again nearly two years later, Elias said "at first, it was kind of utter disbelief." "For it to happen twice was truly shocking," Elias said in an interview with the Coloradoan, adding that what happened to him is "illustrative of a major problem of the way drunk driving is being enforced in this community." Elias said his past experience with police helped him stay calm despite being afraid, angry and frustrated. Elias was also charged with child abuse at the time because his teenage son was in the car, and because of that charge a judge ordered that he not drive anyone under the age of 18 while the case was ongoing. As a single father, Elias said that was very difficult to manage and to explain to his children's friends' families. "I don't know when (the impacts) will end," Elias said. Cunningham, who was also charged with child abuse because his children were with him in the car, said this has had long-term impacts on him and his family. His arrest came at the end of an already challenging and traumatic day for him and his family, Cunningham said. They learned of a close family friend's death earlier that day, and while trying to head to their next vacation destination, the family witnessed a multi-vehicle crash involving several motorcyclists. Cunningham who has experience as a military police officer told the Coloradoan he was the first person on the scene and helped save an injured motorcyclist's leg. Cunningham and his family were waiting to give investigators their witness statements when Haferman came up and told him another officer said Cunningham smelled like alcohol, Cunningham said in an interview. "To be immediately arrested after assisting someone in that manner and in those circumstances was pretty devastating," Cunningham said. "... It was such a shock, I actually couldn't believe what was happening. ... It seemed absurd." Cunningham said this affected everything in his life, from being passed up on a promotion at work to his wife and children continuing to experience trauma from watching him be arrested. "Devastating doesn't even explain it," he said. All claims made in civil lawsuits are allegations, and all defendants named in these lawsuits are considered innocent until and unless proven otherwise. This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Ex-Fort Collins police officer faces lawsuit alleging false DUI arrests Efren Jimenez Padron is accused of beating a man to death with a 2x4 piece of lumber that had screws on it. The gruesome beating happened last Sunday behind a shopping plaza in Marietta. The Marietta Police Department arrested Padron on Monday. This one is certainly a strange one. Its just uncommon to have someone pick up a piece of lumber and brutally beat someone to death with that, said Chuck McPhilamy, the Public Information Officer for the Marietta Police Department. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] A woman, who doesnt want to be identified, told Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell she and her husband saw the victims body before police arrived and noticed the wood on the victims face. The woman described how scary and unsettling it was. Police say Padron and the victim got into an argument before Padron beat the victim to death. We cant confirm what caused that argument nor do we know how it escalated to the point that it left one man deceased. He does admit to being at the scene and that there was an altercation, said McPhilamy. TRENDING STORIES: People who live and work in the neighborhood are thankful police made an arrest so quickly. The suspect, who is now in custody, is no stranger to law enforcement, hes a local transient. Hopefully, this will bring the victims family some sense of peace that at least this individual responsible for this gruesome attack will be held accountable, said McPhilamy. Police are asking the public to provide any information they have about what led up to the incident. If you have information, call the Marietta Police Department. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Hippo. RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images A motorist slammed into a hippopotamus last month on a rural highway in Colombia. Though the driver walked away unharmed, his SUV and the 2,000-pound animal were totaled and killed, respectively. The unusual accident the first of its kind in a South American nation where hippos aren't native was just the latest sign that Colombia's so-called "cocaine hippos" are becoming a big problem. What are hippos doing in Colombia? The hippo that died on the highway was a descendent of four specific hippos one male and three females that the notorious cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar imported for his private zoo in the 1980s. After Escobar died in a 1993 shootout with police in Medellin, the government seized his 7,400-acre Hacienda Napoles ranch, which has since been transformed into a theme park, and transferred most of the animals to other zoos. The hippos, however, were left to roam freely in a hot, marshy area. Why is that a problem? Well, the four hippos multiplied. Since Escobar's death, the hippo population in Colombia has exploded to more than 140. "It is the biggest hippo herd outside Africa, which is their native region," veterinarian and conservationist Carlos Valderrama told BBC. The country has since classified the "cocaine hippos" as an invasive species. Studies have also concluded that they are damaging the ecosystem in the Magdalena River, the largest river in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. Indeed, each animal eats about 90 pounds of grass nightly, prompting a barrage of excrement that then poisons the water, kills fish, and threatens everything else that lives in or drinks the H2O. So is this affecting humans? Yes, and not just because the animals pose a danger when they wander into highways. Hippos are territorial and at times quite aggressive, killing about 500 people annually. In Colombia, there have been at least two maulings in recent years. Farmworker Javier Diaz suffered three cracked ribs and a broken leg and collarbone when a hippo attacked him two years ago. "The hippo tossed him in the air as if he were a ball," his employer, cattle rancher Juan Cadavid, told The Wall Street Journal. In a separate instance, fisherman Alvaro Molina hit a hippo in the Magdalena River and it flipped his boat, forcing him to swim to shore. Illegal traffickers have also begun capturing and selling the animals, adding another layer of danger to the equation. Story continues Can't people simply avoid the hippos? For now, maybe. But Colombian biologist Nataly Castelblanco-Martinez has pointed out that since hippos aren't native to Colombia, they have no natural predators in their new and ever-expanding stomping grounds (they have to contend with lions and crocodiles in Africa) and can therefore reproduce easily, with each female capable of giving birth every two years. "If we don't do anything, 20 years from now, the problem will have no solution," she said. In a study published in the journal Nature in 2021, Castelblanco-Martinez and other experts estimated that the hippo population would grow to 1,400 as soon as 2034 unless 30 of the animals are removed from the breeding pool every year. So is that what the government is doing? Yes, but castrating an unpredictable 4,000-pound semiaquatic beast isn't as easy as it sounds. Cristina Buitrago, a veterinarian for Cornare, a state-sponsored environmental group, has worked with a six-person team that lures hippos in with 180 pounds of carrots, knocks them out with darts carrying enough sedative to down three horses, and then flips their massive bodies to perform a castration. The five-hour operation can "cost up to $17,000 in a country that struggles to finance health care for humans," the Journal says. So far, the team has "fixed" 11 males and two females. "It's dirty. There's mud everywhere. You're soaked in sweat," Buitrago said. "This is not a practical way to solve the problem." What about culling them? The government has tried that, too, having hired a big-game sharpshooter in 2009. The hunter, escorted by members of the military, even killed one of Escobar's original animals. But when photos of soldiers posing with the bloody carcass circulated, the public blew a gasket. Fans started calling the animal "Pepe," and the outrage fueled street protests and a "save the hippos" campaign. In 2012, a judge banned hippo hunting. Is there any other way to control the population? Cornare has tried a new approach over the last two years it now uses a dart rifle to administer a U.S.-provided chemical contraceptive called GonaCon. In 2022, the group shot the drug into 38 hippos, though it isn't sure which exactly, seeing as the hippos have managed to remove paint, collars, and other markers used to identify them. The group will next try tattoo ink, but even that won't be a total fix, The Washington Post reports. "Tracking them down is a titanic task," said David Echeverri of Cornare. So ... these hippos have the run of Colombia? There is still hope of getting things under control. Indeed, authorities in Columbia's Antioquia Department have committed to catching 70 of the hippos, which they can't send to Africa for fear the animals will spread new diseases to the continent. Instead, the plan is to fly 60 of the hippos to the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Gujarat, India, and the rest to the Ostok Sanctuary in Mexico. More could go to Ecuador, the Philippines, and Botswana later. But the undertaking won't be easy or cheap, at a total estimated cost of $3.5 million. Each individual animal will need a special crate costing up to $10,000. Keeping them healthy will cost another $2,500 per month. And a charter flight to India on a cargo plane owned by Belarus' Rada Airlines, with room for 20 to 30 hippos, will cost $900,000; the trip to Mexico, $400,000. But it's worth it, said regional government spokesperson Lina de los Rios, to have this "valuable strategy to preserve these animals, as we don't believe their extermination is the right solution." You may also like Wagner's Prigozhin posts graphic, profanity-filled video blaming Russia's military for his dead mercenaries Colombia's 'cocaine hippos': A problem too big to ignore Why are American students failing history? The LaSalle Street Corridor in the sunlight on Sept. 26, 2022. The LaSalle Reimagined initiative aims to convert some of LaSalles 5 million square feet of vacant space into residential and retail use. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune) More housing may soon be coming to the LaSalle Street corridor in the Loop. Two additional developments were chosen to advance to the next stage of the citys review process on Friday through the LaSalle Reimagined initiative, which aims to convert some of LaSalles 5 million square feet of vacant space into residential and retail use. The city invited developers to submit redevelopment proposals in September, and nine developers originally submitted proposals. Three developments were selected in March. Advertisement The redevelopment plans are part of a city effort to bring more housing, at least 30% of it affordable, to the Loop, an area that has historically been out of reach for lower-income individuals. Earlier this year the city called the project the largest affordable housing commitment downtown, and Fridays news release called it the largest office-to-residential conversion in the nation. The office-to-residential conversions would invest nearly $1 billion downtown and are expected to bring more than 1,600 new apartments to the central business district, including more than 600 affordable units, if approved by the Community Development Commission and City Council, according to Fridays news release. Advertisement Celadon Partners and Blackwood Group, a certified Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE), are proposing to create 247 apartments within 105 W. Adams St., including 185 units to be made available at affordable rates for a total project cost of $178M. (The Reimagine Adams Limited Partnership) The two additional sites to receive city support are at 105 W. Adams St. and 30 N. LaSalle St. Both development groups submitted new applications in April for tax increment financing dollars funds that developers can access to make infrastructure and other community improvements by tapping into funds pooled together by neighborhood property taxes. As LaSalle Street continues to evolve as one of the most distinguished and storied corridors in the Midwest, these conversions reaffirm the Citys support for innovative projects and improvements that reinforce its economic vitality for all Chicagoans, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news release on Friday. The Loops estimated population stood at 46,000 in 2022, up nearly 10% from 2020, according to the Chicago Loop Alliance, an advocacy group. A study conducted by the alliance in 2022 found that housing in the Loop is unattainable for many households earning $75,000 or below, with less than 1% of total units, or 239 units, in the Loop designated as affordable and only 23 affordable units currently under construction. There are no affordable apartments on or near LaSalle in the Loop currently, according to the news release. Some of the goals for each project in the LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative are to revitalize an underperforming historic property, provide 30% of the total housing units at affordable levels, and create neighborhood-oriented building amenities that contribute to a dynamic, mixed-use, downtown environment, while meeting minimum diversity requirements for construction teams, according to the news release from the first announcement in March. This is around 10% more affordable housing per project than would have been required under regular city ordinances. Built in 1927, 105 W. Adams St. will be developed by Celadon Partners and Blackwood Group. The $178 million building proposal includes 247 apartments, 75% of which would be affordable. The project would also include a fitness room for tenants, a roof deck, a public food market and a coffee shop. A rendering showing retail space at 105 W. Adams Street. (The Reimagine Adams Limited Partnership) Aron Weisner, chief operating officer and co-principal of Celadon Partners, said that once his group clarified issues surrounding who controlled the property, it gained the citys support. It was really a testament to the city of Chicago that they stuck with us to find a path forward here, Weisner said. Scott Henry, chief executive officer and co-principal of Celadon Partners, said the group has already raised 70% of the capital needed for the project and that it will be a catalytic improvement for downtown Chicago. Advertisement The need for this kind of housing is enormous, Henry said. This project itself wont satisfy the need, but will make a big step towards doing so. Golub & Co. and American General Life Insurance are proposing to create 349 apartments within 30 N. LaSalle St., including 105 units to be made available at affordable rates for a total project cost of $143M. (Golub Co. and American General / HANDOUT) Built in 1975, 30 N. LaSalle St. will be developed by Golub & Co. and American General Life Insurance. The $143 million building proposal includes 349 apartments, 105 of which would be affordable. The project would also include ground-floor retail, as well as green space and seating on streets bordering the property. Lee Golub, principal for Golub and Co., said his team was able to reconfigure its proposal to construct a smaller project with fewer units in order to cut costs and ask the city for less financial support. Now, he said, it is a waiting game. With the new administration coming in, everyone is not 100% certain, Golub said. We are hoping that the process will continue to move forward. Advertisement The city announced in March that it would make additional TIF funding available for projects that meet requirements similar to the ones for the LaSalle Reimagined projects, as well as accept applications in September for private projects that seek to revitalize ground-floor commercial spaces for neighborhood-oriented uses with the available $300,000 from the Small Business Improvement Fund. An additional $50,000 will be available for South and West Side businesses looking to expand to the Loop, Maurice Cox, department of planning and development commissioner, said at the March news conference. All five proposals are now under review by Chicagos Department of Planning and Development and the Department of Housing and will undergo an extensive underwriting process prior to presentation to and approval by the Community Development Commission and City Council, according to Fridays news release. Ronnie Reese, spokesperson for incoming Mayor Brandon Johnson, said his team is still reviewing the announcement and does not have any comment yet. ekane@chicagotribune.com High housing costs not covered by basic allowance for housing and other financial concerns are top of mind for many military families. A new Congressional panel on the militarys quality of life aims to help. Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon who is heading the panel, shares what the military community can expect. About the guests: U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, grew up a farm in Illinois, where he learned first-hand how the value of hard work and commitment contributes to the success of a small business. He attended Northern Illinois University, from which he graduated with a bachelors degree in political science in 1984, the same year he married his wife, Angie. One year later, he began his military career by joining the U.S. Air Force and serving nearly 30 years, ultimately retiring as a brigadier general. Presently, Congressman Bacon serves on two committees within the House of Representatives: the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Agricultural Committee. During his military career, Bacon specialized in electronic warfare, intelligence and reconnaissance. His career highlights include two tours as a wing commander, at Ramstein Airbase in Germany and Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska; group command at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona; squadron command in Arizona, and expeditionary squadron command in Iraq. In total, Rep. Bacon served 16 assignments including four deployments in the Middle East to include Iraq in 2007 to 2008 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has been awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, two Bronze Stars, two Legion of Merits, five Meritorious Service Medals, and the Aerial Achievement Medal. Additionally, he was selected as Europes top Air Force Wing Commander for his time at Ramstein Airbase, as well as recognized as a distinguished graduate of the Air Command and Staff College, Navigator-Electronic Warfare School, and Officer Intelligence School. Bacon has earned two masters degrees one from the University of Phoenix in Arizona and another from the National War College in Washington, D.C. Story continues About the podcast: The Spouse Angle is a podcast breaking down the news for military spouses and their families, hosted by former Military Times reporter Natalie Gross. Each episode features subject-matter experts and military guests who dive into current events from a military perspective everything from new policy changes to research on family lifestyle challenges. Follow The Spouse Angle on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe on Spotify. Subscribe on Stitcher. Want more perspectives like this sent straight to you? Subscribe to receive our Commentary & Opinion newsletter once a week. Hoax message Coral Springs police on Friday arrested an 18-year-old high school student for threatening to shoot up a school and posting the message on social media, causing panic throughout Florida and even the nation. The post has also been seen by parents and students in North Carolina, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Utah, Minnesota, Arkansas, and elsewhere. In Florida, it was reported in Volusia, Indian River, Broward, and Escambia counties. Daytona Beach Police said the threat was made to Mainland High School and on Friday officers were actively investigating the situation. "We have extra officers patrolling the school and on campus and are doing everything we can to keep the students and staff safe," the department said Friday morning. What is she charged with? School shooting threat suspect who caused panic across Florida facing 19 criminal charges Treasure Coast: Social-media threat deemed a hoax, but Treasure Coast schools get extra security Friday More: Volusia, Flagler sheriffs' offices say statewide school shooting threat 'a hoax' J.P. Taravella High School student Catrina Petit was arrested and charged with "multiple felonies," according to the Coral Springs Police Department. Police said she sent the threat fraudulently using another students name and computer access. Message sent as a 'joke' Broward County Public Schools wrote on its Facebook page that the student admitted to the threat and said she meant it "as a joke." The hoax panicked parents and students from around much of the state Friday and led to multiple police agencies and schools posting messages saying the viral online threats were not credible. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office stated: "There's been a Snapchat post circulating all across the country about a school shooting threat today. It's a hoax, but please know that deputies, police, and school guardians are taking every potential threat seriously, and extra patrols of our school campuses will continue through the end of the school year." Story continues The warnings led to hundreds of comments on law enforcement Facebook pages, including several from people who were keeping their kids home. 'Not a credible threat': Escambia Public Schools says social media threat not credible, county schools safe What is 'swatting'? False active shooter calls clog law enforcement, terrify schools Some students stayed home "Have kept both of my grandsons home from school today, it's better to be safe than sorry, everyone be safe out there," wrote a poster on the Daytona Beach Police Department's page. Volusia County Schools were also aware of the viral threat and released a statement. "Volusia County Schools is aware of a threat that is circulating statewide on social media that is impacting many school districts. The threat is actively being investigated by law enforcement and has been determined to be non-credible." We are working with law enforcement to determine the source. Out of an abundance of caution, we will have extra security on campus today, Friday, May 5, 2023. We will stay vigilant throughout the day to ensure everyones safety." The Flagler County Sheriff's Office said there was no threat against any specific Flagler school and that patrol efforts were enhanced throughout the district. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida school threat ends in arrest of Coral Springs girl, 18 King Charles III was crowned Saturday as Britains sovereign in a sumptuous, ritual-infused display of pageantry, taking the helm of a centuries-old monarchy that has often struggled, like his homeland, to find its place in the modern world. Chants of God save the king! echoed off the ornate walls of Westminster Abbey before the five-pound weight of the jewel-encrusted St. Edwards Crown, which is used only for coronations, was lowered onto his white-haired head in the culmination of Charles' seven-decade-long journey to the throne. Britain pulled out all the ceremonial stops for its first royal coronation since Charles' late mother, Elizabeth II, formally assumed the throne in 1953. Before some 2,300 invited VIPs at Westminster Abbey and an audience of millions worldwide Charles and his wife, Camilla, enacted the arcane centuries-old rites of coronation, albeit punctuated by more changes of wardrobe than during a Taylor Swift concert. Despite the traditional display of homage to the king as Charles symbolically received a variety of sacred objects orb and scepter, ring and vestments the ceremonys carefully choreographed language was designed to evoke a note of humility. I come not to be served, but to serve, he declared to the gathered assemblage. The kings formal accession is a reminder of Britains transition from a mighty empire, upon which the sun famously never set, to a small-to medium-sized power currently beset by economic woes. The country's diminishing world role was accentuated by Brexit, the split from the European Union approved by voters eight years ago, which so far has produced more headaches than a promised bounce in its trade reach and political clout. The monarch remains the head of state in more than a dozen Commonwealth countries, several of which are contemplating a retooling of the relationship as often-bitter memories of Britains imperialistic past have in recent years come to dominate their shared narrative. Story continues The coronation ceremony drew largely on the Protestant liturgy of the Church of England, whose teachings Charles swore to uphold. But in an effort to reflect Britains status as a multicultural society, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist faith leaders all took part in the investiture. Following the two-hour ceremony, the royal couple left the way they arrived in a vast ceremonial parade back to Buckingham Palace, although this time using a different horse-drawn royal carriage, the gilded but notoriously uncomfortable Gold State Coach. (Apparently, it lacks suspension.) Later, the newly crowned king and queen, together with ceremonial pages and family members who are "working royals" an assemblage that pointedly did not include California resident Prince Harry waved from the palace balcony to cheering crowds. Bad weather forced a scaling back of the traditional flyover, but helicopters followed by fighter jets trailing red, blue and white smoke thundered overhead. Coronation day, kicking off a long holiday weekend of festivities, dawned damp and cloudy, then brightened, then succumbed again to rain. Along the route of the royal procession, thousands of bleary-eyed onlookers tourists and homegrown royalists alike had lined up days in advance to claim a prime viewing spot, camping out with tents, tarps and plastic chairs. They deserve my respect, and they have it, said Dak Shi, a 66-year-old British health worker who waited hours to watch the royal procession pass. Hours before the ceremony, in a moment of levity, or perhaps a keen appreciation of practical necessities, watchers near Trafalgar Square early Saturday enthusiastically cheered the passage of a truck carrying portable toilets. Onlookers wore hats, Burger King crowns or makeshift garments emblazoned with pretend royalty-themed regalia. Security surrounding the event was the largest such operation in many years, said officials of the Metropolitan Police, which was fielding 11,000 officers to keep watch over the proceedings. Several arrests were reported at an anti-monarchy demonstration alongside the parade route, which drew hundreds of demonstrators, some hoisting placards that read "Not My King," "Down with the Monarchy," or, pointedly, photos of Charles' first wife, the late Princess Diana. Invited guests with coveted seats inside the majestic abbey included First Lady Jill Biden resplendent in a periwinkle-blue suit and matching gloves together with many other domestic and overseas dignitaries. Traditionally, the American president does not attend coronations. Charles has actually been king since September, when his widely revered mother died at 96 after 70 years on the throne, which made her the longest-serving British monarch. The coronation is meant to affirm and formalize his role, while boosting national unity and providing the kind of royal spectacle and iconic imagery that draws visitors from all over the world. Were just so excited we came all the way from San Antonio! said Debbie Hoover, 55, who traveled to London with her mother, Dottie. They booked their trip as soon as the coronation date was set. Family drama, a constant refrain in royal circles, reached fever pitch as the final hours to the ceremony ticked down. Harry the kings younger son, who had a highly publicized falling-out with the family after stepping back from royal duties attended the ceremony alone. The former Meghan Markle, the American actress he married in 2018, was staying home in Montecito, Calif., with the couples children, marking the fourth birthday of their son, Archie. Clad in a morning suit rather than the military uniform he used to wear to such august occasions, Harry played no formal role in the ceremonies. The British tabloids, with whom the prince is doing legal battle, gleefully declared that placement in the third row of pews in the medieval abbey left him in the same social Siberia as Prince Andrew, the kings disgraced younger brother. Andrew, 63, was stripped of royal duties after a financial settlement with a woman who said she was forced into sexual encounters with him. The moment also marked an extraordinary public rehabilitation on the part of the queen consort, now queen. As Charles longtime paramour, Camilla was for many years a reviled figure after the breakdown of Charles marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales, who was killed in a car accident in Paris in 1997. Many Britons thought Camilla would never be queen, but she gradually gained public acceptance. At 74, Charles waited nearly his whole life for this moment. At various points in his long interlude as heir apparent, some wondered whether the line of succession might even skip to his elder son, Prince William, whose wife, Kate, is generally considered the most popular royal. They have three young children, the eldest of whom, 9-year-old Prince George, is now second in line to the throne after his father. The monarchys overall popularity has been sliding for years, but occasions like this still serve to demonstrate its enduring appeal. William, Charles and Kate thrilled onlookers Friday with a brief walkabout outside Buckingham Palace, where they reached over barricades to shake hands and greet the waiting crowds. Others, though, greeted the display of pageantry with indifference. It was impossible to know how many Britons watching the coronation at home or in public places joined aloud in a vow of fealty to Charles, as the coronation program invited them to do. Despite Charles decades in waiting to become king or because of them some analysts said it was difficult to consider his accession as marking a new era for the monarchy. His firstborn, William, is 40 an age at which Charles still faced a third of a century as king-to-be. In the end, Charles may be a bit of a transition figure, with a lot of emphasis on William as a successor, said Mark Wenman, a lecturer in political theory at the University of Birmingham. Others suggested that even if the power of Dianas ghostly presence is beginning to fade, the story of Charles and Camilla is hardly the stuff of fairy tales. Charles comes to the throne with quite a lot of baggage, and that is a disadvantage, said royal historian and author Ed Owens. Describing the new king and queen as complex public figures, he predicted they were never going to be held in the same kind of reverence" as Elizabeth. Special correspondent Christina Boyle contributed to this report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Police officers take away protesters near to the King's procession, a journey of two kilometres from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey on Saturday. (Getty) Police have been criticised over the incredibly alarming arrests of anti-monarchy protesters during demonstrations against King Charles's coronation ceremony. Hundreds of anti-royalists were confronted by police and some prevented from entering Trafalgar Square as a volley of arrests of both republicans and Just Stop Oil protesters were made, sparking concern over the 'low threshold' adopted by the Met Police. Protesters had joined royal supporters waiting for the coronation procession to pass, brandishing placards, with the groups offering rival chants to one another. Human Rights Watch's UK director Yasmine Ahmed said in a statement: "The reports of people being arrested for peacefully protesting the coronation are incredibly alarming. This is something you would expect to see in Moscow not London. "Peaceful protests allow individuals to hold those in power to account, something the UK government seems increasingly averse to. Protesters hold up placards saying 'Not My King' in Trafalgar Square. (Getty) Protesters stood side-by-side with royal fans as they gathered ahead of the coronation. (Getty) The protests were a stark contrast to the crowds cheering Charles and Camilla on the balcony. (AFP) Human rights activist Peter Tatchell told Yahoo: "The police broke their promise that peaceful anti-monarchy protests would be permitted. "They arrested the head of Republic and other protesters, confiscated Republics official placards, photographed everyone and erected a huge watchtower in front of the Republic protest so the king would not see us. "Its an outrageous abuse of police powers and an attack of freedom of expression. This just reconfirms that the police cannot be trusted." However, not everyone was against police taking action against protesters. Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson tweeted: "Not My King? If you do not wish to live in a country that has a monarchy the solution is not to turn up with your silly boards. The solution is to emigrate." Not My King? If you do not wish to live in a country that has a monarchy the solution is not to turn up with your silly boards. The solution is to emigrate.https://t.co/G7CIU55YO6 Lee Anderson MP (@LeeAndersonMP_) May 6, 2023 'Breaching the peace' Scotland Yard said several people had been arrested on suspicion of offences including breaching the peace and conspiracy to cause public nuisance close to the coronation. Story continues In a statement on Twitter, the force said: "Earlier today we arrested four people in the area of St Martins Lane. They were held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance. We seized lock-on devices. "A further three people were arrested in the area of Wellington Arch. They were held on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. There will be further updates later today." The arrests come after the force announced it would have an "extremely low threshold" for protests during the coronation celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect "swift action". Its policing operation was set to see 11,500 police officers on duty on Saturday. Watch: Protesters chant 'Not My King' ahead of coronation In Trafalgar Square, chants of Not my king from a group of anti-monarchists were met by boos and opposing chants of God save the King. Protesters stood shoulder to shoulder with royal supporters the former dressed in yellow waving placards with slogans including king parasite and abolish the monarchy, while the latter were bedecked in Union flags. One placard read: "God save Virginia Giuffre", a reference to the alleged sexual abuse case involving Prince Andrew, who settled a case with Giuffre in February last year. Footage posted on Twitter seemed to show demonstrators in yellow "Not My King" t-shirts being arrested by police. Anti-monarchy protesters organised by Republic stage a 'Not My King' rally on the day of the Coronation of King Charles III in central London. (Getty) London, UK. 6 May, 2023. Anti-monarchy protesters organised by Republic stage a 'Not My King' rally on the day of the Coronation of King Charles III. Credit: Ron Fassbender/Alamy Live News In one video, an officer says: "Im not going to get into a conversation about that they are under arrest, end of." Another video shared on Twitter suggested appeared to show Republican protesters near Trafalgar Square being told by a Met Police officer that they may be arrested for public nuisance for chanting Not My King. On The Mall, where people had camped out ahead of the coronation, royal fans clashed with Just Stop Oil protesters. Onlookers sang the national anthem as the demonstrators shouted messages about climate change and the right to protest. Some people approached protesters who were wearing handcuffs and told them to shut up. Other onlookers heckled the group and laughed at them. Protesters from climate protest group Just Stop Oil were held by police officers in the crowd. (Getty) Protesters hold up placards saying 'Not My King' in Trafalgar Square. (Getty) On Saturday morning, Republic tweeted: "This morning, @GrahamSmith_ and 5 members of our team were arrested. Hundreds of placards were seized. Is this democracy? #NotMyKing #Coronation." Tweets from the Alliance of European Republican Movements appear to show the CEO of Republic, Graham Smith, having his details being taken and being arrested as part of the police activity. The arrests of protesters sparked concern over the police's powers. Under the controversial new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to "lock on" are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison. Republic activist Luke Whiting, 26, told the PA news agency: "Six Republic members have been arrested including the CEO as the demonstration was starting at the edge of Trafalgar Square. "It is unclear exactly whether the police are using these new powers and whether they are misusing them to stop protest happening." One woman in a Republic T-shirt who was arrested told PA: "We had a delivery of placards ready for the protest and then the tactical support unit questioned us as to how we we had got through the road closures. "They questioned whether what we were doing was a delivery. They then said they found evidence of means of locking on, of items that could be used to lock on, and they arrested us." Officers carried her away from where she had been standing outside a branch of Tesco. Two men who appeared to be part of the same demonstration were carried away by officers into a marked police van. Republic held a 'Not My King' protest in Trafalgar Square as royal fans gathered for the coronation. (Getty) Protesters waved placards opposing the coronation of King Charles. (Getty) Police have said they would have an "extremely low threshold" for protests during the coronation celebrations. (Getty) A large police presence could be see as protesters wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts were held against railings on The Mall. A Just Stop Oil spokeswoman said the groups plan was only to display T-shirts and flags, adding: "This is a dystopian nightmare." One Just Stop Oil protester was carried out of the crowd and searched by police on Whitehall. Ben Larsen, 25, wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt, said he was there to see the coronation and peacefully protest. He said: "I wanted to see the coronation and peacefully protest on the sidelines, in a respectful manner. "All we had was a Just Stop Oil t-shirt and an orange flag and thats enough to be detained by the police and searched." He claimed police found him using AI facial recognition cameras that were being trialled at the coronation. Republican protesters near Trafalgar Square being told by a Met Police officer that they may be arrested for public nuisance for chanting Not My King pic.twitter.com/8pG90ns9dG Paul Powlesland (@paulpowlesland) May 6, 2023 Larsen said: We saw a line of police in front, turned around, saw a line of police behind, they dragged me away, even though I said I didnt want to go with them. They searched me, they found nothing on me. He added: Ive been told repeatedly that Im being detained as long as it takes. Another protester, Symon Hill, 46, who was previously arrested for shouting who elected him? during a proclamation ceremony for the King but had charges dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, said he hoped he would not be arrested again. He said: I am joining a peaceful, lawful protest and I am worried there will be more arrests on spurious grounds. "I am nervous but determined to keep on protesting peacefully against monarchy and arbitrary policing. "The arrests this morning are appalling but I am not surprised. Protesters from climate protest group Just Stop Oil were among those held by police. (Getty) The police's response to protests was criticised by some organisations. (Getty) Arrests of King's coronation protesters branded 'alarming' Amnesty International UKs chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said the group had been concerned about Met statements about its "low tolerance" of protests ahead of the coronation arrests. In a statement, he said: "We need to see what details emerge around these incidents but merely being in possession of a megaphone or carrying placards should never be grounds for a police arrest. "Peaceful protest is clearly protected under international human rights law and its been worrying to see the police this week making numerous statements about their low tolerance for disruption at the coronation. Police arrest peaceful anti-monarchy protesters & have erected giant barriers to osbcure pro-republic banners. Right to freely protest suppressed. Shame! pic.twitter.com/oqTU1op0eX Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) May 6, 2023 "Weve recently had the introduction of extremely draconian legislation outlawing disruptive or noisy protests, which has given the police excessive and highly subjective powers and seriously damaged peoples right of free speech and public assembly. "The coronation shouldnt become yet another excuse for undermining peoples basic human rights in this country and were awaiting more details over these concerning reports of arrests." Read more: A coyote makes its way on vacant land in El Sereno in February. Another coyote entered a Woodland Hills home early Friday, through a dog door, and left after an encounter with the resident cat and, later, the homeowner. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) A Woodland Hills pet owner got more than she bargained for early Friday morning when a coyote breezed through the dog door and unnerved her cat. Around 4 a.m. Friday, homeowner Mia Shoshan's brother was awakened by the sound of the dog door opening, although the family's two small dogs were with them, she told KTLA. A video camera in the living room captured a coyote walking into the living room and encountering Shoshan's 14-year-old cat, who became agitated and began pouncing among the dining chairs. Our cat, Lily, started meowing and screaming," Shoshan told KTLA. "She was terrified and calling for us to help. The coyote appeared apprehensive, taking several steps back, after running into the cat. Eventually, Shoshan's brother came into the living room, and the coyote bolted outside. The intrusion is the latest frightening episode involving coyotes and Woodland Hills residents. In December, a 2-year-old was attacked by a coyote in the frontyard of her family's Woodland Hills home. A home security video captured the coyote knocking the toddler down and apparently trying to drag her away while her father was busy unloading the familys SUV. That coyote was later captured and euthanized by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The department estimates that there are 250,000 to 750,000 coyotes statewide, though it's unclear how many might be roaming in Los Angeles County. Violent encounters between coyotes and humans are extremely rare, according to wildlife experts. Interactions with coyotes, however, are on the rise as housing and development continue to encroach on the animals' natural habitat. At least 69 people were bitten by coyotes in Los Angeles County between 2012 and 2022, according to the county Department of Public Health. About half of those occurred in communities east of downtown Los Angeles. Most coyote attacks are related to food or when the animal draws near pets or livestock, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. For this reason, wildlife officials advise residents to refrain from feeding coyotes and to secure trash canisters near their home. In the event that someone encounters a coyote, experts encourage them to try to keep a safe distance. They can also make noise, such as loudly clapping their hands or yelling, to scare off the animal. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Permanent representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea Tamila Tasheva Read also: Resistance in occupied Crimea growing noticeably more pro-Ukrainian Tasheva The issue of returning Crimea has caused discussion among Western politicians, said Tasheva. They believe the peninsula can be returned to Ukraine, but the potential consequences could be enormous. Tasheva also stated that some politicians have argued that Crimea was never Ukrainian, and praised them for this stance. However, she emphasized that Crimea was never Russian either. Read also: Russians, fearing strikes on Kerch bridge in Crimea, scrambling to organize more ferry services Chubarov She said that for Russia, Crimea is a sacred territory and that Putin is obsessed with owning it. Therefore, some individuals in the West are afraid that if Russia is attacked in Crimea, it will use tactical nuclear weapons. Read also: Management of Russian state companies in Crimea told to evacuate, Kyiv says Tasheva did not reveal the names of the politicians she was referring to, but she said that Russia will not use tactical nuclear weapons because Putin understands that this would be a point of no return and would destroy the entire system that he has built criminally in the occupied territories. An example of a successful libration, without the use of nuclear weapons by Russia, was Kherson Tasheva noted that nothing happened, even though Moscow considered the act a violation of Russian territorial integrity. According to Putins nuclear doctrine, they were supposed to use tactical nuclear weapons immediately, but they did not, she added. Read also: While panic grips Russians in Crimea, Ukrainian supporters show increasing confidence video from Yalta Earlier, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov had stated that Ukraine would take back Crimea without a fight. 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 Binance is reportedly facing yet another investigation by the US Justice Department, and this time, it's over possible violations against sanctions imposed against Russia. According to Bloomberg, the agency is looking into whether the cryptocurrency exchange allowed Russian customers to move money as a way to go around US sanctions on the country's financial institutions. The news organizations' sources also said that Binance is discussing the possibility of settling with the DOJ regarding previous allegations that the exchange was also used to move money to circumvent US sanctions against Iran. If you'll recall, United States and the European Union imposed sanctions against Russian financial institutions following the invasion of Ukraine. Mykhailo Federov, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister, asked major crypto exchanges to freeze all Russian and Belarusian accounts at the same time, but Binance was one of the companies that refused to do so. Back then, a spokesperson said that unilaterally banning people's access to cryptocurrency "would fly in the face of the reason why crypto exists," because it would affect ordinary users and not just Russian oligarchs. If the DOJ truly is looking into Binance's activities related to Russian sanctions, then it's merely one of the investigations the exchange is grappling with. The DOJ and the Internal Revenue Service started looking into reports that Binance is being used for money laundering schemes in 2021. And just earlier this year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (pictured above) for not asking users to verify their identities, offering unregistered crypto derivatives and for implementing measures to avoid US regulation. Binance told us at the time that it found the charges "unexpected and disappointing." This time, it told Bloomberg in a statement: "In 2021, Binance launched an initiative to completely overhaul its corporate governance structure, including bringing in a world-class bench of seasoned executives to fundamentally change how Binance operates globally." The spokesperson continued that the company now observes strict know-your-customer protocols similar to the ones employed by traditional banks. "Our policy," they said, "imposes a zero-tolerance approach to double registrations, anonymous identities, and obscure sources of money," While they didn't specifically address the allegations, the statement sounds like a denial that the company's service allowed Russian users to flout US sanctions. Dallas police officers shot and wounded a man early Saturday who fired his gun in the air and ran toward an occupied vehicle, officials said. Officers responded to 2660 Robert B. Cullum Blvd. around 3:10 a.m. and found a man with a gun. The man refused repeated commands to drop the weapon, police said. He then fired his gun in the air and ran toward an occupied vehicle waiting at a traffic light. The officers fired at the man and injured him, according to police. They provided first aid, and the man was taken to a local hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening. The investigation is ongoing, officials said. Protesters in New York City have called for an arrest to be made A 24-year-old ex-Marine who placed New York City subway passenger Jordan Neely in a deadly chokehold has defended his response, saying he and other passengers were acting in self-defence. In a statement issued by his lawyers on Friday, Daniel Penny expressed condolences to Mr Neely's family. His cause of death has been ruled a homicide. No charges have been filed for his death so far. The case has focused attention on crime and homelessness on public transport. "We would first, like to express, on behalf Daniel Penny, our condolences to those close to Mr Neely," his lawyers said in a statement issued to US media. The statement says that Mr Neely - a 30-year-old homeless Michael Jackson impersonator, "had a documented history of violent and erratic behaviour" which they said was "the apparent result of ongoing and untreated, mental illness". The lawyers add that Mr Neely had been "aggressively threatening" their client and other passengers, and that Mr Penny and others "acted to protect themselves, until help arrived". "Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death." The Manhattan prosecutor and police are currently deciding whether to press charges. Homicide means a death caused by another person, but is not necessarily a murder. The incident happened on Monday afternoon on the F-line train in the SoHo section of Manhattan. A video captured by a freelance journalist on the train shows the former Marine holding the 30-year-old man - who was said to have been acting erratically - around the neck for two minutes and 55 seconds. Two other passengers are also seen restraining his arms. All three later let go of the man, who is then seen lying motionless on the floor. Police told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that Mr Penny told other passengers to call 911 during the struggle with Mr Neely. Story continues The network reports that a grand jury will probably meet next week to determine whether there is enough evidence to press charges. If charges are brought, Mr Penny will probably argue that his reaction was justified to defend himself. In order to be found guilty, prosecutors must prove that he used deadly force without believing that Mr Neely was also prepared to use deadly force, experts told the New York Times. Protests have been held calling for an arrest to be made in the wake of the chokehold death. The statement by Mr Penny's lawyers went on to say: "We hope that out of this awful tragedy will come a new commitment by our elected officials to address the mental health crisis on our streets and subways." When it comes to the history of American literature, there are few, if any bigger names than Esquire magazine. Under the off-and-on fiction editorship of legendary editor Rust Hills from the 50s to the 90s, Esquire was the first or among the first to publish writers like Norman Mailer, John Cheever, Ann Beattie, Annie Proulx and Richard Ford. The magazine gave a home to the New Journalism of Tom Wolfe and others. Advertisement In recent years, like a lot of other general interest magazines and other print media, Esquire has published less and less original fiction and book-related content. But lately, thats been changing, and I wanted to find out how and why. I had the chance recently to email editor Adrienne Westenfeld a series of questions about whats been going on at the magazine. Advertisement Having come to Esquire in 2016 at the age of 23, following a stint at Town & Country, Westenfeld gravitated toward covering books and editing literary writers, until being named books and fiction editor in the summer of 2022. Shes been given a mandate by editor-in-chief Michael Sebastian to build this core part of Esquires mission in a way that meets the needs of contemporary audiences. I contacted Westenfeld because I realized I was suddenly seeing lots of book-related Esquire content pop up on my radar. Some of it was clearly the kind of thing pitched for the social media age, e.g., actor Chris Pines list of favorite books, or The 50 Best Biographies of All Time (guaranteed to launch a thousand online debates), but the material also included much longer reported pieces that felt like a throwback to the days when books were treated like a coequal branch of the culture to music, movies and television. This includes long, reported interviews like Adam Morgans visit to the home of superstar fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson. A recent feature piece by Erin Somers on her wild weekend at the Philip Roth festival felt like a nod to Tom Wolfes on-the-ground New Journalism narratives mixed with a more contemporary point-of-view. Westenfeld told me that Esquires incredible literary heritage as a place to find new voices and using fiction as a unique way for a magazine to understand and illuminate our times are never far from her mind, but she is also cognizant of creating a space that represents a diversity of voices that has perhaps not always been present in Esquires pages. There are author interviews, a book club, best of lists and even original fiction, including recent stories by Jess Walter, Brandon Taylor and Catherine Lacey. Theres coverage of literary fiction, horror, fantasy, science fiction, nonfiction, memoir. It is writing about books that is smart and goes beyond the listicle without being only for the literati. I think what Im seeing is an illustration of the importance of an editor who brings a particular sensibility to the act of curating the writing for the benefit of the audience. In an age where so much of what were exposed to online seems to have been reduced into an indistinguishable morass of content, what Ive been reading in the Esquire books section gives off the distinct impression of having been worked on by human beings. Westenfeld has more stuff planned going forward, including the 2nd annual Summer Fiction Week, a digital reinvention of the magazines Summer Reading Issues of the 80s and 90s. Shes also thinking of ways to connect readers with their favorite writers and doing more unique long-form work you wont find elsewhere. I, for one, will be paying attention. Advertisement John Warner is the author of Why They Cant Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities. Twitter @biblioracle Book recommendations from the Biblioracle John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books youve read. 1. The Candy House by Jennifer Egan 2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Advertisement 3. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie OFarrell 4. Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer 5. Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson Patricia P., Chicago Im going back to the start of Barbara Kingsolvers career when she wrote a touching little novel that has since come to be considered a classic, The Bean Trees. 1. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier Advertisement 2. No One Left to Come Looking for You by Sam Lipsyte 3. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 4. Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen 5. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christs Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore Mitch P., Indianapolis Theres a sly humor to several of these titles, but also some weighty themes, so that brings to mind Don DeLillos White Noise. Advertisement 1. Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl 2. Night by Elie Wiesel 3. Going After Cacciato by Tim OBrien 4. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 5. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates William T., New York City Advertisement OK, heavy dark night of the soul stuff going on here. Im going to honor Williams orientation toward characters in struggle, but also choose a book that injects some levity into the situation, A Fans Notes by Frederick Exley. Get a reading from the Biblioracle Send a list of the last five books youve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Congressman Gabe Vasquez announce $12.6 million in funding for a new desalination research facility in Alamogordo Wednesday, May 3, 2023 in Las Cruces. LAS CRUCES Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland stopped in Las Cruces Wednesday to announce $12.6 million in funding for a new desalination research facility in Alamogordo, which will address the areas PFAS contamination (Per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances). Haaland was joined by Congressman Gabe Vasquez to announce the Investing in America funding to support southern New Mexicos Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility (BGNDRF). Being from New Mexico, I know how much climate change impacts our communities, from extended fire seasons to intense droughts and water shortages. Water is a sacred resource that is essential to tribes and communities growing crops, sustaining wildlife and the environment and powering agricultural businesses, Haaland said. Unfortunately, drought conditions in the west continue to worsen and water allocations are at historic lows. Haaland added that the recently announced funding will not only minimize effects of drought in the short-term, but will also support long-term plan development. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announces $12.6 million in funding for a new desalination research facility in Alamogordo Wednesday, May 3, 2023 in Las Cruces. The current BGNDRF facility, owned and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, opened in August 2007 and the PFAS contamination was discovered in an evaporation pond in 2017 and two wells in 2019. The wells have since been closed. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals which have been in used in a wide range of products since the 1940s. Products include drinking water, food, food packaging, soil, household products and personal care products. Health effects are still being researched, but scientists currently determine that high level exposure to these chemicals may cause decreased fertility, increased high blood pressure during pregnancy, developmental effects of delays in children, increased risk of several cancers, reduced ability of the immune system, interference with natural hormone levels and increased cholesterol levels. Story continues PFAS are often referred to as forever chemicals because they do not break down naturally in the environment. Contaminations of these chemicals can be found across the country, including at Hollomon and Cannon Air Force Bases and oil and gas wells in eastern New Mexico. How will federal funding address PFAS contamination? The latest federal investment will be used to construct a new desalination research facility in Alamogordo, allow the two contaminated wells to reopen and reduce the operational load of the other two still-operating wells. According to a news release, the new facility will be able to treat two wells at a time and later expand to the capacity to treat more wells. The facility will be used by government agencies, universities, and private sector companies for desalination research studies, pilot-scale projects and small demonstration projects. Levi Brekke, senior advisor for research and development for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said PFAS can be removed via a variety of existing water treatment processes, but more research is needed to implement widespread removal efforts. Malynda Cappelle of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation discusses the $12.6 million in funding for a new desalination research facility in Alamogordo Wednesday, May 3, 2023 in Las Cruces. Malynda Cappelle, BGNDRF facility manager, said the new facility will likely not be up operational for six months to two years. Cappelle said the treatment facility will be able to take the PFAS out of the water but leave the salt behind so desalination research can continue. No PFAS will leave the facility. Research in PFAS removal is already ongoing at the current facility, she said. Where is the funding coming from? Funding for the new desalination facility was allocated through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. New Mexico recently received funding from this same law through the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization grant program. The law will provide funding to clean water infrastructure, public transit, roads and bridges, high-speed internet and legacy pollution. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg traveled to Las Cruces in April to announce $10 million in grant funding to update aging natural gas distribution pipes. This latest round of funding in particular is being awarded to enhance the resilience of the West to drought and climate change, according to a news release. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will allocate $8.3 billion over the next five years to various Bureau of Reclamation water infrastructure projects addressing drought resilience and access to clean water for residents, farmers and wildlife. Haaland said the $10 million is in addition to over $2.5 billion received by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for 375 nationwide projects that address water purification and reuse, aging water delivery systems, water storage and to complete water projects that have been left unfinished for decades in rural communities. Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter. Others are reading: This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Haaland announces $12.6 million for desalination facility, 'forever chemicals' A first-term Democratic congressman representing Wall Street has become one of Congress's most prolific stock traders, and recently sold shares in a troubled California bank just days before the stock plummeted in value. Rep. Dan Goldman, who represents a congressional district that includes Lower Manhattan's Financial District in New York City, sold up to $15,000 in shares of PacWest Bancorp on March 6, according to his financial disclosures. The sale came just two days before the stock of the Beverly Hills-based bank holding company plummeted in value as investors fled from small and mid-sized banks amid news of Silicon Valley Banks pending failure. PacWest's stock was valued at $27.40 when Goldman sold his shares but dropped to about $5.75 as of Friday, entering a freefall after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10. "The timing doesn't look good, and that's for sure," Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette of the Project on Government Oversight told the Washington Examiner. "It's just another reason why the practice of members of Congress trading stocks is so problematic." DEMOCRAT, REPUBLICAN JOIN FORCES TO BAN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FROM TRADING STOCKS WHILE ON TAXPAYERS' DIME The PacWest trade is one of hundreds that Goldman has made during his short time in Congress, where he has quickly becoming one of the most prolific stock traders. Goldman made more than 500 trades worth between $10 million and nearly $31 million since being sworn in as a congressman in January, his disclosure forms reveal. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Goldman, a multimillionaire and heir to the Levi Straus & Co. fortune, sits on the Committee on Homeland Security and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. While in those positions, he bought up to $50,000 in Northrop Grumman, one of the country's biggest defense contractors, as well as up to $15,000 each in weapons manufacturers Raytheon Technologies and L3 Harris Technologies. Story continues Goldman's office told Fox News Digital that the congressman doesn't manage his own stock trades and backs legislation to ban federal lawmakers from trading stocks. "Congressman Goldman is not involved in trading stocks in his portfolio, which is managed entirely by an investment adviser, with whom he has had no discussions about any stock trades since entering Congress," said Goldman spokesperson Simone Kanter. "The congressman supports legislation to prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks and immediately initiated the complicated process of entering into a blind trust upon entering Congress." Goldman is hardly alone in trading stocks as a member of Congress, even if he's doing so at a higher rate. BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION IN HOUSE AND SENATE AIMS TO BAN 'DEEPLY CORRUPT' STOCK TRADES BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS Last Friday, Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., disclosed that she sold up to $15,000 in shares of First Republic Bank stock on March 16, and then bought up to $15,000 in JPMorgan stock shares on March 22. The congresswoman told the Daily Caller that her "account is managed independently by a money manager who buys and sells stocks at his discretion." Stock trading is a bipartisan pastime in Congress not just confined to Democrats. Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, sold up to $15,000 in First Republic Bank shares on March 16, when shares traded around $34 per share. They now sit at $0.35 per share. Perhaps the member of Congress most notorious for her stock activity is Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who's been long criticized for her husband's profitable trades in companies she has worked to subsidize. Critics argue that lawmakers can use their positions in Congress to profit from insider trading, in part since they have the ability to influence policies that can help or hurt certain companies and industries. Goldman's frequent stock trading and close proximity to Wall Street may make him especially susceptible to such criticism. PELOSI SLAMMED FOR SELLING GOOGLE STOCKS RIGHT BEFORE DOJ ANNOUNCED ANTITRUST SUIT: 'CONVENIENT TIMING' Members of Congress are increasingly supporting legislation banning lawmakers from trading stocks. Last month, senators introduced a bill that would prohibit Congress from buying or selling stocks and mandate divestment or holdings to be placed into a blind trust. The issue of banning stock trading has created unusual alliances in Congress. Earlier this week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., teamed up to introduce legislation that would similarly ban lawmakers, their spouses, and dependents from trading stocks. "AOC is wrong a lot, she'd probably say the same thing about me, but she's not corrupt," said Gaetz. "And I will work with anyone and everyone to ensure that Congress is not so compromised." Members of Congress reportedly traded $788 million worth of securities last year. According to an analysis by the popular stock-trading news site Unusual Whales, many lawmakers beat the stock market on total returns, despite Wall Street suffering its worst year since 2008. NEW YORK (AP) Rick Dutrow, who trained 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, won his first race Saturday in his return from a 10-year suspension by New York racing officials. Prince of Pharoahs, sired by 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, won the sixth race at Belmont Park in New York. It was Dutrows first race since January 2013. The 63-year-old Dutrow regained his trainer's license in February, returned to work in early April and is in the process of re-assembling a string of horses. In 2011, he had his license revoked for 10 years and was fined $50,000 after being charged with numerous medication and administrative violations that included the finding of syringes filled with unauthorized medication in his barn. He fought the suspension until exhausting all of his legal appeals in 2013. Big Brown was denied a Triple Crown sweep when he finished last in the Belmont Stakes. During the horse's bid, Dutrow had openly discussed using an anabolic steroid that was legal at the time in Kentucky, Maryland and New York, which host the Triple Crown races. His older brother, Anthony, earned the 2,000th victory of his training career on Friday at Belmont. Their father, Richard Sr., was a successful trainer, too. ___ AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast Judge Avery Lassiter isnt real, but she may as well be. The 42-year-old, travel-loving fictional mother of two and federal bankruptcy court judge bears a striking resemblance to a real-life bankruptcy judge in Dallaswho just so happens to have created her. Chief Judge Stacey Jernigan, who has two children, a travel blog, and two King Charles Spanielsthe same dogs Lassiter ownshas written two novels starring the fictional judge as her main character. But according to at least one defendant in her bankruptcy court, Lassiter isnt the only character inspired by real life. And he isnt flattered by the comparison. James Dondero, a litigious hedge fund manager involved in bankruptcy proceedings in Jernigans court, believes he is the inspiration for one of the villains in Jernigans second novel, Hedging Death. He has now filed four motions to boot her from the case, arguing that she is too biased to oversee the proceedings fairly. (The first novel, which does not mention Donderos alleged literary Doppelganger, still describes high-flying hedge fund managers as people who suck up money like an i-robot vacuum, and show outrageous amounts of hubris.) But Jernigan has refused to step down from the case, setting up a legal battle over just how much art is allowed to imitate lifeat least inside a courtroom. If [judges are] fictionalizing their cases, then I think maybe there's a deeper issue, Kenneth David, a law and ethics professor at Fordham University Gabelli School of Business, told The Daily Beast. And the issue is that they're looking to their cases as a source of financial gain. Would that influence the way that they deal with their case? If Jernigan had to find a financial tycoon with a litigious past on which to base one of her second novels antagonists, James Dondero would certainly fit the bill. The 6-foot-4-inch New Jersey native worked at J.P. Morgan and American Express before co-founding a credit-focused investment company, Highland Capital Management LP, in 1993. The company started promisingly, at one point reportedly managing about $39 billion, making it one of the biggest credit giants in Dallas. But the 2008 financial crisis led to years of lawsuits and a charge from the Federal Trade Commission, for which he was forced to pay $250,000. Story continues Things only got worse in 2016, when investors in one of Highlands hedge funds accused the company of financial misconduct. The case ultimately went to arbitration, and a panel awarded the Highland Crusader investors a $189 million judgment and found that Dondero was actively involved in the misconduct. The lawsuit was one of several Dondero faced over the past decade, including one in which a former employee described him as a megalomaniac and a headline-grabbing, contentious divorce with the mother of his two daughters. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/Twitter In October 2019, seemingly out of nowhere, Highland Capital Management filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware, saying the company may not have had enough liquid assets to cover the ongoing litigation. The petition was ultimately transferred to Texas, which is where Dondero and Jernigan first crossed paths. A Texas native, Jernigan earned her law degree from the University of Texas and served 17 years in the bankruptcy practice group of an international law firm in Dallas before becoming a federal bankruptcy judge in 2006. Along the way, she married a police officer, gave birth to two children, and adopted her dogs Jake and Finley. Jernigan blogs regularly about her extensive travels, which last year included Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, Tanzania, and Costa Rica. She drops frequent literary references, such as an allusion to The Sun Also Rises in a blog about a bullfight in Spain, which resurface occasionally in her legal texts. Her persona online is one part lawyer, two parts wine mom. (Love my King Charles Cavalier Spaniels, wine and TX Longhorns, her Twitter bio reads.) In 2019, Jernigan funneled her literary ambitions into He Watches All My Paths, a self-published novel about a female federal judge from Texas whose life is turned upside down by cryptic and terrifying letters from an apparently unhappy litigant. In addition to the similarities between their work, hobbies, families, and pets, Jernigan and her main character, Lassiter, both worked exactly 17 years at an international law firm before becoming judges. In an authors note, Jernigan reveals that the plotlinewhich involves Lassiter needing round-the-clock protection by U.S. Marshalswas also inspired by her own experience. The book has 15 reviews on Amazonall of them positiveand a writeup on a website called Readers Favorite, which called it an electrifying and poignant tale of justice and society. The sequel, Hedging Death, which Jernigan published last year, follows Lassiter as she investigates the disappearance of a wealthy Texas hedge fund manager named Cade Graham, who is described as a hedonistic, narcissistic playboy with sparkling green eyes, glowing white teeth, and a penchant for younger women. When the reader first meets him, Graham is suspected of faking his own death in a fiery car crash in Mexico in order to weasel out of his various legal troubles. There was a lot of strange activity in some of his hedge fundsa lot of money disappearing, the Lassiter character tells her daughter in the first chapter. People were suing him. And the Feds were investigating him for all sorts of things. His world was crumbling around him, she writes ominously. All kinds of problems were mounting up. According to filings in the bankruptcy case, Dondero immediately recognized himself in the arrogant but attractive Graham character. His legal team was livid. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/Facebook The similarities, his lawyers claimed in multiple motions, are undeniable: Graham works at a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate in Dallas that manages the same unusual mix of investments managed by Donderos fund, according to his motion to recuse. The fund in Jernigans novel is called Ranger Capital; Highland Capital was previously called Ranger Asset Management. Jernigan has described both Graham and Dondero as reckless investment managers and nasty litigants; she characterized both Highland Capital and Ranger Capitals international tax structures and off-shore transactions as byzantine. In an authors note at the beginning of He Watches All My Paths, Jernigan writes that the book is a work of fiction, but she admits that some of the characters and events are based loosely on actual persons and events. That, combined with Jernigans derisive descriptions of hedge fund managers in general, were enough to send Donderos legal team over the edge. Any reasonable person reading Judge Jernigans novel Hedging Death would logically conclude: (1) the novel appears patterned, at least in part, after HCMLP and Mr. Dondero; and (2) the Judge holds bias and prejudice, at the very least highly negative opinions, about hedge-fund managers and private equity industry, generally, they wrote in a motion to recuse. In an email to The Daily Beast, Jernigan declined to comment on the pending litigation but stated that Hedging Death is not about any pending case or litigants in my court. In fact, it is not about a hedge fund in bankruptcy, she added. It is about a biomedical research company in bankruptcy with a young Chechen scientist as the owner. It is about an underground BSL-4 medical facility in Texas. It is about a deadly virus from melting permafrost that the biomedical company is attempting to eradicate. It is about a fugitive on the run in Mexico who becomes involved with this facility and with a hedge fund manager character named Cade Graham. Graham is not based on any character in my cases, she concluded. At most, he is an amalgamation of the dozens of hedge fund managers that I have seen or read about in my 34-year career in the law. Over the course of nearly two years, Dondero and other parties in the bankruptcy case have filed four motions to recuse Jernigan. The judge has hit back, holding Dondero in contempt of court twicein one instance fining him $450,000 for interfering with Highland Capitals operations after his ouster. All the while, Jernigan has promoted her novels in person and on social media, even sending a copy of Hedging Death to prominent thriller writer John Grisham. (He sent her back a copy of his novel, The Judges List.) Her literary promotions occasionally overlap with her legal professional circles, like a book club she hosted for Hedging Death at the International Womens Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation in 2022. A fellow bankruptcy court judge even reviewed the book for the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, deeming it a dandy. (The book truly has something for every insolvency professional! he gushed.) With each denialand every tweetthe ethical line between artistic license and judicial impropriety became more blurred. Kenneth David, a law and ethics professor at Fordham University, said it is not uncommon for federal judges to write books, but that basing novels on cases could be cause for concern. If a judge is making money off something inspired by her cases, he said, it could raise questions about impartiality. He added that Jernigans frequent mentions of her current job in her promotional copy was worrisome. My feeling is that [judges] shouldn't use their positions to promote their financial interests. (In her email, Jernigan said she had obtained ethical guidance and clearances regarding my fiction writing and regarding the very limited marketing I have done of my books.) But David also questioned whether the novels alone were ground enough for recusal. Do I think that judges should base novels or fiction writing on cases that they've had? he asked. I think the answer is no, they absolutely should not. I think the question here is, is that what she did? he added. And she thinks she didnt. In March, Jernigan issued her first written ruling on the situation. The 36-page opinion denies any animus or bias toward Dondero and other parties in the case. While she admits to calling Dondero litigious and vexatious, she insists that the characterization is based on evidence presented to her throughout their lengthy and complex case. Not only was there significant credible evidence of [his litigiousness], but it is simply about rule enforcement and managing a docket consistent with this courts duty to the public, she wrote. It takes about 32 pages of Jernigans denial for her to comment on her literary side hustle. While the judge previously intended to remain silent about her writing, the allegations that her novels contain derisive commentary about the financial industry or its executives prompted her to speak out, she wrote. The Presiding Judges novelsagain entirely fictionare not about Mr. Dondero or the hedge fund industry in general, she wrote, adding that she had no idea that Donderos company previously used the name Ranger. She noted that many sitting judges write booksalbeit it is more common for them to write legal nonfiction books than fiction books. To support her argument, Jernigan called on a few of her literary heroes. Oscar Wilde, she noted, once wrote that life imitates art far more than art imitates life. But even the best writers sometimes use inspiration from real life: Agatha Christie used the Lindbergh kidnapping as inspiration for Murder on the Orient Express, she wrote, and practically everything Ernest Hemingway ever wrote was a highly fictionalized story from his past. She added: The Presiding Judge is somewhat embarrassed to discuss these literary greats in the same paragraph in which she is mentioning her own fiction worksit is merely to make a point. While Lassiter and her police officer husband may resemble Jernigan and her spouse, and certain judges, lawyers, and U.S. Marshal characters may seem familiar, she concludes in the motion, there are no characters or entities in her books that have been inspired by or modeled after the Movants. And with that, she denied the motion to recuse herself from the case. Despite Jernigans harsh denial, Dondero and his legal team are not giving up their attempt to get her removed. On April 4, Donderos team filed a petition for mandamus to remove Jernigan in Texas District Court. But the federal court ordered that his petition be unfiled a day later on technical grounds. That same day, Dondero and four other companies filed the second writ of mandamus in a separate civil docket. The second writ of mandamus also included a five-part appendixwhich made the amended filing a total of 3,625 pages. Since April 11, when a certificate of interest and disclosure of statement was filed on behalf of Dondero and the four companies, the latest against Jernigan remained stagnant. Donderos lawyer, however, has insisted his team is not backing down. As stated in the Petition for Writ of Mandamus, impartiality and judicial ethics are core to ensuring a fair legal process, and we believe the Circuit Court must act to adjudicate this matter, instead of relying on the judge at issue, attorney Michael Lang of Crawford said. Only time will tell if Dondero is luckier than his alleged fictional counterpart. By the end of Hedging Death, after a daring helicopter escape fails, Cade Graham is apprehended in a Mexican villa. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here 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. Most coronation-goers watched the ceremony from a rainy park. Maria Noyen/Insider King Charles and Queen Camilla were crowned in the first British coronation in 70 years. Insider's reporters joined millions on the streets of London for the historic event. But they spent most of the day queuing in rainy conditions without ever getting close to the royals. For the first time in 70 years, the UK celebrated the coronation of a new monarch: King Charles III. Though a somewhat more low-key event than his mother and predecessors, Queen Elizabeth II, Charles' coronation was filled with the pomp and majesty expected of a British royal affair. The day began with a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, where roughly 2,200 special guests including royals from around the world and high profile celebrities like Katy Perry were invited. While those thousands were inside, Insider's reporters Maria Noyen and Hannah Williams were among the millions who flocked to London with the hope of catching a glimpse of the royals and witnessing history in real life. However, the reality of being in London during the coronation was far from as glamorous or upbeat as it may have appeared on TV. Take a look. For the first time since 1953, the UK experienced a royal coronation that brought millions out onto the streets of London in celebration. The crowd on the route of the procession in London ahead of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Saturday. Charles McQuillan/PA Images via Getty Images People from all over the world gathered in the capital to watch King Charles and Queen Camilla be crowned. Maria Fernanda Borloz flew to London from Costa Rica with her mother to attend the coronation. Maria Noyen/Insider However, the royal affair was not exactly glamorous for those not specially invited into Westminster Abbey. Insider's Maria Noyen and Hannah Williams nearby Westminster Abbey. Hannah Williams/Insider Despite arriving two and a half hours before the ceremony, Williams and Noyen found it impossible to get close to the royal procession since many roads were blocked off. Most people were unable to get close to the procession area. Maria Noyen/Insider This meant most coronation-goers spent hours waiting in tediously long lines with little information from organizers and police about where everyone was headed. The queues felt endless at times. Maria Noyen/Insider The sheer number of umbrellas meant you couldn't avoid getting whacked in the face while queueing. It felt like walking across London. Maria Noyen/Insider Another downside to the crowds was feeling claustrophobic at times. One coronation-goer expressed concerns about a crowd surge, although it never happened. Story continues The crowd was squeezed into narrow spaces with a barrier. Maria Noyen/Insider What made matters worse was the grim weather. It started drizzling early in the morning, and then heavy rain followed the rest of the day. The skies were dark grey most of the day. Maria Noyen/Insider The rain meant crowds weren't as spirited as perhaps they would've been if it was sunny. The crowd didn't seem as upbeat as expected. Maria Noyen/Insider It also meant the ground became slippery and covered in mud. There was mud everywhere at Hyde Park. Maria Noyen/Insider There was a big police presence it made Insider's reporters feel safe but reminded them that significant events can attract danger. There were lots of policemen working coronation day. Maria Noyen/Insider Since the spots closest to the procession were inaccessible, most people eventually ended up at Hyde Park where they could watch the coronation on massive screens. Most attendees watched the coronation from massive screens in the park. Maria Noyen/Insider Some came prepared with tents, but most people were stuck standing or sitting in mud puddles as King Charles was crowned. Some people were prepared for the weather. Maria Noyen/Insider Others got crafty with their shelter, but probably at the cost of missing an opportunity to watch the coronation. It would've been impossible to see the coronation from this view. Maria Noyen/Insider There were several food stands available. Insider's reporters opted to try a pulled pork-covered mac and cheese bowl and a very British dessert: strawberries and cream. The mac and cheese cost 8.50 ($10.70) and the strawberries and cream cost 4.50 ($5.70). Maria Noyen/Insider The plus side was that there were no queues for food. But the downside was that neither the pasta nor the dessert was memorable, as both tasted bland. It was surprisingly easy to get food. Maria Noyen/Insider Since there was no shelter or seating, most people ate their food under the trees or stood up under umbrellas. People tried to shelter from the rain under trees. Maria Noyen/Insider There were lots of portable toilets but you had to risk waiting in long lines to access them. There were queues for the porta-potty. Maria Noyen/Insider Few options to dispose of trash meant there was plenty of garbage on the ground. There was a lot of trash thrown around. Maria Noyen/Insider Even though the screens were big, there were many moments when getting a good view of the ceremony broadcast was impossible. Insider's Maria Noyen mistakenly believed she was pointing at the screen. Hannah Williams/Insider The experience left both reporters exhausted, damp, cold, and envious of the 2,200 special guests escaping the rain inside Westminster Abbey. The average coronation attendee had a very different experience from those invited to Westminster Abbey. Maria Noyen/Insider Read the original article on Insider The coronation was the most diverse in the 1,000-year history of the ceremony, with a guest list that embodied the Kings determination to modernise the monarchy and reflect a multi-cultural Britain. Jonathan Dimbleby, a friend and biographer of the King, said this week that Charles would be a monarch for our times. He sees his role, I think I have talked about it with him as being doing his best to achieve a sense of overarching harmony in a very diverse and often rather troubled, very troubled, often divided United Kingdom. Mr Dimbleby added that he was a 21st-century person. Baroness Amos arrives at the abbey (Getty Images) The monarch is the supreme governor of the Church of England and has the title Defender of the Faith, but he has long made known his wish to be a defender of all religions. And for the first time, representatives from the nations faith communities played an active role in a coronation in Britain. Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus joined senior figures from the Jewish faith for the presentation of the coronation regalia. Lord Indarjit Singh of Wimbledon, editor of The Sikh Messenger, presented the King with the coronation glove, a white glove worn on the right hand by the monarch. Baroness Gillian Merron, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, carried one of the royal robes. The guest list left out hundreds of British lords and MPs, in an active attempt to include people of diverse origins and ordinary Britons. It was a striking contrast with the 1953 Queens coronation, which upheld the ancient traditions of the ceremony. Historian David Olusoga told BBC News: I think what you saw today was a strong representation and a huge effort to show the diversity of faith within Britain, one of the things thats very different between the Britain of today and the Britain of 1953. The Coronation Procession passes along The Mall to Buckingham Palace (PA) Defence force personnel and police officers from British overseas territories in the Caribbean, including the Royal Anguilla Police Force and the Royal Montserrat Defence Force, joined the procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. Story continues Britains most decorated nurse, Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, and Baroness Valerie Amos, the first Black woman Cabinet minister, played prominent roles in the ceremony in the abbey. Baroness Floella Benjamin (R), carrying the the Sovereigns Sceptre with Dove, General Sir Gordon Messenger, (C) the Governor of HM Tower of London, carrying St Edwards Crown as Lord High Steward of England, and Dame Elizabeth Anionwu (L) (Getty Images) Liberal Democrat peer and former childrens television presenter Baroness Floella Benjamin, who carried part of the Kings regalia, praised the King for sending a clear message on embracing diversity. The Bishop of Dover, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, was asked to play a leading role in the coronation. Queen Nanasipauu of Tonga and King Tupou VI of Tonga, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan, Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan (Getty Images) She told The Voice: I hope the legacy will be a lasting one that looks to the future of what kind of a people and nation we want to be as a diverse society where we respect one another and care about each other irrespective of colour, culture or creed. Former president of the National Black Police Association Franstine Jones said being invited to the coronation was the biggest recognition of her work to ensure diversity. The Kings and Queens of Tonga and Lesotho were also among representatives from 203 countries invited to the coronation. Meanwhile, 400 young people involved in charities were invited to watch the ceremony on a screen in a church next to the abbey. Rhys Mallows, 27, from Cardiff, who was a guest at the coronation, said the service represented a more inclusive future for Britain. Mr Mallows repurposed his family-run gin distillery to produce more than a million bottles of hand sanitiser for emergency services during the Covid pandemic and was awarded a British Empire Medal in 2022. He said the coronation symbolises moving on from where we were with the virus into that brave new future. This coronation is very different from past ones and represents a more inclusive, more diverse future, he added. Police in Texas have confirmed the identity of a woman through DNA testing who was reunited with her family more than 50 years she was abducted by a babysitter. Melissa Highsmith vanished from her Fort Worth home in 1971 at the age of 21 months, in what would become the longest-running missing person case in the United States. In late 2022, Ms Highsmiths family tracked her down after hiring an amateur genealogist and through the public DNA site 23andMe. She had been living in the Fort Worth area under the name Melanie Brown unaware of her true identity. Ms Highsmith was then reunited with her parents and two surviving siblings days before Thanksgiving last year. On Thursday, the Fort Worth Police Station said in a statement they had completed DNA testing that confirmed Ms Highsmiths identity. It is our hope that this test result will offer additional closure for the Highsmith family, police said in a release. Although the criminal statute of limitations expired 20 years after Melissas 18th birthday, the Fort Worth Police Department Major Case Unit continues to ask for the publics assistance with any additional information concerning Melissas abduction that occurred over 51 years ago, they added. Melissa Highsmith was kidnapped in 1971 as a toddler by a babysitter and later sold to a family for $500. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Screengrab) Victoria Highsmith, Melissas sister, criticised the police departments efforts to locate her sister in a post on the public We Found Melissa Facebook page on Friday. Shaking my head shame on you Fort Worth police for not solving my sisters crime, Victoria Highsmith wrote. She said that the police had ignored several leads and the family had done their job for them. A rally was held in the Texas city last Saturday to demand more resources for the police departments cold case unit, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The unit has more than 1,000 unsolved cold cases, and only one officer assigned to investigate them, the news site said. Last November, Melissa Highsmiths mother Alta Apantenco told WFAA she was elated to have found her daughter. Story continues Ms Apantenco told how she needed a babysitter to look after her daughter and hired a woman named Ruth Johnson over the phone to collect the youngster at the familys home. She had left her infant daughter with a roommate to hand over to the babysitter, who was later described as being well-dressed and wearing white gloves. The babysitter never returned, sparking a 50 year search by the family that only ended after the 23andMe DNA analysis reunited. Melissa Highsmith told WFAA last year that she had grown up in an abusive home and runaway as a teenager. The woman who raised her reportedly later confessed that she bought her for $500 on the street in 1972, the news site reported. Idaho Sen. Jim Risch delivered a concise message to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on Tuesday regarding the Lava Ridge Wind Project in south-central Idaho: Dont do it. Haaland testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about President Joe Bidens 2024 budget. During the testimony, Risch grilled Haaland for about 7 minutes about the project, focusing primarily on her thoughts about how it would affect the Minidoka National Historic Site. The clean-energy project, headed by Magic Valley Energy, a subsidiary of investment firm LS Power, is a proposed wind farm consisting of as many as 400 turbines on a 200,000-acre plot of land northeast of Twin Falls. The southern edge of the wind farm would be as close as 2 miles to Minidoka, a pilgrimage site for the families and survivors of the Minidoka incarceration camp, where more than 13,000 people of Japanese descent were incarcerated during World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I want to focus on one thing today, one thing and one thing only. And that is the Lava Ridge wind turbine project, Risch opened up before asking what Haaland she knew about it. Haaland responded that the Bureau of Land Management has been engaged with stakeholders as well as state and local counties, grazing permittees, tribes and other federal agencies. She also said BLM has been coordinating with the Idaho Resource Advisory Council and the Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution to engage with individuals tied to Minidoka. In the space of 40 seconds, Risch cut off Haaland on multiple occasions, asking on six occasions, What have you found out so far? She would repeatedly say conversations were ongoing. The third-term senator eventually ran out of patience and read to Haaland details about the project. Do you know how many acres are involved in this? Risch asked. Its 146,000 acres, he continued, when Haaland didnt know the answer. Do you consider that a fairly significant piece of real estate? Theyre talking about 370 turbines. The smallest ones are just slightly bigger than the Statue of Liberty. Story continues According to Friends of Minidoka, a group that supports the preservation of the Minidoka site, the Lava Ridge turbines will stand at approximately 740 feet tall. The Statue of Liberty is 305 feet tall. Risch also referenced the Space Needle in Seattle, which stands at 605 feet. The 400 proposed wind turbines could potentially create a visual wall of hundreds of wind towers that would destroy the sense of isolation experienced by Japanese Americans incarcerated at Minidoka. Risch then handed a rendering of the viewshed from Minidoka to Haaland, asking her whether it was her future vision of public lands. Senator, I think there are a lot of visions for public lands, Haaland said. We have millions of acres of public lands all over the country, and they all look different. The Idaho Statesman reached out to Haalands office, which declined to comment on the project. A visual simulation showing what the nearest turbine siting corridor would look like from the Minidoka National Historic Site visitors center under Alternative C. The Republican senator closed out the seven-minute grilling by noting the wide opposition to the project. They passed a resolution in both the (Idaho) House and the Senate unanimously bipartisan. You know what they said? Dont do it, Risch said. Theres a resolution by the seven Idaho counties involved in this. All seven of them passed a unanimous resolution. You know what they said? Dont do it. There have been letters signed unanimously by the Friends of Minidoka and the large Japanese American community inside and outside of Idaho. And you know what they said? Dont do it. Youve received a letter from myself, the governor, the rest of our delegation, and weve said the same thing. Dont do it. So let me close with this: Dont do it. Where does the Lava Ridge Project stand? The deadline for public comments for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which outlines the projects impact on its local surroundings, closed on April 20. BLM spokesperson Brian Hires told the Statesman that the next step of the process is for BLM to review the nearly 11,000 comments the agency has received. Substantive comments will be used to further refine the analysis and possibly blend elements of the preferred alternatives, which were designed to reduce impacts to the resources like the Minidoka National Historic Site viewshed, Wilson Butte Cave, migration corridors for wildlife, and bats and birds, Hires said. The Draft EIS offered five alternatives, each with differing amounts of acreage and number of turbines. Hires said BLM is currently favoring Alternatives C and E. Heres what each of those would entail: Alternative C: The project would cover 146,389 acres and have a maximum of 378 wind turbines. Alternative C considers the project without siting corridors near Wilson Butte Cave and Minidoka. Alternative C also considers the project without corridors in locations that would contribute to wildlife habitat fragmentation. Alternative E: A project area of 122,444 acres and a maximum of 269 wind turbines are involved. This choice provides a smaller project footprint and less infrastructure. Under Alternative E, the reductions in the project size are focused on adjustments to minimize impacts to the viewshed near Minidoka. Donald Trump has confounded his critics, opening a double-digit lead over his former protege Ron DeSantis He is young, scandal-free, and a darling of conservatives for his embrace of an "anti-woke" agenda that has fueled his meteoric rise within the Republican Party. Yet Florida governor Ron DeSantis has failed to lay a glove on Donald Trump in the race to challenge Democratic incumbent Joe Biden for the White House in 2024 -- baffling observers who see the former president as more vulnerable than ever. On paper, the nomination ought to be a stretch for Trump, who was impeached twice during a single term, lost ground for the Republicans in three election cycles and is mired in criminal and civil probes over alleged misconduct. But the 76-year-old Republican primary frontrunner has confounded his critics, opening a double-digit lead over his former protege as DeSantis has failed to capitalize on doubts over Trump's electability. Expected to launch his campaign officially any day now, DeSantis has sold himself to the Republican establishment as a less chaotic avatar of Trumpism than Trump himself. The governor won a landslide re-election last year in what was until recently seen as a swing state, and has won plaudits from the right for taking on Florida's liberals on immigration, gun rights and education. But a number of missteps have raised red flags over the 44-year-old former military officer's readiness for national office. A bitter and avoidable feud with Florida's biggest employer Disney over its politics has bewildered champions of free market capitalism, while a six-week abortion ban he signed into law has moderates worried that he is out of touch with public opinion. - 'Low-wattage' - DeSantis has also been accused of appearing lightweight on foreign policy, taking hits for downplaying Russia's invasion of Ukraine and delivering "low-wattage" speeches during a recent trip to Britain. CNN political analyst Harry Enten suggested that DeSantis would be pinning his hopes on his official launch rebooting a campaign that is floundering before it has even got out of the blocks. Story continues "If it doesn't, this may end up being one of the most boring presidential primary seasons in the modern era, given Biden's and Trump's significant advantages," Enten said in a recent commentary. Yet the momentum is going decidedly against DeSantis, who has seen Trump's 15-point lead at the end of March double in the most recent RealClearPolitics average of major polls. It's not just that DeSantis is backsliding: Trump's numbers have soared from the low 40s to more than 50 percent since his indictment on felony financial charges in New York. Despite that distraction -- plus the threats of a civil rape case and criminal probes into alleged election interference and mishandling of government documents -- Trump has shown focus and discipline over weeks of relentless attacks on DeSantis. - Effective leader? - The pro-Trump Make America Great Again political action committee spent millions in the spring on ads trashing DeSantis as a zealous cutter of welfare entitlements. In one particularly spectacular coup, Trump scooped endorsements from most of Florida's congressional delegation as DeSantis was out of state, on a visit to Washington. "On the campaign trail, as scrutiny increased, DeSantis was less impressive than advertised," said University of Virginia professor and political analyst Larry Sabato. "He doesn't connect well with many people, his speeches are sometimes unimpressive, and he's made some odd choices that have hurt him such as bearing down so hard on Disney -- an American icon." DeSantis's biggest plus is perhaps his fundraising. He is said to have a campaign war chest of up to $110 million, giving him deeper pockets than Trump's campaign or any other potential rival. But name recognition is worth more at the ballot box than cold, hard cash and Trump -- one of the world's most famous faces -- does not have to spend a fortune introducing himself to Americans. Analysts are warning against counting DeSantis out just yet, pointing to his popularity among the suburban voters Republicans desperately need in the next election. And his supporters are making a broader electability argument -- that the governor can beat Biden whereas there may be no path back to the White House for Trump. "Governor DeSantis is a proven effective leader," New Hampshire House Majority Leader Jason Osborne said in a recent endorsement being touted by the Florida governor's aides. "He has shown that he has the determination to change broken systems and fight against radical agendas trying to undermine our society." ft-cjc/bgs First Lady Dr. Jill Biden is representing Americaand its fashion. Today, at the coronation of King Charles III, the first lady wore a cornflower blue suit set by Ralph Lauren while attending the historic service at Westminster Abbey. Featuring a crossover neckline top over a pencil skirt, the outfit fits the stated dress code for the event of morning dress, lounge suit, or national dress. She paired it with matching suede gloves as well as a small fascinator. Next to her? Her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden, wore a pastel yellow gown by Markarian. Its an important engagement for Biden, who was sent to London on behalf of her husband, President Joe Biden. No U.S. president has ever attended a coronation, however an official American representative is usually sent in a gesture of goodwill between the two allies. For the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953, it was special ambassador George Marshall. Bidens presence 70 years later marks the first time a First Lady has ever attended the formal crowning of the head of state. The first lady is honored to represent the United States for this historic moment and celebrate the special relationship between the United States and the U.K., said Vanessa Valdivia, her press secretary, in a statement. Her attendance reinforces the strong and enduring ties with one of our closest allies. Their Majesties King Charles III And Queen Camilla - Coronation Day WPA Pool/Getty Images Bidens fashion choice certainly suggests as much: by wearing an American designer, she sends a subtle visual message that shes supporting the country in such a high-profile moment. The color blue also seems to be an intentional choice, as it is prominent in both the flags of the United States and the United Kingdoma reflection of the special relationship between the countries, perhaps, and a show of unity. On Friday, Biden also visited 10 Downing Street, for her first meeting with the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Akshata Murty. Originally Appeared on Vogue More Coronation Coverage from Vogue After attending the coronation of King Charles III in London, Brazils President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denounced the lack of concerted efforts to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent four years in Britains Belmarsh Prison. It is an embarrassment that a journalist who denounced trickery by one state against another is arrested, condemned to die in jail and we do nothing to free him. Its a crazy thing, Lula told reporters. We talk about freedom of expression; the guy is in prison because he denounced wrongdoing. And the press doesnt do anything in defense of this journalist. I cant understand it. Advertisement Lula offered the remarks in response to a question about Assange, who is a native Australian. He said he had forgotten to discuss the matter with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but that he would write to him upon returning to Brazil. Assange has been fighting extradition to the United States, and Lulas comments come at a moment that he has shown little reluctance to voice his differences of opinion with Washington regarding geopolitical matters, particularly in his opposition to providing arms to Ukraine for its war against Russia, and accusing the US and Europe of encouraging the fighting. His stance and repeated statements have drawn sharp rebukes from the White House and Europe. Advertisement For its part, Australia has been stepping up diplomatic pressure on the US government to call off its prosecution of Assange. On Friday, Australias Prime Minister Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview that " enough is enough. There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration. Last November, Albanese told Parliament that his position is clear and has been made clear to the U.S. administration: That it is time that this matter be brought to a close. Assange has battled in British courts for years to avoid being sent to the U.S., where he faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse that stem from WikiLeaks publication of a huge trove of classified documents in 2010. American prosecutors allege he helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk. To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think there must be a movement of world press in his defense. Not in regard to his person, but to defend the right to denounce, Lula told reporters. The guy didnt denounce anything vulgar. He denounced that a state was spying on others, and that became a crime against the journalist. The press, which defends freedom of the press, does nothing to free this citizen. Its sad, but its true. Last year, Assanges father John Shipton sought to convince Mexicos President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to address the issue of his sons prosecution with the US top diplomat, and to get Australias Albanese to raise the issue with US President Joe Biden at Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral. In his comments to reporters on Saturday, Lula also noted that Charles III asked him to take care of the Amazon rainforest, and that he responded he needs resources in order to do so. Prime Minister Sunak on Friday pledged to contribute 80 million pounds ($101 million) to Brazils Amazon Fund that aims to stop deforestation, adding to contributions from Norway and Germany, as well as a recent promise from the Biden to seek congressional approval for $500 million. Advertisement But Lula told reporters that the amount pledged by Britain is not sufficient. (Bloomberg) -- At least eight of 16 Georgia Republicans who agreed to certify that Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in 2020 have reached immunity deals with the Atlanta-area prosecutor investigating efforts to overturn the presidential election. Most Read from Bloomberg Seven of those eight gave interviews last month to prosecutors working for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, according to a court filing Friday by defense attorney Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow. The group of 16 were alternate electors in December 2020, willing to declare that Biden lost the election in Georgia to Trump. Willis has spent two years investigating those electors and other matters, including Trumps call on Jan. 2, 2021, in which he asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn Bidens victory in Georgia. Debrows filing shows Williss investigation is active, but contradicted the prosecutors assertion that some of the electors incriminated others. Debrow said she was present for all seven interviews, and she said Willis made false allegations to the court that some electors incriminated others. None of the interviewed electors said anything in any of their interviews that was incriminating to themselves or anyone else, Debrow wrote. Indeed, several of the electors pointed out in their interviews that they had done nothing wrong. She said that some provisionally executed their electoral ballot to protect the ability of Georgia to have electoral votes in case Trumps then-pending legal challenges to the election succeeded. A spokesman for Willis didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Last month, Willis accused Debrow of concealing immunity offers from her clients. Story continues Willis also said last month she will announce charging decisions between July 11 and Sept. 1. Willis wrote to local law enforcement to bring attention to the need for heightened security and preparedness in the coming months due to this pending announcement. Trump was indicted in New York in late March by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who accused the former president of falsifying business records to hide hush money paid to bury his extramarital sexual encounters and boost his electoral prospects in 2016. Trump pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. Hours after appearing in New York court on April 4, Trump said Willis was a local racist Democrat district attorney who wanted to indict him over an absolutely perfect phone call. A special grand jury in Fulton County met for eight months, interviewing 75 witnesses, before delivering recommendations to the court. That grand jury had the power to investigate but Williss prosecutors need to present their results to another panel to bring charges. Most of the reports findings are sealed, although grand jurors have suggested in news media interviews that the panel recommended charges against Trump and others. --With assistance from Margaret Newkirk. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Elon Musk, right, praised Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, left, for the way he interacts with Twitter users. Eugene Gologursky, Taylor Hill/Getty Images Elon Musk praised Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on Friday for the way he uses Twitter to gather feedback on his company. Chesky asked Twitter users what the booking platform should focus on as a top priority to improve it. "This kind of interaction with users is awesome," Musk said and encouraged others to do the same. Elon Musk praised Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky for using Twitter as a tool to gather feedback on his company. "What else can we improve about Airbnb? We will prioritize your top suggestions," Chesky asked users on Friday two days after the company announced extensive improvements to its platform. It introduced a new take on the foundational idea of the booking platform, "Airbnb Rooms" staying in strangers' spare rooms. After gathering some feedback, Chesky listed the "top suggestions" and said the company would be working on it and users could expect more upgrades this summer. "This kind of interaction with users is awesome," Musk said in his response to Chesky's tweet. "Other companies should take note." The Twitter owner has previously been vocal about encouraging CEOs to be more active on the social media platform. A couple of weeks following his acquisition of the company last year, Musk said during a public meeting with advertisers on Twitter Spaces: "I would encourage the [brands'] Twitter handles to be more active and for their CEO and CMOs to be more active on the system." "I would encourage people just to be more adventurous, that's certainly what I've done on Twitter with Tesla and myself and SpaceX and it's worked out quite well," he added. But as Insider's Grace Kay reported, it didn't necessarily play out as well as Musk made it sound. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Musk in 2018 with fraud after the billionaire tweeted that he would take Tesla private, with "funding secured" a deal that never materialized. Story continues Musk was later charged with a $20 million fine and removed as chairman at Tesla. The electric car maker was also required to pay an additional $20 million. Shareholders then sued Musk and a jury, who was asked to determine whether he purposely misguided investors, cleared him on February 3. In other instances, Musk was subjected to criticism for posting a widely debunked conspiracy theory about the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband and for sharing an image of a Nazi soldier both occurred within two weeks following his purchase of Twitter. Musk and Chesky didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider. Read the original article on Business Insider Though the coronation of King Charles III was about, well, the king, much of the interest was focused on his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, as the two brothers reunited. Following the conclusion of the coronation ceremony, questions turned to whether Harry would join the royal family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace as King Charles greeted subjects. He did not the family members who appeared on the balcony were all working royals; Harry stepped back as a senior member of the royal family in 2020. The past few years have brought to light the complicated relationship between the next heir to the British throne, Prince William, and his younger brother, referred to as the Spare in the palace growing up, as Harry recounted in his tell-all memoir earlier this year. Harry arrived at Westminster Abbey with his cousins, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice along with their husbands, Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, respectively. Prince William arrived a few minutes later with Princess Kate and their children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives to attend the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6, 2023, in London, England. The Coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the other Commonwealth realms is at Westminster Abbey today. Charles acceded to the throne on Sept. 8, 2022, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. Harry sat in the pew behind William's, on the opposite end. William briefly participated in the ceremony, kneeling before the new king, pledging loyalty to him. At the end, William, Kate, and their three children participated in the royal procession. Harry was again spotted outside the abbey with his cousins as the king and queen settled into their gold carriage. While both princes along with Kate were in attendance, Harrys wife, Duchess Meghan of Sussex was not: She stayed in California with the couple's children, Prince Archie, 3, and Princess Lilibet, 1. With all eyes on William and Harry, heres a refresher on how the brothers relationship has grown more contentious over the last few years. More: Everything that happened at King Charles III's coronation Britain's Prince William kisses his father, King Charles III, during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. What Prince Harry wrote in his tell-all book about Prince William In January, Harrys highly-anticipated memoir, Spare, aired decades of his familys dirty laundry. Story continues After he and Meghan stepped down from their senior roles in the royal family in 2020 and moved to the U.S., Harry reunited with his family for the first time a year later at his grandfather Prince Philip's funeral. King Charles and Prince William had "come ready for a fight," Harry began the book. Harry remembers William, whom he calls "my beloved brother, my arch nemesis," and his father saying they "honestly" didn't know why Harry left. The memoir was a way of attempting to explain, he wrote. In this file photo, Prince William and Prince Harry walk beside each other after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, on Sept. 10, 2022. He and his brother shared moments of bonding and disagreement through the years. They occasionally reflected together on their mothers death. In the early aughts, they begged Charles not to marry Camilla. But their rift had also been brewing since their childhoods. When Harry joined his brother at boarding school, William told his little brother to pretend they didnt know each other, Harry wrote. Though the palace told the public the brothers were each others best men at their weddings, that wasnt the truth, he added. And William once physically attacked Harry in a dispute over Meghan, he claimed: "He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dogs' bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out." More: Physical attacks, drug use, Diana's death and more bombshells from Prince Harry's 'Spare' Prince Harry has sued the media Harry, who has several lawsuits against the news media, has vowed to make reforming the British tabloids his life's work. He blames an overly aggressive press for the 1997 car crash death of his mother, Princess Diana, and has accused reporters and photographers of hounding his wife, Meghan. "I have always had an uneasy relationship with the press," Harry wrote in his witness statement. "However, as a member of the Institution, the policy was to 'never complain, never explain.' There was no alternative; I was conditioned to accept it." Earlier this year, Harry blamed the royal family for a delay in bringing a phone hacking lawsuit against the publisher of The Daily Mail as lawyers for the newspaper argued that the case should be thrown out because he didn't file it soon enough. Britain's Prince Harry leaves the Royal Courts Of Justice in London, Tuesday, March 28, 2023. Prince Harry was in a London court on Tuesday as the lawyer for a group of British tabloids prepared to ask a judge to toss out lawsuits by the prince, Elton John and several other celebrities who allege phone tapping and other invasions of privacy.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung) The Duke of Sussex said "the Institution" a term he has used in other contexts to refer to the inner workings of Buckingham Palace had prevented him from learning sooner about the activity of The Daily Mail and related publications by withholding information about phone hacking by other tabloids. "The Institution made it clear that we did not need to know anything about phone hacking, and it was made clear to me that the royal family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms," Harry wrote in a witness statement for his lawsuit. More: Prince Harry blames royal family for delay in tabloid privacy suit Prince Harry and Meghan Markles Oprah interview Before Spare, Harry spilled plenty of royal tea in a joint interview with Meghan on CBS with Oprah in 2021. The two spoke openly of the serious pain and mental health struggles that ultimately led them to step down as senior members of the royal family the year prior. Bombshell anecdotes included Princess Kate making Meghan cry a week before her wedding, Harry feeling let down by his father and having a strained relationship with his brother. UNSPECIFIED - UNSPECIFIED: In this handout image provided by Harpo Productions and released on March 5, 2021, Oprah Winfrey interviews Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on A CBS Primetime Special premiering on CBS on March 7, 2021. (Photo by Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese via Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 775631276 ORIG FILE ID: 1231537162 "I love him to bits, we've been through hell together, we had a shared experience, but were on different paths, Harry said, later calling their relationship "spaced at the moment. And, you know, time heals all things, hopefully." Harry also said a member of the royal family who he did not name but later clarified was not the late Queen Elizabeth II or her husband, Prince Philip expressed concerns over how dark Harry and Meghans biracial childs skin would be. More: 'I didn't want to be alive anymore': Duchess Meghan opens up in Oprah interview, more major moments Contributing: Associated Press Read all our King Charles III coronation coverage: Biggest moments: Charles and Camilla crowned, royal family appears on balcony The balcony: See who greeted the crowd with Charles and Camilla (not Harry) King Charles III formally crowned: A recap of the monarch's coronation day Queen Camilla looks regal: She is also crowned at King Charles III coronation Prince Harry: Royal attends but misses balcony palace moment Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis: See the royal grandchildren on coronation day Prince Harry and Prince William: Look back their complicated relationship Coronation photos: See all the best photos from the ceremony and procession This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prince Harry not on balcony, Prince William feud explained Disposal of explosive objects At its April plenary, the Committee called on the bloc to document and assess the environmental consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in order to promote an environmentally just post-war recovery. Read also: "The European Economic and Social Committee, together with the European Parliament, calls for the recognition of ecocide as a criminal offence under EU law," the statement reads. Read also: Satellite photos show extent of damage to environment in Ukraine from Russian invasion "The EESC believes that this would help hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine and prevent similar environmental disasters from happening in the future. According to the EU committee, Russian aggression has led to the destruction of large areas of forests, as well as air and water pollution. It also notes that Ukraine accounts for 35% of Europe's biodiversity. As NV has previously reported, Russias full-scale invasion caused damage to Ukraine's environment to the tune of at least UAH 2 trillion ($54.2 billion), the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources stated. 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 Italian art researcher says he had no doubt about which bridge had been painted into the background of the Mona Lisa, the iconic Leonardo da Vinci painting hanging behind glass in the Louvre museum in Paris. The researcher Silvano Vincenti said the bridge was the Romito di Laterina, an Etruscan-Roman structure in the Italian province of Arezzo. Vincentis theory was based on historical documents, drone images, photographs of the area, and noticing the same number of arches, four, in Leonardos painting and the Romito. More from Robb Report Previous theories about the background of the 16th-century oil painting have identified the bridge as the Ponte Bobbio, in the northern city of Piacenza, as well as the Ponte Buriano, which is also in the Tuscan province of Arezzo. However, both of these bridges have six arches, compared to the Romitos four. According to the Guardian, only one arch remains at the Romito, which stretched across the Arno river, as well as the foundation of the bridge on the opposite riverbank. Historical documents belonging to the Medici family in the state archives of Florence showed that the Romito bridge was functioning and busy between 1501 and 1503, Vincenti told reporters at a foreign press association in Rome. During this period, da Vinci was also in the area at the service of a cardinal from a noble family and then for a statesman from the Republic of Florence. The distinctive form of the Arno along that stretch of territory corresponds to what Leonardo portrayed in the landscape to the left of the noblewoman depicted in the famous painting, Vinceti said. The mayor of Laterina, Simona Neri, said Vincetis theory about the bridge was a source of excitement for many of the residents in her town of 3,500 people, with hopes for more tourism in the area from admirers of the Mona Lisa painting. We need to try to protect whats left of the bridge, which will require funding, Neri said. Story continues Best of Robb Report Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, crashed in an agricultural area about 11 miles from Osan Air Base at approximately 9:45 a.m. Saturday. The pilot ejected safely and was transported to the Osan Air Base Urgent Care Center for evaluation, according to a news release from the 51st Fighter Wing, the host unit at Osan. The pilot is in stable condition and no other injuries, including civilians, have been reported, according to the Air Force and the Yonhap News Agency in Korea. First responders are currently at the scene. While we dont have any additional information yet, we are relieved the pilot safely ejected and there were no other injuries, said Col. Henry R. Jeffress III, 8th Fighter Wing commander, in the release. According to local firefighting and police authorities, the accident occurred near Pyeongtaek, 35 miles south of Seoul, according to the news agency. The jet caught fire after crashing, resulting in the aircraft being mostly destroyed, Yonhap reported. The U.S. Air Force will stand up an independent Safety Investigation Board to review all data and evidence related to todays incident and use that information to determine its cause and prescribe any corrective safety measures to ensure the safety of the F-16 fleet, Jeffress said. There were 10 Class A and B mishaps involving U.S. Air Force Fighting Falcons in fiscal 2022, but no deaths, according to data from the Air Force Safety Center. Class A mishaps cause damage totaling at least $2.5 million, the destruction of an aircraft, or the death or permanent total disability of someone involved. Class B mishaps result in between $600,000 and $2.5 million in damage, the permanent partial disability of someone, or the inpatient hospitalization of three or more personnel. In fiscal 2021, there were three Class A and B mishaps, but one pilot died, according to the center. About three Fighting Falcons have been totaled each year on average for the past decade, according to the centers data. Story continues Among the crashes in fiscal 2022: South Dakota Air National Guards 114th Fighter Wing had two F-16 fighter jet landing accidents in less than a month. One F-16C went over the edge of the runway upon returning from a training mission May 31, 2022. Another Fighting Falcon skidded off of a Sioux Falls runway upon returninng from a routine training mission May 11, 2022, coming to rest nose-down in the grass. An Oklahoma Air National Guard F-16C fighter jet was destroyed March 23, 2022, when the instructor pilot, who worked at a Texas-based detachment of the 138th Fighter Wing, successfully ejected over Louisiana, sustaining minor injuries. The jet was totaled on impact. A Taiwanese F-16 fighter jet being flown by a U.S. Air Force pilot was forced to make an emergency crash landing in Hawaii on June 6, 2022, when his landing gear failed. In December 2019, an F-16 pilot at Kunsan AB ejected near the base while attempting to land. He survived with minor injuries. The two F-16 fighter squadrons within the 8th Fighter Wing, known as the Wolf Pack provide combat-ready F-16 C/D fighter aircraft to conduct air operations throughout the Pacific theater as tasked by U.S. and coalition combatant commanders, according to the Air Force. The squadron performs air and space control and force application roles including counter air, strategic attack, interdiction, and close-air support missions. On April 4, an upgraded Fighting Falcon rejoined 8th FW operations after about seven weeks away for upgrades. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Centers Post Block Integration Team provided the aircraft with the first wave of 22 modifications designed to improve F-16 lethality to meet the needs of current and future operations. The primary upgrade was the installation of the APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar with active electronically scanned array and Center Display Unit technology that give the pilot a clearer vision of the threat environment, increasing survivability and accuracy of the weapon system. Other upgrades included a programmable data generator, new-generation electronic warfare capability, a communications suite upgrade and a modernized mission computer. The F-16 is planned to continue service into the 2040s, so this upgrade is critical to making sure we are keeping pace with the evolving threat environment, Col. John D. Caldwell, 8th FW vice commander, said in April. The service owns about 900 F-16C/D airframes, which have flown since the 1980s. Each jet cost $19 million in 1998 dollars, the Air Force said, or more than $30 million now. Air Force Times reporter Rachel S. Cohen contributed to this report. Throughout most of the 80s, Lisa Whelchel was known for playing the role of Blair Warner on TVs "The Facts of Life." The character was known for being pretty, wealthy and a bit snobby, but behind the scenes, Welchel was just a teenager herself trying to get through those turbulent years while starring on a hit series. She recently revealed she was sent to a "fat farm" for gaining weight during the show's breaks. Welchel revealed that a scale was kept on set to weigh the actresses, and on three separate occasions she was deemed too heavy and sent off to a camp to lose weight. "Obviously we're in a different time," she explained during an interview with People. "We've learned a lot. We're a lot more body positive right now, which I'm grateful for. I mean, it's still an issue." FACTS OF LIFE STAR LISA WHELCHEL'S APPEARANCE: HAS NOT AGED AT ALL Lisa Whelchel is best known for playing Blair on "The Facts of Life." "But certainly as a teenager [that] was a lot," she went on. "Though even back then, I understood it's a business. They hired me to play a certain character that looked a certain way. And it was also really, really hard because I was going through puberty and my parents were going through a divorce and I was living in California and they were in Texas, so there was emotional eating involved. All the things that are not atypical of teenage girls." READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP THE FACTS OF LIFE CAST: THEN AND NOW "But I think everybody was doing the best they could back then. And as Maya Angelou said: 'When you know better, you do better,'" she told the outlet. While that time in her life was difficult, Whelchel said she's thankful that social media wasn't around while she was going through it. "I'm really grateful for that because it was difficult enough to go through puberty in front of millions of people, who were judgmental at times," she said. "There was some difficult press that I had to navigate. But at least it wasn't on the same level as social media!" Story continues Welchel also said that even though many young actors in similar situations went the route of heavy partying, she avoided the scene completely because she was always religious. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER "I was also very shy," she admitted. "My mom put me into an acting class when I was 8 to see if it helped me overcome my shyness and that really never went away. So I didn't live the Hollywood life. That wasn't something that was attractive to me." "It was actually quite anxiety-producing," the actress added. "So being a big star in the '80s, I kept to myself quite a bit." "The Facts of Life" cast, clockwise from top: Nancy McKeon as Joanna 'Jo' Marie Polniaczek Bonner; Mindy Cohn as Natalie Letisha Sage Green; Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Edna Ann Garrett; Lisa Whelchel as Blair Warner; and Kim Fields as Dorothy 'Tootie' Ramsey. From left: Mindy Cohn, Geri Jewell, Lisa Whelchel, Nancy McKeon and Charlotte Rae (seated) attend the PaleyFest Fall TV Previews - Fall Flashback: "The Facts Of Life" 35th Anniversary Reunion in 2014. After "The Facts of Life" went off the air in 1988, Welchel was set to star in a spinoff that showed her buying the boarding school she and her friends attended in the series. The pilot featured her as headmaster, with stars like Juliette Lewis and Mayim Bialik appearing as students, but the show was never picked up. Welchel got married soon after wrapping the TV classic, and had three children in quick succession. Since then, she's done the occasional acting gig and a handful of appearances as herself in various shows. Since 2019, Welchel has hosted a show called "Collector's Call" on MeTV. Watch the law-making frenzy in the Legislatures final few weeks and youll sometimes see the opposite of the intended outcome taking a bad idea and making it worse. Take Fairfield Lake State Park. After the state enjoyed decades of generosity from the parks corporate owners, it was caught flat-footed when the company decided to sell the land. Austin harrumphed that it might use eminent domain, the government power to seize private land for the public good. That was too blunt a tool, so lawmakers invented a new one but its another terrible shot at property rights, a gross abuse of power targeted at one situation, one landowner and prospective buyer. Vistra Corp. and, before it, subsidiary Luminant, operated a power plant at the site, nearly halfway between Dallas and Houston, until 2018. But going back to the 1970s, the owner leased the land for the state park. It never charged Texas a dime. The state eventually offered to buy part of it, officials have said, but Vistra didnt want to break it up. The company struck a deal with Todd Interests, a Dallas developer who wants to build a gated luxury-home community and reportedly sell water from Fairfield Lake to the Fort Worth area. That last detail apparently sparked what passes for creativity in the Legislature. Rep. Angelia Orr altered her bill, which would have authorized eminent domain to seize the park. Now, the Itasca Republican would require environmental regulators to get the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissions approval to modify water rights from the lake or nearby Big Brown Creek. That arrangement exists for no other body of water in Texas, a parks department spokeswoman confirmed. Its entirely made up to thwart development of the land, presumably scuttling the deal and giving Vistra no option but to sell the land to the state for a fraction of what it would get from Dallas developer Todd Interests. To sum up: The state accepted charity for 50 years, dawdled on protecting a gem of a park, and wants to change the rules when the property owner doesnt acquiesce in a state that supposedly cherishes property rights. Its gangster government, and it won robust approval in the House. Story continues But then, its not like the House seriously debated the matter. Orr is a first-term lawmaker, and this was her first bill to get to the floor. So when the bill came up April 20, her colleagues were much more interested in their ritual hazing of a freshman than noticing the state overreach they were about to approve. They yukked it up about Orr being part of a new dimples caucus and joked about the possibility of a nude beach at Fairfield Lake. The bill won final House approval the next day on a 131-8 vote. Across the Capitol, Sen. Charles Perry is trying to clean up Orrs bill little. The Lubbock Republican, who leads the Senates Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, has altered the bill to apply to all state parks. Thats a mostly meaningless gesture, though. The state owns most of its parkland, and nearly all of its other leases are from other governments, so this kind of dispute is much less likely. Besides, a bad idea spread a little wider is still a bad idea, just with more potential impact. A right as precious as private property is endangered if the state acts capriciously. In this case, the political facts are heavily in the Legislatures favor. No one wants to lose Fairfield Lake State Park, which has seen a boost of visitors since its probable closure made news. After all, the villains here are an energy company and a developer aiming to serve the wealthy and make a killing on the deal. It wont be surprising if the bill wins final approval, launching Todd Interests and the state into years of expensive litigation. Good, you might say. We need these open spaces for our growing population. We agree, and weve urged the Legislature to bolster the budget for land acquisition and help ensure that this kind of situation never happens again. But remember: If the state can target a bill directly at the property rights of Vistra and Todd Interests, it can do it to anyone. Even you. I spent a day in a private cabana at a Disney World resort. Kari Becker My family of four rented a private cabana for the day at Disney's Yacht Club Resort for $300. There was a dedicated wait staff for beverage and food service throughout the day. A fruit tray, dessert tray, and an assortment of nonalcoholic drinks were included in the service As a travel planner at Marvelous Mouse Travels, my family often takes trips to Disney World. Over the years, we've discovered some vacation extras that are totally worth the money, like the private cabanas you can rent at Disney's Contemporary Resort, Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, Disney's Yacht and Beach Club resorts, and both Disney water parks. During a recent stay at Yacht Club, my family decided to rent a poolside cabana for a day. Cabana rentals tend to sell out quickly, so it's best to book them in advance. Resort cabanas are only available for full-day rentals. Kari Becker Cabana rentals at Disney World book up fast, so be sure to make a reservation when the 60-day window opens before your trip. We planned a pool day during our stay, so this was a great way to make it even more special. We had access to the cabana rental from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. half-day or hourly rentals were not available. We paid $300 for our rental, but pricing may change based on the resort and the time of year. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the attendant who escorted us to our cabana, retrieved our towels, and explained the services offered. The cabana is equipped with a shaded sitting area and two lounge chairs in the sun. We had the option of shaded and sunny seating. Kari Becker The cabana was equipped with a large couch, flat-screen television, coffee table, and two lounge chairs in the sun. There were also a few complimentary sunscreen/skin-care products. Our attendant soon returned to take our drink and food order. I got a beer to enjoy in our cabana. Kari Becker Our servers were extremely attentive, checking in on us frequently. They were able to bring us drinks and food from the pool bar, we just had to pay for them separately. I enjoyed a chilled lager while relaxing. We had our own stocked mini fridge. We had access to a fridge and counter space inside the cabana. Kari Becker The cabana had a fully stocked fridge with soda, water, and juice boxes. Story continues Our attendant also presented us with some complimentary fruit. We got a nice fruit tray in our cabana. Kari Becker Our drinks came quickly, and while waiting for our food, our attendant brought us a free fruit plate, which was fresh and delicious. The extra food we ordered arrived, and our family sat and ate inside the cabana in the shade. Having a shaded area to get away from the Florida heat is priceless. It was nice to have our own private space by the pool. Kari Becker One of the greatest benefits of this service was having a shaded area. The Florida heat was intense the day we were there, and having a place to take breaks, eat lunch, watch some sports, and hang out as a family was such a great perk. A cabana rental is a great way for parents to relax while kids play at the pool. I got to relax and focus on myself for a bit during the day. Kari Becker Our cabana was conveniently located near the main kids' pool. My husband and I got the opportunity to lounge in the sun and read our books while keeping a watchful eye on our kids. Most pools at the Disney World resorts, including Yacht Club, also have lifeguards on duty. We got a few complimentary treats to enjoy at the end of the day. Our day ended with some fun desserts. Kari Becker Toward the end of the day, our server brought a lovely dessert tray with small delicacies, which were thoroughly enjoyed by our children. The personalized service we received was top-notch. I highly recommend splurging on a private cabana at Disney World. Kari Becker I think renting a cabana is a great way to pamper yourself, spend quality time with your family outside of the hustle and bustle of the parks, and have a cool and relaxing experience by the pool. Even though it's a pricier add-on, it was definitely worth it for my family. Read the original article on Insider On 6 May, King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will be crowned at Westminster Abbey as the world watches. The monarch ascended the throne following the death of his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, last September. His coronation takes place more than 70 years after Elizabeth was crowned on 2 June 1953. During the crowning and anointing parts of the ceremony, which are said to be the most sacred parts, King Charles will sit upon the 700-year-old Coronation Chair. The throne has been at the centre of English coronations since it was made by order of King Edward I between 1300 and 1301.Westminster Abbey, where it is located, describes the chair as one of the most precious and famous pieces of furniture in the world. With centuries of history behind it, the Coronation Chair is a fragile piece of furniture and is currently undergoing conservation work to ensure it will be in top condition when the ceremony arrives in spring. We chart the history behind the iconic seat: Origins The Coronation Chair was made by order of King Edward I to enclose the Stone of Scone, which he brought from Scotland to Westminster Abbey in 1296. A general view of the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey on which King Henry VIII was throned in 1509 (Getty Images) The throne, created from oak, was made to contain the Stone between 1300 to 1301. The Stone was originally completely enclosed under the seat of the chair, but the wooden decoration at the front was torn away over time and exposed the Stone. The Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny or the Coronation Stone, is a block of red sandstone. It was previously kept at Scone Abbey in Scotland, which is now a ruin, but was seized by Edward I during the English invasion of Scotland. In 1996, former prime minister John Major announced the Stone would be returned to Scotland, but would travel back to the Abbey for coronations. It is now on display in Edinburgh Castle. A picture of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, sitting on the Coronation Chair, known as St Edward's Chair, on June 2, 1953 (AFP via Getty Images) The Coronation Chair was first used in a coronation ceremony in 1308, when King Edward II was crowned. According to Westminster Abbey, there have been 38 coronations for reigning monarchs held there, as well as 15 separate coronation ceremonies for Queen Consorts. Story continues Decorations Painted by Master Walter, Edward Is master painter, the Coronation Chairs original decorations included patterns of birds, foliage and animals. It was once covered in gold leaf, but much of it has worn away. The figure of a king with his feet resting on a lion was painted on the back. According to the Abbey, this is either Edward the Confessor or Edward I. Four gilt lions carved into the lower part of the chair were made in 1727 to replace the originals. They were not added to the chair until the early 16th century. Detail of a lion on the Coronation chair, at Westminster Abbey in London (PA) Krista Blessley, the Abbeys paintings conservator, is currently working on cleaning and preserving the chair. Earlier this month, she told PA that she had uncovered some overlooked details in the chairs decoration. I think they are previously undiscovered toes in the punchwork gilding on the back of the chair, she said. So there are areas of drapery where you can tell there would have been a figure. It might be they are figures of kings or it might be a figure of a saint, because so much is lost we cant really tell at the moment but Ill do some further investigation. Graffiti The back part of the historic chair is riddled with carvings and graffiti courtesy of Westminster schoolboys and visitors in the 18th and 19th centuries. Detail of graffiti on the Coronation chair, at Westminster Abbey in London, which is being restored ahead of the upcoming coronation (PA) These vandals mainly carved there initials or names into the chair. One visitor carved P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800. Some people also hacked off slivers of wood from the chair as souvenirs. One small corner of the seat was knocked off during a 1914 bomb attack, believed to have been the work of suffragettes. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Prince Andrew leave Westminster Abbey following the coronation ceremony of Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla, in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Toby Melville/AP) In the fairy-tale ending to the ancient pageantry in which King Charles Ill was crowned monarch, he stepped into a gilded horse-drawn carriage with his queen and rode off to his palace. Following closely behind was Prince William, his eldest son and heir, along with his family, including 9-year-old Prince George who is second in line to the throne. Advertisement The kings youngest son was nowhere to be seen. On his fathers biggest day, Prince Harry arrived at Westminster Abbey alone and he left alone. The disgruntled Duke of Sussex was assigned to sit two rows behind his brother. His isolation was likely the result of him quitting his royal duties and, thus, no longer ranking as a senior family member as well as alienating himself from his father and brother by airing grievances and telling palace secrets in his explosive best-selling memoir, Spare. Advertisement If anyone was hoping the coronation would help break the ice between Harry and his brother, who were once so close, they are sure to have been disappointed. The siblings were not seen speaking or even acknowledging each other during the ceremony. After months of speculation about whether he would attend, it was announced about three weeks ago that Harry would come alone, leaving behind his wife, Meghan, and their two young children at their Southern California home. Harry and Meghan, who is biracial, left royal life and moved to the U.S. in 2020 after complaining about intense scrutiny and racist attitudes from the British press. In a six-part Netflix series, they lobbed other criticisms at the royal family, alleging racial bias. In January, Harry dropped his bombshell book dishing family dirt along with intimate details about losing his virginity behind a pub at 17, taking drugs and killing enemies in Afghanistan. The book was particularly unflattering toward his stepmother, Camilla, who was once blamed for wrecking his fathers marriage to his mother, the late Princess Diana. He accused Camilla of leaking private conversations to the media to rehabilitate her own image after marrying Charles. Buckingham Palace had announced before the coronation that Harry and the kings brother, Prince Andrew, would not have any role in the service. Andrew, the Duke of York, relinquished royal duties after revelations about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He was later stripped of his honorary military titles and patronages and settled a lawsuit with a woman who said she was forced to have sex with him when she was a teenager. William played a prominent role, kneeling at his fathers feet, pledging his loyalty and then kissing him on the cheek. George served as page boy, helping to carry the train of his grandfathers robes. Advertisement Harry entered the cavernous church in a black custom Dior three-piece suit with coattails. An honorary cross hung around his neck and military medals were pinned to the left side of his chest. He nodded, waved and spoke a few words to clergy and several guests already seated. He proceeded along behind his cousin, Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, who followed her father, Andrew. They all sat in the same row. During the two-hour spectacle, keen attention was focused on Harry by the media and royal watchers. He appeared to join the congregation in one of many refrains of God save the king during the pomp- and music-filled ceremony. Some British tabloids even consulted professional lip-readers to interpret what Harry was saying. The Daily Mirror revealed that it appeared he said, hello, morning and nice to see you when he entered the church. Harry has vowed to make media reform part of his mission in life. He has filed several lawsuits against the publishers of British tabloids for a phone-hacking scandal dating back more than a decade. Advertisement His trial against the publisher of the Mirror begins Wednesday in the High Court. Harry is expected to testify in June. After the carriages departed from the church, Harry was seen waiting for a car. He was later seen at Heathrow Airport. His son, Archie, turned 4 on Saturday and it was said he was headed back for his birthday. A short while later, King Charles III and Queen Camilla stepped out onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace to wave to the crowd gathered below. They were joined by William, his wife, Kate, three children and other senior royals. The FBI Seattle Field Office is helping the United States Marshals Service in searching for the co-owner of a defunct medical testing lab who failed to turn himself in after being convicted of running a healthcare fraud scheme. According to the FBI, 54-year-old Richard Warren Reid was convicted in March of 2022 of running a healthcare fraud kickback scheme that profited from urine drug tests for government insurance programs. The office of U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said Reids lab obtained more than $3.7 million in kickback payments by steering test specimens to two labs that could bill the government for testing. On Jan. 10, 2023, Reid was sentenced to 24 months in prison and one year of supervised release. He was ordered to report to the Federal Correctional Institute in Sheridan, Oregon, on April 28 to begin serving his sentence but never showed up. Reid was last seen Thursday morning in Astoria, Oregon. A federal warrant for Reids arrest was issued Monday after he was charged with violation of conditions of supervised release. According to the FBI, Reid is white, 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighing 195 to 200 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information concerning Reid is asked to contact the Seattle Office of the FBI by calling 206-622-0460 or by contacting your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. You can also submit tips online at tips.fbi.gov. WASHINGTON A federal judge on Friday sentenced a man who was armed with a wooden tire knocker and engaged in a series of assaults on officers during the Jan. 6 attack to 14 years and two months, the longest sentence for a Capitol rioter yet. Peter Schwartz, who has 38 prior convictions, said he regretted the riot's damage. I do sincerely regret the damage that January 6th has done to so many people and their lives, said Schwartz, a 49-year-old welder from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Peter Schwartz. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said he did not buy Schwartz's remorse. You are not a political prisoner Mr. Schwartz, the judge said while imposing the sentence. You are not Alexei Navalny, Russias most prominent opposition politician. The sentencing guidelines indicated a 262-month sentence. The Justice Department requested 294 months, or 24.5 years in federal prison. During sentencing, the judge Mehta called that request pretty dramatic, noting that it was 2.5 times longer than the longest Jan. 6 sentence one he handed down. Schwartz, who was convicted in December, will also be under 36 months of supervised release and must pay $2,000 to the Architect of the Capitol in restitution. Prosecutors said Schwartz was the first to throw a folding chair at the line of officers protecting the Capitols Lower West Terrace. "By throwing that chair, Schwartz directly contributed to the fall of the police line that enabled rioters to flood forward and take over the entire terrace," they wrote in a sentencing memo. Schwartz then used chemical munitions, including pepper spray, that had been left behind by the fleeing officers to attack the officers as they "desperately tried to escape the growing and increasingly violent mob," prosecutors wrote. Pepper spray evidence. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) Schwartz later made his way to a tunnel entrance, which officers had spent hours defending against rioters who tried to force their way into the Capitol building. Story continues Working with two other co-defendants, Markus Maly and Jeffrey Brown, Schwartz again wielded pepper spray against officers, officials said. Brown was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison last week, and Maly is yet to be sentenced. The Justice Department said that Schwartz has demonstrated zero remorse for his conduct, giving repeated interviews from the D.C. Jail claiming that he is a completely innocent victim of a biased prosecution and has done nothing wrong. Federal prosecutors had also sought a fine of $71,541, which is how much they say Schwartz has raised on a crowdfunding platform in which he branded himself Patriot Pete Political Prisoner in DC. The judge rejected the fine. In their own memo, Schwartzs lawyers wrote that his actions were not motivated by any desire for personal financial gain or any other type of benefit but rather by a misunderstanding as to the facts surrounding the 2020 election, and that Schwartz knew next to nothing about the 2020 election and listened to sources of information that were clearly false. A protester uses pepper spray at the U.S. Capitol, on Jan 6, 2021. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Three people died, and one was seriously injured in a fatal crash early Saturday morning in Sumter County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Troopers said the crash happened just around 3:56 a.m. on SR-471 south of South Grade Road. A 42-year-old male was driving a sedan southbound on SR-471. For unknown reasons, he entered the northbound lane, crashing nearly head-on into another sedan with three passengers inside- that was traveling in that lane. Read : Bicyclist hit and killed in Lake County crash, troopers say Investigators said the two cars rotated and ended in the northbound lane and east shoulder. The 42-year-old male driver of the sedan and the other driver, a 42-year-old female, died at the scene, according to the crash report. The female driver was traveling with two other passengers, a 54-year-old female, and a 47-year-old male. According to FHP, they were all from Lima, Ohio. Read: 3 shot, 2 in critical condition in shooting after fight breaks out in Brevard County The two passengers were taken to the hospital with fatal injuries. The 54-year-old woman later died from crash injuries. Troopers said this crash remains under investigation. 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. Dr. Jill Biden and President Joe Biden share six grandchildren. One of them, Finnegan Biden, gets to be present for a once-in-a-generation historic event: King Charles III's coronation. Biden, wearing a blue Ralph Lauren dress, walked into Westminster Abbey accompanied by her granddaughter Finnegan Biden, 23, in pastel yellow. At the event, they are seated next to Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, part of the state dignitaries on the guest list. In doing so, Biden became the first first lady to attend a coronation. The last coronation in the U.K. was 70 years ago for Queen Elizabeth II (Charles was 4 years old at the time). Finnegan Biden (Odd Anderson / AFP via Getty Images) The day before the coronation, Finnegan Biden met Catherine, the Princess of Wales, along with her grandmother. Catherine, Princess of Wales speaks with the First Lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden and her grand daughter Finnegan Biden during a reception at Buckingham Palace for overseas guests attending the coronation of King Charles III on May 5, 2023 in London, England. (Jacob King / Getty Images) The duo have made other connections while in the U.K., greeting Akshata Murty, wife of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on May 5. U.S. First Lady Jill Biden Visits Downing Street (Hollie Adams / Getty Images) Finnegan Biden has already had a front-row seat to other historical events, like the election of her grandfather. During an appearance on TODAY in 2020 along with Bidens daughter Ashley Biden, sisters Maisy and Naomi and cousin Natalie, Finnegan Biden reflected on the moment. Everyone was crying, Finnegan told Jenna Bush Hager. We just embraced each other. I think well always remember that moment. Who is Finnegan Biden? Finnegan Biden, 23, is the child of Bidens son Hunter Biden and his first wife, Kathleen, whom he divorced in 2017. She is the younger sister of Naomi Biden, whose wedding occurred at the White House and made the cover of Vogue in September 2022. Naomi and Finnegan Biden have a younger sister, Maisy. Her name pays homage to a family member Like her sister, who is named after Joe Biden's late wife, Finnegan Biden's name pays homage to an ancestor. She is named after Bidens mother, Catherine Eugenia Jean Finnegan, who died at 92 in 2010. Finnegan Biden graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 Finnegan Biden, like her sister Naomi Biden, attended the University of Pennsylvania. Her efforts to extend pass/fail grading options were covered by a local newspaper. Story continues She's joined her grandparents before for official events Finnegan Biden, born in 2000, was about 8 years old when her grandfather became vice president of the United States. Joe Biden, Finnegan Biden (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images) Since then, she's joined her grandparents on official duties, like a trip to Beijing while Joe Biden was vice president (that has come under scrutiny), on the campaign trail in 2020. This article was originally published on TODAY.com Finnegan Biden and Dr. Jill Biden attend King Charles III's coronation. WPA Pool/Getty Images Finnegan Biden accompanied First Lady Jill Biden to King Charles III's coronation Saturday. Finnegan, 23, is the middle daughter of Hunter Biden and has two sisters Naomi, 29, and Maisy, 22. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 and joined her grandfather during his 2020 presidential campaign. Finnegan Biden attended King Charles III's coronation with her step-grandmother First Lady Jill Biden Saturday. Finnegan, 23, wore a yellow dress by Markarian, and the first lady wore an all-blue Ralph Lauren ensemble to the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Finnegan Biden and Dr. Jill Biden attend King Charles III's coronation. WPA Pool/Getty Images Finnegan and Jill Biden were two of the 2,200 coronation guests, in addition to royals and dignitaries from other countries. On Friday, they attended King Charles' reception at Buckingham Palace and were photographed speaking with Kate Middleton. Kate Middleton, Finnegan Biden, and Dr. Jill Biden. WPA Pool/Getty Images Finnegan is Hunter Biden's middle child Finnegan, 23, is the middle daughter of Hunter Biden and ex-wife Kathleen Buhle. Her sisters are Naomi Biden, 29, and Maisy, 22. She also has a 3-year-old half-brother, Beau Jr., who her father shares with his wife, Melissa Cohen, and a 4-year-old half-sister Hunter shares with Lunden Alexis Roberts. Finnegan Biden at King Charles III's coronation. Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images She is the second oldest of the president's seven grandchildren, named after his mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan, who died in 2010. She graduated college in 2021 Finnegan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 with a degree in history and a concentration in American studies. While at Penn, she successfully extended the university's deadline for students to opt into a pass/fail grading system, according to 34th Street Magazine. Following Finnegan's graduation, her sister Naomi congratulated her on Instagram. "BURSTING WITH PRIDE AND PERPETUALLY IN AWE OF MY FIRST LOVE AND LITTLE SIS @finneganbiden ilysmsmsmsm," her caption read. Finnegan is close to President Joe Biden and supported him during his 2020 presidential campaign Finnegan joined President Biden during his campaign and made stops in Pennsylvania, the president's home state, and North Carolina. Story continues In a 2020 interview shown at the Democratic National Convention, Finnegan, Maisy, Naomi, and Natalie spoke about the president's almost daily phone calls and love for ice cream. "I don't necessarily pick up everyday, but I have a lot of voicemails," Finnegan said of President Biden, or "Pop," as his grandchildren call him. President Biden confirmed the frequent phone calls in a 2022 episode of the "Smartless" podcast. "They're crazy about me and I'm crazy about them," he said about his grandchildren. President Joe Biden, Finnegan Biden, and Dr. Jill Biden at a 2020 caucus day event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images In a January 2021 interview with Jenna Bush Hager, Finnegan reflected on the moment she and her cousins heard the 2020 election results. "Everyone was crying," Finnegan said. "We just embraced each other. I think we'll always remember that moment." Her sister Naomi shared a photo of the moment on Twitter. Finnegan traveled with her grandfather while he was vice president Before being elected as president, Finnegan accompanied her grandfather, then vice president to former President Barak Obama, on several overseas trips. In 2013, Finnegan went with Biden to China for an official visit. President Biden and Finnegan Biden went to China in 2013. Pool/Getty Images And in 2015, the pair went to Germany, where Biden spoke at the Munich Security Conference. President Joe Biden and Finnegan Biden in Munich, Germany. CHRISTOF STACHE/Getty Images Little else is known about Finnegan as she remains private with no public social media accounts. Read the original article on Insider The carpets at Westminster Abbey, upon which King Charles and Queen Camilla were crowned on Saturday 6 May, resembled the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine. After months of preparations and anticipation, the United Kingdom has crowned its new king and queen. Photos and videos showed that the carpets inside the royal church were blue and yellow, resembling the colours of the Ukrainian flag. Follow live updates as coronation weekend kicks off in the United Kingdom. The link to the eastern European nations flag is said to be a happy coincidence but that hasnt stopped people commenting on it. The countrys Ministry of Foreign Affairs retweeted an official video taken inside Westminster Abbey, celebrating the choice of colours of the carpet. Former Nato commander Hamish de Bretton-Gordon also pointed out that the flag of Ukraine was at the heart of Westminster Abbey in a tweet on coronation day. However, Buckingham Palace told The Daily Telegraph were not chosen to represent Ukraines flag. Instead, the spokesman said, it was a happy coincidence and that the carpets were chosen to highlight and contrast with the King and Queens robes. The ceremony at Westminster Abbey was attended by over 2,000 VIP guests, including First Lady of the United States Jill Biden, French president Emmanuel Macron, and Duke of Sussex Prince Harry. In a show of solidarity with Ukraine, Biden coordinated her blue skirt suit with granddaughter Finnegan Bidens pale yellow cape dress, as they made a statement walking in together. During a reception on the eve of Charles coronation, Ukraine prime minister Denys Shmyhal thanked the king for his solidarity. He tweeted: It is a special honour to attend the reception of His Majesty King Charles III ahead of coronation. We received assurances from His Majesty that (Ukrainian) people will have unwavering support until the final victory. Grateful for the solidarity. On a festive Friday night in September 2011, the man now known as King Charles III helped usher in a new era for the arts in Kansas City. It was a bit of a shock for the nearly 2,000 people who witnessed it. On that night, a gala was held to open the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the new home of the the Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. After cocktails and oohing over the shell-shaped building with a glass atrium offering a million-dollar view of the city, the guests assembled in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre, one of two performance halls. They were the first guests to sit in those plush red seats inside a theater inspired by grand opera houses of Europe. The woman of the night was Julia Irene Kauffman. The Kansas City busineswoman and philanthropist is the daughter of the late Ewing Kauffman, the founder of the Kansas City Royals, and Muriel Kauffman, the mastermind behind the Kauffman Center. Julia Kauffman carries on her mothers work supporting the citys arts as chairman and CEO of the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation. The night of the gala, Julia Kauffman walked on stage to greet her guests, glowing under the lights in a sequined silver dress and diamonds around her neck. But first, she had a surprise from across the pond. A giant video screen descended over the stage and the face of then-Prince Charles appeared, larger than life. A benefactor of the arts and a fan of architecture, the royal delivered a taped greeting, noting that the arts are a hallmark of our humanity, he said. The performing arts are thriving in Kansas City. The moment was unexpected and inexplicable. Gasps and giggles could be heard from the audience. Prince Charles? In Kansas City? Julia Irene Kauffman talked to her guests at the grand opening of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 16, 2011. She arranged to have then-Prince Charles tape a message for the occasion. On Saturday, she was set to attend his coronation. Allison Long/The Kansas City Star Whats become known in the years since, largely through the British media, is Kauffmans status as a kindred spirit of the king. She has been named in news articles as one of many generous benefactors of his projects, including work on the Castle of Mey, the beloved Scottish home of the late Queen Mother, a majestic building with fairy-tale turrets and towers, according to The Herald, a Glasgow newspaper. Story continues King Charles is said to stay at the castle every August in memory of his grandmother. In January 2021, The Herald named Kauffman as one of the donors who helped fund a 10-bedroom bed-and-breakfast on the grounds. The newspaper described her as American philanthropist Julia Irene Kauffman the daughter of the late pharmaceutical magnate Ewing Kauffman. This weekend that relationship bears rather lofty fruit: Kauffman was set to witness history firsthand. I am in London to attend the coronation, she told The Star this past week, describing the king as a wonderful, generous person who will be a caring, excellent monarch. The final guest list wound up at more than 2,200 people, including British royals, assorted European kings and queens and about 100 heads of state. About 400 young people representing charitable organizations will watch from the church next door. King Charles's granddaughter Princess Charlotte wore a floral headpiece that matched her mother's Prince William's wife Catherine on Saturday chose a floral headpiece instead of a tiara for the coronation of Charles III, in line with the "green" tone set for the coronation by the king. Charles, a long-time environmental advocate with a passion for nature, made his wishes clear when he sent out coronation invitations featuring the Green Man, an ancient figure from British folklore symbolising the arrival of spring and rebirth. The break with tradition was also in keeping with Charles's reported desire that the coronation be "meritocratic not aristocratic", which saw the aristocracy largely replaced with "community heroes" who had earned their place. At the last coronation in 1953, almost all senior royal women and female aristocrats wore tiaras featuring precious stones and pearls. Catherine, whose formal title is Princess of Wales, instead wore a silver Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen headpiece with three-dimensional leaf embroidery, Buckingham Palace said. Her dress, also by Alexander McQueen, was in ivory silk crepe with embroidery featuring rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs to signify the four nations of the United Kingdom. It was worn with a ceremonial cape. She also wore a set of pearl and diamond earrings that belonged to Prince William's late mother Princess Diana. - Floral motifs - Catherine's daughter Princess Charlotte, a granddaughter of King Charles, wore a headpiece that matched her mother's while her dress was also by Alexander McQueen and featured similar floral motifs. Queen Camilla meanwhile turned to British couturier Bruce Oldfield, a favourite of the king's former wife Diana, for her coronation dress. Her ivory silk dress with silver and gold embroidery featured "garlands of abstract wildflowers from fields and hedgerows: daisy chains, forget-me-nots, celandine and scarlet pimpernel", the palace said in a statement. Oldfield designed dozens of evening gowns -- several of them iconic -- for Diana before her death in a Paris car crash in 1997. Story continues Oldfield has since become one of Camilla's favourite fashion creators. He designed the elegant black evening gown Camilla wore on the royal couple's state visit to Germany in March. Charles, a biodiversity enthusiast, had a four-acre (1.6-hectare) wildflower meadow at his former Highgrove home in Gloucestershire, western England. To mark his coronation, 200,000 packets of wildflower seeds have been sent to primary schools for children to scatter in their green spaces and encourage them to develop a love of nature. har/phz/js Andrew Gillum Former Democratic candidate for governor of Florida, Andrew Gillum, was found not guilty of lying to the FBI in a case involving the alleged diversion of campaign donations for his personal use. However, jurors could not come to a verdict on the other charges facing Gillum and his co-defendant. Even though they may be tried again, the not guilty verdict was a shocking win for Gillum, whose fall from grace has been swift and embarrassing given his prominence as an up-and-coming Democratic politician. Charges of corruption and deceit Gillum and an associate, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, were charged with diverting funds from Gillums campaign to their personal use through a company owned by Lettman-Hicks. Gillum was also accused of lying to the FBI about a lavish trip to New York for himself and his brother, paid for by FBI agents pretending to be developers. According to the charge, Gillum told the FBI he had not received anything from the fake developers, including tickets to the Broadway musical Hamilton. On Thursday, the jury in his case found Gillum not guilty of the charges of lying to the FBI; they could not reach a verdict on the charges of financial crimes against Gillum or Lettman-Hicks. Gillum had been a rising star in the Democratic Party Gillum worked his way up the political ladder in Tallahassee, where he served as a city commissioner from 2006-2014 and as mayor from 2014-2018. In 2018, he ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of Florida, losing to Republican Ron Desantis by only 36,000 votes. After the very narrow election loss, Gillum became a Senior Fellow at People for the American Way, an organization he had previously worked for and where Lettman-Hicks has also held a high-ranking position. Prosecutors had alleged that when Gillum left his previous, high-paying job with the organization to run for governor, he became desperate for money and had diverted campaign funds through Lettman-Hicks company. Scandals and corruption allegations Gillums position as a rising star in the Democratic Party took a big hit in 2020 when news broke that Gillum, who is married, was found inebriated in a hotel room with another man who suffered from a drug overdose. Despite not being charged with a crime for the incident, Gillums sexuality and substance abuse problems became fodder for tabloid speculation and social media ridicule. Meanwhile, after several more minor accusations of misusing funds or accepting inappropriate gifts over the years, Gillum and Lettman-Hicks were hit with various federal felony charges for the alleged scheme to divert campaign funds, with Gillum facing additional charges of lying to the FBI. Story continues Legal woes may continue Gillum reacted to the news of his partial acquittal with relief and applauded the jury for reaching the decision. I want to thank them for their commitment, Gillum said to the jury via comments to reporters after the verdict was announced. Lettman-Hicks also reacted to the trial and the judgment. Freedom isnt free, she said, declaring, If you dont stand up for yourself nobody else will. That was a lesson learned in this process. Federal prosecutors have indicated they intend to retry Gillum and Lettman-Hicks on the deadlocked charges. Only time will tell how his outstanding charges will be resolved and if his political career will be salvaged. But even with another case pending, however, Thursdays acquittal likely represents the best news that Gillum has received in some time. Multiple vehicles were involved in a crash on I-55 in Montgomery County, south of Springfield on May 1, 2023. (Nathan J. Cormier) Two people from Crystal Lake and two from Champaign are among seven people fatally injured in a massive multi-vehicle crash amid a dust storm Monday on Interstate 55 south of Springfield, Illinois State Police said. Police early Saturday said that the dead included Joseph Bates, 73, and Donna Bates, 71, of Crystal Lake; Michael Zinchuk, 55, and Amy Zinchuk, 54, of Champaign, and Earl LeGrand, 64, of Florissant, Missouri. Advertisement Authorities earlier identified 88-year-old Shirley Harper, of Franklin, Wis., as one of the dead. State police are working with the Montgomery County coroners office to confirm the identification of the final remaining victim. Advertisement The crashes occurred about 10:55 a.m. on both northbound and southbound I-55 between near Farmersville, Illinois, in Montgomery County. State police said the crashes happened during a dust storm described as similar to whiteout conditions. A total of 72 vehicles were known to be involved in the crashes and 37 people were transported to hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to critical, state police said. ATV vehicle on a dirt road through the forest Sebastian Condrea/Getty Images A Florida judge revoked bail for a man who shot a teen driving an ATV near his home. Michael Regalski is facing charges of premeditated murder, aggravated assault, shooting into a vehicle, and tampering with evidence. Regalski said in court that he only wanted to scare the teens, according to the Citrus County Chronicle. A 65-year-old man who shot a teenager for driving a utility vehicle on his property is no longer on the streets after a judge revoked his bail on Friday. Citrus County Judge Joel Fritton revoked Michael Regalski's bond after finding that Regalski met a Florida statute that requires his bond be denied, according to The Citrus County Chronicle. Regalski was free after previously paying a $65,000 bond, according to the paper. Florida law says that people facing charges involving a "dangerous crime," a felony that carries the life penalty, or a capital felony cannot receive bail. Prosecutors say Regalski shot at three teens who were driving a utility vehicle near his home in Citrus Hills, Florida on April 22, hitting one of them in the stomach, the paper reported. Regalski said during the hearing that he only wanted to scare the teens and that the shooting was an accident, according to the outlet. He is facing charges of attempted premeditated murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into a vehicle, and tampering with evidence. Assistant State Attorney Kaitlyn Mannis argued that Regalski's actions showed a disregard for the safety of the community in court on Friday, The Chronicle reported. Fritton said in his ruling that most people would put up no trespassing signs or call 911 if they did not want people driving ATVs on their property, according to the outlet. "This wasn't a life and death matter until Mr. Regalski made it one," Fritton said in court. A Citrus County Sheriff's Detective, Rosco Watts, said during the hearing that Regalski's story about the shooting was inconsistent and that he changed his clothes and wiped his home security camera footage after it happened, The Chronicle reported. Story continues The Citrus Hills shooting follows a series of other shootings in which men opened fire on others for just walking or driving on or near their property in recent weeks. On April 13, 85-year-old Andrew Lester shot Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old Black teen when he accidentally went to Lester's door to try and pick up his twin younger brothers in Kansas City, according to police. Just two days after Yarl's shooting, Kevin Monahan, 65, shot and killed 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis when she and her friends accidentally turned into Monohan's driveway while looking for a friend's house. The same day as the Gillis shooting, a man in Florida shot at two teenagers who were delivering groceries for Instacart. Police ultimately chose not to charge the shooter in that case. And then on April 18 in Elgin, Texas, police said 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr. shot two cheerleaders who accidentally got into his car by mistake, seriously injuring them both. Read the original article on Insider Florida lawmakers pushed through and passed a slew of education bills this Legislative Session that wrapped up Friday, underscoring Gov. DeSantis and Republicans efforts to overhaul the states education system. The measures significantly impact K-12 schools and universities and include: Expanding the controversial Parental Rights in Education law that went into effect this school year dubbed by critics as Dont say gay to bar teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity through eighth grade. Making it possible for every school-aged child in Florida to get a taxpayer-funded education voucher or savings account, which public school advocates say could drain dollars from school districts across the state. Preventing the states 12 colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, making it harder for professors to hold onto tenure and giving university presidents the authority to hire and fire faculty, instead of deans and department chairs. READ MORE: UM faculty joins FIU in fight against DeSantis-backed bills to overhaul higher ed The GOP-led Legislature also passed bills affecting school boards in the states 67 districts Heres how some of those could impact the Miami-Dade School Board, which governs the nations third-largest school district. Term limits on a veteran-heavy school board Last year, lawmakers passed a law to cap school board members terms to 12 years. On Monday, the Florida Senate successfully pushed to further limit terms to just eight years, following a House bill passed in March. That means while board members would continue to be elected to four-year terms, they wont be able to run again if they serve eight consecutive years or resign in a period that wouldve added up to eight years. DeSantis is expected to sign the measure into law. Five of the nine Miami-Dade County School Board members terms are up in 2024 Mary Blanco, Lucia Baez-Geller, Vice Chair Danny Espino, Steve Gallon III and Lucia Santos but how the measure impacts each varies. Story continues READ MORE: Florida Legislature goes big for DeSantis with record spending and then goes home For Baez-Geller, Gallon and Santos, for example, if reelected, the term count would begin after the 2024 election because under the bill, a members term of office that began before Nov. 8, 2022, wont be counted toward the eight-year limit. Gallon was first elected in 2016, while Baez-Geller and Santos joined the board in 2020. Espino and Blanco, both of whom DeSantis appointed and whose terms began after the November 2022 election, would have two years counted toward their eight-year limit under the bill. Espino, who replaced Christi Fraga after her successful bid for Doral mayor, told the Herald midway through the Legislative Session that term limits are healthy, as they ensure new perspectives and (bring) new ideas to the district. Innovation, he added, is critical to the future of education. Under the bill, the remaining four board members Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, whose tenure began in 2010 and is the longest-serving member; Chairwoman Mari Tere Rojas; Roberto Alonso and Monica Colucci would be able to run for reelection once more, despite having different lengths of time on the board, as their terms began after the November 2022 election. Rojas was first elected to the board in 2016, while Alonso and Colucci, both endorsed by DeSantis, won their elections in the August 2022 primaries. Elected outside the district Another House bill challenges a requirement that school board candidates live in the districts they seek to represent before taking office. The move, in theory, would allow for a candidate who lives in, say, District 8, which represents West Miami to southwest Miami-Dade, to run for the District 9 seat, which encompasses Pinecrest, Palmetto and Cutler Bay and down to Homestead and Florida City. If elected, though, the member would be required to live in the district by the time they assume office. READ MORE: Florida Senate passes bill targeting pronoun preferences in school, restricting teachers With five seats up for grabs in 2024 and one board member already on DeSantis target list the Miami-Dade School Board races could see candidates from different districts running to represent other areas. Santos, who represents District 9, was included in the DeSantis list, which targets current board members whom the governor and conservative groups hope to unseat in the 2024 election. While a candidates residency hasnt been an issue in Miami-Dade, DeSantis removed an Alachua County School Board member in 2021 when news broke that she didnt live in the district she was elected to represent. Diyonne McGraws 2020 win marked the first time that the School Board had a Black female majority. McGraw reclaimed the seat from DeSantis-appointed incumbent Mildred Russell in a 2022 election. Under the new bill, which goes into effect July 1, a board member wouldnt be removed as long as they move to the district after being elected. A partisan school board? Following an election cycle that saw significantly more political influence DeSantis being the first governor to endorse school board candidates the Legislature approved a bill that would divide school board races along party lines by 2026. The new requirement would not be in effect for the 2024 election for Miami-Dade board members. Historically, school board races have been nonpartisan, as local property taxes fund public schools. But ahead of the 2022 elections, DeSantis endorsed more than 30 candidates across the state, including two in Miami-Dade County, Colucci and Alonso. Both Alonso and Colucci ran on a platform that paralleled DeSantis education agenda. READ MORE: DeSantis endorsed 30 school board candidates across Florida. They did very well Changes to decision-making authority Among the slew of changes, a bill passed by both houses that DeSantis is likely to sign also removes school boards authority to select and adopt instructional materials to teach students about reproductive health or any disease, including HIV and AIDS. That power will instead be given solely to the state Department of Education, which reports to the governor. That bill also indicates that school boards will be responsible for all materials used in classroom libraries. It is scheduled to go into effect July 1. The change comes nearly a year after the Miami-Dade School Boards contentious debate about the districts sex-ed textbook adoption process. The board initially approved the book, Comprehensive Health Skills, which offers research-based health education with topics such as nutrition, physical activity and sexually transmitted diseases, in April 2022. Then, after it was challenged by a group of parents who said the book was inappropriate, the board rejected the book. Finally, after learning the district would be out of compliance with state statute, the board reversed its decision and eventually adopted the book. A longtime community activist and pastor who worked to make Fresno a better place and fix the citys homeless crisis has died. H Spees, a former Fresno mayoral candidate who went on to become Fresnos director of Housing and Homelessness Services, died Friday from a head injury, according to his family. Spees, 70, sustained catastrophic head trauma after falling April 26 while in Florida. The injury caused a cardiac episode that created irreparable anoxic injury, Spees daughter Corrie Sands wrote on the website Caringbridge.org. Each day we sat with H, it became clear that his body was gradually declining, Sands wrote. A generous neurologist shared the MRI with us, patiently explaining the places where his brain had incurred damage. ... The EEG results returned and confirmed our terrible suspicion. ... H peacefully passed surrounded in love this afternoon. His body was so ready to rest that when all support was removed, he instantly left us. Among the accomplishments under Spees guidance was Fresno adding hundreds of sheltered beds to provide emergency and temporary shelter, as well as transitional housing, to unhoused residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Past, present Fresno mayors praise Spees Because of Spees close and longstanding relations to those in Fresno politics, many closely followed updates regarding his health for the past week. Spees passing was felt by those currently in office and others from the past. My heart is broken over the loss of my dear friend and a long time pillar in this community, H Spees. H has been a trusted friend and confidant of mine for more the 30 years. He has always been there for me and Diane especially in some of our darkest days. (Cont) pic.twitter.com/iciNWqiI9D Mayor Jerry Dyer (@MayorJerryDyer) May 6, 2023 We are all heartbroken, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said in a statement. H was a central part of the launch of Project Off-ramp. He made it a success, in large part because of his tender approach with those most vulnerable. Story continues He approached this monumental and first of its kind project with compassion, care and love. We are so sad for his family. He was such a wonderful human being. Ashley Swearengin, who served as mayor from 2009-2016, also shared her thoughts of the pastors death and his impact on Fresno. H Spees was a pillar of faith and hope in our community, Swearengin said. He leaves a legacy of service and commitment to the community. H showed us all what it looks like to bring people together, bridge divides, and put love into action. The impact he made in Fresno will be felt for generations. H. Spees, a longtime community activist and pastor who worked toward trying to solve Fresnos homeless crisis, died Friday from a head injury. Alan Autry, another former Fresno mayor who was in office 2001-2008, said Spees had an uncanny gift for being able to reach out to his family and friends without knowing those times often were when they needed his advice and guidance most. He was just one of the most decent, finest human beings Ive ever known in my life, Autry said. He deeply cared about others. He really believed in the power that one person could have on the community. Of one person doing their thing to make the community stronger. It didnt necessarily need to be some big, huge thing. Just something small that could better our community and even that could leave an impact. Impact beyond city government In addition to his role in city government, Spees headed up several nonproifit organizations, including One By One Leadership and Youth for Christ. He also was a pastor at Northwest Church. Autry noted how Spees didnt just preach about helping those in need from afar; he worked closely with them. He didnt just talk about working with the poor, Autry said. He lived in the poor neighborhoods and walked his talk, trying to help as many as he could. In 2016, Spees ran for mayor and received Autrys public backing. Spees didnt win but went on to work for the city the following year under former Mayor Lee Brand as the director of Strategic Initiatives. Spees became the Housing and Homelessness Services director in 2021 after Dyer took office. During Spees retirement in 2022, City Manager Georgeanne White applauded his efforts to address the homeless issues in Fresno despite criticisms that he faced while serving as director. H is a very compassionate and committed human being to this city ... Hes been on the front lines in a very, very difficult line of work, White said then. I just wanted to say thank you to him for everything hes done. Hes certainly set a very good foundation for us to take to the next level. 45 Azovstal defenders returned from captivity Read also: Ukraine returns over 2,000 people from Russian captivity during full-scale war, Malyar says Among those released was a participant in the legendary helicopter mission of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense for the evacuation of the wounded from Azovstal. The group also included soldiers who got married at Azovstal during the defense of Mariupol. Additionally, the exchange included a paramedic who had been held captive by Russians for two and a half years years. The paramedic was first captured at the Shyrokyne standoff in 2015, subsequently released, returned to his unit, and was again taken captive at Azovstal in 2022. Read also: Ive been dreaming about this for five months Returned POW on emotional call to girlfriend video Another notable release was a 56-year-old chief sergeant, an Afghan war veteran, who had been wounded during the Euromaidan and had been participating in the Donbas defense efforts since 2014. The Ukrainian military added that many of the released soldiers have injuries and serious health problems. Additionally, the enemy held summary show trials for a number of the defenders. Ukrainians are our greatest asset, Yermak wrote. Read also: Over 7,000 Ukrainian soldiers are MIA, two-thirds believed in captivity We continue to carry out President Zelenskyys task of freeing all of our people along with the Coordination Headquarters on the treatment of prisoners of war. Glory to Ukrainian heroes! We are happy that you are back home. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine The founder of Mellow Mushroom, a Newnan native, died at the end of April. He was 69. According to an obituary, Michael Mike Evans Reeves of Cumming, founded several companies, including the popular pizza restaurant. There are 22 locations in just Atlanta, according to the companys website. In addition to Mellow Mushroom, Reeves founded the Excelsior Mill and the Peanut Palace. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Alongside his brother Rocky, Reeves started the Cotton Club, The Point, and with business partner Dan Nolan, Reeves founded Smiths Old Bar and Fox Brothers B.B.Q. TRENDING STORIES: Reeves obituary said he was a Campbell High School graduate. After his graduation in 1971, he attended West Georgia University. Reeves is described as a force of nature and as having soul in the most essential ways, charitable and loving. Throughout his life, he gave to several charities, including Toys 4 Tots, the Atlanta Food Bank, and Odyssey Villas, among others, according to his obituary. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] A service honoring Reeves is planned for May 13 at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church in Sandy Springs. Instead of flowers, donations to a charity are encouraged in Reeves memory. OTHER NEWS: Kayleigh McEnany, former White House press secretary, visits "Hannity" with host Sean Hannity at Fox News Channel Studios on March 15. (Roy Rochlin / Getty Images) If you thought Fox News would take a new direction in prime time following the ouster of conservative provocateur Tucker Carlson, the choice for fill-in host in the hour next week suggests otherwise. Kayleigh McEnany, who served 10 months as press secretary in the Trump administration, is getting a weeklong tryout in the high profile 8 p.m. Eastern hour starting Monday. The network is searching for a replacement for Carlson, who was fired April 24 amid revelations that he made racist comments, promoted a conspiracy about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and sent texts critical of Fox News correspondents who fact-checked the unfounded election fraud claims on the network, even though he did not believe them himself. But there are no signs Fox News is giving up on provocative and inflammatory viewpoints in the hour. McEnany comes in with a head start on creating controversy as she made a racially offensive crack Friday on "Outnumbered," the Fox News daytime show where she is a co-host. McEnany introduced a discussion of a New York City protest over the May 1 killing of a Black homeless man by a Marine veteran on a subway train. Jordan Neely, 30, who had a history of mental illness and multiple arrests for assault, ranted and allegedly terrorized passengers before the veteran put him in a choke hold that police have determined caused his death. After coming out of video showing a drum-beating mixed-race crowd chanting about Neelys death, McEnany said Justice or burn it down well at least they have rhythm, evoking a stereotype about Black people. Through a Fox News representative, McEnany said she did not know the racial make-up of the protesters. She said she heard singing in her ear through the segment and did not see the video. But her remark was not lost on critics who saw it on Twitter. Many said it showed how McEnany is ready to pander to the MAGA element in Carlsons audience, which has fled in droves since the host was ousted. Story continues "OMG! #KayLie doesn't even try to hide her bigotry. C'mon #FauxNews! Can't you hire someone better?" wrote Erin Snider, a retired teacher, on Twitter. Fox News has lost more than 50% of the 3 million-plus viewers who were watching Carlson in the hour, and has seen declines throughout prime time in the wake of his firing. The network is still the most-watched cable news channel, outperforming MSNBC and CNN, according to Nielsen. McEnany, the third on-air talent to get a tryout in Carlson's time period, was hired by Fox News in March 2021. During her tenure at the White House, McEnany had a reputation for perpetuating Trump's falsehoods from the lectern of the White House briefing room. Fox News even cut away from her during a Nov. 9, 2020 press conference, when she repeated Trumps unfounded claims of voter fraud in the election he lost to Joe Biden. Airing such claims cost Fox News mightily, as it paid a record setting $787.5-million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems, which sued the Rupert Murdoch-controlled network for defamation. Carlson was under fire throughout his Fox News run for racist and extremist comments he made on air. He once described white supremacy as a "hoax" and complained that immigrants across the Southern border make America poorer and dirtier and more divided. He was particularly critical of the Black Lives Matter movement after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. He sowed doubt about the circumstances of Floyds murder and said Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer convicted of taking his life, was subjected to a lynching by the media. A leak of redacted texts and testimony gathered in evidence for the Dominion Voting Systems case against Fox News showed he expressed similar views off camera. Tucker described his enthusiasm, followed by ambivalence, while watching a video of Trump supporters beating a member of the left-wing group Antifa. He remarked, It's not how white men fight, the New York Times reported. Dan Webb, an attorney representing Fox News, sent a formal letter to Claire Locke, one of the firms representing Dominion, asking that it investigate the source of the Carlson-related leaks that have appeared in the press. Dominion issued a statement saying the company had nothing to do with the disclosures. Nobody associated with Dominion shared these confidential materials with the press, a representative said. Fox News lawyers are also looking to shut down leaks by liberal watchdog Media Matters, which has been posting video of Carlson on the set while getting make-up. Carlson is seen in one video asking the female make-up artist if pillow fights ever break out in the ladies room. In another clip he is bantering about sex before going on with British host Piers Morgan. A third clip shows him complaining about the Dominion attorney who questioned him in court. Fox News sent a cease and desist order to Media Matters on Friday, saying the organization is unlawfully using its intellectual property by presenting the videos, which did not appear on the network's air. A representative for Media Matters said "reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Emily Schwendeman was excited to try a mint julep and see the horses race at the 2023 Kentucky Derby. But most of all, Schwendeman, her husband Ryan, and 9-month-old Charlotte, traveled to Churchill Downs from Portland, Oregon, to honor her late grandmother who dreamed of coming to see the Run for the Roses. Her dream in life was to come to the Kentucky Derby, Schwendeman recalled. She would watch it every year growing up. My mom and my aunt would watch it with her and she would turn it on television every year, crying when My Old Kentucky Home played. Her grandmother, Dorothy Ann, of Russell, never got to attend. So, Schwendeman and her family made a pilgrimage, visiting her grandmothers hometown, the cemetery where she is buried, and Morehead State where she attended college. The day at the Derby was the final stop on the trip. Schwendeman and her daughter were in matching yellow dresses, each with an identical fascinator. On Schwendemans chest, was a button with black and white pictures of family members, including her grandmother Dorothy. We came out here and we are fulfilling that dream of hers, she said. Despite living across the country in California, Joe Conforto made his 13th trip to the Kentucky Derby on Saturday with his wife, as he does each year. Joe Conforto, from California, wears a Secretariat outfit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of horses Triple Crown-winning campaign. In a suit with a drawing of Secretariat on the back and a horse hat on his head, Conforto said hes here for the horses. He was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Triple Crown winner Secretariat, who he said is his all-time favorite. (The horses) are the greatest athletes in the world, he beamed. Conforto said he and his wife come to Kentucky each year for races, also spending time in Nashville. Aside from the Derby, he reflected on what Kentucky has to offer. Kentucky people are some of the best people in the world so friendly, he said. Then there is the bourbon, and the beautiful horses. Garey Faulkner, right, celebrates his 40th birthday at the Kentucky Derby. With it being my birthday, we have to go extra crazy! he said of his outfit. For Garey Faulkner of Cincinnati, Ohio, Derby was all about the outfit for him and his tailor at Peppe Ramundo. In a flamboyant, bright blazer, Faulkner said he went all out this year for his 40th birthday. Story continues He loves Derby time for me, because he loves helping me find these crazy outlandish suits and get ups, Faulkner said. With it being my birthday, we have to go extra crazy! Most notable of his outfit was his hat, which he created himself: a black top hat and streamers sticking out the sides, with a large horse, painted orange also wearing a top hat. A rose was inside the horses mouth, with a cardinal resting on the stem of the flower. He has worn the hat before, making modifications over the years. This is his eighth time at the Derby. Lucky number eight, he said. It is my 40th birthday, so it doesnt matter to me about any of the races if I win or not. I may make a giant bet, and roll the dice. Whitney Cessell, of Louisville, said her outfit a lace top and puffed out frilly pink skirt, was all about comfort. It is comfortable, light and fun which is what the Kentucky Derby is all about, she said. A member of the military, Cessell said she and her family just moved back to the area and decided on short notice to come to this years Derby. She was at the track early Saturday morning to participate in the Dawn of the Downs to watch the Derby Horses run and practice. Cessell said she had a horse picked to win the race, but her original pick to win the Derby, Forte, scratched early on in the day. Whitney Cessell of Louisville holds a horse racing-themed bag on Derby Day at Churchill Downs. Forte was far from the only horse expected to race on Saturday who didnt make it to the starting gate. Five horses scratched from this years Derby following Mondays post position draw: The others were Practical Move (elevated temperature), Lord Miles (trainer suspension), Continuar (fitness) and Skinner (elevated temperature). This marked the most scratches from the Kentucky Derby since 1936. Additionally, expected Derby contender Wild On Ice was euthanized last week after suffering a leg injury during training at Churchill Downs. Earlier this week, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. was suspended by Churchill Downs following the unusual deaths of two of his horses at Churchill Downs. Early on in Derby day, Chloes Dream, was vanned off and euthanized after failing to finish the race. Chloes Dream was the sixth horse to die at Churchill Downs since the Spring Meet began last Saturday. That afternoon, a seventh horse, Freezing Point, also reportedly died after an incident in the eighth race. Cessell, who owns an Andalusian horse, called the deaths unfortunate. It is really sad, she said. I am not big into actual horse racing, so I am not too sure what goes on behind the scenes. These horses are athletes, these jockeys are athletes, and it is just really sad to see them kind of pass away, they are really young and it is really unfortunate. However Conforto said the attention on the deaths was perhaps over exaggerated. I think it is bad luck. These horses are well taken care of and they are meant to run. I think they over exaggerate everything that happens, Conforto said. You know you have 1,100-pound animal that is running on really thin legs, and it happens. Some horses are this is what they do. Musicians, actors and celebrities walked the red carpet early in the day, including Louisville native Jack Harlow and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Other celebrities on the red carpet included Randy Travis, Yellowstone actor Ian Bohen and former host of The Bachelor franchise Chris Harrison. A gag is a restriction on information. The Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance continues the practice of trying to limit speech. Past and present CEOs for the taxpayer-funded organization tasked with revitalizing downtown Myrtle Beach are prevented from saying anything that might be considered disparaging. Was there previous misuse of taxpayer funds, are outside forces controlling the board members, or were companies misled about downtown revitalization? The public may never know if that happened in the past 19 months since the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance was formed, or if it happens in the future. When former Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance CEO Amy Barrett left her position and was replaced, and her replacement was paid more, she did not speak about why she left or what transpired. That could be for fear of legal repercussions due to her contract. Free speech and government transparency advocates see restricting information as bad for democracy and taxpayers. The Sun News reporting has called into question the procedure used by the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance to fill their CEO position, which was never advertised to the public. No search firms were used to find the best candidates, and no interviews were conducted. When newly appointed board member Dan Sine, who became chairman of the board at his first meeting on March 14, made the employment offer to his friend and longtime acquaintance Jason Greene, he said the non-disclosure agreement included was a mistake because he used a boilerplate employment offer letter. A review of the employment contract voted on by the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance board members on Wednesday shows that the contract avoided using the term non-disclosure agreement, or NDA, but the contract certainly restricts speech. Sine declined to speak to a reporter for this story, instead insisting on the submission of written questions, which The Sun News agrees to only in rare situations when no other avenue is practical. The newspaper also rejected a request from Benjamin Broody, the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance attorney who drafted the contract, to negotiate rules of engagement and provide information before he was willing to agree to an interview. Story continues Dan Sine is new chairman of the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance board of directors Sine did send an email saying, Jasons employment contract includes no Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) clauses. Reader and taxpayers can make their own conclusions. Why could Myrtle Beach taxpayers be concerned about gagging those managing public dollars? The employment contract has restrictive covenants barring the new employee from any speech that could impact the goodwill and reputation of the corporation and its board members. The contract states in part, employee specifically agrees not to take any action that impairs the goodwill and reputation of the Corporation or any of the Protected Parties through posting comments and/or reviews on internet platforms, sending letters, texts, and other electronic messages, and speaking on radio, television, video, or podcasting platforms/broadcasts/services. So it doesnt say its a non-disclosure agreement. Whats the big deal? Allen Cheney, legal director for the ACLU of South Carolina, said he was unfamiliar with specifics of the downtown alliance contract but in general, theres no technical difference that springs to mind between a non-disclosure agreement and restrictive covenants. Cheney also supports the idea of not restricting information and promoting transparency for the public. Our position generally speaking is we support a maximum view of what the public should have access to when it comes to public entities, he said. The Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance receives money directly from the City of Myrtle Beach and from some property owners. The organization acts as a quasi-governmental agency and therefore has to follow similar rules and laws for disclosure and transparency. Greene and any other employees would still also be responsible for any other South Carolina statutes or law regarding employment, confidentiality and economic development already. The Sun News has asked Sine to provide his emails and text messages that discuss the employment contract. Non-disclosure agreements are uncommon for employees who are paid using taxpayer funds and it sets a potentially dangerous precedent that can harm democracy, transparency and ultimately taxpayer who are funding the multi-million dollar operation, said S.C. Press Association attorney Taylor Smith. Non-disclosure agreements impact our marketplace of ideas, and when that marketplace concerns how public money is used or how decisions are made about public business, the harm to the marketplace can be extreme, Smith said. Agreements that suppress information which could be used to create a better-formed democracy ... are things that should be avoided. There are legal questions about the enforceability of non-disclosure agreements and restrictive covenants. Some legislators, like Alabama State Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, discussed plans to file legislation banning non-disclosure agreements involving taxpayer dollars. #NDAFree is a global movement with a vision to free individuals, Christian organizations and local churches from the misuse of non-disclosure agreements. This is what the group says about non-disparagement clauses. Whilst we shouldnt bad-mouth people, however truthful those comments may be, a non-disparagement clause goes far beyond a legal restriction on gossip. It prevents you saying anything negative at all. So if you talk about a harmful company product or an abusive executive with the aim of protecting other people, you can still be accused of disparagement. The group also points out that disparagement is different from defamation. Disparagement includes truthful statements about the company, while defamation only covers false statements. The South Carolina Press Association attorney sums up a significant concern with gagging employees funded and responsible for managing public dollars. Particularly since NDAs are disfavored by courts, it seems like it would be easier just to have trade secrets language in there so it kind of begs the question, what are they really trying to hide? he said. California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to convert San Quentin State Prison from a maximum security facility into rehabilitation center thats a model for the rest of the state and he wants Sacramentos leader to play a significant role. Newsom on Friday announced he is tapping Mayor Darrell Steinberg to lead the San Quentin Transformation Advisory Council, which will help reform the prison with more programming that pushes education and services over the existing punitive model. The 16-member council will develop a plan to change San Quentin, which houses about 3,900 inmates, into a prison modeled after those in Scandinavian countries known for their more humane systems of incarceration. San Quentins 546 death row inmates will be transferred to other state prisons. Steinberg will be the governors lead advisor and act as a liaison between Newsom and the Advisory Council. Newsom wants to see the reforms by 2025, giving the Advisory Council about a year-and-a-half to complete its work. The governor has allocated $20 million from the 2023-2024 budget to spend on his San Quentin transformation plans, subject to legislative approval. Newsom announced his plans for San Quentin in March during his California-wide State of the State tour. Instead of giving a speech in Sacramento, the governor traveled around the state to unveil several initiatives, including criminal justice reform. California has spent the past decade-and-a-half working to improve its prison system and alleviate severe overcrowding at its facilities. Sentencing law changes have resulted in fewer state prison inmates, as those convicted of lower-level crimes are no longer incarcerated or serve time in county jails. Newsom also has placed a moratorium on death row executions for the past four years. As California has begun to move away from mass incarceration, the state has started closing prisons and facility yards as a cost-saving measure. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced in December it will shutter its third state prison. (Reuters) - Prosecutors for Georgia's Fulton County have granted immunity to at least eight people under investigation for conspiring to overturn Georgia's vote in the 2020 presidential election, according to a court filing on Friday. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to disclose this summer whether former President Donald Trump and others will be charged with crimes related to interfering with the 2020 election. Attorney Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow represented 10 of the 16 suspected fake electors who may have offered to cast electoral college votes for Trump even though Democrat Joe Biden won Georgia and the right to all of the state's 16 electoral college votes. Debrow said in a court filing on Friday that prosecutors "made actual, written offers of immunity to these eight electors in April 2023 but not to the remaining two." That led to the non-immunized clients getting new lawyers, Debrow said in the filing. Also in the filing, Debrow said, "All eight of the electors who were offered immunity accepted." With immunity, those eight would be free to testify against any defendants. A spokesperson for Willis did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Willis' probe began soon after a recorded January 2021 phone call in which Trump asked Georgia's top election official to "find" the votes to reverse Biden's victory. Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied wrongdoing and accused Willis, an elected Democrat, of targeting him for political gain. Trump became the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges when New York prosecutors indicted him on March 30 for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to a porn star who claimed to have had an affair with him. He faces other investigations, including a pair of U.S. Justice Department probes into his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House and his efforts to alter 2020 election results. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Leslie Adler) Their Majesties King Charles III And Queen Camilla - Coronation Day A general view of the Great Golden Spurs during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in London, England on May 6, 2023. Credit - Gareth CattermoleGetty Images The coronation of King Charles III, during which the British monarch will be formally crowned today in Londons Westminster Abbey, is a ceremony steeped in religious rituals and customs dating back centuries. To royalists, it represents a deeply meaningful moment in British history; to anti-monarchists, its an anachronistic spectacle that neednt take place at all. What both can agree on, however, is that the coronation is, at its heart, perhaps one of the most extravagant and strangest of British traditionsthe constitutional equivalent, writes the British historian Tom Holland, of visiting a zoo, and finding a Triceratops in one of the enclosures. Perhaps no object better encapsulates this strangeness better than the so-called Great Golden Spurs. (Spurs, traditionally worn on the heels of horseback riding boots, have long been regarded as a symbol of knighthood.) These spurs, which feature a Tudor rose and a velvet-covered strap with gold embroidery, have appeared in coronations since 1189, symbolizing knightly values and chivalry. They were originally made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661 and were altered in 1820 for George IVs coronation. While the spurs were traditionally fastened to the monarchs feet, they will only be held at the sovereigns feet today. The Spurs, the Orb, and the Sovereign's Ring will play a starring role at the coronation of King Charles III. PA Wire/PA Images And the spurs arent just held by anyone. That responsibility falls to Simon Abney-Hastings, the 15th Earl of Loudoun who will be among 13 people and organizations appointed to play a ceremonial role in the coronation. His inclusion in the ceremony is by virtue of his ancestors, who have served as bearers of the golden spurs since King Richard Is coronation in the 12th century. Originally from Wangaratta, Australia, Abney-Hastings has traveled more than 10,000 miles to fulfill the role. I am delighted and sincerely honored to accept the invitation by the Crown to perform the Bearer of the Great Golden Spurs role at the Coronation of King Charles III, Abney-Hastings wrote last month on Facebook, where he regularly posts updates to his 1,000 followers. The irony, of course, is that some historians believe it is he, not Charles, who should be crowned. This is on the grounds that they believe Edward IV, who ascended to the throne in 1461, was illegitimate and that royal succession should have instead gone to his brother, George, Duke of Clarence, of whom Abney-Hastings is a direct descendant. But observers shouldnt expect any attempted royal coupsthe Earl of Loudoun told the Times of London that he has no royal ambitions. Read More: The Enduring Oddness of King Charles III The golden spurs are far from the only ornate props that will appear during the coronation. The ceremony will feature the Stone of Destiny, an ancient symbol of Scottish kings that was seized by King Edward I in 1296. (The Stone was briefly stolen back by a group of Scottish students in 1950, and since 1996 has been officially returned to Scotland, where it resides permanently when not in use at coronations.) There will also be three swords (representing mercy, spiritual justice, and temporal justice), a golden orb (which is placed in the right hand of the monarch, symbolizing both his power and the Christian world), and a special coronation spoon (which is used in the anointing of holy oil, the most sacred part of the coronation ceremony). For most observers, the vast majority of whom would not have been alive for the last coronation of Charles mother, Queen Elizabeth II, these ornaments and the ancient roots underpinning them are strange and antiquated relics. Many of them will probably go unnoticed, upstaged by more familiar symbols of monarchy such as the crown, royal carriages, and Paddington Bear. You may have missed the memo, but the Biden administration's Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) created a new rule, which took effect Monday. It changes mortgage fees based on a borrowers credit score. Heres why you should care: If you are an American who has worked hard for good credit, you are likely to pay more on your home loan now than you would have before this revision. By charging borrowers with good credit scores higher fees, those with non-stellar scores will pay less steep fees than they did previously. Think of it as mortgage socialism. It is absolutely intended to create a greater cross-subsidy, Mark Calabria, a senior adviser at the Cato Institute and former FHFA director, told me. So the kind of outrage you may be hearing in conservative circles about how this is penalizing people who have good credit to subsidize people with bad credit is 100% true. The goal is to encourage more home ownership. But whats the message that President Joe Biden and Democrats are sending here? Its definitely not one of rewarding smart decisions. Who knows what's best for your kids? Hint: Biden and Democrats don't think it's parents Equitable for whom? Biden tried to do something similar with his $400 billion-plus student loan forgiveness plan by creating a situation that unfairly penalizes those who have paid the loans they took out and the ones who never got loans in the first place by making them pay for this leniency. President Joe Biden is scheduled to formally kick off his 2024 campaign on April 25, 2023. This housing rule change will have broad impact, as it affects most loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which are in turn backed by taxpayers. These loans comprise about 60% of the mortgage market. Biden must compromise on debt ceiling: Otherwise, we're all headed toward disaster The new fees are tied to a bigger plan from the housing agency and Biden administration to offer "equitable" access to homeownership. That may sound like a worthy goal, yet its worth questioning who must pay for it. Progressives like to link low-income borrowers with those who have bad credit. Thats not always the case, though. Plenty of wealthier borrowers dont have good credit, just as there are low-income families who have maintained high credit scores. Story continues Its also risky to incentivize those who cant afford a home loan to take one. Just look at what happened in 2008 with the mortgage meltdown. It is important to note that those with lower credit scores will still pay more overall than those with better credit (so dont go out and try to ruin your credit) theyll just be paying less than they were before. Republicans say no thanks The fee changes have garnered heated criticism from conservatives. Eighteen senators, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, sent a letter last month to FHFA Director Sandra Thompson, a Biden nominee. This shortsighted and counterproductive policy demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the necessity of accurately tailoring housing finance products to credit risk and establishes a perverse incentive that punishes hardworking Americans for their fiscal prudence, the letter said. Playing politics with social security: Joe Biden wants you to think GOP is the biggest 'threat' to Social Security. He's wrong. In addition, state treasurers and finance officials from 27 states sent a letter on Monday urging the Biden administration to backtrack from the policy. It is already clear that this new policy will be a disaster, they wrote. It amounts to a middle-class tax hike that will unfairly cost American families millions upon millions of dollars. Even a former federal housing official under President Barack Obama slammed the Biden rule, saying its unprecedented and not the way to encourage more home ownership. The cost of the fee change won't be huge for most borrowers, but one estimate pegs the extra costs for higher-credit borrowers at $3,200. That's not an insignificant charge, especially one caused by bureaucratic meddling. Besides, its the principle that counts. And Biden's wrong on this one. Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Good credit score will cost you more under Biden's new mortgage rule Why isnt Gov. Greg Abbott asking how an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing five people, including a child, got an AR-15-style rifle? That should be top priority for the Texas governor, who clearly only cares about the legal status of the suspected gunman and the victims of this heinous crime. Francisco Oropeza, 38, is the man accused of killing his neighbors over the weekend after he was asked to stop firing rounds in his yard in Cleveland, Texas. Authorities said Oropeza used an AR-15-style rifle in the killing spree. Law enforcement authorities removing bodies from a scene where five people were shot the night before Saturday, April 29, 2023, in Cleveland, TX. Abbott is going all-out to catch the guy, offering a $50,000 reward and deploying every available resource to the manhunt as he should. Additional money from other law enforcement agencies has added to the reward. But what seems to matter most to the governor is not the loss of human lives but rather labeling the gunman and the victims as illegal immigrants. He noted as much in a tweet and a news release about the reward. The violence is our problem, too: Americans kidnapped in Mexico is a wake-up call for all of us Texas shooting is a chance to play politics Abbott doesnt waste any opportunity to capitalize on the anti-immigrant sentiment and this time is no exception. This is despicable, Star Trek actor George Takei wrote on Twitter. I would have thought bringing up the immigration status of the innocent victims of this senseless violence would be beneath even you. But I was wrong. Despicable, indeed. And not only because the illegal status of the victims may turn out to be untrue some were reporting that at least one of the victims wasnt in the country illegally but because Abbott is politicizing the whole thing. If the governor truly cares about the immigration status of the people involved in this Texas shooting, he should also be angry that an illegal immigrant obtained an AR-15-style rifle in the first place. But no mention of that. How did Oropeza get the firearms if he had no legal documents? Abbott doesnt care about that or about the lives he cut short obviously. Email Elvia Diaz, editorial page editor for The Arizona Republic and azcentral, at elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Abbott should focus on Texas shooting victims, not immigration status As part of a tour through the Savannah-area today, Gov. Brian Kemp signed S.B. 92 at the Chatham County Sheriffs Office on Carl Griffin Drive, making official a law that creates a Prosecuting Attorneys Oversight Commission for district attorneys and solicitors-general across Georgia. Kemp appeared earlier in the day at the future site of the Hyundai Metaplant in Bryan County to sign into law a sales use tax exemption Among other responsibilities, the eight-member commission, consisting of five investigators and three hearing panel members, will have the power to discipline, remove, and cause involuntary retirement of appointed or elected district attorneys or solicitors-general. Opponents of the law fear it circumvents the will of local voters and prevents district attorneys from pursuing some restorative justice measures, such as diversion programs, in favor of harsher criminal charges. Supporters suggest the commission provides necessary oversight to discipline district attorneys and solicitors-general who do not prosecute certain crimes, such as the state's six-week abortion ban. Senate Bill 92 by Amy Condon on Scribd At the press conference accompanying the signing, Kemp said, "People are finally fed up with local prosecutors that simply are not doing their job." Infrastructure Investment: EPA, Ossoff announce $4 billion in federal funding for port electrification 'Change is inevitable': Effingham County leaders tout growth and development Kemp continued, "I wouldn't want to speak to any individual things that's going on in the [Chatham County District Attorney's Office] because I haven't been privileged to those conversations, but that's why people are outraged. Because when you have things like ... prosecutors leaving because of incompetency, and you have offices, whether it's Chatham County or anywhere else in the state, it's raisin' a lot of eyebrows, citizens are concerned about that. And plus, you have dangerous criminals getting off scot-free because people simply don't know how to do their job, and that's why the legislature and our office wanted to tackle this issue." Story continues As Chatham County Sheriff John Wilcher looks on, Governor Brian Kemp signs S.B. 92, which establishes a Prosecuting Attorneys Oversight Commission, at the Chatham County Detention Center, on May 5, 2023. The signing of S.B. 92 comes at a time when Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones faces increased scrutiny for pleading down, or reducing, murder convictions to lesser charges, such as manslaughter. Since taking office in January 2021, Jones has faced a backlog of cases, exacerbated by the COVID-19 shutdown of courts, staffing shortages including three ADAs who quit last month, and accusations of fostering a discriminatory culture within the office. Jones did not respond to messages by publication time asking for comment about how the bill could impact her office, but other district attorneys contacted by the Savannah Morning News offered their insights. In a phone call, Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley described S.B. 92 as needlessly redundant. "The state bar is already in place," said Mosley. "If we violate one of the rules of bar's ethics, there's an investigation that goes before the Supreme Court to make a determination what our punishment should be." DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston issued a statement via email: "Not only is Senate Bill 92 an assault on prosecutorial discretion and independence its a direct attack on the nature of our democratic process. This legislation seeks to disenfranchise voters in local communities who do not elect so-called tough-on-crime candidates. Drew Favakeh is the public safety reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com. This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signs SB 92 prosecutor oversight commission in Savannah Miguel Jimenez and Andy McNeil chat in McNeils garage as water from snowmelt rushes past them on Killyons Lane in Emigration Canyon on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. Gov. Spencer Cox will call the Utah Legislature into special session to deal with Utah flooding issues. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Gov. Spencer Cox is calling the Utah Legislature into a special session on May 17, his office announced. In a proclamation issued late Friday afternoon, the governor laid out three items requiring immediate legislative action, the first being to ask lawmakers to extend a state of emergency to address flooding in Utah communities and the risks of flooding, landslides, mudslides and other impacts from this winters record-breaking snowmelt. The record winter left the state with an unprecedented snowpack Alta Ski Resort reported over 900 inches of snow and as temperatures rise, so does the risk of flooding, landslides and avalanches. Cox is also asking lawmakers to reallocate funds to address the costs of snow removal, flooding, flood response and mitigation. Under a change to state law made during the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency orders issued by the governor can last no longer than 30 days, and legislators must be notified within 10 days of expiration if an extension is needed. Legislative leaders received that notification early Friday, the state Senates chief of staff, Mark Thomas said. Thomas said the flooding emergency could be extended during the special session until mid-August, and again after that if necessary. I think its pretty clear and obvious that were in the thick of it with flooding, and everyone agreed that we ought to move forward, Thomas said. He said he hasnt yet heard how much money will be needed by the Utah Department of Transportation and other agencies. House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, said in a statement that hes looking forward to the special session as an opportunity to plan and prepare for the needs of our state as the weather changes. As temperatures continue to warm, we must prepare for increased flooding. Extending the current state of emergency will allow sufficient time for the reaction, repair and restoration phases that will need to occur on both the state and local levels due to this historic flooding, the speaker said. Story continues A similar special session was called last year to extend Coxs emergency order for the drought. The last item in Fridays proclamation asks lawmakers to consider amendments to HB225, a law sponsored by Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, that deals with firearm possession. The bill requires agencies to run a background check when returning a gun that was used as evidence and directs a court to report that information to Criminal Investigations Technical Services Division to provide the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator in certain circumstances, according to the bills text. It amends the states definition of a restricted person and requires that law enforcement are alerted when a restricted person attempts to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer. Lastly, it classifies someone in the state on a nonimmigrant visa as a restricted person. Thomas said the issue with HB225 is related to provision preventing someone in the country on a nonimmigrant work visa from possessing or owning a firearm that was thought to be part of federal law. Thats not the case, so lawmakers will look at removing the provision, he said. Groundwork Jacksonville, a non-profit organization dedicated to environmental restoration and community revitalization, has been awarded two grants totaling more than $5.7 Million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The funds will be used for the restoration of Hogans and McCoys Creeks, two of the most important waterways in Jacksonville, Florida. The grants are part of a larger initiative by NOAA to provide $265 million in funding for 38 transformational habitat restoration and coastal resilience projects this year. The goal of these projects is to help protect coastal communities and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change and make significant strides in the recovery of threatened and endangered species. Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry praised the work of Groundwork Jacksonville, saying, It is crucial that we protect and enhance our natural resources when building up and connecting our neighborhoods. I applaud the work Groundwork Jacksonville is doing to help restore our citys creeks and ensure a safe, resilient, and more connected Jacksonville. The Hogans Creek restoration project was awarded $2.95 Million from NOAA and will include the completion of the creek design, a Project Development, and Environment (PD&E) study to design a bridge to allow for the daylighting of a portion of the creek, a fish study with the Marine Science Research Institute at Jacksonville University, and the expansion of Groundworks Community Restoration Environmental Stewardship Training (CREST) program into Hogans Creek neighborhoods. The McCoys Creek Branches project was awarded $2.8 Million from NOAA and will restore the natural function of 4,752 linear feet of stream within the creeks headwaters. The project will create a natural meander within a more deeply excavated and fully vegetated wetland floodplain to improve water quality and reduce downstream flooding. These grants will have a transformative impact across the country, according to NOAA. They include capstone projects that build on decades of work in priority watersheds, innovative projects that implement cutting-edge restoration techniques, and groundbreaking efforts that restore habitat in urban ecosystems to benefit underserved communities. Story continues Trish Kapustka, APR, CPRC of TLK Communications, which represents Groundwork Jacksonville, said, These grants from NOAA are a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone at Groundwork Jacksonville. We are thrilled to be able to continue our mission of environmental restoration and community revitalization in Jacksonville, and we look forward to seeing the positive impact these projects will have on our city and our state. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. Micah Ross Johnson's second murder trial ended just like his first: with a conviction for the murder of Carrie Daugherty in March 2008. After nearly two weeks of exhaustive testimony that stretched into the weekend, the jury took just a few hours on May 6 to convict the now-36-year-old defendant of first-degree premeditated and intentional murder, first-degree felony murder, especially aggravated kidnapping and especially aggravated robbery. His sentencing is set for July 21. Johnson spent a decade in prison before his initial conviction was overturned by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in January 2022 and he was released on $1 million bond in June. The court remanded the case back to Knox County for a retrial that began last week. Carrie Daugherty, murdered Barley's Tap Room waitress. Micah Johnson, of Maryville, has been charged with first-degree murder in the case. Photo by Bryan Campbell/Special to the News Sentinel Sanity of defendant heart of issue in brutal murder of Carrie Daugherty "A brick, a shovel and a rope. Thats what this guy did, thats what he used to brutally murder Carrie Daugherty," Knox County Assistant District Attorney General Larry Dillon told the jury. Dillon said the multiple attacks on Daugherty over the course of 10 minutes showed the required premeditation, ascribing the brutal assault to the first version of events given by the defendant: that Daugherty was unable to pay him everything she owed on a marijuana debt, that he propositioned her and then killed her when she slapped him. Afterward, Johnson went to the house where he lived with his father to shower, change clothes and put his bloody clothes in a bag, Dillon said. Johnson then left the house through a window, carrying the bag, and pulled $500 from an ATM before fleeing to Georgia but later returning to Tennessee. Dillon discredited Johnson's insanity defense, telling the jury he knew what he was doing. "Let's not get lost in the weeds," he said. "The truth is like a compass. A compass can always be relied upon to lead you true north. Use your compass. You will get there." Johnson's attorney, Gregory Isaacs, quipped that the prosecution's compass must have become demagnetized and wasn't working right. Story continues According to Isaacs, there was "consistent and converging" evidence that his client suffered from a debilitating mental illness. The legal standard for insanity, he said, is simple: the jury must find that Johnson suffered from a severe mental illness on March 19, 2008, the date of the murder. And he must have been unable to understand what he was doing, or that it was wrong. Johnson grew visibly distraught as Isaacs spoke of his illness that progressed through 2007 and 2008, frequently wiping tears from his eyes. "These are tough facts. ... You have a tough job," Isaacs told the jury. "Dont let the state ignore the facts because of the severity of the crime." In the end, however, the jury chose to believe Johnson was not insane and knew what he was doing when he killed Daugherty. Johnson's attorney confirmed he intends to file an appeal of the jury's verdict. Liz Kellar is a public safety reporter. Email lkellar@knoxnews.com. Twitter @LizKellar. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe. This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Jury again convicts man who killed a Knoxville server in 2008 Meteorologists say a strong thunderstorm in the Sacramento area is bringing pea-sized hail and a funnel cloud through northern portions of the metro area Saturday afternoon. The National Weather Service is encouraging people in the areas of southeastern Sutter, northern Sacramento and southwestern Placer counties to shelter indoors amid 30 mph winds and quarter-inch hail. The special weather statement issued just after noon recommends residents stay inside until at least 1:15 p.m. The storm, in which a funnel cloud was spotted on radar near Pleasant Grove, is moving northeast at 10 mph, meteorologists say. Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible in Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln, Loomis and Pleasant Grove. Peace, unity high on FM's agenda in India 08:34, May 06, 2023 By ZHANG YUNBI ( Chinadaily.com.cn Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang (L) meets with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers' meeting in Goa, India, May 4, 2023. Javed Dar/Xinhua The peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis, tranquillity on the border with India and the strategic autonomy of Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states were among the central topics of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang's meetings with counterparts from other SCO members. Over the past two days in Goa, India, Qin attended the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting and held a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the event. His meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took place on Thursday, around three weeks after their meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Speaking to his Russian colleague, Qin said Beijing would remain committed to facilitating peace talks and "is willing to maintain communication and coordination with Russia" to make a tangible contribution to the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. Lavrov said Moscow attaches great importance to the position paper issued by Beijing in February for a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. Russia endorses China's principled position and is willing to maintain close contacts with China in a candid manner, he added. "The recent series of diplomatic moves taken by Beijing have shown that China is not a direct stakeholder in or an initiator of the Ukraine crisis, and it has been consistently playing a constructive role in easing the situation and resolving the crisis," said Sun Zhuangzhi, director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It should be noted that currently the voices representing cool heads are getting louder, and all parties should take this opportunity create better conditions to enable a political settlement of the crisis, he added. Regarding China-Russia coordination and contacts in the Asia-Pacific region, Beijing and Moscow agreed at the meeting to "reject 'a new Cold War' and to champion the region's peace and stability", said a news release by the Foreign Ministry. On bilateral ties, Beijing and Moscow agreed to plan and arrange high-level exchanges as well as exchanges at various levels, step up economic and trade cooperation, deepen cultural exchanges and facilitate exchanges of visits. Speaking to Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at a bilateral meeting on Thursday, Qin pointed out that the current situation on the China-India border is generally stable. He said the two sides should continue to implement the important consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries, consolidate the achievements which have already been made, strictly abide by relevant agreements and protocols, promote further cooling and easing of the border situation, and maintain sustainable peace and tranquillity in the border areas. As the world's top two most-populous developing countries, China and India are both at a critical period of modernization, Qin noted. Both sides "should learn from history, grasp bilateral relations from a strategic height and in a long-term perspective", and "respect each other, learn from each other and enable each other's success", Qin said. The Indian foreign minister said the two nations need to strengthen cooperation in many areas. He said India looks to maintaining peace and stability in the border areas through further consultations with China. When addressing the SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting on Friday, Qin warned against attempts to provoke a new Cold War, as well as efforts to engage in unilateralism, protectionism and power politics. The SCO member states are expected to "stay true to strategic autonomy and reinforce unity and mutual trust", he said. These countries should staunchly support each other in championing sovereignty, security and development interests, and reject interference by external forces in the region's affairs and attempts to promote "color revolutions", he said. Also, the member states are expected to "resolutely boycott any moves sabotaging the international economic and trade order and market rules", and to "secure the stability and functioning of production and supply chains", he added. This year marks the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping proposing the landmark Belt and Road Initiative, and China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation this year. Beijing sees the forum as an opportunity to work with various parties to make this road of opportunity and prosperity even broader over the next decade, Qin said. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA Half of the 16 so-called fake electors in Georgia who sought to falsely declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election have accepted immunity deals in the local criminal investigation into the matter, their lawyer said in a court filing on Friday. The immunity deals to the eight came in April, according to the filing, after the Fulton county district attorneys office called their lawyer and said prosecutors were willing to make the arrangement about four months after the lawyer asked about the prospect of such deals. With half of the fake electors now apparently immune from prosecution, the scope of a potential conspiracy indictment ensnaring Trump and the electors identified as targets in the case may have narrowed, not least because the immunity deals did not compel any incriminating information in return. Related: Dominion is not done fighting 2020 election lies. A look at its other cases The filing also raised new questions about how prosecutors might handle the fake electors more broadly, after the lawyer for the eight, Kimberly Debrow, effectively accused the district attorneys office of misrepresenting key facts in an earlier motion seeking to have her disqualified. The latest twist in the Georgia election criminal investigation comes as the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, is expected to ask a grand jury starting in mid-July to return charges against Trump and dozens of people involved in efforts to reverse his defeat in the state of Georgia. Last month, the district attorneys office sought to disqualify Debrow from the case entirely, citing her clients testimony that they were not told of immunity offers, and citing a conflict of interest after some of her clients implicated another one of her clients in a separate crime. In the 68-page brief filed on Friday, Debrow vehemently disputed the claims, saying that transcripts and recordings of interviews submitted to the court for a confidential review showed that none of her clients told prosecutors that immunity offers were not brought to them in 2022. Story continues The filing also revealed that although eight fake electors received immunity deals, two of the fake electors whose identities were not disclosed and were until recently her clients had not. One of them is understood to be Cathy Latham, a local Republican party leader. A spokesperson for the district attorneys office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Debrow claimed in the filing that the transcripts of interviews with her clients showed one of the prosecutors, Nathan Wade, sought to intentionally confuse them by suggesting they were offered immunity last year, though no actual offers had been made before April 2023. In one instance, Debrow claimed, the prosecutor threatened to tear up the immunity deal that was already in force and binding if Debrow did not stop clarifying that the discussions about immunity prior to April were only potential offers. Heres the deal. Heres the deal. Either [Elector E] is going to get this immunity, and hes going to answer the questions and wants to talk or were going to leave. And if we leave, were ripping up his immunity agreement, Wade is said to have told Debrow and her client. Debrow also claimed she could find no testimony in her clients interview transcripts showing them implicating another fake electors in a further crime, noting that the district attorneys office had refused to say what the alleged crime was, or who had made the allegations. All of the electors remain united in their collective innocence and defenses, and none testified or believe that they or any other elector committed any wrongdoing, much less criminal acts, the filing said. Debrow added that even if it were true that some of clients incriminated another of her clients, it would not matter since they could not be prosecuted as a result of the immunity deals. As Mothers Day gets closer, Orange County will host a special event celebrating new moms Saturday morning. Mothers who are currently pregnant or just had a baby that is six months or younger are invited to this celebration. Calling New Moms who are currently pregnant or just had an infant 6 months or younger, U are invited to a Mothers Day Celebration This is your chance to ask questions about child development, what to expect & more at 407-723-5349@WFTV @HealthyStartORG pic.twitter.com/pUX1ObuPRY GOHealthyOrange (@DohOrange) May 2, 2023 The event will have a panel discussion that will help moms navigate through their new journey of parenting. Mothers can ask questions about mental health, early child development, and what to expect as a first-time mama. Read: Heres what Walmart will give new moms on Mothers Day Also, this will be an opportunity for new moms to connect with women in their communities going through the same journey. That way, they will be able to support each other. The Mothers Day celebration will be at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. See a map of the location below: Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. Prince Harry and Meghan Markles friend and photographer Misan Harriman has wished the couples son Prince Archie a happy birthday with a poignant photo of the child touching a portrait of his late grandmother, Princess Diana. The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs son celebrates his fourth birthday on 6 May, which happens to be the same day as King Charles and Queen Camillas coronation. The timing of the two events meant that Prince Harry made a brief solo trip to the UK to attend his fathers coronation, while Meghan remained in California with the couples two children, Archie and Princess Lilibet, one. On Saturday, the Nigerian-born British photographer, who has photographed Meghan and her family on a number of notable occasions, shared the birthday tribute to Archie on Instagram, where he posted a screengrab of a baby Archie touching a black-and-white portrait of his late grandmother. The screengrab was taken from Harry and Meghans Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, and captured the moment that the Duchess of Sussex held her son up to a photo of Diana that hung in his nursery. Who is that? Meghan asked her son, with Archie then seen reaching out and placing his hand on the framed photograph. Hey Grandma Thats your grandma, Meghan informed the child during the sweet moment. On Instagram, Harriman shared the screengrab along with the caption: Wishing you the happiest of birthdays Archie along with a heart emoji. Harrimans choice of photo prompted some of his followers to speculate about the message the photographer was sending, with some suggesting he was shading the royal family on the day of the King and Queens coronation. Princess Diana and now-King Charles were married from 1981 to 1996, during which time they welcomed sons Prince William and Prince Harry. Before their divorce, the couple both reportedly engaged in extramarital affairs, with Diana telling the BBC: There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded in reference to the Kings now-wife Queen Camilla. In 1997, the late Princess of Wales died at the age of 36 from injuries sustained in a car crash. Story continues I see you @misanharriman I see the subtle shade, one person commented, while another said: So poignant Misan. Thank you for sharing this with us! My heart is with Harry and Diana today. The most important thing today is your birthday Archie! someone else wrote. Others took the opportunity to share their own birthday wishes to Archie, with one person writing: Such a sweet pic! Happy birthday Prince Archie!! You are loved. Happy birthday little one! May you be surrounded with love and joy on your special day! another comment reads. After arriving in the UK on Friday aboard a commercial flight, Prince Harry attended the coronation ceremony of King Charles and Queen Camilla solo. The Duke of Sussex was then seen leaving Westminster Abbey alone after the ceremony ended, with the father-of-two believed to already be on his way back to California. Although the duke did not appear to have any interaction with his brother William during the ceremony, he was seen smiling at several points throughout the service, which saw him seated in the third row near his cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank. At the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs home in California, Meghan is said to be hosting a low-key party for Prince Archies fourth birthday, a source told People. Theyll have friends around them and Meghans mom, Doria [Ragland]. Meghan will definitely have support that weekend. Follow along for live updates from the coronation. "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies are sure to make dazzling appearances at the coronation of King Charles III this weekend, but a far more precious rock will also play an important, if subtle, role. Enter the legendary Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone. This 336-pound sandstone slab has journeyed all the way from Edinburgh to London for King Charles's big day. At Westminster Abbey, it will be fitted underneath the over 700-year-old wooden Coronation Chair, which the monarch will sit upon as he is crowned. So, what's the big deal about the boulder? Read ahead for six major facts about the ancient relic. Legend says its origins are biblicalbut, scientists say otherwise. According to a Celtic myth, biblical patriarch Jacob used the stone as a pillow over 3,000 years ago; it was the pillow he allegedly rested on when he received visions from angels. The stone thus traveled from Palestine through Egypt, Sicily, Spain, and Ireland, where, at last, Celtic Scots took the coveted rock slab to the village of Scone. Archaeologists, however, dispute this story. National Geographic notes that it is not possible for the stone to have once belonged to Jacob, since it is made of sandstone instead of limestone, the latter of which forms the bedrock of the Holy Land. It is more likely that the Stone of Destiny was quarried in Scotland. It has been used in coronations for centuries. At about 700 BCE, the stone was allegedly set upon Ireland's hill of Tara and used for the crownings of ancient Irish kings. When Celtic Scots seized the stone, it was transported to the Scottish village of Scone (hence the name, Stone of Scone) where it was then encased in a coronation chair for Scottish kings. John de Balliol was the last Scottish king to use the stone for a coronation before England's King Edward I invaded the country and moved it to London. Story continues England stole the stone from Scotland. Edward I removed the stone from Scotland after conquering the country in 1296. It lied in Westminster Abbey, where he had it fitted into the bottom of a special wooden throne, known as the Coronation Chair. Henceforth, the inclusion of the rock in English coronations was meant to symbolize Scotland's inclusion under the English crown. Susannah Ireland - PA Images - Getty Images The sandstone rock continues to play an important role in the inductions of British sovereigns today. It was last used in a coronation during the 1953 crowning of Queen Elizabeth II. Fox Photos - Getty Images Supposedly, a prophecy was once attached to the stone. According to legend, a prophecy was once written on a piece of metal attached to the stone. There are differing translations to the supposed prophecy. One such translation by Sir Walter Scott reads: Unless the fates be faulty grown And prophets voice be vain Whereer is found this sacred stone The Scottish race shall reign. Another declares: If Fates go right, where'er this stone is found The Scots shall monarchs of that realm be crowned. The inscription seems to foretell the return of a Scottish ruler. Some Scots thought the prophecy was fulfilled when James VI became king in 1603 after the death of his cousin, Elizabeth I. Scottish students stole it back in 1950. On Christmas morning of 1950, four Glasgow studentsGavin Vernon, Kay Matheson, Alan Stuart, and Ian Hamiltonbroke into Westminster Abbey, dragged the stone across the floor and into their getaway car, and drove away. The Stone of Destiny would turn up three months later at Scotland's Arbroath Abbey, where the Declaration of Scottish Independence was famously signed. The incident occurred during a contentious period of Scottish nationalism, in which many Scots expressed their desire for self-government. PA Images - Getty Images It officially returned home to Scotland in 1996. Prime Minister John Major returned the stone to Scotland in 1996. It is now currently housed in Edinburgh Castle, and has been transported from Edinburgh to London for King Charles's May 6 coronation. You Might Also Like This article originally appeared on Backpacker A hiker who went missing from her campsite on the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut last Wednesday has reappeared alive and well, authorities say. Marta Renee Bowen, a 60-year-old physician from Durham, North Carolina, left her hiking gear and cell phone behind when she disappeared from an AT shelter near Kent, state police said in an initial post about the incident last week. Her disappearance sparked a search by several local fire agencies, including volunteer personnel from Kent, Sherman and Warren, as well as a dive team and helicopter from the Connecticut State Police and officers from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). It was Bowen herself, however, who ended up contacting the authorities. Speaking to Connecticuts NBC affiliate, the DEEP said that Bowen had encountered a group of hikers on the trail south of her campsite and used their cell phone to call 911. Emergency responders located Bowen and provided her with medical treatment. At the time she went missing, Bowen was reportedly section-hiking the AT with two companions. State police say they believe she walked away on her own; DEEP officials told Danburys News-Times they believed Bowen may have gotten up during the night and become lost. For exclusive access to all of our fitness, gear, adventure, and travel stories, plus discounts on trips, events, and gear, sign up for Outside+ today. TheGrios White House correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief April Ryan breaks down the latest in Washington. On the latest episode of The Hill with April Ryan, host and theGrios White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief April Ryan breaks down the latest happenings in Washington. On Capitol Hill, the Congressional Black Caucus will hold a May 9 summit focused on democracy and race and the intersecting issues impacting Black America. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas spoke to Ryan about the summits top agenda items, including the need to pass new laws to protect the right to vote amid Republican-led restrictions to voting and racial gerrymandering of congressional maps. Jackson Lee, who is running for mayor of Houston, told theGrio as we approach the 2024 presidential election, President Biden must make thisa crucial element of his reelection campaign. The Hill with April Ryan also caught up with Philip Smith, founder and president of the National African American Gun Association. He explained his angst with calls from lawmakers to enact red flag laws, which would allow the authorities to confiscate a firearm if someone is deemed a danger to themselves or others. Smith said such laws would pose as an impediment for Black people. Oftentimes in the Black community, those laws are weaponized against Black men and women to take their guns for no reason. This week we also dive into the violent conflict in Sudan that has led more than 1,000 U.S. citizens to evacuate to safety. During a recent press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said U.S. national security officials were in direct contact with leaders involved in the Sudan conflict and urged them to end hostilities immediately without conditions. The United Nations recently warned that Sudan is at a breaking point amid gunfire and explosions in the capital city Khartoum. And as the nation experiences an ongoing economic crunch, financial advisor Allan Boomer shared with Ryan what Black people can do to stay financially afloat. Boomer notably said 1 in 7 Americans have funds theyve been out of touch with for so long that its been turned over to state or federal agencies for them to claim. Catch an all-new episode of The Hill with April Ryan every Thursday on theGrio.com and theGrios social media platforms. The post The Hill with April Ryan: CBC summit, Sudan conflict and preparing for recession appeared first on TheGrio. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined calls for establishing an enforceable code of ethics for Supreme Court justices following ethical controversies surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas. Clinton said on Friday at a conference for the nonprofit she co-founded with fellow former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Vital Voices Global Partnership, that lower courts, circuit courts, members of Congress and candidates running for office all have enforceable ethics codes, but the highest court in the country does not. Why should they be the only institution in the United States without a code of ethics that is enforceable? Clinton said. The nonpartisan nongovernmental organization was founded to push for women to hold leadership positions in countries throughout the world. Clinton joins others who have called for new ethical rules for Supreme Court justices following the reports about gifts that Thomas received and possible conflicts of interest he may have had that he did not disclose publicly. ProPublica first reported early last month that Thomas and his wife had for years accepted luxury vacations from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, a billionaire real estate developer, without disclosing them on his financial disclosure forms. Federal law requires justices to disclose most gifts that they receive, with some exceptions. Thomas said in response to the report that he was advised that he did not need to disclose the trips because they were considered personal hospitality from a friend. ProPublica also reported later that month that Crow bought a house from Thomas and his family for Crow to eventually turn the house into a museum commemorating Thomas life and career. The outlets most recent report Thursday said that Crow also covered some tuition payments for Thomas great-nephew to attend private boarding schools. Thomas did not previously disclose these publicly. Clinton referenced former Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, who resigned from his position in 1969 following revelations that he had accepted and then returned money from a friend who was involved in a case before the court. Story continues She said ethical standards should exist that carry some weight. She said the standards should be nonpartisan, affecting all who serve on the court. The daily revelations about what has gone on, particularly with Justice Thomas, but a few others as well and it should be nonpartisan. Not just bipartisan. Nonpartisan. There should be a set of standards, and people should be held to them, she said. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch have also faced some controversy over not recusing themselves from cases involving the publisher of books they each wrote. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Daniel Penny, a former marine who placed Jordan Neely in a lethal chokehold on Monday night on a northbound F train in New York City, released a statement casting blame on politicians for turning a blind eye to mental illness. For too long, those suffering from mental illness have been treated with indifference. We hope that out of this awful tragedy will come a new commitment by our elected officials to address the mental health crisis on our streets and subways. New: Daniel Penny, the man who choked and killed Jordan Neely, has released a statement through his attorneys pic.twitter.com/QvHS5N69sG philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 6, 2023 While Penny, through his legal team, expressed condolences to those close to Mr. Neely, his statement went on to argue that the former soldier was acting in self-defense to protect passengers in the subway car. Mr. Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness. When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived, the letter continues. Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death. Neelys death has polarized the city. Many are pointing to skyrocketing levels of violence on public transit, while others see the episode as an unequivocal act of racism. Despite Neelys extensive criminal recordlaw enforcement sources have told media outlets that he has been arrested at least 40 times with charges ranging from assault to disorderly conduct and fare evasionDemocratic Governor Kathy Hochul condemned Pennys actions in a press conference. Before we get started answering your questions, the Governor told reporters on Thursday afternoon, I do want to acknowledge how horrific it was to view a video of Jordan Neely being killed for being a passenger on the subway trains. Story continues Asked by a journalist what the appropriate response should be when somebodys acting erratically, [and] threatening people, Hochul deflected. I think its a case-by-case situation. This was an unarmed individual who had been on the subway many times, known by many of the regular travelers. And you know, sometimes people have an episode where theyre displaying their feelings in a loud and emotional way, but it became very clear that he was not going to, you know, cause harm to these other people. And the video of three individuals holding him down until the last breath was snuffed out of him. I would say it was a very extreme response. Eyewitness testimony from passengers aboard the subway train ostensibly confirmed that Neely had made repeated threats to the well-being of passengers, stating his willingness to hurt anyone and saying that he was unbothered by the prospect of returning to jail or being killed. However, many remain deeply disturbed by the episode and protesters flocked to the subway platform at Broadway-Lafayette station on Wednesday to demand action over Neelys death with many blaming it on racism and the citys handling of homeless people. Im at the Broadway-Lafayette station, where a crowd of people is protesting the killing of Jordan Neely on an F train yesterday. pic.twitter.com/A0yp7p4pwQ Samantha Max (@samanthaellimax) May 3, 2023 There was no empathy on that train car, Karim Walker, a homeless advocate working with the Urban Justice Center, told the New York Times. He did not need to nor did he deserve to die in the manner that he did, Walker asserted. Thats what really scares me and thats what really breaks my heart. New York City Mayor Eric Adams struck a different chord from Governor Hochul, suggesting it was irresponsible to determine fault before all the facts are known. We do know there were serious mental health issues in play here which is why our administration has made record investment in providing care to those who ended it and getting people off the streets and subways, and out of dangerous situations. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y) denounced the Mayors comments as a new low. This honestly feels like a new low: not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem too low to care about, the New York representative wrote on Twitter. The last sentence is especially rich from an admin trying to cut the very services that could have helped him. Penny is being represented by Thomas Kenniff, a Republican veteran of the Iraq War and a rival of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, to whom he lost in the 2021 DA race. More from National Review MILAN (AP) Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has made his first public statements since being hospitalized a month ago, delivering a video address to his Forza Italia political party on Saturday. Berlusconi, who appeared in the video sitting at a desk set up inside the hospital and flanked by Italian and EU flags, received a standing ovation from the floor of the party congress in Milan. The 86-year-old three-time former premier and media mogul noted that it was the first time since he was hospitalized that he has worn a coat and jacket. Berlusconi told party members that Forza Italia is an essential and loyal pillar of the governing majority led by Giorgia Melonis far-right Brothers of Italy, and said he was proud of the government's accomplishments so far, including a reduction in payroll taxes. Berlusconi was hospitalized at Milan's San Raffaele hospital with a lung infection on April 5, and doctors later revealed he also has chronic leukemia. His party is the smallest in Melonis coalition, which also includes Matteo Salvinis League. Berlusconi has a seat in the Senate, but no Cabinet posts. Jacqueline "Jackie" Jencquel was a notable activist for assisted death, making international headlines for her stance on right-to-die issues and often accompanied people to Switzerland, where assisted dying is legal. In the film Jackie the Wolf (part of Toronto's Hot Docs festival), her son Tuki Jencquel documents and shares unconventional conversations with his mom, leading up to her final words. Jencquel had actually been filming his mother for many years, but the intention initially was never to make a documentary. I was filming casual moments, like the way you film anyone in your family just to have your own personal memory, Jencquel told Yahoo Canada. It wasn't always with the idea that I would make a film. She started being approached and sort of flirting with other filmmakers when I sort of realized, if someone's going to make this film about her, I want it to be me. I sort of then took it more seriously to actually not make it so casual, but actually think of it as a film. ... It became more a film about the two of us and also our relationship. ... She was very involved, it was more like we were making the film together. Jackie is absolutely compelling in Jackie the Wolf. She's very much an open book, no topic is too taboo for her, from death to sex. But as the film progresses, you can't help but feel attached to her spirit. Since I was little, there were no taboos, Jencquel said. I remember growing up and my mom would speak to me like an adult about very important subjects, or about things that were taboo for my friends and their parents. She just believed that you should be able to talk about everything and that's how we grew up, me and my brothers. When we were teenagers my friends loved ... talking to my mom. They could talk about everything with her." Jackie died in March 2022. While her son didn't capture her final moments, Jackie the Wolf concludes with images of her empty apartment in France. Its a moving, visual indication of the end her life. Story continues The night before when she did it, she had ordered a bottle of vodka and foie gras, Jencquel revealed. When they found her there was an envelope with a note, and there was the invoice for the vodka and foie gras, and 50 euros for me or someone to go and pay it. So what I did is, I had all her friends over in her place. We played her music and I gave everyone vodka and foie gras who came in, so it was sort of a way to remember her in a more cheerful way. Jackie the Wolf 'I was hoping my mom would not die' While Jackie's conversations in the film largely point to the activist certainly moving towards assisted death, her son still hoped that he wouldn't have to think about how to include her death in the documentary. I was hoping I would not have not do it, because I was hoping my mom would not die, Jencquel said. Actually, when I started editing, it looked more like the film was going to have a different ending. On a cognitive level I was like, she's probably going to do it sometime and this is going to be real. She's serious about it. On an emotional level, I was sort of more like, this is my mom, she's never going to die. She's my mom. She's going to be there. Still to this day, the filmmaker questions his decision to chronicle this particular journey his mother was on. I think, in a way, what helped me was the fact that my mom wanted to be a part of this, Jencquel said. She was very active with the filmmaking and if I hadn't done it, someone else would have done it." "So in a way, that's what makes me feel OK. Also, because we had this very open relationship where there were no taboos, I feel like, OK this justifies that I can share this with other people. For anyone who does watch Jackie the Wolf, Jencquel hopes that people "feel like it's OK to speak about uncomfortable issues with people you love." I've seen a lot of people that approached my mom and who wanted to go, who didn't have anyone in their family they could speak to about it, he said. These people, they would still go, but it would be very lonely for them." "So I do hope that this is something people take away. Not so much whether people think its OK, its right or its wrong. People will look at it through their own moral lens and judge it either way, and the film isnt meant to to make people change their opinion on assisted suicide. It was more like, its OK to speak about it. The Hot Docs festival in Toronto runs from April 27 to May 7. The next in-person screening of Jackie the Wolf is on May 7. The film is also available for Canadians to stream through the Hot Docs platform. A Nashville hotel guest woke up to find the night manager allegedly sucking his toes, according to police. David Neal, 52, was arrested by Metro Nashville Police Department and charged with aggravated burglary and assault, say authorities. Investigators say that Mr Neal cloned a key card and let himself into the guests room at around 5am on 30 March. David Neal (MNPD) Peter Brennan, who is from Texas, told WTVF that he was asleep inside his room at the citys Hilton Downtown Nashville hotel when the alleged assault took place. I was in Nashville for a work conference, said Mr Brennan. I awoke to a gentleman, an employee of the Hilton, assaulting me. I instantly jumped up and was screaming. Went into sort of fact-finding mode. Who are you? Why are you in my room? What are you doing here? I could see he was wearing a uniform, he had his name tag on. He was talking to me but not giving me any substantive answers. Investigators say that the suspect told officers that he had entered the guests room because of the smell of smoke. Im having problems sleeping frankly, Im going through some PTSD, talking to a therapist, added Mr Brennan. I still dont really feel safe in my own home. Mr Brennan is now suing the suspect and Hilton Hotels over the incident. Hilton Nashville Downtown is independently owned and operated by a third party and no Hilton entity employs staff at this property. The safety and security of our guests is our top priority and Hilton takes matters such as these very seriously, said Michelle Myers, a spokesperson for Hilton. In a statement, the hotel management said it was cooperating with police. The safety and security of our guests and team members is our highest priority. We are working closely with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, and, as part of company policy, we do not comment on ongoing investigations, the statement said. TOPSHOT-BRITAIN-ROYALS-CORONATION-DEMO Members of the anti-monarchist group Republic stage a protest close to where Britain's King Charles III and Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort will be crowned at Westminster Abbey in central London, on May 6, 2023. Credit - Sebastien BozonPool/AFP/Getty Images Graham Smith, the head of the U.K.s leading anti-monarchy movement, was planning to lead thousands of fellow republicans in protest of King Charles IIIs coronation. In the end, he didnt get the chance. Smith and five others were arrested on Saturday morning in Central London, according to the group. The reason for the arrest remains unclear. At approximately 7:30 a.m. local time, Smith and his fellow protesters were collecting drinks and placards for attendees when, according to The Guardian, they were stopped by the police. A spokesperson for Republic told the newspaper that the police would not provide a reason for the arrest. In photos of the arrest posted to Twitter by the campaign group, Smith can be seen sitting on the ground surrounded by police officers. In a video, one officer can be heard saying: Theyre under arrestend of. The Metropolitan Police, which has deployed 11,500 officers for the coronation, subsequently tweeted that they had made a number of arrests in the area, adding that the individuals have been held on suspicion of breaching the peace. Graham Smith of the campaigning group Republic speaks during an interview in London, on April 27, 2023. Kin CheungAP Read More: King Charles IIIs Coronation Is Underway. Here Are the Latest Updates Smith, who widely publicized the demonstration plans, told TIME in the run up to the coronation that he expected as many as 1,700 people to join Republic on Trafalgar Square, a historically popular site for protest in Britain. In addition to chants of not my king, Smith said the protest would also feature speeches from lawmakers, activists, and even representatives of other republican movements. Their principle argument, Smith says, is that monarchy is inherently anti-democratic and that Britain should have an elected head of state instead. Story continues By arresting the protesters and preventing them from peacefully protesting, the British authorities may have inadvertently bolstered the anti-monarchists stance. Just days before the coronation, the British government passed into law the Public Order Bill, which gives the police greater powers to crack down on those engaging in popular protest tactics. Strategies like locking on, in which a protester attaches themselves to an object, infrastructure, or other people to make them difficult to remove, are now punishable by up to six months in prison. According to the Metropolitan Police, four people were arrested today with lock-on devices on on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance. Jodie Beck, a policy and campaigns officer at the civil-liberties organization Liberty, tells TIME that the anti-protest legislation appeared to be rushed through last weekhaving only received royal assent from King Charles on Tuesdayin preparation for use at the coronation. Protest is not a gift from the stateit is our fundamental right, says Beck. Its deeply concerning to see protesters being arrested today and just shows that, as many of us predicted, the policing of the coronation is turning out to be a human-rights nightmare. While some British lawmakers condemned the arrest as shocking, others appeared to support the polices actions. If you do not wish to live in a country that has a monarchy the solution is not to turn up with your silly boards, tweeted Lee Anderson, a Conservative lawmaker and deputy chairman of the ruling party. The solution is to emigrate. Under a beautiful Spring blue sky, marchers took to the streets of downtown Grand Rapids to bring awareness to the missing and murdered Indigenous persons. (Photos by Levi Rickert for Native News Online) GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. The gathering of hundreds of Anishinaabeg and supporters in Ah-Nab-Awen Park to observe Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day (MMIP Awareness Day) on the banks of the Owashtinong (Grand River) in downtown Grand Rapids, Mich. on Friday, May 5, 2022 was just one of dozens held around the country. It should be noted that May 5 was not randomly chosen to bring awareness to the epidemic violence against Indigenous people. The date was selected because the Montana congressional delegation persuaded the U.S. Senate to pass a resolution declaring the national day of awareness because May 5 was the birthday of Hanna Harris, a 21-year-old member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe who went missing on July 4, 2013. Never miss Indian Countrys biggest stories and breaking news. Click here to sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Harris is just one of thousands of Indigenous people who have gone missing and are found murdered. The severe problem has gained national attention. MMIP Awareness Day has generated interest in solving the epidemic. Indigenous women and girls living on reservations experience murder rates of more than 10 times the national average, and more than 4 out of 5 Indigenous women have experienced violence. While the numbers are so horrific for Indigenous women and girls, in recent years men and boys have been included in the national awareness day. "Today is very important to us, not just my tribe, but all 12 federally recognized tribes of Michigan. It is important that all of the 12 sovereign tribes work together united to make sure we take matters into our own hands as we are doing to today to acknowledge the problem," Jamie Stuck, chairman of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (NHBP) and chairman of the United Tribes of Michigan told Native News Online before the beginning of the rally. "We want to make sure that we have a unified front overall. We need to be united on social media. We need grassroots in the streets. We need strong legislation, we need better behavioral health, not only for our victims, but for those that are the victimizers. They need help," Stuck said. Story continues Melissa Issac (Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan), who leads the Indigenous Education Initiative for the Michigan Department of Education, served as the emcee for the rally that included a march through the streets of Grand Rapids. "We come today to share our stories and to show our solidarity to those who have been impacted by missing and murdered Indigenous people," Issac said. "It's okay to cry and it's also okay to laugh because we know our laughter is part of the healing process." The chairman of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (commonly known as the Gun Lake Tribe) Bob Peters said to Native News Online the rally and march was held for all Native Americans in the country, not just local tribal communities. "I am very humbled to be here today to march and say a few words. This is for our people and we are going to continue to do this every year and we're going to pick up traction so that hopefully, this will just be a memory," Peters said. Peters also said his tribe hold prevention trainings so that their citizens can learn how to avoid human trafficking that contributes to people who go missing. On Thursday, for the third year in a row, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation declaring May 5 to be Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day. For the thousands of families who have lost or are still looking for a friend or loved one, I know this day is full of purpose and pain. Know that your fight to cast light on these injustices has already saved lives, President Biden said in his proclamation. Our Government has a solemn obligation to ensure that every case of a missing or murdered Indigenous person is met with swift, effective action to finally bring justice and healing. Together, we will get that done Marchers cross bridge over the Grand River to begin march through downtown. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer proclaimed May 5 as Murdered and Missing Indigenous Persons Awareness Day in Michigan. She said state and local government with tribal communities should increase awareness of and provide resources for missing and murdered Indigenous peoples. We reaffirm our commitment to honor the lives of murdered and missing American Indian and Alaska Native peoples, particularly women and girls, and continue to shine a light on egregious and unconscionable treatment toward and against American Indian and Alaska Native peoples, the proclamation states. On Friday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Jaime Harrison and DNC Native Caucus Chair Clara Pratte released a statement in recognition of MMIP Awareness Day. On Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, we acknowledge the crisis of murdered and missing Indigenous people, and reflect on the generations of Indigenous persons who have been forced to face the devastating reality of the murder or disappearance of a loved one, the statement says. As we continue working together to address the tragedy of the alarming rates of missing and murdered Indigenous people in this country, Democrats remain committed to taking action to ensure the safety of our Indigenous communities and find justice for those lost. About the Author: "Levi Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net." Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net (Reuters) -The head of the U.N.'s nuclear power watchdog warned on Saturday that the situation around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear station has become "potentially dangerous" as Moscow-installed officials began evacuating people from nearby areas. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called for measures to ensure the safe operation of Europe's largest nuclear plant as evacuations were under way in the nearby town of Enerhodar. "The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous," Grossi said on the agency's website. "I'm extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant. We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment." Grossi said that while the operating staff of the plant remain at the site, the conditions for the personnel and their families are "increasingly tense." The Russian-installed governor of the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday that he had ordered the evacuation of villages close to the front line as shelling had intensified in the area in recent days. A widely expected Ukrainian spring counter-offensive against Russian forces is viewed as likely to take in the Zaporizhzhia region, around 80% of which is held by Moscow. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Sunday that the residents are being evacuated in the direction of Berdiansk and Prymorsk on the coast of the Sea of Azov. Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports. Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of his neighbour in February 2022. Exchanges of fire have frequently occurred near the facility, with each side blaming the other. Story continues Grossi last visited the Zaporizhzhia station, Europe's largest nuclear power installation, in March, as part of efforts to speak to both sides to secure an agreement on safeguards to ensure the plant's safe operation. He has repeatedly warned of the dangers of military operations around the plant. The plant is located in the part of that region under Russian control, with many of the staff operating it living in Enerhodar on the south bank of the Dnipro River. (Reporting by Ron Popeski and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Kim Coghill) By Zarir Hussain GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - Authorities in India's northeastern state of Manipur are investigating if the death of 18-20 people in the last few days was due to recent clashes between tribal and non-tribal groups, a government official said. There have been incidents of looting and arson in parts of the remote state bordering Myanmar in recent days. "We have reports of about 18 to 20 deaths in the last few days although we are still verifying whether these deaths took place due to the recent violence or related to some other incidents," Kuldeep Singh, security adviser to the Manipur government, told journalists in the state capital Imphal. Some media reports said the death toll of ethnic clashes among tribal groups in Manipur has reached 54. "About 100 people were injured and were treated in various hospitals," Singh said, adding more than 500 houses were burnt down during the last few days and some vehicles were also set ablaze. Manipur Director General of Police P. Doungel said orders have been given to take strict action against anyone found involved in acts of violence. "We have asked army to stage flag marches in violence hit areas and instructed the forces to take stringent action against anyone involved in violence," Doungel told journalists. The Meitei people, the largest single ethnic group in the state, have been agitating to be granted scheduled tribe status, but the other recognised tribes in Manipur oppose that move. India reserves some government jobs, college admissions and elected seats, from village councils to the parliament, for communities under the scheduled tribe category as a form of affirmative action to tackle historical structural inequality and discrimination. Last month, the Manipur High Court asked the government to consider the Meitei community's plea and decide on it. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Hugh Lawson) (Getty Images) An investigation was launched after a slain grizzly bear was found near Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Officials from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Wyoming Game and Fish Department say that a probe is underway after the killing of the male bear, according to The Cowboy State Daily. Wildlife photographer Amy Gerber that the 500-pound bears carcass was by a roadside between Cody, Wyoming and the world-famous parks East Gate. That bear cant die in vain. The very few people who are so vehemently hateful toward grizzlies, that doesnt represent us. Thats not Cody, Wyoming, she said. It seems like theres this perception that people here hate wildlife, and particularly predators, and thats not true. The outcry over this bear being killed is strong. And she rejected suggestions that the bears may have been fatally struck by a vehicle rather than deliberately shot and killed. Theres no doubt in my mind that the bear was shot, she said. And theres zero evidence of a roadkill in the area. Theres no skid marks or shrapnel from a car. And she added: This was a big bear. Im guessing at least 500 pounds. If it had been struck by a car, especially the way cars are built these days, there would have been car parts all over the highway. Grizzlies are under federal jurisdiction in Wyoming and the USFWS says it cannot comment on the state of the investigation. USFWS Special Agent Richard Gamba confirmed that the investigation was underway but could not provide any further details, reported the newspaper. Anyone suspected of killing a grizzly bear is prosecuted through the US Attorneys office with the maximum penalty being a $50,000 fine and up to one year in prison. People can kill a grizzly bear in obvious cases of self-defence but must report it immediately and prove their case to investigators. Its usually pretty easy to determine when a case was self-defence, the agent added. The Yellowstone area has seen its population of grizzly bears grow from 136 in 1975 to around 1,063 in 2021. Spirit Lake Community School District district office. An active-shooter alarm sounded with no advance warning for a group of Spirit Lake Community School District students and staff earlier this week, leading them to believe they were in danger from a real shooter and prompting one to call 911. Staff members and sixth-grade students were in the school district's Sami Bedell Center for the Performing Arts Wednesday after school when the Siemens group who are contracted to update the district's security system set off the system's active shooter alert alarm as part of a test, school officials said in an email to the Des Moines Register. Related: Spirit Lake, Iowa, school board will let some on-campus staff carry concealed firearms The high school principal announced the test, but the message did not reach those in the auditorium, which is attached to the high school, because the center's sound system is designed to limit interruptions, school officials said. The system does allow alerts and alarms to sound. "We have been waiting for a long time for this component to be installed," officials said. "The Siemen group had been in the district most of the day doing the install of the new component and it was tested. It was not an active shooter drill." Spirit Lake Community School District is one of at least two Iowa districts whose school boards approved arming staff members as part of their school safety plans. Iowa code 724.4B allows school districts to arm staff. Officials declined to say if any armed employees were present in the auditorium. Everyone followed the district's active shooter training, including a student who called 911, officials said. But because the test was not an active shooter drill, local law enforcement was not notified ahead of time the situation wasn't real. Spirit Lake's school resource officer "pulled into our high school parking lot 5 minutes after the test alarm sounded," officials told the Register. Story continues "With the information available to the students and staff in the Sami Center, this was exactly what the student should do," district officials said. "Our students and staff responded incredibly quickly, responsibly, and in direct alignment with our district training." Related: Iowa families can apply May 31 for education saving accounts to pay for private school District officials sent a message to families explaining what happened. "The software company initiated the active shooter alarm to test out the message to understand which rooms could hear the alarm," the statement said. "Unfortunately, we understand that the broadcasted announcement of the active shooter test didn't reach everyone in the district." Officials apologized to families for the confusion. Administrators met with sixth-grade students and staff who were in the auditorium, officials told the Register. "Counselors and administration were available and will continue to be available to support any student or staff who need assistance in dealing with this situation," officials said. There is now a short-term solution for communication throughout the district and officials are working on a long-term fix to add to the district's safety and emergency response plan. The details of the fix were not included in the district's response to the Register. "The district took away many things from this test and circumstances that are allowing us to find areas of concern and solutions for entire district safety," officials said. For subscribers: Which bills passed and which didn't in the 2023 Iowa Legislature. Here's the rundown: Read the letter to families: Families, I hope this email finds you well. We wanted to touch base with you regarding a situation that occurred in our district this afternoon. We had the software company on site that installs alarms for our district as we continue to make improvements to our alarm system. The software company initiated the active shooter alarm to testout the message to understand which rooms could hear the alarm. Unfortunately, we understand that the broadcasted announcement of the active shooter test didn't reach everyone in the district. We apologize for the confusion this may have caused and want to assure you that we are taking steps to prevent this from happening again in the future. We understand that drills like this can be stressful and overwhelming, and we want to make sure that everyone feels safe and informed during these situations. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this situation. If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to building administrators. We are here to support you and answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your continued support and partnership with our district. Building Administrators Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or svhernandez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @svhernandez or Facebook at facebook.com/svhernandezreporter. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Spirit Lake High School active shooter alarm scares staff, students Iranian-swedish dissident Habib Chaab had been held in Iran since October 2020 after he vanished during a visit to Turkey Iran executed on Saturday Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab for "terrorism", drawing prompt condemnation from Sweden, in the Islamic republic's latest use of the death penalty against dual nationals. Chaab had been held in Iran since October 2020 after he vanished during a visit to Turkey before going on trial in Tehran, which does not recognise dual nationality. Convicted of "corruption on earth" for heading a rebel group, he was condemned to death on December 6 -- a decision denounced by Sweden -- and Iran's supreme court upheld the sentence in March. "The death sentence for Habib Chaab... nicknamed Habib Asyud, the head of the Harakat al-Nidal terrorist group... was carried out today, Saturday morning," the judiciary's Mizan Online website reported. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency, denounced the execution as "inhuman". Harakat al-Nidal, or Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, is considered by Iran as a "terrorist group" and blamed for orchestrating attacks in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. The oil-rich province is home to a large Arab minority, and its people have long complained of marginalisation. Iranian authorities accused Chaab of staging attacks since 2005 "under the protection of... the Mossad and Sapo" -- the Israeli and Swedish spy agencies, respectively. In December 2020, the Turkish authorities announced the arrest of 11 people suspected of having kidnapped Chaab in Istanbul before taking him to Van, a city near Turkey's eastern border with Iran, and handing him over to the authorities in Tehran. Iranian prosecutors allege other leaders of Harakat al-Nidal are based in Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, with the group receiving financial and logistical support from Saudi Arabia. Iranian state television had aired a video of Chaab in which he claimed responsibility for a 2018 attack on a military parade in Ahvaz, the Khuzestan provincial capital, that authorities said killed 25 people and wounded almost 250. Story continues In the footage, Chaab admitted to working with Saudi intelligence services. Such confessions are frequently condemned by rights groups based outside of Iran as "forced", arguing they are often obtained under duress. "The death penalty is an inhuman and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its application in all circumstances," Billstrom wrote on Twitter. - Death row - Six other members of Harakat al-Nidal were sentenced to death in March over attacks carried out by "orders of their European leaders", Mizan Online has said. Iran executes more people yearly than any other nation except China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International. Three dual nationals -- including Chaab -- have been sentenced to death or executed over security-related charges since the start of the year, according to the judiciary. In January, Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian official with British citizenship, was hanged after being convicted of spying for the United Kingdom. In April, the supreme court upheld the death sentence for German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd, 67, in connection with a deadly mosque bombing in 2008. At least 16 Western passport holders, most of them dual nationals, are currently detained in Iran. Among them is Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, a resident of Sweden who was arrested during a visit to Iran in April 2016 and sentenced to death in 2017 for spying for Israel. He obtained Swedish citizenship while in detention. According to his family, he is still on death row. Tehran insists all have gone through a proper judicial process. Iranian-Swedish relations have also been strained over the case of Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian prison official sentenced to life in the first instance in Sweden for his alleged role in the mass executions of prisoners ordered by Tehran in 1988. Foreign-based activists have accused the Islamic republic of employing a policy of "hostage-taking" aimed at extracting concessions or secure the release of Iranians held abroad. rkh/hkb/dv People mourn the death of two Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in a morning raid on Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the army claimed to have targeted the perpetrators of a "shooting attack". "Two martyrs, shot by the occupation (Israeli forces) arrived at Thabet Thabet government hospital," in the city of Tulkarm, the health ministry said. It named the two men as Hamza Khrewish and Samer al-Shafei, both 22, and said that one other person was wounded in the raid. The Israeli army said the pair were "involved in the shooting attack in Avnei Heftz on May 2, 2023 during which an Israeli civilian was injured". "The two gunmen were shot and killed after attempting to flee the scene," an army statement said, adding that two others were arrested in the operation. "Two M-16 rifles, military vests and magazines" were confiscated. Hundreds of mourners later gathered for the funerals of the two men, whose bodies were carried through the streets of Tulkarm, shrouded in the Palestinian flag,. Avnei Heftz is a settlement in the West Bank deemed illegal under international law. The Tulkarm Brigade, a local militant group linked to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, the armed wing of the ruling Fatah party, claimed the two men as members. The group also took responsibility for the Avnei Heftz attack, calling it a "revenge operation," according to a statement. A general strike was called in Tulkarm. Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the men were "two new victims of the organised terrorism practised by the occupation soldiers against our people." On Thursday, Israeli security forces shot dead three Palestinians blamed for killing a British-Israeli woman and two of her daughters in the West Bank last month. Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said all three men killed in what it termed an "assassination" were from its ranks, hailing them as "heroes of resistance". Story continues Earlier in the week, Israel carried out air strikes in Gaza in response to rocket fire by Islamic Jihad militants following the death in Israeli custody of Khader Adnan, a Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike. The latest violence brings to 108 the number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far this year. Nineteen Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP count based on official sources from the two sides. These figures include combatants as well as civilians, and, on the Israeli side, include three members of the Arab minority. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. gb/kir Opponents of the Israeli government's controversial judicial reform plans gather in Tel Aviv Thousands of Israelis protested for an 18th straight week against the hard-right government's controversial judicial reforms, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelving the overhaul more than a month ago. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the central city of Rehovot, waving Israeli flags and blocking a major road junction. Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv's Habima Square as they prepared to march across the city to Kaplan Street waving Israeli flags and chanting anti-Netanyahu slogans. One protester held aloft a large picture of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir with a caption dubbing him "the minister of national failure". Israeli police did not immediately release any estimates for the number of demonstrators. In a statement released earlier, protest organisers said the Netanyahu government was waiting to turn Israel into a "messianic and dangerous dictatorship". They underlined what they said was the economic cost of the government's refusal to ditch the reforms altogether, instead holding talks with opposition representatives hosted by President Isaac Herzog for the past month. "As long as the deliberations in the president's house continue, no investment is entering Israel and the Israeli economy is crashing," the organisers said. Proponents of the judicial reforms claim they are necessary to rebalance power between the branches of government. Critics say they represent a threat to democracy. Netanyahu announced a "pause" in legislation for the reforms on March 27 "out of a desire to prevent a rift in the nation", following weeks of mass protests and a general strike. There has been no let-up in the protests since. gb/kir Jack Teixeira, 21, has been charged in connection with the leak of secret Pentagon documents. Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images Prior to his arrest for leaking classified Pentagon documents, Jack Teixeira was stockpiling weapons, The New York Times reported. The Times spoke to a Discord user who was in frequent contact with the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman. The user said Teixeira often spoke of his fascination with mass shootings and acquiring new weapons. Jack Teixeira appeared to have been stockpiling weapons ahead of his arrest, according to chat records reviewed exclusively by The New York Times. Teixeira, the 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman indicted in connection to a classified information leak of hundreds of Pentagon documents, had a stash of guns in his army-themed bedroom, court documents previously showed. The Times got a fresh account of Teixeira's ambitions from a Discord user who frequently communicated with Teixeira. The user, who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity, said Teixeira claimed to be stockpiling weapons and military gear. Over the span of two years, Teixeira claimed to have at least 16 firearms. He posted about six new guns in February and March alone shortly before his arrest in mid-April, The Times reported. The anonymous source told The Times that Teixeira spoke of his aspirations to confront protestors he might come in contact with during the 2024 presidential campaign. He also talked about modifying vehicles with weapons. While the anonymous user said they didn't know how serious Teixeira was about those endeavors, they did say Teixeira showed a keen interest in mass shootings. Teixeira focused his commentary on the firepower more than the death toll, according to The Times. "I think analyzing mass shootings is cool. And fun," Teixeira wrote on Sept. 5, 2022, per the Times. Chat logs seen by The Times showed Teixeira posted several videos of himself firing different rifles, including one session where he shot a Soviet-designed semiautomatic rifle from a truck bed. In the days prior, Teixeira sought advice about firing an AR-style rifle "out of an suv" in "a crowded urban or suburban environment," The Times reported, citing filings by prosecutors. When agents arrested Teixeira, investigators found a gun locker with an "arsenal" of weapons including "handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, an AK-style high-capacity weapon, and a gas mask" two feet from his bed, Insider previously reported. Read the original article on Business Insider By Choonsik Yoo, Hyonhee Shin and Sakura Murakami SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told South Koreans on Sunday his "heart hurts" when he thinks of suffering and pain during Japanese colonial rule, in a nod to historical disputes that have soured relations between the two U.S. allies. Kishida was in Seoul for the first visit to the South Korean capital by a Japanese leader in 12 years, returning the trip South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made to Tokyo in March where they sought to close a chapter on the historical disputes that have dominated Japan-South Korea relations for decades. Speaking to reporters after his summit with Yoon, Kishida stopped short of offering a new official apology for wrongs committed under the 1910-1945 occupation, but said his government inherits the stance of earlier administrations, some of which have issued apologies. "For me personally, my heart hurts when I think of the many people who endured terrible suffering and grief under the difficult circumstances of the time," he said. Yoon said unresolved historical issues should not mean that no forward steps can be taken to deepen ties. A senior official at Yoon's office said Kishida's remarks had not been pre-arranged and Yoon thanked him for "showing his sincere position even though there was no such request," and said it would be "greatly helpful for future cooperation." The pledge by the leaders to boost cooperation has been welcomed by the United States as a way to better confront threats from North Korea and competition from China. "Cooperation and coordination between South Korea and Japan are essential not only for the common interests of the two countries, but also for world peace and prosperity," Yoon said in opening remarks at their meeting. Yet South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party criticised Yoon for being submissive, "oblivious to history", and engaging in "humiliation diplomacy." Story continues "Why should the prerequisite for restoring the bilateral diplomacy be giving up on our history," party spokesperson Kang Sun-woo told a briefing, according to Yonhap news agency. HISTORICAL DISPUTES Historical differences between South Korea and Japan threaten to cast a shadow over the blossoming ties between its two leaders. Under Yoon and Kishida's predecessors, relations between South Korea and Japan plunged to their lowest in decades. Koreans accuse Japan of forcing women to work in wartime brothels for the Japanese military and using forced labour, among other abuses. After South Korean courts ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation in the forced labour cases in 2018, Japan restricted exports of high-tech material to South Korea and Seoul threatened to pull out of a military intelligence-sharing deal with Tokyo. Yoon is facing criticism at home that he has given more than he has received in his efforts to improve relations with Japan, including by proposing that South Korean businesses - not the Japanese companies as ordered by a court - compensate victims of wartime labour. Polls show many South Koreans don't believe Japan has done enough to atone and apologise. Yoon has signalled he doesn't believe Japan needs to "kneel" any more over what happened in the past, but some South Korean officials were hoping Kishida would make a gesture. "I was moved by the many people who opened their hearts for the future without forgetting the painful memories of the past," Kishida said of Yoon's proposal. On Sunday, gatherings of about 50 people demonstrated in opposition and support of Kishida's visit, but his presence did not spark widespread protests. Despite the lack of a new apology, Kishida's reaffirmation of reconciliation and the summit symbolism has value for the countries' relations, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. "Publics will be reassured that Korean and Japanese flags fly side by side, national anthems play together, and leaders host each other at friendly dinners with their spouses," he said. SECURITY, ECONOMIC COOPERATION The focus of the summit between the two U.S. allies revolved around security cooperation in the face of North Korea's nuclear threats, with a particular eye on American interests in the region, said Shin-wha Lee, a professor of international relations at Seoul-based Korea University. "Their military and economic capabilities are crucial for promoting multilateral regional security cooperation, and a poor relationship between the two countries could obstruct U.S. objectives," she said. Kishida said they discussed bilateral ties as well as regional and global issues such as North Korea. He said he had agreed to allow South Korean experts to inspect the planned release of water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, which has been controversial with Japan's neighbours concerned about possible environmental effects. He has also invited Yoon to the Group of Seven summit set for later this month in Japan and for trilateral talks with the U.S. on the sidelines. While Yoon and Kishida did not mention points of friction with China, they did speak about shared values for human rights, rule of law, and a free and open Indo-Pacific, Easley noted. "This suggests that Seoul and Tokyo are increasingly on the same page about strengthening supply chain security, resisting economic coercion, and deterring unilateral uses of force in Asia," he said. (Reporting by Choonsik Yoo, Seoyun Kang, Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin in Seoul, with Sakura Murakami in Tokyo and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Mike Harrison and David Holmes) The Department of Transportation has given the green light to New York's controversial congestion pricing plan, which would impose a toll on drivers who attempt to enter Manhattan during peak traffic hours. On Friday, the Federal Highway Administration gave tentative approval to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's environmental and legal submissions for the proposal, allowing it to move forward with a 30-day public review period. The administration is expected to give its final approval to the congestion pricing plan at the end of that review period, Politico reported. Under the plan, drivers entering Manhattan could be forced to pay as much as $23 on top of other tolls and fees. The fees are opposed by North Jersey Democrats, who say the New York plan is unfair and essentially a tax on Jersey drivers. MTA officials have said they need about a year to build the necessary tolling infrastructure, which puts the plan on target to go into effect in the second quarter of 2024. CONGESTION TAX ON DRIVERS GAINS STEAM IN BIG CITIES AFTER NEW YORK APPROVES CONTROVERSIAL PLAN A spokesman for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told Politico that the Biden administration's approval "is a critical step that will allow our Environmental Assessment to be publicly available for anyone to read, and we will continue to work with our partners to move congestion pricing forward." READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "Governor Hochul is committed to implementing congestion pricing to reduce traffic, improve air quality, and support our public transit system," Hochul spokesman John Lindsay said. "Weve worked closely with partners across government and with community members over the last four years to develop a plan that will achieve these goals." JORDAN NEELY'S FATHER MOURNS HOMELESS SON'S DEATH ON NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY CAR: A GOOD KID The Empire State Building and tourist district are seen while a traffic jam is reported along the route to New York City on Aug. 17, 2022, in Jersey City, New Jersey. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said a congestion pricing plan will raise billions of dollars in revenue for public transit projects and also decrease traffic jams in Manhattans tourism district and financial center. However, New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy called the plain "unfair and ill-advised." Story continues "Since day one, Ive stood against the disproportionate negative impacts of congestion pricing on New Jerseyans a greater financial burden on New Jersey commuters, double tolling, toll shopping, a lack of revenue for NJ TRANSIT, outsized environmental burdens on certain North Jersey communities, and financial impacts on the Port Authoritys capital budget," Murphy said in a statement. "Everyone in the region deserves access to more reliable mass transit, but placing an unjustified financial burden on the backs of hardworking New Jersey commuters is wrong. Simply put, it is a money grab." NYC SENDING MIGRANTS TO UPSTATE COUNTY NOT EQUIPPED TO HANDLE INFLUX Phil Murphy, governor of New Jersey, has called New York's congestion pricing plan "unfair and ill-advised." The governor said he supports congestion pricing in principle but called New York's plan "misguided." New Jersey Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Bill Pascrell, who each represent districts bordering New York, also condemned the "Congestion Tax." "They want to stick it to our families and commuters with a $23-a-day tax, but we wont stand for it in Jersey the fight is just beginning. Im demanding the Department of Transportation reconsider their decision in the next 30 days," Gottheimer said in a statement. "New Jerseyans are used to paying our fair share, but New Yorks congestion pricing scheme is fatally flawed and unnecessarily unfair," said Pascrell. "New Yorks plan would saddle Jersey commuters with extra taxes on top of our already-high taxes without the needed financial return for our transit systems. Having the rubber stamp of approval by the federal government is wrong and an affront to New Jersey." In a statement, MTA Chief of External Relations John J. McCarthy thanked the federal government for green-lighting the congestion pricing plan. "Congestion pricing is a generational opportunity to make it easier for people to get around in, and get to, the Central Business District, by reducing traffic and funding improvements to the public transit system. To do it right, environmental equity has been an integral component. We are grateful that the FHWA has acknowledged the Project Sponsors efforts to date and has found the document has met the standards for legal sufficiency." The Associated Press contributed to this report. First Lady Jill Biden and her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden, attended the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday 6 May at Westminster Abbey in London. However, it was their yellow and blue outfits that turned heads, as many people believed the fashion choice was a potential tribute to Ukraine. Dr Biden represented the United States at King Charles and Queen Camillas coronation. The university professor was also joined by her 23-year-old granddaughter, Finnegan, as her plus one for the historic event. The first lady arrived at Westminster Abbey on Saturday in a cornflower blue suit set by Ralph Lauren, according to Vogue. The outfit featured a crossover neckline top over a pencil skirt, which she paired with matching suede gloves and a small fascinator. The second eldest daughter of Hunter Biden also attended the service in a pastel yellow gown by Markarian. Many people on social media noted how the grandmother-granddaughter duo appeared to be wearing the colours of the Ukrainian flag, a potential nod to Americas continuing support for Ukraine more than one year after Russias invasion. They were even sat next to Ukraines First Lady Olena Zelenska during the coronation service. This is a wonderful nod of support to Ukraine, and they are sitting with Ukraines First Lady, commented one person under Vogues Instagram post of the pair. They both look gorgeous! Love that its the Ukraine colours too! wrote someone else. Perfect Ukrainian nod. Brilliant use of colour to make a point, a third person said. The first lady emphasised her support for Ukraine just one day before the coronation, when she shared a picture of herself posing with the Princess of Wales and the Ukrainian first lady. Lovely to see @FLOTUS and @ZelenskaUA this evening, the official account of the Prince and Princess of Wales tweeted on 5 May. We stand with Ukraine, Dr Biden said in response. We stand with Ukraine. https://t.co/3WAtRNQrQC Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) May 5, 2023 First lady Jill Biden told the Associated Press that she and her granddaughter sat down for some afternoon tea together after the service, in line with British tradition. She added the coronation was just amazing to witness and that it was an honour to attend the royal ceremony. Story continues You cant imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on the head of the king and then on the head of the queen, Dr Biden said. Its really surreal to see and experience that moment. It was so meaningful to me that I could bring Finnegan here, that we could travel together and experience this together and its meant a lot to both of us. The first lady also recalled the conversation she shared with the Princess of Wales the night before, during King Charles reception for foreign visitors at Buckingham Palace on Friday evening. The grandmother of seven explained that Princess Kate was considering feeding her children specifically, Prince Louis candy to keep them quiet during the coronation. First Lady Jill Biden and her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden, during a reception at Buckingham Palace with the Princess of Wales (Getty Images) [The Princess of Wales] said she didnt know if her son could sit still for two hours and we just had a good laugh over it, Dr Biden told the AP. Its just something, I think, thats common to a lot of us. First lady Jill Bidens appearance at the coronation of King Charles III comes after US President Joe Biden received criticism for sending his wife in his place. Former president Donald Trump hit out at Biden for his disrespectful decision to not attend the service. I was surprised when I heard that he wasnt coming, said Trump. I think its very disrespectful for him not to be there. No American president has ever attended a British coronation. Instead, the White House confirmed that Biden would travel to the UK for a state visit in the near future. Follow for live updates from the coronation. First lady Jill Biden said King Charles IIIs coronation was surreal and just amazing to see, after representing the U.S. at the ceremony on Saturday. You cant imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on the head of the king and then on the head on the queen, she told The Associated Press. Its really surreal to see and experience that moment. King Charles and his wife Camilla were crowned at Westminster Abbey on Saturday morning in the United Kingdoms first coronation in more than 70 years, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September. Bidens presence at the ceremony marked the first time that an American first lady has attended a British coronation, according to the AP. The United States and the United Kingdom have a special relationship, Biden tweeted on Saturday. Its an honor to represent the United States on this historic day at Westminster Abbey. The first lady met with Princess Kate and Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska on Friday, after arriving in the United Kingdom. Biden sat beside Zelenska at the coronation on Saturday, the AP reported. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden arrives at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey on Saturday. (Photo: Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images) First Lady Jill Biden represented America at Saturday's coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey. Dressed entirely in cornflower blue, the First Lady, who was asked by President Joe Biden to represent the U.S. in his place, witnessed the historic occasion as one of the 2000 guests inside the famed cathedral. Her arrival marked the first time that a U.S. first lady was in attendance for a British coronation. You cant imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on the head of the king and then on the head on the queen, she shared in a telephone interview with The Associated Press after the ceremony in London. Its really surreal to see and experience that moment. Biden's outfit featured a cornflower blue Ralph Lauren set that include a crossover neckline top over a pencil skirt, Vogue reported. She paired that with matching suede gloves and a small fascinator, which followed the day's dress code request for morning dress, lounge suit, or national dress. Her choice of an American designer served as "a subtle visual message that shes supporting the country in such a high-profile moment," Vogue continued. "The color blue also seems to be an intentional choice, as it is prominent in both the flags of the United States and the United Kingdoma reflection of the 'special relationship' between the countries, perhaps, and a show of unity." As her guest at the big event, Biden was joined by her granddaughter Finnegan Biden, 23. Finnegan, the daughter of Hunter Biden, wore a pastel yellow gown by Markarian. Some people following the coronation on social media noted that the duo's blue and yellow outfits are the colors of the Ukrainian flag, and that the choice of outfits were potentially intentional nods to the country. Yahoo Life reached out to the White House regarding the colors but did not receive an answer at the time of publication. Biden did meet with Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, during a reception for heads of state at Buckingham Palace just one day before the coronation. She also occasionally makes a nod to Ukraine in her wardrobe: At the State of the Union address in March 2022, she wore a blue, satin long-sleeved gown from designer Sally LaPointe, with a sunflower the national flower of Ukraine embroidered on one sleeve near her wrist, as Yahoo Life previously reported. Story continues First Lady Jill Biden arrives at Westminster Abbey with her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden. (Photo: Andrew Matthews - WPA Pool/Getty Images) In her interview with the AP, Biden called the occasion just amazing to see, and cited such beauty in the pageantry of the ceremony. But she also kept a sense of humor about the pomp and circumstance of the occasion. When recalling her discussion with Catherine, Princess of Wales, Biden shared that the princess noted "she didnt know if her son could sit still for two hours and we just had a good laugh over it, Biden recalled. Its just something, I think, thats common to a lot of us. While he wasn't in attendance, President Biden tweeted his congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla, citing "the enduring friendship between the U.S. and the U.K.," which he called "a source of strength for both our peoples." As for other Americans set to appear at the festivities, everyone ranging from Tom Cruise and adventurer Bear Grylls to Nicole Scherzinger and Lionel Richie are expected to appear at the coronation concert, which will take place near Windsor Castle the day after the historic ceremony. Katy Perry's presence at the coronation ceremony went viral after she struggled to find her seat, Yahoo previously reported. Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here. Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid has shown plenty of resilience throughout his career. After missing his first two seasons due to foot injuries, Embiid dealt with people calling him a bust and a wasted draft pick. Embiid returned for the 2016-17 season, and though his playing time was limited, he showed glimpses of stardom. Finally healthy for 2017-18, Embiid developed into an All-Star, and has made the team every season since then. This season, however, Embiid took his game to new heights. After leading the league in scoring with 33.1 points per game and pushing the 76ers to a 54-28 record, Embiid earned his first career MVP award. Joel Embiid broke down in tears while holding his son on the court Friday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) Embiid was presented with the award before the 76ers took on the Boston Celtics in Game 3 on Friday, and made it clear how much the moment meant to him. During his speech to the home crowd, Embiid mentioned his son, Arthur, who was standing nearby watching his dad address the crowd. When Arthur ran out on the court to hug his dad, Embiid couldn't help but break down in tears. Joel Embiid breaks down as his son joins him during his MVP presentation pic.twitter.com/ye3d7JlCPT Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) May 5, 2023 It was a touching moment, and one that highlights how much Embiid loves, and cares about, his craft. Embiid overcame a lot to reach this moment, and even to play in Friday's game. It was no guarantee Embiid would play in the series against Boston after sustaining a knee injury in the first round of the playoffs. But Embiid toughed it out and made himself available against Boston. Considering that, and all Embiid went through early in his career, emotions likely ran high during the MVP presentation. And given how much Embiid was able to overcome to reach that moment, it's no surprise he shed some tears when he held his son in his arms. Protesters gathered on crowded subway platforms across New York City and marched down city streets in the days after a subway rider killed Jordan Neely, 30, by placing him in a chokehold for several minutes on a train in the middle of the day. Advocacy groups and Neelys supporters are demanding justice, requesting social services for people with mental health issues and calling attention to local policies that, they say, further marginalize unhoused communities in the city. Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy at the Coalition for the Homeless, said negative stereotypes and rhetoric about crime stokes an unfair fear and a general disdain for unhoused people, which leads to violence against them. When this population is demonized, it is tantamount to giving vigilantes the opportunities and the blessing to take the law into their own hands, Nortz said. This poor man was standing there in desperate need of food and water and was so emotionally overwrought by his need that he was expressing it loudly, but in no way endangering other human beings. The person who used his military skills to kill him needs to be held accountable for that, Nortz added about the 24-year-old Marine who allegedly put Neely in the chokehold. The incident happened around 2:27 p.m. Monday on a northbound F train. One witness told NBC New York that Neely got on the subway car and began saying he was hungry and thirsty and that he didnt care about anything, he didnt care about going to jail, he didnt care that he gets a big life sentence. That it doesnt even matter if I died. Video of the incident shows the man, whose name has not been released, put Neely in a chokehold for several minutes, while two other passengers restrained him. Responding officers found Neely unconscious at the Broadway and East Houston Street subway station; he was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, New York police said in a statement. Neelys death was ruled a homicide by the city medical examiner. No charges have been filed as of Friday afternoon, but the Manhattan district attorneys office said his death is under investigation. Story continues Carolyn Neely, Jordan Neelys aunt, told the New York Post that he suffered from depression, schizophrenia and PTSD. These symptoms worsened after Neelys mother was murdered in 2007 and he has never been the same, she said. Elizabeth Bowen, an associate professor at the University of Buffalo's School of Social Work, said unhoused people are often stereotyped as being unstable and dangerous, or having substance abuse issues. Bowen said that while a disproportionate number of homeless people experience mental health problems and substance use, that does not mean theyre prone to violence. She also said these beliefs often stem from a fundamental fear of people that are different from us. Seeing people that are homeless, you know, sometimes remind the rest of us of our own privileges, and that makes people uncomfortable, Bowen said. And that discomfort can lead to fear. Media portrayals of unhoused people usually depict them as violent or unstable, she added. This leads people to engage in fear-based responses because they assume that any homeless person is likely to be violent or likely to attack them, Bowen said. Bowen said that, instead of fatally restraining Neely, bystanders could have contacted a subway employee, a mental health response team, or an outreach service for unhoused people. Race, she added, was also a factor in this incident. Unfortunately, both men and people of color especially Black men are more likely to experience homelessness, Bowen said, adding that unhoused people are more likely to experience various kinds of trauma. And I think theres also a lot of stereotypes out there and concerns about how Black men are represented in the media, images of Black men being violent, that is a persistent stereotype in the United States. Experts say that most people with mental health problems are not violent, and chronic homelessness can exacerbate mental health issues. People with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of crime than to commit one, Nortz said. New York City has long experienced high levels of homelessness. In December 2022 alone, there were 68,884 homeless people in the city, both in shelters and on the streets. This included more than 21,000 children, according to the Coalition for the Homeless. Over the citys 2022 fiscal year, 102,656 adults and children were in the New York City Department of Homeless Services shelter system, according to a report from the coalition. A majority of the citys homeless population is Black or Latino, according to a report from the coalition. Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked, the National Coalition for the Homeless said in a report. The report found that primary causes of homelessness include lack of affordable housing, domestic violence, job loss or declining wages, mental illness, addiction disorders and decline in public assistance. Support services for unhoused communities are largely inaccessible due to lack of transportation, feelings of judgment from a provider and lack of trauma-informed services. Bowen said leaders should work to provide more affordable housing through programs like Housing First, which provides permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals. New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have drawn criticism for their initial responses to news of Neelys death. Adams did not condemn the killing in a statement, but called the death tragic and said his administration is committed to getting people off the streets and the subways, and out of dangerous situations. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of New York City, called Adams statement a new low. Not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem too low to care about, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. Meanwhile, Hochul weighed in on Wednesday saying, Theres consequences for behavior. She later seemed to walk back her statements in a news conference saying that Neelys family deserves justice. The statements illustrated advocates perception of Hochul and Adams who, they say, have implemented policies that harm rather than help unhoused communities. The Adams administration has sent police and sanitation workers to tear down homeless encampments and involuntarily hospitalize unhoused people. Adams, who assumed office in January 2022, said during a press conference last year that homeless New Yorkers and hundreds of others like them are in urgent need of treatment, yet often refuse it when offered. Adams and Hochul also announced an expanded initiative last year to address transit crimes and promote subway safety, which critics said disproportionately targets homeless people of color. Hochul referred to the subway safety plan in her remarks on Wednesday, saying that the number of subway crimes has declined due to increased surveillance from cameras and police officers. Nortz decried these policies and said violence against unhoused people is a visceral response that I think arises more frequently when we have politicians who feed a negative narrative about homeless people. Theyve missed an opportunity to educate the public and have instead put a bull's-eye on the people that really are in need of our compassion and our help. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Since April 7, 2367 names have been added to the list Journalists clarify that Wagners losses include both ordinary mercenaries and former prisoners who are often buried in secret. The report also confirmed the deaths of nine Russian officers of the rank of colonel and higher in just four weeks. Read also: Journalists identify people responsible for abduction of Ukrainian children Additionally, a Russian pilot who signed up with Wagner PMC also died: helicopter pilot Vitaliy Lapikov from St. Petersburg spent only 10 days on the front lines. Read also: Russians using fortified positions atop Zaporizhzhya NPP to fire at Ukraine photos According to the report, on May 1, Russian Police Lt. Col. Marcel Mubarakshin was killed. He served as deputy head of the operational department of Russias Internal Ministry in Kazan. Along with his colleagues, he was celebrating Labor Day at a bar in occupied Tokmak, Zaporizhzhya Oblast, when the location was hit by a Ukrainian HIMARS artillery strike. Read also: Russia lost 20,000 troops fighting for Bakhmut, White House says According to Ukraines General Staff, Russia has lost more than 193,000 troops since Feb. 24, 2022. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office is asking for your help to track down a man accused of conning investors out of nearly six million dollars in a Ponzi scheme. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< A lawsuit filed by the SEC says Cedric Griffin primarily targeted the African American community in Jacksonville It also states that he managed to get 103 people to hand over nearly six million dollars in just one year. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] He was the nicest gentleman, always completely impeccably dressed, the way he spoke, he was very business-like, very compassionate, a person who worked in the same building as Griffin told Action News Jax anonymously. And I am literally in shock. I cannot believe that. They asked us to conceal their face and video. Im flabbergasted, they said. That just goes to show you, you cant judge a book by its cover. A lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says Griffin promised investors high monthly returns ranging from 10 percent to 33 percent interest from his work flipping houses and buying property spanning from at least January 2020 to December 2021. It seems like youre getting your money every month, but what you dont realize is the payoff youre getting from a million-dollar investment is partly your money coming back to you, Action News Jax law and safety expert, Dale Carson said. In Carsons 20-year experience as an FBI agent, he worked with Ponzi schemes. And he said its important to remember, they are often too good to be true. When someone says you can make 33-percent of your money, you better question that, Carson said. Read: CCSO issues texting scam alert targeting EBT cards From October 2016 until September 2022, Griffin was a licensed real estate broker in Florida. The complaint states he touted his 20 years experience getting big returns for clients. The SEC says investors learned about his business by word of mouth and through his church in Jacksonville. Story continues The first investor is going to tell everybody she knows, he knows how to make more money, and thats what lures people into this false sense of profit, Carson said. Now, police say hes on the run. When scammers do these things, they always have an escape route in advance, Carson said. Watch: Small business owners social media hacked In March of last year, the Jacksonville State Attorneys Office charged Griffin with three counts of grand theft in connection with his real estate businesses. The arrest warrant states three real estate agents each made commission on a piece of property. And all the money from the sale went directly to griffins business bank account Premier Coast Realty, LLC. Later that month, Clay County deputies arrested Griffin on that warrant. But Griffin bonded out on all three counts, which was about 15,000 dollars each. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] If you know where Griffin may be, police is asking you to contact JSO or Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous. STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories The magistrate who granted bond to a teenager arrested after the mass shooting at Meadowlake Park last month wont be tapped for another four-year term. South Carolina state senators choose magistrate judges for their counties, and state Sen. John Scott, D-Richland, said he will not reappoint Judge LaTonya Derrick, a Richland County Central Court magistrate. Derrick, along with other Richland County judges, have been in carryover status since April 30, Scott said. TyQuan Kelly, an 18-year-old, was one of two teens arrested following the early-morning shooting at an unofficial post-prom party on April 29. Kelly was charged with possession of a handgun after deputies saw a gun and magazine being tossed from the window of the car he was riding in following the shooting. He was also charged with possession of marijuana. Although it was his third arrest on gun-related charges since March 1, he was issued a $10,000 bond by Derrick. That bond was rescinded earlier this week by Circuit Court Judge Robert Hood, and Kelly was ordered into custody. I find that you are a danger to the community, Hood told Kelly on Wednesday. Scott said he looked at this bond and other bonds issued by Derrick in making his decision. Given the magnitude of the shooting, Scott said it was in the best interest of the county and the judge. He said that because Kelly had a history of arrests, it was important to consider his repeated offenses, and whether he had a gun problem or gang affiliations. Until those questions are answered, you should wait to set your bond, Scott said. Scott emphasized that Derrick was not terminated, just not reappointed. Kellys role in the Meadowlake shooting remains unclear. On Wednesday, his attorney, Jessica Sturgill, said that he had nothing to do with it. However, revoking the bond hinged on the fact that the teen had already been arrested and released on bond twice in less than three months. On March 1, Kelly was charged with unlawful carrying of a pistol and possession of a narcotic with intention to distribute. He received a $2,500. Story continues A month and a half later, Kelly was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a stolen pistol and possession of a machine gun or a sawed-off shotgun or rifle on April 16 after a 911 caller said that he had blocked the doorway of her room and put a gun against her head. For this, bond was set at $50,000. Kelly is now held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. Two other teens were arrested in connection to the shooting, the Richland County Sheriffs Department announced Wednesday. Their names have not yet been released because they are 16. A Kansas City woman was killed in a Liberty crash that injured two others Friday evening, police say. Kristine Huff, 53, was struck by another vehicle around 8:30 p.m. at the intersection of Missouri Highway 291 and Cedar Avenue, according to a statement from the Liberty Police Department. Huff was the passenger of a vehicle traveling southbound along Highway 291 when the driver attempted to turn left onto Cedar Avenue. A northbound Ford Focus speeding down Highway 291 struck the passenger side of the vehicle as it was turning, police say. Huff, the driver of the vehicle she was in, and the driver of the Ford Focus were all transported to a hospital. Huff died sometime later. Liberty police are continuing to investigate the incident. No further information has been released by the department. With just hours until King Charles IIIs coronation, Kate Middleton is keeping the memory of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana close to her heart ahead of the historic day. During the Princess of Wales jampacked Friday, she was spotted at a Buckingham Palace lunch to welcome governors-general and prime ministers before King Charles big event. Middleton stunned in a black-and-white long-sleeve dress and appeared to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II by accessorizing with jewels gifted from the late British monarch. The pearl drop earrings, which have also been worn by Princess Diana, were reportedly a gift to the late queen from the ruler of Bahrain for her 1947 wedding, according to People. PRINCE WILLIAM, KATE MIDDLETON DEDICATED TO DUTY AS MONARCHY'S FUTURE: ' A REAL PARTNERSHIP' The Princess of Wales paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana by wearing jewelry pieces previously worn by the royals. The sparkly earrings included a large round diamond with smaller diamonds below and a hanging pearl. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Kate Middleton and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attend a realm rovernors general and prime ministers lunch ahead of King Charles' coronation. Princess Kate Middleton stunned in a black-and-white long-sleeve dress and appeared to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II by accessorizing with jewels gifted from the late British monarch. Prince William matched with the Princess of Wales in a dark suit and tie. Middleton completed her look with black Aquazzura bow tie pumps for the royal outing, which appear to be the same heels Meghan Markle wore during previous royal occasions. Princess of Wales Kate Middleton and Prince William attend a realm governors general and prime ministers lunch at Buckingham Palace in London May 5, 2023. Kate Middleton completed her look with black Aquazzura bow tie pumps. Meghan Markle appears to have worn the same black heels during previous royal occasions. The Prince and Princess of Wales were joined by King Charles as they spoke with spectators lining up to say hello. King Charles wore a navy suit with a light pink tie and shook hands with people in the crowd. Fans excitedly held posters and dressed in the United Kingdom flag colors to meet the royals. THE LIFE OF KING CHARLES III King Charles wore a navy suit with a light pink tie and shook hands with people in the crowd. Prince William and Middleton made their first official coronation appearance Thursday. The Prince and Princess of Wales took the Tube, London's public transportation system, for a visit to the Dog & Duck Pub. The pub is roughly a mile from Buckingham Palace. William was seen outside the pub, talking with fans and joking about his fathers coronation. The Prince and Princess of Wales took the Tube, London's public transportation system, for a visit to the Dog & Duck Pub. The pub is roughly a mile from Buckingham Palace. PRINCE WILLIAM, KATE MIDDLETON MAKE FIRST OFFICIAL CORONATION WEEK APPEARANCE AS THEY RIDE THE TUBE TO A PUB Story continues "Anything exciting planned this weekend?" a royal fan asked in the video. "A very quiet weekend, nothing happening at all," Prince William quipped. KING CHARLES KNEW QUEEN CAMILLA WAS GOING TO BE CROWNED ALONGSIDE HIM EXPERT CLAIMS: THEY MEAN BUSINESS As King Charles is crowned this weekend, Prince William will be one step closer to the British throne. King Charles' coronation will be the first since his mother Queen Elizabeth II's in 1952. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER The Prince of Wales father became Britains new monarch upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022. The 74-year-old and his wife, Queen Camilla, will officially be crowned Saturday at Londons Westminster Abbey. A star-studded coronation concert is planned for Sunday. Katy Perry, Andrea Bocelli and Lionel Richie have confirmed they will be performing during the royal extravaganza. Tom Cruise, Nicole Scherzinger and even Disneys beloved character Winnie the Pooh are a few celebrity guests who will be in attendance during King Charles coronation weekend. On the eve of King Charles III's coronation, the royal family hosted some of the notable guests who will attend Saturday's ceremony. Catherine, Princess of Wales, met American first lady Jill Biden and Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, during a reception for heads of state at Buckingham Palace May 5. The three women posed for photos together during the reception, which was held in honor of overseas guests attending the coronation. Jill Biden poses with Kate Middleton and Ukraines first lady ahead of King Charles coronation (Courtesy Kensington Palace) Jill Biden also brought her granddaughter Finnegan Biden with her for her trip across the pond. On May 4, Jill Biden posted a photo of herself waving as she boarded a plane to fly to London. Headed to the U.K. for the Coronation of King Charles III the first in 70 years! she captioned the picture. "Its an honor to represent the United States for this historic moment and celebrate the special relationship between our countries," she added. A U.S. president has never attended the coronation of a British monarch. Back in April, President Joe Biden told Charles that he would like to meet with the king in the United Kingdom at a later date. Catherine, Princess of Wales speaks with the First Lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden and her grand daughter Finnegan Biden during a reception at Buckingham Palace for overseas guests attending the coronation of King Charles III on May 5, 2023 in London, England. (Jacob King / Getty Images) The coronation of Charles, 74, marks the first time a new British monarch will be crowned in 70 years. Charles' mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died Sept. 8, 2022, at age 96, was the longest-reigning monarch in British history, first taking the throne in 1952. In addition to the reception for heads of state, Charles and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with leaders of the Commonwealth at Marlborough House Friday. Charles is head of the Commonwealth, an association of more than 50 countries, including Australia, Canada, Singapore and Kenya. The king, his eldest son, Prince William, and the former Kate Middleton also staged an impromptu walkabout to greet the excited crowds already gathering on the grand boulevard that leads to Buckingham Palace. According to Reuters, the trio of royals were met with cheers of hip, hip, hurrah! and God save the King! This article was originally published on TODAY.com Her earrings also paid homage to Princess Diana. Getty While all eyes were on Kate Middleton's sparkly floral headpiece upon her arrival at King Charles's coronation this morning, it was her dazzling jewelry that was the real star of the show. Always the fashion diplomat, the Princess of Wales carefully chose pieces that honored the important royal women in her life, adding not only a sartorial tribute to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana, but also Queen Elizabeth, who recently passed away in September. Draped over her ivory Alexander McQueen silk crepe dress and hidden beneath her formal robe was a statement necklace that previously belonged to the Queen. The three-strand diamond necklace, known as the George VI Festoon Necklace, was first commissioned by King George VI for his eldest daughter in 1950, and incorporated 105 loose collet-set diamonds from the royal vault into its design by Garrard, the official royal jeweler. But three years later, Elizabeth, who was now Queen, removed ten of the diamonds to shorten the necklace's length. Getty Related:Kate Middleton and Princess Charlotte Twinned in Matching Sparkly Headpieces at King Charles's Coronation Throughout her record-breaking reign, Queen Elizabeth was spotted wearing the George VI necklace on several significant occasions including the State Opening of Parliament in 2012 and a State Banquet at Buckingham Palace in 2018, as well as official visits to Germany, the Netherlands and Malta. Kate's earrings, meanwhile, were also a poignant choice. Her South Sea pearl-and-diamond drop earrings came from Princess Diana's jewelry collection. For more InStyle news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on InStyle. Kate, Princess of Wales and her daughter, Princess Charlotte, matched in mini-me outfits at King Charles's coronation. (Getty Images) The Princess of Wales and her daughter, Princess Charlotte, matched in twinning dresses for the high profile event of King Charless coronation. Kate, 41, stunned in an ivory silk crepe dress by one of her go-to designers, Alexander McQueen. The fashion house was the choice for her 2011 wedding dress, designed in collaboration with creative director Sarah Burton. The sleek cream-coloured dress was covered in silver embroidery with a nod to the four nations of Great Britain; rose (England), thistle (Scotland), daffodil (Wales) and shamrock (Northern Ireland) motifs were all detailed in the thread work. Princess Charlotte matched with her mother, the Princess of Wales, in an ivory Alexander McQueen dress and silver floral headpiece. (Getty Images) Kate, Princess of Wales also wore diamond and pearl earrings that belonged to the late Princess Diana. (Getty Images) The British designer also created the coronation dress for Charlotte, third in line to the throne, with matching satin stitch embroidery of the four nations flowers and the addition of a satin cape. At the request of King Charles and Queen Camilla, both the Prince and Princess of Wales are wearing traditional mantels and robes, and the princess is not wearing a tiara. Instead, Kate opted for a banded headpiece by Jess Collett and Alexander McQueen with coordinating silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery Princess Charlottes band is in the same floral style as her mothers, continuing their co-ordinating style, and the pair both swept their brunette locks into matching low plaited buns. It's the first time the mother-daughter duo have channelled in exact matching mini-me outfits, previously preferring to coordinate with subtle details. Tributes to the late Queen and Diana As with most of her styling choices, Kates jewellery paid tribute to the women in husband Williams life, including diamond and pearl earrings that belonged to his mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Her three-strand diamond necklace, the George VI Festoon Necklace, belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth. King George VI commissioned Crown jeweller Garrard to create the graduated diamond necklace for his eldest daughter, the then Princess Elizabeth, in 1950. Story continues Queen Elizabeth II wearing the George VI Festoon necklace at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1964. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) The king instructed the Crown jewellers to use 105 loose collet-set diamonds from the royal vaults to make the necklace, reportedly heirlooms from his mother, Queen Mary, from 1911. The grand heirloom features 83 brilliant diamonds cut down to collets, set as three graduated chains and joined by a single clasp at the back. Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will attend the coronation for their grandfather, King Charles, in the audience, whereas Prince George plays a more integral role in the ceremony as a page of honour. On a warm Saturday afternoon, two girls sit in blue lawn chairs outside a driveway. They watch as a memorial grows and overflows along their corner of the street. This is for Sir, pipes up the younger, her fingers busy braiding the others hair. She says 6-year-old SirAntonio Brown, fatally shot on the 3100 block of Greeley Avenue, was a relative. His favorite color is green. People can come bring stuff if they want. And many already have. Bikes. Candles. Three balloons spelling S-I-R. A wooden cross planted in the dirt. The memorial stands where Sir played outside Wednesday before gunmen exited a car and began firing. The young boy, called a jokester by his teacher, was struck and killed. SirAntonio Brown, left, is pictured with his cousin Qwamayn Frazier, 7. Days later, there have been no arrests in Sirs case. But police say they are getting closer to bringing the family justice. Nancy Chartrand, a spokeswoman with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, said detectives are making significant progress in apprehending suspects, though she would not clarify exactly what that meant. Chartrand did say, however, that the publics information has been helpful, and she encouraged more people to come forward. We have received tips, she said. While you may not think the information you have is particularly earth-shattering, we still ask them to call. Though Sir may not have been the intended target, Chartrand said the shooters would have known they could hit and kill the child. He was clearly visible, she said. On Thursday, officers located a maroon 2000s model Subaru Legacy in Kansas City, Missouri, believed to have been driven by a suspect that evening. Police are still searching for more than one suspect, Chartrand said, but she said she couldnt say how many. Witnesses told The Star previously that they had seen three masked shooters. Sirs great-aunt Shawna Davis-Scott told The Star that, around 6 p.m., the family was outside with Sir when they heard multiple rounds of gunfire. Davis-Scott looked and saw Sir lying on the ground. Story continues He loved his family, Davis-Scott said in an earlier interview. Down to his grandmother, his mother, his sisters, his aunties, his uncles, his cousins that 6-year-old felt like he was the protector. Standing on the other side of the street on Saturday, Sirs aunt, Sharon Wills, watches cars slow down when passing by. Some even stop, roll down their windows, and offer condolences. She crosses the road and picks up a large teddy bear slouching over. Were all grieving, she said. The perpetrator will be caught. Wills said she has also just lost her son in a gun violence incident, and her mother died not long before that. There are no words, she said, watching the girls straighten up the stuffed animal pile. A GoFundMe started by the boys godmother on Friday has raised more than $4,500 as of Saturday afternoon. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a bill on Friday to establish a commission with the power to remove local prosecutors who refuse to uphold the law. Kemps office said in a release that he established the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission (PACQ) with his signature to serve as a valuable oversight mechanism for district attorneys and solicitors-general throughout the state. The office said the commission will ensure these officials fulfill their constitutional and statutory responsibilities. As hardworking law enforcement officers routinely put their lives on the line to investigate, confront, and arrest criminal offenders, I wont stand idly by as theyre met with resistance from rogue or incompetent prosecutors who refuse to uphold the law, Kemp said. The creation of the PACQ will help hold prosecutors driven by out-of-touch politics than commitment to their responsibilities accountable and make our communities safer. The law establish several reasons for the commission to remove or force the involuntary retirement of prosecutors. They include willful misconduct in office, mental or physical incapacity interfering with duties that is likely permanent, willful and persistent failure to carry out statutory duties and conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude. District attorneys and solicitors general could also be removed for conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that lowers the reputation of the office and for knowingly allowing an assistant district attorney or assistant solicitor general to commit any of the listed acts. The commission will launch on July 1 and can start accepting complaints about prosecutors on Oct. 1. The law is one of several efforts that some Republicans throughout the country have taken to go after Democratic and liberal-leaning prosecutors whom they have accused of being soft on crime and declining to prosecute certain crimes. Georgia Democrats have accused the Republican-controlled legislature and Kemp of seeking to impose the legislatures will on Democratic local areas. Story continues Some observers have said the law could be used against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is considering charges against former President Trump and his allies over efforts to overturn the results of the states election in the 2020 presidential race. Willis has denounced the law as racist, as it comes after voters elected 14 nonwhite district attorneys. Republicans mentioned District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, who serves Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties, as a target of the law as she has declined to prosecute marijuana-related offenses. Seven district attorneys have also pledged to not prosecute abortion-related crimes in the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Georgia is not the only state where officials have taken action to try to remove prosecutors who they believe are not following their responsibilities. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) removed a prosecutor from office in August for signing a pledge to not prosecute women and doctors who violate abortion laws and families seeking gender-affirming care for minors. The Associated Press contributed to this report. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Kent State students protest Ohio Senate Bill 83, also known as the Higher Education Enhancement Act, during Kent State president Todd Diacon's remark at the university's annual May 4 commemoration. Dissent is alive and well on Kent State University's campus. During Kent State President Todd Diacon's remarks on Thursday during the annual May 4 commemoration, a group of students, many clad in red, stood up in silent protest of Senate Bill 83. The bill, also called the Higher Education Enhancement Act, is working its way through the state Senate. The proposal would, among other changes, prohibit mandatory diversity, equity and Inclusion training at Ohio's state colleges and ban employees from striking. It also would forbid universities from "engaging in or abetting activities such as boycotts, disinvestments, or sanctions" and from "endorsing, opposing, commenting on, or taking action, as an institution, on the public policy controversies of the day," including electoral politics, climate change, marriage, and abortion. However, it does permit universities to, "endorse the congress of the United States when it establishes a state of armed hostility against a foreign power." The protesters held signs emblazoned with slogans : "Hands off academic freedom" and "SB 83 Killer of Diversity." Speaking afterward at a rally, Dimaya Mayfield, vice president of Kent's IGNITE chapter, the director for student relations for Black United Students and one of the protest organizers, explicitly laid out the protest's goals. "We hope to express disapproval of Senate Bill 83 and any companion bill like it," Mayfield said. "We wanted to be a voice for students and those who cannot speak against it; to draw attention to the issue of Senate Bill 83, and galvanize students to take action; and to be a response to the lack of administration support and communication with the students on the subject." Kent State students rally in opposition of Ohio Senate bill 83, also known as the Higher Education Enhancement Act, while Kent State president Todd Diacon spoke Thursday during the university's annual commemoration of the events of May 4, 1970. Organizing in respect of a legacy Kristian Crider, with the Ohio Student Association, and fellow student Issac Halaszi, with the ACLU Campus Action Team, helped organize the protest. Story continues Halaszi said that the bill's restriction on teaching "politically divisive concepts" will interfere with students' educations. "I know it names specifically racism institutionalized racism, climate change, stuff like that things that students are trying to learn about, and censoring how we can learn about those is dangerous," Halaszi said. Crider is concerned that the banning of diversity, equity and inclusion trainings will make the school less welcoming to students from diverse backgrounds. Censorship worries her as well. "That's very scary because a lot of students who are Africana majors, who are gender studies majors, who take these classes... it's scary because a lot of students won't get an honest education, and a lot of professors, it's going to be hard for them to teach what they've been researching throughout their whole lives," Crider said. The decision to protest during the May 4 commemoration was made to carry on the legacy of the four students killed by the National Guardsmen who were responding to protests on campus over the Vietnam War, Halaszi said. "We think it's important to carry on that legacy," he said, "and also acknowledge that today is a symbolic day of protest, because that's what these student activists were doing." Kent State students rally in opposition of Ohio Senate bill 83, also known as the Higher Education Enhancement Act, while Kent State president Todd Diacon spoke Thursday during the university's annual commemoration of the events of May 4, 1970. A rally at Oscar Ritchie Hall During Diacon's address, the protesters moved forward from where they had gathered at the edge of the Commons, hoisting their signs above their heads, standing silently. At the end of his remarks, featuring no mention of the demonstrators, they moved back, a briefly receded tide. Roseann "Chic" Canfora, whose brother was among the nine students wounded on May 4, 1970, acknowledged and commended the protesters, saying: "I do want to thank the silent protesters who are with us today for respecting the solemnity of our noon event, but most of all for your courage, your spirit, and your activism. They deserve our applause." After the close of the commemoration, Diacon said that Canfora summed up the situation nicely. He also shared some of his concerns about SB 83 as university president. "I think it's a bill that has a lot of confused passages," Diacon said, "and I really worry about unintended consequences. And for my part, we're just really doing what we can do to clarify language." Diacon said he's brought up his concerns to the bill's primary sponsor, Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, and is working with him to address the vague language concerning "specified concepts, specified ideologies, and political controversies." As "Get Together" by the Youngbloods played over the loudspeakers, the group of nearly 100 students marched up the Commons hill and turned left, following the sidewalk behind the May 4 visitors center. They continued through the outdoor memorial, and back down the northern side of the hill, coming to a stop at the rear of Oscar Ritchie Hall, chanting all the way. Years ago, Oscar Ritchie Hall was the student center. Following a struggle fought by Black United Students in the late 1960s, it now houses the Department of Africana Studies. Speaking through a portable PA system, students gave testimony on how SB 83 would negatively impact the college experience. Freshman student DeGernarra Holmes said that they feel targeted by the bill. "This bill attacks every aspect of who I am as an individual," Holmes said. "I cannot express how frustrated and angry I am with our government, with the university, and with everyone that does not know about this bill." Educating themselves on SB 83's content is a Google search away, a step everyone should take, Holmes said. Speaking about an experience they had when someone hurled homophobic and racial slurs at them, Holmes said it was their friends that rallied around them, not the university. "They unfortunately had to have the experience before me of something like that happening and being told, there's nothing we can do," Holmes said. "It means so much to me to have everyone here today and to attend events like this, and attend events put on by [Black United Students], because I feel loved. And if these spaces are taken away from me, where will I go? But like I said, my friends, the other night, told me that I will still have places to go, and I thank you guys for that." Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Kent State students protest proposed higher education changes Look! Up in the sky! Its a bird! Its a plane pulling a political message over Churchill Downs! The main attraction at the Louisville track Saturday was the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby, but planes overhead snagged a bit of attention, too. In the hours before the big race, a plane carrying a banner than read InvestigateComer.com circled the area, which prompted backlash from the Kentucky Republican. Heres video of that plane, which is circling Churchill downs right now: https://t.co/dpYo2qpZrN pic.twitter.com/ggD4KAwTNG Tessa Duvall (@TessaDuvall) May 6, 2023 1) Nothing spells INTIMIDATION more than Bidens dark money PAC paying a plane to fly over #KentuckyDerby to attack me for simply investigating public corruption, U.S. Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, tweeted. 2) This desperate political stunt by the Bidens is helping me (praying hands emoji) so much politically in Kentucky today, I wonder if I will be required to list it as an in-kind donation from China on my next campaign finance report? The website in question redirects to a news article about a group, the Congressional Integrity Project, urging an investigation into Comers potential involvement in leaking emails during the 2015 Kentucky governors race. The demand for an investigation followed a New York Times article in which Comer admits to leaking emails to the Herald-Leader and strongly hinted he had gotten them from the server, the Times reported in March. 1) Nothing spells INTIMIDATION more than Bidens dark money PAC paying a plane to fly over #KentuckyDerby to attack me for simply investigating public corruption James Comer (@JamesComer) May 6, 2023 A group called the Congressional Integrity Project took credit for the banner. Story continues Comer all but admitted to the New York Times that his gubernatorial campaign had a hand in stealing a server, hacking emails, and leaking them to intimidate a former girlfriend and to hurt his political opponent, and he needs to be investigated and held responsible for his actions, Congressional Integrity Project executive director Kyle Herrig said in a statement. His constituents deserve to know who their Representative really is. ... What credibility does he have to conduct oversight investigations into others when he wont even answer for his own actions to further his political career? Kentucky Derby goers. From 430 to 630 there will be a plane flying over with this banner: Deters For Governor. Vote May 16. Send me a photo please! Deters For Governor (@Deters4governor) May 6, 2023 Additionally, Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Deters, a suspended attorney in Northern Kentucky who is largely self-funding his campaign, also had a banner overhead. It read: Deters For Governor. Vote May 16. He asked his followers to send photos to him. (Other banners in the skies over Churchill Downs: pest control services and an OnlyFans account URL.) With 10 days until the May 16 primary, another Republican candidate took a more traditional approach to campaigning. Auditor Mike Harmon was at Churchill Downs was in the stands with his wife Lynn Papaw and Peaches to their grandkids where he was wearing a campaign sticker on his lapel. Harmon, who has been trailing in recent polls, was out and about talking to potential voters. Harmon will take part in the WKYT debate Monday evening and said hes feeling good as the race heads into the final stretch. Polling is never reflective of my races, Harmon said, noting how he beat a much more well-funded incumbent, Adam Edelen, in 2015. Kentucky governor Andy Beshear takes to the red carpet with family at Churchill Downs before the start of 149th Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, May 6, 2023. But the most important thing, he said, is coming together after the primary and uniting to beat Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Harmon said hes been disappointed in the negative tone in the primary, but hopes all his fellow candidates can move past that come May 17. .@TessaDuvall catches up with @GovAndyBeshear on the #KentuckyDerby red carpet. The governors pick for the Derby is Verify. pic.twitter.com/CWeeFdas37 Andrew Henderson (@andrwfhenderson) May 6, 2023 Beshear said he isnt yet thinking about who his general election opponent will be. He also noted he technically has a primary himself; perennial candidate Geoff Young and former Republican nominee for governor Peppy Martin are both challenging Beshear. When youve been the governor during covid, tornadoes, flooding, the recent string of shootings, the polar plunge, you dont lose sleep at night over who your opponents going to be, Beshear said from the red carpet. As the nation's most impressive steeds line up to compete in this year's Kentucky Derby on Saturday, another competitive race will be hitting its final stretch in the Bluegrass state: the heated Republican primary to decide who will take on Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in November. Beshear, one of the nation's few Democratic governors of a deep-red state, is up for re-election after a first four-year term that has surprisingly seen him become one of the most popular governors in the country, considering the stark political divide facing the nation, according to polls. Three Republican hopefuls have separated themselves from the crowded field of 12 candidates hoping to win the GOP nomination. But with sparse polling indicating no clear leader from the trio, each has only 10 more days to make their case to Kentucky Republicans on why they're the best chance at flipping the governor's mansion red. Fox News Digital spoke with former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron and state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles as they geared up for their final push to win over voters, and none lacked confidence that they were the best positioned to be the first one across the finish line come Tuesday, May 16. CONTENTIOUS GOVERNOR'S RACE GOES NATIONAL AS CRUZ BACKS FORMER UN AMBASSADOR KELLY CRAFT Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles (left), Attorney General Daniel Cameron (middle) and former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft (right) will face off in the Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. "I've invested my time in going and meeting people at their moment. And when you invest in people, when you sit down, and you listen to people Kentuckians are very smart. If you've not listened, they know by the questions that you ask them. So I've been investing in Kentuckians," Craft told Fox. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "Like I said, in September, I'm in, and I'm going to go all out, because Kentucky is worth it. I've never forgotten where I come from," she added. "I was able to achieve the American Dream, Kentucky's promise, as was my husband. . . . We've earned everything we've ever had. And it's not really about this election, it's about the generations to come. And that's why I'm in there." Story continues Quarles emphasized his effort to win over the undecided Republicans across the state through a strategy that avoided negative attacks, an "intelligent" focus on the issues facing Kentuckians, and a strong "old-fashioned" grassroots organization. "I think that my path towards victory is becoming more clear every single day," he told Fox, trumpeting his connection to rural Kentuckians and farmers through his eight-year tenure as agriculture commissioner. "I believe that we are peaking at the right time in this race, meaning our grassroots, our media plan and our travel schedule are all coming together." BLACK REPUBLICAN RIPS LIBERAL PAPER'S 'RACE BAITER' CARTOON DEPICTING HIM WITH LIGHTENED SKIN, BACKWARDS HAT Cameron told Fox that Kentucky Republicans understood he was the true conservative candidate in the race. "They understand who's been fighting for them over these last three years, and they understand who's been endorsed by Donald J. Trump. And that's me," he said. "I think we're going to continue to expand our lead and come really strong out of this primary, be the nominee, and be ready to beat Andy Beshear in November," he added. Each of the candidates has been largely in step on many of the most talked-about issues on the campaign trail, including tackling Kentucky's fentanyl crisis and its connection to the border problems facing the country as a whole. Each has also been sharply critical of Beshear's tenure, specifically on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and gender-related issues. Beshear recently garnered criticism from the three for vetoing a bill that would have banned gender-transition surgeries for children. Each has also sought to elevate other individual issues they feel need to be addressed across the state. Craft, who touts the more than 100 kitchen table meetings she's held since launching her campaign, has emphasized the need to overhaul Kentucky's education system to improve its competitiveness with those of other states, starting with removing the state's education commissioner. RED STATE DEMOCRAT DOESN'T LIFT A FINGER AGAINST BIDEN POLICIES RAVAGING HIS CITIZENS: GOP GOVERNOR HOPEFUL Then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft speaks during a Security Council meeting about the situation in Syria at United Nations Headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, February 28, 2020. Quarles has released a number of "Common Sense Plans" that have put a focus on a range of specific issues, including addressing mental health shortcomings and legalizing medical marijuana. Cameron has gone after a number of "woke" issues but has specifically vowed to keep Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance, or ESG, investment standards out of Kentucky's pension plans, and he has called on the other candidates to pledge to do the same. Solutions to Kentuckians' issues haven't been the sole focus of the race, however, as the Cameron and Craft campaigns, and outside organizations supporting them, have increasingly clashed with attack ads aimed at each other. The attacks from Craft's campaign and its allies have included claims that Cameron, in his role as attorney general, allowed a "woke" Department of Justice to "take over" the Louisville police department to investigate alleged constitutional violations following the death of Breonna Taylor in 2020, something Cameron has called "a flat out lie." VULNERABLE DEM GOVERNOR SKEWERED BY CHALLENGERS FOR REJECTING RECORDS REQUEST ON COVID CLOSURES Ryan Quarles, Agriculture Commissioner, State of Kentucky, speaks onstage during the 2022 Concordia Lexington Summit - Day 2 at Lexington Marriott City Center on April 8, 2022, in Lexington, Kentucky. A group supporting Cameron released an ad calling Craft "desperate" over her attacks against him. It also heralded former President Donald Trump's endorsement of Cameron over Craft by pointing out that she served in the former president's administration as his ambassador to Canada and later the U.N. but didn't receive his endorsement. Trump, however, endorsed Cameron before Craft entered the race. Other endorsements have started to roll in amid the attacks, with the most recent being Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's backing of Craft earlier this week. She also has the support of House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., as well as a number of Kentucky state legislators and other local officials. Former University of Kentucky All-American swimmer Riley Gaines , a well-known critic of biological males competing in women's sports, has also joined Craft on the campaign trail. Aside from the widely coveted support that Cameron has from Trump, he is also being backed by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and a number of local law enforcement officials. TRUMP UN AMBASSADOR VOWS FULL COURT PRESS TO COMBAT CHINA'S FENTANYL ABUSES IN THIS STATE IF ELECTED GOV Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron talks with reporters before politicians give speeches during the 142nd annual St. Jerome Fancy Farm Picnic in Fancy Farm, Kentucky, on Aug. 6, 2022. Quarles has been endorsed by a commanding portion of Kentucky's farmers and a whopping 235 local elected officials, including one-third of all county judge executives. Early in-person voting for the primary will be held Thursday, May 11 through Saturday, May 13. Polls will be open on primary day, Tuesday, May 16, from 6:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. local time. The winner will likely face Beshear, who is expected to easily win the Democratic nomination, on Tuesday, Nov. 7 in the general election. Peter Schwartz during the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. Justice Department via AP A Kentucky man was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Friday for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, The Associated Press reported. This marks the longest prison sentence yet among the hundreds of criminal cases related to the insurrection. Peter Schwartz, 49, was officially sentenced to 14 years and two months behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release. Prosecutors had originally sought a sentence of 24 years and six months for Schwartz after he was found guilty last December of assault and other felony charges. During the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta told Schwartz he was a "soldier against democracy" that participated in "the kind of mayhem [and] chaos that had never been seen in the country's history," AP reported. According to prosecutorial court filings, Schwartz arrived at the Capitol building on Jan. 6. armed with a wooden tire knocker. He then joined a group of rioters at the Capitol's lower terrace, where he participated in an effort to push back a line of police officers and also threw a chair at law enforcement. Prosecutors wrote that "by throwing that chair, Schwartz directly contributed to the fall of the police line that enabled rioters to flood forward and take over the entire terrace." Schwartz was additionally armed with a can of police-issued pepper spray, prosecutors said, spraying it at retreating officers who fled into an underground tunnel. Schwartz followed the officers into the tunnel and further threatened them with an unidentified orange spray. While Schwartz apologized in court, Mehta replied that he didn't believe him. "You took it upon yourself to try and injure multiple police officers that day," he said. Schwartz's sentencing came just one day after four members of the right-wing Proud Boys were found guilty of seditious conspiracy in relation to their leading the insurrection. Story continues You may also like Colombia's 'cocaine hippos': A problem too big to ignore Oakland Athletics announcer suspended after using racial slur on air Kentucky man gets 14 years for Capitol insurrection, longest sentence yet By Paul Sandle, Muvija M and Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) -Tens of thousands of people of all ages, from Britain and across the globe, braved the rain for a glimpse of the newly crowned King Charles in the streets of London and on Buckingham Palace's famous balcony on Saturday. From the early hours, people dressed in red, white and blue and clutching union flags and umbrellas lined the streets for the first coronation in Britain for 70 years, seeking to share a historic occasion and what many viewed as a moment of national unity. In crowns and regal robes, Charles and Queen Camilla appeared on the balcony with heir to the throne Prince William and other senior royals to watch a fly-past, scaled down due to the cloud and rain. "It was a brilliant way to end what was already a brilliant day," said Katie Mitchell, 25, who had made it close to the Palace. "It was amazing to see them all there in real life, just like youd see on a postcard." Many in the crowd had brought stools or steps, to be able to see over the crowds, and wore elaborate fancy dress including paper crowns and plastic tiaras. While the service took place within Westminster Abbey strangers huddled together under umbrellas to see the ceremony on phones and iPads, or watched on big screens in parks. Following on his phone in St James's Park, Mick Windebank, 60, a builder from Surrey, said the moment the crown was placed on Charles' head was "very emotional". "He's waited all his life for this moment. As sad as the passing of his mother was, it's his time," he said. Charles, 74, ascended to the throne in September after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth. Toward the end of the two-hour service, crowds lining the procession route and listening on loud speakers joined in when "God Save the King", the national anthem, was played. For many spectators, the sight of eight horses pulling the 260-year-old Gold State Coach carrying Charles and Camilla back to Buckingham Palace brought home the sense of history unfolding. Story continues "We have had a monarchy for hundreds of years and it is our connection with the past. Where else would you get these crowds?" said Sarah Alms, a housewife in her 60s. POMP AND SPLENDOUR About 4,000 officers were involved in the procession, which featured soldiers in scarlet coats and bearskin fur hats, military bands and dozens of horses. Those gathered had different reasons to be there. Many older visitors wanted to show their support for Charles and the monarchy, for some it was the beginning of a new era, while others simply wanted to celebrate and enjoy the pomp and splendour. The coronation took place amid a cost of living crisis and public scepticism, particularly among the young, about the role and relevance of the monarchy, and its finances. Charles, who had the longest wait for the throne of any British monarch, is not as popular as Queen Elizabeth, and his coronation did not draw the millions who thronged the streets to watch her crowning in 1953. A few hundred protestersfrom the anti-monarchy group Republic gathered among the wellwishers along the route, booing as Charles and Camilla went past and holding up signs saying "Not My King". The leader of the group was arrested before the procession started. But polls show the public generally approves of Charles as king and a majority still support the monarchy, even if younger people are far less interested. Sam Mindenhall, a 27-year-old cafe worker from Bristol in southwest England, said he thought Charles was trying to balance the tradition of a monarchy that dates back almost 1,000 years with the modern face of Britain. "I think a lot of the issues that he cares about are quite important," he said, adding that Charles was "trying to be more inclusive". Others praised the king's well-known environmentalist views. The monarchy's appeal to tourists was also evident in the crowd, which was made up of nationalities from across the world. Manuel Olarte, who moved to London from Peru 40 years ago, streamed events on his phone for his family back home. "I was surrounded by British people born in this country ... but I felt at home," he said. (Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill, and Farouq SuleimanWriting by Kate HoltonEditing by Alexandra Hudson, Angus MacSwan and Frances Kerry) In their best royal attire. King Charles IIIs coronation photos are here and were totally obsessed. As one of the biggest events in the U.K. in the past seven decades, its no wonder the royal family are at their regally finest. Moments after the Queens death on September 8, 2022, Charles was proclaimed King. Due to royal tradition, days later on September 10, 2022, the Privy Council proclaimed the sovereign. The clerk of the council said, Charles III, by the grace of god of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of his other realms and territory, King, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith, to whom we do acknowledge all faith and obedience with humble affection, beseeching god by whom kings and queens do reign to bless his majesty with long and happy years to reign over us. God Save the King. More from StyleCaster Buckingham Palace confirmed the date of King Charles IIIs coronation will be on May 6, 2023. Over 2,000 guests attended the once-in-a-generation event from across the globe. King Charles IIIs coronation will be significantly shorter than Queen Elizabeths coronation, but celebrations will take place over three days, from Saturday, May 6, 2023, to Monday, May 8, 2023. The new Kings ceremony will only take place for just over an hour while Queen Elizabeths took over three hours. The ceremony itself is supposedly shortened due to the Kings age and a reflection of a more modern monarchy. So how did the modern royal family show up to King Charles coronation? We got you covered with their best looks. Royal Family Coronation Photos King Charles & Queen Camilla Click here to read the full article. Image: Yui Mok WPA Pool/Getty Images King Charles forwent traditional garb in favor of his Naval uniform, rejecting the monarchs traditional coronation breeches and stockings. Monarchs in the past have donned the Supertunica, which is a gold robe to be worn during coronation, and he wore one that was originally created for King George and a royal sword belt and glove that belonged to his grandfather. The King actually opted for a silk undershirt by the Royal Warrant-holding shirtmakers at Turnbull & Asser, and opera slippers by Gaziano & Girling of Savile Row. Caroline de Guitaut, the deputy surveyor of the Kings Works of Art at the Royal Collection Trust told the BBC, It was the Kings personal decision to reuse all of these items. Story continues PHOTO: Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images Meanwhile, Camilla wore a custom Bruce Oldfield dress in white and gold matching her husbands attire. She wore a necklace that Queen Elizabeth II wore during her coronation that also belonged to Queen Victoria. I am honored to have been asked to design such an historic gown for Her Majesty. This really is the most important commission of my life. Very exciting and very special, Bruce Oldfield told WWD. Prince William, Princess Kate Middleton, Princess Charlotte & Princess Louis Image: ANDREW MILLIGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images The Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince William and Kate Middleton arrived in their best robes with their children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Kate wore a blue robe and her head adorned with a custom Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen headpiece, which finely matches her daughter and her lovely white dress. Meanwhile, Prince William wore a symbolic robe signifying his place as the next in line on the throne. Prince William has a significant role within the coronation. Image: Yui Mok WPA Pool/Getty Images Also, whats a royal event without an adorable photo of Prince Louis? The youngest of the Wales yawned during the ceremony while his family was listening in to the ceremony. Image: Yui Mok WPA Pool/Getty Images The Prince of Wales read The Homage of Blood. William read back to his father, I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God. In with ceremony, Prince William also gave his father a kiss on the cheek. Prince George Image: TOBY MELVILLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images King Charles gave his grandson (and next in line after Prince William) a special duty in the Coronation. He served as a Page of Honour. He was accompanied by Camillas grandsons Freddy, Gus and Louis. Prince Harry Image: ANDY STENNING/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry arrived at the coronation (sans his wife Meghan Markle) in his military uniform. Buckingham Palace confirmed Harrys attendance. Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6th May. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, they said in the statement. The appearance came after Prince Harry released his debut book Spare, which provided insight into his life as a Royal and his marriage to Meghan Markle. Princess Eugenie Image: Dan Charity WPA Pool/Getty Images) Princess Eugenie arrived at King Charles coronation in a vibrant blue dress and sat next to her husband Jack Brooksbank. Princess Beatrice Image: Dan Charity WPA Pool/Getty Images Princess Beatrice arrived at the Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London, England with her husband Mapelli Mozzi, and cousin Prince Harry. Princess Anne Image: TOBY MELVILLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images King Charles sister Princess Anne appeared at the Kings coronation in her best garb and looking so stunning while doing so. Prince Edward, Sophie, Countess of Wessex & Family Image: Yui Mok WPA Pool/Getty Images Youngest of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillips children, Prince Edward sat front and center with his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex with their children, Lady Louis and James, Viscount Severn sat in the row right behind them. Jill Biden & Finnegan Biden Image: Phil Noble WPA Pool/Getty Images First Lady of the United States Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan Biden attended the Coronation in lieu of President Joe Biden. Justin Trudeau Image: Toby Melville WPA Pool/Getty Images Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared at the Coronation with his wife Sophie. Image: Amazon With exclusive interviews and extensive research, King Charles delivers definitive insight into the extraordinary life of His Royal Highness, former Prince of Wales, as he takes the throne, a watershed moment in modern history and in the British monarchy. New York Times bestselling author Robert Jobson debunks the myths about the man who became king, going beyond banal, bogus media caricatures of Charles to tell his true story. Jobsonwho has spent nearly thirty years chronicling the House of Windsor, and has met Charles on countless occasionsreceived unprecedented cooperation from Clarence House, what was the Princes office, in writing this illuminating biography. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale. StyleCaster Shopping Newsletter Sign Up Best of StyleCaster Theres another special and a lot more low-key celebration happening today: its Prince Archies fourth birthday. The youngster will be celebrating his special day with his mother Meghan Markle, one-year-old sister Princess Lilibet, as well as close family members and friends, according to reports. Meanwhile, his dad, Prince Harry, has flown to London for his fathers coronation. King Charless youngest son, who arrived in the U.K. via a commercial flight on Friday, is not listed under any part of the Westminster Abbey service or procession, according to documents seen by HuffPost. Archie Mountbatten-Windsor Archie Mountbatten-Windsor So whats on the cards for Archies birthday celebration? A source told People Magazine: Its going to be a low-key party at home. Theyll have friends around them and Meghans mom, Doria [Ragland]. Meghan will definitely have support that weekend. Harry will return to Los Angeles a matter of hours after the event, via another commercial flight, to make it home for his sons birthday, according to Page Six. The couple live in Montecito, California, with their two children, which is seven hours behind the U.K. Harrys going to make every effort to get back in time for Archies birthday, the source said. King Charles III has gone punk in a new street art piece painted in London this week. Street artist Pegasus, whose real name is Chris Turner, reworked the iconic artwork of the Sex Pistols God Save the Queen hit ahead of the monarchs coronation on Saturday. Charles wears a choker, an earring and a Jean-Michel Basquiat-style crown in front of an upside-down Union Flag to reflect the distress in the ever-posing question of the relevance of our monarchy in todays society, Chicago-born Turner told Londons Evening Standard newspaper. The symbols of religion on the crown refer to Charles vow to defend all faiths, he added. I felt it was important to portray our new Monarch with relevance to his subjects during his reign, but with a pop culture connection to his late mother, Turner told HuffPost. Mixing up both The Sex Pistols and his beliefs of coexisting within a multi-faith establishment. Its the latest in a long line of royal-themed pieces by the artist: Related... LONDON (Reuters) - King Charles appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with his wife Queen Camilla, heir to the throne Prince William and other senior royals but Prince Harry, the King's younger son, was absent. Harry, whose attendance at his father's coronation was in doubt earlier this year after he detailed family rows in his memoir "Spare", had no formal role in the ceremony. Harry had attended the Westminister Abbey ceremony earlier on Saturday without his wife Meghan and two young children, who remained in the United States. His eldest child Archie turns four on Saturday. Commentators had said that if Harry had appeared with his family on the balcony, it would have been a sign that the two sides were reconciling after a rift. King Charles and Queen Camilla appeared for a second time on the balcony to cheers from the crowd of tens of thousands of people who had packed into the Mall, the grand boulevard which leads up to Buckingham Palace. (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Michael Holden and Angus MacSwan) King Charles' swollen fingers have seen a spike in interest of late, particularly in the lead up to the coronation. (Getty Images) The occasion of King Charless coronation is finally here and interest in the new monarch has never been higher. However, as his every move is carefully monitored, theres one thing about the new King that seems to continuously attract attention online: his swollen fingers. After seeing him pour a pint during a royal engagement in 2021, many fans commented on Twitter asking if all was ok with his hands. "I've never noticed the hands of Prince Charles until this photo. Is he okay? They are so swollen," one user wrote. Read more: King Charles's coronation: Famous arrivals from Dame Emma Thompson to Katy Perry He was also seen with what looked like painfully swollen hands and feet during the first day of his royal tour in India in 2019 when he removed his shoes to step into a Sikh temple in New Delhi. Charles has even reportedly jokingly referred to his hands as "sausage fingers" when a photo of him after a flight to Australia in 2012 resurfaced and went viral. After pouring a pint during a royal visit in 2021, people noticed how swollen Charles' fingers looked. (Getty Images) And writing to a friend after the birth of first-born Prince William in 1982 he said: He really does look surprisingly appetising and has sausage fingers just like mine, according to the book, The Man Who Will Be King, by Howard Hodgson. Charles' late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, also commented on the size of her sons' hands, reportedly writing a letter to her music teacher after he was born: "They are rather large, but with fine long fingers quite unlike mine and certainly unlike his father's. It will be interesting to see what they become." Google searches for 'king charles fingers' spiked during the Queen's funeral and again during his Christmas Day speech. (Google) It seems interest in the King's fingers seems to spike every time there is a big royal occasion the Queen's funeral, his Christmas Day speech and the lead up to the coronation has been no different. While Charles has never addressed what might be the cause of his seemingly swollen hands, and at 74 he seems in good health, but he has had several visits to hospital over the years. Story continues Fans commented on the then Prince Charles fingers on a visit to The Solomon Islands in 2019. (Getty Images) Back in 1990, then aged 41, Charles broke his right arm in two places after falling from his horse during a polo match, spending three nights at Cirencester Memorial Hospital in Gloucestershire. And when he was a youngster, aged just 15, the then Prince Charles was admitted to hospital with a bout of mild pneumonia. The now monarch also tested positive for COVID-19 twice during the coronavirus pandemic, although neither time required hospital treatment. While no official explanation has been given for the King's often swollen fingers, the NHS offers some suggestions of what could cause swelling in hands and feet, including that it could be due to a build-up of fluid in the body's tissues which make them puffy and swollen. Professionally referred to as oedema, the condition can affect any part of the body. However, as a result of gravity the fluid tends to fall downwards, meaning that the hands, feet and ankles are usually the most affected areas. It's usually caused by staying in the same position for too long, eating too much salty food, being pregnant or taking certain medicines including some blood pressure medicines, contraceptive pills, antidepressants and steroids. Read more: King's coronation: Why is the sovereign's ring called 'the wedding ring of England'? A close-up view of the hand of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales during a visit to BBC Broadcasting House in April 2022. (Getty Images) Other causes include an injury sudden change in temperature an insect bite or skin allergy. Problems with your kidneys, liver or heart, blood clots, infections and certain conditions such as lymphoedema or arthritis are also potential causes. While the swelling should go away on its own there are certain things the NHS suggests trying to ease symptoms including lying down and using pillows to raise the swollen areas, massaging your hand or arm towards your body and raising your hand above your head while you open and close your fist. You can also trying bathing the impacted area in warm water, then cold water to try to shift fluid away from the area. Read more: Best M&S coronation memorabilia, from cushions to hampers Another potential explanation or swollen fingers or hands, according to the NHS, is psoriatic arthritis. This is a type of arthritis that affects some people with the skin condition psoriasis and can cause affected joints to become swollen, stiff and painful. The NHS says the severity of the condition can vary considerably from person to person and treatments include trying to relieve symptoms and slow the condition's progression, which can include the taking of certain medicines including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and biological therapies. Interestingly, there is even a technical term for "sausage fingers" dactylitis which is a medical term for severe swelling that affects your fingers and toes. Brent Sullivan was 12 years old when he died from an overdose of fentanyl in 2021. It was a tragedy that rocked the Carlsbad community and led to charges filed against Sullivan's mother and grandmother who authorities believed supplied the drug to the boy. His mother Alexis Murray, 37, was charged in the weeks following her sons death with a count each of child abuse resulting in death, and child abuse not resulting in death. More: Court documents reveal details of Brent Sullivan's death as his mom and grandmother remain in jail Investigators alleged she illegally dealt fentanyl, making it available to her son before he was found dead in the backyard on his grandmothers property. Murrays trial is scheduled for May 9 in Eddy County District Court in front of Judge Lisa Riley. Heres what to know about the case ahead of the upcoming trial. More: Carlsbad grandmother charged with grandson's death back in jail after violating bond Brent Sullivans death confirmed an overdose Sullivan was found dead at about noon on Sept. 28, 2021, in a shed at his grandmother Kellie Smiths home in the 2400 block of Western Way in Carlsbad. He was initially reported as unresponsive and taken to Carlsbad Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead. An autopsy report filed by the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) showed Sullivan had traces of fentanyl and methamphetamine, along with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the active ingredient in cannabis, in his body. More: Brent Sullivan's death has been ruled an accident. It's unclear if that will affect his family's trials. The OMI report indicated the death resulted from an accidental drug overdose, records show. Mother, grandmother charged with felonies following boys death Murray and Smith were both charged with child abuse and child abuse resulting in death, first-degree and third-degree felonies, respectively. Smiths trial was scheduled for Nov. 6 before District Judge David Finger. Story continues More: Democrats block GOP-backed crime bills targeting fentanyl, trafficking in New Mexico Smith told police she last saw Sullivan alive at 5 a.m. the morning of his death and woke up at 10:30 a.m. that day, meaning there were several hours she could not account for the childs whereabouts, police said. Murray said she was supplied fentanyl from her mother, receiving about 300 pills days before her sons fatal overdose. Boy had a history of fentanyl abuse before death In an interview with detectives, Murray told police she knew Sullivan was using fentanyl at her home in the 800 block of Alamosa and at Smiths residence where he was found dead, the complaint read. At the scene of Sullivans death, grandmother Smith, 57, admitted to police that she and her daughter were addicted to drugs and used fentanyl, according to a criminal complaint. More: With fentanyl deaths rising, New Mexico lawmakers look for solutions to fight trafficking She allegedly told police Murray was using fentanyl and that Sullivan was stealing the drug from his mother for personal use. Sullivan had overdosed in the past, Murray said, and she had administered Narcan multiple times but never sought medical treatment. A witness told police both Murray and Smith were selling fentanyl, that Sullivan got it from them, and that Ortiz had seen the boy overdose multiple times. More: Carlsbad grandmother charged with grandson's fentanyl overdose in 2021 released from jail Grandmother released pending trial, then rearrested for violating terms Smith made bail and was released months after her arrest on May 9, 2022, records show. She allegedly violated the terms of her release, with her ankle monitor unable to track Smith for at least 24 hours, records show. Fifth Judicial District Judge AnneMarie Lewis said Smith also violated release conditions by contacting a man who was a witness in the case. More: Seizures increase as DEA observes National Fentanyl Awareness Day May 10 She was rearrested May 13, 2022 and was being held in jail on no bail, no bond pending the trial. Fentanyl deaths continue to plague New Mexico In the years since Sullivans death, fentanyl use and distribution continued to rise in New Mexico, along with fatal overdoses. A 2 milligram dose as small as a grain of salt can prove fatal, Rehm said, of the drug known to be 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. More: Illegal fentanyl use increasing in New Mexico and Eddy County Two out of three drug overdoses in New Mexico in 2020 were tied to opioids including fentanyl, according to a June 2022 report from the New Mexico Department of Health. Of those, 39 percent involved fentanyl, read the report. Law enforcement in Carlsbad and Eddy County announced frequent arrests for possession of the drug in large quantities. Most recently, the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force on Jan. 6 arrested Luther Hammett of Artesia on a warrant alleging he was in possession of more than 10,000 fentanyl pills. Hammett, allegedly intoxicated at the time of his arrest, led police on a high-speed chase where police said he threw a firearm out of a moving vehicle and attempted to dump fentanyl pills. Police recovered about 340 pills from the roadway. Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter. This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Mother faces trial for Brent Sullivan's death from fentanyl overdose Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right). Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images/Contributor Yevgeny Prigozhin, who leads the mercenary Wagner Group, appears to have turned on Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin's ties to Putin go back to the 1990s when his catering companies served the Kremlin. On Thursday, Prigozhin vowed to withdraw troops from Ukraine, blaming Putin for their deaths. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group of mercenaries previously called "Putin's chef" for his ties to the Russian President has offered his army-for-hire to the Kremlin for years, most recently sacrificing them to the "meat grinder" of war in the city of Bakhmut in support of Vladimir Putin's dreams of victory over Ukraine. But his decades-long allyship with the Russian leader may be coming to an end. The Washington Post reported that leaked US intelligence documents allegedly shared by National Guard airman Jack Teixeira on a Discord server revealed Russian military leadership struggled for months to respond to Prigozhin as he complained about the lack of ammunition for his troops and that Prigozhin personally asked Putin to intervene before posting a series of several ranting videos online criticizing the Kremlin. "His rants suggest that his pleas have fallen on deaf ears," the Post reported. According to the documents, Russian Defense Ministry officials considered launching a smear campaign through a proxy to discredit Prigozhin, though it is unclear if such a campaign was launched. In a series of videos posted to Telegram on Thursday, Prigozhin appears to have turned on Putin, accusing the military's top brass of cutting him off from ammunition and supplies, condemning his private army to death on the battlefield. Prigozhin has compared the ongoing Bakhmut battle to a "meat grinder," Insider previously reported, with the mercenary leader acknowledging that his men were dying at extremely high rates due to the shortage. "We have a 70% ammo shortage! Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where the [beep] is the ammo?" he said in an explicit, ranting video, which was also released on Telegram, saying that military leaders who wouldn't give his troops ammunition would "have their insides eaten in hell." Story continues "You animals are hanging out in expensive clubs," he continued. "Your children are enjoying their lives, making videos for YouTube. Do you think that you are the masters of this life and that you have the right to control their lives?" Prigozhin vowed to pull his troops from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the site of one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the invasion, by May 10. Prigozhin's relationship with Putin began in the 1990s after the business tycoon set up a catering company that frequently served the Russian leader and the Kremlin, eventually earning him the nickname "Putin's chef," Insider previously reported. But Prigozhin's skills weren't limited to the culinary world: He also financed a so-called troll factory known as the Internet Research Agency that sought to interfere with US elections, according to a 2018 indictment from the Justice Department. In Putin, Prigozhin found a powerful ally and the duo became close friends, with Prigozhin serving as an informal advisor to the Russian president, giving Putin strategic advice on international strategy and, eventually, military operations. When Prigozhin founded the Wagner Group in 2014, even though the business was not legally registered in the country and mercenaries are illegal under Russian law, according to the Times, it became the de-facto private military service for the Kremlin, deploying soldiers during Russia's annexation of Crimea, as well as throughout Africa and the Middle East. The pair's relationship has been strained since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began last February, Insider previously reported, after the Wagner Group began grabbing headlines and Prigozhin appeared to take credit for wartime wins over Russian military official strategy. While it remains unclear exactly what impact a Wagner withdrawal would mean for the Ukrainian invasion, Prigozhin suggested in March that Russia's entire front line would collapse if his fighters failed to secure Bakhmut. Representatives for the Pentagon and the Government of the Russian Federation did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider To the editor: I tried for more than two years to get a homeless friend into housing. The process has made me wonder how anyone can get help. When I first tried to register my friend with Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, I was told he needed a tuberculosis test valid for 90 days. After calling every day for 18 months, I was finally told a unit was available. By that time my friend had lost all his personal possessions, including his passport. So I had to get him a new ID. After waiting 30 days for the ID to arrive, I tried to register my friend again only to be told I needed a current TB test. So we went and got him one. About three months later, I got a call saying a room was available. When I brought my friend in for the interview, we were told his TB test result was 92 or 93 days old and, therefore, invalid. So we got him another test. Then, when I went back to do paperwork for my friend, I was told he needed a medical checkup from his current physician. So we went and did that. I have no idea how anyone without a car can do all this. As I listen to Mayor Karen Bass talk about placing homeless people into housing, I wonder if theres a way to make our system easier to navigate. It took more than two years to get my friend into a place he can call home. I hope others have an easier time. Nicholas Melillo, Los Angeles For more letters and videos in our Hear Me Out series, visit latimes.com/hearmeout. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The playing of the British national anthem to mark the coronation of King Charles III was disrupted at Anfield Liverpool fans booed the national anthem when it was played at Anfield to mark the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday. The Premier League had encouraged clubs to play the anthem before matches this weekend to mark the King's coronation at Westminster Abbey. Liverpool said on Friday they would do so prior to Saturday's game against Brentford, despite knowing "some supporters have strong views" on the subject. As "God Save the King" was played, boos and jeers were eventually drowned out by chants of "Liverpool" from the home fans. Liverpool supporters have repeatedly booed the national anthem in recent years, most notably ahead of last season's FA Cup final. UK government plans to leave the city to "managed decline" in the 1980s and the cover-up that followed the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, which caused the death of 97 Liverpool fans, have been cited as reasons for anti-establishment protest. Liverpool's German manager Jurgen Klopp said he was "not an expert on English history or the monarchy", but took the opportunity in his programme notes to wish King Charles III well "not just today but also for the future". kca/smg/dj As Charlotte continues to grow, the prices of homes continue to rise. Through a partnership between the Charlotte Chapter of The Link Enterprises and Habitat for Humanity, two families in the Queen City wont have to worry about a roof over their heads. The Links Incorporated is a nonprofit made up of women dedicated to community service. ALSO READ: Construction begins on Habitat for Humanitys 39-home development in west Charlotte On Saturday, volunteers from Habitat for Humanity and members of The Link Enterprises met along Morris Field Drive in west Charlotte to begin building. A major part of the goal on Saturday was to provide more affordable housing in the city. Toni Freeman, a member of The Link Enterprises, looks at her work as providing an opportunity for others. As a member of this community individually and as a chapter, we believe in providing people with an opportunity for economic growth, Freeman said. For more information about The Links Incorporated, click here. (WATCH BELOW: Habitat for Humanity of Charlotte hosts meeting to discuss affordable housing crisis) Seen in a still from a doorbell camera, Jeffrey Roberts, 66, a Long Beach resident, walks up to the front door of his brother's house in North Ogden, Utah, shortly after killing him and injuring his wife. Roberts set the house on fire and was shortly afterward killed in a shootout with Ogden police. (Weber County attorney's office) A 66-year-old Long Beach man drove more than 700 miles to Ogden, Utah, where he fatally shot his brother and set fire to his home before being killed himself in a shootout with police, officials said. On the evening of April 27, Jeffrey Roberts, a heavy-set man with a white goatee, arrived at the home of his brother, retired forestry professor Scott Roberts, in a brown van, authorities said. Jeffrey Roberts was armed with a 9 mm handgun and a total of 23 fully loaded handgun magazines that police photographed later at the scene, police said. Scott Roberts and his wife, Jodi, were eating dinner alone when Jeffrey Roberts rang their doorbell, according to a statement released by the Weber County attorneys office. In video captured by a doorbell camera on the front of the home, Jeffrey calmly tells his brother that he had come by to see their mother. After Scott says that their mother is not there, Jeffrey pulls out a gun and starts shooting as he walks into the home. A few minutes later, Jeffrey exited the house and then quickly returned carrying a 12-gauge shotgun and a brown duffle bag, breathing heavily, the video shows. Police were alerted to the incident by a 911 call from a neighbor who heard shots coming from the home. Jeffrey Roberts began shooting at officers as soon as they arrived, according to the Weber County attorneys office. A total of five officers were on scene and three returned fire, officials said. Jeffrey Roberts was killed in the shootout from a head wound. In video from one of the police officers body cameras, thick black smoke can be seen pouring out of the house the result of a fire that Jeffrey started using road flares, authorities said. Police officials later pronounced Scott Roberts dead from gunshot wounds. Scotts wife was also shot and is receiving medical treatment for her injuries. My mom is alive because my dad fought my uncle and told my mom to run, Kelsey Turner, Scott Roberts daughter, wrote on a GoFundMe page she set up for her mother. Knowing that my dad died a hero is bringing us a small bit of comfort. Story continues Turner, who described Jeffrey Roberts as her fathers estranged brother, said the GoFundMe Page was to help her mother buy necessities, since she was left with no clothes or personal items because of the fire. We will be able to recover some things from the house but have been told most of the house was destroyed, she wrote. Dozens of Scott Roberts former students, friends and colleagues shared condolences on the page and described him as a man of wisdom, warmth and humor. Scott, your knowledge and wisdom were remarkable but your sense of humor was limitless. You will be missed by so many, wrote one well wisher. An investigation by the Weber County Force Investigation Team is ongoing. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Flag was built by Feadship in 2000. Michael Ayers Fashion juggernaut Tommy Hilfiger owns a $46 million superyacht called Flag, which is up for sale. The 203-foot yacht built by Feadship in 2000 is available to charter from $444,000 a week. It has 7 bedrooms, a walk-in closet, crew quarters, a garage for yacht toys, and an elevator. Luxury real-estate YouTuber Enes Yilmazer and his team spent four days on Tommy Hilfiger's yacht. The vessel's called Flag and is on sale with Burgess for $46 million. Enes Yilmazer The group toured the yacht and interviewed Tommy and Dee Hilfiger while on the trip in the Bahamas last month. The yacht is 62 meters (203 feet) long and 10 meters wide. It was built in 2000 by Feadship and has 7 state bedrooms, 6 state guest rooms, and an owner's suite. It's listed for sale with Burgess. The yacht is available for charter in the Mediterranean in the summer for $444,000 a week and the Caribbean in winter for $476,000 a week. Enes Yilmazer The state guest rooms have king-sized beds with electric window shades and portholes that give guests views of the surroundings. Enes Yilmazer Guest bathrooms are fitted with bathtubs, mosaic tiling, and heated floors. Enes Yilmazer Crew members stay in staff quarters on the lower level where two people share each cabin. There's also a crew area where they have all their meals and play board games. Enes Yilmazer They work 12-hour days and get two-hour long breaks when guests are on board. Or 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday to Friday when guests are off. Enes Yilmazer In the "beach-club" area there's an outdoor shower and a garage where snorkeling gear, wakeboards, paddleboards, and other items are stored. Enes Yilmazer There's a separate garage for two tender boats and Jet Skis are kept on the bow. Enes Yilmazer The owner's stateroom, located on the main deck, comes with two bathrooms, a study and desk, a pop-up TV, and a walk-in closet. Enes Yilmazer The bathrooms have a walk-in shower, a built in bathtub, and a bidet toilet. Enes Yilmazer The owner's room also has a study with a built-in desk and a library area. Story continues Enes Yilmazer There are multiple outdoor areas where guests can dine al-fresco. Enes Yilmazer There's a kitchen where two chefs prepare gourmet meals for guests and crew. Enes Yilmazer The dining room has an oval table that can seat 12 underneath a chandelier. On the other side of the room is a main salon with couches and a bar area. Enes Yilmazer One of the outdoor decks has a jacuzzi, charcoal grill, and pizza oven. Enes Yilmazer Tommy Hilfiger told Yilmazer that he decided to buy a yacht after he spent years chartering them. My friend built a yacht and it was pretty fantastic so I bought it, he said. Enes Yilmazer "It was called Faith before and I changed it to Flag," Hilfiger told Yilmazer. "The reason why I changed it to Flag is because my logo of my company is a red, white and blue flag and because of my company I was able to buy the yacht." He said the reason why he wanted to buy a Feadship yacht is "the same reason I wanted a Mercedes, they're the best in the world." Yilmazer told Insider: "The experience of staying aboard Flag was really incredible, to be invited aboard this yacht by the owners Tommy and Dee Hilfiger made it really special." Enes Yilmazer Yilmazer added: "Something that I take great pride in is attention to detail. Its something that I always look for in our tours. The attention to detail that the builders and architects put into the work they do is the same level of precision that I want to bring to our tours. And with Flag it was clear in every way that attention to detail matters to both this crew and to Tommy himself. This yacht is in perfect condition in every way." There's a dining table for six where Yilzamer and his team had their meals. It leads to the sky lounge where there's a bar, TV, couches, and seating area. Enes Yilmazer Outdoor seating areas are decorated with Tommy Hilfiger-themed cushions. Enes Yilmazer Read the original article on Business Insider LSUs recruiting staff made a trip to Missouri City, Texas, to check out the No. 3 linebacker from the 2025 recruiting class. Jonah Williams is a 6-foot-3, 200-pound, four-star linebacker from Missouri City, Texas, where he plays for the Ball Tornadoes. The Ball Tornadoes finished the 2022 season with a 10-1 record after losing to Magnolia West in the first round of the UIL 5A D1 playoffs. The Texas Longhorns are a 50% favorite to land him per On3. Film Analysis: Williams plays multiple positions for the Tornadoes but he is projected to be a linebacker at the next level. Hes got wheels for a guy that is 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds. FILM Ratings Stars Overall State Position 247 4 27 3 3 Rivals 4 88 7 12 ESPN On3 Recruiting 4 53 5 9 247 Composite 4 42 7 4 Vitals Hometown Galveston, Texas Projected Position LB Height 6-3 Weight 200 Class 2025 Recruitment Offered on May 2, 2023 No visits yet Offers List LSU Texas Texas A&M Houston Texas Tech Recruitment Projections No Crystal Ball projections at this time Texas is a 50% favorite to land him per On3 Twitter #AGTG After a great conversation with @CoachKerryCooks I am blessed to receive an offer from Louisiana State University!! Praise God #HCville pic.twitter.com/wRCsM6zAYO Jonah Williams (@JonahW409) May 2, 2023 [lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1389] Story originally appeared on LSU Tigers Wire In Russia, a collaborator, a native of Luhansk Oleksandr Shubin ( Shubin is listed in Ukraines Myrotvorets database, according to which he was a private in Surkov-Prilepin's battalion from the beginning of the Russian war in Donbas. Read also: Videos and photos of Russian propagandist Prilepins car blast shared with the public He has lived in Nizhny Novgorod at least since 2018, when he was fined for traffic violations. In 2019, he received a Russian passport. On May 6, Russian media and local authorities reported that a car belonging to Prilepin had exploded in a likely car bombing. While Prilepins press service claimed that the propagandist was okay, the media reported that he was heavily injured and taken to hospital in critical condition. Allegedly, Russian partisan movement Atesh claimed responsibility for the attempt. Read also: Who inspired Russias invasion of Ukraine? Prilepin is a Russian propagandist, pro-war writer, and politician. He is a member of the Political Council of the A Just Russia (aka Fair Russia) Party. Prilepin has held a number of positions in the Donbas occupation authorities, including as an adviser to the now-killed leader of the Donetsk puppet authorities, Alexander Zakharchenko, in 2015 and as a deputy commander of a special forces battalion for personnel management in occupied Donetsk from 2016-2018. In January 2023, Prilepin signed a contract with the Russian National Guard and went to fight against Ukraine. He is on the list of people who pose a threat to the national security of Ukraine. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine CINCINNATI (AP) Luis Robert Jr. and Elvis Andrus homered, helping Lance Lynn and the Chicago White Sox beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Friday night. Andrus erased a 3-0 deficit with a three-run shot in the fifth. Robert put the White Sox ahead to stay with a two-run drive against Hunter Greene in the sixth. Lynn (1-4) was charged with four runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked none in his first win since Oct. 2. It was a big-time performance for him, and for us a big-time game, White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. He's been in the game for a long time. I didn't even have to ask him if he could go back out for the seventh. Robert finished with three hits in Chicago's fourth win in five games. Jonathan India hit a solo homer for Cincinnati. Greene (0-2) allowed five runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. TJ Friedl put the Reds in front with an RBI double in the third, but he was thrown out by right fielder Gavin Sheets when he tried for a triple. Replay overturned the initial safe call as Friedl's hand came off the bag during his slide. Friedl also reached over the wall in right-center to rob Andrew Vaughn of a leadoff homer in the sixth. Cincinnati opened a 3-0 lead on RBI singles by Jake Fraley and Nick Senzel in the fourth. But Greene surrendered Andrus' first homer since Oct. 4. It was a weird, frustrating night," Greene said. My fastball, even though the velocity was there, it didnt have the same life in the last two innings. Andrus wasn't sure if his towering drive to left was going to reach the seats. I knew I barreled it, but I was literally praying to go the extra feet," Andrus said. It's Cincinnati. That's the good thing about (Great American Ball Park), it helps the hitters a little bit. The Reds put the potential tying run on base in the ninth, but Fraley strayed too far off first on Henry Ramos' routine fly to center. resulting in a double play on a throw from Robert. Story continues Fraley just got over aggressive," Reds manager David Bell said. He thought it was going to fall I guess. It's good to be aggressive, but he didn't recognize it in time. Reynaldo Lopez earned his fourth save for the White Sox, who are trying to rebound from a rough start to the season. We had an ugly April, no other way to say it, Lynn said. I feel like we're playing better in May. We just need to keep going in the same direction. BIG STEP White Sox closer Liam Hendriks, who is coming back from stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte. He pitched a perfect seventh with a strikeout. Hendriks is expected to make four or five appearances in the minors. Looking forward to seeing how he felt, and how he feels," Grifol said. "We'll be waiting here with open arms when he's ready to go. TRAINERS ROOM White Sox: 3B Yoan Moncada (back) began a rehab assignment with Charlotte as the designated hitter. He's expected to play five innings on Saturday, then increase his innings on Sunday. He will be re-evaluated following an off day on Monday. Reds: OF/1B Wil Myers, who has been on the 10-day IL since April 26 with an undisclosed illness, told reporters he tested positive for COVID-19. Myers has been working out at Great American and could return this weekend. UP NEXT Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo (2-1, 6.16 ERA) makes his seventh start. He has never faced any of the White Sox batters. Right-hander Mike Clevinger (1-2, 5.56 ERA) starts for Chicago. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Cody Dorman watched Codys Wish the horse named in honor of him and his incredible story power through to a strong victory in the Churchill Downs Stakes, the 10th race at Churchill Downs on Saturday on Kentucky Derby Day. Incredible! Codys Wish wins The Churchill Downs. pic.twitter.com/PaU7qSLrHA NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 6, 2023 The young man, now 17 years old and having overcome two strokes and more than 50 surgeries, was never expected to live as long as he has. For those unfamiliar with the Dorman family, their son Cody asked to meet a race horse at Keeneland years ago as part of their Make-A-Wish Day. Cody was born with genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. Gainsborough Farm in Versailles invited Cody and his family to spend time around the horses. Of the many horses at the farm, one then just a foal made his way over to Cody. Codys Wish, with Junior Alvarado aboard, cruises to a win in the Churchill Downs Stakes on Kentucky Derby Day. Codys disorder is chromosomal, and it has left him unable to walk or communicate verbally. One visit from Cody became two, and, in every single visit thereafter, they continued to build their unique bond. The family stood by proudly in November as Codys Wish captured the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland in November with a head-long victory over Cyberknife. Codys father, Kelly, told representatives from the Breeders Cup that the connection between his son and the horse is palpable. Them two just have some type of language they use to communicate with each other, Kelly Dorman said. You cant hear it, but you can see it and you can certainly feel it. Its pretty amazing. Codys Wish entered the Churchill Downs Stakes, his 2023 debut, as the landslide favorite. And he did not disappoint. Who else has chills after watching Codys Wish win The Churchill Downs? pic.twitter.com/BmcW9nP12O NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 6, 2023 The 5-year-old horse and jockey Junior Alvarado charged their way on the outside as the pack entered the final furlong, really kicking things into gear to win with a final time of 1:21.17. Hoist the Gold finished second while Tejano Twist was third. Story continues Codys Wish is trained by Bill Mott. Im at a loss for words right now, Kelly Dorman said. Weve seen him go through so much, and to see him go through much, and to be here on this stage and stuff, and the adversity hes overcome, you know, we couldnt have got here without Make-A-Wish. You know, they brought all this to us, and stuff like that. And weve prayed over him since the day he was born to ask God to hold him in the palm of his hand. And hes got room to hold that horse, too. Cody Dorman and his family met with Codys Wish at an earlier race day at Churchill Downs. The 5-year-old son of Curlin won Saturdays $750,000, Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes, his first race since winning the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland last fall. An unbelievable bond. Sentimental pick delivers on final day of Keeneland Breeders Cup Kentucky Derby fashion shines bright under gray skies at Churchill Downs Fulfilling that dream. 2023 KY Derby attracts newcomers, return visitors and a pilgrimage 2023 Kentucky Derby: Live updates and breaking news from Churchill Downs A Fresno man was killed Friday afternoon in a three-vehicle crash in Kings County. The California Highway Patrol said the collision happened just before 1 p.m. on Highway 43 just north of Grangeville Boulevard in the Hanford area. CHP said the 25-year-old Fresno man was driving a Nissan on northbound Highway 43 at an unknown rate of speed. A driver in a Peterbilt was southbound Highway 43 and another driver was in a Chevrolet following the Peterbilt. The Nissan veered to the right onto the dirt/gravel shoulder then overcorrected, sideswiping the Peterbilt then spinning into the path of the Chevrolet, CHP said. The 25-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. It is not clear if the other drivers sustained any injuries. It is unknown if alcohol or drugs were a factor in the collision, CHP said. The New York City subway rider who put a homeless man in a lethal chokehold Monday has broken his silence on the killing with a statement from his lawyers. Earlier this week Daniel Penny was involved in a tragic incident on the NYC Subway, which ended in the death of Jordan Neely, read the statement, dated Friday. New: Daniel Penny, the man who choked and killed Jordan Neely, has released a statement through his attorneys pic.twitter.com/QvHS5N69sG philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 6, 2023 The release first expressed condolences to those close to Mr. Neely before going on to defend Pennys actions. When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death, the attorneys said. Graphic video shows Penny, a 24-year-old Marine veteran, holding 30-year-old Neely in a subdued position on the floor of a train car. A voice off camera can be heard warning Penny to be careful. You dont have to catch a murder charge, the person says. The video, shot by witness and journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, shows Penny holding Neely for about 3 minutes before releasing his limp body on the floor. However, Vazquez told the New York Post and NBC New York that the chokehold lasted closer to 15 minutes. Two other men can be seen close to Neelys body in the video. Though one appears to be helping Penny restrain Neely, Vazquez told Curbed that the other was attempting to help Neely. Protesters gather for a rally in New York City's Washington Square Park on Friday, May 5, following the death of Jordan Neely. Protesters gather for a rally in New York City's Washington Square Park on Friday, May 5, following the death of Jordan Neely. The killing occurred after Neely started yelling about not having food or water, Vazquez said. Story continues The man got on the subway car and began to say a somewhat aggressive speech, saying he was hungry, he was thirsty, that he didnt care about anything, he didnt care about going to jail, he didnt care that he gets a big life sentence, he told NBC New York. That It doesnt even matter if I died. Medical examiners ruled Neelys death a homicide, citing his cause of death as compression of neck (chokehold). Penny has not been charged. On Wednesday, protesters flooded the subway to demand justice for Neelys killing. Related... Ryan Shelton's 2017 Tesla Model S. Ryan Shelton Last month, Ryan Shelton took his 2017 Tesla Model S on a road trip for the first time. He drove almost 1,300 miles, from North Long Beach to Burney Falls in California and back. He underestimated how much the terrain would affect the battery's range and has three big takeaways. Ryan Shelton bought his Tesla a year ago but hadn't taken it on a road trip until April. The 27-year-old business owner wanted to see Burney Falls, a 129-foot waterfall in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park in Shasta County, California. On April 8, he decided to drive his 2017 Model S with his partner to the waterfall. Fully aware that road tripping with a Tesla would require some planning, Shelton looked at charging points. The farther from a city, the harder it was to find a Tesla Supercharger. It took them 17 hours to get to Burney Falls, he said, after leaving about 3 p.m. and arriving the next day about 7 a.m. "I had anxiety, actually," Shelton told Insider, referring to when he passed by Dunnigan, California, where the last charger before the campground was. The only chargers were within a 75-minute drive in either direction, he said. Shelton in his Tesla. Ryan Shelton. The terrain trap Shelton's trip took so long because of the route's hilly terrain. "I was going through these canyons, so I'm going really, really high uphills and really up and down, up and down, up and down," he said. "Because of that, it literally took about 30% of my battery to get to the charger from the campsite." Shelton added: "I ended up doing this terrible dance where I was camping and using camp mode on the vehicle." Camp mode makes sleeping in the car more comfortable by maintaining temperature and airflow. "I was running that for about eight hours, and the battery lost 20% of its range," he said. The terrain and camp mode forced Shelton to twice charge his Tesla, which took three hours each time. "Dealing with the terrain and camp mode, I literally couldn't keep a charge, so I had to keep going to that charger once a day for two days in a row," Shelton said. Story continues He relied on the buffer of his Tesla's battery, he said, which allayed some of his concerns when the range was under 50%. Shelton's Tesla. Ryan Shelton Plan ahead "The further you get out from the city, the higher the chances that your road-tripping experience is going to go more into the negative, or it's going to be less pleasant," Shelton said. He added that on their way back to North Long Beach, the journey took only 12 hours because chargers were available more often: "I didn't need to charge the car to 100% because I could get to another charger much more easily." Shelton advises electric-vehicle drivers to be aware of the "charging curve." If you need to ensure your car is 100% full, or you're worrying about where you'll next be able to charge, your trip could be longer and less enjoyable. Charging is still a bit in its Wild West days Shelton said he got into a bit of an argument with another driver whom he said had jumped the queue at one Supercharger. "There's no handbook with this," he added. Despite that hiccup, he said, it was a "really fun trip." Do you have thoughts about driving long distances in an EV? Reach out to this reporter at stabahriti@insider.com or on Twitter DM. Read the original article on Business Insider A Mississippi man was arrested after an errand to buy band-aids turned into a robbery in Louisiana, deputies said. St. John the Baptist Parish deputies responded to a call from a Walgreens in LaPlace at about 12:30 p.m. May 4, according to a news release from the sheriffs office. Employees told deputies a man came in and bought a pack of band-aids at the pharmacy, the release said. The cashier opened the cash drawer to give the man money, and the customer reached over and grabbed the cash from the drawer, according to the sheriffs office. The man ran out of the store with the cash and was last seen driving away, the release said. Shortly after, officials found the man and arrested him, according to the release. Deputies found the money stolen from Walgreens in the mans possession during the time of the arrest, officials said. The man faces charges of simple robbery, according to the sheriffs office. LaPlace is about 30 miles northwest of New Orleans. Americans caught smuggling 375 pounds of Fruit Roll-Ups into Israel. TikTok is blamed 29-year-old with a kind heart found dead near Arizona trail. Police arrest man 21-year-old killed when man frustrated by noise opens fire into street, CA cops say 14-year-old runaway dies in fiery crash while speeding from police, Indiana cops say The New York City subway rider accused in the chokehold death of a homeless man is a U.S. Marine veteran who was acting to protect himself and other riders and never intended harm, his lawyers said Friday evening. Daniel J. Penny, 24, has been identified by authorities as the man who allegedly put Jordan Neely in a chokehold following what police said was an altercation Monday on a northbound F train, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation. "When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived," lawyers for Penny said in a statement Friday evening. "Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death." Neely, 30, was unconscious when police arrived at the Broadway and East Houston Street subway station, and pronounced dead at a hospital, New York police said. He died from "compression of neck (chokehold)" and the manner was homicide, the city chief medical examiners office said. Penny was taken into custody Monday, questioned by police and released. No charges have been filed against him. Lawmakers and others asked why he was not held by law enforcement authorities longer. On Friday, two sources familiar with the matter said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is expected to present the case to a grand jury for its consideration of possible charges. The timing of when charges might materialize or when the case would otherwise close without prosecution was not clear. Pennys lawyers said Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness. For too long, those suffering from mental illness have been treated with indifference, the Raiser and Kenniff law firm said in its statement on behalf of Penny. We hope that out of this awful tragedy will come a new commitment by our elected officials to address the mental health crisis on our streets and subways. Story continues The incident, partly captured on cellphone video, has sparked a national debate, with people denouncing vigilantism and some politicians demanding officials do more to address homelessness, mental health and violence on subways. Neely, a subway busker who performed dance routines in costume as Michael Jackson, suffered from mental illness, attorneys for his family said. Who is Daniel Penny? Penny graduated from West Islip High School on Long Island, New York, in 2016, a district spokesperson said Friday without disclosing additional details. A 30-year-old man died aboard a Manhattan subway train Monday following an altercation that began with him threatening other passengers, according to investigators, and ended with him being put into a chokehold. (Juan Alberto Vazquez) He served in the Marines between June 2017 and June 2021 in the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, and 2nd Marine Division, according to a spokesperson. He rose to the rank of sergeant and his last duty assignment was at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Penny was awarded two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons and five medals, including the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. In a statement, a spokesman for the Marines said the service branch was aware of what happened on the train and would "cooperate with the agencies investigating this incident if asked." But he added that the Marines could not confirm that a former service member was involved in the incident, saying that he was "merely confirming that a person with the name youve presented us has served in the Marine Corps." After the military, Penny enrolled in college but dropped out because he felt "completely unfulfilled" and instead backpacked through Central America, according to his profile on Harri, a recruitment and workforce management platform for the hospitality industry. He was looking for work as a bartender in Manhattan, the profile says. Multiple 911 calls A police spokesman said officers were called to the station after they got a 911 call about a physical fight. "Further investigation revealed the 30-year-old was involved in a verbal dispute with the 24-year-old male and it escalated into a physical altercation," the spokesperson said in a phone call earlier this week. "During the physical struggle between the two males, the 30-year-old male lost consciousness." Two sources familiar with the matter say there were at least five 911 calls about the incident, including initial reports of a homeless man some found to be threatening in his mannerisms and volume. Juan Alberto Vazquez was on the train and partly captured the altercation on his cellphone. The video, widely viewed, does not show what happened before the chokehold. He told NBC New York that Neely got on the train and "began to say a somewhat aggressive speech, saying he was hungry, he was thirsty, that he didnt care about anything, he didnt care about going to jail, he didnt care that he gets a big life sentence." Some witnesses said that Neely allegedly acted very aggressively toward other riders and threatened to harm them, the news station reported. Vazquez said Neely was held in the chokehold position for about 15 minutes. A law firm hired by Neely's family said he suffered from mental illness "which began at age 14 when he experienced the brutal murder of his mother." His mother, Christine Neely, was killed in 2007, stuffed inside a suitcase and left on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York, NJ.com reported. Her boyfriend, Shawn Southerland, was convicted at a trial that Neely, then 18, testified in. He told the court that he tried to say goodbye to his mother before school on April 4, 2007, but Southerland refused to let him enter the bedroom. Neely said later that day Southerland packed up and left, according to the news outlet. Southerland was sentenced to 30 years in prison. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com The man who put a 30-year-old man in what a medical examiner later determined as a deadly chokehold on the New York City subway Monday has been identified as a Marine infantry veteran. Daniel J. Penny, 24, has not been charged with a crime in the death of Jordan Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator who regularly danced in the Times Square transit hub and was homeless. On Monday afternoon, Neely was yelling and pacing back and forth on an F train in Manhattan, witnesses and police said. He was then was restrained by at least three people, including the Marine veteran, who pulled one arm tightly around his neck. Neely, who is Black, lost consciousness during the struggle. EMTs and police arrived after the train stopped at a station. He was pronounced dead at a Manhattan hospital shortly after. Penny, who appeared to be white, was taken into custody Monday and released without charges. The incident has divided New Yorkers, with many viewing the death as an unconscionable vigilante killing that also reflects the citys inadequate support of those with mental illnesses, as The New York Times reported. Others, including Mayor Eric Adams, have urged the public to wait to pass judgment until an official investigation has been completed. Pennys lawyers said in a statement Friday that their client, whom they said was a college student, acted in self-defense. The citys medical examiners office classified Neelys death as a homicide and the manner as a chokehold, but noted that any determination about criminal culpability would be left to the legal system. Penny served in the Marine Corps from 20172021 as an infantryman, according to Marine spokesman Maj. Jim Stenger. While Penny was in the Individual Ready Reserve, he was promoted to sergeant. He deployed to the Mediterranean with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit from December 2018 to July 2019, Stenger told Marine Corps Times on Friday. Penny was last assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, an infantry unit that falls under 2nd Marine Division, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Story continues His military awards include the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, twice, according to Stenger. We are aware of the incident and will cooperate with the agencies investigating this incident if asked, Stenger said in a statement to Marine Corps Times. To be clear: the Marine Corps is not confirming any detail of any video you may have seen nor are we confirming any individual was involved. Video of the altercation posted online by a freelance journalist showed Penny lying beneath Neely, holding him in a headlock position for several minutes as Neely tried and failed to break free. A second passenger pinned Neelys arms while a third person held down his shoulder. In the statement Friday, Penny lawyers Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff claimed Neely had been aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and other passengers and cited Neelys documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness. As news of Neelys death spread online, video of the encounter elicited strong reactions from New Yorkers and officials. Some described the act as a lethal overreaction to a person in the throes of mental illness, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declaring Neely was murdered, while others defended the Marine veterans actions. A group of protesters gathered Wednesday afternoon in the station where Neely died to call for an arrest. Jason Williams, an actor, recalled encountering Neely when he first moved to the city in 2007. Then a teenager, Neely was an agile Michael Jackson impersonator, Williams said, soliciting donations as he moonwalked through the subway and lip-synced to Billie Jean. He embodied the hustle spirit of New York, Williams said. He was a great performer and its a real tragedy that he was killed so senselessly. The Manhattan district attorneys office said it is investigating Neelys death. As part of our rigorous ongoing investigation, we will review the Medical Examiners report, assess all available video and photo footage, identify and interview as many witnesses as possible, and obtain additional medical records, read a statement from a spokesperson for the district attorney. Attempts by Marine Corps Times to reach Penny via phone were unsuccessful. The New York City Police Department did not respond by time of publication to a Marine Corps Times request for comment. The Associated Press contributed reporting. Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany predicted that former President Trumps lead over his other rivals for the GOP nomination will shrink once Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) joins the race. McEnany said in an interview on America 180 with David Brody on Friday that she expects the Republican nominating process to be defined by the primary debates with the candidates, but how the primaries will proceed is unclear. She said DeSantis has done a phenomenal job as governor of Florida and has many achievements to mention during the debates. Polling suggests that President Trump has this wide lead, but I think that once Gov. DeSantis declares, youre going to see that lead tighten, she said. He hasnt even declared his candidacy yet. McEnanys comments come as DeSantis appears likely to announce a decision on whether he will join the race for the Republican nomination in 2024. He said at a news conference on Friday that marked the end of Floridas legislative session that he will decide what happens in the future soon. Reports have indicated that he planned to launch his bid for the presidency this month or next month, but DeSantis has said they are inaccurate. The Florida governor has not directly or publicly confirmed that he is considering a run, but he has been widely rumored to be a potential candidate. He has consistently placed second in hypothetical Republican primary polling, but Trump has maintained a significant, double-digit lead. DeSantis prospects for winning the nomination have also dwindled recently to some observers and experts, as he has been repeatedly attacked by Trump, criticized by some in the party over his agenda and lost donors. But Republican donors and strategists said DeSantis should not be underestimated and has fundraising power and influence that few others in his party have. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Prince Harry smiled at the crowd as he walked down Westminster Abbey without Meghan Markle. (Reuters) Prince Harry was shown entering Westminster Abbey with his military medals on show ahead of his father King Charles III's coronation. Despite serving in the British Army for 10 years, the Duke of Sussex has been wearing civilian attire at most public events since stepping back as a senior royal in 2020 to start a new life with his wife Meghan Markle in the US. It is thought Harry was not allowed to wear his military uniform due to royal protocol on non-working members of the family. However Prince Andrew was allowed to wear ceremonial Knight of the Garter robes despite stepping down as a working royal over his involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Harry smiled at members of the crowd as he walked alone down the aisle of Westminster Abbey without Meghan who is staying at home in California with their children, Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, one. The duke wore a suit for all but one royal events when he returned to the UK following the death of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, but he was allowed to display his medals on every occasion. Read more: Prince Andrew booed as he's driven down the Mall ahead of King Charles coronation The Duke of Sussex has not worn military uniform for all but one royal events since stepping down as a working member of the family. (Reuters) What medals does Prince Harry have? Harry's medals (L-R) the Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan, the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, the Queen's Daimond Jubilee Medal and the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal. (Getty) Harry served the British Army for 10 years and saw action on the front line during two tours of duty in Afghanistan. In 2008 he received the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan in recognition of his service in Helmand Province. He also has the Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO), which was given to him by the Queen in 2015 for 'services to the sovereign'. Read more: 'God save Virginia Giuffre': Protesters wave placards on Coronation route The duke also has the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, awarded in 2002 to all of those in active service who had been in the Armed Forces for five years. In 2012 Harry was awarded the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, which was given to all of those in the emergency services, Armed Forces, prison service and the Royal Household. Last year he received the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal mostly reserved for serving armed forces or frontline service workers despite the duke giving up his honorary military titles in 2020. The Met Police is facing criticism over these coronation wristbands being handed out by its officers. (Twitter/@paulpowlesland) The Metropolitan Police's neutrality has been called into question after its officers handed out wristbands celebrating the coronation of King Charles III. The ceremonial occasion in central London saw a number of anti-monarchist protesters in central London arrested ahead of the procession, with police taking away placards reading "Not my King". Among those detained was Graham Smith, leader of the anti-monarchy group Republic, although it is not clear under what charge. It sparked a fierce debate over police suppressing free speech and the right to peaceful protest, and the Met's wristbands have added fuel to the fire. "Just when you think today cant get any weirder," climate activist Paul Powlesland tweeted as he shared a picture of one of the bands. Read more: Prince Andrew booed as he's driven down The Mall ahead of King Charles coronation Just when you think today cant get any weirder, uniformed Met Police officers are handing out coronation merchandise to the crowd, with the Met Police logo next to Charles coronation emblem. Utterly bizarre use of police funding & undermines the neutrality of the police pic.twitter.com/kkNOWvXeCZ Paul Powlesland (@paulpowlesland) May 6, 2023 Read more: What are the lyrics to God Save the King? "Uniformed Met Police officers are handing out coronation merchandise to the crowd, with the Met Police logo next to Charles coronation emblem. "Utterly bizarre use of police funding & undermines the neutrality of the police." It is not the first time UK police forces have been accused of wasting taxpayers' money with gestures that bring their neutrality into question. In January a report by the Telegraph revealed that police forces have spent over 66,000 in public money on LGBT flags, badges, lip balm and rainbow decorations for squad cars. Story continues Commenting on Saturday's arrests, the Met said it seized lock-on devices as it detained four people in St Martin's Lane. Read more: 'God save Virginia Giuffre': Protesters wave placards on Coronation route Ahead of the coronation, police arrested several anti royalists in Central London. The force said a further three were arrested on around the Wellington Arch area on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. However it is not clear which protest groups these people belonged to, as the procession was attended by members of both Republic and eco-protesters Just Stop Oil who said more than 20 of its members were arrested. In preparation for Saturday's ceremony, Republic told protesters that "we are not here to cause trouble with our fellow citizens", adding: "We have assurances that our right to protest will not be interfered with by the Metropolitan Police". Human rights protester Peter Tatchell told Yahoo News UK while in the crowd of demonstrators: "The police broke their promise that peaceful anti-monarchy protests would be permitted. They arrested the head of Republic and other protesters, confiscated Republics official placards, photographed everyone and erected a huge watchtower in front of the Republic protest so the king would not see us. "Its an outrageous abuse of police powers and an attack of freedom of expression. This just reconfirms that the police cannot be trusted. "We are here to defend the democratic principle that our head of state should not elected by the people based on merit not inherited and imposed on the British people without our consent. "Were also appalled by the huge 100+ million cost of the coronation during a cost of living crisis when people are struggle to put food on the table and over a million are dependent on food banks." Yahoo News UK has contacted the Metropolitan Police and Republic for comment. Tourists visit Xi'an Bell and Drum Towers Museum in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 1, 2023. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua) During this year's May Day holiday, more and more Chinese tourists are adding destinations such as museums and art galleries to their itinerary, suggesting an upward trend in China's domestic cultural tourism sector. A female surnamed Dong is among the country's traditional culture fanatics. She was in charge of arranging her family's tour from Langfang, north China's Hebei Province, to the Chinese capital of Beijing during the five-day holiday. The tour's highlights included visiting the signature Palace Museum dressed in ancient costumes and seeing the national treasures at the National Museum of China with their own eyes. On the last day of the May Day holiday, Dong took her child to a niche museum in Beijing, the eastern suburbs exhibition hall of China Railway Museum. They took photos with the abandoned station platforms and all kinds of locomotives, and her child enjoyed a small steam train ride while learning more about the history of China's railway development. Cuddling his favourite toy, a Transformer-like train man, the young boy felt fully satisfied by the time they departed for their journey home. As the first May Day holiday after the country optimized its epidemic response measures, cultural tourist attractions, especially museums and art galleries, have become a hot new trend. Local residents and tourists from afar shuttled between all kinds of museums, wandering in various exhibitions, busy watching rarities from all over the world and experiencing tangible and intangible cultural exchanges in ancient and modern times between home and abroad. Data collected by multiple museums show that the number of visitors during the holiday rebounded above the pre-COVID level recorded during the same period of 2019. On the first day of the May Day holiday, the top 10 scenic spots in Beijing in terms of the visitor numbers included several cultural tourist attractions: Qianmen Street, the Summer Palace, Nanluogu Lane, the Temple of Heaven, the Beihai Park and the Old Summer Palace, or "Yuanmingyuan." Tourists watch a performance at the National Maritime Museum of China in north China's Tianjin, May 3, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo) Cultural institutions were also a preferred choice for those seeking a relaxed and enjoyable holiday experience. During the just-concluded May Day holiday, museums and art galleries all over China teamed up with foreign counterparts to make their exhibits more innovative and attractive, with almost a panoramic view of the worldwide cultural treasures on offer. Digital technologies also helped give visitors a more immersive experience, adding a strong impetus to the cultural and art craze in China. A retrospective exhibition named "Parallel Space -- Meet the Terracotta Warriors in Greece" digitally presents the past archaeological achievements collected and preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the archaeological sites of Terracotta Warriors, and a relevant cultural relics protection laboratory of China. With the help of digital technologies, visitors in Shougang Park in western Beijing can see the ancient warriors stand face to face with the statue of Kroisos Kouros, seemingly having a "dialogue" across time and space. As China's night economy continues to heat up, some museums extended their opening hours and even remained open at night during the holiday. More than 30 museums in Beijing alone, such as the Capital Museum and China Railway Museum, stayed open late during the holiday. Many famous architectures in the city held related nighttime activities, allowing visitors to appreciate the ancient buildings' special beauty against the night sky. A child experiences VR devices at the Nanjing Science and Technology Museum in Nanjing City, east China's Jiangsu Province, May 1, 2023. (Photo by Fang Dongxu/Xinhua) From Monday to Wednesday, Beijing held a bazaar selling all kinds of cultural and creative products from over 40 museums in the city, highlighting a collaboration between time-honored brands and new fashion forms. "Beijing is rich in museum resources, so I choose to visit the bazaar during the holiday with my classmates. I've collected multiple museum seals today. Each of the seals is a cultural imprint for me," said Ma Hualin, a graduate student in Beijing University of Chemical Technology, who participated in the event on Monday. A visitor surnamed Zheng traveled from south China's metropolis of Guangzhou all the way to Beijing. After a one-day tour at the Civil Aviation Museum, Zheng took his family to the bazaar on Monday. Luckily, he guessed correctly about an aircraft model on display according to rough descriptions during an on-site interactive activity, winning a comic postcard of the plane. "My son likes to study all kinds of planes and thus I took him to the bazaar, hoping to help broaden his horizons," Zheng said. "Now, the society pays great attention to museums, and the number of people who like to visit museums is expanding. People of different ages visit museums for diversified purposes, such as viewing exhibitions, listening to lectures, participating in social and educational activities or simply shopping," said Gu Ying, deputy director with the White Pagoda Temple administrative office. Gu added that the cultural and creative products have also prompted Chinese youngsters to favor museums. "Museums are an important force to inspire wisdom for a better life, promote social well-being and build a sustainable future. Behind the cultural tourism craze is the public's discovery and recognition of the historical and cultural value of the museums," said Bai Chong, director of the museum division of Beijing municipal bureau of cultural heritage. Its like Rocky versus Apollo Creed. In the first Rocky movie, Creed mightve narrowly won, but we all knew that Rocky was meant to come back in a sequel to send his archrival into retirement. If Miami-Dade County is Apollo Creed, the Florida Legislature is Rocky using its power to punch rogue communities into submission. It happens whenever supposedly liberal bastions operate in ways conservatives in the state Capitol dont like. The latest example is the fight over the forced creation of a Miami-Dade Sheriffs Office and an elected sheriff, shoved down our throats by a 2018 statewide referendum that local voters didnt approve. The Legislature passed, with bipartisan support, House Bill 1595 to dictate the powers of that sheriff. The legislation is a response to the County Commissions move last year to outmaneuver that referendum by holding onto control of police services in unincorporated parts of the county even after a sheriff is elected in 2024. The legislation will kill that plan if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs it. This is a battle for local control, but its also a battle for power and tax dollars. To understand it, lets back up to 2018. That year, Florida voters decided whether to approve a dozen measures to amendment the Florida Constitution. The states Constitution Revision Commission, a group of political appointees, pulled one over the voters. They grouped into single ballot items seemingly benign measures along with controversial ones that on their own might have failed. Amendment 10 was a prime example: It dealt with mundane issues, such as codifying a Department of Veterans Affairs, while also requiring Miami-Dade and other counties to elect a sheriff and other constitutional officers. Voters give OK Amendment 10 was approved by voters statewide. If it were only up to Miami-Dade voters, it would have failed to meet the necessary 60% approval threshold. However, the point wasnt to listen to local opinion; it was to impose the political will of outsiders. Miami-Dade voters abolished the sheriffs office in 1966 after a grand jury uncovered a burglary racket led by then-Sheriff T.A. Buchanan. Story continues Since then, the Miami-Dade Police Department has come under the leadership of a director appointed by the county mayor. The mayor acts as the de facto sheriff. The 13 county commissioners also can exert their influence. Running a police department, and the tax dollars needed to operate it, was not a power Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the County Commission were ready to give up. Last year, the Commission approved Levine Cavas plan to maintain police services in unincorporated areas (those that dont belong to a municipality, like Kendall) under the countys police department. HB 1595 undid that move, giving the sheriff exclusive authority to police those areas. Lawsuit ditched In the countys plan, the sheriffs office looked almost ceremonial. Under the state Constitution, the sheriff must be in charge of serving warrants, executing civil processes, such as evictions, and providing courthouse security. The Commissions budget office last year predicted higher costs were inevitable under this arrangement, the Herald reported. You also can also argue that when voters approved Amendment 10 they meant for a sheriff to be the main law enforcement officer. Miami-Dades current police director, Freddy Ramirez, who has filed to run for sheriff as a Democrat, said he supports legislation to give more powers to the sheriff, the Herald reported. There was also the potential of embroiling the county in expensive litigation. The Florida Sheriffs Association sued Miami-Dade, claiming its plan violated the state Constitution. A judge threw out the lawsuit, saying only a sheriff could sue after he or she takes office in 2025. The countys plan also had advantages. Law enforcement would continue to be run by a professional, not a politician. Its impossible to remove politics from police under any arrangement, but having a police director between a mayor and police rank-and-file adds a layer of protection. Its a lot easier to remove a bad police director than it is to remove a bad sheriff. Even in an election, a bad but powerful sheriff can neuter opposition. Theres also no requirement that a sheriff have law-enforcement experience. Having one sheriff for a county of 2.6 million residents roughly 1 million who live in unincorporated areas also means less accountability. Its in the best interest of each of the 13 county commissioners to address public-safety issues within the districts that elect them. Smooth transition Levine Cavas office defended her plan, though the state has killed most of it. She told the Herald Editorial Board: I look forward to working with the newly elected sheriff after next years election to ensure a smooth transition that doesnt disrupt any vital safety services for our residents or visitors. Ideally, this issue would have been solved locally. Only Miami-Dade County voters should have decided whether to elect a sheriff. Only Miami-Dade should have decided how to structure its new sheriffs office. In the end, the real losers are the taxpayers, who have a lost say in how to run their own communities. The coronavirus In total, according to MoH data, nearly 416,000 children contracted the coronavirus. As a result of the disease, 112,268 people died: 89 of them were children and 1,256 were healthcare workers. Read also: Amid surge in COVID-19 cases, Ukraines Sumy Oblast reintroduces mask-wearing rules The Ministry of Health emphasized that the end of the pandemic does not mean that the virus no longer poses a threat to people. "It is only evidence that vaccination of the population worldwide has yielded results and has reduced the number of hospitalizations and deaths due to the disease," the ministry said. Read also: Second COVID-19 booster now freely available in Ukraine WHO also announced the publication of the Global Strategic Preparedness, Readiness and Response Plan (SPRP) 2023-2025, which is designed to guide countries in the transition to long-term coronavirus treatment. 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 Mathews Elementary was named a Gold Star School. In the past 15 years, Nixa Public Schools has been on the Missouri Gold Star Schools list five times including twice for the same building. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education award recognizes schools for two reasons: High academic achievement across-the-board or while serving a high concentration of students who are economically disadvantaged or from under-represented groups. This week, Nixa's Mathews Elementary was one of eight on the list for 2023. Espy and Century elementary schools made the list in the late 2000s, followed by Nixa High School in both 2013 and 2022. In a Thursday news release announcing the 2023 list, Missouri Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said the award winners show "academic excellence is possible while striving to meet the needs of every student." Mathews Principal Brigette Golmen said the school has not yet planned a celebration for students, teachers and support staff. Brigette Golmen "There are so many intricacies to what we do every day," she said. "First and foremost, we have a team of educators here ... that every day of the week, any moment of the day, they will absolutely go above and beyond and do anything that they need to do, can do, are able to do to support every student student individually and to support each other." She said Mathews was also recently recognized as a model Professional Learning Community, or PLC, which among other things, leans heavily on data and collaboration to guide decisions in an effort to improve learning. "Everything we do is what is best for students," she said. "We came up with our mission, which is 'Lead with character, learn with confidence, love with courage' and that is truly what we stand for in everything we do." Golmen said the school is focused on developing students' full potential, not just their academic skills, and closely monitors student achievement and behavior to make adjustments throughout the year. Story continues "There is not a problem too big or an obstacle that we don't have the ability to go come together and ... say, 'What are we going to do about it?'" she said. Golmen will not be at Mathews next year. She has been named the district's next executive director of curriculum, instruction and assessment. The other winners included: Betty Wheeler Classical Junior Academy, St. Louis Chesterfield Elementary, Rockwood South High School, Fort Zumwalt Truman Elementary School, Webb City Mallinckrodt Academy of Gifted Instruction, St. Louis Pierremont Elementary, Parkway Reed Elementary School, Ladue The Missouri Gold Star Schools program was established in 1991 and uses the same criteria for nomination as the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, which announces its winners in the fall. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri spotlights Nixa's Mathews Elementary as a Gold Star School Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, listens to a presentation Friday, May 5, 2023, during a roundtable meeting at Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District in West Jordan. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News While in Utah on Friday, Sen. Mitt Romney once again called on President Joe Biden to engage in debt ceiling talks, saying it was frustrating that the White House has so far failed to negotiate, especially when Americans Social Security checks are on the line. After finishing up a day of meeting with local officials across the state, Romney met with members of the Utah media, including the Deseret News, at the Conservation Water Park in West Jordan. He spoke about the nations debt, the controversy swirling around the Supreme Court and his plans for 2024. What Romney said about the debt ceiling On the debt ceiling debate, Romney said he wouldnt be surprised if most Americans arent watching the issue closely. But if Social Security checks stop coming, and federal employees and members of the military stop getting their paychecks, then the public is likely to get more engaged, he said. We have agreed to spend on Social Security, and Medicare, and Medicaid, and housing vouchers, and education dollars and law enforcement dollars, he said. Not to pay those dollars would be devastating to the families that rely on that funding. Related Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, shakes hands with Alan Packard, Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District general manager, right, and Soren Simonsen, Jordan River Commission executive director, center, after a roundtable discussion about the Jordan River Watershed and the Great Salt Lake at the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District in West Jordan on Friday, May 5, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Romney pointed to the recently passed House bill that would raise the debt ceiling while cutting spending, and said the White House should stop stonewalling and engage with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. At this stage, whats really frustrating is you have the White House saying they dont want to negotiate. Its like, guys, the nature of a democratic republic like ours is that when you have two parties and in particular when you have one party that controls the House, and the other controls the White House they have to work together and meet some place in the middle. And the White House is saying, no, we wont negotiate. Well, that just doesnt work, he said. Story continues And they keep saying, Oh, it would be terrible if we didnt raise the debt ceiling. Well, thats right. So come to the table and negotiate. The House has actually passed a bill ... that raises the debt ceiling. ... The White House should sit down if they dont like it and negotiate something they think is better, he said. Romney said Congress needs to cut spending during this years budget process, and said he could live with the government shutting down over budget negotiations because it was different than defaulting on the debt and not being able to pay our other obligations. Theres no question we dont want to keep adding to the debt, he said, adding that lawmakers shouldnt look to gimmicks and tricks to get around the debt limit. Supreme Court controversy On controversy surrounding the Supreme Court, and specifically on allegations made against Justice Clarence Thomas over financial gifts he received from wealthy friends, Romney said he was waiting to see what Chief Justice John Roberts would do. I would expect that the Chief Justice, and the court itself, will look at some of the allegations and determine which things are problematic and which are not, he said. I think the court needs to have a review of its own (conflict of interest) rules, its disclosure rules and so forth. And I dont think another branch should set those rules for the Supreme Court. Even though there are no quid pro quo allegations related to any decisions Thomas has made, Romney said it was important for public officials to be careful. Look, we really dont want to lose confidence in one of the branches that has long held the most public support the Supreme Court, he said. We have a lot of confidence in the Supreme Court and having that jeopardized is terribly unfortunate, he said. You want to avoid doing the wrong stuff or the appearance of doing the wrong stuff. And its clear that, at least from an appearance standpoint, it raises a lot of questions in the public mind, which is very unfortunate. When asked whether he thought there was a coordinated effort to undermine the court, as has been alleged by other Republican lawmakers, Romney said, oh, sure. The liberals will undermine the conservatives and the conservatives will undermine the liberals, he said. Related But still, he said, even the position Im in ... youve got to take extra care not to diminish the publics respect. And, so, for instance, I dont own any stocks. Im allowed to, I just dont. Everything I have in the stock market is in mutual funds, because I dont want there to be confusion about, oh, he did this, because hes got 100 shares of stock in XYZ company. I just avoid those things. You really want to take extra care not to diminish the publics respect for institutions, which are so essential to the functioning of a democracy, he said. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, talks to members of the media after a roundtable discussion about the Jordan River Watershed and the Great Salt Lake at the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District in West Jordan on Friday, May 5, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News A 2024 Senate Run? When asked if he was any closer to a decision on a second run for the Senate in 2024, Romney said he was a day closer today than yesterday, but I dont have a date certain when Ill make up my mind. Ive had two or more extraordinarily productive years, Ive gotten a lot done I wanted to do. And then some things I didnt know Id get a chance to do, he said. Looking around at some of his close allies in the Senate who he has worked with on bipartisan legislation over the past few years, Romney noted that several of them would face tough reelection bids in 2024 including Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, and Arizona independent Kyrsten Sinema. Related If I feel like I cant get a lot more done, why then, I wouldnt if you will take the personal burden of being there. Let someone else have a chance, he said. As the interview was wrapping up, Romney said he had an announcement. Im of course planning on announcing my presidential exploratory committee any day now, Romney said, laughing. Liz Johnson, his chief of staff, was quick to cut in with, Thats a joke, just to make sure everyone understood. On Saturday, 6 May, Moldovas Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Bolea told his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Solskyi that Chisinau will join the European Unions initiative to limit the import of agricultural products from Ukraine. Source: European Pravda, citing the Ministry of Agriculture of Moldova Details: Moldovas Agriculture Ministry said in a press release that the country intends to join the EU decision to introduce temporary limits on the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine; no restrictions were introduced on these foods transit through EU countries. During a meeting, Bolea told Solskyi that Moldova had stored a significant amount of grain, causing local farmers to worry that there would not be enough room to store this years harvest. "Meanwhile, domestic grain exports are trending downward, logistics costs have risen, and international exchange prices have collapsed. Our agricultural workers need to use the stored grain as effectively as possible, and prepare for the new harvesting season," Bolea added. He stressed that Chisinau stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, who are suffering the effects of the Russian war of aggression, and is prepared to engage in "constructive dialogue with the Ukrainian government" to address the issues faced by farmers in both countries. During the meeting, the agriculture ministers agreed to strengthen the dialogue at the level of their ministries in order to facilitate information exchange and develop ties between the two countries agricultural community. Background: On 2 May, the European Commission adopted exceptional and temporary preventive measures on limited imports from Ukraine, after five EU member states accused Ukrainian agricultural imports of causing local prices to crash. The European Commissions new regulations thus overrode the unilateral decisions of five countries, applying an import ban to four agricultural products: wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! On the heels of the news that Gov. Jay Inslee would not seek re-election to a fourth term, the governor signed more than 100 bills into law last week. So far, over 300 bills have been signed into law from the 2023 legislative session that ended on April 23. Inslee also announced on Wednesday that he is calling a special session scheduled to start on May 16 so that state lawmakers can come to an agreement on a new statewide drug possession law before the current law is set to expire on July 1. Here are some of the bills signed by the governor last week: Police pursuits Senate Bill 5352: The new law lowers the threshold for when police can chase down suspects fleeing in a vehicle. Police need only have reasonable suspicion for police to pursue drivers they believe have committed one of six particular crimes: violent offenses, sex offenses, vehicular assaults, escapes, assault involving domestic violence, and driving under the influence. The bill was sponsored by Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, and goes into effect on July 23. Health care House Bill 1576: This bill will reduce workforce barriers between states by creating a Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact. Licensed dentists and dental hygienists will be able to practice in other states under the agreement, and those licensed in other states also can work in Washington. Rep. Michelle Caldier, R-Gig Harbor, was the bills prime sponsor and the law will go into effect July 23. Senate Bill 5218: Motorized wheelchairs and other mobility-improving equipment will be tax-exempt in the state of Washington under this law. Signed Thursday, this bill was sponsored by Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane, and goes into effect on July 23. House Bill 1222: Coverage for hearing instruments must be provided by non-grandfathered large group health plans as well as health-care plans for public employees and their dependents in Washington after Jan. 1, 2024. The coverage includes hearing instruments, the initial assessment, fitting, adjustment, auditory training, and ear molds. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines. Story continues Newspaper tax relief Senate Bill 5199: This legislation exempts newspapers that print and publish in Washington from the current 0.35% preferential B&O tax rate. All amounts received from printing or publishing will be exempt starting on Jan. 1, 2024. The bill was requested by Attorney General Bob Ferguson and sponsored by Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah. Housing Senate Bill 5058: Buildings with 12 or fewer units and no more than two stories high will be exempt from the definition of multi-unit residential buildings, making it easier for smaller condominiums to be built. Also sponsored by Padden, the law goes into effect on July 23. House Bill 1042: The law allows developers to build new housing in vacant buildings that already exist, and removes barriers to streamline the process of converting vacant buildings into residential housing. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, and goes into effect on July 23. Criminal justice reform Senate Bill 5046: This law allows post-conviction access to counsel for adults and juveniles who are unable to afford it, and it will be provided by the Office of Public Defense. Sponsored by Sen. Rebecca Saldana, D-Seattle, the bill goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. Jury duty requirements House Bill 1312: Washingtonians 80 or older can now be excused from jury duty if they attest that they are unable to serve because of health reasons. Courts must grant the request, and doctors notes are not required. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Skyler Rude, R-Walla Walla, and goes into effect on July 23. Alcohol and cannabis House Bill 1772: This bill prohibits the manufacture, import, offer, or sale of drinks containing both alcohol and cannabis or any form of tetrahydrocannabinol. Sponsored by Rep. Kevin Waters, R-Stevenson, the law will go into effect on July 23. Senate Bill 5448: During the pandemic, bars and restaurants were allowed to sell to-go cocktails along with takeout orders, and this bill will permanently allow that practice in Washington. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, and since the current law regulating the service is set to expire in late June, the new law will go into effect July 1. State dinosaur House Bill 1020: Signed Thursday, this law will designate the Suciasaurus rex as the Washington state dinosaur. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Melanie Morgan, D-Parkland, at the request of fourth-grade students at Elmhurst Elementary in the Franklin Pierce School District. School recess Senate Bill 5257: This law requires public schools to provide at least 30 minutes of recess to K-5 students, and sixth grade students if they attend an elementary school. The law is required to begin in the 2024-25 school year in Washington schools. The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Twina Nobles, D-Fircrest. Hazing House Bill 1002: Penalties for hazing are increased from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor. Cases that involve substantial bodily harm are upgraded to a class C felony, and felony hazing is added to statutory lists of crimes against persons and crimes of harassment. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Mari Leavitt, D-University Place, and goes into effect on July 23. Sex trafficking and prevention Senate Bill 5355: School districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools are mandated under this law to teach students in grades 7-12 about sex trafficking and its prevention starting no later than the 2025-26 school year. Each student would be required to learn the curriculum at least once before they get to grade 12. The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn. Sexual assault kits House Bill 1564: Over-the-counter sexual assault kits will be prohibited from sale or offering for sale in the state of Washington under this bill signed into law Thursday. The kits are inadmissible in court, and hospitals in the state do not charge sexual assault survivors for their kits. Sponsored by Rep. Gina Mosbrucker, R-Goldendale, the law goes into effect on July 23. Hope cards House Bill 1766: Survivors of domestic violence will be allowed to carry wallet-sized Hope Cards in place of paperwork documenting a protective order under a bill signed into law Thursday. The law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. Clean energy On Wednesday, the governor signed seven new pieces of legislation regarding clean energy while on a visit to Tri-Cities. House Bill 1416: Under this bill, customers of investor-owned and consumer-owned utilities are covered under customer provisions of the Clean Energy Transformation Act. Sponsored by Rep. Beth Doglio, D-Olympia, the bill goes into effect on July 23. Senate Bill 5447: This bill incentivizes the production of sustainable aviation fuel in Washington, and was sponsored by Sen. Andy Billig, D-Spokane, along with several Democrats and Republicans. The bill has multiple effective dates. House Bill 1236: As transit agencies begin to transition from diesel buses to those that run on cleaner fuel, this bill allows those agencies to produce and use green hydrogen. Sponsored by Rep. David Hackney, D-Tukwila, the legislation goes into effect July 23. House Bill 1181: This law requires local governments to take action to address climate change by adding climate change and resiliency goals into the states framework for growth management. The bill was requested by the governors office and was sponsored by Rep. Davina Duerr, D-Bothell. House Bill 1176: This legislation creates the Washington Climate Corps to expand service opportunities for young adults and veterans by connecting them with climate and clean energy career opportunities. The state will conduct clean energy workforce planning in partnership with unions and industries. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Vandana Slatter, D-Bellevue at the request of the governors office. Senate Bill 5165: Prepares the state for 100% clean energy by improving transmission planning efforts. Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-White Center, sponsored the bill at the request of the governors office, and the bill goes into effect on July 23. House Bill 1216: This legislation is intended to provide up-front planning, early community and Tribal input, and efficient environmental review of new clean energy projects. Also requested by the governors office, the bill was sponsored by Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle, and goes into effect July 23. The number of Ukrainian refugee children studying in Polish schools is steadily decreasing and has fallen by 10,000 since October 2022. Source: Rzeczpospolita, referring to the Centre for Civic Education, reported by European Pravda Details: According to the Polish educational information system, 56% of Ukrainian refugees do not study at Polish educational institutions, and only 22% of secondary school-age children attend school in Poland. Over the past six months, 10,000 Ukrainian secondary school students more than 8% have dropped out of the Polish education system. The experts pointed to several reasons for the exodus of Ukrainian students from Polish schools. One of them is that Ukrainian families have been returning home. But the experts emphasised that many Ukrainians cannot cope in Polish schools, have problems with adaptation or are afraid of going on to study at Polish universities. Quote from Nataliia Kravets, Head of the Ukrainian Education Centre Foundation: "Some children study in two systems: the Polish system in person and the Ukrainian one online. Its really difficult for these children." "Thats why some of them drop out of Polish schools. They believe that the war will end soon and they will return to Ukraine. They don't want to fall behind. But then they miss out on contact with their peers." More details: At the same time, according to a study by the Centre for Civic Education, forms of support for Ukrainian students in Polish schools are decreasing. The number of preparatory classes is decreasing, with only 11% of Ukrainian students now attending. Nonetheless, the data shows that secondary school students who attend preparatory classes are the least likely to drop out. According to rough estimates, there are up to 3.5 million Ukrainians in Poland, of whom up to 1.3 million arrived after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Milwaukee police made additional arrests Friday in connection to the reckless driving crash outside an elementary school, when a vehicle struck a school bus hospitalizing two teens. The video has been shared widely by media outlets throughout the area. In the video, a suspected stolen vehicle, carrying multiple passengers, was seen driving recklessly in the 6700 block of North 80th Street when the driver slammed into the rear of a parked school bus outside of Morse Middle School on Milwaukee's northwest side. An 11-year-old boy was thrown from the bus and suffered injuries. He was later released from Children's Hospital. A 15-year-old boy, who was a passenger in the reckless vehicle, suffered life-threatening injuries and was transported to Froedtert Hospital. The suspected driver, a 14-year-old boy from Milwaukee was taken into custody Friday, along with a 14-year-old girl, police said. A 15-year-old girl and a different 14-year-old girl were arrested on Thursday. Police said they are seeking one more suspect and no charges have been filed. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Milwaukee Police at (414) 935-7360 or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (414) 224-Tips, or P3 Tips. Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal. DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 2 more teens arrested for school bus crash in Milwaukee A woman whose daughter died after being drugged with fentanyl is bringing awareness to a backlog in toxicology and autopsy reports in North Carolina, which leaves grieving families waiting. She was a graduate of App State, said Barbara Walsh. She was a successful businesswoman. She was looking for a home to purchase. She had $20,000 saved up. Sophia Walsh was 24 years old when she moved to Charlotte. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: The young woman died in August 2021 and her full toxicology report was completed five months later, which revealed she died from fentanyl poisoning. Sophia Walsh died in 2021 after someone slipped fentanyl in her drink, her mother said. She died of 8.4 nanograms of fentanyl and that is enough to kill four people, her mother told Channel 9. Investigators told Walsh the drug likely came from a drink laced with fentanyl. Walsh said charges against the person responsible were never pursued. They have closed her case because of the lack of proper investigation at the beginning within the first 24 hours, Walsh said. She doesnt want the same thing to happen to other families. We dont know what killed our kid, Walsh said. Walsh is now the executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina and wants something done about how long it takes to get autopsy and toxicology reports back. All toxicology reports are done at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh. Channel 9s investigation into the backlog found those reports can take six months or up to a year in some cases, which can delay or prevent law enforcement from pursuing charges. If they dont come up with an autopsy, and more importantly the toxicology report, then you dont have a case, Walsh said. Law enforcement and prosecutors in the Charlotte area have told Channel 9 its a problem. Story continues The medical examiners office attributes the backlog to staffing and a rise in cases. Walsh wrote a letter to Attorney General Josh Stein asking whether some of the opioid settlement money the state received could fund more chemists in the MEs office or process reports quicker. You could help these families who are dying from this, Walsh said. VIDEO: Agencies push for regional medical examiners office to help reduce autopsy backlog Oleksiy Reznikov in a NATO helicopter Reznikov explained that he didnt know how to conduct successful negotiations when he hated the other side, and that he realized he would have to be civil in or-der to have results. However, Ukraine was wary of holding negotiations in Belarus, fearing that its delegates could be taken hostage or killed in a staged incident. Before the negotiations, the terrorist state offered to create a corridor for the Ukrainian delegation to pass through the occupied territory, but Ukraine turned the offer down. Read also: Nearly 2,800 Russian troops remain in Belarus, Ukraine says With the support of Polish authorities, the Ukrainian delegation flew to Poland and then headed for Belarus on board NATO Black Hawk helicopters. Reznikov recalled how cold and chilling it was in the helicopter. We communicated with our Polish colleagues they supported us, he said. Read also: President Zelenskyy shows public his quarters in Office of the President We got to Poland, and from there we flew to the territory of Belarus on NATO BlackHawk helicopters. We landed there, and then used a Belarusian helicopter. I believe thats when NATO helicopters visited Belarusian territory for the first time... (In the helicopter), its cold, its winter, the doors on the right and left are open, the pilots wear helmets, armed...The helicopters take off, Im filming a video...Im think-ing: Are we really going to fly in this cold? They gave us blankets. But then they close those windows, and it isnt so chilly any more. It was really rough, seriously. Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia halted after several rounds, as the Russian invaders continued to violate agreements and demanded the so-called denazification of Ukraine, while committing war crimes on Ukrainian territory. Read also: Zelenskyy reveals to journalist why he stayed in Kyiv after start of full-scale war Ukrainian representatives accused Russia of not wanting to end the war and of seeking to destroy the Ukrainian state.On Sept. 30, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy implemented a decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, stating that negotiations with the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, were impossible, following Russias self-proclaimed annexation of several Ukrainian territories. 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 Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday stressed speeding up the construction of the country's modern industrial system backed by the real economy and advancing Chinese modernization with support from the high-quality development of the population. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chairman of the Central Military Commission, and director of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs (CCFEA), made the remarks while presiding over the first meeting of the CCFEA under the 20th CPC Central Committee. Xi said a modern industrial system is the material foundation of a modern country, and the focus of economic growth must be on the real economy to provide a solid material foundation for China to realize the Second Centenary Goal. Population development is a vital issue related to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and efforts must be made to improve the overall population quality to support Chinese modernization, Xi said. Other Chinese leaders, including Li Qiang, Cai Qi, and Ding Xuexiang, attended the meeting, during which working rules for the commission and the commission's office were approved. According to the meeting, in order to build a modern industrial system that is holistic, advanced, and secure, China should seize opportunities presented by the new scientific and technological revolution, such as artificial intelligence, adapt to the requirements of harmonious coexistence between human and nature, maintain and strengthen its advantages of a complete industrial system and strong supporting capacity, promote the efficient aggregation of global innovation factors, and boost the intelligent, green, and integrated development of industries. The meeting urged insisting on the integrated development of the first, second, and tertiary industries, the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and opening up and cooperation. China should fine-tune its industrial policies for the new development stage and take industrial security as a top priority, noted the meeting, calling for efforts to enhance the top-level design in areas of strategic importance and policy coordination. The principal position of enterprises in sci-tech innovation should be ensured with institutional arrangements, while greater attention should be given to enhancing the application of technologies in grain production, according to the meeting. It urged making full use of the advantage of the super-sized market, with efforts to integrate the strategies of domestic demand expansion and innovation-driven development and promote opening up and cooperation of the industrial and supply chains. The meeting stressed fostering world-class enterprises in China and valuing outstanding entrepreneurs. The meeting pointed out that China is currently experiencing a trend of birthrate decline, population aging, and differentiation in regional population growth. Efforts should be made to perfect the strategy for population development in the new era, understand, adapt to, and guide the new normal of population development, improve the overall quality of the population, and maintain an appropriate birthrate and population size, it said. The country should speed up the development of modern human resources with good quality, sufficient quantity, optimized structure, and reasonable distribution, so that Chinese modernization will be advanced with support from the high-quality development of the population, stressed the meeting. China will further reform education and health services, establish a sound policy system to support child-bearing, develop inclusive childcare services, reduce the burden on families of child-bearing, child-rearing, and education, promote a child-bearing-friendly society, and safeguard long-term and balanced population development. The meeting highlighted the work to develop human resources, stabilize the labor force participation rate and improve the efficient use of human resources. The country will actively respond to the population aging, advance the construction of a basic old-age service system, develop the silver economy, and accelerate the development of a multi-tiered and multi-pillar old-age insurance system. China will better coordinate the relationship between population, economy, society, resources and the environment, optimize the population structure, and promote high-quality population development, said the meeting. A Tourists Guide To Love is a film about a travel executive who takes on a new mission to investigate the tourism industry in Vietnam undercover. During her journey, she begins a romantic and adventurous relationship with her Vietnamese ex-pat tour guide after an unforeseen breakup. Directed by Steven Tsuchida and penned by Eirene Tran Donohue, the film aims to urge audiences to explore beyond the usual tourist spots. The film shows a side of Vietnam that is not shown in mainstream Hollywood movies. There are almost no American movies that I can think of set in Vietnam that arent about the trauma of war, Donohue, who based the script on her own life-changing trip to Vietnam. It was really important to me to tell a story about life there now, one that was full of joy and love and celebration. The film not only highlights the beauty of Vietnam through various cities and landscapes, but also depicts adventure and romance. It touched on what travel experiences should be about. The main characters stress the importance of living in the moment and embracing travel as an experience and not an itinerary. Vietnam Phot Credit: Tran Phu This film highlights the beauty of Vietnamese culture. It explores the different cities and experiences that one could have when visiting this beautiful place. We filmed in Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Da Nang, Ha Giang and Hanoi, all of which are wildly different places in look, history and energy, said Rachael Leigh Cook who plays Amanda to Netflix. Our goal, that I feel like our director Steven Tsuchida accomplished, is that you feel like you had a seat on the bus with us. Here are some of the cities that the movie explored. Ho Chi Minh City Photo Credit: Georgios Domouchtsidis With a population of over 8 million people, Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam and was previously known as Saigon. As the cultural and economic center of the country, the city is bustling with activity. Story continues It is a vibrant and dynamic hub of modern skyscrapers and historic landmarks. Ho Chi Minh City has busy street markets, and delicious street food. The Vietnam city attracts tourists from around the world and is a highly sought-after destination. Hoi An Photo Credit: Tam Nguyen Hoi An is a small coastal city in central Vietnam. Most people know are aware of it because of Ancient Town. The town is a melting pot of Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese cultures. The old town features well-preserved historic buildings, narrow streets and canals. It also is famous for its lanterns. They are sold throughout the town and lit up at night. It creates a magical atmosphere. Da Nang Photo Credit: Andreea Popa Da Nang is a coastal city in central Vietnam, located between the popular tourist destinations of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. It is the fifth largest city in Vietnam and has a population of over a million people. Da Nang is known for its beautiful beaches, lush landscapes, and rich history. It served as an important trading port during the Cham dynasty. The city also has a modern and cosmopolitan vibe with a variety of shopping and dining options. Popular attractions in Da Nang include the Marble Mountains, the Museum of Cham Sculpture and the Dragon Bridge. Ha Giang The Vietnam city of Ha Giang is home to many minority communities. Visitors to Ha Giang can trek through the mountains, visit traditional villages and witness the local culture and way of life. The province has regional specialties, such as thang co and grilled duck. Hanoi Photo Credit: Anh Hoang Hanoi is the capital and second-largest city in Vietnam with a population of over 8 million people. Located in the northern region of the country, Hanoi has rich history, cultural landmarks and delicious cuisine. Hanoi is home to many museums, including the Vietnam National Museum of History and the Ho Chi Minh Museum. Visitors can enjoy traditional water puppet shows, explore the famous Hoan Kiem Lake and sample local street food. AFP The war between Sudan's generals is having increasingly severe consequences for civilians, with a doubling over the past week of the number uprooted from their homes, the United Nations said Tuesday.Hundreds have already been killed in the fighting but new worries emerged as separate ethnic clashes claimed at least 16 lives in the country's south, and a powerful group in the east, an area so far untouched by the war, demonstrated in support of the army.More than 700,000 people are now internally displaced by battles which are now in their fourth week, Paul Dillon, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said in Geneva."Last Tuesday, the figure stood at 340,000."An increasing number are also crossing borders to escape the battles between the army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy-turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo who commands the heavily armed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).Fighting has been concentrated in the capital Khartoum but other areas, particularly the western Darfur region bordering Chad, have also seen heavy fighting.In addition to the internally displaced, another 150,000 have fled to neighbouring countries, the UN refugee agency said on Monday.Those left behind in the war zones face shortages of water, electricity, food and medical care in a country where, according to the UN, about one-third of the population needed humanitarian assistance even before fighting began.Foreign-led evacuations by land, sea and air have seen the departure of thousands of other people, many of them from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, which has so far been peaceful.But a demonstration on Monday in support of the army, which some called on to arm civilians, raised alarms in a country already marked by a history of ethnic unrest."One army, one people," hundreds of protesters belonging to the Beja people chanted.They also called "no to negotiations", a reference to truce talks happening across the sea in the Saudi city of Jeddah between army and RSF representatives.Those talks, also backed by the United States, have yielded no progress as fighting continues.- 'Growing risk' -"We, all of us the Beja, are ready to be armed and to protect the land and our honour," said Mahmoud al-Bishary, a Beja member, in a speech during the rally.Such sentiment could signal even more problems for Sudan, where analysts see a protracted fight between the generals."As the war drags on and insecurity becomes not just an emergency situation but a feature of a precarious life, there is a growing risk that people might start arming themselves locally, or the army might resort to raising a counter-militia to the RSF, or both," Magdi el-Gizouli of the Rift Valley Institute told AFP.Even before this war, Sudan suffered localised conflicts that last year killed about 900 people, according to the UN.Those conflicts are often over access to scarce water and other resources, but they also reflected a security breakdown in Sudan since Burhan and Daglo staged a coup in October 2021, derailing a transition to democracy after the toppling of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. Burhan and Daglo later fell out in a power struggle, leading to the current fighting.State media reported on Tuesday that clashes between ethnic groups in Kosti killed at least 16 people, wounded scores more, and prompted a regional night-time curfew.The fighting occurred on Sunday between the Hausa and Nuba ethnic groups in Kosti, capital of White Nile state, state-run SUNA news agency reported.Kosti is the last major town before South Sudan, which has received more than 42,000 returnees who had previously sought safety north of the border and are now fleeing war again, the UN refugee agency said.The UN has described Sudan's humanitarian situation as catastrophic. As it tries to assist the needy, UN facilities and those of partner agencies have faced "large-scale looting", including most recently at the World Food Programme in Khartoum over the weekend, a UN spokesperson said on Monday. There was no letup Tuesday in the fighting."Various types of weapons were fired" in northern Khartoum, according to a resident of the Shambat area. Another witness reported continued clashes in the capital's south.bur/it The boss of a new media company has hit out at his former employers. Huw Marshall founded The National Wales, which was initially a newspaper and a website, and website Corgi Cymru, with the London and US-based firm Newsquest, but both folded last year. The former lasted 18 months while the latter closed after six months. Newsquest, whose titles include the South Wales Argus, said the ventures failed in a "challenging economic climate". Mr Marshall's new English language service, a cooperative he hopes to launch next year, will include a digital radio service. The former head of digital at S4C, who is looking for investors for the business, said: "We're talking about creating a business where the people own the company. "We're not in the hands of a big business with headquarters in North America or London. "Looking back, it was a mistake to collaborate with a company where, ultimately, money is the bottom line." He said he was disappointed by Newsquest's involvement in The National and Corgi Cymru. "I would have expected a major news company to have been able to create better business plans," he said. When Corgi Cymru was established, Books Council Wales (BCW) announced Newsquest would get a grant of 100,000 a year over four years. BCW said the grant was awarded through "an independent panel as part of an open, competitive tender process" and it could not have foreseen the closure. Mr Marshall hopes Talking Wales will create 13 jobs, including seven for journalists. "We are trying to create a business plan and the business model allows us to ensure that the money is going to be there, in place, for employing people," he said. Newsquest regional editor Gavin Thompson said sometimes publishing ventures fail Newsquest's Wales regional editor, Gavin Thompson, told Cymru Fyw that the organisation had hoped to "strengthen the Welsh national media landscape" but admitted sometimes "publishing initiatives do not succeed". Story continues He said the BBC's online services had a "disproportionate impact" on the commercial market, making it "harder for an independent publisher to build a subscription model". Mr Thomson said closing the titles meant two editorial jobs were lost. The Welsh government said it was "satisfied the procurement process undertaken by the Books Council of Wales was robust, open and fair, and that the reasons for the cessation of service were due to external factors and changing circumstances outside the control of both the Books Council and Newsquest". With support of both sides of Congress and both parties, a bill to provide money to small police departments across the country is being reintroduced, according to Rep. Josh Gottheimer. Appearing Friday morning at the Fort Lee Police Department, Gottheimer said the Invest to Protect Act now has support to be approved in both the House and Senate. "Last year, this bipartisan legislation passed the House with more than 300 votes, including 153 Republicans," he said, "And, now, we have the support from both sides of the aisle and both sides of Congress to get it signed into law." The bill will provide support to police departments that have fewer than 200 officers, but, he noted, more than 94% of departments in the country have fewer than 100 members. All of the municipal departments in Sussex County fall into the latter category. Josh Gottheimer speaks at a press conference in December 2022. The bill "will make critical investments in law enforcement, in training, in recruitment and retention of officers and in mental health,' he explained. "Now, we have the support... to get it signed into law," the congressman added. The bill is being introduced in the Senate by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. This year's version of Invest to Protect Act provides funds for local departments to recruit, retain and support officers and to get them the training they need. The bill also allows local departments flexibility in how they can use the money to meet the particular needs of their departments and communities. Among some of the potential areas the funds will support are investments in officer safety; de-escalation and domestic violence response training; as well as more specific training geared to different needs in different parts of the country. More than a score of state and national organizations involving police have endorsed the bill. A study of police departments done in 2016 showed a disparity in size of departments. While only about 3% of all local police departments served populations of 100,000 or more, those departments employed more than half of all full-time sworn police officers in the country. Story continues On the other side, 71% of local police departments served populations of less than 10,000 residents. NJ news NJ is now tracking demographics for jury selection. This is why In Sussex County, all police departments but Newton, are along the eastern part of the county, including Vernon, Hardyston, Hamburg, Franklin, Ogdensburg, Sparta, Andover Township, Byram, Hopatcong and Stanhope. The total number of police officers among those departments is less than 250. Hopatcong Police Chief Meghan McCluskey said there are often mandates coming from the New Jersey Office of Attorney General which oversees all police in the state for additional training and services and any source of funding to pay for such training would "be welcomed." This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Josh Gottheimer reintroduces bill to fund small police departments The Nordstrom Stretch Cotton Midi T-Shirt Dress comes in four flattering colours for summer. Let's settle something before you continue reading: do you think dresses are better with pockets? If your answer to that question is "yes," then the Nordstrom tretch Cotton Midi T-Shirt Dress is worth your attention. When you're running around town or heading out the door for a coffee date, this Stretch Cotton Midi T-Shirt Dress is easy and breezy and it rings in at under $60. As with many Nordstrom favourites, sizes and colours are selling fast so read on to find out if it's worth adding to your summer wardrobe. The new "it" dress has hit the racks at Nordstrom, and it has pockets! $59 at Nordstrom The details Hitting just below the knee, this "roomy" dress measure 44 inches. The modest hemline ensures you have no accidental Marilyn Monroe moments! The Stretch Cotton Midi T-Shirt Dress's material is 93 per cent cotton, so it's very breathable and comfortable to wear on hot summer days. This cotton t-shirt dress comes in a variety of versatile neutrals, including this nude beige colour. $59 at Nordstrom With a simple crewneck and near-quarter-length sleeves, it's also a blank canvas for accessorizing. Available in sizes XXS (00) to XXL (18), the Stretch Cotton Midi T-Shirt Dress suits many body suits and it comes in four colours, from classic black to blue. 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The styling options are endless. $59 at Nordstrom Verdict Ideal for summer travel or day-to-day "I don't know what to wear!" moments, the Stretch Cotton Midi T-Shirt Dress is a hit amongst Nordstrom shoppers. Head over to Nordstrom to snap it up now before it sells out. Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Robert Parolisi appears in court Monday for jury selection in his first degree murder trail. In May 2020, North Port Police were called to Parolisi's home in where they found the body of a woman who had been fatally shot. Parolisi was arrested in after a five-hour standoff that closed I-75 near Gainesville. He is charged with first degree murder for the connection to the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend, Amber Shildneck. After about an hour and 20 minutes of deliberating, a 12-person jury on Friday came back with a verdict of guilty for first-degree murder for Robert Parolisi, of North Port, in the shooting death of Amber Shildneck in 2020. Sarasota Circuit Court Judge Thomas Krug sentenced Parolisi, 51, to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the verdict was read. Parolisi's attorney, Jerome Meisner, argued over the course of the trial that his client had acted in self-defense and that Shildneck had been the aggressor the afternoon of May 1, 2020. Parolisi remained stone-faced as the verdict was read and the jury polled. His mother, who testified during the trial, sat alone Friday afternoon two rows behind her son in the gallery. Dig deeper: North Port man accused of fatally shooting ex-girlfriend in 2020 on trial Previous reporting: North Port shooting suspect arrested near Gainesville Meisner told the judge that they most likely would be seeking an appeal but had to speak with his client more first. Following the reading of the verdict, Shildneck's friends and family hugged and comforted each other as tears flowed and sighs of relief escaped following the jury's exit from the courtroom. Prior to sentencing, four of Shildneck's family and friends made statements to Parolisi, each describing Shildneck as being beautiful, irreplaceable, sweet, and full of smiles. "My sweet girl was a gentle soul," Shildneck's father said during his statement, at one moment tearing up as he stood behind one of his granddaughters. "We're not as forgiving as we used to be," Shildneck's childhood friend said. "That is why, Robert Parolisi, I will never forgive you for taking Amber's life," she went on to say, adding Shildneck's daughters and the world will never forgive him. A photograph of Amber Shildneck, 39. Shildneck was fatally shot on May 1, 2020, in a home in North Port. She was remembered by family and friends at the conclusion of a trial as being beautiful, having a sweet soul and for her smiles. Dierdre Francoletti, who testified during the trial and was a very close friend of Shildneck's, said she didn't think Parolisi cared how anything that happened affected Shildneck's friends and family, but spoke some on how the events leading up to the incident and the shooting had impacted him. She also conveyed how much Shildneck had loved Parolisi and that she had been willing to change for him. Story continues "She was the (expletive) world, the sun and everything in it," Francoletti concluded. Closing arguments: Premediated murder or self-defense? Assistant State Attorney Andrew van Sickle led the closing arguments Friday, saying that the only aspect of the case that needed to be discussed was the intent, as, over the course of the week, it was proven that Shildneck was dead and that Parolisi had fatally shot her. Van Sickle walked the jury through the photos of Parolisi's home following the shooting, pointing out how everything in the kitchen seemed undisturbed despite an alleged struggle over the gun and how if Shildneck had intended to harm Parolisi, she could have grabbed a box cutter or scissors left on a counter where she was supposedly standing when the argument escalated instead of lunging for the knife block on the other side of the kitchen. Judge Thomas Krug speaks to Assistant State Attorney Karen Fraivillig and defense attorney Jerome Meisner on Monday during jury selection in the first degree murder trail of Robert Parolisi. Parolisi is charged with first degree murder for the connection to the 2020 fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend, Amber Shildneck, in North Port. He added how the bullet casings had been found all around Shildneck's body, meaning Parolisi had to be standing either over her or close to her, and not the four feet or so he had alleged. Meisner during his closing arguments urged the jury to consider all the facts presented during the trial, including several incidents the defense presented as examples of Shildnecks alleged aggressive behavior, including a moment in 2014 when Shildneck and Parolisi were in New Jersey for his mothers wedding and Shildneck was arrested after she had grabbed Parolisis mother and thrown her down. Hes not guilty because, on May 1, 2020, Amber Shildneck tried to kill him in his own home, Meisner said, adding that Parolisi had been a victim of domestic abuse. For subscribers: Midnight heist of rare horse: Minnesota woman's bizarre fight with Florida circus owner More court coverage: Sarasota County man sentenced to prison for role in 'We Build The Wall' scheme Meisner told the jury that the lighting was dim in the house, Parolisi had been scared, and he didn't know if Shildneck had a knife as he hadn't checked the knife block to see if they were all there before he stood before her in the entryway and so he fired. Meisner reminded the jury that Parolisi had told North Port Police Department Sgt. Adam Taylor that "it had been a self-defense situation" and he said Parolisi had every right to be afraid of Shildneck as she had been aggressive in the past. Assistant State Attorney Karen Fraivillig during her rebuttal before resting the States case said that Shildneck was preoccupied with living her new life she had a new job, a new home, a new loving boyfriend, and that the day she died, she'd had plans with her best friend and boyfriend. A photograph of Amber Shildneck, 39. Shildneck was fatally shot on May 1, 2020, in a home in North Port. She was remembered by family and friends at the conclusion of a trial as being beautiful, having a sweet soul and for her smiles. Fraivillig hinted at the fact that it was Parolisi who had created the circumstances that brought Shildneck to his home. Fraivillig said he'd pestered her with texts and wouldn't take no for an answer. "Hold him accountable for what he did to Amber," Fraivillig concluded. Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on Twitter. This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: North Port man convicted, sentenced to life in prison for murder The North Richland Hills Police Department ended a request for residents to shelter in place after asking the public to avoid a neighborhood near Highland Oaks due to an incident related to a suicidal person Friday. Police are working an active incident in the 6800 block of Hickory Hollow, Moss, and Dogwood. We are asking all residents in the area to shelter in place during this incident, police said in an initial tweet shortly after 5 p.m. Friday. Residents were told they would be notified when the incident was cleared. At around 6 p.m., police tweeted, North Richland Hills Police responded to a possible suicidal subject which resulted in shutting down Moss Lane to Douglas Lane out of precaution. Police also said, Officers on scene were able to successfully get the subject to cooperate and step out of the residence without any further incident. The shelter in place has been lifted and there is no threat to the public. If you or a loved one are experiencing a crisis, call 988, the new, three-digit shortcut that will direct callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. This is a developing story. For the latest updates, sign up for breaking news alerts. These four new dessert cookbooks give a lesson in subverting expectations. | Brooke Lark, Unsplash A few weeks ago, Natasha Pickowicz, the popular pastry chef, baker and activist, published her debut dessert cookbook, More than Cake. The three-time James Beard Award nominee wrote 100 recipes built for pleasure and community, and while its indeed a dessert cookbook, instructional by nature, the recipes and accompanying headnotes seem to evoke something a little deeper than measure this, stir that, pour it in the pan, set the timer. Pickowicz makes a strong case for cake as a form of resistance. Not in the rah rah sense, but in the way that in the face of oppression, joy is a radical act. Cake, being an agent of joy, is therefore radical. The author is known for making cakes that revel in their imperfections, squiggle-piped confections that are decorated with flowers and nutmeg pods, basil bunches and cinnamon sticks, whatevers seasonal and on hand the flaws are exactly why people are drawn to them. As Pickowicz said in an interview with Saveur, I like thinking beyond what we think should be on a layer cake and instead just saying, Well, whats around me? How can I make this personal? Abi Balingit subverts Filipino desserts in Mayumu Likewise, what seems to draw readers and bakers into Abi Balingits orbit is her dedication to the Tagalog saying she grew up hearing from her Filipino mother, Bahala ka sa buhay mo! or, Do whatever with your life! Balingits compendium of Filipino American desserts, Mayumu, published in February, is every bit a personal expression of the home bakers adapted culture. Mayumu is the Kapampangan word for sweet, and Balingit writes that her mother never cared for sugar-laden American desserts, which she found too mayumu. That didnt mean she had a childhood deprived of sweets though Balingit sampled combinations of sweet, salty, savory, sour and umami in dessert form, and her book encompasses the multicultural influences she grew up with in the Bay Area and Central Valley. In her books introduction, she writes an invitation to readers to embrace your own ingenuity and let go of some preconceptions of what is possible in both Filipino and American desserts. Story continues Delicacies made from rice and coconut milk are the cornerstone of Filipino desserts, and in Mayumu thats represented in recipes for treats like vanilla bean cassava cake and sapin-sapin, a tri-layered rice cake that traditionally incorporates tropical flavors, but in Balingits version, is turned into a strawberry shortcake, inspired by the Good Humor ice cream bars she loved as a child. Alison Roman pushes baking stigmas in Sweet Enough This season has been full of subverted expectations surrounding the meals sweet course. In March, Alison Roman released her dessert cookbook, Sweet Enough, a cool girls admission that saccharine sundaes are not in vogue, but she has a simple plan to help you get past bakings stigmas. In an interview with Vogue, she talked about how shes internalized some of those barbs, which are bizarrely gendered no coincidence that all of these authors are women. Roman said, It feels almost anti-feminist to be like, maybe get in the kitchen and make a tart? She talks about how baking has an association with 1950s American culture, a thing that you do thats nice. She argues, But I also think desserts are nice, right? Theyre lovely, the people who make them are lovely. Even within her dessert cookbook, though, she still distances herself from what she considers the baking crowd. Im not measured or precise, she told Vogue. My culinary style is more like jazz, whereas baking is classical. But I felt excited about writing a book for other people who dont relate to any of the cultural baggage that baking has but still enjoy desserts. Baking is an act of love in Claire Ptaks Love is a Pink Cake Theres also Love is a Pink Cake from Chez Panisse alum Claire Ptak who runs the popular London bakery, Violet Cakes (and famously created Prince Harry and Meghan Markles wedding cake) premised on the concept that baking is an act of love. Publishing in early May, Ptaks book is divided into halves one side delves into desserts inspired by her California upbringing, and the other by her adopted home in Great Britain. She writes in the introduction, We bake for love. Whether its for ourselves, to show love for a child, friend, or partner, or to celebrate a rite of passage, there is no denying the incredible effect cakes have. These dessert cookbooks push expectations All four dessert cookbooks, while each wildly different, have a self-justifying bent to them, an acknowledgment that dessert has a certain reputation, and these treatises are more than, beyond, between the lines of. Filipino desserts do not get much attention in mainstream American food culture, and cake is something more than what youve known it to be. It can be covered in flowers, make use of ingredients like sunchoke and worm salt, and it can, in the words of Pickowicz, spread delight in a way that no other kind of dish can. Even Romans lackadaisical approach eh, sweet enough is its own rejoinder to a world that made the trained pastry chef reluctant to write a dessert-specific cookbook in the first place. This coterie of spring dessert titles somehow speak in unison that while the idea of dessert as an act of love and care, comfort and togetherness is rather timeless, radical joy is particularly crucial to the cataclysmic times were living in, so these cakes have never been more important. New York City's mayor has urged people not to rush to judgment in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely, but five days after Neely was killed on the subway, authorities still have not provided several important details about the circumstances surrounding his death. How long did Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old Marine veteran, place Neely in a chokehold? Who else was involved? And what happened leading up to the fatal encounter? The New York Police Department didn't offer any updates when asked by USA TODAY for more details about the investigation on Saturday. Neely was a 30-year-old locally-known Michael Jackson impersonator who died Monday in what a medical examiner ruled was homicide by compression of the neck. In a Friday statement, Penny's lawyers claimed he acted in self-defense. Advocates, family and Penny's lawyers have all acknowledged Neely experienced mental illness. Neely's death sparked widespread protests in the city, as demonstrators demanded Penny be criminally charged, and prompted renewed conversations about mental health access, systemic racism and the treatment of New York City's unhoused population. PREVIOUSLY: Jordan Neely NYC subway chokehold death sparks outcry: 'We've got a deep problem' NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 05: Protesters gather for a "Justice for Jordan Neely" rally in Washington Square Park on May 05, 2023 in New York City. According to police and a witness account, Neely, who was 30 years old and residing in a shelter, died after being placed in a chokehold by a 24-year-old man on a subway train in New York City on Monday. Increasingly, activists are calling for the man who used the chokehold on Neely to be apprehended. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 775974812 ORIG FILE ID: 1487850958 Police silent on key questions On Wednesday, police issued a statement saying they responded to the subway and discovered a 30-year-old man unconscious, who was later pronounced dead. A spokesperson told USA TODAY at the time the man had been in a "verbal dispute" with a 24-year-old that escalated to a "physical altercation." The victim became unconscious during the altercation, the spokesperson said. By Saturday, NYPD had added few details to its public statement. Police said Neely was found unconscious on the floor of the train with other people standing at the scene. They added that responders performed CPR and said the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. Police also withheld Penny's name for several days. Penny's lawyers later released a statement on his behalf Friday amid building pressure on social media and from advocates for his identity to become public. Story continues But many questions were still unanswered by authorities nearly a week after Neely's death. Police did not provide updates from the investigation Saturday about what led up to Penny placing him in a chokehold, how long it lasted, or the identities of the other train passengers who helped Penny restrain Neely. Video of the incident shows Penny with his arms wrapped around Neely's neck for roughly three minutes as they were on the floor of the subway car. A second passenger pinned Neelys arms while a third person held down his shoulder. Freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who recorded the footage, said the men were in that position for "at least 15 minutes." Attorney Lennon Edwards, one of the lawyers representing Neely's family, said he "took this case because 15 minutes is too long to go without help, intervention and without air." "Passengers are not supposed to die on the floor of our subways," he said in a Thursday statement. Who was Jordan Neely? Neely was known locally as a Michael Jackson impersonator who danced in the Times Square transit hub and was a beloved part of many New Yorkers' daily commute. Jason Williams, an actor, met Neely in 2007 and described him as an agile Michael Jackson impersonator who moonwalked through the subway and lip-synced to Billie Jean. He embodied the hustle spirit of New York, Williams said. He was a great performer and its a real tragedy that he was killed so senselessly. Street performers who knew him described him as kind and gifted. They also said he suffered from worsening mental health and sunk into a depression as a result of his mother's 2007 death. People walk past graffiti calling attention to death of Jordan Neely that was painted on the sidewalk at an entrance to Washington Square Park, Friday, May 5, 2023, in New York. Neely, a locally-known Michael Jackson impersonator who friends say suffered from worsening mental health, died Monday, May 1, when a fellow rider pulled him to the floor and pinned him with a hold taught in Marine combat training. (AP Photo/Brooke Lansdale) ORG XMIT: NYBL201 The New York law firm Mills & Edwards LLP, which is representing Neely's family, confirmed he experienced mental illness that began "when he experienced the brutal murder of his mother." Neely was 14 at the time, according to the law firm. "It is a tragedy for all of us to know that Jordan Neely's life was also cut short," the law firm said in a statement. Neely's mother was strangled, and Neely testified against his mother's boyfriend at the murder trial, according to news reports from the time. Tari Tudesco, a backup dancer in the Michael Jackson tribute act Michaels Mirror, said many in the street performer community were searching for Neely, worried about his absence in recent years. We were in shock to find now that he was living homeless, she said. We feel terrible. Authorities said it appeared Neely was unhoused. Daniel Penny's attorneys release statement The attorneys representing Daniel Penny defended his actions as self-defense in a Friday statement. Penny "never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death," said his lawyers, Thomas Kenniff and Steven Raiser. Penny's lawyers offered few details of what happened leading up to Neely's death but said Penny was protecting himself after Neely threatened him and others. "When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived," the statement said. Protestors gather at Barclays Center Arena and march to the 7th police precinct to protest the NYPD's response to the killing of Jordan Neely in Brooklyn, New York on May 4, 2023. Jordan Neely's death sparks protests, outrage Hundreds of people protested Neely's death in New York City this week, demanding criminal charges against Penny and expressing anger over the treatment of unhoused people, especially people of color and people experiencing mental health struggles. "We've got a deep problem in this country in thinking that it's OK to deploy violence to deal with mental health," said Rashad Robinson, president of the online-focused civil rights group Color Of Change. "The fact is that Black people just dont have to worry about being strangled by police, but by a regular citizen feeling empowered and supported by elected officials." New York officials respond to fatal chokehold on subway Chokehold death of Jordan Neely sparks protests Democratic New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Neely's death murder and criticized officials' response to the incident. "This honestly feels like a new low: not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem 'too low' to care about," Ocasio-Cortez said. Gov. Kathy Hochul said footage of the incident was "horrific," adding that Neely's family "deserves justice" and that it was "very clear" Neely was not going to harm others. No one has the right to take the life of another person," she said. Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams again declined to assign blame in an interview with CNN. "We cannot just blatantly say what a passenger should or should not do in a situation like that, and we should allow the investigation to take its course," he said. Contributing: Claire Thornton and Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY; The Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jordan Neely chokehold death: NYPD silent on key details for days China's State Council has deliberated and adopted a guideline on accelerating the development of advanced manufacturing clusters, according to a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang on Friday. The meeting called for greater priority to be given to the development of advanced manufacturing clusters, taking the whole country into account, guiding all localities to leverage their comparative advantages and intensifying work related to specialization and differentiation. Work should be done to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, as well as the cultivation and strengthening of emerging industries, it said. Work should also be done to facilitate technological innovation and application, advance the country's high-end, smart and green transformation, and expand the number of high-quality enterprises, it said. The meeting pledged to combine an effective market with an active government in an improved manner, and create a sound ecological environment for industrial development. The meeting also made arrangements on speeding up the construction of charging infrastructure to better promote new energy vehicles in rural areas and rural vitalization. Efforts should be made to focus on the prominent bottlenecks restricting the promotion of new energy vehicles in rural areas, moderately advance the construction of charging infrastructure, and innovate the mode of construction, operations and maintenance of charging infrastructure. The country will optimize its policies supporting the purchase and use of new energy vehicles further, encourage enterprises to enrich supply, and strengthen safety supervision to promote the healthy development of the new energy vehicle market in rural areas, according to the meeting. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is sending migrants from the sanctuary city to a hotel in the suburbs of Rockland County, New York a move the top county official says the community is "not equipped to handle" and an "unfortunate passing of the buck by, first, the federal government, and now NYC." "NYC Eric Adams called me earlier today to notify me of plans to house migrants at a hotel in Orangetown, which I later learned was the Armoni Inn located in Orangeburg," said County Supervisor Teresa Kenny in a Facebook post. "I agree that this calls for a Federal, not a local solution to send these people to a location that is not equipped to meet their needs, is a betrayal of that often-expressed desire by NYC to be a sanctuary for them." Adams claims that Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent over 57,000 migrants to the Democrat-run sanctuary city since last fall. Now, the mayor appears to have relocated some migrants to areas surrounding the Big Apple to off-set the costs of caring for migrants which he claims could climb to $4 billion through fiscal year 2024. DC REACHES MIGRANT HOUSING CAPACITY, UNABLE TO ACCEPT NEW FAMILIES: OFFICIALS Mayor Eric Adams is sending migrants to upstate New York hotels after influx taxes resources of NYC, a "sanctuary city" Adams announced a plan Friday top provide temporary housing at two hotels in Orange Lake and Orangeburg for as many as 300 single-adult men seeking asylum. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP The Armoni Inn in Rockland County is already prepping for the arrival of migrants. More than a dozen mattresses have been dropped off at the hotel where single adults allegedly will be staying, photos obtained by Fox News Digital appear to show. "Mayor Eric Adams must not send migrants to Rockland County as part of his plan to alleviate the strain New York City is under," said Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. "Rockland County is not a sanctuary county, unlike New York City and its boroughs, and should not bear the costs associated with the Biden administration's abject failure on border security and immigration policy." Story continues Lawler, who is a member of the Border Caucus and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, represents Rockland County. He said that his district already has "a real strain on food banks, shelters, and our non-profits" and that this influx "may send them under." "While I have long agreed with Mayor Adams about the need for more federal aid to accommodate the migrant crisis in New York City, I am fundamentally opposed to shifting that crisis to other communities that are not prepared to handle that influx," Lawler told Fox News Digital. New York City Mayor Eric Adams attends the Literacy Partners 2023 Gala at Cipriani South Street on May 1, 2023, in New York City. The mayor's office said that the hotels will help free additional space in New York City for the hundreds of asylum seekers continuing to arrive in the five boroughs every day, noting that Title 42 is lifting and that there is expected to be an even larger influx of arrivals after May 11. MAYORKAS PLEADS WITH MIGRANTS NOT TO ENTER US ILLEGALLY WHEN TITLE 42: 'YOU ARE BEING DECEIVED' Since last spring, more than 60,800 asylum seekers have come through New York City and there are currently over 37,500 asylum seekers in the city's care. A bus carrying asylum seekers arrives at Port Authority on May 3, 2023, in New York City. NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SLAMS 'IRRESPONSIBILITY' OF WHITE HOUSE ON IMMIGRATION In addition, since the humanitarian crisis began, the city has opened 122 hotels as emergency shelters and eight as humanitarian relief centers. Adams, in a statement, once again called for state and federal assistance, including financial aid, a national decompression strategy, expedited work authorization and real immigration reform. New York Mayor Eric Adams speaks to family members of fallen NYPD Officers while attending the NYPD Memorial Day Ceremony where new names were added to the Memorial Wall located in the lobby of the headquarters. "Despite calling on the federal government for a national decompression strategy since last year, and for a decompression strategy across the state, New York City has been left without the necessary support to manage this crisis. With a vacuum of leadership, we are now being forced to undertake our own decompression strategy," Adams said in a statement. He said the program would help people to build a stable life in New York. "New York City continues to step up and handle this crisis, and this new program is an extension of our compassionate response, but these actions do not mean we still dont need urgent action, including a national decompression strategy, financial resources, expedited work authorization and real immigration reform from Congress," Adams added. The mayor has faced criticism for the move already, with Republican officials saying the region lacks necessary services for the asylum seekers and advocates for the migrants calling it a "temporary fix." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Photograph: Nathan J Fish/AP An Oklahoma state lawmaker is planning to introduce new legislation aimed at halting the early release of certain sex offenders after a convicted rapist killed six people including five children at his home the night before he faced another criminal trial. The proposal from state representative Scott Fetgatter would come after the killings in his district by 39-year-old Jesse McFadden, who authorities say murdered his wife, her three children and two of their friends before he died by suicide and their bodies were discovered on Monday. Related: Seven bodies, including those of two missing teens, found in Oklahoma McFadden had served 17 years in prison for a 2003 rape conviction. McFadden was initially sentenced to 20 years but was released in October 2020 after complying with state laws that allow for prisoners to be released early. Fetgatter told NBC News he is now exploring a measure that, if ratified, would prevent inmates convicted of rape and child sexual abuse from being released early. At the end of the day, those five children that were murdered in my district should be alive today, Fetgatter said to the network. Thats my priority: how do I keep this from ever happening again? The circumstances of McFaddens early release have raised questions for Fetgatter and others after the murder-suicide McFadden allegedly carried out in Henryetta about 90 miles from Oklahoma City made national headlines. A month after McFaddens release, he was arrested again for allegedly exchanging sexually explicit text messages and photos with a child through a cellphone that he smuggled into prison in 2016. He was released on a $25,000 bond. McFadden was scheduled to appear in court on 1 May for the start of a trial as he faced charges for possessing child sexual abuse imagery and soliciting sexual conduct with a minor. But on 3 May, local law enforcement officials confirmed that seven bodies they had found two days earlier all with gunshot wounds to the head belonged to McFadden, his wife, her three children and two of the childrens friends. Story continues Authorities identified McFaddens victims as 35-year-old Holly Guess, who married him in May 2022; and her three children: Rylee Allen, 17; Michael Mayo, 15; and Tiffany Guess, 13. Two other girls who were found dead at the familys home had gone there for a sleepover: 15-year-old Brittany Brewer and Ivy Webster, 14. They had been reported missing the night before and were also found by authorities. The state said it is still investigating a motive. Loved ones of the victims have since expressed outrage that McFadden was released from prison early even though he ultimately faced charges for alleged criminal misconduct while imprisoned. Justin Webster, the father of Ivy Webster, told the Associated Press that he is determined to tell Ivys story and our story and get our government officials and everybody to start speaking up loud and keeping those pedophiles in jail. There needs to be repercussions and somebody needs to be held accountable, he said. Janette Mayo, mother of Holly Guess and grandmother of her three children, told the Associated Press that Oklahoma failed to protect families. Because of that my children my daughter and my grandchildren are all gone, she said. Ive lost my daughter and my grandchildren and Im never going to get to see em, never going to get to hold them and its killing me. The states department of correction told the local television news station KFOR in a statement that McFadden, for most of his incarceration, was classified as a prisoner who was eligible for early release once had completed 85% of his sentence. He lost the classification for several months after the child sexual abuse imagery and smuggled cellphone allegations but ultimately regained it, the department said. He was assigned to level 1 in January 2017 following his misconduct occurring in December 2016 for possessing a contraband cellphone. He returned to level 4 through the proper steps in June 2017 through the end of his incarceration, the department said. Upon his release, McFadden was required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and check in every 90 days with the local sheriffs office. He complied with those requirements. Registered sex offenders are allowed to live with their own children and stepchildren as long as the children are not victims of the offender, according to Oklahoma law. We see it as a way to reveal the truth about Indian boarding schools and the lasting legacies that these schools have affected, said NABS director of digital archives, Stephen Curley (Dine) (Photo: Jenna Kunze). TULAILIP, Wash.The Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) plans to launch a website this summer that will allow Native Americans to search for information on relatives who attended Indian boarding schools. The digital archive repository and research tool will launch with nearly 50,000 records from a federal archive and, over time, integrate records from other Indian boarding school databases developed by private, nonprofit and governmental organizations. I hope that we find relatives that you're searching for, NABS CEO Deb Parker, a citizen of the Tulalip Tribes in Washington, said last week. Even if theyre on the other side, I know that they want to be found. Parker was speaking to about a group of two dozen American Indians, Alaska Natives and a few journalists who gathered at the Tulalip Indian Reservations administrative building on April 24 to learn how to use the research tool. NABS staff invited the participants, including Native News Online, to a sharing-and-listening session on the heels of the Department of the Interiors sixth stop on its Road to Healing tour at Tulalip the day prior. The Road to Healing is a year-long tour across the United States to provide Native survivors of the federal Indian boarding school system and their descendants an opportunity to share their experiences. Last year, the federal government released an investigative report that showed for the first time the United States operated or supported at least 408 boarding schools that directly targeted American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children in the pursuit of a policy of cultural assimilation that coincided with Indian territorial dispossession. The report called the institutions both traumatic and violent and identified at least 53 burial sites on or near former schools properties, with more gravesite discoveries expected as research continues. Although the names of the institutions themselves are known or becoming known, the identities of the estimated tens of thousands of Native children who went through the Indian boarding school systemmany of whom died at schools far from home and were never returned to their familiesare not. Story continues Student and school records are held in repositories across the country, which are oftentimes far removed from Native communities and available only for in-person viewing, or altogether closed to the public. That is why NABS, a national nonprofit dedicated to truth and healing around Indian boarding schools, created The National Indian Boarding School Digital ArchiveNIBSDA for shortthat will launch sometime this summer. To begin, NABS has digitized a collection of 47,000 pages of federal, tribal, and state records from the The National Archives in Seattle, a regional federal record facility of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The idea is to partner with organizations doing similar work in other regions, such as The Carlisle Indian Digital Resource Center in Pennsylvania, and the Geona Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project, to eventually cover the country, and become the authoritative center for Indian boarding school records, according to the digital archivist who designed the database. We see it as a way to reveal the truth about Indian boarding schools and the lasting legacies that these schools have affected, said NABS director of digital archives, Stephen Curley (Dine). Curley, NABS digital archivist assistant Fallon Carey (Cherokee), and a small staff has been working to find, catalog, and scan relevant records from federal boarding schools in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska since 2019. (Photo: Jenna Kunze) NABS digital archivist assistant Fallon Carey (Cherokee) (Photo: Jenna Kunze) Curley said that they prioritized records including: student case files, school administrative materials including lesson plans and curriculum, and documentation of problems, such as registers of run-away students, or student deaths. We're trying our best to account for each and every student, Curley said. Really, [the tool] is for communities who want to understand more about what their relatives experienced at these institutions, and to try to find them. Beyond scanning historical documents, the NIBSDA project is about community engagement, and teaching people how to conduct boarding school research. Were trying to create this information literacy around how to conduct boarding school records research, because it is a new thing, Curley said. We know that this is going to be a new feature of research and these listening sessions are an opportunity to glean what (each) communitys needs are so that we can address those needs. The databases pathfinder tool prompts users with guided research questions to help them better locate their relatives, including What is my relatives name, and did they have any aliases or traditional names? and Do I know the name of the boarding school? What about the name of the agency? The workwhich NABS is funding through various grantswill be ongoing for years and years and years, Curley said. Thats because, in part, the majority of school records have not yet been located, let alone cataloged, according to NABS data. Additionally, 28% of the total records are held at church-run archives, according to NABS. NABS has been at the forefront of advocacy around a federal bill that would establish a Congressional Commission on Truth and Healing. The commission would search for unmarked graves, document ongoing impacts stemming from the Indian boarding school era, andcritically it would empower the commission to subpoena records from religious organizations who operated boarding schools. Thats half the bill: how do we get access to the records? said Theresa Sheldon (Tulailp Tribes), director of policy and advocacy for NABS. Overall, Curley said, boarding school records have the power to reveal a lot of unknowns around boarding school, like how many children went? What were their names and tribal affiliations, what was their experience like and, in some cases, where are they buried today? NIBSDA will allow us to better understand the trauma that this lasting boarding school legacy has left in its wake, Curley told Native News Online. We know and we believe that knowing the truth will allow us to start healing, as individuals and as communities. About the Author: "Jenna Kunze is a staff reporter covering Indian health, the environment and breaking news for Native News Online. She is also the publication's lead reporter on stories related to Indian boarding schools and repatriation. Her bylines have appeared in The Arctic Sounder, High Country News, Indian Country Today, Tribal Business News, Smithsonian Magazine, Elle and Anchorage Daily News. Kunze is based in New York." Contact: jkunze@indiancountrymedia.com Over 100 dogs, who share the same name as the UKs new King, participated in a pup parade after the coronation on Saturday 6 May. King Charles III and Queen Camilla were finally crowned during a two-hour ceremony at Westminster Abbey, following months of anticipation, preparation, and royal family drama. As royal fans in London braved the weather to witness the king and queens coronation, more than 100 King Charles Spaniels took part in the parade immediately after on Kings Road in Chelsea. A timelapse video shared by the Associated Press showed pet owners walk their spaniels down the famous West London road, to commemorate the beginning of Charles reign. The lap dog was reportedly named after King Charles II, who favoured the toy breed in the 17th century. Queen Elizabeth II, meanwhile, was fond of corgis, several of whom lived with her at Buckingham Palace. In the wake of her death, Sarah Ferguson adopted Muick and Sandy, who survived the late queen. The new King is partial to Jack Russells, a small breed that was bred for fox hunting, and has owned them for years. Recently, animal rights organisation Peta warned people against impulse purchases of dogs such as King Charles Spaniels and the King Charles Cavalier in the run-up to the coronation. More than 100 King Charles Spaniels marched in a parade down Kings Road in London after King Charles IIIs coronation. pic.twitter.com/hP4g1cUvqY The Associated Press (@AP) May 6, 2023 Vice president of programmes at Peta, Elisa Allen told The Daily Telegraph: These spaniels are being deliberately bred to have flat faces, diminishing their ability to breathe properly or comfortably and reducing the size of their skulls, causing them to suffer from abnormal pressure on the brain and other serious health problems. Instead, she encouraged people to rescue shelter dogs, like King Charles and Queen Camillas adopted Jack Russel Terriers Bluebell and Beth. Have you ever wanted to find yourself under the live oak trees and Spanish moss in the private community of Palmetto Bluff, all while supporting local businesses? Now this is an option you can explore on a monthly basis. Palmetto Bluff, surrounded by 32 miles touching the May River, is the town of Blufftons largest development agreement. Its also one of the towns fastest growing neighborhoods with 971 new residential building permits approved over the last 10 years. Palmetto Bluff has partnered with Lowcountry Made to present the inaugural Farmers Market, which is set to kick off on May 24. The Palmetto Bluff Farmers Market will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Farm in Palmetto Bluff on select Wednesdays. The Palmetto Bluff Farmers Market will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Farm in Palmetto Bluff on select Wednesdays. The inaugural market will be held on May 24, 2023. The Farm is located within the neighborhood at 228 Old Moreland Road in Bluffton, and in addition to vendors and area farmers, the Palmetto Bluff farm will be contributing produce to the new farmers market. Although Palmetto Bluff is a private community, members of the public are welcome to the new farmers market. Since The Farm, the location for the new farmers market, is within Palmetto Bluff, visitors can inform the front gate that they are going to the farmers market to gain entry. For those looking to apply to be a vendor at this new market, the Palmetto Bluff Farmers Market will not require a vendor fee because of Palmetto Bluffs support of local farms and small businesses in the area. If interested in contributing to Palmetto Bluffs farmers market, prospective vendors may apply online at lcmade.com. Upcoming dates for the Palmetto Bluff Farmers Market this year include: May 24 June 7 June 21 July 12 July 26 October 4 October 18 November 8 November 29 December 17 One teen is dead and five other people were wounded following a house party that was broken up by police near the campus of Chico State University early Saturday morning. Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge said a 17-year-old girl was killed and five others were wounded with injuries not considered life-threatening near an apartment complex on the 1000 block of Columbus Avenue, less than a mile west of the campus. Chico State spokesman Andrew Staples said none of the victims were Chico State students. He said the university is continuing to monitor the situation. Gayle Hutchinson, Chico States president, said if students find themselves in a dangerous situation near campus, the fastest way to get assistance from university police is by calling 530-898-5555. Im encouraged by the compassion you have shown each other in the immediate aftermath of these incidents, Hutchinson said in a campus-wide email. Please continue to look out for your friends, classmates and colleagues throughout the weekend. Those who were injured, according to Aldridge: a 21-year-old man, 19-year-old man and 17-year-old girl who were all hospitalized and in stable condition; another 21-year-old man and an 18-year-old man were treated and discharged from the hospital. The mass shooting culminated after a night of violence at two house parties off campus. The first started around midnight at a party at a apartment on the 700 block of West Seventh Street, according to Aldridge. After receiving a call for help at 12:21 a.m., police arrived where witnesses reported several rounds were discharged and a fight had occurred when one of the partygoers was asked to leave. Officers did not know the name of the subject, but two people in the fight received injuries: One was struck in the head with a firearm and another was hit over the head with a glass bottle. Both injuries required hospitalization but were not life-threatening, Aldridge said. At 2:59 a.m., police were called to another party several blocks south on Columbus Avenue for a report of a person brandishing a firearm. Aldridge said officers cleared out the party and located a suspect that fit the description given by witnesses on West Seventh. Story continues That suspect, who was not identified, was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm and reckless discharge of a firearm, the police chief said. At 3:26 a.m., another call for help was received by dispatchers for the same location. When officers returned to Columbus Avenue, Aldridge said, they found several gunshot victims, including the 17-year-old girl who died after being driven to a hospital by friends, the Chico Enterprise-Record reported. The gunman was not at the scene when police arrived and no suspect has been arrested in the mass shooting. Aldridge said the department would not release additional information Saturday morning but called the incident isolated, adding that there was no threat to the community. Chico, a small town compared to Sacramento, (is) generally a safe community, said Chico States Staples. Just like the rest of the nation, were not immune to the dangers or the risks of gun violence. Former Vice President Mike Pence defended Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from what he called malicious attacks against the conservative Black jurist. "Ever since his nomination to the Supreme Court in 1991 Justice Thomas has been maliciously attacked by the Left, including by then Sen. Joe Biden," Pence said in a tweet. "The attacks on his character are continuing today, and its appalling to see," Pence continued. Thomas has faced criticism for a series of reported breaches of Supreme Court ethics. The criticisms stemmed from a ProPublica report showing he had received gifts from Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow and did not report them. Thomas' defenders say he has complied with the court's reporting guidelines. LEFT-WING PROTESTERS RETURN TO SUPREME COURT JUSTICES' HOMES AS DEMOCRATS TARGET CLARENCE THOMAS Vice President Mike Pence (L) shakes hands with Justice Clarence Thomas (R) after being sworn in during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria As Democrats and media figures called for reforms, Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse went as far as to call for a Justice Department investigation into the matter. But Pence called on Americans to defend the conservative justice. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "I stand with Justice Clarence Thomas and call on every American to join me in defending this good man and principled jurist." "Clarence Thomas is a man of integrity with an inspiring personal story and has upheld the ideals enshrined in our Constitution throughout his life without compromise," Pence said. "Our Nation is fortunate to have Justice Thomas serving on the Highest Court of the Land. God bless Justice Clarence Thomas." FRIEND RIPS MEDIA'S 'DESPICABLE' EFFORT TO 'SMEAR' CLARENCE THOMAS FOR GOP DONORS' PAYMENT TO SCHOOL A follow-up report published on ProPublica Thursday revealed that Thomas' great-nephew, whom Thomas and his wife had taken into their care in 1997, had his tuition paid for by Crow at two private schools. The story says Crow paid for tuition for one year at Hidden Lake Academy in Georgia and one year at Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia. President Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 when Anita Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment during his Supreme Court confirmation process. Thomas denied the allegations, and he was eventually confirmed with the support of 41 Republicans and 11 Democrats in the Senate. Fox News' Joe Schoffstall and Brianna Herlihy contributed reporting. A month after the sudden resignation of Penn States head of the Department of African American Studies, questions are bubbling within the college over a new controversy one that involves a university official chiding six students over their pointed criticism. Six graduating students from the College of the Liberal Arts which counts African American Studies as one of its departments co-authored an April 28 letter to the editor in The Daily Collegian, Penn States independent student newspaper, chastising Dean Clarence Lang for his role in the resignation and questioning the universitys commitment to racial equity. In response, a high-ranking university official emailed the students a three-page letter Tuesday to express her disappointment in their false claims. That faculty member, Jennifer Hamer, opened the email by saying she was writing in her capacity as an African American Studies professor. But she failed to mention she is also the spouse of the criticized dean and works with President Neeli Bendapudi as the adviser for institutional equity and as the interim associate vice provost for Educational Equity. As some of the student marshals who wrote the original letter, we can say that these communications by administrators have raised questions about the extent of the administrations respect for our own protected freedom of expression, said a co-authored statement from five of the students, explaining such correspondence can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression due to the clear power differential. The students who signed the statement are all marshals for the College of the Liberal Arts, meaning theyre among the 36 students to represent the college during commencement. Marshals are chosen based on academic achievement and contributions to student life. A faculty-based group, Coalition for a Just University, issued its own statement after learning of the exchange between the students and Hamer. Story continues In her letter to the student marshals, Professor Hamer violated professional protocol by failing to identify herself as a high-ranking university official and as the spouse of Dean Lang, the group wrote. Further, her three-page private letter can be viewed as a strong-arm form of intimidation in an attempt to silence student dissent. ... (I)t is unbecoming of Professor Hamer to engage in such unprofessional behavior. Penn States chair of the university faculty senate did not immediately respond to a Friday message seeking comment. In a written statement Friday afternoon, executive vice president and provost Justin Schwartz said faculty are free to share their personal views. The free exchange of ideas, including debate, is fundamental to the mission of higher education, Schwartz wrote. The senior administration was not aware of this correspondence; however, we have learned Dr. Hamer was writing to provide accurate details in her capacity as a tenured full professor of African American Studies, as faculty are free to share their personal views. As I have stated before, I look forward to working with Dean Clarence Lang in his pursuit of excellence in the Department of African American Studies and to achieving objectives that have been previously outlined. The roots of the most recent back-and-forth can be traced to the April 5 resignation of Michael West, who penned a 2,500-word explanation for the sudden move. In that open letter, West accused Lang of broken promises involving new tenure-track hires, questioned the universitys commitment to diversity and equity, and described the departments morale as dispirited and morose. Schwartz responded last month by asserting West made unsubstantiated claims, though he did not specify which claims. Several weeks later, student marshals for the College of the Liberal Arts opened their 800-word published piece in the Collegian by expressing support for West. They charged administrators like Lang for creating a hostile atmosphere for African American Studies faculty and believed the cancellation of the Center for Racial Justice a move Lang supported acted contrary to promises of enhancing diversity and inclusion efforts. In response, Hamer sent a 1,700-word email to the students that opened by expressing how she was surprised and disappointed in their letter to the editor. She implied they were misinformed, echoed Schwartzs past statement that Wests claims were unsubstantiated and said the university was not divesting from African American Studies. In terms of the departments operating budget there has been further substantial investment, not disinvestment, Hamer wrote. For example, the department has had a steady increase in its operating budget. This includes an enhancement for faculty travel for research and conferences which supports their career development and facilitates promotion. Although she highlighted much of the universitys current work in her email to the student marshals, she also didnt hold back in her opinion of the students actions. I appreciate that discerning fact from fiction can be difficult in the current social, political and cultural landscape, she wrote. And, elsewhere, when noting Lang was the first to include students of color as marshals, Please look at the photos on the wall when you are next in Sparks. About four hours after Hamer sent her Tuesday email, the associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of the Liberal Arts Richard Page sent the students a significantly shorter email that adopted a much softer tone. In 150 words, he invited the students to reach out if they were interested in having a conversation. In the student marshals written statement, they questioned if there was any coordination between Hamer and Page but mostly focused on Hamer. Coalition for a Just University did not address Pages email in its own statement, but called for Hamer to make a public apology to the students. The student marshals ended their statement by raising two questions involving Hamer and Bendapudi. Given the failure of Hamer to disclose her status as both the Deans spouse and an administrator with a longstanding relationship with President Bendapudi that spans the University of Kansas and the Pennsylvania State University, as well as the unresolved question of possible coordination between Hamer and Page, both of whom have links to Dean Lang, we are left highlighting a final pair of reasonable questions, the students wrote. Did President Bendapudi know about Hamers email to the student marshals and about the reasonable concerns about ethics that this email raises? If President Bendapudi does know about this communication, does she endorse it? The five student marshals who signed the most recent statement include Maggie Bond (Sociology), Jessica Kim (Comparative Literature), Emma Messersmith (Criminology), Ahyanna Navarro-Foreman (African American Studies) and Jake Otto (Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures). Penn States College of the Liberal Arts is set to hold commencement at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the Bryce Jordan Center. BRITAIN-ROYALS-CORONATION Britain's King Charles III wearing the Imperial state Crown, waves from the Buckingham Palace balcony after viewing the Royal Air Force fly-past in central London on May 6, 2023, after his coronation. - The set-piece coronation is the first in Britain in 70 years, and only the second in history to be televised. Charles will be the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned at the central London church since King William I in 1066. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images) The United Kingdom's first new monarch in seven decades was crowned in a ceremony that dates back a millennium. In a ceremony that lasted two hours, King Charles III and wife Queen Camilla were officially presented with an array of ceremonial objects and were witnessed by extended family, military and political officials and sons Prince William, and Harry. Post-95 vocational teacher makes his name globally with bricklaying skills People's Daily Online) 08:38, May 06, 2023 Born in 1999, Wu is a vocational teacher and a world champion. Wu is known for winning the gold medal in bricklaying at the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition in Salzburg, Austria. Wu was born in Changsha, central Chinas Hunan Province, and his parents are construction workers. Seeing his father working with his tools, he started mimicking his fathers movements. Eventually, he also became technical when he grew up. Having witnessed Zou Bin, the first Chinese winner of the bricklaying contest at the 43rd WorldSkills Competition in 2015, the dream of participating in the competition was rooted in Wus heart. He prepared for seven years, and his hard work paid off. Wu wants to motivate more students with his own experience. He hopes they can hone their technical skills and eventually contribute to their country. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Du Mingming) As of Wednesday, about 2.53 million new jobs had been created for Chinese college graduates this year via an employment promotion campaign, said the Ministry of Education on Saturday. The ministry launched the campaign last November, with 2,415 universities and colleges participating in the initiative. During the campaign, education authorities at the provincial level were required to help bridge higher education institutions with enterprises, taking into consideration the major layouts of the former and the recruitment demands of the latter. Meanwhile, universities and colleges were encouraged to invite employers to recruitment activities on campus and offer them necessary assistance. So far, more than 1.45 million enterprises have provided approximately 35.1 million pieces of job information through 125,000 offline recruitment activities across the country, according to the ministry. The ministry added that it will hold a special week-long employment promotion event in May, with greater efforts to expand channels of employment and provide guidance services for job-hunting graduates. King Charles III receives the St Edward's Crown during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London on May 6, 2023. Credit - Jonathan BradyPA Wire/AP After months of meticulous planning, and what many have dubbed a lifetime spent in wait, King Charles III has been crowned as Britains monarch. World leaders and royals hailing from other nations gathered at Westminster Abbey, Londons iconic monument, on Saturday to witness an intricate ceremony in which Charles and Queen Camilla were anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The coronation event was a show of pageantry that has long been synonymous with the British royal family; it saw the nearly 5 lbs. solid gold St. Edwards Crown placed on Charles head to mark the role he took on when he ascended the throne last September, following the death of his mother and predecessor Queen Elizabeth II. Read More: King Charles IIIs Coronation Is Underway. Here Are the Latest Updates Charles was the embodiment of luxury as he sat on the coronation throne surrounded by vestments that were used in the coronations of his ancestors. During the ceremony, he changed into a white linen tunic with a plain collar known as the Colobium Sindonis, which he wore beneath the Supertunicaa full-length gold coat. Camilla was crowned in a modified version of Queen Marys crown. Many British citizens have questioned how appropriate the lavish displayfunded by the U.K. governmentis at a time when the effects of the cost of living crisis are felt at large across the nation. The ceremony aimed to capture the essence of multicultural Britain by incorporating many communities and faiths into its historically Christian traditions; in his capacity as U.K. Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who observes Hinduism, read aloud from the bible during the ceremony. Other faith leaders from Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, and Buddhist groups entered Westminster Abbey together to greet the King. Read More: Why King Charles III Will Be Worth the Wait Story continues The public mood in the U.K. was mixed. Tens of thousands of well-wishers gathered in central London to cheer the King on his journey from Buckingham Palace. Fans and curious onlookers lined the 1.3 mile procession route to catch a glimpse of the King, despite the typically drizzly weather of spring in London. Yet just a mile away anti-monarchy group Republic led a protest against the coronation, which is expected to cost some $125 million in taxpayer money. Even before the ceremony began, police had arrested several demonstrators, including the head of Republic Graham Smith, sparking anger from civil liberties organizations. As royal celebrations continue to unfold, TIME has selected the most defining images of the historic event. Crowds wearing rain ponchos in the grandstand opposite Buckingham Palace ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III on May 6, 2023. Niall CarsonPA Wire/AP PA Wire/PA Images Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales with Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte arrive ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III Dan CharityWPA Pool/Getty Images First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, and her granddaughter Finnegan Biden arrive at Westminster Abbey. Andrew MatthewsWPA Pool/Getty Images Representatives of the Commonwealth realms at the coronation ceremony. Aaron ChownPA Wire/AP Camilla, the Queen Consort, travels in the Diamond Jubilee Coach flanked by over a thousand Armed Forces route liners and The Sovereign's Escort of the Household Cavalry on route to Westminster Abbey. Richard HeathcotePool/AP King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, traveling in the Diamond Jubilee Coach, flanked by over a thousand Armed Forces route liners and The Sovereigns Escort of the Household Cavalry sets off along the Mall from Buckingham Palace on route to Westminster Abbey. Dan KitwoodGetty Images Britain's Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, front, Britain's Prince Harry, center, and Britain's Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, right, arrive at Westminster Abbey. Aaron ChownPA Wire/AP Prince George (middle) as one of four Pages of Honour ahead of the coronation ceremony. Jacob KingPA Wire/AP The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at Westminster Abbey. Andrew MilliganPA Wire/AP King Charles III inside Westminster Abbey on the day of his coronation. Andrew MatthewsPA Wire/AP Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. Yui MokPA Wire/AP Queen Camilla (right) watches as King Charles III is behind an anointing screen during their coronation ceremony. Yui MokWPA Pool/Getty Images King Charles III sits as he receives The St Edward's Crown during the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. Jonathan BradyPA Wire/AP Britain's Prince William kisses his father King Charles III Yui MokPA Wire/AP Britain's Camilla walks wearing a modified version of Queen Mary's Crown during the Coronation Ceremony inside Westminster Abbey. Richard PohlePool/AFP/Getty Images King Charles III wearing the Imperial state Crown carrying the Sovereign's Orb and Sceptre leaves Westminster Abbey after the Coronation ceremony. 2023 Getty Images Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince Louis, the Prince of Wales, the Pages of Honour including Prince George (centre) and King Charles III on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the coronation. Jordan PettittPA Images/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the late Prince Philip on her coronation day in 1953. Print Collector/Getty Images On June 2, 1953, Elizabeth Windsor became Queen of the United Kingdom and other territories. The ceremony was televised, with 27 million watching in the UK, and 85 million in the US. The ceremony was split into six parts, and a procession through London was held afterward. 70 years ago on June 2, 1953, Elizabeth Windsor, later known as Queen Elizabeth II, took the coronation oath promising to serve her people. Queen Elizabeth II on her coronation day on June 2, 1953. Hulton Archive/Stringer/Getty Images At just 27 years old, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, placed the St Edward's Crown on her head, according to the BBC. She ascended to the throne after her father's death on February 6, 1952, and her coronation was held the following year. She became the Queen of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the Commonwealth, a voluntary association that is now made up of 56 independent countries, according to the Commonwealth website. "Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust," Queen Elizabeth told her subjects in a radio broadcast that evening after her coronation. She ruled over the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth for 70 years, yet in the beginning, she was never expected to become queen. The view inside Westminister Abbey during the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953. Popperfoto/Getty Images When she was born in London in 1926, her grandfather, King George V, was king. The next in line was her uncle, Prince Edward, the then-Duke of Windsor, according to the royal family's official website. When George V died in 1936, her uncle was crowned King Edward VIII but abdicated the throne after ruling for only 326 days in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, the royal family's official website states. Elizabeth's father, King George VI, took the throne in 1937 and died from lung cancer on February 6, 1952, aged 56. While on an official visit to Kenya, the then-Princess Elizabeth received the news of her father's death, according to the royal family's website. She abandoned the tour and flew back to London as Queen Elizabeth II. Story continues For the first time, the coronation was broadcast globally by the BBC. 27 million people in the UK, out of a 36 million population at the time, watched the ceremony on television. New Yorkers watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II through a store window in June 1953. Bettmann/Getty Images 11 million people listened on the radio, the royal family's website adds. Later surveys showed that for each television broadcasting the coronation, an average of 17 people were watching, according to the Science Museum. The BBC achieved a technical feat, when it sent a recording of the coronation over the Atlantic for it to be viewed by Canadians and Americans on the same day, according to public records. 85 million people in the United States watched the Queen's coronation, the BBC reported. The day started with Queen Elizabeth setting off from Buckingham Palace at around 8 a.m., according to a witness account. Thousands of people were there to cheer her on. Queen Elizabeth II in her coach on her way to Westminister Abbey for her coronation on June 2, 1953. Fox Photos/Stringer/Getty Images Sue Hunter, who was then 10 years old, remembers camping the day before the coronation with her family so she could catch a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth, she said in an interview with iNews in 2022. She was "wildly excited" and surrounded by good-humored crowds who were laughing and chatting, she told the publication. The coronation ceremony was split into six parts: the recognition, the oath, the anointing, the crowning, the enthronement, and the homage. The closing stages of the Westminister Abbey service on June 2, 1953. Mirrorpix/Getty Images The ceremony was a religious one, with the Queen promising to maintain the laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel, according to the royal family website. As is coronation custom, she received the Sovereign's Orb, which was made in 1661. The jewel-studded cross mounted on the globe symbolizes the Christian world. Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation ceremony on June 2, 1953. Hulton Archive/Stringer/Getty Images She was then given two scepters. On one hand, she held The Sovereign's Sceptre with a Cross, which was made in 1661 but updated in 1910 by King George V (her grandfather) with a huge 530.2 carat Cullinan I diamond, according to Town & Country. On the other hand, she held the Sovereign's Sceptre with Dove, a gold rod with a flying dove on top. It symbolizes the monarch's spiritual role, according to the Royal Collection Trust. After receiving the two scepters and orb, the Archbishop of Canterbury placed the St Edward's Crown on her head. Queen Elizabeth II's portrait on her coronation day on June 2, 1953. Hulton Deutsch/Getty Images "God save the Queen," guests cried after the crown was placed on her head, as seen in a video of the coronation shared by the British Movietone Youtube channel. According to the Royal Collection Trust, the crown was made in 1661 for King Charles II, who was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1660 to 1685. The crown, which is made up of a solid gold frame decorated with rubies, sapphires, amethysts, garnet, and topazes, is traditionally used for coronations, the Royal Collection Trust website added. Her son, King Charles III, will also be crowned with St Edward's Crown on Saturday, May 6, according to The Telegraph. Queen Elizabeth's coronation dress was symbolic. The dress, which was created by British fashion designer Sir Norman Hartnell, is embroidered with thousands of pearls, sequins, and crystals. Queen Elizabeth II after her coronation on June 2, 1953. Bettmann She wore a six-and-a-half meter Robe of Estate for the ceremony. 12 seamstresses used 18 types of gold thread over 3,500 hours to complete the embroidered borders of olive branches, which symbolize prosperity and peace, the Independent reported. Queen Elizabeth's coronation necklace was originally made for Queen Victoria in 1858, the Independent added. The necklace is made up of 28 diamonds, including the Lahore Diamond gemstone pendant. There were many famous faces at the coronation, such as the Crown Princess of Norway, who was Queen Elizabeth's first cousin once removed, alongside Princess Astrid of Norway, her second cousin. Queen Sarote of Tonga (left), Crown Prince Akihito of Japan, Princess Marta of Norway alongside Princess Astriad of Norway (right) on June 2, 1953. John Chillingworth/Stringer/Getty Images, PA Images/Getty Images, Mirrorpix/Getty Images Queen Salote Tupou III of Tonga also attended the coronation. Despite the rain, she refused to close the top of her carriage during the coronation parade as a sign of respect for Queen Elizabeth, Sky News reported. Akihito, the then-Crown Prince of Japan, attended the coronation on behalf of his father Hirohito, who was emperor of Japan at the time, according to the Japan Times. 8,251 guests attended the coronation in total, according to the royal family's official website. After the service, Queen Elizabeth, alongside thousands of other participants, began the coronation procession through the rainy streets of London. Queen Elizabeth II rode in the Gold State Coach during her Coronation procession on June 2, 1953. Bettmann The 4.4-mile route was specially designed so as many people as possible could catch a glimpse of her, according to the royal family website. "As this day draws to its close, I know that my abiding memory of it will be, not only the solemnity and beauty of the ceremony, but the inspiration of your loyalty and affection," Queen Elizabeth said in a radio broadcast later that evening. "I thank you all from a full heart. God bless you all." Read the original article on Insider LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested Graham Smith, leader of anti-monarchy group Republic, and a number of other individuals as part of what they called "a significant police operation" ahead of King Charles' coronation on Saturday. Tens of thousands of people have gathered to cheer the royal procession and military parade for King Charles' coronation at London's Westminster Abbey on Saturday, the biggest ceremonial event staged in the British capital for 70 years. London police chief Mark Rowley had warned on Friday that there would be a "very low tolerance for disruption". There are more than 11,000 police officers on patrol in central London. Police did not confirm the arrest of Smith, but said on Twitter they had arrested four people on suspicion of causing a public nuisance, and three people on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. Republic said five of its supporters had been arrested and hundreds of its placards seized. A photo posted on Twitter showed Smith sitting on the ground surrounded by a group of police officers. An officer at the scene near Trafalgar Square said three republican protesters had been arrested for carrying paint. A Reuters photographer said a number of protesters from the Just Stop Oil environmental group were also arrested. Rowley had said police would take action if protesters tried to "obstruct the enjoyment and celebration" of a significant number of people. (Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, writing by Sarah Young; editing by Michael Holden and Kate Holton) Columbus police are investigating three overnight shootings, including in the city's Short North that injured multiple people and involved multiple officers. North High Street, from First Avenue to Goodale Street, the popular nightspot just north of the Greater Columbus Convention Center, remained shut down to vehicles and pedestrians as of late Saturday morning. Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant provided the following details: Officers responded to a report of a shooting about 2:30 a.m. in the 600 block of North High Street. After they arrived at the scene, they heard more gunshots a short distance away, and multiple officers fired back. Under Fire: An examination of gun violence across Columbus As of late Saturday morning, Columbus police detectives and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents were still trying to determine precisely how many people were injured at each scene but said one person was in critical condition. No officers were injured, and a gun was found at the scene. BCI is overseeing the investigation because officers were involved. As of late Saturday morning, the area on North High Street remained closed, with dozens of yellow cards marking shell casings on a sidewalk near Prescott Street and out in the street. "What we do know is this is an active scene," Bryant told The Dispatch. "There was an officer, and this is an officer-involved shooting." Two people killed, including suspect, three others injured in shooting on St. Clair Avenue Less than an hour after the Short North shooting, about 3:30 a.m., officers responded to a house in the 1400 block of St. Clair Avenue, where they found five people with gunshot wounds. One person, Taylin Roland, 28, died at the scene, and the suspect, Keith Pleasant, 29, was taken to a hospital in critical condition with what Bryant said a preliminary investigation seemed to indicate was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Pleasant later died from his injuries, Columbus police spokesperson Melanie Amato said. Story continues Three other people in their 20s and one in her 50s were taken to local hospitals and were expected to survive. A sixth person was in stable condition Saturday afternoon after suffering another injury but was not shot. Man shot on East Whittier Street after argument, later dies at hospital Officers responded about 4:40 a.m. to a report of a shooting in the 500 block of East Whittier Street, where they found David A. Davis, 36, suffering from a gunshot wound, according to police. Columbus Fire medics took Davis to a local hospital, where he died just after 5 a.m. Police identified a suspect but had not arrested that person as of late Saturday morning, Bryant told The Dispatch. A preliminary investigation seemed to indicate the shooting was the result of an argument. Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant visits the scene of a shooting Saturday, May 6, 2023, on North High Street. Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther addresses gun violence; criticizes state, federal lawmakers At a community clean-up event Saturday morning on the Hilltop, Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther addressed all three shootings during comments to news outlets. "This is the second time in under a week where folks have fired shots at officers," Ginther said. "That's completely and totally unacceptable." Three shootings overnight, including one in which @ColumbusPolice officers were shot at. We need everyone to step up to make our neighborhoods safer. #community pic.twitter.com/qAAXEPi7gE Mayor Andrew Ginther (@MayorGinther) May 6, 2023 He called on the community to stand up and support law enforcement and also criticized state and federal lawmakers for what he said makes guns too accessible. "We need the state and federal governments to step up to keep guns off the street, and if they don't have the courage to do that, then they at least need to get out of our way and let us do it," he said. "I'm just talking basic common sense gun safety legislation." Short North residents express fear, concern about growing violence A passerby named Kenneth, who declined to give his last name because he was concerned for his safety, lives east of High Street and was walking his Great Dane shortly before 10 a.m. near Price Avenue. "Apparently, between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m., you don't want to be out here without a rifle," he said. "If I were younger, in my 20s, I'd be out at these places until 2 a.m., but I'm not going anywhere near here after midnight." D.J. Baugh, 31, who lives in the area with his girlfriend, Tara Guillozet, 28, said he was sleeping on the couch early Saturday morning when he awoke to the sounds of vehicles speeding away and a woman screaming for help. "We never know what to expect when we go out, especially when the weather gets gets nice," Baugh said. "It's really unfortunate." The couple said they have heard gunshots numerous times in the area and even had friends who had to dive underneath a table after hearing them while out at an outdoor patio. "There's just the feeling that something may go wrong," Guillozet said. The couple, who have lived in Columbus for two years, said they are saving money to buy a house in Dublin to get away from the violence. Early-morning crime in the Short North along High Street became an issue last year due to a string of incidents, prompting the Columbus City Council responding to complaints from residents to object to renewing certain establishments' liquor licenses and limiting street food-vending hours. Gregory Coleman Jr., 37, died last year after being sucker-punched around 2:30 a.m. outside a bar in the 1000 block of North High Street, where he stopped for food at a food cart. In late March, the council made changes to mobile food vendor regulations in an attempt to clear the area earlier after bars close, after residents said problems were the results of lingering on the streets. As of May 1, the city has required mobile food vendors operating in congested areas of the city like the Short North to cease operating at 2:30 a.m. rather than 3 a.m. wbush@gannett.com; @ReporterBush nshuda@dispatch.com; @NathanielShuda This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police investigating 3 shootings, including in Short North Eight victims died and a police officer killed the shooter in a mass shooting Saturday afternoon at the Allen Premium Outlets mall, according to police. Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people, including the shooter, were dead at the scene and nine victims were taken by authorities to trauma centers. Two of the victims died after arriving at hospitals. Three of the surviving victims were in critical condition and in surgery, while four were stable as of Saturday evening. The Collin County Sheriffs Office told WFAA-TV that the victims included children. Medical City Healthcare system said it was treating eight patients between the ages of 5 and 61. The ages and names of the victims who died have not been released. Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey told reporters that an officer was on an unrelated call at the outlet mall at 3:36 p.m. when he heard gunshots and ran toward them. He engaged the suspect and neutralized the suspect, Harvey said. He said that police were not looking for any other suspects and the gunman is believed to have acted alone. The gunmans name has not been released. Harvey said a multi-agency response helped evacuate hundreds of people from the mall and set up reunification areas. A woman who said she saw the shooting told CBS 11 that the gunman fired 50 to 100 rounds. She described a large man, dressed in black and wearing a vest. It looked like a SWAT uniform without the letters SWAT on it. U.S. Rep. Keith Self said in a statement on Twitter that, A shooter is down and there are multiple casualties. Video from a TV news helicopter broadcast by KDFW-TV showed what appeared to be four white tarps outside the H&M store and blood on the concrete nearby. A witness who arrived about the same time as police also told the Star-Telegram that he saw bodies near H&M. Multiple ambulances were called to the scene at 820 W. Stacy Road. According to a recording of police radio communications, officers and paramedics reported victims with gunshot wounds at stores including H&M, New Balance and Francescas. They also said witnesses described a shooter with an AR rifle. Story continues Claudia Villanueva told the Star-Telegram that she was shopping with her family when they heard loud noises and thought at first that it might have been a car accident. But thats not what it was, Villanueva said in Spanish. The manager of the stores started telling people to get down and get in the back because there is a shooting. We went to hide and after a while, police arrived. They were going from store to store to get people out who were hiding. We were escorted out by police with our hands up, she said. I honestly dont know in which store the shooting started. I saw at the American Eagle store that the glass of the door was hit and broken. If we stayed over here any longer, we could have been hit. Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through the headphones he was wearing. It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside, Payton told the Associated Press. People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said. When they were given the all-clear to leave, Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes were lying nearby. Once outside, Payton said, he saw bodies covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground. I pray it wasnt kids, but it looked like kids, he said. It broke me when I walked out to see that, he said. Farther away, Payton saw the body of a heavyset man wearing all black. He assumed it was the shooter because unlike the other bodies it had not been covered up. At least 10 shots were heard and people were seen running in the parking lot of the mall in a video clip posted on social media by an account called Dallas Texas TV about 3:50 p.m. Police were working immediately following the shooting to access people hiding inside the stores and escort them out, according to scanner traffic. Crowds of people were still outside the mall Saturday evening, some waiting to meet family and others who had to wait to get access to their cars. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives office in Dallas called the situation an active shooter incident. In a tweet at 4:30 p.m., the agency said, ATF personnel are responding to the active shooter incident at Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, TX. Allen Police Department is the point of contact and will release more information as it becomes available. .@ATFDallas ATF personnel are responding to the active shooter incident at Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, TX. Allen Police Department is the point of contact and will release more information as it becomes available. pic.twitter.com/ntQXLIK4bs ATF Dallas (@ATFDallas) May 6, 2023 Allen police said in a tweet about 4:20 that, Law enforcement is on the scene at Allen Premium Outlets. An active investigation is underway. Please avoid the area until further update. About 6:30 p.m., police said that the scene was secure. Law enforcement is on the scene at Allen Premium Outlets. An active investigation is underway. Please avoid the area until further update. City of Allen (@CityofAllenTX) May 6, 2023 We were outside the Converse store and we just heard all this popping, one witness, Elaine Penicaro, who was shopping with her daughter, told KDFW-TV. We kind of all just stopped, and then a second later, just Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and there were sparks flying like it was right in front of us. The TV stations video showed hundreds of people leaving the mall about 5 p.m. Many had their hands raised. "We saw sparks flying": Shopper Elaine Penicaro describes the moment she heard the shots at the Allen Premium Outlets on Saturday. READ MORE: https://t.co/XfvZ1d3W4F pic.twitter.com/IlrR13Bop4 FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) May 6, 2023 Im across the street from Forever 21 at Allen Premium outlets. Hundreds of shoppers are being released from stores by authorities. Shoppers tell me they were taking cover and now investigators are clearing store by store. @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/gXvqp0GoYh Peyton Yager (@peytonyager) May 6, 2023 We are devastated by the tragic news of the shootings that took place at the Allen Premium Outlets today, Rep. Self wrote on Twitter. Our prayers are with the victims and their families and all law enforcement on the scene. People raise their hands as they leave the Allen Premium Outlets following reports of a shooting on Saturday. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott offered the full support of the state to local officials. Our hearts are with the people of Allen, Texas tonight during this unspeakable tragedy, he said in a statement. I have been in contact with Mayor (Ken) Fulk and DPS Director (Steven) McCraw as well as other state and local leaders and offered the full support of the State of Texas to local officials to ensure all needed assistance and resources are swiftly deployed, including DPS officers, Texas Rangers, and investigative resources. The outdoor outlet mall is about 30 miles north of Dallas and is owned by Simon Property Group. It has about 120 stores. The city of Allen has a population of about 105,000. Police asked that anyone who witnessed the shooting or has video footage to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). This is a developing story. For the latest updates, sign up for breaking news alerts. The Associated Press contributed to this report. By Brad Brooks and Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) -A gunman shot and killed eight people and wounded at least seven others at a busy mall north of Dallas on Saturday, police said. The gunman, whom authorities said they think acted alone and whose motive was not yet known, was killed by a police officer after he began firing outside of the Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen, Texas, the city's police chief Brian Harvey said at a press conference. Allen fire department chief Jon Boyd told the same press conference that his department took at least nine victims with gunshot wounds to area hospitals. Two of those people died at the hospital, Boyd said at a second press conference Saturday night. Three of the victims were in critical condition and four others were stable. Medical City Healthcare, which runs 16 hospitals in the area, said in a statement that its trauma centers were treating eight of the wounded victims, who ranged in age from 5 to 61. Collin County Judge Chris Hill, the top elected official in the county where Allen sits, praised police and other first responders at a press conference, but expressed deep anger with "those that would do evil in our community, in our backyard." Separately, police in the nearby city of Frisco, Texas, said they had evacuated the Stonebriar mall late Saturday after receiving reports of shots fired there. It was not yet clear if a shooting had actually taken place. SHOOTING EVERYWHERE TV aerial images showed hundreds of people calmly walking out of the mall, located about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Dallas, after the violence unfolded, many with their hands up as scores of police stood guard. One unidentified eyewitness told local ABC affiliate WFAA TV that the gunman was "walking down the sidewalk just ... shooting his gun outside," and that "he was just shooting his gun everywhere for the most part." Blood could be seen on sidewalks outside the mall and white sheets covering what appeared to be bodies. Story continues Texas Governor Greg Abbott, calling the shooting an "unspeakable tragedy," said in a statement that the state was prepared to offer any assistance local authorities may need. Allen, Texas, is a community of about 100,000 people. Mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, with at least 198 so far in 2023, the most at this point in the year since at least 2016, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The nonprofit group defines a mass shooting as any in which four or more people are wounded or killed, not including the shooter. (Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas, Moira Warburton in Washington, and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Daniel Wallis and Kim Coghill) A Portage County sheriff's deputy facing rape charges in Cuyahoga County had his ups and downs during his nearly decade-long tenure with the sheriff's office. According to Wilson Kuzyk's personnel file, which the Record-Courier attained through a public records request, Kuzyk received praise from both superiors and the public in recent years. "I am writing this letter to commend Deputy Wilson Kuzykon his exemplary performance during the past year," wrote a supervisor of Kuzyk's to Sheriff's Major Larry Limbert in December 2018. "Deputy Kuzyk has matured as a Deputy and has become a real asset to this agency." But prior to that, Kuzyk had some rocky times, including nearly being fired twice in 2015. A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Kuzyk, 34, of Stow, on two counts of first-degree felony rape in March. The indictment followed a Lyndhurst police investigation into an allegation that Kuzyk raped a woman on Oct. 19. In a letter dated Nov. 2, the day Lyndhurst police informed the sheriff's office of the investigation, Kuzyk was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski then informed Kuzyk that he was being placed on unpaid administrative leave in a March 17 letter. He was also informed he was the subject of an internal investigation that could result in termination of his employment. The sheriff's office did not respond to phone calls seeking an update on Kuzyk's employment status. Kuzyk pleaded not guilty to the charges during his April 5 arraignment in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and was released on a $2,000 bond. He is scheduled for a May 17 pretrial hearing. Trouble arises early in deputy's career with Portage County Sheriff's Office According to his personnel file, Kuzyk was hired in June 2013, initially as a "civilian employee." After graduating from the Kent State Police Academy in July, he was appointed a part-time deputy and assigned to security at the Portage County Courthouse. Story continues In July 2014, then Sheriff David Doak informed him in a letter that his status was changing to full-time deputy with a one-year probationary period. "Congratulations and keep up the good work," then Doak wrote. But then he started having problems, according to documents in his file. In an October 2014 probationary performance evaluation, Kuzyk was rated at "meets requirements" in five performance criteria, but "needs improvement" on eight others. The evaluation noted Kuzyk was on a performance improvement plan and "is eager to learn." In May 2015, Kuzyk was notified he would be suspended without pay for five days for issues involving writing and submitting reports and taking a possibly intoxicated pedestrian to a residence and releasing him without consulting with a supervisor. On July 7, 2015, the day his probationary period ended, Doak sent Kuzyk a notice of termination. That same day, Kuzyk successfully appealed to Doak to reconsider, saying he planned to attend "report writing class" in August. Monthly performance reviews were ordered for Kuzyk and in November, he was informed he was being placed on paid administrative leave pending possible termination because he had "not been able to meet the standards set forth by this administration." However, he was instead transferred to the Portage County Jail as a corrections officer, with a pay reduction. The outcome of a Nov. 9 meeting with Kuzyk was that he "does not at this time meet the requirements to continue as a road deputy" but "does exhibit many good qualities that may at some point enable him to return to the position of deputy," then Major Dale Kelly wrote in a memo to Doak. Required 'above average supervision' In July 2016, Doak informed Kuzyk in a letter that he would be reinstated as a full-time deputy. He would be serve a 90-day probationary period with refresher training. In November 2016, Kuzyk was placed on a six-month performance review plan. A supervisor notified Kuzyk that the action was being taken because Kuzyk did not submit a written statement concerning an allegation that another deputy had been rude to a dispatcher, which Kuzyk reportedly witnessed. Comments written in a December 2017 evaluation state that Kuzyk was eager and proactive as a deputy, loyal to coworkers and regularly arrived early for his shifts, but also required "above average supervision" and tended to be argumentative with superiors and defensive when receiving "constructive criticism." Other than a reprimand for failing to properly request a day off in September 2018, there are no other mention of issues in Kuzyk's file until the rape investigation. Deputy accused of rape recently completed training on handling sexual assault cases In June 2020, Kuzyk received a letter of commendation for the empathy he showed in helping a male in mental health crisis, resulting in a peaceful resolution to the situation and the man receiving the help he needed. In March 2021, Kuzyk was among several sheriff's office personnel that the Portage County Prosecutor's Office praised for an investigation into the sexual assault of a juvenile, particularly since it resulted in a guilty plea, sparing the victim from having to testify during trial. In August 2021, Kuzyk received a letter of commendation in connection with a traffic stop, during which a "large amount of narcotics," including meth, fentanyl and LSD, and other drug-related items were found. The file also included a couple of letters the sheriff's office received from community members praising Kuzyk. "Mr. Kuzyk listened to what I had to say and appeared to truly care about the situation," one letter writer wrote. "Wilson, great job," Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski wrote at the bottom of the letter. "I love to see these types of letters! Keep up the good work." His file also includes 25 certificates, mostly from the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission, showing that he successfully completed a wide variety of training programs in 2022 Three programs were related to handling sexual assault cases. The last is dated Oct. 23, less than two weeks before he was placed on paid administrative leave. Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com. This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Portage sheriff's deputy facing rape charges had a mixed career Zakhar Prilepin, a Russian writer and Ukrainophobic propagandist, has undergone surgery in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Source: Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Hleb Nikitin on Telegram; Interfax news agency, based on a source in the emergency services Details: Nikitin said that doctors from Nizhny Novgorod performed an "operation on Priliepin, primarily to fix fractures." "The operation was successful; after the surgery, Zakhar regained consciousness, and now he has been placed in an induced coma to recover faster," he said. Earlier, the governor stated that Prilepin "has minor fractures, but there is no threat to his health." At the same time, a source of Interfax reported before the operation that Prilepin's condition was considered severe. "The Consilium has decided not to transport him to Moscow, but to perform the operation in Nizhny Novgorod. His condition is assessed as serious," said the agency's interlocutor. According to local Telegram channels, Prilepin was taken from the scene by helicopter to the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Hospital. Background: On Saturday, in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region, an Audi car carrying Prilepin blew up; he was "severely wounded". The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia announced the arrest of a man who may have been involved in blowing up Prilepin's car. Subsequently, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation announced that Oleksandr Permiakov, a native of Ukraine, who was detained on suspicion of attempting to assassinate Prilepin, admitted his guilt. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Prince Andrew was booed by members of the public as he was driven down The Mall in a state car. The Duke of York does not have a formal role in the coronation of his brother, King Charles III, Buckingham Palace confirmed today, but is attending the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Andrew stepped down from royal duties in 2019 over his links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In January 2022, he was stripped of his HRH title after he was accused of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Epsteins. He has vehemently and continuously denied these claims. Since 2019, the duke has largely stayed out of the spotlight. However, he was seen attending Easter service with the King and Queen Consort Camilla, the Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Prince and Princess of Wales in early April. Prince Harry, who is expected to wear a morning suit to the ceremony rather than his military uniform, arrived in the UK a day before the slimmed-down affair Saturday, which will see 2,000 guests, including political leaders, members of the royal family, and celebrities, attend. More to follow... Prince Andrew wore ceremonial robes to the coronation, while Harry donned a normal suit. (Getty) Prince Andrew has been pictured inside Westminster Abbey for his brother's coronation in his full ceremonial robes. The Duke of York, who was booed as he was driven to the coronation ceremony of King Charles, wore his formal Order of the Garter robes for the occasion. The striking image is in stark contrast to last year, when Andrew was banned from appearing alongside senior members of the Royal Family at the Order of the Garter ceremony in Windsor. It comes following reports that Andrew has contemplated some form of public rehabilitation since being stripped of his royal titles following the fall-out from his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein Harry, however, appeared at the coronation wearing just a suit with his medals pinned to the lapel. Andrew wore his Order of the Garter robes - unlike last year at his mother's funeral where he wore a suit. (Getty) Neither Andrew nor Harry are playing a formal role in the coronation ceremony, with the latter expected to attend only the ceremony before returning to his family in the United States. Both also wore suits to the Queen's funeral, in contrast to their relatives who wore full military attire. Read more: 'Do we bankrupt Great Britain because of our past as an empire?' He and Harry sat with the rest of the Royal Family in Westminster Abbey. The Duke of York and the Duke of Sussex are no longer working royals. Prince Harry, who wore a suit to the coronation, is playing no formal role in his father's ceremony. (Getty) Harry and his wife stepped back as senior members of the Royal Family, moving to the US, and since then Harry has sparked controversy with his criticism of his relatives in his memoir Spare and various interviews. Harry chatted to his cousin Princess Beatrice as he entered Westminster Abbey before taking his seat in the third row for the coronation, two rows behind Prince William. Andrew stepped down from public life amid the controversy over his friendship with Epstein and allegations of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre, with whom he settled a civil case out of court last year. There have been various suggestions that Andrew may be planning to return to public life - something some say will never happen. Story continues In a recent Yahoo roundtable discussion about the 'Future of the Monarchy' hosted by Yahoo News UK's royal executive editor Omid Scobie, a panel of royal commentators suggested Andrew entirely quit public life. What is the Order of the Garter? The Order of the Garter is the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain. According to the royal family website, today the order includes the King, who is Sovereign of the Garter, along with several senior members of the royal family, and 24 knights chosen in recognition of their work. The Order of the Garter robes are made of dark blue velvet and can be accompanied by a cap. The robe has a white satin lining, white silk bows on the shoulders, an attached red velvet hood and tasselled cordons. The first cross-border passenger train runs on the Ganlanba bridge of the China-Laos railway in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 13, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua] The Boten-Vientiane railway opened in December 2021, and is already carrying over 200,000 passengers a month. This, the Laos section of the China-Laos railway, has made transportation in Laos much more convenient than buses and cars and cheaper than flying. On the Chinese side, there is a connection from the south Yunnan border city of Mohan in Xishuangbanna to Yuxi. I took the China-Laos railway from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang when I visited Laos in early April. The railway station and train were comfortable. The scenery was beautiful. I arrived in less than an hour. The railway station looks like those I had become familiar with over seven years of living in China. It has a high, slanted roof with the name of the station written in both Chinese and Laotian script. The signs feature the iconography as stations in China. Upon walking in, bags are checked in the X-ray machine. The large open space inside is filled with plentiful rows of chairs to account for high ridership. The railway is operated by the China Railway Kunming Group. Construction began in 2016. In addition to building 422 kilometers (262 miles) of line, the construction crews also removed unexploded ordinance that had been dropped on Laos by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Construction cost under $6 billion, and it was part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The debt was mostly financed by the Export-Import Bank of China. The line opened up new ports to China for a country with no sea ports. China is Laos' second-leading export destination, accounting for 26.9% of Laos' exports. Traveling from Vientiane to Luang Prabang only costs 241,000 Laotian KIP ($14.14/97.75 RMB), while it costs 801,100 KIP ($47) or more to fly from Vientiane to Luang Prabang. Going by train is also more comfortable and almost as fast when you factor in how long it takes to check in and pick up your luggage at the airport. All in all, it seems the rail project is a positive development for Laotian tourism and infrastructure. Laos is growing quickly, but it is still a developing country that has suffered a lot from colonialism, war, bombings, and political instability and it needs help. Traveling in Laos, it is easy to see that many countries provide aid. To enter Laos from Udon Thani in Thailand, you board a bus donated from Osaka, Japan. Alongside some major roads and monuments, you can see signs saying they have been partially funded by Japan, Australia, Indonesia, the U.S., and China. In 2019, Laos received 4.3 trillion RMB ($630 million) in foreign aid from all countries. However, I noticed that articles in the Western media about this railroad come with a certain point of view. Many articles talk about the extent of the debt Laos owes. American scholars have claimed that China is trying to undermine the liberal international order with its international financing through institutions like the Export-Import Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the Belt and Road Initiative. The AIIB is a development bank that China founded in 2016 and has 106 members. It finances projects just like the World Bank does. Yet when the AIIB was created, the U.S. reportedly tried to prevent countries like the U.K. and South Korea from joining. (They eventually joined.) Why oppose another source of financing for countries in need? Did the U.S. want the world to be reliant only on the World Bank and IMF, where the U.S. controls the largest voting stake and always gets to pick the president or managing director? A country's export-import bank can only facilitate a deal when both the financing country and borrowing country agree. They finance projects their foreign partners need. Laos had almost no rail transportation before this railway was built. The U.S. didn't provide financing to build a railroad. It seems that sometimes the U.S. accuses China of trying to use its foreign financing and foreign aid to influence its neighbors. But if you see the U.S. AID signs on certain projects in Laos, why do you think they made a big deal about saying who financed it? Undoubtedly, every country has a foreign policy agenda. The accusation is the admission. Laos decided to have this railroad built because they needed it, and it provides numerous benefits to many Laotian citizens. Building a high-speed railroad is, of course, expensive. Will it be worth it? That's a decision a country considering an infrastructure project has to consider, weighing the costs and benefits. I just took the train to Laos's ancient capital, where I stayed at an inn, ate at local restaurants, and contributed to the economy. Many Laotians were taking the train with me, as were Chinese and European tourists. Americans might read in their foreign policy journals and newspapers about how the Belt and Road is a threat to American influence or a supposed threat to the sovereignty of countries where infrastructure is being built, but most of this infrastructure is solving problems for the countries. Mitchell Blatt is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn. The official Order of Service for King Charles coronation was released on Friday, and two big names are missing. Neither Prince Harry, who arrived in the U.K. via a commercial flight Friday, nor Prince Andrew is listed under any part of the Westminster Abbey service or procession, according to the newly released document, which was shared with HuffPost. Though they are attending, the lack of formal roles is likely due to the fact that the two are no longer senior working members of the royal family, albeit for very different reasons. All of Charles siblings except Andrew were named in the Procession of the King and the Queen in the Order of Service, as is his eldest son, Prince William, and the entire Wales family. The lineup of working royal family members who are listed for the procession back to Buckingham Palace includes the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children (George, Charlotte and Louis), Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and their two children (Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex). Princess Anne, her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester are also named. The Order of Service further notes the additional roles that William and his son George will carry out during Saturdays service, which was previously noted in the liturgy of the coronation service. Its not clear where Harry and Andrew will be seated during the coronation ceremony, though there is some clarity over what they will wear. The Duke of Sussex is set to wear morning dress at the ceremony tomorrow, which both Andrew and Harry did when they took part in Queen Elizabeths funeral in September. They were each given separate exceptions to wear their military uniforms for certain events related to the funeral. At the time, a Sussex spokesperson told HuffPost that Harrys decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears and we respectfully ask that focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Story continues Prince Harry and Prince Charles attend the International Year of the Reef 2018 meeting at Fishmongers' Hall on Feb. 14, 2018, in London. Prince Harry and Prince Charles attend the International Year of the Reef 2018 meeting at Fishmongers' Hall on Feb. 14, 2018, in London. There is not yet any official confirmation of whether Harry and Andrew will be present at the Buckingham Palace balcony for a flypast following the coronation. Andrew and Harry were also not on the balcony during Queen Elizabeths Trooping the Colour celebrations last year, as Buckingham Palace said at the time that the balcony appearance was limited to Her Majesty and those members of the Royal Family who are currently undertaking official public duties on behalf of the Queen. While the treatment of the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of York might appear to be similar since the two are both no longer working royals the reasoning behind their respective steps back could not be more different. Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, announced their intention to step back as senior members of the royal family in January 2020, in order to pursue a new life in North America and secure financial independence. A year after their decision, the Sussexes confirmed they would not be returning as working members of the royal family, and returned all honorary military appointments and royal patronages to the queen. Andrews step back from public duties is an entirely different story. The dukes retreat came after he did a disastrous 2019 interview with the BBCs Newsnight. During the interview, he was asked about sexual assault allegations leveled against him, and about his ties to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew, who has long denied the accusations, recently reached an out-of-court settlement with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, after she filed a lawsuit against him in Manhattan. Andrews military titles and royal patronages were stripped from him in January 2022, one day after a federal judge in New York denied the dukes motion to drop the civil case against him. More on King Charles Coronation: Related... After months of uncertainty over whether or not Prince Harry will attend his father's coronation, the Duke of Sussex has arrived at Westminster Abbey May for the ceremony about half an hour before it started. Buckingham Palace confirmed April 12 that King Charles III's son will attend the coronation without his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Britain's Prince Harry (Andrew Matthews / AP) The former Meghan Markle remains at their home in California with their two children, Princess Lilibet, and Prince Archie, who turns 4 today. Harry wore a black tux adorned with medallions and other details of regalia, fitting for a ceremony that involves the display of the finest of the royal family's crown jewels. He is not in uniform. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (Toby Melville / AP) In January, Harry published his bombshell memoir "Spare," which exposed the ugly details of royal life after he and his wife left England and stepped back from their royal duties. His story detailed the breakdown of his relationship with his brother, Prince William, as well as his father. Prince William and his wife, Catherine, the Princess of Windsor, and their three children arrived separately. Prince George was a page of honor. As a result of his public airing of conflict within the family, his attendance at the coronation has long been questioned. In an interview in January, he told British network ITV that "the ball" was "in their court." Theres a lot that can happen between now and then, the Duke of Sussex said at the time. But, you know, the door is always open. For live updates on the progression of King Charles III's historic coronation ceremony, the first in 70 years, follow along at TODAY.com. This article was originally published on TODAY.com Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Prince Andrew leave Westminster Abbey following the coronation ceremony of Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla, in London. (Toby Melville / Pool) Eight months after his reign began, King Charles III was officially coronated Saturday at Westminster Abbey in London, amid all the pomp, pageantry and miserable gray weather we've come to expect of the Brits. As with all things royal, the day was tinged though not entirely overshadowed by ongoing Windsor family drama. Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, showed up at the coronation, making the first public appearance with his family since the release of the hit Netflix series "Harry & Meghan" and his bestselling memoir, "Spare." The tell-all projects, released shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, included dozens of bombshell allegations about backstabbing behavior by members of "The Firm" and painted a highly critical picture of the royal family's relationship with the British press. Despite Harry's well-publicized estrangement from his family, the prince currently fifth in line for the throne attended without incident, which is more than can be said for his nephew, 5-year-old Prince Louis, who has established a reputation for adorably upstaging his older relatives at every turn. Currently fourth in line for the throne, the youngest child of William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales, was seen yawning and staring up at the Abbey's soaring ceiling during the ceremony and generally stole the show from the adults around him playing what must have seemed like an elaborate game of dress-up. At one point, Louis was reportedly whisked away for a few minutes by a nanny, in a kid-wrangling contingency plan that surely involved many hours of planning, but returned in time to sing "God Save the King." Later, Louis could be seen shouting and waving from inside a royal carriage as he rode with his family to Buckingham Palace. While Saturday was technically his grandfather's big day, Louis became the undisputed king of social media, sparking a slew of tweets about his deeply relatable behavior in the middle of a rarefied and, let's be honest, rather slow-moving celebration. Story continues From left, first row, Britain's Prince William, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Kate, Princess of Wales and Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday. (Yui Mok / Associated Press) Last month, Buckingham Palace ended months of speculation by confirming that Harry would attend the coronation while Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, would remain in California. On Saturday, Harry comported himself gracefully and gave the British tabloids, forever in search of more outrage fuel, little to complain about. While his brother William the one who allegedly threw Harry into a dog bowl and sister-in-law, Kate the one who allegedly doesn't like sharing her lip gloss were seated front and center and wore elaborate robes, Harry had to settle for a perch in the third row and a relatively simple suit festooned with a half-dozen or so medals. Harry entered the Abbey with his cousin, Princess Eugenie who is close to Harry and earns repeated mentions in "Spare" and was seated next to her husband, Jack Brooksbank, during the ceremony. Though it was fleetingly possible to see Harry exchange pleasantries with other guests, those of us keeping a watchful eye on on his face, trying to discern what he might be thinking as Camilla the archnemesis of his late mother, Princess Diana, and the ultimate wicked stepmother as portrayed in his memoir was formally crowned queen, were out of luck: Harry's visage was mostly blocked by the red feather on a hat worn by his aunt, Anne, the Princess Royal. Whether or not this was intentional, we may never know. But it's worth noting that Anne was given the ceremonial role of "Gold Stick in Waiting," meaning she was charged with protecting the monarch from harm specifically physical harm, though in this case she may have been protecting him from damaging memes. As she did at the Queen's funeral in September, Anne wore military regalia and looked ready to compete in the Triwizard Tournament in a long, green velvet cape. She later rode on horseback behind Charles' carriage, leading a procession of 6,000 military personnel to Buckingham Palace, proving once again that while she may not be the most famous or glamorous royal, she's certainly the coolest. Harry had no formal role in the ceremony. Neither did his uncle, Prince Andrew, who settled a lawsuit just last year with a woman who accused him of sexually abusing her as a teenager and arrived at the event in a black Rolls Royce. (He was reportedly booed by the crowds.) Anyone hoping for a more permanent reconciliation between Harry and the rest of the Windsor clan are out of luck: According to the BBC, Harry left alone in a car shortly after the two-plus-hours-long ceremony concluded, and was not invited to appear on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. It's unclear when Harry will return to California, though it's expected his visit to London will be brief: His son, Prince Archie, celebrates his 4th birthday this weekend with what has been billed a "low-key party at home." And, hey, someone needs to get back to Montecito to help Meghan stuff the "Bluey" pinata. If there's one thing Louis taught us on Saturday, it's that you don't want to bore a preschooler. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Meghan Markle was noticeably absent as her father-in-law was crowned king across the pond. One royal expert told Fox News Digital the Duchess of Sussex, who was a no-show at King Charles coronation, likely watched the televised ceremony from her home in California. Her husband Prince Harry, who has publicly sparred with his family, arrived to the festivities alone. The former American actress and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, remained in the coastal city of Montecito. The couple have lived in California since they stepped back as senior members of the British royal family in 2020. Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is seen here attending the athletics competition of the Invictus Games The Hague 2020. It is understood that the Duke of Sussex, 38, kept his visit to his country brief and headed swiftly back home to the duchess and their children. According to reports, the prince was invited to have lunch with his family following the ceremony but declined. "How lovely of the royal family yet again to have extended the olive branch," British royals expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital. Charles and wife Queen Camilla were crowned Saturday at Londons Westminster Abbey. Harry was spotted sitting several rows behind his older brother Prince William. The brothers have had a strained relationship. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP PRINCE HARRY, PRINCE ANDREW ATTEND KING CHARLES CORONATION AMID ROYAL FAMILY DRAMA From left: Prince William, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Catherine, Princess of Wales with the Duke of Sussex sat in the third row at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey May 6, 2023, in London. As the king, 74, and the key royals joined a magnificent military procession after the ceremony, Harry stood waiting outside the abbey until a car arrived to drive him away. "As if Harry needed more of a reminder of what he has given up, the sight of the Apache helicopters flying over the Buckingham Palace balcony would have brought it all home," royal expert Duncan Larcombe told Fox News Digital. "The royal was absent from the balcony as the king was cheered by thousands down below. The very same gunships that Harry flew in Afghanistan were used to mark a fly-by in honor of the coronation." Approximately 2,800 guests attended the coronation. Story continues Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, quickly left Westminster Abbey following the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla May 6, 2023, in London. "Harry took a backseat, but it was his loss," said Larcombe. "He was there, and that is to his credit, but no Meghan has shown how detached they have now become from the royal family." On April 12, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Harry would attend his fathers coronation, ending months of speculation about whether the prince would be welcomed. The palace also revealed that Markle would remain in California with their children. The May 6 coronation coincided with their sons fourth birthday. Split image of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry "Meghan has turned herself into a British pariah," psychotherapist and human behaviorist Robi Ludwig told Fox News Digital. "Meghan wont put herself in a place where she is disliked and will get boos. Its safer to be in her home, away from the cameras and with her children. "She has gotten everything she needs from the royals at this point. She has a title, some status in the states. And Harry has always wanted his own family. So, yes, he is putting his own family first." CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER A member of the anti-monarchist group Republic protests in Trafalgar Square with an image of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, on the coronation day of King Charles III. "Archie is young," she noted. "These events for young kids are probably tough. He is missing out on a historical moment. What Archie is missing out on is having a relationship with his extended family. His grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles family, and thats sad and unfortunate." Ludwig pointed out that, during the ceremony, Harry was seated next to his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. "I do think it helped and was thoughtful of the royal family to position Harry near the members he feels closest to, Eugenie, Beatrice and their husbands," said Ludwig. "Smart optics on the royal familys part." Prince Harry, Jack Brooksbank, Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi leave Westminster Abbey following the coronation ceremony of Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla. Ludwig noticed that Harry visibly appeared wary at the abbey as cameras zeroed in on him before his father was crowned. "Harry appears to have prepared himself mentally for his brief royal reentry," she explained. "He knows this is the life he has left behind. Harry also looks like he has some degree of reprieve. He knows hes staying for a short period. His stance communicates whatever happens, hell be home before he knows it. Hes in and hes out." Ludwig pointed out that the coronation was not meant to be a day of reconciliation between Harry and his family. PRINCE HARRY'S ULTIMATUM TO KING CHARLES COULD PREVENT RECONCILIATION: EXPERT King Charles III is crowned with St. Edward's Crown during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London. "It is a day for Harry to show up, pay his respects, leave and go back to his chosen home, California, to be with his family," she said. "I also get the sense Harry knows this is not his life anymore and is a man pleased with his choice to live in a different lane. "The lane hes forged out for himself. Its also a day to feel the reality of the family rift, which is probably bittersweet. But I get the sense he is focused on doing his duty, recognizing his fathers historic day, and then going home to his Hollywood/celebrity life." Markle, a former American actress, became the Duchess of Sussex when she married the British prince in 2018. At the time, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were celebrated as the new, youthful face of the monarchy. The former "Suits" star also brought a touch of Hollywood glamour to the royal family. Many observers hoped the 41-year-old would help the Windsors connect with younger people in an increasingly multicultural nation. However, those dreams quickly crumbled when the couple made their royal exit in 2020. At the time, they alleged that palace officials were insensitive to Markles mental health struggles as she attempted to navigate royal life. King Charles walked Meghan Markle down the aisle on her wedding day in 2018. The couple also claimed that the duchess faced racist attitudes from the U.K. press, which contributed to their decision to leave the country. Since moving to North America, the couple has repeatedly aired their grievances. They gave a televised interview to Oprah Winfrey in 2021 that was viewed by nearly 50 million people globally. After a six-part Netflix docuseries titled "Harry & Meghan" was launched in December 2022, which further detailed their struggles, Harrys explosive memoir "Spare" was published in January of this year. The acrimony between Harry and his family once again spilled into public view in April. At the time, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed that they had been asked to vacate Frogmore Cottage, their home in the U.K. PRINCE HARRY LANDS IN UK AS ROYALS AND DIGNITARIES ARRIVE AHEAD OF KING CHARLES III'S CORONATION The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September 2022. The Sun reported that the eviction process began a day after "Spare" was published. A source previously told People magazine that on the day of the coronation, Markle would be focusing on her sons birthday. According to the outlet, the family was going to have "a low-key party at home." Close friends will be in attendance, as well as Markles mother Doria Ragland. "Meghan will definitely have support that weekend," the insider told the outlet. Meghan Markle (right) with King Charles and Queen Camilla before she made her royal exit in 2020. "Meghan wants to be there to support her father-in-law, but at the same time, the scrutiny she receives outweighs the support," a close friend told the outlet. "Theres always going to be that other side challenging their reasoning and who wants to put themselves in that position?" A palace source also told the outlet that while the king was "pleased" Harry was in attendance for his big day, "things are strained" within the royal family. Ludwig speculated that while Harry will head home quickly, the day still wont be easy for him. PRINCE HARRY TO RECEIVE ICY RECEPTION FROM FAMILY AT KING CHARLES CORONATION: EXPERT "[Harry] is seeing the life he not only left behind but blew up the bridge behind him," Robi Ludwig told Fox News Digital. "He is seeing the life he not only left behind but blew up the bridge behind him," said Ludwig. "He is among people who he has attacked, offended and dont really want to be around him or trust him anymore. Harry is now an official outsider." The Duke of Sussex is believed to have left the UK just hours after his fathers coronation ceremony ended today. It is believed that he headed back to Heathrow Airport before boarding his return flight to Los Angeles. Harry has lived in the United States with his family since he stepped back from a royal in 2020. The duke reunited with his family for the first time since the late Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral in September. It also marks the first time that he has seen his family since the release of his tell-all memoir Spare in January. The Duke of Sussex quickly got into a car with a blank expression on his face after leaving Westminster Abbey. Harrys vehicle, which had blacked out windows, followed the coronation procession back towards Buckingham Palace. It is understood that Harrys visit to the UK was always planned to be a brief one, since the coronation has fallen on the same day as Prince Archies fourth birthday. He was seen smiling at several points throughout the service, and was seated near a heavily pregnant Princess Eugenie, and her husband Jack Brooksbank, Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall and the Princess Royal, Prince Anne. He was also sat in the same row as Prince Andrew. He will now fly back to Montecito, California, to be with his wife Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and his children, Archie, four and Lilbet, one. Andy Stenning/Pool via Reuters Royalist is The Daily Beasts newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday. Prince Harrys status as a royal outcast was ruthlessly emphasized at his fathers coronation Saturday, as he was seated in the third row with the disgraced Prince Andrew and his family in Westminster Abbey, and forced to walk alone down the aisle wearing civilian clothing. When the rest of the royal family, including Queen Camillas grandchildren, made their centerpiece appearance on Buckingham Palaces balcony, Harry was absent. The Sun reported Harry was en route to the airport as his father and brother and royal relations waved to the crowds, keen to get home to California where his son Prince Archie is celebrating his fourth birthday today. The paper said that after the coronation ceremony Harry got into a blacked-out electric BMW and drove the 20 miles to Heathrow, arriving with a police convoy around 2:05 p.m. local time. Harry was then escorted into the VIP Windsor Suite at Terminal 5, the paper reported. Prince Harry Is Bringing All the Drama to King Charles Coronation Earlier, Harry had put on a brave face, grinning broadly and chatting to Jack Brooksbank before the ceremony began at Westminster Abbey. Brooksbank is the husband of Princess Eugenie of York, and had given him an encouraging pat on the back as he made his way into the Abbey about 20 minutes before the event kicked off at 11 a.m. local time. Harry did not make eye contact with his father or brother, Prince William, who, sources have told The Daily Beast, hates his brother after he eviscerated him and Kate Middleton in his memoir, Spare. Harry did not join the coronation procession. After chatting to Eugenie, Prince Andrews daughter, outside the church, Harry got into a car, but his destination at that momentairport or Buckingham Palacewas unknown. On Saturday morning it was widely reported that Harry had been invited to a family lunch after the coronation. Story continues It must have all added up to the very strangest of days for Harry, who sat and watched as Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he described as a wicked stepmother in his book, was crowned queen alongside her husband. Harry said in his book that he begged his father not to marry Camilla. News of Harrys humiliating seating position leaked out Saturday morning with a source telling the Sun: There were discussions that the seating could be arranged on line of succession. But that would have put fifth-in-line Harry front and centreand with William and Kate. Instead the decision was working royals only at the front and work back from there. The hardline on Harry came after an attack, apparently sanctioned by the king, was launched on Harry by the kings reputed best friend Nicholas Soames. Soames told Times Radio, in the course of a 30-minute interview praising the king, In respect of Prince Harry, I just think its the most tragic. I mean, I cant put myself in the position where my own son, if he did something like that to me, it would just be the cruelest and one would mind. Prince Harry stands among guests during the coronation of Britains King Charles and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey, London, England, May 6, 2023. Richard Pohle/Pool via Reuters Harrys public humiliation came after he had flown into Londons Heathrow Airport Friday morning on a commercial flightAmerican Airlines flight AA136 from Los Angelesand until the day of the coronation itself it wasnt clear what role, if any, he would have to playand how he would be seated around, and interact with, his family. His wife Meghan Markle stayed home in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. It is Archies birthday today, and Harry was widely reported to be spending a minimal amount of time at the coronation before flying home to be with his own family. Harry reportedly spent Friday night at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, the British home from which he and Meghan are being evicted by King Charles. According to his sympathetic biographer Omid Scobie, Harry had had minimal contact with his brother, William, since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth but there has been a pattern of regular conversations between Harry and Charles, Scobiewho has on occasion acted as a de facto spokesperson for Harry and Meghan Markletold ITVs This Morning show Wednesday. Scobie also said Harry always intended to come to the coronation but wasnt sure if he would be invited. Obviously this is the first time he has seen his family face to face since the release of [Harrys memoir] Spare. But I dont think people know there has been a somewhat regular pattern of conversation between him and his father since the release of that book, Scobie said. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex looks on as Britain's King Charles III leaves Westminster Abbey after the Coronation Ceremonies in central London on May 6, 2023. BEN STANSALL/Pool via REUTERS Scobie said Harry had spoken to his father about his and Meghans imminent eviction from Frogmore Cottage, saying They lose the keys to that any week now, and he would have spoken to his father about that. Scobie dismissed claims that Meghan had decided not to attend the coronation due to it being on the same day as son Archies birthday, saying she was instead motivated by a desire not to overshadow proceedings. Scobie told This Morning: She is aware just how much of the spotlight goes on her when she sets even a foot near the story. Its portrayed as intentional. Should she come over and just stand next to her husband, the commentary and the narrative of the day would have been very different If you look back at some of Harry and Meghans biggest problems, it was all down to the fact that the attention was always on them at times when it shouldnt have been. Scobie added that the Sussexes had to wait for some time to really get the confirmation whether they were 100 percent welcome at this event, but said that for Harry there was certainly no question about [attending]. Ultimately he is fifth in line to the throne. He is a councillor of state. There is a serious constitutional reason for him to be here, and he takes that seriously, even though hes not a working member of the royal family. 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. Prince Harry is set to return to the U.S. shortly after the coronation of his father King Charles III, HuffPost understands. The Duke of Sussex left Los Angeles and traveled to Heathrow Airport on a commercial American Airlines flight on Friday morning much to the surprise of his fellow passengers. He landed in London at 11.23 a.m. but will jet off back home following Saturdays proceedings. Why? Today also marks his son Archies fourth birthday. The father of two plans to arrive home in time to still celebrate his little ones special day. In todays proceedings, Harry will not wear his military uniform or robes. Despite having served in the Army for a decade and having completed two tours of Afghanistan, Harry will not be allowed to wear the military uniform as he is no longer a working royal, writes The Mirror. It is understood that Harry will be seated in the third row during the service at Westminster Abbey as his father is enthroned. He will sit between Princess Eugenies husband Jack Brooksbank and Princess Alexandra - the cousin of the late Queen. Related... While the Duke of Sussex traveled to the U.K. for his father's crowning ceremony, Meghan Markle stayed in California with their two children Ben Stansall - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry Prince Harry is on his way out of the U.K. after King Charles' coronation. The Duke of Sussex, 38, traveled to the airport just hours after the crowning ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, where his father and Queen Camilla were crowned before 2,200 guests by the Archbishop of Canterbury. While the major occasion was a royal reunion for Prince Harry and other members of the royal family, who were all last together for Queen Elizabeth's state funeral in September, it was previously reported that the Duke of Sussex didn't plan to stay long. Saturday is also Prince Archie's 4th birthday. The church service commenced at 11 a.m., and the Duke of Sussex headed back to California shortly after. He was not invited to the balcony appearance at Buckingham Palace that followed the ceremony. Related:Why Prince Harry Is Going to the Coronation Without Meghan Markle: 'It's Become So Personal' Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images The transatlantic trip is a journey of over 5,400 miles, about an 11-hour nonstop flight. With the time difference, he could be home in California with wife Meghan Markle, birthday boy Prince Archie, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 23 months, by evening. Prince Harry came to the crowning ceremony without the Duchess of Sussex, 41, who stayed back in California with their young children. The couple relocated to Meghan's home state after stepping back from their royal roles in 2020. Buckingham Palace announced in April that Prince Harry would attend the crowning ceremony, and Meghan would not. "Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6th May. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet," the palace said in a statement. Related:Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Roles Within the Royal Family Since Their Exit Explained Story continues GARETH CATTERMOLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry Though family tensions eventually led the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to step back from their royal roles three years ago, and relations have remained strained since the release of his memoir Spare over the winter, Prince Harry is thought to attend the coronation out of duty and love for his father. "At the end of the day, he's going to be there for his dad," a close friend recently told PEOPLE. Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! King Charles, 74, was said to be deeply saddened by the accusations of disloyalty and media manipulation that his younger son made against the royal family in his memoir. But it would be Charles's "first wish" for Harry to join them at the coronation, says a source who knows the royals. RELATED VIDEO: Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet's Titles Updated on Royal Family's Website Across the pond, Meghan celebrated Archie's birthday with a small party at home. "It's going to be a low-key party at home," a source previously told PEOPLE of the plans. "They'll have friends around them and Meghan's mom, Doria [Ragland]. Meghan will definitely have support that weekend." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. LONDON (AP) In the fairy-tale ending to the ancient pageantry in which King Charles III was crowned monarch, he stepped into a gilded horse-drawn carriage with his queen and rode off to his palace. Following closely behind was Prince William, his eldest son and heir, along with his family, including 9-year-old Prince George who is second in line to the throne. The king's youngest son was nowhere to be seen. On his father's biggest day, Prince Harry arrived at Westminster Abbey alone and he left alone. The disgruntled Duke of Sussex was assigned to sit two rows behind his brother. His isolation was likely the result of him quitting his royal duties and, thus, no longer ranking as a senior family member as well as alienating himself from his father and brother by airing grievances and telling palace secrets in his explosive best-selling memoir, Spare. If anyone was hoping the coronation would help break the ice between Harry and his brother, who were once so close, they are sure to have been disappointed. The siblings were not seen speaking or even acknowledging each other during the ceremony. After months of speculation about whether he would attend, it was announced about three weeks ago that Harry would come alone, leaving behind his wife, Meghan, and their two young children at their Southern California home. Harry and Meghan, who is biracial, left royal life and moved to the U.S. in 2020 after complaining about intense scrutiny and racist attitudes from the British press. In a six-part Netflix series, they lobbed other criticisms at the royal family, alleging racial bias. In January, Harry dropped his bombshell book dishing family dirt along with intimate details about losing his virginity behind a pub at 17, taking drugs and killing enemies in Afghanistan. The book was particularly unflattering toward his stepmother, Camilla, who was once blamed for wrecking his father's marriage to his mother, the late Princess Diana. He accused Camilla of leaking private conversations to the media to rehabilitate her own image after marrying Charles. Story continues Buckingham Palace had announced before the coronation that Harry and the kings brother, Prince Andrew, would not have any role in the service. Andrew, the Duke of York, relinquished royal duties after revelations about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He was later stripped of his honorary military titles and patronages and settled a lawsuit with a woman who said she was forced to have sex with him when she was a teenager. William played a prominent role, kneeling at his father's feet, pledging his loyalty and then kissing him on the cheek. George served as page boy, helping to carry the train of his grandfather's robes. Harry entered the cavernous church in a black custom Dior three-piece suit with coattails. An honorary cross hung around his neck and military medals were pinned to the left side of his chest. He nodded, waved and spoke a few words to clergy and several guests already seated. He proceeded along behind his cousin, Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, who followed her father, Andrew. They all sat in the same row. During the two-hour spectacle, keen attention was focused on Harry by the media and royal watchers. He appeared to join the congregation in one of many refrains of God save the king during the pomp- and music-filled ceremony. Some British tabloids even consulted professional lip-readers to interpret what Harry was saying. The Daily Mirror revealed that it appeared he said, hello, morning and nice to see you when he entered the church. Harry has vowed to make media reform part of his mission in life. He has filed several lawsuits against the publishers of British tabloids for a phone-hacking scandal dating back more than a decade. His trial against the publisher of the Mirror begins Wednesday in the High Court. Harry is expected to testify in June. After the carriages departed from the church, Harry was seen waiting for a car. He was later seen at Heathrow Airport. His son, Archie, turned 4 on Saturday and it was said he was headed back for his birthday. A short while later, King Charles III and Queen Camilla stepped out onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace to wave to the crowd gathered below. They were joined by William, his wife, Kate, three children and other senior royals. Coronation Day Britain's Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, front, Britain's Prince Harry, centre, and Britain's Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, right, arrive at Westminster Abbey for the coronation ceremony of Britain's King Charles III, in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. Credit - Aaron ChownPA Wire/AP Prince Harry attended the coronation of his father, King Charles III, on Saturday, May 6. He was there without his wife, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, or their two young children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The Duke of Sussex, who resigned from his royal duties in 2020 and has continued to call out his family amid an ongoing public rift, lives in the U.S. now. He arrived at Westminster Abbey alone, with footage showing him filing in and chatting with his cousins, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, along with their husbands, Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Buckingham Palace confirmed Prince Harrys attendance in April, but noted that he and Prince Andrew would have no formal roles in the coronation because theyre no longer working royals, according to the BBC. (Prince Andrew was removed from his royal duties in 2019 over his years-long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.) Read More: Tina Brown on Why King Charles III Will Be Worth the Wait The Prince was seated alongside other non-working royals in the third row, two rows behind his brother, Prince William, Prince Williams wife Kate Middleton, and two of their children. Opting to wear a morning suit with medals, rather than robes or a military uniform like some royals did, Prince Harry sat beside Brooksbank, and not far from his uncle, Prince Andrew. Harry served in the British Army for 10 years, but according to People, asked to wear a simple suit to the ceremony. I think because he served in the army, he shouldve been in full army gear, Nicky Douville, a 37-year-old Essex resident visiting London in hopes of seeing the royal family, tells TIME. Story continues Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attends the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Richard PohleWPA Pool/Getty Images The Kings coronation fell on Prince Harrys sons birthday, which some have said explains why Meghan, their four-year-old sonArchie, and their one-year-old daughterLilibet, may have stayed home in California. Statements released earlier this year by Buckingham Palace and ArchewellHarry and Meghans charitable foundationconfirmed that Harry would attend, and that the rest of the Sussex family would remain in the U.S. Read More: These Photos Show the Most Defining Moments of King Charles IIIs Coronation Prince Harry later left the coronation in a car by himself, as opposed to the carriages bound for Buckingham Palace that most other senior royals took. He reportedly had plans to fly home for his sons birthday, according to the BBC. He did not appear on the balcony at Buckingham Palace alongside the other royals who had gathered to wave to admiring crowds after the coronation. According to The Telegraph, this means he also wont appear in any of the formal photographs. Thats really gutting because hes part of their family, Douville says. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, leaves Westminster Abbey following the coronation of King Charles III in London, May 6, 2023. Toby MelvillePool/AP The Prince hasnt been seen in public with members of the royal family since his bombshell memoir, Spare, was released earlier this year. The book depicted many members of the royal family, including his brother, father, and stepmother, Queen Camilla, critically. Many speculate that relations between the Sussexes and senior members of the royal family remain tense, following years of conflict that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have alluded to in a March 2021 interview Oprah Winfrey and a 2022 Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. YASMEEN SERHAN CONTRIBUTED REPORTING FROM LONDON Flash Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Friday expressed opposition on the strengthening military collusion between the United States and the Taiwan authorities, saying that the U.S. is turning Taiwan into a "powder keg." Mao made the remarks at a regular press briefing when asked to comment on a delegation of 25 U.S. arms dealers swarming to the island and holding the "defense forum" with Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities. Mao said U.S. arms sales to the Taiwan region seriously violate the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, especially the August 17 Communique. China firmly opposes them. Noting that lately the U.S. and the Taiwan authorities have been stepping up military collusion, Mao said the visit of arms dealers and the so-called "defense forum" is further proof that the U.S. is turning Taiwan into a "powder keg," which only spells trouble for our Taiwan compatriots. As the "forum" was being held, people from all walks of life of Taiwan gathered nearby to protest the warmongers peddling conflict, oppose those soliciting U.S. support for independence and opening the door to the devil, call on young people in Taiwan to refuse to be enlisted, and voice support for one China on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and cross-Strait peace. "The DPP authorities need to hear these voices and immediately stop trading our Taiwan compatriots' fundamental interests for selfish gains," said the spokesperson. "We once again urge the U.S. to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, stop arms sales to and military contact with Taiwan, and stop creating factors that could cause tensions in the Taiwan Strait," Mao said. She stressed that the Chinese side will take strong and resolute measures to firmly defend our sovereignty and security interests. Any external forces that interfere in China's internal affairs and undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait shall bear the consequences and pay for their erroneous acts. Prince Harry and his uncle Prince Andrew put aside their personal royal dramas to attend the coronation of King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla. The Duke of Sussex was all smiles as he chatted with his cousin Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi before walking into Westminster Abbey on Saturday in London. The 38-year-old sat in the third row next to another cousin, a heavily pregnant Princess Eugenie, and her husband Jack Brooksbank. LIVE: CORONATION OF KING CHARLES III The 38-year-olds wife, Meghan Markle, was noticeably absent from the ceremony. The Duchess of Sussex stayed behind in the couples home in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York leave after attending the coronations of Britain's King Charles III and Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort, at Westminster Abbey in central London on May 6, 2023. King Charles III is crowned with St. Edward's Crown during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London. The former American actress became the Duchess of Sussex when she married the British prince in 2018. The couple stepped back as senior members in 2020 and moved to North America. They have since repeatedly detailed their struggles with royal life publicly. The coronation date falls on Archies fourth birthday. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Harry wore a dark morning suit with medals pinned to his jacket. According to People Magazine, it was a fashion choice Harry personally requested. KING CHARLES OFFICIALLY CROWNED BRITISH MONARCH Prince Harry requested to wear a morning suit. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex looks on as Britain's King Charles III leaves Westminster Abbey after the Coronation Ceremonies in central London on May 6, 2023. Andrew arrived alongside his daughters, Beatrice, 34, and Eugenie, 33. The 63-year-old arrived wearing his ceremonial robes of the Order of the Garter despite not being a working member of the British royal family. The younger brother of the king waved from the car to a booing crowd as he was driven to the abbey. His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, was not in attendance. She and Andrew divorced in 1996. The 63-year-old was not invited to the coronation. "I personally will be having a little tearoom and coronation chicken sandwich and putting out the bunting, thats what Im going to be doing," said the mother of Eugenie and Beatrice during an appearance on ITVs "Loose Women." Story continues Sarah Ferguson was married to Prince Andrew from 1986 to 1996. "Because that would make me very happy," she said. "I also love to watch it on the telly because you hear a lot on the telly. The commentators are always good. And then all the family come back. "Because remember, I am divorced from him," Ferguson, known as "Fergie," continued. "I dont expect you cant have it both ways. You cant be divorced and then say, I want this. Youre in or youre out." Its noted that both Andrew and Fergie remain close as co-parents and continue to live together in Windsor. Neither Harry nor Andrew had any formal roles during the festivities. They also didnt join the procession from the ceremony to Buckingham Palace. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and his daughter Princess Eugenie of York arrive at Westminster Abbey in central London. The Duke of York gave up royal duties after revelations of his friendship with late American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He was stripped of his military titles and patronages. According to British royal expert Duncan Larcombe, Kate Middletons siblings Pippa and James were in attendance as guests of the Prince and Princess of Wales. How Charles manages his family drama over the coming weeks and years will be crucial to the kings efforts to preserve and protect the 1,000-year-old hereditary monarchy he now embodies. Zara Tindall and Prince Andrew, Duke of York arrive ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6, 2023, in London, England. Charles ascended to the throne upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Without the respect of the public, the House of Windsor risks being lumped together with pop stars, social media influencers and reality TV contestants as fodder for the British tabloids, undermining the cachet that underpins its role in public life. And then there are allies within Buckingham Palace who are all too eager to whisper family secrets to the ears of gleeful reporters. Joe Little, the managing editor of Majesty magazine, previously revealed to The Associated Press that he doesnt expect Harry, in particular, to have a lot of contact with his family. The father of twos visit to the U.K. is brief, and hes expected to fly swiftly back home to California. PRINCE HARRY'S ULTIMATUM TO KING CHARLES COULD PREVENT RECONCILIATION: EXPERT Prince Harry's visit is expected to be brief. It's believed that he will travel swiftly back to California in time for his son's birthday. Prince Archie turns four. But the king is no stranger to controversy. His former marriage to Princess Diana was heavily scrutinized by the tabloids before her sudden death in 1997. The glamorous Princess of Wales died from injuries she sustained in a Paris car crash. She was 36. In her lifetime, Diana alleged there were "three people" in her marriage, pointing the finger at Charles longtime love, Camilla Parker-Bowles. The king and queen married in 2005. In January of this year, Harrys explosive memoir "Spare" was published. In it, Harry claimed that the senior royals leak unflattering stories to the press in hopes of favorable coverage. He specifically targeted his stepmother. He also detailed his rivalry with his elder brother Prince William, the heir to the British throne. Queen Camilla is crowned with Queen Mary's Crown during her coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, London. Over the years, Camilla has put her focus on revamping her public image. She supports numerous causes ranging from supporting victims of sexual assault and domestic violence to adult literacy. She has also raised awareness of osteoporosis. When Harry married Markle in 2018, many hailed the former "Suits" star as a breath of fresh air, a youthful figure who could help modernize the monarchy. With her came a touch of Hollywood glamour that seemingly captivated audiences. However, those hopes quickly crumbled as the couple claimed palace officials were insensitive to the 41-year-old as she attempted to settle into royal life. In a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, they hinted at racism in the palace, alleging that one unidentified member of the royal family had inquired about the color of their unborn sons skin before his birth. PRINCE HARRY LANDS IN UK AS ROYALS AND DIGNITARIES ARRIVE AHEAD OF KING CHARLES III'S CORONATION Meghan Markle did not attend King Charles' coronation. She stayed behind in California. Harry later clarified that was an example of unconscious bias. He noted the royal family needed to "learn and grow" so it could be "part of the solution rather than part of the problem." The repeated attacks from the couple led to months of speculation about whether they would even be invited to the coronation. The palace finally answered that question two weeks ago when it announced that Harry would attend, but Markle would remain in California with their two children. For Andrew, his connection to Epstein resulted in his royal downfall. Epstein, 66, who was convicted of sex crimes in 2008, was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019. At the time, he was awaiting trial on a second set of charges. His girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted last year of helping procure young girls for Epstein. The 61-year-old is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida. The Duke of Sussex has remained close with his cousins Princess Beatrice (pictured here) and Princess Eugenie. Andrew gave up his royal duties in 2019 following a nuclear interview with the BBC where he attempted to clear his name. He has vehemently denied accusations made by an American woman, who claimed she was forced to have sex with the prince when she was a teen. Andrew settled the suit in 2022 before it went to trial. Andrew has since attempted to keep a low profile. Charles ascended to the throne upon the death of his mother. Elizabeth, Englands longest-reigning monarch, died in September 2022 at age 96. The Duke of Sussex eschewed British fashion brands to wear a suit by French label Dior to his fathers coronation, fuelling speculation he may be about to sign an endorsement deal with the company. Prince Harry was photographed in a suit with waistcoat for the ceremony, at which he sat in the third row. Harry, who left swiftly after the coronation to catch a flight from Heathrow, wore his dark morning suit and tie with his Afghanistan and Jubilee medals pinned to his suit jacket. He also wore a Royal Victorian Order star and neck decoration. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives for the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023 in London, England. (Getty Images) Luxury fashion house Dior tweeted that it had dressed the duke in a custom design by celebrity favourite British-born Kim Jones, saying to do so was an honour. The brand has often been a go-to choice for Harrys wife, Meghan, who wore a Dior outfit to the Queens platinum jubilee celebrations last summer. Last month, the prince wore Dior to the High Court in London for a case against the publisher of the Daily Mail, alleging its investigators hacked his phone. Celebrity stylist and royal fashion expert Miranda Holder told Newsweek: Designer sponsorship deals with celebrities are commonplace, and it is highly likely that the Sussexes have an arrangement with Dior; it would be a highly convenient passive income for Harry and Meghan who make ideal ambassadors for the brand. She said Meghan had opted for Dior on several royal occasions. Tailoring fit for royalty. Dior is honored to have dressed Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, for the coronation of King Charles III in a custom design by Kim Jones. Seen arriving at Westminster Abbey, gain an insight into the savoir-faire of his three-piece suit next. pic.twitter.com/rg4r0ER4Ym Dior (@Dior) May 6, 2023 The Duke of Sussex departs Westminster Abbey, London, following the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla (PA) I personally feel that she turned to such an elite fashion house in an effort to subconsciously clad herself in fashion armor, attempting to shield herself from the critical gaze of the media and the public, she added. Story continues Wearing Dior is a new fashion direction for Prince Harry, who usually prefers a more casual style, particularly now he has moved to California and no longer has to dress up to perform royal duties. Harrys whistlestop tour to the coronation ended as he headed to Heathrow soon after the ceremony was over. Fashion house Dior tweeted that it was honoured to have dressed Prince Harry. Harry was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) by the late Queen. Buckingham Palace said the appropriate insignia was a star and neck decoration with no mantle. Follow our live coverage of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla here Prince Harry attended his father King Charles II's coronation without his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, or their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. He also had no formal role during the ceremony and did not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony with other members of the family. In April, Buckingham Palace announced Harry, who is fifth in line for the throne, would attend the coronation while Meghan remained in California with their young children. The day of the coronation, May 6, happens to be Archie's birthday. Harry's brother, Prince William, who is first in line for the throne, had a key role in the ceremony. After their father was crowned king, William kissed his father and pledged his loyalty to him. William's 9-year-old son, Prince George, also served as a Page of Honor for King Charles, and Camilla's grandsons served as three of her Pages of Honor. Harry has been estranged from his family since he and his family moved to California in 2020. In the Netflix documentary released last year, he and Meghan said she faced racism and mistreatment from the British press and claimed the royal family did not offer support. Her mental health suffered and with a lack of help from the family and they worried about the lack of security for their family, leading the pair to decide to leave their roles as senior royals. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex leaves Westminster Abbey following the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6, 2023 in London, England. / Credit: TOBY MELVILLE / Getty Images Harry made further accusations and other public comments about the royals in his book, "Spare," and during the press tour for the book. The invitation to the coronation seemed like an olive branch from his father, but it appears Harry's relationships with his family members are still strained. He and his uncle, the disgraced Prince Andrew, did not have roles during the ceremony and did not join the procession, as neither are "working" members of the family. Instead, Harry arrived with his cousin, Prince Andrew's daughter Princess Beatrice. Where did Harry sit at the coronation ceremony? Story continues Harry did not sit with other senior royals, instead he was three rows back during the elaborate ceremony. He did, however, appear to be smiling in many photos from the event. During the ceremony, he sat next to Princess Eugenie's husband Jack Brooksbank, and behind his aunt, Princess Anne, and Queen Elizabeth II's cousin, the Duke of Kent, according to BBC News. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex during the coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, on May 6, 2023 in London, England. / Credit: Richard Pohle / Getty Images He was seen getting into a car alone after the ceremony. Prince Andrew, who also appeared in the third row, left with Eugeine and Brooksbank. Was Harry allowed to join the "working royals" on the balcony? Harry did not appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the ceremony, a longtime tradition for senior members of the royal family. Instead, newly-crowned King Charles III and Queen Camilla stood with the "working" members of the family as well as their grandkids many of whom played roles during the ceremony. Left to right: Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor; Sir Timothy Laurence; Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh; Princess Charlotte of Wales; Princess Anne, Princess Royal; Catherine, Princess of Wales; Prince Louis of Wales; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Prince George of Wales; King Charles III and Queen Camilla on the Buckingham Palace balcony following the coronation on May 6, 2023. / Credit: / Getty Images Harry and Meghan attended Queen Elizabeth II's funeral last year, but tension remained behind the scenes, according to Valentine Low, royal correspondent for the Times of London newspaper. "There was definitely not any great personal warmth between the two couples," Low told CBS News about Princes Harry and William and their wives. Low said Meghan may have skipped the coronation so as to lessen the drama. Meghan planned to have a "low-key party at home" for Archie's fourth birthday, a source told People magazine. U.K. publication The Sun reported Harry would only be in the U.K. for about 24 hours and would leave promptly after the coronation ceremony. CBS News contributor Tina Brown confirmed that he would not attend the private lunch for the family members. Is Prince Harry still in line to the throne? Harry is still fifth in line to the throne. His father is king, his brother, Prince William is first in line and William's children Prince George, Prince Charlotte and Prince Louis are second, third and fourth in line, respectively. Harry's son Prince Archie is sixth in line for the throne and daughter Princess Lilibet is seventh in line. Watch: King Charles III is crowned at coronation ceremony King Charles III and royal family gather on Buckingham Palace balcony after coronation U.S. ambassador to U.K. on King Charles' coronation, Biden's plans for a visit While the Duke of Sussex attended his father's crowning ceremony, his wife Meghan Markle stayed in California with their two children Andrew Matthews - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry Prince Harry will watch his father be crowned. The Duke of Sussex, 38, entered Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday for the coronation of his father, King Charles, and stepmother, Queen Camilla. He smiled as he walked in with his cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and their husbands. Prince Harry wore a morning suit for the occasion, following the dress code for most of the congregation. PEOPLE understands Harry was requested to wear a morning suit and that he didn't make any specific asks regarding his outfit. He also wore his Afghanistan service medal along with the Golden Jubilee, Diamond Jubilee and Platinum Jubilee medals. Harry also sported his KCVO neck decoration and star. The Duke of Sussex took his seat in the third row between Princess Eugenie's husband, Jack Brooksbank, and Princess Alexandra. Related:Why Prince Harry Is Going to the Coronation Without Meghan Markle: 'It's Become So Personal' Andrew Matthews - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry Prince Harry came to the U.K. for the crowning ceremony without his wife Meghan Markle, who remained in California with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The coronation day is also Prince Archie's 4th birthday, and a source previously told PEOPLE the Duchess of Sussex, 41, will be celebrating her son with a "low-key party at home." Though family tensions eventually lead Prince Harry and Meghan to step back from their royal roles in 2020 and relations have remained strained since the release of his memoir Spare in January, the Duke of Sussex came to coronation out of duty and love for his father. Andy Stenning - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry "At the end of the day, he's going to be there for his dad," a close friend recently told PEOPLE. The coronation service marks Prince Harry's first public outing with other members of the royal family since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September, which Meghan also attended. The couple was in Europe for a series of charitable events when the Queen died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, hours after her doctors said they were "concerned" for her health. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex extended their trip abroad and remained in the U.K. for the funerary events that followed before returning home to California. Story continues Prince Harry later made a surprise solo trip to London in March for court hearings that will determine whether his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers for alleged illegal information gathering goes to trial. PEOPLE understands that Prince Harry informed King Charles and Prince William that he would be in the U.K. for the March proceedings, though it's unlikely that the father and sons got together. King Charles was abroad in Germany for the first overseas visit of the new reign, while Prince William spent time his wife, Kate Middleton, and their three children Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5 during their school break. Related:Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Roles Within the Royal Family Since Their Exit Explained PHIL NOBLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! Whatever happens during Harry's time in the U.K., "he will look back on it and think it is better to come and play his part and say, 'I saw my father crowned,' " a source close to the royal household previously told PEOPLE. "And tell his children about it." RICHARD POHLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images In his exclusive interview with PEOPLE in January, the Duke of Sussex said he felt like he was "exactly where I am meant to be." When asked how he identifies today, Prince Harry said, "A husband and a father first and foremost as well as a veteran, environmentalist and mental-health advocate. I know that I want to live my life in service of others and that I want to live by example for my kids." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Prince Harry was all smiles when he arrived at King Charles III and Queen Camilla's coronation. On Saturday, May 6, Harry arrived at Westminster Abbey alongside his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who also brought along their husbands. Image: Their Majesties King Charles III And Queen Camilla - Coronation Day (WPA Pool via Getty Images) Harry's wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was not in attendance at the coronation as she's currently watching over their kids, Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 1, at their California home. Walking into the church, Harry appeared to be in good spirits when he took his seat two rows behind his brother Prince William, and his sister-in-law, Kate Middleton. Harry also smiled when he ran into Princess Anne, who started a small conversation with him. Image: Their Majesties King Charles III And Queen Camilla - Coronation Day (WPA Pool via Getty Images) After writing a scathing tell-all memoir about his life as a royal in January, Harry looked quite unbothered when he reunited with his family. Their Majesties King Charles III And Queen Camilla - Coronation Day (WPA Pool via Getty Images) The last time that Harry saw his family was at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September. Since then, Harry's relationship with the royal family has been a little uneasy since he released his memoir, "Spare." In the book, Harry allegedly wrote about a physical fight he had with William about Meghan. After the book came out, Harry appeared on the British network ITV and said he was unsure whether or not he was going to attend his father's coronation. Theres a lot that can happen between now and then, the Duke of Sussex said. But, you know, the door is always open. The ball is in their court, he continued. Theres a lot to be discussed, and I really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it. After fans wondered whether hell be there, Buckingham Palace announced in April that the prince will definitely be attending. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Prince Andrew (Toby Melville / Pool via AP) This article was originally published on TODAY.com If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, SheKnows may receive an affiliate commission. For anyone who has followed the royal family feud over the last few years, Prince Harrys entrance into Westminster Abbey in London was a highly anticipated moment. While many people expected a tense, awkward situation, it certainly wasnt that the Duke of Sussex was relaxed and happy as he walked down the aisle. More from SheKnows Although wife Meghan Markle was home in Montecito, California, Harry was joined by his cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and their husbands, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank. Wearing a morning suit with his military service medals, the Duke of Sussex was all smiles as he nodded at other guests and made small talk as he recognized familiar faces. And as much as the British tabloids wanted him to be seated in far reaches of the church, he was in the third row with Princess Eugenies husband Brooksbank, and Princess Alexandra. Britains Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, arrives at Westminster Abbey in central London on May 6, 2023, ahead of the coronations of Britains King Charles III and Britains Camilla, Queen Consort. While the Sussexes made the decision for Meghan to stay home with their two children, Prince Archie, who turns four on Saturday, and Princess Lilibet, 1, his attendance was a welcome sight after the last few feuding months in the wake of his memoir, Spare. There was never any question on whether [Harry] would want to come or not. It was a question at one point on whether he would be invited, I think, royal expert Omid Scobie told Britains This Morning on Wednesday. Click here to read the full article. Buy: Spare $19.99 Harry is expected to head back to the airport immediately after King Charles IIIs ceremony to celebrate his sons birthday in California. It was a whirlwind 24 hours for the Duke of Sussex, but he honored his fathers wishes to be present for his historic day and still try and make it home for his own familys sweet moment. Story continues Before you go, click here to see the 100 best photos of the royal family from the past 20 years. Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Launch Gallery: Every Single Time the Royal Family Has Subtly Shaded Meghan Markle & Prince Harry After Leaving the Firm Best of SheKnows Sign up for SheKnows' Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Prince Louis, the third child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, is fourth in line to the British throne. Louis was born on 23 April 2018 at St Marys Hospital in Paddington, London. His elder siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, came to visit him at the hospital on the day he was born. On 27th April 2018, William and Kate announced that they had named their child Louis Arthur Charles. He will be formally known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge. When Queen Elizabeth II died in September, Louis became Prince Louis of Wales. Though Prince Louis is just five years old, he has had some sweet moments. At the Queens Platinum Jubilee Pageant in June last year, Prince Louis quickly became the star of the show as he pulled faces at the crowd and giggled with his siblings. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with Members of the @RoyalFamily in the Morning Room at Clarence House, following Prince Louiss christening. by Matt Holyoak. pic.twitter.com/3M5VxCCppH The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) July 15, 2018 TV presenter Dan Walker called Louis the gift that keeps on giving. Another Twitter user said: How does Prince Louis manage to express every expression on the emoji keyboard in one sitting? Kid is gold! At one point Louis started pulling faces at Kate, including sticking out his tongue and wiggling his fingers on his nose. After his great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II died in September, the Princess of Wales told mourners in Windsor that Prince Louis had reassured her in her time of grief. Kate told mourners her son told her not to worry about Queen Elizabeth as she is with great grandpa now. The family live in Adelaide Cottage in Windsors Home Park and Louis attends the private Lambrook School near Ascot in Berkshire alongside his brother and sister Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The Good Schools Guide describes it as a classic prep school with a heart of gold, and tells of how youngsters get to run and run in the vast grounds with total freedom to explore, provided youve got your wellies on. Prince Louis was not at the Queens state funeral at the Abbey in September and is thought to have been considered too young to attend the service with his parents. Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis stole the show at the coronation of their grandfather, King Charles III. On Saturday 6 May, King Charles and Queen Camilla were crowned during a coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London. The Prince and Princess of Wales arrived at Westminster Abbey with their eight-year-old daughter and five-year-old son, while their eldest son, Prince George, served as Page of Honour for the King. It appeared Princess Charlotte was on big sister duty throughout the ceremony. As the young royals followed their parents into the Abbey, many fans noted the sweet moment when the two siblings linked fingers before taking their front row seats. The brother and sister held hands again as they left the church once the coronation ceremony ended. Fans instantly took to social media to gush over the sweet sibling moment, as many people applauded Princess Charlotte for reining in her often rambunctious younger brother. Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte holding hands inside the abbey! tweeted one royal fan. Absolutely precious, one user replied. This is adorable, agreed someone else. Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte holding hands inside the abbey!#Coronation pic.twitter.com/j1XDyFKi25 Belle (@RoyallyBelle_) May 6, 2023 Absolutely precious. alice (@catherineofuk) May 6, 2023 One Twitter user pointed out: Best older sister EVER! Leading with a firm, gentle hand! LOVE IT TO BITS! OK, now THAT is proper cuteness overload...mind lost again, another person wrote. This is adorable https://t.co/bxPk2VDhal molls | twpk (@mollie_x09) May 6, 2023 Best older sister EVER! Leading with a firm, gentle hand! LOVE IT TO BITS! pdredbee (@pdredbee) May 6, 2023 OK - now THAT is proper cuteness overload...mind lost again... Carolyn Barnes (@sussexlass1) May 6, 2023 Princess Charlotte arrived at Westminster Abbey on Saturday wearing an ivory silk crepe dress and cape designed by Alexander McQueen, which was accessorised with a silver bullion, crystal and silver thread headpiece to match her mothers. Meanwhile, Prince Louis donned a Hainsworth Garter Blue Doeskin Tunic made by Savile Row tailors Dege and Skinner. The navy blue ensemble featured embellished lacework on the collar, cuffs, and fronts, along with black slacks complete with a Garter Blue stripe. Story continues Royal watchers also praised Princess Charlottes calm demeanour, while Louis was once again seen yawning and fidgeting during the early parts of the ceremony. However, he earned a smile out of his even as he struggled to sit still. As the service drew to a close, the royal children sang God Save The King as their grandfather walked past. Prince Louis was the centre of attention once again at his grandfathers coronation, less than one year after he became an internet sensation during the late Queen Elizabeth IIs platinum jubilee celebrations last June. Louis kept the crowd entertained at Trooping the Colour on the Buckingham Palace balcony, as he pulled faces and covered his ears during the RAF flypast. He was also seen kissing his mother on the cheek and bouncing on his grandfathers knee during the jubilee pageant. Follow for live updates from the coronation. LONDON The Princess of Wales wore Alexander McQueen for the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday morning. Kate Middleton was dressed in a long white gown with embroidered flowers symbolizing the four countries that make up Great Britain. She also wore the ceremonial dress uniform of the Welsh Guards. More from WWD Her ensemble nodded to Lee Alexander McQueens past designs, and in particular the fall 2008 show, The Girl Who Lived in the Tree. Like those models, the princess wore red, white and blue, and a headdress like a warrior queen. Alexander McQueens fall 2008 show, The Girl Who Lived in the Tree. Middleton, who often opts for tailored looks with strong shoulders and bold colors leaned into her new, and more powerful role, for the occasion. Instead of a tiara, she opted for a structured floral headpiece made from silver bullion, crystals and silver threads. The piece was made by the milliner Jess Collett in collaboration with Alexander McQueen. The princess decision to commission a headpiece signaled her seniority within the royal family, an effort to champion British design and showcase her own style by wearing something from outside the traditional royal jewelry box. Related Galleries LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 06: Queen Camilla receives a royal salute from members of the military in the gardens of Buckingham Place, London, following the coronation on May 6, 2023 in London, England. The Coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the other Commonwealth realms takes place at Westminster Abbey today. Charles acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. (Photo by Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Fashion Scoops King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony following the coronation on May 6. People On the day, she also paid homage to her mother-in-law, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, by wearing her South Sea Pearl earrings. Diana first wore the earrings in November 1990 to the coronation banquet of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan. The Princess of Wales daughter, Princess Charlotte, also wore McQueen. The dress was white and had a little cape with embroidered lapels featuring a rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs, symbolizing the countries that make up Great Britain. She wore white mary jane shoes and a smaller version of the Princess of Wales crown. Story continues Princess Charlotte and the Princess of Wales in Alexander McQueen. Sartorially, the Prince and Princess of Wales have been stepping up a level, according to Bethan Holt, author of The Queen: 70 Years of Majestic Style and The Duchess of Cambridge: A Decade of Modern Royal Style. If you look back at their trajectory as a couple, for a very long time they were seen as very relatable, very down-to-earth and quite casual. I think what weve seen a little bit more of in recent months is them looking much more serious, like they mean business, Holt said. Since the queens passing in September, the duties and responsibilities of the Princess of Wales have increased along with the ones of Prince William, the heir to the throne. The millennial Prince and Princess of Wales have made clear from the start that they want to be modern royals, in touch with their subjects and with the issues of the day. They want to be seen as compassionate changemakers, advocates for British charities and people, and strong parents to their three children. Launch Gallery: Inside King Charles III Coronation Best of WWD Click here to read the full article. ANASTASIA MAKARYCHEVA A Russian writer in favor of the war against Ukraine was seriously injured in a car explosion Saturday. The blast, which killed the driver, left Zakhar Prilepin with a broken leg and a concussion. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the explosion a terrorist bombing, according to The New York Times, reporting that a device had been planted under Prilepins vehicle. The incident took place in the Nizhny Novgorod in Russia, about 250 miles from Moscow, the Associated Press reported. A Ukrainian suspect, who had previously been convicted of robbery, has been detained. The search for possible accomplices continues, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement, according to the BBC. Nizhny Novgorod Gov. Gleb Nikitin said an investigation has been launched into the cause of the explosion. Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin poses for a picture in his flat in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, in 2008. STRINGER Prilepin, a firm supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2014 after the annexation of Crimea, has bragged about his military involvement to reunite Ukraine with the Kremlin, according to Al Jazeera. He is the third proponent of Russias Ukrainian invasion to have been targeted in an explosive attack since the war started in 2022. Darya Duginathe daughter of one of Putins right-hand menwas killed just outside of Moscow in August, and military blogger Vladimir Tatarsky was killed in a St. Petersburg cafe in April. Zakharova blamed Ukraine, according to The Associated Press, and claimed that Washington and NATO have nursed yet another international terrorist cell. [Its the] the direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain, she said. Were praying for Zakhar. 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. Flash Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers' meeting in Goa, India, May 5, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua] Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Friday called on member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to uphold strategic independence and deepen security cooperation. When delivering a speech at the SCO foreign ministers' meeting, Qin pointed out that the world is faced with multiple crises and challenges featuring a resurgence of the Cold War mentality, headwinds of unilateral protectionism, as well as rising hegemonism and power politics. The more chaotic and intertwined the international situation is, the more firmly the SCO, as a key constructive force in global and regional affairs, should display the Shanghai Spirit, said the Chinese foreign minister. He put forward a five-point proposal to build a closer SCO community with a shared future. First, upholding strategic independence, and enhancing solidarity and mutual trust. The SCO members should support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests, and oppose external forces interfering in regional issues or inciting color revolutions, he said. Second, deepening security cooperation and maintaining regional peace. The SCO members should continue to jointly crack down on the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, drug trafficking and transnational organized crimes, support Afghanistan in establishing a broadly-based and inclusive political structure and combat any form of terrorism, Qin said. Third, advocating openness and inclusiveness, and promoting interconnected development. The SCO members should resolutely oppose any act violating international economic order and market rules, so as to ensure smooth and stable industrial and supply chains, he said. Fourth, upholding fairness and justice, and improving global governance. China is ready to coordinate and cooperate with other SCO members and jointly support the SCO's participation in implementing the major initiatives including that of building a community with a shared future for mankind, as well as the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, in order to establish a more just and rational international order, Qin said. Fifth, developing a vision for long-term development and building mechanisms. The SCO should complete the process for the memberships of Iran and Belarus in an orderly manner, and enhance the organization's cohesion and capacity for action, he added. Qin said China is willing to expand cooperation with other SCO member states, jointly move forward on the path of national development and revitalization, and work together toward building a community with a shared future for mankind. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang (R4) attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers' meeting in Goa, India, May 5, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua] Participants at the meeting spoke highly of the contributions to regional security and development made by the SCO as a major regional cooperation platform. The SCO members said they support Afghanistan in achieving national stability and reconstruction, back the SCO to strengthen cooperation with the United Nations and BRICS countries, defend the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and uphold multilateralism. They agreed to further strengthen security cooperation and jointly combat terrorism, separatism, drug production and trafficking, and cyber crimes. They also pledged to enhance cooperation in such areas as transport, energy, finance, investment, free trade, digital economy and environmental protection so as to achieve common development. In addition, they agreed to accelerate the building of the SCO secretariat and the regional anti-terrorism institutions, and advance the SCO membership expansion process in an orderly manner in order to promote the international influence of the SCO. The ministerial meeting made full preparations for the SCO summit to be held in New Delhi this summer. A Russian writer supportive of the Kremlin was caught in a vehicular explosion Saturday. Zakhar Prilepin, a prominent novelist and supporter of the Russian government, was injured in the blast. The driver of the vehicle was killed. DAUGHTER OF TOP PUTIN ALLY ALEXANDER DUGIN, WHO PUSHED FOR UKRAINE INVASION, KILLED BY CAR BOMB OUTSIDE MOSCOW The violent incident took place in Nizhny Novgorod, 250 miles east of Moscow. Russian writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. Russian state news agency Tass says the car of Prilepin exploded in Russia on Saturday, May 6, 2023, injuring him and killing his driver. Prilepin is the third major supporter of the Kremlin to have been caught in an explosion since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. PRO-RUSSIAN MILITARY BLOGGER KILLED IN ST. PETERSBURG CAFE EXPLOSION: REPORTS READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Daria Dugina, the daughter of Alexander Dugin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and strategist behind Russias ongoing war effort in Ukraine, was killed when a bomb meant for him detonated in their vehicle, Russian news agency TASS reported. This image taken from video released by the Russian Investigative Committee on Saturday, May 6, 2023, shows the site of the exploded car of Russian writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. Russian state news agency Tass says the car of Prilepin exploded in Russia on Saturday, May 6, 2023, injuring him and killing his driver. Dugina, 29, was leaving a music and culture festival outside Moscow in their SUV when the bomb went off. RUSSIA BLAMES US FOR ALLEGED PUTIN DRONE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, WHITE HOUSE CALLS CLAIM 'LUDICROUS' Prominent pro-Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in an explosion in St. Petersburg last month, according to Russian media. FILE Russian writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. Prilepin's car exploded in Russia on Saturday, May 6, 2023, Russia's state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency and law enforcement officials. Tatarsky was participating in an event at a cafe in Russia's second-largest city when he was killed. Russian media says a woman had gifted him a figurine at the event that exploded a few minutes later, killing him and injuring 15 others. Tatarsky was a major proponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Fox News' Lawrence Richard and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report. The Washington Post has reported that the Russian Ministry of Defence has planned to discredit Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner PMC, citing leaked US classified documents. Source: WP Details: After Prigozhin's harsh attacks on the ministry's leadership, the ministry began planning an information war against him. The Russian Ministry of Defence did not want to fight Prigozhin on its own, but planned to "find allies with equal status to fight him". According to media reports, Prigozhin begged Putin to continue recruiting mercenaries in prisons [after the Ministry of Defence had banned him from doing so ed.], to train newly conscripted people and to facilitate the recruitment of foreign fighters, especially Afghans. The leaked documents say that Putin told Prigozhin to deal with these issues with the defence ministry on his own, practically siding with his generals. The Washington Post has concluded that Prigozhin was allowed to berate officials because it was in line with Putin's strategy of dividing political territory and the battlefield in Ukraine into separate, competing groups so that no group becomes too powerful. The classified documents do not answer the question of whether or not the Wagner PMC received ammunition, which Prigozhin has been complaining about in recent months. The document has stated that the information was obtained by intercepting or tapping communications. Background: On 5 May, Prigozhin wrote to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defence and said that he would withdraw the Wagner mercenaries from Bakhmut on 10 May. Prigozhin claims that the reason for this step is that the Russian Ministry of Defence does not provide his fighters with enough ammunition, and he does not want his men to be "doomed to senseless death" because of this. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are sceptical about the statement by Prigozhin that the militants will start leaving Bakhmut on 10 May. Later, Kadyrov offered his assistance in the occupation of Bakhmut. Prigozhin said that he would hand over the positions of his militants in Bakhmut to the soldiers of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! On Saturday, 6 May, pro-Russian activist Yelena Kolbasnikova organised a rally in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, calling for an end to military support for Ukraine. Source: Bild, a German tabloid Details: Over 200 people took part in the demonstration in Leverkusen whose rallying call was "No more war. Peace with Russia". The protesters gathered at the Stelzenbrucke Square before a convoy of 80 vehicles, accompanied by 20 police vehicles, set out for a car rally. PHOTO: WOK Leverkusen police spokesman Christoph Gilles told Bild that two protesters, including a child, were asked to cover the Z and V symbols on their clothes. Police accompanied the rally and "closely monitored" what was being said. "To this end, an interpreter was involved to make sure the speeches had no criminal content. This process is still ongoing," Gilles said. Kolbasnikova told Bild that she organised the protest because she did not want "more weapons to be supplied to Ukraine, because as a result of this more and more people die each week." "We demand a diplomatic solution," she said. Yelena Kolbasnikova is one of the pro-Russian leaders in Germany, and has worked together with local far-right politicians. On 8 May 2022, Kolbasnikova was joined by a former member of the anti-immigrant party ProNRW, Markus Beisicht, to address a car rally to mark the anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany. More than 1,000 activists gathered in cars flying Russian and Soviet flags near a lake to drive to the Soviet monument in Cologne. A Reuters special report found that Kolbasnikova and her partner Max Schlund were part of a pro-Kremlin agent network seeking to influence German politics. Among other things, they were involved in raising money for the Russian army. Two investigations against Kolbasnikova are currently underway; one of them concerns her condoning the war of aggression. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Dog save the queen! Queen Camilla wore a fetching gown to Saturdays coronation ceremony that included a subtle detail honoring two important members of her family. Camilla sits on the throne during the coronation ceremony inside Westminster Abbey in central London, on May 6, 2023. Camilla sits on the throne during the coronation ceremony inside Westminster Abbey in central London, on May 6, 2023. The white dress featured delicate gold embroidered designs, including images of two dogs that bore a striking resemblance to Camillas pets, canines Bluebell and Beth. Beth and Bluebell got front-and-center placement with just above the hem of Camilla's gold-emboidered gown. Beth and Bluebell got front-and-center placement with just above the hem of Camilla's gold-emboidered gown. Camilla adopted Beth in 2011 and Bluebell in 2012, both from U.K. animal rescue Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, according to People. The just-crowned queen is a patron of the organization, which opened a new wing in her honor in 2020. Camilla greets Bluebell (right) and Beth (left) on Jan. 25, 2023, in Lacock, England. Camilla greets Bluebell (right) and Beth (left) on Jan. 25, 2023, in Lacock, England. Beth came from a family who could no longer care for her, and poor Bluebell had been found abandoned in the woods, three weeks old, starving, covered in sores, with a docked tail and just a few patches of fur, Camilla wrote in the introduction to the author Georgina Montagus book Top Dogs: A British Love Affair, per Town and Country. A closeup of Bluebell, now living the royal lifestyle after a rough beginning. A closeup of Bluebell, now living the royal lifestyle after a rough beginning. She also described the pair of pups as colourful characters and said she cannot imagine my life, my home or my sofas without them. Also seen on Camillas gown were embroidered wildflowers, intended to represent her and King Charles IIIs love of nature. It also featured a daffodil, rose, shamrock and thistle; the botanical symbols Wales, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, respectively. Related... Queen Camilla is crowned at King Charles' coronation ceremony on May 6, 2023, left, and Camilla and the late Queen Elizabeth II are pictured at Buckingham Palace in June 2019. Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images, Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Queen Camilla was crowned alongside King Charles at his coronation on Saturday. Camilla was crowned with Queen Mary's Crown, which was created in 1911. She added some of the late Queen Elizabeth II's jewelry to the crown, according to the palace. Queen Camilla was proclaimed queen with a crown that paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II at King Charles' coronation on Saturday. The traditional ceremony took place at Westminster Abbey in London and was attended by more than 2,200 people, according to a Buckingham Palace press release. Charles was crowned with the St. Edward's Crown, the same one that was used at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, according to Historic Royal Palaces, while Camilla was crowned with the Queen Mary's Crown. Queen Camilla is crowned with the Queen Mary Crown on May 6, 2023. YUI MOK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images The Queen Mary's Crown was created in 1911 for Queen Mary, the consort of King George V, according to a press release on the royal family website. Camilla is the first consort in recent history to reuse a crown from a previous coronation instead of having a new crown designed, which she chose to do in the efforts of sustainability, the press release stated. The new queen had the crown adjusted with some personal touches to reflect her personal style as well as to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth. The crown was reset with Cullinan III, IV, and V diamonds which belonged to Queen Elizabeth and were often worn by her as brooches, the press release added. Additionally, Camilla wore a long-sleeved Bruce Oldfield coatdress embroidered with flowers including daisy chains, forget-me-nots, celandine, and scarlet pimpernel, which are meant to represent the king and queen's love of nature, Harper's Bazaar reports. She also wore two robes at the coronation: one that Queen Elizabeth wore during her 1953 coronation, and a second custom robe that was designed by Ede and Ravenscroft with Queen Camilla's cypher, according to the royal family's website. The custom robe was embroidered with bees and a beetle feature to reflect Her Majesty's love of nature and the environment, as well as a number of flowers including the Lily of the Valley, which was featured in Camilla's wedding bouquet and was also one of Queen Elizabeth's favorite flowers, the website added. Story continues Queen Elizabeth died at her Balmoral Castle estate on September 8, 2022. She was 96. Charles acceded to the throne immediately upon her death. Before her death, the former monarch expressed her wish for Camilla to be titled Queen Consort after Charles became king. "When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when the time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service," the Queen wrote in a statement for her Platinum Jubilee in February 2022. However, Buckingham Palace previously confirmed that "consort" would be dropped from Camilla's title after the coronation. The initiations for the coronations referred to the royal as "Queen Camilla," and she will use the title in an official capacity after the coronation. Read the original article on Insider LONDON (AP) Now that she has been crowned alongside her husband, King Charles III's wife is officially known as Queen Camilla. While it sounds more official than queen consort," the changing of titles does not signify any practical difference in the role of the 75-year-old royal. Queen consorts do not formally share the sovereigns powers, and dropping the consort part of the title does not change that. Nonetheless, the change marks a milestone in Camillas decadeslong road to rehabilitating her image from someone once reviled as the other woman in Charles' first marriage to Princess Diana, to a senior royal member largely accepted by the British public. The question of what title Camilla would hold when Charles became king has long been a subject of contention, due to sensitivity about her status as Charles' second wife. Camilla and her first husband, Andrew Parker-Bowles, divorced in 1995, shortly after Charles gave an explosive television interview admitting his relationship with Camilla. Charles and Diana divorced the following year. In 1997, there was a global outpouring of grief when Diana died in a car crash. Camilla and Charles waited until 2005 to marry in a low-key private civil ceremony. For many years it wasn't clear if Camilla would eventually be styled as queen. Queen Elizabeth II settled the matter last year, when she gave the blessing for Camilla to be known as queen consort. The endorsement was widely seen as a formal sign that the royal family had finally accepted Camilla as a respected senior member. Last month, Buckingham Palaces official coronation invitations referred to Camilla as Queen Camilla for the first time. At the time, British media reported that palace officials believed it was an appropriate time to introduce the title, because several months had lapsed since Elizabeth's death in September. The most recent queen consort in British history was George VIs wife, Queen Elizabeth, who was known as The Queen and later the Queen Mother. ___ Follow APs coverage of King Charles III at https://apnews.com/hub/king-charles-iii Nipomo skaters have a new spot to ollie, grind and wipe out with the opening of a brand-new skate park. The Nipomo Skate Park, a $3.5 million complex at Nipomo Community Park, opened to the public with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday morning, according to a news release from the San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation Department. The park replaces an informal skating area that attracted local skaters but offered little in the way of quality surfaces, County Parks director Nick Franco told The Tribune. There was private property in Nipomo that a bunch of skaters had just kind of put up their own ramps and kind of made their own, Franco said. But technically, thats trespassing, and technically, thats vandalism, so clearly that was not a long-term solution. What used to be a collection of impromptu ramps and rails assembled by local skaters now features grind rails, two bowls, rails, stairs and a quarter pipe for local skaters to practice their tricks on, Franco said. The Nipomo Skate Park located at Tefft Street and Orchard Road is open to the public. Laura Dickinson/The Tribune The park also features an art installation painted by Dana Elementary School students that skaters can use to display broken boards. When youve broken your skateboard, it means youre pushing your limits, youre trying to do things that you havent done before, Franco said. Its a mark of saying, Hey, Im pushing it Im not just taking the safe routes. Nipomo resident Wyatt Russell, 21, said he and other skaters have been waiting to get a new park since he was in eighth grade. Russell said he, other skaters and the county worked with former professional skater and skate park designer Kanten Russell to design the new park. He actually took our designs and created a professional blueprint, Russell told The Tribune. Another skater, 28-year-old Santa Maria resident Jason Bautista, said hes stoked to see the park get built. Its just like water for our community its needed for growth, Bautista said. Story continues The 10,000-square-foot park and accompanying 5,000-square-foot plaza date back to efforts that launched in 2018, Franco said, when former District 4 Supervisor Lynn Compton got the project rolling. Wyatt Russell lands a kick-flip in the parking lot of the new Nipomo Skate Park located on Tefft Street and Orchard Road on Friday, May 5, 2023. Laura Dickinson/The Tribune Funding came from a combination of public facility fees and two grants from California State Parks via the Proposition 68 Parks Bond Act $456,230 from the Per Capita Grant Program and $1,131,484 from the Regional Park Program, a Parks and Recreation Department news release said. Saturdays grand opening featured a band that previously performed at the old informal skating area, playing for the assembled skaters and officials, including Supervisor Jimmy Paulding and Franco. I am thrilled for the kids and families of Nipomo to begin enjoying this long-overdue community resource, Paulding said in the release. This skate park is an excellent example of our community coming together to make Nipomo an even better place to live. I want to thank all of the community advocates for their commitment and perseverance, as well as our hardworking staff and my predecessor Lynn Compton for making this project happen. The Facebook message arrived Sunday night. Jesse McFadden wrote that he was doing well at a marketing job and had made a great life, just like I promised I would do with you. Now its all gone, he said in his message, which he sent with a photo of himself staring directly at the camera. I told you I wouldnt go back. This is all on you for continuing this. Hours later, authorities found the bodies of McFadden, his wife, her three teenage children and two other teens who were at the McFadden home for a sleepover. On Wednesday, the police chief leading the investigation into the killings in rural Oklahoma said that McFadden a convicted rapist who spent nearly 17 years in prison before his 2020 release had likely shot all six in the head before killing himself. The message sent from an account with the name The message, first reported by an Oklahoma Fox affiliate, was sent to a woman who said she was set to testify against McFadden in a child sex abuse trial scheduled to begin the same day the bodies were found. The woman, Kaitlyn Babb, 23, provided the message to NBC News. It was sent from an account with the name "Holly Days," and the police chief leading the investigation just outside Henryetta, Okla., Joe Prentice, said he had reviewed the message and wasn't sure if it was sent before or after the killings. In an email, Prentice said that he wasn't willing to read too much into it. It seemed to me he was blaming her for his situation for continuing the criminal case against him, he said. In an interview, Babb provided a harrowing account of how McFadden allegedly lured her into a predatory relationship as a teenager, convincing her from prison that they had a future together and threatening her when the relationship was revealed and charges were filed. She said that she read the message as McFadden blaming her for the killings because she refused to back down from the child pornography and soliciting sexual conduct/communication with a minor charges. Story continues I thought I was protecting people, she said. I thought this was going to keep him from hurting more people. She added: He took away my innocence, my childhood. I didnt want him to do that to anyone ever again. Instead, Babb said, the worst possible scenario played out: Shell never see justice and three families are grieving the lives of Ivy Webster, 14; Brittany Brewer, 15; Michael Mayo, 15; Tiffany Guess, 13; Rylee Allen, 17; and Holly McFadden, 35. From top left Michael James Mayo, Holly Guess, Tiffany Dore Guess; Bottom, from left, Ivy Webster and Brittany Brewer. (Courtesy Justin Webster, Nathan Brewer; via Facebook) Babb said the failure of prosecutors to ever try the case filed in 2017 and hampered by what she described as years of delays signaled a miscarriage in the states justice system. They could have prevented these deaths, Babb said. This never should have happened. I dont know how many times I told them, 'Hes a dangerous man; youre putting little girls in danger.' I dont know how many times I screamed at the top of my lungs for someone to care. Now look at what happened. Muskogee County District Attorney Larry Edwards did not respond to requests for comment. A story that cites Edwards from KOTV, a CBS affiliate in Tulsa, reported Tuesday that a trial had been set multiple times over the years and delayed because of several factors, including an earlier prosecutor leaving the job and another one breaking her foot the day before the trial. An accidental meeting Kaitlyn Babb. (Courtesy Kaitlyn Babb) Babb, a manager for a health insurance company in Texas, said she met McFadden by accident in 2015 after moving to Oklahoma from Texas to live with her grandparents. She had a new phone number and one night, got a message from McFadden. He was trying to reach the person the number previously belonged to, she said. Babb responded. A transplant with no friends in her new town, in McFadden she found a person who seemed friendly and genuinely interested in her, she said. He didnt disclose that he was in prison until later and described his rape conviction as a misunderstanding, Babb said. McFadden asked for proof of her age, Babb said, so she provided him with an image of her learners permit. The back and forth quickly turned sexual, she said, and his requests became increasingly invasive. It was no longer, 'can you take your shirt off and take a picture?' she said. It was, how far can we get without seeing each other in person? I knew I was doing something I shouldnt have been doing, she added. He made me feel like he cared. Even though I was only 16 years old, I felt like he loved me. I was brainwashed, Babb said. New sex abuse charges The texts, letters, and phone and video calls continued for at least a year and a half, she said, even after her grandparents discovered a letter in her bedroom and reported it to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Babbs grandmother, Patsy Pappan, said McFadden had addressed it to a P.O. box that Babb said hed asked her to open. McFadden signed the note as Babbs husband, Pappan recalled. I was absolutely reeling, said Pappan, 64. Inmate profile documents from the department show that on July 8, 2016, a prison officer confiscated a smartphone from McFadden. A forensic audit showed sexually themed conversations, videos and pictures with a person whose name was redacted but whose date of birth which is included in the document matches Babbs. Charges against McFadden were filed Sept. 29, 2017, court records show. A lawyer for McFadden, Rex Starr, has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Court documents show McFadden planned to argue that it wasn't McFadden who was in contact with Babb, but another inmate using the same phone. 'He was sick' After the phone was confiscated, McFadden continued to call Babb, she said. And shed become so compliant to McFaddens demands that at one point, she drove roughly two hours from her grandparents home in Norman to the county courthouse in Muskogee to ask them to drop the case. The charges prompted a shift in McFaddens demeanor, Babb said, and he began threatening her. "It all turned for her at that point," Pappan said. Babb said she dropped out of high school, left her grandparents' home for Texas and slowly stopped responding to McFaddens calls. Eventually, Babb said, she blocked his number and told the district attorney she would testify against him. "I realized he didnt love me he was sick," she said. "It was all made up. Ready to testify On Sunday night, Babb was preparing to travel to Oklahoma the next day for her long-awaited day in court. She hadnt spoken to McFadden in years when she noticed a Facebook message request around 8 p.m. Initially, Babb was confused about what McFadden's message meant: Perhaps hed lost his job and was blaming her for it, she recalled thinking. The message also suggested that he must really not care anymore, she said, because contacting her was a violation of the terms of his bail. Babb said she didnt respond. She took a screenshot and sent it to Edwards, the Muskogee County district attorney. The next morning, Babb got a call from the prosecutor alerting her to another delay in the case: McFaddens lawyer had asked for a continuance over an issue related to McFaddens phone, Babb said. A half-hour later, Babb said, the prosecutor called and told her of a missing persons notice about McFadden, Brittany Brewer and Ivy Webster. Babb said she immediately packed a bag and rented an AirBnB 45 minutes away. I was terrified he was coming for me, she said. In the days since the bodies were discovered, Babb said shes experienced an onslaught of emotions guilt and anger, frustration and grief. To Pappan, she's seen something else through the shame and humiliation that she said her granddaughter has been grappling with for years. "Shes wanting to be heard," Pappan said. "Shes resilient. She would not back down from this. Im so proud of her, she added. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com just stop oil - Yara Nardi - WPA Pool/Getty Images Republican protesters with placards bearing Not My King slogans have been arrested ahead of the Kings Coronation. Campaign group Republic said that Graham Smith, its chief executive, and five of his team have been arrested and hundreds of placards seized by the Metropolitan Police. Videos were posted on social media of protesters in yellow being handcuffed and led into a waiting police van by officers. In one video, an officer says: Im not going to get into a conversation about that - they are under arrest, end of. not my king Less than an hour later, Republic re-tweeted a video of the protest at Trafalgar Square continuing, with people chanting Not My King and the message: We will not be silenced. Republic asked on social media: Is this democracy? Organisers of the #NotMyKing protest have been arrested - police won't say what for, the group said. So much for the right to peaceful protest. Organisers of the #NotMyKing protest have been arrested - police won't say what for https://t.co/D3Io5Nha4x Republic (@RepublicStaff) May 6, 2023 On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police announced they would have an extremely low threshold for protests during the coronation celebrations, and that demonstrators could expect swift action. After the apparent arrests, Republic activist Luke Whiting, 26, told Sky News: We know that six of my colleagues and staff members, some of them volunteers, including the CEO of Republic, Graham Smith, have been arrested by the police. Anti-monarchy protesters from Republic - George Cracknell Wright This is not arresting violent protesters. This is silencing a protest before it even began. pic.twitter.com/aOPwjZCZxB Abbey Heffer (@AbbeyHeffer) May 6, 2023 I know that what they were doing was they were bringing placards to our demonstration. We've been very open with the police about what were planning to do, its to hold a demonstration here in Trafalgar Square, so they were bringing placards and unloading them from a van and it seems they've been arrested using these new powers. Story continues Its quite a worrying thing to happen - were pretty shocked actually, and quite surprised - like I said weve been quite open with the police about what were trying to do, theyve said its perfectly legal for us to bring placards, bring flags down and protest the Coronation. In a democratic society, its absolutely our right to do this and to be peaceful, absolutely, and thats what were here to do. Weve not planned any disruption at all. anti monarchy - Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images One woman in a Republic T-shirt who was arrested also told PA: We had a delivery of placards ready for the protest and then the tactical support unit questioned us as to how we had got through the road closures. They questioned whether what we were doing was a delivery. They then said they found evidence of means of locking on, of items that could be used to lock on, and they arrested us. Officers carried her away from where she had been standing outside a Tesco store. Two men who appeared to have been part of the same demonstration were carried away by officers into a marked police van. trafalgar square - REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/Pool Just Stop Oil protesters also appear to have been arrested at the Mall. A large group from the campaign group were seen in handcuffs and police have cordoned the group off. The policing operation is set to see 11,500 police officers on duty on Saturday. just stop oil - Justin Tallis/Pool Photo via AP The Met issued a statement that said: A significant police operation is underway in central London. We have made a number of arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace. The individuals have been held on suspicion of breaching the peace. Earlier today we arrested four people in the area of St Martins Lane. They were held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. We seized lock-on devices. A further three people were arrested in the area of Wellington Arch. They were held on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. There will be further updates later today. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer. The Kentucky gubernatorial primary on May 16 is the first significant Republican primary in any state since the midterms and the first test of Donald Trump's sway in the party since face-planting in November. It will also shape the trajectory of the most important general election of 2023. Voters in ruby-red Kentucky will face the choice of retaining their popular Democratic governor or throwing him out for the candidate aligned with the increasingly dominant party in their state. Its been a long time since Kentucky was a competitive state in national politics: Bill Clinton carried it twice in the 1990s, but Republicans have won it by double-digits in every election since 2000, including then-President Donald Trumps 26-point win in 2020. But Gov. Andy Beshears narrow victory in 2019 and enduring popularity since taking office means ticket-splitting may still be alive and well. This months primary will only determine Beshears November opponent, not the fate of his governorship. But the primary marks key demographic and strategic drivers of politics in the state, foreshadowing the dynamics of the looming general election. Here are five key numbers to know: 21 percent Just like Saturdays Kentucky Derby, the race started off with a clear favorite: State Attorney General Daniel Cameron broke strongest from the gate among the dozen candidates for the GOP nomination and has Trump's endorsement. But Kelly Craft, who served separate stints as Trumps former ambassador to Canada and the U.N., has been mounting a late charge. Back in January, a Mason-Dixon Polling and Research survey found Cameron well ahead of Craft, 39 percent to 13 percent. There hasnt been much public polling since, but an Emerson College/WDKY-TV poll last month had a much closer race, with 21 percent of voters still undecided. Camerons allies dispute that the race has closed, circulating their own internal poll showing him still comfortably leading but with 19 percent undecided. Story continues Like horse races, primaries break late, since the voters and the candidates are mostly ideologically aligned. Cameron and Craft, the top two GOP hopefuls, will be angling for those voters still waiting to make up their minds. $7.2 million If Craft cant catch Cameron on the May. 16, it wont be for a lack of financial resources. Craft, the wife of billionaire coal magnate Joe Craft, has already spent or booked $5.8 million in TV advertising, according to data from AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm. Shes also been boosted by $1.4 million in ads from Commonwealth PAC, an outside group funded largely (though not entirely) by Joe Craft, though those ads arent on the air anymore. That means she's spent at least $7.2 million on the primary alone. Cameron, by contrast, has spent or booked only $564,000. He does have an outside group, Bluegrass Freedom Action, which has added $2.1 million to help him close the gap. The group is running ads touting Trump's endorsement. The spending advantage has been a double-edged sword for Craft. Shes come under attack from Cameron for relying on her familys money in the primary, but she can also offer Republicans the prospect of a blank check to fund an expensive and grueling general election against Beshear. 46 percent Kentucky Republicans finally did it last year: They eclipsed Democrats in voter registration for the first time in history, a key milestone in the states rapid red shift. Four years ago, Democrats still retained a significant registration advantage, 49 percent to 42 percent. Thats already reversed: Republicans outnumber Democrats in registration heading into this primary, according to the state Board of Elections, 46 percent to 44 percent. The erasure of Democrats ancestral registration advantage has been rapid. Twenty-four years ago, when Republicans chose Peppy Martin for an ill-fated run against Democratic Gov. Paul Patton, Republicans accounted for only 32 percent of registered voters, outnumbered almost 2-to-1 by Democrats (61 percent). When Beshears father, former Gov. Steve Beshear was first elected in 2007, Democrats had a 20-point registration advantage, 57 percent to 37 percent. This year, more voters can participate in the Republican primary for the first time. 63 percent Despite the states rightward shift, Beshear remains popular. How popular? According to Morning Consults quarterly tracking, Beshear has the highest approval rating of any Democratic governor at 63 percent. He outpaces governors in solidly blue states like Massachusetts, Maryland, Hawaii, California and New York. Beshears sky-high approval rating isnt an artifact of Morning Consults methodology or long field period, either: The January Mason-Dixon poll gave him a similarly high, 61 percent positive job rating. Republicans have started the process of trying to knock down Beshears popularity. An outside group affiliated with the Republican Governors Association began running culture war-tinged TV ads late last month hitting the Democrat for allow[ing] sex changes for children as young as 8- or 9-years-old. 72 points So exactly how does Beshear cobble together a winning coalition in a state thats become so Republican? It involves a lot of crossover Trump voters. According to a POLITICO analysis of election results, Trump in 2020 outran then-Gov. Matt Bevins 2019 performance in each of Kentuckys 120 counties. In one rural county, Beshear won it by 20, and the next year Biden lost it by 51. The result is an unheard-of 72-point gap between those two races. In the bluer population centers, the differences were significant, but relatively modest: Beshear won Fayette County, home to Lexington, by 33 points in 2019, while President Joe Biden carried it by 21 points a year later. In Louisville, Beshear won by 35 points, but Biden won by 20. The gap between the two races was greatest outside the cities especially in Eastern Kentucky, where Democrats once dominated but now barely register in presidential races. Take tiny Elliott County, where Trump beat Biden by a three-to-one margin, 75 percent to 24 percent, in 2020. Beshear actually won it over Bevin and it wasnt particularly close: 59 percent to 39 percent. The same phenomenon is evident in other surrounding, conservative counties. In Boyd County, home to Ashland the largest city in Eastern Kentuckys coal region Beshear won by 6 points in 2019, but Trump carried it by a whopping 33 points a year later. Whoever wins this months GOP primary will undoubtedly try to nationalize the race to depress Beshears appeal in these solidly red areas though its worth noting that Bevin pursued the same strategy in 2019 and ended up losing. Flash Britain's ruling Conservative party has lost over 1,000 seats in local elections across England, latest election results showed on Friday. Senior Conservatives had predicted ahead of the elections that major losses were to be expected after 13 years in power. By Friday evening, 222 out of 230 councils had already declared their results, with the Conservatives losing control of 45 city halls and the party's 1,040 councilors lost their jobs in the process. However, the count will not be completed until Tuesday, when the last council, Redcar and Cleveland, announces its results. Labour was the biggest winner on the day, gaining over 518 seats, while the minority Liberal Democrat party won 410 seats and the Green Party got 241 seats. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that his party's losses were disappointing, but he did not believe there had been a massive movement towards the Labour Party. Labour leader Keir Starmer said his party was on course to win a majority at the next general election. Professor John Curtice, a polling expert, said that based on the current results Labour should be the leader in next year's parliamentary election. However, it is uncertain whether they will win an outright majority, he said. Under Britain's electoral rules, a general election must be called before the end of 2024. Professor John Bryson, a political expert from the University of Birmingham, told Xinhua that local elections should not necessarily be seen as indicative of voter behavior in a future general election. No political party in the country currently has a viable strategy to underpin sustainable growth and address the structural fiscal deficit that Britain has been experiencing for "far too long", Bryson said. The Richland County Sheriffs Department is investigating a Friday night shooting that killed one in Columbia, South Carolina. Around 9 p.m., deputies responded to reports of shots fired on the 1700 block of Leesburg Road in the Capitol View neighborhood. They arrived on scene to find a man shot in the lower body, according to a statement released by the Richland County Sheriffs Department. The man was transported to a hospital where he died, according to deputies. Few details have been released about the shooting, but investigators believe this is an isolated incident, according to the sheriff departments release. The name of the deceased has not been released. The Richland County Coroners Office did not respond to a request for more information on Saturday morning. This is a breaking news story. Check back here for more updates. A Rock Hill man has been charged with a fatal shooting Friday in South Carolina, York County sheriff deputies said. Deputies charged Stephen Josiah Brooks, 34, of Rock Hill, with murder, Sheriff Kevin Tolson told The Herald Saturday morning. The shooting happened late in the afternoon Friday on Faires Road off McConnells Highway, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the sheriffs office. The area is southeast of Rock Hill. UPDATE: One person is deceased. A person of interest is in custody. Please note Faires Rd. is closed from McConnells Hwy. to Mockingbird Ln. for the duration of this investigation. We will release more details when we can. #YCSONews pic.twitter.com/OrSSD7XbIs York County Sheriff (@YCSO_SC) May 5, 2023 The victims name has not yet been released by the York County Coroner. Brooks was taken into custody at the York County jail on the murder charge where he is being held without bail, online jail records show. No other information about the shooting has been released as the investigation continues. Check back for updates on this developing story. A Rock Hill man has been charged after police officers seized almost 1,500 pills believed to contain fentanyl, other drugs and a gun, according to police and jail records. Caderrick Deontray Harris, 26, was arrested this week outside apartments on Paces River Drive, according to Rock Hill Police Department Lt. Michael Chavis and a department incident report. The report said officers seized 1,495 pills containing fentanyl. The fentanyl pills weighed almost 150 grams, the report stated. Police also seized methamphetamine, marijuana, more than $2,200 in cash, and a 9 mm handgun, according to the report. Harris was charged with four drug charges, including three counts of possession of drugs with intent to distribute. He was also charged with possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a violent crime, and unlawful carrying of a handgun, according to police and jail records. Harris remains in the York County Detention Center after his bail was set at $635,000 in his first court appearance, York County Sheriffs Office jail records show. Fentanyl concerns Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). South Carolina does not have a fentanyl trafficking law. Lawmakers announced earlier this year that a trafficking bill was under consideration, but it has not been enacted into law. At a news conference in October after more than 60 pounds of fentanyl was seized in York Countys largest ever capture of the drug, state and federal lawmakers, police and prosecutors stated there was a need for a state fentanyl trafficking law. The DEA says fentanyI is inexpensive, widely available, highly addictive and potentially lethal. Fentanyl has created a new level of danger in the Charlotte region and is the most common illegal drug locally, police told the Charlotte Observer in 2022. Governor Ron DeSantis is hoping his vision for Florida can find a national audience For many Republicans keen to see somebody other than Donald Trump challenge Joe Biden for the US presidency in 2024, one name has stood out: Ron DeSantis. On Friday, after his state's legislative session drew to a close, the Florida governor said he would decide "relatively soon" if he was going to launch a 2024 presidential bid. Since taking office in 2019, the 44-year-old Harvard Law graduate and former US naval officer has helped transform his state into a laboratory for conservative policy-making. This year, he has signed a series of bills, delivered to his desk by a heavily-Republican state legislature, into law. From waging war on "wokeism" to tightening restrictions on abortion, they make up what he calls a "blueprint for America's revival". The response to laws he has enacted in recent months provide some clues as to how his campaign-in-waiting may fare. The 'red meat' Mr DeSantis will look to muscle his way into the Republican primary by pointing to what he has achieved in Florida. In the past two months, the governor has signed measures allowing people to carry concealed firearms without a permit; reforming state election laws; enabling all primary and secondary school students to access taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schooling; and, expanding the death penalty to cover child rapists. These policies are "red meat" items that can rally Republican voters, said Aubrey Jewett, a politics professor at the University of Central Florida. He argued that while Mr Trump will be tough to beat, his younger opponent will present himself as "Trump policies without all the Trump personal baggage". "[Mr DeSantis] has developed a strong conservative record and he's got a lot of positive name recognition amongst conservative Republicans around the country," Mr Jewett said, However, the governor faced an uphill climb in selling his message to a less conservative national audience in a general election. Story continues An abortion overreach? After the US Supreme Court voted last year to overturn abortion rights, Mr DeSantis promptly signed a bill prohibiting most abortions after 15 weeks. As legal challenges to the bill make their way through state courts, Florida Republicans went even further last month and banned the procedure after six weeks of gestation - before most women know they are pregnant. Polls show a majority of Floridians, including a significant number of Republicans, oppose the latest measure. That may be a warning sign to Mr DeSantis as he seeks to corral independents and improve his standing with female voters. The governor handily won re-election last November, but his party's divisive stance on abortion was widely blamed for its overall underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterm elections. If Mr DeSantis' main strength is being electable, this is one issue that may make him unpalatable to swing voters. Warrior against wokeism Mr DeSantis has repeatedly waded into culture war issues, particularly what he refers to as "woke ideology". Declaring often that "Florida is where woke goes to die", he has led efforts this year to remake education curriculums by restricting sex education and black history lessons; bar environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) standards from being used in investment decisions; ban transgender athletes from girls' sports; and, block gender-affirming care for trans youth. Gunner Ramer, political director for the anti-Trump PAC Republican Accountability, said that while Republican primary voters want a culture war warrior that they earlier found in Mr Trump, the Florida governor's instincts are "a little off". An escalating war with Disney, one of the state's largest employers, over its criticism of his moves to restrict classroom discussions of gender and sexuality, is being met with "a collective shrug" by voters in focus groups Mr Ramer's group conducts. "All of his opponents are using that as an example of 'the wrong kind of Republicanism'," said Peter Schorsch, publisher of the Florida Politics news site, who believes the governor's legislative and rhetorical assault on the company may "be his undoing" in the 2024 race. "He wants to be the woke warrior, but I don't think he needed to quadruple down on that to own it," Mr Schorsch added. Achilles heels As the US economy loses steam, voters may be looking for a responsible economic steward to be their next president - more proactive than Mr Biden but less reactive than Mr Trump. According to Edwin Benton, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, the governor's intense focus on the culture wars will leave many with the perception that he is less interested in attending to issues like the rising cost of living and property insurance. "When you get right down to it, people are going to look for the real nitty-gritty: is this person interested in me and my family?" he said. Mr Benton predicted that both President Biden and Mr Trump would "cut him to shreds" for "leaving Floridians in the lurch". And in an effort to shore up his shaky foreign policy credentials, Mr DeSantis visited UK, South Korea, Japan and Israel he described as an "international trade mission" aimed to build on the economic relationships between Florida and the four countries. A difficult road ahead Even as we wait for a formal announcement from him, the Florida governor has already raised tens of millions of dollars more in campaign funds than Mr Trump. A super PAC launched earlier this year urging Mr DeSantis to run in 2024 has begun running advertisements casting him as the future of the Republican party and Mr Trump's inevitable replacement, even though the former president is ahead by about 30 points in national polls. Republicans ultimately want a candidate who is electable and many view Mr DeSantis as a tougher opponent for Joe Biden in a general election, said Mr Ramer. But he has a long fight ahead, if he chooses to run. "The gulf between winning a Republican primary and winning a general election has widened so much," said Mr Ramer. "Republicans have put themselves in a very difficult position where you have to do so much now to win a primary that it makes it difficult, if it's a swing seat or swing state, to win that race." Huge crowds flocked to London and braved the rain to celebrate the Kings coronation with some royals fans travelling from as far as Australia. The procession route along the Mall and Whitehall was lined with thousands of supporters hoping to catch a glimpse of Charles and Queen Camilla on the first of a three-day bank holiday weekend. Among them were best friends Carol Poore and Alison Stones, both 70, who flew to the UK all the way from down under on Thursday. Best friends Carol Poore (right) and Alison Stones (left) flew from Australia for the event (The Independent) We love the monarchy, Carole said. Australia is a part of the Commonwealth and we were raised with the Queen, so were here to support them. Well be here for everything. This is a once in a lifetime its brilliant. Were feeling very excited. We hope we get to see the crown. Headteacher Wendy Bowen, 46, from Orkney, said she had made her dress specially for the coronation. With her husband, lollipop man David, she said the experience so far had been incredible, adding: I cant believe there are so many people. Noel Nuwe, 50, flew in from Uganda on Friday and plans on spending the whole weekend in the UK celebrating. From the top of The Mall, he told The Independent: Im feeling great and excited. Im looking forward to the ceremony. Its a good thing, the monarchy. King Charles is my favourite. Wendy Bowen (right, with her husband David), made the dress she is wearing for the coronation (The Independent) Noel Nuwe (right) flew in from Uganda to celebrate the coronation (The Independent) King Charles III has now become the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, the nations coronation church. The procession itself moved from Buckingham Palace, along the Mall then down Whitehall, ending at Westminster Abbey, where the ceremony took place before the newly crowned monarchs returned via the same 1.3-mile route. Screening sites were set up in Hyde Park, Green Park and St Jamess Park. King Charles wearing the Imperial State Crown following his coronation ceremony (PA) But some royal fans were not as fortunate as others, with most areas quickly reaching capacity. According to a worker providing information on the ground, Green Park, St Jamess Park and areas surrounding the procession such as Trafalgar Square were full by 8.30am. Story continues Members of the public were not dissuaded, however, and many were directed towards the screens in Hyde Park though that area also soon became packed. The procession passed along the Mall to Buckingham Palace following the coronation (PA) Daniel Ismail, who had flown from Malaysia with his family, told The Independent he was disappointed at the closure of so many areas so early in the day. With hopes of seeing the procession, he and his parents had gone to the Mall on Saturday morning to find it was already closed off. The trio were ushered to Hyde Park, where they were hovering at the side of a screen. Mr Ismail said it was a huge turnout and the royal family would be pleased, adding he had never seen crowds so big. Daniel Ismail had flown all the way from Malaysia with his family (The Independent) Helen Harbinson and her daughter Isabella were with Marie Greenwood and her daughter Hannah having a picnic under a tree in Hyde Park, feeling similarly disappointed having had little luck getting any closer to the royals. Ive never seen any crowds like this, said Ms Greenwood, from Essex. Theyre everywhere. This is my first royal event and it definitely wont be my last. Others like Aaron Barshack were less convinced by the pageantry. Although Im not a Republican, I was going to take part in the protests because the monarchy needs to be updated, he said. Aaron Barshack was less convinced by the pageantry, saying the monarchy needs to be updated (The Independent) Anti-monarchy demonstrators were arrested in the hours before the procession (AP) Earlier on Saturday, a number of anti-monarchy protesters were arrested by police in a move denounced by demonstrators. Supporters of the Republic campaign group saw hundreds of placards reading Not My King seized by the Metropolitan Police. Ahhh, to enter life as a royal baby. Such luxury. Such privilege. Such intrigue and bloodlust and loneliness. OK, fine: The last part of that description may not apply to the current generation of British royal children. But its an apt portrayal of royal family life in Britain over the past 1,000 years or so, when children of the monarchy found themselves isolated, kidnapped, used as marital pawns to foster political alliances, or viewed as dangerous rivals by their own parents. Queen Elizabeth II of England and Prince Philip of Edinburgh (INTERCONTINENTALE / AFP via Getty Images) In the not-too-distant past, a royal childhood could be a lonely affair handled by governesses, nannies, private tutors and wet nurses. Consider Prince John, the youngest child of William and Harrys great-great-grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary. John had epilepsy and possibly autism, said historian Carolyn Harris, author of Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting. He died in 1919 at age 13 after a severe epileptic seizure. Royalty - Prince John and Lalla (PA Images via Getty Images) While Queen Mary noted in her diary that she would miss the dear child very much indeed, the daily care of John ... was entrusted almost completely to his governess, Charlotte Bill, and he lived in his own residence (the Wood Farm cottage) on the Sandringham Estate, Harris told TODAY Parents. A royal child in his situation today would receive more personal attention from his parents and probably remain in the family home. Arduous tours of the Commonwealth also could leave royal children separated from their parents for months at a time. In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip embarked on a six-month journey (by sea!) to New Zealand, Australia and several other countries. They left their young children, Charles, 5, and Anne, 3, at home. The world was watching as the royal parents returned to London; when they arrived, they maintained strict etiquette protocols. King Charles "had to wait for his personal greeting while the Queen shook hands with a line of dignitaries, Elizabeth Renzetti wrote in The Globe and Mail. He may have been hoping for a hug; he got a handshake like everyone else. Story continues Former Princess Elizabeth holds her daughter, Princess Anne, who reaches out to her father, Prince Philip, as he holds Prince Charles in 1951. (Getty Images) Harris said Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip likely were much more relaxed with their children in private, but they used formal etiquette in public. That tradition was blown away by Princess Diana, who not only brought her children on royal tours but also showered them with public displays of maternal affection. On one occasion in 1991, she was so happy to be reunited with sons William and Harry aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia in Toronto that she hugged them as TV cameras rolled. Princess Diana hugs her sons William and Harry aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia in Toronto in 1991. (Getty Images) Diana changed popular perceptions of royal parenting in other ways. For instance, she looked for opportunities to expose William and Harry to nontraditional experiences for royal children. Diana took her children to Disneyland and McDonalds, insisting that they stand in line with the other customers, Harris wrote in her Raising Royalty book. Diana also made sure her sons understood the causes she championed; the Peoples Princess spent time with victims of landmine explosions, HIV and AIDS patients, homeless people and sick and vulnerable children. Princess Diana is pictured with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, at the piano in Kensington Palace. (Tim Graham/ Getty Images) I want my boys to have an understanding of peoples emotions, their insecurities, peoples distress and their hopes and dreams, Diana once said. Harris noted that after Diana died in 1997, Charles drew popular sympathy as a single parent a situation that altered perceptions of royal parenting even more. There was extensive press coverage of him taking William and Harry on ski vacations, Harris said, and taking Harry to see the Spice Girls perform at a charity concert. Prince Charles and Prince Harry sledding during a ski holiday in Switzerland. (Julian Parker / UK Press via Getty Images) These shifts paved the way for William and Kate and now for Harry and Meghan to parent their children as they see fit. Like Diana, William and Kate have brought their children on royal tours, and theyve gone a step further by structuring the tours so they could enjoy quality time with their kids. During their 2016 tour of British Columbia and the Yukon, George and Charlotte were based at Government House in Victoria and William and Catherine returned from public engagements to spend time with them almost every evening, Harris said. Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, pose outside St. Mary's Hospital in London following the births of their children, Prince George (2013), Princess Charlotte (2015) and Prince Louis (2018). (Getty Images) Prince William made headlines for becoming the first senior member of the royal family to take parental leave, Harris said sparking conversations across Britain about work-life balance and working conditions for new parents. And, following Dianas example, William and Harry have supported causes connected to bullying, mental health problems and other challenges facing 21st century kids. I am concentrating very much on my role as a father, William told BBC correspondent Nicholas Witchell in 2016. I take my duties and my responsibilities to my family very seriously and I want to bring my children up as good people. This article was originally published in April 2019. This article was originally published on TODAY.com Leniye Umerova Read also: Russia to imprison five Crimean Tatars for a total of 65 years Leniye Umerova spent five months in a detention center in North Ossetia, and her administrative arrest was extended several times. On May 4, the Russian FSB officers transferred the woman to Moscow, where she has been in the Lefortovo detention center. Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets recalled that Russian security forces detained Leniye Umerova on Dec. 4, 2022, after she crossed the Georgian-Russian border while trying to return to occupied Crimea to see her cancer-stricken father. The Russians falsely accused the girl of "violating the rules of the restricted zone" and then placed her under administrative arrest for allegedly "disobeying the police. Read also: Crimean Tatar activist Gafarov dies in Russian custody Leniye's brother Azeez Umerov told Radio Libertys Krym.Realii project that his sister was held in the center for foreign citizens for more than three months, and on March 13 she was released by a court decision. Almost immediately, Leniye was detained by the police, allegedly because of the lack of documents. The court imposed an administrative arrest on her, and then another 15 days of detention for not handing over her phone on time because she was calling her parents, and refusing to leave the convoy vehicle. Lubinets emphasized that Umerova's detention was constantly extended in order to fabricate a criminal case against her. He demanded the immediate release of Leniye Umerova and all civilian hostages and political prisoners held by the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea, other temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, and in Russia. 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 invaders used incendiary munitions on Bakhmut Russian invasion forces have used what are alleged to be phosphorus munitions, banned under international law, in the ongoing battle for Bakhmut, the Command of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Telegram on May 6. They shared a video of the attack, where Bakhmut can be seen nearly engulfed in flames as incendiary munitions rain down from the sky. The Ukrainian military condemned the use of phosphorous and incendiary munitions by the Russian forces, saying that the Russians are attempting to wipe the town off the face of the earth. The use of phosphorous bombs near and inside populated areas is prohibited by the Geneva Convention, but Russia has repeatedly employed these tactics against civilians during its full-scale war against Ukraine. Ukrainian forces, including a Special Operations contingent, still defend the town, Command stressed. The battle for Bakhmut has been ongoing since July 2022, with Russian leaders periodically claiming to have taken the city. However, Ukraine has been holding the line in the town, while Ukrainian commanders brag that the best units of the Russian Federation are being destroyed and exhausted in this battle. On May 5, the leader of the Wagner mercenary company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimedthat his mercenaries would supposedly begin leaving the town on May 10 due to a lack of ammunition. In response, the Ukrainian Armed Forces stressed that the intensity of the fighting has not decreased, and that Russian attempts to capture the city would not stop before May 9. They also noted that the Wagner mercenary company is running out of fighters, and that Prigozhin has resumed his feud with Russian military leadership. 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 Russia claims that the United States masterminded the alleged attack on the Kremlin Evacuations from the front line around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant prompted safety warnings from the UN nuclear watchdog on Saturday, as a string of recent strikes escalate predictions of a looming spring counteroffensive. Moscow has blamed Kyiv -- and its Western supporters -- for an escalating number of long-range attacks and sabotage operations, including on the Kremlin. A car bomb on Saturday wounded prominent nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin and killed his assistant in an attack Moscow pinned on both Kyiv and Washington. The head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner meanwhile asked Moscow to let Chechen fighters relieve his forces at the flashpoint city of Bakmut in eastern Ukraine. Citing stepped-up shellings by Kyiv, Moscow has ordered families with children and elderly to temporarily evacuate a slew of Russian-held areas in southern Ukraine, including the town near Europe's largest nuclear plant. "The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous," IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement on Saturday. "Im extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant." The removal order has led to "a mad panic and no less mad queues" at the checkpoint into Russian-annexed Crimea, said Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. With buses ferrying people out every 20 to 30 minutes, he said stations have been drained of gasoline. "The partial evacuation they announced is going too fast, and there is a possibility that they may be preparing for provocations and (for that reason) focusing on civilians," Fedorov wrote on Telegram. - Nationalists targeted - Investigators said Ukraine was behind the blast that wrecked writer Prilepin's car on Saturday morning in Nizhny Novgorod, around 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Moscow. Story continues They published images of a partly destroyed, overturned car and said the well-known novelist was taken to hospital. Suspect Alexander Permyakov acted "on the instructions from the Ukrainian special services", according to Russian investigators. But Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak suggested the attack was due to Russian in-fighting. Later, Russia's foreign ministry said: "The responsibility for this terrorist act, and for others, does not lie only with Ukraine, but also with its Western minders, primarily the United States." Prilepin is a vocal supporter of Moscow's offensive in Ukraine, where he fought alongside pro-Russian separatists in 2014. He has been a frequent visitor to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since the start of the conflict in April 2014. There have been two previous killings of nationalists, both of which Russia blamed on Ukraine. In April, a blast from a statuette rigged with explosives killed 40-year-old pro-Kremlin military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. And last August, Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent ultranationalist intellectual, was killed in a car bombing outside Moscow, which Russia blamed on Ukraine. Kyiv denied the charges. - Wagner chief's appeal - The chief of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner meanwhile asked Moscow to let him hand over his positions in Bakhmut to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. "I ask you to issue a combat order before 00:00 on May 10 concerning the transfer of the positions of the Wagner paramilitary units in Bakhmut and its periphery, to the units of the Akhmat battalion," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a letter to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. The Akhmat battalion refers to combat units under the command of Kadyrov, who has ruled Russia's Muslim-majority republic Chechnya for a decade and a half. Wagner fighters have led the battle for Bakhmut, spearheading the months-long Russian assault on the city, and almost capturing it in what has been the longest and bloodiest battle of the Russian campaign in Ukraine. But rivalries between Prigozhin and the Russian army continue to strain. On Friday, he blamed Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov for "tens of thousands" of killed and wounded Russian fighters in Ukraine and criticised the defence ministry for a lack of ammunition. Kadyrov said Friday that his forces were "ready to move" towards Bakhmut and "just waiting for orders". - Increasing sabotage - As Russia gears up to celebrate the May 9 anniversary of the Soviet victory over the Nazis, Moscow has blamed Kyiv for an uptick in drone incursions and train sabotage, which experts suggest are a prelude to an expected counteroffensive. In the most spectacular incident, Russian authorities claimed Thursday to have thwarted a drone attack on the Kremlin, fingering Washington as the mastermind. It said the attack was an attempt to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both Kyiv and Washington have denied any involvement. The authorities in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and in Russia's southern regions of Krasnodar and Rostov, both near Ukraine, have all reported drone strikes -- or attempted drone attacks -- in recent days. On the Ukrainian side, Kyiv said Russian fire Saturday had killed six Ukrainian emergency workers demining in the southern region of Kherson. bur/sco Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant "Together with the evacuation of residents in the frontline areas and the escape of collaborators, the invaders' show-off hysteria looks like preparations for provocations that will be blamed on the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Fedorov said. Read also: Russians using fortified positions atop Zaporizhzhya NPP to fire at Ukraine photos I ask residents in the occupied territories: take care of yourself, avoid mass gatherings in the coming days. He added that only Ukrainian sources of information should be trusted. Read also: Zaporizhzhya NPP can no longer be protected, says IAEA head Meanwhile, Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom has stressed that there are no changes in the operation of the ZNPP. "The plant does not produce electricity, but consumes it from the Ukrainian power grid to meet its own needs," Energoatom said. "Five reactors of the ZNPP are currently in a state of cold shutdown, while the 5th reactor is in a state of hot shutdown. Claims made by pro-Russian propaganda outlets about the complete shutdown of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant are not true. On May 3, representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that the Russian occupation forces had deployed military equipment, weapons and explosives in the turbine room of Zaporizhzhya NPP Reactor 4. Read also: Russia preparing evacuation plan for Rosatom employees from occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP 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 Flash Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang (L) meets Pakistani President Arif Alvi in Islamabad, Pakistan, May 5, 2023. [Photo/Chinese Foreign Ministry] China and Pakistan on Friday pledged to consolidate their iron-clad friendship. Noting that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang told Pakistani President Arif Alvi during a meeting in Islamabad that consolidating and advancing China and Pakistan's iron-clad friendship has always been a priority for the two governments. Qin said that China will always stand by Pakistan, support it in realizing unity and stability, development and prosperity, and in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. He said China stands ready to work with Pakistan to implement the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative proposed by China, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, withstand external risks and challenges, and push forward the building of a China-Pakistan community with a shared future. China is also willing to work with Pakistan to bolster the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and advance the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and to help Pakistan recover its economy and improve its people's livelihood, he noted. He urged the two sides to strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and said China welcomed more Pakistani students to study in China. He expressed the willingness to work with Pakistan to strengthen communication and coordination on the Afghanistan issue, promoting Afghanistan's peace and reconstruction process and facilitating regional stability and development. For his part, Alvi said that the friendship between Pakistan and China is rooted in the deep traditional friendship between the two peoples. He stressed that the more profound changes the world is undergoing, the more important it is to build a close and solid Pakistan-China friendship. He extended gratitude to China for helping Pakistan in its COVID-19 pandemic fight, post-disaster reconstruction and evacuation of Pakistani citizens stranded in Sudan and vowed to ensure the security of Chinese personnel and institutions in Pakistan. Pakistan unswervingly upholds the one-China policy and firmly stands by the Chinese side on issues concerning China's core interests, he noted, adding the Pakistani side is ready to work with China to advance the construction of CPEC, deepen cooperation in agriculture, connectivity and information technology, and help Afghanistan realize peace and reconstruction. Over the course of Saturday, 6 May, Ukraines air defence forces shot down and destroyed five Russian drones. Source: Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on Telegram Quote from Oleshchuk: "Enemy forces ramped up their use of various types of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles ed.] along the entire frontline. Over the course of 6 May, air defence forces and equipment of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed five enemy drones: four operational-tactical drones, and one Lancet attack drone." Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that commanders in a unit of Russian forces currently based in the village of Mulino in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, are openly referring to their subordinates as "cannon fodder"; 50% of the units personnel have been unable to obtain their payment cards. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook Quote from the General Staff: "There is more and more information about low morale among enemy forces. Commanders of an occupation forces unit stationed in the village of Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, are openly referring to their subordinates as cannon fodder. [Russian] military personnel also complain about medical care, and a lack of personal protection and equipment. Around 50% of military personnel are unable to obtain their payment cards and are concerned that their families might not receive their money in case of their death." Details: The General Staff also said that Russian occupation forces continue to loot businesses on temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and rob the residents of those territories. For instance, they have stolen all vehicles belonging to the Elektropivdenmontazh-10, an electrical services provider in Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The organisations warehouse has been looted, and all of its equipment and tools have been taken away. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Zakhar Prilepin According to a source from Russian media outlet RBC, Prilepin was returning to Moscow from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine, and had come to Nizhny Novgorod Oblast to visit family, the Telegram channel SHOT alleged. His car is said to have exploded after he returned to it after stopping to eat, at around 10:40 a.m. Moscow time. Read also: Atesh guerrillas in Crimea say they blew up Russian National Guards car, killing two officers Russian media sources claim that Prilepin was wounded in the blast, but remained conscious, while a source close to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that Prilepin was in critical condition and had been hospitalized with both legs broken. However, Prilepins spokesperson claimed that he was in good condition, and Nikitin reiterated that Prilepin was okay. Russian partisan movement Atesh claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that they had been hunting for Prilepin since the beginning of the year. Read also: Ukrainian partisans blow up Russian checkpoint in Kherson Oblast (We) got him, a Telegram channel claiming to belong to Atesh wrote after the bombing. Its just the beginning for the Ruscists [a Ukrainian portmanteau for Russian fascist - ed]. And it happened he was driving his flashy Audi Q7 to visit relatives in Nizhny Novgorod. But he wasnt alone he had a surprise on the bottom of the car. The surprise worked. Zakhar is in the hospital. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the incident. Read also: Who inspired Russias invasion of Ukraine? Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed the U.S. and Britain for the attack but provided no evidence to support the accusation. 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 forces are settling their invaders in the seized houses of local residents on the temporarily occupied left (eastern) bank of Kherson Oblast. Source: Ukraines National Resistance Center Details: The National Resistance Centre has said that a Russian Guard unit arrived in Oleshky and moved into the homes of the forcibly evacuated Ukrainians. At the same time, the forced evacuation of certain groups of people in the town continues, as the National Resistance Centre has noted. They have also added: "A similar situation with the resettlement of enemy soldiers is recorded in other settlements on the left bank." Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Five people have been injured in the Russian attack on the city of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, on Saturday, 6 May 2023. Source: Prosecutor's Office in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast; Serhii Lysak, Head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration; Oleksandr Saiuk, Nikopol Mayor, on Telegram Quote from the Prosecutors Office: "As the investigation found out, the occupiers carried out an artillery shelling of the city of Nikopol on 6 May 2023. Four people were injured in the attack. An industrial facility, several private houses and a gas pipeline were damaged." Details: Under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor's Office in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a pre-trial investigation into the criminal proceedings on the violation of the laws and customs of war (Article 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) has been launched. Serhii Lysak has said that the Russians attacked Nikopol with Grad multiple-launch rocket systems and heavy artillery, firing more than 40 projectiles. Three of the wounded are employees of the damaged industrial facility, they are men aged 48, 50 and 58. Updated: Nikopol Mayor Oleksandr Saiuk later reported that five civilians sustained injuries in Russian shelling on Saturday, 6 May. He said 14 private residential houses, 13 outbuildings, a non-residential building, and an industrial facility were damaged. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! During the day on 6 May, Russian invaders carried out 11 attacks on border areas of Sumy Oblast, 84 strikes were recorded. Source: Sumy Oblast Military Administration on Facebook Details: Attacks from mortars (28 strikes) and barrel artillery (3 strikes) were recorded in Blopillia hromada [an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories ed.]. As a result of one of the mortar attacks, a private house caught on fire. The Russians struck the territory of the Novoslobidska hromada with mortars (12 strikes). The occupiers fired at the Miropillia hromada from automatic grenade launchers (1 strike). Velykopysarivka hromada was attacked 27 times with mortars. In the Znob-Novgorod hromada, shelling was carried out from barrel artillery (9 strikes). Attacks from mortars (4 strikes) were recorded in the Esman hromada. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputies attend a briefing in 2020. A ransomware attack, discovered in early April, crippled the Sheriff's Department computer systems. The county and its insurer agreed to pay the $1.1-million ransom, a spokesperson said. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Weeks after a cyberattack crippled the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department computer systems, county officials confirmed that the hackers had been paid a $1.1-million ransom. The ransomware attack, discovered in early April, forced the department to temporarily shut down some of its computer systems, including email, in-car computers and some law enforcement databases, including a system that deputies use for background checks. After negotiating with the hackers, San Bernardino County paid slightly less than half the total $511,852 and its insurance carrier covered the rest, said county spokesman David Wert. "On balance, and consistent with how other agencies have handled these types of situations, this was determined to be the responsible course," Wert said. Ransomware attacks on public institutions such as cities, school districts and hospitals have risen sharply in the U.S. in recent years. Government computer networks can contain troves of sensitive data and often have less robust protections than those of major companies. During a ransomware attack, hackers steal or block access to key files or data, then demand payment in exchange for returning or restoring them. Such attacks can also involve threats that sensitive information, such as Social Security and credit card numbers, will be exposed if the victim doesn't pay. The FBI says it does not pay ransom in such attacks and advises victims not to either. It's exceedingly rare for ransoms to be paid for hacks involving law enforcement agencies, in part because of who could be on the receiving end of the transaction, said Clifford Neuman, the director of USC's Center for Computer Systems Security. "If you're paying through cryptocurrency, you don't know who you're paying it to," Neuman said. "It could be a sanctioned entity, whether it's Iran, whether it's North Korea, whether it's a terrorist organization." Story continues And, Neuman said, there are the optics to think about. Being hacked is embarrassing for any organization, but "even more embarrassing when it's a police agency making this decision. They're supposed to be keeping people safe, and here they are, paying ransom to criminals." The hackers who targeted the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department work out of Eastern Europe, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the incident. The hackers have ties to a larger network of Russian hacking operations that regularly target U.S. entities and extort payouts that are designed to be untraceable, the sources said. The Sheriff's Department discovered the hack on April 7. The extent of the attack, including whether sensitive information was compromised or stolen, is still under investigation, Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Gloria Huerta said. Wert said the county and its insurer agreed to pay the $1.1-million ransom to "restore the system's full functionality and secure any data involved in the breach." The county's share of the funds came from its risk management department, Wert said. He declined to say when the ransom had been paid, "out of concern that it could affect the ongoing criminal investigation." It was not clear who had authorized the ransom payment. "The question is, what did they pay for and why?" said Brett Callow, a threat analyst at Emsisoft, an anti-virus company. "To get a decryption key because they had no other way of recovering the data? For a pinky promise that stolen data would be destroyed? Both?" Smaller departments and cities have been quietly paying ransom to hackers in the last few years, but few as high profile as San Bernardino County, said Horace Frank, the former assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. The risk with agreeing to a ransom, he said, is that "paying can embolden criminals." In 2022, nearly half of state and local governments hit by ransomware paid the hackers, one of the highest rates of any industry, according to a worldwide survey by the British software security firm Sophos. Governments were second only to K-12 schools, which paid out in 53% of cases. In the fall of 2018, the city of Azusa in the San Gabriel Valley paid $65,000 through its cybersecurity insurance carrier to regain access to 10 Azusa Police Department servers that had been encrypted by hackers. Two and a half years later, hackers targeted Azusa's Police Department again, posting seven gigabytes of records on the so-called dark web. Those included officer payroll files, a spreadsheet that appeared to identify Azusa gang members along with their nicknames, crime scene photos and investigative reports referencing confidential informants. It took Baltimore months to recover from a 2019 cyberattack that hobbled the city's computers, blocked employees' access to email and prevented residents from paying city bills such as parking tickets and property taxes. The city spent an estimated $18 million in recovery costs. Days after the Baltimore hack, a ransomware attack took down the computer network of Imperial County, east of San Diego. A note that appeared online after the incident demanded the equivalent of $1.2 million in Bitcoin in exchange for restoring access to the systems, The Times reported at the time. The county refused to pay. County officials later estimated that the hack created more than $1.9 million in recovery costs, although some costs were covered by insurance. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in June 2020, hackers encrypted several computer servers at the UC San Francisco medical school with malware, rendering the systems unusable. The university hired a consultant to negotiate a ransom. Ultimately, the school paid $1.14 million at the time, the equivalent of 116 Bitcoin to restore access to its data. The university did not respond to a request for comment from The Times. Immediately after the ransom payment, officials said in a statement that the information was "important to some of the academic work we pursue as a university serving the public good." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Illustration composite by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty Some minds are like soup in a poor restaurantbetter left unstirred. As Penguin-Random House endeavors to remove unacceptable prose from his and other works, this comment by P. G. Wodehouse seems an apt description of the likely outcome of attempts to sanitize and censor works moderns deem distasteful or unacceptable. The current push among some publishers toward sensitivity reading and the removal of anything they deem offensive represents a pernicious attack not only upon free speech, but upon history itself. There are three basic problems with this effort. First, it represents a form of intellectual laziness. Rather than working through prose we deem unpleasant due to racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. content, sanitizing old works allows us to simply avoid the issue. Ron DeSantis Anti-Free Speech Crusade Would Cancel Fox News I teach a course on medical ethics and culture in which we have a segment on AI. One of the books we read is Heinleins The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The book is a brilliant consideration of the rise of intelligent machines, but Heinleins depiction of women is sexist, to say the least, as is the dialogue he develops for the moons inhabitants. A sensitivity reading would suggest the need for major revisionsprobably rewriting the entire book. But thats a lazy mindset because it ignores some important questions. Did Heinlein use sexist language as a writing strategy intended to critique sexism? Probably not. But we can also ask, is Heinleins prose a product of the cultural and historical context in which he wrote? Theres a good chance it is and its important to think about how the book reflects the time in which he wrote. Of course, we can also ask, was Heinlein a sexist? The answer to this is important in interpreting the content of the book and to understanding Heinleins contributions to literature. These are complex questions that deserve thought and discussion about history, culture, and the intent of the author. But that thought and discussion wont happen if the prose is sanitized to remove offensive passages. Story continues Tied to this is a second issue of arrogance. The idea that a group of editors can make decisions on behalf of readers about what to deem offensive represents a paternalistic and condescending attitude that devalues the abilities of readers to draw their own conclusions from what they read. In essence, the attempt to sanitize works from the past is a moral effort that removes decision-making about what is right and wrong, offensive or inoffensive from the minds of readers and, instead, dictates to the public what they should think about what they read. In other words, along with deleting offensive words and passages, it erases the ability of readers to act as moral agents. Ron DeSantis and the New Campus Free Speech Crisis One might imagine that these problems alone would be enough to pause anyone thinking about sanitizing writings of the past, but there is a far more serious issue that needs to be considered. Imagine for a moment that you are living 50 or 100 years in the future. Masterpieces of 20th-century literature like Wodehouses The Inimitable Jeeves or Roald Dahls Charlie and the Chocolate Factory have been excised of sexist and racist content. People download them on their Kindles and read away. What will they think? The answer is easy. They will have no inkling that the authors of those or other books may have harbored sexist, homophobic, or racist inclinations. Its quite possible that readers will think things like, Its amazing how forward-thinking authors were in those days. I suppose publishers could put warning labels on book covers to address this problem. Something like: PUBLISHERS WARNING: This book has been rewritten to protect readers from discomfort and critical thinking. But that wont solve anything, because sanitizing those books only opens the door to revising the reality of those who wrote them and closes the door on both individual and collective thinking about who those authors were and why they held ideas that we, today, deem offensive. This is bad enough, but there is a deeper issue here. Those books sanitized today will become the accepted representations of history tomorrow. Revising the prose also revises the history, because as people in the future read it is unlikely they will be aware of the types of language that was used and the bigoted ideas that were commonplace. There is no difference between removing offensive language from the works of authors like Wodehouse and Dahl and removing references to slavery and racism from history books. Both lead to the same conclusionwhether intentional or unintentionalthe dissemination of a revised history that has been sanitized, so that we do not need to individually or collectively confront the errors and evils of our ancestors. Dont Stop Using the Term Cancel Culture Publishers like Penguin are engaging in a misguided attempt to do something that seems like a good ideamake literature less offensive to many who read it. However, despite good intentions, these publishers are doing a disservice to the very thing they want to supportthe elimination of bigotry. If one thinks toward the future, there is a good chance that the works sterilized today will simply become the unquestioned works those authors wrote. There will be no need for critically examining their writings or their world because it will be taken at face value that the prose people read is the prose the authors wrote. It will become the truth of who they were as authors and what their world was like. Publishers need to be protectors of free speech, including speech we dislike or find offensive. And they need to stop, immediately, efforts to cleanse the prose of authors of the past, to ensure that future readers understand and can critically examine the perspectives and personalities of those authorsas well as the times in which they lived. If publishers like Penguin continue on their current path, it will only ensure that future minds are left unstirred. 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. Sarah Ferguson has revealed how she celebrated the coronation of King Charles III, despite not being invited to the royal ceremony on Saturday (6 May). Charles and Camilla will be crowned Britains new King and Queen Consort by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey, with 2,000 guests in attendance. The Duchess of York, however, will not be present, after it was revealed last month that Charles did not invite Prince Andrews ex-wife to the historic swearing-in. Follow live updates from Westminster Abbey on coronation day here. However, that hasnt stopped the 63-year-old author from sharing her wishes for the royal family on social media, explaining that she commemorated the occasion with a tea fit for a King. A party was held at the Manor Care Home in Windsor, Ferguson wrote on Instagram, to help them celebrate Britains new king. The residents of the home were served Charless Crunchy Cream Cake a sponge cake made with King Charless Highgrove Honey. It has a regal topping of Golden cream and Foxes Crunch Cream biscuits, covered in edible glitter. In more royal refreshments, Ferguson also served Camillas tea with flavours of lemon and ginger. The posts caption read: I hope you have got the bunting out ready for the Coronation tomorrow. I certainly have. Today I assembled a tea fit for a King which I shared with the residents at the Manor Care Home in Windsor to help them celebrate. Enjoy the weekend! Her Instagram post also included a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died last September after ruling the country for nearly 70 years. Ferguson shared pictures of one of the queens beloved corgis, who were adopted after by her and Andrew after the monarchs death, Fans praised her selfless and dignified act in the comments. So glad youre taking good care of the queens corgis, one person wrote. Another said: Im happy for the corgis!! They must miss the Queen like all of us. In an earlier interview, Ferguson said she wasnt offended when Charles didnt invite her to the ceremony, since her and Andrew have been divorced since 1996. She told ITVs Good Morning Britain: Its a state occasion and being divorced, I dont think you can have it both ways, she said. I am divorced, and Im really loving being divorced to my ex-husband, not from my ex-husband, its quite a differentiate. Follow live updates from Westminster Abbey on coronation day here. A Broward County high school student is facing 19 criminal charges stemming from a threat on Snapchat to "shoot up" schools in Florida. Catrina Petit The 18-year-old suspect, J.P. Taravella High School student Catrina Petit, is charged with four second-degree felony counts and 15 misdemeanor counts, records show. As of Monday morning, Petit was being held at the North Broward Bureau lockup in Pompano Beach on $80,000 bond. Coral Springs police arrested Petit who is from Tamarac, on Friday and said it appears she used another student's identity to sign on to a school computer and make the shooting threats via Snapchat. "MARK THIS DATE: 5/5/23. I will shoot up the school and kill every student here," reads the social media post police accuse Petit of writing. "I may do it during the day or after the school day or in between classes. All I know is everyone must DIE." Message sent as a 'joke': Student arrested for viral school shooting post that caused panic across Florida, nation The high school senior was charged with three counts of electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism and one count of making a false report concerning planting a bomb, an explosive, or a weapon of mass destruction, or concerning the use of firearms in a violent manner, which are second-degree felonies. She was also charged with 15 second-degree misdemeanor counts of disrupting a school. The four felony counts each call for up to 15 years in prison. Mainland High School students gather on the front lawn of the campus after being evacuated due to a possible gun threat last year. Daytona Beach Police said a threat was made to Mainland High School, and on Friday officers were actively investigating the situation. "We have extra officers patrolling the school and on campus and are doing everything we can to keep the students and staff safe," the department said Friday morning. 'Not a credible threat': Escambia Public Schools says social media threat not credible, county schools safe Treasure Coast reactions: Social-media threat deemed a hoax, but Treasure Coast schools get extra security Friday Story continues The post was seen by parents and students in North Carolina, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Utah, Minnesota, Arkansas, and elsewhere. In Florida, it was reported in multiple counties including Volusia, Indian River, Broward, Escambia, Okeechobee, St. Lucie, Palm Beach, and others. Broward County Public Schools wrote on its Facebook page that the student admitted to the threat and said she meant it "as a joke." The hoax panicked parents and students from around much of the state Friday and led to multiple police agencies and schools posting messages saying the viral online threats were not credible. "There's been a Snapchat post circulating all across the country about a school shooting threat today," wrote the Volusia Sheriff's Office on its Facebook page. "It's a hoax, but please know that deputies, police, and school guardians are taking every potential threat seriously, and extra patrols of our school campuses will continue through the end of the school year." More: Volusia, Flagler sheriffs' offices say statewide school shooting threat 'a hoax' The warnings led to hundreds of comments on law enforcement Facebook pages, including several from people who were keeping their kids home. "We reported it last night when my daughter seen it on social media! We kept her home just in case," wrote one poster on the Daytona Beach Police Department Facebook page. The Flagler County Sheriff's Office said there was no threat against any specific Flagler school and that patrol efforts were enhanced throughout the district. You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com John Dunbar contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida school shooting hoax: Student, 18, jailed for viral Snapchat post The Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General's Office have gathered significant evidence on 170 senators of the Federation Council [the upper chamber of Russias parliament] who facilitated the temporary occupation of parts of Ukraines east and south. Source: Security Service of Ukraine Details: All of them supported the ratification of the "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance" between the aggressor country and the sham LDPR terrorist organisations [the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics] in February 2022. The officials also unanimously supported the Russian president's request to use the Russian Armed Forces outside the country. In addition, they ratified "agreements on accession" of the occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts to Russia in October of the same year. The Security Service of Ukraine accuses Russian politicians of two articles: "encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine" and "planning, preparation, initiation and waging of an aggressive war." Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! coronation day Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. Credit - Yui MokPA Wire/AP The Prince and Princess of Wales were the picture of royal duty at King Charles IIIs coronation on Saturday. Clad in formal uniform, at the request of the monarch, William and Kate arrived at Westminster Abbey alongside their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. After much speculation about whether Kate would wear a tiara to her father-in-laws historic crowning, she instead opted for a Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen headpiece with silver bullion and leaf embroidery. She was dressed in a blue, red, and white formal robe and mantle on top of her ivory gown. The intricately designed dress featured silver bullion and thread work embroidery with rose, thistle, daffodil, and shamrocks to represent each of the U.K.s four nations. It was designed by Alexander McQueen, the British fashion house famously responsible for her 2011 wedding gown. She paired this with earrings worn by her late mother-in-law Princess Diana, that were gifted to Diana before her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. Kate also wore the George VI Festoon Necklacea gift from King George VI for his daughter, then Princess Elizabeth. William wore the Ceremonial dress uniform of the Welsh Guards. The heir apparent played a prominent role in his fathers ceremony, kneeling before Charles to swear his loyalty in a ceremony known as The Homage of Royal Blood. Georgewho is 9-years-old and second in line to the thronealso played a key role in the coronation as a Page of Honor to Charles. He matched the pomp brought by his parents, wearing a bright red tunic with gold lace trim and blue velvet cuffs. Charlotte, 8, and Louis, 5, did not have prominent roles in the ceremony but they were visible throughout. Charlotte wore a leafy headpiece and ivory dress and cape that complemented her mothers outfit, while Louis wore a navy blue tunic and pants. Story continues Here are the best photos of the Wales family participating in King Charles coronation. Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and the Prince and Princess of Wales arriving at the coronation of King Charles III Phil NoblePA Wire/AP Prince George, one of four Pages of Honour, arrives at Westminster Abbey,. Andrew MilliganPA Wire/AP Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis arriving at Westminster Abbey. Andrew MilliganPA Wire/AP Prince Louis yawns during the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. Yui MokWPA Pool/Getty Images The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at Westminster Abbey. Andrew MilliganPA Wire/AP Britain's Prince William kisses his father King Charles III Yui MokPA Wire/AP Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales with Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte arrive ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III Dan CharityWPA Pool/Getty Images Princess Charlotte departs the Coronation of King Charles III. Stuart C. WilsonGetty Images Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince Louis, the Prince of Wales, the Pages of Honour including Prince George (centre) and King Charles III on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the coronation. Jordan PettittPA Images/Getty Images State Sen. Joe Bellino Jr. has submitted legislation as part of a package to allow responsible adults to carry a concealed firearm without a special license, Bellinos office said in a news release. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is under attack under the guise of safety, making it harder for law-abiding adults to defend themselves and their families doesnt make us safer, Bellino, R-Monroe, said. This legislative package would get rid of a burdensome concealed carry law, restore peoples constitutional rights and enable more responsible gun owners to defend themselves and their loved ones. Bellino "The right to keep and bear arms is protected under Article 1, Section 6 of the Michigan Constitution. While Michigan is a so-called 'shall issue' state, residents must first complete a state-approved pistol training course, submit their fingerprints to a state database and pay a $100 application fee in order to receive a concealed pistol license (CPL). The license expires after five years, and license holders must pay $115 to renew a license," Bellino's office said. Senate Bills 308-313 would repeal the current requirement to obtain a CPL for individuals who are not otherwise prohibited from possessing a pistol and allow concealed carry without a license where either open carry or CPL holders are currently allowed to do so. If the bills are signed into law, Michigan would join 27 states that have enacted similar laws establishing constitutional carry. Michigans concealed carry laws force regular citizens to jump through unnecessary hoops and pay bureaucratic fees simply for the ability to exercise their constitutional rights, Bellino said. The bills would repeal the current requirements for individuals, military members and retired law enforcement officers in good standing to obtain a CPL. They would also eliminate safe zones, repeal the requirement related to the transportation of firearms for CPL holders and remove sentencing guidelines for CPLs, Bellinos office said. Story continues Bellinos bill would repeal the corrections code for CPLs. The Democratic-controlled Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, also a Democrat, have recently enacted new gun safety laws to expand background checks and establish penalties for those who fail to keep firearms out of the hands of children. The Legislature has also sent a so-called "red flag" law to Whitmer. It would empower courts to temporarily remove guns from those posing a danger to themselves or others. The Detroit Free Press contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Sen. Joe Bellino bill would repeal concealed pistol requirements (Bloomberg) -- A group of 43 Senate Republicans including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said theyd oppose allowing a vote on legislation increasing the US debt limit with no strings attached, saying substantive spending and budget reforms must be part of the package. Most Read from Bloomberg The groups letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer included almost every Republican in the chamber and showed they have the votes to block legislation, raising the stakes on President Joe Biden and Democrats who control the chamber. Our economy is in free fall due to unsustainable fiscal policies, GOP senators said in the letter. This trajectory must be addressed with fiscal reforms. The letter comes amid mounting pressure to raise the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit and avert a catastrophic US payments default. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told US lawmakers on Monday that her departments ability to use special accounting maneuvers to stay within the federal debt limit could be exhausted as soon as June 1. Biden and top congressional leaders are due to meet Tuesday for highly anticipated talks amid the stalemate. Democrats have said they will negotiate with Republicans on some budget limits, but that it is hostage-taking to tie spending cuts to a boost in the debt limit. The senators who signed have made it clear that they are holding millions of American jobs, businesses, and retirement accounts hostage, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. They need to honor their Constitutional obligation to pay our bills and not unilaterally inflict a recession on the country, he said. The Republican-led House in late April passed legislation on a razor-thin 217-215 vote that would hike the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion enough to prevent a default until March 31, 2024 in exchange for $4.8 trillion in budget cuts. Republicans have indicated its an opening offer in talks. Story continues Schumer last week put a clean debt-ceiling bill on the roster for possible Senate action at some point. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, the Republican who led the effort behind the new GOP letter, said in a statement on Saturday it shows that Senate Republicans arent going to bail out Biden and Schumer, they have to negotiate. Republican senators who didnt sign the letter included a cluster of moderates Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah. --With assistance from Justin Sink. (Updates with White House reaction starting in sixth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Strong to severe storms with damaging straight-line winds could whip across the Charlotte region on Sunday, National Weather Service forecasters warned. Intense thunderstorms are most likely at night, with gusts up to 21 mph, according to meteorologists in the NWS office in Greer, South Carolina. Confidence is increasing for the chance of showers and thunderstorms on Sunday, the Greer office said on Twitter. A line of strong to severe storms capable of producing cloud-to-ground lightning and damaging straight-line winds, especially over western North Carolina. Blame thunderstorms that developed over the Ohio River Valley early Sunday, NWS meteorologists said in a hazardous weather bulletin just after 6:30 a.m. Sunday. Storms are predicted to advance quickly southeastward through the day, according to the alert. Some uncertainty exists in the track of the storms, but they could cross the western Carolinas and northeast Georgia Sunday afternoon and evening. Strong, gusty winds pose the greatest threat, forecasters warned in the bulletin. The warning area includes Mecklenburg and surrounding counties, Upstate South Carolina and the Carolinas mountains. Charlotte forecast As of 9 a.m. Sunday, the chance of severe weather in metro Charlotte stood at a less-than-even 30%, with the same 30% chance forecast for Monday night and a 40% chance Tuesday, according to the NWS Charlotte forecast. One of those "shuda been a farmer" days. Strong to severe thunderstorms are possible this afternoon. Low confidence is had, tho. Stay tuned to the latest forecast! #ncwx #scwx #gawx #cltwx pic.twitter.com/ynYr4kNePC NWS GSP (@NWSGSP) May 7, 2023 Sunday should be sunny with a high of 81, the forecast showed. Monday has a 60% chance of rain and a predicted high of 85, according to the NWS office. Tuesday could grow hotter, with an expected high of 88, NWS meteorologists said. Highs should then quickly fall, to 81 Wednesday and 79 Thursday under partly to mostly sunny skies, before rising to 80 Friday and 84 Saturday, according to the forecast. FARMINGTON The owner of a San Juan County construction company and an employee of a company that runs a residential housing facility for students in Aztec each are facing a federal charge of conspiracy to commit federal program fraud. A news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Mexico states that William Ross Badoni, 59, of Shiprock, and Elroy Harry, 59, of Aztec, made initial federal court appearances in late April related to an indictment on the conspiracy charge. Badoni also was indicted on one count of committing theft or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and eight counts of money laundering of monetary instruments. Both men were freed on conditions of release, according to the news release. A trial date has not been set. More: San Juan County Commission will consider resolution to close decrepit 5-Mile Bridge The two men were indicted by a federal grand jury on April 11. The indictment states Badoni was the owner and director of the Badoni Construction Company, while Harry was employed as a maintenance supervisor by Kinteel Residential Campus Inc., described as a residential facility offering free or low-cost housing and meals to students attending school in Aztec. KRCI receives federal funds from the U.S. Department of the Interior through the Bureau of Indian Education. The indictment alleges that from approximately April 2018 to June 2019, Badoni and Harry conspired to falsify and submit KRCI bids in the names of other construction companies to increase the chances that Badonis bids would be selected for KRCI construction projects. The indictment also alleges that Harry provided Badoni with nonpublic information about construction projects and the bidding process. In exchange for that help, the indictment alleges, Badoni gave, offered or agreed to give things of value, including money, to Harry. The indictment further alleges that once Badoni had won the initial award of construction contracts, the two men worked together to increase compensation for Badoni by submitting fraudulent change orders for the approval of KRCI officials. Story continues Additionally, the indictment alleges Badoni and Harry caused KRCI to issue new construction contracts on an urgent basis under false pretenses to justify deviating from KRCIs standard policies and procedures. Badoni faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted, while Harry faces up to five years. Andy Tsui, the Internal Revenue Service-criminal investigation special agent in charge, said in the news release that the indictment shows his agencys commitment to making sure that fair and open competition exists among companies seeking to work with the federal government. More: State officials open application process for displaced power plant, mine workers fund IRS-CI will continue working with our law enforcement partners to ensure an even playing field for those attempting to obtain federal contracts for their business, he stated. Alexander Uballez, the U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico, said his office is committed to protecting taxpayer dollars that are invested in young people. Protecting the integrity of contracting processes involving federal funds helps make sure that when we invest in our communities, that investment pays off, he stated in the news release. According to the KRCI website, the companys dormitory at 1600 Lydia Rippey Road in Aztec serves more than 2,800 students who attend classes in the Aztec Municipal School District. According to the companys eligibility requirements, students must be an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and must be between 3 and 18 years old. Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e. Others are reading: This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: William Badoni, Elroy Harry indicted by federal grand jury on April 11 Seagulls screeched across a cloudless sky as tourists climbed down the bluffs north of Cayucos to reach one of San Luis Obispo Countys mysteries: a shipwrecked fishing boat. The sun-bleached vessel leans against the rocky Estero Bay shore, caked with rust and algae. Relentless seaside weather has eroded holes into the ships hull, and visitors can hear waves slosh inside the abandoned boat as the tide rolls across the beach. Its an old boat, thats for sure, one visitor said with a laugh. Rumors circulate about how the so-called ghost boat came to rest off the coast of Estero Bluffs, with some claiming that its owner fell asleep at the helm while returning home from a fishing trip. Fisherman Jonathan Smith ran aground in Estero Bay in 2017. His boat remains on the shore, and visitors climbed aboard to see a view of the ocean through what once was the windows. John Lynch How did fishing boat wreck on SLO County shore? According to a U.S. Coast Guard incident report, boat owner Jonathan Smith was fishing on July 28, 2017, when his boat drifted too close to the Estero Bay shore. Smiths deckhand wasnt feeling well and went below deck to rest leaving Smith to fend for himself, the incident report said. At about 3:45 a.m., the boats propeller caught on a crab pot line, so Smith stopped the engine to try to untangle the line, the report said. Fog settled into the bay, partly obscuring Smiths surroundings as he drifted on the sea, according to the Coast Guard. He ran aground at about 4:40 a.m. in Estero Bay below the bluffs, the report said. At high tide, Smith tried to catapult his boat back into the sea with a winch attached to his anchor, which he dropped about 100 yards offshore. When Smith started his main propeller, the line was fouled in the propeller and parted, the Coast Guard said, and the boat drifted another 45 feet towards the shore. The vessel was officially stuck in the sand. When the tide receded at about 6:40 p.m., Smith and his deckhand exited the vessel safely, and the Coast Guard declared the boat a total loss. Graffiti is scribbled along the boat that ran aground in Estero Bay in 2017. John Lynch What would it take to remove fishing vessel? The ghost boat is beached on land owned by the California State Lands Commission, according to Coast Guard External Affairs Chief Sheri Pemberton. Story continues Removing the vessel would cost about $70,000 money the State Lands Commission doesnt have to spare, Pemberton said. California State Parks runs a program to remove abandoned and derelict recreational vessels, but there is no program for commercial vessels, Pemberton wrote in an email to The Tribune. Smith is ultimately responsible for removing the boat, but being uninsured, he chose to abandon it, Pemberton said. The Coast Guard extracted petroleum and hazardous waste from the boat in 2017, but residual waste will likely leak into the ocean, she said. The vessels condition is unknown to commission staff and for that reason, the public should stay off and away from it, Pemberton said. Local fisherman Jonathan Smith ran aground in Estero Bay in 2017. His boat remains marooned in the bay, and state agencies dont plan to remove it. John Lynch What happened to fisherman? So where is the boats owner? Some community members say Smith is a mechanic in Morro Bay. Others say he still boats on the Central Coast, docking his new vessel in the Morro Bay Harbor. All agree that hes committed to his privacy, and only sometimes has a cell phone. Smith is notoriously ornery, often clashing with local agencies and other anglers, according to the beached boats previous owner, Frank Loving. John was his own worst enemy, Loving said. Loving said its a tragedy to see a once-productive vessel marooned in the cove. Washington state resident Joseph Smith visited the ghost boat on April 30. As a boater, he wasnt thrilled about the idea of a shipwreck. Its horrific, the idea of a boat going ashore, he said. We try to be cautious on the ocean. In the meantime, the story of his shipwreck echoes across the Central Coast drawing adventure-seekers to Estero Bay to examine the wreck. Thats SLO Weird Ever wondered about the mysteries of SLO County? Our series, Thats SLO Weird, explores all the things that make San Luis Obispo County wonderful ... and weird! Curious about something? Send your story ideas to Stephanie Zappelli at szappelli@thetribunenews.com. A fight broke out outside downtown Melbourne nightclubs early Saturday morning, leading to a shooting that injured three people, two critically, Melbourne Police said. Police said officers responded at 1:23 a.m. to the 800 block of East New Haven Avenue in response to a shooting. There were crowds of people in the area and evidence of a crime scene but no victims, police said in a statement. A short time later, officers were dispatched to Holmes Regional Medical Center where three males with gunshot injuries had been brought. As police converged on the hospital, they stopped a car from which one of the victims was being dropped. Two males inside the car, who were not injured, fled on foot, police said. Both were caught and arrested for resisting an officer. Police said their involvement remains unclear. One of multiple bullet holes, marked by a police evidence marker, in a Chevrolet Suburban that was parked in downtown Melbourne near the early morning shooting. Melbourne Police said they've interviewed numerous people but have not yet identified a suspect. Two of the three gunshot victims are in critical condition, and one is in non-critical. By early afternoon Saturday, the only evidence of a early morning shooting in downtown Melbourne were evidence markers, crime scene tape left on trees, some boarded-up windows that had been shattered and a Chevy Suburban with shot-out windows and numerous bullet holes. One bullet was lodged in a child car seat in the Suburban. Concerns about DJs Melbourne police reject Brevard Hemp Fest park permit on late notice, stirring complaints Melbourne Police aski anyone with information to call the Melbourne Police Department at 321-608-6731 to speak with a detective, or to call the Central Florida Crime Line at 800- 423-TIPS (8477). There has been past concern about crowds in downtown Melbourne after hours. In March 2022, a 34-year-old man was fatally shot inside Off the Traxx in downtown when the bar was reportedly near capacity at about 350 patrons. The Melbourne Code Enforcement Board later fined Off The Traxx $5,000 for failing to provide a required, trained five-person security team the night of the fatal shooting. Off The Traxx closed without warning in September. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Three injured after fight in downtown Melbourne leads to shooting A Small Light episodes one and two spoilers follow Anne Frank's is a story that has been told several times over the years and in many different forms. The holocaust victim, whose words survived the one of the darkest periods of history, have been transformed on screen into biographical dramas, documentaries, even animation, one of which includes the fictional story of Kitty, Anne's imaginary friend. Every angle explored serves to get us as close as possible to her lived experience and the experience of others like her who suffered under the Nazi regime, forced into horrendous situations to avoid an even worse reality at the hands of the Gestapo. The interest in her diary is hardly surprising, but A Small Light offers a different perspective in telling the story of Miep and Jan Gies, two ordinary people made exceptional by their courage to protect the vulnerable at the expense of their own safety. Without question or compromise the Gies risked their lives to keep the Franks safely hidden for two years until the fateful day they were discovered. But who were the real Miep and Jan and how much of their onscreen story actually happened? Major spoilers for A Small Light follow What happened to the real-life Miep and Jan? Disney+/Mike Forster/Daily Mail/Shutterstock What unfolds of Miep and Jan's journey in A Small Light may seem too extraordinary to be true but in reality its creators Tony Phelan and Joan Rater didn't need to deviate too far from the truth for embellishment. The reality was astounding enough. Like her television counterpart (played by Bel Powley), Hermine Santruschitz moved from Vienna (Austria) to the Netherlands at the age of 11 to live with her foster family the Nieuwenburgs because of ill health due to malnourishment. There she dropped the name Hermine, becoming Miep. In 1933 she began working for Otto Frank (played by Liev Schreiber), honing her jam-making skills before stepping into the role of 'Opekta Information Service' where she responded to customers enquiries. Story continues The showrunners gave Miep and Jan (Joe Cole) a slightly more colourful meet-cute involving him fumbling their connection at a bar before the two finally developed a spark when she went to collect a kitten from his landlord. The truth was much more ordinary with them meeting through her job and the two fell for each other despite Jan already being married. Disney+ "Finding out that Jan had been married when we were doing our research, it was really interesting," Rater told Digital Spy during an exclusive interview. Co-creator Phelan filled in the blanks to their real-life love story, adding: "Mr Frank had to go and vouch for them, to [their landlord] Mrs Stoppelman, because they were living in sin. She was like, 'They're not married. He's married to someone else. How can I let them stay in my home?' "He was like, 'No, no, no. It's very complicated. They'll resolve it.' "Famously, Miep and Jan never talked about the fact that he was married. So that's something that we discovered. "I think, obviously, as you get older, the more sordid parts of your past, you try to put those aside." When they became involved Jan was in the process of getting a divorce and eventually the two married in July 1941, just short of a year before Otto's eldest daughter Margot was called up. It was then that the Franks decided to go into hiding. Dusan Martincek - Disney That tense scene in which Margot (Ashely Brooke) laugh-cried as she cycles past the Gestapo on her way to the Frank's hiding place for the very first time was actually lifted from reality. Well, a version of it was. Miep did in fact collect Margot and the two cycled to Otto's company on the Prinsengracht. There they waited in the secret annexe the place which was to become their home for two years for Otto, her mother Edith (Amira Casar), and Anne (Billie Boullet) to arrive. They were later joined by the Van Pels family and doctor Fritz Pfeffer (played by Noah Taylor). If that wasn't enough to manage, the real-life couple also took 23-year-old student Kuno van der Horst (Preston Nyman) into their home after he had refused to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Nazis. Episode two of A Small Light sees Jan agree to be involved in the resistance, however some creative license took place in much of what unfolds afterwards. While he did go further than supplying the Franks and co with additional ration booklets thanks to his access as a social worker, the real-life Jan never really disclosed details of how he participated in the resistance. It is only known that he was a very active member. This means the creators were forced to fill in the blanks. Dusan Martincek - Disney In 1944 the Franks were rumbled by the Nazis after they received a tip regarding fraudulent food-ration cards and illegal employment. Those in hiding were captured and sent to concentration camps. In real life a desperate Miep made the ballsy decision to walk into Nazi headquarters to bargain for their releases before they were transported to the camps. Sadly her attempt was unsuccessful. Miep and her colleagues managed to keep the business running while they hoped and anxiously waited for their return. Of the eight people hidden in the secret annexe, only Otto Frank survived. What happened to Miep and Jan after the war? Disney+ When Otto returned after the liberation of the Netherlands in May 1945 he was taken in by Miep and Jan and stayed with them for seven years. "That was striking," Rater told Digital Spy, "because she started as his employee. They're from different classes. They became family and so that was something that drove us." After discovering Anne's death Miep handed Otto the diary she'd salvaged from the wreckage of the post-Nazi raid. It has been documented that Miep couldn't bring herself to read Anne's diary until after its publication in 1947. She has been quoted saying: "I was glad that I had not read the book straight after the arrest, (...) when it was sitting in my desk drawer. If I had, I would have had to burn it, because it was too dangerous for the people Anne wrote about." Dusan Martincek - Disney In 1950 Miep and Jan had a son named Paul and Miep continued to keep the memory of Anne alive by using her shawl to keep her baby warm (as reported by the Guardian) Miep's connection to Anne and her time hiding the Jews from the threat of the Nazis became her legacy and eventually, in the early 1990s, she wrote her memoir, Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family. Despite her incredible actions she refuted the title of hero, writing in her prologue: "More than 20,000 Dutch people helped to hide Jews and others in need of hiding during those years. I willingly did what I could to help. My husband did as well. It was not enough. "There is nothing special about me. I have never wanted special attention. I was only willing to do what was asked of me and what seemed necessary at the time." Disney+ In 1993 Jan died at the age of 87 of kidney failure. In a statement the Anne Frank Foundation said: "Jan was not a person to stand in the limelight, not even amid all the publicity surrounding Anne Frank. "He was throughout his lifetime a man of few words, but many deeds." Miep corroborated that sentiment on her 100th birthday when she asked that the "unnamed heroes" who helped the Dutch Jews be remembered. "I would like to name one, my husband Jan," she said. "He was a resistance man who said nothing but did a lot. People like him existed in thousands but were never heard." In 2009 the Austrian ambassador Wolfgang Paul awarded Miep the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria. Miep died following a short illness in 2010. A Small Light is out on Disney+. You Might Also Like Sophie Gregoire Trudeau (R) attended the coronation ceremony of King Charles III with her husband, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (Jacob King/PA via AP) Sophie Gregoire Trudeau donned two Canadian designers at the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday. While many eyes were on the newly-inducted King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, fashionistas from around the globe have been dissecting what the esteemed guests wore to the event and our Canadian representation certainly looked the part. Alongside her husband, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the 48-year old beamed in a light pink dress with puffy chiffon sleeves. However, her look is getting some mixed reactions on social media. While many fans love the elegance of her frock, others thought it was too casual. Here's what you need to know about the Montreal-native's latest sartorial selection. Sophie Gregoire Trudeau wore two Canadian designers to the coronation. (Photo via Toby Melville, Pool via AP) What she wore Sophie's show-stopping hat came from The Saucy Milliner in Ottawa. The off-centred and wide-brimmed design featured a white lace veil that stood out against her long brunette locks. The mother-of-three opted for blush pink frock designed by British brand Ted Baker. The dress came with voluminous sheer sleeves, a simple mock neck and a tea-length skirt made from silk. To hold her belongings, Trudeau chose a lilac clutch from Toronto-based designer ela Handbags. The bag, called the Milck Clutch, was part of an earlier collection and features hand cut rose petals. ela Handbags' Instagram story showing Sophie carrying one of their classic clutches. (Photo via Instagram/elahandbags). The Canadian connection Sophie was first pictured with her husband as they made their way to Westminster Abbey. The public speaker is known for paying homage to Canadian designers, and this outfit is no exception. Trudeau chose two Canadian designers to accessorize her look, who are both based in Ontario. Her hat came from The Saucy Milliner in Ottawa, which is known for its handcrafted and heirloom-quality creations. According to the brand's website, milliner Kelly Dunlap "passionately combines professional, traditional hat making techniques, along with the highest quality of luxury, sustainable materials." To accessorize, Sophie went for a playful yet classy clutched designed by ela Handbags. The Toronto-based company, co-founded by Ela & Martin Aldorsson, uses vegan leather and strives for a "high level of craftsmanship." Story continues Sophie Gregoire Trudeau's coronation outfit has fans divided. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage) What other Canadians were there? Over a dozen Canadians were reportedly present at Westminster. They were among the ceremonys more than 2,000 guests, complete with world leaders, aristocrats, community workers and first responders. Flag-bearer and astronaut Jeremy Hansen led the Canadian delegation and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon was also in attendance. Indigenous leaders were also at the event. This included Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Natan Obed and President of the Metis National Council Cassidy Caron. What are people saying? While Sophie looked happy and at ease at the coronation, not everyone was a fan of her outfit. Lisa Tant, a Canadian fashion and beauty expert, called Trudeau's dress "unfortunate." Sophie Trudeau is wearing a hat from The Saucy Milliner in Ottawa & an @elahandbags clutch from Toronto with an unfortunate Ted Baker dress to the #Coronation pic.twitter.com/vq097fi7up Lisa Tant (@LisaTant) May 6, 2023 Another Twitter user admitted they liked the colour of the frock, but "for some reason" it still didn't click with them. Sophie Trudeau I like the colour but the dress just bothers me for some reason. pic.twitter.com/sMzEqGXhPg Sarah Stook (@sarah_stook) May 6, 2023 On the other hand, a different fan loved the look and said that the Canadian couple had "class." The entire outfit! What class @JustinTrudeau and Sophie Trudeau have. Mari - Reports bots and abusive behavior. (@MgtmMoisan) May 6, 2023 Someone else took to Twitter to praise the outfit, and unofficially gave Sophie the award for the "best hat." The award for best hat goes to Sophie Trudeau pic.twitter.com/dALsQPuEXl Tom Chapman (@realTomChapman) May 6, 2023 A different fan was on the fence about Sophie's dress. They loved the sleeves and skirt, but thought the top could have been a bit more fancy. There is something too t-shirt about the top of Sophie Gregoire Trudeau's dress but I adore those sheer sleeves and the swingy skirt is fun and pretty. Justin T is, always, a dreamboat #Coronation pic.twitter.com/3moHVEkYF8 Barbara Combs (@theDreamRabbit) May 6, 2023 Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Max Mumby/Indigo - Getty Images The Royal Family sought to avoid controversy by removing the Kohinoor diamond from the coronation proceedings. However, the choice of replacement jewels are no less controversial. The Cullinan diamond's colonial origins has some South Africans asking for the jewel back It's easy for many to see the May 6 coronation of King Charles III as little more than a fun bit of pomp and circumstance, to write the Royal Family off as figureheads of a bygone, almost-fairytale time. But we're not very far removed from a time where the British Empire was a real, robust, dominating, and inarguably destructive force throughout the world, and those whose ancestry have felt the effects of that Empire don't need to look very far to see the remnants of that colonial cruelty amidst this "kinder, gentler" monarchy. In fact, some of those remnants are going to factor into the forthcoming coronation. "When Buckingham Palace announced in February that Camilla, Queen Consort, would not be crowned with the controversially-= sourced Kohinoor diamond during King Charles IIIs coronation on May 6, some lauded this as a diplomatic gesture," TIME begins its report about the latest controversy to rock King Charles's coronation. That's because the Kohinoor diamond was obtained "via coercion of the 11-year-old emperor of the Sikhs, Maharaja Duleep Singh, in the 19th century." However, the palace chose to replace the Kohinoor diamond with the Cullinan III, IV, and V, which are cut from the equally controversially sourced Cullinan diamond of South African origin. DiamondGalaxy - Getty Images Of the Cullinan, TIME notes that: "The Cullinan, originally 3,100 carats, was mined near the capital city of Pretoria. The gemstone was cut into nine large stones and around 100 smaller ones. The Cullinan I, the largest cut, is a 530-carat diamond known as the Star of Africa, which will be set in the royal scepter that King Charles III will hold at his coronation on Saturday. The Cullinan II, a smaller diamond, is also set in the Imperial State Crown, while the rest of the gems remain part of the crown jewels displayed in the Tower of London." Story continues As for how it found its way into the possession of the Royal Family to begin with, the origins are murky. The diamond was discovered in 1905, when South Africa was still under the brutal colonial rule of the British Empire, "leading some historians to argue that those who gifted the gemstone to King Edward VII in 1907 were never its rightful owners." It was offered up to King Edward VII in the wake of the Second Boer War and the annexation of the Transvaal Republic, likely as a means by which to smooth over relations between the local colonial rulers and the monarchy. Sepia Times - Getty Images In the wake of this renewed attention on the origins of some of the Crown Jewels, some South Africans have decided to speak out. Speaking to Reuters, Mothusi Kamanga, a lawyer and activist in Johannesburg, said that "The diamond needs to come to South Africa. It needs to be a sign of our pride, our heritage and our culture." Kamanga has launched a petition calling for the return of the stone, which has received 8,000 signatures and growing, and says, "I think generally the African people are starting to realise that to decolonise is not just to let people have certain freedoms, but it's also to take back what has been expropriated from us." With mounting public pressure, and the desperate need the royal have for a new PR strategy, perhaps the way forward is to only conduct official royal ceremonies with items they own which were not obtained via coercion, murder, or the cruel hand of colonialism. In other words, King Charles might want to see if he can still get that Burger King crown he was offered. You Might Also Like Here's what you need to know before visiting Congaree National Park. kellyvandellen/Getty Images Congaree National Park in South Carolina is known for its astonishing biodiversity particularly the expanse of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest that is considered to be the largest of its kind in North America. The ancient trees, often called champion trees for their age and size, flourish in Congaree National Parks watery floodplain, which is fueled by the Congaree and Wateree Rivers. The rivers which border the eastern and southern sides of the park feed the myriad creeks that crisscross their way around the park, carrying nutrients and sediments that support the ecosystem. Although the national park contains well over 26,000 acres of relatively untouched backcountry, it is a surprisingly easy 30-minute drive from Columbia, South Carolina, the states capital. And while Congaree National Park is best known for its old-growth forest and waterways, it also has excellent hiking that allows visitors to get lost in the Congaree wilderness. Fishing and rare synchronous fireflies round out some of the parks more famous offerings. Heres a rundown of what you should know about Congaree National Park before you visit. Related: The 25 Best National Parks in the U.S. zrfphoto/Getty Images Things to Do at Congaree National Park The parks waterways, which bring nutrients to the old-growth forest, are also a playground for visitors to Congaree National Park. The Cedar Creek Canoe Trail passes below some of the tallest trees in eastern North America on its 15-mile journey through the wilderness. Experienced paddlers often set their sights on the 50-mile Congaree River Blue Trail, which starts in Columbia and travels downstream through Congaree National Park. Meanwhile, those looking for a low-key day trip can rent a canoe or kayak from an outfitter in Columbia or book a guided paddling tour through the park. For a park that is covered in water, Congaree has a surprising number of trails, many of which run along elevated boardwalks. The Harry Hampton Visitor Center is the trailhead for most routes, and since the park sits in a floodplain, the trails are typically flat. Popular routes include the easy Boardwalk Loop Trail and Kingsnake Trail, which is rated "difficult" and is a favorite among birders. Story continues In the spring, the Firefly Trail is an after-dark favorite, as it leads deep into the forest where a rare species of firefly the synchronous firefly puts on a stunning light show during their spring mating season. Where to Stay The best way to truly experience the wonders of Congaree National Park is to stay overnight within the park. There are no lodges, but there are two campgrounds that offer basic overnight amenities and night skies filled with stars (and maybe even a firefly or two). The Longleaf Campground is right next to the park entrance road, making it a seamless home base for overnight visitors. Longleaf is a walk-up campground, meaning campers will need to park in the parking lot and then carry their gear to one of the 10 individual or four group camping sites. There is no water, but water is available 24 hours a day at the nearby Harry Hampton Visitor Center. Similarly, campers at Bluff Campground will need to either pack in their own water (or refill at the visitor center) and will have to carry their equipment from the car to the campgrounds six individual campsites. All campsites must be reserved in advance through Recreation.gov. Those looking to experience Congarees vast, forested wilderness should consider backcountry camping which involves either a hike or boat ride in. Backcountry camping requires a permit, which is free, but must be requested at least 72 hours in advance via email (sent to cong_information@nps.gov). digidreamgrafix/Getty Images How to Get There For a park that is so wild, Congaree National Park is surprisingly easy to get to. The Harry Hampton Visitor Center is just over 30 minutes by car from the heart of Columbia, under two hours from Charleston, South Carolina, and an hour and a half from Augusta, Georgia. The Harry Hampton Visitor Center acts as the hub for most of the parks activities and is a great place to start your journey through Congaree National Park. When to Visit Congaree National Park The park is open year round and thanks to South Carolinas mild winters, many of the trails and waterways remain open in the middle of winter. That said, its hard to beat a visit in the spring and fall when the temperatures are warm, but not hot or cold, and there are fewer insects. Spring, from March to May, is one of the best times to visit the park, especially if you happen to overlap with the annual synchronous firefly mating season (and manage to snag a pass). The event, which occurs two weeks between mid-May and mid-June each year, is marked by thousands of fireflies that light up in unison. The magical spectacle has become so popular, there is now a lottery to get a pass to view the event. In the fall, from September to November, the temperatures drop from their summertime highs and fall colors begin to arrive. The foliage tends to peak between the end of October and early November, which also happens to be an ideal time to paddle Cedar Creek. For more Travel & Leisure news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Travel & Leisure. A Coral Springs high school student has been arrested in connection with a school shooting threat that sparked panic Friday in several other districts in the state, including Broward and Miami-Dade, police said. The 18-year-old girl is a student at Taravella High School and she allegedly used another students name and their computer access to transmit the threat, police said in a social media post. The girl is facing multiple felonies, according to police. CBS News Miami is not naming the girl because she is a student. The incident sparked a wave of concern among law enforcement, parents, students and staff before several agencies ruled that it was not credible. Doral police posted on Twitter that they were aware of an image circulating on various social media platforms that made a threat for Friday. In collaboration with local agencies, this incident has been investigated and deemed non-credible, they posted. Miami-Dade schools police posted this on Twitter. Doral police said in an abundance of caution they will have an increased presence at schools on Friday. A similar situation is playing out in Broward. In an email to parents, the school district said: Broward County Public Schools is aware of a message being circulated regarding a not credible threat. While the message does not indicate a specific school, all threats are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly in partnership with local law enforcement. Although the threat has been determined not credible, law enforcement continue to investigate the source. The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority; and we encourage everyone, if you see something, say something. The district encouraged parents to remind their children that any threat, even if they think its a joke, is taken seriously. In Florida, a threat made against a school is a second-degree felony. Students also face school disciplinary measures as outlined in the Code Book for Student Conduct, including expulsion. Non-credible threats to schools have been reported by several districts across the state, including Lee and Flagler counties. Miami Herald news partner CBS News Miami produced this report. I went to Lip Lab in New York City to find a new lipstick shade that would best fit my color palette. Carolina Gazal I went to Lip Lab NYC to have a color expert customize the perfect lipstick shade for me. I was surprised that violet-purple hues best suit my skin tone I'm used to wearing nudes. My perfect shade inspired me to wear bolder colors in my makeup and wardrobe. I went to Lip Lab to find my perfect lipstick shade. I usually wear pink and nude lipstick shades. Carolina Gazal Finding the perfect makeup shades to suit my skin tone has been a lifelong journey, and I'm still discovering new ways to enhance my natural features. I tend to keep my makeup basic, sticking to nude and pink tones for my lipstick. If I ever want to spruce things up for a special occasion, I'll wear a darker nude or deeper pink, but my goal is to err on the side of natural. Thanks to online trends like getting your colors professionally analyzed, I've found myself paying more attention to color palettes across fashion and makeup. This led me to wonder if I've been wearing the right lipstick for my skin tone. I was eager to get a shade uniquely tailored for me by color experts at Lip Lab in New York City an in-person space created by makeup brand Bite Beauty. At Lip Lab, I could choose the perfect finish, color, and flavor for my own unique lipstick for $65 or lip balm for $40. Each session includes one-on-one guidance from a color expert who mixes lipstick shades for you, plus the opportunity to name the shade and engrave the case. All custom-lipstick shades created at Lip Lab can be saved and reordered online for $40 ($28 for balms). A Lip Lab appointment takes less than an hour, and I decided to come wearing natural makeup. I decided to wear a more natural makeup look for my appointment. Carolina Gazal Lip Lab has locations across the US and Canada, including LA, Las Vegas, and Toronto, and even offers virtual appointments available through its website. Before I headed to my in-person appointment in NYC, I put on some natural makeup in nude tones and it pained me to leave my apartment without lipstick. Although it wasn't strictly necessary, I wanted to make sure the color expert wasn't distracted by any bold colors or shades. Story continues There are so many choices to make when customizing a lipstick at Lip Lab. Lip Lab was created by Bite Beauty. Carolina Gazal When I walked into the lipstick haven, I was greeted by jars of paints in every color and was overwhelmed by all the possibilities. Before we started, I mentioned to the color expert that my lips are always chapped, and I was worried that reapplying lipstick throughout the appointment would make them look crusty. I started the appointment by using a scrub to prep my lips. I used a lip scrub before testing out the shades. Carolina Gazal Because of my chapped lips, the expert suggested we start with a scrub a delicious vegan exfoliator made with agave and vanilla. I decided I wanted to create a lipstick with a sheer finish. I could choose between satin, matte, and sheer finishes. Carolina Gazal While creating my lipstick, I got to choose between different finishes like satin, matte, and sheer. The expert suggested sticking to sheer, which would hydrate my lips more. I agreed after testing out the sheer finish my lips had never felt softer. The expert also explained that the lipsticks are mostly made out of natural ingredients like jojoba oil, cocoa butter, and beeswax. I used a guide to help me decide on my lipstick's shade. The guide was a big help while customizing my lipstick. Carolina Gazal I mentioned that I tend to gravitate toward nude tones, which I've always felt complimented my eyes, skin tone, and hair color. I was impressed by how receptive the color expert was to my penchants, making me even more excited about this process. After looking at a brochure to guide me through the customization process, we decided to start with a shade my eyes were instantly drawn to a soft nude. The expert got to work mixing my nude shade. The Lip Lab employee did all the color mixing for me. Carolina Gazal The color expert mixed sheer almond, sheer cashew, and sheer nutmeg colors together with a spatula to create the first lipstick shade. The first attempt was too close to my natural lips. I felt like the nude color washed me out. Carolina Gazal Although I loved how natural and glossy the first lipstick was, the color expert thought the shade was too similar to my natural lip color. She was right after blotting my lips, it hardly looked like I was wearing anything. The nude color washed me out a little, especially under the bright lights at Lip Lab. This eureka moment definitely made me reconsider nude outfit choices and paler lip tones for the future. We had to try again and take a closer look at my colors. The color expert suggested adding a purple hue. Carolina Gazal The expert suggested going for softer colors, adding a violet shade to the nude mix. This shocked me because I've shied away from purple tones my whole life. She explained how some purple hues could complement my warmer skin tone, which was a total revelation to me. I always assumed purple would bring out my blotchy spots, dark under eyes, and scars. I hadn't thought about trying different shades or tones of it. She added a heaping dollop of sheer hard cider to the mix, which she described as an "orchid-like brown tone." Adding purple tones to the nude lipstick was a total game-changer. I was surprised by how much I liked the new shade. Carolina Gazal When I tried on the new shade, I couldn't believe how much I loved the purple addition to the lipstick concoction. The orchid tone amped up the contrast to my makeup look, which I didn't realize I needed. Since my lip shade had a sheer, buildable finish, I also attempted to blot some on my cheekbones. It ended up being the perfect blush for my overall look. I decided to add pomegranate flavoring. I had to wait for the lipstick to dry in the molding. Carolina Gazal I had the option to choose one of four flavors: vanilla, pomegranate, mango, and mint. I decided to infuse my lipstick with pomegranate flavoring. Once we finalized the shade and flavor, the expert mixed it and poured it into the lipstick mold. Lip Lab uses a laser to engrave the lipstick casings. I got to see the laser engrave my lipstick case. Carolina Gazal While we waited for the lipstick to dry in the mold, we walked over to a laser that would engrave my lipstick case. I got to come up with a name for my shade and choose a symbol from the brochure. I named my lipstick Pomegranate Pout. I chose a bright, red lipstick casing. Carolina Gazal There were a handful of casings to choose from, including red, gold, silver, and pink. In honor of my bold lipstick, I named my shade Pomegranate Pout and decided on a daring, red casing. I'll definitely be adding more violet tones to my makeup and wardrobe. I'm excited to add more purple hues to my everyday looks. Carolina Gazal Finding out that purple could work on me so well made this experience worth every penny. I've always been inclined to wear basic tones nudes for my makeup and black or white for my wardrobe. But my trip to Lip Lab opened my eyes to color palettes I'd been completely avoiding. Although it'll take some getting used to, this realization made me consider sprinkling violet into my outfit choices, too. I'd definitely recommend this experience for a fun self-care day alone or with friends. Read the original article on Insider Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty A clinical trial run by Stanford Medicine to study the use of Paxlovid to fight long COVID was rocked last week, when it was revealed that staff stopped masking around them. Multiple patients took to social media to say they had left the study as a result. Masking is no longer mandated by the California Department of Public Health and Santa Clara County Public Health, where the trial was held. Nonetheless, patients expected clinical trial staff to continue masking around to reduce the chances of reinfection, or exposure to other infectious diseases. I knew that mask mandates were dropped, but I naively assumed that staff interacting with long COVID patients would still wear masks, Olivia H., a patient in the trial who requested her full last name be withheld for privacy reasons, told The Daily Beast. I was really disappointed when the research assistant and nurse entered my room without a mask on. The walkout of the patients was first revealed on a Reddit post dated April 28, by a user whose wife was part of the trial (the husband confirmed the story directly with The Daily Beast). A second participant confirmed to The Daily Beast via Twitter they had left the trial because of unmasked staff. A third person on Reddit claimed they had also dropped out of a Stanford clinical trial because of fears over masking, though they did not confirm whether they belonged to the Paxlovid trial. Attempts to interview the participants were unsuccessful. We May Be Able to Prevent This Terrifying Long COVID Symptom When reached by The Daily Beast, Stanford Medicine would only confirm that one patient in the Paxlovid trial pulled their participation due to masking concerns. Its frankly abhorrent, selfish behavior, and not only does it demonstrate a complete lack of regard and understanding for the illness in question, the Reddit user wrote. Weve been traveling hundreds of miles for months in order to try to participate in their study and provide them with data about the illness, and this is what they think of us. Story continues More than 16 million Americans have developed long COVID since 2019. Symptoms, which can last for months or even years, can include chronic fatigue and exhaustion, light sensitivity, susceptibility to further infection, issues with organs like the lungs and stomach, and cognitive impairment. Scientists are still trying to unravel how long COVID manifests, and there are currently no cures or breakthrough treatments. The Stanford clinical trial is just the one of many looking for some kind of hope. Paxlovidan antiviral medication consisting of nirmatrelvir and ritonavirwas effective in preventing mild COVID infections from evolving into severe disease that would require hospitalization. What Medicine Keeps Getting Wrong About Long COVIDand How to Fix It For the trial, researchers recruited 200 people with long COVID and prescribed each with a 15-day course of Paxlovid or placebo, followed by check ups over the course of 15 weeks to measure changes in symptoms. When participants began the trial, the medical staff regularly wore masks per requirements. On April 3, however, the mandate was dropped. Participants in the study became alarmed in recent weeks as support staff assisting the trial have stopped wearing them, leaving many to feel betrayed. Though alarmed, Olivia H. didnt walk off from the trial since her final study visit was April 24. But the lack of protections for other participants have undermined her trust in the medical staff and researchers behind the study. I would expect that all staff involved in the trial would understand that long COVID patients are fundamentally immunocompromised, and they would take necessary steps to protect what little health we have left from further deteriorating, she said. Previous studies have suggested that repeated COVID infections can lead to worsened health conditions, including organ failure and increased risk for hospitalization and death. The lead investigators of the trial, Linda Geng and Upinder Singh, did not respond to requests for interviews or comment. When reached by The Daily Beast, Lisa Kim, senior manager of media relations at Stanford Medicine, provided the statement: Across all of our Stanford Medicine clinical facilities, the safety of our patients, families and staff continues to be our highest priority. In accordance with the California Department of Public Health and Santa Clara County Public Health, wearing masks in all clinical settings is no longer mandated, but recommended. We continue to recommend and support masking and make masks available for health care workers, patients and visitors at our care facilities. Kim did not answer specific questions about whether patients were informed beforehand that clinical trial staff may not be masking, safety concerns of COVID-19 reinfection, or the future of the trial. COVID Is No Longer a Global Health Emergency, WHO Declares So far, Stanfords response has not left patients feeling confident that their concerns are being taken seriouslyat a time when long COVID isnt fully understood and sometimes even dismissed by doctors and members of the public. In a tweet posted April 30, Stanford Medicine oncologist Jeffrey Bien mocked the safety concerns of the patients who walked off on April 30, writing, Be careful or youll upset the super secret ultra-double-long-Covid community. (Bien did not respond to a request for comment.)) There were already signs that the staff and Stanford Medicine were ready to unmask: One pediatric infectious disease expert at Stanford, Yvonne Moldanado celebrated the lifting of mask mandates in a presentation to medical colleagues on April 13. Still, its especially notable to see unmasking around patients who are being specifically attended to for long COVID. If researchers dont care enough about patient safety to implement the simplest of COVID-19 mitigation measures, like wearing a mask around patients, why should patients trust the rest of the trial is safe? Lauren Stiles, a neurologist at Stony Brook University School of Medicine and president of advocacy organization Dysautonomia International, told The Daily Beast. She added that patients are hesitant to raise safety concerns during these trials publicly for fear of losing access to medical care. Stiles is also a patient representative for NIH RECOVER, another group of long COVID clinical trials run by the National Institutes of Health. I dont know if RECOVER will require masking for study personnel interacting with long COVID patients, but we have asked for this, as have other patient advocacy organizations, Stiles said. Even if researchers dont care about protecting their staff, they should care about protecting their patients and not muddying their trial data with new infections in the middle of a trial. Long COVID has strained family and romantic relationships and left up to four million Americans unable to return to work full-time. Many patients hope that clinical trials like the Paxlovid one could provide a desperately needed solution. But they dont want to risk reinfection. I was (and still am) severely ill, and was excited to enroll in the trial as it would provide me with the chance to ease or eliminate some of my symptoms and participate in a trial that millions of long COVID sufferers are hopeful about, Olivia H. said. To me it almost seems logical, that long COVID patients in a long COVID trial need to be protected from the virus that triggered their illness in the first place. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here 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. Democrats are turning their energy to state supreme court elections in 2024 as battles over abortion, gerrymandering and other key issues go before state judges. The party scored a key victory in Wisconsin last month, flipping the high courts conservative majority for the first time in 15 years before its expected to consider a contested abortion ban. At the same time, the GOP-controlled Supreme Court in North Carolina dealt Democrats a major blow last week in overturning previous voting maps. Both their wins and setbacks at the high court have underscored the importance for Democrats to elect liberal-leaning justices. Heading into 2024, more than 30 states will hold elections for their states top courts. Certainly, this third branch of government is getting a lot of attention with the understanding that they have just as much public policy power as state legislatures and state executive officers, said Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history at Catawba College. The once-sleepy affair of a judicial election has only grown in attention and price tag, and the U.S. Supreme Courts decisions on issues like gerrymandering and abortion add to the increasing importance of state legislatures. This is part of a general pattern in which as the U.S. Supreme Court increasingly dilutes its protections of what were once considered fundamental rights, the fights over the meaning of those rights shifts to state courts as well as state legislatures, said Howard Schweber, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In states where one party or the other is entirely in control, this may not be hugely disruptive. But in contested battleground states like Wisconsin, constitutional politics has gone from a matter of interest primarily to political scientists to the driving force in elections, he added. The high court ruled in 2019 that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts, making state courts the frontlines. Story continues State judges have since tossed Republican and Democratic-drawn maps in places like Maryland, New York, and Ohio, finding they violated state constitutions. In North Carolina, a recent gerrymandering case put the impact of court control on full display. The North Carolina Supreme Courts previous Democratic majority struck down GOP-drawn voting maps as a political gerrymander. But after Republicans retook control of the court in the midterms, they granted a rare rehearing of the case. Last week, the court along partisan lines voted to side with state GOP lawmakers and overrule the earlier decision. The new Republican majority simultaneously handed down separate conservative victories on election issues by reinstating laws that require voter ID and prohibit certain felons from voting. Make no mistake, the only real difference now is the makeup of the court, which enables the Republican majority in Raleigh to gerrymander our maps without repercussion and trample over the rights of voters across our state, Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.), who represents a swing district, said after the decision. But Republicans saw the previous makeup of the North Carolina Supreme Court as out of touch with the voting electorate. I think North Carolina should be seen as kind of a cautionary tale for other states where voters arent looking for activist courts. They want courts to preserve precedent, and they want courts to not go wild off the rails, and I think what you saw in North Carolina is the court that went way too far left for the state, said Adam Kincaid, president and executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust (NRRT). On abortion, the Supreme Courts decision last summer to overturn federal abortion protections similarly led to a flood of litigation in state courts. Anti-abortion and abortion-rights groups are battling over states pre-Roe laws and whether state constitutions guarantee a right to abortion. Taken together, the Supreme Courts decisions have placed increasing importance on the state supreme court elections and upping the stakes on consequential issues. I think that the damage done by the U.S. Supreme Court in taking up a case to address Roe v. Wade being Dobbs is pretty far-reaching. And Im not sure that folks have fully appreciated the leeway that they may have given state supreme courts that now seemingly in some capacity, feel comfortable addressing extremely complete arguments and using only a shift in political dynamic and personnel to make those changes, said John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC). Next year, 80 seats on state supreme courts are up for election. Some candidates officially run as a partys nominee, while some are technically nonpartisan. Others are retention elections, where voters decide if an incumbent judge should remain in office. Amid an increasingly politically polarized landscape, state court races have become more expensive. About $97 million was spent on the contests in the 2020 election, the most ever recorded, according to the Brennan Center. Political organizations on both sides of the aisle have bolstered their support for court races in recent years. In the Wisconsin Supreme Court election decided last month, one analysis suggested the price tag for the race was more than $45 million. The liberal justice who won the state Supreme Court race Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz raised eyebrows for notably stating her stances on key issues like abortion and redistricting. But some Democrats suggest candidates may need to start using that playbook to notch key judicial wins. I do think the Democrats are going to have to think about more explicit messaging as Wisconsin is maybe the example, said Pope Mac McCorkle, a professor at Duke Universitys Sanford School of Public Policy and a former Democratic political consultant in North Carolina. I think the Democrats have not had a strong message and unfortunately even though I personally sympathize with this message the message that you want judges who are going to make nonpartisan decisions, take the cases on, try to follow precedent, trying to follow legal reasoning rather than political reasoning does not seem to capture the publics imagination, he said. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Several state legislatures have approved or considered bills to restrict the foreign ownership of agricultural land in the United States. Several state legislatures have approved or considered bills to restrict the foreign ownership of agricultural land in the United States. Chinas emergence as the United States new Cold War-style global rival has spilled over into the state legislatures and Congress in the form of restrictions on who can own U.S. farmland. Florida on Thursday became the latest state to pass a law restricting land purchases by foreign nationals or officials of certain countries, including China. While the bill applies to more than agricultural land and prohibits purchases near critical infrastructure and military installations, proponents have cited the need to protect farmland as a major rationale for the bills. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely presidential candidate, accused China of gobbling up land in January. That is not in the best interests of Florida to have the Chinese Communist Party owning farmland, owning land close to military bases, DeSantis said. But data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show holdings by Chinese investors and partners make up a minuscule amount of foreign-owned farmland and even less of total U.S. agricultural land. That is not in the best interests of Florida to have the Chinese Communist Party owning farmland, owning land close to military bases.Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) According to the USDAs Farm Service Agency, foreigners held only 3.1% of American agricultural land at the end of 2021, the latest data available. Of that foreign-owned land, Canada-linked investors accounted for almost a third, 31%, while those connected with China made up only 0.96% or 383,935 acres. Thats roughly 0.03% of all of the farmland in the United States. In 2020, the Chinese proportion of foreign-held ag land was 0.94%, and in 2011, 0.27%, according to HuffPost calculations based on USDA data. Theyre a fraction of U.S. farmland, said Daniel Griswold, an adjunct scholar with the libertarian Cato Institute specializing in trade and immigration policy. Story continues That hasnt stopped lawmakers at the state and federal level from proposing restrictions ranging from stopping foreign companies from buying land to, as critics said the Florida bill would do, discriminating against Chinese Americans by prohibiting them from buying land if they are domiciled in China and not a U.S. citizen or lawful resident. At a committee hearing in April, Jingrong Liu, a business owner, said the bill recalled the incarceration of Japanese Americans in World War II. I will live in terror if something happened between China and the U.S., he said. What will happen to us? Theyre a fraction of U.S. farmland.Daniel Griswold, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute In Texas, the state Senate in April passed a bill banning companies and governmental entities headquartered in China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from buying property in the state. In Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, signed a bill banning Chinese companies with ties to the military from buying land in the state. Overall, about 18 states have restrictions on the books for foreign ownership of farmland in their states, and a majority of states were poised to consider new or tighter laws in 2023, according to the National Agricultural Law Center. This is an issue that kind of blows hot and cold over the years. It just seems to be very hot right now, Griswold said. The problem is they are taking a sledgehammer after a problem that requires a few nails and a hammer. For Asian Americans, the appetite for such laws, often bipartisan, is worrisome, coming after being singled out for violence in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and carrying echoes of the discriminatory alien land laws that kept them from owning land in the 19th century. At the federal level, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), for example, called his bill restricting purchases of any kind of real estate by Chinese companies and citizens the Not One More Inch Act. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), left, and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), right, were among the leaders of the caucus group signing a statement against land ownership bans based on nationality. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), left, and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), right, were among the leaders of the caucus group signing a statement against land ownership bans based on nationality. What alarms us is the impact of anti-China fearmongering on Chinese immigrant communities and the erection of unfair barriers to their pursuit of the American Dream solely because of their country of origin, the leadership of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus said in February. We speak out now as we have seen policies like this before in our nations history. Such policies targeted at individual citizens echo xenophobic alien land laws targeting Asian immigrants in the 1800s when anti-Chinese sentiment culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, or during World War II when tensions with Japan led to the stripping of land ownership rights from Japanese immigrants and the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans. Some ban advocates point to national security concerns. That fear was heightened in the wake of the Chinese spy balloon incident earlier this year and a proposal by a Chinese company in 2022 to buy land for a corn milling plant near Grand Forks Air Base in North Dakota. The sale ultimately was stopped by the Grand Forks city council. But Griswold and others say those concerns can be dealt with either by using the current review process triggered by sensitive foreign investments or purchases of real estate, the multi-agency Council on Foreign Investment in the United States, or tweaking that process slightly. We speak out now as we have seen policies like this before in our nations history.statement from the leaders of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), in addition to proposing a bill restricting ag land buys from most Chinese, Russian, North Korean and Iranian nationals, has advocated for adding the Agriculture Department to the CFIUS group. On Friday, The Associated Press reported the Treasury Department, one of the CFIUS agencies, was set to propose a rule requiring government approval for any foreign citizens and companies to buy land within 100 miles of eight military installations across the country. Ultimately, though, theres no national security or economic rationale for blanket bans of foreign ownership, according to Griswold. But there is another explanation for the heightened interest in them. Unfortunately, xenophobia is kind of simmering below the surface throughout a lot of American history. Sometimes it bubbles up, he said. I think theres an element of that here. Related... The Writers Guild of America officially began a strike on Tuesday, halting many productions across the country. The unanimous call to strike comes after a six-week negotiation with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount, and Sony. WGA said the companies business practices slashed their compensation and undermined their working conditions. The last writers strike came in 2007, before the rise of streaming services. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Charles Bowen, the founder of the Savannah Film Alliance, says the strike could be catastrophic for the Georgia film industry. Last year, 412 productions were filmed in Georgia, including movies, television shows and commercials. Stranger Things, one of Netflixs most streamed shows of all time, has filmed each of its first four seasons in Georgia, and was set to film its upcoming fifth and final season in metro Atlanta. RELATED STORIES: On Saturday, series showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer, collectively known as The Duffer Brothers, announced they would not begin filming until the writers strike comes to an end. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then -- over and out, the brothers tweeted. Duffers here. Writing does not stop when filming begins. While were excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then -- over and out. #wgastrong stranger writers (@strangerwriters) May 6, 2023 Cobra Kai, another Netflix series, began filming its sixth season in Georgia on April 28. Story continues Showrunner Jon Hurwitz confirmed just hours after the strike began, and just days after beginning production, that it was pencils down in the Cobra Kai writers room. We hate to strike, but if we must, we strike hard. Pencils down in the Cobra Kai writers room. No writers on set. These aren't fun times, but it's unfortunately necessary. The moment a fair deal is in place, we'll get back to kicking ass. In the meantime, sending strength and https://t.co/99UulF7HeW Jon Hurwitz (@jonhurwitz) May 2, 2023 The Georgia Film Commission says there are currently 34 film and TV projects being filmed in Georgia. Many of those shows, like TLCs 7 Little Johnstons and VH1s Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, are unscripted, meaning they are likely less affected than other shows. It is unclear how many productions are being halted across the state. There is currently no timeline for the end of the writers strike. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] A Logan High School student was arrested in connection to authorities finding a suspicious object resembling a pipe bomb on school grounds Wednesday. >> TRENDING: 2 reportedly ejected from vehicle during Englewood crash The Logan-Hocking School District found a suspicious device Wednesday morning, just before 11 a.m., causing local law enforcement agentsfrom both the city and school campusto react, a spokesperson from the school district stated. The Logan Police Department, Hocking County Sheriffs Office, Logan Fire Department, and Ohio State Highway Patrol were alerted when an unknown person pulled a fire alarm while students were protesting. During a search of the campus, emergency responders found a package in the restroom that resembled an explosive device. Crews were able to later determine that the device was fake. Investigators collected camera footage and conducted interviews to determine any leads on suspects, a spokesperson for the Logan Police Department said. During the investigation, police obtained an arrest warrant for a juvenile male who was a student at the high school. The student was arrested a day after the incident, on Thursday, and taken to the Multi-County Juvenile Detention Center. He was charged with inducing panic and unlawful possession or use of a hoax weapon of mass destruction, both fourth degree felonies, public records showed. The Logan-Hocking School District suspended classes and attendance for two days, Thursday and Friday, while investigators collected evidence throughout the school campus, the school districts spokesperson said. Although the school wants to support their students desire to make their voices heard and to assemble peacefully, the district denounced any forms of protest that created safety and liability concerns, the districts spokesperson said. We are reviewing footage of the protest this week and plan to discipline students who were breaking the student code of conduct, displaying disrespectful behavior or acting in an unsafe manner, the spokesperson said. Story continues However, the district did reassure students that anyone who protested peacefully would face no disciplinary actions for this event. Moving forward, students wishing to use school facilities to engage in peaceful protests or other assembly as a group to express ideas or opinions may permissibly do so as approved by the administration before the beginning of the school day or after the end of the school day, or at any other time when school buildings are not in use for school purposes, per our student conduct policies, the spokesperson informed. Any student who fails to attend class or who walks out of class for any reason can face discipline per our normal attendance policies. In addition, students may face discipline if they cause disruption of school operations, the spokesperson continued. An undated image provided by the National Park Service shows an unsigned watercolor painting depicting a hospital and cemetery on an island in the Dry Tortugas. (National Park Service via The New York Times) Joshua Marano was flying over the Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 2016 when he noticed a strange pattern in the water. Marano, a maritime archaeologist with the National Park Service, consulted some old nautical charts, expecting he might find the ruins of a lighthouse or beacon. Instead, he found a whole island. The island, about 70 miles west of Key West, Florida, had long since been submerged and eroded by rising tides and storms. But Maranos research revealed that it had once held a quarantine hospital and cemetery for those stationed at Fort Jefferson, a Civil War-era military fortress in the Dry Tortugas National Park. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times There was dry land here at one point. There was a structure on that island at one point, Marano said in an interview. When did it disappear? About 200 years ago, 11 islands made up the Dry Tortugas National Park. Today, there are just six. The changes are a combination of natural processes, as well as the effects of climate change. It was not until August, six years after his initial discovery, that Marano and some of his students at the University of Miami, where he is an adjunct lecturer, as well as other colleagues, were finally able to survey the site. Wearing snorkels and fins, they swam in straight lines, he said, searching for remnants of life. The very first thing we came across was a single post, Marano said. Basically like a pipe sticking out of the sand. Nothing around it. Nothing else nearby. But then, he said, we find another, and then we find another one, and then we find another. The spacing of the posts matched measurements of the hospital in public records he researched after seeing the strange pattern in the Gulf of Mexico. This is a pretty good bet, he said, that this is that building. Nearby, one of Maranos students, Devon Fogarty, swam up to a slab of sandstone that was covered in algae and sand. But there was one clean spot where there appeared to be an inscription. Then they realized: It was a gravestone. I didnt believe it, Fogarty said in an interview, noting that records showed people had been buried at the Dry Tortugas, but that she had never expected to find a gravesite so well preserved. It felt like it shouldnt be happening. Story continues The next day, the archaeologists returned with their brushes, clipboards and Mylar (polyester film you can write on underwater), determined to decipher the inscription of the watery grave. They made a rubbing. It was illegible. Then, they dribbled sand over the lettering. As if by magic, the sand settled into the carving. It read: JOHN GREER. Nov. 5. 1861. Despite its representation in popular culture, marine archaeology is rarely as exciting as Scooby Doo plucking a zombie in a deep-sea diving suit from the ocean, or the plot of the 1985 film The Goonies, in which a group of young misfits find treasure in a ship after discovering an ancient pirate map. But an intact grave marker? It comes close, Marano said. To have a smoking gun like that, its just its a once in a million chance. Hans Van Tilburg, a maritime archaeologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who was not involved in the survey, described the finding as fantastically interesting. Shipwrecks, Van Tilburg added, tend to get all the attention, but there are all kinds of underwater sites, he said, that have great information about the past. During the American Civil War, Fort Jefferson was used as a military prison. The islands surrounding it housed not only prisoners and military personnel but also enslaved people, laborers and their families. Outbreaks of mosquito-borne yellow fever killed dozens of people during the 1860s and 1870s on the island, according to the National Park Service. Further research revealed that Greer had worked as a laborer at the fort, and that the slab on his grave was made from greywacke, the same material used in its construction. He never picked up his final paycheck, nor is there any record of him having been in the hospital, suggesting he may have died a somewhat sudden, violent death. Dozens of other people were interred at the cemetery, according to historical documents, which also showed that the quarantine hospital had been used to treat yellow fever patients between 1890 and 1900. For now, the archaeologists plan to leave Greers grave undisturbed. Nor will they reveal the exact location of the site, as is common practice. In the Florida Keys, were in the birthplace of modern treasure hunting, Marano said, adding that there was a common misconception that things found in the water fell under the rule of finders keepers, but that in fact, such artifacts belong to the public and are well protected by federal law. A lot of times we want to leave it in place, he added, because its going to be better protected. Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser, a marine biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who was not involved in the survey but has studied the connection between underwater sites and marine biodiversity, said that leaving human artifacts in place was also likely better for any marine wildlife. It was not supposed to be there in the first place, she said of the relics. But after a certain amount of time, any man-made object turns into a habitat. Van Tilburg, the NOAA archaeologist, said that his field was just beginning to comprehend the impacts of climate change on the cultural heritage of the marine environment, but that those in shallow environments, like the Dry Tortugas site, were likely to be the most at risk from storms and other ocean changes. Still, he said, where possible, the gold standard was to leave things where they are. Things that are submerged, he said, have a story to tell. c.2023 The New York Times Company Khartoum has become a war zone, witnessing intense street battles involving artillery barrages, gunfights, air strikes and anti-aircraft fire As Sudan's warring generals have repeatedly failed to honour multiple agreed ceasefires, experts warn of protracted fighting, despite both sides preparing to meet in Saudi Arabia for direct talks. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), were once allies but have for weeks been locked in deadly fighting to secure power. The contest for Khartoum, the capital that is home to five million people, has descended into gruelling urban warfare with a high toll on civilian life. "The battle for Khartoum is quickly developing into a war of attrition where both sides have similar capabilities and capacities," said Andreas Krieg of King's College London. The city has become a war zone, witnessing intense street battles involving artillery barrages, gunfights, air strikes and anti-aircraft fire. Since fighting began on April 15, hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands wounded, with hundreds of thousands forced to flee the violence. Both sides have claimed advances on the other's bases and control over key facilities across Sudan. Most claims could not be independently verified. Multiple agreed truces have quickly been broken as both factions blame the other for violating the ceasefires. Following repeated international appeals for calm, the United States and Saudi Arabia announced direct talks between the army and RSF would open Saturday in Jeddah. In the days following the outbreak of hostilities, foreign countries rushed to evacuate their nationals. New York-based Soufan Center warned that with most foreigners gone or looking to leave, the two rivals may be "preparing for a no-holds-barred fight for control of the country". - No 'knockout blow' The warring parties both seek to project an image of might and superior firepower, although verifying exact troop numbers on either side is not possible. Sudan's army has about 100,000 soldiers, making it among the largest in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Story continues The Britain-based research body estimates the RSF has 40,000 fighters, while other observers say the paramilitaries number 100,000. However, clearly both factions have been able to acquire arms despite Sudan being subject to decades of punishing US-imposed sanctions, established during former autocrat Omar al-Bashir's rule. Experts agree Burhan's military enjoys the advantage of air supremacy. But in Khartoum, the benefits are restricted as they "can't just carpet bomb the city because there are civilians... and both sides have their own ground forces there," said Krieg. Aly Verjee, Sudan researcher at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said the army's air power has yet to provide "the knockout blow" it had "hoped for". "Effective targeting requires good intelligence from the ground," he said. Witnesses in Khartoum have observed RSF fighters often taking up positions in residential streets, with soldiers hiding camouflaged trucks under trees. According to Krieg, the group's "more direct chains of command" compared with the army, along with well-practised guerrilla tactics, make them "more agile" and pose a challenge to the military. "In an urban environment RSF has a competitive advantage just by the way they are set up," he said. Agility may be key to victory in greater Khartoum, which is spread over 1,000 square kilometres (390 square miles). "There is not one battle for Khartoum, but several," said Verjee. "There are different theatres of conflict within Khartoum: if one side seizes ground in Omdurman it does not necessarily help it advance in Bahri (Khartoum North), for instance." As a result, "it is to be expected that this will drag out", Krieg said. - Gold rush - Witnesses say that once the RSF controls an area of Khartoum, it establishes checkpoints and shelters in residential buildings, while army positions have so far been comparatively less visible. RSF propaganda videos have shown its levels of training and discipline "varies considerably", Verjee said. "Classical military training ensures everyone does everything the same way," he said, but "being a bit inconsistent doesn't mean the RSF don't have effective fighters." The factions also have respective external backers. According to Krieg, Egypt has long-standing ties with Sudan's army, while the Saudis maintain a "balanced approach" to both. The United Arab Emirates, a key Saudi and US ally, has "pivoted in favour of" Daglo, he added. Russian mercenary group Wagner, which the US says has access to Sudan's gold mines, "has been very instrumental" over the years for both the army and the RSF, said Krieg. But, having grown wealthy from lucrative RSF-controlled Sudanese gold mines, Daglo has built a support network through Wagner and the UAE. "If Wagner had to make a choice", Krieg said, it would be Daglo, whose gold activities have been "instrumental" for the Russian mercenaries. Wagner's reliance on the UAE to sell its gold "to the open market", ensuring it does not rely on Russian state funding, according to Krieg, gives Daglo "a competitive advantage". bur/ami/noc/dv The fighting has been particularly fierce in the capital, Khartoum Representatives from Sudan's warring armies have arrived in Saudi Arabia for their first face-to-face negotiations. The "pre-negotiation talks" between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were due to start on Saturday in Jeddah. They are sponsored by the US and Saudi Arabia. Several ceasefires have broken down since the fighting began weeks ago. Both sides have said they will discuss a humanitarian truce but not an end to the conflict. There has been no word so far about whether the meeting has taken place or who the representatives from both sides are. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan welcomed the representatives from both parties. He said he hoped the talks would "lead to the end of the conflict and the return of security and stability to the Republic of Sudan". Gen Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the RSF, said on Twitter that the group appreciated all efforts to establish a ceasefire and provide the Sudanese people with aid. He also insisted the RSF was committed to "the transition to a civilian-led government". Gen Daglo, better known as Hemedti, is engaged in a bitter power struggle with Sudan's army commander, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan - the country's de facto president. Saturday's talks come amid reports of continuing clashes in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Hundreds of people have been killed and nearly 450,000 civilians displaced since the fighting began. Of that total, the International Organization for Migration says, more than 115,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. A joint US-Saudi statement urged "both parties to take in consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks towards a ceasefire and end to the conflict". Story continues A spokesman for UN children's agency, James Elder, said the conflict's first 11 days alone had killed an estimated 190 children and wounded 1,700 - and those figures were just from health facilities in Khartoum and Darfur. "The reality is likely to be much worse," he said. The intensity of the fighting has prevented much-needed aid deliveries getting through. So far Gen Burhan and Hemedti, who led an Arab militia in the brutal Darfur conflict, have shown little readiness to reach a peace settlement. The high-stakes negotiations to increase the debt ceiling before the country defaults on its debt, as well as the upcoming expiration of Title 42, are likely to dominate the Sunday talk show circuit this weekend. Lawmakers have until June, just under four weeks, to raise the debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday. As early as June 1, the U.S. will have exhausted the extraordinary measures currently in place and will no longer be able to pay all of its outstanding obligations, she explained. Yellen, who is set to join ABCs This Week on Sunday, had previously placed the drop-dead date in early June but adjusted it earlier in the face of recent tax revenues. Hours after Yellens announcement, President Biden invited Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other congressional leaders to a meeting at the White House next week to discuss the debt ceiling. Biden and McCarthy have so far remained at an impasse on negotiations, as the president insists on a clean debt ceiling increase and the House GOP maintains that a debt limit increase must be accompanied by spending cuts. Amid the partisan logjam, House Democrats unveiled a plan on Tuesday that would allow them to bring alternate legislation to the floor without McCarthys approval. Using an obscure mechanism known as a discharge petition, members can force action on a bill if it receives the backing of a majority in the chamber. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who will be joining NBCs Meet the Press this weekend, outlined the strategy to his fellow Democrats in a letter on Tuesday. A dangerous default is not an option, Jeffries wrote. Making sure that America pays its bills and not the extreme ransom note demanded by Republicans is the only responsible course of action. Biden will sit down with McCarthy and Jeffries, as well as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), on Tuesday. Story continues McConnell, who has mostly stayed out of the debt ceiling debate, has reportedly signed onto a letter to Schumer vowing not to back any bill that raises the debt ceiling without substantive spending and budget reforms. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who is leading the effort on the letter, will make an appearance on Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures this weekend. The upcoming expiration of Title 42 will likely also be a topic of discussion on the Sunday shows. The federal rule, which allows for the rapid expulsion of asylum seekers, is set to expire on Thursday as the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration officially ends. In anticipation of an expected surge in migrants, the Biden administration is temporarily deploying 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Ive asked this Congress for help in terms of what they need at the border, Biden said of his decision in an interview on Friday. They need more agents. They need more people to clear people. They need more action. He also emphasized that the troops will be there to free up the border agents that need to be on the border, not to enforce the law. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced a bipartisan bill on Thursday to extend Bidens authority to expel migrants without any tie to a public health emergency, as is required by Title 42. Everyone here in Arizona knows we are not prepared, Sinema told CBS Margaret Brennan in an interview for this weekends Face the Nation. The Biden administration had two years to prepare for this and did not do so, she added. And our state is going to bear the brunt. And migrants will be in crisis as soon as next week. It will be a humanitarian crisis because we are not prepared. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has faced heavy criticism over his handling of the border, will also make an appearance on CBS Face the Nation. Mayorkas emphasized during a visit to the southern border this week that the Biden administration is prepared for the end of Title 42. The border is not open, it has not been open and it will not be open subsequent to May 11, Mayorkas said, according to NBC News. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), a frequent critic of the Biden administrations border policies, will also join Fox News Sunday this weekend. Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this weeks Sunday talk shows: ABCs This Week Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen; Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) NBCs Meet the Press Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.); former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican presidential candidate CBS Face the Nation Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.); Gov. Roy Cooper (D-N.C.); Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) CNNs State of the Union Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.); Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), Jim Himes (D-Conn.) and Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) Fox News Sunday Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas); Reps. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas); Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah); Stephen Miller, former White House senior advisor and president of America First Legal For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Special Operations Forces have posted new videos from the burning city of Bakhmut, in which Russia allegedly used phosphorus ammunition. Source: Special Operations Forces Quote: "We have survived! Revenge is just around the corner! Images of the night shelling of Bakhmut with phosphorus munitions." Details: The Special Operations Forces insist that the Russians used banned phosphorus munitions in Bakhmut. So far, there is no evidence of whether it is phosphorous or incendiary ammunition. For reference: Military experts and investigators note that Ukraine and Russia are not armed with phosphorus ammunition. But it can be incendiary ammunition, which is also prohibited; they cannot be used in cities or near them. Incendiary ammunition may be used against military facilities only if they are remote from civilian ones. Such ammunition creates mass fires using flammable, combustible materials in areas with dry vegetation cover. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! The suspect in a fatal Edmonds stabbing at a Winco parking lot on April 19 was released from the hospital Saturday and taken to the Snohomish County Jail, the Edmonds Police Department said. Ian Bramel-Allen, 43, was booked on probable cause for first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and vehicle theft. The fatal stabbing was a targeted attack by Bramel-Allen, who appeared to have been waiting for the victim to come out of the grocery store, according to Edmonds police detectives. Bramel-Allen stole the victims Kia Sorrento and took off after the stabbing. How Bramel-Allen knew the victim was at the Winco is under investigation. Edmonds police have not said what Bramel-Allens motive was in the attack. They said the Kia was owned by a woman who was staying in Edmonds around the time of the murder. Police discovered that the womans daughter often used the SUV and had been visiting her mother in Edmonds. Police said the daughter is acquainted with both Bramel-Allen and the victim, and that the victim had been allowed to use the Kia to go to Winco for food. Bramel-Allen was arrested near Volunteer Park in Seattle on April 27. When police spotted him, he refused commands to stop and stabbed himself in the neck before being taken into custody. He had remained under guard at Harborview Medical Center ever since. New Smyrna Beach police said an investigation is ongoing after a man was stabbed Friday night. >>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<< According to a news release, the incident took place at the North Causeway west of the boat ramps. Witnesses told police the two men were over the use of fireworks and quickly became physical. Read: 3 shot, 2 in critical condition in shooting after fight breaks out in Brevard County The victim was stabbed three times but suffered non-life-threatening injuries. He was transported to a local hospital. Detective Daniel Cilenti stated a criminal investigation is pending the results. Read: Bicyclist hit and killed in Lake County crash, troopers say If anyone has seen or has any information regarding this incident contact Detective Daniel Cilenti at 386-424-2249 or email dcilenti@cityofnsb.com Check back for updates on this developing story. The jewelry choices of the Royal Family at Saturday's coronation of King Charles III proved to be significant nods to the family's history. (Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Filled with pomp and circumstance, Saturday's coronation of King Charles III proved to be a historic occasion for both the 2,200 guests inside Westminster Abbey and the legions of people lining the streets of London hoping to catch a glance of the Royal Family. As expected, the women of the Royal Family used the pieces of jewelry and fashion they wore to the momentous occasion as an opportunity to honor those that came before them. Catherine, Princess of Wales wears Princess Diana's pearl and diamond earrings. (Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images) Kate Middleton The Item: Princess Diana's Diamond and South Sea Pearl Earrings The Significance: The Princess of Wales honored both the late Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana with her choice of jewelry at the coronation. As she peered over her shoulder while entering Westminster Abbey, fans were able to see Middleton wearing the famed diamond and pearl earrings that were a favorite of Princess Diana. Featuring a horseshoe design at the top and a stream of diamonds that cascade downward, the elegant set has been worn several times before by Middleton, including at the most recent Remembrance Sunday service. Catherine, Princess of Wales wore the late Queen's George VI Festoon necklace under her ceremonial robes. (Photo: DAN CHARITY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) The Item: The late Queen's George VI Festoon necklace The Significance: Originally created in 1950 as a gift from King George VI to his daughter, the necklace, which features three tiers of stunning diamonds, was also worn by then Princess Elizabeth before being crowned Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Middleton also demonstrated that she's always capable of surprising her fans with her fashion choices. She eschewed the predictions that she would wear a traditional tiara to the coronation, and instead, chose a silver headpiece by Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen, featuring embroidery work of rose, thistle, daffodil, and shamrock symbolizing the four nations of the UK. That was elegantly paired with an Alexander McQueen ivory silk full-length gown and a blue ceremonial robe draped over her shoulders. Queen Camilla's necklace proved to be filled with historic significance. (Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images) Queen Camilla The Item: The Coronation Necklace featuring the Lahore Diamond The Significance: Formerly referred to as the Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Camilla's jewels were previously worn by the late Queen Elizabeth II at her own coronation in 1953, as well as by Queen Mary and Queen Alexandra before her. Reportedly, the diamonds came from Queen Victoria's jewelry collection. The legendary jewels were paired with a white silk dress covered in floral embroidery that was designed by Bruce Oldfield. She also wore a traditional robe known as The Robe of State, which was first made for the late Queen Elizabeth II. Story continues While it's not traditional jewelry, it would be impossible to ignore Queen Camilla's crown which was designed for Mary to wear at George Vs coronation in 1911. Featuring more than 2000 diamonds, Camilla chose to switch some things up by having it re-set with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds, which were part of the late monarch's personal collection. Princess Charlotte entered Westminster Abbey wearing a floral headpiece similar to her mother's. (Photo: Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Princess Charlotte The Item: A Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen headpiece The Significance: Echoing her mother, Princess Charlotte, 8, wore the same Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen headpiece featuring intricate floral embroidery, with her hair swept up in a chic updo. She also wore an ivory Alexander McQueen dress as she entered Westminster Abbey to honor her grandfather. Princess Eugenie appeared at the coronation. (Photo: Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Princess Eugenie The Item: Diamond drop earrings and a diamond necklace The Significance: Princess Eugenie, 33, who is expecting her second child, arrived at the coronation alongside her father, Prince Andrew, and her husband Jack Brooksbank. Proving her fashion prowess once again, she sported a navy dress with a round hat in a similar color tone, as well as a long black coat and black sandals. For her jewelry picks, Eugenie chose a diamond necklace and diamond drop earrings, which were paired with a black handbag. Princess Beatrice arrives at Westminster Abbey. (Photo: Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Princess Beatrice: Princess Beatrice The Item: Garrard pink sapphire earrings The Significance: Beatrice's jewelry choices included gold bracelets and rings, and hoop earrings featuring pink sapphire, rubellite, and pink opal, by Garrard. She paired the baubles with a hot pink dress with puffy sleeves and a built-in belt as she strolled into Westminster Abbey alongside her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Princess Anne arrives on horseback. (Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images) Princess Anne The Item: Gold Stick Uniform The Significance: As expected, Princess Anne wasn't draped in jewels like the other women of the Royal Family. She played a unique role in the Coronation Procession as she served as the "Gold-Stick-in-Waiting," a prestigious position that dates back to the 15th century when two officers a Gold Stick and a Silver Stick were placed close to the monarch to protect them from harm. She has held the role since 1998, and rode on horseback behind King Charles, leading 6,000 armed services personnel through London. As for her choice to take on the task, the sister of King Charles told CBC News that it's an exercise in practicality. "So that is a role I was asked if I'd like to do for this coronation, so I said yes. Not least of all, it solves my dress problem," she joked. Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here. Democrats defied expectations in the 2022 midterm elections, beating back President Joe Bidens low approval ratings and record inflation. By the end of the cycle, they expanded their majority in the Senate and narrowly lost control of the House. They came close but ultimately couldn't hand Biden another two years of total Democratic control in Washington. Unexpectedly, the state that helped Republicans to clinch the House with a five-seat majority was reliably blue New York. Republicans there flipped four Democratic seats and snagged several other competitive races. Now, Democrats are looking to reclaim lost ground in 2024 and usher in a new era of leadership, elevating House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., to serve as the first Black speaker of the House. Democratic strategists and leaders put it simply to USA TODAY: In 2022 and all elections before, New York was taken for granted. You cant take it for granted because it never should have been taken for granted, Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime New York-based Democratic strategist and president of Sheinkopf Communications, told USA TODAY. Stay in the conversation on politics: Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter Voters cast their ballots on November 8, 2022 at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. Money flows into New York ahead of 2024 elections After seeing what happened in 2022, national Democrats have recognized they can't afford to lose New York in 2024. House Majority PAC, House Democrats largest super PAC, said in February that it would funnel $45 million to New York. That unprecedented amount of cash will run the gamut, according to Mike Smith, president of House Majority PAC and former top aide to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Were planning to invest in everything from messaging research, to voter registration, field planning (to) Republican credibility, Smith told USA TODAY. All that messaging, including billboards and digital ads, is coming from a New York-based rapid-response war room handled by multiple communications and opposition-research staffers. Story continues The push is centered on seven seats: New Yorks 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 22nd Congressional Districts. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting the same districts. Only the 18th Congressional District is held by a Democrat in Rep. Pat Ryan. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the top Democrat in the House, walks to a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, April 28, 2023. Its less about any particular issue and about the gamut of where Republicans stand. Smith said. And thats everything from the debt ceiling to be willing to cut Social Security and Medicare, to be willing to cut infrastructure jobs. The recognition of the heightened importance of New York has dawned on Republicans as well. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., House Republican Conference Chair, announced in April that she would be launching a New York battleground fund" after the fourth-highest-ranking House Republican flexed her fundraising muscles, raising $3 million in the first quarter of 2023. The battleground fund will be dedicated to defending the GOP's newly gained ground in the Empire State. "It is paramount that we hold those seats," Stefanik told Time. "We are really ground zero politically for maintaining and expanding the House." New York Democratic chair: Party infighting is disheartening and sometimes frustrating After the November elections, New York Democrats conducted a postmortem, and more than 1,000 individuals and organizations signed on to a letter laying the blame at the feet of Jay Jacobs, the state party chair, and called for his resignation. Jay Jacobs is not fit to serve as Chair of the State Democratic Party, read the letter, but Jacobs ultimately survived the calls for his ouster and told USA TODAY he plans to dig his way back through 2024. Its been a very, Id say at times, disheartening and sometimes frustrating post-election period of time, Jacobs said, attributing Democratic losses to New York-specific headwinds, including a strong GOP gubernatorial candidate leading the top of the GOP ticket and poor Democratic countermessaging on crime. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks to reporters about legislation passed during a special legislative session in the Red Room at the state Capitol on July 1, 2022, in Albany, N.Y. As the 2024 election nears and national Democrats step into the Empire State, Jacobs disputed accounts the moves are a sign of a lack of confidence in him as a leader. Instead, Jacobs said, his party is working in tandem with national groups, and the initiatives were a long time coming for New York Democrats, who have long needed the resources after being overlooked. This is a reflection of the fact that, whereas in the past, New York has been overlooked and national money has gone everywhere but New York, Jacobs said. We also have competitive races which are more purple than blue. We need attention, too. A large driver behind strong GOP performance in New York was Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin. Democrat Kathy Hochul won the governor's race over Zeldin by just over 6 percentage points, an uncomfortably close margin for a statewide race in deep blue New York. We had a very energetic, good gubernatorial candidate, New York GOP chair Ed Cox told USA TODAY, who expressed disappointment in Zeldins loss but credited Zeldins run for boosting several Republicans in highly competitive House races. Rep. Lee Zeldin greets the crowd at the end of the night, during the election night watch party in his race for New York Governor, at Cipriani on East 42nd Street in New York, Nov. 8, 2022. Redistricting, even after 2022 midterm elections, is not over in New York After November, a major point of contention among New York Democrats was a failure in redistricting following the 2020 census when state Democratic lawmakers drew an ambitious map that gave House Democrats a much stronger advantage in the state. New Yorks highest court ultimately rejected the map in a victory for Republicans, ruling the maps were gerrymandered and violated the state Constitution. The court later appointed an independent special master to redraw the maps in a significant defeat for Democrats. But Democrats are not willing to stick with the maps until 2030. Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James filed a court brief in April asking the New York Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw the maps before the 2024 elections and arguing the map drawn by the special counsel was not done in accordance with the state Constitution. The New York State Supreme court building at 60 Centre Street is seen in this Wednesday, March 18, 2015, photo in New York. Jacobs argued the courts should take another look at the maps and echoed Hochul and James sentiments, saying New York should not stick with a map drawn by a special master until 2030. If your big argument as a Republican was that we have to do this according to the constitutional process, Jacobs said. OK. Lets agree. Lets go by the process and follow the process. Cox thinks otherwise of Democratic efforts to replace the maps, accusing them of sidestepping fair and competitive races. The redrawn maps benefited Republicans but not at the expense of Democrats, Cox said. The red wave in New York, as Cox sees it, was a mix of good politics from Republicans and poor politics from Democrats. They do not want to just compete. They want to cheat, Cox said. New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference, Sept. 21, 2022, in New York. On crime, New York Democrats have to assure voters they can keep them safe, strategist says Republicans bet big on attacking Democrats for violent crime, but when results started pouring in from election night, GOP candidates floundered and multiple exit polls showed that voters did not rank crime as high on their list of priorities except New York. Basil Smikle, a New York-based Democratic strategist and director of the public policy program at Hunter College, said Democrats could have done better on assuring voters they could keep them safe from violent crime. Heading into 2024, Smikle expects the GOP to keep pinning what they claim as rampant crime rates on Democrats. Voter blocs that have generally trended Democratic have started a very slight tilt to the right that was a major contributor to Republican victories in New York, Smikle said. Groups such as Asian American voters and Jewish voters, according to Smikle, came around for Republicans amid a spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans and a rise in antisemitism. GOP holds hearing on NYC crime: Democrats say it's to do the bidding for Donald Trump. Barry Borgen, father of a victim of anti-Semetic hate crime, speaks during a House Judiciary Committee Field Hearing, Monday, April 17, 2023, in New York. It put Democrats in a very tough spot, but I do think they could have handled it better, Smikle said, pointing to state Democrats reformation of New York bail laws which ended cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. In the lead-up to the midterms, Republicans accused Democrats of letting criminals run free, and Smikle said Democrats let the message stick. Theres a way to talk about crime in a way that is both empathetic but also signals to voters that you will keep them safe, Smikle said. Thats a challenge that Democrats faced last cycle and didnt execute well. Jacobs demurred when asked what issues will be most important to voters heading into 2024 and said it was too early to determine. But, unsurprisingly, Jacobs projected confidence the states Democrats will sweep the next elections. And for all the blame he has received for 2022, there will not be much of it in 2024, he predicted. Well win, and I assure you this, Jacobs said. When we win back those four congressional seats and we have all these huge victories in New York and everything goes great, you will not a hear a single person say Thank you state party chair. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2024 elections: NY Democrats have new plan for winning back the House A 16-year-old was shot dead at an after-prom party in Texas on Saturday morning after he exchanged gunfire with the father of another partygoer, officials said. The deadly shooting occurred at about 1.30am in the 8500 block of Majesticbrook Court in Copperfield, northwest Houston, the Harris County Sheriffs Office said in a statement. The victim, identified as Isaac Zetino, was attending the party at a friends home when the father of a teenage girl showed up and began arguing with him and another juvenile, sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. Zetino and the unnamed man both pulled out handguns and began firing, they said. Deputies arrived at the scene to find Zetino gravely wounded from several gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Its not clear what led to the shooting. Around 100 teenagers were present at the time of the shooting, officials said. Sheriff Gonzalez said in a Twitter post the father was cooperating with authorities, and claimed he had acted in self-defence. This statement was corroborated by findings at the scene, he said. No charges have been announced and the investigation is continuing, Sheriff Gonzalez added. The case will be presented to a grand jury to determine any possible charges, he said. FRAMINGHAM Ten months after she started the job, and with her first academic year nearly complete, Framingham State University President Nancy Niemi finally got her formal welcome. The college held its inauguration for Niemi on Friday. And while she's been working as the university's 17th president since last July, the inauguration event takes time to plan, a FSU spokesperson explained. Friday's event was attended FSU faculty and staff, delegates from other Massachusetts higher education institutions, and an audience of about 200 people. Many of Niemi's closest colleagues attended, including Board of Trustees Chair Kevin Foley and FSU Director of Human Resources David Baldwin. Nancy Niemi gives the inaugural address as the 17th president of Framingham State University, May 5, 2023. Mirari Elcoro, vice president of the Massachusetts State College Association, spoke of the event, quoting author bell hooks in saying, "The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy." 'The right leader': Nancy Niemi is selected to be Framingham State's next president "President Niemi's commitment to leadership is rooted in collaboration, compassion, empathy," Elcoro said. "Our faculty are eager to work together toward inclusive, equitable and progressive education." Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll administered the oath of office to Niemi. Following this, Niemi delivered her inaugural address. 'Celebrating all that is higher education' Niemi opened her speech with just one word: "Wow!" "Here we are now, celebrating all that is higher education," Niemi said during her speech. "(Public higher education) has helped most of those same learners find employment, using the skills, the perspectives and the knowledge they gained, weaving what they have learned into lives all their own." Nancy Niemi, right, is sworn in by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll as the 17th president of Framingham State University, May 5, 2023. Later, Niemi called for providing hope to communities and explaining the process and pains of higher education, as well as her goals. They include creating and marketing educational opportunities that few others offer; nurturing and supporting a high quality of teaching; refining students' needs and services; developing professional growth and building deep relationships partners in Framingham, MetroWest and New England. Story continues New job for Cevallos: Retiring Framingham State president to take yearlong position at Harvard "Doing this will arise from our courage to embrace the education mission that is public universities' alone, to serve the public good," she said. "By working with and serving others, we nurture their faith in themselves and in humanity, helping us to imagine and create a better future, a more equitable future." Niemi concluded by saying: "I said it on the first day of my job here, and I believe it now more than ever, our future is extraordinary, Framingham State University. Let's go." Niemi is FSU's 17th president Niemi was unanimously selected by the board of trustees in December 2021 to become Framingham State's next president after then-President F. Javier Cevallos announced his impending retirement earlier that year. Prior to Framingham State, from 2019 to 2022, she was provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Maryland Easten Shore, a historically Black university. Nancy Niemi, the 17th president of Framingham State University, processes to the inauguration May 5, 2023. At left holding the ceremonial mace is Richard Beckwitt, professor of biology. Niemi holds a Ph.D. in education-curriculum and instruction from the University of Rochester in New York; she previously earned a master's degree in education from Elmira College and a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Rochester. Following the event, in an interview, Niemi said her first year as president has been remarkable. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," she said. Nancy Niemi, left, the 17th president of Framingham State University, at her inauguration ceremony, May 5, 2023, with Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. On Thursday night, Niemi attended a chocolate chip cookie baking event in conjunction with Framingham State's Food and Nutrition Department. A baking enthusiast, Niemi said one of the school's most notable alumna, Ruth Graves Wakefield, invented the chocolate chip cookie. Niemi is married to Michael Morris, an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. Niemi said during her inaugural speech that the couple met at a faculty meeting. She also has three children and one grandchild. This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Framingham State holds inauguration for President Nancy Niemi Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday announced an investigation into the Dell Childrens Medical Center of Central Texas, located in Austin, to determine whether it is unlawfully providing certain gender-affirming medical care to minors. It is now alarmingly common for fringe activists to use their positions in medicine and health care to force experimental, life-altering procedures onto children, Paxton said in a statement. Across the country, there are doctors and health care professionals who appear willing to sacrifice the long-term health of American children, all in service to the increasingly dangerous fad of transgender extremism, he added. It is deeply disturbing, and there is no place for it in Texas. Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, Texas. (Google Maps) Paxton said there has been a number of recent reports about potentially illegal activity at the center and that this investigation aims to uncover the truth. While he didnt provide any details about the reports, the announcement follows a video released last month by Project Veritas, a far-right activist group, in which someone who is allegedly a Dell Childrens employee said patients there start transitioning at 8 and 9 years old.A spokesperson for the center directed NBC News to a statement issued last week that said the center takes seriously any allegations about the care provided in our clinics. Our organization prohibits surgery and prescribing hormone therapy for the treatment of gender dysphoria for children, the statement said. While our pediatric and adolescent medicine clinics do not provide these interventions, we do provide a safe and welcoming place for children to receive other forms of primary care and treatment, including treatment of illness and injuries, well baby visits, and school physicals. The center added that it is conducting a thorough review of this situation. To the extent that care provided at our clinic may have been inconsistent with our organizations position on this important issue, we intended to take appropriate action, the statement said. Story continues Paxtons investigation is the latest attempt in a yearslong effort from Republican state officials to restrict transition-related care for minors. He did not say what law the hospital would be breaking by providing such care. However, in February 2022, he issued a legal opinion that classified gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse and directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which investigates child abuse claims, to act accordingly. The following day, Gov. Greg Abbott released a directive calling on licensed professionals and members of the general public to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears the minors are receiving gender-affirming medical care. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Service opened nine investigations following the directive and opinion, but two judges put a hold on some of them and blocked new investigations into families who are members of PFLAG, an advocacy group that filed a lawsuit against the state. Paxtons announcement also comes after a week of tense protests at the state Capitol in Austin over two bills that would ban transition-related care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for minors. The bills would also bar public funds from covering the treatments or from going to hospitals or health care professionals who provide the treatments. Community members and activists protest against numerous anti-LGBTQ+ and drag bills being proposed in the legislature at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, on April 20, 2023. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images) On Tuesday, hundreds of people turned out to the Capitol, both in support of and in opposition to one of the bills. Photos and videos from that day show protesters chanting loudly in the Capitol rotunda and multiple incidents between protesters and police. Capitol police eventually cleared the building a move that multiple activists said hasnt happened in the last decade theyve been attending protests and meetings there. Sofia Sepulveda, the community engagement and advocacy manager of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, said she was banned from the Capitol for a year after she unfurled a banner in the rotunda as part of a rally something she said she had done many times before. Sepulveda said that after she arrived at the Capitol Tuesday, she passed the banner through security like she has done before, and told security about her intentions of dropping the banner. She said the officers told her not to drop the banner in the gallery of the House and not to clip it to the railing where she planned to drop it. When the rally began, she and four other people dropped the banner, which said, Let trans kids grow up. After about two minutes, she said, officers approached her group and asked them to pull the banner up, so they did. Then, she said, officers began asking her questions and eventually told her that they were going to give her a warning but that she would be banned from the Capitol for a year. When she asked why, Sepulveda said one of the officers told her, Those are the rules. She noted that she was the only Latina trans person holding the banner, and that the four other trans people were all white. The Texas Department of Public Safety did not immediately return a request for comment regarding Sepulvedas allegations. Community members and activists protest against numerous anti-LGBTQ+ and drag bills being proposed in the legislature at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, on April 20, 2023. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images) She said she plans to go back within the year, even if it means she will be arrested. Theyre trying to erase us, she said. I refuse to be shut down, I refuse to be erased, and I refuse to be controlled by a state government. Democrats delayed debate on the transition-related care ban Tuesday by using a procedural tactic known as a point of order. The bill was brought back up for debate Friday, but Democrats delayed it a second time by repeatedly raising points of order. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com A Texas judge rejected a motion Wednesday to grant Army Sgt. Daniel Perry a new trial after he was found guilty last month of killing a 28-year-old Air Force veteran, Garrett Foster, during an Austin Black Lives Matter protest in 2020. The decision comes as the Army is in the process of pushing Perry out of the service. Sgt. Perrys unit has initiated an administrative separation under Army Regulation 635-200 due to his conviction, a spokesperson from the 11th Airborne Division Perrys unit told Military.com in a statement. In the interim, the unit is changing his duty status to civilian confinement. Perry, 33, requested the new trial after his lawyers alleged a juror conducted outside research about self-defense and shared it with other jurors, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Read Next: 'We Can Think of Few Things as Irresponsible': 7 Former Defense Secretaries Blast Hold on Military Promotions Both Perry and Foster are white and were legally carrying weapons when the shooting occurred, according to the Texas Tribune. In July 2020, Perry was working as an Uber driver when he turned his car toward a group of protestors. His attorneys argued that Foster pointed an AK-47 at Perry, alleging that their client shot the Air Force veteran in self-defense, an argument a jury dismissed. Court records unsealed last month show that Perry fantasized about shooting "looters" in the months leading up to the murder as the 2020 killing of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests. "I am imagining standing on a rooftop with a megaphone and a MAGA [Make America Great Again] hat saying looters will be shot, leave the area immediately and then count down to zero or when they start breaking down the front door just opening up like it is open season," Perry wrote in a message to another user on Facebook, according to court records. "I might go to Dallas to shoot looters," he said in another message law enforcement extracted from Perry's social media accounts. Story continues The sergeant was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, during the shooting, but then transferred to Fort Wainwright, Alaska. A day after his murder conviction, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would pardon Perry after a Board of Pardons and Paroles request "as soon as it hits my desk." "Our office continues to stand by the jury's unanimous decision to convict Daniel Perry for the murder of Garrett Foster," Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said in a statement to the media Wednesday and shared with Military.com by his office. "We look forward to Mr. Perry's sentencing on Tuesday [May 9] so that the family of Mr. Foster may continue to heal." The DA's office said Perry was "intentionally and knowingly threatening" at least one protester by driving his car in their direction before the shooting. The trial earlier last month lasted eight days, with two days for deliberations. The jury found Perry not guilty on a separate charge, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The sentencing for murder conviction, however, has Perry facing 99 years in prison, according to the Austin American-Statesman. His sentencing is set for May 9. -- Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @df_lawrence. Related: After Air Force Veteran's Mass Shooting, Sutherland Springs Victims Finally Reach Tentative Court Settlement Arthur Mandy, 41, is a server at the Texas Roadhouse in West Chester. A server at a Cincinnati-area Texas Roadhouse says he doesn't want to be seen as a victim after a viral TikTok about his confrontation with a group of diners decked in Confederate flag garb, who he says were demeaning and used racist language, became a national news story. Arthur Mandy, a 41-year-old server at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in West Chester, said he wasn't happy when he learned a coworker made the video and posted it to social media. "It was embarrassing. I don't want everybody to know about that," Mandy said. "And I felt like it wasn't her story to tell." Group of diners at Texas Roadhouse seen wearing clothing with confederate flags, overheard using racial slurs Mandy said it was nearing 9 p.m. on April 29 when the group of 11 diners came into the restaurant. Some of the diners were rude, degrading and wouldn't even look at him, Mandy said, adding that during the course of serving the table, one of the diners repeatedly referred to him as "boy." #blm original sound - Nani @love.lona It was such an intense night tonight. I was getting so mad not only because of the table but the fact i had to watch and hear them treating one of the nicest caring souls Ive ever met that way and they were still able to stay in the restaurant. How dare you take it as far as telling your kid to shutup and not talk to your own server because he is black. The minute they started dropping the N word while the server was present at the table is the minute they shouldve been kicked out. #fyp A couple of times, Mandy said, he even overheard some members of the group use racial slurs. He said the restaurant's other guests near the table started to become agitated as they picked up on what was happening. Mandy, who is Black, said one woman wore a Confederate flag sweatsuit, some of the diners wore black jackets with Confederate flag patches and a child who was with the group even had on a Confederate flag onesie. Story continues While the Confederate flag has been adopted by some as "a symbol of Southern heritage," it commonly serves as an emblem of slavery and white supremacy making it popular among hate groups, even those outside the United States, according to the Anti-Defamation League. 'Like I wasn't even a person' Mandy said he was angry and shaking as he put the table's dinner order into the computer. He said he stepped outside to regain his composure and replay in his mind what had happened, but that's when he started to break down. "There's anger, there's sadness, there's embarrassment, there's humiliation, there's all these feelings but I cannot react," Mandy said, adding that he was worried the diners might make a scene if he did. He tried to force himself to go back inside and finish serving them, but he was just too emotional. "It was basically like I wasn't even a person," Mandy said. "I was just like gum on the bottom of their shoe." His managers and coworkers checked on him several times while he was serving the table, he said, and management eventually stepped in and took over service for him. The diners complained about the food, he said, and the restaurant comped $268 off their check. Mandy said there was a confrontation between the restaurant's staff and the diners, who refused to leave until Mandy came out and spoke to them, which ended with a manager threatening to call the police. Texas Roadhouse responds to the incident "While the guests were not rude or disruptive upon entering the restaurant, because of their subsequent behavior, they are no longer welcome in the restaurant," a Texas Roadhouse spokesperson said in a statement to The Enquirer. "While we cannot ensure the actions of guests who enter our restaurants, Texas Roadhouse does not condone any form of harassment or discrimination by guests towards employees." The restaurant's management responded to the situation once they were made aware, the spokesperson said, adding the restaurant chain's managers receive training that prepares them to de-escalate such situations. Mandy said he took a few days off work to process what happened, but he's asking Texas Roadhouse for paid time off and counseling. He said he denied the counseling services initially offered by the company because he wants to choose a counselor more "culturally aligned" with him. While it was certainly traumatizing, Mandy, who's worked in restaurants for over 20 years, said he had no intentions of publicizing the incident and that he planned to deal with it privately. That all changed when the video, which has over 67,000 likes, went viral and reporters started reaching out. "I wasn't trying to be a martyr or join a cause, I was just trying to come to work and do my job," he said. "It's bad enough that everybody at work had to see me crying ... pretty much the whole country knows about it." "This is not what I wanted at all," Mandy said, adding that while he was hurt by the way the diners treated him, his story of being discriminated against simply because of his race isn't special and he doesn't want to be treated as a victim for the rest of his life. "I know that what I went through was real," he said. "It took me a while to get my head wrapped around it when I was standing out back by the dumpsters but, you know, it happened." This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Texas Roadhouse server speaks out after viral TikTok video At least nine people were shot, including multiple fatalities, after a gunman opened fire at an outlet mall in Texas, say reports. The gunman was shot and killed by police after the shocking incident unfolded at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, after violence unfolded on Saturday afternoon, according to NBC Dallas. Authorities have not yet confirmed how many people were killed in the incident, but the Allen fire chief told reporters that they had transported nine victims to the hospital. Officials say that other victims may have been taken to hospital by other agencies, family or friends. NBC Dallas says that witnesses have told them there were at least two fatalities in the shooting at the busy outlet mall. The witnesses told the news channel that they saw two bodies covered by sheets on the sidewalk at the mall. Witnesses told WFAA that the gunman was dressed in black. Law enforcement is on the scene at Allen Premium Outlets. An active investigation is underway. Please avoid the area until further update, tweeted Allen Police Department. A Collin County Sheriffs Office spokesperson told WFAA that there are multiple victims, including children. The sheriff also confirmed that the shooter is dead at the scene. In a video posted to Twitter people could be seen running through a car park with the sound of loud gunshots heard in the background. Key Points Collin County Sheriffs Office spokesperson says that there are multiple victims, including children. Texas lawmaker says multiple casualties and gunman down At least nine victims taken to hospital Sunday 7 May 2023 00:56 , Graeme Massie Officials told reporters that at least nine victims had been taken to hospital and that there were multiple fatalities. Authorities did not give an exact number of those killed but said the gunman was dead. Images from scene of shooting Sunday 7 May 2023 00:31 , Graeme Massie (AP) (AP) More scenes from mall shooting in Texas Sunday 7 May 2023 00:21 , Graeme Massie Story continues (AP) (AP) (AP) (AP) Texas lawmaker says multiple casualties and gunman down Sunday 7 May 2023 00:16 , Graeme Massie We are devastated by the tragic news of the shootings that took place at the Allen Premium Outlets today. Our prayers are with the victims and their families and all law enforcement on the scene, tweeted US Representative Keith Self for Texass 3rd congressional district, which includes Collin County. This is an ongoing situation, but Allen PD has full control of the scene. A shooter is down and there are multiple casualties. They are continuing to work to ensure the scene is safe. The public is being asked to stay away from that area while this investigation continues. More scenes from outlet mall shooting in Texas Sunday 7 May 2023 00:15 , Graeme Massie (AP) Governor Greg Abbott comments on unspeakable tragedy' Sunday 7 May 2023 00:10 , Graeme Massie Our hearts are with the people of Allen, Texas tonight during this unspeakable tragedy, said Governor Abbott. I have been in contact with Mayor Fulk and DPS Director McCraw as well as other state and local leaders and offered the full support of the State of Texas to local officials to ensure all needed assistance and resources are swiftly deployed, including DPS officers, Texas Rangers, and investigative resources. (AP) More pictures from scene of Texas shooting Sunday 7 May 2023 00:02 , Graeme Massie (AP) (AP) At least two people killed in mall shooting, says report Saturday 6 May 2023 23:55 , Graeme Massie NBC Dallas says that witnesses have told them there were at least two fatalities in the shooting at the outlet mall in Allen, Texas. Witnesses told the channel that two bodies were covered by sheets on the sidewalk at the mall. Heavily-armed police respond to mall shooting in Texas Saturday 6 May 2023 23:52 , Graeme Massie Heavily-armed law enforcement respond to shooting at Texas mall (NBC Dallas) Silver car with bullet holes seen outside store in shopping mall Saturday 6 May 2023 23:49 , Graeme Massie (NBC Dallas) Pictures from scene of shooting Saturday 6 May 2023 23:44 , Graeme Massie (NBC Dallas) Gunshots can be heard in social media video of shooting Saturday 6 May 2023 23:39 , Graeme Massie Police respond to reports of shooting at Texas shopping mall Saturday 6 May 2023 23:32 , Graeme Massie Collin County Sheriffs Office spokesperson says that there are multiple victims, including children. Police respond to reports of shooting at Texas shopping mall Texas mall shooting Saturday 6 May 2023 23:29 , Graeme Massie This is a live blog covering a reported shooting at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered Saturday for a demonstration against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, demanding the changes to be scrapped rather than delayed. The protests have been held on a weekly basis for most of the year and they continued despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing in March that he was postponing the proposals to reach a compromise agreement. Organizers of the protests, now in their 18th week, say they want to ramp up the pressure on Netanyahus government and lawmakers after the parliament resumed its work this week following a month-long recess. In Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub and epicenter of the protests, protestors held a large banner addressing Netanyahu that read, You will never be a dictator! The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his partners in Israels most hardline coalition in its history the final say in appointing judges. It would also give parliament, which is controlled by Netanyahus allies, authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit the courts ability to review laws. The plan plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises, ripping open longstanding societal rifts and creating new ones. While the freeze in the legislation eased tensions somewhat, Netanyahus allies are pushing him to move ahead on the overhaul. The talks underway, meant to forge a path out of the crisis, do not appear to have produced any results. Broad swath of Israeli society, including business leaders and the booming tech sector have criticized the proposed changes. Military reservists threatened not to show up for duty if the plan was approved. Tens of thousands of people, largely secular, middle-class Israelis, have regularly joined mass protests against the plan. For the second time in two weeks, Sumter County sheriffs deputies have made arrests involving a large quantity of opiates. On May 1, the Sumter County Sheriffs Office Narcotics Unit executed search warrants on two houses following what deputies described as an extensive investigation. The raids, announced Friday, resulted in the arrests of three suspects, the recovery of several firearms and the seizure of methamphetamine, cocaine and almost three pounds of what investigators believe to be a mixture of heroin and fentanyl, with an estimated street value of $198,000. Jalik Shykeil Tucker, 28, of Camden, Shajuan Johnson, 20, of Dalzell, and Stacie Anita Latrelle Wright, 41, also of Dalzell, were arrested the same day. The suspects frequented the houses where the search warrants were executed, according to a statement released by the Sumter County Sheriffs Office. In addition to 1,320 grams of heroin/fentanyl mixture, the sheriffs office said that the raids also yielded 644 grams of methamphetamine with an approximate street value of $32,200 and 286 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of $28,600. Investigators also seized an undisclosed amount of cash and three guns, one of which had been illegally modified. Tucker has been charged with trafficking in methamphetamine and cocaine, possession with intent to distribute and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. He is being held in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County with a $150,000 surety bond. Johnson was charged with three counts of trafficking in methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. She was released from Sumter County Detention Center on May 2 on a $7,500 cash surety bond. Wright was charged with two counts of possession of narcotics and one count of distribution of methamphetamine. She was also released from the Sumter County Detention Center Thursday after posting a $5,000 surety bond. The three arrests come less than two weeks after Sumter deputies arrested Kori Dairon Green allegedly in possession of a bag containing an estimated two kilograms of suspected heroin with a street value of approximately $200,000. In addition to the heroin, Green is alleged to have had a large sum of money and a gun that was previously reported stolen. Story continues In a statement, Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis expressed his gratitude for the investigators involved in the joint multi-jurisdictional operation to combat drug trafficking in Sumter. Our people dont want recognition, but the public needs to know the work of the Sumter County Sheriffs Office never sleeps, Dennis said. These men and women put in long hours, often in dangerous settings, to stop evildoers from spreading their poison in our county. The heroin/fentanyl mixture is being analyzed in order to determine how much fentanyl is present, said Dr. Mark Bordeaux, a sheriffs department spokesperson. Fentanyl, which one sheriffs office narcotics investigator called public enemy number one, has been the driving force behind the alarming rise in overdose deaths in South Carolina. In 2021, the state recorded a 25% spike in drug overdose deaths, according to a report released Friday by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl rose by more than 35% in South Carolina between 2020 and 2021, according to the report. Of the total 2,168 overdose deaths in the state in 2021, 1,494 were due to fentanyl. An attorney for the ex-girlfriend of Tiger Woods filed a document in court Friday that provides new details about her breakup with Woods in October, how she allegedly got tricked into being kicked out of his house and why it matters in their ongoing public court dispute in Florida. Woods, the famed golfer, has tried to steer the dispute into private arbitration proceedings in accordance with the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) his attorney says they signed in 2017. But Erica Herman, the ex-girlfriend, wants the court to determine that the NDA is invalid or unenforceable for various reasons, including because she states she was subject to sexual harassment by him. Her filing noted that Woods did not try to take their breakup dispute to arbitration when he kicked her out of the house in October. "Instead, he called a California attorney who promotes himself as 'Ray Donovan with a pen' to unceremoniously eject Ms. Herman from the house through trickery and break up with her for him," said the document filed Friday by attorney Benjamin Hodas. "The scheme involved convincing Ms. Herman to pack for a weekend excursion to the Bahamas. She and Mr. Woods often traveled on short notice for quick getaways, and she was told this would be another such trip. So, she took a minimum of items, expecting to return home in a few days." Ray Donovan is a fictional television character described as a professional "fixer" for the rich and famous, according to IMDb. How Tiger Woods broke up with his former girlfriend, Erica Herman, in October is detailed in new public court filing by her attorney. Herman's filing stated Woods then drove her to the airport, where a private plane was waiting. But instead of boarding the plane, she stated Woods told her to talk to his lawyer and left. "Then, Mr. Woods's California lawyer, out of the blue, told her that she was not going anywhere, would never see Mr. Woods again, had been locked out of the house, and could not return," her filing stated. "She would not even be able to see the children or her pets again. While still in the hangar, 'Ray Donovan with a pen' proceeded to insult Ms. Herman, (advised) her she had no legal rights, and (tried) to force her to agree to a (different) non-disclosure and arbitration agreement. Story continues What happened next? Her filing stated she refused to sign despite these "brutish and high-pressure tactics." "Importantly, neither Mr. Woods, nor his lawyer, nor any of his other agents invoked some pre-existing arbitration agreement that day as they ejected Ms. Herman from the house and took away her personal property and pets," the filing states. Herman's filing states this is "revealing" because it shows his private relationship with Herman hadn't been governed by the purported NDA between them from 2017. Woods wants it to now, according to court filings. An attorney for Woods didn't return a message seeking comment. An attorney in California whose website describes him as "Ray Donovan with a pen" didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Herman has filed lawsuits against Woods and a trust established by Woods for his residence on the Treasure Coast of Florida. She wants the court to declare the NDA invalid in one lawsuit and has claimed $30 million in damages in the other after saying she was ousted from the residence in violation of an oral tenancy agreement. Woods' attorney has denied there was such an agreement and has labeled her a "jilted" ex-girlfriend. Herman's filing states her ejection from her home also shows this dispute relates to sexual harassment. Herman is a former employee at Woods' restaurant in Jupiter, Florida. He was her "boss" when the relationship began, according to the filing. "When the sexual relationship ended, she was kicked out of her home," the filing stated. Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tiger Woods' ex-girlfriend recounts their unusual breakup in October Tiger Woods and Erica Herman in 2019. (William West/AFP via Getty Images) Tiger Woods and Erica Herman continue to wrangle in court over the details of their breakup. A new court filing from Herman provides her perspective on how the breakup took place, and why she is seeking restitution. Woods and Herman dated for about six years, during which she was by his side and with his children at many significant events. They broke up in October, and in a new filing, Herman offers further details of their relationship's beginning and end. Herman is seeking both financial compensation and release from a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) she signed prohibiting her from revealing details about her time in the relationship. Woods' attorneys have sought to resolve the matter through private arbitration, contending that Herman agreed to such a resolution when she signed the NDA. In this latest filing, Herman is asking the court to deny Woods' motion to keep proceedings private. Woods, Herman states in the filing obtained by Yahoo Sports, "decided to pursue a sexual relationship with his employee, then according to him forced her to sign an NDA about it or else be fired from her job. And, when he became disgruntled with their sexual relationship, he tricked her into leaving her home, locked her out, took her cash, pets, and personal possessions, and tried to strong-arm her into signing a different NDA." Herman claims that over the course of the early years of their relationship, Woods "placed increasing pressure" on Herman to stop working at the restaurant and "devote herself full-time to their relationship and caring for him and his children." In October 2022, Woods ended the relationship through what Herman describes as a "scheme": He told her to pack a bag for a short trip to the Bahamas, but when the two arrived at the airport, Woods told her to speak to his lawyer, and he boarded the plane without her. "Then, Mr. Woodss California lawyer, out of the blue, told her that she was not going anywhere, would never see Mr. Woods again, had been locked out of the house, and could not return," Herman's court filing states. "She would not even be able to see the children or her pets again." Story continues However, Woods' attorneys have painted a different picture. Ms. Herman was invited to live in the Residence while she was in a relationship with her former boyfriend, Eldrick Woods, who continues to live in the Residence with his two children, attorneys for Woods said in a March motion seeking to force arbitration. After Mr. Woods recently terminated the relationship, Ms. Herman was advised that she was no longer welcome in the Residence. Shortly after their breakup, Herman filed a lawsuit last fall in the Circuit Court of the 19th Judicial Circuit in Martin County, Florida, against the Jupiter Island, Florida, homestead trust which Woods controls. Herman sought $30 million in damages, claiming she had an "oral tenancy agreement" to remain in the home for up to five years after the breakup. She also charged that the trust misappropriated $40,000 in cash which belonged to her, and made scurrilous and defamatory allegations how she obtained the money. She later filed the separate suit in March against Woods himself seeking release from the NDA. In filing the separate suit, Herman suggested allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment, which could void an NDA under new federal rules. However, she has not yet offered further details on those specific charges. After withdrawing from this year's Masters, Woods underwent surgery on his ankle in mid-April, and will be sidelined from competition indefinitely. Rainbow Listed A group of ex-TikTok employees has blown the whistle on the company's alleged practice of keeping a list of users who watched gay content for at least a year. As the Wall Street Journal reports, employees became concerned about the alleged list because it could be used to identify LGBTQ users and, if leaked or provided to hostile governments, could put those users at risk. Social media companies have long been known to maintain detailed, personal profiles of their users to serve them personalized ads. Nevertheless, social networks are discouraged from collecting more sensitive data such as any data related to sexual orientation because it could make targets of those users. Privacy, Please The thing that sets this alleged list apart, the report notes, is that it was not only accessible to an unusual number of employees at the Chinese-owned company, but that there were times when employees in China controlled the permissions of the list as well. In a statement to the WSJ, a TikTok representative said the data in question was reportedly available for at least a year, but deleted almost a year ago. She added that the Chinese government has never asked for information about US users, nor has the company ever provided such data. The report notes that TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance created a center last year to house US data, in large part to appease US lawmakers, who voiced concerns over the company's data-gathering practices, which could result in the app being banned in the US. Data about users' viewing preferences which is grouped in "clusters" and spans genres from "alt female" to Golden State Warriors fans have been a point of internal contention as staff and executives alike became concerned about which employees have access to what data, per the report. Since 2021, the company has revamped its content tagging system by changing it from being identifier-based to one where numbers are assigned to each content cluster. TikTok has also moved data to its new US headquarters and locked down who could access it. All the same, this allegation of an LGBTQ user list, even if it's been deleted, is troubling considering the renewed attacks on queer and trans people and otherwise in the US much less in other parts of the world where homosexuality is outlawed. More on social media shenanigans: Cursed New Apps Use AI to Tell You What to Say on Tinder